MegaMan NT Hunter
Prologue
It is the year 200X. In this new technological age, there exists a world within our own where a civilization of sentient programs – the people of that world – that are referred as Network Navigators, or NetNavis for short. These NetNavis were given artificial intelligence and at first, that's all it was… I'm not quite sure when, but eventually the intelligence of this civilization became… pure. They developed minds of their own and became equal to humans, superior to us in some respects; but they, for the most part, have peacefully lived with us. Now almost anyone you talk to has a Navi of their own, who they will call… a friend.
"Data structure, good!"
"Power levels, optimal!"
Sadly, as many activities of Cyberworld affected our world, net crime soon became widespread, and many criminal organizations rose to try to rule both Earth and Cyberworld, including WWW (World Three), Grave, and Nebula, which the latter was, sadly, led by me, Dr. Regal Wily. Yes, it is true; I did terrorize the world on more than one occasion in the name of revenge. And yet… with the great amount of resources and power all three groups had at their disposal, not one of them succeeded. How, you ask? It was by the teamwork of the son of my good friend and colleague, Lan Hikari and his Navi hybrid brother, Hub Hikari; but to his friends and enemies alike – MegaMan EXE.
"Final checks, cleared."
"Beginning test sequence…"
These two and their many friends were, in fact, responsible for my defeat as well; and according to medical records, I even lost memory of the last ten years. It knew this to be true, but soon I slowly began regaining memory of those forgotten events but… the more I did, the more I regretted what I had done. After being released from the hospital I began work as a SciLab intern for Dr. Yuichiro Hikari, and the more I remembered my crimes, the more I chose to forget so that I could make amends for my sins. Of course, I changed my appearance so that I don't remind MYSELF of the evil leader of Nebula; I shaved my beard and changed my uniform, so that now I look the way I did when I first meet Lan, but now I also have the customary white lab coat of a scientist.
"Do you think this will work?"
"Only one way to find out."
And so here I am now, a highly respected SciLab scientist with the same level of authority as Yuichiro. I am often accepted as a guest into the Hikari home, I am called on for advice from my colleagues, even the Officials trust me, just as Yuu does; at this point Yuu and I have become the best of friends. It was as if no one even bothered to remember my past as the leader of Nebula. Was this really the inner nature of mankind, to forgive and forget? The more I contemplated that question the more determined I became to work for the benefit of humans and Navis…
The latest experiment Yuichiro and I had been working on for the past two months was a success. We had transported the first Navi into the real world.
"Congratulations, Dr. Hikari and Dr. Regal," said Yuichiro's Navi, know as Papa.
"Thank you for your assistance," I said, "You may return to your PET to recharge."
"Of course."
NetNavi… logging out."What a night," Yuichiro yawned, "I'm ready to hit the hay."
"Yes, but it was worth it, right Hikari?" Instead of an answer to my question, his response was snoring (he fell asleep right away) as he was sprawled out in his chair. I don't blame him though; staying up until three in the mourning is not ideal sleeping time, so I fell asleep as well.
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The next thing I knew, I am standing back on the streets of Densan City, and so is Yuichiro as he is standing beside me. Neither of us is sure of how we got here, or what's going on. But I do know one thing for sure, and that is something feels different about Densan.
"Why are we HERE?" Yuu began, "I was sure we were back at SciLab just now, and I was really sure I was counting sheep?"
"Well, this might be a shout in the dark," I replied nonchalantly, "but maybe that's because THIS IS A DREAM!"
"Oh." I guess it true what they say: Just because you're a genius doesn't make you a smart guy.
As we explore Densan, we both realized that there were no humans in sight, in fact, everywhere we went, there were only Navis. None of this made any sense. How were there only Navis and no humans? We stumbled across two very young Navis playing in Akihara Park. They were apparently looking at something, but we couldn't see what it was because their backs were turned to us.
"You ready?" said one Navi.
"Yeah! 1… 2… 3!"
The first Navi threw the hidden object into the air, and we gasped as we recognized it. It was a Progress-model PET, but before we could wonder why they had it, it was immediately shot to pieces by the second Navi's buster.
"Yuu, did you see that? What's going on here?" I stammered.
"I…I don't know -"
"HEY!
Our attention was diverted to a group of Navis who appeared to be guard soldiers running towards with their busters armed. I then faced Yuu, "Dr. Hikari, I do not think they are coming over just to say hello."
"Dr. Regal, I agree. We should run away… VERY FAST!" And so we did. We entered alley far away from the guards and hid behind some trashcans. Thankfully, the Navis ran by without spotted us. I then faced Yuichiro, who sighed in relief.
"I don't know what's going on," he stated, "but something is not right about this dream."
"You are correct in that assumption, doctor," said a woman's voice. Yuu and I looked behind us and saw a tall female Navi with white blouse-like armor and a turquoise bodysuit underneath. She had long green hair that reached below her shoulders. Her white helmet, that only partially covered her face and ruby red eyes, had two fins protruding from it. "I'm sorry if this scares you. It has to be done."
"Who exactly are you?" I asked. "My name is Slur," she answered.
"If I had to guess, then I'd say that this no mere dream," said Yuu.
"Then I'd have to say you are right," Slur replied smiling.
"And I'm guessing that both Dr. Hikari and I both are having this dream," I added.
"Correct."
"This 'dream' is actually some sort of glimpse into a bleak future?" said Yuu.
Slur nodded, "Keep going."
"…And I'd say that some sort of new evil is soon to rise up?" I guessed out of the blue.
"You men are smart."
"So I guess the only big question that needs to be answered is 'who sent you, and how can we trust you'."
"Bingo!" she finally said shaking her index in approval, "I was sent by Duo."
"Duo?" Yuu asked.
"My beloved master who resides on the Asteroid Cyberworld that came here over a year ago," the Navi answered facing Yuu, "Your sons, Lan and MegaMan, defeated him and saved your planet from destruction. Please, let me take you to him."
With that a blindingly white doorway opened behind her and she walked in. Yuu and I looked at each other and shrugged and began towards the portal, but as he approached it, he stopped and began to look around him. Come on, Hikari, we're in an alley, in an anti-human future/dream. What is there to look back on? So I did what any sensible grown man would do… I kicked him in the rear end and pushed him in. Now I know where Lan gets his quirkiness (and I just reminded myself of Chaud for a moment; spooky!).
Upon entering, we were standing face-to-face with a giant silver Navi with no legs. I'd guess that was Duo, but that would stating the obvious.
"So you're Duo?" Yuu asked.
"What was your first clue?" I asked sarcastically. He glared at me (like I really cared), "Shut up."
"Yes, and I'm very pleased to see the both of you," said the giant Navi, Duo, "You are wondering why you came to have this dream, have you?"
"The question crossed our minds," said Yuu.
"Well the enough is simple; a very powerful energy source is traveling through your planet's Undernet, and is accidentally heading in the direction of the Data Grave Area, and section of Cyberworld where the data remains of deleted Navis and programs are sent. Three very powerful programs of destruction that were destroyed by Lan and MegaMan are there, one of which was created by you, Dr. Regal."
"Nebula Grey, I presume," I sighed. Yuichiro looked at me with surprise, "You remember?" I nodded.
"That's right and there is more," Slur commented from her standing position on Duo's shoulder, "the Dream Virus, Alpha, and Nebula Gray are in the same vicinity of one another."
"To worst part about this is that that powerful darkness belongs to the Navi that you call… Bass," Duo added, "And he is slowly regaining his vengeful memories, and may absorb their power to become stronger."
"Tell us, what could happen if that happens?" Yuichiro asked in total wonder.
"His entire data structure could mutate, thus changing him into a very dangerous Virus Navi, and I'm that you know of a particular ability a Virus Navi, right Dr. Hikari?"
"Yes, the ability to infect other Navis and control them. How can we stop him?"
"It may be too late to stop him from absorbed the super viruses," Slur said with a little sadness, "but you're holding a great way to stop him afterwards right now."
"What? This?" Dr. Regal inquired holding the chip in his hand, "The Dimensional Chip?"
"Yes, but I'm afraid you will need more than that to win," Duo said as he and Slur were started to glow brightly, "You must strengthen the bond between humans and Navis. You must figure out how to do that on your own…"
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"Whoa!" Yuu shouted as he woke up, "I need to stop eating that spicy curry late at night."
"Hikari, you… are… an… imbecile." I said dully, "We got work to do!"
Dr. Hikari looked at the Dimensional Chip and breathed a heavy sigh, "Oh well, back to the drawing board, I guess."
As inept as Yuichiro was, I knew he was right this was the beginning of something big.
To be Continued…