Okay so this chapter's title means three different things in particular, or rather, three different pairs of people. As you read along, you might found out who I'm referring to. And about Luna not being able to wave fuse, I still don't think I should reveal anything about that yet, but keep a heads up. Well...not much else to say other than my photoshop refuses to work, therefore i won't be able to upload the concept art yet. Anyway, please comment after reading, k? Your comments keep me going.
Shooting Star Rockman Celestia: 2nd Wave
Chapter 7: Bond of Brothers
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"I...didn't even...sense...that" Alpha Duo slowly muttered, his body losing its grip and his eyes losing their vision into a blurry space. When time had seemed to resume its pace, his body had finally hit the floor, unconscious beside his other self, Rey.
"Nice aim, bro" Rage said over to an aqua-blue armored man that had sniped from a distance. Jumping from a thin and tall building peak, the man revealed himself to have semi-long orange hair that was quite similar to Rage's except for the fact that this man's hair was neatly styled unlike the former's spiky locks. His eyes were sharp, and in his hand, he carried a large black rifle with a lever that he pulled to pop out a used bullet.
"Shooting such a simple target doesn't count as a good shot. In any case, we've accomplished our first task" The man said in a deep and serious voice, quite opposite to his brother's happy-go-lucky tone.
And then, two more people had landed on the rooftop via the endless stream of waveroads. One of which appeared to be Rockman, and the other, the red-clad Harpnote. At this, Torrent had smiled as if things were turning out just the way he'd wanted it.
"And so, we begin the next phase" The bleach haired sniper remarked, reloading his rifle with a quick jolt of a lever.
At seeing her friends that had just arrived at the scene, Belle couldn't help but smile in relief.
"Sonia! Geo!" she said, a cheerful tone now filling up her panicked voice.
"Belle, please alert the Satella Police" Rockman quickly yet calmly ordered as soon as he'd caught sight of her, causing the brunette to sway her head in rejection. "B-But I can't just leave you guys agai-"
Harpnote interrupted with a smile, "We'll be fine, so please don't worry about us, okay?" For a moment there, Belle had still seemed reluctant, but eventually gave in to their request once again with a hint of regret in her heart, mainly because she couldn't do anything to assist them.
Swallowing up her worry, the purple-clad girl nodded in comply, "Okay...just be careful, both of you" And just like what had happened not so long ago, she'd been forced to once again take shelter as her friends fought on the front-lines; A very regretful kind of Deja vu indeed.
After watching the girl run off, Torrent seemed a bit more relieved for some unknown reason. "Good, now there'll be less casualties. Rage, use the 'manikin field'"
"You got it, bro!" Rage replied as a small black and circle device had appeared in his hands. Holding it up, he'd suddenly shot out a four-legged crane that continuously rose into the sky. After reaching about 40 from where they'd been standing, the crane had finally stopped, but not before encircling the vast area below it with a force field that switched between a wide array of colors as if a rainbow was reflecting its light unto it.
Mega started, "I've got a bad feeling about this. Stay sharp, Geo" And the spiky haired brunette nodded in response.
In Torrent's hand, 3 small yellow balls rested on his palm. After staring at them with anxiety and curiosity, the man immediately threw them a few ways away. For awhile, nothing had happened, but after a few moments, the yellow balls had started to form a different shape...
"Are those...what I think they are...?" Harpnote felt a drop of sweat tickle down her forehead as she questioned and stared at the familiar, yet unwanted being that was being formed. After another moment of clarification, both she and Rockman had confirmed that they were the yellow glob-like creatures known as manikins.
"This can't be good..." Lyra muttered, "If we're fighting them again, we could be in some serious trouble. And...there's actually three of them now"
Taking that fact into consideration, Rockman and Harpnote became even more cautious about the situation. Clearly, they were outnumbered, and they were being blocked off by a strange force field. One of the only things they could do now was...
"Cannon!" They both yelled, creating square weaponry that were aimed directly at the crane-like object that hovered above them. If the source of the barricade was destroyed, then maybe the field would lift.
However, when the shots had made contact, not even a single dent had been created on the the machine. But, that was rather expected since it was just hovering on that spot with no protection whatsoever. On the sidelines, the two brothers merely watched as everything unfolded.
As soon as the manikins had finished their transformation, they'd quickly started on their next task: to absorb anything and everything in their way. Two of them headed towards Rockman and Harpnote, who had just finished taking Pat and Rey to a corner, and one more headed towards Rage and Torrent.
The blue-clad brother grunted, "Hmph, such brainless beings. They don't understand the consequences of their actions" Holding up his projectile weapon, Torrent aimed his vision and locked-on successfully in no time. "Disappear" He said, finally pulling the trigger. At the same time, a thin blue beam had shot along with a short and sharp sound it'd produced. Gaining a headshot, the manikin had suddenly disappeared into remnants of data that floated freely in the air.
"Damn, did you just see that?!" Mega exclaimed, "I've already lost count on how many times we've tried to hit that thing before, but this guy kills it in seconds!"
Rockman had seen what had taken place, but he was just too focused on fighting his seemingly invincible opponent to even notice. The same went for Harpnote.
"Argh, what are we doing wrong?" The blonde teen complained just before stepping out of range from a giant yellow hand that attempted to crush her.
"If they were able to beat it just like that..." Rockman replied, transforming his hand into the yellow enigma blade, "Then maybe this weapon's not our only option after all. But for now, it's the only thing we've got" At once, he'd dashed towards the colossal yellow creature, blade in hand and a keen focus on his face. Jumping forward, he'd dodged an incoming fist strike and had landed on the being's large, yellow arm, giving it a quick slice to detach it right off. Quickly acting, the teen dodged another fist and had landed on the opposite arm. With another strong swing, both of the manikin's arms were now disabled, giving Rockman a crystal clear opportunity to slice the manikin in half.
"Amazing..." Harpnote muttered in awe and regret, wishing she could do the same as well.
In the distance, the two brothers continued to watch the spectacle before their eyes with a feeling of fascination.
"Heh, looks like the manikin field's workin' pretty well, huh bro?" Rage said with a grin.
"Yes, it's working quite well actually" the elder replied, holding in his hand yet another strange device. "I think it's time to further test our experiment" And with the input of a command into the device, the atmosphere around the barricaded area had started to change, and for the worse it'd seemed. If that didn't make the situation bad enough, Torrent had also thrown four more yellow balls that had developed into manikins just like the first three had.
At first, Rockman's body seemed to ignore the oppressive aura of the area, but had eventually felt its full effect. "What the...? My body feels...so heavy"
Unfortunately, this had distracted the blue bomber long enough for him to notice an incoming manikin much too late. Although, instead of taking the hit, a certain someone had decided to take on the burden for him.
"Look out!" Harpnote yelled as she ignored her current pressured state and used every ounce of her strength to push her friend aside, leaving her to be struck down hard by a gigantic yellow fist. As she laid there unconscious, the guitar shaped Lyra tried in vain to call out to her.
"Sonia! Get ahold of yourself! Sonia!" But the girl didn't respond, and instead, Harp could only watch from below as the giant manikin had grabbed her partner's almost lifeless body, draining from it piece by piece in the form of astray data flowing out of her.
Finally realizing what happened, Rockman immediately rushed to her aid, but was stopped dead in his tracks once again by that oppressive force that had attacked his body like gravity.
"Tch, damnit! Why can't I move?!" He exclaimed in complete regret over his own fault. In his mind, he started to imagine the worst. It wasn't the same situation as when the manikin had taken over Luna's body; No, this time, it was directly absorbing Sonia, and if that were to be a success, then she might just simply disappear without a trace just like Ophiuca had. Thinking of that only fueled Rockman's rage even more and had made him even less concerned of his own well being.
"Damn! Damn! DAMN! COME ON BODY, MOVE! PLEASE, MOVE! SONIA!!!"
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And at that moment, it'd felt like an unknown energy had just sprung to life inside Rockman's body. It was a very familiar feeling which he'd first experienced during the destruction of that wave meteor not so long ago. As he grasped his head in pain, the energy only grew stronger.
"Geo, what's wrong?!" Mega asked his partner, receiving pained groans in response from the boy. Shortly after, the AM-ian had felt the same thing.
"What...the hell?" And finally, a swirl of shining lights had surrounded themselves around the blue armored boy, rising in colorful zigzags as they repeatedly turned and whirled around like the wind itself. This gust of wind, as well as the graceful combination of lights, had lasted for a short while until it'd finally revealed its captive: The heavily white armored Rockman called White Ace. His arm now sported his signature rectangular blaster that was etched with yellow mechanical lines that glowed just like the ones on his armor and wings.
There was but one thing that was different though. His eyes had this lifeless look, as if he wasn't even himself, but another completely different person. Without even a hint of emotion, the transformed warrior lifted his blaster and aimed it in a split second, letting lose a gigantic beam that contained a mixture of blue and white flashes that engulfed the manikin's body, destroying it in seconds and leaving only the arm that had grabbed Harpnote.
In a flash, Rockman had appeared right below the falling Harpnote and had caught the girl in his arms. When he'd gently put her down in a safe distance, he quickly used his mechanical seraph-like wings to push himself up into the air, aiming the blaster once again after doing so.
"With this...I sentence you to death..." Rockman had said in an almost toneless voice. At that threat, he'd fired a much larger circular blast right at the center of the whole field, and from it, a massive dome of light eradicated all the manikins that were left. In truth, this attack would've even eliminated Harpnote and the two brothers as well if Rockman hadn't moved her to a safe spot, or the siblings hadn't moved farther away in time.
Rage whistled in amazement, "Whew, hold the fire! One more second and we might've been fried up too!"
His elder brother replied, "I agree. We'll need to be careful of this one..."
From a corner, a now conscious Harpnote watched as the dome of light had disappeared into nothing, leaving an out-cold Geo Stellar whom she quickly rushed over to.
"Geo! Hey, Geo!" She cried out, shaking the spiky haired teen as much as possible.
"This isn't good..." Lyra added, "It looks like his energy's all drained out. And...it's not just that, but it's affecting his entire body. His heartbeat's extremely slow...it's almost as if he's in a coma..." Looking beside the boy, the FM-ian could see that Mega was more or less in the same state. Both of them seemed like they were in hibernation mode if anything else.
But before Harpnote could respond to her partner, she first had to deal with a certain pair of brothers who had nothing but bad intentions as they stood in front of her and her sleeping friend.
"Sorry missy" Rage grinned, "But we're gonna need to take this kid with us. No hard feelings...alright?" At his last word, he'd drawn his two large swords and had infused in them a burning flame. Next to him, Torrent had readied his weapon as well. Just as one bad situation had passed, another was about to unfold.
That didn't mean the red-clad girl was about to just let things go by their way though. As she stood up, she grasped her guitar-like weapon and stood tall in front of her foes.
Torrent grunted, "Do you actually think you can beat us all by yourself?"
"Well...you won't know till' you try, right?" She replied with a smile although her fear could almost reach a mountaintop right about now; nonetheless, she was still determined to at least try and do as much as she could. Fortunately for her, she wouldn't be alone in the fight after all, for another person had now awakened from his slumber.
"And she ain't alone!" Gemini Bolt suddenly yelled excitedly as his transparent lightning blade had clashed with Rage's own steel. "I still need to pay you back for hitting me out of nowhere, you damn punk. Good thing I moved my body forward a little so I could dodge even a bit of that blow. I'm betting you thought I didn't even sense you, huh?"
"Well, maybe a little" Rage happily replied as their swords scraped against each other.
And so, another battle had commenced, this time with the two brothers as their opponents. On one hand, Gemini Bolt carried his electricity-based sword, and on the other, a yellow steel hand with holes on the fingers which acted as a rapid firing machine that shot out small bullets of shocking current.
After spinning one of his great swords in order to deflect the incoming fire, Rage immediately threw his other blade like a javelin, almost getting a clean hit if Rey hadn't moved his head in time. Before Gemini could even look back at the thrown weapon, Rage was on the move again, using the other fiery steel to clash about five times before strongly kicking his foe a few ways back. With newly obtained space, Rage slammed his sword into the ground, creating a massive wave of flame that sprung like a bullet. In order to counter the attack, Gemini Bolt formed his rapid-fire arm into a single-shot cannon, firing a large blast of lightning that ultimately crashed with the inferno in front of him, creating a loud and massive quake.
Meanwhile, Harpnote had her hands full as well as she tried to deal with one big problem, that being Torrent's sniper-like aim. Firstly, she tried to get close enough to attack him head on.
"Break saber!" She yelled, transforming her guitar as well as her right hand into a flash of light that revealed the powerful spiral drill. With it, she charged at her foe at full speed.
"Setting to 25 percent..." Torrent mumbled as he lifted his rifle. He pulled the trigger three times, firing three aimed shots at Harpnote although the spiral weapon had created a fan wind strong enough to literally blow the shots away.
"Setting to 50 percent" He said, this time setting a knob on his weapon on a higher value. When he'd pulled the trigger, a slightly brighter shot had flown out of the gun and headed straight for his enemy. Harpnote, on the other hand, thought that the outcome would be the same, but the shot was strong enough to brave through the winds created by the drill, and had destroyed it upon impact.
"Barrier!" She exclaimed, summoning a circular field of protection; however, it'd failed to perform its duty because Torrent's shot proved to be too powerful for it too handle and had shattered it into little pieces, as well as create a powerful force that knocked harpnote off her feet.
"I...can't let these guys take Geo" She mumbled as she tiredly knelt on one knee and breathed deeply.
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As the battle raged on, Pat's mind had wandered into a whole different place; a place with only the dark black space as its surroundings. In it, the boy floated endlessly as he loomed his eyes over the vastness of the endless darkness.
"Where...am I?" He asked himself, looming his eyes over his surroundings. Just then, a small glimpse of light had revealed itself to the green haired teen.
"WHAT IS FREEDOM?" the voice said in a deep and echoing tone.
"What is...freedom?" Pat replied, confused and uncertain.
"ANSWER MY QUESTION, HUMAN" it ordered once again, making the boy think hard about the mysterious being's question. Freedom...was actually a thing that Pat didn't have in the past. That kind of freedom was the freedom within his own self. He and Rey would always conflict over the control of his own body, and this went on for a very long time. But because he'd fought against it, he eventually reclaimed that control. And so he thought, the freedom he longed for back then wasn't even half the value of what freedom really was.
"Freedom..." He finally said, "Is something that gives people a feeling of ease, and allows them to live their lives without being scared. But that's...what I think anyway. I don't know if that's right or wrong, but I'm just basing it from past experiences" And with that signature relaxed smile, he looks straight at the shining light.
"...YOUR ANSWER IS STILL FAR FROM PERFECT...BUT IT CARRIES A GOOD VALUE. IN GOOD TIME, I WILL COME TO YOU AGAIN, BUT FOR NOW...WELL SAID. NOW, THE POWER WORTHY OF THE TITLE 'SPADE' SHALL BE YOURS TO COMMAND..."
And as the voice's words had stopped, a wide array of white had suddenly filled up the dark void that had formerly enveloped Pat's sight. He looked around for a moment, and found a floating card just at the center of the area. He walked towards the object with great curiosity until his eyes could now scan the card from top to bottom.
"Well...here goes nothing" He said, reaching his sturdy hand over to the card. As soon as his fingers had touched it, a blinding light had enveloped him, as well as the smile across his face.
Back at the battle zone, things were looking bleak for Harpnote and Gemini Bolt. It'd seemed that their opponents were simply a little too much for them to handle.
"Gemini Thunder!" Rey yelled, firing a burst of current at his opponent.
"That won't do you any good!" Rage loudly replied as he merged his two swords into one double-bladed spear. Twirling it with great strength, he was able to create a burning tornado that had swallowed Gemini's attack whole. Soon after, the fiery berserker had dashed in front of Rage in a flash, not even giving his foe a chance to move.
"Game over" Rage muttered, his face inches away from Gemini Bolt's, and his blade inches away from giving the final blow.
However, the burning sword had clashed with something much different than flesh...
"...The game's just starting" A newly transformed Alpha Duo grinned, guarding against the attack with one gun, and with the other, he pointed it right at Rage's head and opened fire. In turn, the orange-red armored man lifted his second sword and shielded his face from being blown to bits just before jumping back to give himself some room.
"Whoa, whoa, hold the fire. I don't remember signing up for this" He said in confusion. Obviously, this particular event wasn't part of his plan. Neither did Torrent expect it as well.
Switching his focus of targets, Torrent had caught sight of the holder of 'Spade' as well. Alpha Duo's armor was now ornamented with mechanical green lines that glowed across different pieces. His leg armor sported wing-like thrusters for more mobility and the blades on his guns were longer and were constructed of a laser-like material. The guns themselves looked much more powerful. The barrels were larger and they resembled twin revolvers, seeing that they each had six chambers attached to them.
"Whoa, what just happened, buku?!" Cancer yelled in shock from the vicinity of the device attached to the wave human's arm.
"So another one has appeared...hmph" The blue-orange clad Torrent muttered. "Now, why don't we test the power of the new holder?"
In an instant, five more shots had been aimed at Alpha Duo, all proving useless as he countered with five yellow projectiles of his own, colliding with every bullet that Torrent had fired. A rather applaudable display of accuracy that had caused Torrent to smile an entertained smirk. Behind the dual wielder, Rage quickly approached with both swords in hand. Alpha Duo's swift reflexes had caused him to duck the first slice without even looking, thereafter giving Rage a strong kick that sent him into the air. Aiming quickly, Alpha Duo fired two shots that each knocked away Rage's weapons as if the bullets themselves were remote controlled.
"Got you now" Alpha Duo said, merging his two revolvers into one large twelve-chambered weapon. "Missile Trigger!" With one single pull of the small lever, All twelve of those chambers had been emptied, firing off the exact number of missiles that homed-in on the airborne Rage. When the homing rockets had finally landed on their target, a great explosion ensued, making Harpnote and Rey question themselves whether or not the target was still in one piece.
But unfortunately, he was. As soon as the smoke had cleared, the two brothers were still standing tall, unscathed and undamaged. It'd seemed that Torrent had something to do with that split second intervention, judging by the fact that he wasn't on that spot a few moments ago.
The Celestia member said, "It seems we've prolonged our stay here. Even if we haven't captured that boy, we still have more than enough data already"
"Yeah, I'm with bro on this one" his younger brother added, "I'm feelin' kinda burnt out so I think I'm gonna call it quits for today. But don't worry, we'll be back, so don't start crying now ya hear? Ciao!"
And in a flash of light, they were gone, leaving Alpha Duo to finally get some time to rest. Letting down his battle stance, the pony-tailed boy had dropped on his knees, exhausted and overwhelmed by his own power.
"You okay, buku?!" Cancer said, now materializing out of the boy's MP-Hunter.
"Yeah...I'm fine" He replied, glancing at his surroundings. In the distance, he could see Sonia, Lyra, and an unconscious Geo along with his partner. It had seemed that Rey already left. He didn't know whether or not his other self had fled into his mind, but he was gone. As much as Pat had wanted to clear his mind on everything that had happened, there was still someone who required more concern at the moment.
As Sonia looked down upon the motionless Geo, feelings of worry had rushed through her mind. She had exactly no clue as to what was happening to her companion, nor did she know what to do at that certain time. She could only hope and pray in her thoughts that her friend wasn't seriously injured.
"Geo..."
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From a far away distance, it'd seemed that the two brothers were still in the vicinity of the studio although well hidden from all sight; Furthermore, they were no longer in their wave fused forms and were wearing casual clothes that an average citizen would wear.
"Hmm...it seems that the holder of "Ace" has encountered quite a dilemma" Torrent said, making his brother grunt in response.
"Hold the fire, so that means..." Rage replied, arms crossed in irritation "If he stays like that, he won't be of any use even if we DO catch him"
"Don't worry...that won't be a problem"
"And what makes you say that, bro?"
"Because...that boy is the holder of the 'Ace' card, the only card that can determine the salvation or destruction of millions. You've witnessed its power first-hand, haven't you?"
"Yeah, and I'll tell ya', it's a real powerhouse! I can't wait for the day when we finally get some juice like that!"
"Neither can I. If we're aiming to change our own destinies, then we'll need all the power that we can lay our hands on"
And at that, Rage's eyes had suddenly sharpened with a look of anger and hate. With that infused wrath, he let his arms down and clenched his fists so hard that his finger nails were already bearing themselves into his flesh. Even as blood had dripped from them, it didn't seem like Rage had cared at all. "Yeah...we're not letting something like 'destiny' stand in our way. Whoever tries to interfere...we'll crush em' and bury them with all the rest..."
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Pat: And that ends chapter 7 of Shooting Star Rockman Celestia: 2nd Wave
Sonia: Yup, but for some reason, Geo's called in sick so I'm having Pat take over for now. Say hi to the audience, Pat.
Pat: Yo! Glad to be here.
Cancer: And Cancer's here too, buku!!"
Sonia: Huh? How'd you get in here? Well anyway, the more the merrier so welcome aboard!
Cancer: Thanks, buku! Oh by the way, Sonia, *takes out a long list of activities* You've got voice practice at 3 and then an interview with 'good afternoon Echo Ridge' at 5. After that, you have a scheduled filming at WBG studios at 6:30, and then-
Sonia: Geez, can you please not remind me of all that right now?!
Pat: *Takes a look at the endless stream of paper* Wow...that's quite a schedule.
Filename: Alpha Duo (Spade)
The transformed state of Pat's wave form: Alpha Duo. In this form, his amazing agility is further hightened, and his weapons are given much more destructive abilities. His main attack is 'Missile Trigger' that enables him to shoot twelve locked-on rockets at his foes. His other weapons include his twin revolvers and the laser blades attached to the barrels. He also has thrusters installed on his leg armor that allows him to move with ease.
Filename: WBG Studios
A building with a wide range of facilities be it for the filming of movies, TV shows, etc, or the recording of different songs from various artists.
Filename: Millenia (Shooting Star Rockman Celestia: First wave)
The leader of the infamous organization known as Celestia. She has long black hair and red eyes as cold as the frozen snow. It seems that she has agreed to work with Mr. King of "Dealer" in order to fulfill her desires. Both groups seem to carry secrets that neither is aware about. Other data about her is currently still unknown...
Cancer: *Has just finished reading aloud the whole printed schedule* And that about sums up your schedule for the whole week, 'buku.
Sonia: *Headdesk* I think I'm gonna faint...you take over, Pat...
Pat: If you say so. Now, let's move on to the clue words for next week's chapter.
*Huge screen appears*
The words appear as "Past", "Mu", and "Mettaur"
Pat: Umm...Mettaur? Should that even be important.
Sonia: .......................
Cancer: S-Sonia?! W-Wake up, buku!!
Pat: Okay...this is awkward. Well, that about wraps it up for this show. See you, folks!