Author's Notes

- Megaman belongs to Capcom. I'd say support them by buying their games, but when was the last time a Megaman game got released? (Don't you DARE mention the crap otherwise known as "ROCKMAN X-OVER", that kind of stuff is worse than Operation Shooting Star). So instead, support Megs' real Daddy, Kenji Inafune by buying Mighty Number 9 whenever it comes out.

- Back when I wrote this last year, this was near the end of "Act 1". I'm too goddamn lazy to separate these into 3 different fics, so instead ENJOY 20 MORE CHAPTERS :P

(For once, I'm not kidding)

Chapter 25: Sinister Shadows

Former Yoko area, 2 days later

"Ah, perfect. So much darkness here….it's beautiful." Thiago said silently to himself, smiling as he wandered the deserted area that had used to be Yoko hotel and zoo. About 198 years ago, a disaster had struck the area, and the area had to be quarantined, and eventually shut down.

While it was no big deal for the owners; they had thankfully relocated in due time, the current area was now just ruins of what it once was. Thiago was now dressed in a dark cloak, and his eyes had turned yellow as a result of his powers coming out.

As he entered the now emptied out spa area, he gave a small smile as he closed in on the area he was looking for.

"Don't worry, father. I will avenge you, and carry out your dream for you….in my own way, Miau! Then, I will be a true hero!"

WAZA

After the supposed victory at the UL HQ, the group made a quick trip back to WAZA to report the news. Despite the supposed good thing that had happened, an uneasy tension fell on the group, due to Thiago's sudden betrayal and newfound powers. We join Geo, Sonia, Dash, and Michael currently discussing the news.

"I just…don't get it!" Michael said with a groan, lifting his feet up. After the "surprising news" that his brother went AWOL and openly attack the party, he was let out of solitary confinement for his own safety (either that or if we're lucky, they'll KILL EACH OTHER, says Ace). He was currently laying on the coach, while the others had either been sitting or standing. "Why did he just go loco like that? What if that happens to me?! I mean, I don't want to be crazy or anyt—"

"He went crazy because he had barely any control over his emotions." Lila interrupted him with a firm tone, staring at Michael calmly. "I should know; I've had to raise children before, and they get freaky when they hit that age. You've seem to have a better grip on your emotions though, so I figure you'll only go crazy if you act crazy."

Michael sighed in response, while Geo spoke up. "Something tells me he's going to do something bad in the future. You heard him, right?"

"I just want to know WHY he decided then was the time to randomly kiss me!" Sonia cried out. She was STILL trying to clean her lips from the aftermath of the unnecessary kiss Thiago stole from her before turning evil.

Geo let out a chuckle, and Omega-Xis popped up from his Hunter. "Aw, cheer up. Look on the bright side; he wasn't your first kiss."

Sonia glared at him angrily. "Stop it with that—it's annoying."

"Okay, fine." Omega-Xis replied. Before Sonia could give him a "thank you", he continued. "I'll be straight then; you kissed a loser."

Lyra materialized, looking angry at him. "How dare you, mutt! Time to be PUNISHED!" she yelled out, as she began to chase the wolf. Omega-Xis could only let out a cry of "WORTH IT!" before being chased by the Harp.

In an unrelated note to the current plot, we join Xel as he was pondering to himself just what was going on through his boss' mind when he "allowed" the WAZA party to raid the base and kick all their retrospective asses.

The day before they came, the boss pulled him aside to inform him of a plan that he had conjured up. The plan in question had revealed some interesting facts...

"You called, boss?" Xel asked in a solemn tone, wondering why his boss had disrupted his nap. Aeon's chair spun around, revealing the ever so charismatic man to Xel.

"Yes. Come, sit down." he motioned a hand for the agent to sit, which Xel responded by sitting at the chair opposite his desk. "You know about my two boys, do you?"

Xel nodded, though mentally he rolled his eyes. "Then I take it you notice what they've been up to." Aeon continued, causing Xel to tilt his head in confusion.

"Sorry, what sir?"

Aeon fished out a remote from his desk and turned on a TV, revealing a recent news report.

"And we're here live at the scene of the catastrophe, where two young teenaged boys have reportedly destroyed a large portion of End City using a massive explosion. While casualties have been contained thanks to the efforts of WAZA agents, the two boys alongside cohorte Daddy Luther, who had tried to kill the WAZA agents earlier today have also been apprehended and arrested."

Xel let out a visible chuckle when he saw Megaman punch Thiago in the face. Immediately aware of who he just laughed at, Xel regained his composure and glanced at his boss. "Sorry, sir."

"No need to apologize; Thiago was in need of some discipline anyway."

Xel scratched the back of his head. "Wait, last time I heard about them they were barely able to defend themselves. How the hell did they total a chunk of End City?"

Aeon rubbed his temple. "That's what I called you here, for."

After some close examination of the area, Thiago had found (read: after randomly shooting up the area) a hidden passageway that led down to some underground servers. He grinned evilly as he accessed the old Undernet server files, before finding what he was seeking.

"Ah-ha…Murkland! It still exists…now, in order to gain it's power, I need to find….bodies…"

A few hours later, Thiago had gathered many matter waves and had begun to transfer the forces of Murkland unto the waves, giving them bodies in the real world.

While the others had been talking, Dash had noticed Devon was staring out the window as if something was on his mind.

Instead of approaching him, his thoughts drifted back to the conversation the two had two days ago.

"…I'll just be completely frank with you. You know the twins? Those two kids that blew up that monster we fought earlier? Well, they… they remind me of fallen friends. A little too well, in fact…"

Dash rose an eyebrow. Well, kinda. Mask, ya' know? "You are talking about…those spirits…ah…that traveled with you?" Devon nodded in response.

"Yeah…Yami and Yuri. You see… a few months ago, they…gave their lives in order to forge this." He replied, pointing to the large sword on his back. "This sword here isn't the original. I had to rebuild it after it…shattered."

As he continued to talk, he looked down, fighting back tears. "They…they gave up their existence so that I could…go on…"he sniffed, trembling slightly. Gathering some courage, he continued. "It's still recent…so I haven't entirely gotten over it. I still dream of them…well, get nightmares about them. It hurts so much…"He bit his lip as he spoke to avoid tears from spilling out of his eyes.

As he finished his sentence, he looked at Dash with a sad smile. "I still need to smile, though. Bear through the pain and keep going, for everyone's sake. I don't like to burden others with my pain, it contradicts against my character. I just…don't want those two to kill each other. Much as I dislike them at times, I feel that I my spirit may break if they tried to kill each other without holding back."

Dash continued to stare at him emotionlessly as Devon had explained what had happened to him.

"Heh, look at me. I'm a wreck. Guess all of those adventures, pain, and loss finally decided to take their toll on me. Being a survivor hurts."

"I take it…you feel better now?" Dash replied, noticing he had finished.

Devon chuckled. "A little. Thanks…for an emotionless guy, you make a good friend."

Dash titled his head slightly. "…Friend? You've barely known me and you consider me a friend, already…?" Devon nodded in response.

"Geo already trusts you and considers you to be a friend, if it means anything. I'm certain his friends will trust you. That includes me." He replied, smiling.

"Thanks, Dash." He finished as he walked back to the city, ready to get the day started.

The memory was still fresh in his head; it wasn't one of his forgotten memories that he had yearned for, but it was a start. He was about to approach the magi-human when he had felt someone tap him on the shoulder.

"Excuse me. You are Dash, correct?" came the kindly old voice of Dr. Goodall. He glanced at her. "My name is Dr. Goodall, and Geo told me about your problem. If you don't mind, I'd like to examine you; I may be able to help you, dearie." She said with a kind smile on her face.

"Tell me, Xel; would you believe me if I said that my boys are...not real boys?"

Xel blinked. "What exactly do you mean by that, sir?"

"I mean, that they weren't born in the conventional manner that babies come from. They were born from the blessed results of magic and science. I gifted them with artificial pure-bodied darkness and light; that way they would develop at an phenomenal rate, becoming as strong as a warrior with years of experience in a manner of days."

He paused for a moment, then continued. "I also gifted them with pheromones; this would, in theory allow them to have people trust them with their lives even though they barely know them. Perfect boys; manikins."

"Then I'd say that you are smarter than some of us have given you credit for." Xel replied, crossing his arms. "So, the two of them are artificially perfect boys that get super-strong within days of "practicing" and can overpower things regular heroes have trouble with easily. Then how come Megaman and his friends clearly hate them?"

Aeon shrugged. "I honestly have no idea. Presumably, the EM waves that they use blot out the Pheromones; I have no idea. I would need to investigate this, but I can't." Xel sighed.

"Another question; Why is this relevant, again? So what if those twerps are uber-powered. Something bad's BOUND to happen to them at some point."

Aeon smiled. "Tomorrow, the WAZA agents will discover this base and attack us. When that happens, I'm going to fake my death, in full view of my son, Thiago."

"Is that even remotely smart?"

"In a manner of speaking, no. But what it will do is cause an emotional turmoil in him; this will opt the pure darkness I spent so much time creating in him to explode, turning him into a being of a corruptive nature. When that happens..."

Xel sighed to himself as he was interrupted in his thoughts by the monitor spying on WAZA, noticing something was up...

Once enough shadows had spawned from the Murkland servers, Thiago had placed their data into matter waves. Once the download had finished, the various shadows stared at him, sensing a familiarity in him due to his darkness.

"Do not think you can control me, shadows! I control YOU!" he yelled out, downloading a loyalty bug into the shadows. After a moment, each and every single one of them had bowed down to him. Thiago started laughing.

"Now, my shadows. It's time we show those fools at WAZA who is the true hero! But, one more thing before I go."

Thiago tapped a few buttons on the server, and formed a new matter wave; this one turning into a long scimitar with fur on the blade. Much like the star of a certain anime that is otherwise dubbed "Dragon Ball Z for Girls"…

A new weapon for the new "hero".

With that, Thiago led his shadows outside of the server room. As the group begun to depart, the server continued to produce more and more shadows, each loyal to their master. In a short time, he had found and formed a dangerous new enemy for WAZA….

...Though I'm still wondering how in the hell he got that powerful that quickly...bloody children and their growth spurts...

ALERT! UNKNOWN FORCE APPROACHING! ALERT! UNKNOWN FORCE APPROACHING!

The team had quickly made their way outside, equipment at the ready. A few gasps had escaped the group when they had noticed the army; the army was certainly intimidating.

"Ah, I take it you all are surprised by my new power! Miau!" Thiago cried out, pointing his long blade at the group. His new duds had…well…looked exactly like Sephiroth. While the others didn't react, Devon certainly did. With disgust. (I know I WOULD…but I'm just a disembodied voice, so my opinion doesn't matter. I'm just here to get you to chuckle at my snide attitude towards this crapfest.)

Before anyone could reply to Thiago's remark, Devon shot him with a large Fire Ball, knocking him back some distance. The otherwise disgraceful Sephiroth outfit burned off the teen, revealing a darker version of his regular outfit, with a cape that *somehow* fit into the outfit, and exploded.

"Have some dignity, please." Devon stated in an annoyed tone, as Thiago lept back onto his feet, angrier at the magi-human.

"MIAU! That does it…EVERYONE! DESTROY THEM!"

The common thing with "good" guys suddenly going TRAITOR: they gain random power boosts. Seriously, go play something where you randomly get betrayed; the traitor will have higher stats when they are fighting you over when you had them in the party. Unless it's like Fallout or Oblivion, where the stats stay the same unless plot shenanigans.

As for the "not real boys" thing...well, I remember that this was entirely intentional due to how BAD crap had gotten back then. So, when I rewrote things, I decided there was no saving them, opting that the only way to "save" them was to make them toys. Puppets. You get the idea. Next time comes a climatic battle...kinda...

Later rosebuds.