GT: Soooo…I had to break up Chapter 13 into two parts. I was honestly not expecting to do that, to be honest. Ah well, more chapters means more reviews, right? So excited for the Legacy Collection! Patch Cards and BusterMAX Mode! And this time, the mod cards don't seem to be hidden behind the Achievements, so that's great!
"There goes the barrier," Knuckles noted, seeing the dome surrounding the central skull of the island dissipate, "Seems Megaman and Roll were able to succeed."
"Do you think they ran into trouble?" Nicole asked.
"Considering who we fought, those two had to deal with Flameman…a NetNavi that is the Fire Element equivalent to Freezeman when his limiters are removed," Protoman noted.
"I think I see them," Zero spoke, looking out at the last tower to see Megaman and Roll approach, Roll holding the blue NetNavi close to her, "Is…everything alright?"
"...The sooner we're done here, the better…" Lan softly replied.
"Lan…" Maylu whispered.
"It…It wasn't good up there…" Megaman admitted as the Dimensional Area faded and they left behind their NetOps.
"...Hika…Lan," Chaud spoke, walking up to the two, "If you need to go to the boat for now…"
"NO! Let me…J-Just let me take a deep breath here…" Lan replied.
Chaud and Dex looked at the CatFox Mobini with concerned looks as Lan took several deep breaths. Maylu looked down at her feet, sadness and worry in her expression. Knuckles narrowed his eyes in Lan's PeT as he looked at the state Megaman was in.
"Okay…" Lan finally stopped taking deep breaths to look at everyone, a determined look in his eyes, "Let's go get Wily and Eggman and end all this!"
No one responded verbally. They all gave him a nod with a determined look. With that, the team proceeded into the main part of the base…before barely running back out with Chaud managing to rip one of the doors off its hinges to make a shield from the laser fire.
"Because of course we forgot they had robots!" Lan groaned.
"I'm trying to call Sean, but something's jamming the signal!" Megaman informed.
"Aw man~" Lan whined.
"Something's jamming the signal," Sean scowled as he tried calling again.
"Must be that Eggman's doing," Yai frowned.
"Well, he may be stopping me from calling, but he can't stop the DImensional Area!" Sean declared as he pushed a button on his laptop.
"Father, I'm detecting Dimensional Area readings."
"Seems that Sean kid's sending one out," Eggman noted as, on the screen, he saw a Dimensional Area form, "Hmm…A little too small for the endgame, don't you think?"
"Given the parameters…the Dimensional Area will rupture once it is time."
"Excellent, ADAM," Eggman chuckled as he walked over to a Pulse Transmission chair.
A wall exploded as scattered bits of SWATBots were sent through it. Gutsman huffed as he walked through it followed by the others. They looked around before Roll spotted a pair of large metal doors. Knuckles nodded before walking up to them and punched them hard, ripping them from the walls and denting them. The two halves fell into a large purple pool of sludge at the sides of a walkway. Everyone joined him to see a large stage before them, a Pulse Transmission device on it with a massive purple-tinted dome with electricity crackling within above it all. Standing before the chair, grinning at them all, was Wily.
"There you are, Wily!-!" Lan exclaimed, exiting FullSynchro from Megaman.
"Well, now if it isn't Lan...! So you've defeated them all, eh? Those fool operators only served to delay your arrival...No matter. They were but pawns to be sacrificed…" Wily scoffed.
"Wily, It's over for you! We will delete Alpha! Once and for all!" Megaman declared.
"Muwahahaha!-! You're already too late! Look above me!" Wily declared as the purple orb turned magenta, "Alpha has already been 80% decoded! In just a few more minutes, Alpha will reawaken! He will then be transmitted from my antenna! The world will be engulfed in chaos!"
"We won't allow that to happen!" Megaman declared.
"Let's look for a Jack In Port and…" Roll began before Wily cracked up laughing.
"You can't! There are no jacks in this room! You can all just stand there and watch the world end! Muwahahahaha!" Wily laughed as he sat in the chair, "I shall now become Alpha's brain! I will then be able to destroy everything Tadashi ever built! Muwahahahaha!" he grinned maniacally at them all, a look of vengeance heavy in his visible eye as the helmet lowered down over his head, "Pulse transmission!"
"Can we rip him out of there?" Knuckles asked.
"Not without killing him," Nicole replied, "And even then, his mind is already in the Network, so that won't stop him."
"Blast," Knuckles scowled.
"We have to find a way to stop Wily," Protoman noted as the others released FullSynchro.
"Let's look around! There may be something we can use!" Dex suggested.
"Right!" everyone agreed as they checked around the room.
"Oh! I found something, guts!" Gutsman called out after a minute of searching.
"Huh? Whatcha find?" Roll asked as she ran over and looked, "Oh!"
"What is it?" Megaman asked.
"A Pulse Transmission!" Gutsman replied as he pointed at the empty chair while the others ran over.
"Hmm…" Lan zipped around it, looking it over and leaving a few afterimages of him at various spots of the machine, "It's working! Megaman, we'll use this to follow Wily with Zero and Knuckles!"
"But Lan, if something were to happen to you in Cyberworld…" Megaman trailed off, worry in his tone and look.
"We don't have time to think about that!" Lan argued as he pointed at the machine, "This is the only way to stop Wily! And we're the only ones who can do it!"
"Lan…" Megaman whispered before shaking his head and adopted a determined look, "Ok! Let's do this!"
"We can't let Wily get away with this!" Lan nodded as he sat down in it.
"We'll look around further for any other way to get in there," Chaud noted as Lan sat in the chair.
"Lan…" Maylu spoke as she walked over.
"...Maylu, I…" Lan began before pausing.
"Oh-hoh~" Gutsman chuckled as Dex sighed, rubbing the back of his in exasperation.
"Got her in the end…" Dex muttered, shaking his head in defeat.
"Come back, okay?" Maylu spoke, backing away from a heavily blushing Lan.
"I…I will. I promise," Lan assured, shaking off his blush before looking at the setup, "Okay…Looks to be the same as back at the elevator. You ready?"
"I'm ready, Lan," Megaman replied.
"As are we," Knuckles added.
"Just you wait, Wily! Let's go! Pulse Transmission!" Lan declared as the helmet went over his head and he slumped in the chair.
"I've managed to find a screen," Protoman spoke up nearby, causing the others to run over to the screen Protoman found, showing what looked like an area engulfed in a reddish magenta slime of sorts.
"That still feels so weird…" Lan muttered as he looked at the Jack Out Panel.
"I would agree…but I don't remember my experience," Knuckles admitted.
"We don't have much time! We have to find Wily quick!" Megaman reminded.
"Right!" Lan nodded as he and Megaman went FullSynchro before turning to Zero and Knuckles, "You two ready for this?"
"I was born ready," Knuckles replied, banging his fists together.
"I will be meeting my creator for the first time in my existence. He has many answers to give out and misdeeds he must pay for," Zero noted, '...I feel as if he is supposed to be a virus or digital ghost.'
"Bass! That is Dr. Hikari's greatest protection program…'Guardian!'" Wily declared, standing beside Eggman, riding upon a black, red, and silver machine resembling half an eggshell while both looked at Bass and a massive tower of green stone with pulsating purple gems going up its sides, "If you destroy it and absorb it with your GetAbility Program... You'll have even greater powers!"
"Old man! What are you planning, making me stronger?"
"I desire only chaos and the destruction of Network society...Why else would I desire to make you stronger?"
"But you are mistaken...It is not Net society that I hate, but you humans!"
"It is your desire for revenge that brings us together. What do I care if this aged body is destroyed...? As long as you fulfill your desires, I will be satisfied."
"Eh, my real self is in another Zone. When humanity is wiped out, I'll send robots here so you NetNavis can control them," Eggman waved off the glare aimed at them.
"So you would sacrifice even your life for this? You amuse me...Just watch, old men! Watch me become even stronger!" Bass declared.
He turned to the 'Guardian' and raised a hand. Purple energy crackled off it before forming a sphere of black energy twice his size. With a roar, Bass swung and slammed the sphere down onf 'Guardian,' tearing it apart. He dismissed the attack and looked, seeing just a floating data core.
"So this is the Guardian core. If I absorb this...Nothing in Cyberworld will be stronger than me! GetAbility Program!" Bass declared as he grabbed it and absorbed it in an instant.
"WILY!" the three looked to see Megaman, Zero, and Knuckles approach.
"You again! So you dared to pulse in!" Wily scowled.
"You left a chair out for them to use?" Eggman asked.
"Eggman!" Knuckles declared, glaring at the man.
"So that's Eggman?" Megaman pondered.
"The name fits," Lan compared.
"Hmph. Why are you so shocked, Hedgehog? You're the one who gave me this name in the first place. Except the joke's on you!" Eggman laughed, "I've embraced the name! I've made it my own! Your mockery is now a name feared across the ages!"
"Oh for the…I'm not Sonic!" Megaman complained as Wily took a double take on seeing Zero.
"You're…Zero," Wily gasped.
"Ah," Zero nodded, "You're the one who made me before the Professor completed my original design before Dr. Hikari finished turning me into a complete NetNavi and not merely a Virus."
Wily scowled, "You speak of the Hikari family with a fond tone? You were made to Delete them all and the entirety of Net Society!"
"I was…but I have evolved beyond my original programming," Zero replied, "You are my creator…but I will not allow you to destroy that which has made the world one of peace."
"You again!? The Navi with the idiot of a human operator!" Bass scowled as he looked at Megaman.
"HEY! I'm not an idiot! I just get bored at school because it's too easy!" Lan complained.
"Humans aren't as stupid as you think they are!" Megaman scowled.
"Humans think of Navis as merely a tools to be used. Navis who don't realize that are just as foolish."
"I have never thought of Megaman as just a tool! We're true partners, who trust and respect each other!-!"
"Silence! Exactly what I would expect from a human...NetNavis have no need for operators... All we need is the strength to exist on our own! Absolute power, so that we need cower before none. I will weed out weak Navis who cannot fight on their own!"
"Bass! Look back! I know that you once felt it! A feeling of trust for someone!"
"Hah!-! You think that I retain such pathetic emotions!? Time for you to be Deleted!"
"Words never better said!" Eggman agreed as he floated underneath the area before rising up, his machine now encased in a large red machine resembling a wyvern of sorts with the machine he had been in was now acting as the lower jaw, "Behold the Egg Wyvern!"
"Megaman, Lan, Zero and I will do battle with him. You focus upon Bass," Knuckles advised.
"C'mon, Megaman! Let's show him how strong we are! Battle routine, set!"
"Execute!" Megaman declared before, in an explosion of light, HUBStyle was upon Bass.
"Holy…!" Mamoru yelped, seeing nothing but a black blur and a green blur zip about…before the Alpha-coated ground was ripped apart from the sheer force that came after.
"This is bad…" Yamatoman noted, holding a hand to his chest, "That one…"
"Bass…" Darkman whispered, narrowing his eyes before the two slowed down, allowing them to see HUBStyle and Bass trading punches and kicks, "Hm?"
=I must admit…the first time we met, I left just to await for this day. I knew you would come here to destroy the Alpha= Bass spoke on the screen as they broke apart from one another =You have far exceeded any of my expectations!=
=I'm so glad you're pleased, Bass! Now have a taste of our power!= HUBStyle roared as he unleashed a massive blast of energy at Bass, engulfing the area in explosions.
"Lan/Hub…" Maylu and Roll whispered in worry as the smoke dissipated, revealing Bass engulfed in his aura.
=You should know projectile attacks are useless against me!=
=Then I'll come in close and personal!= HUBStyle declared, already before Bass and throwing a punch.
Bass moved his head, the fist barely grazing his cheek, as the blast that came from it continued on and slammed into a nearby structure coated in Alpha, obliterating it from the point of impact. Bass scoffed and swung his arm, forcing HUBStyle to block the blow with his arms. The pulse that went off from the impact ripped and cracked apart the ground behind him. HUBStyle went for an ax-kick, only for Bass to block with his gauntlets, the ground cratering beneath him from the impact. Both let out roars of fury as they vanished, becoming blurs once more that tore apart the area around them.
"I can barely keep up with their speed…" Protoman whispered, sweating a little.
"Come on, Hikari, you've got this…" Chaud whispered.
"Do ya think we can do anything out here fer 'em, guts?" Gutsman asked, looking at Nicole.
"Shutting the entire island down wouldn't work since Alpha is already decoded to near completion," Nicole grimaced, "And it would likely lose us everyone in there."
"Not good," Dex grimaced as he looked at another screen, showing Eggman firing a missile barrage at Zero and Knuckles only for the former to slam his fist down on the ground and created a series of pillars of light that spiraled around him and knuckles, blocking the missiles.
"Oh god…" Yuichiro gasped, horror in his tone upon seeing Bass, "Haruka! Hurry and call them! They have to break off the fight!"
"Break off the…why?!" Haruka asked.
"They can't win against Bass!" Yuichiro replied.
=RRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!-!-!-!= HUBStyle and Bass roared as they parried each other's punch with their own, shattering the ground beneath them.
Several cracks broke out on HUBStyle's arm, making him grunt in pain and stumble back. Meanwhile, Bass sneered before his eyes widened as his gauntlet broke out in cracks, the blade on it even breaking off.
"...I will end you," Bass narrowed his eyes.
"..." HUBStyle looked at his hands and the Alpha around them, "Not if I end this here and now." the flames of GigaFreezer erupted in the palms of his hands.
"Those flames…" Bass whispered.
"Here goes everything! GIGAFREEZE!" HUBStyle roared.
The flames blazed and ice erupted all over, rushing towards Bass. He raised a hand out to the ice…and it stopped the moment it touched his palm. HUBStyle gasped as the ice gathered into his palm and reverted to its flame state.
"N-No way…" HUBStyle whispered with his eyes widening, "Y…You can control the GigaFreeze?"
"Hmph. Serenade tried this on me before," Bass stated.
"Oh right…I did do that…" Serenade muttered.
"Serenade…" Mamoru groaned.
"This is not good…" Yamatoman grimaced, "He went through all the effort of getting up the Ranks for that power and it ended up being all for nothing thanks to the Black Shadow…"
"Useless," Bass scoffed as he tossed it over his shoulder and into the distance.
"Here I come, boys!" Eggman roared as his EggWyvern made to charge at them…only to be frozen solid the moment the flames touched it, "What?!"
"?! Was that…?" Knuckles began.
"We'll thank Megaman later," Zero replied as he picked up Knuckles, "Now go!"
With a roar, Zero threw Knuckles at the mech. Knuckles narrowed his eyes as red energy erupted off him. With a roar, he swung a punch and shattered the ice and mech into snowflakes while sending Eggman flying off, becoming a speck of light in the distance. Both nodded before yelping as they barely avoided the blurs that were the combating Bass and HUBStyle.
'Megaman…are you…the one?' Bass pondered as the two struck one another with a cross counter.
'I have to beat him so he can't stop the GigaFreeze…' HUBStyle thought, 'I can do this! I have to win!'
HUBStyle growled as he fired a blast from his fist, making Bass move his head barely in time only for HUBStyle's foot to smash into his face and knock him away. Faintly…a smile appeared on Bass's lips.
'Are you the one…who will quench…the hunger and thirst within me?' Bass pondered before spreading his arms out, "COME AT ME! SHOW ME THAT YOU CAN OBLITERATE ME EVEN WITH THE 'GUARDIAN' PROGRAM WITHIN ME!" HUBStyle neared, power building in his open hand, "My hunger…my thirst! My rage, my hatred!"
"SHUT! UP!" HUBStyle roared, unleashing a sphere of his energy right into Bass's gut, "You've…" he appeared above Bass and swung an ax-kick at the enemy NetNavi, sending him rocketing into the ground, shattering it upon impact and burying Bass beneath the rubble, "LOST!"
"Mah stars…Ah haven't seen a fight like that since th' last time Sonic turned Super," Bunnie gasped, a metal hand moving to her cover her mouth in shock.
"It's not over yet."
"Aunt Sally?" Tails pondered.
"Don't you remember what Zero told us when he talked to Nicole and Knuckles in private after the Flameman Fiasco?" Sally reminded.
"Honey, what are you saying? How can the fight not be over between them?" Haruka asked.
"When Alpha began to act strangely and the committee thought Bass was responsible, his creator feared the worst and managed to install a contingency within Bass to save him from Deletion," Yuichiro explained, "He was sentenced to exile back to his home country of Sharo for life because of how dangerous and powerful that program is."
"A…A program?"
"Yes…Megaman made too many physical hits on him, so now…" Yuichiro looked at the screen as the rubble shifted…and Bass's arm emerged from it, "...The GetAbility Program activated."
"I…am disappointed…" Bass spoke, more rubble shifted as he slowly emerged, "For you have not satiated this hunger…nor quenched this thirst…" a familiar green energy crackled off him before it went off in a pulse, destroying the rubble, "Nor have you erased this rage and hatred from my coding!"
"That…That form…!" HUBStyle gasped, "It…It's…"
"Bass…has HUBStyle?" Zero whispered in shock, seeing the lines on Bass's body along with parts of his gauntlets and the middle of his helmet had become the familiar coloration of HUBStyle's data.
"The more powerful his opponent, the stronger he becomes it seems," Wily noted, walking up to stand by Zero.
"!?" Zero nearly jumped, not hearing the elderly man's approach.
Bass vanished in a flicker. HUBStyle tensed and quickly swung a backhand behind him. What came next to HUBStyle was a pain in his right cheek before gagging as a fist embedded in his gut.
"LAN!" Maylu screamed, seeing cuts and bruises breaking out on his body.
"I'm on it!" Roll spoke, quickly running over and laying her tail on his lap as it and her hands glowed with her Recov-Element, closing the cuts and making the bruises fade only to grimace as more formed on him, "He's getting hurt faster than I can heal him…"
"Bass was already powerful, but with HUBStyle…" Chaud grimaced.
"Knuckles, Zero, get him out of there!" Protoman barked.
"We cannot even get near them!" Knuckles replied, grimacing as he saw only HUBStyle getting smacked around with no traces of Bass.
"This level of power…it's beyond what we can currently do…" Zero admitted.
"There's gotta be another Pulse Transmission here!" Dex growled, looking around.
"...Dex…We'd just be in the way, guts," Gutsman spoke.
"Wh-What?! But…tch," Dex scowled before everyone jumped as HUBStyle crashed into the ground.
"In the end…you were only meat on my plate," Bass scoffed, hovering in the air.
He raised a hand to the sky. At first, his arm cracked with an Earthbreaker and HUBStyle's energy. It lifted off him before coiling up into a sphere a few inches above his palm. In the blink of an eye, the tiny sphere expanded to become the size of a water tower.
"Uh…oh…boy…" HUBStyle paled, struggling to get out of the ground.
"All that remains…" Bass reeled his arm back, "...IS A GNAWED BONE!" he swung his arm down, "EARTHBREAKER!-!-!"
The area was filled with light from the impact as speakers in the real world sparked and crackled, some even popping, from the explosion that followed. Slowly, the light dissipated and exposed Megaman, passed out with most of his body nothing but data that was trying to fragment itself while also trying to keep itself together.
"And so it ends…with your abject defeat and my quest to continue on," Bass stated.
"No…" Knuckles gasped.
"Oh Ancient Walkers above…That isn't good, eez it?" Antoine asked.
"No, Ant…He's on the verge of death…and if what happened with Match is anything to say about this FullSynchro stuff…" Rotor grimaced.
"Th…They can make it…r-right?" Julie-Su asked.
"I…I don't know," Tails admitted, shaking his head somberly.
'Sonic…please…help them,' Sally prayed.
"A shame to be honest…" Bass went on, "You excited me when we first met well over a year ago."
"?!" Zero, Knuckles, and even Wily, looked up at Bass in surprise.
"You've…met them before?" Wily asked.
"It was a pure happenstance," Bass replied, "They managed to break my barrier back then on their own. I would have ended them then and there…had they not surprised me with their strength."
=And we fought a second time later on…our match did not conclude because of Grave's insults to my existence=
"Oof…So that's what happened to all the copies that escaped…" Sean muttered.
"Copies?!" Yai snapped, making Sean wince.
"Th-They were inferior ones, barely a tenth of the real Bass's power that I needed back then…" Sean admitted, sweating a bit under the glare of the shorter girl, "Don't get why a lot of them kept asking if people 'knew the way' and kept clicking their tongues, though…"
"And it thrilled me when they used HUBStyle and actually made me retreat when SciLab was attacked," Bass went on, "But…in the end…" he scoffed, "What can you expect from a NetNavi who needs something as pathetic as a human to fully battle but utter disappointment?"
"You take that back right now, you jerk!"
"..." Bass glanced at a screen that popped up, showing a glaring Roll, "And what is it to you?"
"That is my boyfriend and his brother you're insulting!" Roll replied, narrowing her eyes, "And what's wrong with trusting in humans? What's wrong with having a bond with them?"
"Just what did we do to you as a whole?" Maylu demanded.
"What's wrong with humans?" Bass asked before throwing his cloak off, exposing his scar, "Humans did this to me! The person I trusted…my very creator…he betrayed me! He abandoned me to be Deleted for something I was never involved with! Bringing upon despair and hatred and the doom of Deletion! When that bastard sliced into me with his FireSword…I copied it and tore into him in return! You humans created me and wanted to destroy me for something I had nothing to do with! But that is like you humans…you are nothing but monsters that pretend to be an orderly race! How many species have been wiped out by you? How many ecosystems have you destroyed? The destruction you've reigned upon we NetNavis by our very creation as beings to deal with your viruses?" he gestured to his scar, "Do you see this scar? This is the perfect truth to human betrayal!"
"All I see is a wound you've suffered!" Roll replied.
"Not all humans are like the ones who tried to Delete you. Many of us are capable of great acts of kindness and selflessness," Maylu added, "And the same goes for NetNavis as well! And there are no others who are able to show that more than Lan and Megaman!"
"The two who lay there, awaiting their demise?" Bass gestured.
"They trust in one another," Roll explained, "They've overcome odds far greater than you ever could!"
"Their kindness knows no bounds. Even when they have a grudge, they never try to go far into it outside of beating them in a NetBattle unless you push it," Maylu added.
"All you have is yourself…and it's why you'll never beat them in the end!"
"Excuse you?" Bass narrowed his eyes.
"We know they'll win," Maylu stated.
"We know they're not beat yet!" Roll added.
"Because we love them and believe in them no matter what!" both declared, a strong conviction in their eyes.
Megaman's eyes snapped open, the green in them now a radiant glowing neon blue. Blue lightning erupted off his body, burning away the Alpha around him while shooting into the skies above. Out of the Network, nearly everyone jumped back from the Pulse Transmission System Lan was in as his body was crackling with the same energy. Megaman slowly rose up, narrowing his eyes as he glared at Bass. Megaman glanced at the floating screen, giving a small smile at seeing Roll and Maylu looking relieved on it, before glaring back at Bass.
"I believe you have something that belongs to Lan and I," Megaman spoke.
He raised a hand up and clenched it into a fist. The lightning snapped into action and stuck Bass before he could move. His eyes widened as he felt HUBStyle being ripped out of him as Megaman assumed it while all his damage vanished, the blue lightning turning emerald green in the process.
"This is my power and you're never using it ever again to hurt anyone," HUBStyle Megaman declared, "I'm going to use it to fight for a better tomorrow!"
Bass's wide eyes swiftly narrowed as he glared at HUBStyle Megaman. HUBStyle entered a running stance, keeping focused on Bass as a spiraling tornado of energy swirled into life in the palm of his hand. HUBStyle raced at him as Bass unleashed a barrage of plasma shots as big as his upper body. Explosions erupted as HUBStyle dodged each shot, looking as if he were barely breaking a sweat at it. He ran along a wall before slamming into Bass with a Spin Dash that homed in on the RobianStyle NetNavi. Bass grunted as his Aura barely blocked it only for HUBStyle to do it again the moment he touched the ground…and again…and again…over and over! HUBStyle became a streak of green-tinted light that repeatedly slammed into Bass, shattering his aura and then ripping into his body, tearing his armor and cloak apart. By the end of it all, HUBStyle skidded to a halt before Bass as Zero and Knuckles ran over while the Solo NetNavi collapsed to a knee, panting heavily and looking at them in disbelief. Cracks littered his armor with parts of it all shattered to fragmented data.
"I cannot...I cannot have lost…" Bass grunted, struggling to get up from his kneeled position as his RobianStyle shattered, leaving him in his original form.
"Hmm...And I was hoping that you'd delete each other…" Wily sighed as he walked over.
"What...!?" Bass looked at Wily with a surprised and scathing look.
"Bass, the Guardian program that you destroyed...It was the final protection placed on Alpha! It takes a lot to destroy it, you know. So I used your power. It's the reason I used Gospel to make a copy of you! Just to bring back Alpha!" Wily declared.
"What?! You really were the guy who manipulated Sean!?" HUBStyle gasped, reverting to Megaman in his surprise.
"But of course. The emotional people are often the easiest to control," Wily confirmed with a dark chuckle.
"Wily...You…" Bass growled.
"And you, Bass…NetNavis are, after all, just tools to use! Do you see now!? I would use anything to complete my plan!" Wily declared.
"That dirty old man!"
"I am so sorry your maker is this man, my friend," Knuckles spoke.
"I'm sorry for it as well," Zero agreed, glaring at the cackling elderly man before the Network began to shake.
"Whoaa!" Megaman yelped, barely standing.
"Here it comes! Here it comes! Finally! Alpha's awakening! It's the end of Network society!" Wily cheered as the rumbling slowed…before a part of Alpha shot up from the ground and engulfed Bass.
"Guraaagh!-! Graaaaaauggghh!" Bass screamed, signs of struggling shown within the slime.
"Bass!-! Bass is...What...What's happening!?" Megaman asked, his eyes widening in shock.
"Ahahaha! That is Alpha! The beast who will devour Cyberworld!" Wily cackled as the bulbous pile of Alpha retracted back into the ground, leaving no signs of Bass, "This is the end! Of Network society...And the world! Alpha! Swallow it all! All of it! Aahahahaha!" his laughter was cut off when Alpha engulfed him, "Huh...!? Stop! What...!? Aaaahhhhh!"
"Wily! It's even swallowed up Wily...!" Lan gasped as Alpha retracted, leaving no signs of Wily's existence.
"Everyone be ready to move if it tries to grab us," Zero advised as the area rumbled once more.
The shaking kept going until, slowly, a large blob rose up before them. Faint orange data line-like wires slithered within the mound, all connected to a pulsating purple and green core as three large fins emerged on the sides of the mount as it kept rising up. A slit appeared above the core before opening, exposing a solid red eye focusing upon them all.
"So this is Alpha!" Knuckles tensed.
"The monster that would swallow all of Cyberworld...Everyone, we have to stop this thing here and now!-!" Megaman ordered, summoning his power.
"Right!" the duo replied before they tensed as laughter erupted in the air.
"Eggman!" Chaud snarled, recognizing the laugh before a light hit Alpha and started to pull it off the Network.
"Whoa! Wh-What's happening?!" Dex asked as they looked up to see a large object that was pulling in the Alpha.
Once the last of Alpha was pulled into it, the object lowered down to the ground, a tail made of Alpha touched down on the ground and ate away at it to form a ring of 'data' on the floor. The object was a large suit of armor that was pitch black and a brilliant metallic red. Its lower body was made of two large spheres with thick glass paneling to expose parts of the Alpha inside of it with more orbs to make its shoulders and where its arms turned into large revolving chambers. A pair of large red rings with spikes connected the shoulders to the main body with a pair of large red and black objects shaped like bishop chess pieces attached to the shoulders. Copies of the 'heads' of the 'bishops' were connected to its back and on the sides of its lowest orb. Its head was another black orb but sported a white 'mask' with spikes jutting out of the sides in an upwards curve with six fins on the sides of its head, each one sporting either yellow, blue, or red tips.
"Hello, kids!" Eggman laughed, "Behold! The Alpha Omegga!"
"Alpha Omega?" Zero repeated.
"No, no! Omegga! Omegga!" Eggman ranted, "It's a play on words, you…"
"What did you do?!" Megaman demanded.
"Oh not much. I just let the Alpha deal with the two nuisances to my plans and then took it for myself!" Eggman replied, "The power to devour a whole world…this thing is oh so perfect! Should any go against me, I will have it devour their homes, their villages, their countries!"
"No way! We'll stop you, Eggman!" Lan declared.
"Oh I'm going to love seeing you try!" Eggman laughed, "But let's take this elsewhere, shall we?"
With that, Alpha Omegga vanished. Everyone tensed as they looked around before a ringing went off.
"Phone Call?" Megaman pondered before a screen popped up, showing Sean, "Sean?"
"Finally! I managed to get through! A second Dimensional Area's formed," Sean informed.
"Over the island?" Protoman asked.
"Yes…" Sean replied before looking up at the sky, showing intricate circuit designs glowing in the sky above, "...and extending far enough to cover Electropia, meaning the radius is massive."
"WHAT?!" everyone exclaimed.
"Looks like Eggman modified my designs and amplified them," Sean noted with a scowl.
"Wait…then that means…" Megaman's eyes widened.
"ALL NETNAVIS JACK OUT!" Knuckles shouted before running off to the Jack Out panel.
Within several moments, the Hedgehog Mobini got out of the Pulse Transmission Chairs and into FullSynchro with his materialized NetNavi. Everyone ran outside in time to see Alpha Omegga materialize on top of the massive central skull, the part of Alpha remaining out of it reshaped into a tail. He laughed before swiping an arm, easily shattering Sean's Dimensional Area.
"Quite the impressive power behind it,"Eggman noted, "Oh, I can't wait to take it back to Mobius! Good-bye, Knothole~!"
"Eggman!" Megaman shouted, making the Alpha Omegga look down at the group.
"Oh excellent! I was hoping you'd come out here and fight!" Alpha Omegga laughed.
"Your attempts upon this world shall falter today!" Knuckles declared.
"Says you, Knucklehead!"
"We're taking you down here and now, Eggman!" Megaman declared.
"PerfectSynchro!" Lan and Megaman declared.
"DENIED!" Alpha Omegga grinned as the Dimensional Area shifted colors and Megaman grunted as sparks came off him.
"Wh-What?!"
"Oh, you think I wasn't prepared for you to try that form on me?" Alpha Omegga taunted, "I made sure to study that form of yours, even having Metal Sonic go out to the areas you used it in before to collect any remnants of its energy signature and data. No HUBStyle for you~!"
"We didn't need HUBStyle before for big guys like this, Megaman," Lan encouraged.
"Right," Megaman agreed.
"Then let's go! Final Battle Routine Set!"
"Execute!"
"Gladly!" Alpha Omegga declared as he fired a laser from his head unit at them, forcing them all to dodge and the ground exploded where the laser hit, sending them all further away from one another.
"How's your throwing arm?" Nicole asked once she and Gutsman landed.
"Pretty good," Gutsman replied.
"Good," Nicole nodded as she produced an IceBall and handed it to him, "I'll provide the ammunition, you throw it all at him."
"Nice!" Dex grinned.
"Nice try with those little bullets. I must say, though, you using a gun? Highly unusual, Sonic," Alpha Omegga noted, holding an arm up and letting the MegaBuster shots bounce off it before swinging his other arm and aimed it at Megaman.
The arm clicked before spinning rapidly, revealing it to be a machine gun. Megaman yelped as he became a blur, barely avoiding the onslaught of bullets that peppered the ground behind him. Roll ran up a nearby tower's exterior before jumping off it, summoning a ZeusHammer that she swung at Alpha Omegga, causing it to spin around and fall onto its front.
"Yes!" Roll cheered before the shoulder spikes detached and floated up…exposing machine gun barrels in it, "No…" she yelped as she began to run about, dodging the shots, "YIPE!"
"RAIJINGEKI/ELECSWORD!" Zero and Protoman roared, their blades engulfed with electrical currents that they swung at Alpha Omegga's guns only for the blades to shatter on impact, "?!" the floating attachments swatted the two away before reattaching to the main body as it took flight.
"What fools! You can't…" Alpha Omegga taunted before an IceBall hit it in the head, freezing it in a block of ice, before several more rained down on it and causing ice to grow on each impact.
"BOOYAH!" Gutsman laughed, "How's that, ya big metal container of sludge, guts?!"
The armor began to glow and the ice melted, allowing a burst of heat to go off, singing all the remaining plantlife that the base hadn't already destroyed and knocking everyone back, "Quite the refreshing moment. Was getting a bit too hotheaded for myself, yes."
Knuckles growled as he stood back up and his power surged. Alpha Omegga spotted him charging at the mech and gave a chuckle. The right arm twitched before it transformed into a serrated drill. It spun rapidly before shooting off, rocketing towards the echidna. Knuckles roared as he jumped up and swung his fist at it. The drill collided…and shattered. Knuckles smirked before his eyes widened as the broken limb reformed and fired once more, nailing the echidna and knocking him into Gutsman, knocking him into Nicole and then all three onto Roll. Alpha Omegga began to move towards them when it heard Megaman roaring.
"GigaFreeze!" Megaman roared, firing the program at Alpha Omegga's back…who vanished and allowed the tower behind the mech to be frozen solid and shatter into snowflakes, "?!"
"I just love AreaSteal," Alpha Omegga chuckled darkly before his right arm backhanded Megaman, sending him crashing through the skull and crushing the Pulse Transmission system Lan had been in.
"Ow…" Megaman groaned.
"I'm starting to hate that BattleChip…." Lan whined.
"I really hate that GigaFreeze keeps failing," Megaman grumbled.
"..." Mamoru looked at Serenade, who was currently in a corner of his PeT, poking the floor with a blue aura around them.
"It…It feels so awkward…the ultimate program…and it just keeps failing…" Darkman groaned.
"I am ashamed, de gozaru…" Yamatoman bowed his head in shame.
"Come here, little fishies~" Alpha Omegga taunted as the group stayed huddled behind some rubble, the NetOps all out of FullSynchro.
"Those were our best attacks…and they did nothing!" Knuckles grunted, punching the floor.
"Eggman's too powerful in that mech of his! We can't beat him!" Nicole noted in concern and worry.
Lan looked around, seeing the troubled looks everyone had. It was just earlier he was sporting that same look. He shook his head before putting a hand on Maylu and Chaud's shoulders, earning their attention.
"Look, we aren't strong enough to beat him on our own," Lan stated, "But there are four of us that can combine with four of the NetNavis here. Adding in Knuckles, that's seven fighters altogether. That's seven of us, all here." he gestured to Dex, Knuckles, and Gutsman, "Your strength…" he gestured to Maylu, Nicole, Chaud, and Zero, "Your smarts…" he gestured to himself, Megaman, Protoman, and Roll, "And our speed. That's how we'll win!"
"So we make our stand here...on the field of battle!" Knuckles realized as he banged his fists together.
"As a team!" Roll grinned.
Lan nodded as they got up, "This is it."
The group climbed over the mound of rubble they were hiding behind as the human and three Mobini entered FullSynchro once more. Megaman narrowed his eyes as they glowed blue while his power crackled off him.
"This is our moment!" Megaman declared before whistling sharply and earning Alpha Omegga's attention.
"Well now…Time to fight," he chuckled as ports opened on his body, letting out Badniks, parts of them covered in some of the AlphaBugs that they began to attack.
"Bad time to say this, but I don't actually have a plan," Lan admitted as Megaman fired a Spreader to destroy several Badniks, "Nicole, any ideas?"
"We have to find its weak point," Nicole advised, throwing several bombs that destroyed a few more Badniks alongside a rocketing fist from Gutsman.
"I suggest the groin," Knuckles suggested, giving a hammerblow to one Badnik as Zero sliced through several.
"Ew! What?! No!" Roll exclaimed in disgust after firing a Roll Blast.
"Conditionally, yes. The groin is the weakest spot," Knuckles noted, having a Badnik in a headlock before blowing it up with a punch.
"Stop! Saying! Groin!" Maylu and Roll complained as a ZeusHammer from Roll smashed several Badniks.
"HEDGEHOG~!"everyone looked to see Alpha Omegga aiming its arms at them, an ominous magenta light shining within.
"Look out!" Zero called, grabbing Nicole before they ran, dodging the two lasers fired from the arms before machine gun fire from them kept trying to hit the running group.
"...I know what his weak spot is...it's Megaman! He's the 'groin'!" Lan realized as everyone kept attacking the oncoming Badniks as they ran at Alpha Omegga with Knuckles throwing Megaman, in his ball form, towards a nearby robot, before Protoman and him unleashing a combination of slashes and buster shots in a spiraling manner, "Think about it; Megaman, you live rent-free in this guy's head. So if we go out there, and rile him up…"
"He'll focus on only you, leaving himself open to flanking maneuvers from me and the others!" Knuckles realized, releasing a barrage of punches ahead of him to destroy a line of Badniks coming for him, "Hedgehogs, you are brave and noble warriors! Go now to your certain death with honor!"
"We're gonna have to work on your pep talks, pal," Roll noted.
"Let's go!" Megaman declared as everyone broke away from Megaman and he zipped ahead and halted before Alpha Omegga, "What should I say?"
"Let me," Lan grinned, separating from Megaman, "Hey! Baldy McNosehair!" Alpha Omegga's head unit looked down at them, letting Lan blow a raspberry, "PFFFFT~!"
"Oh, you insufferable little brats!" Alpha Omegga snapped as Lan went Full Synchro with Megaman before running off, "Get back here so I can smash you all to pieces!"
"Come and get us then, Eggman!" Megaman taunted.
"Oh, you don't get to tell me about coming and getting! I am the one who invented coming and getting!"Alpha Omegga snapped as it flew after him.
"Here they come," Knuckles noted as Roll grunted, picking up Gutsman and Knuckles, as she started to float.
"You two are really heavy," Roll grunted.
"That's because we are one million percent muscle! Faster, Hedgefox!" Knuckles replied.
"Knuckles, try to avoid touching anything that's part of Alpha," Tails warned, "We don't want to lose you or anyone there."
"Really wish we knew how to trigger WukongStyle…" Maylu sighed, "...Roll, I'm gonna try something, okay?"
"Oh? Doing something risky? When did you become Lan and Mega?" Roll asked in amusement.
"Very funny."
The soles of Roll's feet glowed before magenta flames erupted beneath them. All three barely held in yelps as they rocketed into the air.
"That thing's insane," Yai whispered, watching the continued chase as Megaman was barely dodging shots fired by the hulking mech.
"He's running out of running space," a maid noted, her eyes going wide as she saw Megaman approaching the edge of the island.
"Hang on, I'm gonna try something," Sean noted, typing at his computer before a road made of the Dimensional Area formed before Megaman, causing him to blink a few times before grinning and running up onto it as it kept forming ahead of him, "Phew! It worked!"
"What did you do?" another maid asked, adjusting her glasses as she bent down a bit to look at his screen.
"I have it doing a continuous loop focused on a few feet ahead of Megaman if it doesn't detect solid land ahead of him," Sean explained, "It's making a road made of a Dimensional Area to let him not fall into the water."
"Why is it making corkscrews and loops?" a third maid asked.
"I…honestly have no idea," Sean admitted, "...Lan better not be breaking physics again."
"How long have you been living with that boy?" Yai reminded, making him groan and facepalm.
"Looks like Sean's been working on applications of the Dimensional Area," Yuichiro noted.
"It feels like something from a video game," Haruka admitted as Megaman jumped into the air and delivered several Spin Dashes that focused on the Alpha-infused Badniks that Alpha Omegga deployed to try to fly at him, "Oh! Is he…homing in on them?"
"It looks like it," Yuichiro noted, "And he seems to finally have control over that strange power in him now."
"What are the others doing?" Haruka pondered, spotting Zero and Protoman climbing onto two of the towers.
"It seems they may be working on a strategy to try to take it down," Yuichiro guessed.
Megaman jumped off the Dimensional Area roadway and landed atop the central skull of the island, "That was…something…Now what?"
"Megaman, repeat after me," Lan whispered.
Megaman nodded before looking up at Alpha Omegga, "So what's the big plan here, Eggman? You gonna build a big robot house? Get yourself a big robot wife?"
"...I'm going to enslave everyone on Mobius, Earth, and the Internet, forcing them to serve as my machines," Alpha Omegga exclaimed, raising its arms skyward, "First this world, then Mobius, then the universe, then the multiverse, then who knows?!" it shrugged, "Maybe that'll be enough." Megaman narrowed his eyes at the mech, "Full disclosure? You. won't. be. there."
With that, the mask on Alpha Omegga glowed and fired a white laser from it, forcing Megaman to start dodging.
"Eye lasers? Really?!" Lan yelped.
'Come on, guys…' Megaman thought, glancing over his shoulder as he ran once more to see Zero, Protoman, and Nicole arrive at the tops of three of the towers.
"You know the strategy?" Nicole asked, forming an S-Bomb Program Advance.
"Understood," both replied, summoning a LifeSword each.
Megaman raced by as the Alpha Omegga gave chase. Nicole threw the S-Bomb as Alpha Omegga was starting to pass her tower. Inside of it, Eggman screamed like a goat from the surprise explosion that went off on his mech's back before Zero and Protoman roared, swinging their blades, and slicing off the wings. Alpha Omegga barely spun around in time to see a pair of glints going off in the sky before revealing themselves to be a falling Gutsman and Knuckles, the former glowing a flashing green color as his reeled back fist was shining brightly with the latter summoning his red energy and channeling it all into his own reeled back fist.
"ZETA PUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNCH/GRAAAAAAAAAA!-!-!-!" Gutsman and Knuckles bellowed as they slammed their fists into Alpha Omegga's torso.
A shockwave erupted from the impact as the behemoth of a machine was sent rocketing back. It collided with the tower Megaman and Roll had taken down, shattering it and sending both rubble and mech into the seas below. The duo landed on their feet as the others ran over to them.
"That was awesome, guys!" Lan cheered before Megaman caught Roll.
"Ugh…My arms are sore carrying them…" Roll whined, "And I think the soles of my boots are melted from Maylu boosting my flight with her flames."
"Sorry, Roll…"
"We're not done yet," Megaman reminded, summoning the GigaFreeze, "We need to fully destroy it before the Alpha…"
As if on cue, tendrils of Alpha erupted from the seas before the tips peeled back, exposing electrical generators. Before anyone could react, the generators erupted in an explosion of electricity, unleashing multiple bolts that struck everyone. Alpha Omegga erupted from the seas, all the damage it had suffered gone.
"I love these little BattleChips. They do such wonders on repairing things you annoyances break!" Alpha Omegga laughed as its tail peeled back, exposing a missile that it launched and slammed into the ground, sending everyone scattering away, "So that was your best, hm? I'm truly disappointed in you, Sonic."
"Gh…" Megaman grunted before crying out as Alpha Omegga slapped him with an arm, sending him to the other side of the island and caused him and Lan to split apart upon impacting and crashing through a large rock.
"Gh…N-No…" Nicole gasped, managing to deploy an AreaSteal to try to get closer as Alpha Omegga slowly approached.
"Ah! This is bad…" Tail grimaced, "That mech really is too powerful! The only thing that could probably beat it now would be a Super Transformation! But they don't have anything that could be like that they can trigger now!"
"...Nicole…can you put the speaker on?" Sally asked.
"Why?" Nicole quietly asked.
"Please, Nicole. I…I think I saw something earlier on Lan. It's a long shot, but…" Sally began to speak.
"Often a word of encouragement is what's needed to help one push on. They've experienced only the negative; they have yet to feel the positive," a regal, older male's voice spoke up, "Nicole, please let the voices of the people be heard for these two."
"Of course, your highness," Nicole whispered.
A popup appeared near Megaman and Lan, showing 'AUDIO ONLY,' before a voice came from it, "You kids might not know me, but I've placed all my hopes on you two! An all or nothing bet a hundred miles wide and with odds straight from hell, but I placed it knowing that you would succeed! You've come this far, so don't fall at the eleventh hour!"
Another voice followed, "Come on, you two! You've fought this far, and you're calling it quits now!? That's total BS! Kick that fat man's keister!"
"Give 'em nothin' short of hell, kids! Freedom Fighter's pride, ever and always!"
'Those voices…some of them…they're not in Knothole…' Nicole thought before feeling various calls coming for her, 'What?!'
"Lan! Megaman! You can do it!" Mamoru cheered, the kid and his aunt in the Undernet Server room, "You gotta beat them up and come back! We made a promise to NetBattle one another!"
"You boys have got this, de gozaru!" Yamatoman declared, stomping the butt of his spear on the ground.
"Hmph. After all the hype about you kids from our Lord and you falter here? Don't you dare make me believe otherwise that you two will get back up and smash that fat man's face in and destroy the Alpha," Darkman scoffed.
"We're all rooting for you two!" Serenade cheered, waving a pair of paper folding fans they had drawn childish art of Megaman and Lan on.
"Come on, kids! Smash his face in! Pound it to pieces!" Tamako hollered.
"Go for it! Get up and show that fat man what you're made of!" Metalman shouted.
"GO FOR IT!" Sean and Yai cheered.
"You guys have dealt with the WWW and Gospel before this and came back!" Yai encouraged.
"You deleted the LifeVirus and its enhanced form and then went on to destroy Gospel's Virus Beast! What's fighting the original internet compared to that?!" Sean demanded.
"You boys have got this!" Haruka shouted, "You've fought all kinds of things and come back!"
"You two have always found a way to overcome the impossible! This time shouldn't be any different!" Yuichiro encouraged.
"Come back home to us!" both called.
"All together now!" Antoine called, "When I say 'Mega,' you say 'Man!' MEGA!"
"LAN!" all those gathered around the massive tree and its myriad of screens roared back.
"Close enough!"
As more and more voices came from Nicole's connection, a soft glow began to shine from in Lan's clothes. Slowly, the seven emeralds phased through his fabric and started to encircle the two. Lan's foot twitched as Megaman's hand dug into the ground. Slowly, both grunted as they began to stand up and entered FullSynchro.
"What? Those are…Ch-Chaos Emeralds?!" Eggman gasped.
The emeralds began to spin around Megaman as he closed his eyes, hearing the cheers, the encouragement from them all…all the positivity the voices were giving out. A warmth blossomed within him and Lan as it gave way to a calm…a calm that only hid the storm that was coming for Eggman. The emeralds began to spin faster and Megaman started to float. Alpha Omegga swung an arm at him only for Megaman to shoot up above it. The emeralds paused, the light giving them a slight twinkle, before they collided with Megaman and a flash of light went off. The ears of the Mobini twitched as they looked around.
"Music?" Chaud pondered.
"What?" Gutsman pondered.
"I hear piano music," Chaud explained.
"Same here," Protoman agreed before Maylu and Roll gasped, the others looking at them to see them looking up before they followed their lead and tensed.
Floating in Megaman's place was a humanoid hedgehog, no bigger than between three and four feet in height. The quills on his head curved upwards while the two on his back curved downwards. Around his neck was a long sky-blue scarf bearing the Hikari family crest while he sported white gloves, white socks, and a pair of red sneakers with a white band going across the tops and a gold buckle. His conjoined eyes focused on Alpha Omegga, the ruby irises reflecting the power brimming within the golden hedgehog clad in a golden aura. He crossed his arms over his chest as his scowl turned into a smile filled with confidence. He opened his mouth…and began to sing.
Follow me…/You're standing on the border of everything~/Listen close
"Super Sonic…" Nicole softly gasped.
"Super Sonic?" Everyone but Knuckles repeated, looking at her.
"By the Source…" Sally whispered.
Can you hear my spirit sing~/Last messages of lo~ng ago?
"HEDGEHOG!" Eggman roared as Alpha Omegga threw an arm at the golden hedgehog, who did a backflip to slam his foot into it just before impact, knocking the mech backwards from the impact.
Super Sonic was before the mech and began to deliver a multitude of punches and kicks to it, astral images of the fists and shoes appearing at times and leaving dents in its frame. He flew away, avoiding Alpha Omegga unleashing a backslap with both arms as it spun like a top.
Leave~ the life you knew before/See~ a new world worth fighting for!/Find the truth of who you're meant to~ become/Another path you two must now walk on
The middle section of the lower body opened and unleashed a missile the size of an 18 wheeler at Super Sonic. He grinned before performing a barrel roll to land atop it. With a few movements, he turned the missile around and sent it right back at Alpha Omegga, leaving the doctor startled enough to not block it in time and send the mech crashing into the water below.
I'm here!/Reaching far across these new frontiers/With my life I fight this fear!
Alpha Omegga ripped out of the water, unleashing a missile barrage from his arms, only for Super Sonic to use a golden Wild Rush to not only avoid the barrage but also get in close to Alpha Omegga once more. He proceeded to unleash a blitz of punches, kicks, and a few stomps from swooping over it and going down hard on its head.
In your hands you hold the ones you love/Walk forward through the cold dawn/Always to new horizons!
Alpha Omegga tried to fly back only for its momentum to halt. Looking down, the giant mech saw Super Sonic grinning deviously while holding onto the slime-made tail of its body, the golden aura dissolving the smile that tried to engulf him. With barely any effort, Super Sonic began to spin Alpha Omegga around like a top until he let go, sending it sailing through the air and crashing into the skull on the WWW Base, shattering it and the topmost part of the island's structures.
Come with me/You'll travel through the trials and tragedy/Blessed and bleak
The rubble exploded as Alpha Omegga flew out of it, charging at Super Sonic with its right arm now a massive drill. Super Sonic zipped around, dodging the attack before Alpha Omegga fired the drill at him.
Can you hear my spirit sho~ut/The secrets in my melodies~?
Super Sonic quickly did a roundhouse, knocking the drill into the air before zipping up above it. He spun around and delivered a backflip, his foot slamming into the back of the drill.
Dream~/Explore the mysteries/Breathe~/Your new lives are revealed to me/Once again you'll start our story anew/Don't be afraid, I will be with you two~!
The drill shot off with a sonic boom going off. Alpha Omegga couldn't dodge and the drill tore right into the side of its body, sparks and slime spraying out of the new hole it sported. Super Sonic flew around Alpha Omegga, a trail of golden light following him. Once he made a complete loop around it, the light turned sapphire for a moment and spears of light emerged from the ground and impaled Alpha Omegga, pushing it up into the sky.
I'm here!/Reaching far across these new frontiers/With my life I fight this fear!/In my hands I hold the ones I love/Walk forward through the cold dawn/Always to new horizons
Super Sonic began to rapidly kick at Alpha Omegga's direction and blades of sharpened gold light shot out and tore into Alpha Omegga's body, leaving grooves and gouges in it that leaked Alpha's slime, only to dissolve as it touched the remnants of the golden light stuck to the openings. The pieces of Alpha Omegga's arms detached, revealing turrets in them that quickly went to work shooting at Super Sonic, who only grinned. In a blink of an eye, all the bullets were gathered into a sphere that Super Sonic punted at Alpha Omegga, letting off another explosion. Both turrets flipped around and opened the nub-like ends, revealing a pair of lasers. They glinted before unleashing a combined beam at Super Sonic, who simply held his hands out. The beam slammed into his hands and gathered itself up into a sphere of energy that he threw over his head into the waters at a distance. Before either could try again, he quickly grabbed one turret and threw it at the other, impaling the back of it into its other half and causing both to explode. The spears dissipated before a larger one with more detail than the others impaled Alpha Omegga, sending it crashing down onto the island.
Standing here~/The way ahead's becoming clear/All across these new frontiers!
Super Sonic smirked as he flew far away back while Alpha Omegga slowly rose back up while the spear dissipated. A glint was all that was seen before Super Sonic ripped right through Alpha Omegga, several holes now in its hulking sparking frame. There was a flicker before a golden burst of light engulfed Alpha Omegga, an explosion barely visible in the brightness.
In your hands you'll hold the ones I loved/Walk forward through the cold dawn/Always to new horizons!
Super Sonic looked out at the horizon, a small smile on his face before flying over to the others. He looked to Nicole and Knuckles before his small smile turned into a sad, somber one for a brief moment. The moment he touched the floor as the last note was sung, his body reverted to Megaman before Lan separated from him, holding the Chaos Emeralds.
"Whoa…" Lan and Megaman whispered, looking at one another, noticing they both had the tips of their hair now in the color of their twin's hair.
"Lan/Mega!" Maylu and Roll called as they hugged their boyfriends.
"What was that?" Zero pondered.
"A miracle," Knuckles replied as everyone walked over, NetOps and NetNavis separating from FullSynchro.
"Seems you reached a new plateau of power," Chaud noted, narrowing his eyes.
"Yeah…I'm gonna keep that as a last resort," Lan noted as Maylu ended the hug but refused to release his hand while he looked at the Emeralds, "These things kept trying to fly off and I was barely grabbing them before they could escape once we stopped being all gold and flying."
"I can't sense any injuries at all," Roll noted, looking Megaman over.
"Oddly, I feel like I just woke up from a good night's sleep," Megaman noted.
"It's a side-effect of using the Chaos Emeralds," Nicole explained, "By turning into your Super Form, it automatically heals you the moment you drop the transformation."
"Really? That's pretty beneficial," Megaman noted before everyone jumped when a large blob of Alpha crashed down before them, "Yikes!"
Everyone tensed, the NetNavis all readying their weapons as they waited for Alpha to move…when it began to hiss and smolder until it dissolved. All that it left behind was a metal door. The group shared looks before Lan and Megaman approached the door. A red light came out and washed over the two before the light above the door turned green and slid open.
"...Guess it wants us to go inside?" Lan guessed.
"It looks that way," Megaman admitted.
Roll and Maylu looked up at the door in worry. The group entered…and blinked a few times, now inside of a laboratory. It looked to be covered in various projects.
"A lab?" Chaud pondered.
"Is this...Earth or Mobius?" Lan pondered.
"No, Lan, this is just an image file. It looks pretty old. I've never seen this place before, but it seems familiar…" Megaman admitted.
"Familiar...? ...Now that you mention it, I think I've seen it, too…" Lan noted as he looked around.
"Let's try to figure out where this place could be!" Roll suggested.
"Good idea," Chaud noted, "Stay close together."
"Hey, check this out!" Dex exclaimed as he held up a lab coat.
"I've seen that before," Nicole noted, "That's the original lab coat used by scientists of SciLab prior to the Alpha rebelling."
"Lan, look...This lab coat is just like the one that dad wears when we try out experiments with the Dimensional Area at the house…" Megaman compared.
"Hey, you're right! Does that mean that this is...SciLab?" Lan asked, "But I don't remember a room like this being there…"
"This must be SciLab some time in the past... But who would create a room like this inside of Alpha?" Megaman pondered.
"It was meant to keep Alpha imprisoned."
"Who's there!?" Protoman demanded as the NetNavis moved their NetOps together as they deployed their weapons.
"No need to worry, I won't harm you. So you're the ones who deleted Alpha?" The voice asked before an older man appeared with a fluffy gray beard, gray hair atop his head, gentle blue eyes, and wore a Hawaiian shirt and brown shorts with white socks and brown shoes.
"Gr...Grandpa…?!" Lan gasped.
"Say what?" Roll gawked.
"Ya sure?" Dex asked.
"I've only seen pictures of him, but I know it's him!" Lan informed.
"Tadashi Hikari?" Chaud pondered in surprise.
"Grandpa? So you must be...Lan...And that NetNavi…" Tadashi looked at Megaman, "...You would be Hub? You're the ones who defeated Alpha?"
"Yeah, Gramps! We got him! Didn't we, Hub?"
"It was a team effort with all our friends here," Hub gestured to the others, "Wily was trying to revive Alpha and released it."
"...Wily? I see. So you used the Pulse Transmission System?"
"No, sir," Chaud replied, "We're in a phenomenon known as a Dimensional Area, where Earth and the Network 'overlap.'"
"Truly? Fascinating," Tadashi noted before sighing, "Albert Wily was once a brilliant and ambitious scientist. He was my best friend in College, even... So what happened to him?"
"He was swallowed up...by Alpha…" Lan explained.
"I see...This never would have happened if he hadn't gone astray…" Tadashi sighed.
"But Gramps, why are you here?" Lan asked.
"I've been monitoring Guardian, to stop Alpha's reawakening. It's my duty, as the creator of Alpha. When Guardian was destroyed, I thought that all was lost. However…" he smiled at the group, patting Lan and Megaman's shoulders, "Thanks to you two and your friends, the world is safe. Now the core is gone and the other parts of Alpha will fade. So how are things in Net society these days, Lan and Hub? Are the NetNavis and humans getting along well?"
"Of course! Some still use NetNavis for bad things, but we'll stop them! Right, Hub?"
"Yeah! Grandpa, the Network society we live in is a great place!" Megaman beamed.
"I see. That's wonderful. Lan, Hub. When you get back…please…" Tadashi pulled out a letter and gave it to Megaman, "...give this to your father."
"Give it to him? You mean you won't be going back with us!?" Lan asked, looking saddened by that.
Tadashi sadly shook his head, "I'm already a thing of the past. Now that Alpha is gone...My job is finished." He patted their shoulder with a kind, grandfatherly smile, "This is your era, lads!"
"Grandpa…" the twins whispered before hugging him.
Tadashi chuckled as he returned the embrace, "I'm not sure how much longer this room will last while Alpha is breaking down, so I'd suggest you hurry on. Though…I am curious…why do most of you have ears and tails of animals?"
"Oh! Um, f-funny story, Grandpa…" Lan sheepishly rubbed the back of his head, "Turns out…Atlantis was real! And it had people called Mobini living there that were half human and half humanoid animal called Mobians."
"Those of us with these traits are actually descendents of Atlantians that, well…was my fault for triggering the dormant genes…"
"Hub, it is not your fault," Roll pouted, holding his hand.
"We have to keep telling him it, but he never believes it," Lan sighed.
"He should sooner or later," Maylu assured, holding Lan's hand.
"..." Tadashi chuckled, "Ah, the Hikari Luck is still being passed down. Met my own wife at your ages, boys, just like your father. Care to introduce them to your Grandfather?"
"O-Oh! R-Right…" Lan blushed.
"Um…I-I'm Roll, Dr. Hikari," Roll greeted with a bow, "I'm Mega's girlfriend."
"I-I'm Maylu Sakurai, sir. It…It's a pleasure to meet you," Maylu curtsied.
Tadashi chuckled and smiled at the two, "It's nice to meet you both. Please do your best to handle my grandsons. We Hikari men tend to be rather…adventurous."
"We always will," Maylu assured.
"Now and forever," Roll added before the area shook, "?!"
"Oops! Alpha is starting to fall apart! Go! Quickly! Before you are swallowed up!" Tadashi ordered.
"But, Gramps!" Lan argued.
"Don't worry, Lan. Go on, my grandchildren!" Tadashi ordered, "Roll…Maylu…take care of Hub and Lan."
"We promise," both promised, earning a small smile from the elder.
"Thank you, girls," Tadashi thanked.
"Gramps...We'll be sure to create a wonderful Net society for you! One where humans and Navis help each other!" Lan promised.
"We won't stop until it's reached!" Megaman vowed.
"You do that! Now, go on! You don't have much time!" Tadashi ordered.
"Grandpa, I'm glad I was able to meet you! We'll make your dream a reality!" Megaman promised before everyone began to run out.
"Good bye, kids! Say hello to your dad and your aunt as well for me!" Tadashi called.
"Wait, what?!" both exclaimed before the door slammed shut.
"...You heard him say 'Aunt,' right?" Lan asked.
"Papa has some explaining to do," Megaman frowned before the island shook as part of it broke off and fell into the water, "!?"
The Dimensional Area collapsed and the NetNavis and Knuckles were forced back into the Network, leading Dex to shout, "Evacuate the island!"
"Go, go, go!" Chaud ordered as he picked up Dex and the quartet ran off with Lan moving at a slower pace to not let them lose sight of him.
"Hey! It's Beach Street! We're finally back!" Dex cheered, several hours later.
"Well, wasn't expecting to swim today…" Lan muttered as he pulled himself back onto the boat in just his shorts, "But that happens when you run outta fuel."
"I think you actually went faster than the engine," Maylu noted, handing him a towel while blushing.
"It took us ten hours to get there, but six to get back," Chaud compared, seeing the sun rising, "You really like to make Physics look like utter nonsense, don't you?"
Lan sheepishly rubbed the back of his head as he dried himself off enough to put his clothes back on, "Maybe…"
"Hey, guys~!" the group looked to see Yai running over with Sean, the girl exclaiming, "I knew that you guys could do it! SciLab reported that the computer malfunctions around the world have all stopped!"
"Helps that the whole battle was broadcasted globally," Sean noted, "Everyone on the BBSs are naming your golden hedgehog form Super Sonic because of how fast you were going!"
"E-Everything was what?!" Maylu gasped as Lan tensed.
"Well, it lasted until Alpha was destroyed. Guess the broadcasting equipment was in that armor it wore," Sean admitted.
"A-Ah," Lan stiffly nodded.
"So it showed everything?" Chaud asked, the Mobini all grimacing at the realization of that truth.
"From you guys arriving to the deletion of Alpha," Sean nodded, grimacing with the three, "Those same folks are also calling that other form DarkSuperStyle Megaman…S-Sorry…"
Lan and Megaman flinched on that bit while Maylu and Roll were quick in wrapping them up in a comforting hug.
"It was scary…but I knew you two would snap out of it because of Maylu and Roll," Yai added, making Maylu blush, "Now come on! There are a lot of people in front of the TV station! Your parents especially, Lan!"
"Huh?!" Lan gawked.
"Well, guess we can give Papa the letter from Grandpa sooner than later," Megaman noted.
"And ask about this aunt of ours," Lan added, a look of annoyance on his face.
"Grandpa? Aunt?" Sean repeated, tilting his head.
"Long story short: we met their grandfather's consciousness that was living inside of Alpha as its Guardian program to keep it from fully activating," Chaud summed up.
"Huh…Neat," Yai noted, blinking a few times in surprise, "And Dex, Chisao's there, too."
"Seriously?!" Dex gawked, "Ah, that lil' bro of mine…"
"I'm going to just stay here," Chaud replied, "Don't really like crowds."
"Chaud…" Lan frowned.
"Don't worry, Lan. I'll stay with him. Not a big fan of crowds either," Sean offered, earning a nod from the brunette.
"...Hoo boy…" Lan groaned.
"Nervous about what Sean talked about?" Dex asked.
"Like you wouldn't believe," Lan admitted.
"It was scary…but also really sweet when Maylu and Roll pulled you two out of that state," Yai admitted.
"I'm gonna be honest, that was intense and insane, but…Really glad we all got outta it!" Dex grinned, "Come on! Let's get going to the station!"
"Dex!-!"
"Heeeey! Chisaooooo!" Dex called out in joy as the two brothers hugged.
"You went into the WWW base! You're so cool, Dex! You're just the coolest!" Chisao cheered, stars in his eyes, "That punch at the end was amazing!"
"You're the best brother in the whole world, kid!" Dex laughed.
"Aw shucks…You're makin' me blush, Chisao, guts!" Gutsman chuckled sheepishly.
"Those two sure are close...But it's kinda cute..." Yai muttered.
"Oh, I was so worried about you kids!" Haruka exclaimed, hugging Lan and Maylu close, "I think it was easier knowing you did go to something dangerous like that and not see it being broadcasted."
"Sorry for worrying you, Mama," Lan apologized.
"Don't be," Haruka quickly assured, pulling back to keep a hand on their shoulders, "I'm just glad you're all safe now…Though I do want you to take some therapy sessions. You kids should be kids; not dealing with stuff like this!"
"...It would be nice," Maylu admitted.
"Y-Yeah…" Lan nodded.
"Do you think they'd allow NetNavis to have it, too?" Megaman asked.
"May need to have the therapist come to Green Hills so we can do it in a Dimensional Area," Roll added.
"I'll see what we can do," Haruka assured as Yuichiro walked over, being assisted by Famous.
"Papa…"
"Lan, you did a great job. And so did MegaMan!"
"Thanks, Papa," Megaman thanked, "Oh! Papa, Grandpa's data was inside of the Alpha!"
"Huh?" Famous pondered.
"Yeah! Gramps was in this space inside of Alpha and he gave us this for you!" Lan explained as Megaman sent Yuichiro the note.
"A letter from Pop?" Yuichiro pondered as he looked at it, "This seems to be encoded text data...I can't read it now, so I'll take it back to SciLab with me."
"You're still on mandatory leave until you don't need your medication," Famous reminded, making Yuichiro groan.
"But I'm fine…" Yuichiro argued.
"Haruka, come over here for a moment," Famous spoke.
"Yes?" Haruka asked once she walked over…before Famous let go and Yuichiro fell over into her arms.
"You were saying, Yuichiro?" Famous asked, a teasing smile on hip lips.
"...I can still work…" Yuichiro muttered, pouting a little and earning a laugh from Haruka as she just hugged her husband.
"...Papa, did you know about Gramps?" Lan asked.
"...Yes, I did. I know that I told you that Pops was dead...but his data was stored within Alpha. That's why Alpha wasn't deleted until now," Yuichiro admitted.
"Oh…"
"I'm sorry that I never told you."
"No, that's okay. If I had known that he was in there, then maybe we wouldn't have deleted Alpha," Lan argued.
"I'm sure it's for the best."
"Thank you, Lan...Hub…"
"Though he did say one other thing that we wanna know about," Megaman noted.
"Oh?"
"Why didn't you say we have an aunt!?" the twins demanded, annoyed looks on their faces.
"Of course he'd bring her up…" Yuichiro groaned, "Pops sealed Alpha away two years before you two were born, so he didn't know…"
"Huh? Didn't know what?" Lan asked.
"A year before you were born, your aunt…my sister…went missing. No one knew what happened and all they could find in her apartment were research papers and machinery," Yuichiro explained, "I still have it all in a storage room near here."
"It'd be nice to know more about this aunt than to not have known her at all," Megaman admitted.
"I'll see if we can't bring it to Green Hills later," Yuichiro noted, "Maybe Sean could find something we can't."
"Find what?" Sean asked as he walked over with Chaud and Mamoru.
"Mamoru!" Maylu beamed.
"Mama and I just got off the train when we ran into Sean and Chaud," Mamoru smiled, accepting the hug from the redhead, "We watched what happened on the TVs in the inn that Papa brought out of the rooms and connected together. You were all so cool!"
"You saw everything?" Lan asked, a bit concerned.
"No. There were too many people surrounding the TV and I couldn't see it at times. Papa had to get all the other TVs together and make it into a big one to show everyone what was happening and I missed you fighting Flameman." he smiled, "We all got to see you beat that Bass guy, though! It was so cool! Serenade and I are really excited for when you're allowed to NetBattle!"
"We'll need a few days to rest up," Megaman noted, "We'll even send a message when we'll be good for it."
"We won't go easy on you!" Mamoru promised.
"I'm pretty worried when you two do," Sean noted.
"We could make a reinforced system to let them safely go all out and not in the Secret Area," Freezeman suggested.
"Maybe provide a holographic display to let everyone watch…" Sean noted as he pulled his tablet out, "Do you want a diverse environment, you two?"
"Sure!" both boys replied, earning a roll of the eyes from Chaud and Maylu.
"I swear, our boys…" Haruka sighed with a small smile on her lips.
"Um, excuse me," a voice came from Yuichiro's PeT, making them look to see Knuckles on it, "You have a Dimensional Area at your home in Green Hills, yes?"
"Um…Yes. But who are you?" Yuichiro asked.
"My name is Knuckles, and I need to speak to your sons about a matter quite urgent," Knuckles informed as Zero and Nicole appeared at his sides.
"Please, sir, it is important to Knuckles and Nicole," Zero encouraged.
"I swear, it's one thing after another with our family," Yuichiro sighed.
"So long as he doesn't have to go to SciLab, then I'm sure it will be fine," Famous noted, earning an annoyed look from Yuichiro and an amused one from Haruka.
GT: Hoo lordy…this chapter…this chapter…I…I don't even know where to begin to talk about its process. For one…swapped Tora for Maylu since they never truly interacted in this. You also notice that there's no Cossack. I couldn't really think of a way to have him there without it being all weird and not having buildup. Plus, there wasn't many opportunities to have him appear due to the events of 3 going AWOL with parts that needed him there no longer needing it due to one or two reasons. Wasn't originally planning the towers bit the previous chapter. This also meant my idea for everyone using Pulse Transmission wouldn't work, so kept it to Lan and Megaman like canon. However, I was always planning on the Dark Super Transformation happening. I also intended on it being a Super Megaman just doing a brief few seconds of attacking before Alpha Omegga was destroyed…and then Frontiers came out along with the announcement of MegamanEXE getting a DiVECross form in X DiVE. I started revising and reworking and then I realized it was already January! It was pretty insane…Now all that remains is the finale for this Arc so as to move on to the next. And we're in the official 30 day countdown for the Battle Network Legacy Collection! May start doing a Megaman thing each day for the countdown.