Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Rockman.exe or any of its characters.

Mark of the Beasts

Netto's telepathic communication 'blah'

Saito's telepathic communication "blah"

Chapter 21

Makoto and the armed soldiers began to approach the two figures lying on the floor. The scientist's curiosity was working overtime trying to figure out exactly what they were looking at.

Barrel walked past his fellow soldiers and right up to the dark blue creature. Slowly he turned it over and gasped at what he saw. Lying on the ground in front of him was apparently a young boy. Barrel immediately started to connect the dots and knew that the child in front of him was either Netto or Saito from Earth. When he went to move the red one he saw the blue beast's eyes shoot open and it's claw wrap around his neck.

Netto quickly realized that he and his brother were in unfriendly territory when numerous guns were pointed at him. Using the link he managed to wake Saito.

'How did we survive?'

"I don't know, but you've just proved yourself to be a true Hikari. We never do stay dead long."

'Point taken. How many times does this make it that you were supposed to be dead and you came back?'

"I stopped counting, but I think that it's in the area of five or six times."

'Let's get out of here. We've got to stop Greiga and Falzer before they kill everyone back home.'

"Right! Follow me Netto and try to keep up. I know that you're not used to wings, so you'll have to learn fast."

'I know. I won't let our friends and family down.'

When they closed off the link the two hybrids shot into the air and straight through the main hanger door. The sonic waves produced by their sudden flight was enough to throw the soldiers back violently and knock their aim off. Many of the bullets didn't even fire in the general direction of the escaping teens.

Once the Hikari twins were out of the 'Resistance' base they used their powers to locate the doorway between their world and Beyondard. Once located they flew towards the door at top speed. Netto was struggling slightly with his newfound wings, but with Saito's coaching the boy was able to stay close.

During their flight back to Earth both teens were trying to come up with some explanation for their changed appearances. Netto was thrilled to have wings now, but Saito wasn't too sure about his new tail that kept beating against his legs. The tail was just to aggravating for Saito, but he managed to ignore it.

Back in the Resistance base the Council had immediately summoned both Makoto and Barrel. When they arrived in the council chamber the tension was so thick that you could cut it with a knife. The leader of the Council spoke first, "Barrel, why is that you not only brought those monstrosities into this base, but let them escape alive? Hmm?"

"Sir, we didn't know what we had until it was too late. And as for letting them escape...they tore right through the hanger doors like they were made of paper. How could we have been expected to stop something like that?", said Makoto. She'd been present during such meetings before and knew that the Council was looking for two scapegoats. Unfortunately for them, Makoto and Barrel happened to be the Council's prime target.

Sarah stood and walked around the table. "So you mean to tell me that with that 'superior intellect' of yours you couldn't assess those things to be a threat before bringing them in? I guess you must be slipping...", she turned looked straight at the raven haired soldier, "...or perhaps you've been...distracted."

The young scientist knew what the Council member was implying and it made her blood boil. A few of the Resistance leaders backed up sensing the open hostility between the two women. "I keep my work separate from my personal life!", she seethed. It was common knowledge that Barrel and Makoto had been romantically involved with each other for a little over a year now, but it had never interfered with their work.

Sarah scoffed and said quietly, "I wonder about that." The manipulative woman knew that if she could push the right buttons the other woman would implicate herself as being at fault for their security breach.

"Sarah you know as well as I do that it is one of our main goals to retrieve anything that could be used as a weapon against the Cyber Beasts and in this case those cocoons fall under that category. Those two children are fighting to protect their own world from these beasts. Iris has watched both of them long enough to know that they are trying to save all of us.", said Barrel trying to breakup on the cat fight.

"Are you really so willing to risk the lives of everyone here on her assessment of these two children.", said the Council Leader. He smiled and continued, "As I recall there has been an interesting rumor floating around...one that I think you would find most interesting." He loved the fear he could see in Barrel's eyes. It was what gave this man his power over the Council...fear. "I've heard that it was children like those two that inherited the 'Beast Factor' and started this bloody war. Don't find that to be a very interesting rumor?"

Not backing down and despite his fears Barrel replied, "Even if that were true sir, you can't assume that these two are the same. They are literally from another universe and once they've stopped the Cyber Beasts I'm certain that they would return to their own home."

Many of the Council approved hearing that. If the new Cyber Beasts went back to Earth after ridding Beyondard of it's current menace then they could go about rebuilding their world. It wouldn't matter to them if those boys decided to do the same to Earth as long as they didn't return to Beyondard.

Elliot, one of the other influential members of the Council spoke up. "I say that it's a risk we must take." He heard the grunts of disapproval and tried to turn their opinions. "Think about it. I know that you all have to be thinking the same thing. Let those boys return to their world where Greiga and Falzer are now. Once they are there we'll seal the rift between our two worlds. We've got more than enough plutonium left to do the job, so I say that we do it now while the bulk of both armies are on Earth."

"So it's come back to this has it.", thought Barrel knowing that their course of action had been set. The device was going to be used and innocent people on Earth would be paying the price for Beyondard's cowardice behavior.

Falzer cradled Greiga slightly until the Beast motioned for him to finish the fight between them and the NetSaviors. The great red bird took to the sky and showered the area with hundreds of explosive red feathers. "Take that.", he thought to himself surveying the damage.

CF Protoman jumped from the wreckage of a collapsed building and attacked. "Area Steal!", he shouted appearing on top of Falzer's back. CF Protoman saw the look of surprise when the beast realized that he shouldn't have stayed stationary in the sky. "Sonic Boom!" The attack struck Falzer in the back of his head and caused him to crash into a skyscraper. "Mess with the best, lose like the rest.", said the NetSavior clearly taunting the beast.

The other NetSaviors quickly joined in hoping to defeat Falzer before Greiga could recover enough to re-enter the fight. CF Needleman jumped towards the bird and fire off her 'Needle Cannon' right into his eyes. By now the NetSaviors had realized that trying to chip away at the armor was pointless, so they started targeting areas not covered by the armor.

CF Searchman used his powerful scanning abilities to search for a weak point on the monstrous bird navi. "Everyone aim for the feathers. They'll explode and hopefully take Falzer with them.", he shouted to his fellow combatants. He then turned and fired his 'scope blaster' several times at the large wings.

The beast smiled as best as he could and easily dodged the blasts for something his size. "Is that really the best that you can do?", Falzer asked before firing his 'Sonic Cannon' from his mouth. The blast knocked CF Knightman and CF Roll off of the building and left them free falling towards the ground.

"Someone catch them!", shouted Charlie. He tried to get to them but a renewed Greiga now stood in his way and Dark Miyabi was cut off when Zoanoroids starting appearing everywhere.

The NetSaviors were helpless to save Meiru and Princess Pride as they plummeted towards the ground. Both girls knew that the fall would kill them even in Crossfusion.

"And I never got the chance to kiss Netto.", thought Meiru picturing her unofficial boyfriend's cocky grin. If Netto had only confessed his love for Meiru she could've died happy.

As the ground rapidly approached they felt a strong tug on their legs and they disappeared from sight.

CF Protoman looked at where the girls had been and caught only the faint image of two colors. One red and the other blue. "Where did they go?", he shouted.

The Cyber Beasts, NetSaviors, and Zoanoroids all stopped fighting. The three groups looked around expecting to see two humans splattered all over the ground, but the saw nothing.

Greiga started to walk over to where the girl's remains should have been when something crashed into the top of his head. "OW! Alright who did that!", the large dog demanded.

Nobody responded until CF Searchman directed everyone's attention to the air. "Look up there." Hovering in the sky was two new Cyber Beasts holding Meiru and Pride. Obviously Netto had Meiru in his arms while he'd forced his older brother to catch Princess Pride.

"Would you have really let Pride fall if I hadn't caught her?"

'No! But I wanted to hold Meiru.'

"Hey Roll's in there too ya know."

'I know and don't worry. I'm not planning on making any moves on your girlfriend.'

"Smart move little brother. I'd hate to have to beat you up because you were flirting with my girlfriend. At least now all you've got to do is tell Meiru exactly how you feel."

'I will, but first things first. We've gotta a job to do.'

The twins set the girls on top of a nearby building and quickly took to the sky again before they could be assaulted with numerous questions.

Greiga and Falzer were in total shock seeing their two replacements still alive. Both beasts had thought for sure that the teens had been completely vaporized by the powerful energy beam.

"I'm impressed. I've never seen anyone able to survive that attack before."

'You're telling me. They are indeed worthy replacements. Look at what they've accomplished.'

"Yeah. They've combined the power of the 'Beast Factor' resulting in Hybrid versions of ourselves."

Falzer flew higher into the air until he was eye level with the other twins. "Now we finish what we started." He turned to the NetSaviors and said, "Do not interfere with this battle. Netto and Saito must defeat us on their own."

Greiga walked over to the where the hybrids now hovered and then turned back to his minions. "The NetSaviors are yours to do with as you please, but do not attack those two.", he said. The Zoanoroids on both sides understood that their masters wished to face Netto and Saito alone. They eagerly turned to their prey and charged at them.

"Let's finish this and bring your reign of darkness to an end.", said Saito.

Falzer was the first to attack choosing to strike at Netto since he was new to flying. The mighty bird crashed into the teen and both plowed through a building that was supposedly to be having it's grand opening tomorrow. "Guess they won't be having it now.", thought Falzer.

Greiga unleashed numerous streams of fire at Saito, but the advantage of flight proved more difficult to counter than the dog navi had anticipated. "Come down and fight!", he barked. He was rewarded with Saito diving bombing the top of his head forcing the beast to eat concrete.

"Well if you insist.", said Saito smirking. His smile grew and he started flying down the road just slow enough that Greiga could keep up with him. "Ah is the big bad doggy getting tired.", he taunted. He struck the nerve that he had been aiming for and watched as Greiga sped at him blinded by anger.

Before Greiga could reach him Saito veered off to the left while Netto shot off to his brother's side. Greiga realized too late what was about to happen as he and Falzer plowed into each other. Netto had tricked Greiga's brother into flying just low enough for that maneuver to work and it infuriated both beasts.

They quickly pulled themselves out of the mess on the ground and resumed their fight with Earth's Hikari twins. "Sonic Cannon!", Falzer shouted before firing another blast at Saito. Netto came down on top of Falzer's head catching the beast's attention. "Why you little brat. I'll kill you." With a flap of his huge wings the bird threw trucks and cars at the teen. He also uprooted many trees and poles in the process.

Saito came at Falzer, but was struck down by Greiga's claws. "Now where do you think that you're going little birdie?", he asked before trying to crush Saito beneath his claws.

Nearby the other NetSaviors were struggling with the endless number of Zoanoroids It seemed that for every one Zoanaroid deleted several more took it's place.

"Cyber Sword, Wide Sword, Long Sword! Battle chips in! Program Advance, Dream Sword!", shouted Enzan and Laika throwing their energy blades into the never ending army of Zoanoroids

"Spread Gun (5) battle chips in! Program Advance,Hyper Burst." Meiru, Pride, and Jasmine fired their attacks straight into the greatest remaining concentration of enemy navis and viruses. Less than half of Falzer's army had been destroyed while only a little over a quarter of Greiga's remained.

Back at the main battle Greiga had lost sight of Netto while Saito and Falzer were hashing it out in sky. The dark blue dog heard something coming up behind him and turned just in time to catch some of Netto's words. "...Program Advance, Data Cannon!" The cannon was fired off right into Greiga's open mouth. "Did I get him?", thought Netto.

The beast growled and swiped at his counterpart throwing the smaller beast through a convience store. He started to walk to the hybrid, but started to swagger back and forth. He knew that the cannon had caused a lot more damage than he'd initially thought. With one last look the mighty dog crashed into the streets of DenTech city.

In the sky Falzer was seeing red knowing that someone had just killed his brother. He knew that this is what had to happen, but it still didn't make it any easier. His brother had been taken away from him just as his parents had been so long ago. He fired his 'Sonic Cannon' at full power and destroyed even more buildings in the surrounding area. Falzer no longer cared about the fight, he only cared about killing everything inside of the Dimensional Area which included many of his own minions.

"He's finally lost it.", said Yuriko.

"It doesn't make sense.", added Dark Miyabi appearing next to her. "Unless there was some kind of bond between those two."

In Beyondard the Resistance had finished preparing 'the device'. "Power levels are at 86 capacity and rising. Ten minutes left to reach the critical level.", said one technician.

"Now is the time to bring this to an end.", said Sarah.

Next to her Elliot stood smiling. "Finally after all of the blood shed this nightmare comes to an end."

A soldier broke into the room and started shouting, "Ma'am, Sir. Barrel, Colonel, Iris, and Makoto have left for Earth. We tried to stop them, but they have already reached the rift."

The two council members turned to the main screen where the rift was being monitored and they watched as a stolen hover craft entered the rift. "So be it Barrel. You've chosen your fate." Sarah turned the technicians and shouted, "I want that rift sealed now!"

Back on Earth Netto crawled out of the destroyed store towards Greiga. He could tell that the beast had suffered a great deal of damage from swallowing such an attack and that thought made the teen feel so dirty.

"Uh...I'm not...quite dead yet.", the beast managed to say softly. Greiga opened of his eyes and looked at Netto. "Please Netto...finish me.", the once proud Cyber Beast pleaded.

The teen started to cry. "I can't. Please let us try to help you where you won't die."

Greiga growled in pain and cough up gallons of blood. For one of his size it was very possible to do so. "I'm dying...That PA you attacked me with has torn my insides apart...(violent coughing)...I've got massive internal bleeding and I'm barely being held together. The 'Beast Factor' is currently the only thing sustaining my life...don't make me...suffer anymore. Please...(violent coughing and spits up more blood)...end this, end my pain."

Reluctantly Netto moved himself near Greiga's heart where he knew the 'Beast Factor' resided and he ripped the armor off. After the beating the beast had taken the armor came off easy enough. "I'm sorry that it had to end this way. You're a good person Greiga even if you don't think so. You just fell from your path."

"Thank you. But I know that I'm a monster and I will take my punishment for what I've done...Goodbye Netto." The teen plunged his Elec Sword straight into the monster's heart.

A huge surge of energy was released causing a pause in the massive battles nearby. Everyone turned to see Netto and Greiga being lifted into the air. Falzer's eyes watered as the event unfolded. Greiga's massive form began to disintegrate and the energy started pouring into Netto's body. He was overwhelmed with power and strength that he'd never before experienced. His senses multiplied in strength as his body entered it's final transformation. No longer was Netto a hybrid, but now a pure blooded navi. Netto's hybrid Greiga/Falzer form had dissolved back into the humanoid form of Greiga.

Once the 'Beast Factor' had finished it's transfer into Netto it set both the old and new Greigas on the ground gently. When Netto had recovered enough to move around he walked over to the human body that had been his friend and enemy. What he saw made his blood run cold...he was staring at himself or rather Beyondard's Netto. "Oh my God what have I done!", he thought alarmed at this strange twist of fate.

Falzer knew what his brother's counterpart was seeing and had a pretty good idea of what he must be feeling. The bird knew that Saito would figure out who he is if he caught a glimpse of B. Netto, so he quickly forced his counterpart back into their battle. "No doubt Saito will question why I didn't die when my Netto did. The 'Beast Factor' protected me from that harmful effect of our link. Ugh...if only the 'Beast Factor' had never been found I could've had a life like his.", Falzer thought.

"I don't have time for this.", shouted Saito before summoning an 'Elemental Sword Program Advance' and combining it with his Mach 3 speed. It was hard to manage inside of such a small dome, but the teen pulled it off. He pulled the sword out at the last second and thrust it into Falzer's throat. Even with the armor on it the mighty bird was critically wounded by the attack. Saito's power and speed forced the energy from the sword to travel straight through the Cyber Beast and Saito's body followed in the blade's wake.

Falzer fell to the ground below while Barrel and his ragtag group arrived on Earth. The soldier sent the information to Falzer and Greiga hoping that they would stop the Resistance, but he realized that he was too late. He saw one was already dead while the other wasn't far behind. Quickly he set the hover craft down on the ground and ran over to Netto. "Greiga the Resistance is about to destroy this entire city in order to keep you from returning to Beyondard. Please you have to stop them.", said Barrel. He hated the idea of betraying those back home, but he wouldn't let them become monsters in order to secure their victory.

"Too late Barrel. FIRE!", said Sarah from her seat in the control room.

"Yes ma'am." The technician pressed a small red button and the device came out of the mountain top. It looked like someone had joined together a cannon and a satellite dish. Energy started to gather around the center of the dish while it was pointed at the rift.

"I become death...destroyer of worlds.", thought Elliot before the device fired.

A large purple energy erupted from the device and collided with the rift. As the massive amounts of radiation were released on both sides the tear began to shrink.

"What can we do?", asked Saito frantically as he landed next to his brother.

Barrel and Makoto shook their heads knowing that they were out of time. "There is nothing left for us to do. Times up.", said the soldier.

"Not quite.", said Falzer, "I've still got a little fight left in me." The Cyber Beast managed to take to the sky for the last time knowing that Saito would never end his life now. He'd seen the old Greiga's human body and knew who Falzer was. This was the only path left...to redemption.

Falzer tore through the DA and reached the rift. "I'll see you soon...brother.", was his last thought before throwing himself into the light. He unleashed all of his remaining power forcing the radiation back through the tear into Beyondard. He knew that the area wasn't habited anymore, so there would be no loss to the people back home.

The radiation finally ended what life Falzer had left forcing the transfer of the 'Beast Factor'. Netto and the humans that had been standing next to Saito were thrown away from him as the teen's change began. To Saito's immense joy the tail vanished and his helmet returned to it's usual form.

Netto jumped up the sides of two buildings below the closed doorway and caught B. Saito's body. Quickly he put a hand to the human's throat trying to find a pulse, but he found that this boy was dead. He'd given what was left of his life to save DenTech city and Netto intended to make sure that he was given the same honors that a fallen hero should receive for a funeral.

With the Zoanoroid's masters defeated the remaining few fled into the UnderNet.

Barrel and Makoto were offered positions working for the Earth's NetSaviors and both promptly accepted. The coming days were sure to be interesting for all the parties involved. The Commissioner labeled the destruction as the final battle between the NetSaviors and the Zoanoroids Thankfully he left out the part where Greiga and Falzer had been buried with honors and the end result to their Netto and Saito.

Netto and Saito now had to come to terms about the true nature of their counterparts. That became even more difficult when Iris confessed the truth to the two NetSaviors. Nobody other than those two were told the truth about Beyondard's Netto and Saito. One good thing that came from this was that the twins could now revert to a completely human form whenever they wanted even thought physically they were still navis. Upon reaching Sci-Labs both teens were subjected to numerous tests by their father. On each of their foreheads was a strange mark, both now had their respective beasts' symbol on them and as Yuuichiro put it was 'The Mark of the Beasts'.

"Sir it's me, Eugene. I think that you'll be very happy with what I've got for you.", said the reporter that just wouldn't die. In his hand was a miniature video camera set on a loop. On the screen was the battle between the Cyber Beasts and their replacements.

The syndicate representative took the camera and said, "Thank you for this fine work. Now about your payment..."

"Yes...", he said oozing with anticipation. That is until he saw the huge knife the second man brought out. "No, no, no. Wait! Wai-!" The blade was force into the reporter's body all the way up to the hilt and then pulled out. The knife then met with Eugene's neck slicing in his throat from one side to the other. Finally the hired hand slit the back of both ankles.

The syndicate hands watched as the man slowly bled knowing that the first strike made it impossible for the man to crawl to help. They would leave him here to die alone while they reaped the rewards for his hard work. "You shouldn't have come back Hughes. You might've survived if you had. The syndicate doesn't tolerate loose cannons.", said the leader of these violent men. With all said and done they walked right out. "Perez be sure to clean all that blood off of your tie. It's a bad public image.", he said joking around as the left.