They're making pretty good time. Better time than Mimic thought they would, anyway - especially since they have to keep stopping almost constantly. That's not a mark against the fully-human members of their group, though. She doesn't mind the rest-stops.

And they even manage to avoid the town of Hazaara. Absolutely no fucking way is Mimic gonna go anywhere near that place, even if Colonel isn't a Zoanoroid. The Cybeasts could easily just send some other Zoanoroid, anyway. So, yeah, they avoid Hazaara.

It's not until they're past the town that Mimic tells the group why she was so against going to that place, and after that, there's zero complaints. Not even from Baryl, who was arguing the most because they need more supplies. Yeah, sorry, Baryl, but Mimic would much rather get supplies from the next town than risk inviting an attack on them that inevitably ends with Trill getting kidnapped. Or MegaMan. Or ProtoMan. Or literally any of their group.

Speaking of kidnapping, Mimic also tells the group that DiveMan had snatched up Trill while everyone else was busy dealing with the Cybeasts in the anime - and since they're not being attacked, they can devote some of their energy to keeping an eye out in case DiveMan shows up. SearchMan's the best they have for that, since he can use his Search Program to watch out for DiveMan's data signature, and Arcadia can use his Empath Program to sense any hostile minds intent on kidnapping MegaMan's little brother.

Though all of their efforts to prevent Trill being kidnapped turn out to be pointless in the end, because they end up getting a lift to the Wily Research Facility.

A massive truck-like vehicle comes roaring over the desert sand, and slows to a stop nearby. Mimic always thought these things looked like the Jawa trucks from Star Wars - and looking at it for herself, she can easily see that she's not wrong. This thing looks like it was ripped straight outta the damn franchise.

"Hello, friends from Beyondard!" A familiar man is leaning out of the door that just opened high up on the side of the not-Jawa truck. His grin is visible even for those without enhanced eyesight.

"Commander Mask!" Baryl calls back, a relieved smile on his face. "I take it you've managed to gather up the rest of the CM Forces?"

"As many members as we could find and contact, at least," Commander Mask replies. "Kirisaki went on ahead with the bulk of our forces, to try and tear down the Research Facility's defences. Our scanners detected a large group of humans and NetNavis in this direction, and we figured it would be you. Care for a lift?"

"Heck yeah!" Lan agrees immediately, grinning. "Thanks, Commander Mask!"

"This thing looks like it's straight outta Star Potter," Dingo mutters as the group heads over to the not-Jawa truck.

"Right?" Maylu agrees. Commander Mask throws down a ladder for them, and the others start climbing one-by-one. "I was just thinking the exact same thing . . ."

Well, at least they don't have to walk the rest of the way. If Mimic is remembering shit correctly, it took the anime group maybe half an hour - or more - to get to the Wily Research Facility in one of these things.

She doesn't really wanna know how long it would've taken if Commander Mask hadn't come to pick them up. Sure, she and Chaud would have no problems, and neither would Baryl or Raika or any of the Navis, but everyone else would definitely get super-tired. They can't fight the final boss while tired, that's impractical as hell.

. . . Yeah, okay, the heroes sometimes face the final boss in a weakened state in animes or games, but this isn't an anime or a game - regardless of where Mimic's knowledge of these events comes from. Real life requires a lot more thought than just rushing in and hoping for the best.

Filthy hypocrite, Chaud comments on her thoughts, amused. Who's the one with the reputation for doing the exact opposite of what she's told and basically being a reckless nuisance in general?

I will eat your fucking tongue, Mimic retorts.

Wouldn't you also end up eating your own tongue, as well? he wonders, distracted.

Mimic blinks. I dunno, actually . . .

"Do not eat Chaud's tongue," Arcadia says.

A few of the other people in the truck - soldiers with the CM Forces, holding those Beast virus-killing weapons - look up at that, and they seem extremely unsettled.

"I'm not even gonna ask," Lan mutters.

"Chaud said-" ProtoMan begins.

"I said I'm not gonna ask."


Everyone could feel the tension in the air thickening as they get closer and closer to the Wily Research Facility, and Trill is worse off than anyone because of his role in the upcoming battle. Luckily, they have ProtoMan with them, and he's more than happy to be his usual ridiculous self to help distract Trill - and pretty much everyone else.

Lan's grateful for that. He hadn't been sure how to help Trill, or anyone else for that matter. And watching ProtoMan pull random stuff out of his shadows to entertain Trill is pretty funny, honestly.

He's watching them play when he notices Mimic and Chaud sitting together in a couple of seats near the end of the bench. Neither of them are paying attention to anything but each other - they're completely silent, but it's easy to tell based on the slight changes in their expressions that they're having some kinda mental discussion. About what, Lan's not sure.

But they look worried, and it's Lan's job as their big brother to make sure they're okay, so he unclips his seatbelt and heads over to them. The twins look up before he gets halfway across the floor and watch him curiously, and he settles down beside Mimic, leaning forward a little so he can see Chaud on her other side as well.

"You guys okay?"

The twins exchange a glance. Chaud is the one who answers.

"We're fine," he replies. "We're just . . . we're just trying to work out what we're gonna do when we get to the Research Facility."

Lan hums quietly, agreeing with that. "We really do need to work that out . . . We still don't have an actual plan, do we?"

Not for how to get rid of the Beast Factor, or for how to deal with Dr. Wily. The general idea for the latter is to just simply kill him, but not everyone in their group is on-board with that plan. For the former . . . well, they've got pretty much nothing. Even Mimic doesn't have an answer, despite her knowledge of the future.

Lan's PET suddenly bursts with static noise, startling them and everyone else in the vehicle. He fumbles to get it out of its holder - he's getting a call from someone, but the signal is unstable and delicate.

"-an!" Dad's voice cuts through the static noise, somewhat fuzzy from the interference. "Are y-" The static drowns out his voice for a second. "-ere, Lan?"

"Dad!" Lan exclaims. MegaMan appears on his shoulder, bringing up a few small screens, and sets to work trying to strengthen the signal from their end. "Dad!"

Mimic leans closer, eyes wide and eager, and Chaud practically half-climbs on top of her to see the screen of Lan's PET.

The static overwhelms the screen for a moment, and then clears up to a reveal a very fuzzy image of their dad. It's still their dad, though, and Lan feels a pang of happy relief so intense that he almost breaks down crying. He knows Mimic and Chaud feel the same, because they both let out quiet trills.

"Oh, thank god," Dad says breathlessly, looking like he's about to cry himself. "We've been trying for so long to . . . Are you alright? Are you safe? Where are the others? Do you-"

"Dad," Lan interrupts, "we're okay, we're all together, we're fine!"

Dad lets out a deep sigh, a relieved smile on his face. "That . . . that's good . . ." He brings up a hand to wipe at his eye, and Lan realises he almost is crying. "Your mother and I have been so worried about you kids . . . We've missed you so much . . ."

"We missed you too," Chaud murmurs, settling down so his chin is resting on top of Mimic's head. He doesn't seem to mind when she nods and he ends up bopping along with her.

"What's been going on?" Dad asks them.

Lan exchanges a glance with his siblings, and they tell Dad everything that's happened so far. They leave out the small details and focus on the main points - they tell him what they've learnt since they got dragged into Beyondard, the gaps in Mimic's knowledge that were filled in by Beyondard Grandpa and other natives of this reality.

And, of course, they also tell Dad about their biggest problem right now - their inability to recreate the event that kickstarted the Great Change so they can use Trill's power to erase the Beast Factor and end the war.

"Hm . . ." Dad looks thoughtful. "What if we use SciLabs' dimensional generator to replace Beyondard's?"

"S'what they did in the anime," Mimic murmurs. "Ain't gonna work without the Fossa Ambience, though."

"Do you kids remember the device that opened an artificial Fossa Ambience?" Dad asks.

Lan blinks. "Hard to forget, since that's what dragged us here in the first place."

"Right. Well, we've managed to repurpose it into a communication device. We can't use it to open a Fossa Ambience - it appears to be single-use only. But even if an artificial Fossa Ambience is unstable, we could still use one to erase the Beast Factor, right?"

Lan glances at Mimic questioningly. She's not technology-minded, but she's the best person to consult when it comes to dimensional stuff like this.

She looks thoughtful for a few moments, and then nods. "Might work," she says. "But there's still a problem - you can't make that one do shit, and we dunno where to get one here."

"We've analysed this thing as much as possible," Dad tells them. "It's made from materials that don't exist in this reality - or they do, but they have different properties or uses. We can't make another one based on the information we have because of that."

Lan understands what he's saying. "But we can!" he exclaims, excited. "If we can find all the materials we need, we might be able to make another one of those things, and we'd be able to create an artificial Fossa Ambience easily!"

"Where do we get the stuff, though?" Mimic points out.

Chaud perks up. "The Wily Research Facility! If it has a dimensional generator, it should definitely have everything we need to make a device like that!"

Dad nods his agreement. "Then I'll send you all the data we have. Once you've built the device, use this signal to contact me, and SciLabs can get the dimensional generator ready for you."

"Gotcha," Lan agrees, nodding. Finally, they have an actual plan.

They still need to find a way to deal with Beyondard Dr. Wily, though.


The humans' fear and rising tensions are making Arcadia's feathers prickle with unease. He has no doubts that their group can probably handle whatever Dr. Wily decides to throw at them - if Mimic's knowledge isn't wrong, then the Wily Research Facility's defences should be minimal at best - but it's very, very difficult to ignore this.

Even ProtoMan, for all his silliness, is feeling the tension. His playing with Trill is little more than a distraction - for Trill and for ProtoMan himself.

How many times have they been through these endgame-level tensions? How many more times will they have to do this? Only Mimic could answer that question, and Arcadia doesn't want to ask her. Mostly because he's afraid of the answer, but also because he's afraid she just won't know the answer. Her anime didn't show her everything, after all.

The only one who's not feeling as much tension as anyone else is Bass. In fact, he's actually looking forward to the upcoming fight - which is pretty much in-character for him, honestly. Bass is feeling a slight bit of tension though, and it's mostly directed toward the Hikari siblings; a kind of protective tension. He doesn't want them to get hurt. None of the Navis want the humans to get hurt, even.

Gradually, Arcadia's Empath Program begins to pick up even more tension-filled humans - plus one overly-eager NetNavi, which would be odd if he didn't know who it was - as they enter into a wide canyon. The truck slows to a stop, and the sight that greets them isn't very encouraging.

The Wily Research Facility is a black building of jagged edges. It looks wrong, like it's not supposed to be here, or its very existence just shouldn't be. Something about it is mildly oppressive, even though it's literally just a big building. This is where Beyondard Dr. Wily initiated the Great Change and kickstarted this war.

And surrounding the Research Facility is the familiar multi-coloured barrier of a dimensional area. If Mimic hadn't warned them about this beforehand, it would've come as a total shock to see one in Beyondard.

The humans are trying to use their weapons to break through, to no avail. Their weapons work just fine on Beast viruses, but against a dimensional area? It just won't work. They're two entirely different things, and besides, the dimensional area doesn't use the Beast Factor at all. Not that Arcadia's aware of, at least.

The group - the Beyondard group plus Commander Mask's squad - gets out of the truck. Commander Mask's people immediately begin bolstering the ranks of the people already here, leaving the others to do their own thing.

"Kirisaki!" Commander Mask strides over to the front lines, where Kirisaki is discussing plans with a few of his men.

"Commander Mask," Kirisaki says, glancing up. His expression doesn't change, but his relief flows from him like waves.

"This place has a dimensional area?" Maylu whispers, staring at the barrier in awe.

"Dimensional area?" Kirisaki glances at her. "Is that what this shield is called?"

"It's what it's called in our reality," Lan replies.

Kirisaki nods, accepting that. "Well, whatever it's called, we can't break through it. We were about to sneak in and take over the Facility when it came down. It destroyed one of our trucks - we're lucky no one was inside it at the time."

"Very lucky," Commander Mask agrees gravely. "Nothing you've tried has worked?"

"Short of letting KillerMan at it, nothing," Kirisaki reports. "I'm keeping him in reserve just in case, though."

Arcadia senses something like indignation from Kirisaki's Gate, and correctly assumes that KillerMan isn't very happy about being shafted to backup. Some NetNavis just love to fight . . .

"You say you have these kind of things in your reality?" Baryl asks, looking around at the Beyondard group. "Is there a way to break through them?"

Lan exchanges a glance with Raika, then Mimic and Chaud, and then looks back up at Baryl.

"There's always Cross Fusion," he hesitantly suggests.

"No," Mimic immediately says, making almost everyone look at her. There's a familiar twinge of nerves flashing from her, but she doesn't back down. "That hurts too much here. Can't risk it."

"She's right," Chaud agrees, nodding. "There has to be some other way."

"Have you had any dreams about this?" Raika asks Mimic. Everyone who's been travelling with them so far already knows the truth about Mimic's knowledge, but as far as the CM Forces are concerned, Mimic's knowledge comes from her dreams.

She nods, then her eyes flick to Iris, whose surprise sparks from her in a quick flash. "Used a CopyBot to break in, destroyed the dimensional area, then got rid'a the Beast Factor."

"That doesn't tell us much," Commander Mask sighs.

Mimic shrugs.

There's definitely more to it than that, Arcadia can sense that much even without being able to access Mimic's memories of the future. But she can't say any more without giving away the truth, so she stays quiet.

"We've got a bunch of NetNavis materialised already," Dingo suddenly speaks up. "Why do we have to use a CopyBot?"

" . . . It can convert into data," Raika reminds him. "And then allow the Navi to materialise again."

"Well, yeah, but so can they." Dingo gestures to all the materialised Navis who aren't using a CopyBot - Arcadia himself, ProtoMan, and Bass. Trill too, but Trill can't do anything to break through a dimensional barrier like this. As far as they know, anyway.

"He's got a point," Pat muses. "Plus, all three of 'em are insanely powerful, from what I've seen so far. I bet any one of them could take down that barrier even from here."

"There's the issue of how we'd get in in the first place," Arcadia feels compelled to speak up, considering that this concerns himself, his brother, and Bass. "We can materialise ourselves, yeah, but we've never broken through a dimensional area barrier before - and those things are literally designed to take all kinds of punishment, given what usually happens inside them. It's a good idea, but . . . I just don't see how we could pull it off."

Bass huffs. "Dumba-" He glances at Trill, then quickly corrects himself. "Morons. I could just walk right through that barrier, no problems."

Surprise flashes from pretty much everyone.

"You can?" Commander Mask looks hopeful. "Would you be able to take down the barrier after getting through it?"

"Easy as deleting Mettaurs," Bass confirms, with a smirk and a nod.

Yet underneath the surface of Bass's smug confidence, Arcadia can clearly sense hesitance - and uncertainty. Bass doesn't actually know if he can get through the barrier.

He's lying, Mimic says, looking straight at Arcadia. Isn't he?

Arcadia nods. Mimic lets out a mental sigh and rolls her eyes to the sky. Chaud looks similarly unimpressed.

Without waiting for anyone to call his bluff, Bass strides toward the dimensional area barrier with all the fake confidence in the world. It looks like real confidence to anyone who's not an empath or an expert liar, so everyone else believes it.

Bass reaches the barrier without opposition - it looks like Beyondard Dr. Wily doesn't expect them to be able to get through the dimensional area, since it's the only visible defence - and then pauses. He's examining the barrier now, mind whirling, trying to come up with something, anything, and from what Arcadia can tell, he doesn't have much to go on.

Of course, Bass is fully capable of bypassing all manner of security and barriers - back in the cyberworld of their reality. In Beyondard, he hasn't had to do anything like that so far, and no one knows how different things are here.

After a slight, barely-noticeable hesitation, Bass raises a hand. It crackles with dark power, sparking with the lighter energy that makes up his Shooting Star attack, and he pushes his hand and the energy onto the barrier.

Something reacts. There's a surge of some kind of energy, a bright flash of light originating from where Bass's hand connects to the barrier, and then he starts pushing harder.

Amazingly enough - much to everyone's delight and Bass's shock - his hand begins to go through. Using his power, Bass is able to force his way through the dimensional area barrier, though it leaves no holes for anyone else to go through - this seems to be working for Bass, and Bass alone.

Bass finally breaks through the barrier, and stumbles to a stop on the other side, his dark power dying down. Arcadia can sense shock from him, along with pleasure that his idea actually worked.

Well. Go figure.


Bass cheerfully blasts his way into the Wily Research Facility with almost laughable ease. Yeah, he's kinda fucking giddy after he managed to break through the dimensional area barrier - literally walk through it, no less - but he's allowed to be happy about that, and now he's free to take down this shitty place's defences to let everyone else in.

Take down the barrier, first. How does he do that? He barely understands how the dimensional generators back home work, forget trying to figure out how these ones work.

Well, whatever. Maybe he can just break shit until something happens. That usually works.

He makes quick work of a few Beast viruses that try to get in his way - fucking idiots - and blasts open the doors to what seems to be some kinda break room or whatever, judging by the interior.

There are four people in here - two of them human, two of them NetNavi, all of them playing some kinda card game. Bass never met any of them, but those who did have described them well enough that he's able to recognise the humans Blackbeard and Yuika, and their NetNavis DiveMan and CircusMan. All four of them look startled to see him.

There's a frozen moment during which they all just stare at each other. Bass isn't sure what to do - yeah, Mimic said that these guys work for that fucker Beyondard Dr. Wily now, but that doesn't mean he's gonna know what to do with them. He hadn't expected to just randomly come across them with their weapons deactivated.

And then he gets bored.

"Get the fuck out!" he barks, snapping into an attack stance, and he allows his power to crackle around him like lightning. An impressive display, to be sure.

DiveMan and CircusMan immediately bail out like the cowards they are - though Bass could tell that their hit points were already ridiculously low from materialisation - and leave Blackbeard and Yuika to fend for themselves.

Which, predictably, they don't.

Blackbeard and Yuika run out of the room screaming, and as soon as they're gone, Bass relaxes his stance and smirks as his power fades.

"Fucking idiots," he comments, amused.

Alright, now it's time to work out how to get rid of that fucking barrier. Maybe he should get into the network if this shitty building has one, he at least knows how to navigate a network.

Much to his delight, there is a network, and a functioning one at that. He supposes it makes sense - after all, Beyondard Dr. Wily is a data-human just like Beyondard Dr. Tadashi Hikari was, and they'd both need some kinda network to be able to function. Lucky for Bass, unlucky for Beyondard Dr. Wily.

He breaks into the network with little effort - considerably less effort than it took for him to break through the dimensional area, anyway. Seems that Beyondard Dr. Wily was under the impression that no one could get through the dimensional area's barrier. Well, too fucking bad for him, but Bass exists and he's gonna make that Beyondard Dr. Wily's problem.

The network is . . . shockingly simple, at least compared to what Bass is used to. Beyondard is kinda backwards with this shit, but still. He kinda expected this shitty place to have a better-quality network or something.

It's so easy to blast his way through the firewalls that slam down in front of him, so much that Bass finds himself becoming bored very fucking quickly. But he's somewhat grateful - if it wasn't this easy, he'd need to waste more time on it, and time is something they don't really have right now. So no matter how disappointing this all is, he's not gonna complain. Much.

Bass destroys what's probably the sixth firewall - he doesn't know, he's not bothering to count - and ends up coming out into a wide, open space. Platforms with programs and datablocks float well above his head, and the ground in front of him is empty, right up until the opposite side, where a set of steps lead up to another platform.

The platform at the opposite side, like all the others, is not empty. But this platform doesn't have a program or a datablock on - instead, the data-human form of Beyondard Dr. Wily waits, smirking.

"So you've arrived!" Beyondard Dr. Wily calls. Bass's hands begin crackling with energy, which only serves to make the data-human's smirk widen. "It's too late, NetNavi! I've already sent out a signal to the Cybeasts. They won't be able to ignore it, and they will come here for their final clash over the Synchroniser!"

The ground begins to rumble.

Pillars of data rise up, and thick walls flicker into existence between them, creating a labyrinth of sorts. Defence programs materialise, ready to shoot the moment anything comes into their range. Some are static and resemble gun turrets stationed on random parts of the walls and pillars, and others are mobile and move like tanks through the impromptu labyrinth.

An extremely elaborate defence system, one that most Navis would find almost impossible to get through.

"You will not stop my revival!" Beyondard Dr. Wily laughs. "This was inevitable! I am inevitable!"

But Bass isn't most NetNavis.

"Once the Cybeasts have finished their war," the data-human continues to monologue, oblivious to Bass charging up his energy, "my revival will be complete! I should thank you for bringing the Synchroniser to me, you've saved my pawns the trouble of tracking it down-"

"Darkness Overload!" Bass snaps, interrupting Beyondard Dr. Wily - the data-human looks offended.

And then Beyondard Dr. Wily looks comically shocked when Bass's attack tears a straight path directly through the labyrinth. The Darkness Overload beam instantly deletes any defence programs that happen to get caught in its blast - sure, they're called defence programs, but they're not actually all that durable, since they're usually made to fight off intruders.

Once Darkness Overload dies down, there's a bunch of smoking rings burnt through the labyrinth, with a very clear path to the opposite end. Bass allows himself a brief moment to give the stupid bastard of a data-human the smuggest grin he can manage - which is very smug - before darting forward through his self-made path.

"Destroy him!" Beyondard Dr. Wily snaps.

Some of the mobile defence programs try to use Bass's self-made path against him - a few roll out in front of him, others try to attack from inside the labyrinth. The static ones can't do anything unless he gets close to them, and he's already deleted the ones near his path.

Bass deletes every single one of the defence programs that tries to target him, even a few more that didn't. A quick Earthbreaker shatters a good number of the ones in front of him, his Dark Arm Blades make quick work of the ones that pop up from the sides, and then he just hurls out Shooting Stars everywhere and starts deleting the defence programs - along with more of the labyrinth - en masse.

His foot touches the first step leading up to the platform, and Beyondard Dr. Wily's eye widens.

"Wait a moment, you're a NetNavi, the Three Laws state that-"

Bass launches himself up the steps and the data-human jerks back, but there's nothing he can do to stop Bass from blasting his head clean off his shoulders with a full-power beam of point-blank Shooting Star energy.

Beyondard Dr. Wily's now-headless body staggers back, and then collapses. Before it hits the ground, it disintegrates into deletion, and Beyondard Dr. Wily is officially gone.

Good fucking riddance.

From there, Bass is able to take over the entire Research Facility - looks like it was set to explode or something in the event of Beyondard Dr. Wily's deletion, but a quick change of a few programs fixes that easily.

It's also easy for Bass to bring up the dimensional area controls from here. Seems like this place is the control room, or at least the digital version of the control room in the real world. Either way, he's able to control the dimensional generator from here, and he shuts it down. A screen he brings up shows the dimensional area barrier in the real world vanishing, and the humans and Navis start moving toward the Research Facility.

Turns out there's more defences than just the barrier, though. Beast viruses materialise automatically, but ProtoMan and Arcadia make quick work of them - the cat even gets to snack on a few of them, which sends a lot of the stupid things running in a terrified dash for safety toward the Research Facility, maybe thinking that this place is still under the control of their creator.

Haha. No.

Bass grins to himself and decides to have a bit of fun before he inevitably has to hand over control to someone who actually knows what the fuck they're doing.

Seems this place has a few weapons of its own - and he uses them to zap the remaining Beast viruses out of existence. Well, that'll definitely be useful if the Cybeasts really are coming.


Bass is already waiting for them in the control room, predictably smug even though he very clearly didn't know whether or not he'd even be able to get in. Chaud is both impressed and not at all surprised.

"Place is ours, now," Bass informs the group when they arrive. "That Wily fu- that Wily human is deleted."

"What?" Raika demands. "You- you killed him?"

"Technically he was already deleted, I just deleted him by NetNavi standards." Bass shrugs.

"But-"

"Doesn't matter, just be happy we don't need to deal with that moron anymore."

Raika clamps his mouth shut, but continues glaring. Maylu and Dingo, who had also been opposed to the idea of killing Beyondard Dr. Wily, exchange uneasy glances. But they can't afford to dwell on this forever.

Not everyone from the assault team came in with them. Commander Mask is outside with Kirisaki, Black Rose, and Mysteriyu, all four of them directing the CM Forces to cover the building. It's just the Beyondard group plus Baryl and Pat, so that means it's fine for Mimic to speak up, which is exactly what she does.

"Makes it easier to deal with this," she says. She heads over to a large device of some kind - Chaud's not sure what it was built for, exactly, but judging by the glass case on top, it might be some kind of containment unit. "Dr. Wily trapped Trill in here, an' then forced him to use his power to fuse Gregar and Falzar together."

"Now that we've got full control over the building," Chaud says, "we won't have to worry about that happening. The only thing left is to work out if this place has the materials we need to make the artificial Fossa Ambience device."

"It should," Lan murmurs thoughtfully, glancing at the circular table in the middle of the room. It seems to be a control console of some kind - maybe the main control console, actually - because when he interacts with it, the whole thing lights up and a holographic image of the Research Facility appears in the middle. "I'll see if I can search for any of the materials we need. If Beyondard Dr. Wily kept a record of this kinda stuff, I should be able to find all the stuff we need."

"We can go and retrieve the materials once you've located them," Baryl offers.

"Thanks," Lan says gratefully, giving him a brief smile before getting back to searching the building.

"Don't forget we also need the tools to actually build the thing," Chaud reminds him.

"Oh, right. I'll start searching for that stuff too-"

An alarm starts blaring suddenly, startling everyone. After a moment or two of confused staring, Lan jumps into action, using the main console to bring up a holographic screen that hovers just above the containment unit.

On the screen, the CM Forces are preparing to face off with what looks like several armies of Beast viruses. Oddly enough, there's a mixture of both flying and ground-bound Beast viruses, which doesn't make sense - nor does the fact that there's so many of them. Shouldn't these Beast viruses be fighting each other? The flying Beast viruses are always with Falzar, and the ground-bound ones are almost always with Gregar, so-

The Cybeasts themselves crash down onto the cliffs on either side of the canyon, roaring and screeching their respective arrivals, and everything gets even more chaotic.

Well, that explains it.

"Oh, yeah," Bass muses, watching the screen. "Wily said they'd be coming."

Everyone stares at him.

"I was gonna mention it!" Bass exclaims defensively. " . . . Eventually . . ."

Meaning he forgot about it and only just now remembered. Chaud sighs mentally and senses a faint bit of amusement from Mimic, underneath all their shared worry about this new development in the crisis.

"We need to go out there and help them," Baryl declares, already heading for the door. "Commander Mask's forces can't deal with both Cybeasts on their own. Let's go!"

"What about the Fossa Ambience?" Lan asks, stopping the man in his tracks. "We still need to get it open!"

Baryl looks almost paralysed with indecision. No one else seems to be able to figure it out either - do they focus on stopping the Cybeasts, or opening the Fossa Ambience to get rid of the Beast Factor altogether?

Getting rid of the Beast Factor would also get rid of the Cybeasts, Mimic says, glancing at Chaud.

You're sure?

No. But it's the best bet we've got.

She has a very good point, honestly. Worst comes to worst, they only end up erasing the Beast viruses and the Cybeasts' ability to infect things with the Beast Factor - that'll still leave the Cybeasts to deal with, but without their armies or their ability to basically recruit Zoanoroids on the spot, they won't be as much of a threat. Still a huge threat, of course, but not as much of one as they could be otherwise.

"You guys go and fight," Chaud says, getting everyone's attention. "Lan and I can stay here and make the device."

"What? But this place is huge!" Dingo protests. "How're you two gonna find all the stuff you need on your own?"

"Did you forget who you're talking to?" Chaud crosses his arms and raises an eyebrow at him. "I can get everything we need easily, provided I know exactly where it all is."

"Then all we need to do is stall the Cybeasts," Raika decides. "Alright then - Lan and Chaud will stay here to get that device made, and the rest of us will head outside to help the CM Forces."

Everyone nods their agreement.

As the others begin to head for the door, Chaud sends Mimic a quick mental prompt. She pauses and he throws his PET to her, and she catches it easily.

Be careful, he says, to her and both of their Navis. Please.

We'll try, Mimic replies, completely serious. ProtoMan and Arcadia nod to Chaud as well.

And with that, the three of them head out the door with everyone else. Chaud watches them go, worried despite extracting a promise that they'll at least try to be careful, which is honestly the best he could ask for from them. He knows Bass will definitely make sure none of them get killed.

When everyone else has gone, Chaud turns back to Lan, and is slightly surprised to see Iris still there. She's not a battle-Navi, sure, but with her defensive abilities, surely she'd be more use on the battlefield than in here with them? Or maybe she just wants to stay where Trill is, since Trill is sticking with Lan and MegaMan.

Whatever the case, she's not idle. The Research Facility apparently has some weapons of its own - which they saw in action when they were running for the place after Bass removed the dimensional area - and she heads over to a nearby console to start them up again.

But before she can do that - before any of them can do anything, actually - Trill suddenly speaks up.

"MegaMan?" he asks. "Are you okay?"

MegaMan looks startled to be asked that. "I'm . . . fine, Trill. Why?" His expression softens. "Are you scared?"

"I-I am, but . . ." Trill purses his lips and then looks back up at MegaMan. "You were looking after the others like you wanted to help 'em fight."

MegaMan is quiet for a moment. Then he sighs.

"I do wanna help," he admits. "But . . . there's the issue of the time limit, and . . ." He glances around at everyone - just the five of them, now. Two humans - well, a human and a cat-boy - and three NetNavis, only one of whom is able to fight. "I'd rather stay here and keep you guys safe, just in case."

"But you wanna help the others," Trill says, and MegaMan sighs again.

" . . . Yes."

Trill's expression hardens with determination, and he turns to Lan. "Can you make MegaMan materialise?"

Lan looks just as surprised as MegaMan. "Uh . . . shouldn't we save the materialisation time for-"

"Please!" Trill insists.

"Just do it," Chaud interrupts, before anyone else can offer their opinions. "The longer we spend on this, the less time we spend on making the Fossa Ambience device." He has no idea what Trill is planning, but they really can't afford to waste time like this. Not when there are two almost-literal gods trying to kill them and everyone they love.

Lan and MegaMan exchange a glance. Nearby, Iris is watching quietly, her expression unreadable, offering no opinion of whatever it is that Trill is planning - or whether or not she even knows in the first place.

After a moment of silence, Lan brings out his PET. "Alright, then . . . MegaMan, come on out!"

MegaMan materialises in front of Trill, and his mouth opens - likely about to ask what Trill is going to do - but Trill steps forward before he can and reaches up to place a hand on his NaviMark. He doesn't have to reach up that far, Chaud is surprised to see; maybe Trill grew a little more since that thing with the ghost ship, and no one noticed.

"Trill-" MegaMan begins, puzzled, and then cuts himself off with a gasp.

Trill's hand is glowing. Not like how it does when he uses his Collector ability - but like how he usually glows when he and MegaMan are about to fuse and use Beast Out.

Iris jerks forward, eyes wide. "Trill, no! We need your abilities to erase the Beast Factor, we can't use them if you're fused with MegaMan!"

Trill ignores her, and gives MegaMan a forceful shove. MegaMan staggers back a step, and the glow from Trill's hand transfers to MegaMan's NaviMark - and then envelops MegaMan's entire body.

There's a surprised cry from MegaMan that gets lost in the sudden rush of energy, and then it lowers into a beast-like growl. Chaud takes a step back, shocked, as MegaMan's shape changes, and then he breaks out of the energy.

In Beast Out Gregar form.

"Wha-" Lan gapes at Beast Out MegaMan, and then Trill, who's still standing there, very much not fused with MegaMan. "H-how did-"

"If he's a Beast, he doesn't need to worry about the time limit," Trill says firmly. "And since he's not fused with me, MegaMan won't go crazy!" He glances at Iris, suddenly looking worried. "R-right?"

"That . . . is correct," Iris says slowly, obviously as shocked as Chaud and Lan. "I . . . I didn't know that you could do this, Trill . . ."

"Wait, hold on, did you just give MegaMan the Beast Out ability?" Chaud can't help but demand. "How?"

"MegaMan wanted to help fight," Trill simply replies. "So I let him."

MegaMan lets out a faint growl of agreement. "I don't know how he did it, but he's done it. I can feel both of the Beast Out forms within me - I think I can switch at will, and turn back if I want. It . . ." He shakes his head a little, blinking. "It's a little overwhelming, all this power, but I can control myself. At least long enough to fight Gregar and Falzar."

He glances at Lan, then at Trill.

"Thank you, Trill," MegaMan says softly, and then he drops to all fours and races out of the room, spike-tipped tail whipping back and forth, to go and join the others.

" . . . Is it permanent?" Lan looks worried. "I mean, he said he can turn back, but . . . will he have that forever, now?"

"I'm sorry," Trill says, staring at his feet and now looking very downcast. "I just . . . th-that was all I could think of . . ."

"As long as he doesn't need to be controlled to stay sane," Chaud says briskly. "Meanwhile, we have a reality to rip open. Do you know where all the materials and tools are, Lan?"

Lan starts, as if he'd forgotten all about that - and Chaud doesn't blame him for it, honestly. He's still surprised himself, and focusing on the task at hand is really the only thing he can think of doing right now.

"Uh-" Lan quickly looks back at the holographic map, and then relaxes a little. "Yeah, I've got most of the locations. Start collecting some of the materials and tools - when you get back, I should have found the rest."

Chaud nods. He gave his PET to Mimic, so he can't download the data. Instead, he gives the map a thorough glance-over, and then mentally highlights all of the furthest locations on it before running off to collect the stuff. If he's learnt anything from Mimic's games, it's that starting with objectives that are further away will make it much easier and less frantic than running long distances and not making it in time because he was too far away.


The Cybeasts brought a lot of food with them - Beast viruses and Zoanoroid soldiers - and ProtoMan is sorry that he can't stop to take more than a few bites at once. He has Mimic's voice in his head, amused despite the danger they're all in, telling him that he can eat later. He also has some of his friends telling him the same thing out loud, which is just rude.

He has some self-control! Not a whole lot, but some. Give him a little bit of credit, at least.

He spots a Beast Nightmare virus making some trouble for a few of the CM Forces humans, since it keeps vanishing before they can hit it with their weapons, and ProtoMan heads straight for it. His shadows help, swirling around him and taking him into them, and then spit him back out directly overhead.

A Variable Sword suddenly materialises on his arm, and ProtoMan sends a quick mental thanks to Mimic - even though she can't hear his thoughts like he can hear hers - as he swings it down, using it to create to a strong Sonic Boom. Sure, Nightmares can only be deleted with Sword-type chips, but attacks that're made from Swords work just fine as well.

The humans give ProtoMan a brief but grateful glance before they continue zapping the Beast viruses, and ProtoMan allows himself a moment to grin. Looks like these humans are okay with him now - or at least they know he's their ally.

Colonel! Mimic shouts - to either ProtoMan or Arcadia, whoever's available.

ProtoMan perks up, looking around to spot their Beyondard ally, and then relaxes when he sees Arcadia already on it, sending streams of Flashfire down into a large crowd of Zoanoroid soldiers from both armies. Colonel's Sword is just barely visible, cutting through those that remain, and together the two of them manage to cull the numbers. They've got it covered.

A much larger stream of fire - this one red in colour - suddenly blasts out across the battlefield. Gregar, roaring out fire, is attacking and apparently doesn't care if its own soldiers get caught in the blast.

Three Barriers get thrown up from SearchMan, Roll, and TomahawkMan, to protect the humans from being burnt to death. Not an easy task since the humans with weapons are scattered across the battlefield, and only the operators are staying in one place - namely, in front of the Research Facility, where it's easy to see them and protect them.

Falzar, Mimic quickly warns them, and ProtoMan twists around to see Falzar's great metallic wings beating as it rises into the air.

It lets out a high-pitched screech and ProtoMan hisses, hands snapping up to cover his audio receptors, and then the screech abruptly cuts off at a stream of flames blasts into Falzar's chest.

At first it looks like that came from Gregar - which makes sense since the Cybeasts are enemies, not allies - but then ProtoMan realises the stream was too thin to have come from Falzar's wolf counterpart. It takes him a second to pinpoint the source, and then he stops, stunned.

Beast Out MegaMan - in Gregar form, specifically - charges onto the battlefield with a roar that almost rivals a screech from the Poltergeist, in volume if not pitch. ProtoMan's not the only one surprised to see him - he sees Arcadia, now back in the air after helping Colonel, do a double-take mid-air to stare as MegaMan starts tearing into their enemies, and nearby, KillerMan watches with an awe that only someone who loves fighting with all their being can manage.

MegaMan's sudden arrival turns the tide of battle immediately, mostly thanks to the sheer power he has. It is fucking epic to watch.

And then a Zoanoroid soldier whacks ProtoMan over the head with a jagged-looking Sword and he remembers he's not here to just gawk at MegaMan being badass. He turns on the soldier, who looks to be immediately regretting their life choices, and tears into them with tooth and claw.

It's a little bit too tempting to start eating the Zoanoroid's internal data as soon as his claws get deep enough, but he resists the urge. He does. He resists it.

He . . . is digging his claws in deeper, and the hunger grows until it's almost overwhelming. Dammit. So much for self-control.

Something colossal crashes to the ground behind him, and he freezes. A metallic rumble of a growl is all the warning he has before he looks over his shoulder, and he has no trouble yanking his claws out of the rapidly-disintegrating Zoanoroid soldier now, spinning around with his shadows whipping around him into sharpened points.

Gregar, in all its armoured-wolf Cybeast glory, stares down at him.

ProtoMan starts to back up slowly, shadows slowly swirling around him and ready to fight or flee as he needs, heedless of the chaotic battle going on around him. He keeps his eyes fixed on the Cybeast, as if that'll stop it from immediately attacking him. Maybe if he doesn't break eye-contact-

DEMON.

What the fuck.

"Y- you can talk?" ProtoMan gapes. His shadows tremble in shock.

Another metallic growl rumbles in Gregar's throat as it lowers its head.

DEMON, it repeats. THE BEAST FACTOR THAT LIES DORMANT WITHIN YOU, CONSUMED FROM THE BODIES OF YOUR ENEMIES. HEARKEN TO IT.

"Wha-"

ProtoMan's NaviMarks flash, and sharp pain flashes in his core. He gasps and clutches at his chest, though it predictably does nothing to stop the pain, and collapses to his knees. A spike in the pain sends terror sparking through his mind and he falls forward, pressing his forehead into the ground and gritting his teeth. His shadows are whipping up a frenzy, cutting into everything they touch - luckily just enemies.

HEARKEN TO IT. YOU ARE MINE TO COMMAND. HEAR MY VOICE, AND OBEY.

"Gh-" ProtoMan gasps. "A-ah- s-sstop- what're you-"

HEARKEN TO IT.

"Stop it!" ProtoMan cries, as a new wave of pain tears throughout his entire body this time. His shadows begin to spark with black energy and he can almost feel himself slipping, deep into darkness-

HEARKEN TO IT.

"Stop it, stop it, stop it, please-" He cuts himself off with a choked scream.

HEARKEN TO-

A blue meteor slams into Gregar with enough force to send it staggering back several paces, and the meteor flips out and lands on the ground with a snarl, revealing itself to be MegaMan. Bass jumps down in front of ProtoMan a moment later, ragged cloak donned once more - seems Mimic gave it back to him, then - and his hands crackling with dark energy, a scowl fixed on his face as he glares up at Gregar.

Meanwhile, ProtoMan lets out another gasp - this one of pure relief, because the pain threatening to tear him apart vanishes with Gregar's concentration broken. His shadows still spark, but they're not as frenzied as before.

"ProtoMan!"

Arcadia lands beside him on silent wings. With a quick glance at Gregar, he tightens his lips and kneels, spreading his wings to cover ProtoMan protectively.

"Are you okay?" Arcadia asks urgently, checking him over with quick glancing touches. Using his Empath Program, most likely. "Where did it hurt you? How did it-" He cuts himself off, eyes widening, and ProtoMan guesses he must've gotten a front-row seat to witnessing (and feeling) what Gregar just tried to do. " . . . Oh. Oh, no . . ."

"Owl?" Bass calls over his shoulder, not taking his eyes off Gregar. "What the fuck happened?"

MegaMan says nothing, but his beast-like eyes flick to ProtoMan briefly, making it clear that he's wondering the same thing.

"Gregar tried to take control of him," Arcadia replies, voice shaking. That makes Bass snap his head around to stare, and MegaMan lets out a startled growl. "Be-because of the Beast Factor inside him . . . that he ate from all those Zoanoroids . . ."

Bass spits out a loud curse.

DEMON, Gregar's voice booms, and ProtoMan flinches. HEAR MY VOICE, AND OBEY. THE BEAST FACTOR WITHIN-

"It can talk?" Arcadia whispers, shocked. For a second ProtoMan is terrified that Arcadia is able to hear its voice like he can, but then he realises Arcadia's hands are still on him - of course he can hear it, if ProtoMan can hear it. "ProtoMan can hear its voice! Make it stop talking!"

"Fucking gladly," Bass snarls, and unleashes a Darkness Overload directly into Gregar's face.

It barely does anything, but it gets Gregar's attention enough to make it shut up.

And then MegaMan adds in his own opinion by roaring and hurling himself directly at the Cybeast - ProtoMan's not sure if he can hear Gregar's voice too, since he's also a Beast right now, but he clearly doesn't agree with Gregar talking to ProtoMan. MegaMan, in his Beast Out form at least, is a lot stronger than Bass, so his attack does more damage and makes Gregar stagger again.

It shakes its great head, growling, and then opens its mouth to let out a chilling howl. In response, every single Gregar-allied Beast virus and Zoanoroid soldier nearby turns to face the four NetNavis in front of their leader, eyes glowing blank red. It's very unsettling, and that's coming from ProtoMan of all NetNavis.

MegaMan backs up with Bass, and they stand together against the horde of Beast viruses and Zoanoroids. Arcadia grits his teeth and gets to his feet, Holy Fire sparking in his hands, and ProtoMan sucks in a quick gasp of air to try and steady himself and manages to push himself up to all fours. His shadows whirl around all four of them like smoke, some of them peeling off to form his shadow-claws.

Gregar utters a commanding growl and the horde surges forward single-mindedly.


SearchMan stays where he can do the most damage - that is, on a perch above the battlefield, taking advantage of the jagged structure of the Research Facility to kneel on one knee on a small platform of sorts and snipe enemies in different parts of the battlefield below.

He can hear Raika helping the CM Forces' leaders direct their soldiers through the connection with his PET. Good. The humans will need as much help as they can get with this mess. It's quite possibly the most chaotic battle that SearchMan has ever taken part in, and that's even counting Dr. Regal's attempt to take Duo's comet and kidnap Mimic for the umpteenth time.

Thirty-five, thirty-six . . . he mentally counts, shooting even as he thinks. Thirty-seven.

Some would call it a little childish, keeping count of how many enemies he deletes - but it's a habit he finds difficult to break. Nor is he willing to, because the look of pride Raika gives him when he gets a particularly high number is something SearchMan always enjoys.

Thirty-eight, thirty-nine-

SearchMan spots sudden movement near one of the canyon walls, in the direction of Gregar's location. Or at least where Gregar's location was - the wolf Cybeast has apparently decided to come down into the battlefield personally, which Falzar is not doing, though Falzar is far from idle itself.

He brings up his Scope Gun, about to continue shooting - not at Gregar, he knows damn well he can't do a thing to hurt what's basically a god - when he spots a familiar flash of red crouching in front of Gregar.

If SearchMan had a human heart, it would be in his throat. As it is, his core just pulses with shock and more than a little bit of fear as he scrambles to peer through his Scope Gun's lens, and cold dread fills him when he sees ProtoMan curled up in obvious agony in front of the Cybeast.

Crap.

What do I do? SearchMan panics. I can't fight a god, but I can't let that thing hurt ProtoMan!

He's saved from his paralysing indecision a moment later when MegaMan rockets across the battlefield and slams into Gregar, and then Bass and Arcadia come to ProtoMan's rescue a moment later as well. Good. They'll protect ProtoMan from whatever Gregar was trying to do.

He keeps an eye on what happens with the little group facing off Gregar - all four of the ultimate program NetNavis, no less - as he gets back to shooting, and it's because of that that SearchMan sees the moment when Gregar raises its head.

The Cybeast lets out a chilling howl that echoes across the battlefield, and every single Gregar-allied Beast virus and Zoanoroid soldier nearby turn to face the four ultimate program NetNavis.

Uttering a quick curse, SearchMan switches targets again, and starts shooting randomly into the sudden horde. Powerful or not, there's no way those four can take on that many enemies and win. Not without expending great amounts of their energy, anyway.


ProtoMan is about to start tearing into their new enemies when an energy bolt blasts through the head of a soldier, deleting it instantly. He's confused for a moment, until Mimic's voice explains.

SearchMan's helping you, she tells him and Arcadia, and they relay the information on to MegaMan and Bass.

"Good," MegaMan growls, and then spits out a stream of angry red flames that burns an impressive number of enemies.

Not to be outdone, Bass brings his hands together and blasts out an area-wide Shooting Star. Arcadia adds to the barrage with Avenger's Arrows taking out the few that MegaMan and Bass's attacks didn't get.

Between that and SearchMan's random snipe-shots, ProtoMan doesn't really have much to do. Normally he'd be offended that they're not leaving him anything to rip apart, but he's not entirely one-hundred-percent after Gregar's attempt to . . . what? Mind-control him? Turn him into a Zoanoroid? Whatever it was, it's left him reeling, and he's fine with being the last line of defence for now.

DEMON.

Oh, come on-

THE BEAST FACTOR THAT LIES DORMANT WITHIN YOU WILL HEARKEN TO MY VOICE, Gregar commands. HEAR ME, AND OBEY. OBEY MY VOICE. HEARKEN TO IT.

Dark Shadow half-forms itself out of the few shadows left over from ProtoMan's shadow-claws and opens its split-mouth wide to silently hiss at Gregar. Silence, evil-wolf! it snaps. Not allowed to take host!

HEARKEN TO IT.

ProtoMan hisses and abandons his shadow-claws, gripping his head. He's somewhat grateful he still has his helmet on - he can't keep his claws sheathed, and they scratch his helmet's surface in a way that would've torn up his hair otherwise.

"ProtoMan!" Arcadia notices what's going on - of course he does, thank the makers for his Empath Program - and glares up at Gregar. "You leave my brother alone, dammit!"

He switches targets and unleashes no less than five Avenger's Arrows at once. It does nothing to actually hurt Gregar, but the Arrows are enough to distract it, and ProtoMan nearly goes limp when the Cybeast's voice vanishes from his mind.

"Isn't there a way we can shut that bastard up permanently?" Bass demands, hurling out Hell's Rollings to cut through a group of Zoanoroid soldiers. A couple that managed to escape the attack get sniped by SearchMan.

"Not unless we delete it," MegaMan snarls. He's switched to using claws now, tearing into the Beast viruses and Zoanoroids near him in a similar manner to the way ProtoMan uses his own claws, just a little different. He is a wolf, after all.

"I don't think any of us have that kinda power," Arcadia mutters, gritting his teeth. "Unless Trill gave you a boost when he gave you the Beast Out ability?"

MegaMan doesn't reply for a moment, busy ripping apart a bulky-looking Beast virus that ProtoMan can't remember the name of right now. "No," their adoptive brother eventually replies, jumping away to join them again, spiked tail lashing. "This is the power I normally have when fused with Trill. It's enough to hurt the Cybeasts, but not outright delete them."

"Fucking shit!" Bass snaps, chucking an Earthbreaker out. "They'd better hurry the fuck up and make that Fossa Ambience thing in there! We're screwed if they don't!"

Before any of them can respond to that, Gregar unleashes another howl - this one more angry than chilling, and the ground trembles as it comes forward to join the fray once again. Its army scatters beneath its paws, making way for it, and it stops and rears up its head.

A faint red glow builds up in its throat, and ProtoMan can almost feel his brothers tensing around him.

"Shit-shit-shit-shit-shit-" Bass splutters, trying to back up, but there's nowhere for them to go - they have a Cybeast on one side, and enemies on every other side.

Arcadia and MegaMan try to clear a path, but there's too many, even with their fighting and even with SearchMan's rapidly-increasing snipe-shots. ProtoMan doesn't need Arcadia's Empath Program to tell that SearchMan is panicking as well - obviously he can see the problem they have, but there's not a whole lot he can do about it, just like them.

The red glow grows in Gregar's throat until it's a full-on blaze, and then fire roars as Gregar spits it out at them. A huge fireball, so hot that even NetNavis who aren't normally affected by temperature like ProtoMan is can feel it.

ProtoMan can hear Mimic's mental screaming. He can hear Arcadia's terrified intake of breath. He can hear MegaMan's angry growling. He can hear Bass's desperate gasp. He can hear SearchMan's panicked cry.

And the demon within him decides it doesn't like that.

Cold darkness swirls around him and ProtoMan willingly gives himself over to it just like he has so many times before. He grows colder and colder until he feels like he's made of ice, regardless of the oppressive heat from Gregar's fireball, and ProtoMan stops thinking.

And the Poltergeist starts acting.

Owl-brother is scared, its host-family is scared and angry, and the Poltergeist directs all its protective rage and ice-cold hatred toward the being responsible for it - the evil-wolf, the creature of Beasts that tried to take its host away, tried to force its host to do something neither of them wanted to do.

Oh, it knows. It knows exactly what the evil-wolf wanted, and the Poltergeist will not stand for that.

It screeches its rage, its hatred, and the small sun that threatens its host-family is swallowed into its being. Then it spits the small sun back up, right back at the evil-wolf, and spares a moment to laugh - in its own glitched way - when the evil-wolf is sent reeling by its own attack.

The Poltergeist rips open its mouth and screams. The shadow of the evil-wolf responds, flickering for a moment before it surges up in tendrils that wrap around their owner, and the evil-wolf howls. The Poltergeist does not think it imagines the fear and confusion.

DEMON, HEAR MY VOICE AND OBEY.

"Silence!" The Poltergeist is not made to speak, but it does so anyway. Its host can speak, so it borrows the ability, though it is not complete. "Will not take host! Will not hurt host-family! SILENCE, BEAST!"

OBEY.

The Poltergeist screams - and reality does its bidding.

The air around it distorts and suddenly it is in the air above the evil-wolf. The evil-wolf's head snaps up to look at it - with some effort, because its shadow still holds it captive - and the Poltergeist hisses out a second scream before lashing out with its own being, its own shadows.

A roar of pain heralds a successful attack, and the Poltergeist screams again to force reality to take it back down to its host-family. It does not see their faces, not in a way it can fully recognise, but the part of it that is its host recognises them, and thus the Poltergeist knows it must protect them.

"ProtoMan!" owl-brother cries, stepping forward. The Poltergeist glances at him and tries its best to emulate what it knows is called a 'smile'. It thinks it is successful, because owl-brother now looks less afraid and more accepting. " . . . Alright. We'll take care of the grunts."

The Poltergeist desires to thank him, but it will leave that to its host later. The memories it leaves behind when its time runs out will be scattered at best, but it will try its best to preserve this one.

Owl-brother, blue-brother, and angry-brother attack the enemies surrounding them. Not many are left, so the Poltergeist knows it does not need to worry about them - so it turns its full attention to the evil-wolf.

The evil-wolf growls, deep and metallic. HOW DO YOU RESIST MY VOICE? it demands.

The Poltergeist spits out a glitched hiss and does not bother answering.

DEMON, HEARKEN TO-

Shadows from the Poltergeist's being slice out and tear into the evil-wolf's jaws, ripping the lower half off. The voice of the evil-wolf is mental, yes, but the message is clear - be silent.

The evil-wolf understands the message, and it roars as best as it can with half a jaw. Fire spits out like acid, unable to be aimed without the lower jaw, and the evil-wolf makes a choked noise that the Poltergeist cannot help but laugh at.

A part of it that most likely comes directly from its host thinks, try and burn us now, stupid dogmeat!

The evil-wolf howls, a strangled sound of pain and rage and hatred, and the Poltergeist decides it has dragged this out long enough.

It gathers shadow-energy into its being - to those watching, it simply looks as though it is inhaling deeply, and every shadow within the area flickers in response - and then unleashes it, ripping open its own mouth to allow a beam of black light to burst out. The metallic armoured flesh of the evil-wolf disintegrates where the beam touches it, and this time, the strangled howl the evil-wolf lets out is pure pain.

The Poltergeist drags up more shadow-energy, snatching it from the evil-wolf's own shadow, and pours more of it into the beam of black light. The evil-wolf shudders, but cannot move, cannot escape.

It is destroyed, breaking into energy with one final, echoing howl. Those it infected with its Beast Factor see its destruction and panic, and their fear almost makes the Poltergeist 'smile' again.

The Poltergeist senses the second Beast - the evil-bird - before it sees it. The evil-bird has witnessed the destruction of its counterpart and it clearly desires to take its enemy's energy for itself, to make itself stronger and unbeatable.

"Falzar!" blue-brother screams out a warning. "Stop it! Don't let it touch Gregar's data!"

The Poltergeist's host-family rushes to comply, but it is unnecessary. The Poltergeist already knows what to do.

It gathers the energy of the evil-wolf, much like it did with the shadow-energy. It feels the energy being drawn into its being, feels its host-family watching in stunned silence, and the Poltergeist absorbs the evil-wolf's energy before the evil-bird can even take to the skies.

The Poltergeist hisses as the evil-wolf's energy battles within it, fighting to take control despite no longer having a mind or body to call its own. That is its natural instinct, to take control of anything it comes into contact with. But the Poltergeist is strong, powerful, and it has what the evil-wolf's energy no longer has - a will.

It is able to quell the evil-wolf's energy, and absorbs it fully to settle alongside its already-immense shadow-power. The Poltergeist can feel it, no longer fighting but settling into a new being, assimilated into its shadow-power. It is sorry that its host must take on this power as well, and hopes that this will not change its host too much. It loves its host the way he is, and its host loves it in return, it knows this. It feels this.

So with that in mind, the Poltergeist uses the evil-wolf's energy for itself - it rears up, straining its being, and rips open its mouth wide to screech.

The shadows - all those belonging to enemies aside from the evil-bird, which takes to the air before it can be targeted - react accordingly. The enemies' shadows reach up and tear into their owners, and the Poltergeist commands them to rip the enemies apart.

And they do.

It is only a short moment, but suddenly the enemies are no more. Those that remain quickly vanish; gone, deleted, dead. All that is left is the evil-bird, alone and unwelcome, a god without its subjects.

The Poltergeist screams and forces reality to obey. The evil-bird is the only enemy now, and if it is gone, its host-family can end this War of Beasts and return home. That thought is very pleasant for the Poltergeist.

It does not force reality to deposit it above the evil-bird, like it did to the evil-wolf - no, instead, the Poltergeist appears in the shadow the evil-bird still leaves behind on the ground even as it hovers above. The Poltergeist looks up at the evil-bird and screeches, and the shadow it stands in responds in a frenzy.

The evil-bird attempts to fly away, to flee like the coward Beast it is, but a thick tendril of its shadow whips out and snatches its leg, pulling it back. The evil-bird screeches and twists around, evidently deciding it will face the Poltergeist rather than flee - good. The Poltergeist enjoys a hunt, but it enjoys a fight more.

It sees owl-brother coming to its aid, feathers bright and glowing and painful to look at but it knows that means owl-brother is strong, and blue-brother streaks across the ground after him, a Beast which is not evil. Angry-brother follows slowly - not because he is slow, but because the rest of its host-family is fast - and crackles with the dark energy that is similar to the shadow-power of the Poltergeist but different.

The evil-bird distracts it from its host-family, shooting phantom-claws at it. Rude.

The Poltergeist screams and forces reality to snatch it out of the way, as many times as it takes before the phantom-claws stop dropping, and-

-ProtoMan staggers, suddenly back to his senses for a moment-

-it shakes its head, disoriented, and spits out a frustrated hiss. Its time is almost up. It cannot continue borrowing its host's body, not without destroying its host's mind. The Poltergeist does not want that. But it also does not want to leave its host in a vulnerable position, weakened and unable to fight, with the evil-bird hovering over him.

It has to end this quickly, or at least set up a victory for its host-family. The latter is more likely, given that flickering between itself and its host usually heralds the need for a swift exit on the Poltergeist's part. Its host's body is reaching the limits of what it can force it to do.

Luckily, its host-family arrives, and owl-brother unleashes his burning-bright flames at the evil-bird. Blue-brother jumps over him with a roar befitting that of a Beast and slams his claws into the evil-bird's head. Angry-brother takes longer to arrive, but he announces said arrival with a blast of the dark energy that is so like shadow-energy but so different at the same time.

The Poltergeist-

-ProtoMan gets to his feet and-

-staggers, hissing again, and then rips open its mouth to screech. Its host-family get out of its way as it unleashes a hastily-charged beam of black light, but this one is far weaker than the one that destroyed the evil-wolf. It is still powerful, though.

And the Poltergeist feels reality shatter at the impact. Up in the sky, the space between the two realities is being forced open - this is what happens when beings of equal power attack each other, and one cannot overpower the other. Even with the extra power the Beast-energy of the evil-wolf gave it, the Poltergeist can no longer fight in this battle.

It brings shadow-energy to itself-

-it breaks apart for a second as ProtoMan gasps-

-but that second is all that is needed for the Poltergeist to lose its grip on the energy, and it collapses to the ground. It feels more than sees owl-brother coming down to land, but he does not come too close, likely fearful of burning the Poltergeist with his holy light.

"Guys!" owl-brother calls to the rest of its host-family. "ProtoMan can't fight anymore!"

"What the fuck makes you say that-" Angry-brother whirls around, then sees the Poltergeist on the ground, flickering. " . . . Oh. Shit. How the fuck're we supposed to beat Falzar without him?"

Blue-brother lands a blow to the evil-bird's head, sending it snapping to the side, and reality shudders. Blue-brother is powerful as a Beast, but alone he cannot destroy the evil-bird, only stall it. The Poltergeist can destroy the evil-bird, but-

-he returns to himself with a gasp, shuddering on the ground. There's a warning screaming in his head, and ProtoMan can't ignore it as well as he usually can - HP and energy severely depleted, immediate sleep-mode and recovery advised.

Makers-fucking-dammit.

Falzar lets out a high-pitched shriek and bats MegaMan away with its metallic wings, spreading them wide. The impact makes the Fossa Ambience in the sky widen - well, at least they don't need to worry about that anymore - but ProtoMan can tell what's about to happen even before it happens.

HEARKEN TO MY WORDS! Falzar screeches. Only ProtoMan hears its voice, but every NetNavi still out - which is almost all of them - feels its effects. THOSE WHO HEAR MY VOICE AND THOSE WHO DO NOT! YOU WILL BECOME MY SERVANTS, MY THRALLS, MY ZOANOROIDS! COME TO ME, BEASTS, AND FIGHT AT MY SIDE!

ProtoMan expects it, but he doesn't feel any pain like he did when Gregar tried this. He's puzzled for a moment, wondering why, and then a sharp cry from Arcadia and Bass has him trying to get up, terrified - because even though it doesn't seem to be affecting him anymore, it's definitely affecting everyone else.

Everyone else who isn't ProtoMan or MegaMan, evidently. MegaMan is understandable - he's already a Beast, one made from Trill's power, no less. But why not ProtoMan? Is it because he's too weakened from going Poltergeist?

A memory flashes through his mind, and realisation comes with it. Oh. He . . . ate Gregar. He ate a fucking Cybeast.

That . . . that'd probably make him immune, yeah. It's unexpected, but not unwelcome.

"Arcadia," ProtoMan whispers, dragging himself over to his little brother, who's collapsed on the ground in agony, wings curled around himself like he's trying to protect himself from Falzar's Beast Factor. "Arcadia . . ."

Oh, he wishes he could make Arcadia immune, too.

"What do we do?" MegaMan asks, backing up. If he had fur, it'd be bristling, regardless of whether he's a wolf right now. "What do we do, ProtoMan?"

"I don't know," ProtoMan chokes out, holding Arcadia close. Nearby, Bass is writhing on the ground, hands gripping his head, and ProtoMan's shadows try to wrap him up, try to help him, but they're too weak and Bass is in too much pain.

What do they do?


Trill watches the Cybeast screeching, and he watches his friends screaming, and he wishes he could do something, but he doesn't know what.

He's the Synchroniser, right? So . . . so he should be able to do something, but all he feels when he looks at Falzar is the need to run and hide until all this is over. He doesn't even have MegaMan to comfort him, because he gave MegaMan the Beast Out ability so he could help the others fight.

MegaMan is out there fighting to save everyone in both realities. He's fighting, and he's doing his best, even though he's probably just as terrified as Trill is, because he's a hero. That's what a hero does.

Trill doesn't feel like a hero. He just feels scared.

"In the sky!" Iris suddenly exclaims, startling Trill. "Look!"

Lan and Chaud - who've gotten together all the stuff they need for the thingy that'll make the fake Fossa Ambience - look up and stare at the screen. Trill stares, too.

He hadn't noticed it before, because he'd been too focused on Falzar and how much it's hurting Trill's family and friends, but there's a huge white crack in the sky, pulsing with a familiar energy that he can feel even from way inside this building.

The Fossa Ambience. Not a fake one, like the one they're trying to make - a real one.

" . . . Guess we don't need this thing, then," Chaud comments, the first one to speak. Trill thinks the only reason he can is because he's so used to fear it hardly matters to him anymore - MegaMan said so, but he said it in a sad tone, even though Trill's not really sure why not being able to feel fear is a bad thing.

"Yeah," Lan says, in a kinda stunned tone. He blinks and seems to get over it quickly. "Alright, forget this - I'll contact Dad, we can use that Fossa Ambience instead, it'll be more stable anyway. Iris!"

"Powering up dimensional generator," Iris reports, working at the console she's been at since the fight started, shooting the building's weapons to help as much as she could. Chaud darts over to help her.

Meanwhile, Lan takes out his PET and calls Dad. "Can you see the Fossa Ambience?"

"Yes," Dad replies grimly. Trill presses against Lan's side as he continues. "It's in the real world, above DenTech City. The other Cross Fusion members are already fighting the viruses coming through. What's happening?"

"We didn't make it." Lan puts a hand on Trill's helmet, and Trill is grateful for it. It feels like comfort - the next best thing from MegaMan is Lan, after all. "Gregar's been deleted already, but Falzar's still around, and I think it's trying to infect everyone with the Beast Factor!"

"What!?"

"MegaMan and ProtoMan are the only ones who aren't affected," Lan explains quickly. "But they made that Fossa Ambience appear when they attacked Falzar. It should be more stable than an artificial one, right?"

"Right," Dad agrees. "Get ready - we're powering up the dimensional generator now! Let us know when you're ready, Lan!"

Lan nods. He places his PET on the main console, and then turns to look down at Trill.

" . . . Trill," Lan says gently, kneeling down. "Listen to me. I know you're scared. And . . . and I'm sorry I have to ask you this, but . . . we need you now. Can you use your power? Can you erase the Beast Factor?"

Yes, Trill is scared. He's even more scared than he's ever been in his entire life, short as it is. He just wants to go back home, where things aren't so scary, and the worst thing he has to worry about is whether or not he's accidentally bullying someone because he's being selfish.

But Trill isn't at home. He's here. And his family is fighting a monster to protect everyone they care about.

That's what a hero does.

"I'll do what I can," Trill says, nodding firmly. Maybe if he acts brave, he'll start to be brave.

Lan nods back to him. Trill can see the gentle concern in his eyes - the kinda look Lan usually gives Mimic or Chaud when they're not looking, the kinda look MegaMan gives ProtoMan sometimes, the kinda look Trill has come to associate with the love of a family that will do anything to keep its members safe.

Trill will do everything he can to make sure his family can be safe again.

Lan gets to his feet and glances over at Chaud and Iris. By now, they've managed to get everything ready - at least as far as Trill can tell - and Chaud gives Lan a quick thumbs-up. Lan nods back to him, then turns to his PET on the main console.

"We're ready, Dad," he says.

"Alright," Dad replies. "Activate the dimensional generator! Aim at the Fossa Ambience!"

Voices, faint but still detectable, answer him. The building's systems pick up a surge of energy from the Fossa Ambience, and Chaud and Iris answer by activating its own dimensional generator - they, too, aim for the Fossa Ambience.

Both beams connect in the space between realities, and Trill can feel it. This is what he needs to use his power - the power of the Synchroniser, which he still doesn't really understand, but he knows what he wants to do and he can at least make his power do that much.

And Trill wants the Beast Factor to go away.


The surge of energy is something even humans can feel, and Raika is no exception. He watches in awe as the two dimensional beams connect in the Fossa Ambience, and some kind of . . . light emerges from them at the same time.

It's not the familiar light of the dimensional area. It's not Cross Fusion, either - no one in their group is dumb enough to try that right now.

It's . . . it's something else entirely. Raika can't quite work out what it is, until SearchMan drops down from the platform above him, free of Falzar's attempt to turn him and every other NetNavi into a Zoanoroid - mostly because Falzar is watching the light too, though its expression is impossible to discern given that it's a giant metallic bird - and lands beside him.

"Trill," SearchMan breathes, just as awed as Raika. "It's the power of the Synchroniser."

"Oh," is all Raika can manage.

The light continues to spill out, and there are still a few Beast viruses left over - somehow, they managed to avoid the shadow-deletion that the Poltergeist forced on the vast majority of their enemies. Raika doesn't blame it for missing a few, given that, at the time, it had literally just eaten a Cybeast.

The few Beast viruses left from that purge try to run from the light - perhaps they can sense that there's something dangerous about it, even if they don't know what - but they can't outrun it. The light mows them down, and they simply . . . vanish.

Just like that. No flash of light, no disintegrating pixels, nothing - they just stop existing.

Falzar, evidently realising the danger it's in, tries to take to the sky to escape. Raika seriously doubts it could be safe anywhere - it's too big to hide, and no matter how fast Falzar is, it likely can't outfly something like this.

Before Falzar can even beat its great wings, the light spills over it, and it vanishes with a shriek that echoes across the canyon. The light keeps going, right over the CM Forces and Raika's friends and the Research Facility behind them - but it does nothing to them. It seems this light is only seeking out digital beings with the Beast Factor inside them, making them vanish without so much as a trace.

"It's over," Commander Mask breathes out, looking stunned. No one else seems to know how to react.

"We did it!" Dingo shouts joyfully, breaking the spell, and all at once every human - and the few NetNavis who haven't run out of HP yet - begins to celebrate.

SearchMan gives Raika a hearty nudge on the shoulder, and Raika turns to him with a grin. He doesn't care who's around to see this right now - they just won a great victory, and he wants to hug his NetNavi, dammit.

So he does.

"R-Raika!?" SearchMan splutters, startled, and Raika just laughs and squeezes harder because damn this feels good.

They just won.

(Later, when he's not so giddy from the victory, he'll think of how this could only be achieved by murder, and the guilt will set in - but just for now, his conscience is clear, and he wants to celebrate.)

After a moment of continued startlement, SearchMan huffs out a laugh and banishes his Scope Gun, bringing up his arms to hug Raika in return. Raika can tell he's holding back quite a bit - NetNavis are considerably stronger than humans, after all, so he appreciates the effort to not accidentally crush his spine.

"Well done," Baryl says, surprising Raika into pulling back a little - though he doesn't let go of SearchMan. Baryl is giving him a half-smile, seemingly amused at Raika's display of affection, but there's obvious gratitude in his expression. "Thanks to you and your friends, we were able to put an end to this terrible war."

"It wasn't just us!" Maylu speaks up, bouncing happily. "Everyone helped out, you know! We just did what we could!"

"And for that, you have our thanks," Commander Mask adds, nodding to them.

"This is awesome!" Dingo shouts, bouncing even more than Maylu, with TomahawkMan looking exasperated but fond at his side. "We beat the Cybeasts! We-"

He cuts himself off as a strange light suddenly envelops him and TomahawkMan, and they both vanish.

"Wha-" Maylu is cut off by the same light, making her and Roll vanish too.

"Time to go," Mimic mutters, and that's all the warning Raika is given before the light envelops himself and SearchMan as well.


MegaMan wasn't really expecting the light that suddenly made Bass vanish, nor was he expecting it when ProtoMan and then Arcadia vanished, too. Then the light takes him, and suddenly he's no longer a Beast, though he still feels the power dwelling within his systems.

He's back in Lan's PET, now. Stunned, he activates the Navi-hologram, and then gasps when he sees the bright, shifting colours of the Fossa Ambience all around him. The only comfort he has is that he can see everyone else, too - Lan, obviously, the twins and their Navis, Bass looking almost outraged on Mimic's free shoulder, Raika with SearchMan, Maylu and Roll, and Dingo and TomahawkMan.

Looks like it's time to go home.

But . . . where's Trill?

"Everyone."

They all turn around, and MegaMan is more than relieved to see Iris standing behind them, with Trill's Navi-hologram on her shoulder. The relief turns into concern when he sees Trill's pensive expression - just what could his little brother be thinking about that has him so obviously sad?

"Iris," Lan says, smiling. "It . . . it's over, right? The Beast War?"

Iris nods, smiling back. "It is. You didn't need to help, but you still did anyway. From the bottom of my core, and on behalf of our reality, I thank you." She bows to them - a gesture she probably learnt while in Japan, because MegaMan doesn't recall seeing any natives of Beyondard doing it while they were there.

"Beyondard's future starts here," Lan remarks. "We're cheering you guys on!"

Dingo adds in an actual cheer, and Maylu grins and claps her hands together. Raika nods his agreement, and the twins exchange amused glances, though they agree as well.

"Thank you," Iris says softly. She glances at Trill, who takes in a deep breath.

MegaMan suddenly gets a feeling of deep, deep dread. That's the kind of thing you only do if you're about to deliver heavy news - and he doesn't like the fact that Trill is doing it now.

"MegaMan . . . everyone . . ." Trill looks around at them all, and there are tears in his eyes. "I . . . I'm gonna stay here."

"What!?" MegaMan can't help but exclaim. "B-but . . ."

"It's alright, Trill," Iris tells him. "The Beast Factor is gone, and the war is over - if you want, you can go with MegaMan and the others. You don't need to stay here anymore."

Trill looks downcast for a moment, and then he looks up again, something like determination shining in his eyes despite the tears. "I wanna stay," he says firmly. "All those people were hurt by the Beast War, and so many places were destroyed . . . and I . . ." He looks at MegaMan. "You're so brave, and you help everyone you can. I wanna be like that. I wanna help people, too - and the people of this reality need all the help they can get. I . . . I don't wanna go, but . . . I wanna help them. I'm . . . I'm s-sorry . . ."

"Trill . . ." Lan trails off.

Trill's tears spill over and he starts crying. MegaMan instinctively goes straight over to him, heedless of whether or not their time together is running out - because his little brother is crying, and he doesn't want Trill to cry.

"It's okay," he says softly, hugging Trill tightly. "I understand. I don't want you to go either, but I'm so, so proud of you for making this decision. You know that, right?"

Trill nods against his chest.

"I love you, Trill," MegaMan goes on. He almost can't get the words out - he's nearly crying himself. "I love you and I'm so proud of you!"

Warmth at his sides makes him look up, surprised. Arcadia stands on side, with a sympathetic and sad half-smile on his face, and ProtoMan crouches on his other, Dark Shadow half-draped over him, to nudge Trill with his head - he's not wearing his helmet anymore, maybe he gave it to Dark Shadow while MegaMan wasn't looking. Bass doesn't come up close like they do, but he stands a few feet away, watching with something like sorrow. He may not have gotten on that well with Trill, but it looks like he got used to Trill being around, too.

"We'll miss you," Arcadia says, putting one hand on MegaMan's back and the other on Trill's helmet. ProtoMan doesn't speak, but he's purring loud enough to almost drown out Arcadia's words. Bass just nods, not even pretending to hesitate.

"I'll miss you too," Trill whispers. "Th-thank you . . ."

MegaMan doesn't want Trill to go. He wishes he could tell Trill to stay, but if he does that, Trill would be sad - he doesn't want to force his little brother to do something out of his own selfish desires. Trill is . . . Trill is making a huge, selfless sacrifice, and MegaMan refuses to cheapen that by begging him to stay.

They stay like that for a few moments, just enjoying the feeling of their family around them, but eventually it has to end. Of course it does - MegaMan and the others have to go back home, and Trill and Iris need to get back to Beyondard.

So even though it tears his core apart, MegaMan lets go and steps back. ProtoMan, Arcadia, and Bass come with him, and Trill just looks so alone that MegaMan almost regrets it immediately, but there's a small smile on his little brother's face.

"I love you all," Trill says. "And . . . one last thing, before I go . . ."

"What is it?" MegaMan asks, almost desperate for any bit of extra time he can get with Trill.

To his surprise, though, Trill is looking at ProtoMan.

"Gregar's Beast Factor is still inside you, isn't it?" he asks.

ProtoMan looks surprised. He glances down at his chest - his NaviMark - as if he can see the Beast Factor that now resides within him.

"Aw, crap," he mutters, and MegaMan can't help it - he splutters out a laugh. ProtoMan gives him a wounded look.

"I tried to get rid of all the Beast Factor, but . . . it didn't get rid of that," Trill murmurs sadly. "I'm . . . I'm sorry."

"I don't think it's your fault," Arcadia tells him, with a quick glance at ProtoMan. "The Poltergeist Program probably latched onto the Beast Factor the same way it did the cat virus. Nothing could've torn it out after that."

"Still, though . . ."

"Wait," ProtoMan suddenly interrupts, mismatched eyes wide. "Wait, does that mean I'm a Beast-Navi? I'm . . ." He's starting to look horrified now. "I'm a Virus Navi, and a cat-Navi, and a Beast-Navi? What the hell?" He lets out a confused scream and grips his hair. "What even am I anymore!?"

"You're a mess, is what you are," Bass deadpans. ProtoMan just screams again.

Trill giggles, despite the sadness still shining in his eyes. "If . . . if you want, I could try to . . . make it a bit better? I dunno how much I can do, but . . ."

"You wanna try refining it for him," MegaMan supplies, and Trill nods gratefully.

"Anything," ProtoMan agrees fervently. "Please. Makers, why does this always happen to me . . ."

"Because it's you," Arcadia says, patting him on the head, and ProtoMan groans loudly.

Trill steps forward and raises a hand, just like he did when he gave MegaMan the Beast Out ability permanently. ProtoMan willingly stays still, too worked up to be even remotely nervous with Trill's hand actually touching him, and lets Trill do his thing.

There's a bright flash and MegaMan - along with several of the others - cries out. The flash dies down as quick as it arrived, and MegaMan blinks his eyes back into working order, then takes a look at ProtoMan.

He . . . looks basically the same. MegaMan wasn't sure what he was expecting - maybe a Beast Out form, like he has, given that ProtoMan ate Gregar itself. But there's nothing visible that-

Something flicks out from under ProtoMan's long, messy hair. MegaMan stares, stunned, as what can only be a tail waves lazily behind ProtoMan, long-haired and ridiculously fluffy, as white and messy as his hair is.

"I have a tail!" ProtoMan shrieks upon noticing it, grinning. "I have a tail! Yes! Finally!" Dark Shadow celebrates with him, scrambling around to inspect ProtoMan's new tail with its split-mouth open wide in a grin. Arcadia is just laughing beside them, though whether he's laughing at ProtoMan's reaction or if he's just happy for his brother isn't really clear. Doesn't matter, anyway.

MegaMan leans over to Trill. "You gave him a tail?" he asks in an amused murmur.

"Well, he was complaining about not having one . . ." Trill gives an embarrassed shrug.

MegaMan laughs.

"Makers, he's gonna be insufferable for weeks now, isn't he?" Bass mutters, though he's obviously happy for ProtoMan too.

Iris clears her throat, suddenly breaking up the happy moment, and MegaMan's amusement fades so abruptly that he's just left feeling empty for a second.

Right. Time to go. Time to leave Trill.

Trill evidently understands as well, because he looks up at MegaMan, sombre and sad. He gives MegaMan one final hug, and then backs away until he's standing on Iris's shoulder once more.

"Goodbye, Trill," MegaMan says softly. ProtoMan, Arcadia, and Bass echo him, as do the rest of their family and friends.

"Goodbye, MegaMan," Trill replies, with a sad smile. "Goodbye, everyone."

Iris glances at him, then looks at MegaMan. She inclines her head - a silent promise to look after Trill. MegaMan nods back, accepting it. He'll hold her to that promise, and he knows she'll keep it.

The light of the Fossa Ambience grows suddenly, until it's almost overwhelming. MegaMan manages to catch one last glimpse of Trill and Iris before the light overtakes his vision, and then they're gone.


The light stays too bright for him to see anything for a few moments, and then Lan feels an impact that almost makes him cry out. It's less of a painful impact and more of a startling one, though, so he's fine.

His vision clears up quickly, and he blinks away the last remnants of the Fossa Ambience in his eyes. Then he looks around, almost terrified that something will have gone wrong, that he and the others will still be in Beyondard somehow.

He nearly goes limp with relief when he sees the city around them. DenTech City, with its tall buildings and familiar non-digital sky. Home. Finally.

"We did it," he whispers, smiling.

"Yeah," MegaMan agrees quietly. He's smiling too, but it's a sad smile - of course, because Trill is still in Beyondard, having decided to stay behind.

Lan had been shocked when Trill announced that, but . . . it didn't really come as a total surprise. Trill likes helping people just like MegaMan does. Of course he'd wanna stay and help the people of Beyondard, even if it meant leaving MegaMan and everyone else. Trill is so brave, and Lan couldn't be prouder.

"Hey!"

He glances up, and gets to his feet, grinning, as he spots the rest of the Cross Fusion members - all of them except their reality's Baryl, of course - running toward the Beyondard group. The street is half-ruined from battles that Lan and the others haven't seen, but given what Mimic told them about the Super Cybeast, this is probably better than what their anime-selves got.

"You're back!" Jasmine shouts joyfully, jumping on the closest person - which happens to be Raika, who kinda freezes with a look of such comical shock that the entire group starts laughing at him, even SearchMan.

"Welcome home, all of you," Pride says warmly, looking at each of them.

Lan watches with a grin, and is about to join them when MegaMan suddenly makes a startled noise. That's the only warning he gets before Bass's Navi-hologram is suddenly in his face, looking uncharacteristically worried.

"Where the fuck did Mimic and Chaud go?" Bass demands.

Lan freezes.

It takes him a moment to fully register those words, and during that time, he's aware of everyone else suddenly going silent and staring at Bass in shock. And when Lan finally does manage to register what Bass said . . .

"What do you mean?" he asks, dreading the answer even though he knows what it will be.

"They're not here!" Bass snaps, frantic. "I got booted out of Mimic's PET and into yours when we got back!"

"Oh, no," MegaMan says softly, eyes wide. "You don't . . . you don't think they're still in Beyondard, do you?"

"No," Lan whispers, horrified. "Oh, please, no . . ."

The rift between realities has closed. If Mimic and Chaud are still in Beyondard . . .

They can't get home.


This . . . is not home.

In fact, Mimic is pretty sure this isn't really anywhere. As far as she can see - and she can see pretty damn far - it's just black nothingness, in all directions. There's nothing to break it, nothing to suggest that this is some plane of existence that actually, well, exists. It's just nothing.

The only thing that she knows is that Chaud is with her. He's just as confused as she is. ProtoMan and Arcadia are here too, somehow materialised even though their Beyondard adventures should, by all rights, be fucking over by now.

What the hell is going on?

"Did this happen in the anime?" Arcadia whispers to her, eyes wide and almost scared.

"N . . . no . . ." Mimic replies quietly. "They just . . . they went straight back home . . ."

"Then where are we?" ProtoMan wonders, mismatched eyes wide and worried.

Mimic just shakes her head. She has no idea. Not even in the anime did she ever see anything like this.

" . . . Are we dead?" ProtoMan asks, looking like the very idea is terrifying - and it is. His new tail curls around his legs, bristling like his hair, and Dark Shadow presses against his side, looking around.

"I don't feel dead," Chaud replies. Mimic can feel his uncertainty, though.

But it still doesn't make sense. How could they be dead? And if they are dead, where's everyone else? The only thing that could've killed them is the Fossa Ambience, and if it killed them, it should've killed everyone else. Which . . . is not a nice thought, but it'd at least be some kinda explanation.

"You are not currently dead."

Mimic freezes.

She can feel her own shock reflected in Chaud - they're used to hearing their own voices coming out of each others' mouths, just with some slight variations. But that voice just now was a perfect, exact copy of Mimic's own voice, just . . . oddly and unnervingly calm.

ProtoMan and Arcadia feel the same, too. They exchange wide-eyed glances, looking just as unsettled as Mimic and Chaud feel.

The four of them - well, five, with Dark Shadow - turn around slowly, and Mimic can't really contain a gasp of shock, nor can her twin brother or their Navis.

Standing a few feet away from them is an almost-exact copy of Mimic herself. Right down to the clothes, the hair, everything - except for the face, which is just a white mask with two large, black rings in place of eyes, and a thin black line coming down from each ring to the bottom of the mask. The rings are slightly dented on the top, giving it an almost sad expression.

"Greetings," the not-Mimic clone says with Mimic's voice, without a visible mouth. "I am one of the Watchers. I have brought you here because I need to speak with you." It shifts its head slightly, and Mimic feels those dented ring-eyes staring straight at her. "Specifically, with Mimic Hikari."