MegaMan NT Warrior: SYNCH - Ep. 2 of 46 up after 3 YEARS!!!

[TheDoc]

Alright folks, strap yourselves in for the ride of your life... a ride about 46 full-length chapters long, with each chapter equaling about 17 minutes of animation! Brace yourselves for the (unofficial) series premiere of MegaMan NT Warrior: SYNCH!
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MegaMan NT Warrior: SYNCH
Episode 01: The Start of a Stormy Summer

Two Navis are standing guard over a corporate data archive. The company that owns the data archive itself, SubTerra, has developed the two Navis specifically for the task.
“So what was this data we were supposed to guard again?” one security Navi asked its partner.
The partner Navi turned to face the questioner. “Something about high temperature stress resistance… I forget now. Let’s get back to work, alright?”
“Right.” The two went back to regular patrols, but shortly after, an explosion could be heard.
“Wh-what was that?” the obviously new security Navi asked.
The partner shook his head. “No clue… stay on your to-” Before he could complete the reply, he heard the sound of deletion. He turned to face where his partner was, but didn’t see him. All he saw was a blur… followed by darkness.

Lan and his family are sitting in the living room of their house. What’s strange is that his father, Yuuichiro, is there; usually he’s working late at SciLab. And what’s even stranger is that Lan’s watching something educational for once… the news.
“Reconstruction efforts begun immediately after the end of the conflict between the entities known as the Cybeasts are going smoothly. Much of the damaged portion of Dentech City is repaired, yet still uninhabitable, but those in charge say that the offices and apartments that were hit the hardest should be usable within the next few weeks.” The reporter on-the-scene was none other than Ribbita, the reporter who served as an announcer during the N-1 Grand Prix. Since those days, she had traded in the frilly light-green outfit she had worn for a darker-green suit dress. She had even tossed aside her hat, opting to wear a toad-head pin on the left breast of her suit top.
Yuuichiro sighed. “I can’t believe that happened, no matter how much I try to rationalize it,” he said in a dismayed fashion.
Ribbita’s report continued on. “Thankfully, the damage was halted in this section of Dentech City. But other areas of the world were not as fortunate. The people of Amerope were hit extremely hard, but are now almost completely online once more, thanks in large part to the contributions of this man – Dr. Robert Kain.” The screen changed to show a picture of the old researcher and ex-partner of Dr. Hikari.
“Dr. Kain?” Lan asked in surprise. “Dad, didn’t he work with Gramps?”
“He most certainly did,” Yuuichiro replied. “Of course, he was only a college student back in those days. He's about seven or eight years older than me… I wonder what he’s been doing lately, besides keeping Amerope safe.”
Haruka interjected in a typical wife’s fashion. “Probably plugging away at some computer in some lab somewhere, much like you two did for the bulk of 200X.”
“Oh, come on, you’re embarrassing me here!” Yuuichiro chuckled. Lan, however, simply sat there and thought. Dad and Dr. Kain, partners for most of my life? That means…
“Dad, did Dr. Kain work with you on, say, an ‘ultimate program’?”
The laughing immediately subsided at the mention of the Ultimate Program. “Lan, Dr. Kain and I wrote many programs back then. Megaman’s basically a compilation of those programs, so chances are that the entire collection became his Ultimate Program.” He then picked up the television remote control and turned it off.
Haruka chimed in yet again. “Hey, why don’t we all go get some rest? All of that reliving the past must’ve made you two tired.” She smiled.
“Sounds good, honey,” Yuuichiro mentioned in agreement. “Lan, you and Mom head on up and get some sleep. I have a couple of matters to finish up real quick.”
The two of them nodded and went upstairs. Yuuichiro retreated to a small study with a private phone line. He picked it up and dialed in a number. The numbers dialed indicated that he was making an international call.
“Hello, you’ve reached-“
Yuuichiro didn’t even give the automated answering program a chance to respond, opting to quickly dial in a five-digit code. The phone seemed to hang up, and soon began ringing again. The ringing lasted about ten seconds until the call was answered again.
“This is Bob,” the voice on the other side of the line said. It was the voice of a person forty-something years old, beginning to crack with the effect of time. “This better be important, since you just woke me up.”
“Bob, it’s me. Hikari, from SciLab, remember?”
The other person took in a deep breath. “Hikari, I haven’t heard from you for the past couple of years. What have you been up to?”
“Continuing our research, thanks to my son.”
“Ah, I see,” Bob continued. “Listen, I’ve been meaning to invite you over to my place for a good while yet. I’ve got something over here that might interest you.”
“When do you want me to come?”
“Tomorrow night. I’ve already chartered a plane for you, registered as an ‘official’ SciLab flight… and bring the family. I’ve wanted to see them for so long.”
“Alright. We’ll see you then. Goodbye.” Yuuichiro hung up the phone.
Bob, back in his house, hung up his phone as well. He walked over to a computer and studied a program he had been working on for the past few months, but had to leave alone when the Cybeasts threatened his country. “You may need this program more than me, old friend.”

Meanwhile, a dark figure sat in the depths of a dark server room. He was looking over footage of the attacks of the Cybeasts, with a peculiar sort of interest. It was as if he was in awe.
“Hmmm… this power, this ability of them to manifest in the real world…” he muttered to himself. “This bears a striking resemblance to something that took place about a year prior…” He paused for a moment, collecting his thoughts. “Of course… SciLab…” He tapped in a few commands on one of the keyboards. Looking at a monitor, he eyed up a figure shrouded in darkness so that only his eyes appeared. “You have the speed that is needed for this job… get into the SciLab network and steal any file relating to dimensional areas!”
The cloaked figure nodded. “For the Shadebringers…” it said, dashing off into the depths of the Cyberworld. The man simply began laughing.

The next morning, the entire family woke up at around the same time. Lan actually managed to wake up without Megaman’s assistance.
“I’m impressed, Lan,” Megaman said, looking from his Link PET. “You got up on time for once!”
Lan wallowed for a moment. “Aw, Megaman? Can’t you cut me some slack for the summer?”
“I wouldn’t be helping you if I was,” Megaman quipped right back.
By the time Megaman had quieted down, Lan was completely dressed. “C’mon, Megaman, let’s go get something to eat!” He grabbed the Link PET out of the charger and dashed downstairs.
Megaman, in the meantime, sighed. “Sometimes I wish I could eat breakfast with you guys…”

Yuuichiro and Haruka were waiting downstairs when Lan made it down to the kitchen. The two were sitting down already, waiting for breakfast to finish cooking. Both of them had smiles on their faces. Lan looked at them with sly eyes.
“You two didn’t… uh, do anything, did you?” he asked.
Megaman verbally lashed at him. “Lan, don’t be so rude at the breakfast table!” He grinned and muttered a short “Eh-heh…”
“No, but we have a vacation planned,” Haruka replied. Yuuichiro nodded.
“I talked to Dr. Kain last night, and he decided to invite us to his place in Phiramore for the entire summer,” he explained.
Lan wondered about this. “But isn’t Phiramore in eastern Amerope?”
“And you’re saying we can’t take a vacation in Amerope?” Haruka asked.
“No, not at all! I just thought it was kind-of odd, that’s all. We’ve never taken a family vacation over there before!”
Yuuichiro straightened his glasses out. “Well, get packing, because we leave tonight.”
“Aw, man! And you just told me this now? Right when I had the rest of my day planned and ready to go? Now what am I supposed to tell all of my friends? ‘Sorry, I’ll be in another country for the entire summer, so I won’t see you.’ Something like that?”
Yuuichiro sighed. “Isn’t one of your friends the daughter of Ayano Tech’s owner?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Can’t they all fly out and spend the summer there too?”
Lan instantly perked up at the news. “How could I completely forget about that? Dad, you rock!” He jumped out of his chair and dashed out the door. Haruka called out to him.
“Why are you leaving before breakfast?”
Lan’s stomach simply growled in response.

About twenty minutes later, Lan walked out of the house, PET strapped to his arm and packing a full stomach. “Don’t worry, I’ll be able to pack in time!” he said as he pulled out the skate clips for his shoes and slapped them on, immediately skating off towards Yai’s house.
He reached down and pulled his PET up. “Hey Megaman, can you e-mail everyone and tell them to meet me at Yai’s place real soon? Oh, and make sure you get Tory!”
“I’m on it, Lan,” Megaman said as he flew through the process of writing said e-mail and sending it. Immediately afterwards, Lan spotted Dex running on the sidewalk with Chisao close behind. He called out to them. “Hey, Dex! Meet me at Yai’s house whenever you’re done running!”
“What, so you can steamroll me and my poor Gutsman again?” Dex replied in hurried dismay. “Not a chance!”
“But I just need to talk you guys!”
“Oh, that I can do… see you later!”
Lan split off from the two of them, and they slowed down to a stop. “I wonder what Lan’s so in a rush about during our vacation,” Dex mumbled.
“Oh, like you care, Dex!” Chisao mentioned casually, giving Dex the old sly-eye.
Dex slumped. “He may beat me all the time, but he’s always there for me…”

Fifteen minutes later, everyone was sitting in the clubhouse that Yai had built for the gang. Yai, obviously, was the first one to speak.
“So what did you want to see all of us here for, Lan?” she asked. “You’re not moving on us, are you?”
Maylu nodded. “Yeah, you would’ve told us sooner if you were moving, right?” Everyone else nodded an “Mm-hmm!”
Lan muttered his second “Eh-heh” of the day. “You see, my family and I got invited by some old guy from Amerope to spend the summer over there… and we’re leaving today.”
Maylu began to snap. “WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL US SOONER?!” she yelled. Lan quivered in fear, then snapped back. “I DIDN’T FIND OUT UNTIL RIGHT BEFORE BREAKFAST TODAY!!!”
Tory immediately jumped into the middle of the soon-to-be fistfight. “Hey guys, let’s back down. So Lan’s going to Amerope for the summer. Lucky him, right?” Everyone else sighed a “Yeah.” Yai, however, just grinned.
“What’re you plotting, Yai?” Chisao asked.
Yai’s grin just grew. “I do have my own private jet, remember? We could just fly out to Amerope and spend the summer there with Lan!” Everyone nodded. Maylu grinned even more. “So when’re you supposed to be flying out?”
“Around 7:30 tonight,” Lan replied. “Which reminds me… if everyone here’s going, we all need to pack, right? So what’re we standing around here for?” Lan rushed out of the clubhouse, but fell after completely missing the ladder.
“Uh, Lan,” Dex began, “the ladder’s off to the left.”
All anyone could see was Lan’s extremely disoriented face.

That afternoon, trouble started brewing at SciLab. The staff was running around aimlessly, trying to find the cause of the problem. Two people had already been taken to the on-site clinic due to a head-on collision in the hallway.
“What’s the security system status?” one of the lead staffers demanded.
An assistant sitting at a small computer panel started talking without diverting any attention from his screen. “Primary, secondary and tertiary firewalls breached. Virus wall at 33% integrity. Approximate target point of breach… the Dimension Core file archive!”
“Get security on in that area and up to 100% now! We can’t afford to have that kind of technology stolen!”
“Right away!” The assistant began typing in commands more furiously than he had been doing before.

Moments later, Yuuichiro’s PET began to ring, indicating he had an incoming call. He picked it up. “Dr. Hikari speaking.”
“Dr. Hikari, you need to get down here quick! Something just breached all of our firewalls and is about to breach the virus wall. They’re going after the Dimension Core data archive!”
“I’ll be down there right away, just concentrate on keeping that data untouched!” Yuuichiro hung up the call, pocketed his PET, ran out to his car and drove out to SciLab, ringing up Lan in the process.
Lan’s PET rang a few seconds later, stirring him from his disorientation. He picked it up. “Hello?”
“Lan, this is Dad. Look, we’ve got ourselves a problem down at SciLab and we might need you and Megaman down there to keep things safe. Get there ASAP!”
“I’m on it, Dad!” Lan hung up, put his skates back on and dashed off towards SciLab.

In the SciLab network, the virus wall had finally been breached. Soon, a gray-and-white Navi flashed over to where the Dimension Core data archive rested. “Heheh… so I’ve finally gotten to it. Time to start the download!” He grabbed the data, streaming it through the security holes and back to his origin point. Naturally, the amount of data involved would take several minutes to transfer. The Navi found this quite irritating. “Now why do I have to slow down for this?” he muttered.
As soon as the transfer completed, he went to dash out, but found himself stopped by another series of firewalls. The assistant sitting at his control panel had managed to activate the contingency set meant to keep the data archive safe. “Backup security is finally online!” he reported. “This time they’ll have to break a six-layer firewall!”
“Good work!” the lead staffer congratulated him. A moment later, Yuuichiro walked into the control room.
“What happened here?” Yuuichiro asked.
The lead staffer walked up to him. “Some… program just breached all of our security and managed to steal the data archive. We’ve got it trapped in here, though. There’s no way it can get out.”
“This could be trouble…” Yuuichiro muttered. “The last thing the world needs is for the Dimension Core plans to be floating around in the Cyberworld.” At the mention of that last word, Lan entered.
“Alright, where’s the bad guy at?” he asked.
Yuuichiro pointed at the assistant’s control panel. “He’s in the secure data archive storage system. Jack in there and take care of him.”
“Right, Dad!” Lan fast-walked over to the control panel and pointed his Link PET towards it. “Jack-in, Megaman! Power up!” In an instant, Megaman appeared in the secure area. He was staring down an odd-looking Navi.
The Navi turned around and faced Megaman. “Looks like you got lost, little boy. You’re in the world of darkness now!” The Navi dashed straight at Megaman, sending him flying.
“Megaman! Are you alright?” Lan asked.
Megaman staggered to his feet. “Yeah, Lan… but this isn’t any normal opponent I’m up against here. He’s insanely strong!”
“Of course I am… I am the fastest Navi in existence. Call me Dashman!” He went to dash at Megaman again...
“Area Steal, battle chip in! Download!” Lan said, throwing in the Battle Chip and activating it.
Megaman dodged at the last second, leaving Dashman confused. With a loud “Megabuster!” he fired straight at the blur several times. The very last one connected with Dashman, sending him spiraling out of his high-speed dash.
“H-how could you manage to hit me?!” he asked. “No one can hit me!”
“Easy,” Megaman replied. “I’m the one that’s taken down almost everyone like you so far. The name’s Megaman.”
“You… you’re Megaman?!” Dashman cowered. “I’m getting out of here. See you later, kid!” He dashed straight at a firewall, jumped and spun rapidly, causing the firewall to buckle and break. The remaining five fell just as fast.
“Megaman, who in the world was operating that Navi?” Lan asked in awe.
Megaman shook his head. “I don’t think he was being operated at all…”
“Really strange… I’m pulling you out now!”
“Alright, Lan.” A computerized voice filled the Cyberworld as Megaman disappeared. “Megaman, logging out.”

Back in the control room, Lan and Yuuichiro were talking with the staff. “Lan, there’s something I need to tell you,” Yuuichiro began. “That Navi that broke in… he stole ‘it’.”
“What do you mean, ‘it’?” Lan asked.
Yuuichiro’s look turned more grim. “It stole the plans and the program for the Dimension Core.”
“This is not good at all,” Megaman started.
“Of course it’s not good. Whoever this Navi is working for, they obviously have some sort of need for a device that can project digital matter into the real world without the need for a full-scale Dimensional Area.”
“So we might end up with another Gregar or Falzar on our hands, Dad?”
“It’s quite possible, son… but let’s get home now. We still need to pack. When we see Dr. Kain, I’ll talk to him about this. He should be able to help.”
Lan nodded, and the two of them walked out of the control room, back out to Yuuichiro’s car.

In the dark server room, the same twisted figure sits and waits for any sign of Dashman. “What is taking him so long? He’s supposed to be fast!”
“Oh, but I am, Doctor,” Dashman said as he appeared on the computer screen. “And look at what followed me home.” He pointed at the stream of data representing the Dimension Core data archive.
The man grinned. “Good work, Dashman. Soon, you and your fellow Mavericks will be able to wreak havoc across the country… and those other silly humans will be able to do nothing about it! Mwahahahaha… mwahahahahahahahahaah!”

Lan breathed a sigh of relief as he slowly skated down the street from SciLab. The afternoon was finally coming to an end, and so long as everything went according to his family's plan, they'd be spending the next three months vacationing in eastern Amerope as soon as the following morning. Yet one thing simply couldn't stop bugging him...

“Hey, Megaman,” Lan began to ask while looking into a holographic window generated by his PET, “who or what do you think would want that information on the Dimension Core?”
All Megaman could do was shake his head. “Beats me, Lan. The last person who wanted to do anything similar was Regal, and we both know how he ended up...”
Lan sighed again. “Yeah... well, let's hurry up and make sure we're all ready to go. We can't go on a vacation and forget something as important as our chips, right?”
“Right!” Megaman nodded as the two rollerbladed off to their house.
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So that ends Episode 1. If you have any edits that need to be made for some of the main characters (such as English names), please let me know so that I can make the corrections. Also, as soon as the events of Beast are clear, can someone please tell me the scale of the damage that may end up being done in Amerope? It's an important part of the story here.

EDIT: Names are fixed and compatible with the existing NT Warrior/EXE Game conventions. Look for Episode #2, "Tough Times in the Skies", within the week!

EDIT 2: Added epilogue for this episode, for clarity's sake!
_________________
Busily plotting for Otakon 2011... here's to hoping I don't leave my cameras behind this year.

Avatar taken from Ryouko's OtaRockman 2010 gallery - it's just my head, please don't delete me! x.x

[Midnight]

Impressive.

I know I spotted one inconsistency in the work...but I cannot remember where it was or what it was. Dammit.

Overall, this has the flavor of the anime within it--it's story-oriented, and it allows for the development of the characters. Combat was a little light, and rather short, but I suppose that was to be expected.

Other than that, this is quite a good beginning. You seem to have an ambitious project starting here, and I look forward to how it develops.
_________________
Today, these three players are after Big Bucks! But they'll have to avoid the Whammy, as they play the most exciting game of their lives! From Television City in Hollywood! It's time to 'Press Your Luck!'--Rod Roddy

The Kingdom of Loathing: An Adventurer is You! // I ♣ Seals

Avatar by Spork. I very much appreciate it! <3

[TheDoc]

Update #1: Okay, I fixed some of the glaring errors from Episode #1, mostly names of characters, switching the PET-3 out for the more accurate-to-the-time Link PET, and adding in the exlpanation for how Megaman was able to dodge Dashman the second time around.

Still no Episode #2 yet, though the title is confirmed to be "Tough Times in the Skies". I think you can guess where things are about to happen next... and no, I won't tell you who the new threat is. So nyah!
_________________
Busily plotting for Otakon 2011... here's to hoping I don't leave my cameras behind this year.

Avatar taken from Ryouko's OtaRockman 2010 gallery - it's just my head, please don't delete me! x.x

[TheDoc]

After three years... it's back! Yeah, I know I let it go for a while, lost my original draft for the 2nd episode, ended up caught up in a lot of work, two deployments, etc... but it's finally got a second episode! So, here we go!
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Episode 02: Tough Times in the Skies!

The evening came, with nothing further to put a damper on the plans of Lan and his family. Dinner was being cleaned up, bags were being shuffled to the car, and valuables that were staying behind were locked up for safekeeping. Last-minute calls were made between Lan and his friends, to ensure that plans for the group vacation were still on. And finally, when everything was ready, the Hikari family walked out and locked up. To Lan's semi-surprise, all of his friends were there to see them off.

“Don't forget, three months of fun when we get over there!” Yai said with her trademark smile. “The Ameropean East Coast is perfect this time of year!”
Dex and Chisao gave a quick, solemn fist gesture. “Soon as we're there, we'll make sure you don't get rusty!”
Tory and Maylu simply waved. “Have a safe flight!” they said. Maylu smiled and blushed slightly, but managed to hide it.
Lan nodded and waved back to everyone. “Bye everyone! Make sure to come soon!” He smiled back at everyone as he got into the car, and then left for the airport.

Meanwhile, a figure donning the uniform of an Ameropean Air Force pilot walked into the staff-only area of the Phiramore Intercontinental Airport after flashing a consultants' badge to a nearby security guard. He carried a large case through the maintenance areas and down to the private-charter arrival terminal, then set the case down and opened it. A timer was set, with the countdown reading an ominous 12:00:00... 11:59:59... and so forth, as the figure walked away.

The following afternoon, in Ameropean time, the private jet chartered by Dr. Kain to bring the Hikari family to Phiramore was on final approach. After breaking through the clouds, Lan looked out of the window. “Wow, it's amazing...” he said, in awe at the almost perfect blending of waterfront parks, centuries-old brick-and-mortar buildings, and modern skyscrapers intermingled with a grid of roads and highways. One complex was more noticeable than the rest – a nine-building complex with a central tower reaching as high as the tallest skyscraper in the city, lined with dishes similar in design to those at SciLab. “I wonder what that place is...” he said, as his father leaned over to look as well.
“That would be the Amerope Digital Research Center, Lan,” Yuuichiro explained. “Dr. Kain runs the facility there; we often collaborate on projects being worked on both here and at SciLab.”
“Then those dishes are...”
Yuuichiro nodded. “Dimension generators, courtesy of SciLab, and the very thing that allowed damage to be contained and minimized here.”
Lan smiled. “Some things, we can never get away from, I guess...”

A few minutes later, the plane touched down and taxied over to the terminal, allowing Lan and the rest of his family to disembark. A long, black car pulled up as their luggage was being removed from the cargo hold. As the car stopped, one of the passenger doors opened, revealing a forty-something man with groomed graying hair. Meanwhile, the driver stepped out and began to load the family's luggage in the car. The older man stepped out and approached Yuuichiro first, extending his hand. “Yuuichiro, it's been far too long.” Yuuichiro returned the gesture, firmly shaking the hand of his longtime research partner. “Likewise, Robert. It's good to see you face-to-face again.” Once the two were done, Dr. Kain walked over to Haruka and gave her a solid hug. “And you, I hope your husband hasn't put you through too much trouble over these years.” She smiled and returned the hug. “Oh, no, not at all.”

Finally, Dr. Kain turned his attention to Lan. “And this must be the Net Saver that's been there and done it all, right? Lan, was it?”
Lan nodded, retrieving his Link PET and flashing a display of his Net Saver badge. “Guilty as charged, I guess.”
“Your father's told me much about what you've done over the years, Lan,” Dr. Kain began. “You've grown a lot since I've last seen you, and from what I've been told, you're more than capable as a NetBattler. Perhaps this world is indeed in good hands after all.” He then gestured to the car. “Now, there's plenty of time to reminisce later. If you would all get in, please...” Everyone got into the car and immediately left.

Just a few yards away, an inconspicuous case looking like maintenance gear sat, bearing a very small digital readout: “05:37:12.” The man in the Air force uniform watched nearby, and appeared to be in the middle of a phone call on his PET.
“They're here earlier than expected, sir. Apparently the plane they arrived in was able to shave some time off or catch a strong tailwind.”
A deeper, more sinister voice could be heard on the other side of the line. “Then adjust the deadline accordingly. They must be dealt with while we still can act.”
“Yes, sir.” The man hung up the call and then launched a side process on his PET. “Timer minus 05-00-00.” He tucked his PET away again and departed, as the clock blinked another change...
“00:36:49.”

The car pulled up to the main building of the ADRC complex and stopped. Dr. Kain opened the passenger door and stepped out. “Yuuichiro, Lan, if you two would join me for a while, I'd like to show you two something I've been working on for a while. And don't worry, my driver will take Haruka to the accomodations I've arranged for your family in the next town north of here.”

Yuuichiro and Lan stepped out and closed the car door behind them. As they walked into the lobby with Dr. Kain, the car drove off. “I just know the two of you are going to love this. Especially that Megaman of yours, Lan.” Dr. Kain then led the father and son to a datacenter with multiple individual workstations and more than its fair share of holographic displays. Dr. Kain walked over to one of the free workstations and entered a handprint into the console. Moments later, a rather code-heavy display appeared, with a title aptly displayed in the upper right corner: “HUNTER.”

Lan pulled out his PET and turned on the holo-display. “Hey Megaman, I wonder why he has us here instead of just Dad...”
Megaman shrugged his shoulders. “I couldn't tell you why either, Lan. Let's just see what this is about, don't we?”
“Sure,” Lan said as he looked at the display. The holo-display showing Megaman reversed itself as well, facing the screen intently.
Dr. Kain turned around to face the three. “Now, you all know that currently, Net Navis are only capable of using either pre-programmed attacks or those contained in Battle Chips. Over the years, I've been working on a way around that...” He entered a few more commands and a basic overview of HUNTER was displayed. “This program, code-named HUNTER, was designed to allow a Net Navi to 'learn' attacks that are normally used against it by viruses, as well as to manifest defenses based on certain stimuli. We've been working on all of the associated frame addons, but we lacked a capable Navi to have test it for us.” He gestured towards the display of Megaman. “And that's where we'd like you to come in, Megaman.”
Megaman looked towards Lan. “So whaddaya say, Lan?”
“Why not?” Lan replied. “We haven't backed away from anything new before!”
Megaman nodded, then dissolved his holo-display. Lan then walked over to Dr. Kain and handed him his PET. “Take good care of him, okay?”
“Don't worry, Lan,” Dr. Kain replied. “He'll be fine... I did help make his Ultimate Program, after all.”
Lan mustered a smile and nodded.

Some time later, Phiramore Intercontinental Airport was at its peak daily business time; the entirety of the complex was extremely crowded by people both arriving and departing, as well as simply working there. No one there knew what would befall them shortly...


The case by the private-charter terminal finished its countdown and began to hum and whirr with life. A glowing-red sphere emerged from it, slowly spinning itself faster and faster until a bright flash emanated from it in all directions, followed by a shadow-like field being projected from it, enveloping almost the entire airport. All the people inside simply looked around in confusion and fear as a result of the device's activation... and that fear became justified as multitudes of viruses began to manifest and attack the entire airport. Metools, Condors, and more than a few Swordies fanned out, harrassing computer systems and bystanders alike. The entire airport was thrown into panic, just as a tall, mechanized humanoid form phased into existence near the red sphere. “It begins...” it said.

Back at the ADRC complex, Dr. Kain had finally finished with installing the HUNTER program into Megaman's frame data and had installed a PET OS upgrade to allow the newer code to be properly leveraged. He handed the PET back to Lan. “Go ahead, Lan,” Dr. Kain said. “Turn it on.”
“Okay.” Lan rebooted his PET and waited patiently. About thirty seconds later, it made three fast beeps and then projected a full-size hologram of Megaman into the room.
“Whoa,” the holo-Megaman said, looking around and getting a feel for the room's layout before looking back at Lan. “Now this is a nice feature, if I do say so myself.”
“I've upgraded the software running the holo-display on your PET, Lan,” Dr. Kain explained. “It can now project Megaman as a full-size humanoid hologram. But that's only the begin--” He was interrupted by the sounds of alarms from across the room.
“Dr. Kain!” One of the lab techs rushed over to where the three – er, “four” - were gathered. “Something's going on at the airport... they're saying viruses have appeared, physically.”
Yuuichiro looked stern on that mention. “Whoever stole the Dimension Core files must have already managed to deploy one... this isn't good. Lan, you know what to do!” Lan nodded and immediately made for the exit, but was stopped by Dr. Kain.
“I'll get one of the staffers here to get you there by car, Lan. It'll be faster. We'll call you once you're there, okay?”
“Got it!” Lan turned back to the exit and ran out.
Yuuichiro walked over to another free workstation and logged in. “You weren't expecting a full field test, were you, Rob?”
“Not at all...” Dr. Kain sighed. “I hope everything works as intended.”

The car carrying Lan to the airport drove as close to the main entrance as it could, allowing Lan to bail out just in time to receive the call from Dr. Kain. “Alright, Lan, we've confirmed that the airport's within the perimeter of a Dimension Core,” Dr Kain began to explain. “You should be able to cross-fuse here... but before you do, if you want to take advantage of the HUNTER program, simply incapacitate the enemy you wish to use it on and touch it. If it works, you should be able to download its attack for your own use – and if we're lucky and got it right, save it for future use.”
Lan nodded. “Wish us luck!” He disconnected the call and looked back at his PET's screen. “Ready, Megaman?”
Megaman nodded. “You know it!”
The two of them ran into the area covered by the Dimension Core and looked around briefly, making sure things were clear. “Alright, here goes... Synchro Chip, in! DOWNLOAD!”

A few moments later, Lan and Megaman were fused into one, and loaded for bear. “Alright, time to clean house!” He immediately began room-to-room clearing, taking out viruses as he saw them and helping people make their way to the exit. Of course, as fate usually works out, it wasn't long before he ended up surrounded himself.
“Damn, this just had to happen...” Lan mumbled to himself. “Of all the times to be surrounded by an ever-shrinking circle of Metools...”
“Lan, remember what Dr. Kain said about learning different attacks?” Megaman's voice piped in.
Lan nodded. “Let's give it a shot, then!” Lan took a shot right below one of the Metools, knocking it into the air. He then jumped up and grabbed it, causing it to dematerialize and download into his hands. Almost instinctively, he landed and summoned a pickaxe, which he then struck the ground with. The resulting shockwave deleted the remainder of the Metools.
“Okay, that takes care of those viruses,” Lan said. “But whatever's causing this has got to be outside...” He rushed out through one of the flight terminals and exited to the runway, then looked around until a red glow caught his eye down the length of the runway. “There! That's got to be it!” He made a mad dash down the runway, but once he saw the red Dimension Core, an explosion hit him from behind, sending him flying. “Ahhhhh!” he screamed as he plummeted rather forcefully to the ground below him.

A tall figure landed nearby. “This isn't a place for kids to play, you know... someone could get SHOT DOWN!” The figure slowly approached Megaman, who was struggling to get to his feet after the rough landing. “Who're you?!” he said.

The figure walked closer, entering plain view. It was a gray-and-black Navi, alright. Tall, thin, and with wings on its back... and of all things, fully loaded with missiles. “The name is Aerialman. I'm the best in the air no matter what I'm doing: stunt flights, dogfights – no one can best me!” He jumped into the air, entered flight, looped around and launched another missile straight at Megaman – though at least this time he saw it coming. He dashed off to the right, but the missile followed. “Damn, it's a seeker!” he exclaimed, moving as erratically as he could to keep the missile confused while he thought of a plan. “Wait a sec... that's it!” He put both of his forearms in front of him, and to his pleasant surprise, a circular shield expanded from them, covering the entire area of his body. The missile impacted with the shield and pushed him back a bit, but he was alright this time. The shield cracked and broke a few seconds later. “Well, there goes that...”

Meanwhile, Aerialman was coming in for another run, this time with what appeared to be vulcan guns. “Let's see how you handle this, then! STRAFING RUN!” He kicked into high-speed and began firing straight towards Megaman, who managed to dodge the majority of the hits but still take enough to get knocked around a good bit. Megaman was starting to slow down.

“Damnit, another couple of hits like that and I won't be much good,” Lan said to himself, looking around for anything that might help. “Aha!” He spotted a Condor virus and shot towards it once to get its attention – and got it to come straight for him! “That's it, come here...” Right before it was about to make contact, he jumped above it, shot down and forced it into the ground. Using a buster shot to push himself to where it landed, he laid one hand on it and absorbed its data into him. “Let's see what you can do for me, bud!” He threw his arms out to the side and somehow got “Condor wings” to come from the pack on his back. “Oh yeah, now we're talking!” he said, jumping into the air and taking flight straight for Aerialman.

“So you want to dogfight, kid?” Aerialman scoffed. “I'm not going to turn you down, then!” He turned up the speed and was preparing to cycle his vulcan guns again, as Megaman was coming towards him, full-speed.

“No, not a dogfight,” Megaman said with a bit of a smirk. “How about a little game of Chicken?” He kept flying straight on towards Aerialman, not turning in the slightest, and adjusting for Aerialman's every turn.

“Man, this guy's insane!” Aerialman said in surprise as he veered off in one direction. Megaman slowed to a stop and hovered, looking straight up Aerialman's tail end with an aimed buster. “That's it... now!” He let go og a massive charged shot that Aerialman didn't even get to see. On contact, he was sent careening to the ground in a spectacular crash. “Damnit, shot down by a rookie!” he cried in frustration as he slowly raised himself from the ground and faced down his opponent. “Watch your six, kid, 'cause this isn't over.” He disappeared in a logout with those words as Megaman slowly lowered himself to the ground. Right as his feet hit, the Dimension Core seemed to shut itself off, causing the field to disappear and return everything to normal. Emergency services were coming down from the opposite end of the runway now, led by a car carrying both Dr. Hikari and Dr. Kain. They pulled up and got out, walking up to see a relatively happy Lan and a smiling hologram of Megaman. The two of them looked at the two doctors and gave a simple thumbs-up. “Test successful, and mission accomplished!” Lan said with pride.

Meanwhile, the Air Force officer who placed the Dimension Core device was walking up to the device itself as the police did. One of the officers spoke up. “Sir, I'm afraid we'll have to take that-”

“No, this is in military jurisdiction, officer,” he responded as he began to examine and collapse the device back into its case. “This was stolen top-secret military technology; it comes with me.” He picked up the case, loaded it into a nearby vehicle, got in and drove off, then picked up his PET and made a call.
“Did you terminate the Navi?” The sinister voice on the other end asked.
A sigh came from the officer. “No, sir. Apparently he has abilities we've yet to see in any other Navi. The device, however, was a complete success. It has been recovered, and the authorities believed every bit of the cover-story.”
The sinister voice could be heard laughing quietly to himself. “Good, good. So this wasn't a complete failure after all... good work.”
“Thank you, sir,” the officer said before hanging up and driving out of the city.

Back at the ADRC, Lan, his father, and Dr. Kain were talking amongst themselves about the events of the day.
“First, SciLab's servers were broken into with the intent to steal the Dimension Core files, and now this,” Dr. Hikari recapped. “Whoever stole the files is in this country and was already able to complete a workable device.”
Dr. Kain sighed and shook his head. “It seems we're going down the path to digital ruin again, old friend. First it was Regal and his dimensional converters, then the Cybeasts, and now this? I was hoping we could get a vacation in during these months, but if this keeps happening, the chances are slim to none...”
Lan faced his father and his old colleague. “Don't worry about it; leave those problems to Net Savers like me, and we'll all be fine! Right, Megaman?”
A holographic projection of Megaman materialized in between the three people already there. “You got it, Lan.”
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Hopefully I'll actually get Episode 03 out sooner than... oh, three years?! Read, review, suggest... do something!
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Busily plotting for Otakon 2011... here's to hoping I don't leave my cameras behind this year.

Avatar taken from Ryouko's OtaRockman 2010 gallery - it's just my head, please don't delete me! x.x

[RT-fact]

Haven't read this fan-fic until you've just posted the second "episode" and I've got to say that the story is well executed - with the sufficient flow keeping my attention enough - as well as the format of the fan-fiction is decently structured. Judging from your vision of this work and how it achieved so far, I reckon it has a potential to become a gem among Rockman.exe fan-fics.

Keep up the good work!

Oh, and the night after I've read the first episode, I had a dream that me and my family was preparing to take a flight to Indonesia and I had to see my friends before leaving. Is that a coincidence, or did your fan-fiction just influence my sub-consciousness somehow?

[TheDoc]

Well, thank you all for the reviews and commentaries so far, not to mention the view count on this thread

I'm still trying to figure out what to do for the third segment's main plot, though the rest of the gang will definitely be arriving. In the meantime, the next enemy is completely open to suggestion! I'm aiming to begin work this weekend on the main plot body, but I won't begin it without knowing who the Baddie of the Day (BotD) will be. So, PM me your suggestions up until tomorrow night. I'll sift through to find the best one and will use it in the next Episode (Note: I reserve the right to alter your suggestion slightly if used.)

Also, if anyone wants to take up the challenge of making art based on scenes from these Episodes, feel free to!

omgUPDATE: Since there were no suggestions yet, I'll be starting to draft everything for Episode #3 without a BotD. I figure it won't be difficult to add one during the whole drafting process.

The general request for artwork going alongside this series still stands, though - and hell, I'm not afraid to commish it if needed :3

omgUPDATE(2): The next Episode is entitled "Riverside Roughup", which naturally means I'll be busting out a water-element BotD named Torpedoman. Starting to see a pattern here, folks? I thought so... hopefully it'll be done by Monday, but will likely be done sometime during the next week.

Also, I'll be rolling out the next PET in this episode, with a fairly detailed description of it. If anyone's up to making art of it or whatever, feel free to
_________________
Busily plotting for Otakon 2011... here's to hoping I don't leave my cameras behind this year.

Avatar taken from Ryouko's OtaRockman 2010 gallery - it's just my head, please don't delete me! x.x