Origin Chapter: Rokku, Aimer, & Model M
The faint crackling sounds of thunder made Rokku's skin crawl. Although lightning was very unlikely to happen tonight, the thunder still made him uneasy. He had traversed far from his home in Luna Town, walking on the wide grasslands that were blowing with the winds due to the incoming storm. The rain could come at any moment and the only thing Rokku had to stay somewhat dry was the hood on his sleeveless jacket.
As he jogged in the grasslands in the direction of the Quarry with his giant wrench in hand, Rokku was...thinking over his decision to sneak out and venture to the mines in hopes of finding what he was looking for. "My parents wouldn't approve of what I'm doing..." He said to himself, looking a little guilty as he jogged. "And... There might be Hunters there...or maybe not because of the storm... But this IS illegal... What's my plan anyway? I don't have an energy detection device on me... And Mom and Dad don't have anything like that... Maybe Sprocket might? But he's all the way in Kairos City and he'd totally tell my parents about me being there..."
Rokku steadily slowed down near the edge of a big hill, staring at the ground sternly. He was so eager to go searching around for that special crystal he needed for EVA, believing that his Grandfather would do the same thing and not sit around but... Rokku had to let out a sigh. A defeated sigh. "Dad was right. I gotta wait. Even if it's gonna kill me... Dad DID tell Sprocket about it and he told that Guardian lady about it... Maybe I'll hear something tomorrow morning... Man, this was stupid of me... Time to go home..."
At least... That was Rokku's plan.
He heard footsteps closing in his direction before he heard a thud in the grass along with a feminine grunt. Rokku, curious about who else would be out here given the storm coming, crouched down, and looked over the edge of the hill to look down at a girl on her hands and knees. But most eye-catching, aside from the girl's pink hair with fading white colored tips at all endpoints of her hair, was the floating piece of metal looking down at her.
"Are you okay?!"
Rokku was confused though. He heard a voice, and it sounded a little distant given the circumstances but... Where did the voice come from?
"Haah... Yeah... Haah... Yeah..." The girl panted before slowly getting back on her feet and wiping the debris from the grass off her outfit. "I don't know if it was because my life was on the line but that felt like I ran a million miles..."
"It's probably the adrenaline." The voice replied. "You know, fight or flight?"
"Yeah, I know..." The girl replied. "But I think we lost them. I haven't seen them since we got out of there."
"I'm sorry." The voice apologized. "I feel like I'm the reason you're in this mess... I wish I could lend you my power but... I don't think you're compatible with me..."
"Don't worry about it," She replied, still panting, and trying to catch her breath. "Really. This is part of my job. And I'm used to the incompatibility part. I can hear Biometals, but I can't seem to merge with any..."
"Well, if you can get me to some Biometal researcher, maybe we can- Wait, what's THAT!?"
Suddenly, from afar, they could hear what sounded like the horn of a car...or rather a motorbike. Rokku, the girl, and the floating piece of metal looked in the direction of the honking horn. The girl's eyes widened in fear as she recognized the individuals on the rapidly approaching vehicle. It was a stylized yellow hoverbike and the red Sniper Joe-looking bot was at the wheel. He made a fancy stop in front of the girl and the floating piece of metal beside her, hopping out with his two allies hopping out from the two sidecars attached to the bike from each side.
"You've got to be kidding me!" The voice shouted in disbelief.
"You thought you'd lost us?" The Joe asked, his cape dramatically blowing behind him because of the strong winds. "How laughably foolish of you both but befitting of little children like yourselves!"
"We just wanted to fetch our fancy-dancy ride to get you!" The Batton taunted. "Now that we're out of those caverns, we can catch you in style!"
"No more running away, lady!" The Met shouted. "Now hand over the Biometal already! You don't have a window to shoot out of this time!"
"No way!" The girl replied. "After you just shot at me too!?"
"You make a compelling argument," The Joe replied. But he then materialized his Buster again and aimed at the girl. "But we're not asking. We're telling. And I'm not saying it a third time. You REALLY should be taking the deal given how crazy lenient I'm being despite the stunt you pulled."
"I'm not going with you!" The voice told them. "You guys shot at us! You can't be good people!"
"No choice, no choice! Haha!" The Batton replied.
"There's always a choice!" The girl retorted, hoping to get them to back down peacefully... It was a worthless effort, given that these guys were willing to shoot her earlier. She knew that she couldn't fight them with what she had. She needed to do something other than giving away the Biometal and her life.
"Yeah, give us the Biometal and you don't die!" The Met also retorted.
"...Are you going to make me count?" The Joe asked with an aggravated tone.
"Seriously, he reaaally doesn't wanna shoot ya for real!" The Batton stated.
"And you bozos almost shooting my foot off earlier wasn't 'for real'!?" The girl shouted.
"Enough!" The Joe shouted. "I'm starting the countdown!"
Cutting the conversation suddenly was a giant wrench landing between the two groups, briefly being stuck to the ground...before anti-climatically falling over on the grass.
"...What?" The Joe said, its eye twitching in confusion.
Following the giant wrench came a young boy, landing dramatically in front of the fallen wrench. He picked it up and held it with both hands, pointing at the Joe-looking bot. Rokku frowned and kept his eyes firmly on the one with the Buster on his arm.
"Okay, that's enough!" Rokku shouted.
Tizio, Caio, and Sempronio stared at the teenage boy that held...what they presumed to be his weapon of choice in their direction. They all, including Sempronio, looked surprised; the latter evident by his singular red eye shrinking to a tiny size. It quickly reverted to normal as he began questioning,
"What the- Where did you come from!? Who are you!?"
"What are you!?" Tizio replied.
"HOW are you!?" Caio also replied.
The girl, Aimer, stared at her supposed rescuer. He was taller than him by a couple of centimeters and looked to be around the same age as her.
"Well, I was feeling pretty lousy and the storm that's coming isn't helping- Wait, this isn't about me!" Rokku shouted, shaking his head. "I don't know what's going on or why you troublemaking triple threat guys are here messing with this girl and... Uh, this weird floating piece of metal that I'm pretty sure was talking, but I see you got an arm cannon so you've GOT to be the bad guys here!"
The three robots looked at Rokku in utter disbelief. The only thing keeping this from being utterly silent was the strong winds blowing about.
The Biometal, Model M, paid special attention to Rokku. If he had a face, he'd be sharing the same astonished look on Aimer's face.
But suddenly, Sempronio slowly but surely broke into hysterical laughter.
"Hehehe... Hahahaha... AAAAH HA HA HA HAAAA!"
"W-What's so funny, Maverick?" Rokku asked, his hands trembling slightly while holding his giant wrench.
"We're NOT Mavericks!" Tizio cried out again. "First the girl, now you!?"
"But heeey, you heard what else he called us?" Caio asked. "Troublemaker Triple Threat, was it? I kinda like it! We DO need a team name, after all! But that might be too long... Triple Threat also sounds too basic..."
"How about the Trouble Trio?" Tizio asked.
"Quiet!" Sempronio shouted at the two. "We'll discuss it in our next general meeting!" He then turned towards Rokku. "I guess you're going to play the hero, eh?"
"W-What of it?"
Tizio hopped up and down ferociously. "If you're gonna play the hero, then make it quick already! We're taking so long getting the Biometal, so let's get a move on already before she gets mad at us!"
"True, she's gonna be waiting on our recon reports, Sempronio," Caio replied, sounding stern.
"Alright, fine," Sempronio spoke up, its singular eye looking at Rokku. "You're new here, so I'm offering you a chance to keep your life and run off like a good boy. And as for you? I want that Biometal, and I want it now. Tizio. Caio. Ready yourselves."
Tizio materialized his mallet and Caio's eyes looked angry. Sempronio, on the other hand, tilted his Buster to the slide slightly and fired a shot that grazed just past Rokku's left shoulder sleeve, causing a tear and small scorch mark.
"Ah! My shirt!"
"Forget your shirt! THAT was a warning shot. I'm not missing the next one. So make a decision and make it a quick one." Sempronio warned.
Rokku grits his teeth. His heart was pounding so much. His legs were beginning to tremble just like his arms, but his eyes, despite clearly displaying fear, were firmly placed on Sempronio. He could very well lose his life here just for trying to help this girl and this floating metal called Biometal...
"...Sorry, but I won't be able to live with myself if I left when I could be doing something here!" Rokku told Sempronio sternly, grasping his hands on the handle of his wrench. "No deal!"
Aimer's face softened as she smiled in Rokku's direction. Model M, on the other hand, silently observed the situation... before hovering closer to Rokku, something which Aimer, Rokku, or the enemy didn't notice...
Sempronio scoffed. "Fine. If you're so worried about your conscience, then you can lose your life here!"
Rokku's eyes shut as he was preparing to charge forward and swing his wrench like a typical melee weapon. It'd probably be a worthless gesture. He'd probably be shot before he even took his first step. But the urge to help someone in need in this time of crisis overrode Rokku's strong desire to flee and keep his life.
"Hey, Mister!" The voice from earlier called out in Rokku's head. The boy was shocked to hear a voice and remained still just as he was about to move. It felt like time around him was slowing to a crawl as Model M floated right beside Rokku and looked directly at him. As if on instinct, Rokku looked at Model M. "We're in a bad situation, but we can get out of it together!"
Rokku was confused, but before he could make ask questions, Model M started to glow. That bright light quickly enveloped Rokku as Model M went straight towards Rokku.
"WHAT!?" The three enemy bots cried out.
"NO! IT'S HAPPENING!" Sempronio shouted and started blasting on the bright light. But the shots were absorbed into the light, much to Sempronio's chagrin.
The feeling that was coursing throughout Rokku's entire body made him want to scream. It was overwhelming. It was...like a surge of energy, power, and knowledge came from the Biometal and started to pour into Rokku's body... No, his heart... His mind... Everywhere! He felt like he was changing, his entire body morphing around inside, transforming him into a being different than that of a human and reploid. The data that flowed into his mind from the Biometal was feeding him the knowledge that Rokku either barely heard or never even heard of, but now it felt like it was just general knowledge to him. Materializing around his body was armor and a bodysuit that was just as tough as the obvious armor pieces latching onto his body.
"BIOLINK ESTABLISHED! M.E.G.A. SYSTEM ONLINE!"
This was a Biometal. Model M was a Biometal. And Rokku was a Biomatch; a Chosen One. An individual chosen by the Biometal to inherit the powers it held within this hand-sized floating piece of metal.
As the light died down, standing there was no longer just Rokku, and Model M (and the giant wrench) was nowhere to be found. As Model M just said, a Biolink was established; The process of a Chosen One and Biometal becoming one singular entity. Rokku was now a Mega Man, an entity different from humans and reploids alike.
Rokku panted heavily, holding out his hands to look at the new blue-clad armor that had materialized on him. On his head was a helmet that shared a similar design to Model M's, but it was bigger and fit on Rokku's head nicely, but his hair stuck out the bottom back of the helmet, appearing as long and thick sharp spikes... And the hair was black when Rokku's hair was normally brown. He wore a sleeveless armored vest and on his shoulders were tight small shoulder plates akin to the one Aimer had. He also wore blue armored gauntlets, blue armored briefs, and blue armored boots. His faintly armored bodysuit was black and was seen in the openings of his blue armor, giving him an overall, blue and black color scheme. This bodysuit was typically seen on most citizens of the world, but this was clearly more enforced. Even his fingerless gloves looking hands had white tips like other people.
"This...This power..." Rokku breathed, his hands shaking not from fear or tiredness but...the rush of it all. That experience was...wild. "I...I think I know it. I don't know h-how but... This... This power... It's Mega Man power, isn't it!? But... How do I know that!?"
"No way..." Aimer gasped in shock and awe, her mouth held just before her mouth.
"Oh no no no!" Caio freaked out, landing on Sempronio's shoulder and shuddering. "H-H-He's...!"
"A MEGA MAN!" Tizio cried.
"And he's a Chosen One with the Mega Man too, no less..." Sempronio calmly, but angrily, acknowledged. "This just put a hole in our plans! FALL BACK!"
Sempronio, with Caio on his shoulder, hopped onto the bike with Tizio following behind. Rather than drive away, the three with the bike teleported away.
Rokku blinked at the sight of these enemy bots just...bailing. "Wow... Did... Did I just scare them off?"
"I think we scared them off, Mister." Model M replied with a cute chuckle...despite not being present anywhere.
Rokku winced in surprise hearing Model M's voice. "I-I'm so confused... Who are you? And how are you talking in my head like this? Are you a telepath or something?"
"No, I'm not a telepath... At least, I don't think so." Model M said. "You're using my power right now. I'm Biometal Model M!"
"Model...M?"
"Yuh-huh! You're taking this surprisingly easy!" Model M stated.
"Actually... I'm freaking out right now... I feel like I wanna faint... but not really? I mean, I DO wanna faint but... I can't? It's hard to explain..." Rokku said, wanting to scratch his head (but couldn't due to the helmet) as he tried figuring things out. "But... How did this happen? This armor and stuff?"
"Well, I noticed you could hear me earlier," Model M told him, referring to the part where Rokku acknowledged Model M as a 'floating piece of metal'.
"What do you mean?" Rokku asked.
It was then that Aimer intervened, now snapped out of her trance, and taking the time to talk with Rokku since her pursuers have fled out of fear. "Regular people can't hear Biometals like Model M. If you can hear them, like me, that means you're a Chosen One and you can megamerge with a Biometal!"
"S-So, I'm a Chosen One then?" Rokku asked. "That's...crazy."
"It is crazy, yeah~" Aimer agreed. "But it's great too! Since you can use Biometal, that means you're pretty brave!"
"Really?" Rokku exclaimed as his cheeks flushed. "I-I'm brave?"
"You gotta be!" Aimer told him. "Not a lot of people your age would do what you did! And I'm very grateful, Mister Hero~!"
"Wait! Hold on!" Model M shouted to stop Rokku and Aimer. "Something's coming! From above!"
Rokku and Aimer were both alerted to Model M's warning. Despite that, neither of them was prepared for a giant mechaniloid to suddenly descend from the sky and land in front of the two teens, briefly shaking the ground. This mechaniloid was a turtle-looking foe, standing on all fours and viciously staring at Rokku and Aimer. Soaring in the area was a small pod-like mobile contraption with Sempronio, Tizio, and Caio hiding behind the glass of it. This looked to be a one-man hovercar, but Tizio and Caio's small size meant they could fit in with Sempronio despite his tallness. Sempronio, once again taking the wheel of a vehicle, pressed a button to open the glass.
"I've offered you brats PLENTY of chances to live on with your lives!" Sempronio's voice boomed out to them. "All you had to do was give up the Biometal! But now I'm DONE playing nice!"
Rokku glared at the mechaniloid then at Sempronio in his mobile aircraft. "Why are you guys back!?" He shouted. Rokku never came face-to-face with a mechaniloid before, let alone an enemy one. He feels like he should be running away but... Something told him to stick around and to try and convince them to stop... Even if his efforts were futile. "Just go away already!"
"Oh, we'll be going! As soon as you two are dead and we got that Biometal!" Sempronio told him. "Feast your eyes on the Neo Gamerizer FX! Since you megamerged with the Biometal, this is gonna get a LOT more painful for you, kiddo! Gamerizer, destroy them! HA HA HA!"
The mechaniloid stomped its mechanical front feet on the ground, its upper left foot stomping followed by the upper right foot. This rhythmic stomping went on until the Neo Gamerizer FX roared. Aimer took note of the fact that the mechaniloid's mouth was not empty. It had a cannon inside.
"I hate to say this, Mister, but we're going to have to fight!" Model M told Rokku.
"Fight? For real?" Rokku exclaimed. "I-I think I can do that but... That mechaniloid looks pretty scary! And kinda cool, but mostly scary!"
"I believe in you," Aimer told him, patting his back. "You're a Mega Man, and when you successfully megamerge, you'll have some idea on how to defend yourself and others!"
"O-Okay! I trust you! Both of you!" Rokku told them, nodding his head quickly.
"Then ready the Mega-Buster!" Model M told him.
"Uhh... Um... Mega Buster..." Rokku thought about it...then his right hand disappeared into an Arm Cannon like the one Sempronio had. "AAAAH! My hand! Where did it go!?"
"Calm down! Your hand isn't gone!" Model M explained. "You ARE holding onto a trigger right now. We don't have time to talk like this! Just defeat the mechaniloid!"
From the cannon in its mouth, the Gamerizer proceeded to shoot a colorful laser beam in front of Rokku and Aimer. The two teens gasped, but Rokku instinctively shoved Aimer away while he took the full brunt of the blast. "AUGH!" Surprisingly, the big laser beam didn't tear through his stomach. Instead, as if he were hit with pressured water from a hose, the beam pushed and slammed him against the slope of the hill from behind them. The beam dissipated and the Gamerizer closed its mouth.
"Oww..." Rokku groaned, lying on his back against the slope. He looked at his stomach... There was no visible damage on him (yet) but it hurt for sure, make no mistake. "That... That should've killed me. It just...really hurt though... Ow..."
The Gamerizer's face suddenly transformed. Its jaw had reinforced metal plating, but the transformation resulted in its entire face being covered by that very metal plating. Aimer, while on the ground, noticed this and turned to face Rokku. "Hey! Get up! That mechaniloid's gonna charge!"
"Charge what?" Rokku asked. His eyes widened as the mechanical feet on the Gamerizer were sucked inside of its shell...and the entire body hovered into the air as the holes from where the feet were sucked into suddenly became rocket boosters. Those rocket boosters turned to propel the mechaniloid, rushing towards Rokku with a clear intent to ram him. This made Rokku freak out, "CRAP-!"
Rokku quickly got up and jumped over the charging Gamerizer. To Rokku's surprise, he jumped higher than he thought. But... He also instinctively knew to jump that high. He probably couldn't fly but he was at most jumping higher than any normal person should. As he landed on the grand, he held onto the side of his Mega-Buster with his left hand. "Whoa..."
"Yeah," Model M agreed, looking at the Gamerizer crashing into the slope of the hill and being stuck inside until it brought out its feet again to try and pry itself out. "Okay, I think I remember fighting something like this before. In my previous life."
"Your previous life?" Rokku repeated.
"Yeah," Model M told him. "This thing looks to be based on that robot I fought. The previous one was a modified VTOL aircraft that acted as its shell. It could detach from the shell and deploy some Spotaro robots. Last I checked, it shot out flames from that cannon, not laser beams. And that shell looks like it can't come off... But more to the point, his shell is completely invincible to our Buster. Our best shot is at the head but only when it's exposed. Can you focus on doing that?"
"I-I'll try!" Rokku said.
"Glad to hear it, because it's coming back!" Model M shouted.
The Gamerizer freed itself and turned around to start charging towards Rokku again. The young Mega Man got up on his feet and readied his Buster, gritting his teeth. "Come and get me!"
The mechaniloid charged towards Rokku once again, but the boy had more than enough time to dodge despite its speed. Rokku dove and rolled out of the way while the Gamerizer stopped after missing, stopping, and landing while bringing out its feet before hopping in a full 180 to look at Rokku again as its face revealed itself once more. It opened its mouth and prepared to fire another laser.
"Take this!" With its face exposed, Rokku started to shoot a couple of solar energy bullets at the mechanical beast's face. Just before the Gamerizer could shoot the laser, it roared out in pain from the shots. Rokku couldn't explain it, but aside from the training he got from his father, it felt like he's fought before and knew just what to do for the most part.
"Great! You can charge your Buster too!" Model M told him. "Hold onto the 'trigger'! You'll know when you're fully charged! The bigger blast, the bigger the damage, and the bigger the impact! But it'll take time to charge, so strategize until it's ready!"
"Got it, Model M!" Rokku called out.
The Gamerizer shot its laser beam again, but Rokku dove again. To his shock, the Gamerizer stomped its feet as it turned to follow Rokku. Aimer shrieked and made a mad dash to a nearby tree to hop onto it and dodge the laser that almost cut her in half. Said tree was cut and scorched by the laser, causing it to tilt over with Aimer on it. She hopped out of the way just in time but winced at the sound of the fallen tree behind her hitting the grass.
"These calls are getting closer and closer, and I hate it...!" Aimer cried to herself.
Rokku, while charging his Mega Buster and running from the laser, noticed Aimer was in peril. "Hey! Are you okay?!"
"Don't worry about me! I'm fine!" Aimer told him, now on top of the hill. "Finish that thing off already!"
"That's the plan..." Rokku thought. Aimer could've gotten hurt. He needs to end this now.
Once the Gamerizer stopped shooting its laser beam, Rokku closed the distance between the two. He figured that if he was far away, it'd either shoot its laser again or close its face up to try and ram him again. Even if this mechaniloid had another attack, Rokku would get close and release the full brunt of his charged shot.
"HAAA!" Rokku aimed the barrel of the Buster and released a powerful blast of condensed energy into the Gamerizer's face. The blast was enough to cause the mechaniloid to reel its head away and wail in pain. Although the blast was strong enough to blow off part of its face, revealing a little bit of the endoskeleton within, the Gamerizer was still active.
"It's not done yet?!" Rokku cried.
"Don't give up!" Model M told him. "I think another fully charged shot will finish it for good!"
The face of the Gamerizer transformed again, but instead of hovering, the rocket boosters on each side aimed in opposite directions... Making the mechaniloid spin wildly like a spinning top or a wheel. This caught Rokku off guard as he was rammed by the Gamerizer by this spinning attack, sending him flying to the grass, bouncing off of his side before falling face flat. He groaned in pain. "O-Okay... That somehow hurt more than the laser... ... ..."
"You're still in one piece!" Model M assured him. "Stay calm, alright? It's almost beaten. Just keep evading its attacks and watch for an opening. It's gotta stop spinning at some point!"
"Okay!"
The Gamerizer continued spinning around along the grass, completely ruining the grass, and showing a dirt path in the shape of the spinning mecha turtle as it spun all-around in donuts while aiming right for Rokku at various points. He jumped, rolled, and dodged all future attempts to get hit.
"Wait for it..." Model M said.
Rokku landed in front of a giant boulder. It gave him an idea, resulting in a small smirk. The Gamerizer stopped spinning and started hovering and attempting to ram at him again. Rokku, once again, jumped out of the way.
"Waaait for it..."
As part of Rokku's plan, the Gamerizer rammed into a giant boulder that was behind the young teen. Although the Gamerizer had enough strength to completely knock the boulder over, it made the mechaniloid stop dead in its tracks as it landed to the ground and exposed its face and feet. The mechaniloid shook its head wildly before hopping to do a 180 once again.
"NOW!"
Rokku, who had been charging his Mega Buster since he tricked the Gamerizer into ramming into the boulder, dashed towards the mechaniloid and released one more charged shot in the face of the Gamerizer. This time, the entire head of the Gamerizer was blown off from the blast, even sending the mechaniloid into the air as it felt on its back. One by one, beams of light started shooting out of the inactive mechaniloid's body before it started violently exploding. Rokku shielded his eyes from the light and force of the explosion with his arms. When things died down, Rokku lowered his hands with widened eyes to see that the mechaniloid was utterly obliterated, with only tiny useless pieces of scrap being left behind.
"I...I did it?" Rokku muttered under his breath. "I did it!"
Sempronio slammed his fists on the console, gaining attention from Rokku and Aimer. "AAARGH! The brat actually did it!? IMPOSSIBLE!"
"Run away! Run away!" Caio cried.
"That mechaniloid wasn't cheap!" Tizio also cried, waving its floating sphere-like hands out of fear.
"You'll regret this!" Sempronio told them, pointing at the two dramatically before tapping a button on the panel to put the glass back over the mobile aircraft. "Farewell, for now!"
With that, the trio teleported with the aircraft, leaving the scene. This time, they weren't coming back with a mechaniloid.
Rokku blinked, uncertain of what to feel immediately. But he then breathed a sigh of relief. It was over.
"And that takes care of that!" Model M cheered.
"You did it!" Aimer cried, rushing to Rokku's side. "I knew you could do it!"
Rokku turned to her and smiled. "Thanks for believing in me... Um... Come to think of it, I don't know your name. I'm Rokku."
"And I'm Aimer." She greeted back. "You looked like a real natural fighter, Rokku!"
Rokku tapped his chin, frowning. "Speaking of... Model M. Why did you help me?"
Model M was quick to reply, as his voice was firm and serious, "What those three were doing was wrong. But I can't exactly do much in my new body and I couldn't merge with Aimer. But then you came along. Not only could you hear my voice, but... You showed real bravery today. Even though you didn't know me or Aimer, you were willing to stand up to these dangerous guys. So I figured that you deserved to use my powers. And with those powers, you used them to protect Aimer. For that, I thank you."
"Me too." Aimer agreed, but then she folded her arms. "But that was also really reckless! What if you couldn't hear Model M? You could've died!"
Rokku frowned at Aimer, looking a little guilty. "I know... But when someone's in trouble I just... Sometimes I don't think, I just do. I just feel like I should be doing something because I can. I guess that does make me kind of reckless..."
"Yeah, but it also makes you selfless," Model M added with a hint of happiness in his voice. "You could've run away when that Sniper Joe guy told you to, but you stayed. But Aimer's also not wrong. In the future, I think you should be a little more careful. Some bad guys won't be as lenient as that guy was."
"True..." Rokku sighed.
Aimer tilted her head at Rokku's responses. She sensed that something was off, so she decided to do something. Standing in front of Rokku, she grabbed his hands and looked him in the eyes. "Sounds like you're overwhelmed."
"Preeetty much, yeah..." Rokku admitted. He just met three random guys that were trying to kill them, he met a pretty girl his age, and a floating piece of metal that just merged with him to make him one of those Mega Men he's heard about. Not to mention he just fought his very first mechaniloid...and it wasn't even that hard. But it was still all...so much to take within a single hour.
"If you'd like, you can come with me to my lab, and Model M and I can explain everything we know to you." Aimer offered. "After all, you're a Mega Man now. And given how you're kinda dragged into this, I think you deserve to know. But only if you want to though."
Just after saying that, the two felt raindrops dripping down on them. Slowly at first, but then it quickly began pouring down. Aimer, funnily enough, kept her eyes on Rokku, her face unchanging which was a contrast to Rokku's face who was surprised and looking up at the sky.
"...And I'd make a decision right now because I don't like getting soaked." Aimer told him...a tinge of annoyance in her tone, though it wasn't Rokku's fault.
"Uh... Yeah. Okay." Rokku agreed.
With a nod, Aimer let go of Rokku's hands and told him to follow her as she began running from the scene's aftermath. Rokku hesitated a bit, earning concern from Model M.
"Rokku?"
"I'm going, I'm going," Rokku said before running after Aimer who had gotten a little far by now.
Given all the craziness that happened and the fact that he was following a girl to her lab, Rokku could only hope in his thoughts that he could return home before his parents awoke.
At an undisclosed location, those three Reploids that attacked Rokku, Aimer, and Model M were walking past two giant doors that slid open when they approached.
"What're we going to do?!" Caio cried, still perched on Sempronio's shoulder. "She's gonna blow a casket!"
"She'll punish us for sure...!" Tizio whimpered, walking beside the taller Reploid.
"Shut up, you two." Sempronio coldly spat out as he sat on a swivel chair and spun it around to face a giant computer monitor as Tizio hopped on the right arm of the chair. This room looked to be the command center of a very small airship. "We'll tell her all we need to tell her. Plain and simple. Just let ME handle the talking. We're already late contacting her, and I can handle her better than any of you can."
"You can stop bragging about it." Caio rolled his eyes.
"It's not bragging. It's fact." Sempronio retorted sternly.
The lights on the monitor turned on as Sempronio typed a few keys on the keyboard to set up the comm system. Suddenly, a giant symbol resembling a speaker phone appeared on the screen. Looks like this was a sound-only transmission.
"Well, well, well... It took you a while to get back to me." A feminine voice came from the monitor. "I thought I made myself very clear that I wished to hear a report before the storm came?"
"Yes, well-" Sempronio was interrupted by the girl's shouting voice,
"THANKS TO YOU, I'M DRENCHED!" The girl roared. "I WAS WAITING TO HEAR BACK SO WE COULD COMMENCE WITH THE MISSION! NOW WE HAVE TO WAIT EVEN LONGER!"
"Mistress, if I may," Sempronio flatly retorted. "You have very obvious means of escaping the rain. Why didn't you...warp away?"
"NOT THE POINT!" The girl barked back, much to Sempronio's annoyance.
"Well, it's not OUR fault!" Caio shot back, much to Tizio's fear.
"Sssh! Don't talk back!" Tizio whispered.
"Not your fault, huh?" The girl said with an unconvinced tone. "Is that right? Okay. I'll humor you. If it's not your fault, then who is it?"
Sempronio groaned and rested his elbow on the console and rested his head on his hand. "As I was trying to get at, we've completed about 80% of our recon. Unfortunately, our recon's incomplete. But on the plus side, we got the most important location reconned. You wanted Kairos City especially, didn't you?"
"Hmph. An incomplete recon is still incomplete." The girl corrected. "But do tell me what happened that made your recon...incomplete."
"If you'll believe it, we found a Biometal in the Quarry. And it was the only Biometal signature on the island." Sempronio explained. "We paused our recon mission to investigate the signature."
"Oh~?" The girl coo'd playfully. "Color me intrigued then... But let me guess: You stooges botched it, didn't you?"
"You could say that," Sempronio admitted. It was his fault, after all. He hesitated to act when he could've easily shot those kids down and took the Biometal. Or better yet, he could've shot the one kid back in the Quarry and left her there. But he had his reasons... Reasons that his allies knew, but he sure wasn't going to tell the girl and risk being further chewed out. "Turns out that the Biometal was able to megamerge with someone and forced us to retreat."
"..." The girl was silent for a little while. This silence left the three, including Sempronio, a little concerned about why this was. Would she scream some more? Calmly tell them their punishment? Blow up their present location? But she soon spoke after almost a minute of uncomfortable silence, "...What was the Biometal's designation?"
"Model M, ma'am!" Tizio shouted. "It was called Model M!"
"...Can't say I've heard of it." The girl replied.
"Ohhh, but you'll be familiar with it~!" Caio grinned, sounding a little less uncomfortable and a little more arrogant since the girl wasn't shouting her head off.
"And why do you say that?" The girl asked challengingly. Sempronio could easily imagine this individual looking at them with a look of skepticism and her arms crossed.
"Because," Sempronio began. "This Biometal contains the soul of Mega Man. The Mega Man from the 21st Century during so-called 'the Wily Wars'."
The three of them heard the girl noticeably gasp out loud. If Sempronio could, he'd smirk from a successful gamble. Even without a mouth, the shape of his eye was altered just a bit to give the idea that he was in fact smirking. And as she began talking, Sempronio could also hear her smiling...
"Aaah, what an interesting development..." The girl replied with an eagerly sinister tone. "Then that changes some things, and for the better~"
"Y-You're... You're not upset?" Tizio asked timidly. "I-It's... a Mega Man, you know?"
The girl scoffed, "A Mega Man with the power of the Mega Man~ Why should I be upset~? The opportunities are vast with this information in hand."
"...What would you have us do, Mistress?" Sempronio asked.
"For now, you continue your reconnaissance," The girl told them. "In two days, we proceed with the plan, but we'll have to make some last-minute changes to the script to make the first act even better than the last version~"
Feeling successful in their endeavor, Tizio and Caio grinned, while Sempronio let out a sinister mechanical sounding chuckle.
"...As you wish, Mistress Folly, " Sempronio said before the feed cut. A hush fell over the room as the three Reploids were content with how things had gone with their 'boss'...