Megaman NT Warrior: Requiem's Awakening
Chapter 13
"The Battle… and a Revelation"
The two Navis stared at each other, the balls of energy in their hands humming gently. April sat in her chair, her hand pressed over her eye. The tension was so thick April could almost taste it.
A sweatdrop appeared on Nocturne's head. How cliché… he thought.
"Nocturne?" April whispered, breaking into his thoughts.
"Yes April?"
"You'll stay with me, right?"
Nocturne sighed. "I'd be an idiot you leave you now. I mean, come on! This is getting good!" He looked up at April. The hand covering her eye was shaking. He sighed again.
"Don't worry April. She'll be fine, I'm sure of it. Anything that Bass can throw at her, she can dish right back. If things get too hairy, you need to get out right away. Okay?"
April bit her lip.
"Promise me April."
She hesitated. "All right. I will."
Nocturne nodded, then turned back to the screen with Requiem and Bass.
- - -
Bass glared at Requiem for a moment longer, then closed his eyes and chuckled. Requiem felt her eyes narrow.
"What's so funny?"
Bass smirked. "The fact that you want to face me. You just signed your own death sentence. I hope you're prepared for deletion."
Requiem smirked right back. "I hope you're prepared to get your butt kicked."
In a blink, Bass' smirk changed to a snarl. "Prepare to be deleted, gnat!"
Requiem shifted her stance slightly. "Bring it on." She taunted.
They glared for another moment more, and then they both disappeared. April blinked, and they reappeared for a split second as the two Navis impacted; the strength of their blows cracking the ground beneath them. They disappeared again, moving too fast for April to follow. She could see small flashes where they would hit, but it looked like neither had the advantage so far.
There was another flash, and two punches connected; Requiem and Bass flew in opposite directions, carving gullies in the ground. They were both back up on their feet and rising into the air.
"It seems we are evenly matched Bass." Requiem noted.
Bass smirked again. Purple streaks of lightning started to swirl around his body. "I'm not too sure of that…" he said, before being enveloped in a white light. The light faded and his form had changed slightly. The stripes on his body and the star on his head started to shimmer different colors. This gloves and boots darkened and changed color also.
"Bass…Hubstyle!" He cried, and then disappeared.
Requiem blinked, then was hit from above, sending pain shooting through her left shoulder as she landed, blowing a large crater into the ground.
Bass aimed his hand straight down at her. "Earthbreaker!" He yelled, and fired. "DIE!"
The Earthbreaker connected, blowing an even lager crater. Bass smirked, then his eyes narrowed. "What?"
A figure flew up out of the smoke. Requiem smirked, her form changed slightly also. "Thank you for showing me how to work the Get-Ability Program Bass." He stared at her.
"Your form…" he muttered.
"Requiem… Hubstyle!!" She cried. Bass snarled, and Requiem smirked again. "I have the same powers as you, remember? That includes every form and power you have copied! Earthbreaker!"
Bass' eyes had enough time to widen then the blast hit him, smacking him several feet into the wall. Requiem's smirk widened.
April and Nocturne sat watching in awe. April's hand fell into her lap. "Unbelievable…" she whispered. "I created her?"
Bass growled and launched himself off the wall, landing a punch squarely on Requiem's cheek, sending her flying. He quickly flew past her and kicked her in the back, then flew past her again, hitting her all the way with a devastating series of punches and kicks. Requiem grunted, then threw up her arms to block some of the blows. She finally managed to dodge and flew out of range of Bass' attacks, panting.
She charged up energy in her hands again. "Earthbreaker!"
Bass smirked and let the beam fire straight at him. "Reflection." He whispered. The beam didn't hit… it curved around his body and straight back at the surprised Requiem.
- - -
Several floors below, Chaud turned on a monitor to see what was happening. He saw Requiem fire the second Earthbreaker at Bass and he felt a small bubble of hope rise in him that was just a quickly popped by what happened next.
Bass summoned and used the ability he had taken from Serenade.
Chaud felt the old anger and pain rise up in him again. He grit his teeth, thinking of how casually he used Serenade's power…
He glanced up at the screen just in time to see what happened next.
- - -
Requiem nearly panicked when she saw her own blast being reflected back at her. She ran a quick analysis of Bass' attack and searched her own data for the same thing. As she activated this new power, she felt the Hubstyle fade away.
"Reflection." She whispered, and the blast curved around her and flew harmlessly into the ground.
Bass smirked. "You may have all of my abilities, but you do not have the power or the skill to use more than one at a time…" he gazed harder at her, and noticed she was breathing hard. "And it seems you can not use them for very long either."
Requiem squeezed her hands into fists. "Says who? Hubstyle!" A white light enveloped her, and she changed into the Hubstyle form again. "See?" She challenged Bass, bringing her fists up to bear. "I can still take you on in any form I choose!" She disappeared.
Bass smirked, and then closed his eyes.
April gasped. "He just closed his eyes! Why did he do that if he knows that Requiem's going to attack him using Hubstyle?"
Nocturne gulped, not wanting to give her the bad news. "It's because his skill level is much higher than Requiem's… her power level, and her ability to stretch it out and focus it, has not been honed as Bass'…"
April's hand flew to her mouth and she looked, horrified, down at Nocturne. "You don't mean…?"
He nodded grimly. "Even though they have the same amount of power, there are gaps in their abilities… and Bass knows what he is doing."
BOOM! CRASH!
April screamed as one of her two monitors shattered from the force of Requiem hitting the wall behind it. The hot shards flew all around her, scratching and burning her exposed arms and hands. She ignored the pain and looked up at the remaining cracked screen and saw a horrifying sight.
Requiem was still in her Hubstyle form, but it was fading in and out. Bass had knocked her into the wall, shattering the monitor, and had kicked her back into the air, delivering an unrelenting flurry of blows. Requiem cried out in pain as he blew her into another wall with both fists. April gasped.
A figure came bursting through the half-closed door behind her, startling both her and Nocturne.
"It's time to go April!" Chaud announced, running over to her. "We've gotten everybody else out, and the building is starting to feel the effects of this fight. You need to leave."
April just glanced up at him. "I can't leave Requiem, Chaud!" She cried, gesturing to the screen. "She needs me to be there for her! I need to stay here and make sure…" she hesitated. Chaud merely folded his arms. April looked at him again, gulped, and then continued on. "I need to make sure that she doesn't feel abandoned like Bass did… If that happened, then the same result would come about, only now, there would be two powerful Navis running around who want to destroy each other…"
"Don't… worry… about me… April."
April turned back to the screen and saw Requiem, who had changed back to her normal form, looked severely scratched, and crawling out of the new hole in the wall. April blinked, and the damage faded. Requiem smiled at her astonishment.
"You don't need to worry about me April. I will be perfectly all right. I know that you wouldn't abandon me… but you do need to leave…" April's jaw dropped, and Requiem continued. "I've been holding back. I didn't want to harm you in any way, but now I see that it's not possible to stop Bass without doing that unless you leave."
April didn't move.
Requiem smiled. "Go April. I'll be fine. I promise."
Chaud walked over and picked up April in a cradle hold. "Good luck Requiem." He said before he left with April in his arms. Her eyes never left the screen.
Requiem heard a decisive chuckle behind her. "Are you done with being sentimental?" She turned and saw Bass floating behind her.
He smirked, and she turned the full power of her glare onto him. He blinked. Satisfied, Requiem smirked, and then activated Hubstyle once more.
"Well now… do I have your full attention this time?" He asked.
"Absolutely." She answered.
"How nice…"
"Bass!!" Requiem cried, clenching her hands into fists. "I'll make you understand, even if that means taking you down!!"
There was a pause, and the two leapt at each other, the battle moving faster and deadlier than before. Requiem landed a punch on Bass' cheek, and he flew to the ground, blowing in a massive crater. She pointed her palms down flat at him, and charged up a massive ball of energy.
"Hyper Earthbreaker!" She cried, and launched it down at Bass. Smoke and debris billowed up around the point of impact.
Did I… win? She thought.
The smoke cleared, and she felt her breath catch in her chest. Bass' form had changed again. His stripes changed to a dark red, the crystal on his head changed to the shape of a bird, he had grown claws on his hands and feet and, most noticeably, he had wings.
"I must admit, you did fight well, Requiem." Bass said, rising to the same height as her. "But now, I'll end this."
- - -
"Nocturne, see if you can open a window into SciLab. I want to see what's happening."
He nodded, and stepped aside as a new window opened on the PET. April gasped. "He's changed form… what is it?" She tilted the PET so that Chaud could see it.
He glanced down, and halted suddenly, almost dropping April.
"That's his…." Chaud gulped. "Beast Out form…"
April's eyes widened. "His…oh no…" She tilted the PET back towards herself.
"Run Requiem!!"
- - -
Requiem cocked her head to the side. What's this form? She ran the image through the part of Bass' data she had and searched through his memories.
"Beast Out?" She whispered, watching the memories of the near destruction of the Earth fly through her mind. "What power…" She looked up at Bass and her breath caught in her throat again. He was standing right in front of her. What speed… she thought.
Bass raised a hand, sparks played out from his fingers. "It's over." He said, and grabbed Requiem's Navi mark.
She screamed. Her Hubstyle faded instantly, as Bass drained away her power.
N-No…She thought. This cannot be the… end… She grit her teeth.
"NO! This…is not… the end… Bass!" She grabbed his hand, and pointed the other in his face. "E-Earthbreaker!"
Bass screamed as he took the beam point-blank, crashing into the wall, his Beast form flickering. Requiem was doubled over, panting and sweating, as her power slowly came back. Bass faded back to his normal form, panting also. They were both covered in cuts and spots on their chests were de-rizzing.
"Why… do you insist… on destroying… humanity… Bass?" Requiem asked, clutching her Navi Mark and straightening up.
Bass' eyes darkened. "You… who has a portion of my data… why are you asking me this? You, of anyone, should understand the rage and betrayal I felt at the hands of those so-called scientists. Why do you insist on protecting those who hate us for the power we hold?"
Requiem grinned through the pain. "Because they need our help. We were to work together to help humans understand our world better. If the Alpha revolt hadn't happened, erasing my original data…" Requiem smiled up at Bass. "I would've been created, and you would've been completed."
"Wha—?" Bass' eyes widened. " 'Completed'?" He clutched at his head. "No…that can't be… no!" He glared wildly up at Requiem, sending another shiver of fear down her back. "No! I am as complete as I will ever be! I don't need a gnat like you bothering me every step of the way. I am the ultimate NetNavi! I don't need anyone! Earthbreaker!!"
Requiem closed her eyes, a sad sigh escaping her lips, and the beam hit, sending pulses of pain through every fiber of her being. The beam passed. She glanced at Bass one more time, and she felt herself slowly start to fall. Is this… the end… for me?
Bass let his hatred take over. He watched Requiem start to fall, and then he flew over to her side, and grabbed her neck. His fingers tightened, and his grin widened. He kept his grip and flew straight down, slamming her into the ground. Requiem coughed, splattering blood down her front, her breathing becoming more and more labored.
"I told you, didn't I?" He whispered, squeezing tighter. "It's over."
Requiem gasped for air, and looked him straight in the eye. "Is… it?"
Bass felt his breath catch. He blinked to make sure he wasn't seeing things. No… he wasn't. Requiem was…crying?
A single pearly tear slid down her cheek. "I was… hoping… ho-hoping… to make you… u-understand… every… thing…"
"What?" Bass felt his lips curl back into a snarl, and his grip tightened. Why is she crying? Navi's don't have the capacity to cry! Where did this tear come from? Requiem whimpered, unable to scream.
"Th-This… is the… only… way…"
The tear dripped off her cheek onto the back of Bass' hand.
The data contained in the tear raced up into his mind, instantly assimilated and processed. Bass gasped as he saw images from April's memory of the recordings of the Alpha revolt, and the things that Dr. Cossack did, including the Get-Ability Program. He saw his own creation, and the beginnings of Requiem's. He felt confused as the human emotions swept through his system, all at once. Joy, pain, regret, hope… these were things that he had never felt before…
Bass let go of Requiem, and clutched at his head again, moaning. "What… what is this? What have you shown me?!" He glared over at Requiem, but it was only half-hearted.
Requiem sat up massaging her throat. "What really happened… and the reason that Dr. Cossack created me… to help you…"
Bass still sat, clutching at his mind, wishing to erase what he had just seen. He heard the shuffling of debris and Requiem crawled closer to him, wincing with each movement. Suddenly, he felt something he had never before. His eyes widened.
- - -
April gasped and covered her mouth. "I don't believe it…" Chaud, Lan, Dingo, and Dr. Hikari all felt their jaws drop open. They were all crowded around April's PET watching the fight and what had just happened.
Requiem was hugging Bass.
"You are recording this, right Nocturne?" April asked, unable to tear her eyes away from this strangest of sights.
He nodded, unable to speak.
"We've got to show this to Grandpa…"
- - -
Requiem smiled. "Come Bass. It is time I showed you everything."
He said nothing, but he didn't resist. He was still overwhelmed by the sudden rush of emotion that it was taking him a while to fully analyze it.
Requiem looked up at the screen that April was watching through and smiled kindly.
"Thank you April, and… good-bye."
There was a sudden rush of sound as the two Navis—Requiem still holding onto Bass—logged out of the SciLab system and vanished into the Net.
There. I finished. Are you all happy now?
And just so you know, swearing at me in a review and telling me to hurry up won't make me write any faster. It's not my fault that I had major writer's block. I think I've told you all this: fights scenes are my weakness as a writer. I just can't seem to get them right. So I wanted this to be good, so it took me a while, (and several conversations with my cousin) to finally get this on track.
Huff just ask me nicely next time, ok? Sheesh…
Next time!!
We're almost to the end. We find out what happened to SciLab during the battle, and what's happening to April in the aftermath. And wait! What's this? What's happening to Dr. Cossack?
Love me and Review NICELY please!!