| GCB Fanfics: The Fanfiction Project |
August 29th, 2003"Snake Skin" Snake took a long drag from his cigarette. He exhaled the smoke into the air over the crashing waves of the ocean below. "You can always find something worth fighting for." Isn’t that what he told Raiden? We can tell other people about - having faith. What we had faith in. What we found important enough to fight for. Those were his words once. They were all fighting for something. There was a common good, there were peoples lives on the line then. There was something at stake. There was nothing now. The image of Link’s sword going into Samus’ chest still blinked across his eyes ever few minutes. Wasn’t a pleasent thing to keep looking at. He tried to convince himself it didn’t matter. She was still alive, back in her own dimension, the result would’ve been the same if he hadn’t killed her. She would’ve gone back to her dimension and Snake would’ve stayed here. Yet something was still wrong. Snake had felt alone all his life, it was nothing new. Snake had spent a long portion of his life in Alaska almost completely devoid of human contact for all that time. Nobody to lean on, nobody to talk to nothing. But now, that he was back in that situation after such a long time of having Otacon there and Raiden, and then everyone at the contest, it felt wrong. He grimaced to himself as he realized that he’d even settle for Vercetti’s company at this point. Snake had felt alone all his life, but he’d never felt lonely. He looked up at the sky...it was cloudy. That’s weird he thought. This world was engineered, it wasn’t a real ecosystem he knew that. The weather was always the same. It was cold and damp today. Mist floated in the air, waiting to be soaked up by passing garments and skins. It was weird. Snake’s senses were still about him something was definately amiss today. He heard a soft footstep in the forest behind him. One he wasn’t intended to hear. But his ears were attuned to such things so he noticed. Someone was coming, not quickly, but still it was someone who wasn’t exactly eager to alert Snake to his presence. That narrowed it down to two people. He made an educated guess. “What do you want, Link?” “Good guess,” Link said knowingly. He strolled out of the brush noisily to stand up on the cliff overlooking the ocean with Snake. Snake and Link stood there looking over the ocean in silence. It wasn’t akward, it was a moment that both were savoring before they had to start talking to each other. “While you’re guessing, want to take another one at why I’m here right now?” “Not really,” Snake said casually, inhaling the cigarette smoke into his lungs again. “I came to ask you what you know,” Link responded, turning away from Snake back towards the ocean. Snake didn’t respond at all. Link began to chuckle, “As I thought,” then he began to walk away. “I know about the Porta Dei,” Snake said. Link stopped in his tracks scowling, this complicated matters. “I can only assume we have our mutual friend Cloud to thank for that,” hissed the fallen champion. “I figured it out myself,” Snake said. It was a lie. Snake had no idea what was going on. He knew Sephiroth was up to something and that involved the emeralds, but that’s where his knowledge on the subject ended. He had heard Megaman and Sephiroth talking in the forest the other day. He didn’t make out much but the words ‘Porta Dei’ came up more than once. He had just put one and two together. The intel he just gathered now showed that Link and Cloud were also involved. Judging by the tone of his voice Link and Sephiroth were both after the same thing, and Cloud was trying to stop them. No wonder Cloud had looked so pensive lately. Maybe he could trick Link into telling him a little more. “I find that hard to believe,” Link said, whirling around to face Snake. “It’s what I do,” Snake sort of sneered back at Link. “So this leads down a new fork in our conversation. What are your intentions for the Porta Dei?” Link inquired leaning up against a tree. That was a tougher question, Snake didn’t know what the Porta Dei was, a weapon, a spell, a place? He didn’t know. His latin was rusty but he could’ve sworn that meant ‘Gate to the Gods’ or ‘Gate of the Gods’ or something like that. Sounds like something Link and Sephiroth would be into. “What business is it of yours?” Snake asked after a few moments of thinking. “The same business my intentions for it are to you,” Link responded. “Is that an offer?” asked Snake almost immediately. “It could be,” Link said slyly. Snake turned around and looked into Link’s grinning face. “I can guess your intentions for it well enough,” Snake responded taking another blind stab at the truth. “HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” Link laughed, catching Snake somewhat off guard. “Too true, human, too true. But I guess allure of a power as ultimate as the Porta Dei would be lost on a mortal such as yourself.” “I guess,” Snake said. “Well, I found out what I needed to you. That you do not...no, you cannot understand the ubiquity of the Porta Dei,” Link said pushing off from the tree and walking into the forest. Right before he disappeared into the green and brown of the forest Snake called out to him, “One thing Link, tell me. Who am I talking to, Link or the mask?” Link froze and snarled back at him, “A bold question human.” “I’m just curious,” Snake smirked, standing up and turning to face Link. “Me and the mask are one. It’s desires are mine, and my desires are it’s. We work towards the solidification of our goal of becoming the god of this multiverse. We both want it we both work toward it.” “I see, so you use it to help you do what you can’t. You use it...like a crutch.” Snake almost whispered. Link’s eye’s flew open, his hand immediately flew back to the Master Sword, and he spun around with ever intention of cutting Snake’s head off and watching it crack open on the rocky shoals of the cliff below like a melon. But as he turned around he found himself looking directly into a black metal rifled tube that was the barrel of Snakes Desert Eagle .45. Snake had somehow closed the distance between them completely silently and was just waiting for Link to turn around. Link’s hand was still on the sword which was half way out of the blue and gold holster on his back. “So what now, human? You can’t kill me you’ll be ejected from the tournament.” Snake grinned and slid the hammer back into place, “And I suppose you were just reaching for your sword as a stretching exercise right there.” He looked into Link’s eyes. He was still infuriated. If Snake even blinked Link would pull his sword the rest of the way out and cut him in half. It was interesting standing face to face with Link. He was short. He stood nearly half a foot below Snake, and Snake was not tall. It was just the intensity and composure in his actions made it easy to lose sight of that glaring height deficiency. Link’s eyes brightened slightly, and asked “Avenging your fallen friend Samus Aran? What for, it won’t bring her back, and killing me insures Sephiroth possessing the Porta Dei. Even with your limited understanding of the Porta Dei you should be able to comprehend the disaster’s he would reap upon all dimensions, including yours...including hers.” Snake pushed the barrel into Link’s face, “And I suppose you’d bring ever lasting peace and prosperity if you got a hold of the Porta Dei. “I only wish to rule...not to oppress. Ganondorf was an oppressor, he was pitiful. All I seek is the power to control the universe,” Link said all of a sudden not angry at all. The sword sank back into it’s sheath and Link took a step forward, forcing Snake to take one back. “And you, what is your wish? What do you seek? Why do you still fight? You have no hope of victory. You no longer have any friends here. You do not yearn for control of the Porta Dei. Yet you do not feel compelled to protect it from your enemies. Why are you here Snake? Why do you fight?” Link said peering deeply into Snake’s heardened eyes. For a brief moment...Snake felt compassion from Link. For a brief moment, he felt Link’s sorrow for his suffering. For a brief moment he saw the Link he knew from the previous year. Then all of a sudden it was gone. Link’s face cracked into a grin, “You don’t have an answer do you. You’re just floating aimlessly, doing as your told, with no goal and no aspirations.” Snake’s face was blank. It showed no emotion, no thoughts, no feelings, but some how it betrayed him. Link broke into a roar of laughter. “You just walk around a tool of everyone smarter or even more driven then yourself. How you managed to make it this far is beyond me.” Link turned away, ignoring the gun in Snake’s hand. “This turned out far better than I expected it to.” Snake stayed in place, leaving the gun extended until he no longer heard the leaves crackling under Link’s feet. Then he holstered his gun, and walked into the forest heading back to the dwindling compound. --- “Megaman, you should be preparing for your match, not talking with me about the Porta Dei,” Cloud said to the blue robot. “I know...but there is still so much about it I don’t understand, talking to you is helping me comprehend what it is.” “There will be plenty of time to discuss these happenings after your match.” “Will there?” “...” “You match with Link is tomorrow. Will you win?” “...” “Are...you afraid of him?” “...” “I don’t know enough about the Porta Dei to be able to defend it against Link and Sephiroth. And what if I lose to Sephiroth? I lost to him last year, he’s an incredible fighter.” “You don’t have to tell me that.” “Cloud, it’s imperative that both you and I have the maximum comprehension of the events taking place in this place. Link and Sephiroth have both clearly found out the true nature of what we’re dealing with putting us at an exceeding disadvantage. If we can overcome that deficit we can have a chance too...” “Do you think I could handle both of them?” “I...what?” “Do you think I could beat both Link and Sephiroth? I was barely able to best Sephiroth in my own dimension with the aid of my friends and allies. Link was able to beat Sephiroth last year, and has apparently only gained power since then. If I didn’t have your backup what could I possibly do to stop them?” “...” “I need you to win this match. I need to know that if I lose my match against Link, that there is still something standing between him, Sephiroth, and the Porta Dei.” “...What about Snake?” “Snake doesn’t know, I assume I could count on him if worse comes to worse but he appears to know even less about what’s happening here then we do. And since Samus’ loss he appears to not even care. I know from when Bowser kidnapped Aeris that he can be depended on, and he’ll fight for the side of good, but I’m just not sure if he can put his all into this. I know you can.” “...Very well, Cloud. I’ll begin preparations for my match. But this is something we need to talk about. I’ll talk to you about this later....hopefully.” Megaman finally got off the bench in the locker room where he and Cloud had been talking. Even through the darkest of times Megaman had managed to retain an upbeat state, at least a bright outlook on even the darkest events. But Cloud could see that even he was beginning to lose that brightness. Megaman walked over to the door, and out of the building to begin his pre-match preperations. ~~~ Megaman slowly walked out of the compound towards the training center, to make the final spec checks on his equipment. He wanted to be in optimal condition for his fight. He walked into the training center and looked around, it was completely empty. Save for one man sitting at a desk behind the entrance, but he was far too absorbed in his magazine to count as another person. Megaman looked around a little confused, this was the first time he’d been in the training center when there had been no one else. At his last match there had always been one or two sounds of someone yelling to add more force to their punches or the sound of training droids exploding. But now there was nothing, each metal footstep echoed for an eternity in the empty halls of the training area. Is it...bigger? thought Megaman. The entire thing seemed much larger than it had in his previous visit. But he dismissed it as an effect of it being empty. He walked into his own personal training room, that he had reserved at the beginning of the tournament. As a #2 seed his personal room was pretty close to the entrance. He stepped into the console he had set up, and it began recharging all his functions. All energies, all special weapons. It took a while so he had some time to go over the visual memory of his last battle and Vercetti’s really going to kill me. He hurt me. THAT SCUM HURT ME!!! Megaman sighed in disappointment with himself, he felt a short twinge of rage because of Link. The man that had used his innately programmed desire to be more human, to turn him into a monster, a monster like Link. He started thinking about his new match. Come to think of it, his matches had been ending progressively worse since round 1. In that first round he had faced of against Mr. Resetti, a mole with little to no fighting ability, he had quickly worked that to a quick draw, the ideal situation for the rest of his matches. But the rest of his matches hadn’t gone right. In his match against Zelda he had defeated her, but he needed to hurt her to defeat her. He didn’t like hurting people, especially good people, even though she had gone insane, he could tell she was a good person at heart, not like Dr. Wily. But the Vercetti match, he had one, Vercetti had lived, but Megaman had lost control. He almost did something Dr. Light had tried to prevent at all costs. He didn’t have that stupid emerald anymore, he wouldn’t lose control again. Not like last time, he would never try to kill again. Not against someone like Snake, who had only done good things for other people. Never again. --- “Why can’t I get involved in anything that doesn’t turn into a battle to save the world?” Cloud asked nobody. But somebody answered, “I know the feeling.” Cloud spun around on his feet, sword immediately at the ready, looking deep into the shadows of the room, from which the voice came. “Easy there,” the voice said, stepping out into the light. It was Snake, his combat fatigues already on, holsters stocked with ammo, a black grease streak under each eye. Snake chuckled as Cloud did not immediately put away his sword, “A little on edge these days, kid?” Cloud slid the sword back into it’s resting position on his back. “Can never be to careful, Snake.” Snake almost made a comment about that, but decided to let it go, “So, I guess this stuff about the Porta Dei is getting pretty serious.” A startled look crossed Cloud’s face. “So...you were listening?” “Yeah.” “What do you know?” “Not a whole lot, what you and Megaman were just talking about, some information I managed to get out of Link earlier this morning. Just that this Porta Dei is something that’ll let someone control the universe.” “It’s not just that, it’s...” “Save it. It’s not important now. Anything you tell me now will just be a distraction for me in the match.” “Snake...this is big, bigger than Bowser or anything we thought would happen in this contest. We have to do something, we have to stop them, we can’t let Link and Sephiroth win, we can’t...” “Hold up for a second, Cloud. We don’t have to do anything.” Cloud rushed forward to Snake grabbing the spandex around the collar area and pulling him in close to his face, “I sure as hell am not gonna sit around here, waiting for Link and Sephiroth to take control of the Porta Dei, and become the new dictators of our universe, that’s for damn sure!” Snake pushed Cloud off of him, “You have to calm down there, you’ll help no one and save nothing if you go into this without your composure.” Cloud scowled at Snake for a second then let go, and started pacing back and forth, finally slamming his fist into the metal locker leaving a good sized dent, “I’m just so frustrated...no matter what I do, I always seem to be faced with these huge responsibilities. I don’t want any of it, I don’t want to be the hero.” “Then don’t be,” Snake said non-chalantly, raising one eye-brow. “It’s not that simple...I can’t let go of my responsibilities, I can’t let Sephiroth win.” “Why not? Why can’t you just sit back and welcome the end of the world...what difference does it make, you’ll be destroyed along with everyone else, if you’re really so tired of being the hero, don’t be the hero anymore.” “...” “Listen, Cloud. If you truly don’t want to be the hero, then eventually you will fail, and all your hard work will be a waste. If you are truly going to abandon your responsibilities do it now.” “...I can’t let others suffer.” “...” “I see the kids in my own dimension, people like Aeris, and Tifa, I can’t let the people I am close to suffer. I won’t let them suffer.” “So...you fight to protect them?” “Yeah, I always have I guess, for so long in my life I didn’t know what I was fighting for. Back when I was in SOLDIER, I had this idealistic dream of being a perfect warrior, then when I found out what being the perfect warrior would mean, I just lost all meaning to fighting. And I just kept fighting anyway. I became a mercenary and just did random stuff, until I met Barret, and Aeris, suddenly I had a purpose to my fighting, I was fighting to save them. And it felt right, then I was fighting to save the world, and it felt even more right. So I kept on fighting, but I’ve been fighting to save people for so long, I just want to stop.” “...Listen kid, we don’t have to do anything in life. All we have to do is live. It’s up to you how you want to live. Nobody can force you to be the hero. Nobody can tell you to save the world. Me and you, we fight because we believe in the cause we’re fighting for, we believe in saving our future. We’re nobodies tools. I’ve been thinking a lot about that lately and it’s all suddenly made sense to me. Nobody is stopping us from walking away from this whole mess, nobody is making us stop Sephiroth and Link. But, because their success would bring about the suffering of the people and the things we had faith in, the things we cared about, we won’t let them succeed. We’re nobody’s tools...fighting is the only thing we’re good at, but we will always fight for what we believe in.” Snake turned around and started walking towards the door, leaving Cloud to think about the words he’d just given him. He reached the door, “It’s time for my match now Cloud. If I come out of this on top, you can count on my help for stopping Sephiroth and Link, and if I don’t I can at least guarantee Megaman will be operating at his finest to help you out.” “Snake, the Porta Dei is...” “Save it, the details aren’t important. I don’t want to know what this thing does, because I don’t need to. All I know is that we can’t, no, we won’t let Sephiroth or Link take it.” He opened the door, and started to walk through, but stopped at the last second. He turned back in for a second, “Also...Link is still in there. The real Link, the Link we remember from last year, he’s not completely gone.” Then he was gone. “Good luck, Snake,” Cloud said to no one. "Man vs Machine" Mega Man was early to the match, he always was. It was a precaution he always took. There was no telling what could happen on the way to the match, any delays could be made up for by a simple head start. So hence he was always early to the match. However, when he arrived Snake was already waiting there for him, it was the first time Megamans opponent had beat him to the arena. And from the looks of it, it must’ve taken a while for Snake to haul all the gear he was carrying. There was a rocket launcher strapped to either of his shoulders. A Stinger on his right, and a Nikita on his left. His belt was lined entirely with grenades, half fragmentation, half chaff. C4 and detonators rested in a small backpack fastented securely to the bottom of his spine for easy access but out of fires way. Thermal vision goggles hung down from his neck. Mega Man had come prepared too. He had some of his best moves installed for this match, but it wasn’t obvious to the human eye. He just looked like his normal blue self. The two opponents stood there, at the center courtyard of the maze staring at each other, there was no animosity but the mood was devoid of friendship as well. All that was left was a grudging sense of respect. “So,” mumbled Snake. “Are we going to do this?” “Snake, before we fight, I need to tell you something…about the world we’re in, about the Porta Dei…” Megaman started. Snake chuckled, “Save it. I know as much about the Porta Dei as I need to for us to fight.” “But, it’s far more complicated then you can ever ima…” “I told you,” Snake interrupted again, “I don’t need to know anything about this place, but I do need something from you, Mega Man.” “Yeah? What’s that?” Mega Man asked. “I need you to fight with your all. None of this, ‘trying to spare my life’, crap. I need you to fight me with everything you’ve got. I need to know that if I win I was truly the better fighter, and you weren’t just taking it easy on me,” Snake said curtly. “But Snake, I can’t…” “Don’t expect me to be making any adjustments to spare your life. There isn’t any honor involved in this any more. It’s bigger than honor, now the only thing that’s important is who is strongest. Who can keep going after the other person is done. Promise me, that you will not hold back against me.” Mega Man sat there staring at Snake, unsure of what to say. Dr. Light had programmed him and taught him to never hurt a human being, but the logic algorithms in his CPU confirmed Snake’s diagnosis of the situation. At this point the stronger of the two needed to stay, to help Cloud, because he couldn’t beat both Link and Sephiroth by himself, but it sounded like Snake wouldn’t start until he agreed. “Yes, Snake, I promise.” How the hell is a robot bad at lying? Snake wondered to himself. Seeing the face of Megaman and reading it perfectly. Well now we’ll know what he’s really capable of, if he can’t kill me, he can’t kill Sephiroth. The two looked at each other for another second or two and then began. Snake immediately hunched forward swinging the Stinger off of his shoulder, lining up Mega Man in his sights. The rocket blasted out of the barrel leaving a tremendous trail of smoke behind it and whizzed across the field towards Mega Man. Mega Man dove to the side, the stinger curving to match his dive, but not quite by enough. The missle exploded on contact with the wall behind Mega Man. He hit the ground on his shoulder, with a clang, and rolled up to his feet, still sliding to the side because of the momentum. Snake had already slammed another Stinger bullet into the launcher and was picking it up to aim at Mega. The blue robot swiftly lifted up his arm as his slide came to a stop and started firing off energy rounds at Snake. Snake dropped belly first to the floor, the energy blasts flying right over him. He lined up his shot and fired another Stinger shot at Megaman. Mega Man fired off another quick successions of shots, this time at the Stinger bullet. The first few flew past the flying missle and right towards Snake. Snake rolled out of the way, the energy bullets scorching the ground where he had just been lying. The rocket was closing in on Mega Man fast, it was about 5 feet away from him when he finally connected with it. It was too close though, the explosion picked Mega Man up off his feet and flung him back, leaving a cracked indenture in the wall where he hit. This time Mega Man recovered first, as Snake was in a bad position to reload. Snake rolled up to his feet, before he had a chance to reload Mega was already charging him. He rolled to the left to avoid the first spurt of shots from Mega Man, but as he started rolling to his feet Mega Man dropped to the ground and slid at Snake feet first. The two rocket launchers weighing Snake down at the shoulders took their toll, as he couldn’t jump away from Mega Man fast enough. He managed to dodge the kick, but as Mega Man slid past he reached up and snagged Snakes foot. Snake snapped down going face first into the tile floor and got dragged another few feet. Then Mega Man shifted myself around and threw Snake around the floor. Snake smashed into the gap in the wall that led into the maze, but was back on his feet without missing a beat. Mega Man jumped up to his feet, blaster at the ready but Snake had already disappeared into the maze. Megaman rushed in after him. But he hadn’t even made it to the first turn, as a rocket turned around the corner of the maze and flew straight at him. With little time to react, Mega Man dropped to the ground in another slide, trying to go under it. But, right as he passed under the rocket, it detonated. Smashing him through the tile and into a crater of soft dirt below. Mega Man picked himself off of the ground, lines of static were still flashing across his optical screen from the blast. He took a moment until the self corrective processes fixed the static. Instead of rushing in blindly, he switched over to thermal. Snake was already pretty deep in the maze, but was standing still. Judging from the outline of his thermal position he was holding a rocket launcher in firing position but it wasn’t aimed at him. Suddenly he picked up a quick blast of heat from his left. He turned to see where it was coming from. A trail of heat was following a semi-warm object as it was turning through the maze. Mega Man began to charge his blaster as he ran through the maze. The schematics of the maze had long since been recorded, and using ground speed and entry location Mega Man was able to display an overhead view of the maze with his location in it. He used a quick thermal lock to make Snake another point in the display. He got to where he was headed. A point where the projectile was going to pass by two walls away. Me pointed his blaster arm at the wall and let loose the fully charged blast. The wall was blown down by the power of the blast, sending chunks of rock flying everywhere. It flew across the adjacent hallway and blasted through the next wall, before finally exploding on the third wall leaving a slightly less gaping hole. Mega Man sat and waited for a few seconds, as he traced the projectile that was flying across on thermal. Then he started blasting through the holes. The Nikita missile flew right into the path of the small energy blasts coming out of Mega Man’s blaster arm and exploded. Mega Man rushed through the holes in the walls and started going after Snake again. Snake was on the move again. Mega Man could tell Snake had also memorized the pattern of the maze, as he was moving fluidly through the maze not taking any wrong turns. However, running was not a good idea for Snake as it tired him out, especially with all the heavy equipment he was carrying. Suddenly he stopped crouched down behind a corner. Mega Man quickly arrived at the hall where Snake had stopped. He slowed to a tip toe, and proceeded down the hall, continually scanning the area in thermal vision, waiting for Snake to move. Snake made a few movements, but they didn’t appear to have any purpose. He stood up and readied the rocket launcher off of his right shoulder. Mega Man pointed his blaster at the corner and then began charging a blast. Suddenly he heard a clink behind him. His sound sensors registered the clink as hollow spherical object. He tried to think of what it was, he finally got it, “Grenade,” he managed to say in the split second before the frag grenade exploded behind him. The blast propelled him forward through the air, and as he flew Snake whipped around the corner, dropped to a knee and aimed the Stinger right at the flying robot. Mega Man quickly shifted gears. Mega Mans body turned from blue to gray as he hurtled towards the oncoming missile. Then he thrusted his arms out in front of him, a compartment on his chest opened up, and large chunks of metal flew out. The junk metal began to spin around him, forming a protective sphere of metal. The pieces of metal wizzed around his body at high speed, many of them smashing into the walls on either side, but there were still plenty to form a solid shield in front of him. The missile slammed straight into the wall of moving metal, and detonated about 5 feet in front of him. Mega Man crossed his hands in front of his face, absorbing most of the shockwave, and slid to a halt about 20 feet away from Snake. Then in the blink of an eye, Mega Man was back to being the blue bomber again. He threw his arm out and squeezed off a few energy blasts. Snake tried to jump out of the way, but he couldn’t get out of the way in time. Two of the yellow energy blasts connected. One into his shoulder, one into his stomach. The gray spandex was singed away from the heat of the blasts, leaving two gaping holes exposing two burns underneath. Snake lurched through the air, spinning, and landing on his back. But kicking his feet backwards and rolling into a protected corridor, let him avoid the following blasts. Snake leaned up against the wall in the corridor, taking a moment to breathe. He looked down at the scorch marks on the ground where he had just been lying. Took a deep breath and cringed the two burns on his body had developed impact bruises too. He heard the thud and clang of Mega Man’s run and went back into the maze. Damn, Snake thought, navigating through the maze. I was counting on doing some heavy damage with that move, at least enough to slow him down some. He won’t fall for that again. Still too early to use the Chaff’s; I need to go for the kill when I use those. The reverberations of Mega Mans metal feet started echoing a little clearer in the hallway, alerting Snake that he was now in the line of fire. Instinctively, he dove forward, spinning in the air, pulling the Stinger off of his shoulder. By the time he was ready to fire there were already several energy blasts heading his way. He fired off the Stinger Missile, as he dodged the first blast, by going under them. He hit the ground on his back, and rolled up to his feet, sliding sideways in the process. His backwards momentum carried him all the way into the wall. Mega Man went to gray again, and the Junk Shield came out to annihilate the oncoming missile. Snake grinned as an idea flashed through his head. His hand delved into the small backpack at the base of his spine A large chunk of doughy C4 came out with it. He quickly shoved a detonator into the C4 and dropped it in the corner. The missile exploded on the flying scrap metal, Mega Man came to an abrupt halt, do the lashback from the explosion. The concussion left his screen a little staticky but it went away after a while. His vision cleared up just in time to see Snake run down the hall way. He charged after him. Mega Man did a quick thermal check to see Snake’s location and saw that he had stopped at the end of the corridor he had just run down. He slowed down, and carefully approached the corner. He reached the edge and paused for a second, his back pressed to the wall. He took a moment, and then spun around shooting before he got a solid lock on Snake. He had managed to get three shots off before he realized what was happening. Snake was kneeled down his hands in position like he was holding a rocket launcher but he was not. Instead in his right hand he held a small button, which he pushed down upon seeing Mega Man turn the corner. Snake jumped into the corridor as he was pushing the button, partly to avoid the blasts from Mega Man’s arm cannon, and partly to avoid the blast of his own explosion. The explosion rocked the stadium, not just Mega Man and Snake but everyone in the audience was a little shaken by the shockwave from the explosion. However, Mega Man more so than anybody else…significantly more so. He flew across the corridor busting through walls, and skidded and bounced off the ground, until he slammed into the force barriers at the edge of the maze. Mega Man let out a robotic yell as the blue sparks surged through his body. He stayed there suspended on the electronic wall for a few moments, and then came crashing to the floor, face first. Snake picked himself up. He knew that Mega Man wasn’t done, but he also knew that he had a few moments to rest, he sat down leaning against the wall. I needed that, little bastard is persistent. He took a moment to check over his equipment. He still had plenty of Nikita bullets, but he was running low on Stinger’s. He had 5 more fragmentation grenades, and all 6 of his Chaff grenades still available. Also 2 or 3 more uses worth of C4 in his back pack. Something needed to go, the two energy blasts that had hit him had taken a good toll. He looked at the Nikita. Mega Man could react fast enough to render the Stinger’s useless, and the Nikita’s were even slower. Besides, it looked as if he could track the Nikita bullets, taking away their usual advantage in the maze. Too heavy, not useful. He tossed the launcher and the ammo onto the ground in front of him. He looked at his Stinger ammo, only 3 more left, he needed to make them count. His thermal goggles had slammed against the ground a few times, and the shockwave from the blast seem to have finished the job. He felt down around his belt, specifically the Chaff grenades, they were his trump cards, the thing that would let him beat Mega Man. He wasn’t quite sure what effect they would have on him, but he had never run into a piece of electronics that wasn’t negatively affected by Chaff. Mega Man probably won’t fall for the C4 trick again. Snake figured. But I might be able to find some use for them. He got up off the ground, the Nikita gone but the Stinger there. “Well Snake,” he said out loud. “Time for the final stretch.” Mega Man slowly got to his feet. His hands slipped out from under him and he fell on his face again. He picked himself up and sat down. The blast had nearly knocked his vision off line. His Visual Input Display was almost completely covered with static. He took a second or two to sit as the problems fixed themselves. That was bad thought Mega Man. I wasn’t even being careless and he got me with that. He tried to switch back to thermal, but it was all snow. The thermal must’ve been disabled during the explosion. The vision was beginning to return to normal. Mega Man took a silent moment of recompense. Snake wasn’t lying…he was going for the kill. He wasn’t angry at Solid Snake in fact, he pretty much agreed with Snake’s logic. The time for holding back for simple things like honor and friendship were gone, it was about winning now. Snake didn’t even know everything that the Porta Dei was capable of and he was still able to come to this conclusion, but Mega Man couldn’t match that commitment. It wasn’t about him not wanting to kill Snake, even though he didn’t, it wasn’t about him disagreeing with Snake’s logic, it was about simply not being able to kill him. He had been programmed with the intention that he would never harm another human being. But he’d seen Snake falling prey to Sephiroth’s mind control. Solid Snake was human, and not only that he hadn’t dealt with Sephiroth’s mind control as much as Cloud did. Snake wasn’t suited to fight Sephiroth…his statistical analysis he made had confirmed his theory. Mega Man was simply better suited to fight Sephiroth. So, when it came down to it…Mega Man couldn’t let Snake fight Sephiroth. He couldn’t, no he wouldn’t take the risk of Snake losing. He wouldn’t take the risk of Cloud being left here alone. He had to win…he had to help Cloud. Well, Snake, I may not be able to kill you, but I’m not holding back any more. Mega Man thought to himself and then dashed back into the maze. Snake looked around, and listened, trying to pick up the sound of Mega Man’s foot steps. The roar of the crowd was getting annoying as it covered up any faint foot steps he might have heard. His Stinger rocket launcher was locked and loaded. He was holding it, ready to fire at the drop of a pin. Mega Man was nowhere to be seen or heard. Snake took out another cigarette and lit it, took one quick drag and tossed it on the ground, not grinding it out. He had left about 10 cigarettes scattered out throughout the maze now, trying to throw off Mega Man’s thermal vision. Mega Man wasn’t running, that was for sure. He was trying to be more quiet, he was taking it up a notch now. Snake smiled. Good. Snake heard a soft thud from the other side of the wall him. He stalled for a second and then rolled left. A blast of energy flew through the wall. Not like Mega Man’s other energy blasts, but a thin shining arc of power. It sliced through the wall, not destroying the wall, but just leaving the absence of a thin line in the middle of it. The wall on the other side was unscathed. Snake began to hear the clang of Mega Man’s run and rolled left again, as the shining arcs of power began to blast through the wall in quick succession. He rolled a third time, then spun around and lunged to the right, out of the path of the energy slashes. They continued for a short while then stopped. For a moment there was complete silence. Then the entire wall simply collapsed to the ground. Mega Man was standing still at the end of the collapse in the wall, where the energy slashes had stopped. He was no longer blue, his body was green his helmet, arms, and boots a darker green then the rest of him. Mega Man slowly turned to Snake, who was aiming his Stinger at Mega Man but not firing. “Snake,” Mega Man said, “I can’t let you fight Sephiroth, you’re at a disadvantage against him, I’m impenetrable to his mind control. I can’t let you fight him.” Snake looked at him for a few second, “You assume that I’m gonna let you win.” Then fired a rocket at him. Before Mega Man reacted, Snake could’ve sworn he saw him smile, but then it was back to business. His body switched back from green to blue, but now his helmet and boots were purple. He pointed his blaster arm at the rocket, and fired it. No energy came out, in fact, nothing appeared to come out. For an instance every man other than Mega Man seemed confused. Then, the rocket detonated in mid air. Snake’s eye’s opened a little wide. Mega Man seemed to focus again, but once again nothing seemed to happen. Then Snake felt what was happening. He felt a vibration in his body, not just in one place but he felt his entire body being shaken incredibly. It threw him back against the wall at the end of the corridor. Snake clutched his stomach for a second and then lurched forward and threw up on the tile. The vibrations on his stomach had been too much. He turned as he saw Mega Man holding his weapon up against the wall. Suddenly, a little light went off on the side of his blaster arm. He turned around, and pointed it at Snake. Snake couldn’t tell when he was firing, but he dodged anyway, he lunged to the side, rolled and then started running. He looked over his shoulder to see the wall he had just been leaning on not just crumble, but shatter. He reloaded his Stinger as he was running. He looked over his shoulder to see Mega Man running after him, back in his blue form. Mega Man fired a few uncharged energy lasts, but Snake turned a quick corner to avoid them. Wow, he’s really pulling out all the stops. Guess I’ll follow suit. thought Snake, as he pulled a chaff grenade off his belt. Mega Man had fully charged his blaster arm, and had it at the ready in case Snake ambushed him. Snake was much better at moving silently then he was. He looked around the corner, Snake still wasn’t there. So he turned the corner and began down the hall at a crawl. His motion trackers picked up something flying over the wall. He pointed his blaster arm up at it and fired instinctively. But it was too small, too difficult to hit, the metallic cylinder flew down to the ground a few feet in front of Mega Man, and bounced once in the air. Mega Man dove backwards trying to avoid the blast, but no explosion came. Instead, the tube broke open and what appeared to be little shreds of paper came out. But, Mega Man didn’t get a good look at what they really were, because a second after they were out of the tube his vision went beserk. It wasn’t like the static that had been blurring his vision after the C4 explosion. This time his vision was just getting shaken and tweaked. A line that would’ve gone through the center of his vision had gone into a sinusoidal wave patter, making it impossible to tell what and where he was looking at. He started firing shots randomly but he heard them making their small explosions on the walls all around him. Then from behind him he heard the sound of a rocket. Mega Man panicked he had no idea where the rocket would be and not a good chance to block it. He switched to the Junk Shield and tried to activate it, but he was out of energy for the Junk Shield and couldn’t use it. A few seconds had passed and he was running out of options, he could hear the rocket getting closer but the chaff was also disrupting his audio sensors. An idea hit him. He changed again. This time his body became red and yellow. He held his hand straight up in the air, and fired. A circle of fire flew out of his blaster arm and up into the air. The heat seeking missile fired out of the stinger curved up, finding a new more potent heat source. It arced right in front of Mega Man missing him by a little over two feet, and then curling around to fly straight into the wheel of fire. Exploding in mid-air about 10 feet above Mega Man’s head. Mega felt the explosion, but it was too far away to do any serious damage to his body. And now his vision and hearing devices were beginning to return to normal. Just in time to see Snake at the end of the hall on the right, and hear him say “Damn it.” Snake ducked back into the maze and now a functional Mega Man followed after him, with his Scorch Wheel attack still activated. Snake suddenly wished he hadn’t tossed the non-heat seeking Nikita’s back in the maze. That damn attack from Mega Man could cost him this match. He turned into an extra long hall way. Damn, thought Snake That was careless; I wasn’t paying attention. The price for his carelessness soon became obvious as Mega Man spun around the corner and launched a burning ring of fire at him. Snake doved sideways in the narrow hall flattening himself against the wall. The wheel rolled a few inches in front of him, leaving a black scorch mark on the ground, and a few singed pieces of stubble on Snake’s face. Snake got back up on his feet, turning around and swiping a frag grenade off his belt in one slick motion. He pulled his hand back and flicked the pin out with his thumb, then chucked it down the hall at Mega Man. Mega Man fired a few scorch wheels at it, but it was the wrong type of attack to neutralize the grenade. He jumped backwards and avoided most of the blast, but it still knocked him off balance. Mega Man landed on his back and rolled up immediately firing a shot at Snake right as he was turning the corner. The scorch wheel missed Snake by a few inches again leaving a large burn mark on the wall. He began to chase after Snake, taking some time to check the layout of the maze. The blip representing Snake was gone, since thermal had been taken offline, but there was only one path he could take, based off of the layout of the map. Instead of following Snake he took a running start at the wall, and leapt up in the air. The hydrolics in his legs giving him an extra boost and launching him up on top of the wall. Snake was running right under him. He lined up and fired a scorch wheel right at Snake’s back. Snake couldn’t react in time, he tried to slide left of it, but the wheel of fire caught him on his right shoulder blade. He slammed to the floor, but managed to roll up in time to avoid the second scorch wheel. Mega Man was lining up again for another blast, but Snake tossed another chaff grenade at him. Mega Man fired the scorch wheel as Snake ducked into the next hallway, but the chaff grenade went past the fire attack and hit Mega Man squarely in the chest. Mega Man began to lose his balance, but regained it, right in time for the detonation of the Chaff grenade, his vision went crazy again, and Snake took the time to escape. Snake crouched down on the ground clenching his teeth. The scorch wheel had left 3rd degree burns on his back. Good thing that didn’t go into the C4 pouch, that would’ve been really bad. Suddenly, his eye’s lit up. That’s it. He slid the rocket out of the barrel of the Stinger. It was his last one, this one needed to count. Then he took the remaining C4, and stuck it onto the top of the rocket, and slammed it back into the chamber. Last chance Snake he told himself and then started to run towards the courtyard. Mega Man held his Scorch Wheel up in the air, just waiting for the sound of a rocket to be launched, but it never came. Mega Man decided that Snake must’ve taken the time to regroup and rest. Mega Man’s vision came back. He charged down to hall after Snake. Those grenades were bad, they could cost him the match. He had no way to destroy them, but he could probably kick them away or something. He had timed the detonation time from the throw of Snake’s last grenade. It was about 4 seconds, he could move fast enough to kick or throw that away. He followed the path Snake was on and decided that Snake must’ve gone to the courtyard. He went through the appropriate forks, and got to the courtyard. He looked around, each of the three courtyard exits was empty, but Mega Man knew Snake was in one of them. He had been led here. Mega Man had a short revelation, Snake had led Mega Man everywhere, and thus had the defensive advantage the entire match. He walked out into the courtyard, his blaster arm ready to fire at any time. He kept scanning back and forth between the exits. Suddenly, there was a large explosion from the exit on the right. Mega Man swirled over and pointed his arm intently at the exit. Snake whipped out from the exit on the left, and fired the rocket at Mega Man. Mega Man was expecting as much, but it still took him a second or two to register what was happening. The rocket was about half way there when Mega Man got his shot off. The flaming wheel was aimed a little left of the rocket, but the rocket picked up on it’s heat signal again and curved over to meet it. Snake lunged back inside of the corridor and placed is hands over his head. The scorch wheel connected with the rocket and the C4. Causing everything to detonate. The explosion was twice the size of the previous. People sitting in the first few rows were knocked out of their seats. A crater appeared below the explosion, and all the walls bordering on the courtyard were knocked down. Mega Man flew backwards through a few walls and coming to a stop inside of the third. Snake slowly got up, slowly. The blast had rocked him as well, but he had been prepared for it, so he was still alright. He walked out into the courtyard, smiling as he surveyed the crater in the courtyard. And he walked towards theholes Mega Man had made in the other walls of the maze. “Well,” Snake said out loud. “Might’ve won if you hadn’t kept following me around. That’s bad strategy, I figured you would’ve noticed that. Too bad,” Snake said as he began to walk towards the exit. “WAIT,” a voice yelled out of the rubble. “We’re not done yet, Snake.” --- “I’m still going,” Mega Man declared, picking himself out of the wreckage. He did a quick diagnosis, most of his attack systems were offline. Slash Claw and Scorch Wheel were the only ones working, and Scorch Wheel only had one more use left before it was out of energy. This would be difficult but he had to prove himself, if he could win this, he could prove to Cloud that he could truly help. Maybe then Cloud would start to trust him a little more. His body stayed red. He charged forward at Snake and fired off his final Scorch Wheel. Snake rolled left and tossed the now worthless Stinger launcher at the charging Mega Man. Mega Man switched over to Slash Claw. He jumped and spun in the air, bringing his blaster arm in a downward arc. A blast of energy flew out of it and arced down. The arc of energy cleaved the rocket launcher in two sending both pieces in opposite direction. He was about to switch back over to normal, so he could fight with non lethal means again. But then Snake grabbed a frag grenade off of his belt, pulled the pin, and tossed it towards Mega Man. Instinctively, Mega Man slashed forward at the grenade. He realized what he did at the last second, and turned his head away to brace for impact, but nothing exploded. The two halves of the grenade fell onto the ground. Mega Man smiled, then switched back to blue. And started firing shots at Snake. Snake rolled to the left, pulling another frag grenade off his belt and throwing it at Mega Man. Rather then blasting it, Mega Man immediately switched back to Slash Claw mode, and cleaved the grenade in half again, before it could detonate. Snake frowned and then went back on the run again, as Mega Man switched back to blue and started firing at him again. He tried to make a break towards the maze. But Mega Man spun around and put two more energy blasts into his back. Snake fell over forward, but got back up. Mega Man was closing in on him, “Come on, Snake give up, you can’t win anymore.” “Don’t think you’ve won just yet,” Snake said, spinning around and tossing another grenade at Mega Man. Mega Man switched to green again, and slashed down at the grenade. However, too late he realized that it wasn’t a fragmentation grenade. It was a chaff grenade. The chaff escaped from the cylindrical canister, and Mega Man lost control of his vision again. Mega Man couldn’t see anything again, he heard a clink by his feet, then suddenly an explosion knocked him through the air and onto the ground. “Too confident,” Snake said. “You should’ve been expecting that, I was planning that from the second you sliced the first grenade.” Mega Man heard another clink as his feet and got thrown up into the air and crashed back down again. Mega Man’s vision began to clear up, but another Chaff grenade exploded and his vision went bad again. Those two grenades had done some damage, his motion stabilizers had taken a good deal of damage and his aiming had been affected by the blasts too. He was getting desperate, he switched back to normal mode and started firing in all different directions. Desperation shots, another clink and explosion combo brought an abrupt end to those. Snake said out loud “Give up Mega Man, you won’t win at this rate, killing you isn’t necessary to me.” Mega Man switched back to slash claw, and took a desperation slice at where he heard the voice coming from. He took another few slashes until the move was depleted. His vision started to come back. He was expecting to here the sound of another Chaff grenade being deployed but heard nothing. After a few moments his vision was fully back. He quickly looked around, after he had turned nearly a full 360 he finally found Snake. Who was hunched down leaning against a wall. Mega Man reverted to normal mode and held up his blaster arm, suspicious of what Snake was planning, but it didn’t take him long to figure out what had happened. Snake’s arm was cupped over his stomach, but a steady trail of red liquid was pouring from it and onto the ground below him. Snake cough and blood spattered out of his mouth onto the floor. “Look’s like I got too confident, doesn’t it?” Mega Man rushed over to help Snake, “Snake, what happened?” “You’re blind slash caught me in the stomach, good shot for someone who was fighting blind and deaf,” Snake chuckled. Mega Man took a step back, in shock, “I….I did this?” Mega Man stuttered. “Eh, it’s not your fault, I got in too close anyway, besides, I was bluffing. I’m all out of grenades anyway. I had nothing to finish you with.” “Snake, we gotta get you to the doctor right away!!!” Mega Man yelled. “Eh, I don’t have much time left anyway, besides, it doesn’t matter, I go back to my dimension today any way we play it,” Snake fell forward onto one knee. “I’m…sorry Snake, I didn’t mean to. I wasn’t trying to. I’m so sorry,” Mega Man apologized. Snake looked up at the Blue Bomber’s face. Heh, he looks like he’s about to cry. He grunted and then stood upright. “Save it, Mega Man, you won this match, you’re stronger then me, you’re mechanical body can keep going long after my pathetic meat bag of a body stops. You have to stay here, and help Cloud. Bigger stuff is going on here, then your stupid ideals of no killing. I can only hope that this gets you over that barrier. Mega Man, I know you were created to help human’s not to hurt them, but some times you have to hurt people to help others. Some people just won’t learn there lesson if it’s taught with anything other than death. If you fight Sephiroth like you fought me today, you’ll lose. Sephiroth will pick you apart if you try to subdue him, not kill him. Many more people will die if Sephiroth get’s what he wants, only one person has to die to stop him.” Blood trickled out of Snake’s mouth, then he spoke one last word, “Always fight for what you believe in, Mega Man. Fight for what you believe in or don’t even bother.” His body slumped backwards, against the wall. His hands fell to his sides and his eye’s closed. And there Solid Snake died, upright against the walls of the arena, another victim of the Porta Dei. His death was not at the hands of an enemy, or at the hands of time, but at the hands of a friend. . . . . . . . Figures. "The Beginning of the End" It was the final four! Only four chairs remained standing on the vast lawn… Symbols of the four greatest fighters of them all. Their technique of fighting, be it swordplay, magic, or gunfire, was flawless. Their flexibility was fine enough to adjust to anything a competitor could throw at them, be it a star of invincibility, a spell of flame, water, wind, or earth, state-of-the-art weaponry, or perhaps what was most dangerous of them all, a last stand from a powerful enemy… A strong drive, that will to win that every great champion possessed, rested inside them, driving them to heights that they had not even dreamed of. All this would lead one of the greatest fighters in existence to victory. Link, Sephiroth, Mega Man, and Cloud… All four of them were godlike competitors in this exalted test of fighters. They had proven that fact four times thus far. But in the end… Only one of them would be heading across the portal between worlds as the rightful master of the Porta Dei. However, as Cloud Strife and Mega Man hurried down one of the many dirt roads that ran through the village, it didn’t occur to them just yet that they had reached a milestone in the tournament. There were other, more pressing needs that occupied the minds of the mercenary and the robot. “So that was all he told you?” “Yes, Cloud. My memory banks are dependable, they aren’t going to lose track of anything… Especially something like that.” “The Porta Dei…This place has too much power. All I know is that we can’t let Sephiroth…” “Or Link!” “Yeah, Link too. We can’t let either of them win this thing.” “But Cloud, I still don’t understand what’s going on here! How are we supposed to stop Link and Sephiroth from getting this power that they want if we don’t know how to stop them?” “…I don’t know anything about this place either.” “So…” “I guess we just have to win our matches. Maybe that’s all there is to it.” A sudden hush fell between the two heroes as they trudged onwards through the village. It seemed to Cloud and Mega Man that there was nothing else to say. But at the same time, neither was truly satisfied with what they knew. Whatever they said to each other about maintaining courage, and fighting on, both the robot and the mercenary were very apprehensive about the situation they found themselves in. The score was even now, with only four left… Two of those that remained fought to free all of existence, to maintain the order that currently reigned over the multiverse. The other two already had plots and schemes drawn up for the oppression of all life, if either of them should win. Cloud and Mega Man had hoped that this walk through the village would answer each other’s questions about the rapidly worsening state of the Porta Dei. But instead of easing one another’s worries about the happenings of late, both Cloud and Mega Man now found themselves with even more questions than had laid in their minds before. Their little stroll had proved more of a distraction than a solution. Cloud Strife let out a distressed sigh, rapping the hilt of his Buster Sword irritably against the hard concrete wall of the nearby training center. Even the quiet ex-SOLDIER wasn’t simply content to sit back and brood in his state of anxiety. “So what are we looking for?” The mercenary barked, nerves edging a harsher tone into his voice. “…Anything, I guess. Sephiroth said something about the landscape changing, the Porta Dei returning to what it once was… Whatever that meant. Any changes around the village might mean something.” “…Something. But what?” Mega Man had nothing else to say. Silence returned, as quickly as the conversation had begun. It was the second straight night that Cloud and Mega Man had walked the vast grounds that made up what the residents of Porta Dei had always called their village. It wasn’t quite the size of a town, even for those like Vyse, Tom Nook, Crono, and others that had grown up in the most out-of-the-way little hamlet. But it wasn’t just a place that the sixty-four would be able to mark down in what for most of them would be a long history of journys. This had been their home, even if it was only for a month or three. This was their village. Well, it had been, once. Nowadays, no one knew truly where the Porta Dei was headed, what with the strange changes and all new oddities of a dimension that the fighters all believed they had grasped by now. Even the aloof, brooding man known as Sephiroth, who had spent practically all of his time this last three months in some detached corner of the dimension, working out the mysteries of the Porta Dei, still knew little of the overall makeup and story behind the dimension he lay in… No matter what his overconfident and egocentric mind told him. But there was no denying he had a head start over the beleaguered duo that frantically roved the Porta Dei’s village this night. They strode anxiously around, looking for anything that could tell them something about the dangerous situation they were now in. And what a strange pair they were…Cloud Strife, deemed a failure by the very man who created him, and Mega Man, one of the few entrants in this grand tournament that lacked both flesh and blood. Neither was truly deemed human by those that had watched their journeys unfold in Midgar and in 20XX, but right now, they were all that any of the free peoples of the multiverse had left. But what was so shocking about the pair that walked the village streets this night was how drastically different the two of them were. Cloud was a brooding, at times selfish, loner who was normally very quiet and opened up to few people. Mega Man was an enthusiastic, lively robot with the mentality of a little kid. They had nothing in common… But in the face of crisis, the two of them were actually working as a team. They had to. The streets were dead silent tonight. Whatever wildlife that had ever flourished in this place seemed to have drifted away… Perhaps it was out of a fear that base instinct taught the creatures of the forest to feel around the type of evil that ran rampant here. This odd place was not only unsettling to humans. It alarmed everything that could sense it. Yep, there’s no plants, animals, or anything around here anymore… The grass is turning brown. I don’t think even it’s alive anymore, and the meadows have been healthy and green for three months. Maybe that’s Sephiroth too? Or perhaps it’s another one of these disappearances that we can’t seem to figure out. I’ll have to ask Mega Man… Not like he’ll know. Can’t say that. He’s helping me, he’s my only friend left, my thoughts can’t be insulting him at every turn. But… It… No, He has limitations like all of us. I don’t get the feeling that he’s ever seen this type of, well, magic, in his world of science and technology. But though he had limitations… Perception was not a problem for the little robot. He saw the stress and anguish on Cloud’s face as he turned to look at his mercenary friend. “You alright, Cloud?” “…Yeah.” “C’mon, something’s gotta be troubling you. You haven’t said anything for ages, and that look on your face…” “…I guess. Was just thinking about the wildlife around here… The dead plants, the missing animals. You think that’s got something to do with all of this? “…I’m not picking up anything on any monitors that suggests it might. But I can’t be certain of anything around here.” Cloud scowled inwardly. …Just as I thought. “But, Cloud, you’re right. I haven’t seen any rabbits, spiders, squirrels, anything that we used to have around here for ages, and I haven’t even detected any of their trails or scents. They must be either hiding… Or gone. The trees have been thinning out too. Stumps have suddenly appeared, it’s like the spirit of the tree just got up and walked away…” “Maybe… Nothing is impossible here.” Rational thought, here in the Porta Dei, was something that was very difficult to maintain without going mad. As a robot, Mega Man only had the ability to think rationally… Speculation, beliefs, superstitions, and so many of the thoughts that plagued those of the competitors that were humans were impossible for the little robot. Mega Man didn’t know what to think here. The Porta Dei was a place where logical reasoning seemed to have evaporated. I might as well just start ignoring my sensors. The powers at work here are so different from anything I’ve seen… I don’t know what to think, to feel, to do. Even if I could see some of the powers at work within Link, Sephiroth, and this whole place, I get the feeling that they’d be impossible to figure out. …But nothing is impossible here. How can he say that? How can I believe it? Science should be able to spot everything, but I just… can’t. “Maybe for you, Cloud… For me, there are more impossibilities than I’ve ever seen.” Cloud Strife could only shrug. But there was one thing Mega Man could detect… The robot had pieced together maps of the Porta Dei, records of buildings, parks, little quirks that any village had. Now, they all sat in his positronic brain, ready to be called up and examined by Mega Man himself. And something in that data felt very strange… off… within the robot’s mind. He pored over the map, analyzing every inch of the landscape he saw before him for inconsistencies, because there was suddenly something missing. Something big. Mega Man came to an abrupt halt, kneeling down onto the dirt ground, a look of intense concentration on his face. The robot didn’t even notice a worried Cloud Strife jogging over to him, calling out his name, asking him what the matter was… Something odd had happened once again. Something impossible. After what seemed like hours to a panicked, insecure, Cloud Strife, Mega Man opened his eyes and returned to the world in front of him. The puzzles still complicating his mind were left behind for a moment… Instead, his eyes met the startled gaze of the spiky-haired man in front of him. “I don’t understand it.” “What? Are you all right?” “I’m fine, Cloud… It’s just that something’s weird here. I think I might have found another disappearance…” “Where?” “…Was there ever a building in this spot… right in front of me?” Cloud Strife’s eyes followed the gaze of his robot ally to the empty space in question. His sharp eyes narrowed as he looked at the surrounding area, looking for anything to trigger a memory in his stressed brain. And then, as he looked at one of the vaguely rundown benches off to the side, it clicked. “…Of course. That was where the Hero’s Haunt was.” *** A short while later, Cloud and Mega Man had returned to one of the many living rooms that the mansion’s first floor had to offer… The revelation that they had hoped to find on this black, cold night revealed to them, the robot and the mercenary had seen no reason in any further strolling around the village. The monsters that every child lost sleep about lurked in the Porta Dei this night… Hooded, cloaked, wreathed in villainy. They weren’t the grotesque, multi-armed, multi-eyed, inhuman freaks that lived in everyone’s nightmares. But the two ghastly warriors that walked the nights these days had the malicious power that no child’s nightmare ever possessed. Mega Man and Cloud had been subjected to many more dealings with the Hylian and the fallen angel than anyone could have beared already, whether in the form of the black-caped man that had haunted Cloud Strife’s entire life, the cryptic, arrogant warrior who sneered at those that could not even guess what he was planning, or the tempter who dangled visions of wishes that everyone held, but no one enjoyed when they were granted. Sephiroth and Link held all those terrifying forms within their twisted selves… And that was why two heroes who had proved their mettle many times in battle were certainly afraid of those demons that walked the night in the visage of humanity. And if having to share the same land with the evil that seemed to reign over Porta Dei these days was not enough… Now the dimension itself seemed to be warping into something that no one could truly perceive. Slumped fitfully into two armchairs, the final two heroes that remained in the Porta Dei pondered what neither of them could truly comprehend. Aeris… Tifa… All of you… Why can’t you help me now? Why is it that I have to be alone now, when Sephiroth’s more powerful than ever? Can I really fight him off alone? Dr. Light… What would he think? What about Zero, or Protoman, or all the others that I could always count on? I’ve always had guidance before, a path to take, a way to think, an action to perform. Now, I’m alone, in this scary place, with… humans. Humans that are just more violent than I’d ever want to be. It’s two of us… against two of them. The odds are even, but reality just doesn’t seem that way… Sephiroth and Link have always been one step ahead, their power unmatched, their minds always many steps ahead of us. They’ve looked superhuman in all of their matches… No one facing them has ever really stood a chance. In the end, I’m just a mercenary and-- --I’m just a robot. Snake was saying today that I couldn’t beat Sephiroth, that I didn’t have the right instincts… Maybe he’s right. What’s the point, really? Last year, I couldn’t beat Sephiroth. Is there any reason that I’ll be able to this year? Can Mega Man really beat Sephiroth? …No. It won’t even be close. Mega Man wasn’t powerful enough to handily defeat Snake today. He just doesn’t think the right way… He thinks he can just perform his little attacks and Sephiroth will fall. As much as I respect his fighting, I don’t think that either his mind or his body has what it takes to defeat Sephiroth. So… It looks like it’s down to me. I’m the only one standing between Sephiroth, Link, and total destruction. Link won this whole thing last year. Now, he’s even more powerful, because of that awful mask that’s controlling him. Cloud wasn’t in Link’s league this year… What is there to prove that he has a chance this year? I need to fight better than I did today against Snake. If Cloud loses tomorrow, I’m the only chance anyone has left. Sephiroth… It seems like whenever I shut him out of my life, he’s back, evil as ever, with the same power and goals that he’s always possessed. Whatever steps I take, towards sanctity, justice, and peace, he’s always waiting, challenging whatever I do. And now, it’s even worse! Before, we fought for the life of one world. Now… I think we may be fighting for the lives of millions of planets throughout creation. The type of stakes involved with this just blow my mind… What could happen if I lose is worse than any of the things Sephiroth could have done before. Are all humans like this? …It isn’t just Dr. Wily, then, is it. So many of the people I’ve met here have been flawed, barely heroic at all. Link and Sephiroth, two of the most powerful beings I’ve ever seen, don’t have the will to help everyone like anyone that has their kind of power should. Can I really win this? Finally, Cloud couldn’t stand being trapped with nothing but his rapidly darkening thoughts anymore. Bringing his right hand up to clutch his troubled head, he gave a brief cry at the fury and weakness that he felt towards everything that had happened in these hellish few months, and his eyes snapped open. “Cloud? Are you alright?” “…Sorry.” “You’re brooding again, aren’t you. You’re worried about Link, and Sephiroth, and everything.” “Of course.” “…Why? At least you’ve fought Sephiroth before and beaten him. You’re the one who’s looked so powerful in the tournament. I’m the one that was barely able to beat Snake, who can’t even think right…” “And I’m the one that’s just a pawn, a failure. That’s all Sephiroth and Link think of me. Are they really wrong, either?” “You beat Sephiroth before! You’ve proven how strong you are, where I’ve never beaten anyone worth anything!” Cloud opened his mouth, but then closed it just as quickly. Slumping back into his chair, the mercenary sighed wretchedly. “…We’re both worrying too much.” “Yeah...” After all was said and done, however, neither Cloud nor Mega Man felt any better about their chances in the trials ahead after their little talk. If anything, their insecurities were closer to the surface now. Cloud and Mega Man gravely lacked one thing that both Link and Sephiroth, buoyed forward by evil forces, were filled with and never doubted… Confidence. Mega Man, unwilling to fall into that same trap of self-doubt and worry again, tried to push the conversation forward, but his efforts fell on an occupied mind in Cloud Strife. “So is Sephiroth right in what he told me, then? Everything around here is slowly disappearing?” “…It does make sense.” “Why, though? This place apparently built all these houses, shops, and landmarks, if what Sephiroth says is true… Why can’t it keep them forever? It doesn’t make any sense.” “Nothing has ever made sense here for a long time. I don’t think whatever mysteries this place holds are anything that we can figure out ourselves. And we can’t believe anything Sephiroth says.” “But it makes sense…” “He’s imparted his brand of wisdom on me so many times, and it’s always been tricks and lies, to deceive me away from the real truth. Nothing he says is true.” “Then what’s happening? Are you saying he’s the one that’s making all these places disappear? Or Link?” “…It doesn’t matter. It’s not like we’ll be here for too much longer.” Cloud rose from his seat abruptly, visibly irritated as he ran his fingers… fingers that were ever so slightly shaking… through his spiky hair. He stared levelly at Mega Man, his face much sterner than the robot had ever seen it. “None of that matters. Who cares what the dimension’s doing… We only should care about winning. You should train tomorrow. Don’t bother coming to watch the match, it’s just a waste of time for you.” “But Cloud…” Deaf to any of Mega Man’s mystified appeals, the mercenary stormed upstairs. He would linger in his room for all of that night, but he would not sleep a wink. Back in the common room, Mega Man was alone again. He’s worried. That’s obvious. …Well, so am I. Can we really beat them? …Hmph. I just remembered something… That was the end of the fourth round. We’ve all fought and won four times now… Cloud, Sephiroth, Link, and me. We’re the final four. That’s supposed to be a great achievement or something… But I don’t think we’ll be having any parties. ~Fin~ Back |