Kamen Rider Drive Battle Network

by Kamen Rider ZER0

The Global Freeze a day the earth stalled. Only saved by the legendary Kamen Rider, but the evil lives in the virtual world. Waiting to strike back at the real world and the humans. From across the virtual worlds uncanny valley rise the Roidmudes! A new brand of heroes must rise in both worlds. To move fast enough to save both worlds from destruction, Start your Engine!

12. Who can stop Cybergeddon

GammaTron: *lying in a bed* Hi, folks. At the moment in time we started writing this, I just got out of the hospital for removing my gallbladder. *pouts* I wanted to see what it looked like with all them stones in it, too…Apparently, I had 10 of them and they had to make the incision they made to pull the gallbladder out bigger because of one of them being massive. *smiles widely* But the recovery time means I'll get to be ready for the Battle Network Legacy Collection!

Z0: He is way too excited to share this fact with the world.

GT: I grew up on Battle Network, sue me! …No wait. Please don't. I have medical bills.

Z0: That's actually the part I meant…but he's so Megaman manic that I doubt he'll hear my correction…but anyway. Folks we are here for the final chapter of this arc.

GT: Eeyup! The big ol' finish for this first leg of the journey and we're happy to have you here! As always, we don't own Megaman Battle Network nor Kamen Rider Drive!

Z0: *Moves to speak only for a demon dragon to crash through the window* Mail…it says: random method to destroy the screen…Eh? *Screen goes black*

---

Sparks filled the air as two blurs ran around and clashed at amazing speeds in the warehouse district. One Blue and the other Red, they charged and passed one another with sparks flying off something clashing. The Blue blur slowed down to reveal CF Megaman, who grunted as he landed on his rump while his Sword dismissed. He turned as the Red Blur ran up a wall before jumping and landing above him, revealing Kamen Rider Drive as he held his Handle-Ken up. The Rider laughed before twirling his weapon around to hold it in a reverse grip. He then jumped as CF Megaman tried to sweep his legs.

"Yaru-na~" Drive chuckled as he landed before lowering his arm and hauling the shorter Heroic Warrior up by the backpack unit he had, "But first rule of a clever use of a dirty play…don't do it on someone who taught it to you."

"I know, I know. Second rule is don't be predictable with them, too, right?" CF Megaman noted.

"Exactly!" Drive laughed.

"Shinnosuke…Look at your hand," Belt-san deadpanned.

"Hm?" Drive looked at his hand, the backpack unit replaced with a red metallic football with the middle section made of glass holding a glowing red liquid, "...I have got to stop laughing with my eyes closed." he threw it before yelping as it exploded only a few inches away from launch into a fireball, catching him on fire in the process, "AH! HOTHOTHOT! Ah! Why are bomb BattleChips so inexpensive?! And why do they call those ones 'seeds' if they're shaped like American Footballs?!"

"At least that was the last two he had at this time," Belt-san noted, Fire Braver driving over and blasting him with some of its foam, "Now he'll likely hide somewhere to get out of CrossFusion to refresh his five Chips or use the environment for some attacks."

CF Megaman appeared in thin air behind a few empty metal barrels nearby, his Invis having run out as he was mutedly laughing. Drive gave a whistle and he paused, slowly looking at the Rider. He chuckled sheepishly while rubbing the back of his head.

"Or he wasted his time laughing and didn't move to better cover…" Belt-san cringed with his upset expression.

"Just for the bit with the bomb, I'm spanking you," Drive replied bluntly.

"Ah! Not again!" CF Megaman yelped.

"I told you to keep moving, Lan!" Megaman gulped as Drive ran for them before a bell began ringing.

"Ah?!" the two blinked as Drive tried to stop…but ended up just sliding into CF Megaman, sending both into the barrels, "...We're okay…" they grunted.

"Saved by the timer," Megaman sighed in relief as Tridoron rolled over, Kiriko and Maylu stepping out as the latter pushed a button on her PeT and made the ringing stop.

"That was a lot better than when you first started these last week," Maylu noted as the two males scrambled to get up and dismiss their transformations, "You managed to last until the bell this time!"

"I honestly forgot we had that," Lan admitted as Maylu gave him a protein bar to eat.

"Mostly for the fact you kept being knocked out of CrossFusion before it could go off," Belt-san noted, "I was not expecting a fast rate like this. Then again…you and Shinnosuke are surprisingly alike when it comes to going against science…"

"You call it inertia…I call it the fun part of hitting the brakes while driving," Shinnosuke replied.

"Even still, this CrossFusion is indeed an amazing thing. Another method to fight the Roidmudes…I never would have assumed it possible. Of course the downside is Lan-kun is still a child in body. Even with all that this ability offers, his body can only handle so much of the rigors of combat compared to Shinnosuke." Belt-san spoke up, "But even then, his power output is just as good, if not better. I'm certain as Megaman and Lan develop, their limits will be shattered."

"Oh, thank you, Belt-san," Megaman thanked, rolling a shoulder, "I'm just glad we didn't get as banged up as normal today."

"To be fair, you did ask to fight Type Wild…" Maylu pointed out, "You must have assumed going in using your past experience fighting Gutsman would help."

"My idea was to dodge, not grab the punch," Lan admitted as Megaman blushed since grabbing was his idea.

"Who's idea was it to use an electrical attack on a form specced to be good against electric attacks?" Roll asked.

"Lan's," Megaman replied.

"Hey, I forgot okay? I thought it was Technic that was better insulated and Wild was heat resistant," Lan muttered.

"To be fair…I didn't know Technic had energy shields…" Shinnosuke chuckled.

"We'll need to stock up on a few more Breaking Elements for those," Megaman noted before hissing a bit when rolling his other shoulder.

"Found a sore spot from the fight?" Roll asked.

"Oh right, from Shinnosuke-nii using Monster in the Door-Ju," Lan recalled, flinching a little at Maylu lightly pressing her finger on the same shoulder.

"Okay, let me handle that while you review, okay?" Roll asked, appearing in Lan's PeT.

Megaman glanced away as he nodded, a blush forming on his cheeks. The pink NetNavi's upgrade had been a modest success, looking more like a girl in her late teens. Her boots had widened with more pink to them while she had red gems covering her knees while she now added an armored magenta skirt and pink top underneath a magenta jacket with pink stripes going up the middle of the arms. Her gloves had been replaced with new magenta ones that connected to the gold rings at the ends of her jacket sleeves, the fingers of the gloves all pink. Her hair was still as long as before, but the bow had moved up to attach to her helmet, which had an added green-tinted visor over her eyes that she raised up once she had finished scanning him with them.

"As I've said, your rate of growth is quite the surprise," Belt-san noted as Roll went to work on healing Megaman and Mad Doctor on Lan, "You're still not at the level to fight someone like Mashin Chaser, however, but you are more than capable of handling a group of basic Roidmudes now without assistance."

"You still have the issue with finding a good spot to get out of CrossFusion to reload your BattleChips," Shinnosuke admitted, "You kinda stay a bit too close to it all…though that's probably from just laughing at the reactions you get when you manage to sneak away."

"I'm just glad he worked on his aim," Kiriko sighed, "Other officers are still trying to figure out the 'Serial Holer' case at the junkyard attached to the recycling center."

"Well at least we know he has spread-shot rapid fire…so he can spook a group of enemies," Shinnosuke chuckled as Lan whistled sheepishly while avoiding looking at the older female officer.

"And Shinnosuke-nii is a lot better at reacting to stuff I keep setting up," Lan added.

"I think the pier finally had the last of the ice melt from the one exercise there," Maylu recalled.

"Okay, how was I supposed to know not to throw the American Football into the river? I thought it was a normal explosive, not an ice bomb."

"IceSeed," Lan and Maylu corrected.

"Seriously, why is it called a seed? It looks like an American Football. Why isn't it called an IceBall?"

"Because there's a BattleChip with that name already," Lan replied, "That was the one I used earlier to make that patch of ice you slipped on…which I slipped on when I was escaping the first time to reload my BattleChips…"

"And you said the humility exercises between spars were a bad idea," Kiriko noted, looking at Shinnosuke.

"Alright, this is why I'm a detective, not working in child care," Shinnosuke chuckled with a sheepish smile.

"Though I'm surprised you have done so well. After seeing you fight Mashin Chaser, in my mind? Lan-kun fighting you felt like an impossible concept," Kiriko noted.

"This and that are different," Shinnosuke replied, "With Lan-kun, I can hold back. I just let the suit do most of the work for attack power." he admitted.

"Yeah, no. That was for the best," Megaman agreed.

"Alright. That's everything, Mega," Roll noted, letting the glow leave her hands, "Better?"

"A lot. Thanks, Roll-chan," Megaman thanked.

"Okay. Better head on…" Shinnosuke began before Lan and Maylu's PeTs went off, "...to answer that EMail?"

"Phone call from Inspector Oda," Megaman informed.

"Same here," Roll added.

Lan answered the call first, "Hi, sir! Maylu and I are together."

"Good to know," Oda replied, "And I can see Tomari and Shijima are there as well, meaning I can get this to the SIU as well. The location's been found."

"?! You mean…?" Lan began.

"Ah. We know where the World Three took the four elemental programs they stole," Oda confirmed, "Unfortunately…"

"Unfortunately?" Kiriko repeated.

"The location is going to make the operation difficult," Oda informed, "I'll send the details to Kyu since the CID and SIU are going to be performing a joint operation on this considering how the World Three was involved with several of the SIU's cases. We'll be having a meeting at noon tomorrow to settle all the details."

"This sounds complicated…especially…" Shinnosuke stopped himself from blurting anything, 'Especially since people who don't know about Drive will be there, I might not have a chance to Henshin. I need to go in either as Shinnosuke the Detective…or sneak in ahead of the others as the Kamen Rider…'

"If you figure anything out prior to the meeting tomorrow, let me know immediately," Oda informed before hanging up.

"Guess we're heading to see Kyu-nii and what Oda-jii sent?" Lan guessed.

"True. I mean…what's wrong with the location that makes it so difficult?" Kiriko pondered.

---

"I'm sorry, it's where?" Kiriko asked, the SIU all gathered in the office as Kyu had his monitors turned to show the map he was sent.

"The mountains," Kyu replied, "Specifically, deep in them. The winds are too strong there for helicopters to safely get there and there are several patches of extremely dangerous terrain, including quicksand, narrow pathways, rockslide-prone spots, and several hornet colonies on the paths to it."

"Hornets!?" Shinnosuke gawked.

"It can't be helped. It's a nature preserve to protect them…even if we don't like them, people still think compelling them to extinction is bad…" Kyu complained.

"Gen-san should avoid participating in this mission, de gozaru."

"For the last time, I'm not allergic to hornet stings, you!" Gen snapped at Yamatoman.

"You are my partner. I am concerned for your health, do gozaru."

"You read too many things and get paranoid!"

"Bzzzz…" Shinnosuke spoke while pinching Gen's shoulder, the sound and sensation making him yelp and jump a good meter away from Shinnosuke.

"Mmm…If this is their base of operations, how are they able to get there?" Maylu pondered.

"And that's the million Yen question, Maylu-chan," Rinna noted, "Officers have been trying to get it out of Match, but he's been silent about it all or just taunting the officers that try."

"That guy…" Shinnosuke sighed as Lan frowned, "Well since I assume planning how to get there is the hard part…why not try and see if we can outwit the guy?"

"Hmm?" Gen blinked.

"He seems kinda dim…I think even Lan-kun could trick him into spilling something," Shinnosuke chuckled, "We just need to tackle it in a way where he can't use the power of his position to keep himself quiet."

"What's that mean?"

"Well…he knows that we know…that he knows something," Lan explained slowly, "So…he's all smug about it 'cause we want him to tell us. So he feels special 'cause of that and is using that feeling to stop from blabbing."

"Maybe if we pretend we know what he knows we don't know, it will throw him off?" Maylu guessed.

"See? This is why kids are great, they just have the mischievousness to outsmart a master criminal," Shinnosuke smiled, "Or at least a so-called one."

"Only thing is that he's in the same place as where the man Tomari-san talked to about the Dark Eve is, right?"

"No, they relocated him to the cells at HQ to better interrogate him," Gen replied.

"I keep telling them to wear orange, but not one officer that's gone to talk has done it," Jun sighed, looking at his color fortunes.

Shinnosuke and Lan looked at themselves to see orange articles of clothing on them. The two began smiling and pointing at the other as they began walking out. Jun pulled out his notebook and a pen.

"'Tomari Shinnosuke: 2. Hikari Lan: 1,'" Jun spoke aloud as he wrote them down before looking at his phone again, "Ah…This is unlucky…"

"What's wrong, Chief?" Roll asked.

"I only get tomorrow's Color Fortunes, not the day after's," Jun replied, making them all nearly fall over.

"Considering they're a netcrime organization…they may have a link for their organization online," Kyu noted.

"How would we even find that? …I feel like just searching for that has to put you on a list," Kiriko muttered.

"All we need is to find Ghost Data on a specific NetNavi…and Rush," Kyu replied.

"Arf!" Rush barked from his spot in Roll's arms.

"...Ghost Data?" Kiriko repeated.

"When NetNavis that are past a certain level of strength fight, parts of their data can tend to break off in them and gather up with Bugs to make a 'Ghost' of the NetNavi that attacks anyone that attacks it first," Roll explained, "They tend to break down after three months."

"I've been asking on various forums to be on the lookout for Ghost Data based on the NetNavis we know of that are World Three agents," Kyu spoke up, "And I got a hit just an hour ago!" he looked at Gen and Maylu, "There's Ghost Data on Fireman over in ACDC's Network on a dead end near the elementary school's Network."

"Makes sense since that's where he was Deleted," Roll noted, "Don't worry! We'll get that Ghost Data for Rush to sniff and use to track down the World Three's address!"

"...For the record: this isn't an actual ghost, is it?" Gen asked.

"I hope not. We ran out of ofuda after Halloween when Mega-chan freaked," Jun reminded.

"Well it's another lead, so let's chase it." Kiriko sighed, "Gen-san, we'll leave the plan of attack to you and the First Division experts." she gave a thumbs up.

"Was that sarcasm?" Gen asked.

"...Maybe?" those who worked with Kiriko shrugged.

"Let's go, Maylu-chan, Roll-chan." Kiriko grabbed her coat as she led the younger girl out.

"So is everyone allowed a prepubescent sidekick now?" Kyu asked.

"Oh no not me…I'm too old to take care of kids again," Jun shook his head rapidly.

"Eh…I think Kyu is yours," Rinna joked.

"Wait, what?" Gen and Kyu blinked twice as they looked at her and then at each other, "..." they both slapped the air in annoyance as they turned to see Rinna leaving the office, closing the door before her before they could react, "OI!"

---

"The fastest way would be to log into the school's Network and use a link to exit out to find Flameman's Ghost Data," Roll noted as Kiriko and Maylu got out of Kiriko's police car.

"The only issue is that when school is on break, our Student Access Codes are disabled," Maylu reminded.

"Simple enough, we explain the situation to the principal and get a temporary code," Kiriko noted.

"Everything alright?" the two paused to look over at Sal, standing up from a garden bed.

"Wait, aren't you…?" Kiriko began.

"There's a small issue and we need access to the school's Network," Maylu explained.

"Oh, I have a temporary code for it you're more than welcome to use," Sal offered, pulling out a mint-green PeT and tapping a button, sending it to Maylu, "I hope you get things taken care of." she gave a wink, "And say hello to Lan for me, alright?"

"You know Lan?" Maylu asked.

"She's a member of the CID," Kiriko supplied.

"Ah! Shh!" Sal hushed, bringing a finger up to her lips, "I'm an undercover one. Don't just tell folks about it, Shijima-san. We have to take it seriously or we'll be relocated to other locations under new identities."

"Wait, what?" Kiriko blinked a few times.

"What do you mean?" Maylu asked.

"Undercover agents are a high risk, high reward part of business," Sal explained, "With our cover jobs, we can get all kinds of information that could make or break a case; but once the masquerade is broken, we have no choice but to assume new identities." she sighed, "I can't even take any credit for missions I'm on and even have to wear a disguise just to make sure I don't get noticed."

"So you came here on orders?"

"Hm? Well, not the CID's," Sal replied, "The school hired my flower shop to make some new gardens while the students are on break. Though…Miyu did tell me that I'd have a run-in with some surprises while on this job." she pulled out a piece of paper, "She also asked me to give this fortune to the next officer I met."

"Is she a fortune teller?" Maylu asked.

"Well, that and an owner of an antique shop," Sal replied before resuming her cover job at the school.

"What does it say?" Roll asked as Kiriko unfolded the paper.

"'The heir of the Network has an item of importance to a soul digitized. Receiving it holds a life between safety and the Shinigami's embrace,'" Kiriko read.

"What does that mean?" Maylu asked.

Kiriko took a few moments to intensely stare at it, "Mmm…Beats me…" she muttered, making the others facefault, "Tomari-san is the one good with riddles and clues…I am not good with these things personally…" she admitted.

"I guess we can regroup with Tomari-san and Lan-kun after we get the scent for Rush," Maylu noted, sending Roll into the Network.

"How does Megaman-chan handle Ghost Data?" Kiriko asked.

"Surprisingly well," Roll replied.

"Seriously?" Kiriko asked.

"I think it's because he knows how they're made and they don't act like ghosts," Roll explained, "Oh! There's the Ghost Data!"

"Hm…" Kiriko looked at the screen over Maylu and nodded, "Yeah, I remember that NetNavi from the school fire."

"Okay, Rush-chan, go get the scent," Maylu encouraged.

"Awoo…" Rush whimpered before cautiously approaching the statue-like Flameman before him and Roll and sniffed, "...Ruff!"

"He got it!" Maylu cheered.

Rush sighed in relief as he put his hand on Fireman's leg…before a growl escaped from the Ghost Data.

"...He just triggered it to attack, didn't he?" Kiriko asked.

"Rush, why~?" Roll groaned before grabbing the dog and teleporting out of the way of a stream of flames.

"IceSeed, download," Maylu quickly inserted a BattleChip, letting Roll catch and throw the bomb with her antennae at Fireman, who swung a fist at it only for the bomb to go off, freezing him, "ZeusHammer!" a massive gunmetal hammer littered with spikes formed and Roll, with a grunt, hefted it up and smashed it down on Fireman, crushing and shattering the Ghost Data, "Phew…"

"Rush-chan and I will look for the address. You two go see if Lan and Tomai-san are done with their 'fun'," Roll ordered.

"I only dread to wonder how they tortured him into speaking…"

---

"Hmm…" Shinnosuke and Lan crossed their arms as they sat across from Match in a private interrogation room.

"Oh now they're sendin' in you boys, eh?" Match smirked, "Sorry, laddies, but I ain't talking."

"We didn't say anything," Shinnosuke replied.

"Unless you have something we'd like to know." Lan replied with a shrug.

"Oh please. You know how many bobbies I've had here in this same room, demanding the same questions?" Match scoffed, "Obvious to me you're after the same questions about the World Three."

"...Megaman, what's a bobby?" Lan asked, looking at his PeT after a moment.

"It's another word for police, Lan," Megaman sighed.

"Well to be fair, you were part of a radical…terrorist group." Shinnosuke spoke, "No judging…I've just beaten better…scarrier groups." he smiled, "I mean, we are here to get something out of you…but I'm gonna be honest: I told my boss…there is no way you know anything. You're the idiot muscle they let get caught first." he laughed, "I bet your info would just lead us to an old empty warehouse."

"Joke's on you, laddie, sent that one bobby, Genpachiro, to one when he thought he got to me."

"Oh so that's why he smelled like fish and didn't have a delivery from Masa for the office," Shinnosuke realized.

"Oh…" Lan nodded.

"Hahaha! See? I ain't no patsy~"

"Well I guess he already told us everything he knows. Told ya he'd be useless…" Shinnosuke sighed to Lan.

"Right…I mean he lost first among his group to me, a little kid…He's kind of a dumb-dumb," Lan nodded.

"Hey now…"

"Plus, we already know where their base of operations is," Lan went on.

"Say what?!" Match exclaimed, "No way you know that!"

Shinnosuke slid the picture of the base's location onto the table.

"It looks pretty creepy in person," Lan added, "All spooky with that big skull."

"What?! You found the monorail?!"

"Of course we did…I'm the great Detective Tomari Shinnosuke," Shinnosuke smirked, "Have you seen the list of guys I've busted before getting this lazy job? Please…you're chump time compared to the psychos and monsters I put behind bars."

Match turned to the officer who was writing down everything, who nodded in confirmation of Shinnosuke's past feats, "Oh I don't believe this…Hold on now. How'd ye even get on it without the ID?"

"Shinnosuke-nii's got good arms for those push minecart things," Lan replied, "Didn't really need the ID if we had another way, right?"

"Oh I don't believe it…" Match groaned, facepalming.

"I can't believe you hid it under my school, too," Lan lied, making Shinnosuke mentally groan as he realized Lan went too far in the lying.

"Hey, don't be askin' me why Dr. Wily made that fountain where the monorail starts and ends for passage between the places," Match shrugged, the two officers in the room doing a double take as Lan nodded.

"Eh…" Shinnosuke blinked, "Oi…Dummy…you realized we tricked you into spilling everything, right? …We lied."

"Wiat, what?!" Match gawked.

"Wow. I was just taking a wild guess. I knew school was evil!" Lan exclaimed as the officer taking noted had to turn away to try to not let them see him corpsing.

"Here we assumed your group's unhealthy hang up with kids was creepy…now we know it was all random…" Shinnosuke sighed.

"Oh ye gotta be kidding me!" Match gawked, grabbing the sides of his head in shock.

"Oh don't worry…you just got fooled by a master detective and a normal little boy. That must mean you're somewhere between a criminal mastermind…and an absolute idiot." Shinnosuke smiled.

"Ugh…Well here's news for ya, blokes," Match growled, "That ID? Only way to run the monorail and they reset after twenty four hours. You'd need a master programmer to get the one you bobbies confiscated to work again." he looked over at the calendar nearby, "Though good luck with that, too. If they can't do it quick enough, well…Bye-bye, Humanity."

"..." Shinnosuke slammed his hand on the table, making Match jump as he glared at him, "..." he leaned in closer, making the man flinch and lean away from his intense glare…only for the Detective to smirk, "I accept the challenge."

"Yeah! We'll beat them like we beat you!" Lan beamed.

"And we do know someone for that ID, so thanks," Megaman added.

"...We do?" Shinnosuke and Lan asked, looking at Megaman…who facepalmed.

"You're insane idiots…" Match muttered.

"Nope…I'm just a detective," Shinnosuke smirked as he held up his hand with the Shift Brace, "Now I'm going to go take your friends for a ride~" he winked and, with those words, Match's mind began slowly turning.

"AAAAHHHH!-!" he screamed in realization.

"I think you broke him, Shinnosuke-nii," Lan noted.

Shinnosuke then leaned in close, "No one will believe you~" he whispered before gently slapping his face, "Come on, boys, we got work to do!"

"Right!" Lan cheered as he ran after Shinnosuke.

"...Though, seriously…Megaman, do we really know someone like that?" Shinnosuke asked.

"Oh for the…Lan…Papa?"

"...To be fair, I was having too much fun with Match's reactions…" Lan muttered, blushing at forgetting that.

"Don't worry, it just means a quick stop while we tell everyone what we learned over the phone," Shinnosuke replied.

"I'll send a message to Maylu-chan and Shijima-san to meet at SciLab so we can all head back together," Megaman offered before Lan's PeT beeped, "Oh! EMail from them. They got the scent and Roll's following Rush to find the address for the World Three to send to Oda-san. I'll just send the response and we can meet them at SciLab."

"It has been a while since I was there and nothing was in danger," Belt-san noted from Type Technic, peeking out of Lan's hair.

"If we get attacked while we're there, it's Belt-san's fault, right?" Lan asked, trading looks with Shinnosuke.

"Once in a while, the smart people say something stupid…" Shinnosuke sighed.

"I beg your pardon?"

---

"Yes! The batteries are safe!" Raijin cheered.

"Told you; led lined safe," Zap chuckled, "Now you don't have to worry about a repeat of last week with your batteries!"

"Whoo! You are the best, Zappy!" Raijin laughed.

"Why couldn't they have been the ones arrested and not Match?" Maddy sighed, filing her nails, "At least with Match, there wasn't guitars and drums being played so much here."

"Agreed," Brain huffed, looking at his tablet and then to four different colored machines, each showing a three dimensional hologram of either a ball of flames, a ball of water, a ball of leaves, or a sphere of electricity all interconnected with one another, "Especially when I've been working on the last parts of this machine for the last three days. The process for this needs to be perfect. A single error and we'll lose all the elemental codes. I swear if we lose that because of them, I'll…"

"Complain about it to Lord Wily and Heart because you can't smack them around since you got most of your power swiped by a little girl's NetNavi?" Maddy supplied, earning an annoyed glare from the Roidmude.

"...I will be so glad when I no longer have to deal with you and your sass, woman," Brain grumbled, going back to checking everything over.

"It appears your patience for her has begun to run thin, Lord Brain."

"Gah!" Brain jumped and spun around to see Yahoot, standing on one palm with his legs crossed over one another and a hand held up his face at the side, "Will you cease that?!"

"Do not forget that the Endgame comes upon the night of the New Year," Yahoo spoke, not once moving out of his pose, "Merely allow time to pass like the water in a river. The annoyances of this day will matter no longer once that day comes."

"Oh? One issue with that," Brain muttered as a pair of doors opened and Heart entered…with Medic following right after him, "That."

"You have quite the discord in your spirit, Lord Brain," Yahoot noted.

"Don't tell me what my spirit has…" Brain complained.

"It's wonderful, isn't it, Medic?" Heart smiled.

"Hai, Heart-sama!"

"Ah! That's…" Raijin gasped.

"Hm? Who is that lady with Lord Heart?" Zap asked, looking to Raijin.

"Lady Medic. She saved dozens of us when we did the Global Freeze," Raijin explained, "She has a great healing touch!"

"Where have you been?!"

"Showing Medic all over the town, of course!" Heart replied, "Several months can change a whole lot!"

"You mean you…went out…?" Brain muttered.

"Of course, I have a list of things I've been waiting to show Medic!" Heart replied, "If not for her, many of us would still be damaged and stuck as cores. I owe her my entire world," he stated with a warm smile, "From the depth of my heart…I am most happy to have her by my side once more."

"Arigatou, Heart-sama," Medic thanked.

'Hmm…What hides within a maiden in white…?' Yahoot pondered as he shifted his pose, bringing his hands together as he laid on his upper body with his head facing ahead while his legs bent backwards to have his toes touch before his shoulders, "Your aura is quite calm today, Lord Heart."

"It's difficult to explain, all I know is my body is calm. For once, the burning desire for combat is replaced by a peaceful warmth," Heart held a hand to his chest as a faint glow from his core could be seen, "The heart is not only fulfilled when beating with excitement…but when calmed with joy."

"Heart-sama…are these…humans?" Medic looked around, looking at Zap, Yahoot, and Maddy.

"Ah yes, I didn't have time to properly explain, these humans are our friends as well. Just as we are not perfect yet, some humans are better than others. They are companions in our crusade to usurp humanity," he explained, "Dr. Wily is a man who showed me kindness and I owe a great debt to for his help in many things. These are his loyal servants…well minus 1…he got arrested by the Kamen Rider's companions,"

'Her aura has shifted…It would be best to be that of the humble sheep in her presence and not the proud tiger like Maddy will attempt or the foolish frog that is Count Zap…' Yahoot noted before rising up and giving a bow, "Namaste, Lady Medic. Humanity will be of no trouble to your Lord Heart due to the efforts put into all that come the night of the New Year. Lord Brain and Lord Wily with 015 have been arduous in completing the final touches."

"All while you've been gallivanting all over," Brain muttered.

"Well, duh, they get to do what they want. They still have their powers," Maddy pointed out.

"I swear you won't like what I do when I get them back," Brain glowered.

"You lost your powers?" Medic asked.

"Ah…He did," Heart noted, "A little pink NetNavi has them now."

"This is all that idiot Zero's fault…" Brain grumbled.

"I don't fully get it, you'd have to ask the good doctor about it better, but he took over the NetNavi's body, NetNavi's NetOp used a BattleChip, Brain ended up in a dumpster, and now he can't transform out of his human form," Heart summed up, "Oh! Where is he, anyway?"

"Lord Wily and 015 are in the next room," Yahoot replied, "They're finishing the last parts for the endgame."

"Great!" Heart beamed as he walked off with Medic, "Take care!"

"...Your aura has grown quite bitter since your eyes focused on Lady Medic, Lord Brain," Yahoot noted once they had left.

"Oh go turn yourself into a pretzel…"

"He's not very subtle about how he feels, huh?" Maddy asked.

"Go dye your hair blue!" Brain snapped, shaking a fist at her.

"Yo, doc~!" Heart called as he opened the doors to the next chamber and paused, giving out a slow whistle at the large rocket with a the emblem of World Three on the nose cone while the numbers 1 through 108 were all carved into it in Roman Numerals, "Oh~!"

"Lord Heart," Medic spoke, pointing to the right, causing him to look to see Wily and 015 looking at a series of monitors.

"Yo~!" Heart greeted before alarms went off on the monitors as they started to show various military vehicles.

=Code Red! Code Red! The Automated National Defense Corps has encountered a malfunction!=

=HQ cannot reestablish control! Abort! Abort!=

=Unable to reestablish control of all units! I repeat, unable to reestablish control of all units! Code Red! Code Red! Co…=

Heart let out another impressive whistle as all the screens showed a myriad of mushroom clouds.

"As you can see, 015, when everything works and the LifeVirus reaches the satellite, it will take an estimated 594 seconds before Cybergeddon commences," Wily explained, "That is why it is imperative that the rocket is fully functional and defended from outside attacks."

"Soka…" 015 nodded, amazement in his tone, "From such small programs come the biggest of things!"

"Of course. You and your brothers and sisters all started as programs, but look at you all now! Your own personalities, a true sense of self! It is why your kind will be the ones who inherit this world that stagnates and scorns the wonders that led to your existence!" Wily declared, throwing an arm out, "You have been a wonderful student, 015. It is a shame I will not be there to see how you develop further."

"Lord Wily…" 015 whispered.

"Hakase," Heart spoke, making Wily jump and nearly fall if 015 hadn't caught him, "Soka…this is why you've been so fanatic. Here I just assumed you were excited like I."

"Oh! Welcome back, Heart," Wily greeted, "I hope everything was well on your trip."

"Ah," Heart nodded simply, "It is thanks to you partly that I may enjoy the humble peace of life that humans take for granted. Truly a natural beauty that fills the heart, it is a shame humans do not see it the same…"

"That is the problem with them and their modern 'Net Society,'" Wily scoffed, "They care not for anything but the trivialities Tadashi bribed them with. They've forgotten what true beauty beholds, a world where the machine has far greater might than the flimsy Internet!" he noticed Medic, tilting her head, and smiled softly at her, "A pleasure to meet you, my dear. I am Dr. Albert Wily and it has been a pleasure to be allies with Heart and all of your fellow Roidmudes. I hope you have many more days of wonderful experiences with Heart."

"Hakase is the man who helped me after the failure of the Global Freeze," Heart explained, "After you were damaged healing so many of us, he helped me after my battle against the Kamen Rider. If not for him, my own awakened power might have destroyed me."

"I see…" Medic took a moment to process this, she then smiled and bowed to Wily, "Arigato. Thanks to you, Heart-sama is still here. You have my utmost gratitude for saving my precious Heart-sama."

"Don't make me blush, Medic," Heart smiled, "I took a gamble so I could see another day. After what happened to me…I never thought it possible to trust a human." he turned to Wily, "I only knew the darkness and suffering of humanities hands…never did I think I could trust one."

"I'm quite relieved to be one who you can," Wily chuckled with a bow before looking at the rocket, 'In two days…Cybergeddon comes for your creations, Tadashi…'

---

"Hi, Mrs. Kiri," Lan greeted the receptionist, "Is my dad in his office today?"

"Why yes, yes he is," the receptionist replied, "I take it you're here for a surprise visit or…" she glanced over at Shinnosuke and Kiriko standing nearby with Maylu.

"Kinda business involving an important top secret operation," Lan replied, showing his badge on his PeT, "But I'm gonna try to make the next time a surprise visit."

"Oh dear…" Mrs. Kiri noted before gesturing for the other three to come over, "I'll need to see some ID, please." the three showed their badges, "Alright." she typed on her computer and four passes came out of a device connected to it that she handed to them, "Dr. Hikari's lab and office are on the fourteenth floor. Lan knows the way better than anyone else."

"Thanks, Mrs. Kiri. Say hi to Mr. Kiri and the kids," Lan thanked as he led them off to the elevator.

"It's been a while since we were last here and able to visit Papa in his lab," Megaman noted.

"You seemed to know the receptionist very well," Kiriko noted.

"With how often I've been here, it's not a big deal," Lan replied, "Especially when I was little." he smiled as he looked at his PeT, "I used to always come here at least once a week ever since I was four and Megaman lived here until I was old enough to own a PeT, so he got to be with Papa all day."

"I was always happy when you came to visit since it got boring most days," Megaman spoke fondly, recalling those younger years.

"Soka…You've known each other since Lan was a little kid," Shinnosuke noted.

"Yep!" Lan beamed as he pulled out a small card-like device, "Hopefully, Papa can make this work for the operation."

"I still can't believe that our school is how they've been moving between their base and here!" Maylu noted in disbelief, "Why even do that?!"

"...Huh…" Shinnosuke rubbed his chin in thought, "That's…honestly a good question. Why a school of all places?"

"Last place we'd check…but even then, why did they try to burn it down?" Kiriko pointed out.

"He's an idiot…" Both adults, Children, and NetNavi all spoke in unison, making Match sneeze something fierce back in his cell.

"Perhaps it relates to something with their leader. A symbolism, perhaps," Belt-san offered as the elevator reached the fourteenth floor.

"Mmm…" Lan frowned, "It feels weird being here like this."

"Like what?" Kiriko asked.

"Being all…officery."

"Normally, we come here just to see Papa and check up on him for Mama," Megaman noted, "This is…honestly the first time it's for work if you don't count what happened in the underground restaurant."

"I still need to kick that guy's teeth in…" Kiriko spoke up, "One by one…" she cracked her knuckles and caused a shiver of terror to suddenly race up Zap's back.

"Don't do it in front of the kids when you do," Shinnosuke advised.

"Aw~"

"Don't encourage her, Lan," Shinnosuke sighed as they turned a corner and paused, "Eh?"

"Okay…this is new?" Kiriko pondered, looking at the greenery that seemed to cover everything.

"...It's all made of data," Belt-san noticed.

"Eh?" the four pondered before jumping as the greenery all dissolved as several beeps went off.

"Gah, another overload," Yuichiro sighed, standing before a console connected to a bulky device that was letting off smoke.

"Papa!" Lan called, making Yuichiro jump and spin around to see them.

"Oh! Hello there," Yuichiro greeted.

"Hakase, what was that just now?" Kiriko asked.

"Oh, it was something I was working that would've been part of the SynchroChip project," Yuichiro explained, "I call it a Dimensional Area, where the Network and Earth can 'overlap' in a way, letting digital things materialize here for a period of time. The only issue I've been having so far is that the Dimensional Core keeps overheating and shuts down after a minute. Even then, what comes out is just holographic, never solid."

"Remarkable," Belt-san complimented.

"Why thank you," Yuichiro thanked before looking at them, "...Lan's not in trouble, is he?" he looked at Lan in concern, "You didn't do something, did you?"

"Hey…" Lan pouted.

"No, Papa. Not this time," Megaman assured, "We're here on actual police business."

"Really?" Yuichiro asked as Lan presented the card-like device, "What's this?"

"An ID Card the World Three use to operate their secret monorail system," Kiriko explained, "We were hoping you would be able to get it to reactivate for an operation the CID and SIU are going to perform on New Years."

"Ah! You found them?" Yuichiro asked.

"Yes, sir," Maylu replied, "Roll-chan and Rush found their web address for the digital part of the operation."

"Alright then," Yuichiro noted as he looked the card over, "Hmm…This won't take long at all to get working again. I just need to edit the expiration date on this and rework some of the credentials. You're welcome to look around while I'm working on this."

"He's making something that can do stuff like that?" Shinnosuke pondered, "Man…science sure has come a long way…"

"I'm really glad the SynchroChip was able to be made to work without that thing," Lan noted, "Can you imagine having to wait for it to appear every time for us to CrossFuse, Megaman?"

"It does seem inconvenient given what we're dealing with," Megaman agreed, "And what if we couldn't get into the place to CrossFuse?"

"I wonder if he'll make it work for NetNavis to appear out on Earth," Roll noted.

"One step at a time. You can't rush something delicate like this," Belt-san chuckled.

"Your dad is pretty interesting," Shinnosuke complimented.

"Yep! That's because of Gramps! He made the internet of today so Papa's doing his best to make it even better!"

"It kinda sounds like he's the heir of something grand, huh?" Roll noted, causing Kiriko to pause in her looking around.

'Heir? …Could it be…?' Kiriko pondered, moving away from the others to approach Yuichiro.

"Okay, this goes here and…" Yuichiro noted to himself before the card beeped, "Ah, perfect." he turned his chair around, "Hm? Everything alright, Officer Shijima?"

"Ah…well, it's just…" Kiriko looked to the side, "This is going to sound strange, but I was given a fortune earlier that said you may have something that would save a life."

"Hm? A life?" Yuichiro pondered before his eyes widened for a moment, "...Offi…Kiriko-san…Lan and Megaman…They're going to be at that mission."

"Yes," Kiriko admitted.

"..." he looked over at a photo frame, showing a picture of Haruka smiling and holding an infant in navy blue footy pajamas before taking it off the desk and turning it around, revealing a GigaChip taped to the back, "Please…if…if something happens to Megaman, you need to give this to Lan.." he removed the BattleChip from it and offered it to Kiriko, "He can't be given it sooner than that."

"Eh?" Kiriko pondered as she looked at it, the image of it showing the silhouette of a person in a digital background, "HubBATCH?"

"You'll understand if Lan needs that," Yuichiro replied.

"Alright." Kiriko nodded.

Yucihiro nodded before walking over to the others with her, presenting the card to them, "It's been reprogrammed to work for the monorail system."

"Great. Thank you, hakase," Shinnosuke thanked.

"Lan…Maylu…both of you be careful, alright?" Yuichiro warned.

"Of course we'll be okay!" Lan beamed, "I have Megaman, Maylu's got Roll, and we both have Shinnosuke-nii and Kiriko-nee!"

"Always the optimist," Yuichiro chuckled, patting his son's head.

"It's the benefit of being a kid," Shinnosuke smiled, getting Yuichiro's attention, "It's the adults' job to burden all the hard stuff for them."

"You're completely correct, Officer Tomari," Yuichiro agreed, waving the group off as they left, "..." once they were gone, he walked over to his desk and picked up the photo frame…before removing the photo and unfolding it, revealing himself in the picture with a baby in orange footy pajamas, "...Please…keep them safe."

---

"Listen up," Oda informed as he and Jun stood in a conference room before their divisions, several screens showing satellite images and several different photographs and images, "Tomorrow we will be performing a major joint operation to take down the organization World Three. Thanks to the efforts of three of our officers in interrogating Match, we were able to discover a safe way for a small physical team to travel to the actual base of their operations. Their goal is to apprehend all members of the World Three that they are able to. Meanwhile, we will be taking them down digitally through an all out assault on their web address found by four other members, locking it down and obtaining all the vital data they have. A small team of our best NetBattlers will be part of the team going to the base to locate and capture the elemental codes the World Three has stolen."

"Those of you going to the base need to tread carefully. We have no idea what is in store for you when you get there," Jun warned, "Just make sure to not wear any purple. Wearing purple tomorrow will only cause bad luck to hit you. And ladies should not wear any green either. You'll get pinched."

"Jun…" Oda sighed, shaking his head while hiding his eyes with his fedora…yet everyone could see him trembling to hide his laughter.

"What…I just want to make sure the danger prone ones don't break something," Jun sighed, "Last thing we need is Tomari-san calling in about a broken arm and Kiriko-chan thinks it's a lie and busts his apartment door down while he's in his boxers…again."

"We promised to never speak of it!" Shinnosuke shouted.

"See? A little levity helps calm the troops, works every time," Jun smirked before clapping his hands together, "Haihaihai~! Time to name the folks for the strike team!"

"Ah, Jun, we still haven't gotten through the-and you're just steamrolling along," Oda sighed.

"Right! The names will be on that screen!" Jun declared as he aimed a remote at one screen and pushed the button…before the screen on the other side changed, "...I mean that screen over there has the names!"

'Hopefully, the team is small enough that I can safely transform,' Shinnosuke thought as he looked at it, seeing himself, Kiriko, Lan, Gen, Rinna, Maylu, Oda, and… "'Commander Beef?'"

"One of our best undercover agents," Oda explained, "He is rather skilled in close combat and his operating skills with his NetNavi Sharkman are nothing to argue with."

"Ah…I-I'm up there? Why am I going to this base?" Rinna asked.

"On the off-chance our NetNavis cannot bypass an obstacle, it's best to have a scientist on hand to physically work on bypassing systems," Oda replied, "Each one going there was carefully selected."

"Eh…." Rinna complained, "Uso…I'm putting in a request for vacation time after this…" she pouted.

"That's fair," Oda nodded as Jun gawked in disbelief, "Now back to the matter at hand…"

"Ah, hai," Jun nodded before looking over at Kyu, "Were you able to get everything, Kyu?"

"Ah! Ano…H-Hai!" Kyu nodded as he typed on his laptop and several screens changed, showing profile pictures of Maddy, Zap, and Wily, "I managed to make these profiles for each known member of the World Three we have. What surprised me the most was what I managed to uncover about their leader."

"Dr. Wily, correct?"

"Hai," Kyu nodded, "Dr. Albert Wily was a former member of the Ministry of Science, working alongside Tadashi Hikari himself."

'Gramps?' Lan pondered, looking up from his strategy notebook at the mention of his grandpa.

"It seems that he and the late Dr. Hikari were both presenting the same day on two different projects. Dr. Tadashi Hikari presented the prototype of our modern Internet and the very first Network Navigator," Kyu went on, tapping on his laptop and a few screens changing, showing a somewhat plump young man in a suit gesturing to a projector that was showing what looked like an older version of the internet with a polygon-like NetNavi in it, "Meanwhile, Dr. Albert Wily would go on to present a robot called Blues." the photo changed to show a lanky man with black jagged hair and mustache with glasses standing beside a table where a young teen was sitting on it…if one didn't see that his elbows and knees were actually joints, "Unfortunately…"

"Unfortunately?" Jun repeated before Kyu pressed another button on his laptop and a video played, showing the robot named Blues throwing the table at the audience and then tearing down a wall, "Oh my!"

"Blues's guidance system malfunctioned and resulted in several hundred thousand dollars in damages," Kyu informed, taking a gulp of water, "His degrees were revoked, his name was disgraced, and Blues was dismantled after being deemed a threat. No one saw Dr. Wily for years after that until recently. What is known is that as he was being dragged out, he kept accusing Dr. Tadashi Hikari of sabotage, even when it was proven he did nothing of the sort."

"He seems like a generally dangerous old man…" Shinnosuke sighed.

"Truth be told, I knew him to a degree. He was actually something of an idol to my friend," Belt-san spoke through Shift Speed on Shinnosuke's shoulder, earning a surprised look from Shinnosuke and Lan, "As an Engineer, I can admit he had talent and vision. My own mentor was a friend to both Dr. Wily and Dr. Hikari, but like me he was an engineer in mechanics and vehicular technology. Robotics and Digital Science were not my original field, but well I needed something else to study in my free time at school."

"Belt-san, you're just too smart…" Shinnosuke muttered.

"The operation starts at noon tomorrow," Oda informed, "Make sure all of you are fully prepared for what awaits us! Dismissed!"

"Belt-san, I didn't know your sensei know my Gramps," Lan spoke up once they had some time.

"Well there is an Old Adage that all Oldmen know one another," Belt-san spoke, "I had met your Grandfather in my early years, but I can't say I knew him more than just a regular acquaintance. But it is the lessons I learned with him that helped me perfect the technology that made me what I am now. If I had to say it, it feels almost poetic that Wily would find and join with the Roidmudes, as my friend was inspired by Wily…but sadly the road to hell is paved with good intentions…" he sighed.

"I feel bad for the robot Wily made. It wasn't its fault it's programming wasn't working," Roll noted.

"It doesn't sound too different from the Roidmudes…" Megaman spoke, "I don't think they were made for bad things. But it takes one mistake for everything to turn bad. Maybe that's why Wily is helping them so much. He sees this as a chance to fix a mistake…the mistake of what happened to his robot."

"I don't like he's blaming my gramps for something he goofed up on," Lan frowned.

"Hmmm…well I guess I can't say I don't understand. But my job is to bring him in, and stop the Roidmude." Shinnosuke spoke, "I guess finding out what really happened to his robot is a different mystery to solve…right now it's just stop whatever crazy scheme the old man worked up…then lock him up in a nursing home…"

"A maximum security nursing home," Kiriko agreed.

Lan tilted his head, imagining old people in scrubs based on prison uniforms in a reinforced nursing home. He choked back a laugh upon imagining a riot there being a lot of elderly folk complaining while not able to get out of reclining chairs and ultimately falling asleep mid sentence.

"I'd suggest that you kids head home early today," Belt-san advised, "Tomorrow will be a big day."

"I was going to ask for Maylu to go home early myself for that same reason," Roll noted.

"I guess it's a good idea. I need to look at my notebooks and rework some strategies on the chance I need to do stalling tactics to let you turn into Drive if we run into Mashin Chaser or Heart in that place, Shinnosuke-nii," Lan noted.

"True…That is the biggest factor in all this: the Roidmudes that are working with the World Three," Belt-san noted, "Whatever their end goal is with the World Three, they will not let it be stopped so easily."

"Mmm…And Shinnosuke-nii needs to keep his identity a secret since Oda-jiisan, Gen-jiisan, and this Commander Beef guy will be there," Lan frowned, "And what's this about him being an under coat guy? Is he cold all the time?"

"Undercover, Lan-kun," Kiriko corrected, "It means he's someone who has to keep his real identity a secret for the safety of those he or she knows."

"You mean like the lady who sold me that bento at the Ministry of Science with all the info she got on the WaterWorks?" Lan asked.

"Sal-san, yes," Kiriko confirmed.

"It just means I need to know when to bust it out," Shinnosuke spoke, "I'll go in as Detective Shinnosuke Tomari, but have to pick when to be the Kamen Rider." 'But if this is the bad guys' hangout…that means I need to fight the Shinigami…and Heart…'

---

Chaser looked up at the full moon in the sky above, her PeT laid down near him.

"Your form without the face I am used to…" Zero spoke up, "It is…rather striking compared to your fellow Roidmudes, Aibou."

"I did not know there was a Number 000…" Chase spoke, "I assumed my disguised form was a default due to an error in my programming. But perhaps it was more than that."

"Ah…" Zero nodded, "...Tomorrow they will come. The Kamen Rider and Megaman…"

"You believe they can find this place."

"I can feel it in my core, Aibou," Zero replied, "Those two children…each time I've encountered them, it feels as if the gap between us…narrows. Does it not feel the same with you and the Kamen Rider?"

"At first he seemed like just a fool…but…as we battle the desire to defend he has, caused him to not just narrow the gap…but leap beyond it," Chase spoke, "I saw it…the day I actually earned his ire. If he wanted…he could be a worse Shinigami than me."

"Soka…" Zero nodded before footsteps went off, "Hm?"

"Ah!" 015 yelped when Chase aimed his Break Gunner on reflex, "G-Gomen nassai, Shinigami-tachi. I, well…I was asked to bring you both inside. Lord Wily and Lord Brain and combining the codes into one."

"..." Chase nodded as he picked up his PeT.

'Oh thank the Three Laws of Robotics…'015 thought in relief, leading Chase into the base where the agents of World Three, Heart, Brain, Raijin, and Medic stood before the four machines.

"Wonderful job, 015!" Wily noted.

"Heart-sama, who is that?" Medic asked, looking at Chase in confusion.

"A good friend," Heart replied, "He has been upholding in helping our fellow Roidmudes in keeping safe from threats, even themselves. A moment like this couldn't be had without him here!"

"Heart…is this wise to be so relaxed? What of the Kamen Rider? You are still damaged from your battle with him," Chase pointed out.

"Hmm…Oh, am I, my dear friend?" he asked as he motioned to his torso, "I am 100 percent again, even more."

"Eh? How is that possible, Lord Heart?" Zero asked in curiosity.

"Medic's unique ability," Heart spoke, gesturing to the female Roidmude, "Her ability allows her to restore damage and even alter the structure of other Roidmudes. Thanks to her, my one weakness has been negated and, with each recovery, my power grows." he then put his hand to his chest, "But…I won't deny, the thought of meeting that Horrifying man…sends a cold shiver up my back. A human who doesn't fear death…what could be scarier? No hesitation to die if it meant destroying me…" he smiled, "He has more spirit then the first Kamen Rider."

"First?" Maddy repeated.

"Did you sleep during that discussion, Maddy?" Wily scowled, "The current Drive is not the one who interfered with the efforts of the Roidmudes six months ago, but the second. It is Heart who ended his threat to them that day."

"Indeed," Heart nodded before looking at the device, "So this is what you and Brain were working on, Hakase."

"Indeed," Wily replied, nodding to Brain.

Brain chuckled as he tapped something on his tablet. The machined hummed to life before the four images started to flash repeatedly until a bright flash went off. The light dimmed and in the chamber closest to the doors to the rocket, a floating black orb hovered. It twitched and pulsed in its spot, each time it pulsed causing 015 and Brain to flinch, feeling the raw power that seemed to emanate from it.

"It's done! Behold, what will cause Cybergeddon! The ultimate Virus, forged from a dream and given life; the LifeVirus!" Wily declared, "Once it is installed into the rocket, it will be taken up into orbit where it will be sent into the satellites of the planet! Once that happens…this world shall be Deleted and a new world for the Roidmudes shall remain!"

"Gh…!" Zero tensed.

"Zero?" Chase looked at his PeT.

"I can feel its presence from here…" Zero shuddered, "This LifeVirus…it is powerful…truly powerful."

"Oh? What a strong presence," Heart chuckled, "..."

"Oh for the-you are not fighting the LifeVirus, Heart!" Brain snapped.

"Aw~" Heart whined while a brief look of annoyance aimed at Brain passed Medic's face, "You're no fun anymore, Brain…you used to tell me to fight stuff all the time."

"I think you could win, Heart-sama~" Medic smiled.

Brain scowled before a beeping went off from his tablet, "Hm?" he checked it to find an EMail, "...Tch. Match got outwitted by the Kamen Rider and the boy who can fuse with his NetNavi. They know how to get here and even have a plan set up to attack us both digitally and physically."

"Oh you have to be kidding me," Maddy groaned, rolling her eyes, "Guess he got too hot-headed for his own good."

"Ah, that's not good," Raijin frowned.

"...Perhaps a demonstration of the LifeVirus is needed, Lord Wily," Yahoot offered after a few moments of thought.

"You may be right, Yahoot," Wily nodded, "The fools of Net Society made a grave mistake with how many devices are connected to their oh so precious Internet…and the LifeVirus will show why that was their folly."

"Oh, I can't wait to see what it can do," Heart chuckled.

---

Shinnosuke looked himself over one last time in his apartment, "Yosha…Today's the day." He looked at the Shift Cars that had gathered on his dining table, "Minna, are you ready?" several varieties of honking came from them all, "Yosha. Then…" Monster let out his honk while turning to the television, "Eh?" he turned to it to see it had turne don by itself, showing Wily, "! Is that…?"

=To all you who embrace this Network Society…I am Dr. Albert Wily, leader of World Three! I am pleased to announce that the World Three's master plan...is entering the final phase! Our next targets are this country's military satellites! We will be launching a hacking rocket from our WWW labs...Once we have control...the EndGame begins!= Wily declared.

"So that's him," Shinnosuke noted.

=Our power spreads far and wide! To you, officers of Japan…or, rather, those of you who have gathered to attack us…= Shinnosuke tensed =You have no chance digitally. For you have far greater problems=

"Far greater pr…" Shinnosuke began before his TV began to spark, "?!" Hooking Wrecker produced a cable and snagged Shinnosuke, pulling him away from the TV just as it exploded, "WHOA!" another explosion went off in his kitchen, "Ah! Not the fridge?!"

"Hurry! Unplug all the electronics before anything else goes off!" Belt-san ordered from Shift Speed before his headlights flashed, "Midnight Shadow and Fire Braver just reported in. Lan-kun and Maylu-chan's appliances are experiencing the same effect."

"What's going on here?" Shinnosuke asked as he found his apartment's circuit breaker and flipped everything off, "Phew…" the place shook, "Nani?" he looked outside and his eyes widened, seeing several driverless vehicles racing about, crashing into anything they could, "What…?" his phone rang, "Hai?"

"I take it you're seeing rampaging or exploding devices," Oda spoke.

"Ah," Shinnosuke replied, making his way outside.

"The CID is dealing with a massive assault on the Network. Viruses are breaking down the Internet, rewriting programs, and just generally rampaging wildly. Given the video broadcasted on all the TVs in the country, this is the WWW's doing," Oda explained, "The CID will be unable to deploy any agents aside from our Liaisons with the SIU. They'll meet you at the school. Get on that monorail and put the kibosh on them."

"Roger," Shinnosuke replied as he got into Tridoron and tightened his tie, "So this is what Match meant…"

"This is madness," Belt-san noted as Tridoron peeled out of the apartment complex's parking, barely avoiding a fire hydrant exploding, "They had something like this on the ready?"

"Looks like it," Shinnosuke replied, "Still…This means I don't have to worry about them seeing me transform."

"Okay! Let's get to that monorail!" Belt-san agreed.

"Hopefully the others are safe on getting over to the school," Shinnosuke noted.

---

"You see? You see?! This is why my car was one made before they started adding things to it!" Gen crowed, Rinna in the passenger seat as he swerved to avoid a riderless motorcycle that had been falling at them, letting it crash into a stone fence.

"I thought it was because it was the cheapest option, de gozaru."

"NOT THE TIME!" Gen barked, managing to do a spin to get into the schoolyard between slams of the automatic gates.

"Wow…we're not dead…You amazing goof, you did it!" Rinna cheered, dragging Gen into a hug with one arm, "Ah, I could kiss you!" she smiled, making him blush.

"E-Eh?" Gen stammered.

"Now let's go, muscle!" She kicked the door open rather than make good on that, making Gen pale as his car door…literally flew off..

"And we just paid for the repairs yesterday," Yamatoman noted.

"Don't slow down!" Rinna looked to see Lan and Maylu barely avoiding the gate as they got in via rollerskates or a push scooter respectively before Lan quickly aimed his PeT at the gate and started to Virus Bust, "Ugh…Why put the dang blang port on this side?"

"Rinna-san, Gen-san!" Maylu noticed the two and ran over to them, "It's terrible!"

"Ah, that's an understatement, little lady," Gen noted, seeing smoke in the distance.

"Is it just us?" Roll asked.

"No. I'm sure that Kiriko-chan and Shinnosuke-kun will be here," Rinna replied as the gate stopped slamming and slid open.

"There's too many things with Viruses in them," Lan grimaced, quickly turning off the gate controls.

"How did we even beat you kids here?" Gen asked, "Your houses are closer than my apartment."

"We had to help our friend Yai," Maylu explained, "Her security system locked her in her house and the gas heater started spewing gas into it."

"Whatever's empowered the viruses also corrupted Glyde and we had to knock him out to get Yai out of there," Roll explained.

"That's terrible," Rinna gasped.

"She's fine now…but…things are crazy," Lan sighed.

"Ironic as it sounds…maybe a giant blackout could come in handy at the moment…" Megaman muttered.

"Ah, one thing you'll learn, kids…most people don't know how to use irony…and when you finally do figure it out…it just stinks…" Rinna sighed.

"We better get that monorail secured. Did the guy ever say where it was?" Gen asked.

"Uh-huh," Lan nodded as he ran over to the large fountain in the middle of the courtyard, "It's right here!"

"Great. And me without my swim trunks," Gen sighed.

"There's a secret door behind the statue," Megaman informed.

"Oh…That makes a lot more sense," Gen admitted as Lan ran behind the fountain to a statue of a knight on its steed and felt around the base of it until a panel on it pushed inward from his touch, causing the back of the statue's base to slide downwards, exposing a stairway.

"Okay! It's open!" Lan waved before yelping and pointing at the street outside the school.

"Huh? What's…?" Gen began as he looked to see a car driving at high speeds for the open gate, "Gah!" he grabbed Maylu and Rinna and pulled them out of the way, letting the car barely avoid them and hit Gen's car, causing both to explode, "Aw come on!"

"Eee…" Lan cringed.

"Oh you can go car shopping with the raise for busting the bad guys. Move it," Rinna sighed, dragging Gen along.

"What about everyone else?" Lan asked before they all heard someone grunt as Kiriko jumped over the fence, spinning her body around and landing on her feet perfectly.

"...Did she do that in heels?" Rinna asked with wide eyes.

"That little lady should be in the olympics." Gen gawked.

"Kiriko-nee!" Lan called out, earning her attention.

"It's…"

"We know, it's nuts! Why are so many things connected to the Internet?!" Gen complained.

"We got an EMail from Inspector Oda. No one in the CID is able to help with this," Megaman informed, "They've all been deployed to help fight the Viruses."

"Soka…" Kiriko frowned, looking around, "Where's…?"

As if on cue, a loud engine went off and Tridoron came through the gates, swerving around the fountain and halted beside the burning wreckage of Gen's car, letting Shinnosuke get out with his tie tight.

"Oh come on…how did he not have a single issue?" Gen asked.

"I'm a better driver," Shinnosuke stated bluntly as he walked over to the entrance, "This it?"

"Uh-huh," Lan nodded.

"Alright…Everyone, it's just us dealing with this," Shinnosuke spoke, "Lives are at stake, so we don't have the time for any big speeches. Ikuzo."

"Here's the ID," Lan handed the card to the tallest officer, who accepted it with a nod and the group made their way down the stairs.

Once they were out of sight, Tridoron revved before driving off, switching to Type Wild as it headed for the mountains.

---

"You know…for a terrorist organization…their monorail was honestly the best one I've ever ridden. Was squeaky clean, no noisy seats, and no strange smell that gets stuck to you for the rest of the day," Gen admitted as they emerged from a cave and they all halted, seeing a massive steel skull emerging from a cliffside with a lake beneath it and waterfalls framing it, "Gh?! I take back any nice things I was thinking from that monorail ride…"

"Well…I'm not sure how they made this without anyone's notice…but props for theming…" Shinnosuke sighed, "Alright let's get in there."

"Alright! Let's break in!" Lan pumped a fist.

"We're police officers. It's not a break in; it's a raid," Rinna corrected.

"Oh, right…Let's raid it!" Lan pumped his fist again.

"Stay behind us, kids," Gen advised as they approached the skull, "We have no idea what's in store for us."

"Traps, nonsense, criminals, monsters…" Shinnosuke listed.

"Wait, what was the last one?" Gen asked.

"I need to kick some teeth in," Kiriko spoke as they ignored Gen's concern.

"Maybe they'll have a broom in there and Maylu can sweep them up," Lan noted.

"Oh very funny," Maylu sighed before the doors slammed down behind them, making the group tense.

"Oh that's not good," Rinna noted as Kiriko looked up and her eyes widened.

"Neither is that," Kiriko spoke.

Everyone followed her line of sight and their eyes widened, seeing a large four-legged robot before them with arms as big as trucks. The group yelped as they moved to the sides, barely avoiding a large arm that swung down at them.

"Where did he get a budget for this?!" Gen yelped, managing to grab Rinna and Maylu and pull them into another hallway.

"Split up! We'll try to meet where they have the rocket!" Shinnosuke shouted, grunting as he slid under an attempt to grab him.

The large robot made to stomp on him only for a flash of light to register in its optics. It turned in time for CF Megaman to be inches before his face, his right arm engulfed in a GoldFist. He swung and ripped the head off its shoulders, letting the large machine groan before collapsing. CF Megaman landed beside Kiriko and dismissed his CrossFusion.

"Of course there'd be robots here," Kiriko groaned, "He's allied with sentient ones that can evolve."

"At least with Gen-Jiisan going another way, Shinnosuke-nii and Belt-san can transform into Drive if they need to," Lan noted.

"Indeed," Belt-san agreed before sighing, "What a truly saddening sight. The man had so much potential for creating things of great good…"

"Well…when we lock him up maybe he can do some community service," Shinnosuke sighed, "We can't dwell on things like that right now. People are in real danger; and, until we wreck his schemes, we can't stop."

"Right," Kiriko agreed as she looked at the other hallway in the area, "If we see Zap, I call dibs on him."

"Let's go!" Lan cheered as he followed after Kiriko.

"Will we be alright without Tridoron?" Shinnosuke asked, looking down at Belt-san while following them.

"Don't worry. Tridoron's on its way," Belt-san assured.

"Honto?" Shinnosuke asked in surprise.

"Trust me. Tridoron is a dedicated car," Belt-san chuckled, the trio entering a stairway that led them up into a large empty room cloaked in darkness.

"Guess they don't like using lights here unless they need to," Lan noted before jumping as a spotlight turned on, revealing a NetBattle machine with Chase standing on the other side and a pair of steel doors behind him.

"Alright~! Welcome, Lady and Gentlemen!" Zap's voice laughed on a PA, guitar and drums rocking it out as a screen popped up to show him and Raijin playing, "Glad you could come for our EndGame!"

"Where are you, you cowardly electrician?" Kiriko demanded.

"Like hell I'm telling you, ya crazy lady!" Zap replied, pulling an eyelid down and sticking his tongue out.

"I'm going to break you…" Kiriko growled slowly with anger in her eyes, "Slowly…"

"Well tough drained batteries," Raijin huffed, "We're safe and sound and the only way out of that room's through those two before ya!"

"That's right! The lock program's been keyed into Zero and Chaser! Ya gotta give a real shocker and actually smack 'em down to get through here!" Zap laughed as the NetBattle machine activated, displaying a hologram of the Network within with Zero at the ready.

Chase raised his Break Gunner and proceeded to transform, "Koi…Kamen Rider…Megaman…"

"I'll look for where those two are hiding," Kiriko informed, "Good luck, both of you."

"We'll give it our all, Kiriko-nee," Lan nodded as he ran up to the machine and sent Megaman into it.

"Do you think Lan and Megaman can win this time?" Belt-san asked as Mashin Chaser walked away from the machine.

"I'm sure of it. We've been giving them a ton of training since the last fight," Shinnosuke replied.

"Okay. Start your Engine!" Belt-san confirmed as Shinnosuke turned the key and pulled out Shift Speed.

"Henshin!" Shinnosuke declared, transforming into Drive and charged at Mashin Chaser, Handle-Ken and Door-Ju in hand.

=DRIVE! TYPE: SPEED!=

"No more words?" Megaman asked.

"Just these: Which of our ideals holds stronger…will be solved today," Zero replied.

Lan nodded as he entered FullSynchro, "Zero…We're going to beat you here and now! Ikuze, Megaman! Battle Routine Set!"

"Execute!"

"Hah!" Drive shouted as he and Mashin Chaser clashed weapons.

The two stepped back and swung again as they clashed their firearms, before Drive wrapped the Handle-ken around Chaser's arm and swung their arms up as they began shooting, their blasts hitting the ceiling and raining sparks around them as they glared at one another through their helmets. Drive grunted as he swung Mashin Chaser around before kicking him. Chaser grunted before gasping as Drive shot at the door with the Door-Ju making it spark…before one of its hinges popped off and the door fell down.

"Ike Kiriko!" Drive ordered, "We have fights to handle here…but that doesn't mean we'll play by their rules…you have a fistfull of teeth to collect afterall."

"Leave this much to us! This is a battle we need to settle!" Megaman spoke as he clashed swords with Zero, the two jumping back before swinging again and clashing.

"Go get 'em, Kiriko-nee!" Lan grinned before inserting a BattleChip, causing Zero's blade to hit a stone buddha where Megaman had been…before the red NetNavi grunted as a blast of lightning came out of the statue and knocked him away.

"Hai!" Kiriko nodded, "You four better not lose!"

"Ah!" the four all declared in unison.

---

"I swear I'd be amazed at all of this if it wasn't for the fact it was made for terrorism," Rinna noted as the trio climbed up a flight of stairs, "This old man really made himself busy of the decades he went into hiding for."

"You doing okay?" Gen asked, looking over at Maylu, who was glancing behind them.

"Just…worried for the others, Gen-san," Maylu replied.

"I know they'll be alright," Roll assured, "They have Kiriko-nee there, after all."

"Tomari-san has a strong will and young Lan-kun has an indomitable spirit. All three of them will likely be waiting for us to show up, de gozaru," Yamatoman encouraged.

"Don't give them so much credit…" Gen complained.

"Isn't it accurate that Tomari-san's history of arrests outdid yours back when he was in the First Division with all of you?" Yamatoman pointed out, "Had it not been for the incident of the Global Freeze…he might already outrank you."

"Gh…" Gen grunted at that.

"It's true. Tomari-san is probably wasted with us, his skill with figuring things out is scary," Rinna smiled, "Lan-kun…well…he's probably gonna be a bigshot once he grows up. Probably a looker, too."

"Oi…" Gen muttered at that.

"What? It's just a fact." Rinna smiled, "What jealous of a kid now, too?" she teased.

Gen just grumbled while crossing his arms over his chest. The stairs ended and they entered a large dark room before a spotlight turned on, revealing a NetBattle machine and a large steel door on the other side. The machine hummed to life and Maddy appeared, showing a separate room with her PeT plugged into it.

"Well, well, well~Was expecting the brat, but I got an old fart, a Christmas cake past its expiration date, and a little girl with…hmmm…well, you have a cute face at least. Pity about the tiny chest. I'll rate a twenty on the scale of 1-100," Maddy noted.

"Ch…Christmas cake past its expiration date…?" Rinna gawked.

"Tw-Twenty on the scale of 1-100…?" Maylu repeated, her eye twitching.

"Oi, oi, oi…Quit foolin' around! Where are you?" Gen demanded.

"Hmph. Wouldn't you like to know," Maddy scoffed, "Well…you wanna move on and try to stop us? You gotta get through Coloredman here in this NetBattle machine."

"NetBattle?" Gen asked.

"How dense are you…? It's what the kids and an entire division of officers do!" Rinna slapped him upside the head, "Before you say something stupid, I'm a scientist. I don't have one!" she slapped Gen upside the head again…and then a third time, "'Cause it makes me feel better!" she explained when he gawked at her, "How dare that pink-haired bimbo call me a Christmas cake?!"

"I…guess it's us," Maylu noted, looking at her PeT in her hand while trying to ignore Gen running around in a circle with Rinna chasing him.

"We've got this, Maylu," Roll encouraged as she entered the NetBattle machine, the screen above changing to show inside of it, "So you're Wackoman?"

"It's Coloredman! Coloredman!" the clown-themed NetNavi complained, "Maddy just said it, you…you…"

"Settle down, Coloredman. We've got this. Time to say goodbye to your NetNavi, girlie!" Maddy declared.

"The only one losing their NetNavi is you!" Maylu declared, "Go for it, Roll!"

"You got it!" Roll cheered, pumping a fist.

"I don't know what's happening, but kick butt, little lady!" Gen cheered.

"We shall be here for support, Maylu-dono, Roll-dono," Yamatoman added as Gen yelped when Rinna slapped him again, "I hope that doesn't cause lasting brain damage…"

Coloredman laughed as he slammed his long arms onto the floor and swung his body outward like a bell, launching the giant ball he was sitting on top of right at Roll. Roll jumped to the side, avoiding the attack only for a smaller Coloredman to appear, wearing a lime version of his outfit. The smaller one laughed before holding his arms out and a pillar of flames erupted from the ground and charged at Roll.

"Ah! A FireTower?" Maylu pondered, quickly pulling out a BattleChip, "WaterTower, download!"

Roll smirked as she did a small twirl, splashes of water escaping her fingertips. She slapped the ground and a tower of water erupted before her, racing towards the FireTower. The two attacks collided, dispersing both. Roll looked at where the two were at before her eyes widened to see no one there.

"Where did…?" Roll began.

"Above you!" Rinna shouted.

Roll looked up and her eyes widened, seeing a falling Coloredman coming right down at her with two copies of his smaller duplicate. Her eyes flashed as she swung an arm upwards and Coloredman's eyes widened as his copies' fast fall turned to a crawl.

"What…is…?" Coloredman began before Roll shot a RollArrow him, knocking him away.

"What?! A…A Slowdown?" Maddy asked.

"Hm?" Gen gawked, "Her NetNavi can make Slowdowns in the Network?"

"It was a freak accident, but it seems that strumpet didn't think those copies would be affected~" Rinna smirked deviously as Roll formed a HiCannon that she quickly used to fire at the slowed copies, swiftly deleting them.

"Gen-kun," Yamatoman whispered, earning his attention, "While they're distracted, plug me into that panel by the doors, de gozaru."

"Nani?"

"Trust me."

"Mmm…Alright," Gen nodded, quickly and discreetly getting over to the doors and plugged his PeT into the panel by them.

---

=DRIVE! TYPE: WILD!=

=TUNE: CHASER SPIDER!=

Both roared as spider-themed shield/blade collided with Handle-Ken.

"Grrr!" Drive growled as he pushed Mashin Chaser's weapon aside before spinning around to swing again only for both to slash one another, making sparks fly.

"Hah!" Mashin Chaser swung again as they struck one another making sparks fly and both stumbled back in pain.

"What's your game here, Shinigami?" Drive asked, "Where's Heart!?"

"So you came in planning to battle Heart again…" Mashin Chaser grunted, "Are you so focused on dying with him?"

"Sorry…but I don't plan to die," Drive shook his head, "Last time, I made someone cry…a real man never makes a lady cry. I came here to fight him…and win."

"That's foolish…Heart grows stronger with every battle. He would be even stronger," Mashin Chaser replied.

"I got a lot more to fight for today…I don't mind fighting both of you at once…you don't mind putting thousands of lives at risk…if not more. If that's everything I need to protect…I'll take both of you on!" he declared as his eyes began shining, "Sa…Hitoppashiri tsukiae yo!" he called out as he tackled Mashin Chaser and slammed him through several walls.

"You have improved," Zero noted, Z-Saber meeting a multicolored blade wielded by Megaman and entering a stalemate.

"Lan and I have some good teachers," Megaman replied, "We're not going to lose this time, Zero!"

"Like Shinnosuke-nii said…We've got a lot to fight for today, especially with that cheap trick you guys pulled with all those Viruses this morning!" Lan narrowed his eyes.

"Mama was really scared by it…and right now she probably feels even more scared knowing what we have to do…" Megaman grunted, "The idea that so many people are that scared 'cause of all this…we have to fight for all of them!" he swung his sword and pushed Zero away with a great burst of force.

"Fighting…to protect?" Zero asked in confusion.

"That's right!" Lan declared as he held up three BattleChips, "We won't give up no matter what! Because we're fighting not just for us, but for everyone so that we can keep living together! Megaman!"

"Right, Lan!" Megaman replied, "Zero, we need to thank you."

"...Thank me?"

"All those battles with you…if not for them, we wouldn't have been motivated to get stronger or find Ghost Data you've left behind," Megaman replied.

"It was a real pain figuring it out, but take this! HiGuard, Z-Saber, Zero! BattleChips in and Download!" Lan declared, inserting the trio of BattleChips.

A bright light began to shine from Megaman as both shouted, "Program Advance! ZEROCNTR!"

Zero raised an arm up to block the light. It dimmed down and his eyes widened, seeing a copy of himself beside Megaman as both glowed with a strong aura. Before he could move, his copy was before him, slashing into him with his own blade. He spun around from the impact and saw Megaman just an instant before firing his Buster's Charged Shot, knocking him back into a shockwave from his copy. The two then fired an attack in unison, causing Zero to cry out. The duplicate Zero overlapped Megaman before a white device with a handle appeared in Megaman's hand as he approached the kneeling Zero. He swung and a green triangular blade of plasma appeared, slicing into Zero. Megaman swung a second time, taking Zero's blade arm clean off. For a moment, Zero swore that he saw Megaman…wearing armor resembling his own before the Blue Bomber raised the blade up high and delivered a vertical slash.

"GH-GHWAAAARGH!-!-!-!" Zero screamed, sparks erupting off his body before he logged out.

"Zero?!" Mashin Chaser gawked before he was slashed across the chest by Drive.

"Shinigami…" Drive spoke, "You called me evil…and the real Shinigami before, but as I saw it…I was defending people from Roidmudes who rampaged and harmed them."

"Ah?" Mashin Chaser grunted.

"You guys talk like you're victims…and I'm sure some bad human upset you…but judging all of us for that…thinking that makes it okay to hurt people…" Drive spoke as he gripped his sword tight, "That's why I can't just sit back and let you get away with it. The Kamen Rider…is a Protector!"

"P-Protector…?" Mashin Chaser repeated as he felt a painful sensation in his head, "Ahh…ghhh…"

"Ikuze Rumble!" Drive slotted Rumble Dump into his brace.

=TIRE KOUKAN: RUMBLE DUMP!=

Drive punched the drill right into MAshin Chaser's chest as it began whirling to life and did its job drilling into his armor. Drive grunted, pushing his arm as the drill extended out and pinned Mashin Chaser to a wall. Drive swung the drill up before slashing with the Handle-Ken, slashing Mashin Chaser across the torso before spinning around and bashing the Rumble Smasher into the Shinigami's helmet knocking him to the ground. Mashin Chaser grunted before he was kicked in the stomach and knocked up into the air and fell into an uppercut with Drive's arm covered in the Rumble Smasher. The drill began spinning and took Chaser along with it…before he was tossed into another wall.

"Whaaaat?!" Zap gawked, his eyes bulging out in shock, "Wh…What's happening?! Our concert of the Deletion of Megaman and the Kamen Rider…is in reverse?!"

"Ah…u-uh…Z-Zappy…?" Raijin whimpered.

"Raijin, what's…?" Zap began as he spun around…to see Kiriko at the door in the background, "...Oh…This…This is bad, isn't it?"

"I've got her!" Raijin declared as he jumped at her, only for her to move to the side and grab him by his ankle, "...Mistakes were made."

"Lan-kun, cover your eyes," Kiriko ordered.

"Yes!" he covered his eyes only to open his fingers and peak.

"Sei!" Kiriko swung Raijin around almost like nunchucks before tossing him out the door, she then ran forward before kicking Zap in the stomach, slamming his face into the camera.

"Aahh…she's so short, but so strong…" he yelped as he was grabbed by his hair, "Gah! Not the hair! Not the hair! It takes so long to get it right!"

"You used a dangerous taser on a child…" Kiriko dragged him to his feet, "I'm going to break you…in ways you only fear in nightmares…"

"Wh-what does that…?"

At that, Kiriko swung her leg with all of her probably super human strength up…and between Zap's. Everyone flinched as a high pitched screech filled the air, and Zap just stood there…frozen in place, unmoving…less the pain surge once more.

"So…what did we learn?" Drive asked out loud.

"When Kiriko-nee says don't look…don't look…" Lan trembled.

"And again!" Kiriko shouted as the screeching jumped an octave, "Again!" once more up another octave.

"Well…he's probably never having kids…" Drive muttered.

"Can someone turn off the feed?" Megaman asked, keeping his own eyes covered as he hid in the PeT.

"Zappy!?" Raijin gawked as he tumbled down through the doors, "Oh you poor man…no one deserves that~"

"No…I think he kinda deserved it…he did hurt a kid," Drive argued.

"As the kid who got hurt…I agree," Lan nodded.

"Oh you two suck!" Raijin snapped.

"And you're a big jerk who eats batteries," Lan pointed out.

"Hey! No one insults my batteries and gets away with it!" Raijin snapped, transforming, "Time to fry ya!"

"Well I have a retort," Drive spoke up calmly.

"Wha-GAH!" he cried as he was pelted with energy bullets.

"Door-Ju~" Drive declared as he reloaded and pelted him again.

"Should I stay and help?" Lan asked.

"Go join Kiriko. You two can protect each other the rest of the way." Drive ordered, "Leave these chuckleheads to me."

"Okay!" Lan nodded as he ran off, "Bye, Battery Guy!"

"It's Raijin!" Raijin complained before he was shot in the behind, "Gah! Why do police always shoot my rear?! First the scary lady, now you!"

"I don't know…maybe all the batteries go somewhere?" Drive giggled, "You should consider cutting back, you look a bit thicker than last time~" he snorted.

"Gh?! Onore!" Raijin roared as he charged at Drive.

---

"Rating someone is very rude you know!" Maylu scolded as Roll dodged another attack from Coloredman, "You obaa-san!"

"O-O-O-Obaa-san?! N-n-n-n-nani kore?! I'll have you know I'm only 23 years old! You should be calling me a lady, not an old hag like the Christmas Cake with you!"

"Why is it aimed at me~?" Rinna sobbed in a corner, poking the floor with a finger with waterfall tears streaming down her cheeks.

Maylu broke out laughing at that, "Oh please! You're way older than Rinna-hakase! You think I wouldn't notice all that heavy makeup? 23 years old? You must be joking! Obaa~san!"

"GYAH! URUSEI! URUSEI! URUSEI! A girl rated at 20 shouldn't be talking!"

"Ah…M-Maddy…" Coloredman gawked before Roll and Maylu smirked, the latter inserting three BattleChips into her PeT.

"PROGRAM ADVANCE!"

"Huh?" Coloredman looked up and saw Roll coming down at him, her right leg engulfed in a pink weight as big as a car.

"Heavy Stamp!" Roll declared, slamming down before the NetNavi, letting loose a shockwave from the impact.

"GUWAAAH!" Coloredman screamed as he was sent rocketing back.

"Coloredman!" Maddy gasped before her PeT rang, "Ah! L-Lord Wily…!"

"I see you're having trouble with this one,"Wily's voice spoke, "Hmph. Here. Use this sliver of power from the LifeVirus."

At that, a neon green beam shot from the sky and hit Coloredman. His body glowed before the data that had begun to leak out of him was pulled back in. He slowly rose up before lifting his head, showing his eyes had turned pitch black with glowing, glitching red pupils. Roll tensed before narrowing her eyes.

"Heart Flash!" Roll shouted, swinging her arms outwards and unleashing a barrage of heart-shaped attacks.

"Oh boy! Yummy treats!" Coloredman laughed as his arms became blurs and easily caught every single one and devoured them, "I hope they're sugarless~!"

"Eh?!" Maylu gasped before Coloredman vanished.

"Eh?! Where did he…?" Roll gasped, looking around before a spiked version of Coloreman's ball slammed into her, slamming her into the ground and shattering it, "HURK!"

"Roll!" Maylu gasped, winching.

"What just happened?" Rinna asked, running over.

"What do ya think, Christmas Cake? Coloredman's been boosted by the LifeVirus!" Maddy laughed before Coloredman slammed down hard on Roll with one of his hands, "That's it, Coloredman! Take apart that 20 pointer girl's NetNavi!"

"So you can't win 'cause you lack skill, so you need to cheat. Talk about a cheap move from a cheap woman~" Rinna taunted.

"What can I say? History's written by the winners and I'm winning here!" Maddy laughed.

"Show's over, kiddie!" Coloredman laughed as Roll grabbed his large hand's thumb and pointer fingers.

"I…I'm not done yet!" Roll grunted.

"We're not beaten…" Maylu grit her teeth as her hair started to rise.

"Hm?" Rinna looked down at Maylu as Roll started to glow softly, "Is this…"

"Huh? What's with the light show?" Coloredman asked.

"We won't lose…" Maylu began.

"...not to you!" Roll finished before the thumb and finger snapped off from Roll's grip.

"GAH!" Coloredman yelped as the loss of his thumb let Roll slip out and deliver a backflip kick to his chin, knocking him away.

"..." Roll looked down at her hands, "Maylu-chan…"

"Eh? Is…Is this…?" Maylu's eyes widened, seeing normally…but also looking at the startled Coloredman on the ground before her.

"Hah! What do you know, harlot? Your little point system didn't factor in this, now did it?" Rinna crooned.

"Wh-What is this?! What are you talking about?!" Maddy panicked, "Why is she suddenly so much stronger?"

"You're in for it now!" Maylu declared as she held up four BattleChips, "Shotgun! CrossGun! Spreader! And MegaCannon!"

"Program Advance!" Roll and Maylu declared as Roll formed her RollArrow…before it transformed into a massive cannon twice her size.

"Ah! C-Come on now! Let's be reasonable!" Coloredman panicked, pulling himself up as a magenta light shined in the barrel on the blaster.

"POWERED CANNON!" the two shouted as a massive beam erupted from the barrel.

Coloredman screamed as he began to roll away on his ball, trying to escape the blast only for it to split apart, spreading out and curving in its paths to collide with the WWW NetNavi just as he was making a turn. Coloreman screamed as he soared through the air and logged out.

"Ghh…!" Maddy growled as she started to stomp the floor with a foot, "How dare you hurt my Coloredman?! I won't forget this!"

"Will ya not forget this either?" Gen's voice asked before the woman yelped as her arms were grabbed and she was slammed against the computer she was at, revealing a grinning Gen behind her, "You're under arrest!"

"Gen-san?" Maylu pondered as the three looked to the doors to see them wide open.

"Gah! H-How did you get in here?!" Maddy asked in disbelief, "The lock on that door was made so only the strongest NetNavis could bypass it!"

"That was strong? Yamatoman took it down in ten seconds," Gen replied in honest confusion, "Get the data in her stuff, Rush!"

"RUFF!" the digital dog barked from Maddy's PeT as Maylu logged out Roll.

"Oh, I'm so proud of you two!" Rinna cheered as she hugged the red head, "FullSynchro at last!"

"Ite…" Maylu hissed.

"Ah!" Rinna let her go as Maylu pulled up a sleeve, seeing faint bruising forming on her where Roll had been squeezed by Coloredman, "Oh right…the feedback." she gave a sharp whistle and Mad Doctor raced in, "Doctor, you have a new patient." Mad Doctor let his siren go off, "Ah! Hai, hai, hai. I know you were dreading it, but the girls did it so get to it!"

"S-Sorry for causing you more work, Mad Doctor," Maylu apologized as the ambulance-themed Shift Car drove onto her shoulder and began to go to work.

"Oh I'm sure he won't mind treating a cute girl like you. At least you show him some appreciation," Rinna smiled, "Take it easy for a second, okay? Then we'll go after the others."

"Right," Maylu nodded as she looked out at the doors, 'Lan…'

---

Kiriko grunted as she and CF Megaman pushed opened a heavy steel door. Once it was fully opened, the latter sighed in relief as he released CrossFusion and started to eat a protein bar. Kiriko entered, keeping her gun in hand, and looked around.

"This must be where they had the Elemental Codes," Kiriko noted, spotting the four machines.

"I see something on that desk," Megaman noted as Lan approached a large reinforced desk with a computer integrated into it, a thick green binder on it.

"...Oh! Kiriko-nee!" Lan waved her over as he pointed at the book, "It's their plans!"

"These are all the incidents they were involved with, plotted down to the last detail with afterthoughts once they went through," Kiriko noted after a few moments of looking it over, "This will be perfect evidence for their trials."

"Uh-huh…Once we edit out the Roidmudes, right?" Lan asked.

"Oh, indeed," Kiriko agreed as she looked around, "But…where are they?"

"Not sure," Lan replied.

"Let's look around some more," Megaman advised.

"It's strange…we saw just the Shinigami and that weird Roidmude who fused with a NetNavi…" Kiriko pointed out, "Where could the others be if this is their master plan and moment of victory?"

"No idea," Lan replied as he walked up to a portrait of Wily.

"Hm? Lan, look at the floor!" Megaman pointed out.

"Huh?" Lan looked down, seeing footprints leading into the wall, "Eh?"

"Could it be…?" Kiriko pondered as she noticed them.

"There's a Jack-In Port on the frame," Megaman pointed out.

"...Oh! I think I got it!" Lan beamed as he sent Megaman into the frame's Network, "Of course they'd have a secret door! Megaman, find the program that opens it!"

"Let's be ready for whatever might be on the other side," Kiriko warned, "We'll go in slowly…"

"Kinda hope that the others get here before Megaman opens it," Lan admitted, "Especially Shinnosuke-nii."

"I hope he's alright. Two powerful Roidmudes at once can't be easy…" Kiriko nodded.

---

=DRIVE: TYPE TECHNIC!=

Drive grunted, blocking a swing from Mashin Chaser with his Door-Ju before twisting around and using his arm's position to aim and shoot Raijin just as he charged up electricity to use. Mashin Chaser grunted only to be punched in the abdomen making him stumble back, letting Drive aim and shoot at his chest making sparks fly. The Kamen Rider stopped as he suddenly leaned to the right and let an electrical blast fly over him. As he did, he spun around and fired at Raijin, making him grunt. Drive stood back up fully as he opened and reloaded his Door-Ju just as the two Roidmudes stumbled away and regrouped next to one another.

"You're off your game, Chaser…" Drive spoke as Mashin Chaser gasped and looked at him.

"Well can ya blame him? His buddy's been beaten," Raijin pointed out before gagging from the fist rammed into his gut by Mashin Chaser, "Go…Gomen nassai, Shinigama-sama…"

"Iie. It's more than that," Drive noted, shaking his head.

"S-silence…" Mashin Chaser spoke.

"You're not fighting for anything anymore, are you?" Drive pointed out, "Before, you fought with conviction for the Roidmude…now you don't. I don't know what happened to you, but you're not in any type of mindset to fight me anymore."

"What do you…what are you talking about? …I…I defend the Roidmude…" Mashin Chaser spoke.

"Why?" Drive asked, "Because I destroy them? If that was all, then you'd still be kicking my ass like before. You just fight because it's all you know. I fight…because if I don't…people will die. A Guardian fights even if they don't want to, just to save as many lives as they can!" Those words resonate within Mashin Chaser's head, making him groan.

"S-Stop…make it stop!" Mashin Chaser growled, holding his head. The words from the Kamen Rider kept ringing in his head, a second voice faintly saying something deep in the back of his mind. The voices…they echoed and repeated in his mind, an unending cacophony of things that made him feel pain. As if his own mind was fighting with a part of itself…as if two beings were vying for control of his thoughts.

"Todomeda!" Drive declared, slotting Type Technic into the Door-Ju.

=Hissatsu: Full Throttle!=

Drive aimed as a green flash formed in the muzzle of the Door-Ju. He braced himself before firing as a green beam split apart into two streams of energy that curved around before forming hard light constructs of Tridoron Type Technic's manipulator arms as they closed in to crush Mashin Chaser between them. Mashin Chaser groaned, just barely recognising the oncoming attack, only to be shoved aside by Raijin, who was crushed between the energy constructs and caused a large explosion. His core, 065, flew out of the explosion before shattering in a tiny explosion as well in front of Mashin Chaser.

"...Gh!" Mashin Chaser slammed a fist on the ground as Drive lowered his gun.

"You really aren't in the right mind to battle right now," Drive noted.

"Ah?" Mashin Chaser looked at Drive as he walked off.

"Shinigami…" Drive paused, "I don't know what you got going on…but I don't feel anything from you when we fight…you've lost your reason to battle. I will continue to protect people from Roidmudes, so if you're going to defend them…defend them. Beyond that…we'll settle this next time."

"Gh…" Mashin Chaser reached out to the Kamen Rider as he left before squeezing his hand into a fist.

"A…Aibou…" Mashin Chaser looked at his PeT, "It…It's a complete loss…on our end…isn't it?"

"..." Mashin Chaser looked away, "...Yes…"

"Hn…" Zero looked down, 'Megaman…and Drive…Next time…'

---

"Lan, I think I found the program!" Megaman informed, looking at a large floating blue key.

"Great!"

"Okay, here goes it," Megaman spoke as he turned on his Buster and fired at the key, destroying it.

"The painting just rose up! There's a tunnel here just like we thought," Kiriko informed.

"Okay! I'm going to Jack Out now," Megaman spoke before yelping as he bareilly dodged a wave of blue flames, "GAH!"

"Megaman?!"

A laugh echoed in the air before a NetNavi materialized before Megaman. He looked as if he were a magician with his blue robes made of layered armor. His long sleeved ended in red crystal orbs in place of hands while purple diamonds decorated his sleeves and up his robes. Beneath the armored wizard's hat was a face hidden by a beard of metal while spikes jutted out of his shoulders, an emblem resembling two purple bars with black dots on the ends resting on both the front and back of each shoulder.

"I apologize, but this is as far as you go," Yahoot spoke.

"Just as the sun must set each day, so too will your life this day!" the NetNavi declared.

"Who are you?"

"I am Magicman, and I must say…The rumors about you seem to overplay," Magicman noted, "I've been curious about you; what took you so long? Even with your record, you don't look to be very strong."

"Is…Is he rhyming?" Lan asked, entering FullSynchro with Megaman.

"Magicman is a magician," Yahoot explained, "To keep diligent with his spells, of course he will speak in rhymes."

"Feels like a pain," Kiriko noted.

"A pain, the young officer does say; well, be glad I am not out there or it is you who I would slay," Magicman warned, his eyes glowing ominously, "There is nothing else to say to you, young NetNavi. Prepare yourself for a might far more vast than the serengeti!" a green beam of light shot down and hit Magicman, causing him to be engulfed in a dark aura as his eyes turned red, "With the sliver of the power of the LifeVirus coursing through me, prepare yourself for the grim reaper calls for thee!" he swung his arms out at Megaman, "Magic Fire!" a tidal wave of the blue flames bellowed out from the orbs.

"Invis!" Lan declared, Megaman vanishing from sight just before the flames could hit.

Magicman raised an arm and meteors began to rain about, creating explosions upon impact with the ground. He looked around before shooting like a rocket with an arm raised over his head. He swung at the exact moment Megaman reappeared, striking the NetNavi and slamming him into the ground.

"It seems your skills surely lack; now here it comes, a virus attack!" Magicman declared as he swung his arms skywards once more before Mettaurs appeared and began to strike the floor, sending out shockwaves at the stunned Megaman.

"A-AreaSteal!" Lan declared, Megaman teleporting away from the attacks.

"Lan, log him out!"

"I'm trying, Kiriko-nee! But something's jamming the signal to Jack Out!"

"It's rather foolish to try to run away; with my existence, your NetNavi shall always stay!" Magicman declared as Megaman appeared behind a piece of the Network.

"I think he means that as long as he's here, I can't Jack Out," Megaman whispered as Lan used a Recovery Chip to heal him.

"We've got this, Megaman," Lan assured.

"It will be difficult…" Megaman replied, "But we have to do it."

"You dare to hide? Come out, come out! If you do not, then let these Meteors keep you no longer confide!" Magicman declared as he summoned more and sent them all over.

As the meteors rained down on the area, Megaman shot out of his cover and into the smoke of the explosions. He ran through the smoke as his arms glowed before a GoldFist covered both his arms. He jumped out and roared, swinging them at Magicman.

"Brute force is upon me? Nay! Let this helmet of the Mettaur shield from thee!" Magicman declared, summoning a Mettaur and using its helmet to take the punches, shattering helmet and virus in their blows, "Magic Fire!" the flames slammed into MEgaman, engulfing him in their flames, "What a foolish move on your end, Megaman. And now you burn, Deletion now at your hand!" he looked at Megaman…before his eyes widened as the burning figure was not Megaman but a doll resembling him, "What…" he cried out as several shuriken stabbed into his back.

"Nice call on the AntiDamage," Megaman complimented Lan.

"Thanks. Now hurry with this!" Lan declared as he inserted Sword, WideSword, and LongSword to create a LifeSword for Megaman, "AreaSteal!"

"Rrrrraaaaaaaaa!" Megaman roared, using the teleporting effect to appear up close to Magicman and stabbed him with the blade.

"Gh!" Magicman gurgled…before chuckling, "It ends now with one last trick…" his right orb opened into the shape of a hand that quickly grabbed Megaman by the face as the other pressed against Megaman's emblem, "My greatest spell: LIFE MAGIC!"

"That would be nice…but my favorite part of magic shows is figuring out the trick," a familiar voice made them look to see Belt-san standing behind them in his Drive-shaped NetNavi form, set in Type Technic at the moment.

"Let him go!" Roll declared, aiming her RollArrow at the side of Magicman's head.

"Just hold on, kids," Belt-san spoke as he formed a keyboard in front of him and began typing away quickly, "So that's how that would have worked. Well that's most unfortunate…but sadly, I'm going to have to cheat and disable that for just a moment."

The light glowing from Magicman's crystal sparked before fading, "What? How can this be? My Life Magic is no longer with me?"

"I am a bit of a stinker when it comes to online games~" Belt-san chuckled as he blew on his fingers.

"Great work, Belt-san," Roll commented as Megaman grabbed Magicman's wrist, trying to pull his face out of his grip.

"...You are quite the interesting foe," Magicman noted after a moment, "Though there is one thing you must know."

"And that is…?"

"It is simple, my good genius; a question: who is with me that is said to be from the opposite of Venus?"

"Venus? Do you mean the planet or the Roman God?" Belt-san asked.

"Oh! I think I remember this from something Yai said when Dex and I were goofing around," Lan noted, "Something about girls being from Venus and boys are from Mars, right?"

"Give the boy a medal, he answered it with the spoken word," Magicman noted…before Megaman's eyes widened as a LongSword was going right through his emblem, "As I congratulate my partner Yahoot with giving my a LongSword."

"Megaman!?" Roll gasped, only for everyone to blink as his body began to spark before swapping for Belt-san.

"I'm sorry, my good sir…but I did say I love to figure out the tricks…" he chuckled, "With a trick of my own, I replicated a Battle Chip…and replaced Megaman. Now while I return, let me leave you with a riddle…what is the color that shall ruin your magical words? The hint is the only thing that rhymes with door hinge~"

"...Orange…Ah!" Magicman gawked as he was given a word that didn't rhyme with anything normally.

"Wait…did he just lock him out of rhyming?" Megaman blinked, still confused how he was teleported like that as Roll quickly was checking him over.

"Focus on that later! M-Cannon, Triple Download!" Lan called.

Megaman formed a pair of orange Cannons on his arms before they glowed and combined into a bulkier five-barreled orange Cannon, "Program Advance: ZetaCannon3!"

He aimed and fired a barrage of orange plasma shots at Magicman, who was trying to figure out the rhyme still. He turned and his eyes widened before the attack tore into him.

"G-Gah!" Magicman gasped, his body starting to break apart, "Y…You did well…This is the time I will now fell…"

"Even rhyming while you are Deleted…You're quite dedicated," Belt-san noted.

"Indeed…I enjoy this and will let you forever know…" Magicman noted, his eyes flashing, "I won't be going alone…" he shattered into pixels as his Deletion finished.

"Alone? What did…?" Roll began.

"Look out!" Megaman called, pushing Roll out of the way of a Swordy Virus's swing as Belt-san fired a copy of the Door-Ju.

"Nice timing," Belt-san complimented, earning no response from Megaman, "...Megaman?" a clatter made him look at Megaman's feet, seeing half of Megaman's emblem, "!"

"Mega!" Roll panicked as she caught the collapsing NetNavi.

---

"Megaman!" Lan called out.

"Rinna, can you…?" Shinnosuke began.

"I'm not good at repairing NetNavis and I forgot to grab one of the repair programs during the madness in town," Rinna admitted.

"So that means Megaman…" Maylu began, looking at Lan in concern.

"...Lan," Kiriko spoke, pulling out the GigaChip, "Your Papa asked me to give you this if something happened to Megaman."

"E-Eh?" Lan blinked as he accepted the chip, "HubBATCH? …What's this?" the chip began to pulsate, "Huh?!"

His PeT began ringing loudly =Deletion of MegamanEXE Imminent! Override Activated. Now dialing=

"What's going on?" Gen asked before the PeT screen showed Dr. Hikari's face.

"Papa!" Lan gasped.

"Lan?"

"Papa! Megaman…He…He's…"

"What was that emergency thing?" Kiriko asked.

"It's a function in Lan's PeT, designed only to activate if Megaman is on the verge of Deletion and the HubBATCH is near it," Yuichiro explained, "Is that what's happening?"

"U-Uh-huh," Lan nodded.

"...Lan, listen to me! Megaman can be saved! By using the HubBATCH in time, Megaman will be saved," Yuichiro explained, "But…But before you use it, I need to tell you something. It might make it…hard for you to operate Megaman. Understand?"

"...I…I don't really get it, but I'll do anything if it saved Megaman!" Lan replied.

"Then listen…" Yuichiro spoke, "A year before you were born, I was woking on a new kind of NetNavi, one that could truly befriend its NetOp. But…a program is only a program. I could make a NetNavi follow its NetOp's orders, but they couldn't think or act on their own. So I started thinking…Maybe if you had some connection with your Navi...The Navi could respond to your emotions...and thereby create its own emotions...So I tried. Looking at human DNA I came to a conclusion. If I made a Navi with DNA just like its operator's, its basic values and emotions would be the same. Operator and Navi would become a single entity! Making an ultimate Navi! But, it was tough making a program with DNA...I could make about 95% of the program, but no more...I just couldn't figure out that last five percent! My research came to a sudden stop." everyone moved a little closer to Lan as Yuichiro spoke, "...And then, I learned of news…I was going to be a father and my wife, your mother, gave birth…to twins. Lan Netto Hikari…and Hub Saito Hikari."

"?!" everyone nearly jumped at that, Lan especially.

"Masaka…Dr. Hikari, you…" Belt-san began to ask.

"But our happiness with our boys didn't last long. Hub…he was the older of the two…but he…he was cursed with an incurable illness: HBD. He could barely move, breathe…but we loved him all the same," Yuichiro went on, "We tried to do all we could, but in the end…" he reached up to his left eye, "...I suddenly remembered an old project my father worked on with Dr. Wily before the man vanished. A project that would save Hub. Lan, do you understand what I'm telling you? You and Hub were born from the same egg, your DNA identical. The NetNavi project I was making…combining it with the project left behind by my father…the result was Megaman!"

"Megaman…He…He's my…?" Lan whispered, his eyes widening.

"But there was a catch! If your DNA fully matches, you and Megaman would be in a state of permanent FullSynchro on a level unlike any other!" Yuichiro continued, "So…I had to alter the DNA in Megaman by 0.001 percent, which is why his hair and eye color are different to yours. By using the GigaChip known as HubBATCH, that 0.001 percent difference will vanish internally in Megaman."

"Oi, oi, oi…Wh…What is he talking about?" Gen asked, his eyes wide.

"Yuichiro Hikari…did something I've never heard possible!" Rinna whispered, covering her mouth in shock.

"...D…Did Megama…Did Hub know about all this?" Lan asked.

"Of course. I asked Hub to keep it a secret until you were old enough to know," Yuichiro replied, "If you knew the truth, would you have been able to work with him like you've done over the years? If you had known when you were younger, you might have been too terrified to use him in fear of losing Hub."

"..."

"So what will you do, Lan?" Yuichiro asked.

"..." Lan looked at the GigaChip.

"Lan…" Shinnosuke spoke, kneeling down and putting a hand on his shoulder, "This is a lot to take in, huh?"

"U-Uh-huh," Lan nodded, "A…All this time, I…I always knew Megaman was special, but…but like this?"

"No wonder he exploded like he did at Belt-san," Maylu whispered.

"...Okay!" Lan nodded, holding the chip tighter, "I'll do it!" he held the GigaChip up and inserted it into the PeT, "HubBATCH, download!"

---

A blue beam of light shot down and hit Megaman, causing him to start glowing with a soft blue light. His emblem glowed and slowly filled back in the missing half as his helmet vanished. The blue in it bled into a familiar brown as two bangs formed on the front while it was let loose in the back.

"Come on…Please…" Lan whispered.

Slowly, Megaman opened his eyes, revealing a familiar chocolate brown shade to them, "L…Lan…?"

"Hub!" Lan cheered, "Hub, it's me! Please wake up!"

"Easy now…" Roll whispered, helping Megaman…Hub…get up.

"La…n…? Wh…Y…You called me…?" Hub looked at the screen.

"Hub!" Lan repeated, tears in his eyes as another screen popped up to show Yuichiro.

"Hub, I told Lan everything," Yuichrio explained, "He used HubBATCH to bring you back from the brink of Deletion."

"Papa…S-Soka…" Hub nodded before seeing he was still glowing, "Um…"

"That light means your code is being rewritten, adding back what I had to change so you two could be safe," Yuichiro explained, "Once the light dissipates, you should feel stronger than ever before!"

"I…I already do so far," Hub admitted before looking at the screen with Lan and the others on it, "Lan…I…I'm so sorry. I…I wanted to tell you so many times, but…"

"Don't be sorry, Hub. I'm the one who should be sorry, ordering you around all these years…"

Hub shook his head, "No problem... I always regretted not being able to be with you in the real world. But being able to watch you grow from inside here...made me happy. It still makes me happy." he looked over to Belt-san, "I…I'm also sorry for not telling you, either, Belt-san. I wanted to, especially after what you shared with us, but…"

"In a strange way, I understand, and it makes me happy to know…I'm not the only one of my kind…our kind." Belt-san spoke.

Hub nodded before Roll walked up to him, "Ah! R-Roll-chan, I, um…" Roll cupped his cheeks with her hands as she looked him over, "E…Eh?"

"..." Roll smiled, "I always knew there was something special about you, Mega…er…Hub…ano…"

"I…I'm alright if you want to keep calling me 'Mega,'" Hub replied, earning a smile from her and a quick hug.

"So, um…Hub? How do I operate you now?"

"Just like always," Hub replied as the glow faded, "You just be yourself, Lan! And I'll just be myself…" his helmet reformed in his hands and he put it back on, causing his eyes and hair to change back, "...as Megaman. Now let's hurry! We still have to stop Dr. Wily!"

"...Right…Okay!" Lan nodded, a determined look in his eyes, "Let's go, Megaman!"

"Right on!" Megaman chuckled before they Logged Out.

---

"I'm still lost," Gen admitted, shaking his head, "You're telling me that this kid is actually a twin and his older twin…is his NetNavi?"

"Whatever Dr. Hikari did is a marvel that I'm honestly amazed at," Rinna noted, "But…with how strong they were without it…Now that their DNA fully matches again…just how strong are they?"

"Lan…" Maylu spoke.

"I'll let it all out later," Lan spoke, "We need to stop the World Three first!"

"Ah, wait a…" Kiriko began before Lan ran off into the tunnel, "Ah! Oh, that boy…"

"He's right, though," Shinnosuke noted as he ran after him into the tunnel.

"Ah! Wait a…!" Gen began as he ran for the tunnel…only to run face-first into the portrait that slammed down, "GAH!" a moment passed before he fell onto his back with a groan, "Ugh…"

"Oh you have to be kidding me!" Kiriko gawked.

"Lan…Shinnosuke-san…" Maylu gulped.

---

"AH!" Shinnosuke shouted, getting the other's attention, "We're locked in!"

"It's likely they just want us and not the others," Belt-san noted.

"We don't have time to get it opened back up," Megaman agreed.

"Then I guess we'll bust our way out," Shinnosuke sighed, "Let's finish this."

"Right!" Lan nodded as the two made their way down the tunnel, emerging into a large chamber with the natural sky exposed by an open hatch above a large green rocket. Standing before it on a higher railing were Wily and Brain while standing before the rocket with his back to it was Heart.

"Yo~" Heart greeted casually, "I see you finally made it. Got worried for a moment when the kid was fighting Magicman that you wouldn't get here."

"Heart…" Shinnosuke spoke.

"I'm glad you could make it, I had prayed that we'd subjugate humanity with the Promised Numbers…but the Dawn of Cybergeddon is just as wonderful!" Heart declared, "To be honest, I feared this day would come…without a chance to kill another Kamen Rider."

"Of course he'd bring the boy with him," Brain noted as Wily looked at Lan…specifically the emblem on his bandana.

"..." Wily chuckled, "Well, well…You're him, aren't you? Tadashi's grandon…Lan, I believe. Hmph. Leave it to the Hikari Family to bother me even at the very end!"

"Dr. Wily!" Lan replied, "Why are you doing this? Don't you know these guys aren't fans of humans?"

"Hmph. That is exactly why we do get along," Wily stated, "You humans all chose to follow a man who ruined others to get to where he was!"

"But it wasn't Gramps's fault that your robot went nuts! He had nothing to do with it or you losing your degrees!" Lan argued.

"Hah! That's exactly what he said as well! But it matters no longer!" Wily declared, "Cybergeddon is upon us! The moment the LifeVirus is fully installed, the rocket will launch and allow my creation to infect all the military satellites in orbit, taking control of the world's military weaponry and wipe you humans off the face of the planet and paving way for the Roidmudes to be the dominate life as they should be! It's time for Humanity to be Deleted!"

"No!" Lan denied.

"Belt-san and I will give you an opening to get Megaman in that rocket," Shinnosuke advised, "You just make sure to stay away from the fight out here and focus on the fight in the rocket."

"Gotcha," Lan nodded, moving back as Shinnosuke twisted the ignition key on Belt-san.

"Not letting the kid in on this, eh?" Heart asked, "That's fine with me." his body glowed before he changed into his Roidmude state, "More fun for me in defeating you."

"Ikuze, Belt-San! Henshin!" Shinnosuke called out as he rushed forward and let the armor form around his body.

With that, Drive and Heart rushed as they swung and punched one another. The Rider grunted as he was pushed back, but he stopped himself by stomping his foot down. Heart blinked only for Drive to duck under Heart's outstretched arm and swing around behind the Roidmude to pull him around and use his own armored body against him to pin him into an arm bar hold. Heart grunted as he began flexing his arm and overpowering Drive only for the Rider to step off Hearts back and jump into the air. The Roidmude leader blinked as he turned to see where Drive went only to get a face full of bullets from the Door-Ju.

Heart stumble back, he growled only to blink as Drive began rapidly lifting the shift car in his brace. Drive then vanished as a Red blur that began striking Heart from multiple sides, faster then he could react. Heart crossed his arms over his face only to grunt as he was instead struck in the back of his head. He turned around only for Drive to swing and sweep his leg while moving at great speed sending the Roidmude flipping around through the air. Heart growled as he was tackled into a wall by Drive.

"You…grr…you're moving faster, Kamen Rider…matching my power with raw speed…but how long can your body hold out!?" Heart laughed as he looked down at Drive, who was struggling to escape from the Roidmude's bearhug.

"Don't worry about me…worry about yourself…Heart!" Drive growled as he began hammering his fists into Heart's sides rapidly.

"GH! Even still you fight me without concern of your life…Why do you fight so hard for the evil humans who control your world!?"

"I know there are one too many horrible people out there, they walk all over others, they hurt people without care…they are the kind of people who make me sick to my core…" Drive grunted, "But that's 'cause I have to be the one that stops them!"

"N-Nani?" Heart flinched as the punches began causing small dents in his armor, "The one who stops them!?"

"I'm a Police Officer…it's my job to chase evil…to protect the good and innocent…so it's my duty to fight for humanity…I choose to defend them!"

"What an interesting man you are…Kamen Rider…" Heart grunted as one last punch made him release Drive, "Kamen Rider…tell me your name…so I may remember it in the new world…"

"Tomari Shinnosuke…" Drive gasped.

"Tomari Shinnosuke…you will be remembered as Humanities bravest warrior…I shall give you that honor, as the final Kamen Rider to fall by my hands!"

"Sorry…but I don't plan on accepting something so grand from you!" Drive grunted as he began rapidly lifting the Shift Car, making his Shift Tire spin and his armor begin glowing.

Heart did the same as he began to glow with heat, the two rushing as they swung and punched at one another once more. Speed and Strength clashing with all their fighters could muster in the moment. Armor and metal crashed and creaked as the two punched at one another. Drive grunted as he sidestepped a punch before landing one of his own to Heart, making the Roidmude grunt as it hit his exposed namesake. Heart growled, swinging punch after punch only for Drive to duck and weave around each one. The Roidmude swung a wide punch with his right as the Rider backed up before rushing, only for Heart to swing his right back around and backhand the Rider knocking him to the ground.

Drive grunted as he shook his head before jumping up and rushing Heart as he began punching his chest repeatedly at amazing speed, but the Roidmude just stood his ground and took every swing. Heart growled, swinging at Drive only for the Rider to duck down, before jumping with an uppercut to the Roidmude's jaw, knocking his head back. Drive grunted as he just watched as Heart's skeletal jaw opened before spewing a stream of fire that struck him and knocked him back. The Roidmude laughed as the flames stopped. Heart bashed his fists together as they began glowing with crimson energy. Drive slammed his hand into the ground before getting up and going through all the steps to activate his finisher attack causing his left arm to begin glowing with red energy. The two roared, rushing and swinging their punches at the same time causing a massive explosion of energy as their arms crossed one another and both punched one another across the face. A moment passed as the two stood there with their fist planted onto one another's heads…before an explosion went off sending both flying away from the other and tearing through a wall.

"That reckless idiot!" Brain snapped, holding onto the railing.

"Come on, Heart! You can do this!" Wily cheered, neither noticing Lan managed to climb onto the scaffolding nearby.

"While Shinnosuke-nii is fighting out here…"

"..We'll take down the LifeVirus," Megaman nodded as Lan quickly sent Megaman into the rocket's Network.

Brain's tablet beeped, "Hm?" he looked at it as the screen changed, showing Megaman inside of the Network and approaching the sphere, "GAH! He got into the rocket!"

"What?" Wily looked at the screen, "Tch…No matter. The LifeVirus can handle him."

Inside the rocket's Network, Megaman narrowed his eyes, "So this is the LifeVirus?"

"Hard to imagine something so tiny is what's causing all the mayhem back home," Lan admitted.

The black sphere pulsed at that…before growing bigger. Cracks and snapping began to come out of the sphere as it continued to grow, bulging out at points. Six large green legs ending in spikes emerged first, a bony piece of plating on each one going down the middle. A crimson and scarlet base formed next, sporting an orange crystal at the front of it. Sludge poured from the top of it before a large green torso emerged from it. Crimson spiked attachments formed, an orange gem on each, before massive green arms erupted from them, a massive curved horn-like blade on each shoulder and an orange gem on the back of its massive hands. Finally, a large head formed, sporting a face reminiscent of Zero's in a large, green, spiked helmet that curled in the back that extended out into a point. It tilted its head back and let loose a roar that shook the entirety of the Rocket's Network as an aura formed over it.

"...I take back what I said," Lan grimaced before shaking his head, "This is it, Hub! Our greatest Virus Busting yet! Final Battle Routine Set!"

"Execute!" Megaman declared, his body starting to glow.

The LifeVirus swung at Megaman with its right claws, only for him to leap over the swipe and summon a blue bomb with a light-blue stripe going around it. He quickly threw it and it exploded against the aura of the LifeVirus, causing it to flicker and vanish. Megaman landed on the arm and charged up along it. The LifeVirus raised its other set of claws and swung down, attempting to crush Megaman only for him to vanish in an AreaSteal. He appeared above the LifeVirus, the Heavy Stamp Program Advance already deployed and letting him slam down on the massive Virus's head, causing it to collapse. It bellowed before swinging its arms out, unleashing a massive wave of water that forced Megaman away from it before he yelped and dodged several towers of flames and lightning.

"So that's why you wanted it to have all those codes," Brain noted, watching as the LifeVirus slammed a hand on the ground and thorn-riddled vines erupted from the ground and headed for Megaman.

"Indeed! It can control all four of the Elements!" Wily declared, "And all the power inside of them are all at its command to use and see fit!"

"If it's going to use the Elements on us, then let's give it back at it!" Lan declared as the vines engulfed Megaman, "Salamander, Download!"

Light shined between the vines before an explosion of flames incinerated them all. Megaman floated where they had been, engulfed in flames that took of the shape of a dragon. Megaman shot off at the LifeVirus, reeling his right fist back. The LifeVirus roared as it reeled its right fist back as well. Both gave a cry as they swung out and their blows collided.

---

A wall exploded as Drive and Heart emerged from it and out into the woodlands around the base. As Drive rolled along the ground, he quickly switched the Shift Car in his brace.

=TIRE KOUKAN: MASSIVE MONSTER!=

Drive grunted, swinging the Monster weapon up to strike Heart just as he jumped at him, sending the Roidmude flying off and rolling along the ground. Heart got to his feet and slammed a fist against a tree, shattering the trunk around the point of impact, and threw it at Drive. He quickly inserted Funky Spike into his Handle-Ken, producing the spikes along the blade's edge that revved to life like a chainsaw. He swung downwards, cleaving through the thrown tree and letting the split halves go over the cliff into the lake far below.

Heart laughed as he rushed Drive and swung another punch only for the Monster weapon to clamp to his fist, making him grunt. The weapon began swinging his arm around, leaving him open to a slash to the back from Drive. Heart roared, swinging his arm and smashing the Monster into Drive, knocking him off his feet and sending both halves of the weapon flying. Heart roared again as he jumped into the air before swinging his fist down to punch into Drive; but the Rider just lifted the Shift Car, causing a tongue to shoot from the shift car and whip Heart before wrapping around him and slamming him into the ground roughly. Heart grunted as he began pushing himself up, looking up as Drive did the same.

The two took a moment as the Rider took gulps of much needed air, while Heart's very metallic body hissed from the heat he was outputting. The two grunted and punched the ground as they got back to their feet before rushing one another. Heart roared, swinging a punch only for Drive to tackle into his chest and push him back. The Roidmude grunted in confusion before he was slammed with a punch to the face, making him stagger back even further. Heart growled as he let the next punch hit his face…only to plant his feet and stay firm…letting him land a punch to Drive's stomach that lifted the Rider off his feet. The Roidmude roared as he grabbed Drive by his shoulder and leg, before rushing and slamming him backfirst into a tree…then through it. Followed by another, and another as Heart began clearing a straight line through the forest before stopping. The Roidmude lifted the Rider before swinging him around and tossing him towards the cliff. Drive grunted, just barely able to grab a root from a tree to stop himself from almost falling off.

"And to think…you got this far in a week since we last fought? You really are a dangerous man, Shinnosuke," Heart chuckled.

"Teaching a kid with a fast learning rate does that for you!" Drive replied before whispering, "Belt-san…"

"He's here," Belt-san replied.

"Okay, good," Drive whispered before speaking aloud once more "Sides, I'm the adult…I need to be tough, otherwise how could I look his parents in the eyes if I'm not the one doing all the hard fighting…" Drive grunted, getting back to his feet.

"You don't have to force yourself to be heroic with me, Shinnosuke…here and now…I'm not fighting you as the leader of the Roidmudes…I'm fighting you as Heart the Roidmude…so fight me, Kamen Rider!" he laughed.

"Ah!" Drive replied, readying his Handle-Ken and Door-Ju.

Heart prepared to charge when a loud engine went off. He turned around in time to be hit with a tree, knocking him away. Tridoron revved its engine as it hefted the tree over itself in Type Technic before throwing it at Heart, who punched at it and shattered it into a broken pile of wood. Heart then grunted as he was pelted by bullets from the Door-Ju. He turned around and raised his arm to block a swing from the Handle-Ken, but it swung so fast that it grazed both his arm and chest, making the Roidmude grunt and stumble back. The two grunted as they swung again. This time, Heart used his palm to block the Handle-Ken, he grunted as it cut into his hand before he curled his fingers around the blade and held it tight, making some sparks come off the contact with the sharp blade. Heart grunted as Drive swung the Door-Ju up to shoot him point blank, but the Roidmude grabbed his arm and forced him to aim upwards as he pushed on the arm. Heart laughed in triumph only to be silenced by a headbutt to his jaw.

The two growled as they pushed with their legs as the ground began cracking around them. Both grunted, slamming their heads into one another again and making sparks fly, but neither one budged an inch as they glared at one another. Drive grunted as his gauntlet began sparking and cracking from Heart's grip. Likewise, the Roidmude winced as the blade cut into his hand and fingers the more he gripped it. The two grunted as the ground beneath them crumbled and began falling, both let out grunts as they were separated by gravity.

Drive grunted as Heart swung his hand and grabbed the Rider by the throat before they began falling any faster, the Roidmude growled as his exposed namesake began glowing and beating faster, Drive blinked as the armor on Heart's back began glowing and cracking. Suddenly, the armor shattered as yellow colored metal began forming from behind him and curving around to form into two wings that resembled tubing and the aorta of a heart. Both wings ignited with Heart's own heat, almost like jet thrusters, before they lifted them both into the air.

"Y-You can fly?!" Drive asked.

"I've never had reason to use this gift…but if it means prolonging this battle, then I'll use every ability I have!" Heart laughed as he flew higher and higher, "Tomari Shinnosuke! You are a strong human…let this be the final battle of human and Roidmude!"

"I would like that really…but…I still have work to do…" Drive grunted, "After the Roidmude are done…I still have evil to chase within humanity itself!"

"Then let me end your mission by letting humanity end!" with that, Heart pulled Drive in and twisted him around as he held him in a tight hold; he then flew higher before he curved around so they both now aimed headfirst at the ground, "Let me bring you to the Dead Zone with me!" at that Heart, began unleashing his dark red Dead Zone aura as heat began rising off him.

"Gh! This again…" Drive grunted, feeling the heat coming off Heart.

"Yabai! Shinnosuke! Heart intends to unleash all his power with this final descent…the armor won't be able to withstand this!" Belt-san panicked.

"Piledriver from the sky high top-rope…talk about a flashy way to die!" Drive grunted, "How long have you wanted to do something so extravagant!?"

"Would you judge me if I admit I always dreamed of doing this!?" Heart laughed as his wings ignited again and began propelling them down at rising speeds.

"No…call it something I can understand from taking all those punches from you, Heart…" Drive grunted, "But I don't intend to end this year in tragedy…I have a wish to make at the shrine this year…" he struggled to get free before turning to his Shift Brace which was close to his head, "Let's call our battle a draw…and we can have a rematch after New Years?!" He used his helmet to tap the button before using the emblem on his helmet to catch and flip the Shift Car up.

"Nani!? You still intend to struggle?"

"I intend to do something stupid!" Drive laughed, "Ike Tridoron!" he shouted as the Tridoron riveted to Type Speed before diving into the lake where it began driving around at increasing speeds at the bottom, causing the lake to begin to churn like a whirlpool…before rising up as a cyclone of water.

"Eh!? What are you playing at now, Tomari Shinnosuke?"

"I told you…something stupid!" Drive was able to get enough room to swing his head and backed his helmet's spoiler into Heart's face, making it break apart and jab into his jaw, making the Roidmude cry in pain as he began losing control, sending them tumbling through the air.

"If it works, then we agree it wasn't stupid; just insane!" Belt-san exclaimed, the belt displaying an 'X' for his eyes and a frown.

With that, the two fighters slammed into the vortex of water as it swept them around and filled the air with thick layers of steam from the cool water splashing against Heart's heated armor. Heart gawked as he lost his grip and was tossed around the water. He was able to regain his vision before seeing Drive move through the vortex before reaching the bottom…as he began jumping around the eye of the cyclone by bouncing off Tridoron, each bounce picking up more and more speed. Heart grunted, igniting his wings to try and break free of the vortex only to gawk as a red flash caught his attention, making him look to see Drive leaping upwards, the Rider rolling his body around before aiming his glowing boot right at Heart. The Roidmude only had enough time to cross his arms over his chest just before the Rider Kick impacted.

With a thundering explosion, the water dispersed as Drive roared and slammed Heart into the cliff of the mountain, causing it to crack even further. The Roidmude leader grunted in pain as his jaw was hanging open, his wings broken and his arms' armor cracked apart. Drive himself was no better, his armor sparking, damaged with his helmet's spoiler snapped off, a missing shoulder pauldron, and a cracked left gauntlet and right boot/greave. The two just stood there for a moment as time seemed to slow for them before Heart grunted and a small explosion came from his back, sending both falling into the lake below. Two red flashes filled the water as the human forms of Shinnosuke and Heart floated back to the top.

"Shinnosuke!" Belt-san gasped.

"Ugh…If I ever attempt this kinda thing again…remind me to listen to the list Mad Doctor's going to make from treating me…" Shinnosuke spoke as he could barely keep his eyes open.

"You…are a man after my heart…Tomari Shinnosuke…" Heart spoke, "Crazy and stupid…but all for the sake of people you want to protect…'till next we battle…Kamen Rider…" he grunted as he entered a sort of energy saving state…IE he passed out.

"Deco Traveller, Hooking Wrecker," Belt-san spoke as the two Shift Cars drove their way on the tiny roads, deploying chains and hook on cable to snag Shinnosuke and began to drive for shore.

As the Shift Cars carried Shinnosuke to safety, what appeared to be a long tentacle ending in a scalpel wrapped around Heart…and plucked him out of the water. The tentacle dropped the Roidmude leader at the feet of Medic as she crouched down to cup his face with her hand. Her soft smile vanished as she looked at the retreating form of the Kamen Rider.

"You shall pay for your crimes against Heart-sama…Kamen Rider." Medic frowned as a pair of Roidmudes with their faces hidden by hoods picked up Heart and carried him off for her.

---

Megaman panted as the LifeVirus let out a groan, stepping back from the Blue Bomber. His helmet had broken off, letting his eyes and hair be shown in their original colors while his backpack was torn in two. He was missing his left shoulder armor while he had a hole in the right side of his waist. The LifeVirus was missing three of its legs, two on the right and one on its left, while most of its spikes had been broken off.

"H-How is this little NetNavi taking on the LifeVirus like this?" Brain asked in disbelief.

"You…You can't be doing this!" Wily exclaimed.

"Incase you haven't been paying attention…we are!" Lan declared.

"Lan!" Megaman called.

"RIght! M-Cannon, BattleChip in and Download!"

Megaman swung his arm up, the glove transforming into the bulky orange weapon. Megaman aimed and fired its shot, slamming into the LifeVirus's barrier and shattering it. As Megaman's cannon turned into his MegaBuster, his body began to glow as it charged up.

"Charged Shot!" Hub and Lan roared as the MegaBuster gave a glint before a light-blue beam shot out of it instead of its normal shot.

The LifeVirus roared, reaching out to try to block it, only for the shot to move faster than expected. It struck the LifeVirus and ripped right through it. It began to spark and start to grow unfocused as data poured out of its form.

"NO! It…It's not possible!" Wily screamed as the LifeVirus wailed as it broke apart, letting Megaman log out.

"If you haven't noticed about Shinnosuke-nii and us, we kinda don't use that word a lot," Lan grinned as Wily glared at him.

"Why…? Why…?" Wily trembled in rising rage, "Why do you Hikaris always get in my way?!"

"Well for one, you messed with my friends and family," Lan replied before alarms began to go off as the rocket began to spark.

"GH?! It…It's a feedback!" Brain exclaimed, looking at his tablet, "The LifeVirus's deletion has caused the Elemental Codes to start overloading! The entire base's systems can't handle this output! It's triggered the self destruct!"

"Self Destruct!?" Lan repeated.

"...Brain, get out of here," Wily ordered.

"What?"

"Hurry!" Wily ordered as he handed Brain a slip of paper, "When you regroup with the other Roidmudes, head for this address. He will take you all in."

"Wait, wait. He? Who are you…?" Brian began asking before an explosion from the rocket sent him over the railing, "GAH!"

"Wily!" Lan exclaimed before jumping back as a chunk of the ceiling gave in and fell before him, "UWAH!"

"Lan, it's too dangerous! We have to get out of here!" Megaman shouted.

"R-Right!" Lan nodded, taking a look at the rubble between him and Wily before running off back into the tunnel.

"Ah! The door's closed!" Megaman yelped.

"Then we'll open it our way! SynchroChip, Slot In!"

On the other side, Maylu, Kiriko, Rinna, and Gen yelped as one of the machines in the room exploded.

"What's going on?!" Kiriko asked.

"Ah…They…They must have Deleted what Wily made with the Elemental Codes," Rinna realized as another machine exploded, "The feedback from the codes must have gone through the whole Network here and it's triggered some sort of…self destruct sequence!"

"Self what?!" Gen exclaimed before a piece of the ceiling bonked him on the head, "Ugh…Nigh'y-nigh…"

"Gen-san!" Maylu gasped before the portrait of Wily exploded as CF Megaman jumped through it, GoldFist being dismissed, "Lan!"

"Where's Tomari-san?" Kiriko asked.

"He was fighting Heart," CF Megaman replied as he picked them up, "Talk later! LifeVirus blew up and now it's taking this whole place along with it!"

"Ah! Wh-What about Wily?" Rinna asked.

"..." CF Megaman fell silent as he focused on getting them out of the base.

---

"Good heavens!" Belt-san yelped, seeing one of the sockets of the skull for the base explode, sending up plumes of smoke as they were near the monorail entrance, "Shinnosuke, the base is exploding!"

"N-Nani?" Shinnosuke grunted, Mad Doctor working on him, as he managed to get up to sitting position in time for the doors to the base to be blown wide open as CF Megaman ran out, dismissing the HiCannon he had used while carrying Gen with the others running out behind him.

"Tomari-san!" Maylu gasped, the first to spot the officer.

"What happened to him?" Belt-san asked.

"He got knocked out by a piece of the ceiling," Rinna explained, Kiriko and her helping to pick up the tallest officer.

"We gotta go! The whole place is gonna go sky-high!" CF Megaman called, already making for the stairs down into the station.

---

Wily panted as he looked around at the destruction of his base collapsing, "Onore…Tadashi…" he looked up at the ceiling, "Curse you, Hikari! Just a moment…Just a single moment and I would have managed to Delete the world and pave way for the Roidmudes…for the new generation of life to thrive!"

"Lord Wily!"

"?!" Wily turned to see 015 looking around in the smoke and flames.

"Lord Wily, where are you?!" 015 shouted frantically.

"015!? What are you doing?!" Wily exclaimed.

"! Lord Wily!" 015 cried out, spinning around to see him, "Sir, I…I came to save you!"

"That's incredibly reckless of you! Hurry, you have to get out!" Wily called out in worry, "Don't throw you life away for an old man like me!"

"But…" 015 began before the ceiling gave way.

---

The setting sun's light was the first thing the group met as they emerged from the secret entrance. Before Gen had awoken, Mad Doctor had managed to handle the worst of the injuries on the Kamen Rider and on Lan from FullSynchro feedback. Gen grunted, bandages wrapped around his head, as he raised a hand up to deal with the light.

"Easy now," Yamatoman advised, "We still need to get you to a hospital on the off-chance you're suffering from a concussion."

"Whatever…" Gen grumbled, "Can't believe you forgot the agents we managed to grab…"

"Well excuse me that the whole place was blowing up because Megaman and I beat a giant end of the world virus!" Lan argued before hissing as Maylu poked his side, "Ite…"

"Please don't argue. It happened and I really want to just go home and pass out," Maylu sighed, "Lan…is FullSynchro meant to be exhausting?"

"Only when Doc heals you," Lan whispered.

"Easy now," Kiriko spoke, helping Shinnosuke out of the secret entrance, bandages wrapped around the parts Mad Doctor couldn't heal.

"Oh, this is bad…" Belt-san noted softly.

"What?" Shinnosuke asked.

"Tridoron got stuck in one of the marshes. He'll be delayed for a day," Belt-san informed.

"Ah…that's gonna be a pain to wash," Shinnosuke chuckled.

"Minna!" the group looked to see Kyu, Jun, and Oda approach.

"All the viruses that were attacking self-terminated a few hours ago," Oda explained, "Judging by how you all look, I take it the mission was a success?"

"Yes and no," Kiriko replied, "The LifeVirus's Deletion caused the Elemental Codes it was made from to overload and cause a feedback, destroying the entire base."

"We managed to apprehend two of the members of World Three, but they went missing during the explosions," Rinna added.

"...And Dr. Wily?" Oda asked.

"...He refused to leave and we couldn't get to him in time," Lan admitted, looking down at his feet, "He…He really hated my grandpa…and extended it out to everyone."

Jun knelt down and put a hand on Lan's shoulder, "It's alright. What's important is that all of you got out of there." he grinned and poked Lan's orange vest, "And great call on wearing orange today! If I had seen you in this this morning, I'd be praising you since the color orange is an extremely lucky color today!"

Lan couldn't help the small laugh that escaped or the smile at Jun's antics, "Uhn!"

"Listen, a hard lesson for officers to learn, even as adults, is sometimes you find someone who doesn't want to be saved," Jun went on, "But you can only do your best and save as many lives as you can."

"..." Lan nodded.

"Great!" Jun beamed before looking over his shoulder at the gate entrance to the school, "I suggest we let the kids head back now and get their report on what happened tomorrow."

"That's fair. It's been a long day for them," Oda agreed.

"Fair warning, the report will be mostly written by myself for Maylu-chan," Roll warned, "With what went down, she'll likely sleep until the afternoon."

"Same with Lan," Megaman agreed.

"That's fine," Oda assured, "You kids do have some folks waiting to see you, after all."

"Huh?" Lan and Maylu looked to the gates to see Dex, a short girl with her long blond hair in braided ponytails and a red dress, and Lan's parents, "Ah!"

"I'm still not sure if it's the concussion or not, but I swear that I heard that kid's NetNavi…is his twin," Gen muttered, watching the two run over to the others.

"Hm? You just realized that?" Jun asked.

"...EH?!" Kyu gawked.

"...You knew?!" Kiriko, Rinna, and Shinnosuke gawked.

"Of course I knew! His Papa came to the office when you all were on patrols or busy with something and told me about it on the chance something happened to the blue boy," Jun replied.

"It was…rather startling," Oda admitted, "But it explains a few things, such as the record the currently have on the highest Synchro Ratio in the history of the CID."

"Huh? But the…and the…I am so lost!" Kyu exclaimed.

"Remember when you looked up information on Lan?" Rinna asked.

"Yeah, he had a late twin named Hub that died when he was one," Kyu replied.

"He's not dead, he's Megaman," RInna stated.

"Oh, I see. Not dead, but just a…a…WHAT?!" Kyu exclaimed before falling over in shock.

"Kyu-chan…" Jun gently slapped his face, "Get a hold of yourself. That's old news; we're all over it."

"I'm not!" he declared.

"Too bad," Jun shrugged.

"This is gonna be one strange change to day to day life," Shinnosuke grunted.

"Hmm…I suppose this is an interesting topic to discuss…and opens many doors to the world of Artificial Intelligence and the future for humanity's relationship with it. But for now…best to just let a family feel more complete now."

"Ah Belt-san…for now…it's just two kids going home to their parents. No need to overcomplicate it," Shinnosuke chuckled.

"For once, I think you're right…this is fine being simple," Kiriko smiled.

"True. But you know what won't be simple?" Oda asked.

"Hm?" the four officers looked at him and Jun.

"Your mission reports," Jun replied for Oda, "I'll be waiting for my copy tomorrow~"

"Hah?!" Gen gawked.

"Ditto for my desk," Oda added.

"Ah…W-Wait just a…" Shinnosuke began.

"We could ask for it tonight before midnight," Jun advised.

"Tomorrow is good!" Shinnosuke grinned, his eye twitching.

"Splendid!" Oda nodded.

"Well…so much for New Years Night…" Kiriko sighed.

"My mixer~" Rinna whined.

"Pretty sure that's been canceled due to the damages in the area," Kyu noted, earning a whine from her.

"Well…nothing to be done…" Shinnosuke sighed, "Just kidding. I'm totally gonna do something stupid again. It's my thing for the day~"

"Ah! The evil glint in Tomari-san's eye!" Jun panicked, "Last time I saw that, we wound up with a highland cow in the building!"

"I'm gonna need Lan-kun's help on it…" Shinnosuke muttered.

"Oh~ no! Don't be a bad influence on the boy!" Jun pleaded.

"Too late," Kiriko sighed.

"Hah?"

"He was a bad influence from day one," Kiriko stated, rapping the back of her fist on Shinnosuke's chest, making him hiss since she targeted one of the spots Mad Doctor hadn't healed yet.

"Well it's not my job to teach him to be mature, just not get hurt," Shinnosuke laughed, "That's still his Papa's job to teach him that lesson~"

"...Be ready for anything tomorrow," Jun warned Kyu.

"I'll have animal control on standby just in case," Kyu groaned.

"Yes, but first…AH! Hibagon!" Shinnosuke pointed, making the elder officers jump and turn to see, only to spot Gen picking his nose, they then turned back around to see Shinnosuke and Kiriko gone…along with Rinna and Kyu.

"Oh we are in trouble," Jun noted.

"We? My office is safe and sound; yours is in the middle of your coworkers," Oda chuckled.

"D'oh…"

"In other news, seems those kids will have a longer break since we'll have to close the school to deal with this secret monorail and checking the remains of the base for anything," Oda noted.

"Yes!" Lan cheered.

"He heard you?" Gen asked.

"He's a kid; he'd hear someone say no school on the other side of Japan," Jun chuckled.

"True," Oda chuckled.

"So guess that means Gen-san has to do all the paperwork," Jun mused.

"Hmm," Oda nodded, "Shall we go for drinks tonight?"

"You read my mind~ A good few glasses with some good fish, talk about a perfect night!" Jun laughed as the two elder officers began walking off.

"...What just happened?" Gen asked.

"We've been stuck with doing the report, de gozaru," Yamatoman replied.

"Tomari Shinnosuke!" Gen roared at the sky as Shinnosuke and his coworkers laughed as they ran off down the street.

---

GT: Hoo~! I am so glad! We did it! WE are done! And two weeks before the Battle Network Legacy Collection comes out, too!

Z0: Nice…now we can move into arc 2, where stuff gets even crazier.

GT: Oh-hoh~Yeah! So…Preview?

Z0: Hit it!

---

Kamen Rider Drive: Battle Network!

Belt-san: The curtain for the new arc arises!

Megaman: Same threats with new ones and new allies!

Shinnosuke: EH! A new Kamen Rider!?

Lan: Nani kore?! Someone else can CrossFuse?!

Lan and Shinnosuke: Belt-san…!-!-!

Kiriko: Wait, I know them!

Lan and Shinnosuke: Eh? Nani!?

Case 13: Where did the White Kamen Rider and Red CrossFuser come from?

?-?-?: Let's…Henshin!

---

GT: Yosha! Next arc is full throttle! Hope you guys are gonna enjoy it!

Z0: We'll enjoy writing it, anyway thanks for all the support Readers.

GTL Please Read and Review! And praise be to CAPCOM for giving us the Battle Network Legacy Collection!