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terratasha: Yes, that's the second time I've been called that (which means that the quality of the story is good)! So yeah, happy to be called a lit tease. Makes me wanna write more. But yeah, who is ready to finally see Dark Hub talk to Lan in like six years (it's been a while since I looked at this thing's timeline XD).
MWSeraph: Final Operation! Set! Execute! Oh wait...you're a reader...um...Final Chapter/Episode! Posted! Read On!
True-inTha-Blue: No prob! And well, here it is!
Sad Ghost Moment: This is the last complete story I have in my Doc Manager. I've officially got no stories to upload until DN4 unless I get some spare time and write a one shot or something. I was toying with an AU not at all BN but using all the characters but I don't think I'll write it. At least not now. It's one of those stories I would probably have to put a lot of planning into and I don't really have the time to do that right now. However on the topic of Double Network...
DN Explanation: So, the reason why 3.5 isn't coming out next is simply because of the story itself. Gav and I are the official authors of Double Network as you all know and because we have plans after 3.5 we can't really share any of them with BassDS until 4 and 5 are produced and posted seeing as how he is only joining us for "3.5". After a couple of meetings, several plot proposals, and shot downs, we decided to push back the release of "3.5" til after the DN Series conclusion in DN5 and in doing so the "3.5" will act like a DN6, but as of right now there are no current ideas about the name of the DN/SF crossover.
So yeah, pretty much got stung by the fact that we can't release every detail and sometimes it's hard to come up with a plan when everyone on your team is not up to speed. Anypanel, to my DN fans, sorry to get you all hyped just to say that it's delayed but we'd all rather give you something good rather than something we threw to Cutman to chop up. We go for Slashman cooking around here.
...Alright alright, I'll stop with the BN puns/jokes
...for now!
Roll Merge Contest (Aura and Terra) Deadline August 30th!
Episode 12: Testing The Bonds
Ghost and Tox backed up nervously just a tiny bit. The Dark King was making no attempt to hide his power and it was actually getting to the two Dark Hunters just how much he was exerting. Dark Hub shot them a dark smirk as he let go of Reina/Roll in his arms, "What's the matter? Aren't you two supposed to be stopping me from engulfing the world in darkness?"
"You really think we're that stupid to get close to you? She has Bass's power; and you're well...you," Tox said as she lowered her buster, slightly unsure of whether or not to use it. A head to head with Megaman was a bad move with that air of unpredictability and another sneak attack seemed to be less of an option.
"Hub! Snap out of it!" Lan yelled at the monitor, suddenly grabbing everyone's attention. His brother…he was right there. So close but yet another million miles away. The scene reminded Lan when he had almost had to delete him as Dark Mega. He had barely convinced himself to do it then. Now, with the hurt as raw as ever, he wasn't sure if he would ever be sane if his brother was ripped away from him like this.
Hub gritted his teeth and sighed, "Lan. It's people like you in the world is the reason I'm doing this. You're incapable of change. Even six years and you're still too dependent on me. Still trying to get me to change back so that your life can go back to normal. Can't you see that the independent navis are the one who are superior. The individual stones that are brought together create the toughest wall. Navis cannot afford to be held back by the useless bonds these humans make to us. We all shall unite under a dark canvas and together will make this world our own! Without you humans who cling to us so desperately! And yes, since I know I have to spell things out for you, I do include you."
Silence surrounded the room as everyone gaped at Dark Hub's words. Lan felt numb. Useless bonds? Their connection. Their brotherhood? Useless? No, this wasn't right. There was no way that Hub would say that. It had to be the influence of whatever Regal had done to him. The teen had been in too much shock in his early years at the scene around him. When he had woken up, everything Regal had said was muddled. He could only remember patches and see his lips move without sound some times. So, he had come to the conclusion that Megaman had been infected with a Dark Chip again somehow. Maybe Regal had Nebula Gray power one up so that the Chaos Unison wouldn't work. As Lan continued to think, the quiet was broken.
"He...he…"
"Who?" Reina/Roll looked around angrily. Who dared insult Hub's dream?
"HAHAHA!" Ghost laughed. Tox looked at him crazily while Emerald just shook her head as she noticed Ghost make a sign with his hand behind his back. She always thought that her navi was sorta crazy, but normally she enjoyed his craziness. She smirked, having a strong feeling what he was "laughing" about, as she silently downloaded a Sonic Blade. Emerald whispered something to her sister.
"Oh, I'm sorry. That's just priceless. I mean...you're trying to destroy the very thing that made you one of the most revered and frightening navis on the planet! Also, renouncing who you really are! I love that bit! When did you rip out the human side of you and become a full data navi? Really when? I guess I should at least get you a cake or something for the birthdays missed!" Ghost cackled. For a second there, he was worried that they wouldn't have a way out of this mess.
"What did you say?" He sneered, infuriated. His red eyes blazed with irritation at the light blue navi.
"I said….Run! Sonic Blade!" Ghost yelled as he fired a sonic wave at the two navis. The wave of air managed to push them back far enough for him and Tox to make a run for it.
Amber saw her moment, "Geddon 2! Blinder! Download!" The panels around them started to crack and opened up holes all over the ground. Ghost grabbed Tox's hand and ran for the deeper section of the network. On the dark souls' side, Reina/Roll had grabbed Dark Hub's hand before he had fallen down a pit leading to the unknown darkness. Her Air Shoes were helping to keep them both from falling through.
"I'm...not...letting...go!" she strained. That punch to her core and the sudden break in her cross had weakened her severely, even with the extra energy from Hub. Still though, she wasn't going to let go. Neither side of her was prepared to. She barely pulled him back up to the point he could grab onto the ledge. Hub managed to heave himself up and balance on the small parts that hadn't taken a hit and lean against the only one of them who could float.
He narrowed his eyes as the pink navi caught her breath. The two Dark Hunters had three minutes head start on them. Three minutes too many.
"THAT WAS CRAZY!" Tox yelled as Ghost tugged her into the second and last area of the network.
"Did you have a better idea?" He yelled back as they continued to run, "You think it's back here?" he asked to Emerald.
"Has to be! You've got two minutes left to get ahead of them! Huh?" Emerald said as Baryl nudged her. He was holding a chip in his hands, a Colonel Army Chip to be precise. The black haired girl smiled as he nodded for her to take it. She downloaded it without hesitation as little soldiers began to pop up in the panels behind the two navis.
"Um...am I the only one who isn't enlightened by your little plan?" Amber asked, her nerves were only somewhat racked.
"We can't beat Megaman in a straight on fight right now, but if we can destroy the transmitter he won't be able to broadcast whatever he's trying to send to the world. We can stop his plan now and focus on the navi later. But then that means we need to give these guys as much time as possible to get there." Emerald explained quickly as Mayl walked over to her.
The red haired girl reached in her pocket and placed a battle chip in Emerald's hand, "I'm not sure how much good it'll do, but if you can find a use for an Anti-Navi Chip then maybe there's some hope."
Emerald looked down to see it was an Mettuar Virus chip. She nodded back at Mayl, "We'll get her back. She's on the edge, you saw her yourself. We just need to tip her over." She said before downloading the chip. Mettuars of various types appeared next the soldiers. The EXs, the ones with gray helmets, slammed their pickaxes into the ground and the shock wave produced poison and cracked panels.
Mayl looked over behind her. Chuad was still focused on his work in Black Earth while Lan was still looking at the monitor. She wasn't sure if she had seen him blink in the last couple of minutes. She walked back over to him as Emerald smirked, 'And she said he wasn't her boyfriend.' She wasn't stupid enough to not see that she loved him. She was just blinding herself to it.
"Get in your cell!" the guard roughly pushed Regal into the small room. He had been dropped off by two NetOps earlier after they had recovered him in an abandoned building in Kotobuki. The man fell to the ground roughly as the door was closed behind him. He breathed a sigh of relief as he got up and saw that the door didn't have an electric lock.
Videoman had some...elegant tastes as a dark soul. But in the end, it wasn't even the navi's twisted mind that had broken him. What made him work so hard was the fact that he knew he would fix his mistake. Seeing Dark Hub reminded him of something he had seen in an old SciLab file regarding the Navi Project, mainly the side of the project forged by Yuichiro Hikari. He had seen the file after he had looked into some old SciLab archives when he was still a trusted scientist.
There had been several who had voiced their concerns against importing a human into the cyber world. One of the foremost complainers was a Dr. Maximus Robinson. The man had been a scientist and SciLab worker for ten years when Megaman was created. Apparently, he believed that darkness would exist on the Net and that having a navi with such human abilities would be the end to them all. When the navi had been created, the doctor left the science labs swearing that if it acted out of line at all, he would return to destroy it.
When Videoman had seen the footage that Videoman played, it reminded Regal of such terrors that man was capable of. However, his mind had been numbed by the time Videoman had appeared. He was a brilliant mind. He realized who he had been up against shortly after the navi had introduced himself. In an old SciLab journal he had read, he had discovered the name Hub Hikari, the deceased second born son of the Hikari family. It hadn't taken him long to realize that Megaman was the reborn child, Hub, in light of the Navi Project. It wasn't like Hub was a popular name after all.
Dr. Maximus was right. A navi with Megaman's capabilities was extremely dangerous and he had activated his evil soul with the power of Nebula Gray. And Regal would be damned if he was to live in a world created by that navi human hybrid. The Sync Program would work, but there would be a great catch indeed.
The doctor smiled as he laid back on the small cot. By the end of the day, the world would be safe and no one would know that he was the hero. Well...until he found a practical way of ruling the world without making it seem like he left his cell.
Back to the drawing board.
"There's the console!" Tox yelled as activated her buster and started firing needles at the machine. As the projectiles sunk into the machine as the programming inside of it started to bug due to the poison. How exactly poison affected a machine, Tox didn't really now. She was just gad to see it working.
Ghost turned his head to hear the sound of guns going off and a lot of "Met!"s behind them, "Not a moment too soon. They'll be here any minute!" Ghost activated a Elec Sword and stabbed it into the ground, causing the machinery to start frying out. Emerald downloaded a Data Clear chip before sending another round of chips.
"Program Advance! Spreader! Triple Download! Hyper Burst!" both NetOps shouted as the advance appeared on their navis' hands and they fired. The result was a very destroyed area, but the job had been done. Nothing was left of the console or much of the area it had been on. The backup Soul Net was a bust.
"I don't believe it...we did it!" Tox said before she felt a presence behind her. An angry, dark presence. She had barely made it out of the way before the dark navi threw a fireball at her.
"Um..is there a fireball chip we don't know about?" Ghost asked as he too was dodging attacks from the navi as well.
"No, but there is going to be a pain chip coming soon with your faces on it!" Hub roared as two small chains appeared around his wrists. Three small spikes on both sides of his shoulders ejected out as his bodysuit turned purple with blue streaks running across his torso. Flames danced off of his body. His crimson eyes seemed to glow red with anger.
"That's…" Baryl stopped short. They thought it had been destroyed with everything else in Soul Net. Wait, could Megaman even download something that big?
"Well? What the hell is that supposed to be!" Emerald yelled, shaking the man for some kind of answer. From what she could tell, Megaman's power had just shot through the room, decided to come back into it, mess it up even more, and ascended again into the heavens.
"Nebula Gray…" Lan said in disbelief as he dropped to his knees. He had been unconscious for the time when the digital form of man's evil was installed into his brother. He had thought it was just a Dark Chip. He hadn't know that man's evil essence in full had been inside of him! And now, he was seeing the results of this events in full. Not even a Dark Mega could compare to this.
"A...Nebula…Gray...Cross?" Ghost asked uneasily. You know…fighting Megaman in his base form didn't seem so bad anymore.
The navi sneered angrily at the two Dark Hunters, unaware of Roll/Reina somewhat checking him out, though she seemed to be having some kind of internal debate about it.
"You two are the first to make me push this extreme. But you'll be the last!" A dark blue flame came into existence and circled around him, "Since the humans are here, then I assume your goal is to save Roll and Hub Hikari from the darkness. Well, that won't be much of an option." He said as he placed the flame within himself and stepped in front of the pink navi.
"NO!" Lan yelled.
"Lan?" Mayl asked, concerned about him.
The boy slammed his fists into the control panel as the room went completely quiet. "That flame is the only thing that can damage Nebula Gray. He's invincible otherwise." He murmured, his eyes completely dead.
"You won't be saving Hub Hikari because the only way to get to me is through him! Delete my Dark and Soul Core if you wish, but just knowing that you would have failed in your efforts will be good enough for me!" Dark Hub raised his hand as a fire ball grew in his hand, "Now die! Grave Fire!"
Both navis tried to jump out of the way. However, they were forced back in when Roll/Reina started firing arrows at them from behind Gray Cross Hub. She wasn't strong enough yet to go back into Bass Cross, but she could still fight from behind the scenes.
The fire singed the navis as Hub started firing again. The two navis tried to get back up to their feet, but the barrage of enemy fire kept them from going too far. Emerald and Amber looked at each other. They still couldn't use any of their best chips, but this kind of power against them. Well, let's just say it was hard to keep their hands away from their chips on the account that most of them either would work or would definitely cause harm to Megaman's Dark Core.
Finally though, the scene was enough to cause someone to snap.
"Roll stop! Please! I know you're there! Stop helping Megaman! We can bring you both back!" Mayl said. She glanced at her PET. It was the most current model; despite not having Roll, she never failed to update the device...just in case she came back, "Please, I need you back. I love you. You've been my best friend for my whole life. I've felt like there's been a hole in my heart for years. Please, come back. I know you're in there somewhere. I'm begging you...please come back," she said as tears began to fall. She tried to keep her composure for as long as she could. Roll needed to hear her. Two cores or not, she was still in there. She had to be. Despite not looking the part, she was a strong navi. She knew she was.
Upon the next fireball, there were no arrows keeping Ghost and Tox from dodging completely. As the Nebula Gray cross turned around, he could see his pink navi gripping her head. She staggered a moment trying to point her arrow at the navis, but something was holding her back, "Mayl…"
A bright light began to shine once again. The dark queen sneered as she brought back out her whip, "Impossible. I've grounded you twice now! How are you still getting back up!"
In front of her was a girl with blond hair that only went down to the middle of her back. Despite having an older body, she still moved like a newborn. In many ways she was. She was born in darkness but still only knew the path of light. In the shadows, she had found a data file in her systems and had recovered memories that she didn't even know she had. However she knew one thing, she had been complacent for too long. And she was calling for her. She had missed her. And she was going to let herself be the cause of her pain anymore.
"I'm...not...leaving her again!" the girl yelled as she hurled a pink orb at the queen. She jumped back and stared at the lighter half in disbelief. The queen could feel the burning sensation again. That needle...was that program still running? No, her love's energy should have dissipated it. Then...what the heck was giving her this pain?
"I'm not letting you keep me here anymore! I may love Hub, but I will not betray my friend!" the girl roared as she fired another orb. This time as it hit the ground, more explosions went off around the Dark Queen. The girl started walking closer and closer to her.
The queen snapped her whip at her and wrapped it around her arm, "Submit. You've lost! Just be a good little girl and go back to your Soul Core!" Electricity ran along the length of the weapon and zapped the girl. But she merely gritted her teeth and pressed forward.
"No! I've been locked up for too long. Granted, I was hidden away when I was created, but I won't remain silent anymore! I don't care what it takes. She's more than my friend to me. I love her! And I'm not letting you get in my way anymore! Now, get the hell out of my body!" the girl reared back and punched the queen straight in her chest.
"You don't understand do you...you're just as tainted as he is. You can never get rid of me!" she sneered as she grabbed hold of the arm that had gone through her.
"Then I'll learn how to suppress you. Maybe drawing off your power will be enough to keep you quiet!" the girl began to glow pink as the aura surrounded them both. Soon enough, the queen found herself being absorbed by him.
"No...no...this can't be possible. I can't be beaten by you! You're...you're just a navi!" she screamed in pain as the light began to engulf the whole area.
"Well...he made me more than just data…"
"AAGGHHH!" she screamed as her navi symbol began to crack. Mayl's eyes widened in fear as she realized the very thing that held a navi's core data was beginning to break. However, as soon as it broke data from inside of her began to take over the areas where the symbol was gone. The data compiled itself and reformed the symbol. Her heart was still present, except it was a bright blue instead of pink. The background became a mix between a mix between red and pink. Her helmet symbols had a slash mark running across it in a diagonal fashion.
To Dark Hub's disappointment, her eyes revealed the bright green that one side of him had missed for years.
Mayl couldn't talk as her navi blinked a couple of times and her PET began to go off. Navi data, Roll . EXE, downloaded. Navi reconnected to PET. Without hesitation, she jacked Roll out of the network. As she reformed back in the PET, Mayl crushed the device in a hug. She heard the laugh that she had been dying for six years to hear again.
"I'm lucky I can't breathe. I'm pretty sure you would have crushed all my ribs with that one," Roll joked as Mayl pulled back the device to look at her. The two didn't speak for a moment before Roll smiled at her with her warm green eyes. Not the purple red ones that she had had for years, but her true colors had returned, "I'm back. Sorry I was so late. It was dark outside, but you brought me back."
"Roll…" Mayl whimpered before finally letting herself cry. But for once, at least they were happy tears.
'I really hope that killed his spirit. At least then, he'll be less likely to fight right?' Ghost thought as Roll was jacked out. He saw Tox smile next to him. At least now one of the navis had been returned back home. Plus now, it was two on one rather than two on two.
"You...you took her…" he murmured. Dark Hub felt numb. Reina had been his constant; she had been the only way he didn't completely become the lion in its darkened rage and held onto his sanity. She had been the one thing he had never been tempted to destroy. The one compromise he never went against, even in his darkened state. Without her, there wasn't anything to stop him from becoming the beast that everyone was afraid of.
'On second thought. Please let his spirit be fine. I don't like where this is going all of a sudden…' Ghost thought as the navi looked at them with expressionless eyes.
"YOU TOOK HER!" he roared as he fired a wave of energy...which turned into more waves...and more waves. The impact slammed into both Dark Hunters as they were thrown backwards.
Ghost moaned as he tried to stand back up. That blast had drained him of at least half of his energy and looking at the dark navi, he seemed better than ever.
"Mega!" Roll said from her PET. Mayl looked nervously at Lan after she had whipped her eyes. The boy hadn't said anything since Megaman had crossed Nebula Gray. The pink navi turned to Mayl, "I still have the Bass Cross, maybe I can talk to him?"
"No! I'm not risking losing you again!" Mayl screamed. She didn't look back at Lan after she said it; she couldn't. She knew she was being selfish, but she had just gotten her back. Part of her had just healed from the infection that had torn her apart for years. She didn't want to have such a wound torn open so soon.
"Your heart is in the right place, Roll, but with your recent transformation back and the events before then, you may not be ready to go back to fight just yet. The Bass Cross may cause more damage to you than what it is worth at the moment," Baryl explained as Mayl blew a sigh of relief.
The pink navi looked back nervously at the screen. 'Hub...'
The red haired girl stared from the screen, to Lan, and back on the screen. Dark Hub threw an orb which turned into a snake that rushed the field and smashed into the ground. Ghost and Tox had managed to roll out of the way but the impact it had made was much more deadly. Several more panels were cracking and holes were appearing all around the area. And with the little area they had left, the Dark Hunters would lose. Even without Roll there, Ghost couldn't get close and Tox couldn't line up a shot with all the chaos going on. The girl knelt down in front of Lan trying to get his attention, "Lan, you need to talk to Mega...no Hub. Your brother! He needs you!"
"Nebula Gray…"
"Come on snap out it! You spent years searching for him. You risked breaking into SciLab to try and get yourself on the Net to search for him. You knew what had happened to him and because he looks like an enemy you're going to flip out on him!" Mayl shook him hard, trying to get him out of his daze.
"TOX!" Amber screamed. Mayl looked up just in time to see the purple navi being slung across the ground. Somehow, she must have jumped into the wrong direction and had landed in front of Dark Hub's line of fire. As she smacked the hard floor, her helmet broke in two. When she stopped skidding, she didn't move. She wasn't deleted, but it looked like she had blacked out.
Ghost was struggling to get back up to his feet, "Amber! Jack her out now! She's a sitting duck!"
Amber made a sorry face at her sister as she pulled out her navi. Emerald nodded, if it had been Ghost she would have done the same. Which from the looks of things, was going to be in a few more hits. She had burned out all of her Recovery Chips. And every Aura Chip she had got destroyed in one hit anyway.
Dark Hub walked over to the weakened light blue navi. Emerald's eyes blazed. Enough of this crap. She walked over to the brunette and pulled him from out of Mayl's hands. The brown eyed boy looked into the crimson eyes of the girl before his head was whipped backwards. She had punched him...again.
"We did it for you. We didn't use any chips that could hurt him. Tox didn't poison him and Ghost didn't destroy his Dark Core! We laid off the heavy stuff to make sure that we wouldn't kill him. But I swear to you if you don't get off your ass and talk to him, I will delete him!" Emerald yelled in his face, "I don't care anymore, Hikari! Ghost is my friend too! He's been there for me just like Roll and Megaman have been there for Mayl and yourself. Asking me to trade his life for your brother's...I'm sorry. I can't do it. Fix your navi! Otherwise the next order I'm giving Ghost is a direct order to get rid of him!"
"Emerald…" Mayl started, concerned for Lan.
"NO! He's being selfish! You reached out to Roll and she responded," she turned away from the girl and back at Lan, "If your bond is so great, call off your brother. NOW!" she yelled.
"GAAH!" Ghost said as he was bashed into the ground. It was getting harder to move again. The data repaired by that last recovery chip was once again undone. Every chip he had was either useless or broken. Their only options left were the Midnight and Drake Blades. And last time he checked, he was supposed to keep Megaman alive.
"Well...this has been fun. But since you've taken everything from me, I will obliterate you with everything I have. Prepare for your deletion Dark Hunter. Sync Program!" the dark navi began to have purple rings formed around him, "Now, di-" The crossed navi could feel something like a stabbing effect on the inside. He keeled over as he moaned. Not now. Hub couldn't be deciding to wake up now! But then, what else was this rush? The Full Synchro had formed perfectly. So then why did he feel so...incomplete?
'You are always linked,' a voice rang in Lan's head. Just like it had done so many years ago. Just like he had always told himself. His whole reason for believing that Megaman was still alive. His eyes widened as he heard Dark Hub struggling after the program had run. He was an idiot. A stunned doe-eyed idiot. And there he was, proving to him that he was still there. He just needed some help.
"Emerald, give me your PET," Lan said.
The raven haired girl gave him a bewildered look, "The hell?"
"Look, I will talk to him. But if you want to beat him without hurting him, I need to do it. I know his moves the best," he explained quickly.
Emerald looked at him for a moment before smirking, "You know I'm going to slug ya again for waiting this long to get back in action right?"
"Yeah, I guess that's fair," Lan sighed as he took the PET from her, "Alright, Ghost! I'm going to send you some battle chips alright?"
"Please let some of those be recovery chips…" the navi mumbled as he barely managed to get back up. He honestly couldn't wait until this day was over. After being knocked in the head and shot in the hand by Tox and beaten to a pulp by Dark Hub, the only thing he wanted to do was take a nap.
"Roger that," Lan said as he directed his attention back to the screen, "I'm sorry I doubted you, Hub. But I'm going to make up for that now! Ghost! Final Operation! Set!"
"Execute!"
"Recover 300! Double Download! Fire Sword! Download!" a pink aura quickly appeared and disappeared as some of Ghost's data was repaired. A fire sword appeared on his hand. Ghost ran forward towards the weakened navi.
Hub shook off the feeling for the moment and grabbed the sword before breaking it over his knee. Ghost jumped back as the dark navi fired shots from his buster, "Lan! Pretty sure a close combat game is out! But long ranged isn't that nice of an option either with that fire he throw around. But at least he seems to be concerned with someone else" he mumbled as the dark navi was clutching at his navi symbol.
"Just...die…Dark Serpent," once again the snake rose up and crashed into the ground, breaking more panels and making the area even more unstable.
"Area Steal! M-Cannon! Download!" Ghost surged forward and appeared next to the navi. He fired his cannon directly at him, though avoided hitting the navi's symbol.
"Why...gaahh...won't...you...die?" Hub groaned as he staggered back. The pain was getting worse. What was wrong with him? He was fine up until… Regal. No. Videoman had broken him! This...this wasn't happening. Regal did not betray him. He would have been to scared to dare defect from him!
"Hey Lan? You noticing it too right?" Ghost asked.
"Yeah, since he tried using the Full Synchro program he's been getting weaker." Lan noted.
"You don't think that the program is made to kill him do you? It was Regal who programmed it," he said.
"Well let's not wait and find out," Lan responded, not liking the conclusion, "Hub! I know you're in there! You can beat this! You beat him before and you can beat him again! And then, we can all go home! Dad and Mom have missed you a lot. I...I missed you a lot. It wasn't easy not having you to nag me about homework or to care about school. Sometimes I wonder how I actually graduated without you. But I don't want to live the rest of my life without you by my side. You're not just my navi; you're my brother! Come back Hub! I know you can do it! Snap out of it!"
"Grr...Lan...Shut up!" the dark navi exploded as a shock wave of energy blew Ghost back. The navi quickly recovered his footing seeing as how not doing so would have sent him over the edge and noticed that the dark navi was trying to stop the Sync Program. He was trying to tear apart the rings that surrounded him.
"What a second...Lan! It's the Full Synchro! As long as it's up, Hub's around to break free. We need to stop him from tearing it apart!" Ghost said, putting the pieces together. The program was generating power for both the System and Soul Cores!
"Wait. Emerald, you have that Holy Stage and Dark Trap chip?" Lan asked.
"Yeah, it's right-Hey! You could've at least asked," she replied as he snatched the chips from her hand and downloaded it into the PET.
"I like your style, kid!" Ghost said as the yellow panels took effect and several wires took hold of Hub.
"What the hell is this!" he roared as the wires sunk in.
"Program Advance! Elec Pulse 3! Trumpy! Discord! Sonic Blast!" Lan activated the attack as an amplifier of sorts appeared on Ghost's hand.
"Hope you like buggy programming!" Ghost yelled as a loud noise echoed throughout the network and hit Dark Hub. The navi looked wildly at him with eyes a mix of green, brown, and crimson.
Lan yelled, "SNAP OUT OF IT! WAKE UP HUB!"
"I don't care who you are! You're not taking this body back!" the dark knight roared. Over the years, he had come wear the lion as an armor. He had gotten used to living in his kingdom. However, someone had started to break down the doors that kept him in the pit. And now, he was engaged in a sword fight between someone who he had thought he would never see again.
"You underestimated the power of bonds and Full Synchro! There is no way to fully harness its power without the bond of a NetOp and Navi! Your misuse of its power is disgusting! Your degradation of this network is horrible! I can't believe I let you almost destroy me so many years ago!" Hub yelled as his blade grew darker, even a bit purplish in color.
"Oh, using my power eh?" the knight smirked.
"No, just borrowing soon to be friends'. By the way, I've had enough of you! I'm taking my body back! Toxic Blade!" Hub yelled as the shiny purple blade cracked the knight's Dark Blade and pierced through the his armor. They stood there like that for no one knew how long before the knight started cackling. The knight pushed himself on the sword and brought himself closer to Hub. The swordsman reached up and yanked off his helmet.
As the two looked at each other, Hub saw himself...just with red eyes, "Do what you may...you will never get rid of me. Nebula Gray was just the beginning of this. I've been here since the very day you were born. Kill me here but," he said as he pointed to his lighter half's chest, "You'll never get rid of me there. And that my friend, is the most refreshing news I've had in years. Have fun living in fear of the greatest weapon to the world ever created...you."
"AAAHHHHHHH!" Hub roared as the dark colors drained from out of him and was replaced with the old blue regalia. His Navi Symbol returned to its glorious yellow and red color scheme. It probably didn't break due to the fact that his programming was returning to normal while Roll's had to adapt to the new core. As the change finalized, he walked forward a couple of feet before being jacked out immediately.
The light blue navi sighed happily, "It's over. It's actually over," Ghost said as he heard to cries of joy from Lan and the others in the room, "Hey Emerald, mind getting me outta here? I feel like crap."
He smirked as he heard his NetOp's laugh, "Sure thing partner. And by the way, thanks...for everything."
"We're friends aren't we?"
"Yeah?" she said uncertainly, not sure what he was trying to prove.
"Then why are you thanking me? If I'm your friend and your navi, I'm supposed to look out for you."
Emerald laughed, "Point taken. Alright, Ghost. Jack out."
Epilogue: One and A Half Years Later
"Explain to me again why I'm here?" Emerald said as the made another round in the mall.
"Because, you're not going to go dressed like that to the party tonight." Amber said while Mayl rolled her eyes. She already knew how this conversation was going to go. Behind her, Lan was dragging behind. He too was not happy about being involved on this little escapade.
"And besides, no one has picked up Christmas presents yet. Well you know, besides us navis." Ghost commented before being jabbed by Tox.
"We all know Ghost. You know, if you if you wanted a specific present, you should've just asked asked earlier like the rest of us." the purple navi said.
"Well a certain couple in the area failed to tell me when we were putting in requests…" Ghost sent a mock glare over to Roll and Megaman.
"Don't blame us because you were asleep when we emailed you." Roll responded. Her arm was linked around Megaman's own as the blue navi sent an apologetic look to the lighter blue one. He wasn't about to get into this argument.
"That's Ghost 0, Roll and Tox...I lost track. Ghost, how much are you down by?" Mayl asked cheekily.
"I hate everyone but Emerald…" Ghost sighed.
"Aww...we know you love us," Roll said poking him.
Over the past year and a half, the four navis and humans actually managed to become a strong group of friends. Emerald became sorta of the kid sister to Mayl while becoming more of Lan's older one, despite being two years his junior. Amber on the other hand was more of the mother of the group. Mayl and Lan eventually started dating, being official for about a year now. In other news, the relationship between Lan and his father were slowly being repaired. It wasn't easy getting past everything, but things were beginning to look up. Mainly because Lan guessed he could see why roaming the Net could have been detrimental to his health and Dr. Hikari thought that he had not done enough to find his son.
Roll and Megaman continued their relationship as a married couple, though they started their lives officially a few days after they settled back into their lives as "normal" Net Navis. It was quite interesting explaining the whole marriage and human and artificial soul thing to everyone, especially to both of the NetOps families. Ghost and Tox resigned as Dark Hunters. There wasn't a need for them anymore. Dr. Richardson had disbanded the group a few days later. Although he was facing some scrutiny from the officials, it appeared that no one would be placing charges. His work had been quite beneficial, despite its glaring detriments. Since their NetOps had become friends, the navis too bonded. Although, Ghost and Tox acted like the older siblings in the group.
"So, is that it for the shopping?" Lan groaned. They had been walking for hours. It was actually a miracle that Emerald hadn't started complaining earlier.
"Yeah I think so. Chuad's Christmas party is tomorrow evening right?" Amber asked.
"That's what the email said," Megaman confirmed, "Man, hard to believe last year…"
"You're telling me. Last year, we were all ready to kill each other and now we're all family. We'll with the except of the dating couples in the room." Ghost commented, "Now, we're just waiting for the two humans to give each other rings to catch up since their navis just so happened to shotgun it behind everyone's backs."
Tox and Roll gave each others sly looks before they both elbowed Ghost for the shotgun comment, "Why did you do that?" he groaned after getting the wind knocked out of him, "Megaman, seriously put out a warning when your wife isn't being herself!"
"You know, I may not have a whip...but I've still got my antenna.." Roll gave Ghost an evil smile. He could have sworn he saw them curl up into horns.
The navi quickly put his hands up, "Alright, alright! Geez, no one takes a joke around here…"
"You know, minus the comment, he's actually kinda spot on. And then we all are kinda close to each other in terms of colleges," Mayl noted.
"It still surprises me that Emerald's actually some kind of genuis," Lan said.
"Oh really, and what's your excuse Mr. Scientist!" she asked as she jumped up, put Lan into a headlock, and gave him a noogie.
"Hey! Watch the hair!" Lan said while everyone else just laughed at the now normal antics of their little group. Sure they all had their past problems, but they were always there for the other. Even if a few punches had to be thrown to get the point across. And in the end, that's what counts. Working past the disconnections of life and discovering just how to keep everything together.
All in one special connection.
Ghost: Done. Finally done. In the end, I have to say, this was fun to write. Got to include myself, not sure how you all felt about it, but I thought it was cool. Don't expect me in DN...at all (I'm actually not joking, Ghost. EXE is local to this "TV" Series unless you guys really want me to write another story with him). Sure, some areas were harder to write than others but in the end, I had a good time.
So what'd you guys think? Think I should adopt this episode style of writing? Think I should go to one a week uploads (XD From reviews and PMs, I'm pretty sure I'd get an inbox full of angry responses if I went to that.) Should I do something past this story involving these guys (aka, write a sequel?)? Review! Ghost501 logging out! Thanks for watching/reading!
Megaman Double Network 4 Upload Date: ? (Currently under review; writing and planning completed)
DN Quiz: What was the first epilogue story (NOTE: This is a trick question. I mean the FIRST DNE not the first DNE. Get what I mean?)
Sorry, I actually don't have anything to offer in terms of a reward right now. I guess if you just want the challenge. Hehe...sorry bout that! However, on August 30th there will be a special Double Network Release. For a while, you all have heard about some of the infamous tracks that DN could have taken...well...it's time to release some of them. On the 30th, a Double Network behind the scenes story will be shown pretty much being the dump folder for the DN chps that didn't make the cut. The first and most infamous one being DNB: I'm Tired.
