Disclaimer:
If you didn't read the one on
chapter one, go do it. I don't
write this crap for no reason.
Author's Note:
I explained why Serenade was a
girl, but I didn't explain why
I call Bass "Forte." Well, for those
of you who have no clue of megaman's
origins, Bass' original name was
Forte. Like many things, the name
got messed over in translation.
Like Yamatoman. "Japanman"? Jeeze,
that must have taken a whole minute
to figure out. Anyway, I guess I should
give the translators a break. They did
a good job albeit a few things like
that, much better than I'd've done, I
can't even read any language but
English and some Latin. Oh yeah...
I don't have the first one, and I'm not
sure if Bass played a big part in that
tale, but I won't go into it much since
I know nothing of it. However, on this
tale, the whole epic fight with Serenade
took place during the events of Megaman
Battle Network 1. Now then... On with the
show!
(Warning: This fic likely has spoilers)
[Chapter Two: Apprentice]
In around three days' time, Forte's
wounds had fully recovered. He felt
betrayed by Serenade. The Queen of
the Undernet. The only other Navi he
knew of with no Operator. Surely, she
had to share his hatred for humans, or
so he had thought untill three days ago.
His mind already plotted revenge, but
first he was to take out the humans. He
would deal with the pink navi later.
Forte took in the familiar sight of the
deepest reaches of The Undernet. None
but the strongest of Navis come to this
ominous regeon. Crushman was one of them,
but he wasn't with us anymore.
The caped navi walked up a long staircase
into the hidden square, looking to see
if there were any familiar faces. These
Navis had operators, sure.. but their
operators rarely payed attention to them,
so they weren't as weak as many Navis in
the Undernet, nor were they ever seen
running errands and petty little tasks for
a human.
"Hey Forte, long time no see." said a dark
blue Navi with a shimmering silver eight-point
star on his head.
Forte glanced at the navi for a moment before
walking on, ignoring him.
"What's with him?" the blue Navi said. "He's
even weirder than usual..."
"Probably had another argument with his operator,
eh, Geminiman?" another Navi chuckled, who's body
and limbs looked like long slinkies, albeit his
red and white head, torso, hands and feet.
"I have no operator." Forte said, turning to look
at them while he said it for a moment. "and if you
want to live, you will assist me in annihalating the
humans."
"Look, man," said Geminiman, "we'd love to help
you, but me and Springman can't risk doing too much.
If we get cought, our humans would delete us for sure.."
"And if we succeed, you would never have to worry
about such a thing again." Forte said with a smirk.
"You fear humans far too much."
"Easy for you to say! You don't have a family on here,
or an Operator to tie you down!" Springman protested.
Normally such a tone would anger Forte, but he had a
fair-weather friendship with these, and his mood wasn't
too bad today. Besides, they could be of use to him
one day.
"Where's Crushman?" a third Navi asked, this one wearing
a full pirate outfit, complete with a hook for a hand
and a cannon on his shoulder.
"Yeah, he was going to see Serenade today, wasn't he?" Springman
asked curiously. Forte chuckled. "I beat him to it. And
he tried to stop me." said the cloaked Navi. The other
three stared for a moment, then busted out laughing.
"Arr, he shoulda known better!" Pirateman guffawed.
"Well, anyway, I cannot stay for long. I merely came to
see if any of you knew any leads on my little problem."
Forte said, walking back to the three Navis.
"Well, I think ye should be seein' that Wily feller." Pirateman
suggested. "Heard he's been working on things like that.."
"But that was for humans to enter the Net, not navis to
enter 'reality'.." Gemini muttered.
"Well ye never know what that old coot could be workin' on.."
"Thanks for the info." Forte said, who was already walking
down the stairs back into the less dangerous parts of the
Undernet. "Anyone who wishes to join me feel free to follow."
Needless to say, everyone was far too afraid of what might
happen following Forte to the ends of the Net..
Forte walked through a wide, confusing-to-most part of
the Undernet. There was supposed to be a link to Wily's
infamous WWW site here. As he scouted the area for any
sign of a warp, he heard a scream pierce the air from
not too far off. "Hmm, maybe some poor navi has stumbled
upon it already." Forte said with a chuckle, deciding to
find the source of the scream instead for now.
"Go away! Leave me alone!" shouted a young custom-made
girl Navi, who had the distinct look of a cat about
her; well, half cat, atleast. Forte drew near enough
to see everything well, while remaining hidden. The
young Navi, who looked around the age of ten, was
surrounded by purple Undernavis, all of whom had
either an Elecsword or a Virus bomb in hand.
"Look little girl, all we wants is the
zenny, get it? So make with the money." said one
that had five Virus Bombs in his hand, ready to
blow.
"You know I can't get anything good anymore!" said
the little girl Navi. "I don't know how to port into
other objects directly from the Net..."
"Wrong answer. Just because you have no Human doesn't
make you exempt from our little.. collection." chuckled
the most spike-covered of the six Undernavis.
Forte grew more curious of the situation and drew closer
to the group. One of them shook the girl upside-down,
dropping about 1500 Zenny from her pockets.
"Well lookey here!" said one of the punks, "yer holdin'
out on us, yeh are!"
"Without her Human she's lost all common sense." said one
of the Navis, pulling out an Elecsword and readying it to
slash. "She's of no use to us anymore..."
Forte was about to walk away but then something
stopped him.. "Who says I've ever had a human operator!?
I've been alone since I was five, but it's getting
harder to hack as a Navi alone! You're the useless ones,
having to depend on your humans to get anything done.."
"THat's it, punk! You're dead!" the leader of the mob
shouted, and they all leapt at her simultaneously. She
let out a scream and there was a large explosion as ten
Virus Bombs erupted at once, followed by a blinding flash
of light.
The young Navi slowly opened her eyes, and saw a
wide purple aura surrounding her. "What the.." said
one of the Undernavis, glaring at her.
"I advise you run now." said Forte coldly as the
purple shield faded. All six Undernavis turned to
glare angrily at this newcomer. "I could say
th'same to you, fool! Mind yer own bees'-"
Before he could finish his sentance, his head
had been blown off, courtesy of Forte. The cloaked
Navi pulled his hand back into his cape and
glared at the remaining five as the leader's corpse
fell down and shattered. They all scattered like
headless chickens, but none of them could outrun
Forte's ballistic assault that soon followed.
Five mintues later, a Cloaked navi could be
seen walking along dented and broken platforms,
passing a few shattered pieces of viruses and
undernavis, purposely stepping on both
disrespectfully. Behind him, what appeared to
be a half-kitten navi followed, her tail slowly
waving behind her.
"I know who you are.." said the little girl. Forte
glanced back for a moment.
"Congradulations. Do you expect an award?"
"No.. I was just wondering why you saved someone
like me. From what I've heard about you.."
"... you reminded me of someone." Forte interrupted.
"Wow, guess I'm lucky then."
"Guess so."
They walked along into a much less damaged section
of the Undernet, Forte still hunting for a link to
the WWW Heaquarters.
He glanced back a few minutes later. "If you're
going to stalk me, could you atleast tell me your
name? You certainly look different from most
Navis seen around here.."
"That's because I was inspired by a
character from a popular video game." said
the girl Navi. "But you can call me Mia."
Forte nodded and continued on his way. THen
he saw it nearby. A teleporter. An odd looking
one, the likes of which he'd never seen. "Mia,
I advise you stop following me. Trouble seems to
follow me, and I can't be stuck protecting you
all the time."
"Who says you gotta protect me?" said Mia with
a grin. "I'm the youngest hacker in the world,
I can protect myself!"
"So that's why you were about to get deleted
by those undernavis." Forte smirked. Mia stuck
her tongue out at him. "I'm gonna follow you
whether you like it or not, so there."
"Your age really shows." Forte said with a
chuckle as he stepped onto the teleporter.
"WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN!?" Mia said
with a hiss, before chasing after him.
(AN: This is a side of Forte rarely seen eh?)
The cloaked Navi took one good look around the
area. It was completely desolate. An empty
void, white with many floating WWW Emblems.
"What the.." Forte said, before letting out
a loud growl as Mia teleported in. ".. well there
goes another lead.. I'll have to personally delete
Pirateman the next time I see him. Wily is nowhere
to be seen.. and this is definately the WWW."
"Let's get one thing straight mister, just
becacuse I'm ten you can't go insulting
me because of my age!" Mia yelled. Forte stopped
momentarily and laughed dryly. "I'm sure I'll
find what I'm here for if we stay long enough.."
he muttered, before turning to face the little
feline navi.
"You should probably go now. This area is
likely booby trapped, and I'll be staying for
a very extended period of time."
"Are you saying you don't want me here?"
"I'm saying it will be boring for a ten
year old." Forte partially explained.
"Hrmph, I'll show you." Mia said with
a scowl as she walked up to him. "Like
I said, I'm gonna follow you whether
you like it or not."
"Fine.. how strong are you as a Net
battler?"
"I'm good enough." Mia said proudly.
"Good... then you won't care to
prove it later." Forte said with
a smirk, before he began walking away.
"Hey, you're about the stongest Navi
on the net, you can teach me how to
fight like one of you guys!" Mia said,
chasing after him. "I could be the next
Queen of the Undernet!"
"And a better Queen than the current
one no doubt.." Forte muttered under his
breath.
"What was that?"
"... How do you feel about humans?"
"They're useless, but... they're
not that bad.."
"Hrpmh.. you remind me of someone
else I know, somewhat.." Forte sighed.
"No matter.. Atleast you think they're
useless. By next year, you'll be as
strong as one of the pros."
No one knew why, but Forte had taken in
the child navi as an apprentice. He had
given her a cloak, trained her in many
of his abilities, and passed down several
battle chips he'd mastered to use with
or without the chip years ago.
She now sported a cloak very similar to
Forte's own, along with sleek black&pink armor.
She was the spitting image of a female,
catlike version of Forte, and both master
and apprentice had things they knew how to
do the other one couldn't. Of coarse, Mia didn't
have Forte's trademark helmet, but other
than that she could have easily been mistaken
for his daughter.
A year had passed since he began training.
He was feeling quite good with himself for
a job well done. He was, however, growing
bored with the WWW area. The only peope he'd
seen were some old WWW Navis, old Pro Netbattlers
who'd came in to guard it while old man
Wily was away. Of coarse they knew who Forte
was, and neither they nor Forte saw much of the
other, as they feared deletion if they made
the Cloaked Navi angry. Of coarse, he did wonder
at times what they were doing here exactly. AFter
all, there was nothing to guard whatsoever
in this old site.
Forte stretched out and looked around. "Mia,
where are you? It's time for your scheduled
practice duel..."
He heard some fighting in the distance and
grinned. "She must be dealing with some
unwanted guests..." he said to himself,
walking with a quickened pace towards the
sound of an explosion.
Of coarse, what he saw was shocking at first.
There, down a flight of stairs, his apprentice
was fighting Forte. Rather, a clone of himself.
Mia threw her cape aside and charged towards
the faker. Right as the clone was about to
dodge and counter, she burst into pixels and
vanished, reforming behind the creature,
her heel smashing into its jaw.
The real Forte clapped as he walked down the
stares. Mia looked up at him, then back down
to the fake, then back up to him, a look of
sheer confusion across her face. "There's
two of you...?"
The clone's jaw had fallen off with that kick,
and it merely snapped it back on as it stood.
Forte stared at it, and it back at him. Though
the clone had a look of horror, and Forte had
a look of cold hatred.
"Who dares mock me with such pitiful replicas!?"
Forte shouted, a purple aura surrounding his
body. He shot a shining white ball into the
creature, which went straight into its stomache
before exploding.
Bugfrags flew everywhere with the explosion,
pelting Mia and Forte; Mia squealed and pulled
up her moderately weak Life Aura while Forte
walked through the rubble, crushing each frag
one by one, glaring around. Why hadn't he noticed
this before.. There were clones of him everywhere.
Roughly nine or ten of them, roaming this place
as if they were Forte himself.
And each one had an angered look at Forte for
deleting their clone brother.
"Mia, you'd best get out of here, this is going
to get ugly." Forte advised.
"No way! I'm going to stay here and fight
with you!"
"This is not training, and you will not aid
me in this fight!"
"What're you going to do about i-" Mia started
to say, but by the time she'd said it, her
body was enveloped in an aura unlike her own,
one that looked like a giant bubble. And one
she couldn't break out of or move as it floated
far away from the battle. "You will go with
an old aquaintance of mine for now. I will find
you when things settle down."
And as he said that, the bubble disappeared and
ten blasts hit his aura at the same time.
As the smoke from the explosions cleared,
Forte's aura was seen still intact, while all
ten clones drew ever closer to him. "Do
you pathetic copies think you can ever stand
a chance against ME!?" Forte shouted angrily, his
fists glowing with rage. "I'll delete you
AND your creator with ease! Come at me! I'll
crush you all!"
Yellow auras surrounded all ten before they
rushed at Forte, their fists glowing mildly
as well. The real Forte jumped up as his
left hand transformed into a gun; he put his
right hand over it and began rapidily firing
yellow flashing balls of energy, each one
blasting out an aura or smashing a platform
into oblivion.
One of the clones fell down into the endless
void below as Forte came down and performed
a roundhouse kick, his heel glowing as it smashed
five heads off; then he stood up and blasted
the bodies into dust, before turning, both fists
cannons, and went trigger happy you could say.
By the time he was done, only one clone remained
fleeing for its life, the other three "survivors"
now no better than swiss cheese as their bodies
fell apart into bugfrags. He looked up and glared
at the remaining copy. "Hm... still another
buffoon over here ..."
"What!? I can't believe it! All of them!?" shouted
an old man in a dark room inside an island
fortress. "This Forte is stronger than I imagined..
his power should definately break the program. I
think this calls for a change of plans..."
"There... the last of them.." Forte muttered
under his breath as he blasted the last cowering
clone into oblivion.
He looked over his shoulder as he spoke, and saw
a blue Navi warp into the area. "... I've seen
that Navi before..." he muttered, pulling his
cloak around himself and fading away.
The Cloaked Navi stalked the blue one all
over the WWW's website. It became clear
he had an Operator, but it didn't seem to
weaken him at all. The Blue navi met and
deleted all three sentinels the WWW had
sent in to guard this place; Pharoahman,
Napalmman, and Planetman.
"Truly interesting.." Forte muttered,
watching him fight. "... this would
prove to be an excellent duel.."
(a/n: You all know what happens next.
Forte and Megaman engage in an epic
duel. Then Forte hangs around the
WWW and duels with him again from
time to time as training, untill
old man Wily finds him and tricks
him into helping him destroy the
Net society. I won't write the fight
but the rest and more will be covered
in the next chapter.)