Navis' Day Out

Chapter 3: Return to the Norm

          “You’re going down!”

          “In your dreams Megaman!”

          Roll and Megaman were on their third net battle.  It was fun, but being the op was a lot different from being the navi.  You had to anticipate your opponent’s moves in enough time to counteract.  You had to do that as a navi as well, but as the op you had to see it coming in time to load a chip, or alert your navi.  It was tough stuff.  Megaman was definitely gaining a new level of respect for Lan.  Of course, Yai told them it also had a lot to do with intuition, with reading ones opponent.  Megaman knew how to judge a fellow navi, but he had no clue how to judge a human.

          “Oh yeah!” Roll’s navi logged out.  Megaman won again.

          “You’re much better at this than I am.” She told him, as they left the battle area, there was a line now and it was only fair to let some of the others have a turn.

          “Hey, you were pretty good.” Yai told them.

          “Bet you couldn’t beat Gutsman and I though.” Dex told him.

          “Probably not.” Megaman told him, “But Lan and I cream you every time!”

          “Do not!” Dex pouted.

          “Yes, they do.” Roll and Yai said flatly.

          “Oh sure! Gang up on me!”

          “Speaking of Gutsman, it’s pretty late, we should probably get going.” Megaman suggested.

          “I wonder how they did today?” Roll mused, “I can’t wait to tell them about the park!” she grinned slyly.

          Megaman stuck his tongue out at her and she hugged him.  He blushed.

          “Sure, we can go now.  I bet they can’t wait to tell you about their day either.” Yai smiled at them.  They were so cute!

          Megaman stood, eager to get back to Lan. “Yeah!”

          Dex and Yai cleaned up the table they had been sitting at.  The navis didn’t need to eat, but they did! Fortunately the game stop had a food service area, so while the navis had played, they had eaten.

          They had almost reached Yai’s house (Megaman was in a bit of a hurry, he’d never been separated from Lan for such a long time – he missed him), when they ran into someone familiar, and not at all pleasant.

          “Well, if it isn’t little Miss Ayano tech.”

          Yai’s head jerked up at the cold voice, “Chaud?”

          “Yes?” he made it sound as though she had started the conversation and he was waiting to hear what she had to say.  Waiting none too patiently I might add.

          “What do you want?” she snapped.

          He shrugged, “I was wondering if you knew where the novice was today.”

          Megaman bristled, who was this kid to talk about his op that way.  Roll placed a hand on his arm, shaking her head.  He nodded and remained silent.

          “Hey!” Dex moved forward, placing himself between Chaud and Yai, “Don’t talk about Lan like that! The only reason he lost to you was because of that stupid Egyptian freak!”

          Chaud laughed, “Keep telling yourself that.  But you and I know his weak navi would have been deleted at some point anyway.” He shoved his hands in his pockets, casually looking past them as he spoke, “He got lucky, being able to reprogram him and all.  But I must say, I would have tried for a better navi the second time around.”

          “Why you!” Roll lunged forward, and Megaman was so startled he didn’t have time to stop her.  “You take that back!” she slammed her fists against his chest, tears falling from her eyes.  “Megaman could never have been replaced! NEVER! You’re just jealous because Lan and Megaman are so sweet and kind and they actually have friends and-”

          Chaud pulled back, grabbing her wrists and pushing her away from him.  “Who are you?” he said contemptuously.

          “That’s none of your business you creep!” she shouted.

          “Hey,” Megaman placed a hand gently on her shoulder and Chaud released her, allowing the other boy to draw her to his chest.  Megaman held her as she cried.  “It’s okay.” He said soothingly. But he wondered what was up with her.  She usually wasn’t so emotional.

          Chaud peered closely at him, his brow furrowing, “Do I know you?”

          He took a step closer and Megaman took one back, pulling Roll with him.  

          “I don’t think so.”

          Chaud’s eyes narrowed.  “You look like – but that’s impossible.”

          “He looks like who, Chaud?” Yai pushed.

          “Like Lan’s navi.” Chaud said quietly.

          Yai smirked, “That’s because he is.” She told him smugly.  “How do you feel now mister high and mighty?”

          Megaman cast her a reproving glance, he hadn’t wanted Chaud to know.

          “That’s impossible.”

          “No it isn’t.  This is Megaman, and that’s Roll.” She pointed.

          Chaud studied them, as though considering this, then he turned away.  “Not possible.  You guys are pathetic.” He walked away throwing a final insult over his shoulder, “Tell Lan that if he wants to beat me next year he should start collecting chips now – he’ll need all the help he can get. Later.”

          They just stared at him as he left.

          “That guy burns me up!” Yai exclaimed once they could no longer see him.

          “What a creep!” Dex agreed.

          Megaman nodded, still holding Roll. “Hey, he’s gone.” He said quietly.  Roll sniffed and looked up, pulling away from him with a blush.

          “Sorry about that.” She swiped at her eyes.

          “It’s okay.  Now, what say we go get our ops?”

***

          “Megaman?”

          “Hmm?” Megaman was lying in Lan’s bed staring at the ceiling.  Fortunately he had been able to avoid Lan’s mom all day.  He still wasn’t sure how they’d done it.

          “I had a good time today, did you?”

          Megaman thought back over the day and smiled, “Yeah, I did.”

          “That’s good.” Lan was silent again for a few moments, “You think Miyu’s right?  That tomorrow we’ll be back to normal?”

          “Yeah.”

          “I’m not sure.”

          Megaman propped himself up on an elbow, looking over at the PET, “What’s wrong? Worried?  I though you liked being a navi.”

          “For a day! Not forever!”

          Megaman laughed softly, “I’m sure everything will be fine, just relax.” He laid back down and silence engulfed them once more.

          “Megaman?”

          He smiled slightly, “Yes?”

          “I’m glad this happened, I learned a lot about you today I think.”

          “I learned a lot about you too.  You work a lot harder than I would’ve guessed from your homework habits.”

          “Megaman!”

          “That was a compliment.” The navi assured him.

          “Anyway, do you think maybe, whatever did this to us did it on purpose? You know, so we could understand each other?”

          Megaman hadn’t really though about it like that, but it kind of made sense, “I don’t know.  Maybe.”

          “Yeah.”

          A few more moments of silence.

          “Megaman?”

          “Yes?”

          “Goodnight.”

          “Goodnight.” Megaman rolled over and turned out the light, then closed his eyes to try something else he’d never done before – sleep.

***

          “Lan… Lan… HEY! LAN HIKARI!”

          “Wha? Ahh!”

          *THUNK*

          Lan fell to the floor rubbing his bumped head.

          “Hey man, be quieter, can’t you see I’m sleeping?” He said tiredly.

          Megaman laughed, “Yeah! I could hear it too, but you’ve gotta get up.  You’re gonna be late.”

          “LATE! AGAIN! Oh man.” Lan groaned racing to grab his stuff.  Then he stopped.

          “Hey, I’m, you’re, we’re…” he stopped, realizing how silly what he was about to say would sound. It had just been a dream… right?

          “I’m in here again and you’re out there? Yep! See Miyu was right!”  Megaman said cheerfully.

          Lan face faulted, “Miyu.” He muttered, then he sat up, “Wait! You mean, it really happened?  I wasn’t dreaming?”

          Megaman laughed again, “Nope, not unless we had the same dream, and I don’t sleep so…”

          “Wow!” Lan sat back on his bed, the day before coming back in a rush.  “WOW!” he repeated.

          Megaman shook his head, there was no way they were going to be on time today.