Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to any of the Mega Man series. That (sadly) belongs to Capcom.
Prologue
EM Waves, the new direction humanity took in order to advance further in technology. This phenomenon had peaked human interest centuries ago, but it wasn't until the year two hundred double X that they were able to use this power for the benefit of civilization. Now, the world relied on these for mundane tasks including cooking to the more complicated jobs such as running a building's security using programs designed to work inside of the world that these electric magnetic waves created. Over time, this second world living alongside the Earth mankind already occupied became known as Wave Roads since they connected the various countries on the planet to one another one way or the other.
It was because of these connections that an ambitious young man started working on developing a bond that would help bring the world together. He wished to change everyone's life by showing them how to understand one another and care for each other the way, much like how his life was changed when he encountered someone that treated him like a brother despite the fact they were from two separate worlds. His efforts eventually gave birth to the BrotherBand, a bond formed when two people decide to connect their lives by camaraderie, teamwork, or even romance using the power of EM Waves and a device called 'Transer'. The man's efforts would go on to inspire a new generation to force the BrotherBand to evolve even further beyond the seemingly small limits.
This eventually led to a man named Kelvin Stelar to attempt the impossible and connect planets through the power of BrotherBand. He had found so much happiness thanks to the power of this wonderful bond that he wanted the entire galaxy to share in it. He was able to gather up enough people in order to support his dream, including a gifted young mind in the science world named Aaron Boreal. The two had benefited greatly from this system, becoming best friends as time flew past them. By the time he was suppose to actually go up into space and attempt to form a BrotherBand with other planets, Kelvin was both a husband and father to a seven year old boy. He had a smile plastered on his face when he left his home in Echo Ridge for the Amaken laboratories and blast off into the cosmos.
Kelvin's young son smiled the day he left because he thought that his father would come back to the small house they lived in together. He couldn't possibly imagine that his hero, his dad, would disappear from his life just like that.
The sun's light shined upon a sleeping Geo's face as he rolled around in his bed. The brunette's blue room was covered with many things that would remind anybody anything about space. Yellow stars were engraved into the floor, many books about outer space were out of their shelves, and even a telescope rested right next to the boy. Models of rockets and diagrams of various constellations piled the desk that was under his computer and were beginning to also fall over to the ground. The eight year old was extremely interested in the cosmos it seemed.
After five more minutes of slumber, Geo rose from his mattress and stretched his arms. He rested his arms on the back of his bed hair as he looked sadly outside the window. One year ago, Kelvin Stelar disappeared from Earth after the space station he worked on was mysteriously destroyed. Every time he woke up, he hoped to see his father sleeping in a crater, only to shed a few tears when he saw the front lawn completely intact. He still missed his papa a lot.
"Geo, are you up yet?"
The boy let out a sigh before walking over to his closet. He looked at a shooting star shaped pendant hanging near his clothes and quickly grasped it. Geo placed it near his heart and closed his eyes for a few moments before finally putting the necklace around his neck. He continued slowly getting ready as he put on black shorts and a red hoodie. He walked over to the window beside his bed and looked at his reflection to make sure that he looked presentable to his mother. Before heading downstairs, the young boy pulled up his hood to cover his eyes and gave his pendant one last stare.
Geo's life had changed immensely since last year. He barely talked to anyone other than his mother anymore, he started wearing clothes that made it easy to be ignored, and he went out of his way to hang out in places where no one would ever bother him. The boy was extremely terrified of others now since he was afraid that they would all disappear eventually. He also just couldn't accept the story that his father died a year ago and isolated himself so he could focus on studying space so he could one day search for him out there. For now though, all he could do was find out as much as possible to aid him in his search, and ignoring people was the best way to do that.
Geo's pendant glowed under his hoodie for a split second once he reached the front door. Intending to ignore his mother today, he quickly tried to exit the house, only for her to grab his shoulder. "Geo, honey, why don't you take off the hoodie today? It's going to be extremely hot after all."
"I'm good," the boy whispered before attempting to get out again, only for him to be pulled back by the woman.
"Come on, honey, that's going to kill you in this intense heat. I'm just concerned about you."
The boy gently removed his mother's hand from his shoulder and walked out the door after nodding in response. "I'll be fine. See you around, Mom."
The woman had a look of concern on her face but didn't attempt to stop her son from leaving. She knew that trying to talk him out of doing something was pointless. Still though, she couldn't help but worry whenever Geo did something like this. If he continued to not care about himself or others, he'd end up in a condition where his life would be a constant tragedy that he just couldn't turn around. All she could hope for was that someone would be able to guide him in some way. For now though, she had to be strong enough to get over her husband's disappearance herself. Now wasn't the time to stay depressed over something that happened a year ago.
Geo was walking past the many houses of Echo Ridge when he noticed a girl he had never seen before head towards Vista Point. He wasn't exactly happy to see that someone else would be there while he looked up at the clouds for any sign of his father. He did however have to accept it however since he couldn't really force people to go away just because he didn't want to be anywhere near them. He just hoped that the girl wouldn't actually try to talk to him.
Vista Point was a large hillside area near the school in Echo Ridge. Its main attraction was a huge grey stage that anyone could stand on, but it also had a couple of other notable landmarks that made it an easy to recognize place in the otherwise unremarkable town. The first of them was a flowerbed of yellow daisies that surrounded a stone statue of a hand holding the world that was constructed to celebrate the day Kelvin Stelar would connect Earth with other planets with the BrotherBand…a day that never did come. The second landmark was a railroad and locomotive that served as the last symbols of the town's original purpose as a major exporting city before it turned into a vacation area. The last and probably the most uninteresting of the landmarks was a giant telescope that rested adjacent to the stage. Even though in theory it was the most boring of the three, it still garnered a lot of attention from tourists that wanted to visit the area at night. It was also because of the telescope that Vista Point was Geo's place to go when he wanted to be closer to his father.
When the boy arrived to his favorite spot in the small town, he was a bit annoyed to see the girl he spotted earlier was still there as well. This time however, he actually took some time to observe her and was able to pick out some details about her. She had magenta hair that just reached her shoulders and green eyes. She was wearing a pink sleeveless jacket over a black short sleeve shirt, denim jeans, and blue boots. The most noticeable thing about her however was something Geo couldn't believe he failed to notice when he first caught a glimpse of her. She was wearing a blue and yellow strap over her right shoulder with a yellow guitar connected to it. She held it very tightly, hugging it like it was family. The brunette thought the instrument must have been very precious to her for some reason.
He walked onto the stage and started looking up to the blue sky, letting out a deep breath once he was able to focus on nothing but his own thoughts. He was in alone in his world once again. "Dad, I know you're out there. Why haven't you come back yet? Mom needs you. I need you. I don't want to be alone anymore. Please, help me, Dad!"
"Excuse me."
Geo turned his head to notice the girl tugging at his sleeve. He was confused as to why this girl he never talked to wanted to ask him something. He wanted to just ignore her, but he thought that she wouldn't leave him alone, so he decided it would be best if he did whatever she wanted real quickly. "What's up?"
"I'm new to this town…visiting my papa. He said that he'd be here by the time I got to Vista Point, but I've been waiting here for over two hours. Do you know anyone named Nike Strumm?"
The boy's face turned to one of sadness when he heard that name. Nike Strumm was very well known in Echo Ridge, and not in a positive way. The tropical town wasn't a place that exactly embraced alcoholism…but that didn't mean it was completely sober. Nike Strumm's fame came from the fact that he was a drinker that couldn't admit he had a problem. The residents had tried to get him into rehab only for the man to go back to his ways as soon as he was allowed to leave the sobriety course. He drifted farther and farther into this dangerous lifestyle as the years went by. He was probably in his old rundown house lying down, sweating, in a near death state right about now.
"Sorry, no clue who he is." Geo couldn't break this girl's heart, no matter how much he didn't like other people.
"I see." The girl looked up to the sky before focusing on Geo. "Would you mind staying with me for a little bit then?"
The boy already promised himself that he would do whatever she asked. He really couldn't walk away, especially after she just told him that she was related to the town drunk. "Alright, just for a little bit though. I've got to head home soon."
The girl let out a small smile before dragging him over to the stage.
The two children were leaning against the grey area's railing, looking at the now black sky. Four hours had passed since they first talked and the girl's father still hadn't shown up yet. Geo was beginning to get worried that she would get angry because of the fact she was lied to. One of the few things he could remember his father telling him was that the last thing he should do was get a girl angry, especially because of something big like telling a lie. He was glad that his hood covered a lot of his head, because he thought that small streams of tears could be seen on his face right about now.
The moonlight reflected off of the boy's hoodie as well as off the girl's hair, making the tone seem darker than usual. Geo couldn't help but be amazed at this sight he didn't get to see often. This female definitely looked better while she was radiating silver. The eight year old couldn't help but smile at her even though he was afraid of her rage. He didn't understand what his gut was telling him. On the one hand, he wanted to spend more time with this girl because she seemed so nice. However, he also felt like his life would just get a lot more messed up if he stayed he met up with her more often. He couldn't explain why he felt both safe and in extreme danger while being with her.
"Thanks for staying with me for so long," the girl stated, looking at the night sky.
The brunette turned his head when he heard that. He didn't really do that much in his opinion. The only reason he agreed to that was because of his fear. "It's not a big idea. I only did what most kids would do."
"Most kids probably would have been kind of confused why I wanted to do nothing but look at the stars with someone while waiting for my Papa. You though, you actually stuck by me and watched over me. I have every reason to thank you."
Geo looked up to the sky. He didn't think that this girl would actually be this honest with someone she didn't even know. "I guess thanks then."
The girl gave him a small smile before moving closer to him. "I just realized I forgot to tell you my name; I'm Sonia."
"Geo," The boy replied in a quiet voice. He wasn't really comfortable in sharing personal information such as that, but he decided that was the least he could to replay the girl for her hospitality.
At that moment, a shooting star flew through the night sky, causing the two to be absolutely mesmerized at the absolutely beautiful silver trail. Geo had been star watching for almost his entire life and yet this was the first time he was able to see a path that a meteor took through the atmosphere. It was something he had always wanted to see since that was one of the first things he learned about while studying about outer space. It was through these studies that that he started hoping that his father would be in a space pod and he would go through the sky like a shooting star before landing somewhere near the house. He was actually crying now because of the sudden reminder that Kelvin was still lost out there.
Sonia looked over to her left to notice the boy shedding tears for some reason. Sure the sight was breathtaking, but she didn't think that it was beautiful enough to do something like that to a boy. She started trying to figure out a reason for why it seemed like Geo was sad all of a sudden. Was it really because he loved seeing such amazing sights? Was it because he suddenly felt afraid of her for some arbitrary cause? Could it be that it actually brought up a memory of someone being hurt or even killed while some kind of star storm was going on? Whatever it was, the girl felt like she had to do something to help him.
That's when she decided to wrap her arm around the boy and hold him tightly. The brunette looked up to her and pulled her into a hug. "What are you doing? Do you just hug random people you meet?"
"I don't want to see people cry, simple as that."
"Say…do you have a dream?"
Sonia looked down at Geo, who was still shedding tears. She then smiled before letting go of the boy and holding the guitar tightly. "Yeah, I want to sing songs I wrote for my mama to the world."
The boy stood there silently, listening intently as the girl's grip tightened.
"You see, she was sick from pretty much the moment my papa left us when I was four. All she could do was lie down in bed and sleep. Eventually, I knew I had to do something that would make her feel better. I got the idea to sing to her whenever I could so that she would focus on me instead of the pain she was going through. I was shocked when she told me that I was actually really good at singing. We both had very fond times during those three years, eventually deciding that I should try and be a pop idol. Mama bought me this guitar for my first try out, and I ended up succeeding…but at a heavy price. While I was out, my mama's disease intensified…she was dead by the time I came home."
"I'm real sorry. I shouldn't have asked something like that if it made you think back to such painful memories," the brunette told her, slowly reaching his arm towards her shoulder. However, he forced it to retreat when it reached the halfway point. He just couldn't bring himself to be that close with someone yet. He felt like garbage for getting someone to tell them about their personal troubles and yet couldn't help them when they needed it most. All he could do was look depressed at the ground and avoid eye contact with her. At least he wasn't crying anymore.
Sonia let out a sigh before walking over to Geo and placing her right hand on his shoulder. She was trying her best not to let tears out. "It's fine. I think it's a good thing that I told you part of my story. It always makes me feel better when I let out my inner sorrows a little."
"That's good to hear, but I think I should go now."
"I understand. Just promise me that we'll see each other again. I know it seems weird, but I want to know you better."
Geo looked sadly at her before looking in the opposite direction for a few seconds. He slowly nodded before walking away.
The boy learned a lot from that experience. He discovered that there were still some people that refused to give up on their dreams and that they could achieve it by hard work and perseverance. He figured out that he wasn't the only person that had someone disappear from his life. He came to understand that people weren't easy creatures to understand. He finally found out that there was always reason to believe in the future. Most importantly, he decided that he just wasn't meant to be around humans.
Geo didn't quite understand where the limits of his questioning could actually reach. He couldn't grasp the fact he didn't actually hurt Sonia the way he thought he did. He was convinced that the girl was lying to him about not getting upset with him after pushing her to tears. He didn't want anyone else to be 'scarred' the way she was, so the boy thought it would be best for the town if he just stayed away from now on.
He could just stargaze from his house's roof instead of traveling to Vista Point. He was sure that he would be able to get far in his studies using a program called NetNavis. If he was patient enough, his father would return home soon and be able to help him with his many 'problems'. Geo failed to realize that he was living in a fantasy and that he refused to get out of it.
A/N: Not the best thing ever written I know, I just needed to finish this to set up for the future of this story. I'm not saying the pairing for this story because I think it's already obvious. Anyway, till next chapter.
