Empress was running amok in the distance, alternating between destroying anything in her way and absorbing even more materials (including reploids) to help stabilize the structure of her new copyroid body.
However, Empress was not the only one on a rampage. For, back in the pocket dimension that housed Dentech, Lan was also on a demolition derby.
Out of control, the rage Aeolus had triggered burned like wildfire throughout his body and mind, causing Lan to viciously attack anything and everything he set his sights on. From buster shots to sword slashes to cannon salvos, Lan did them all as he attacked Dentech with everything he had. A car was sliced with a wide sword, a building took the full force of a cannon shot, miniboomers flew through the air, and these were only the tip of the iceberg.
"Salamander, Battle Chip In, DOWNLOAD!" Lan emotionlessly said, as his sword broke apart from the strain of his attacks on the city.
The Battle Chip activated, and instantly an orange, semitransparent Phoenix like firebird engulfed Lan then detonated in an enormous fireball, swallowing up a hefty chunk of the city within a few short seconds. But, surprisingly, the buildings still stood. In fact, everything Lan had attacked so far remained unaffected despite the tremendous amounts of damage taken.
As the scientists had discovered, even as far back as a few days after the ill–fated experiment that was to save the city, everything in the pocket dimension that was not alive became indestructible. Some scientists theorized some unknown particle was the cause, others theorized some sort of change at an atomic level, while others still theorized a change in the laws of physics.
Regardless of the reasons why, the facts remained. Anything not alive became invulnerable, while anything that was alive remained unaffected.
And now, four hundred years later, Lan was putting their theories to the test.
"Lan, you have to stop!" Megaman yelled as he tried to snap his best friend and NetOp out of his rage. "Lan, please! Get a grip of yourself!"
But it was no use. Lan's rage knew no bounds.
"LAN!" Megaman cried out as his NetOp unleashed another Salamander Battle Chip on the buildings at hand. "Lan…" Megaman called out softly to his friend. "I have to call in a favor…" He continued as Lan stopped for a moment. "I hope you'll understand."
"I… understand…" Lan replied, just as softly, in a moment of clarity, brought on by Mega's earlier shout, combined with the massive blast from the Salamander Battle Chip. A moment of clarity which brought a smile to Mega's face. "Thank you Lan."
"Slur..., Slur I have a favor to ask of you..." Mega, called out across the airwaves from his P.E.T.
"Slur... I'm asking it for Lan... Help him... Please..."
"A favor I'm happy to accept." Came the reply as a ball of white and green light streaked across the sky, speeding towards the rampaging Lan.
"Hi guys. Miss me?" She said as she swooped in then started circling around Lan, drawing his attention away from the hot dog stand he was about to attack.
"Thankfully yes." Was the reply as the enraged Lan opened fire at her with a Vulcan Battle Chip, but missed with every shot.
"What's with all this negativity?" She said dodging hit after hit as Lan started slashing at her with a Hero Sword. "It's supposed to be a happy reunion."
"What ever happened to hello, we missed you?" She said with the classic childish innocence and naivity of a cyber elf.
"He was in a fight earlier, and it triggered this rage. Please help him." Megaman asked the cyber elf, as the little ball of data circled around Lan endlessly.
"Oh, is that what all the negativity is about? Well I'll soon put an end to that." And with that, the light she gave off, flared as she started ramming into Lan at high speed, passing through him like he wasn't even there.
In obvious pain for the first time in centuries, Lan tried in vain to stop Slur's actions by clutching the areas of his body that stung the most from her intervention. However, it was no use and soon enough, Slur ended her actions with a bang as she rocketed to a point in the sky above Lan and let loose a massive pillar of light which struck him dead center.
"There." She said, as she finished her treatment and then resumed her circling around Lan. "As long as I'm around, you'll never lose your cool again. Neat–o, huh?"
"Thank you." Lan said gasping, as he felt the stinging pain from all over his body, start to die down. "But…why am I still like this?" He then asked as he noticed that, though he was now in full control of his actions and emotions, he was still in what both Mega and himself recognized as Bug Style. And they both suspected Lan's eyes were still bright yellow. Which they were.
"You're welcome, but I can only help you with your anger. I have no control over anything else, though I'm sure it'll wear off eventually. Now tell me how you got in this predicament." The little cyber elf enquired childishly, as the light she emitted started alternating between white and light green. "And start at the very, very beginning."
"I… wait! My friends. How are they? Did I hurt anyone?" Lan asked as the gravity of his previous situation came back to him full force.
"Thankfully, Aile stopped you before you could do anything bad. Only harm done is some property damage." Mega replied with a smile, relieved by the fact that Lan was now back to his old self.
"They're having a race, see?" Cyber elf Slur said as she shot towards, then through, a large TV screen used for displaying commercials. And as she passed through, she changed the video feed to that coming from several Innerpeace TV stations and CCTV cameras showing Aile, Giro, Ashe and Empress, racing across various landscapes towards an unknown destination. "Now tell me, how did you get yourself into this mess!"
"Empress… We've failed. We have to get there, fast!" Lan said as he suddenly took off, towards the nearest location from which he could open a Panel Out.
"We will, now tell meeee!" The little cyber elf again asked Lan, as he ran down the Dentech main street.
"Someone was destroying stuff and hurting people, and I tried to stop him. But the battle stretched on too much, and I lost my temper." Lan started telling Slur. "I should have ended the fight sooner."
"But why did you get mad?" She asked, surprising both Lan and Megaman with her question, since, by being from the same time as them, she should already know why.
"You don't know?" The holographic Megaman now asked, surprised by Slur's unawareness.
"No, I can't remember much from all the way, back then." She replied, with a gesture that could have been described as a pouty face, if cyber elves had faces to pout.
"Well, back in 20XX, when the star ship Prometheus returned from its first flight, several areas of SciLab came under simultaneous attack and Lan and I went to defend one of those areas. We fought the attacker, StarMan, and were winning, until he threw a large container at us as a distraction. Lan destroyed the incoming container but not it's liquid content, which doused Lan and everything he had with him. Only after Lan lost consciousness and was rushed to the hospital did we find out that that liquid was in fact advanced military grade nanites. Intended to make next generation armor, the nanites would have eventually killed Lan, were they not reprogrammed within the three days their transmitters were active. Ultimately, the reprogramming was successful, but the cut corners the scientists had to take resulted in the uncontrollable rage that led to this."
"Panel Out, Battle Chip In, DOWNLOAD!" Lan called as he activated the portal Battle Chip that would take them to the battle against Empress. The battle his friends were already fighting.
Huh? What's this? AN UPDATE?
Yes, it's an update. Granted it's a 2 month late update, but an update non the less.
I know I originally said the story would only have 12 chapters, but due to circumstances beyond my control (Inferno05 having a monster writer's cloggage (simply writer's block for all you simple, simple minded simpletons out there) with the fights), the planned chapter 10 became chapter 11 and the thing you just read (you did actually read it instead of just jumping straight down here, didn't you?) came into existence as chapter 10.
So basically... I LIED!
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank SubZeroChimera for the ax she took to thi... err, I mean, the wonderful editing she did to this chapter. Thanks for the help! ^_^
P.S. Didn't see Slur getting a part in this one did 'ya?
P.P.S. In case anyone is curious about the chapter name, in literature, Racconto and flashback mean almost the same thing. However, the Racconto doesn't take the narrative back in time so suddenly, and it's longer and more detailed than a flashback.
P.P.P.S. I am more than a little surprised that no one has yet noticed Ashe's comment towards Buckfire at the end of chapter 7 (and for the record, it was two chapters back).