I own no Megaman characters, any familiar dialogue or the main plot. Credits to Capcom.
-Final Chapter: Jack In, Megaman! Execute!-
The rumbling continued and Lan ran as fast as he could.
"Guys, we have to get out of here!" he called out to Maylu and Chaud.
"I-Is the place really going to explode?" Maylu asked worriedly.
As if to confirm her troubles, the announcement from a moment ago blared out once more.
"WARNING! WARNING! VIRUS LEAK! ALL SYSTEMS MALFUNCTIONING! SELF DESTRUCT SEQUENCE ACTIVATED!"
"The Life Virus must be gone," Chaud guessed. "You actually did it, Lan. Are you okay after the battle?"
"Just fine," Lan grinned. However, the thought one of his friends not making it out of the incoming explosion loomed over him. His grin dissipated a second later. "Where's everyone else?"
"We saw them head for the Metroline," Maylu answered him. "Everyone will be fine."
"Great," Lan responded. "We better scram, too. Now!"
On that note, Lan, Maylu and Chaud took off. As they ran further and further away from the mountainside, they could see the hacking rocket at the top. However, it wasn't looking so good. Chaud could have sworn that he saw it breaking down and collapsing.
"The old man's not coming out," he grimaced. "Serves him right, though, to go down with his own ship."
"Undeniably," Protoman spoke up in agreement.
Neither Chaud, Lan or Maylu had been in a situation like it before. The latter two saw their favorite animated characters on TV get away from explosions, but they weren't as afraid as they were. Goodness, they were shaking! If they were too slow, they knew what would happen!
"Hurry!" Lan urged his two companions on. "The place could blow any second!"
Breaking a sweat, they finally made it to the Metroline. Maylu breathed a sigh of relief, while Chaud contained the same feeling with a composed look on his face. As they boarded the train, Lan couldn't help but look back.
"Lan, what's wrong?" Maylu asked him.
"Huh?" He turned back. "It's nothing... Let's go!"
Lan boarded the train that was to take him back home. What he kept from Maylu, however, was that he could have sworn that he heard Wily's voice make one final declaration.
"World Three... forever!"
An explosion boomed, but it sounded like a dull roar from Lan's position.
In ACDC Town...
The trio stepped out of the Metroline station after what were probably the most tense moments of their lives. Lan breathed in the fresh air.
"It's good to be back, right, Lan?" his Navi smiled.
"It is, Megaman. It is."
As he and the others began to find their way back home, he was suddenly bombarded by thunderous cheer and applause. Around Lan were his parents and all of his friends, who came out to congratulate him on defeating World Three. He was led back home, where he was crowded round and given three cheers.
"Hip hip, hooray! Hip hip, hooray! Hip hip, hooray!"
Everyone who attended the celebration hung around outside Lan's house and mingled with each other. Meanwhile, Lan himself was with his own circle of friends and family.
"Oh, I was so worried about you!" his mother cried, tightly wrapping his arms around him. "I'm so glad that you're okay now!"
"I-I'm sorry, m-mom," Lan stuttered, fearing that his breath would literally be taken away. Having seen his face turn blue, Haruka let go immediately.
"I share the same feelings as your mother," Yuichiro spoke up, taking him in for his own hug, though he didn't squeeze on his son as tightly. "Great job, Lan. And you, too, Hu- Megaman."
"It definitely wasn't easy," Megaman chuckled. "But I'm glad we pulled through."
"Still..." Haruka said. "I never thought that raising you two would be easy." She then turned to Yuichiro. "Isn't that right, honey?"
"They couldn't have done it without you," Yuichiro smiled.
"They couldn't have done it without 'us', you mean."
"Oh, honey..."
"Honey..."
Just like that, both of Lan's parents pecked each other on the lips, gaining a few 'awws' from the circle of people around them.
"Please, take it somewhere else," Lan groaned, bringing his hand to his forehead.
"What?" Maylu giggled. "They're showing that they get along really well, Lan!"
"I know," Lan mumbled, covering his entire face with his hand upon hearing more vibrant reactions from the crowd. "But it's really embarrassing..."
"Maybe we could... learn from them."
"Huh?" He brought his head up again and faced Maylu, confusion on his face. "W-What are you talking about? We're just friends!"
Suddenly, all eyes were on Lan and Maylu. 'Just friends' clearly implied something else!
"Lan, Lan, Lan..." Megaman crossed his arms and shook his head.
"He really is dense, isn't he?" Roll said to him.
"That's right, Roll," Megaman smiled.
"You said it, Mega," Roll smiled also.
"Look. Even Megaman and Roll are in the mood," Maylu said to Lan.
Lan looked around, not knowing what was going on. What exactly was she talking about? Dex, Tory and even Lan's own parents stifled laughs. That was how it was, Lan assumed. They knew what was up, but wouldn't tell him!
"Urgh, I've had enough of you, Lan Hikari!" Clearly, Maylu was not liking his reaction! "After all I did for you, too! Maybe I shouldn't have helped you after all."
"Wha...? I don't get it! What did I do wrong?" He scratched his head, becoming even more baffled than before.
"Yowzas!" Dex grinned.
"Oooh! Lan and Maylu, sitting in a tree!" Yai started to sing. "K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"
"Isn't it obvious, Lan?" Tory couldn't help but roll his eyes as Yai continued to sing. At the same time, he couldn't hold back his laughter.
"W-What is!? Not you, too, Tory!" Lan groaned.
"Really..." Maylu sighed, turning away from Lan and crossing her arms.
"Don't deny it, Lan," Yai smirked.
"Gah, you know what!? This conversation is over!" Lan finally snapped, having had enough of the situation at hand.
Nearly no one could resist laughing at the scene Lan was making out of himself. Chaud, however, brought his own palm to his forehead because of Lan's apparent idiocy.
Lan breathed in, to calm himself, and said to his friends, "Still, thanks... for helping me out, guys."
"Dex always pays his debts!" Dex boasted, puffing his chest. "Don't mention it!"
"You can count on me, too," Tory smiled.
"Me, three!" Yai chirped. "Dex might need a little more practice, though."
"What was that!?" The round friend began to see red and his mohawk stood up even higher. "Me, practice!? That does it! Get over here!"
In a blind rage, Dex lunged for Yai, who swiftly dodged. He didn't see it coming, so he ended up charging headfirst into Lan's house's wall! That clown act resulted in even more laughter from the people, although the victim himself stayed down on the ground as he rubbed his head in pain.
"Well, aren't we all the happy bunch?" Chaud said sarcastically.
"Chaud," Lan spoke to him, getting his attention. "Thanks to you, too. You helped me out there as well, you know?"
"No need to thank me," Chaud replied, placing his hands in his pockets, turning away and looking upwards. "In fact, you made me look pathetic out there. You did all the work."
"As grumpy as ever, I see," Lan laughed. "But again, I couldn't have done it without you. Thanks."
"Well..." Chaud turned back around and looked straight towards Lan. He didn't smile with his mouth, but his eyes showed that he was at least willing to accept people's gratitude. "I guess I'll accept your thanks this time. Next time something happens, though, you leave the fighting to me and Protoman!"
"Hey, we'll be right by your side," Lan assured him. "Right, Megaman?" Realizing what he called his Navi, he looked at his PET to ask. "Well, uh... If you still want me to, uh..." he mumbled. "Hub?"
"Didn't I tell you before?" the blue Navi smiled. "Megaman's the name and virus busting is my game! I'm with you all the way, Lan, because we're unstoppable as a team."
"Of course!"
"Just one thing, though," Megaman smirked, crossing his arms once more. "From now on, you're getting up by yourself in the morning!"
"Really?" Lan whined like a five year old. "C'mon, Megaman, you know I'm not a morning person..."
"Well, you better work on it!"
"Dang it..."
Once more, the crowd laughed aloud. This time, however, they were interrupted by a weird sounding alarm.
*AWOOOGA* *AWOOOGA*
"What? But there can't be a crook here now of all times," Haruka sighed. "The alarm system must be buggy again. Darn old thing..."
*AWOOOGA* *AWOOOGA*
"Whenever there's a bug, there's a way to fix it," Megaman told his NetOp. "We have a job to do, Lan!"
"Right on!"
As usual, Lan stretched out the cord of his PET.
"Let's bust some viruses!"
"Jack in, Megaman! Execute!"
What better way to end my novelization than with a short, snappy conclusion?
That, folks, marks the end of the Megaman Battle Network novelization. I'd like to take this time to thank everyone who ever added this story to their alerts and/or favorites, those that reviewed and even those that just took a quick glance. You all played your part in motivating me to continue with this project and I'm very grateful for it all.
A lot of significant events happened during the writing and uploading of this novelization. It crossed over a lot of our world's holidays, like Christmas, New Year and Easter. In fact, I first got to uploading this thing immediately after Halloween! We also went through my birthday, too!
At first, 'The Rise Of World Three' was an experiment for me to see if I could novelize games of the Battle Network series' style. I'm pleased to say that it worked out rather nicely. The only major setback was my busy schedule throughout. Updates definitely slowed down at the later parts and I could have finished this much earlier, believe me!
This may beg the question, however, of whether I will do the rest of the Battle Network series. It won't be my next project, but I will do another Battle Network novelization sometime in the future. In the meantime, I'm planning chapters for a novelization that I've always wanted to do and seeing whether it will work out in the long run or not. So far, hopes are high for me.
All in all, whether you're a writer, a reader or a reviewer, I wish you the best of luck in all that you do. Thank for reading 'The Rise Of World Three'. I'll catch you on the other side of cyberspace!
-Have a great day, week, month, whatever, and stay upbeat, y'all!-