Ghost: Hey all! Guess who's back! Happy Belated New Year's and Christmas/Holidays. Kinda sad I came up with this idea only the day before New Year's. But it wasn't ready to upload until now. So, I'm bringing Kei and Patch in, and in truth I created this DNE to be more humor than anything else, but please note that this event takes place a year before Soul Awakening. Which means that nothing has hit the fan yet and so everyone is still in a more happy go lucky attitude. Also, you may notice that someone is not as hostile as most remember. Well in truth, after DN4 he went through a character development off screen and DN5 really didn't have much time to show it off, so he gets a chance here to show how he changed. Enjoy!
"And what do you want?" the dark navi asked as a mageneta one continued to stare him down. The navi's eyes glared at him as she seemed to walk around him, inspecting him. If it hadn't been for the cyan navi behind her, who actually seemed to know who she was messing with, then he probably would have blasted the young navi a few moments ago. However, it was less of the fact that there were witnesses and more so that it was painfully obvious who she belonged to...or rather the family. He would rather not have to deal with Megaman or Roll today.
"Uuuuhhhh...Pixel? Do you have any idea who you're glaring at?" Stream asked, completely dumbfounded by his sister's sudden actions. Their parents had sent them on an errand run for them in the Undernet, which had actually become less dangerous over the years as many navis realized that there wouldn't be another crime syndicate in quite some time. Granted, their troubles had started after Pixel drank some of the coffee sold down in the Undernet. Needless to say, she was still burning off some of the effects by the time she just so happened to see the caped navi.
Patch Hikari laughed nervously, remembering some the thing about the navi from his parents. Despite some of the changes the navi had made over the years after helping to save his dad's life, Bass was still known as the Cyber God of Destruction for a reason, "Hey sis, you might want to tell Pixel to keep some personal space from that navi. He gets irritated rather easily."
His younger sister, Kei, rolled her eyes, "Come on Patch. You and I know Bass has mellowed out somewhat. Plus he only fights Uncle Hub and Aunt Roll. He's not going to do anything to Pixel." The nine year old answered smartly. Although being nine only made her an unneeded compliment to Pixel's adventurous behavior. Normally the results of their combined power were...disastrous, explosive, and only 1% life threatening.
Patch glanced back at her, "You know it's that mouth of yours and her abrasiveness that's going to get you two in trouble...and more than likely drag me with you…" The red hair boy sighed as his younger sister laughed. Kei and Pixel had been on a winner's streak in a weekly Netbattle tournament that happened at Higsby's store. Unfortunately, the winning only managed to get into the two's heads causing the two to want to take too many risks at times.
"And that's what makes me the fun one," She smirked smugly, "Come on, Dad and Uncle Hub used to do stuff like this all the time when they were just two years older than me!" She retorted. She was actually sorta hoping that things would escalate a little to the point where she and Pixel could actually try fighting the legendary navi.
"Yeah, but they didn't really have much of a choice. You do." Patch said as he looked at the little girl, annoyed.
Kei merely returned the glare and puffed her cheeks, "Yeah, and I'm making a choice to actually have fun and show why Pixel and I are the best!"
"Getting into random fights with a cyber god isn't fun nor is that a smart idea at all! And you two haven't even competed in an official tournament yet!"
"Says you. Have you tried it? And it's only because they can't take us!"
"That's a funny way of saying you're too young to enter."
"And that's the reason why you're a stick in the mud!"
"No one even says that anymore!"
"I do! And I'm not "no one"; my name is Kei."
"WILL YOU TWO JUST SHUT UP!" Bass barked, tired of hearing the bickering between the two NetOps. Between the two humans and the navi, he was beginning to lose track of who he thought was more annoying at the moment. Really, what had he done to deserve this. Maybe he really should have just swallowed that stupid pride of his and allowed Megaman to die, "And just when I thought there couldn't be anything more irritating than that annoying blue navi. You both are absolutely despicable. I've got have a mind to kill you!" He said as he began to hover above Pixel and Stream.
However, right before the enraged navi could issue another remark, Pixel snapped her fingers, "I've got it!" She said as her sudden outburst caught the attention of everyone.
"What could you have been possible thinking for the past minute?" Stream asked as he took a step back from the aggravated navi. Granted he could understand why he was so upset; he didn't like it when Kei and Patch bickered either, especially in recent days. Seriously, a loss would do those two some good.
The magenta navi smirked and pointed at Bass, "I finally know what he is! He's not a god! He's a shark." She proclaimed proudly as if she had just discovered some kind of answer to a world class mystery.
Bass almost stopped hovering for a moment while Stream wore a look of disbelief. What...she was joking….right? Bass was floored. Normally he would have been insulted, but the way she had said was almost too...somewhere between a mix of innocent and just insane that he really couldn't blast her. Which should have actually enraged him more. Really, damn that blue navi for that Bass Cross. This changes nothing he said when really it was the only thing he had obsessed about for months. Megaman had been about solely using his friends' powers in order to defeat his enemies and then even he had been added to his list. It wasn't something that Bass had taken lightly.
Stream decided that it was probably better off to get an explanation since the navi who had been ready to blast them to seconds ago was now looking just as confused as everyone else, "Uh...what?" Stream asked.
"See when Dad and Mom talked to us about him, I always thought he looked like something else. I mean he's about an inch or two shorter than Mom. And besides, Dad's already beat him like what six...seven times. And then Mom beat him once. So really...doesn't that make him not a god or something...right?" She suddenly put a finger to face, as if she had somehow confused herself with her own explanation.
Stream shook his head and he facepalmed himself, "You're still recovering from that coffee you just had to try down here aren't you?" His sister wasn't this stupid. A little brash at times, but she wasn't this...well, she actually was this annoying to him but then again they were siblings. They were naturally annoying to each other.
"I'm not crazy! He's a fish! Look at his helmet...it's like a shark fin. So, he's a shark! And he's not what Mom and Dad told us he was! They told us he was this cyber god! And he's not! He reminds me of a fish! So he's a shark! A shark I tell you!" Pixel argued back, even waving her hands in the air. Yep, the coffee had pretty much turned her into a Mr. Program.
Patch covered his face with his hand, "This is embarrassing." He turned to give a glare at his younger sister who was trying not to look at him, knowing why she would be receiving such punishment. After all, the whole reason why Pixel was so loopy was indeed his sister's fault.
"Stop staring at me..."
Glare.
"It's not my fault….." Kei said, suddenly finding the pen on the ground of the boy's room to be very interesting. Seriously, why did Patch of all people have to inherit Mom's glare!
Harder glare.
Kei finally gave up and sighed, "Alright, fine! It was my fault! I'm the one who dared Pixel to drink the stupid coffee."
Stream sighed as he looked back up at Bass, "Look, we're sorry about this whole thing. My sister sorta drank like 10 cups of Undernet coffee and is still probably scrambled from it. I thought she was out of it when she stopped talking but I guess she just went hyper aware on us. Sorry for all the trouble."
"Why are you telling the shark we're sorry? I'm not sorry. He is what he is and he's a shark! He's just got to learn to accept that like he should learn to accept that he's Dad's friend. I mean come on, you don't try to kill someone like six times without becoming just a little attached or something. You have a heart! Don't deny your friendship…...hey bro, when did the light's go out…" Pixel's eyes fluttered shut as she soon passed out. Well, at least she had been stopped mid rant before she had actually said anything that would get them into even more trouble.
On that note, Kei silently jacked her navi out and started to walk back to her room. However, she turned to Patch as she reached the door, "Um….don't tell Aunt Roll."
Patch raised an eyebrow as he caught the specificity of her request, "Wait...what about Uncle Hub? Or even Mom or Dad?"
"'Cause Aunt Roll's the scariest. Mom's second scariest. ...Don't tell Mom I said that," Kei quickly looked around the hallway to make sure that the red haired woman wasn't in sight and ran back to her room. Why did something tell her that somehow someway Mom was going to find out both what she just said and what had just happened? Why did parents have magic powers that just told them when kids were up to something? Seriously, someone needed to invent a stealth radar or something like that for kids. Everyone would have one.
The red haired boy sighed and shook his head, "The girls in our family are crazy."
"That may have been the first thing you said that I agree with human," Bass said as he dropped back down from the sky. Seeing as how two out of the three irritating ones were gone, there really wasn't much of a reason to blast the cyan navi. Might as well spare the only one who actually seemed to respect him.
"Well, see ya. I guess. Thanks for not destroying us," Stream said as he jacked out from the network. How in the heck was he going to explain this to Mom without giving away Pixel or Kei? This was going to be difficult.
Bass watched the spot where Stream had left before turning away from the place himself. Things had changed. There was a time when he remembered he would have deleted the two on principle. They were the offspring (yes, word of Roll and Megaman's marriage and kids had even reached the depths of the Undernet) of his biggest rival to date. He should have just gotten rid of them to draw out Megaman. But since the day Megaman had used his power, things were different.
"Well, I'm surprised. This is the first time that you actually have sought me out Megaman. Do you want to be deleted today?" Bass asked as he hovered in front of the blue bomber. He had to admit, he hadn't been expecting this much when he had heard that the Megaman was challenging him to a fight. He had thought it was a ploy until he actually read the challenge that was placed on the Undernet BBS.
Megaman shook his head, "That's not the reason why I called you out here." The blue navi's green eyes looked dead on at Bass's red, "But I do want to make this fight interesting."
Bass raised an eyebrow, "How so?" Megaman was never this way before. Normally the navi would have to corner him into a battle and now he was both challenging him and offering some kind of deal? It was safe to say that Bass wasn't exactly sure about what to make of this.
"One on one battle. Victor is determined when the other is deemed unable to fight. Avoid deletion if possible. If you win, you can delete me and have my copybot. That'll get you a one way ticket to the real world and we'll even include the charger. If I win, you have to do a favor for me." Megaman said plainly as he stated the rules of the battle.
Bass gritted his teeth, "What kind of favor are you talking about, Megaman?" The idea of finally being able to get rid of this navi really was quite enjoyable and plus he would get a step closer to finding a way to erase those humans off the earth.
Megaman sighed, "I'm not allow to say. If you're worried about anything, I promise you that nothing will happen. I'm just fulfilling a request of someone." He said. He knew Lan wasn't a fan of this idea. Nobody was an everyone had tried to talk him out of it, but he wasn't going to allow this to happen. Something needed to be done about Bass and it needed to be done now.
"Where's your NetOp?" Bass glanced around. That human hadn't spoken at all this whole time, an abnormality for it.
"I have him muted. He's only going to do one thing this whole time. If he transfers any chips to me, I won't use them. If he switched me out of any form during the fight, you automatically win." Megaman stated as a purple light shined quickly. As it left, all that remained was his Bass Cross, "And that was it. Do you accept the terms?"
Bass smirked, "I didn't take you for a dirty fighter, Megaman." The blue navi knew that the only thing he had wanted was to test the authenticity of this new form. This fight must have been important to him. Well, if it was one navi he knew he could trust, it was him. His honor in battle had allowed Bass to tell that much Shame he would delete him without any qualms though, "Very well. I agree to your terms. Prepare to die Megaman."
The dark purple navi nodded, "I wouldn't worry about me dying. Then you'd be out of things to do."
"Hell's Rolling!" Megaman yelled as purple wheels ripped from behind him and tried to intercept Bass.
The legendary navi merely ripped past them, "Shadow Blade!" He yelled as a blade of darkness appeared in his hand and he slashed. The navi was surprised as Megaman used the blades on the sides of his wrists in order to block, "So tell me Megaman, why do you seem so eager to fight me?"
Megaman pushed the blade away from him as his hand turned into a buster, "I already told you, I'm helping someone! M-Buster Rake!"
Bass pushed himself back, barely avoiding the fire. He charged a white orb as he stopped, "You're always helping someone! What makes this human any different from the rest of them? Cyber Break!"
Megaman jumped out of the way of the blast. As he regained his footing, he speed forward and starting slashing with his blades, "Well, I guess I'm just going to have to win in order to show you know aren't I?" The God of Destruction had been using his Shadow Blade in order to parry the blows, but at the last moment Megaman reared back a punching which shattered the blade and socked the navi in the face.
Bass backed up, staring unbelieving at the navi, "You're different today. I don't know what's gotten into you, but it won't matter once I'm through with you. I will make sure that today will be your end. You and your blasted need to protect the humans. Looking at you makes my blood boil. You've seen what they do for yourself and yet you wish to fight for them!" He growled as he hovered above the blue navi, "And fight after fight, I still lose to you. I am the ultimate navi! I can't lose to a mere human's toy! Chaos Nightmare!" He roared as he fired a massive purple orb at the navi.
"I guess you never did read my file. Don't know why I thought you would have. You're too proud for that," Megaman mumbled to himself as his eyes seemed to spark a little bright, "Giga Freeze!" He yelled as the Chaos Nightmare stopped in mid motion in the air. Working quickly, the navi jumped into the air. His next leap pushed the orb in an opposite direction. As the time freeze on it end, it blasted the ground with explosive power. Megaman slashed the navi, knocking him out of the air.
As both navis got back up from their falls, the dark purple navi turned to his opponent, "Bass, I know you were betrayed by humans but that isn't any reason to kill them all! You know why I need that cure program? Because I've got a human disease called HBD. It activated again and there was no way to save me without it!"
Bass looked at him bewildered, "That doesn't make any sense. You're a navi! You can't have a human disease unless..." Then it hit him. He hadn't cared when he had grabbed Megaman's files at the time, but after he had began to wonder why their data were so close to each other. However, he remembered now. There had been a another project like him. He was the first solo Net Navi. However, the other half of the project had been devoted to turning a human into a navi. But he had heard that the project had been halted! Then again...he had been chased out of SciLab about a year after his activation.*
Which meant that...Bass's eyes filled with anger, "You're a human."
Megaman nodded, "I am. I am Hub Hikari, my NetOp's brother." He confessed as the navi roared and seemed to charge another Cyber Break.
He had been fighting a human. He had been defeated by a human. This wasn't possible. His rival had been a human! The very same thing he had sought to wipe off the face of the planet, he had saved! The navi was well beyond livid. He was going to destroy him. The he would destroy SciLab and that stupid Hikari family for embarrassing him for all this time. And then he'd also get rid of that pink navi just for the heck of it, "It's time for your deletion! CYBER BREAK!" He yelled as he fired his above normal sized orb at Megaman.
To his surprise, Megaman took the blast head on. Not that he could avoid it if he wanted to. The Giga Freeze attack had burned him out almost completely. He had actually been surprised he had managed to hit Bass after using it. Bass seethed as he hovered over to the navi who was covered in pieces of panel that had broken off from the size of the blast. He grabbed the navi by the bodysuit and held him high, "Looks like I win."
"Have you? Go ahead and try and delete me then." Megaman challenged as Bass brought out his Shadow Blade.
The God of Destruction growled as he held his blade. What was wrong with him? Why was his arm betraying him. He couldn't use his sword. Not to kill him anyway. He yelled as he continually tried to bring the blade's tip closer and closer to Megaman. But the most he could do was bring it to the surface of his navi symbol. He couldn't touch him.
"You can't kill a human, Bass. You never had before. Maybe it's because under all that anger, you still actually care about them," Megaman pointed out as the navi glared daggers at him. But the navi continued talking, "It was obvious when you didn't kill the one man who betrayed you. You only severely hurt him, but you never did kill him. You were betrayed by the humans who framed you for the Alpha Revolt. So you tried to turn you anger to hate. But if you really had wanted to destroy them, then why didn't you kill Cossack? Or Wily? You had the perfect opportunity at them. In that state, they couldn't defend themselves and you would have been free to destroy them. So why didn't you?"
"Shut up, human!" Bass growled though his teeth. But the question did haunt him. After he had used bugs to repair himself, he had eventually remembered his old NetOp and the incidents around Alpha's second reawakening. He could have so easily killed them. And to think as well, he had several opportunities to destroy the humans. If he had felt like it, he could've broken out of any prison he had been in and allowed the planet to fall into disrepair. Heck, even stalling Megaman by a bit in the days when Duo was about to destroy the planet would have ensured his revenge. So why hadn't he taken any chance to?
Megaman stared at Bass, "I don't think you want to kill the humans because that would make you just as bad as them in your eyes. You know they're weaker than you and that's why you won't kill them. It's also why you won't kill me. Because without me, you lose the only person who's been able to keep up with you. And knowing you, the only thing you actually hate is not being able to have a good fight."
Bass lowered the navi as the navi's words unnerved him. What the human said was true. He had chances to destroy humanity. He even had one now. So then why did he hold back? Why did his body betray him when this would be his defining moment? Bass's voice came out as more of an annoyance than anger this time, "What makes you think you can analyze me?"
"Because we're the same. SciLab doesn't trust either of us. That's why Roll broke in that night. They were ready to let me die just like they had been about to delete you." Megaman said looking over at the side, remembering what his father had told him after their conversation, "It hurt hearing about it, but there are people who refuse to see good in others and only look to advance themselves. You placed your trust in one person and lost it. I may not know what that's like, but I do know that there are several other people out there who wouldn't mind you."
Bass scoffed, "Unlikely." What human wouldn't fear him? Who honestly wouldn't want to see his deletion?
Megaman shook his head, "I don't." He said as he walked past the surprised navi, "Well I guess you finally beat me, Bass. A deal's a deal." He stopped moving.
The red eyed navi looked surprised at him. He didn't speak for several minutes before he drew his Shadow Blade once again and turned to Megaman, who hadn't moved an inch. The navi didn't do anything. Bass internally grimaced. He was honoring his agreement. Even though he knew he wouldn't kill him, he was still offered himself, "Draw." Megaman looked at the navi curiously as Bass announced the end of the fight, "Your talking is boring me. I don't feel like taking your copybot or deleting you at the moment." The navi said, covering his tracks pretty badly, as his blade disappeared.
Megaman nodded, "Very well. See you later then, Bass." The navi said as he jacked out of the Undernet. But as he left, the cloaked navi noticed a piece of data was left behind. However, the navi slightly sneered as he picked it up. The data was meant for him. Perhaps it had been whatever favor the navi had been trying to do.
Bass glanced around as he opened it. There wasn't anything else left him to do.
The data he had was an old security tape footage the night he had been betrayed. Cossack had been arrested an hour before SciLab had sent its navis to deal with him. There was nothing the scientist could have done to save him. Years later, the doctor had been trying destroy him because he was trying to do what he had meant to do a long time before. Make Bass disappear. If the navi was deleted, he would have been restored to his back up data which Cossack had kept on a separate server (Bass later visited the cyber space and discovered it had been the truth) and then kept secret by Cossack. When Cossack had tried to sacrifice himself, he mentioned that he had been trying to save enough power so that he himself wouldn't die in the blast, but also he been hoping that Bass wouldn't have killed him. Despite it all, he had still believed in him.
Of course, he had been told all this in a video data that had been made a few weeks before it was delivered to Megaman. Bass only got the message the day Dr. Cossack died.
Since seeing the video, Bass hadn't been able to bring himself to annihilate Megaman or the humans. He had lost his want for revenge. The only thing he had had left was his want to become the strongest. So that was what he know focused on. And that would be what he would commit to be his memory.
Not the image of a navi that sought to destroy, but a navi that lived and had become the best. And to do that, he needed Megaman alive. After all, he was the only one who gave him any fun.
The cloaked navi smirked to himself as he disappeared onto the Undernet looking for somewhere else to train.
Ghost: Dadada! It was Bass! So yes, I'm using a DNE to cover some character development in man DNE but I didn't want to make a separate story for that and this would disrupt DN5's flow a bit so I thought I would put it here. BalanceM88 gets two rounds of huge thanks since she not only helped out with the background as to why Bass doesn't hate humanity anymore but she also gave a a list of original chips she made. I don't remember if I borrowed any or not but it was more than likely so I'm saying thanks again.
Oh, and some of you may have noticed this little guy (*) earlier. I seemed to have made a error. There apparently is an approximate date that Hub Hikari was turned into Megaman at the age of one. The Hub Hikari files have it set towards a few months after he was born (four I believe). In the grand scheme, it doesn't really matter but just thought I would share this.
Thanks for reading!
Roll Merge/Hub Cross Contest Deadline Extended to February 1st, 2015!
Megaman Double Network Epilogue: Soul Eclipse - February 8th, 2015!
Megaman Double Network 5: Data Crash - February 13th, 2015!
