As the fivesome headed back toward the Flutter, Tron turned her
attention toward MegaMan's companions, starting with Yuna and Gaga.
"Saaaay," she drawled, narrowing her eyes in recognition at them.
"Aren't you the lady who attacked the Sulphur-Bottom a few years ago?
During that press conference?"
Yuna couldn't hear them over the wind, of course, but MegaMan answered
for her, "Yeah, but they were only trying to protect us from Sera."
By this time, Tron had glanced downward at their mode of
transportation. It didn't take long to recognize the golden Reaverbot dragon as the
one who had attacked the Sulphur-Bottom a second time, shooting the
Bonnes down in the process. Needless to say, Tron was even less happy to
see him.
"This...this is the monster who tried to blow us up!" she shrieked.
MegaMan hastily intervened to prevent her from doing something rash.
"It's ok!" he said quickly. "He's on our side now!"
But the young Digger's attempts were in vain. Tron kicked sharply at
the Servitor's metal back, yelling, "How could you?! You worthless
flying lizard! You stupid waste of scrap metal! I'll teach you to mess
with the Bonnes!" while MegaMan tried desperately to calm the young
Bonne girl down.
Unfortunately, Tron's foot struck the weakened area where Jiji's
stablizing rod joined his back. He cried out at the sudden burst of pain,
banking sharply to the right, then straightening just before his
passengers tumbled off.
"Geez! Calm down, will you?" MegaMan grumbled in frustration as soon
as his bearings were re-collected. "Look, we're almost there."
Sure enough, the Flutter hovered just a few meters away. As soon as
the Servitors landed on its deck and their respective passengers
disembarked, Tron marched up to Jiji, and shouted angrily at him, her face less
than an inch from his muzzle.
"Look, I don't care whose side you're on now! You tried to kill my
brothers! And me! I thought we were going to die! If we hadn't been able
to get the engines running again, we could have killed! Ya hear that,
murderer?! KILLED!"
Tron's tirade, however, degenerated into astonished babble when the
Reaverbot dragon transformed before her eyes into the male Ancient she
and her brothers had gotten a glimpse of on the Sulphur-Bottom. Stunned
speechless, she watched as the now-humanoid Servitor unit strode calmly
over to where Roll and Sera had emerged from the portal from down
below.
"Welcome aboard, Tron," the former said, offering the most sincere
smile she could manage. The Bonne girl, however, didn't seem to notice
nor care. She had more important matters to worry about.
"The Geselschaft!" Tron cried. "Where is it? It didn't crash, did
it?"
"We're afraid it did," said Yuna. "Last we heard, it was headed down
over Calbania Isl..."
"Then that's where we're headed!" Tron interrupted. She jogged to the
hatch, yelling over her shoulder, "C'mon! We gotta make sure
everyone's alright!" She descended the ladder, the others-including the two
humanoid Servitors-close behind.
***
As soon as the Flutter docked safely on Calbania Island, Tron nearly
broke the sound barrier jumping down the ladder and running toward the
smoldering remains of the Geselschaft II.
"TEASEL! TEASEL!!" she cried, her voice hoarse with dread. "BON!
CAN ANYONE HEAR ME?!"
Just before Tron reached full-blown hysteria, the battered door on the
side of the ship clattered open, and Teasel, Bon, and the Servbots all
piled out.
"Urghh," the eldest Bonne groaned, rubbing his bleeding forehead.
"Hope someone got the license number of that speeding steamroller...Tron?"
"Teasel?" his younger sister replied. Then, at the same time, they
both cried out joyously, "You're alive!" before rushing forward and
embracing each other warmly.
"Babu!" Bon sighed happily, and enveloped his siblings in a hug of his
own. The rest of the Flutter's occupants approached in time to catch
the tail end of the display of family love.
"Is everyone alright?," Yuna asked. "Did everyone make it out alive?"
"Yeah," Teasel replied, "It looks like everyone made it out just..."
He was interrupted by a loud FWOOM! and a flash of light. As everyone
turned to look, the entire back end of the Geselschaft II burst into
flame. A filmy-white mist of flame retardant drifted from the open door
as fire-control systems came online inside with a soft hiss. Teasel's
face shifted from astonished to anguished in an instant.
"N-NOO! Not the Geselschaft II! Not again!" he moaned, staggering
toward the burning ship. His hands flew to his head and proceeded to rip
at his grayish hair.
"Wasn't once bad enough?!" he shrieked. "After borrowing money from
that sleazy lard bucket, and that whole deal with the Colossus, and that
blue kid goes and blasts it to smitheereens!. That was enough bad luck
for the rest of my life! Now! Now, after all that hard work trying to
get money the honest way, some stupid Reaverbot goes and blows the
second one sky high! I don't believe this! Of all the rotten luck!"
Here, Teasel sank to his knees and started banging his head on the ground.
"Of all the" (thud!) "rotten" (thud!) "stupid" (thud!) "miserable
luck!" His voice trailed off to a near sob, and he buried his face in his
arms, which he had folded on the ground.
Gaga approached the dismayed carbon hesitantly.
"Mister Bonne?" he said.
"What?" Teasel's voice was muffled beneath his arms.
"This unit believes the ship is still salvageable."
A brief pause. Then, Teasel slowly lifted his head to look at Gaga.
"What did you say?" he asked incredibly.
"This unit believes the ship is still salvageable." Gaga repeated
patiently.
"You're sure?!"
"Yes. Certainly."
"He's right, Master Teasel" Servbot #14 announced, scurrying away from
the wreckage of the Geselschaft II. "I looked it over, and I'm pretty
sure it's repairable."
The green-armored pirate's mood went from despairing to ecstatic in
seconds.
"Well then, let's get to work repairing it!" Teasel exclaimed, his old
bravado returning. "Numbers 30 through 34! You guys build stuff,
right? Get to work rebuilding the ship!"
"Roooger!" the five Servbots chimed, then scurried into the ship. A
few moments later, the clanging, whirring, and buzzing of repairs being
made floated out from within.
"We need to find a place to regroup," Yuna started, but a brilliant
flash of light followed by a crashing roar, this time from the
now-clouded-over sky, interrupted yet again.
"And I don't think this is a very good location," Terra's Mother unit
sighed as the first drops of rain began to plunge from the ashen
heavens.
"We can all meet aboard the Flutter...," Roll suggested, glancing
toward MegaMan...then toward the three Bonnes...then the Mother units and
their respective Servitor units...then at the remaining thirty-six
Servbots...and remembering that Barrel and Data were still aboard the
Flutter...and considering the Flutter's relatively small size. "...er,
maybe." she finished.
"Hey, don't worry about it!" Teasel assured her. "We Bonnes only need
a lift to the next inhabited island. When we get there, we'll leave
you alone to do whatever it is you have to do and..."
"No," Sera interrupted. "We need all the help we can get at this
point. After seeing the talent behind the mecha called 'Gustav III'" (Tron
grinned proudly) "we really could use your abilities."
"Well, if you really need our help...ah, what good's a treasure if
you're not alive to spend the profits?" Teasel concluded. "C'mon. We'll
come with."
With this, everyone headed back toward the Flutter, just as the clouds
above seemed to burst, and torrents of water cascaded to the earth
below, accompanied by a fireworks display of lightning, and the resounding
roar of thunder.
***
As the tiny ship soared above the weeping clouds blanketing the ocean,
everyone on board took a few minutes to dry off from the sudden
downpour, then gathered in the living room area, where Yuna spread a map of
the world on the coffee table. With Roll's permission, a few of the
Servbots raided the fridge and returned with snacks and drinks. Sera
voiced a protest against the little robots' frivolous behavior, which went
unacknowledged.
"In order to shut down the Elder System," Yuna began. "We need to
access the primary station located here," She pointed to an area on the map
toward the southwest. "on Kattelox Island. This station houses all
access to the Elder System's data files, including how to deactivate it.
Only a few know of its location, including Sera and myself. In order to
keep an eye on it from Elysium, we built a relay construct of sorts
above it, called the Main Gate. We posted a low-ranking bureaucratic unit
as a sentry there to protect it from nosy carbons, but don't worry.
MegaMan Juno is one of the most reasonable units I know and I'm sure
he'll be cooperative..." Yuna noticed the worried looks on both Rock's and
Sera's faces. "What's wrong?"
"Er, Yuna?" Rock volunteered. "Um, Juno isn't there anymore. See, he
was going to kill everyone on the island, and I couldn't allow that,
and...."
He didn't need to go on. The look on Yuna's face indicated that she
understood, and was not happy with the news.
"But it's ok!" Rock continued quickly. "There was no way the carbons
could have entered the Main Gate. They were scared of it or something,
and there's no visible entrance, so there's no way any of them could
even get inside, much less get at the Elder System's controls."
"It's quite all right," Yuna assured him. "Besides, I didn't think the
sacrifice of thousands of carbons was worth it anyway." But her tone
of voice suggested otherwise.
"Anyway," the Mother unit continued. "We need to get to the chambers
underneath the Main Gate."
"We can do that." Roll spoke up. She straightened up from where she
was leaning over Teasel's back to see the map, and headed toward the
bridge. "Everyone! We're off to Kattelox!"
"Wait!" Yuna called, stopping the young girl in her tracks. "We can't
go just yet. There are actually several other locations we must visit
first."
Roll shrugged and returned to the table.
"As I was saying," Yuna went on, "there are several other locations
that we need to deal with first." Yuna continued. "The Elder System's
controls are protected by a large, triple-barrier constructed from our
best defensive technology, and is therefore completely inpenetrable. We
can, however, deactivate it, and in order to do that, we must shut down
each of the control stations, located on three different islands." She
pointed to each location on the map as she spoke.
"The first control station is located here, in the ruins under Nino
Island, the second is under the Shala-Kun ruins on Ryship Island," Yuna
explained, "and the third is located beneath the Lemke Ruins on Tonje
Island. Since time is of the essence, we should try and take each
location at once."
There were acknowledging nods from all around. Everyone got up as Yuna
refolded the map.
"Ok, let's see now," Teasel muttered, "There's Tron, Bon, and myself,
which makes three. The blue kid and his girlfriend...that's five...the
Reaverbot ladies and their bodyguards...four altogether...that makes
nine, and there's three ruins, so that's three groups of three. Question
is, how are we going to divide up?"
"Remember, one of each of the three is going to have to be Spotters,"
Sera reminded him.
"I'll be the Spotter for one group, since I'm already experienced in
that area," Roll said. "And I think the Mother units should be Spotters
also."
"I am heavily armed and have proven to be an effective fighter!" Sera
protested. "I could fend for myself in the ruins just as well as anyone
here!"
"Maybe so, but I figured that the Servitor units would have fits if
their Mother units were to go somewhere dangerous." Roll responded.
"And she would be correct!" Gaga added, while Jiji nodded in agreement.
"Furthermore, Sera and I are both experts were the Elder System is
concerned," Yuna added. "So we should each go in different groups."
"Well then it's settled," Tron said. "MegaMan, the blonde lady, and
myself in one group, Sera and the Servitors in the second, and Teasel,
Bon, and Roll in the third!"
Neither Teasel nor MegaMan looked happy with the idea of Tron going
with the blue-armored Digger. Roll looked outright angry, and struggled
valiantly to hide her disgust.
"That is a valid suggestion, Miss Tron," Yuna said. "However, I don't
think it would be a good idea for the two Servitors to go together.
Since a Servitor is only an effective fighter while in their dragon
form-which is called a 'Fiiru', by the way-then they would have to spend all
the time they are in the ruins in that particular configuration, with
the very high possibility of becoming trapped in an area too small for
their Fiiru forms. In this case, Gaga and Jiji would have to revert to
humanoid form, leaving them both virtually helpless against a great
number of enemies. I'm sorry, but I doubt that will work out
effectively."
After much debating, arguing, and discussion, they finally resigned to
drawing straws. The final arrangment was thus: MegaMan, Sera, and Jiji
would go to the Nino Ruins, with Sera as Spotter. Teasel, Bon, and
Yuna would go to the Shala-Kun Ruins, with Yuna as Spotter, and Tron,
Gaga, and Roll would take the Lemke ruins, with Roll as Spotter.
"Don't worry," Teasel assured Yuna's distraught guardian when he
learned of the arrangement. "We won't let anything happen to her. She's in
good hands." He patted the Servitor reassuringly on the back.
"Er, thank you." Gaga mumbled.
"Oh, and Gaga?" Yuna spoke up, motioning for him to lean closer to her.
"Keep Roll and Tron from going after each other. It seems that they
are at odds over MegaMan."
"Understood," the Servitor replied. "Besides, they will be seperated
by several miles. They could do very little harm to each other from
that distance."
"Well, now that that's all settled," Teasel yawned. "Where does
everyone sleep?"
The best any of them could do was look puzzled.
***
Later that night, Roll pulled MegaMan aside into the kitchen for a
quick discussion.
"MegaMan, I know you're trying to be nice and all, but I really don't
trust those Bonnes. I mean, after all they've done to you, and to us,
do you really think it's safe to have them aboard? Just a few months
ago they kidnapped you! You still want them with us?"
"If this Elder System really is as bad as we think, then we should have
all the help we can get, like Sera said." MegaMan replied. "Besides,
with all the Draches and the Gustav locked down, the Bonnes can't do
much anyway."
"I still don't trust them," Roll protested. "They are pirates, after
all."
"We may be pirates and all, but we do have a code of honor!" Tron
called from the doorway. Both MegaMan and Roll jumped at the sudden
interruption, then turned toward her.
"After all that you've done, saving us and all," Tron continued.
"you've pretty much made up for all those other incidents. Besides, at
least I got my hands on you for a little while."
The last sentence had been accompanied by a sly look on the Bonne
girl's face, and a charming, mischievious smile on her lips. MegaMan's
cheeks reddened slightly, and Roll scowled.
"Besides," Tron added. "the only person we really shouldn't trust is
that Sera lady, and that dragon-man she hangs out with. They're the
ones who tried to kill everyone, after all."
"Look, there's no reason not to trust anyone here," MegaMan said
tiredly. "We're all fighting to save the world from the Elder System.
'Enemy of my enemy is my friend', remember? Guess that makes us all friends
or something." He yawned, then shook his head slightly, as though
shaking away cobwebs. "Man, I'm beat. It's eleven-thirty at night, and
it's been a long day. See you all in the morning, huh?"
As MegaMan stumbled his way upstairs, the girls glanced at each other
momentarily, then decided to follow suit.
As Roll passed through the living room, she took a moment to visit
with some of the others, who were spending the night in the living room.
Roll's old crib had been dragged out and expanded for Bon Bonne, who
was curled up on the mattress, clutching a Zakobon plushie. Data leaned
up against the baby robot, snoring lightly. Earlier that day, the two
robots had developed a friendship of sorts, and spent the evening
conversing in their languages of "Oo-ki-ki!" and "Babu!".
The Mother units had decided to share the hideaway bed in the couch,
while the Servitor units occupied cots nearby. Right now, Sera and Yuna
were reclining on the fully-extended bed, apparently contented with
their sleeping arrangments. Jiji and Gaga, on the other hand, were not
quite so relaxed, and seemed reluctant to simply lie down and rest.
"No offense, but do Servitors really need sleep?" Roll asked. Everyone
looked toward her.
"If you mean whether they need to enter a dormant state to regain their
strength, yes." Sera replied. "But it's not really sleep, and they
don't need to as often as humans."
"Besides, we would rather we didn't require it at all," Gaga explained,
"as it leaves whom we are protecting vulnerable."
"Don't worry. You're one-hundred percent safe aboard the Flutter."
Roll assured them, then headed toward her own room upstairs. As she left,
however, she glanced briefly over her shoulder to see that everyone was
alright. After ensuring that everyone in the living room was in bed
and asleep-or the equivelent thereof-the young inventor resumed her trek
upstairs.
***
The arrangement upstairs was to have MegaMan and Teasel in MegaMan's
room, and Tron and Roll in the latter's quarters, with the Bonnes on
trundle beds. All was well in Roll's room, but in Megaman's room...
"ssSNNXXXRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!!...ZZZZZZZZHHHHHhhhhhhh..."
MegaMan awoke quite suddenly to a horrible snorting, grumbling sound.
Groggy from the abrupt end to his sleep, the young Digger looked around
the darkened room for the source of the racket. It turned out that
Teasel had a severe snoring problem, and MegaMan was the unfortunate soul
who had to put up with it.
The former Purifier tried to ignore the awful noise; he turned over,
and pulled the blanket over his head. When that failed to blot out the
din, he added his pillow to the barricade around his head. Still no
luck. Frustrated, he picked up the nearest shoe and tossed toward the
snoozing pirate. The only result was Teasel rolling onto his back, and
snoring louder than ever.
"SSNNRRRRRXXXNNNXXXXGGHHHH!!...ZZZZHHhhzzzz..."
"Pssst! Teasel!" MegaMan whispered as close to loudly as he could.
"Hey! Wake up! You're snoring! Teasel? Teasel! Hello!"
But either MegaMan's whispers were too quiet or-more likely-the snoring
drowned them out. Teasel still didn't wake up.
By this time, MegaMan was outright desperate. He reached out, grabbed
his helmet off the nightstand, put it on, turned off the audio sensors,
and listened.
Silence.
The audio-less helmet was nearly soundproof, thus enabling MegaMan to
fall asleep just fine. The helmet was uncomforable, yes, but anything
was better than that wretched snoring.
attention toward MegaMan's companions, starting with Yuna and Gaga.
"Saaaay," she drawled, narrowing her eyes in recognition at them.
"Aren't you the lady who attacked the Sulphur-Bottom a few years ago?
During that press conference?"
Yuna couldn't hear them over the wind, of course, but MegaMan answered
for her, "Yeah, but they were only trying to protect us from Sera."
By this time, Tron had glanced downward at their mode of
transportation. It didn't take long to recognize the golden Reaverbot dragon as the
one who had attacked the Sulphur-Bottom a second time, shooting the
Bonnes down in the process. Needless to say, Tron was even less happy to
see him.
"This...this is the monster who tried to blow us up!" she shrieked.
MegaMan hastily intervened to prevent her from doing something rash.
"It's ok!" he said quickly. "He's on our side now!"
But the young Digger's attempts were in vain. Tron kicked sharply at
the Servitor's metal back, yelling, "How could you?! You worthless
flying lizard! You stupid waste of scrap metal! I'll teach you to mess
with the Bonnes!" while MegaMan tried desperately to calm the young
Bonne girl down.
Unfortunately, Tron's foot struck the weakened area where Jiji's
stablizing rod joined his back. He cried out at the sudden burst of pain,
banking sharply to the right, then straightening just before his
passengers tumbled off.
"Geez! Calm down, will you?" MegaMan grumbled in frustration as soon
as his bearings were re-collected. "Look, we're almost there."
Sure enough, the Flutter hovered just a few meters away. As soon as
the Servitors landed on its deck and their respective passengers
disembarked, Tron marched up to Jiji, and shouted angrily at him, her face less
than an inch from his muzzle.
"Look, I don't care whose side you're on now! You tried to kill my
brothers! And me! I thought we were going to die! If we hadn't been able
to get the engines running again, we could have killed! Ya hear that,
murderer?! KILLED!"
Tron's tirade, however, degenerated into astonished babble when the
Reaverbot dragon transformed before her eyes into the male Ancient she
and her brothers had gotten a glimpse of on the Sulphur-Bottom. Stunned
speechless, she watched as the now-humanoid Servitor unit strode calmly
over to where Roll and Sera had emerged from the portal from down
below.
"Welcome aboard, Tron," the former said, offering the most sincere
smile she could manage. The Bonne girl, however, didn't seem to notice
nor care. She had more important matters to worry about.
"The Geselschaft!" Tron cried. "Where is it? It didn't crash, did
it?"
"We're afraid it did," said Yuna. "Last we heard, it was headed down
over Calbania Isl..."
"Then that's where we're headed!" Tron interrupted. She jogged to the
hatch, yelling over her shoulder, "C'mon! We gotta make sure
everyone's alright!" She descended the ladder, the others-including the two
humanoid Servitors-close behind.
***
As soon as the Flutter docked safely on Calbania Island, Tron nearly
broke the sound barrier jumping down the ladder and running toward the
smoldering remains of the Geselschaft II.
"TEASEL! TEASEL!!" she cried, her voice hoarse with dread. "BON!
CAN ANYONE HEAR ME?!"
Just before Tron reached full-blown hysteria, the battered door on the
side of the ship clattered open, and Teasel, Bon, and the Servbots all
piled out.
"Urghh," the eldest Bonne groaned, rubbing his bleeding forehead.
"Hope someone got the license number of that speeding steamroller...Tron?"
"Teasel?" his younger sister replied. Then, at the same time, they
both cried out joyously, "You're alive!" before rushing forward and
embracing each other warmly.
"Babu!" Bon sighed happily, and enveloped his siblings in a hug of his
own. The rest of the Flutter's occupants approached in time to catch
the tail end of the display of family love.
"Is everyone alright?," Yuna asked. "Did everyone make it out alive?"
"Yeah," Teasel replied, "It looks like everyone made it out just..."
He was interrupted by a loud FWOOM! and a flash of light. As everyone
turned to look, the entire back end of the Geselschaft II burst into
flame. A filmy-white mist of flame retardant drifted from the open door
as fire-control systems came online inside with a soft hiss. Teasel's
face shifted from astonished to anguished in an instant.
"N-NOO! Not the Geselschaft II! Not again!" he moaned, staggering
toward the burning ship. His hands flew to his head and proceeded to rip
at his grayish hair.
"Wasn't once bad enough?!" he shrieked. "After borrowing money from
that sleazy lard bucket, and that whole deal with the Colossus, and that
blue kid goes and blasts it to smitheereens!. That was enough bad luck
for the rest of my life! Now! Now, after all that hard work trying to
get money the honest way, some stupid Reaverbot goes and blows the
second one sky high! I don't believe this! Of all the rotten luck!"
Here, Teasel sank to his knees and started banging his head on the ground.
"Of all the" (thud!) "rotten" (thud!) "stupid" (thud!) "miserable
luck!" His voice trailed off to a near sob, and he buried his face in his
arms, which he had folded on the ground.
Gaga approached the dismayed carbon hesitantly.
"Mister Bonne?" he said.
"What?" Teasel's voice was muffled beneath his arms.
"This unit believes the ship is still salvageable."
A brief pause. Then, Teasel slowly lifted his head to look at Gaga.
"What did you say?" he asked incredibly.
"This unit believes the ship is still salvageable." Gaga repeated
patiently.
"You're sure?!"
"Yes. Certainly."
"He's right, Master Teasel" Servbot #14 announced, scurrying away from
the wreckage of the Geselschaft II. "I looked it over, and I'm pretty
sure it's repairable."
The green-armored pirate's mood went from despairing to ecstatic in
seconds.
"Well then, let's get to work repairing it!" Teasel exclaimed, his old
bravado returning. "Numbers 30 through 34! You guys build stuff,
right? Get to work rebuilding the ship!"
"Roooger!" the five Servbots chimed, then scurried into the ship. A
few moments later, the clanging, whirring, and buzzing of repairs being
made floated out from within.
"We need to find a place to regroup," Yuna started, but a brilliant
flash of light followed by a crashing roar, this time from the
now-clouded-over sky, interrupted yet again.
"And I don't think this is a very good location," Terra's Mother unit
sighed as the first drops of rain began to plunge from the ashen
heavens.
"We can all meet aboard the Flutter...," Roll suggested, glancing
toward MegaMan...then toward the three Bonnes...then the Mother units and
their respective Servitor units...then at the remaining thirty-six
Servbots...and remembering that Barrel and Data were still aboard the
Flutter...and considering the Flutter's relatively small size. "...er,
maybe." she finished.
"Hey, don't worry about it!" Teasel assured her. "We Bonnes only need
a lift to the next inhabited island. When we get there, we'll leave
you alone to do whatever it is you have to do and..."
"No," Sera interrupted. "We need all the help we can get at this
point. After seeing the talent behind the mecha called 'Gustav III'" (Tron
grinned proudly) "we really could use your abilities."
"Well, if you really need our help...ah, what good's a treasure if
you're not alive to spend the profits?" Teasel concluded. "C'mon. We'll
come with."
With this, everyone headed back toward the Flutter, just as the clouds
above seemed to burst, and torrents of water cascaded to the earth
below, accompanied by a fireworks display of lightning, and the resounding
roar of thunder.
***
As the tiny ship soared above the weeping clouds blanketing the ocean,
everyone on board took a few minutes to dry off from the sudden
downpour, then gathered in the living room area, where Yuna spread a map of
the world on the coffee table. With Roll's permission, a few of the
Servbots raided the fridge and returned with snacks and drinks. Sera
voiced a protest against the little robots' frivolous behavior, which went
unacknowledged.
"In order to shut down the Elder System," Yuna began. "We need to
access the primary station located here," She pointed to an area on the map
toward the southwest. "on Kattelox Island. This station houses all
access to the Elder System's data files, including how to deactivate it.
Only a few know of its location, including Sera and myself. In order to
keep an eye on it from Elysium, we built a relay construct of sorts
above it, called the Main Gate. We posted a low-ranking bureaucratic unit
as a sentry there to protect it from nosy carbons, but don't worry.
MegaMan Juno is one of the most reasonable units I know and I'm sure
he'll be cooperative..." Yuna noticed the worried looks on both Rock's and
Sera's faces. "What's wrong?"
"Er, Yuna?" Rock volunteered. "Um, Juno isn't there anymore. See, he
was going to kill everyone on the island, and I couldn't allow that,
and...."
He didn't need to go on. The look on Yuna's face indicated that she
understood, and was not happy with the news.
"But it's ok!" Rock continued quickly. "There was no way the carbons
could have entered the Main Gate. They were scared of it or something,
and there's no visible entrance, so there's no way any of them could
even get inside, much less get at the Elder System's controls."
"It's quite all right," Yuna assured him. "Besides, I didn't think the
sacrifice of thousands of carbons was worth it anyway." But her tone
of voice suggested otherwise.
"Anyway," the Mother unit continued. "We need to get to the chambers
underneath the Main Gate."
"We can do that." Roll spoke up. She straightened up from where she
was leaning over Teasel's back to see the map, and headed toward the
bridge. "Everyone! We're off to Kattelox!"
"Wait!" Yuna called, stopping the young girl in her tracks. "We can't
go just yet. There are actually several other locations we must visit
first."
Roll shrugged and returned to the table.
"As I was saying," Yuna went on, "there are several other locations
that we need to deal with first." Yuna continued. "The Elder System's
controls are protected by a large, triple-barrier constructed from our
best defensive technology, and is therefore completely inpenetrable. We
can, however, deactivate it, and in order to do that, we must shut down
each of the control stations, located on three different islands." She
pointed to each location on the map as she spoke.
"The first control station is located here, in the ruins under Nino
Island, the second is under the Shala-Kun ruins on Ryship Island," Yuna
explained, "and the third is located beneath the Lemke Ruins on Tonje
Island. Since time is of the essence, we should try and take each
location at once."
There were acknowledging nods from all around. Everyone got up as Yuna
refolded the map.
"Ok, let's see now," Teasel muttered, "There's Tron, Bon, and myself,
which makes three. The blue kid and his girlfriend...that's five...the
Reaverbot ladies and their bodyguards...four altogether...that makes
nine, and there's three ruins, so that's three groups of three. Question
is, how are we going to divide up?"
"Remember, one of each of the three is going to have to be Spotters,"
Sera reminded him.
"I'll be the Spotter for one group, since I'm already experienced in
that area," Roll said. "And I think the Mother units should be Spotters
also."
"I am heavily armed and have proven to be an effective fighter!" Sera
protested. "I could fend for myself in the ruins just as well as anyone
here!"
"Maybe so, but I figured that the Servitor units would have fits if
their Mother units were to go somewhere dangerous." Roll responded.
"And she would be correct!" Gaga added, while Jiji nodded in agreement.
"Furthermore, Sera and I are both experts were the Elder System is
concerned," Yuna added. "So we should each go in different groups."
"Well then it's settled," Tron said. "MegaMan, the blonde lady, and
myself in one group, Sera and the Servitors in the second, and Teasel,
Bon, and Roll in the third!"
Neither Teasel nor MegaMan looked happy with the idea of Tron going
with the blue-armored Digger. Roll looked outright angry, and struggled
valiantly to hide her disgust.
"That is a valid suggestion, Miss Tron," Yuna said. "However, I don't
think it would be a good idea for the two Servitors to go together.
Since a Servitor is only an effective fighter while in their dragon
form-which is called a 'Fiiru', by the way-then they would have to spend all
the time they are in the ruins in that particular configuration, with
the very high possibility of becoming trapped in an area too small for
their Fiiru forms. In this case, Gaga and Jiji would have to revert to
humanoid form, leaving them both virtually helpless against a great
number of enemies. I'm sorry, but I doubt that will work out
effectively."
After much debating, arguing, and discussion, they finally resigned to
drawing straws. The final arrangment was thus: MegaMan, Sera, and Jiji
would go to the Nino Ruins, with Sera as Spotter. Teasel, Bon, and
Yuna would go to the Shala-Kun Ruins, with Yuna as Spotter, and Tron,
Gaga, and Roll would take the Lemke ruins, with Roll as Spotter.
"Don't worry," Teasel assured Yuna's distraught guardian when he
learned of the arrangement. "We won't let anything happen to her. She's in
good hands." He patted the Servitor reassuringly on the back.
"Er, thank you." Gaga mumbled.
"Oh, and Gaga?" Yuna spoke up, motioning for him to lean closer to her.
"Keep Roll and Tron from going after each other. It seems that they
are at odds over MegaMan."
"Understood," the Servitor replied. "Besides, they will be seperated
by several miles. They could do very little harm to each other from
that distance."
"Well, now that that's all settled," Teasel yawned. "Where does
everyone sleep?"
The best any of them could do was look puzzled.
***
Later that night, Roll pulled MegaMan aside into the kitchen for a
quick discussion.
"MegaMan, I know you're trying to be nice and all, but I really don't
trust those Bonnes. I mean, after all they've done to you, and to us,
do you really think it's safe to have them aboard? Just a few months
ago they kidnapped you! You still want them with us?"
"If this Elder System really is as bad as we think, then we should have
all the help we can get, like Sera said." MegaMan replied. "Besides,
with all the Draches and the Gustav locked down, the Bonnes can't do
much anyway."
"I still don't trust them," Roll protested. "They are pirates, after
all."
"We may be pirates and all, but we do have a code of honor!" Tron
called from the doorway. Both MegaMan and Roll jumped at the sudden
interruption, then turned toward her.
"After all that you've done, saving us and all," Tron continued.
"you've pretty much made up for all those other incidents. Besides, at
least I got my hands on you for a little while."
The last sentence had been accompanied by a sly look on the Bonne
girl's face, and a charming, mischievious smile on her lips. MegaMan's
cheeks reddened slightly, and Roll scowled.
"Besides," Tron added. "the only person we really shouldn't trust is
that Sera lady, and that dragon-man she hangs out with. They're the
ones who tried to kill everyone, after all."
"Look, there's no reason not to trust anyone here," MegaMan said
tiredly. "We're all fighting to save the world from the Elder System.
'Enemy of my enemy is my friend', remember? Guess that makes us all friends
or something." He yawned, then shook his head slightly, as though
shaking away cobwebs. "Man, I'm beat. It's eleven-thirty at night, and
it's been a long day. See you all in the morning, huh?"
As MegaMan stumbled his way upstairs, the girls glanced at each other
momentarily, then decided to follow suit.
As Roll passed through the living room, she took a moment to visit
with some of the others, who were spending the night in the living room.
Roll's old crib had been dragged out and expanded for Bon Bonne, who
was curled up on the mattress, clutching a Zakobon plushie. Data leaned
up against the baby robot, snoring lightly. Earlier that day, the two
robots had developed a friendship of sorts, and spent the evening
conversing in their languages of "Oo-ki-ki!" and "Babu!".
The Mother units had decided to share the hideaway bed in the couch,
while the Servitor units occupied cots nearby. Right now, Sera and Yuna
were reclining on the fully-extended bed, apparently contented with
their sleeping arrangments. Jiji and Gaga, on the other hand, were not
quite so relaxed, and seemed reluctant to simply lie down and rest.
"No offense, but do Servitors really need sleep?" Roll asked. Everyone
looked toward her.
"If you mean whether they need to enter a dormant state to regain their
strength, yes." Sera replied. "But it's not really sleep, and they
don't need to as often as humans."
"Besides, we would rather we didn't require it at all," Gaga explained,
"as it leaves whom we are protecting vulnerable."
"Don't worry. You're one-hundred percent safe aboard the Flutter."
Roll assured them, then headed toward her own room upstairs. As she left,
however, she glanced briefly over her shoulder to see that everyone was
alright. After ensuring that everyone in the living room was in bed
and asleep-or the equivelent thereof-the young inventor resumed her trek
upstairs.
***
The arrangement upstairs was to have MegaMan and Teasel in MegaMan's
room, and Tron and Roll in the latter's quarters, with the Bonnes on
trundle beds. All was well in Roll's room, but in Megaman's room...
"ssSNNXXXRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!!...ZZZZZZZZHHHHHhhhhhhh..."
MegaMan awoke quite suddenly to a horrible snorting, grumbling sound.
Groggy from the abrupt end to his sleep, the young Digger looked around
the darkened room for the source of the racket. It turned out that
Teasel had a severe snoring problem, and MegaMan was the unfortunate soul
who had to put up with it.
The former Purifier tried to ignore the awful noise; he turned over,
and pulled the blanket over his head. When that failed to blot out the
din, he added his pillow to the barricade around his head. Still no
luck. Frustrated, he picked up the nearest shoe and tossed toward the
snoozing pirate. The only result was Teasel rolling onto his back, and
snoring louder than ever.
"SSNNRRRRRXXXNNNXXXXGGHHHH!!...ZZZZHHhhzzzz..."
"Pssst! Teasel!" MegaMan whispered as close to loudly as he could.
"Hey! Wake up! You're snoring! Teasel? Teasel! Hello!"
But either MegaMan's whispers were too quiet or-more likely-the snoring
drowned them out. Teasel still didn't wake up.
By this time, MegaMan was outright desperate. He reached out, grabbed
his helmet off the nightstand, put it on, turned off the audio sensors,
and listened.
Silence.
The audio-less helmet was nearly soundproof, thus enabling MegaMan to
fall asleep just fine. The helmet was uncomforable, yes, but anything
was better than that wretched snoring.