New Megaman Battle Network
A complete reimagining of the universe and stories of Megaman Battle Network.
Story 1: New Origins
Chapter 4: LifeVirus Rampage
Lan skated as fast as he could toward downtown Den City, passing by a multitude of people and cars heading in the other direction, all heeding the instructions Lan was determinedly ignoring.
"Where is Yai supposed to be, anyway?" Megaman asked from the PET at Lan's hip. "We forgot to ask Mayl. We can't search all of downtown."
"We'll have to call her now!" Lan replied, grabbing the PET and dialing Yai, nearly colliding with a pedestrian as he did so. Not even one ring later, the screen changed to a young girl of eight, in a red dress with long blonde pigtails; this was Yai Ayanokouji, Mayl's longtime friend and the youngest member of the powerful Ayanokouji family.
"Yai! Are you alright?" Lan called out. Yai's distressed look softened a little, but not much.
"Lan! I thought it would be my dad coming to help..."
"Well, I'm coming to help! Sorry to disappoint you!" he replied, slightly annoyed. "Where are you now? What building?"
"Water Tower Place..." She looked upward at the elevator display. "I think I'm stuck between the 7th and 8th floors! Please hurry!"
"I'll be right there!" Lan called out, putting the PET away and zipping down the street at a high speed.
"Chaud! Report! Any luck?"
A bit further into downtown, a young boy with a red jacket, silver hair and black sideburns looked into the face of an Official from the phone in his PET. He was currently jacked into a lamppost in downtown Den City.
"Nothing yet," he reported. "It's moving too fast, even for us; as soon as we figure out where he is, he's gone by the time we get there."
"Well, keep looking anyway. We can't let that LifeVirus roam free!"
"We're working as hard as we can already." He leaned against the lamppost with one hand. "The only way that someone's going to get to that LifeVirus is through sheer, dumb luck." He looked down the street as he said this, just in time to watch some kid with roller skates go zooming down a nearby cross street.
Up in the Water Tower Place elevator, Yai sat in the corner, hugging her knees and waiting for Lan to arrive nervously.
"I hope he comes soon," she muttered to herself worriedly. "I don't know if anyone else is going to come looking for me…"
"Miss Yai, if I may..." spoke a voice from her hip. She reached down to grab her PET and looked into the screen to see the face of her Navi, Glyde, a butlerish, generally brown-colored Navi with two pairs of wings emanating from his back. "I might be able to jack in and see about opening the top hatch, to allow you some fresh air."
She nodded. "Okay... sure..." She stood up and walked toward the elevator's control panel, pulling out the jack-in cable to her PET and sending Glyde into the Cyberworld. Upon his arrival, he took a quick look around at his surroundings; this Cyberworld appeared to be undamaged.
"There doesn't seem to be any problems with the elevator, Miss Yai," he reported. "It seems like there must be a power outage keeping you trapped here..."
"Well, they better fix it soon!" Yai exclaimed, getting antsy. "I've been in here for almost an hour!"
"Please calm down, Miss," Glyde responded calmly. "I'm sure they're doing the best they can... aha, here it is!" He came across the program that controlled the hatch, a small, green program resembling a humanoid dog.
"THE ELEVATOR IS CURRENTLY NOT FUNCTIONING," the program reported mechanically.
"I am aware of this," Glyde replied. "I wonder if I could trouble you to open the hatch in the ceiling of the elevator car."
"I WILL TRY," the program responded, before closing its eyes, appearing to be concentrating.
"Glyde! Is that you?" The Navi turned around to see a familiar blue Navi running over to him.
"Master Megaman!" Glyde responded. "I take it Master Lan has arrived?"
Megaman nodded. "He sent me in to try and get the elevator door open. Are you doing the same thing?"
Yai's Navi shook his head. "I thought I would get Miss Yai some fresh air by opening the top hatch." He gestured to the nearby program. "This fellow is attempting to do so now."
"Well, if we can get both the door and the hatch open, we may be able to get Yai out!" Megaman exclaimed, looking around. "Now all we need to do is find the other-"
He stopped suddenly, looking off into a distance and assuming a defensive stance. "Over there... there's something heading this way, quickly..."
Glyde followed Megaman's gaze into the distance, squinting a little. There was indeed something in the distance, appearing to be a small, scuttling virus, but something was wrong; it was getting large a bit too fast. Either it was growing as it moved, or it was traveling at an incredible speed.
"Glyde, move!" Megaman called out, diving out of the way. Not one for speed, Glyde only had time to blink before he was knocked away by a giant green spider-like leg. He flew backward several yards before coming to a stop, holding his face.
Megaman looked upward at the monster that had just appeared in front of them. Four huge legs led into an armored, spiked torso, which grew arms with enormous fists; the head stretched itself backward, spikes lining the top of it. It gave off an enormous roar, pointing its face toward the sky.
"Is this supposed to be the LifeVirus?" Megaman wondered aloud, goggling a bit at the enormous creature in front of him. "It's huge!"
"Holy… sure looks complete to me," Lan chimed in from the real world, a bit out of breath; he had just finished climbing seven flights of stairs, and was jacked in close to the broken elevator. "How are we supposed to beat that thing?"
"If it's incomplete, it probably has some sort of weakness," his Navi responded, readying his buster. "We'll have to find and exploit it if we want to win." He started firing his buster at the LifeVirus's head; expecting them to connect, he instead found they disappeared just a moment before they reached the beast. With each shot, a shimmering, translucent red sphere became visible for an instant, surrounding the LifeVirus.
"What the-?" Megaman wondered; a split second later, one of the LifeVirus's legs caught he in the stomach, knocking him backward and to the ground. He groaned and stood up slowly as the LifeVirus gave off another roar. "Lan, are you seeing this? It's got some sort of weird barrier around it!"
"It looks like a Aura!" Glyde called out from the other side of the virus, having gotten back to his feet. "Miss Yai has a similar Battlechip in his arsenal... it can only be destroyed by a sufficiently strong attack!"
Megaman nodded, jumping to the side to avoid a blast from some eye lasers, before looking up. "Lan! Send me the strongest Battlechip you have!"
Lan flipped through his chip organizer, trying to find a chip with a strong attack power; he eventually settled on a BigBomb. "Megaman, here!"
The Navi extended his hand, and a large, spherical grenade appeared; he grinned and leaped away from the LifeVirus's fist, then threw the bomb as hard as he could at the enormous monster. "Eat this!" The bomb flew directly toward the creature's head; like the buster shots, however, it exploded before connecting, making the Aura visible once again.
"Damn it, seriously?!" Megaman cursed. "We don't have any chips strong enough for this thing?"
An instant later, the LifeVirus placed one of his hands on the ground, focusing. With a loud grunt from the LifeVirus, a series of pointed logs started shooting out of the ground, on a path toward Megaman. He yelped and jumped out of the way, but his eyes widened the log trail turned around and headed back toward him. Just as the logs were about to strike him, he felt a sword appear on his arm. He jumped in the air, narrowly avoiding the log that would have pierced him; he instead chopped off the top of the log, landing on his feet on the flat and harmless piece of wood, which soon receded into the ground.
The Navi stared up at the enormous beast, racking his brain for any sort of plan. He quickly went through all of the limited information he knew about the LifeVirus in his mind, recalling the brief conversations with the World Three Navis. As he thought back to Fireman, and the Elemental Program he had uncovered, his eyebrows raised as he started piecing something together.
"Lan, I think I figured something out!" he called out, looking up again. "The LifeVirus must be missing one of the Environmental Programs!"
"Really? Which one?"
"Well, we just saw a wood attack, so it can't be that," Megaman mused, moving back as his enemy advanced again, with Glyde staying determinedly out of the way. "Fireman got the fire program, and Elecman surely took the electric one... he might be weak to water!"
"Got it! Water chips, water chips…" Lan flipped through his chip folder, praying that he had something; seconds later, his face fell as he realized he didn't. "I don't have any! There's nothing here!"
"What?!" Megaman exclaimed, running away from more eye lasers. "Not a single one?"
"THE HATCH IS OPEN," a nearby program stated from the other side of the LifeVirus, causing Megaman and Glyde to look toward it. An instant later, the hatch in the ceiling of the elevator opened, and Yai jumped a bit in response. She stood up, taking her eyes from the scene on her PET, and looked upward.
"Glyde!" she called out. "I can see where I am! I'm close to the eighth floor door, I can see it!"
"I see!" Glyde responded before turning to Megaman, who was blasting, futilely, at the LifeVirus. "Master Megaman, if I may..."
Megaman stopped blasting and moved quickly out of the LifeVirus's sights, turning toward Glyde, who continued. "If I could get the door open, perhaps Miss Yai could throw Lan her Aqua Blade chip. It's quite powerful, and could injure this monstrosity!"
"Good idea!" Megaman said. "Get a move on!" Glyde nodded and started to run around the Cyberworld, in search of the elevator door program.
Two minutes later, Megaman had made no progress against the LifeVirus. Lan clenched his fist in frustration, watching as his Navi grew more and more winded, his attacks all being stopped by the powerful Aura.
"Come on Glyde, we can't wait much longer..."
As if to respond, a bell rung pleasantly next to Lan, and the elevator doors slowly opened. He set his PET down and leaned over the edge into the elevator shaft, where he could see Yai inside the elevator. Her eyes lit up as she saw him, relieved.
"Yai!" he called out. "I need you to throw me your Aqua Blade chip!"
"Do that later!" Yai responded, stepping closer. "Get me out of here, please!"
"Yai, I can't reach that far! I'd just get stuck too!" Lan grew frustrated, not needing another roadblock. "We need to get the elevator working, and we'll never do that if we don't defeat this thing!"
"Fine," Yai grumbled, looking through her chips and quickly pulling out the one Lan needed. "Catch!" She wound up and threw the chip as hard as she could through the opening, toward Lan's outstretched arms. Unfortunately, her throw wasn't fantastic, and he had to lean forward to catch the chip.
"Got it- whoa!" Lan called out as he started to pitch face forward into the elevator shaft. Thinking quickly, he managed to grab a nearby pipe to stop his fall.
"Lan!" Yai called out, worried. "Are you alright?"
Lan groaned, putting the Battlechip in his pocket and trying to grab another nearby pipe, swinging himself closer. After a few tries, he was able to finally grab it; straining with all his might, he managed to pull himself back out of the elevator shaft, breathing heavily. He quickly grabbed his PET and inserted the Aqua Blade.
"Megaman! Here it is!"
"Got it!" Megaman replied, extending his arm; an instant later, a long blue blade appeared on it, with bubbles floating about inside. He looked up at the LifeVirus, who was winding his arm up, ready to strike again.
"Only got one shot to hurt him, probably," he muttered to himself. "He won't let me near him a second time..."
The LifeVirus threw its fist toward Megaman, who jumped, sending the fist crashing into the ground. He ran up the LifeVirus's arm, jumping toward the LifeVirus's head, the blade outstretched. He stabbed as hard as he could.
The blade met the creature's Aura, which shattered upon contact with the powerful weapon. In the same strike, the Aqua Blade inserted itself deep into the LifeVirus's neck.
The LifeVirus let out a vicious roar, shaking off Megaman, who fell to the ground. The hole where the blade had entered sparked viciously, and the creature continued to flail and roar until its knees buckled. The beast quieted down and slumped to the ground, unconscious.
Megaman breathed heavily for a minute, hands on his knees. "I think we did it... at least we stopped it..."
His eyebrows raised at some movement around the virus's head. The mouth slowly started to open, and Megaman got on the defensive again; instead of a laser beam, however, a small program appeared, wriggling its way out of the LifeVirus and hopping to the ground.
"THANK YOU FOR SAVING ME!" it proclaimed, as Megaman and Glyde stared, slightly dumbstruck. "I CAN NOW RESTORE OPERATIONS TO THE ELEVATOR!"
As soon as he said this, Yai felt the elevator start suddenly; she yelped, losing her balance and falling over, as she was carried up the short distance to the eighth floor. Lan ran in quickly as the inner doors opened.
"Yai, are you alright?" he asked, extending his hand; Yai nodded and took it, and Lan helped her onto her feet.
"I'm fine," she replied, looking up at him, relief and gratitude in her eyes; a second later, her mind came back to her, and she looked down, suddenly sheepish over the whole situation, feeling embarrassed that she had to be saved. "I'm sorry you had to do all this…"
"It's fine, Yai," Lan replied, smiling as he walked back out; Yai followed quietly. "We should probably leave, the Officials will be here soon." He looked toward the elevator from which they had just emerged. "Maybe we should take the stairs..."
Yai nodded in agreement, as they walked around in search of a stairwell.
"Sir, I have news."
Far away from downtown Den City, a man in a green suit, with pointed blonde hair, walked through a dark room toward a large, lit desk. "It turns out that they were able to incapacitate the LifeVirus, and it was captured by the Officials. One of our operatives was able to retrieve security footage and backup logs."
"And?" replied a gravely old voice from the other side of the desk; in a large chair sat an old man with wild, gray hair, glasses, and a cane. "What did they find, Zapp?"
"It was that blue Navi, Megaman, who managed to defeat the LifeVirus," he continued, a little reluctant. "It looks like he's more than we counted on..."
"Hmph." The old man leaned forward. "The LifeVirus, and two of our operators, defeated by a child? Perhaps I have overestimated your value to me, Zapp."
"Ah… s-sir…" Zapp bowed deeply. "Please forgive me incompetence, Lord WIly…"
The other man sighed, sitting back. "Megaman, hm?" He stroked his chin, deep in thought. "Perhaps we ought to keep an eye on this Navi after all. He has a knack for being a thorn in our side..."
"What is our next move, my lord?" Count Zapp inquired, still bowed humbly.
"Our plan will continue as normal," Wily replied. "We won't be able to use the LifeVirus for that step, though... but no matter. We can get the strength we need from other sources."
Count Zapp looked up, his eyebrows raised. "What other sources?"
"You leave that to me," Wily answered cryptically. "Don't concern yourself with it."
"So we all should continue as normal?"
Wily nodded. "Do as you were instructed before. I'll figure out how to deal with Megaman, since that seems so difficult for the rest of you."
Count Zapp nodded, embarrassed, standing and leaving without another word. Wily sat twirling his cane, thinking about the best way to salvage his scuttled plans.
