Not quite a Battle Network Universe Reflection

To my complete surprise the blogpost on Battle Network Universe's history went over quite well.  61 hits since its post may not sound like much but seeing how my local reports average 20 at best it tells me that people are legitimately interested on hearing about the fun and glory that was my second home on the internet.

Anyway the second part of my Reflecting on BNU series will come eventually.  For now I'm going to do something different yet still related to it and that's post an excerpt from the now long dead fanfiction I wrote based on the Avidgamers stint of the site.  The Battle Network Universe fanfictions were really popular among the members during the time the site was a thing and they were fun as hell to write.  People got a huge kick out of seeing how I would write their characters in my own special way while also trying to keep as true to how they actually played them out as possible.  It let to some really interesting perspectives and in some cases I handled the character better than the actual creator did.  

Reading over the story again from the start to where I left off was also interesting as for one thing the fic is now 10 years old and I spent 3-4 years working on it!  This means that there are no doubt changes in my writing style when you compare the early chapters to the later ones or any chapter to my more recent works like X-Stars.

Anywho about what I'm posting.  This is Chapter 2 and all it does is introduce a few new, original characters in alongside the already established Canon characters.  Despite BNU being set in the BN series (Pre-BN5) I ended up making the fanfiction set in the NT Warrior Anime largely because I liked Cross Fusions and planned on fitting them in someday.  Sometime after the end of Axess (but before Stream) peace has returned and such.  Except not!  Terrorists claiming to be fighting for the environment are attacking places violently and citizens are being warned to flee if they encounter them.  How will this have an effect on the otherwise sunshine and smiles that is Lan Hikari's school life?  Well...

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            “Boy do I sure love burgers!” Dex exclaimed as he finished eating a cheeseburger in the cafeteria with the others.

            “I think Lan likes them even more,” Yai said with a sigh.

            Mayl nodded as she watched Lan wolf down several burgers in less than a minute, burping after every third burger.  This enticed sweat drops from all three of them.

            “Wow, those burgers must be good,” commented the blue haired girl with a sweat drop of her own as she stood in line waiting for a chance to gain a burger of her own, “Maybe I’ll try one.”

            She moved down and bumped into something, or rather someone else.

            “Eeep!” she shrieked quietly while stumbling back.

            She quickly brushed off her white shirt, particularly the ruffles on her sleeves while checking her blue capris pants for anything that fell out.

            “Oh, sorry about that!” a voice said, causing the girl to look up.

 A tall kid with brown tinted blonde hair, green eyes appeared to be fourteen years old-two years more than her.  The boy was dressed in simple garb: a loose white t-shirt and a pair of beige cargo shorts.  Like her, he was waiting for burgers.

            “Hehe, no problem,” the girl said as she rubbed her shoulder, “I was just distracted a bit.”

            “Oh you mean by that?” the other remarked, pointing to the frenzy over by Dex, Mayl and Yai.

            “Yup,” she replied while stealing another glance, “Wow, he sure can eat.”

            “Looks like this is your first time watching Lan Hikari eat,” the older boy said with a sigh, “Believe me, it gets worse.”

            “Really?” the girl asked with widened eyes, “Whoa.”

            “Yeah…” was the response as both were silent for a moment before the boy asked, “You new around here?”

            “What?  Oh, yeah,” the girl asked, albeit surprised, “Name’s Miaka Ryuzaki.  My father was transferred over to Scilabs a week ago so we had to move.”

            “I see.  My name’s Ken,” the boy replied as he brought up a PET, “And this is my Net Navi, MirrorMan.”

            Miaka saw on the screen a Navi that looked similar to Ken but with armour segments similar to a knights, except they had a glass-like appearance.

            “Hello,” his Navi said with a wave, enticing Miaka to bring up her own PET.

            On the screen was a Navi that looked like a young girl.  Strands of short hazel hair peeked out from the bottom of her pink helmet along with two bangs that hung beside her cheeks.  Her body was dark pink with chest, arm and leg armour of a higher shade.  Mounted to her back was a sword with a pink handle and wing shaped hilt.

            “Hiya!  I’m Sakura!” the green eyed Navi exclaimed with a cheery voice.

            “Nice to meet you Miaka,” Ken said as the two received their food and stood.

            “I got to get going now,” he said as he looked to the door, “I have to go study for a test after lunch.”

            He sighed before walking on, leaving Miaka by herself.

            “Nice guy,” Sakura said as the girl walked around, looking for a seat.

            “What!?” Lan exclaimed as he stood up with his PET in hand.

            Miaka looked around and fixed her eyes on him, along with half of the students in the cafeteria.  Lan’s facial expression told everyone that something was gravely wrong, prompting her to creep over to eves drop on his conversation with MegaMan.

            “Yeah, several of the trees are gone already and the Net Navis there are having no luck at all stopping him,” the bomber said with his arms crossed, “We have to get there!”

            “Then let’s go!” Lan said as he ran off, shooting past Miaka.

            “Wha!?” she shrieked again, spinning several times on her heel from the speed of his dash.

            She finally stopped a moment later, stumbling around with a loss of balance.

            “Are you alright?” a voice asked, snapping Miaka out of a trance.

            “Yeah…just give me a moment,” she groaned while shaking her head and turning to the voice.

            It was Mayl.

            “I’m so sorry, Lan didn’t mean to do that,” she said while looking down.

            “Do what?”

            Mayl pointed to Miaka’s shirt, which was now plastered with ketchup, relish and cheese from the burger.

            “Oh no…” she said with dot-like eyes, “Mom’s gonna kill me…”

            “Don’t worry, we can help,” Mayl replied as she led Miaka out of the cafeteria with Yai following.

            “What just happened?” a kid asked to Dex.

            “I dunno, MegaMan got a message from an anonymous person that N.O.E.T. was attacking the Forestnet,” he replied as he looked to his PET, “The person said AxeMan himself was tearing the place up.”

            He glanced at a window where he saw Lan roller-blading over the horizon, heading over to stop the chaos that was blooming in the forest.

            Sniperman and Vulcangunman stood back to back, shooting down wave after wave of Mettaur viruses that attacked the network of the Techno-Forest.  They both battled hard as a large, gold plated Navi rushed at them with an axe of immense size and swung hard, causing them to scream in pain as they were logged out.  The Navi landed and spun his weapon around a few times before placing it onto his back.  His height was astounding, nearly matching Knightman’s and his muscled body made it clear that he was in great condition as well.  His armour fitted his brown under suit comfortably, allowing the best mobility possible.  His helmet had and axe mounted to the top, a blade pointing out to his left and right side.

            “Good work,” said a deep and rugged voice.

            A man stood holding onto a PET that was jacked into one of the machine/plant-spliced trees of the forest.  He wore a toque over his short, brown hair, a white t-shirt under a plaid red sleeveless vest, brown working gloves, blue jeans and a pair of brown working boots.  Anyone who saw him would have immediately called him a lumberjack.

            “Thanks Jack,” the Navi said as he walked up to a cybernetic tree and readied his axe.

            In one motion he cleaved through it, cutting off the data feed to the tree Jack had jacked the Navi into.

            “Jack-out AxeMan,” the lumberjack said as he pulled his jacking port out of the tree, “Now let’s move before Netbattlers arrive.”

            Jack walked towards another tree, leaving a path of dying trees behind.

            “Jack in AxeMan!  Power up!” he shouted while shoving his connector into the tree-port.

            AxeMan beamed down in a ray of yellow and brown in a floating network.  Cybernetic bushes, grass and a few trees could be seen.  Ahead of him was a large neon green tree, one that was the very life of the spliced trees of the forest.  Like the previous ones, if this tree were felled, then the actual tree AxeMan was in would eventually die.

            “First a round of viruses…” Jack said as he fiddled around with his PET.

            The sky above AxeMan rippled like a pond as pixels of data began to part, revealing a gate into darkness.  Dozens of Mettaur and Swordy viruses fell from the hole and landed in various spots of the net area, immediately attacking whatever they could strike on the spot.  AxeMan sighed as he made his way over to the neon tree.

            “Don’t you think this is going a little too far?” he asked his operator as he gripped his massive axe.

            “I do, but you know how the other guys are,” Jack replied as he shook his head in disappointment, “They feel so threatened at the moment that they’re willing to throw out the book of morals just to get a point across.  It’s really starting to disgust me.”

            “A compassionate terrorist, I never would have guessed,” a voice quipped nearby.

            Jack jerked his head around, searching for whoever was eavesdropping on his conversation with AxeMan.

            “Who’s there?” he demanded, checking for any signs of an ambush.

            “Just me,” said the voice of a younger man with white and black hair.

            He walked out from behind a tree with his hands in his camouflage pants before adjusting his red vest that he wore over his black shirt.

            “Blaze?” Jack stated in surprise, “I heard you were out of town!”

            “I am, so to speak,” was the reply as he brought out his red PET, “I figured I’d stop by for a picnic and a few Netbattles before I left.  Something wrong with that?”

            “Oh no, by all means do what you wish, just later,” the lumberjack replied, “There were a few guys running around here a few moments ago.  I’m pretty sure you’d get a good fight out a few of them.”

            “Or you,” the other person replied as he pulled out his connector cord and walked closer to Jack’s position, “That and you’re wreaking havoc in the area, something I can’t allow you to do.  Jack in ProtoMan!  Power up!”

            On the spot AxeMan stood not too far from a red Net Navi with his arms crossed.  He could see himself in the Navi’s sunglasses as a wind blew his long grey hair like a scarf.

            “I wasn’t expecting to fight the N1 Grand Prix winners here,” AxeMan said as he looked up, “C’mon Jack, we can do this.”

            The lumberjack stood for a moment, contemplating the thought of fighting against a team with a reputation like the Champions.  His mind was torn between the glory of battle and the duty that he had accepted long ago.  He thought for another moment, and made up his mind.

            “Fine, ready yourself Chaud Blaze!” Jack stated as he gave him a competitive glare into the younger person’s blue eyes.

            “Let’s do this,” Chaud replied as he brought up an object and slapped it into his PET, “Longsword Battle Chip in!  Download!”

            ProtoMan charged at the enemy and brought his right hand to his chest as it shifted into red light, morphing into a long cyber blade.  He leapt up, wound his arm back and made a vicious chop at AxeMan as he came down from the air.  The N.O.E.T. Navi quickly rolled under the attack with a surprising amount of agility that a Navi of his size would normally not have.

            “He’s fast?” ProtoMan pondered as he whipped around and spotted AxeMan closing in with both hands holding onto his main weapon.

            “Get some distance ProtoMan,” Chaud advised as he dug into his pocket for another chip, “If he can roll like that, then there’s a good chance he could swing just as quickly.”

            “Point taken,” the red replied as he back flipped out of a harsh swing and catapulted himself off a tree, quickly swiping at the enemy as he came in close.

            AxeMan used the momentum of his massive swing to spin on his heel, adding more speed to his attack as he smacked ProtoMan’s attack off with enough force to knock the Navi away from him.  ProtoMan quickly regained his balance in the air and twisted around to land gently on his feet.  He turned around to face AxeMan.

            “Looks like we underestimated you,” he said to the enemy while assuming an attacking stance, “Never expected someone so cumbersome in appearance to be so fast.”

            “Most people tend to lose before they realize that,” AxeMan replied coolly as he shifted into a defensive stance.

            “However we can’t keep this up for much longer, we still have a job to finish!” Jack shouted as he slapped a Battle Chip of his own in, “Wood Tower!”

            AxeMan slammed his fist into the ground, causing it to shake on the spot.  ProtoMan looked around as cracks started to open up everywhere he could see.  Massive steaks erupted from the ground, impaling and deleting many of the viruses that were attacking the area.  ProtoMan himself leapt around to avoid becoming a pincushion.

            Jack himself threw a smoke bomb during the incident, escaping with his jacked out Navi in his hands and moving towards another area.

            “We’ll finish the battle later, right now I have to finish my job!” he shouted over the distance, “But I did leave you a present!”

            Chaud coughed as the smoke cleared.  He fanned away any remaining smoke from his PET so he could observe what Jack meant.

            “Joy…” he grumbled.

            Another wave of Mettaurs fell from the sky, strengthening the numbers of the virus attackers by tenfold.  ProtoMan stood as his Longsword vanished, cracking his knuckles.

            A beam of pink light struck one, causing it to explode into a storm of data pixels.  ProtoMan made a glance back, half-knowing who shot the beam.

            “Looks like the party’s just about to start,” said the ever-familiar blue Net Navi with his buster at the ready.

            “Pretty boring if you ask me,” replied a voice, Lan’s.

            He came up holding his PET and looked around.

            “Nice to see you again Chaud, I thought you were heading out of town,” he said, unknowingly repeating Jack’s statement.

            “I felt like going out with a bang,” he replied with a sigh, “Unfortunately the guy I was planning on showing the fireworks to fled and left a gift of his own.”

            “Was it who I think it is?” Lan asked, receiving a nod, “Then we gotta stop him!”

            “First we have to delete all these viruses before they can spread,” Chaud replied, “See that neon tree?  If it dies, the tree dies as well.  We gotta stop it from being killed.”

            “Easier said than done,” the younger boy replied as he slapped in a chip, “Blaster Battle Chip in!  Download!”

            MegaMan unleashed a volley of golden energy shots while ProtoMan charged in with a Cybersword.  The bomber received a Cybersword of his own and went in after his rival, leaping at a pack with a spinning swing.

            “Haiya!” he shouted as he landed, felling a dozen Mettaurs.

            “Take this!” ProtoMan shouted as he made an inward sweep with his blade, cleaving off most of the Swordys.

            Gliders and Fishys came in from the darkened sky, which MegaMan shot down with the aid of a Spread Buster chip.

            “MegaMan!  Aim for the gate!” Lan shouted as he uploaded a Cross Blaster.

            MegaMan took aim with his now red, narrow barrelled cannon and fired a concentrated beam of energy from it, piercing through a few of the airborne enemies.  The other viruses quickly caught onto Lan’s plan and rushed in to guard the hole while strengthening their troops.  The beam struck and exploded on contact with the enemies, taking out several dozen of them with the blast.

            MegaMan and ProtoMan covered their eyes from the blast while Lan watched on, when he widened his eyes.

            The gate remained with its barrier of viruses, a considerably less amount then before but otherwise a decent number.

            “We need a stronger attack,” the boy said as he looked to Chaud, bringing up his Cybersword, Widesword and Longsword Battle Chips.

            “Agreed,” Chaud said as he brought up his own three sword chips.

            MegaMan and ProtoMan nodded as they placed their arms out.

            “Program Advance!” all four shouted as the operators readied their Cybersword chips.

            A massive beam of lightning rushed past MegaMan and ProtoMan, crashing into and deleting the rest of the viruses in one shot with an electric explosion.  The two looked back and spotted a Navi with his hands forward, lightning surging around his fingers.  With a flash of light, a ball of electricity was now floating in between his palms.

            “If it isn’t one thing than it’s another,” Chaud groaned as he waited to see what would happen next.

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Not bad for something 10 years old.  My writing style was much simpler back then and as you can see I didn't line break for paragraphs which is something that nowadays I'd scold myself for ignoring.  I'm sure that when the time comes that I rewrite this scene it'll probably be more detailed and layered.  Miaka was unofficially introduced in the previous chapter so I didn't describer as much as I did with Ken.  I really enjoyed the interactions they had with each other and the canon cast and looking back on this I nailed Lan/MegaMan and Chaud/ProtoMan pretty well.  The chapter ends on a cliffhanger but anyone who was familiar with at the site knew who it was behind the glorious lightning beam of death.

That concludes this post.  Hope you enjoyed this trip into the past!