Radiant Falcon Fan Works #9
Mega Man Eternity Cross
and now, we meet the second generation Mega Man; Mega Man X. We also discover that water can destroy Pulseman, or at least short out his electric powers. But if you played that game, you already knew that.
Eternity Cross Continues...
Soundtest 0F: Maverick Hunter HQ - Asian Triple Alliance ~Jhun Team~ (The King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match)
Frame: Outside Maverick Hunter HQ; Neo Japan, 21XX; 2:31 GMT
It's 21XX. Times have changed. Androids are not as populous as they once were, either through complete destruction or their power running out. However, a new robotic race sprung up to take their place: replica androids, or reploids for short. Where androids typically had different structures based on who created them, reploids were copied off of the design of one in particular. That one is Mega Man X, simply X to his friends and enemies, and he was at one time commander for the Maverick Hunters; a collective of different humans, pseudo-humans(1) and reploids that work toward hunting down and destroying rogue/criminal reploids known as Mavericks. Sometimes they dabbled in human criminal activity as well, though there is a specific unit dedicated for that.
X himself belonged to a squad originally known as the 14th Unit, but what is now known as simply the Elite Unit, a squad consisting of himself, his best friend and partner Zero, and their compatriot and new-generation reploid prototype Axl, who recently recovered from what he called 'evil spaghetti noodle to the head' which people thought would've killed him or turned him into a Maverick or something(2), if it weren't for the Lifesavers and the R&D Crew. Though the Elite Unit is primarily comprised of X, Zero, and Axl; there have been members from other units that assist the unit, such as the Hunter Support crew of Alia and Layer, with Palette of R&D pulling double duty.
It was a bit too early to call it a night by Hunter standards; though the majority of the key Hunters were out on field duty. One person who was not was X himself, though he was wearing a checkered cardigan, a pair of slacks, and some worn boots he picked up at a garage sale not too long ago. His short black hair shone in the lights of the corridor, and he often wore a pair of glasses, though obviously this was for show. Rarely do mechanical Hunters get a chance to be casual for a change, as most of them either wore suits of armor or, in the current commander Signas' case, a military coat inherited from former Repliforce officers.(3) As he was off-duty, he had purchased some coffee with the zenny he had on hand, which wasn't a whole lot. Maverick Hunters weren't mercenaries, and they were famous for not getting paid for destroying Mavericks, at least not by the UEG, those damn bureaucrats.
As X sipped his coffee, he heard some people say things like "nice sweater." and "shouldn't you be on a case, X?" And it was true, X did have a lot on his workload. The words of a opponent of his by the name of Dynamo rang true, though. "Working hard to make the world a better place is admirable, but don't overdo it. Too much stress and you'll die, man." At that time, Dynamo was a merc working for then-infamous reploid criminal Sigma trying to nail the Earth with the Space Colony Eurasia, a space station ironically built in the exact coordinates of Repliforce's Final Weapon a war previously.(4) Eurasia was foiled by a flying Zero shuttle to the core, which nearly cost him his life. He'd later get shot by Sigma anyway, but a surprising amount of people went down before Zero did.(5) In the end, though, Zero came back somehow, X briefly retired from the Hunters (A move he described as "utterly and completely irresponsible of me") and Axl joined the team after Red Alert, a Maverick Hunter competitor, disbanded. He never did hear back from Dynamo, though. It's as if he dropped off the face of the earth.(6)
"Nice night, huh?" X had been approached by Axl. Though young and brash, Axl was a great shot, perhaps even more so than X himself. He wore his casual clothes, which were the likes of an orange basketball jersey bearing the number 17, a watch acting as his commlink on his left wrist similar to the one X wore, navy blue shorts and red and white grinding shoes(7). "Yeah, it really is. I often wondered how many times I had to go to space to foil a Sigma plot."
"Dude, how many space trips have you had?"
"Counting Jakob, two. Zero has me beat by one."
"That guy is going to get himself killed with how reckless he is."
X chuckled. "It wouldn't be the first time."(8) Suddenly, and without warning, X faded out of existence. There was no trace left. "X?" Axl asked. "X?" he asked again, louder this time. Axl found nothing. He then tapped his watch. "Axl to Alia. Come in! Something just happened to X!"
"This is Alia, I read you." a female voice said over the other line in the Hunter Support desk across the campus. "What happened?"
"X vanished, repeat, X is gone."
"What do you mean X is... okay, I'm sending Zero and a couple of investigators your way."
-=STAGE 6=-
Water Can Destroy Pulseman!
[=-READY-=]
Soundtest 10: awakening after dark - Main Theme (Final Fantasy IV)
Frame: Light Labs, Japan; 2:33 GMT, 20XX
What most people know is that there are two Light Laboratories. One in San Mateo, California(9), the other in Japan. The differences is that, while Light took Eddie and Auto, alongside a handful of the original eight Robot Masters with him to Light Labs USA; Light Labs Japan (AKA Dr. Right Japan(10)) was where a certain truly famous member of the Light robotic family lived. What most people don't know is that both Light Labs need their fair share of Guardians. Though Mega Man, one of only five current residents at Dr. Right Japan, actively serves as full-time Guardian; one of Rock (Mega Man's common identity) and Syakuei's mutual allies, the young man calling himself Jin Saotome(11), is one of two bodyguards in America. (the other one is the beam-sword prototype wielding street fighter Hayato Kanzaki(12), formerly of the Plasma Sword circuit) What's more, Light Labs America was beachfront property, while Dr. Right Japan was not.
Rock was in sleep mode at this point. Though androids technically didn't need to sleep, it helped regenerate energy more efficiently than the standard energy pellets. It also helped to preserve the human appearance, and there were a few people in the UEG that would prefer Rock had been a human child. In a way they were right, Rock technically did look slightly older than he actually was, which was somewhere in the ballpark of thirteen years old, counting inactivity. What was more interesting was that Rock had a habit of sleeping in, especially today, which was a Saturday. Unfortunately, that sleep would soon be interrupted by a light coming from his room.
"eugh... who's shining a flashlight in my face..." Rock murmured, as if he was talking in his sleep. He slowly sat up and noticed a stranger in his room. "What the...? Who are you?" The stranger simply said "Mega Man X."
"Yeah, sure you are. You don't even look like me, so how co-" he then noticed a common thread between himself and the stranger calling himself Mega Man X. They both had blue eyes. Normally this isn't a factor in humans; there are quite a few blue eyed humans out there. There were far less blue-eyed robots, let alone robots with blue eyes and black hair. And he did remember seeing a black-haired robot in the photograph Blues showed him not two days ago. "You know what, never mind." he said. "The bigger question is this: what's your model number?"
"DRN-X"
"That explains why you look familiar. You're my replacement?"
"I beg your pardon? Do you know me from somewhere?"
"You could say that."
Rock and X stared at each other for a good five seconds. X then asked, "What year is this?"
"20XX, now will you let me sleep? I've got a Guardian's Assembly to go to today, and I need all the energy I can get."
Rock then closed his eyes back. X then tapped his commlink watch. "X to Alia. Come in."
There was no answer. "X to Alia! Come IN!" he said a bit louder. Still no answer. He then switched his commlink to Armor Recall mode. There was definitely his standard armor displaying, so that was good. Everything was still fine, except for his commlink. X sighed. "Oh well, at least I can get some decent rest for a change," he said. "I'll worry about it in the morning."
Soundtest 11: morning light - Pueblucho (Guacamelee!)
Frame: Light Labs, Japan; 8:30 GMT
As soon as Rock woke up, he breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't see any strange black haired men in sweaters calling themselves Mega Man X, which was nice. "Okay then. I guess I'll check the kitchen. Something smells like bacon."
Sure enough, there was indeed bacon in the kitchen. It was the man cooking the bacon that was odd. It was the guy in the sweater again. "Hey, you want some bacon?"(13) he asked with a smile on his face. "What the hell... what are you still doing here?" Rock asked.
"I can't get in touch with my navigator, so I figured I might as well cook something. You do like bacon, right?"
"Yeah..." Rock said weakly. At least he didn't have to worry about the house burning down as a result of burning something. Fire Man(14) was usually the cook around here , and when possible, Roll. "X... I can call you X, right?"
"You sure can. Everyone does."
"Right, well, you can then call me Rock. Honestly, you're not supposed to even be here."
"I figured. One minute I was at the Maverick Hunter headquarters, the next minute I'm apparently in the past, waking my predecessor up." X explained. "I don't even think I'm complete in this time yet."
"You're not."
"I hardly think anyone I know is complete yet. I'm technically the first of my kind."
Rock did recall Blues telling him that Dr. Light was about to change the world, but he wondered where he got that information. "Are we... still active in your time?"
"Most likely not. You, Protoman, Roll, definitely Dr. Light; to the best of my knowledge none of you are alive."
"That makes sense. It would be a hundred years after this time. Can I ask what happened to us?"
X picked the bacon off the skillet, and put them on a plate. "That's the funny part. I don't actually know. I hear tell that Dr. Light didn't have much longer to live anyway, but as for the rest of you... for all I know you died in some final battle. Where's Roll?"
"Have you heard of a group called the Striders?"
"Yeah, but only legends and tales."
"That's where. She's with someone named Hiryu, and last I heard from them was yesterday, when she called me and told me she was heading to Russia. Something about a training exercise."
And then, Rock's Skynet phone rang. It was the alphanumerical characters SY95(15). "This is Rock."
"Rock, get your blue can over here before this guy shorts out my powers!"
"We've got a Guardian's Assembly to go to, Sya-kun, and you're out there fighting crime? That's dedication, alright."
"He's got a trident for a hand!"
Rock narrowed his eyes. That was Wave Man(16), who still didn't like Mega Man very much, and in fact still worked with Wily to take him and his compatriot Pulseman out. "I'm on my way. X, can you hold down the fort here?"
"Not a problem, little brother."(17)
soundtest 12: battle in neo tokyo - hinder one (Darius Burst)
Frame: Neo Tokyo, Japan; thirty seconds later...
In a plaza somewhere in Neo Tokyo, a fight was already in progress between local teenage superhero Pulseman and one of Dr. Wily's Robot Masters. Wave Man, whose innate ability was water-based, happened to be effective against Pulseman's electrical powers. In fact, Wave Man's Water Wave weapon countered and effectively negated Pulseman's Volt Arrow projectile. Pulseman ran into one of the Water Wave attacks when he was at full charge, and it completely reset his charge(18). Dude was dangerous. Which is why, when Mega Man arrived at the scene, Pulseman said, "Yo, what took you?"
"Bacon."
Wave Man took this time to say, "Oh, Mega Man! I've been waiting for you! Your sidekick here sucks!" Pulseman's eye twitched at that phrase, but he said nothing. "We're partners." Mega Man told his opponent. "And given that I destroyed you already too -quite easily I might add- you've no room to talk."
"S-shut up! I'll drown you both with my new attack! (19) Wave Stream!"
Wave Stream was a jet of water that shot from Wave Man's buster arm. Unlike the previously mentioned Water Wave, the Wave Stream fluctuated temperatures rather than height of the waves. This meant that it could shoot straight through armor, and was specifically geared to damage ceratanium, the metal Mega Man's armor was made from(20). However, it could also fluctuate thickness of the stream to hit multiple targets, which lessened its impact. This is exactly what happened when Wave Man used the Wave Stream, as the stream didn't hit as hard. It still hurt, though. "Had enough, boys?" Wave Man taunted. "or do you want another round?"
"You absolutely sure that electricity won't damage his armor?", Mega Man asked his friend. "You know, I don't just have electricity." Pulseman responded. And that's when he had an idea. The Volt Arrow didn't work, but maybe his signature attack, a field of plasma energy that he called Volteccer(21), would. "Alright, Wave wimp, give me your best shot!"
"Alright, it looks like someone wants to die today! Okay then, Pulseman, take this! WAVE STREAM!"
"Volteccer!"
as the water-based weapon collided with the plasma-based Volteccer field, the stream deflected off of the field, as if it was a shield weapon. Then, Pulseman unleashed his other signature attack, which combined his Volteccer field with a straight clothesline attack, which he referred to by the name "VOLT TACKLE!" (22) The force of the tackle, plus the plasma energy in the Volteccer field, equals huge damage to anyone regardless of whether they could counter the rest of Pulseman's powers. In this case, it sent Wave Man flying. When the dust settled, Wave Man was nowhere to be found, and Pulseman deactivated the plasma field. "phew." he huffed. "that was heavy."
Mega Man, meanwhile, had a jaw to pick up off the ground. What he just witnessed was incredible, the way Pulseman totaled Wave Man in a single stroke. Then again, he was ranked as a Class-D Robot Master, according to his sister's Chart of Robot Master Effectiveness (23). As he recovered, he heard his friend say "yo, Rock, you okay?"
"Shouldn't your powers be shorted out by now?"
"Yeah, but not my Volteccer. That's plasma and not electricity. Also, I kinda said that to throw Wave Man off."
Rock smiled. Syakuei "Pulseman" Yoshiyama always did have an eye for strategy. "We'd better head to EGHQ. We're running late."
"Aye, Rock."
[-EYECATCH-]
(NOTES)
(1)
Pseudo-humans are the collective term for those with cybernetics, or C-Life in general. Someone like Syakuei is classified as C-Life, but falls under the broader term of Pseudo-human.
(2)
As evidenced in Mega Man X8, where Lumine hit him in the head.
(3)
Signas had to get that jacket from somewhere.
(4)
Hey, remember when I speculated about this in Ultra 64 Season 1?
(5)
Noted from X5.
(6)
So get this, after Mega Man X6, that cocky bastard Dynamo was never seen again. Is he a Time Master? No. is he an integral part of the story nonetheless? Probably.
(7)
Hooray for SOAP shoes, the little known fad brought upon by Sonic Adventure 2.
(8)
X5 again.
(9)
Hey, San Mateo is where Capcom USA is located.
(10)
In Japanese culture, the Ls and Rs are switched around in most English pronunciations. For instance, Dr. Light would be pronounced as "Dr. Right." in Japan. Hence, the alternate name for Dr. Light's Japanese Lab.
(11)
Jin Saotome, from Cyberbots: Full Metal Madness, doesn't technically work for Earth Corps, and only does contract work for the Earth Guardians. That happens when, in your original game, the Earth Corps are a bunch of assholes
(12)
Also doing contract work for Earth Guardians is the Star Gladiator main character Hayato Kanzaki, who wields a prototype beam sword; which acts as more of a Light Sword Cypher.
(13)
Who doesn't want bacon?
(14)
Robot Master Bio #005: Mario Light, AKA Fire Man, is a robot with a torch for a head, and the first Elemental Robot Master built by Dr. Light. His Fire Storm weapon is a projectile that also doubles as a sort of instant-shield. Named for legendary video game pyromancer Mario from the Super Mario Brothers series.
(15)
Much like a social security number, each robot or cyborg's Skynet number is unique to them. Other Humans and Pseudo-humans (like Pulseman) have letters in their Skynet numbers, typically the first letter of their first and last names, and two random numbers. In this case, the 95 refers to the original release year of the Pulseman video game (1995)
(16)
Robot Master bio #006: Perseus Wily, AKA Wave Man, is an arrogant robot master loyal to Dr. Wily, and one of the few to be based on Water attacks (the other ones being Aqua Man, Pump Man, Bubble Man, and to an extent, Burst Man) His Water Wave attack is literally a wave of water, while the new Wave Stream attack is a straight stream. Named for Perseus "Percy" Jackson, son of Poseidon in the Rick Riordan novels of the same name. Good reads, those.
(17)
Yes, Rock is X's little brother, since X was sealed in a capsule for a hundred years and Mega Man has only been active for something like thirteen years in this fic.
(18)
If you played Pulseman on the Megadrive (NOT Genesis, because the game never got a physical release in the US), you'd know that Pulseman can charge his energy by simply running or dashing. Unfortunately, this same charge is lost when underwater or attacked by water-based creatures.
(19)
In Eternity Cross, and from here on out, most Robot Masters get a new attack not seen in the original games. For instance, I mentioned Napalm Man the last time we caught up with Mega Man. His EX Attack, as I like to call them, is Napalm Blast, a grenade that sends him in the air. For future reference, Ice Man has Ice Beam (think Iceman from the X-Men); Oil Man has Oil Panic (think Mr. Game and Watch's counter from Smash Brothers); and Pharaoh Man has Pharaoh Wave (think his weapon from Mega Man 2: the Power Fighters)
(20)
Ceratanium is one of the many many many metals seen in fiction that is stronger and lighter than titanium, but X's armor, made of Titanium-X Alloy, has it beat.
(21)
Volteccer (pronounced Vol-tekker) is Pulseman's signature move, which acts as a field of plasma energy and can deflect most lasers or equivalents. It can also act as a way for Pulseman to dash and air-dash faster than normal.
(22)
Hey, remember when Pokemon introduced the Volt Tackle move? Given that they're both from Game Freak, it does make sense, however the Volt Tackle here is based off of one of Street Fighter III: Second Impact's Urien's special moves. No word on whether Pulseman knows the Aegis Reflector, though.
(23)
to give some examples in the Chart of Robot Master Effectiveness, Class-F is Toad Man and Metal Man, Class-D is Wave Man and Plant Man, Class-C is Clown Man and Grenade Man, Class-B is everyone else, and Class-A is reserved for the SWN series, AKA the Mega Man Killers (and Bass). A hypothetical Class-S is Zero, but he's not quite complete yet.
[Character Spotlight]
SWN-005 Forte Wily
"Bass, the Rebel Robot Master"
THEME A: "Rebellion" - Daddy Mulk as performed by T-Shizz (Dwelling of Duels - Collaboration Month)
THEME B: "Powered Gear" - WIN BACK ~Stage 2~ (Armored Warriors)
Forte Wily, also known simply as Bass, is a robot built purely to combat Mega Man. Powered by unlimited power cores made of Bassnium (which is how he got his name), Bass has been known as an anti-hero, having teamed up with Mega Man in the past against Dr. Wily, though his goal is still to defeat his blue counterpart. As he is not loyal to either side, he often finds himself playing double- or even triple-agent, but he'll inevitably become a heroic figure in the last stages of the Wily Wars. Though not capable of charge shots, Bass instead utilizes the latest in rapid fire precision aiming technology, something that Mega Man himself typically lacks.
[MESSAGE FROM MAVERICK HUNTER HQ]
This is Signas, Commander of the Maverick Hunters. We've received word that one of our best, Mega Man X, has been transported back in time. This, in addition to a new threat, could strain our resources. We need X back as soon as possible. Go get him!
?: "This'll be over in a nanosecond."
Mission RFN-007. Operation: "It Came From 21XX!" Bring him home!
