W00T! New story! For those unaware, this is based off of the Megaman Star Force series, a.k.a. Ryuusei no Rockman in Japan. Hope you like it! I noticed that it's a little obscure among my English-speaking friends...

Megaman Star Force: Corruption

File 01: Return of the Hero

It had been a few years since the Meteor G and Noise crisis. Though he still went on patrol from time to time, Geo Stelar, now fifteen years old, had enjoyed the relative peace very much. He had his father back, no evil organizations were attacking, and all his friends and family were safe. Life was good, if a little boring. This boredom, however, affected Geo's Wizard, Omega-Xis, referred to as "Mega" for short, much more than it did the boy himself. Omega, like all Wizards, was a sentient digital lifeform composed of electromagnetic, or EM, energy. However, unlike most Wizards, Omega was an alien. Yes, like "space alien." He hailed from the faraway Planet FM, though he himself was born on the neighboring Planet AM. Through a series of events, he had met Geo and formed a unique partnership with him, sharing many adventures over the years. They had saved the world three times, once from an invasion by his fellow FM-ians, a second time from a madwoman trying to bring back a dead civilization's super-weapon, and finally from a giant meteor composed of Noise, the corrupting byproduct of EM technology. Being quite belligerent, he often found himself bored out of his mind in the recent months as his human partner enjoyed his peace. Omega was happy for Geo, but he dearly wanted to get back to beating up the bad guys again.

One night, as the Stelar family was sound asleep, Mega powered up Geo's mobile device, known as a Hunter VG. The device housed Wizards like himself, had an internet browser, email capabilities, and a built-in holographic videophone. Mostly, however, Omega was interested in the browser, if only to check the Satella Police website for any reports of criminal activity. Ever since Meteor G appeared, he and Geo had been working with the Satella Police as special agents, despite the latter's young age. Though not an actual police officer, the blue alien was still grateful for this fact, as bringing criminals in- or down- provided him an outlet for his hotblooded urge to fight. Suddenly, the device registered the arrival of an email. The sender was definitely a member of the Satella Police force, but it wasn't a crime alert. It was a request for a meeting.

"To Omega-Xis: We know you're going a bit stir-crazy sitting at home like that. How would you like to get back in on the action like old times? Come alone to Vista Point in Echo Ridge in ten minutes. You'll be glad you did."

Come alone? Omega wasn't the brightest life-form, but even he knew that this smelled wrong. Why would he have to come alone? Just then, as if aware of his thoughts, the sender sent an addendum:

"Of course, you don't have to come if you're scared. We won't hold it against you..."

"Scared?" Mega thought. It was all he could do to keep from roaring aloud in sheer indignation. "Me, scared? Who the hell do they think I am?"

Stealing out into the moonlit night, the alien hero took a quick glance at his human "brother". Though he was happy that Geo had a peaceful life now, he couldn't stand just sitting around doing nothing all day, every day. They were even at the point where he'd have to practically drag Geo out on patrol, given that they had eradicated most of the Viruses in the area anyway. Even exterminating the few Viruses that still remained was getting to be boring, as they were invariably just the small fries, like Metennas. But was he really doing the right thing, potentially dragging Geo into something he didn't ask for?

Shaking his head, the extraterrestrial warrior muttered, "It'll keep the kid from gettin' soft. He might not like it at first, but he'll be thankin' me when all is said and done."

Arriving at the Vista Point observation deck, which was a mere few blocks away from the Stelars' home, Omega-Xis saw a peculiar sight: a lone man standing there, staring at the stars, clad in crimson armor and with his long blond hair in a flowing ponytail. Given the unique style of his armor, Mega could immediately tell that the man was TransCoded, or fused with an EM being such as himself. It seemed that more and more people were able to do that these days, particularly among the ranks of the Satella Police.

"I'm here. You're the one who called me out, right?"

The man turned calmly, his expression calm. "So I am. Well...That's not entirely true."

At the snap of the man's fingers, four more figures appeared beside him, all in their TransCode forms.

"We called you out as a unit," the man continued, "We want to recruit MegaMan into our unit, but we need to give him a little test first."

"Yeah? Well you're talkin' to one half of MegaMan! Is this part of the test or somethin'?"

"Sort of. We just want you to call your friend out here for us. He seems to be the brains of the outfit, so we didn't think the same method we used to get you out here would work on him too."

"Yeah, so what if the kid is smarter'n me? Anyway, why the heck should I bring him out here? He's asleep. Can't this wait 'til morning?"

"Not if you want to save his girlfriend, it can't," whispered a female voice in Mega's ear.

"Wh-Wha? Who said that?"

One of the figures, revealed to be a female, produced a holographic photo from her Hunter VG. "I did. Take a look at this, will you?"

Omega-Xis was shocked by the contents of the photo. In it was the idol singer Sonia Strumm, who was in fact Geo's actual longtime girlfriend, seemingly unconscious, bound and gagged in some unknown setting, likely a warehouse. Sonia was a capable warrior in her own right, the alter ego of MegaMan's longtime partner, Harp Note, so it came as a shock to see her look so helpless.

"Why you...!" growled Omega-Xis. "Why I oughta...! What'd you clowns do to her? An' where's Lyra? Don't tell me you dunno; she's Sonia's freakin' Wizard!"

"Oh, I assure you they're both quite alright," said the girl in a sinister tone, "And both will be released in such condition once we are able to 'test' Geo. All this is is a bit of motivation."

"Oh yeah? Well I-"

"Wizard...Off," came the command.

Due to his programming, Omega-Xis was forced to dematerialize and go back to his Hunter VG, which, to his great surprise, was a mere few feet away. Geo had followed him to Vista Point.

"I dunno what you've done with Sonia, but judging from Mega's reaction, it's nothing good," the boy said, his eyes like steel. "You said you'd let her go if I took your 'test'. Let's get this over with."

"Then gear up," commanded the man in the crimson armor, "Because this test is a trial by combat."

Raising his left fist, whose arm had the Hunter VG mounted on it, into the air, Geo uttered only a single word: "TransCode!"

In a flash of green flame, the boy and the alien merged into the now-world-famous, azure-armored hero, MegaMan. Readying his signature arm cannon, the MegaBuster, Geo snarled at his opponent. "Let's go!"

Producing what seemed to be the hilt of a sword, the crimson-armored man held it in front of himself and touched his open palm to it. "Hmph, so impatient," he muttered. Moving his open hand slowly away from the hilt as if unsheathing a blade, he activated the weapon, producing an emerald green energy blade roughly as long as Geo was tall. Whoever he was, he had some serious reach.

Even calling upon his past experiences as a warrior, Geo was having trouble with his new opponent. His senses told him that this foe was older and more experienced than he was, but that's about as far as his thoughts usually got before switching to a focus on dodging for life itself. He managed to get a few shots in, but the enemy repeatedly blocked them.

"Peh! You're so predictable!" the enemy warrior bellowed. "To think a kid like you saved the world three separate times! I'm surprised you saved it even once!"

"'Predictable'?" thought Geo, "How am I being...Wait, that's it!"

Briefly pausing to access the Battle Card weapon data the he had uploaded into his Hunter VG previously just for this sort of occasion, Geo accessed a Card titled "MiniGrenade", causing a bomb roughly the size and weight of a baseball to appear in his hand. Flinging it at his enemy for a distraction, Geo used the newly-created gap in the fighting to modify Mega's equipped weapon data. Cycling quickly through the available weapons, he finally settled on the Kaiser Knuckle, a gift from his father and the most powerful non-Card weapon in their possession.

"Wizard On!" Geo shouted, pointing the fully-charged MegaBuster at the enemy. All of a sudden, instead of materializing next to him as normal, Omega-Xis shot out of the gun like a cannonball, fists extended.

"Raaaaargh!" the wild warrior roared as he impacted the enemy's blade.

"Ngh!" their opponent grunted as he was knocked back a fair distance, noticeable cracks spreading across the blade from the point of impact..

Breaking his stance, the man put away his sword. "Hmph, not bad," he muttered before vanishing in a flash of light.

"Get back here!" Geo roared, rushing to the spot where his opponent once stood, readying another Buster shot.

"Geo...Geo, wait...!" he heard a familiar voice plead from behind him. Turning, he was amazed to see Sonia standing there, gasping for breath as if she had been running a long distance.

"S-Sonia?" Geo stammered, "How're you here? I thought these guys-"

"We lied, obviously," said the same mysterious figure that had been taunting him. "Sonia here is one of us. We faked the whole thing!"

"Except for the fight," muttered another one of the figures, a heavily-armored male, "Kenji's gonna be pissed...!"

"It'll be fine," the girl reassured her comrade, "Just give him some space; he doesn't stay mad for long."

"What, is he a sore loser?" Sonia joked, having caught her breath at last.

"He didn't even really lose, though," noted Geo. "We hit him once, that's all."

"He counts it as a loss," offered the male who had spoken earlier, stepping forward.

"Anyway, we all need to get to HQ. You're overdue for a briefing," replied the girl, who by now seemed to be either the leader or second in command, "Don't wanna keep those scientist types waiting, now do we?"

With that, she and her comrades dashed for the Wave Liner station, which served as the main public transit system in Geo's hometown of Echo Ridge and the surrounding areas. With a special pass, Satella Police agents could commandeer the tram and have it take them to their headquarters, which they shared with WAZA, the global authority on EM technology, in the desert region just outside the city. When they got there, however, they were stopped by the Wizard who drove the tram.

"'Scuse me folks, but you'll have to drop out of TransCode before you can come in," he said.

"Ah, right, sorry," the apparent team leader said.

Geo was growing frustrated, for he had yet to see what anyone but the one man in red looked like. The fact that none of the streetlamps seemed to be on didn't help.

Disengaging their TransCode forms, the team entered the tram. At long last, Geo saw the face of his new "frienemies", as Mega had quietly called them, referencing the fact that neither of them could tell whether the others besides Sonia was friend or foe. The one that he assumed was the leader was a tall, slim girl with wavy red hair that came down to her neck, emerald eyes and noticeable freckles peppering her nose, wearing a women's Satella Police standard uniform with a casually unzipped vest and jacket, with a black tank-top underneath. There was also a large, muscular boy who looked a little older than Geo, who had blond hair and blue eyes, wearing a simple t-shirt and jeans. Geo assumed he was the one in the armor. He couldn't tell who the others corresponded to, but at least he could see them now. One of the remaining ones had long, straight black hair drawn into stylish bangs and a ponytail, wearing an oversized white sweatshirt and a short, beige skirt. The other was a girl also, with brown hair and a kind face, though her expression seemed unchanging. She wore a black tracksuit which was rather conspicuously too large for her, as if she was trying to cover something up.

Before Geo could get a better look at the last member, the raven-haired one caught his attention.

"Hey! Hey, you! MegaMan!"

"Um, it's Geo."

"Sorry, sorry!" the girl said cheerfully, "I didn't know! Anyway, can I see your-"

"Don' let 'er 'see' anything of value if you want to keep it, mate," said the red-headed girl, a wry smile on her face.

"Aw, Red!" the other girl whined.

"Don' you try that on me, missy," Red chided, "The last time ye asked me if you could 'see' something o' mine, I ended up losing me best Battle Cards trying to get it back from you!"

"Hmph!" the other girl huffed and fell silent.

Noticing that the girl called "Red" was speaking in a moderate accent, Sonia chimed in, saying, "Hey, Red? What type of accent is that? Cockney?"

Hearing this, the freckled girl's eyes glittered like actual emeralds as she smiled. "Yeah, 'tis! Looks like someone's been doin' 'er homework, eh? Ever been to the UK before?"

"Yeah, once or twice while I was on tour," Sonia said, blushing.

"But how come you weren't using an accent before?" Geo asked.

"Ah, you're wondering about that, are you? It's an ability of my Wizard's. While TransCoded, I can mask my identity any way I please. A staple way I do that is by 'changing' my accent."

"We're here!" called the driver, "You kids had better get ready! I've received word that some important meeting is about to start!"

"Oh bollocks, we're late!" Red muttered under her breath. "Alright, ladies and gents, we all heard the man; let's get ready to disembark this fine vessel!"

"You can tell she's not in the best of moods when she talks like that," the bigger boy whispered in Geo's ear in accented English, "She likes to sound more and more 'impressive' and 'proper' the worse and worse her mood gets!"

"And I'd appreciate it so very much if my friends didn't talk behind my back, 'Fried!" Red shot back.

"Sorry, Sorry," the boy mumbled.

"Are you German?" Geo asked him, guessing from the older-looking boy's accent.

"Why yes, yes I am!" the boy replied excitedly.

"Sorry to interrupt, guys," Sonia said, interrupting them, "We've stopped. It's time to get off now."

Entering the lobby of the building, the group found someone waiting for them, leaning on one of the pillars. He was a boy about the same age as Red and the others, wearing a white tank top and tattered blue jeans over worn work boots. On his left shoulder, he had an ominous-looking tattoo of a dragon curled around some symbol, which Geo couldn't make out because the whole thing had a large, X-shaped scar through it. From the tattoo, unkempt black hair and wild, fierce-looking eyes, Geo got the impression that this wasn't exactly the type of guy his mother would like him to associate with.

"You're late," he growled, looking directly at Red, who didn't seem phased.

"I know, love. Sorry 'bout that. Has the meeting started yet?"

"Tch. Not yet; they're waiting for us. If we wait much longer, I'm gonna catch hell from both Boreal and Ace."

"No way!" Geo exclaimed ecstatically, "Ace is here, too?" Ever since his older friend had miraculously escaped almost-certain death during the Noise incident a few years ago, Geo had always become excited at the prospect of seeing him, much like a younger boy who hadn't seen his older brother for a long time.

"Yup," grunted the delinquent, "Candy-munchin' loon was the the one who came up with this nutty idea to begin with...Meeting at night in the wee hours? I mean come on!"

"Now, hush," chided Red. "He 'as his reasons. It's not like either of us had 'plans' t'night anyway," she finished slyly, causing Sonia to blush as Kenji just grinned.

When the group entered into the main conference room, they were greeted by Geo and Sonia's older friend A.C. Eos, more-commonly known by his nickname, "Ace", and Aaron Boreal, Geo's godfather in all but name, and one of the higher-ranking scientists at WAZA, as well as one of the foremost experts on EM Wave technology in the entire world. Once everyone was seated, Ace began the presentation.

"Evening, folks," he began, "Bet you're all wondering why we're calling you out here at this hour."

When Kenji began to nod eagerly at this, Red shot him a look.

"It's fine, Rebecca, he can say what he wants. It's true, it's really late...But I trust you all know we wouldn't call you out here this late if it wasn't important."

Blushing at the usage of her proper name, Red spoke up, saying, "So, wot's this about, Ace? Something about the Noise trouble escalating?"

"Sounds like the lady wants to talk business!" Ace said teasingly, then changed his expression to a serious one, continuing, "So let's talk business, then. Yes, there's been a new development on the Noise front. Mr. Boreal, if you'd be so kind, I'll leave the more-technical part of this to you."

Nodding, the man stood up. He had kind, rounded face, but Geo could tell something big was happening, because he looked serious. According to his memory, when the normally-jovial Mr. Boreal got serious like this, it was a good idea to follow suit.

"As we all know," he began, activating the hologram projector built into the round table they were all sitting at, "Noise is a byproduct of everyday EM tech usage. It's also a highly dangerous material, capable of corrupting and twisting anything related to EM technology, from appliance operating systems to even Wizard data."

Geo shivered. He knew firsthand what Mr. Boreal was talking about. A few years ago, Wizards who had been changed and driven insane by Noise, called "Noise Wizards", had run amok, with only him, his friends, and some elite members of the Satella Police to stop them.

"Now, recently, we've discovered a new Noise phenomenon. Take a look at the hologram, please."

"It's...an image of the night sky?" Geo asked, confusedly. He was, thanks to years of near-obsessive study, pretty well-versed in astronomy- at least, as well-versed as a teenager could get, but at first glance, he was just as baffled as the other members of Boreal's audience.

"Yes, Geo, but what's odd about it?"

"Well...You can't really see the Big Dipper or the rest of Ursa Major, for that matter, even though they'd normally be in this picture, judging by the positions of the other stars. But wait...This picture was taken on a clear night, and there's nothing in the sky!"

"Correct. There's nothing in the sky. I'm afraid, however, that we have to look much deeper- or higher, as the case may be- than just the sky."

"Space?" offered Sonia.

"Exactly, Sonia. This is another case of a Noise-generated object on a crash-course with Earth."

"Then why'd you call all of us?" Kenji asked apathetically. Jabbing a thumb in Geo's direction, he said, "Just send the kid back up there. He took it down last time, didn't he?"

"The short answer: because this isn't like last time."

"How so?"

"First of all, this meteor. We over at WAZA have been considering calling it 'Meteor Z', both in homage to Meteor G and as an expression that this might very well be the last thing, most of us see."

"Is it comprised of some new kind of Noise?" asked Geo.

"Yes, Black Noise. Unlike the Crimson Noise you're used to dealing with, this stuff corrupts and destroys everything- and I mean everything- it touches, chiefly among them EM-Wave items and organic matter."

"How do we know it affects organic matter?" asked the girl who had purportedly tried to swindle Geo earlier.

After a moment of silence, Ace responded, saying, "We tried to throw some tissue samples at it to see what would happen. They went in one side and didn't come out the other. This is indicative of what might happen if a human being touched it, 'cause our samples included every kind of human tissue you could imagine. This is worse than Meteor G, folks. We're not talking impact damage here, not the end of EM tech...The entire world is literally at stake this time."

"Well, that's certainly a fine mess," Red muttered, "But wot can we do, then?"

"Well, that actually ties into the next part of my presentation," Mr. Boreal said. "Some of it has actually come to Earth already, but thankfully in minuscule amounts. It's still enough to cause major bugs and defects in Wizard programming, though. We've dubbed this effect the 'Maverick Virus'."

"Maybe it's because I'm not much of a tech guy, but I don't get it," Kenji said, "I thought Viruses were those little EM Wave critters we destroy as part of our Satella Police duties?"

"Yes, but think about what those Viruses represent," replied Mr. Boreal, "They represent bugs in programming...And on a smaller scale, that's exactly why we can call this thing a Virus."

"I get it," said Geo, "Basically, instead of corrupting devices and things like that like normal Viruses, this Virus corrupts Wizards!"

"Exactly. I knew you'd catch on!" Mr. Boreal crowed, "And now, back over to Ace for the 'what you can do about it' part."

Clearing his throat, Ace said, "Basically, the higher-ups and I have called you guys here because you're the best and brightest of our troops. As you know, the Satella Police serves as both the actual police force and the defense force. This unit is to be a specialized team, with the sole purpose of hunting down Mavericks, or those Wizards who have been affected by the Maverick Virus."

"So, we find them and beat them, and then they'll be restored like other Noise Wizards?" Sonia asked hopefully.

"Sorry, Sonia, but I'm afraid that's not how it works this time around. There's no turning back for these Wizards. They have to be fully deleted."

Clearing his throat again to lessen the resulting chatter, Ace continued, "Now on to the boring administrative stuff. Kenji, you're already leader of this outfit, and Red is second-in-command."

"Yeah, not like that's anything new," the belligerent youth replied.

"I'll be the liaison between the top brass and this team. I'll also be handing out most of your missions for the time being, so expect to be seeing a lot of me in the near future."

"Not that we mind, love," Red replied teasingly, visibly annoying Kenji, who shot her a dirty look.

"And there's one more member of your team, but she's not a combat unit. Basically, she'll be your team's medic, sticking with you in case someone needs a quick dose of field medicine."

"And where is this 'final member'?" Kenji asked.

"She's on monitor duty tonight, but she's already been told the details. Her shift's almost over, so just stick around until she meets you guys in the lobby, alright?"

"Well, this sucks," Kenji muttered after about ten minutes of waiting in the lobby. "Is she really that busy?"

"Ace did say our team is made up of 'the best and the brightest'," Red offered, "So maybe 'monitor duty' just means she's overseeing things in the infirmary?"

"Peh, whatever. Just wake me up if or when she gets here, will ya?"

"Will do. You're less cranky once you've gotten some sleep, anyway."

"Watch it, 'Becca..."

"Hush now."

Feeling a distant shock, Omega-Xis whispered to Geo, "Hey kid, did you feel that?"

"I think so," Geo muttered, "But what was that?"

"Thought it felt like some kinda explosion or something, but pretty far off..."

At that moment, everyone there received a conference call from an unknown number on their Hunter VG's.

On the screen, the face of their apparent new comrade looked worried and exhausted. Her black hair, which looked like it was supposed to be straight, was disheveled, almost as if she had just pulled at it from sheer stress. The news she brought wasn't much better than the state she was in.

"I'm guessing you people are the Maverick Hunters I'm supposed to join," she began. "So you'll probably find this relevant. Meteor Z just did something very unexpected...Look!"

As she said this, footage of the black mass against the twilight sky outside showed something quite disturbing. Just then, not even ten minutes ago, the Noise mass had broken off a chunk of itself, sending the chunk hurtling towards the Earth at frightening speeds.

"Well, that certainly was fast," Kenji muttered, "Not even two hours on the job and already the world's ending around my ears."

"We can't just sit here!" shouted Geo, standing up, "We've gotta stop it! I've got the highest Noise resistance, so I'll do it!"

"Hold on!" cried their new friend. "It's dangerous to go out there alone! Take this!"

As she said this, new Battle Card data was uploaded into Geo's VG.

"'Reversal'?" Geo said, reading the card's name, "What's that supposed to do?"

"Exactly what it says on the tin, hopefully," the girl in the holographic screen said. "I've never been able to test it, so I'm not sure."

"An experimental card, huh?" asked Kenji.

"Well, I say go for it!" said Sonia. "I mean, what have we got to lose?"

"Well there's his life, for starters, the stressed-looking girl said grimly.

"If he doesn't do it now, when will 'e?" asked Red. "Go on, give it a go!"

"Here goes nothing," Geo muttered.

"Heh...After all that, you're still goin', huh? You've got guts, kid. I'll give ya that," commented Kenji as he stood. "We're not lettin' our youngest member go alone, though. What kinda team would we be if we did?"

"Guys..." Geo said.

"Enough talk! Maverick Hunters, TransCode and move out!"

Once the group had transformed, they rushed out to face the new threat head-on. Geo was thankful for the help, even if he didn't fully trust these new people just yet. Against this threat, he knew, he'd need all the help he could get...And he also realized something else:

Megaman was back in action.

So? So? How was it? Go ahead and post some reviews...And if anyone would like to brush up on the canon, the Megaman franchise has its own wiki, known as Megaman Knowledge Base. Or...You could just PM me, for convenience. Your call. ^_^;;