Talking

Thinking

Back from the depths of cancellation! What the Future Brings rises from the ashes! I can't believe I'm updating this thing. Before I start this chapter I once again thank all those who reviewed.

I don't own this fantastic series or any of its deviations

Chapter V: Tiny Metal Boxes and Pain

To say Chip was miserable was an understatement. He had lost track of the time he had spent sitting in a dingy box with the worst headache he'd ever had thanks to that idiot "chief" smacking his head into the ground. The only nourishment he had gotten was bread and the occasional dish of water slid through the slit in the side of the box. Muttering a few curses under his breath, Chip tried to move his numb legs into a position where they might get a bit more circulation. Unfortunately he slipped, and another string of curses let loose from his mouth as the sore side of his head that was caked with dry blood banged into the side of the box.

"Quiet down in there!" the ever-present, ever annoying guard yelled, probably making more noise than Chip did when he banged his gun on the side of the box. Oddly enough it had a lot less oomph to it then the fast few times.

"Bastard," Chip muttered through the dull throbbing pain, "If I could get out of here I'd give all these damn resistance members a piece of my mind. Didn't their parents teach them not to look a gift horse in the mouth?"

A sudden loud noise startled Chip and caused him to bang his head against the box again.

"Goddamnit!"

"Sshhhh!" a female voice sounded out from beyond the box, "Keep quiet in there!"

"Laurana?" Chip couldn't believe his ears.

Slowly but surely the top of his prison creaked open. A pair of bright blue eyes stared at Chip through the crack.

"Are you still alive in there?" Laurana's voice was music to Chip's ears.

"Kind of."

"Funny." Chip felt a small weight land in his lap, "Take this and get going. It won't be long before somebody notices you're gone."

Chip looked down and saw a sight that made his shoulders sag in relief. The object that Laurana had tossed in was the M.E.T. that he had grown so attached to over the last few days.

"...Why? Why would you help me escape?" Chip slowly strapped the device back on his wrist, not sure if this was a dream

"I don't really know why myself. Just leave before we're found out." Laurana rubbed her forehead wearily, "I really don't want to get in any deeper shit with my father than I already am."

"Wait." Chip's eyes practically bugged out of his head. "Your father is that ass?"

"Yes. My father is that ass" Laurana just let the insult slide past, a hint of amusement passing over her face. "Now go. You need to leave before the guard's drugs that I slipped into his coffee wear off!"

Chip nodded groggily and let Laurana lead him. Within minutes they were outside and greeted by the rising sun.

"Well thanks." Chip turned to face Laurana, "How can I repay you?"

"As much as I hate to admit it," she shyly smiled at him, "You did save me from those Chasers. I especially hate to admit it since you're such a dirty looking hobo."

"Thanks for the compliment," Chip grumbled under his breath, "I guess I'll see you later then?"

"Probably not unless you decide to keep on fighting the good fight."

"I will be." Chip could feel a bit of his old cockiness flooding back in as he powered his M.E.T. back on.

"You sure?" concern briefly flashed across the girl's face, "You'll technically be all alone."

"I've got X." Chip lifted up his arm which showed a booting up M.E.T. "I'll be fine. Ready buddy?"

"Ready Chip!"

Chip pressed the cross fusion button and let the somewhat familiar feeling of the transformation process envelop him. Once it was complete he did a quick cocky salute to Laurana and took off across the rooftops.

"Hopefully she won't get in too much trouble X."

"Yeah I'd feel bad if she went through all the effort of freeing us and got punished for it."

After a few parkour filled minutes, Chip found himself at home sweet home. He quickly ran inside the decrepit old house and jumped down the hole into the sewers below.

"Want to activate a navigation program to help us get back to Alfred."

"You don't know the way by now?" X's voice teased, "Don't worry I'm already on it."

A blue holographic map popped in front of the fused pair complete with a path already outlined out on it in red.

"Thanks buddy."

"Don't mention it."

Chip followed the somewhat familiar twists and turns until finally arriving in the room where their computer butler resided.

"Welcome home Master Hikari." the British voice made the sewer seem so much more like home than it had a second ago to Chip.

"Thanks Alfred," Chip grinned as he let the cross fusion cancel.

"I trust today hasn't been too stressful?"

"I hope that was a joke Alfred. I get the feeling a lot of my days are going to be stressful from now on," Chip flopped down on an old mattress a few feet from the machine, "Alfred, do you have any idea why anyone can cross fuse whenever they want. I've wondered that for ages now. I always thought the President's cross fusers just had special equipment."

"Ah." Alfred spoke after a moment, "I was wondering when you'd ask. I was preparing to inform you in a day or two, but there's not time like the present I suppose. You know President Wily correct?"

"I'd be living under a rock if I didn't."

"His full name is Albert Wily III. He's the grandson of the man Lan Hikari foiled on multiple occasions. He designed a system of creating a special massive dimensional area to cover the entire world. He did it under the premise of peace and prosperity, after all life would indeed be made easier if everyone could cross-fuse to perform everyday tasks."

X interrupted, "And no one expected anything based on his relatives?"

No one expected it after Albert Wily II never tried a single nefarious thing, and actually did many good things for world peace." Alfred responded sadly, "Obviously things went completely south when Albert III unveiled an army of cross fusers the moment the field went up. He then declared himself the ruler of the world while holding the past president at gunpoint.

"That swift huh..." Chip clenched his hands tightly until they turned white, "I can't believe it was that damn easy."

No one really expected it Master Hikari," Alfred replied, "Hindsight is 20/20 after all. The real thing you should be thinking about is how you're going to fix it."

"Well..." Chip racked his brain, "I can't exactly just go knocking down the dimensional area in its entirety by myself; I can't exactly take on an army of normal people on my own."

"Well you could always try destroying Wily's entire army first."

"That'd take FOREVER X."

"It was just a suggestion." Chip saw X shrug his shoulders, "I doubt you've got any better ideas."

"Oh go to hell."

"NetNavis don't have a concept of the afterlife."

"..." Chip sighed.

Alfred chuckled, "You two are so much like Master Lan and Hub it's uncanny."

"Hub?" Chip looked up at the computer curiously.

"Lan's twin brother." the computer paused for a minute before continuing, "Lan's father somehow managed to transfer his consciousness into a NetNavi after he died of a rare disease. That NetNavi became Megaman, Lan's eternal partner in the fight against net-terrorism."

"How the hell do you transfer a human's consciousness into data!?" Chip's mouth dropped.

"No one really knows." Alfred responded, "Lan's father was a bit of a scientific genius."

"That's an understatement..."

"So Master Hikari." Alfred spoke again, "What will you do. I've got the locations of the spikes if you wish to being hunting now."

"You know what," Chip sighed and got to his feet, "Send me the location data for the closest one."

"At once Master Hikari." Alfred began making an assortment of beeping noises, "Keep in mind that the field will not fall until you take down all eight of the spikes."

"That's fine by me," Chip grinned, "I wouldn't want my cross fusion ability to stop working in the middle of Wily's armies.

"Data transfer complete," Alfred intoned, "I'll keep in contact with you via your M.E.T if something pops up."

"Got it." Chip gave a quick salute, "Ready to go raise hell X?"

"Yup." X flexed on the screen, "Let's not stop until the entire world is saved!"

Sort of short, but I felt like this was a good place to end it.

-Forscythe