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

Author's Note: Time to fast forward to pre-X6 times, with a bit of a mix of Megaman Zero already showing it's face... ^^ But poor me... The hardest character is about to show heart, and the most innocent character is about to snap... This is odd to write, and hard, trust me.

Chapter 6 - Demon Conversion

-=-Dynastu-=-

I felt the fluids wash away. What was going on...? What fluids were these, anyway?

Slowly, I opened my eyes... And then promptly remembered that I didn't have any...

I tried to move my mouth to give the command, but I discovered my eyes opening anyway. My mind swirled with information.

I was seeing? No! This wasn't possible!

The fluids finished draining, and my body fell forwards, landing hard on the ground. I looked around.

This was a lab of some sort... I stood up.

And felt long hair hit the back of my armor.

"What...?" I looked around, and saw my reflection in the glass of another one of the holding tanks.

I was standing tall, in orange-red armor that fell quite loosely around my legs, and a red helmet over my head released long flowing blonde hair. "What...?" I shook my head. "What the hell happened..."

I saw my eyes. No, they weren't real. Cybernetic implants, I could tell. But, still...

"What...? What am I?" I asked.

"So you've awoken, Elpis..." a voice made me turn.

I stepped back instinctively.

The man standing before me was taller then I was, his long purple hair flowing down his back and falling over his right eye, his open chest scarred, the only thing he was wearing was a long pair of black pants. The man smlied.

"Elpis?" I asked. "My name is Dynastu."

"Not really, no, it's not..." Dreamer smiled. "Your name is Elpis, just as it was Protoman before."

"How do you know that?" I demanded.

"I know everything there is to know about you, Dynastu Yobuu. I know that your grandfather once tried to kill me. He failed miserably, so you know, so there exists no point in you trying to do the same."

"Grandfather Enkou...?" I gaped. "You... knew him?"

The man nodded. "He had a twisted heart... But he was like me in many ways..." Dreamer smiled. "He didn't care much for the law at all... All he wanted was for his honor to be regained... And, I guess, in the end, he did manage it..." Dreamer smiled again.

"Oh really now..." I shook my head. "Honor for a family without law?"

"He believed in the 'eye for an eye' thing. But it is funny that, in the final end, he should be tied in with the same line who killed his father in the first place!" Dreamer laughed. "But that does not matter..."

"Why have you done this to me?" I asked.

"Well, it's quite simple, really..." Dreamer smiled. "I somehow managed to find a 'revival' program, if you will. One that allowed me to bring your body back to a usefull stage... And so, your body has healed, and I have completed the repairs..."

"Repairs..." I looked at my arm, and at my chest. Not a scratch... I couldn't even feel any pain.

"Yes, the repairs. I fixed you up because I myself need your aid."

"Oh?" Dreamer asked.

"You know of a man by the name... Amyrth, was it not?"

"Yes, I know him" I nodded.

"I need him... shall we say... erased?" Dreamer smiled.

"Erased!? But... why?" I asked.

"Elpis, you're a worker of good... You and Zero... that's what Amyrth is now called... You were supposed to be good. But Zero went bad, and he took off to work under some robot named Sigma..."

"How... unusual..." I thought.

"I'm serious. Sigma has tried several times to take over the world, and now he controls Zero. I'm trying to destroy Sigma... But first I need Zero gone..." I smiled.

"And this is where I come in, right?" I asked.

Dreamer nodded.

"But why?" I asked. "If you've got the technology to revive me..."

"I... I'm afraid to confront him..." Dreamer turned away. "If I was a robot, I would fight him... But I don't have a chance now. Not the slighest chance in hell... No other professor in this age alive has the ability to do the work Light and Wily did..."

"I... I might be able to..." I offered.

"Not in your state" Dreamer shook his head.

"Wait... What age is this?"

"It has nearly a couple hundred years since you were put to sleep..." Dreamer offered. "You were injured in a fight with... Forte, I believe... and from that, you were put into statis... and then revived by me..."

"Why did you bother?"

"I need a warrior..." Dreamer sighed. "You're the last chance I've got... I have to avenge..."

"Avenge?"

"I have to avenge Auree."

-=- Dreamer -=-

"I have to avenge Auree."

I was lying, of course. But I let a tear fall, and my body to shake, for realism.

He bought it.

"Auree...?" Dynastu asked.

"Yes..." I shook again, looking down at the ground. "I... a woman I loved... Zero killed her..."

"Zero... Oh my..." Dynastu gulped.

"You have to help me..." I responded.

"I'll do whatever I can..." Dynastu promised.

"You will...? Really...?" I asked.

"Yes..." Dynastu nodded.

"Very well..." I smiled. "You've made a man happy today... There's... just one other thing..."

"What?" Dynastu asked.

"There are two others... R... X, and Iris... Don't let them fool you... They too are working with Sigma..."

"X and Iris, huh?" Dynastu thought.

"Yes... That's right... They'll try to fight with Zero to confuse you..." I looked down at the ground. "It's because of that they managed... managed..."

"I think I understand" Dynastu/Elpis nodded his head. "I promise I will help you."

"Thank you..." I smiled. "Thank you very much."

It had worked.

-=-Zerse-=-

I awoke again, sitting straight up. I took a few moments, then moved myself out of the hospital bed.

The doctors had been amazed by my recovery. They said my memory was coming back really fast... I could remember getting in a crash with some other car... And I could remember... hearing that voice that was now stuck, ringing inside my head.

I stepped out of the hall, wearing more casual clothes then what was normally allowed of hospital patients. Baggy black shorts and a long silvery t-shirt. The doctors had said my head kept getting unusually cold, so there was a sort of silvery turban wrapped around my head, with it's back flowing down behind my greenish-silver hair.

I smiled, as one of the nurses spotted me.

"Zerse, you're awake again... The doctor says that there is a place he'd like to take you to..."

"Oh really?" I asked.

"Yes... You see... Oh, I'm not the one who should tell you this..."

"Just hold on a moment" I paused. Then I thought hard. "So what happened?" I thought.

"I don't like telling you this, but the sooner you know..."

I gulped.

Zel continued. "The sooner you know... In the car you were in was your girlfriend at the time... She died quite quickly..."

I paused. "That's... the girl... that was..." I breathed.

The nurse gave me a few looks.

"And who was in the other car?" Zel asked.

"Who was in the other car?" I demanded to the nurse.

"I... I can't... go speak to Doctor Palchen..." the nurse turned around. "I'll take you to him..."

"I want to know now..." I growled.

"Well, I..."

"Wait, I know how to find out" I stopped. "Zel, spill it."

"I guess you have the right to know... In that other car... was your family."

"My family!?" I cried out, loud and clear enough for the nurse to hear. She jumped.

"Yes... Yes..." the nurse nodded grimly. "That... Your family was..."

"Fuck... FUCK!" I swore, tearing past her. There was still pain in some of my body, but..."

"Zerse, where are you going!?" both the nurse and Zel screamed at me.

I didn't respond. I kept running, tearing out of the hospital, tears streaming from my eyes. Oh, god, why didn't anybody... Why didn't anybody tell me...?

I kept running. I heard hospital sirens go off. Yeah, they'd be after me...

I turned into an alleyway, tearing through it.

"Hey, where are you going, kid?" a hand grabbed onto my chest, making me stop. A tall man lifted me off of the ground.

"What do you want?" I spat.

"Aren't you the confident one?" the man laughed. "Do you know who we are?"

"I don't care..." I spat, angry and sad. I didn't care about this guy's problems, or who the hell he was. As he said 'we', I clued in to the fact that others, somewhat shorter, had gathered around.

I looked in the face of my holder. He had spiky navy blue hair that was pulled back, and was looking at me deep with brown eyes and dark skin. "You will once you know. We're the Gospel Revolution."

"Gospel Revolution, huh?" I asked. "Never heard of you guys..."

"They're mercenaries. They got hired by Sigma to do some 'dirty work'."

"Sigma?"

"Oh, geez... Let's put it this way. Evil guy trying to take over world."

"Gotcha" I responded mentally to this 'Zel', whoever he was. "Oh, you guys!" I played along. "So why are you bothering with me?"

"Because..." the man smiled. "Sigma says he'd like to have his hands on you... Says you've got some kind of special power... I wouldn't mind seeing for myself... So go ahead, do something..."

I looked around. "But I can't..."

"Sigma said to kill you if you didn't show anything. So if you want to save yourself, do something!" the man laughed, and I felt his knee smash into my chest. Something stung harder then normal. He had lowered me for a moment, and... His kneecap must have steel pads or something on them.

"But... But..." I gasped for air. My recovery wasn't finished... That blow had stung... A lot...

"Just focus your mind on his feet" Zel explained.

I looked down. I stared at his feet.

I focused hard.

"Now imagine them floating" Zel continued.

I imagined them floating... just slightly... then getting higher and higher...

My mind strained, but I opened my eyes. They were! They were rising off of the ground! I concentrated harder, focusing my energy.

"What... You guys are sh..." the man looked around. "So he does have a power..." the man laughed.

I broke my concentration. He landed hard on his feet, the impact shaking us for a moment, since he hadn't been totally ready, but he kept his hold.

"Now, then, mister Zerse... Matron! Trucel! Grab his hands and legs. We're taking this kid to go see Sigma."

"What's going to happen to me?" I demanded silently.

"We'll have to wait and see... But now do you know?"

"Know what?"

"Do you know your own abilities?" I asked.

"Yes... Yes, I think so... I'm psychic, aren't I?"

"You have the powers of telekenisis, foresight, and inter-plane ESP. So, yes, you could say that, but that's a very small generalization of your powers."

"Then I'm more then gifted?" I tried to figure out what he had meant.

"Yes! Yes! Much more!" I laughed. "You're Gaiafarou - that the god of light -'s secret weapon! You have within you the power of a mortal god!"

I tried to hold in my reaction. "Holy hell..."

-=-Dynastu-=-

Slowly, I walked through the dusty halls of the mountain lab.

"Don't trust him!" a voice screamed.

I looked around.

I saw, almost etched in the stone, the face of a young boy. But as I focused, it dissapeared.

"You can't trust him!" another young male voice shouted.

"What? What?" I cried out.

Then, I believe I saw two things that freightened me. Two faces, both pearly-white and nearly see-through, like your classic ghost, appeared in front of me. They were both the faces of children.

"What is this!?" I shouted out.

"Don't trust father" the first cried out.

"He's trying to twist your mind... Don't fall for it" the second shouted.

"What...? Father?"

"That man you call Dreamer is a devil... He intends on..."

"No, I'm not a devil. Sons, go away" Dreamer shooed them away as he walked up behind me.

"Dad, you can't continue to try and manipulate people like this, you..."

Dreamer shot his palm forward. The two ghosts dissapeared suddenly.

"I'm sorry... The ghosts of my sons..."

"What...? Why were they...?"

"They believe I betrayed them... They died many many years before you were even born" Dreamer shook his head. "I'm actually from a time about 70 years before you were born... The time of the Cybersystem..."

"I knew I knew your name!" I suddenly remembered from my studies. "Dreamer Grausherra! You were one of the Great Three of the Cybersystem! Eventually, you even surpassed Sirius and Jezin!"

"Then, one day, I just, dissapeared..." Dreamer nodded. "I know very well what is taught on the subject of me... And of the many rumors that have been circulating ever since. Though... My sons..."

"Who killed them?" I asked.

Dreamer looked away. "Your grandfather did. It's how he got his honor back. He took my children from me..."

I gulped. "That's... terrible..."

"Enkou..." Dreamer laughed. "I should have expected it. He would strike after I had dissapeared. My sons thought that, since I sealed myself away, that I betrayed their lives to Enkou..."

"Oh..." I shook my head. "Please... Let me do my job. I... If this involves any more ghosts... I'm not totally used to the paranormal..."

"I understand. Let me send you to the fortress right away" Dreamer nodded. "I don't want you to have to be assailed with their benevolent moaning anymore. I'd hate to lose my only hope for justice..."

I nodded.

-=-Marius-=-

I didn't like it. Dad had once again... Once again...

Once again tried to push me away...

I 'sat' down, looking down at my feet.

"Cheer up..." Seinjaii patted my shoulder.

I glared up at him. "Why? What's there to be cheery about?"

Seinjaii stared at me. "There's nothing left anymore, is there?" I demanded. "Zerse doesn't have the strength to fight Dreamer. We don't have the strength to fight him. Gaiafarou himself doesn't have the strength to fight him!"

"Calm down..." Seinjaii tried, but I was in no mood for it.

"For once, don't tell me to calm down..." I growled. "You always thought you knew everything, didn't you!?"

Seinjaii stared at me, speechless.

"I told you! I could have saved father! I could have saved him so long ago! But you had to do what I didn't want! This could all have been stopped! I had the chance, and you took it from me!"

Seinjaii gaped. "Brother... You wouldn't have..."

"I would too have made a difference!" I punched my brother straight in the head.

The force of my hatred sent him spinning, crashing out through one of the walls. But I didn't care. He wouldn't help. He had made the mistake before.

I had to take on father on my own this time. Seinjaii couldn't have any part in it.

Or he'd ruin it again.

-=-Dreamer-=-

I stood, facing the teleporter, as Dynastu dissapeared. I smiled.

"Then that's all there is to it..." I laughed, then walked to the controls, and twisted a few things. "Or is it?"

I laughed, walking towards the transporter.

"Daddy! You have to stop! This is wrong!"

I froze. There were two hands holding my arm, holding me back... Just...

Just like before...

"Marius..." I didn't even turn. "I can't turn back..."

"You can..." Marius cried out. "Please... Dad... Don't let it happen again... Don't let the evil..."

I laughed. "The evil is nothing..."

I gave up my mind for a few seconds. My hair spiked, my eyes turning black, my face darkening. I turned to Marius.

Marius froze, his little spirit scared. "Don't let the evil do what?"

It wasn't me that said that. But I didn't worry. After all, I had used this power before... And now I was paying it back.

Marius stared up at me. His eyes looked up at me.

At first, I thought it was fear in them. Then... something else...

Marius jumped for my leg, clinging onto me. "Daddy... I won't let you go..."

I grabbed the spirit's blue hair and lifted him away with ease. He struggled, kicking.

"Let go of me and let go of my daddy, you creep!" Marius shouted, gnashing his teeth.

"Runts like you need to be disposed of fast and efficently" I lifted him up higher. No, I didn't.

Kaisuto did.

Kaisuto lifted him up, and with a flick of his wrist, Marius went flying. I stepped backwards into the transporter...

And then I was gone.

"Why did you do that?" I asked mentally.

"Do what?" Kaisuto asked.

"Why did you just remove him like that?" I asked.

"They tried to betray you... They tried to betray us."

"They tried to save me, and I was too blind to see it then" I sighed. "But it is too late to turn back now... Just promise me one thing."

"What?"

"Let their souls rest. Don't give them torment."

I got no response.

-=-Rock-=-

I stood alone at the entrance. There it was, a huge fortress made of steel.

"I'm coming for you... Sigma... Zero..." I growled.

A girl ran in behind me, grabbing at my arm.

"I'm coming with you, Rock!" Roll cried out.

"My name is X, Iris. Not Rock." I reminded her.

"It's Rock! Try to remember!" Roll cried again. "Don't let yourself forget who you really are..."

"You're right..." I sighed. "Sorry, Roll..."

"Good" Roll smiled. "Now that we've got that settled, I'm still coming with you!"

"Ack!" I cried out. "Iris, this is going to be the most dangerous..."

"It's always the most dangerous" Roll pointed out. "And call me Roll! Jeebus Tap-Dancing Christ! Get with the program!"

"Right..." I laughed. "Let's go..."

We ran towards the fortress.