I own no Megaman characters, any familiar dialogue or the main plot. Credits to Capcom.
Before I begin, I would like to say a big thank you to 'Skyzerk' for adding this story to their alerts and favorites.
Reply to Ghost501's review of Chapter 6: One of the biggest problems with dubbed anime in general is the censorship (attempts to keep the show 'kid friendly', I guess). Ironic for 4Kids' Sonic X voice actors, for they would later voice act in games like Shadow the Hedgehog and Sonic 06, not the most kid friendly games in the Sonic series...
In fact, Shadow the Hedgehog (one of the first Sonic games people like Jason Griffith, Amy Palant and Dan Green voiced in) is the least kid friendly! So much so, that it's out of place in the Sonic series, but I digress...
I would never rely on Stoneman's chips when I go back to MMBN. If the stones fell in a set motion, then it could have worked in a combo with Area Grab (Area Steal). But no...
-Chapter 7: No Water? No Way!-
A Month After The School Jacking...
"Lan! It's morning!"
Days upon days of school have passed by Lan and friends and not much had changed. This was another typical morning for Lan.
The boy groaned in tiredness. Megaman could make out the words he uttered, something about it being Saturday and how Lan wanted to sleep in.
"Hmm. Guess you got me there," Megaman confessed.
"Hah."
"But..."
"Oh no. Not the 'but'."
"You have weekend class this week," the blue Navi smirked. "So, up you get!"
"Man..." Lan whined, dressing out of his PJs and into his usual attire.
Lan made his way down the stairs and into the kitchen, to see his mother looking quite worried.
"What's wrong, mom?" Lan asked her.
"The... The water's off. So, no breakfast..."
"What!? But I'm hungry! And thirsty!"
"Doesn't look like your mom can do much without water," Megaman told Lan. "Let's just get going before you're late again."
"Fine," Lan sighed, heading for the door. He stepped outside after bidding his mother farewell, to see Maylu again.
"You're late. Again," she sighed.
"Sorry, sorry!"
And so, the two friends headed for school. A few minutes of walking later, Lan heard his own stomach grumble. He needed to eat something! Before it was too late!
"Um, Maylu? Did you have any water at home?" he suddenly asked her.
"No... You?"
"Nope."
"You too?"
"Yeah. I can't take this anymore!" Lan whined like a little child.
"I know! I couldn't even wash my face!" Maylu sighed. Before they knew it, they were at school.
"You can wash it here now," Lan assured his friend.
"I hope so..."
At the front yard, where the ninety nine flower pots were, there was a pond, which was fenced up. A statue resided next to the lily pads and cool blue water. But wait a minute. There's no water for the pond, either! Just the statue and lily pads! What in the world happened?
"Oh no! What if the whole school has no water either!?" Lan panicked.
"It might be only this neighborhood," Maylu suggested. "But still, I'm worried. I'm gonna check it out." With that, the red haired girl took off. Lan followed close behind, but the two passed Sal by the flower pots, who looked very upset.
"It's horrible," she sighed in disappointment.
"What's wrong, Sal?" Maylu asked her.
"I couldn't get any water for these flowers to grow," Sal frowned. "Without water, they might cease to exist!"
"Well, if we don't find the cause of the problem, we'll cease to exist, too!" Lan said. "We'll deal with it when we figure it out. Don't you worry, Sal!"
"Please do, Lan..."
The students in the school building weren't that upbeat, either. Everywhere Lan and Maylu went, they heard complaints about being hungry or thirsty. They also heard some of the younger students weeping and some of the sixth graders fearing for what was to come. The fifth graders were no exception to the depression that swept over ACDC Elementary. This included Class 5-A.
"Hey, Lan. Hey, Maylu," Dex and Yai greeted them in a melancholic manner.
"No water for you guys, either?" Maylu assumed.
"Yeah!" Yai suddenly snapped back. "And when I find out who did this, I'm gonna sue!" Aside from being the daughter of the owner of AyanoTech, suing could also explain how Yai and her family became rich.
"I'm so thirsty, I'm not even in the mood to Net Battle," Dex continued to frown. He was always itching to pit Gutsman in a fight, but this time, it wasn't happening.
"Hey, wait a minute," Lan said. "Where's Tory? Isn't he usually the first of us to get here?"
"Hmm... Now that I think about it, I kinda smell a rat," Yai admitted. "Wait. Doesn't his father work at the Waterworks?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"Oh, the nerve that guy has! He's probably the one that started this problem! That dirty-"
Luckily, the school bell stopped Yai from going onto a rant. She growled slightly. Afterwards, everyone took their seats and Ms Mari entered the classroom.
"Yo, teach!" Dex shouted impolitely and impatiently. "We ain't got no water!"
"Now, be quiet, Dex," Ms Mari told him off. "We'll talk about that now." Addressing the rest of the class (apart from Tory, of course), she began. "As you know, all of the town's water has stopped."
"Do you know why, Ms Mari?" Maylu asked, raising her hand.
"Unfortunately, I don't. And I'm not sure when it will be fixed. I'm afraid I'll have to cancel class for today." All of a sudden, some of the students began to cheer, but not before stopping after Ms Mari said that it would get them thirstier. With that, everyone headed for home.
As his friends passed by him, Lan walked slowly, speaking with Megaman.
"Do you really think the Waterworks stopped the water on purpose?" Lan asked his Navi.
"Not because they wanted to," he reminded his NetOp. "They may have been forced to do so."
"Hm..."
"Hey, let's check out the Waterworks and see if they know what's wrong," Megaman suggested.
"Yeah. Let's go," Lan responded nonchalantly.
During the train ride to Marine Harbor, Lan decided to call up Tory to ask what was wrong. There was no response. Lan pondered on why this was so. Tory always answered his calls. Regardless, after he arrived at Marine Harbor, he headed for the Waterworks. Lan saw a waiting lobby as soon as he entered, walled off with shelves of books and a TV set. There were also some vending machines nearby, but they were empty for now. It wasn't important, anyway.
There were two receptionists, each with their own receptionist table. Lan noticed that the one to his left was clearly packed, hearing complaints as he passed it in favor of the other one. This one was not so busy. However, there was a boy who looked older than Lan in front of him. He wore camo pants and a red vest over a black shirt. His hair was like nothing Lan had seen. The sides of this boy's hair was black, but the top of it was white. Lan heard this boy talking with the receptionist in front of him.
"Therefore, a check of the Waterworks is needed."
"You're an Official Net Battler, right?" the woman said to him. "If you could show me your ID card-"
"Here," the mystery boy interrupted her, handing her his ID card. She took a look at it.
"I see... Very well. Insert your card to use the elevator next to you. It will take you around the works."
"Thank you." The boy turned around for the elevator, but he caught sight of Lan. "What's a kid like you doing here?" he scowled. "You're in the way." He pushed him slightly before leaving.
"What's his problem?" Lan growled quietly.
"I dunno," Megaman spoke up. "But did you hear that? He's an Official Net Battler. They fight net crime and can Net Battle anywhere they want. I wonder what kind of Navis they use..."
"Who cares? Let's check out the Waterworks!"
"But Lan! Don't you need an ID card?"
"Man... Where are we gonna get one?"
Lan left the Waterworks building, thinking about where an ID card would be. Realizing that his father must have kept one somewhere, Lan went to SciLab to 'borrow' it for a while, against Megaman's protests. Lan was warned that his father would get angry, but went against Megaman's warning and took it anyway.
Returning to the receptionist, he noticed that she was very busy with some paperwork. Lan showed her the ID card, in hopes that she would let him in. She took a glance at the card, but not the person, and immediately let Lan through. He used to card to open the elevator and stepped in. At once, it went up a floor. Lan exited, but he was stopped by one of the scientists there.
"This area's for staff only!" he scolded the child.
"Um... ACDC Town's water supply has stopped," he told him calmly.
"Yeah, I know," the scientist said. "Apparently, there's a bug in the pump program. We're doing our best to remove it, so the problem should be fixed soon."
"Oh, okay. Thanks."
"It would have been bad if it were a World Three scheme. Thanks for coming down to tell us."
"No prob," Lan smiled, taking off to head for home. Megaman, who had overheard what was happening, had suspicions.
It was strange that a Net Battler would check out a bug. Plus, it wasn't just the water that was missing. Both Lan and Megaman agreed that the problem would be hard to fix. However, they decided to look into it anyway. But they couldn't do it with the staff around. They needed a hiding spot for now. The waiting lobby would have to do. Luckily, there was no one else around. Since the Waterworks building closed at noon on weekends, the complainers and the staff all left at that time. Lan hid behind one of the chairs, not being caught by anyone. As soon as the coast as clear, he headed for the elevator, which was still operating.
Lan took a look around the higher floor, but his ears caught the sound of typing. Lan's ears pressed on a locked door with a red label on it, to find that the typing came from there.
"Whoever's in there must be using a PC, Lan," Megaman said to him.
"We can't check out the network like this! I'll find someplace to jack you in to!"
Lan took another look around the area. There was a receptionist table, but the woman was not present. After taking a look around the table, Lan found nothing to jack in to. He headed for the elevator and found a water cooler near it.
"Hey, this will do the trick, Megaman!" Lan said to him, noticing a jack in port.
"Let's do it!"
"Yeah! Jack in, Megama-"
"Hey!" Suddenly, a shriek from a woman stopped Lan.
Uh oh... Busted...
The woman in front of Lan had pink hair with 'ponytails' that spiked out a little. Her white shirt had orange sleeves and her pants had green and blue horizontal stripes.
"What are you doing here?" she demanded to know.
"Um... I... Uh... I got lost..."
"I see." Apparently, she bought it. "Well, you're not supposed to be in here. So go home! Got it?"
"Yes, ma'am!" Lan immediately affirmed.
"Good boy," the woman grinned suspiciously, patting Lan on the head before heading for the door that the typing came from. Lan motioned towards the elevator and used it to go back down.
"We're not going home after that, are we?" Megaman asked him.
"Heck no!" Lan answered. "I needed to protect my cover!"
"Well, let's do it!"
"Of course!"
Lan used the elevator again to go up to the higher floor. After noticing that the strange woman was absent, he headed for the water cooler.
"Let's go! Jack in, Megaman! Execute!"
Woo, that was a much more fun chapter to write (despite the Waterworks scenario being my second worst area in the game). Everyone actually has purpose, even the mystery boy in the red vest!
-Have a great day, week, month, whatever, and stay upbeat, y'all!-