Team Vent
June 30, 11:30 AM, Cinq Ville, Area C-1, Transerver
Vent, Aile and Dawn arrived at their destination and stepped off the yellow transerver. The long-haired man heard Prairie telling him what the test would be and Vent rogered that. The trio stood by the door as Vent began to explain to the new megaman about her mission, "Alright Dawn, Guardian HQ has requested you to find 5 of our members before we let you into our base. They're all wearing green uniforms and helmets. You'll be finding them at the downtown section of the city. But you'll have to check everywhere and I mean everything like all the buildings, alleys, rooms, and corners, because they can be anywhere."
The pig-tailed girl masked her discomfort with a false cheery tone and said, "Well gee, that sounds like a very hard test." And it was for the very good reason that the Guardians being like tiny diamonds in a large heap of mud were going difficult to find and consume a lot of time that would test her patience. But luckily, she had something to make things easier, even if it was only by a small amount. She asked, "But I can use my dog form to sniff them out, right?" She hoped her megabeast form would have the same senses as a dog to track down the Guardians.
Vent told her, "You could, but going out there in megaman form would be a bad idea."
"Why's that?" asked Dawn, wondering.
The man explained, "Because Cinq Ville and its outerlands have a history of being attacked by mavericks multiple times. Because of these incidents, people tend to see megamen, when we're megamerged that is, as mavericks because, guess what? They look very close to mavericks."
Remembering how they looked like, the girl said, "I can see why. You kinda do look like mavericks when you're transformed."
Even though Dawn had not meant kind of any offense, the Model X chosen ones were not amused with being called mavericks. "Well gee, thanks," replied Vent sulkily.
Aile continued the explanation, "Anyway, if you get caught as a megaman, the city-patrol mechaniloids will come after you and try to destroy you. Vent and I learned that the hard way when we forget to demegamerge after finding our fourth Guardian. That's why you must remain human at all times unless it's absolutely necessary. Alright?"
"Okay," the younger female replied.
Aile explained, "Good, now since the 'hunting ground' is large, we'll give you one hint per Guardian to make things easy. The first guardian will be at a restaurant that start with a B; the second one will be at a tailor shop; the third one is on top of one of the tall buildings, that means you'll have to wall-jump your way there if the staff or workers won't let you through."
Not understanding the weird concept, Dawn asked, "Wall jump? How do I do that?" Did she have to jump on walls to get up to the top? That practically sounds like something out of a video game and was impossible to do in real life.
The woman explained, "It's easy. You just have to be in megaman form for it to work. Then your biometal will give you the knowledge on how to do it. I know it sounds silly, but trust me that's how it's done."
The girl said, "Well okay, if you say so." It was probably worth a shot anyway. "So where's the other two Guardians?"
Vent answered, "The fourth guy is at the lowest floor of a hotel with the word 'garden' in it and the last guy is at the junkyard. So Dawn, do you have everything memorized?" He touched the noggin of his head to gesture the memory thing.
The girl took a few moments to recall the locations she was told. She got three of them, including the two most recent hints, jotted down in her mind but she was having trouble trying to remember the other two hints. She answered, "I kinda do, but I only know the junkyard, hotel, and tailor shop. Where are the other two places I need to go?"
Aile reminded her, "The restaurant and a tall building. Here, I'll give you a note so that you can remember." She grabbed a pen and a small piece of paper and wrote down the locations. "Okay, here you go," she said, giving Dawn the note.
"Thank you, Aile," the girl replied.
"You're welcome," the guardian said. With an encouraging smile, she said, "Now get going. Don't keep the Guardians waiting."
Vent added, "And good luck out there! We know you're going to do great!" They put their trust in her to get the job done hands down.
Dawn replied with enthusiasm, "I will! I'm going to come back with everyone real soon!" With that, she left the transerver station and entered the streets of Cinq Ville.
Aile watched her disappear into the distance and asked her boyfriend, "Vent, do you think she'll do fine out there?"
The man replied confidently, "Of course, she will! I mean that test was pretty easy when we took it years ago. I'm pretty sure it won't be any different."
Nodding, she said, "Yeah, I guess you're right." Then she asked, "Say Vent, do you want to go hang out at the arcade while we wait?" Aile figured that they ought to have a bit of fun to pass the time as boredom tends to "kill" people.
Her boyfriend smiled with enthusiasm at the idea and replied, "Sure, I love to have a good time. Come on, let's go get your butt kicked at Street Fighter." Street Fighter was one of his favorite arcade games and Vent was very competitive when it came to games.
Aile retorted playfully, "You mean you're getting YOUR butt kicked, right?"
Vent said in a cocky tone, "Hey come now. You know I'm so good at this game. You have zero chances of beating me, Aile."
"Riiiight," the woman nodded and spoke in playful sarcasm. "And I don't suppose the few victories I have against you don't count."
The man came up with an excuse for this and said, "That's only because I went easy on you, babe."
His girlfriend did not buy that lie, but she pretended to play along with it. In mild sarcasm, she said, "Yes you did, Vent. Yes you did..."
June 30, 11:33 AM, Cinq Ville, Area C-1
Dawn walked on the right edge of the street as she looked for the places the Guardians were at. She said to herself, "Gee, I sure wish they had given me a map. I think I might get lost in this city." She worried about how she might end up going the wrong way and going too far from the designated places. Dawn hoped that she would never have this case during the test. Pretty soon and much to her delight, a tailor shop was found on the other side of the street. The girl hoped it was the right one as she crossed over to get to the shop. After entering through the door, her eyes searched the whole place looking for a person dressed in green. There were two women at the registry, but none of them matched the description she was looking for. Then she saw a dressing room to the right and got the idea that a Guardian might be hiding inside there.
To see if she's right, Dawn went over to the door and knocked on it. A feminine voice from inside told her, "Wait one minute please, I'm kind of busy here." The girl stepped away from the door and waited at the side until the either the person dressing up, the tailor fitting her customer, or both were finished. She willfully amplified the devices on her ear pieces, so that she could listen in on the voices and determine how close they are to getting done. Soon, the women were finished after the tailor measured her customer and told her that she would have the dress ready within a day or two. The door swung open and the women stepped outside.
A smiled formed on Dawn's face when she noticed that one of them was dressed completely in green with a red-visored helmet on her head. She had found a Guardian! She asked, "Hi, are you a Guardian?" She wanted to make sure that her guess was right.
The auburn-haired reploid woman in the green uniform looked over at the girl and answered, "Yes, I am. So I take it you're the new recruit they sent for the test?"
Dawn gave a short nod and confirmed, "Uh-huh!"
The tailor wondered what they were talking about she looked from Dawn to the Guardian. She asked the reploid, "So are you ladies like having an initiation or something?"
The Guardian answered, "Yes, something like that. But I'm not going to go into any details about it since it's confidential to my organization."
The tailor understood her reasons and said, "Oh okay then. Well I'll meet you at the cashier register whenever you're ready to pay."
"Okay, sure thing," the Guardian replied. After the tailor walked over to the counter, the Guardian looked back at Dawn and said to her, "Good job finding one of us uh..." Since she could not figure out what to call the girl, she had to ask, "What's your name?"
The girl answered, "It's Dawn, miss."
The Guardian nodded and said heartily, "Dawn, gotcha! Well Dawn, I'll be going back to the HQ after I make the payment to my dress. Good luck on finding everyone else, okay?" She made an encouraging small grin at the girl.
Dawn beamed, "Thanks miss! I'll do my best." Then she went out of the store and walked down the sidewalk to look for her next destination. Since she had found the first Guardian at the tailor store, the others left were the restaurant, a tall building, the hotel, and the junkyard. The girl kept her eyes out for these places as she wondered the streets. A few minutes later, she had found a casual dining restaurant called "Buffalo Grill". Dawn approached the double doors as she said to herself, "I sure hope this is the place I'm supposed to be going to." There were many restaurants that started with B, so the next Guardian could be in any of them. The girl went inside the restaurant and was greeted with mouth-watering aromas of spiced meat the customers were eating. Boy, did she wished she had the money and time to eat here. She could order herself a grilled chicken sandwich if there was any, but completing the Guardian's test was more important right now and she could not afford to waste any time.
A female employee at the counter asked her, "Hello and welcome to Buffalo Grill! May I get you seated?"
Dawn declined and asked, "Actually, I'm here to look for someone. Have you seen anybody around here in a green uniform?"
The woman answered, "Yes, I did. I think I found her a seat over there. Are you with her?" She pointed in the direction she recalled seeing the Guardian.
"Uhh... yes, I think." Dawn was not sure if that was the appropriate answer, considering that she and the Guardians were just strangers. But she did need a reason to get to one of them. "I'll go see if she's over there." She walked over to where the customers were dining and found a red-haired reploid woman with bushy eyebrows sitting at one of the booths. She thought, 'That's her! She's wearing that green uniform! I have to see her.' Dawn approached the booth and said to the menu-reading Guardian, "Hi, I'm Dawn, the one who's-"
Before she could say anymore, the girl was suddenly interrupted by the Guardian ordering her, "Hey waitress, get me a Coca-cola and a full rack of ribs with french fries and mashed potatoes!"
Dawn gave the woman a puzzled look and wondered why she got confused for a waitress, considering how she was not dressed like one. She tried to correct her, "Um, I'm not a waitress. I'm just here to-"
The Guardian slammed her menu flat down on the table and glared at the girl as she yelled, "I SAID GET ME THOSE NOW!"
Dawn shrieked in fright and then fled as she cried, "Okay, okay, I'm going!" She went to the soda dispenser and took a glass of cup from the stack. She hoped that non of the employees would mind her helping herself to filling out the cup.
While the girl was busy getting the Guardian Coca-cola, a waiter went to the woman's booth and asked, "Ma'am, may I take your order?"
But the Guardian mistook him for someone else and misheard what he said. She smiled at him excitedly and beamed, "Oh hey, you're the guy taking the Guardians' test. Well since you found me, I should go head back to the HQ now. Bye-bye!" Then she turned into a slim white beam and teleported out of the restaurant.
The waiter could not help but feel awkward by the woman's random behavior. "The fuck?" he murmured, wondering what was that about.
Dawn returned to the booth as she said, "Okay, I got your drink. Now I need to-" She was surprised to find that the Guardian was missing. "Huh? Where'd she go?" she asked.
12:00 PM, Cinq Ville, Area C-2
After learning how the Guardian suddenly disappeared like that, Dawn went back on the streets to look for the next one. The waiter back at Ruby Tuesday had been kind enough to pay for the soda that she tried to get for the woman, so that it would not go to waste. Dawn was pretty happy that she got a free drink out of that little episode. If she had one of the foods from the bakery right now, she would have gladly given the waiter that to show her gratitude. The road she took led her near the apartment building. It was there that she saw a shadow going over her and heard a cheerful "whee" in the air. "Huh?" the girl murmured. She looked up into sky to see who was flying around.
For a second, she thought was seeing a pseudoroid until she saw more of him. It was a 12-year-old boy in his megamerged form. His eyes were a sapphire blue color and his vest & armor pieces were light blue in color. The helmet had a yellow beak and his wings were bird-like. Surrounding him were several cockatiels that were flying around their owner. They flew around in angles, loops, and u-turns. The cheerful laughter from the boy sounded like he was having fun with his aerial activity. Dawn watched him go around as she murmured to herself, "Wow, another megaman! I wonder how he got his biometal."
After the boy turned around, he noticed the girl looking at him. He greeted her with an open smile on his face and a hand waving hello at her. "Hi!" he beamed.
"Oh, hello there!" Dawn returned her greeting. She asked, "Are you a megaman?"
The boy descended down with his wings flapping to slow and soften the fall and landed right in front of her. He asked in confusion, "A megaman? What's that?"
The girl explained to him, "A megaman is someone who uses a biometal to turn into a maverick."
"A maverick?" the boy laughed. "I'm not no maverick. I'm just a kid who likes flying." He spread his arms out like a scarecrow to let his cockatiels land on them. Looking at them on each side, he finished fondly, "And birds."
Dawn gazed at his pets with admiration and commented, "Aww, they look so cute!" She wished she could hold one or two on her hand right now and pet them.
The boy let out a chuckle and replied, "Hey thanks! By the way, my name's Star. What's your name?"
"I'm Dawn," the girl answered.
Star nodded and said, "Dawn, huh? That's a pretty nice name!"
"Why thank you!" the girl replied delightedly.
Then Star asked, "So Dawn, what are you doing today?"
"Looking for Guardians," she answered. "I need to find where they are, so that I can get to their HQ. Have you seen anyone wearing a green uniform and helmet?"
The boy shook his head and answered, "Nah, can't say I have." Then he offered to help, "But hey, I can go help you look for them, if you want."
Dawn gladly accepted his service, "Why thank you, I appreciate it. I'll tell you where they can be found. One is on a tall building, the other is inside a hotel with the word 'garden' in its name, and the last one is..." She searched through her memories to try and remember where Vent and Aile said the last one is. Unfortunately, nothing came up for her. "Oh gee, I forgot," the girl frowned. This was bad; if she cannot find out where the Guardian is at, then she is going to have a long and tiring day trying to find him.
Star reassured her, "Hey don't worry, I'll find him for you. No matter how long it takes." He looked to his pets and asked, "Right guys?" One of the birds let out a tweet in response, but it probably did not mean a "yes" or "no". Regardless, the boy took it as a "yes." He said, "That's right! Now let's go find them!" He brought his arms back to his side and the cockatiels hovered off. Then the boy transformed into a mechanical blue & white bird and took off into with sky with his pets following after him.
Dawn's hair raised as she remembered Vent's warning about going around the city in megamerged form. She gave chase to the birds and called, "Hey wait! You can't go out there like that! The patrol mechaniloids will attack you!" But her words seemed to have fallen on deaf ears as the bird continued to fly without stopping. It did not help that he was going faster than her, too. "Come back!" she shouted in another attempt to get his attention, which failed again. The gap between the two got wider and wider until the birds disappeared into the distance. "Noooo!" she cried out in fear for the boy's safety.
12:17 PM, Cinq Ville, Area C-3
Star flew into Area C-3 to see if he can find any of the Guardians. People on ground noticed the shifted bird in air and became scared of a possible maverick attack. He did not pay attention to any of these people and continued to go on with no awareness to the citizens' feelings. He murmured to himself, "Now where can I find a hotel?" It would be easier if he had a map to all the hotels, because he certainly did not want to get lost in this city. Pretty soon, the bird found a place called "Green Garden Hotel". Noticing that certain word in its name, Star beamed, "Hey, I think I just found the place she's looking for!" So the bird descended and landed in front of the double doors, where he transformed into his humanoid form. The automated doors slide themselves open to let the boy walk in. Upon his entrance, the few people inside noticed the maverick-like stranger and ran away screaming. The receptionist, however, ducked behind the counter and hid himself for protection. Star looked bewildered as to why the people reacted like that. They did not really think that he was a maverick, did they? No way, that was impossible. He has not harmed anyone and never will. The people were probably just imagining things, that's all. Then the boy saw a shaky black-haired man with a bang in front of his face and wearing a green uniform. A guardian! According to Dawn's description, that must be one of them. So the boy went over to the man and asked him, "Hey there, are you a Guardian?"
Instead of a typical "yes" or "no", the man backed up and answered with a scream, "Eek! Stay back! Don't hurt me!"
Star tried to tell him, "Hey, don't be scared. I just want to-"
But the Guardian did not listen to him as he screamed, "Ahhhh!" He got off the bench and ran out the doors. When he tried to cross the street, a car hit him and ran him over. The Guardian let out a pained scream as his mechanical bones got crushed by the wheels. But that was not the end of it as another car came by and ran over him, too. As more of them followed suit, the Guardian screamed, "Oh my god, ahhh! That hurts! Ooooh! Oh please stop! Arrggghhh! No more of this! Yahhhh!" His suffering came to stop when the traffic signal's red light came on. "Oh geez, I'm so glad it's over! I was afraid I was going to die. Thank you traffic light! Thank you for saving me! I appreciate your-" In an ironic twist, the traffic signal turned green and the cars resumed driving over him. The man went back to crying out in agony, "Ahhhhh! No not again! Why traffic light, why? Ahhhhh!" Star was flinching every time he saw the man get hit; the scene was too painful to watch.
12:20 PM, Guardian Base, Command Center
Gardénia saw a flashing yellow dot on the radar map. She said, "Commander Prairie, I'm getting a distress signal and it's coming from Congré."
The commander looked alarmed and asked, "Congré? What's happened to him? Is he alright?"
The blonde operator answered, "Apparently, he's been ran over by too many cars and has become injured."
Prairie became surprised and asked, "What? That's impossible! I told him to stay at that hotel at all times. What is that cowardly idiot doing outside?" Then it hit her after the word "cowardly" clued her in as to how his accident came to happen. With a facepalm, she groaned, "Dawn scared him, didn't she? Damn it, she was told not to go in megamerged form in public. Why didn't she listen?"
Tulip corrected her, "Actually, it was a different megaman, commander. The biometal signal on the radar is completely new."
"Another megaman, huh?" said Prairie. "Were there any signs of aggression?"
"None at all," Tulip answered. "He appears to be passive. Shall we have Vent and Aile learn about him?"
The commander replied, "Yes, we need to know who this person is before we can let it roam around with the biometal. Put me online with the megamen."
"Yes commander," the operator complied. Then she contacted the model X Guardians.
Team Vent
12:21 PM, Cinq Ville, Area C-2, Arcade
After having played several games in the arcade such as Crusher-F, Pac-Man, and Street Fighter, which Vent won in. The man boasted to his girlfriend saying that he told her that he would beat her. So in an attempt to get even, Aile challenged him to a game of Guitar Hero, which they were playing now. So far, the two seemed to have tied in scores, but they were nevertheless determined to beat each other. Without taking his eyes off the screen, Vent told her, "Aile, give it up! You're not going to win this."
Pressing the buttons with fast fingers, the woman replied, "Hah, we'll see about that!"
As the game was getting closer to the end, the Guardians were contacted by Prairie, who said, "Vent, Aile, listen up! We discovered another megaman in this city."
Vent asked her, "Who is it? Not Atlas or any one of her friends, I hope." The last thing he needed was for Dawn and the citizens to be in trouble with these 4 mavericks.
"No, it's a different one; and it's not Grey or Ashe, either. I need you two to find this megaman and see if they're maverick or not."
The man replied, "Okay, understood! Aile and I will be after him shortly." The song in the game soon came to an end and the results showed up on the screens.
The winner was Aile, who pumped her fist into the air and shouted triumphantly, "Yes! Whoo-hoo! Take that, Vent!"
Vent sulked in defeat and groaned, "Ah man, I lost." If only he had concentrated more, without Prairie interrupting him, then he would have won again. The man looked to his girlfriend and told her, "Alright Aile, you got your victory. Now let's go out and find the new guy."
"Okay," the woman responded. The couple left the arcade and began their search.
12:24 PM, Cinq Ville, Area C-3
Dawn went after the other megaman in dog form and was flying through the air like a jet. She knew it was risky, but she had no choice as her normal self was too slow to keep up with Star. The jet engines had made her faster than the bird would have flown. The dog noticed the frightened faces of every walking person she saw with some people running away to elsewhere. Vent and Aile were right; the people would confused megamen for mavericks. After flying through another street, she finally found Star standing in front of the Green Garden Hotel. "Star!" she called out as she started to slow down and descend.
The boy looked up at her not with his happy face, but with one as scared as the other people. He cried, "Oh my gosh, a maverick!"
"No Star," the dog told him before she landed. Then she transformed into her humanoid mode and placed clawed hands to her chest. "It's me, Dawn."
The boy was surprised by the familiar voice he just heard. "Dawn, is it really you? I thought you were a maverick for just a second."
The girl said, "I know and that's because megamen look like one." She warned him, "Listen Star, you shouldn't go around town like that. People are going to get scared of you and have the city patrol attack you."
Star became astonished and asked, "What?! Is that why that Guardian guy ran outside screaming and get hit by a bunch of cars?"
"Yes, Star. That's why the... Wait, what?" Dawn asked, feeling herself getting chilled. Did she just hear that megaman said correctly? "Star, did you spook him into getting him killed?" She really hoped that was not the case at all.
The boy quickly shook his head and and his hands in denial, "No, no, it wasn't like that! The guy was still alive after all that, but then he teleported himself out of here." To reassure the both of them a bit, he added, "I think he might have warped to a hospital or something."
Dawn was a bit relieved that the Guardian survived, but she was still disappointed with Star. "Oh Star," she groaned. "This is why you need to be careful. Next time someone else won't be so lucky."
The boy replied, "Okay fine, we'll just go around the city as normal people." Then he remembered the place the other Guardian was at and suggested, "Actually, I think we can still go like this for now. I mean there's this other Guardian on a tall building, right? I say we should fly up top and go see him."
The girl thought about his idea and found it to be efficient. "Well okay, I suppose that's a lot easier than going up the elevators to find him. Come on, let's go fly."
Then suddenly, a group of patrol mechaniloids consisting of two Galleons and three Gyro Cannons came up with their guns pointed at the megamen. One of the Galleons said, "MAVERICKS SIGHTED! ENGAGING IN COMBAT MODE!"
The megaman were panicked by this and screamed. Dawn exclaimed, "Eep, they're going to kill us!"
Star shouted, "Quick, let's get out of here!" Then the two transformed into their animal modes and flew away as the mechaniloids fired after them. The cockatiels scattered and flew in different directions that were safe out of the line of fire.
12:25 PM, Cinq Ville, Area C-3, Apartment Building
A man was turning home from work to make himself some lunch before he can lay down and rest. After entering through the door, he saw that his kitchen window was broken with a big hole in the center surrounded by cracks. Stunned by this scene, the man asked, "What the heck?" Wanting to find the cause of this, he went into the kitchen across from the door and looked into the sink. Inside it sat a strange orange object with a fox-face motif and 9 pink tails surrounding it. Picking up this peculiar item, the man inspected it and said to himself, "What is that thing?"
A feral cat-like voice behind him sounded, "Something that doesn't belong to you!"
"What? Who's there?" the man asked as he turned around to come face to face with a cheetah-like pseudoroid. The man screamed and backed up against the sink in shock. "H-how did you get inside?"
The pseudoroid answered with a snarl, "What do you think? You left the door open, you stupid human." The man cursed himself for being careless. The pseudoroid approached his victim and said, "Now that you've seen this biometal, I'm afraid I can't let you live."
The man trembled with fright and tried to plea for his life, "W-w-wait, it was an accident! I didn't know this thing was a secret. Can't we talk this out? You know? You take that thing and I just forget about it."
"No!" the pseudoroid roared. "You humans can't be trusted to keep secrets. Now die!" The victim screamed as the claws swiped across his throat and killed him. The man fell down eyes wide open with blood pouring out of his wound and onto the hard floor. The cheetah picked up the dropped biometal and contacted his leader, "Master Thomas, I found Model CF."
The transmission from the sage said, "Good work, Quicksilver! Now transport the biometal to me."
"Yes master," Quicksilver responded. The biometal in his hand turned into a white laser and warped back to the factory it came from. With one biometal down, the pseudoroid was about to leave the apartment to find other biometals to retrieve. But he quickly sensed the presence of two others outside and saw mechaniloid-like animals flying in an upward slope. Those were Models R and B (Beat) and these wretched people had the nerve to use them. Quicksilver the Cheetaroid was not going to allow them to live after getting their filthy hands on Master Thomas's sacred treasure. The pseudoroid went to the door and locked it before he went outside and shut the door. This would keep anyone from coming inside to see the mess he made. Then Quicksilver went to the elevator and took it to the highest floor where he can take the stairs to the roof top and pursue his prey.
Note: I was going to have a battle between Dawn, Star, and Quicksilver, but that would have made the chapter longer than it should have been. So I'm going to move that event over to chapter 6 in the future. Now I need to work on Dragon Rage chapter 28, my Secret Valentine drawing, and update my characters' wikia pages. So now with this chapter done, I can now go and delete that preview I have.
Star, Model B (Beat), Model CF (Cubit Foxtar) and Quicksilver the Cheetaroid (c) me