Chapter 7 – Maintenance

The harsh sunlight broke through the window to the bedroom and shined on the bed. This woke Lan from his sleep. He remembered he had fallen asleep with his arms around Megaman last night. However, when he opened his eye, he found Megaman to not be in the bed with him. He started to gather his thoughts together as he slowly rose from the mattress.

"Megaman? Are you in here?" Lan couldn't see quite well, seeing as he just woke up, and the sun was rather bright today. However, he didn't need his sight to know what happened next. It came as a sudden movement, but Lan quickly figured out that Megaman had stepped in front of him and given him a good morning kiss. Lan, who was still trying to walk up, closed his eyes again to enjoy the contact.

"Good morning, Lan. Did you sleep well?"
"Good morning, Megaman. Yeah. I slept great."
"That's good to hear."

Lan's vision finally got use to the brightly illuminated room. He saw Megaman in front of him, fully dressed in the clothing that he wore last night, but this time, he was wearing some socks and an old pair of Lan's shoes. They were not really beat up, but they were "broken in", and they fit Megaman's feet perfectly.

"I see you found yourself some socks and shoes." Lan indicated the new pieces of clothing on Megaman, who just looked at the boy and smiled. He nodded his head and helped Lan out of bed. Lan looked around and grabbed his pajama bottoms and top, which were discarded to the side of the bed, and re-dressed himself.

"Oh, Lan. Your dad called this morning. Mom picked it up, and they said they are ready to analyze my data when we go down the SciLab."
"Oh, that's good news. Wait, you were downstairs already?"
"Yeah. Your mom made a really delicious breakfast."
"Did she…" Megaman interrupted Lan, knowing what he was thinking.
"No. She didn't hear anything last night. When she asked where I slept, I said on the floor with another blanket."

Lan smiled at Megaman. Lan was never good at lying. Everyone and their brother knew that. However, Megaman seemed to be good at it, since it seemed his mom didn't suspect anything happened. Lan leaned over to Megaman and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before going downstairs to eat.

"Good morning, Lan. I take it Megaman let you know about your father's call?"
"Morning, mom. Yeah. He told me what dad said."
"My, my. That Megaman. He came down and had breakfast. It was almost impossible for me to get him away from the table."
"Why is that, mom?"
"Well, he seemed to like the food so much, he looked like he was going to eat until he exploded. Oh, but, what can a woman do but make great food."
"You got that right."
"Here, Lan. There are still some waffles and syrup left. Help yourself."

Lan was happy to get rid of the food for his mother. Aside from sleeping and NetBattling, eating was Lan's favorite thing to do. He grabbed a small plate from a cabinet and put 3 waffles on it, then drenched the pastries in the rich syrup. It was strawberry-flavored syrup, one of Lan's favorites. Mrs. Hikari smiled at her son and then moved to the sink to wash the dishes that held Megaman's breakfast. Lan ate his breakfast with delight, making sure to grab a glass of milk from the refrigerator. The syrup was indeed rich, and the milk would help to wash it down after he ate.

It was only a few minutes later as Megaman came down the stairs to the living room. Lan had just finished his breakfast, and joined Megaman in the living room, both sitting down on the couch in front of the TV. The TV was on, as it normally was in the morning. Mrs. Hikari liked to listen to the morning news to see if anything interesting was going on.

"Lan. You better get ready. Your father wanted you and Megaman at SciLab as soon as you woke up." Mrs. Hikari's voice wasn't very commanding, but it was commanding enough to get Lan off the couch and walk up stairs to get dressed.

"Alright, mom. I'll be down in a minute," Lan called down the stairs as he entered his bedroom. Megaman waited in the living room for Lan to return. He didn't want to raise any suspicion. If he followed Lan upstairs when Lan was only going to get dressed, it might have not been the best thing to do. So, he decided he would simply wait for the boy to return. 'I wonder what they are going to do to me. They probably can't analyze my data while I am outside the PET. I guess I'll have to go back into it.' Megaman's thoughts didn't worry him. He was just curious as to how this would all turn out.

"Ready to go, Megaman?" Lan's voice brought Megaman out of his thoughts and back to reality. He looked at the boy, and smiled. "Yeah, Lan. I'm ready to go."

Lan started to walk for the front door, and Megaman was confused. He figured Lan was asking him to return to his PET.

"Lan? Aren't I going to go back into the PET?"
"Huh? Why would you want to?"
"Well…it is probably the only way your dad and the scientists at SciLab will be able to analyze my data."
"That doesn't mean that you have to return right now."
"Lan?"
"I mean…wouldn't it be a great experience for you to actually see Maylu, Dex, Yai, and Tory in person?"

Megaman had to admit, only seeing them through a video feed from the cameras mounted on a PET was ok, but seeing them in person would have been something else. So, Megaman simply nodded his head, stood up, and followed Lan out the front door.

"You two be careful, now. Don't get into any trouble, and don't cause your father any trouble," Mrs. Hikari called out from the front door, as the two boys started walking in the direction of SciLab. Lan and Megaman heard the comment, but didn't blush at it. They were too busy thinking about getting to SciLab first before anything else came mind. Well…getting to SciLab and showing Megaman off to Lan's friends.

"Hey, Lan! Wait up!" A voice called out from behind Lan and Megaman. They both turned around to see Maylu, Yai, Dex, and Tory running in an attempt to catch up wit the duo.

"Hey, guys! How's it going," Lan called to the group, still trying to catch up to him and Megaman.

"Hey, Lan. Who's the new guy? Someone you know," Dex asked, not aware of whom he was really taking about.

"Yeah, Lan. Who is he," Yai also inquired.
"Is it a new student," Maylu added.
"We all want to know, Lan," Tory concluded.

Lan and Megaman both looked at each other, exchanged confused looks, and burst out into a laughing fit. They found it amusing that their friends didn't remember what happened the day before. Well, then again, neither Lan nor Megaman told them anything about it. They were actually surprised that Chaud didn't say anything to them. Needless to say, the 4 other children standing there were not entirely amused.

"You guys. You don't recognize him?" All four of the children now had confused expressions on their faces. "It's Megaman." Lan's friends were, for lack of a better word, perplexed. They all knew that NetNavis could not be in the real world without a copyroid or Dimensional Area. But, if this was Megaman, then…

And, it finally hit them all at the same time. Additionally, they all said, in unison, "THE M-PROGRAM WORKED?" Now, the expressions on their faces went from perplexed and confused to shocked and surprised. They remembered Dr. Hikari saying that the M-Program was years away from fully functioning. So…how were Lan and Megaman able to get it to work?

"You got that right! When that NetNavi attacked SciLab yesterday, we took a huge chance and installed the M-Program into Megaman. It worked liked a charm!"
"Lan, you know that isn't true. You thought the program deleted me, at first."
"Hey, it was a scary scene!"

Megaman chuckled to himself. This was starting to get amusing for him. He didn't remember much about what happened after the M-Program was installed. The last thing he remembered was telling Lan to believe in him. This scene started to play out on his head, as he became absorbed in his thoughts about the event. However, he was pulled out of his current train of thought when several hands starting touching various parts of his body. He looked around and saw that Maylu, Dex, Tory, and Yai were all trying to touch him.

Maylu was poking his left arm, while Yai was poking his right arm. Tory and Dex were both poking at his face. All of them were trying to see if the NetNavi standing in front of them was 'in the flesh' or some kind of solid hologram, similar to Rush. Megaman started to blush slightly with all of the attention he was getting.

"Lan…are you sure that Megaman isn't some kind of solid hologram like Rush," Maylu asked, her expression showing to be more inquisitive than shocked.

"Well, if it helps with the explanation, I did come into contact with water last night, and my body wasn't disrupted like if Rush came into contact with water," Megaman stated. He was referring to taking the shower with Lan the night before. He was literally drenched from the shower, and his body did not get disrupted in anyway, proving that he wasn't just a solid hologram, but actually a human body.

"Anyway, I need to get Megaman to SciLab. They need to run some tests on him to make sure he is working properly," Lan stated, starting to turn around and walk down in the direction of SciLab.

"Will you be going to school after that?" Yai's comment was filled with curiosity. Dex, Tory, and Maylu all nodded in agreement with Yai.

"Yeah, I'll be there. I'm just dropping Megaman and my PET off." Lan didn't realize it at first, but now that Megaman was outside the PET, he started to refer to them as separate entities. Before, he would just say he was dropping Megaman off somewhere, and it would mean Megaman and the PET he was in. However, now that Megaman could actually leave his PET and enter the real world, he started to see them as completely separate things. "I'll see you guys there!"

Lan and Megaman watched as their friends starting walking in the opposite direction. When they disappeared around a corner, the NetOp and NetNavi continued on their way to SciLab. 'It shouldn't take us long to get there. Hopefully, we won't be late.' Lan's thoughts, one again, turned to the current situation. Megaman looked at his friend's face, and noticed that he was thinking about something. Megaman had to admit, he was curious as to what Lan was thinking about.

"Lan, what are you thinking about?"
"Huh? Oh…nothing really."
"You sure about that? You look a little worried."
"Well…I was thinking about something. But, I don't think it's important."
"Lan, whenever you say that, it always turns out to be very important."
"…"

Lan knew that he did that quite often. Something would happen, and he would brush it off as nothing important. However, it always ended up being something that needed to be addressed. So, Lan decided to suck up his pride and let Megaman know what he was thinking about.

"Megaman…do you think we should…let our feelings be known to everyone else?"
"Lan?"
"I mean…do you consider us to be a couple? I mean…a real couple?"

Megaman was a little confused as to what Lan was talking about. Normally, it was the other way around. Normally, it was Lan who was confused whenever Megaman had to explain something to the boy. However, this time, Megaman was in Lan's position. The Navi's face reflected his feelings, and Lan took note of this.

"Megaman…I'm ask if you consider you and me to be together, a couple, like…dating-type couple." Now, things started to register in Megaman's mind. He finally realized what Lan was asking.

"Lan…what happened last night didn't happen because I wanted to know how it felt. It happened because of a different reason." Megaman stopped there. He looked at Lan, who was now smiling at him. Megaman took that as Lan knew what would be said next. But, Lan's face still gave off a 'you haven't answered my question yet' look.

"And, yes. I do consider us a couple," Megaman stated, return the smile to Lan.
"So do I."

Lan kept on smiling, and his mind returned to his initial question towards Megaman, as he stated it again, hoping to get an answer. "Like I asked earlier…should we let everyone else know?"

Megaman simply shook his head no. "Nah, not right now. We shouldn't surprise them too much. And, we don't know if I will be able to keep the M-Program. For all we know, something might happen down the line, and I may have to have it uninstalled. That would ruin everything."

Lan looked at his friend…no…his boyfriend, simply smiled, and took him by the hand. The usually optimistic Lan Hikari actually showed some bit of pessimism, as he silently agreed with Megaman. This did cause the expression on his face to grow a little grim, but he still showed signs of happiness.

Neither of them had noticed, but when they both came out of their thoughts, they found themselves at the front gate of SciLab.

"Wow. I didn't realize we were here already," Lan stated, still holding Megaman's hand, who didn't mind the contact at all.
"Yeah, I guess our talking made us lose track of time."
"You got that right, Megaman."
"Should we go inside?"
"Yeah, might as well. The sooner the analysis is done, the sooner you can get out of there."
"I agree, Lan. Let's go."

With that, Megaman and Lan went through the front gate. Lan quickly remembered Megaman's words and released his hand. Megaman was a little disappointed by the loss of touch, but he knew that they had to keep their relationship under wraps. They didn't want people to think it to be strange or anything like that. After all, a romantic relationship between a human and a NetNavi did seem rather strange in itself.

"Oh, there you two are!" A voice called from in front of the pair. Dr. Hikari came out of the building and starting walking towards his son and Megaman. Dr. Hikari took notice that Megaman was outside the PET, which was what he wanted for the first step of the analysis. He also noticed that Megaman was dressed in regular clothing, which was also something he wanted for the analysis.

"Hey, Dad! Megaman and I came here, just like you asked."
"That's great, Lan. And, thank you for agreeing to this, Megaman."
"No problem, Dr. Hikari. Glad to be of help."
"That's the spirit, Megaman. So, shall we go inside?"

Megaman and Lan nodded their heads in unison and followed the scientist into the lobby of SciLab. They proceeded past the door that led to the interior of the building, and noticed a lot of construction going on. 'They must be fixing the damage caused by Cannonman,' Lan thought. It was a pretty tough battle. It did do a lot of damage to the SciLab structure, as well.

They continued past the NetNavi Recovery Room, where Megaman and Lan noticed that Protoman's PET was no longer inside. They took that as a good sign that Protoman was up and running once again. Lan knew that Chaud was probably happy that he got Protoman back.

"Ok, here we are, Laboratory #2. We'll run some tests on Megaman in here and analyze the resulting data that we collect. Hopefully, we will be able to discover exactly how the M-Program works, and if there are any after-effects." Dr. Hikari opened the door as he was making his statement. Lan knew that when he left Megaman and his PET here, they would both be in good hands. So, Lan handed his father the PET, as Megaman starting walking into the room.

Dr. Hikari and Lan were still outside the room, talking.

"I'll make sure we take good care of him, Lan. You don't need to worry about anything."
"I'm not worried, Dad. I know he is in good hands, And, I'm sure you will figure this program out."
"Hehe, you always were optimistic, Lan, just like your grandfather."
"Oh, crap! I'm gonna be late!"
"Don't worry, Lan. I'll have one of the SciLab vans drop you off at school. You won't be late."
"Thanks, dad."

Lan left his dad to his work and went down the corridor. His father told him not to worry, and he said he wasn't worried, but it was a lie. Actually, this was probably the only time Lan could remember telling a lie and not getting caught by his own father. Lan was worried. He was worried that Megaman would have to have the M-Program taken out of him because something wasn't quite right. He was worried, if that happened, he would never get to spend time with Megaman ever again…not for a few years, actually, until they perfected the program.

"!" Lan's thinking caused him to lose focus and he ran into someone in the corridor. He fell, ass-first, into the ground with a loud -thud-.

"Sorry, my bad." Lan instinctively took his hands and put them behind him, both lifting himself up and rubbing his backside to help ease the pain. His eyes were fixated on the floor, as he didn't want to make eye contact with the person he just hit yet.

"Lan…do you never look where you are going?" The voice sounded awfully familiar. Lan finally got up on his feet and moved his eyes away from the floor. He slowly raised his head up so that his eyes would meet with the person who he ran into…and it happened to be Chaud, among other people.

"Chaud! Sorry…I have a lot of my mind, and I'm running late to get to school." Lan tried to be as apologetic as he could.

"Don't worry about it, Lan. You never were one to pay attention," Chaud said back, displaying his usual grin.

"Hey, I can't help it if I have a lot of think about!"
"Think? You? Now, I have seen it all. Hehe."
"I don't have time for this. I gotta get to school before I'm late."
"Then, I guess I shouldn't keep you waiting."
"Oh, Chaud. Did you get Protoman back?"
"Yeah, he is fine now. Dr. Hikari says that Protoman might have been the first successful attempt at using the M-Program, However, we didn't know what was in store for us at the time."
"Yeah, if what happened to Megaman was what was happening to Protoman, he might be here instead of Megaman."
"When it comes to new technology like the M-Program, you can't be too careful."
"You got that right."
"By the way, Lan. Chief Keifer wants to see us this afternoon. And, by us, he means you, me, and the 'in the flesh' Megaman. The M-Program peaked his interest, and he wants to see the results."
"Sure. Let him know I'll be there after scho…"

Lan's words were stopped mid-sentence as he remembered where he was supposed to be going. "OH, MAN! NOW, I'M GONNA BE LATE FOR SURE!" Lan ran past Chaud and to the front gate. The SciLab van was still waiting for him, but it was about ready to leave. Lan just barely made it inside before it left the front gate and went down the street.

Chaud looked out the glass doors of the Lobby and smiled. "That Lan…never can keep is mind on one thing."

A voice called out from somewhere on Chaud. "I have to agree with you, Chaud. He can be pretty scatter-brained sometimes."

"Yup. You are completely right, Protoman."

A tiny and translucent Protoman appeared on Chaud's shoulder. Protoman was looking much better since Famous fixed him up. He was even able to defragment some of Protoman's data, allowing him to move through the Net at his full speed.

"By the way, Chaud. The company called. You have a meeting with that distribution company about the new software BlazeQuest developed."
"Yeah, I remember, Protoman. But, that distribution company isn't worth the money."
"How do you figure?"
"Did you forget what happened the last time we had them distribute something we developed?"
"Now that you mention it, I DO remember, and the mix-up was not that bad, Chaud."
"Says you. We were flooded with calls for the entire day. It was total chaos."
"What do you want me to tell them?"
"Tell them to find a different distribution company. The current one is not worth my time."

With that, Protoman gave Chaud a nod and disappeared to send the message off.

~~!~~
~~!~~

"Alright, Megaman. Just relax for a moment. We'll start the testing soon." Dr. Hikari's words were actually soothing to Megaman. In all honesty, he would rather have the man who created him run the tests than anyone else, even Famous. He figured Dr. Hikari knew more about him than anyone else, and to have his creator examine and run the tests was a weight off of Megaman's shoulders.

"Ok, Megaman. We are going to start now. What I want you to do first is try to return to the PET via the NetLine."

Megaman gave the older man a nod and concentrated on sending his data back to the PET. He wasn't exactly sure how to do this, but he figured it had to have been controlled by something inside him. He closed his eyes and concentrated on establishing a link between himself and the PET through the NetLine. It didn't take much effort, and Megaman started to feel himself being dragged through the NetLine and into the PET. The scientists in the room all looked at Megaman, whose body was now starting to break up into pixilated boxes and disappear.

In one swift motion, Megaman disappeared from sight in an explosion of pixilated boxes. All of the scientists, including Dr. Hikari, had worried expressions on their faces. However, those expressions were quickly replaced with smiles of relief when they heard a voice call out from the PET.

"I'm ok. I made it back into the PET." They were able to quickly identify the voice as Megaman's. Dr. Hikari lifted the device up from the table it was sitting on and looked at the monitor. He didn't see Megaman, though. It grew a little worried, but the emotion soon left him when Megaman's translucent hologram appeared on the device. However, he wasn't in the clothing Lan picked out for him. Rather, he appeared in his Navi jumpsuit.

"Great job, Megaman. It looks like 3 functions of the M-Program are working."
"3 Functions? You know that many are working just based on me returning to the PET?"
"Actually, I figured it out from what happened yesterday and today. You see, one function was to make your body human, another one was for BattleChip transmissions, and the third was using the NetLine to return you to the Cyberworld."
"I see. I guess we are still down one function, though."
"You're right, Megaman. Now that we know you can move back to the Cyberworld, we have to make sure that you can move back to the human world, as well."

Megaman nodded his head, as he already knew what Dr. Hikari was going to ask of him. He then kept his eyes open, but concentrated on creating a NetLine and then transferring his data to the human world via the NetLine. It didn't take much effort, as his hologram disappeared, and pixilated boxes appeared in the human world. They all converged into one spot and form into a shape. When the boxes finally reorganized and defragmented, there stood Megaman. However, he was not in his jumpsuit. Rather, he had materialized in the clothing that he was wearing before he had re-entered his PET.

"Good job, Megaman."
"Thanks, Dr. Hikari."
"Hmmm…that is strange, though."
"What is?"
"Your clothing. When you re-entered your PET, your clothing changed back to your jumpsuit, helmet, and everything else you would normally wear while in the Cyberworld. However, you just came back to the human world, and you are wearing the clothing you had when before you went back to your PET."
"You're right. That is a little strange."

Dr. Hikari looked at one of the scientists in the room, seeing if perhaps he had an explanation for this occurrence. However, the scientist didn't give any hint of knowing exactly what had happened. Dr. Hikari looked away and back at Megaman, thinking of a theory as to why this has happened.

"Megaman, can you re-enter the Cyberworld again? I want to test a theory to explain this."
"No problem."

Megaman, once again, concentrated on the NetLine to the PET, and attempted to re-transmit his data back to the device. Since he had just done it once already, this time, he did it faster than the first time. His body exploded in pixilated boxes and disappeared, only to reappear shortly after inside the tiny computer in Dr. Hikari's hand. Megaman was in his normal jumpsuit and armor.

Dr. Hikari then turned to another scientist. "Alright. Let's run a scan on Megaman's data. I want to see if anything new, besides the M-Program, has been added to him."

"Yes, sir!"

"Megaman, I'm going to jack you into the computer so we can analyze your data now. Everything that we needed to see visually with the M-Program is finished. We just need to see how your data is reacting to the presence of the program, and see if it has added anything that we were not made aware of in the beginning."

Megaman looked up from the device, and simply nodded his head. He knew that this whole process wasn't going to be easy, and it would most likely take a long time to complete. But, he wasn't going to complain. He wanted to make sure that he was able to keep the program. He liked being able to be with Lan's friends in the real world, and he didn't want to give that up.

A red beam of light came from the PET as it made contact with a lens on a computer terminal. Megaman was then jacked into the computer. He appeared on the terminal screen, ready to be put into a sleep-like state while the analysis took place. Megaman was no stranger to this. He had been analyzed so many times that it was almost second nature to him.

"Ok, Megaman. We are going to put you on standby while we analyze your data. It shouldn't take too long. Hopefully, it won't last more than 3 hours or so."
"No problem. I've been 'under the knife' longer than that. Hehe."

Dr. Hikari and Megaman both laughed a little at the comment. He had programmed Megaman to have a sense of humor, and it showed from time to time. As their laughter faded, Dr. Hikari opened Megaman's program and initiated Standby mode, therefore putting Megaman in a sleep-like state.

A pair of rings appeared around Megaman's now sleeping body and began to rotate around him, scanning and compiling his data so that the scientists in the room could analyze it, making sure everything was working normally.

Dr. Hikari could only hope that things would work out in the end.

~~!~~
~~!~~

"Well, Lan. It looks like you made it just on time, again." Ms. Mari smiled as she stated the obvious. Lan had just gotten to class on time, actually for the third day in a row. He was on time the day before yesterday, he made it to SciLab early yesterday, and, with some help from a SciLab van, got to class on-time today. This was a new record for Lan. He had never been on-time this much.

Lan smiled and took his seat. He briefly looked around the classroom to see who was here and who wasn't. He noticed that Dex, Yai, and Maylu were all in their seats. He didn't bother looking for Tory, since he was in classroom 6-B, while they were in classroom 6-A. He did notice one of the desks was empty. It must have been a student that Lan normally didn't talk to, since he couldn't remember who sat there.

"Hey, Lan. How is Megaman," Maylu whispered, leaning over to Lan's desk while Ms. Mari was writing something on the board.

"Yeah. How is he? Everything ok," Dex added.

"Oh…I don't know, actually. As soon as I dropped him off, I had to leave." Lan didn't exactly know how Megaman was doing, but he knew Megaman was in good hands. If anything happened, he would get a call from SciLab. The driver of the SciLab van that brought him to school was instructed to give Lan a SubPET, so that he could still carry out everyday functions.

"Lan, Dex, Maylu. Perhaps you three have something to add to this problem?" Ms. Mari's voice brought the children's attention back to the front of the room. Ms. Mari did sound a little angry, but she still maintained a somewhat cheerful expression on her face.

"Not at all, Ms. Mari," The three of them replied, in unison.

"Well, then. Since your chat is done, I do have an announcement to make."

The class looked at the front of the room. Two announcements in 3 days? That was a rarity. It was something that barely, if ever, happened.

"Today, I have a surprise lecturer for you. For those of you who were in classroom 5-A last year, you might remember him."

Lan, Dex, and Maylu looked at each other. They knew who it was. It was the only lecturer they had the year before. All other "lecturers" they had were either on field trips or given to multiple classrooms in the Lecture Hall. And, since Ms. Mari specifically pointed out that classroom 5-A would have more knowledge than anyone else about this specific person, it could only be one person.

"This lecturer will be coming in shortly and explaining some more advanced principles of Virus Busting. He use to be an expert in the field, and is willing to share his experience with us."

Now, the three children knew exactly who it was. Now, they had to sit through his boring lecture. The door to classroom 6-A started to slide open, as a tall man who wore glasses, a dress shirt, and blue pants stepped inside.

"Now, everyone. I would like you to welcome Mr. Higsby."

~~!~~
~~!~~

"Wow…that was some boring lecture today," Lan said, as he stretched his arms before picking up the chopsticks in front of him. It was lunchtime, and Higsby's lecture was over.

"Lan, how can you really say that? I mean, sure. Higsby can be boring at times, but he was sharing his knowledge with us. Doesn't that count for something?" Maylu's voice sounded a little angry. While she did agree with Lan that the lecture was boring, she at least had the manners to not blurt it out.

"Maylu, you don't understand. Megaman and I are already top notch NetBattlers, and we knew all of those 'advanced' techniques Higsby talked about. It was like a broken record."

"Lan…you are so full of yourself, sometimes."
"Yeah, Lan. Don't be so full of yourself. That is why we have a hard time in our battles sometimes."

The voice from that last comment made Lan swallow his food hard, most of it not chewed fully. He recognized that voice, and instinctively took out his SubPET. On the screen of the device, he saw Megaman, giving off a smile and laughing to himself a bit.

"Megaman! Are they all done with the tests?"
"Not yet. We are just taking a small break right now. They are analyzing a large chunk of data that was collected."
"So…does that mean that they are almost done?"
"Couldn't tell ya. I've never been examined like this before. But, so far, nothing bad had been found."
"That's awesome, Megaman. That must mean that the M-Program is working completely."
"Don't get too excited, Lan. The testing isn't done just yet. They still have a good amount to do. But, your dad said that it should all be done by the time you are out of school today."
"Just make sure you come back, ok, Megaman?"
"I promise, Lan."

With that, they exchanged smiles, and Megaman's image left the SubPET screen. Lan didn't notice, but Maylu, Dex, and Yai were all leaning over his shoulders, getting a look and eavesdropping on their conversation. As he put the device back in his shorts' pocket, he turned around to see his three friends' faces right there. This made him jump a little bit.

"So, what did he say? Is everything ok?" Maylu was the first to ask.
"Yeah, come on. Tell us, Lan!" Dex joined in soon afterwards.
"Will Megaman's testing be done soon?" Yai concluded with another question.

"Guys, guys! Geez. You scared me there for a moment," Lan stated, obviously a little shocked to see his friends that close to him, and him now knowing about it.

"Enough stalling, Lan. Tell us!" Dex was starting to get a little excited about it. But, he did tend to do that on occasion.

"Well, the testing isn't done yet. But, so far, they haven't found anything wrong with Megaman. Things are looking really good right now. Hopefully, they will be done once school is out for the day."

The other three children all got relieved expressions on their faces. Whether they admitted it or not, they were all worried about Megaman. That NetNavi was the one who saved the world not once, not twice, but three times. To Lan's friends, Megaman wasn't just some NetNavi you worry about a little bit, then forget it. No. Megaman was a NetNavi who you always worried about when something happened to him.

"Well, at least that is good news, Lan," Maylu said, with relief in her voice.
"That means we can NetBattle soon," Dex added to the conversation.
"Yeah, and you and Megaman can beat Dex, like you always do," Yai concluded.

Dex shot Yai a look after her comment, but silently admitted defeat. Maylu, Yai, and Lan all chuckled at the comment and Dex's reaction. It's true. Dex tried to be a hot shot. But, when it came to NetBattling Lan and Megaman, there was no contest. Megaman would defeat Gutsman over and over and over again.

"Ok, everyone. Make sure you finish up your lunches. Class will need to begin soon," Ms. Mari said, in her usual cheery voice, but still holding a degree of commanding, as a teacher needed.

The children finished up their lunches, and class then resumed.

~~!~~
~~!~~

"Hmmm…ok, Megaman. Let's try something. I want you to come back into the human world for about 10 minutes."
"You sure, Dr. Hikari?"
"Yes, I am sure. I want to test the range of the NetLine. So, I want to keep the PET here, and have you go in one of the SciLab vans. If my theory is correct, when you get to a certain range, the NetLine will attempt to get your data back to the PET, because if you go out of range, your data might break up, and result in deletion."
"That sounds…dangerous. Do we know if the NetLine will actually retrieve my data if I get too far away?"
"That's the 64,000 Zenny question. But, this is important. If you and Lan ever get separated while you are in the real world, we need to know how far you can go from the PET before anything serious happens. I'm afraid…this test is a necessary evil."
"I understand."
"Thank you, Megaman. Come on over whenever you are ready."

Megaman nodded at Dr. Hikari. Megaman had moved from the Cyberworld to the human world so much that day, he didn't need to concentrate much at all to establish the NetLine and transfer over. In just a few seconds, he disappeared from the PET and appeared in the human world after the pixilated boxes formed. Just like all the other times, his clothing changed from his normal jumpsuit and armor to a t-shirt, blue jeans, and shoes. Dr. Hikari had figured out that when Megaman went back inside the PET, the M-Program saved his clothing in digital form and stored it inside his Navi Program. When he moved from the Cyberworld to the human world, the M-Program would switch the clothing.

"Ok, Megaman. I'll leave the PET in here. The NetLine transmits through solid objects. So, interference should not be a problem."
"Alright. I'll keep track of the distance in the SciLab van."
"Good, and I'll keep track here in the lab."

Megaman and Dr. Hikari exchanged nods, and Megaman left the laboratory. He was being escorted by a SciLab scientist to the front gate, where a van was waiting for them. Megaman climbed into the passenger seat, while the scientist got into the driver seat. The van was then started, and they proceeded to leave.

-Distance: 200 meters-

Dr. Hikari looked at the computer screen in front of him. The distance between Megaman and the PET was starting to grow. So far, nothing seemed to be going on. The distance kept increasing, and Dr. Hikari was hopeful that they might reach 1 kilometer.

-Distance: 400 meters-

Megaman sat in the passenger seat of the van, letting the on-board computer keep track of the distance. He wasn't feeling strange all. He was actually hoping that the distance would keep increasing, in case he and Lan got separated during some kind of attack.

-Distance: 600 meters-

Dr. Hikari's eyes were fixated on the computer screen. While the distance was still increasing, he was also recording any data that appeared on the screen, noting any changes in the NetLine which would indicate something going wrong. So far, things were rather good.

-Distance: 800 meters-

Megaman started to feel a little bit uneasy. The distance was getting further and further apart. In fact, he felt a little nauseated in his stomach. Normally, if he ever worried about something, he didn't feel this way. He immediately contacted Dr. Hikari.

"Dr. Hikari. I'm not feeling well."
"Megaman? What do you mean?"
"Well…I am feeling a little nauseated, like I am sick to my stomach."
"Hmmm…have the driver stop the van. This might mean we are reaching the limit."

Megaman looked over the driver and let him know what Dr. Hikari said. The driver then started to slow the van down, pulling over to the side of the road, making a complete stop.

-Distance: 1 kilometer-

As the van stopped, Megaman started feeling worse. His body was aching, as though something inside him was slowing being torn apart. He looked at the video screen, and Dr. Hikari immediately took note of Megaman's pained expression.

"Alright. I think that is far enough. You can come back, now. We don't want anything to happen to you."

Megaman, who was in too much pain to respond, simply gave a very quick nod, and the driver turned around and headed back to SciLab. Only 200 meters from where they had stopped, Megaman started to feel better. His body no longer ached, but he still felt a little nauseous.

A few minutes later, The van arrived back at SciLab. Megaman and the driver proceeded into the building and headed for Laboratory #2.

"There you are, Megaman. How are you feeling?" Dr. Hikari was worried about Megaman. He looked extremely pained only a few minutes ago.

"I'm ok, now."
"You don't feel any nausea at all?"
"Nope. That passed as we were coming here."
"Do you remember at which marker it was?"
"I think around the 800 meter marker. That is when it started on the way out, and when it went away on the trip back."
"I think we just found the range of the Net Line."
"Probably."

Dr. Hikari looked at the information that was gathered from the experiment. He let Megaman know what the NetLine, not only allowed for the transmission of data from the PET to the materialized NetNavi, but was also the very lifeline for the NetNavi. The NetLine was the singled that was needed to keep the NetNavi materialized. If it was disrupted or the NetNavi got too far from the source, the program would forcibly retrieve the NetNavi and return them to their PET.

"Oh, look at the time. Lan is probably going to be out of school soon."
"Oh, I didn't notice the time."
"Hey, Megaman. Why don't you go and surprise Lan when he leaves school?"
"Hey, that's a great idea. Wait…that means we are done here?"
"As done as we can get. We got everything that needed to get done…well…done."

Megaman smiled at the comment, took the PET, and left for DenTech Academy.

~~!~~
~~!~~

As the bell rang, Lan bolted out of his desk and made his way to the classroom door. After not talking to Megaman for a while, he wanted to see him the first chance he got. Maylu, Yai, and Dex took note of Lan's movements, and decided it best to just let him see his best friend.

Lan had just gotten in the hallway when he was Tory, who stopped him. "Hey, Lan. Where are you off to in such a rush?"

"I need to get to SciLab to see how Megaman is doing."
"Ohh, I see. Well, I hope he is doing ok. Tell him I said hello!"
"Will do, Tory. Thanks!"

Lan proceeded down the hallway and out the front doors of the school. He was in the courtyard, and noticed it was empty. 'Of course it's empty. I'm probably the first one out here.' Lan's attention was drawn from the empty courtyard to a figure that was standing by the front gate to the school. He squinted his eyes and saw that it was Megaman. He became filled with joy that the M-Program was still in place.

"Hey, Lan. Over here!"
"Megaman! You're back!"
"Yeah, they said that, basically, everything was working fine."
"That's great to hear. I thought for sure that they might have had to take the program out of you."
"What's that? Is the usually optimistic Lan Hikari showing signs of pessimism?"
"Ha-ha. Very funny, Megaman."

Megaman chuckled at Lan's reaction. But, after only a second or two, Lan joined Megaman in the laughter. He had to admit, he always looked for the best possible outcome of events. However, lately, he didn't seem to do that often. It was like something inside him was making him realize other potential outcomes.

"By the way, Lan. We figured out that the NetLine has a range."
"Really? How far?"
"Well, at 800 meters, I started to feel a little nauseous, and at 1 kilometer, it felt like my whole body was being ripped apart from the inside. Your dad said that 1 kilometer was probably the maximum distance I can be away from the PET before the M-Program forcibly recalls my data."
"That shouldn't be a problem. I know you won't wander off that much."

Megaman shot Lan a look, but they both started to laugh at the comment. Megaman never really left Lan's side. He was devoted to the boy 100 percent. However, that didn't mean that they didn't have their disagreements. None of them were really bad, mostly just a small exchange of words, which then ended in both of them apologizing to the other.

"Hey, Megaman. It's probably been a long day for you. Let's head home."

Megaman looked at Lan and smiled, nodding his head, as they walked back home.

~~!~~
~~!~~

Wow! I didn't expect to get this chapter out so late. I was hoping to get more reviews for the previous chapter before I continued, but I figured it would be better if I uploaded this one, hoping to spark more interest!