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 'hello2000' for adding this story to their alerts and favorites.
Reply to Ghost501's review of Chapter 21: Even in intense moments like the Magicman fight, I like to throw in a joke or two, to lighten the mood.
According to the Megaman Wiki, in the English dub of Megaman NT Warrior, Magicman spoke in rhymes. I couldn't help but add that trait in!
-Chapter 22: Hub Hikari-
"Megaman..." Lan finally spoke up, still recovering from the shock of what had transpired just a minute ago. "I... We... Yes, we did it."
"Ha ha. I... To be honest, I don't know what that attack was all about," Megaman chuckled softly. "But all that matters is that Magicman's show is over."
"What's going on here!?" an elderly man demanded aloud. "Don't tell me you and Magicman failed, too, Yahoot!"
"S-Sir, I..." Yahoot stuttered. He could tell that his master was furious beyond belief. If he, his right hand man, had failed, what would be left of World Three?
"Wait a minute," Lan said. "Don't tell me that's-"
"Enough!" the old man barked. "Yahoot, use this bit data from the Life Virus and crush that pest!"
"Th-thank you, sir! I won't fail you! Magicman, take this!"
Megaman and Roll noticed a little purple ball of data appear in the network. An ominous hum played as it floated towards the defeated Magicman. Then, it stopped moving. Roll turned an arm into a bow and was ready to fire a Roll Arrow at the orb, but it suddenly rushed into Magicman's body at an incredible speed, the Roll Arrow barely missing its target.
The bearded Navi's body shuddered a bit. For a second, nothing happened. Then, it shuddered again, followed by nothing for another second. After that, however, Magicman shook violently and he rose from the cyber ground. The magician was back and, from the looks of things, powered up! A dark purple aura surrounded Magicman and the orbs on his arms changed color, from red to purple, to match his new appearance.
"Ha ha ha ha ha!" the Navi cackled wildly, thrusting his arms upwards. A sphere of energy formed above the purple orbs on his arms and his laughter grew even more maniacal. "A great punishment indeed, you have earned, for I, Magicman, have returned!"
"N-No way," Megaman grunted, lifting himself to stand upright. "How? Was it the bit data?"
"I'm not finished with you, oh, so tragic," Magicman smirked, bringing his arms downwards and pointing at Megaman. The energy sphere grew twice its original size as he let out another cackle. "See if you can endure the power of my Life Magic!"
At once, the magician Navi released the large energy sphere, which traveled across at lightning speed. At the very least, Megaman couldn't muster enough energy to dodge in time. The sphere exploded on contact, inflicting dangerously massive damage on Lan's Navi, who screamed in excruciating pain. His body was sent flying on the large barrier that was conjured up earlier and his back slammed on it, hurting Megaman even more. No, it wasn't enough that Megaman was left exhausted after his big attack. Magicman's trick literally left him near the point of deletion!
"Mega!" Roll yelled in fear.
"You are powerless to save your friend," Magicman chuckled evilly as he charged up more Life Magic. "Watch, as he meets his end!"
"Yes. Now, boy," Yahoot spoke up. "You'll regret going against-" It was then when he noticed another Navi enter the scene, unbeknownst to Magicman, since he didn't hear him coming. Yahoot gasped. "W-Wait, Magicman! Look out! There's-"
"Gaaah!" Magicman roared in pain. He looked down at his chest, to see a large slash wound. He looked back up and saw the Navi responsible: a red Navi with shades and matching sword, the Fighter Sword.
"Protoman!?" Lan gasped.
Magicman felt all of his strength leave him and could utter, "H-How?"
Then, his body began to disintegrate. First, his feet and legs. At first, they felt numb, but the bearded Navi felt nothing there after a second. Up his torso, he began to feel the same thing. Numbness, then nothingness. Magicman couldn't even shoot one last blast of Life Magic or Magic Fire, thanks to his arms disappearing. His body's disintegration continued upwards through his neck. His head remained. He had a look of horror on his face, as he witnessed his own deletion. In the end, his face disintegrated, along with the pointed hat he wore.
"MAGICMAN, DELETED."
Protoman's Fighter Sword dissipated and his own arm returned. As the barrier finally dissipated, he looked over at Megaman and noticed his terrible condition.
"Too late?" the red Navi growled.
"Mega...?" Though Roll still felt a slight pain, she mustered enough strength to get over to Megaman's side. She placed a hand on his chest, but couldn't feel anything.
In World Three's Base...
"Lan..." Maylu murmured, though her friend said nothing. It was clear that he tried to hold back any tears, but whether he would actually break down and cry, she wasn't sure.
"Lan..." Though Chaud empathized with Lan inside, he wasn't one to show his emotions on the outside. He masked those feelings with his stoic facial expression and slowly walked up to Lan. He opened his hand to reveal a type of chip. However, it wasn't a battle chip. "Your father asked me to give this to you. Here."
The moment Lan opened his eyes, it was clear to Chaud that he wanted some time to weep. Despite this, he took the chip and had a look. There was no picture on it. Instead, there was just a label. It read 'Hub. BAT'.
"What's... this?" Lan asked softly.
Breaking the mournful quiet was a loud ring from Lan's PET. A static window appeared on screen. Across it read 'Dad'. Lan accepted the call.
"Lan?" Yuichiro appeared on screen.
"Dad..." his son whimpered, forcing his eyes to close. "Megaman is..."
"Dr Hikari, I'm sorry," Chaud said regretfully. "I was too late..."
"Chaud, you did what you could," Yuichiro assured him. "Listen to me, Lan. You can still save Megaman!"
"But he's not responding, dad."
"Apply the Hub. BAT to him. If there's still time, he'll wake up."
"Well... Okay, I'll do it."
"Wait!" Yuichiro suddenly raised his voice. It was only a slight raise, but enough to halt Lan. "Before you do so, I have some explaining to do. But... It might make using Megaman difficult."
"I don't get it. What do you mean?"
"Allow me to explain."
Maylu and Chaud gathered around Lan's PET, interested in hearing what explaining the good scientist had to do. Lan gave the nod for his father to begin.
"About 10 years, I was working on a new type of NetNavi. I was working on a Navi that could truly befriend its operator. However, a program is only a program. Though a Navi could follow its operator's orders, they couldn't think and act on their own. I started thinking. I wondered, 'What if a NetOp had a connection with his or her Navi?'. I theorized that the Navi would respond to its operator's emotions, thus creating its own thoughts and feelings. Lan, did I ever tell you about the 'Navi Project'?"
"I've heard of it by name," Yuichiro's son answered. "But I don't know much about the project itself."
"At SciLab, we sought to create a new type of Navi," the scientist said, filling Lan in. "That's why our project was called the 'Navi Project'. We had two ideas on our revolutionary Navi, but we couldn't decide on which one to develop and test on. Therefore, the project was split into two sectors. One was led by Dr Cossak, who brought up the idea of an independent Navi, one that didn't need a NetOp. Dr Cossak's idea stemmed from the concept of free will, the right to make one's own decisions."
"And the other sector?" Maylu spoke up.
"The other sector worked on a Navi with human DNA. They chose me to lead the research, since I was the one that brought forth the idea. Unlike Dr Cossak's, it came from the belief that a biological connection between Navi and operator would strengthen the Navi, since said connection would bring the two together. After looking at human DNA, I came to a conclusion. If a Navi had the same DNA as its NetOp, the two would share that connection. The Navi's basic values and emotions would be the same. Then, the two entities would become one!"
"But how did your side of the project go, exactly?" Chaud asked.
"It was tough," Yuichiro sighed. "Making a virtual program with human DNA? I imagine that the idea was unthinkable until I came along! My group were able to make about 95% of the program, but that was all. No matter what we tried, we couldn't complete the last 5%! And so, my research came to a grinding halt. However..."
Yuichiro closed his eyes and adjusted his glasses, figuring out how to phrase this next part. The three that surrounded the PET tried to wait patiently, but they knew that Wily was going to complete his plans behind their backs!
"However... what, dad?" Lan asked after his father's brief pause.
"Sometime during our struggle to finish that little piece of the program, I had to withdraw from the project temporarily. My wife was about to give birth to twin boys and I wanted to be there for her."
As Yuichiro continued to speak, a thought was in Lan's head. He, too, was born around the time his father spoke of. He assumed that he was one of the baby boys, so that meant...
After all the pain and torture, what appeared as two infant boys finally arrived into the human world. As the twin sons wailed in the warmth of their new blankets, the witnesses to the childbirth couldn't help but feel overjoyed.
"They're... beautiful..." Haruka cried happily, tears flowing down her eyes. What should we call them, Yuichiro?"
"Immediately after the babies were born, I named one of them 'Hub'. My wife and I left Beach Street Hospital with grins that we couldn't pull off our faces. At the time, I thought that nothing would tear the four of us apart." A second later, the SciLab scientist shook his head. The expression on his face was grim. "Alas, that wasn't to be."
"What happened?" Lan asked.
"You see, Hub had HBD," his father answered. "One day, he began to suffer the effects. He had heart trouble and... died." Then, with a heavy heart, he sighed. It all came back to him. That day, 10 years ago, life changed.
Rarely were there cases of HBD in Beach Street Hospital and every attempt to cure the one or two victims before have ended in failure.
Unfortunately, for the Hikari family, this would be another one of those cases.
At first, the staff didn't know how to tell them, but they managed to find the correct words. They broke the bad news...
"It was the most heartbreaking moment of our lives," Yuichiro said. "Not even a year after our sons were born, one of them dies! Even though Hub only lived for two months, we would certainly remember him."
Hub will live on.
"That day, I vowed to keep his memory alive. Lan, Hub was your twin brother."
Maylu let out a gasp. No one could blame her. How long was that secret kept? Chaud looked over at Lan and knew that he had something to ask.
"How did you keep my brother's memory alive?"
"You two were born of the same egg, so your DNA was identical. I realized that I could use Hub's DNA to make the new type of Navi. That was the solution I was looking for, Lan! The Navi I made was your Navi, Megaman!"
Maylu held Lan's hand tight because of the shocking truth. Lan looked down, suddenly feeling guilty about all he did and said to Megaman. Meanwhile, Chaud closed his eyes and thought. He remembered what happened in the power plant and the battle Protoman had with Megaman.
"H-How...? How... can a civilian Navi... be equal to an Official? That's impossible!"
"Officials can fight alone, can't they?" Megaman asked Protoman.
"Huh?"
"I'm a civilian Navi, so I can't fight by myself," Megaman continued, a smile pulling across his face. "Lan's here to back me up and we're so close to each other, we might as well be brothers!"
"That's right!" Lan grinned. "The better friends you are with your NetOp, the better you'll fight."
Thinking back, it was ironic. Megaman and Lan really were brothers. Perhaps Chaud didn't share as strong of a connection with Protoman as he should have.
"Megaman is a new generation of Navi," Yuichiro continued. "He's as close to you as a brother. He is your brother! My research had a danger, though." Lan looked up and in front of his PET. "If I made the DNA 100% the same, Megaman's internal and external states might have synched with yours. Damage he took would damage you, too! However, the solution was simple: change Megaman's DNA by 0.001%.
Lan, if you use Hub. BAT, that 0.001% will disappear."
"Then... Megaman will be reborn as my... twin?" Lan's answer came not from words, but from a nod from his father. "I... I was always sending the guy to dangerous places," Lan said softly. "Did Megama- Hub, I mean... Did he know the truth?"
Once again, the SciLab scientist nodded.
"Dad?"
Yuichiro woke up to a small voice. He beamed at what he saw through the PET. Its jumpsuit was a darker shade of blue than its helmet, gloves and boots, and had cyan lines down the sides and yellow shoulder pads. On Megaman's chest and on where its ears would be lied the Hikari family symbol. The Navi cocked his head. Why was this guy smiling as if someone was brought back from the dead? His green eyes met with Dr Hikari's brown eyes.
"Where am I?" the Navi asked, confused. "Are you... okay?"
"Oh, yes, I'm doing great, Hub!" Yuichiro grinned, but cleared his throat after realizing what he called him. "Oh, I mean... I'm doing great, 'Megaman'!"
"Megaman? Dad, I thought my name was Hub. Oh, I must be... Hang on..." The blue Navi placed three of his fingers on his helmet, trying to remember all that had happened before. But wait a minute. Why did he remember that? How did he know that he was a computer program?
"So, you remember..."
"Yeah. It's weird, though. I don't actually feel too different here in the cyberworld." Megaman looked around, raised his arms up and down, walked around, threw his helmet up and caught it, even jogging on the spot. "Well, other than being a lot older, of course!"
Yuichiro chuckled at the quirks Megaman demonstrated. Clearly, he was more like his brother than dear Haruka expected. But that wasn't matter at hand. The scientist cleared his throat and asked Megaman if he could a favor for him.
"Well... Sure, what is it?" Megaman smiled.
"As soon as Lan turns old enough, you will be his NetNavi," Yuichiro began. "Please, could you not let him know who you really are, until I feel that he's ready? It would break his heart terribly if he knew that his brother couldn't be with him in the human world!"
"Dad... You have my word."
"I do?"
"We may not be together in the same world, but we're still brothers. Our bond shouldn't break, no matter where we are, right?"
For a moment, Yuichiro could have sworn that he saw Hub's old brown eyes again.
"If you knew the truth, you probably would have been too afraid to use Megaman," the scientist said. "And what can you do with a Navi you can't use?"
"Should Lan use Hub. BAT now?" Maylu asked slowly. "If Hub comes back... will he lose Megaman?"
From the corner of his eye, Yuichiro noticed how unsure Lan was.
"If both your DNA, Lan, are 100% the same, everything your Navi is affected by will affect you," he told him. "But the reverse is also true! Therefore, if you truly believe you can beat World Three, I think that Hub will sense it and help you."
Everything Lan heard was sinking into his mind. Megaman, Hub, was his brother. Everything he would be affected by would affect him, too. On top of that, in a way, he thought that he would be losing one person dear to him for another. However, were Megaman and Hub really different?
Not really.
Did it matter whether his brother was a Navi or a human? He didn't even think about the possibility when he was younger. Now that he knew about it, would it matter?
Nope.
"Okay," Lan finally spoke aloud, pointing the Hub. BAT file towards the PET. "I'll use it."
"Lan, you're doing the right thing," his father smiled.
"Hub!" Lan called out to his brother. "Come fight by my side! Applying Hub. BAT, now!"
In The World Three Computer Network...
"What's that?" Protoman gasped, noticing a thin, green beam descend from the cyber sky.
"Is that..." Before Roll could finish, the green beam entered the symbol on Megaman's chest and all the data that it contained was spread out across his body.
"L-Lan...?"
"Hub, it's me, Lan! Please, get up!"
"Lan..." Hub smiled. Somehow, he gained the energy to stand up properly. "What... What happened to me? I feel different."
Admittedly, he didn't look too different. His eye did change from green to brown. The yellow rectangle on his helmet shone slightly, too. However, the major difference was how his body felt. He felt more relaxed.
"Hub! It really is you!" Lan cried happily.
"Did you call me... Hub?"
"I've told him everything," a calm voice told him. Hub recognized it. He felt warm in hearing that voice speak to him. "And we used Hub. BAT to bring you back."
"Dad..." He stood straight, accepting what had happened.
"Lan, that glow on Hub's helmet means that his program is being rewritten," Yuichiro explained to Lan. "When it fades away, his power should be increased."
The Navi closed his eyes for a few seconds. He couldn't deny that he felt his strength increase. At the same time, he felt more relaxed. Perhaps that meant that he could go all out in battle without tiring out as quickly. In any case, he looked upwards and addressed Lan.
"Lan, I'm sorry for not telling you the truth earlier."
"No, Hub. I should be sorry," Lan said to him. "I've been ordering you around all this time and-"
"Hey, it's no problem! Truth be told, I've... I've always wanted to meet you in the real world, though watching you grow from here... It made me feel happy."
"Aw, Hub. You're embarrassing me," Lan chuckled. His brother laughed along for a while, but there was a rather awkward silence afterwards. "So..." Lan spoke up after a while. "How do I operate you now?"
"Just be yourself, Lan," Hub told him. "And I'll be myself, Megaman!"
"Not... Hub?"
"You've been calling me Megaman all your life. I think it's best to keep it that way. Now, c'mon, Lan. We have to stop World Three!"
"Of course! Jack out, Hu- I mean, Megaman!"
Originally, I wanted to name this chapter 'Brother, My Brother', after the song that played in Pokemon: The First Movie. However, I remembered what the song was about, so I decided to change it. If I ever do a novelization of BN2, I'll use 'Brother, My Brother' for a rather important scene in that game.
Regardless, we're coming to the end of this ride at long last. We don't have many chapters to go, so I hope you enjoyed it while it lasted. It's been quite the number of months since I started this novelization and it definitely took longer than expected to finish it. As much as I enjoyed writing it, all good things must come to an end.
So, next time on 'The Rise Of World Three', it'll be final battle time.
-Have a great day, week, month, whatever, and stay upbeat, y'all!-