New Megaman Battle Network

A complete reimagining of the universe and stories of Megaman Battle Network.

Story 2: The Sun And The Moon


Chapter 11: The Final Cybeast

In the corner of a dark, secluded room in the Cyberworld, a female Navi sat holding herself, disoriented and fearful for her life. She had been trapped there for several hours, and though she may have been able to escape, she didn't even try. As she heard the sound of approaching footsteps, she lifted her head up and looked nervously toward the sound; when she saw who it was, she relaxed a bit, though not completely.

"Are you alright?" she asked, seeing the approaching figure walking more slowly than normal, holding his side.

"Nothing a quick Energy subchip can't cure," the other Navi answered. "Nebula Navis are still swarming the castle, but I managed to take care of the ones nearby. Chased off Regal, too, the bastard." He stopped in front of her. "You should be safe here for now."

She nodded, looking down, averting her eyes from his gaze. "Thank you, Colonel…"

He glanced down at her, growing a little irritated that she refused to look at him properly. "Is that all you have to say to your brother, after all this time?"

She looked up at him quickly, alarmed at the tone in his voice. "I…"

"Do you have any idea how long I've spent looking for you, Iris?" he growled. "Over a dozen years, ever since Nebula found you and took you from me. Not to mention how difficult it was to break into SciLab and rescue you from them. I think a little more gratitude is in order."

"I'm sorry!" She shrunk herself down as best she could. "I'm sorry, Colonel… thank you for saving me, really…" She wrapped her arms more tightly around herself, fearful of what might happen if she provoked his wrath.

He shook his head, disappointed. "Well, we have more important things to talk about, anyway. It's the reason I brought you all the way out here."

Iris looked up toward him again. "It's the Cybeasts, isn't it…?"

"Yes." He held out his palm, where a number of pieces of data appeared, hovering above his hand; these were his subchips, small programs that he could execute for a number of different effects. "I managed to find the last one."

Her eyes shot open wide. "You have?! It's here?!"

"It is. It arrived in Creamland with the others, so to speak." He reached out and grabbed one subchip, as the rest disappeared again. He focused on it for a moment, feeling the program start to execute and heal his wound. "It will be tricky to get my hands on it, but soon all three Cybeasts will be under my control."

"So that's what you want me for…" Iris spoke quietly, still astonished at the news she had just received.

"Naturally." Colonel stood up fully, stretching his arm, testing his side. "It's likely the last thing I'll need you for. Do this for me, and then you can go wherever you want, do whatever you want. Since you apparently hate me so much."

"I… I don't…" She forced herself to look into his eyes, still frightened by what she saw. She would never get used to the swirling cloud of purple that shrouded his eyes, she thought to herself.

"Save it." He turned around, starting to walk away again. "I'll come get you when I have the Cybeasts in hand. Don't go anywhere."

She watched him leave, her breath trembling, finally looking down again as he disappeared from view. She held herself tightly, wishing with all her heart that she could magically be taken away from here, away from him. She closed her eyes, trying to picture herself back in SciLab, with Megaman at her side.


Rounding another corner, Chaud managed to find his way back to familiar territory: the tournament room, where the challengers had met. He noticed the trapdoors had sealed themselves again, but other than that, there was nothing of interest to be found here.

"I know I heard a gunshot from somewhere nearby…" He looked around, stepping forward cautiously.

"Looking for someone?" He wheeled around, to see Dr. Regal standing once again in the balcony, a smirk on his face and a gun in his hand, aiming down at the young Official.

"I just found him." Chaud glared up at the man, not moving a muscle. "So you're the one who fired that gunshot, then."

"Naturally," Regal replied. "I had to take care of a small nuisance. Now I just need to figure out how to break the bad news to Dr. Hikari."

Chaud's eyes shot open wide as he pieced together what the last statement meant, his heart sinking into his stomach. "Regal, you bastard…!"

"I'd be more worried about yourself if I was in your shoes." Regal cocked the gun he was holding, as Chaud tried to shake the anger and despair from his mind, racking his brain for some sort of plan. "I hate to lose valuable hostages so soon, but you and your Navi are much more trouble than you're worth."

Chaud gritted his teeth. "You're never going to get away with this. Once the Electopian military gets here, you're done."

The older man smirked, closing one eye and aiming for Chaud's torso. "We'll see who has the last-"

His boast was suddenly interrupted as he received a powerful shoulder check from behind him, knocking him over the edge of the balcony. The gun went off a half-second later, missing Chaud's body by inches, and he reflexively jumped back as Regal crashed into the floor below.

"Urgh... who..." Both of them quickly looked up to see Lan looking over the edge of the balcony, holding his chest and breathing heavily.

"What?!" Regal growled and tried to sit up, ignoring his newly-wrenched shoulder. "How are you still alive?! I shot you at point-blank range!"

"Yeah, you did," Lan called out tauntingly. "You must be a really crappy shot."

Regal bared his teeth, standing up and aiming his handgun again. "I won't miss a second time, you-" He abruptly stopped talking, his whole body stiffening, as Chaud jammed the taser ends of his PET into his back. The gun quickly fell from his hand, and he crumpled back into a pile on the floor after several painful seconds, unconscious.

Chaud sighed, looking up at Lan as he struggled to climb over to the other side of the balcony, relief washing over him. "I never thought I'd be glad to see you."

"Yeah, the feeling's mutual." Lan tried to hang down from the balcony, wanting to fall a shorter distance, but he lost his grip and plummeted eight feet down to the ground. He grabbed his chest as he landed, loudly shouting a word he would never dare to say in front of his mother, as Chaud ran over to him.

"Are you alright? What happened back there?" He offered a hand to Lan, waiting for it to be accepted, as his eyes focused on Lan's chest, which was clearly in serious pain. As Lan moved his hand away, Chaud did a double take as he saw a clear bullet hole in Lan's vest. "What… he actually… how are you alive?!"

Lan smirked and coughed, reaching into the vest pocket that displayed the bullet hole, pulling out a blue diamond charm that had a bullet firmly lodged in its center. "Mayl gave me this good luck charm at the airport. Never thought it would come in handy like this…"

Chaud shook his head in disbelief, as Lan clasped his hand. "You are, without question, the luckiest person I've ever met." He helped the boy to his feet. "Can you stand on your own?"

"Yeah… feels like my ribs are broken or something, though…" Lan's hand went back to his chest.

"They probably are," Chaud replied, walking back over to the pile of Regal on the ground. "Don't strain yourself."

Lan nodded, following behind. "So what do we do now? Is it over?"

Chaud shook his head, grabbing Regal and flipping him over, reaching for a zip-tie to bind his wrists. "Regal can't do any more damage himself, but I'm sure that all sorts of things are going down in the castle Cyberworld. Once we get him tied up, we'll have to jack in and do our best to..."

He cut himself off, as the sound of a ringing telephone filled the room. Lan reached for his PET and looked into the screen, eyes widening when he realized who was calling. "Colonel!"

"Where is Regal? Is he still there?" Colonel demanded, as Chaud leaned in, watching the screen over Lan's shoulder.

"He's right here," Lan answered. "He's knocked out." He pointed his PET screen down at the unconscious body so Colonel could see.

"Good," the Navi replied. "You need to jack his body into a Pulse Transmission System, right away. There should be plenty in the meeting hall."

"Pulse Transmission System?" Lan looked around the room, his eyes quickly drawn to the strange chairs that lined the back of the room, wondering if those were what they needed. Chaud grabbed one of Regal's arms and started dragging him over to one of them, confirming Lan's suspicions.

"Over here. Help me get him into this thing." He grunted as he started pulling Regal up into the chair, wishing the man was about twenty pounds lighter.

"What are these?" Lan wondered, as he walked over and helped get the body sitting up properly, moving gingerly so as to not aggravate his injury.

"It's a technology that Creamland developed." Chaud reached upward and pulled the attached headpiece down over Dr. Regal's head. "It allows the user to project his body into the Cyberworld, like a NetNavi."

Lan thought back to fifteen minutes ago, when he had seen Regal's body in the Cyberworld. "That definitely explains some things…"

Chaud put Regal's hands onto the arms of the chair, over a couple of translucent panels. "That should do it."

"Good," Colonel spoke up from Lan's PET. "Send him into the Cyberworld, then jack both your Navis in. I'm going to need their help."

"Doing what?" Lan asked, as Chaud started pressing some buttons, turning the machine on.

"You'll see," the Navi answered, ending the call. Lan looked around for a jack-in port, finding several lining the large table in the center of the room. He walked over to it as he pulled out his PET's cable, plugging it in and sending Megaman into the Cyberworld.


Megaman found three other bodies waiting for him upon his arrival in the Cyberworld. Protoman was standing next to him, having just arrived, while Colonel was standing next to the unconscious body of Dr. Regal, lying on the ground and still sporting the strange orange glow it had before.

"What on Earth is that?" Protoman inquired, walking over toward the body. "That strange aura..."

"That," Colonel replied, "is Servir. Our missing Cybeast."

"What?!" Both of the other Navis ran over toward Dr. Regal's limp form, looking him over, as if looking at him more carefully might make them understand.

"It's possessing him somehow." Colonel kneeled next to the body. "Controlling his body and mind, turning him toward darkness and destruction… who knows how long it's been here."

"Unbelievable…" Protoman sounded clearly astonished, a rarity for him. "Perhaps that's how Regal could command the other two Cybeasts."

"Maybe…" Megaman stepped a bit closer. "So… what do we do? How are we supposed to get it out?"

"That's what I'm here for." Colonel stood up and raised his arm, which glowed a bright white and transformed into what appeared to be a giant syringe. "I'll extract it myself, but it's going to put up a fight. I need you two to restrain Dr. Regal while I take Servir."

Megaman nodded and bent down to hold down Regal's left arm, while Protoman took his right. Colonel placed his foot on Regal's chest, looking at the other two. "Ready?" The other two nodded, and Colonel reared back and plunged the needle into Regal's chest.

Regal instantly awakened, crying out in pain and battling to free himself from his constraints. Megaman and Protoman both held him down with all their strength, surprised at how hard they had to struggle to keep him in place. A few seconds later, a strange orange substance began to fill Colonel's syringe, and Regal's yells changed to a cross between a shriek and a loud rasp.

Megaman felt a familiar wave of revulsion wash over him, and he suddenly felt weak, falling forward a bit and starting to lose his grip. An instant later the device on his hip flashed, warding off the effects of Servir, and he continued to hold down Regal as best he could. After a minute that felt like half an hour, Regal finally fell back into unconsciousness, drained of his energy as well as the Cybeast.

"Is that it?" Megaman asked, still holding Regal's arm down, to be safe. "Is the Cybeast out of his body?" He looked up at Colonel, whose syringe was now filled to the brim with the strange orange substance. Megaman could barely believe that the Cybeast could fit into such a small space, but Colonel's arm was now giving off the same orange aura that Regal had been.

"Yes, he is. I've got him, right here." Colonel lowered his arm slowly, gingerly, as if worried he might break the glass of the syringe and set the Cybeast free.

"What now, then?" Protoman let go of Regal's arm, stepping closer. "We still have a Cybeast on our hands, and two others that are who knows where. Without Regal controlling them, they could be anywhere."

"You let me worry about them," Colonel answered. "You should attend to the good doctor when he wakes up." He quickly teleported away, before the other two Navis could ask him any more questions.

Megaman looked upward, following the beam of light as it flew up into the sky of the Cyberworld. "He's just… leaving? He's not going to need our help with the Cybeasts?"

"I don't know what he's planning," Protoman answered. "We'll find out soon enough. But he's right. We need to take care of Dr. Regal. He's going to be more than a little disoriented when he wakes up." Megaman nodded in response, as the two Navis were jacked out of the Cyberworld and sent back to their PETs.


A few minutes later, Dr. Regal stirred, his eyes opening only partially. He was able to see two familiar young boys in front of him, watching him carefully and a bit nervously, asking him if he was alright. He sat motionless for several long seconds, waiting for something to happen, waiting for his body to move on its own, as it had done every day for the past fifteen years. He blinked in surprise as he continued to sit motionless and silent, before daring to try moving his head, his eyes widening in shock as it obeyed his commands. He quickly lifted his arms, holding his hands in front of his face, the sensation of movement simultaneously familiar and alien. His breathing trembled as he realized what was happening, realized that what he had prayed for for so long had finally come.

Lan watched as Regal placed his hands on his face, then his legs, looking as if he might tear up at any moment. He leaned in a bit closer to Chaud, keeping his voice low. "Should we be doing something right now?"

"Give him a minute," came the reply. They continued to watch as Regal came to terms with his newfound freedom, before the man looked back toward them. His eyes quickly focused on one of the two boys.

"Lan… you're alive," he uttered, his voice shaking. "Are you hurt badly? What happened?"

"I… I'll live," Lan answered, a bit taken aback, not having expected Regal to remember what he had done. "Some broken ribs, maybe? The bullet hit something in my pocket."

Regal nodded, the immense relief clear in his expression. "How is your father?"

"Dad?" Lan took a second to realize what he was referring to, as he remembered walking into Dr. Hikari's office to find him unconscious on the floor. "Oh, right. He's fine. He's taking it easy at home. You didn't hurt him… permanently, or anything."

"Thank God…" Regal leaned forward, holding his head in his hands. "I couldn't do anything to stop myself, I swear… I had no control… I was a prisoner inside my own body, while that monster did so many horrid things…"

Lan watched him hold himself for a moment, feeling like he should be giving the man a blanket and a mug of hot chocolate or something. Chaud gave him a few seconds before he took a step closer, having some important questions to ask.

"How did this happen, exactly? And when did it happen, for that matter?"

"This all began fifteen years ago, when the Cybeasts first appeared." Regal spoke freely, eagerly, as if offering up information might help him to atone. "Our tools showed some anomalous readings in what is now Black Earth, so I sent one of our Navis to investigate."

"Black Earth?" Chaud's eyebrows raised in surprise, as did Lan's. Both of them knew of the seldom-traveled, virus-ridden region of the Net that had come to be known as Black Earth, due to the danger and the rumors of strange evils that resided there. Regal nodded and continued.

"I sent the Navi off on its own to take a look and report the data back to me, but it never returned. So I sent another one, but I watched it through my PET this time, to see what it saw. As it got close to the source of the anomaly, though, the screen went black. The Navi was deleted soon after, but I couldn't determine what had done it. That was when I decided I wanted to see it with my own eyes."

"Your own eyes? But how…" As Lan watched Regal curiously, his eyes flicked upward to the helmet now hanging above his head, and he quickly realized the answer to his own question. "You mean… you pulsed in and went to Black Earth yourself?!"

"It wasn't Black Earth then," Regal explained. "It was just another part of the Net that was acting somewhat strange. I was too curious to properly assess the danger." He took a moment before continuing. "So I went in myself, from the closest access point I had access to. That was when I saw them… three enormous monsters…"

"The Cybeasts?!" Chaud exclaimed. "How did you see them in Black Earth?! They first appeared in End Net City!"

"That happened a week or so afterwards," Regal explained. "Nobody but me saw them in Black Earth, and I never got a chance to report what I had seen. That's when I was attacked."

"Attacked? You mean by Servir?" Lan asked.

Regal nodded in response. "Yes, that horrible serpent. I tried to pulse out as quickly as I could, but he still got his fangs deep in me before I could escape… both literally and figuratively, I suppose."

"Well, he's gone now," Chaud replied. "He can't control you anymore. It's over."

Regal shook his head, his voice growing stronger. "No, no, it's not over at all…" He put his hands on the arms of the chair. "We still have to do something about the Navi that ordered Servir to attack me all those years ago… before he gets his hands on the other two Cybeasts."

Lan could feel the color drain from his face, as he realized who Regal was referring to. "Please tell me you're joking…" He glanced over at Chaud, who was having the same reaction.

"Colonel is not to be trusted." Dr. Regal slowly pushed himself into a standing position, relieved to know his legs still worked, though he wasn't sure why they wouldn't. "He may have had SciLab fooled, but not Nebula. His ambitions for the Cybeasts are just as dark as mine… were. He must be stopped."

He started walking toward one of the doors leading out. "I have a lot of work to do, undoing the damage I've done to this castle's systems. I can track down Colonel while I'm at it. You two have to go wherever he is and destroy him."

Lan nodded, following behind Regal, who was starting to sprint toward his destination; Chaud lagged behind just a bit, wary as always. The trio ran down various hallways until they reached a metal, computerized door, which Regal quickly unlocked. Running in, they found themselves in a large room filled to the brim with computing equipment; various consoles and screens lined the walls, and in the center stood a tall structure, humming loudly and beeping intermittently.

"This is the Mother mainframe, I'm guessing," Chaud spoke. Lan looked around for a moment, recognizing the term immediately. In Electopia, the Mother Computer was the one supercomputer structure that held the critical information and systems for governing the country; each nation had their own, including Creamland.

Regal nodded, walking over to a nearby console and typing away, searching the Cyberworld for Colonel; it didn't take him long to locate the Navi. "Colonel… he's right here. He's inside the mainframe." He turned toward the two boys standing nearby. "Both of you, jack into this control panel. I can send you directly to where he is."

Lan walked closer, pulling out his PET cable and jacking in without hesitation. Chaud followed a second later, looking in Regal's direction. "If this is some sort of trick or trap, you're going to severely regret it."

"I don't think I could possibly have more regrets," Regal answered, a somberness in his voice. Chaud's eyes narrowed as he pulled out his PET's cable, sending Protoman into the Mother mainframe.


As he arrived in the Cyberworld, Megaman quickly took a look around, as did Protoman. They had landed in the center of a large, empty circle; all around them, a short distance away, was a large number of tall processing towers, all of them working on various jobs. He kept turning, nearly jumping out of his skin as he found himself face-to-face with the enormous forms of Gregar and Falzar, standing quietly near some of the towers.

He braced himself, expecting the two Cybeasts to attack as soon as they saw him, but they stayed surprisingly still, not even bristling at his appearance. He remained tense, looking them over carefully, but his eyes were quickly drawn to the figures standing above them, on one of the processing towers. Colonel was standing tall, looking down at Megaman disdainfully, his arm still formed into a glowing orange syringe. Standing a short ways behind him was the much smaller figure of Iris; he saw her eyes widen as she spotted him, nearly gasping.

"Iris!" Megaman called out, running toward her. "Get away from him, quick!" Colonel's eyes flared as he approached, and Gregar quickly leaped forward, swatting Megaman away with an enormous paw and sending him skidding across the ground.

"You two have already served your purpose," Colonel called out, as Gregar walked back into the position he was in before. "If either of you had any sense, you'd jack out now and save me the trouble of deleting you."

"You…" Protoman steeled himself, his mind racing with numerous questions he wanted to ask, before finally settling on one. "What do you want with the Cybeasts?! What are you planning?!"

"I'm going to use them to destroy this Net-based world of yours," Colonel answered, having no good reason not to answer at this point. "This society will come crashing to the ground. First Creamland, then Electopia, and then every other nation, one after the other. There's nothing on this planet worth saving."

"How are you using them?!" Megaman demanded, getting to his feet and running closer. "How are you controlling the Cybeasts?!"

"I've always been able to control the Cybeasts," came the answer, Colonel's voice sounding impatient and irritated. "I was created to control them, just as they were created to obey me. We were all created together, bound forever in symbiosis, by higher powers than either of you have ever known. And now, finally, we are reunited once again."

He raised his arm above his head, the needle starting to glow a bright orange, and a flash of light engulfed the Cyberworld, forcing Megaman and Protoman to look away. When they looked back, one more monster had joined the fray; a gigantic, orange cobra was lying between Gregar and Falzar, its forked tongue tasting the air.

Colonel nodded, looking satisfied, before turning back toward the Navi standing behind him. "Your turn, Iris. I sincerely hope you haven't forgotten how it's done."

She nodded, stepping forward and walking to the edge of the tower. Her eyes focused on the three Cybeasts in front of her, waiting patiently for their next command.

"Iris, no!" Megaman called out, causing her to look in his direction. "Don't listen to him! Whatever he wants you to do, you don't have to do it!" The two of them kept their eyes locked on each other for a few moments, as she stood still, hesitating. He could see the struggle happening within her mind, as she wrestled with the orders Colonel had apparently given her. She eventually looked down, muttering something that Megaman couldn't hear, as she raised her hand and held it above the three monsters below her.

Colonel nodded, satisfied, as Iris's hand generated a light blue aura that slowly began to expand. As Megaman and Protoman watched, the aura spread out over the arena, encasing everyone in its light. The Cybeasts didn't move a muscle as they began to glow as well, and their bodies rose into the air, moving toward each other and meeting at a single point. Their bodies began to distort and merge, transforming into one enormous, hideous mass of limbs, fur, feathers and scales.

When the light finally faded, only one gigantic Cybeast remained. Gregar's body rested on bottom, streaked with purple and orange and ending in a short, serpentine tail; from his back grew two large, red wings, each one lined with razor-tipped feathers. Its eyes, large and red, glowed as it let out a massive roar, a culmination of the cries of the three original monsters.

Colonel's face twisted into an evil grin, showing emotion for the first time Megaman could remember. "Finally… Gryfon is whole once again. I never thought I'd see the day…"

"Yes…" Iris started backing away a bit, as the monster's eyes focused on the two Navis in front of it. "I've done what you asked… now… now, please…" She still had trouble saying exactly what she wanted to, intimidated to ask anything of her brother. She jumped a bit as she felt his hand come to rest on her shoulder, looking up at him in surprise.

"You want me to tell you that you can leave," he responded. She fought her instinct to look away, trying to push her fear deep down inside her, and slowly nodded.

He grunted. "If that's what you really want… then I have no more need for you."

She felt his hand clench her shoulder powerfully and painfully, causing her to cry out in pain and shock. He quickly whirled around and flung her down into the makeshift arena with Megaman, Protoman and Gryfon; she slid along the ground for a moment before colliding heavily with one of the processing towers, knocking her out cold.

"No! Iris!" Megaman ran toward her, wanting to ensure that she was alright, when Gryfon leaped from his position and landed in front of the advancing Navi, causing him to screech to a stop. The Cybeast pointed its wings forward, firing a barrage of feathers at Megaman, knocking him painfully away.

Colonel watched as the blue Navi got painfully back to his feet, backing away as Gryfon slowly advanced. As he watched, he found himself suddenly launched forward, propelled by a powerful blast from behind. He fell down into the makeshift arena, quickly standing up and looking toward his assailant, jumping back as Protoman leaped down after him, brandishing a Long Sword.

"You won't be getting away with this!" Chaud's Navi called out, swiping at his enemy. "If you're the one controlling the Cybeasts, then you're going to be the first to go!"

Colonel glared, extending his arm and forming a blade of his own. "I don't need the Cybeasts to defeat you. I'll delete you myself, right here!" The two Navis began to duel, as Megaman looked upward at the monster that was slowly advancing on him.

"He's fast... and strong... really strong…" he commented, loud enough for his operator to hear. "Lan, what do we do? How are we supposed to stop this thing?"

"I don't know, but there's only one thing we can do," Lan responded, activating Megaman's HeatGuts style. "We've got to just hit it with everything we've got!"

Megaman nodded, as his body changed to a bright orange, his buster powering up and transforming. "Let's do it!" He dashed toward the monstrous Cybeast, ready for what he hoped wasn't his last battle.