Disclaimer-I do not own Megaman or anything related to Megaman, Capcom does, and I own nothing aside from Nairi and Aurora.
Hello kind readers! I would like to thank you all for sticking with this story and reviewing, I really appreciate them! Sorry that this took so long, school is keeping me busy and I am having some issues of my own at home, and I've barely had any down time between everything in offline life. Well now, enough of my blathering, you came for the story, so here is the next chapter!
Early next morning, when I looked at my transer screen, I was surprised at the fact that Aurora wasn't inside, and after looking around my room; she was nowhere to be found. It wasn't until I heard music coming from the roof that I realized that I had left my i-dream up on the roof and I got a bit of an idea of where she was.
Upon clambering up the tree that allowed me easy access to the roof, I found her. Aurora was standing in the middle of the roof, eyes closed, two metal rods in her hands, currently crossed in front of her chest in a defensive position. My i-dream was pushed into a corner, blaring one of my ultra-catchy techno songs, Aurora absently tapping one finger on the rod in time with the addictive beat. SHINGG!!! I barely had time to wonder why she was up here, (allowing the edge of the roof to hide me from her sight) before two long emerald-colored energy blades sprouted from the ends of the two rods before she delivered five quick strikes to the air around her, as if surrounded by invisible opponents, everything suddenly making sense.
"Those are swords? Dang it all, now I really wish I had begged for those kendo lessons..." I didn't have to watch in amazement for very long to see that she was not just good, she was fierce. Every move was graceful, but deadly-looking with the knowledge that every single one of them seemed as if it were backed with the sheer instinct to cleave something in half. Then, they changed. A short burst of light revealed that after bringing the hilts together, the two rods joined and stretched, becoming a staff with a blade on either end, able to be twirled, the light from the blades turning the...
"Umm... training session?" I assumed, into an enchanting, dangerous dance. A moment later, the bladed staff had become two simple rods once again, slipped back into the black sash around her waist, as I was unable to contain the excitement and wonder that I hadn't felt for months now. Casually jumping atop the roof, I clapped slowly to alert her of my presence, causing her to whirl around in surprise, her hands almost instinctively reaching for her blades again as if I had scared her. She relaxed through, once she saw that it was only me, breathing a sigh of relief as I walked over, immediately complimenting her sword skills.
"That was amazing! You never told me you used swords! Can you show me?"
"Woah, slow down for a moment, before I wonder if you are on anything, and I'll tell you, okay?" I backed away, sitting quietly and innocently on our AC unit, my big eyes locked on to her as she explained her past to me, telling me tales of her many rivals, fights, few adventures, and even fewer friends back on planet FM…
"...You see, FM is run by a very paranoid king named Cepheus, and being the paranoid guy that he is, he needed plenty of protection, or he couldn't get anything done, so he had a few loyal bodyguards. The two bodyguards that were closest to him were myself, and another FM-ian named Gemini, who later on caused the events leading up to the destruction of our sister planet, AM. Gemini was his eyes and ears, his 1-FM intelligence squad, and I was his last defense, FM's samurai. I found out later, that I was one of the weakest FM's that ever were employed by Cepheus, which is why I was chosen to be trained as his samurai, in his eyes, I was… expendable." I nearly gasped at the information, Aurora didn't seem weak at all to me, yet she was one of the weakest that Cepheus ever had employed… so how strong were the others? I shook my head slightly, choosing not to think much of it now, and just listen to her story for now.
She seemed to gaze out at the gold-tinted horizon, almost as if she were holding back tears as she continued, "…That is why I ran away, slipping onto a ship as a stowaway, and I would have stayed there in relative comfort until the crew got suspicious, and I had to bail out and finish the rest of the journey on my own. We can fly in space, but it gets quite tiring after a while, so I had to planet-hop over here mostly once I was in this solar system. As soon as I reached this planet's denpa space, though, Gemini attacked me, but I was able to escape, which brings you up to what happened last night."
Feeling a bit more at ease now that I knew at least some of Aurora's past, I rolled onto my back on the AC unit before moving on to the next question that had been burning in my head for a while, obviously curious by now,
"Why Earth?" After a moment, she answered a bit hesitantly,
"I heard that some FMs had come here to Earth to try an invasion, so I decided to check it out, but judging by your surprise at seeing me, I can tell that it didn't exactly work out as planned." I nodded, swinging my legs back and forth as I replied,
"Yeah, I guess I'd be used to this if it had... but that's just the way it goes, right?" She nodded, asking with a melancholy look on her face, her eyes nearly glued to a final remaining star glowing dimly in the early morning light,
"Though... I do admit, I have felt odd since arriving, as if I wished to go back to FM, and I fear that something is wrong." Seeing the odd opportunity to joke around with her, I stroked my chin in mock thoughtfulness before answering, struggling to keep a straight face while I did,
"I'd say… you have fallen victim to an Earth virus, and are going to be attacked by a rabid sheep in the next 2 hours." Grabbing me out of nowhere, she pulled me close, an extremely worried, confused look plastered on her face while she asked,
"EARTH VIRUS!? Is there a cure?! I HAVE NO IMMUNITY!!!! I don't want to die by a rabid sheep on my first day on this planet!!!!! I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT A SHEEP IS!!!!" I blinked twice, all the time wondering as I did, "...Wow. Here I had sworn long ago that sarcasm was near the top of the list of truly universal things. I guess not."
"Uhhh… Aurora, I was kidding." She blinked a few times, leaving us frozen in an odd silence before releasing me,
"…Oh. Don't kid about stuff like that, okay? Besides… everyone says I'm way too serious about stuff, so I probably wouldn't get it anyway. …Wait, if I'm not about to be attacked by a sheep in 2 hours, what is wrong with me?" Laughing a little beforehand, I apologized to her,
"Yeah sorry, I think you're just homesick, Aurora. Nothing to worry about really, you're here now, and you wanted to be anywhere but FM, right?" She nodded hesitantly at first, before confirming,
"Yes. Never going back to the blasted place, Cepheus just pushed me a little too far. Earth seems so much nicer, so peaceful, most of the time, anyway."
BOOM!!
As if on que, the AC unit of the neighbors across the street burst into flames, Aurora and I both leaping in alarm, and as I wished I could see the problem, something amazing happened; I was able to see the viruses that were surrounding it, continuing their merciless onslaught on the AC unit. Aurora quickly informing me, "Nairi! Those viruses could overload the unit any minute now!" I felt my eyes become as wide as dinner plates, realizing just what she had just said.
"If it overloads... the whole roof could go up in flames! They've been away on a business trip, so nobody's home. The Satella police would be too late, this could go up now. Have to do something... but what?" As I leaned over the edge of the roof, frozen in horror, trying to formulate a plan, I didn't notice that I was leaning a little too far over the edge until I pitched forward and the ground was rushing up at me, my screams audible for all within three blocks to hear. I closed my eyes for a moment, waiting for the body-crunching pain to come... but surprisingly, it never did. Instead, I was gently caught by a well-placed bush, and though I was a little battered and bruised, I was mostly alright. Aurora quickly rushed to my side, telling me,
"My guess is that you weren't trying to fall, but we're running out of time here, Nairi!" The now-smoking unit looked as if it didn't have much time left, but I knew, unfortunately, that my battle cards wouldn't reach viruses two stories up, so I did the exact thing that almost anyone would think of doing at the time, asking Aurora,
"Aurora, can't you do something?" She slowly shook her head as a genuine 'lightbulb moment' expression spread across her face, answering,
"No... not alone, I'm still injured from last night, but if we could denpa-henkan, we could fight them off!" My jaw must have dropped 3 feet after hearing that, I had heard of denpa-henkan at least, and I was instantly reduced to a babbling, nervous mess as I frenziedly tried to come up with some reason to get out of this.
"FIGHT?! I CAN BARELY KEEP UP IN P.E.! HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO FIGHT ANYTHING?!!!" She hurriedly motioned for me to come closer, and whispered into my ear, as if imparting a precious secret,
"Follow my instructions carefully now, do you have a blank card?" I grabbed a card that she held in her hand, blue energy flaring around it, and she continued,
"Now scan it into your transer, and say…"
She whispered again, and I looked at the card, which now had a star-like insignia and Aurora's name on it, remembering how I felt when I had seen her practicing with her swords on the roof, how I had wanted a taste of that same, silent power that she seemed to carry so well, hesitating only a moment before telling her,
"…alright, but only if you promise I'm not going to mysteriously be in a sailor moon outfit for no other reason in the next minute."
"I promise, besides that's more Lyra's thing. Now, let's get going!" Guessing that 'Lyra' was another FM-ian, I scanned the card, and following Aurora's instructions, yelled to the skies,
"Denpa-henkan! Nairi Maye, on air!!" All of a sudden, I was floating in an emerald green void, similar to the one that I was in whenever we first met, my arms spread out as I sprung into a back flip, falling backwards as I did. All of a sudden, it felt as if Aurora was… fusing with me. I saw and felt gentle, dark blue EM wave energy wrapping around my body, changing my clothes as I continued to fall for a moment, my shirt glowing a soft blue before it spread to my short sleeves, making them grow long. The same happened to my pants, which flared outwards after a moment before solidifying around my legs as I landed in a crouch on the 'floor' of wherever I was, noticing that I also had armored shoes on in time to see my gloves turn into black gauntlets that ended in black fingerless gloves much like my normal ones. Finally, two strands of EM energy circled me once as I stood, one wrapping around my waist, the other around my head as an emerald visor covered my amethyst eyes, and I became aware of a feeling I didn't recognize, reminding myself to look in a mirror after this. I closed my eyes, and when I opened them again, I was standing on the yard, just as I was before it had happened, only this time, Aurora wasn't here.
"Who says I'm not here?" I looked around cautiously, pulling out one of the swords that were now tucked into a sheath hidden by a black sash tied around my waist, searching for the voice I had heard, only to be answered by it again.
"Hahaha… cool it Nairi, I'm right here." I calmed down, recognizing the voice as Aurora's, asking,
"…Aurora? Where are you?"
"I'm inside you. I am communicating to you by thought, since we are transformed now."
"Transformed… thought so."
Frozen to revel in the energized rush of my first denpa-henkan, I leaped effortlessly onto the wave road 5 feet above us, new energy and confidence pulsing through my body as I jumped from the wave road to the neighbor's roof, Aurora making me feel as if everything would be alright, her combat instincts compensating for some of my own inexperience. I sized up the viruses, simple mettennas, as a few began to launch their shock wave attacks, guarding the ones that were still hard at work wreaking havoc inside the AC unit. Aurora quietly informed me, still a calm voice in my mind,
"Are you ready for this, Nairi? I don't know if I can jump in and help you if you can't handle my blades." I nodded slowly, locking the single blade I had clasped in my hands in a death grip, trying so hard to remember techniques from some various manga books and anime that I had once read almost religiously before mom forbid me to take kendo lessons, thinking bitterly,
"Well, I guess they'll come in handy now." before leaping out of the way of the shock waves and slashing the mets a bit awkwardly as they came too close. However, the wave seemed to only grow larger as more came pouring out of the unit, providing backup for their fallen comrades. After a few more waves of mets fell to their doom, Aurora warned,
"NAIRI! BEHIND US!!!" I only had time to look at the gigantic virus slammed down behind us, its arms and head ablaze with flame, no doubt what was well on its way to cause the A.C. uni to overload, now setting its sights on us, the mettennas scattering like terrified insects upon its arrival. Having no real idea of what to do next, and doubting that I could take it down with my blades without getting blasted by its blazing fists, I wished that I had access to my battle cards. However, I took too long in my musings, only able to bring my arms up in a pathetic attempt of defense, and was slammed into one of the wave roads, the black gauntlets on my arms smoldering as I picked myself up off the wave road while Aurora pointed out,"Nairi, are those your battle cards?" I dodged the blows of the virus, which had followed me up on the road before spotting what Aurora had meant, on the underside of my gauntlet, there was a pocket for my cards, one of which had fell onto the wave road. Quickly trying to piece a plan together, I pulled a card from my gauntlet and activated it, a barrage of search missiles flying from either side of me before making contact with the virus, the deafening explosion shaking the wave road a bit. I sank to my knees on the road out of relief before I looked down at myself, examining my denpa-henkan form.
I was now in soft-blue armor designed to look like samurai clothes, which were surprisingly light and easy to move around in. I looked in my window, amazed at the full affect: a black headband was tied around my head, a silver headpiece emerging from the top to cover the front half of my head, my emerald embedded in the silver, and from the bottom of the headband, the green visor was attached, shielding my normally distrusting eyes. However, the most stunning thing about this was… my normally short, dark brown hair was now dark blue with red tips, and just past shoulder length.
"What do you think of your denpa-henkan form?"
"…I look like… a samurai. …This is amazing, Aurora!!!" She laughed as she told me,
"If you want, we could jet around town like this for a while, I... have something else to tell you later." I wasted no time jetting back to the wave roads, tearing through downtown, testhing our speed, pausing once to look at my father, who was in his car, using his position in a gridlock to drink a 2nd cup of black coffee. Only moments later, I was looking in on my mom at her job as a cashier at the mall, breathing a sigh of relief to see that she wasn't as nervous as she had told me she would be last night with the assistant manager doing an inspection. Mesmerized by the amazing feel of riding the wave roads, I was jolted a bit upon hearing Aurora comment, perplexed,"…Odd."
"What?"
"They keep you so imprisoned, yet you still care so deeply for them. Why is that?" I instantly gave the answer that I had come up with one night, subconsciously keeping my eyes on the wave road.
"Well, they're my parents, I love them, and I want to show them respect as well, so I do what I'm told, even if it means less freedom." Aurora kept silent for the rest of the time we were merged; thank god it was a Saturday, as I got home around 7:30, the time when I was usually on the bus to school, splaying out on the roof out of exhaustion that felt surprisingly satisfying. I simply laid atop the roof while Aurora took up residence in my transer, and finally, I asked her the question that had been burning in my mind since the transformation ended.
"…Aurora?"
"Hm?"
"During our... denpa-henkan, you said you had something else to tell me. What was it?" She seemed to shift uneasily in the transer before giving me a hesitant answer, uneasiness showing easily on her face,
"Well, for your sake, I pray that this does not happen, Nairi, but the odds are, that Cepheus has sent his warriors to look for me. Up until I was attacked by Gemini coming here, I doubted that he wanted me back, but I'm afraid that soon, we might be fighting FM-ians under denpa-henkan. I don't wish to endanger you, Nairi, though today you have shown me that you have promise as a warrior." I was almost taken aback, not only that she was that concerned for me, but mostly that she actually told me that I had promise. After everyone else had passed me off as a simple nerd, a crazy introvert, had told me that I was worthless, somehow... she believed in me. I held it together long enough to ask, stuttering as I almost struggled to find the words,
"You really-you really think I can fight FM-ians that might attack us?" Aurora only smiled as I saw a new sparkle in her eyes; something that looked almost reassuring, as if she knew that she has single-handedly begun to break through the barrier that I had spent the past few years building up around myself, answering softly,
"I wouldn't have merged with you if I doubted your abilities, but don't be overconfident, even if we can defeat some FM-ians that come our way, there are still EM beings that are much more powerful than us." At exactly that time, a black-and-red haired boy and the matching being inside his ebony transer sneezed in unison…
Looks like a new challenge is waiting, will Nairi be able to master her denpa-henkan form in time to meet it? The only way to find out is to come back later and hope for updates soon! I'll try to make the updates more frequent, I now have more down time to crank out chapters. So until then, read and review and I'll be back with more hopefully next week!
In addition to this, I am honored to announce that SHUKAKU1784 and Edgar Clpse will soon post up stories of their own that will now be officially running alongside this one! That is right, this is now a three-way collaboration, ladies and gents!