WB: -reads L. Wulf's review- I still don't get it. Shadow Realm, mystical powers, Millenium Items, all this stuff just makes my head hurt. Time to shove the YGO stuff under the rug.
Harry: -Stuffs all YGO related reviews underneath a nearby rug- Dere, dat takes care of dat.
WB: I didn't mean literally.
Harry: Yeah, but dat was da best comedy I could come up wid. I didn't have a lotta material.
WB: -rolls eyes- Whatever. PRIVATE, Violin always reminded me of a toad so I called the last chapter 'Why toads are deadly'.
Harry: Weird title.
WB: Couldn't help it, I was in a strange mood that morning.
Harry: You're strange, period.
WB: So true.
Begin Chapter!
"There." Cerveau made one last adjustment and then stepped back. "Zero, you really need to take better care of yourself."
"Thank you." The Hunter slid off the table, and scanned over the repairs. As he expected, they were all above satisfactory, except for the patch on his arm. Whenever the swordsman moved it, it responded sluggishly and felt like a lead weight.
"Anything wrong?" The scientist asked as he began to work on the destroyed Shield Boomerang.
"My arm seems…" Zero fished about for the correct word. "Stiff."
"That's to be expected," Cerveau glanced up from his work. "I had to replace some of your muscular systems when I repaired your arm, so it'll take a day or two for the new system to adapt to your… daily exploits."
"I understand." The hunter nodded his thanks and then exited the room.
With nothing else to do, and being too restless to stay put, Zero decided to wander the Resistance base. You never knew, sometimes you could learn a lot from talking to Reploids.
The swordsman roamed around the base, trying to fit all of the pieces of the puzzle together. Harpuia had done an about-face on him, and then Lion VI had claimed to be working for Neo Arcadia when he had attacked the mine. Did this mean that Neo Arcadia was preparing to crack down on them?
The Hunter turned that thought over in his mind. For the past several months the Arcadian government had done everything but ignore the Resistance, and had unofficially adopted a policy of 'You don't bother us, we don't bother you'. And several times Reploids destined for 'retirement' had mysteriously appeared in front of the Resistance Base with no explanation whatsoever…
The swordsman was yanked out of his thoughts by a high pitched squeal and several angry shouts. Instantly he was in motion as he shot through the corridors and headed in the direction of the sounds.
Outside of the compound, several Resistance Members looked on in shocked horror as an angry Reploid turned on his Cyber Elf.
"Me sorry!" The creature gasped as it struggled to remain afloat in the air. "Me didn't mean to make Dachu mad."
"Sorry doesn't cut it." Dachu shouted as he backhanded the elf, causing it to spiral to the ground. "You're useless!"
"Me just trying to help…" The Elf gasped as he struggled to his hands and knees.
"Well, take your help elsewhere!" The Reploid raised his hand to strike again.
"No!"
Dachu paused in mid-strike as Ceil flew into view, and grabbed onto the Reploids upraised hand, preventing him from hitting his Elf again.
"Stay out of this!" The Reploid tried to pull his arm out of the scientist's grasp.
"I can't, you can't expect him to do understand you like that, he's not old enough!" Ceil struggled to maintain her grip; she wouldn't let the Elf suffer if she could help it.
"And how else is he going to learn?" Dachu yanked away from Ceil, knocking her to the ground in the process.
"I'll deal with you later, human." The Reploid turned back to his crying elf, "For now, I need to punish him."
"Please, me sorry!" The Elf sobbed.
"Too little, too late." Dachu raised his hand to strike again.
The Elf buried its face in its arms as the hand came down…
"What?" The Reploid felt his arm come to a sudden stop, and turned to glare at the Reploid that had stopped him.
"That's enough." Zero snapped as he kept an iron grip on Dachu's arm, preventing him from finishing his strike. "If you want to pick on someone, pick on me."
"This isn't your business." The Reploid tried to pull away.
"I'm making it my business." The Hunter replied, "Now, stand down."
"That does it!" Dachu yanked his arm out of Zero's grip, and then lashed out at the Hunter.
Dachu never knew what happened, but one minute he was punching the daylights out of this annoying Reploid, and the next he was flying through the air. With a loud crunch he slammed into the ground, defeated.
"I won't ask you again." Zero turned slightly so that he could see the Reploid out of the corner of his eye. "Stand down."
Dachu growled as he righted himself, glaring at Zero the entire time, after a long moment he stormed off.
"Fine!" The Reploid shouted over his shoulder as he stormed away. "Keep the little runt for all I care! He's yours!"
Zero didn't reply, but instead helped Ceil to her feet.
"You all right?"
"I think so…" The woman brushed herself off as, shuddering a little as she remembered the anger Dachu's eyes. "He didn't hurt me, I think he was more concerned with his- the Elf."
"Speaking of which." The back of the Hunter's mind noticed the large crowd that had gathered around them. "What happened?"
"I think he was trying to train his Elf for something." A random member of the crowd called out, "And then got upset when it didn't understand him."
"That sounds like Dachu." Another member called out; "He's got a temper."
"Enough," Zero swept his gaze across the crowd, causing each and every one of them to have a sudden desire to vacate the area. Once the Reploids had cleared out, he gave the area a quick once over, just in case Dachu had more than a temper.
At last, the Hunter nodded to himself, feeling that it was safe to leave again.
"If he ever comes back," The swordsman called over his shoulder as he prepared to walk away, "Just yell and I'll be there."
"Wait." Ceil spoke up, causing Zero to turn around again. "What about the Elf?"
"The Elf…" The swordsman spoke as if he had forgotten about it. In a split second he had spotted it; the Elf had tucked himself away in a semi-dark hole, crying into his arms.
For the first time, Zero got a good look at the Elf, which was fairly small, and mostly blue. He had a shock of black hair, blue eyes, and pair of small mechanical-like wings.
Zero turned and looked at his companion, who just shook her head and motioned for him to take charge. Although the Hunter frowned for a second, he turned back to the Cyber Elf and held out his hand.
The Elf noticed the Reploid inching towards him, and pressed himself even farther into the nook.
"Hey, it's alright little guy." Zero whispered as he tried to coax the creature out into the open. "Dachu's gone, and I'm not going to hurt you."
"Uh, uh." The Elf shook his head, and refused to leave his safe haven.
"So then," The Elf watched the Hunter remain crouched outside of his hiding place, although the Reploid did move that offending hand away. "What's your name?"
"Name?" Elf spoke for the first time, "What's that?"
The Cyber Elf noticed the red Reploid shoot a look at the blond girl standing beside him. For some reason that he didn't understand, he felt a sense of safety just looking at her.
"Its what everyone calls you." The blonde replied.
"Then my name's Cyber Elf…" The sprite muttered bitterly, "Or maybe 'Useless', since Mr. Dachu always call me that… or maybe its 'No good'… or…"
"Well, those aren't very good names." The red Reploid whispered, "What would you like to be called?"
"Um… Not 'Lousy Elf'… or 'Useless'…" The Elf replied as he began to relax slightly, maybe these two wouldn't hurt him after all. "Maybe… Merge?"
"Merge?" The Reploid repeated with puzzlement in his voice. "Why that?"
"Merge don't know. Mr. Dachu always say that Merge useless, because Merge has no power. Merge don't like Mr. Dachu." The Elf frowned as he remembered his former master. "But Merge like Merge better than 'Idiot'."
"Alright then, we'll call you Merge." The Reploid nodded, "My name's Zero. And this is Ceil."
"Hello." Merge crept forward about an inch to get a closer look at the two. "You won't hurt Merge will you?"
"No." Ceil shook her head, "And Dachu never will either."
"Good." The Elf sat down at the opening of the hole, a sense of relief flooding through him. "Then… who Merge supposed to serve now?"
"Serve?" Zero raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, Cyber Elves supposed to serve Reploids." Merge clarified his statement.
"Who told you that?" Ceil looked confused, then she shook her head, "Never mind, I know. Merge, you can do whatever you want now, you don't have to serve anyone."
"Merge don't?" The Elf looked thoroughly confused.
"No, you don't." Zero backed up the idea.
"Oh…" The Elf's face scrunched itself in thought. "Then… Merge help Mr. Zero and Ms. Ceil, since Mr. Zero and Ms. Ceil don't hurt Merge."
"I suppose that's alright." The hunter shook his head slightly. He'd just leave Merge with Ceil whenever he had a mission, since he didn't want to put Merge's life on the line, without any powers, the Elf wouldn't last five minutes in battle.
"Thanks." Merge fluttered out of his hiding place and hovered between his two new friends. "Merge like Mr. Zero and Ms. Ceil."
"One thing though." Ceil corrected the Elf, "Just call us Zero and Ceil, you don't have to use titles."
"Yes, Ms. Ceil." The explanation went right over Merge's head, although he did his best to understand it.
"Look, don't say, 'Ms. Ceil'." Zero tried to clarify the statement, "Just say 'Ceil'."
"Oh?" The Elf shook its head in bewilderment, "Okay, Mr.- sorry- Zero."
"Now that that crisis has been resolved." The Hunter turned back to the issue haunting his mind, "Ceil, I need to speak with you. Preferably… confidential."
"Oh," Merge's face plunged, "Should Merge go away?"
"No, you can stay." The blond shook her head, "That isn't what he meant."
A few minutes later, Zero, Merge, and Ceil were alone in her Lab, and away from any potential eavesdroppers.
"So what's this about?"
"Yesterday…" The Hunter launched into his explanation, beginning with his encounter with Slash Tiger, recounting his discussion with Harpuia, and ending with his battle against Lion VI.
"This doesn't make sense." Ceil shook her head in bewilderment, "What makes Harpuia think that we've got the capabilities to produce robots like that? We barely have enough resources to keep our base operational."
"That's what puzzles me." Zero admitted, "For a while, it looked like we had come to an unofficial truce, but now, everything's starting to go to pieces again."
"Maybe… if we could find out what 'intelligence' Harpuia was talking about…" The blond had a far a way look in her eye.
The Hunter kept silent, he knew that sooner or later Ceil would share her plan, but only when it was ready.
Unfortunately, that time wasn't about to be soon.
Before anything else could be said, sirens started going off all over the complex.
End Chapter!
WB: TA DA!
Harry: Now wait just a moment. What's Merge doin' here? He's supposed to be over in da Network series!
WB: I needed a new character for this to work. A Cyber Elf would have been ideal, and since I already had a Cyber Elf of sorts, I just recycled him and used him here.
Harry: Okay… whateva dat means.
WB: Now, its time for another Trivia Question: What's the significance behind the name 'Dachu'? Everyone should have a fair chance at getting this one.
Harry: Should, it's about as obvious as da moon.
WB: So, if you get it right, you'll get a cookie; plus you'll get to see Harry in a cooking apron.
Harry: Right, cookie an' me in an apro- SAY WHAT? You are so gonna pay for dat!
WB: Up next: Serges makes his move! –runs away from the rabid Mettaur-
