Categories > Games > Mega Man > Phoenix Evolution
Disclaimer: Okay you should have read chapter 1 so it's there.
AN: again there is some ooc, but it can't be helped. Anyways, almost to the end now so enjoy.
------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter Thirteen
A young assistant hurried to the group as they walked in to remove the long, iron jacket Kaie had just shed upon entrance. She then clipped her jet hair up against her head and motioned for Lan, Maylu and Chaud to sit in the chairs surrounding the low coffee table. Her gloves ended next to her on an armrest, while she finished establishing a link to the special computer jack in the table. It was connected directly to the TamaMedia Training Centre and the labs there.
The Tama family suite was just as clean and crisp as it was the last time Chaud had been invited in yesterday morning. Someone must have gone through the room recently and cleaned rigorously, for every surface gleamed and a feather duster lay inconspicuously on the edge of a wooden sideboard. The assistant returned through a whitewashed door with a tray supporting four streaming mugs of hot chocolate and distributed them amongst the teenagers. Kaie smiled gratefully while the others thanked the polite girl as she left the room and conversation to them.
Maylu took a moment to savour the delicious liquid before asking the questions foremost on her mind since they had left the arena floor. "Why are you telling just us your story, Kaie? Shouldn't all the NetOps know why their Navis were in peril?"
"No" Kaie replied sadly. "I feel obliged to repay you for your help by giving you the truth. What you are about to hear you should never be released to the public without introducing the concept to them slowly. I ask you not to repeat this to anyone."
The others nodded for confirmation that the information disclosed would remain with them only and an expectant silence fell between the Tama girl and her listeners. Kaie wrapped her fingers around the warm mug and shifted slightly in her seat.
"I expect Chaud has a vague idea of I'm talking about." She turned her teal eyes to him, the green contacts still in. "ProtoMan would have never have found some of that information without Phoenix's intervention. I thank you for keeping what you knew a secret."
Chaud blinked, caught somewhat off guard by this deviant admission of Kaie's. "I didn't think it was my place to say any thing."
Lan was getting a little impatient with anticipation, obviously there was an important matter behind this and he wanted to know. "So, tell us your story already."
Her palms had become damp despite the hot ceramic sandwiched between them, so she alternately wiped them along her trouser legs. Kaie took a deep breath to steady her self, and for the first time in a long while, revealed the mystery of her past:
"I have a twin brother and his name was Kegan. Our family was close and the staff at TamaMedia adored us. We were given basic NetNavis when we were very young and became promising NetBattlers. Kegan and I battled almost every day and as we got older, we were allowed into TamaMedia's labs. Kegan was fascinated by the experiments and had a talent for working out some of the problems our scientists had. He was special and would be invaluable if he choose to work at the company.
We were eleven when an experiment lab exploded. We were passing by and the force of the explosion caused a wall to fall onto us. Kegan was badly injured, worse than the cuts and bruises I sustained. Both of us were knocked out and the rescue team was able to find us by our PETs.
We recovered and took to everything we did before with new vigour and were grateful for being alive. Mum and Dad promised to let us try the new PETs that TamaMedia were designing and we were allowed to design our own NetNavis. Kegan designed his great Navi and made mine in reflection of his. He liked our twin thing.
Four years ago was the worst period of my life. Kegan went into a coma from a brain tumour and he was going to die.
TamaMedia sent out a document asking several companies to lend their best scientists for an experiment called the Kegan Project. BlazeQuest Games was one of them and one of the very few who replied with help. The Kegan Project objective was to find a way to save my brother. The solution found was to convert Kegan's brainwaves into digital signals and recreate him as a NetNavi. The NetNavi design used to house Kegan was the one he designed, PhoenixMan. Kegan created all the programming of PhoenixMan and Dad ensured the code was used exactly as it had been written with a few upgrades of course. The Kegan Project was successful. They had linked the comatose Kegan to PhoenixMan within half a year and left the digitizing program running. The living Kegan was continually customizing the personality of PhoenixMan until the day my brother died, a year after he went into the coma.
Before the scientists left TamaMedia, they created my NetNavi, exactly how Kegan had designed her and with a few extras that they had also added to PhoenixMan. This included the anti-deletion procedure TamaMedia were researching and producing at the time. The scientists digitised some of my personality and added it to Phoenix. PhoenixMan and Phoenix are in many ways twins; like the Tama siblings.
Kegan and I continued being our own selves but with a little difference, keeping the secret that PhoenixMan was a solo NetNavi that was originally human. I still call PhoenixMan Kegan for I still feel he is my brother. That is why a month ago Kegan persuaded me to convince Mum and Dad to let him set up a tournament. He needed to use the technology genius retained from his old human life and so that was how the TamaMedia Questing Tournament came about."
Lan had basically listened to Kaie speak with his jaw dropped in awe at the advancement of technology pursued by TamaMedia, even in collaboration. He wondered whether his father, Dr Hikari, had been one of the few who had participated in the success of the Kegan Project. Maylu had spied Lan's open mouth and leaned over to remedy it by snapping it shut with her fingers. The sudden pressure on his chin caused the boy stared blankly at his friend for a moment while she addressed the Tama girl.
"That still doesn't explain why Dominion wanted PhoenixMan so badly that They crashed the tournament," Maylu commented.
Chaud interjected before Kaie had to explain, this was something he did have concrete knowledge of. "Dominion's desire was power. They collected it by corrupting other navis' data and merging them into itself."
"Somehow Dominion learned the extent of PhoenixMan's power." Kaie took over. "If They had absorbed him, there would be almost nothing any one could do to stop Dominion from taking over the net and the whole world."
"What exactly is this incredible power PhoenixMan seems to have, Kaie?" asked Lan. "Surely one navi couldn't have the strength for Dominion to dictate the world."
"I might have exaggerated a bit but PhoenixMan would have been the beginning of a power absorption rampage. For starters PhoenixMan doesn't draw on cyber energy in the way normal NetNavis do, and he seems to be able to accumulate small amounts of energy that can only be used when his levels are extremely low. Also, a NetNavi can control some of the net, right? People tend to not think deeper than the net, yet the cyber world has many levels. Solo NetNavis have links to those other levels. PhoenixMan has a limited ability to control the other parts of the cyber world and that is why PhoenixMan could slow the deletion process on those two Navis today. The anti-deletion procedure that you saw PhoenixMan activate in Phoenix is also priceless to get a hold of and that is why TamaMedia has not released the research."
Chaud suddenly remembered the stray audio data ProtoMan had recorded during that late night visit into the NetBattle Arenas. "Is that also why you argued with Kegan over the tournament creation, not just his solo status?"
"Chaud," Kaie Tama looked intently into his eyes, a small frown creasing her forehead and turned down the corners of her mouth. "How did you know that?"
Damn, I shouldn't have said anything. He almost squirmed in the soft chair. "I - ah, I listened to a loose audio stream while ProtoMan and I were in the NetBattle Arenas. I kind of guessed the reason in my last question," the BlazeQuest Vice-president confessed.
"Don't worry about it." Kaie smiled, she had seen the twitch of his muscles. "PhoenixMan had sensed ProtoMan and had alerted me once you had jacked him out. It was also why I sent Phoenix to intervene."
The young assistant chose to walk in at this moment, a small note between her fingers. "Miss Tama," she said timidly in front of the guests, "this needs your attention."
Kaie received the piece of paper with the air of shouldering another problem. Green-blue eyes skimmed the words and extracted the crucial keywords to confirm its importance for her immediate consideration. Chaud was so familiar with the action he himself performed when he worked, that the boy knew instantly this meeting was over. She neatly folded the paper in half and slipped it into her hip pocket and sighed deeply, sounding just as tired and drained to her ears as she felt. "I'm afraid that something has come up and I have to get back to work."
"Just one question" Lan said, "when will the tournament be resumed?"
"Unfortunately, this Questing Tournament is over. There will be no finals." The NetOp started to protest but Kaie cut him off. "This is what I have to deal with right now. The tournament was televised and extensive inquiries are starting to plague the company. Shareholders are demanding answers."
The Hikari boy pouted a little in his disappointment. Maylu grabbed his hand in her slender one and pulled him to his feet. "There'll be others, Lan."
"Yeah, I suppose."
The girl stood up to walk the three friends to the door of the family suite. "PhoenixMan, TamaMedia and I are extremely grateful for all your efforts today."
The female NetOp waved off their embarrassment. "We are just glad everything turned out okay." Chaud and Lan nodded in agreement.
"I suggest you use the stadium's facilities to relax and recover, as the planes will depart tomorrow morning." Kaie shook each of their hands as they left the suite. "I hope to see you again some time. Maybe I'll consider re-compensating you for the tournament Lan."
"I look forward to it. Visit us in DenTech City any time," Lan invited Kaie before leaving with Maylu. They didn't wait around for Chaud; he would catch up with them if he wanted to.
"We're not that different, you and I." Chaud intoned as he lingered inside the threshold. "Both strong people secretly struggling with our own issues and family companies."
"Yet you are Vice-President, whereas I am just a spokesperson."
"You seem to do just as much work as I do Kaie. Plus hiding the nature of some of TamaMedia's research from the people you deal with must be very stressful."
"I try to NetBattle as often as I can, that's my stress reliever. I even challenge Phoenix in the Training centre."
"See, I told you we were similar. I think the Net City coliseum has a whole database dedicated to match stats of when I work off tension."
"Hey Chaud," she started. It was a whim but one Kaie wanted to confirm. "Even though we're business rivals, we can still be friends, right?"
The boy smile at the request for he had never actually had someone ask to be his friend, even in a roundabout way. "Sure. If you ever need someone to talk to, you will always have my ear."
"Thanks." Kaie returned the grin, stopping shy of the sudden urge to hug him. It had been a long time since she had met someone who had so much in common with her whom Kaie could call a true friend. "And thank you for saving me earlier."
The pair shook hands before Chaud turned to step out the door. "That's what friends are for."
The door closed with a soft click behind him and Kaie Tama moved back into the suite of clean rooms. Her expression remained cheerful despite the memories of the day's events relating to the now lost Dominion behind her and the tangle of work she had to confront ahead of her.
------------------------------------------------------------
AN2: Um, I hope the last part worked. I didn't know exactly how to finish it so I muddled along with the friendship idea.
AN: again there is some ooc, but it can't be helped. Anyways, almost to the end now so enjoy.
------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter Thirteen
A young assistant hurried to the group as they walked in to remove the long, iron jacket Kaie had just shed upon entrance. She then clipped her jet hair up against her head and motioned for Lan, Maylu and Chaud to sit in the chairs surrounding the low coffee table. Her gloves ended next to her on an armrest, while she finished establishing a link to the special computer jack in the table. It was connected directly to the TamaMedia Training Centre and the labs there.
The Tama family suite was just as clean and crisp as it was the last time Chaud had been invited in yesterday morning. Someone must have gone through the room recently and cleaned rigorously, for every surface gleamed and a feather duster lay inconspicuously on the edge of a wooden sideboard. The assistant returned through a whitewashed door with a tray supporting four streaming mugs of hot chocolate and distributed them amongst the teenagers. Kaie smiled gratefully while the others thanked the polite girl as she left the room and conversation to them.
Maylu took a moment to savour the delicious liquid before asking the questions foremost on her mind since they had left the arena floor. "Why are you telling just us your story, Kaie? Shouldn't all the NetOps know why their Navis were in peril?"
"No" Kaie replied sadly. "I feel obliged to repay you for your help by giving you the truth. What you are about to hear you should never be released to the public without introducing the concept to them slowly. I ask you not to repeat this to anyone."
The others nodded for confirmation that the information disclosed would remain with them only and an expectant silence fell between the Tama girl and her listeners. Kaie wrapped her fingers around the warm mug and shifted slightly in her seat.
"I expect Chaud has a vague idea of I'm talking about." She turned her teal eyes to him, the green contacts still in. "ProtoMan would have never have found some of that information without Phoenix's intervention. I thank you for keeping what you knew a secret."
Chaud blinked, caught somewhat off guard by this deviant admission of Kaie's. "I didn't think it was my place to say any thing."
Lan was getting a little impatient with anticipation, obviously there was an important matter behind this and he wanted to know. "So, tell us your story already."
Her palms had become damp despite the hot ceramic sandwiched between them, so she alternately wiped them along her trouser legs. Kaie took a deep breath to steady her self, and for the first time in a long while, revealed the mystery of her past:
"I have a twin brother and his name was Kegan. Our family was close and the staff at TamaMedia adored us. We were given basic NetNavis when we were very young and became promising NetBattlers. Kegan and I battled almost every day and as we got older, we were allowed into TamaMedia's labs. Kegan was fascinated by the experiments and had a talent for working out some of the problems our scientists had. He was special and would be invaluable if he choose to work at the company.
We were eleven when an experiment lab exploded. We were passing by and the force of the explosion caused a wall to fall onto us. Kegan was badly injured, worse than the cuts and bruises I sustained. Both of us were knocked out and the rescue team was able to find us by our PETs.
We recovered and took to everything we did before with new vigour and were grateful for being alive. Mum and Dad promised to let us try the new PETs that TamaMedia were designing and we were allowed to design our own NetNavis. Kegan designed his great Navi and made mine in reflection of his. He liked our twin thing.
Four years ago was the worst period of my life. Kegan went into a coma from a brain tumour and he was going to die.
TamaMedia sent out a document asking several companies to lend their best scientists for an experiment called the Kegan Project. BlazeQuest Games was one of them and one of the very few who replied with help. The Kegan Project objective was to find a way to save my brother. The solution found was to convert Kegan's brainwaves into digital signals and recreate him as a NetNavi. The NetNavi design used to house Kegan was the one he designed, PhoenixMan. Kegan created all the programming of PhoenixMan and Dad ensured the code was used exactly as it had been written with a few upgrades of course. The Kegan Project was successful. They had linked the comatose Kegan to PhoenixMan within half a year and left the digitizing program running. The living Kegan was continually customizing the personality of PhoenixMan until the day my brother died, a year after he went into the coma.
Before the scientists left TamaMedia, they created my NetNavi, exactly how Kegan had designed her and with a few extras that they had also added to PhoenixMan. This included the anti-deletion procedure TamaMedia were researching and producing at the time. The scientists digitised some of my personality and added it to Phoenix. PhoenixMan and Phoenix are in many ways twins; like the Tama siblings.
Kegan and I continued being our own selves but with a little difference, keeping the secret that PhoenixMan was a solo NetNavi that was originally human. I still call PhoenixMan Kegan for I still feel he is my brother. That is why a month ago Kegan persuaded me to convince Mum and Dad to let him set up a tournament. He needed to use the technology genius retained from his old human life and so that was how the TamaMedia Questing Tournament came about."
Lan had basically listened to Kaie speak with his jaw dropped in awe at the advancement of technology pursued by TamaMedia, even in collaboration. He wondered whether his father, Dr Hikari, had been one of the few who had participated in the success of the Kegan Project. Maylu had spied Lan's open mouth and leaned over to remedy it by snapping it shut with her fingers. The sudden pressure on his chin caused the boy stared blankly at his friend for a moment while she addressed the Tama girl.
"That still doesn't explain why Dominion wanted PhoenixMan so badly that They crashed the tournament," Maylu commented.
Chaud interjected before Kaie had to explain, this was something he did have concrete knowledge of. "Dominion's desire was power. They collected it by corrupting other navis' data and merging them into itself."
"Somehow Dominion learned the extent of PhoenixMan's power." Kaie took over. "If They had absorbed him, there would be almost nothing any one could do to stop Dominion from taking over the net and the whole world."
"What exactly is this incredible power PhoenixMan seems to have, Kaie?" asked Lan. "Surely one navi couldn't have the strength for Dominion to dictate the world."
"I might have exaggerated a bit but PhoenixMan would have been the beginning of a power absorption rampage. For starters PhoenixMan doesn't draw on cyber energy in the way normal NetNavis do, and he seems to be able to accumulate small amounts of energy that can only be used when his levels are extremely low. Also, a NetNavi can control some of the net, right? People tend to not think deeper than the net, yet the cyber world has many levels. Solo NetNavis have links to those other levels. PhoenixMan has a limited ability to control the other parts of the cyber world and that is why PhoenixMan could slow the deletion process on those two Navis today. The anti-deletion procedure that you saw PhoenixMan activate in Phoenix is also priceless to get a hold of and that is why TamaMedia has not released the research."
Chaud suddenly remembered the stray audio data ProtoMan had recorded during that late night visit into the NetBattle Arenas. "Is that also why you argued with Kegan over the tournament creation, not just his solo status?"
"Chaud," Kaie Tama looked intently into his eyes, a small frown creasing her forehead and turned down the corners of her mouth. "How did you know that?"
Damn, I shouldn't have said anything. He almost squirmed in the soft chair. "I - ah, I listened to a loose audio stream while ProtoMan and I were in the NetBattle Arenas. I kind of guessed the reason in my last question," the BlazeQuest Vice-president confessed.
"Don't worry about it." Kaie smiled, she had seen the twitch of his muscles. "PhoenixMan had sensed ProtoMan and had alerted me once you had jacked him out. It was also why I sent Phoenix to intervene."
The young assistant chose to walk in at this moment, a small note between her fingers. "Miss Tama," she said timidly in front of the guests, "this needs your attention."
Kaie received the piece of paper with the air of shouldering another problem. Green-blue eyes skimmed the words and extracted the crucial keywords to confirm its importance for her immediate consideration. Chaud was so familiar with the action he himself performed when he worked, that the boy knew instantly this meeting was over. She neatly folded the paper in half and slipped it into her hip pocket and sighed deeply, sounding just as tired and drained to her ears as she felt. "I'm afraid that something has come up and I have to get back to work."
"Just one question" Lan said, "when will the tournament be resumed?"
"Unfortunately, this Questing Tournament is over. There will be no finals." The NetOp started to protest but Kaie cut him off. "This is what I have to deal with right now. The tournament was televised and extensive inquiries are starting to plague the company. Shareholders are demanding answers."
The Hikari boy pouted a little in his disappointment. Maylu grabbed his hand in her slender one and pulled him to his feet. "There'll be others, Lan."
"Yeah, I suppose."
The girl stood up to walk the three friends to the door of the family suite. "PhoenixMan, TamaMedia and I are extremely grateful for all your efforts today."
The female NetOp waved off their embarrassment. "We are just glad everything turned out okay." Chaud and Lan nodded in agreement.
"I suggest you use the stadium's facilities to relax and recover, as the planes will depart tomorrow morning." Kaie shook each of their hands as they left the suite. "I hope to see you again some time. Maybe I'll consider re-compensating you for the tournament Lan."
"I look forward to it. Visit us in DenTech City any time," Lan invited Kaie before leaving with Maylu. They didn't wait around for Chaud; he would catch up with them if he wanted to.
"We're not that different, you and I." Chaud intoned as he lingered inside the threshold. "Both strong people secretly struggling with our own issues and family companies."
"Yet you are Vice-President, whereas I am just a spokesperson."
"You seem to do just as much work as I do Kaie. Plus hiding the nature of some of TamaMedia's research from the people you deal with must be very stressful."
"I try to NetBattle as often as I can, that's my stress reliever. I even challenge Phoenix in the Training centre."
"See, I told you we were similar. I think the Net City coliseum has a whole database dedicated to match stats of when I work off tension."
"Hey Chaud," she started. It was a whim but one Kaie wanted to confirm. "Even though we're business rivals, we can still be friends, right?"
The boy smile at the request for he had never actually had someone ask to be his friend, even in a roundabout way. "Sure. If you ever need someone to talk to, you will always have my ear."
"Thanks." Kaie returned the grin, stopping shy of the sudden urge to hug him. It had been a long time since she had met someone who had so much in common with her whom Kaie could call a true friend. "And thank you for saving me earlier."
The pair shook hands before Chaud turned to step out the door. "That's what friends are for."
The door closed with a soft click behind him and Kaie Tama moved back into the suite of clean rooms. Her expression remained cheerful despite the memories of the day's events relating to the now lost Dominion behind her and the tangle of work she had to confront ahead of her.
------------------------------------------------------------
AN2: Um, I hope the last part worked. I didn't know exactly how to finish it so I muddled along with the friendship idea.
Sign up to rate and review this story