Author's note: Same as usual. Most characters belong to Capcom, the rest are my creation.

Megaman Legends: The Lariozan Connection
Chapter Three: Salutations

The first to arrive at the pad was an four-windowed armored personnel carrier with three soldiers, two of them wearing pith helmets (similar to the helmets worn by archaeologists and jungle explorers of old, look at photographs), the other, who appeared to be their captain, sporting a peaked cap, as well as a gray polo shirt-clad man with a Panama hat and sunglasses. Climbing up the platform to the Flutter, the squad leader knocked on the door.

"Señores y señoritas", the captain said to the passengers when Megaman opened the door for them, "welcome to Larioza."

The passengers were silent again, until Barrell tried to speak to the sole civilian with the squad. "S-say," the old man said in a trembling voice, "I-I d-d-do think you're not a Lariozano, are you?

The man only approached them, and said in a laughing tone, "Hell, no! I'm Cedric Burnley, ALPRA (Althirian Press Agency) correspondent. Seems like your ship's spent, eh?"

"Sadly, yes," Roll replied. "But then again, we think our landing here's better than drowning in the bay." As she said those words, there occured a sudden mortar explosion at the east end of the pad. The other soldiers in the pad rushed to the scene as Roll spoke again,this time in a more worried look. "On second thought, maybe we could swim..."

The captain said to himself in a muttering voice as the passengers, Burnley and his two subordinates as they went down to the APC, "Hmmph! Bastardos."

Meanwhile, on a huge green-and-white airship, a tall man with green armor, long white hair in a ponytail, and a face that (in my opinion) was older than himself, was in the bridge listening to an audio message with great concentration.

"Master Teisel, it seems that Megaman and his family have landed on San Gabriel," a childish voice replied. "Three soldiers and a journalist picked them up and brought them somewhere..."

"Where?" Teisel replied angrily and impatiently."To the General Headquarters, the Presidential Palace, the Althirian embassy? Where the heck are they going, #15?"

"Ohhh... I don't know for sure, Master Teisel," #15 squealed in fright. "But it seems they're headed into the downtown area." With this, Teisel calmed down sufficiently to say, "Watch out for him, Servbot # 15," he said, with a smile on his face."This will be the time for vengeance! Hahahahahahaha-a-a-cough, cough, ahem, I must take one of them lozenges. My cough seems to be getting worse. Gesselschaft, head to Larioza!" The pilot could only say, "Aye-aye, sir, up and going!"

Teisel then turned to another servbot and told him, "Go wake up your Miss Tron. Give her the details about the scouting trip and ask if the Gustaff's ready." The servbot replied, "Yes, sir!"

"What is this place?" asked Megaman as he looked around San Gabriel, a city of burnt-out ruins, soldiers, evacuating refugees, and checkpoints. "This is the most beautiful city in the world?"

"Certainly before last week's attack," Barrell replied as they passed a shelled out building, the National Capitol, with the Plaza dela Republica in the other side of the wide boulevard they were passing. "The San Gabriel I remember was Oxford, Launceston (AN: in this world, Althiria's largest city and similar to New York in size and status) and Culloden (Althiria's capital city) rolled in one. Symbol of Larioza's success in the economic area. There were cafes, concerts, golf clubs, libraries, laughter, learning. That was then." As they passed through the financial district, Roll noted an ornate Baroque-style building flying the Althirian flag.

"Say, we're not going to the embassy," said Roll as the APC passed it by and then turned to the right.

"We no go there, señorita," the captain replied. "Mañana. Maybe later."

"So where are we headed to?"

"The Von Blucher Foundation, that's where," Burnley answered. "You must rest for a while before going to the embassy."

"I didn't know Verner was generous," Barrell remarked skeptically. "So what does his foundation do?"

"Building houses for the many poor, sponsoring scholarships, persuading people to preserve the many ruins in the countryside, among others. And it has twenty offices around the world," Burnley said matter-of- factly, although dry in sound texture.

"But why there? Why not go straight to the embassy?"

"He told me that if you fellers landed in places where his companies have a financial presence, they'll see to it that you're helped. Besides, the foundation's a short walk from the embassy-that is, if you actually plan to walk." He added, "We'd notified Ambassador McKilroy of your presence."

Bythe time Burnley finished, they had disembarked on the APC and had entered the building.

So, with the Bonnes finding out Megaman's whereabouts and with San Gabriel put under tight security against rebel attack, what will happen to our Digger and his amigos? Just find out on Chapter Four: Impending Attack- Again!

P.S. Any help out there? Please send them at ceig13@yahoo.com!