Darkness in Dentech City
Ryu-san: Thanks for the good reviews. Glad y'all like this so far. So I'm gonna keep going. But first, I'm gonna answer a few review questions...
Jill- The Belmonts aren't gonna make any appearance yet. They might later on. So far, Lan and MegaMan are gonna play the 'Belmonts' of this fic, assisted by some of their friends.
DemonPrincess34- I read your fic and I gave a review with some pointers. I do hope that helps you. I'm glad you like my fic.
Windwingxs- You'll see what happens to Lan and co.
And now, on with the story! But this chapter is mainly about word of Dracula's return going around. I'll put in some action near the end. But still, I hope everyone likes this anyway.
Disclaimer: I forgot this in Ch. 1, but not this time. I don't own MegaMan or Castlevania or any other anime/game/movie references I use. I'm just (legally) borrowing the characters for a while.
This chapter is rated PG-13 for language and a couple of sexual jokes.
Chapter 2: What A Psychic Fears...
Somewhere in Dentech City, there is a secret headquarters. In this headquarters, 3 superheroes meet and plan strategies, plans, and counterstrikes for any and every situation. However, the meeting room looks like it could seat a lot more than just 3 people, with its huge 0-shaped table and the many chairs. But why complain about that? At least it's not a janitor's office. That's what Commander Beef (A/N: Weird name for a superhero, huh?) keeps thinking whenever he thinks that the table's just too big for such a small number of heroes.
At the moment, Commander Beef was lounging in one of the many seats, his feet placed comfortably on the table as he leaned back and took a bite out of a fish stick. "Ahh, yeah... Nothin' like a peaceful moment for lunch..." he said to himself, pleased that for once there was no crazy situation involving World 3 or any of the other NetTerrorists. As soon as he finished his lunch, he leaned all the way back in his seat and relaxed, starting to doze off.
That was until Mysteriu (a.k.a. Miyu) burst into the room... "Commander Beef!!!" she cried, sounding oddly frightened. The sudden yell was enough for Commander Beef to accidentally make his chair fall backward, causing him to roll back until he hit the wall. "Ow! Dang it, Mysteriu! What the heck're you yellin' for!?" Beef snapped, slowly getting up. "Sorry, Commander..." she said, bowing in apology. "So what is so important that you had to come yellin'?" the Commander asked, rubbing his sore head.
"I just got this premonition... A terrible one... One that concerns the safety of the world. I think we oughta be prepared for this one" she explained briefly. To Beef, she still sounded oddly freaked out, which doesn't usually apply to her personality at all. "Ok... Even though there's almost always a problem dealin' with the world's safety these days, you got my attention. What have you sensed this time?" he asked, now using his serious tone. "Well... It has to deal with an ancient and powerful evil that was sealed away long long ago. To be precise, it was 1797 (A/N: The year when Symphony of the Night took place.) when it was last defeated and sealed" she began. "What? That long ago? Wow..." Beef mused, trying to imagine what the 1700's looked like. "Yes, Beef. Anyways, the evil I speak of has escaped a little less than an hour ago" Mysteriu said, now starting to sound like her calm self. That stopped Beef from thinking about the last millennium. "Escaped? You sure?" he asked, beginning to understand why Mysteriu was so frightened. "If you had looked out the window facing the Dentech Mountain Range an hour ago, then you would've seen a beam of darkness shoot out of one of the mountains, going into the sky. This dark beam disappeared after a few minutes" she responded, giving him a look that silently said 'What? You dare deny my senses?'. "Ah. I see" Beef uttered, knowing that look on her face.
"Anyways, there are enough eyewitnesses so that the occurrence will be on the news tonight. So that means we'll have to do something before the ancient evil starts causing some chaos" Mysteriu finished. "Hmm... I guess we should investigate. Can't let an evil like that go unchecked. By the way... What exactly is this evil?" Beef asked, realizing that he doesn't know what he's up against. "A vampire lord named Dracula. He's more powerful than he sounds" the psychic answered, a grim look on her face.
Suddenly, Blackrose (aka Sal) entered the room. "Hey, Beef. Checking in, like usual. Huh? Mysteriu? Why'd you show up early?" she asked, wondering about the psychic's presence. Usually, Mysteriu would arrive at the same time as Blackrose. Beef went to get their weapons and gear ready for scouting while Mysteriu explained everything to the flower woman...
In the streets of northern Dentech City, there were 4 people who appeared to be in really bad shape. One of them, a red-haired Scotsman, was mindlessly carrying a young, pink-haired, cute girl like a sack of potatoes. Unfortunately, she was babbling nonsense about a date and something trying to kill her. There was an old monk who walked beside the stupefied Scot. He seemed to be the one that appeared the most normal out of the group, despite the fact that he is bone-thin and can bend his body into insane proportions. However, he carried a leash, which was attached to the last member of the group, a guy who looks like a member of a bad rock band. Sadly, he was running frantically from an unseen terror and yelling nonsense about something attacking the city. "Sigh... My friends are still affected by the darkness that emerged from the mountains... I have to get them back to our hideout safely" said the monk, Yahoot.
A few blocks later, they come to an apartment complex. Just as they reach the stairs, the Scotsman seemed to regain his mind. "Huh? Wha? What th' hell just happened? And how'd we get home?" Mr. Match asked, looking around. "I walked you guys home, since you 3 were hit with the dark energies that emerged from that portal" answered Yahoot bluntly. Mr. Match could see what the monk was talking about with Count Zap, the insane musician on a leash, and Maddy, the scared young woman on his shoulder. 'This is crazy... A power so dark an' evil, people go temporarily insane by bein' in its presence... Sigh... Look at th' lass... She looks so scared an' weak... Completely different from 'er normal self. If th' affect wares off on 'er now, she'd prob'ly beat me up. Heh' he thought, taking pity on the girl who had bashed him with her temper an hour earlier. 'And check out Zap... Th' guy's gone mad, I tell ye... But then again, he was crazy before th' dark got to 'im. But this is fright'ning...' he added, trying to drone out the guitarist's mad ramblings.
Yahoot unlocked the door to their apartment and threw Zap in before he could scream again. Then, he walked in, a silent Match following, still carrying the cowering Maddy. "Just take her to her room, Match. I'll try and get Zap to shut up" said Yahoot, already forced to wrestle with the crazed musician. "Right" was all the pyro said, taking the woman to her room. "Argh! What a horror this day turned out to be..." he muttered as he entered the room, trying not to imagine what they had gotten themselves into...
2 hours later...
There was absolute darkness. The bleak, quiet, hopeless nothing surrounding her. "Hello?" Maddy finally asked, wondering if she'd gone blind. Silence. "Hello?" she asked again, growing inpatient. Again, no response. "IGNORE ME, WILL YA!!!?" she demanded, beginning to think that someone was playing a prank on her. "Mr. Match! I know you're tryin' to play me! This ain't that Punk'd show! Turn on the freakin' lights!" she snapped, trying to walk around. However, she suddenly realized that she was floating in midair. "What the?! I'm floating? What's going on...?" she asked herself, now starting to freak out.
She then heard a sound. A second later, she heard it again. "Huh?" she uttered, straining to hear what the noise was. "Maaaaaaddyyyyyyy..." the noise slowly whispered. It sounded like escaping gas from a busted pipe. "Yeah? What do you want?" she responded. Suddenly, from out of nowhere, a demon-like head appeared and streaked toward Maddy at a rapid speed, its jaws open and ready to kill.
"Kyaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!" Maddy yelled, sitting up, panting like she just ran 10 miles. Looking around, she barely realized that she was in her room. "Wha... wha... what? What happened...?" she gasped, trying to calm down but failing. Again, she looked around, almost expecting something to attack her. But nothing did. Instead, she found Mr. Match asleep on a chair next to her bed. Her heart finally calmed down a little, now that she knew that one of her friends was there. "Mr. Match...?" she said, wondering why he'd even spend 5 minutes in her room, much less fall asleep in it. She got no response, except a snore or two. "Hey Match" she tried again, poking him a few times. Again, he's still dozing. Already mad, she grabbed a megaphone and put it against his ear. "I SAID HEY!!!" she shouted, causing Match to jump up and hit his head on the ceiling. "OW!!! Aye, lassy! What th' hell ye do that for?!!!" he yelled, collapsing to the floor, ears nearly bleeding. "You were sleepin'" she replied, annoyed that he called her 'lassy' again. "I know. I was keepin' ye company because ye were hit by that wave of dark energy. I know sayin' this might endanger me health, but b'cause of that, ye were actin' pretty scared, like a li'l girl" he explained, expecting her to snap at him again. But for some reason, she didn't. "Was I really...?" she said, sounding like she has a lot on her mind. "Yeah... So after we got back, I was takin' care o ye while Yahoot was trying to take down Count Zap, who went completely insane. I fin'ly got ye to sleep, at least. So I decided to take a li'l nap meself" he said, after a yawn.
"Oh... You know, that's the first time you actually did something nice for me, even though I totally blew up at you earlier..." she said, actually amazed that Match would actually be good for something besides cannon fodder against Lan or Grave. "Well, I guess that's my way of makin' it up to ye, Maddy. 'Sides, I'm used to ye bitchin' at me anyway" he said, shrugging his shoulders. "Oh... Well, that's ok then, I guess..." she said, at least glad that he finally started to use her name. "So what was it like, bein' hit by that energy?" he asked, curious. "It felt... really strange... Last thing I remember was seeing that dark beam... Then, I was floating around in nothingness, like I'd ceased to exist... I tried getting someone's attention, but all I got was some ugly demon head attacking me... Then, I woke up..." she explained, still jittery about it.
"Ya know, that's almost th' same thing I went through, except for th' demon part. Instead, there was this strange mist that tried to suffocate me. Then, I woke up in front of our apartment buildin' with ye on me shoulder, actin' all freaked out. Really odd..." he explained. "I'm beginning to think that whatever came out of that portal is more dangerous than we think..." Maddy said, a worried expression on her face, for once in her life. "Argh! We never should've had MagicMan open that stupid thing and release wha'ever was in there!" Match snapped, frustrated by everything that happened. "Just great! If temporary insanity was just from that thing's entrance, I can't even imagine what it could do to th' city or even th' world! We're royally screwed and it's our fault!" he added, repeatedly slamming his head against a wall.
"Match, calm down. We'll figure something out..." Maddy said, in a soothing tone which none of the former World 3 agents have ever heard from her, the most short-tempered member of the group. That tone alone stopped Match's raving. "Eh? Was it just me... or were ye actually consolin' me...?" he asked, looking at her as if she'd just grown another head. She gave him a light glare, annoyed that he's actually amazed by this. "Oh stop it, Match... I can be calm if I wanna" she huffed.
Just then, a normal Count Zap entered with Yahoot behind him. "Oh man... You two won't believe what happened to me back there. I was hallucinating about some huge bat-like thing destroyin' Dentech City... It was horrible, like a heavy metal band playin' acoustic instruments..." he shuddered. "We had similar nightmares..." Maddy answered, more freaked than ever. "I believe we have to do something to reprimand this problem before we're to blame for the world's destruction" Yahoot calmly said, trying to cover up the fact that he too is scared out of his mind by the possibility that the world may end...
15 minutes later...
"Oh yeah! School's out!" Lan shouted, doing backflips down the hall. The brown-haired teen's antics were enough for Maylu to laugh at him, also glad that school's over for the day. "Lan, you're causing a scene" she said between giggles. "So? I do this every Friday, remember?" he said, grinning at her. "Yep. Today's Friday. So how about we go to the arcade and meet up with Dex and the others. I heard that Yai-chan's got an upgrade for Glyde that she wants to show off" she suggested, smiling at him as she grabbed her PET. "Ok, Maylu-chan. So how's Roll?" he asked, noticing the PET in her hand. "Roll? What're you up to?" Maylu asked, looking into the monitor and seeing that MegaMan had somehow warped into her PET. "Nothing. Just watchin' NetCity TV with Mega" the pink Navi responded. "Oh yeah. You got an e-mail from Tory. It's strange though... He says he saw something come out of the mountains a couple of hours ago, like some sort of black beam... Wonder what he meant..." Roll said, trying to think of how a black beam coming from the mountains can be a normal occurrence. "Could Dr. Wily be behind this? Or maybe Grave?" Lan asked, trying to use any obvious explanations. "I dunno... It's too mysterious" Roll responded, her thinking getting her no answers.
"Oh well. Maybe Tory's a bit stressed out. It is a Friday, you know" Lan said, putting Tory's sighting out of his mind. "Yeah. Friday is the day when most humans are tired out from work or school, Roll-chan" explained MegaMan, playfully giving her long blonde ponytail a few tugs. "Hey! Mega!" Roll responded, tackling Mega. "I told you to stop messing with my hair! It's not a rope!" she added, giggling as she sat on MegaMan. "Alright already... Jeez, Roll" he said, trying to kindly push Roll off of him. Their NetOps just laughed, enjoying the little show. "Alright! On to the arcade!" Lan said, racing Maylu to their favorite hangout. Maylu used her scooter to zip ahead of Lan. "Hey! That's cheating!" Lan laughed, running faster. "I know!" she responded, teasing him by sticking out her tongue. "Maylu!" Lan groaned, knowing that she's messing with him. 'Sigh... That's one thing I like about her... She loves to kid around sometimes, just like me! Heh. Some of me must be rubbin' off on her' he thought, smirking as he chased after his best friend.
A few minutes and a thoroughly taunted Lan later, they reached the arcade. "Just in time" Yai said, absolutely beaming with excitement. "Now that the Late Brigade have arrived, what's this upgrade already, Yai?" Dex asked, getting more and more inpatient. "Ok, guys. You know how only MegaMan could do Style Change, right?" Yai started, grinning from ear to ear. "Yeah..." the group said, following along. "Not anymore. Thanks to AyanoTech's extensive Research &Development team, there is now a way to duplicate Mr. Hikari's little 'pet project'. And now Glyde can Style Change too. Looky" she said, jacking in her Navi into the nearest arena. "Ready, Miss Yai" said Glyde, ready for whatever style she chooses. "Alrighty! Glyde, Style Change, HeatGuts Style!" she commanded, watching Glyde change into a bigger, more muscular version of himself.
HeatGuts Style Glyde was, indeed, bigger. His skin (if it could be called that) and armor turned from yellow to flame red. He also gained a few feet in height, making him taller than even Dex's GutsMan. His arms and legs gained some muscle while his right hand gained a GutsMan-like fist. Lastly, his wings increased in size and were spread out so that they made an X shape. "Ha! Top this, MegaMan" sneered Yai, as if ready to fight all of World 3 at once. "Should've known. Once Mr. Hikari invents something, it doesn't take AyanoTech very long to find something to mimic it" Maylu sighed, impressed with Yai's new advantage. "Could MegaMan even beat Glyde now if they both went into Style Change modes?" wondered Tory, trying to imagine what IceMan in HeatGuts Style would look like. "Yeah! This should really help us in the fight against Grave" Dex whooped, jumping around the arcade, once again making a fool out of himself. "Uhhhh... Yeah... As I was saying, now it is possible for Style Change to be available for most NetNavi's, thanks to AyanoTech" Yai bragged, her grin back on her face. "And since you all are my best friends, I'll give your Navis the first Style Change upgrades ever released for free" she added.
"Cool!" said Tory, accepting one from her. "I'm gonna be the Ice King! Woohoo!" IceMan said from the PET. "Thank you, Yai-chan" Maylu said, bowing graciously to her. "I can't wait to see Mega's reaction to my new forms" Roll mused, an image of a musclebound version of herself in HeatGuts Style coming to mind. "Whoa! Maybe not that Style..." she added. "Yai, you're our guardian angel!" Dex bellowed, snatching his upgrade. "Uhhhh..." GutsMan uttered as an image of him in Shadow Style appeared in his mind. "Guts too big to dress up like ninja..." he figured. Yai walked up to Lan, still wearing a smile. "Lan, you already have the Style Change ability, but you're also counted as one of my best friends" Yai said, smiling at him. It could've been his imagination but judging by her tone, Lan got the impression that Yai was subtly trying to flirt with him. "Thanks, Yai-chan" Lan said, suddenly remembering Dex's comment at lunch about the headband- wearing teen having 2 girls, Maylu and Yai, clinging off of him. He then smiled at her and decided to chat with her about battlechips and Style Changes, not knowing what else to talk about.
Then, something caught Tory's eye on the television hanging on the corner. "Guys, look! That's the energy beam I was telling you about!" he said, watching as Ribbita recapped breaking news about some black beam of energy emerging from the mountains, an image of it behind her. "My, this looks so bizarre... I'm not sure, people, but this could be either a coincidental phenomenon or the beginning of an evil plot by NetTerrorists. Anyways, it seems that I have an eyewitness who claims to have been mentally affected by this odd anomaly. Incidentally, the eyewitness happens to be Mr. Match, former World 3 henchman. So what did you come all the way down to my li'l pad to tell us all, Mr. Match?" said Ribbita, turning to the huge Scotsman sitting next to her. Lan and the others were watching, now wondering if World 3 was behind the black energy. "Good afternoon, Dentech citizens. I came down here to warn ye all... There be a great evil approachin'... Ye must believe me, despite th' deeds I have done in th' past, workin' for World 3. I know about this b'cause..." Mr. Match said, explaining what happened when he and the others were in the mountains a few hours back. Lan and the others didn't know whether to believe him or not.
"...an' when we got off th' mountain, we saw that black energy beam shoot up into th' sky. That's the last thin' I remember before blacking out. But that's not all... Th' darkness took hold of me. I don' know how it did, but it did. So there I was, floatin' in nothin'ness, when this fog came and tried to kill me. Next thin' I knew, I was home. I'm tellin' ye, I ain' kiddin'. Somethin' evil's about to show itself. I don't know when, but it will" finished Match, getting the distinct feeling that the thousands of Dentech citizens are thinking and/or saying 'yeah, right' at that very moment. "Uhhh... Yeah, right... Sure... Ehehe... Security!" cried Ribbita, wanting to get the 'psycho' as far away from her as possible. "But I'm tellin' ye! I'm not jokin'!" he pleaded, suddenly going up to the camera so that his face filled the screen. "Everyone! Listen to me! It may be our fault, but just remember that we former World 3 agents had th' decency to warn ye of our mistake!" At this point, guards were dragging him off. "Oh come on! It's comin', I tell ye! Be on guard! Ow! Hey! Don' hit me there! OWWW!!! Not in me... balls..." halted Mr. Match's rant as he was dragged off, caused by a guard exploiting every man's weakness, a swift bone-breaking kick to the crotch.
The group was silent for a good 3 minutes, amazed that Mr. Match would do such a stunt. Lan broke the silence. "Decency, huh? Since when were they decent? I'm not sure what to make of this... Could World 3 be up to something again?" he asked, trying to get his now-silent friends to talk. "I don't know, Lan. He did sound pretty serious to me" MegaMan said, thinking of what advantage the Ex-World 3 agents would gain from this. "Maybe they're trying to cause a citywide riot and then when everyone's running scared, they launch an attack and steal everything" Maylu suggested. Yai got to thinking as Maylu was suggesting her thoughts. "Possible... But I don't think that's their forte... They're more into sneaky stuff, like what they did during the first N-1 Grand Prix, not falsely warning everyone, especially not with a hoax like that one. Besides, they like to go after battlechips and upgrades, not cash and merchandise" Yai figured, her excitement over AyanoTech's latest development having been lost since Mr. Match appeared on TV. "I'm thinkin' that there's actually a possibility that Match could be telling the truth. Slim, maybe, but still a possibility" she added, straining her brain to think of what strategy was in play.
"It's so difficult for Miss Yai to strategize sometimes. It's puzzles like this that usually give her a huge craving for strawberry milk. And I mean a really huge craving..." Glyde thought out loud, sighing. "How huge?" IceMan asked, imagining Yai drinking an oil drum full of strawberry milk. "Glyde, have my servants bring out a 5 gallon vat of strawberry milk when I get home..." said Yai, stumped. "5 gallons!!! Holy addictions, Batman!" IceMan said, falling flat on his face in surprise. "Does she really drink that much milk or does she swim in that stuff?" asked MegaMan, as stunned as IceMan. "Yes, she does drink it. It may take her a while, but she loves the stuff. "Well... At least it's good for ya" said Roll, lightly snickering. "Uhhhh... Wouldn't Yai get stomachache?" said GutsMan stupidly. "I dunno, Guts, but it's still a lotta milk..." Dex replied, staring at Yai.
"I dunno what's more strange. Mr. Match's warning or Yai-chan's stomach..." Lan whispered to Maylu, who giggled. "Small girl, huge appetite, I guess" the redhead whispered back to him. "Ok, so what do we do about this? We know World 3's up to somethin' again, even though they don't work for Wily anymore" Dex said, having had enough of mind-benders and weird cravings. "I dunno. Maybe we should wait and see what happens. For one thing, what if Match was right, for once? Don't wanna end up letting our guard down because the warnin' was kinda out there" Lan said, all fooling around aside. "That's true..." said Tory.
"Look, y'all. Lets just get back to the games and we can worry about this later. We just have to be more alert for now, but lets not bum ourselves out over what could be nothin'. Besides, I wanna see what your Style Changes look like" said Yai, trying to bring everyone out of the slump they dug themselves into.
The others agreed and they began NetBattling until dinner time, putting World 3 in the back of their minds.
"They didn't believe me and they broke me nuts!!! What's it look like to ye?!" snapped Match when Yahoot asked him how the interview turned out. He was hopping in place, still clutching his sore balls. "Ribbita broke your nuts??? Heh. And that's something that I thought I'd end up doing..." snickered Maddy, trying to hide her laughter as she created a mental image of the frog girl kicking him in that 'delicate area'. "She did not! Her studio's guards did! Owwww!!!" the Scot groaned, now rolling on the floor in pain. "And then I got thrown out and had to limp painfully across town to get back here..." he added, pounding his fist on the ground in agony.
"Now that's what I call givin' out a bad rap..." stated Zap, shaking his head slowly at his friend's fate. "I am guessing that almost everybody believes that Dr. Wily is up to something again?" asked Yahoot. "How should I know, man!!?" Match snarled, thinking that he was asked the dumbest question ever. "Alright, you... Let me take care o ya. You seem about as mad as I usually am and that ain't normal... But then again, neither is that thing we released..." Maddy said, dragging the injured pyro to her room. "Maddy, what're you thinkin'!? That means you're gonna...!" Match said, realizing that he'd have to strip for her to do anything with his injury. "Yeah, I'm gonna! So what? Just payin' ya back for you takin' care of me while I was zoned out" answered the pink-haired beauty, not fazed by the naughty thoughts beginning to form in her head. "B..but wha' about ye date tonight?" he stammered, trying to drown out his own thoughts about Maddy as a hot nurse. "Forget about it. Besides, I could tell he was one of those morons who only cared about how hot the girl is. I don't need that kind of abuse right now nor ever" she said, waving it off like the trivial matter it was. She pulled him into her room and then slammed the door, leaving behind a surprised Yahoot and Zap.
"Uhh... Did she...?" asked Zap, stunned that Maddy was actually willing to take care of Match's balls. "Yeah..." Yahoot replied, calm as always. "Does that mean...?" asked Zap. "Uh huh... She likes him" said Yahoot as he sat down, bent himself into a twisted position, and started reading the newspaper. "And are they gonna...?" Zap asked. "Maybe, unless Match needs some time to heal or they still have a lot on their minds..." the monk responded, flipping a page. "Either way on that last question, that bloody Match is pretty lucky then. Hahaha! Rock on, dude!" the musician sneered, grabbing his electric guitar and playing some chords of a Metallica song, annoying the heck out of Yahoot.
But Yahoot, annoyed as he was, suddenly had a thought about everything that happened in the mountains. 'What if this is the calm before the storm?'
At the Dentech Mountain Range, Commander Beef, Mysteriu, and Blackrose climbed down the newly formed hole, a feeling of fear creeping into their hearts. "This is the place, eh?" observed Beef, jumping down another few feet with the help of his rope. "Yes... It is" answered Mysteriu, oddly quiet as she descended. "Good thing I brought a flashlight..." said Blackrose, shining her light downward as she followed her fellow heroes.
Just before 5 minutes passed, they finally reached the bottom of the pit. Blackrose shined her light all around the area, which looked like a good place for some sort of gothic ritual, with an altar, a podium made of stone, 8 huge, black suits of armor, and 2 rune-covered pillars. "Now we're getting' somewhere. What do you make outta this, Miyu?" Beef asked, not moving toward the altar. Miyu moved close to the altar and stood, looking around intently, her gaze a calm one. "Yes. This was indeed the resting place of Count Dracula. And judging by the aura that my crystal ball is picking up, the magic is still hanging around, spent, as if someone used this altar recently for magic. Yes... Count Dracula has escaped... Hmm? What's this...? It appears that there is proof that Dracula had a lot of free time on his hands... I sense black magic... It's close..." she was interrupted by a loud screech coming from right above her. She looked up and saw a black, demonic figure dropping down from the ceiling and landing on top of her, forcing her to the ground.
Beef rushed in and landed a drop-kick on the creature, which landed on its feet on the altar wall, between the pillars. Blackrose pointed the flashlight at the strange being and all 3 of them froze as it let out a shriek of rage. One half of it looked human, with 2 human-shaped legs and a normal chest and torso. But the resemblance to humanity ended there. It had 6 arms, each with 3 razor-sharp fingers, black fur everywhere with red markings similar to a black widow spider, 8 green eyes, and venom-dripping fangs. Also, it was 11 feet tall and had a lot of muscle. It was a monstrosity that could be called a Spi-Devil, half-spider, half-human.
"What kinda abomination are ya!?" Beef stammered, disgusted by the 8-limbed creature. "Miyu, are you alright?" he said, remembering that it attacked his friend. "Yeah... Just sore from that thing landing on me..." Miyu panted, the wind knocked out of her. "Sal, take care of Miyu and keep that light on!" Beef ordered, drawing his fishbone sword and slowly approaching the demon, who had gotten off the wall and started toward the trio. Its 6 arms were more than ready to tear its opponents to shreds...
Meanwhile, 30 miles away from Dentech City and near the ocean, there lay a gigantic old castle that was in desolate ruins until its new owner came and did some... modifications. Now, its structure appears to be built half of metal and half of ancient stone. Despite the metal makeover, the castle now looks as luxurious as it did in its old days of glory. However, as grand as it looks, it has the dark and ominous feeling of something evil kept inside the old place.
And evil did inhabit the old castle, in the form of Dr. Wily. Even if he was not home at the moment, you could tell right off that he took the castle, since he put portraits of himself in almost every hallway, along with the humongous self-portrait in the throne room behind the throne, which Wily was currently sitting on, surrounded by a lot of monitors, like his old base. "Feh... Living alone in such a big castle does tend to make one feel lonely. Argh! If PharaohMan hadn't blown up my base, I'd be perfectly comfortable without those idiots messin' up my plans! Oh well... Least this place'll suit me comfortably for my next plan of attack. Hahaha!" he said, not caring that he's talking to himself. "At least I'm not completely alone. StoneMan! BlasterMan! Status report!" he snapped, as a monitor appeared in front of him. "Yes, sir! We managed to succeed in setting up a network in this old castle. We even did some custom work, just in case we end up under attack by Navis. Now, we are perfectly able to house armies of dark Navis and viruses, as you ordered, sir!" said BlasterMan, proud of his accomplishments. "Good! Keep working on that" Wily ordered before BlasterMan and StoneMan vanished with the monitor.
"I'm finally making progress to recreating World 3, after months and months of delays and issues... Soon, the world shall be mine and mine alone! Hahahahaha!" he cackled, not noticing a huge black bat flying in through the throne room door. The bat flew around, avoiding the 'strange barriers', until it decided to land on the ceiling, eavesdropping on Wily. "Ok... Let's check the schedule here..." the demented boss of World 3 said casually, causing another monitor to appear, this time with a list. The bat was intrigued by this 'wizard' and his 'magic power' to make images appear. "Let's see... 'Rebuild wrecked parts of new base', check... 'Set up World 3 network in new base', check... 'Create new dark NetNavis'... I'll work on that now... 'Resume quest to find and capture ultimate NetNavi (PharaohMan, MegaMan, or ProtoMan)'... Hmm... Later. 'Gather new henchmen and/or allies'... I don't know anybody that'd fit the job as a powerful ally to my cause..." he rambled on, like a human computer. The bat appears to think about what the old human babbled about. It then decides to fly down to him.
Wily was snapped out of his thoughts when he noticed the huge bat flying around his throne. "What the!? Hey! You're botherin' me! Get away!" Wily snapped, grabbing his cane and swiping at the oversized creature, who dodged every blow. "And you're in my seat!" the bat countered, ramming Wily in the gut. "OOF!!!" uttered the mad doctor, doubling over in pain. While bent over in his seat, the bat flew up and hovered there for a second. Then, it flew downward and bashed Wily in the back of the head, throwing him off the throne. "Ow... Beaten by a bat... who can talk?! Am I going senile!?" Wily said, trying to stand. "Nay. You are of sane mind and body" the bat said, settling onto the throne before growing. At least it appeared to grow. In reality, the creature was changing from bat to a human figure wearing all black, including a black cape, which made the bat wings. Like Wily, the human figure also appeared old, with gray hair, a gray moustache, and wrinkles all over his face. (A/N: Just imagine how he looked in Symphony of the Night)
"What the heck are you?!" Wily wondered, wondering whether to be amazed by the old guy's transformation or angered that the aforementioned old guy beat him up as a bat. "I, my friend, am a vampire, one of the damned who live to drink blood and command undead to do their bidding. I go by the name Dracula" said Wily's 'guest', bearing his sharp fangs before continuing. "But do not fret. I do not drink the blood of elder men. I greatly prefer the fresh, sweet blood of young females. I came here because this castle, which you have trespassed and made your own with your strange magics, was originally mine. It was called Castlevania. A grand castle it was, where I commanded legions of accursed dead... until I was defeated and sealed away by a foolish simpleton I should've killed off years ago... Since I finally found my way out, I had hoped to rebuild this castle and try again to throw this world into darkness, but it appears you have beat me to it with your bizarre workings"
"So what if I took over this castle? Finders keepers. Besides, my original base was blown up by a pesky NetNavi by the name of PharaohMan. How else am I supposed to take over the world without a decent headquarters?! Tell me that, Bats!" Wily ranted, waving his cane menacingly. "Eh? What is this 'NetNavi' thing you speak of? Who is this 'Fa-row-man'?" asked Dracula, clearly confused. "What?! What year are you from?!" the doctor said, thinking that everyone had heard of NetNavis by now. "1797 was the year I was sealed away" answered the vampire, now looking at the monitors spread out all over the room. 'Oh. I see. That long ago, eh? Guess I have some things to teach you, Mr. Dracula. But!... If I teach you these things, then you have to agree to be my ally in my campaign for world domination. I know it's a cheap bargain, but I doubt vampires have any use for money. Besides, from what you told me, the world is what you want too, is it not?" Wily suggested, already plotting a scheme in his mind. "Yes, it is. And the idea of joining forces is quite sound, cheap deal or no. With my monsters and your strange marvels, the world shall soon fall" the Vampire King responded, after a minute of thinking. "Well then, let me teach you a few things about something that everyone calls technology. Who knows, you might find some uses for the things that humans have come up with..." Wily sneered, proceeding to one of his many monitors.
As he was teaching Dracula about the Internet, the rise of the NetNavis, etc., he was mentally laughing as all the parts of the plan he was scheming came together to form the greatest plan he had ever come up with...
Ryu-san: Well, there it is. Chapter 2 of Darkness in Dentech City. Hope everyone liked it. I apologize if there was more Maddy/Match in this chappy than there was Lan/Maylu. Don't worry, you Lan/Maylu fans! Major Lan/Maylu- ness coming next chap.
Coming Attractions: Uh oh! Wily's struck a deal with the devil, so to speak. And that means trouble! Now that Dracula has been taught the ways of the future, what does this mean for Dentech City and its resident heroes? What will the Ex-World 3 agents do to try and correct their mistakes? What can Commander Beef and his sidekicks do to stop the Spi-Devil and escape? And what happens when Lan gets the courage to ask Maylu out for a first date? All this and more in Chapter 3, 'First Date, First Strike', coming out whenever I can write it up.
Ryu-san: Thanks for the good reviews. Glad y'all like this so far. So I'm gonna keep going. But first, I'm gonna answer a few review questions...
Jill- The Belmonts aren't gonna make any appearance yet. They might later on. So far, Lan and MegaMan are gonna play the 'Belmonts' of this fic, assisted by some of their friends.
DemonPrincess34- I read your fic and I gave a review with some pointers. I do hope that helps you. I'm glad you like my fic.
Windwingxs- You'll see what happens to Lan and co.
And now, on with the story! But this chapter is mainly about word of Dracula's return going around. I'll put in some action near the end. But still, I hope everyone likes this anyway.
Disclaimer: I forgot this in Ch. 1, but not this time. I don't own MegaMan or Castlevania or any other anime/game/movie references I use. I'm just (legally) borrowing the characters for a while.
This chapter is rated PG-13 for language and a couple of sexual jokes.
Chapter 2: What A Psychic Fears...
Somewhere in Dentech City, there is a secret headquarters. In this headquarters, 3 superheroes meet and plan strategies, plans, and counterstrikes for any and every situation. However, the meeting room looks like it could seat a lot more than just 3 people, with its huge 0-shaped table and the many chairs. But why complain about that? At least it's not a janitor's office. That's what Commander Beef (A/N: Weird name for a superhero, huh?) keeps thinking whenever he thinks that the table's just too big for such a small number of heroes.
At the moment, Commander Beef was lounging in one of the many seats, his feet placed comfortably on the table as he leaned back and took a bite out of a fish stick. "Ahh, yeah... Nothin' like a peaceful moment for lunch..." he said to himself, pleased that for once there was no crazy situation involving World 3 or any of the other NetTerrorists. As soon as he finished his lunch, he leaned all the way back in his seat and relaxed, starting to doze off.
That was until Mysteriu (a.k.a. Miyu) burst into the room... "Commander Beef!!!" she cried, sounding oddly frightened. The sudden yell was enough for Commander Beef to accidentally make his chair fall backward, causing him to roll back until he hit the wall. "Ow! Dang it, Mysteriu! What the heck're you yellin' for!?" Beef snapped, slowly getting up. "Sorry, Commander..." she said, bowing in apology. "So what is so important that you had to come yellin'?" the Commander asked, rubbing his sore head.
"I just got this premonition... A terrible one... One that concerns the safety of the world. I think we oughta be prepared for this one" she explained briefly. To Beef, she still sounded oddly freaked out, which doesn't usually apply to her personality at all. "Ok... Even though there's almost always a problem dealin' with the world's safety these days, you got my attention. What have you sensed this time?" he asked, now using his serious tone. "Well... It has to deal with an ancient and powerful evil that was sealed away long long ago. To be precise, it was 1797 (A/N: The year when Symphony of the Night took place.) when it was last defeated and sealed" she began. "What? That long ago? Wow..." Beef mused, trying to imagine what the 1700's looked like. "Yes, Beef. Anyways, the evil I speak of has escaped a little less than an hour ago" Mysteriu said, now starting to sound like her calm self. That stopped Beef from thinking about the last millennium. "Escaped? You sure?" he asked, beginning to understand why Mysteriu was so frightened. "If you had looked out the window facing the Dentech Mountain Range an hour ago, then you would've seen a beam of darkness shoot out of one of the mountains, going into the sky. This dark beam disappeared after a few minutes" she responded, giving him a look that silently said 'What? You dare deny my senses?'. "Ah. I see" Beef uttered, knowing that look on her face.
"Anyways, there are enough eyewitnesses so that the occurrence will be on the news tonight. So that means we'll have to do something before the ancient evil starts causing some chaos" Mysteriu finished. "Hmm... I guess we should investigate. Can't let an evil like that go unchecked. By the way... What exactly is this evil?" Beef asked, realizing that he doesn't know what he's up against. "A vampire lord named Dracula. He's more powerful than he sounds" the psychic answered, a grim look on her face.
Suddenly, Blackrose (aka Sal) entered the room. "Hey, Beef. Checking in, like usual. Huh? Mysteriu? Why'd you show up early?" she asked, wondering about the psychic's presence. Usually, Mysteriu would arrive at the same time as Blackrose. Beef went to get their weapons and gear ready for scouting while Mysteriu explained everything to the flower woman...
In the streets of northern Dentech City, there were 4 people who appeared to be in really bad shape. One of them, a red-haired Scotsman, was mindlessly carrying a young, pink-haired, cute girl like a sack of potatoes. Unfortunately, she was babbling nonsense about a date and something trying to kill her. There was an old monk who walked beside the stupefied Scot. He seemed to be the one that appeared the most normal out of the group, despite the fact that he is bone-thin and can bend his body into insane proportions. However, he carried a leash, which was attached to the last member of the group, a guy who looks like a member of a bad rock band. Sadly, he was running frantically from an unseen terror and yelling nonsense about something attacking the city. "Sigh... My friends are still affected by the darkness that emerged from the mountains... I have to get them back to our hideout safely" said the monk, Yahoot.
A few blocks later, they come to an apartment complex. Just as they reach the stairs, the Scotsman seemed to regain his mind. "Huh? Wha? What th' hell just happened? And how'd we get home?" Mr. Match asked, looking around. "I walked you guys home, since you 3 were hit with the dark energies that emerged from that portal" answered Yahoot bluntly. Mr. Match could see what the monk was talking about with Count Zap, the insane musician on a leash, and Maddy, the scared young woman on his shoulder. 'This is crazy... A power so dark an' evil, people go temporarily insane by bein' in its presence... Sigh... Look at th' lass... She looks so scared an' weak... Completely different from 'er normal self. If th' affect wares off on 'er now, she'd prob'ly beat me up. Heh' he thought, taking pity on the girl who had bashed him with her temper an hour earlier. 'And check out Zap... Th' guy's gone mad, I tell ye... But then again, he was crazy before th' dark got to 'im. But this is fright'ning...' he added, trying to drone out the guitarist's mad ramblings.
Yahoot unlocked the door to their apartment and threw Zap in before he could scream again. Then, he walked in, a silent Match following, still carrying the cowering Maddy. "Just take her to her room, Match. I'll try and get Zap to shut up" said Yahoot, already forced to wrestle with the crazed musician. "Right" was all the pyro said, taking the woman to her room. "Argh! What a horror this day turned out to be..." he muttered as he entered the room, trying not to imagine what they had gotten themselves into...
2 hours later...
There was absolute darkness. The bleak, quiet, hopeless nothing surrounding her. "Hello?" Maddy finally asked, wondering if she'd gone blind. Silence. "Hello?" she asked again, growing inpatient. Again, no response. "IGNORE ME, WILL YA!!!?" she demanded, beginning to think that someone was playing a prank on her. "Mr. Match! I know you're tryin' to play me! This ain't that Punk'd show! Turn on the freakin' lights!" she snapped, trying to walk around. However, she suddenly realized that she was floating in midair. "What the?! I'm floating? What's going on...?" she asked herself, now starting to freak out.
She then heard a sound. A second later, she heard it again. "Huh?" she uttered, straining to hear what the noise was. "Maaaaaaddyyyyyyy..." the noise slowly whispered. It sounded like escaping gas from a busted pipe. "Yeah? What do you want?" she responded. Suddenly, from out of nowhere, a demon-like head appeared and streaked toward Maddy at a rapid speed, its jaws open and ready to kill.
"Kyaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!" Maddy yelled, sitting up, panting like she just ran 10 miles. Looking around, she barely realized that she was in her room. "Wha... wha... what? What happened...?" she gasped, trying to calm down but failing. Again, she looked around, almost expecting something to attack her. But nothing did. Instead, she found Mr. Match asleep on a chair next to her bed. Her heart finally calmed down a little, now that she knew that one of her friends was there. "Mr. Match...?" she said, wondering why he'd even spend 5 minutes in her room, much less fall asleep in it. She got no response, except a snore or two. "Hey Match" she tried again, poking him a few times. Again, he's still dozing. Already mad, she grabbed a megaphone and put it against his ear. "I SAID HEY!!!" she shouted, causing Match to jump up and hit his head on the ceiling. "OW!!! Aye, lassy! What th' hell ye do that for?!!!" he yelled, collapsing to the floor, ears nearly bleeding. "You were sleepin'" she replied, annoyed that he called her 'lassy' again. "I know. I was keepin' ye company because ye were hit by that wave of dark energy. I know sayin' this might endanger me health, but b'cause of that, ye were actin' pretty scared, like a li'l girl" he explained, expecting her to snap at him again. But for some reason, she didn't. "Was I really...?" she said, sounding like she has a lot on her mind. "Yeah... So after we got back, I was takin' care o ye while Yahoot was trying to take down Count Zap, who went completely insane. I fin'ly got ye to sleep, at least. So I decided to take a li'l nap meself" he said, after a yawn.
"Oh... You know, that's the first time you actually did something nice for me, even though I totally blew up at you earlier..." she said, actually amazed that Match would actually be good for something besides cannon fodder against Lan or Grave. "Well, I guess that's my way of makin' it up to ye, Maddy. 'Sides, I'm used to ye bitchin' at me anyway" he said, shrugging his shoulders. "Oh... Well, that's ok then, I guess..." she said, at least glad that he finally started to use her name. "So what was it like, bein' hit by that energy?" he asked, curious. "It felt... really strange... Last thing I remember was seeing that dark beam... Then, I was floating around in nothingness, like I'd ceased to exist... I tried getting someone's attention, but all I got was some ugly demon head attacking me... Then, I woke up..." she explained, still jittery about it.
"Ya know, that's almost th' same thing I went through, except for th' demon part. Instead, there was this strange mist that tried to suffocate me. Then, I woke up in front of our apartment buildin' with ye on me shoulder, actin' all freaked out. Really odd..." he explained. "I'm beginning to think that whatever came out of that portal is more dangerous than we think..." Maddy said, a worried expression on her face, for once in her life. "Argh! We never should've had MagicMan open that stupid thing and release wha'ever was in there!" Match snapped, frustrated by everything that happened. "Just great! If temporary insanity was just from that thing's entrance, I can't even imagine what it could do to th' city or even th' world! We're royally screwed and it's our fault!" he added, repeatedly slamming his head against a wall.
"Match, calm down. We'll figure something out..." Maddy said, in a soothing tone which none of the former World 3 agents have ever heard from her, the most short-tempered member of the group. That tone alone stopped Match's raving. "Eh? Was it just me... or were ye actually consolin' me...?" he asked, looking at her as if she'd just grown another head. She gave him a light glare, annoyed that he's actually amazed by this. "Oh stop it, Match... I can be calm if I wanna" she huffed.
Just then, a normal Count Zap entered with Yahoot behind him. "Oh man... You two won't believe what happened to me back there. I was hallucinating about some huge bat-like thing destroyin' Dentech City... It was horrible, like a heavy metal band playin' acoustic instruments..." he shuddered. "We had similar nightmares..." Maddy answered, more freaked than ever. "I believe we have to do something to reprimand this problem before we're to blame for the world's destruction" Yahoot calmly said, trying to cover up the fact that he too is scared out of his mind by the possibility that the world may end...
15 minutes later...
"Oh yeah! School's out!" Lan shouted, doing backflips down the hall. The brown-haired teen's antics were enough for Maylu to laugh at him, also glad that school's over for the day. "Lan, you're causing a scene" she said between giggles. "So? I do this every Friday, remember?" he said, grinning at her. "Yep. Today's Friday. So how about we go to the arcade and meet up with Dex and the others. I heard that Yai-chan's got an upgrade for Glyde that she wants to show off" she suggested, smiling at him as she grabbed her PET. "Ok, Maylu-chan. So how's Roll?" he asked, noticing the PET in her hand. "Roll? What're you up to?" Maylu asked, looking into the monitor and seeing that MegaMan had somehow warped into her PET. "Nothing. Just watchin' NetCity TV with Mega" the pink Navi responded. "Oh yeah. You got an e-mail from Tory. It's strange though... He says he saw something come out of the mountains a couple of hours ago, like some sort of black beam... Wonder what he meant..." Roll said, trying to think of how a black beam coming from the mountains can be a normal occurrence. "Could Dr. Wily be behind this? Or maybe Grave?" Lan asked, trying to use any obvious explanations. "I dunno... It's too mysterious" Roll responded, her thinking getting her no answers.
"Oh well. Maybe Tory's a bit stressed out. It is a Friday, you know" Lan said, putting Tory's sighting out of his mind. "Yeah. Friday is the day when most humans are tired out from work or school, Roll-chan" explained MegaMan, playfully giving her long blonde ponytail a few tugs. "Hey! Mega!" Roll responded, tackling Mega. "I told you to stop messing with my hair! It's not a rope!" she added, giggling as she sat on MegaMan. "Alright already... Jeez, Roll" he said, trying to kindly push Roll off of him. Their NetOps just laughed, enjoying the little show. "Alright! On to the arcade!" Lan said, racing Maylu to their favorite hangout. Maylu used her scooter to zip ahead of Lan. "Hey! That's cheating!" Lan laughed, running faster. "I know!" she responded, teasing him by sticking out her tongue. "Maylu!" Lan groaned, knowing that she's messing with him. 'Sigh... That's one thing I like about her... She loves to kid around sometimes, just like me! Heh. Some of me must be rubbin' off on her' he thought, smirking as he chased after his best friend.
A few minutes and a thoroughly taunted Lan later, they reached the arcade. "Just in time" Yai said, absolutely beaming with excitement. "Now that the Late Brigade have arrived, what's this upgrade already, Yai?" Dex asked, getting more and more inpatient. "Ok, guys. You know how only MegaMan could do Style Change, right?" Yai started, grinning from ear to ear. "Yeah..." the group said, following along. "Not anymore. Thanks to AyanoTech's extensive Research &Development team, there is now a way to duplicate Mr. Hikari's little 'pet project'. And now Glyde can Style Change too. Looky" she said, jacking in her Navi into the nearest arena. "Ready, Miss Yai" said Glyde, ready for whatever style she chooses. "Alrighty! Glyde, Style Change, HeatGuts Style!" she commanded, watching Glyde change into a bigger, more muscular version of himself.
HeatGuts Style Glyde was, indeed, bigger. His skin (if it could be called that) and armor turned from yellow to flame red. He also gained a few feet in height, making him taller than even Dex's GutsMan. His arms and legs gained some muscle while his right hand gained a GutsMan-like fist. Lastly, his wings increased in size and were spread out so that they made an X shape. "Ha! Top this, MegaMan" sneered Yai, as if ready to fight all of World 3 at once. "Should've known. Once Mr. Hikari invents something, it doesn't take AyanoTech very long to find something to mimic it" Maylu sighed, impressed with Yai's new advantage. "Could MegaMan even beat Glyde now if they both went into Style Change modes?" wondered Tory, trying to imagine what IceMan in HeatGuts Style would look like. "Yeah! This should really help us in the fight against Grave" Dex whooped, jumping around the arcade, once again making a fool out of himself. "Uhhhh... Yeah... As I was saying, now it is possible for Style Change to be available for most NetNavi's, thanks to AyanoTech" Yai bragged, her grin back on her face. "And since you all are my best friends, I'll give your Navis the first Style Change upgrades ever released for free" she added.
"Cool!" said Tory, accepting one from her. "I'm gonna be the Ice King! Woohoo!" IceMan said from the PET. "Thank you, Yai-chan" Maylu said, bowing graciously to her. "I can't wait to see Mega's reaction to my new forms" Roll mused, an image of a musclebound version of herself in HeatGuts Style coming to mind. "Whoa! Maybe not that Style..." she added. "Yai, you're our guardian angel!" Dex bellowed, snatching his upgrade. "Uhhhh..." GutsMan uttered as an image of him in Shadow Style appeared in his mind. "Guts too big to dress up like ninja..." he figured. Yai walked up to Lan, still wearing a smile. "Lan, you already have the Style Change ability, but you're also counted as one of my best friends" Yai said, smiling at him. It could've been his imagination but judging by her tone, Lan got the impression that Yai was subtly trying to flirt with him. "Thanks, Yai-chan" Lan said, suddenly remembering Dex's comment at lunch about the headband- wearing teen having 2 girls, Maylu and Yai, clinging off of him. He then smiled at her and decided to chat with her about battlechips and Style Changes, not knowing what else to talk about.
Then, something caught Tory's eye on the television hanging on the corner. "Guys, look! That's the energy beam I was telling you about!" he said, watching as Ribbita recapped breaking news about some black beam of energy emerging from the mountains, an image of it behind her. "My, this looks so bizarre... I'm not sure, people, but this could be either a coincidental phenomenon or the beginning of an evil plot by NetTerrorists. Anyways, it seems that I have an eyewitness who claims to have been mentally affected by this odd anomaly. Incidentally, the eyewitness happens to be Mr. Match, former World 3 henchman. So what did you come all the way down to my li'l pad to tell us all, Mr. Match?" said Ribbita, turning to the huge Scotsman sitting next to her. Lan and the others were watching, now wondering if World 3 was behind the black energy. "Good afternoon, Dentech citizens. I came down here to warn ye all... There be a great evil approachin'... Ye must believe me, despite th' deeds I have done in th' past, workin' for World 3. I know about this b'cause..." Mr. Match said, explaining what happened when he and the others were in the mountains a few hours back. Lan and the others didn't know whether to believe him or not.
"...an' when we got off th' mountain, we saw that black energy beam shoot up into th' sky. That's the last thin' I remember before blacking out. But that's not all... Th' darkness took hold of me. I don' know how it did, but it did. So there I was, floatin' in nothin'ness, when this fog came and tried to kill me. Next thin' I knew, I was home. I'm tellin' ye, I ain' kiddin'. Somethin' evil's about to show itself. I don't know when, but it will" finished Match, getting the distinct feeling that the thousands of Dentech citizens are thinking and/or saying 'yeah, right' at that very moment. "Uhhh... Yeah, right... Sure... Ehehe... Security!" cried Ribbita, wanting to get the 'psycho' as far away from her as possible. "But I'm tellin' ye! I'm not jokin'!" he pleaded, suddenly going up to the camera so that his face filled the screen. "Everyone! Listen to me! It may be our fault, but just remember that we former World 3 agents had th' decency to warn ye of our mistake!" At this point, guards were dragging him off. "Oh come on! It's comin', I tell ye! Be on guard! Ow! Hey! Don' hit me there! OWWW!!! Not in me... balls..." halted Mr. Match's rant as he was dragged off, caused by a guard exploiting every man's weakness, a swift bone-breaking kick to the crotch.
The group was silent for a good 3 minutes, amazed that Mr. Match would do such a stunt. Lan broke the silence. "Decency, huh? Since when were they decent? I'm not sure what to make of this... Could World 3 be up to something again?" he asked, trying to get his now-silent friends to talk. "I don't know, Lan. He did sound pretty serious to me" MegaMan said, thinking of what advantage the Ex-World 3 agents would gain from this. "Maybe they're trying to cause a citywide riot and then when everyone's running scared, they launch an attack and steal everything" Maylu suggested. Yai got to thinking as Maylu was suggesting her thoughts. "Possible... But I don't think that's their forte... They're more into sneaky stuff, like what they did during the first N-1 Grand Prix, not falsely warning everyone, especially not with a hoax like that one. Besides, they like to go after battlechips and upgrades, not cash and merchandise" Yai figured, her excitement over AyanoTech's latest development having been lost since Mr. Match appeared on TV. "I'm thinkin' that there's actually a possibility that Match could be telling the truth. Slim, maybe, but still a possibility" she added, straining her brain to think of what strategy was in play.
"It's so difficult for Miss Yai to strategize sometimes. It's puzzles like this that usually give her a huge craving for strawberry milk. And I mean a really huge craving..." Glyde thought out loud, sighing. "How huge?" IceMan asked, imagining Yai drinking an oil drum full of strawberry milk. "Glyde, have my servants bring out a 5 gallon vat of strawberry milk when I get home..." said Yai, stumped. "5 gallons!!! Holy addictions, Batman!" IceMan said, falling flat on his face in surprise. "Does she really drink that much milk or does she swim in that stuff?" asked MegaMan, as stunned as IceMan. "Yes, she does drink it. It may take her a while, but she loves the stuff. "Well... At least it's good for ya" said Roll, lightly snickering. "Uhhhh... Wouldn't Yai get stomachache?" said GutsMan stupidly. "I dunno, Guts, but it's still a lotta milk..." Dex replied, staring at Yai.
"I dunno what's more strange. Mr. Match's warning or Yai-chan's stomach..." Lan whispered to Maylu, who giggled. "Small girl, huge appetite, I guess" the redhead whispered back to him. "Ok, so what do we do about this? We know World 3's up to somethin' again, even though they don't work for Wily anymore" Dex said, having had enough of mind-benders and weird cravings. "I dunno. Maybe we should wait and see what happens. For one thing, what if Match was right, for once? Don't wanna end up letting our guard down because the warnin' was kinda out there" Lan said, all fooling around aside. "That's true..." said Tory.
"Look, y'all. Lets just get back to the games and we can worry about this later. We just have to be more alert for now, but lets not bum ourselves out over what could be nothin'. Besides, I wanna see what your Style Changes look like" said Yai, trying to bring everyone out of the slump they dug themselves into.
The others agreed and they began NetBattling until dinner time, putting World 3 in the back of their minds.
"They didn't believe me and they broke me nuts!!! What's it look like to ye?!" snapped Match when Yahoot asked him how the interview turned out. He was hopping in place, still clutching his sore balls. "Ribbita broke your nuts??? Heh. And that's something that I thought I'd end up doing..." snickered Maddy, trying to hide her laughter as she created a mental image of the frog girl kicking him in that 'delicate area'. "She did not! Her studio's guards did! Owwww!!!" the Scot groaned, now rolling on the floor in pain. "And then I got thrown out and had to limp painfully across town to get back here..." he added, pounding his fist on the ground in agony.
"Now that's what I call givin' out a bad rap..." stated Zap, shaking his head slowly at his friend's fate. "I am guessing that almost everybody believes that Dr. Wily is up to something again?" asked Yahoot. "How should I know, man!!?" Match snarled, thinking that he was asked the dumbest question ever. "Alright, you... Let me take care o ya. You seem about as mad as I usually am and that ain't normal... But then again, neither is that thing we released..." Maddy said, dragging the injured pyro to her room. "Maddy, what're you thinkin'!? That means you're gonna...!" Match said, realizing that he'd have to strip for her to do anything with his injury. "Yeah, I'm gonna! So what? Just payin' ya back for you takin' care of me while I was zoned out" answered the pink-haired beauty, not fazed by the naughty thoughts beginning to form in her head. "B..but wha' about ye date tonight?" he stammered, trying to drown out his own thoughts about Maddy as a hot nurse. "Forget about it. Besides, I could tell he was one of those morons who only cared about how hot the girl is. I don't need that kind of abuse right now nor ever" she said, waving it off like the trivial matter it was. She pulled him into her room and then slammed the door, leaving behind a surprised Yahoot and Zap.
"Uhh... Did she...?" asked Zap, stunned that Maddy was actually willing to take care of Match's balls. "Yeah..." Yahoot replied, calm as always. "Does that mean...?" asked Zap. "Uh huh... She likes him" said Yahoot as he sat down, bent himself into a twisted position, and started reading the newspaper. "And are they gonna...?" Zap asked. "Maybe, unless Match needs some time to heal or they still have a lot on their minds..." the monk responded, flipping a page. "Either way on that last question, that bloody Match is pretty lucky then. Hahaha! Rock on, dude!" the musician sneered, grabbing his electric guitar and playing some chords of a Metallica song, annoying the heck out of Yahoot.
But Yahoot, annoyed as he was, suddenly had a thought about everything that happened in the mountains. 'What if this is the calm before the storm?'
At the Dentech Mountain Range, Commander Beef, Mysteriu, and Blackrose climbed down the newly formed hole, a feeling of fear creeping into their hearts. "This is the place, eh?" observed Beef, jumping down another few feet with the help of his rope. "Yes... It is" answered Mysteriu, oddly quiet as she descended. "Good thing I brought a flashlight..." said Blackrose, shining her light downward as she followed her fellow heroes.
Just before 5 minutes passed, they finally reached the bottom of the pit. Blackrose shined her light all around the area, which looked like a good place for some sort of gothic ritual, with an altar, a podium made of stone, 8 huge, black suits of armor, and 2 rune-covered pillars. "Now we're getting' somewhere. What do you make outta this, Miyu?" Beef asked, not moving toward the altar. Miyu moved close to the altar and stood, looking around intently, her gaze a calm one. "Yes. This was indeed the resting place of Count Dracula. And judging by the aura that my crystal ball is picking up, the magic is still hanging around, spent, as if someone used this altar recently for magic. Yes... Count Dracula has escaped... Hmm? What's this...? It appears that there is proof that Dracula had a lot of free time on his hands... I sense black magic... It's close..." she was interrupted by a loud screech coming from right above her. She looked up and saw a black, demonic figure dropping down from the ceiling and landing on top of her, forcing her to the ground.
Beef rushed in and landed a drop-kick on the creature, which landed on its feet on the altar wall, between the pillars. Blackrose pointed the flashlight at the strange being and all 3 of them froze as it let out a shriek of rage. One half of it looked human, with 2 human-shaped legs and a normal chest and torso. But the resemblance to humanity ended there. It had 6 arms, each with 3 razor-sharp fingers, black fur everywhere with red markings similar to a black widow spider, 8 green eyes, and venom-dripping fangs. Also, it was 11 feet tall and had a lot of muscle. It was a monstrosity that could be called a Spi-Devil, half-spider, half-human.
"What kinda abomination are ya!?" Beef stammered, disgusted by the 8-limbed creature. "Miyu, are you alright?" he said, remembering that it attacked his friend. "Yeah... Just sore from that thing landing on me..." Miyu panted, the wind knocked out of her. "Sal, take care of Miyu and keep that light on!" Beef ordered, drawing his fishbone sword and slowly approaching the demon, who had gotten off the wall and started toward the trio. Its 6 arms were more than ready to tear its opponents to shreds...
Meanwhile, 30 miles away from Dentech City and near the ocean, there lay a gigantic old castle that was in desolate ruins until its new owner came and did some... modifications. Now, its structure appears to be built half of metal and half of ancient stone. Despite the metal makeover, the castle now looks as luxurious as it did in its old days of glory. However, as grand as it looks, it has the dark and ominous feeling of something evil kept inside the old place.
And evil did inhabit the old castle, in the form of Dr. Wily. Even if he was not home at the moment, you could tell right off that he took the castle, since he put portraits of himself in almost every hallway, along with the humongous self-portrait in the throne room behind the throne, which Wily was currently sitting on, surrounded by a lot of monitors, like his old base. "Feh... Living alone in such a big castle does tend to make one feel lonely. Argh! If PharaohMan hadn't blown up my base, I'd be perfectly comfortable without those idiots messin' up my plans! Oh well... Least this place'll suit me comfortably for my next plan of attack. Hahaha!" he said, not caring that he's talking to himself. "At least I'm not completely alone. StoneMan! BlasterMan! Status report!" he snapped, as a monitor appeared in front of him. "Yes, sir! We managed to succeed in setting up a network in this old castle. We even did some custom work, just in case we end up under attack by Navis. Now, we are perfectly able to house armies of dark Navis and viruses, as you ordered, sir!" said BlasterMan, proud of his accomplishments. "Good! Keep working on that" Wily ordered before BlasterMan and StoneMan vanished with the monitor.
"I'm finally making progress to recreating World 3, after months and months of delays and issues... Soon, the world shall be mine and mine alone! Hahahahaha!" he cackled, not noticing a huge black bat flying in through the throne room door. The bat flew around, avoiding the 'strange barriers', until it decided to land on the ceiling, eavesdropping on Wily. "Ok... Let's check the schedule here..." the demented boss of World 3 said casually, causing another monitor to appear, this time with a list. The bat was intrigued by this 'wizard' and his 'magic power' to make images appear. "Let's see... 'Rebuild wrecked parts of new base', check... 'Set up World 3 network in new base', check... 'Create new dark NetNavis'... I'll work on that now... 'Resume quest to find and capture ultimate NetNavi (PharaohMan, MegaMan, or ProtoMan)'... Hmm... Later. 'Gather new henchmen and/or allies'... I don't know anybody that'd fit the job as a powerful ally to my cause..." he rambled on, like a human computer. The bat appears to think about what the old human babbled about. It then decides to fly down to him.
Wily was snapped out of his thoughts when he noticed the huge bat flying around his throne. "What the!? Hey! You're botherin' me! Get away!" Wily snapped, grabbing his cane and swiping at the oversized creature, who dodged every blow. "And you're in my seat!" the bat countered, ramming Wily in the gut. "OOF!!!" uttered the mad doctor, doubling over in pain. While bent over in his seat, the bat flew up and hovered there for a second. Then, it flew downward and bashed Wily in the back of the head, throwing him off the throne. "Ow... Beaten by a bat... who can talk?! Am I going senile!?" Wily said, trying to stand. "Nay. You are of sane mind and body" the bat said, settling onto the throne before growing. At least it appeared to grow. In reality, the creature was changing from bat to a human figure wearing all black, including a black cape, which made the bat wings. Like Wily, the human figure also appeared old, with gray hair, a gray moustache, and wrinkles all over his face. (A/N: Just imagine how he looked in Symphony of the Night)
"What the heck are you?!" Wily wondered, wondering whether to be amazed by the old guy's transformation or angered that the aforementioned old guy beat him up as a bat. "I, my friend, am a vampire, one of the damned who live to drink blood and command undead to do their bidding. I go by the name Dracula" said Wily's 'guest', bearing his sharp fangs before continuing. "But do not fret. I do not drink the blood of elder men. I greatly prefer the fresh, sweet blood of young females. I came here because this castle, which you have trespassed and made your own with your strange magics, was originally mine. It was called Castlevania. A grand castle it was, where I commanded legions of accursed dead... until I was defeated and sealed away by a foolish simpleton I should've killed off years ago... Since I finally found my way out, I had hoped to rebuild this castle and try again to throw this world into darkness, but it appears you have beat me to it with your bizarre workings"
"So what if I took over this castle? Finders keepers. Besides, my original base was blown up by a pesky NetNavi by the name of PharaohMan. How else am I supposed to take over the world without a decent headquarters?! Tell me that, Bats!" Wily ranted, waving his cane menacingly. "Eh? What is this 'NetNavi' thing you speak of? Who is this 'Fa-row-man'?" asked Dracula, clearly confused. "What?! What year are you from?!" the doctor said, thinking that everyone had heard of NetNavis by now. "1797 was the year I was sealed away" answered the vampire, now looking at the monitors spread out all over the room. 'Oh. I see. That long ago, eh? Guess I have some things to teach you, Mr. Dracula. But!... If I teach you these things, then you have to agree to be my ally in my campaign for world domination. I know it's a cheap bargain, but I doubt vampires have any use for money. Besides, from what you told me, the world is what you want too, is it not?" Wily suggested, already plotting a scheme in his mind. "Yes, it is. And the idea of joining forces is quite sound, cheap deal or no. With my monsters and your strange marvels, the world shall soon fall" the Vampire King responded, after a minute of thinking. "Well then, let me teach you a few things about something that everyone calls technology. Who knows, you might find some uses for the things that humans have come up with..." Wily sneered, proceeding to one of his many monitors.
As he was teaching Dracula about the Internet, the rise of the NetNavis, etc., he was mentally laughing as all the parts of the plan he was scheming came together to form the greatest plan he had ever come up with...
Ryu-san: Well, there it is. Chapter 2 of Darkness in Dentech City. Hope everyone liked it. I apologize if there was more Maddy/Match in this chappy than there was Lan/Maylu. Don't worry, you Lan/Maylu fans! Major Lan/Maylu- ness coming next chap.
Coming Attractions: Uh oh! Wily's struck a deal with the devil, so to speak. And that means trouble! Now that Dracula has been taught the ways of the future, what does this mean for Dentech City and its resident heroes? What will the Ex-World 3 agents do to try and correct their mistakes? What can Commander Beef and his sidekicks do to stop the Spi-Devil and escape? And what happens when Lan gets the courage to ask Maylu out for a first date? All this and more in Chapter 3, 'First Date, First Strike', coming out whenever I can write it up.