ZERO NETWORK TRANSMISSION
Rockman Zero/Rockman Battle Network
Chapter 7: Eyes Of The Storm
Authored By The Several
Author's Notes: I'm sooooooo… (add infinity) sorry that I haven't updated much! Soooooo… (add infinity) much work to do, I have to sacrifice sleep to do it. Soooooo... (add infinity) much headaches lately, I feel insane. If I start laughing maniacally for no reason whatsoever, you might want to inform the authorities by then.
Still, I was able to conquer those odds and bring another chapter! Yay me!
"...Looks like this is it," Ciel said, confirming the location given to her by the solo netnavi, Leviathan. EXE. The letter, where nothing but a location and time was typed on, was to lead to her to an area where Leviathan's so-called 'leader' was to meet Zero as requested. They had figured out by now from past experience that 'meet' must have meant a challenge to a netbattle.
Ciel looked around. Like her battle with Neige, it seemed to be another abandoned location, hit by the Zero Virus a long time ago. It was definitely a message, telling her and Zero that they knew – all of them knew – about him and maybe more.
"Jeez, this placed hasn't been touched in years," Ciel said, coming inside to see empty cartridges and drums scattered all over the place. "It's so cramped in here…"
Zero looked up, surveying the location himself from within his PET. It seemed to be an exporting business building, the packaging area, filled with levers and moving luggage-ways. There was a lining near the roof, thin platforms that stretched on all the walls, cartridges and boxes atop them. "Looks like this place is ready to fall apart. It's dangerous here. Let's not stay and longer than we should."
Moving further in, Ciel suddenly noticed a battletop in the midst of the factory where a single working light pointed to, as if an invitation.
"Well, it's nice to know we weren't lost or anything," Ciel commented, moving closer bit by bit. "It's kinda hard to move around though, lots of scattered junk around…"
Before Zero had a chance to say something back, a sudden voice from the building's PTA system came forth. The voice commandingly said, "Log your PET into the battletop and jack in your netnavi. We have been waiting."
Not wanting to delay their stay at that suffocating place, Ciel did as the voice said, raising her connector cable straight into air with a declaration.
"Zero. EXE… jack in!" Ciel exclaimed as she plugged it into the battletop.
Zero digitized into the arena that was, at first, dark and empty. Then, the lights suddenly burst open one by one, revealing a wide stretch of open land cleared of any obstructions or objects. The floor stretched far, covered with digital concrete and lined with steel crossbeams. It was strange to see such a basic battleground, free of obstacles and cover.
"It's… barren," Zero said out loud.
"Completely empty," Ciel remarked as well.
Then suddenly, the voice from the PTA returned and said, "Welcome, Zero. You've done well, defeating my comrades in battle – even when Fefnir had unleashed his Limiter, you had soundly defeated him. Now, it is my chance…"
As if a flickering of a switch, a light appeared, bringing Zero's combatant into view. Once again, it had a similar overall design to Leviathan and Fefnir, this time with shades of green in color. What stood the most was the twin energy-blades that he held in his arms, the sign of a hand-to-hand master combatant. The netnavi also had a backpack that resembled wings, and its legs were poised as if ready to jump into the air and fly.
"Hello and goodbye," the green solo netnavi said. "I am Harpuia the Gale, third and leader of the Guardians. What was once lost, I have now again found. My primary directive, my single purpose, our one objective programming… to destroy you."
"W-What?" Ciel asked, surprised. "Destroy Zero? P-Primary programming? I thought you guys were solo netnavis!"
"You're too young and innocent to remember such things, and humans in general are simply too unequipped to understand the logic," Harpuia replied, brandishing his blades. "But you don't know how long I've been waiting for this day… All this preparation, all this drama, all this… just for you… and your grave."
"No! No way," Ciel shook her head. "Zero, jack out right now! I am not letting you get any deeper in this again!"
Zero, however, only stayed silent.
"…Zero?"
"Ciel," he interrupted with a single step forward. He then turned to her and said, "I'll be fighting this alone."
Ciel was shocked. "What? Hey, thought we agreed on this al-"
"No, Ciel. I will fight this alone," Zero said commandingly, taking Ciel by surprise. "Try to help me or stop me… and you will regret it." Zero then continued forward to his opponent.
Ciel gulped. 'Why? WHY? I can't believe you… I was only worried for you, and yet… YOU JERK!'
"Hello, Zero's netop," a voice from the digital audience area of the battletop suddenly spoke. "Watching instead of fighting again, I see."
"Grrr…. Leviathan. EXE," she murmured angrily. "For your information, the name's Ciel!"
"Whatever, girlie!" the elegant Guardian dismissed with a shrug. "Just don't do anything stupid or get in reddie's way and I won't have to kill you in real life."
If only Ciel could have smacked Leviathan that time, she would have done so. Unfortunately for her, netnavis are completely digital, which means no revenge for her.
Back to Zero and Harpuia, the two stared each other wearyingly, almost as if one was trying to psych out the other.
"Smart move, commanding your netop out of the way. And in such a fierce way," Harpuia complimented. "I think you'd make a fine solo netnavi. Relying on humans – especially useless humans - only makes you weak."
"Talk is cheap," Zero simply stated, readying his saber in the 'Iai' style. "Are we gonna get this started or are you gonna keep yapping?"
"My apologies," Harpuia shortly agreed. "Let's."
With their final words said, Zero and Harpuia quickly dashed backwards, as far away from each other.
"They're running away from each other?" Ciel asked loudly.
"Don't be ignorant," Leviathan replied from out of the blue. "They both realize that their speeds are almost the same, therefore an offensive close-ranged attack is not the smartest move."
'Unfortunately for Zero,' Leviathan grinned, 'their speeds are FAR from equal…'
As both combatants reached as far as they could being on opposite sides of the digital arena, Harpuia shouted out, "Unlike you, Zero, I have the ability to unlock my full arsenal without the need of a netop's battlechips… such as this!" Harpuia then released shards of solid violet energy straight at Zero, who was at the opposite side of the arena.
Zero easily noticed them coming, and evades them far by a few meters. "I don't need Ciel's help. I can defeat you by myself."
To Ciel, his words were like a stab to the heart. 'If Zero feels he doesn't need me… then why am I here? I know netbattling's not my thing... but still…' She looked to Zero, who was fighting the battle alone. 'I was having fun being with Zero...'
Leviathan looked to her and sighed. 'Uh, geez... Pathetic... She really doesn't get it, doesn't she? How dense..."
Zero tried to get closer, but each time he did, Harpuia unleashed a new wave of the purple bolts that only succeeded in putting him further and further away.
He was still quite far from Harpuia's position, but his latest bolts of energy only missed him by a hair.
'Those bolts are fast,' he thought for a single moment before coming to a startling realization.
'A barren arena, with no obstacles or places to run to for cover… Maximum efficiency and speed for reaching targets… His weapons reaching faster and faster, regardless of my distance… Damn, Harpuia's been playing me!'
"What's wrong, Zero? Thinking up a strategy?" Harpuia mocked. "...Or is it that you realized I've been easy on you?" Zero's eyes tweaked as he realized his conclusions were true. He was in deep trouble now.
"What's going on? What does he mean?" Ciel asked Leviathan. As much as she hated to do so, Ciel didn't understand any of what had happened.
Leviathan looked to her angrily, taking her by surprise. "And you wonder why reddie didn't even bother taking you with him in this fight? Jeez, you are so freaking slow!"
"W-What's that supposed to mean?"
"Look, Ciel," Leviathan replied. For the first time, Leviathan called her by her first name, realizing this was serious. "How can you even think to help your own netnavi when you don't understand what's going on? Even if he allowed you in there with him, it'll be the same as watching backstage as you are right now! Reddie has no use for a netop that can't keep up with him!"
Ciel felt she had to sit down. 'So that's why Zero didn't want me with him… because I wasn't any help for him anyway…'
"...Instead of slumping there like an idiot, don't you think you'd be more use trying to keep up with him?"
Ciel looked to her confusingly. "…What do you mean?"
"I meant that don't you think you'd be of more use to Zero next time if you AT LEAST tried to keep up with what's going on?"
"B…But I tried, and he's just too fast! All these things happening around him, his next move, the move after that… all these, happening in just seconds, too fast for me to react or even open my own mouth in awe! How do you expect me to keep up with… with THAT?"
"Wow, you ARE pathetic," Leviathan replied with another sigh. "Look, I'm sure Zero won't expect you to keep up with him every single time, especially your first time. You're a beginner, a newbie to the world of netbattling, and he'll understand that. You tried, that's what counts, and Zero will know."
"And as much as I hate to admit it," she added, scratching her head trying to make the words come out. "Zero… Zero thinks you're more valuable than you think you are to him."
Ciel was silent, contemplating on Leviathan's words and her own thoughts. As she tried to stand up, she realized that Zero was taking a beating against Harpuia. 'There's no way he can win without help…' Ciel was about to take action when she thought, 'But what can I do against an opponent who moves as fast as he think? THINK, Ciel, THINK!'
Just then Ciel got an idea. 'It just might work,' she told herself as she whipped out her battlechips… her eyes sharpened, focused and concentrated. 'There's no point in being smart... if I can't put it to good use!'
Zero was heavily damaged by Harpuia's fiercest attacks. He didn't know if he could keep it up anymore.
Harpuia stood menacingly over him, his armblades at the ready, ready to finish everything he had waited for in a long time. "Giving up so soon, Zero?" He then activated his arm laserblade and aimed it at Zero. "I'm getting bored…"
Before he had a chance to strike, the two combatants were surprised when they suddenly heard a shout, "Area Steal in…download!" At once, a Cyber Elf appeared, this time dressed as a ninja. In the next instant, Zero was teleported to a safe distance and the Cyber Elf disappears. As it does, Ciel enters another battlechip, one that she had already used in a previous battle. "ZeroChip Recovery100 in… download!"
The Nurse Elf appeared in front of Zero, bathing him in golden light as his severest wounds digitized themselves closed, repaired.
"C-Ciel? I told you not to interfere!" Zero declaringly shouted at her.
"Can we save it for later? Look forward; he's coming again!"
Zero turned around to Harpuia who unleashed lightning arrows from his blades at him. Zero swung widely to the side, the light-blades barely avoided. The arrows seemed as fast as the lightning bolts he threw earlier, if not faster and more accurate.
Before Harpuia made his next move, Ciel suddenly whispered to Zero, "Zero, run as fast as you can around the whole arena."
"What?"
"Just do it!" Ciel commanded with a loud shout, this time with Zero backing up and forced to shut up. Zero had no idea why, but at the moment it didn't matter. As per Ciel's orders, Zero ran as fast as he could around the arena in all directions. If Harpuia released any lightning bolts or arrows, Ciel used her remaining AreaSteal chips to evade them. But what really struck Zero was that as he ran around the arena, Ciel kept downloading Break Panel chips…
As Zero stopped when he reached an end of the arena, he said, "Ciel, I'm running out of room." He looks around, and realizes a lot of the panels on the arena were unstable because of the BreakPanel chips. "Whatever you're planning, do it now!"
Before Harpuia had a chance to unleash any more bolts, Ciel smirked and downloaded 3 new battlechips. "AquaTower x3 in… download!" With this combination, all of the broken panels in the arena suddenly erupted a tall pillar of water.
"And for an immediate follow-up… Zero, get ready for a change of weather," Ciel grinned, raising her plan's last battlechip. "Weather System, battlechip in… download!"
With Ciel's final download, a Hacker Cyber Elf dressed like a witch appeared, performing a strange dance that suddenly causes the battlefield's digital sky to snow down; at first lightly, and then a blizzard.
"Wh… What is this!" Harpuia said, trying to resist the increasingly freezing temperatures. At first, Harpuia thought Ciel was trying to freeze him over, but then realized that the field-covered Aqua-Towers had suddenly been turned into ice by the sub-temperature!
"I get it… with the towers, Harpuia's bolts will dissipate within contact because of his elemental weakness to Ice… And because you used Break Panels, the broken panels are floating above the aqua towers, which can be used as miniature stepping stones." He looked up, and sees the broken panel pieces lifted on top of the frozen pillars, a bit of snow covering them. "That'll prevent me from getting electrocuted as well."
Harpuia, floating high above the arena, realized this too. "Heh, so the netop hatched a plan… Humans never did learn to keep themselves out of other's businesses."
Leviathan, who was watching it all from the safety of the sidelines, was equally impressed. 'Wow... I told her to catch up just a couple of minutes ago and THIS is what she comes up with? Kids these days...'
Zero looked around, checking out the effects of the field that Ciel had made for him. Unless Harpuia came up from above, there was no way he could reach him, giving him the time to think.
He looked to Ciel. "I told you to stay out of my way, Ciel. You disobeyed me."
"Yeah… but," Ciel weakly said. "But if I didn't, you wouldn't have come out alive! I know you didn't want to, but…"
Before Ciel could continue, she realized that Zero was suddenly laughing.
"W-What's so funny?"
Zero looked to her with a smile. It took her by surprise, since seeing Zero smile was more than rare. "Thank you."
Ciel was confused. "F-For what?"
"I'm sorry to be so selfish with you, Ciel. You're a child, and honestly, I don't really want you netbattling... but as long as I remain your netnavi, you'll get pulled into my battles."
"B-But, I don't mind it at all!" Ciel replied weakly. "I... I like being with you... E-Even if I'm not much help..."
"Heh, thanks," Zero replied. "I had no right giving you orders, but just as you chose me to be your friend rather than your warrior, I too began to choose you as my comrade - my partner and friend - rather than my burden. I didn't want to see you get hurt and got selfish, but I was wrong. We both have to realize... what is truly important to us."
'What is truly important to me' Ciel thought, smiling. "B-But I was afraid you'd scold me… You did this just to test me?"
Zero scoffed to the side, swallowing his pride. "…I knew you'd come and save me."
Ciel blushed weakly at his words, but also felt like crying tears of joy. "So we're partners now… Friends, right?"
"Heh… Yeah… Friends," Zero smirked. He tried to smile a little wider, but it just wasn't his style.
"Well… now what?" Zero asked her.
"Now… we take the offensive," Ciel replied.
"Hmmm… Few openings to take advantage of," Harpuia said as he surveyed the frozen area from the sky, where only a few places were barren enough to use his lightning on without dissipating from his elemental weakness. "And yet, so many areas for him to use a surprise counter-attack. It's a losing game, which means it's time to play my ace…"
Before he was able to act any further, Zero appeared from out of the blue and attacked him with his Z-Saber.
Harpuia was able to parry his attack with his arm laserblade. "I was caught off-guard, I admit, but did you really think that was enough to take me down?"
Zero replied with a smirk. "…If you got taken by this distraction, then I guess that would be a 'yes'."
In position, Ciel declared, "Program Advance! AquaSword x3 in… download!"
Zero – parrying Harpuia with one hand – activated the chip with his other. "Zero Style… Shougetsujin!" Another sword appeared on his other hand that was covered with quickly hardening water. With his attack, he swung his saber towards Harpuia, summoning an energy of ice and water, completely overwhelming and freezing him. Still with the upper hand, Ciel followed up with a combo.
"Program Advance! Airshot x2 and IceChip in… download!" Ciel declared as she downloaded her 3 chips.
"Program Advance: Ice Javelin!" Zero activated, digitizing a super-charged ice-armed Z-Buster Gun.
With a click, the Z-Buster Gun fires a fully energized ice spear attack, stabbing Harpuia with a sharp ice blade in the chest. His lightning no match for his own elemental weakness, the frozen blade blasts through his body with easy, sending him down and hard to the ground, his wings unable to support him.
With his crash to the ground, what ice that had covered most of his body had broken off, and incidentally so did the freezing effects of the WeatherSystem battlechip deployed earlier by Ciel. Though he tried to recover his damages, Harpuia knew he had the disadvantage. Quickly standing up, Harpuia snickered, putting the next phase of his plan into action.
"I… did not expect that, I'm afraid... Well done," he congratulated. "With this weakness, I'm sure you realize that you have the upper hand now… so why don't we tip it a little more in my favor?"
With this, even with his injuries, Harpuia floated back up and energized his whole body. "EarthBreaker!" he declared at the top of his voice, sending the energy accumulating in his body through the 4 corners of the fighting arena.
Suddenly, the ground began to quake. Not only in the arena, but in the real world as well!
"Yaaa!" Ciel exclaimed. As Zero looked to her, he realized that Ciel was nearly hit by an empty cartridge from the top shelf from inside the abandoned factory.
"But that's-"
"Yes, Zero," Harpuia interrupted. "Everytime the earth shakes, the chances of your netop getting buried under the cartridges in the real world will get bigger and bigger. I suggest you hurry up and defeat me."
"You set all of this up… The cartridges were there to use for your advantage…"
"Correct, Zero. This was all planned from the beginning."
"Why bother? You have me here!" Zero exclaimed angrily, confused at this ridiculous charade. "You said your prime directive was to kill me. Why my netop?"
"…I cannot tell you that," Harpuia simply replied, raising his hand. "I ask only that you show me…"
"…Show you what?"
Harpuia smiled, a menacing stare erupted from his face. "Show me… the real Zero!"
To be continued…
NEXT CHAPTER: With Ciel's life on the line with every second, Zero finds himself deeper and deeper in a desperate race against time to defeat Harpuia - but at the same time keeping his inner demons in check. Will he be able to control himself, especially after Ciel becomes injured... or worse?
Author's Notes: I used a lot of RZ4 references on this one, and some that you might not be familiar with. So, for your convenience, here's the skinny:
1. Iai Stance – not actually an RZ4 reference, the Iai is a kenjutsu stance where the blade is held by the waist, inside the scabbard, ready to take it out; the body, slightly tilted and angled towards the blade. If you want more information, I suggest you research on it.
2. Shougetsujin – an EX Skill learned from Fenrir Lunaedge; an iceblade that travels along the ground.
3. Ice Javelin – an EX Skill learned from Tech Kraken; a gigantic spear made of ice, shot from the Z-Buster.
4. WeatherSystem Battlechip – a reference to the weather-changing system from RZ4 that allowed the player to change the weather in a level, changing the difficulty and layout of a level. In this story, it was in the form of a Hacker Cyberelf.
