It seems to me that I have to clear up a few things.
First of all I realized just now (that's 09.01.2010) that Sonia's father is "gone" in the games. It was mentioned in one dialog in Mega Man:Star Force 3. It's not directly stated that he's dead but it's implied since the part of the dialog reads "[...] with both of her parents gone. [...]" Those of you who read and remember the last chapter will notice that in my fanfic her father is alive and well. When I wrote that chapter I didn't know anything about her father and that's why I came up with a reason why he wasn't there during some crucial moments for Sonia. Obviously since I already published that chapter I can't just remove him from the story. In fact I'm going to give him a bigger role than I originally planned. I don't know whether to thank or curse Capcom for this but I will say this: Capcom really should have cleared up this earlier. Doing it all the way in the third game gives an impression that they forgot about him and when the time came to mention him they decided that it was just easier to say that he's dead rather than coming up with a more original reason. However this creates another problem: if Sonia's father really is dead than shouldn't she live in an orphanage? I mean, yeah, she's a teen idol and all that but in the first game she retired as a singer and came out of retirement during the two months separating the first and second game. So how was she living during those +12 days? I mean if she was adopted than why didn't we learn anything about her foster parents?
Second: ProtoMan/Blues. I thought some people might be a little confused about this so I decided to explain in this. In the Mega Man franchise Blues is Japanese name for the character known outside of Japan as Proto Man. In my fanfic ProtoMan is the name of the EM wave-human while Blues is his "real name" (as in the name under which he is known among humans in the fanfic).
Anyway here's the second chapter. I hope you'll enjoy it.
Chapter 2: Wish Upon a Star
Doctor Light, Blues and Roll sat in their respective rotating chairs in front of a large screen. Each of the seats had a large keyboard as well as other input devices and a holographic screen. The large screen was used during briefings, experiments etc. to show important data. This setup was what they called for convenience's sake "a console".
Doctor Light typed several commands using his keyboard and a picture of MegaMan and Harp Note appeared on the large screen.
"Mere minutes ago Blues here made contact with two EM wave entities that are most certainly EM wave humans." - He said as he typed in some more commands. - "Take a look at this."
The picture on the screen changed. It was still the same shot but now the EM wave sources were highlighted.
"You see how the head which replaces the blue one's hand and the guitar that the red one is holding are highlighted?" - Doctor Light asked. - "That's because those are very strong EM wave sources. Much stronger than any EM wave source on Earth. I believe them to be FM aliens."
He paused and typed more commands into a console and many different pictures and other data appeared.
"The intelligence that we have is very spotty but we know that FM aliens are beings made of EM waves that come from planet FM. More than 3 years ago a space station "Peace" was attacked by EM beings from planet FM. The mission of this space station was to establish diplomatic relations with the planet FM. However as I already said they failed, the space station is believed to be currently drifting in space and the crew is presumed missing. Recently those EM beings tried to destroy Earth. This was preceded by a series strange incidents in this region that had two things in common: witnesses reports of a strange EM being and high level of Z waves in the area of the incidents. For some reason the FM aliens withdrew. We don't know exactly what happened. However we know that there may still be some FM aliens on Earth. We don't know of their intentions and that's one of the reasons why we have to once again make contact with those two EM wave humans. Who knows, maybe they'll be willing to help us with our research."
After Dr. lgiht's presentation both Blues and roll were analyzing the data which he presented. After a few minutes Blues asked a question that he couldn't stop thinking about.
"Are there any developments on 'Codename W'?" - he asked.
Dr Light stayed silent for several seconds before replying.
"More of the same. We're getting reports of increased virus activity in the city and the surrounding area. It's most probably 'Codename W''s doing. Satella Police is controlling the situation but the virus attacks are just going to get worse." - He said and as Blues and Roll were looking at him. - "For now all we can do is try to perfect the suit. Our current priority is contacting those two EM wave humans to get answers from them about the situation with FM aliens on the planet and ask them for assistance in the project."
Meanwhile in Geo's house
Since neither Geo, Sonia, Mega or Lyra had any more clues about the mysterious ProtoMan they agree that without more information they won't come up with anything new.
"We saw him fighting a group of viruses so the next time there's going to be a high virus activity will be our best bet at finding him." - Geo concluded. - "Mega you've felt the EM waves he emitted haven't you?"
"Yeah. I'll tell you if I feel any unusual EM waves." - Omega-Xis answered.
"Can I count on you, Lyra, to do the same?" - Sonia asked.
"Sure you can." - Lyra answered her question.
Geo said that he needed to go to the bathroom and left the room leaving Sonia alone. She decided to phone her father to tell him that she'll stay at Geo's place for the rest of the day. It just so happened that when she phoned him he was on his coffee break at work so he was able to answer her call. He had recently changed his job to spend more time with his daughter. Instead of traveling abroad he now had a stationary job in the city. He worked from noon till evening everyday between Monday and Friday and was free during the weekends.
"Of course you can stay at Geo's place." - he said smiling. - "Just make sure you come home safely."
"I will, Dad." - Sonia said while doing a salute. He laughed as she did that.
"Well I have to get back to work." - He said looking at the clock. - "By the way why won't you invite Geo to come to our house this weekend? It's the least we can do to thank him for help you when you needed it."
"I'll ask him. Bye Dad." - She said ending the conversation.
Geo returned to the room right after she ended her conversation. He said that he wanted to check one more thing on the net and so Sonia once again looked around his room. She went towards the bookshelf and started looking through Geo's books. Some were science books written in difficult language but Geo also had many picture books that showed various space phenomena. Sonia liked looking at those kind of images as they all were very inspiring. At times like this she missed her singing days. She still wrote songs but as much as she loved doing that she also loved sharing those songs with other people. However she didn't feel ready to come back. She wanted some time to herself. Having her songs, which she wrote for her dying mother, being used by her money-hungry manager for his own profit hit her hard and she didn't know if she'll ever be able to come back. In the big city she couldn't get away from fans and admires whom she met everywhere she went. Of course she had several fans in Echo Ridge but they were much more manageable and she was positive that after a while she and they will all get used to each other.
Suddenly something lying under the stairs leading to Geo's bed caught her eye. She put the picture book she was looking through on the bookcase and examined the strange object. As she brought it into the light she realized that what she was holding was a baseball glove.
"A baseball glove? Geo isn't a sports guy as far as I know." - Sonia thought as she inspected it. - "Well it does look a bit neglected."
She continued to look at it and turn it around in her hands.
She looked outside the window and saw that it was sundown already. Meeting ProtoMan and trying to find out something about him must have taken more time than she thought it would.
"Maybe I'll ask him some other time about this." - she thought putting it away.
Geo too noticed the sundown and walked over to the window.
"The stars will be visible soon." - Geo said as if he was talking to himself. He then looked at Sonia and asked. - "Are you still up for observing the stars? I mean today was really tiring."
"I'm fine." - Sonia replied.
"Why do you want to do this?" - Geo asked with a curiosity in his voice. - "You don't seem like a person interested in space."
"Well it just goes to show that appearances can be deceiving." - She replied with a smile.
Suddenly Geo's mother came into the room carrying tea and two portions of a cake.
"I thought you two might want something to eat." - she said smiling
"Thanks mom." - Geo said.
"Thank you, ma'am" - Sonia said.
The truth was they didn't feel hungry until now. They were too focused on the mystery of ProtoMan. Hope left the room as soon as they started eating.
When they finished eating, it was already dark and the first stars appeared on the sky. Geo started calibrating the telescope while Sonia brought the sky maps he asked her to find. She put them next to the telescope and opened the window. The slightly warm spring night air hit her immediately as she went onto a small balcony in front of Geo's window.
"What are you doing?" - Omega-Xis asked with curiosity in his voice.
"Calibrating the telescope. You've seen me do it before haven't you?" - Geo answered.
"Yeah but I didn't feel like asking about it then. I had a lot of stuff on my mind, the Andromeda Key and everything related to it." - Mega explained.
"I guess it's hard to think about trivial stuff when you're in an almost constant danger of getting killed."
"Hey! I held my own out there! Even after they taken the Andromeda Key from me I was still alive and kicked some butt afterwards."
"But I was me who saved you."
Sonia stopped listening to their argument and concentrated on looking at the starry sky. The sky was truly magnificent that night, perfect for observing the stars or just plain old star gazing. Thanks to Echo Ridge being a small town the stars were clearly visible.
"What are you thinking about?" - Lyra asked.
"About..." - Sonia hesitated for a moment before answering to make sure that the argument between Geo and Mega got them so occupied that they couldn't hear what she was saying. - "...me and Geo. It just appeared to me how strange it is that me and him are such close friends. I mean on the surface we're completely different."
He was a gentle and quiet space enthusiast whose life fell apart when his father became lost in space and who only opened his heart to others after befriending an alien life form.
She was a spunky, outspoken, and mischievous singer, who only got into singing because of her dieing mother. She got possessed by an alien because she hated her money-hungry manager for cheapening her songs which she wrote for her dieing mother.
Despite that they got on very well together. It almost seemed like they were drawn to each other by some unknown force. The connection they shared began forming all the way back on that faithful day before Sonia's concert in Echo Ridge. It was then that Geo, while looking for Mega, caught her playing her guitar at Vista Point. Even that first exchange of simple sentences held a lot of meaning for both of them and to this day it was one of their most treasured moments.
"And yet..." - Sonia said looking at Geo. - "...I can't stop thinking about him."
"Are you going to tell him how you feel?" - Harp asked. During the time that spent together, she and Sonia talked several times about Sonia's feelings eventually reaching a point where Sonia couldn't explain it any other way: love. She loved him. She loved everything about him.
"Not yet. I may be sure of my feelings but I'm not sure of his. Even though I'm his closest friend, I'm not sure how he'll react. He may have risked his life fighting Andromeda but love is something very different. It requires time..."
Sonia was afraid of telling him how she felt. Geo was very fragile emotionally. The disappearance of his father caused him to avoid getting close to people up until now. For all Sonia knew he could break down, lock up again or get emotionally confused if she told him how she felt right away. She knew that the two of them needed to become even closer and that required time and patience.
"...and I've got all the time and patience in the world now that I'm not tied by my carrier as a singer and I'm going to see him everyday."
Geo was still calibrating the telescope and arguing with Mega.
"I'm telling you if it wasn't for me, Sonia and Lyra you'd be dead by now." - Geo said.
"He's right, Omega. I believe it was me and Sonia who were saving you a few times." - Lyra entered the conversation as Sonia went back into the room.
"Well all of you combined wouldn't do anything if I didn't come to Earth in the first place." - Mega replied with a smug look on his face.
"If you want to go that way than it's my father you should be thanking for me inviting you into my life because you held answers concerning his fate." - Geo said ending the discussion.
Omega-Xis tried to say something but he couldn't think anything to counter what Geo said.
"Well it is true that it was Kelvin that sent the signal to your transer which led me to Earth. Unfortunately it didn't lead him and rest of the crew and now they wonder, lost in space." - Mega agreed.
Silence followed his words. Sonia looked at Geo to see if the mention of his father's fate upset him. However he didn't seem upset. Instead it seemed like he just realized something.
"I completely forgot. I wanted to show you this." - Geo said before going down the stairs and opening something that she could only guess in the limited lighting conditions was a hiding place of some sort. He returned holding an object about the same size as a transer. When Geo went back to Sonia and the object he was caring was illuminated by the moonlight she realized that it was indeed a transer.
''It's my dad's." - Geo said.
"What?..." - Sonia asked confused. - "How come it's here if your father used to lead Mega to Earth?"
"After I defeated Andromeda me and Mega followed a mysterious wave road that led us into deepspace. After a while we've found my father's transer floating around and in its memory a weapon for Mega." - Geo said before looking at the transer. - "There's actually some text data on this transer. Let's read it now."
Sonia nodded. She agreed to read it for two reasons. First of all she knew that this was important for Geo and second, she was quite curious about the contents of this quite unusual transer herself.
Geo sat on his bed and turned on the power. Sonia seized this opportunity and sat next to Geo trying to position herself as close as possible to him, with her right shoulder touching his left, even though the screen could be viewed by both of them without having to huddle in front of it. Geo was so focused on the transer that he didn't notice how close Sonia was. He inputted several commands into the transer and soon the text data filled the screen. It read:
My dear Geo. If you're reading this data, then I'm probably lost in space somewhere. I met this alien named Mega, borrowed his power and changed into this EM body. I don't know if I'll ever see you again, and I'll probably wonder the stars forever, but I don't want you to be sad, because we'll be connected in our hearts. Whenever you're down or having a hard time, I hope you'll look up at the stars and think of me. I'll always be watching over you, Geo. Take care of your mom, OK? Oh! And if the alien, Mega, should show up, please give him the attached Mega weapon.
They were both silent after reading it. Sonia was the first to speak.
"So he's lost in space?" - She said and added - "It must be very lonely out there. No one but him and the stars."
"Well the rest of the crew is most probably with him." - Geo replied. - "I'm going to find them. I going to bring them home. That's my dream. I know I may never be able to realize it but one has to hope and try."
Sonia looked at Geo and saw 'that' look in his eyes. The one that said "I'll do it no matter what".
"You can do it, Geo." - Sonia said smiling as Geo looked at her. - "I promise that I'll support you in any way that I can. So that at least you may save your lost loved one."
Tears started appearing in her eyes as she spoke. But she didn't stop smiling. She thought about her mother. How she couldn't save her. She didn't want the same to happen to Geo.
She closed her eyes and tried to wipe the tears away. Suddenly she felt something around her. Something strong and protective. As she opened her eyes she saw that Geo was no longer sitting in front of his father's transer. Instead he was hugging her as if he was shielding her from some invisible foe.
"Sonia..." - she heard him whisper. - "Please don't cry. I hate to see you cry and be miserable. Just please don't cry."
Sonia was astonished by Geo's actions. It just proved to her that there was still a lot that she didn't know about Geo.
"Hey kid, wha..." - Mega started speaking before being violently silenced by Lyra.
Slowly Sonia returned the hug and brought him closer.
"Okay Geo. I won't cry." - she said as she closed her eyes. She felt that all of her sadness disappearing. - "Just promise me that you'll always be there for me."
"I promise." - he said. - "I'll always be there for you when you're in trouble, need someone to talk to or when you're feeling down."
Silence followed as they continued to embrace each other. Both were lost in the warm sensation. Neither one of them wanted to let go, waiting for the other to do so. After a few minutes Geo was the first one to let go. He looked at Sonia before looking to the side to hide the fact that he was blushing. Sonia knew that she needed to return the situation to normal.
"Weren't we supposed to observe the stars Geo?" - she asked.
Geo immediately got up and finished calibrating the telescope.
They spent most of the evening observing various celestial objects that were visible at the time. Geo also showed Sonia the constellations that bore the same or similar names as the FM-ians whom they have met and fought: Taurus, Cygnus, Lyra, Libra, Queen Ophiuca, Gemini and Cepheus.
"I wonder what happened to them." - Geo said to himself.
"Hmph. I bet they're still around." - Mega said with a clear lack of respect. - "Some might have returned or may return to Earth. If they do than it's inevitable that they'll look for people to EM wave change with."
"You mean... Taurus may seek out Bud? And Queen Ophiuca may seek out Luna?" - Geo asked frightened.
"Yeah, but don't worry if they cause trouble we can go buck wild on them to put them in their place." - Mega replied and waving his fists as if fighting an invisible enemy.
"Omega, you're as reckless as always." - Lyra said shacking her head. - "Didn't it appear to you that they don't have any reason to cause trouble? The war is over and things are changing on the planet FM."
"All I'm saying is that we don't have to worry about them causing trouble whether they would want to or not. Because if they do then you've got me to take care of it."
They continued to observe the stars. Geo kept on looking through the opened window at the sky as if he was anticipating something.
"What are you looking at?" - Sonia said as she appeared next to him.
"I heard that there's going to be a meteor shower visible tonight. It should start in a little bit.." - he said before exclaiming - "There it is!"
They went onto the balcony and watched the spectacle that unraveled before them: meteors, shinning brightly against the dark sky, appeared, speed across the sky and disappeared. For each on that disappeared a new one appeared somewhere else. It was like like a light show.
Suddenly Sonia remembered something and spoke to Geo: "Geo, you know that if you wish upon a star, your wish will come true."
Geo nodded.
"Well, let's make a wish then." - Sonia said cheerfully and continued to watch the shootings stars.
"I want to be with Geo. I wish for him to know my feelings." - She made her wish.
Geo could clearly see her really concentrating on something. He then too looked at the falling stars.
"What wish should I make though..." - he thought to himself. - "All my life I wished for dad to come back but my wish was never fulfilled."
He looked at the girl standing next to him.
"Maybe it's time to move on. I spent the last three years mourning dad. And now even though I know he's alive I also know that I may never see him again. Maybe tonight's time for a new wish." - Geo thought as he looked up at the sky. - "I'll take care of mom, dad. And as for my wish, I wish to live a happy life with my friends."
Soon afterwards the meteor shower ended and the sky returned to its previous state. Both Geo and Sonia kept on looking at the stars thinking what a great day they had today and knowing that there'll be more like this in the future. The future looked as bright as the stars on the sky.
"Well I guess it's time for me to go home." - Sonia said as she looked at the time on her guitar-transer. - "Dad 'll get worried if I don;t come home soon."
Geo nodded. He didn't want Sonia to leave but he knew he would see her tomorrow and everyday after that.
They went downstairs and just as they were about to say good night to each other, Hope asked: "Geo, as a man you should walk your girlfriend home to make sure that she gets there safely."
"Mom, she's not..." - He wanted as always say that she's not his girlfriend but something stopped him from saying that. - "...the kind of girl to have trouble getting home."
"Still if you want to be a gentleman. You should do it." - Hope replied.
"Alright." - he said before turning to Sonia who was chuckling while listening to the conversation. - "Come to think of it I never asked you were you lived."
"Well, that's the second surprise." - She said with a smile. - "I recently moved to Echo Ridge."
"Can you repeat that?" - Geo said as he thought that he must have misheard Sonia's words.
"I said that I moved to Echo Ridge which makes us fellow townsfolk." - She repeated not surprised that Geo didn't believe what he was hearing.
He stood there for a few seconds before realizing that this wasn't a dream. A smile appeared on his face.
"Wow. That's great Sonia!" - he said barely stopping himself from giving her a hug.
Sonia just smiled and said: "Well, shall we get going?"
Geo nodded and they both left his house as they walked slowly down the road.
"I should have expected something like this. I mean since you joined our school it would only make sense for you to move to Echo Ridge as well." - Geo said looking at Sonia. - "When did you move? I'm pretty sure I would have spotted you if you did. Echo Ridge isn't really a big town."
"I moved here a few days ago." - Sonia replied. - "We must have missed each other somehow."
After making a few turns at intersections they reached Sonia's house. It was two floors high, was painted white and had a small patch of lawn in front of it. A light was turned on in one of the rooms on the ground floor which indicated that someone was inside, most probably Sonia's father.
(AN: Just to clarify, this is NOT the house next to Geo's that appeared in the first and second game.)
"Well, here we are." - Sonia said. - "I'll see you tomorrow at school than?"
Geo was silent for a few seconds before saying: "My house's on the way to school from here... so if you want to... we could go to school together."
"That would be great. Well then I'll see you at your house tomorrow morning." - Sonia said cheerfully.
Geo looked like he wanted to do or say something but couldn't get himself to do it. Instead he said "Good night.", turned around and walked home.
"I wonder if he wanted to say something more there at the end." - Sonia thought as she watched him disappear behind a corner.
End of Chapter 2.
So how was this chapter? If you liked it than please review it. If didn't than review it as well (but I must ask you to come up with constructive criticism). I must admit that some parts of it didn't come out like I wanted them to but I the plot should pick up in the next chapter. I have a lot of time to write so the next chapter should be up next week.