Megaman ZX – The Novelization
Chapter 21 – Trim the Weed!
A month had passed since the defeat of Serpent and the destruction of Slither Inc. head office building. The number of Maverick attacks had dropped since Serpent was defeated, giving the whole country a moment of peace. The Guardians had revealed Serpent's true intentions from the start, which had shocked the citizens greatly.
Vent and Aile, having not many Mavericks to fight anymore, decided to spend their time more on the ground rather than flying in the Guardian Base. Aile went back to Giro Express' office to resume her work as a transporter, while Vent decided to help out with rebuilding the highway as some part was destroyed from their fight with Serpent.
It was a clear day out, but Vent decided to take a break from his work and spend some time hanging out in the base. Aile was also taking a day off from her transporter duties as there weren't many deliveries to do. Vent had just come out from the command center, having already visited Prairie, went he saw Aile coming out of the transerver room.
"Hey Aile!" Vent greeted as he stopped in front of her, "Long time no see! What's up?"
Aile let out a laugh, "Are two days really that long for you? You helped me with the delivery rush that day, remember?"
"W-Well yeah, but…" Vent let out a sigh, "We saw each other every day when we were still fighting off against Serpent, so…"
"So you miss me?" Aile teased, making Vent blush.
"NO! I-It's not like that…" Vent denied in panic, before someone patted his shoulder from his back, surprising him, "Yikes!"
"Waaah!" Vent suddenly turned defensively, surprising the Guardian standing behind him.
"Oh, Congre! Nice to see you again!" Aile recognized the surprised Guardian, "Is everything okay?"
"Y-Yes…" The Guardian, Congre, still a bit shocked, replied with a nod, "Except for one thing…"
"What is it then? A 'surprising as many people as you can' competition?" Vent asked sarcastically, getting a hard elbow from Aile on his gut, "Ouch!"
"Well, the other day, someone asked me to cut some weed growing on their roof," Congre explained, "I accept the request, but… I just remember that I'm afraid of heights!"
"Now that's a real problem," Aile nodded before turning to Vent, "Vent, can you do it?"
"What?" Vent asked in annoyance, "Why can't you do it? I'm taking a day off here after those hard days of repairing bridges and streets!"
Aile glared at Vent before turning to Congre with a smile, "Excuse me," Aile dragged him away from Congre, "Don't you remember? I'm afraid of heights too! Do you want me to freak out just because I'm standing on top of a high roof?"
"Well, no…" Vent replied shortly before continuing, "But I don't I've heard you freak out like a little girl or something… oh, wait! I guess I did once when we're on the mission to protect that lab."
"Yeah, so can you please forget about how I yelled like that?" Aile glared at Vent, who nodded out of fear, before she dragged him back to Congre, "Alright, Vent will help you with your problem!"
"Hey!" Vent turned to Aile angrily, "I've never-"
Aile put her hand over his mouth and glared at him while having a smile on her face, "You will do it, won't you?"
Vent gulped and blushed as he noticed how close their faces were before letting out a nod and turned to Congre, "Okay… so where should I start?"
A few moments later, Vent found himself walking in the city, looking around at the peaceful sights. Ever since Serpent was taken down and his real plan was revealed in public, he expected the citizens to be living in fear knowing their 'hero' was actually the one planning the Maverick raids. The citizens unexpectedly live their lives as if nothing happened, but he was sure that the news had torn their hearts away.
Vent stopped walking and looked up at the tall buildings in the city, "Here I am. The building with some weed on the roof should be in this area!" Vent hid himself in a nearby small alley before pulling out Model X and Model H, "Rock ON! Model HX!"
Vent used his jet wings to climb the building, reaching up to the rooftop of the building. Some wild weed grew on the flat roof, but Vent easily cut them off with his dual sabers before burning them with Model FX's fire busters. Vent transformed back into his human form, feeling confident that he was done with his work, until he looked at the next building which had taller grass growing on the roof.
"What!?" Vent asked himself in surprise, "You've got to be kidding me! That's not weed, that's a forest!"
Vent lazily transformed back into Model HX and crossed to the next building to cut the tall grass. With the roof much bigger than the last one, Vent took more time to cut the whole grass and burned them with the help of Model FX. Vent sat on the roof right in front of the burning grass, waiting for the whole grass to burn, and looked up, seeing that the sun was setting.
"What a work… Though it's not as tiring as that delivery rush…" Vent let out a sigh before turning back to the burning grass, which only had the ash remains left, "Alright, time to back to the base!"
Vent went back to the alley before jumping down and transformed back into his human form, walking back towards the nearest transerver to go back to the base. As he arrived in the base's transerver room, Vent stretched out his arms before opening the door and headed out of the transerver room to find Congre, only to pass through the cafeteria and saw Aile along with some other female Guardians chatting and relaxing.
"Aile!" Vent barged into the cafeteria, getting the attention of the Guardians in the room, and pointed straight at Aile, "I'm…" Vent's stomach growled before he could finish his sentence, dropping his hand down, "… hungry…"