OathToOblivion: So we basically had nothing better to do when we made this, right?
The Aeon Offspring: Well, I wanted to get back into story writing and figured writing with a guy I knew would be the easiest way to do it.
OathToOblivion: I guess. Admittedly, I wanted to do the same as well. ...But I honestly also never have anything better to do, so…
The Aeon Offspring: Welp, we're doing it, so might as well make it an enjoyable ride. Right?
OathToOblivion: That just goes without saying, yeah. Hope you guys out there enjoy!
VG Heroes: Defenders of the Game World
Episode 01 - Unexpected Arrivals in the Game World
"Okay," a sixteen year old girl said to herself as she finished getting dressed and looked at her mirror. Her blonde hair that had a hint of strawberry blonde coloring was poofy and had her bangs centered to the middle of her forehead. Just the way she liked it!
As usual, she had on her glasses which seemed to slide a bit to where they looked like they were under her eyes. Said eyes were an odd color: purple.
Today, she decided to dress in a white shirt with purple short sleeves. It was the type of shirt that also had longer grey sleeves stitched under the short ones. The chest area of the shirt had a large purple heart design.
If one were to look in her closet, they'd find that almost all of her clothes had the color purple.
She wouldn't admit it, though.
To finish today's outfit, she had on blue jeans and converse shoes… which were purple.
"You've done bigger things than this. Going back to school isn't a big deal," she kept telling herself, and she was almost starting to believe it, too.
Almost.
"Amy! Are you done?" the girl's mother called out.
"Yeah! Almost, mom!" Amy Winston replied as she picked up her, surprisingly, red backpack. "Oh, almost forgot!" She went to her desk and pocketed her 3DS. Gotta have something to do before class starts, after all.
With that, Amy left her house and got in her mom's car, anxious for her first day back in high school.
Meanwhile...
'Guuuuhhh, I can't go back to sleep,' a young man thought to himself as he laid on his bed, a sleep mask covering his eyes.
'I haven't been woken up by my dad yet, so it must be a bit early.' He thought things were a bit odd, though. For starters, he felt the most rested he had been in a long time!
Which was odd considering he had so much trouble sleeping, because he always had trouble going to sleep on Monday nights.
"Might as well get up now…" he muttered to himself.
As he got into the bathroom, he only now noticed the changes that've happened to him.
"What in the-?!" He backed up against the wall at his reflection, 'M-my body, my hair!'
He couldn't help but touch his smaller stomach. "H-HOW?!" He wasn't exactly fat, but this was a significant amount of weight lost!
Not only that, but his very dark brown hair was also longer, and significantly less curly…
'Th-this isn't unwelcome, but…. HOW?!'
The ride to school didn't do him any favors in calming down.
'Mom's here… she's supposed to be away at Panama until around the end of May!' That's not counting the fact that he's been aged back to 16 and both him and his entire family's names have changed!
'Rhodel "Rhody" Westwood… what the heck kind of a name is that?!' Rhody felt like he might get beaten up for having a name like that!
'Guh, whatever. I may have to redo the 10th grade, but at least this school's modernized,' he thought while glancing at the laptop in his bag.
Rhody originally thought that this was some sort of Self-Insert Scenario… and he still did, but some things just weren't right.
For starters, the things that would usually be next to him when he woke up, a Weapon or Transformation Device, weren't there.
He still had his White WizarDriver from Kamen Rider Wizard, but that was still a toy.
Something… just felt wrong...
'Something...is not right,' another young man, who lived further north of the other one, decided as he got on the bus.
Let's see...being deaged to 16, being sent back to high school because of that, the world still being as modern as it was supposed to be even though this had happened…
The fact that his family's entire names were different…
Yep, all the boxes on the weird-o-meter were being checked off for him.
'Chris Collins...that's got to be one of the most generic names I have ever heard…' he decided.
Usually, this'd be the cue for him to be in some kind of self-insert scenario like the ones he had written in the past. He'd half-expected equipment of some kind to be sitting next to him.
However, he had yet to find anything of the sort so far. Something was definitely off…
'At least I'll be able to fix the mistakes I made in college…'
The High School was just that, a high school.
Various kids were milling about, talking to each other or on their school issued computers, messing about on what sites weren't blocked by the school.
'Hopefully they fixed all the issues that could happen with a digital curriculum…' Rhody thought as he walked towards what he was pretty sure was his first period class. That's what it said on his schedule.
'I was about to graduate, why must my suffering continue!?' He kinda felt like crying right now at having to relive his high school life. The only things that made it bearable before was the few friends that he had.
But now? He wasn't exactly the social sort, so making new friends would be kinda hard…
Rhody sat down near the door to his first class of the day and sighed.
This was gonna be a long day…
'Well, this might not be as long a day as I thought,' Chris thought to himself, looking at the laptop that was apparently issued to him by the school of all things.
...Granted, it wasn't the first time he'd been through something like that. Back when he'd actually been in high school, he'd gotten his own laptop for use at the science magnet school he'd gone to every other day.
But that had been shared with someone who came in on the opposite day from him. This was a laptop specifically assigned to him.
It was weird, to put it lightly, but he wasn't going to complain just yet.
One thing he did note as strange, though, was that he was still the person he usually was on the Internet. The only difference was that the RPs he'd created, not to mention the others he had played in...they didn't exist.
"I'm half-tempted to talk to the guys on SB about this…" he muttered under his breath.
But...they probably wouldn't believe him.
But he knew who would.
"Come on, Joker, be awake right now…" Chris muttered, heading over to .
As he did this, someone else came into the classroom.
It was a girl. A glasses wearing blond that, with the way she dressed, looked like she loved the color purple. She wasn't really paying attention to her surroundings as she took a seat, due to playing her 3DS and wearing earbuds.
Meanwhile, Chris had failed to get in contact with the person he had wanted to get in contact with.
'Dang it, Joker, why do you have to be weird with when you're not around?!' he thought in exasperation.
Looks like he wasn't going to be able to talk to anyone about his situation at the moment…
"Typical," he sighed, casting his gaze around.
About the only noteworthy thing he could see was the girl playing her 3DS. From the sound of it, it was Smash Bros.
'Which I don't have the 3DS version of...not that I brought my 2DS in the first place...that reminds me that I still need to get Corrin and Bayonetta for the Wii U version,' he abruptly remembered.
Since he was 16 again now...maybe it'd be easier to convince his parents?
Well, nothing to do now but read Fanfiction…
Time passed, and the warning bell for classes to start rang out. The girl heard and began to put her things away. She jumped a bit in surprise at the fact that someone else was here, but otherwise paid no mind.
So, the first day of school began.
Meanwhile…
In another world, closely connected to our own, blue data streamed down the walls of a sort of central nexus connecting the different realms of the other world.
It was calm, and peaceful, aside from the occasional passerby on their way from one realm to visit their friends in another.
But one person in particular noticed something...unusual.
Every now and then, the light blue walls of the nexus would abruptly flash to a violent red, junk code filling the walls.
It would revert back in a fraction of a second, but every time it happened, the coding seen in the regular walls was slightly corrupted.
It was beginning to add up...
"Well then...this might be a problem," Biometal Model X mused to himself.
Indeed it was, because suddenly alarms started blaring all across the space, startling the few that were there.
And strange figures started emerging from the ground in streams of corrupt coding.
Model X's eyes widened. He'd heard reports about these creatures, but they were getting into the central nexus?!
Just then, one of the glitchy figures, resembling one of Neo Arcadia's Pantheons, turned its optic on a little rabbit girl, who was trembling in fear.
Well, there was only thing he could do now.
In a flash of light, Model X zoomed towards her...before transforming back into his true form, obliterating the Pantheon with a Charged Shot from his Mega Buster Mk. XVII.
Standing in front of the rabbit girl was X Light, better known as Mega Man X.
"M-Mr. X…" she said in relief and some fear.
"Go home, Cream. Run as fast as you can. I'll take care of them," X said seriously, turning his attention to the remaining glitchy figures. Unlike the Pantheon, they didn't deign to reveal what they actually looked like, rushing at him.
As Cream the Rabbit ran back to her own realm, X sighed. 'Looks like they're not giving me much choice in the matter,' he thought to himself, before leaping into action.
Earth, a few hours later…
'Welp, gotta give it to this place. This school's more unique than my old one,' Rhody thought as he walked across the school grounds, other students milling about.
School had just ended a bit earlier than usual. This was due to wanting to give students an opportunity to explore the various clubs they had on campus.
'I'll never understand how those robotics guys do it,' he thought to himself as he walked, pamphlet in hand. 'The Directory said the Game Club would be in the 500 building…'
'Let's see, it's here, and I see some people gathering around into the room, too.'
There were a few people, enough to where it looked like the Club wouldn't get pulled for lacking members. One of them was a blond who was wearing purple and another was a dark skinned fellow who had a red jacket and a blue Mario shirt under it, along with beige cargo pants.
'Ah, there are some nice shirts,' Rhody thought as he looked at his purple Encoding Vile shirt and brown khakis.
"It's nice to meet some of my people after a long day at school," he joked as he walked up to the door, getting the attention of the girl and boy.
"Um, thanks? I… like your shirt," the blond complimented, not knowing how to respond to the previous comment.
"Thanks." 'Woo hoo, first positive interactions of the day!'
Said dark-skinned fellow, as it turned out, was Chris.
He had been going to go home right as class had let out, but his mom had called him and said that under no circumstances was he not joining a club this year.
'I knew it…'
And now this guy had appeared, being a weirdo...he wasn't sure what to say, honestly…
"So…" 'Aw crap, ran out of things to say.' "My name's Rhody, what are yours?"
"Amy…" the girl said, voice not exactly loud.
"Um...it's...Chris," Chris mentioned, although it was hesitant. It wasn't like it was normally his name, after all…
"Right…" 'Okay, things have shifted onto awkward…' "So, what are you guys thinking about this club?"
"Well, it looks nice," Amy began, "It'd be nice to practice Smash with actual people, that's for sure."
"Honestly, I didn't want to join any clubs," Chris admitted. "But my mom insisted, and anyway it's a Video Game thing, so I guess it's fine…" he started mumbling.
"I can sorta say the same. I'm more likely just to go home most of the time due to being busy." Rhody remembers the reason why he stopped attending clubs in the first place, school work.
"Um…" Chris had no idea what to really say. He wasn't one to really talk to people who he didn't know...and he didn't know either of them. Given the whole situation he was in as well...well, it was pretty obvious that he was kinda out of it.
"So..." Surprisingly, it was Amy that broke the ice, "what games do you like, Chris?"
"Um...I guess anything Nintendo-related?" Chris mentioned.
"Well, I was more talking about specific genres, but it's nice to see someone who hasn't jumped ship when it comes to Nintendo," she said, seemingly more comfortable in talking about this.
"What about you, Amy?" Rhody asked the blond.
"Well, I honestly prefer Retro-Styled RPGs," she admitted. "It's what I like to make when messing around with my computer."
Chris blinked in surprise. "You...make games?"
"Eh?" 'Oh no, I didn't mean to say that!' "W-well, it's just something I do for fun…" She looked away, blushing a bit and rubbing her shoulder.
"That's still really cool!" Rhody admitted.
"Please not so loud…" Amy looked like she's blushing a bit harder.
"Well...I mean, it is cool. I doubt I'd be able to do anything like that…" Chris complimented.
"That's not entirely true. I'm sure you could make a ball rolling game in Unity or Unreal Engine… Granted, those need tutorials for anyone not familiar with them, but still," Rhody admitted.
"You make games, too?" Amy questioned.
"More like try to make games. My attempts were rather… eh. I just stick with tutorials on Youtube until I get the hang of things." 'I'm not in Tech School, here, so this is a good enough excuse.'
"I guess that's kinda neat…" Amy mutters.
There was a bit of an awkward pause, as no one had anything else to say.
'...Awkward.'
X dodged under the blast from the last one of the glitch creatures. He had scorch marks across his armor, but he had just about wrapped things up.
All he had to do was deal with this, and…
Wait, where'd it go?!
-SNRK-
"Guh-!" X got his answer in the form of a blade that was inserted into his back, drawing sparks as well as synthetic fluids.
The suddenly-appearing glitch creature seemed to let off a staticy chuckle, driving the blade further into X's frame. For a moment, X could have sworn he had seen a certain (Σ) symbol in the creature's eyes.
X gritted his teeth in pain, and narrowed his eyes in determination. He started glowing with energy, causing the creature to panic. It withdrew its sword, about to try to attack X again before he could do anything…
...But X grabbed its hand, ignoring the damage the direct contact was doing to his arm.
"Giga...CRUSH!" he roared, a burst of light and energy erupting from his body and obliterating everything around him in the blink of an eye.
As the light died down, those few bystanders all decided to head for the hills, retreating back to their own realms.
As for X...he had reverted to Model X, who was sparking intermittently.
"Ekh...that's not good," he noted. "I had that much trouble with them, and because of that last attack, I've lost access to my Reploid form. Given the circumstances...I have no choice. I have to call her," he decided.
'Welp, I guess that was okay,' Rhody thought as he walked to the student pick up.
The club looked fun enough, so he decided to sign up for it. Though he doesn't know if he can attend every meeting.
'I guess it was alright…' Chris decided. He wasn't sure about the whole club thing, though. Last time he'd gone to one was in middle school, and…
...Well, he honestly didn't remember much of it.
Amy was walking there as well, only lagging behind significantly due to focusing on her 3DS.
"Huh?" The top screen was starting to go to static. "What the-?" Amy tried to smack it a couple of times to get it working again, to no luck. 'Oh no, am I gonna have to buy a new one?'
Suddenly, a white light started to emit from the screen, forcing Amy to close her her eyes.
The sudden light, plus noises, attracted Chris's attention. "Huh?" he wondered, turning around to see the light emitting from the 3DS.
"...Okay, I'm pretty sure it's not supposed to do that," he decided.
"Not supposed to do whhaaaaaaaa-?" Rhody was now gaping at the lightshow.
"Guys, why are you two the only ones noticing this besides me?!" Amy yelled as she looked at the other now distant students.
"Huh? What are you talking abou-Oh dammit, is it one of these scenarios?!" Rhody cursed as he looked back. "Amy, drop or toss the thing!"
'Oh man oh man oh man oh man-!' Chris thought in alarm as he realized where Rhody's thoughts were going.
But another thought crossed through his mind for a fleeting second. 'Maybe this is why I've woken up like this?'
Meanwhile, Amy decided to do what Rhody said, and toss the 3DS, though with hesitance.
Unfortunately, this did not stop the light, as it grew brighter and enveloped all three of them, game handheld included…
If Chris could compare the portal he, Amy and Rhody were going through, it would be like the ones from Doctor Who's opening sequences.
'We even have someone named Amy with us!' he thought deliriously.
Amy, meanwhile, unlike the other two, wasn't so much delirious, as she was more panicking.
'Why, why is this happening again!?' She had already saved Gemworld, hadn't she? Did Dark Opal come back, or did a new threat appear?
The worst part is that she had accidently gotten two uninvolved guys into this.
The three made impact with the ground with a loud thump.
"Oooohh, anyone feel nauseous right now?" Rhody asked as he tried to get up, with minimal success.
"Owwwwwww…" Chris groaned, having landed face first.
At least he hadn't broken his glasses…
"I'm just glad we're okay…" Amy said as she got up, surprisingly quick compared to the others. "Woah." One look at the place made her eyes go wide.
This definitely wasn't Gemworld.
Rather than a medieval-esque countryside, it was instead a futuristic looking city, with data streaming up into the sky.
It looked like...some kind of central nexus or something.
"What is this place?" Chris asked as he got back onto his feet.
"I have no clue…" Amy answered, looking around the place in awe.
"Um, guys." Rhody yelled as he stalked back. "Uh, what's happening over there?"
A wall was glowing red, data looking like it was… corrupting.
"That...doesn't really look good," Chris decided, worried. First they get pulled in who knows where, now this?
The corruption wasn't stopping though. It was increasingly infected the wall in front of them…
...And then it hit the floor and began creeping towards them.
'Uh-oh,' was the thought that ran through all three of their heads.
"Friggin' RUN AWAY!" Rhody screamed as he hot footed in the opposite direction of the corruption. Chris and Amy did not need to be told twice.
"WHAT EVEN IS GOING ON?!" Chris yelled, running as fast as he could. He abruptly remembered that he didn't really have much actual stamina...but considering what was behind them, he couldn't exactly stop.
"DON'T STOP DON'T STOP DON'T STOP!" Amy had already gotten in front of the two boys, running faster than either of them.
'How the heck is she that fast?!'
"Guys-Guys wait up!" Rhody wheezed. "I'm not-*WHEEZE*-not exactly fit, here!" The corruption was getting closer! It would start to nip at his heels at this rate!
The three kept running as fast as they could, before Rhody tripped due to his exhaustion.
"Rhody!" Amy heard the thump from his fall, and ran back to try and get him away. It was almost at him!
...And then it just stopped short of him by a half a foot.
"*WHEEZE*Am-*WHEEZE*-am I dead?"
Chris panted in exhaustion. "Thankfully, no..." he said in relief...and exhaustion.
'But what's even going on?!'
Amy grabs Rhody's arms and with some effort, drags him away from the area they ran away from.
"Th...thanks," he panted out. "Hey… uh, I don't think I can move my legs, so-"
"I'm not gonna drag you around," Amy quickly told the exhausted boy with a glare.
"Yeah… that's fair," Rhody sighed as he dragged himself to a wall to try and get up, but was then assisted by Amy. "Um, I know that this is a city, but it's more like a ghost town when actually looking around…"
"Yeah…" Chris agreed, doing just that. "Seriously, what is this place?" he wondered.
"The central nexus of Game World...or at least, it's supposed to be," a voice rang out, startling Chris. And only Chris.
He swiveled around in shock, seeing the floating thing in front of him. He recognized it. "M-Model X?" he said in shock.
"Model whaaaaAAAAOH MY GOSH!" Amy covered her mouth in shock and practically had stars in her eyes. The same could be said for Rhody.
"Huh, you heard me. Not many people can hear me like this," Model X noted. "Anyway, you should probably tell your friends what it is I'm saying."
"U-Uh...r-right," Chris agreed nervously.
He was speaking to Biometal Model X...the container for the soul of Mega Man X…
"G-Guys...X...apparently only I can hear him, b-but he said this was the central nexus of s-some place called Game World," he relayed
"Huh?!" Amy gave Chris a very surprised look. 'I-is this like Gemworld, then?'
"Wait, if you can hear X…" Rhody couldn't believe it. Chris was-!
"Looks like your friend has cottoned on," Model X observed. "The fact that you are able to hear me means that you might be a Biomatch for me."
"W-WHAT?!" Chris said in shock. How the hell was he of all people compatible with X?! There's no way!
"I'm guessing X just told him what I was thinking," the other boy muttered.
"Ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh!" Meanwhile, Amy seemed to be having the opposite of a panic attack.
"H-How can I be a Biomatch with you?!" Chris said, completely floored.
"It's an interesting question," Model X agreed. "You don't have any cybernetics to bridge the gap between Reploid and human, but you can still hear me. Anyway, we're getting side-tracked," he realized. "Sorry for calling you all here so suddenly. Although I have to admit, I wasn't expecting three of you…"
Chris hastily relayed this to the others, although he was slightly floored. X was the reason this had happened?
'Wasn't expecting three of-' "Oh…" Amy was starting to see why they were here. "Um, X, if I can call you X, did… did you mean to only bring me here?"
"What are you talking about, Amy?" Rhody questioned. 'What would X want with someone like her?'
"Huh?" Chris blinked in confusion.
X was silent for a moment, before bobbing up and down in the air. "I'm sorry you had to get dragged into things again, Princess Amethyst," he apologized. "But Gemworld was not the only part of the Game World you were meant to help."
"...Wait, what?! Amy's a princess?!" Chris said, completely floored yet again.
"Don't know what you just said, but judging from Chris' reaction, you know who I am." she scratched the back of her head, not exactly wanting to reveal this type of thing. "So, uh, over the summer, I kinda got sucked into the video game I made and turns out I'm a Princess there. I got pulled in to stop the villain I made, Dark Opal, who, due to a glitch in my game, ended up crashing it every time a player went to beat him…"
"...What." Rhody was… giving her a rather flat look. Not that he didn't believe her just… this sounded remarkably similar to something, he just couldn't remember what.
Chris's head was beginning to spin.
'Okay, so Amy was some kind of princess...who got sucked into her own video game, and had to have some kind of adventure...and now X of all people needed her help. Where the heck does what happened to me fit into all this?! Am I dreaming?!'
Still, he managed to regain enough composure to at least relay what X had said.
"Right… I figured I was needed for all this. I'll help anyway I can, X, but we should probably get these two guys back to Earth, first."
"As much as I'd like to do just that...the situation I called you for has made travel back to Earth all but impossible right now."
"...I shouldn't even be surprised at this point," Chris sighed, once again relaying the message.
"Great.." 'Okay, Amy, no need to start worrying,' she thought as she started looking through her backpack. 'I just hope it appeared-' "Aha!" Amy pulled out a tiara, one that had purple gemstones embedded into it, presumably amethysts. "Okay. X, do you have a base or something where these two can stay safe?"
"Well, I do know of a building nearby that's safe enough. I'll show you where it is," X mentioned.
Just as Chris had relayed that, the streams of coding in the air started flashing red again.
"OH THAT JUST FIGURES!" Rhody shouted.
"X, get those guys out of here!" Amy put the tiara in front of her. "I can take care of this."
Amy tapped the center gem, creating a bright flash of light surrounded her. Her glasses snapped in half. Tiara now on her head, she glew a radiant purple before appearing with her hair much longer and now a shade of orange. She also sported a purple battle dress, pieces of armor flashing onto her.
The whole thing seemed to come straight from a Magical Girl show, she even did a pose that wouldn't look too out of place in Sailor Moon.
Amy Winston had become Princess Amethyst.
"...What?" Rhody stared in shock, mostly because he now remembered who Amy really was.
"Uh…" Chris was speechless.
"No time to lose. Both of you, follow me!" X urged, flying in a specific direction.
"Right, just don't expect Sonic the Hedgehog speed here," Rhody remarked as he trudged on his still tired legs to where X was going. He could get the gist of what he needed him to do.
Amethyst tapped her hip guards, which made her Amethyst Sword and Shield appear in her hands. The Glitches were forming into what she recognized as Variants, from Mega Man Zero 4.
"Chris, hurry and get out of here!" She went charging in as more Variants started to form.
"U-Uh...r-right!" he said nervously, booking it along with Rhody.
A Variant Fire aimed at Amethyst and shot its energy pellets at her, but the Princess had lifted her shield in the nick of time, blocking the attack and slashing the Glitch in half.
She was given little reprieve as her eyes widened at a Variant Missile fired its rocket launcher five times at her, making her roll out of the way right into a Variant Claw! Amethyst raised her shield just in time to prevent the Glitch from hitting her. The Missile fired a salvo again, and the Princess rolled out of the way, making the explosives destroy the Claw!
Amethyst threw her blade at the Missile, making it blur into a disk. The Glitch fired again, but the sword was too close, causing an explosion.
That didn't end the Variant, but the blade in its head did.
She ran up to her weapon and retrieved it, just as new foes began to appear.
"These guys just keep coming, huh?" The Glitches were starting to take the shape of another Mega Man enemy, Galleons.
Their eyes flashed red as two Assaults leapt to attack the Princess.
Meanwhile, it was an odd sight to see two teens run after a flying object. However, no one else was around to really witness it.
"How much-*HUFF*-farther?!" Rhody wasn't so much as running as he was hobbling.
"Not long," Model X mentioned. It wasn't much longer until the two of them ended up running into a nearby building, which seemed safe enough.
"Right… rest… glorious rest…" The out of shape boy collapsed on a nearby seat.
Meanwhile, the other out of shape one did the same. "Hah...Hah...what do...we do now?" Chris questioned.
"Hm...those Glitches are getting worse," Model X said to himself.
"Huh? Glitches?" Chris wondered in confusion. What the heck was X talking about?
"Those Variants you saw form from that corrupted data. Those were in fact Glitches. They've been running rampant all over the Game World for quite some time now, but this is the first time they've appeared in the central nexus. That's why I needed to call Princess Amethyst in. I'm sorry I dragged you two into this as well," X apologized.
"What's he saying, Chris?" Rhody asked, still sounding worn out.
"Um...he mentioned that those Variants were apparently some kind of Glitch or something."
"Greeeeeaaaat…" He didn't look too pleased with that as he rubbed his legs. "As long as those things are around, then we're stuck here…"
There was a bit of a pause until Rhody broke it by asking, "There were a lot of them back there… Ya think Amy can handle?"
"I...well, X meant to call her in the first place, and she's apparently some kind of magical princess, so…" Chris said hesitantly.
"Yeah, but, she's still only one person…"
Chris was conflicted. He didn't want to leave someone alone to fight off a horde of monsters, but…
At the same time, there was no way he'd be able to do anything about it.
Unless…
"Hey, uh, X? You said that I'm a Biomatch for you, right?" he asked.
"You are," the Biometal agreed, "But leaving aside the fact that I don't want you two to get hurt, you also don't have any cybernetics, which will make a Megamerge all but impossible at the moment."
"Oh...um...how come?" Chris questioned.
"The reason Megamerging could be done by both humans and Reploids in my own world is because there was almost no distinction between the two anymore. So they could read the data contained in the Biometals just as easily. You, however, are completely baseline human. You have no way of actually reading the data contained within me. If I try to just send it into your brain without some kind of cybernetics that it's already accustomed to, it might cause severe mental damage."
"...Oh."
"...Well? I'm guessing that's a no?" Rhody impatiently inquired.
"Um...no. Something about mental damage if I try to do it without cybernetics," Chris mumbled.
"Oh. I'm guessing it's because you're not a cyborg or somethin'..." He got up and started to pace around the room. "Are there no other options?"
X was conflicted. On the one hand, he didn't want to drag innocents into this fight. Bad enough that he'd had to call Amethyst, really.
But on the other hand...they wanted to do something to help, and so did he. "Well…" he started.
Suddenly, banging was heard at the entryway, along with the sounds of fired shots.
"Oh crap, they're here!"
This was the worst-case scenario for X. He had no choice now.
In order for them to get through this, he would have to give them the ability to fight.
"Chris, over there," X said, angling towards a star-shaped object on the far side of the room. "Tell Rhody to go over to there."
"U-Uh, right!" Chris nodded, slightly panicking as he did just that.
"Crap, what we gonnaaawwhat is that?" Is, is that what Rhody thought it was?!
If he thought that it was a Warp Star, from the Kirby series, his guess would be correct. It looked kind of dim, though...until he walked up to it.
X floated to a wall near the Warp Star, and a space began to glow brightly.
A hidden compartment opened, revealing… some sort of belt.
It reminded Rhody of Mega Man ZX's codpieces for the Mega Men, only without the actual codpiece and… a space in the center for something to be inserted…
'This is starting to get really familiar… it's… almost like-' The sounds of something breaking rang from the entryway, they were running out of time!
"X, what is that?" Chris asked hurriedly.
"A last resort. In the event that the only Biomatch in range is a purely biological being, and cannot get the necessary cybernetics in time, this belt, the Bio Adapter, will bypass the need for said cybernetics, allowing one to use my power. I take no joy in having to do this, but take the belt, Chris. It might be our only way out of this."
"U-Um...I...I dunno, I…" Chris was rudely interrupted by an explosion from the entrance to the building.
"Hurry! You may not have much more time! Use that belt to perform a Megamerge!" X urged.
"I…" Chris's head was in complete turmoil after all that was going on.
But...two facts remained clear. He didn't want to die...and he didn't want Rhody to die either. In the end, what else was there left to do?
Gritting his teeth, he scooped up the belt, snapping it on. Then, he grabbed Model X out of the air. "Here goes...something!" he said, plucking up his courage.
Then he shouted something very familiar at the top of his lungs. "MEGAMERGE!" he roared, slotting X into place in the Bio Adapter.
"Biolink established! M.E.G.A. System: Online!" X stated audibly, a bright light filling the entire building.
Rhody uncovered his eyes when the light died down, and couldn't help but gape at the site.
Where Chris once stood, a new figure was there. He was virtually identical to Mega Man Model X, but with three differences.
The helmet was now completely closed off, covered by a white mouth guard section of armor while the eyes were covered with something that seemed like green glass, but was undeniably sturdier.
On the chest was torso armor very similar to the Original X's, only colored black. Worn over it was a blue jacket that had shoulder pads that also bared a resemblance to X's, matching the color scheme of the jacket.
Finally, wrapped around his waist was the Bio Adapter, bearing Model X on the front proudly.
"K… Kamen Rider Model X…" Rhody couldn't help but mutter in awe.
Chris, now Model X, had never experienced anything like this before… He felt more awake right now than he ever did in his entire life! And just flinching carried a weight of power…
"T-This is…" the new Mega Man...no, new Rider said, looking at himself. "X...is this your power?"
"Somewhat, but a lot of it is simply you. I've taken over your important bodily functions, leaving a majority of your body's energy freed up for you to use," the Biometal stated.
"This is...me?" Chris said, staring at his hands. Then he registered what Rhody said. "Wait...Kamen Rider Model X? I look like...a Kamen Rider?" he asked in confusion. 'Why does something about that sound familiar?'
Just then, an explosion was heard within the entryway, and the footsteps of a lot of beings could be heard.
"Oh crap! Chris, we gotta get out, yesterday!" A hatch right above the Warp Star opened up, leading to the roof.
'Good point! Question it later!' "Right!" the Blue Mega Man declared. Grabbing Rhody, he leapt onto the Warp Star, which immediately flew out the roof.
"EEYAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!" While not going faster than light, as the Warp Star is capable of, the thing still exerted large amounts of G-Force onto Rhody.
He didn't know whether to be panicked or be treating this like one of the most terrifying roller coasters ever…
Back with Princess Amethyst, she was panting as the last Glitch dissipated into data, a bit scuffed up from the battle.
This… had been more difficult than the fights in Gemworld. The opponents there were nowhere near this fierce.
But she had managed to beat them, now to go find Chris, Rhody and X.
However, there was one Galleon that had refused to completely scatter to data, only its upper portion left.
She had her back turned, so it took aim, charging up a shot with the last of its energy!
Then the Warp Star crashed right into it, destroying it as the transport slid on the ground.
"Huh?" Amy turned around to see a figure very similar to Model X and Rhody, hanging onto the guy for dear life. "Wait… Chris?!"
"Um, yes? Sorry for just dropping in like that…"
"WHOA!" She ran up to them and started to look around the armored boy. "I knew that you were able to do this just by being able to hear X, but it's really something else when actually seen!" she gushed.
Meanwhile, Rhody still hadn't let go of Model X, though he looked like he was trying to.
"Well, I mean...it's not that great, is it?" The new Blue Mega Man would have rubbed his helmet, but he found someone still clinging to him.
"Uh, dude?"
"I, uh, think my arms've locked up," Rhody stated as he tried to get off. He managed to do so, though he now looked like he was hugging himself.
"Um...do you...need a moment?" Chris asked awkwardly.
"We may not get the chance," X mentioned.
Corrupted data was starting to swarm together, from the fragments of the previously defeated to the ones that had invaded the building from earlier.
"I'm, uh…" Rhody managed to unlock his arms to where he hooked them around the Warp Star, "I'm just gonna get out of the way…" and with that, he ran to somewhere not visible to the new enemy.
The data finished forming. While it was a bit scattered, the shape was solid enough to be recognizable.
Especially to X.
"Vile…"
Chris gulped in fear.
He was red and glitchy, like the other ones, but it was unmistakably the form of the psychotic ex-Maverick Hunter. He chuckled glitchily, before firing a rocket off directly at Chris.
Amethyst stopped the impact by positioning herself between them, shield raised. This created an explosion that launched her right into Model X!
"Oof!" Chris said, the wind knocked out of him as that happened.
Vile chuckled once more, walking forward menacingly.
"X-!" Chris said in fear.
"Will the X-Buster to appear on your dominant arm, and it will appear! To fire, just focus!" X mentioned.
Chris did just that, the armor on his right arm configuring itself into said Buster. Focusing, he fired a few shots off at Vile.
He missed with most of them, but one hit him dead center of his helmet, stunning the Maverick slightly.
The Princess managed to get back up and charged in, blade in hand, and went to slash Vile's head!
Vile ducked under her swing, and parried it using his arm. But Chris started firing more Buster shots at him, annoying him severely.
Sure, his aim wasn't anywhere near good, but…
The Maverick blocked what shots hit him and he leaped back, then fired his entire left arm at Model X!
It hit, then made a go around to hit him again! The Rocket Punch wouldn't stop!
But the Princess took advantage of the enemy's lack of arms… or arm, and slashed his torso, sending sparks flying.
Vile staggered back, but adjusted his shoulder mounted cannon and fired a missile at Amethyst. She managed to block it with her shield, and didn't go flying back this time. But her arm definitely felt the force of that attack.
Chris had stumbled back upon being hit but it hadn't hurt as much as he had expected it to.
He...he had to do something! But what?
Just as he was beginning to panic again, a thought flashed through his head: a fact he had read on the Mega Man Wiki once.
Vile was weak to Charged Shots.
"X...how do I charge the Buster?" he quickly asked, seeing Amethyst being pushed back by the Maverick's attacks.
"Focus as if you were about to shoot a regular shot, but let the energy build up. As a note, I have three levels of charge: a larger shot, an even bigger blast, and the third being two of the bigger blasts."
"Right…" Chris began focusing for a Level 3 Charged Shot. Hopefully this would work…
Vile's arm returned to him and he started to fire machine gun bullets from his index finger at the Princess. The constant damage from earlier, along with the concentrated fire, were making the shield crack! The Maverick saw this and took a knee, revealing another cannon in it! He fired an electric ball at the shield and it shattered, leaving Amethyst open!
But it also left Vile open. Enough for a certain Blue Mega Man to make his move!
"EAT THIS!" he roared, firing the Level 3 Charged Shot straight at Vile. Vile...well, he didn't have conventional eyes, so he couldn't widen them. But he did make a panicked movement.
"N-NoT a ChArGeD sHoT!" was let loose from his glitchy vocoder before the two blasts hit him straight on!
The blasts practically tore through him, but it didn't appear to be enough to finish him!
"HAAAAAAAHH!" But with Amy charging in with her sword, it was. She bisected the Maverick right through the torso!
"E-eEeEeExXxXxX!" the adversary of Mega Man X yelled in his glitched out voice one more time before exploding!
"Ha...Ha…" Chris was panting from exhaustion again. That was...beyond anything he would have expected, really.
Amethyst collapsed onto the ground, exhausted from all the fighting. "Hah… glad… that's over…"
"Holy crap!" Rhody came running in, Warp Star still in hand, "I heard all the fighting, and saw the thing explode! Was that Vile?! Did you guys just defeat Vile?!" He was beyond stoked at all this.
"Um...apparently…" Chris couldn't really believe it, to be honest.
"Hehe… It is really cool, when ya think about it..." Amy says with a small giggle.
"It is really cool!" Rhody shouted before going out of breath. "Woo… man, this was… really adrenaline pumping. Starting to climb down…"
The Megamerge abruptly cut out, returning Chris to normal and letting X float off the Bio Adapter. Now he was really feeling the exhaustion. "Tell me about it…"
"I'm sorry you had to go through that," X apologized. "Fortunately, with Vile defeated, it looks like the majority of those Glitches won't reappear."
"I've been...meaning to ask...X, what even are these Glitch things anyway?" Chris questioned.
X was silent for a moment. "It's...complicated," he admitted. "It's not helped by the fact that there's more than one type of Glitch either."
"Y'know, Chris, I'd love to hear ya interpret what X is saying to ya, but now that the problem's taken cared of, ya think we can go home now?" Rhody questioned. That's usually how this works, right? Fix the problem then you're able to leave?
"Ordinarily, you'd be able to. The main problem...is that." X pointed out the red Corrupted Zone that was still there.
"...I'm gonna need to fix that, aren't I?" Amethyst stated while trying to get back up, only to collapse. "Just… give me a second…"
"How'd you...be able...to fix that?" Chris wondered.
"Well, we defeated Vile, and those Glitches stopped attacking us, so we just need to defeat whatever's causing the Corrupted Zone."
"That's easier said than done, especially with how you are now," Rhody said while trying to get the Warp Star to hover. He finally managed to do it and set it near Amy, who he put onto it with some effort. "Guh, right now, I think we should take a break, if we can…"
"I'm not detecting any more Glitches nearby. We should be safe for the moment," X said, and Chris relayed.
"Good. Let's go find a place to pass out for a while. You two definitely look like ya need it."
"You sure you don't need it more?" Amy joked at Rhody's current shaky legged state.
"Quiet, you."
The group went back to the building on tired legs, the current trials won.
But they would only get more difficult in the following day…
The Corrupted Zone was devoid of all natural light, lit only by the red that shrouded it.
The cause of all this stood, waiting for the ones fighting it off to come right to him.
Soon, they will be defeated, and the entire Nexus will be corrupted…
"YoU bEtTeR fIgHt HaRd… X. i'M nOt HoLdInG bAcK aGaInSt YoU..."
Episode 01 - Fin
The Aeon Offspring: Who could this guy be? We know it, but you guys don't. I'm eager to hear your theories.
OathToOblivion: Although, it might be slightly obvious if you consider certain things...but that's as far as I'll say regarding that. I'm wondering how many people are gonna be confused about the Warp Star?
The Aeon Offspring: Probably a few. Though that will also be explained… Not in the next episode, though. That's focusing on the Corrupted Zone. I hope you all enjoyed this, and we'll see ya'll next time!