~Chapter 7: Shadows

All around the world streams of purple energy coated the Network, fired from different locations all over the Net. The spiders were destroyed, and the Net was once again in peace. Yet everyone was asking the same question, just what, or who, did it? Who was their savior?

To answer the call, every channel aired the same news reel, a worldwide announcement from the Chairman of E.N.D. Mr. Bellbridge.

Mr. Bellbridge was a very clean man, clad in a black suit. His hair, a deep grey, was kept hidden by a black fedora. He wore clean black gloves, and spoke in an almost raspy voice.

"People of the world, I would like to introduce to you both myself, and my organization, which is responsible for the eradication of the plague of viruses that has shut our Network down. My name is Bellbridge, I am the lead Chairman of the E.N.D., and it was by our work that peace has been restored. We have been researching these strange viruses, a strain of them impervious to all attacks, and through this work we have created the Pulse Cannon, a weapon that emits a powerful blast of electromagnetic energy. The shutdown of the Net, and the forced evacuation by security officials all around the world, has been to ensure the safety of all net navis, as the blast would harshly effect them. We of E.N.D. would like to thank you all for your cooperation, and would like to say that we will not stop until we find the cause of these viruses, and destroy them once and for all…"

Dr. Hikari, who was once again sitting in his office, stared at the TV screen in shock. He and Chaud had been talking about the viruses at the time of the blast, and couldn't believe that it was true. The Net was clean again!

"…So this E.N.D. is the ones responsible…" Dr. Hikari muttered.

"I'm glad they came to the rescue and all, but why not inform us of this before the event…not after." Chaud said, standing up from the couch.

As Chaud moved toward the TV, going to turn it off, he heard Bellbridge speak once more…and the words made his blood run cold.

"…This operation of destroying the viruses, codenamed EVE, has been the focus of all our work."

Dashing toward the TV, Chaud punched the volume up and then rewound the footage.

Dr. Hikari rose from his seat. "What are you doing?"

"Listen!" Chaud said, playing the recording again.

"…This operation of destroying the viruses, codenamed EVE, has been the focus of all our work."

The doctor stepped toward the TV. "Yeah, so?"

Chaud sighed. "…There's been something I'm keeping from you doctor…from us all. When I escaped from Dark Aero, I heard Kane…talk about Operation EVE."

Dr. Hikari paused, frozen in place. "…A-And you think that…"

"Bellbridge is Kane!"

"You have no proof. You can't make a case against him without proof Chaud, you should know that."

"…Then I'll find some. I'm telling you, Bellbridge is Kane!"

With that Chaud rushed out of the room. Dr. Hikari started to move after him, making it half way across the room before his desk phone started to ring. As he picked it up the panicked voice of his son greeted him.

"Dad! There's something wrong with Megaman!"

"Mega, stop!" Roll yelled, diving to the right to avoid a buster shot.

Megaman had somehow been knocked unconscious during the firing of the cannon, and when he came to he started attacking everyone he saw. Not even Roll was safe…

Megaman was screaming in pain, one hand clutching onto his head, the other was transformed into a buster and fired at anything that moved…which was quite a bit as the entire area was thrown into chaos by his outbursts.

It had happened suddenly, he had jumped up from the floor, screaming. In a matter of seconds he had already shot the place to pieces, and a group of navis was trying to restrain him when he really became violent.

Tec grabbed hold of Roll's arm, pulling her slowly away from Megaman. Roll resisted him, trying to force her way forward.

"MEGA!"

One navi grabbed onto Megaman's hand, and quickly regretted it as he was greeted with a kick to the gut, and went sprawling to the floor. Again and again Megaman fired his gun, crying out in pain the entire time.

Jupiter stepped toward Megaman, the only one in the entire area that wasn't scared out of his mind. Slowly he walked up to the navi, until Megaman took notice of him. With a powerful cry, Megaman let out a charged shot that slammed right into Jupiter's chest. The flacon, much stronger and larger then Megaman, was pushed backward by the blast.

"…That is quite enough." He said, his hands transforming into shard claws.

Roll, knowing what he was going to do, dashed forward. "NO! Don't hurt him!"

Jupiter glanced over his shoulder. "This man is mad! He must be stopped before he destroys us all…and if it means deleting him, then so be it."

Roll dived toward Jupiter, slamming into his back. The larger navi wasn't expecting this, and lost his balance. As he fell to the floor, pulling Roll with him, he stabbed himself with his own talon.

Jupiter rolled onto his side, growling at Roll. Quickly he stood, grabbing Roll by her throat and lifting her off her feet. He tightened his grip of the pink navi, causing her to cry out.

Megaman, who heard this cry, suddenly dashed forward at an alarming speed. He slammed into Jupiter, knocking the navi to the ground. The two men rolled around for a moment, before Megaman got the upper hand. Sitting on Jupiter's chest, Megaman punched the larger navi again and again, his eyes blazing a deep red.

"STOP IT!" Roll screamed, diving at Megaman.

The pink navi slammed into her friend, pulling him to the ground. Roll lay on her back, staring up at Megaman. Megaman, her best friend, pulled his hand back and was about to hit her. Roll looked him in the eye, his eyes like blazing red flames.

"Megaman…please…don't…" she cried, tears streaming down her face.

Megaman froze. He tried his hardest to bring his hand down, but he couldn't. Something was stopping him, but what was it?

Roll slowly raised her hand to Megaman's face. She lightly touched his cheek, which felt icy cold. She smiled at him slightly, tears still running down her face.

"Megaman, it's me, Roll! Please stop this; you're hurting people…your hurting me…"

Megaman slowly pushed himself off Roll, his eyes seeming to shake as tears ran down his face. He raised a hand to his eye, wiping away a tear. The blue navi stared at his hand in question, almost confused of the tear that had slid down his face.

"…R-Roll…" he whispered, staring at the girl on the floor.

It was then that a powerful amount of pain surged through him, stronger than that of what he had felt during the cannon's firing. He opened his mouth to cry out, but no sound emitted. Instead he fell to his knees. A strange dark shadow slowly lifted out from his body, a steady stream of violet mist seeping out from him.

The stream of darkness stretched upward, moving higher and higher, until it suddenly burst into nothing. With the cause of his behavior gone, Megaman collapsed and fell into a deep sleep.

Roll pushed herself off the floor and walked over to Jupiter, who now had a large gash on his chest. The two navis looked toward where Tec had been, who was now gone from sight.

"Alright…what the hell is going on here?" asked a voice.

Everyone turned to see Protoman, the net navi of Chaud Blaze, standing in the doorway. He had seen everything…