Changing History: Giro's Story

Chapter Three

"Aile!" Giro called ahead as he spotted the girl ahead of him.

"Giro, I—" the girl tried to protest, but Giro held up a hand.

"I'm not about to let you go out alone."

"Huh?" the girl blinked, causing Giro to smile.

"Whether you can handle the Biometal or not doesn't matter. You're important to me, Aile. And I will protect you. So come on, let's go!"

Aile smiled for the first time since she heard of the attack.

"Right!"

Giro dashed forwards without bothering to respond. The Mavericks were soon reduced to scrap under the force of his blade. He destroyed all he could easily while running, hoping to leave few that Aile could take care of herself while he finished things mostly by himself. Despite his words, he didn't really want Aile involved until she was more experienced. He would still protect her just as fervently then, of course…

Suddenly Giro came across a single Guardian, wounded and cornered by Mavericks.

Giro let out a battle cry, dispatching of the five with relative ease.

"Are you alright?" the Red Mega Man questioned as the Guardian he knew to be Marearque slumped down.

"I'm… fine."

"Look, just rest here, okay? I'll take care of everything." Giro assured as he rested the man against a wall.

"Wait, you can't do that! It's too many for one person to handle alone."

Giro grinned and gave the man a thumbs-up. "Don't worry; I'm not alone. I've got Model Z with me."

The man heard Marearque start to protest, so he headed off to the next demi-area.

He dashed off, unstoppable once more, when he suddenly was forced to pull himself up short.

Much of the road up ahead was highly damaged, and it looked as if one touch would cause it to collapse.

Giro's eyes narrowed as his eyes scanned the crumbling landscape before him, plotting how best to face this obstacle. Of course, if would be no problem normally… but he had to make sure he left enough footholds for Aile.

A mere five seconds later, and Giro was dashing forwards, dancing from patch to patch, trying to break as little of the road as possible. Halfway through, he caught sight of a new variable and groaned.

There were wheels headed towards him, light enough not to break the road but he knew from experience would damage him if he crashed into them.

Giro leapt forth, placing his hands on the first wheels and using it to vault over the next, slicing it through the middle with his blade in the process. He continued on, dispatching of more wheels as necessary. Finally, he came to the Slither Inc headquarters.

Giro leapt up onto the stable surface, then dashed forwards, to be brought up short at the sight in front of him.

There, flanked by two mysterious figures, was Serpent.

"Serpent!" Giro called in relief. "What are you doing out here? Have the security units been called back yet? Who are these people?" The questions spilled out of his mouth before he really thought about them.

Serpent smirked at the Red Mega Man.

"No, not quite yet."

Giro felt a chill shiver through his body as he accidentally locked his gaze with Serpents piercing purple eyes.

Suddenly, he knew.

"You… you're the one behind the Maverick attacks… why?" Giro whispered, hand inching towards his sword's hilt.

The tall man smirked.

"Prometheus, Pandora, rid us of this pest."

Giro grit his teeth as he whipped out his blade just in time to catch the male's scythe. He didn't know who these two were, or why Serpent was having the Mavericks attack the people, all he knew was that he had to protect Aile and the people.

But first, he'd have to protect himself.

Giro swung his sword outward, flinging off the weapon and leaping backwards. He shifted just in time to bring his saber down on a small jar that had formed. His head swung around rapidly, but both figures had disappeared from sight. Serpent stood off to the side, contently surveying the currently placid scene.

Giro frowned. Was the man just going to keep standing there, refusing to fight? Either he wasn't willing to dirty his own hands, or…

Or he was stronger than any of them and wanted to see if the two could take Giro out themselves.

Giro was abruptly pulled from this train of thought as the boy leapt into view, dashing forwards. Giro leapt back, but Prometheus continued, corkscrewing diagonally up towards Giro. Giro dropped to his knees, plunging his beam saber into the ground and as the boy flew over beams of energy shot up from the ground. One of them hit the boy, but while Giro was still down Pandora appeared and sent out a trail of electricity that crashed into the blond.

Giro winced, shaken, but leapt up towards the girl, getting a hit in before she disappeared. However, the next second she returned… along with Prometheus. Not given the time to dodge, Giro threw up his arms and the two attacks hit.

That took quite a bit of energy… I shouldn't have let than happen!

The fighting continued.

Giro lowered his head and clenched his eyes shut, allowing himself to rely on his hearing alone as he rested a bit. He had to admit, those two were very good fighters, and he was outnumbered. Giro still believed he could win. He'd just have to end this soon… there were wearing him down slowly, and if he wanted to win he'd have to attack hard and fast, not letting them hurt him just for part of an attack…

Giro's head shot up at a whizzing sound and saw a turquoise shockwave heading towards him. He tried to pull out of the way, but his legs only twitched slightly, refusing to move. The attack hit him straight on, eliciting a cry as he was thrown back against the doors of Slither Inc.

Giro let out a gasping breath as he sunk to one knee. Prometheus smirked as the two landed in front of the weary Mega Man.

"Well, that was fun… if a bit disappointing."

"Two… against one isn't really… fair, don't you think?" Giro got out, smiling slightly despite himself.

Giro set his foot back on the ground firmly and pushed himself to his feet, holding his sword in front of him cockily, a wide grin on his face. The boy looked slightly started, then grinned as well.

"So, you want to keep going…? Ah!" Prometheus cried in surprise.

"What?" Giro whipped around, then let out a cry of pain as a bolt of lightning tore through him, sapping him of his strength. He let out a low moan before he fell onto his back, eyes narrowed in pain and breath coming in ragged gasps.

"You…!"

Serpent smirked smugly at the fallen figure.

"Serpent, what are you doing? I wanted to fight him some more…" the boy complained.

"He didn't have the strength to go on, Prometheus. He was running on determination at that point. One blow would have done the same.

"I'm not… dead yet…!" Giro growled, although he could not find the power to even shift onto his stomach.

"No, you're not… and we intend to keep you alive for a bit longer. After all… there is still one more Biometal we need to… retrieve."

"Aile." Giro breathed, glancing furiously down towards where he came, and he vainly struggled to move his leadened limbs. So, that was it. He would just lie here as bait for the girl, and was helpless to do anything about it…

"Giro!" A familiar voice called out, and Giro sucked in a breath.

"Ah, the blue Mega Man… you've come." Serpent grinned down at Giro as he extended his hand, and Giro felt his body begin to quake.

"Aile! Leave, now! It's a trap…!"

Giro cried out as agony raked his body once more. Suddenly, he felt his body rise of it's own accord and face Aile.

"Giro? What's happening?!"

"A-Aile…" Giro murmured as he felt something evil creep upon his senses. "S-shoot me…!"

Then the world went black.

Author's notes: Sorry the fight scene wasn't very long-- I had pictured how I wanted it, but then I lost it. I might go back and add to it sometime, but that's a big maybe. ^^"