Code: HIKARI

Chapter 2: Finding Your Feet

"Wha…what happened?" Lan mumbled, stirring from his exhausted state. Experiencing the strange sensation of dispersing into nothing and resurfacing in reality had left him worn out. He eased himself from Odd and Ulrich's grasps to see what was in the other scanner. What he witnessed almost stopped his heart.

Inside the scanner, curled up in a fetal position, was a slumbering young boy with a strong resemblance to Lan. His hair was the same brown color, but his bangs swept past his eyes instead of being held back, and some of his hair spiked out in the back. He wore an open blue vest over a white short-sleeve shirt with a black square on each sleeve, orange armbands, black Capri pants with a light blue stripe going down the sides, and blue sneakers with white socks.

Lan stepped over to the scanner and knelt beside the boy. He carefully pulled the boy out of the scanner and laid him against the outside. That was when he noticed the symbol on the boy's armbands: it was the Hikari family insignia, the very same red and black "H" symbol Lan possessed on his bandana. Lan glanced at his PET, finding it to be completely empty, then looked back at the boy.

"No way," Lan breathed, his voice shaky. "It's him…it's actually him…"

"Who?" asked Aelita. "Do you know this person?"

The other boy began to wake up. As the boy's eyes opened and adjusted to the light, Lan noticed that they were a bright green, just like Megaman's.

"Augh, my head," the boy groaned, placing a hand on his forehead. His eyes then flew open, wide awake. He quickly pulled his hand back and stared at it, confused, as if expecting something else to be there. He examined himself curiously before directing his attention to Lan. "Lan, what's going on? How am I outside of the PET?"

Lan just smiled widely. "Welcome to the real world, Hub."

"Guys?" asked Jeremie. "Everything alright?"

Just then, the elevator door opened. Out came the Lyoko warriors, followed by Lan and another boy.

Jeremie raised an eyebrow. "You must be Lan, but…who is that next to you?"

"We're just as confused as you are, Jeremie," said Yumi.

"Remember when I told you guys about Navis and said that I had one?" asked Lan. The others nodded. Lan placed a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Well, everyone, I'd like you to meet the one and only Megaman!"

"But how did your Navi end up in the real world?" asked Jeremie. "I didn't detect anyone else on Lyoko. Unless…" He reopened and studied Lan's file. "…Lan, why does your Navi look so much like you?"

"Um…" Megaman, can you hear me?

No response.

Hello? Megaman?

Still no response.

Lan sighed. That meant he could only communicate with Megaman like that on Lyoko. He would have to either tell the truth or come up with an excuse. Neither option was favorable at the moment.

"Professor Hikari used Lan's DNA to make me," said Megaman. "I guess you could say we're almost like twins."

Lan sighed in relief. It was only a half-lie, but it worked. Saved by the bell! Way to go, Mega!

"That must be it!" said Jeremie. "The reason your data file looks like there's enough information and coding for two people: you and Megaman, due to your similarities, fuse together on Lyoko! That's incredible!"

"That explains why I could hear him in my head," said Lan.

A beeping noise went off. Ulrich took out his cell phone to check the time. "Wow, it's 10:30 already? I think we should head back to the school now."

"Good idea," said Odd. "Otherwise Jim'll mount our heads over a fireplace."

"But what about us?" Lan asked. "Where are Megaman and I supposed to stay?"

"I suppose you could stay on Lyoko," said Jeremie. "At least until I finish your personal documents."

"Personal documents?" Megaman echoed.

"Yes. Until I can find a way to send you two back to your home dimension, you're stuck here. I can forge some birth certificates and whatnot, get you transferred to Kadic, and that'll be your home away from home for the time being."

"Oh no, you're not pulling off any more all-nighters, Jeremie," said Yumi, grabbing the so-called tech wizard by the arm.

"But Yumi, this is important!" Jeremie protested. "Trust me, the paperwork would go a lot faster if Lan and Megaman helped me work on it! Besides, forging fake documents is nothing compared to creating Code Earth."

"Don't worry," said Megaman. "We'll make sure he doesn't stay up all night. After having to put up with Lan, I think it'll be quite easy."

"Hey!" Lan chuckled, lightly punching his twin in the arm.

"Alright," said Yumi. "We'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye," the twins said in unison, waving to their new acquaintances.

"Now then," said Jeremie, "For these documents, I just need basic information. We might have to change some things, such as your birthplace, but it's for the best while you two are here. Shall we begin?"

"Go ahead, Jeremie."

"Fire away."

The next day at Kadic Academy, in the classroom of one Mrs. Hertz, Ulrich Stern and Odd Della Robbia were waiting in their seats for a certain genius to arrive.

"One minute to the bell," said Ulrich. "You don't think Jeremie stayed up crazy late again, do you?"

Odd shrugged. "Beats me. I wonder how our two guests are doing."

"Odd…" said Ulrich, "I have a weird feeling about those two."

"Good-weird or bad-weird?"

"It's somewhere in the middle. I don't think these guys are evil or working with XANA, but there's something about the one guy…Megaman, I think was his name…something that doesn't feel right."

"Aww, is someone afraid the new guy will try to steal away their beloved Yumi?"

"Very funny, Odd. My bad feeling doesn't even involve that. I feel like he's—"

The bell rang as students took to their seats. As the teacher entered, so did Jeremie with only one of the twins.

"Good morning, class," said Ms. Hertz. "I see you brought our new student with you, Jeremie. I've heard nothing but good things about him…and, likewise, the opposite of his brother."

Megaman stifled a quiet giggle.

"Anyway, class, this is our new student, Hub Hikari. He and his twin brother Lan were recently transferred to Kadic from…from…I'm sorry, Hub, where was it you said you were from?"

"New York City, in America. We went to Northridge Middle School."

"Ah, yes! Now I remember. Mr. Hikari, despite his age, has such remarkable grades that the school board has allowed him to attend our class. I expect great things from you, Mr. Hikari. Now please take a seat beside Miss Delmas over there."

Odd and Ulrich cringed. The last thing they wanted was for their new friend to become corrupted. They prayed that Sissi would just leave the boy alone and vice versa.

They were half wrong.

As he sat down, Megaman extended a hand to Sissi. "You must be the principal's daughter. I'm Hub."

"Look, I don't know who you think you are, new kid, but I'm not—" Sissi froze as she locked eyes with the new kid. There was something about him that really grabbed her attention. The something was nowhere near the brilliant attractiveness of Ulrich, but…this new kid's green eyes seemed to sparkle like bright stars. And his smile was warm and innocent, welcoming even.

"…Miss?" asked a confused Megaman.

"Huh? I-I'm fine." Sissi looked away, her face turning a light shade of pink. "Stop staring at me like that."

Megaman pulled his hand back and looked down at his desk, quite confused over what just happened. I wonder what Lan is doing right now…

"Hikari!" barked the P.E. teacher. "Heads up!"

Too little too late did Lan hear the call of Mr. Morales' voice when he was struck in the chest by a flying soccer ball. The voices of laughing students were all he heard in his stumbling daze.

"You okay, Hikari?" asked the teacher.

"Sort of," Lan replied. "Can I please go to the infirmary?"

"Of course. Don't take too long, now. I've had much higher positions of authority in my lifetime, so believe me, the consequences will not be pretty if you think you can get out of the entire class period."

"I'd rather not hear about it, Jim," mumbled Lan as he stepped out of the gymnasium. He started walking down to the infirmary and decided to pass the time it took to get there by thinking.

Normally, Lan only zoned out when it came to actual schoolwork. In Gym, he would at least participate. But this time, he seemed to completely disregard everything. He was zoning out in the middle of playing soccer, his best sport, of all things! Why? In his mind, Lan tallied up the reasons: he had been abruptly taken away from the people and world he knew, had almost lost his brother, and was nearly killed by that Skiph thing, all over the course of a single day. And until a way home was found, he and Megaman would have to pose as 'Lan and Hub Hikari, the twin American exchange students from New York' in a strange world with lower tech than he was used to.

Or perhaps Lan merely had a special, dimension-hopping kind of jetlag and was simply too tired to think clearly.

He dragged his finger along the tiles of the walls and smiled. At least he had Megaman to keep him company. And not just through the PET or a copybot; he was really here, in the flesh, in the real world. He could actually breathe, eat, sleep, and feel like any other person. When they ate breakfast with the Lyoko warriors earlier that day, the starry look in Megaman's eyes was just so amusing to Lan and reminded him of a little kid. It was what Lan had dreamed of ever since he was told the truth about Megaman's origins, and now it was finally a reality.

He opened the slightly creaky door of the infirmary.

"Can I help you?" asked the nurse.

"Yeah, I had a little head-on collision in Gym," Lan replied. "But with my stomach, heh. Can I lie down for a few minutes?"

"Sure. Just sign in and I'll send you back before the period ends."

Lan signed his name and the current time on a sheet of paper. He laid himself on one of the beds and relaxed as he imagined the joys of finally being able to live with his twin. Maybe their situation was not as bad as he originally made it out to be.

As he napped, thick black smoke crept into the room from a vent and seeped itself into Lan's PET. The screen began to rapidly flash an eye-like symbol and raining bits of data. After half a minute, the smoke slithered back out and disappeared into the vent from whence in came.

Later, the bell for lunch rang, signaling students to leave their classes and eat their fill.

Megaman could not help but stare at Odd, who downed what must have been at least his fourth croissant. Megaman was not an expert on human behavior, but he was pretty sure no human could eat that many croissants and still have room for more. Then he glanced over at Lan, who was chugging down just as many croissants, and decided to forgo the thought by focusing on his own meal.

"Wow, Odd," said Ulrich, "Looks like someone's about to beat your record."

"Oh yeah?" said Odd, reaching for yet another croissant. "I'd like to see him try!"

"Bring it on, cat-boy!" Lan retorted.

"You guys are such pigs," said Yumi, shaking her head. "So Hub—um, can I call you Hub? Or do you prefer Megaman?"

"Jeremie said that he wants to keep my identity hidden while in the real world," said Megaman, sweeping his macaroni around with his fork. "But you can call me Megaman in private or on Lyoko. Mega for short."

"Okay," said Yumi, lowering her voice a bit. "Mega, what do you think of the real world so far?"

"It's very different from being a Navi, that's for sure. It's nice to actually see people's faces when I talk to them."

"And you said there are other Navis like you?" asked Aelita.

"Oh yes, they're everywhere, and they come in all shapes and sizes. My friends Roll and Glide are Navis. Then there's Gutsman and Protoman, but I wouldn't exactly call them friends…"

"Did someone say friends?" asked a vaguely smug voice. A girl with long black hair clad in pink strode up to the group's table, followed by two boys who seemed to be nothing more than mindless followers.

"Oh great," groaned Odd, who paused to swallow. "It's the Wicked Witch of Kadic."

"Who?" asked Lan. He did not know this girl, but her presence told him that she was nothing but trouble. In short, he did not like her, especially the way she was looking at Megaman.

"Silly Odd, is that any way to talk to your old friend Sissi?"

"Old friend? That's new," said Ulrich. "Usually you call me your sweetheart or something."

"Oh, details, details," the pink-clad diva replied. She leaned on the table and glanced suggestively at Megaman. "So where's your little pal Jeremie? And who're your new friends?"

"Einstein is in his room," said Odd. "He's working on…a science report! Yeah, a science report…on…the laws of gravity!"

Sissi raised an eyebrow in suspicion. Odd knew it was not the best excuse, but stating the obvious—that Jeremie was doing Lyoko-related work—was out of the question.

"This is Lan and Hub," said Aelita. "They're the new transfer students from America."

"Really?" asked Sissi, gazing full-on into Megaman's eyes. "So tell me, Hub, what's America like?"

The gulp Megaman made as he swallowed his juice could not have been any louder. He exchanged a brief worried glance with Lan. Megaman suppressed a cough and cleared his throat. "It's, um…very different from France. Very different indeed. It may take me and Lan a while to adjust to our new situation."

"Fascinating. Hey Hub, how would you like a tour of the school? Just you and me?"

"Hub? Alone with you?" asked Lan. "I think he'd rather get attacked by a virus—I mean…I think he'd rather get a virus than listen to you blabber on about makeup and hairstyles!"

Sissi's jaw almost hit the floor. It was only this kid's first day at Kadic, and he was already brainwashed by Ulrich's little clique to hate her? Worse yet: what if they got to Hub too? She would not have it.

"I'm sorry, Sissi," said Megaman, "But I'd really like to finish my lunch. Maybe later?"

Sissi grabbed Megaman's arm, startling the boy, and pulled him up from his seat. "I don't care what anyone says, he's going with me now!"

"Hey, let my brother go!" Lan yelled.

"He said he didn't want to, Sissi!" Yumi added.

"Stay out of this, Yumi! I'm not letting you steal this one away from me!"

Before anyone could say another word, there was the loud sound of an explosion. All heads in the room turned to the end of the cafeteria, where a hole had been blown through the wall. Standing in the exact same spot as the wall was what appeared to be a humanoid robot.

What caught Lan and Megaman's attention was the robot's arm cannon and overall familiar Navi-like design. What caught the Lyoko warriors' attention was the XANA symbol on the robot's suit.

Hey there, readers, long time no see. ^^; For those of you wondering where I disappeared to or what would happen to this story, let me explain. I took a break from writing fan fiction so that I could focus on my original ideas, which really needed my attention and are still in development. But after getting into Homestuck, hearing news about Code: LYOKO getting a 5th season, and having a sudden re-interest in the MMBN series, I came back to this story, fixed up chapter 1, and got to work on chapters 2 and 3. I have the basic plot for Code: HIKARI laid out, but it's still in development. Also, don't expect me to follow a strict update schedule OR ask me when the story will be updated. (The latter bothers me quite a lot.) When I have the time and inspiration, I will get back to work. But don't worry; chapter 3 is halfway done as we speak. I'm also working on a cover for the story, which will hopefully be done by the time chapter 3 is!

Please leave a review and/or constructive criticism. Thank you. :3