I own no Megaman characters, any familiar dialogue or the main plot. Credits to Capcom.
Before I begin, I would like to say a big thank you to 'danparker' for adding this story to their favorites and 'srb2adx' and 'sonicxjones' for adding this story to their alerts and favorites.
Reply to Ghost501's review of Chapter 20: I'm sorry to keep you waiting. As I said before, I've been very busy lately. Nice to know, though, that you're pleased with my work!
Reply to nhinhonhinho's review of Chapter 20: Well, I don't want to keep you waiting, did I?
-Chapter 21: Tricks Up Everyone's Sleeves-
At World Three's Base...
It wasn't clear water that rushed down the mountainside. Instead, there was a disgustingly oozy purple liquid. The mountainside itself, which seemed to have recently lost all its green grass, was segmented into different levels, each of which were marked with numbers on metal doors. What Lan assumed was World Three's base sent chills down the boy's spine, if only because of that large skull bulging out the side of the second highest level. A small, but bright, orange glow pierced out of its left eye socket. From the right, however, came nothing, thus giving the illusion that the skull was meant to have one eye. A grotesque design choice, Lan thought. If he were the architect for the building, he would have at least placed an eye patch over the empty right side!
But this wasn't the time to criticize World Three's architectural skills. At the highest point of the mountainside was a tall rocket. Lan eyed it for a moment.
"World Three's hacking rocket..." he guessed.
"We finally made it," Megaman said.
"Let's go! We have no time to waste just standing around!" Following his own word, Lan headed out.
As he scanned the area, he couldn't help but notice one of the various metal doors. It had the number '1' on it. However, what was intriguing was that it seemed to be already open. Being the only clear way to break into World Three's base, Lan went through.
As he did, his ears caught the sound of muffled cries for help. The boy yelped at the sight in front of him. On the floor, he found Higsby, Ms Yuri and the old man, all tied and taped up! Immediately, he helped them out.
"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!" Higsby cried in gratitude, holding the boy in a tight hug.
"Uh... It was no problem..." Lan chuckled, breaking free of the ex World Three member's grasp. "You guys have helped me and now-"
"Eh, don't worry about it," the old man spoke up. "I'm used to hard times like these."
"Lan, there's no time for chat!" Ms Yuri reminded him, pointing to the staircase nearby. "You have to get up there!"
"On my way!" Lan responded as he took off. He spared no time waiting and each step he took on the metal floor made a loud clanking sound. Before him, there was another door waiting for him. He tried to open it, but it wouldn't budge. Taking a step back to think, he noticed a jack in port.
"Lan! There must be a lock program somewhere!" Megaman spoke up. "I'll disable it!"
"Guess we have no choice," Lan replied, stretching out the cord from his PET. "Jack in, Megaman! Execute!"
In The World Three Computer Network...
As Megaman arrived, he gained a sense of what humans called 'deja vu'. This network was strangely similar to the Oven Network back at home. Same appearance, same fires... He would have questioned World Three's creativity, but there was no time for that.
"We need to go find that Lock Program and delete it!" Lan said.
"Roger!" Megaman responded. As he moved forward, he found a normal Net Navi, who claimed to be a scrapped World Three Navi. He gave the blue Navi in front of him some Ice Blocks to stop the fires, but afterwards, he froze. His body color darkened slightly, which gave Megaman cyber chills down his own spine.
"Creepy..." Lan commented. "But whatever. Let's go, Megaman!"
Said Navi did as his NetOp said and continued to make his way through the area. Along the way, he doused some of the fires with the Ice Blocks he was given. Things seemed to sail smoothly so far, but some of the toughest viruses were out for the sole purpose of deleting Megaman. The blue Navi took quite a bit of damage battling it out with them, but eventually, after making his way through, he reached his goal.
A fiery red platform was where the Lock Program, a flame like key, rested. Megaman aimed his Mega Buster at it and charged a shot, but out of nowhere, more fires shot up from the cyber ground around the key! Megaman jumped back, noticing clusters of data form a figure in front of him. As the body began to take shape, Megaman couldn't help but gasp at its familiarity.
"Fireman!?"
"Delete... Delete..." A step forward.
"Huh?" A step back.
"Delete... Delete..." Another step forward.
Upon closer inspection, Megaman realized that Fireman's body took on a darker shade. His eyes appeared as dark holes and his endless chant of 'Delete... Delete...' made Mr Match's Navi sound... zombified... Fireman pointed his Fire Arm at his enemy. In no time flat, he charged up his power and released a stream of flames at Megaman.
"Gah! Megaman!" Lan shouted.
Megaman struggled to get up. Did Fireman's power increase? It seemed like it, but either way, he had to be stopped. And so, the fight began.
It was a constant trade of powerful blows between the two Navis. Punch after punch, shot after shot, neither one refused to give in. However, as the battle raged on, Fireman, or what seemed to be Fireman, gradually gained the upper hand. He showed no sign of fatigue, unlike his opponent. Slowly, but surely, the pain rained down on Megaman. With one final swing of his Fire Arm cannon, Fireman knocked Megaman down to the cyber ground.
As the blue Navi groaned in pain and as he struggled even more to get up, Fireman pointed his Fire Arm at him. Fiery energy swirled round it, forming an energy ball of intense flames. Megaman was too weak to even raise his own Mega Buster to counter. This was definitely the time for Area Steal, but it was used up already, along with other useful chips for this situation!
"Delete... Delete..." Fireman continued to repeat. "Delete... Delete..."
"Megaman! Megaman! Get up!" Lan ordered. But the shouting was for naught. However...
"Hero Sword!" a shrill voice cried. "Battle chip in! And download!"
Just before Fireman released his final attack on Megaman, a bright white stream of energy sliced downwards on the fire based Navi.
"Dele... Del..." Fireman slowly began to disintegrate, the little bits of data drifting away, no one knowing where they would end up. "De... D..." Eventually, all of his body was gone, his voice only echoing in the network. Fireman, or what seemed to be Fireman, was deleted.
The Navi Megaman saw was one he didn't expect to see at all. A tall Navi. One with wings.
"Glyde!"
"You must really stop worrying your friends like this," Glyde lightly scolded Megaman, wagging his finger.
"Glyde? That means..." Lan began to speak.
In The Real World...
Lan turned around to notice his friend Yai standing right there.
"Too stuck in the battle to even notice me?" the girl scoffed. "Hmph! Men!"
"Heh heh... Sorry about that..." Lan scratched his head. "Megaman, delete the Lock Program!"
"On it," the blue Navi responded, before a loud 'BOOM' sounded through the PET. Then, he and Glyde jacked out.
"What are you doing here, anyway?" Lan asked Yai.
"No time to explain! You have to get moving!"
"Yai, I... Right! I'll go on ahead!" As Lan turned around to leave, Yal called him back. "What?"
The girl walked up to him and placed something in his hand, saying, "Maylu told me to give this to you."
Lan opened his hand to see a battle chip. It looked like a Cannon or Hi Cannon, but the depicted weapon was more red than green or blue. it was recognized as the most powerful of the Cannon family of chips; this was the M Cannon ('Mega Cannon' for short, Lan presumed).
"Wow! Where did Maylu get this?"
"Doesn't matter!" Yai replied, pushing him out the door. "You have to go and save everyone! Don't lose that M Cannon chip, you hear?"
"Heh, I'll do my best!"
Lan made his way to the second security door, where he jacked in Megaman and deleted a copy of Numberman and the next Lock Program, with some help from Higsby and the real Numberman. The third security door's Lock Program was guarded by a copy of Iceman. Both were deleted with some help from Miyu and Sal. Dex and Gutsman came into play with the fourth door when battling it out with copies of Colorman and Elecman.
While all of that played out, on top of the mountainside, with the hacking rocket, was Wily, along with the purple orb that was the Life Virus.
"Now, I just load this onto the rocket..." he murmured to himself. He was about to continue on, but he heard footsteps. He turned around to see his right hand man, the look on his face telling him that he had bad news.
"Report, sir!" Yahoot said. "It seems that we have intruders."
"I won't be stopped now!" Wily growled. "Yahoot, deal with them!"
"As you command..." After kneeling before his master, he took out his PET and left the scene.
"Is it time?" a bearded Navi asked Yahoot.
"Yes, it is."
Back with Lan, he eventually found himself in an entirely different room. There was a checkered floor, a display screen at the front and four colored platforms to his left. To his right was a sort of portrait. The man being depicted was a balding man, who looked like he was in his late sixties.
"Whoever did this..." Lan couldn't help but mutter. From the corner of his eye, he could see something peculiar. Well, peculiar for a picture frame.
"What is it, Lan?" Megaman asked him.
"It looks like... a jack in port! What's that doing here?"
"Think we should check it out?"
"Yeah. You ready?"
"Of course!"
"Alright! Jack in, Megaman! Execute!"
Back In The World Three Computer Network...
What Megaman had noticed throughout the break in was that the different areas of the World Three Computer Network resembled other networks in DenTech City. ACDC Elementary, the Waterworks and DenTech Town's traffic lights were clear inspirations for World Three's network. The particular area Megaman jacked into resembled SciLab's power plant.
It was the same procedure as it was in the Power Plant Network, too. Megaman stepped around for invisible paths and walked along them. However, it was easier here because the individual paths seemed to create one linear path. There was some branching out here and there, but that only led to tough virus fights and did not lead him back to the beginning. Lan mocked the idea of having to start from the beginning by comparing it to a game he once played.
After Megaman arrived at what seemed like the end, he found a gap in the path. Assuming it was a trick by World Three to make them turn back, he pulled out a foot and placed it down, to find that it didn't connect with anything.
"Woah! If I took one more step, I would have been a goner!" Megaman breathed in relief.
"Now what are we gonna do?" Lan groaned.
"Hey, Lan! I'm here at last!" a familiar voice called out.
"Hiya, Mega!" another voice greeted the blue Navi. There could only be one Navi/NetOp pairing that it could have been.
"Maylu? What are you doing here?" Lan questioned her, raising an eyebrow.
"I saw you at the school entrance," Maylu answered. "And I told everyone about it, so we all came to help!"
"I was... doing fine by myself!" Lan lied, crossing his arms and turning his head.
"Yeah, sure! Roll, roll out!"
"Hee hee. Of course!" With three clicks of the heels of her boots, Roll suddenly began to float! As a skill built only into her, it could only last fifteen seconds. If Megaman were to battle Roll one day, he would have to watch out for that.
While floating, Roll flew over to the pondering blue Navi and grabbed him by the arms. Megaman yelped (blushing slightly, too!) as he was being carried over the gap and onto the other side, where the fifth and final Lock Program was.
"Whew. Thanks, Roll!" Megaman brightly smiled. "You were a big help out there!"
"Well, what else was I supposed to do?" the pink Navi giggled, playing with her hands a little and looking down slightly. She looked at the key like program behind Megaman and said, "Well, it's your show."
"I'm on it."
Megaman aimed his Mega Buster at the target and fired away, destroying the key in a grand explosion. Roll shielded her eyes at the sound of the explosion, before uncovering them to find nothing remaining.
"That's that! We did it!" Megaman declared, raising his fist in the air. "Now, Lan. Thank Maylu."
"Fine," his NetOp sighed. "Maylu, thanks. You really helped us. All of you."
"Lan... I was so worried," Maylu sniffed. Roll looked up in concern and asked if everything was okay. "I'm sorry," Maylu finally said. "I'm supposed to be cheering, not be down in the dumps."
"Megaman can handle it!" Roll assured her NetOp. "Oh, and Lan, too!"
"I know. Thanks, Roll. Lan, Megaman, good luck!"
"Leave it to us!" Lan grinned.
"By the way, Roll..." Megaman turned to his friend. "How did you and Maylu get to this place without a train ticket?"
"Huh? Well..."
Before Roll could continue, a large barrier rose from the edges of the cyber ground. Slowly, it rose higher and higher, until it began to curve in on itself, forming a dome shape. Then, a blue light appeared before Megaman and Roll. The light formed another Navi. This one donned a typical wizard's attire, a blue robe and a matching hat. Instead of a staff in his hands (well, instead of hands at all), there were two red orbs, one at the end of each arm. The Navi's beard was large and as pointed as his hat, yet was well groomed at the same time.
"Ho ho ho ho! Apologies for interrupting on sch a touching scene," an unknown voice chuckled. "But this is as far as you will go!"
"Who are you?" Lan demanded as loud as the unknown person.
"My name is Yahoot. I am Lord Wily's right hand man!"
"Magicman's the name!" the bearded Navi declared. "Enough of this silly game!" He raised his arms upwards, from which blue lights shot out. They landed on the cyber ground and formed two viruses: an Aqua Swordy and a Mettool3. "Now, for my next trick, you will get the short end of Fate's stick!"
"Perform any magic trick you want!" Megaman challenged him. "You won't defeat us!"
"Us?" Roll repeated, confused. "You're... not gonna ask me to get back?"
"Two heads are better than one, right?" Megaman smiled. "Together, we'll be sure to give this guy a rough fight!"
"Excuse me? A bit of a thief, are we? How dare you steal my rhymes!" Magicman fumed. To further demonstrate how angry he was, he aimed one of his orbs at Megaman. "I'll pay you back twice, no, three times!" The orb turned from red to blue and a ball of fire was shot out. Luckily, Megaman and Roll dodged it in time, but the Mettool3 slammed down its pickaxe to send a fast, large shockwave along the cyber ground.
Magicman's opponents were swept right off their feet and the Aqua Swordy rushed in to slice with its blue sword. Luckily, Roll transformed her arm into a bow in time to shoot a Roll Arrow at the incoming virus, was was left stunned long enough for Megaman to fire away at it, deleting it. In fear, the Mettool3 withdrew its pickaxe and hid in its helmet.
"Fool! Get up now!" Magicman commanded impatiently, shooting some more 'Magic Fire' at his opponents. "For World Three, through them we must plough!" Hesitantly, the virus poked its head, but it was revealed at the wrong time, for Roll shot a Roll Arrow directly in its face. Megaman rushed in with a Cannon and a Hi Cannon, shooting the green one at the virus and the blue one at the main threat, Magicman.
"Distracting the viruses was a good move, Roll!" Megaman called out.
"I'll do my best!" Roll declared, aiming her bow at Magicman.
"Urgh, Not bad," Yahoot grunted.
"Strong and quick, I must add," Magicman continued. "But now, you've made me mad!" He raised his arms upwards again and summoned another Aqua Swordy and Mettool3. He also added a couple of Canodumb3s to the lineup.
"Woah, four on two," Lan pointed out. "But that's still nothing! Megaman, Quake and Spreader! Battle chips in! Download!"
"We'll help out, too!" Maylu said to Lan. "Roll, Thunder! Battle chip in! Download!"
Megaman received a ball of energy in his right hand, while both of Roll's hands cracked with lightning. The Aqua Swordy made a noise that sounded that scornful laughter at Roll and rushed at her, not knowing what was to happen next. Roll thrust her hands out and released a ball of lightning, which rolled along the air and blew up on the virus, instantly wiping it out.
"That was great, Roll!" Maylu told her.
Meanwhile, Megaman threw the Quake ball above one Canodumb3 and swung his arm down, sending the Quake downwards and crushing the virus.
"Got it!" Lan cheered Megaman on. "Let's get moving, Megaman!"
On that note, the blue Navi leapt above the Mettool3 and fired the Spreader at the gap between it, Magicman and the other Canodumb3.
"Nice try, but that won't work, boy!" Yahoot told Lan. "Area Steal! Battle chip in! Download!"
Magicman used the chip data to his advantage and warped away from the Spreader blasts, leaving behind the Canodumb3s and Mettool3 to be deleted. He reappeared behind Roll and released Magic Fire directly at her. She cried in pain as she was sent across the battlefield and her back crashed on the barrier.
"Roll!" Megaman shouted, rushing towards her. Magicman stepped forward and prepared more Magic Fire. He released the attack at Roll, but Megaman jumped in the way and took the blow for her. It was Roll's turn to scream as she saw Megaman collapse on the cyber ground, struggling to pick himself up.
"Are you alright, Mega!?" she cried, only receiving a groan of pain as a response.
"What you did was so rash," Magicman smirked, shaking his head. "Now, to end this clash!" Raising his arms once more, he summoned a trio of Piranha2s and a pair of Piranha3s. The red fish like viruses and their blue brethren appeared in a semi circle, trapping the wounded Navis between them and the barrier.
"Megaman! Get up!" Lan shouted.
"Mega! Maylu, what do we do now? They're getting ready to strike!"
"Uh... Ah, I got it!" Maylu responded.
"Please leave the tricks to Magicman," Yahoot smirked evilly. "Don't waste your breath."
"Now, my viruses, here is your snack," Yahoot's Navi told the viruses, gesturing at Megaman and Roll. "Attack!"
"You're not hurting anyone!" Maylu shouted. "Barrier! Battle chip in! Download!"
In less than a second, Roll felt a surge of energy fill her body. She knew what it was and was ready to put it to use. As the Piranha family's arrows sailed forward, she thrust her hands out sideways, generating a shield that engulfed her and Megaman. Megaman managed to say her name, to which Roll responded that she could defend him.
"Maylu! Will she be okay?" Lan asked worriedly.
"I know she will!"
"But, Roll... What about-"
"Please, Mega! I'll be fine!"
Despite this, both Navis knew that Barrier wouldn't last long. After wearing off, the Piranha family's arrows would all strike Roll, perhaps pinning her to the point of deletion! Megaman trusted Roll, yet was fearing for her life at this moment.
"Lan, we have to do something! Now!"
Roll was tiring out. She didn't have much time left.
"I couldn't agree with you more, Megaman! Cyber Sword! Battle chip in! Download!"
At last, Roll's Barrier wore off and Roll herself fell to the cyber ground, expecting tons of arrows to delete her. At least she was able to defend Megaman, though, right?
Much to her shock and surprise, she saw Megaman swing a Cyber Sword and send all of the arrows flying off in different directions.
"M-Mega!"
"Lan!" Maylu spoke up. "What are you-"
"I've got this!" Lan assured her.
"No! There's no way your Navis could have survived!" Yahoot cried in fear.
"Piranhas, don't flop on me now!" Magicman ordered. "Failure is what Lord Wily won't allow!"
"And for my next trick..." Lan smirked. "Wide Sword! Battle chip in! Download!"
Megaman's free hand turned into the received Wide Sword. Then, leaping forward, he made quick work of the Piranha viruses, cutting them up like Lan's mother cut up fish for dinner. He dodged Magic Fire and slashed at Magicman in a cross.
"We'll need some extra power to finish this!" Lan told Megaman. "Long Sword! Battle chip in! Download!"
Whenever a Navi received a battle chip, they felt a slight surge where appropriate. However, this time was different. With Cyber and Wide Swords in hand, Megaman felt a different kind of surge when the Long Sword was downloaded. As if someone else was pulling the strings, he slowly raised his arms upwards.
"Now you're trying to copy my move?" Magicman sneered. "What exactly are you trying to prove?" Magicman would later eat his own words, for he witnessed the Cyber and Wide Swords disappear, in place of Megaman's own hands. However, from those hands, a humongous cyan stream of energy flowed out, a low hum playing from it. "W-What is that?" Magicman stuttered fearfully. "How can such power come from one little brat?"
When the Cyber Sword, Wide Sword and Long Sword were downloaded, the Long Sword didn't merely replace the Cyber Sword. Instead, it seemed that all three chips combined to make one super powerful attack. There were other attacks like this one, or so Lan heard in school once.
They say that they're few and far between, but when used properly, the Navi is unstoppable!
Really?
Yeah! I wanna find out the combinations of the different super attacks, so my Navi will kick yours' butt!
Not if I get to it first!
Everyone, even Megaman himself, was shocked at the spectacle that played out. Megaman's opponent backed away, slowly, yet not so surely. Obviously, this power couldn't be matched!
"D-Do s-something, Magicman!" Yahoot stuttered.
The Navi didn't respond, still petrified at what was going on. Despite being unsure himself, too, Megaman knew what had to be done. With a loud battle cry, the blue Navi swung his arms downwards and released the enormous stream of energy at Magicman. The energy was concentrated into a crescent shape, though it seemed just as threatening to the bearded Navi, who was too scared to even run away from the speedy projectile. What he didn't notice, however, was that the attack grew slightly smaller as it soared across. Despite this, the attack collided with Magicman and a thundering 'boom' blared out, a bright white light engulfing the entire scene. Everyone shielded their eyes for what felt like a minute, afraid that the light would blind them.
After some time had passed, the light dissipated and everyone brought their arms down from their eyes. Magicman couldn't get up at all. Megaman fell to his knees, pressed his hands on the cyber ground and panted in exhaustion.
"Did... I... Did I... win?"
Virus Log-
Aqua Swordys: the same as Swordys, except with blue armor and Aqua Swords
Canodumb3s: red, even stronger versions of Canodumbs
Piranha2s: red scaled, stronger versions of Piranhas
Piranha3s: the bluest, strongest versions of Piranhas
Oh boy, I think you all know what that attack was. I put it off for so long, but there it was at last!
I don't usually update on a Saturday, but it's been a while since I last updated. To make up for it, I decided to combine chapters together to make fewer, but longer chapters. Looking back, I probably should try to write chapters that are closer to this long in my future projects. Another Megaman novelization won't be my next project, but I hope that I have fun writing up what my next project will be.
-Have a great day, week, month, whatever, and stay upbeat, y'all!-