Disclaimer: I own nothing from Megaman…however….nope, nevermind….
Megaman Legends: Love Heist
Legends Arc Two: Megaman Bonne Arc
By Traingham
[ Episode Ten: More Complex than it Appeared ]
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Sera?" The former commander sounded genuinely surprised at the sight of the cold mother unit, sitting before him as though this meeting was nothing out of the ordinary. That, of course, being the total opposite considering all that had come to pass since they reached Kattelox. He actually expected her to berate him, or something along those line. With Sera he could never be too sure. Personal experience proved to him that she was beyond unpredictable whenever it came to situations that involved him rather intimately.
"Trigger." She spoke his name in one of her usual greetings, running both of her hands down her lap until she could rest them upon her knees.
"How did you..." Trigger paused in a moment of bewilderment, narrowing his eyes. Last thing he recalled, he was in the middle of a tense situation with that man, Glyde, and his band of pirates. Whatever was happening now, it could have been causing him a major inconvenience. There was no way that he could hope to defend himself in his current state. "Where are we?"
"In you internal processor." Sera replied. "Or your mind, if that is what you prefer to call it."
"But...how?"
Sera stood up when he questioned her and closed the distance between them, just stopping an inch away from him. She looked up at him with her usual cold expression, with the exception of an odd gleam that looked out of place in her crimson orbs. It was the gleam that she always had reserved for him when his image reflected from her brilliant eyes; so full of intelligence and immeasurable depth. One could get lost and return not realizing the time that has passed them. He just didn't understand why it was always there for him. What did it all mean? Just what exactly did she desire from him? The last time he bothered to check it was his life.
"We are bonded, Trigger." A small smirk crossed her lips, chilling the former commander to the core. "Eternally."
Initially, her words had not affected him at all. One would have to sympathize with the former commander; It wasn't everyday that you were told by the very woman that had supposedly loathed your very existence that you were bonded with her, and to make matters even more intriguing, she appeared to be quite pleased with this. It was rare to find Seras expressing any kind of feeling, and yet, right now she had a subtle smirk on her lips that made one particular emotion apparent: Amusement. What did the mother unit find so amusing about this? In fact, how could he believe her? The cold mother unit was one ruthless manipulator.
"You expect me to believe that?" Trigger backed away from her, glancing left and right at his surroundings. Even if he tried to deny it, what he stood on did feel solid. Even Sera felt too real to be some kind of figment on his imagination. He didn't take himself for the type to have nightmares...normal ones, anyway. What was that? The commander raised an eyebrow at the odd thought that struck him. Imagination? Am I really capable of something so wondrous?
"What is not to believe, Trigger?" Seras questioned him, stepping forward with every step that he took back. "Have I ever been one to lie?"
No. Not to me, anyway. He inwardly quipped. Though I wonder if you're even capable of something so human to begin with...
"Your thoughts ring as clear as spoken words." The mother unit informed, catching him off guard.
"...You're not lying..." He nearly mouthed his words in shock as a violent chill spread about him. If he could recall correctly, mind reading was not one of the abilities that the mother units were gifted with, so the fact that she was able to tap into his mind could only mean that she was, indeed, connected to him somehow. Now that certainly did not make the former commander very comfortable. He actually liked keeping to his own thoughts very much, and the last person he'd think of sharing them with was her.
"As I implied before, I am not one to lie." She now had him cornered.
"But how is it possible?"
"Do you not recall the very reason you're in your current state?" The cold mother unit questioned him, hold both of her arms behind her back. "When you transferred your essence into my original body all of your data was transferred as well."
All of it? Trigger nearly cried out audibly. Not that keeping it in really mattered since she could hear his thoughts just as clearly if it had left his mouth.
"Yes." Sera nodded, tapping her temple with two fingers as her crimson eyes delved into his own. "Every moment you spent on this planet. Every sensation. Every word." She paused for a moment to allow him to digest her words before she finished him off. "Every thought."
For once, since having awakened from his comatose state, something very human finally processed through the former commander's mind. "You mean, to tell me that all of it...everything is within you. Everything that was stripped away from me...you have it all?" Trigger felt the sudden urge to reach out to her and grasp her shoulder, but he crushed it immediately before he could act on it. For a moment he thought he'd seen something flash across the mother unit's face though it came and went so fast that he couldn't be sure if it actually happened or if was a trick of the garden lighting.
"While it certainly isn't something I'm very interested in, it's there." Sera replied. "Ironic, is it not? That which you desire most resides within the one you wish to keep away from."
"Then...surely there must be some sort of way to return it."
"That might not be possible." Sera blotted away his ray of light with her words. "It isn't something I can transfer, much like the data that walking drive has stored within it. It is far deeper than that. You would know, after all. You would have lost your life completely after having transferred it to me had it not been for your regenerating capabilities."
"If that's the case, why even contact me?" Trigger asked her curtly. "You don't attempt persuasion without some kind of bargaining chip. Even someone like yourself should know as much."
"A bargaining chip?" Sera allowed her head to tilt to the side slightly in order to express her curiosity, another new thing coming from the mother unit. "Why would I need something like that?"
"You want me to return, don't you?" For a fleeting moment he wasn't even sure if that was the case anymore with the way Sera merely stared at him. "You didn't just sync with me for leisure conversation..." He trailed off feeling unsure of his own choice of words.
"Perhaps..." Sera replied, holding her hands behind her back.
Trigger raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?" He felt a hint of shock run through his internal systems when Sera mirrored his expression, raising one eyebrow herself. The thought of someone like herself contacting him for casual talk was enough to change his entire perception of the world around him. Reality would have to bend out of whack for something like that to be possible.
"Though, referring to myself," Sera placed a hand on her chest, "a being of my power and capabilities, one would question whether a bargaining chip even serves a purpose. As a unit who knows very intimately what feats I can achieve, even without my full reserve, I am rather curious as to why you might even inquire such methods."
"I'm sorry," Trigger stepped past her before turning to face her, "For a moment I was under the impression that you were implying something unpleasant."
"Unpleasant is far from the suitable word, Trigger." Sera told him with a slight shake of her head. "I can assure you, as a friend, that my efforts have no ill intent in mind."
"You mean to bring me back by force. There's a clear contradiction in your words and intended actions, Sera.."
"If you would push me to such methods." Sera retorted, crossing her arms. "You can always simply return to us of your own free will."
"You mean, to you." Trigger quipped. "I'm sorry, but I have other things in mind."
"So you know, Trigger, being able to synchronize with your mind does not only allow me to communicate with you." The mother unit closed the distance between them to place a hand on the side of his waist. He couldn't feel her delicate touch through his armor, but her impact got through to him all the same. It was enough to send violent chills through a man. Seeing that her point was made, she stared him dead in the eyes and asked, "You understand?"
"...Then this should keep me on my toes." The purifier answer her.
"The ever constant nature of our relationship." Sera told him with a nod.
"Something we can both agree on." Trigger offered her a subtle smirk. Apparently there were things that only Sera could bring out of him as well.
[ Back at Amelia's Residence... ]
Sera snapped back to reality when the former commander forced her to part from his mind. Naturally, since it was his own personal domain, he would have enough influence over it to pull it off even if she made any kind of resistance. Though the scales would tip in my favor if I managed to imprison his consciousness within my own mind... The mother unit rose up from her seat on the stair well as that disturbing scheme came to mind. I must find a way to make that possible.
"So," Sera stopped her descent when she realized that Yuna was awaiting her at the foot of the stairs with her usual grin. She would not have put it past the gentle mother unit to spy on her while she was having her conversation with Megaman. "Were you successful in reaching our dear, Megaman?"
"If you are referring to, Trigger, then, yes." Sera replied, continuing her descent again until she stood one step before Yuna. "He refuses to come with us peacefully, however."
A small frown crossed Yuna's lips as she brought a balled fist to her mouth. "I see. I did think it was rather odd that he didn't put up more of a protest when we had him accompany us to the flutter after he awakened from his coma."
"He still is not fully convinced that I pose him no threat." Sera mused.
"Not that we should blame him." Yuna told her fellow unit with a wry smirk. When Sera looked to her dispassionately, the gentle mother unit simply asked, "Need I say more?", before taking her leave of her long time partner and joining the others outside in front of the residence. The cold mother unit watched Yuna's back until she disappeared from her view and looked up to the ceiling in a long silence before looking to the window behind the couch in the living quarters. The white clouds drifted slowly along the blue sky, a change from the still, darkness of space.
"Trigger..." She held one hand out before her and closed it, giving off the illusion that she had grasped out of the white masses of smoke. "...prepare yourself."
Megaman touched the back of his head as he regained consciousness and took a look at his surrounding to find himself in a small room with plated walls. Three of those four walls were made up of rows of small compartments, all of which were either blown open (likely the work of small explosives) or left ajar. The fourth wall was the exit out of the chamber, though that was now impossible since the purifier happened to be locked in by an armored, reinforced door. As one would have it, the blue hero had been locked in a bank safe, and the only way to open it would have been through some assistance from the other side. Well, that would have been the case had one assumed that Megaman was a mere man, which judging by the name that Roll Caskett had affectionately given him, was far from being fact, however, Glyde's bird-bots happened to assume just that, so...hmm.
"They had us separated." The blue bomber observed, standing up from his resting spot on the floor. He crossed his arms as his conversation with old nemesis echoed in his mind. "If only she had not taken that moment to contact me, this could have been avoided. So far, Sera may have the upper hand. The longer it takes for me to resolve this matter, the less time I have before she arrives here to apprehend me."
I don't want a reminder of just how difficult that woman could be... The former commander inwardly cringed as he pressed a hand against the backside of the armored door. He gave it a slight push to gauge its sturdiness as another thought came to mind. ...Would Yuna assist her? Something told him that it might just come to that. The gentle mother unit did show that she had an interest in him, though the nature of that interest was still something he was rather unsure of. His guess was that the root of her fixation might have had something to do with her worries in regard to the situation surrounding the destruction of the EDEN system.
"Excuse me!" Megaman called to to whomever was present on the other side. "If you are standing anywhere in front of this door it would be in your best interest to clear out!" After stating his warning he waited a moment for some sort of response, only to be answered with silence. With that he took a few steps back and prepared to ram the door with his shoulder, but before he could take a step to begin his charge he came to a halt and sighed. Something in the back of his mind was still causing him to hesitate. Perhaps this had something to do with the supposed alter ego that the girl in red kept on claiming him to be. "...Please heed my warning! I'm serious!"
Megaman narrowed his eyes when he was answered with more silence and clenched his teeth before giving it a go. The steel door crumpled against the purifier's shoulder like an aluminum can when he made contact, and the bound hostages that were being kept outside in the lobby could only gape in unadulterated shock as the vault door suddenly unhinged itself from the wall and grew two legs, charging across the room and crashing through the opposing wall before being thrown into an unsuspecting bird-bot mech that was standing guard in the street. The vault door was thrown at such a velocity that it cut right into the armor of the mech, setting off a spark in the damaged engine and setting it off in an explosion that only left a ball of fire in its wake.
Ladies and gentleman, Archhalo just found itself a new hero, and he was...a young man in blue, digger armor? The people in the bank, despite just witnessing an amazing feat of strength from the former commander, started to doubt their luck already until some of the more well informed hostages, predictably a young woman and her little sister suddenly cried out excitedly, "It's him! It's Megaman!"
"Hm?" The purifier looked over his shoulder when he heard the gleeful cries of his name from the two hostages. Then, almost as if their cries set off a chain reaction, others suddenly began to recognize him.
"You mean, the kid that saved Kattleox?" An older man questioned with clear disbelief in his voice. "I thought that was just a silly rumor!"
"Whoa! It is him!" A little boy gasped.
"...Turns out that I made a name for myself..." Megaman said to no one in particular, having the sudden urge to massage the back of his neck from all of the attention he was attracting from the audience. His eyes sharpened, however, when he heard some rumbling. He regarded the source to find a squad consisting of four mechs approaching from the western section of the town to investigate the explosion that echoed through the streets. He should have anticipated this, and with no buster cannon at his stead, this was bound to cause him more trouble than it should have. Well, such was the life of the blue bomber.
I'll have to find out where Tron and Teisel are before I return to the ship! The former commander thought, kicking forward to begin his charge toward the approaching mechs. From their visuals they were able to make out a blue, humanoid figure in the distance before the reploid was able to pick up enough speed to close the distance and engage them in combat. Trigger prepared himself, bracing both arms in front of his face before he bent his knees for a fleeting moment and jumped into the leading mech. The force of his running jump allowed him to crash right through the mech in a blur that confused the other bird-bots. Now, naturally something like that would have been considered beyond unusual. It wasn't everyday that you saw a man use his own body as a bullet, however, Trigger managed to utilize his body in just that manner.
Trigger rolled when he hit the concrete, and stood up before whipping around to face the remaining three mechs. The bird-bots, having seen enough of what the young man was capable of, opened fire on him with their arm mounted machine guns. Sparks showered the streets like a light show as countless rounds sprayed at the spot that the purifier had supposedly been standing before one of the bird-bots shrieked in fright. Two of the unaffected mechs quickly turned to face their distressed comrade to find Trigger desperately trying to hang on as the mech he engaged did its best to shake him off before he could inflict any major damage. The former commander, finally managing to get a good grip on one of the handlebars that protruded from its shoulder with one hand, used his other to punch right through the exposed joint to grasp whatever he could get his hand on and rip out the cables that allowed interface between the main controls and the right arm movements. With that out of the way, he let go of the handle bar and positioned himself so that he was tucked between the main body of the mech and the dead arm. Kicking both of his feet into the mech as he gripped the mech's extremity with both hands, he mustered the strength to kick off, taking the arm with him!
"Caw-Caw! Shoot him down alread-" The bird-bot in the severely damaged mech couldn't complete its sentence since the reploid used its severed arm as a battering ram, smashing it directly into the cockpit. The other two opened fire quickly, no longer caring for the risk of shooting their own mate in the process, but all bullets were deflected as Trigger used the arm as a shield before whipping around and tossing the heavy arm in the direction of one of the remaining suits.
"What a workout..." The former commander grunted, looking to the final mech as their partner exploded. He jabbed an accusing finger at it, and the bird-bot got startled. "The Bonnes! Where are you holding them?"
"I c-can't answer that! Ca-Caw!" The frightened voice replied from the loud speakers of the mech.
"You're a witness of what I just did to your comrades." Trigger clenched his hand into a fist in a threatening manner. "Do you want to join them?" He inwardly cringed, sure that such words were more fitting for leaving a certain mother unit's mouth. That sure left a bad taste.
"N-No way!"
"Then, talk!"
"The Town Hall!"
"Wher-" Trigger stopped in mid-sentence when he heard an ominous hiss. It almost sound like a decrease in steam pressure...almost like a machine! His first instinct was to move, sprinting forward as fast as he could, and it served him well, saving his hide from an explosion. The bird-bot in the mech was not as lucky, left in a state fit for the scrap heap.
"What?" Trigger looked over his shoulder just in time to see something vanish from his sight. Someone was using heat-camouflage. "That'll do it." The purifier said grimly before he heard the distinct sound of moving gears near him and it made him highly uncomfortable.
"There!" The blue bomber kicked back into a back flip, dodging a swipe from what had finally revealed itself as another mech model. Apparently its heat-camo temporarily wore off whenever it had to attack. Judging from the good look the commander had while its camouflage took a moment to kick in again, the machine resembled an armored imitation of a feline with cannons mounted on the shoulders of its front legs. The pilot happened to prefer the paint job on their mechs to be black and green, it would have seemed.
"A live one here, I see." May's voice echoed from the loud speaker of the mech in a near snobbish manner. The purifier was able to detect a hint of intrigue in her voice. "I wonder where Tron might have found you. You definitely aren't the regular, garden variety!" She followed her words with another swipe from her mech, smacking Megaman into the building beside them. When the dust cleared out, she checked for his body to find nothing...at least until there was a sudden crash from above her.
"Ah?" The war mech immediately looked up in time to see Trigger crash through one of the one of the fourth floor, office windows. He came down upon May, landing on top of her mech and wasted no time in starting a break in attempt..
"Hey, HEY!" May started to panic when she heard his fist hit the spot exactly above her cockpit, and it didn't exactly sound as if he was pulling his punches. It was time for her to take emergency maneuvers! "G-GET OFFA ME!" The mech came to life again, jerking side to side in a desperate attempt to shake him off.
"Ungh!" Trigger pulled back one arm quickly and punched with all of his might to get one hand lodged into a dent within the armor. The ending result had the reploid resembling a rodeo cowboy as May did her best to have the mech buck him off. In the end, all she managed to do was make the citizens of the town cry as the robotic jaguar's rampage left the surrounding buildings in ruins. That wasn't going to go away with chump cash...
While that happened to be going on, Tron and Teisel had worries of their own, being tied and bound with their backs toward each other while Glyde paced back and forth in front of them with a devious grin on his handsome face, and oh did they hate that face! The first thing Tron wanted to do as soon as she managed to get free, was to punch him in he face repeatedly until he no longer had anything to smile about. Teisel, on the other hand, was just a little creeped out by the way their arch nemesis was looking at him. Something in the back of his mind was just blaring warnings, and if there wasn't any duck tap stretched over his mouth he probably would have screamed at the images that kept on popping up in his head.
After a few more paces, Glyde finally lost his patience and nearly tore at his hair, By this point his two onlookers were getting the impression that the man had finally gone over the deep end. "Curses!" The drama king hissed as he shook a fist to the air. "I've been waiting for this for so long and now that I have you two, I've forgotten all of the things I had in store!"
"MMNMM!" Tron shook her head in irritation, kicking her legs up and down.
Glyde smirked and leaned over her, placing a hand behind one ear as though she needed to speak a little louder. "What was that? You wanna go firs-"
WHACK!
Tron's left foot struck his chin, throwing his head back before he could finish taunting her. Naturally this pissed him off and he tried to get even by reeling his hand back to strike her across the face with the back of it. Teisel glanced over his shoulder to see this and jerked forward with a lean so that Tron was whipped backwards, striking Glyde across the face with both of her boots this time.
"AGH!" Glyde slapped a hand against his cheek as he looked away. "This is going to bruise, brat!" He whipped his head back around to regard them and gasped when he saw the two siblings on their feet. "How did you..." A nervous wheeze left the man.
"MMMMM!" Tron and Teisel made their move, doing their best to synchronize the movement of their legs so that they could make a run for the door of the mayor's office.
"Oh, no you don't!" Glyde scowled. He came after the two of them seeming very confident about this course of action. Honestly, they were harmless as long as they were bound together, right? Well...wrong. Tron, seeing that Glyde was coming in close, knocked against the back of Teisel's head with the back of her own, and they switched positions so that Teisel faced the brown clad pirate.
"HRM!" Teisel gave Tron the signal to charge and they both turned the tables on Glyde, coming after him instead. Needless to say, Glyde wasn't feeling so confident about his own situation any longer. As this painful game of tag ensued, if looked out the west window of the office and really, I mean really paid attention, they would have been able to make out Megaman holding on for dear life as May's jaguar mech continued to try to buck him off. So far it still looked like a stalemate for the both of them.
"Hyaa!" Glyde grabbed a book off of the shelf behind the mayor's desk and chucked it at Teisel. When he landed a hit on the green clad pirate's chest, he cried out in triumph. "Ha, ha! How do you like-"
Teisel shrugged it off and tossed his head to the left to alert Tron that they were to side step to the left.
"You want some more, eh?" Glyde grabbed two books from the shelf and chucked them both at Teisel. One hit his right shoulder and the other hung over the two Bonnes, spinning in mid-air for a few seconds before coming back down on top of Tron's head instead. Yes, while it may not have been the person he was exactly aiming for, at least it still hit somebody. Unfortunately, Tron didn't take to it too well, and the urge to punch Glyde's face suddenly increased ten fold.
[ Looking at the west window: Trigger and May's game of ride the wild jaguar suddenly seemed to be coming closer to the town hall. ]
"Gah!" Teisel and Tron finally managed to get around the desk, much to Glyde's horror. The villain did his best to knock the book shelf over, on top of them, however, after two desperate pushes it just kind of seemed hopeless. That being made clear, it was time to make tracks. "That's it! Bird-bots!" Glyde cried out for his loyal drones to come to his rescue as he jumped on to the mayor's desk to evade Teisel and Tron. He hopped off and made a run for the door, but Tron alerted Teisel of this and she took the lead in chasing their annoying foe.
"MMN!" Tron's eyes flared frighteningly. When Glyde finally managed to steady his hand and turn the door knob to open the door, Tron and Teisel caught up with him, colliding and taking him down a rather inconveniently positioned staircase with them. Needless to say, the trip down would leave them with headaches because snapped necks tend to cut stories short.
Checking back on Trigger's status, the purifier unit had become quite aware of how close they had gotten to what he assumed was the town hall, judging by its large size and the law enforcement vehicles that May had crushed under the weight of her mech with all the wild bucking she was doing. If he didn't put an end to this any sooner, he was going to be looking at some nasty casualty issues. With that in mind, he decided to stand, risking the chance of being thrown off, and reached out blindly in the direction of the left shoulder cannon. After some frustrating clawing he got his hands on something thick and cylindrical. Looks like this was it.
"Rrrngh!" He wedged his feet into the shoulder joint unsteadily and began the arduous process of disengaging the cannon from the mech's shoulder. With enough time and effort Trigger felt some progress before the interface wires snapped free from the mech, crackling and sizzling with electricity at his forceful methods. It weighed, that was good enough for him. "Now..." Trigger's brow wrinkled in concentration.
Inside, May was working the controls like a maniac when suddenly-
CLANK~~~
"H-Huh?" May looked up to see the unthinkable. The cockpit door is...being busted open from the outside? What...is...HE?
CLNK~ZTTTSH!
The piloting seat started to feel a little drafty as the lovely, May, found herself being looked down at by the service end of her own shoulder cannon, and for a moment her life flashed before her eyes before everything went completely black. Trigger pulled the cannon away from the entrance he made and tossed it off to the side. The Mech stopped its erratic movements much to his confusion since he actually expected her to go all out when she realized that he had direct access to her. Unfortunately-
"She fainted..." Megaman observed, finding May face down on the controls, which probably meant that he should have gotten her out before the mech fell over as a result of being uncoordinated. The reploid did just that, reaching in to scoop her up by her armpits and held her in his arms, bridal style, before he ran toward the rear end of the mech and grinded down the end of its twisting tail to kick off with a flip and land on the front lawn of the town hall with style as the mech fell over at the same time, crushing a few more law enforcement vehicles underneath it.
"The Bonnes should be inside." Megaman mused, walking toward the town hall building at a normal pace as though everything that had just transpired could have compared to nothing more than a mere workout...though considering what he was used to, it probably felt like a training simulation. Apparently they didn't make mechanoids the way they used to. At least they were once able to think and fend for themselves. Under the direct command of humans, they preformed horribly. Not that he was complaining, mind you. The easier this was, the less time it would take for him and his two partners to leave the island, saving him from a meeting that he'd much rather avoid all together rather than escape from. When Sera had something in her sights, she tended not to let go until she had it within her grasps, and if the present state of the Forbidden Island wasn't enough proof of that, then maybe you needed some first hand experience before you decided to be a judge.
Shifting May's unconscious for so that he was able to drape her over one shoulder, Megaman reached for the door handle of one of the entrance doors and turned to find it locked. Of course, a simple pull took care of that problem, and he walked right in to find a group of bird-bots surrounding the foot of one of the curving staircases that led up to the second floor. He was going to have to give this a shot. "Excuse me?"
They all turned and looked at him...
...he silently stared back...
...and they proceeded to hurl themselves out whatever windows happened to be nearby. Walking in with their boss's sister slung over your shoulder could do that to that for you...or maybe it was just being Megaman. The latter seemed a bit more convincing if you thought about it.
"...I see." With the birds out of the way the reploid was able to see for himself what they were so interested in. Apparently, Tron and Teisel were quite able to defend themselves when necessary. All they really needed to learn was how to do it effectively because knocking yourself out with the person posing a threat to your life just couldn't be seen as a victory no matter how you looked at it. Megaman held May in his arms properly once more, and kneeled down carefully to rest her on the carpeted floor gently. Satisfied with the way he left her, he approached the mass of arms and legs that were The Bonnes and their arch foe, and proceeded to undo the ropes that bound the two siblings together.
"Guys." Megaman nudged the two of them, still neglecting to lift them off of Glyde. He was just fine where he was. When the two didn't exactly respond, though that twitch from Tron was mighty suspicious, the former commander scooped the lovely pirate into his arms and nudged Teisel a little more before simply getting fed up and kicking the elder Bonne in the shin.
"Ow, ow, ow!" Teisel suddenly came to life, gripping the spot where the blue bomber's foot connected. He initially whipped his head in Megaman's direction to threaten him, however, at the sight of the blue boy the pirate's expression fell blank before a goofy smile gradually worked its way along his lips. He knew that he could depend on him, but just to make sure...
"Did we win?" Teisel sounded hopeful in his inquiry.
"Yes."
"Yeah," Teisel scratched the back of his head, a little awkward. "I had a feeling we did."
[ A little later that evening... ]
The mayor just finished alphabetizing the books on his shelf when there was a sudden knock on his door. With an exasperated sight the tall, middle aged man called out, "Come in!" They had just recovered from a crisis and new complaints were already coming to him? He knew about the damage to the residential district. He knew about the destroyed property belonging to the law department. He knew about all of the damages because his secretary wouldn't leave him alone about it, so what was it now?
"Um, Mayor, sir?" One of the young policemen poked his head in nervously after cracking open the door.
"What is it, Oswell?" The Mayor asked, clearly not in the mood to listen.
"You have visitors, sir."
"It is really that important?" The Mayor walked over to his messy desk and started arranging the things in place again. He grabbed the plaque with his name, face down on the desk surface, and polished it with his suit sleeve before positioning it properly at the front of his desk again. "Have them sit in the waiting room. I'm a little busy as you can see."
"But, sir-ULK!" The young officer was pushed inside before he could speak any further and a short, green haired girl walked in followed by another girl that resembled her, though much taller, and a few other people. There was a hunched over, old man with prosthetic eyes, the infamous Von Bleucher, a pretty young woman wearing a red engineering suit with unruly blonde hair, and another young woman with long hair, holding the hand of a younger girl. Needless to say, the Mayor was a little perplexed by the presence of the group. Those two girls with the green hair didn't seem quite normal, really. The short one with the cold gaze was pretty disturbing.
"...Um, yes?" He suddenly felt a little more accommodating under Sera's gaze.
"Hello!" Yuna decided to step in and talk before Sera could. She knew that her cold counterpart would only serve to unnerve the man further than he had already become in her presence. "We're just in need of some help."
"Yeah...s-sure." The Mayor stammered, a little more relaxed now that Yuna had purposely stood in front of Sera. "How might I be of s-service?"
"We're in search of a friend." Yuna explained with a warm smile that worked on the tension in his face. He found that he couldn't help but offer a small smile in return. "Does the name, Megaman, ring a few bells?"
"M-Megaman? Why y-yes, indeed!" His response elicited some excitement from the blonde engineer, drawing her forward from her place beside the hunched old man.
"Did you, really?" Roll smiled, clasping her hands together.
"Of course, young lady." He said, almost feeling a tingle of pride at having brought a smile to such a lovely young lady's lips. "Just earlier he released this town from a dastardly band of pirates all on his own! That young man was simply amazing!"
"That sounds like him." Roll giggled, a blush tingling at her cheeks. "Good ol' Megaman!"
"Of course, his two companions...I could really care less about." The Mayor grumbled. When he told Teisel and Tron that the town was in their debt for releasing them from the pirate menace, he wasn't expecting them to fully take advantage of their good deeds by milking as much money as they possibly could before he snapped in two. Couldn't they just have asked for a free dinner instead?
The Mayor suddenly felt as though he had done something wrong as Roll's cheerful expression faltered a bit. "...Um..."
"That aside," Yuna cut in before he could try to comfort the engineer, "Did Megaman happen to say anything about where he was headed next?"
"Well, uh-" The Mayor tried to recall the question that the blue bomber asked him before he took his leave with the Bonnes. "...Now that I recall..."
"Think hard." Sera brushed past Yuna and Roll to confront the poor man. "We must find him quickly."
"U-Uh, ah, yes!" The Mayor cried out excitedly as it all came back to him. "He seemed quite curious about the ruins of Manda Island."
"Manda island..." Sera echoed him before looking to Yuna in question. "Anything you can deduce from this?"
"Not exactly." Yuna replied.
"...A feint." Sera reasoned. Trigger may have anticipated this, so he left this man with a question as if to imply that he was heading there, with the assumption that we would take the bait and head completely off his course. "A clever tactic, but you'll have to try harder, Trigger." The cold mother unit said to no one in particular before returning her attention to the Mayor, causing him to flinch. Trigger has made it difficult for me, however. He's managed to block off any chance of me linking to him, but he'll weaken soon enough.
"That has been enough." Sera turned away from him and headed for the door much to Yuna's annoyance. Sera could be so rude, even if it was unintentional. "If we linger here any longer, Trigger will fall farther from us. We cannot afford to fall behind too far."
"Heh."
Yuna flinched, as did everyone else when they swore a chuckle escaped Sera's lips as she walked away.
"Words were never spoken so true, Trigger. That is the ever constant nature of our relationship."
To Be Continued...
Episode Eleven: Shadows in the Sand
Legends Arc Three: Inflections