New Megaman Battle Network
A complete reimagining of the universe and stories of Megaman Battle Network.
Story 1: New Origins
Chapter 9: Red Light, Green Light
The bus slowed to a stop, as the traffic signal ahead turned yellow, then red. Lan sighed impatiently.
"I can't believe your mom actually let you onto a bus after what happened," his Navi remarked. He snickered in response.
"Well, after she saw me trying to walk the day after, it was a done deal. She insisted I get myself nice and comfortable, even two weeks later." He glanced out the window. "Besides, you took care of the Navi that did it, right? There shouldn't be any more problems."
"Actually, about that…" Megaman thought back to his previous battle. "I brought that up a few times, and he kept acting like he didn't know what I was talking about. Maybe he really didn't have anything to do with it."
"Really?" Lan glanced down into his PET. "Who else could it have been, then?"
"I don't know. No one's owned up to it."
"Well that's… worrying." Lan looked up again, wondering if maybe World Three or Gospel had been responsible. "So whoever did this could still be out there…"
"I'm sure we'll be fine, Lan." His Navi stretched out his arms. "Speaking of, how is Mayl? Is she still on bed rest?"
Lan laughed. "Are you kidding? She was out of bed after like four days. She's already back at school."
"Geez, really?"
"If you knew her, you wouldn't be surprised at all." He smirked. "She hates being inactive. She'd probably rip her cast off her arm if she could."
"I'm sure she'll just have you carry her stuff for her until she recovers," his Navi teased. "I'm a bit surprised she didn't want to come along with us, really."
"I didn't tell her about this," Lan responded, his voice becoming more serious. "She's been hurt badly enough. I don't want to be putting her in more danger."
Megaman cocked his head. "But you'll put yourself in danger, no problem?"
"I'll be fine. I'm not worried about myself."
His Navi thought that maybe he should be worried, but something in Lan's voice suggested that such comments would fall on deaf ears. Megaman stayed quiet, while Lan looked out the window, as the bus went through another green light.
"You're sure you know where we're going?"
"Mhmm." Megaman nodded. "From what I can tell, that part of the Net was closed off, except for a couple of jack-in points downtown. This should take us where we want to go."
"Now we'll get to see what World Three is hiding, whatever it is..." Lan tried to imagine what the two of them would find when they reached their destination, as the bus passed yet another green light.
"Uh, Lan?" Megaman piped up. "Does it seem like we're speeding up to you?"
Lan's eyebrows raised as he took another look outside. His Navi was right; the bus was definitely speeding up. Looking around at the other cars, he could tell they were breaking the speed limit by more than a little bit. He leaned his head into the middle row of the bus, looking toward the bus driver.
"Hey, aren't we going a bit too fast?" The driver didn't respond, fiddling nervously with the controls. Lan looked out the window again, looking down the road; all the lights that he could see were green, something he had never seen before. The bus continued to speed up, now hitting a rather dangerous speed.
"Something's wrong," he muttered to himself and Megaman; moving to pull out his PET, he was suddenly thrown out of his seat as the bus changed lanes, trying to avoid cars on its own. He landed hard in the middle of the bus.
"Gah!" he exclaimed, as pain shot through his still-sore back. "Ow... what's going on?"
As if to respond, his PET suddenly started ringing. He answered, curious, and found a twenty-something lady looking back at him through the screen; she was wearing a white-and-red t-shirt, and her red hair was tied into two large balls on either side of her head. She had an amused grin on her face.
"Sorry to trouble you, but I can't have you interfering with Dr. Wily's plans, now can I?"
"What?!" Lan exclaimed, sitting up. "You did this? You're with World Three?"
She laughed under her breath. "Looks like we got the right kid, at least." She gestured to herself. "Maddy Iroaya, of the great World Three, that's me!"
Lan got himself back into his seat, holding onto the armrest tightly. "What are you doing? Why is the bus speeding up?"
"You really need to be more careful where you're snooping around, kid." Maddy smirked at him. "We knew immediately what you were trying to do... so they sent me to ensure you never get the chance."
Lan clenched his fist, as she continued. "You'll reach your destination in just about three minutes. I think you'd best use that time to try and stop yourself from colliding with the other bus going to the same place."
"What?! Are there people on that other bus?!"
She smirked, not answering. "Normally I prefer not to take innocent lives, but I'll do whatever it takes to ensure Dr. Wily meets his ultimate goal. I guess that means I won't be seeing you again for a long time." She blew him a kiss, winking. "Ciao."
Lan cursed as the call ended, running toward the front of the bus. "It's a virus! There's got to be a virus on this bus!"
"I've got the antivirus working on it, but nothing's happening..." The bus driver looked up. "What were you saying about another bus?"
Lan's phone rang again. Telling the driver to hold on, he got it out, to see Dex's face looking back at him.
"Lan! I got trouble!" he exclaimed, a bit panicked. "I was taking the bus down to the arcade, and then it just started speeding up and speeding up! Are you downtown? Can Megaman help?"
"Damn it!" Lan punched the wall. "Dex, there are viruses on that bus! You have to get them all deleted in the next three minutes or else!"
"Or else wh-" Dex started, before Lan hung up, turning to the driver.
"Does this bus have a jack-in port? I can have Megaman help with the viruses!"
"Oh, you're that kid that almost won that Navi tournament a couple weeks ago!" the driver exclaimed, looking about. "Er... yeah... there's one right here. Please hurry!"
Lan nodded as he pulled out his PET's cord, jacking Megaman into the bus's Cyberworld.
Megaman looked around the rather small Cyberworld for the bus; his initial sweep proved fruitless. His second, however, quickly found a massive, red-polka-dot ball hurtling toward his face.
"Agh!" He was knocked backward, as the ball bounced its way back toward its owner, a red, wide, colorful Navi with a triangular body and a face painted like a clown's. It tucked its feet in under itself, as the ball attached itself to the Navi's base. It landed on the ground, laughing madly to itself as Megaman got up.
"You! You're Maddy's Navi, aren't you?" He aimed his buster.
"You betcha!" the Navi replied, spinning around on its ball. "Call me Colorman! And call yourself... deleted!"
Bending over backwards, Colorman put his hands on the ground and focused. Seconds later, a series of large flames began to sprout from the ground, on a direct path toward Megaman. He quickly jumped out of the way, but quickly found himself impacted once again by the surprisingly hard ball.
"Eeheehee!" Colorman cackled, as Megaman flipped and landed on his feet. "Having a little trouble multitasking?" Extending his hands, he shot large flamethrowers from each palm, starting to spin around at a high speed.
"Lan! I need a Long Sword!" Megaman called out, diving to the ground below the rotating flames.
"Got it!" Lan said, sending the chip over, as his Navi flipped up and out of the path of Colorman's flamethrowers.
"Hee hee! Another blunder!" his enemy cackled, standing on his hands and firing his ball once again. Megaman aimed himself toward Colorman, his arm extended, and speared the ball on the length of his sword, much to the other Navi's surprise.
"How about a taste of your own medicine?" he taunted, flinging the ball back at Colorman, who was knocked onto his back by the impact. Expecting a groan of pain, Megaman was surprised to hear his foe laughing again.
"What? What's so funny?" he demanded, before receiving another powerful blow from the back, knocking him onto his face. Quickly rolling around to find his assailant, he found himself face-to-face with a second Colorman, identical to the first, but colored blue, and with a blue-polka-dotted ball.
"What the...?" Megaman looked around, realizing that there were indeed two Colormen attacking him, as the blue one cackled.
"Get it, Megaman?" It raised its hands into the air, swinging itself back and forth. "One Colorman, two Colorman, red Colorman, blue Colorman!"
He swung forward all the way, slamming his hands onto the ground, whereupon a massive geyser erupted underneath Megaman. As he was flung into the air, the red Colorman turned around and fired both flamethrowers in his direction, engulfing the blue Navi.
When the smoke cleared, they found Megaman in a defensive position, a Barrier surrounding him as he fell toward the ground.
"Lan, are you getting this? There's two of this guy!"
"I know, I saw!" Lan replied. "Does Maddy have two PETs or what? How is she doing this?"
"Nope nope nope!" the blue Colorman replied. "It's our special ability; we split into two!"
"One of us controls the bus..." the red one continued.
"And the other takes the traffic lights!" the blue one finished.
"But together, we'll defeat you!" the red one added, firing his ball once again, looking like he was having a blast. Panicking slightly, Megaman fell backward, kicking the ball up as it headed toward him. The ball changed direction and smashed heavily into the blue Colorman, whose reaction time was extremely slow.
"Huh? It didn't even try to dodge..." Megaman's eyes lit up. "Lan, I think I realized something! I don't think Maddy can control both of these guys at once!" He hopped up onto his feet, as Lan grinned.
"So if she's attacking with one, we can probably attack the other!"
"Let's try it!" Megaman exclaimed, as the blue Colorman prepared a retaliatory attack. Placing his hands on the ground, he prepared a massive geyser that sent his foe into the air once again. Instead of defending himself, Megaman whirled around and fired a Cannon directly into the red one's face; he took it full force, falling backward and hitting the ground hard.
Lan grinned wider, pleased. "That's more like it! Let's finish these two off quick, Megaman!" His Navi nodded in response, looking toward his enemies.
"Uh oh, he's figured out our secret!" the blue Colorman sighed, in a sing-song voice.
"Guess we better go to Plan B," the red one replied, hopping back up. The two Navis hopped toward each other, grabbing hands and glowing a bright white, causing Megaman to shield his eyes. When he looked up, there stood one Colorman, colored yellow and sporting a red-and-blue-dotted ball.
"Now I'll get you good!" he taunted, firing his ball once again. As Megaman prepared to dodge, wondering if this clown had any other attacks, the ball suddenly split into two, flying off in two directions and bouncing around the bus's Cyberworld. He looked around, trying to follow both of them, when they both suddenly hurtled toward him from either side, squishing him in between.
"Gah!" Megaman fell to his knees, sore from the impact, as Colorman laughed. He put one hand on the ground; while Megaman rolled to avoid the resulting geyser, he was caught in another and flung upward, where he was torched by Colorman's flamethrower.
"Ah ha ha ha! Give up yet?" Colorman asked, as his opponent fell to the floor, lightly scorched. As Megaman slowly got up to his knees, he looked up to see his foe aiming his ball once again. "You won't survive my dual nature much longer!"
As he prepared to fire, the entire bus decelerated instantly, sending Colorman flying as Megaman grabbed to hold on to the ground. In the real world, Lan and the driver were thrown against the front of the bus; the driver was protected by her seatbelt, but Lan slammed painfully into the windshield.
"Gah… what happened?" Lan looked back toward the intersection they had just passed; they had just run through a red light, and the computerized, automatic walkways had caught them, slowing them greatly.
"The traffic lights!" he exclaimed. "With the two of them as one, there's nobody to change them all to green!"
Colorman, who had realized his mistake instantly, slowly rubbed his head and turned around, to see Megaman jumping right toward him, Long Sword outstretched.
"Ha! You left yourself open!" he called out, bringing his sword down; Colorman rolled out of the way, but Megaman still managed to catch his water arm, cutting it off completely.
"Agh! My arm! You got my arm!" He hopped up onto his ball. "I'll get you for that!" He leaned back to fire his ball again, but was unstable on one arm, and the ball fired rather lazily at Megaman.
"Haah!" Lan's Navi dashed forward and sliced it in half, both halves falling uselessly to the floor as Colorman landed on his feet again.
"Nooo! My ball! What have you done?!" He dashed forward, ready to strike again, when he suddenly disappeared upward in a flash of light. Megaman blinked and looked upward after him.
"Jacked out...?" He turned to Lan. "Lan! Colorman's gone! We have to try to stop the bus!"
"Got it!" Lan turned to report to the driver, but she was already braking with all her might, sending him forward into the windshield again. Looking up, he saw that they had arrived at the intersection Megaman had told him about; down the street, he saw the other bus, decelerating but heading toward them nonetheless.
Lan's bus finally came to a stop in the middle of the intersection; the other bus made one last push to slow down, running into Lan's bus at a very small speed, rattling everyone on board. Bags went flying into the aisle, quickly followed by their owners, as others grabbed onto the handles near their seats to try and stay upright.
Breathing heavily, the bus driver looked up to see that they had stopped, hearing the sounds of car horns all around. Looking over, she saw the second bus had impacted their door, but not enough to cause any serious damage.
"Phew..." she exhaled. "We did it..." Looking up toward Lan, she was surprised to find him gone.
"Hey! Where did you go?" She stood up, looking into the aisle to find him, and instead finding the few other passengers, clamoring to either get up or get out. Looking toward the side, she saw one of the emergency exit windows had been opened.
Outside, Lan ran as fast as he could away from the bus, heading toward one of the jack-in points that Megaman had specified.
"Phew... almost didn't get out in time. Don't need us detained and asked a million questions..." Lan came to rest in an alley, catching his breath and getting out his PET to talk to Megaman. His back was in extraordinary pain from the impacts he had sustained, and he slumped against the wall, breathing deeply.
"I guess not, no," Megaman added. "Good thing Dex was on the other bus… I guess he was able to take care of the viruses."
"They'll probably ask him all about what happened," Lan thought. "And in the meantime, we'll be hot on World Three's trail!"
"What?" Megaman goggled. "You still want to check this place out? Have you seen yourself trying to stand?"
"I'm fine, really," Lan answered, lying, while trying to convince himself he was telling the truth. "I'm just a bit sore, it's nothing bad. Plus, we've worked too hard today to turn back now. We've come all the way down here, we should keep going! We could find something major down here!"
"Well... alright." His Navi nodded, still looking skeptical. "You sure seem fired up about this..."
Lan nodded back. "The sooner we stop World Three, the sooner they stop trying to hurt me and my friends."
"Alright, let's keep going," Megaman replied, rubbing his shoulder. "Just let me recharge for a few minutes, okay? That flamethrower really stings."
Lan grinned and nodded, putting his PET back into his holster and skating down the street.
Back at the intersection, the two crashed buses were now surrounded by several police cars; the intersection and its connected streets were blocked off, and all of the passengers were standing in the road or on the sidewalk, their previous fear replaced with irritation. At one corner of the intersection, two male police officers stood and watched impatiently, not sure what they were supposed to be doing here, exactly. They had been called in to provide assistance to the passengers, but all of them seemed to be doing fine on their own.
"This is not the sort of excitement I was hoping for today," the taller one remarked, sighing and folding his arms.
"Not sure what you were really expecting," the other replied, looking at his PET. "Most crimes these days are cyber crimes. We mostly get called in for stuff like this now. You'd better get used to it."
"Bleh, I guess so. I don't think I've done much aside from writing tickets since I joined." The taller one sighed again. "Guess this is the best I can hope for." The shorter officer started to reply, when he was interrupted by a voice behind them.
"Help! Please, one of you, you have to help me!"
Both of them whirled around reflexively, eyes widening at the sight before them. An older boy who looked to be in his late teens was staggering toward them, disheveled and emaciated, as if he hadn't eaten in ages. His face was covered in blood that issued from a cut on his forehead, staining his long green hair that reached down to his waist; his wrists had been bound behind his back.
"Holy… kid, what happened to you?!" the shorter officer exclaimed, as both of them rushed over. The short officer moved behind him, seeing that his wrists were bound with a zip tie; he reached down to his belt, pulling out a multi tool to cut through the tie.
"Been held captive…" the boy gasped, exhausted, mouth dry. "It's been weeks… haven't eaten in days…"
"Just relax, you're safe now," the tall officer reassured the boy, hands on his shoulders. "We'll bring you to the station, get you some food and water, some medical help… you'll be better in no time." He started to lead the way to their car once his partner had freed the boy's hands, but the boy stepped away.
"No, no, don't have time for that…" He rubbed his sore wrists, thankful that his arms were finally free. "You have to get me to the police commissioner, right away. I need to talk to him."
The shorter cop shot him a curious look. "Kid, we can't just take random people to see the commissioner." He pulled out his PET again, walking over to the car as he started to call this incident in. "You'll be fine, we'll take care of you."
"No! I have to talk to him! It's vitally important!" the boy insisted, standing up fully, as the taller officer stepped between his partner and the boy, just in case. "Tell him you caught Kid Grave!"
Both officers paused at this, turning and looking at the boy with wide eyes. "What?" The boy sighed in relief, glad he finally had their attention.
"My name is Kid Grave. I'm the leader of the crime syndicate Gospel."
