New Megaman Battle Network
A complete reimagining of the universe and stories of Megaman Battle Network.
Story 1: New Origins
Chapter 15: Battle in a Swallowed City
Megaman dashed forward, holding the Life Sword in his hand, full of rage and prepared to strike. Towering two stories over him, Alpha extended its claws and slashed at Megaman, who jumped quickly out of their way.
"Haah!" Megaman sliced vertically at Alpha's body with the Life Sword. A huge energy wave erupted from it and swam forward through Alpha, but it slowed to a stop, dissipating inches before Alpha's eye. One second later, the orange blob filled itself back in, returning Alpha to its spherical shape. Megaman, undeterred, moved forward to attack again.
"So you can regenerate yourself, huh?" he spoke aloud, gritting his teeth angrily. "Let's see how good you are at it."
As he moved again toward Alpha's core, he stopped short as Alpha slammed a claw down in front of him. Looking up, he saw the other claw coming down, ready to crush him; he dove forward, avoiding it, and started firing his buster at Alpha's body. Expecting no effect, he was surprised to see a tiny dent, about the size of a baseball, which grew minimally with each additional buster shot.
"Huh?" He stopped himself for a minute, as the dent filled itself in one second later. "Repeated attacks..."
He had no time to finish his thought, as an enormous claw slammed into him from the side, knocking him some thirty yards away from the encounter. Landing on his face, he quickly sat up, rubbing his cheek.
"Gah... I need to be more careful." He hopped up, turning around to see Alpha shifting toward him. Twirling the Life Sword in his hand, he ran forward, on the offensive again, as his foe's horns began to glow white. Seconds later, a massive bolt of electricity shot forth toward Megaman, who promptly vanished with an Area Steal, appearing some yards ahead of where he had been. As a Cannon formed on his hand, he aimed at Alpha's body and shot off two quick blasts, finishing with a swing of his Life Sword. The energy wave cut deeper, aided by the cannon fire, managed to pierce Alpha's body completely, leaving a clear path to its now exposed central eye.
"Now's our chance!" He raised, ready to deliver the final blow, and swung downward. As the energy wave approached its goal, one of Alpha's claws dived in front of it, blocking the blow and getting itself severed in half.
"Damn it!" Megaman clenched his fist as Alpha's claw fixed itself; both hovered over him, ready to strike. "Those claws... I'll never damage Alpha if those things are still around."
I think I've got an idea... Lan spoke up, for the first time since the fight began.
Megaman nodded, hearing it in an instant. He was breathing heavily; the sustained use of the Life Sword was starting to drain him, and he was praying Alpha wasn't smart enough to notice. The two claws hovered over him, getting ready for another blow. Both moved in on him, ready to slam him into the ground. As they approached, he quickly dived to the side, barely avoiding the both of them. Flipping up quickly, he outstretched his hand toward the two appendages.
"Lance!" Instantly, four bamboo lances shot diagonally out of the ground, spearing the claws and locking them into place. Megaman grinned as they tried to move, to no avail, and he turned his attention toward the main body, Minibombs appearing in his hand.
"I won't miss this time!" He started hurling grenade after grenade at Alpha's eye; Alpha shrieked in response, still trying to move its claws, to no avail. Its horns glowed white as Megaman hurled a third Minibomb, the hole in Alpha's body becoming larger. As Alpha fired its electric attack, Megaman used his final Area Steal to dodge, reappearing in the air. With no more Minibombs to throw, he formed a Mega Cannon on the end of his arm, firing it into the large crater as he came down. When the smoke cleared, Alpha's eye was clearly visible and exposed.
"Now!" Seeing his chance, Megaman raised his Life Sword, ready to deal a punishing blow.
WHAM! He felt himself being crushed on either side from the waist down, the air rushing out of him. Looking down, he saw that Alpha's claws had finally freed themselves, and were now trapping him in their grasp.
"No! I was so close!" Megaman wriggled, trying to get free, slicing away at the claws, but felt himself only fall in deeper, slowly getting absorbed. Looking back up, he saw Alpha's body beginning to reform around its eye. He growled, eyes flaring.
"No way! You're not winning like this!" With all his might, Megaman took the Life Sword and hurled it forward like a javelin. As it flew toward Alpha, an aura of energy began to gather around it, turning it into a superpowered arrow. It easily pierced what little orange goo surrounded the eye, striking Alpha's weak point with incredible force.
The creature let out a massive shriek, as bright light erupted from the fissure in its eye. Megaman felt the claws fall away, and he dropped to the ground as Alpha's body began to deteriorate. Its horns and claws began to explode, and all the goo surrounding its main body started melting into the ground.
Did... we do it? Lan pondered, as Megaman stayed kneeling, catching his breath. Letting out one last shriek, the last of Alpha melted away, disappearing into the sea of orange goo below their feet. In its place stood, oddly, a door, which appeared to lead underground.
"I'm... not sure..." Megaman stood up and stepped forward cautiously, inspecting this new structure. "There's just... a door."
What is a door doing in the middle of Alpha's body? Where does it lead?
"Good question." Megaman walked forward toward the door, picking up the Life Sword that was left on the ground. "Let's be careful." He stepped forward, and the door slowly slid open, allowing him inside.
Inside, the Navi found himself in what appeared to be a control room. Various screens lined the walls, as keyboards and other control units whirred and clicked all around; right in front of them lay another door, closed tight.
"This is… not what I was expecting…" Megaman walked up to the door, pounding on it, trying to force his way through, but it was strong and sealed up tight. He stepped away and walked up to one of the control panels, looking at the various screens. About half of them were off, another portion were showing the vast expanse that was once Den City, and the rest were now covered in a solid orange mass. "Is Alpha a machine, or a parasite? Or both?"
I don't know, Lan responded. I can't think of anything that could do what Alpha did…
"Me neither." Megaman looked down at the keyboard. "I guess these must be able to control him, but I have no idea how it works. If it had a Cyberworld, maybe I could dive into it, if I wasn't like this…"
He looked down and started picking out keys at random, pressing them and hoping for some effect. After a minute of hunting and pecking, he jumped as the nearby door suddenly sprang open. A little nervous, he stepped toward it and looked in, his eyes widening.
Inside the door was a set of stairs, leading into a massive, cavernous area. Contained inside was all of Den City, as far as he could tell; buildings, Navis and people were all held within, bound by long stretches of orange goo. Tall, ten-story buildings could be seen further back, while the building of SciLab stood prominently close by. Hanging above SciLab, attached to Alpha by arms and legs, were the unconscious bodies of the helicopter pilot, Colorman, Fireman, Elecman, and...
Dad!
Megaman ran down the stairs a ways, getting a better view of the limp, unconscious body of Dr. Hikari, bound to Alpha's body by his hands and feet. He looked unhurt, but lifeless, as if all the energy had been sucked out of him.
"We have to get him out of there!" He instinctively aimed his buster upward, ready to attack Alpha's body.
Megaman, are you crazy?! You could hit Dad!
The Navi stopped himself, lowering his buster. "Well, what else do we do?" He looked around. "There has to be some other way. Let's go back to the control room..."
Megaman turned around, to walk back up the stairs, when something suddenly lashed out at him from the side; looking over, he saw a long orange tentacle reach out and snag him by his left wrist.
"Gah! What?!" Barely managing to hold on to the Life Sword, Megaman formed his other hand into a Buster; before he could get a shot off, another tentacle lashed out, grabbing his entire hand. He felt himself rise into the air, as his feet were snagged as well.
What's going on?! I thought we had won! Lan exclaimed. Both watched as the world around them started to hum to life; ahead of them, numerous screens in the control room started turning on, as lights flashed all over. Megaman cried out as an electric shock ran through him briefly; an instant later, he could feel the energy starting to slowly leave his frame, absorbed by the enormous parasite.
"Ugh..." His head fell. "No... we didn't. Alpha just played us for saps... he lured us in here..."
No... there has to be something we can do! You can escape, Megaman! Keep trying!
"Lan... I can't move at all..." Megaman focused himself, as his body started to glow. "There's nothing I can do..."
Megaman... what are you doing?
The Navi smiled weakly, as he started to gather the last of his strength. "I've got enough energy for one last trick, Lan. After this, it's up to you."
No! You can't...
"Too late." Megaman was glowing a bright white, overloading himself. "You'll be able to do it... the good guys always win, right?"
His body erupted in a massive energy blast; white light shone everywhere, filling the room and blinding everything.
"Unh..."
Lan blinked, opening his eyes slowly. Once he realized that he was capable of opening his own eyes, they went wide and he sat up, looking down at himself, then at his surroundings. He was back in his own body, in Alpha's control room. He quickly turned around, looking back into the cavernous area, and saw Megaman's unconscious body hanging right next to his father's.
"Megaman!" He started to run down the stairs, but stopped himself when he saw Alpha's strange tentacles heading toward him. Yelping, he ran back into the control room, slamming his fist on a nearby keyboard; the door slammed shut in response, and he could hear the two tentacles hitting the door.
"Damn it, Megaman… what do I do, what do I do?!" Turning around quickly, he tripped over something on the ground and fell on his face; looking behind him, he saw that the Life Sword had somehow found its way in here as well. He crawled over to it and grabbed it by the hilt, feeling nervous and scared, and wanting some sort of defense. Almost in response, the far wall suddenly shifted as a hole opened up in it; looking over, Lan saw virus after virus empty out of the wall, marching toward him.
"Get away!" Lan swung the Life Sword at the viruses, but the weight of the blade pulled him over to his side, and he fell over. An energy wave burst forth from the sword, but it flew upward into the ceiling, away from the viruses; the sword clanged loudly against the control panel, and all the viruses yelped at the sound, starting to clamor faster. Lan rubbed his head, looking over at the sword glowing with energy, and got an idea just crazy enough to work. As the viruses raced toward him, he stood up, the Life Sword over his head. Summoning all his strength, he plunged the sword into the control panel up to the hilt.
Sparks started flying out of the control panel at a rapid pace, as Alpha's horrible shrieking filled the air, intensely loud. Lan covered his ears for a second before the machinery in front of him exploded, sending him flying backward, where he slammed heavily into the back wall. His vision swam and started to fade, as screens around him started exploding, the glass disintegrating as heat erupted from everywhere. Lan weakly covered his ears again and closed his eyes tight, his senses completely overcome, the shrieking growing unbearable. As the world around him started to explode and melt, he felt his consciousness slip away, as darkness overtook him.
Lan stirred some time later, feeling himself being lightly shaken. As he became more lucid, he noticed a panicked voice from very close by.
"Lan! Please, wake up, please…"
He tilted his head toward the voice, opening his eyes, the world in front of him blurry at first. As it came into focus, he was able to see the relieved face of his father, holding him carefully in his arms.
"Dad…!"
Yuichiro exhaled, holding his son tightly against him. "Thank goodness… I was so worried…" Lan rested against his father for a second, closing his eyes again, immensely relieved and letting himself just enjoy the moment. After a couple of seconds, he opened his eyes again.
"What happened? Where are we?" He looked around, expecting to find more of Alpha's orange residue, but instead he was faced with bricks, concrete and lights in every direction. He sat up, looking around in abject surprise, as he realized he was in the middle of a crosswalk in downtown Den City, with buildings, mailboxes, and traffic lights all around him. The streets were lined with human bodies, some of them still unconscious, others standing and looking around with equal surprise. There was not a Navi or program in sight.
"I don't believe it… did we actually stop Alpha? Everything's back?"
"Looks like it," his father answered, his senses coming back to him as the relief sank in. "I don't know what happened. I just woke up and I was here." He stood up. "What happened? What did you two do?"
"We…" Lan racked his brain, recalling the last few events he remembered before he lost consciousness. "We fought Alpha… we went inside… there was a big control panel in there, we destroyed it… then everything exploded."
"And now here we are." His father put his hand on Lan's shoulder. "There was clearly something about Alpha that was maintaining the connection between the real world and the Cyberworld... my guess is, you managed to destroy it, through some sort of luck. You two boys really came through."
Lan nodded for a second, before a thought occurred to him. His eyes widened as his hands roamed over his body, looking for his PET. He grabbed it out of its holster as he stood up, turning it on and looking inside. Yuichiro leaned in as well, hoping to see who they both wanted to see. When the screen came on, however, Megaman was nowhere to be found.
Lan instantly felt his heart sink into his stomach. "He's not there… he didn't come back…" He nearly dropped his PET on the ground, tears starting to form in his eyes. He felt his father's arms wrap around him, holding him tight, as Lan wiped his eyes with his arm.
"I guess… this is what the two of us were meant to do." He leaned back into his father, who wasn't saying anything. "This is why we met. It was all for this."
He looked down again, a feeling of despair overtaking him, before he noticed a flashing light out of the corner of his eye. He looked up a bit, curious, turning to see a stoplight that was flashing from red to green, unnaturally. As soon as his eyes locked onto it, it started flashing more than twice as fast, almost as if it was panicked.
His father looked up as well, as Lan stepped away and walked closer; the light flashed faster still as he approached, until it was nearly a strobe light. He reached down and pulled the cord out of his PET, jacking into the stoplight and looking into the screen. Seconds later, a familiar face materialized in front of him.
"Megaman!" He felt his heart soar, tears forming in his eyes again, as the blue-armored Navi smiled wide up at him. He hugged his PET tight, as if his Navi could feel it. "Don't do something like that again! You scared me to death, for Pete's sake!"
"Well, it worked, didn't it?" Megaman looked around to see what he could of Den City. "Looks like everything's okay now. No more Alpha."
Lan nodded. "It looks like it... the real world is alright, anyway..."
"What about the Cyberworld?" his Navi asked, as Dr. Hikari walked up behind his son to answer.
"I've been checking in periodically. As far as the Officials can tell, there's a whole lot of Alpha left over in the Cyberworld, but it doesn't seem to be doing anything," he explained. "Looks like its brain was destroyed, along with whatever else you two took care of... it's just going to be a big cleanup job now."
Lan started to respond, but his eyes were drawn to a group of people walking along the street; Yuichiro turned as well, to see what his son was looking at. They watched as four police officers escorted a pair of handcuffed adults back to their cars. One of them was a red-haired man that Lan didn't recognize, but he immediately recognized the second one, a tall woman with pink hair tied into two puffballs on either side of her head.
"You are all going to regret this," the man growled. "World Three's wrath is going to follow you and everyone in this city. Just wait until Lord Wily-"
"For God's sake, shut up, will you?" Maddy Iroaya interrupted, walking much more cooperatively. "I swear, if I have to share a car with you I'm going to kill you myself…"
"They're World Three!" Lan exclaimed, stepping a bit closer, watching as the two were shoved into the back of the same police car. "The soldiers found them? What about Wily? And Bass, and Gospel?"
Yuichiro shook his head. "No sign of any of them. Bass and Gospel, who knows if they even survived. Wily probably escaped somewhere."
"Great… so are we going to have to deal with him again?" Lan watched as the city returned to a temporary chaos; mothers called out for their children, people ran into their homes, and confusion abounded.
"I doubt it. He probably doesn't have any resources anymore. It'll be almost impossible for him to even stay on the run, let alone try anything like this again." Yuichiro rubbed Lan's head, tousling his hair. "He ran into something he didn't count on."
Lan grinned, glancing upward. "Does this mean I'm still in trouble?"
Yuichiro laughed, as the pair started walking off, heading home. "You are absolutely still in trouble, Lan. I may go a bit easy on you, though, all things considered…" The two Hikaris headed back toward the suburb of ACDC, both tired and looking for rest, ready for some peace after the terrible month they had both suffered through.
Story 1: New Origins
End
