Chapter VI – Megaman and Roll
The ground under Megaman crumbled at the touch of the blood red lightning streaking out from under Bass.
"What now?" asked the Navi as he jumped to safer ground.
"I don't know," responded Lan. "This was unexpected… Who would've guessed that Bass was possessed by a thunder demon…?"
"A 'thunder demon?' Don't you mean a program? I mean, what else could it possibly be?"
Lan didn't know and so shrugged. There was really no explanation for Bass's sudden super-strength outburst, and this author is just a little too tired to come up with any reasoning for it.
Anyways, this new diabolical Bass surged with diabolical energy. Yet, he didn't move. His evil-angry glare penetrated deep into Megaman's eyes and his dusty old cloak writhed in the air like a Marilyn Monroe commercial gone horribly wrong, but nothing else happened.
What's he waiting for? Lan asked himself. If he's so angry then why doesn't he do something?
"I'm going in," said Megaman.
"Yeah. I'm behind you all the way!"
The blue Navi rocketed forward ("BubbleShot, In!") and got his buster ready. The plan was to hit Bass with the BubbleShot in order to dispel the odd, invisible aura surrounding him. As an added effect, a huge froth of deadly bubbles would appear right behind him, and at that very moment Megaman was going to hit him again with an AirShot, pushing him into the froth to cause damage.
Megaman shot away the first chip and ("AirShot, In!") shot the second. To their surprise, it worked not just perfectly, but better than perfect. As Bass was forced backwards by the AirShot, a purple, "!!" surrounded by a spiky yellow cloud appeared in front of him, indicating double damage as well as an elemental weakness. The red lightning vanished instantly and the only thing left to show that Bass's sudden evil power-up even existed was his bright red and purple eyes. They looked tired and haunted, like the Ghostface mask from Scream.
Elemental damage… thought Lan. BubbleShot Aqua element… Aqua element is strong against Heat…, so he's a Heat element…?
The lightning surrounding Bass returned. This time it was blue.
Wasn't it red before…? I see, Red lightning Heat element, and Blue lightning Aqua element, continued thinking the child prodigy. And Aqua element x Elec element Elemental damage.
Before he knew it there was an ElecSword chip in between his thumb and index finger. It was in his PET less than a second later.
"Now, Megaman! Before the aura returns!"
"Yeah!" The Navi dashed forward with the ElecSword pointed in front of him.
The dazed Bass continued just standing there. But his lightning was less restive. It jabbed for Megaman like crooked blue tentacles, and right before they could shock him shitless, they were absorbed into the ElecSword. The lightning that escaped the absorption retreated back to Bass, where they tried to form a protective barrier around him.
"Ok, give it to him!" yelled Lan.
The sword cut through the lightning like a razor to paper and stabbed into Bass, right in the middle of his chest. The purple "!!" mark returned and so did the splash of yellow, indicating another dose of double damage.
The blue lightning vanished. Bass closed his eyes in agony and grabbed the ElecSword, giving him electric burn in the process. Still, he held on to the sword and pushed it out of himself until he was free of it. Megaman did little to prevent it; stabbing Navis wasn't his forte. Slicing maybe, but not stabbing.
Bass stepped back slowly, holding onto his wound with his eyes still closed. He opened them to look at it and didn't like what he found: a hole right in the middle of his old scar, the one cut into him at the dawn of his life by the Officials. He felt like the image of the sword stabbed into the scar was supposed to mean something, but the Navi lacked the imagination to figure it out. No new color of lightning was appearing. Whatever energized Bass for the last few minutes or so wasn't going to show itself again. His eyes change back to their normal red-ish color, with no purple pupil in their middle.
"So, Lan… Are we going to delete him?" asked Megaman unenthusiastically.
"…Yeah, of course we are, but first I want to ask him something."
Megaman stepped closer to Bass. Bass didn't bother looking up; he was gathering his energy…
"Bass," said the boy. Bass did nothing to show that he was listening. "The 'white-haired friend' of mine, you were talking about Chaud, weren't you?"
"…"
"Chaud was in Dencity when…"
"Not just in Dencity, he was right at the center when it all happened," maliciously responded Bass.
"…!"
"When Test 3 killed him and destroyed my greatest enemies, the Officials, and your friend, were right at its center. Literally."
"Y-you…!"
Suddenly Bass pointed his GospelCannon at Megaman and gushed a cloud of green fire at him. Lan's Navi recoiled back, keeping his arms in front of him and losing his ElecSword in the flames. Bass got back on his feet and covered himself with his cloak, hiding his new painful scar.
"What about Protoman? What happened to him?" inquired Lan as he held his PET up to face-level.
A triumphant gleam crossed Bass's red eyes at the mention of Protoman. "He's with us," responded the Navi. Hard to read as Bass was, nothing but joy could be read from Bass's answer.
To further prove his great content towards the subject, he opened a new video screen in mid-air. On it was Protoman, beaten up to shit, and shackled by four metallic rings wrapped around his wrists and ankles. He was in the traditional position for torture.
"Protoman!" shouted Megaman, and the Navi behind the screen slowly lifted his head to look at him. At that, the screen suddenly disappeared from view and Megaman redirected his attention to Bass. Lan did the same.
"What do you want with him?" immediately asked Megaman.
"Hmph… Nothing more than to dangle him in front of your helpless eyes, Navi."
Then a mysterious purple light coming from Undernet Zero illuminated their area.
-Protoman-
Megaman… Lan's Navi… Chaud's friend's Navi… Have they found me? No. Just a screen. The murderer is just showing me off.
Like a trophy?
Like a trophy.
Ah, he turned the screen off.
He did? I can still see Megaman…
He turned it off from the other side. He doesn't want your friends to see you any more.
Why?
Heh. He must've forgotten to clean you.
…He wants me to watch him kill Megaman.
Oooh.
…
You're shit
…
And you're ugly.
…Shut up.
… Oh yeah, something I wanted to show you!
…?
A nice little program I found in you…
…
You're not interested?
…
Ah.Uninterested in yourself, are you? Know everything a-bout yourself, hunh?
…
So then, you probably know about this little thing I have right here… a program called 'Suicide Wind'?
…!
So? Do you?
…What…?
I found it integrated into your NaviCust. It looks like Chaud's been-
Lies…!
-Hmm?
BEGONE!
Hey! I was just-
LEAVE ME! BEGONE WITH YOU!
! You…! Don't hide from the truth… Protoman!
OUT!
Just face it! That Chaud-
OUT!
-WAS GOING TO SELF-DESTRUCT YOU-
OUT!
-IN ORDER TO DEFEAT NTT!
Damn! No… Just… SHUT… UP…!
Heheheh…
...Just… leave…!
I won't. I am now a part of you, Protoman…
…
Live with it.
-Undernet Zero-
"Stop! Stop it!" Tempo frenzily flew around the area, trying to stay alive. Another RollArrow sped by his face, cutting him under the eye. "Ah! Damn! Are you trying to kill me?"
Roll didn't answer and continued shooting.
"We can't rule the world together if you kill me! We need me!" An arrow stabbed him in the shoulder, making him tilt as he glided across the air.
He flew fast, but Roll's arrows were just a bit faster.
"Damn!" Two more arrows pierced through his shoulders and sent him to the ground. Before he could get back up, Roll appeared above him and nailed him to the floor with two more arrows. "…Damn…!"
"So, do you like it, Tempo?" Roll shuddered as the Navi's name left her lips. "It isn't much fun when it's you getting hurt, is it?" She seemed dominant and mature. From that angle, Roll might've been the star of a video game.
Tempo didn't know what to say. Was this a test? A game? Or were they really, actually fighting? And to the death? All he knew was that his first crush was scaring the shit out of him. "No… m… ma'am…"
Tempo's make-shift wings slid into view from behind him and bent forward to break the RollArrows pinning him down. As soon as he was free, he got back on his feet. Roll immediately jumped back, in case he was getting ready to do something perverted. He just seemed like the type to her.
Without noticing any of what Roll just did, Tempo thought.
('Ma'am,' I called her. Not 'honey,' or 'darling,' or 'dear,' but 'ma'am.' She attacks me with no consideration for the pain I endure from her. This cannot the effects of Love… Can it…?
(…
(…
(…No.
(This can only be the product of Love's twin sister: Hate. Then… this means that Roll doesn't…)
He couldn't finish the sentence, just couldn't… Tempo slouched a little as the reality finally sunk into him… His teeth clenched, eyes trying their best not to close, he fought back the tears of his broken heart.
(Plan A failed…)
His right hand suddenly transformed into a red-colored sword.
(Plan B is all that is left… B… Blood… Broke…n… I must… kill the cause of all of my suffering…)
He ran at her.
Roll shot at him furiously, but the psychotic Navi effortlessly sliced down ever arrow she shot. Within a moment, he was only a few feet away from her.
Nothing's hitting him! Then… thought Roll. Has he been holding back this whole…?
He was there. Roll was in front of him, defenseless, and her operator seemed moodily inactive. With Roll's (beautiful) neck in sight, he swung.
-Undernet-
Suddenly an unimaginable pain erupted from Megaman's chest. It left him breathless, like his digital heart and lungs had been suddenly pulled out.
Is it Proto Soul…? thought Megaman through the pain.
"What's wrong?" abruptly asked Lan, keeping an eye on Bass to make sure he didn't suddenly move.
Bass seemed inactive.
"I don't now… my chest just… It felt like something inside me just… died, and then tried to pour out."
"Tried to pour out?" asked Lan. "You sure you didn't just imagine it?"
"I don't think so..." said Megaman as he got back up. "You know, Navis can't exactly imagine this sort of thing."
"Yeah… I suppose."
"Man, what a time to suddenly start having miniature heart attacks…."
"I know…" through his PET screen, Lan could see Bass begin to hover higher and higher into the air. "You know, it's probably just a bug... We'll fix it after we delete Bass."
"Got it."
"You ready?"
"You bet!"
"Battle routine, set!"
"Execute!"
-Protoman's Cell-
"Gah!" Tempo teleported into Protoman's chambers. Protoman held suspended at the very center of it, with his arms and legs spread apart and shackled to pearlescent grey hovering bangles. The cell itself was pitch black, and the bangles keeping Protoman trapped gave a hum that filled the entire room, which was really no bigger than a prison cell.
Tempo gave another "Gah!" and continued by saying "Damn her…! Why couldn't she just submit to me…? Why couldn't she simply accept to be my bride and avoid all this… Damn her!"
"What do you want?" Protoman ignored most of what Tempo said. He had no idea who Tempo spoke of, but as far as he was concerned, it was probably just another 'Cyber,' the Navi version of a whore. "Leave me be…"
Tempo ignored him back and continued, "Damn her… Roll… Roll…! Wh-! Gah!"
At the same time, once again ignoring Tempo, Protoman lashed out, "You came here to cry in front of me about some whore?"
Tempo glared at Protoman, dashed up to him, and stabbed him in the middle of the torso with his bare hand.
"DON'T YOU DARE CALL HER A WHORE!"
Protoman, in pain and in sudden terror, stared into Tempo's suddenly brilliant, red eyes. Pain electrified his entire body, and a moment later he began feeling… drowsy.
…It seemed like the end.
The Navi managed to survive his operator's gruesome murder, but would die only hours later, at the hands of the murderer's son, in a dark room, defenseless, and in agony. Protoman's head sulked forward as his energy began to disappear.
Then he noticed the arrow expertly lodged right into Tempo's heart.
"Roll!" gasped Protoman, and he began fighting back his own deletion in order to ask "What did you do to her! What happened to Roll!"
Tempo's eyes lost their brilliance and he slowly pulled his hand out of Protoman.
"…Nothing. I did nothing to her. I couldn't, so she…" He looked at the arrow sticking out of his heart. "She's fine. …Perfect…"
He walked away from Protoman and looked through the single wide video screen in the room. Through it, Tempo could see Megaman and Bass jumping around the Undernet and fighting it out. He watched their movements for a second and then closed his tired eyes.
It was about time for his plan to take place, even if it was incomplete; even if Roll wasn't at his side. It was now or never.
Tempo had waited all his life (three days) for this moment. Within a few minutes, one of the two combatants will bring the other to their knees, and at that moment…
Protoman coughed data onto his chest, and grunted in pain. The damage Tempo did to his body was bad… The wound would need to be closed…
That gave Tempo an idea. Maybe Protoman could help him in his coup de 'tat…
The green Navi's hand glistened with purple sparks and suddenly he plunged it back into Protoman, right into his wound. Purple electricity surrounded them both, and a black-purple crust was beginning to fill up inside of Protoman's crater-like wound.
The pain was unimaginable.
"What is your name, soldier?" asked Tempo.
"D…oto… Da… Chau…" was what Protoman said. Then he hiccupped.
Through the pain, through the blurs and circles appearing in his eyes, and through the half-formed words spontaneously leaving his mouth, Protoman looked through the only window in the room, and watched as one Navi once and for all, defeated the other.
That's how Protoman submitted to the darkness, knowing that if he didn't, he would regret it for the last five minutes of his life.
(Ah. Friends now, are we?) said the voice in his head.
Hiccup!
-Undernet-
Five minutes earlier.
A second Hell's Rolling missed Megaman's head by an inch. He stumbled back onto the floor and shot his last M-Cannon at the pursuing Bass, who dove back underneath the Undernet (literally, under the Undernet) to once again hide beneath its maze of walkways.
Megaman kept moving.
Only one chapter left...