Hi everyone. First off, I'd like to apologize for taking so long to write this chapter. It's just that i had so much to do that I didn't really have time to write this. Secondly, I noticed that I haven't been really getting any suggestions or comments for this fic...so I'd really appreciate some comments but I'm not forcing you to. Whether you want to or not, it's cool. Well, unto the fic.
Shooting Star Rockman: Celestial Squadron
Chapter 7: Day at the circus
Geo and the rest encountered Celestia once again and engaged in a fight with them but unfortunately for Geo's party, Rage, Torrent, and Aurora were still too much for them too handle.
During Solo and Rage's fight, Solo deflected one of Rage's signature moves but it instead went haywire and headed to the area where Aurora and Harpnote were fighting. Aurora was greatly surprised to see Solo, her enemy, protect her from the burning cyclone.
After being badly injured by the cyclone, Solo was healed by Aurora. Both Solo and Aurora wondered if what they did was right especially since they're enemies. The fight ended with Torrent thanking Solo and the three heading off.
It's been 5 days already since that incident and it was currently evening in Geo's house. Geo was just lying on his bed thinking about all the unanswered questions he still had. Apparently, that's mostly what had been in his head those past 5 days. Some of them were "Just what is Celestia anyway?" or "What was that unknown reaction Mr. Boreal told me about?" and "Maybe I should just become a detective instead coz this is driving me nuts!"
"Kid, you really should relax for a bit. Your head's gonna explode if you keep this up," Mega interrupted and Geo sat up and put on his visualizers. "I know but…I just have so many questions right now. It's like I'm solving a puzzle but I can't even find the pieces…" Geo complained and Mega sighed.
"I know how you feel but I know it won't do me any good to just spend a whole day in bed just thinking about it, I mean you're 15 for crying out loud. I thought kids your age are supposed to be having fun not laying around like an old man," Mega said and Geo looked out the large window near his bed. "Yeah…you're right. I'm stressing too much over this," Geo said.
"That's more like it. Okay, all this talking is making me bored. I'm gonna go toy around with that new universal whatever thing that you guys got," Mega said and Geo gave Mega a suspicious look.
"Don't worry kid, when have I ever broken something?" Mega asked and Geo thought of a LOT of things.
"Well there was my telescope, the lawnmower, the transer and-" Geo was about to recall more broken appliances when Mega stopped him.
"Okay, okay I get it. I Promise I won't break it this time. Happy?" Mega said as he took off and Geo sighed. "I can't tell which bothers me more, your architecture or your boredom…" Geo said before sighing again. "Great…now I'm bored too…" Geo said as he lied down again on his bed but sat up again at the sound of his beeping MPWS.
"Hm? I wonder who it is at this hour." Geo said to himself as displayed the floating monitor. His eyes immediately caught sight of his music loving friend, Sonia.
"Hey Geo!" She greeted cheerful as always. "Oh, hi Sonia. Did something happen?" Geo asked curiously and Sonia took out two yellow tickets and showed them to Geo.
"Remember when we got trapped by Gemini in Sky Tower? Well, the manager thought that was because of some technical problems so he gave me these two tickets when I went to Willshire hills awhile ago! Here, take a look," She said and using her MPWS, she un-materialized one ticket and sent it to Geo's MPWS where it was materialized once again.
"Let's see…Lairan circus on July 22 at Willshire hills. Whoa, I thought these tickets were already sold out," Geo said as he continued scanning the ticket.
"Yeah I know! Are we lucky or what? And you know what else? I kinda know the Lairan circus group because I played a song once in one of their shows. I can't wait to seem them again!" Sonia said but their conversation was interrupted by Mega who apparently heard the whole thing.
"A circus huh? I've never seen one before. What's it like?" Mega interrupted which startled Geo a bit.
"…geez stop popping out of nowhere like that. Anyway, a circus is a group that does a lot of great stunts that normal people would find it impossible to do," Geo explained and Mega rubbed his chin.
"So they're kinda like us right since were not exactly normal?" Mega asked and Harp showed herself through Sonia's MPWS. "Without all the virus busting and saving the world stuff," Harp interrupted with a smile.
"So can you come?" Sonia asked expecting a yes from Geo. "That's tomorrow right? Yeah, I can go," Geo said which put a big smile on Sonia's face.
"Thanks Geo! Let's meet at the bus stop at 12:30 okay?" Sonia asked and Geo nodded. "Great! Don't be late okay? Well then, good night Geo," Sonia happily said and the floating monitor closed.
As soon as it did close, Geo put up a small smile which Mega quickly noticed. "Hey kid, what's with that look on your face?" Mega asked with a grin making Geo blush slightly.
"I-It's nothing…" Geo said and he paused for a moment then spoke again. "It's just that…I kinda envy Sonia sometimes. She's just so cheerful and worry-free all the time. Sometimes I wish I could be the same…" Geo said making Mega sigh.
"Well not everyone's the same you know. She's got her strong points; you've got yours," Mega said which relieved Geo a bit.
"Yeah…I guess. Anyway, I'm gonna go to bed now. Night Mega," Geo said and he got ready for bed.
Meanwhile, another person was also stressing himself with questions just like how Geo was stressing himself. The boy remained quiet as he sat on a branch up on a tree.
"You've been very quiet lately Solo," A voice spoke out of the MPWS that Solo was holding. "You're awake...that's a first," Solo mumbled.
"Well, I think I'm still awake for the same reason that you're still awake," Laplace said and Solo stared up at the sky. "Celestia...what are they planning?" Solo asked himself as another thought came into his mind.
"That girl...the only other time i've seen a green soothing light like that was..." Solo was suddenly interrupted when a yellow piece of paper flew unto his face and distracted him from his thoughts.
He quickly grasped the paper and was about to throw it but stopped and read the paper instead. "Lairan Circus...a circus group huh?" The boy said and a small smile suddenly was seen on his face as he recalled a memory he had once experienced.
"Solo...you're smiling. Now that's something I don't see everyday," Laplace said which quickly took the smile of his face. "What are you talking about? I wasn't smiling. I don't need those kinds of emotions..." Solo replied and he suddenly leaned back on the main trunk of the tree and closed his eyes.
"I'm going to sleep now. See you in the morning," Solo said with his familiar emotionless tone and fell asleep a little while after.
Laplace stayed awake for a little while longer thinking of something. "Hmm...I wonder..." Laplace mumbled as he continued to think but eventually stopped and decided to get some shut eye as well.
And finally, the next day arrived and the Lairan Circus was the first thing that came into Geo's mind when he woke up. Geo was supposed to meet Sonia at 12:30 so Geo still had time to get other things done first.
3 hours passed by quickly and it was already 12:10 so Geo decided to meet up with Sonia at the bus stop. "Mom, I'm heading out now," Geo told Hope as he headed down the stairs.
"Be careful okay? there's a lot of weird accidents happening these days," Hope warned concerned and Geo nodded. "Good, now you better get going. You don't wanna keep Sonia waiting do you?" She said which surprised Geo a bit.
"H-How did you know I was-" Geo was about to finish his sentence when Hope interrupted with a chuckle. "I happened to overhear your conversation. Well, have fun!" She said and Geo exited the house. Mega commented as soon as he did. "Your mom's like a ninja," He said and Geo sighed.
A few minutes later, Geo caught sight of the bus stop with Sonia standing near it. She saw him walking towards the bus stop and waved at him. Moments later, the bus arrived and the two boarded the bus.
During the ride, Sonia and Geo talked about their past circus experiences. "Sonia, you said that you played a song once in one of their shows right?" Geo asked and Sonia nodded in response. "Yup, funny thing is, I originally just came to watch them perform but i ended up playing anyway since they asked me to," Sonia explained.
"So what are they like?" Geo asked curiously. "Well, they're really good people. The ring leader was dressed like a clown but he seemed like a sophisticated gentleman. There was also this huge guy who was maybe about seven feet tall, twins that could do really cool stunts, a lady who was some sort of illusionist or something like that, and other good people with evenly good talent," She finished and Geo felt a little more excited to see them after that introduction.
"So Geo, what was your first circus experience like?" Sonia asked and Geo smiled a bit. "You know. I don't think I'll ever forget that. My dad brought me there along with my mom when I was only 4 years old. I remember being so excited to see the circus that during the trip there, I always asked my dad if we were there yet almost every 5 minutes," Geo said and Sonia chuckled at that statement.
"So you had alot of fun right?" Sonia asked and Geo nodded. "Yeah, it was a blast. I was so amazed at the performances that they were doing that i couldn't even blink because i thought I'd miss something if I did and at the end of the show, my dad got me a souveneir with the autograph of the ring leader on it," Geo said as he took out a picture which included a young Geo, his parents and some of the performers from that circus group. On the back there was an autograph signed with blue ink.
"Aww...you looked so cute when you were that small," Harp suddenly interrupted which made Geo blush.
Mega raised his eyebrow at that statement, "That's supposed to be cute? What do you think Sonia?" Mega asked and looked at the picture once again with a smile.
"Of course it's cute! See? He looks like a little stuffed toy," Sonia said as she pointed at the apparently stuffed toy-looking Geo in the photo. Both Geo and Mega just sighed but Geo had a pinch of embarassment to go along with that.
"Can we please just change the topic now...?" Both of them said as the girls chuckled at their reactions.
A few minutes later after that conversation, the group finally arrived at Willshire hills. They had gotten used to the new look of the place and already knew thier way around.
Geo looked at the clock in his MPWS. "Since it's still 12:45 and the show starts at 2:30, I think we should just get something to eat first," Geo suggested and Sonia nodded.
Suddenly, Mega noticed a familiar wave reading and checked for its source which eventually led him to look up at an artificial tree nearby. "Hey Geo, take a look at the top of that tree," Mega instructed and the group looked up to see a familiar face sitting on the branch of the tree just staring at the clear blue sky.
"Hey, isn't that..." Geo mumbled as Sonia narrowed her vision and recognized who it was. "Solo!!" She called out suddenly and loudly which startled Geo and Solo. Unfortunately for Solo, his foot accidentally slipped on the branch and he found himself flat on the grass bed, that surrounded the tree, soon after.
"O-Oops..." Sonia mumbled as she covered her mouth. "Solo!" Geo called out as they ran towards Solo who quickly got up. "You okay?" Geo asked as Solo spat out a leaf. "Umm...sorry about that...heh heh..." Sonia chuckled nervously feeling guilty.
Solo just twitched his eye and gave them the familiar emotionless look. "...Don't do that again," Solo mumbled and The two nodded quickly. "Sure thing..." Sonia said with a nervous smile.
Geo was about to ask Solo why he was here but he suddenly just vanished into that violet hole that he always uses. "He really gives me the creeps sometimes..." Sonia commented and Geo sighed. "Well, that's Solo for you..." Geo replied and they headed off to get something to eat.
The group was now sitting at a table eating some dumplings that they had bought from a food stand nearby. "Hey Geo, don't you think it's kinda strange that Solo dosen't look like he's changed one single bit?" Sonia asked before taking a bite at her food.
"Actually, I think he's changed even just a little bit," Geo replied and Sonia took another bite before asking another question. "Really? What makes you say that?" She asked and Geo smiled. "I'm not really sure actually. Just a hunch i guess," He happily said.
"If you say so..." Sonia said with a confused tone. Suddenly, a person with clown clothes and spiky violet hair walked up to them and looked at Sonia with a smile.
"Excuse me young lady but are you Sonia Strumm?" The gentleman looking clown asked with an english accent included. Sonia smiled back as she recognized the person talking to her.
"Eric! Long time no see!" Sonia said happily and the smile on the gentleman's face widened. "So it is you. How've you been?" Eric asked politely.
"I've been doing just fine. I can't wait to see your show later!" Sonia happily said. "Thank you very much. We'll make sure to put on a great show," Eric said before looking at Geo who seemed confused at the moment.
"Hello there, my name is Eric Lairan and I'm the ring leader of the Lairan Circus. Pleased to meet you," Eric said politely while reaching out his hand and Geo finally remembered who he was. "Oh, so you're the ring leader that Sonia told me about. Nice to meet you too!" Geo said and he shook the hand that Eric reached out to him.
"So, why are you out here in the first place Mr. Lairan? Shouldn't you be preparing for the show?" Geo asked curiously and Eric rubbed his chin. "Oh about that. I'm looking for two people who look exactly alike. You see, they're part of the show," Eric explained.
"Oh, you mean Maria and Talia?" Sonia asked and Eric nodded. "Yes, I haven't seen them since half an hour ago..." Eric disappointingly said looking around the area
Suddenly, an explosion made them forget about the current issue. "W-What the!?" Sonia said startled as the two stood up from their seats and looked in the direction of the loud sound.
"Let's check it out!" Geo quickly said and the three headed off to the direction of the explosion.
The group arrived at the shopping area where few of the buildings were already damaged. "Viruses!" Mega and Harp alerted which made Geo and Sonia scan the area.
"Why now of all times!?" Geo said annoyingly as Eric noticed two blond girls hiding inside one of the stores. "Maria! Talia!" Eric called out as he ran to them. Unfortunately, random debree poured down on the entrance to the store seperating him from Geo and Sonia. "Mr. Lamrian!" Geo called out from the other side.
"I'm OK. You two should get away from this place now!" Eric instructed from the other side. He didn't know however that Geo and Sonia actually fix problems like these.
"We'll go and get help! Just hold on!" Sonia lied and nodded at Geo. "Let's end this quick," Geo told Sonia and both of them wave fused. As soon as they did, they quickly got to work on the viruses and started deleting them them one by one.
To their surprise, more and more waves kept on coming and two found themselves surrounded by the viruses. "Why won't these things just give up and die!?" Mega said annoyingly as the viruses closed in on the two.
Fortunately for them, a violet wave crashed through the viruses giving the two some space to get back from the viruses. The two looked where the wave came from to see Solo standing on the opposite wave road.
"Thanks! We really needed that!" Harpnote said gratefully as Solo leaped to the other wave road where they were. Finally, Rockman and Harpnote glowed a dim aura and the devices on the MPWS once again had "level 2" on it.
"About time that happened. This shouldn't take long now," Geo said as he charged up his buster and fired a huge shot at the viruses eliminating a whole bunch of them.
It didn't take long soon after to completely rid the area of the viruses. Before Geo and Sonia knew it, Solo had already left. "That guy is just so mysterious sometimes," Harp commented and the two went back to where Eric and the two girls were.
Rockman quickly blasted the large debree into tiny specs of dust finally giving Eric and the two girls room to escape. They immediately thanked the blue bomber and his companion for saving them.
"Excuse me for asking this but who are you?" Eric asked the two not recognizing who they really were. "Oh, I'm Rockman and this is Harpnote," Rockman introduced with a smile.
"Rockman and Harpnote...very unique names indeed. Anyway, thank you very much for saving us. Things would have turned out much worse if you two hadn't shown up," Eric said with gratitude in his tone.
Rockman and Harpnote noticed that they were staying a little too long already and decided to bid farewell to them.
"Well, we should get going now. We've got some other things to take care off. Bye!" Sonia said and both of them disappeared before Eric could speak again.
Moments later, the human forms of Rockman and Harpnote were seen running to where Eric and the two girls were. "Geo! Sonia! I'm glad to see you two are okay," Eric sighed with relief unknowing to him that they were the ones who had helped him earlier.
"We're glad to see you're alright too," Geo said but the group's attention was quickly drawn to one of the twins who had suddenly fell to her knees and held her ankle with a painful expression on her face.
"Talia? What's wrong?" Maria asked concerned as she looked at Talia's ankle. "I-It kind of hurts..." Talia mumbled in slight pain.
"There's no use staying here. Let's get back to the tent," Eric suggested and the group headed back to the tent.
Back at the tent, Eric had called a medic to check on Talia while Sonia introduced Geo to the rest of the circus group. After a few minutes, Eric entered the part of the tent where Geo, Sonia and the rest of the group were.
"So, how's Talia?" A huge guy wearing a mask asked and Eric shook his head. "It's not too serious but I don't think she'll be able to perform in that state..." Eric sighed and so did the rest.
"But the show starts in about an hour..." A boy around 12 years old mumbled which added to the group's depression.
Fortunately for the group, Sonia thought of an idea that could probably save the show. "How bout I help you guys out?" Sonia said which confused the group but Geo knew what she was planning to do.
"Sonia, I'm not so sure that's a good idea..." Geo whispered to Sonia but she just smiled and replied, "We can trust them. I guess you can say I have a hunch" Sonia whispered back getting that last sentence from what Geo said about Solo. Geo nodded giving Sonia the "go" signal.
"Everyone, I want to show you something but promise me you won't tell anyone else okay?" Sonia asked and the group nodded slowly still confused. That confusion was suddenly lifted when Sonia wave fused and became Harpnote once again.
Eric and the rest of the circus group dropped their jaws when they saw this. "You mean you're...actually Harpnote? Then that must also mean that you're..." Eric said in surprise as he looked at Geo who nodded at him with a nervous smile.
"You see, when we're like this, we can do tons of cool tricks like flips and stuff like that so maybe I can help you out," Sonia explained but was interrupted by Maria.
"Umm...the thing is that I can't really perform as good if I'm not with my sister...I'm sorry..." Maria said with a frown. "Oh...I see," Harpnote mumbled then looked at Geo thinking that was the only option left.
"W-Wait...do I really have to?" Geo said with uneasiness in his voice. "Geo, you're the only other person left who has a chance off pulling it off. So...pleeaase Geeeoo?" She said the last sentence with begging eyes and so did the rest.
Geo, being the kind of person he is, couldn't possibly say no to the current situation. Actually, he alsmost never says no when someone actually begs him to do something.
Eventually, Geo let out a sigh then smiled after. "Alright...what do I have to do?" Geo said which lit up the mood of the group. "Great! Maria, could you show them what they should do in the show?" Eric asked and Maria nodded happily. "Sure! I'm sorry I won't be able to perform during the actual show but I can still show you what you're supposed to do. Please, follow me" Maria instructed with a wave of her hand and they headed to the performance area.
At the performance area, Maria was demonstrating the actual moves for the performance. Geo and Sonia had a rather hard time at first but eventually got the hang of it thanks to the enhanced physical abilities from their wave forms.
After awhile of continous practicing, Geo and Sonia finally seemed to perfect the performance which really surprised Maria because of the fact that it took them such a short while to get it.
"Wow...you two really learn fast!" Maria said in surprise. "Thanks I just hope we're able to pull it off at the actual show," Geo said a bit worryingly.
"Don't worry, it'll be fine. We can pull it off!" Sonia said confidently which was rather an opposite of Geo's expression.
"Yeah! You two will absolutely be able to do it," Maria assured which raised Geo's confidence. "Yeah, you're right...we can do it," Geo mumbled before an important thought passed through his head.
"Maria, I don't think this armor looks...you know...circus-like," Geo mentioned which was a really good call. "Good point, I guess we're going to have to paint it around a bit," Maria explained.
Geo regreted mentioning that a few minutes later. Rockman and Harpnote were painted with spots, hearts, and other things that might make them look circus-like. Sonia on the other hand, thought the paint designs looked rather cute which once again confused Geo.
It was now a few minutes before the show and people were starting to fill up the seats as Geo and the rest got ready for the show. Everyone was now gathered at the meeting room in the tent and could already hear the people outside.
"Well everyone, it's show time. Now let's give them a show they won't forget anytime soon," Eric said and everyone nodded in reply with smiles on their faces as they headed to the main area.
The show started with an introduction from Eric. "Welcome to the Lairan Circus. We hope you enjoy the performances we have to offer. Now sit back, relax and enjoy the show!" Eric concluded and the show started.
Ironically, the crowd could hardly sit back and relax because they were completely drawn into the performances that they could see. All of them were amazed and they could only wonder how they could do any of those things.
Performances like juggling large tables, acrobatic flips through flaming rings were just some of the acts that were being displayed.
a few performances later, it was Rockman and Harpnote's turn. When they entered the stage, people could only wonder if they've seen them before and actually, they have. just not like this.
"You ready?" Geo asked Sonia who smiled confidently. "Of course! Let's show em' what we can do!" Sonia said and their performance officially started.
The crowd was on their feet as they watched the spectacular display of impossible stunts that Rockman and Harpnote were doing. stunts like swinging through burning loops or to another bar from great distances was already enough to get the crowd's attention but the two were doing that and more.
Meanwhile, Solo was once again up on a tree near the huge tent getting a good view of the whole show. Solo smiled as a memory once again passed his thoughts.
"Solo, you're smiling again," Laplace's voice was heard through Solo's MPWS. "I'm guessing that you're liking the show?" Laplace asked. Solo remained quiet for a bit but eventually spoke. "...I guess," Solo mumbled with a small smile still on his face.
"I see...well, I'm going back to sleep now," Laplace said and the MPWS shut off as Solo continued to watch the performance.
Back at the show, Rockman and Harpnote were finally done with their performance and waved to the crowd with gratitude. The whole circus crew approached the center where the two currently were and Eric spoke one more time to the audience.
"And that ends our show. We hope you had a wonderful time and we also hope to see you again very soon!" He said through a microphone and all of them joined hands and bowed at the audience.
Flashy lights surrounded the tent as the group bowed to the audience. The audience on their part clapped and cheered for the group for the great performance they had seen.
After the show, Eric thanked Geo and Sonia for helping them out and also gave Geo and Sonia souvernirs: A photo which had Geo, Sonia and the Lairan Circus crew on it.
As the two walked home, Geo stared at the photo again and again. "So I guess you've got two pictures now huh?" Sonia asked as she looked at her copy of the picture.
"Yeah...I wasn't expecting to actually be in the photo this time though but here I am anyway," Geo said as he took out his other picture.
"Hey Geo, do you think you could make a copy of that picture for me?" Sonia asked as she pointed at the one which Geo had gotten years ago.
"Huh? Why would you want this one?" Geo replied curiously and Sonia grinned. "Because you look so cute and cuddly in this one!" Sonia said half-jokingly and she took the picture from Geo's hand and started to run away with it.
"H-Hey! I didn't say you could have the original! Come back here!" Geo shouted as he ran after Sonia who stuck her tongue out and closed one eye in a "Haha can't catch me" kind of fashion.
Mega and Harp were left behind as they watched the two teenagers dash off. "Well this day ended surprisingly well," Mega commented with a sigh.
"So, did you like the circus? I know I did," Harp said happily and Mega crossed his arms. "It's okay I guess," Mega replied before noticing that they're partners were no longer in sight.
"Crap, where'd those two get to now? Let's go!" Mega said before floating off with Harp following behind.
And that ends this chapter. Hope you liked it. In the next chapter I'll be adding something new to the new powers that Geo and the rest have gained. Again, I'd like to apologize for keeping you waiting since I usually update every 5 days or so. By the way, I might change the "celestial squadron" in the title to "celestia" instead since I plan to use that word more often. Anyway, please review now and I'll see you later.