New Megaman Battle Network
A complete reimagining of the universe and stories of Megaman Battle Network.
Story 2: The Sun And The Moon
Chapter 10: The Pride of Creamland
"AquaCustom Style, huh?"
Lan was lying on a large, comfortable bed in a luxurious hotel room, having arrived in Creamland an hour before. He was conversing with his father through the phone function in his PET, recounting the events of the morning.
"From the way you describe it, that's what it sounds like," Yuichiro replied. "A Custom Style allows you to use the same Battlechip up to ten times when you slot it in."
"Wow, seriously?" Lan's eyes widened. "That sounds awesome!"
His father nodded. "It can be pretty useful, no doubt. However, it comes at a cost. Megaman's speed and strength drop a bit when you change to AquaCustom Style. It's a strategic option, not an all-powerful one."
Lan nodded. "Makes sense Time and place for everything, huh…"
"So then Colonel arrived and told you of this third Cybeast?"
"Uh huh." He nodded again. "Servir, the serpent... you've never heard of him before?"
"No, not once." Yuichiro rubbed his forehead. "I don't have any idea what Colonel is talking about. We never saw more than two Cybeasts. Either he's lying, or this other Cybeast is extremely adept at hiding, and that doesn't make much sense given the other two."
"Colonel said he saw the third Cybeast with his own eyes," Megaman chimed in. "Maybe I should have asked what he looked like. Aside from, you know, a serpent."
"Well, I guess it doesn't matter too much, in the big scheme of things," Yuichiro responded. "If Colonel is telling the truth, then he's going to go after it and let us know where it is, I assume. If Colonel is lying, then... well, nothing's changed, except we stop trusting Colonel."
Lan frowned, the situation still a bit confusing for him, as his father continued. "Anyway, if I were you, I wouldn't worry about it too much. That's my job. You and Megaman have got other things to worry about, like that tournament."
Lan grinned. "It's still a couple days before the tournament actually starts. You're going to be watching, right?"
"You know it. Your mother and I are very proud of you both, you know." His father smiled. "Speaking of which, you should give her a call, she's probably worried. You may want to leave out the parts about the hijacking, though."
Lan agreed, saying his goodbyes and hanging up. He lay back on the bed for a minute, arms outstretched, taking in the events of the day. He looked over at the bedside clock; it was 1:30 pm. He still had most of the day ahead of him, with no obligations that he could think of. His hotel was located in the middle of downtown Blancopolis, the capital of Creamland, and he figured he could explore for a little while. Maybe he'd buy some souvenirs for his friends and family; he'd seen some pretty quirky things in shop windows on the bus ride to his hotel.
He yawned, fatigued, and grabbed his PET again, planning to call his mother, and maybe Mayl, before taking a short nap.
Two days later, his hotel room was a mess. His bed was unmade, some of his clothes were thrown onto a nearby chair, two bags of souvenirs sat lazily on the bedside table, and there was an empty pizza box on the floor. Lan, however, was nowhere to be found inside it.
At 9:00 am that day, Lan had traveled to the site of the Red Sun/Blue Moon Tournament, Creamland Castle. He was greeted at the door by a wave of reporters and journalists, smothering him and demanding to know about one of the greatest Netbattlers in the world; he had been forced to duck and run, as if trying to avoid a swarm of bees. Upon entering the castle, a tournament official had led him into the spacious competitors' lounge, where he had time to relax before the tournament began.
"Geez, it's like a circus out there," Lan commented. "This is even bigger than I thought..."
"You're not getting nervous, are you, Lan?" Megaman wondered.
"No way!" Lan replied reflexively, before pausing and reassessing. "Well... maybe a little, but it's no problem. We can still do just fine!"
"Fat chance," came a voice to Lan's left. Lan looked over to see Chaud leaning against the wall, as nonchalant as ever, pointing to a screen across the room. "Take a look."
Lan walked over, finding that the tournament pairings had already been posted on it. He ran his finger along the bottom row, looking at the first round pairings, and it didn't take long to see what Chaud was talking about.
"Match #4, Lan Hikari vs. Eugene Chaud," he repeated out loud.
"You won't escape our battle this time," Chaud commented. "You couldn't defeat Protoman before and you won't now. Enjoy your time in the spotlight while it lasts."
Lan stuck his tongue out at the other boy, an action that betrayed his confidence. "We'll see who beats who, pal!"
"Lan, calm down," Megaman urged. "We can't win if we're not focused. Don't let him get to you."
Lan took a deep breath and nodded, as Chaud chuckled. "Right… okay, I'm good." He glanced back, smirking a bit. "Besides, I've faced far worse than whatever they've got… or at least, that's what some people say."
"Hmph. Don't let what I said get to you," Chaud replied. "You're good, there's no doubt about that. You wouldn't be here if you weren't. I'm just better."
"Yeah, we'll see." Lan turned away, irritated by the smug reply, and looked around at the others who were here; there were about twelve competitors here already, out of fifteen. They were of all races, genders and sizes, but as far as Lan could tell, everyone here was older than he was. He stretched his arms, not thinking too much of it; such facts hadn't deterred him before, and they certainly wouldn't now. He took a look through a nearby door, finding the large room where they would be competing. He had entered that room the day before, when the Netbattlers had congregated for their tour of Creamland's historic sites.
All of the participants gathered around a long, rectangular Cyber arena where the battles would be held, which looked like it had been installed recently. The arena was surrounded by a number of large, white chairs with wires running all along them, each one with a strange helmet attached to it, almost like a hair dryer at a salon. Lan wondered what these were meant for, but didn't have the time to ask.
As the Netbattlers had looked around, musing to themselves, their attention was suddenly drawn upward to a balcony overlooking the room. A young woman, slightly older than Lan's age, stepped through the door and onto the balcony. She wore a long, regal, white dress, and a spectacular tiara sat atop a head of long, wavy, blonde hair. Lan realized that this must be Princess Pride; while he had read about her, he had never seen her picture, and was surprised to find she was rather beautiful. He felt his cheeks redden.
"Thank you all for coming," she began. "Creamland is honored to be host to such a prestigious event, and to have such great Netbattlers in our midst. It is my hope that this event will help foster cooperation between the various nations of the world, and that..."
She cut herself off, staring at one of the lower entrances to the room. Everyone turned around, following her gaze, to see that another man had entered the room. Lan realized he'd seen him with the other contestants, as the sole representative of Sharo, but wondered why he'd walked in late.
"Forgive me, your Majesty." He bowed deeply. "I must regretfully take my leave. My country has met with a minor crisis, and I must return home immediately in order to see to it." The other Netbattlers started muttering amongst themselves.
"Er..." Princess Pride blinked, surprised, but quickly regained her composure. "Yes, of course." She gave a light curtsy. "I wish you the best of luck. Thank you again for being here." The man bowed again and turned to leave, as the others watched him go.
"Nonetheless, we thank you again for being in attendance," she continued. "I wish you all the best of luck in tomorrow's tournament, and hope that you enjoy your tour around our capitol." The other Netbattlers had bowed as the princess took her leave, and soon after, they were loaded onto a bus for their tour.
Lan thought back to that day, wondering again about the departing Netbattler. He'd looked into it after the fact, discovering that Sharo's capitol Net City had been suddenly destroyed, as if something had wiped it clean off the map. The news had been downplayed in favor of pre-tournament coverage, however, so information on it was hard to find. Chaud had quickly shrugged it off as one less Netbattle to fight, and while Lan wasn't as quick to be so callous, he eventually put it out of his mind as well.
He took another look around the room, thinking nervously about the monumental task ahead of him. All of his competitors were as focused as he was, if not more so, and he knew he'd have a tough time becoming the world's greatest Netbattler. He couldn't help but think back to the strange events of the Electopian tournament that had led him here, and doubts started to creep into his mind, as he wondered if he even deserved to be here.
A short while later, a thirty-something man in a Creamland Official Netbattler uniform walked in and cleared his throat. "Excuse me, but we would like for you to gather in the tournament hall immediately. The tournament will be beginning shortly."
Lan stood up and stretched, as the members of the room started moving toward the door. He took a deep breath, highly focused and somewhat nervous. "Are you ready, Megaman?"
"You bet!" Megaman responded eagerly. "Let's go!"
Lan smiled as he walked into the tournament hall, following the directions of the Officials to find his specific spot around the arena. He looked around the room, to see a number of video cameras had been set up; some were trained on the arena, while others were clearly meant to catch the faces of the Netbattlers. He swallowed, having forgotten about the live broadcast.
"You're not getting cold feet, are you?" The female Netbattler next to him winked, and Lan smirked back at her, trying to project confidence.
"No way! Me and Megaman are ready to win!"
"You'll have a tough time beating me!" another Netbattler chimed in from further down the table.
"Ha! None of you are even going to be a challenge!" yet another added. Lan started to reply, when he heard another voice echoing through the room.
"Well, I'm glad to see all of you are so eager." Everyone looked up, as the voice of an older man rang out. "If you're not the best Netbattlers in the world, you're certainly the most arrogant."
The Netbattlers started muttering amongst themselves, wondering who was speaking. Lan and Chaud steeled themselves.
"I know that voice..." Chaud muttered.
"Me too... but who..." Lan looked around, intensely curious and on his guard, when everyone was alerted to the sound of footsteps. For the second time in as many days, everyone in the room looked upward toward the balcony, to see who was walking out. Unlike yesterday, however, the tall figure who walked into the room was not Princess Pride.
"Regal!" Lan and Chaud cried out at once.
From atop the balcony, Dr. Regal smirked, eyes focusing down on the two Electopian battlers. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that you two brats made it here…" His eyes started sweeping the room, taking in the other competitors as he leaned against the balcony railing. "For everyone who doesn't know me, allow me to introduce myself. I am Dr. Lucius Regal, and I am the leader of the Electopian faction of Nebula."
"Nebula?!" The cry was simultaneous about the room, and various Netbattlers took steps either forward or back.
"What are you doing here?!" the Yumland representative cried out. "What does Nebula have to do with this tournament?!"
Regal smirked. "Sorry to disappoint, but your tournament has been cancelled. It's being pre-empted by a much more important event: the moment where Nebula holds the government of Creamland for ransom."
Everyone in the room gasped and started shouting at Dr. Regal, who silenced the partially angry, partially curious bunch by holding up his hand. "This castle was placed under siege twenty minutes ago by its own defense system, and the government's Mother Computer is being raided and controlled as we speak. This nation's reliance on Net technology and defense has made it a pathetically easy target for our capable organization, especially with the Cybeasts in our employ."
He chuckled lightly. "As for your precious Princess Pride... we'll say she's been deposed. She's still alive, and so long as our demands are met, she'll stay that way. If anyone tries to go and save her, they will regret it dearly."
"You monster!" the Creamland Netbattler yelled up at him. "Nebula will never get away with this!"
"That's right!" another shouted. "You really think the world is going to bow to you terrorists and give you what you want?!"
"I'm fairly certain they can be persuaded," Regal replied. "If the princess and their Mother Computer won't convince the governments of the world, I'm sure the other hostages will."
Chaud's eyes narrowed, not liking where this was going. "What other hostages…?"
Regal smirked, reaching into his pocket and pulling out some sort of remote. "All of you, of course."
As he pressed the button on the remote, the Netbattlers below suddenly began disappearing into the floor, one by one. Before Lan had any time to react, he felt the floor give way underneath him, and he fell into a deep pit, Regal's laughter fading away as he descended. The path soon curved, turning into a primitive slide, and Lan tried to use his feet to slow his descent, with mediocre results. Eventually he saw a dim light at the end of the tunnel, and he fell out of the slide into a dank, stone room, rolling and hitting the wall hard.
"Ugh..." He slowly sat up, grabbing his wrist, a sharp pain shooting through it after being landed on. He took a look around, taking in his surroundings; as far as he could tell, he was in some sort of dungeon below the castle. The room was completely empty, save for a single door, which he suspected was locked.
"Lan! Are you alright? What happened?" Lan reached down for his PET with his good hand, bringing it up and looking into the screen, where his Navi was waiting nervously.
"You heard what happened, right? With Regal and Nebula?"
Megaman nodded. "They're holding the government hostage, right? Something like that?"
"Something like that, yeah." Lan stood up. "They dropped us down into the basement, or dungeon, or whatever this is." He ran up to the door and tried to force it open, to no avail. "Damn... must be an electronic lock somewhere, but there's no port on this side..."
He took a moment to focus, before starting to fish through his pocket for something. "Megaman, do you think you could unlock this door without my help?"
"Probably," Megaman answered. "But even if we do get out, what can we do?"
Lan pulled out his wireless antenna. "I don't know, but it's got to be better than sticking around here." He plugged it in and quickly found the lock to the door, pressing a button and sending his Navi into the Cyberworld.
Looking around, Megaman quickly found the lock to the door. As he ran toward it, however, a variety of viruses suddenly appeared to block his way, growling and moving toward him menacingly.
"Megaman! I'm using a Style Change!" Lan called out, pressing another button on his PET, and Megaman's body lit up as it transformed itself into his orange Heat Guts style. He aimed his buster at the viruses and fired off a series of highly powerful shots, deleting them effortlessly with his heightened strength. He grinned and ran forward, hitting the switch for the door lock before returning to Lan's PET.
Lan wrenched the door open and found himself in a long hallway, full of old, locked wooden doors; he could see light and a stairwell at the end of it, and he began to run. Once he reached the other end of the hall, he heard his phone ringing, and quickly moved to answer it as he ran up the stairs, seeing Chaud's face on the other end.
"Lan! You're alright? You managed to escape too?"
Lan nodded. "I'm trying to find my way back into the castle. Where are you?"
"I'm doing the same," Chaud replied. "I've made a quick call to SciLab trying to figure out what exactly is going on."
"And?"
"It's complete chaos," he responded. "While we were waiting for the tournament to begin, Nebula made its move on SciLab. They somehow hacked into the OS and assigned Officials to all different parts of the country."
"Oh geez, really?" Lan groaned. "So we're not going to get any help here, are we?"
"No chance. They even deleted the entire SciLab OS when they were done. It's going to take them hours to get anybody out here, if not days."
"Damn... what else? Did they attack Mother Computer or something?" Lan wondered what kind of damage could have been done, thinking about the Mother Computer, which held all of the important systems and data for the governing of Electopia.
"Mother is fine. From what I hear, they were in and out as fast as they could be," Chaud answered. "They just didn't want Electopia interfering until it was too late, I guess."
Lan nodded. "So it's just Creamland that's in trouble?"
"Wait, there was one other thing," Chaud remembered. "Iris is missing."
"What?!" Lan and Megaman exclaimed at the same time. "What do they want with her?"
"I don't know, I'm just repeating what I was told. What's important is that we're completely on our own here."
"Great..." Lan reached the top of the stairs, looking around; there were two hallways in front of him, and a door to his right. "The fate of the country is in the hands of two kids." He started to run down another hallway, when something about the door caught his attention. There were some cracks in it, and he thought he could see something move inside.
"Well, we're not helpless. I'm going to try and find Regal. It sounds like he's doing most of the work here himself. You just focus on staying alive. I'll be in contact."
"Hold on a second…" Lan backed up a bit, his eyes on the old, wooden door, before he ran forward and slammed his shoulder into it. The door flew open upon impact, the lock flying right out of the rotted wood, and he tumbled to the floor, not expecting it to give so easily.
"What did you just do?" Chaud demanded, as Lan sat up, looking around the room, his eyes quickly coming to rest on a figure nearby.
"Ah! Princess!" Lan stood up and ran over to the corner of the room, where Princess Pride sat, slumped against the wall, her eyes closed and a gag over her mouth.
"What?! The princess?! Is she alive?"
Lan kneeled next to the princess, noticing her wrists and ankles were tied together, and leaned in closer. He could hear the sound of her breathing, and see her body subtly shift as she did so. "Yes! She's unconscious, but she's still alive!"
"That's great news." Chaud focused on his PET for a moment, and a second later, Lan's PET made a strange noise that he'd never heard. He looked down at it, and saw an insignia appear in the corner, the symbol of the Official Netbattlers.
"I'm giving you Official authority, for now," Chaud explained. "Do everything in your power to keep the princess safe. I'm going to stop whatever plans Regal has in place. Creamland is depending on us."
Lan nodded as Chaud hung up, feeling the responsibility starting to weigh on his nerves, and quickly got to removing the princess's restraints. She started to stir as Lan removed the gag from her mouth.
"Unh..." she mumbled. "What... where am I…"
"Princess!" Lan exclaimed, moving into her field of vision. "Are you alright? You're not hurt, are you?"
Princess Pride looked up at her rescuer, and her eyes held a glint of recognition. "You're... one of the tournament Netbattlers, aren't you?" Her eyes soon filled with fear, and she scooted away a bit. "Who are you? Why are you here?"
"Er..." Lan hadn't expected such a response. "I'm Lan Hikari. I'm from Electopia..." He reached for his PET, showing it to her. "Look, I'm with the ONB. Kind of... for now, anyway."
She breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness... I thought you were one of the others."
"What do you mean?" Lan inquired, moving to untie her wrists.
"We've been double-crossed," she explained. "Some of-"
She stopped, as a large grinding sound came from above. Both of them looked up, to see that a large number of spikes had emerged from the ceiling. The princess shrieked, while Lan, acting entirely on instinct, grabbed her in his arms and dashed for the door. He leaned down as closer to the floor as he could, arms wrapped awkwardly around the princess's waist, as her bound legs dragged along the floor. They made it out the door with no time to spare, as the ceiling crashed into the ground, trapping one of Lan's shoelaces. He tripped and fell forward, and Princess Pride fell out of his arms and onto the floor, bracing herself.
"Ouch!" Lan sat up, rubbing his face, and looked behind him to see his trapped shoelace; his foot had been mere inches from being crushed. "Whoa... that was close..." He reached back and yanked the shoelace free, then turned and moved toward the fallen princess.
"Are you okay?" He moved to untie her ankles. "Sorry… that looked like it hurt…"
"I'm… alright… I think…" She had to take a minute to catch her breath, her life still flashing before her eyes, before she started to come back to reality. "Might have twisted my ankle a bit…" As Lan started removing the rope binding her ankles, she hissed in pain. "Yes, yes I did…"
He paused, working a bit more carefully as he finished removing the rope, tossing it aside. "Can you stand? Do you need help?"
She took a deep breath as she got into a kneeling position, trying to push herself up, letting out a sharp cry of pain as she put weight onto her rolled ankle. Lan quickly moved underneath her as she slumped, helping to prop her up.
"We need to find someplace else. Is there anywhere in the castle that's safe?"
The princess nodded, slowly standing with Lan's help, her arm around his shoulders. "There's a panic room here in the dungeons. No one can enter it if someone's already inside." She looked around, trying to remember where she was, then pointed down a hallway. "It should be this way."
Lan nodded, and the two of them started slowly down the hallway, as she limped along and leaned heavily against him. He tried to keep himself focused, forcing his brain to think about what to do once the princess was safe. He had to work very hard to not think too much about the beautiful girl leaning against him now, or the softness of her body against his, or the light scent of her perfume.
After a few minutes of walking, they came to another locked door, and Lan reached for his PET, which still had the wireless antenna attached to it. "Megaman! You know the drill!"
Megaman nodded, and the princess watched as Lan changed his Navi into HeatGuts Style for the second time, sending him into the Cyberworld. He quickly took a look around, trying to find the lock, and finding a lot of other things instead.
"More viruses!" he reported, charging up his Buster and torching a series of Mettools, who were deleted almost instantly. "Not as strong as last time, though..." He ran forward to deactivate the lock, when he was knocked aside by a powerful blast, sending him skidding along the ground.
"Ow... who's there?!" He quickly scrambled back to his feet and turned, gaping in shock as he realized who his assailant was. Smirking and standing off to the side was Dr. Regal, bathed in a powerful orange aura.
"Surprised to see me, Megaman?" He pointed his finger at Lan's Navi, firing an energy blast in his direction, which Megaman barely managed to dodge.
"But how?! What are you doing in... why are you so strong?!"
"I don't have time for your questions," Regal replied tersely, raising his hands above his head, where a bright red energy blade appeared. "You're causing me far too much trouble. Time for you to disappear."
He swung the blade horizontally, sending out a red shockwave across the entire arena, as Megaman braced himself for the impact. As the attack approached, however, it was disrupted by another from above, a bright green blade. He looked upward as the two attacks cancelled each other out and dissipated, watching as a familiar Navi landed between him and Regal.
"Colonel!" Megaman exclaimed. Colonel didn't respond, staring down Regal, who grimaced, unhappy with this arrival.
"You again... don't you ever give up? You're not taking the Cybeasts from me!"
"Regal, you dog..." Colonel took a step forward. "This explains everything..."
"What?" Megaman inquired, running forward. "What's going on? What explains everything?"
"Get out of here!" Colonel ordered, turning. "I can handle Regal. You get the Princess to safety!"
Megaman nodded and ran toward the lock, as a determined Colonel and a reluctant Regal began to battle each other. He quickly had the door unlocked, and returned to Lan's PET.
"Got it!" Lan yanked the door open, but jumped back when he saw someone on the other side. The princess gasped, as they found themselves face-to-face with the female Netbattler whom Lan had met in the tournament hall.
"Princess Pride!" The woman bore an expression of shock and anger, glaring at Lan and Pride. The princess reflexively pushed away from Lan and pressed herself against the wall, standing on her good ankle.
"You! You're the one who captured me!"
"Her?!" Lan goggled. "But she's one of the competitors!"
"She's a traitor! She's under Nebula's employ!" the princess explained, as the girl gritted her teeth.
"I don't know how you got out, but you're going back in!" She threw a punch at Lan, who ducked and grabbed the girl's arm, pulling her forward and kicking her as hard as he could, using his foot to shove her down the hallway as best he could. He grabbed the princess's hand and pulled her through the door with him; she quickly turned and slammed it shut, before locking it and trapping the Nebula operator inside.
"Phew..." she exhaled, catching her breath and smiling at Lan. "Good thing Electopia trains their ONB well."
"Well..." Lan rubbed the back of his head. "I'm not actually trained... Chaud's the real ONB, not me. I'm just making this up as I go."
The princess grinned. "Well, you've got good instincts then. Come on, we're almost there." The two of them got moving again, as quickly as they could manage; after another minute of walking, they came to a strong, steel door embedded in the wall. Pride tapped at a keypad nearby, and the door slowly opened. He walked her inside, leaving her leaning against the wall near the lock, as he grabbed a chair from another corner of the room and brought it to her.
"Just stay here and keep safe," he advised, as she sat down. "I'm going to help Chaud take down Regal. We're going to take care of this."
"Thank you for everything, Lan Hikari." Princess Pride clasped one of Lan's hand in both of hers, her eyes locked on his. "Please be careful. Our nation's fate is in your hands."
Lan nodded. "I won't let you down, I promise." He stepped outside as the princess shut the door, which sealed itself tight, and ran down the first hallway he could see. After a couple minutes of this, just as he realized he was completely lost, he rounded a corner and screeched to a halt, as Dr. Regal's imposing figure stood before him.
"Wh… what are you doing here?!" he managed, confusion and fear jostling for supremacy in his mind. "You were just..."
"Fighting Colonel in the Cyberworld?" Regal answered flatly, a low anger in his voice as he glared down at the young boy. "I abandoned that fight as soon as Megaman left. You are a more important target, right now." He walked forward slowly, as Lan backed up, ready to throw a punch if he needed to.
"You have been a continual thorn in my side ever since the Red Sun tournament," Regal began to lecture. "You stole Iris from us, you stopped us from winning the tournament with our Cybeast warriors... and now you seek to undo our work here in Creamland. I will not have it, not when we are so close to victory."
He stopped walking, standing tall over Lan. "I should have you tortured, just so you can feel the pain and frustration you have caused me... unfortunately, I'm a little pressed for time."
Before Lan had time to react, Regal pulled a handgun from his side and fired, point-blank, at Lan's chest. The force of the impact knocked him against the wall, and he crumpled limply to the ground.
"That takes care of that." Regal turned around. "Now just one more insect to take care of..." He started walking away, running through plans in his mind, leaving Lan lying in a heap on the ground, oblivious to Megaman's cries.
"Lan?! Say something! Lan, please!"
