Sean's Zero Transmission(Stream spoilers, complete)

[TheWebbuilder]

Although this isn't an original concept, the idea is driving me crazy. So I'm writing it.

Summery: A neglected child named Sean discovers the power of Asteroid Navis.
Rating: PG or K+9 for violence.

Begin Chapter!

“I‘ve got your doom!” SavageMan hauled back his arm, preparing to unleash his next attack.

“I’ve heard that one before.” Lan’s hand flashed down to his folder and ripped out his Synchro Chip. Within seconds, he had raised his PET Progress and had slotted the blue chip in. “Cross Fusion!”

SavageMan halted his attack, it would be pointless to attack while that pest was Cross Fusing with his Net Navi. He'd learned from past experience that the brunette kid was protected from harm while he was Cross Fusing.

A shaft of light surrounded Lan, as his PET broke apart into pixels of data and began covering his body. Within seconds, MegaMan’s armor had formed over his arms and legs, preparing him to enter the coming battle.

"It doesn't matter what you try, I'll still defeat you!"

CF MegaMan clenched his fist as he stared across the roof towards his opponent. “Yeah, riiight.”

“I'll tear you to peices!” SavageMan took to the assault, leaping forward and throwing his clawed arm forward.

A few short feet away, a small figure huddled behind a large air vent. The large foil structure rose straight up from the roof, obscuring the small boy hiding behind it from the view of the battlers.

“That‘s… MegaMan…” The figure whispered in amazement. “He‘s actually here…”

Unaware that he was being watched, CF MegaMan was busy taking out SavageMan. The Cross Fused Net Op hastily ducked as the attack raced at him, allowing a clawed arm to swipe harmlessly over his head.

“Now, its my turn!” CF MegaMan clenched his fist, as a golden gauntlet materialized about his wrist. “Gold Fist, Battle Chip in!”

A scream escaped SavageMan, as his adversary’s armored fist slammed into his face.

“Mega Cannon, Battle Chip in!” As the beast-like Navi recoiled from the blow, the Bomber brought his fast back. In response to his command, a light red blaster replaced his Gold Fist.

“Grr… Wild Rush!” The Neo WWW Navi snapped his arms forward, sending them flying through the air. A split second later, the beast had sent his head shooting forward at MegaMan.

CF MegaMan saw the move coming in plenty of time, and quickly took the necessary counter-measures.

“Life Aura, Battle Chip in!” No sooner had the words left his mouth, than a shimmering white dome appeared around the Bomber.

SavageMan’s hands smashed into the defense, and rebounded off harmlessly. Half a second later, the beast’s head had been deflected, and was flying back to its body.

“See ya!” Snapping his weapon up to bear at the beast, the Bomber smirked his usual cocky remark at his opponent. A blast of power exploded out of his weapon, and sailed through the air towards SavageMan.

Before the Neo WWW Navi could react, the attack rammed into his chest. Balking under the force of the attack, SavageMan was sent flying backward through the air.

“You think he‘d have learned by now.” CF MegaMan smirked in triumph.

Half a second later, his smile vanished.

SavageMan had crashed right through an air vent, and out the other side. As of now, the brute was teetering on the edge of the roof, trying frantically to maintain his balance and keep from plunging to the ground below.

That wasn’t the problem.

What was the problem was that a young boy was also tottering on the brink, and a fall from this height could be lethal.

“Where‘d he come from?” CF MegaMan gasped, as he broke into a run in an effort to snatch the child from certain death.

“He must have been hiding behind that air duct, then when SavageMan blew through it, he took the kid with him.” MegaMan’s voice echoed a reply through the Bomber’s head.

“But what was he doing up here in the first place?”

“We‘ll worry about that later- Lan, he‘s about to go over!”

“What the-” The Cross Fused Bomber’s head snapped up, to see the child rapidly loosing his balance. “Step Sword, Battle Chip in!”

“Way ahead of you!” MegaMan replied as he activated the chip data.

A split second later, CF MegaMan’s right fist had transformed into a blue hilt, with a glowing blue blade locked into place. Activating the Chip’s power, the Bomber rushed forward at unbelievable speed, his sword carving through the air before him.

“HELP ME!” The child screamed in terror, right before his footing vanished. With a scream, the boy tumbled over the edge, heading to his doom below.

SavageMan growled in fury as CF MegaMan’s blade ripped through him. He was out of the fight, having lost again to this blue pipsqueak. Defeated, the Asteroid Navi vanished, logging out of the human world and back to the digital realm.

The Step Sword chip gave out, allowing CF MegaMan to drop back to normal speed. However, his dash had carried him out over the building’s roof, and into the empty air. Gravity took effect, pulling him downward towards the falling boy- and the ground below.

“Air Shoes ready, Lan!”

“You know, its amazing how you‘re always one step ahead of me.” Lan chuckled back. “Air Shoes, Battle Chip in!”

“Hang on!” CF MegaMan called out to the falling kid, as his boots suddenly started blowing flames. The chip aided his descent, propelling him downward at a faster rate.

“To what?” The child screamed back. Terrified, he looked down, only to see the pavement rushing up to him a horrifying rate.

“Ask a stupid question!”

The child stared at the ground as it rushed closer, desperately hoping against hope that he would somehow survive. Seconds passed, unable to look at his approaching death, the kid closed his eyes and waited.

“Got you!”

A sharp tug ripped through the kid’s being, as something grabbed him from behind and tried to pull him upward. The two forces, his downward momentum, and the upward pull ripped at him from both directions, making him certain that he was about to be torn in half. Moments later, his fall came to a stop, as the upward force won the deadly battle.

The child cracked his eyes, barely able to believe that he was still alive. Glancing up, the kid saw his rescuer: Cross Fusion MegaMan.

“There now, you‘re safe.” CF MegaMan comforted the child as he hovered towards the ground below. When he came into range, he shifted so that he landed upright, deactivating his Air Shoes. His rescue over, the Bomber gently deposited the rescued child on the ground. “You didn‘t doubt me did you?”

The kid looked up at him, his eyes wide and mouth shut.

“Hey, what‘s the matter?” CF MegaMan caught the strange look the kid was giving him. “Something wrong? What‘s your name?”

The kid just shook his head, and remained mute.

CF MegaMan studied the child as he tried to figure out what was the matter. The child wore a pair of faded white tennis shoes, as well as a pair of tattered black slacks. A T-shirt that had obviously seen better days was wrapped around his tiny body, which was so skinny, Lan wondered what how the kid managed to stay alive. The child had bright round eyes, and a mess of hair that refused to stay put.

“Lan!” MegaMan broke into their thoughts. “The DA‘s fading away! We‘re about to drop out of Cross Fusion!”

“I‘m ready.” The Op tensed himself as the sustaining dome faded away, as a result, MegaMan’s armor broke apart and revert back into his PET in mid-air before Lan. As soon as the process had finished, the Op hurriedly reached out and caught his PET as it dropped towards the ground.

“What in the name of Django?” Lan blinked and glanced around.

“What‘s wrong?” The Bomber called out from his terminal.

“That little squirt!” The Op glanced around in disbelief. “He got away!”

“Say what?”

“That kid just vanished!” Lan turned his head, peering about in an effort to find the child. “He must have run off while we were Crossing Out.”

“Strange, I wonder who he was…”

The answer to that question, literally lay beneath their feet. Down below the streets of Den Tech City, the runaway child had just finished climbing down the manhole ladder, and was reaching the city’s rainwater sewers. While his rescuer had been preoccupied with the Dimensional Area, the child had slipped away and hastily scurried down a nearby manhole. Most children would cringe at the idea of descending into such a place, but this particular child didn’t mind- it was second nature to him.

As the child reached the bottom step, and entered the sewers, he found himself standing before two older teens. Teen 1 was a bulky, stocky guy with black hair, and an acne scarred face that would never win a beauty prize. Teen 2 was slender and short, his wiry limbs were amazingly thin, and his narrow face could be attractive if given the right chance to reveal itself.

“Wow, little Shun almost got himself in a mess.” Teen 1 rumbled, a smirk tracing his lips. “Decided to tangle with SavageMan, huh? What were you going to do, tackle his left or right ankle?”

“Don‘t call me ‘Shun‘, Gregory.” The short child snapped back in annoyance. “I have a name.”

“Right, right, right,” Teen 2 hastily butted into the conversation. “We know that. But this is important, you didn‘t… talk to that Net Saver did you? You know what‘ll happen if you talk to any stranger…”

The child‘s eyes widened in fear, as pure terror appeared in his eyes. “I didn‘t tell him anything! I didn‘t even speak to him! I promise! I‘d never talk to an outsider!”

“You‘re sure?”

“I didn‘t even say a word!” The child hastily affirmed his previous statements.

“O.K. then,” Teen 2 replied slowly, “let‘s go home. Scratch‘ll be upset with us for being late as it is.”

“I‘m sorry Slim.” The boy mumbled, “I was just trying to help.”

“Yeah?” Gregory snapped back. “Next time: Don‘t.”

“Lay off,” Slim shot an angry look at his companion. “Leave Sean alone, he‘s been through enough today as it is.”
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[Anime Master ZERO]

Wrong section. This should go in the Fanfic Library.
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[DanSidney]

The US names and translated scripts make Rockman a sad panda.
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SPOILER:
Our princess is in another castle.

[Slashman]

Nice story I must say I like all the USA names *Is killed by japanse name fans* but I just say I hate Beastman's USA name
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Slashman was Slashaman

FanFictions
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2220843/1/ Megaman SP -done

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2545043/1/
Megaman Overload -done

[TheWebbuilder]

I must be losing my mind, because I know I created this thread in here, the FanFic Library; and judging from AMZ's comment, it showed up somewhere else...

O.K., I'm officially freaked out now.

The dub names are the ones I'm the most familiar with, so that's what I use. Sometimes I'll mix and match, but for the most part, I follow the dub.
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[Anime Master ZERO]

You had actually placed this in "Anime & Manga".

Anyway, now that I've actually read it in depth, I like it. If you could, please put it up on FF.net so I can add it to my C2 community.
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[TheWebbuilder]

Really? Strange...

Ah well, sure thing AMZ, my other fic was about to wrap up anyway and I needed something to take its place.

But be warned that I'm writing this as I go, updates will be sporadic.
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[Raijin]

It's probably just a coincidence, but does this have anything to do with "Lost In Transmission"? If you don't know what I'm talking about, it's a team and it just so happens one of the members in it is named Sean and operates Zero.exe. I figured you might be that Sean.

[TheWebbuilder]

Sorry, Raijin, I'm not that Sean; and I've never heard of Lost in Transmission.

And I've figured out why this popped up in the Anime and Manga section. The button on my mouse sticks at times, and can double click when I don't want it to. I used the menu to jump from the Anime section to the Fanfic Library, where I read Malik's note in TCY. Then I hit the 'Back' button on my browser the button must have stuck and carried me back to the Anime section instead of the Fanfic Library where I made the thread.

So I did put it in the wrong section, just not intentionally. My apologies, Mods, I'll be more careful next time.

Ach, I've got to get the next chapter written...
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[TheWebbuilder]

Whohoo! An actual update!

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“It sure is weird...”

“What‘s wrong, Lan?” Maylu turned to look at her companion, as they headed home from school.

“Yesterday I went out to stop SavageMan- again.” Lan made his reply as he continued to walk along the street. “And this kid was there and almost got himself killed. After I rescued him, he wouldn‘t talk to me, and disappeared without a trace while I was crossing out.”

“He did?” Maylu pondered the puzzling story, trying to come up with a possible solution for it. “Maybe he was just scared. If I had just gotten involved in an Asteroid Navi fight and didn‘t know anything about it, I‘d be terrified.”

“He might have been,” The brunette shrugged, “But I get the feeling that there‘s something else involved… Kind of like… he was in trouble.”

Meanwhile within MegaMan’s PET, the Bomber and Roll were discussing that very subject.

“It was strange.” MegaMan shrugged, “He just clammed up as soon as we rescued him. I don‘t know what it was, but there was something about him that-”

The Blue Bomber broke off his sentence, as a familiar beep echoed through his helmet. Immediately, he activated his PET’s vibrate and blink features, since that sound meant that Lan had a new E-mail.

“Lan! Mail!”

“Huh? What is it?” The Bomber pulled his PET out of its belt clip and glanced into the screen.

“It’s from your mom.” MegaMan hastily scanned the message. “It‘s a reminder to take that Custom Disk over to your dad at SciLab.”

“Yikes!” The Op’s eyes went wide. “I almost forgot!”

“News flash: You did forget.” The Blue Navi quipped, “You just now remembered because of the E-mail that your Mom sent. Really, Lan, you have to start being more dependable-”

“Yeah, yeah, we can discuss the details later.” Lan slid his Terminal back into its pouch to halt the lecture. That done, he bid a hasty farewell to Maylu and set off for SciLab.

Fortunately for Lan, the trip was pretty much uneventful, and so he managed to reach SciLab with minimal delay. And so roughly fifteen minutes later he arrived at the giant complex.

Hastily entering the lab and bypassing security, the brunette worked his way up to the top floor of the complex where his father’s office was located.

Upon reaching the office door, Lan pulled out the disk so that he was ready turn it over to his father.

“Knock, knock!” The brunette called out as he pushed the door open and entered the office.

“Oh?” Dr. Hikari looked up, a bewildered expression on his face over seeing his son entering the room. “Hi, Lan. What brings you here?”

“You forgot this at home,” The Op held up the computer disk, “And Mom asked me to bring it to you after school.”

“And he almost forgot about it himself.” MegaMan spoke up from his PET. “Luckily he had me along to remind him.”

“I was getting around to it,” Lan defended himself from the accusation.

“Sure you were.”

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“Hey, Shun, will you get your head out of the clouds and back down here to earth? We don‘t have time to daydream about PETs and the N1!”

The gray-haired kid shot the older teen an angry look, but reluctantly turned away from the store window.

“We‘d better come back with something.” Slim muttered between his two companions, Gregory and Sean, “Or Scratch‘ll have our heads for two days in a row. Yesterday he was lenient, today he‘ll be downright angry.”

“If you can call his reaction ‘lenient‘.” Gregory seethed bitterly. “I don‘t understand that guy. We do all the work and take the risks, but if we come back empty handed from a rough day, he hit’s the ceiling. It ain’t right.”

“Just be glad that he took you in,” Slim snapped back, “Otherwise, who knows where you’d have ended up. But enough of this, we need to make a hit, and it needs to be a big one.”

“How about we try up that way?” The stocky teen pointed up the street, “it’s the better side of town, someone up there should have plenty of money.”

“I suppose we could try, its better than nothing.” Slim shrugged and glanced over at Sean to get his approval- or where Sean should have been. The kid was gone, vanished from sight.

“Not again!” Gregory clenched his fists in frustration, “I don‘t know why we put up with that twerp, we should let him starve for leaving us in the lurch all the time.”

“Oh, shut up. You know as well as I do where he is.” The rail-thin teen turned and set off down the streets.

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“Ah, I did forget about it.” Yuichirou quickly filed the disk away in his computer system. “Thanks, Lan.”

“Not a problem,” The brunette gave a ‘thumbs-up’, “Anytime, Dad.”

“Speaking of which, I was thinking about packing it in and leaving early today.” Dr. Hikari stood up and closed down his computer system. “Care to join me as I head home?”

“Sure.”

A few minutes later, the pair had left the office and were exiting SciLab.

“So, what‘s the special occasion?” Lan asked as they pushed open the doors and left the building.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean why are you leaving SciLab early?” The brunette pushed the topic, “Normally, you work late, so why are you leaving early tonight?”

“Well…” Yuichirou grinned uneasily. “I have my reasons.”

Lan just shrugged and dropped the subject, he wasn’t about to force the issue any more than he already had. But still, it was strange that his father would just take off and leave at 5:00 PM, regular time, instead of working late like usual.

“Hey, watch where you’re going, pal!”

Lan blinked and looked up to see his father stepping back from a large stocky teenager. Apparently, his father and the teen had bumped into each other.

“Eh, my apologies.” Yuichirou blinked and stepped back in confusion. Where had this kid come from? It was like the teen had come out of nowhere and walked into him on purpose. “I didn‘t see you standing there.”

“Whatever.” The teen shrugged, then pushed past the two Hikari’s to continue on his way. “Just keep your eyes open next time, old man.”

“’Old man‘?” Lan repeated, anger seeping into his voice. “Nobody talks to my Dad like that!”

The teen just smirked and continued on, vanishing into the crowd of people milling about the streets.

“That guy‘s got a lot of nerve.” Lan pronounced his analysis of the individual; however, before he could launch into a full-blown tantrum about the teen, MegaMan‘s voice interrupted his moment.

“Hey, Lan, look there!”

“What?” The Op glanced about, bewildered as to what his Navi was talking about.

“There, straight ahead!” The Bomber screamed, “it’s the kid we rescued yesterday, the one with the light gray hair!”

“Where? I don‘t see-” It was at that exact moment, that Lan’s eyes landed on a familiar gray head of hair. It only took a fraction of a second for the Op to realize that his Navi was right- it was the kid they had rescued yesterday. The boy was slipping into the crowd and heading north up the street.

“Hey! You!” The brunette shouted after the boy, “You with the gray hair!”

For one fleeting instant, the boy stole a look over his shoulder. Even with the distance between them, Lan could easily read the emotion in the kid’s eyes: fear.

To Lan’s surprise, the youth broke into a run, forcing his way through the crowd, away from the brunette Operator.

“Huh?” The Op blinked in amazement as the child dashed away. Overcoming his surprise, Lan burst into a run, giving chase the child.

“I‘ll be back, Dad!” Lan shouted over his shoulder as he dashed off, “Don‘t wait up for me!”

“Lan, wait! What‘s going on?” Yuichirou screamed after his son- but it was too late, the brunette was already out of earshot.

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“What‘s his problem?” Lan bobbed in and out of the crowd, desperately trying to keep the kid in his sights. The guy was amazingly fast for his physical condition, and giving Lan a run for his money as he struggled to keep up.

Gray Hair dashed about a corner and into a narrow alleyway, temporarily slipping out of Lan’s view. Undaunted, the Net Saver whipped around the corner in pursuit.

“Hey!” Lan shouted as he entered the alley. No sooner had he entered the street, than his eyes widened in amazement. Gray Hair was talking to a short thin teen- and the stocky guy who had run into his Dad!

Unfortunately, Lan’s shout had alerted the two teens and the boy to Lan’s approach. Almost instantly, the group began running towards the other end of the street. Evidently, they didn’t want a confrontation.

As he skated past the rows of trash cans down the alleyway, the Net Saver was sure that he heard one of the teens say: “He‘s onto us!”

Lan pushed himself faster, he had to catch them…

For a brief moment, it looked like fortune was favoring the Net Saver. When Gray Hair turned to run, somehow he tripped over his own feet sending him tumbling to the ground below. The kid hit the ground hard, and Lan spotted a small brown object go flying from the boy’s right hand.

“Hey! You okay?” Lan picked up the pace, a few more feet and he’d be able to help the small boy to his feet.

“Stay away from him, Net Saver!”

The brunette’s head snapped up, to see the stocky teen snatching the lid off of a trash can. Stocky teen whipped his arm back and then sent the lid spinning through the air, Frisbee style.

The Net Saver saw the rotating disk coming a fraction of a second too late. Just as he reached the gray-haired teen, the trash can lid rammed into his stomach. The force of impact knocked him off of his feet, and sent him crashing to the ground beside Gray Hair.

“Come on, Sean!” Thin Teen rushed over and dragged the boy to his feet. Half-leading, half-dragging Sean, Thin Teen rushed back up the alleyway taking the boy with him.

“We gotta get out of here!” Stocky Teen followed his companion’s lead.

Gasping and sputtering, Lan gripped his bruised chest with his left hand. As he worked his way to his knees, the brunette raised his head to see the targets of his search vanish around the street corner. Hastily, the injured Op forced himself to his feet, and walked up to the mouth of the alley.

Lan glanced up and down the various streets, but it was no use. The two teens and Sean were long gone, vanished from sight.

“Well,” The brunette groaned and rubbed his chest. “That went well.”

“I don‘t get it.” MegaMan shrugged from his PET. “Why‘d they take off like that? It was like they were afraid of you because you were a Net Saver… You don‘t think?”

“Think what?”

“That they were up to something illegal, and so you, as an Official, freaked them out.”

“I don‘t know, it doesn‘t make any sense.” Just then, Lan’s mind clicked with an idea. Turning, the Op cast his gaze across the area, and it wasn’t long before the brunette’s eyes settled on the brown object that Sean had dropped when he had fallen.

The Op walked over to the object and picked it up. As he turned it over to examine his find, his eyes wondered in surprise. It was a wallet, a very familiar wallet-

His father’s wallet.

Amazed, Lan flipped the pouch of leather open. Sure enough, the name ‘Yuichirou Hikari’ stared back at him.

“Oh boy…” The Net Saver groaned. “It‘s Dad‘s wallet!”

“Whoa.” MegaMan’s voice reflected his surprise. “What‘s it doing- Those kids picked your dad‘s pocket?”

“That‘s what it looks like.” Lan studied the object, “You don‘t think that… Sean‘s a thief do you?”

“I don‘t have that answer, Lan, but you know what we saw. And it‘s hard to argue with that.”

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See note in Upgrade. I don't know when the next update will be.
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[TheWebbuilder]

Well, I'll say this much. This story is definitly not going to route I had planned.

WARNING: Hints of child abuse in this chapter.

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“That‘s it, that‘s his hair color.” Lan nodded his approval of the technician’s work. “But it was a little longer, and messy.”

“Give me a moment.” The techie’s fingers flew over his keyboard, changing the digital image on the computer screen.

After finding his dad and returning the wallet, Lan had been roped into talking to the Net Saver’s Fugitive Imaging Department. The FID used the latest technology to create digital pictures of criminals, wanted felons, and the occasional child pickpocket. It was Lan’s job to help them create an image of the kid who had stolen his father’s wallet.

From what the Net Saver gathered, there had been an increase of juvenile crime over the past few months, and this was the first real lead they had on the kids causing the trouble.

“But his eyes… I‘m not sure.” The brunette stared at the digital image, trying to remember just what ‘the kid’ had looked like. “They were… slightly red, and just a little rounder.”

The technician slowly changed the shape of the eyes, until Lan shouted at him to stop.

“That‘s him,” Lan said with authority. “That‘s the kid.”

“All right, thanks.” The technician saved off the image and began sending it to his cohorts. “We‘ll run this through every database known to man, it shouldn‘t be long before we find out who the kid is. Thanks for you help.”

“Anytime.” The brunette turned and began walking away; this had been one event that he hadn’t counted on.

“So, Lan…” MegaMan called out from his PET.

The brunette Net Saver recognized the Navi’s tone of voice almost immediately. Whenever MegaMan used that inflection, it meant one of two things: 1. He (Lan) had just done something really stupid, 2. He had forgotten something or was about to run late.

“What did you get your parents for their anniversary?”

Lan stopped in mid-step, his eyes widening in growing horror. “Anniversary?”

“Yep, it‘s today you know.” The Navi struggled to maintain a straight face, Lan’s expression was hilarious. “That‘s why your dad left so early, he doesn‘t want a repeat of last year when he forgot about it.”

Lan swallowed hard as the memory of last year’s anniversary surfaced in his mind. Most people assumed that Haruka was sweet, caring, and kind, which was true. But when pushed too far…

Last yar, Yuichirou had been working twenty-four seven his Dimensional Area project, so much so that he had completely forgotten about the date and worked overnight.

When he got home the next day, it hadn’t been pretty.

“Are… are you sure?” The brunette’s voice cracked in terror. How had he forgotten about the special occasion?

“It’s right here on the calendar.”

“Gyah!” Lan exploded into motion; he whipped down the hallway and began flying for the exit. “Man, I sure hope that Sal‘s is still open!”

“Sorry, Lan.” MegaMan quipped, “But I know for a fact that your dad‘s got flowers in mind for this evening. You‘d better come up with something else.”

“Oh, thanks.” Lan rolled his eyes. Why him? He’d faced PharoahMan, Grave, the Life Virus, mastered Cross Fusion, faced off with the Nebular Navi’s in the human world, but not one of those events even came close to matching the fear he had over missing his parent’s anniversary.

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“Yuck, why do I always get stuck with the dumpster diving?”

“I don‘t know, maybe it has something to do with you dropping a day‘s worth of-”

“I didn‘t want an answer to that, Red.” The red-haired girl groaned and turned back to the task at hand- picking through the contents of the dumpster. Risking a glance at her PET, which was propped up against the opposite wall of the alleyway, the girl could see the snicker on her Navi’s, Red’s, face. For some reason, her Navi took delight in her failures.

“Whatever, Missy.” Red snickered.

The redhead picked through the dumpster for a few more minutes, then finally groaned and leapt out of the trash can.

“I don‘t see anything else that we can use in there.” Missy shrugged, and held out a battered and worn PET Advance for her Navi to inspect. “Just this PET, still works. But I don‘t think that Scratch would think it‘s useful.”

“Right, he‘s upset that there are three PET‘s as it is.” Red mumbled, “Maybe you‘d better leave it.”

“I don‘t think so, PET‘s are hard to come by.” Missy scooped up her own device and clipped it into her belt. “Very hard. I think I‘ll hang onto this one.”

“Yeah, but what‘ll you do with it? Scratch‘ll see it for sure if you keep it.”

“I can let Sean hang onto it for me.” The redhead shrugged and began heading deeper into the alleyway. She had her sights set on the manhole a short distance away; it was her route home. “It doesn‘t have a Net Navi in it, so he can‘t cause that much trouble. And you know how much he‘s always dreamed of having one.”

“So help me, Missy, this soft spot you‘ve got for Sean is going to get you into trouble. You’re so sweet on him, why don‘t you just marry him while you‘re at it?”

“Because I‘m almost six years older than he is.” Missy stuck her tongue out at Red, as she reached the manhole.

Working quickly, the redhead pried up the cover and slipped down into the sewers below. As she walked towards her ‘home‘, her mind started to drift back over the events of her life.

Hastily, Missy shoved those thoughts aside, things might not have been great in her past life. But her life with Scratch was a definite improvement, even if she didn’t have any freedom under his reign.

Minutes passed, Missy reached her abode. Her home was actually the basement of a long-abandoned building somewhere on the east side of town. Fortunately, the basement connected up to the sewer system so that she and the others could come and go without notice. Each one of them had a corner of the multiple basements to call their own, and that was about it as far as privacy went.

The redhead scrambled out of the sewer and through the hatch to the basement. She’d never liked that dank place; so the crowded building was a welcome relief- to a degree.

“Hey, Sam!” Missy shouted at a random kid scurrying past her. “You seen Sean?”

“Have I seen him?” Sam, a super-short blond squirt called back. “Girl, you missed the excitement! It really wasn‘t pretty.”

Missy’s heart froze. Not again.

“What happened?”

“Sean bungled another job, so Scratch laid into him.” Sam shrugged and began to walk away. “He‘s up in his corner, crying like the baby he is.”

“I don‘t have time for this.” The redhead brushed past the boy and rushed through the building. Desperate hope clawed at her heart as she prayed for Sean to be O.K.

A gasp escaped her, as Missy came within eyesight of Sean. The small boy was a wreck, battered and bruised, Scratch had really let him have it this time.

“Sean?” The girl slowed to a near stop. “Sean can you hear me?”

No answer.

Missy refused to consider the possibility, the possibility that Sean was-

“Uh? Hello?”

“Sean.” Missy breathed a sigh of relief; the child had answered her.

“Miss- Are you there?” The child gasped in an almost inaudible whisper.

“I‘m here.” The redhead dropped to the child’s side, shocked and awed by the boy’s condition. “And look, I brought this for you.”

Gently taking one of the boy’s hands, Missy placed the silver PET Advance into Sean’s fingers, and then closed them around the device.

“Is… Is that a-?” The battered boy struggled to look down at the thing resting in his palm.

“It is; your own PET.” Missy explained, “I found it today, and brought it here to you.”

“My own… PET.” The gray-haired child gasped through his pain, “Missy… Thank you… Who‘s my Navi?”

As those words hit her ears, Missy’s heart stopped in horror. She’d forgotten that the PET didn’t have a Net Navi equipped, and she had no idea how to get one.

“It‘s… uh, Sean…” The redhead stuttered about, trying to find the right words to break the news to the boy. “About the Navi-”

A bright white glow exploded from the PET screen, bathing the two in its light, and cutting the redhead’s explanation off.

Amazed, Sean and Missy stared into the PET’s screen. The light streaming from the LCD display made it difficult to see what was happening, but Sean could just barely make out the form of a green and white Net Navi.

“You have been chosen…” The Navi spoke in a sickeningly sweet voice.

“Ch- chosen for what?” Sean’s eyes were wide open in disbelief.

“To wield the power of Zero. Take him, use his power as you see fit.”

Sean continued to stare at the PET as the glow faded away. Moments passed before the room returned to its prior dimly lit state.

Missy realized that she had been holding her breath, and quickly released it.

The two looked into the PET screen, to see a new red and white Net Navi staring back at them.

“My Net Op.” The Net Navi stared straight at Sean. “I am Zero.EXE.”

“Um, hello.” The gray-haired boy continued to watch the Navi. “I‘m Sean.”

End Chapter!
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[Anime Master ZERO]

Poor Sean. Always getting abused. But maybe with an Asteroid Navi, things will improve for him. Will you have him slot in his Dimensional Chip whenever any of his cohorts try to attack him in the future?
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[Abiisan]

I really like this fic so far and hope you keep it running how it is. Also, I started with BN3, but wasn't zero in BN2. I am not sure, but i was just wondering.

Anyway, keep up the great work.

[Anime Master ZERO]

Zero was in Network Transmission for the GameCube.
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[Abiisan]

Thanks, I wasn't sure as I have only rented transmission.

[TheWebbuilder]

I really didn't intend for this battle to turn out so long... But HardMan's a crucial part of the plot... And I haven't written an EXE battle for so long that I just couldn't stop it.

AMZ, eventually. But don't expect a bloodbath when it happens.

SearchMan X, as stated, Zero is from Network Transmission. I'll see if I can dig up a screencap.

101010101010101010101010

“So what‘s this do?” Sean pulled the strange looking cartridge out of his PET. The Chip was unlike any he had ever seen before, it was composed of ridged lines that folded around a glowing multicolored crystal, the two top edges were tapered to an angle giving it a strange appearance.

“That would be the Dimensional Chip,” Zero replied from his PET. “with its aid I can move between the digital and human realms.”

“Huh?” Sean raised an eyebrow in disbelief. “Uh, you mean that you can pop up in the real world like Rush?”

“I suppose that would be a correct assessment of its effects.” The red Navi’s tone made it clear that he didn’t like that description.

“O.K., this is really weird.” Missy stared at Zero in disbelief. “First, I find that junked up PET in a dumpster. Then, that weird fish-lady Navi pops in, and now you‘re here. What gives?”

Zero looked at the redhead, but didn’t reply...

10101010101010101010101010101010

“LAN! IT‘S THAT TIME AGAIN!”

“Oh… Five… more minutes…”

“That‘s what you said ten minutes ago!” MegaMan screamed from his PET. He knew this morning drill like the back of his digital hand; Lan would hem and haw, but finally give in and get up, provided that he(MegaMan) kept shouting.

The Blue Bomber studied the sleeping figure, trying to decide just how to wake his snoozing Net Op up. Finally, an idea presented itself. The idea was incredibly cruel- but justifiable.

“AUGH!” MegaMan cut loose with the most heart-wrenching scream he could muster. As he continued to scream, the Navi dropped to his PET’s floor and crumpled himself up awkwardly.

As expected, Lan cracked an eye, but didn’t seem to be that worried.

That meant that it was time for part two.

The Bomber moaned loudly, throwing a couple of raspy coughs into the works as well.

The brunette opened his other eye; although it was clear that his brain was still fogged, he trying to figure out what was happening.

“La… an…” MegaMan intentionally sputtered, contorting his face into a mask of pain. “Lan! L… an! He… help!”

“MegaMan?” The Net Saver jerked and sat up in his bed, sleep completely forgotten about as worry over his Navi flooded him. Swiftly he looked over at his PET; immediately his eyes widened in absolute horror.

“This is it… Lan…” The Bomber wheezed. “I‘m… done for…”

“What are you talking about?” The brunette hurled himself out of bed and over to his desk where his PET resided. “MegaMan! What happened?”

“Last… Night…” The Navi muttered painfully. “You… received an E-mail… I… Opened it… And got attacked… by a … viral attachment… I… tried to call… for you… but… you wouldn’t wake up…”

“What?”

“This is it Lan… I‘m finished…” MegaMan twitched, his right leg beginning to dissolve. “It was… a blast… but I can‘t… hold on…”

“NO!” Lan gripped his PET in horror. How could this happen? He’s slept right through something like that? And now his Navi was going to die for it? “This can‘t be happening! MEGAMAN!”

“Bye… Lan…” The Navi closed his eyes, and slipped away.

“No… no…” The brunette stared at the screen in disbelief. MegaMan was gone…

“BOO!”

“GYAI!” Lan grabbed his chest with his hands as he tumbled over backwards. With a loud ‘thud’ he slammed into the floor, sprawled out painfully.

The sound of MegaMan’s laughter flooded the room.

“Oh… I really had you going…” The Net Navi howled with laughter as he ignored the if-looks-could-kill glare coming from his Net Op.

“Yeah, really funny. Give me a heart attack, why don‘t ya?” The brunette grumbled as he got to his feet. “That wasn‘t funny.”

“’Funny‘ is in the eye of the beholder, Lan.” MegaMan sobered somewhat. “How else was I supposed to get you up?”

“You haven‘t forgotten, have you?” Lan smirked as he realized that for once, he knew something that his Navi didn’t. “It‘s summer vacation. I don‘t have to get up early.”

“Actually, you do.” The Bomber replied, “You forgot that you still haven‘t found an anniversary present for your parents, and now you‘re a day late. You lucked out last night when your father kept mom out so late that you could sneak off to bed and miss them.”

“I‘m working on it…” Lan sighed in defeat. He still hadn’t found a gift, and that wasn’t a good thing. “But finding anniversary presents isn’t exactly my specialty. Do you have any ideas?”

“Actually, I do. I got my parents a nice basket of assorted flavored coffees for their anniversary.”

The Net Op spun around, screamed another ‘GYIAH!’ as he stared into his PET screen; then fell over backwards to the floor in surprise for the second time that day.

“Mr. Famous!” Lan stared up at his PET’s display, which was broadcasting a live feed of the aforementioned scientist. “How long have you been there?”

“I came in after the ‘sneak off to bed and miss them’ but before the ‘I’m working on it’.” Famous replied. “And it‘s just ‘Famous‘! All right?”

“Yeah, sure Mr. Famous.” The Net Saver stumbled to his feet.

“Anyway…” Famous stifled a groan over the unnecessary title. “I‘m not here to discuss your gift-giving problems. We‘ve got a situation at the Eighth National Bank of Den Tech, some rogue Navi is trying to enter the bank’s system. And we‘d like you to take care of that.”

“Not a problem! I‘ll take care of it in a jiffy, Mr. Famous!” Lan closed out the connection and hastily began dressing.

1010101010101010101010101

“It‘s amazing.” Famous sighed and placed his forehead in his left palm, while resting his left arm on his desk. “That boy can save the world, but he can‘t get my name right.”

10101010101010101010101010

“Almost there!” Lan pushed himself harder, he could see the Bank over the top of the hill, but that didn’t mean that it was time to slow down.

The brunette whipped into the bank’s parking lot, and eyed the set-up. The main lobby/office was located in the center of the building, with a row of ATM’s on the left side of the building, and a drive through deposit station on the right.

Deciding that it would be faster to jack in from an ATM instead of going inside and running through the usual ‘I’m-a-Net-Saver-on-a-mission’ routine, Lan rushed over to the ATM’s, spotted a terminal, and went to work.

“Jack in! MegaMan!” Lan whipped his PET Progress overhead, then he dropped it to chest level, sighted on the terminal, and hit the proper button. “Power Up! Let‘s fix some accounting errors!”

With the required burst of blue light, MegaMan transferred himself into the ATM, from there he continued on into the Bank’s mainframe. Two seconds later, the Bomber crashed in the ground of the Bank’s Network.

“See anything?”

“Not yet.” The Bomber glanced around, his eyes probing every nook and cranny of the Network. The place was huge, and he didn’t know how long it would take to find the rouge Navi in a place this big.

Breaking into a run, the Navi dashed off to his right and deeper into the Network. Common sense told him that he’d find the Navi over in the Accounting Department, where the numbers could be changed and money stolen digitally.

At it wasn’t long before MegaMan saw signs that he was right.

As he ran along, the Bomber thought he sensed something behind him. Not quite sure what it was, but trusting his instincts, MegaMan changed course and leapt to his right.

A bolt of flame ripped through the spot that the Blue Bomber had occupied seconds ago.

MegaMan vaulted over in a mid-air somersault, rotating to face his attack. As his feet hit the ground, the Bomber’s clenched his fist, causing his right hand transform into a round cannon-like object.

“Mega Buster!” The Blue Navi’s eyes locked onto his attacker, a random Spikey. A burst of energy exploded out of MegaMan’s cannon and shot through the air- and the virus.

The Spikey dissolved, blown into deletion.

“Watch your back!”

Acting on Lan’s advice, the Blue Bomber leapt upward. Due to his maneuver, another Spikey shot underneath his airborne feet, if he had stayed on the ground he would have been nailed by the beast.

MegaMan hit the ground, his Buster firing blast after blast of energy. The Spikey lasted about two seconds underneath the barrage of firepower.

“Huh?” The Bomber blinked, realizing that a growing shadow was covering the area that he was standing on. On instinct, he hurled himself forward, vacating the area just before a large steel block crashed into the floor in the exact spot that MegaMan had been standing seconds ago.

The Bomber skidded to a stop, and turned around to face the steel cube.

It was then that the Navi realized that the cube wasn’t a cube at all, it was a Net Navi. Two blocky ‘L’-shaped sections broke off from the front of the cube and dropped to the ground, apparently they were his legs, and were connected to the base of the cube by two black, human-looking upper legs. Two square rectangles slid off from the front of the cube, sliding down to function as arms while the remaining cube pieces separated to reveal a red cylindrical body, and became armored shoulders that the arms connected to. A smaller cylinder rose out of the body, revealing a face with hard features and tight black helmet.

“So, you’re the mighty MegaMan.” The blocky Navi muttered, “It‘ll be a pleasure to squash you. The name‘s HardMan, and this will be your last battle!”

“I can‘t tell you how many times I heard that line.” The Bomber kept his Buster pointed at his attacker. “And I‘m guessing that you‘re the one that‘s trying to rob the bank blind.”

“Exactly.” HardMan sneered, “Now, let‘s see what you‘ve got!”

“Hard Knuckles!” The blocky Navi’s right hand clenched itself and transformed into a large golden steel fist. HardMan snapped his arm forward, causing his oversized steel hand to go flying across the arena towards MegaMan.

The Bomber saw the attack coming in plenty of time. Hurling himself to his right, he easily cleared the attack; the Hard Knuckle looked like it packed punch, but it was also super-slow.

“Let‘s take this guy out!” Lan whipped a chip out of his folder and slammed it into his PET. “Spreader, Battle Chip in! Download!”

The Blue Bomber clenched his fist as it transformed into a round cannon with eight stubby spokes projecting from the sides. As he brought his weapon up to bear at his opponent, MegaMan noticed grin creeping over HardMan’s face…

And then something rock hard and solid rammed into his back. Recoiling from the impact, the Bomber crashed to the floor, hard.

Glancing up from his sprawled position, MegaMan saw the Hard Knuckled reattaching itself to HardMan’s arm. Apparently, the attack had curved around to come back to HardMan, and nailed the Bomber since he had been in the way.

“That was easy.” The steel Navi snapped at his downed opponent. “Now to finish you off!”

“Steel Slam!” HardMan rocketed into the air, hovering to a stop above MegaMan. Instantly, he had folded his body together into its Steel Cube state and was heading down towards his opponent in an effort to crush the smaller Navi.

Gravity send the cubed HardMan slamming down into his opponent- or rather, where his opponent should have been. The steel Navi crashed into the ground, demolishing the tiles beneath his body, but not making contact with the Blue Navi.

“What the-?” The renegade Navi unfolded himself and returned to his humanoid state. Glancing around in bewilderment, he tried to figure out just where his opponent had vanished to.

“You gotta love that Area Steal.” MegaMan’s voice came through the air from behind HardMan.

The steel Navi whipped around- to find the Blue Bomber standing behind him, his Spreader primed and ready for use.

“Bye!” MegaMan pulled the trigger, unleashing his weapon’s firepower on HardMan. His attack ripped through the air, split into nine smaller shots, and slammed into the larger Navi. Smoke filled the air as the attack hit its target, obscuring the area.

“Yeah!” Lan pumped a fist in the air, “We got him!”

“You wish!”

Before the Blue Bomber could react, two golden fists shot out of the smoke. Caught by surprise, MegaMan took the attacks full force as they rammed into his stomach and chest and hurled him through the air like he was nothing more than a rag doll.

The Bomber crashed into the floor, deciding that this was not going well.

Lifting his head, the blue Navi caught sight of HardMan exiting the smoke. Somehow, the large Navi had blocked the attack and escaped unharmed.

“I‘ve had enough!” HardMan bellowed. Taking advantage of MegaMan’s decked position, the steel Navi leapt into the air above the Bomber. Folding his arms and legs in, HardMan assumed his cube position and careened downwards to crush his adversary.

“All right, it‘s time to start playing hardball!” Lan’s fingers ripped a chip out of his folder, and fed it to his hungry Personal Terminal. “Metal Soul, Navi Chip in! Download!”

Instantly, the thick part of MegaMan’s boots took on a red color, as a shining metal plate appeared below his knee. A circular blue chest-plate formed around his chest, as his shoulder pads became perfect red spheres and grew a pair of individual gears that ran around his shoulders. His gloves turned red and lengthened out to form a silver gear running horizontally around his wrists. A red plate appeared over the back of his hand, completing that part of the transformation. Finally, the yellow stripes on his helmet became gray protruding saw teeth, the outside edges of his helmet became red while the space between the saw teeth turned blue. A red mouth-guard slid over the Bomber’s face, completing the transformation. “Double Soul: Metal Soul!”

“Time to break this brick!” MegaMan Metal Soul hauled back his fist and waited for his opponent to drop in close. At the last second before impact, the Bomber launched his armored fist skyward, ramming it into HardMan.

Amazingly, the force of impact knocked HardMan out of his cubed state and sent him flying backward through the air.

“Hard Knuckles!” HardMan twisted about and crashed into the ground standing upright. Instantly he snapped his arms forward, sending his fits flying through the air.

The Bomber clenched his fist as he watched the attacks race towards him. MegaMan prepared to counter-attack. As a sphere of energy surrounded his fist, the Bomber brought his arm back to swing.
‘
“You’re not the only one that packs a punch. Metal Break!”

The Blue Bomber launched his fist forward, ramming it into the Hard Knuckles. Overpowered, the two gold fists were sent rebounding back to HardMan, while MegaMan escaped unharmed.

“Now, let‘s put a dent in this guy!” Lan slammed another chip into his Terminal. “Guts Soul, Navi Chip in, Download!”

MegaMan’s Metal Soul armor shattered away, revealing his new Guts Soul get-up. His boots were now much thicker and yellow. A red circular chest-plate encircled his torso, on which sat his two yellow spherical shoulder pads. His gloves had rounded out to resemble GutsMan’s, turned yellow, and his hands had become black and over-sized. His power-pack had transformed into two red cylinders that rested on his back. And his helmet had become yellow and square, with a gray bar sitting the front of the helmet just above his forehead. “Double Soul: Guts Soul!”

As HardMan’s forearms snapped back into place, he looked up to see MegaMan Guts Soul charging at him. The Navi’s right arm was cocked back, and ready to deliver one powerful knuckle sandwich, causing HardMan to realize that he wasn‘t in the mood for lunch.

“It’s time to send you back to the scrap yard!” The Bomber closed in and sent his fist flying towards HardMan’s chest. Screaming a battle cry, MegaMan drove his fist home.

HardMan screamed as he was hurled backward through the air, half a second later, his body transformed into the words ‘Log Out’ and vanished as he left the Network in defeat.

“And don’t come back!” The Bomber dropped to the ground and hurled one last insult after his defeated opponent.

“’Don’t come back?’” Lan repeated in disbelief. “What kind of a line is that?”

“Hey, I can‘t come up with witty rejoinders all the time.” MegaMan shrugged his response.

End Chapter!
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[Anime Master ZERO]

MegaMan should get an award for that act. And I love how Lan jumped six feet into the air (figuratively) both times. I like it.
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[Abiisan]

This fic has the right amount of action and storyline. I especially liked Megaman and Lan's dialogue in their fight with Hardman.
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Formerly known as LunarSun

Banner and icon by Xhunter17

[Elizabeth]

That fight scene was really well done! It never got slow or cliched, there were enough details to make it lively but not so many that the action was weighed down, and the wording stayed fresh and creative throughout. A+!

[Abiisan]

Also, I really love how the characters have personalities like they have in the show.
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Formerly known as LunarSun

Banner and icon by Xhunter17