NE::Megaman NT Warrior: Memories

by Litintha

Dr. Hikari has invented a way to have Navis appear in the real world. Megaman is the first successful test, but Lan gets Amnesia! Can Megaman's love help Lan get his memories back? LanxMegaman yaoi. Chapter 17 is up. Please R & R and vote in the poll!

16. Chapter 16: Days Go By

Hello everyone!

Here is Chapter 16: Days Go By!

Note: This is the last chapter before the next "hanky panky" chapter! So, two people will be hooking up...but will it be Lan and Megaman, or Maylu and Lan? Also, I don't know how long this chapter will be. I guess we will find out at the end!

Let us begin! Enjoy!

~~!~~
~~!~~

-Wednesday-

It was after school of the children of DenTech City. Many of them were heading home to complete their homework, going over to a friend's house to hang out, or hitting a local arcade to watch and maybe even participate in some NetBattles with their friends or greatest rivals. By all means, it was just your everyday, run-of-the-mill day for the children of DenTech City...

...all except one.

"Will he be ok, dad?"

Dr. Hikari didn't take his face off the of the computer monitor. He was completely focused in on his work, tapping several of the buttons on the console in front of him repeatedly. He didn't even acknowledge that his son had even asked him a question. There was no sound that came out of the man's mouth, not even a simple grunt of thoughtful hum. He was completely silent, leaving only his typing to be the only sound in the room.

Lan couldn't do much but look on. The screen in front of his displayed everything that a scientist needed to know in a situation such as this. The only downside was that Lan didn't understand a single word that was on the screen. To the boy, it was all gibberish.

He had gone to school earlier that day, but the worry for his NetNavi made him easily distracted, not to mention that he still needed to plan out his date with Maylu. He could only think that he was extremely lucky to have been able to concentrate on his schoolwork at any point during the day. And, to top it all off, he thought he was always this lucky if what everyone said was true; that he juggled schoolwork, personal life, and NetSaver duties on a day to day basis.

He was having a hard enough time grasping just that information that he wondered if he ever went insane or just had a breakdown. But, he didn't have the courage to ask anyone that.

So, Lan just decided to leave it at that and concentrate on the problem at hand.

"..." The boy looked at his father, the source of the sound that he just heard.

"I hope that's a good sound..."
"I've been working on Megaman for almost 24 hours now. I was able to repair a lot of his data, but it is going to a be a little while before he will be at a hundred percent."
"...How much longer?"
"I can't be certain, but I would have to guess that in a day or two, Megaman will be just fine."

Lan let out a sigh of relief. It was a huge weight off his shoulders, knowing that Megaman was going to be alright. Still, he couldn't help but feel that Megaman wouldn't have gotten this way if it wasn't for him not being able to assist the Navi. All Lan could feel was that this was all somehow his fault...thinking that he was not a suitable NetOp for Megaman.

Dr. Hikari looked at his son, studying his face in the process. He could see that Lan was deep in thought, and the fact that the emotions of the thoughts were starting to surface on his face gave the scientist an idea of what Lan was thinking of. With his eyes fixated on the screen with his NetNavi on it, it was a fool-proof assumption to the older man that his son was thinking about Megaman. What exactly he was thinking about, Dr. Hikari could not guess, though.

There was a long silence in the room, only the sound of the various pieces of equipment could be heard. Occasionally, the door would open and close, another scientist of SciLab leaving or entering the room.

Instinctively, Dr. Hikari walked behind Lan and put his hand on the boy's shoulder. "Son, you don't need to worry about Megaman. He has been through a lot worse, and I am sure that you know about that. He is in good hands."

Lan turned his head and faced his father, who was giving his son a reassuring smile. He knew that he should have been comforted by the smile of his father, but Lan still couldn't get the thought of this entire thing being his fault out of his mind. All he could do was slightly tilt his head downward, hoping that it would all go away in due time. However, deep down inside, Lan knew that this was something that only time would be able to cure.

"I know...it's just that...I can't help feel that this is all my fault. I should have been there for Megaman when he needed me. But, I wasn't there for him."
"It isn't something that you need to worry about, Lan. He will pull through this."
"Are you sure, Dad?"
"As sure as the sky is blue."

Feeling a little better about the situation, Lan tilted his head upward, looking back at the screen that showed his NetNavi, still being examined and repaired. He had never seen Megaman this damaged before. Then again, he couldn't remember the last time that Megaman had been in a battle like the one he was in only yesterday.

And, that was something that bothered the boy to no end.

As they were looking on, Lan noticed that the rings that were circling Megaman started to come to a stop. He wasn't exactly sure what that meant, but he could guess that the repairs to the Navi were almost, if not, already complete.

In only a few more seconds, the rings stopped moving, and just as quickly, started retracting back into themselves. Dr. Hikari knew that this meant the process was over, and that Megaman should be fine. He had been working on Navi was for a very long time, almost a complete 24 hours. And now, it seemed that the time he put into the repairs about to pay off; pay off in that his son would be happy and that Megaman would be fixed and back to his normal self.

What seemed to have been slower than the rings disappearing, Megaman began to open his eyes. To Dr. Hikari, this was a good sign. This meant that the damage was not severe enough to have caused any type of interference with the Navi's boot-up process.

"Megaman...he's...waking up."
"That he is, Lan. It seems the repairs are complete."
"Do you think that he was damaged a lot?"
"It's certain that he took quite a beating from Eclipse. However, now that he is waking up, we will be able to see exactly what the damage to his systems will cause."
"Do you think the damage will be...permanent?"
"I don't think so. The amount of repairs that was put into him is certain to make sure nothing is permanent. The only downside is that if there are any problems, they are sure to surface quickly, but then go away just as quick."
"So, all we can do is wait and see..."
"Right, Lan."

The sound of computerized noises snatched the attention of the pair just as their conversation ended. The pair looked over at the computer screen to see that Megaman was finally standing on his own two feet, attempting to wake up after being in standby mode for nearly 30 hours.

Opening his eyes gingerly due to the amount of light in his environment, Megaman started looking around the area, immediately noticing that he was in a SciLab NetNavi Recovery computer. And, he also immediately realized that it was not just any of the computers. It was Dr. Hikari's own computer terminal.

Finally getting his eyes completely adjusted to the light, Megaman looked out and saw Lan and Dr. Hikari standing on the other end of the video feed. The Navi was filled with relief that they were ok. "Hi Dr. Hikari."

"Hello, Megaman. Are you feeling ok?"
"A little bit wobbly, but I will be fine."
"That's good to hear."

Looking at the smile on the older man's face made it clear to Megaman that things were going to be ok. After giving a nod of acknowledgment, the Navi turned his gaze upon Lan, standing to the left of his father.

Even though he was badly damaged in the fight with Eclipse, Megaman still remembered why he couldn't concentrate on the battle with the UnderNet Mafia Agent. It was the surprise news he heard from Lan...the news that he, not only wanted to take Maylu out on a date, but that he also asked her not two minutes before the attack in NetCity.

And, just like clockwork, Megaman knew that he had to look at Lan to acknowledge his presence in the room. It wasn't as easy as he thought it would be to look directly into the boy's eyes, simply because he knew that there was no way that he would ever be able to look at him the same way again...the way as two people in love look at each other. In the Navi's mind, him and Lan would never become more than friends now.

And, that made him upset more than Lan actually asking Maylu out on a date.

However, Megaman had to snap out of his stupor at some point. He didn't want anyone to see him in some kind of depression. That would make things a little more complicated than they needed to be.

"Hey, Megaman. Are you ok?"
"Oh, I'm fine, Lan. Just thinking about a few things."
"What kind of things?"
"Just...a few things that have been in my mind for a bit."
"Mind sharing?"

That was not the question that Megaman wanted to hear. Sure, he wanted to share stuff with Lan as best he could. In fact, under normal circumstances, Megaman would share just about everything with Lan. From what he did while in NetCity to stuff that the boy missed in class.

Still, he knew that he couldn't tell him...not right now. "It's kinda private. It's nothing, really. Just things I need to figure out on my own." The Navi had no choice but to lie. He just couldn't tell Lan that he was feeling confined and depressed. The fact that he couldn't even touch the boy's face was simply tearing the Navi up on the inside. What he wouldn't give to feel Lan's skin against his own, even if it was just a handshake. Hell, at this point, Megaman would even settle for a high-five.

"...Alright." Lan didn't seem to be too convinced, but Megaman could see that the issue was going to be dropped, at least by his NetOp. However, the Navi knew better. He knew that what was on his mind had to be said, more or less to someone else.

And, Megaman knew who he had to go talk to.

~~!~~
~~!~~

Lan slowly skated down the sidewalk, taking his time in getting back home. He had attended school earlier that day, but given the circumstances with Megaman, the boy was unable to pay a lot of attention to anything that was happening. His mind was too much in a fog to have been able to concentrate on whatever lecture or in-class assignments that Ms. Mari was giving that day. Luckily for him, his teacher hadn't taken any kind of notice to his day-long distraction.

The sky that day was clear, for the most part. There were passing clouds every now and then. And, according to the forecast for the day, and the rest of the week, the weather was going to be very mild.

Megaman decided that now was as better a time as any to make his move. "Hey, Lan. Do you mind if I leave the PET for a little bit?"

"Leave the PET? Do you need to go somewhere?"
"Well...yeah. I need to go and talk to someone."
"Really? Who do you need to talk to?"
"Just a friend of mine. It's important to me."

Lan looked at his shoulder, where Megaman's hologram was located at the moment. He wasn't sure why the Navi needed to visit this person, but he could tell, just by looking into the Navi's eyes, that it was something that was important to him.

"Alright. Go ahead. I'll just be going home." Megaman nodded his head in appreciation. "Thanks, Lan."

With that, Megaman disappeared from sight.

~~!~~
~~!~~

After traveling through the Net, Megaman finally arrived at his destination. The firewall was rather large, and showed signs of very high security. He knew that he couldn't break in, nor would he want to. He just needed to talk to the person behind it.

A security Navi spotted Megaman, quickly approaching him. "State your name and your reason for being here." He could see that the security Navi was programmed to be well-armed, strict, and even short-tempered. Megaman knew that this wasn't the kind of Navi that you would to cross on a bad day.

Still, he had to get the message across to this Navi that he needed to talk to someone inside. "My name is Megaman, and I am here to see the company's NetNavi."

"Do you have an appointment?"
"Well...no, but we both work together."
"You are not permitted to enter unless you have an appointment."
"Well...can you at least check to see if they..."
"Your access is denied. Move along, or you will be forced to logout."

Megaman wasn't one that responded well to threats on his well-being. However, under normal circumstances, it was always a Net terrorist that made the threat on his life. This time was different. This time it was an upstanding NetNavi that was only doing what he was programmed to do.

Still, he HAD to talk to the person inside. "Look, I really need to talk to him. Are you sure you can't just contact him and ask?"

"This is your final warning. Leave now, or be forcibly logged out!" Megaman could see that the security Navi was dead serious. It already raised up a blaster and aimed it a Megaman. He didn't know what to do. This was probably going to be his only chance to have his talk before Lan's date with Maylu in only two days. 'I have to stand my ground. I have to talk with him!'

He remained immobile. Megaman made sure that did not move from his spot. "Your time is up. Forced logout commencing!" The Navi began to charge his cannon, keeping his aim steady, not wavering one bit as the energy began to collect inside the firing chamber.

However, fortune would seem to be on Megaman's side as another NetNavi appeared in front of him, positioning himself between Megaman and the security Navi. "And, just who do you think you are aiming that cannon at?" The voice was familiar, and quite stern, almost as if the Navi held some kind of superiority over the security Navi. If Megaman had been any other Navi, he would have next to no idea who was in front of them. But, Megaman knew better. He knew exactly who it was, just by the sound of his voice.

It was Protoman.

The security Navi immediately changed it's demeanor. "My deepest apologizes, sir! I was unaware that this person was an acquaintance of yours!" Bowing to the red-clad Navi many times over, the security Navi moved to the side to let Protoman through. However, he did not move. Instead, he turned his attention to the other Navi standing off to the side. "Was there something I can help you with, Megaman?"

Megaman simply nodded his head before speaking.

"Yeah. Protoman. I was wondering if we could...talk for a little bit."
"Talk? About what?"
"Well...it's about Lan, mostly."
"I see. I was wondering why you wanted to talk with me, since you always just talk to Lan about stuff. However, given the situation, I guess it can't be helped."

Megaman wasn't sure if that was suppose to be an insult or his sometimes cold demeanor. Either way, he was happy that Protoman was going to talk with him. "Thanks, Protoman." Megaman looked at the other Navi, and immediately noticed a small smirk cross his face. He knew what that smirk meant, and he was happy to see it. "Well, then. Let's go inside."

The red-clad Navi ushered Megaman through a small portal in the firewall, entering the mainframe of BlazeQuest Games. There were a lot of processes going on as they entered. Megaman couldn't even fathom how much information was processed, stored, or re-routed through the system that he was standing in.

They soon got to a section of the mainframe that seemed to be partitioned off from the rest, as though it was a private sector. Megaman looked around and saw numerous different files and programs around. To his eyes, they all looked to be vital files and programs. 'I guess this is where Protoman does all of his work for Chaud and the rest of the company. This area looks so important. It reminds me of the SciLab computer system.'

"So, you wanted to talk to me, Megaman?"
"Oh, yeah. I just need someone to talk to...it's about Lan."
"Don't you think it would be better to talk to Dr. or Mrs. Hikari? They are his parents, after all."
"Well, it's...a little more complicated. And, I wanted to talk to someone that might understand more than they would."
"So, you are saying that his parents would not understand something about their own son?"
"It isn't that they won't understand, but they might not...like what they hear."

Protoman raised an eyebrow below his visor, which Megaman could not see. In his head, the red-clad Navi was trying to figure out what exactly Megaman had come to talk about. Sure enough, in the past, Megaman would simply talk to Lan or one of his parents if the situation called for it. However, Protoman knew that since the accident, there were things running around inside of the blue-clad Navi's mind that he couldn't bring up to Lan, or even his parents, more than likely his feelings about the whole situation with the boy.

Still, his friend was in need of help, and Protoman knew that he might be able to assist, as long as it didn't take up too much of his time. "Well, I am all ears, Megaman. Spill it."

"Well...umm..." Megaman wasn't able to find the courage to continue. He found it frustrating that when it came to life or death situations, he was always able to muster up the courage to face the challenge head on. However, when it came to love, he seemed to be even more shy than Mr. Higsby...and that is saying a lot.

"...I think Lan is going to make a huge mistake."
"What kind of mistake are you talking about?"
"It's...complicated."
"You have already established that much. What's complicated about it?"
"It's just that...Lan is going out on a...date...with Maylu this Friday."
"So, how is that a mistake? Those two look like the perfect couple."

Protoman's comment was like a knife cutting into Megaman's heart. He wanted to yell at Protoman for that comment. However, he knew he had to keep his cool if wanted the advice he was hoping to get. "It may seem like it, but...I know he is making a huge mistake if he goes out with Maylu."

"Well, Megaman. If you are so adamant about your position, who do you think Lan should go out with if Maylu is a 'huge mistake'?" The blue-armored Navi wasn't aware of it, but Protoman knew where this conversation was going. He could see it in Megaman's eyes; the pain of having a loved one slip right through your fingers. He briefly remembered that look in Chaud's eyes after the boy used the Dark Chip on him.

Megaman tried not to look frustrated, or even blush. He tried to hide his emotions as best he could, but it was to no avail. Protoman was able to see it all. "Lan...has to be together with someone else. That person is the only one that can be with him...and keep him happy."

"And, who is this person?"
"That's not important."
"It is important, Megaman. You can't expect me to help you if you can't tell me who the other person is."
"Protoman...I am telling you the other person's name isn't important. I just need to make Lan see that he belongs with that person."
"And, what is so special about this 'other person' that will make and keep Lan happy?"

The frustration was starting to build up inside Megaman, at quite a fast pace, as well. All he came here for was to see if Protoman would tell him that he needs to make Lan see that the person is who Lan should be with. But, instead, he has noticed that Protoman is completely avoiding that part and keeps asking for a name.

To put it lightly, this wasn't going as Megaman had hoped; not in the least.

And, the bottled up frustration finally started coming out. "Look, Protoman. I just need to know if I should tell Lan or not!"

"That's something you have to ask yourself, Megaman. You have to ask yourself whether or not you should destroy a potentially good relationship because you 'think' it is a mistake."
"What? I came here to ask for your help, Protoman, not a lecture!"
"And a lecture is all you will get unless you tell me what I want to know about this other person!"

Once again, Megaman felt more and more frustration building up inside him. Even what he already let out wasn't enough to calm him down. He felt as though Protoman was deliberately pushing his buttons over this issue. 'Can't you just get over his pride and give me what advice I want to hear? This is pointless!'

But, Protoman knew what was going on now, and he had an answer for Megaman. But, he had to hear the other Navi say it before he could continue on. So, all he could do now was keep pressing Megaman's buttons until he finally cracked under the pressure. "Megaman. If you want an answer other than a lecture, you have to tell me. Who is the other person?"

"I told you! It's not important!"
"You getting worked up over it shows that it is important. In fact, it is important enough that you don't want to mention it for whatever reason you have."
"Protoman, just...let it go!"
"Not this time, Megaman. Who is it?"

And, it finally happened. The pressure from the argument between them forced Megaman to shout out the answer that Protoman was looking for, and what Megaman hoped to avoid saying. "It's me, ok! I am the one that should be with Lan!" With his shouted comment said, he could feel the tears starting to form in his eyes. The shear amount of bottled up emotion was finally too much for the Navi to contain.

Megaman tried his best to wipe away whatever tears threatened to roll down his face and cheeks. He turned away from the other Navi, not wanting him to see how weak he must have looked at that moment. He attempted to control his breathing more, making sure that a single whimper did not escape his mouth while he took a moment to get rid of the tears that had now started to free-fall down his face.

It was a moment that Megaman had hoped would not happened, to say the least.

"Do you love him?"

The silence from Protoman finally broke. The question that he imposed grabbed a hold of Megaman's attention. The Navi turned around, his eyes still showing traces of tears. As he spoke, his voice quivered. "Y...yeah. I...I do love Lan." Megaman fully expected Protoman to think so much less of him now. Not only was he and Lan involved romantically with each other, but to top it all off, Megaman was a NetNavi. The blue-clad Navi knew that the other Navi would catch on at some point.

Still, he had to ask a question. "Do you...think it's...weird?"

Protoman looked at Megaman, his expression had not changed much since they started talking. He stared with his normal demeanor at the blue-armor Navi. The stare was starting to make Megaman nervous. The last time Protoman looked at him like this was during the N1 Grand Prix, back when they were more rivals than friends.

I was unnerving then, and it was still unnerving now.

But, in due time, Protoman finally smiled. "You always were the weird Navi of your group, Megaman."

"What do you mean by that?"
"I mean that you do what you want and don't let others determine your path."
"Yeah...I guess. And, that's something Lan does too, which is why..."
"Which is why you love him, because you and him relate to each other on a level that can't be reached with just your friends."

Megaman simply nodded his head. The answer from Protoman wasn't the way that Megaman wanted, but it was still something. He found that if he actually read between the lines, what the red-clad Navi said was really a compliment. "Umm...thanks, I guess. But...I still don't know what I should do.."

"Megaman. You said that you love Lan, right?"
"Of course, I do! With all my heart and soul!"
"You know, I had figured out something was up between the two of you when you were spending a lot of time out of your PET. You are easier to read than a book, sometimes."

Megaman slowly frowned at the statement. However, he knew that he could sometimes be predictable, and therefore, decided to let the comment slide for the time being. "But, I remember an old saying, Megaman, and perhaps it is time for you to see if you can practice it."

"What is that?"
"It goes like this: 'If you truly love something or something, then set it free.'"
"And, just what is that suppose to mean?"
"What I think it means is that if you really do love Lan the way you say you do, then you wouldn't want to keep him for yourself. You would want him to be happy...no matter who he decided to be with."

Megaman could feel the tears starting to form in his eyes again. 'Wait...so he expects me to just let Lan and Maylu date and fall in love? How can...can I accept that?' He spoke up to Protoman, trying not to make his voice quiver as he talked. "But, Protoman, how can I...I..."

"Megaman. That is my advice to you. If you truly love Lan that much, then don't be selfish with him..." The blue-clad Navi could fee the tears rolling down his face. It felt as thought Protoman was issuing him a death sentence. "But...I..."

"But nothing, Megaman. That's all I can do for you. Now, you have to do what is best for Lan. On that, I cannot be of help. Now, if you will excuse me, I need to get back to work, as Chaud is expecting several important documents today."

With that, Protoman vanished from the area, leaving Megaman on his knees, crying like he never thought he could.

~~!~~
~~!~~

I know that I'll never be
the man that you need or love
Yeah, baby it's killin' me
to stand here and see
I'm not what you've been dreamin' of

~~!~~
~~!~~

-Thursday-

Lan had noticed that Megaman wasn't talkative since he came back to his PET the day before. He didn't say much. He didn't do much. All the Navi seemed to do was just stay in his PET and help the boy with the day-to-day tasks of being a student. And, to top it all off, Lan still didn't know who Megaman went to visit, what was said, or even if a fight broke out. It was a complete mystery to the boy.

And, every time Lan asked, he got the same response from the Navi. "I really don't want to talk about it.

School was almost over for the day. Lan had actually done his homework the night before, not even pestering Megaman to help him with it. Then again, Megaman had gone into sleep mode even before Lan started on his homework. So, he wasn't even able to ask Megaman for help. That made it difficult for the boy, considering that he didn't even remotely remember the majority of what he was taught. So, he had to open up a few of his textbooks and get the information out of them.

-bing, bing, bing, bing-

The final bell for the day rung, causing a lot of students to move all at once, creating much noise.

"Remember, everyone. I expect you all to have an idea for your quarterly projects tomorrow. Good-bye!"

The students all gave their good-byes to Ms. Mari as they exited the classroom. Many were planning on either going home to work on the nightly homework, or down to the arcade to have a NetBattle with friends, or even just to have fun.

Lan, however, need to concentrate on other things.

"Lan! Wait up!" Maylu called from behind the boy. He stopped walking and turned around, seeing the girl running up to him and having her hands in the air, almost signaling for him to stop and wait for her or that she was waving hello.

"Hey. What's up, Maylu?"
"I was just wondering where we were going tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?"
"Don't tell me you forgot already! Our date, remember?"

Suddenly, Lan remembered. He recalled that he asked Maylu out on the date, but he didn't remember picking a place for them to go. Lan knew a few places around the city, mostly from talking with his friends and Megaman, but he hadn't come to a conclusion on where he was going to take Maylu out to.

He would have talked to Megaman about it, but the Navi just didn't seem to be in such a talkative mood since his fight with Eclipse. In fact, Lan had noticed that Megaman hadn't said pretty much anything since he got back from his "talk" with a "friend." What frustrated Lan was that the Navi didn't even say what the talk was about, or even who the friend was. The shear amount of mystery surrounding Megaman's talk with his friend was beginning to make Lan upset, not to mentioned untrusted by his own Navi.

However, he knew this wasn't the time to think about that. He had to think of a place to take Maylu the next day. He hadn't put much thought into it, and since she was right there, he had to say something. "Well...I was thinking maybe...an early dinner at the DenTech Tower and then a...movie?"

"Wow, Lan. That sounds really fun!"
"Really? Well...it is just an idea, really."
"Well, I think it is a good one."

"Yeah, Maylu. We can spend some time picking out an outfit for you." Roll, overhearing the conversation, appeared on Maylu's shoulder. The translucent hologram was showing several signs of excitement, both in her face and in her movements.

Like Maylu, Roll also couldn't believe that Lan actually asked the girl out on a date. It had taken him such a long time to even work up the courage to do such a thing, and now it was only a day away. In fact, the excitement for the upcoming day was so much, both Maylu and Roll completely forgot that Lan was probably doing this because he didn't remotely remember anything that happened before the accident with Cannonman.

"You're right, Roll. I still haven't picked out anything to wear."
"I know a few things that can probably work well together. We can check them out after your piano lessons."
"Sounds like a plan, Roll."

At this point, Lan had realized that the two of them had lost track of where they were going. The boy looked around and saw that the two of them had already left the school, walked out of the courtyard, and were already halfway home. 'Wow. We were chatting that much? Did we also lose track of time?' Lan looked at a nearby clock, showing that it was already 3:30 pm.

Lan didn't believe that it was already thirty minutes after school ending. He had figured only five or ten minutes had passed since then. Obviously, he was wrong. "So, Maylu. What time do you want me to get you tomorrow?" Lan wasn't exactly sure what a good time for her was, but he knew that he had to say something to get her attention, hoping that she had an answer to his question.

"What time tomorrow?"
"Yeah. When should I come over to your house?"
"Oh, right. Sorry. I got caught up in deciding on an outfit, I forgot what the outfit was for."
"That's ok. I just want to know. That's all."
"Let's see...piano lessons at 4...my parents come home at 5...how about 5:30?"
"Alright. 5:30 it is."

Maylu and Lan exchanged smiles, content with everything setup for their date the next day.

~~!~~
~~!~~

"Hey, Megaman. What do you think I should wear tomorrow?"

Lan was trying to get his Navi to talk. He had been so quiet lately that it was starting to worry the boy. Normally, Megaman was always there, ready to give some advice, help him with a problem, and even, more importantly, help him remember things that were important to him. After all, to Lan, it was Megaman who seemed to help him work up the courage to ask Maylu on the date.

Still, the boy did not hear an answer from the Navi. Now, not only was Lan starting to get worried, but the constant lack of response was also starting to annoy him. "Come on, Megaman. You have to talk to me sometime."

However, there was still no answer.

"Come on, Megaman! Answer me, will ya?"

Finally, after shouting at his PET, Megaman's hologram appeared on Lan's shoulder. He looked at his translucent friend, and immediately noticed something. He could tell right off the bat that Megaman wasn't himself. The look on his face was so...heartbroken, for lack of a better word. Although Lan didn't remember much about the Navi, he couldn't remember a time when Megaman looked like he did at that moment.

Consequently, Lan was his friend, and he knew that he had to look out for the Navi, and hopefully, get to the bottom of his something depressing mood. "Talk to me, Megaman. What's wrong?"

"You should probably wear what you normally do. If not, then a shirt with a collar and black jeans would probably work best."

Lan didn't know where all that was coming from, but he figured out that Megaman was answering his early question about what to wear. Still, he had to continue on with the issue at hand. "Thanks for that, Megaman. But right now, I want to know what is wrong with you."

"I'm fine. I just don't want to talk about it."
"But, I do, Megaman. You're not yourself, and you need to talk to someone."
"I told you, Lan. I am fine. I don't want to talk about it."
"Megaman..."

"Lan, please just...just drop it." The boy could tell that the Navi was starting to get annoyed by the semi-interrogation. His voice was the biggest part that seemed to be annoyed by it. And, it wasn't hard to Lan to see that the Navi's body language also spelled out annoyance.

"...Fine. But, if you want to talk, I am right here."

Megaman, still not in the mood to try and argue with Lan, slightly nodded his head. In fact, he nodded his head so slightly, that Lan barely saw it move.

However, the lack of movement was about to change, for both of them.

A loud crash was heard not too far from where Lan had been walking. The crash caused numerous parked vehicles to have their alarms set off due to the violent tremors which originated from the location of the crash. Megaman knew what this meant, and he also knew something else: He knew that this meant Lan was in danger. 'If Lan goes that way...He won't stand a chance against them!'

And, his fears came to pass. "Megaman! What in the world could that have been? Do we get earthquakes around here?" At this point, Megaman needed to think of something that would make Lan not worry about what just happened, and just continue on home. The Navi knew that home was the safest place for Lan at a time like this.

"It was probably nothing, Lan. Let's just go home."
"It sure didn't feel like nothing."
"Some really heavy construction equipment probably just fell from on top of a building. Let's just go home."
"But, Megaman. Someone might have gotten hurt. We should check it out."

He thought about objecting, and he knew he should have, but Megaman couldn't bring himself to say anything. It just felt to him that the two were just becoming more and more distant from one another.

And so, keeping his objections to himself, Megaman kept quiet and let Lan continue to the source of the loud explosion and, most likely, the source of the tremor. 'I just hope nothing bad happens.'

After a short run down a few blocks, Lan and Megaman finally reached the area. A lot of people were running around, screaming, yelling, and making all manner of noise. It was hard for the boy to even hear his own thoughts. A lot of vehicles were also speeding away from the area, as well as a lot of debris scattered all around. Whatever caused the tremor and loud explosion sound definitely could have easily been some kind of bomb or explosive device.

Then again, stuff like that was something that Lan had very little to no knowledge about.

"What could have caused all of this?"
"I don't know, Lan. But, it must have been something big."
"Well, let's check it out."
"...I still don't think this is a good idea, Lan."

"Well, we don't have anything to lose if it was just construction equipment, right?" Lan's observation of the situation was without flaw. Megaman could see that the boy still held courage in his heart when it came to dangerous situations such as this one. However, what Megaman still didn't tell Lan was that there was a possibility that the object that caused the tremors was not just come construction equipment.

No. Megaman knew better than that, especially after all of the recent happenings.

After getting past the crowds of people and vehicles, Lan finally arrived at the sight. He looked around in astonishment. "What happened here? There's so much...destruction. There's no way a piece of construction equipment could have caused this!"

"Lan...you're right. It has to be something else."
"But, what could it be, Megaman?"
"Well, I think...never mind. We should just let the police handle this. Let's get out of here, Lan."

The boy looked at the hologram on his shoulder, a look of confusion on his face. "Megaman, unless I am wrong, I am a NetSaver. That means I am part of the police force, right?" Now, he had Megaman cornered. The Navi didn't want to admit it, but Lan was right on this matter. It wasn't that he wanted Lan to be wrong about it, but that he just didn't want Lan to get into any danger, which happened to be the case every time something like this happened in DenTech.

Deep down inside, Megaman could feel Lan slowly slipping away from him, both physically and emotionally.

Still, he had to admit defeat this one time, and hope that he wouldn't have to again. "...Yeah. You are, Lan. Let's go check it out." With a nod of his head, Lan started to talk around the area, looking carefully at all of the different pieces of debris. He didn't know what he was looking for, but he could only guess that he would know a clue if he saw one. Unfortunately for the boy, that was easier thought than done.

Much of the debris was still intact. Most of it was just pieces of concrete from the sidewalks in the area, as well as pieces of pavement from the streets. They were all scattered around the area in large chunks. During his search, Lan was also looking for anyone that might have gotten caught in the incident. He wanted to make sure that there wasn't anyone trapped beneath the rubble, or even worse, killed the falling debris. However, a major drawback to him being the only one that was searching meant that he had to find these people by himself, and attempt to rescue them, again by himself.

Luckily, after a few minutes of searching around, the boy did not find anyone. 'That's a relief. Everyone got out of the area in time.' He smiled inward. He wasn't sure if that was how he normally talked, but he thought that was starting to sound just like a police officer.

"Lan, over there! It's the crater that was formed when the object crashed."
"Wow. It looks huge."
"Yeah. If someone falls at a fast enough speed and at the right angle, a large crater like that one will form."

"You seem to know a lot about it..." Lan made his observation, which caught Megaman's attention. He wasn't sure what to say now. He didn't want to let on that he knew more than he said. He also didn't want Lan to find out that this was much more dangerous than he had thought.

The Navi was about speed, when they both heard a voice from somewhere in the wreckage. "Well, hello there, Lan Hikari. Megaman. It has been far too long." The voice sound extremely familiar to the pair. There was only person who they had faced that would have such a malevolent voice, not to mention the amount of "politeness" in his voice.

It was Eclipse.

Lan stared in awe. "Wa..w...Wait! How can a NetNavi be in the real world?" The boy didn't understand how a NetNavi was able to be in the real world. However, it slipped him mind that he had been explained that a few days ago. And, Megaman knew that he had to quickly explain it before anything happened.

"Lan, remember what I told you a few day ago? A NetNavi can appear in the real world with the help of a Copyroid."
"Oh, yeah. I remember that now."
"Right. So, Eclipse is using a Copyroid right now. And, worst of all, he can actually hurt us!"

The boy was a little confused by Megaman's comment, considering that he knew that the Navi was inside his PET. However, Lan also knew that this wasn't time to be thinking about stuff like that. He knew that he had to concentrate on what Eclipse might do to them. "Well, Lan Hikari. Since you seem to knew enough about what is going on here, I'll give you the honor of being able to experience what it is like to be in the presence of one such as myself!"

Without another word, Eclipse lunged forward, attempting to attack Lan. However, Eclipse was far enough away from the boy to have allowed him time to move out of the way. The impact several yards back where the UnderNet Agent hit caused the ground to shake even more. The impact also caused even more of the already scattered debris to get kicked up into the air, separating and scattering into all different directions. Megaman's hologram looked on with worry. He remembered the last time that Lan had to face an UnderNet Mafia agent in the real world, and the turnout was something that has been causing him more pain than being stabbed with a WideSword.

But, the Navi knew that he had to stayed concentrated on the situation at hand. He did the only thing he could do to help the situation.

He called Famous.

"Mr. Famous! Mr. Famous! Come in!" Megaman attempted to use the PET to contact SciLab, hoping that someone on the other end would pickup. The Navi knew that if he could get in into contact with SciLab, he would be able to help Lan in a tremendous way. However, there was a problem: Megaman couldn't seem to get a hold of anyone at SciLab!

'Crap...what am I suppose to do now? I can't call them!' Not knowing what was going on outside of the PET, Megaman reactivated the holo-projector on the PET, appearing that Lan's shoulder. He could see that the fight was still going on.

"Lan, please run away! You can't take him on like this."
"I have to try, Megaman. It's my duty as a NetSaver!"
"But, it isn't worth your life, Lan. Please, just listen to me and get somewhere safe."

Neither of the two of them could see Eclipse anywhere. The boy had evaded another attack from the Navi, who seemed to be moving rather slowly for a NetNavi. Lan couldn't quite put his finger on it, but he was getting a feeling that Eclipse was just toying with him, not showing his true power or unleashing his full potential as a NetNavi. It was actually both soothing and nerve wrecking for the boy, at the same time. It was soothing in a sense that he wasn't hurt yet, and that Eclipse may keep doing this for a while. However, it was nerve wrecking because Lan knew that Eclipse could do better, and that he may eventually stop his little games and come at the boy full force.

It was something that he didn't want to think about, but knew deep down that it could happen.

"Megaman...this guys is after me. There isn't any 'safe' place for me right now. If I don't make my stand, he will just keep chasing me no matter where I go. And, I don't want to put anyone else in danger if he just wants me. So, I am staying."

The Navi was shocked to hear what just came out of Lan's mouth. Megaman hadn't seen this kind of courage from the boy since before...the accident. 'Could it be that Lan is starting to even remember his own confidence and courage?' The Navi had several thoughts running through his mind at that moment. He began to think that this whole Amnesia thing wasn't going to last much longer, and that Lan would be back to normal in no time. And, if Lan was going to be himself soon, then that meant...

"That is very heart-warming to hear, Lan Hikari. It really was a great speech. Such poise and articulation." Eclipse's voice could be heard close by.

"Well, I guess I should thank you for that, but given what you did to Megaman two days ago, I don't want to hear it."
"No worries there, Lan Hikari. I'll make sure you never hear anything again."

'Oh, great. I don't like the sound of that.' Lan could think about the comment more, but Eclipse had appeared out of a large pile of rubble, immediately launching another frontal attack. Lan, still having the advantage of distance, dodged in time. Still, even during the heat of battle, Lan couldn't figure out how he was able to dodge these attacks of easily. He figured that he would have gotten hit at least once or twice by now. However, it was quite the opposite; He hadn't been injured thus far.

Back inside Megaman's PET, the Navi tried once again to get into contact with SciLab. "Mr. Famous! Dr. Hikari! Is anyone there? Lan needs help!" Still, there was no response from either of the two. Megaman knew damn well that they were both at SciLab. Neither of them ever left the place unless they were going either home or to the NetPolice Headquarters downtime. And, considering that it was only 4:00 in the afternoon, both of them should have still been at the Lab.

There was another break in the fight, as Eclipse stood several yards away from Lan. The boy was sure now that the UnderNet agent was simply toying with him. "Where is your NetNavi, Lan Hikari? I don't see his hologram around here." Lan didn't move his gaze off of Eclipse. 'He must be trying to distract me,' Lan thought. Still, out of the corners of his eyes, he tried as best he could to focus. His searched confirmed the other Navi's statement. Megaman was not on either of his shoulders.

Still trying to keep his gaze fixated on Eclipse, Lan spoke. "I'm sure is doing something important, like finding a way to get rid of you."

"I highly doubt that, Lan Hikari. That pathetic NetNavi couldn't get rid of me the first time we met."
"That was then, and this is now, Eclipse!"
"Those who don't learn from the past are doomed to repeat it. What makes you think this will be any different?"

Honestly, Lan didn't have an answer to that question. He wasn't sure what he could say in order to contradict his opponent. The both of them continued to simply stare at each other, not letting their eyes off of the other one.

Meanwhile, Megaman attempted to anything and almost everything within his power to make contact with SciLab. It was proving to be more and more difficult than he had thought. 'There has to be something that is blocking the PET communication from reaching SciLab. But, where is it coming from?' The Navi couldn't answer the question quite well. He never had a problem with contacting SciLab from the PET before. However, now, it seems that something was jamming any type of transmission from getting out of the PET and reaching SciLab.

And, just then, Eclipse decided to say something during the silence. "If Megaman is trying to contact your precious SciLab, it won't work!" The Navi heard this and immediately activated the holographic projector, appearing on Lan's left shoulder. The boy heard the sound and looked at his NetNavi. "Megaman. Is that what you have been trying to do?"

"It is. But, how did he know?"

Eclipse laughed. "It's simple. I am the lead Intelligence Officer for the UnderNet Mafia. I gathered the data from your previous fights with some of our agents, and decided that the best way to keep you from utilizing CrossFusion was to jam any and all transmissions from your PET to SciLab. Now, you cannot call for a Dimensional Area!"

Lan just stood there. He knew he had heard of a Dimensional Area before, but he could remember where. He had to think for a moment, but he had to make sure that he didn't take his eye off of Eclipse in the process.

"This is bad. Now, we can't contain him in a small area."
"You are correct, Megaman. Without the aid of your Dimensional Area technology, you won't stop me from ever chasing either of you two!"
"We will still beat you, Eclipse! I know we will!"

'I hope...' Megaman's hologram disappeared from sight as he went back into the PET's Cyberworld to find a way to get a communication to SciLab. "There has to be a way! He couldn't have completely blocked off every possible way of getting a message to SciLab." Megaman didn't realize it at first, but he had started thinking out loud. Fortunately, neither Lan nor Eclipse could hear him. He was in almost complete seclusion until he could unravel a method.

"Hmmm...he said we can't talk to SciLab from our PET..." All the Navi could do was think about what the other Navi had said. Megaman figured that there must be some kind of clue in what Eclipse said that would help them in this situation.

"Woah!"

Megaman heard Lan yell out, forcing him to stop thinking about contacting SciLab and back to the more pressing matter at hand. He knew that Lan yelling wasn't a good thing, and his gut was telling him that Eclipse had launched another attack on the boy.

Hoping that he wasn't right, Megaman activated the holographic projector on the PET and once again appeared on Lan's shoulder. To his surprise, and much needed relief, the Navi saw that Lan was just fine. However, as he looked around, you noticed that the area around them was started to get dark, much darker than it should be for the time of day.

Unfortunately, Megaman noticed that hue of the darkness that was encircling then. 'This isn't good. Eclipse is using Enshrouding Nebula!'

"Lan! Be careful! Eclipse is using what same thing he used on me when he attacked NetCity."
"You mean that thing that kept me from getting BattleChips to you?"
"Exactly. It was dangerous then, and now that Eclipse is here in the real world, it might be even more dangerous."

"I got this, Megaman. There isn't any need to worry." The Navi wanted to believe him, but there wasn't anything that the Navi could do to ease his new worries. He already had enough on mind with not being able to even contact SciLab, and now he had to worry about Lan's safety even more than before. Still, Megaman had to find a way to get in contact with SciLab.

It was then that Eclipse started to make his move. He threw one arm in the air, pointing to the sky. "Solar Darkness!" as he finished his words, Lan noticed that the sky, what little light there was left, began to grow even more dark. Again, he knew that this wasn't because of the time of day. Thankfully, he was able to recall this attack when Eclipse fought Megaman. He knew what was coming, and did his best to prepare for it.

However, in Lan's case, the only thing he could do to "prepare" for it was get ready to run in any direction that would take him to safety.

"This, Lan Hikari, is going to be the instrument of your demise!"
"You have to hit me with your attack first, Eclipse!"
"Don't think for a minute that I won't, Lan Hikari. Feel the power of space!"

The seemingly unusual solar eclipse appeared to have reached it's full extend. 'Now, if I remember correctly, there should be a dark...' Lan's thought was interrupted as the moon-like object began to emit a beam of darkness from it. The boy had to act quickly if he wanted to avoid getting hit by the beam.

Getting his thoughts in place and pulling his mind together, Lan jumped to the right of where he was standing, completely evading the beam. And, as if he thought it was going to follow him, Lan started rolling on his side in the direction he had jumped, trying to make sure that if the beam was going to follow him, he would have a head start and may completely stay out of the beam.

That was his only hope at that moment.

Meanwhile, Megaman had gone back inside the PET in hopes of finding a way to get in contact with Dr. Hikari to Famous. He still had to think of a way of getting around the communication block that Eclipse had put up. 'He said we can't contact SciLab directly...directly...'

It was then that it finally dawned on Megaman. "That's it! I can call Chaud and Protoman and have them reroute our call through their PET!" The Navi had shouted out the answer that he had been looking for. It was all falling into place. "If I can get a hold of Chaud and have him reroute our communication through his PET, I should be able to bypass Eclipse's block!"

Without another moment to lose, Megaman attempted to get a hold of Chaud. His only hope that was Chaud was back in the country and not still in Netopia. PETs were able to contact other PETs that were still in the same country as they were without any hassle. However, when it came to cross-continental PET communication, the only way to achieve that was to use NetNavi and talk via NetCity. All of this was because each country had it's own special network that was used for PET communication. The downside was that they were not compatible with all the others, and Megaman knew that because of that limitation, if Chaud was in another country on business, then his plan was all for not.

"Chaud! Chaud! It's Megaman. I need your help!"
There was no answer on the other end.
"Protoman! Come in. It's Megaman!"
Still no answer on the other end.
"Chaud! Protoman! Please! Someone answer me!"
And still, there was no answer.

Megaman almost felt to his knees. He knew that unless he could successfully call up Chaud or Protoman, Lan was going to be in for a world of hurt. 'They can't be out of the country, not right now!' In what seemed like a futile attempt, Megaman continued to try and call up Chaud's PET. The Navi recalled traveling to Protoman's PET several months ago, and it was this hard trying to even get to the PET's Cyberworld.

And, things were about to continue to get worse. Once again, Megaman heard Lan scream. And, once again, the Navi activated the holographic projector to see what was going on.

As his hologram appeared, Megaman's vision was greeted to a sight of Lan literally running around in circles, attempting to avoid all of the attacks that Eclipse was dishing out. 'Oh, no! Lan!"

"Lan! Are you alright?"
"Megaman. I'm...fine for...now."

The Navi could see that Lan had been keeping this up for a while now, and that was unnerving him even more. Lan was still recovering from his accident. He shouldn't be putting his body through all of the stress that it was being put through at the moment. Even more thoughts about Lan getting hurt filled Megaman's mind. It was starting to get to be too much for the Navi to handle. But, he knew that a job needed to get done, and he had to try Chaud at least one more time.

Disappearing from sight, Megaman returned to the PET and accessed the communication function. 'This has to work. Lan's life depends on it!'

"Chaud, please come in! Protoman! This is Megaman! Please respond!"

Once again, just like all of his other attempts, Megaman could not get a hold of either of the two. This time, the weight of so much pressure caused the Navi to collapse to the floor of the PET's Cyberworld. His one and only hope of helping Lan was gone. 'He's...he's not in the country. I...I...failed...' Tears began to well up in Megaman's eyes. Never once had he been completely unable to help Lan when the chips were down. Never once was he not able to be there for Lan when he needed it most. Never once had he not been able to do what needed to be done.

It seemed as though the universe itself was conspiring against him to prevent him from helping Lan in any way possible. Everything seemed to spell out disaster for the Navi and his NetOp. There was nothing that he could think of to get a message to SciLab.

But, it became apparent that miracles can happen.

"Megaman. What is going on?"

The Navi's eyes widened as he heard a very familiar, and much needed, voice. He quickly looked up from the floor, not even bothering to wipe away the tears that had already ran down his face.

As he looked up, he saw Chaud's face in a video feed.

"Chaud! I was afraid that I wouldn't reach you in time!"
"Megaman, get a hold of yourself. What is happening?"
"We don't have time to talk about it. Please, just patch me through to SciLab!"
"Can't you do that..."
"Just do it!"

The black and white-haired boy was surprised at Megaman's sudden change in attitude. He couldn't recall a time when he had seen the Navi this upset, not to mention demanding something rather than asking for it. To Chaud, that could only mean that something serious was wrong.

With a nod of his head, Chaud simply looked at Protoman on his screen, who then knew exactly what do to.

After pressing a few buttons on the PET and with help from Protoman, Chaud was able to reroute the transmission from Lan's PET through Chaud's, establishing a connection to SciLab.

In the primary meeting room, Dr. Hikari and Famous were having a discussion, when Megaman's face popped up on the large screen. "Dr. Hikari! Mr. Famous! Lan needs your help!"

Dr. Hikari immediately looked at the screen upon hearing Megaman claim that Lan was in danger. Like any father, Dr. Hikari was extremely worried, especially since Lan would normally be the one making a call if anything was needed from SciLab. For Megaman to be the one that was making the call was something that was both surprising and worrisome for the man. He wanted to say something, but it was Famous that would speak.

"What is it, Megaman? Is Lan in trouble?"
"Just send a Dimensional Area to his location. There's no time to discuss it!"
"It's that bad? Alright. Activating the Dimensional Area Generators!"

Flipping up a small panel on one of the control boards, Famous pressed a button, locking on a targeted location. After pressing another button, the computer displayed "Predesignated Target 1," which happened to be Lan's PET. Pressing another button, Famous initiated the startup sequence for the Dimensional Area Generators.

All that Dr. Hikari could do was looked, still unable to speak. 'Lan...please be ok.'

~~!~~
~~!~~

"Lan Hikari! Hold still so that we don't have to play cat and mouse all day!"

Lan's constant movement was making it difficult to get a solid hit on him. This was causing Eclipse to become more angry by the minute. He had planned on just toying with the boy for a little while before he had actually killed him off, but he was starting to seriously consider forgoing all of the teasing and just going all out to end their skirmish in one attack.

However, it seemed that Eclipse wouldn't have to wait much longer. The amount of running that Lan had been doing was tiring his body out much faster than he had thought. His movements were getting slower. His reflexes were not as sharp as when he had first started evading the attacks, and his breathing was becoming more and more heavy. Megaman was inside his PET, listening to everything. He knew that until the Dimensional Area arrived, there wasn't much that he could do but look on and give words of encouragement.

"Just keep moving, Lan! Just hold him off a little longer!"
"That's...getting really...hard to do...Mega...man..."
"You can do it, Lan! I know you can. You have gotten into worse and still come out on top!"

But, Megaman knew that it wasn't going to last long. Unless the Dimensional Area got there, Lan was sure to get hurt.

And, as if the gods themselves were answering Megaman's unspoken prayers, above their heads, a flash of light appears, followed by horizontal waves of dim light emitting from the point of the initial flash of light. Megaman knew exactly what it meant, and he was overjoyed to see that the Dimensional Area had finally arrived.

However, Eclipse was not as happy as Megaman was. "What is this? I thought I blocked all communications from that brat's PET to SciLab!" The Navi was looked around frantically, as thought he was looking to unseen entities for an answer to his question. However, to his dismay, there was no one that was able to give him a response. Lan wasn't even sure how Megaman was able to get the message to SciLab, but he was happy that he was able to.

And, Megaman decided to seize the opportunity and get Lan's attention. "Lan! You have to listen to me quickly. We don't have much time!"

"Megaman? What is it?"
"Just listen. You and I can beat this guy while we are inside a Dimensional Area. That is what this place is."
"Really? Does it give us some kind of advantage?"
"So to speak. What happens is that you have a special kind of BattleChip that allows you and me to become one person. It's called a SynchroChip."
"Wait, you didn't tell me to bring something like that!"
"Don't worry, Lan. You have it with you all the time. It is inside your BattleChip wristbands."

Lan felt around his wristbands. Sure enough, inside the one on his right wrist, he took out a chip that he hadn't noticed until then. "Is this it, Megaman?" Lan held up the chip to the Navi's hologram, making sure that he got the right object.

Megaman nodded. "That's it, Lan! Now, what you have to do is download it into your PET. From there, we will merge into one person. You will be able to do things that you can't normally do. You will be able to use BattleChips yourself, as well as my MegaBuster."

"Is it going to hurt at all?"
"Not in the least. All that will happen is my armor materialize on you, at which point your strength, agility, speed, and other things will increase, as though you yourself were a NetNavi. But..."

The boy looked at the hologram on his shoulder with a puzzled look. He wanted to know what the catch was, as that was the only thing that he could think of that would prompt the Navi to add the "but" at the end of his statement. "But, what? What's wrong?"

"Well...In order for it to work, you and I have to be in perfect synchronization. We have to believe in each other, and put our complete trust in the other person. If we can't do that, a bond cannot be formed, and we won't be able to CrossFuse."

That seemed to be something that Lan wasn't sure he could do. Of course, he had trust in Megaman. He had been helping him since he was released from the hospital. And, of course he had trust in the Navi. Once again, he had been there for the boy since he got out of the hospital. But, Lan wasn't sure if he was up to the point where he could have complete, absolutely, undeniable trust in Megaman. At this point in time, given that he didn't remember a thing before waking up in the hospital, he wasn't sure he could put so much trust and belief in one person to the point that they would be in "perfect synchronization."

But, Lan also knew that unless something happened, Eclipse was going to get him injured, or even killed. "Alright. Let's do it, Megaman."

With Eclipse still distracted with the formation of the Dimensional Area and his own disbelief that his plan was starting to come undone, Lan and Megaman began their own plan for survival.

"Here goes nothing. SynchroChip in, Download!"

Lan pulled the PET off of his shoulder-strap and placed the chip inside of the device. Almost instantly, the device began to shimmer and shine. The boy looked on with awe before he became enclosed in a globe of light. Unfortunately, it wasn't much longer until Eclipse realized what was going on and looked in the direction of Lan. As he turned in the boy's direction, we saw the sphere of light with Lan inside. 'No! He can't use CrossFusion now. That will ruin our plans!'

Inside, pieces of armor began to materialize on parts of Lan's body. First came the boots and gloves, followed closely by the shoulderpads. At that moment, the chest emblem appeared in front of Lan, slowly descending onto his chest. As it made contact, the rest of his body began to glow signaling the appearance of the bodysuit. The boy looking on with amazement. He couldn't believe that him and Megaman could do something like this. It was something that he never would have imagined

And, same as Lan, Megaman was feeling much better about the situation. He knew that Lan wouldn't be able to do anything without his help in getting CrossFused. At this point, he knew that he could finally do something to defeat Eclipse, and not get Lan into any danger. It was at that moment that Megaman had finally felt happy for the first time in several days.

Until...

Something wasn't right. Megaman could feel it, but it was something that Lan wouldn't know. The Navi briefly looked around, seeing that the process was coming to a stop, which would not have been much of a problem, except that not everything had materialized on Lan. The Navi looked on as he saw the backpack and helmet fail to appear on Lan's body.

And, it was Lan who would be the one that be the one to say something as the sphere of light vanished. "Wow. This is so cool!" Truly, Lan was excited to see that he could do something like this. But, Megaman knew that something was wrong.

"Lan, this isn't everything."
"What are you talking about, Megaman? I look so cool like this!"
"Listen, Lan! Not everything materialized like it should have."
"What's that mean? Did something go wrong?"
"I think so. I'm not sure, but I..."

Megaman's statement was interrupted as he noticed that the armor was starting to slowly break up, the boots breaking into little pieces while it seemed the gloves were simply slipping off of the boy's hands. The Navi remembered something like this happening back when they first got the SynchroChip, and it turned out to be a near disaster. Megaman was recalling the time CrossFusion between him and Lan fell apart during their fight with Bubbleman.

And, he knew that what he saw could only mean one thing, and it was something he hoped would not happen.

In almost an instant, everything on Lan fell apart. The boots and gloves disappeared from sight, the shoulderpads became nothing but pixilated debris, the chest emblem vanished before his eyes, and the bodysuit was literally ripped into shreds before seemingly dissolving into the air.

Lan looked at himself in confusion, while Megaman had feelings of dread, worry, depression, and all manner of saddening feelings. "Hey, Megaman. What just happened?"

Megaman was going to respond, but it was Eclipse that just started laughing hysterically.

"Hahaha! What is this? Do not tell me that even with the appearance of a Dimensional Area that Lan Hikari and Megaman cannot use CrossFusion! Now, that is something for the record books. My superiors in the UnderNet Mafia will be glad to hear that they don't have to worry about Lan Hikari as much as they thought!"

"Megaman...what happened?"
"Lan, I...I don't know. Everything was...going fine!"
"You know this stuff better than I do! What could have caused this?"
"I don't know, Lan! I thought everything...was fine!"

Lan couldn't believe what he was hearing. From what Megaman had told him, CrossFusion seemed to be their trump card in case things started taking a turn for the worst. To Lan, he thought Megaman made it sound as though it was something that did almost every single day and it was going to be a cakewalk for the both of them. However, at that point, Lan wasn't sure if it was all just hype that the Navi was creating, or even if this was actually the first time they had attempted it. He couldn't remember for the life of him when they used CrossFusion last. Then again, he still couldn't remember a lot, and this was no exception.

While Lan was in his own thoughts, Eclipse simply continued to mock the both of them. "For a pair that used your precious CrossFusion in almost every situation you have been in, your inability to use it now when you need it most is highly entertaining. But, it is such a shame that my entertainment must come to an end."

'I don't like the sound of that,' Megaman thought, knowing that Eclipse was finally going to be putting even more pressure in Lan now that he was done toying with the boy. "Now that I am done having my fun with you, Lan Hikari, it is time we end this little farce."

With almost lightning speed, Eclipse ran to Lan in an attempted to strike him now. The speed was so quick that even Megaman's hologram on Lan's shoulder wasn't even able to keep up with the UnderNet Mafia agent. Lan knew that if was going to avoid the incoming attack, you only have a 50/50 chance of picking the right direction if he jumped left or right.

Hope that he was going to pick the right direction, and not having time to make any kind of informed choice, Lan jumped to the left of where he was standing. Megaman simply looked on, hoping for the best, but also dreading the worse.

With lightning speed, Eclipse finally got to Lan's spot and made one slash at the boy, barely making contact, but just enough to cause a rip in his vest. Luckily for Lan, the cut wasn't deep enough to have gotten to his shirt to skin. So, at least for the moment, he was unharmed by the attack.

Eclipse, who had stopped himself several yards away from Lan, turned around and spoke. "You still have the strength to oppose me, even without your precious CrossFusion. I should commend you for such bravery."

"Excuse me if I don't seem flattered at the moment."
"Your sarcasm doesn't fall on deaf ears, Lan Hikari. This next attack will be your end."
"You actually have to get to me first!"

With the trash talk aside, Eclipse proceeded to commence another attack on the boy. This time, he moved even faster than the previous attack. Lan was caught more off guard this time around than the latter. And, to his shock and dismay, the slash from Eclipse caught his left side, ripping both his vest, shirt, and even cutting into his skin. The boy let out a loud hiss of pain, feeling the stinging sensation from the skin being ripped apart.

"LAN! Are you alright?" Megaman was even more worried and desperate than before. Lan had had a bit of an upper-hand before this point with being able to avoid the attacks and with Eclipse himself holding back. However, now was different. Now that Eclipse was close to going all out and Lan losing his advantage over the other Navi, he was going be on the losing end of the battle in a hurry.

"I'm fine...Megaman. Just a little...cut, is all."
"You have to get out of here, Lan. Find cover somewhere! I don't want you getting hurt anymore!"
"I have to stay, Megaman. It's my duty as a NetSaver!"

Eclipse attacked again, barely missing Lan in the process, but once again cutting the boy on right side. There was another attack, this time aimed at his legs, ripping his shorts a little and making contact with his skin once more. Another attack, and another injury. Megaman looked on with horror. 'There has to be something I can do! There just...has to be a way!'

Inside his head, Megaman tried to think of something...someway to use the Dimensional Area in order to defeat Eclipse. He knew that there wasn't much time left before Lan would soon collapse to the onslaught that the UnderNet Mafia agent was putting him through. The Navi knew that without some kind of miracle, Lan wasn't going to last longer, and then he himself would be next on the Mafia's hit list.

'There has to be something...a program that I use to...' Just then, it hit Megaman like a five-ton truck of bricks. He had been concentrating so much on getting CrossFusion to work for him and Lan that he had completely overlooked something that could have been used in the very beginning to have brought the attack to a conclusion quickly. 'Why didn't I think of it before?' Megaman mentally kicked himself for overlooking something so simple. The Navi closed his eyes and began to concentrate...

As for Lan, he now had multiple cuts across his legs, arms, and torso. The attacks from Eclipse were starting to get more and more accurate, either because he was getting better at hitting a moving target, or Lan was getting slower due to dealing with the amount of pain or his own fatigue. "You have proven to be a much more formidable adversary than I thought you would be, Lan Hikari. For that, you have my highest commendations and respect. But, all good things must come to an end. And, I am afraid that your end is here, Lan Hikari."

Grinning to himself and softly snickering, Eclipse began what he thought to be his final strike on the boy. 'Let's see...I'll just go right for between the eyes. Quick and painless, at least that is what they say. Hehe.' The Navi posed himself, ready to make his final strike on the boy in front of him, who was now on his knees.

"This is it, Lan Hikari. Disappear!"

As Eclipse made his charge forward, he was brought to an abrupt stop. A ball of pinkish-purple energy came out of what seemed like nowhere, impacting the Navi on his chest. The unexpected attack forced Eclipse to his knees. Lan looked up from the ground, the very thing that he had been looking down at as he expected this to have been his final moment.

To his surprise, he was greeted with the sight of Eclipse kneeling on the ground just like him. 'Wha...what is he doing?' The boy had missed what happened, and was left wondering why Eclipse was now on the ground with him. 'Is he just toying with me again?'

"Who...Who would dare shoot me like that!" The anger and frustration in Eclipse's eyes could be seen a mile away. He had Lan right where he wanted him. He was going to complete his mission and bring the UnderNet Mafia even closer to achieving their goals. And now, someone had the audacity to, not only make a stand against him, but also attempted to injure him.

"It was me, Eclipse. Don't take another step towards Lan!"

Right in front of the boy, a figure came down from above, landing several feet in front of him. Lan wasn't sure who it was, but the voice sounds so familiar to him. The smoke that was generated from the explosion that the ball of energy caused was starting to dissipate. From within it, Lan saw the figure in front of him starting to clear up more and more. The color of the figure's clothing was becoming much easier to see...if you could call it clothing. Lan took note that the person in front of him was wearing what looked like a backpack and a helmet, with just a little bit of hair coming out of the bottom of the helmet. It didn't quite hit him at that moment, but it came fairly soon afterwards. He was in disbelief as to how it happened, but the boy knew that there was no mistake.

The person in front of him was his own NetNavi, Megaman.

"Megaman! How dare you interrupt my little farce with your NetOp. You will pay dearly for that!"
"The only one that is going to regret anything here is you!"
"And, what makes you think I will even have any regrets?"

Megaman stared at the other Navi intensely, even as the other Navi spoke once more. "Do you honestly think that someone like me would have any kind of regrets when it comes to my missions? If I fail, then I fail. If I succeed, then I have achieved victory. There is no sense in dwelling on what I could have done or what I should have done. Don't think for a minute that I will look back at this battle and think any different!"

It looked at though Eclipse was going to speak some more, but Megaman had no intention of letting him do so. Without warning, he came charging at the UnderNet Mafia agent with full force, sticking his MegaBuster directly on top of the other Navi's chest emblem. Eclipse looked down, noticing that the MegaBuster was starting to charge up, ready to unleash whatever energy was gathering inside it's barrel.

He looked at Megaman's eyes, and saw an intensity that he had rarely ever seen in his opponents. The look in Megaman's eyes told Eclipse that he was willing and ready to give up anything and everything if it meant that he had to protect Lan. The ferocity and zeal in his moments were also proof of his devotion to his NetOp. Even more Megaman, these were feelings that he rarely ever felt, even if the situation was more dire than it was right now. He couldn't remember the last time he was ready to give it everything he got in order to protect the one that he held the closest to his heart.

However, Eclipse wasn't going to let Megaman off that easily. "So, you still have some moves left in you. However, so do I!" In one swift motion, Eclipse placed his hands on Megaman's head, pushed the other Navi down, and seemed to pole vault above him before the MegaBuster released the energy inside of it's firing chamber. Megaman was surprised at the sudden movement.

The Charged Shot had completely missed Eclipse.

'No! I missed," Megaman thought to himself, still surprised by the lightning fast reflexes of his opponent. He turned around to see Eclipse behind him, but that wasn't the worst of it. As if right out of some ninja movie, Eclipse had already ran back up to Megaman and pulled out a sword, positioning it across his neck. Megaman's eyes caught a glimpse of the sword, which seemed to be comprised of nothing but nebula-related gases.

"Don't make a move, Megaman. This sword isn't as harmless as it looks."
"I won't let you hurt Lan anymore, Eclipse. Do what you want to me, but leave him out of it."
"Oh, don't worry about it. My intention was never to actually kill of your NetOp."
"Huh? What do you mean by that?"

Eclipse slowly lowered his sword from Megaman's knee, and then making it disappear as thought it was nothing but just a collection of gases. Taking a few steps back, he started grinning. Megaman didn't like the look on Eclipse's face. 'If he wasn't sent here to kill Lan and me, then why was he sent here? And, why did he hide is true intentions?' The Navi's mind started racing with all different kinds of abilities. He knew that Eclipse was the UnderNet Mafia's chief Intelligence Officer. So, Megaman figured that it had to do with something along those lines. But, what it was exactly, was still in question.

Fortunately, Megaman just decided to ask the source directly. "Then why are you here? I thought you said you were here to end Lan's life!" Megaman was agitated by the other Navi, who seemed to have lied the entire battle.

"Well, I did say that, didn't I?"
"Yeah, and you haven't done so. You lied to us!"
"Oh, really? I recall saying I was sent to end his life. I never said WHEN I would."

Megaman's eyes widened upon hearing the statement from Eclipse. And, the other Navi could see what Megaman was thinking, which only made him laugh, as well as only talk more. "I can see it on your face and in your eyes, Megaman. Since it isn't a matter of how, but rather when, Lan Hikari will die, you want to know 'when' that time comes, don't you?" It was as if Eclipse was reading Megaman's mind.

But, the talking didn't stop there, at least for the moment. "And, you can wonder all you want, Megaman. My exact mission is on a 'need to know' basis, and right now, neither you nor Lan Hikari need to know."

"Of course Lan and I have to know! It's his life!"
"Unfortunately, our plans are of no concern to you, Megaman. You only need to concern yourself with staying alive."
"And, we will! We have never fallen to the likes of you!"
"You are very full of yourself, Megaman. And, that is admirable. However, overconfidence can be your downfall."

With that, Eclipse started to walk away from both Lan and Megaman. He took several steps away from the pair, only to be stopped dead in his tracks when Megaman yelled out to him. "Where do you think you are going? We are not done talking!" Eclipse heard Megaman yell and instinctively turned around to face the Navi. However, instead of talking, he raised his left arm and pointed the palm of his hand towards Megaman. The blue-clad Navi immediately took a defensive stance, ready for anything that Eclipse would throw at him.

But, instead of a fight, Eclipse simply made one last statement. "Now is not the time. I got the information I desired, and it is time for me to bid you both, adieu."

At that moment, a beam if red light was emitted from his hand. The beam of light went past Megaman's head and then made contact with a small control panel across the crater. To anyone else, it would have looked like Eclipse had attacked and missed, but Megaman knew better. He watched as Eclipse disappeared from sight, leaving nothing but an empty Copyroid behind.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Megaman started to walk over to Lan, hoping that the boy was not hurt too much. However, to the Navi's shock, Lan was on the ground, but was using his legs and hands to back away the more that he came closer.

"Lan? What's wrong?"
"Don't come closer!"
"Lan, you don't have to..."
"I said STAY AWAY!"

The boy was shouting at this point. Megaman stopped in his tracks, mainly because he was in shock since he didn't know what had Lan so spooked. But, it was also because he didn't want to make the boy worry even more than he apparently already was. There was a silence between the two of them, with only the sound of the Dimensional Area collapsing, followed by the far off sounds of people talking and cars honking their horns, desperately trying to get traffic to move along.

Megaman took a good look at Lan's eyes. He could see that there was fear in them, but he couldn't understand why Lan was so afraid of him. It was something he had to address. "Lan, please tell me what's wrong."

"You...you are here, that's what's wrong!"
"Why is that wrong?"
"Because you are not suppose to be here!"
"What?"

Lan slowly stood up, struggling to get his balance after suffering the relentless attacks from Eclipse not too long ago. "You told me before that the only way a NetNavi can be in the real world is by using a Copyroid, and you said they were illegal. That can only mean you are doing something you aren't suppose to! If whoever Eclipse is with uses those, then why are you using their stuff? Explain that!"

Megaman could clearly see that Lan was upset over this, and he did recall telling the boy about the Copyroids and how they were illegal. The only thing that could have saved him from explaining to Lan that he was using the M-Program was that NetNavi can still appear inside a Dimensional Area by using special cyber-links. However, given the situation, Megaman wasn't sure if Lan would even believe that, even though it was true.

Still Megaman had to say something. He had to try and explain everything, but still avoid disclosing the M-Program. He didn't think the boy was ready for that yet. "Lan, please listen. This isn't what you think. It isn't even close."

"Shut up! I don't want to hear any of your lies!"

The Navi was at a lose. He didn't know how he could explain things and still keep what little of Lan's trust he still had. Simply appearing in the real world without any genuine explanation was something that already seemed to cause a lot of tensions to start running high, especially for Lan. Megaman, on the other hand, was more worried about how this was going to effect his already strained relationship with the boy, given that their CrossFusion completely fell apart even before it the process was done.

But, yet again, Megaman's unsaid prayers were answered by someone else. "Lan, you need to calm down."

The Navi and Lan both looked in the direction the voice was coming from. A figure was standing at the top of a small pile of rubble and debris. And, just as Megaman was hoping, his hope paid off.

The person was none-other-than Chaud himself.

"Hey! You're that guy from the NetPolice...Chaud, right?"
"Right, Lan. Now, keep quiet for a moment and listen. And, don't say a thing until I am done."

~~!~~
~~!~~

Have you ever had to love someone,
That just don't feel the same.
Tryin' to make somebody care for you
The way I do
Is like tryin to catch the rain
And, if love is really forever,
I'm a winner at a losin' game

~~!~~
~~!~~

-Friday-

Lan was sitting in class, waiting for the bell to ring which signaled the end of the school day. There were several scabs across his arms and legs, all of them caused by yesterday's attack by Eclipse. The scabs on his arms didn't show, as he was still wearing his normal long-sleeved white shirt and orange vest. The only injuries that the rest of his peers could see were the ones on his legs. And, not to Lan's surprise, many of them asked how he got so many. Even Ms. Mari was a little worried as to how they came to be. He simply told all of them that he found a stray cat that decided to use his legs as a scratching post. Many of them believed him. However, Ms. Mari was a little skeptical of his explanation, as well as his close friends knowing better than that.

Still, everyone just smiled and nodded their heads.

The boy stared up at the clock, noting how slowly the second was moving, and how much more time before the bell would ring. 'Only a minute left.' The boy was so fixated on the clock that he was completely ignoring whatever lesson Ms. Mari was giving at the time. Fortunately for him, his teacher didn't seem to notice that one of her students was spacing out and staring blankly at the classroom clock.

-Bing, bing, bing, bing-

"Oh, well, everyone. That's it for today! Make sure you brainstorm some more ideas for your quarterly projects! I want some finalized ideas by Monday. Have a good weekend, everyone!"

The students said their goodbyes to Ms. Mari, all the while causing a lot of ruckus and noise from grabbing their books, talking to their friends, as well as almost running out of the classroom so they can get home quicker. Lan, however, was a little more relax than that. He was still hurting a little from the day before, and he didn't feel like running out of the school and getting home, even though he wanted to use what time he had to get ready for his date with Maylu.

And, speak of devil, as Lan was getting the last of his books into his backpack, Maylu came up next to his desk to talk. "Hey, Lan!"

"Hey, Maylu."
"Are you ready for our 'outing' tonight?"
"If you want to call it, that, I guess I am."
"You remember what time you are picking me up, right?"

Lan had to think for a moment. He did tell her a time, but with everything that happened the yesterday, he was still a little slow in recalling information. It took him a few moments, but Lan remembered the time. "5:30, right?" As luck would have it, Maylu wasn't upset at all by the amount of time it took the boy to remember. He thought for sure she might have made a big deal about it. 'I guess I was just over-thinking.'

"Right. I'll see you then, Lan!" Without another word, Maylu packed up her bag and left the classroom. Even if it was something that only happened recently, Lan was actually looking forward to his date with Maylu. He felt that she was someone that was special to him, and that he needed to really pay a lot of attention to her.

"LAN! How could you do that to me?"

The boy turned about to see Dex standing to his other side. Apparently, he had overheard everything that Maylu and Lan were talking about. "How could you ask Maylu out on a date, Lan?" It looked at though Dex was about to break down in tears. Lan was about to feel sorry for it, but realized that the other boy was just being over-dramatic, as Yai grabbed the larger boy by the ear. "Oh, give me a break, Dex. You had your chance, more than once!"

"Dex was just waiting for the right moment, guts guts."
"Gutsman is right, Yai. I was just waiting for the right moment!"
"There were many 'right' moments. You were just too dense to realize they were there."
"Hey, Yai! I didn't ask for your opinion!"
"You say that a lot, Dex, but you still get it anyway!"

The two of them continued to argue for a few moments before Lan decided to jump in, remembering that him and Dex were somewhat rivals, apparently in more ways than one. "Well, Dex. If you really do like Maylu, you should have asked before I did." Lan stood up and did a "turn to the side, cross your arms, toss your head up" movement, as if trying to prove a point, but also get under the other boy's skin. "You missed your chance. So, it's only right that I get my shot."

Dex stopped his argument with Yai and hung his head in, dejected. "Well...you didn't have to say it like that.." However, the small girl standing next to him once again spoke up, seeing that the larger of the two boys was being over-dramatic again.

"There he goes again."
"Be quiet, you big forehead girl!"
"HOW DARE YOU?"

Their fight continued on. Lan, however, was not in too much of a mood to listen to the two of them duke it up. Instead, he left the classroom and decided that now was the time to go home and get ready for his night out with Maylu. 'Wow. I can't believe that day is already here. I can't wait to see if she likes it.'

As Lan reached the courtyard, he peered past the gates and saw a familiar person standing at the exit to the school. He knew right off the bat that it wasn't his father or mother. It wasn't Tory or Maylu, as he knew that they had left already. Instead, it happened to be Megaman, out and about in the real world.

Lan stopped walking and stared at the figure, still in somewhat disbelief, remembering what happened the the day before.

~~!~~
~~!~~

"Right, Lan. Now, keep quiet for a moment and listen. And, don't say a thing until I am done."

The voice was commanding, even for Chaud. Megaman was aware of that, but for Lan, it was something that he had thought was normal for the black and white haired boy. Chaud walked down from the pile of rubble and proceeded in the direction that Lan was. As he was walking, Protoman's hologram appeared on his shoulder. Megaman was hoping that the other Navi was there to help explain things a little better than he could. At this point, Lan was more likely to listen to a third-party than Megaman.

"Alright, Lan. Here is the deal. A while back, before your accident, your father was working on a program that allowed NetNavis to appear in the human world, as though they were humans themselves."

'Wait...he is exposing the M-Program! Chaud, please don't do that!' Megaman immediately started thinking of the worst possible outcome. He was sure that Lan was not ready to hear such information. He figured the boy was still getting use to everything else with NetNavis that adding in this piece of information was only going to make things worse. As much as Megaman wanted to protest, he couldn't find the strength to say a word.

Chaud continued with his speech. "During it's experimental phase, Protoman was to be the first to receive this program, called the 'M-Program.' However, things didn't go as planned. We had to pulled the plug on the experiment for fear that Protoman was going to be deleted."

"Wait, if Protoman was going to..."
"Lan, didn't I tell you not to talk until I was done?"

Lan hung his head in defeat, allowing for Chaud to proceed with his story. "Anyway, the next day, your class went on a field trip to SciLab, where you were attacked by an UnderNet Mafia agent named Cannonman. Your CrossFusion with Megaman came undone due to a blast from the Giga-Cannon Program Advanced." Lan was now listening intently to what the other boy was saying. It was an interesting story, to say the least, and the fact that Lan didn't remember a single thing about it made it even more interesting.

"Desperate to make sure that you were safe, Megaman decided that he should give the M-Program a chance to be uploaded into his NetNavi database. During the upload, he started to experience the same problems as Protoman. However, instead of pulling the plug, we let it continue. After what seemed like Megaman getting deleted, he appeared and battled with Cannonman, winning the fight."

The other boy stood there, thinking that there was more to the story than that. However, Chaud's next comment proved his wrong. "That's it. You can talk now."

"So...Megaman has this M-Program thing inside him?"
"That's right, Lan. He can move between the real and Cyberworlds whenever he so chooses. And, he doesn't need a copyroid in order to do it."

Lan looked at Megaman, a certain degree of anger was on his face. "Then, why didn't he tell me earlier?" The Navi new that the comment was directed at him, even though it sounded as though Lan was addressing Chaud. Obviously, Chaud was thinking the same thing, but decided that he should speak up.

"That is something you have to ask him. Anyway, you should probably get your wounds looked at."

~~!~~
~~!~~

'He told me he didn't want to overwhelm me with so many things.'

Even if Lan knew that Megaman was right, it still seemed as thought there was more to everything than what the Navi was willing to tell the boy. It just seemed that the Navi was very secretive about things, and that fact was making Lan feel more and more uncomfortable while he was near Megaman. It wasn't that he didn't trust him, but with the amount of secrets that he had been keeping from the boy, Lan just didn't seem to feel safe around the Navi anymore.

They barely spoke to each other on their walk home. There was one or two comments about what happened the day before and the amount of damage that was caused. Ribitta had reported on the Eclipse attack on the morning news, nothing out of the ordinary. However, the real story was that SciLab was now getting hounded by reporters and investigative journalists who were looking to get the full story on the M-Program which aired on Ribitta's morning news report several days ago. It was getting harder and harder for the SciLab officials to respond to the reporters and keep the undercover ones out of the inner parts of the building. There were literally news vans parked out of the building 24/7 now.

That was causing Dr. Hikari, Famous, and all of the SciLab stuff much more stress than they cared to have.

Finally, the two boys got home, where Lan opened the front door and was greeted to the sight of his mother doing a little bit of cleaning around the house. "Welcome home, Lan, Megaman!"

"Hi, Mom. What time is it?"

The two of them went into the kitchen to talk. Megaman knew it was going to be more than just talk. He figured that Lan was probably going to talk to his mother about the date tonight, which he had already gotten permission to go out on. So, in order to stay out of the way, Megaman just went into the living room and turned the TV on, sitting down on the couch in the process.

There wasn't much on TV in the afternoon. Many of the good shows were on during the evening. That was when the Prime Time airings of sitcoms, dramas, and all other sort of shows were on. Megaman flipped through the channels to see if anything caught is eye. There wasn't much to pick from. Most of the shows were 'after-school specials' that focused around things that Megaman didn't have much of an interest in.

However, something was strange about the shows today. As he was flipping through, Megaman noticed that many of the shows had themes that revolved about kids lying to their best friends and hurting their feelings, only to tell the truth in the end to make amends. It was as if the universe was telling Megaman to be completely honest with Lan; to tell him everything that happened before the accident, even the things that he didn't want to tell Lan until the right was right.

'Protoman...Protoman told me that if I truly to love Lan, I will let him do what makes him happy, not what makes me happy.' Those words were echoed in his head over and over again. However, it still didn't feel right.

'But...what if I am not being a good friend...what if I am wrong?'

~~!~~
~~!~~

"I'm leaving, Mom!"
"Have a good night out, Lan! Make sure you are home before ten!"
"I will! Goodbye!"

Lan had walked out the door, leaving to go and pick Maylu up so they could go on their date. Megaman had been gone upstairs as per Mrs. Hikari's suggestion earlier than evening. She and told the Navi that he should help Lan pick out something to wear, since the boy didn't pick anything out the night before.

The only problem with that plan was that Lan and Megaman were not on the most talkative terms at the moment. The Navi wanted to explain that to the boy's mother, but he couldn't bring himself to tell her that they were not really liking the other's company all that much at the moment. So, Megaman just silently listened and went upstairs, and didn't come down until Lan had left.

And, as he came downstairs, he was intercepted by Mrs. Hikari. He didn't feel like talking at the moment, but he knew he had no other choice in the matter.

"Hey, Megaman! Were you able to help Lan pick out something?"
"Well...not really. He already had an idea of what was going to wear."
"Really? Well, do tell! What did her wear?"
"Umm...he decided just to wear what he normally wears."
"What he normally wears? That's not really suited for a date."
"He said...he was the most comfortable in them."
"Well, if he felt comfortable in them, then I guess I can't complain."

Megaman simply nodded his head before walking back upstairs and into Lan's bedroom. He took a quick seat at the deck and just stared blankly at his PET. He had told Lan that he can't go more than a thousand kilometers away from the PET before things starting to go wrong. So, Lan decided to leave the device at home where Megaman was and take money from a little jar he had in his room. Ironically enough, that jar was for money that Lan was saving up to buy BattleChips. The Navi knew that Lan before his accident wouldn't spend that money on anything but BattleChips.

But, Megaman knew that it couldn't be help. He got up off of the chair and walked over to the bed. He couldn't explain it, but he was just really tired that day. Maybe it was because it was the day that Lan was going on his date, and Megaman was stressed over it, or maybe it was just the stress over Lan's accident. Either way, the Navi just wanted to rest for a little bit before Lan got home.

And before falling asleep, Megaman had one thought. 'If I love him, I'll let him be happy.'

~~!~~
~~!~~

"This is really fun, Lan!"

Lan and Maylu had been wandering around the DenTech Tower for an hour now. They had already eaten a dinner at one of the fast food stands on the lower floors of the tower, and they were now around the arcades. They both decided that there were no good movies playing. So, there was no need for them to go to the theater to see any.

Lan smiled. "Yeah. It's been a great night. I'm having a blast!"

Maylu grabbed Lan by the hand, almost dragging him into a nearby arcade that seemed to have a lot more games in it than the rest of them on the floor. And, of course, it was also the busiest of the arcades on that floor.

"It's really busy here, Lan. Do we really want to wait this long?"
"We don't have to. If you want, we can just go to another arcade."
"Well...we could, or we could go to the Observation Deck. I hear the views from up there are breathtaking"
"Sure. That sounds like fun!"

The children left the crowded arcade and went over to one of the nearby elevators. Coincidently, as they approached it, the door opened and ushered several people out of it, mostly other kids accompanied by their parents. As there was no one left in the elevator, Lan and Maylu went inside where the boy pressed the button for the second to top floor, which was labeled 'Observation Lounge.'

The ride was rather long, but well worth the wait.

As they both stepped out of the elevator, they were both greeted to the sight of a city that was just during dark. Many of the buildings still had their office lights on, while others were off, but illuminated by the other offices surrounding them. The radiance of the streetlights, vehicle headlights and tail lights, as well as the stoplights, all danced below them in a medley of color.

"Wow! It's like you said, Maylu. This view is amazing!"
"Yeah. It really is something else."
"You know, this has been a great night, Maylu."
"It sure has, Lan."
"Hey! You know what would make it better?"

Maylu was taken aback by the question. Of course, the one thing that could make the night the best ever for her if Lan decided that now was a great time to kiss her. It was a moment that she had waited for for a very long time. And, to be honest, she was hoping that tonight was going to be the night that Lan gave her the kiss she wanted so badly.

Eager to answer the question, but also be coy about it, Maylu spoke. "I don't know. What do you think, Lan?" The girl was hoping that, at that moment, Lan would slowly walk towards her, put one hand on her waist and the other on her cheek, as he gingerly would move his face closer to hers until their lips made contact. It would have been the first kiss of her dreams...

But, her dreams would be shattered by what was said next. "Ice cream! I'll get us a few cones!" As though it felt like a knife had been put in her heart, Maylu almost made a face of disappointment. She was putting so much hope into that moment, only to have it all ripped away from her. But, she knew she had to say something about what Lan was proposing. "Oh...sure. I'll have strawberry flavor."

"Alright. I'll be right back!"

And, with that, Lan walked away from Maylu to go to an ice cream stand that was a few yards away from them. The girl felt rejected. She had put all that hope in that one moment, and now that the moment was gone, and her hopes shattered, she didn't feel like being happy about the date anymore.

But, she was not the only one there. Roll had decided to come along, as well. "Maylu, you know this isn't right."

The pink-colored Navi appeared on Maylu's shoulder, with almost a scolding look on her face. "I was there when you talked with Megaman at the hospital. If he and Lan are suppose to be 'together,' then you should be a good friend and tell him."

"I know, Roll. It's just...I really wanted that one moment...this one date."
"I'm sure if you had just asked Lan before, he would have said yes."
"We don't know that, Roll. I mean, we don't know long he and Megaman have been a...couple."
"That doesn't matter. He could have just taken you out as a friend. That wouldn't have been so bad."
"...I guess you're right, Roll."

Their conversation seemed to come to a stop as Lan started to come back with the ice cream cones in his hands. But, Roll seemed to not be done talking. Instead, she put in once last comment before Lan arrived. "Maylu, please do the right thing. Tell Lan the truth." The girl simply nodded her head softly, so softly that Lan didn't even notice she even moved. She also had to quickly change her facial expression, which was really sad after he talk with Roll. She didn't want to worry Lan, but she just couldn't force herself to change her mood so quickly.

Handing Maylu her cone, Lan spoke again. "I'm back! Here's your ice..." Lan looked at Maylu, whose face was still showing more than obvious signs of sadness. The boy thought for sure that he was doing everything right. He couldn't figure out what he did wrong to have gotten Maylu upset like she looked at that moment. But, he had to ask. "Maylu...is something wrong?"

The girl looked up, staring straight into Lan's eyes.

"Lan...I have to tell you something..."

~~!~~
~~!~~

Ooh, ooh, ooh

if love is really forever
I'm a winner at a losin' game

~~!~~
~~!~~

Well, there we have it, folks! Chapter 16 is now complete!

I know it took almost 6 months in order to get this chapter out, and I am SOOOO sorry for that, but things in life have been a royal pain in the ass.

And, speaking of life, I actually have something to say that I really don't want to. But, I know it has to be done. So, here it goes...

With everything that has been happening to me in real-life, from taking on more hours at work to selling the house to avoid it being foreclosed upon, I haven't had a lot of time to dedicate to this story. And so, since I don't believe I can spare the time to work on this story and do what needs to be done IRL, I am hereby canceling Memories and will not be updating it anymore. I know that I have a few loyal followers, and I really do hate disappointing you, but I just can't get the time to continue writing this.

If you wish to talk about this more, you can send me a private message via my profile. I'll try to answer your questions and comments to the best of my abilities.

So, finally, I want to thank all of my readers and reviews who put forth the time to read and comment on my work. Your input has meant a lot to me, and I hope that in the future, time permitting, I will be able to be graced with your words again.

So long, and I will see you all later. I know I will!