New Megaman Battle Network

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

Story 4: Defiance of Fate


Chapter 10: Begin Again

In the ruins of Gauss's lab, amidst the burning fires and destroyed walls, a highly one-sided battle was taking place between the final survivors of Den City's destruction. Despite the incredible power that he had recently acquired, Burnerman was finding himself completely outclassed by the force of hatred and rage that he was battling against. He was trying his best to decipher the new time-based powers he had received, but he never had a moment even to catch his breath, let alone solve the mystery of how to utilize his new abilities.

Lan and Megaman were attacking relentlessly, using the Dark Sword and Dark Cannon together with reckless abandon. Despite their out-of-control emotions, the two twins were perfectly in sync, singularly focused on their goal of erasing Burnerman from the face of the planet. They were much too quick for the bulkier Navi to hit, dodging expertly and moving to retaliate immediately after every blow. Each swing of their Dark Sword left a gash on their enemy's frame; every blast from the Dark Cannon sent their foe flying, and another weakened wall crumbling. The strength of their sheer hatred made them into an unstoppable force.

Several minutes later, Burnerman was sporting major injuries all over his frame, while his foes seemed as fresh as ever, barely breaking a sweat. Watching them advance on him once again, he realized that he was going to need to take out Megaman in a single, powerful attack. Nothing else was going to work on such an agile and strong opponent.

Dodging a swipe from a Dark Sword, he launched himself into the air, hovering twenty feet above his enemy as he started charging a powerful fire blast. The cannon at the end of his arm started to glow red, then blue, then white, as it grew hotter and more powerful. Several seconds later, the cannon was glowing too brightly to even look at directly, and Burnerman aimed it down at his foe, firing it as quickly as he could. He knew he didn't have time to wait for a good shot, and a large enough blast would do some damage, enough to slow Megaman down to the point where he could maybe be defeated.

As the fire blast traveled down toward his enemy, Burnerman focused his eyes down at him; when he realized exactly what he was looking at, his eyes widened and his stomach sank. As he has been charging up his blast, Lan and Megaman were charging up their own Dark Cannon, and they were now aiming directly at Burnerman. There was nothing he could do as the enormous Dark Cannon blast was unleashed directly at him, spreading wide and consuming everything in its path. The flame blast was completely swallowed by the dark energy, only powering it up and making it even stronger. Burnerman had no time to do anything but scream in terror as the Dark Cannon blast consumed him, turning his world into a world of pain.

As the blast subsided, Burnerman fell to the ground, landing painfully on his back, his entire frame broken and sore. His vision swam as he tried to push himself up, his arms screaming as he did so. As the world in front of him came into focus, he saw Megaman leaping through the air at him, landing with one foot on Burnerman's stomach. The fiery Navi could only watch as his enemy lifted the Dark Sword and plunged it deep into Burnerman's chest.

Lan and Megaman stared down at their felled enemy, teeth gritted and breathing harshly, before withdrawing their blade and plunging it back in, crying out angrily as they did so. Their Dark Sword was continually pulled back and stabbed into Burnerman, over and over, dozens of times. They eventually fell to their knees, running out of energy, but still refused to stop, wanting the wretched Navi to be deleted as thoroughly as possible.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the assault ceased. The two withdrew their Dark Sword, collapsing to their side, struggling to even stay on their knees. As the anger and adrenaline began to subside, the emotions that they had suppressed started to boil over. Tears welled up and flowed freely from Lan's eyes, as the faces of everyone who had been dear to him flashed before them, faces that he would never see again: his mother, his father, Mayl, Dex, Yai, Chaud…

Lan closed his eyes tight, letting out a primal scream that echoed through the ruins of the city. He unleashed all of his emotions at once, sobbing, cursing, pounding the ground with his fists as if he was trying to destroy it. He wailed for what felt like an eternity, screaming names and curses into the air, with nobody else around to hear.

Eventually he started to quiet back down again, though the tears flowed just as freely as they had before. He could feel an emptiness welling up inside him, one that was slowly being filled by the darkness of the two Dark Chips that he had just unleashed. His eyes were clouded with the swirling dark fog that the two chips had forced onto him, as he wondered what kind of monster he had become. For the briefest of moments, he considered turning his blade on himself.

He jumped a little as the broken and battered frame next to him emitted a weak cough, almost no strength left in it. Burnerman weakly turned his head toward the one who had defeated him.

"Well, this… this didn't turn out… like either of us wanted… did it?"

"Say one more word and I'll cut out your throat," Lan responded through gritted teeth.

"Wish I'd… figured out this… time travel nonsense…" Burnerman tried to roll over onto his side, but he was rendered completely immobile, and it was all he could do to keep talking. "Could have… avoided this… but I guess… this is it."

Lan sat up and turned toward his defeated foe, raising the Dark Sword again to deliver yet another fatal blow. Before he could bring it down on Burnerman's neck, a voice stopped him in his tracks.

Lan, wait! Megaman pleaded. Don't delete him yet!

"Why not?!" his brother growled, not caring if the other Navi heard him.

I want to try something, Megaman answered. Put your hands on him. Quick, while he's still here.

Lan paused, not sure what his Navi was playing at. He could feel the Dark Sword pulsing with rage in his hand, demanding to be sunk into the fiery Navi's frame. After several long seconds of self-restraint, Lan managed to push the desire away, placing his palms flat on Burnerman's torso.

"Alright… now what?" he asked.

Just let me… Megaman's voice trailed off in his head, as he focused on something he had only done once before. Ten seconds later, Lan gasped and nearly retracted his hands, as he felt a strange force rushing through him. It was as if a tsunami had entered him through his arm, and was sweeping through his body. After a few moments, the sensation faded, and was replaced with an entirely new one. Lan looked down at his hands, eyes widening as he saw Burnerman's bizarre, space-warping aura surrounding them. He felt oddly lighter, floatier, as if there was almost nothing anchoring him to this world.

"Mega… what did you do?"

Holy hell… His Navi sounded thunderstruck. I used the Get Ability program… I didn't know if it would really work…

Burnerman coughed out a laugh, not sure how else to react as he saw the strange aura surrounding Lan and Megaman. "You can't be serious…" He lay his head back, looking up at the ashen sky. "After everything I went through… I just can't win."

Lan ignored him, standing up slowly, looking down at the body he and Megaman were sharing. "You mean… we have… Pharaohman's time powers?"

I think so, Megaman answered, sounding similarly awed. I'm trying to figure these out… I want to know if we can go back to an earlier point in time.

"And stop this from happening?" Lan clarified.

Exactly. Go back and fix everything.

Lan continued to stand dumbfounded for a minute or so, trying to wrap his head around what they were about to do. He still couldn't believe that it was possible, and he felt that no matter what Megaman did, they would just continue to exist in the ruins of the city. He eventually shook his head and took a deep breath. This was the only option left, and he had no choice but to try and take it.

His mind raced with possibilities. At first, he thought of going back only an hour or so, to try and stop the experiment from ever happening. Thinking further, however, he considered the possibility of going back even further, to prevent the thought from even entering Gauss's mind. He thought it over carefully, not wanting to waste his one and only chance.

I think I have it, Megaman reported quietly, determinedly. I know what to do. I know where to go. I know how to fix everything.

"You do? Where are we going?"

Let me take care of it, Lan, it will be faster. Trust me.

"Alright…" Lan lowered his hands, letting his brother take full control. He closed his eyes, and the aura surrounding him started to consume him, growing larger, warping space more and more around him. Ten seconds later, his body simply vanished into thin air, appearing to fall through a seam in reality, as the two brothers were sent off to another place and time. Burnerman watched them go, shaking his head and closing his eyes, his body going still as he finally accepted his defeat, the last of his strength leaving his frame.


When Megaman re-emerged, he found himself in the middle of a computer system. He no longer had the Cross-fused appearance of Lan wearing Megaman's armor; instead, it was only Megaman's frame standing in the middle of the system. His eyes were wide as he looked around him, a bit stunned that they had managed to go anywhere at all. He moved to the closest machine he could find, reaching out his hand and interfacing with it, retrieving a timestamp. His breathing froze for a moment when he got an answer back, the machine responding with the current date and time, which was long before the present day of December 2084.

He lowered his hand slowly, taking a moment to process the momentousness of what had just happened. Somehow, through some absurd and fortunate set of circumstances, he had managed to travel backwards through time, landing exactly where and when he had wanted to go. He took a few moments to catch his breath, before a thought occurred to him, and he looked around worriedly.

"Lan? Are you here? Where did you go?"

I'm… here? he heard Lan's voice reply, from inside his head. I think I'm just… in your body? Like when we fought Alpha?

Megaman sighed in relief. "Good… I was worried."

Mega, where are we? Is this Gauss's lab?

The Navi shook his head, walking forward slowly. "No, it's not. We're in SciLab proper. I recognize this place."

What are we doing here? Did we… did we actually travel backward in time?

"We're fixing everything," Megaman replied. "Just like I said."

What does that mean? What are we fixing?

Lan watched the Cyberworld through his brother's eyes, waiting for a reply, trying to figure out what time they had arrived in. They walked down a couple of alleyways between large machines, before coming across a couple of screens. Megaman glanced out toward them, seeing that they were security cameras, looking into one of the many labs that made up SciLab. The two of them could see two people inside, who they both immediately recognized.

That's Dad! And Mom! Lan exclaimed, looking out at his parents in the lab; his father was fiddling with some machines, while his mother was sitting with a small baby on her lap. What are they doing here? Is that baby… when is this, Megaman?

His brother didn't answer, traveling a little ways further, until he could see a more familiar machine come into his field of view. Walking closer, he saw a large glass tube built into the machine, with a large number of cables connected to it. Inside the glass container, he saw his own frame, its eyes closed, fully formed. As he came to a stop in front of the device, he could hear a number of alarms starting to go off. He didn't pause for a moment, even as his parents started to panic on the other side of the security cameras.

"Here we are, Lan," he spoke quietly, his heart pounding. "This is the moment where I became Megaman."

Wh… why… why are we here…? Lan replied, confused and more than a little scared.

"This is how we fix everything. Everything bad that's ever happened to our family." The Navi took a deep breath before extending his arm, a Wide Sword forming on the end of it. He dashed forward, teeth gritted, and swung at the glass in front of him, which just barely started to crack.

What are you doing?! Megaman, stop! Lan shouted in Megaman's head, terrified.

"This is the only way, Lan! This is the best thing for everyone!" his brother replied, rearing back and swinging again. "All of the terrible things that happened to us didn't happen until I came home! How many people have come after me because of who I was? How many terrible battles have we been in? How many times have you nearly been killed?!"

Stop this! None of that was your fault! You know that!

"I ruined everything when I came home from SciLab! I'm the one to blame, Lan!" He continued to attack the container holding his frame, the glass in front of him cracking more and more, tears in his eyes and his heart in his throat. "Everything would be better if I just…" He swung. "Never…" He swung again. "Existed!"

He reared back for one last attack, ready to stab through the weakened glass, as alarms blared all around him. As he lunged forward to end himself, he found himself suddenly frozen, his muscles resisting, refusing to make the final blow.

No! I… I won't let you do this! Lan's voice was distraught but determined, as he flexed every bit of power he had in this strange form, seizing up all of Megaman's muscles. There has to be another way! We can travel through time again! We can… we… don't do this! I won't let you!

"Let me go, Lan!" the Navi demanded, as he collapsed to the ground. "I have to do this, for your sake! For Mom, and Dad, and Mayl, and everyone else!" He tried as hard as he could to get up, but Lan was resisting with every bit of strength he had, forcing the Navi to stay down on the ground. Megaman started to panic, struggling against his brother's control. At this rate, Yuichiro would be able to rescue the frame and activate it. Nothing would change. Everything would still come to a horrible, fiery end.

As the two brothers battled for control of Megaman's frame, neither of them noticed the footsteps approaching them, the sound of the steps lost amidst the blaring alarms. They both paused when they realized there was a figure standing in front of them. Looking up the black Navi's frame at his face, they both recognized him instantly, even without the cloak that he had always worn in their time. Megaman's eyes widened in terror.

"I don't know what's going on here," Bass spoke plainly, "but if you're so determined to die…"

He reached his arm upward, a Long Sword forming on the end of it. Moving in front of the glass container, he reeled his arm back and stabbed straight through it. The glass surrounding the Navi's frame shattered into pieces, and the sword pierced straight through Megaman's chest.

Down on the ground, Megaman's breathing stopped as he watched his original self slowly start to dissolve. His frame turned into particles, starting with his toes, then working up his legs and torso, until the entire body had been reduced to digital ash and blown away. He continued to stare at the glass case, in shock, as the world around him slowly faded to white.


Story 4: Defiance of Fate

End