Disclaimer: I do not own Megaman Battle Network or any related properties. Capcom does. All other characters are the celestial property of the Chaos Coalition.
Author's Note: Hello again, everyone. As promised, this chapter contains the entire space battle, and as a result, it's my longest chapter yet! However, due to a number of factors, including the length of the chapter, a slight amount of writer's block, and sheer laziness and lack of time, there will be no flashback during this chapter. However, after this chapter, the flashbacks will begin to focus on the Chaos Union after the disbanding of the Union. Why? Because there's only so many stories to tell, and I like to keep things interesting. Enjoy!
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Chaotic We Stand
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Chapter 12: Dimicatio Caelestis
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-- 3: 48 PM, Space Station Algebar --
Shroud was the first to get to his feet, and he stood and charged in the same instant, throwing himself at the Vile 5. Unfortunately, he found himself on the floor seconds later, and as the others managed to unsteadily get to their feet, he looked around to realize that he was laying in the exact same place as the Vile 5 were standing.
"We aren't idiots, you know?" Doppler cackled maniacally, as the group stepped backwards in unison to allow themselves to be clearly seen again. "The station's designed to be your tomb, not ours."
"So we implanted these holographic projectors in here," Gate continued. "It was an easy task, all we needed do was fool the Sharoans up here into believing that their government wanted them. They did all the work for us."
"But why this station? Why not a satellite?" Link asked, Cross Fusing as he spoke. The others followed his lead, shifting into the forms of their navis, in case of another unwanted surprise.
"Link's right," Golex said. "It must have taken you some time to hack these firewalls."
"Not at all," Gate continued. "Hacking into the station's defenses was easy, especially with the help of the Dark--"
Cain silenced him with a backhand, surprisingly powerful for a man of his age, and Gate stumbled back, out of the range of the holographic camera on the other end. "Lumina, remind me to have Sigma beat him later."
"Yes, sir," she replied, obviously the most subordinate of the group. As Shroud got up and Cross Fused, he studied her a moment. Of all the members of the Vile 5, she had the least reason to turn against the city, much less him. Her talents lay not in electronics at all, rather, she was a gifted architect, having designed both the layout of Neo Arcadia as well as the designs for nearly every building there. Her only two scientific contributions were the idea for the New Land program, and her marriage to the gifted scientist Raphael Lumina, whose achievements had slowly begun to grow greater after his marriage to Isabel. Most critics passed it off as coincidence, but Shroud knew better, from having met and spoken to Raphael. His marriage to Isabel had saved him from the despair of having a worthless existence.
Isabel seemed to catch his eyes for an instant, as if to warn him, and seemed to gesture to her left. Shroud was careful not to directly look, but as Cain began to boast of how flawless his plan was, he dared allow his eyes to slide right. The Vile 5 were standing in the midst of a hallway, and to their left was an adjacent hall. Shroud couldn't recall where it led, but he could see something dancing across the wall; a pair of shadows.
"Now, you shall fall before our mighty warrior navis!" Cain was finishing as Shroud backed up a step or two. "High Max, Lumine!" he called, as if to someone behind the Chaos Union, "Attack these fools, and kill them!" The Vile 5 winked out of visibility, and the Union turned to confront the foes behind them…foes that didn't reveal themselves. But Shroud knew where they lurked, and charged with a wordless shout, causing the others to half-turn in time to see Shroud's sword interlocked with the black arm of a powerful-looking netnavi, who Shroud instantly knew was High Max.
High Max was a huge navi; the two forked points of his helmet brushed the top of the ten-foot high ceiling. He was clad in all-black armor, and it was apparently strong enough that he could block a sword stroke with it, and barely have a scratch in the aftermath. There were some portions of it that were other colors, of course, such as the red jewel in the center of his chestplate, or the yellow lines running along the sides of his legs and arms, or the glowing white orb of energy that was approaching his body…
Shroud suddenly blinked, realizing he was on the other side of the lounge, leaning up against a wall with a Juno-shaped indentation in it, while the Chaos Union attempted to charge High Max and Lumine, who had followed his fellow netnavi into the light seconds after High Max had blown Shroud back. Lumine wasn't built for power, as was High Max, but his skills were no less mighty. He wielded a laser that was designed to shatter data instantly, and had the rare ability to copy the abilities of his opponents, a trait that Shroud had only seen once before, wielded by Axl, the navi of Net Savior Sean Obihiro, who had once led the Gospel netmafia. While Lumine's version was much weaker, only able to steal weapons and not copy the navi's appearance as well, it was still formidable, and made the ivory-armored netnavi a force to be reckoned with.
The others were fighting valiantly, but between High Max's brute strength and Lumine's lasers and copy ability, they were going to lose, or at the very least, not win in time to stop the station. That had to be their primary goal, so they either needed to dispatch these two navis now, or simply break away and try to stop the station before it was too late. Sadly, Shroud didn't think either option was possible, but perhaps a fusion of the two was.
"Link, Pavo, fall back to me!" They both were startled enough to stop attacking, Link nearly dropping the sword he was trying to stab High Max with, and Pavo being struck in the wing with one of Lumine's laser shots. However, they both recovered quickly, and slipped out of the melee, their companions helping them to escape by taking slight hits for them.
"What is it, Shroud?" Link asked right away. "We don't have any time left to talk. We need to destroy them, now, or risk failing to save Neo Arcadia."
"That's why you're not fighting them. You know where the engine room is, correct?" They both nodded, so Shroud continued. "Get down there and kill the engines so that we have more time to deal with this. If you do it fast enough, we may not even drop out of orbit, although somehow I doubt that. Be careful though; remember that the Vile 5 is sure to have trapped this place somehow."
Link only nodded, content to accept Shroud's orders no questions asked, but Pavo appeared uncertain. "Are they going to be all right without us?"
"Probably not," Shroud replied, getting up gingerly and picking his sword of the floor. "But this battle doesn't matter yet. What does matter is you two getting to the engine room, and me getting to Brian and Chris in the control room. Now go!" Shroud ran down the hall that the other two Union members had previously taken, leaving the battle behind, and hoping that the absence of the three of them would not cost the Chaos Union four of its last members.
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Raymond was having One Of Those Days. This was similar to the uncapitalized version, except it generally involved either an evil person and/or organization who wanted to rule or destroy the world, his impending demise, or the rent check was due. Today, it was all three. Dodging the rather large fist of High Max, Raymond realized that in reality, it probably was a fairly good One Of Those Days, considering that since he was here instead of his nephew, he'd probably saved his life. Then again, if he failed, Alistor was just going to be pounded into pulp by this satellite anyways.
It was a bit hard getting used to Cross Fusion, especially since the last time he'd performed it, he had been fused with the original version of his netnavi, who utilized only water attacks, making him less versatile. Now, however, he had finally managed to upgrade Alistor to his original specifications, and Cross Fusion had proved easier now than it had any other time he had done it as a teenager. Alistor 2.0 wore a purple bodysuit, with a black chestplate, helmet, pair of gloves, and pair of boots. In addition, he had two horns that protruded from his helmet and small black wings, along with a purple visor that crossed in front of his eyes. Raymond had preserved a majority of these features in Cross Fusion, but the wings were nonexistent, and the purple visor had become purple-tinted glasses.
As he sidestepped another of High Max's punches, Raymond swung his mighty sword Daemonslayer horizontally, causing a thin slash to appear across the armor of his opponent. However, he was rewarded for this momentary success with an energy globe to the face, and when he came to his senses, he noted that Jules had been thrown next to him as well, leaving both High Max and Lumine to gang up on SH and Golex.
"This is a fine predicament we're gotten ourselves into," Jules said, getting to his feet and helping Raymond do the same. It was strange to realize that this figure was really Jules, since all his prior navis had shown some vulpine qualities. This one did not, and appeared more a samurai than anything, with a longsword to prove it. "Hey, does Alistor still have aquatic powers?"
Raymond shook his head. Back in the day, he and Jules had been able to use a combo in which Jules would start a fire that Alistor would quench, eventually creating a cloud of steam that would hide them from view. Unfortunately, his and Alistor's talents were different now. "We use lightning now," he replied, leaning slightly against his sword and preparing to jump back into the fray.
"All right, then it's just got to be an all-out strike to get their attention away from the others for a minute," he replied, while what appeared to be two adult foxes swarmed up his body, merging with his fists to ignite them. "Give it all that you've got, Raymond."
"Nothing less, Jules." The sword was slung back over his back in an instant, and a few seconds later, a torrent of lightning erupted from his hands, directed at the more heavily armored High Max. Jules nodded, apparently pleased with the exchange, unleashed a stream of fire at Lumine, who immediately ceased attacking to roll away, out of the fire's path. High Max, however, could not move fast enough, and was sufficiently baked by Raymond's electrical surge.
The momentary lapse in the battle gave SH and Golex time to fall back towards him and Jules, and it seemed that they had relished the chance. The two of them had been able to hold their own against Lumine, who hadn't gotten the hold of Kyra's attack yet, but as soon as High Max had stepped in, they had been taking a beating, with several portions of SH's armor cracked and one of Golex's small wings broken. "The damn things are no use in here anyways," he muttered when Jules mentioned it. "If I could retract them, I would." Unfortunately, the few seconds they had were soon interrupted, when Lumine managed to snatch the lightning from Alistor's grasp somehow, leaving him unable to use it, but restoring to SH his own abilities, however useful they might be in this enclosed space.
"That wasn't a smart idea, my Chaos Union friends," Lumine said, his purple hair seeming to glow as electrical sparks began to travel across his ivory armor. "Because now, not only have you made my associate angry, you've given me a much more applicable power." With that, the lightning spilled forth towards them, and they were forced to scatter, ruining any chance of a unified strike.
"This really is One Of Those Days, isn't it," Raymond muttered to himself as he rolled behind one of the lounge's sofas to shield himself from his own attack.
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"Are you sure this is the right way, Link?" Pavo asked for the third time. "I'm pretty sure that you were supposed to go left at that intersection back there."
"Like I said, Pavo, both ways led to the engine room, but this way's faster." Link would normally have been a bit on edge due to Pavo's juxtaposed opinion, but he had realized years before that the reason they worked so well together was because of how oppositely similar they were to each other, complements yet foils. The two of them were just alike enough to be perfect allies, but yet totally different. On any other day, they might have actually bickered over which direction to go, but when you're falling through space, you don't have time for such things, and Link simply began to walk down the right hallway. Pavo had soon followed, muttering what Link had learned to recognize as Spanish curses.
"All right, we're almost here," Link said, turning the last corner before the control room for the engines. "We should be able to shut down the engines from in there, but if that doesn't work, then we'll need to actually go out and do so manually. I'll volunteer to spacewalk, but you need to make sure that you've found out exactly what to do to shut them off, okay? I don't need to be charred to a crisp."
"Got it," Pavo said as they approached the door, which automatically opened for them. "Do what I'm told, fix the machine, and don't bake you like a--"
His words were cut off as Link stopped, and he realized that there were some people in the room already. One was rather small and thin, and wore gleaming gold armor that faintly shone in the dim light. His gloves and boots were a light blue, and on his chestplate, the symbol for yang in red, with a pale blue dot in the center. His helmet also bore this symbol, with was fastened to the front of it like a crest, and in his hands, he held a glowing violet saber.
The other seemed a polar opposite, at least seven or eight feet tall and quite large, with a rotund figure. His armor was mainly red, with some gray bolts driven into his shoulders and knees. Attached to his back was a golden ring, and at its apex, the symbol for yin was present, a blue swirl with a red dot in its center. He seemed to wear no helmet; rather, an axe-like protrusion was attached to the top of his metallic head, which made the figure all the more menacing.
"Hello," the smaller one said. "You must be the Chaos Union. My name is Bit, and this is my good friend Byte." Byte only grunted, and a chill began to run down Link's spine. "I suppose we're going to have to kill you now."
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Lumine's new lightning weapon had seriously crippled their chances of succeeding. Almost all of the weapons they wielded were short-range swords, and the long-range weapons that they used were useless, except for maybe Jules' fire attack. But High Max could just block the move with his body, and Lumine would be completely protected. All in all, it wasn't looking like they'd win this battle.
Right now, SH and Raymond were trying to find cover behind the room's upholstery, and Golex was trying to shield himself and Jules behind his wings. Normally, the wings were among the strongest shields in the cyber world, being able to wrap themselves in front of Golex and then harden. However, since one had earlier been broken, some of Lumine's electricity was able to get through, although Golex was generally shocked more than Jules. "I can't take too much more of this," he said to him. "We need a decent hit soon, or you're on your own." While hiding behind Golex, he'd been trying to hit Lumine, but it wasn't working. The netnavi was too agile to be hit. Jules tried to hit him with a few more pulses of fire, but High Max just stepped in front again, taking the blows and firing off some energy orbs that appeared to be making Golex's wings crack.
"Forget it, Golex," he said, allowing his foxes Tip and Top to emerge from his gauntlets. "Fall back. SH, I need some cover!" He and Golex moved in the same instant, Jules spinning about to locate the nearest barrier, in this case an overturned table, and Golex retracing his wings, preparing to move. However, the broken wing made his movements slow, and even as SH began to expel pieces of parchment to shield them from attacks, Lumine struck, his lightning charring the paper before it could bulk up to shield Golex from his strike. Raymond moved as if to jump into the lightning's path, perhaps to try and swipe back his power, but High Max was already throwing an orb, and moments later, Golex was against the wall again.
While SH continued to distract their opponents regardless, Jules crawled over to check on his status; he was unconscious, and it appeared that the final blow had caused his chestplate to shatter, which had caused some hopefully superficial bleeding to occur. Within a few seconds, he lost Cross Fusion, his gleaming armor dissipating. "And then there were three," Jules muttered to himself, grabbing the comatose body and quickly hurrying back to his hiding spot before High Max was smart enough to realize that the sheets of paper SH was whipping about were only cover for Jules to get Golex.
"Great," Raymond muttered, seeing that Golex was unconscious. "Now what do we do, hide behind these chairs and hope that one of the others shuts down the station before we crash into Neo Arcadia?"
"No," Jules said, an idea coming to him as his foxes began to study Golex's body. "You're a netbattle teacher at your nephew's school, right?"
"Yeah, netbattles and sciences. I might try to pick up a session of math next semester; it's a really well-designed program and almost everyone teaching it is female."
"Whatever. Does your curriculum have any information on Copyroids?" Time was of the essence now.
"Yeah, but it's in the back, so I've only read it once so far."
"Close enough," Jules said, studying their opponents. "I need you to get behind High Max and find something in his copyroid body that you can overload with electricity. An outlet, a jack-in port, whatever."
"In case you've forgotten, Jules, I am currently without my electrical powers. Said powers are still arcing above our heads."
"I know, I know, but just trust me. Now, how close would you have to be to hit one of those areas effectively?"
Raymond thought about it a moment. "Probably within a few feet." There were several yards between them and their foes, which made his plan much harder to execute. "If I could get behind the bar, that would probably be close enough."
"Then get behind the bar," Jules said, "and I'll take care of the rest." As Raymond nodded and began to move, Jules looked over at his foxes, who were attempting to lick at the wounds in Golex's chest, to heal them. "Get over here, you two, he'll be fine. Now listen to me, and do as I say."
Within a few minutes, he had explained everything to them, and they scampered off, darting and weaving amongst the bolts of lightning. Raymond had managed to make it to the bar, although High Max had thrown an orb that had exploded against his left arm, which had blown him back a few steps and torn away the bodysuit around it, leaving what looked to be the beginnings of a second- or third-degree burn. But Raymond managed to make it behind the bar, and that was the last either he or SH had seen of him.
"I certainly hope that you and Raymond have something planned," SH said as Jules moved closer to him. "Because I'm starting to run low on strength here, and Raymond would have nearly lost his arm for nothing."
"I have something planned, but it's risky. It'll only get rid of High Max, and might give Lumine more power than--" he stopped talking; Tip and Top were contacting him. "Yes, now!" he shouted, startling Lumine and High Max. As Lumine spun, the foxes jumped from their hiding spot, lunging at him. He swung his hand to bat them away, and succeeded. Exactly as Jules had planned.
As the foxes flew through the air, their shapes began to change, much to the surprise of Lumine and the others, and Jules himself to a lesser degree. No longer the fiery foxes under his command, they were now creatures of light, digital faeries, glowing silver in the dim light of the lounge. Lumine stared in shock at the two beings that he now controlled, but realized too late what gaining their powers meant to him. "No!" He spun to face Raymond, but he was too late, Raymond already jumping over the bar and sending a jolt of lightning at a port located on High Max's arm. Normally, it would be used to send the netnavi from the copyroid into the net. Now, it was being used to send him from the copyroid to nonexistence.
The attack seemed successful. High Max cried out in pain as the electrical jolt began to fry his systems. However, as he sank to the ground, his copyroid began to revert to its false state, and no one harbored any illusions that it was because of his deletions. The Vile 5 had planted a wireless transceiver somewhere on either the station or a nearby satellite, and that meant that the netnavis they face today would probably return to strike again. But that was a problem for another day. For now, High Max was gone, and his departure gave the team hope that they might live to see the end of this battle.
But that hope had a price, a price that revealed itself in the next few seconds. Even as the Copyroid beside him sank to his knees, Lumine retaliated with a enraged shout, binding his newfound allies to his will in a way Jules knew all too well, and pointing a single finger at SH, which erupted with the piercing light of an enhanced laser. Jules would later learn that Lumine had the rather potent ability of always hitting what he aimed for, if he was focusing on it. However, currently devoid of this knowledge, he could only watch in shock as the finger-sized laser struck SH's arm, piercing it completely, and then in horror as the sheer pain caused his friend to lose Cross Fusion, and collapse to the ground.
"You and your friends developed a wonderful plan," Lumine said to Jules as he moved to watch both him and Raymond at the same time. Jules could say nothing in response, having only eyes for the horrible-looking hole in SH's arm, and wondering if his samurai garb would provide that much protection. "But I think you forgot one critical portion…" The glow of Tip and Top left his hands, and two small rods appeared in them. "What happens when you've accomplished it."
Jules suddenly recognized the rods for what they were: sword hilts, and the blades of light ignited as Lumine threw himself at an unconscious Golex.
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Shroud hurried through the hallway, hoping that the Vile 5 hadn't sent anyone to guard the control room. If they had, he might have just condemned Brian and Chris to their deaths. The sounds of the battle in the lounge echoed behind him, and he cursed himself for having to leave the four of them alone against the likes of both High Max and Lumine. But it was necessary; a matter of triage. The four of them fighting in the lounge knew what they were up against. Brian and Chris didn't. That made them more important to reach.
"That's right, keep rationalizing that to yourself," he muttered aloud. The fact of the matter was, either SH, Jules, Raymond, or Golex was likely to die while he hurried to the control room, and yet if he made it there in time to stop the station's fall, it would have to be acceptable losses. That's all there was to it. So the sooner he made it to the control room, the sooner that this nightmare could end.
As he rounded the corner, the open doorway to the control room loomed ahead of him. Through it, he saw both Brian and Chris, but oddly enough, they both appeared to be on the ground, Chris lying on his back, and Brian crouched beside him. "No," Shroud breathed, beginning to run even faster as he realized that Chris' chest didn't appear to be moving. "He can't be dead." The door was growing nearer, and Shroud watched Brian look up from Chris' body to stare at Shroud…and something beyond him.
The doors suddenly slammed shut, sealing Shroud away from his friends. "No!" he cried aloud, slamming his gauntleted fists against the titanium doors, which then became the only thing keeping him from collapsing. A chuckle from behind caused him to turn, and his anger began to double as he saw that Omega was behind him, his left arm interfaced with a control panel for the door.
"Hello again, Taruka. So good of you to come…alone." Omega smiled maliciously, and Shroud felt his hatred for the netnavi grow.
"I was hoping that Chris and Pavo had destroyed you in the Twilight Desert," he responded, his voice cold, despite the fires of hatred boiling up inside of him. "I guess we weren't quite so lucky."
"No," Omega replied, lifting his energy sword from its place on his back and igniting it. "You weren't." He then dashed forward, startling Shroud with his speed. He barely managed to draw his own blade in time, making its unsheathing and the parrying of Omega's swing one move, and managing to keep his opponent's blade from slicing into his flesh.
"Nice try, Omega. I certainly hope the close quarters of this corridor isn't going to handicap your dueling skills or anything."
"Not at all," Omega coolly replied, before moving into the pattern of attack and defense that Shroud ironically enjoyed so much. The adrenaline rush from a sword fight was unlike any he had ever discovered, and so a portion of his soul always delighted in the confrontation, despite its lethality. Unlike many duels that Shroud had been a part of in his life, in which he was usually on the defense most often, and the pattern of blows grew increasingly aggressive, Omega seemed as if he could care less for whether he won or lost, and was making all his strikes one-handed, with only enough strength to keep him from gaining any sort of advantage.
So that meant that Shroud needed to strike all the harder, to end this battle before time ran out for all of them. Omega could easily escape via a wireless connection, but they would die, and take Neo Arcadia with them. That couldn't happen, not if he could help it. He pressed his attack, striking almost randomly at Omega, and rarely pressing their blades against each other for any longer than it took to halt each other's progress.
"You are a worthy adversary, Taruka," Omega said, after being forced back several steps. "Except when I am using both hands." Omega then parried one of his blows effortlessly, and then brought his other hand to the hilt of his blade, adding enough strength to his blows that Shroud could not push him back. Slowly, Omega's bloodlust seemed to be overtaking him, as his stroke grew ever more aggressive, forcing Shroud to begin to walk slowly backwards, or fear being knocked to the ground, and presumably skewered afterwards.
"You cannot defeat me!" he cried triumphantly as he began to push Shroud backwards. "Eventually, I shall push you against the doorway to the control room, and I will tear through your heart with my sword!" The thought of being stabbed by the energy blade was almost as frightening as being backed into the wall. The sword had a crossed edge, so it would surely do much more damage coming out than going in. He suspected that Omega would make sure he felt both.
Shroud hoped that the others were doing better than this.
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Link hoped that the others were doing better than this.
As soon Bit and Byte had introduced themselves, they'd attacked, Byte throwing a mine of some sort between them, which subsequently caused him and Pavo to be pushed apart and thrown into opposing walls. Link had just enough time to deduce that they planned on keeping them from helping each other when Bit attacked, and Link was forced to swing his sword up to stop the energy blade from cleaving him into two pieces.
"Are we a 'bit' more than you anticipated, Link?" Puns aside, Link was in a mood to carve him up, and that just made his fury greater.
"Cut out the puns, Bit, and let's just get to the part where I delete you." Link then pushed his sword forward, causing Bit to take a step back. He recovered quickly, however, and thrust his sword at Link, a move that almost succeeded. Link was not accustomed to fighting amongst those who did not practice the same fighting style as he, a style that professed only blows that could be parried. A foolish notion, to be sure, assuming the remainder of the world followed the same practice, but it was a comforting one.
However, it seemed that unorthodox techniques were not all that Bit had up his sleeve. As Link sidestepped his sword thrust, his left hand extended, and a burst of fire erupted from it, striking Link squarely in the chest and knocking him back into a row of consoles, causing them to start sparking. As he watched Byte pushing Pavo towards the consoles on the opposite side of the room, he suddenly realized that Bit and Byte's goal hadn't been to ambush them…it had been to break everything in the room so that they couldn't use it later.
Well, if they felt like playing with a different set of rules, then so be it. Their duel didn't have to be with swords. "If you're playing with fire, Bit," he said as a staff began to appear in his left hand, "prepare to get…freezer burned!" The staff completely materialized, and as Link pointed it at Bit, a wave of frost was expelled from it, pushing him backwards.
"And you dared comment on my puns?" Bit said while he unsteadily got to his feet. "What a joke. Just like the rest of the Chaos Union."
"No one's laughing, Bit. Not anymore." His sword vanished, and as Bit sent another fireball at him, Link simply extended his right arm, now holding a strange weapon with a hooked chain, and fired it. The chain rocketed across the room, latching into Byte's armor, and Link went along with it, flying away from Bit. As he neared Byte, he swapped out his Ice Rod for another weapon, this one bearing a fuse. "Here's a riddle, Bit. If you stick an explosive inside the armor of a copyroid, what blows up?"
As Pavo heard him, he blanched, and allowed the mine Byte had just thrown to push him even farther away from him, and ended up hitting the opposite wall and falling on top of another console, causing it to begin to beep. "Link, don't!" he shouted as he flew. "You'll blow a hole in the ship!"
"Byte, jack out, now!" Bit cried. The netnavi followed Bit's instructions, leaving only his default form for Link to blow up. However, when he reached the copyroid, the bomb vanished, and while both Pavo and Bit stared at him in surprise, Link disabled the copyroid, making it impossible for Byte to return.
"I was kind of hoping that you'd jack out too, Bit," he said smugly, drawing his sword again. "That's all right though. I'm sure that you won't last long between Pavo and I." Pavo laughed, and leapt off the consoles, forming a sword in his hand that appeared to be made of green fire, and moving towards Link.
"You fools…do you honestly think that I require Byte to defeat you?" Bit's sword ignited, and he rushed at them, swinging it sideways to attempt harming them both. However, Pavo easily stopped him, swinging his sword one-handed and knocking the blade backwards. Apparently, this surprised even him, but Link had no such illusions of Bit's strength.
"I thought it might have been a good idea to check up on the Vile 5 before we left," he said simply. "Turns out there's some interesting documentation on you and Byte. 'Symbiotic navis', I believe the term was. You see, most people don't wield multiple netnavis because not only do you need multiple PETs, you generally need to operate all of them separately, yet at the same time. But symbiotic navis, like you and Byte, share your power, and that allows you to be operated as if you were one navi, BitByte.exe, so to speak. But the bond comes at a price: when you two aren't with each other, your power is reduced by half, and that makes you weaker than almost any netnavi, doesn't it?"
Bit grimly nodded, and Pavo actually laughed out loud but the small navi turned his head to face him, fixing him with an evil glare. "Mark my words, you two. I will be back, and I will have your heads on a platter."
"Which reminds me," Link said, sheathing his sword at his back. "It's almost dinnertime. Better run home before you become the meal."
Bit's hands clenched at his sides, his grip on his energy sword looking perilous, but he jacked out, leaving a default copyroid behind. As soon as he was gone, Link looked over at the consoles and picked one that wasn't sparking, hurrying over to it and booting it up. "Pavo, get over here. I need your help with this thing."
"All right, all right, let me do it." Pavo stepped in front of him and took over, his fingers a blur as they ran across the keyboard. Within a minute or two, he looked up and sighed. "It's a Pyrrhic victory, Link. The engines are shut off, but from where we're at in the atmosphere, I don't think that it's going to make a difference. I still think that we're going to crash into the city."
"Well then, let's regroup with the others. It's the only thing we can do." Pavo nodded, and the two of them hurried back to the lounge, both hoping that the others were still okay.
-
Jules was the first to move, tackling Lumine so he fell off course, but Raymond followed shortly after. He knew that Lumine could hurt them from long range, but since he seemed to prefer trying out these piercingly white sabers of his, he and Jules would need to get up close and personal. It was already personal.
Daemonslayer came into his hands as he struck at Lumine, who was pulling himself into a crouched position, and then he formed another sword beside him, known as Nameless. It only came at his call, and would not be held by him; a bit of coding that had developed irrationally. However, this made it actually more useful, as Daemonslayer took two hands to hold, and Nameless would simply float about, slicing things apart. Nameless swung at Lumine right away, but he rolled away, forcing the sword to embed itself in the ground, unless until it worked itself out.
But the distraction had given time for Jules to pick himself up, and with his longsword now in hand, the two of them attacked Lumine from opposite ends. Lumine was an excellent swordsman, probably having practiced with battlechips, but nothing compared to wielding swords of ones own. They could wear him down, but it would take time, and time was something they didn't have. However, Lumine quickly worked his way out of the situation, simply rolling backwards while both he and Jules were attacking, causing their swords to interlock.
Lumine was standing again by the time they moved to look back at him, and his swords were crossed over each other. "You are an excellent pair of opponents. It is only a shame that you two do not work flawlessly together. If you were to train so that you could almost read what the other was thinking. But since you cannot, you will ultimately lose, because you won't defeat me in time to save your precious ship."
"Not if we have anything to say about it!" Link and Pavo suddenly appeared from a corridor, their swords drawn and pointed at Lumine. Raymond smiled. He liked these odds. The four of them would quickly defeat Lumine, and they all knew it.
"Well then," Lumine said, looking around at all of them. "I suppose that there's only one thing I have left to do…"
-
Shroud had his back to the wall. That meant he probably only had a minute or two to live.
Omega's smile had grown larger and larger as the duel had progressed, and Shroud had soon learned to fear its arrival, despite the fact that this might be the only time he ever saw it. Omega's sword strokes had grown ever stronger, while his had grown ever weaker, and now, Omega had his sword pinned back with his own, pushing his own blade towards his throat. "You weren't much of a problem, Taruka. Too bad. However, this will allow me to return home sooner, since the remainder of your precious team won't know what to do after they find your body, and within a few minutes, it'll be too late for them to leave."
"You…you can't win, Omega," Shroud said, straining to preserve his life just a few seconds longer. "The Vile 5...will…be stopped."
Omega laughed, the sound chilling Shroud's bones. "You fool! Do you really think that the Vile 5 are the culprits behind this mess?" Shroud looked at him, half-confused, half-understanding. "The Vile 5 didn't decide to rebel all on their own. I work for those who told them to. Some old friends of the Chaos Union. Perhaps you'll remember them…the Dark Union."
"No," Shroud breathed, realizing the magnitude of this discovery. Somehow, he found new strength, his wings and arms tensing, and he pushed upwards at Omega's blade while he spread his wings, the extra push giving him just enough force to knock Omega back a few steps, and allow him to regain his footing. "I won't let you win, Omega. I swore an oath once, to fight the Dark Union until my last breath, and that oath has never been forsworn. So either you kill me, or I delete you, but I will not leave this world with nothing more than a whimper as you cut my throat."
"So, you will try again then, only to fail? Fine. Let us see how long you can last this--"
The sudden appearance of four swords jutting out from his chest made him pause, and Omega collapsed to his knees as they were removed, revealing Link, Pavo, Jules, and Raymond behind him. "We heard something about the Dark Union," Link said. "We don't like them too much, so I thought I'd just stab you in the back before you could say anything else you regret. Apparently my friends here felt the same way."
"No," Omega gasped, and suddenly Shroud realized that the Omega he had been fighting was not in a copyroid, but was actually existing, as his body began to de-rezz in the places where he had been wounded. The Dimensional Chip would have allowed him to use his full power, if it was greater than what the copyroid could handle, but he could be wounded as well, as they could see. "I will not die here. Not while I can still leave. But first…Lord Nocturne sends his regards…"
Omega then lunged at Shroud, somehow fading as he passed through his body. Somewhere deep in his mind, Shroud told himself that this was what it looked like when navis using Dimensional Chips jacked in or out, but at that moment, all he was aware of was an overwhelming sense of loss, as if a part of his soul had been torn out. He sank to his knees as the apparition passed, and felt over his heart with a hand…a hand that was no longer wearing the gauntlet that once belonged to his netnavi, Juno.
The others began to crowd around him, trying to see what was wrong, but Shroud already knew, even before he looked at the empty PET on the floor. Omega had found a way to tear Juno away from him, and presumably deleted him in the process. Omega's last words continued to echo through his mind. "Lord Nocturne sends his regards…"
"What was that, Shroud?" Pavo asked, reawakening him to reality.
"Nothing. Don't worry about me now," he said, ignoring the hands offered by his friends and getting to his feet himself. "Someone just get that door behind me open!"
As if on cue, the door slid open, and a very much alive Chris stood behind it. "Thank goodness Brian and I managed to get this door open. Are you all okay? I certainly hope that you managed to destroy Omega."
Shroud just looked at him in shock.
A few minutes later, the group had managed to sort everything out, and their focus was now entirely on stopping the shuttle. Apparently, Link and Pavo had run into some enemies of their own in the engine room, and once they'd managed to drive them off, they'd returned to the lobby, where Jules, Raymond, and Lumine had been the last ones standing. They had initially thought that he would try to fight all four of them, but he ended up just jacking out, surprising them all. Then, they'd followed Link and Pavo's lead after him, arriving just in time to stab Omega in the back.
As for Chris and Brian, apparently the console had been booby-trapped to send an electrical surge through the body of anyone who touched it. So Chris hadn't been dead as he'd thought, although both he and Brian denied that he had stopped breathing. After waking Chris back up, he and Brian had jacked in their netnavis wirelessly, and disabled the trap, allowing Brian to access the mainframe and Chris to attempt to reopen the door. It did seem odd that Chris wasn't harmed much by the shock; Shroud would have thought the Vile 5 would have made such a trap lethal.
However, he had much more sobering things to think of. Two of their members had fallen in the battle against High Max and Lumine. Golex was surely the least grievous of the two, having only superficial wounds if Jules was to be believed. SH had a more serious problem, with a hole in his left arm. Given Lumine's skill, it seemed likely that the wound was easily repairable, and only a method to take him out of the battle. Then again, there was no telling what Lumine was capable of, now that he was a loose cannon. In addition to the two of them, Raymond had some serious burns on his left arm that Link was attempting to cool down with some water, and all of them had been wounded at least a bit. Still, their injuries were treatable, and the destruction of Neo Arcadia might not be, if Brian couldn't override the computer.
Shroud walked over to look over his shoulder. "What's the verdict?" he asked, half-knowing the answer already from the look on Brian's face.
"Not good. The Vile 5 have this thing set to drop, regardless of whatever we do to it. I don't even think we could move it enough for it to splash into the water. So we're going to have to blow it up. The only problem is that the self-destruct automatically has a twenty minute delay, because that's about how much time it would take a crew of about six to pack up everything vital, hop into the shuttle, and fly off. We need to be off this thing in about ten minutes to keep from being fried by the atmosphere."
"All right then, let's go. Set the time and we'll head out."
"Not nearly that simple," Brian said, and Shroud realized that none of that had been the bad news. "The self-destruct is designed so that it will implode into itself, necessary for a safe destruct sequence in space. However, with it falling towards the Earth, it's more likely to cause a large explosion than anything, due to the flames outside potentially igniting the fuel. If that happens, you've got shrapnel. So someone needs to manually override the delay, so the station explodes right away, before it hits the atmosphere."
The meaning of his words was clear to Shroud. "So someone has to stay behind."
Brian nodded. "Exactly."
"Well then…I will," Shroud said, causing the others to look at him in surprise. "You all need to go out and live your lives. Most of your families aren't even in Neo Arcadia to be destroyed. But mine are, and I would gladly give my life for them."
"But you won't," Brian said, and Shroud suddenly felt himself slipping into darkness.
-- 4: 29 PM, Space Shuttle Aria, outside Space Station Algebar --
As Shroud slowly awoke, as he thought he'd never do again, he realized that the titanium walls around him were that of the shuttle, and not the space station. In a panic, he sat up straight, and instantly regretted it, dizziness overwhelming him.
"Take it easy, Shroud," Jules said, handing him a cool compress. "Hold this against the back of your head to keep down the swelling. I'm hoping Brian didn't give you a concussion."
"What?" he asked, taking the compress anyway and holding it behind him. He'd only noticed the pain as Jules had mentioned it, and he began to hope for the same. "Why did Brian hit me anyways? And why aren't we on the station anymore?"
"Shroud, relax. Brian volunteered himself to destroy the station." Shroud gave him a blank look, so he continued. "He has less to lose than you, and he knew that you wouldn't listen to him. So he hit you hard enough to knock you unconscious, and then the rest of us grabbed you, SH, and Golex, and got back onto the ship."
Shroud shook his head slowly, ignoring the pain it caused. "No. He has…no right…" He trailed off, suddenly understanding what Brian had done. Brian had sacrificed himself so that he would not have to, he'd sacrificed himself because he had been willing to give everything up. Even as he'd said those words, back at the station, Shroud had known that he didn't truly want to say them; he really wanted to return home. Brian had given that to him. "Has he…has he done it yet?"
Jules shook his head. "He should be, in a few minutes."
"Then help me up," he replied, setting down the compress and extending a hand. Jules looked uncertain, but took it anyways, helping Shroud out of the bed he was sitting in. Looking around, he could see that Golex was awake, although he also was restrained to a bed, and Raymond was studying SH's wound, a healing bandage wrapped around his burns. The dizziness struck him again as he moved his head, but he closed his eyes a moment, and it passed, allowing him to walk unassisted up to the observation deck.
The remainder of the Union was there, all three of them, now that Brian was to be taken out of the tally. They were seated on the stiff couches that Neo Arcadia had supplied, so that their astronauts could view the celestial world around them while they weren't working. But Shroud was less concerned about space, and more about his friend, who was now facing death for him. The shuttle had apparently managed to get out of the blast radius, and was turning around for home. This gave them the perfect view to watch Brian die.
There was no sound, just a sudden flash of light as the sequence began, and the suction of the entire station into itself. When it was over a few seconds later, there was nothing left but several small clumps of metal, which would later be destroyed by another mission. Something seemed to die within the room as Brian did, and Shroud held his head in his hands. He so desperately wanted to sob, to lament the loss of one of the greatest members of the Chaos Union.
No tears would come.
(A/N: You didn't really think I was going to kill off Shroud, did you?)