Chapter eight: A Star Studded Showdown
Lan, Mayl, Dex and Jake left Mayl's house and were walking towards Higsby's Chip Shop. Portal had vanished after Gutsman had deleted his navi, but Lan's WWW Pass was dropped, giving the kids access to the WWW Lab.
The four kids approached Higsby's Chip Shop, where Neon was obviously still there. The two former WWW lackeys saw the kids coming. Before Neon could open his mouth, Lan started speaking.
"We were too late, Neon." Lan explained. "The WWW now has all three Chaos Drives."
"But we'd like to know if you've found out what that purple mist is for." Dex added.
"Well, I hacked into the WWW files, and found that the purple mist that lies within the WWW navis is the key to destroying their new machine." Neon explained.
"A new machine?" Lan asked.
"Yes. It obviously required the three Chaos Drives, and was built to withstand all attacks." Neon stated. "Except for one fact. The machine's only weakness is the purple mist belonging to the WWW's own navis. If all six navis transferred the purple mist they wield into the machine on the network, it should be enough to destroy it."
"So I'll have to take all five of the people I know whose navis had been given this purple mist?" Lan asked. "That means I'll need Dex, Jake, Higsby, Dr. Froid and Donald." Lan then turned to Dex and Jake. "You guys stay here and wait for me to come back." He then turned to Higsby. "Higsby? I need you to go to the Government Complex and get Dr. Froid. I'll go to Dentown and see if I can find Donald, someone I met there."
Everyone agreed. As Dex and Jake stayed behind, Lan and Higsby rushed towards the Metroline Station.
The duo rushed down the stairs, got their tickets and ran towards separate trains: Higsby towards the complex and Lan towards Dentown.
After getting off the train, Lan rushed up the stairs and into Dentown's streets. He figured that he'd need some help finding Donald, so he rushed over to the nearest person he could find, which was a man standing at the traffic light.
"Excuse me." Lan said, getting the man's attention. "I'm looking for a certain adult somewhere in Dentown. He's middle-aged, American and has a mustache."
"Oh yeah. Him." The man said. "The last I saw of him, he was walking towards the second block."
"Thanks, mister!" Lan said as he rushed off.
Lan entered the second block, still looking for the operator of Search Man. He suddenly noticed a middle-aged man walking out of a store. Lan immediately recognized the man and rushed over to him. Donald saw Lan coming, and smiled.
"Hey, Lan." Donald greeted as Lan approached him, almost completely out of breath.
"Hey, Donald." Lan replied. "Listen, I need you to come with me to ACDC Town."
"Sure. What for?" Donald asked.
"The purple mist that your navi absorbed is critical to destroying the WWW's latest threat." Lan explained. "I need you to accompany my strike team to take down the WWW."
"You don't have to ask me twice!" Donald said as the duo rushed back to the Metroline Station.
After several minutes on the train, Lan and Donald emerged in ACDC Town. Lan looked up at Donald.
"Let's get over to the Chip Shop." Lan said. "I told the rest of the guys that I'd meet them there."
Lan and Donald rushed over to Higsby's Chip Shop, where everyone else, including Higsby and Dr. Froid, was waiting. The rest of the group saw the duo coming.
"Great, Lan! You found him!" Neon said.
Higsby counted heads. "Is that everyone?"
"Yeah." Lan replied. "Now let's get over to the WWW Lab!"
After bidding farewell to Mayl and Neon, the group of Lan, Dex, Higsby, Dr. Froid, Jake and Donald rushed towards the ACDC Town school, Lan leading the way.
The six entered the school parking lot as Lan rushed over to the fountain.
"Is that where the entrance to the WWW Lab is?" Donald asked.
"Not quite." Lan replied. "This leads to a secret Metroline that will take us there." Lan felt around the back of the fountain. "There should be a hidden button here somewhere...Here it is!"
Lan pressed a button, and much to Donald and Jake's surprise, a doorway opened up, leading down some stairs.
"Come on!" Dex said. "Let's go!"
The rest of the group agreed as they rushed down the stairs, one at a time. At the bottom of the stairs, everyone saw that they were standing in a secret Metroline Station. A train was sitting on the tracks, just waiting for someone to climb aboard. All six males climbed aboard the train as it took off down the tracks.
Several minutes later, the train stopped. Lan stepped off the train first, followed by the rest of the group.
"Here we are." Dr. Froid said. "The WWW Lab."
"Let's see." Higsby said, scratching his chin. "Wily must be hiding out on the top floor, so we should take that door over there." The ex-WWW member pointed to a door on the far side of the cliff.
"Well, Lan. Thought you could pull something off without me knowing, eh?" A boy's voice said, slightly chuckling.
The six members of the strike team turned around and saw a boy that looked slightly older than Lan. He had white hair and wore a red vest over a black sweater.
"Chaud?!" Lan exclaimed, staring at his friend. "What're you doing here?!"
"What do you think?" Chaud quizzed. "I'm on a mission to destroy the WWW, and have been following you ever since your little fiasco with the WWW prototype."
"How'd you get here without us knowing?" Dex asked.
"You guys didn't look in the back seat of the hidden Metroline. There a hidden compartment there, and I moved ahead of you down the stairs via a shorter route." Chaud folded his arms. "The WWW has invented a new machine, and it's more destructive than the first. I suggest that you and your friends get out of here, Lan."
"Nothin' doin', pal!" Lan stated. "Wily has my parents up there somewhere, and I've made it MY duty to save them!"
Chaud, while still not unfolding his arms, stared at Lan with wide eyes.
"I assume there's a story here." Chaud asked, still in shock.
As quick as he could, Lan filled Chaud in on everything that had happened. When he was finished, Chaud looked even more shocked than before.
"I apologize, Lan." Chaud said. "If I'd have known your parents were abducted, I would've shown up sooner to help."
"It's quite alright." Lan replied. "But as long as you're here, you can come with us to help out."
Chaud agreed, and the group rushed over to the door, found it unlocked and went inside. The six males continued going up, and surprisingly, all the doors were unlocked. Well, all except the last one.
"Come on, mates!" Jake said. "Let's jack in!"
The rest of the team agreed as they all jacked their PETS into the door.
All seven navis materialized inside the WWW network. Once Burner Man and Search Man were introduced to Protoman, the team started their journey through the network, which looked remarkably like the network where Megaman had fought Elecman.
"Remember to search everywhere." Megaman instructed. "This network is full of hidden passages."
"You would know." Protoman said. "You're the only one here who's gone through the whole network before."
The team of navis continued their trek, but strangely, the amount of viruses they encountered was minimal.
"Strange." Protoman said while looking around. "The WWW usually has more security than this."
"Yeah." Numberman added. "I suppose we'll find out why the network is so deserted if we continue on."
The seven navis continued on, picking up whatever mystery data they found. After searching for another couple of minutes, the group was approaching a large, open platform. In the middle of it was a lock program.
"There it is!" Iceman cried. "The lock program!"
"Let's destroy that bogus thing, dudes!" Burner Man exclaimed.
As the group approached the lock program, they suddenly heard a loud buzzing sound. The group looked around and saw hundreds of Metools coming from all directions.
"W-Where'd all these guys come from?!" Megaman asked.
"Why are you so worried?" Gutsman asked. "They're only Metools."
"But look at how many of them there are!" Megaman exclaimed. "They'll be launching shockwaves at us from all directions!"
As the Metools surrounded the group, the heroes put up their weapons or fists. Suddenly, everyone heard a second sound: Something that sounded like a metal saw cutting through a piece of steel. The heroes saw a Metool divide in half as a fin-like thing rushed towards another Metool. It was quickly cutting the viruses down.
The fin wasn't alone, either. Wooden spikes were popping up all over the place deleting a virus with each spike. On top of that, beams of purple energy were soaring around the platform, destroying Metools left and right.
One of the Metools that had survived the attacks charged at the heroes, only to step in a puddle of strange energy that seemed to appear from out of nowhere. The virus was deleted, as were several others that had stepped in puddles of energy.
A long tongue came from out of nowhere, attacking and destroying different viruses at once. Flames were also coming from different areas, wiping out Metools in a flash.
And as if that weren't enough, several white flashes erupted from various areas of the platform, making viruses explode everywhere. By now, there was enough viruses left for the group of heroes to take out.
"Well, it looks like there are very few viruses left." Search Man said. "Let's thrash'em!
The seven navis charged towards the remaining Metools. Megaman opened fire with his buster while Gutsman plowed through the viruses with his fists. Numberman planted bombs in close proximity with some viruses, causing them to explode while Iceman used snowballs to destroy viruses. Burner Man used his Burner Wave to destroy Metools while Search Man picked off viruses with his shotgun. Protoman used his sword to slash through the viruses with ease. Soon, all the Metools were destroyed. Megaman looked around for the navis that had saved them.
"Anyone here?" Megaman called out.
"Looks like you needed our help after all, eh Megaman?" A female voice asked.
Everyone turned in the direction of the voice and found Roll standing there with six other navis: Woodman, Sharkman, Toad Man, Heat Man, Bright Man and Astro Man.
"What the?!" Megaman exclaimed. "What're you guys doing here?!"
"Is that any way to treat the navis who just saved your scrawny neck?" Shark Man asked with a chuckle. While he was saying this, Protoman had gone to destroy the lock program.
"Mayl and Neon thought that you'd need some help." Bright Man stated. "You did."
"We'd better get our operators to jack us out." Toad Man suggested.
Megaman relayed this message to Lan, who in turn, got everyone on his team to jack their navis out.
Lan pushed open the now-unlocked door as he and his team walked through the door, only to find seven people on the other side: Mayl, Neon, Kate, Sal, Masa, Ribbita and a tall man with a goatee.
"Mayl!" Lan exclaimed. "What're you doing here?!"
"What I'd like to know is how you guys got this far ahead of us." Dex said, cocking an eyebrow.
"There's another door at the bottom of the base." Kate replied. "It has an elevator which I use all the time to get in and out of the base."
The rest of the team stood in shock.
"You mean we came all the way up the winding ramp and went through the door's network for no good reason?" Dr. Froid asked.
"I guess so." Chaud replied.
"Hey, by the way." Higsby said before looking at the man. "What're you doing here, Match? I hope you're not still working for the WWW."
"Not since the WWW's last destruction." Match replied. "Like you and Dr. Froid, I've reformed since then. I've even ditched Fireman for Heat Man."
"Well, that's enough talk." Masa said. "We have to save Lan's parents!"
Everyone else agreed as they all rushed towards the door that led outside of Wily's laboratory. Chaud opened the door and went in first, followed by Lan and the rest of the group.
As soon as everyone was inside the room, they froze and stared ahead and up in awe. For in the middle of the extremely open room, was an extremely large gun that looked about twice as large as the WWW's first gun. The huge barrel was pointing into the sky. They saw the weird, old man standing on one of the gun's platforms, laughing maniacally.
"Wily!" Lan shouted, getting the mad doctor's attention.
"Ah, you're here." Wily said.
"And he's not alone." Match said, folding his arms. "We're all here to take you out and destroy that gun."
"Something that you'd never be able to do, you traitor!" Wily sneered.
"Cut the crud, Wily." Lan said. "Where're my parents?"
"I was just getting to that." Wily laughed. "Allow me to introduce you to someone."
Wily pulled a remote from his pocket and pressed a button. A door on the other side of the room opened, and a thin figure stepped out. It was a female, and her eyes were blood red. With the haircut she had, and the purple shirt with the green dress, Lan immediately recognized her.
"Mother?" Lan squeaked.
"I ain't nobody's mother." Mrs. Hikari sneered. This didn't sound like her normal, gentle voice. She sounded more...Evil.
Lan couldn't believe what he was hearing. Neither could anyone else on his team. It didn't take anyone long to figure out that Wily used the gun to brainwash Mrs. Hikari, and intended to use the gun not to destroy the world, but turn everyone on it into mindless slaves. Tears of fright and disbelief rolled down Lan's face. Chaud leaned over and whispered something into his ear.
"I've seen this before, Lan." Chaud explained. "The only way to release someone from the WWW's brainwash control is to defeat him or her in a net battle."
"So all I have to do to release mother is beat her in a net battle?" Lan asked. Chaud nodded.
Lan gulped as he slowly walked forward, facing his brainwashed mother. "If defeating you in a net battle is the only way to release you, then so be it!"
Mrs. Hikari grinned evilly. "You're brave, boy. But we'll just see how brave you are in about two minutes." She then fished out her new PET and sent it into a net-battle with Megaman. "Star Woman! Destroy the shrimp!"
Megaman materialized on the battlefield while the new navi appeared on the opposite side. The navi was female, and looked about as tall as Burner Man. She had red armour, complete with black high-heeled shoes and long, black gloves. There was a metal star attached to her helmet and another one attached to each shoulder. Her symbol was, obviously, a star.
"Oh, man! I can't harm a woman!" Megaman cried.
"You have to." Star Woman said. "It's the only way you can save your operators mother."
Megaman was taken aback. This navi knew that her operator was brainwashed?
"You know?" Megaman asked.
"Yes. I'll tell you more after our fight." Star Woman said. Megaman nodded as the battle started.
Megaman started firing his buster at Star Woman, who quickly moved around her side of the arena. Every time Star Woman moved, she threw a small star that moved like a ninja star. Megaman was hit by a couple of them, but managed to avoid most of them.
After being attacked several times, Star Woman struck a pose, sending the two stars that were attached to her shoulders into the air. The two stars suddenly came onto the arena, both bouncing around from panel to panel. Megaman did his best to avoid them while still firing his buster at Star Woman, who stayed still while the stars were bouncing around Megaman's side of the arena.
Megaman pulled out a Burner Man chip that Lan had gotten from Jake. Megaman quickly used the chip as the surfer navi appeared on the arena and did a Burner Wave, taking a hefty amount of HP from Star Woman's health bar.
The fight went on for about three minutes, and both navis' HP was down pretty low. Megaman seemed to have the upper hand, though.
"She's pulling her punches." Megaman thought. "I just know she is."
After moving around several times, Star Woman stopped. She looked like she was charging something up, and Megaman stood prepared. Suddenly, Star Woman fired a huge beam of energy at Megaman. The beam took up the top two rows of Megaman's side, so the blue navi quickly moved onto the bottom row to avoid the shot.
After the beam finished, Star Woman hunched over, trying to catch her breath. Megman used this opportunity to pull out a Dynawave chip and use it. The force from the Dynawave was enough to take out whatever energy Star Woman had left. Rather than become deleted, the female navi collapsed to the floor.
The barriers on the arena deactivated, and Megaman rushed over the borderline to Star Woman's side. Megaman got down on one knee.
"Are you alright?" Megaman asked.
"I-I'm fine." Star Woman said, still breathing heavily. "I've just never met a navi as strong as you before."
"You let me win. Why?" Megaman said.
"I hate the WWW, but I like my operator. I knew that if I was defeated, the brainwashing effects would lose control of her mind." Star Woman explained. "I just hope that after this is all over, your operators mother would still want to keep me."
"You're all right, Star Woman." Megaman said with a smile as he stuck out his hand. Star Woman gladly shook it.
In the real world, Mrs. Hikari looked furious. She stared at Lan with an angry glare.
"You defeated my navi, you punk!" Mrs. Hikari yelled. "You'll-"
Mrs. Hikari was cut off when her eyes suddenly widened. Everyone, even Wily, stared at Mrs. Hikari as she grabbed her head and collapsed to her knees, screaming in pain.
Soon, Mrs. Hikari stopped screaming as her blood red eyes returned to their normal colour. She slowly looked at Lan, who stared at her with a hopeful glare.
"Lan?" Mrs. Hikari squeaked.
"Mom!" Lan cried as he rushed towards his mother, who immediately took him into her arms. Both Hikaris cried tears of happiness as Higsby, Dr. Froid, Neon, Kate and Match walked over to Wily, who looked infuriated that Mrs. Hikari had returned to normal.
"You're in for it now, Wily!" Dr. Froid said as he pointed an accusing finger at Wily.
"How could you do all this to the poor kid?!" Match demanded.
"I can't believe I actually trusted you!" Kate sneered.
"I'll make you pay for what you made me do to Lan's poor teacher!" Neon growled.
"I second that!" Higsby said.
"Bah! What do you five know?" Wily laughed. "You're all just a bunch of traitors!"
"Hey, Wily!" Ribbita yelled. Everyone turned his or her attention to Ribbita, who held one of her cameras in her hands. She was pointing it at Wily and the gun he was standing on. From a red light on the camera, everyone could tell that in was recording. "Smile! This is going to be tonight's top story!"
Wily was even more infuriated now. His latest plan was ruined.
"You'll all pay for this!" Wily shouted. The mad doctor pressed a button on the gun and rushed towards a hovering pod that was sitting close to a window. He hopped in. "There! I've just started the gun's countdown! In two minutes, the gun will fire, and I don't believe you have enough time!"
With that, Wily took off through the window, into the night sky. Donald rushed over to Lan, who was still embracing his mother.
"Lan! We need to destroy that gun!" Donald said, which got Lan's attention.
"Wait! We need to find dad!" Lan explained.
"Don't worry, Lan!" Mrs. Hikari said. "I know where he is. I'll go get him while you focus on destroying the machine."
Lan was hesitant at first, but nodded.
"Dex! Jake! Higsby! Dr. Froid! Donald! Come on!" Lan shouted. He and his five friends rushed over to the gun as Mrs. Hikari, Match, Sal, Chaud and Masa ran off to find Dr. Hikari. Ribbita stayed with Lan and his strike team, filming them jack their PETS into the gun and everyone else had rushed off to the metroline to make their escape.
"I'd better get a raise for this." Ribbita muttered. "I'm risking my neck by staying here."
The six navis that held the WWW data mist materialized inside the gun, on top of a round platform surrounded by six glowing circles that were each close to a panel.
"That's probably where we have to transfer the mist!" Megaman said.
"We don't have a moment to lose!" Iceman exclaimed.
The six navis each stepped onto a circle. As Megaman stepped onto his circle, he felt a searing pain flow through his body. It felt like a thousand volts of electricity was being injected into him, but Megaman knew that the mist he was carrying was just being extracted.
Megaman looked at his friends. Gutsman and Search Man, being the larger navis, didn't look like they were in as much pain as he was. Numberman and Burner Man looked like they were in as much pain as Megaman, as the three were about the same size. Iceman however, being the smallest navi, looked like his was going to collapse from the pain.
After thirty grueling seconds, Megaman finally felt the pain go away. Megaman collapsed to the ground, as did the rest of his team besides Gutsman and Search Man. Megaman turned on his communicator and looked at Lan.
"J-Jack...Out." Megaman begged.
In the real world, Lan had heard his navi and told his strike team to jack their PETS out.
"We've deactivated the gun, so why is the counter still going down?" Lan asked.
"The gun's gonna blow!" Higsby cried.
After everyone jacked their PETS out, Lan turned to Ribbita, who was still filming with her camera.
"Where's everyone else?!" Lan asked.
"They found your father and they rushed to the metroline!" Ribbita explained.
"That's good enough for me!" Lan said. "Let's scat!"
Everyone else didn't argue, and they all rushed out of the lab as quick as they could.
Knowing that the elevator had already been taken, Lan and the others rushed down the several ramps until they reached the ground.
Everyone rushed towards the metroline, Lan bringing up the rear to make sure that everyone ran in first. Everyone rushed towards the train and got in. Just as the train took off for ACDC Town, the WWW's new gun went up in flames.
Soon, the train arrived in ACDC Town, and everyone got off. The went up the stairs, back into the school's parking lot. They went into the streets, and saw everyone standing outside Higsby's Chip Shop. Lan eyes began to water when he saw his parents embracing.
"Mom! Dad!" Lan cried, rushing towards his parents, who turned their attention to him. Lan's parents quickly took their son into their arms.
The rest of Lan's team also joined in with celebrating. Higsby had found Ms. Mari and quickly embraced her, Ribbita had found her cameraman and handed him the camera, Donald was greeted by his recently arrived friends and Match could've sworn that he saw Ms. Yuri smile sweetly at him.
Donald walked over to Lan, who had just let go of his parents. Lan smiled at his new friend.
"Donald, I can't thank you enough for helping me rescue my parents." Lan said.
"No problem, Lan." Donald replied. "Glad to help."
"How do you like PETS, Donald?" Dr. Hikari asked. "Lan tells me that you said that you'd like to meet the person who invented them."
"And I still do." Donald replied. "I really think that PETS would catch on back in America."
Dr. Hikari stuck out his hand. "Pleased to meet you, Donald. I'm Dr. Hikari, the inventor of PETS."
Donald stared at Dr. Hikari with wide eyes. "You mean it?! You invented PETS?!"
Dr. Hikari smiled as Donald shook his hand. "You got it."
Epilogue:
Months passed after Lan saved his parents. Lan continued on with his normal life of eating, sleeping, going to school and fighting viruses. His team also went back to his or her normal lives, but some had made changes...
Even though Mrs. Hikari was cured of the WWW's mind control, she still held the knowledge of net battling in her mind. Mrs. Hikari kept Star Woman as her personal navi, who became almost like an online mother to Megaman.
After the adventure, Dex vowed to become better at net battling and make Gutsman a more powerful navi. At first, people didn't think to much of his goal, but after they heard that Gutsman had pounded Shadowman into the floor, they started having second thoughts.
Because he wasn't married and didn't have a job now that his boss was retired, Donald ended up moving to ACDC Town. There, Donald got a job working for Dr. Hikari. Donald's job was to ship finished PETS to America and Canada.
Kate, being an orphan, moved in with Donald. Donald soon became the father Kate never had. The wheelchair-bound girl attended Lan's school and became an excellent student.
Match and Ms. Yuri soon started dating. Lan and his friends always think that the two make a good couple. On top of that, Match became a net battler, fighting the viruses he once mastered. Together, Match and Heat Man pulled off some stuff that would make even Eugene Chaud jealous.
In other words, life had returned to normal...At least, until Wily's next strike.
END
Author's note: Sorry this took me so long to finish, but my family's computer crashed and we couldn't get it fixed for at least two weeks. I hope that this super long chapter makes up for it. This is my second longest chapter to date. Please read and review.
Lan, Mayl, Dex and Jake left Mayl's house and were walking towards Higsby's Chip Shop. Portal had vanished after Gutsman had deleted his navi, but Lan's WWW Pass was dropped, giving the kids access to the WWW Lab.
The four kids approached Higsby's Chip Shop, where Neon was obviously still there. The two former WWW lackeys saw the kids coming. Before Neon could open his mouth, Lan started speaking.
"We were too late, Neon." Lan explained. "The WWW now has all three Chaos Drives."
"But we'd like to know if you've found out what that purple mist is for." Dex added.
"Well, I hacked into the WWW files, and found that the purple mist that lies within the WWW navis is the key to destroying their new machine." Neon explained.
"A new machine?" Lan asked.
"Yes. It obviously required the three Chaos Drives, and was built to withstand all attacks." Neon stated. "Except for one fact. The machine's only weakness is the purple mist belonging to the WWW's own navis. If all six navis transferred the purple mist they wield into the machine on the network, it should be enough to destroy it."
"So I'll have to take all five of the people I know whose navis had been given this purple mist?" Lan asked. "That means I'll need Dex, Jake, Higsby, Dr. Froid and Donald." Lan then turned to Dex and Jake. "You guys stay here and wait for me to come back." He then turned to Higsby. "Higsby? I need you to go to the Government Complex and get Dr. Froid. I'll go to Dentown and see if I can find Donald, someone I met there."
Everyone agreed. As Dex and Jake stayed behind, Lan and Higsby rushed towards the Metroline Station.
The duo rushed down the stairs, got their tickets and ran towards separate trains: Higsby towards the complex and Lan towards Dentown.
After getting off the train, Lan rushed up the stairs and into Dentown's streets. He figured that he'd need some help finding Donald, so he rushed over to the nearest person he could find, which was a man standing at the traffic light.
"Excuse me." Lan said, getting the man's attention. "I'm looking for a certain adult somewhere in Dentown. He's middle-aged, American and has a mustache."
"Oh yeah. Him." The man said. "The last I saw of him, he was walking towards the second block."
"Thanks, mister!" Lan said as he rushed off.
Lan entered the second block, still looking for the operator of Search Man. He suddenly noticed a middle-aged man walking out of a store. Lan immediately recognized the man and rushed over to him. Donald saw Lan coming, and smiled.
"Hey, Lan." Donald greeted as Lan approached him, almost completely out of breath.
"Hey, Donald." Lan replied. "Listen, I need you to come with me to ACDC Town."
"Sure. What for?" Donald asked.
"The purple mist that your navi absorbed is critical to destroying the WWW's latest threat." Lan explained. "I need you to accompany my strike team to take down the WWW."
"You don't have to ask me twice!" Donald said as the duo rushed back to the Metroline Station.
After several minutes on the train, Lan and Donald emerged in ACDC Town. Lan looked up at Donald.
"Let's get over to the Chip Shop." Lan said. "I told the rest of the guys that I'd meet them there."
Lan and Donald rushed over to Higsby's Chip Shop, where everyone else, including Higsby and Dr. Froid, was waiting. The rest of the group saw the duo coming.
"Great, Lan! You found him!" Neon said.
Higsby counted heads. "Is that everyone?"
"Yeah." Lan replied. "Now let's get over to the WWW Lab!"
After bidding farewell to Mayl and Neon, the group of Lan, Dex, Higsby, Dr. Froid, Jake and Donald rushed towards the ACDC Town school, Lan leading the way.
The six entered the school parking lot as Lan rushed over to the fountain.
"Is that where the entrance to the WWW Lab is?" Donald asked.
"Not quite." Lan replied. "This leads to a secret Metroline that will take us there." Lan felt around the back of the fountain. "There should be a hidden button here somewhere...Here it is!"
Lan pressed a button, and much to Donald and Jake's surprise, a doorway opened up, leading down some stairs.
"Come on!" Dex said. "Let's go!"
The rest of the group agreed as they rushed down the stairs, one at a time. At the bottom of the stairs, everyone saw that they were standing in a secret Metroline Station. A train was sitting on the tracks, just waiting for someone to climb aboard. All six males climbed aboard the train as it took off down the tracks.
Several minutes later, the train stopped. Lan stepped off the train first, followed by the rest of the group.
"Here we are." Dr. Froid said. "The WWW Lab."
"Let's see." Higsby said, scratching his chin. "Wily must be hiding out on the top floor, so we should take that door over there." The ex-WWW member pointed to a door on the far side of the cliff.
"Well, Lan. Thought you could pull something off without me knowing, eh?" A boy's voice said, slightly chuckling.
The six members of the strike team turned around and saw a boy that looked slightly older than Lan. He had white hair and wore a red vest over a black sweater.
"Chaud?!" Lan exclaimed, staring at his friend. "What're you doing here?!"
"What do you think?" Chaud quizzed. "I'm on a mission to destroy the WWW, and have been following you ever since your little fiasco with the WWW prototype."
"How'd you get here without us knowing?" Dex asked.
"You guys didn't look in the back seat of the hidden Metroline. There a hidden compartment there, and I moved ahead of you down the stairs via a shorter route." Chaud folded his arms. "The WWW has invented a new machine, and it's more destructive than the first. I suggest that you and your friends get out of here, Lan."
"Nothin' doin', pal!" Lan stated. "Wily has my parents up there somewhere, and I've made it MY duty to save them!"
Chaud, while still not unfolding his arms, stared at Lan with wide eyes.
"I assume there's a story here." Chaud asked, still in shock.
As quick as he could, Lan filled Chaud in on everything that had happened. When he was finished, Chaud looked even more shocked than before.
"I apologize, Lan." Chaud said. "If I'd have known your parents were abducted, I would've shown up sooner to help."
"It's quite alright." Lan replied. "But as long as you're here, you can come with us to help out."
Chaud agreed, and the group rushed over to the door, found it unlocked and went inside. The six males continued going up, and surprisingly, all the doors were unlocked. Well, all except the last one.
"Come on, mates!" Jake said. "Let's jack in!"
The rest of the team agreed as they all jacked their PETS into the door.
All seven navis materialized inside the WWW network. Once Burner Man and Search Man were introduced to Protoman, the team started their journey through the network, which looked remarkably like the network where Megaman had fought Elecman.
"Remember to search everywhere." Megaman instructed. "This network is full of hidden passages."
"You would know." Protoman said. "You're the only one here who's gone through the whole network before."
The team of navis continued their trek, but strangely, the amount of viruses they encountered was minimal.
"Strange." Protoman said while looking around. "The WWW usually has more security than this."
"Yeah." Numberman added. "I suppose we'll find out why the network is so deserted if we continue on."
The seven navis continued on, picking up whatever mystery data they found. After searching for another couple of minutes, the group was approaching a large, open platform. In the middle of it was a lock program.
"There it is!" Iceman cried. "The lock program!"
"Let's destroy that bogus thing, dudes!" Burner Man exclaimed.
As the group approached the lock program, they suddenly heard a loud buzzing sound. The group looked around and saw hundreds of Metools coming from all directions.
"W-Where'd all these guys come from?!" Megaman asked.
"Why are you so worried?" Gutsman asked. "They're only Metools."
"But look at how many of them there are!" Megaman exclaimed. "They'll be launching shockwaves at us from all directions!"
As the Metools surrounded the group, the heroes put up their weapons or fists. Suddenly, everyone heard a second sound: Something that sounded like a metal saw cutting through a piece of steel. The heroes saw a Metool divide in half as a fin-like thing rushed towards another Metool. It was quickly cutting the viruses down.
The fin wasn't alone, either. Wooden spikes were popping up all over the place deleting a virus with each spike. On top of that, beams of purple energy were soaring around the platform, destroying Metools left and right.
One of the Metools that had survived the attacks charged at the heroes, only to step in a puddle of strange energy that seemed to appear from out of nowhere. The virus was deleted, as were several others that had stepped in puddles of energy.
A long tongue came from out of nowhere, attacking and destroying different viruses at once. Flames were also coming from different areas, wiping out Metools in a flash.
And as if that weren't enough, several white flashes erupted from various areas of the platform, making viruses explode everywhere. By now, there was enough viruses left for the group of heroes to take out.
"Well, it looks like there are very few viruses left." Search Man said. "Let's thrash'em!
The seven navis charged towards the remaining Metools. Megaman opened fire with his buster while Gutsman plowed through the viruses with his fists. Numberman planted bombs in close proximity with some viruses, causing them to explode while Iceman used snowballs to destroy viruses. Burner Man used his Burner Wave to destroy Metools while Search Man picked off viruses with his shotgun. Protoman used his sword to slash through the viruses with ease. Soon, all the Metools were destroyed. Megaman looked around for the navis that had saved them.
"Anyone here?" Megaman called out.
"Looks like you needed our help after all, eh Megaman?" A female voice asked.
Everyone turned in the direction of the voice and found Roll standing there with six other navis: Woodman, Sharkman, Toad Man, Heat Man, Bright Man and Astro Man.
"What the?!" Megaman exclaimed. "What're you guys doing here?!"
"Is that any way to treat the navis who just saved your scrawny neck?" Shark Man asked with a chuckle. While he was saying this, Protoman had gone to destroy the lock program.
"Mayl and Neon thought that you'd need some help." Bright Man stated. "You did."
"We'd better get our operators to jack us out." Toad Man suggested.
Megaman relayed this message to Lan, who in turn, got everyone on his team to jack their navis out.
Lan pushed open the now-unlocked door as he and his team walked through the door, only to find seven people on the other side: Mayl, Neon, Kate, Sal, Masa, Ribbita and a tall man with a goatee.
"Mayl!" Lan exclaimed. "What're you doing here?!"
"What I'd like to know is how you guys got this far ahead of us." Dex said, cocking an eyebrow.
"There's another door at the bottom of the base." Kate replied. "It has an elevator which I use all the time to get in and out of the base."
The rest of the team stood in shock.
"You mean we came all the way up the winding ramp and went through the door's network for no good reason?" Dr. Froid asked.
"I guess so." Chaud replied.
"Hey, by the way." Higsby said before looking at the man. "What're you doing here, Match? I hope you're not still working for the WWW."
"Not since the WWW's last destruction." Match replied. "Like you and Dr. Froid, I've reformed since then. I've even ditched Fireman for Heat Man."
"Well, that's enough talk." Masa said. "We have to save Lan's parents!"
Everyone else agreed as they all rushed towards the door that led outside of Wily's laboratory. Chaud opened the door and went in first, followed by Lan and the rest of the group.
As soon as everyone was inside the room, they froze and stared ahead and up in awe. For in the middle of the extremely open room, was an extremely large gun that looked about twice as large as the WWW's first gun. The huge barrel was pointing into the sky. They saw the weird, old man standing on one of the gun's platforms, laughing maniacally.
"Wily!" Lan shouted, getting the mad doctor's attention.
"Ah, you're here." Wily said.
"And he's not alone." Match said, folding his arms. "We're all here to take you out and destroy that gun."
"Something that you'd never be able to do, you traitor!" Wily sneered.
"Cut the crud, Wily." Lan said. "Where're my parents?"
"I was just getting to that." Wily laughed. "Allow me to introduce you to someone."
Wily pulled a remote from his pocket and pressed a button. A door on the other side of the room opened, and a thin figure stepped out. It was a female, and her eyes were blood red. With the haircut she had, and the purple shirt with the green dress, Lan immediately recognized her.
"Mother?" Lan squeaked.
"I ain't nobody's mother." Mrs. Hikari sneered. This didn't sound like her normal, gentle voice. She sounded more...Evil.
Lan couldn't believe what he was hearing. Neither could anyone else on his team. It didn't take anyone long to figure out that Wily used the gun to brainwash Mrs. Hikari, and intended to use the gun not to destroy the world, but turn everyone on it into mindless slaves. Tears of fright and disbelief rolled down Lan's face. Chaud leaned over and whispered something into his ear.
"I've seen this before, Lan." Chaud explained. "The only way to release someone from the WWW's brainwash control is to defeat him or her in a net battle."
"So all I have to do to release mother is beat her in a net battle?" Lan asked. Chaud nodded.
Lan gulped as he slowly walked forward, facing his brainwashed mother. "If defeating you in a net battle is the only way to release you, then so be it!"
Mrs. Hikari grinned evilly. "You're brave, boy. But we'll just see how brave you are in about two minutes." She then fished out her new PET and sent it into a net-battle with Megaman. "Star Woman! Destroy the shrimp!"
Megaman materialized on the battlefield while the new navi appeared on the opposite side. The navi was female, and looked about as tall as Burner Man. She had red armour, complete with black high-heeled shoes and long, black gloves. There was a metal star attached to her helmet and another one attached to each shoulder. Her symbol was, obviously, a star.
"Oh, man! I can't harm a woman!" Megaman cried.
"You have to." Star Woman said. "It's the only way you can save your operators mother."
Megaman was taken aback. This navi knew that her operator was brainwashed?
"You know?" Megaman asked.
"Yes. I'll tell you more after our fight." Star Woman said. Megaman nodded as the battle started.
Megaman started firing his buster at Star Woman, who quickly moved around her side of the arena. Every time Star Woman moved, she threw a small star that moved like a ninja star. Megaman was hit by a couple of them, but managed to avoid most of them.
After being attacked several times, Star Woman struck a pose, sending the two stars that were attached to her shoulders into the air. The two stars suddenly came onto the arena, both bouncing around from panel to panel. Megaman did his best to avoid them while still firing his buster at Star Woman, who stayed still while the stars were bouncing around Megaman's side of the arena.
Megaman pulled out a Burner Man chip that Lan had gotten from Jake. Megaman quickly used the chip as the surfer navi appeared on the arena and did a Burner Wave, taking a hefty amount of HP from Star Woman's health bar.
The fight went on for about three minutes, and both navis' HP was down pretty low. Megaman seemed to have the upper hand, though.
"She's pulling her punches." Megaman thought. "I just know she is."
After moving around several times, Star Woman stopped. She looked like she was charging something up, and Megaman stood prepared. Suddenly, Star Woman fired a huge beam of energy at Megaman. The beam took up the top two rows of Megaman's side, so the blue navi quickly moved onto the bottom row to avoid the shot.
After the beam finished, Star Woman hunched over, trying to catch her breath. Megman used this opportunity to pull out a Dynawave chip and use it. The force from the Dynawave was enough to take out whatever energy Star Woman had left. Rather than become deleted, the female navi collapsed to the floor.
The barriers on the arena deactivated, and Megaman rushed over the borderline to Star Woman's side. Megaman got down on one knee.
"Are you alright?" Megaman asked.
"I-I'm fine." Star Woman said, still breathing heavily. "I've just never met a navi as strong as you before."
"You let me win. Why?" Megaman said.
"I hate the WWW, but I like my operator. I knew that if I was defeated, the brainwashing effects would lose control of her mind." Star Woman explained. "I just hope that after this is all over, your operators mother would still want to keep me."
"You're all right, Star Woman." Megaman said with a smile as he stuck out his hand. Star Woman gladly shook it.
In the real world, Mrs. Hikari looked furious. She stared at Lan with an angry glare.
"You defeated my navi, you punk!" Mrs. Hikari yelled. "You'll-"
Mrs. Hikari was cut off when her eyes suddenly widened. Everyone, even Wily, stared at Mrs. Hikari as she grabbed her head and collapsed to her knees, screaming in pain.
Soon, Mrs. Hikari stopped screaming as her blood red eyes returned to their normal colour. She slowly looked at Lan, who stared at her with a hopeful glare.
"Lan?" Mrs. Hikari squeaked.
"Mom!" Lan cried as he rushed towards his mother, who immediately took him into her arms. Both Hikaris cried tears of happiness as Higsby, Dr. Froid, Neon, Kate and Match walked over to Wily, who looked infuriated that Mrs. Hikari had returned to normal.
"You're in for it now, Wily!" Dr. Froid said as he pointed an accusing finger at Wily.
"How could you do all this to the poor kid?!" Match demanded.
"I can't believe I actually trusted you!" Kate sneered.
"I'll make you pay for what you made me do to Lan's poor teacher!" Neon growled.
"I second that!" Higsby said.
"Bah! What do you five know?" Wily laughed. "You're all just a bunch of traitors!"
"Hey, Wily!" Ribbita yelled. Everyone turned his or her attention to Ribbita, who held one of her cameras in her hands. She was pointing it at Wily and the gun he was standing on. From a red light on the camera, everyone could tell that in was recording. "Smile! This is going to be tonight's top story!"
Wily was even more infuriated now. His latest plan was ruined.
"You'll all pay for this!" Wily shouted. The mad doctor pressed a button on the gun and rushed towards a hovering pod that was sitting close to a window. He hopped in. "There! I've just started the gun's countdown! In two minutes, the gun will fire, and I don't believe you have enough time!"
With that, Wily took off through the window, into the night sky. Donald rushed over to Lan, who was still embracing his mother.
"Lan! We need to destroy that gun!" Donald said, which got Lan's attention.
"Wait! We need to find dad!" Lan explained.
"Don't worry, Lan!" Mrs. Hikari said. "I know where he is. I'll go get him while you focus on destroying the machine."
Lan was hesitant at first, but nodded.
"Dex! Jake! Higsby! Dr. Froid! Donald! Come on!" Lan shouted. He and his five friends rushed over to the gun as Mrs. Hikari, Match, Sal, Chaud and Masa ran off to find Dr. Hikari. Ribbita stayed with Lan and his strike team, filming them jack their PETS into the gun and everyone else had rushed off to the metroline to make their escape.
"I'd better get a raise for this." Ribbita muttered. "I'm risking my neck by staying here."
The six navis that held the WWW data mist materialized inside the gun, on top of a round platform surrounded by six glowing circles that were each close to a panel.
"That's probably where we have to transfer the mist!" Megaman said.
"We don't have a moment to lose!" Iceman exclaimed.
The six navis each stepped onto a circle. As Megaman stepped onto his circle, he felt a searing pain flow through his body. It felt like a thousand volts of electricity was being injected into him, but Megaman knew that the mist he was carrying was just being extracted.
Megaman looked at his friends. Gutsman and Search Man, being the larger navis, didn't look like they were in as much pain as he was. Numberman and Burner Man looked like they were in as much pain as Megaman, as the three were about the same size. Iceman however, being the smallest navi, looked like his was going to collapse from the pain.
After thirty grueling seconds, Megaman finally felt the pain go away. Megaman collapsed to the ground, as did the rest of his team besides Gutsman and Search Man. Megaman turned on his communicator and looked at Lan.
"J-Jack...Out." Megaman begged.
In the real world, Lan had heard his navi and told his strike team to jack their PETS out.
"We've deactivated the gun, so why is the counter still going down?" Lan asked.
"The gun's gonna blow!" Higsby cried.
After everyone jacked their PETS out, Lan turned to Ribbita, who was still filming with her camera.
"Where's everyone else?!" Lan asked.
"They found your father and they rushed to the metroline!" Ribbita explained.
"That's good enough for me!" Lan said. "Let's scat!"
Everyone else didn't argue, and they all rushed out of the lab as quick as they could.
Knowing that the elevator had already been taken, Lan and the others rushed down the several ramps until they reached the ground.
Everyone rushed towards the metroline, Lan bringing up the rear to make sure that everyone ran in first. Everyone rushed towards the train and got in. Just as the train took off for ACDC Town, the WWW's new gun went up in flames.
Soon, the train arrived in ACDC Town, and everyone got off. The went up the stairs, back into the school's parking lot. They went into the streets, and saw everyone standing outside Higsby's Chip Shop. Lan eyes began to water when he saw his parents embracing.
"Mom! Dad!" Lan cried, rushing towards his parents, who turned their attention to him. Lan's parents quickly took their son into their arms.
The rest of Lan's team also joined in with celebrating. Higsby had found Ms. Mari and quickly embraced her, Ribbita had found her cameraman and handed him the camera, Donald was greeted by his recently arrived friends and Match could've sworn that he saw Ms. Yuri smile sweetly at him.
Donald walked over to Lan, who had just let go of his parents. Lan smiled at his new friend.
"Donald, I can't thank you enough for helping me rescue my parents." Lan said.
"No problem, Lan." Donald replied. "Glad to help."
"How do you like PETS, Donald?" Dr. Hikari asked. "Lan tells me that you said that you'd like to meet the person who invented them."
"And I still do." Donald replied. "I really think that PETS would catch on back in America."
Dr. Hikari stuck out his hand. "Pleased to meet you, Donald. I'm Dr. Hikari, the inventor of PETS."
Donald stared at Dr. Hikari with wide eyes. "You mean it?! You invented PETS?!"
Dr. Hikari smiled as Donald shook his hand. "You got it."
Epilogue:
Months passed after Lan saved his parents. Lan continued on with his normal life of eating, sleeping, going to school and fighting viruses. His team also went back to his or her normal lives, but some had made changes...
Even though Mrs. Hikari was cured of the WWW's mind control, she still held the knowledge of net battling in her mind. Mrs. Hikari kept Star Woman as her personal navi, who became almost like an online mother to Megaman.
After the adventure, Dex vowed to become better at net battling and make Gutsman a more powerful navi. At first, people didn't think to much of his goal, but after they heard that Gutsman had pounded Shadowman into the floor, they started having second thoughts.
Because he wasn't married and didn't have a job now that his boss was retired, Donald ended up moving to ACDC Town. There, Donald got a job working for Dr. Hikari. Donald's job was to ship finished PETS to America and Canada.
Kate, being an orphan, moved in with Donald. Donald soon became the father Kate never had. The wheelchair-bound girl attended Lan's school and became an excellent student.
Match and Ms. Yuri soon started dating. Lan and his friends always think that the two make a good couple. On top of that, Match became a net battler, fighting the viruses he once mastered. Together, Match and Heat Man pulled off some stuff that would make even Eugene Chaud jealous.
In other words, life had returned to normal...At least, until Wily's next strike.
END
Author's note: Sorry this took me so long to finish, but my family's computer crashed and we couldn't get it fixed for at least two weeks. I hope that this super long chapter makes up for it. This is my second longest chapter to date. Please read and review.