Megaman Battle Network - New Generation
Book 2 - Black History
By Zelloss
Author's Note: Okay, we're going BACK into when Zel was alive here, for the most part...
Chapter 7 - Never meant to be heard
I floated along aimlessly, watching the time that passed...
But something still bugged me.
There was one thing I did regret, no matter what. Because it was my fault it happened...
* * * * *
Approximately 20 years ago, when I was still alive... Working for Neo Gospel at that! There was one thing that made me quit, but others are not supposed to know it... After re-uniting with Matson... and... Proposing to Mihill...
Mihill gave me a slightly odd look. "Zel... Are you sure you have to leave?"
"Boss is rough..." I responded, that being an understatement. "It's better that he not know..."
I looked at the tiny child, only 1 year old, who was being rocked about in Mihill's hands.
"Oh, Zel..." Mihill sighed.
"I don't... I don't want to have compulsion... I don't want to have to worry about Hayato the way I did with Gairyio..."
"Zel, for crying out loud!" Mihill laughed a bit. "You said yourself..."
"But I can't guarantee anything. Keep watch over that kid..." I smiled. "Some day, I'll just dissapear..."
"What do you mean, dissapear?" Mihill asked.
I walked off, into the station, without another word, and hopped aboard the train as it took off, before Mihill could convince me otherwise.
* * * * *
I arrived. Morpheus had shown himself to the public... They had no idea he was behind the Neo Gospel scheming. Besides, the big rage was the 'Cybersuit'.
I walked into the building Morpheus had gotten ahold of. The entire inside was carved out into something like an arena ground, with two unfinished, Gundam-style suits on both ends.
"Hello, Zel..." Matson smiled as I walked past. "How's life?"
"Very funny..." I growled. "Listen, are we going to get this finished up today or not?" I asked.
"It'll still be a few days..." Matson muttered. "Morpheus is insisting that we have 'better weaponry'. Him and Zennith... You'd swear he was trying to make sure that there were all kinds of things in the suits Zen could never use..."
I laughed.
Morpheus and Zennith had become rivals. In part because Zen suspected Morph, and Morph disliked Zennith's whole 'Hot-shot' attitude. Since Zen and Nemo had finally settled their 'rivalry', figuring out that neither of them could win, Zen had begun to rival Morph.
I smiled. "Well, let's just get this done... I'm amazed though. Where'd you get this technology?"
It was Matson who had found and brought in the technology of the Cyberbody. He didn't mention anything about it's source, but after getting back some reports, it didn't seem to be anything that had really been created before. Well, not in that manner.
So we were heavily working on it, making a public display out of it. We knew Morpheus had every intention of defeating Zennith right and left, right in front of a huge crowd. And then, obviously, use the Cyberbodys, after they became popular, as quite the weapon...
I laughed. "He's got big plans... Let's get to work..." I smiled.
* * * * *
Cyberbody... Hell, even I didn't know what it would create in the end. Linking people and litterally putting them IN the Cyberworld... It wasn't perfect, no, not by far. It wouldn't be perfected for over 70 years.
It'd become the Cyberband. But I was just imagining it as one of Morpheus' new schemes.
I wasn't thinking that openly about it. Sure, rig every one that's made. Then, once they're spread about the earth, detonate them. Major chaos. ONBA gets blamed. Creators blame it on workers. We get off scotch free, dead workers get blame. ONBA in big trouble.
I laughed. "Riight... That'll work, all right..." I remember saying that to myself. "Like something like this will ever go any further then being a bomb..."
"Besides, the things can't do any real damage!"
* * * * *
I screwed in a computer chip into the hand of the glove. "Now... Hmm... Well, obviously we have to wire it up... And connect it to the field's battlefield..."
I was so glad for having a world-full of knowledge in my head at that moment.
I laughed, albeit a bit nervously, as I looked at the shifting hands. That new Polymorphite or whatever. Able to change it's shape via cybernetic command. Genious stuff, and it'd come in handy...
"So..." I smiled, looking over at Matson, who was working at the other one, as I finished up the hand.
It was only 2 years after we first recieved the technology. Finally, from almost nothing, we had finished.
"Matson, you fancy a game?" I laughed.
Matson fixed the hand, and closed up the panel on it, before what I said hit him.
"A... Are you crazy!? When it's not even finished?" he cried out.
"Hey, you're the guy who designed these, right?" I laughed.
"But..." Matson gulped. "Well... I... Alright..."
"Now, how do you... Oh yes..." I smiled, pulling open the front of the bot-like device, and I plugged my PET into it, closing up the front.
As it shut, the suit shifted, remaining the bland, pearl-white color, but I could see the difference. The suit was altering, turning into a double-size replica of Dynast's form.
I smiled. I layed my head back, and strapped on the headset...
Instantly, I felt different... Weird... Disoriented...
The suit glitched, and I fell, crashing out of it.
Matson ran over, the hatch on the front of his still open, as I landed sharply on the ground. The suit shifted itself back.
I looked. My eyes flashed black, and for a moment, I saw somebody standing in front of the suit, palm out. Then, he was gone. What? Had somebody or something stopped me?
"Well..." I shrugged. "I wonder what that was about..."
Matson shrugged as well.
* * * * *
I found out sometime later who that was. That was Neero. The man who's spirit had stopped me from entering by sheer willpower.
"If you had've linked into that, the power of the natural connection of Blackfang, along with the power of the suit... Do you know what that would have done?" Neero had responded when I asked why.
So that explained that. But... still... It had confused me a lot. I could never have used the suit. It was probably better anyway.
* * * * *
A week or so later, Morpheus walked down, just as me and Matson made the finishing touches to the last suit.
"I'm worried though," Matson muttered, in a whisper. "I think that..."
"Well?" Morpheus asked, interrupting Matson,
"It's coming along fine... In fact, we may be done..." I smiled, adjusting the hand a degree to the right.
"Excellent..." Morpheus smiled. "Care to demonstrate for me?"
"I can't..." I said. "For some reason, the suit doesn't work with me."
"Well, then I'll do it!" Morpheus smiled. "We've got an ONBA agent at the door, go meet with him, Zel."
"Hai" I turned, and walked away. I glanced over my shoulder, to see Morpheus and Matson loading up into the suits.
One thing bothered me. What had Matson meant to say? Nah, couldn't be that important. He knew what he was doing, right?
I walked down into the hallway, and towards the main door. A young man was standing there.
I blinked.
"Shinju Toriyama... Is that right?" I asked.
"Yeah... You're Zel, right?" Shinju, the silver-haired man who looked so much like Matson, smiled a bit.
"Hai... What do you want? They're testing..."
"Ah... Well... The ONBA has insisted upon getting the name of the inventor of the stuff..."
"It's..." I paused, thinking. "Just a moment..."
My mind wandered, trying to come up with a name.
"Tsuki Awatore. You know, that really young inventor dude... In Elsyium..."
'Thanks" Shinju winked, and walked off. I turned.
I ran back to the arena, but there was no sounds of fighting. The two suits were back in their original locations, in their original, non- descript forms, a third spare suit lying in the entry hallway for replacement use.
Morpheus walked over. "That was... fast..."
"Where's Matson go?" I asked.
"Out to run some errands..." Morpheus muttered. "Listen, can you call up Zen? Tell him that he's welcome to come down and try this out... Move all the tickets to today, get the others to help..."
"Right!" I smiled. "I assume they work?"
"They work excellently..." he smiled back.
* * * * *
As it turned out, Zen was ready for the battle that night. I stood up high, in a glass commentator-style box. A young man with spring-green hair was doing that job, I was just watching.
I gave a look around the old office. Nothing too special. Desks, and a large closet in one corner. There was a slightly foul odor that I couldn't put my nose on. A couple plants in one corner.
I smiled. Venus Fly Traps. Of course, Morpheus would have insisted... A harsh plant for a harsh guy...
I looked through the glass, and heard the roar of the crowd. The suits were beginning to shift. The form of Yamatoman - Tall and covered in armor, formed. On the other hand came the body of a slightly medival navi, with the hands now holding a long staff. The Staff Blade, Morph had called it.
I looked at the monitors at the top. The forms of the two navis had seemingly merged with their operators. The crowds were cheering harder.
"And let the battle begin!"
I watched, letting my nose pick up the small scent. Zen's long spear and Morph's staff blade clashed, as the two navis did. The crowd was cheering to see something like this.
Then my nose figured it out.
"Blood... Decay... Death..." I muttered. I looked for a source, and the only thing that came to mind was the closet.
As the man kept commentating, I ran over to the closet, and swung it open.
Matson's body fell out. His chest was torn open, the blood crusted, and the indents of the headset showing on his forehead.
"Out to run some errands, my ass!" I growled, dashing towards the door. It was locked.
"Morph knew I'd find out..." I growled. "It must have been the suits... That explains the markings of the headset... And..."
I looked back, seeing Morph lunging for Zennith.
"He does mean to take this one step further!" I clenched my teeth, pulled together all my strength, and smashed the door with a tackle. The man didn't even notice.
"And the fight's going strong! Neither one seems ready to give up!"
"Don't let them give up..." I muttered. Zennith... He was ONBA, yes... But still... he was a friend...
And Morpheus was not. That scum... That absolute scum... He killed Matson... He had tweaked the plans... Somehow, he was responsible...
And for that he must pay!
I ran down the hall, running down some steps.
A metal, security door. "Fuck, I don't have time for this..." I muttered, looking up to the cieling. An airvent. I grabbed my knife, and quickly unscrewed two of the corners, before ripping off the rest from it's hinges.
I pulled myself up, and crawled quickly inside. There was a sudden drop, and I pulled myself across it. A rush of extremely hot air came through the pipe.
Quickly, I ducked my head down, and grabbed the sleeves of my long shirt and wrapped them around my hand, as the pipe became super-heated.
I growled, dashing forwards, to the end of the tunnel, as the fabric began to melt. There was a hot sting at my hands.
I swung hard, cutting open my knuckles, and removing the grate at the other end. I jumped down.
"Zen looks beat, but he looks like he's having a hard time..."
"A plan... I need a plan..." I muttered, as I turned, and ran past the woman guarding the entrance hall to the dome. I grabbed the suit.
"I don't care... Whoever you are, don't stop me this time!"
I felt a black presence, as I slipped into the suit.
"Fuck off" I shouted at it, and my sheer emotion, my sheer vengence, drove it away... Thank god...
The robot shifted, and stood right up.
Morph's bot landed a strong Goldfisted blow to the side of Zen's bot, sending him stumbling back.
"Hey... The third robot's been activated... Is that Zel?" the announcer shouted, confused.
I laughed. I ran into the arena.
Morph ran towards Zen's bot. Zen could hardly stand up.
I ran forward, connecting my concious right with Dynast's. It wasn't hard, not at all. We were normally over-connected...
"Slot-In, Iron Shield, Barrier 200!" I commanded mentally, the suit activating those chips.
Extra protection surrounded Dynast, as a large iron shield appeared in his hand in the Cyberworld. The Cyberbody shifted to accomidate this.
I ran between the two, standing right in front of Morpheus.
"Stop this NOW!"
Morpheus froze, halting, right in front of me.
"What's going on?" the announcer shouted.
"Zel, explain yourself!"
"Zen, get out of here" I shouted over the intercom system. "These suits are deadly... Matson died while testing them..."
Morph's suit looked up at me. "Zel... How'd you get out of there? I thought I'd be able to hold you off..."
"Morph, no four walls can hold me..." I smiled. "You should know that. Now then... Deactivate these things and trash them!"
Zen tried to move. Me and Morph's suits moved with it.
"I will not... Zel, you've ruined the one chance we had to cause the major wound in the ONBA..."
I moved my hand back, behind me. "Get out of here, Zen" I whispered. "Get out of the suit, I'll take care of Morph..."
Zen gave a response, and hopped out of the suit, running for it.
I dropped something in the cyberworld.
"So, Morph..." I blocked him off long enough for Zen to get out of the arena grounds. "You know now I'll have to kill you for what you did to my brother, right?"
"Come and try me, you can't kill me..." Morph smiled.
I laughed, and pulled into a prepared stance, the Iron Shield dissapearing.
"Full Recovery system code, activate..." Morph laughed.
I blinked. That wasn't part of the system, was it...?"
Morph's cyberbody repaired itself.
"Incredible Protection system code, activate..."
A mirror-like coating appeared around Morpheus and his navi in the cyberworld.
"Incredible Attack system code, activate..."
The Staff Blade in Morpheus' navi's hands glowed.
I gulped.
"Deactivate movement system code, activate..."
The legs of my Cyberbody stopped.
"Teleportation system code, activate..."
There was a rush, as the machine was behind me.
"Say good-bye, Zelloss..." Morph growled. "It really has been nice knowing you..."
"Look down..." I said, gulping.
Morph looked down.
I grabbed my PET, pulled it out of the system, and dived away from the bot.
The Timebomb programmed I had dropped was set off.
Morpheus' body was flung from the suit, his navi deleted. The Cybersuits shut down, and exploded. There was no data giving the Polymorphite form, so, it was warping and twisting, destroying the machinery in it.
The monitors exploded. Crowds screamed, as they ran out of the building. The sound system exploded.
The net of the building had crashed, in an instant. Timebomb had done it's job.
I turned and ran, as Morpheus stood up.
"Zel, you traitorous..." Morpheus breated deep.
I felt a sharp bullet shoot into my right forearm. I turned sharply, clutching my arm.
"Morpheus..." I shook my head. "I'm giving you one chance to escape..."
My anger... I didn't want to kill him, but if he did one more thing... All limits were broken.
Another shot.
I raised my hand and caught it, turning it just to the side, and it shot into the young woman who had been blocking the arena entrance.
I heard the thud of her body landing.
"Morpheus..." my eyes turned jet-black, and my hair flared up. "I warned you..."
Morpheus looked at me, respect and... a bit of fear? Was that it? There was something I had never seen before in his eyes... Fear... It must be...
He fired off a few more times.
None of them hit me. His accuracy was off. He did fear me. I could sense him shaking.
I raised my palm to point at him.
The power of Blackfang ripped out of me suddenly. The ground tore up, black energy shooting along the ground towards Morpheus. The entire floor of the arena was broken in two.
Morpheus dived to the side.
"Trying to run?" there was a crazed look on my face.
I looked up to the audience, seeing Mihill up there, holding our three year old sun, a look of sheer terror on her face.
I gave her a wink, and I mouthed, "Now is my time to dissapear..."
"Now is your time to dissapear..." I spoke the words to Morpheus. "For the crimes you've commited, may your rotten soul burn in hell..."
I raised my hand, and swung it forward.
A huge black blast of energy shot out. I saw it crash into Morpheus, I saw the walls give way, and the ball carry him far out of the arena.
I heard the explosion of... something...
Then my conciousness was nearly gone. I forced Blackfang back.
"I've had my revenge!" I told it. "Back off!"
"No... He's not dead..." Blackfang whispered. "You have to finish him off, don't you?"
"I do not. I'm content with the result" I laughed. "Now, fuck off."
Blackfang dissapeared. I ran off, through the hole in the wall, and climbing up onto the rooftop, before running away.
* * * * *
It still bugs me... How I could have possibly trusted Morpheus in the first place...
"Matson died many times..." I sighed. "Where... Where is he now?"
I saw his face, burning, Kaisuto over his body...
"Matson, I'm sorry for letting you down... Mabye one day, you'll find a way out of damnation... And let my heart rest..."
"Matson is alive, Zel" Neero muttered.
I turned sharply.
"The finale is coming. The Cyberbody systems have been found. The Cyberband is about to be invented. My final piece of work is about to come back..." Neero looked disheartened, for some unknown reason.
"What!?" I blinked. "YOUR work!?"
"Matson didn't die. His body is only barely alive in the Cyberworld. He's what set off the Dark Hole that destroyed the net a few days ago. Dynast is seeing to make him his companion..." Neero muttered.
"He's... still alive?" My eyes opened wide.
"Your descendants will play a role in history that you yourself could not have imagined..." Neero smiled. "Zel... Your bloodline... Those people down there... Do you see that child? Only 9 years old? With Lesteo, your grandson?"
"What do you see?" I asked.
I had discovered that, Neero, it seemed, knew more then anybody should. Even the gods didn't seem to know as much as him. He... was psychic, it seemed.
"That man is Dreamer. Lesteo's son. His mind will be warped, his innocence torn apart, and the war will begin again..."
"War? What?" I asked.
"Zel..." Neero looked at me. "It's starting again. It's almost 350 years away, but the vessels already exist..."
"Neero... Father, what are you talking about?" I demanded.
"You will know someday, Zel... You will know someday..." Neero faded out.
"Dad..." I looked around.
He had always left me behind...
Slowly, I looked down at the world, as what came to pass came to pass. And watching those of my descendants carefully.
Looking for a clue to tell the destiny that Neero would wait 350 years to tell me about.
Author's Note: Okay, we're going BACK into when Zel was alive here, for the most part...
Chapter 7 - Never meant to be heard
I floated along aimlessly, watching the time that passed...
But something still bugged me.
There was one thing I did regret, no matter what. Because it was my fault it happened...
* * * * *
Approximately 20 years ago, when I was still alive... Working for Neo Gospel at that! There was one thing that made me quit, but others are not supposed to know it... After re-uniting with Matson... and... Proposing to Mihill...
Mihill gave me a slightly odd look. "Zel... Are you sure you have to leave?"
"Boss is rough..." I responded, that being an understatement. "It's better that he not know..."
I looked at the tiny child, only 1 year old, who was being rocked about in Mihill's hands.
"Oh, Zel..." Mihill sighed.
"I don't... I don't want to have compulsion... I don't want to have to worry about Hayato the way I did with Gairyio..."
"Zel, for crying out loud!" Mihill laughed a bit. "You said yourself..."
"But I can't guarantee anything. Keep watch over that kid..." I smiled. "Some day, I'll just dissapear..."
"What do you mean, dissapear?" Mihill asked.
I walked off, into the station, without another word, and hopped aboard the train as it took off, before Mihill could convince me otherwise.
* * * * *
I arrived. Morpheus had shown himself to the public... They had no idea he was behind the Neo Gospel scheming. Besides, the big rage was the 'Cybersuit'.
I walked into the building Morpheus had gotten ahold of. The entire inside was carved out into something like an arena ground, with two unfinished, Gundam-style suits on both ends.
"Hello, Zel..." Matson smiled as I walked past. "How's life?"
"Very funny..." I growled. "Listen, are we going to get this finished up today or not?" I asked.
"It'll still be a few days..." Matson muttered. "Morpheus is insisting that we have 'better weaponry'. Him and Zennith... You'd swear he was trying to make sure that there were all kinds of things in the suits Zen could never use..."
I laughed.
Morpheus and Zennith had become rivals. In part because Zen suspected Morph, and Morph disliked Zennith's whole 'Hot-shot' attitude. Since Zen and Nemo had finally settled their 'rivalry', figuring out that neither of them could win, Zen had begun to rival Morph.
I smiled. "Well, let's just get this done... I'm amazed though. Where'd you get this technology?"
It was Matson who had found and brought in the technology of the Cyberbody. He didn't mention anything about it's source, but after getting back some reports, it didn't seem to be anything that had really been created before. Well, not in that manner.
So we were heavily working on it, making a public display out of it. We knew Morpheus had every intention of defeating Zennith right and left, right in front of a huge crowd. And then, obviously, use the Cyberbodys, after they became popular, as quite the weapon...
I laughed. "He's got big plans... Let's get to work..." I smiled.
* * * * *
Cyberbody... Hell, even I didn't know what it would create in the end. Linking people and litterally putting them IN the Cyberworld... It wasn't perfect, no, not by far. It wouldn't be perfected for over 70 years.
It'd become the Cyberband. But I was just imagining it as one of Morpheus' new schemes.
I wasn't thinking that openly about it. Sure, rig every one that's made. Then, once they're spread about the earth, detonate them. Major chaos. ONBA gets blamed. Creators blame it on workers. We get off scotch free, dead workers get blame. ONBA in big trouble.
I laughed. "Riight... That'll work, all right..." I remember saying that to myself. "Like something like this will ever go any further then being a bomb..."
"Besides, the things can't do any real damage!"
* * * * *
I screwed in a computer chip into the hand of the glove. "Now... Hmm... Well, obviously we have to wire it up... And connect it to the field's battlefield..."
I was so glad for having a world-full of knowledge in my head at that moment.
I laughed, albeit a bit nervously, as I looked at the shifting hands. That new Polymorphite or whatever. Able to change it's shape via cybernetic command. Genious stuff, and it'd come in handy...
"So..." I smiled, looking over at Matson, who was working at the other one, as I finished up the hand.
It was only 2 years after we first recieved the technology. Finally, from almost nothing, we had finished.
"Matson, you fancy a game?" I laughed.
Matson fixed the hand, and closed up the panel on it, before what I said hit him.
"A... Are you crazy!? When it's not even finished?" he cried out.
"Hey, you're the guy who designed these, right?" I laughed.
"But..." Matson gulped. "Well... I... Alright..."
"Now, how do you... Oh yes..." I smiled, pulling open the front of the bot-like device, and I plugged my PET into it, closing up the front.
As it shut, the suit shifted, remaining the bland, pearl-white color, but I could see the difference. The suit was altering, turning into a double-size replica of Dynast's form.
I smiled. I layed my head back, and strapped on the headset...
Instantly, I felt different... Weird... Disoriented...
The suit glitched, and I fell, crashing out of it.
Matson ran over, the hatch on the front of his still open, as I landed sharply on the ground. The suit shifted itself back.
I looked. My eyes flashed black, and for a moment, I saw somebody standing in front of the suit, palm out. Then, he was gone. What? Had somebody or something stopped me?
"Well..." I shrugged. "I wonder what that was about..."
Matson shrugged as well.
* * * * *
I found out sometime later who that was. That was Neero. The man who's spirit had stopped me from entering by sheer willpower.
"If you had've linked into that, the power of the natural connection of Blackfang, along with the power of the suit... Do you know what that would have done?" Neero had responded when I asked why.
So that explained that. But... still... It had confused me a lot. I could never have used the suit. It was probably better anyway.
* * * * *
A week or so later, Morpheus walked down, just as me and Matson made the finishing touches to the last suit.
"I'm worried though," Matson muttered, in a whisper. "I think that..."
"Well?" Morpheus asked, interrupting Matson,
"It's coming along fine... In fact, we may be done..." I smiled, adjusting the hand a degree to the right.
"Excellent..." Morpheus smiled. "Care to demonstrate for me?"
"I can't..." I said. "For some reason, the suit doesn't work with me."
"Well, then I'll do it!" Morpheus smiled. "We've got an ONBA agent at the door, go meet with him, Zel."
"Hai" I turned, and walked away. I glanced over my shoulder, to see Morpheus and Matson loading up into the suits.
One thing bothered me. What had Matson meant to say? Nah, couldn't be that important. He knew what he was doing, right?
I walked down into the hallway, and towards the main door. A young man was standing there.
I blinked.
"Shinju Toriyama... Is that right?" I asked.
"Yeah... You're Zel, right?" Shinju, the silver-haired man who looked so much like Matson, smiled a bit.
"Hai... What do you want? They're testing..."
"Ah... Well... The ONBA has insisted upon getting the name of the inventor of the stuff..."
"It's..." I paused, thinking. "Just a moment..."
My mind wandered, trying to come up with a name.
"Tsuki Awatore. You know, that really young inventor dude... In Elsyium..."
'Thanks" Shinju winked, and walked off. I turned.
I ran back to the arena, but there was no sounds of fighting. The two suits were back in their original locations, in their original, non- descript forms, a third spare suit lying in the entry hallway for replacement use.
Morpheus walked over. "That was... fast..."
"Where's Matson go?" I asked.
"Out to run some errands..." Morpheus muttered. "Listen, can you call up Zen? Tell him that he's welcome to come down and try this out... Move all the tickets to today, get the others to help..."
"Right!" I smiled. "I assume they work?"
"They work excellently..." he smiled back.
* * * * *
As it turned out, Zen was ready for the battle that night. I stood up high, in a glass commentator-style box. A young man with spring-green hair was doing that job, I was just watching.
I gave a look around the old office. Nothing too special. Desks, and a large closet in one corner. There was a slightly foul odor that I couldn't put my nose on. A couple plants in one corner.
I smiled. Venus Fly Traps. Of course, Morpheus would have insisted... A harsh plant for a harsh guy...
I looked through the glass, and heard the roar of the crowd. The suits were beginning to shift. The form of Yamatoman - Tall and covered in armor, formed. On the other hand came the body of a slightly medival navi, with the hands now holding a long staff. The Staff Blade, Morph had called it.
I looked at the monitors at the top. The forms of the two navis had seemingly merged with their operators. The crowds were cheering harder.
"And let the battle begin!"
I watched, letting my nose pick up the small scent. Zen's long spear and Morph's staff blade clashed, as the two navis did. The crowd was cheering to see something like this.
Then my nose figured it out.
"Blood... Decay... Death..." I muttered. I looked for a source, and the only thing that came to mind was the closet.
As the man kept commentating, I ran over to the closet, and swung it open.
Matson's body fell out. His chest was torn open, the blood crusted, and the indents of the headset showing on his forehead.
"Out to run some errands, my ass!" I growled, dashing towards the door. It was locked.
"Morph knew I'd find out..." I growled. "It must have been the suits... That explains the markings of the headset... And..."
I looked back, seeing Morph lunging for Zennith.
"He does mean to take this one step further!" I clenched my teeth, pulled together all my strength, and smashed the door with a tackle. The man didn't even notice.
"And the fight's going strong! Neither one seems ready to give up!"
"Don't let them give up..." I muttered. Zennith... He was ONBA, yes... But still... he was a friend...
And Morpheus was not. That scum... That absolute scum... He killed Matson... He had tweaked the plans... Somehow, he was responsible...
And for that he must pay!
I ran down the hall, running down some steps.
A metal, security door. "Fuck, I don't have time for this..." I muttered, looking up to the cieling. An airvent. I grabbed my knife, and quickly unscrewed two of the corners, before ripping off the rest from it's hinges.
I pulled myself up, and crawled quickly inside. There was a sudden drop, and I pulled myself across it. A rush of extremely hot air came through the pipe.
Quickly, I ducked my head down, and grabbed the sleeves of my long shirt and wrapped them around my hand, as the pipe became super-heated.
I growled, dashing forwards, to the end of the tunnel, as the fabric began to melt. There was a hot sting at my hands.
I swung hard, cutting open my knuckles, and removing the grate at the other end. I jumped down.
"Zen looks beat, but he looks like he's having a hard time..."
"A plan... I need a plan..." I muttered, as I turned, and ran past the woman guarding the entrance hall to the dome. I grabbed the suit.
"I don't care... Whoever you are, don't stop me this time!"
I felt a black presence, as I slipped into the suit.
"Fuck off" I shouted at it, and my sheer emotion, my sheer vengence, drove it away... Thank god...
The robot shifted, and stood right up.
Morph's bot landed a strong Goldfisted blow to the side of Zen's bot, sending him stumbling back.
"Hey... The third robot's been activated... Is that Zel?" the announcer shouted, confused.
I laughed. I ran into the arena.
Morph ran towards Zen's bot. Zen could hardly stand up.
I ran forward, connecting my concious right with Dynast's. It wasn't hard, not at all. We were normally over-connected...
"Slot-In, Iron Shield, Barrier 200!" I commanded mentally, the suit activating those chips.
Extra protection surrounded Dynast, as a large iron shield appeared in his hand in the Cyberworld. The Cyberbody shifted to accomidate this.
I ran between the two, standing right in front of Morpheus.
"Stop this NOW!"
Morpheus froze, halting, right in front of me.
"What's going on?" the announcer shouted.
"Zel, explain yourself!"
"Zen, get out of here" I shouted over the intercom system. "These suits are deadly... Matson died while testing them..."
Morph's suit looked up at me. "Zel... How'd you get out of there? I thought I'd be able to hold you off..."
"Morph, no four walls can hold me..." I smiled. "You should know that. Now then... Deactivate these things and trash them!"
Zen tried to move. Me and Morph's suits moved with it.
"I will not... Zel, you've ruined the one chance we had to cause the major wound in the ONBA..."
I moved my hand back, behind me. "Get out of here, Zen" I whispered. "Get out of the suit, I'll take care of Morph..."
Zen gave a response, and hopped out of the suit, running for it.
I dropped something in the cyberworld.
"So, Morph..." I blocked him off long enough for Zen to get out of the arena grounds. "You know now I'll have to kill you for what you did to my brother, right?"
"Come and try me, you can't kill me..." Morph smiled.
I laughed, and pulled into a prepared stance, the Iron Shield dissapearing.
"Full Recovery system code, activate..." Morph laughed.
I blinked. That wasn't part of the system, was it...?"
Morph's cyberbody repaired itself.
"Incredible Protection system code, activate..."
A mirror-like coating appeared around Morpheus and his navi in the cyberworld.
"Incredible Attack system code, activate..."
The Staff Blade in Morpheus' navi's hands glowed.
I gulped.
"Deactivate movement system code, activate..."
The legs of my Cyberbody stopped.
"Teleportation system code, activate..."
There was a rush, as the machine was behind me.
"Say good-bye, Zelloss..." Morph growled. "It really has been nice knowing you..."
"Look down..." I said, gulping.
Morph looked down.
I grabbed my PET, pulled it out of the system, and dived away from the bot.
The Timebomb programmed I had dropped was set off.
Morpheus' body was flung from the suit, his navi deleted. The Cybersuits shut down, and exploded. There was no data giving the Polymorphite form, so, it was warping and twisting, destroying the machinery in it.
The monitors exploded. Crowds screamed, as they ran out of the building. The sound system exploded.
The net of the building had crashed, in an instant. Timebomb had done it's job.
I turned and ran, as Morpheus stood up.
"Zel, you traitorous..." Morpheus breated deep.
I felt a sharp bullet shoot into my right forearm. I turned sharply, clutching my arm.
"Morpheus..." I shook my head. "I'm giving you one chance to escape..."
My anger... I didn't want to kill him, but if he did one more thing... All limits were broken.
Another shot.
I raised my hand and caught it, turning it just to the side, and it shot into the young woman who had been blocking the arena entrance.
I heard the thud of her body landing.
"Morpheus..." my eyes turned jet-black, and my hair flared up. "I warned you..."
Morpheus looked at me, respect and... a bit of fear? Was that it? There was something I had never seen before in his eyes... Fear... It must be...
He fired off a few more times.
None of them hit me. His accuracy was off. He did fear me. I could sense him shaking.
I raised my palm to point at him.
The power of Blackfang ripped out of me suddenly. The ground tore up, black energy shooting along the ground towards Morpheus. The entire floor of the arena was broken in two.
Morpheus dived to the side.
"Trying to run?" there was a crazed look on my face.
I looked up to the audience, seeing Mihill up there, holding our three year old sun, a look of sheer terror on her face.
I gave her a wink, and I mouthed, "Now is my time to dissapear..."
"Now is your time to dissapear..." I spoke the words to Morpheus. "For the crimes you've commited, may your rotten soul burn in hell..."
I raised my hand, and swung it forward.
A huge black blast of energy shot out. I saw it crash into Morpheus, I saw the walls give way, and the ball carry him far out of the arena.
I heard the explosion of... something...
Then my conciousness was nearly gone. I forced Blackfang back.
"I've had my revenge!" I told it. "Back off!"
"No... He's not dead..." Blackfang whispered. "You have to finish him off, don't you?"
"I do not. I'm content with the result" I laughed. "Now, fuck off."
Blackfang dissapeared. I ran off, through the hole in the wall, and climbing up onto the rooftop, before running away.
* * * * *
It still bugs me... How I could have possibly trusted Morpheus in the first place...
"Matson died many times..." I sighed. "Where... Where is he now?"
I saw his face, burning, Kaisuto over his body...
"Matson, I'm sorry for letting you down... Mabye one day, you'll find a way out of damnation... And let my heart rest..."
"Matson is alive, Zel" Neero muttered.
I turned sharply.
"The finale is coming. The Cyberbody systems have been found. The Cyberband is about to be invented. My final piece of work is about to come back..." Neero looked disheartened, for some unknown reason.
"What!?" I blinked. "YOUR work!?"
"Matson didn't die. His body is only barely alive in the Cyberworld. He's what set off the Dark Hole that destroyed the net a few days ago. Dynast is seeing to make him his companion..." Neero muttered.
"He's... still alive?" My eyes opened wide.
"Your descendants will play a role in history that you yourself could not have imagined..." Neero smiled. "Zel... Your bloodline... Those people down there... Do you see that child? Only 9 years old? With Lesteo, your grandson?"
"What do you see?" I asked.
I had discovered that, Neero, it seemed, knew more then anybody should. Even the gods didn't seem to know as much as him. He... was psychic, it seemed.
"That man is Dreamer. Lesteo's son. His mind will be warped, his innocence torn apart, and the war will begin again..."
"War? What?" I asked.
"Zel..." Neero looked at me. "It's starting again. It's almost 350 years away, but the vessels already exist..."
"Neero... Father, what are you talking about?" I demanded.
"You will know someday, Zel... You will know someday..." Neero faded out.
"Dad..." I looked around.
He had always left me behind...
Slowly, I looked down at the world, as what came to pass came to pass. And watching those of my descendants carefully.
Looking for a clue to tell the destiny that Neero would wait 350 years to tell me about.