Operator To Navi Chapter VI Part 3: Pain Of Memories, a mega man fanfic

Z: ………………………………………… I…………………… I don't…………………feel…………… very…………… good……………
D. Zero: Sis?!!?
E-kun: Zeal-sama???
Z: …………Uuuuuuuuuuuuuungh…… [passes out]
Chibi-chan: Z!!!!
Miri-chan: SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIS!!!
D. X: Somebody get Gate!!!
L-chan: I-I-I-I'm on it! [runs off to get Gate]
D. Zero: X, we better take care of the reviews until Z gets back.
D. X: Right.
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Pyrogirll23: D. X: Tell me about it.

Song: D. Zero: Must be pretty cool, but Zeal wants Styles that don't exist.

Sol Sabre: D. X: WHOA!!!

Red Chaos Mage: D. Zero: I'll have Gate check it out. Once he's done with sis, I mean.

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Chapter VI Part 3: Pain Of Memories

"Sir!"

"Wha? ProtoMan?"

"Sir! Muramasa's taken quite some damage!"

"Ah crap! What happened?!"

"One word, four letters."

"Bass."

Chaud clenched his fists, before he looked at Shine, lying in bed. She was horribly weakened, and could barely move anymore. And finally, the pain had become too much, and she passed out. Even though Chaud didn't know how she could be in pain, he already had a sneaky suspicion.

"How bad is it?" Chaud finally asked his Navi.

"Well, she's practically falling apart," Proto said, looking at the girl he was holding.

"Damn," Chaud cursed angrily.

Ragna raised his lance and blocked the swing from Bass' sword, but was barely able to hold up. The black Navi was driven by anger only, and with an independent Navi, that was bad news. Bass kept on hacking at Ragna, who did his best to block every hit, but it was getting really tough.

Razor easily loaded his Buster and fired a blast at Bass, but the Navi dodged and sent a blast of plasma at Razor. The blast was too fast for Razor to dodge, so it hit him straight in his chest, sending him back with a yelp. He crashed into the ground, hard, and managed to get up pretty soon, but Bass wasn't done yet.

With a kick, Ragna was sent away, crashing into a nearby rock. Bass then pulled out his Busters, and began firing at Razor. The other Navi could do nothing about it, and all blasts hit him, knocking the breath out of him as chunks of his armor were blown off. But even so, he didn't scream. He refused to let a single scream erupt from his throat.

He raised his arms in protection, but it helped nothing as the blasts kept pushing him further back. Razor clenched his eyes shut and gritted his teeth, making sure he wouldn't scream. But even so, the pain was starting to get rather hard to bear.

However, Bass' shooting pattern was interrupted by a jackhammer making contact with his head, sending him sliding across the ground. Quint landed on the ground, and immediately jammed his jackhammer against the ground. It instantly whirred back to life, hammering against the ground like crazy. But if there's one thing you shouldn't do, it's using the same tactic against Bass twice.

Bass easily jumped up, and fazed out somewhere above groundlevel.

"Quint! Look out behind you!!!" Shun shouted, but it was no use.

Quint gave a strangled cry as Bass' hand struck him against the back of his neck, with enough force to shatter a few bones. The blow sent the small Navi to the ground within seconds, knocked out before he even hit the ground. His jackhammer fell to the ground and dissolved automatically.

But before Bass could do anything else, the back end of Ragna's lance crashed into his stomach, sending him into a rock somewhere behind him. Though, Bass wasn't that easily conquered.

With both hands, he grasped the lance, and pulled on it, hard. Ragna gave a yelp of surprise as he was suddenly pulled forward, but he soon found his balance again.

"You're asking for it!!!" Ragna hissed, and suddenly changed the lance's angle.

This caused Bass to be catapulted into the air as Ragna heaved his own lance over his head. With a loud crash, Bass crashed into the ground, but on both his feet!!!

This stunned the red and green Navi, but it was all Bass needed.

Before Ragna could even blink, Bass' feet were buried up to his ankles in Ragna's stomach. The much taller Navi's eyes widened at the evident pain, and he doubled over, dropping his lance from his hand. As if it wasn't enough, Bass followed it up with a punch to his jaw, sending him back and against a rock not far away.

"Ouch," Ragna mumbled, rubbing his aching stomach.

Bass was snarling in anger, and raised his Buster, ready to fire.

"Battlechip!! Barrier!! Slot in!!!"

Just as Bass fired, a barrier of energy showed up and recoiled the attack.

"Jinn!!" Ragna said, surprised.

"Not now, Ragna!!" the blonde boy said. "Let's roll!!"

"Right!!"

"Triple Lance!!! Slot in!!!"

A familiar fish-like virus appeared in front of Ragna, who had quickly gotten to his feet.

Bass growled in anger and fired another bolt of plasma.

"Triple Lance!!! Fire!!!" Ragna shouted, and the fish-virus instantly opened its large mouth and shot out a large trident, which easily pierced through Bass' burst of plasma.

Before Bass could even react, the trident was buried in his chest, straight in the scar he had. The look on his face made it clear he wanted to scream, but he bit his tongue until he actually drew blood. He was lucky the trident vanished right after inflicting damage, because pulling it out would've been a real pain.

A loud bang sounded across the Net, and a bolt of plasma struck Bass against his shoulder, breaking the sharp shouldercap he had. The bolt was followed by many more, striking Bass at numerous already weakened places, including his scar, multiple times.

Finally though, Razor stopped, but he kept his Buster out.

"This battle doesn't have to go on like this," Razor shouted up at Bass. "Stop this nonsense right now!!!"

Bass' only answer was a barrage of plasma. Razor used but one Buster to stop all of them, pulling the trigger time and time again, sending smaller bursts of plasma to make the bigger bursts explode.

Finally, Bass had enough and sent a much larger bolt of plasma at Razor. The other Navi quickly charged and was about to fire when ---

"HORA BUSHHEAD!!! OUTTA THE WAY!!!" a familiar voice screamed.

Razor whirled around in surprise, only to hurriedly duck under Muramasa's gigantic plasma charge. The blast collided with that of Bass, and exploded on impact.

Muramasa smirked and blew the smoke from her Buster. Razor got back up, and looked up at Bass, who seemed rather pissed off.

"So, what's up with him?" Muramasa asked. "Don't remember him being so angry when I left him."

Razor looked at the gray-haired girl in confusion, but shrugged and said: "Long story."

Muramasa accepted this and said: "Right."

Suddenly, she whistled. Four tones and five notes. A different Navi echoed the strange whistle, only quite some distance away.

"Shine!!!" Muramasa then screamed.

"Paladin Sword!!! Slot in!!!"

Muramasa raised her left arm into the air, and it instantly reverted to a large sword, surging with energy.

"Let's do this!!!!" she hissed coldly, making Razor take a few steps back.

"Area Steal!!! Slot in!!!"

With speed unimaginable, Muramasa shot forward. She kept vanishing every couple of meters, until she completely vanished from the ground.

At the same time, another Navi zoomed across the Net, vanishing in practically the same pattern as Muramasa.

When they vanished, everyone turned their heads this way and that, trying to find them. But the duo was nowhere to be found.

Suddenly, Bass screamed at the top of his lungs as two blades cut through his skin from the front and the back. Both blades were blazing hot, and it was almost as if they were about to cut him in half any second.

But they didn't.

Two deep wounds were all they left, as the two sword-wielding Navis dropped back to the ground. Calmly, the two Navis landed on the ground, bending through their knees to catch their fall. While Muramasa's sword vanished right after the hit, that of the other Navi staid out.

They stood up at about the same time, and Muramasa looked up at Bass.

"Just what are you doing!?" she screamed up at him. "Do you honestly think this'll solve anything?!!? It'll only bring more pain and frustration!!!"

But the black and gold Navi was too angry to give a damn. He started shooting again, but the Navis easily jumped aside, avoiding every blast. Somehow though, Muramasa managed to get out of the line of fire, and ended up right beside Razor.

"He did quite a number on you, ne?" she asked, giving a nod at his armor.

Razor nodded and said: "Quite. I tried to talk some sense into him, but uh…" he finished the sentence with a nod at Bass.

Muramasa bit her lip for a moment, seemingly in thought.

"By the way, weren't you supposed to be falling apart?" Razor suddenly asked.

"Nani? Oh. Yeah, but Chaud easily fixed up my data. No big deal for him," Muramasa said with a shrug.

Razor's eyebrows instantly furrowed in obvious suspicion and anger.

"You're still staying with Blaze? I heard some pretty bad things about that guy," he questioned carefully.

"He's not THAT bad!" Muramasa protested. "You just have to get to know him a little. But we've got bigger problems here."

"Right."

Even though Muramasa had a point, Razor couldn't help but feel like he was being left out on a lot of things. For some reason, he had always felt like he had to protect Muramasa, that she was his responsibility. And someone else taking over that responsibility… well, he didn't like that one bit.

He knew she could take care of herself, but everyone needed help at least once.

"I think I've got something, listen…" Muramasa then whispered something in his ear, making him smirk.

"Alright," Razor agreed with a nod.

The two of them knocked their fists together, then placed them across their chests. It was a little something they had thought of themselves.

"Let's go!"

Ragna lashed out with his lance, while Proto swiped at Bass with his BusterSword, but both attacks missed him. Bass easily punched Ragna to his jaw, and kicked Proto in his gut at the same time, sending both Navis away from him.

The anger in his eyes was enough to scare anyone, and they burned with such intensity that it could melt steel.

Still, his anger only made him an easier target, as his stats didn't go up with it.

"Hey Bass!!" a familiar voice shouted, and the Navi looked up, only to get a boot straight in his face, knocking him back easily.

He didn't get far, seeing as something suddenly coiled around his neck, holding him in place. A sideways glance told him it was Muramasa's tail, which tightened around his neck, making him gasp for breath and try to break free. But Muramasa's tail was way too strong for that.

"Looks like we're going to have to knock some sense into you," Muramasa hissed, and bent through her knees.

With a strong push, Muramasa was catapulted into the air, pulling Bass with her along for the ride. It'd been a while since she last pulled a stunt like this, but she still managed it flawlessly.

She started flipping forward quite a few times, spinning around violently as she reached the peak of her jump, which was quite high for one Navi. Finally, she spun around one last time, and flung Bass from her grasp and to the ground, who went down with enormous speeds. Muramasa then shot after him, using the aerodynamics of her armor to make her drop faster than Bass. When she reached the Navi, she flipped again, and kicked him into his spine harshly, sending both of them to the ground with deadly speed.

The dustcloud caused by the impact against the ground was pretty big, reaching about 25 feet in height, and 15 in diameter.

But still, Muramasa easily jumped out of the top of the cloud, and flipped backward, landing gently beside a smug-looking Razor.

"Nice move," the older Navi said calmly.

"Arigatou," Muramasa said with a smirk. "Demo…"

"Yeah, yeah, I know!" Razor said calmly.

As Muramasa straightened up, ProtoMan and Ragna walked over, seemingly in good condition.

"You two alright?" Razor asked after some consideration, not wanting to make anyone suspicious.

ProtoMan gave a nod, and the mouthpiece slid away from his mouth, showing his slightly frowning mouth.

"We'll live," he said simply.

"Speak for yourself," Ragna mumbled almost inaudibly.

Razor was glad to know that there was at least one other person who couldn't stand the red Navi. If he was the only one who hated the guy's guts, no doubt Muramasa was going to find out sooner or later.

"Enough chit-chat, here he comes again," Muramasa interrupted.

The other three Navis instantly turned to the dustcloud before them, getting into a battle position, ready to fight whenever they had to.

Bass was up again, alright, but he was weakened from all his injuries, and most likely wouldn't last much longer. If they managed to hit him a few more times, he would be close to deletion, but not there most likely. Bass escaped deletion twice already, so why not a third time as well? His breathing was ragged and heavy, but the anger was still clear on his face.

"Okay, now what?" Ragna asked, tightening the grip on his lance.

"Smartest thing to do is attack from different sides," Proto said, holding up his sword, "but my guess is he'll be expecting that."

"Fat chance of that," Muramasa said back. "The guy's too pissed to give a damn about anything or anyone. So most likely, he'll know we'll try it, but he won't give a hoot."

Razor nodded and said: "His weakness is the scar on his chest. So a few good hits should be able to take care of him."

The four Navis looked at each other, then said the side they would take.

"Front."

"Back."

"Left."

"Right, let's do it!!"

Before Bass could even respond, the Navis shot in four different directions, and blindly, he started firing bursts of plasma at them all. A nagging voice in the back of his head told him to stop, but his anger silenced the voice quickly, and he kept it up for quite some time.

"Wide Sword!!! Slot in!!!"

Bass screamed when Proto lashed out with a strong sword at his back. His sensors went wild at the new invasion of pain, as he tried to restore the wound as fast as he could. With a growl, he whirled around to punch ProtoMan, but he had already vanished, leaving Bass all confused.

"Volcano Cannon!!! Slot in!!!"

A gush of burning hot plasma equal to the heat of lava hit him straight to his right arm, shot from a volcano-like cannon now situated on Muramasa's arm. The volcano was still smoking, as was Bass' arm, of which the armor and jumpsuit seemed to have melted. The girl showed no compassion on her face, but it was clear in her eyes she felt slightly uncomfortable about it all. But even so, once the cannon vanished, she continued running.

"Ryouten Kunai!!! Slot in!!!"

The two stars hit his left arm and were instantly buried deep inside, making him flinch and almost want to scream. And he probably would've if he hadn't been choking on quite some gallons of his own blood. Ragna smirked and gave himself a mental pat on the shoulder for his aim, before he zoomed right off again, letting Bass deal with the pain on his own.

"Air Sword!!! Slot in!!!"

When Bass looked up to in front of him, he was already too late to stop the green and blue Navi. The sword lashed out in a violent motion, and for a second, he felt no pain. But then it struck it him like a tidal wave, surging through his entire being as the scar on his chest was now reopened and bleeding viciously like there was no tomorrow.

But that wasn't what hurt the most. It was the memories that accompanied it.

Before he lost consciousness completely, he found the strength to utter a single sentence around chipped lips, and a mouthful of dark purple, nearly black cyberblood.

"But I didn't do anything……"

And then… darkness…

"I always wanted an older brother… but mamma said she didn't want more than two children…"
"I could be your brother if you want me to."
"You?! But you're just… sorry in advance, you're just a piece of data!"
"So? Do you have to be related by blood or any of that nonsense to be a family?"
"Well… no."
"Then I don't see the problem."
"Ahahahaha! I guess there isn't any then, huh?"
"Right."

"Brother…"
"Yeah, sis?
"Hey, listen. Even if I never get out of here, thank you."
"Wha?? For what???"
"For just being here. Thank you… brother."
"……You're welcome… sis."

'Thank you for your help. You cleared sis' name, and for that, I'll always be grateful for you. But why didn't you visit us? You promised you'd be there, remember? I waited, and waited, and waited, but you never showed up. We're leaving Netopia, and I don't want you to come looking for where we stay. I'm glad you cleared sis' name, but I can't forgive you for breaking your promise. I want you to stay out of my life from now on. I have no desire to ever see you again.'

She… she's crying… why are you crying…?
I'm here now…
I'm sorry… I'm so sorry I wasn't there when you needed me…
Please… I'm sorry…
I wanted to come… but they wouldn't… I couldn't…
Father couldn't help… he wanted to…
He tried so hard… and it didn't help at all…
And I… I wasn't strong enough to… to escape…
But I…
I didn't do anything wrong…
I didn't do…
I didn't…
I…
…………
…Why…
……Why are……
………Why are you………
…………crying?…………
Please… please don't…
Don't cry…
Please… please stop…
Stop… please stop…… please…………please…………please…………

Bits and pieces of different sentences went in and out of his ear, large pieces of information missing. But the sentences still made sense to him.

"…still breathing…… escaped deletion again…"

Sounded like that girl Navi… Muramasa, was it?

"……guy made off??"

And that was that sword guy, the one with the green hair.

"Chunks of data with……"

That's that other swordfighter. Easy to tell as he didn't know that voice yet.

"Shut…"

Looks like greenhead was getting a tidbit angry.

"…'s right though."

Hey, wasn't shortie supposed to be out?? How long had he been out anyway?

"…do we do…??"

That's that tall guy with the lance. No doubt about it.

Silence for a moment, then a slightly trembling, almost crying voice said: "Just… just delete him if you want. I won't… won't object."

…!!!! No! No it… it wasn't possible!!!

More silence, but this time, there was the sound of a Buster being charged echoing through his head. He made sure his fear wouldn't show on his face, because believe it or not, he was afraid of deletion. The thought of not knowing what awaited him, scared him like hell. If there was something similar to hell and heaven, he'd most likely be sent to hell.

But if his life was hell already… he couldn't imagine how real hell would be.

"Matte."

Muramasa's voice broke through his thoughts, scattering everything about death or deletion, and focussing on the girl's voice, surprised at the single word. It stopped the Buster from charging almost instantly. Silence for a moment, until the red swordfighter spoke up.

"What are you saying?"

"You wouldn't attack blueberry while he's out, would you?"

"What? 'Blueberry'??"

"I think she's talking about MegaMan," the tall guy said calmly. "And I can't help but agree with Muramasa. I mean, if my enemy was out, there'd be no way that I would attack him or her. That's stooping to his level."

Silence, until greenhead spoke up again.

"I guess you're right."

"I know I am, bushhead."

"Shut up, squirt."

"Urusai yourself."

'Bushhead', 'squirt' and 'blueberry'??? What's with all the nicknames?

"Chotto matte," Muramasa said and calm footsteps were heard.

They stopped not far away from him, and he did his best to lie as still as possible. If they figured he was awake, they'd surely delete him.

"Hora! I know you're awake, so quit acting like you're not!"

Well, so much for that.

Painfully, Bass managed to open his eyes, but his vision had gone rather blurry. It was hard to make things out, but he still managed to recognize Muramasa's figure hovering above him.

"Well, it's about time you woke up!" her voice said a little angry, but there was a tiny tinge of relief in it.

More footsteps followed, and Bass could see Muramasa looking up at someone else.

"Need help?" Razor asked calmly.

Muramasa nodded, and bent down beside Bass. The other Navi followed shortly.

"Ichi… ni… san!" Muramasa counted, and the duo pulled the black and gold Navi back to his feet, throwing his arms over their shoulders as they did.

Bass gave a slight groan of pain, but that was that.

"Alright, so where do we take this guy?" Ragna asked.

Proto didn't respond. He just watched as Muramasa and Razor pulled Bass along across their shoulders, their free arms around the guy's waist. It was as though they were helping a close friend up to their feet, and not someone they'd been trying to delete only an hour ago.

They were really an odd bunch.

Quint seemed to think for a while, then smiled and said: "Shun might be able to help him!!"

The red Navi instantly focussed his eyes on Quint in shock and surprise.

'What the heck!?! Not the same Shun from Gospel, is it?!!?' he thought desperately, hoping they wouldn't have to go there.

But…

"Good plan, Quint! Let's go!!"

'Crap.'

"So, he'll be just fine?" Ragna asked, looking at Bass as he was recovering from his wounds.

"Yep!" Shun said with a nod.

Muramasa suddenly turned to Shun and said: "By the way, I didn't introduce myself before. My name's Muramasa.EXE."

"Pleasure to meet you. Razor already told us about you. He said you were really strong!" Shun said, a smile appearing on his face.

Muramasa blinked and looked over at Razor, but the other Navi wasn't facing her, even though it was clear he was suppressing a grin. She didn't bother though, and turned to Shun's Navi.

The smaller Navi looked up at her, and gulped a little, before saying: "Uh… hi."

"Same. So, what's your name anyway?" Muramasa asked.

"Quint.EXE."

"Pleasure."

Ragna suddenly coughed, making Muramasa look over at him.

"Nani?" she asked.

"Would you mind explaining how you happen to know Razor?" Ragna asked calmly.

Razor frowned suddenly and said, loud enough for them both to hear: "I should be asking how she knows someone like you."

Ragna growled audibly, but Razor paid it no heed.

Proto was watching the scene from a distance. He noticed that Razor and Ragna didn't really seem to like each other. For obvious reasons, but Proto was left wondering if Muramasa even had an interest like that in either of them.

Muramasa had said once that there hadn't been anyone she had ever cared enough about to call 'boyfriend'. Or 'girlfriend', seeing as she had no idea of herself whether she was attracted to guys, galls, or both.

Still, he was curious to see who was more important to her; Ragna, or Razor.

"What's the matter with you two?!" Muramasa asked, totally not getting what was going on.

"Nothing, forget it," Razor mumbled, averting his eyes from them.

Muramasa looked from Ragna to Razor, confused as hell, before giving a mental shrug and letting it slide.

"Anyway, I've known Ragna since 6th grade, seeing as that was when Shine got me, and Jinn was a classmate of hers. And I met Razor a few years ago in Australia in a mall," she explained calmly.

Before anyone could say anymore, Proto finally entered the conversation.

"Oh, so you're that Navi that activated the fire-alarms in the mall?" he asked, a smirk playing on his lips.

Razor blinked, and turned to Muramasa, who simply chuckled at the memory.

The green and blue Navi then turned back to Proto and asked: "Yeah, so what?"

Proto shrugged and said: "Well, Muramasa says you're a 'freaking daredevil'."

"Well he/I is/am!! Huh??" Muramasa and Razor looked at each other in absolute confusion.

It didn't take long for everyone to burst out laughing.

Z: ………………Ow……………
Miri-chan: Sis! Are you alright?! You're not hurt are you!?
Z: ……………
Enzan: Hey, what's wrong with you?! You sick or something!?
D. Zero: Shut up, skunk-boy!!
Enzan: What was that?!?!
E-kun: Alright knock it off, both of you!! [walks to Z]
Z: …………[stares straight ahead]
E-kun: Zeal-sama? Are you alright?
Z: …………[chuckles] Neva been betta!
Everyone: OO!!!
Z (????): 'Ey!!! Wha're y'all starin' at!?!? Do Ah got somethin' on ma face or wha?!
Chibi-chan: Uh…………Z??? You alright? You… uh… act… strange…
Z (????): [cackles maniacally] Ah'm bloody fine!!! Ah've neva felt any betta 't'll!!
D. Zero: ……… : [pulls out Z-Saber] Alright, who the fuck are you and what did you do to Zeal!?!
Z (????): Ah AM Zeal, ya mortal fool! And ye [points at D. Zero with a feral grin] shoul' learn yer place 'round here!! Or ya migh' find this baby [pulls out own saber] shoved straight up yer arse!!!
D. X: [pulls out X-Buster] Watch it, girl. Don't want this thing to go off, now do we?
Z (????): [laughs insanely] Jus' try me!! Go on!!! Jus' fire if ya dare ta!!!
Delta: ??? Something's definitely not right here.
Z (????): Oh shut yer bloody yap ya goddamn excuse fer a canine!!!
Delta: O.O!!!
Gamma: What on Earth?!?!
D. Zero & D. X: [look at each other, then turn to Zeal (????)]
D. X: Who are you?! There's NO way that you can be Zeal!!!
Z (????): [cackles] Like it matters!!! Ye, and the rest 'f ya bloody Mavericks, can consider yerselves retired!!!!
Everyone: Mavericks?!?!?!
Z (????): [screams and lungs]
D. Zero: LOOK OUT!!! [jumps forward and blocks Zeal's (????) saber]
Miri-chan: Aaaaah!!! Sis!!! Stop it!!! We're not Mavericks!!!
Z (????): [laughs while fighting D. Zero] Do ya seriously think Ah'd listen ta ye Maverick scum?!?! DIE!!!! [lungs out and stabs D. Zero]
D. Zero: [chokes on blood and drops to the ground]
D. X: ZERO!!!!!
Enzan: Oh my god!!
Beta: Zero-kun!!!
Z (????): Tha's one 'f 'em. Now fer the rest 'f 'em.
D. X: YOU FUCKING BITCH!!!! [lungs at Zeal (????)]
Z (????): HAHAHA!!! C'mon!!! Le's play!!! [lashes out with saber]
Chibi-chan: X!!! LOOK OUT!!!! [jumps into the battle]
Gamma: Hey whoa!!! Chibiki!! Wait up!!! [flies after Chibi-chan]
Miri-chan: [trembles]
Enzan: Ah crap… this just can't be good!

DISCONTINUED UNTIL ZEAL RETURNS TO NORMAL