MegaMan Battle Network – Memories
Chapter 5 – Virus Overload
Papa guided me through the network to Mayl's pc, I clutched the support program Squeeze to my chest as Papa held my hand through the data streams. When we hit Mayl's pc, he let go of my hand and left. I looked around surprised and saw what he must have noticed. He may have been emotionless but that look on Sarah's face could have put fear into anyone.
"I would yell because you were late," said Sarah, "But I see that Dad kept you detained for a while. You can put Squeeze down now."
I could feel that Squeeze was a little nervous as I placed her down, she was barely ten minutes old and this sudden movement to a new place must have scared her to death. And when Rush appeared to investigate this new program, she virtually vanished and hid behind me.
When Rush realized that Squeeze wasn't a threat he tried to play chase with her, Squeeze on the other hand wanted to stay close to the only thing she knew as safe, namely me. Rush of course seeing this as a game, instantly started a good game of chase my new friend around Empress' legs. Squeeze on the other hand got quickly bored of the game and ended it with a quick nip on Rush's nose, which sent him running to behind Sarah.
"You done yet Rush," said Sarah, "If you are, then I need you for Empress' training."
"What are we covering today?" I asked.
"Last week you saw Roll's healing power," said Sarah, "You and Roll are complete opposites though, Roll specializes in healing and you specialize in Roll's other ability."
"And that is?" I asked getting impatient.
"Virus control," said Sarah, "Although in your case, it also extends to virus summoning."
"So how are we going to learn that?" I asked, "It may not be obvious but that won't be as easy to learn as basic netbattling."
"Rush," said Sarah, "Two MettaurEXs to attack Empress please."
Rush barked as two small green viruses wearing helmets and carrying pickaxes popped out of nowhere.
"Delete them," said Sarah.
The viruses began their attack instantly, as I rolled to avoid the attacks I saw Squeeze sit there and jumped back to save her, narrowly dodging the attacks.
"Breaker Barrage!" I yelled as I jumped up and launched a load of Heartbreakers at the two viruses, all of which connected. "Got them!" I yelled triumphantly.
"Oh really," said Sarah.
The smoke cleared and I saw the two Mettaur helmets on the floor, moments later the viruses jumped up and restarted their attack.
"What the?" I exclaimed.
"MettaurEXs have the ability to block all incoming attacks," said Sarah, "You have to think about this one."
"What to do, what to do?" I said as the answer hit me.
I cracked my whip at the two viruses who obediently stopped their attacks, I saw a chance for a little revenge at Sarah. "Attack Sarah!" I yelled.
The two viruses turned towards Sarah who suddenly smiled.
"I don't think you want to do that do you," said Sarah, her voice was now soft and syrupy. I saw the two viruses fall under the spell the voice had and nearly felt my resolve slipping, "I think you want to attack Empress don't you." I'll say this, that voice was so intoxicating, it took me all my mental strength to stop me from stabbing myself with my sword.
I snapped out of it as I saw the two viruses turn back to me and restart their attack.
"And I believe Empress doesn't want her mind taken over like the two viruses do you?" said Sarah, her voice back to normal, "Because that's what will happen if you do that again. And believe me, I could break your mind like a twig if I wanted to. Besides, I said delete them, not me."
I winced at Sarah's warning and thought again, this time I took control of the viruses and ordered them to delete each other. Moments later, all as was left was some junk data on the floor.
"Well done," said Sarah nodding.
"How do I summon viruses then?" I asked.
"Concentrate on the virus type you want to summon," said Sarah, "It shouldn't take long."
I concentrated on summoning something simple, another MettaurEX, I was concentrating so hard I jumped back in shock as it appeared in front of me. I saw the virus raise it's pickaxe to attack as a black blur flashed in front of me and Sarah stood holding her DarkSword.
"So long as you don't break your concentration," said Sarah, "Any virus you summon will automatically be under your control."
"Just a little shock, that's all," I said, "I didn't expect it to work."
"With practice," said Sarah, "You'll be summoning virus armies in moments."
"Armies?" I said, "I don't think so, I'll keep it safe and small."
"Your decision," said Sarah as a loud beeping noise suddenly came as if from nowhere.
"Scyler," said Sarah, "Patch it through to Mayl's computer."
"Already done," said Scyler, "It's from Famous."
"Sarah," said a male voice, "You there."
"Yes," said Sarah, "Just finished a training session with Empress."
"Empress is there," said the voice again.
"Yes," said Sarah, "Why?"
"Because," said the voice, "She's just been spotted on a rampage in net city."
"Scyler," said Sarah in hiss.
"I'm temporarily granting you a battlechip licence," said the voice as a file appeared in front of Sarah, "You've used one before so I won't explain it to you, but don't lose it."
"Right," said Sarah grabbing the file, she turned to me and looked me in the eye, "Do you still want to find out your past?" she said.
I nodded and Sarah nodded too.
"Come on then," she said, "And bring Squeeze too, I have a feeling we'll need all the help we can get."