New Megaman Battle Network
A complete reimagining of the universe and stories of Megaman Battle Network.
Story 1: New Origins
Chapter 14: Clash of the Titans
Megaman stared at the massive screen that had formed on the front of the SciLab building, as an elderly fellow looked back at the mess that was Den City.
"I have to say, I didn't expect things to be like this, with the merging of the real world and the Cyberworld," the old man spoke casually, before grinning. "But they say to never look a gift horse in the mouth."
Megaman glared at the mysterious face. "Who is that? Is he with World Three?"
"Wily..." He looked back to find Yuichiro clenching his fist in anger. "So it's been him behind this all this time..."
His eyes widened a bit. "Him? He's Dr. Wily?"
Yuichiro nodded. "He did research with my father, and was one of a few scientists who created the Net... widely credited as one of the greatest minds of our time. For a time, he was the lead researcher at SciLab."
He walked forward a little, to get a better view of what was happening. "But unlike your grandfather, Wily was unscrupulous, greedy, and corrupt... he got intoxicated by power, and eventually tried to use the might of the Net to take over the Electopian government."
Megaman walked forward as well, as Wily's gaze was diverted toward something on another rooftop. "I'm guessing he didn't succeed."
"No, not even a little." The two of them watched as Elecman and Fireman ran across some rooftops toward the scene. "His attack got nowhere, and Officials were dispatched to arrest him, but he had fled the country. That was twenty years ago... after so long, we all thought he was dead."
"Looks like he's in pretty good spirits to me..." Megaman looked back toward Wily's face, which had begun to speak.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to thank you all for coming to this event..." He chuckled at his own wit. "The unveiling of my two greatest projects... the Viral Beast Gospel, and the Parasitic Net Organism, Alpha!"
"What are you talking about?!" Megaman demanded, walking to the edge of the rooftop and shouting. "You're not responsible for Gospel! That wasn't World Three's doing!"
Wily smirked down at the Navi, amused by his cluelessness. "There's been a bit of a leadership change at Gospel. Both organizations now belong to me, along with all of their projects and plans." He gestured forward at the two monsters in the street, demonstrating his point. "Alpha alone would have been enough for me to take over the Net, but when I add Gospel's power, it will be truly unstoppable. He'll be able to use his body to absorb every last shred of civilization on this planet! He will bring everything you know crashing to the ground!"
"What is this, your revenge?!" Dr. Hikari exclaimed, incredulous and angry. "You want to destroy society because you couldn't rule it yourself, you crazy old man?"
"Why not both?" Wily responded. "I have every intention of taking my place as ruler of this planet. Nobody else has the cunning and the genius to do it. But it certainly helps to bring the old guard crashing to the ground first."
He turned his attention back downward, toward the two beasts that were staring each other down in front of him. "Let's not delay this show any longer." He leaned forward, grinning in anticipation. "Now, Gospel, march forward. Let yourself be absorbed by Alpha, so that it might become all-powerful!"
As Wily spoke his command, a large metallic collar around Gospel's neck began to beep and flash. The creature roared and started slowly walking forward, as Megaman and Yuichiro watched nervously. The beast's steps were hesitant and slow, almost reluctant, as if it were not walking forward by its own will. As it stepped closer, Alpha started to open itself up, as if it was creating a giant mouth to swallow Gospel whole.
Before the viral beast could take the final few steps, a bright purple beam shot through the air and struck Gospel at the base of its neck. The collar it was wearing exploded and fell to the ground in response, causing Gospel to pause and come to its senses. Seeing the giant adversary in front of it, it roared and leaped backward, snarling and angry.
"What?!" Wily looked for the source of the beam, along with everyone else. A block or so down the street, Bass stood silently with his arm outstretched, finger pointed in Gospel's direction. He lowered his arm and started flying forward, toward the two beasts.
"You have made a spectacular mistake, old man." Bass floated upward, to face the screen. "You honestly thought you could betray me and live to tell the tale, didn't you?"
Wily hmphed. "I'm surprised you survived, Bass. Such an energy drain could have finished off any Navi."
"I'm not just any Navi, old man. I am the most powerful Cyber being in existence. You should know this by now."
Wily laughed in response. "Perhaps you were, once, but now you are nothing in comparison to Alpha. And with you added to Alpha's composition, he'll be even greater than I could have imagined!"
"Enough." Bass started to lower himself. "This madness ends now. I will utterly destroy Alpha, and once I do, I will track you down and kill you, you old fool!"
"We'll see who gets destroyed, Bass," Wily replied, before directing his attention downward. "Alpha…! Attac… right thi…"
Everyone started a bit as the image of the old man started to fade out, before disappearing entirely.
"Damn it! What's going on here?"
Back at his base, Wily was slowly standing and looking around at the now-darkened office. Seconds ago, he had suddenly lost his connection with the broadcast unit set up at SciLab, and right after that the power to the base had been cut. As he listened to the humming of the backup generators, providing minimal lighting, he guessed that this was not a coincidence.
"Probably those blasted soldiers they sent… they got here faster than I thought…"
He grabbed his cane and started making his way toward the office door. "Whatever. Alpha has its orders. I don't need to be here directing things anymore. Time to disappear." He opened the door, frowning at the darkened hallways; he would have to be careful while navigating.
In another part of the base, a shadowy figure was throwing a handful of cables on the ground, after ripping them out from a panel on a wall. He glanced around, taking stock of the emergency lighting as it illuminated his long green hair, before turning to make his way upstairs.
"Now for Wily," Kid Grave muttered to himself, under his breath. "Time for payback, you old bastard."
As Gospel snarled and barked at the parasitic Alpha, Bass slowly lowered himself right next to the angry, roaring beast. He put his hand on Gospel's head and closed his eyes, focusing.
I am not your enemy, he communicated silently, through direct contact. I wish to help you, to destroy the one who wants to hurt you. Will you help me?
Gospel stopped its snarling, standing up fully and staring down Alpha's giant, central eye. Bass smirked.
"It seems we are in agreement." He stood on Gospel's back and pointed toward Alpha. "Now! Attack the center!"
Gospel roared and charged forward, swiping its claws at Alpha and hacking away at the orange blob that protected its eye. Alpha emitted a high-pitched shrieking noise in response, as two massive machine guns protruded from its sides, ready to fire. Before it got the chance, Bass raised his hand and hurled a purple energy wheel toward them, hacking each one clean off.
"Can't have any of that," he muttered, as he fired two more beams, each one incinerating a machine gun.
Watching from a nearby rooftop, Fireman snorted and started walking forward toward the battle. "I knew we should never have trusted that miserable wretch. Time to have these two dogs put down."
"I'm right behind you," Elecman responded, as Fireman leaped off of the side of the building, ready to join in and defend Alpha. As he fell toward the ground, he felt a large spherical object slamming into him from the side, knocking him away. Elecman stopped in his tracks as the ball flew back in the opposite direction, attaching itself to the underside of a familiar yellow Navi.
"Colorman!" he exclaimed, moving closer. "What in the hell do you think you're doing?!"
The colorful Navi looked up toward Elecman, as Fireman got back to his feet. "I'm following my orders!"
"What are you talking about? Our orders from Dr. Wily are to protect Alpha!"
"Clearly, Colorman isn't taking Wily's orders anymore," Fireman called out, marching angrily toward Maddy's Navi. "The little brat has turned traitor. Guess we'll have to delete you as well."
Colorman watched as the other two Navis advanced on him, nervous but refusing to cede his ground. As Fireman dashed forward, he slammed his hand into the ground, causing a water spout to appear underneath his foe, launching Fireman into the air.
Back on the rooftop, Megaman and Yuichiro watched, dumbfounded, as Elecman landed on top of Colorman, delivering a powerful electric shock. At the same time, Bass was firing more lasers in Alpha's direction, trying to disable as many weapons as possible.
"This is crazy," Megaman commented. "World Three's turning on itself? Who exactly are we supposed to root for?"
"Either way, it's not great," Dr. Hikari replied. "But my guess is that Alpha is the one responsible for keeping these two worlds merged together. If Bass wins, Gospel and all of these Navis should return to the Cyberworld with everything else. That's the most important thing."
Megaman watched as Alpha fired an energy beam at Gospel and took out two legs, which regrew quickly. "Well... go Bass, I guess..."
Alpha charged up again, firing another energy beam; this time, Gospel jumped out of the way, landing on a rooftop a few buildings away. Bass, seeing an opening, dashed forward and charged in, wielding an energy sword.
"Haah!" Taking a massive swipe at Alpha, he removed a giant, semicircular slice of his body, exposing its red eye to the world and sending the removed portion flying into the sky. Alpha shrieked in pain, trying to swipe at Bass and missing repeatedly.
"Finally, you're exposed." He flew upward and landed on Gospel again, pointing down. "Now! Hit it with everything you've got!"
Both Bass and Gospel started charging up energy blasts; before long, both of them were glowing brightly with an enormous amount of energy.
"On three!" Bass called out, ready to strike. "One... two..."
Before he could count to three, both of them were knocked down by a powerful impact from above; their blasts went off in the street, where they exploded against the orange Alpha residue, doing no damage. Looking up, Bass saw the section of Alpha he had removed bearing down on him, spreading about him and Gospel, slowly absorbing them.
"No!" he called out, getting out his sword and trying to attack. "I will not go out like this!"
He swiped repeatedly at the orange mass as it ate at him, to no avail. It was only a matter of seconds before both Bass and Gospel were completely encased by the blob. Megaman and Dr. Hikari watched, horrified, as the blob rolled into the street and sank back into Alpha's body; moments later, the creature regrew the portions of his main body that he had lost. It roared in triumph before turning its gaze toward the three Navis standing in the street, ready for its next victims.
Stumbling through the darkened hallways, lit only by a handful of emergency lights, Dr. Wily made his way toward an exit as quickly as possible. He pulled out a device by his side, speaking into it.
"This is Wily. You had better be on time. We don't have a moment to spare."
"Don't worry, Lord Wily," a voice on the other end shouted, trying to be heard over the sound of helicopter blades. "We'll be in and out in seconds. Not even the National Guard is going to give us any trouble."
"Perfect." He shoved the device into his pocket, hurrying up a bit, traveling as fast as he could with his cane. He turned a corner and walked onto a walkway overlooking a large, now-empty room below, knowing that the exit was only a few yards away. As he walked forward, however, he saw another figure at the other end of the walkway, causing him to stop in his tracks. The other person walked forward slowly, the emergency lights illuminating his long green hair, as well as the gun he held in his hand.
"Going somewhere?" Kid Grave taunted, the firearm aimed directly at the old man.
"You little…" Wily growled. "Clearly, keeping you alive was a mistake."
"Hindsight's 20/20, Wily." The teenaged boy continued walking forward slowly. "Too bad you won't be able to learn from this mistake."
Dr. Wily's eyes narrowed, focusing on the gun for a moment, before moving back to the boy's face. "How did you even get in here? You should never have been able to…" He paused, sensing movement from behind him, and he turned around, eyes quickly focusing on another, taller figure. "…I see. You had some help."
Emerging from the shadows, Maddy Iroaya glared back at him as she walked forward, holding a taser in her hand. "He did."
She could see disappointment in his face, mixed in with anger and impatience, as he spoke. "I never thought you would be the one to betray me, Madeline. I was certain it would be that coward, Count Zapp."
"You told me we were going to change the world," she replied sternly. "You never said we were going to destroy it."
He scoffed. "How do you think change comes about, you foolish girl?"
"If there's anything I remember from history," she responded, pointing her taser at him, "it's that most change comes from women not doing what they're told."
She continued glaring at him, waiting for his witty repartee, before realizing that he was looking past her instead of directly at her. She started to whirl around, but a pair of hands quickly grabbed each of her wrists, twisting them behind her back. She cried out briefly in pain, the taser falling from her hand.
"As always, Match, your timing is impeccable," Wily spoke, still calm. Maddy turned her head to look behind her, barely able to see a familiar face and its telltale red goatee.
"Of course, Lord Wily," Kenichi Match responded, before returning his focus to the woman he was holding captive, sighing in disappointment. "Maddy, Maddy, Maddy… why'd you have to go and ruin a good thing?"
She growled at him, trying to stamp on his foot; he quickly moved it out of her way. "I'm going to claw your eyes out, you-"
"Hey!" Kid Grave called out, tired of being ignored, aiming his firearm directly at Wily's face; everyone jumped a bit and turned back toward him. "I'm the one with the gun here! I'm the one who decides what happens next."
Dr. Wily glared. "If you know what's good for you, you'll get out of my way, you stupid idiot. You have no idea what's coming for us all if we don't get out of here."
"Oh, I know all about the soldiers waiting for us outside," the boy responded. "I would love for us to all go out there and have a nice, long talk with them."
"This has nothing to do with those soldiers, you idiot!" Wily shot back. "If we don't leave right now, we'll be-"
His outburst was interrupted as the whole building started to shake violently. As they looked around in concern, the entire room lurched and tilted, starting to sink; Kid Grave, caught totally by surprise, quickly fell toward the railing before going over the side. Maddy managed to wrench herself free from Match's grasp, half-running and half-sliding toward the railing. She grabbed it and looked over the side, expecting to see Kid Grave lying bruised on the ground; her eyes widened and she gasped loudly, as she watched him being slowly consumed by the gelatinous orange ground, which was absorbing everything, eating the building from the ground up.
"Damn it all!" Wily reached out for the railing and moved as fast as he could toward the exit, needing to make his way to the roof so he could escape. The other two started running after him, but before they could catch up, the building twisted violently, causing the walkway to snap and detach, falling to the ground. All three of them slammed into the orange parasitic mass, and none of them had time to escape before they were all swallowed up.
"This is bad," Dr. Hikari spoke, as he watched Alpha firing its guns at the Navis in front of it. "This is very, very bad..." He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, dialing a number.
Megaman kept staring for a few moments, trying to fathom how powerful Alpha would be after absorbing both Bass and Gospel, before he turned around to face Dr. Hikari. "What do we do now?"
"There's only one thing left to do," Yuichiro responded. "We call in the Electopian Air Force, to commence an air strike."
"What?! But that'll destroy SciLab!"
"What choice do we have now?" The scientist put the phone to his ear. "If we don't destroy Alpha immediately, Den City is doomed, along with the rest of Electopia."
As he waited for the other party to pick up, the building they were standing on suddenly started shaking, knocking both of them off balance. Dr. Hikari's phone flew out of his hand and onto the ground below.
"What's going on?!" Megaman looked around, his eyes widening in horror at what he saw. All around Den City, buildings were shaking and slowly sinking downward into the ground. Alpha was absorbing the entire city into its being.
He fought to keep his balance, grabbing onto the edge of the roof as he looked down into the street, watching the World Three Navis disappearing into the ground, which was rapidly rising up to meet Megaman. The building they were on would be absorbed in a matter of seconds.
He heard a yelp from behind him, and he saw Lan's father had rolled to the edge of the building, and was about to fall off.
"No!" Megaman ran over to grab Dr. Hikari, but to no avail; he fell off the edge onto the ground a few feet below, where Alpha's orange residue overtook him and pulled him under. All he could do was stare in horror for a few moments, before he realized that the shaking had finally stopped, and he was kneeling down on the orange mass that now covered everything. He slowly looked around, surveying the destruction. There was not a building or a soul in sight; as far as the eye could see, the world was nothing but Alpha's expansive body.
"This… this can't…" Megaman fell to his knees, feeling defeated, at a loss for words.
They're all gone… Lan added. Everything... we couldn't save them...
Megaman looked down, his hands clenched into fists, a feeling of despair and hopelessness overtaking him. As he kneeled, he could feel Alpha's organism starting to cover his knees, pulling him under. The goo started crawling up and over his body, covering his arms, his torso, and finally his head, making the Navi nothing but a receding orange lump in the ground.
Alpha watched as his body took the last of the things around him. Knowing only orders from his master, Dr. Wily, it started to expand itself beyond Den City, beginning to overtake the rest of Electopia.
With a flash of light, the lump exploded, and a massive burst of energy, the same color and strength of a Life Sword, flung Alpha's body all around. In the center, Megaman stood defiantly, his hopelessness turned to extreme anger as he stared Alpha down. In his hand was a Life Sword, which had taken on a physical form, responding to Lan and Megaman's synchronicity. It glowed a bright blue as Megaman grasped the hilt.
"You… you monster…" He gritted his, his body surging with strength he didn't know he had. "You've taken everything… my friends, my family…!" He got into an offensive stance, ready to strike. "You give them back, right now!"
Alpha raised its claws and prepared to strike, as Megaman dashed forward, ready to end this madness once and for all.
