I do realize that this is a bit late in coming, but it's only been just now that I've had time enough to finally write all this down.
To inform many who do not know, I recently received a flame from one of my readers, one without an account on this site, and who left a flame signed 'I Don't Have Account'.
To my dear reader, 'I Don't Have Account': Thank you for reading my story, and I hope that you have enjoyed it so far. The conclusion is coming up. But I won't talk about that, since that wasn't the focus of your flame.
1. You called my 'fluff-outlets' annoying. Here's one hint for you. DON'T READ THEM!!! I do put warnings on both the summary AND in my account, so take a hint from there. You don't have to read them if you know that you're going to get annoyed.
2. You complained that April was becoming a Mary-Sue. You're right, she is becoming a little too perfect, but you know what? Those OneShots are one little point in her life. You are not me, and you don't have my brain, or my thoughts. As such, you have no idea what crap April has had to go through to get to where she is at the moment. And also, most characters in ALMOST EVERY SINGLE ANIME OR MANGA have something that they're totally better at than everyone else. April's just happens to be programming. LOOK AT WHO HER FAMILY IS, FOR CRYIN' OUT LOUD!!!!!
3. You complained that Chaud was getting too OOC for your liking. It's called freakin' FANFICTION for a reason!!!!! My story, my plotline, and my control over the characters that I put in!!!!!
4. You complained that my Author's Notes were too long. Deal with it. You don't have to read them if you don't want to! If you want to read the 'Next time' bit, then just SKIM the text. Didn't they teach you that in school?
5. Why don't you try this: write your own fanfic, and you'll see what it's like when you have someone take what you've worked so hard on, and watch them rip it to SHREADS!!!!! It's somewhat stressful… Also, leave reviews so that I can try to improve my writing. That's one of the reasons I write in the first place.
And finally, dear reader, I wrote this especially for you. None of the characters are OOC, the situation could possibly happen if the series wasn't over, and something you'd probably like a lot: April is not in this.
Enjoy, and I hope you understand the symbolism between you, me, and the characters.
PS. I don't know if you read my cousin's rant for you and your happy little flame, I'll paste it at the end of this.
PPS. Thanks for reading. I really mean it. And I'm flattered that you would print out my story. Thanks. That really does mean a lot. I'm sorry that my little fluffs annoy you so.
Death of the Silent One
By: Pharaohs Queen
Outside, it was dark.
The UnderNet was even darker still, save for the few flashes of explosions that came from one corner.
A swarm of viruses floated around one spot. Several at a time would rush in towards the center, there would be a brief flash of red light, and the viruses would become nothing but cyber dust.
A Navi with red coloring, white hair, and a helmet shading his eyes was standing in the middle of the virus swarm. Instead of a right hand, a red glowing cyber sword was humming softly; one swing, and groups of viruses were deleted. But by the nonchalant way he swung his sword, one could almost say that he was bored.
"Viruses are much stronger this far into the Net," he said out loud, his arm twitching as three more viruses exploded. "And that's just the way I like it."
'But we've been in this area for over a week.' A voice in his head complained. 'Chaud, isn't there somewhere else we could probably be challenged?'
He leapt out of the virus group, landing far away.
"There probably is, Protoman, but as to being challenged… I can only think of two people, and one of them is no longer battling. As to the other…" The end of his sentence trailed off as Chaud remembered the last time they had seen him.
'You mean Bass.'
They stopped running as a feeling of dread washed over the shared cyber body. They looked up at a figure standing above them in the air, the edges of his cape flapping and snapping, and his red eyes glaring down at them.
"What do you want with me?" He whispered, as if in response to Chaud and Protoman's earlier wishes.
Chaud and Protoman smirked. "We were looking for a challenge." A white sphere of light enveloped them, and when it had faded away, a long, gleaming sword rested in their hands. "Muramasa style!" They yelled, then activated Protoman's Mach speeds, and ended up standing behind Bass.
"Provide us with one."
Bass chuckled lowly as the sword glanced harmlessly off his Aura shield. "I may be a challenge for you… but you're nowhere near my level."
Chaud grimaced and swung again; Bass stepped to the side and avoided it easily. "And you're nowhere near his level."
Chaud's eye twitched; he charged once again, his blows faster and more furious than before. Bass stood there, smirking as his Aura shield was weakened with every blow. You fool. He thought. You don't even realize… blinded with your anger… you can't see what's going to happen… You don't see it… but I foresee your death…
There was an earth shattering crash as the shield shattered and Chaud yelled triumphantly.
"I am above his level, Bass! And I am above yours!" They thrust with Muramasa, and felt a touch of satisfaction at the squelching sound it made. Bass gasped, then coughed, spraying the front of his cloak with blood.
"You're done, Bass." Chaud said, pulling on Muramasa, only to be stopped. He looked up, startled.
Bass had grabbed straight onto the blade with his left hand, stopping Chaud from drawing it out of his body. His right hand was held out to the side, purple lines and sparks danced from his fingertips.
Chaud eyes widened. No…
Bass whispered three words before putting his hand with the sparks on the blade. "Get-Ability Program."
There was a flash of white light, laced with a dark purple. Chaud leapt back, arms covering his eyes. The light disappeared, and he heard a clatter as Muramasa fell to the ground at his feet.
"You were never at my level, gnat."
Chaud looked up, his eyes seeing this sight, but his mind not wanting to believe.
Bass' cloak had been changed into a cape, and fragments of cloth were belted around his forearms and shins. At his left side dangled a sheath, the hilt that was sticking out was black, with red stains that looked like blood.
Chaud gasped. "Bass… he's become…"
"Muramasa style…" Protoman finished. "Chaud, it's time for us to leave. He will not hesitate to kill us."
Chaud shook his head, his eyes always staying connected to Bass's glare. "I've accepted his challenge. I can't… won't back down now."
Chaud picked up Muramasa again, as Bass drew his own. He could feel his breath catch in his throat as the black blade came out of the sheath.
It's black… just like his soul… Chaud thought.
They stood staring at each other for a moment, swords raised. A stiff cyber breeze ruffled their capes; it suddenly stopped, and they each leapt at the other, screaming as they flew.
Clang! The swords clashed for only a moment before the backed off and charged again. Sweat began to bead down Chaud's face, but he was grinning as he dodged, parried, and slashed. Bass was bearing his teeth.
With a final triumphant cry, Chaud slashed one last time. He fell forwards into the space the Bass had occupied. His eyes widened as he felt the evil presence behind him, a moment before he heard the slight swish of the black Muramasa and the bite of the sword as it entered into his stomach.
Chaud winced, and coughed, a great puddle of blood spilling onto the floor in front of him.
Bass twisted the blade, a sadistic smile spreading over his face as Chaud gasped, and yelled as he pulled out the blade.
Chaud collapsed on his side, the sword falling from his limp fingers, blood pouring out of his wound and from his mouth. "Ngh…"
Bass stood over him and watched as Chaud's outline became fuzzy, and he split into two separate beings, both badly torn up, and bleeding.
"Protoman…" the human gasped.
"Chaud…" the Navi replied.
They reached out their hands, wanting to grab hold one last time when Bass snarled. "You make me sick!" He leaned forward on his sword, landing squarely in Protoman's chest. He screamed.
"Protoman!!" Chaud yelled, coughing up more blood. His Navi turned and looked at him.
"Good-bye… Chaud…"
"No!!! PROTOMAN!!!"
Bass laughed, and backed away as Protoman broke up into little blue cubes. A voice unemotionally declared: "Protoman: deleted." The last time Chaud had heard that voice was when Megaman had been deleted during the fight with the Life Virus.
Bass pulled his sword out of the ground and turned to Chaud, who looked up defiantly at him.
"You should have never challenged me." Bass whispered. "But now… it's too late. Die gnat!" He brought the sword down. There was a slight thunk as the sword was embedded in the ground, and Chaud disappeared from the cyber realm.
Bass was left standing alone. He pulled out the black Muramasa, sheathed it, and stood staring at the bloodstains on the ground and on his hands. He threw back his head and laughed.
---
Back in Blaze manor, Chaud had been sitting at a desk, where he and Protoman had connected to the 'Net.
On the desk lay the red PET; on the screen, the word 'Deleted' was flashing gently. Chaud lay on the desk, his head turned towards the PET, his eyes empty and staring, a trickle of blood dripped from the corner of his mouth.
All around them echoed the sound of Bass's maniacal laughter, rebounding off the walls, mocking the body and the empty PET.
Morbid, yes. But I needed to write this.
Here's my cousins rant, btw…
"This little message goes out to the person who flamed my cousin's Story (Signed themselves as "I Don't Have Account")...if you have a bone to pick...get an actual account to do it...when you leave anonymous reviews doing it...ONE-You look stupid coward, TWO-You look like a jerk! Flaming in general, will make you look like a stupid jerk...but when you do it anonymously, you look like a coward as well. By the way...Kaori for obvious reasons, WILL NOT OUTSHINE CANON CHARACTERS...Don't tell my cousin to tell me that...you get the GAUL to tell me in a review of my story all your own, the fact that you asked is so stupid. My cousin's story is great, and I'm not saying that because I'm family (even if I'm the only review in her Christmas story...IT STILL COUNTS!!!) She has a good plot, great details, and overall a decent OC...you know nothing! (I told her a couple of times how certain parts made Chaud kind of OOC...but only a few parts.) LIKE HOW WOULD YOU KNOW HOW CHAUD WOULD ACT IF HE FELL IN LOVE AND GOT MARRIED!!! THAT NEVER HAPPENED IN THE SERIES SO YOU WOULDN'T KNOW!!! Also...WHY IN THE HECK WOULD YOU EVEN THINK SHE WOULD PUT LEMON/LIMES IN HER STORY LATER ON!!! SHE'S NOT LIKE THAT, EVEN IF SHE HAD IT IN THERE SHE WOULD WARN YOU FIRST, & TRY GIVING ACTUALLY ADVICE INSTEAD OF FLAMING! If you do Flame ANY of my stories...not only will your comments be ignored, but they will be deleted (or reported if you decide to get a account) I will not stand for Flaming...EVER! For me, my cousin, or any other talented writer on this cite. Get an account, write your own stories, then find out what it's like to be one of us writers, understand the good comments-from the helpful advice and criticism-to plain rude and annoying flames! Her Fluff-oneshots are not annoying, but annoying little flamers who clearly have no idea what they are talking about (cuz they obviously don't understand what it's like to have ppl critique your personal writing day in and day out)...ppl like that are...ANNOYING! Be smart about what you write, consider ppl's feeling, and don't be a stupid jerk and flame...thank you."
So anyways… I know I'm normally not one to kill off characters, especially one as famazing as Chaud, but this plotline was the first thing that popped into my head as I was staring at the screen. And it just feels good to write something depressing every once in a while…