You know, after replaying Megaman Battle Network 3 after so many years, I was struck by how similar its universe is to Big Hero 6’s. Everything is highly advanced, even if BH6’s goes more into robotics while BN’s is more focused on networks and extremely advanced AI. (Fun fact: this is actually a very big plot point in Battle Network’s lore.)
So…you know where I’m going with this, right? A Battle Network/Big Hero 6 crossover-slash-fusion-slash-AU.
For those who haven’t played or seen the Battle Network games (go look them up on youtube, or even better, play them! They’re great fun), technology has evolved to the point where pretty much any kind of electronic can be connected to a network or even the internet. To help facilitate the large flow of data, as well as to delete troublesome viruses that have also evolved on the global-spanning network, advanced AI programs known as Net Navis were developed. Made with a state of the art emotional simulation program, Navis are just a touch shy of being human themselves. Not only can they battle, but they also serve as companions to their Operators, the humans living in the real world.
Of course, there are those that use Navis for evil. Crime syndicates and Net Mafias have risen up alongside the rise of cybercrime. Of these, the World-3 Syndicate (WWW for short) is easily the most dangerous terrorist group of all, although they have been foiled time and again by Lan Hikari and Megaman.exe.
In this universe, the City of San Fransokyo is well known for being a birthplace of many technological advances, and is widely regarded as a haven for innovation amongst many scientists and researchers. SFIT in particular is respected for churning out highly successful engineers thanks to its rigorous curriculum.
In this city are two particular people.
Tadashi Hamada is an aspiring robotic engineer under the tutelage of the respected Robert Callaghan. For the last year or so, he’s been working on making a special kind of robot that can load a Navi’s core program, allowing them to effectively be in the real world with a pre-built robotic body. More specifically, he’s aiming to create a nursebot that can help its patients with the speed and efficiency of a Navi.
He even has a working Navi for this purpose: Baymax.exe.
(Okay, so maybe the AI was a little crude. High level programming was simply beyond him, and even Callaghan admitted it wasn’t his forte.)
Of course, if Hiro ever caught a glimpse of Baymax, he would instantly be offended. Not because he would think the the Navi looked like a giant marshmallow or something, but because he wasn’t a battle Navi.
Hiro Hamada, Tadashi’s brother, was all into Netbattling. Being the genius he is, he designs his own custom Navi frames, always tweaking this or that to maximize battle efficiency. His battle chip collection – well, his and Tadashi’s – grew monthly, although many rare chips continued to elude him. That was no worry, however! Hiro won lots of money from the underground Netbattling ring.
Well, when he wasn’t being chased out of them for alleged swindling and cheating at least. As great as Hiro’s Navi building skills were, he wasn’t very proficient with AI coding. Needing to manually operate his Navi like a robot is seen as an insult by other netbattlers, and he has to run for his life whenever he’s busted.
Tadashi hates that and hates having to bail his little brother out. He never really understood Netbattling or the thrill of it, yet Hiro can’t seem to get enough. He really needs to get his younger brother to focus on something else, something that can really benefit him…
He turns his attention to SFIT, where not only can Hiro meet several of his idols, but he can possibly learn more about programming his own Navi, something he jumps up at. He’ll finally be able to make a Navi that can’t lose, and – dare he think it – defeat those two Netbattling prodigies, Lan Hikari and Eugene Chaud.
But as he and Tadashi get to work on his admission to SFIT, not to mention making improvements to Baymax (“Ugh, seriously Tadashi? Only you would think a giant marshmallow is a great idea for a Navi.”), they’re unaware of the storm clouds gathering around them.
Robert Callaghan might be a highly respected engineer, but in the shadows, he’s the Cyberterroist Yokai. With a vendetta against Krei Corp., he seeks to cause its downfall, no matter how many people have to die. He will use everything he learned from his colleague, Dr. Albert Wily, and even steal things from his students…even Tadashi’s prototype android.
(That’s the general overview at least. I have more ideas, but those will have to be posted another time. General timeline of events would be like this:
SFIT’s labs are torched and many projects are stolen. Tadashi is injured trying to rescue someone and is incapacitated for some time.
Hiro takes Baymax.exe and modifies his frame to something more battle-worthy. To his surprise, Baymax has an actual working AI, as basic as it is. Despite that, Baymax has no idea on how to netbattle – it goes against his programming, after all – so Hiro has to walk him through it as they pursue the ones who hurt his brother.
Tadashi’s friends eventually join up with Hiro, at first to make sure he doesn’t get into too much trouble. That goes out the window once they encounter WWW Operators raising hell around the city, and soon enough, they’re forming a secret team of heroes to fight back.
Hiro and Baymax eventually meet Lan and Chaud, who are both investigating the rumors of WWW. He challenges both of them to a Netbattle and gets curbstomped instantly by Megaman and Protoman. Chaud takes the time to arrest Hiro since he suspects he knows more than he should.
Tadashi eventually wakes up, finds out what’s going on and that Hiro is in the middle of it, flips his shit, and takes off to go help. He mysteriously acquires a fully custom Navi named Sunfire.exe, but he doesn’t know who left it by his bedside…
And that’s it for the time being. Just general shenanigans, and Tadashi doesn’t die (again). Although it’ll be quite the shock when he catches up to Hiro and finds out that he’s not quite as good at Operating as he thought he’d be, lol.)
I’m fully aware this might not mesh well or make any sense. But it’s a fun idea.
(OMFG LET ME LOVE YOU, I was SO FREAKING INTO MEGAMAN way back when, and you just brought back all this happy nostalgia. Thank you, you wonderful creature
As for this mashup, damn, it works even better than I realized. I mean, just picture the nerd’s Navi’s. After all, their supersuits in the movies already could pass as Net Navi designs (well, other than Fred but maybe he paid someone to make him a really unique custom-designed Navi. That breathes fire), so they’re all set. And AAAAAH YES CROSSOVER FIGHTS, I dig it! Also yay for Tadashi lives!
Damn, this AU is awesome!)
