Disclaimer:
All official MegaMan characters are property of Capcom.–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
CHAPTER 52
Subzero Battle!
Lan chewed on the eraser of his pencil as he sat through his chemistry class working on his second midterm. It didn't cover quite as much as the first exam, but it was still hard as hell.
Just why do chemistry courses have two midterms, anyway?
he asked himself mentally. He finished his exam with fifteen minutes to spare and spent the rest of the time checking over his answers."Time's up!" his prof announced at the end of the exam, "Please bring your exams forward and place them in the correct boxes." Lan picked up his exam and brought it forward with him, placing it in the box marked with an H before heading out.
"How did you exam go?" asked Maylu, who was waiting just outside of Lan's classroom.
"It was alright," said Lan, "I ended up doing a lot of question hopping."
"As long as you did well," said Maylu.
"I try," said Lan, "So, you doing anything this Friday?"
"No, why?"
"You know that new restaurant that just opened in Downtown? Well, I thought I'd take you there for dinner on Friday."
"Just let me check with Roll." Maylu reached into her PET case and took out her PET.
"It's good," said Roll.
"Thanks," Maylu put away her PET and looked at Lan, "I'd be happy to, Lan."
"Great. I'll have MegaMan make reservations for us at six," said Lan.
"Sounds good to me," said Maylu, "What's the dress code?"
"Smart casual," Lan answered.
"Okay, I'll meet you in the HUB lobby at five."
"Alright. I'll be there."
The two teens bid farewell and went off to their next classes.
o o o
As the teens were going about their business at the university, across town at the Waterworks things were just as busy.
"Dr. Froid, come and see this," one of the techs called. Dr. Froid put down his coffee and walked over.
"What's wrong?" the grey-haired supervisor asked.
"There seems to be a blockage in duct 2, somewhere around the center," the tech reported.
"Send a team down to investigate," Froid ordered.
Meanwhile, deep inside the Waterworks' systems, two Spooky3's and a Shadow3 appeared
"The time has come to terrorize," a disembodied voice said quietly. The three viruses vibrated vigorously on the spot as ShamanMan appeared between them.
"Let the spirits come forth," he said as he tapped his staff against the floor, summoning several ghost Navis to do his bidding. In this case, the ghosts he had summoned were those of Fire-element Navis.
"Heat up the system," he ordered as several fire and spirit viruses appeared.
o o o
"Sir, the system's started to overheat!" one of the techs reported.
"At this rate, the pipes will melt!" another called, "This could mean disaster for the whole city!"
"Dr. Froid, what do you suggest?" asked a nearby aide. The grey-haired scientist sighed as he took out a cell phone.
"I was hoping I wouldn't have to resort to this, but this is an emergency," he said, "I just pray that he's not in class right now."
o o o
Tory was going through the shelves at the campus video store looking for a good movie to rent when his cell phone rang.
"Tory Froid," he said upon answering the call.
"Tory."
"Dad!"
"Listen Tory, there's trouble here at the Waterworks," said Dr. Froid, "The system's overheating. I need you and IceMan here as soon as possible."
"Will do, Dad. I'm on my way!" Tory put his cell phone away and left the video store, hurrying as fast as he could to his car. However, he failed to notice Lan, who was watching him from a coffee shop window.
"Wasn't that Tory who just ran by?" he asked MegaMan.
"He looked like he was in a hurry," said the blue Navi.
"I haven't seen him with that look on his face since the time the World Three infiltrated the Waterworks."
"Lan, that must be it! You know how Tory puts his duties at the Waterworks before everything else. That must be where he's headed!"
"Then let's go after him!" Lan grabbed his ice cap and ran off to the parking lot.
o o o
Tory arrived at the Waterworks and used his ID pass to get through the security checks until he reached the control room.
"I'm here, Dad! Where's the trouble?" he asked as soon as he entered.
"Duct number two near the center," answered Dr. Froid.
"I'm on it! Jack in!! IceMan, power up!" Tory whipped out his PET and aimed it at the jack-in sensor. A red laser shot out and hit the sensor, sending IceMan into the system. The little Eskimo quickly streamed to the source of the problem and found the area overrun with fire viruses. Not only that, he could also see white transparent versions of FireMan, HeatMan, and BurnerMan among them torching the place.
"Tory, we're overrun with fire viruses and ghost Navis!" IceMan reported. Tory smirked.
"What kind of person sends fire viruses into the Waterworks? Freeze Bomb Battlechip in, download!" IceMan held up his arm and a small blue ball appeared in his mittened hand.
"Freeze Bomb!" He threw the bomb forward and it hit the center of the virus horde, freezing and deleting a fair number of them as well as catching the attention of the others.
"Ice Slasher Battlechip in, download!" Tory inserted another chip and IceMan swung his arms and sent forth a wave of ice that cleaved through several viruses and the FireMan ghost, deleting them.
"Let's try to cool this place down as quickly as possible!" said Tory, "Geyser Battlechip in, download!" A blue ball appeared in IceMan's hand and he threw it as far as his stubby little arms would allow him to. It sailed over the viruses and hit the area underneath the system's core. A rush of water came gushing up and doused the core in icy water, cooling it back down. The rest of the water washed over the remaining viruses and the HeatMan and BurnerMan ghosts, erasing them completely.
"Tory, I'll bet anything that the guy behind this is a fire Navi," said IceMan.
"I think so, too," said Tory, "Be ready for him."
"Your guess is completely inaccurate." The area darkened as several spirit viruses surrounded IceMan and ShamanMan stepped forth.
"The fire viruses were just a cover-up," said ShamanMan, "My spirit viruses are the true minions at work! Now my underlings, attack!" He pointed his staff at IceMan and the viruses lunged forward.
"Freeze them, IceMan!" Tory commanded.
"Blizzard!" IceMan drew in a deep breath and blew a frigid wind at the viruses, freezing them as they came within range.
"Keep it up all you like. You can't last forever!" ShamanMan sneered.
He's right!
IceMan thought, Sooner or later, I'll run out of energy and those viruses will come right at me."Don't give up, IceMan!" Tory encouraged.
"Easier said than done!" said IceMan between Blizzards.
"Enough of this," ShamanMan muttered, "Spirit Integration!" He grabbed one of his Spooky3's and transformed it into a spirit ball, which he integrated into his body, causing him to turn invisible. He quickly dashed in close to IceMan and touched his staff to one of his incense burners.
"Spirit Flame!" He aimed his staff at IceMan and sent forth a stream of flames straight down at the Yoda-sized Navi.
"ICEMAN!"
"Barrier Battlechip in, download!"
A blur of blue suddenly appeared in front of IceMan and blocked the flames with a Barrier. As IceMan opened his eyes, he could see that his rescuer was none other than MegaMan.
"Lan!" Tory exclaimed as he turned and saw Lan standing at the doorway holding his PET in one hand.
"WideBlade Battlechip in, download!" Lan slotted in the chip and armed MegaMan before running over to Tory, "I saw you running for your car, so I thought something was wrong."
"Well, you thought right," said Tory, "IceMan, Sword Battlechip in, download!"
Now armed with swords, the two Navis dashed over towards ShamanMan at top speed.
"Spirit Integration!" ShamanMan re-integrated with the Spooky3 he had integrated with earlier and went invisible again, avoiding their attacks.
"Attack my spirit viruses!" he commanded as the hordes of Spookies and Shadows attacked.
"Element Ice Battlechip in, download!" Tory slotted in the chip and IceMan shot out a beam of ice that froze all the Spookies that had been coming straight at him from the front.
"Slasher Battlechip in, download!" MegaMan stood ready as the Shadows came closer. the moment they came within range, he struck them all down.
"There's still too many!" said IceMan.
"Then we'll just need to finish them all at once," said MegaMan, "Right, Lan?"
"Justly so," said Lan, "GunDelSolEX Battlechip in, download!" MegaMan held up his hand and the Gun Del Sol EX appeared in his hand. He took aim and waited.
"Now MegaMan!" Lan yelled.
"Taiyohhhhhhh!!!" MegaMan pulled the trigger and bathed all the remaining viruses in a ray of sunlight, deleting them all.
"Spirit Flame!" ShamanMan held out his staff and sent forth another stream of flames, this time surrounding both MegaMan and IceMan with a burning wall of fire.
"Die together!" the Dark Nation Navi yelled.
MegaMan ran over to IceMan and placed his arms around him to shield him from the heat.
"MegaMan, can we get out of here?" asked IceMan.
"I'm sure we will," said MegaMan. He and IceMan closed their eyes and their icons began glowing.
"Lan, is this what I think it is?" asked Tory.
"It is," said Lan, "A new Soul Unison!"
MegaMan stood up and allowed the new power to embrace him. His boots turned brown as a pair of aqua-colored snow pants appeared over the lower half of his body. Spreading out his arms, a pair of brown mittens covered his hands. He then raised his arms over his head as an aqua-colored parka slid down onto his body. Reaching back, he grabbed the hood and pulled it over his head as if he were bundling up for going outside on a cold day. As soon as the process was completed, he stepped forward and stood like a taller version of IceMan right next to the original IceMan.
"Soul Unison: Ice Soul!"
"Ice…Soul.…" ShamanMan gasped as he remembered the last time MegaMan performed a Soul Unison to defeat him.
"Let's do it, IceMan!" said MegaMan.
"Alright!" the midget Eskimo agreed.
The two Navis drew in their breaths and exhaled a massive freezing snow storm at ShamanMan.
"DOUBLE BLIZZARD!"
"Spirit Integration!" ShamanMan quickly moved to integrate his Shadow3 into his body, but his movements were too slow and he got hit by the two Blizzards. Had it not been for his incense burners on his shoulders, he would have been frozen completely.
"Damn you," he muttered.
"It's not over yet!" said MegaMan, "Freeze Bomb!" A blue ball appeared in his hand and he threw it with all his might at ShamanMan. The bomb hit its target and exploded, hitting ShamanMan with powerful ice blasts.
"This is far from over, MegaMan!" he said as he stumbled backward and logged out.
SHAMANMAN LOGGING OUT
Lan took a blank chip from his pack and inserted it into his PET. Instantly, IceMan's icon was transferred from his PET screen onto the chip.
"Ice Soul," said Lan as he took out the chip and looked at it.
"Hey Lan, thanks for your help," said Tory.
"Thanks to you and Tory, the Waterworks are safe," said Dr. Froid.
"It was nothing," said Lan, "Seriously, it was nothing."
"I wouldn't say it was just nothing," said MegaMan as soon as he returned to his PET, "All the water pipes are connected, so you just saved the whole city."
"Yeah, I guess I did," said Lan as he wiped his thumb across his nose.
o o o
"I apologize, sir," said Hao as he knelt before Master Chaos, "I have failed my mission."
"I'll forgive you this once," said Master Chaos, "Now leave."
"Thank you, sir." Hao bowed once and left the chamber as Master Chaos turned around and returned to his digital organ. As soon as he pressed down on the keys, the pipes lit up once again, as did his three monitors.
"Juno. Sigma. Fortissimo. Destroy all in your path!" he ordered as he began playing a powerful piece.
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CHAPTER PREVIEW
Lan:
Tory's inviting us to a hot spring resort for the weekend to thank us for helping out at the Waterworks.MegaMan:
Finally, a vacation. Just what the doctor ordered.Lan:
The others are coming along, too. This is going to be one fun trip.MegaMan:
Let's enjoy it while we can. My gut tells me there's trouble.Lan:
MegaMan, your gut's made out of an advanced program.MegaMan:
Yeah, I know. Because of that, it probably doesn't know what the hell it's talking about. Stupid gut.Lan & MegaMan:
Next time on Rockman.EXE: The College Years, "Electric Onsen!"Lan:
I can just feel that hot spring water.MegaMan:
You're drooling, Lan.