Double Soul

Double Soul, known in Japan as nihongo|Soul Unison|ソウルユニゾン|Sōru Unizon, is a fictional term used in the "Mega Man Battle Network" series of video games and "MegaMan NT Warrior" ("Rockman EXE") anime and manga. It is an ability employed by MegaMan.EXE (Rockman) to gain added powers and techniques in combat using the powers of an allied NetNavi.

Double Soul was first introduced in the two incarnations of "Mega Man Battle Network 4". Out of twelve souls, six were exclusive to either game. It appears once more in "Mega Man Battle Network 5: Team Colonel" and "Mega Man Battle Network 5: Team ProtoMan". It replaced MegaMan's Style Change capability of previous iterations.

Description

Games

In the events of "Mega Man Battle Network 3", MegaMan.EXE sacrificed himself to save his operator, Lan Hikari (Netto Hikari) from absorption by the horrific Alpha (Proto) program revived by Lord Wily near the climax of the game. Lan thought his ally and brother to be gone forever, only to be revived using data from his grandfather Tadashi Hikari. The backup data used, however, was not compatible with the powerful Style Change programming option. Hence "Double Soul" was developed as a suitable replacement.

Unlike Style Change, which can be performed by a single NetNavi, Double Soul occurs when a Navi's soul communes with MegaMan. This usually happens after battling against a Navi or completing a "Liberation Mission involving that Navi.".

Chaos Unison

Introduced in "Mega Man Battle Network 5", Chaos Unison occurs when sacrificing a Dark Chip. MegaMan gains the soul's attributes while combining with Megaman DS, but his charged attack becomes the same as the dark chip that was sacrificed. It can then be used repeatedly without any ill-effects. The catch however, is that when Megaman charges, the ball will change between Green and Purple. Releasing while purple fires the charge shot as normal, while firing while green, however, makes MegaMan revert to normal and his Dark Soul is unleashed, fighting alongside the enemy.

Cross MegaMan

Also introduced in "Mega Man Battle Network 5", Cross MegaMan provided an alternate base form for MegaMan with several Navi Customizer programs already installed, as well as an altered Charged Shot. In the Game Boy Advance version, Bass Cross MegaMan was made available in two different forms. The first, a Gold form available only in Team Protoman changes the charged buster to a 3 row Vulcan, provides a Superarmor effect and +200 HP. The Silver form available only in Team Colonel changes the charged buster to that of Hell's Rollings, which are one of Bass' attacks. Airshoes and +20% HP are also applied. The downside is that both crosses suffer from a -2 megafolder glitch. They could only be acquired legally in the Japanese versions by use of an e-Reader card, but could still be obtained internationally by use of a cheating device. In Double Team, Bass Cross is acquired instead by having a GBA version with Bass icon in Slot-2. Though the Gold and Silver Forms aren't exclusive to a version played on the DS, slotting in Protoman gives you Silver, while Colonel gives you Gold, regardless of the version played in Double Team. A third Cross, Sol Cross MegaMan was made available by having Konami's "Boktai 2" in the second slot. In essence, it changes Mega Man's appearance to that similar of Sol Django's Sun avatar state, and changes Megaman's charge shot to that of a Gun Del Sol. Cross MegaMan does not overwrite Double Soul, and all of the non-Buster related abilities remain present in the Double Soul.

Cross System

Introduced in "Mega Man Battle Network 6", the Cross System is a combination of the previous Double Soul and Cross Megaman system. Like the latter, it involves aligning MegaMan's strength with that of a Link NetNavi. It does not require chips for its initiation and can last indefinitely unless MegaMan is hit with an opposing elemental attack. If MegaMan Beasts Out while a Cross is already active, he will gain further advantages through Cross Beast.

Anime

Double Soul

In "Axess", MegaMan is able to perform Double Soul initially through a special bond between fellow Navis; he usually obtained new souls in dire situations, during which either he or the other Navi in question were subject to great peril. After initiating a given Double Soul once, Lan received a corresponding chip, allowing MegaMan to freely access it when needed.

While it is Double Soul that overrides MegaMan's Style Change option in the games, it is a side effect of Cross Fusion that serves this purpose in the anime. ["MegaMan NT Warrior" / "Rockman EXE Axess" Episode #2, 2003]

All twelve Souls from "Mega Man Battle Network 4" appear in "Axess". Only one Soul from "Mega Man Battle Network 5" (Gyro Soul) appears in "Stream".

Cross System

Cross Beast makes its appearance during "Beast+". The process occurs whenever Lan links the data of another Navi with the Beast Out file housed in his PET. As a result of Cross Beast, MegaMan not only becomes more powerful through the incorporation of another Navi's data into himself, he also takes on that Navi's personality; in the original version of the series, Rockman acts more childish after a Cross with Aquaman. ["Rockman EXE Beast+" Episode #11, 2006] MegaMan also displays the ability to perform regular Crosses as well through identical methods. ["Rockman EXE Beast+" Episode #14, 2006]

Examples of Double Souls

References