I finally managed to get this chapter written after a busy week!

Ushindeshi: Don't worry, it's still just the beginning...

End of Era

Chapter 3 – Next Generation Mega Men

The brown-haired teenage girl was holding a wooden sword while facing Megaman Model ZX in front of her. She was panting, but she wasn't going to give up and throw away the sword she was holding. She knew the movements, but her body wasn't fast and strong enough to keep up as the Megaman quickly charged with their own wooden sword.

Estelle tried blocking the incoming attack, only to find that the stab-like attack was just a bait before she was hit by a three-hit sword combo. When the last hit knocked her sword down and left her head open, she was met with an uppercut attack which knocked her sword flying. When the Megaman's sword was in front of her face, she was completely armless that she could only raise her hands in defeat.

"I lost… again…" Estelle let out a disappointed sigh, "Even though you're not fighting like my dad, you're still hard to beat!"

The Megaman let out a chuckle as they glowed and turned into the silver-haired hunter, "I only used his strength into my strategy, while you fought pretty much as reckless as your dad."

"Estelle!" a voice called from behind Estelle before a pair of arms hugged her belly, "Are you hurt?"

"It's okay, Oriel," Estelle turned to her brother for a moment for a head pat before walking past him to pick up her wooden sword, "I'm just tired from all those matches."

"And that's the very reason why you need to train more," Ashe added as Estelle responded with a sigh, "Come on, let's do another round and Oriel will be up next."

"Me too?" Oriel asked in confusion as Ashe nodded in response.

"He's still too young, Ashe," Estelle stepped in front of her brother, "And can we just switch into shooting practice this time? I'm getting sick of playing around with swords."

Ashe let out a defeated sigh, "Okay, we'll do that later. Your dad asked me specifically to train you with swords, so Oriel still needs to know a bit of the basics for sword fighting. Once we're done, we'll head for the Hunter's Camp for the shooting practice."

"Actually, that'll have to wait a bit longer," Vent suddenly walked into the training room and towards Ashe, "Come with me to see Fleuve. He said that he had something to tell us about his research."

"It's originally just you, right? And you're just going to drag me along to listen to something I won't even understand?" Ashe playfully answered before taking a short glance at Estelle and Oriel, "What about your kids? Didn't you tell me that I was in charge of watching over them while giving them some sword fighting practice?"

"Oh, right," Vent turned to the younger two, "Wait for us to come back here, okay? And don't even think about going to the city."

"Yes, Sir," Estelle playfully saluted, copied by Oriel.

"Yes, Daddy!" Oriel saluted and smiled before Vent and Ashe left the training room.

"Hey Oriel?" Estelle turned to Oriel, who was still in saluting position, "How about we go and visit Storm?"

"We can't! Daddy will be mad!" Oriel protested, "We have to stay!"

"Okay, Daddy might be mad," Estelle took Oriel's hand with a sly grin on her face, "Only if he finds us missing when he gets back. All we have to do is just go back before he returns."

"Should we tell Mommy?" Oriel innocently asked, making the grin on Estelle's face disappear, "Estelle?"

"No, we're not telling anyone," Estelle slightly pulled Oriel's hand as they both walked out of the training room, "Especially not her."

"I really hope that you're not teaching Estelle and Oriel any weird things," Vent commented as he and Ashe walked though the hallways towards Fleuve's lab, "From the way she speaks and acts, I feel like your unnecessary playfulness is rubbing off on her."

"It's boring to be serious all the time," Ashe replied while putting her arms behind her head, "What about you? Aren't they supposed to be your responsibility?"

"Aile's been keeping me busy with patrols," Vent stopped in front of the lab and turned to Ashe, "You can tell how bad it is after that argument between you and her earlier and I still can't do anything against her."

"I think I can tell more about how she has been feeling all these years," Ashe opened the door to the lab, "Now's not the time for that, right?"

Vent let Ashe went into the lab before following her, "Yeah, I guess…"

"Ah, you're here!" Fleuve called out as he took a moment to turn his attention away from the screen, "I did some research like you requested, but…"

Vent noticed the uneasiness on the older reploid's face, "They aren't compatible, are they?"

Ashe looked back and forth between the two in confusion, "What's not compatible? Any of you care to fill me in on the details?"

Vent gave Fleuve a nod before he responded with another nod and typed a few things on his computer, "Vent asked me to check the Biometals' compatibilities with Estelle, Oriel, and Storm, but the result is rather disappointing," the screen showed the three figures he mentioned with some data pointing to various spots on their bodies, "The Biometals are compatible based on genetic data within each of the Chosen Ones, but the same doesn't apply for their offspring. The compatibility levels for those three are either low or not compatible at all."

Vent looked at the screen filled with information, though his face told them that he hardly understood anything, "So… what you're saying is… what?"

"I think the screen is pretty obvious to me," Ashe pointed at the red crosses beside Oriel's data, "Oriel's not compatible, right? That's why there are red crosses next to his data."

"It was his compatibility with all the Biometal data we have in our database," Fleuve added, "Sadly he can't transform at all, but his sister Estelle is half-compatible to Model X and no other Biometals," Fleuve zoomed into the third figure next to Estelle and Oriel, "Storm is compatible with both of his parents' Biometals, but only half-compatible to both of them."

"I think that kinda makes sense," Vent commented as he kept his eyes on the screen, "Model Z's original Chosen One was…"

Fleuve nodded before he brought up another window to the screen, "I've tried looking into all of the Chosen One's data along with their children and I managed to find the exact same data in Estelle," Fleuve turned to look at Vent, "There should be another Biometal she's fully compatible with out there. In other words, she's also a Chosen One for a Biometal but we don't have the data for it."

"It leaves us with her being a Chosen One for Model W…" Ashe added and turned to Vent with a serious look, "I don't like how this is going…"

"There's also Model O too, but we don't know where it is right now," Vent added before turning back to Fleuve, "I don't think Aile will like this news too, especially that Estelle might be a Chosen One for the Biometals of our old enemies. Please don't say anything to her, Fleuve."

The old researcher gave him a moment of silence before different data were shown on the screen, "The previous commander managed to get some information about modifying Biometal data so that they can be used by anyone other than the Chosen Ones. I assumed that she was already aware of this matter and asked someone to find out more about this method."

"Grey," Ashe spoke up the name of their lost comrade, "He mentioned that Prairie was giving him special missions after he went back from Albert's old lab."

"But both of them are already gone," the people in the lab was surprised by the different voice calling out to them before they turned to the door and found the present commander there, "Fleuve, I already mentioned about how you should focus your research on tracking and eliminating any possible chance of Maverick attacks."

Fleuve lowered his head in guilt, "My apologies, Commander Aile."

"Aile, he's just trying to help in any way he can," Ashe gave her protest, "You can't just take down anything just because you think it isn't necessary!"

"Please, there's no need to defend me," Fleuve spoke up before he turned to look at Aile, "I will look into any signs of anomalies in places where Mavericks used to gather. I will send the report of my findings tonight or as soon as I find anything out of the ordinary."

"Very well," Aile nodded in understanding before turning to Vent and shoved a few devices to him, "Give these to Estelle and Oriel to study. They should be spending more time on studying rather than in the training room for pointless exercise."

"It's not pointless, Aile," Vent protested, "I want to train Estelle and Oriel so that they're ready to take over as official members of the Guardians and ready to fight Mavericks on the field."

"Leave the kids out of the battlefield. As adults, we should be the ones responsible for their safety along with the others. We should let them study so they can help people and reploid like Fleuve in research of eliminating Mavericks," Aile turned towards the door without showing them any expression, "This is the best for them and for us all."

Vent watched as Aile left the lab without another word, "I feel like the more she's obsessed with eliminating Mavericks, the more distant she is from us."

"Sure, she can be annoying that way," Ashe started, getting Vent's attention, "But if you look back at what happened since that day, I can tell that she's blaming herself more and more even when there was someone else worth blaming too."

Vent studied her face for a moment before he realized when Ashe meant and nodded, "Yeah, but I really can't blame any of them. It's those Mavericks that needs to blamed, not you and definitely not Aile."

"It's easy for you to say when you're not there at that time," Ashe said bitterly, "But I can't imagine how much harder Aile could've taken it if I wasn't there too," without another word, Ashe left the lab, leaving Vent alone with Fleuve.

Vent let out a sigh before turning to Fleuve with a small smile, "Sorry you had to see and hear all that, Fleuve. Thanks for letting us know about it anyway, even if we might not be able to put it to good use."

"It's fine, Vent," Fleuve turned to look at the screen once more, which showed a map of the city and its surroundings, "Commander Aile wants a world free of fighting and Mavericks, so I can understand what she wants to do with the Guardians. It is saddening that she never realizes that she still has families and friends who care for her and will always lend a helping hand or offer a shoulder to cry on."

Vent nodded, though knowing that Fleuve wasn't looking at him, "That's why I'm still here and staying by her side. I believe that she will go back to the person we know so well," Vent approached him and stood by his side while his eyes was looking at the screen, "I'll do things my way and I'll take responsibilities for anything that happened, even if Aile is against this," Vent turned to Fleuve with a determined look, "Fleuve, please, can you try and create another copy of Model X for Estelle? I'm going to make her ready to help us fight off the Mavericks on the field."

Fleuve gave him a firm nod, "Yes, I understand."

Vent nodded in response and walked towards the door, but stopped for a moment, "And Fleuve?"

"Yes?"

"You're not on your own too. Even with our fellow Guardians gone from the last Maverick attack, you still have us here."