War of the Heart

Part Five: Deeper within…

Lan and Chaud continued to proceed deeper into the bunker. As they went on, there still appeared to be no traps or obstacles of any sort. However, it wasn't long before they came across another locked door with a jack-in port.

"You know what this means," said Chaud.

"Yup!" agreed Lan. "Jack-in! Megaman, execute!"

The new area where Megaman and Protoman had jacked into appeared to be no different than the other area. It even appeared to be the same lock program as before.

"Hello, I am Key Program 56960. Please enter password," it said.

"How do you propose we handle this one?" asked Lan. "I don't think 1-2-3-4-5 will help us this time."

"I'm not sure," replied Chaud. "Usually, these programs have some sort of clue to indicate what their password is. Let's try something at random first."

"Well, here goes nothing," said Megaman. "Is the password 8-2-4-7-9?"

"Incorrect form of password. Calling security," replied the program.

Just as the program finished saying that, five Mettuars dropped from the air and began throwing Shockwave attacks. Megaman quickly jumped away from them and began firing Buster Gun shots, deleting three of them. Protoman rushed with this sword and sliced the other two down.

"That didn't work," commented Chaud. "We need another way."

"Didn't that seem rather weak? I was expecting something harder," said Lan.

"Maybe there was a clue in there," suggested Chaud. "Let's see…there were five of them and they were Mettuars. Perhaps the password is something related to it."

"I'll give it a try," said Protoman, stepping up to the console. "The password is Mettuar."

"Incorrect. Calling security," said the program.

"How about Shockwave? MetGuard? Hardhat?" suggested Lan.

"All incorrect. Security is now on its way," said the program.

As it spoke, several more Mettuars dropped down, along with several Mettuar 2s and Mettuar 3s. No sooner than when they landed, they began launching a massive barrage of Shockwaves, Sonic Waves and Dynawaves. Megaman and Protoman had to move rapidly to avoid them.

"Aw, heck with it!" exclaimed Lan, sending chip data. "Megaman, take this M-Cannon and just blow the thing up!"

"I hear you, Lan!" called Megaman. "I've got it!"

Megaman quickly armed the M-Cannon and fired directly at the program. It was a direct hit, but the program didn't take any damage. It wasn't even phased by the attack.

"What? No damage? How's that possible?" wondered Chaud.

"Wait…the Mettuars!" exclaimed Megaman, still dodging wave attacks. "That's it!"

"What do you mean?" asked Protoman, swiping at the Mets.

"You guys were right. Those Mettuars ARE a clue! Perhaps this only can be damaged by their wave attacks!" Megaman explained.

"Sounds as good as anything," admitted Chaud.

Megaman and Protoman quickly positioned themselves near the console. The Mettuars, not being intelligent viruses by nature, continued to launch their attacks. Both Megaman and Protoman leaped out of the way as fast as they could, leaving the wave attacks to slam into the console. Several attacks later, the console exploded.

"Nice job, guys!" complimented Lan.

"That's strange," noticed Chaud. "The door still hasn't unlocked."

"Of course it hasn't," replied a voice. "As intruders, you must deal with me!"

"Who is that?" wondered Protoman.

"I'll show you," replied the voice.

In a dazzle of smoke, a mysterious Navi appeared from where the console stood. He appeared to have been made after the ancient Egyptians, right down to looking like an ancient figure. He hovered in the air, two plain coffins hovering by his side.

"That's Pharoman!" exclaimed Megaman.

"Pharo-who?" asked Protoman.

"Pharoman. I encountered him while I was exploring what appeared to be WWW-controlled areas of the Undernet. He's one of the WWW's lackeys," explained Megaman.

"I am more than a mere lackey. I am the guardian of where I am assigned. You are trespassers, therefore you must be deleted!" announced Pharoman.

"Hey, don't start without me!" called another voice.

With that, a rain of bombs came from the sky! Megaman and Protoman were knocked aside by the explosions, but when the smoke cleared, a large purple Navi was standing where the bombs had fallen. He appeared to be quite well armed.

"Sigh…Napalmman, must you make so damage just to make an entrance?" asked Pharoman.

"Can't help it, man. It's my nature to blow up stuff!" exclaimed Napalmman. "Ha-ha, KABOOM!"

"Oh, great. Not another freak," groaned Protoman.