Mega man Battle Network: Virus mutations

Lan waited no longer then he had to, wasting no time putting on his skates and heading out the door with out saying so much as a word. It was around 6:30 when he finally left, still early enough to leave for the station and catch a --

Buzzzz.....

‘Huh’ Lan had brought his PET along by accident, he had become accustomed to grabbing it when he left out, he hadn‘t even realized he did it. He stopped right out side of his door, lifting the component into view. The first thing he took notice of was that instead of the flickering white the screen had been before, it was now completely red. The buzz of static emitted from it in short consecutive burst from it a few times before it was silent again. ’What’s happening to this thing?’

Lan was a little curious to see what would happen, so decided to keep an eye on it.

! - ! - !

Lan moved down the long street with a hasted speed, as fast as he legs could repel him. He was completely unsure of what time the next train would leave but he hoped there would be another one heading to Eletgo today. ’Come one....’He could see it just ahead of him.

Lan slid to an abrupt stopped in front of the glass doors of the station, quickly removing off his skates before walking inside. He would have run if he wasn’t so out of breath, this hadn’t exactly been a short trip.

He staggered strait a head knowingly, nearly falling on the font desk positioned thankfully no more then 20 feet from the door. A large board hung behind it, displaying arrival and departure times for the trains.

“... Lan slowly traced down the board with his finger until he came to the one he was looking for ’Eletgo City, Departure time 6:55.….That only leaves me 10 minutes!’ “Excuse me.” Lan leaned over the desk, looking up at a woman in a white suit with a blue vest and matching hat who turned around to greet him.

“How much dose a ticket to Eletgo cost?”

“First class is $25.” She replied.

$25 was no problem, he had enough to get there and the boat couldn’t cost to much more. Lan reached in to his pocket…. and unfortunately ‘I forgot the money!!!’ Lan managed to retain that scream inside of his head. “When dose the one after that leave?”

“Tomorrow at--” The woman didn’t even get to finish before he screamed again, this time out loud.

“Tomorrow!!” Tomorrow? He couldn’t possibly wait that long, the whole bio-android process wouldn’t take that long, it was surprisingly quick. He had to go now!

With out another word he turned around bolted out of the station, seeming to reclaimed his stamina abnormally when thinking of the prospect of being stranded. He didn’t even wait until he got out of the building to put his skates one.

’The bank is closer then going back home, I can make it there in less then 5 minutes…’ With out another thought he forced his way out of the glass doors and staked at a full sprint on the path he already knew would be the fastest.

But it wasn’t long before the PET started making more strange sounds, this time it sounded like someone was trying to talk through static. With out stopping, Lan looked at his PET, he could see the outline of a body. This virus was starting to take form, as much as he wanted to watch, Lan put the console back on his waist, he had to get to the bank.

! - ! - !

After few more hastily passed streets and 2 minutes of time he made it to his destination, finding the bank was closed but luckily the ATM was open.

With a flare of anger Lan punched the machine, shouting loudly. “You can’t be serious!”

This truly wasn’t his week, what were the chances that the this ATM it was also being effected by a virus, if it was the same one was unknown.... Until he saw ’201102’ blinking on the screen, it was perfectly clear to him then. How could this possibly get the virus, banks (for security) where not connected to the net.

Lan sighed, dropping his head against the broken ATM in defeat, it looked like was going to have to catch the next train... ’I shouldn’t even be doing this now... is it going to be to late by then, maybe they’ll--’ His thoughts were interrupted by something.

Somewhere in the course of lowering his head Lan had caught a glimpse at his PET now blinking red brightly. So brightly he could even see it with his eyes closed. ’Huh?’ He curiously lifted it from his waist and looked at it again.

‘How did this happen?’ Lan couldn‘t believe what he was seeing... The haze of red he saw before had now taken a Netnavi like form, he had almost dulled blue eyes and long yellow hair pulled back into a tail. Expectedly he wore red armor, almost similar to Protoman’s only heavier, embedded in the center of chest plate was a green orb that very faintly Lan could see the out line of the symbol Megaman wore on his chest. On his helmet lay a triangular jewel or something of that nature, also green.

For a moment they both just stared at each other, so many questions streaming into Lan’s mind that only coherent thing he could get out was. “Hello?”

He knew from reading all of those documents that the virus had converted all of Megaman’s data into what he though was now nothing. But Lan had transferred Megaman out of the PET, so there shouldn’t have been anything left to convert, everything should have been nothing more then meaningless streams of unreadable code and this PET shouldn’t even have been working right now. So what was this? Was this the virus? Because this looked a lot like a netnavi...no, it couldn’t be, Megaman was gone, that was the only Netnavi in this system....

This new form looked back up at him and blinked questingly.

“…..Hello?” It seemed like he was just finding his voice, or finding out that he could talk for that matter.

“Who are you?” Lan meant to ask more along the lines of what are you, but this was the first thing he could think to ask.

“I…don’t know…” He was a virus, Lan knew that, but apparently he didn’t, but just to make sure…..

“What are you?”

“….Netnavi…?” He replied unsurely, his voice was slightly deeper then Megaman’s, and an entirely different tone.

Lan had forgotten that this was still Megaman’s data, the half of it that had been converted anyway. The other part of him was essentially a virus, a repeating, endlessly re-writing code of 0s...no, now that Lan had uploaded the software from the site that repeating code was technically ‘201102‘ written over and over. That was if this software altered the hardware to work that way like it clamed to.

He wondered where Megaman's data stopped and where the virus began...when he thought about it, this wasn’t just Megaman’s data, it was also the system data from the PET that had been converted. Maybe that had something to do with this new thing being created. Which made Lan also noticed that what should have been the desk top behind this new form, it was actually just streaming 0s “What’s your name?” Lan asked.

The system file that told him his name was blank, all of it was completely erased, nothing was left, 0. “Zero.” the Navi replied, or at lest that what it looked like.

Whatever was happening here it was amazing, Lan would never be able to figure it out on his own. Lan smiled down at him, “Well I’m Lan, nice to meet you.” He said warmly, but unfortunately couldn’t stay in his moment of amazement, looking up at the ATM with a sadness hinting in his eyes.

“What’s wrong?”

Zero looked as if he was just a regular Navi, he even acted like one. A distant part of Lan was yelling in an interested excitement at what was happening. “This thing is broken, I can’t get to my account.” Lan explained, hitting a few buttons futilely. He was desperate and he was running out of time, and with no one else around he had no choice but to look down at Zero.

“Maybe I can help you out.”

He really wanted to help? “You want to help me?”

“Yeah.”

“You think you can help me out?” Lan wasn’t sure about this...but on the other hand Zero still knew enough to be considered a Netnavi, he certainly acted like one, and this ATM was already infected with the virus. If Zero was offering to help, what did he have to lose? It wasn’t like he could do anything with it by himself.

“Alright” Zero agreed with out hesitation, he figured he was a Navi, and Navis did things like that. That’s what the data still remaining told him, as far as he knew, he was just a Navi.

He didn’t need to, but Lan couldn’t resist saying “Jack-in Zero.” He had to admit that he liked the ring of that. Lan connected the PET to the machine.


The usually secure, with out fault machine was wide open because of the seemingly unstoppable ’201102’ virus, all of the security (which was the first in front of everything) was the first thing to be infected. Everything was converted to 0s after not being able to comprehend what it was really being converted to with out the right software. Zero, who blended into the system perfectly as if he was always there, only had to denote the amount of money.

“Thanks a lot.” Lan said happily, unconnecting the PET from the terminal.

“No problem.” Zero said contently, happy to help.

Lan didn’t have time to contemplate the fact that Zero helped him before he bolted off down the street again at full speed, pushing himself faster then before. If he made it in 2 minutes before, he could do it again.

! - ! - !

“Zero?” Lan said in a questioning voice, speaking between heavy pants as he moved as fast as he could trying to keep the same pace.

“Huh?”

“This is kinda wired because you’re a….virus, but--”

Virus? He was a Virus? But how? “What? Virus?” Zero asked confusedly.

“Yeah, you’re a virus” Lan told him causally as if he already knew, at lest Lan thought he already knew.

From Zero’s stand point he had enough data on virus to tell himself that wasn’t good.

In fact for him it was the most horrifying thing. “But….How?” Zero didn’t think you could be a virus and act like a Netnavi, how could he exist inside a PET?

“Your data, you got it from my Navi MegaMan, I don’t know what happened after he left, but you showed up like this.”

Zero hung his head down, shamefully avoiding eye contact as if he couldn’t bare to look up for anything right now. If Lan told him this, it had to be true, how could it not be... Lan...he had data on Lan...wasn‘t it his? And why couldn’t he remember anything? He had no memory...if he had no memory then how could he have data on Lan?

That’s because Lan was right, this wasn’t his data. But how did he get it? “I’m a virus...” With a sigh he dismissed it as best he could, he was feeling a strong sense of self-contempt, he just hoped just because he was a virus didn’t mean he had to act like one.

That‘s when Lan realized what he had done, and the reaction he‘d just gotten, maybe he should have told him that... “...Uh...It doesn’t matter though, you turned out ok, if you want too you could probably help a lot of people.” Lan said in-between breaths, just as he came to the front doors of the train station. Looking up at the clock mounted above them he could see that he’d taken 3 minutes, he’d really have to hurry.

He was a virus, how could he possibly help anything? The only thing a virus was good for was deleting or altering data in a malicious way, or just being malicious to a system himself which could mean any number of things. “How?” Zero asked. Now he was feeling even worse...

Lan didn’t answer right away, he had to order a ticket first and foremost. In a nearly incoherent blur, Lan ran to the front desk, blurted out what he wanted and nearly threw his money down, snatched the ticket out of the woman’s hand and immediately Lan was in a full sprint toward the train. “Well, you could start by helping me out. I’d kinda don’t have a Navi right now.” Lan told him, rubbing the back of his head a little. He was in such a hurry he didn’t realize he’d forgotten to take off his shakes.

Zero was confused, as soon as he’d become conscious for the first time instead of a mindless virus that did only one thing. He’d found this nice boy smiling at him, who seemed to know more about him then he knew about himself. It seemed almost like the scene from a romance movie, or a really twisted horror movie. ’Why did I think of that….?’ Zero seemed to have more personality then he originally thought.

He couldn’t stop the thought of this being the opening scene from a horror movie, which unfortunately seemed more plausible.

Lan pushed his way though the crowds of people until he reached his terminal and just barely made his way onboard the train with a few seconds to spare, flashing his ticket to the sentry on the way in. It seemed just as soon as he took two steps the train began to shake lightly with acceleration, this had been a closer call then he thought. ’Just made it...’ With a sigh of relief, Lan made his way through the narrow halls to a private cabin designated to him with his first class ticket.

It small, but he was alone with more then enough space for himself. Taking his seat on the large sofa, he lifted his feet on to the table laying in front of him and took a second to glance out of the window to his right before looking back down at Zero.

“What are you thinking about Zero?” Lan asked in his usual cheery voice.

Zero looked like as if he’d just seen something horrible. “Oh…This strange little thought crossed my mind about how this all started, it seemed like the opening scene for a romance move…or a horror film.”

What? That was completely unexpected.

Lan couldn’t help but laugh when he heard that, making Zero rub the back of his head nervously but laugh a little at himself.

“ I could see romance.” Lan said, “But how did you come up with Horror?”

“Well, I’m a virus right? What If something happened to me...and I started acting like a virus. I could just destroy everything….? What type of virus am I?” The tone of Zero’s voice when he asked that made Lan laugh again, a virus with an identity crisis, this was new.

“I’m not sure, you were called the ’201102 virus’. But you don’t seem like I virus...if you did go start acting like a virus, I’m sure nothing could stop you.” Lan told him, he knew that much from experience as well as what he‘d read.

Zero looked down at himself with an almost wonton look, almost as if he didn’t believe himself. A disappointed look began to cross his face.

The horror movie seemed to be a very reachable reality. Zero, who still knew nothing about himself or the ’201102 virus’, which in essence was the same thing. Only knew that he was a netnavi, or something close to it, and he did not want to become a virus. A small bit of doubt that he was who Lan said he was came in the back of his mind, but he could easily looked threw his own files to find the truth. No...they weren’t his files, they were someone else’s that he’d infected.

“Don’t worry about it to much, if you don’t want to become a virus, then you wont be one.” Lan said with yawn, that‘s how he saw it.

Zero blinked in confusion. “But.... I already am a virus.”

“Your only as much of a virus as you think you are. Just by looking at you I couldn’t tell if you were a virus or not, and you didn’t even know.” Lan was getting more and more sleepy by the word. “You don’t want to do anything bad right?”

“No.”

“Then you’ll be alright.”

“I guess your right….” Zero said, watching silently as Lan slowly drifted off to sleep, it was odd because he had already slept for 13 hours before. It was strange how long sleeps could make someone feel more exhausted then rested, and after a few more hours of very stressful activities he was more then ready for another long sleep.

Zero himself decided to try and figure somethings out about himself.

! - !- !

Lan slowly drifted back in to conciseness, it was unclear how long he’d actually laid there before he actually realized that he was awake and opened eyes. ‘Huh?’ He sat up, after somehow laying down and stretching out in his seat during his sleep.

It had been no more then an hour later, the train just now was traveling beneath the first city, only about halfway there.

The boy stretched his arms out above his head with another light yawn, then adjusting the head band he was wearing. His eyes inanely drifted down to his lap, looking at the PET still clinched tightly in his hand, Zero was-- “He even sleeps.”

Lan couldn‘t help but stare at him and the streaming 0s behind him that made up the desktop, he couldn’t believe that he had just made friends with the virus that almost killed Megaman. It may have still done so, Lan didn’t even know if Megaman even survived the upload.

This did seem like something out of a movie, what an oddly random comment, but how Zero thought of that was still a mystery. Lan still couldn’t believe he may have just made friends with the thing that attempted to kill his best friend. But this didn’t seem like the silent virus that killed invisibility and unstoppably.

This seemed more like a Navi that was the same, but completely opposite Megaman. He even had had a weapon, a sword that seemed to be made completely of a white light, it shined like a burning flame. How could something like this come about from half of Megaman’s data, where did Megaman's data stop and the virus‘s begin? ’Maybe he got in to the memory file, took the data from other Navis.’ It seemed reasonable, but that didn‘t mean anything, anything seemed reasonable right now.

Whatever the reason, he knew that this seemed like a good person, Zero didn’t even know how to be a virus. But…the fact was that he is a virus. He might just infect anything he came in contact unwillingly, a problem Lan wasn’t sure how to deal with. There were so many wrong and unsure things about Zero that...there was no use thinking about them all.

Either way it looked like Zero would now be occupying that PET, Megaman probably wouldn’t be able to come back to it if he tried... This whole thing could actually work out well for him, Megaman could have a real body, and he would still have a netnavi.

But there where also a lot of unknown factors in this. The biggest one was could he actually get on the island? It was a small, private island. Second, half of Megaman was corrupted by the virus, would this work at all?

Lan looked out the window with a sigh, watching the train emerge from a tunnel and rise above ground.

His window instantly became drenched in a torrent water pounding against the glass, whatever storm had been over Denteck for 13 hours was planning to stay here for a similar length of time. This was either bad look or just plan ominous, the fact that he found rain everywhere he went, it would probably be raining just as hard in Eletgo city when he got there.

Lan for once found himself thinking this whole thing threw, able to see every flaw, but it was a little late. Megaman was already in the system and Lan was halfway there. He’d gotten this far, if his luck held, he could get farther.

Lan sat back in his seat, resting his hand’s behind his head and yawning again. “Megaman, I hope your ok...” As soon as he stopped thinking, he found himself drifting back to sleep.