last updated 3.9.17
Radiant Falcon Fan Works #9
Mega Man Eternity Cross
soundtest 08: Smell of Napalm (Napalm Man's Theme ~ EX Ver.) - Volcano Valley Act 2 ~ MD Ver. (Sonic 3D Blast)
Frame: Light Labs, Japan; 20XX; 15:45 GMT
"You've reached Skull Castle V(1), and they call me Napalm Man. Who are you?"
"This is Mega Man."
"Ah yes, Mega Man. We're expecting your sister, but she hasn't shown lately. Any idea where she is?"
"I think she's training with the Striders."
Rock Light, alias Mega Man, was contacting Jayne(2) Wily, also known as Napalm Man. Rock was aware of Roll's part-time job as 'captive-babysitter' for many of Doctor Albert Wily's robots spread out all over Japan, living in different Skull Castles. While some Robot Masters were still rather unfriendly to Mega Man(3), they tolerated and even enjoyed Roll's company. Others, like Napalm Man, held no grudge and in fact keep in touch as 'informants', as Rock referred to them. "Jayne, you collect weapons(4); what do you know about the Wave Cannon project?"
"I know a few things about it. What do you need to know?"
"I got a visit from Punk earlier, and he stole some Wave Cannon schematics. I need to know if Wily's interested in it or not."
Punk, serial number SWN-003, was not one of Napalm Man's friends, as he blew up half his second Weapons collection(5). "I wouldn't know, man. I don't keep in touch with Wily as much as I should." he answered. "I think you may need to talk to Pharoah Man in Wily Castle IV. He checks in every day practically."
"Thanks, Jayne."
"Anytime, Mega Man. Hey, when's the next Robot Tournament?"(6)
[-STAGE 3-]
Wave Cannon Blues
-=READY=-
soundtest 09: Electrace (Pulseman's Theme) - Stereo Protect ~Stage 2A~ (Pulseman)
Frame: The next day; Neo Tokyo Streets, Japan; 12:30 GMT
It was the weekend, so Syakuei Yoshiyama was on his way to Shibuya Terminal(7), where he was supposed to meet with his girlfriend Beatrice Shinomura. Beatrice, a seventeen-year-old cyborg who knew Syakuei ever since they were kids, had cybernetic limbs as a result of an accident ten years ago involving a drunk driver. Through losing her humanity, she lived to tell the tale. She was also the only one who knew that Syakuei was also Pulseman(8) and in fact acted as his 'voice in his head', which was a reason why they got together in the first place. Of course, while Beatrice wanted to go shopping for clothes, Syakuei reminded her how she's been collecting clothes ever since they were ten. They settled on going to a local pizza joint in Shibuya.
An interesting fact about the Yoshiyamas that a lot of people seem to forget is that, while his father Yuichiro and mother Haruka were human; Syakuei was a Cyber-animated Life form, or C-Life(9) for short. While this enabled a certain deal of superhuman abilities, this also came with a certain amount of responsibility. He couldn't use his electric attacks in public as long as he was Syakuei, for instance. What was that saying? "great power carries equal responsibilty"?(10) This was instilled on the parents, who were both scientists, and in turn they taught it to Syakuei. Meanwhile, his Jaguartooth(11) headset started ringing,
It should be noted from here on in that, although it is 20XX and flying cars and androids do exist, not a whole lot else has changed. For instance, humans and non-humans alike still use phones; but through Skynet(12), a recent development in global wireless area network, androids are able to communicate to phones from across the world. The only problem with Skynet was this: once installed into an cyborg or android's internal systems, you could not change them. Which is why, when Syakuei saw the the numbers 1987(13) flashing across the red-and-white watch he always wore, he knew exactly who it was. "what's up, Rock?"
"I got in contact with a few people; You remember Jayne, right?"
"Napalm Man?"
"Yeah. He said that he didn't know if Wily wanted a Wave Cannon, but that Pharaoh Man might."
"Did you find out?"
On the other line of the comms feed, Rock had a distressed look on his face. "Yeah. Atem(14) told me that your suspicions were right. Wily is looking for those old schematics to upgrade the Robot Master weapons. He couldn't tell me any more than that."
"So what you're saying is..."
"We're in big trouble if Wily finds those schematics. You know how he wants to rule the world."
"Should I call Beatrice and tell her I might not make it today?"
Rock had a better idea. "Why don't you bring her with you? I've always wanted to meet the one person besides me who knows about your alter-ego."
"Done deal, man."
Frame: Light Labs, Japan, thirty minutes later
Beatrice Shinomura was Syakuei's schoolmate at Taiyo High School, though she was a grade over him. As far as anyone at Taiyo was concerned, she was human, though she did wear a bodysuit underneath her clothes to conceal the fact that she was a cyborg, due to her last school constantly bugging her about her cybernetics. Right now, however, she was wearing an orange-and-black puff-sleeved dress bearing a yellow X over her black bodysuit, a white sash securing said dress, and a red hairband keeping her long spiky black hair out of her eyes. She also tended to wear big white gloves on her hands and a pair of big glasses over her eyes(15); an added precaution against the so-called 'vultures and wolves'.
When she got to Light Labs just outside of Neo Tokyo; she and Syakuei, who at that point was wearing a T-shirt of the famous J-rock band Spinwake(16) and blue jeans, found Rock Light in armor sans helmet, standing near a powered-on screen "I wish someone would've told me it was casual day," Rock said to the two of them. Syakuei responded, "Good to see you too. Rock, this is Beatrice. Rice-chan(17), Rock."
"Oh, so you're miss Shinomura. It's nice to meet you."
Beatrice giggled. "I'm honored to meet a living legend like yourself, Mega Man."
"Please; it's Rock to you. Any friend of Syakuei is a friend of mine. Just don't go telling everyone that Mega Man lives in the Neo Tokyo area. I get enough fan mail and fan fiction(18) as it is."
Beatrice nodded. She was good at keeping secrets. And then the power in the room went out. Rock said about this development, "eugh. You couldn't tell, but there's like fifteen things breaking in this house, and without Roll, this place is a mess"
"Yeah, where is Roll, anyway?"
"She's with a Strider friend of ours, training out in the wilderness or something." Rock couldn't have known that Roll was actually out of the country and in Tibet heading to the Strider Outpost there. "Auto and Eddie live with Doctor Light back in America; Rush is in the living room; Tango is... somewhere around here; and Protoman is due to arrive in a minute."
"Who's Tango?"
"Protoman's cat. I swear, Doctor Light should've never installed a cloaking device in that damn cat; now we can never find her."
Syakuei was surprised. All this time he thought Tango was a male cat. More importantly, Beatrice was shocked that a cloaking device was installed in a cat anyway. "Rock, exactly how many cloaking devices are in the world?"
"Ten. Not counting the one in Tango. Why?"
"and your creator put one in a cat?"
"technically, it was for an adapter for Protoman so he could see without being seen. The actual tech side of it was built by Doctor Light, but it was Roll who designed it.(19) Anyway, the auxiliary generator should be on... now."
When the secondary generator turned on, they heard a five-note four-tone whistle in the Lab's intercom. "That's Protoman; he must be outside. I'll get it." Rock said, and left the room they were in to go get the door. Beatrice looked at Syakuei, who shrugged. When Rock came back, he was accompanied by a young man with a chestnut brown pompadour, who was wearing a Hawaiian T-shirt, black cargo pants, and a yellow scarf around his neck. He was bearing large visor-like sunglasses, but on top of his head instead of over his eyes. This was Blues Light; DRN-000 'Protoman', the forerunner for all androids. Syakuei covered up Beatrice's mouth with his hand before she could scream like a star-struck fan, which was answered by a muffled squeal anyway.
"Gentlemen." Blues said before noticing the star-stunned Beatrice. "And also lady." he continued, to which Beatrice sighed and collapsed. "Great, you made Rice-chan faint." Syakuei complained.
"She looked like she had stars in her eyes. I noticed they were also pure blue. Very pretty."
"If you're thinking on hitting on my girlfriend..."
"Relax, Yoshi(20); Kalinka wouldn't be happy if I started seeing someone else."
Yoshi wasn't one of Syakuei's former nicknames. It actually belonged to his grandfather, Kyoshi Waruyama(21), who fought in The War Against Destiny as a Sinden(22) pilot. He felt proud of the nickname, though, but the fact that that same grandfather was in prison thanks to Pulseman stung the nickname's reputation. "Wait, you and Kalinka?(23)" Syakuei asked, eager to take his mind away from his Grandpa.
"Yeah; man, Kallie and I have been dating for a few years now. You know how women are."
Rock took this time to interject. "Blues; business;" he said to his brother, to which Blues said "Business? Never met her; she seems too serious."
"AHEM!"
"Alright, Rocky Horror(24), alright, don't go into Lecture mode(25) just yet; what is it?"
Rock asked "Have you heard of something called a Wave Cannon?"
"yeah, as a matter of fact, I have. Wasn't it that axed Sniper Joe weapon?"
"yeah."
"Does Wily want it?"
Rock shook his head. "I was about to ask you."
"Thanks for thinking of me, but I haven't a clue. I heard, though, that the project wasn't actually axed; right or wrong, Syakuei?"
The aforementioned teenager shrugged. "All I know is that the project was supposed to be scrapped, but there were actually a couple more in Devving(26) phases before they ultimately ran out of funds. 's what my dad told me around three, maybe four years ago."
"Do those prototypes still exist?"
"I wouldn't know; I'd have to ask him. Hold on. And will someone please wake up Beatrice? Thank you."
Frame: Light Labs, Japan; three minutes later
"Yeah, I'm at Rock's house. Yeah, Beatrice is with me. No, we won't be a bother. Okay. Thanks. Love you."
Blues snickered at that phrase. "Dad said that those prototypes do exist somewhere in the world." Syakuei concluded. "Why do you ask?"
"I'm going to need to equip one."
Rock said, "Blues, you can't just modify your own weaponry just because you feel like it; you're obsolete(27), remember?"
"officially obsolete, bro. And I make mods based on the times, and right now the times are changing."
'What do you mean by that, Blues?"
Blues dug into his pants pocket for a photograph. "Kids these days are using holograms and things like that, but me? I prefer good old film." he found the photo he was looking for, and laid it on a nearby table. "Doc Light's about to change the world."
EYECATCH
Fire Storm Notes
(1) Like Dr. Light's robots, Dr Wily's robots live in different places, in this case the nine Skull Castles throughout the world; one for every game Wily had his own creations. (Mega Man 4's robots were created by Dr. Cossack.)
(2) Robot Master Bio #003: Jaynecob "Jayne" Wily, aka Napalm Man. A collector of weapons from around the world. His weapon is Napalm Bomb, which explodes after a set time. Named for the 'hero of Canton' Jayne Cobb from the cult TV show Firefly.
(3) As you can probably guess, there's more of the haters than there are toleraters.
(4) This is a real bit from Napalm Man's official biography, and the whole reason why he did that was to
(5) ...see what would happen if he blew it up!
(6) The robot tournaments from Mega Man 6 are on an annual basis in this fic, and in fact there should be another one coming in the fic itself.
(7) No, not that Shibuya Terminal. Sheesh.
(8) Every superhero alter-ego needs someone who knows about their secret identity. Batman has his butler Alfred (and in the films, Lucius Fox); and Pulseman has his girfriend Beatrice who was a real character in his game.
(9) In the actual Pulseman Mega Drive game, C-Life refers to AI constructs with a human personality, for instance Beatrice is C-Life in that game. In this story, however, Cyber-animated Life forms are humans with android internal systems; most often the heart, lungs and brain.
(10) Actually, the famous -and correct- version of this phrase is 'with great power comes great responsibility'; the Marvel fan in me would hate me forever if I got that wrong.
(11) Yes, another Street Fighter reference, this time from the Muay Thai kickboxer Adon; one of his moves is called Jaguar Tooth. It is also a reference to those newfangled Bluetooth devices.
(12) Not to be confused with Skynet the malevolent OS that took over the world and wrought Judgment Day in the Terminator films, though the Skynet developers would've loved the irony.
(13) 1987 was the year when Rockman – and by extension, Mega Man- was originally published.
(14) Robot Master Bio #004: Atem Cossack, also known as Pharaoh Man. The only Cossack-built android to live in a Skull Castle, his Pharoah Shot is a two-loop(14a) charge shot that can pierce enemies on its second loop. Named for the true name of Yami Yugi from Yu-Gi-Oh! Fame
(14a) In most R-Type games after the first one, you can charge the gauge more than once, known as charge loops. Charging one gauge is one-loop, two gauges Is two-loop, and so on. It only makes sense that, in a story already referencing R-Type, I use its terminology.
(15) I don't know about you, but I like girls with glasses.
(16) Spinwake, the guys who sang that one "Don't Wanna Be" song for Irregular Hunter X. Don't bother trying to find any new songs from them; they've long since disbanded.
(17) The Japanese honorific -chan refers to a loved one or younger sibling, basically the feminine version of -kun.
(18) That's gotta be a first; Mega Man complaining about fanfiction in his own fanfiction.
(19) I tend to take elements from different stories; in this case the Tango Adapter was borrowed from a good friend of mine and his discontinued sprite comic. Roll's involvement in it is that she designed the Tango Adapter like the Rush Adaptor from Mega Man 6, but with two big cosmetic differences; one is Tango's tail, and the other one you'll have to find out later.
(20) Yoshi, like the Super Mario character.
(21) In Pulseman, Dr. Waruyama was actually the title character's father before going insane and turning evil. Here Waruyama is his grandfather, who went insane and turned evil soon after Syakuei first became Pulseman. Think of it like a Mega Man Eternity Cross Gaiden (Don't get your hopes up.)
(22) The Sinden is one of the three playable planes from 19XX: The War Against Destiny.
(23) Oh this should be fun when we get to the wintry landscape of Moscow, Russia.
(24) Rocky Horror was a sibling teasing nickname taken from one of my all time favorite Mega Man fanfiction Time Trap, written waaay back in 2001. yes, like the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Shoto Man, if you're reading this, bring back Time Trap!
(25) Lecture mode is what happens when Rock Light, originally a lab assistant for Doctor Light, starts to teach.
(26) Devving, 20XX slang for Developing.
(27) Protoman, according to the timeline, was the first android; since then more advanced androids have been made. More information in the Character Spotlight below; check it out.
Character Spotlight
Blues Light
"Protoman, the Red Raider"
THEME A: protoman's theme (Mega Man 3)
THEME B: opening stage zero (Mega Man X4)
Blues Light was the first (and only) android designed by both Dr. Light and Dr. Wily. After modifying himself to become a battle android seven years ago, in part to fight Mega Man, he has since joined the heroic side. Technically obsolete, Protoman has made a number of modifications to his own body to suit the times, among them a far more powerful Mega Buster variant known as the Protobuster. The Protobuster has a two-loop charge ability, the variable weapons system employed by his younger brother Mega Man, and a close-range blade capability. It is even more powerful when fire-based weapons are equipped. He is also equipped with an indestructible shield forged from Metoolic ore, which can deflect ranged shots. However, his most useful ability is that to scan opponents, determining their strengths and weaknesses, as well as weapon equipped and vitality. He is more of a tactician, however, studying enemy patterns and weak spots.
MESSAGE FROM STRIDER HEADMASTER MIYAMOTO
Hiryu and his companions have arrived at the Strider Outpost in Tibet. His fellow Striders Kain and Sheena are waiting for them, but so too is a new enemy from the future.
?: "Where is my sister?"
The next mission's codename is "Colonel's Revenge". Terminate him!
Until we meet again, guys: Protect the Fans. Stay Radiant.
