Mega Man ZX Chronicles
Chapter 3: Gorge Operation!
It was daytime and everyone was awaken from their sleep... well mostly everyone... In Aile's room, Rokku was still asleep on the floor, his face turned towards Aile's bed. Mega Man awakened, his eyelids rising and his eyes brightening in activation. He shook his head around and looked at Rokku. Mega Man knelt down to Rokku and pressed his left hand on Rokku's shoulder, shaking him.
"Rokku...? Rokku. Wake up now..."
Rokku wouldn't budge. He still slept on the floor, not moving a centimeter. Mega Man gave Rokku a warm smile as he could hear Rokku's silent snores. So peaceful, he thought.
"Rokku must have been sleepy since he never actually gotten very much rest last night..."
Mega Man looked at the clock on Aile's laptop. It read 8:01 AM.
"He fell asleep at 12:57 AM last night... Only 7-8 hours of rest... Rokku needs more than that in order for him to be in tip-top condition... Poor guy won't get much energy if he doesn't rest well..."
Mega Man looked at Aile's bed. He easily noticed how neat her bed was made, no wrinkles in sight. He saw Aile's pink pajamas folded up into a perfect square, resting on Aile's fluffed pillow.
"Her bed is made up perfectly and she clearly has left earlier than Rokku has."
Mega Man looked back at Rokku, sighing.
"If Rokku has intentions of becoming a Guardian, then he would have to be ready in the Morning. I'm pretty sure the Commander dislikes over-sleepers, hehe."
Mega Man's warm smile changed into a sad smile. His eyes looked sleepy as he looked at Rokku's sleeping body.
"That is, if Rokku does become a Guardian. I just hope he makes a decision soon..."
Mega Man stopped thinking to himself and shook Rokku again.
"Rokku... Rokku... Come on, wake up..."
Still, Rokku has not awakened. Sure, Rokku was moved a bit, shifting around to get comfortable, but that did not benefit Mega Man. Unbeknownst to Mega Man, Rokku's innocent sleepy eyes changed into a frightening look...
Where am I...?
Is this a dream...
Or is it reality...?
I wish I knew the answer...
I slightly opened my eyes, seeing nothing but white... I fully opened them to find... blankness... I felt like I was descending downwards and as I was doing that, my surprised eyes looked around in this blank, white, world...
I finally landed... I think... I was standing, yes, but... I couldn't feel my feet standing on the ground... I couldn't be floating in the air still, no way... I assume I'm standing on some light ground or something... But that doesn't sound right, does it? To make sure my assumptions were true, I took a step forward... I was certainly walking on the... ground. I continued to walk forward but it felt like I was going no where... I couldn't tell due to this colorless world... Suddenly, something had pressed against my body, especially my face... I took a step back and wondered, "What the heck was that?". I took a quick thought and decided to press my hand on what had stopped me... Boy, did I feel stupid. It was a wall, of course. But how would I have known that? No color, of course... I had made an assumption that I was in some large white room like in those Hollywood movie sets or something.
There was no one here... No one by my side... I was afraid... What happened to everyone? I was so afraid... I was being drawn back to the past so quickly... No one here with me... No one to talk to... No one I can feel...
Aile... Where are you...? I leaned against the wall and slowly slid down on the ground... I had my knees to my chin... I covered my face, trying to hold back my tears... But why hold them back? I clearly missed her... She was my friend... She was so happy, so cheerful, so full of energy and so... kind... Never before have I received that type of kindness from anyone other than my mother and father... Wait a second... Mother...! Father...! Are they gone too...!? What about Elise? And President Takeda? And Saya? And Dr. Ciel? My friends and family... No... I allowed my tears to become victorious over me... My melancholy tears quickly escaping my eyelids... Aile... Prairie...Even Vent... MoM... Dad... ... ... ...
... Mega Man ...
My tears fell down, descending quickly... But... I saw something... odd... My tears continued to fall, not colliding with the ground at all... It just... kept going... and going... and going... and going... I heard no collision at all... This was all too creepy... I couldn't stand the fact that I knew nothing and that I had no one to ask for help... for knowledge or for anything... I was alone... I wish that someone... anyone... would be here with me... so I don't draw back to the past any further...
Suddenly, a gust of wind blew past me... I felt that wind... I opened my eyes to find darkness coming towards me... I was to afraid to move... Like a child who is too afraid to move when a car is coming towards him or her... The blackness simply went past me however... I looked behind me to discover that the whiteness had seized to exist here... Darkness existed now and with this dark color, I could see nothing... It was as if I had gone blind... I started to think that I couldn't feel myself right now...
Quickly, that gust of wind blew past me again... But it felt different this time... I turned around, easily forgetting that I couldn't see in the dark. I stood there, waiting for something else to happen, but my wish didn't come true... At least, at the moment it didn't...
Out of the blue, two huge golden demonic eyes appeared before me... I was scared out of my wits... I had gotten my wish of wanting anyone here with me... But now I regret it easily... I wish that my friends were here... Those golden eyes acted as light, and I could see my hands, my body, my legs, everything... I stared at the eyes, not even fearing the possibility to go blind...
"Rokku..."
I heard a voice call out my name... It's voice sounded male and so deep it might as well had come from a monster. I looked around, searching for the source, stupidly not realizing that it could have been the eyes who spoke.
"Rokku..."
It said it again! My name! Who was it?!... I took my chances and stared at the golden eyes... I noticed that it's eyes were a cluster of interest, anger, and happiness... I didn't think it was possible but that's what I felt... Definitely...
"Who are you?" I asked, projecting my voice so that... whatever it was... could hear me...
To my surprise, this thing laughed... It wasn't mockery fortunately, but it was out of amusement. It's eyes had changed... It looked like it was raising an eyebrow, despite the fact that I spotted a single one...
"Don't you recognize me?"
Don't you recognize me? Never before have I seen this... thing... in my life... How could I anyway? This thing had no facial features or anything that he could get a good memory from... But I was certain, if I had seen this thing again, I would definitely recognize it...
This thing was waiting for answer, so I shook my head, indicating a "no". The thing blinked it's eyes... I saw his eyes change again, looking like it was smiling...
"I am..."
"ROKKU!"
Rokku's eyes quickly shot open, his eyes looking scared. He got up and huffed and puffed loudly. He looked at Mega Man, whose eyes were a little annoyed. Mega Man has been trying to wake this boy up for a good five minutes and he spent most of his morning sleeping. Rokku's eyes turned into anger as he opened his mouth:
"Mega Man!" he yelled, upset about being woken up this way.
Mega Man was angry too and he yelled back at his friend:
"Rokku, you should've been awake by now. You wasted most of your morning time! You might have missed breakfast too!" he scolded.
Rokku still was a little angry at Mega Man. If the blue bomber hadn't awaken him, he could have heard the message given to him.
"I'm sorry for not waking myself up buddy... Thanks for waking me up..."
Mega Man smiled as he forgiven him. Rokku looked over at Aile's bed to find that she was gone, her bed made up perfectly. Rokku looked at Mega Man and before he opened his mouth, Mega opened his.
"Aile left 3 hours ago. She was wondering why you weren't awake yet, just like I have.", he said, clearly had answered the question Rokku was about to answer.
"She's probably in the Command Center. We better greet our friends." Rokku said slowly getting up.
Rokku got up and quickly ran to his attire. Rokku looked at his bodysuit that was in his backpack, but he said 'no' and went on to his other clothes. Apparently he didn't like bodysuits like many humans (and reploids) did. Getting his pants on caused him to fall on the floor as he tried to hurry up. He gotten his usual clothes on and grabbed Prairie's Extra Pajamas to return to her.
Rokku grabbed his blue device, attached it to his left arm and rushed to the door. Opening it he found someone surprising...
"V-Vent?!"
Vent was looking different towards Rokku. He was smiling, something he have not done while Rokku was around. It sorta creeped Rokku out and it confused him too.
"Good Morning Rokku." Vent said, sounding cheerful in his greeting.
"Vent?" Mega Man said in surprise. Rokku looked at Vent's waist. He didn't have the bandages wrapped around him. He couldn't be healed already, could he? "What are you doing out here? Shouldn't you be in bed?"
"I'm fine." Vent assured. "But I thought I should get to know you guys a little more. Especially you... uh, Mega Man."
Rokku looked at Mega Man who just shrugged.
"Don't tell Aile, but I heard you two talking last night."
Rokku was a little surprised. He didn't know why he wasn't really surprised. It's like he knew this would happen.
"I heard everything, from Aile talking to you about being friends to you talking about me trusting you."
"Uh..." Rokku couldn't think of what to say.
"I'll be honest, I didn't trust you before, and I still don't fully trust you... yet. That's why I need to get to know you a bit more."
"Gotcha." he said with a small smile. He was thinking Vent was starting to like him, the proof being that he wanted to know him being.
"Oh, if you are going to be best friends with Aile, you better take care of my sister."
Hearing that, Vent made it sound like that he and Aile were a new couple or something. Rokku, although he was oblivious to 'love', knew that he didn't want to be with Aile as a couple. He simply nodded, replying to what Vent had said.
"Oh yeah, Prairie wanted to see you. Me and Aile are going to join you."
"What's it about?"
"I don't know, but she said it as if it was a 'private situation'. I'd do it though. Come on."
Vent, Rokku and Mega went to the Command Center and saw that Aile and Prairie were there alone. There were no one else there other than the four of them, not even the operators. But that was because the ship wasn't in flight yet.
"Rokku, Vent... Mega Man. It's good that you are all here. Please come in my room." Prairie said walking towards her door.
Prairie typed in her secret password leading into her room. The door slid opened, and she led the three into her room. In there, Rokku found that her room was incredibly girly. There were lots of stuff animals around the ground and selves and lots of posters of someone who looked like Prairie and someone in red armor. He had blonde hair and he looked like he was a hero. He looked a little like Vent and Aile when Megamerged with Model X and Model Z.
"There's a lot of... pink and blue... in this room." Rokku said sounding a bit uneasy.
Mega Man elbowed Rokku, causing him to feel pain. He did a face trying to hold his pain. Prairie giggled at Rokku's comment.
"Is that a problem Rokku?" she asked with a smile.
"Well... no. But I didn't expect this. I thought it would look a little more..." Rokku was saying, trying not offend the Commander... Even despite the fact that she wasn't at all.
"Rokku...!" Mega Man whispered.
Mega didn't even allow Rokku to say anymore. He thought Rokku was being a little rude to Prairie with her maturity. Prairie continued to giggle.
"It's alright Mega Man. Rokku is only stating his opinion. I like to act young. That's the reason there's so much childish things here."
"I see, well Rokku is pretty naive and immature too." Mega Man stated, chuckling in the process. Rokku just grinned, knowing that he was right. Prairie sat down on a chair and offered the three to sit down, holding out her hand giving out that indication.
"Please sit."
The four sat down. Vent sat on the bean-bag, Aile sat on the beg in front on the giant stuffed-animal, Rokku and Mega Man sat on the floor next to the clock stuffed-animal. Apparently, because Rokku slept on the floor last night, he sorta got used to it. Mega, of course, would be fine with it either way.
"I called you three in here to talk about Rokku and especially Mega Man. I'm pretty sure they have some private things they would like to share with us." Prairie said, averting her eyes at the boys. Rokku was a little uneasy as he knew that Prairie was referring to his past.
"Aile and Vent," she continued. "You are in here, because you guys are closer to them."
"I don't know about that..." Vent said under his breath.
Aile pinched Vent's neck without Prairie noticing. She easily heard what Vent had said and thought he deserved "punishment". Vent silently said "OW!" and glared at Aile in annoyance while rubbing the back of his neck.
"Please continue Prairie." Aile said looking innocent.
Prairie nodded and continued on.
"Anyway, we need to know more about you two. I know we talked about that thing last night, but I had to re-think it. I wasn't really thinking when I offered you that thing. Therefore, I think we should know your history before I officially made up my mind."
Rokku was confused at what she was talking about. She keep mentioning thing'. After a few thoughts and memories, he realized that Prairie was referring to the job offering at the Guardians. Rokku hadn't even thought about it so it was a good thing for she reminded him.
"So you want to know about my history? My past? Anything specific?" Rokku asked.
"Hmm... how about we start with where you came from. From there you could explain how you and... um, Mega Man met." Prairie said, holding her hands together.
Rokku smiled brightly. Finally, he could tell them the story. "Okay, so here's how me and Mega Man met! But first, a little backstory from me alone!"
... ... ...
"I lived in Europe with Mom and Dad in a city known as Luna City! That city was in the Enstratos region, where there's like five other cities existing! My parents told me that they found me in the forest at Japan when they were in High School and took care of me ever since! We moved to Europe when I was... Er, 3, I think!"
It surprised Vent, Aile and Prairie that Rokku was adopted. It surprised them further when Rokku didn't seem to be upset over that fact. He seemed to embrace it.
"The family has been growing for years, and my ancestors lived through the multiple wars that happened. They lived to tell the tale which is why I know about the Elf Wars!"
"The Elf Wars?" Prairie exclaimed. "Not many people know about the Elf Wars... Yet, someone like you is aware..."
"Yeah, my Mom says that her extremely great grandmother was one of the survivors of that war!" Rokku explained. "I, er, won't say what happened during that war but I think you know, right Prairie?"
Prairie nodded in confirmation. Vent and Aile, on the other hand, were puzzled. "What's the Elf Wars?" Aile asked. By the 26th Century, such wars like the Maverick Wars and Elf Wars were very ancient, lost and forgotten to the public. Prairie looked at her two friends. "I... I don't think I should say right now..."
Prairie then looked at Rokku. "Please continue."
Rokku nodded with a smile. "Let's see... Oh! I attended school for two years but had to leave because Mavericks attacked the school. For some reason, those... purple human-looking Mavericks called Galleons didn't shoot me or any other student. It was weird and even though I could've died, I don't really seem to think about it as much as I should. Because that happened, I stayed at home mostly and was home-schooled by my Mom and Dad."
"My Mom and Dad were quite the adventurers though! They would go to the Outlands to challenge the Mavericks to battle! The stories Dad would tell me always made me happy because of how he told them! Mom told me that they even took me out to the Outlands when I was just a baby! Pretty cool right?"
Vent had a shocked expression on his face. "Was this guy nuts!?"
"When I turned 13, that's when I decided to leave on my own adventure, just like my parents! However, I didn't do it just so I could fight Mavericks, I did it so I could get a little social and see the world I live on! Whenever I did encounter Mavericks, I'd usually run because I didn't know how to fight very well. My Dad did teach me a little bit, but I was a bit of a Rookie. I didn't think I was ready to fight Mavericks like my parents!"
Rokku started to tremble in anticipation. He comes the best part! "Now, the moment you all have been waiting for: Me and Mega Man's Fated Encounter!"
"One night, I was wondering around in the Outlands again, but it was in the Meadow. It was so beautiful and since there were no Mavericks in sight, I decided to lie down in the grass. I then saw a shooting star in the sky. People always say that if you make a wish when a shooting star appears, it'll come true! So I made my wish, a wish that I can't say because... It's secret, of course! I soon realized that the star wasn't a star, but a weird object! When it crashed on the ground, I ran to it. I thought it was from outer space because movies always had this same gimmick, but it was a small little device! It then shined bright and soon it transformed into a robot boy. That robot boy was Mega Man!"
Prairie smiled a little, getting comfortable as she listened. "So, Mega Man came from space?" She asked.
Mega Man shook his head. "No, ma'am. I came from somewhere else."
"The next part is pretty secret though." Rokku admitted. "I made a promise to someone not to tell anyone about the next part so I'll give you guys the short story: Eventually, me and Mega Man could fuse together and then we became MEGA MAN NEO! I thought of the name since when we fused together, I was the new Mega Man! Cool eh?"
"Yeah, that's pretty cool." Vent admitted.
"The best part, is that we use this," Rokku held out his left hand to show them his 'blue device'. "A special friend of ours created this just for us. We can't say who he or she is, but it's called the Combi-Carrier!"
Mega Man added on. "This device is connected with me. Whenever we want to fuse, I'll turn into Program Data and enter his Combi-Carrier. I apparently have properties similar to Biometal which is why we can fuse like we can!"
"When we preform the Mega-Fusion, a word that I made up so it's not confused with Megamerge, the Combi-Carrier is apart of the Battle Armor I use. Mega Man is even on the screen when we are fused, almost like a Little Digi-Navigator or something like that!*"
(*AN: Reference to NetNavis from Mega Man Battle Network and Mega Man Star Force)
Aile smiled excitedly. "Awesome...!"
"However, just as me and Mega Man became friends and partners, some evil guy showed up and started to attack innocent people!" Rokku said, sounding tense. "Me and Mega Man fought against many enemies, trying to stop a evil guy from his evil plot!"
"Wait a second..." Prairie interrupted. "I remember hearing about the incident that happened in the Enstratos region... Tera City, along with Neo Giga City were attacked by Mavericks... The Defense Force along with some hero rescued the innocent. The Hero single handedly took out an entire airship armada... Was that... You two?"
Mega and Rokku looked at each other and grinned. Mega turned to Prairie to give her the answer. "You bet!"
Vent and Aile were amazed. They heard about that news report a little while after the Serpent Incident. "It was you two!?" Vent repeated.
"Yep!" Rokku said with a thumbs up. "Me and Mega Man, along with the Defense Force, took out that evil jerk's plan!"
"His name is Wraith, and he orchestrated all of the occurrences that happened in the Enstratos region. He even brainwashed a girl, forcing her to do evil things...!" Mega explained.
Prairie was about to say something, but suddenly, the alarm siren went off. Everyone wondered why once again.
"What's going on now!?" Vent yelled out in annoyance.
The four immediately left the room and into the Command Center. They saw that the three operators were there, appearing to have been there while the others were in Prairie's room. They seemed like they had something really important to say judging by how they sounded the alarm.
"What is going on!?" Prairie asked the Operators.
"Commander Prairie! Please take a look at this!" Gardénia said, typing in a few keypads to projecting a screen behind her and the other operators.
The screen shown the group the entire footage on the monitor. In the Indigo Gorge, a place nearby Area C, was a drilling operation. To make matters worse, tons of Galleons were there along with other mavericks and mechaniloids.
"Oh no! All those people in Area C!" Prairie said.
"What could those Mavericks be thinking!?" Aile cried.
"They're Mavericks... The only thing they could think is nothing more than destruction and chaos." Mega Man said, sounding upset about the Mavericks non-stop disaster.
"Whatever the case, we got to stop them!" Vent said putting his fist out.
"Vent, I don't think it's very wise to go out in the field. You haven't fully recovered." Prairie said walking towards Vent.
"I feel fine Prairie. I don't have any bandages on me, do I?" Vent said with a confident smile. Prairie took his word for it.
"... Okay... but please come back okay this time please. Alright you guys should head there right away! Rokku and Mega Man, you join them too! Get moving!"
"ROGER!" Vent and Aile yelled.
The four ran off into the transerver to get to the Indigo Gorge. There, they met Fleuve who informed them useful information.
"You four are off no doubt. I already set the coordinates to the Indigo Gorge for you in the transerver. Good luck!"
Fleuve left the three to do their mission. At the transerver, Aile and Vent thought about Rokku's story. They looked at him who was serious about the mission. The three were transported to the Indigo Gorge.
There, they found, as the area name suggests, the entire gorge to be indigo colored. They could easily see Area C from the distance. They immediately found Galleons charging towards them.
"Oh crud!" Vent yelled out.
"There they are!" Aile cried, holding Model X in her pocket.
"Let's go buck wild!" Rokku yelled out, looking at Mega Man.
Vent and Aile held out Models X and Z for the Double Megamerge transformation. Rokku's Combi-Carrier's screen shined, quickly engulfing Mega Man in the bright blue light. The light then quickly engulfed Rokku as wekk. It was so fast it was almost like teleportation. The heroes were now in their Battle Armor.
"DOUBLE MEGAMERGE!"
Vent and Aile had successfully megamerged with Models X and Z, gripping their favorable weapons in their hands: Vent with the ZX-Saber and Aile with the ZX-Buster. The moment they were ready, they charged in and began to fight the Mavericks.
Vent used his ZX-Saber to slice the Galleons in half, Aile used her ZX-Buster to pierce through her foes, and Rokku used his Mega-Buster to do what Aile was doing. However, Rokku used his fists and feet as other ways of attacking. A large group of Galleon Hunters surrounded Aile and Vent. The two smiled, held hands and pulled out their ZX-Saber and spun around in a circular way. They sliced and diced every Galleon surrounding them. The two released hands, charging and piercing every Galleon in their way. Rokku watched and was impressed. But a Galleon bunked his head with its Buster. Taking no hesitation, he blasted the Galleon's head off and watched in disgust. He saw a line of Galleons rush towards Rokku. Mega Man Neo merely smiled and slid under all of the Galleons and most of them either fell into the deep gorge or were tossed into the air for Aile and Vent to finish the job. The three stopped looking back at the work they just done. The three high-fived each other.
"You guys were awesome!" Rokku yelled out.
Rokku found admiration in Vent and Aile, for they had such high power! It was stronger than he and Mega Man! The two felt happy hearing Rokku's compliment.
"You two were awesome too!" Aile said, cutely smiling.
"The way you used your fists and feet to attack was a great way to attack! Oh, and when you slid under the Galleons, I was amazed of that ability!" Vent yelled out, admiring Rokku and Mega Man a little more than he did in the past.
Just then Rokku got shot in the back, but it didn't cause him much pain. He turned back and saw a swarm of Mechadragons with two King Flyers as their leader.
"What a dirty shot!" Rokku whined, whipping out his Mega-Buster.
Rokku charged in the group piercing a number of Mechadragons with half-charged shots. He saw one King Flyer behind a swarm of Mechadragons. He smirked and used the Mechadragons as stairs to reach the King Flyer. He had a charged shot prepared by the time he got to the King Flyer. He released the shot right in its face and it exploded. It fell inside the gorge with pieces from its inactive body falling beside it. Aile and Vent used their ZX-Busters and shot the other Mechadragons that Rokku used as stairs.
Soon after taking care of the remaining Mechadragons, the King Flyer surprised Aile and Vent by appearing from the sky. The King Flyer was about to shoot but it's wings were shot off by a friendly Mega Man. The King Flyer fell to the ground, showing Rokku smiling with his buster smoking. Vent dashed towards it and stuck his ZX-Saber in its face. Aile and Rokku pushed the King Flyer into the gorge before it exploded in their faces. It exploded 10 feet from the ledge. The three high-fived each other once again.
"Mega Man Neo, you're awesome!" Aile said, fist pumping her hand in the air.
"We're not the only one! You two are just as cool as we are!" Mega Man said through the Combi-Carrier screen, Rokku giving them a thumbs up.
"Hehe!" Vent said, rubbing the back of his head.
It was the first time the three had fought together, unlike the last time where Vent was knocked unconscious, and Aile was kidnapped seconds after Rokku had saved him. It made Rokku smile knowing how much fun he was having... even though he was currently on a mission.
"I hate to interrupt your celebration..." Model X said.
"But we still have a Mission to complete." Model Z finished.
"That's right. We got to find the drill and take it out!" Vent said as he was about to dash off.
"Wait a sec." Rokku said holding out his hand in front of Vent.
Vent stopped dead in his tracks, while Aile shown confusion to this action. Everyone was silent.
"What are we...?" Aile said before being interrupted...
"Hold on..." Rokku said, unintentionally impolitely. "Do you guys hear that?"
He heard something. Focusing his ears, he finally found out what that something was. That something, was the drill.
"I can hear it!" Vent yelled.
"It's the drill alright!" Aile said with a smirk.
"Let's hurry!" Rokku said running off.
The three ran straight ahead to find a broken down bridge. It looked like it was still walkable. Vent gotten on it first and went on on the bridge slowly but quickly, hoping that the bridge wouldn't break down as he walked.. Aile and Rokku were about to get on but Aile stopped for some reason.
"Aile? What's the matter?" Mega Man asked in concern.
"Oooh..." she had said quietly.
Aile held onto her stomach. She knew she wasn't hungry and she knew her stomach wasn't in any pain. But she felt pain from her entire body. Rokku was worried about her, holding out his hands to try and help. Aile looked at him and gave him a nice, sad smile, to tell him she was fine.
"Are you... afraid of heights?" Rokku asked, sounding naive.
Aile perked up, her eyes being shocked. She angrily glared and Rokku and shouted, "What?! NO!"
"O-okay." he said, waving his hands in front of her, hoping she wouldn't slug him. "Let's go then."
Rokku offered his hand to Aile and got her on the bridge. Aile went first and Rokku followed behind her. The two walked slowly but quickly, just like Vent. The two watched their feet as they were stepping on a broken bridge. Aile and Rokku were half way there with Vent waiting on them. Just then, as they continued on, Rokku turned around back and saw about two dozen Galleons heading their way. They were armed with Busters, Blades, Bazookas, and Hover-Boards and much more. Aile looked back and saw the exact same thing.
"Oh no! We gotta hurry!" Aile said.
The two moved quickly there, not even caring about the broken bridge anymore. Aile moved quicker than Rokku did, mainly due to the fact that she RAN. She was next to Vent in mere seconds.
"Hurry up Rokku!" Vent yelled out as he shot some of the Galleons with his ZX-Buster to keep them away from the bridge.
"Alright! Alright!" Rokku said nervously. He wanted to hurry up, but he was afraid of the bridge breaking down while he was still on it.
Rokku was walking a little faster, not even thinking about running like Aile did. But suddenly, as Rokku took what may had been his last step, the board broken and Rokku had fell through the bridge.
"Rokku!" Vent and Aile screamed in unison.
Rokku had gotten a hold of the ropes supporting the bridge. He felt the ropes slowly breaking apart.
"Oh man!" Rokku said to himself as he was getting pulled downwards as the rope was breaking.
Rokku tried to bring himself up but he couldn't, mostly because of the less support the ropes had to even pull him up.
"Guys, go on without me! You need to stop the Drill Operation!" Rokku said while looking back at the Galleons closing in on him.
"What!? No way! We are going to help you!" Aile cried, walking towards the bridge.
"No! Don't! W-We'll find a way somehow! Just go! Please!" Mega Man said.
"Trust him you two. They will find their way, like Mega Man said." Model X said, putting his trust on him.
"Model X is right! We gotta go Aile!" Vent said as he was slowly dragging Aile away. He stopped and pointed at Rokku, yelling out: "Mega Man Neo, you better come back!"
Vent grabbed his sister's hand and dragged her away. Rokku held on to the rope for as long as he could. Normally, a human without mechanical parts implanted into them would never hold out this long, but with Mega Man's power, Rokku felt like he could hold onto the rope forever. He knew for a fact that wasn't true in this case. The ropes were breaking apart, and he could he the loud snaps as he slowly descended. The Galleons were quickly approaching Rokku. The ones with Busters and Bazookas fired at Rokku. Most of them missed, but some of the bullets got Rokku. He tried to hold onto his pain. The ones with blades rushed towards Rokku to finish him off. Rokku clenched his teeth in anger and determination.
"We have to go to them! Vent and Aile!"
The Galleons on the Hover-Boards went towards Rokku to finish him off as well. They went right under him and charged up a shot to finish him. Rokku immediately came up with an idea. He charged up his M-Buster and shot the Galleons on the Hover-Board destroying them. Rokku quickly dropped on the Hover-Board before it went out of control. He quickly got his balance and charged up his M-Buster to destroy the remaining Galleons.
"It's show time...!" Rokku said smiling as he aimed his Mega-Buster at his enemies.
Meanwhile, Aile and Vent were still running with Vent still holding onto Aile. Aile felt angry that they didn't stay and help.
"Vent! We have to go back!" Aile said, feeling worried about Rokku.
"No! We need to stop this drill!" Vent replied.
"But they...!" Aile said sadly.
Vent stopped and held onto her shoulders. He was just as angry as Aile was.
"AILE!" Vent yelled out.
Aile was a little frightened but she was still angry.
"Look, I feel just as bad as you! I want to help those two but we are wasting time! The drill is going to cause the death of hundreds or thousands! We can't risk that! I'm sorry Aile, but we need to save these citizens!"
"He's right Aile. We can't take that risk." Model Z said.
"Remember, they said they'll find a way. Trust them." Model X said.
Aile stared at Vent with fury in her eyes. But she cooled down, knowing that he was right. Rokku would find his way out like he promised. She nodded her head with a determined smile and Vent released his hands from her shoulder.
"Your right Vent. Let's go!" Aile said, smiling.
Vent held onto her hand and hurried to the center of the problem.
Meanwhile, Rokku and Mega Man were still taking care of the Galleons. He pierced through each and every Galleon in his way with his M-Buster. He was still on the Hover-Board and he was using that as a weapon as well. He smashed Galleons against walls with the Hover-Board causing them to malfunction. More Galleons appeared.
"Having fun yet?" Rokku asked with a cocky tone and grin.
Rokku charged up his M-Buster and blasted through a line of Galleons. All of them were destroyed in an instant. There were three remaining Galleons left. Rokku aimed his M-Buster at them but surprisingly they were frightened and jumped into the gorge. Rokku withdrawn his M-Buster with a confused look.
"Eh?" Rokku said, his face filled with confusion over that scene he saw.
"Apparently, those Galleons were screwed up in the head." Mega Man spoke up.
"Uh... Let's catch up with Vent and Aile!" Rokku said forming his hand into a fist.
"Okay!" Mega Man yelled out in enthusiasm.
Rokku used the Hover-Board to catch up with Aile and Vent, riding it as if he was a pro at skateboarding. He yelled out "YAHOO!" as he was flying in the air doing spirals and other tricks to have fun.
Vent and Aile reached the drill in time as it wasn't done drilling the mountain. There were tons of Galleons and the leader of the entire of operation was a white-colored hawk maverick. He looked different from everyone else. It sat on a ledge above the drill. His wings covered his body and he looked like he was sleeping.
"Hey! You! Look at me!", Vent said, trying to get the enemy's attention.
The hawk maverick awakened and stared at the two. He flew fast towards them and landed. Looking at the maverick more clearly, he looked very similar to the Orehawk Mavericks they've encountered during the battles with Serpent. He also looked similar to one of the "horse" rides in Area H. However, this maverick was different.
"What do you two want?" the mysterious reploid asked. "...Wait a sec... you guys are the Guardians sent here, are you not?"
"Yeah we are, and you must be a Maverick right?" Aile asked, gripping her ZX-Buster.
The reploid chuckled, his blue eyes disappearing and reappearing as he began to spoke.
"Wrong. I'm not a Maverick but a Pseudoroid. I am Kokutori the Jaggeroid and I am in charge of this operation."
Aile was surprised. "A Pseudoroid? How's that? We defeated Serpent! Unless... Prometheus and Pandora gave you guys a piece of the stolen Biometals' data!"
Kokutori laughed. "Heh, heh... You are wrong child... I am not affilirated with Serpent or the two individuals you named Prometheus and Pandora."
"Whatever the case, we are Mega Men Model ZX and we are here to destroy this operation!" Vent said holding out his ZX-Saber.
Kokutori laughed at Vent, and pulled out his hand, which also pulled out five sharp, metallic feathers.
"You are amusing Mega Man Model ZX. Before we duel, let me get rid of these distractions!"
Kokutori opened his wings and shot his feathers at the Galleons destroying them. Aile and Vent watched in shock as Kokutori destroyed his own allies. Kokutori's feathers reloaded itself and he stared at the destruction he caused, letting out a laugh in the process.
"How... How could you...?" Aile asked, wondering why she was feeling sorry for the Mavericks.
"Those were your allies! How...?" Vent said, feeling angry.
Kokutori stared at the two in anger and amusement.
"Allies? HA! Those weren't allies! They were good-for-nothing reploids with no brain at all. You two, however, have brains. Therefore, you guys would be worthy foes in our duel!"
Kokutori got into a battle stance and yelled:
"Prepare yourselves!"
Kokutori flew into the air and shot his feathers at the two. Aile wall-jumped to Kokutori's height and Vent went under Kokutori. Both Aile and Vent charged their ZX-Busters and released them at Kokutori. Kokutori dodged the charged shots and the two charged shots disappeared upon collision. Kokutori quickly grabbed Vent by the neck and slammed him on the ground. He brought out his feather blade and was going to stab him. But Aile slashed his back. Kokutori laughed at Aile causing her to be shocked.
"Little girl... You should know how to wield a Saber like that now."
Aile gotten the ZX-Saber from Kokutori's back and stepped back in slight fear, making the enemy believe she was afraid. Kokutori intentionally turned around slowly, intimidating her. Kokutori dashed at Aile and kicked her in the face with it's hawk-like feet. She slid on the ground and watched as Kokutori had a feather blade falling straight towards her. She rolled to dodge his attack and just as she was about to get up, Kokutori grabbed her artifical blonde hair and yanked her back on the ground. He got his hawk-like feet on Aile's stomach. Aile tried to hold the pain as long as she could.
"I must say, you two are brave to be fighting someone like me. But this is as far as you two go!" Kokutori said letting out a sinister laugh.
Kokutori brought out his feather blade and was about to stab Aile's face. Aile quickly brought out her ZX-Buster and rapidly shot Kokutori's face. She charged up a shot and released it at Kokutori. Smoked filled the two's face. Vent got up from the pain and held onto his waist. He realized that the pain he felt from that alligator mechaniloid was kicking in. He tried to hold the pain to help his sister but it did no good. He thought about the drill and he had to shut it down as it was close to being finished. But he knew he had to save his sister. This was a situation Vent couldn't solve so easily. "That Pseudoroid... Why is it so strong...?"
The smoke cleared and it is revealed that Kokutori was still standing as if Aile's charged shot did nothing.
"Just like I said, you are brave but THIS is as far as you go!"
Kokutori shot his feather blades and it was stuck on Aile's helmet. She took it out but by the time she looked forward, Kokutori was gone. Instead he was behind her. He grabbed onto Aile tightly and held a feather blade to her neck. She was incredibly shocked by what was happening to her.
"Any last words Mega Man Model ZX female?"
Aile said nothing but tried to pull out her ZX-Saber. Kokutori grabbed her weapon and tossed it away from her. He then used his feather-blade to sliced her armor part on her arm. It pierced through it and she was bleeding. She jolted as the pain coursed through her nerves, her pupils shrinking in the pain she had suffered.
"I asked for last words! Not for a weapon! Very well, accept your death!"
Kokutori threw Aile on the ground. She stared at Kokutori without anything to defend her. Kokutori held onto Aile's ZX-Saber and was pointing at her.
"Your fate is to be destroyed Model ZX! Accept that!"
Kokutori was about to finish Aile off but something crashed into him. The impact caused Kokutori to crash into the wall of the mountain. Vent watched in shock and wondered who could have done that. Aile was also shocked... so shocked, that she couldn't even move. From the sky, someone was falling, someone blue. That someone was Mega Man, Rokku. He landed in front of Aile, surprising her. In her heart, she smiled knowing that Rokku kept his promise.
"Sorry I'm late. I had to take care of some business back there. You know, pest control." Rokku quipped with a cocky grin.
Rokku looked at Aile. His eyes widened as he noticed that Aile's hand was bleeding.
"Oh no, Aile!" Rokku cried out.
Rokku knelt down beside her and grabbed her hand. She screamed in pain and Rokku released her hand.
"S-Sorry..."
"I-it's okay." Aile said, slowly rubbing her hand, with a small, weak smile.
"She'll be fine..." Model Z assured Rokku.
Aile slowly rubbed her hand which was still bleeding. She tried to make it stop. Rokku looked at Vent who was sitting there in shock. It was like he was frozen.
"Vent! Are you okay?" Rokku called.
Vent was in a daze, but he snapped out of it and grabbed his ZX-Saber. He nodded at Rokku. "I'm fine! Don't worry...!"
Rokku smiled. "Great! Then let's destroy the drill!"
Vent went ahead and started slicing the cords to stop the drilling. But just then, crackling was heard in the hole. Kokutori was getting out of the hole! His entire body was cracked and damaged. He was incredibly angered by Rokku using the Hover-Board to crash into him. Rokku's eyes widened noticing that Kokutori survived. Kokutori held onto the Hover-board with one hand and tossed it into the gorge.
"Another Guardian!?" Kokutori said in disgust and annoyance. Suddenly, his tone went away...
"Wait... That armor..." he said, looking at Rokku's armor. If Kokutori could, his eyes would widen in shock.
"Could it be...? Are you the one he seeks?"
"Who?" Mega Man asked.
"It is!" Kokutori started to release his mechanical growl. "How can an inferior being like you hold a powerful weapon like Mega Man!?"
"H-Hold on! Mega Man isn't just a weapon! He's a great friend and smart!" Rokku defended.
"He wanted you alive... But there's been a change of plans. Prepare to be terminated little boy!"
Kokutori dashed at Rokku causing both of them to fall on the ground. Kokutori was quickly going to stab Rokku's face but something stopped him from doing so. Rokku grabbed onto Kokutori's feather blade. Rokku was forcefully pushing the blade back from his face. Kokutori's eyes widened as he realized that Rokku was stronger than he was. Rokku used his strength to push his feathers back. Kokutori was falling back slowly and tried to regain his balance. Rokku quickly got up and charged at Kokutori. He punched him in the face and stomach multiple times, not stopping. Kokutori was in a daze. Rokku grabbed Kokutori and pushed him on the opposite side of the drill to finish him off. Rokku grabbed Kokutori's back and pushed his stomach against his M-Buster which was charging up.
"N-no w-way...!" Kokutori said in surprise.
"...Goodbye...!" Rokku muttered.
Rokku released the charged shot and Kokutori was flying in the sky with pieces from his body falling. He soon was starting to explode, but not before leaving his death words.
"A boy... like you... was able to terminate me...? I don't believe it...! CURSE YOU HUMAN!"
Kokutori was exploding in the air screaming as he perishes. The explosion was huge, so huge that even Rokku covered his eyes so he wouldn't be blind. The light vanished and so did Kokutori. Rokku wiped his forehead with his hand.
"Phew!"
"You did it Rokku!" Mega Man said with joy.
"No way! WE did it! Still, kinda cliche for someone's dying words though, haha."
Rokku quickly turned to Aile who was still on the ground. Rokku knelt beside her to make sure she was alright. She stared at him and smiled.
"Aile... You okay?" Mega Man asked in concern.
Aile still rubbed her hand as she still felt pain from it. It was no longer bleeding however. Just then, they heard something shut down. It was the drill. Vent had successfully shut down the operation. Vent walked towards Aile and Rokku, looking weak. He gave out a weak smile and collapsed on the floor.
"VENT!"
Aile pushed herself to go towards her brother who had passed out. His transformation was cancelled and so was Aile's. Model Z and X were floating next to them, both of them looking damaged.
"Great work... you three..." Model Z weakly said.
"Mission... Complete..." Model X said, adding on to Z's compliment.
Model Z and Model X fell on the ground damaged. Aile grabbed the two and got them into her pocket.
"Rest well you two..." Aile said with a smile.
Rokku watched Aile hug Vent. Rokku watched the two and couldn't help but feel sorry, especially since he made Vent cut the wires while he was hurt. But he didn't know that at the time, but now that he did, he felt sorry. Soon a light orb approached Rokku. He didn't know what it was, but Mega Man did...
"What is it?" Rokku asked, tempting to touch it. It was so familiar to Rokku...
"Ah, just like last time." Mega Man said. "Remember how we fought against the Celestial Masters?"
Rokku nodded.
"Apparently, Kokutori seemed to have similar properties to them. This is Kokutori's Power." Mega Man explained, observing the glowing white orb.
Rokku took it and held the orb into his hand. Soon the orb flashed and entered Rokku's hand. His entire body shined brightly. He got his hand into a fist and shook it. As he shook it, his eyes were closed. His entire Battle Armor changed color. It changed from a blue color scheme to a white color scheme. Rokku finished shining and opened his eyes. He noticed how his entire armor changed color.
"W-What!?" Rokku screamed out, sounding scared about his color change.
"You haven't forgotten about our ability have you?" Mega Man asked. "That ability is called the Variable Weapon System. We can copy certain enemies abilities and allow you to use them for yourself. Apparently a... Pseudoroid, is one of the robots I can copy from. Look at the screen."
Rokku proceeded to look at the Combi-Carrier's screen. There, Mega Man was holding out his hand, presenting the white orb that was previously in the real world. Soon, a message appeared beside Mega Man and he explained it. "According to the data, this weapon is called Featherblade-Vulcan." Mega Man explained. "I guess I can understand why you don't remember this ability, I mean, it's been an entire month since we fought together like this! Try out the ability, okay?"
Rokku held out his Mega-Buster and aimed it at the sky diagonally. He shot like a normal Mega-Buster but instead of energy bullets coming out, sharp feather blades came out instead. The blades were still going diagonally, seemingly like it wouldn't stop until it reached into outer space.
"This is an amazing ability AND a useful one!" Rokku said, rubbing his M-Buster like it was a pet.
"Reminds me of my battles against other robots. I didn't enjoy fighting as much as you do... But I'm willing to get over it (I guess)." Mega Man said.
"Mega..." Rokku whispered silently.
Rokku was aware that Mega Man was a pacifist. The only reason Mega Man fought was because he had no choice. Rokku, however, loved to battle strong opponents. It was amazing that Rokku and Mega Man worked so well despite their views on battles. Rokku changed his color scheme back to normal. That was something he knew how to do. He defused and looked at Aile, who was still hugging Vent. He approached the two and Aile looked up as if she was crying.
"We better get back." Rokku said holding out his hand to her.
Soon, beeping was heard. Rokku covered his ears as the noise was annoying him.
"WHAT. IS. THAT!?" Rokku cried as his pupils grew small and big repeatedly.
Aile got Vent on her back and giggled.
"That means we need to send in the mission report. I'm pretty sure there is a transerver around here. Let's look around." Aile explained.
Aile was getting ready to walk until she fell back down on one knee. Rokku rushed to her aid.
"Are you still hurt?" Rokku asked, holding out his hands again to help if needed.
Aile looked at Rokku trying to regain her strength.
"N-no... It's just..." Aile said. Rokku listened to her with a serious look on his face, really concerned about her condition.
"Vent's really heavy..." Aile said. She finished her sentence and Rokku fell on the ground like in anime and manga.
Rokku got back up and shrugged his shoulders.
"Hehe... Then let me carry him." he said smiling.
Aile gave Vent to Rokku who got the guy on his back. Rokku was able to carry Vent because he wasn't harmed in the battles... and because of his superhuman strength with Mega Man. The two hurried to the Transever behind the deactivated drill. The beeping noise was still going off and it annoyed Rokku further.
"UGH! THIS IS THE MOST ANNOYING SOUND EVER!" Rokku screamed, having thoughts about bashing his own ear just for it to stop. It was odd that Rokku is able to hear the noise, Aile thought. But she realized that the beeping on Aile's ears are loud enough for anyone near her to hear.
"Tell me about it. I heard it about 16 times in my fight against Serpent. Don't worry, the transerver is just ahead of us!" Aile said.
The two entered the transerver and sent in a Mission Report. The noise stopped.
"Finally..." Mega Man said in satisfaction.
Aile giggled and punched in the coordinates to get back into the Grand Nuage.
"Okay, okay. Let's head back to the Base." Aile said smiling.
The teleportation sequence began and the living beings left the room. The room was empty after the three had left the room. Just then, the entire transerver room exploded! The entire place was trashed and damaged, electricity sparkling and flying around the place. A shadowy figure appeared. He pounded his fist on the wall in fury.
"Darn it! I thought I had them!"
The figure released his fist from the wall. He appeared to have been smiling, but no one can tell...
"I have a dozen of ways to end those Mega Men's life. Once that's done, nothing will stand in our way!"
The figure soon teleported on his own free will leaving behind his villainous laugh. The smoke cleared and the entire transerver room was destroyed. Not only was the transerver room destroyed, but the drill too was completely eliminated, pieces of it scattered and the drill completely gone...
About the "Pseudoroid":
- Kokutori the Jaggeroid is my very own creation. Koku means "air" in Japan (if I recall) and Tori means "bird" in Japan, thus forming the name "Kokutori". Jagger comes from... well I totally forgot, but I remember Jagger being related to a bird. I forgot where I got this information from, haha.
- I based Kokutori off Aztec Falcon from MMZ1 and the Orehawk mini-boss from Mega Man ZX. I loved the fight with Aztec Falcon (believe it or not) so I thought about bringing back a similar boss.
(Note: The part where the Galleon jump off the gorge was like how those Guardroids in Mega Man X8 knocked each other off the stage when no more enemies would appear in Dark Mantis' Stage when the player gets caught. I thought that was a little funny, so I added a similar thing.)
Fun Fact!
The Combi-Carrier is made by someone special from the Mega Man Zero series! The design of the device is inspired by the Transers from Mega Man Star Force and the name is inspired by the Combi-Catcher from Knuckles' Chaotix, and the Star Carrier from Mega Man Star Force 2. Also, Combi is short for Combination which refers to Rokku and Mega fusing to become Mega Man Neo.
The name Mega Man Neo is referring to how Rokku becomes the new Mega Man when he fuses with the original Mega Man, Neo meaning new. I bet some of you reading this are thinking of Rockman Neo, that awesome animation from the 2000s! I guess you can consider this name as a homage to that animation!... Or, you could refer it towards Mega Man Legends/Rockman DASH's prototype name: Mega Man Neo/Rockman Neo! (To be honest, I purposely named this new form after the Rockman Neo animation. However, I decided to make some sort of... connection, with the Legends' prototype name...Eek! I probably said too much! Y-You heard nothing! Absolutely nothing!)