Short note: Happy Good Friday everyone! And happy 16th birthday Niilan-chan! And happy belated White Day! And Pi day! (Can't believe I fogot about those last Friday...)

Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to Rockman or Gundam Wing. Or MegaMan. Or Mega Man. Or -gets whacked on the back of my head- Oww… anyway, on to the story!

The Shinigami's Angel

Chapter Four

Shin really didn't know what he was getting into when he left to fight the Mavericks. After walking a ways, he came across a cave that didn't look too suspicious, but hey, it was a change of scenery and there obviously weren't any Mavericks in the forest he was currently searching. Now, he seemed to have a bigger problem. Instead of worthless opponents, now he was facing a new Maverick (at least, that's what he assumed it was, as it automatically started attacking him) that was, quite frankly, beating him to a pulp. He had managed to hit it several times with his "Darkness Overload", as he had dubbed the purple energy, but he had no idea if it was having any effect. He managed to slow it down once or twice, and he noticed a hole in the armor of the left shoulder, but he hadn't been able to angle himself to hit the supposed weak spot without getting thrown back by an attack. Having Forte yell at him all the time didn't make things easier, either.

And now that girl showed up. Yeah, this was turning out to be a great day. Absolutely wonderful.

"What are you doing here?" Shin growled as he lifted himself up and swung an arm, cannon formed, at the girl. "As you can see, I'm busy right now. So, leave me alone or I'll shoot you."

"Well, aren't you pleasant." The girl mumbled. "Look, I have a reason to fight, and I'm not leaving. Fight me if you'd like, but it seems to me we have a bigger problem on our hands." The girl said this as she casually pulled out her sword and blocked the right fist of the behemoth.

"What are you saying?" Shin cried in disbelief as they both leapt in opposite directions from the left fist slamming into the ground. "That we should work together?"

"Either that or you leave. I don't want you getting in my way." The girl wasn't even looking at him; her eyes were fixed on the monster, seemingly calculating her next move.

"Hey, I almost beat you yesterday!" Shin cried, indignant at the "in the way" comment.

"Yes, and you might have beaten me for real," the girl continued, whipping out her gun and firing a few test shots before dodging the right hand once more, still refusing to look his way. "But I still beat you in the end. You might be powerful, but I'm more skilled. That gives me the advantage, especially over enemies like this."

'She's really getting on my nerves,' Forte growled.

"Fine! I'll help you, but I'll beat you once this is over!" Shin called out, ignoring Forte's comment.

This time, the girl turned towards him and smirked. "I'd like to see you try."

Shin let out a groan, but dashed forward to attack the Maverick once more.

How in the world did it change from me reprimanding her to her reprimanding me?

Aile narrowed her eyes as she analyzed the W-roid in front of her. It was obvious the weak point was the shoulder, but how would she reach it? None of the Biometal's except H had flight capability, and that was too risky since she would then have to get close to the W-roid, which would make her an even easier target. Aile sighed as she turned to Shinigami, who had once again drawn all the attention of the W-roid with his wild and uncalculated attacks. How did she end up allied with him, however temporary that alliance may be? Hadn't she felt grateful the other day not to be allied with him? Well, that was before she found out about the Model W's. That knowledge changed everything, and Aile was now grateful for any ally she had. Still, while she disliked him less, his attacking style could definitely use improvement, but it was possible he was just starting, and he probably would gain skill as time went on.

However, at the moment, he was simply no help at all.

Aile kept herself from telling him to leave. He was trying to help… he was failing miserably, but he was still trying.

The W-roid seemed to have all bodily attacks, and its lack of legs made the arms it's only weapon of attack. These it put to good use, however, as, while it had limited mobility and speed, the size and power of its punches could make it almost fatal to get hit once by the larger arm. The two Mega Men dodged the fists fairly easily, however, even as time wore on, they seemed to be doing no real damage… and, even though they had not gotten hit, they had some pretty close scrapes, and were wearing out anyway.

Shin rested against the side of the cave, catching his breath while the girl had the Maverick's attention.

"What's… wrong, Forte? I thought I was a good fighter, but even teamed up it looks like we're losing!"

'You're human.' Was Forte's only explanation. 'And your opponent's too strong to go at without some sort of strategy.'

"I hate making strategies," Shin murmured as he pushed himself away from the wall.

He was unable to elaborate on that thought any more, however, as the large left fist was suddenly heading straight for him. Shin blinked; it was all he could really do at the moment. He was trapped against the wall, nearly in a corner, and the fist covered all the area he could run to in the short about of time.

Shin was just starting to brace himself, when he felt something grab him by the shoulders, right before the fist smashed down. He was surprised to find himself hovering in the air several feet above the fist, which had now crashed into the stone wall, with a pair of green arms hooked underneath his armpits.

"Be more careful," Aile chided, as they stayed hovering.

"Wait!" Shin cried, just before the girl was going to lower the two of them to the floor. "I finally have a good shot at that shoulder!" He finished as the let loose a blast of purple energy at the hole in the W-roid's shoulder. The Maverick yelled in pain as it moved backwards slightly.

Aile couldn't keep in flight any longer, and lowered the two of them to the floor gently.

"So that's how we beat it? Teamwork?"

"Well, even though we've been "allies", we haven't really been working together." Shin admitted. "This is our best chance of beating it."

"Well, nothing else has been doing any good." Aile agreed, somewhat resignedly, to the arrangement, then lifted Shin up once more like she had before and air dashed upwards.

"This isn't very comfortable," Shin complained as he sent out a charged up blast at the shoulder once more.

"Deal with it," Aile snapped as the left fist slammed between the two, forcing them apart. She jumped up the side of the hand in order the get back to her temporary partner.

"Hey, watch out!" Shin called out. Aile turned to see the right fist heading towards her. Before she could dodge, however, Duo had jumped forwards, knocking her down and out of the way.

"That… wasn't really necessary… please get off me…" Aile said, blushing, as she pushed off the leg that had landed on top of her own.

Shin could think of multiple responses to give, but chose a meek, "Oh, sorry." seeing as the Maverick was about ready to attack again, and he need the girl's help to win.

Aile blushed as she picked the boy up once more, but she tried to push the thought out of her mind. She never did very well when distracted…

At least he landed next to me, not on me… She decided. Aile couldn't understand why the boy did that… she could have easily gotten out of the way, he gave her a warning with enough time for that… maybe he was just trying to return the favor of her saving him earlier?

Shin let out another blast, but the right hand rocketed towards the two and Aile barely had time to drop to the floor to avoid being hit. She gritted her teeth; this was taking way too long. They finally had a way to damage it, but now the W-roid was attacking even more. An idea came to her, it was a gamble, but if it worked…

"Hey, Shinigami! Can you wall jump?"

"What's that?"

Aile sighed. "Just… watch me, okay? Follow my lead." She called as she transformed back into Model ZX and started jumping up the wall.

Shin stared in amazement as she got her self almost to the ceiling, then jumped off, with her sword activated and she herself spinning in a circle, the sword circling her completely. She fell near the shoulder, and the sword did some damage to it as she flew past.

"Forte! We have to do that!"

'I… don't know if I can do that…'

"We have to try!" Shin decided, and dashed forwards towards the wall. He jumped off of it, and promptly landed on the ground. The right fist headed towards him, but he rolled out of the way.

"Look, pay attention, okay? You should be able to." Aile… well, Shin was sure if it could be called "encouraged", exactly, but it was something like that. The girl then leapt up the wall once more, and Shin could see now that she jump up as well as out, and was able to grab onto the wall, then continue in that fashion. Shin tried his best to mimic her, and soon found himself progressing up the wall rapidly. Not stopping to wonder, he leapt off and let out a fully charged energy blast at the weak point.

Aile glanced up at the W-roid once more to assess it. It's movements were speeding up slightly, but it seemed that it was following a pattern Aile had found was common among Pseudoroids she had fought: as soon as it's in real danger of being destroyed, they start attacking with all their strength.

"Shinigami! I think we're wearing it down… let's try to attack at the same time, hopefully that will destroy it." Aile called out. Shin nodded in agreement, and the two wall-jumped up, and let out their attacks simultaneously.

It was knocked backwards slightly; then, as Aile expected, beams of light shot out of its core.

"You might want to step back, Shinigami."

"Huh?" Shin turned to her, but she had jumped back in a side tunnel. Shin ran after her.

"Hey, what was that about-"

Shin was cut off by an explosion that knocked him forwards and onto his face.

Aile smirked. "That is what that was about."

Shin lifted himself onto his elbows and turned his head to view the room they had just been fighting in. All that was left of the behemoth they had been fighting was a few pieces of what was now scrap metal.

"That…" Shin blinked, then a wide smile appeared on his face. "That was awesome! Forte! Did you see that? I trashed that Maverick!" Shin said excitedly.

"Ahem." Aile said, and Shin stopped his excitement to turn to the girl, who was looking slightly annoyed.

"WHO was it who came in here, saved your hide, and showed you how to beat it?"

"Oh… heh heh… sorry. But that was awesome!"

For some reason, the girl's eyes narrowed. "No, it isn't awesome. It's terrible, and it shouldn't need to be done."

"What- saving my skin, or trashing the Maverick?" Shin asked. The two had now started walking out of the cave.

"W-roid."

"Huh?"

"What we just fought… it's called a W-roid."

Shin wrinkled his nose. "That's a stupid name."

"That's exactly what I said!"

Shin blinked as he looked at the girl. Her face flushed slightly in embarrassment. "Er, look, never mind."

"Why's it called a W-roid, anyway?"

"Because it's a Mechaniloid fused with a Biometal… well, a Model W."

"Model W?"

Aile sighed. "I forgot, you know nothing about this. Well… Model Ws are the core cause of Maverick outbreaks. That's why I'm trying to destroy them."

"I'll have to destroy them too, then."

Aile chuckled slightly. "You might want to practice against normal Mavericks a bit more first." Here Aile's eyes narrowed once more. "You're powerful, that's for sure. But Model W is cunning and devious, not to mention powerful."

They walked in silence for several minutes, working their way out of the cave. Suddenly, Shin spoke up.

"That wall jump thing was interesting… but how did you know I could do it? I never even thought to try it…"

Aile smiled slightly. "I just guessed. But really, not trying doesn't matter. There was a lot I can do with the Biometal I couldn't before, and I wouldn't have thought of trying if Model X hadn't suggested trying."

"Model X?"

"He's my Biomatch."

Shin blinked. "What's that?"

"Look, with the Biometal, for each one, there is a person, a Chosen One, who is able to merge with them. They and the Biometal are Biomatches to each other."

As she finished her sentence, Aile and Shin stepped out into the sunlight.

"Um… if Model X is your Biomatch, then how come you can transform into those different forms?"

Shin realized at once that he had asked the wrong question. Aile seemed to try to hold herself back from glaring at him.

"Goodbye, Shinigami." She said shortly, and left swiftly.

"Hey, wait-" Shin called, but the girl had dashed off.

'Gee, she's treating you like you treated her yesterday, isn't she?' Forte said wryly.

"But… But…"

Shinigami still didn't know her name.

Once Aile reached the Transerver, she quickly filed her Mission Report and transported back to the Guardian Base. She walked swiftly out of the room towards the command room to tell Prairie what happened… and collapsed against the side of the wall.

'Aile!' Several of the Biometals called out at once.

"Unn…" Aile groaned as she tried to pick herself up, but slumped down to her knees. She rested her head against the wall and started breathing hard. Everything was slightly hazy, not just her sight but her hearing as well.

Model L was about to try and get Prairie even though Biometals were unable to enter doors by themselves, when Carrelet walked by.

The boy gasped and ran up to the girl.

"Are you okay, Aile? What's wrong?"

Aile shook her head. "I'm fine… I just got dizzy…"

"Are you sure?" Carrelet asked worriedly.

Aile nodded, her gaze fixed on the floor as it had been for the past minute.

"Then stand up."

Aile raised her head to look at him. "…Huh?"

"If you're fine, you can stand up." Carrelet stated, folding his arms.

"Fine then, if it'll make you happy…" Aile said, as she used the wall to drag herself up. Suddenly, a somewhat numb feeling ran through her body, and she collapsed. Carrelet managed to catch her before she fell too far.

"I'm taking you to Muguet," Carrelet said firmly, supporting her as he walked to the lift that would take them to the medic's room.

Carrelet expected Aile to argue, but she rested, slumped against him for support. He smiled slightly.

"You'll be fine, Aile, I'm sure of that."

Aile didn't respond. The world seemed so far away, as if she was only half there. She vaguely felt the lift raise her up, and Carrelet walking her to Muguet's room, and finally being laid down on a bed.

"Go to sleep, Aile." She heard a kind voice speak these words, and complied immediately.

Authors Notes: Yeah, by the end I was just tired of the fight. -.- So, finally, I want to thank everyone who reviewed! I would have done this sooner, but I wrote too much for Authors Notes. Why do I have to ramble? Anyway, thank you so, so much for people who reviewed! I'm very happy you all seem to enjoy the story so far. I actually have usually had the next chapter written a day or two after I post a chapter, but I'm trying to post regularly so I don't post nothing for several weeks. Um… yeah. Oh yeah, the W-roids are kinda like a cross between Pseudoroids and that really annoying Miniboss in the Quarry… Meaning they are strong, but have the sentience of a Mechaniloid.

Anyway, Shin and Forte seem to be getting more in-sync, since they're not going on random attack-everybody sprees, but still, they sometimes get out of control. I'll try to demonstrate that next chapter. And Aile's little breakdown… I just needed something semi-exciting to end the chapter. That sort of thing happens to me sometimes, less frequently then it used to, fortunately, but I figured I'd write about something I actually have experienced. It's easier to be accurate that way. XD

Oh yes, just one more thing: Would anyone like to be a beta-reader? It'd be really nice to have someone I can run ideas by to make sure everything is going smoothly. (And also check for typos...) So, if anyone is willing to, please tell me. Thank you very much! Until next time!