Upgrade- AA[G{K+9} very small X8, BN5 & Stream spoilers]

[TheWebbuilder]

Special thanks to Lida Azn Girl for Beta Reading.

Begin Chapter!

“Well, considering the fact that you saved the Bright Land Network, captured a Com Agent, and May gained a Net Armor of her own,” Lan’s eyes roved over the intact Network, the handcuffed Misty before him, and over to his children. “you did all right. Things got a little messy, but I think we can forgive that.”

“Sheesh, save Bright Land and everyone chews you out for it.” Hub grinned jokingly. “But at least we stopped Misty over there. But this does create a small problem; May and I are both Navigators now, and we‘re short one Net Op.”

“Maybe not…” A grin crept over Lan’s face. “Come with me.”

Leaving Misty in the hands of the palace guards, May and Hub followed their father back upstairs to his room.

Once inside, Lan headed over to his desk and opened the lower right hand draw. As May and Hub looked on in complete astonishment, their father pulled two brand new, state of the art, never seen before P.E.T.s.

“Here, catch.”

Hub’s hand flicked up, snatching the device as it sailed at him. May also plucked hers out of the air, and together, they studied the new devices. These P.E.T.s were amazingly small, about one-forth the size of the standard Plug-In P.E.T. that they had been using. The P.E.T.s were a softly rounded rectangular shape, with a high-definition screen resting on the extreme left end, switches, controls, and LCD readout displays rested on the right side, and two small straps hung down from the device, indicating that it could either be clipped to a belt, or worn on the wrist like a watch.

“Those,” Lan explained as the two looked over the devices, “are the latest thing in PET technology. They‘re known as the Generation PET, and contain all of the necessary Battle Card information that you‘ll ever need. Plus it can automatically configure new Battle Data you come across and convert it into a weapon you can use, on the outside chance you need more data. But the best part is that they will allow you to enter the Cyber-World without the aid of a Net Op.”

“Whoa, you‘re kidding me.” Hub played with the buttons as he glanced up at his father. “You mean to tell me, that I can just go into the Net at will? How does that work?”

“Its simple.” Lan pointed to the sensors located on the left and right sides of the PET. “Those sensor will register that you‘re entering the Net, and transmit the information back to a central computer system. The system will track your movements and log you out if you get into any trouble, or when you‘re ready to leave, so you just take the PET into the Internet with you. The PET Generation is linked to your voice, so by calling out the Battle Chips you want in the Net, it will automatically adjust your armor for the Card you‘ve chosen.”

“Let me guess.” May flicked her PET on and began working through the registration screens. “Mr. Blaze was the one behind this wasn‘t he?”

“How‘d you guess?” Lan grinned.

“Every time a new P.E.T. enters the market, he‘s the one behind it.” The brunette girl replied. “History just repeats itself.”

“Good point.”

The rest of their discussion was cut short, as a new voice floated through the air ahead of a new arrival.

“It‘s about time I caught up with you!”

“Mom?” May and Hub whirled around, just in time to get snatched up into a hug from their mother.

“I know its only been a few days, but I‘ve missed you terribly.” The redheaded woman squeezed her children tighter.

Hub just couldn‘t resist, the opportunity was too great. “Ach! Can‘t… breath!”

“Just for that, I ought to throttle you!” Maylu squeezed even harder, causing Hub’s eyes to bulge in fear for a split second, before releasing her children. “So, what have you two been up to? You haven‘t been getting involved in any wars have you?”

“Who, us?” Pokerfaced, May shrugged. “Get involved in an international war?”

“I‘ll take that as a ‘no‘.” Maylu replied, before exchanging a quick greeting with her husband.

Deciding to let their lovey-dovey parents have some privacy, Hub and May slipped out of the room.

And a split second after they left, another figure slipped unnoticed into that room.

The figure stepped over to the side of the doorway, and addressed the two. “Forgive the interruption.”

“What the-?” Lan spun around to discover Chaud Blaze standing in his doorway. “Chaud?”

“Who else?” The Official folded his arms across his chest. “I just got back from Ameroupe. Lan Maylu, we have to talk.”

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“What in the disk drive?” Hub glanced down at his beeping PET Generation, the device had gone wild; vibrating, beeping and blinking crazily.

Quickly the redhead looked into his PET and tried to figure out the cause of the disruption. “Harry?”

“It wasn‘t me.” The Met answered. “Someone‘s tryin‘ to send ya and E-mail.”

“Well, open it!”

“Hold your hardhats, I‘m workin‘ on it.” Harry hastily tried to decipher the mass of code in front of him. The Generation PET was vastly different than anything that he’d ever worked on before, and the arrowed Met was more than a little confused about its functions. Several long moments later, the Met finally figured out how to open the Inbox.

“Uh, its from that, Tron girl.” The Met reported back. “She wants to meet you in the castle‘s Network in five minutes. Alone.”

“She does?” Hub’s right eyebrow raised itself in bewilderment. “This is unexpected, what‘s she want?”

“She doesn‘t say. Just that its important, whatta ya goin‘ at do?”

The redhead pondered that question for a long moment before making his reply. “We‘ll go, but not alone. With the Generation PET‘s on our side, we‘ve got an ace up our sleeve; its time to exploit that.”

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“Why so formal, Chaud?” Lan stared at his friend, “You‘re acting… stiff.”

“This isn’t a social call,” The double-haired man replied. “I wish that it was, but it’s not. Lan, you can’t hide this any longer. We need to know what happened that night you and Regal tangled for the last time.”

“What‘s that got to do with anything?” The brunette Official snapped, clearly, he didn‘t want to touch that subject..

Maylu tensed as she detected a barely noticeable… trace of emotion in Lan’s voice. She’d only heard it a few times in their married life, but in each instance it meant that Lan really didn’t want to delve into something.

“It has everything to do with it,” Chaud calmly replied. “Lan, this entire mess hinges on what happened that night. You‘ve never told anyone exactly what happened, and if you don‘t tell us now, there could fatal consequences for everyone, especially May and Hub.”

Lan clamped his mouth shut. It was plain that he wasn’t going to cooperate.

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“I‘m here, Tron.”

“Ah, yes, I‘m glad you‘ve come.”

Trigger glanced up, to see the aforementioned Net Navigator floating down out of the sky towards him. Tron settled in and landed a few short feet away from the Young Bomber, her eyes studying him intently.

“Trigger, I‘ve come to ask you again.” Tron phrased her question. “Will you join us? With CryoGirl captured, we have been severely crippled. If you would join our ranks, we could take back the Internet and make Regal‘s dream a reality.”

“What is it with you?” Trigger glared his answer at his companion. “You follow me halfway around the world just to ask that? There‘s no way I‘d ever work for you, or any Regal for that matter!”

At these words, Tron started in surprise. Her ice blue eyes flicked over Trigger as if he had revealed a deep dark secret.
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“Lan, please!” Maylu placed her hand on the brunette’s shoulder. “You’ve never told anyone what happened, and I can tell that its been a burden to you… Can‘t you tell us?”

“Maylu… I-” The Op broke his gaze with Chaud to look at his wife, “I can‘t… it would destroy too many lives… Things would never be the same…”

“You‘re hurting more than helping,” Chaud addressed his partner. “Lan, I already know.”

The brunette jerked and glared at the double-haired Official. “Regal‘s files told you, didn‘t they?”

“They did. That’s why I came here, to give you the chance to come clean before I’m forced to spill your secret.”

Lan felt himself go speechless. Why did this have to happen? It didn’t matter what had happened that night… it was all in the past, why bring it up again?

However, as much as he hated to admit it, he was beaten. If he didn’t explain what would happen, then Chaud would. And if Maylu had to know, she would find out from Lan, not anyone else.

“Fine.” Lan shot a glare at Chaud. “I‘ll tell you… Maylu… I‘m sorry, I didn‘t want you to know…”

End Chapter!
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[TheWebbuilder]

As usual, thanks goes to Lido Azn Girl for pointing out my blundrz. :]

I have to say, I'm really disappointed with the direction this fic has gone. I had a lot of hope for it when it started out, but I think it's gone the way of the Network. -sigh-

Thirteen Years Earlier.

“Lan…”

“Its O.K., Maylu…” Lan Hikari leaned over the hospital bed and took his wife’s hand as he stared into her blurred brown eyes. They had been through so much in these past few days, she deserved to have some peace for a few moments. “I‘m here… we got you to the hospital in time. You‘re going to be all right.”

“But… Lan…” The redhead’s weak voice stumbled through the air. “The… baby… Did…?”

“She‘s fine,” The father whispered reassuringly, his grip on her hand tightening. “It was touch and go there for a while… but she‘s fine, and beautiful just like her mother.”

“’She‘…? You… mean…”

“We had a girl.” Lan caught the glimpse of excitement in his wife’s eyes. “And I named her after you… May Hikari.”

“A daughter…” Maylu blinked uncertainly. “And there… were no problems?”

“It doesn‘t look like anything’s wrong.” The father answered, “Your… ordeal doesn‘t seem to have affected her at all.”

“Thank… heaven…”

“You rest now.” Lan stood up, keeping his wife’s hand in his. “You‘ve been through too much this past month. You rest and get well, I‘ll… take care of these things.”

“Lan… don‘t do anything you‘ll regret.”

“I won‘t.”

As Maylu dropped into a light slumber, her husband turned and headed towards the door. He had just stepped through it and into the hospital’s hallway when a familiar voice stopped him in his tracks.

“How is she?”

“She‘s fine, Chaud.” Lan didn’t bother to turn around and face his friend. He wasn’t sure if he could and hold his wavering resolve. “It didn‘t help that Regal kidnapped her so close to May‘s birth, but she and my daughter pulled through just fine.”

“Lan, let it go.” Chaud spoke to his friend’s back. “If you go through with this, you‘ll lower yourself to his level.”

“Chaud, Regal‘s gone too far.” The brunette looked over his shoulder to catch his partner‘s eyes in his own, “He‘s endangered my wife and my child. This has to end, now. I‘m not going to let Maylu live this kind of life, so there‘s only one thing to do.”

“I can‘t stop you,” The double-haired man spoke slowly. “But if you do, then I can‘t protect you either.”

“I don‘t expect you to.” Lan resumed his walk, and left Chaud standing there in the hallway. He had some loose ends to tie up, and he had to do it alone.

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Cross Fusion MegaMan lowered his Mega Buster. Smoldering at his feet lay the remains of Regal’s last defense, and the crazed scientist was now completely wide open to anything.

“All right, Regal.” CF MegaMan raised his Mega Buster to point at his nemeses. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn‘t drop you right now.”

“Wha- what?” Regal stiffened as the weapon straightened out to bear on his chest. Scared senseless, the Nebula leader stared down the Buster barrel at his opponent’s eyes. “You wouldn‘t!”

“I can, and I will.” CF MegaMan cocked his weapon, causing a menacing glow to build up in the back of his cannon’s throat. “You’ve got thirty seconds to say your last words.”

“I- this can‘t be! You can‘t destroy me!” Regal was so terrified over the Bomber’s actions that he was actually shaking. “Its against your laws! You‘ve never defied them before!”

“You should have thought of that possibility before you kidnapped my wife and endangered my daughter‘s life.” The Blue Bomber snapped, “Fifteen seconds.”

“But- you can‘t let him! I beg you!” The scientist pleaded for the digital MegaMan to come to his rescue.

“Sorry, Regal.” MegaMan’s hard voice came from his side of the fusion. “But I agree completely with Lan, we have to take you out.”

Regal’s eyes bulged at the prospect of dying. He’d always faced that threat before, but each time it was under circumstances where he knew he could escape. But this was vastly different…

“See ya, Regal.” CF MegaMan’s Buster flared, sending a powerful burst of energy through the air towards the infamous leader‘s chest.

“NO! Have mercy!” Regal’s composure shattered, as he threw his arms over his head and closed his eyes. Seconds passed as he awaited his fate.

The fate that never came.

A full minute passed before the cowering scientist blinked and opened his eyes. Realizing that he wasn’t about to die, the Nebula leader lowered his arms, and looked up to see a stray Met derezzing before his eyes. The minor virus must have blocked the attack, saving Regal’s skin.

“As if I‘d really kill you.” The Cross Fused Bomber lunged forward and grabbed Regal by his coat collar. Dropping his mouth-guard, CF MegaMan pulled the scientist in close so that the two were eye to eye. “I should, but I‘m not scum like you are. Instead, I’m going to make sure you pay for what you‘ve done.” Maintaining his grip on the scientist’s coat, CF MegaMan thrust Regal back to arm’s length. “But I‘m going to do that the right way. So give it up, I‘m taking you in.”

“Lan, you never cease to amaze me…” Regal’s voice took on a hard tone. “With your bumbling sense of righteousness!”

Showing amazing strength, the Nebula leader kicked out. His foot made contact with CF MegaMan’s chest, sending him flying backward from the impact.

A crash erupted as the Cross Fused Net Saver slammed into the far wall, before gravity took effect and pulled him to the ground.

Taking advantage of his opponent’s plight, Regal turned and ran off in retreat, heading across the room towards the only exit.

“Hold it right there! Yo-Yo, Battle Chip in!” CF MegaMan vaulted to his feet, summoning the weapon. In resplonse his right hand transformed into the aforementioned. Yo-Yo Launcher.

The brown-eyed Net Saver hauled back his arm to swing-

He never got the chance.

A shockwave ripped through the air and ground, causing the Blue Bomber to halt his attack and focus on keeping his footing. Up ahead, he could see Regal stumbling forward towards that exit.

“What the-?” CF MegaMan’s head snapped about, to see a pillar of flame explode through the ground behind him. It was then that the answer hit him, in his fight with Regal’s defenses, he must have damaged something volatile. And whatever that was, it was about to blow sky high, and take him and Regal with it.

And that wasn’t an option, not with Maylu and their daughter waiting on him.

“Yo-yo!” Snapping his arm about, the Blue Bomber shot the bladed toy through the air. His weapon crashed into the ceiling and stuck fast, its blades embedded in the roof. Tightening the line, the brunette Net battler hauled himself off the floor.

Swinging his body, the Bomber put himself into a long swing aimed at Regal, he had to time this just right…

“Now!”

As he reached the end of his line, CF MegaMan dropped his Battle Chip, allowing his hand to revert back to normal. His momentum carried him through the air, straight towards his opponent.

Behind him, another blast of flame ripped through the floor. This one hit the ceiling, and set the structure ablaze.

Bringing his feet up, the Cross Fused MegaMan collided solidly with his target, kicking him to the ground below.

“Give it up, Regal!” The Bomber towered over his opponent amid the now-present inferno. “Its over!”

“It’s never over, boy.” The scientist rolled over onto his back, “You of all people should know that!”

“That‘s where-”

Lan’s statement died in the air, as another blast of fire ripped through the floor a few scant feet away. The flaming pillar snapped upward, breaking straight through the roof.

“Oh boy…” CF MegaMan looked up, to see the ceiling giving away from the force of the blast. Pieces of wreckage and debris were plummeting downward, straight towards them. If he didn’t act soon, he’d be in serious trouble.

Realizing that a Barrier was out of the question, the Fused Bomber instinctively hurled himself to the right. His move propelled him out from under the lethal, plummeting debris and to relative safely.

The Bomber hit the floor, inches away from another fireball.

And then a scream ripped through the air; a scream that would haunt Lan and MegaMan forever.

The Bomber’s head snapped around- his eyes widening in horror.

CF MegaMan stared at the scene before him. There was no doubt about it this time…

“I guess you were wrong, it does end... Blast it, Regal, you won't even give me the satisfaction of bringing you in alive." CF MegaMan stared at the horrible sight before him.

“Lan, that thought can wait until later!” MegaMan jerked his partner back to reality.

Finally becoming aware of a tremor beneath his feet, the Bomber leapt away from his current position, just barely squeaking past yet another fireball.

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“And so Regal died,” Tron commented, “leaving behind a legacy that exists to this day. He dreamed that his offspring would carry on his work, and they have ever since.”

“Yeah, really exciting,” Trigger snapped back. “But I still don’t understand what the big mystery is. So Regal died, and left you behind, big deal.”

“Ah, that‘s where you‘re wrong.” A smile played over Royelle’s lips. “He left two children behind. Me, his daughter, and a son…”

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“Lan, you‘ve got to get out of here!” MegaMan’s voice echoed from his side of the fusion.

“I‘m working on it, I‘m working on it!” The Bomber spun around, trying to formulate the best route out of this flaming mess. Abruptly, an unexpected sound grabbed his attention. “Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

A barely audible cry came through the air.

“That!” CF MegaMan whirled around and looked up. “Someone‘s up there!”

“And it sounds like they‘re in trouble.” MegaMan agreed. “All right, let‘s do it! One Buster Punch and one pair of Air Shoes coming your way!”

“You read my mind like usual,” The fused Net battler muttered, as his right hand grew larger and became incased in solid gold armor. Flames exploded out of his boots, propelling him up into the air, and towards the weakened ceiling.

“Buster Punch!”

The ceiling went to pieces beneath his powered up fist, allowing CF MegaMan to burst through to the next floor.

With a sharp vault, the Bomber flipped upright and landed in the above floors. His eyes flicked about trying to find the source of the cry for help.

“Higher!” MegaMan shouted from his side of the Fusion. “Whoever it is, they‘re one floor above us!”

“Right!” CF MegaMan made another bound, and broke through to the next floor. Almost as soon as he had landed, he found the person in need of help.

“A BABY!?”

Indeed, a terrified baby was lying on a crude mattress on the right side of the floor.

“What‘s he doing here?” MegaMan and Lan spoke in unison as they stared at the bawling child.

“We can worry about that later.” CF MegaMan rushed over. As gently as possible, the fused Net battler leaned over and picked the child up in his arms.

“Hey, Lan, you don’t suppose that-”

“You never know.” CF MegaMan turned and looked about for a way out of his predicament. Already the fire had spread to his current floor, and now the flames were sweeping about and trying to lick at him and his new charge.

A split second later, his eyes locked onto a nearby window. There was his way out.

“MegaMan!”

“Break Hammer and Barrier, on their way!”

“Battle Chips in!” The fused Bomber thrust out his left hand as a light blue hammer burst into existence about his wrist.

Cradling the child with his left hand, CF MegaMan rushed towards the window. His mouth-guard appeared about his face as a glowing Barrier materialized around the baby.

With a swing of his hammer, the Bomber broke through the window. Since the child was protected by the barrier, Lan didn’t have to worry about him getting hurt by the flying glass. His momentum carried him forward, to the absolute edge of the building, another step and CF MegaMan would plunge to his doom,

Pushing off from the building, CF MegaMan vaulted through the air and flew through space. His leap carried him away from the burning building and across the street towards the adjacent empty warehouse.

The Bomber’s feet hit the roof of the warehouse, bringing him to safety.

His task done, the two partners crossed out. Back to his normal self, Lan clumsily caught his P.E.T. while maintaining his grip on the baby.

“It still blows my mind,” MegaMan commented from his Terminal. “A child in there… Amazing.”

“I know… who‘d have thought that old Regal…” Lan left his thought unspoken, as he studied the frightened baby in his arms. “You know, for a Regal, this guy‘s kind of… cute.”

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“So, you mean-?” Maylu cupped her hands over her mouth in amazement. She’d never suspected this…

“Maylu, I‘m sorry.” Lan glanced away, refusing to make eye contact with his wife. “I never wanted to deceive you. But with Regal dead… it didn‘t seem to matter who the parents were.”

“I‘m assuming that you adopted the child you found.” Chaud kept the conversation on topic.

“Yes, all right!?” The brunette’s head snapped up to glare at his friend. His tone was filled with anger. “After we found out that Maylu couldn‘t have another… We decided to adopt a child, I made sure that we saw Hub, and then Maylu took a liking to him as well… So we adopted him, satisfied?”

“Lan, I‘m truly sorry for putting you through this.” Chaud inched backward, readying himself for the retreat. “But this entire Com mess revolves around Regal‘s children, so I had to know for certain.”

“You‘ve done enough.” Lan put his right elbow in his left hand and then dropped his forehead into his waiting right palm to signal his exasperation.

“Excuse me.”

Chaud slipped out the door, just as Maylu burst into tears.

End Chapter!
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[Lido Azn Girl]

[gameman]

web i want a mistake you made in the benginning you said May was older than Hub but with that last chapter it made it sound like may be Hub was older by a little
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i am the game master