This is a teaser for Virus. I wrote this a while ago, but never got around to posting it. I did edit some unneeded stuff out as I was typing it. I have mixed feelings about this between this is a great idea and this being badly written. It's been a while since I played any of the Mega Man games, so there will probably be OoC-ness.

A bright light flooded Ace's vision. He was thrown backwards and slammed into a rough surface. He blacked out the combination of pain and having gone past his time limit for EM Wave change (for the second time in three days). He slowly woke, the blurred blobs in his vision clearing into individual objects and dull colors. Piles of junk and disfigured metal laid around him, the particular pile he had landed against felt as if it had broken glass.

"What hurts?" Acid's voice came from a short distance away, crackled, fading in and out. He must have been nearly destroyed. At least if he had serious damage he could put himself back together…

"I can't tell what doesn't. Being passed out is nice. It doesn't hurt." He stared at his right leg. Was it supposed to be at that angle? His left arm hurt a lot, too, and… that didn't look good. His clothes had a lot of rips in them. …When he got back Dr. Goodall was going to give him a long lecture… again…

"Don't touch your head," Acid said, floating over. His body was mostly disfigured.

Ace stared at him blankly, stopping mid action, "But why…?" His voice came out in a whine.

"It would be better if you didn't."

Ace lowered his hand and took a long moment to finally start reaching for his Hunter-VG. He frowned when he didn't feel it.

"I'll find it later," Acid said, "It was badly damaged in the explosion."

Explosion? Right. Dread Joker. Wait… "Shouldn't we be kind of dead?"

"He pushed us back at the last second. Unfortunately it wasn't soon enough to avoid injuries." He looked back at where they had been thrown from, "What I don't understand is why."

Ace tried to respond but all of the words he wanted to say jumbled together and didn't make sense. His vision began to fade. He just wanted to sleep… This possibly being the last time…

Everything was so dark…and cold… This couldn't be death. From what he had heard death was supposed to be more fun than this. So… where was he? The only way to find out was to walk. ...Walking didn't help. Everything still looked the same. Thick white fog began rolling in, swirling into shapes that lived for mere seconds before disappearing. Tiny shrill voices chattered, the only way they sounded like words was if he didn't focus on them. They almost sounded like they were saying "turn back", "danger", and "get away". The voices grew louder and sounded more panicked as he kept going.

It became harder to walk as the fog continued to thicken. One of the voices shrieked, causing Ace to freeze. Maybe he should listen to them…. He tried to turn but he stepped forward instead, and continued with jerked steps. No, he had to go backwards, not forwards! Why weren't his legs listening to him?! The voices let out a loud scream and then went silent.

"Ace…"

That couldn't be… Ace glanced around. He couldn't be here.

"Ace."

Where was Acid?! Ace looked around for the EM Wave. "Acid! Your evil twin is out to get me!" What felt like chains constricted around his ankles, making him trip. He slowly got up and jumped back when a black and purple version of Acid hovered before him.

"Soon, Ace… soon." Dark Acid reached out a clawed paw towards him. "Join me."

Ace backed away. His gaze flickered to the fog that swirled next to Dark Acid, shaping into a human figure. The figure few more features. Ace's eyes widened as he recognized who it was: himself.

Ace stumbled back. His look-alike turned his head to one side, "Are you surprised you joined your true partner?"

"I wouldn't side with Dark Acid!" This brought a new meaning to talking to yourself.

"Of course you will." His look alike vanished and reappeared behind him, his voice low, "Because he's a part of you." He twisted Ace's arm behind his back, forcing him to his knees. "Give in. It will be easier."

"No," Ace looked at him, "I'll help him fight the Noise. I'm not you."

His look-alike shook his head, "Fool. You don't get it, do you?" He disappeared again. Thick black restraints twisted around Ace, keeping him from moving. The fog before him twisted into a few shape, one that looked almost like AcidAce, only with darker colors.

"I am you." He attacked with his sword.

"Ace… Ace… ACE!"

Ace jerked awake, breathing rapidly. Muted-colored walls were around him. A window framed with dull yellow curtains let light in. He was in the hospital… again? A small hand lightly touched his.

"Ace, are you all right?" Tia watched him.

Ace blinked at her, "Am I dead?"

She relaxed, smiling softly, "No, you're not. You were having a bad dream."

"Oh," he stared up at the ceiling, "…I barely remember a dream that I woke up in a hospital room like this one and you kissed me."

"That was about five minutes ago. You passed out. Acid said you weren't ready for it." She looked over at the EM Wave, who hovered nearby and nodded.

"Huh…." He looked back at Tia, "Can you kiss me again?"

"I don't want you to faint again."

"But I just had a bad dream! I need comfort!" He sat up too fast, got lightheaded, and laid back.

Tia pulled the blanket back over him and hesitated, "That bruise wasn't there before…"

"What?" Ace lifted his arm. The bruise looked as if someone had gripped him there. Hard. It was the exact same place where his look-alike had grabbed him… "…Really bad dream…"

"Do you remember what it was about?"

"I…" he frowned, "Don't know…" he looked back at her, "It was scary!"

"Really."

Acid floated over, "He isn't lying. His heart rate and blood pressure are a little high."

"I'm okay, though," Ace said. "Mostly."

Tia turned to him, studying him, "I can only stay for a little longer. Jack is waiting for me."

"Will you come back later?"

"Tomorrow, if I can. Dr. Goodall is going to come later. She isn't going to punish you, so you don't have to worry about that." Ace relaxed. "You're going to have to stay here until you fully recover, and she said that's enough of a punishment."

Ace and Acid stared at her, "What?"

"She mentioned the EM Wave bus."

"Oh, that," Ace said, "Yeah, that really hurt."

Acid floated over to Tia, "She is bringing a replacement Hunter-VG, right?"

Tia petted his head, "I'm not sure, why?"

"You know what Ace is like when he's bored and has only one person to complain to." He glared at Ace.

"I'll visit when I can."

Acid relaxed and thanked her.

Ace carefully sat up, "Tia… Dealer's base blocks most EM Waves and my Hunter-VG broke. How did anyone find us?"

"Well…" she looked away, "Dr. Goodall said Quiz saved you…"

"…Quiz?"

She nodded, "He kept you and Acid in a 'different' Noise Wave for a few days until the excitement over Meteor G was over."

Acid nodded, "As a warning, he's even more annoying than you are when you're bored. If he asks you a word in the form of a question, don't repeat it."

"Okay… Why?"

"Well…"

A red form appeared in front of Ace. It looked like it was made out of static and wore green sunglasses. "'Sup?"

Ace blinked, "A Noise form?"

Tia nodded and stretched out the sides of the Noise form, making it mostly flat. It appeared to enjoy it, though.

"Dr. Goodall said she's going to turn him into a Wizard later on. Quiz has been entertaining everyone at WAZA."

Quiz bounced. "'Sup!"

"Is that all he says?"

Acid stared at him, "No."

Quiz floated in front of Ace, "'Sup?"

"…'Sup?"

Acid face-palmed.

"'Sup! Noise Quiz!"

"Wait, what?"

Ace was (finally!) released from the hospital several months later when he was fully healed and someone could come and take him back to Satella Headquarters. He sat on a bench, feeding pigeons while he waited. The pigeons didn't seem to care about Acid's presence and only flew up and over him whenever he passed. They continued to peck at the offered food.

"Listen to the doctors and take it easy for a while," Acid said.

"Why? I wasn't that annoying, was I?" Ace jerked his foot backward when one of the pigeons pecked at it.

"Yes you were." Acid's attention turned to a car pulling up that belonged to one of the Satella Police, Robert Copper.

Ace stood up, "There was nothing else to do."

"Except talk to Dr. Goodall, Tia, visitors, and complain to me every five minutes." Acid returned to Ace's now-repaired Hunter-VG. Ace got into the front passenger seat of the car. "Hey, Bob, what's up?"

"Not much. Dr. Goodall wants to check you in the lab before you start battling viruses again." He focused on the road ahead of him.

"As long as I get to do something fun that's okay. I feel fine." He glanced at the passenger side rear-view mirror and saw Dark Acid's reflection, causing him to let out a short scream. The car screeched to a halt and Bob stared at him, wide-eyed.

"What?!"

"I—" the reflection was gone. "I should be checked. I just saw something."

Bob breathed out slowly. "Good to know."

"Bob…"

"What?"

"Want a Mega Snack?"

An hour or so later they arrived at Satella Headquarters. Acid came back and looked up at Ace. "Proceed with caution. The girls may mob you upon entering."

"Don't they always?"

"You were thought dead for three days and you were gone for almost four months."

Ace nodded. "True." He turned to Bob. "You go first. The girls will be happy you're the one that brought me back."

Bob folded his arms, eyes narrowed, "Do I look stupid?"

"It was just a suggestion…" Ace entered the building first and, as Acid predicted, many of the girls mobbed him, hugging him and asking too many questions for him to keep up with. Eventually, one-by-one, they went back to their desks, each saying they left some candy for Ace on his desk. The rest of the Satella Police just nodded in greeting, saying they were glad he was back.

Dr. Goodall walked up to him, "We need to make sure you and Acidina are perfectly healthy, Arthur."

Ace sighed, walking towards the elevator, "Okay… I can wait for a while…"

Acid floated at his side, "Don't complain. If something goes wrong you could end up in the hospital again."

Ace straightened, smiling. Before he could press the Down button alarms rang out and red lights flashed. A voice came over the loud speakers, "We're being attacked by rogue EM Waves!"

Ace ran towards the doors.

"Arthur!"

"Scanning us will take too long! If we wait everyone will be put in danger!" When he got outside he immediately Pulsed In, becoming AcidAce. It had been so long since he'd last done this and it felt a little different than he remembered, like the slight pulsating and tingles. His Hunter-VG beeped in warning of a powerful enemy nearby. Multiple viruses of various kinds were around, attacking the building. This was going to be fun.

Inside, the main computer began detecting a new threat.

"Where is it coming from?" Dr. Goodall asked.

"It's coming from…" the officer hesitated, face paling, "From Ace."

All of the girls present looked up, glaring at him. "He is not an enemy!"

The beeping abruptly stopped. Dr. Goodall left to greet Ace.

Ace walked back inside, "That wasn't fun…" As he got to the elevator it opened. Dr. Goodall greeted him, something in her expression was off. "Is something wrong?"

"When you Pulsed In the computer detected a foreign EM Wave," she said.

"It left before I could find it." He smiled widely. "Everything is just fine!"

"No, Arthur, it's not. Come on." They went down to the lab.

Acid floated into a room with one open wall, the other three lighting up as he patiently waited while he was scanned. Ace was hooked up to several machines, each with a purpose he couldn't remember.

"Are you feeling fine?" Dr. Goodall asked, studying a computer screen. Detailed information of Ace and Acid's health scrolled up it.

"Yeah, I just need more of a challenge." He wanted to add he felt like those times whenever he had gone past the time limit. But he didn't want to worry her.

Dr. Goodall frowned at the screen and began turning off the machinery. Ace watched her as she removed the wires.

"Is something wrong?"

"I may have misread the information. It looked like something was slightly off, so you'll need to stay here for observation over the next few days."

"That's fine." He got up and followed her, joined by Acid, who also apparently had something off. They came to a room he'd never seen before, despite how long he'd been at Satella. Inside were a bed, chair, and a small table.

"You'll be staying here."

He gaped at her, "What?! I just got out of the hospital two hours ago!"

She didn't look at him, "It's only a precaution. Acidina will keep you company."

"Fine." Ace sulked over to the bed, sat down, arms folded, and put on his best pout-face.

"I'll bring some Mega Snacks later. Is there anything else you would like me to bring?"

"One of the laptops. If I'm going to stay here I might as well play… uh… upgrade my Hunter-VG."

"Of course. I'll be back in an hour." She closed the door behind her.

Ace waited a few minutes. He smiled and walked over to the door, only to find it was locked from the other side. "We can still EM Wave Change."

"The walls contain metal that prevents it," Acid said.

Ace walked over to the bed and flopped down. "Now what?"

"Wait until she comes back so you can play those online games you've become addicted to." Ace frowned at him. "We couldn't EM Wave Change even if we wanted to. It would take too long to get out of here. You're not used to it anymore."

Ace pressed his face into the pillow. "It's better than being stuck in here."

"Ace…"

"What?" Ace turned to glare at him.

"It's only to keep everyone safe in case something happened."

"Like what? You losing control again?" His face softened. "Sorry, I…"

Acid nodded, "Understandable. Do you think I'm happy about this? I have to stay here while you're bored."

Ace smiled softly and turned back to the pillow. One word echoed in his mind: Soon.

Ace woke from an uneasy sleep, exhausted despite having slept for over ten hours. Acid dropped a small bag on his face. "I was told to give those to you when you woke up."

Ace slowly sat up, feeling sore, like that time when Acid had gone out of control from Noise and took him over. He opened the bag, finding Mega Snacks inside.

Acid turned his head to one side. "Ace, why do you have bruises?"

Ace had a Mega Snack half-hanging out of his mouth when he looked up, frowning in confusion. "Mm?" He examined his arm. The bruises looked a lot like gripped hands, just like the one from yesterday…

"Dr. Goodall said she would visit later." Acid didn't seem that concerned anymore. It was almost like he didn't care anymore…

Ace looked up, "Should we ask about this?"

"If you want to." He looked over at the door as someone knocked, "Come in."

Dr. Goodall opened the door and smiled. "Arthur, you have a visitor." She stepped aside to let Geo and Mega in.

The EM Wave beings nodded in greeting.

"Acidina."

"Meggers."

Dr. Goodall smiled. "You're finally getting along. If you need anything let me know." She left.

Acid and Mega disappeared into the Hunter-VGs. The devices began to vibrate.

Geo still looked surprised, "You're supposed to be dead."

"We think Joker pushed us back before the explosion. My Hunter was almost destroyed and got separated from me. That's why it sent you the Battle Chip."

"Yeah… I thought it was strange when our BrotherBand didn't break." He looked at the holographic screen of the device. "Dr. Goodal said we could go outside if you wanted to get out."

"Can we spar? There's nothing else to do."

"Except play online games." Acid's voice came from Ace's Hunter-VG.

"Aren't you supposed to be resting?" Geo asked.

"It would be for just a little while," Ace said.

Geo still looked unsure. "Okay…"

Several minutes later they used an EM Wave Road to get to an area away from Satella Headquarters.

Geo looked at the rocky cliff faces around them, "Ace, why here?"

AcidAce shrugged. "It looks like a good place."

Geo and Mega exchanged glances. Mega spoke in a low voice, "He's acting a bi funny. I'm getting a weird feeling from him."

Geo was about to respond when a burst of water knocked him back.

Mega glared at AcidAce. "We weren't ready!"

"We don't have that much time." He couldn't keep still, constantly shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

"Then give us a chance to attack back or at least defend!"

Geo barely managed to use a Sword battle chip when a shockwave threw him back. He used a Bubble chip to soften his landing. "Why don't we practice dodging attacks to warm up?"

"For a few minutes, yeah!" He still moved around constantly. He attacked with a jet of flame. Geo countered with another Bubble chip, canceling out the attempt and trapping AcidAce. The bubble popped and AcidAce burst forward. Geo leaped out of the way and used his shield to protect him against a blow from AcidAce's sword. AcidAce backed away, waiting for Geo's next move.

"Attack him. You've played around long enough."

AcidAce used another DynaWave chip, getting Geo to dodge and then rushed at him, knocking him into a cliff wall. He used a Sword chip, stopping the attack just before he would have attacked Geo, Acid shouting for him to stop.

Mega glared at AcidAce. "You call that sparring?! You almost attacked him!"

"I didn't," AcidAce said, withdrawing his sword, "It's fine."

Mega narrowed his eyes, "I don't call that 'fine'."

"Mega, it's all right," Geo said, getting up. "Ace, you only have a few minutes left. Let's go before-"

Ace Pulsed out, catching himself before he face-planted into the ground. "I'm never this tired… Acid?"

"…I don't know what happened. You've just gone past what you can handle."

"What?" He slowly stood up and sat back down. "The world is spinning."

"Ace, you're out of breath," Geo said, "We should have never come out here!"

"It's okay. We just need to get back before Dr. Goodall finds out what we did." He smiled, "It'll be fine!"

It took longer to get back on foot. Everyone was waiting around the lobby,

Ace turned to Geo, "Pretend you were just showing me how you defeated Mr. King. Dr. Goodall won't know what happened."

Geo stared, eyes wide.

"She's right behind me, isn't she?" Ace turned, smiling innocently, "Hello…"

"Arthur. Christopher. Eos." Everyone present cringed at each word. "You are grounded until further notice."

Ace took a step back, "I just wanted to get out…"

"It was my idea," Geo said, "I thought he'd like to see some of my new strategies and then he got excited about battling…"

Ace nodded in agreement. "It was the sugar from the candy making the decisions, not me."

Dr. Goodall still didn't look too happy. "Ace, you know better."

"Nothing bad happened, really!" He looked back at Mega, pleading.

Mega frowned at him and came forward, "I got overexcited, too, and made Geo put himself in danger. Ace saved him and knocked some sense into me."

Dr. Goodall turned to Ace, "Tomorrow morning you will need to be checked again. This time you can EM Wave Change." She turned to Geo, "As long as you agree to help. You can stay overnight."

Geo nodded, "I'll go back home and get a few things."

As Geo left Ace went back to his room. When he got there the world pitched and he collapsed against the doorframe, his vision continually went in and out of focus for what felt like a long time.

Acid nudged him, "Ace?"

Ace's vision slowly returned to normal, "Acid…?" He pressed a hand against his head, "What just happened?"

"You're exhausted. Get some sleep."

Ace nodded. He laid on the bed and closed his eyes. Just as he lost consciousness he heard a voice similar to Acid's. "Soon…soon…"

I'd like to start planning and writing the rest of the story, but I need a better villain than the one I have right now. So far it's an OC that will be appearing in a shorter story that I'll hopefully be posting soon.

I don't know if I should be using him, or one of the human villains from the series. If I can find a good human villain, s/he will be taking the place of the OC in the shorter story.

If you have any ideas for the villain, or for the story, I'd like to know. The villain can be from any of the Starforce games or from the Battle Network games, or any anime-exclusive characters.