Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The sound of school bells could be heard all throughout the metropolis of Den City, capital of the nation of Electopia. The ringing was quickly followed by the sounds of children, cheering and yelling and laughing as they busted through the front doors of their respective schools. The crowds quickly dispersed, streaming in various directions, walking toward their homes or to whatever form of public transit they preferred.

Outside of one school, P.S. 118, an eleven-year-old boy with spiky brown hair was running down the sidewalk, turning his head to look back at one of his friends. "Race you to the cable car, Dex!"

"Hah! You're on, Lan!" A tall, stout, darker-skinned boy behind him started picking up the pace, chasing after him. "I'll beat you even with your head start!"

The two boys sprinted as quickly as they could, toward the red cable car that sat parked roughly fifty yards away. As the two of them closed in on the finish line, they turned their heads to see a redheaded girl of the same age dash past them with ease, beating them both to the cable car without breaking a sweat.

"Looks like I win!" she declared, turning around as she climbed on, not winded at all.

"Oh, come on, Mayl!" Lan exclaimed. "That's not fair! You run track and we don't!" Mayl stuck out her tongue at the two of them as Lan, then Dex, reached the door. All three of them stepped inside to claim seats, as other children began to crowd the cable car.

Once the vehicle was full, it came to life and pulled forward, drawing up to an Internet-controlled traffic light, and a laser-like barrier that guarded the crosswalk. Nearly every element of this city, like most cities in the world, was connected to its computerized counterpart, Den Net City. In the year of 2084, most of the world was controlled by computers, and almost every computerized device was linked together by the massive Net. Governments controlled it, scientists developed it, businesses depended on it, and children were taught how to use it in schools. As the light turned green, the wall in front of the cable car vanished, and the vehicle continued on toward the suburb of ACDC, as Lan filled his friends in on the exciting news he had received earlier that day.

"Really? Your own custom Navi?" Mayl asked.

Lan nodded, restless in his seat and eager to get home. "Yep! Dad's making it for me and everything! It'll be the best ever!" She grinned and listened as her longtime child friend talked excitedly about his new Net Navigator program, a virtual avatar with which he could surf the Net and engage in virtual battles with other Navis, among other things.

"...and on top of that, I asked Dad if he would be really strong, and he said I wouldn't even have to worry about battles anymore!" Lan finished.

"Ha!" Dex laughed from the seat in front of them, his body turned around to face them both, his arms resting on the back of the seat. "You'll have reason to worry if you try to put any Navi up against my Gutsman! He's not been beaten yet, y'know!"

"We'll see who's laughing after tomorrow, pal! Which of us is the better operator?" Mayl giggled as the two engaged in a boasting match, and the conversation continued all the way to Lan and Mayl's stop in ACDC Town. Mayl stood up and walked to the front of the car, and Lan began to follow suit, before Dex's hushed voice stopped him.

"Psst! Lan!" he whispered. "Are we still on for tonight?"

Lan nodded, responding in a similarly quiet voice. "You bet! I'll be bringing my new Navi with me!" Dex grinned and gave Lan a covert thumbs-up, sitting back in his seat as Lan and Mayl stepped off the cable car, parting ways and heading to their individual houses.

"Hey, Mom! Is Dad home yet?" Lan called out as he opened his front door and stepped into his home, tossing his backpack to the side. He looked around to find his mother, Haruka, standing in the kitchen, her short brown hair moving about a bit as she moved about.

"You know he's not, dear. He always works later on weekdays," she replied as she fussed about the stove, where she was working on Lan's favorite dish, curry rice. "You'll probably have your new present in a few hours. Just be patient."

Lan sighed and nodded, heading into the family room to watch TV and wait agitatedly.

Four hours later, Lan was full of curry rice and sitting upside-down on the couch, watching a superhero cartoon on the television and kicking his feet impatiently. His mother was sitting at the dining room table, rewriting an essay for the second time; after several years of being a stay-at-home mother, Haruka had chosen to return to school and pursue a teaching degree.

The instant he heard the rattling of a doorknob, Lan was immediately off the couch and racing toward the front door. He slid up to it just as it opened, watching as a thirty-something, brown-haired man with glasses stepped through the door. Lan's father, Yuichiro Hikari, was a renowned scientist and the head of Net research at the National Science Laboratories, which the citizens of Den City frequently referred to as "SciLab".

"You're home!" Lan exclaimed excitedly. "Is it here? Is it ready?"

His father chuckled at the boy's eagerness, shutting the door. "My day was just fine, thanks for asking." He slid his jacket off, hanging it up as Haruka also stood up, walking over. "Yes, your Navi is ready. Go get your PET and bring it here."

Lan took off like a rocket, racing upstairs toward his room to get his Personal Terminal, or PET, out of its charger next to his computer. This was an electronic device owned by almost all children and most adults; it allowed access to email, the Net and more, and was also the device that housed a person's Navi. He quickly grabbed it and removed it from the charger, turning back around and sprinting to the kitchen table, where his father had set up a laptop computer.

"Here!" Lan held out his PET in front of his father's face; Yuichiro took it gently as he sat down at the table, connecting it to a cable that was attached to the computer. He started typing away, executing a variety of commands, until the PET beeped and started displaying a loading bar.

"Alright, installation is underway," he spoke, sitting back. "Your PET is going to need a full reconfiguration to support the Navi, and that will take a couple of hours. But we should be able to see him in your PET in just a couple of minutes."

"That's awesome!" Lan leaned over the table, looking into the screen of his PET. "What is he going to look like? Is he going to be bigger than Dex's Navi?"

"Well, I don't know how big that is." His father stretched out his arms. "You'll see soon enough." Lan nodded, picking up his PET and watching the progress bar slowly fill up, each minute feeling like an eternity. Three eternities later, the device made another affirmative beep, and the progress bar disappeared, with a humanoid figure starting to form in its place.

"It's him!" he exclaimed excitedly, eyes glued to the screen, as his parents both got up and stood behind him, wanting to see this moment for themselves. The three of them watched as the Navi took form, and before too long, they were all looking down at a blue-armored Navi of average height, with a face that looked pretty similar to Lan's. He looked back at the three of them, a little surprised, but pleasantly so.

"Wow, I guess the whole family's here, huh?" He glanced over the smiling faces of Lan's parents, before settling back on the young boy. "You're Lan, right?"

Lan's eyebrows raised. "You know my name?"

"Sure I do. Your dad's told me plenty about you." He smiled eagerly. "I'm Megaman! Nice to meet you!"

"Megaman, huh?" Lan ran his eyes over the Navi's frame, trying to take some measure of his strength. "Doesn't look real Mega to me..."

Megaman's smile started to fade from his face a bit, not having expected such a muted reaction from his operator. "Ah... so you're worried about that... well, trust me, I'm a lot stronger than I look." He flexed one of his biceps, trying to win Lan's approval.

"He sure is," Lan's father chimed in from behind. "I know how much you enjoy Netbattling, Lan. Do you really think I'd create a Navi from scratch for you and not have him be strong?" Lan frowned, his father's words not reassuring him much. He had wanted a Navi with an immediate visual impact, one that would intimidate all of his classmates; they probably weren't going to be too impressed by a Navi that was effectively him in a blue bodysuit, he thought to himself.

"Oh, this is so exciting! It's like having a new member of the family," Haruka exclaimed, leaning in closer. "Lan, sweetie, give him a tour of the house, would you?"

"What?" Lan turned his head, giving his mother a puzzled look. "Why would I do that? It's a Navi, not a houseguest."

"You want to be a good host, of course!" She reached forward, snatching the PET out of Lan's hands and standing up. "Never mind, I'll do it myself." Lan turned and watched as his mother started showing the entryway and kitchen to the Navi, the PET screen facing outward.

"Mom, are you serious?" he asked incredulously. "He's a computer program! He's not even going to be in the house!" He sighed, as he felt his father clap a hand onto his shoulder.

"Oh, let your mother have her fun for a few moments." Yuichiro and Lan watched together as Haruka showed off the house. "It is pretty exciting, after all, like she said."

"Yeah, I guess so..." Lan grumbled.

"Appearances aren't everything, you know, Lan," his father responded, looking down at him. "This Navi isn't just a present I made in my spare time. Megaman's a highly advanced Navi, probably the most complex one I've ever made." He rubbed his son's shoulder reassuringly. "Just give him a chance. I'm sure he's going to blow you away with what he can do."

Lan nodded, eyes following his PET, hoping that his father was right about that.

Later that night, Lan had bid his parents goodnight and retired to his room, as his PET sat in its charger with its new occupant. Megaman was looking around the bedroom curiously, wanting to take in as many details as he could, as Lan sat on his bed.

"So I suppose this is our room now," the Navi remarked, eyeing the soccer net in the corner. "Well... my room is this PET, I guess, but you know what I mean."

"Yeah..." Lan nodded, barely listening, and rapidly changed the subject. "So, Megaman... is the whole PET reconfiguring thing done? When is that?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, it is." Megaman nodded. "It finished about twenty minutes ago."

"Perfect." Lan grinned and hopped off of the bed, reaching out and taking the PET out of its dock. "What do you say to going on a little adventure?"

His Navi blinked in surprise. "Adventure? I thought you were going to bed. Do you want to browse the Net or something?"

"Nope." Lan placed the PET into a holster on his hip, before stepping over to his bedroom window and slowly sliding it open, trying not to make too much noise. "We're going to be doing something way more interesting." He reached down to the floor and grabbed a pair of skate wheels, designed to attach to his shoes, then climbed up onto the windowsill, perching on it like a gargoyle. He waited for a cautious moment before taking a large, gaping step over to a tree in the backyard, stepping onto one of the larger and sturdier branches.

"You're sneaking out?!" Despite his shock and concern, Megaman kept his voice hushed. "This is the first thing I'm going to be doing with my operator?"

"You're not going to tell Mom and Dad, are you?" The boy glanced down at his hip as he carefully walked over to the trunk, wrapping his arms around it and slowly sliding down.

"I definitely should," his Navi began. "But... I guess someone should keep you out of trouble, whatever it is you're doing. Please just don't go and do anything stupid." His better judgment was telling him to put a stop to this somehow, but it was beaten out by his desire to win his operator's approval one way or another.

Lan grinned triumphantly as he quietly tiptoed through the backyard to the front of the house, stepping onto the sidewalk. Once he had walked a good distance away, he attached his skates to his shoes and started zooming toward downtown.

Fifteen minutes later, the boy and his Navi were approaching an old three-story building on the outskirts of downtown Den City. Lan looked up into the windows, seeing several lights flashing in irregular patterns.

"Here we are," he spoke aloud so his Navi could hear. "There is where we're meeting Dex."

"We're meeting him at an abandoned power plant?" Megaman clarified, picking up on the location by scanning the local Net. "I already don't like this. What are you two doing here?"

"It's nothing bad!" Lan insisted. "We're just going to take a look through the power plant network."

"And why are you doing that?"

The boy reached down and removed the PET from its holster, aiming the screen at the building so the Navi within could take a look. "See how the lights are flashing in a weird way?"

There was a brief pause as Megaman studied the building. "Yeah... and?"

"Well, sometimes at night, people have said they can hear machinery starting up in there, even though nobody should be working there anymore," Lan continued. "This all started a few days ago. Some people are saying the building is haunted."

"Haunted?" The agitation was clear in Megaman's voice. "And let me guess, you and Dex are going to investigate it?"

"We're just going to look around the plant's network and see what we can find," Lan replied, as if this was a reasonable thing to do. "We're not going to look for trouble or anything."

"Lan, do you remember when I asked you not to do anything stupid?" Megaman responded, already sounding defeated.

"You're worrying too much. Nothing bad is going to happen." Lan stopped himself as he saw Dex waiting on a nearby corner, and the two waved to each other as Lan approached.

"Took you long enough!" Dex complained, even though Lan was right on time. "So, do you have your new Navi? Let's see it!"

"Yeah, I do..." Lan answered, suddenly a bit apprehensive at the idea of showing Megaman off, with his unimpressive appearance. "But let's go find the jack-in point first."

Dex nodded in agreement, and the two boys began walking down the sidewalk, stopping at a streetlight close to the front door of the power plant. Each of them reached down to their PETs and grabbed a long cable built into each device, pulling them out and connecting them to appropriately-shaped plugs on the pole of the streetlight. With their PETs jacked in, the Navis inside were transferred through the connector on the streetlight into the downtown Den Net City network.

Dex's Navi appeared first inside the network, a large, yellow-and-red Navi with an oversized top half and enormous fists, looking not unlike a hulking gorilla. Megaman appeared next to him a moment later, looking rather shrimpy by comparison.

"So, you're the new Navi, huh?" the larger Navi asked, sizing up his companion, as Megaman turned to face him. "Name's Gutsman. Nice to meetcha!" He extended one of his gigantic hands, which looked like it could crush Megaman in its grip with no trouble.

"Same to you!" Lan's Navi extended his arm as well, and the two shook hands awkwardly, with Gutsman's hand practically swallowing the other. "I'm Megaman."

"So that's him?" Dex leaned over and glanced at the screen of Lan's PET. "Doesn't look like much, huh?"

Lan bristled at this comment, even though he had been in full agreement hours ago. "He may be smaller than Gutsman, but he's way stronger, trust me!" he bluffed, having no faith in Megaman's strength, but needing to put on a confident face in front of Dex.

Dex's eyebrows raised in disbelief. "Way stronger, huh? Sure, whatever you say, Lan."

"You'll see!" Lan insisted, hoping against hope that his bluff would never be called. Fortunately for him, Dex brushed the comment off and turned back to his PET, and the two Navis made their way into the power plant network, easily bypassing the lackluster and neglected security system.

Once inside, Megaman took a careful look around, seeing various systems and devices in disrepair, not having been tended to for who knows how long. "Are we sure things aren't just malfunctioning? This network has definitely seen better days," he suggested, wanting to get his operator away from here and back home as soon as possible.

"Maybe, but that's boring," Lan answered. "We at least need to look and try to find something else." His Navi sighed and continued to slowly explore the neglected network, accompanied by Gutsman. It wasn't long before the two of them stumbled upon a group of three small, ankle-high creatures wearing hard hats and wielding pickaxes; they jammed the tools randomly into the floor of the network, mindlessly causing destruction.

"Looks like some Mettool viruses." Gutsman stepped forward and cracked his knuckles. "We know what to do about those, right, Dex?"

"You bet we do!" Dex started rapidly pressing buttons on his PET, and his Navi took a battle stance, rearing his fist back. As he thrust his arm forward, his fist detached and flew toward one of the Mettools at a high speed, smashing into the viruses's helmet. The hard hat cracked and shattered, and the virus emitted a small squeal as its body dissolved into tiny particles and blew away like dust in the wind.

"Boom! Deleted in one shot!" Gutsman boasted, proud of himself. He reattached his fist as it flew back toward him, cocking it like a shotgun as he turned toward the other two viruses. Before he could attack again, a small blast of energy flew into one of the Mettools and exploded, deleting it instantly; another blast quickly dispatched the second one. Gutsman whirled around to look at Megaman, whose arm was outstretched and aimed at the former viruses. His hand had been converted into a small energy cannon, which was now smoking from the barrel.

"Yeah, they don't really put up much of a fight, do they?" he commented, looking back toward his companion. Gutsman was staring at him in disbelief, but quickly shook himself out of it.

"Er... yeah. Nothing much to worry about," Gutsman answered, trying his best to play it cool. Outside of the Cyberworld, both Lan and Dex were staring, stunned, at Megaman's display of power; Lan's Navi was the only one who appeared to be unaware of his own strength.

Lan managed to tear himself away from his PET screen, smirking at Dex, suddenly filled with much more confidence than before. "See? I told you he was stronger than he looked!"

Dex grumbled, not meeting Lan's gaze. "Yeah, yeah... a virus is one thing, but a Navi battle's another. We'll see how strong he is when we have our Netbattle tomorrow." Lan nodded in agreement, breathing more easily as he looked back at his own PET screen, and the two Navis continued to explore the network and destroy viruses.

Thirty minutes later, everyone involved had begun to lose their patience. Megaman and Gutsman had wandered through most of the areas in the local network, giving none of them a very thorough look due to the combined impatience of their operators. They had busted plenty of viruses, but other than that they had not found anything out of the ordinary.

"I think this is a bust, Dex," Lan conceded. "There's nothing but viruses here. For all we know, they're what's causing all the weird stuff to happen."

"Yeah, I guess." Dex sighed, disappointed, before he looked back at his companion with a gleam in his eye. "Well, since we didn't find anything, how about we try out your new Navi with a Netbattle?" Lan hesitated to answer, still not entirely sure about how a battle between their Navis might work out.

"Lan, hold on!" The hushed voice of his Navi drew his attention back to his PET. "There's someone here!"

Both boys brought their PET screens up close to their eyes, trying to see what Megaman was seeing. Looking closely, they observed a black-and-yellow Navi with four Tesla coils extending from its back in an X shape. It was on one knee, rifling through some machinery, apparently searching for something.

"Who's that?" Lan wondered aloud, as the Navi pulled out a glowing, yellow piece of data. "What's he doing?"

"I'm not sure..." Megaman watched as the strange Navi clasped the file in his hand, sending it to some remote location, and stood up. "Maybe we should watch and-"

"Hey, you!" Gutsman stepped out into the open, pointing at the other intruder with an overlarge finger. "What do you think you're doing here?" Megaman cursed internally before stepping up behind his less-than-stealthy companion.

The other Navi quickly spun about to face them, surprised. His eyes narrowed. "How long have you two been here?"

"Long enough!" Gutsman continued, ramming his fist into his open palm. "Whatever you're doing here, it's over!" Megaman kept quiet, keeping his eyes on the yellow-and-black Navi, praying that Gutsman would shut up before he got them in over their heads.

The opposing Navi flexed his fingers. "Is that so... in that case..." A glowing ball of electricity quickly formed in his right hand. "This will teach your operators to trifle with World Three!" He flung the ball toward the other two Navis, who leaped in opposite directions to dodge.

"World Three?!" Gutsman exclaimed, immediately recognizing the name. "You're with those Net mafia goons?!"

"You just had to say something, didn't you?!" Megaman snapped at him, incredulous that the first few hours with his operator had taken a turn in this direction. "You couldn't just sit still and hide?!"

Dex's Navi tried to answer, but he was forced to jump away in order to dodge another projectile. Regaining his balance, he raised his overlarge fists above his head and slammed them into the ground, shaking the Cyberworld around them; the World Three Navi had to fight to stay upright, before a blast from a Cannon Battlechip, courtesy of Megaman, knocked him to the ground.

"Nice shot!" Gutsman called out. "Time to deliver the hurt!" He ran toward the enemy Navi and leaped into the air, ready to pound him into paste. His foe recovered quickly, summoning a long blade crackling with electricity to replace his hand, and Gutsman had to twist awkwardly to avoid the attack in midair. The sword still delivered a long and shallow wound to his stomach, and Gutsman collapsed to the ground, holding the injury and grunting in pain.

"Hey! Leave him alone!" The criminal Navi turned to see Megaman firing the Mega Buster cannon on his arm, shooting light projectiles toward him. The enemy dodged carefully before dashing forward, swiping at Lan's Navi with his crackling sword.

Megaman quickly dodged and flipped away, smirking. "You can do a bit better than that, I hope!"

Growing irritated, the enemy Navi swiped again and again at his foe, who dodged each blow with quick movements and mild taunts. After a minute of this, he was panting heavily, somewhat drained, while Megaman stood completely fresh in front of him. The Navi charged up another electricity attack, but it was interrupted as a flying fist crashed into him, knocking him away. Megaman turned to see Gutsman on his feet again, clearly in pain but still ready for a fight.

"Wow... if we keep this up, we might actually win!" Lan grinned as he sent a series of Minibombs for his Navi to use. Dex nodded in agreement, feeling energized and excited.

"You little brats..." The World Three Navi got out, catching his breath as he returned to a standing position. He watched his two opponents approach him, weapons drawn, before raising his hand and snapping his fingers. At that instant, the four tesla coils on his back all shot out electricity at an unprepared Megaman and Gutsman, who took it at full force, crying out as the energy coursed painfully through their frames.

"Megaman!" Lan gasped as the criminal Navi grabbed his foe by the leg, grinning evilly.

"Rule #5 of World Three... always have an ace up your sleeve!" he exclaimed, as he spun Megaman around and threw him into a large power converter. He fired a Heavy Cannon blast after him, and his enemy and the explosion both hit the power converter at the same time. When the smoke cleared, the converter was a pile of rubble, and Megaman was nowhere to be found.

CONNECTION LOST, read Lan's PET. He slammed his fist into the lamppost.

"Damn it!" he yelled out. "Megaman... I barely had you for 12 hours..." He rested his head against the lamppost, devastated, before turning his attention back to Gutsman and the battle. Dex's Navi was standing unsteadily, still recovering from the electric shock that had sapped his energy.

The World Three Navi smirked at the smoldering rubble, both bolstered and relieved by his victory, before turning his head toward his remaining opponent. "You really thought you could defeat me, didn't you?" He began to slowly march forward, his sword at his side. "Now you're going to see what happens when you tangle with Elecman... the last lesson you'll ever learn."

Gutsman tried to attack again, rearing his arm back to fire off another fist projectile, but another finger snap and another bolt of electricity brought a fresh round of searing pain, and he sank to his knees. He glanced up to see Elecman pointing his blade at his face, clearly relishing the moment. "So long, you hulking brute." He raised the sword above his head, preparing to strike.

A large explosion from behind them made both Navis jump, and they turned around toward the source of the sound. The pile of rubble had exploded violently, sending pieces of the former power converter scattering about, and small fires were burning here and there around the ruined machine. Elecman watched with horror as Megaman emerged and stood up, virtually unscathed, wearing a confident grin as he saw the expression on his opponent's face.

CONNECTION REESTABLISHED, flashed Lan's PET before returning to a view of his Navi, causing his face to light up. "You're okay!"

Megaman grinned. "Thanks for those Minibombs, Lan." He turned his head slightly to face Elecman, and Lan saw a strong confidence and excitement in his eyes that wasn't there a minute ago.

"That's the best you've got, huh?" He stood up fully, eyes focused on his shocked opponent, ready to battle once again. "Well, I guess it's my turn."

With speed greater than Elecman's, Megaman dashed forward and punched his enemy square in the jaw, and immediately after delivered a kick to the abdomen that sent him flying. He quickly took out his Buster and shot at Elecman all during his flight, before he crashed into the ground.

"Lan! I need a sword!" Megaman called out, ignoring the stunned stare from Gutsman.

"Got it!" Lan inserted a Sword Battlechip into his PET immediately, and Megaman's right arm glowed white and transformed into a blade. He grinned again and dashed at the World Three Navi, eager to put a quick end to this.

Still roughed up, Elecman slowly stood up and turned toward Megaman, to find he was a mere few feet away. He only had time to widen his eyes in shock before the blue Navi let loose with his sword, swiping away rapidly. A quarter of a second later, Megaman was behind Elecman, who stood for a second before feeling his tesla coils, along with one arm, drop off and fall to the ground.

"Gah!" He fell to one knee and grabbed the crackling, electrified stump that was once his arm, before turning his head toward Megaman, his teeth gritted in rage.

"You bastard... this isn't over between us! I'll get my revenge for this humiliation!" he snarled, before turning into a beam of light and disappearing upward, having been jacked out by his operator. Megaman smirked and put his sword away, satisfied.

"Holy crap, Megaman!" Lan was goggling at his Navi, looking for any signs of injury and seeing none. "You just beat a World Three Navi! You made him look like nothing!"

"I told you I was strong, didn't I? Your dad knew what he was doing when he made me." He turned and jogged over to Gutsman, extending his hand to help the Navi up. "Are you alright? You're not hurt too badly, are you?"

"I'm fine," Gutsman insisted, ignoring Megaman's helping hand and getting to his feet by himself, with great difficulty. "S'just a scratch." His ego was smarting a lot more than his torso, after watching Lan's Navi easily dispatch their foe. Seconds later, he turned into a yellow beam of light and flew upward into the sky, as Dex jacked him out and returned him to his PET.

Lan was grinning as he jacked Megaman out as well. "I sure didn't expect that... we thought we would find ghosts, and we found a criminal instead. And we stopped him! A couple of kids took down a World Three Navi!"

"Yeah, we did!" Dex chimed in, happy to claim some share of the credit. "We're like a couple of heroes! Nobody's going to mess with Gutsman now!" His chest swelled with pride, as the danger of the situation faded away, replaced with excitement.

"Man, I can't wait for our Netbattle now!" Lan looked back at his friend. "We're still on, right? Tomorrow after school?"

"Uh..." Dex froze, suddenly remembering that he had to battle the Navi that had just thrown Elecman around like a rag doll, all the wind vanishing from his sails. "Yeah, uh... maybe we should do that some other time. I need to make sure Gutsman hasn't been hurt too badly."

"Right, sure." Lan did his best to hide a smirk. "I'm ready whenever you're ready."

The two boys said their goodbyes and quickly parted, heading back to their respective homes, one of them riding high and the other one feeling somewhat emasculated.

Twenty minutes later, Lan was carefully entering his backyard, looking up at the tree that he needed to climb to return to his room. He leaped up and wrapped his arms and legs around the trunk, starting to shimmy upward.

"You know what time it is, don't you?" Megaman whispered.

"Oh, who cares?" Lan shot back. "We had an adventure that we're going to remember for the rest of our lives. That's worth losing a bit of sleep."

"I think 'adventure' might be overdoing it..."

Lan grabbed onto the branch outside his window and pulled himself onto it. "Just relax. Everything's fine." He glanced down at his PET with a wide smile. "You were really amazing out there. You're the best Navi I've ever seen!"

"Well..." Megaman couldn't help but smile, glad to finally be receiving the praise and respect of his operator. "I guess I have to be, if I'm going to keep you out of trouble."

"You really do worry too much." Lan carefully slid over to his window, leaning over as far as he could and grabbing onto the sill. "Nobody got hurt, and I didn't even get in trouble." He half-jumped over to the sill, sliding into his room through the still-open window.

As he turned and quietly closed the window, he jumped as the ceiling light in his room suddenly flicked on. Turning toward the light switch, he froze as he saw his parents standing by the door, arms folded, dressed in their sleep clothes. He felt his blood go cold as he took in the furious expressions on their faces.

"Hey, Mom... hey, Dad..." he uttered nervously.

Chapter Text

Later that week, Lan found himself walking downtown with Mayl, describing to her the events of several days ago as they passed by various stores.

"Really?" Mayl exclaimed. "Megaman defeated a World Three Navi?!"

Lan grinned and nodded. "He's really strong! Dad said he was the best Navi he ever made."

"Wow... I wish I could have seen that. That must have been an awesome battle."

Lan smirked. "Maybe you should have come with us."

"Well, you didn't invite me!" she retorted.

"You would have said no!"

"Of course I would have said no!" Mayl shot back. "I don't need to be grounded for four days like you were."

Lan grumbled and kicked at the ground. "Yeah, yeah... I thought my dad would be on my side, for once."

She raised an eyebrow. "You thought he wouldn't punish you for sneaking out of the house?"

"I stopped a crime! I was literally crime-fighting!" he insisted. "He should be proud!"

Mayl smirked. "Oh come on, Lan. You went out looking for trouble. It's not the same thing."

"Whatever..." Lan couldn't help but grin, as another memory stirred in his mind. "You should have seen him when I was telling him what happened. He was trying to be angry, but he kept asking questions about how strong Megaman was, and how well he fought. I thought Mom was going to throttle him."

She let out a laugh. "Maybe he is on your side after all, then. Just don't sneak out of the house next time." She looked back toward the businesses they were walking past, before her eyes widened and she dashed to a nearby window, peering inside. "Oh, look at that!"

Lan, a bit bewildered, looked upward to find they were in front of a multi-floor department store; he walked over to the window, trying to find what had gotten his friend so excited. "Um... what are you looking at?"

"That, right there!" she exclaimed, pointing to a handbag in the window. "That purse! I've been looking for something like that for weeks."

Lan stared at it, wondering what exactly made it better than any other purse, when Mayl grabbed his wrist. "Come on! I wanna try it on!" Lan yelped as she pulled him helplessly into the store.

Three minutes and two floors later, the pair was walking through the women's accessories section, one of them clearly enjoying themselves more than the other. Mayl carefully scanned the racks of handbags, eyes lighting up when she found what she was looking for.

"Here it is!" She stood up on her toes, grabbing it off of the wall. "This won't take long, Lan."

Lan grumbled a bit in response. "This is the actual girliest thing you could be doing."

"Well, Lan, I am a girl, in case you hadn't noticed."

"I mean, you're in a department store, trying on purses because you saw something in the window," he continued, as she looked for a nearby mirror. "This is like the ultimate girl stereotype you're fulfilling here."

Mayl was unfazed by his criticism. "So what, Lan? I'm a girl, I like girly things sometimes. I also run track, I play piano, and I Netbattle just like you do. I am a perfectly well-balanced individual." She stopped in front of a full-length mirror on the wall, putting the purse on and taking a look. "You're just being snotty because you want to be at the arcade instead."

"Got that right..." Lan muttered in response, looking down.

"Well, nobody's making you stay here and watch me do this," she responded, turning to the side. "Go do whatever you want to do and I'll find you when I'm done."

"Alright." Lan quickly turned away, relieved. "I'll be downstairs, in the electronics section."

Mayl smirked, glancing back at him. "Oh, will you? How stereotypically boyish of you, Lan."

"Oh, shut up." Lan started walking away toward the escalators, when a loud buzzing sound started to pierce the air, causing both of them to jump. They heard a number of shocked cries from other customers nearby, but a couple of seconds later, the alarm stopped as suddenly as it had started.

"Attention, customers," a male voice announced over the store speakers, sounding as unnerved as everyone else. "We apologize for the alarm you just heard. There was a momentary glitch in our security systems, which we are resolving now. There is no cause for further alarm. Thank you."

Lan and Mayl both exhaled, their bodies un-tensing, as Lan continued heading downstairs. "Geez, give me a heart attack, why don't you..."

"Bit headstrong, isn't she?" Megaman commented a few minutes later, as Lan was standing in front of a display case of Battlechips, looking them over.

"Yeah, she is," Lan confirmed, eyes looking over the more expensive chips. "It's fine, though. She's fun to spend time with, whatever we're doing."

"How long have you known each other?"

"Since we were born, basically." Lan glanced over the prices, wondering if it was worth saving up his allowance for a powerful chip. "Our parents were all friends, so they tried to get us to be friends, too. It worked, eventually."

His Navi smirked. "Eventually, huh?" Lan started to respond, but a voice from behind made him turn around, where he saw Mayl walking in his direction.

"I'm all done," she called out as she approached. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah, I was just looking." Lan glanced over her, noticing she didn't have anything more than she came in with. "Didn't like the purse, huh?"

"No, it was great, I loved it."

He raised an eyebrow in response. "So why didn't you buy it?"

"Oh, I was just looking at it. There's no way I could afford something like that," she explained. "That's not the sort of thing I buy. It's the sort of thing I borrow from Yai's closet, and then hope she doesn't ask for it back."

Lan stared back at her in disbelief, feeling like his head was going to explode. He was tempted to complain again about what he felt was a waste of time, but decided not to bring it up, now that he had a chance to actually leave. "Alright, well, let's get out of here, then." They started heading toward the department store entrance, when a voice caused them to stop in their tracks.

"Excuse me!" Lan and Mayl turned around, surprised, to see a rather wiry, middle-aged man in a suit standing behind them, looking a bit nervous and shaken; he had his eye on Lan's PET. "But are either of you skilled Netbattlers, by any chance? I noticed you over here by the Battlechips..."

Lan nodded, and the man wiped a bit of sweat from his forehead. "Thank goodness... I'm the store manager, you see. Our security systems aren't functioning properly, and we have a virus attacking our computers, but we don't want to alert police or the Officials... it might scare away some customers. I'm sure you heard the alarm a few minutes ago."

"We did, but why..." Mayl's eyes widened a little. "Are you asking us to take care of it for you?"

"I know it's unusual to ask such a thing of our customers, especially children, but this is a critical shopping period for us. We can't really afford a ruckus." He looked rather uncomfortable making the request, even embarrassed. "Both of you will be compensated for your assistance, of course."

Her eyes lit up a bit, thinking back to the accessory she had just been trying on. Lan grinned at the man and nodded. "No problem! Me and Megaman can take care of any virus!"

"Excellent, excellent!" The manager led them over to a specific hole in the wall. "You can jack in right here. But please hurry, and try not to let customers notice you." Mayl and Lan both nodded, pulling out the jack-in cables on their PETs and sending their Navis into the store's Cyberworld.

An instant later, Megaman arrived in the store's network, appearing in a blue flash of light; looking over to his right, he saw another Navi appear immediately afterward, a slightly shorter, female Navi in pink armor, with yellow, curved bands expanding backwards from her helmet. This was Mayl's custom Navi, Roll, whom Megaman had met earlier in the day, when Lan and Mayl were at school.

Looking forward, they saw the Cyberworld was in complete disarray; something had come through and torn it apart, scattering devices and data every which way.

"Wow, what happened here?" Megaman wondered, stepping forward and looking around. "This place is a mess, but I don't see any viruses."

"It looks like they were looking for something," Roll responded, glancing around as well. "You think they went ahead searching elsewhere?"

"Only one way to find out," Megaman replied, and the two went running off in search of the assailant.

Elsewhere in the store, a mysterious Navi was sifting through data, tossing it aside as he looked about. This was a humanoid Navi wearing a red bodysuit, but with a large gray torch acting as his head.

"Damn... these Elemental Programs are in the oddest of places," he muttered to himself, tossing aside financial and product data bits. "The kitchen section of a department store is the apparent location of a highly powerful... wait!"

He looked down at a certain piece of data he had in his hand; it was colored orange, and was exuding a strange aura. It matched the description he had been given exactly.

"This must be it, then." He studied it curiously, not noticing the two humanoid Navis that were coming into view from his side. He put two fingers to the side of his head, roughly where his ear should have been; Megaman, upon seeing this, quickly grabbed Roll's arm and had them both duck behind a large file structure. He resisted the urge to peek back out, intensely curious about the orange data file the Navi had taken. It reminded him of the glowing yellow data that Elecman had pulled out of the abandoned power plant, before their battle began.

"This is Fireman, reporting in. I've found the third Elemental Program." Lan and Mayl's Navis listened in carefully, hoping they could glean some information. "I can't believe it was here, either. Makes me wonder if this LifeVirus is really going to be as powerful as it's supposed to be." He listened for a moment, as whoever he was speaking to said something in response. "Well, whatever. Returning to base now."

He moved his fingers from the side of his head, about to jack out and teleport away, when a Mega Buster blast whizzed right by his head, hitting a nearby object. The Navi jumped and looked over at the source of the attack, and his eyes widened a bit at the sight of Megaman, as he and Roll got closer."You... you fit Zapp's description exactly." The Navi took a fighting stance. "You must be the Navi that defeated Elecman, are you not?"

"What... how do you know that?" Megaman exclaimed, dropping back into a defensive stance. "Are you a World Three Navi, too?"

"Who were you talking to?" Roll demanded. "What's a LifeVirus? Why does it need these special programs?"

The enemy Navi's eyes narrowed. "You two snoops were eavesdropping on me... you've heard entirely too much." He looked at the orange data file he had in his hand, before he snapped his fingers, and the data suddenly disappeared. "We'll have to do something about that."

The Navi stood fully, several inches taller than the other two at his full height. "I assure you I'll prove a much better challenge than Count Zapp's weakling." He took a fighting stance. "I am Fireman, the strongest of the World Three Navis, operated by the incomparable Kenichi Match! You can't win!"

Megaman smirked, as he and Roll both assumed fighting stances as well. "We'll just see about that!"

The three ran at each other, prepared to battle.

Immediately upon beginning the battle, Megaman activated a Cannon and started firing it at Fireman. Expecting it to contact, he was quite surprised to see his opponent dodge with surprising deftness, given how close the two were.

Fireman laughed, dashing forward and slamming his flame-charged fist into Megaman's stomach, sending him flying backwards. "I told you that I would be a challenge!"

Lan's Navi landed hard on the ground, whereupon Roll ran over to him. "Megaman, are you okay?"

"Yeah... I'll be fine," Megaman sat up, rubbing his head. "Looks like Cannon fire is too slow, though. We'll have to hit him with our small arms, they're faster!"

"Got it!" Roll replied, pulling her companion to his feet, before forming a crossbow on her right arm. She turned toward Fireman and began to fire at a high speed. "Dodge this!"

The arrows flew directly toward Fireman, who had barely any time to dodge. Roll and Megaman anticipated the hit, but at the last moment, a fire shield surrounded the enemy completely, causing the arrow to disintegrate upon contact.

"No... no way!" Megaman shouted, getting out his Mega Buster and firing. Every shot dissipated upon coming in contact with the shield.

"Is that all you fools have got?" Fireman demanded, as he lowered his shield, unscathed. "Weaklings, the both of you." He aimed his cannon arm at the both of them. "Let me show you what real strength looks like!"

He started firing high-temperature rounds at both of them at a high speed. Megaman yelped and barely dodged one, but got hit by a second and third before Lan sent him a Barrier to protect himself with; the barrage continued as he nursed his wounds.

"Damn it! Nothing we have is working!" he cursed. "We need a strong attack, but they're all too slow..."

Fireman stopped his onslaught, as he saw his rounds dissipate as they impacted the shield. "Hiding behind a Barrier already, are you? That didn't take long." He chuckled, marching forward. "Perhaps you're not the Navi who defeated Elecman after all..."

"Megaman, what's the strongest chip you've got?" Roll inquired. Megaman looked over, expecting to see her covered in scorch marks, but blinked in surprise when he saw she was completely unscathed.

"Er... Lan?" Megaman asked.

Back in the real world, Lan flipped through his chip folder. "I've got one Mega Cannon here... got lucky in a chip trader a couple weeks ago." He pulled it out. "We could maybe charge it up... it'll never hit Fireman, though..."

Roll shook her head. "Don't worry about that. I'll distract him while you get ready to fire that thing... then when it's charged, give it to him where it hurts!"

"What? But how will you distract him?" Megaman inquired.

She smirked and took a runner's stance. "If you thought Fireman was fast, you haven't seen anything yet!"

An instant later, she took off like a rocket. Megaman gawked as she traveled at blinding speed, nearly untrackable, toward Fireman, whom she punched in the stomach as hard as she could. Fireman's eyes widened, and he took a step backward before swinging his cannon at her head; she dodged with ease, and jumped back a few feet before Megaman knew what happened.

"What the... Roll is that fast?!" he exclaimed, incredulous. Roll looked over at him, as Fireman charged her.

"Megaman! Get a move on!" she yelled before jumping again, firing two more arrows which Fireman incinerated. Megaman, back in reality, nodded, as Lan slotted in his Mega Cannon chip. His Navi held out his arm and let the Mega Cannon take its time forming, as Roll continued her high-speed, low-power battle with her foe.

"Gah! Enough of this!" Fireman exclaimed, after being dodged for a fifth time. He put both his hands out. "Let's see you dodge this!"

Standing still for a moment, Fireman started straining, as if trying to summon something. A second later, the ground in front of him turned into a long, thin pool of lava, separating himself and Roll.

"What's he doing?" she wondered aloud, an instant before her questioned was answered. The pool of lava erupted into a massive tidal wave, one too tall for her to jump over; her eyes widened, as Fireman laughed, amused.

"Let's see you dodge this one!" he exclaimed, as he thrust his hands forward, causing the wall of lava to advance with shocking speed; Roll yelped and started running away reflexively. She looked at the top of it, seeing that it was much too high to jump over, and she'd never manage to get to either side. All she could do was outrun it, and it would doubtless chase her down eventually. She started to panic as she ran backwards.

"Now!" Megaman said aloud to himself, aiming the Mega Cannon and firing.

Fireman barely saw the blast out of the corner of his eye, long after it was too late. He took the full force of the Mega Cannon head on, as it knocked him back several yards. His wave of lava began to fall, and Roll, seeing her opening, barely managed to jump over the top of it, landing on safe ground.

Megaman got his Mega Buster back out and ran over to the enemy Navi, but it was hardly needed. The blast had taken a semi-circular chunk out of Fireman's body, including an arm and part of his leg. He groaned and tried to stand, but failed.

"You... you bastards..."

Megaman pointed his Buster at Fireman's head. "Give up?"

Fireman snorted derisively. "I never needed to win this battle. World Three already has what it needs from this place. All you've done is slow me down." He started to glow a little. "Lord Wily's plans will go on undeterred..."

"Lord Wily?" Megaman wondered aloud, but Fireman was jacked out before he could shed any more light on the situation. He sighed and put his Buster away.

"Thanks, Roll. We could never have won without your help."

Roll smiled. "I should be saying the same to you. Now come on, let's jack out. I'm sure Lan and Mayl are eager to leave."

Megaman nodded, as both of them left the store's Cyberworld.

Ten minutes later, Lan was standing outside, leaning against the window of the department store right next to its main entrance. He was holding and looking at a gift card to the store, worth 10,000 Zennys, which had been given to him by a grateful, frazzled, and probably unscrupulous store manager.

"So... World Three wants this LifeVirus..." he mused aloud. "I've never heard of a super-powerful virus before. What do you think, Megaman?"

"I think your dad may know what to do better than the two of us," Megaman chipped in. "SciLab could probably stop World Three from getting the last Elemental Program, if anyone can."

"Yeah, but he doesn't want me associating with World Three anymore," Lan added. "How can I get that information to him without getting in trouble?"

Megaman didn't have an answer to this. Neither had much time to think, however, before the doors next to Lan slid open; he glanced over to see Mayl stepping outside, grinning from ear to ear, the infamous purse slung over her shoulder.

Lan smirked a bit. "So you were able to get it after all."

Mayl turned toward him, a wide smile on her face. "And you're getting a handful of new Battlechips, I bet." She grinned teasingly at him. "Aren't you glad we stopped in there now?"

"Yeah, yeah, you were right and I was wrong." He pushed away from the window with his elbows, standing up fully. "So are we still going to the arcade, or what?"

"You go ahead without me, Lan. I'm going to go and show this to Yai. She's going to flip!" Lan's eyebrows raised as he watched Mayl turn and run off toward uptown.

"Hey, wait! Are you serious?" He watched her race off, groaning as he leaned back against the window. "Ah, geez... so much for today, then."

"Mayl gets her way a lot, doesn't she?" Megaman piped up.

"She sure does..." Lan sighed and stood up again. "Well, if we're not going to play games, I might as well take a look at some of those Battlechips."

"Sure, good idea. I know a few I'd like to use..." his Navi responded, as Lan walked back inside.

Chapter Text

"2600 Zennys, please."

Megaman held out his hand, and a second later a small device formed in his palm, which he handed over to the Netmerchant; the man deducted the proper amount from the account and handed it back, along with a piece of data.

"Thank you, come again!" Megaman nodded and turned, leaving the shopping district of Net City and walking off.

"Well, that's done. Your mom should be happy," he said to a listening Lan in the real world. "This should fix the stove good as new."

"Good thing, too," Lan responded. "Dinnertime's supposed to be in an hour and a half!"

His Navi grinned, as he headed back toward ACDC's Net space. "Your mom likes to cook a lot, doesn't she?"

"I mean, I guess? I'm not sure 'like' is the word. She enjoys cooking, but you can tell she gets annoyed when she has to do it all the time."

Megaman made a quizzical face. "It sounds like she's cooking pretty much every night, from what I hear."

"Well, that's more because she's good at it, and Dad is really, really bad at it." Lan leaned back in his computer chair, sitting in his room at home. "She's done the stay-at-home mom thing since I was born, and I guess she's getting tired of it. That's why she's going to night school."

His Navi nodded, soaking in all the details. "What does she want to do with that?"

"She wants to teach Electopian."

Megaman smirked a bit. "That explains why she keeps correcting your grammar." He entered ACDC's Net and looked around. "Well, that's done. What do you think we should do next?"

"Hmm." Lan pondered to himself. "How about we check up on Dex? We can see what he's done to Gutsman after that loss last week."

Megaman nodded. "Sure thing. Maybe he'll want another chance to Netbattle." He started heading off, but just as quickly stopped, taking a cautious look around.

"What's wrong, Mega?" Lan inquired.

"I'm not sure..." the Navi replied. "I just got this feeling, like I was being watched... it's weird."

"It's probably nothing," Lan said reassuringly. "Come on, let's see what Dex is up to!"

Megaman nodded, taking off in a light sprint.

A few minutes later, Megaman was near his destination, a little out of breath from running and the occasional virus battle. He looked ahead and saw the portal to Dex's home page, a minute or so out.

"Almost there, Lan," he noted with a smile, as he slowed to a walk and approached the portal. He paused for a second as a notification sounded in his head, before continuing on. "Oh, and your dad just replied to your email. Want me to read it?"

Lan sat up in his chair, curious. "Yeah, go ahead." Megaman nodded and started to recite the email.

"'Your PET is working fine, Lan. The reason you couldn't back up Megaman last night is because I haven't figured out how to back him up on consumer machines yet.'"

"Wait, what?" Lan interrupted, baffled. "I can't back you up at all?"

"I... guess not? That's concerning." The Navi continued reading. "'Writing his data out is easy, but putting it back together is nearly impossible. It took a supercomputer weeks to build him the first time, in several stages. He could only be restored from backup data in a very limited set of circumstances. That should be a good reason for you to be careful and stay out of trouble." He glanced up. "That last part was in bold, and underlined, by the way."

"Yea, yea, I get it..." His operator sighed, sitting back again. "Dad really needed a supercomputer to build you? That's pretty cool, at least."

"If he says so. I don't remember being built, any more than you remember being born," Megaman replied, as he finally reached the portal to Dex's home page. Upon stepping on it, however, nothing happened.

"That's odd, it's deactivated," he observed, poking at it with his foot curiously. "I wonder what-- gyah!!" He didn't finish his sentence before he felt an intense, sharp pain shoot through him, making his vision go white.

"Megaman!" Lan exclaimed, as his PET's screen started to fade in and out. After an instant that felt like forever, the Navi fell to the ground, groaning and struggling to stand.

"How does it feel, Megaman?" an all-too-familiar voice inquired. Megaman turned himself over, blinking, and stared up into the eyes of a smirking yellow-and-black Navi. "The pain, the humilation?"

"Elecman!" he shouted, working to get back on his feet, his whole body sore. "What are you doing here?"

"Payback," his foe responded with muted anger, kicking him in the jaw and knocking him back. "Our last battle was an embarrassment to me and World Three... I'm here to do something about that."

Megaman once again tried to stand, but was hit by an electric Minibomb and cried out, slumping down again. "I have convinced Lord Wily to give me another chance to defeat you, at my full strength... and I assured him I would succeed."

"C-coward..." Megaman struggled to get out, leaning on one arm while turning the other into a Sword. "Hitting me when my back is turned... you don't think you can beat me in a fair fight, huh?"

"I'm putting the shoe on the other foot," Elecman shot back. "We didn't have a fair fight last time, and we won't now, either. This time, it's going to be in my favor." He formed his arm into an Elec Sword and raised it above his head. "Let's see how long you last!"

As he brought his sword down, Megaman closed his eyes and raised his own blade to defend himself, anticipating another dose of searing pain. When he felt nothing, he opened his eyes to see not Elecman standing before him, but a mysterious red Navi blocking the sword sword with his own, long silver hair streaming from his head. He lunged forward and knocked his opponent back.

"You!" Elecman cried out angrily. "You don't ever give up, do you?"

"Who...?" Megaman started, before the Navi turned around to look at him. He was surprised to see that this newcomer was wearing sunglasses.

"Don't try to get up, Megaman, you're in no condition to fight," he stated matter-of-factly. "Return to your PET and get yourself healed."

"He'll do no such thing!" Elecman exclaimed, dashing toward the red Navi again with his sword; the Navi jumped to the side, kicking Elecman hard in the head as he passed. He flew backward, but landed well and got back up quickly. "This is a private matter! You Officials stay out!"

"An Official Navi..." Megaman muttered to himself, as the other two Navis squared off against each other.

"That explains how he knew your name," Lan chimed in. "I'm sure Dad's told them about you..."

Megaman nodded and returned to watching the battle, which was appearing more and more one-sided in the Official Navi's favor. A few more punches and sword clashes later, Elecman was holding his injured arm and breathing heavy, while his opponent looked to be in top shape.

"Give up?" the Official inquired, as a beeping sound came from Elecman, who touched his ear.

"Elecman! Count Zapp!" a harsh, older voice sounded. "Return to base immediately!"

"No!" he responded, as Megaman watched curiously. "I can still beat them both!"

"Never mind that!" the voice demanded. "We have a serious problem. The LifeVirus has escaped into downtown Den City's Cyberworld!"

"What?!" all three Navis exclaimed at once; Megaman and the Official Navi exchanged looks, each wondering how the other knew about the LifeVirus.

"But it's not complete yet!" Elecman continued.

"Exactly!" the voice returned. "Which is why we need you back at base! Return, now!"

He glared at both the other Navis. "This isn't over!" he exclaimed, before jacking out. Megaman breathed a sigh of relief, as the other Navi stepped forward.

"I don't know how you know about the LifeVirus, but you should know as well as I do you don't want to be on the Net right now. You'd be wise to jack out right away." The Navi disappeared in a flash of light, as Megaman lay back on the ground.

"Jacking out sounds pretty good right now, Lan. That jerk really did a number on me." Lan nodded and immediately sent his Navi back to his PET, before unplugging it from his computer and placing it in its charger.

"What should we do?" Lan inquired a few minutes later, after his Navi had restored himself. "We can't just let this LifeVirus run free, can we?"

"We're not just letting it run free," Megaman responded. "The Officials know now, and I'm sure they'll be on their way to take care of it. Not to mention your Dad told you to stay away from World Three, if you could help it..."

Lan sighed and leaned back in his chair. "I guess..." He kicked a soccer ball, which rolled to the other side of the room. "I just hate feeling helpless, like I can't do anything."

"Don't worry about it, Lan," his Navi reassured him. "I'm sure--"

Megaman was interrupted by a loud ringing sound, as the phone function in his PET alerted them both to an incoming call. Lan jumped a little bit, then pressed a button to see Mayl's distressed face.

"Mayl? What's going on?" Lan inquired, sitting up straight.

"Lan! Thank goodness I got you!" Mayl seemed quite distressed. "They're telling everyone to stay off the Net and to leave the downtown..."

"Yea, I know, we already heard," he cut in. "Thanks, though..."

"No, not that!" she interrupted, a little annoyed at being cut off. "It's Yai! She's trapped in an elevator downtown! She can't get out!"

"What?!" Lan stood up. "We need to go and get her out!"

"I can't go!" Mayl exclaimed, exasperated. "My mom's not letting me leave the house! She says to let the Officials take care of it!"

"Don't worry, I'll go and help!" he replied, running toward his shoes. "We'll be back in no time!"

"Thank you so much, Lan!" Mayl managed, before she hung up. Lan hopped into his shoes and ran downstairs, sprinting through the kitchen.

"Lan!" his mother, Haruka, exclaimed. "Where on Earth are you going in such a hurry?"

"I gotta get something downtown... before... the place closes!" Lan thought up quickly, running out the door quickly before coming to a stop. He turned around quickly and ran up to his mom, handing her a data card. "Oh, here's the repair thing you wanted," he got out quickly before leaving again, leaving Haruka scratching her head.

Chapter Text

Lan skated as fast as he could toward downtown Den City, passing by a multitude of people and cars heading in the other direction, all heeding the instructions Lan was determinedly ignoring.

"Where is Yai supposed to be, anyway?" Megaman asked from the PET at Lan's hip. "We forgot to ask Mayl. We can't search all of downtown."

"We'll have to call her now!" Lan replied, grabbing the PET and dialing Yai, nearly colliding with a pedestrian as he did so. Not even one ring later, the screen changed to a young girl of eight, in a red dress with long blonde pigtails; this was Yai Ayanokouji, Mayl's longtime friend and the youngest member of the powerful Ayanokouji family.

"Yai! Are you alright?" Lan called out. Yai's distressed look softened a little, but not much.

"Lan! I thought it would be my dad coming to help..."

"Well, I'm coming to help! Sorry to disappoint you!" he replied, slightly annoyed. "Where are you now? What building?"

"Water Tower Place..." She looked upward at the elevator display. "I think I'm stuck between the 7th and 8th floors! Please hurry!"

"I'll be right there!" Lan called out, putting the PET away and zipping down the street at a high speed.

"Chaud! Report! Any luck?"

A bit further into downtown, a young boy with a red jacket, silver hair and black sideburns looked into the face of an Official from the phone in his PET. He was currently jacked into a lamppost in downtown Den City.

"Nothing yet," he reported. "It's moving too fast, even for us; as soon as we figure out where he is, he's gone by the time we get there."

"Well, keep looking anyway. We can't let that LifeVirus roam free!"

"We're working as hard as we can already." He leaned against the lamppost with one hand. "The only way that someone's going to get to that LifeVirus is through sheer, dumb luck." He looked down the street as he said this, just in time to watch some kid with roller skates go zooming down a nearby cross street.

Up in the Water Tower Place elevator, Yai sat in the corner, hugging her knees and waiting for Lan to arrive nervously.

"I hope he comes soon," she muttered to herself worriedly. "I don't know if anyone else is going to come looking for me..."

"Miss Yai, if I may..." spoke a voice from her hip. She reached down to grab her PET and looked into the screen to see the face of her Navi, Glyde, a butlerish, generally brown-colored Navi with two pairs of wings emanating from his back. "I might be able to jack in and see about opening the top hatch, to allow you some fresh air."

She nodded. "Okay... sure..." She stood up and walked toward the elevator's control panel, pulling out the jack-in cable to her PET and sending Glyde into the Cyberworld. Upon his arrival, he took a quick look around at his surroundings; this Cyberworld appeared to be undamaged.

"There doesn't seem to be any problems with the elevator, Miss Yai," he reported. "It seems like there must be a power outage keeping you trapped here..."

"Well, they better fix it soon!" Yai exclaimed, getting antsy. "I've been in here for almost an hour!"

"Please calm down, Miss," Glyde responded calmly. "I'm sure they're doing the best they can... aha, here it is!" He came across the program that controlled the hatch, a small, green program resembling a humanoid dog.

"THE ELEVATOR IS CURRENTLY NOT FUNCTIONING," the program reported mechanically.

"I am aware of this," Glyde replied. "I wonder if I could trouble you to open the hatch in the ceiling of the elevator car."

"I WILL TRY," the program responded, before closing its eyes, appearing to be concentrating.

"Glyde! Is that you?" The Navi turned around to see a familiar blue Navi running over to him.

"Master Megaman!" Glyde responded. "I take it Master Lan has arrived?"

Megaman nodded. "He sent me in to try and get the elevator door open. Are you doing the same thing?"

Yai's Navi shook his head. "I thought I would get Miss Yai some fresh air by opening the top hatch." He gestured to the nearby program. "This fellow is attempting to do so now."

"Well, if we can get both the door and the hatch open, we may be able to get Yai out!" Megaman exclaimed, looking around. "Now all we need to do is find the other--"

He stopped suddenly, looking off into a distance and assuming a defensive stance. "Over there... there's something heading this way, quickly..."

Glyde followed Megaman's gaze into the distance, squinting a little. There was indeed something in the distance, appearing to be a small, scuttling virus, but something was wrong; it was getting large a bit too fast. Either it was growing as it moved, or it was traveling at an incredible speed.

"Glyde, move!" Megaman called out, diving out of the way. Not one for speed, Glyde only had time to blink before he was knocked away by a giant green spider-like leg. He flew backward several yards before coming to a stop, holding his face.

Megaman looked upward at the monster that had just appeared in front of them. Four huge legs led into an armored, spiked torso, which grew arms with enormous fists; the head stretched itself backward, spikes lining the top of it. It gave off an enormous roar, pointing its face toward the sky.

"Is this supposed to be the LifeVirus?" Megaman wondered aloud, goggling a bit at the enormous creature in front of him. "It's huge!"

"Holy... sure looks complete to me," Lan chimed in from the real world, a bit out of breath; he had just finished climbing seven flights of stairs, and was jacked in close to the broken elevator. "How are we supposed to beat that thing?"

"If it's incomplete, it probably has some sort of weakness," his Navi responded, readying his buster. "We'll have to find and exploit it if we want to win." He started firing his buster at the LifeVirus's head; expecting them to connect, he instead found they disappeared just a moment before they reached the beast. With each shot, a shimmering, translucent red sphere became visible for an instant, surrounding the LifeVirus.

"What the--?" Megaman wondered; a split second later, one of the LifeVirus's legs caught he in the stomach, knocking him backward and to the ground. He groaned and stood up slowly as the LifeVirus gave off another roar. "Lan, are you seeing this? It's got some sort of weird barrier around it!"

"It looks like a Aura!" Glyde called out from the other side of the virus, having gotten back to his feet. "Miss Yai has a similar Battlechip in his arsenal... it can only be destroyed by a sufficiently strong attack!"

Megaman nodded, jumping to the side to avoid a blast from some eye lasers, before looking up. "Lan! Send me the strongest Battlechip you have!"

Lan flipped through his chip organizer, trying to find a chip with a strong attack power; he eventually settled on a BigBomb. "Megaman, here!"

The Navi extended his hand, and a large, spherical grenade appeared; he grinned and leaped away from the LifeVirus's fist, then threw the bomb as hard as he could at the enormous monster. "Eat this!" The bomb flew directly toward the creature's head; like the buster shots, however, it exploded before connecting, making the Aura visible once again.

"Damn it, seriously?!" Megaman cursed. "We don't have any chips strong enough for this thing?"

An instant later, the LifeVirus placed one of his hands on the ground, focusing. With a loud grunt from the LifeVirus, a series of pointed logs started shooting out of the ground, on a path toward Megaman. He yelped and jumped out of the way, but his eyes widened the log trail turned around and headed back toward him. Just as the logs were about to strike him, he felt a sword appear on his arm. He jumped in the air, narrowly avoiding the log that would have pierced him; he instead chopped off the top of the log, landing on his feet on the flat and harmless piece of wood, which soon receded into the ground.

The Navi stared up at the enormous beast, racking his brain for any sort of plan. He quickly went through all of the limited information he knew about the LifeVirus in his mind, recalling the brief conversations with the World Three Navis. As he thought back to Fireman, and the Elemental Program he had uncovered, his eyebrows raised as he started piecing something together.

"Lan, I think I figured something out!" he called out, looking up again. "The LifeVirus must be missing one of the Environmental Programs!"

"Really? Which one?"

"Well, we just saw a wood attack, so it can't be that," Megaman mused, moving back as his enemy advanced again, with Glyde staying determinedly out of the way. "Fireman got the fire program, and Elecman surely took the electric one... he might be weak to water!"

"Got it! Water chips, water chips..." Lan flipped through his chip folder, praying that he had something; seconds later, his face fell as he realized he didn't. "I don't have any! There's nothing here!"

"What?!" Megaman exclaimed, running away from more eye lasers. "Not a single one?"

"THE HATCH IS OPEN," a nearby program stated from the other side of the LifeVirus, causing Megaman and Glyde to look toward it. An instant later, the hatch in the ceiling of the elevator opened, and Yai jumped a bit in response. She stood up, taking her eyes from the scene on her PET, and looked upward.

"Glyde!" she called out. "I can see where I am! I'm close to the eighth floor door, I can see it!"

"I see!" Glyde responded before turning to Megaman, who was blasting, futilely, at the LifeVirus. "Master Megaman, if I may..."

Megaman stopped blasting and moved quickly out of the LifeVirus's sights, turning toward Glyde, who continued. "If I could get the door open, perhaps Miss Yai could throw Lan her Aqua Blade chip. It's quite powerful, and could injure this monstrosity!"

"Good idea!" Megaman said. "Get a move on!" Glyde nodded and started to run around the Cyberworld, in search of the elevator door program.

Two minutes later, Megaman had made no progress against the LifeVirus. Lan clenched his fist in frustration, watching as his Navi grew more and more winded, his attacks all being stopped by the powerful Aura.

"Come on Glyde, we can't wait much longer..."

As if to respond, a bell rung pleasantly next to Lan, and the elevator doors slowly opened. He set his PET down and leaned over the edge into the elevator shaft, where he could see Yai inside the elevator. Her eyes lit up as she saw him, relieved.

"Yai!" he called out. "I need you to throw me your Aqua Blade chip!"

"Do that later!" Yai responded, stepping closer. "Get me out of here, please!"

"Yai, I can't reach that far! I'd just get stuck too!" Lan grew frustrated, not needing another roadblock. "We need to get the elevator working, and we'll never do that if we don't defeat this thing!"

"Fine," Yai grumbled, looking through her chips and quickly pulling out the one Lan needed. "Catch!" She wound up and threw the chip as hard as she could through the opening, toward Lan's outstretched arms. Unfortunately, her throw wasn't fantastic, and he had to lean forward to catch the chip.

"Got it-- whoa!!" Lan called out as he started to pitch face forward into the elevator shaft. Thinking quickly, he managed to grab a nearby pipe to stop his fall.

"Lan!" Yai called out, worried. "Are you alright?"

Lan groaned, putting the Battlechip in his pocket and trying to grab another nearby pipe, swinging himself closer. After a few tries, he was able to finally grab it; straining with all his might, he managed to pull himself back out of the elevator shaft, breathing heavily. He quickly grabbed his PET and inserted the Aqua Blade.

"Megaman! Here it is!"

"Got it!" Megaman replied, extending his arm; an instant later, a long blue blade appeared on it, with bubbles floating about inside. He looked up at the LifeVirus, who was winding his arm up, ready to strike again.

"Only got one shot to hurt him, probably," he muttered to himself. "He won't let me near him a second time..."

The LifeVirus threw its fist toward Megaman, who jumped, sending the fist crashing into the ground. He ran up the LifeVirus's arm, jumping toward the LifeVirus's head, the blade outstretched. He stabbed as hard as he could.

The blade met the creature's Aura, which shattered upon contact with the powerful weapon. In the same strike, the Aqua Blade inserted itself deep into the LifeVirus's neck.

The LifeVirus let out a vicious roar, shaking off Megaman, who fell to the ground. The hole where the blade had entered sparked viciously, and the creature continued to flail and roar until its knees buckled. The beast quieted down and slumped to the ground, unconscious.

Megaman breathed heavily for a minute, hands on his knees. "I think we did it... at least we stopped it..."

His eyebrows raised at some movement around the virus's head. The mouth slowly started to open, and Megaman got on the defensive again; instead of a laser beam, however, a small program appeared, wriggling its way out of the LifeVirus and hopping to the ground.

"THANK YOU FOR SAVING ME!" it proclaimed, as Megaman and Glyde stared, slightly dumbstruck. "I CAN NOW RESTORE OPERATIONS TO THE ELEVATOR!"

As soon as he said this, Yai felt the elevator start suddenly; she yelped, losing her balance and falling over, as she was carried up the short distance to the eighth floor. Lan ran in quickly as the inner doors opened.

"Yai, are you alright?" he asked, extending his hand; Yai nodded and took it, and Lan helped her onto her feet.

"I'm fine," she replied, looking up at him, relief and gratitude in her eyes; a second later, her mind came back to her, and she looked down, suddenly sheepish over the whole situation, feeling embarrassed that she had to be saved. "I'm sorry you had to do all this..."

"It's fine, Yai," Lan replied, smiling as he walked back out; Yai followed quietly. "We should probably leave, the Officials will be here soon." He looked toward the elevator from which they had just emerged. "Maybe we should take the stairs..."

Yai nodded in agreement, as they walked around in search of a stairwell.

"Sir, I have news."

Far away from downtown Den City, a man in a green suit, with pointed blonde hair, walked through a dark room toward a large, lit desk. "It turns out that they were able to incapacitate the LifeVirus, and it was captured by the Officials. One of our operatives was able to retrieve security footage and backup logs."

"And?" replied a gravely old voice from the other side of the desk; in a large chair sat an old man with wild, gray hair, glasses, and a cane. "What did they find, Zapp?"

"It was that blue Navi, Megaman, who managed to defeat the LifeVirus," he continued, a little reluctant. "It looks like he's more than we counted on..."

"Hmph." The old man leaned forward. "The LifeVirus, and two of our operators, defeated by a child? Perhaps I have overestimated your value to me, Zapp."

"Ah... s-sir..." Zapp bowed deeply. "Please forgive me incompetence, Lord WIly..."

The other man sighed, sitting back. "Megaman, hm?" He stroked his chin, deep in thought. "Perhaps we ought to keep an eye on this Navi after all. He has a knack for being a thorn in our side..."

"What is our next move, my lord?" Count Zapp inquired, still bowed humbly.

"Our plan will continue as normal," Wily replied. "We won't be able to use the LifeVirus for that step, though... but no matter. We can get the strength we need from other sources."

Count Zapp looked up, his eyebrows raised. "What other sources?"

"You leave that to me," Wily answered cryptically. "Don't concern yourself with it."

"So we all should continue as normal?"

Wily nodded. "Do as you were instructed before. I'll figure out how to deal with Megaman, since that seems so difficult for the rest of you."

Count Zapp nodded, embarrassed, standing and leaving without another word. Wily sat twirling his cane, thinking about the best way to salvage his scuttled plans.

Chapter Text

Yai hung up her house phone, sighing and walking into her enormous living room, where Mayl and Dex were waiting for news.

"So what did Lan say?" Mayl inquired eagerly. "Is he coming?"

"He's in trouble for homework or something like that, as usual," Yai answered, sitting on a nearby chair. "So he says he'll be a little while longer."

"That's Lan, alright," Mayl sighed. "Though he has been busy lately," she added, glancing back and smirking at Yai, who sheepishly looked down with the memory of two days ago, a little pink.

"Oh, whatever," Dex interjected. "He's just going around looking for trouble. He's really asking for it, getting involved with World Three, you know."

Yai stuck her tongue out at Dex. "You're just jealous 'cause Megaman kicked Gutsman's butt!"

"I am not!" he shot back, causing Mayl to giggle and cover her mouth. "Megaman just caught me off guard, that's all. If Gutsman had used his full strength, he'd have won no problem! Especially now, after that Guts Punch upgrade I bought for him. I could do anything that shrimpy blue Navi could!"

"Well, we'll have to wait for Lan to get here to find out for sure." Mayl sat back, stretching her left arm.

"Well, let's not just sit around and wait for him." Yai hopped off the chair and started walking. "We can probably surf the Net a little bit. C'mon!"

The other two nodded, getting up and following Yai to the computer room, a large space filled with all sorts of entertainment devices, including a massive computer screen on one wall. Yai hit the computer's power button, causing the room to come humming to life, with several lights coming all around. Mayl and Dex looked around in wonder, while Yai, who had seen this many times before, tapped her foot and waited for the computer to power up.

Five minutes later, lights were still flashing, but nothing major seemed to have happened. Dex and Mayl looked at each other, wondering if this was normal.

"Something's not right," Yai commented, walking to the main screen and manually starting it up. Immediately, a bright blue screen showed up, with white fixed-width letters detailing a serious error.

"Oh, great." She rubbed her head in frustration. "Probably viruses again..."

"Viruses?" Dex's eyes lit up, and he stepped forward, startling Mayl a little bit. "Gutsman can take care of those no problem! Let me fix it!"

Before Yai could get a word in, he ran up to the jack-in wall, pulling out the cord to his PET and jacking in, sending his Navi into the Cyberworld.

"Erm... okay..." Yai managed. "Don't break anything though, or you're paying for it!"

Upon appearing in the computer's Cyberworld, Gutsman took a look around to determine what the problem was; it didn't take long.

"Yup! It's viruses alright!" he communicated to the three outside. "Lots of Mettools, it looks like!"

"Mettools, huh?" Dex echoed, as the two girls leaned in, trying to see what was happening on the PET's screen. "They're no problem! Show them what you're made of!"

"You got it!" Gutsman ran toward the nearest Mettool, winding his arm up. The virus turned toward its attacker, raising its pickaxe to attack, but Gutsman punched it hard before it got the chance; it emitted a small squeal and went flying off, disintegrating into deletion.

"Yeee!" Another Mettool jumped at Gutsman from behind, ready to attack; the Navi noticed and quickly turned around, his arm outstretched.

"Guts Punch!" he cried out, as his fist started to shudder. It shot off the end of his arm like a rocket, intercepting the Mettool's attack and delivering a powerful punch, deleting the virus. The fist quickly returned to Gutsman's arm, who reattached it, cocking it like a shotgun.

Mayl and Yai cheered as the Navi continued, handily taking care of the viruses one by one, receiving nary a scratch. Dex felt his chest and his ego swell.

"Almost done!" Gutsman reported, as he turned and rounded on the last Mettool, slamming his fist on top of its hard hat; the hat cracked, then exploded, taking the virus with it. He raised his arms in triumph.

"Well, this is an unexpected complication," came a voice from behind Gutsman; he turned his head to see who it was, only to be met with a particularly red foot to the face, knocking him backwards.

Mayl and Yai gasped, as Dex gritted his teeth. "What the--?! Who's that?"

Gustman slowly stood up, rubbing his head, and turned to face his assailant; he found himself face-to-face with a rather short, red Navi, with a large gray pair of scissors on his head.

"So much for distraction... worthless viruses," he muttered to himself.

"Who are you?" Gutsman demanded, a little nervous regarding his suspicions. "You're with World Three, aren'tcha?"

Instantly, the red Navi darted forward, elbowing his foe powerfully in his gut; Gustman grabbed his midsection and keeled over.

"You dare associate me with those incompetent fools?" the Navi demanded, as Gutsman struggled to get up. "You insult me. My name is Cutman, and I belong to the almighty organization Gospel!"

"Gospel...?" Mayl and Dex wondered, as a furious Yai grabbed Dex's PET away from him, staring into the screen.

"What are you doing in my house, you freak?!" she demanded. "Get out now!"

"Well, you're a rude one, aren't you?" Cutman grinned, amused by her anger. "You must be the young Ayanokouji girl... Yai, was it?"

"What?!" Yai exclaimed. "Who are you? How do you know my name?"

"Just a humble representative of Gospel," the nefarious Navi replied. "I was just taking the time to check your banking records, to see about you making a donation to our organization. I think 100 million Zennys will do quite nicely, don't you think?"

As Yai was widening her eyes in shock, Cutman found himself hit powerfully from the side by a Guts Punch, knocking him over.

"Ha ha! That's the way, Gutsman!" Dex exclaimed, snatching his PET back. "Let's show this guy what we're made of!"

Gutsman grabbed his fist and reattached it, as Cutman slowly stood up, chuckling a bit to himself. For being caught off guard, he didn't look particularly bothered by the attack.

"Such a big fist, but such a weak attack... is that really the best you have?" He grinned evilly, raising his arm and opening his palm; a series of giant scissors appeared before him, firing themselves toward Gutsman, who yelped and tried to outrun them. He barely managed to dodge three, but one pair got lodged in his side; he yelped and fell over, as Cutman let out a derisive laugh.

Gutsman roared angrily, grabbing the scissors from his side and hurling it at Cutman, who dodged it easily.

"No no, not like that," he advised, grabbing the rounder scissors on his head and removing them. "More curve, more angle... here, let me show you."

He bent one knee and threw the pair of scissors as if he was skipping a stone. The scissors arched around the area like a boomerang, slicing a large gash in Gutsman's stomach, who fell onto his behind and grabbed the injury. Cutman grabbed the scissors as they returned to him, advancing slowly on his enemy.

"You're much too slow, you know," he advised. "You're not making this any fun at all. Oh well, might as well finish it."

He gave the scissors one more toss, curving them around toward Gutsman. As the scissors approached, a flash of light intercepted them, and they dropped uselessly to the ground. A few yards ahead, a red Navi with long silver hair had come to rest, his Long Sword extended on his arm.

"Who the...?" Yai wondered, looking over toward the jack-in panel and jumping out of her shoes. In the heat of the battle, no one had noticed a boy with silver-and-black hair entering the room, wearing a red jacket.

"What are you doing here?!" she demanded, startled. "How did you even get in my house?!"

"I'm protecting your bank account, from the looks of it. And I used the door," he answered without looking up. "Now how about staying out of my way and letting me do my job?"

"You absolute jerk!" Yai started storming toward him, surprising the other two a bit with her anger. "You think you can just come in here..." She paused when she found herself blocked by Mayl's arm.

"Yai, look!" she said in a slightly whispered manner, pointing toward the boy's jacket. On the arm was a very familiar insignia, that of the Official NetBattlers.

"What? Thta's... you're an Official?" Yai blinked confusedly, looking up at him as he continued to operate his Navi. The others turned back toward Dex's PET, wanting to look at what was going to happen.

"An Official Navi, eh?" Cutman remarked, studying this new interloper. "I recognize you. You're the Navi of that little brat, Eugene Chaud. You've been causing a lot of trouble for us." He dashed over to get to his scissors, but Chaud's Navi was there ages before. He picked the scissors up with his sword, flinging them at Cutman at top speed; he tried to avoid them, but they still managed to knick his arm.

"Gah! You punk!" Cutman shot back. "Let's see if you can do that with all of these!" He extended both hands, scissors appearing in each; he flung both of them at the red Navi, who deflected them effortlessly with his sword.

"Let's finish this quickly, Protoman," Chaud ordered, holding up three Battlechips between his fingers. "I'm using a Program Advance! Life Sword!"

"Understood," his Navi echoed back; deflecting one last pair of scissors, he jumped high into the air, in a large arch over Cutman.

"Sword!" Chaud barked, quickly inserting the first Battlechip; mid-jump, Protoman's right arm generated a Sword.

"Wide Sword!" he continued, inserting the next; as his Navi landed in a crouching position, he extended his left arm to make a Wide Sword.

"Long Sword!" he finished, firing one more Battlechip into his PET. Protoman stood and turned to face Cutman, both arms above his head and starting to glow.

"That attack of yours won't save you!" Cutman growled, holding out his arms, each of which glowed and then filled with throwing scissors. "Not even you will be fast enough to dodge this!"

Cutman threw his scissors, dozens of them, straight at Protoman, whose blades were now glowing a bright blue, forming one giant blade made of light. Intently focused, Protoman swung the blade horizontally with all his might.

The shockwave from his swing was of incredible power; as the blade of light flew forward, it cut all of the approaching scissors neatly in half, and they fell and clattered to the ground. Cutman didn't even have time to blink before he was bisected by the blade's shockwave; he stood in shock for a moment before his two halves toppled to the ground.

His job done, Protoman's hands returned to normal as he ran over to Cutman's top half, grabbing it by the collar. "Tell me everything you know! Now!"

Cutman laughed weakly. "You Officials think you can oppose the full might of Gospel..." He coughed and continued on. "You'll get nothing more from me... I'll be seeing you in hell." With one last smirk, Cutman's two halves disintegrated into deletion.

Chaud sighed. "Nothing we could have done. Well done, Protoman, jack out." Protoman vanished from the Cyberworld, just as the main screen of the computer room suddenly changed from blue to white, then to a proper interface, causing everyone except Chaud to blink and look up. Pulling the cord out of the jack-in port, he pocketed his PET and started walking out.

"Hey, wait!" Yai started running after him. "Get back here! Where are you going?"

"Off to do more work," Chaud replied without looking back. "Stay out of trouble, Yai." Everyone watched him leave the computer room, toward the front door.

Back outside, Lan was running up Yai's driveway, eager to make up for lost time.

"You wouldn't be hurrying like this if you had done your homework on time, you know," Megaman lectured him.

"Come on, Mega," Lan replied, exasperated. "Don't you start with me, too..." As he reached the front door, he was startled when it swung open on its own, as a silver-and-black-haired boy in a red jacket walked out. He looked up at Lan, surprised for a moment, before pushing past to walk out without a word.

"Hey! Same to you, pal!" Lan called out, irritated. He watched for a few moments as Chaud retreated, studying him curiously, before shrugging it off and going inside. Expecting to see everyone hanging out normally, he was surprised to find them in the computer room, all staring at Chaud as he left. They turned their attention toard Lan with a bit of surprise, collectively and silently.

"Er... hi... what's up?" Lan managed.

Elsewhere, an old man with gray, disheveled hair was staring into a computer screen, conversing with a Navi encased in shadow.

"So the LifeVirus is no longer possible," the Navi repeated.

"Unfortunately not," the old man replied. "No matter. There is another way to go about achieving our ultimate goal. But it requires more assistance on your part, if I may ask for it."

"Our ends remain the same, Dr. Wily," the Navi replied. "I will help you to any extent, if it means I can exact my revenge on this pathetic race of humans."

Dr. Wily grinned. "I am glad to see we are in agreement. I will contact you when I next need your assistance."

The shadowed Navi nodded and turned to leave, his tattered cloak fluttering behind him. Wily sat back in his chair, cackling to himself.

Chapter Text

"You think we can pull this off?"

Lan grinned, skating down the street. "How many other Navis have done what you've done? The two of together, we've got a great chance."

"A competition between all the Netbattlers in Den City... or at least the ones who show up," Megaman mused, as his operator headed down toward the local arcade. "I'm sure there are some real strong Navis out there, too. And good Operators. I don't really know what to expect. Someone could easily surpass us."

"Well, it's not all about winning, either," Lan reminded his Navi. "If we can master that Program Advance in battle, we'll have a serious heads up on any other World Three Navis that come our way!"

Three days ago, after the Gospel attack on the Ayanokouji mansion, Yai and the others had told Lan everything that had happened, including Protoman's appearance and use of the Life Sword Program Advance. Immediately after returning home, Megaman had looked up all the information he could on Program Advances, and they had set to practicing. It was much more difficult than they had thought; it required intense concentration on both ends, as well as very specific timing. If Navi and Operator were not highly synchronized, there was no chance of the attack going anywhere.

"It's probably going to be a lot harder in battle." Megaman stretched his virtual arms. "At home we had all the time in the world to prepare the attack."

"That's why we're here! This counts as practice!" Lan replied, as he rounded the corner and saw the bulge of Netbattlers outside. He skated up to the entrance of the arcade, where he tried to look for any sort of person that could sign him up.

"You want in too, huh?" a familiar voice called out; Lan looked over and saw a very smug Dex standing near the front of the bulge. Retracting his shoes' wheels, Lan ran up to his friend.

"Dex! Do you know where we can sign up?"

"Heh! You best not sign up at all, Lan!" Dex replied arrogantly. "It'll save you the humiliation of losing to the new and improved Gutsman!"

"I'll take my chances, Dex. Where do I go?" He chuckled and pointed to a table, where two adults were standing by, one seated at a computer and another holding a clipboard; Lan ran over to them eagerly.

"This is where you sign up for the tournament, right?"

"Name?" one of them asked matter-of-factly. Lan quickly offered all the necessary info about himself and Megaman, which the other man wrote down on a clipboard.

"Alright, now we just need you to deposit your Navi in our database, for our pre-tournament scans."

Lan stopped for a minute, looking down at his PET and thinking for a minute before looking back up. "Um... when does registration end?"

The man holding the clipboard looked at his watch. "In about 30 minutes."

"Can I wait until then to deposit Megaman? We could practice on one of the machines."

The man sitting near the computer shrugged. "Sure, don't see why not. Just make sure you're back in time."

"Thanks," Lan grinned, rushing over to an arcade machine and pulling out his PET. "C'mon, Megaman! We can try practicing for the next half hour!"

"Alright, if you want. Just don't wear me out before the tournament begins, okay?"

Lan nodded, plugging Megaman into the duel machine. "Got it."

Fifteen minutes later, they had tried the Life Sword many more times, with varying degrees of success, before Megaman called it quits.

"If we do any more of these, I'm going to wear myself out. Let's go and get ourselves registered, Lan; everyone else has already."

Lan nodded and jacked his Navi out, heading to the registration table. As he drew closer, he was surprised to find both of the regulators staring at the computer, one of them hammering away on the keys as they muttered between themselves.

"Um..." Lan interjected. "Could we get ourselves registered now?"

"Hold on," one of them muttered, a frustrated look on his face. "We're having some slight technical difficulties..."

An instant later, the lights in the arcade shut themselves off, as everyone gasped. While everyone started talking animatedly amongst themselves, all of the observation screens located on the walls of the arcade turned themselves on, each of them showing the image of a man with long, blonde hair and a sickening grin. Lan tensed himself, not recognizing the man on screen, but certain that he was trouble.

"Greetings, Netbattlers," the face began. "I'm sure you're wondering what the meaning of all this is. Well, to make a long story short, we've taken all of your Navis."

The crowd erupted in anger, everyone yelling at the face in the wall, demanding their Navis be returned with no degree of politeness. The strange man basked in their rage for a moment before continuing, and the crowd quieted down to hear him.

"Oh come now, it's not that bad." He chuckled. "All your Navis will be serving the great Gospel organization, in our quest for total domination of the Net. They are being reprogrammed as we speak, right here in the arcade; soon they will serve in our armies and maintenance crews. Hope you all can afford new ones," he added with a smirk, before the video feed cut out and the room erupted in anger once again.

"Did you hear that, Megaman?" Lan called out to his PET. His Navi nodded in response.

"Good thing we hadn't registered ourselves yet," Megaman added. "We've got to jack in and get those Navis back before Gospel gets away with them!"

Lan nodded, looking for a jack-in port and finding one along the back wall, running up to it. "Be careful in there," he mentioned as he sent Megaman into the arcade's Cyberworld.

It didn't take long to find the missing Navis; as soon as Megaman was jacked in, he could see the various Navis being held in tall, thin chambers all around him, in a grid pattern. Each of them looked like they were sleeping in suspended animation, with strange helmets attached to their heads.

"Lan! Are you getting this? The Navis are all over the place!" He whirled around, trying to take measure of how many there were, registering just under sixty.

Lan nodded, back in the real world. "Yea, I see them. Are they connected to anything? Can you see any way to let them out?"

"I'm taking a look now," his Navi responded, walking up to one of the tubes and circling it slowly, eyes scanning it carefully. He never heard the attack coming from behind him until it collided with his back and exploded, sending him flying forward onto his face.

Groaning and getting up quickly, Megaman turned around to try and find his adversary. "Who's there? Show yourself!"

Seconds after the words left his mouth, he saw several tiny tornadoes moving at him at a high speed. Thinking quickly, he jumped on top of the nearest chamber, the tornadoes flew right past him, having lost their target. Having a higher vantage point, he looked for the source of the tornadoes, finding it quickly among the holding tanks; it was a blue, aerodynamic Navi of average height, a giant fan built right into his chest.

"Found you!" Megaman generated a Wide Sword on his arm and jumped at the assailant for an aerial strike; the Navi dodged out of the way quickly, pointing his arm, which ended in a smaller fan, at his assailant.

"Who are you? I thought I got every Navi here; how did you escape?"

Megaman smirked. "Guess you're just bad at your job, huh?" He dashed forward, swiping at the Navi, who again jumped back. "Now who are you?" He looked over his adversary, eyes quickly settling on a remote control in its left hand.

The Navi chuckled. "I am Airman, of the great and powerful Gospel! And you shall not presume to stand in our way!" He pointed his fan arm at Megaman and it began to spin, quickly producing numerous small tornadoes that started to give chase.

"Run, Megaman!" Lan called out. Megaman turned and ran off, turning corners and trying to evade; rounding one corner, though, he nearly ran face-first into an intercepting tornado that had snuck up on him. Jumping in the air, he barely managed to avoid being hit; the tornado kept going forward and ran into another, causing both of them to explode.

As he came back down to the ground, he looked up to see a massively tall cyclone heading his way. "Too slow!" Airman taunted, as Megaman found himself quickly sucked up into the whirlwind. He was lifted into the air, spinning around at high speed, until he was eventually hurled away, his head colliding hard with one of the Navi containers.

Rubbing his head, he slowly stood up, looking toward Airman, who was on the attack again. "His tornadoes are too fast... I don't even get a chance to attack, let alone use a Program Advance! He's making them track me down and cut off my escape routes!"

Lan bit his lip and flipped through his chip folder for ideas; upon finding an Area Steal chip, he pulled it out and grinned to himself. "Well, he can't do that if he can't find you, can he?"

Megaman grinned back. "I'm ready when you are!"

Lan nodded, slotting in the Area Steal chip, as Megaman started running head-on toward his foe, blade at his side. Airman was undaunted, standing his ground.

"So you welcome your doom, do you?" he taunted, as he turned all of his tornadoes toward his advancing adversary. As they all converged on Megaman, however, he disappeared suddenly, causing all the tornadoes to destroy themselves. Airman's eyebrows raised, as he looked all around for his foe.

"Where did you go? You can't hide from me!" he called out. He walked forward cautiously, looking down the rows and rows of Navis. As he inched forward, Megaman stood atop a chamber behind Airman, grinning. Lan slotted in a Shotgun, which Megaman aimed and fired at his enemy, hitting him in the back and casting a veil of smoke with it.

"Gah! There you are!" Airman called out, whirling around and using the fan in his chest to clear away the smoke. By the time he had a clear view, however, Megaman had vanished once again. Airman barely had time to ponder this before he found himself hit in the head with a trio of Minibombs, causing him to turn around once again.

"Gotcha!" he heard his opponent call out from above; looking up, Airman only had time to move the slightest inch as Megaman came down on him, sword outstretched, chopping off his fan arm and part of his torso.

"Agh!" Airman cried out in great pain, grabbing at the part of him that had just been removed, before a powerful kick from Megaman silenced him and sent him flying back several yards. His left half sparking and incomplete, he roared with rage as he stood up.

"You! I'll kill you for that!" He aimed his remaining arm at his foe, focusing all of his strength and forming an even larger cyclone than before, and Megaman could feel it starting to pull him in. He quickly jumped back several yards, giving himself some space, but the pull of the cyclone continued to test him, and he felt himself sliding along the ground.

Around the Cyberworld, the various capsules containing the Navis were starting to tilt and even detach, as Airman's whirlwind began pulling in everything close to it. Megaman grabbed onto one of them, starting to come up with a plan to overcome this attack, his mind racing through the Battlechips available to him.

Just as he felt his feet start to give, he saw Airman's head pierced by a thin, purple beam of energy. Almost immediately, the cyclone dissipated, and Megaman regained his footing, as Airman collapsed to the ground, motionless.

"What the--?!" Megaman looked around for the source of the laser, finding it up in the sky. Slowly advancing downward toward Airman's frame was a black Navi of moderate height; his frame was wrapped in a tattered brown cloak up to his mouth, and two large fins protruded from his head on either side.

"Don't know what Wily needs with you, pathetic thing," he muttered, landing next to the frame and grabbing it by its remaining hand. "I suppose he knows what he's doing, though..."

"Hey! Who are you?" Megaman called out, aiming his buster. The black Navi quickly looked in his direction, and their eyes met, causing Megaman to pause. He wasn't sure exactly why, but he had an odd feeling that he had seen this Navi before, the intense gaze tugging at his memory. The black Navi stared back at him, eyebrows raised, recognition on his face as well. After a few long seconds, the mysterious interloper came to his senses, jumping to an incredible height before flying up and away, Airman still in his grasp. Megaman ran over to where he was and looked up at his retreating frame.

"What just happened?" Lan called out. "Who was that?"

"I have no idea," Megaman muttered, eyes fixed on the Navi as it slowly flew out of sight. "Something about him is weirdly familiar, though... but I'm sure I've never met him before."

"That's... strange." Lan racked his own memory for any Navi that looked similar to that, but came up with nothing. "Did you hear him say anything?"

"Yea, I did," his Navi replied, eyes returning to where Airman had been lying, seeing the remote he had been holding and picking it up. "He mentioned Wily... so he's probably connected with World Three somehow, isn't he?"

"World Three?" Lan puzzled. "Does that mean World Three and Gospel are fighting or something?"

"I don't know, but it probably isn't good for us either way." Megaman finally found what he was looking for, a small button labeled Abort. Pressing it caused the numerous chambers surrounding him to simultaneously open, depositing their contents onto the ground in front of them. The Navis collectively sat up, rubbing their heads and blinking while wondering aloud what had just happened.

Ten minutes later in the real world, one of the tournament regulators was standing on the table, holding a megaphone up to his mouth and speaking loudly.

"We apologize for the inconvenience," he stated to the bulging crowd of Netbattlers. "All of your Navis have been recovered, and you're free to take them home. We'll contact you all when a better day to hold the tournament comes about..."

He tried to continue, but the tumultuous uproar from the crowd made him inaudible. Everyone started jeering or yelling angrily, none of them quite ready to leave. The man held up his hand, and the crowd quieted somewhat.

"Seriously? You guys still want to continue on?" The crowd cheered back approvingly, as the regulator chuckled.

"Incredible... if Den City had more Officials like you guys, we wouldn't have ourselves any trouble at all. All right then!" he yelled, raising his fist, as the crowd cheered with approval, including Lan. "Let's get this tournament underway!"

After several minutes of flying, the mysterious black Navi finally came to a stop, landing in a specific Cyberworld server. He dropped his cargo on the ground before walking over to a small interface on a nearby wall; after pushing a handful of keys, the wall next to him turned into a large screen, showing a large office, with a familiar old man sitting behind a desk. The man quickly turned around in his chair.

"One Gospel Navi, disabled but not deleted," the Navi reported. "This is what you needed, wasn't it, Wily?"

"Perfect," Dr. Wily confirmed, grinning widely. "We should be able to mine plenty of useful information on Gospel out of that frame. Good work, as always."

The Navi nodded, not needing the praise, being extremely confident in his own abilities. "Contact me with whatever dirty work you need done next. You know where to find me."

He powered off the screen and turned around, walking deeper into the Cyberworld, to a smaller and more private computer terminal. He reached down to power it on and started typing into it; the screen ran through several pages of text, before the image of a familiar blue Navi appeared on the screen, along with copious amounts of notes.

"So you've inserted yourself into this war, Megaman," he muttered to himself. "I knew we were bound to meet again someday, but I didn't think it would be now..."

He stood back, eyes running over the text on screen, wondering what this interaction would mean going forward.

Chapter Text

BLAM!

A yellow Navi keeled over onto the floor of the Cyber arena, after receiving a buster shot to the temple. A smirking Megaman landed on his feet in front of the Navi, as he got up and rubbed his head, which was adorned with an exclamation point.

"Give up?" Megaman taunted, aiming his buster at the Navi once more. Outside, several onlookers cheered the Navi on, as Lan grinned to himself, pleased with the battle and ready to send more Battlechips if necessary. His opponent, a twenty-something male with a jean-jacket vest, was getting annoyed.

"Snapman!" he called out. "Do it now!"

Back in the arena, the yellow Navi smirked before suddenly disappearing. Megaman tensed and looked around for him, turning in all directions. An instant later, he jumped as a tall, cylindrical barrier formed around him. Looking up, he saw Snapman right above him, wielding a Giant Hammer and coming in hot.

"Let's see you avoid this one, Speedy!" he taunted.

Megaman smirked. "You're on!" He leaped right up in the air toward his opponent, and quickly grabbed the handle of the Giant Hammer, pulling it downward and past him while kneeing Snapman in the gut. As his eyes bulged out in pain, Megaman hurled him toward the ground, where he landed hard in a crumpled heap. Looking up at his opponent, Snapman had no time to react as he saw Megaman hurl the Giant Hammer down toward him. Right before the attack connected, Snapman turned into a beam of light and flew upward, jacking out right before the Hammer smashed into the ground.

"Snapman has been jacked out! Megaman wins!" an announcer shouted into a microphone. The crowd erupted in cheers, as Lan pumped his fist into the air.

"Way to go, Megaman! That guy never had a chance!"

Jacking his Navi out of the arena, Lan heard a voice from behind him calling out his name. Turning around, he saw Mayl and Yai running up to him, smiling.

"Mayl! Yai! What are you guys doing here? Are you competing too?"

Yai shook her head. "We didn't find out about this tournament until just now, so we came to cheer you guys on instead!"

Mayl put her hands on her hips. "We had to hear about it from your mom! Why didn't you tell us?"

"Er..." Lan rubbed his head. "I guess it slipped my mind... sorry."

"Well, never mind that." Mayl's expression softened. "We watched a couple matches from outside, since it was too hard to get inside. You just made the semifinals! Congratulations, Lan!"

Lan grinned. "Thanks, guys. It's all thanks to Megaman, really..."

"Glyde told me that Megaman's really strong," Yai chipped in. "No wonder you made it so far."

"Yea, but it's more than that." Lan pulled out his PET, looking at it. "I've never used a Navi that worked with me so well before. It's like he's made to fit my battle style perfectly."

Megaman grinned and gave a thumbs-up. "Two peas in a pod, right, Lan?"

Lan grinned and nodded back, as Mayl grabbed his sleeve and started to pull him along gently. "Come on! Dex's match is supposed to be happening over this way. Let's go see!"

Lan nodded, and the three headed off for another part of the arcade. As Lan walked, however, something caught his eye; he turned his head toward the other arena and saw a familiar, silver-and-black haired sight.

"Hey, it's him! The guy from the other day, at Yai's place!" Mayl and Yai looked over, to see Eugene Chaud standing at one of the Cyber arenas, looking almost bored as he held his PET, operating his Navi.

"It is him!" Yai exclaimed, peering closer. "What's he doing here?"

"He's at the arena... could he be competing?" He started to walk over, but felt a tug on his arm.

"Lan, we'll miss Dex's match," Mayl reminded him. "We can talk to that kid later." Lan relented and headed over with them toward the Cyber arena Dex was battling at, which was quite crowded. Unable to get close enough to see the match firsthand, they resigned themselves to looking up at a large television screen in the wall like many others.

"This doesn't look good..." was Lan's first comment; the other two agreed that it looked quite bad for Dex. While his opponent's Navi, a humanoid being with a wolf-like head, a deep slouch, and long, sharp claws, was looking a little worse for wear, Gutsman was a complete mess. He had visible claw marks all over his frame, and one of his eyes was closed; he was breathing heavily, as well. With a growl, his opponent dashed toward him, claws extended and glowing slightly.

"Guts Punch!" Gutsman called out, raising his fist for one more attack. His opponent's claws suddenly flashed bright white, blinding the screen for an instant; when everyone uncovered their eyes to look at what had happened, Gutsman was standing, wide-eyed, in attack position, while the wolf-like Navi had its claws deep in his torso.

"Gutsman!" Dex cried out, before panickedly tugging the cord out of the Cyber arena; on the screen, his Navi turned into a beam of light and disappeared upward, jacking out.

"Gutsman has jacked out! The winner is Takeo Inukai, with his Navi Beastman!"

The crowd erupted with cheers, as Dex looked into his PET screen and tended to restoring his Navi, an angry grimace on his face. The trio of observers walked over to their defeated friend.

"I'm sorry, Dex," Mayl offered. "You did really well, you were in the top eight..."

"Yea, whatever," Dex grumbled, walking past them. "There was definitely something fishy about that fight..." The three watched him go, clearly wanting to be alone, while Yai stuck her tongue out at him.

"Well, he didn't have to be rude about it!" She hmphed and folded her arms. "You were just trying to be nice!"

"Something fishy, huh..." Lan thought backward to the battle, wondering what Dex may have been talking about, but he hadn't seen enough of it to make a sound judgment.

"What do you think he meant by that, Lan?" Mayl inquired. "Could Beastman have been cheating?"

"I guess we'll find out in the next match... he and I are supposed to fight." He pulled out his PET and looked at Megaman, who shrugged his shoulders, equally stumped.

"Attention everybody! The semifinal rounds are about to begin! Here in Arena A, we have Takeo Inukai with his Beastman..."

Cheers came from the crowd, as Takeo simply nodded.

"...versus Lan Hikari, and his Navi, Megaman!"

An equal number of cheers erupted from the crowd, topped off by Mayl and Yai yelling "Go, Lan!" in tandem, pumping their fists into the air repeatedly. Lan grinned and waved at them before turning his attention to the battle, jacking Megaman into the arena; his opponent did the same, and the two Navis began staring each other down in the Cyberworld.

"Are the competitors ready? Then let the battle begin!"

The two opponents immediately dashed toward each other, Megaman readying his buster for attack, as Beastman got his claws ready to strike. As Megaman raised his buster, the claws suddenly produced a blinding white flash, and he suddenly found himself unable to move a muscle, his body tingling and vibrating all over.

"Wha...?" he managed to get out, his voice oddly weak. In the next instant, Megaman found his foe right on top of him, ready to strike. He yelped and managed to grab his claws right at the last minute, preventing them from piercing his frame.

"What was that?! What did you just do?" he demanded; Beastman grinned an evil grin, baring a mouth full of pointed teeth.

"Megaman... I've waited some time to be able to battle you, you know..." Megaman summoned some strength from inside him, managing to shove Beastman away.

"You what? What is that supposed to mean?" Not missing a beat, he fired at his enemy with his buster, getting in a few shots here and there as Beastman ran about, deflecting some buster shots with his claws. Beastman ran forward and started swiping repeatedly at Megaman, who produced a sword and blocked the incoming attacks.

"What do you think it means?" Beastman taunted, sweeping his leg out to try and trip Megaman, who jumped over it. "It means you're still on our list, you little pest... and I have the honor of getting to take care of you, by Dr. Wily's request."

Megaman's eyes widened. "You're with World Three! You mean you entered this tournament just to take me out?"

The enemy Navi grinned, raising his claw. "Now you're catching on." With another flash, Megaman found himself again momentarily paralyzed, as Beastman took a painful swipe at his face.

"Gah!" He grabbed at the claw marks on his face, as Beastman delivered a powerful kick to his chest, knocking him backward. As he sat up, he saw his opponent running toward him once again, on a constant offensive.

"Lan, something's definitely fishy here! Whenever Beastman flashes his claws, I can't move a muscle! He's paralyzing me somehow!"

"What?!" Lan exclaimed. "What are we supposed to do about that?"

His Navi didn't have time to answer, as Beastman jumped toward him, his fists clasped together and ready to come down. Megaman readied his sword, but a third flash set him tingling and immobile once again, as Beastman brought his fists down onto his head. Megaman was knocked completely flat, as his foe stood above him.

"What... there... there weren't even any claws that time..." he remarked, woozy, as Beastman grinned, baring his sharp teeth once again.

"Megaman! I've got one Recovery 50 chip here! I'm using it now!"

His Navi nodded, still dazed, his gaze drifting upward as he tried to come to his senses. He blinked in surprise, as he saw something above him that caught his interest. "Wait, Lan... not yet..."

Beastman extended his claws, pointing them toward Megaman's throat. "This was pathetically easy... I was hoping for a real fight." He raised his claws. "At least with you gone, nobody will stand in the way of--"

BLAM! Megaman suddenly extended his buster and fired upward. The shot sailed clear past Beastman and into the air, where it collided with a medium-sized, black device and exploded.

Beastman's eyes widened, as he looked upward toward the wreckage above them. "No, no, no, no!" He was forced to jump out of the way as the apparatus fell to the ground; Megaman rolled out of the way just in time, as Lan sent him the Recovery 50. When the smoke cleared, the remnants of a computerized device, including a large lightbulb and a speaker, were clearly visible. The watching crowd gasped in response.

"Seems like I've found the secret to your Netbattling, Beastman," Megaman said with a smirk. "A blinding flash, combined with a paralyzing, resonant frequency. You didn't think you could win on your own, huh?"

"Megaman seems to have revealed a sort of paralyzing device being used by Beastman!" the announcer cried out, incredulous. "A clear violation of the rules of the tournament! Beastman is disqualified!"

"Grr... no!" Beastman cried out, charging again. "I WILL delete you, Megaman!"

Megaman watched him approach, then suddenly disappeared with an Area Steal. He reappeared several yards forwards, right in front of the enemy Navi, digging his elbow powerfully into Beastman's torso. His enemy's eyes bulged, as he grasped his stomach and fell to the ground before being jacked out.

Lan looked up to see a tournament organizer, who had forcefully jacked Beastman out, handing the PET cable to its operator. "Cheaters aren't welcome at this establishment. You will leave now." Inukai stared at the organizer for a minute, before grabbing the cable and leaving in a huff, muttering under his breath.

"Inukai has been disqualified! Lan and Megaman advance to the finals!" The crowd erupted in cheers again, as Lan sighed in relief and jacked Megaman out.

"So you made it to the finals," came a voice from behind; Lan whirled around to find Chaud standing behind him. "Looks like it'll be you and me then." He nonchalantly walked to the opposite jack-in station, pulling out the cable on his PET. Lan noticed that Chaud was wearing a different jacket, one without his Official insignia; this must not have been work for him after all.

"It appears that both finalists are ready to get right to work! Alright then, let's get introduced!"

"On the left is Lan Hikari, with his powerful blue Navi, Megaman!" Lan jacked in his Navi amidst the cheers, sending a full-strength Megaman into the Cyber arena.

"And on the right, Eugene Chaud, with his red swordsman, Protoman!" Chaud calmly inserted his cord into the jack-in port, as the bladed and shaded Protoman appeared opposite Megaman.

"I hope you're ready for this battle," Protoman stated.

Megaman grinned and got into a defensive stance. "Ready when you are!"

"Are the contestants ready?" the announcer inquired. "Then let the battle begin!"

Immediately, both Navis dashed toward each other, each producing a Sword and getting ready to strike. As they met in the middle of the arena, Megaman jabbed his sword toward his opponent, expecting a deflection; Protoman instead jumped into the air above and behind his opponent. Megaman quickly turned and started firing his buster toward Chaud's Navo, who skillfully deflected every shot with his sword. The last shot he swiped at, however, exploded into a cloud of smoke, screening Protoman's vision as he landed.

"A Shotgun blast," he muttered, looking around. "Where did you go..."

Hearing footsteps from his left, he quickly turned to meet a surprisingly strong sword swipe from Megaman, one that knocked him off balance as their blades clashed. Megaman continued with a strong kick to the jaw, sending Protoman backward; he did a quick backflip and landed on his feet.

"Hmph. Not bad, Megaman," he stated. "But if you think that's the best I've got, think again." He suddenly vanished, and Megaman instinctively looked up, but was surprised to find nothing there. His muscles tensed, and he quickly looked around; as he glanced behind him, he was greeted with a sword swipe to the face. Grabbing the injury, he jumped backward.

"Deja vu," he muttered, readying his sword as Protoman dashed toward him. To his surprise, he saw a Wide Sword appear on Protoman's other arm, as his foe brought both swords down toward him in a large X. Reacting quickly, Megaman raised his sword to meet Protoman's blades, which connected with a mighty clang, and a shoving match ensued. While Megaman pushed hard, holding up his sword with his other hand, Protoman bore down on him powerfully with his blades, bringing him down on one knee.

"Geez, he's strong," Megaman muttered to himself. "If only we had a spare moment to focus on a Life Sword..."

Protoman raised an eyebrow. "A Life Sword, huh?"

Megaman blinked. "What? You heard me?" To his greater surprise, Protoman suddenly jumped backward, landing quite a distance away from Megaman.

"Curious... most Navis have no chance at creating a Program Advance. You think you can use one against me?"

"Erm... well..." Megaman stammered, confused, as Protoman let his swords lay to rest at his sides.

"Very well, then. I'll give you your chance; you've got one try to produce a Life Sword." Protoman did his best beckoning gesture he could without his hands actually being there. "Give it your best shot."

Megaman blinked in surprise, not having expected this and not sure how to react. "Lan, what should we do? You think it's a trick?"

"I don't know," Lan replied. "But if we can pull it off, there's no way he can stand up to it. Let's give it our best shot!" His Navi nodded, as the crowd started muttering to themselves, confused at the break in the action.

"It appears the fighters have stopped for now!" the announcer exclaimed. "What's going on? Who's going to make the next move?" Lan put it out of his mind, trying to focus and synchronize himself with his Navi, a task he found difficult, as he was quite nervous.

"Sword!" he announced, slotting in another Sword chip; the Sword on Megaman's arm reformed.

"Wide Sword!" he called out, slotting it in; Megaman held out his arm, and a Wide Sword appeared on it. Lan's hand was nearly trembling as he grabbed his last chip, trying his best to focus despite being a mix of nervous and excited.

"Long Sword!" he declared with his slot-in, as his Navi held his swords above his head; they started to glow a bright blue and combine, forming a tall blade of light.

"Hyaah!" Megaman swung his sword down vertically, and a shockwave of blue energy headed toward Protoman. As it got closer, however, the pillar of energy began to grow weaker and weaker.

"No...! Not now!" Lan clenched his fist as the rather pitiful Life Sword approached its target, a shadow of its former self. Protoman took his sword and cut through it, dissipating it completely.

"Just as I expected." Protoman tutted as he raised his swords above his head, where they started to glow. "Let me show you what a real Program Advance looks like!"

In almost an instant, his arms were a massive, bright pillar of blue light, clearly outclassing what Lan and Megaman had attempted moments before. Without missing a beat, he swung the blade horizontally, sending a shockwave toward his opponent. Lan tried to send in a Barrier chip, but it was useless, as the Life Sword reached Megaman in an instant, cutting him cleanly in half, his eyes wide.

"Megaman!" Lan cried out alarmedly, jacking his Navi out for safety; his Navi vanished from the arena just in time. Protoman sighed and relaxed, partially proud of his operator's victory, and partially disappointed in how unimpressive the fight had been.

"An incredible attack! Lan has jacked out Megaman, which means Chaud and Protoman are the champions!"

Lan was deaf to the massive cheers that erupted, staring into the screen of his PET, looking for some indication that Megaman would be alright. Chaud, cool and collected as ever, jacked Protoman out and headed toward the tournament organizers to collect his prize money. Mayl, Yai and Dex ran up to Lan, as his PET indicated that Megaman had been successfully jacked out, and was being repaired.

"Lan..." Mayl began, putting a hand on her friend's shoulder. "What... what happened? What were Megaman and Protoman talking about?"

Lan, still dumbfounded, said nothing; he instead turned to look at Chaud's retreating back as he exited the arcade, and an angry scowl grew on his face. Not saying a word, he ran off toward the other boy.

"Lan! What are you doing?" Mayl called out. He ignored her and continued running, stopping right behind Chaud, several yards outside the arcade entrance.

"Hey, you!" he shouted, feeling incredibly bitter and not quite thinking rationally. "What the heck were you even doing here? You just trying to take out your competition so you can be the hero more often?! What the hell?!"

Chaud stopped walking, not glancing back, remaining as calm and collected as ever. "I came here to prove a point to you, Lan Hikari. That the Officials do not need, nor want, your help."

Lan blinked, not having expected a response, as Chaud continued.

"As you can see, we are plenty strong enough to take care of the messes that World Three creates. The last thing we need is some punk and his Navi picking fights with criminals in the network of a power plant. At best, you're a nuisance; at worst, you're a danger to yourself, your friends, and everyone else in Den City with your constant meddling."

Chaud turned his head and looked backward toward Lan. "Do us all a favor. Next time something goes wrong, go home, and let us do our job. You're not needed."

Lan stared, dumbfounded and insulted, as Chaud walked off; behind him, Mayl, Yai and Dex watched him leave as well.

Far away, Dr. Wily rode an elevator up to his domain, going over his various plans in his head. When he opened the door, his eyes widened in shock at the scene in front of him.

His office was completely trashed. Everything electronic had been reduced to smoldering wreckage, and the large screen in the back wall was blaring static, along with many other screens. Coughing, he waved his hand to clear the smoke, walking forward.

"What is this? What's happened?" he demanded from whoever was in the room. As if to respond, the large screen suddenly switched from static to an image of a familiar black, cloaked Navi.

"You!" Dr. Wily exclaimed. "What is the meaning of this?!"

"Perhaps you could explain that to me, Wily," the Navi responded. The screen suddenly changed to show a blueprint, written out in Dr. Wily's handwriting. Highlighted was a rather troubling portion; where the LifeVirus had once been placed before, it was crossed out and replaced with a humanoid shape, with two large fins protruding from the figure's head.

"According to this, you expect to use a powerful Navi to extract the energy necessary to create the creature. And according to your calculations, someone around my strength should do just fine, isn't that right?"

"Bass! No!" Wily replied, incredulous. "You misunderstand! Those plans are--"

"Save your breath," Bass interrupted. "I should have known better than to trust humans. You should pray that we never cross paths again, you pathetic creature." Bass turned and left, and with a crackle, the screen switched once again to static. Dr. Wily quickly ran over to an intercom on the wall, jamming the buttons, and was pleased to find it still worked.

"Everyone! We have a serious emergency!" he cried out into the intercom. "Bass has run off into the Net! We must manage to return him here at all costs! Move now!" He hung up and turned back to the mess of his office, fuming at this derailing of his plans.

Chapter Text

"So Protoman was... testing you?" Mayl pondered.

Lan shrugged, as he looked solemnly out the window of the cable car that was taking them home; Dex had stayed at the arcade for more battles, and Yai had gotten her own ride home. "Testing me, taunting me, one of those things... I don't know."

He sighed and sat back in his seat. "What I do know is that Chaud was there just so he could break me down at my best. He wants me out of the picture, I guess."

"Maybe he's right, Lan," Mayl offered. "You don't want enemies in World Three. You could get seriously hurt, or worse."

"I know..." He looked up. "But I could really make a difference, too..."

"I'm sure the Officials will be able to take care of things," she reassured him. "Chaud was able to fight off the Gospel Navi at on Yai's house, remember? I'm sure that they can do it. You don't have to make Megaman fight."

"Maybe..." Lan glanced down toward his PET, which had finished repairing Megaman a few minutes ago. "It's just... when I first saw how strong Megaman was, when he fought Elecman... I thought maybe that was the reason I had Megaman, so I could stand up to people like that." He sat back again, looking out the window as the Den City Hospital came into view a few blocks off. "Maybe there's something else the two of us are meant for."

Inside Lan's PET, Megaman was also deep in thought, considering the events of the past couple weeks, along with the result of his battle against Protoman.

This confirms it; the Officials are more able than Lan and I, he thought to himself. I guess I shouldn't worry about having to save the day anymore... right?

He looked up through the screen to the real world, watching Lan and Mayl converse. Should we just be running away instead? Would waiting for the Officials really be safest when all is said and done? Would it be right to let a World Three or Gospel Navi escape, if we could have taken him down?

He rubbed his head. Those are some questions I can't answer by myself. Maybe I should talk about it with Lan...

Megaman opened his mouth, but didn't get the chance to speak, as a bright light filled the screen; the next instant, all hell broke loose.

It all seemed to happen in an instant; the front of the cable car was flung backward as a massive fireball exploded from beneath the car. As the car was forcefully separated from the cables, it fell back and hit the ground, skidding to a stop against the sidewalk, as onlookers shrieked and ran out of the way. No one on the cable car even had time to scream before it was over, the front of the car twisted and smoldering.

Having first been thrown forward into the seat in front, then backwards into the roof of the car, Lan slowly managed to sit up, feeling himself surrounded by destroyed leather and broken glass. He reached out for anything he could grab, feeling dizzy, his head swimming.

"What just... agh..." He could feel a sharp pain in his back and head, and felt something running down his cheek; he grabbed at it, then looked back at his hand to see it wearing a fair amount of blood. He had been cut badly, and suspected he may have been mildly concussed.

"Lan!" he heard Megaman scream. "What's going on?" Lan reached down for his PET, looking into the screen, and his Navi recoiled at the sight he saw. "Jesus! What happened there? Are you okay?!"

"I don't know..." Lan rubbed his head, which ached fiercely; he could tell he must have smashed it hard. "The car just... exploded..."

"Is everyone okay?"

"I'm... I'll be fine, and..." His eyes suddenly went wide with realization, and he quickly looked around. "Mayl? Mayl?!"

Throwing his PET back into his belt holster, Lan managed to get to his sore but undamaged feet, looking around the car as quickly as his head would allow him in his current state. Kicking torn-apart seats out of his way, he saw a familiar arm loosely lying on the floor, connected to something out of sight.

"Mayl!" He ran over quickly to find her body lying laxly on the ground, her eyes closed, and he bent down to inspect her more carefully. Her arm, contorted at a strange angle, had clearly been broken, and a window near her head had received an enormous, circular crack, with a thin layer of blood adorning the middle. He felt his heart drop into his stomach.

"Please no, please no..." He lifted her head so it faced him, and could see her bleeding liberally from a large laceration on the side of her forehead. He leaned in closer, putting his fingers to the side of her neck, and breathed a small sigh of relief to hear her still breathing, feeling a pulse under his fingertips.

"Is she okay?" Megaman called again, unable to see what was happening.

"She's hurt," Lan responded, pulling his PET back out, Mayl's head resting on his leg. "Really bad... she needs a doctor, right now."

"Oh no... I hope an ambulance gets there soon or something... they have to be there before too long, right?" Megaman offered, trying to be reassuring and not panic.

"Will they?" Lan wondered aloud, as he took his bandanna off his head, wrapping it around Mayl's cut. "It's going to take a few minutes for them to just figure out what happened down here..." He looked up toward the back window of the bus, groaning at the pain in his back; he could see the hospital from here still, just a few blocks away. He reached for Mayl's PET, which was trapped underneath her, and pulled it out. He cursed when he saw the entire thing had been smashed, broken surely beyond repair.

He pulled out his own PET, reaching into his pocket and searching for something, which he managed to find quickly. He had gotten this wireless jack-in antenna a while ago in case of an emergency, and if anything counted as an emergency, it was this.

"Megaman, I need you to do something quick." Lan plugged the antenna into the expansion port on his PET, looking for wireless signals and finding a couple. He couldn't operate Megaman with this device in use, but he could at least keep in contact.

"Anything," his Navi replied. "What is it?"

"Mayl's PET is completely busted. I need you to jack in and find her house; tell her mom what happened, and that I've taken her to Den City Hospital."

Megaman blinked. "Wait, you're taking her?"

"Yes." Lan leaned down and, with difficulty, managed to get Mayl onto his back; the pressure on his injured back was great, but he put it completely out of his mind as he kneeled down, her limp frame leaning against him. "I don't care what that jerk Chaud thinks, I'm not going to just sit here and wait for somebody else to save us. I can't hesitate when lives are at stake. I have to do something." He was surprised at the clarity he was feeling, as his mind pushed the pain and the fear aside; right now, his friend was the only thing that mattered.

Megaman nodded in understanding, not wasting any time in jacking into one of the nearby stations and heading into the Cyberworld. Lan stood up, holding up Mayl by the legs, and looked for an exit; he saw an emergency exit in the roof of the car, and kicked it open, leaping out and quickly starting to skate to his destination.

After quickly reaching Den Net City, Megaman could see Navis running about and jacking out left and right. In here, as well, there had been a large explosion of some sort, just near where he had jacked in; clearly, whatever caused this had done so from the Cyberworld. He started running down the street, looking for familiar directions to the suburb of ACDC.

As he turned one corner, he was nearly knocked over by a legion of orange Official Navis, all heading in the same direction. As he looked up, he could see Protoman at the lead, barking orders.

"Split up and search, everyone!" he yelled as they headed toward the explosion. "The Navi that did this must be around here somewhere! Report about anything suspicious you find!"

Megaman watched them go, pondering running along and helping, before remembering what Lan had told him about Chaud's words. He shook his head and stood up, running back off in the other direction. He'd just have to place trust in the Officials, and their ability to take care of things; besides, he had a job to do.

He turned another corner, trying once again to locate familiar territory, hoping to find his way back toward the suburb of ACDC, and to Mayl's parents.

Lan skated along sidewalks and through streets, trying to get to his destination as quickly as he could. Cars were backed up for as far as he could see in either direction, so he had no trouble getting through red lights.

From behind him, he felt Mayl stir a little bit; he could feel her head on his shoulder, looking around lazily, slightly delirious. "Unh... what... what happened... everything hurts..."

"The front of our cable car exploded. I don't know why," Lan replied, as a group of girls shrieked at him and jumped quickly out of his way. "Don't talk. Save your strength."

"Where... where are we going?"

"I'm taking you to the hospital." He quickly skirted around a car parked at a red light, seeing the building get nearer. "You're going to be just fine, Mayl, I promise."

"Lan..." He felt her shifting again, trying to move, to stand, but she had no energy to spare in her current state, and she quickly slumped back against him. "I'm so sorry... you have to worry about me..." Her voice was weak, too weak to express much emotion, but Lan could tell she was upset that she had let this happen to her.

"Don't apologize," he answered. "I'm always going to take care of you if you need it. That's a promise."

He felt her shifting again, leaning forward, and he felt her cheek tiredly but affectionately rubbing against his. "You're so sweet..." Moments later, he felt her go limp as she drifted off again. He gritted his teeth and sped up even more, ignoring his pain completely and pushing himself to the limit as he sped down the sidewalk.

Back in Den Net City, Megaman was faced with significantly less direction than his operator, having never navigated to Mayl's house before. Everything looked the same to him, and nobody would offer him directions; everyone he saw was jacking out quickly, under the orders that were blasting from everywhere he could hear.

"All Navis must jack out immediately. There is no cause for alarm. This is merely a precaution," the voice sounded over and over. Megaman cursed the announcement in his head, wondering exactly how he was going to find what he was looking for, when he collided with a second Navi, falling backward toward the ground. Rubbing his head and looking up, he saw himself looking at a familiar face.

"Megaman!" Roll quickly got to her feet, offering him a hand.

"Roll! What are you doing here? Weren't you with Mayl?"

She shook her head. "Mayl lent me to her mom; she needed to get some errands done. What's wrong? You look flustered..."

"There's been an accident..." Megaman started, a bit rushed. "In the cable car... Mayl's hurt, and..."

"What?!" Roll's face filled with fear. "How bad is it? Is she going to be okay?"

"She'll be okay, Lan's taking her to the hospital. I need you to tell Mayl's mom where she is... and Lan's, if you could."

She nodded, clearly agitated. "Absolutely. Are you coming too?"

He shook his head. "I'm going to get back to Lan, he may need my help. Thanks you so much, Roll."

She nodded again, before quickly turning around and speeding off in the blink of an eye. Megaman turned to head back, following the signal of Lan's antenna, when he heard a loud explosion right next to him. Jumping away, he saw the large building next to him start to shake and crumble. Looking up toward the top, he could barely make out a very familiar cloaked Navi.

"Him?! What's he doing here?" Megaman watched the Navi leap away from the building, his fist glowing with energy; he smashed it into the next building, which started shaking as well. As he watched the destruction this Navi was wreaking, his eyes went wide with realization, as he put together the pieces of what had happened that day. He felt his fists clench involuntarily, his curiosity turning into a white-hot rage, as he looked up at the mysterious black Navi.

On top of the building, Bass fired an energy blast into the building next to him, sending the top two floors crumbling down.

"Wily, that coward," he mused to himself, furious. "Thinking he can just use me as part of his plan... ME, of all things!"

He walked to the edge of the building he stood on. "I don't need him to exact my revenge... I can start my campaign of fear on my own, right here, right now."

He jumped to get to the next building, but was met with a heavy impact to the side of his head, sending him flying into a nearby wall. Opening his eyes and looking around, he leaped forward to the top of the nearby structure, to find a familiar blue Navi waiting for him, staring him down.

"I don't know who you are, and I don't care," Megaman seethed. "But you're going to pay for what you did to my operator." Chaud's warning about staying out of the way had completely fled his mind; there was no way he was going to stand idly by while this monster wreaked havoc.

Bass's eyes narrowed. "I have no idea what you're talking about. But if it's a fight you want, that's what you'll get."

"Don't play dumb with me, you bastard!" Lan's Navi shot back, aiming his buster at his foe and firing; Bass deflected the blast easily with his hand.

"You think you can defeat me? I'll swat you away like an insect!"

The two ran forward, fists curled, ready for battle.

Lan, still moving as fast as possible, could see Den City Hospital come into clearer view, just two blocks away now. He had made good time; he couldn't hear any ambulance sirens yet.

"We're almost there, Mayl," he spoke reassuringly; she didn't hear, still unconscious on his back. Instead of a response from her, he heard a noise from his PET. He grabbed it carefully, still trying to hold onto Mayl's leg with his arm, and looked down into it. He saw Megaman sliding across a rooftop, flipping up and getting to his feet.

"Megaman! What's going on?" Lan inquired, just as another cloaked Navi came into view.

"This guy... the guy we saw at the tournament. He was destroying buildings in Den Net City," the Navi answered, quickly dodging one of Bass's energy attacks and firing his buster. "He destroyed the cable car, I'm sure of it!"

"He what?! Hold on, Megaman! I'll be there as soon as I can!" Lan put his PET back and took a turn, heading for the hospital entrance.

Megaman leapt away toward the next building, as the one he was standing on crumbled from the impact of Bass's powerful fist. His enemy followed him, as Megaman fired buster shots at the cloaked Navi; they impacted him, but did little to deter him, and he swatted the last few away with a sword as he landed.

"Who are you? Why are you doing this?" Megaman demanded.

"My name is Bass, and I am the most powerful Navi in existence," his opponent responded, floating in the air and holding his palm up in the air, generating a purple wheel of energy. "And it is the pathetic, cowardly, selfish humans that caused me to do this. I am exacting my revenge." Bass hurled the wheel down toward Megaman, who dodged to the right; the wheel followed him, curving to meet its target again. He jumped up onto a raised section of the roof, launching himself forward and smashing Bass in the gut with his buster arm, just as it fired.

"Well, your revenge stops here!" he yelled out as he landed on the ground, his enemy descending slowly. "You're going to regret blowing up that cable car!"

"You're speaking complete nonsense," Bass answered, maintaining his calm despite the battle. "Clearly you've lost your mind, especially if you're challenging someone like me." He aimed his outstretched fist at his foe, as large, purple energy blasts started firing out of his arm. Megaman managed to dodge one, but the next slammed into him, sending him backwards into the wall of the raised section of the roof. "All you have is that buster of yours. You're no match for me!"

Megaman grabbed his stomach, as Bass readied himself to attack again. He was right; without any backup from Lan, he was going to have a lot of trouble winning this fight. He'd have to hold off as long as he could.

As the sliding doors of the hospital opened, one of the nurses at the front desk looked toward it and shrieked; a young boy, covered in blood and sporting large bruises, skated in while carrying a limp body on his back.

"We need help... my friend... she was hurt in an explosion on 41st St.," he managed, as the nurse stared in shock. She shook herself out of her reverie and leaned into an intercom.

"ER, this is the front desk, we need EMTs up here with a stretcher and equipment ASAP."

In just about a minute, several doctors in white showed up with a stretcher, an IV, and other equipment; they helped Lan get Mayl down and onto the stretcher, where they immediately began tending to her. Lan breathed a sigh of relief, before doing a 180 and skating right back toward the exit.

"Hey... wait!" the nurse called out. "Where are you going?!" He ignored her, removing the antenna from his PET and looking around for a jack-in point, Battlechip in hand. He quickly found one and plugged his PET into it, slotting the chip in.

Back on the rooftop, Megaman had taken a bit of a beating; though he had done Bass what damage he could, without support, he was useless. As his enemy fired another energy ball at him, a Barrier suddenly shot up around him, nullifying the blast.

"Lan!" Megaman cried out, as Bass's eyebrows raised in surprise. "You're finally back!"

"How's the battle looking?"

"Not good," his Navi responded. "Bass is definitely strong, maybe even stronger than Protoman... we're going to have to pull something big if we're going to stop him." As he said this, Bass rushed forward, punching the barrier and smashing it into a thousand pieces; Megaman yelped and jumped away.

"We've got a shot, but there's only one chance we can do this," Lan replied, fiddling with his Battlechips. "Are you ready?"

Megaman nodded resolutely, knowing exactly what he meant. "Ready when you are." Lan nodded as well, taking in a deep breath and exhaling. A strong sense of determination filled him, and with it, a strange sense of calm overtook him. He felt completely in control of his emotions, his mind clear with what he had to do. Megaman inhaled at the same time, feeling the same sense of calm and direction.

"Sword!" Lan called out; Megaman's right arm became a sword, with which he dashed forward and swiped at his opponent. Not expecting a Battlechip attack, Bass barely dodged it, receiving a knick on his side.

"Gah! You'll pay for that!" He dashed forward, as Lan inserted the next chip.

"Wide Sword!" Megaman quickly leapt out of Bass's way, jumping over him as his other hand transformed as well.

"Long Sword!" Lan called out, as his Navi held his hands above his head, which began to glow. As Bass turned around, his eyes widened at the massive energy residing above Megaman's hand.

"Take this!" he yelled, swiping toward Bass with his Life Sword. The force of the wave was powerful enough to blow away the rubble that was scattered about the rooftop. Bass had no time to react before the Life Sword collided with him, knocking him back as it separated him in half, the two pieces falling back onto the rooftop. The Life Sword continued on through the air, disappearing some ways back in a brilliant flash of light.

Bass lay on the ground, his two half completely separated, along with portions of his arm. His expression of surprise remained on his face, as Megaman hunched over, resting his hands on his knees.

"Incredible... we did it, Lan..."

As he walked forward to inspect Bass, another Navi suddenly appeared between them, beaming in. Megaman's eyes widened as he recognized the red-and-gray frame.

"Fireman!" he exclaimed. "What are you doing here?!"

"My job," Fireman responded, walking over toward Bass and placing his hand on the torso. "You did a good job subduing him for us... but I think we'll take it from here."

"Wait!" Megaman ran forward to accost Fireman, but both Navis vanished in twin beams of light. He looked up as they disappeared. "Damn... got away..."

"Well, at least's not going to be hurting anyone anytime soon," Lan chipped in. "That Life Sword... amazing..."

Megaman nodded, spotting something that remained behind after Fireman and Bass had left. "What's this...?" He walked forward and picked it up; it was a small piece of data.

"What's it say?" Lan inquired, as Megaman looked at it from various angles.

"Looks like it's got a web address on it..." He put it away.

"Maybe it's a clue... something World Three related must be going on there. We're going to have to investigate sometime."

Megaman turned to Lan and nodded, grimacing slightly as he looked through the screen. "Erm... Lan... you should probably get back to the hospital, don't you think?"

Lan suddenly became aware of the world around him once again, feeling the blood run down his cheek and staining his shirt. "Er... yea. Thanks." He jacked Megaman out and turned around toward the hospital, wondering how he was going to explain himself to his mom.

"Wake up, Bass."

Bass's eyes shot open, as he sat up, feeling his torso with his hand. He had been repaired somehow, and he looked around to survey his surroundings, which were quite familiar.

"You gave us quite a scare." Wily's voice came through an intercom. "Fireman brought you back in two pieces! What the hell were you up to?"

"I..." Bass held his head for a moment, thinking back, but the last memory he had was looking through random World Three files after he retrieved Airman. "I don't remember." He glanced up. "What happened to me?"

"We don't know," the old man responded. "It looked like you had been fighting with Megaman when we found you. Clearly, you lost."

"Lost to Megaman?" Bass replied, incredulous. "That can't be... he shouldn't be that strong. Defeating Fireman, perhaps, but me?"

"Obviously, he's more capable than we gave him credit for." Back in his office, Wily started walking toward his desk chair, supporting his weak legs with his cane. "We're going to have to come up with some sort of contingency plan if he continues to interfere."

The Navi nodded, a bit embarrassed that someone of his skills had managed to lose to anyone, let alone the hapless fool that struggled against Airman. He quickly stood up, but he was a bit weak after all that had just happened to him. "I'm going to look further into this. Let me know if there is anything else you need me for."

Dr. Wily nodded, watching Bass slowly move back to his own quarters, before he turned off the screen in his office. Behind him, a 30-something man walked into view, with long red hair tied back into a ponytail, and a goatee. His head was covered in a substantial amount of bandages, covering some sort of wound.

"He doesn't remember what happened, right?"

Wily shook his head. "Not a second. Your timing is impeccable, Match."

"Good." Kenichi Match nodded, mentally breathing a small sigh of relief. "That will teach us to store plans in a place he has access to. I don't want to have to go in and alter his memories again."

"Agreed." Wily took a seat, glancing up at his subordinate. "You're doing better, I hope."

"I'm perfectly fine," Match growled. "Ready to get revenge on the bastards that did this to me."

His master nodded. "Trust me, you'll get your chance soon. For now, go and rest. That's an order."

"Yes, Lord Wily." He bowed lightly before turning and leaving, holding his bandaged head. Wily turned his attention back to a machine resting on his desk, which was processing information; he waited impatiently for the results, more than ready for World Three to make its next move.

Chapter Text

The bus slowed to a stop, as the traffic signal ahead turned yellow, then red. Lan sighed impatiently.

"I can't believe your mom actually let you onto a bus after what happened," his Navi remarked. He snickered in response.

"Well, after she saw me trying to walk the day after, it was a done deal. She insisted I get myself nice and comfortable, even two weeks later." He glanced out the window. "Besides, you took care of the Navi that did it, right? There shouldn't be any more problems."

"Actually, about that..." Megaman thought back to his previous battle. "I brought that up a few times, and he kept acting like he didn't know what I was talking about. Maybe he really didn't have anything to do with it."

"Really?" Lan glanced down into his PET. "Who else could it have been, then?"

"I don't know. No one's owned up to it."

"Well that's... worrying." Lan looked up again, wondering if maybe World Three or Gospel had been responsible. "So whoever did this could still be out there..."

"I'm sure we'll be fine, Lan." His Navi stretched out his arms. "Speaking of, how is Mayl? Is she still on bed rest?"

Lan laughed. "Are you kidding? She was out of bed after like four days. She's already back at school."

"Geez, really?"

"If you knew her, you wouldn't be surprised at all." He smirked. "She hates being inactive. She'd probably rip her cast off her arm if she could."

"I'm sure she'll just have you carry her stuff for her until she recovers," his Navi teased. "I'm a bit surprised she didn't want to come along with us, really."

"I didn't tell her about this," Lan responded, his voice becoming more serious. "She's been hurt badly enough. I don't want to be putting her in more danger."

Megaman cocked his head. "But you'll put yourself in danger, no problem?"

"I'll be fine. I'm not worried about myself."

His Navi thought that maybe he should be worried, but something in Lan's voice suggested that such comments would fall on deaf ears. Megaman stayed quiet, while Lan looked out the window, as the bus went through another green light.

"You're sure you know where we're going?"

"Mhmm." Megaman nodded. "From what I can tell, that part of the Net was closed off, except for a couple of jack-in points downtown. This should take us where we want to go."

"Now we'll get to see what World Three is hiding, whatever it is..." Lan tried to imagine what the two of them would find when they reached their destination, as the bus passed yet another green light.

"Uh, Lan?" Megaman piped up. "Does it seem like we're speeding up to you?"

Lan's eyebrows raised as he took another look outside. His Navi was right; the bus was definitely speeding up. Looking around at the other cars, he could tell they were breaking the speed limit by more than a little bit. He leaned his head into the middle row of the bus, looking toward the bus driver.

"Hey, aren't we going a bit too fast?" The driver didn't respond, fiddling nervously with the controls. Lan looked out the window again, looking down the road; all the lights that he could see were green, something he had never seen before. The bus continued to speed up, now hitting a rather dangerous speed.

"Something's wrong," he muttered to himself and Megaman; moving to pull out his PET, he was suddenly thrown out of his seat as the bus changed lanes, trying to avoid cars on its own. He landed hard in the middle of the bus.

"Gah!" he exclaimed, as pain shot through his still-sore back. "Ow... what's going on?"

As if to respond, his PET suddenly started ringing. He answered, curious, and found a twenty-something lady looking back at him through the screen; she was wearing a white-and-red t-shirt, and her red hair was tied into two large balls on either side of her head. She had an amused grin on her face.

"Sorry to trouble you, but I can't have you interfering with Dr. Wily's plans, now can I?"

"What?!" Lan exclaimed, sitting up. "You did this? You're with World Three?"

She laughed under her breath. "Looks like we got the right kid, at least." She gestured to herself. "Maddy Iroaya, of the great World Three, that's me!"

Lan got himself back into his seat, holding onto the armrest tightly. "What are you doing? Why is the bus speeding up?"

"You really need to be more careful where you're snooping around, kid." Maddy smirked at him. "We knew immediately what you were trying to do... so they sent me to ensure you never get the chance."

Lan clenched his fist, as she continued. "You'll reach your destination in just about three minutes. I think you'd best use that time to try and stop yourself from colliding with the other bus going to the same place."

"What?! Are there people on that other bus?!"

She smirked, not answering. "Normally I prefer not to take innocent lives, but I'll do whatever it takes to ensure Dr. Wily meets his ultimate goal. I guess that means I won't be seeing you again for a long time." She blew him a kiss, winking. "Ciao."

Lan cursed as the call ended, running toward the front of the bus. "It's a virus! There's got to be a virus on this bus!"

"I've got the antivirus working on it, but nothing's happening..." The bus driver looked up. "What were you saying about another bus?"

Lan's phone rang again. Telling the driver to hold on, he got it out, to see Dex's face looking back at him.

"Lan! I got trouble!" he exclaimed, a bit panicked. "I was taking the bus down to the arcade, and then it just started speeding up and speeding up! Are you downtown? Can Megaman help?"

"Damn it!" Lan punched the wall. "Dex, there are viruses on that bus! You have to get them all deleted in the next three minutes or else!"

"Or else wh--" Dex started, before Lan hung up, turning to the driver.

"Does this bus have a jack-in port? I can have Megaman help with the viruses!"

"Oh, you're that kid that almost won that Navi tournament a couple weeks ago!" the driver exclaimed, looking about. "Er... yea... there's one right here. Please hurry!"

Lan nodded as he pulled out his PET's cord, jacking Megaman into the bus's Cyberworld.

Megaman looked around the rather small Cyberworld for the bus; his initial sweep proved fruitless. His second, however, quickly found a massive, red-polka-dot ball hurtling toward his face.

"Agh!" He was knocked backward, as the ball bounced its way back toward its owner, a red, wide, colorful Navi with a triangular body and a face painted like a clown's. It tucked its feet in under itself, as the ball attached itself to the Navi's base. It landed on the ground, laughing madly to itself as Megaman got up.

"You! You're Maddy's Navi, aren't you?" He aimed his buster.

"You betcha!" the Navi replied, spinning around on its ball. "Call me Colorman! And call yourself... deleted!"

Bending over backwards, Colorman put his hands on the ground and focused. Seconds later, a series of large flames began to sprout from the ground, on a direct path toward Megaman. He quickly jumped out of the way, but quickly found himself impacted once again by the surprisingly hard ball.

"Eeheehee!" Colorman cackled, as Megaman flipped and landed on his feet. "Having a little trouble multitasking?" Extending his hands, he shot large flamethrowers from each palm, starting to spin around at a high speed.

"Lan! I need a Long Sword!" Megaman called out, diving to the ground below the rotating flames.

"Got it!" Lan said, sending the chip over, as his Navi flipped up and out of the path of Colorman's flamethrowers.

"Hee hee! Another blunder!" his enemy cackled, standing on his hands and firing his ball once again. Megaman aimed himself toward Colorman, his arm extended, and speared the ball on the length of his sword, much to the other Navi's surprise.

"How about a taste of your own medicine?" he taunted, flinging the ball back at Colorman, who was knocked onto his back by the impact. Expecting a groan of pain, Megaman was surprised to hear his foe laughing again.

"What? What's so funny?" he demanded, before receiving another powerful blow from the back, knocking him onto his face. Quickly rolling around to find his assailant, he found himself face-to-face with a second Colorman, identical to the first, but colored blue, and with a blue-polka-dotted ball.

"What the...?" Megaman looked around, realizing that there were indeed two Colormen attacking him, as the blue one cackled.

"Get it, Megaman?" It raised its hands into the air, swinging itself back and forth. "One Colorman, two Colorman, red Colorman, blue Colorman!"

He swung forward all the way, slamming his hands onto the ground, whereupon a massive geyser erupted underneath Megaman. As he was flung into the air, the red Colorman turned around and fired both flamethrowers in his direction, engulfing the blue Navi.

When the smoke cleared, they found Megaman in a defensive position, a Barrier surrounding him as he fell toward the ground.

"Lan, are you getting this? There's two of this guy!"

"I know, I saw!" Lan replied. "Does Maddy have two PETs or what? How is she doing this?"

"Nope nope nope!" the blue Colorman replied. "It's our special ability; we split into two!"

"One of us controls the bus..." the red one continued.

"And the other takes the traffic lights!" the blue one finished.

"But together, we'll defeat you!" the red one added, firing his ball once again, looking like he was having a blast. Panicking slightly, Megaman fell backward, kicking the ball up as it headed toward him. The ball changed direction and smashed heavily into the blue Colorman, whose reaction time was extremely slow.

"Huh? It didn't even try to dodge..." Megaman's eyes lit up. "Lan, I think I realized something! I don't think Maddy can control both of these guys at once!" He hopped up onto his feet, as Lan grinned.

"So if she's attacking with one, we can probably attack the other!"

"Let's try it!" Megaman exclaimed, as the blue Colorman prepared a retaliatory attack. Placing his hands on the ground, he prepared a massive geyser that sent his foe into the air once again. Instead of defending himself, Megaman whirled around and fired a Cannon directly into the red one's face; he took it full force, falling backward and hitting the ground hard.

Lan grinned wider, pleased. "That's more like it! Let's finish these two off quick, Megaman!" His Navi nodded in response, looking toward his enemies.

"Uh oh, he's figured out our secret!" the blue Colorman sighed, in a sing-song voice.

"Guess we better go to Plan B," the red one replied, hopping back up. The two Navis hopped toward each other, grabbing hands and glowing a bright white, causing Megaman to shield his eyes. When he looked up, there stood one Colorman, colored yellow and sporting a red-and-blue-dotted ball.

"Now I'll get you good!" he taunted, firing his ball once again. As Megaman prepared to dodge, wondering if this clown had any other attacks, the ball suddenly split into two, flying off in two directions and bouncing around the bus's Cyberworld. He looked around, trying to follow both of them, when they both suddenly hurtled toward him from either side, squishing him in between.

"Gah!" Megaman fell to his knees, sore from the impact, as Colorman laughed. He put one hand on the ground; while Megaman rolled to avoid the resulting geyser, he was caught in another and flung upward, where he was torched by Colorman's flamethrower.

"Ah ha ha ha! Give up yet?" Colorman asked, as his opponent fell to the floor, lightly scorched. As Megaman slowly got up to his knees, he looked up to see his foe aiming his ball once again. "You won't survive my dual nature much longer!"

As he prepared to fire, the entire bus decelerated instantly, sending Colorman flying as Megaman grabbed to hold on to the ground. In the real world, Lan and the driver were thrown against the front of the bus; the driver was protected by her seatbelt, but Lan slammed painfully into the windshield.

"Gah... what happened?" Lan looked back toward the intersection they had just passed; they had just run through a red light, and the computerized, automatic walkways had caught them, slowing them greatly.

"The traffic lights!" he exclaimed. "With the two of them as one, there's nobody to change them all to green!"

Colorman, who had realized his mistake instantly, slowly rubbed his head and turned around, to see Megaman jumping right toward him, Long Sword outstretched.

"Ha! You left yourself open!" he called out, bringing his sword down; Colorman rolled out of the way, but Megaman still managed to catch his water arm, cutting it off completely.

"Agh! My arm! You got my arm!" He hopped up onto his ball. "I'll get you for that!" He leaned back to fire his ball again, but was unstable on one arm, and the ball fired rather lazily at Megaman.

"Haah!" Lan's Navi dashed forward and sliced it in half, both halves falling uselessly to the floor as Colorman landed on his feet again.

"Nooo! My ball! What have you done?!" He dashed forward, ready to strike again, when he suddenly disappeared upward in a flash of light. Megaman blinked and looked upward after him.

"Jacked out...?" He turned to Lan. "Lan! Colorman's gone! We have to try to stop the bus!"

"Got it!" Lan turned to report to the driver, but she was already braking with all her might, sending him forward into the windshield again. Looking up, he saw that they had arrived at the intersection Megaman had told him about; down the street, he saw the other bus, decelerating but heading toward them nonetheless.

Lan's bus finally came to a stop in the middle of the intersection; the other bus made one last push to slow down, running into Lan's bus at a very small speed, rattling everyone on board. Bags went flying into the aisle, quickly followed by their owners, as others grabbed onto the handles near their seats to try and stay upright.

Breathing heavily, the bus driver looked up to see that they had stopped, hearing the sounds of car horns all around. Looking over, she saw the second bus had impacted their door, but not enough to cause any serious damage.

"Phew..." she exhaled. "We did it..." Looking up toward Lan, she was surprised to find him gone.

"Hey! Where did you go?" She stood up, looking into the aisle to find him, and instead finding the few other passengers, clamoring to either get up or get out. Looking toward the side, she saw one of the emergency exit windows had been opened.

Outside, Lan ran as fast as he could away from the bus, heading toward one of the jack-in points that Megaman had specified.

"Phew... almost didn't get out in time. Don't need us detained and asked a million questions..." Lan came to rest in an alley, catching his breath and getting out his PET to talk to Megaman. His back was in extraordinary pain from the impacts he had sustained, and he slumped against the wall, breathing deeply.

"I guess not, no," Megaman added. "Good thing Dex was on the other bus... I guess he was able to take care of the viruses."

"They'll probably ask him all about what happened," Lan thought. "And in the meantime, we'll be hot on World Three's trail!"

"What?" Megaman goggled. "You still want to check this place out? Have you seen yourself trying to stand?"

"I'm fine, really," Lan answered, lying, while trying to convince himself he was telling the truth. "I'm just a bit sore, it's nothing bad. Plus, we've worked too hard today to turn back now. We've come all the way down here, we should keep going! We could find something major down here!"

"Well... alright." His Navi nodded, still looking skeptical. "You sure seem fired up about this..."

Lan nodded back. "The sooner we stop World Three, the sooner they stop trying to hurt me and my friends."

"Alright, let's keep going," Megaman replied, rubbing his shoulder. "Just let me recharge for a few minutes, okay? That flamethrower really stings."

Lan grinned and nodded, putting his PET back into his holster and skating down the street.

Back at the intersection, the two crashed buses were now surrounded by several police cars; the intersection and its connected streets were blocked off, and all of the passengers were standing in the road or on the sidewalk, their previous fear replaced with irritation. At one corner of the intersection, two male police officers stood and watched impatiently, not sure what they were supposed to be doing here, exactly. They had been called in to provide assistance to the passengers, but all of them seemed to be doing fine on their own.

"This is not the sort of excitement I was hoping for today," the taller one remarked, sighing and folding his arms.

"Not sure what you were really expecting," the other replied, looking at his PET. "Most crimes these days are cyber crimes. We mostly get called in for stuff like this now. You'd better get used to it."

"Bleh, I guess so. I don't think I've done much aside from writing tickets since I joined." The taller one sighed again. "Guess this is the best I can hope for." The shorter officer started to reply, when he was interrupted by a voice behind them.

"Help! Please, one of you, you have to help me!!"

Both of them whirled around reflexively, eyes widening at the sight before them. An older boy who looked to be in his late teens was staggering toward them, disheveled and emaciated, as if he hadn't eaten in ages. His face was covered in blood that issued from a cut on his forehead, staining his long green hair that reached down to his waist; his wrists had been bound behind his back.

"Holy... kid, what happened to you?!" the shorter officer exclaimed, as both of them rushed over. The short officer moved behind him, seeing that his wrists were bound with a zip tie; he reached down to his belt, pulling out a multi tool to cut through the tie.

"Been held captive..." the boy gasped, exhausted, mouth dry. "It's been weeks... haven't eaten in days..."

"Just relax, you're safe now," the tall officer reassured the boy, hands on his shoulders. "We'll bring you to the station, get you some food and water, some medical help... you'll be better in no time." He started to lead the way to their car once his partner had freed the boy's hands, but the boy stepped away.

"No, no, don't have time for that..." He rubbed his sore wrists, thankful that his arms were finally free. "You have to get me to the police commissioner, right away. I need to talk to him."

The shorter cop shot him a curious look. "Kid, we can't just take random people to see the commissioner." He pulled out his PET again, walking over to the car as he started to call this incident in. "You'll be fine, we'll take care of you."

"No! I have to talk to him! It's vitally important!" the boy insisted, standing up fully, as the taller officer stepped between his partner and the boy, just in case. "Tell him you caught Kid Grave!"

Both officers paused at this, turning and looking at the boy with wide eyes. "What?" The boy sighed in relief, glad he finally had their attention.

"My name is Kid Grave. I'm the leader of the crime syndicate Gospel."

Chapter Text

- Two Weeks Before -

On 41st St. in downtown Den City, a cable car lay on its side in the street, the front of it twisted and smoldering. The onlookers had stopped screaming, as the mental impact of the blast started to settle, and they had formed a circle around the vehicle, talking loudly to themselves, or calling emergency services. A minute or so later, the emergency exit flew off the top of the cable car, causing people to gasp, and a young boy stepped out, carrying an injured young girl on his back. The onlookers watched as he started skating off toward the hospital.

Inside the cable car, one other passenger was starting to regain consciousness. He had been seated in the back, away from the blast, but he had badly hit his head and been knocked out; blood from his head was now starting to mix with the red of his hair and beard. He groaned, reaching up to hold his pounding head, but he hissed in pain as his hand touched an open wound. He cursed loudly, turning to look at the older, blond-haired man who had previously been sitting next to him; he was lying against a broken window on what was now the floor of the cable car, groaning in pain and starting to stir.

"Zapp!" The redheaded man reached out to shake his companion awake. "Are you alright? Can you move?"

"Ugh..." The blond man started to slowly push himself up into a sitting position, his back screaming in pain. "I think I can move..." He grabbed at a ruined seat, using it to slowly pull himself up. "What the hell happened, Match?"

"Someone laid a bomb," Match replied, his concern quickly being replaced with anger. "It was meant for the two of us." He reached down for his PET, glad to see that it wasn't broken, and he quickly typed out a message. "I'm having Maddy bring the getaway van. We need to get out of here before the cops show up."

"The two of us?" Zapp slowly got himself into a standing position, holding his back. "How do you know that?"

Match flipped through the screens of his PET for another couple of moments before putting it away. "I got a message just before the explosion. We're being hunted." He forced himself to stand, wiping blood out of his eye before moving to open the back door of the cable car. "They screwed it up. Now it's time for us to do the hunting."

Zapp nodded, as Match threw open the back door. He walked back to help the older man walk, draping an arm around his shoulders, and Zapp leaned against him for support as they started to leave. On Kenichi Match's PET, a text message was displaying four simple words:

Gospel sends its regards.

Seven minutes later, Match and Zapp were walking wearily down the street, trying to move as quickly as possible; several onlookers had already called emergency services specifically for them, and they were not interested in talking to the police. As they kept moving, they saw a windowless van driving toward then at a clearly unsafe speed, before it screeched to a stop in front of them. The sliding door opened up just a second later, revealing Maddy Iroaya; she gasped as she saw the two men standing on the sidewalk.

"Oh my God! Get in, get in!" She ushered the two of them in, helping them each to get a seat before leaping back into the driver's seat and speeding off again. "What on Earth happened?! Are you alright?"

"It was a bomb," Match answered, as Zapp tried to get himself comfortable despite his aching back. "Gospel tried to kill us. I'm fine, we're both fine. Just a little worse for wear."

"You're fine?! You're bleeding from the head! Did you get a concussion? Are you feeling dizzy?" She held her hand out to her side, in clear sight, holding up four of her fingers and hiding her thumb. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

Match casually aimed a rude gesture back at the driver, annoyed. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Alright, you're fine," Maddy conceded, slowing a bit to make a turn. "Still, you're getting patched up when we get back."

He nodded, wiping more blood away from his face. "Those bastards... I thought they would respond in kind after we started collecting their Navis. This isn't in kind. This is an escalation. This is a war."

"Can we even fight a war?" she wondered aloud, heading toward the outskirts of Den City. "We don't have nearly as many people as Gospel does. They've grown a lot faster than we have. Zapp, if you're going to lie down when I'm driving this fast, put a seat belt on." Count Zapp grumbled as he reached up, groaning, and buckled himself in as he lay back on the middle seat.

"We can't fight a physical war," Match responded. "They have their tendrils in places we can't reach. We can't get our hands on weapons. We need to be smarter." He sat back, closing his eyes, trying to ignore the throbbing pain in his head. "Wily's nearly made a breakthrough with this Gospel Navi data. We need to act defeated for now. Bide our time until we can strike back, without inviting more assaults from them."

Maddy nodded, biting her lip, glancing at him in the rear view mirror, watching as the blood flowed down his face. The sight was making her sick to her stomach. This was not what she thought she was signing up for when she joined World Three; this was far too real. She forced her eyes back on the road, making her way back to headquarters, hoping that they both were going to be okay.

Two days later, a black van was pulling up to an apartment building in downtown Den City at one in the morning. The passenger door opened up, and a seventeen-year-old boy stepped out, wearing a hat and a large trench coat, covering his long green hair as much as possible. The boy walked up to the door and opened it, looking around to make sure that nobody was watching, before stepping inside and shutting the door; the van pulled away as soon as the door was closed.

He slowly walked up the darkened stairs to his apartment, very tired but still in high spirits. While the cable car bombing hadn't left any bodies, it had humbled World Three and sent them into hiding; they had not seen hide nor hair from them in the past couple of days. Soon, Den City was going to fall squarely into Gospel's grasp. His rise to power began now.

As he finished climbing the stairs and reached his floor, he failed to notice the figure quietly following him, having stepped out of a nearby electrical closet. The heavily bandaged man moved silently as he closely followed the younger boy, careful to stay out of sight, which wasn't difficult in the dark, mostly empty building. The exhausted state of the overconfident boy didn't help his awareness any.

He eventually stopped in front of one of the doors, grabbing a set of keys out of his pocket and unlocking it. He pushed the door open, ready to get some much-needed sleep, when he felt a pair of hands grab him from behind, pushing forward and slamming him to the ground. Before he could turn around to try and get up, he felt a heavy weight landing on him as someone planted their knee into his back, causing the air to rush out of him.

"Who... who the...?!"

From atop the boy, Kenichi Match grinned a devious grin, thrilled that this had gone so easily, eager for revenge. He pulled out his PET and pressed a button on it, causing two spikes to emerge from the top of the device, electricity sparking between them. He leaned down, speaking right into the boy's ear, wanting him to be filled with fear.

"World Three sends its regards."

The boy's eyes widened, and he struggled once more to get up before he felt a powerful surge of electricity course through him, and everything went black.

When the boy came to, he found himself once again in a dark room. Coming to his senses, he found he was no longer lying down, but was sitting in a chair, with a large amount of rope binding him to it. His entire body was sore, but he put it out of his mind as he struggled to get free. He tried to rock the chair back and forth, but it had somehow been fused to the floor and wouldn't budge. He cursed and ceased struggling, racking his brain for some way to get free, trying not to panic.

Several minutes later, he heard the sound of a door opening behind him, and the voice of an old man. "So, you're awake. Good." He tried to turn his head enough to look behind him, to no avail; he heard the footsteps of the man, along with the rapping of a cane against the floor, as he walked forward and slowly came into view. He didn't recognize the gray lab coat, the wild hair, or the monocle on the man's face, but he knew instinctively who he was dealing with.

"Wily," he growled.

"Kid Grave," Wily responded, taking a chair and sitting across from his captive, smirking. "I have to say, I thought that was just some sort of cheeky nickname. I had no idea you were an actual child."

"I'm no kid, old man," he retorted. "You think a child could have pulled off the bombing that put two of your Operators out of commission?"

The old man was unfazed. "A child certainly would have been stupid enough to let themselves get caught afterward. And by one of the Operators you put 'out of commission', no less."

Kid Grave gritted his teeth, furious. "How did you even find me?"

"What do you think we were collecting all those Navis of yours for?" Wily chuckled. "Once we extracted their security codes, which you were too stupid to deactivate, getting into the Gospel servers and tracking you down was pathetically easy." He smirked. "Whenever you're making a criminal enterprise, cybersecurity experts are your first hire."

"Thanks for the tip." The captive glared. "You didn't bring me here just to gloat, I'm guessing."

"No, that's exactly why you're here, actually," Wily responded. "After all the grief you and your organization have given me, I just wanted to see the look on your face when you realized that you've lost everything you've worked for."

"That's a complete load," Kid Grave shot back confidently. "I'm not stupid. If you didn't need me, you would have killed me in my apartment. You need something from me, and you're not getting it in a thousand years."

His captor chuckled, amused by the boy's cheek. "You're gravely mistaken about the position you're in, young man." He leaned in, his voice becoming more menacing. "I already have everything I need from you. Soon, everyone working with you will be following my orders, whether they want to or not. You are no longer relevant, either to me, or to this city."

The boy was shaken, though he tried to hide it. "You're lying, Wily..."

"Your time is done, Kid Grave." Wily's voice was low, gravely, sinister. "Gospel now belongs to me."

He stood up, leaning on his cane as he did so, relishing the worried expression on the boy's face. "Don't worry, you aren't going to die here... probably. I would prefer not to throw away a potential bargaining chip." He started walking toward the door. "We've got a room prepared for you. I won't lie, it's not a comfortable room, but you're not in a position to be picky. Your guards will be feeding you, if they don't forget." He smirked as he walked out the door. "Take care."

Kid Grave heard the door shut behind him, his heart sunk into his stomach. He had envisioned moments like this, but now that he was actually in one, he realized just how much he was in over his head. There was no planning his way out of this. His only option now was to pray for some sort of opening, or mercy. As he heard the doors open again, two heavy sets of footsteps walking over to him, he started to fear that neither one may come.

One week later, Maddy was walking through the halls of the World Three headquarters, making her way to her computer. She was a bit frazzled, and more than a bit tired; everyone in the organization had been working overtime for the past week, as big plans were underway after the capture of Kid Grave. She'd missed breakfast, and was holding a large wrapped sandwich in one hand, which she and her growling stomach were looking forward to.

As she walked by one door, she slowed, then eventually stopped, glancing back at it. She knew that this was the room that was holding Kid Grave; it was an office supply room that had been converted into a makeshift prison cell, with a heavy locked door, a small window that could be opened and closed, and a small slot for food to be pushed through. She watched it for a moment before turning and walking back to it, a vengeful look in her eyes. She wanted the satisfaction of seeing this monster face to face, the one who had tried to kill Ken Match and Count Zapp.

She walked up to the door and opened the window, expecting to see some sort of hulking soulless brute, biding his time until he could escape and cause more mayhem. As she peered inside, her eyes widened and she had to suppress a gasp. Instead of some imposing monster, she saw a tired, bruised, starving teenager, lying on the floor with his hands tied behind his back. His eyes were closed, barely having the energy to keep them open, looking like it took all of his strength to keep breathing.

Looking at him now, she found her previous anger melting away, replaced with a deep pity. For the second time in two weeks, she had come face-to-face with an image that she didn't think she could stomach. The fantasy of working for World Three was starting to crack, with reality shining through.

Inside the room, Kid Grave opened his eyes a bit, as he heard the sound of sliding metal, near the door. His eyes widened as he watched a pair of hands unwrapping something in his field of view, revealing a large and decadent sandwich, before sliding it his way on top of the paper. He scrambled over to it as the food slot shut itself again, starting to devour it, not caring that he didn't have his hands available to him. On the other side of the door, Maddy slowly stood up, peeking through the window once again; she watched him eat for a second before closing the window again.

"Not feeling hungry today, Madeline?" She jumped at the voice speaking to her, quickly turning to her left, seeing Dr. Wily watching her.

"Uncle Albert! I... I was... just..."

His eyes narrowed as he stared down his niece. "Just feeding the prisoner." She didn't know how to respond as he approached, not sure what to expect. She watched carefully as he walked toward her, then straight past.

"Compassion is no sin, Madeline," he spoke gently, as her eyes followed him. "But don't forget where your loyalties lie." He turned back to face her. "When you first came here, you told me you were prepared to do whatever it took to achieve our goals. Have you perhaps had a change of heart?"

She quickly shook her head. "No, I haven't. I'll do anything I have to. That's what I promised."

"Good." He turned back around. "Go get some lunch and get back to work."

"Yes, Uncle." She watched as he walked away, taking a deep breath and exhaling it slowly. She knew things would be hard, but she couldn't falter now. They were too close to achieving their goals, and she personally was in far too deep to back out. She would have to do some difficult things going forward; she didn't have time to doubt herself.

She turned around and headed back toward the secret entrance to the World Three headquarters, needing some food before she resumed her surveillance of Dr. Hikari and his son.

Five days later, one of the World Three security guards was walking through the halls late at night, making sure that nobody had snuck in. As he walked toward the door keeping Kid Grave locked up, he casually strolled up to it and flipped the window open, shining his flashlight through and peering inside. His eyes widened as he finally found the prisoner, lying motionless on the ground, with what might have been a pool of blood resting under his mouth.

"Oh hell, that's not good..." He quickly threw the door open and ran inside, kneeling next to the prisoner and shining the flashlight over him; the pool of red was coating his entire mouth. He cursed and leaned in closer to check for vital signs, not needing the grief that would come with having someone dying on his watch.

As he leaned in closer, listening for the sounds of breathing, Kid Grave suddenly turned to face him and rammed his forehead into the security guard's as hard as he could. The guard was heavily dazed, being taken by surprise, and he fell onto the ground himself, the room spinning. He watched as the prisoner got to his feet as fast as he could, racing out the door and trying to find his way to the exit. Lying back, trying to get his bearings, the guard was able to smell the distinct smell of tomato soup on the floor.

Two minutes later, Kid Grave had managed to make it back onto the streets of Den City, filled with adrenaline and a deep, newfound appreciation for whoever invented the exit sign. He could feel blood running down his forehead, and he was dizzy from the impact that had gotten him free, but he continued to run down the streets, looking for any sort of help. He wouldn't find it until the next afternoon, after he had gotten some sleep in an alleyway.

Later the next day, he found himself seated in the office of the Den City police commissioner. He had gotten some proper medical treatment, and was feeling full for the first time in weeks, giving him energy and mental clarity that he had been lacking. Another officer was standing nearby, and the two of them waited patiently for the commissioner to enter, which he did a few minutes later.

"So, you're claiming to be Kid Grave, head of Gospel." The older man sat behind his desk, studying the boy carefully. "You do match the physical description we've been given, I'll admit."

"I am Kid Grave," the boy responded. "I can prove my identity any way you like."

"Uh huh." The commissioner gave him a skeptical look. "And what is the head of Gospel doing in my office right now?"

"I'm here because things are about to get very dangerous," Kid Grave replied. "I've lost control of the organization. I was kidnapped by World Three just under two weeks ago, and I just managed to escape." He leaned in closer, trying to convey the seriousness of the situation. "If we don't do anything, World Three is going to absorb Gospel completely. You'll have one giant criminal organization to deal with instead of two. Is that something you want to deal with?"

"And let me guess: you're offering to help us stop them, in exchange for some sort of legal immunity." He cocked his head. "Did you ever see yourself doing this sort of thing at seventeen, son?"

Kid Grave glared at him, frustrated. "No, I didn't. But this is how things turned out."

"Alright, kid, I'm going to level with you." The commissioner sat back in his chair. "I don't believe that you're Kid Grave."

"Why not?" The boy wasn't surprised by this, but he was ready to prove his identity by any means necessary.

"Well, we're basically always listening to whatever radio chatter we can pick up," the older man started explaining. "We're able to hear what's going on at the periphery of Gospel and World Three. And there hasn't been a single word from any Gospel operatives that anything is amiss. I feel like if their leader suddenly disappeared, people would be talking about it, don't you?"

Kid Grave blinked, not having expected this answer and not knowing how to respond. "They... what?"

"Furthermore," the commissioner continued, "they keep talking about orders that they're getting from 'the boss'. It sounds like he's still there, running things. One or two of them have even seen Kid Grave with their own eyes, in the past few days."

He glanced back at the boy sitting across from him, who looked like he was at a complete loss for words, his eyes wide. "That... that can't... be..."

The commissioner stood up, pushing his chair back with his legs. "We're going to keep you here a bit longer, making sure you're healthy and all that. If you want to start telling us the truth, whoever you are, there are plenty of people willing to listen, who are at the appropriate pay grade."

He walked past the boy and out of his door, having other matters to attend to. The other officer in the room reached out and grasped the boy's arm, getting him to stand, and the two walked out and down the hall. Kid Grave continued to be lost for words, having no idea what was going on.

In another part of Den City, inside an underground complex, a young woman walked up to an ornate door, holding a folder of papers in her arm. She knocked on the door and waited for a moment, before a buzzing sound signaled that she was allowed inside. She opened it and stepped inside, eyes focusing on the figure at the end of the room: a teenage boy with long, green hair, sitting behind a desk.

"Sir, I have an update on the project."

The boy nodded. "Go ahead."

"We've officially begun the formation of the Viral Beast. The tech is working exactly as we wanted; viruses are coming from all around."

"Per-per-perfect," the boy responded, his voice stuttering a little. "How long do you believe it will take to complete the beast?"

"It... depends on how many viruses are in the area," she responded, cocking her head a bit at the stuttering. "But we're at 10% completion right now. We're projecting completion somewhere between 6 and 16 hours; exactly how long it takes is not really in our control."

The boy nodded. "Well, even the long estimate is shorter than I was expecting. That's great news. Keep me notified of any ch-ch-changes."

"Sir... are you alright?" She stepped a little closer, noticing a tinny quality to his voice that she hadn't heard before. "You seem... under the weather."

"It's nothing you need to worry about. I've just been working hard. Maybe I caught something."

She nodded, taking a step back, not wanting to catch whatever Kid Grave had caught. "Well, take care of yourself, sir. I'll keep you updated."

The boy nodded, and the woman stepped outside, shutting the door behind her; it automatically locked as soon as it closed. Seconds later, a light seemed to disappear from Kid Grave's eyes, and he slumped forward on the desk like a rag doll, motionless.

Miles away, Dr. Wily was chuckling to himself, putting away a microphone hooked up to a device on his desk. His new toy had been working out even better than he had hoped; not only could he get immediate updates on everything Gospel was doing, but he was even issuing orders through the mechanical shell that his operatives had installed in Kid Grave's office. Soon the Viral Beast would be complete, and then his plans would enter a new phase. He had been right: Gospel was now his to command.

He stood up from his desk and walked toward the door, wanting to check on the progress of his other major project.

Chapter Text

In a flash of light, Megaman appeared in the Cyberworld at the location he'd picked out. Looking around, he found himself in a secure building; a window to the outside showed he was in Den Net City, but there were no doors at all.

"This is definitely the place!" he reported back to Lan. "There's no other way to get here besides jacking in directly. And it doesn't look like there are too many jack-in points, either."

Lan nodded, slumped against the wall to try and alleviate the pain in his aching back; he was jacked in to a random port deep in an alley in downtown Den City. "Pretty shady area... probably perfect for a Netmafia."

Megaman looked out the window; it was a pretty shady part of the Net as well. Plenty of sinister-looking Navis were hanging around, mostly centered in two large groups on either side of the street. One of them suddenly tossed a Minibomb at the other group.

"All hail Gospel!" it shouted.

"Shut up, you Gospel scum!" shouted a Navi from the other side. "All glory to World Three!" The two groups ran at each other, ready for battle, when a group of Official Navis ran in and started blasting. Megaman turned away.

"Definitely not a good sign," he muttered to himself. "Let's keep checking this place out."

"Where does this place go, anyway?"

Megaman looked away from the streets of the Cyberworld, toward a hallway, which he started walking down. "I'm not sure, but we're going to find out, I guess."

"Stay on your guard," Lan cautioned. His Navi nodded, holding a Sword by his side. Following the hallway, he soon found himself in a large room; it appeared to be a meeting room, given the large table running along the center of it, but there was no one to be found.

"Shoot... this may just be a dead end." Megaman looked around. "Looks like this place is a bit abandoned..."

He cut himself off, as he noticed some motion off to his left; turning quickly, he found two Mettool viruses running toward him. Expecting to defend himself, he was rather surprised when they scuttled right past, heading further into the building and ignoring him completely.

"What is it?" Lan inquired.

"Just a couple Mettools... acting pretty funny, though..." Megaman started to follow them deeper into the building.

"Hold it, you!" he heard a voice call from behind; whirling around, he saw a familiar red Navi dashing at him with a Wide Sword.

"Protoman!" Megaman responded, bringing up his sword to defend himself; the blades met with a clang, as Protoman angrily stared him down, not relenting. "What are you doing here?!"

"What are YOU doing here?!" Protoman demanded. "Shall I take this as proof that you're involved with Gospel?!"

"Gospel?! What are you talking about?" Megaman replied, forcing the other Navi back. "I was just following the lead I got! I thought this was a World Three hideout!"

Protoman frowned, standing down and letting his sword fall to his side, as Chaud's voice cut in. "I don't care how you found this place, but you're going to leave, and now. I told you to stay out of this and leave it to the Officials."

"What the hell is your problem?!" Lan shot back. "We're trying to help you guys, you know! Why is it so important that the Officials take care of it?"

"Because it's my job to do it, and I actually know what I'm doing," Chaud responded. "You're just doing it because you have some fantasy of being the hero."

"Excuse me?!" Lan spat out, incredulous. "You think this is some sort of game for me?! You didn't have to see you and your friends get hurt in a cable car bombing, now did you?!"

"What...?" Chaud's voice was a bit less strong this time; Lan continued, undeterred.

"I've got ten stitches in my head right now! My friend Mayl could have died! I had to take her over to the hospital myself! And where were the Officials then?! Know what you're doing, my ass!"

"Lan, calm down!" Megaman cautioned, as Protoman bristled.

"You insolent punk! You have no right to speak to Master Chaud that way!"

"That's enough, Protoman." Chaud spoke sternly, as Protoman looked up; he stilled his tongue at the rebuke, as Megaman looked on in surprise.

"Alright, fine," he continued. "You can investigate with us, for now. But on one condition: you have to do as I tell you. I'm in charge here, understand?"

Lan felt like pressing the issue, but there was something about Chaud's voice that made him hesitate; it seemed a bit troubled, no longer so arrogant and sure. Lan swallowed his pride and nodded. "Alright... you're in charge."

"Lead the way, Protoman," Chaud ordered. The Navi nodded, heading further into the building, where the two Mettools had gone; Megaman followed close behind.

After a couple minutes of walking, the hallway turned into a stairway, headed downward. Megaman looked ahead, trying to see the end, as Protoman started walking forward.

"A stairway? In the Net?" Megaman pondered.

"We're leaving the general Net," Protoman responded, as Lan's Navi started following him down the stairs. "We'll soon find ourselves in a large computer system, I believe."

Megaman nodded, lost in thought. "But why would World Three need to be linked directly to the Net? They don't seem to have any shortage of operators to travel..."

"That's the second time you've called it a World Three hideout," Protoman mentioned, turning his head. "Master Chaud has investigated this location; it is most definitely owned and operated by Gospel."

"I got this web address off of a World Three Navi, when he was attacking Den City two weeks ago," Megaman responded. "He was wearing a cloak and called himself Bass."

"Bass?!" Protoman stopped and whirled around. "Was he a black Navi, very strong?"

Megaman blinked, not expecting that reaction. "Er... yea... really strong. I had to use a Life Sword to defeat him, then a World Three Navi came and retrieved him."

"That's ridiculous," Chaud called out from the real world. "Bass and World Three working together, it makes no sense."

"He must be. At that tournament, it was Bass who defeated that Gospel Navi; he said something about taking it to Dr. Wily."

"You two know far more than you should about the criminal elements in Den City." Protoman turned and kept walking. "Unbelievable... if Bass is working for World Three..."

"Am I missing something here?" Megaman inquired, walking after Chaud's Navi. "Who exactly is Bass, anyway?"

Protoman began to answer, but stopped himself upon seeing something ahead. The both of them ran forward, as the thing they saw turned into many things. In a large room, a massive number of viruses was converging; lined up single file, sorted by type, various Mettools, Spikeys, Bunnys, and all other sorts marched forward, mindlessly, further into the building. The two Navis stared at the obscure procession, but not a single virus paid them any heed, all of them mysteriously drawn to whatever lay ahead.

"What the...?" Megaman kneeled down next to a line of Mettools, poking at them; they continued on, oblivious to everything around them. "Why are they all coming together like this?"

"You can't tell?" Protoman responded, as Megaman stood up; he pointed his sword down the hallway. "They're being collected. Take a listen down there."

Lan's Navi turned his ear toward the hallway, and was able to make out a high-pitched frequency of some sort.

"So they're signaling for viruses to come to them?"

"They must be." Protoman started following the viruses. "And we've got an inkling as to why, too."

Megaman followed after Chaud's Navi once again. "Why, do you think?"

Protoman started walking a little faster amidst the viruses, as he could make out a light at the nearby end of the tunnel. "Some sort of project they're working on. We're not sure exactly what it is, but it's intended to cause havoc and destruction by Gospel's word."

"Maybe the name is some sort of indication," Megaman offered, as the end of the hall got closer and closer. Protoman shook his head.

"They seem to have thought of that. The only codename they've given it is... Gospel..." He started, upon seeing something in the lit room, and ran forward; Megaman ran after him, entering the room and staring up, agape, at what lay before them.

A massive, black, dog-shaped virus, four times as tall as a standard Navi, stood in the center of the room, its eyes closed; its skin was rough and jagged, and around its neck was a giant, spiked mane. Around it, all sorts of machines whirred and clicked and moved, monitoring it and inserting odd, black shapes into the dog's body.

"So... this must be Gospel, huh...?" Megaman stared up in wonderment.

"So this is what they wanted all those viruses for... they're turning them into Bug Fragments and using them to create this thing." Protoman motioned toward his right, and Megaman looked over to see the lines of viruses converge; they were all entering a large machine, which was processing them and spitting out dark-colored, oddly-shaped objects in their stead.

He grimaced. "That's sick... it's like wholesale slaughter."

"Better here than on the Net... but we're going to have to stop this before they activate this beast." Protoman braced himself for attack, before a loud sound made them both turn around; the door had been slammed shut.

"You're too late to stop it, fools!" Both Navis looked up, to see a large, spherical Navi colored like the Earth residing on a nearby platform; around it orbited two smaller spheres, as a smallish head on top caddressed them both. "There's nothing you can do about the Viral Beast now! It's almost complete!"

"Planetman..." Protoman gritted his teeth, glaring up at the Navi. "You again... so you're the one in charge of this project, are you?"

The other Navi laughed. "Too little too late, Protoman. Even in its current state, Gospel is more than powerful enough to destroy the two of you." He raised his hand and slammed it on a nearby control panel. "Allow me to give you a demonstration!"

Numerous other machines started whirring, as four large metal spheres attached to poles moved forward, next to Gospel. They glowed a bright blue, before large conduits of electricity erupted forth and shooting into Gospel; blue electricity started shooting all over his body, faster and faster. After a few seconds, the dog's eyes opened.

Letting out a massive roar, Gospel started kicking its powerful legs; with each kick, it shattered a massive chain that was tethering it to the floor. Soon, the beast was completely free, and it looked down on Megaman and Protoman with hunger in its eyes, snarling.

"Hahaha! That's the way, Gospel!" Planetman shouted from his perch, causing the beast to look up at him. "Destroy the two interlopers! Show them what happens when you try--"

With a swing of its paw, Gospel knocked Planetman away, and onto the ground far below. Before he could get up, the paw came back down, claws extended, and smashed into Planetman, shattering his torso. A few seconds later, the Navi dissolved into deletion; Megaman gaped at the ease with which Gospel had destroyed its target.

"Damn, this thing is strong." Protoman extended his arm, upon which a Sword appeared. "And there's no form of control inside that thing; it's no better than a common virus. We've got to stop it from escaping onto the Net."

Megaman looked up at it, as it roared in triumph over its kill. "You're going to use the Life Sword?"

Protoman nodded. "It'll take a while to charge up the blade enough to defeat this thing... I'm going to need you to distract it for about fifteen seconds."

Megaman nodded. "Lan! I hope you have your Area Steal chips ready!"

"I've got four of them here!" Lan called back. "Ready when you are!"

"Let's move!" his Navi called out, vanishing into thin air, only to reappear behind Gospel, far from Protoman. He aimed his buster.

"Hey, you! Come and get me, you stupid mutt!" He fired at the beast's back, the shots doing no damage, but stinging plenty; with a roar, Gospel turned around to face its attacker. Growling, the beast charged the hanging platform Megaman was standing on, ramming into it with his head; the Navi jumped off and landed on Gospel's back, taking out a sword and stabbing.

With a howl of pain, Gospel reared back on his hind legs, while quickly turning around to swipe at the pest on its back; Megaman, with another Area Steal, disappeared and landed on the virus machine, taunting the beast again.

Back down below, Protoman had nearly gathered the energy he needed; he smirked as Megaman bounced around the room, nearly impossible to catch, as Gospel howled with rage and frustration. "He certainly can be annoying when he needs to be..."

"Protoman! We're ready!" Chaud called out. Protoman nodded and swung with all his might.

"Haah!" The Life Sword quickly traveled toward the beast, who barely had time to look over before it had one of its front legs completely severed, as well as a portion of its mane. It sank to the floor, roaring in pain, as Megaman cheered.

"Yes! We got him! Just need a couple more of those and he'll be down and out!"

"Megaman! It's your turn!" Chaud called out. "Protoman needs to recharge for a minute!"

Megaman nodded, holding out his arm as Lan fed him the first Battlechip. "Sword!"

As a sword appeared on Megaman's arm, he ran around to Gospel's front, hoping to target the head and take it out. At the same time, Gospel reared up on his hind legs, letting out a large howl; an instant later, another leg shot out of its torso, replacing the one he had just lost.

"Gah! What?!" Megaman stopped dead in his tracks, as Gospel just as easily replaced the missing portions of its mane. Growling, it turned its sights toward Protoman, who was standing near the sealed entrance to the room. It raised one paw, ready to strike.

"Protoman!" Megaman hopped off the balcony and dashed forward, shoving Protoman out of the way; Gospel's paw knocked Megaman back toward one of the side walls, as its claws tore through the door. The wall crumbled upon this impact, creating a much larger exit to the Net.

Megaman sat up, rubbing his head, as Gospel's brain came to the realization of escape. Running at incredible speed, it squeezed its way through the door it had just made, headed toward the Net.

"No!" Protoman stood and ran toward the entrance, watching as the creature raced up the stairs, far too fast to be caught. Megaman got back to his feet, running over, but Protoman quickly whirled around and punched him squarely in the gut, knocking him back down to the ground.

"What were you doing?!" Protoman demanded, furious. "You had the perfect opportunity to attack, why didn't you take it?!"

"What... I was..." Megaman stammered, coughing.

"You were useless, is what you were," Chaud cut in. "I should have known better than to rely on the two of you. Now look where we are!"

"Hey!" Lan shot back, defensively. "We were just trying to save your Navi!"

"And that's why you're useless. You can't take decisive action properly, and now all of Den City is at risk because of that monster!"

Megaman stood up, holding his stomach, as Chaud sighed. "Go home, both of you! Just stay the hell out of my way!" His voice vanished, as Protoman was jacked out, disappearing in a beam of light.

Lan's Navi ran toward the massive hole in the wall, looking toward where Gospel had just ran. "Damn... I think we just made a big mistake, Lan..."

Lan sighed. "Maybe... I'm jacking you out." In a beam of light, Megaman disappeared from the wrecked room, as numerous viruses now stood and looked at each other, confused as to how they had gotten here.

Back in his PET, Megaman looked up toward Lan. "What are we going to do now? We can't just let Gospel roam free, can we?"

Lan shook his head. "No we can't... but I'm not sure there's anything the two of us can do." He put his PET into its holster, pulling out his skates and carefully putting them on.

"So what are we going to do?"

"We're going to go get someone who knows what he's doing," Lan responded, starting to skate out of the alley, his back feeling a little better than before. "Let's go visit my dad."

Lan quickly skated down the sidewalk, speeding through the intersection where the two buses had hit each other; as several police officers and ambulance workers watched him go, Lan continued right on, speeding through Den City and toward SciLab.

Chapter Text

Deep in a computer system in Den Net City, a Navi walked through a quiet, unused hallway, surrounded by various kinds of gadgetry. His cloak followed lightly behind him as he moved, looking around occasionally for traces of security.

"One last piece to our puzzle," Bass mused to himself. "If the old man's figurings are correct, that is. Then, finally, the assault on the humans can begin."

He rustled through an older machine, suspecting hidden treasures, before moving on, thinking to himself about the things he had seen earlier that week. "To think there was a creature on the Net so much more powerful than myself... but with the way it took over the test Cyberworld, it could prove rather dangerous indeed. Perhaps I should acquire a piece of it for my own purposes..."

He looked to his left and his eyebrows raised; could this be what he was searching for? After heading over and inspecting it, he was pleased to see that it was the force field generator that he was looking for. He reached down and picked it up off the ground; an instant later, several automated Navis appeared behind him, lasers drawn, as a siren sounded.

"SECU--" was all they managed to get out; a quick blast of energy from Bass's hand silenced them instantly. The security alert ended, and the Navi turned his attention back to the generator. The ability to generate powerful barriers at will could be a particularly useful one to him, especially in light of recent events. He had never truly believed Dr. Wily's explanation of what had happened on the day he fought Megaman, and he was looking to hedge his bets.

He focused himself, and his hand started to glow white. The generator glowed the same color, before both dimmed back to darkness. Holding up his hand, Bass took a second to work out how to use his new power, forming a small but powerful barrier around his hand. He closed his fingers into a fist as the barrier vanished.

"Let's see anyone try to double-cross me now." He turned to leave, holding the generator in his arm.

"Did you hear some sort of alarm?" Megaman wondered, as Lan ran through SciLab, headed for his father's office.

"I thought the same thing, but it only lasted for a second," his operator replied. "Must've been something else." He ran into an open elevator and jammed the button until the door closed, slumping against the wall.

"What is your dad going to do, you think?"

"Not sure," Lan said, catching his breath. "He'll probably send out some Officials to intercept it, something like that... all I know is, he can do more than either of us could." In addition to doing his Net research, Dr. Hikari was in charge of organizing and deploying Official Netbattlers in emergency situations, being an experienced Netbattler himself.

The doors opened again, and Lan dashed out, headed for his father's office. Upon entering, he found Yuichiro walking toward the door, ending a discussion with none other than Eugene Chaud. All three stopped, a but surprised, before Chaud continued forward, brushing past Lan without a word and heading down the hallway. Lan turned to watch him go.

"I thought I'd be seeing you before too long." Lan turned back to see his father standing with his arms folded, not looking pleased. He felt himself growing smaller.

"I guess Chaud told you what happened, huh?"

"I don't know how I can explain this to you any more clearly," Yuichiro replied. "And still you continue getting yourself involved in things you should not be involved in."

Lan sighed. "Dad..."

"Son, I know how you must be feeling after what happened, but you're still just putting yourself and Megaman in danger. Chaud's right; these are problems you should leave to the Officials." His father turned and started walking back into his office. "If I hear any more about you getting involved with Gospel or World Three, I'm taking away your PET, indefinitely. Megaman and all. Is that clear?"

Lan's eyes widened, incredulous, but he quickly backed down, not prepared to challenge his father over this. He let his shoulders fall, resigned. "Alright..."

"I'll think of a suitable punishment for this later." Yuichiro walked over to a large screen, pressing a button and causing a display to come up. "For now, we need to stop this creature before it destroys all of Den Net City." Lan walked over to the screen, and it appeared to be showing a layout of the city's Cyberworld; a large number of dots covered its surface.

"What are those? Navis?"

"Viruses," Yuichiro corrected. "Den's covered with them these days. But we're just looking for one..."

Lan scanned the street, trying to find anything familiar or outstanding. Before long, he noticed a large clump of viruses traveling as one down one of the main pathways. "Look at that," he said, pointing it out.

Yuichiro nodded, pushing his glasses up. "That's got to be what we're looking for; Gospel's constructed from a large amount of Bug Fragments, so that must be how they show up."

"So what are we going to do to it?"

"I've got some Officials on it now," his father responded. "They're going to lure Gospel here, and we'll encase it in a barrier that it won't be able to escape. Then we'll use another device to overload that portion of the Net, incapacitating it so we can destroy it."

As he finished speaking, four more dots appeared on the screen, each one taking the form of the Official Netbattler symbol. They converged quickly on Gospel's location.

"Here we go." Yuichiro stood closer, putting his hands on the console. "They've managed to track his location as well. Now the show will begin."

Bass flew through the air over Den Net City, scanning the streets to make sure he wasn't being detected as he delivered the force field generator to World Three. He mused over backup plans to himself, never one to trust anybody, when a sight made him stop dead and do a double take.

"What on Earth...?" He flew forward to get a better look. A gigantic, dog-like virus was sauntering through the Cyberworld, roaring and swiping at something that was causing bright flashes of light. Looking closer, he could see a number of Official Navis surrounding the beast, one of them firing laser blasts at it from the front. Eventually, the dog virus roared mightily and started running, as all four Navis chased after it, or were chased, depending on their position.

He contemplated stepping in, recognizing the beast from plans that had been stolen from Gospel HQ, before shaking his head. "No concern of mine. This is Wily's mess to deal with." He sped off again, as the Navis led the virus toward the place from which Bass had come.

In another part of Den City, someone else was quite concerned with what was going on. Seated at her computer terminal, Maddy Iroaya was tapped in to a number of cameras on the Net, watching the messy scene play out. She bore a concerned, even nervous expression as she saw Gospel being led close to the SciLab cyber building.

"Watching the mess you made?" She jumped, turning around and glaring at Kenichi Match, who was standing behind her with a less-than-amused expression on his face.

"Excuse me? How is this my fault, exactly?"

"You had your task. You needed to keep that Hikari boy from reaching that server, and you failed." His eyes flicked up toward her monitors. "Now look what we have to deal with."

She grumbled and turned back toward her terminal. "I didn't see you faring any better against him when we were dealing with the LifeVirus fiasco, Ken."

Match gritted his teeth but didn't respond; she had a point, but he didn't want to admit it by acknowledging her statement. She continued, not looking back at him. "This will all still work out fine. This dog thing wasn't even in the original plan. Who cares if anything happens to it?"

"Evidently, you care, since you're watching."

She shot him a glance. "Don't you have anything better to do right now?"

"I already did it," he responded. "I was just going over Colorman's records from your battle with Megaman."

Her eyes went wide, and she quickly stood up and whirled around to face him, instantly furious. "You're spying on me?!"

Match continued on, not responding to her question. "Your battle wasn't even close to over. You could have stalled Megaman enough to ensure that the two buses collided. And yet you jacked out anyway, giving that brat just enough time to stop the bus."

She glared at him hard enough to bore a hole through his head. "Maybe I didn't want the blood of an eleven-year-old on my hands."

"Maybe you're not as dedicated to this cause as the rest of us are."

Maddy continued to glare for a few moments before walking forward, stepping past him, not wanting to be in his presence any longer. "Maybe I'm not."

He turned and watched her go, as she wandered down the hallway and turned a corner, disappearing from his sight. He sighed, disappointed, wondering if he was going to have to do something about her.

"They're almost at the target," Dr. Hikari reported, as he and Lan watched the display a bit impatiently. A few seconds later, the large virus clump had wandered over a large red X displayed near the SciLab Cyberworld building.

"Perfect." Yuichiro reached down, flipping a couple of switches, cueing some humming sounds from all around. "They just need to keep it stalled for a few seconds longer..."

Lan looked at another nearby monitor, which was showing a video feed of the Cyberworld immediately outside. The four Navis had surrounded Gospel and were doing their best to stall it and keep it in place. They took turns firing Cannons directly at Gospel from various angles, and Gospel was turning around in circles miserably, unsure of who to attack first.

"I think they've got it, Dad!" Lan reported. Yuichiro nodded, putting his finger over a different button.

"Good. Activating the barrier... now."

As his father pressed the button, Lan looked at his monitor again. Expecting to see a circular barrier appear, he was surprised when electric shocks started shooting through Gospel, causing it to howl in pain.

"What's going on?" he inquired, confused. "Why is it getting electrocuted?"

"Wait, it's what?!" Yuichiro ran over to see what Lan was seeing, just as the electric shocks came to an end. He slammed his fist on the panel, causing his son to jump. "Damn it! What happened?! Why isn't the force field working?!"

The other Navis also came to the quick realization that something was wrong. Gospel quickly turned around toward the Navis behind him, presuming a sneak attack had occurred, and opened his mouth. A massive, powerful laser beam shot forth, consuming both Navis and tearing through the structure of the Cyberworld. Closing its mouth, it began to turn again, as the two other Navis prepared to defend themselves; instead of attacking, Gospel let out a massive roar and took off, running away from SciLab.

"I don't believe this..." Yuichiro quickly turned and headed for another part of the room. "How many things are going to go wrong today?"

"What do we do now?" Lan asked, as his dad started flipping several more switches, concentrating hard.

"We have to stop Gospel before it escapes Den Net City." Frustrated with the switches, he reached over to a nearby shelf and grabbed what seemed to be a manual of sorts. "So I need to remember how to use this..."

Lan leaned in, trying to see what it was his dad was looking at, but the page was utterly incomprehensible to him; he leaned back out. "What are we going to do to it?"

"We'll never be able to corner it again, not after what happened to it. It may technically be a virus, but it's not completely stupid." His father set the book down, open to a certain page, and started flipping switches again. "So we're going to have to overload all of Den Net City in order to stop it."

"Say what?!" Lan replied, a little panicked at the severe-sounding plan.

"It's like a viral EMP of sorts," his father exclaimed, as a panel opened up, revealing a large, sinister-looking switch. "It activates a beacon that sends a high-energy frequency wave through the real world, affecting all electronic devices it encounters. They'll all light up with energy, incapacitating any Navis, and viruses, residing in their Cyberworlds."

Lan looked over at a window, looking at Den City and imagining everything glowing a bright white, giving off radiation. "That sounds... dangerous..."

"All of our options right now are dangerous," Yuichiro replied. "The energy wave can be a little unstable at its core, but as long as there's no major interference, there shouldn't be any lasting damage. What's more dangerous is letting Gospel escape onto the greater Net. Is Megaman jacked into anything?"

Lan pulled out his PET and looked at Megaman, who was stationed safely inside. "No, he's right here."

"Good." His father put his hand on the switch, ready to pull. "Then brace yourselves."

"I see you've returned."

Bass nodded, acknowledging Wily's presence, as he entered the World Three Cyberworld, quickly heading toward the core control room. "I've got what you requested."

"Did you have any trouble getting it?"

"Of course not. I know the SciLab security systems like the back of my hand. It was like taking candy from a baby." Walking into the large, circular room, he flew upward and placed the small generator into a small hole in the ceiling; the system quickly acknowledged its presence, humming and beeping.

"Excellent." Wily grinned, pleased and excited, a rarity for him. "A device capable of sending energy over a huge distance at a high speed... exactly what we need to enact the final part of our plan."

Bass landed on the floor again, looking up at a screen where Dr. Wily's face resided. "I take it my services are complete, then."

"Not quite," Wily corrected. "There is one last thing I need you to do for me."

The Navi sighed in annoyance. "And what exactly would that be?"

Grinning a malicious grin, Wily pressed a button on a control panel in front of him. An instant later, four large metal arms sprang up from either side of Bass; each one grabbed one of his appendages, holding him in place.

"Hold still," Wily ordered, as his captive bared his teeth in anger. Slamming his fist on another part of the control panel, a massive bolt of electricity shot through the center of the Cyberworld control room, spearing Bass through the center. As he screamed in pain, a series of computer systems hummed to life, powered by the massive amount of energy that was being extracted from the Navi.

Wily looked all around as his work sprang into action for the first and last time; lights flashed, machines turned on, and sirens blared. He grinned wide, feeling energy coursing through himself as well.

"Finally, my work is nearly complete!" He cackled, as he turned on another screen, wanting to watch the drama unfold. "Soon, the world will be just as I envisioned it... all thanks to my greatest creation!"

Lan and his father both turned their attention back to the screen, watching as the energy wave swept through Den Net City. As the blue circle expanded, a number of cyber buildings began to glow white on the digital map.

"It's working." Yuichiro breathed a sigh of relief. "The Net is overloading with energy... Gospel should become incapacitated pretty quickly at this rate. He can't have gotten away that fast..."

Just as Lan started to relax, a massive sound rattled the air, like an explosion or a thunderclap, and a strange quake shook the ground, knocking both of them over.

"Lan! What's going on out there?" Megaman called out. Lan sat up, rubbing his head, as he looked up at the map. At the edge of it, a number of buildings that were white had turned a rather alarming red, and their number was increasing quickly, in an expanding circle of its own.

Yuichiro looked up at the map, getting to his feet, and cursed loudly. "What's going on?" He ran to the panel despite the still-shaking ground, as Lan stood up and looked out the window. At the very edge of his vision, he could see buildings starting to glow a bright white.

"Dad-" he started, before he was suddenly attacked by a powerful wind; he braced himself against it, as Yuichiro did the same. "Gah! What the hell is going on?!"

"I have no idea! I didn't expect anything like this!" Looking up at the map, he could see the circle of red buildings expanding, as the white buildings outside grew in number, getting closer and closer to SciLab.

"Whatever this is, it's about to hit right here." Yuichiro grabbed on to the control panel. "Hold on tight!" Lan tried to move forward and grab something, but he was suddenly hit by a powerful invisible force, which threw him back against the wall, knocking him out.

"Unh..." Lan woke up a minute later and blinked, his vision blurry, his head aching, and his back screaming in pain once again. Thinking this was a fairly familiar sensation, he rubbed his eyes, trying to get things more clear. He could make out the form of his father, who had also fallen over, in front of him.

"Geez... are you alright?"

"I... I think so..." Lan blinked; that wasn't the voice he had expected. He rubbed his eyes, to clear up what he saw; when he finally saw it properly, he nearly jumped in shock, backing up against the wall.

"Megaman?! What are you doing here?! How are you here?!"

"Gah! Lan?!" Megaman backed up a bit as well, as if he'd seen a ghost. "What's going on?! Is this your world?! I thought this was still the Cyberworld!"

"Wrong," proclaimed another voice that made them both jump. Looking up, they saw Yuichiro standing at the window, nearly white as a ghost and clearly in shock as well. "Have a look for yourselves."

Looking at each other in massive confusion, the two stood up and slowly walked over to the large window, each on either side of Lan's father. For as far as they could see, the city had been thrown into turmoil; humans were running out into the streets, or back into their houses, as numerous Navis and programs populated the streets. The buildings and streets were a splotched mix of normal brick or concrete, and the gridded, glowing texture of the Cyberworld. Even the air seemed to have a strange glow about it, in addition to being filled with noise and screaming.

Lan felt his stomach sink with the weight of the truth, as it settled in. "It's... both...?"

The three of them goggled at the sight outside the window, wondering to themselves how they were ever going to fix this mess.

Chapter Text

Back in his dimly lit office, Dr. Wily groaned in pain as he lay on his side, having been knocked off of his feet by a powerful shockwave. He forced himself up onto his hands and knees, looking and feeling around for his cane, his head spinning a bit.

"What in the devil...?" He managed to find his cane and grasped the handle, his other hand grabbing at his desk so he could pull himself up. As he came to his senses, he could hear panicked screams coming from other parts of the facility, and possibly outside as well. He half-shuffled, half-staggered to his computer console, which was thankfully still working, and he pressed a series of buttons. The screen powered on and quickly shifted to an outdoor view of Den City.

His eyes went wide as he took in the view in front of him. People were running outside in a panic, but there were more than just people in the streets now; there were entities that looked an awful lot like Navis, and others that were unmistakably viruses. The buildings themselves were a mesh of concrete and Cyberworld structure. It took a moment for him to realize what had happened, partly because he had trouble believing it.

"This... this wasn't supposed to happen..." he muttered to himself, in shock. "This is..." He grinned maniacally. "So much better than I had imagined..."

He stood up fully, mind racing with new possibilities. His previous plan to conquer the Cyberworld seemed so short-sighted now. Now, the entire world was his for the taking, and he alone had the cunning and brilliance to take advantage of this opportunity. He quickly turned back to his desk, walking over and repeatedly jamming the intercom button. After a minute, a voice answered on the other end, clearly panicked.

"Lord Wily!" the voice spoke. "Are you alright? Are you hurt? I'm sending someone in to get you out of here right now! We're all starting evacuation procedures!"

"Never mind me! Cancel the evacuation immediately!" Wily responded. "Everything is going exactly as it should. This is perfect for us."

"It... what?! Lord Wily, this wasn't part of the plan! This is crazy!"

"Do not talk back to me!" the old man retorted, trying to mask his giddiness with stern anger. "Nobody is to leave until I say so! I will not let this opportunity pass me by!"

The voice on the other line went quiet for a moment, both fearful and confused. "Y-yes, sir..."

Wily took a seat. "Get as many people back to their positions as you can. You all have new orders from me, so listen carefully."

"How could this happen..."

Lan, Megaman and Dr. Hikari all looked out the SciLab window at the chaos that had overtaken Den City. Buildings and streets were now a mix of concrete and digital foundation, and confused Navis were running about amidst the humans. Panic had quickly broken out, and showed no signs of slowing.

"Dad, what happened? How did... how is this even possible?" Lan looked up at his father, who shook his head.

"I don't know," he replied. "I don't... I don't know what could have..." He stopped himself and took a deep breath, needing a clear mind. "It was some other sort of radiation that headed this way, I could tell that much... clearly it doesn't mesh well with what we did. But this... I could never have imagined this."

Megaman pressed his hands against the glass, getting a better look at Den City, seeing it for the first time. "I bet World Three or Gospel has something to do with this..."

"Oh, no doubt about that," Yuichiro responded. "No normal frequencies could have had this sort of reaction, no chance. Something equally dangerous had to be coming this way, and that could only come from one of those two groups. The question is, which one..."

He turned and headed back to the main computer terminal, pushing a few buttons and watching the screen change repeatedly. "Can't believe this thing still works..."

Lan walked over to his father, as Megaman kept looking out the window in wonderment. "So what do we do? Try to take them both out?"

"There's no point in that right now." His father finally settled on one screen, showing off a map of Den City with random areas lit various colors, with more writing Lan couldn't understand. "We need to figure out what the hell that strange radiation was. That's our only hope of undoing this... but who even knows how long that could take. It could be days, weeks..." He held his head with one hand, trying not to lose his composure. "Why can't this sort of stuff happen in our lab, where it would be cool instead of terrifying?"

Lan held his tongue for a moment, worried that speaking again would stress him out more, until the man started typing again. "How do we find where it came from?"

"That won't be too difficult, thankfully. Tracking radiation is easy. We locate where it's strongest, and we send people there to get information. With any luck, we can have more info in a couple of-"

His speech was interrupted by an explosion from a ways off; Lan dashed back to the window, seeing smoke rising from another part of downtown, and Yuichiro followed. Looking closely, they could see a small group of Navis running down a cross street.

Megaman slammed his fist against the glass. "Damn it! The World Three Navis are in the real world as well!"

"What?!" Lan leaned in for a closer look. "But we can't just leave them loose!"

Megaman nodded, moving away from the window. "I'm going out there! I'm going to take care of them!"

"Wait! It's not safe out there!" Yuichiro called out, turning toward the Navi, but it was too late; he had already made his way out the door.

"Wait for me!" Lan called out as well, running after Megaman. His father started running after him.

"Lan! Why the hell are you going too?!" Ignoring him, Lan ran out the door and down the stairs after his Navi, faster than Yuichiro was moving.

"Ah, damn it all, they're both gone." He stopped running, rubbing his forehead with his fingers. "Charging headfirst into battle... they should have been girls, both of them."

After fifteen minutes of running, Megaman and Lan had reached the source of the explosion. As they ran, the real world and the Cyberworld were appearing to merge even more closely; instead of highly distinct sections of dark concrete and bright Cyberworld, everything was slowly congealing into a bright but bland orange. The streets had become significantly more crowded; everyone, for some reason, felt the urge to leave their houses, possibly under the notion that outdoors, where there were fewer dangerous electronics, was safer.

Megaman stopped running and looked up at a somewhat tall office building, the side of which was smoking. He quickly looked around, the shrieking happening all around not helping his focus at all.

"Shoot... I think we missed them..." He looked upward at the tops of the nearby buildings, where he saw a large ball of electricity flying directly at him.

"Gah!" He quickly leaped to the side, turning and watching the electric attack impact the ground, where it quickly dissipated. Lan ran closer to him looked up toward the rooftop, to see Elecman grinning maliciously down at them, his arm pointed in their direction.

"Isn't it fantastic?" he called out. "Chaos everywhere you look! People panicking in the streets! And where disorder reigns, World Three will step in to create order!"

"Create order... what a complete load!" Megaman aimed his buster at the enemy Navi. "This is probably all your fault in the first place!"

Elecman smirked. "Details, details... before long, you'll see the true genius of Lord Wily's work!"

"We'll just see!" Megaman fired his buster toward the distant foe, who dodged his shots with ease. As his Navi fired, Lan noticed something approaching from the corner of his eye; looking over, he saw a black helicopter approaching quickly, with the symbol of the Electopian military emblazoned on the side. As it approached and started kicking up plumes of air, everyone started to look toward it, including Elecman.

"Hmph." He stood up fully, looking disappointed. "Seems that our fun is going to be cut short." He looked down toward the ground, grinning wide. "Looks like the real fun is about to begin, anyhow!" He laughed as he turned and ran toward the back edge of the rooftop, leaping away and quickly out of sight. The helicopter started to descend, and Lan and Megaman watched as Yuichiro leaned out of the open side door, a megaphone in his hand.

"Lan! Megaman! You have to get in here right away!" he yelled out, the megaphone to his mouth. Before either of them could ask why, they heard a shriek from behind them. Turning around, they saw a young twenty-something girl screaming and sinking; the lower half of her body had, inexplicably, found itself stuck in the orange ground. As she tried to claw her way out, Megaman raced over to grab her hand, but he wasn't quite fast enough; the orange ground continued sucking her in, until even her fingers had been pulled underneath. Mass panic ensued, as everyone started screaming and running back indoors; several more people found themselves stuck in the orange mass that had become the street, slowly becoming buried.

"Come on!" Yuichiro yelled again. Megaman and Lan looked at each other and nodded, running for the chopper. Megaman got there first, and started to climb in when he heard a shout from behind; turning around, he saw his operator struggling to move, one leg buried in the ground up to his knee.

"Megaman! Help!"

"Lan!" Megaman wasted no time in sprinting over toward the boy, whose other leg began sinking into the orange mass as well. Reaching out, Megaman grabbed Lan's hand to try and pull him out; both of them glowed a bright white, and an instant later, the Navi found himself flung back, landing on his seat. Looking around, Lan was nowhere to be found.

"Lan? Lan!" Megaman called out, standing up. "Where are you?"

I'm right here! Where are you?! He jumped, hearing a voice from inside his head.

"Lan! Are you in my head?! What happened?!" Before Lan's voice could respond, he felt a tug down near his foot; looking down, he saw himself also about to be eaten up. Getting out his buster, he fired down toward his foot; the ground recoiled and let his foot go as the blast hit. Not thinking twice, Megaman turned around and leaped into his father's helicopter, which quickly took off, as he and Yuichiro watched the inhabitants of Den City get swallowed by the mysterious substance.

"Are you alright?" Yuichiro asked, as the helicopter turned around and sped off.

"I think so..." Megaman rubbed his head, sitting down in a seat. "But Lan... he... I'm not sure..."

"All I saw was you grabbing his hand, then there was a bright light and Lan was gone..."

Megaman nodded. "But now his voice is in my head... or at least it was, it hasn't said anything in a minute..."

No, I'm still here, Lan answered; the Navi nodded in response.

Yuichiro pushed his glasses up. "I think I get it... your body must have merged with Lan's, somehow."

Megaman blinked. "What, really?"

"Given your construction, it's not all that surprising, especially now. All sorts of real world items are merging with their Cyberworld counterparts, and you and Lan are extremely similar, as you know..."

Megaman nodded again. "So, how are we going to... un-merge?"

"You should... not do that," Dr. Hikari responded. "Lan's basically defenseless, especially with people getting absorbed left and right by who knows what. It's best he stays in there for now; you're much better equipped to defend yourself."

I'm not that weak... Megaman heard Lan respond.

Don't worry about it, Lan, you know what he meant, the Navi responded silently, looking forward toward the windshield. "Where are we going? Back to SciLab?"

"Of course." Yuichiro looked forward as well, trying to see their destination. "It's the safest place we can be right now, unless we decide to go to a military base instead. Plus, we can try and research whatever it is that's taken over the town."

"Did you get any information about that radiation?"

Dr. Hikari shook his head. "Not yet. I was able to get on the phone with the governor, and she's sending the National Guard in with some scientists. Hopefully we'll have answers in an hour or two." He pushed his glasses up. "And hopefully we can haul in a bunch of criminals while we're at it, assuming they're even still-"

With a large WHAM, something heavily impacted the side of the helicopter, causing it to shake and veer a bit off course, shaking the occupants inside.

"What the-?!" Megaman unbuckled his seat belt and quickly stood, moving carefully to the open side door of the helicopter and looking toward the source of the sound, to find a familiar red-and-gray Navi clinging to the helicopter, its arm wrapped around the tail.

"Fireman!" he exclaimed. An instant later, Fireman flung himself around toward the door and landed inside, causing the other occupants to jump in surprise. Megaman got himself into a defensive stance.

"Sorry to cut this flight short, but I can't have any of you messing with Lord Wily's plans." Fireman looked directly into Megaman's eyes. "Especially you, you meddlesome Navi. Your interference will end now!" He charged forward, too quickly for his opponent to dodge, slamming his shoulder into Megaman's chest and knocking both of them out of the helicopter, onto a nearby building top.

Groaning, Megaman shifted and kicked Fireman off of him, as he watched the helicopter continue on. Quickly getting to his feet, he started running across the rooftops, blasting backward at Fireman while chasing the helicopter. Dr. Hikari was clinging to the door, watching the fight unfold.

"You're not going anywhere!" Fireman started his pursuit, shooting some fire blasts of his own; Megaman managed to barely dodge while keeping up his pace, and looking forward, he saw the helicopter slow down and come in closer. With a look backward, Megaman saw a fire blast come directly toward his face.

"Gah!" Acting on instinct, he swung at it; his arm suddenly became a Wide Sword, and the shot was deflected back toward Fireman, who barely dodged. He looked down at the sword in surprise; he wasn't sure why he had Battlechips available to use, but he didn't question it, knowing better than to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Looking up, he saw the helicopter slow down and pull up right next to him; he leaped in, rolling and landing safely inside. Quickly turning around, he saw Fireman right behind, ready to jump in; he straightened out his arm, which became a High Cannon, and fired it directly into Fireman's face as he jumped. With no room to dodge, the enemy took the blast head on, falling backward and landing heavily onto the neighboring rooftop. The pilot took off, taking the helicopter up and away from danger as fast as he could manage, as Dr. Hikari quickly got back into his seat.

"Think you can escape, can you?" Fireman aimed his gun arm toward the helicopter, charging up. He fired a series of rounds toward the retreating helicopter; while most of them soared harmlessly into the sky, one scored a direct hit on the tail propellor of the chopper.

Megaman fell forward as the helicopter shook with the explosion; a series of alarms sounded from the pilot's seat, as a plume of smoke and fire erupted from the tail, and the pilot cursed.

"Damn! He got us!" The helicopter started to decline, as the pilot wrestled with the controls. "We're in for a rough landing! Everybody brace yourselves!" Yuichiro clipped his seatbelt on, while Megaman, unable to stand in the shaky craft, grabbed the pilot's seat in front of him.

Coming down quickly, the craft aimed itself for a nearby rooftop. Despite the pilot controlling the fall as best he could, the helicopter came down hard upon landing; Megaman slid forward into the back of the pilot's seat, while Yuichiro and the pilot found themselves saved by their seatbelts, jostled but unharmed. The chopper slid forward on the rooftop for a short ways, creating horrible crunching and grinding sounds, before coming to a stop. Megaman sat up, rubbing his sore head and looking toward Dr. Hikari.

"Are you alright?"

Yuichiro nodded, sitting back and breathing heavily. "Yea... I'm fine, don't worry." He unbuckled his seatbelt and stood up, looking over the Navi before turning to check on the pilot, who was shaken but otherwise unharmed. He turned back to help Megaman up, and they both stepped out of the helicopter.

"Where are we right now?" Megaman wondered.

"Close to SciLab, at least... you can see it over..." Yuichiro's voice came to a slow stop as his eyes widened; Megaman followed his finger to a sight he could hardly believe.

Immediately outside of SciLab stood the impossibly large Gospel, almost two stories tall and unusually calm and docile. Staring it down, between Gospel and SciLab, was a gigantic, spherical, orange blob that was attached to the similarly-colored ground. On top of it was what appeared to be a metallic helmet, with horns coming out from either side; hovering near its blob-esque body, on each side, was what appeared to be a orange hand, with long, metallic claws extending from it. Buried in the center of the blob was a giant, ghastly, red eyeball.

Overlooking the entire scene, from a giant screen generated on the front of the SciLab building, was the face of an elderly, gray-haired man with an evil grin and a monocle. As Megaman stared at the scene, agape, the giant face looked toward the building they had landed on; upon seeing its contents more clearly, the face chucked.

"Ah, good, the gang's all here," he commented. "Looks like now the show can begin."

Chapter Text

Megaman stared at the massive screen that had formed on the front of the SciLab building, as an elderly fellow looked back at the mess that was Den City.

"I have to say, I didn't expect things to be like this, with the merging of the real world and the Cyberworld," the old man spoke casually, before grinning. "But they say to never look a gift horse in the mouth."

Megaman glared at the mysterious face. "Who is that? Is he with World Three?"

"Wily..." He looked back to find Yuichiro clenching his fist in anger. "So it's been him behind this all this time..."

His eyes widened a bit. "Him? He's Dr. Wily?"

Yuichiro nodded. "He did research with my father, and was one of a few scientists who created the Net... widely credited as one of the greatest minds of our time. For a time, he was the lead researcher at SciLab."

He walked forward a little, to get a better view of what was happening. "But unlike your grandfather, Wily was unscrupulous, greedy, and corrupt... he got intoxicated by power, and eventually tried to use the might of the Net to take over the Electopian government."

Megaman walked forward as well, as Wily's gaze was diverted toward something on another rooftop. "I'm guessing he didn't succeed."

"No, not even a little." The two of them watched as Elecman and Fireman ran across some rooftops toward the scene. "His attack got nowhere, and Officials were dispatched to arrest him, but he had fled the country. That was twenty years ago... after so long, we all thought he was dead."

"Looks like he's in pretty good spirits to me..." Megaman looked back toward Wily's face, which had begun to speak.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to thank you all for coming to this event..." He chuckled at his own wit. "The unveiling of my two greatest projects... the Viral Beast Gospel, and the Parasitic Net Organism, Alpha!"

"What are you talking about?!" Megaman demanded, walking to the edge of the rooftop and shouting. "You're not responsible for Gospel! That wasn't World Three's doing!"

Wily smirked down at the Navi, amused by his cluelessness. "There's been a bit of a leadership change at Gospel. Both organizations now belong to me, along with all of their projects and plans." He gestured forward at the two monsters in the street, demonstrating his point. "Alpha alone would have been enough for me to take over the Net, but when I add Gospel's power, it will be truly unstoppable. He'll be able to use his body to absorb every last shred of civilization on this planet! He will bring everything you know crashing to the ground!"

"What is this, your revenge?!" Dr. Hikari exclaimed, incredulous and angry. "You want to destroy society because you couldn't rule it yourself, you crazy old man?"

"Why not both?" Wily responded. "I have every intention of taking my place as ruler of this planet. Nobody else has the cunning and the genius to do it. But it certainly helps to bring the old guard crashing to the ground first."

He turned his attention back downward, toward the two beasts that were staring each other down in front of him. "Let's not delay this show any longer." He leaned forward, grinning in anticipation. "Now, Gospel, march forward. Let yourself be absorbed by Alpha, so that it might become all-powerful!"

As Wily spoke his command, a large metallic collar around Gospel's neck began to beep and flash. The creature roared and started slowly walking forward, as Megaman and Yuichiro watched nervously. The beast's steps were hesitant and slow, almost reluctant, as if it were not walking forward by its own will. As it stepped closer, Alpha started to open itself up, as if it was creating a giant mouth to swallow Gospel whole.

Before the viral beast could take the final few steps, a bright purple beam shot through the air and struck Gospel at the base of its neck. The collar it was wearing exploded and fell to the ground in response, causing Gospel to pause and come to its senses. Seeing the giant adversary in front of it, it roared and leaped backward, snarling and angry.

"What?!" Wily looked for the source of the beam, along with everyone else. A block or so down the street, Bass stood silently with his arm outstretched, finger pointed in Gospel's direction. He lowered his arm and started flying forward, toward the two beasts.

"You have made a spectacular mistake, old man." Bass floated upward, to face the screen. "You honestly thought you could betray me and live to tell the tale, didn't you?"

Wily hmphed. "I'm surprised you survived, Bass. Such an energy drain could have finished off any Navi."

"I'm not just any Navi, old man. I am the most powerful Cyber being in existence. You should know this by now."

Wily laughed in response. "Perhaps you were, once, but now you are nothing in comparison to Alpha. And with you added to Alpha's composition, he'll be even greater than I could have imagined!"

"Enough." Bass started to lower himself. "This madness ends now. I will utterly destroy Alpha, and once I do, I will track you down and kill you, you old fool!"

"We'll see who gets destroyed, Bass," Wily replied, before directing his attention downward. "Alpha...! Attac... right thi..."

Everyone started a bit as the image of the old man started to fade out, before disappearing entirely.

"Damn it! What's going on here?"

Back at his base, Wily was slowly standing and looking around at the now-darkened office. Seconds ago, he had suddenly lost his connection with the broadcast unit set up at SciLab, and right after that the power to the base had been cut. As he listened to the humming of the backup generators, providing minimal lighting, he guessed that this was not a coincidence.

"Probably those blasted soldiers they sent... they got here faster than I thought..."

He grabbed his cane and started making his way toward the office door. "Whatever. Alpha has its orders. I don't need to be here directing things anymore. Time to disappear." He opened the door, frowning at the darkened hallways; he would have to be careful while navigating.

In another part of the base, a shadowy figure was throwing a handful of cables on the ground, after ripping them out from a panel on a wall. He glanced around, taking stock of the emergency lighting as it illuminated his long green hair, before turning to make his way upstairs.

"Now for Wily," Kid Grave muttered to himself, under his breath. "Time for payback, you old bastard."

As Gospel snarled and barked at the parasitic Alpha, Bass slowly lowered himself right next to the angry, roaring beast. He put his hand on Gospel's head and closed his eyes, focusing.

I am not your enemy, he communicated silently, through direct contact. I wish to help you, to destroy the one who wants to hurt you. Will you help me?

Gospel stopped its snarling, standing up fully and staring down Alpha's giant, central eye. Bass smirked.

"It seems we are in agreement." He stood on Gospel's back and pointed toward Alpha. "Now! Attack the center!"

Gospel roared and charged forward, swiping its claws at Alpha and hacking away at the orange blob that protected its eye. Alpha emitted a high-pitched shrieking noise in response, as two massive machine guns protruded from its sides, ready to fire. Before it got the chance, Bass raised his hand and hurled a purple energy wheel toward them, hacking each one clean off.

"Can't have any of that," he muttered, as he fired two more beams, each one incinerating a machine gun.

Watching from a nearby rooftop, Fireman snorted and started walking forward toward the battle. "I knew we should never have trusted that miserable wretch. Time to have these two dogs put down."

"I'm right behind you," Elecman responded, as Fireman leaped off of the side of the building, ready to join in and defend Alpha. As he fell toward the ground, he felt a large spherical object slamming into him from the side, knocking him away. Elecman stopped in his tracks as the ball flew back in the opposite direction, attaching itself to the underside of a familiar yellow Navi.

"Colorman!" he exclaimed, moving closer. "What in the hell do you think you're doing?!"

The colorful Navi looked up toward Elecman, as Fireman got back to his feet. "I'm following my orders!"

"What are you talking about? Our orders from Dr. Wily are to protect Alpha!"

"Clearly, Colorman isn't taking Wily's orders anymore," Fireman called out, marching angrily toward Maddy's Navi. "The little brat has turned traitor. Guess we'll have to delete you as well."

Colorman watched as the other two Navis advanced on him, nervous but refusing to cede his ground. As Fireman dashed forward, he slammed his hand into the ground, causing a water spout to appear underneath his foe, launching Fireman into the air.

Back on the rooftop, Megaman and Yuichiro watched, dumbfounded, as Elecman landed on top of Colorman, delivering a powerful electric shock. At the same time, Bass was firing more lasers in Alpha's direction, trying to disable as many weapons as possible.

"This is crazy," Megaman commented. "World Three's turning on itself? Who exactly are we supposed to root for?"

"Either way, it's not great," Dr. Hikari replied. "But my guess is that Alpha is the one responsible for keeping these two worlds merged together. If Bass wins, Gospel and all of these Navis should return to the Cyberworld with everything else. That's the most important thing."

Megaman watched as Alpha fired an energy beam at Gospel and took out two legs, which regrew quickly. "Well... go Bass, I guess..."

Alpha charged up again, firing another energy beam; this time, Gospel jumped out of the way, landing on a rooftop a few buildings away. Bass, seeing an opening, dashed forward and charged in, wielding an energy sword.

"Haah!" Taking a massive swipe at Alpha, he removed a giant, semicircular slice of his body, exposing its red eye to the world and sending the removed portion flying into the sky. Alpha shrieked in pain, trying to swipe at Bass and missing repeatedly.

"Finally, you're exposed." He flew upward and landed on Gospel again, pointing down. "Now! Hit it with everything you've got!"

Both Bass and Gospel started charging up energy blasts; before long, both of them were glowing brightly with an enormous amount of energy.

"On three!" Bass called out, ready to strike. "One... two..."

Before he could count to three, both of them were knocked down by a powerful impact from above; their blasts went off in the street, where they exploded against the orange Alpha residue, doing no damage. Looking up, Bass saw the section of Alpha he had removed bearing down on him, spreading about him and Gospel, slowly absorbing them.

"No!" he called out, getting out his sword and trying to attack. "I will not go out like this!"

He swiped repeatedly at the orange mass as it ate at him, to no avail. It was only a matter of seconds before both Bass and Gospel were completely encased by the blob. Megaman and Dr. Hikari watched, horrified, as the blob rolled into the street and sank back into Alpha's body; moments later, the creature regrew the portions of his main body that he had lost. It roared in triumph before turning its gaze toward the three Navis standing in the street, ready for its next victims.

Stumbling through the darkened hallways, lit only by a handful of emergency lights, Dr. Wily made his way toward an exit as quickly as possible. He pulled out a device by his side, speaking into it.

"This is Wily. You had better be on time. We don't have a moment to spare."

"Don't worry, Lord Wily," a voice on the other end shouted, trying to be heard over the sound of helicopter blades. "We'll be in and out in seconds. Not even the National Guard is going to give us any trouble."

"Perfect." He shoved the device into his pocket, hurrying up a bit, traveling as fast as he could with his cane. He turned a corner and walked onto a walkway overlooking a large, now-empty room below, knowing that the exit was only a few yards away. As he walked forward, however, he saw another figure at the other end of the walkway, causing him to stop in his tracks. The other person walked forward slowly, the emergency lights illuminating his long green hair, as well as the gun he held in his hand.

"Going somewhere?" Kid Grave taunted, the firearm aimed directly at the old man.

"You little..." Wily growled. "Clearly, keeping you alive was a mistake."

"Hindsight's 20/20, Wily." The teenaged boy continued walking forward slowly. "Too bad you won't be able to learn from this mistake."

Dr. Wily's eyes narrowed, focusing on the gun for a moment, before moving back to the boy's face. "How did you even get in here? You should never have been able to..." He paused, sensing movement from behind him, and he turned around, eyes quickly focusing on another, taller figure. "...I see. You had some help."

Emerging from the shadows, Maddy Iroaya glared back at him as she walked forward, holding a taser in her hand. "He did."

She could see disappointment in his face, mixed in with anger and impatience, as he spoke. "I never thought you would be the one to betray me, Madeline. I was certain it would be that coward, Count Zapp."

"You told me we were going to change the world," she replied sternly. "You never said we were going to destroy it."

He scoffed. "How do you think change comes about, you foolish girl?"

"If there's anything I remember from history," she responded, pointing her taser at him, "it's that most change comes from women not doing what they're told."

She continued glaring at him, waiting for his witty repartee, before realizing that he was looking past her instead of directly at her. She started to whirl around, but a pair of hands quickly grabbed each of her wrists, twisting them behind her back. She cried out briefly in pain, the taser falling from her hand.

"As always, Match, your timing is impeccable," Wily spoke, still calm. Maddy turned her head to look behind her, barely able to see a familiar face and its telltale red goatee.

"Of course, Lord Wily," Kenichi Match responded, before returning his focus to the woman he was holding captive, sighing in disappointment. "Maddy, Maddy, Maddy... why'd you have to go and ruin a good thing?"

She growled at him, trying to stamp on his foot; he quickly moved it out of her way. "I'm going to claw your eyes out, you-"

"Hey!" Kid Grave called out, tired of being ignored, aiming his firearm directly at Wily's face; everyone jumped a bit and turned back toward him. "I'm the one with the gun here! I'm the one who decides what happens next."

Dr. Wily glared. "If you know what's good for you, you'll get out of my way, you stupid idiot. You have no idea what's coming for us all if we don't get out of here."

"Oh, I know all about the soldiers waiting for us outside," the boy responded. "I would love for us to all go out there and have a nice, long talk with them."

"This has nothing to do with those soldiers, you idiot!" Wily shot back. "If we don't leave right now, we'll be-"

His outburst was interrupted as the whole building started to shake violently. As they looked around in concern, the entire room lurched and tilted, starting to sink; Kid Grave, caught totally by surprise, quickly fell toward the railing before going over the side. Maddy managed to wrench herself free from Match's grasp, half-running and half-sliding toward the railing. She grabbed it and looked over the side, expecting to see Kid Grave lying bruised on the ground; her eyes widened and she gasped loudly, as she watched him being slowly consumed by the gelatinous orange ground, which was absorbing everything, eating the building from the ground up.

"Damn it all!" Wily reached out for the railing and moved as fast as he could toward the exit, needing to make his way to the roof so he could escape. The other two started running after him, but before they could catch up, the building twisted violently, causing the walkway to snap and detach, falling to the ground. All three of them slammed into the orange parasitic mass, and none of them had time to escape before they were all swallowed up.

"This is bad," Dr. Hikari spoke, as he watched Alpha firing its guns at the Navis in front of it. "This is very, very bad..." He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, dialing a number.

Megaman kept staring for a few moments, trying to fathom how powerful Alpha would be after absorbing both Bass and Gospel, before he turned around to face Dr. Hikari. "What do we do now?"

"There's only one thing left to do," Yuichiro responded. "We call in the Electopian Air Force, to commence an air strike."

"What?! But that'll destroy SciLab!"

"What choice do we have now?" The scientist put the phone to his ear. "If we don't destroy Alpha immediately, Den City is doomed, along with the rest of Electopia."

As he waited for the other party to pick up, the building they were standing on suddenly started shaking, knocking both of them off balance. Dr. Hikari's phone flew out of his hand and onto the ground below.

"What's going on?!" Megaman looked around, his eyes widening in horror at what he saw. All around Den City, buildings were shaking and slowly sinking downward into the ground. Alpha was absorbing the entire city into its being.

He fought to keep his balance, grabbing onto the edge of the roof as he looked down into the street, watching the World Three Navis disappearing into the ground, which was rapidly rising up to meet Megaman. The building they were on would be absorbed in a matter of seconds.

He heard a yelp from behind him, and he saw Lan's father had rolled to the edge of the building, and was about to fall off.

"No!" Megaman ran over to grab Dr. Hikari, but to no avail; he fell off the edge onto the ground a few feet below, where Alpha's orange residue overtook him and pulled him under. All he could do was stare in horror for a few moments, before he realized that the shaking had finally stopped, and he was kneeling down on the orange mass that now covered everything. He slowly looked around, surveying the destruction. There was not a building or a soul in sight; as far as the eye could see, the world was nothing but Alpha's expansive body.

"This... this can't..." Megaman fell to his knees, feeling defeated, at a loss for words.

They're all gone... Lan added. Everything... we couldn't save them...

Megaman looked down, his hands clenched into fists, a feeling of despair and hopelessness overtaking him. As he kneeled, he could feel Alpha's organism starting to cover his knees, pulling him under. The goo started crawling up and over his body, covering his arms, his torso, and finally his head, making the Navi nothing but a receding orange lump in the ground.

Alpha watched as his body took the last of the things around him. Knowing only orders from his master, Dr. Wily, it started to expand itself beyond Den City, beginning to overtake the rest of Electopia.

With a flash of light, the lump exploded, and a massive burst of energy, the same color and strength of a Life Sword, flung Alpha's body all around. In the center, Megaman stood defiantly, his hopelessness turned to extreme anger as he stared Alpha down. In his hand was a Life Sword, which had taken on a physical form, responding to Lan and Megaman's synchronicity. It glowed a bright blue as Megaman grasped the hilt.

"You... you monster..." He gritted his, his body surging with strength he didn't know he had. "You've taken everything... my friends, my family...!" He got into an offensive stance, ready to strike. "You give them back, right now!"

Alpha raised its claws and prepared to strike, as Megaman dashed forward, ready to end this madness once and for all.

Chapter Text

Megaman dashed forward, holding the Life Sword in his hand, full of rage and prepared to strike. Towering two stories over him, Alpha extended its claws and slashed at Megaman, who jumped quickly out of their way.

"Haah!" Megaman sliced vertically at Alpha's body with the Life Sword. A huge energy wave erupted from it and swam forward through Alpha, but it slowed to a stop, dissipating inches before Alpha's eye. One second later, the orange blob filled itself back in, returning Alpha to its spherical shape. Megaman, undeterred, moved forward to attack again.

"So you can regenerate yourself, huh?" he spoke aloud, gritting his teeth angrily. "Let's see how good you are at it."

As he moved again toward Alpha's core, he stopped short as Alpha slammed a claw down in front of him. Looking up, he saw the other claw coming down, ready to crush him; he dove forward, avoiding it, and started firing his buster at Alpha's body. Expecting no effect, he was surprised to see a tiny dent, about the size of a baseball, which grew minimally with each additional buster shot.

"Huh?" He stopped himself for a minute, as the dent filled itself in one second later. "Repeated attacks..."

He had no time to finish his thought, as an enormous claw slammed into him from the side, knocking him some thirty yards away from the encounter. Landing on his face, he quickly sat up, rubbing his cheek.

"Gah... I need to be more careful." He hopped up, turning around to see Alpha shifting toward him. Twirling the Life Sword in his hand, he ran forward, on the offensive again, as his foe's horns began to glow white. Seconds later, a massive bolt of electricity shot forth toward Megaman, who promptly vanished with an Area Steal, appearing some yards ahead of where he had been. As a Cannon formed on his hand, he aimed at Alpha's body and shot off two quick blasts, finishing with a swing of his Life Sword. The energy wave cut deeper, aided by the cannon fire, managed to pierce Alpha's body completely, leaving a clear path to its now exposed central eye.

"Now's our chance!" He raised, ready to deliver the final blow, and swung downward. As the energy wave approached its goal, one of Alpha's claws dived in front of it, blocking the blow and getting itself severed in half.

"Damn it!" Megaman clenched his fist as Alpha's claw fixed itself; both hovered over him, ready to strike. "Those claws... I'll never damage Alpha if those things are still around."

I think I've got an idea... Lan spoke up, for the first time since the fight began.

Megaman nodded, hearing it in an instant. He was breathing heavily; the sustained use of the Life Sword was starting to drain him, and he was praying Alpha wasn't smart enough to notice. The two claws hovered over him, getting ready for another blow. Both moved in on him, ready to slam him into the ground. As they approached, he quickly dived to the side, barely avoiding the both of them. Flipping up quickly, he outstretched his hand toward the two appendages.

"Lance!" Instantly, four bamboo lances shot diagonally out of the ground, spearing the claws and locking them into place. Megaman grinned as they tried to move, to no avail, and he turned his attention toward the main body, Minibombs appearing in his hand.

"I won't miss this time!" He started hurling grenade after grenade at Alpha's eye; Alpha shrieked in response, still trying to move its claws, to no avail. Its horns glowed white as Megaman hurled a third Minibomb, the hole in Alpha's body becoming larger. As Alpha fired its electric attack, Megaman used his final Area Steal to dodge, reappearing in the air. With no more Minibombs to throw, he formed a Mega Cannon on the end of his arm, firing it into the large crater as he came down. When the smoke cleared, Alpha's eye was clearly visible and exposed.

"Now!" Seeing his chance, Megaman raised his Life Sword, ready to deal a punishing blow.

WHAM! He felt himself being crushed on either side from the waist down, the air rushing out of him. Looking down, he saw that Alpha's claws had finally freed themselves, and were now trapping him in their grasp.

"No! I was so close!" Megaman wriggled, trying to get free, slicing away at the claws, but felt himself only fall in deeper, slowly getting absorbed. Looking back up, he saw Alpha's body beginning to reform around its eye. He growled, eyes flaring.

"No way! You're not winning like this!" With all his might, Megaman took the Life Sword and hurled it forward like a javelin. As it flew toward Alpha, an aura of energy began to gather around it, turning it into a superpowered arrow. It easily pierced what little orange goo surrounded the eye, striking Alpha's weak point with incredible force.

The creature let out a massive shriek, as bright light erupted from the fissure in its eye. Megaman felt the claws fall away, and he dropped to the ground as Alpha's body began to deteriorate. Its horns and claws began to explode, and all the goo surrounding its main body started melting into the ground.

Did... we do it? Lan pondered, as Megaman stayed kneeling, catching his breath. Letting out one last shriek, the last of Alpha melted away, disappearing into the sea of orange goo below their feet. In its place stood, oddly, a door, which appeared to lead underground.

"I'm... not sure..." Megaman stood up and stepped forward cautiously, inspecting this new structure. "There's just... a door."

What is a door doing in the middle of Alpha's body? Where does it lead?

"Good question." Megaman walked forward toward the door, picking up the Life Sword that was left on the ground. "Let's be careful." He stepped forward, and the door slowly slid open, allowing him inside.

Inside, the Navi found himself in what appeared to be a control room. Various screens lined the walls, as keyboards and other control units whirred and clicked all around; right in front of them lay another door, closed tight.

"This is... not what I was expecting..." Megaman walked up to the door, pounding on it, trying to force his way through, but it was strong and sealed up tight. He stepped away and walked up to one of the control panels, looking at the various screens. About half of them were off, another portion were showing the vast expanse that was once Den City, and the rest were now covered in a solid orange mass. "Is Alpha a machine, or a parasite? Or both?"

I don't know, Lan responded. I can't think of anything that could do what Alpha did...

"Me neither." Megaman looked down at the keyboard. "I guess these must be able to control him, but I have no idea how it works. If it had a Cyberworld, maybe I could dive into it, if I wasn't like this..."

He looked down and started picking out keys at random, pressing them and hoping for some effect. After a minute of hunting and pecking, he jumped as the nearby door suddenly sprang open. A little nervous, he stepped toward it and looked in, his eyes widening.

Inside the door was a set of stairs, leading into a massive, cavernous area. Contained inside was all of Den City, as far as he could tell; buildings, Navis and people were all held within, bound by long stretches of orange goo. Tall, ten-story buildings could be seen further back, while the building of SciLab stood prominently close by. Hanging above SciLab, attached to Alpha by arms and legs, were the unconscious bodies of the helicopter pilot, Colorman, Fireman, Elecman, and...

Dad!

Megaman ran down the stairs a ways, getting a better view of the limp, unconscious body of Dr. Hikari, bound to Alpha's body by his hands and feet. He looked unhurt, but lifeless, as if all the energy had been sucked out of him.

"We have to get him out of there!" He instinctively aimed his buster upward, ready to attack Alpha's body.

Megaman, are you crazy?! You could hit Dad!

The Navi stopped himself, lowering his buster. "Well, what else do we do?" He looked around. "There has to be some other way. Let's go back to the control room..."

Megaman turned around, to walk back up the stairs, when something suddenly lashed out at him from the side; looking over, he saw a long orange tentacle reach out and snag him by his left wrist.

"Gah! What?!" Barely managing to hold on to the Life Sword, Megaman formed his other hand into a Buster; before he could get a shot off, another tentacle lashed out, grabbing his entire hand. He felt himself rise into the air, as his feet were snagged as well.

What's going on?! I thought we had won! Lan exclaimed. Both watched as the world around them started to hum to life; ahead of them, numerous screens in the control room started turning on, as lights flashed all over. Megaman cried out as an electric shock ran through him briefly; an instant later, he could feel the energy starting to slowly leave his frame, absorbed by the enormous parasite.

"Ugh..." His head fell. "No... we didn't. Alpha just played us for saps... he lured us in here..."

No... there has to be something we can do! You can escape, Megaman! Keep trying!

"Lan... I can't move at all..." Megaman focused himself, as his body started to glow. "There's nothing I can do..."

Megaman... what are you doing?

The Navi smiled weakly, as he started to gather the last of his strength. "I've got enough energy for one last trick, Lan. After this, it's up to you."

No! You can't...

"Too late." Megaman was glowing a bright white, overloading himself. "You'll be able to do it... the good guys always win, right?"

His body erupted in a massive energy blast; white light shone everywhere, filling the room and blinding everything.

"Unh..."

Lan blinked, opening his eyes slowly. Once he realized that he was capable of opening his own eyes, they went wide and he sat up, looking down at himself, then at his surroundings. He was back in his own body, in Alpha's control room. He quickly turned around, looking back into the cavernous area, and saw Megaman's unconscious body hanging right next to his father's.

"Megaman!" He started to run down the stairs, but stopped himself when he saw Alpha's strange tentacles heading toward him. Yelping, he ran back into the control room, slamming his fist on a nearby keyboard; the door slammed shut in response, and he could hear the two tentacles hitting the door.

"Damn it, Megaman... what do I do, what do I do?!" Turning around quickly, he tripped over something on the ground and fell on his face; looking behind him, he saw that the Life Sword had somehow found its way in here as well. He crawled over to it and grabbed it by the hilt, feeling nervous and scared, and wanting some sort of defense. Almost in response, the far wall suddenly shifted as a hole opened up in it; looking over, Lan saw virus after virus empty out of the wall, marching toward him.

"Get away!" Lan swung the Life Sword at the viruses, but the weight of the blade pulled him over to his side, and he fell over. An energy wave burst forth from the sword, but it flew upward into the ceiling, away from the viruses; the sword clanged loudly against the control panel, and all the viruses yelped at the sound, starting to clamor faster. Lan rubbed his head, looking over at the sword glowing with energy, and got an idea just crazy enough to work. As the viruses raced toward him, he stood up, the Life Sword over his head. Summoning all his strength, he plunged the sword into the control panel up to the hilt.

Sparks started flying out of the control panel at a rapid pace, as Alpha's horrible shrieking filled the air, intensely loud. Lan covered his ears for a second before the machinery in front of him exploded, sending him flying backward, where he slammed heavily into the back wall. His vision swam and started to fade, as screens around him started exploding, the glass disintegrating as heat erupted from everywhere. Lan weakly covered his ears again and closed his eyes tight, his senses completely overcome, the shrieking growing unbearable. As the world around him started to explode and melt, he felt his consciousness slip away, as darkness overtook him.

Lan stirred some time later, feeling himself being lightly shaken. As he became more lucid, he noticed a panicked voice from very close by.

"Lan! Please, wake up, please..."

He tilted his head toward the voice, opening his eyes, the world in front of him blurry at first. As it came into focus, he was able to see the relieved face of his father, holding him carefully in his arms.

"Dad...!"

Yuichiro exhaled, holding his son tightly against him. "Thank goodness... I was so worried..." Lan rested against his father for a second, closing his eyes again, immensely relieved and letting himself just enjoy the moment. After a couple of seconds, he opened his eyes again.

"What happened? Where are we?" He looked around, expecting to find more of Alpha's orange residue, but instead he was faced with bricks, concrete and lights in every direction. He sat up, looking around in abject surprise, as he realized he was in the middle of a crosswalk in downtown Den City, with buildings, mailboxes, and traffic lights all around him. The streets were lined with human bodies, some of them still unconscious, others standing and looking around with equal surprise. There was not a Navi or program in sight.

"I don't believe it... did we actually stop Alpha? Everything's back?"

"Looks like it," his father answered, his senses coming back to him as the relief sank in. "I don't know what happened. I just woke up and I was here." He stood up. "What happened? What did you two do?"

"We..." Lan racked his brain, recalling the last few events he remembered before he lost consciousness. "We fought Alpha... we went inside... there was a big control panel in there, we destroyed it... then everything exploded."

"And now here we are." His father put his hand on Lan's shoulder. "There was clearly something about Alpha that was maintaining the connection between the real world and the Cyberworld... my guess is, you managed to destroy it, through some sort of luck. You two boys really came through."

Lan nodded for a second, before a thought occurred to him. His eyes widened as his hands roamed over his body, looking for his PET. He grabbed it out of its holster as he stood up, turning it on and looking inside. Yuichiro leaned in as well, hoping to see who they both wanted to see. When the screen came on, however, Megaman was nowhere to be found.

Lan instantly felt his heart sink into his stomach. "He's not there... he didn't come back..." He nearly dropped his PET on the ground, tears starting to form in his eyes. He felt his father's arms wrap around him, holding him tight, as Lan wiped his eyes with his arm.

"I guess... this is what the two of us were meant to do." He leaned back into his father, who wasn't saying anything. "This is why we met. It was all for this."

He looked down again, a feeling of despair overtaking him, before he noticed a flashing light out of the corner of his eye. He looked up a bit, curious, turning to see a stoplight that was flashing from red to green, unnaturally. As soon as his eyes locked onto it, it started flashing more than twice as fast, almost as if it was panicked.

His father looked up as well, as Lan stepped away and walked closer; the light flashed faster still as he approached, until it was nearly a strobe light. He reached down and pulled the cord out of his PET, jacking into the stoplight and looking into the screen. Seconds later, a familiar face materialized in front of him.

"Megaman!" He felt his heart soar, tears forming in his eyes again, as the blue-armored Navi smiled wide up at him. He hugged his PET tight, as if his Navi could feel it. "Don't do something like that again! You scared me to death, for Pete's sake!"

"Well, it worked, didn't it?" Megaman looked around to see what he could of Den City. "Looks like everything's okay now. No more Alpha."

Lan nodded. "It looks like it... the real world is alright, anyway..."

"What about the Cyberworld?" his Navi asked, as Dr. Hikari walked up behind his son to answer.

"I've been checking in periodically. As far as the Officials can tell, there's a whole lot of Alpha left over in the Cyberworld, but it doesn't seem to be doing anything," he explained. "Looks like its brain was destroyed, along with whatever else you two took care of... it's just going to be a big cleanup job now."

Lan started to respond, but his eyes were drawn to a group of people walking along the street; Yuichiro turned as well, to see what his son was looking at. They watched as four police officers escorted a pair of handcuffed adults back to their cars. One of them was a red-haired man that Lan didn't recognize, but he immediately recognized the second one, a tall woman with pink hair tied into two puffballs on either side of her head.

"You are all going to regret this," the man growled. "World Three's wrath is going to follow you and everyone in this city. Just wait until Lord Wily-"

"For God's sake, shut up, will you?" Maddy Iroaya interrupted, walking much more cooperatively. "I swear, if I have to share a car with you I'm going to kill you myself..."

"They're World Three!" Lan exclaimed, stepping a bit closer, watching as the two were shoved into the back of the same police car. "The soldiers found them? What about Wily? And Bass, and Gospel?"

Yuichiro shook his head. "No sign of any of them. Bass and Gospel, who knows if they even survived. Wily probably escaped somewhere."

"Great... so are we going to have to deal with him again?" Lan watched as the city returned to a temporary chaos; mothers called out for their children, people ran into their homes, and confusion abounded.

"I doubt it. He probably doesn't have any resources anymore. It'll be almost impossible for him to even stay on the run, let alone try anything like this again." Yuichiro rubbed Lan's head, tousling his hair. "He ran into something he didn't count on."

Lan grinned, glancing upward. "Does this mean I'm still in trouble?"

Yuichiro laughed, as the pair started walking off, heading home. "You are absolutely still in trouble, Lan. I may go a bit easy on you, though, all things considered..." The two Hikaris headed back toward the suburb of ACDC, both tired and looking for rest, ready for some peace after the terrible month they had both suffered through.