Megaman Battle Network - New Generation Book 4 - The Last Shadow By Zelloss

Author's Note: Whee... You finally get to meet Zerse, one of my more unusual-looking characters (And I've drawn some pretty weird ones before!!!). This chapter doesn't focus too much on X at all...

Chapter 5 - Acceleration

-=-Zerse-=-

"Zerse, this is so fun!"

I spun the wheel right, shooting down the empty street roads.

"I've never felt so thrilled in my life!"

I looked over and grinned. "You like this, I take it, Arale?"

"Of course! You're the fastest driver I've ever met!" Arale shouted, as I looked over at her, my eyes glazed over.

"You know, you should keep your eyes on the road..."

I grinned. "I prefer to look at you..."

"Oh?" Arale blinked.

I sped towards the intersection, along the near-empty streets. I counted down in my mind. Right, about... now!

There was the honk of a bus moving across the street.

Arale turned. "Zerse, look out!"

I didn't turn the wheel, as my car sped towards the intersection, the collision unavoidable. Or so it seemed.

"Zerse!" Arale screamed.

I didn't turn. Instead, I simply slammed down hard on the brakes.

Suddenly, the vehicle came to a complete stop, the nose just a couple inches away from the side of the bus.

Arale gasped.

"You're crazy!" Arale gaped.

"No, I'm completly sane..." I grinned.

"Oh, I was so scared..." Arale jumped over to him, hugging him.

"Don't worry..." I had expected this all to happen. I knew just when to apply the brakes, the exact moment that I would do it and not crash... And make Arale so thrilled...

Because I am no normal teen.

I have supernatural powers.

To put it lightly, I can see the future. And the past. And the Spirit World...

Yet I've never told anybody this. It's our little secret, 'kay?

There were gasps from up in the bus windows, as people fainted. There were a couple shouts.

"The hell do you think you're doing, crazy kids!?" one woman called out. "You could've killed us!!!"

I shrugged, holding Arale close. "Don't worry. It's all right."

"Show me some more, Zerse-sama..." Arale looked up, stars in her eyes.

I smirked. "Alright..." I muttered, as the bus passed, I shifted into full gear, tearing past a red light.

"Whee!" Arale cried out.

I knew just how this night would turn out. And I was looking forward to it.

-=-Zelloss-=-

"THAT is Zerse!?"

I gaped, sitting in the back seat of the car, to put it one way.

"The man who's supposed to be our hope against Dreamer... Is a teen who's only skill is driving?"

"You wish..."

I blinked.

"Who?"

"It's me, you idiot, the one who you just said had only one skill, driving..."

"Zerse? How can you...?"

"Don't you EVER read up on things first? I knew you'd be coming to visit, Zel, but now's not the time. I need to focus more on the present then the future..."

"Except you're needed!"

"Oh?" Zerse asked. "I know that. I know everything, you know that! You're kind of an idiot for a legend..."

"Shut up!" I cried back.

"Oh, look at the poor baby," Zerse taunted. "Either way, I have another act to attend to, off with you..."

Suddenly, I felt myself being pushed out of the car, by some unusual force. I couldn't get back in.

-=-Zerse-=-

"Well, he's gone," I thought. "Bloody hell, he's a strong spirit... That took a lot to do..."

I took a couple deep breaths, focusing mostly on my driving.

"You slowed down?" Arale asked.

I blinked. Slowed down?

Quickly, I focused my mind, trying to see what would happen.

No! It had all changed! Zel...

Zel had screwed it up! I had become so absorbed by him...

"Son of a bitch..." I pulled to a stop, screeching over by one of the streets.

"... Zerse?" Arale asked.

"Just, give me a few moments..." I gasped, breathing deep. I needed to recharge, it would only take a few moments...

Arale looked at me. "Are... Are you okay?" she asked, her blue hair glinting in the moonlight.

"Yes... Yeah..." I breathed.

"You're pale, like you've seen a ghost..." Arale blinked.

"No, I'm... fine..." I muttered. Besides, ghosts were usual, it was when something happened that I hadn't forseen.

"What now?" I thought. All my actions had to be prepared in advance, well, if things were to go right, anyway.

I pulled back my dark purple hair. "Okay, I need to think," I warned myself, and began to see every possible way...

If I took that route now, then?

Ah, a crash will happen there in a few moments...

There was a loud screech.

Dead on... So there goes that idea...

And if I go this way? Turn right and then left, avoiding it?

I saw my car getting crushed by a Coca Cola truck that passed. No, definately not!

And?

My mind shifted quickly through possibilites.

"He screwed me over..." I growled.

"Wh... What?" Arale looked up.

I caught myself. "Nevermind..."

"What's going on?" Arale asked.

My mind filtered over one possibility, and it hit me, without thinking too hard about it. I revved up, suddenly, taking off.

"There we go!" Arale grinned, as we hit sixty in a couple seconds.

Speed increased, and we tore off down the roads, and I made a few turns.

It hit me suddenly, as we turned a left turn.

I hadn't seen the vision all the way through... What could happen, though?

"I've never felt this good!" Arale cried.

I hoped that she'd still be thinking that when we'd reach my place... Because then she'd be easy for the taking...

I licked my lips, as she clung closer.

Then, there was a loud screech.

"AAH!" Arale screamed.

The door of my car flew towards me, dented in, badly damaging the driver's side of the vehicle.

But I wasn't to care.

I flew from the sudden impact, crashing past Arale, and hitting the side door of the car with a sharp thud, and my head tore through the glass window, slicing open my scalp.

I fell instantly unconcious.

-=-Zelloss-=-

I watched.

"... I... Did I...?"

"You did, unfortunatly..."

I stood up straight. "Gaiafarou!"

There he was, floating behind me.

In another word, god was standing behind me. Gaiafarou, the legendary warrior... The ruler of the White Domain where my dearest resided... He is the one who Eyodian's hope to live under when they pass on... Not to be left under Kaisuto...

The memory of Kaisuto made me scared. He was of my bloodline... My ancestor, making me just the slightest bit immortal... But... He was the Dark One, Gaiafarou's rival... He takes the souls that have regrets and hatred, and tears them apart for eternity... I was so close to feeling it...

"You caused it, Zel, are you proud of yourself?" Gaiafarou muttered, sounding quite normal.

My mouth dropped. "I... How?"

"Talking to him, he focused too much on you and not the driving, he slowed down..." Gaiafarou explained. "He remembered from his vision that if he varied even a bit from it, that he's crash into the traffic..."

"So he stopped..." I muttered.

Gaiafarou nodded. "And he lost so much energy pushing you away, his visions were only a few moments... He didn't see it..."

"He should have learned to drive without using his powers..." I responded.

"Admit it, if you had his powers when you were alive, would you have done different?"

"Ye... No" I admitted.

"Either way, by all rights, I should just send the world down to Kaisuto right now..."

"WHAT?" I screamed.

"With what you've done, Zel, if Zerse dies, Dreamer will destroy everything... The Spirit World, and the White Domain... leaving only the Darkness... Everybody will belong to Kaisuto, and he will, through Dreamer, rule the Earthen world..."

"Oh... My god..." I gasped. "Will he die?"

I heard just the slightest bit of doubt.

"I don't know."

"You don't?"

"So many things could happen, so many tiny variables, that it's like Zerse... If it strays from anything but the perfect procedure, he will die..." Gaiafarou answered.

"Then I'm going to give him my energy..."

"Zel, you'll..." Gaiafarou grabbed my shoulder.

"Listen, I once worked to destroy this world, and now I want to protect it!" I shouted back. "I don't care what happens to me!"

"But..." Gaiafarou called out, but I was already zooming towards Zerse's body.

I knew what would happen...

A person, a soul, they can never die twice. If I were to die in Zerse's body, before he became strong enough to leave again, or if Zerse's spirit were to leave, leaving me to control the body...

Then, when the body died, I would die again...

And since that was impossible...

I would be lost forever.

But I didn't care. It was time to do some good for once.

-=-Dreamer-=-

Well, of course I saw the crash.

I knew, just by listening, that they needed that 'Zerse' boy. I had no idea why, but he was supposed to defeat me. And now he was dead.

Or was he?

I walked slowly over, going to inspect.

Suddenly, I stopped. A light?

No, it's a Spirit... Gaiafarou? Curse him... Well, he'll even be under my control once I finish...

I walked past, my sides stinging from the sheer, well, 'goodness' of Gaiafarou. Blech.

I looked over at the wreck, mixed in with many other people. His skull was split open, his body torn...

I could sense his spirit ready to leave, which, would cause the body to die... Just what I wanted...

Then something pushed it back down.

"Zel, you meddlesome..." I spoke, without breathing a word.

"Dreamer, this boy isn't going to die..." Zel's barely-visible face appeared over Zerse.

"Oh? And how will you stop it? The boy hardly has the strength to keep going..." I smiled a bit.

"I'll give him the strength..." Zel's face dissapeared.

I saw Zerse's face twitch, and he began to move.

-=-Zerse-=-

The pain... It feels like my head is a pincushion... All the glass... It was sticking into my skull, tearing at my mind...

And there was something else, like I wasn't myself anymore.

"Dead on, Zerse..."

I blinked. "Who?"

"It's Zel..."

"Who? I thought you said my name was Zerse!"

"Err..." the voice paused. "Wait, you're Zerse, I'm Zel..."

"So that's my name..." I muttered.

I sensed the voice would have made a rather rude gesture.

"You've got amnesia...?" Zel asked.

"Err... Yeah, I guess..." I nodded.

"Oh, hell... Wounded, and you've got amnesia..." Zel sighed. "The world is fucking doomed"