ROCKMAN EXE: Prophecy
Navis don't die. They just get deleted. Granted, any Navi can be restored from backup data, should they actually have some, but it takes a long time and a lot of effort on the part of the operator.
Some unfortunate, nameless Navi had no idea WHY he was thinking about this as he trotted his way toward the Netopia Square. It just seemed appropriate, for some reason. So focused was this nameless Navi on his task that he never even noticed the monstrosity behind him until it had wrapped an arm around his neck.
"Hurk!" the Navi managed.
"Well, well, well," a cracked, saneless voice whispered in his ear. "What have we here?" There was an ungodly, almost demonic chuckle as the Navi struggled in the iron-like grip. "A messenger? Yes . . ." The Navi felt the grip tighten around his neck. "Listen closely, little man. You will find Rockman, and you will tell him he has twelve hours to live, so he better get his affairs in order." The grip melted away, as did the figure, into the shadows. "Now run, run, run, as fast as you can," the voice continued with a note of insanity, "and don't let me catch you, because I'm Megaman!"
Thoroughly frightened and a little confused, the nameless Navi ran away, screaming.
"That's crazy!" Rockman exclaimed, backing away from Forte. "Megaman being alive, I can understand and believe, but saving the world? That's just crazy!"
Forte gave Rockman a look that shook the blue Navi to his very core. "It may SOUND stupid, I agree, but I didn't write the rules, I just enforce them."
"You know, I've said the same thing to him a few times, and he just doesn't seem to get it?" Blues told the black Navi. They both chuckled.
Rockman gave Blues a dirty look. "That's not very nice," he told him.
Suddenly a new noise drew their attention. There was a generic Navi running toward Rockman, shouting something about "You have to save me!"
Rockman took a nervous step back, unsure of how to react as the Navi drew closer. "What?" he asked, "what am I supposed to save you from?"
The Navi would have spoken in a hurried tone and told Rockman what to expect if the plasma bolt didn't tear through his chest at that moment. As the shot slammed into the ground, the Navi stopped and slumped onto his knees, unable to speak. There, grinning behind his latest victim with a smug look of satisfaction, stood Megaman.
He looked much different from the last time Rockman had seen him. The hand- shaped scar still sat on his face, rendering one of his eyes useless. His lower arms and legs were covered in a sort of black coating that separated at the joints and gave the impression of armor. The rest of his body glowed a dull green. In the center of his chest, however, where a hole should have been (since Rockman distinctly remembered putting one there with Blues's assistance last time they met) was a regenerated symbol. Every Navi had a distinctive symbol somewhere on their person, and Megaman had obviously deemed it necessary to have his own, which bore a resemblance to Rockman's own emblem with a simple ninety degree turn to the right. A sickly mirror image of the real thing.
"Megaman," Rockman growled, taking up a battle stance.
Blues backed away from the evil Navi, holding his blade at the ready in case Megaman attacked. He could only too clearly remember the carnage Megaman had created the last time he'd been around.
"Oh, put the sword away," Megaman spat at the Official. "I'm not here for you."
"Then . . . what are you here for?" Rockman asked, dreading the answer.
Megaman gave a snort. "You, of course. Why else would I come to this sorry museum?"
Forte laughed at this point, unable to contain himself. Rockman and Megaman both gave him questioning looks. "What are YOU laughing at?" Rockman asked.
Forte's laughing fit subsided and he gave Rockman a very calm look. "If you could get the macho posing over and done with already, we have much more important matters to attend to."
"More important?" Megaman snorted, sounding insulted at the very idea. "What could possibly be more important that this?"
"Well," Forte shrugged, "to an obsessed stalker with delusions of grandeur like yourself, I guess nothing, but to the rest of us, living just takes precedence."
Blues laughed now. "Man, he just burned you something fierce. That's funny."
Megaman glared at the red Navi. "Shut up," he growled.
Rockman turned to Forte. "I still don't get what you're talking about. You say he's going to help me save the world, but that he's also out to kill me." The blue Navi tilted his head. "What the heck are you babbling about, Forte?"
Forte swept an arm to the picture. "The prophecy, you moron!"
"What?" Megaman asked.
"Yeah, and how does that relate to me or him?" Rockman shot back, cutting the glowing Navi off.
"Because the Dark, him, and the Gray, you, have come from the same source," Forte said.
"What?" Megaman repeated.
"But what about the light?" Rockman asked, still ignoring his evil counterpart. "How does THAT happen?"
"I'm confident that the answer will present itself," Forte shrugged. "It always does."
"What?" Megaman persisted.
"You can't leave the fate of the world to dumb luck like that!" Rockman cried.
"Of course we can," Blues cut in. "We've let you save the world a bunch of times, haven't we?"
"Oh, ha, ha, ha," Rockman shot at the red Navi sarcastically. "I'll have you know—"
"ENOUGH!" Megaman roared, finally fed up with being ignored. "I came for one thing and one thing only, and that is Saito.bat! SOUL SPLITTER!"
Forte looked at Megaman. "What the . . .?"
Blues realized what was gong on. "Wait, isn't that Laserman's ability?"
"It WAS!" Megaman cried as Rockman collapsed, screaming out in pain. "Now it is MINE! As is Saito.bat and the entire FREAKIN' WORLD!"
Rockman tried to stand up, but he was in just too much pain. He felt like his entire body was on fire as his Soul was being forcibly pulled from his body. He tried to fight back, tried to stop it from happening, but Megaman had caught him by complete surprise.
Then, in a complete unexpected moment, Netto cut in, his voice echoing from the air itself. "Rockman! 100% Synchro, EXECUTE!"
A note about Synchronization: it can only be used under a) dire circumstances where the Navi will surely die without the added firepower (as Synchro doubles the power of all attacks used by the Navi) or b) when the Navi and operator have destroyed enough enemies together that their minds begin to work on the same level, binding them together.
You can guess which situation this is.
But something strange happened. In the flash of light that denoted Rockman's synchronization with Netto, Rockman's body suddenly became TWO bodies. One was coloredthe standard blue, while the other was the brighter, greener colors of the synchronization phase.
As both Rockmen picked themselves up from the floor, Blues was the first to speak. "Uh, Rockman?"
"Yes Blues?" they said in tandem. And then they noticed each other. "AHHH!"
Forte clapped his hands. "HA! I knew it would work out."
Megaman, still thoroughly confused, glared at Forte. "What happened? What did you do?"
Forte grinned. "I did nothing. You're the one that brought out the Light. Now there is Rockman, Megaman, and Saito."
The lighter Rockman looked at himself, and then at the blue Rockman. "I . . . I AM Saito. I look just like I did back during the Gospel incident when I had Saito Style! So that means . . ." he looked at the blue Rockman.
"That I am Rockman . . ." the blue Navi hung his head. "And I'm not Saito anymore."
"Er . . ." Blues began, drawing their attention, "excuse me, but . . . how is this possible?"
Forte spoke first. "Megaman's Soul Splitter did indeed separate Saito.bat from Rockman's systems, but what he didn't take into account is that it would create a Navi from the data it separated."
"Just like it did before?" Rockman asked.
"Not quite," Megaman admitted. "There never was a physical manifestation of your Dark Soul. That was me, biding my time and taking the opportunity to fight you. I also possessed Aquaman and Gutsman with an ability that Laserman had taught me, but he never expected me to steal his Soul Splitter. I guess he had rather played mind games with you."
Rockman paused to think about this, but Saito interrogated Forte. "So, I guess I'm the Light, now, huh?"
"It appears so," Forte smiled. "And I suggest you find the first guardian, because now that you are all here, the clock just started ticking."
"What are you talking about?" Megaman demanded.
Forte chuckled. "You three must work together to destroy the four guardians and obtain the ultimate power and stop the wave of Armageddon. Plain, simple prophecy, my friend."
"Ultimate power?" Megaman mused. "Hmm . . . I guess I could work with these tow if it meant ultimate power."
"You mean I have to actually work with him?" Saito complained.
"To save the world?" Forte asked. Then he grinned. "Yeah, pretty much."
"Oh, man, this sucks," Saito said.
"Yeah, shut up," Rockman groaned. "I'M the one who got screwed here. YOU," he said, pointing at Saito, "took all my power ups. AGAIN!"
"Er, yeah, sorry about that."
"So a completely evil Navi, a weakling Rockman, and a Rockman clone with an identity crisis are off to save the world? On the word of Forte, who, and lets be fair to him, doesn't have all of his marbles anymore?" Blues asked the crowed in general.
"Yeah, pretty much," Rockman nodded.
"Oh, great. Problem solved then," Blues sighed.
"Translation: We're SO dead," Forte clapped his hands with glee.
Navis don't die. They just get deleted. Granted, any Navi can be restored from backup data, should they actually have some, but it takes a long time and a lot of effort on the part of the operator.
Some unfortunate, nameless Navi had no idea WHY he was thinking about this as he trotted his way toward the Netopia Square. It just seemed appropriate, for some reason. So focused was this nameless Navi on his task that he never even noticed the monstrosity behind him until it had wrapped an arm around his neck.
"Hurk!" the Navi managed.
"Well, well, well," a cracked, saneless voice whispered in his ear. "What have we here?" There was an ungodly, almost demonic chuckle as the Navi struggled in the iron-like grip. "A messenger? Yes . . ." The Navi felt the grip tighten around his neck. "Listen closely, little man. You will find Rockman, and you will tell him he has twelve hours to live, so he better get his affairs in order." The grip melted away, as did the figure, into the shadows. "Now run, run, run, as fast as you can," the voice continued with a note of insanity, "and don't let me catch you, because I'm Megaman!"
Thoroughly frightened and a little confused, the nameless Navi ran away, screaming.
"That's crazy!" Rockman exclaimed, backing away from Forte. "Megaman being alive, I can understand and believe, but saving the world? That's just crazy!"
Forte gave Rockman a look that shook the blue Navi to his very core. "It may SOUND stupid, I agree, but I didn't write the rules, I just enforce them."
"You know, I've said the same thing to him a few times, and he just doesn't seem to get it?" Blues told the black Navi. They both chuckled.
Rockman gave Blues a dirty look. "That's not very nice," he told him.
Suddenly a new noise drew their attention. There was a generic Navi running toward Rockman, shouting something about "You have to save me!"
Rockman took a nervous step back, unsure of how to react as the Navi drew closer. "What?" he asked, "what am I supposed to save you from?"
The Navi would have spoken in a hurried tone and told Rockman what to expect if the plasma bolt didn't tear through his chest at that moment. As the shot slammed into the ground, the Navi stopped and slumped onto his knees, unable to speak. There, grinning behind his latest victim with a smug look of satisfaction, stood Megaman.
He looked much different from the last time Rockman had seen him. The hand- shaped scar still sat on his face, rendering one of his eyes useless. His lower arms and legs were covered in a sort of black coating that separated at the joints and gave the impression of armor. The rest of his body glowed a dull green. In the center of his chest, however, where a hole should have been (since Rockman distinctly remembered putting one there with Blues's assistance last time they met) was a regenerated symbol. Every Navi had a distinctive symbol somewhere on their person, and Megaman had obviously deemed it necessary to have his own, which bore a resemblance to Rockman's own emblem with a simple ninety degree turn to the right. A sickly mirror image of the real thing.
"Megaman," Rockman growled, taking up a battle stance.
Blues backed away from the evil Navi, holding his blade at the ready in case Megaman attacked. He could only too clearly remember the carnage Megaman had created the last time he'd been around.
"Oh, put the sword away," Megaman spat at the Official. "I'm not here for you."
"Then . . . what are you here for?" Rockman asked, dreading the answer.
Megaman gave a snort. "You, of course. Why else would I come to this sorry museum?"
Forte laughed at this point, unable to contain himself. Rockman and Megaman both gave him questioning looks. "What are YOU laughing at?" Rockman asked.
Forte's laughing fit subsided and he gave Rockman a very calm look. "If you could get the macho posing over and done with already, we have much more important matters to attend to."
"More important?" Megaman snorted, sounding insulted at the very idea. "What could possibly be more important that this?"
"Well," Forte shrugged, "to an obsessed stalker with delusions of grandeur like yourself, I guess nothing, but to the rest of us, living just takes precedence."
Blues laughed now. "Man, he just burned you something fierce. That's funny."
Megaman glared at the red Navi. "Shut up," he growled.
Rockman turned to Forte. "I still don't get what you're talking about. You say he's going to help me save the world, but that he's also out to kill me." The blue Navi tilted his head. "What the heck are you babbling about, Forte?"
Forte swept an arm to the picture. "The prophecy, you moron!"
"What?" Megaman asked.
"Yeah, and how does that relate to me or him?" Rockman shot back, cutting the glowing Navi off.
"Because the Dark, him, and the Gray, you, have come from the same source," Forte said.
"What?" Megaman repeated.
"But what about the light?" Rockman asked, still ignoring his evil counterpart. "How does THAT happen?"
"I'm confident that the answer will present itself," Forte shrugged. "It always does."
"What?" Megaman persisted.
"You can't leave the fate of the world to dumb luck like that!" Rockman cried.
"Of course we can," Blues cut in. "We've let you save the world a bunch of times, haven't we?"
"Oh, ha, ha, ha," Rockman shot at the red Navi sarcastically. "I'll have you know—"
"ENOUGH!" Megaman roared, finally fed up with being ignored. "I came for one thing and one thing only, and that is Saito.bat! SOUL SPLITTER!"
Forte looked at Megaman. "What the . . .?"
Blues realized what was gong on. "Wait, isn't that Laserman's ability?"
"It WAS!" Megaman cried as Rockman collapsed, screaming out in pain. "Now it is MINE! As is Saito.bat and the entire FREAKIN' WORLD!"
Rockman tried to stand up, but he was in just too much pain. He felt like his entire body was on fire as his Soul was being forcibly pulled from his body. He tried to fight back, tried to stop it from happening, but Megaman had caught him by complete surprise.
Then, in a complete unexpected moment, Netto cut in, his voice echoing from the air itself. "Rockman! 100% Synchro, EXECUTE!"
A note about Synchronization: it can only be used under a) dire circumstances where the Navi will surely die without the added firepower (as Synchro doubles the power of all attacks used by the Navi) or b) when the Navi and operator have destroyed enough enemies together that their minds begin to work on the same level, binding them together.
You can guess which situation this is.
But something strange happened. In the flash of light that denoted Rockman's synchronization with Netto, Rockman's body suddenly became TWO bodies. One was coloredthe standard blue, while the other was the brighter, greener colors of the synchronization phase.
As both Rockmen picked themselves up from the floor, Blues was the first to speak. "Uh, Rockman?"
"Yes Blues?" they said in tandem. And then they noticed each other. "AHHH!"
Forte clapped his hands. "HA! I knew it would work out."
Megaman, still thoroughly confused, glared at Forte. "What happened? What did you do?"
Forte grinned. "I did nothing. You're the one that brought out the Light. Now there is Rockman, Megaman, and Saito."
The lighter Rockman looked at himself, and then at the blue Rockman. "I . . . I AM Saito. I look just like I did back during the Gospel incident when I had Saito Style! So that means . . ." he looked at the blue Rockman.
"That I am Rockman . . ." the blue Navi hung his head. "And I'm not Saito anymore."
"Er . . ." Blues began, drawing their attention, "excuse me, but . . . how is this possible?"
Forte spoke first. "Megaman's Soul Splitter did indeed separate Saito.bat from Rockman's systems, but what he didn't take into account is that it would create a Navi from the data it separated."
"Just like it did before?" Rockman asked.
"Not quite," Megaman admitted. "There never was a physical manifestation of your Dark Soul. That was me, biding my time and taking the opportunity to fight you. I also possessed Aquaman and Gutsman with an ability that Laserman had taught me, but he never expected me to steal his Soul Splitter. I guess he had rather played mind games with you."
Rockman paused to think about this, but Saito interrogated Forte. "So, I guess I'm the Light, now, huh?"
"It appears so," Forte smiled. "And I suggest you find the first guardian, because now that you are all here, the clock just started ticking."
"What are you talking about?" Megaman demanded.
Forte chuckled. "You three must work together to destroy the four guardians and obtain the ultimate power and stop the wave of Armageddon. Plain, simple prophecy, my friend."
"Ultimate power?" Megaman mused. "Hmm . . . I guess I could work with these tow if it meant ultimate power."
"You mean I have to actually work with him?" Saito complained.
"To save the world?" Forte asked. Then he grinned. "Yeah, pretty much."
"Oh, man, this sucks," Saito said.
"Yeah, shut up," Rockman groaned. "I'M the one who got screwed here. YOU," he said, pointing at Saito, "took all my power ups. AGAIN!"
"Er, yeah, sorry about that."
"So a completely evil Navi, a weakling Rockman, and a Rockman clone with an identity crisis are off to save the world? On the word of Forte, who, and lets be fair to him, doesn't have all of his marbles anymore?" Blues asked the crowed in general.
"Yeah, pretty much," Rockman nodded.
"Oh, great. Problem solved then," Blues sighed.
"Translation: We're SO dead," Forte clapped his hands with glee.