Bass.EXE

"Navis have no need for operators. All that we need is the strength to exist on our own! Absolute power, so that we need cower before none. I will weed out weak Navis who cannot fight on their own!"

- Bass.EXE

"Pathetic weakling! Return to the 0's and 1's you're made of!"

- Bass.EXE

Bass.EXE, known as Forte.EXE (フォルテエグゼ) in Japan, is a NetNavi from the Mega Man Battle Network series.

Game
In each game he appears in, Bass's final form is the hardest boss in the game. Bass usually has a unique "form identifier". Where most Navis would be 1-2-3 or normal-EX-SP, Bass's ultimate forms have been, variously, Bass DX, Bass GS, Bass XX and Bass BX amongst others. Bass is the most powerful Navi, capable of easily defeating many strong Navis.

Background
Bass.EXE was created by Dr. Cossak as part of SciLab's project to develop a new generation of independent NetNavis that do not need an operator to function on the net. Bass was also installed with a special "Get Ability" program that allows him to assimilate the abilities of deleted viruses and Navis.

A series of disruptions and errors began to plague the net, caused by Alpha. However, SciLab initially blamed Bass for the disruptions and sent an elite force of Navis to delete him. Bass survived the attack, but clung to life. Bass crawled through the internet, frequently attacked by enemy viruses. Over time, Bass absorbed the deleted data of viruses and Navis in order to grow stronger and recover his strength. Bass eventually became one of the most powerful Navis the net had ever seen, the SciLab attack leaving him with a glowing scar across his Navi emblem and a deep-seated hatred against the humans that had betrayed him.

Mega Man Battle Network
Bass apparently copied the Life Aura data from the Life Virus (the game's final boss), gaining a powerful defense.

Bass is an optional boss that MegaMan can find as a random encounter in the deepest part of the Internet. He can only be encountered after completing the game if the player has 174 chips in the library (all except for Life Aura, which is obtained from Bass, and the Bass chip, which is event exclusive).

Mega Man Network Transmission
Bass appears as a hidden boss in this game. In order to fight him, the player must have obtained every Navi Chip in the game (except for the Bass Navi Chip). This can be done through the Net Battle Simulator, and requires the player meeting the requirements for the good ending, as that is the only way to obtain the Zero Navi Chip. Once that has been done, Lan receives an email from Mayl about a "secret area" in Den Area 3 where a powerful Navi is found. This is where the player can find Bass. He constantly hovers and has a variety of defensive Auras, and has a large number of wide-range attacks at his disposal. Even after removing his Aura, he is immune to the Mega Buster, and quickly regenerates his Aura in a matter of seconds. He actually has 10,000 hit points, but the fight is scripted to end when he receives damage from six Battle Chips (so even six ZapRing1 chips, for 120 damage total, will end the fight). After the fifth hit, he'll cease to regenerate Auras, and the sixth hit blows off his cloak. He foreshadows his actions in Mega Man Battle Network 2, and the player earns the Bass Navi Chip with the battle's conclusion.

Mega Man Battle Network 2
This time, he played a larger role in the plot, where the Gospel Netmafia was trying to clone him through the use of BugFrags. Initially, it seemingly produced a perfect copy of Bass, although it proved to not be completely perfect due to MegaMan.EXE defeating the copy easily. Gospel's leader (revealed to be Sean), however, was unwilling to give up and decided instead to max out the servers capacity to 200%, not caring if he ended up killed by the intense radiation in the process. This failed, and the clone mutated into the giant Gospel bug beast. The monster overcharged the server to 600% before MegaMan could destroy it. He also appears after the credits of the game, where he destroys a Bass clone and states that he is angry at Sean for attempting to clone him. He roams looking for strong enemies to fight while never fighting for WWW. He then finds his match in MegaMan where he is injured, saying that he is impressed. He also leaves a Bass chip behind.

Mega Man Battle Network 3
As well as being implied in the previous game, it was later revealed that Wily had been behind everything, and was trying to copy Bass in order to free Alpha. Wily allied himself with Bass, who helped steal Alpha's data and the TetraCodes. In exchange, Wily proposed to give Bass the power to attack the humans. Prior to the climax of the game Bass notices MegaMan and challenges him after his battle with FlameMan. Because FlameMan got in his way, Bass swatted him aside since he wanted to fight MegaMan himself.

To his disappointment, MegaMan provided no challenge (he is actually fought at that point game, but is impossible to defeat because he can't be damaged due to impervious damage from Life Aura that can't be broken by any chips). Just as Bass was about to finish MegaMan, one of the Official NetNavis appeared to protect him by using the Dark Aura. Goaded by the boasts of its power, Bass attacked the Navi and the Dark Aura barely withstood his power. Bass likely would've finished him off if Wily hadn't called him away. Later, Bass aided in freeing Alpha. When MegaMan tried using the GigaFreeze program, Bass revealed that he could control it and stopped it even absorbing it.

At the climax of the game, Bass reveals his past to everyone - he was initially created by Cossak, but was blamed for the incidents caused by Alpha, and was left to wander through the Undernet, with a scar across his body and a grudge against humans. Bass then smashed and absorbed the Guardian program, which was the last thing keeping Alpha sealed away. Bass is then fought and defeated by MegaMan (this is the only time that Bass is fought in a battle that's part of the storyline). Wily betrayed Bass and let Alpha swallow Bass, but got eaten as well.

After Alpha's destruction, Bass was near death, but was found by a remnant of the Gospel Multibug Organism, who merged with Bass and saved his life, forming Bass GS. After Serenade's defeat, Serenade mentioned that he did fight against Bass in the past, only winning after a battle that lasted days. Bass GS then consumed at least 300 BugFrags, courtesy of MegaMan, and attacked MegaMan to test this new power. After a close battle, Bass lost, and it is revealed that he had lost most of his memory while fused with Gospel. He then vanishes from the Secret Area.

Mega Man Battle Chip Challenge
Bass can be fought after completing the game and is an unlockable playable character.

Mega Man Battle Network 4
Bass resurfaced in the Undernet, and later Black Earth. MegaMan accidentally woke the Dark Messiah, who attacked MegaMan wielding the power of the Dark Chips. Bass lost again, and fled to Black Earth where he fought MegaMan one last time after the defeat of the Dark Soul Navis.

Rockman.EXE 4.5 Real Operation
Bass is an unlockable playable character.

Mega Man Battle Network 5
When MegaMan gained the power of Bass (Bass Cross MegaMan), Bass feels his power, then reappears and challenges MegaMan at a secret corner of the Net. He lost, then fled to Nebula Area and challenged MegaMan a second time. This time, Bass's soul has been consumed by the darkness and became "Bass Alpha". Finally, Bass could be encountered as the Chaos Lord, an amalgamation of the Dark Power in the deepest part of the Nebula Area, but with no dark power inside. After being defeated as the Chaos Lord, he can be found randomly as Bass XX, the most powerful boss in the game. But he's defeated again, admitting he was too weak and left to become more powerful.

Mega Man Battle Network 6
Having challenged MegaMan in both the Undernet and the secret Graveyard zone, he went to the Underground, the former prison of the Cybeasts, and absorbed their data fragments and gaining the power of the Cyber Beast of the opposing version. After forcing MegaMan to fight a clone of Beast-Out MegaMan, Bass moved in for the kill but was defeated. It is unknown if he survived the last battle, although Lan suggests so by convincingly saying "Bass is Bass". His survival later proves true, as from his final defeat onward, he can be found at the Graveyard as a random encounter.

Rockman.EXE Phantom of Network
A cache copy of Bass can be fought in the Undernet. However, he is not a perfect copy, having only part of his memory, not even remembering his name. Despite his great power, he is not as strong as the original. MegaMan believes that Bass's power was too great to be fully kept on cache data.

After completing the game, the real Bass can be fought in the game's secret area.

MegaMan NT Warrior
In the anime, the Grave Virus Beast was created from leftover data of PharaohMan by Lord Wily, though some data was left unused. PharaohMan's soul, still seeming to exist, ended up mixing with the leftover data and thus reincarnated as Bass. However, because the Grave Virus Beast was the one in possession of holding PharaohMan's Ultimate Program, Bass was reincarnated with no memories of who he was or what he was. From that, Bass wanders the Net in a confused state, absorbing data as a means of trying to make up for the missing program that he did now have, though it was futile.

He was first seen in NetCity by MegaMan, who saw him standing on a ledge on top of a building, absorbing some data, before Bass walked off the building, falling down and vanishing.

Bass is later seen again in NetCity when the Grave Virus Beast began to become more active, as it also had an effect on Bass, due to how the two are connected from being originally one being. As he was floating over NetCity, he was in deep thought, before sensing the beast begin to move, where it devoured a Navi working for IPC. Soon, the Grave Virus Beast began terrorizing NetCity, devouring many Navis, and entering the battle arena. After ThunderMan was devoured, and MegaMan and ProtoMan were incapacitated, the beast moved to devour MegaMan, but right then, Bass jumped in front of him, making the Virus Beast stop, who also sensed its connection with Bass. After a brief staredown, the Grave Virus Beast turned away and vanishes. As MegaMan comes to, Bass turns to look at him, but when asked who he was, Bass merely vanishes as well. This act also made the Grave organization question who Bass was, and made him a target to be deleted, as Bass could prove to be an obstacle in their path.

This was when Bass began to become more self-aware and questioned his connection with the Grave Virus Beast. Reappearing in NetCity, Bass continued to feed on the data inside the city, before MegaMan found him and approached him. MegaMan attempted to ask him questions, but was interrupted as FreezeMan arrived, having been assigned to delete Bass, and attacked Bass, which he dodged. As FreezeMan incapacitates MegaMan, he prepares to attack Bass once more, though Bass makes no move. Firing icicles at him, Bass is impaled by them, but seems completely unfazed, as he counters by breaking the floor underneath FreezeMan, making him fall into the building.

However, FreezeMan causes the entire building to become frozen, with Bass on it as well. As FreezeMan mocks Bass, thinking that it was a mistake to think him a threat, Bass causes the entire frozen building to rise up to the sky, displaying powers that rivals even that of the Grave Virus Beast as FreezeMan noted.

Having woken up, MegaMan jumps onto the building and climbs his way up, soon making it to the top. Inspecting the hole that Bass made to drop FreezeMan, he sensed someone behind him and turned to see Bass, who flipped his cloak over MegaMan, and the two vanished along with the entire building.

Bass had taken MegaMan to the network of the previous WWW base that had been destroyed when PharaohMan had self-destructed in there. There, Bass rendered MegaMan unconscious and began to examine MegaMan's memories, believing that MegaMan held a clue to Bass' origins. Learning about Lan and many of MegaMan's friends, companions, and even enemies, Bass eventually reached the memory of MegaMan's intense battle with ProtoMan in the N1 Grand Prix final round, where the power of the two Program Advances had reawakened PharaohMan. This was when Bass began to regain his own memories as PharaohMan.

Finally regaining his memories, Bass ceased looking into MegaMan's memories as he was discovered by Lan's friends and the WWW members. When asked what he had done to MegaMan, Bass looked at them, before speaking for the very first time to them, declaring that he had awoken before vanishing in a bright flash of light.

However, what Bass didn't realize is that the bug that had been inside PharaohMan had continued to exist inside Bass, but due to not possessing any Ultimate Program, Bass was unaffected by it. MegaMan, however, had an Ultimate Program, and upon Bass taking him to learn of his origins, the bug had ultimately been transferred into MegaMan, which would soon cause many problems with the Navi.

As the Grave Virus Beast began to terrorize the Net once again, having devoured many Navis, and absorbing data from everything it touched, Bass reappeared before it, now fully understanding their connection, and thus came for one purpose: to reunite with it so they could be complete again. Unlike before, when the Grave Virus Beast didn't attack Bass after seeing him, this time it attacked him by stomping on him. However, Bass pushed it away, making the Grave Virus Beast fall. Jumping back as the beast began to get back up, Bass raised his hand and had a building deconstruct and then go over the beast, before having the building slam down on it, pinning it down. Approaching it, Bass attempted to absorb the Grave Virus Beast into himself and return to being his former self and soon had it absorbed, seemingly becoming complete once more. However, this was only momentary, as soon Bass screamed out in pain as the Grave Virus Beast escaped from him, and Bass ended up being absorbed instead.

After the Grave Virus Beast defeated the attempts to defeat it and growing even stronger, MegaMan appeared, the bug that Bass passed onto him triggering MegaMan's Ultimate Program's Style Change, resulting in Bug Style. The incredible power MegaMan Bug Style displayed allowed it to even overpower the Grave Virus Beast, but the beast soon attempted to absorb him after MegaMan lowered his guard to absorb more bugs to try and restore his Ultimate Program. However, despite having the power of both Bass' and ProtoMan's Ultimate Programs, MegaMan's Ultimate Program ended up overcoming the beast, and soon it began to be absorbed in an uncontrolled rate, along with the rest of the network. However, thanks to Lan's efforts, MegaMan managed to restore the Net completely, and the Virus Beast was truly deleted.

However, Bass had managed to reclaim his Ultimate Program and entered the Kid Grave robot, his personality becoming more displayed, as he declared that with the Kid Grave robot, he would conquer both the human world and the Cyberworld, before leaving Dr. Wily.

MegaMan NT Warrior Axess
Bass finally resurfaced after some time had passed. During that time, Bass used the Kid Grave body to observe the human world, learning much about it, but also growing to hate the world and the humans, even calling the world worthless.

Alongside that, Bass showed to be the 4th one to be working on creating a method of creating a Dimensional Area so that Navis like him to enter the human world, the other ones being Dr. Hikari, Dr. Regal, and ShadeMan. For that, he created a robot, naming it Allegro, and even referred to his creation as a younger brother, and was a work of genius, as Allegro had remarkably high intelligence and could easily create Dimensional Areas at his own will. However, Bass had not foreseen Allegro having the maturity of a child, as soon Allegro began to kidnap NetNavis and forcing them to fight for his entertainment.

When confronted by Lan, Chaud, and Maylu, Bass revealed himself in the Kid Grave body, where MegaMan realized that it was Bass inside the body. His creation of the Dimensional Area had attracted the attention of Nebula, and Dark ProtoMan appeared, impressed by Bass' work.

As Bass explained his creation and reasoning to create Alegro, he then shocked everyone as he grabbed Allegro's electronic brain and ripped it out, before he crushed it. Due to Allegro's immaturity, he had acted in a way that Bass despised: taking Navis for engaging them in foolish human-played amusement, showing that while he was proud of his creation of Allegro, he also grew disgusted by Allegro adopting human-like behaviour, as Bass found himself to despise humans.

Dark ProtoMan offered to allow Bass into Nebula, as Bass had a grudge against humanity, but Bass, knowing that Nebula was run by a human, merely told him to get out, deactivating his Dimensional Area, and making the Darkloid saying that Bass would regret that. As Lan's Cross Fusion is disengaged from the lack of the Dimensional Area, Bass makes his exit, but not before telling them that they would meet again.

Appearing as Kid Grave once more when he sees the Control X network being attacked by Regal's Darkloids, Bass was among the crowd, before he left and entered a bank, logging himself inside, and then seeming to be searching for something. Before long, he sensed it and transported himself there. Soon, he was in the depths of the network where ShadeMan had been banished into by LaserMan. As BubbleMan was there, mourning over his master, Bass appears overhead, much to BubbleMan's confusion, as Bass raises his hand and sends electricity to the petrified state of ShadeMan. After a while, there was a flash of light as a small explosion took place, before BubbleMan witnessed the tomb ShadeMan was trapped in and saw him restored to his former self, as Bass had been giving ShadeMan energy to have him restored. When ShadeMan asked who he was and why he helped him, where Bass replied that ShadeMan didn't need to know that, but that Bass saw a future in the Darkloids, before leaving.

Appearing one last time when Dr. Regal created a worldwide Dimensional Area, Bass observed, though Kid Grave's body, the battle that took place between ShadeMan and Dr. Regal Cross Fused as LaserMan. However, after seeing Dr. Regal gaining the upper hand, Bass knew that the Darkloid had lost, and subsequently left.

Rockman.EXE Stream
After the battle with Regal ended, and Duo's comet approached Earth, Bass foresaw the Cybernetic God's approach. Understanding that Duo could very well destroy the entire world, Bass had to stop him, not to save the Earth, but to protect Earth's network, as the Net would be destroyed as well if Earth were to. So Bass decided that to combat Duo, he would need the power of the likes he had never had, and become a super-powerful Navi.

When a giant Mettaur virus appeared and Lan and Chaud Cross Fused to deal with it, Bass arrived at the area in his Kid Grave robot, watching the battle. Upon the virus' deletion, the Kid Grave robot left in a blur, and Bass intervened at the moment of separation of Lan and MegaMan to kidnap MegaMan and take him into the depths of the Net.

Upon coming to, MegaMan saw Bass and assumed that it was Bass that had created the giant Mettaur virus and had sent it into the human world, to which Bass denied it. He then explained the danger that was approaching their planet and how the network would get involved in it, which would be most unpleasant. When MegaMan questioned who or what this enemy was, Bass vanished and appeared behind him to grab him, declaring that he will get MegaMan's Ultimate Program. Confused by that, MegaMan questioned what Bass meant as he struggled against Bass' hold. Bass explained that by combining his Ultimate Program with MegaMan's, he can become a more powerful being,

Telling Bass not to be so selfish, MegaMan threw Bass off before engaging him in battle, armed with only his Mega Buster. All of the shots MegaMan fired missed, and soon Bass caught MegaMan off guard by making illusionary copies of himself around MegaMan. He soon overpowered MegaMan, knocking him unconscious.

With MegaMan unconscious, Bass proceeded to slowly absorb MegaMan's Ultimate Program, but was found by ProtoMan, who had been searching for MegaMan at the time, and intercepted Bass before MegaMan could be absorbed.

Bass told ProtoMan to get out of his way, but when ProtoMan asked what he was intending to do with MegaMan's Ultimate Program, Bass stated that he would be taking ProtoMan's Ultimate Program as well. When ProtoMan rejected this, Bass merely switched his target to ProtoMan. However, ProtoMan created a cyclone to distract Bass so he could take MegaMan away. The diversion worked, and ProtoMan escaped with MegaMan, but Bass soon gave chase, intercepting them quickly.

Declaring that the Ultimate Programs are a waste with MegaMan and ProtoMan, Bass knocked them both back. When ProtoMan got up and summoned his sword, Bass charged him and grabbed the blade, before shattering it with his bare hand, and then grabbing ProtoMan by the throat. Saying that he needs a higher level of power to stand up to Duo as a NetNavi, Bass began to try and absorb ProtoMan's Ultimate Program. When MegaMan came to and saw Bass doing so, he fired several shots to stop him, but Bass merely sent them right back, However, Lan and Chaud managed to catch up to their NetNavis and Chaud used the Life Aura and Area Steal Battle Chip to separate Bass from ProtoMan.

ProtoMan reengaged Bass in combat using Variable Sword, with Bass dodging the Sonic Boom attack, and sending Hell's Rolling attack, but MegaMan had entered the Double Soul Proto Soul, and used a Variable Sword as well to cut Bass' attack. Bass attempted to fight the two, but quickly saw himself at a disadvantage and escaped.

Having lost his chance to acquire more power, Bass chose to directly confront Duo and take the Cybernetic God's power for his own. For that, in his Kid Grave body, Bass broke into the satellite centre to try and use the network and connect to the satellite and then enter Duo's comet directly, an idea that Lan also had on how to enter Duo's comet. He easily overpowered all the security guards that got in his way. He then forcefully logged into the computers and entered the hyper route to the comet. However, much to his and everyone else's surprise, another being from Duo's comet moved to intercept Bass. Seeing a bright light heading towards him, Bass collided with the force, creating a blinding light, which caused a major power surge at the computer in the lab, and damaging the Kid Grave robot.

The being soon took shape and introduced itself as Slur, speaking of passing along the message of Duo and answering the Keifer's question about how Duo intends to destroy Earth. As Slur stated that this was Duo's will, Bass attacked Slur, stating that he intends to defeat Duo and taking his powers, prompting Slur to call Bass a fool. As Bass launched his Earthbreaker attack, Slur blocked the attack, resulting in an explosion. As Duo began his attack on Earth, having giant viruses materialize and destroy the Earth, Bass' battle with Slur continued, with Slur avoiding Bass' Dark Arm Blade.

Soon, Bass decided to end the battle, and fired his Darkness Overload, which made direct contact with Slur, and Bass saw the extraterrestrial Navi vanish, before Bass saw, much to his shock, wires coming out of his body and bond him, rendering him immobile. Bass then saw a sphere of light coming towards him and sending him falling down, which turned into Slur, who declared that Bass was the one to vanish and told him to not return to this world. Having taken a lot of damage and coming down from a hyper route, and there was nowhere to log out into, Bass was helpless as he breaks through the Cyber World's "floor" and falls into the UnderNet.

Bass would not return until much later after the events of Nebula Grey, when the battle for Earth's fate neared its end.

As Slur watched the Cross Fusion team struggle as the destruction of Earth was nigh, Bass appeared and displayed shock at seeing Slur, while the latter was mildly surprised. When Slur questioned on Bass' reason for returning, Bass declared that he came back for revenge. While Slur was unamused, Bass warned the extraterrestrial Navi that he was not the same as he was before and that it was now Slur's turn to be sent into the UnderNet. Calling him a fool once more, Slur engaged him in their final battle.

Fighting hard, Bass used his Hell's Rolling attack, which Slur dodged, and then summoned wires from Bass to bind him once more, before saying that Bass lost. Grinning at that, Bass reminded Slur that he was not the same as he was before, and displayed shocking powers as he forcefully broke the bindings.

Their battle raging on, Bass threw a punch that Slur blocked, before the latter summoned a sword, to which Bass used his Dark Arm Blade, and struck Slur's blade with it. As Slur questioned how Bass could have become so powerful, Bass merely stated that he had become this powerful by absorbing "a bellyfull of a giant bug" in the UnderNet, and then his dark aura took the shape of Nebula Grey, further shocked the alien NetNavi, and then being sent back as Bass' sword broke through Slur's.

Revelling the power he had, Bass expressed confidence that his newfound powers would enable him to the Cyberworld of space, where he could search for new powers. Cursing at Bass, Slur transformed into light energy, to which Bass responded in kind, and the two clashed, their battle causing major repercussions in the Past Tunnel as they went through it.

As the battle seemed to end, where Slur remained battered, Bass soon impaled Slur from behind, to which Bass gave Slur two choice: to wander the UnderNet for all eternity, or to be deleted by him. Angered by Bass looking down on it, Slur angrily spoke its last words: "Shut up! You Earth NetNavi!"

Understanding Slur's words to indicate the latter choice, Bass merely told Slur to begone as he grabbed Slur's face, resulting in the Navi screaming in pain as it was deleted. With Bass the last one left standing, he smirked and stated that if the Earth was still around, then they would meet again, before logging out and muttering out the target of his words: MegaMan.

Bass never appears in the series after this, as his words towards Slur and his last words indicate that Bass had actually left the planet to go to other worlds where he could seek out powers, as he said he would.

Rockman.EXE: Hikari to Yami no Program
Taking place after he was defeated by Slur, Bass had been sent to the Undernet. After months of slumber there, he stumbled upon a huge sphere of pure dark energy. Now alert, Bass saw the surface of the orb shape a face. Insulting the face, Bass watched the face vanish, only for a large, monstrous creature emerge from within it and grab onto Bass, before a huge burst of energy was released throughout the Undernet.

When Spectrum, a device created by Dr. Wily and Tadashi Hikari in the past that can convert matter into electronic data, was activated and was going across the world, Lan's father sent him and MegaMan to destroy the Tadashi Hikari Program in the TRINITY Brain Inc. Cyber World. There MegaMan encountered Bass but there was something ominous in the look he had in his eyes.

Bass immediately attacked him: after a short struggle, Bass appeared to vanish once MegaMan shot him with the SearchSoul but he attacked from behind. He began to charge his Darkness Overload, intending to finish MegaMan off. However, right in the nick of time, Colonel arrived and attacked Bass: Colonel realized that Bass was actually being manipulated by some unknown force.

Colonel held Bass back as MegaMan tried to destroy the Hikari Program: Bass and Colonel's fight reached there as well, though Bass was being pushed back more because he was low in strength, before he noticed MegaMan about to destroy the program, which Colonel used to push him away, allowing MegaMan to unleash his Program Advance Life Sword against the program.

Once the Program Advance hit the program, additional cuts made by it stopped both combatants: a cloud of energy appeared over the Hikari Program and began to steal it. Bass, suddenly stopped being controlled and called the monster "Nebula Grey". As he spoke, the Hikari Program had somehow been absorbed by Nebula Grey, before a bright light began to envelop the area, forcing Bass, MegaMan, and Colonel to retreat as an explosion took place.

It was soon revealed that the mastermind behind Nebula Grey, Spectrum's awakening, and Bass' manipulation, was Dr. Regal himself, who had survived his previous battle against Lan, but had been thrown into the Undernet, where he discovered the dormant Wily Program, and using Spectrum, he had fused himself to become a new cybernetic being: Nebula Grey.

MegaMan entered the core of the base where Spectrum itself was built at and confronted Dr. Regal. Bass suddenly showed up, outright furious at Regal, a human, for daring to control him. Their frontal attacks were in vain but they were able to enter the Spectrum core: an uncountable number of wires attacked them, forcing both Bass and MegaMan to try and fight each and every one of them.

Dr. Regal became Nebula Grey, caught them, before wrapping them together and transformed into a bundle of wires that attached onto them. Feeling their strength being sapped, the two slowly began to have a form of petrification spread over them, or like the protoplasmic state that Regal's soldiers are in as their data began to be broken down.

MegaMan pleaded to Bass to take his Ultimate Program. Bass had wanted to do that so that he could become a super-powerful being: Bass smirked, happy to oblige, as he used all his remaining strength left to reach out to grab MegaMan's Navi emblem, and began to absorb it, which caused a powerful light to be released, restoring their bodies and blowing the wires away, before Bass finally managed to pull the emblem out, and MegaMan turns to pure energy as Bass begins to try and absorb the power, only to realize that it was too much, and their combined voices screamed, "You can't control my Ultimate Program!"

The resulting fusion became Bass Cross MegaMan. With this huge power, the fusion was able to easily defeat Nebula Grey. As Nebula Grey crumbled away, Bass Cross MegaMan collapsed, the power that MegaMan and Bass held combined being too great for the body to handle.

Regal used a last-ditch effort to take Bass Cross MegaMan in his weakened state, as he summons a large vortex, like leading to the Undernet, which sucked everything up, as Bass Cross MegaMan was slowly being dragged into it. Fortunately, the fusion between him and Bass was cancelled out, resulting in the two separating. As MegaMan was dazed and confused as to what was happening, Bass called to him and then blasted him away, forcing him to log out, as Bass was now being drawn into the vortex, laughing maniacally. It is possible that it was a mix of joy and disappointment: joy at having experienced power like never before and disappointment at realizing it was impossible to control MegaMan's Ultimate Program least completely fuse with it. So his idea of using it to stand up to Duo was ditched.

Bass ended up in the UnderNet absorbed the remaining power of Nebula Grey in the form of powerful bug fragments, which would be used later in the series.

History
Around ten years before the start of the series, Bass is created by Dr. Cossak as the first independent NetNavi that does not require an operator. Since the CyberWorld at that time is still in the middle of development, Bass stands out from other Navis and constantly try to prove that the security systems that supposed to protect the CyberWorld are useless by attacking many Navi units, destroying 15 programs and 72 Navi units in total. This caused people to fear him and choose for him to be deleted. The only person who objects this decision is Dr. Cossak, the only person that Bass trust and the only one to come to his defense. They were close to the extent Dr. Cossack refers Bass as his 'son'. To prevent Bass from being deleted, Dr. Cossak reluctantly imprisoned Bass and forced him to wear limiters that restricted his power.

Later, Bass is blamed for disrupting the Net and is ordered to be deleted by the officials. Bass easily defeats them one by one despite the limiters he was wearing. It was at this time Bass ponders why Dr. Cossak didn't clear the misunderstanding soon and began to think that Dr. Cossak abandoned him. One of the Navis slashed him, leaving the trademark scar on his Navi Mark. The Navi's praise for the limiters created by Dr. Cossak makes Bass finally comes to the conclusion that Dr. Cossak has betrayed him. Before he could be deleted, they realized that it was actually the Net itself that caused the destruction and it's not Bass' fault. All of the units jack out, but one stayed behind to delete Bass, holding a grudge against him. However, the limiters that Bass was wearing changed his program and Bass defeated the Navi in a second, swearing he will never trust anyone again.

For the past ten years, Bass spends his life in the Undernet, defeating and absorbing any Navis that he met until he is finally known as the Black Shadow of the Undernet. One day, he defeats several Navis and questions one of them the whereabouts of the King of the Undernet, Serenade, before destroying him when he doesn't know the location. Soon after, Serenade appears before Bass, reprimanding his violent and cruel way. Excited that they finally met, Bass fiercely attacks Serenade, but none of his attacks even put a scratch on him since Serenade dodged them all. Serenade reflected Bass attacks, injuring him. Bass didn't give up, but Serenade tells him that he came not to fight, but to give him a message from Dr. Cossak, much to Bass' shock.

Dr. Cossak reveals that before he could save Bass, he is branded as a traitor and is arrested. He apologized to Bass and wish for him to come back to him after knowing that he's still alive. Serenade shows data that will allow Bass to jack out and goes straight to Dr. Cossak's PET. Bass crawling towards Serenade as he wonders if he could go back to Dr. Cossak. However, Bass, who has already suffered and overcome by his anger and hatred for far too long, decides that he doesn't need bonds with anyone anymore and with his hatred, he will become stronger. Crushing Serenade's hand and keeps him close-range, Bass unleashed his Earthbreaker. Much to his disbelief, Serenade remained unscathed, and instead, it was he himself who got injured. As Bass fell, he warns Serenade that it's not the end of him and one day he will defeat him.

Meeting MegaMan
Bass was first mentioned by Miyu as the Black Shadow from the Undernet. He makes his first appearance after MegaMan and ProtoMan defeated ElecMan and BomberMan. He creates a barrier as MegaMan and ProtoMan attacks him until they destroyed the barrier. When the barrier was destroyed, he states that they are weak before going offensive, easily destroyed MegaMan's sword with light velocity speed before preparing to unleash Earthbreaker. However, seeing MegaMan flies straight at him without any fear, Bass decides to spare MegaMan. At the top of PharaohMan's pyramid, he says that he will give treasure and such to MegaMan, deeming him a worthy opponent and wait for him to become strong enough to fight him once again.

Battle at Queen Ocean Cruise
He briefly cooperates with Kei Yuki to go the Queen Ocean ferry where Hub Style MegaMan currently battling the Grave Virus Beast (Gospel). By combining his power with Grave, he and the monster produce the Dark Messiah attack, but MegaMan is able to withstand it. Content that MegaMan has become strong enough, Bass attacks, but in the middle of their battle, MegaMan is distracted by one of their attacks; Roll and GutsMan are still present. While he hesitates, Grave seizes its chance and tries to absorb MegaMan Hub Style, only for Bass to destroy the beast in one blow, subverting Kei Yuki's betrayal with his own.

Once Roll and GutsMan flee, both Bass and MegaMan are able to fight on equal footing until Bass gains MegaMan's Hub Style with the Get Ability program, turning the tide in an instant. MegaMan receives damages grave enough to split MegaMan and Lan's Full Synchro, knocking Lan unconscious. Bass continues to assault MegaMan, discussing how he was betrayed by humans and the vast differences in their strength.

On the verge of MegaMan's defeat, Bass taunts him. MegaMan then tells Bass that there was another difference between them, MegaMan has Lan and will never stop believing him. This provokes Bass to show the scar he got from his betrayal, but MegaMan still trusts Lan. As he says this, Lan regains his consciousness and once again uses Hub Style to defeat Bass, but their conditions didn't allow them to perfectly enter Hub Style. Bass prepares to use Earthbreaker to finish MegaMan, but he was eventually defeated when MegaMan focused all of his Hub Style powers into his finger. As Bass starts to disappear, he persisted that his hunger and thirst had yet to disappear.

Revival
Later, Bass is revived through the power of darkness as Bass GS. He becomes so strong enough that he turns his back on both MegaMan and ProtoMan, not considering them a threat. He proceeds to Densan City and prepares to carry out his vengeance by destroying the city. MegaMan arrives just before Bass could unleash Vanishing World with Grave. Bass easily overpowers MegaMan, claiming that the darkness didn't control him, but he was the one who controlled the darkness. MegaMan is saved by Serenade, but shortly afterwards, the latter was absorbed by Bass, deleting him. Having absorbed Serenade's power, Bass continues to fight MegaMan and ProtoMan. As they are fighting, he notices that even though both MegaMan and ProtoMan are badly injured, that instead of getting weaker, they are getting stronger. Bass realizes that the program that Serenade left behind began to react through the power of MegaMan and ProtoMan's unity. Refusing to accept feelings for friends or bonds with others, Bass unleashes another powerful attack to end their battle. But once again, MegaMan, using Double Soul with ProtoMan, easily counters Bass' attacks and turns the tide to their favor.

Bass still refused to give up and claimed how he was able to survive to this day without trusting nor depending on anybody and suddenly unleashes Earthbreaker. While MegaMan defends himself, Bass launches at him and chokes him as he tells him that MegaMan's weakness is that he is always helped and supported by his friends. However, MegaMan counters back that it's not his weakness, but his power, shocking Bass. Bass is punched to the ground and lands near ProtoMan's body. Instead of destroying ProtoMan as everyone thought, Bass floats to MegaMan, telling him that he will defeat him while maintaining his honor. He uses two Graves in both arms and unleashes Double Vanishing World, which MegaMan easily overcomes and defeats Bass. As Bass is falling, he ponders how strangely his hunger and thirst for revenge started to disappear.

The attack, however, didn't kill him and he reveals himself to MegaMan and the others. He tells MegaMan to delete him since he no longer has any power to fight. To everyone's shock, MegaMan instead offers him to fight again next time without any anger or hatred. Before Bass could respond, he senses something and punches MegaMan out of the way, receiving a beam that was intended for MegaMan. Bass then tells MegaMan to keep living until the day he defeated him, declaring he will be the one to kill him and that is their bond. Dark MegaMan attacks him from behind, rendering him unconscious and he is taken away by Dark MegaMan and LaserMan, much to MegaMan's dismay.

Darkloid Battle
Bass is held captive so Dark MegaMan could absorb his power. However, Bass' strong will resist against the absorption, preventing Dark MegaMan from absorbing him completely until MegaMan arrives. Realizing that the source of Bass' resistance is the promise he made with MegaMan, Dark MegaMan seemingly kills MegaMan, nulling their promise. Seeing MegaMan defeated, Bass is finally absorbed completely by Dark MegaMan.

Believing that Bass still exists, MegaMan keeps reminding him of their promise to fight again and what kind of Navi Bass truly is. MegaMan's voice reached Bass, causing him to rebel against Dark MegaMan from the inside. Dark MegaMan can't believe that Bass is capable of it, as Bass' rage should make it easy for him to control Bass. However, MegaMan notes that it isn't hatred that motivates his actions, it's pride. Bass managed to free himself from Dark MegaMan and protected MegaMan from the former's attack before disappearing, telling MegaMan to show him the proof that he is his worthy rival. When MegaMan was unable to move because of Dark MegaMan's laser attack after eating LaserMan, Bass questions him if he has already given up and says that if that's the case, they'll never meet again. This urges MegaMan to fight again as he tells Bass to watch him until the end. After MegaMan finally defeated Dark MegaMan, Bass reminds him that he will be the one who will defeat him and left.

Versus Nebula Gray
Bass appears and fiercely attacks Nebula Gray to defeat him and absorb his power, much to Colonel's shock. But instead of weakening, Nebula Gray only grew more powerful by absorbing Bass' attack and captures him. Unexpectedly, Colonel helped Bass, knowing that defeating Nebula Gray comes first before his revenge. Disgusted when hearing that they will defeat Nebula Gray together, Bass intended to attack Colonel, but is stopped by MegaMan's arrival. Bass reminds MegaMan that he will be the one to defeat him, but after he defeats Nebula Gray first. MegaMan and the others then unleash their most powerful attacks and combine it with Bass' so Nebula Grey won't be able to absorb it. Unfortunately, Nebula Gray has already become strong enough to become immune to their attacks and countered them with his own attack, leaving everyone but Bass, MegaMan, and Colonel to fight.

MegaMan asked for Bass' help to perform Double Soul with him. Hearing this, Bass punches MegaMan, asking if he has gone crazy, reminding that they are enemies and could never work together since they could only reach understanding through fighting. They are interrupted by another attack from Nebula Gray as MegaMan continue to persuade Bass to fight together, but Colonel interjects. Bass persists on his pride and attacks Nebula Gray alone, but Nebula Gray slowly begins to overpower his attack. Just before Nebula Gray's attack hit him, MegaMan pushes him out of the way, taking the attack instead. The attack heavily injured MegaMan to the point that he's near deletion. Shocked by MegaMan's action and hearing that MegaMan wants to fight him again, Bass saves MegaMan's life by absorbing him to prevent deletion with his Get Ability program, reminding the latter of their bond, merging them into Bass Cross MegaMan.

Bass Cross MegaMan easily overpowers Nebula Gray, but his body is unable to withstand the burden of both Bass and MegaMan's power since it was too strong. Knowing his limit, he prepares to unleash a final attack to defeat Nebula Gray for good, but he halts when CosmoMan takes out ProtoMan, TomahawkMan, and GyroMan from Nebula Gray's stomach, threatening that if he attacks, they will be killed as well. At this, Bass Cross MegaMan defends himself instead of continuing attacking to protect his friends. In their subconscious, Bass asks MegaMan if he intends to throw away their victory, which MegaMan replies that victory will mean nothing if he let his friends die. Finally able to trust Bass Cross MegaMan, Colonel opens a path for them to attack with Screen Divide, allowing them to unleash their final attack.

The attack, as it turns out, didn't kill Nebula Gray and it barely survived by fusing with CosmoMan. Realizing this, Bass separates himself from MegaMan and got bitten by Nebula Gray as his power is absorbed. Seeing MegaMan discouraged since he doesn't have any power left to fight, Bass encourages him to keep fighting until the end if he is truly his rival. MegaMan finds a new power to defeat Nebula Gray and use Beast Out to fight. CosmoMan reminds him that he will kill Bass as well if he keeps attacking, but MegaMan continues, making Bass realize that he is indeed his worthy rival. Bass survives the attack and appears in Regal's ship, forcing it to self-destruct, destroying the ship along with Regal.

Final Battle
Iris summons Bass so he could participate in the battle to decide who is the strongest Navi. He protected MegaMan from Falzar's attack and then absorbed it in himself. He then challenged MegaMan to fight him now that both of them had acquired Cyber Beast powers. However, Falzar is not completely absorbed by Bass due to its great power and remove part of himself from Bass and merges with Gregar. Bass goes to fight Falzar and Gregar, but was surprised when they are transported into the real world. Unfazed, Bass attacks the Cyber Beast, but the Cyber Beast was unscathed and immediately defeated Bass. MegaMan then appears and attacks the Cyber Beast with the Ultimate Program, seemingly overpowering him, much to Bass' astonishment.

This didn't last long once the Cybeast started to absorb the real world into the Cyber World, with only MegaMan, Lan, and himself remaining. Bass confronts MegaMan, telling him to give up since it was already too late. Satisfied that he could watch the end of mankind, he challenges MegaMan to finish their battle. Disappointed with Bass' answer, MegaMan goes to confront the Cyber Beast, having yet to give up hope. Bass wonders if this is really the ending he had been hoping for.

Bass finally decides to assist MegaMan in defeating the Cybeast, claiming that he will watch his deletion with his own eyes. Once they finally reach the core of the Cybeast, they are stopped by the last defense system of the Cybeast. When all hope seems lost, MegaMan's friends stopped the Cybeast's movement before it could devour them. Serenade then appears in front of Bass, telling him to give all of his power to his only true friend, MegaMan. Hearing this, Bass interjects that MegaMan is his enemy and breaks free from the defense system. Gathering all the powers he has gathered throughout his life, Bass gave it to MegaMan to give him enough energy to move, telling MegaMan to win as he disappears.

Journey with MegaMan
After the final battle against the Cybeast, Bass got blown away all the way to the end of Cyber World and met with MegaMan who also ended up there after destroying the Cybeast, destroying any virus who get in their way. Bass challenged MegaMan to fight him, but the latter refused because his main priority is to return to Lan's side. Bass reluctantly relented to the temporary truce as he found no meaning in defeating MegaMan who can't use his full power without his operator. While resting at night, MegaMan expressed his relief that Bass is his travelling companion, to which Bass replied there's nothing boring than having a journey with MegaMan because they can easily defeat any enemy together. MegaMan took this as Bass praising him, prompting the said Navi to stomp on him while demanding MegaMan to sleep. When seeing MegaMan able to sleep so peacefully in front of him despite the fact they are supposed to be enemies, Bass contemplated on ruining his peaceful sleep. However, Bass was surprised when MegaMan started to uncomfortably uttering Lan's name in his sleep, reminding Bass of how he used to long for his creator during the beginning of his journey. Bass then promised that he will return MegaMan to Lan's side for the sake of one day killing him. Even after travelling for a year, they still have yet to find a way to go back, prompting Bass to tell MegaMan that they'll eventually find a way back but it's possible that his Operator, Lan, may have already died considering humans' short lifespan compared to Net Navis. With MegaMan still not giving up hope, Bass tells him that his Operator must have already created a new Navi and forgot about him. This angered MegaMan, and his act of grabbing his cloak due to his anger provoked Bass who decided to kill MegaMan without waiting to return to their original world. However, they are attacked by the remains of Gregar's data. Noticing a Remote Gate connected to the original world attached to its body, MegaMan points this to Bass as they finally found a way back. When the beast attacks MegaMan, Bass protects him by letting his arm got bitten and tells MegaMan to go back first while he takes care of the beast.

MegaMan refuses and tries to free Bass, hitting the beast's teeth. When the beast's mouth finally opened and they evade its attack, Bass tells MegaMan that his current self without his Operator is weak and only serves as a hindrance, but if MegaMan unites his power with his Operator, he becomes a formidable opponent for him. For this reason, Bass then forcefully shoots MegaMan into the remote gate, telling him to return so he can become his enemy again with Bass promising he will come to kill him. As MegaMan has entered the gate, Bass has no reason to keep the beast alive anymore and easily kills it. Finding himself alone again, Bass shrugs it off as he has merely returned to the way he used to be and states he has no need for companions. However, not long afterwards, the revived Serenade appears, prompting Bass to ask since when he was watching. To Bass' embarrassment, Serenade has watched since the beginning of his and MegaMan's journey. Serenade offers to accompany him in MegaMan's place, but Bass ignores and tells him not to follow him as Serenade keeps pestering him to allow him to tag along.

Return of Bass Cross
Four years after the battle against Nebula Grey, a virus called Devil Virus threatened to destroy the world. Team of elite Navis fought against it, but only Colonel, TomahawkMan, ShadowMan, NumberMan, ProtoMan, SearchMan and MegaMan managed to survive its attacks. On their way to confront Devil Virus, MegaMan was critically injured protecting NumberMan. On the verge of being deleted, Bass comes across his unconscious form after years of absence and absorbed MegaMan to prevent deletion. With all hope lost as Colonel and his team failed to destroy the Devil Virus with their weapon, Bass once again merged with MegaMan to recreate Bass Cross MegaMan. This form easily defeated the Devil Virus in one attack. Bass then disappeared.

Appearance
As with his original counterpart, Bass.EXE appears to resemble an elaborately darker version of MegaMan.EXE. He looks almost identical to his original counterpart, but his cobra-like helmet has been altered as the "fins" are mostly straightened out and split off at the bottom to show off the second pair of smaller fins. Golden shoulder pads are also adorned on his body as well. While in the manga and anime his height is comparable to Megaman's and Protoman's, in the games he appears visibly taller, like an adult person compared to a child. The fins of his helmet are also portrayed as noticeably longer and wider spreading in the games than in the anime and manga, giving him a more menacing appearance.

The chest jewel that was present in the original version is replaced with his emblem, a solid black circle with no features or characteristics, but a white scar is embedded across it diagonally. Bass.EXE's most famous characteristic however is a long flowing light brown cloak that usually covers the lower portion of his face as well as the rest of his body, which invokes a vagrant appearance. In the Manga, his cloak is much more worn and black color.

Though his original emblem is never displayed in the games and anime, in the MegaMan NT Warrior manga it is shown to resemble a f. Also in the manga, the origin of the scar on his emblem was revealed to have been caused by a Heat Blade used by a SciLab security NetNavi during the Alpha Revolt.

Hub Style (Manga Only)

After copying Hub Style in his battle with MegaMan.EXE he takes on similar features to MegaMan's Hub Style. Including what appears to be a data streaming flowing all over his body. Also, like MegaMan's Hub Style he has two flat rings of light circling around him. However, in one illustrated picture, it has shown that the data stream on Bass.EXE's body is purple, rather than green like MegaMan.EXE.



Beast Out

Unlike MegaMan.EXE who used Double Soul to trigger Beast Out, Bass.EXE forced his transformation by using his Get Ability Program to absorb data from a weakened Falzar. In this form, the top two fins on his head change and have a beak-like shape, his long cloak is reduced to a scarf that covers his neck and mouth, his hands and feet change to the equivalent versions of MegaMan.EXE's hands and feet during Falzar Beast Out, he also gains wings similar to Falzar's. Finally, the crest on his head now changes to the symbol of Falzar.

Personality
Bass's personality is primarily developed during the first three games. In the first game, nothing is known about him. In the second game, because Bass is still only briefly seen, not much is seen about him. What is shown is that due to his own pride, he hates anybody that would try to create copies of him and his disdain towards humans. After his battle with MegaMan, he displays shock and interest in that MegaMan could hurt him and leaves. This battle and some events in the third game indicate that Bass likes fighting, but he's only interested in stronger opponents.

The third game reveals far more about him. Because Bass felt betrayed by humans, he grew to hate them and longed for revenge. He displayed no sense of loyalty as well. When he first wanted to fight MegaMan, even though Bass was working with Wily, he attacks FlameMan, one of his "ally's" subordinates. After being freed from Alpha, Bass has no memory of his past but retains his interest in fighting which causes him to continue to challenge MegaMan. Because of his odd way of changing roles depending on the situation he is in, his personality is more of an anti-hero but his ego seems to always get the best of him and uses fighting as a resort to any means necessary.

To Bass, if there is a problem that bugs him, he blows it up. End of story, end of problem. So, he finds it either interesting, annoying, or frustrating if he can't blow the problem up (like MegaMan) so he'll keep an eye on the problem. Bass puts his own survival before anything else because basically, for the last ten years of his life, that's all he did. Survive with little else, and hate humanity for what they did to him.

In the second game (being the first where he has dialogue), Bass is shown to speak in an intellectual and formal yet surprisingly polite manner. In the third game, he drops the politeness altogether but retains his verbose, analytical rhetoric, giving off an aloof and distant matter-of-fact vibe. This aspect of his personality is greatly downplayed in the last three games - possibly due to his dialogue being more limited and less relevant to the main plot - he also starts to speak in a more colloquial manner like most other characters. He notably becomes more aggressive and hotheaded in the sixth game, and is much more eager to hurl taunts at MegaMan than to praise him.

In the anime, Bass is more reclusive and his character never been explored further since he rarely appears. But it can be assumed that he still retains his desire to fight strong opponents as well as his high self-esteem just like when he desires to fight Nebula Grey and kill Regal for using him. He doesn't have a rivalry with MegaMan like the games and manga, and has no interest in him in particular other than the Ultimate Program MegaMan has. Also, while he views that humans and their world are worthless and hates the mere thought of being used by them, Bass doesn't seem to hate humanity as much as his game and manga counterpart and is only concerned of becoming more powerful.

In the manga, Bass' personality is far more sinister and darker. He is arrogant, merciless, and hungry for power. Due to his past, Bass is distrustful towards anybody but himself, viewing bonds with others as a weakness. This, however, seemed to change when he was defeated by MegaMan for the second time, resulting him to acknowledge MegaMan as his rival, finally allowing himself to have a bond with someone for the first time after long times. Also, despite his ruthless behavior, he has never stooped so low as to attack someone who cannot fight back, showing he at least has a form of honor to uphold. When Dark MegaMan absorbed Bass, MegaMan manages to make him break free by reminding him of their bond. Through this, it is not evil emotions that motives him, but his great pride. Serenade implied that behind their rivalry, Bass started to consider MegaMan to be the only person close enough to be a friend, though Bass always denied and insisted that MegaMan is his enemy. Regardless, MegaMan becomes the first person that Bass is able to place his trust in, as demonstrated when he gave MegaMan all of his power to defeat the Cyberbeast and tells him to win. In volume 10, discussing the difference of the series between manga, game, and anime, Takamisaki stated that Bass is "lonelier" than he is in the original game. This may indicate that deep down Bass is actually feeling lonely and his persistence in trusting no one but himself is his way to cope with his loneliness. Furthermore, Bass still has a lingering attachment to his creator, Cossack, despite his hatred for humanity and refusal to return to his side.

The Battle Story Rockman.EXE manga version of Bass is somewhat different than what he is usually portrayed in the games and Mega Man NT Warrior anime, for the fact that it explores more of his good side. He was created years ago to maintain network energy, and to improve system functions in Sci-lab's systems. He is shown to be very powerful in the beginning. The power he possesses causes him to go crazy and destroy everything in his path, somewhat similar to how he acts in other media. However, it is that power that made Bass realize that he is a threat to the Cyberworld. Not wanting to harm anyone, he willingly seals himself away. He is also shown to be polite, even addressing himself in Japanese as "watashi" (わたし) rather than "ore" ( おれ - though he uses "ore" when the power he possesses overwhelms him), and is good friends with ShadowMan.EXE.

Normal forms

 * Bass: This is the basic form, when he is first encountered in each game. In Mega Man Battle Network, the player must perform certain conditions and go to Internet Area 16. Bass in that game, is immensely powerful. His attacks are substantial and dangerous, inflicting an extreme amount of damage. Battle Network 2 introduces him as a copy of the original Bass (the player will also fight the true Bass in the WWW Area), whilst this form is fought twice in Battle Network 3 - once where he is completely unbeatable, and the other just before fighting Alpha. In Battle Network 4, the player must obtain six Soul Unisons, to open a door in UnderNet4 which will eventually lead to him. In Battle Network 5, Bass is encountered in a dead-end in Oran Area 3 and Nebula Area 4(with Bass/Sol Cross MegaMan) after the Dark MegaMan Liberation Mission. In Battle Network 6, the player can jump into a pit behind a giant tree in Green2, which will lead them to UnderNet Zero, once there approach the gravestone, which is titled "Cyberworld's God of Destruction".


 * Bass α (Alpha): Only encountered in Mega Man Battle Network 5 Double Team DS, Mega Man Battle Network 5: Team Colonel and ProtoMan (if the player uses the Bass Cross MegaMan E-Reader Card or cheat). All of Bass's attacks are more powerful and damaging.


 * Bass β (Beta): Only encountered in Mega Man Battle Network 5 Double Team DS, Mega Man Battle Network 5: Team ProtoMan and Colonel. All attacks from Bass are more powerful and damaging than his original and alpha forms. It is also named as "Chaos Lord", the form the Chaos Lords takes in.


 * Bass Ω (Omega)/SP: This is often Bass's ultimate form, randomly encountered after beating the original, in Mega Man Battle Network 4 and 5. These forms often sport about 3000 HP or 3500, along with a slew of highly damaging attacks. The SP form is fought in Battle Network 6, with 2700 HP instead, and slightly weaker than expected from the other forms. Defeating him in Mega Man Battle Network 6 will net the player a Bass F or BassAnly F Chip.
 * Mega Man Battle Network 3 Bass Omega has 3000HP, now actually shoots 6 (six) orange/golden-yellow energy shots, totally replacing the regular green Air Burst shots, has a 200 Life Aura (for an unknown reason, he could have the Dark Aura instead in this form), along with all the other attacks carried over from his GS form. It is his most powerful form, and is much more powerful than the previous forms of Bass.

Special Forms

 * Bass Deluxe: Encountered in WWW Area 3 only as a random encounter in Battle Network 2 after beating the true Bass, this form sports 2000 HP, a 150 Life Aura. They also inflict more damage than usual. This form is a very balanced final form.


 * Bass GS (Gospel Style): Encountered only in Battle Network 3 near the BugFrag Trader, and only after the player has spent at least 300 BugFrags on it. Bass GS sports 2000 HP, a 200 Life Aura, and several new, highly powerful attacks, thanks to his synchronized fusion with Gospel. This form is focused more on offense, due to Gospel's powers.


 * Bass XX (Double X) Encountered only in Battle Network 4 and 5. These forms sport 4000 HP, a 200 barrier (BN4 regenerating but in BN5 it can be permanently removed if Northwind is used), and their attacks are exceedingly damaging. It is one of the most powerful forms in the Battle Network series. This form is extremely strong, but seems to adopt a speedier and more defense-like stance, unlike most final forms. This form is also a very balanced final form. One of the biggest distinctions is that his yellow-colored plating changes to a dark purple color, signifying his total descent into darkness. This form also makes use of a unique frontal-barrier not seen in other forms.


 * Bass BX (Beast Crossed): Encountered only in Battle Network 6, after defeating Bass SP in the Graveyard. This form sports 3400 HP, a series of exceedingly damaging attacks, and also the vast signature attack from the Cybeast of the opposite version. Bass BX is the most powerful form for any challenger in the entire Battle Network series. This form removes Bass's Life Aura entirely, but replaces it with extremely speedy and powerful, almost unavoidable attacks (His cape becomes the shield instead, repelling attacks unless he himself performs one). This form is best suited for quickly crushing an opponent and wearing them down. Defeating him in the Gregar version will give the player a Colonel Army chip and in Falzar a Hub Batch chip.

Abilities
Bass has tremendous potential that no other Navi ever had and is considered to be the strongest Navi in the MegaMan Battle Network games. He possesses plenty of attacks, abilities, and a constantly changing arsenal throughout the games. Bass is also by far MegaMan's strongest opponent, outranking even the final bosses by great power, and if not, by agility and defense (as mirroring the original Bass and Mega Man).

In the anime, Bass is extremely powerful, being one of three Navis who possesses the Ultimate Program. Because Bass was made from fragments of another Navi, he has an almost virulent hunger and consumes raw data to replenish the missing code, as shown when MegaMan saw him consuming raw data in the form of an energy ball. Despite this, he doesn't attack Navis and seems to feed almost on instinct.

In the manga, Bass is one of the strongest Navis in the series. He is infamously known as the strongest Navi in the Undernet who destroys any Navi or virus that he met and absorbs their ability. He gets even more powerful after being revived as a Dark Navi and absorbed Serenade's power. However, since Bass became a Dark Navi, his attacks have no effect on Navis made from pure darkness like Nebula Gray, since those attacks only make the latter stronger via absorbing his attacks.

General Abilities

 * Get Ability: This is Bass's most important and essential ability. Like the classic Bass, Bass can absorb the abilities of defeated foes. He used this to gain every ability from defeated foes, including Life Aura, Gospel, Alpha, Dark Soul and Cybeasts.
 * In the anime, he has no such program as he merely feeds on any data program. It is assumed that because of this, Bass is able to consume any other types of power to refill his original strength. In Rockman.EXE: Program of Light and Dark, he utilizes this ability in an attempt to absorb MegaMan's Ultimate Program to defeat Nebula Grey, though this backfires and creates Forte Cross Rockman. Following Nebula Grey's defeat, it is implied that Bass absorbed its remains, gathering enough power to exact his revenge on Slur.EXE.
 * In the manga, unlike in both game and anime, this ability allows Bass to automatically absorb other Navis' powers before defeating them, though the only time it did so was when Bass gains Hub Style. Bass utilizes this ability to get Serenade.EXE's attack reflection power, in an attempt to save MegaMan's life to absorb him into himself and become Forte Cross Rockman, and to gain Beast Out Falzar power.


 * Giga Freeze: This ability is mentioned only in MMBN3. This attack isn't used in in-game battles. Bass obtained the Giga Freeze data by the Get Ability ability towards the end of MMBN3 storyline when MegaMan tried to use it to prevent the Cyberworld monster Alpha from rampaging. This was because he was one the only Navi besides MegaMan who could make contact with the program without being permanently frozen by it. Whether Bass still has this program and/or uses it, remains unknown.

Transformation Abilities
These are mostly taken through the Get Ability program above.
 * Style Change: Bass used his Get Ability to copy MegaMan's Hub Style in the MegaMan NT Warrior manga. Just like MegaMan.EXE, Bass's strength, speed, and power greatly increase while using Hub Style.
 * Bass XX: While this form is not explicitly a transformation, Bass XX is the most obvious and visually distinct of Bass' many forms, even beyond Bass GS and Bass BX, which normally resemble Bass until he manifests the head of whatever creature he'd combined with. Bass XX is implied to be Bass' complete descent into dark power. As a visual cue of this and as aforementioned, all of his yellow/orange hues on his plating change to a dark-corrupted purple color.
 * Beast Out: In the Battle Chip Stadium arcade game, Bass gains a new Falzar form. This "Beast Bass" (獣化フォルテ) also appears in the MegaMan NT Warrior manga, when Bass uses his Get Ability to absorb Falzar and attain the power to Beast Out in order to fight MegaMan, who has already gained the ability to Beast Out from Gregar.

Original Attacks (MMBN 1-3)

 * Air Burst: Bass shoots a powerful green energy sphere down his current row. In Network Transmission, this attack is part of Bass' Navi Chip; however, after launching one sphere, Bass detonates it in the center of the area, filling the screen with an explosion.
 * Explosion: One of Bass' classic charged attacks, forewarned by his arm glowing yellow. Bass shoots over a dozen Air Burst attacks down all rows in patterns that seem impossible to dodge, but can be avoided with frame-perfect movements. Only Air Burst and Explosion are usable by Gospel's clone.
 * Bass also has two variations of this attack used in early games. After his arm glows blue, Bass sweeps MegaMan's field with fire in a horizontal figure-eight pattern. After his arm glows red, he shoots random individual panels in MegaMan's field at once, and then he shoots again in a different pattern; he repeats this up to twelve times, with the interval between each volley shortening and requiring the enemy to dodge faster and faster. The blue and red charge attacks were only used in the first two games. In BN2 these attacks are used by RealBass and BassDeluxe when they have less than half of their HP MAX.
 * Earth Breaker: Bass will rise briefly out of reach and then descend suddenly, trying to smite his target with an overhead-slamming arm strike. This attack ignores most if not all defenses and will break an entire column of panels. Note that Bass drops the Life Aura for the duration of this attack, making this attack his biggest vulnerability. In BN2 this attack is used by RealBass and BassDeluxe when they have less than half of their HP MAX.

Bass GS

 * Shooting Claw: Bass points at MegaMan's area, and Gospel's severed paws will strike from the air, hitting and cracking two panels.
 * Gospel Cannon: After several uses of Gospel Claw, Bass GS will follow it with a weaker version of Gospel's signature breath attack. Gospel's simplified head will appear on Bass' arms and spray its breath across two columns, targeting the panel immediately before Bass and the entire column beyond that. If Bass GS is not in the center of the field, the attack's pattern remains consistent but shifts location accordingly.
 * Vanishing World: Bass GS summons a complete Gospel head, which launches a massive laser that attacks almost the entire field. It has the range of the original Gospel Breath attacked used by Gospel itself, plus any panels in the same row as Bass beyond that. This attack breaks every panel in range, pierces the player's defenses, and inflicts massive damage. Bass GS can only use this when his HP is 500 or less, and will only use it once. This attack has also been translated as Banishing World; it appeared in MegaMan NT Warrior Vol. 7 as Bass GS' finishing move.

Mega Man Battle Network 4-5

 * Shooting Buster: Bass fills his opponent's field with a spray of machine-gun fire from both of his busters, striking random patterns of two panels at once. In Battle Network 6, Shooting Buster fire causes the opponent to flinch, rather than induce mercy invisibility. Accuracy and rate of fire increase as Bass achieves stronger forms.
 * Hell's Rolling: Bass' primary dark power attack. Bass charges dark power in his hands and then unleashes a series of black wheels that travel along the rows above and below him, changing direction to arc towards his target.
 * Dark Arm Blade: Bass will warp in front of his target and strike with a blade made of dark power. If this attack hits, he will warp and strike again from behind, and then again from the front. Attacks from the front have Long Sword range, while an attack from behind has Wide Sword range. In the anime, this attack is depicted as Bass wielding an energy sword of dark power in each hand.


 * Darkness Overload: Bass gathers energy on both hands and rushes into the center of the opponent's front column, unleashing a massive blast of dark power across the back two columns, cracking every panel the attack touches. If the player is standing on the same panel he is, they will still take obstacle damage.
 * Chaos Nightmare (MMBN5): A variant on Darkness Overload. Bass rises high above the field and creates a growing giant sphere of dark power on one of his hands before casting it down on his opponent. This attack hits the target's original location and every panel surrounding it; it pierces invisibility and cracks all panels in the impact area.

Mega Man Battle Network 6

 * Shooting Buster: Bass fills his opponent's field with a spray of machine-gun fire from both of his busters, striking random patterns of two panels at once. In Battle Network 6, Shooting Buster fire causes the opponent to flinch, rather than induce mercy invisibility. Accuracy and rate of fire increase as Bass achieves stronger forms.
 * Hell's Rolling: Bass' primary dark power attack. Bass charges dark power in his hands and then unleashes a series of black wheels that travel along the rows above and below him. However, this game gives him a different animation in terms of unleashing the attack, and the pattern of the wheels instead change to converging onto the player's position at the same time.
 * Battle Chips: Rather than unique attacks, Bass begins using Battle Chips. He will use all of them in both normal and SP forms, but will only use Tank Cannon and Dark Sword as Bass BX. In his SP form, Bass' battle chips are stronger than even the highest versions available to the player.
 * Tank Cannon: Null element. If it misses it's intended target, the Tank Cannon will impact the last panel in the row and both the panels above and below it. The Tank Cannon cracks all impacted panels.
 * Golem Hit: Break element. A Golem fist will fall on the target's current panel, attacking it and the panels above and below it. Bass' Golem Hit attacks will always ignore his relative position to the target.
 * Fire Burner: Fire element. Bass shoots a stream of fire down three panels in the same row as him. Every targeted panel is cracked.
 * Life Sword: Sword element. Like the classic Program Advance, this attack has a 2-by-3 panel. However, unlike the P.A., the slash effect is purple, similar to Dark Sword.

Bass BX

 * Summon Beast (Falzar): Also listed as Sonic Storm in the Bradygames guide and only appears in MMBN6 Cybeast Gregar. Bass BX materializes Falzer's head and uses its signature attack, a horizontal tornado that covers the next three panels in the same row as Bass and the panels above and below the third. Sonic Storm also disperses barriers and auras.
 * Summon Beast (Gregar): Also listed as Burning Breath in the Bradygames guide and only appears in MMBN6 Cybeast Falzar. Bass BX materializes Gregar's head to unleash a powerful breath attack, which shares the same range as the classic Gospel Breath attack.

Mega Man Network Transmission

 * Spark Chaser: Bass fires a laser beam that moves at 90-degree angles, and can turn twice.
 * Homing Spark: Bass fires a slow-moving spark that home in on the enemy.
 * Delete Tower: Bass throws a pair of bombs to the ground that erupts into huge energy pillars.
 * Cross Burst: Bass throws sparks creating 4 beams in a cross pattern.

Defensive Abilities

 * Float: Bass is always floating, and so he ignores panel effects, though he cannot cross over broken panels.
 * Life Aura: Bass' signature defense in the original Battle Network trilogy, which he is implied to have stolen from Dr. Wily by using his Get Ability program. Bass is almost constantly shielded by the aura, only dropping it for specific attacks and then restoring it immediately after; if MegaMan lacks the sheer power to overwhelm it (or the NorthWind battle chip in Battle Network 3), this is his only window of attack. Note that making Bass flinch during this window will likely prevent him from summoning the barrier again until he recovers from using another specific attack.
 * In the first game, the Life Aura (which here has a polygonal design unique to Bass) ignores all attacks that do less than 100 damage, but in Battle Network 2, Bass Deluxe uses Life Aura 2, which ignores all damage less than 150. Battle Network 3, which also restructured the Aura system, gave the 100 damage rating to the basic Aura and gave the Life Aura a damage rating of 200; Bass uses the standard Aura until he becomes Bass GS, which is when he starts using the new Life Aura. In Network Transmission, he uses a series of high-powered elemental auras instead.
 * In MegaMan NT Warrior (manga), Bass has an unnamed defensive shield that rises from his cape and can only be shattered by doing great damage. As in the games, Lan and MegaMan perceive that Bass becomes vulnerable during his Earthbreaker attack. This said invisible shield is similar to the one his cape gives in his BX form in Battle Network 6.
 * High Speed: Prior the events of Battle Network 4, Bass abandons the Life Aura for unknown reasons, and instead adopts an entirely new style of attack based around high-speed movement and dark power. Now Bass can only be hit while standing still.
 * Black Barrier: Unique to Bass XX, who only appears in Battle Network 5. The Black Barrier is a shield of dark power that will absorb up to 150 damage total before dispersing (it is not an aura and is also placed in front of Bass as opposed to coating him all-around). However, unless it is dispelled with the NorthWind chip, Bass XX will eventually restore the barrier. (There is a Bass XX battle in Battle Network 4 that is only available through e-Reader modification cards or the Virtual Console version; here, NorthWind will also disperse the barrier, but the effect is not permanent).

Battle Chips

 * Bass (フォルテ, Forte in Japan) summons Bass to attack with Explosion.
 * Bass+, known as Forte Another (フォルテアナザー) in Japan, summons Bass to attack with Earth Breaker.
 * Bass GS (フォルテGS) summons Bass to attack with Vanishing World.

Later, the pattern of Bass's Battle Chips changed in Mega Man Battle Network 4 onward:
 * Bass (Forte) summons Bass to attack with Shooting Buster.
 * Bass Anomaly (フォルテアナザー) summons Bass to attack with Hell's Rolling.

Mega Man Battle Network 3
The Bass/Bass+ Battle Chip is obtained by defeating BassGS in Secret Area 3. Bass GS could only be obtained in Japanese events (Takara Boys Hobby Festival 2003, 18th World Hobby Fair), and it overwrites Bass / Bass+.

Mega Man Battle Network 4
Bass's Battle Chip is obtained by defeating him in Undernet 5.

Mega Man Battle Network 5
Bass's Battle Chip is obtained by defeating him in Nebula Area 6.

Mega Man Battle Network 6
Bass's Battle Chip is obtained by defeating Bass SP in Graveyard Area.

Mega Man Network Transmission
(Megaman.EXE stumbles upon a secret area, which open entering, encounters Bass.EXE hovering in the air.)

Bass.EXE: You are nothing...

(Bass.EXE's cape billows in the air as he gives off an intense energy field.)

Bass.EXE: Little boy... How did you get in here...?

Lan Hikari: What!?

MegaMan.EXE: This surge... If I get any closer, it'll blow me away!

Lan Hikari: Grrr...! This is more than just a Navi! Careful, MegaMan!

Bass.EXE: ...? ...You...scum... You defeated Zero... Now, that's interesting. How powerful are you worms...?

Lan Hikari: He's attacking!? MegaMan. Battle routine! Set!

MegaMan.EXE: Execute!

(MegaMan.EXE and Bass.EXE engage battle. Because Bass.EXE is so powerful, he is invincible and cannot be harmed, so MegaMan.EXE has to endure the barrage of attacks until Bass stops.)

Bass.EXE: ...How did you withstand my attack... Now I know why Zero lost to you... Interesting... I think I'll actually try this time...

MegaMan.EXE: It's no good, Lan! He's too powerful!

Lan Hikari: Argh!

Bass.EXE: ...Nah... Not this time...

Lan Hikari: !?

Bass.EXE: It won't be long until judgment day... You'd better be ready...

(Bass.EXE leaves.)

Trivia

 * Bass is the only Navi with a missing Navi mark. Instead, a large scar is placed where the mark should be. The official Navi mark never appears in any game, but the manga and Rockman.EXE Official Complete Works depicts it as the "Forte" symbol, the musical term for "loud" or "strong."
 * In addition, Bass is also missing his violet eye streaks in the beginning, and later has them after receiving his scar. This may be a result of Bass absorbing many abilities (namely embedded with some sort of dark power from the Undernet) while plotting his revenge.
 * As part of the Rockman.EXE and Duel Masters crossover, Bass had a promotional card named "Forte, Brave Fear Lord" (勇騎恐皇フォルテ) in Duel Masters, and two Phoenixes appear in Mega Man Battle Network 5 as Giga Chips.
 * In the manga volume 7's color page, it's shown that Bass GS' cape becomes darkish green.
 * One of his official chips always summons a Buster Rake or Hell's Rolling, except in BN3, where he uses Earthbreaker for he did not have Hell's Rolling at the time. BN5 follows this tradition, but adds a variant where Bass summons Chaos Nightmare when the Giga Chip "Chaos Lord" is used.
 * There is also a Giga Chip 'Bass GS' (with an X symbol) that can only be gained from a Capcom promotional event for MMBN3 in Japan or through cheating. The chip involves Bass using the Vanishing World attack, inflicting 700 damage (but those standing in specific squares before the attack, standing right in front, or are invincible in specific manners are unaffected). This chip replaces the original Bass (White version) and Bass+ (Blue version) chips in the game when received (even if Bass GS is beaten before the promo event) and is also similar to the chip in the first BN game that also has been said to only be received through cheating, but like the traditional, Bass uses Air Burst/Buster Rake. The GS (X) Giga Chip can be stated to be Bass's strongest chip in the whole Battle Network series.
 * Bass is the first non-DS boss in the entire Battle Network Universe (including Star Force) to use chip attacks, the second being Acid Ace. (This does not count Area Grab, because it is too easily abused and often appears as a step in a Program Advance or a move unique to a Navi.)
 * The dark barrier which Bass created in front of him before shooting Buster Rake is very similar to Serenade's Holy Shock, only varies in color. This might be proof that Bass has defeated Serenade.
 * In Mega Man Battle Network 2, a Bass copy makes a reference to his Japanese name with the line, "Battle is my forte!" Which is never said on the original Japanese dialogue, where he simply states, "...Understood... You can leave the fighting to me!"
 * Bass in Mega Man Battle Network 2 (or rather, his copy) started the trend of the double final boss battle. This tradition was also in Battle Network 3 (where the real Bass was the first boss) and 4. A similar battle is also in MegaMan Star Force 3.
 * A dark silhouette of Bass appears on the "Dream Aura" Giga-Class Card of Mega Man Star Force.
 * According to a side story Ryo Takamisaki's manga, Bass's first ability absorbed via the Get Ability program was a Heat Blade, which he took from a bitter Elite Corps Navi who had stayed behind in order to delete Bass after his orders to do so had been changed to focus on the Alpha program.
 * While Bass.EXE's personality is pretty similar to that of the original Bass, the original Bass does not hate humans, he has some degree of respect for humans, since they were the ones that created robots. The original Bass is also more focused on defeating his universe's MegaMan and is more openly focused on enjoying battle with a smile, along with a less tragic past.
 * UDON's English translation of Rockman.EXE Official Complete Works stated that a rule was made in which Navis could not have any cloth in their designs. Yuji Ishihara, the character designer for the Battle Network games, confessed to breaking this rule upon designing Bass, for he wanted to give him his trademark cape because of the Navi's tragic past.
 * In Mega Man Battle Network 2, a Program Advance involving Bass and Gospel can inflict of upwards to 6000 damage in which Gospel attacks with its breath, then if the enemy is still alive, Bass uses Earth Crusher that inflicts another 3000 damage. However, one of the chips required cannot be obtained normally without a Japanese exclusive event or a cheating device. This Program Advance is easily the most powerful in the entire Battle Network series, although it makes an appearance in Mega Man Battle Network 6 as a greatly watered-down version. The only possible way to get higher damage is with Meteor in the second game, which can be done by areagrabbing three times (and the enemy locked into one panel), changing the stage to Grass and using Meteor with 4 Fire+40 chips for a total of 6200.
 * Curiously, Bass is the only being in Mega Man Battle Network - NetNavi or otherwise - that outright copies abilities, rather than using Battle Chips to perform the abilities of other Navis and viruses as MegaMan does.
 * Solo, a character from Mega Man Star Force, shares some trait with the manga version of Bass, such as their solitary attitude, and both despise the idea of friendship or bonding with others, but started to change after meeting their respective rivals.
 * His renegade nature, cape, and near volatile but incredibly vast powers have him bear similarities to the superpowered psychic antagonist Tetsuo Shima of the anime and manga series Akira.
 * Bass.EXE in the NT Warrior manga and the game series are related, and depict Bass to be very similar to how X was created, who was capable of feeling emotions, act independently, and make his own choices, something that was revolutionary. However, Bass was used while the network was still under the process of being built, and thus humanity ultimately deemed him too dangerous. This was precisely what Dr. Light feared for X and thus sealed him away. Bass can ultimately represent how X could have been if he was released before humanity was ready to accept him.