A few days later after Neal's training and his battle against Fistleo.
Neal awoke with a wide yawn. He stretched his arms and looked out the window in his bedroom.
The bedroom Prairie had given him was one of the last vacant rooms on the top floor facing the starboard side. Like every other room it had a window, a bunk bed, bureau, and nightstand. His trench coat was hung on a hook on the wall while the contents of his bag were spread in the drawers.
"Man that was a good sleep," Neal said as he got out of bed. For the past few days, he'd been training in the various skills he'd been taught, this morning being right after a long day of practicing.
As he got dressed, something ran by his ear. Almost like a whisper.
. . . h . . .
"What was that?" Neal asked as he looked around his room. "Model E, are you messing with me or something?"
A banging noise came from Neal's sock drawer. After Neal opened it Model E flew out and sat next to the lamp.
"Those are some comfortable socks by the way," Model E said making a sound like yawning metal. "What's the thread count, because those things were fantastic."
"Model E, did you hear anything just now?" Neal asked facing his biometal.
Model E shook his head... er, body. "Only a whisper. Why?"
Neal looked out the window and off into the distance. "I'm not sure."
Every once in a while for the rest of the day, the same odd whisper would go by his ear. He couldn't explain it. It was almost like something was calling to him.
Some time later that day he found himself in the observation deck at the ship's bow. Down below were the clouds, and below the clouds was the ocean, shimmering between blue, green, and white.
"What are you trying to say?" Neal asked to no one in particular, directing his thoughts to where the whispering was coming from. The next moment the door to the observation deck whooshed open and Aile came in.
"Morning Neal. You sleep well last night?" she asked.
Neal nodded. "Yeah..."
"Is something troubling you?" Aile asked. "You look like you have something on your mind."
"I... I'm not sure," Neal said.
Aile waited for Neal to continue on his own.
"Hey Aile?" Neal said after a silent minute passed between them.
"Yes?" she asked.
"Have you ever heard a voice calling out to you?" Neal asked. "I can't completely explain it, but I have the strangest feeling like there's something I have to do. But I just don't know what. It's like there's a voice calling me, but I can't figure out what it is."
"Well can you figure out who's calling?" Aile asked.
. . . her . . .
Neal shook his head. "No. It isn't as much as a whisper, but like a call of some kind. It's indescribable, so I can't really explain it."
Neal continued to look out the observation deck window. All the while, that same unexplainable something kept calling to him. He couldn't explain why, but he just knew he had to get to it. One way or another.
"Hey Aile," Neal said getting her attention. "What would be the best way to get out of the ship right now without using the Transerver?"
Aile leaned against a wall in thought for a moment before answering. "Well I suppose the best way besides Transerver would be to jump out the cargo hold door. But that's pretty crazy. Why do you ask?"
Mega Man ZX Soundtrack - Onslaught
Upon hearing that, Neals' mind was alive with thought. A good metaphor would be that it was as though a hundred bee hives were interconnected all at once and moving as a single cohesive unit. Of course that would be a very specific metahpor.
The next moment a small smirk appeared on Neal's face for a brief moment.
Before Aile could get a response, Neal had already bolted past her and was running down the hall. More importantly that he had Model E in his hands.
"Oh man! Neal's going to jump!" Aile cried as she ran after him, realizing what he intended to do. She tapped into her communicator and called Vent. "Vent! We have a situation!"
"What is it Aile?" Vent asked from his end of the line.
"Neal's been acting strangely all morning!" Aile cried as she rounded a corner and followed Neal. "I think he's going to jump out of the cargo hold!"
"Nah, that's crazy. Who'd give him an idea like that?" Vent asked. A minute later it dawned on him. "AILE!"
"Look that isn't important right now!" Aile said as she saw Neal jump into one of the elevators and sat the level for the bottom floor. Before she could even reach him, the door had closed and the elevator had begun its decent. "We need to stop him! If he jumps from this height he could be seriously hurt! Or worse!"
"Okay! I'll get there as soon as you can!" Vent said. "Until we can talk some sense into him, press the emergency lockdown button and seal him in."
"Got it!" Aile said as she bolted down the next hallway and pressed a red button labeled, EMERGENCY LOCKDOWN.
The moment she pressed it, the entire Guardian Base fell into high alert. Sirens blared and red lights flashed. Large metal doors began to close over all the doors windows, and sections of the hallways.
At the same time on the bottom floor, Neal was running down the last hallway on his way to the cargo hold at the ship's stern.
"Those guys must really not want me to do this!" Neal said as he continued to run down the hall. As soon as he was halfway down, almost as if on cue large metal grates began to seal off the hall in yardly intervals right behind him.
"This is getting intense!" Model E spoke as he floated beside Neal. "Are you sure you really want to do this?"
. . . help . . .
That invisible plea came to Neal's ears again. "I know what I have to do. Will you follow me or not?"
"I said I'd follow you to the end and back," Model E said as Neal and he came close to the end of the hall. The door was open, but an even thicker grate began to close down it slowly. "I don't intend to go back on my word."
Right as the final grate was about to seal them off, Neal slid underneath it like a baseball player to last base. Just as Model E was about to be separated by the thick wall, Neal reached out from under the last open inches and pulled him in right as the door closed behind.
"Man, that was close!" Neal said as he wiped some sweat from his forehead. "You okay Model E?"
"Don't worry about me, I'm fine," Model E said. "More importantly how are you going to get out of the cargo hold? This area has already been placed under lock-down, and probably the only way to open them right now is by using the controls in the Bridge."
Neal looked around the cargo hold. It was a massive steel room with the walls lined with large metal crates with various logos on them. His eyes finally landed on what he needed, the control panel for this room linked to the bridge.
"Like I said," Neal said as he ran over to the holographic control panel on the wall and booted it up, "I've been on my own fair share of adventure."
"What're you up to?" Model E asked. "Neal? Hello?"
At that moment Neal stood over the control panel, his hands a few inches above the keys, his body unmoving, his eyes closed, and his face expressionless. After a tense moment his eyes suddenly snapped open with a visible glint. His hands were suddenly a blur of motion as they moved over the keys, bending the systems to his very will.
At the same time back in the Bridge.
"Commander, Neal has been succussfully sealed off in the cargo hold," Gardenia explained as she pulled up a visual of the ship's interior. A blinking light at the bottom rear showed Neal's current position.
"Very good," Prairie said in relief. "After we get him back here, I want some answers for his sudden change in behavior."
While Tulip was monitoring the systems, a red and white sign reading WARNING flared across her screen. A few seconds later, several more of the same sign appeared, obstructing most of it's original contents from view. "Commander! Someone's hacking into our systems through the cargo hold!"
"Don't let him open those doors!" Prairie ordered, realizing what Neal was attempting to do. "Stop the program!"
"Its no good!" Marguerite cried as she tried in vain to get the systems back under control. "He's overridden all of our systems! We're completely locked out!"
Security footage of the cargo hold showed Neal's hands imputing commands at speeds that were considered inhuman, even for a modern-day humanoid. His arms and hands were nothing but blurs as he continued to hack the cargo bay system as though he knew it like the back of his hand.
"I've never seen coding like this before!" Tulip said as lengths of code moved through the system, overtaking all programs relating to the cargo hold. "Its as though he's able to pinpoint our system's exact weak points."
"Vent, Aile, is there any way to stop him before the cargo hold is opened?" Prairie asked, hoping the two of them would have good news for her.
"Nah, I doubt we could pull it off," Vent said. "Ashe maybe, but not us."
"Commander! The latches on the cargo bay door are opening!" Gardenia said as she watched the footage, which revealed the back door to the cargo hold slowly lurching open. "We've only got a few minutes at best until they're open all the way."
"The crazy kid's going to jump!" Vent said as he ran down the hall. "Aile! Why'd you give him that bright idea?"
"I didn't know he was actually going to jump!" Aile cried in response as Prairie followed behind her.
Mega Man ZXA Soundtrack - In the Wind
Back in the cargo hold, Neal listened for the sounds of the latches and grates unlatching at the cargo hold door. With a slow creak, the rear door began to lurch open. The sound of rushing wind from the outside met his ears.
"That's it," Neal said to himself as he walked to the center of the room and got ready to jump. "Its now or never."
In the minute it took for the door to open a crack, the security grates back in the halls raised. At the other end of the hall, Vent, Aile, and Prairie were running desperately towards the cargo hold.
"Almost there, just a little more!" Neal said to himself as the cargo bay door lowered a third of the way down, hoping that the door lowered before the others could get to him.
"Neal! Stop this please!" Aile cried from down the hall from behind the last security grate.
Just a little bit more, Neal thought to himself as he looked out the corner of his eye and saw that the door was half-way opened."Sorry guys, but I really have to do this," he said as he faced them while backing towards the cargo bay door. The next moment, Vent, Aile, and Prairie all burst into the room.
"Neal! I order you to stand down this instant!" Prairie shouted.
Neal looked directly at Prairie, then gave her a two-fingered salute as the door was almost lowered all the way. "Sorry Prairie, but this is something I have to do. Hope you can forgive me for this later. Ciao." The next moment he turned and jumped out of the cargo hold as the door finally lowered completely.
"Neal!" Prairie cried as she ran to the edge, only to be pulled back by Vent and Aile. Right before she was pulled away, she swore that she saw Neal smile at her and wink before turning his body around in the dive.
"Wahooo!" Neal yelled excitedly as he spread his arms, the wind rushing through his hair and clothing as a bit of water leaked from the sides of his eyes. As the Grand Nuage disappeared into the distance behind him, he grabbed Model E and shouted, "Megamerge!"
In a flash of light Neal had transformed. As he streamlined himself like a spear down into the water, he tapped into the Interface and went to the new EX Skill section. "Here we go!" he said to himself as he tapped into the power of Fistleo's EX Skill. "Lion Blazer!"
The next moment his body was suddenly surrounded by a ball of intense crimson-orange flame. Moments later he dove straight down through the ater.
A minute later, the now furious Prairie plopped herself down in her commanders chair and looked at the monitor. Since Neal was no longer hacking the system, her Operators were able to regain control of them and get the situation under control.
"I need Neal's currnet trajectory and the geography of the surrounding area where he's estimated to land," Prairie ordered. "NOW!"
The three operators began imputing data. A minute later, a geographic map of the area that Neal had dove into appeared.
"We have the data now," Gardenia spoke. "The estimated landing zone is around three hundred feet below sea level, visibility being eighty four percent. The region is dotted by mostly inactive volcanoes, and slight signals from downed tech can be found scattered through the area."
Prairie sighed as she leaned back in her chair, lowering the brim of her hat over her eyes. "Neal. Just what are you up to?"
Mega Man ZXA Soundtrack - Dive into Depth
Neal had just dove three thousand feet out of the Grand Nuage and into the ocean. By utilizing the Joule-Thomson Effect, he managed to considerably reduce the force of the impact on his body upon hitting the ocean, while at the same time effectively driving him to the ocean's floor quickly.
As Neal touched down and the bubble of air around him receded, a blue lense appeared over the left side of his face, and his armor became pressurized as the seawater in his helmet drained out. He took a breath and was surprised that he was able to easily breath. The water for the most part was clear, the surf altered the sun's rays as it came down, so everything was bathed in an eerie light. The ocean floor was mostly sand and stone while large mountain-like features dotted the horizon.
"Okay Elpizo, I managed to get off the Grand Nuage safely," Neal said as he looked around. "And it seems that in my megamerged form I'm able to breath underwater, while at the same time not get crushed by the pressure being forced on me."
"Wow. Even now, the ocean is still beautiful," Model E remarked as he saw the world through Neal's eyes. Fish of various species could be seen swimming about, and various plant life could be seen growing in scattered clumps throughout the area.
Neal nodded. "Yeah. I heard that during the Maverick Wars, the ocean was no place for any form of life. To tell the truth I'm surprised that so many fish species survived."
His ears perked up to a sudden wail echoing through the water. A moment later a massive shadow loomed over him. He looked up and saw the underbelly of a massive creature with large flippers on its sides, and two more on its tail. "Woah! A whale!"
"Amazing," Model E said as he took the sights in. "I would've surely thought something like the whale would've gone extinct by now."
"Well what can I say," Neal said. "Science may've come far, but even our best science can't match mother nature's miracles."
Before anything more could be seen or commented on, the same voice that Neal heard before met his ears. This time however it was a lot clearer, almost like whoever was calling him was standing right next to him.
"Help... me..."
Neal turned around and knew by instinct that the voice was coming from that direction. "Well mystery voice, I certainly hope this was worth the three thousand foot dive."
As he took a step forward, but suddenly found himself greatly hindered by the water pressure being forced down on him. While his body wasn't being crushed, it was still experiencing around seven hundred pounds of pressure.
"Hey Model E. You wouldn't happen to have something to help me move through the water would you?" Neal asked, desperately hoping Elpizo had another trick up his... uh, equivalent to a sleeve.
"I think I may have something," Model E said. "Look in your Cyber Elf Screen."
Neal activated his Interface and moved to the Cyber Elf Screen. While a sleeping Recon could be seen in one column, he also saw that the two other eggs, the green and pink one, were both shaking back and forth. Without being told, he raised a hand and tapped the green egg. "Cyber Elf: Periscope, activate."
In a flash of light, the green cyber egg transformed from a glowing egg to blue-tinted manta sporting red lenses over its eyes, hydrofoils on its fins, and a small metal plate with a periscope on its back.
"Hey dude. Sup?" the blue-tinted manta spoke as it floated in front of Neal. "The name's Periscope, an Animal-Type cyber elf."
"Periscope, is there anything you can do to help me out?" Neal asked. "I'm at the bottom of the ocean and it's a little hard to move. I'm afraid if I don't move any faster, then I'll be down here all day. And if that happens, then Commander Prairie will probably throw me out the Grand Nuage herself. And I don't think next time there'll be an ocean to break my fall."
"Hey don't worry dude," Periscope spoke in a laid-back tone. "It just so happens that workin' in water is my specialty. I'll have you moving through these waters like a fish in no time."
Before Neal could even say thanks, Periscope suddenly turned into a blue-tinted ball of light and flew into his chest. As blue energy began to pour through the circuits in his outfit and through every inch of his being, he could feel the intended transformation occuring.
When the glowing had subsided, Neal realized that his outfit and armor had changed. "Woah. What is all this?"
"That would be your new Undertow Form," Periscope explained as he floated into Neal's field of vision on the interface. "We have now fused to the extent that you can now move through the water like any other sea creature. While you can't swim as freely as one, you can still move around like you were still on dry land."
Neal looked himself over. The changes to his armor were mostly subtle, but in some regards they were very evident.
Jutting from the sides of his helmet were small fins, and the fact that the left side of his face was now covered in a clear dome with various green LED gauges instead of a simple lense. There were also fins on the backs of his boots, his gloves were webbed, and his trench coat clung tighter to his body. His armor was also slightly more blue then it was before.
Neal took a step forward and saw that it barely felt any different then walking on dry land. "Wow, this is so cool! I never would've thought I'd be doing something like this."
"Glad you like my work dude," Periscope said as his body began to glow. "I'll be watching from back here."
Periscope's body suddenly transformed into a series of gauges which were set onto the edges of his vision. Included was a depth gauge, a horizontal geographical map, and a zoomed out topographical map of the surrounding area.
A moment later Neal noticed that the topographical map had a glowing sparkle situated a few yards from his position.
"Hey Periscope, what is that glowing sparkle?" Neal asked.
"That would be my Treasure Scope dude," Periscope said from behind the visor. "It may not be able to find your pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, but it still has its uses."
"I see," Neal said. "So it can still be used to find other things?"
Periscope nodded. "Yep. In fact there's a Treasure Point close to you now."
Neal looked at the Treasure Radar and found a glowing sparkle underneath a large rock outcropping. As he strode over, much like Neal Armstrong did on his first moon walk, he came up to the rock and drew the handle of his E Rapier.
"Alright, lets see if the Joule-Thomas Effect still works this far down," Neal said as he readied his weapon. In a burst of heat and bubbles, his crimson blade materialized in the water. The only difference now was that bubbles would stream from the blade to the surface constantly, partially obscructing the blade.
With a satisfied look on his face, Neal swung his sword at the rock formation in front of him. After a minute, he managed to cut through the mid-section of the rock. To his realization, he discovered that the cutting power of his sword was reduced by a factor of possibly 30% or more when used underwater. If he went up against anything heavily armored down there, the only thing he could really do is compromise its outer covering and hope the deep-sea compression finished the job for him.
After hacking away at large chunks of the rock for another few minutes, Neal managed to thin it down enough to the point that he could lift a thin sheet of it up. Underneath he found a rusted-over metal capsule. After slicing the hatch off, the trapped air floated up to the surface and Neal was able to reach the capsule's contents. Inside was a grey cylindrical looking item. On the bottom and sides it was grey, and down the front and top it was clear. Beneath the clear part was an orange E.
"What's this?" Neal asked as he held the strange device in his hands. He wasn't completely sure what it was, but all he could really tell was that it was empty.
"Ah, that would be what you'd call a Sub Tank," Model E explained. "Very useful in your new line of work."
"I've heard of those," Neal said, "but what's one doing in a capsule at the bottom of the ocean?"
"Well when you stop to think about it, someone could've put this in a time capsule a really long time ago," Model E explained, "then it washed into the ocean, drifted out to sea, and stayed here for a really long time until you found it."
"Hm. I see," Neal said. He was about to walk away, but something in the capsule caught his eye in the back of the capsule. He reached in and found it nestled underneath the corner. "A card?"
He held it up to the light and immediately discovered it was made of some kind of silicon-based material. It looked like a semi-clear blue card with a black strip running along the bottom, on the center was a strange symbol that looked like a circle above a W with the letters N-A in the middle.
"Um. Model E. Do you have any idea what this is?" Neal asked.
"Hmmm. It looks like a key card of some kind," Model E said. "Maybe once we get back to the Grand Nuage we can have Fleuve look it over."
Neal nodded as he pocketed both items. The next moment something flashed across his visor.
You acquired Sub Tank.
You acquired Mystery Card.
"Model E is that really necessary?" Neal asked as the aforementioned words ran across his field of vision..
Model E huffed and made the codes disappear. "Sheesh. I was only trying to be traditional."
"Since when?" Neal asked once again.
Model E didn't word a response.
Neal simply shrugged his shoulders and continued on in a slow jog.
For what could be described as the next half hour, Neal continued to move through the ocean's current. With his new Undertow Form, his body sliced through the water like a hot knife through butter. All the while he took the time to observe the various forms of life that still resided in the ocean's depths.
"You know Model E," Neal said as he continued to walk, "a few days ago, I never would've thought that I'd be moon-walking on the bottom of the ocean following a mysterious voice. Then again I also thought I wouldn't have jumped out of an airship three thousand feet off the ground into the ocean without getting myself killed either."
"Fate rarely calls upon us at the moment of our choosing," Model E said. "Whether if it was by fate or some other factor, you are on the course to altering this world's history. Whether its for better or worse is up to you."
Neal nodded. "Model E, we're almost there."
Through Neal's eyes, Model E looked down into a deep crevice, nestled at the bottom was a deep gash leading further down into the ocean floor.
"What do you think it is?" Neal asked.
"If I had to guess, I'd say we're probably looking at a base built into the inside of a volcano," Model E said. "This area is dotted with them, however most of them are inactive now. They probably stopped about a month ago when something closed the under sea vents."
"But what could possibly cause so many volcanoes to go dormant though?" Neal asked looking around. "As far as I know, it'd take something of great magnitude to do something like this."
"Who knows, maybe a massive release of energy or something," Model E said.
Neal took a deep breath before looking into the bowels of the volcano. "Alright Model E. Lets go. Begin mission."
Mega Man ZX Soundtrack - Path to the Truth
"Are you ready for this?" Model E said. "It isn't too late to turn back."
Neal shook his head. "I have to do this. If I don't I'll probably regret it for the rest of my life."
"Please... Help me..."
"I'm coming, just hang on a bit longer," Neal said as he dove down into the mouth of the volcano.
As he dove headfirst, he wove between platforms in a zig-zag pattern before reaching the bottom of the first floor. He looked around and saw that the bottom was a small room, a rusted door the only unique feature.
"Okay then, lets see what this thing does," Neal said as he stepped toward the door. After a moment, he knew it wasn't going to open. "Hey Model E, you got any bright ideas?"
Model E looked at the door and found the problem. "Well kid you know the saying. When you can't find a door-"
Neal nodded in understanding. "You make one."
Neal brandished his sword before thrusting it through the door. With a loud gurgling sound, air rushed out from the other room and out as Neal cut a wide circular hole through the door. It wasn't too big, but just big enough that he could squeeze through.
"Aren't you going to make the hole bigger?" Model E asked.
Neal shook his head. "Nah. Besides nothing short of an earthquake could jostle this place enough for that to be a concern anyway."
Model E sighed. "Why do I feel like you just jinxed us?" he thought to himself, keeping those thoughts isolated frome Neal's.
As Neal got a metal shaving off his sleeve, he saw that this base used to be one. Now it was completely ruined, rubble all over the place and rusting remains of mechaniloids abound. Something was keeping the whole area lit. It may have been the downed tech or the glowing stones, but at that moment it didn't really concern Neal.
"Man, this place looks dead," Neal said as he continued down the hall. After making another door, he dropped down into another room, this one with two doors.
"Okay Model E, which one do I choose?" Neal asked as he looked at the two doors.
"Either one will do," Model E said.
Neal nodded. He began the process of cutting through yet another door. Several minutes later, he had made a sizeable hole to come through.
"Okay now, lets see where this leads me," Neal said as he crawled through the hole and to the other side. However, to his shock, there wasn't a floor beneath him as he fell through as the water's current pulled him down a very deep pit. He quickly flipped himself over and activated his turbines to slow his descent. He began weaving through half-broken platforms with jagged shrapnel pointing up.
"Spikes? What did this place used to be?" Neal said as he barely missed another spike.
"Who knows," Model E said. "Be on your toes, you're about to reach the bottom floor."
Neal nodded. He boosted his thrusters to slow his descent as he touched down. "Okay, we're probably at the bottom level by now."
Neal cut through another door and found himself in one more room. A crushed hatch was situated on the ceiling, and another door at the opposite end.
"Guess it's a good thing I chose the other door then huh?" Neal said. He began the process of cutting through the next door. This time however he took the time to cut a larger hole.
As he pushed the piece of the door out, he came upon a large cave-like room. The ceiling was almost-collapsed, and like the rest of the base there was rubble everywhere.
"Man, look at this place," Neal said as he looked around. "Looks like there's been a cave-in."
At that moment the mysterious voice from before revealed itself again. This time it was as though the speaker were right next to him.
. . . Herald of Model W. Help me . . .
Neal looked around and suddenly found what had possibly been drawing him all day, two bodies half-buried in rubble. One which was male was wearing purple armor and had a skull-themed helmet with a red obstruction jutting from the top, while the other which was obviously female wore white armor and had an odd egg-shaped helmet with a red jewel on the front. The back of the skull-shaped helmet had cyan polymorphic hair, while the back of the egg-shaped helmet had light green polymorphic hair coming out of the back and front.
Model E scanned the two bodies. "It seems these two have been severely drained of all their energy," Model E spoke after a brief analysis. "Quite forceably I might add."
"But what're they doing down here?" Neal asked.
"Who knows," Model E said. "But if they don't see help soon, like within the hour, their energy cores could completely shut down."
On the visor appeared two pulse gauges. They were barely pulsing at all, and they were getting weaker by the second.
"Then what're we waiting for?" Neal asked. "Lets get these two unburied and get out of here."
A few minutes later, Neal had unburied the two bodies from the rubble and set them next to each other on their backs.
"Okay, now that they're unburied, we can finally get them out of here," Neal said as he wiped some imaginary sweat from his forehead. His attention suddenly turned to the pulse gauges and saw that the two bodies were about to flat-line within the next sixty seconds.
"Crap! What do I do?" Neal said panicking.
"The cyber elf screen! Use the last cyber elf in the roster!" Model E spoke.
Neal did as he was told and selected the last glowing cyber egg, the pink one. "Cyber Elf: Juice, activate."
In a flash of light, the pink egg transformed into another elf-like creature. This one was yellow tinted and had gold-set blue-wire wings shaped like sparks on its back, and was obviously female. She looked like a teenaged nurse with her hair tied back with lightning bolt-shaped chopsticks, and two iron-looking things in her hands connected by a twirled wire to a pack on her left hip.
"Hey there! The name's Juice, the Nurse-Type cyber elf," she spoke.
"Can you stop those two's cores from shutting down?" Neal pleaded, pointing at the two bodies.
A glint appeared in Juice's eye as she rubbed the two irons together. "Hehe. Piece of cake. Lets juice 'em up!"
Juice suddenly flew over the purple-armored body and rubbed the two irons together. "Clear!"
Neal quickly stepped back as Juice sent an electric current through the body, which caused it to arch. The next moment she flew over to the white-armored body and did the same thing. "Clear!" The second body arched before settling again.
Neal looked back to the two pulse gauges and saw that they were now stable. "Thanks Juice. That was a close one."
Juice giggled. "Sure thing. But you should really get them out of here. This isn't a permanent solution to their current condition. You should get them out of here before they flat-line on you again."
Neal nodded as Juice flew back into his visor. After a brief rest, Neal decided he'd taken a long enough break.
"Okay, lets get these two off the ground," Neal said as he pulled the white-armored body into his arms. When he turned around to get the other body, his eyes widened as he realized it had suddenly disappeared.
"Hey! Where'd the second body go?" Neal said frantically as he looked all around the room.
"Do you think he could've walked out the door while we weren't looking?" Model E asked.
Neal turned around at that comment and saw the last part of a shadow move down the hallway. At the moment Neal did so, the cave ceiling above began to rumble. Pieces of the ceiling falling onto the floor.
Mega Man ZXA Soundtrack - Divine Hammer
"Oh man! This isn't good!" Neal said in panic. "I can't get both of us out of here in time! Wait!"
Neal tapped the left side of his helmet. "This is Neal to Guardian Base. Do you copy?"
"Neal! Is that you! Where the hell are you? You've had us worried sick!" Prairie's voice rang into Neal's ear.
"Prairie this isn't the best time!" Neal shouted as he side-stepped a piece of rubble while carrying the female body to the door. "The cave ceiling is about to give and escape is getting less likely with each second. I need an escape option now!"
"Okay, we have a lock on your location," Prairie said. "We'll have you back at base in no time."
"Wait! Stop! I have someone with me!" Neal said hoping he wouldn't be transported yet.
"What?" Prairie's voice rang out. "Drop whatever it is and get out of there. We only have enough power at the moment to get one person out of there! Interference is getting worse by the second!"
Neal looked to the unconscious girl's body. That cemented his decision right there. "Transport the girl first!" he shouted into the mic. "I'll get to the surface on my own, just make sure this girl gets to safety!"
"Fine! Retreiving now!" Prairie ordered. In a bright flash of light the white-armored girl disappeared from Neal's arms. "She should come out at the same time you do! Now run!" Prairie ordered as the signal suddenly cut off.
Neal quickly ran from the room and leapt through the hole he'd made. As he dropped into the previous room, he knew that the entire base was coming down around him.
"Man this is not good!" Neal said as he crawled through the next hole. A piece of rubble fell over it the next moment, barely letting him by.
"Told you you should've made those holes bigger," Model E said.
Neal pointedly ignored his Biometal and began climbing back up to the surface. At that very moment it was a heated race, with Neal against the collapsing cave. As rubble fell, Neal felt less certain that he'd be able to see the light of the sun any time soon. However through his own power he persevered. He quickly wall jumped up the pit and back to the first level. The shaking had become worse as large cracks ran across the walls and ceilings.
"This is going to be close!" Neal said as he jumped through the first door and to the bottom of the deep pit he had touched down on in the beginning. As soon as he hit the ground, he looked up to see the sun's rays shining down and the ocean above. At that moment however the volcano walls began to crumble inward, heading right for him in the form of a landslide. "Uh oh," he said as the entire volcano began to pour down into the bottom right on top of him. He quickly braced his arms and tensed his legs as he prepared to be burried under a hundred tons of rubble.
Thankfully however, at the last moment the transporter pulled him out of the area in the nick of time. The next moment the hidden base was finally sealed off. This time for good.
Back at the Guardian Base, Vent, Aile, and Prairie all stood around the Transporter waiting for Neal and the other person he'd mentioned to return. As they were about to give up hope and mark Neal for lost, the transporter suddenly flared to life. After a brilliant flash of light, a water-logged Neal fell to his knees, a white-armored girl in his arms.
"Neal, is this why you jumped out of my ship?" Prairie demanded.
Neal spit out some water (after his Undertow form gave out in a small flash of light) before facing Prairie. "Prairie this isn't the time! This girl could die if we don't get her recharged immediately!"
Everyone took that moment to look at the girl he carried in his arms. As recognition flared in their eyes, they suddenly backed away and took up defensive positions.
"Neal! Do you have any idea who you just brought back here?" Prairie demanded as Vent and Aile stood between her and the white-armored girl.
"That's Pandora!" Aile said. "She's one of the bad guys!"
"Look I don't care!" Neal said, shocking everyone with the boldness of his statement. "I can't stand by and let any more people die! At least not while I'm able to prevent it!"
Everyone stood in silence for a few moments. Admittedly, they couldn't just let anyone die on them either, even if they were the bad guys.
Prairie sighed. "Very well then, we'll take her to Fleuve."
Neal sighed as he fell to his knees, using all his strength to keep the white-armored girl now known as Pandora from hitting the floor.
"But!" Prairie said turning back to Neal, "she's your responsibility. If she attacks any of my troops, you'd better be ready to take her down!"
Neal looked at Prairie, then to the unconscious girl he carried in his arms. "Very well."
A few minutes later, Neal, Fleuve, Prairie, Vent, and Aile all stood in Fleuve's lab. At that moment Pandora was laying in a glass tube being recharged in the hopes that her condition would be stabilized. So far her pulse was being monitored, and it remained stable. For the time being anyway. At the same time, Neal rested on a nearby bench to recover his lost energy. Barely escaping an undersea base with your life can be pretty exhausting.
"You said her name was Pandora," Neal repeated as he took a seat by the wall of the lab, resting from his ordeal as best he could. "I'm guessing she's a Mega Man too."
Vent nodded. "Yeah. She and her brother are different from the others though. They fight in the Game of Destiny for the purpose of spurring the other Mega Men forward. Later we learned they really did it so that they can destroy everything in this world related to the Game of Destiny."
"Neal, how could you bring someone so dangerous back here?" Aile demanded. She was willing to accept some of the new Mega Man's faults, but something like this was just too much.
"I didn't know she was so dangerous," Neal responded back, averting his gaze. "All I knew was that somehow she was calling out to me. That's why I jumped, to answer the distress signal she was somehow emitting. I couldn't just leave her down there to die! And besides! If I'd shown up any later, her energy core would've been exhausted completely!"
Prairie sighed as Aile backed down. At the same time Pandora then began to stir inside her capsule.
Neal turned around and faced her as he walked up to the side of the tank. "Mornin' sleepy head. How was your nap?"
Pandora opened her eyes and stared at Neal's cerulean with her own crimson. "You are... the one who... saved me?" she asked in a quiet voice, kinda like she was expecting someone else.
Neal leaned against the nearby wall, favoring his left leg. "I am. Hey Fleuve, how is she?"
A sheet of data printed out of Fleuve's computer with the completed analysis. "It doesn't look too good, I can tell you that much."
Neal sighed, but knew he had to face the truth eventually. "Don't mince words. I always hate it when people do that, so just give it to me straight."
"Alright," Fleuve said as he looked over the report again. "It seems that because the large amount of energy was drained from her body so forcefully, it has now become too frail to operate correctly in its current state," Fleuve explained. "The only way we can help her is if the un-megamerges and gets some rest."
Pandora looked away from everyone. "Then you may as well finish me off now. There's no hope for me anyway."
"Pandora, I'm not going to kill you!" Neal said as he placed his hands on the side of the capsule, his voice faltering in the middle of his sentence.
"What other choice of action is there?" Pandora asked weakly as she looked up at him. "The Biometal Model W has been fused into my body. It cannot be removed. There's nothing left in this world for me except the cold embrace of death."
For what felt like forever no one said anything. Death wasn't a very well-taken word around there after all. Then Neal broke the silence.
"Pandora, you said the Biometal was fused to your body right?"
Pandora weakly nodded. "That is correct. I can never get back to my old body, and I am completely incapable of any movement. There's no point in me living this way."
"What if I told you I might be able to separate the Biometal Model W from your body?" Neal said, an element of resolve in his voice as he looked into Pandora's eyes.
Everyone, especially Pandora, looked at him with shock upon that statement.
"How can you say things like that? It isn't possible," Pandora said.
Neal looked at Model E when it floated out of his pocket. "Model E, you said before that you took over a Model W and reconfigured it. Can't you just do the same thing for Pandora's biometal?"
"I'm not sure," Model E said regretfully. "I was only able to do it because I took it over from the inside. Now that I'm rooted in your biometal, the only chance you'd have is if you gathered the energy from Pandora's body and removed the biometal manually."
Neal sighed as he slumped his shoulders. "Very well then..."
At that moment, Pandora deeply regretted getting her hopes up for freedom, and wanted nothing more then to cease to exist.
"I'll do it," Neal finished, finished as he took Model E out of the air.
Everyone's eyes, especially Pandora's, widened as Neal said that.
"What?" Fleuve asked. "Are you insane!"
"I said I'll do it," Neal repeated. "If the only way to save Pandora is by removing her biometal, then I'll do it."
"Hold on Neal! Be reasonable!" Fleuve pleaded as he tried to take Neal's biometal from his hands, only for it to be moved out of reach. "I've run scans on her body, and I've determined that the backlash of the interrupted energy flow could damage your own body. If you failed, you'd be trapped in your megamerged state just like she is."
At that statement everyone's eyes widened, especially Pandora's.
"Look, there isn't any other choice," Neal said as his grip tightened around Model E. "If I can't save one girl right in front of me, then what hope do I have of saving the whole world around me."
"That's different!" Prairie shouted trying to talk some sense into him. "Those are two different things entirely!"
"But they aren't exclusive to one another either!" Neal cut off as he closed his eyes in concentration. "Pandora... Do you wish to be free from the Model W?"
Pandora looked up at the boy who had saved her before. "That... I do. But... not if it means you'd lose your own freedom for my sake. I probably wouldn't be able to live with myself if I brought you into my own hell."
Neal looked to Pandora and gave her a toothy grin. "Well then I just won't have to fail now will I?"
"W-W-What are you saying?" Fleuve said flabbergasted.
Prairie sighed again as she knew what was about to happen. "You won't change your mind, will you?"
Neal shook his head. "No, I won't."
Prairie sighed. "Very well. Fleuve, get Pandora out of the tank. We're going to separate her from her biometal one way or another."
Fleuve and everyone else didn't know what to say, but eventually agreed.
"Very well then," Fleuve said as he walked over the tank's control panel. "Now opening the tank."
As the glass on the tank folded down, the rig thing tilted forward. Not so much that Pandora fell out, but enough that she was remotely vertical.
Mega Man ZXA Soundtrack - Destiny
"Neal..." Pandora spoke weakly as she looked at the cerulean-eyed boy. "Why... Why are you going this far for me? You don't even know me."
"Because," Neal said as he looked into her eyes, "I don't need a reason to help people. If we were in opposite positions, I know I'd want you to do the same for me."
Upon hearing those words, Pandora's mind began to race. Maybe I'll finally be free. After so long.
Neal took Model E in his hands and intoned, "Megamerge!"
In a flash of light Neal appeared in his megamerged form. As he raised his right hand and gripped his wrist with his left, pink energy began to crackle forming an aura of light.
"Are you ready for this?" Neal asked as he reared his arm back, the aura on his hand intensifying. "This is probably going to hurt once it starts."
"Try.. and be gentle okay," Pandora whispered as she braced herself.
While Vent and Fleuve got nosebleeds from the implications of how that sounded, Aile and Prairie smacked the two guys across the backs of the head for thinking such things at such an inappropriate time.
Neal thrust his hand forward into Pandora's chest, as soon as his hands got within an inch, purple lightning began to pour out of Pandora's body striking Neal and pushing him back.
"RRRRAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Neal shouted as he forced himself forward. The lightning continued to chip away at his armor as he attempted to remove the very Biometal that was forcing him back.
"EYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Pandora cried as Neal's hand suddenly broke through the lightning barrier and entered her chest, right where the Biometal's core energy was fused to her body.
"COME... ON... ALMOST... THERE!" Neal roared as his hands took hold of the Bio-energy inside Pandora's body and began to gather it into a single point.
"EYAAAAAAAAH!" was the last thing that could be heard as a blinding light suddenly filled the room.
To be continued...
Just to be clear, Neal's hand isn't entering Pandora's chest in the traditional sense. Its kinda like how Rogue from Ryuusei no RockMan used that one technique against RockMan where he send his hand through his chest (phasing through like a ghost), before throwing him against a wall.
Also, I've made use of the Joule-Thomson Effect in this chapter because it a physical principle that I think can apply very realistically to the ZX series. I will leave a brief explanation below. Whether or not you read it is up to you.
WARNING. IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO LEARN, LEAVE THIS CHAPTER NOW.
In essence, what the Thomas-Joule Effect does is that when a very hot object is placed in a cooler liquid, or vice-versa where a very cold object is brought into contact with a very warm liquid, a bubble or miniature-atmosphere is formed around the object. This principal applies to most beam and fire-type weapons because of the sudden introduction of an intense heat source into a liquid environment.
Neal used the flames emitted by his Lion Blazer EX Skill to greatly reduce the force of the impact when his body hits the water, and also used the created air bubble around him to bring himself to the ocean floor much faster then if he were simply "falling".
P.S. The cyber elves Periscope and Juice are characters of my creation, and in a sense are under my ownership.
The height and depth figures used are rough estimates based on data I collected myself, so cannot be COMPLETELY accurate. So don't hold it against me if they aren't.
The following is something reminiscent to a "Deleted Scene". The reason it wasn't included in the final draft was because it would've unnecessarily interrupted the flow of the story, however I didn't want to take away from Neal's brilliance, so I've included it below for you to read, just so you can get a glimpse at the kind of mind Neal has. Whether you read it or not is up to you, so anyway, here it is.
WARNING! IF YOU ARE NOT PROFICIENT AT MATH, DO NOT READ!
DELETED SCENE
Upon hearing that, Neals' mind was alive with thought. A good metaphor would be that it was as though a hundred bee hives were interconnected all at once and were working toward a single directive (goal).
Hmm. Out the cargo hold huh? Lets see, this will take a lot of math if I plan to execute this safely. I'll need to take the ship's current altitude into account, the probable depth of the ocean below, and the fact that I intend to jump into the ocean.
Now lets see, I'll have to take terminal velocity and acceleration due to gravity...
Acceleration due to gravity is nine point eight (9.8) meters per-second per-second. In feet that measures up to about three hundred thirteen point six feet (313.6). If we're three thousand feet up, then it should take about sixteen point four one six six six two five seconds (16.4166625) to hit the water.
Now for terminal velocity. I take the square route of my own mass (around 150 pounds) times acceleration due to gravity (9.8) and multiply it by two. Then I take the density of the air (which is probably 1.204 kg/m3 since the air temperature outside is around sixty eight degrees fahrenheit), multiply it by my own projected area (which would be about two and a quarter square feet when diving), then multiply all of that together with my body's drag coefficient (which would be about 1.3).
Now... If I take the numerator which should be about two thousand nine hundred forty (2940), then divide it by the denominator which should be around three point five two one seven (3.5217), that should leave me with about eight hundred point eight two four zero nine zero six (834.8240906). Then I find its square route and get... about twenty eight miles per hour of terminal velocity (Vt = 28 mph).
Now if I take my ten-second fall into consideration, then is should reach my terminal velocity about halfway through. At that point it'll be safest to megamerge since by body won't be able to accelerate any more from the force of gravity.
Now... all that's left if for me to calculate my approach for when I'm going to the water. I estimate the ocean depth at about three hundred feet, and from what I've learned since I possess biometal my body should become heavily resistant to water pressure when I'm megamerged.
Let me think. The average pounds per square inch is about one pound for each two point three one feet below (2.31). Since I intend to go about three hundred feet down, at average my body should be under around a hundred thirty (130) pounds of pressure.
Hmmm. This may be a bit more then I bargained for, but I have to know what that voice is coming from. Plus... I always did want to go skydiving. Although since I don't want my skull to meet my pelvis, I'll probably have to use my Lion Blazer EX Skill to punch through the water's surface, since its either that or use my head to do it.
The next moment a small smirk appeared on Neal's face for a brief moment.
DELETED SCENE END
Well I hope you enjoyed my first "Deleted Scene" (if you read it at all). There won't be one of these for every chapter, and as I said, the reason it was separated from the story in the first place was because it would interrupt the flow of the story. I wouldn't want to build up to action, go through a bunch of "non-actiony" math stuff, then throw you into the action with no buildup.
For those of you who couldn't wrap your mind around it, THIS is essentially what was going through Neal's head.
Terminal Velocity = The Square Route of two times the mass of the falling object times the acceleration rate due to gravity, divided by the density of the air times the projected area of the object times the drag coefficient.
Mathematically that would be...
Vt = Square Route of (2(150.9.8)/1.204x2.25x1.204)
Vt = Square Route of (2940/3.5217)
Vt = Square Route of 834.8240906
Vt = 28.893326 mph
Vt = Terminal Velocity
If there are any errors in my math, then that's just the factor of "human error".
Author's Notes: Starboard is "ship talk" for "Right". "Humanoid" is the specific term used for humans that have had cybernetic enhancements. i.e. Ashe, Vent, Aile, most "human" characters.