Night. Z: [yawn] Bloody hell…This's DULL!! Ta those tha even read this, yeah, it's me 'gain! But ya'll brought this 'pon yerself. N E way, reviews.
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TJ and Rikumon: Thanks mates.
Serenade DS: Tha's yer problem.
Red: Sure.
Song the Allmighty Pinabble: [frowns, then closes eyes] If ya were mah friend, ya woul'n't've lied ta me. If people lose interest in a story, I dun care 'bout tha. [opens eyes again and glares in anger] But Ah can't stand lies!! Ah've had more than 'nough o' those!! If ya lost interest back then, ya shoul've jus' told me!! …………Why do Ah even bother? Not like ye'll be readin' this. Well, Goodbye.
Pyra Akaidra: Ah'm supposing ya got the mail Ah sent ya? Oh, by the way, if Ah gotta believe that Rea… Rea… SOMETHING… this chap's 'posed ta make ya go crazy.
Sol Sabre: [smirks] Ah was startin' ta miss ya! Oh, 'n' dun worry, there's gonna be a WHOLE LOT more blood ta spill while Ah'm 'round! :)
DRAGON-KNIGHT4: Well, ya tend ta ge' good if ya've been writin' fer nearly yer whole life.
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Chapter IX Part 3: Nightly Soul Unisons
"Son of a bitch!!!"
"Name calling won't do you any good."
"Oh I plan to do a lot more than just that!!"
"I wouldn't do that if I were you."
"Too bad you're not me then, huh?!"
"You sure you're willing to risk his life?"
"………………"
--
Mike couldn't dare to reply to that. As he looked back at Chaud's immobile form, he knew that X did have a point. Mike might've disliked Chaud, but this was something he wouldn't want to happen to anyone. Even to the likes of Chaud. Even though he disliked admitting it, X was right.
He wasn't willing to risk the jerk's life just like that.
However, the slight pause in Mike's action was all X had needed, and within mere seconds, the brunette was gone from where he stood, his heavy boots crashing against the floor as he ran. But Mike wasn't that mad anymore.
"Lan!! Call an ambulance! Hurry!!" he shouted, surprising Lan with the sudden order.
"Huh whuh? OH!! Yes! Of course!!" Lan finally said, using his PET to phone the hospital.
"Sara, Shun! Get over here and help me!! The rest of you, keep fighting with your Navis!!"
"I-I hear ya!!" Pyra said, finally able to move again.
Sara and Shun quickly hurried over to where Mike was bending over next to Chaud, searching his back for an exit wound. But he found none.
"The bullet must've latched onto something," Mike hissed softly. "It has to go, fast!"
--
Neither Zero nor the other Navi joined in with the fight against Skeith as the behemoth once again began the assault on the group of Navis. Things were much harder now that they had lost two of the best Navis they had to offer. They might've not admitted it out loud, but Muramasa and ProtoMan were really some of the best next to MegaMan.
Zero chuckled slightly as Mega tried to fire at Skeith again, but failed miserably.
"You think this is funny, Sir?" the other Navi asked, a little curious.
"Don't you, Axl?" Zero countered instantly.
Axl said nothing for a while, then turned his gaze back to the battle.
"Had I been in their shoes, I would've…"
"Deleted Skeith without that much trouble," Zero finished Axl's sentence, catching the smaller Navi off guard.
Axl frowned for a moment, then turned away to the battle again.
"I guess…"
"…But as it is, you'll both be deleted by us."
Both Navis froze up at the voice suddenly ringing out from behind them, and ever so slowly turned around, bringing them both face-to-face with a set of menacing Busters.
"…Oh crap. I hate déjà vu's…" Zero mumbled.
--
"Triple Spear!! Slot in!!"
--
Ragna grasped the lance in both hands, his expression determined and ready for action. He twirled the lance around between his fingers, before he reared back and finally sent it soaring through the air. Skeith was too busy trying to fend off Razor and Sonica to notice it coming.
The spear hit home, crashing right into Skeith's shoulder, and also making him halt in his tracks in surprise.
"MEGA!!! NOW!!!" Ragna shouted to the red armored Navi.
Without a second thought, Mega brought up his massive Buster/flame-thrower, and sent the blast of fire at the behemoth. Once again, there was no way Skeith could've dodged.
--
"Uh-oh…" Sol mumbled, checking Skeith's stats. "This is not good."
Skeith's HP had now officially dropped to below the good-bad limit. But Sol was only partially right with his assumption.
This was a fucking disaster!!
--
Skeith suddenly roared in absolute rage, catching every Navi by surprise. But Ragna seemed more shocked than anything.
"Oh shit!! He's going berserk!!" he shouted.
"He's going what?!" Razor asked, not having heard him over Skeith's roar.
"Berserk!! Meaning he's completely lost his marbles and he won't stop until--LOOK OUT!!!"
The cross-shaped hilt of the Nijata lit up briefly, before a gigantic amount of energy was released. It formed a large purple shockwave, and was sent careering to the group of Navis.
There was absolutely no way to dodge as the shockwave tore through panels and finally crashed straight into them. Each of them screamed out as they were sent to the floor, writhing in pain as the blast practically deleted them on the spot. Everyone of the group was just hanging on by a thread, struggling to survive.
"Ow…" Sonica mumbled. "Tha smarts!!"
"Ugh… You're telling me…" Razor said, wincing at the pain shooting through him as he tried to sit up. "What the fuck was that anyhow?!"
Ragna panted as he pushed himself up again, trying to ignore the pain as he hissed out: "Chaos Ruin."
Mega didn't even say anything as he pushed himself up again, using his huge arm as leverage. He was the first to be able to get up to his feet, and he glared through one eye at the behemoth, the other having closed in pain.
"Mega!!" Raga suddenly called, making the red Navi turn his head in surprise. "Skeith can only last in berserker mode for two to three minutes. If he remains in berserker mode too long he'll be deleted!"
Mega looked seriously shocked, but Ragna couldn't speak anymore as he dropped to the ground, dissolving into the words "LOG OUT".
"Ugh…" Razor finally gave up and dropped back to the ground, closing his eyes as he, too, dissolved into the two words.
Sonica just managed to rise to her feet, but it didn't last as she dropped to the ground and also dissolved into the words that saved her life.
--
"I'm sorry, Jinn…" Ragna said shamefully as he was returned to his PET.
"Don't bother, Ragna. It's up to Mega now."
--
"Ow ow ow…" Sonica whimpered softly. "Tha really hurt!!"
"Calm down, Sonica…" Pyra said softly. "There's nothing we can do about it now…"
--
"Jesus FUCK!! That guy is tough!!" Razor exclaimed in anger.
"Razor! Calm yourself!!" Mike hissed softly. "Lan! You think you can handle this on your own?!"
Lan bit his lip and turned to Mike for a moment.
"Let's hope."
--
"Mega Cannon!! Slot in!!"
--
Mega's normal arm shifted a massive Buster-cannon, and he raised it quickly before Skeith would be able to react. He sent the blast flying, but surprisingly, Skeith dodged it. Looks like Skeith's speed increased as well, and that could make this battle a whole lot harder.
Mega hadn't expected help to come, so he was greatly surprise when it still came.
--
"Hai Kyanon (1)!! Slotto in!!"
--
The heavy accent of the person slotting in was more than enough to indicate who it was, but it still came as a major surprise. The blast surged through the air, and before Skeith could avoid, the blast crashed hard against the side of Skeith's head, making it snap to the side momentarily.
"YOSHA!!!" Muramasa shouted.
"Muramasa?!" Mega questioned, confused.
Muramasa smirked and gave Mega a small salute, saying: "Konbanwa blueberry!"
"Blueberry?!?!" Mega exclaimed in surprise.
"Later, LATER!! I think we've got something else to take care off first!"
--
"Waido Soudo (2)!! Slotto in!!"
--
Muramasa's right arm instantly morphed into a massive Wide Sword, and Skeith frowned in anger.
"Be careful!!" Lan shouted. "This guy's a killing-machine!!"
At that, a small link was opened with a very familiar whitehead.
Shine smiled and said: "Then I'm glad Navi's can't be killed."
Lan smiled upon seeing Shine's face. He'd first had a rough suspicion that this wasn't real either, but looks like it was.
Skeith suddenly roared again and Nijata lit up. Muramasa's eyes narrowed and a small smirk played on her face.
--
"Eria Suchiiru (3)!! Slotto in!!"
--
Before the shockwave even reached her, Muramasa had already vanished. Skeith was about to look around, but he hadn't noticed that Mega had moved before it was too late.
Mega's massive fist collided solidly with Skeith's jaw, and it sent him back quite some feet. A roar of agony tore from the behemoth's throat when a sword suddenly lashed out across his face, making blood flow freely. Muramasa leaped back, using Skeith's face as a stepping stone, and landed beside Mega in a crouch.
"Just a question," Mega said, making Muramasa look at him curiously. "Just how did you get here??"
Muramasa smirked wickedly and said: "I got a ride."
That was about the time that Skeith managed to get up again.
"Yosh. Let's get to work!"
"Right!"
--
"Will this work?" Sara asked, pulling out a set of tweezers from her bag.
Mike looked up from cleaning Chaud's wound, and gingerly took the object from the girl's hand.
"I'm not even going to ask…" he mumbled. "Help me get this shirt off of him."
Sara nodded and helped to get Chaud to sit up, so they could slide the shirt off of him. They had discarded the vest beforehand, so the shirt was all that remained to cover up the wound. Once that was taken care off, Chaud was placed back down on the ground.
"Sara, Shun, keep him steady while I try to get the bullet out. Pyra," Mike said, turning to the other brunette, "make sure he keeps breathing."
Pyra gave a nod and hurriedly came over to the rest of the group. Lan watched her go for a moment, before turning back to his PET. The ambulance wouldn't be there within the next ten minutes, and Chaud might die in the meantime. This was just something that had to be done.
--
"Shine! Do you happen to have a 'Fist' chip?" Lan asked.
Shine quickly searched her folder, then nodded.
"Hai, I do."
"Then let's do this!!"
"Yosh!!"
--
"Gold Fist!! Slot in!!"
"Buronzu Fisuto (4)!! Slotto in!!"
--
Both Navis' right-fists morphed into a set of massive fist, one gold, the other bronze. Mega smirked a little and looked at Muramasa from the corner of his eyes. Muramasa did the same, and gave a short nod.
Skeith growled, and finally roared in anger again. As if by some unspoken agreement, the two smaller Navis shot from places, their massive fists clenched near the sides. And Skeith didn't have the chance to block either of them as their fists crashed against his jaw and in his stomach.
Both hits sent him flying, before he crashed into the ground again.
--
"Zero!!" X shouted. "That's enough!! Plug out!! NOW!!"
Zero choked on blood, trying to block the other Navi's blade, before he managed to choke out: "Y-yes, Sir."
The second Zero plugged out, the dark Navi's attention was directed to the remaining Navi. The much smaller Navi yelped and plugged out almost immediately.
The dark Navi rolled his eyes and shook his head with a knowing smirk on his face. Finally, he turned to face the other battle still underway.
'Hmm?' he thought, noting that Skeith was starting to look bad, but he became all the more lethal with each hit. 'Well, that can't be good.'
--
"YIKES!!" Muramasa yelped and ducked under another spike shot her way. "Hora!! Isn't this guy supposed to get weaker?!"
"It's the exact opposite!!" Mega shouted, dodging a jab from the Nijata.
"Ah shimatta!!"
--
The two Navis tried to dodge everything, but it was no use. Skeith had simply gotten too strong.
"Ah kuso!!" Muramasa cursed angrily, leaping aside again. "Now what?!"
"Wish I knew…" Lan mumbled softly.
"MEGAMAN!!! LOOK OUT!!" Muramasa suddenly screamed.
Mega yelped as he leaped back from another jab, but his heel butted against a loose chunk of rock, causing him to tumble back onto his rear.
"Ow!!"
"Shimatta!! Look out!!"
Mega's eyes widened in fright as the Nijata was sent careering down straight at him. But before it could hit, a burst of plasma sent the Nijata flying from Skeith's hand. It was sent spiraling through the air, before it crashed into the ground almost 12 feet away.
Muramasa finally released the breath she didn't know she'd been holding, before she growled and whipped her head around.
"What took you so long?!!?" she demanded angrily.
"…Keep your shirt on, girl," Bass mumbled calmly, blowing the smoke from his Buster.
"Bass??" Mega asked in surprise.
Muramasa quickly yanked Mega to his feet and away from Skeith just as the behemoth's fist crashed on the place Mega had been seconds ago.
"Hai, he's the one who got me here."
"What!?"
"…Let's discus this at a later date."
"Huh?! Oh! Right!!"
--
"I got it!!" Mike's voice suddenly called out, and Lan turned in surprise.
Mike was now studying the bloodied bullet stuck in-between the tweezers, and a relieved smile had made its way to his face. Sara and Shun were smiling brightly, and Pyra smiled ever so slightly, not ceasing in her attempts to keep the whitehead breathing.
Lan allowed a smile to grace his own face as Mike proceeded to pull out a first-aid kit he (apparently) carried with him. The younger brunette finally turned back to the battle.
"That bastard's going down!!"
--
Muramasa quickly raised her Buster, and fired several shots of plasma. But Skeith dodged all of them.
"Kuso!!" the young girl cursed silently. "This is NOT going to end well!!"
"You're telling me!!" Mega mumbled under his breath. "If Proto was here we could've won…"
Muramasa turned to him, having heard him mumble.
"Nani?? What do you mean?"
"Cross Fusion with Lan enabled Soul Unison for me. It makes me merge with other Navis," Mega explained her as they continued battling Skeith. "Whenever I need to protect a Navi, or the other way around, it somehow makes us merge."
"Souda… and you're saying Proto could do that with you?"
"Usually, Lan took the Soul Unison chips with him. Those enable me to use it while the Navi's not around… but we never counted on a battle this intense… so…"
"You didn't bring 'em."
"…Kind of," Mega mumbled.
"And what does that make you?" Muramasa asked in agitation.
"An idiot??"
"Exactly!" Muramasa cried in exasperation, before she had to duck under a swipe from Skeith's hand. "SHIMATTA!!"
Suddenly something began to slot into place in her mind. For a moment, her gaze was averted to the black figure avoiding each hit from Skeith while trying to find an opening somewhere.
"Souda…" she drawled softly.
Once again, Muramasa leaped aside to avoid another blow. But as she landed, her mouth formed a small 'o' and an odd whistle burst from her lips.
Bass easily managed to hear it, even over Skeith's roar, and he had vanished from his current spot almost the second the sound stopped, only to reappear beside the gray-haired girl.
"…What?" he asked, a little annoyed at being interrupted.
"Listen carefully, I've got an idea."
--
"Mini Bomb!! Slot in!!"
--
A small blue bomb appeared in Mega's massive fist, and the red armored Navi threw the boll straight at the large behemoth that was Skeith. As expected, the blow hardly did anything to the massive Navi, but Lan was starting to run out of good battle chips.
"Lan!" Mike's voice called out. "If you can't win, just plug out!!"
"Forget it!!" Lan hissed through clenched teeth. "I'm NEVER going to give up just like that!!"
Mike said nothing in return.
--
Lan might've thought that way, but the way things were starting to look, plugging out would've indeed been the best option.
Mega cried out in pain as he was knocked to the ground, with such force, that he could no longer stay in his HeatGuts-Style. For quite some time, Mega couldn't find it in himself to raise himself to his feet again. His body was just not in any condition for anything off the kind.
"Ow…" Mega moaned quietly, finally pushing himself up with his arms.
Skeith had somehow managed to reclaim the Nijata, and the Navi was once again untouchable, without getting yourself deleted, that is.
This… was bad.
Mega was literally shaking in fear when the Nijata was sent crashing down straight at him, and he had become completely immobile. Too scared to even twitch.
--
"MEGAMAN!!!" Lan shouted in despair.
--
But before the sword could reach its destined target, two white-gloved hands slapped together right near the tip, making it stop mere inches from the black and gold Navi's sharp nose. Two orbs of burning crimson shimmered with anger and hate as Bass continued to keep the blade in between his hands, but it was starting to burn the gloves away. It wouldn't take long for the sword to reach his skin.
"Get the hell out of here," Bass hissed to Mega, not averting his gaze from Skeith's.
Mega was gaping in shock, and he really wanted to run… but he just couldn't let Bass take this guy on alone!! Whether he was an Independent Navi or not!
"The hell?! You can't be serious about taking him on by yourself!!" Mega screamed, his anger fueling him so he could scramble up to his feet again.
"JUST GET OUT OF HERE!!!" Bass screamed, but whether it was from anger, or from the pain as the sword finally dug into his bare hands, Mega didn't know.
"NO!!!" Mega screamed, and blindly reached out, grabbing hold of the dark brown poncho Bass wore.
A choking sound escaped Bass' throat as he was viciously yanked backward, his hands releasing the sword and causing it to crash into the ground where Bass and Mega had been seconds ago. But Bass' momentum sent him crashing straight into the Blue Bomber, making both of them groan at the force that made them slam together.
And that was exactly what did the trick.
--
Both Navis began to glow brightly, and data began to stream all around them. None of the Operators or the other Navis present were able to stare straight into the light, and they were forced to shield their eyes with their arms.
Bass broke apart into nothing but light, which shot straight against Mega's Navi-Symbol. The light began to expand, and all too soon, it had already finished.
--
Mega lightly shook his head as he straightened up almost casually, adjusting the poncho tugged snugly around his neck and covering his face up to the nose. Arching back atop his head were two large golden fins, on the center of his forehead, was a star-shaped blue gem, and running over his face, starting under his eyes and ending at his chin, were two deep purple lines, following the curve of his cheeks. His entire armor was a pitch-black with dark-purple race-stripes running over it. His Navi-Symbol was sliced straight through the line, pulsing like it still hurt, though it hardly did. His gloves and boots were now a wondrous gold and white, and the shoulderplates were the same shade of gold.
Finally, Mega opened his piercing emerald green eyes set in a fierce glare of pure anger.
--
Muramasa whistled in wonder, smirking wickedly.
"Kala… now that's an impressive Soul Unison!"
--
"Holy…" Lan whispered, unable to believe what had just transpired.
But the prove was in the putting.
--
Skeith wasn't as impressed though. The behemoth roared again and sent the Nijata down at the other Navi.
But Mega vanished before it could even get close to him. And before Skeith could do anything about it, a massive burst of plasma hit him straight to his back, sending him flying.
Mega watched in some sort of cold amusement as Skeith crashed into the ground, his menacing Buster still smoking from the shot he had fired. Without a second thought, he brought up his second arm, morphing that one into a Buster as well.
The massive amount of plasma shots was something Skeith could've never avoided even if he'd tried. And they just wouldn't stop coming at him. Mega continued to hover above the ground, unknown to himself, his Busters firing what felt like hundreds of MB of plasma at Skeith. But even that did not bring the behemoth down.
"…Looks like it's time to pull out the big guns," Mega mumbled softly, his lips barely moving.
An eerie glow surrounded his arm, as it shifted into something that looked vaguely like a wolf's head. When the glow stopped, it revealed a dark black head with eyes ablaze with liquid fire, sharp manes spiking back in Mega's direction, and enough sparks running over the head to make a Christmas tree see green of jealousy. The wolf opened its mouth, where it gathered more plasma in 3 seconds than Muramasa could in 12.
With a mighty roar of anger, the blast was sent flying.
--
Skeith could only stare in horror, before the blast crashed straight into him.
The explosion that followed was huge, and before it had even come to an end, Skeith had already dissolved and formed a simple red-lettered word.
--
DELETE
--
"We missed 'em…" Mike mumbled, staring across the surveillance room, now empty and abandoned.
Mere seconds after Skeith's deletion, the ambulance had arrived, and had hauled Chaud onto a stretcher. The whitehead was now on his way to the hospital, while the rest of the Operators took care of the rest. But Chaud's grip on his PET hadn't slackened once.
The entire surveillance room showed signs of a hasty retreat, but the worst about it all, was that they had been unable to stop Zahler from doing what they came for.
"Damn… I really wanted to kick some butt!" Sara mumbled.
Lan sighed softly, his fingers still fingering the new chip he now owned. Whether they had succeeded or not, he couldn't be any more glad with his new chip.
"Thanks for your help, Bass," Lan thanked the dark Navi, now separated from MegaMan.
Bass said nothing, his arms crossed over his chest, but he nodded simply, as if saying 'don't mention it'.
Muramasa cast one glance at the dark Navi, before turning to the other Operators.
"Hora, you guys want Shine and me to head for the hospital? Just in case Chaud wakes up."
Mike nodded calmly.
"That would be a good idea. Thanks, Muramasa."
Muramasa smirked and gave a small salute, before she dissolved into the words "LOG OUT".
Shun looked around for a moment, then said: "Why would they want the Dimensional Area, anyway?"
"I don't know Shun," Lan said truthfully. "But something tells me I don't even want to know.
Bass frowned a little, and spoke for the first time in the past few minutes.
"…What exactly is this 'Dimensional Area'?"
"Oh trust me, Bass," Mike said, looking grim, "if Zahler gets his hands on it, we're dead meat."
"…Then why don't you hack their servers?" Bass asked with a shrug of his shoulders.
Silence fell over them.
But finally, Pyra spoke up.
"Aaaaaand… do ya happen ta know where those are??"
--
"Skeith has been deleted, Sir X."
"……………"
The brunette said nothing, as his fingers typed in several commands. His eyes reflected the letters and numbers shown on the screen before him.
"Sir X??"
"…Clone him. Now leave. I'm busy."
"Yes, Sir."
Silent footsteps padded out of the room, as X continued typing in commands. He had to finish this, no matter what.
He didn't even look up as a hologram was activated.
"X??"
"…Not now, Zero."
"X, you should get some rest. It's been a rough night."
X growled in anger and shot up in his chair, swiveling around in anger.
"Just who the hell do you think you are?!?! My mother?!?!?"
"……Your mother's dead, X. You know that."
"……………………"
Silence.
There was nothing X could say to that.
For a moment, both Operator and Navi were just staring at each other, seeing so much, yet so little. Zero's burning red eyes didn't burn as much as they always did, while X's eyes seemed to have defrosted a little. It was almost as if the heat from Zero's eyes was seeping into those of his Operator.
Zero slowly moved over to his Operator, and reached out, and, surprisingly, laid a hand on his Operator's shoulder.
"Get some rest. I'll continue this okay. I don't need as much sleep as you do. So just get some rest," Zero said quietly.
X remained silent, but he finally nodded ever so slightly. The brunette turned and headed toward the bed in the corner of the medium-sized room, and practically dropped down onto the bed, the last of his energy spent.
Zero watched his Operator, before the hologram was deactivated. After all, he promised X he would continue work.
And Zero Omega did not lie.
--
Japanese Chips (This is just for this chapter)
(1) Hai Kyanon = High Cannon
(2) Waido Soudo = Wide Sword
(3) Eria Suchiiru = Area Steal
(4) Buronzu Fisuto = Bronze Fist
--
Night. Z: Whew!!
D. X: Cripes!
RCM: [whistles] Okay, that's better than the last chapter.
Night. Z: Ah was neva plannin' ta kill off the cutie in the first place! ^^
D. Zero: "Cutie"???
Night. Z: 'Ey! Ah can't help't if he's just so damn cute!!
Miri-chan: oo;; I'm scared…
Chibi-chan: Me too, actually.