Dr Light and Dr Wily were both now in the labs of the Hero Base, the time was around 6pm, after they both had done their check round on the base.
With them was their Children and Grand-Children, as well as their mechanic. They were Yuichiro Light, Lan Light, Megaman/Hub, Regal Wily, Richard Wily, and Keira Hagai.
The lab is a major spot in the base. It contains the mainframe, which stores all the profiles and data on all of the people within the base. It has a massive computer, a metal table, and all kinds of devices around that the docs need. It also has three small rooms connected to it. One is filled with pulse-in chairs. These allow humanoid, non-Navi folk to enter the galactic net via transmitting their brain waves. The room beside it is a storage room that contains minerals, chemicals, and technology reserved for research, and the third is mainframe to the local network of the base. The main energy core is deeper into the base, fueled by plasma energy, which remains to be an unstable beast that requires constant daily readjustments and calculations to maintain it.
Dr Yuichiro Light is the son of Dr Thomas Light and one of the more alert ones around the base. His normally the first to report any troubles before his dad or the Wily family. He's always busy writing out reports on the base, and keeping an eye on his wife and his sons.
Dr Regal Wily is the adopted son of Albert Wily, Throughout Albert's career, he never bothered to think about children of his own, and just adopted those that looked promising heirs. Regal was one of them, along with a man called Barrel and a woman called Yuriko, the latter two had decided not to be part of this venture, maintaining their own careers elsewhere, Barrel in the GF military, Yuriko as an assassin for hire. Regal uses his first name in his occupant name, as does Yuichiro. So instead of Dr Wily, it's Dr Regal, and for Thomas' son, it's Dr Yuichiro, in order to avoid confusion with their fathers.
Richard Wily. His young, ambitious, loves planning and fighting, and has a "lone wolf" attitude 90 percent of the time when his with others. He is the one that mainly keeps order around the base at spots where his Grandfather and Dr Light miss. He has no real powers of his own, and mainly relies on sword fighting and the Net Navi weaponry system of battle chips to gain the upper hand…as well as the illegal ones known as dark chips as well, if need be, which greatly harm Net Navis when used for their power, and more crippling on other humanoid races, but unlike them, his not affected at all by the bad effects of the dark chips, which is a major plus for him, but confusing for everyone else. Dr Wily often shrugs it off.
He had a long sword, which had a dark purple aura around it, and had an embedded picture of a wolf's head near the hilt, with the picture on both sides of the blade, and the hilt being black as the night. He was around the age of 20, with a black jacket, black trousers, black trainers, and a blue shirt, with short brown hair, with a slightly long fringe, and with brown eyes, and slightly pale skin.
Keira Hagai was from the same world as Jak and Daxter, Bara'Dor II. Her and her Father, Samos, came to the base a year ago, when Jak suggested her to Dr Light and Wily when they needed a computer expert and a mechanic. She's been working hard since her arrival, as she's repaired at least every computer in this base once, repaired Megaman when he suffered a malfunction in his leg movement and got the energy core back online five times, each time it had suddenly shut down for no known reason, which she is damn sure is an issue in the way it's been programmed, but the docs would rather save face then admit they may have got it wrong. A lot of people assumed that she and Jak were an item, before and after she arrived, but Jak explained that he had a girl back home called Ashelin once the docs talked about it in front of Keira.
Dr Light had activated the large monitor to show a letter from one of their fellow scientists, a man known as Dr Nozawa Hojo who resides on Gaia VII normally, the current capital planet of the Galactic Federation, but was right now on a space station known as FG995.
'To my associates Thomas Light and Albert Wily.
For several months I have been testing the Dark Soul subject, named 'Dark Megaman'.
Reading that name just gave Megaman the cold chills.
The dark soul. An entity made by the use of dark chips, addictive battle chips that provide beings with extreme augmentation in strength, but at the cost of their personality and emotions. As the use of dark chips increases by the user, they begin to act irrational and edgy towards non-users, grow a hatred towards life, and will do anything to gain more of the dark chips. The dark soul is made just after a first time use within the being, often making them feel like there is something watching them, making the person paranoid, and the dark soul obviously in question, once belonged to Megaman.
Dr Light got Megaman to volunteer for making a dark soul and extracting it. The reason for this is due to the docs focus on the Navi systems. The Dark Chips were a wildly successful experimental battle chips created by Regal, but their effects weren't known nor tested on prior to being unleashed in the networks of the Galactic Federation, a grave mistake on Regal's part. This was three years ago, and now the scientists are trying to find out what causes the sudden increase of power, why it corrupts, and how to stop it from doing so to contain any more possible issues related to them. The process was harsh and painful for Megaman, but, in Dr Light's and Dr Wily's view, it was worth it.
'The subject, when awoken from the cryo freezing you sent him to us as, was highly agitated and destructive in his liquid state, attempting to latch onto nearby troopers and fellow scientists to try and control, which is as expected, as Dark Souls are not known to be extracted out of the host they infect. We contained him and begun planning for tests.
Within two days of isolation, When I visited it within it's containment, it had taken the form of Hub Light, also known as Megaman the Net Navi. A perfect copy, the colours of his suit, everything. I spoke with it and it managed to answer and understand clearly.
When asked for a name, it claimed it was called Hub.
When asked what it was, it told me it was a Net Navi.
When I asked what was its purpose, it simply began laughing, then mumbling to itself, before looking at me once more, and laughing loudly. I noticed then that the blue coloured suit of Megaman was replaced with a dark purple, the Navi crest had gone from red to blue, the skin had paled, his hair had turned a dark blue, and his pupils had gone from a green colour to red.
He banged on the glass panel between myself and him, and demanded to be set free. Weeks on end this was always the result when I asked that question. No doubt the normal colours of 'Hub Light' are its way to disguise itself, and when pressed, it can reveal its darker nature.
It took a long time you two, but now his far more calm and has allowed himself to be experimented on, although we have had…bouts of anger, where he has killed the odd trooper, but that only meant another body to dissect and see what type of energy a Dark Soul uses.
We've learned little from the bodies unfortunately, as the energy appears to be a mimic of the same energy fired by Net Navis in combat, except enhanced somehow, the energy particles seemed to more volatile.
The subject itself. When cut, his muscle system appears to react more sharply to pain, and his adrenaline programming kicks in much faster than a normal Navi. When given battle chips they appear to be enhanced by his programming, corrupted even, transformed into their darker counterparts. A normal sword chip can suddenly have the same power and strength as a dark chip when in his hands.
Lastly, when spoken to again lately about his purpose, he finally gave me an answer. He said "I have but my own designs. One is about my light self."
I assume this 'Light Self' is the original host, as no doubt the Dark Soul knows what it is called, and deems the host as 'light' to its 'dark'. So, I have concluded that in order to look deeper into this entity, we need to see his reaction around his host. I will send the Dark Soul with a large number of guards back to the Hero Base within a week, at the least.
With regards.
Dr N. Hojo.'
"Wait, his gonna send it back? I think we need to tell him we'll send Hub to them." Keira looked to Thomas and Albert after reading the message.
"Why? This place is fine for a subject like him." Thomas answered.
"We're having enough trouble with the systems in this place, as well as the power core." She argued.
"Let's not forget the last time we allowed something that's possibly highly dangerous in here. The experimental security program that went maverick?" Yuichiro pointed out.
"And that time the Robot masters went crazy and you both brought them here to be fixed? The mess afterwards cost us a fair amount." Regal added.
"And the poison gas that nearly got into all the ventilation system. That nearly killed several people, including Lan here." Megaman finished with.
Lan seemed busy looking at the device Megaman once lived in, known as a PET, fiddling with it, probably hasn't even looked at the message Hojo sent. He looked up when he heard his name. "Huh?"
Dr Light expected a more, welcoming approach to the idea of having a Dark Soul around. "I can't deny we've had bad luck when it comes to things like this, but we can't let the previous mistakes deter us…" He turned away, to the large computer, focusing on it. "…Anyway I already replied and told him we'll be more than happy to receive it."
Regal sighed in utter annoyance. "Father, Thomas, can you PLEASE inform us of things BEFORE you take action? I thought this was a complete family joint operation."
As Megaman, the first one of those leaving the labs, enters the main room, sitting around a table chatting, was Chad, Anna, Samus, now just in her zero suit, Roll and Shademan.
The main room, is one of the largest rooms of the base. Central Hub was suggested by Megaman at one point but the docs dismissed that. Filled with chairs, tables, and computers around the edge of it, the ceiling is the glass dome that could be seen outside, letting in the sunlight. They can open a few glass panels of the dome to let fresh air in, but it's a pain in the ass since Dr Light and Dr Wily forgot to create some sort of device to allow them to open them from the ground. And, for now, have to get someone to get a ladder, climb up, and open them by hand….a job that has caused a lot of accidents, and put people off it. The room is a grey colour like the rest of the base, and it has two corridors and two vital rooms connected to it. These are the labs and hospital.
The hospital is of course, the hospital. Designed for those little accidents and operations needed. It has only one computer in the room. The rest of it is filled with beds, and shelves containing common medicines. It has two extra rooms connected to it. One is an operating room, the other is an extra storage room.
"64 then? Come on Samus, I have to be close by now." Chad asked.
"It's 35. The holder is Lu Bu." Samus replied.
"Oh…is that all? I thought it would have been a hundred and something, I can easily catch up with that."
"Only at least nine more risks on your life to surpass that then." Anna said with a slight frown, obviously she didn't approve of his constant fights in the training room.
"Well at least it'll pass the time and keep me in shape…" Chad sat back, relaxing in the chair.
Megaman walked over, and joined them, sitting close to Roll. "Hey guys. Got some news from the docs, nothing that you're gonna agree with mind."
"What is it now?" Roll knows that if it's something that they won't agree with, it's gonna be problematic and a risk.
"It's about their Dark Soul business. I told you before about the extraction of it from me, well, seems like they had news on it from mad case Hojo."
"And?" said Shademan.
"It's interesting a little. It's copied my looks, it's mad, evil, can talk and walk…and Grandfather and Albert want it back here sometime within a week."
Samus seemed to be the first to answer to this. "What can we expect? Risk of a break out? Infective? Destructive?"
"All that possibly."
"Really, they want to bring another dangerous thing here?" Chad was about to point out the incidents of the past, but Megaman stopped him.
"We already did the reminding, but they already made their mind up before they even told us what's going on…so now I got a possibly deranged and insane version of me coming to visit."
That's when the lab doors opened, and Dr Light, Yuichiro, Lan and Regal departed, heading down the corridors. Coming out last, was Richard and Dr Wily, in a discussion of their own. "It's about the dark soul right? let me guess, you want me to make sure it gets sent right to the labs on the moment of arrival.." Richard seemed like he was still thinking elsewhere, looking at his blade, having now got it out to look at.
The blade was named Dark Wolf, inside it, is believed to be an entity that can devour souls, and is believed to have come from Earth V, Regal bought it from a trader that came from a land there named Shura, and had it hang on a wall back in the Wily Fortress elsewhere on this planet. It was only given to Richard a year ago, when he grabbed it off the wall, and it reacted to him touching it, the purple aura that always appears when he holds it.
Dr Wily was glad his grandson gets right to the point of things and knows what's important, not all the time, but most of it, which is good enough for him. "Well, someone needs to make sure, and your-"
"Get someone else to do it gramps." Richard was still looking at his blade carefully. "It's going to arrive in a week, not in the next few hours. Get dad to take care of it."
Dr Wily wasn't too pleased with this response. "Richard, you haven't got anything else planned, and your pretty much safe from Dark Souls. You're the only one capable of stopping it if it decided to break out…and could you PLEASE focus on what I'm saying right now? The sword isn't going to just fly away."
With that, Richard looked to the old man, and did as he was told, putting the sword back in its leather casing on his back. "Doubting the GF's ability to contain it gramps?" he replied.
Dr Wily couldn't deny the doubt he had. The GF weren't the sort that could handle dangerous matters well, and several times they've let him down. "It's very important that you watch over it. Hojo might be sending a guard unit to watch it, but I'm betting my monocle it'll have found a way to kill them before it even lands here."
"Fine. Just call me when it gets here, if you're so worried." With that agreement, Dr Wily departed, leaving Richard to walk over to the others, after noticing Roll motioning him to come over. As he did, he and Chad looked each other in the eyes, with Richard giving him a mean glare, which Chad looked a little surprised and raised an eyebrow at.
The attention of the grandson of Wily went elsewhere when he finally sat down. "Roll. What is it you want?"
"Oh, I just wanted you to spend a little time with us. It's been a good few days since you've joined us for anything. You can't stay locked up in your room you know. I was wondering if we should all go to one of the Hologram rooms and have an adventure somewhere? Not worry about this Dark Soul business."
Shademan folded his arms. "I'll agree to it so long as it's a more peaceful one then the previous, with your idea of including a random encounter with net viruses."
"Hey, that was fun!"
Anna shook her head. "Not for me it wasn't."
Chad agreed. "Nor me, do you know how it feels to have your sword vibrate through your arms after hitting one of those mettaurs right on the helmet? Not pleasant."
On the planet Gaia VII, within the metropolis city of Midgar, in the Shinra tower, looking from the 70th floor window, across the dark clouds that reign the sky above, bringing down rain, is a man with white short hair, with one green eye, and one brown, with a tanned skin, wearing black shows, and wearing a black uniform with white gloves, with countless medals on one side of it. It was Grand Commander Abraham Tower, looking miserable…
Abraham Tower. 33 years of servitude in the army. since he was 20, had led him up to this rank. Alot of people believe he doesn't deserve such a rank, as it means he pretty much controls ALL of the GF's military movements and actions across the universe. He was annoyed though, and rather angered, after Houston's death, since he was already this rank in the first place. but the council of High Ministers, people who control the funds, profits, losses and loans of the GF worlds, space stations, and even the military funding, suggested that they should wait untill they find a suitable leader.
They weren't stupid. Abraham had ideas...he had no intention of forever staying as a puppet on strings, which he pretty much was because without the High Ministers there wouldn't be any cash to fund his war campaigns against the United Federation of Planets, and the Galactic Empire.
Right now, he kept command of the armies and was a figure face to the people of the GF, who believe thanks to the High Ministers, that Abraham is really the master of it. This was done to make sure the people didn't feel lost, that they had a leader to protect them, that's what the High Ministers want them to believe for now.
Just arriving on the floor, and walking over to Abraham's desk, which was just behind the man himself, was Rufus Shinra, the once-head of the very building they were standing in, that once belonged to the famous "Shinra Electric Power Company". His father had died 2 years ago, Sephiroth, a super solider, killed him.
Rufus was then rightfully placed in charge, and chose to willingly accept the agreement and allowed now-his company to be absorbed into the Federation. He was granted the position of Grand Cross, a step lower then Grand Commander, a decision that was put in place by Abraham Tower, who saw great potential in Rufus.
With Rufus, was Dr Ivo Robotnik, and Master Chief. Both were members of the GF forces that were placed to keep an eye on Rufus and his actions by Abraham.
Rufus quietly coughs, then looks over to Abraham. "Grand Commander Abraham. We've come as asked."
Abraham turns away from the window after a moment, and walks over towards the desk looking at Rufus carefully, then at Dr Robotnik and Master Chief, the latter two saluting Abraham. "...Right...I'll get straight to the point. Lately I've been hearing of 'accidents' from the nearby station of FG995. Concerning a..." He looks down onto his desk and finds a report paper. He picks it up and looks at it. "...'being made of dark matter and power', which came from a 'dark chip', and was originally thought up by those two self declaring scientists, Dr Light and Dr Wily. The go ahead of allowing this idea expand on that station was made by Dr Hojo. So far, there has been 46 lives lost during a span of 6 months through these 'accidents'."
He stops for a moment, then looks at the three before him. "Now, since Hojo was placed under you Rufus for the last year, I'm guessing you know more about this then most around here."
Rufus shakes his head "It's new to me Grand commander. I had believed he was silent during these months."
Abraham then focused on Dr Robotnik "What about you?".
Dr Robotnik seemed to think for a moment, then reply "Well it's a known project to me sir. I've been there recently to see Hojo. The being is called a Dark Soul, it's quite violent and aggressive towards nearly everyone there."
"Does it have any benefits to us? Other then wasting lives?".
Dr Robotnik shook his head. "No sir. Not that I know of."
"Then, pray tell me, why it's been allowed to go on for this long? With only myself knowing of it three days ago?"
Dr Robotnik just stayed silent.
Then, Master Chief spoke up. "There must of been a lack of information, or the High Ministers felt that you didn't need to know."
Abraham thought over this carefully, turning away from them, looking back outside the window. "...If I recall, doesn't one of the High Ministers reside in Dr Light and Dr Wily's base thing? The place where morons who refuse to follow us, the Villain Ministry or the Hero Ministry live…"
Master Chief nodded "High Minister Yuan Shao resides there."
Abraham frowned on hearing that name. The silver haired noblemen of Earth V has always been a blockade between him and hanging the two doctors with a rope…
"It's a good possible chance, sir, that with a slight talk, Yuan Shao may have told the other High Ministers to keep it all quiet. You know, put in a good word for Wily and Light to keep their experiment safe from the military." said Dr Robotnik.
Rufus added in on this. "Just goes to show, Grand commander, how much the Ministers trust you, hm?" He was slightly smirking towards Abraham, who thankfully still had his back to Rufus and the others. "Perhaps we should nip this issue in the bud."
Abraham was glaring while looking outside. He turned towards them, and cleared his throat. "Rufus, I want you to go to space station FG995 and terminate the project. Take as many men as you need. To be honest, I don't need this sort of trouble going on while we have two wars to focus on at the outer sectors and borders."
Rufus nodded. Abraham then looked at Master Chief. "Assist Rufus in any way you can chief, with you and Cortana assisting, I'm sure the being won't be too much of a hassle." Then Abraham looked at Dr Robotnik. "You can make yourself useful to me by asking for updates from both frontlines." Master Chief and Dr Robotnik saluted, and all three left, leaving Abraham by himself again.
He was now thinking about the Hero Base. They were to him, just rebels, refusing to be under his command, but he couldn't make any moves on them as long as they have Yuan Shao by their side…Not just him, but three major kings of Earth V as well, a world filled with able fighters, a military world putting the Hero Base in a power position in the affairs of the Galactic Federation.
In the end they were a small annoyance.
"Tick...tick...tick...tick..."
Space station FG995. Guarding it, were two GF warships, always prepared...it was all quiet, and nearby the space station, was an electronic storm, in the shape of a purple cloud, glistening with bolts of lightning.
The warships were copies of the blueprints from the UNSC, a human force that had once been active over 154 years ago, they had been the first to agree about merging into SCI with other forces, such as the EA, or "Earth Alliance" (of earth III), which created the famous space station Babylon 5. Smaller versions of that space station have been created after it's image, and it's small attack ships was emulated into the SCI force as well. The UNSC transport ships were also put into the SCI force…since then, all the way up to the GF time, they haven't changed much…apart from the massive laser cannons that have been installed underneath the warships, and shield technology on all space crafts...war was common, and they need to be ready, as Abraham once said.
"Tick...tick...tick...tick..."
Inside the space station, patrolling around the place, were GF troopers, wearing their armored gear, which was just a silver metal bodysuit, complete with a silver helmet and a massive blue visor, that pretty much shows the face of the person inside. With them all, were the standard GF Rifle.
"Tick...tick...tick...tick..."
Deep within the station itself, inside an empty storage room, waiting in the dark, was the fabled and feared one winged angel...Sephiroth, in his well known attire, his black feathered one wing fluttering behind him.
Sephiroth. The very legend, one of the most feared men in the entire SCI and GF...and beyond for that matter. Even Klingons, the United Federation of Planets, and the Galactic Empire have heard his name. He is believed to be the "son" of Hojo when it fact this was a false memory that was implanted into Hojo…in reality, Sephiroth easily out beats Hojo with age. Sephiroth is as old as the Universe and he does things with a purpose by the orders of one being. Sephiroth, compared to what all believe is in fact, a deity.
Deities. Beings that were either once a normal creature that broke it's boundaries and was accepted by other deities as unique and made into one like Sephiroth, or they are spawned from the souls of creatures from a time before other races existed. Their powers are almost god-like and they are immortal, only by age though. They can die by wounds and powerful magic if it is somehow pulled off, but will most likely be revived by their fellows. They normally have some kind of ally, a 'summon', to assist them. They are the servants of the Heaven, bound by rules and duties that make and break destines for the other life forms that exist in the universe.
Sephiroth has a summon of his own. It is a demon once titled 'Lord of the Fire' Phantom, who, like Griffon, was now made into a summon. The creature made of magma had just appeared from a light blue circle shaped vortex, wide enough for him in front of Sephiroth. The vortex quickly closed behind him.
Summons are pretty much the next in line to deities. with the same possible beginnings. Phantom was a demon who obeyed Mundus, that was destroyed by the hero Primus. His soul was found and collected by Sephiroth, and he was reformed into a summon to serve faithfully.
Phantom made himself bow slightly to Sephiroth, as is the custom of a summon to it's deity master. The one winged deity looked at the beast. "Are the Heartless all ready Phantom with the lure I provided? Io doesn't need this to fail...Dark Megaman has to escape, and clash with the boy called Chad Oswald."
Phantom raised himself back up. "All prepared Sephiroth. This is going to be a lovely bloodbath, one that I would like to join in on."
Sephiroth shook his head. "Our duty is to make sure Dark Megaman leaves the station. that is all...perhaps, Phantom, if all goes well, Io will praise you and grant you a few duties that include slaughter."
Phantom laughed a little, the idea made him slightly shudder in delight. Killing was his forte, and causing a major slaughter without reason was his favorite pass time. He cannot stand when a day goes by where he doesn't kill.
Sephiroth then smiled at Phantom. "Let's get it started…Dark Megaman is alone now his small prison in the labs…this is the time." Both he and Phantom vanished suddenly.
Within a round room, with only one big door leading in and out, filled with computers, chairs, a minigun auto turret in the middle of the ceiling, and a complete blue glassed chamber, with wires from it connecting to the computers. In the chamber, was Megaman, or would be mistaken for him. The deception was now lost to the Dark Soul, and it simply stayed in it's true colours, the more purple outfit to Megaman, the blue crest and such. He sat there, patient as always when left alone, each second that passed, he would make say 'tick' to no one but himself, with no reason as far as Hojo could make out. A coping mechanism perhaps.
"Tick…tick….tick…tick.." mumbled Dark Megaman, or, as he preferred, Darkmega.
Hojo had just left him alone after doing another check up, and now, he was bored…he wanted more fun, but Hojo and his lackeys, those GF troopers, wouldn't let him. All he did was grab the face of a lab assistant just now and showed how wide the mouth can go before the muscles and skin rip. The lab assistant's blood gushed over him when they found out. Hojo already washed that away off him, the annoying fool…he must admit though, Hojo looked like he was entertained with the way Darkmega killed that poor sod.
But now, he was bored, and alone…time would just tick away. Hojo wouldn't be back for a few more hours, after he said about a transfer. A transfer home, frozen again, like when he first came out here, more experiments…he glared darkly, because he knew his light self would be there, watching…
Darkmega then looked over to the computers, and noticed that way were acting odd. One at a time, they were switching off, then, he noticed the auto turret shutting down as well…the lights died off.
He sat alone now, in the dark. He could just see his own hands, and the glass around him. He remembered overhearing Hojo once, about the glass having shielding to stop his dark buster energy shots from breaking it.
His right hand transformed into a cannon like weapon, known as the buster to Navis. The basic weapon for their kind and all of them have it, and right now, Darkmega felt like testing it out…
In one of hangers, a group of fifteen troopers were keeping watch, when the power died suddenly, leaving them with only the glow from their blue visors. One of the GF troopers turned to another. "Hang on, I thought the electro storm nearby was suppose to pass by us?".
The one he spoke to shook his head "Nah James, it isn't the storm, the emergency lights would've kicked in…maybe the power core died out."
One of the others spoke up "Uhhh…guys? Is it me or are there yellow eyes looking at us? Behind you Tommy…"
They all turned to look.
Nearby, in the darkness, they could see two yellow pupil-less eyes looking at them…then four….then eight…then twenty…
One of the troopers increased the brightness of his visor, so it became a blue flashlight… In front of them all, blocking the doorway to the rest of the station, with more appearing from the floor around them, are Heartless, beings that were frequently seen in one of the allied forces of the GF's territory. A lethal species that's classed to be shot on sight. These were the small ones, the weakest...if they aren't in sheer numbers, which they are now, with about forty to possibly fifty of them looking at the troopers.
The one called James whispered "Orders?".
Tommy aimed his rifle, slowly, at the Heartless, as they begun to inch closer, seemingly staring at the troopers with curiosity. "Lee, I want you to alert all men on the station. Everyone else…"
One of the Heartless suddenly dashed forward, and found itself being struck by a few rounds before dissolving away into nothing. "…Shoot the fuckers."
Across the station, through the helmets of all the GF troopers, the warning of a Heartless invasion during this blackout was given. Before each squad knew it, they were either attacked, or heard the screams of their comrades through their communication devices.
The warships a small distance away were none the wiser of the attack, the electromagnetic storm had finally reached them causing their commanders to shut down all main power and switch to emergency untill the storm passes, as it can severely cripple the vessels if the bolts of energy get attracted to the energy output of the cores.
When any attack by the Heartless occurs, it's normally small, small as in within the hundreds, and very disorganized, easily to weed them out and destroy them. What the GF troopers on the station soon noticed with the reports over the communicators, was that every possible squad location was being hit, as if someone told them exactly where everyone would be at this precise time, and the number count of the Heartless was reaching in the thousands. Within one hour of the ambush, things had gone completely out of the GF's favor.
Those in the hanger have been able to survive waiting for support. After taking down that first wave, they quickly moved metal cases containing ship repair tools to use as cover, between them and the door leading to the station. They've killed hundreds of the heartless, but more came…it was easy to repel them, but the GF rifles did have limited power, and every trooper only had so many extra power cells to carry around.
Tommy had just taken down another three heartless with his rifle, when he got a call on his com-link, a common device used in the GF to keep in contact of those that didn't wear the power armor. Their version of a mobile phone. He quickly got his com-link out, in the shape of the old fashioned star trek communicators, and waited for someone to talk, as all he heard was guns being fired…then, he heard a voice "Captain. I hope you and your squad that you assigned to the hanger are holding out."
It was Dr Hojo. "Doctor! Where are you? What's the situation over at the labs?"
"The labs are overrun. Unfortunately, all the civilian personnel besides myself didn't make it. I suggest you call for an evacuation of the station. It's lost. I'm currently heading to the hangers with a platoon of your men guarding me."
The captain quickly fired a few rounds to take out a heartless that was about to leap over one of the metal cases. "Understood. I'll begin the evac protocol!"
"Are any of the transport ships intact still in your hanger?"
"All of them are A-ok! Meet us here and we'll get you off this station ASAP!"
"Understood. Hojo out."
Tommy told his boys, and this made them continue their fight, knowing friends were coming. They kept the bastard heartless at bay, firing sparingly at them, trying to save bullets. they knew they were all beginning to run low. Then, the door to the hanger bay opened, and a hail of bullets came through, tearing through the once believed to be blockade of Heartless.
This was, for a brief time, a sign of hope, as the captain and the others got out of their cover position, relieved to see it was the twenty troopers, and Hojo, as he slowly walked in, leaning over a little as always, wearing his lab coat loosely, seemingly relaxed about the situation as the rest of those with him entered and closed the door behind them.
Tommy and his boys started to move towards Hojo and the others, lowering their weapons. "Dr Hojo! Did you see anyone else? I quickly opened a channel to all survivors to head to the hangers and-"
The GF troopers that stood with Dr Hojo suddenly raised their weapons at Tommy and his comrades. Hojo looked the captain right in the eyes and adjusted his glasses. "No one else will be coming. Men, dispose of the captain."
The fifteen troopers, who held out for so long, fell to their own weaponry. Tommy only had time to curse Hojo before bullets riddled his armor, ripping through it and into his body…which now laid with the bodies of his allies, their life gone from their shells.
Dr Hojo calmly walked over to the corpse. "Disappointing really. You would've made a good subject to test with. But I have an agreement arranged with someone far more important then you."
He waited, as the troopers went by and over to the transport ships, unlocking one that they and Hojo were going to leave on and a second one. Dr Hojo made his way over to the transport they were going to leave on and as he was about to step on, he noticed the troopers had quickly turned and looked behind him.
He knew who it was. "…I'm glad you chose to spare your father. It would've been a great loss if a wonderful genius such as myself were to perish." He turned and there was Sephiroth, standing at the door of the hanger.
"The gods require you to still live, Nozawa Hojo. I'm sure these men will keep silent about this won't they?"
Hojo smiled. "Of course. They should be thankful. They'll be the only survivors of this massacre…I take it this is all because of the Dark Soul?"
Sephiroth did not answer.
Dr Hojo waited for a several seconds, before looking annoyed and turning away. "As always, you tell me very little. Fine, so long as the gods see my worth, I'll be thankful. Good day, Sephiroth."
With that, he went on the transport vessel with the twenty men and set off, heading back to Gaia VII to at least allow the Federation to know of the fate of the station.
But not everyone was dead in that hanger.
One had lost consciousness, he didn't know when he woke again, but when he did, he felt num, his visor was cracked, all the usual readings that covered it are flickering. He noticed blood on the lower part…wounded…he remembered the shooting, the order to fire by Dr Hojo. He was face down, he pushed himself weakly up to try and look around but his strength was taking it's time to come back to him.
"All, all units on the station. Any…Anyone, who can, hear me…please respond. Betrayal, b-by Hojo…"
There was silence.
He turned his head, and saw one of the transport ships missing. He gathered that Hojo obviously must've taken one. Slowly, he rolled himself over, onto his back, looking up at the ceiling…he could barely hear anything…
He then looked downwards towards where his comrades should be. All of them lifeless. Then he heard footsteps, something coming towards him from the door to the hanger bay. A survivor…
His neck muscles couldn't hold out and he simply relaxed, looking up to the ceiling, calm that perhaps he'll make it with whoever this is…
That quickly changed as the figure stopped next to him and he saw it. Darkmega, who was smiling down at him. He knew what it was, the Dark Soul that was supposed to be contained. "Y…You…"
"Don't worry fella. I already got what I needed off the corpse over there. The codes for the ship. You can relax." All what the man saw after that was the dark buster pointed at his face, then total blackness.
Darkmega looked at the hole that he created right through the GF trooper's helmet, while blood was oozing out…man, that felt good. Darkmega turned his focus to the nearby transport vessel. "…Well now, looks like I'll be going where Hojo wanted me too, just not frozen as all the people back home will be hoping."
As for the other transport ship, the one carrying Hojo, it had landed on Gaia VII, near Midgar, before Rufus and Master Chief took off for the space station…once Rufus knew of what had happened, he decided to head back to the Shinra building…Abraham was gonna be pissed.
The next day…
It was early in the morning, about 7 o'clock, in the Hero Base. Within one room, laying in his warm and comfy bed, which had gold lined yellow covers, a few yellow pillows with the "Yuan" symbol sewed on in the middle of it, was Yuan Shao, in yellow silk pyjamas. He has just woken up, as the sunlight was coming in through his window.
"Ah! The wonderful light of the morning sun!" he declared, grabbing the top of his cover and moving it off him, and sitting up, looking at the light taking a slow, deep breath.
"Nothing in this time of day can match it's refreshing beams!…except for breakfast, So long as Cao Cao doesn't spit on the bacon again..."
Yuan Shao. Noble High Minister Yuan Shao, as he likes being called, is one of the few people in the base that hold any real ranking within the Galactic Federation. His very high sensed, believing himself to be above many people, rarely allowing others to be seen as the same as himself or to even befriend him. So far, only Chad, Dr light, Princess Zelda and Anna are seen as, close enough, to his equals. His on rather good terms with Chad as a friend, as Chad had quickly helped him avoid an angry Samus, when he mistook her for a man. His most famous for his grand army that reaches half a million, that is currently remained stationed on Earth V, his fine champions, two that live in the base, and for his wise tacticians, again, two that live in the base.
Yuan Shao went into his bathroom, had a good face wash, then clipped any hairs off his mustache if they were seemed out of place, then went back into his bedroom and noticed his door leading into his room from the corridor of the base was open slightly…He shrugged it off. Maybe Guo Tu, one of his tacticians came to check to see if he was up or something. Yuan then proceeded to get dressed into his golden decorated armor and small, golden hat, his usual gear to walk around in. He felt that he should always be ready for assassins…although why anyone would want to try an assassinate him in a place like this is something no one can answer. Finally, he put on his finely sewn silk cape, which was a golden colour, then walked towards his door.
He opened it fully, walking out into the corridor, smiling away, as if expecting to be greeted….only to find himself greeted, by a bucket of watery mud going over his head, which was placed above his door, the bucket hitting him, then landing with a clang on the floor. He simply stood there, the feeling of such horrid water suddenly striking him stunned him senseless for a moment, as Cao Cao walked up and gave a face of fake concern. "Yuan Shao, it appears you weren't alert this morning. One should always be cautious when something is out of place, such as your door was."
The frown he gave back could commit murder. "Cao Cao. Do you enjoy making me return to my room and get cleaned all over again just as I left it?"
Cao Cao, tried, to a give a look of innocence. "Now what makes you think I committed the act, your old, long time friend?"
Yuan Shao just glared, then turned and went back to his room, slamming the door shut, as Charlie Nash, once a member of the street fighting tournament, was going by. "Good morning Cao Cao."
"That it certainly is." The king of Wei answered with a small smile, before heading off in the opposite direction, towards the food hall.
Charlie noticed the water on the ground, idly going around it, then continuing down the corridor, untill he arrived just outside one of the rooms and knocking on it. "Anna? It's your half seven wake up call.".
Anna's voice could be heard in the room. "Alright alright. Thanks Charlie."
Then, Charlie went to the door next to Anna's, and knocked on it. "Chad? Wake up call."
There was silence, then, after he knocked a second time, a tired Chad is heard replying "I'm up, I'm up…"
After a good 10 minutes, Chad came out of his room, looking as if he needed a few more hours sleep. He headed to the dining hall, in corridor 8.
The dining hall is designed to feed all residents in the base, it has over 40 tables, that can have up to 8 people on each. There is a kitchen area on the side of it, which allows them to get the food for themselves, and bowls of fruit are pre-set on the tables. The tables themselves are made of metal, and so the chairs…meaning, sometimes, an icy cold ass in the morning.
Chad arrived, and sat down at a table, where Anna, Roll, Shademan, the Navi Quickman, Liu Bei, Zhang Fei and Guan Yu were at.
Quickman was a Net Navi that belong to Chad's long distant cousin Dave Hayami, who appeared in Chad's life when he was eight when Dave visited Mobius. Dave had given Chad Quickman as a present, when he arrived to earth X after having kept in contact with Chad while he lived on Mobius. Quickman is a fast, quick witted, and very sarcastic at certain times…making him like his owner, in many ways.
Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei are the three brothers of one of the three major kingdoms on Earth V, called Shu, in which Liu Bei is the king of it.
Liu Bei is one of the most understanding men in the base, who is heavily mocked for his kindness by Cao Cao and married to Sun Shang Xiang, the daughter of Sun Jian, another King from Earth V.
Zhang Fei is a drunkard with a spear, that can bash faces in and eat at the same time. A terror on the battlefield and when he's five drinks in.
Guan Yu is seven foot tall, has a massive beard, is called "the God of War" on many planets and wields an awe-inspiring Guan Dao. He and Zhang are known to be worth at least 10,000 men on any battlefield.
Chad sat down, with Quickman to his left, and Anna to his right. He looked over to a nearby table, and noticed that Megaman was sitting there, instead of sitting with Roll. "…Roll? Can I ask something?" said Chad.
Right away, Anna whispered into Chad's ear, knowing full well what Chad was gonna ask her. "They had a major argument last night. After she kept spotting him watching whatever she was doing all the time, she decided to have a word with him after we finished out meet up. It's over now.".
Chad looked a little surprised at this. Those two had been dating for a good long while now. "Oh…ouch, feel sorry for her…she alright?".
"Yeah, sort of. Kinda wishing Megaman was somewhere else, but that's normal when something goes bad."
Chad nodded, then looked at Roll. "Hey? Roll? You okay?".
Roll nodded, as she was eating a red apple…seems like she didn't have much of an appetite right now, and she did look slightly depressed…
"Come on Roll. At least he told you how he felt now…" Chad said. Roll just continued to eat quietly. Chad sighed, he knew it would take a good while for her to be even a little happy.
Deep down, inside Roll, she was glad Chad was the one trying to talk to her. There was something about Chad, that made him special to her…In the end, she looked at him, and gave him a small smile, which surprised Chad, who was about to go and get himself something from the kitchen. He just smiled back, then left the table.
Anna right away picked up on this. Her mind reminded her that 'breakups can do all kinds of things to people',
…..
"Richard, eight thirty wake up call."
"Already up Charlie. Thanks anyway."
Charlie is heard walking away, from Richard's room. Richard was seen sitting down at a PC in his room, typing away. His room was dark, due to the blue curtains were closed, and the lights were off, leaving only the light from the screen of the computer, to give any glow to the place.
Richard was already dressed, and was busy looking at the main site of GF news, reading about the unknown attack on space station KG995 yesterday. It hit the news fast, since the two nearby warships had personnel that wouldn't keep their traps shut of a sudden slaughter. This seemed to be of no surprise to him. But that could be because he half-knew…the reason he was looking in the first place, was because of a strange dream last night.
It was brief, but he remembered it clearly. He standing within a temple of some sort, with purple mist all over the place, and a marble throne ahead of him, with a man on it. The man had a white bushy beard, white long hair and a tanned cloth over where his eyes should be. He seemed to be looking down at Richard and had a voice that seemed to echo across the temple. "Richard…do you know who I am?"
Richard had just shook his head, he had no idea who the old geezer was.
"Good…Then you may call me Io. You have a destiny, Richard, one that cannot be ignored, one that, will make you one of the most powerful men, in this universe…"
Richard stayed silent, listening carefully.
"To begin that path of power, you must follow Dark Megaman. He holds the key to your first steps."
"And what if I can't be bothered?"
The being known as Io seem to slightly smile. "I know you will do as your destiny foresees, for you are like Dark Megaman…I know who you really are, Richard Wily. What evil holds your heart….if you had one."
Richard went quiet again.
"Go forth, see for your own eyes. Watch for Dark Megaman and you will begin your path to total power…"
That's when Richard woke up, and found himself back in his room, remembering that dream so clearly. Now, he was checking over the site for any news about the Dark Soul on the station, but there wasn't any. Just warnings about a stray transport ship, since one is missing from the space station, and there isn't any signs of debris.
"Bah, maybe it was just my mind being strange on me…". He felt slightly disappointed, that it was most likely just a merger dream. But still, the odd transport disappears, no bodies of the attackers, yet there was a battle…
Then, within his mind, he heard a familiar voice to him. "So it begins again, good...". Richard looked at the Dark Wolf.
One of the things only Richard knew, was that the Dark Wolf harbored a soul, one that manifested in the blade. It has refused to tell him where it came from, or why it's only accepted him…it can clearly speak to him inside his mind, thus no one else can hear it's ghostly voice.
"Good?" Richard said to the blade.
"I had seen your dream. This is the path you should walk." The Dark Wolf always kept a connection to Richard, which was irritating to him, but, it helps, a lot, when it comes to fighting. The blade teaches him the right attack patterns to use against opponents.
"Hmm. We'll see, for now, let's just wait it out, see if anything happens…"
"It will, by tomorrow it will all unfold..."
First appearances in this chapter:
Yuichiro, Regal, Lan, Dark Megaman – Megaman Battle Network series.
Richard Wily – OC
Dr Hojo, Rufus and Sephiroth – Final Fantasy 7
Master Chief – Halo
Dr Robotnik – Sonic series, post-adventure games.