Chapter 11
All the Kings Horses and All the Kings Men
"Don't look so surprised you knew this was coming, it was only a mater of time." Regal continued with a devilish grin as he looked down on the young netsavers faces, "What? No witty banter or sarcastic comeback? I'm disappointed."
"As many times as we've done this dance it goes without saying." Chaud replied. "And this will be the last time."
"I couldn't agree more," Regal replied as he typed in a couple of commands which caused all of the other advertisement screens to switch from their static state to showing a countdown, "you have a train to catch."
"Train?" Terra asked.
"Metro actually," Regal replied, "the christening of the new line hit a few snags, three to be exact and in about 25 minutes it'll crash onto the Dentech Central Station, so you better hurry, your parents lives depend on it."
"You didn't…" Whisper whispered in a low tone but somehow Regal still heard it.
"No I didn't," Regal replied, "but your parents are trapped in Scilab with about 100lbs of armed TNT ready to detonate at anytime. Stop the train in time and you may be able to save your parents, but if you don't…"
Regal faded out after that.
Everything was going better than he had hoped.
"Bravo," came the condemnation as Regal ended his broadcast, "what are they going to do?"
"Play the self-sacrificing hero," Regal replied as he turned around to look at his newest darkloid, "and lose everything."
Meanwhile…
"What do you think's happening out there? They should be back by now." Famous asked as he and the rest of the captive group sat and waited. Dr. Hikari had managed to get the truth out of his son's darkened counterpart. The cold truth that it was. Regal wanted them dead, and with the way he had orchestrated matters he might just get his way.
"I'm sure they're doing what they need to do." Dr. Hikari replied. Regal was bound to hand them the villainest's favorite choice: either allow your family to perish or sacrifice the lives of countless others. But they all knew what choice the kids would make, and it would be the right one. Dr. Hikari thought about his children and his wife. He closed his eyes.
"I love you."
"What's going to happen now?" Maylu asked as the screen that Regal had been on faded out and began to display the countdown, 19 min.
"We're going to stop that train." Mega replied as he turned around to look at his childhood friend. "But first we need to get you someplace safe. You don't need to get caught in Regal's web.
"Yeah you're probably right," Maylu replied, she wanted to stay and help but truthfully there was nothing she could do.
"I'll take them home," Whisper volunteered, she was sure the group could do without her for a little while.
"You sure you're going to be ok?" Proto asked, "You'll have to come back alone."
"Yeah, I'll be fine, Regal's not going to be worried about me. I don't think he sees me as much of a threat." Whisper replied as she, Maylu and Roll started to walk away. Looking over at Roll, Whisper could see that it seamed she had a lot on her mind, and they hadn't made it very far before Roll ran back.
"Mega's there's something I have to tell you," Roll stated as she ran back the blue navi, but she was quickly pushed away.
"Roll there isn't time, you need to get out of here."
"But,-"
"No buts, I want you to be safe," Mega replied as he took a hold of Roll's shoulders, "You can tell me later. I'll still be here, I promise."
"Ok," Roll stated as she left again, catching back up to Whisper and Maylu.
"Now what?" Mega asked when the girls finally disappeared from sight.
Proto turned around, "Find that train."
"You have got to be kidding," Lan said as he, Chaud and Terra stood in top of an overpass, "I am not going to jump on a moving train, that's like a 20 foot drop."
"So what, you're just going to let your dad and all these people die?" Chaud asked, he knew that wasn't what Lan meant but he needed him to get past his fear.
"That's not what I meant," Lan replied, "but considering the fact that this train is border lining 300mph how do you suggest we get on it without killing ourselves? We may be crossfused but even that has its limits."
"Don't worry I've go to covered," Terra stated as she looked off into the distance before she tossed Lan and Chaud a battlechip, she could just see the train. "I guess it's a good thing I sometimes have too much time on my hands."
"Magnetic soles?" Lan asked as he looked at the battlechip not recognizing the name, "homemade?"
"Yeah." Terra replied, "It helps tame my over active imagination."
"You sure this'll work?" Lan asked, he was still skeptical.
"You have a better idea Hikari?" Chaud asked as he quickly crossed out for a second as he imputed the new chip. There wasn't time to find a better idea, they just had to pray that it would work. A few seconds later he felt a hand slipping into his. Looking up he noticed that it was Terra. She was standing between him and Lan and had taken a hold of both their hands. Looking off Chaud saw that the train was almost on top of them.
3-2-1
-Thunk-
"What was that?" Dark Whisper asked as she tied up the last of the conductors. It could have been her imagination but she thought she heard something land on the roof.
"They're here," Dark Proto replied, "you all know what to do, and stick to the plan, they can't know we're on their side."
"Lan you're not dead you can open your eyes now." Terra stated, the gang had taken the jump and had landed safely in about the center of the train.
"You sure?" Lan asked as he opened his eyes half afraid he was going to see the pearly gates.
"I can't believe these things actually held." Chaud commented as he effortlessly lifted his foot, it didn't feel heavy at all.
"That was kinda the point," Terra replied, "they're strong enough that nothing can knock us off the train, but they can be lifted just as easily as your foot."
"Wow, bravo, that's….boring, and we'll just see about that." Came the sarcastic comment, which caused Chaud, Terra, and Lan to turn around seeing that it was Dark Whisper and Dark Mega and Protoman. "What took you so long?"
"Maybe the fact that we had to cross the entire Pacific Ocean to get here, Daddy's let you out of the house I see." Terra replied making note that there was no dimentional area.
"Yeah." Dark Whisper said. "What can we say? We wanted to come out and play. But Daddy can still ground us if he wants, and take all this freedom away so I plan on being a very good girl; which sadly for you is very bad."
"I would suggest that you get out of out way."
"Why?" Dark Whisper asked, "Oh yeah, because you have to save your daddies don't you, well you better get on the ball," she continued as a clock suddenly appeared from nowhere above her, "your running out of time." Dark Whisper continued with a monovalent smile; that was until a plasma shot hit her from out of the blue knocking her to the ground causing everyone to look for who had fired the shot. It had been Whisper.
"What are you trying to do? Delete me?" Dark Whisper asked.
The look on Whisper's face didn't change. "Don't temp me." She replied.
Dark Whisper's face broke into a rich grin, she hadn't been expecting this. She looked Whisper dead in the eye, "Oh I plan too." she replied as she activated a long sword, "areasteal battlechip in!" she called as she disappeared reappearing before Whisper bringing down her sword only to have it quickly met.
All Terra could do was look on in shock, she had never seen her sister like this. Dark Whisper saw her expression too mistaking it for annoyance for not having been attacked first. "Oh don't worry," Dark Whisper stated as she replicated herself. I haven't forgotten about you.
Chaud and Lan looked on as Dark Whisper's replica started to lead Terra away from the group, as well as Dark Whisper and Whisper's continuing confrontation. This had been unexpected.
Dark Protoman and Dark Megaman observed the two for a while before recalling their attention.
"Hey," they stated in unison as they doubled themselves. "Don't forget about us."
"Wouldn't think of it," Chaud replied as he and Lan turned around before splitting into double crossfusion, their brothers standing beside them, "not on a million years."
"AAAAAAAAHHH!" Whisper yelled as she swung her sword at Dark Whisper. She didn't have time for fooling around with her, the lives of her father and the people on this train were at stake.
Dark Whisper was in a continual state of disbelief, she was amazed at the level of power Whisper was throwing at her, and she was finding it harder to avoid her strikes. "Barrier battlechip in!" she exclaimed as she threw up a force field to block one of Whispers attacks, however she misjudged the level of power and Whisper's sword cut right through striking her. "AAAHHH," Dark Whisper screamed as the sword cut through her right arm. Whisper was slightly taken aback by her reaction.
"To say you're always talking tough, I expected more out of you."
Dark Whisper looked back up at her, if she only knew why she wasn't like she always had been. She activated another sword. "Elect sword battlechip in download!"
"Bamboo sword battlechip in download!" Dark Whisper's replica called out as she activated the weapon and charged at her opponent.
"Areasteal battlechip in!" Terra called out as her body teleported form her previous position to one behind Dark Whisper. "Wide sword battlechip in!" she called out again as she jumped up ready to strike only to have Dark Whisper spin quickly around to meet her.
"You're going to have to do better than that." Dark Whisper said with a smile.
Terra grinned as she pushed herself back flipping into the air, and then bringing her leg underneath Dark Whisper knocking them from under her, "I already have."
"Long sword battlechip in!" Dark Mega and Dark Protoman called out as they both activated the glowing sword attacking together.
"Watch out!" Chaud called when the two darkloids started coming their way as he and Lan jumped to either side, meeting back up behind them.
"This might be harder than we thought." Lan commented, if Dark Mega and Dark Protoman were going to be attacking together it was going to be hard to get anything through.
"Then I guess we'll have to fight fire with fire," Chaud replied, "think you can handle it?"
"Absolutely," Lan replied as he turned his attention back to Dark Mega and Dark Protoman who were ready to attack again.
"Fire sword, aqua sword, battlechip in!" Dark Megaman and Dark Protoman said as they brought up their respective weapons bringing on another double assault, Lan and Chaud barely managed to avoid getting slashed.
"Ok this ends now, come on," Chaud called as he and Lan regrouped and matched up battlechips, "lets do this."
"Hey losers!" Lan exclaimed as he attempted to provoke their opponents. "Is that all you got?"
"You wish…" Dark Megaman replied as he and Dark Protoman started another advance once more.
"That's just what we wanted to hear," Chaud stated as he and Lan advanced as well jumping in the air as Dark Megaman and Protoman brought up their swords, "steal toe battleship in!"
"Why are you doing this?" Mega asked as he and Dark Megaman pushed against one another with their swords, they were in a complete deadlock, as he looked into Dark Megaman's eyes he was surprised at when he saw, the anger and fire that always burned was gone, it was strange…it was almost seamed as if he was looking into his own eyes. How was that possible? Being distracted, as he was Mega didn't notice that he had let his guard down until it was too late and Dark Megaman took full advantage.
"Dark wide sword battlechip in!" he called as he delivered as nasty strike to Mega's forearm. "Shouldn't get distracted," Dark Megaman commented as he tried to keep a hold on his crumbling mask. He knew why Mega's concentration had wavered; he had seen who he was turning into. Pausing for a second Dark Megaman looked inside himself trying to find any fragment of darkness that remained. Finding what was probably the last he brought it to the surface causing his now dark forest green eyes to once again burn fire red, but it wasn't going to last long. "Muramasa, battlechip in!"
"Double swords battleship in!" Dark Protoman called out as he transformed both his arms into the respective weapons before he charged his doppelganger.
"Long sword battlechip in!" Proto said as he counteracted the attack blocking both the swords almost effortlessly, almost. Something strange was going on, the battle was beginning to be too balanced. Ever since Proto had first faced his dark counterpart he had found that the navi was identical to him in every way save his morality. Instead of showing relentlessness in battle Dark Protoman always took it up a notch to the point of being vicious, but today it seemed as if he was holding back, as if he was only fighting hard enough to make it look like Proto was having to work for whatever damage he was able to cause, when it was actually all too easy. What was going on? "Elect sword battlechip in!" Proto called out again as he charged the dark navi.
"Bloody quartet!" Dark Protoman exclaimed as Protoman advanced and his double swords vanished being replaced by the four short and deadly metal serrated blades. When Proto got close he swung aiming for his back.
"Areasteal battlechip in!" Proto called out when he realized what Dark Proto was doing as he teleported from his place and then delivered a spin kick to the square of his back sending him to the trains roof leaving him pinned when one of his blades went through. "Muramasa, battlechip in!" Proto exclaimed as he brought down the gleaming sword only to have Dark Protoman block it, and then knock him back enough so he could get free.
"Good move," Dark Protoman commented, "lets see if you can do it again."
"We'll see," Proto replied as he brandished his sword before he and Dark Protoman charged each other again. This time ending up in a deadlock. As Proto looked for an advantage he began to notice other oddities about his darkened double. Since Dark Protoman was created from what Proto had been like when he had been under the influence of the darkchips he could tell that something was off. The suit and the strengthened armor along with the red visor was still the same but it seemed like Dark Protoman had somehow lost some muscle tone, and his cream colored wild mane of hair had somehow been tamed becoming lighter. While Proto was noticing this Dark Protoman could see the realization, mustering up whatever extra strength he could he pushed himself away from Proto, breaking his thoughts, but it was already too late. Proto had noticed too many discrepancies, and there was only one way to resolve them, he had to get Dark Proto's visor off. "Long sword battlechip in!" Proto called out again as he exchanged his sword and managed to catch Dark Proto off guard as he delivered a blow across his helmet being rewarded when he heard the sickening crack of it starting to break.
Dark Protoman was shocked but not surprised as he brought his sword back up to block another strike by Proto that was aimed at his head, only he misread Proto's intentions when it proved to be a feign and he received a heavy sucker punch to the side of his face which extended the crack and shattered the helmet causing Dark Protoman to stumble back as he grabbed his face. After a few seconds his long hair as well as the remnants of his helmet pixilated out leaving behind a short spiked cut that was identical to Proto's although his hair was more grayish silver than white, he even had the same black streaks. Proto could only stare as Dark Protoman slowly removed his hand and looked up at him with a pair of dusty slate eyes which were completely devoid of any form of hate or anger. What was this?
"Log me out." Dark Protoman stated.
"What?" Proto asked, still recovering from the shock.
"Just do it Emery," Dark Protoman exclaimed, "hundreds of lives depend on it!"
For a second Proto hesitated, not sure if he was walking into a trap, but something in the darkloid's eyes said otherwise, bringing down his sword he cut Dark Protoman through his crest and watched as he disappeared. Was he on his side?
"Anti sword, anti damage battlechip in!" Megaman called out as Dark Megaman came at him at full force leaving him to damage only a rag doll in his image. Dark Megaman was fixing to make another move when Protoman streaked past them heading toward the engine of the train, that meant only one thing...and his thoughts were backed up when he heard his leader's voice through their own neural link.
"DM, back off, there isn't much time left," Dark Protoman's words rang in the back of his mind, "AAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!" Dark Megaman groaned as Mega took advantage of the situation as he sliced his forearm.
Mega paused as he watched Dark Megaman grab his wound, he'd never seen him do that, when he had fought DM before the pain never seemed to phase him, in fact Mega wasn't even sure Dark Megaman could feel pain. Now seeing him cringe he almost seemed...human...however Mega didn't have time to dwell on it, he was running out of time, squaring Dark Megaman back up he charged again, "Fire sword battlechip in!"
Dark Megaman only managed to counteract at the last second, now that the last of his darkness had left him he found himself significantly weaker, he guessed it was true, rage was a strength. "Aqua sword, battlechip in!"he called out as he brought up his weapon right before Mega made contact with his temple, finding that he didn't have enough power to hold Mega off he quickly brought his sword down and stepped behind him. Mega quickly reset and attacked him again. Having noticed Dark Megaman's sudden weakened state, he wanted answers. His curiosity only arose more when Dark Megaman eyes suddenly changed from fire red back to dark green.
"Bamboo sword, battlechip in!" Mega called out again as he charged the darkloid soon finding himself blocked by and elect sword, gathering up all the strength he could muster he pushed against Dark Megaman's sword forcing him back and then once Dark Megaman's arm gave out he pinned him to the train. "What's going on here?" Mega asked, "tell me!"
Dark Megaman tried as hard as he could to come up with a lie but he didn't have any success. The only thing he had was the truth but he couldn't say that yet. "I can't," he replied.
"What do you mean you can't?" Mega asked.
"That's what I mean, I can't tell you yet, but just know that I'm not here to hinder you."
"Then what do you call this?" Mega asked, referring to all the time that had been wasted in the battle.
"Cover," Dark Megaman replied as he grabbed a hold of Mega's sword that he had held over him impaling himself through his own crest. Mega could only stare as the darkloid disappeared in a burst of pixel dust.
"Dark Megaman logging out."
"Fire, aqua, bamboo, elect sword battlechip in download! Element sword!" Dark Megaman and Dark Protoman called out as they combined their swords directing their attack at Lan and Chaud.
"Muramasa battlechip in dwownload!" Lan and Chaud called out together as they both brought up the powerful sword managing to split the attack but the two darkloids were ready for them, with two goldfists and a sharp uppercut they sent Chaud and Lan flying back once again.
"This isn't going very well," Lan replied as he pushed himself back up, although he and Chaud were working pretty good together Dark Megaman and Dark Protoman were better.
Chaud looked bleakfully upon their situation as well, they were going to be toast if they didn't do something soon. But there was a ray of hope. "Hey Lan, I have an idea," the dual haired teen commented as he spoke to his partner.
"I'm all ears," Lan replied as he nearly missed being clipped by Dark Megaman, at the moment he would take anything to get out of this situation.
"You remember the battle we hand with Sparkman? When he created those shadow clones?"
"And we had to switch places?" Lan asked back in reply, "sure how could I forget? But would that really work? I mean I know they're doubles of our brothers, but they've evolved since then."
"Evolved…" Chaud said as he turned the word over in his mind, that was it.
"What?" Lan asked when he sensed Chaud's mind had gone elsewhere.
"Evolution, that's what's going on," Chaud commented, "haven't you noticed that there was something strange about those two ever since the battle started?"
Lan thought about it for a second before he had to duck and cover again to avoid another one of Dark Megaman's attacks noticing that Chaud had a point, there was something different about the darkloids now that he mentioned it. Namely that they didn't seem as dark. Looking at Dark Megaman he noticed that even though he was still coming at him strong his blood lust was gone, along with his fire red eyes which had unnoticeably changed to a dark forest green. "Now that you mention it yeah," Lan replied, "they haven't been fighting was a hard, what's going on?"
"I don't know," Chaud replied, "but we don't have time to find out. And we have to get those two apart if we're going to do anything."
"Good fortune with that." Dark Protoman stated as he and Dark Megaman appeared behind the two netsavers once again attacking together.
"That's what you think," Chaud replied as he swung around suddenly taking Dark Protoman's legs out from under him, "Lan now!" Chaud exclaimed.
"Got it!" Lan replied as he jumped up, "Gut's punch battlechip in download!" he exclaimed as his fist enlarged and he struck the trains roof causing it to break and crack sending Dark Megaman flying. "Long sword battlechip in!" Lan called out again as he charged Dark Megaman catching him unarmed just as he hit the roof bringing the sword to his throat, Dark Megaman looked up at Lan with respect in his eyes.
"Good job little bro," he commented just as he received Dark Protoman's message in the back of his mind.
Lan didn't know how to take that, and for a second he just kneeled there until he found his voice, "You…are…not my brother." he stated.
Dark Megaman smiled, "but you can't deny that there isn't some connection," he replied as he brought down Lan's sword upon himself disappearing in a shower of pixels.
"RRRRRRRAAAAHHH!" Dark Protoman groaned as he brought his arms back down pushing himself off the trains roof right before Chaud was able to strike him with his sword, "that was a good move," he commented as he mirrored Chaud's previous move attempting to take out his legs only to have Chaud elude him, and give him a swift kick in the square of his back.
"I know..." Chaud replied with his famous smirk as he charged again, this time having it met. They stayed that way for a while until Dark Protoman suddenly let go causing Chaud to stumble. Quickly resetting Chaud waited for Dark Protoman to attack again but he never did. Sensing that time was running out DP decided to forget his own advice. Seeing his opponent's confusion Dark Protoman smiled.
"Good job," he sated, "you're getting better."
Chaud was stunned, "What?" he asked.
"There isn't any time to explain," Dark Protoman replied, "just get out of here, and take care of the train, we'll help your parents."
Chaud was even more confused, "What are you talking ab-" he started to ask but was cut off when Dark Protoman disappeared. What was that about?
"Spreader battlechip in download!" Dark Whisper exclaimed as the Gatling-gun appeared on her arm as she aimed at Terra.
"Huhh," Terra exclaimed, jumping up making an acrobatic move that would have made Spider-Man jealous, the bullets passing her on all sides, as she came down Terra cut through Dark Whisper's gun with her sword and landed behind her completely unscathed. When Dark Whisper turned around Terra wore the biggest smirk, "you missed."
"Well let's see how you handle this." Dark Whisper replied as she began to execute another attack. "Boomerang!" Dark Whisper exclaimed as a pair of particulary nasty boomerangs appered in her hands - completly metal with serated edges; an equaly cuel smile slid across Dark Whisper's face as she slung them at Terra.
"Oh!" Terra gasped as the deadly objects came flying at her, she was able to hit the train's roof just as they passed over her head but it wasn't over yet, the boomerangs circled back and seemed to dive toward her.
"Better stay sharp," Dark Sprit said as her attack came ever closer to Terra.
"Don't worry, that'll be your problem," Terra thought as she pushed herself off the roof, "Longsword battlechip in!" she called out as her right arm transformed into the gleaming weapon.
"Heh, what's that suppose to accomplish?" Dark Whisper asked.
"This," Terra replied with her own smirk as she slammed the sword into the train's roof pushing herself up into the air as she began to swing her body around the hilt, "you know what?" Terra asked as she activated the magnetized cells on the bottom of her boots orbitaly catching Dark Whisper's boomerangs and then slinging them back around to her, "magnetism can be an witch."
"AHHH!" Dark Whisper exclaimed when her boomerangs suddenly changed direction so quickly that she couldn't react.
"Dark Whisper logging out."
"Barrier 300, battlechip in download!" Whisper called out as she blocked Dark Whisper's oncoming attack, after a strange pause the darkloid had donned another weapon and had begun to attack again, thought this time it was without her usual cunning flair. And she seamed completely ill-equipped to deal with Whisper's anger. "Fire, aqua, bamboo, elect sword, battlechip in download, LIFESWORD!" Whisper exclaimed as she executed the program advance and wheedled the powerful blade.
"Sure you can handle that level of power?" Dark Whisper asked managing to keep up her attitude facade at least since all her other masks had since dissolved and vanished.
"I guess we'll see now won't we?" Whisper replied as she removed the sword from her right arm so she could grasp it by the hilt her delicate hands tightly clasp.
"Well what are you waiting for?" Dark Whisper asked once again as she activated a knight sword and shield, "I'm waiting,"
"AAAAHHHHGH!" Whisper roared as she advanced on the darkloid swinging her sword at her.
"Well I guess I got what I wanted," Dark Whisper thought as she watched Whisper come at her. As much as she had hated to do it, Dark Whisper had succeeded in drawing out Whisper's justified rage, stoking it and then using it against her. So now the netsaver wasn't fighting as well as she could have been. "Tisk, tisk, tisk," Dark Whisper stated as she and her brighter counterpart locked swords, "you're disappointing me cuz, I expected more out of you in the face of such adversity."
"Cuz?" Whisper asked with spite in her voice as she tried to break free from the darkloid only finding that she was completely hymned in, and with the power that was being exerted on both swords there was no question that one of them was going to snap, it was just a question of whose, and when. "I would hardly classify you as my cousin," Whisper continued, and you have no idea of the extent of my will."
"Actually I do," Dark Whisper replied, "I know everything about you, comes with the territory of being a clone of your darker side. Besides what else am I supposed to call you?"
"Nothing," Whisper replied darkly as she managed to find the strength to push harder with her sword, "because in a few seconds you'll no longer exist."
"Oh I really doubt it," Dark Whisper replied as she seemed to effortlessly recall enough strength to snap Whisper's lifesword like a twig down tot he quick. Dazed by her weaponless state Whisper didn't react when Dark Whisper pushed her to the floor, and before she knew it Dark Whisper was standing over her with her dark blue-violet boot on her chest and a knight sword to her throat, "Like it or not, I'm going to be around for a while."
"And I would beg to differ," Whisper replied as she grabbed hold of Dark Whisper's sword slamming it against her knee shattering it, then flipping back onto her feet. "Fan of a Gashia, battlechip in!" Whisper called out as two brightly colored fans appeared in her hands.
"Fans?" Dark Whisper asked with unconcerned laugh, "What are you going to do with those?"
"This," Whisper stated as she flung the two unlikely weapons Dark Whisper's way.
"Please," Dark Whisper whispered to herself as she ran forward dodging one of the fans and deflected the other, "was that the best you could do?"
"No," Whisper replied as she bolted from her place meting Whisper quickly hitting the ground sliding underneath Dark Whisper pushing up on the darkloid flipping her into the air just as the fan that she had deflected came flying back, "this is."
"What? AAHH!" Dark Whisper exclaimed as the fan quickly and cleanly cleaved through her crest.
"Dark Whisper logging out."
"Have you called Dark Whisper yet?" Dark Megaman asked as he and his other half converged back together, Dr. Hikari and the others don't have much time left.
That actually won't be necessary, " came two sudden simultaneous voices, which belonged to Dark Whisper and her replica, as she appeared and converged next to her friends.
"They took care of you themselves?" Dark Megaman asked surprised.
"What can I say they were both was determined," Dark Whisper replied, "not that I blame them, their father's life is on the line."
"And speaking of fathers we need to get back there." Dark Protoman commented "we've wasted enough time as it is."
"Huhhh, huhhh, huhhh," Whisper's breathed, her chest heaved up and down as her energy level slowly climbed back up. It had taken almost everything she had but she had defeated Dark Whisper.
"Wow," came a voice from behind her, it had spoken softly, but it startled Whisper all the same. When she turned around she saw that it had been her little sister.
"How long have you been there?" Whisper asked.
"Long enough to see Dark Whisper get trashed, good job."
"I wish I could take all the credit." Whisper replied, "but something was different about her, she seamed weaker somehow."
"You too?" Terra asked, "I thought it was just me, Dark Whisper's replica didn't fight me as hard as she usually dose either, it was almost like she wanted to loose."
Whisper stood still for a few seconds, it was a mystery, but right now they didn't have time to be thinking about it, the time they had to stop the train was quickly running out, "Well as great a mystery as it is we don't have time to think about it, we have to stop this train." Whisper stated as she stopped her wandering thoughts, "but I doubt we can do it alone."
"Don't worry sis," Terra replied as she looked behind her and spotted the rest of the gang heading towards them, "the calvary's here."
Dr. Hikari anxiously looked at the clock, they couldn't have much time left. Where were they?"
"Are you sure we can pull this off?" Dark Whisper asked as she Dark Megaman, and Dark Protoman reentered Scilab. "Because if we don't..."
"No," Dark Protoman replied bluntly, "but we have to try, we owe them that much."
"Oh, how touching," uttered a new voice, "Regal warned me that you might be turning into back sheep, but seeing you in action, well that just takes the cake." the voice belonged to another darkloid, and as it stepped out of the shadows it was reveled to the the unnamed darkloid from before.
"Timeman get out of out way," Dark Protoman growled, "time is running out, you're playing with innocent lives here!"
"I'm well aware of what I'm doing Dark Protoman." Timeman stated with a curt laugh. "And the good doctors and their friends aren't the only one's whose time is running short, yours is too. Regal sent me down here take care of you."
"We'll just see about that." Dark Whisper stated as she powered up her default weapon pointing it directly at Timeman's chest, but as soon as she did it, it suddenly lost power, and within the same second Dark Whisper began to feel strange, as of all her energy force was being drawn out of her, and it soon reached the point where she could no longer hold herself up, in no time her legs gave out and with a sicking thud she fell to the floor.
"Dark Whisper!?" Dark Megaman and Dark Protoman shouted together as they watched Dark Whisper lifelessly fall to the ground.
"What'd you do to her?" Dark Protoman demanded, but no sooner had he spoken those words the same strange feeling began to creep over him. Dropping to his knees he could see the same thing happen to Dark Megaman.
"It's quite simple really," Timeman replied as he stepped closer watching him comrades' demise. "Regal planted a fail safe into your programing. He foresaw the chance that you would turn against him and he wasn't going to allow anyone with as much information as you have waltz into the open arms of the netsavers. Even as we speak your program is being unwritten, in a few more seconds you wont even exist."
"You won't get away with this," Dark Protoman stated as the last of his energy force left his frame, "they'll stop you."
"On the contrary," Timeman replied as he watched Dark Protoman, Dark Megaman, and Dark Whisper pixelate out into nonexistance, "without you on their side we already have."
"Sword battlechip in!" Chaud called out as he drove the blade through the trains roof pulling it back so everyone could get through before he jumped in himself. The train was picking up even more speed now and it was within a mile of the station.
"OMG," Whisper and Terra gasped together when they noticed the monorails' two conductors slumped over on the floor.
"Are they dead?" Mega asked, it was a question he didn't really want the answer to.
"No, thank goodness," Terra replied, "they have a pulse, and it's strong, they're just unconscious."
"Guys we have a problem."
"What is it?" Whisper asked as she turned around to look at Chaud who had managed to pull up the trains netspace and quickly saw for herself what the problem was, the netspace was overrun with hordes of viruses.
"We'll never stop all those in time," she stated just as out of the corner of her eye she noticed the ½ mile mark. "What are we going to do?" Whisper asked when a loud, peacing, screeching, sound suddenly came from nowhere, "AAAHHHHHH!" Whisper screamed when the trains brakes unexpectedly activated and she and everyone else were thrown violently forward.
"What's going on?" Lan asked once he managed to pull himself back up.
"I don't know, but this train isn't going to make it, come on!" Proto exclaimed once he saw that the train was too close to the end of the line for the breaks to fully stop the it before it crashed, he and Chaud grabbed the two unconscious conductors and quickly pulled them into the next car, once everyone was inside they shut the door just in time as the engine slammed into the concrete wall at the end of the station just before the train came to a halt.
"Is everyone ok?" Terra asked, when the lights flickered back on she saw that everyone was alright. "What about the passengers?"
"They're fine," Mega replied as he made a quick scan through the monorail's systems, "not that's there'd be any injuries, there wasn't even anyone on this train besides the conductors."
"What do you mean?" Whisper asked.
"What I mean is that this was all a cruel joke." Mega replied, "The christening was scheduled for today, but Regal had his viruses hijack the monorail before anyone boarded. This whole thing was created to be a waste of time. But what I want to know is why'd the emergency break come on all of a sudden? If I'd still been human I would have broken my arm."
"I don't know," Chaud said, "all of the viruses just logged out for no reason, once that happened the emergency system kicked in. And it's a good thing that no one else was here, with a sudden stop like that there would have been some major injuries."
"Well let's not count our blessings just yet," Proto commented as he forced the nearest door open, "this isn't over yet."
"OMG," Terra breathed as she and the others arrived at Scilab, everyone and everything was there, the police, firemen, EMT's, cruisers, ambulances, by the looks of it, it seamed as if disaster had already happened. As the group got closer they were met with a group made up of police and firemen.
"I'm sorry you can't go in there," one of them stated as they blocked their path, "it's too dangerous now."
"What? What are you talking about? Those are our families in there!" Terra exclaimed.
"And that's exactly why we can't let you go in." another said, "We have no clue when that buildings going to blow, we aren't even sending our own men in, we can't risk you too."
"So you're just going to let them die? Burn to death?" Lan asked, "that's my father you're talking about abandoning!"
"Son I'm sorry-" the man started to say when he was cut off as Scilab suddenly erupted into flames with a loud, "FROOM!" the blast being so strong that it knocked everyone off their feet throwing them into the air.
Terra slowly picked herself up off the ground completely in a daze, the flames, the sirens, the screams, the moans of pain, even the people running madly around her seemed like they didn't exist, there was only one thing that was real to her, a voice that she heard screaming, little did she know it was her own.
"NNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
TBC
