Chapter 8: Dancing in Fire & Ice
Selena Island did not have a proper beach and the dangerous coastlines are the reason for that. Despite this, the rocky shores behind the large mountains provided a good hideout for the Raiders group known as the Gravers. Inside one of the mountains on this coastline was a large cavern where the Gravers were hiding out... Or at least, a portion of them were hiding out.
The Gravers were using mechaniloids and carts to move around various materials and Energy Crystals around the cavern, utilizing the flashlights on their helmets and the small lanterns they've hung up to navigate the chambers. Quickly, they were using the teleporter pads stationed to move materials out of the cavern. One by one, these Gravers came in and out of the teleporters.
But there was one individual that stuck out among the group. A very small individual. A Mettaur. And that individual approached a blonde woman with her eyes covered by her helmet's visors.
"Hurry up! Hurry up!" The individual known as Tizio shouted. "You are behind schedule!"
The woman looked down at Tizio, holding a clipboard and having a glare behind her visor. "Yeah, I get it, hard hat." She responded with an exasperated sigh. "We're moving as fast as we can."
Tizio hopped up and down in frustration. "You Gravers have been so incompetent! How could you let yourselves be found out by those Guardians and Sentries!?"
"Last I checked, you and the others scouted this place out for us." The woman retorted.
"Yeah, we did! And it was perfect!" Tizio barked back. "All you had to do was not get caught! Now we gotta fight those guys off! I should've been with Mistress today!"
The woman said nothing and continued to observe her fellow team members move the materials. In her mind, she knew that the Mettaur had a point...despite his childish behavior. She felt lucky that this Mettaur was here in place of her boss. Even if the Mettaur was behaving as he were, she'd rather deal with this than the wrath of her boss.
"...Meh. All we gotta do is keep them at bay." The woman replied with a casual shrug. "Winnin' or losin'? Doesn't matter. We just need to keep them back long enough to escape with everything we got here."
Tizio had his orb-like hands on his...head. It looked like he had his 'hands' on his hips...but he lacked hips. "Fortunately for you, I'm here to help~ But if I lose, then we got a backup plan. It's called fighting fire with fire~ ...With some ice added to it~"
The woman saw the evil look on Tizio's face and a cautious brow rose behind her visor...
Inside of a small aircraft, a megamerged Rokku sat in a room with four other members of Sentry, preparing to join other Guardians and Sentries on the assault where the Gravers were hiding out. Rokku sat on a lone chair, hands on his knees as he stared at his boots and fidgeted about.
"What's wrong?" Model M asked.
"...N-Nothing." Rokku muttered under his breath, still looking...uneasy. "...Uhhh... I-I'm just not used to being this high up is all..."
Model M was puzzled by his partner's statement but didn't say anything further as a Sentry soldier spoke up from Rokku's right.
"Talking to yourself there?" The soldier asked.
Rokku looked up and blinked. He boarded this aircraft less than 10 minutes ago and was getting close to his destination... But he only now noticed who was beside him in the row of seats on his right.
"...Oh, hey. I remember you!"
"About time." The soldier smiled. He pressed a button on his helmet and his visor lifted to his forehead, revealing his blue eyes. He was tall, but he looked like he was about 3 or 4 years older than Rokku and Aimer. Underneath his helmet was blond and black hair, but the helmet made it so that only parts of his hair were shown, mostly in the back of his helmet.
"This whole ride I thought you were just ignoring the fact that we were in the same craft."
Rokku recognized him. This was the Sentry soldier who first appeared to stop the Gravers from almost overwhelming Rokku, and he was the one who had his visor shattered by Alphonse's rampage. To think that he'd be with this guy again.
"The name's Raiden, Mega Man." The soldier replied. "I never did get to thank you back then. You ran off before I had a chance."
"...Sorry about that." Rokku apologized. But he beamed a smile; albeit a nervous one. "I'm glad to see you're okay though."
"I've been through worse, don't worry." Raiden replied. "But you never did answer my question: Were you talking to yourself?"
Rokku's cheeks flushed a little. It was easy for him to forget that not everyone can hear Model M like he could. It probably did look like he was talking to himself.
"S-Sorry. It's just... Heights aren't for m-m-me. A-And we're...p-pretty high up right now."
"Well, that explains why you've been ignoring me." Raiden joked, laughing a bit with some of the crewmates even joining in on the laughter. It left Rokku far more flustered as a result, reverting to staring at the ground where his feet sat again.
"I-I'm sorry about that." Rokku quickly apologized for the third time, feeling more and more flustered as this went on.
"Hey, chill out." Raiden chuckled. "We're just having some fun here. But fortunately for you, it looks like we're going to be landing pretty soon."
Rokku looked out the windows. They were closing in on the rocky shores where the battle was presently taking place. The Gravers had been found out and Guardians and Sentries alike were fighting them.
"The scout team were right about the Gravers being here." Rokku said in a whisper. But this also meant Merrie Jane was also right about this being the Gravers' hideout.
"Everyone's working hard to take down the Gravers." Rokku thought in his head. "So M and I are gonna have to work extra hard too. We can't let Merrie's intel go to waste."
The aircraft hovered above the sands and the doors slid open. The Sentries left and rushed towards the battle scene. Rokku was the last to leave, looking nervous as he hung by the door, hands both firmly gripping the end of the door. After a bit of hesitance and a small yelp, he finally jumped out and landed on the sand. The aircraft then took off once the pilots saw Rokku (finally) leave.
"Let's go Rokku!" Model M shouted.
"R-Right!" Rokku nodded and rushed after the Sentries.
Arriving on the scene, Rokku and his allies fought against the Gravers, exchanging gunfire, fisticuffs, and explosions. Rokku hid behind a giant rock and grits his teeth, holding the barrel of his Mega Buster. He didn't expect there to be this much happening. He felt so vulnerable.
It was a lot easier when he ran into Kairos City when that was under attack. At least things got progressively harder as he traveled, allowing him to adapt in some form. This? It was like he walked into speedy traffic.
"Oh man, oh man, oh man..." He whispered.
Enemy Mechaniloids were now being deployed. Big ones. Thus far, Rokku had been fighting with his fists and kicks and utilizing careful shots from his Buster out of fear of really hurting the enemy. He's only used his shot when he wished to disable their firearms safely. Sure, they were bad people, but they were still people. But once he saw the Mechaniloids like the Cannonwalkers, cannons that can...really walk, Rokku knew he didn't have to hold back against Mechaniloids like these.
Rokku finally left the rock and started blasting with his charge shots completely splitting the Cannonwalkers in half, and shredding past other Mechaniloids. Some Cannonwalkers and the Gravers shot missiles which Rokku and the Guardians managed to shoot in the sky to avoid hitting others.
"These robots remind me a lot of the Dachones..." Model M noted as Rokku tore into another Cannonwalker with another good charged shot.
"Dachones?" Rokku parroted.
"Ahh... Don't worry about it." Model M said. "Let's focus on pushing these guys back more!"
Rokku nodded once more and continued to fight. He even witnessed Raiden blitz past enemy fire, jump in the air and kick two Gravers down. Rokku had to wince upon seeing Raiden's boots collide with the Gravers' faces, knocking them out cold.
"Whoa. He's fast." Rokku noted to himself.
"It doesn't sound like he's called Raiden for nothing." Model M chuckled.
Rokku and his allies pressed on further, more and more Gravers being taken down and more of their deployed Mechaniloids being torn down. Even some Gravers became fearful and dropped their guns to retreat into the cavern while their own allies cursed their apparent cowardice.
The blue Mega Man wasn't fighting unscathed. He had received plenty of attacks from Gravers and Mechaniloids alike, but he could tank 'em. They hurt, but they weren't enough to keep him down. And best of all, his training with his Dad earlier this morning seemed to be paying off as a group of Gravers swarmed Rokku again, just like in Kairos City. One by one, he took them out with careful dodges and hard punches and kicks to take them out.
Even with the Gravers down, Rokku still felt uneasy and nervous from the experience. Aside from the sand making movement somewhat difficult, he simply wasn't used to fighting like this, not like his father did in his younger years. He remembered hearing that he was a real street fighter.
Though Rokku didn't see any broken pipes anywhere. And even if he did, his fists, his boots, and his Buster was all he needed... At least, Rokku thought so.
More of the Gravers retreated while many stayed behind and kept fighting.
"Blasted dogs!" One Graver shouted and tossed plenty of grenades in the air. Some Guardians were caught by the explosion and remained on the ground. Conscious, but hurt.
Rokku hit that Graver with the side of his Buster, sending him spinning to the ground while Raiden and some other Guardian approached the other Gravers by his side and took them down with a good right hook and kick.
Rokku spotted some flying Mechaniloids in the form of mosquitos: Fly Choppers or Fly Copters as some of the Sentries called 'em. And with these swarm of insect themed Mechaniloids came an even bigger Fly Chopper called the King Flyer. Both the King Flyer and it's Fly Chopper minions were purple in color, though some have noted that others like them have been seen in blue or green.
A Graver by the cavern was snickering. He had a large black remote-control device in his hands. Raiden noticed him right away and looked to Rokku.
"Mega Man!" Raiden shouted. "That Graver up ahead! He's controlling that King Flyer! Go on ahead and take him out! We got this here!"
Rokku figured by "King Flyer" he meant the bigger fly bot. Rokku was uneasy but nodded regardless. "Got it! Be careful!"
A lot of the Gravers were apprehended by Guardians and Sentries behind Rokku. There weren't a whole lot of them left and the number of Mechaniloids were getting smaller. Rokku figured that most of the Gravers would be inside the cavern. He didn't know what they were up to, but he was going to stop them!
The Graver kept snickering as he controlled the King Flyer, but his eyes widened once he saw Rokku rush towards him and sucker punch him in the face, knocking him clean out. Rokku then stared at the fallen device and picked it up. He thought about smashing it, but he quickly wondered if that'd make things worse. But the controls...oddly looked like the Graver was controlling one of those remote-control copter toys... And then it hit the boy.
Playfully puffing his cheeks up, Rokku mischievously tilted what, to the boy, looked like a joystick to the left... and sent the King Flyer crashing into the rocks in the water, damaging it critically and allowing the Guardians and Sentries to finish it and the Fly Choppers off with relative ease. Rokku then tossed the remote-control device to the side with a smug smile.
But that smug smile quickly left when he saw a swarm of Mavericks appear out of the cave and some Gravers on hovercrafts. All the Mavericks were a swarm of Mettaurs, all marching ahead. The Mavericks and Gravers alike ignored Rokku...except for one individual. As the last thing to leave, a large mechaniloid leapt out of the cave and landed behind Rokku. Quickly turning around, Rokku was both scared and... somewhat confused.
"We finally get to meet, Mega Man!" A familiar voice shouted from the contraption. It looked like a hovercraft...with arms and legs attached to it. Even the legs looked like they came from the Cannonwalker but slightly modified for flair. The arms were pinchers...with a barrel between the pinchers, looking like they shot lasers or something. The mech walker looked like it was...barely taller than Rokku as is and he was barely past 5 feet tall. Sitting inside of the very small cockpit was a familiar but unique Mettaur, Tizio.
"...Uh... You? Again?" Rokku asked.
"We met last time!" Model M corrected Tizio.
"Th-That's not what I meant!" Tizio shouted, childishly wailing his contraptions arms. "I mean in a fight!"
Rokku tilted his head in confusion. The boy's never fought Mettaurs before but... He felt the Guardians and Sentries could handle them and the hovercraft riding Gravers. But he was still confused by Tizio's intentions here.
"Ever since I was created, I've had a burning desire to fight THE Mega Man! Not just any Mega Man! THE Mega Man!" Tizio cheered happily, using his mech to hop about excitedly. "I've waited so long and I get to be the first one~! Not Caio! Not Sempronio! ME!"
Model M didn't know how to feel about...any of this right now. Tizio would not be the first individual wanting to have some great fight with him... And he doubted he'd be the last at this rate.
"You guys threw a really cool looking turtle mech at me last time!" Rokku shouted, readying his Buster. "And after what you guys tried to do to us, especially Model M and Aimer, I'm gonna make sure you don't get your way!"
"But a fight with you IS me getting my way~!" Tizio teased. "Now, prepare to taste defeat by me and my... Um... Tizio... Havoc... Mech... Agh! I should've thought up the name before getting here! Just taste defeat!" Frustrated, he then used the mech's arms and pointed his pinchers at Rokku, the pincher arms shooting out and charging at Rokku.
The boy shrieked and dodged out of the way of the rocket pinchers that looked like they'd skewer him with a good hit. Once the pinchers hit the sand and cave walls respectively, they were recalled back into Tizio's mech. After successfully dodging the rocket pinchers, Rokku aimed his Buster to shoot at the mech, but the pinchers returned just in time to block the shots. They just bounced right off the pinchers.
"Sorry! But your lemon blasts can't dent my pinchers! We Mettaurs have great defenses, hee hee!" Tizio taunted as he opened his pinchers and began shooting laser blasts. Tizio was laughing maniacally, using his sphere-like hands to continuously press the "fire button" on both of his mech's arms and release a volley of lasers. Rokku ran around and dodged them in a frantic manner, not wanting to get hit by any of these scary looking lasers. Rokku jumped and used the palm of his hands to bounce in the air and aim his shots to hit away from where his pinchers can't reach: His sides and back.
Tizio jolted in his back as three shots from the Buster hit the mech's right side. "Oomph!"
"How's that for 'lemon blasts'?" Rokku asked with an annoyed tone. They didn't look like lemons! ...At least he thought so, anyway.
"J-Just fine!" Tizio retorted with a brave face. Maneuvering in his mech, Tizio leapt in the air to try and hit Rokku. The downside with Rokku was that the sand made his movements a little limited. He couldn't hop around like Tizio could in his mech.
Rokku hopped back to avoid being smashed, but he was smacked by Tizio's pinchers, sending him flying back with his face diving in the sand. Tizio laughed and cheered from a successful hit, while Rokku tried to get up, spitting the sand he had in his mouth. "Yuck!"
"Gotcha! Ha Ha Ha!" Tizio danced.
"Heeey, Rokku?" Model M began with a surprisingly nonchalant tone.
"Just a sec, M." Rokku spat (literally) as he slowly got up while Tizio continued his dancing. "This sand tastes super gross! Bleh!"
"You notice how that mech Tizio's using looks kinda shoddy...?" Model M continued.
Rokku stuck his tongue out and spat more sand out. He hated every moment of that hit he just endured from Tizio. "Shoddy? I mean, kinda? It still packs a lot of pain though."
"True... But I think with some good shots, we can take it out super easy." Model M said so matter-of-factly. "...Let's see if we can go for the joints."
Before Rokku could replied, Tizio hopped again, and landed just in front of Rokku. The boy had no time to react as Tizio used his pinchers to snatch Rokku up and hold him in the air, squeezing on his waist. "AUGH!"
"Gotcha again!" Tizio cheered. "I should bring you to Folly! I bet she'll be super happy if I did that!"
Rokku groaned as the pinchers tightened around his waist. He then aimed his Buster at the joints of the arm that held him. "That's a BIG 'if', pal!" With a single 'lemon blast', Rokku hit the joint of the arm. After a bit of silence between the two, the arm slowly popped off the mech.
Tizio stared with his eyes incredibly widened as Rokku fell and the pinchers popped open, freeing him. Quickly, Rokku dashed around the mech, aiming his Buster at the joints of the other arm and his legs until the mech crumbled and fell apart with Tizio popping out of the cockpit, falling 'head' first into the sand.
"Ummm... Wow." Rokku gasped in disbelief. Guess Model M wasn't kidding about the construction being shoddy, he thought. He didn't even have to use the Super Arm.
"Yup." Model M agreed.
Tizio wiggled his feet violently until he used his hands to prop himself out of the sand. He frowned and looked up at Rokku. "Dang it! I worked hard to make that! And it took really long!"
Rokku rubbed the back of his helmet, looking a bit shameful. "Um... I'm sorry?"
"Apology not accepted!" Tizio shouted before he ran past Rokku and into the cavern. But before he entered deeper into the darkness, he shook his 'fist' at Rokku angrily. "You're gonna regret this! I am a Trouble Trio! And we'll have our revenge!"
With that, Tizio ran deeper into the cavern, disappearing into the darkness. Rokku frowned and thought about giving chase, but he...legitimately felt bad about taking down the mech, especially since up until Model M gave him an idea to take it down, the thing was formidable.
On the bright side, Tizio never came up with a proper name for it...?
"Ehhh, I kinda feel bad." Rokku sighed.
"I can relate..." Model M somewhat sadly agreed.
Rokku folded his arms...but then he just recalled something. "Hey, wait, did he just say he was part of the "Trouble Trio"?"
Didn't...he come up with that name? Or something like it when he first met Tizio and his pals?
But his thoughts were halted when all of a sudden, a bright flash of light came from the cavern. Rokku stood ready and alert.
"What was that...!?" He whispered in alarm.
While the battle against the Mavericks raged on far behind Rokku, he could hear footsteps coming from the cavern.
Emerging from the darkness was a young man that looked older and taller than Rokku, though he was armored up just like him. He was light-skinned and his armor was overall red and gray. He also had a gray mask that covered his mouth. But the most striking visual was his medieval-looking helmet that had a ever-lit flame above the helmet like a torch.
Those violent flames matched his eerie yet furious glowing yellow eyes...
"W-Who are you?" Rokku asked, taking a single step back.
"Keegan! Chosen One for Model Fi!" The man boomed, his voice making Rokku's heart thump crazily just hearing him yell. "I was hoping you'd win, Mega Man Model M! Now, you face me and my burning flames of justice!"
"'Flames of Justice'?" Rokku tilted his head, still uneasy.
"Oh boy..." Model M sighed. "I recognized that armor immediately... But any doubt I had burned away when his partner started talking..."
"...Was that a pun?!" Rokku cried at his Biometal companion.
"My Biometal and I have been awaiting the day we can use our flames to purge all evil! And you are very much evil!" Keegan shouted, pointing at him dramatically.
"E-Evil!?" A confused and frightened Rokku exclaimed. Poor guy didn't know how to handle this...
"Fire Man!" Model M shouted. "I know it's you in there! You HAVE to remember me!"
"Waaaaaaait!"
A new voice interrupted the current conversation. Rokku and Keegan looked up to see a newcomer arriving on the scene. Rokku's eyes practically wanted to pop out of his head when he saw... a giant ball of ice heading their way? When the ball fell onto the sand, the ball was destroyed upon impact, making the sand fly everywhere while revealing yet another armored individual just like Rokku and Keegan. But this one was different. This indvidual was not only smaller than Rokku, but he was certainly younger too, possibly... 8 or 9 years old!?
This armored newcomer looked rather overdressed given that this was in the middle of the Summer, dressed in an arctic parka suit with some armor pieces attached to the suit such as the shoulders, belt, and, obviously, the gloves and boots.
Rokku thought the little boy looked adorable, especially with the parka... even with the glowing yellow eyes he shared with the much scarier fire user beside him.
"Keegaaan!" The boy whined. "We were supposed to introduce ourselves together!"
"You chose to go up the mountains!" Keegan retorted. "I told you to wait with me, but you wouldn't listen, Jack! Our target has arrived and my flames weren't going to wait any longer!"
"But it was so boring waiting..." Jack replied, tapping his two index fingers together nervously.
"Well, you're here now!" Keegan glared at Rokku. "Introduce yourself to him before the battle commences!"
Jack then looked at Rokku, sneering at Rokku too. "Hello there, Mega Man Model M! My name is Jack! Nice to meet you!"
"I-Ice Man too!?" Model M cried. "First Guts Man and now you two!"
"I guess this is some reunion, huh...?" Rokku quivered. These two were Biometal users just like Rokku. Were they like Alphonse from yesterday...?
"I don't know why you guys are doing this but let's get one thing straight: I am NOT evil!" Rokku shouted, shaking his fist at them.
"Lies!" Keegan shouted, his eyes practically on fire themselves with how booming his voice was. "My flames have never steered us wrong yet!"
"I don't know about the whole 'flames of justice' thingy, but Miss Folly says that you have to be stopped so that her plans can work out!" Jack cheerfully stated with a surprisingly innocent smile...even with the glowing eyes.
"Folly...?" Model M muttered. "What has she done to you!?"
"ENOUGH TALK!" Keegan roared as both of his hands suddenly materialized into Busters like Rokku's own Mega Buster. "MY FLAMES SHALL PURGE YOUR VILE SOUL!"
"And my ice will freeze you solid right after~!" Jack cheered, getting ready for a fight as well as he took on a scary excited look. "ICE SLASHER!"
"W-W-Wait a second!" Rokku's pleas fell on deaf ears as his two combatants suddenly started fighting him.
His eyes widened as the little boy seemed to have used his own breath to shoot a sharp blade of ice towards Rokku's direction. Although Rokku was quick enough to dash to the side to escape that insanely cold projectile, he didn't have time to foresee Keegan rushing towards him from behind his partner, using his two busters to release a wide wave of fire. All Rokku could do was cross his arms as he was engulfed with the flames.
"AAAGHHH!"
Without the armor of his Biometal, Rokku would've certainly have been fried for good! But even with the armor, those flames were incredibly hot!
"Careful Rokku!" Model M shouted. "His Fire Storm hurts a lot!"
While Rokku was recovering, Jack once again shot a Ice Slasher attack at his opponent. This time, it connected, encasing Rokku in a block of ice that left him COMPLETELY immobile!
"W-What!?" A frightful Rokku cried in his mind. With him frozen in his icy prison like this, he couldn't move anything except for, curiously, his eyes.
"Gotcha!" Jack cheered, jumping in the air with his fist raised in the air. "Come on, Keegan! Finish it like we practiced!"
"I'm disappointed, Mega Man Model M!" Keegan stated while walking towards his frozen foe. Once he was close enough, he aimed a single Buster at him and prepared another blast of his Fire Storm. "Our jester benefactor made it seem like you were a great threat!"
All of a sudden, the ice block completely shattered, some shards hitting Keegan. Before the fire Chosen One had time to recover, Rokku suddenly rushed towards him with his Super Arm weapon out and decked him straight in the face, sending Keegan flying towards the sand and skidding across the sand beside Jack.
"I'm not through!" Rokku retorted.
"Y-You broke out!?" Jack cried. "I was told Ice Slasher was super cold!"
"Don't give up yet, little guy!" Keegan groaned as he got back up, patting the kid's shoulder with his Bustered arm. "The fault is mine! I was so foolish to quickly underestimate him! His own fire grows ever bright!"
Rokku gritted his teeth with his Super Arm still online. It was two against one here. He doesn't have much experience with this outside of those Hallow Jack grunts among the other Mavericks he's fought. Tough, but not as tough as fighting multiple Mega Men like himself. It's left him nervous and uneasy, but nonetheless undaunted.
A single shot of Keegan's Fire Storm made him rightfully fearful of Keegan, but Jack's Ice Slasher was nothing to scoff at either. These users of Fire and Ice were quite the duo in this bout...
"Model M, you recognize these guys, don't you?" Rokku quiered.
"...Y-Yes." Model M replied shakily. "I know them as well as Guts Man. Or Model Gu."
"And their eyes are just like Alphonse's..." Rokku added.
"You noticed too?" Model M asked.
"Kinda hard not too..." Rokku replied almost with a tinge of sarcasm.
"But they're not behaving like him." Model M noted. "Alphonse was out of control but... It's like Keegan and Jack are almost in full control of their actions... But you and I can agree that they're really not in control of themselves. Their Biometals aren't even responding, just like Model Gu."
Rokku growled a bit. Both of them mentioned Folly, one of which by name. She had to be responsible for these guys and Alphonse.
"We'll just have to try and snap them out of it like with Alphonse...!" Rokku said in a silent rage.
"Hey! Don't talk to yourself over there!" Jack shouted. He was the second person wondering if Rokku was talking to himself... "Throw a fist or shoot a lemon or something~!"
Rokku's eyes widened, blinking in confusion. "They aren't lemons... But here you go!"
Aiming his Buster at Keegan specificially, he shot plenty of lemon- Er, solar energy shots at his megamerged opponent.
The little boy grinned and his eyes widened eerily as he shot another Ice Slasher at him while Rokku's shots went to Keegan. "That's more like it!"
"Your lemons are no match for my flames!" Keegan shouted, shooting a wave of fire to block the solar shots as they also went to Rokku.
He jumped, avoiding both the Fire Storm and Ice Slasher at once as they collided, creating an explosion that cancelled out both blasts. With his other hand, he kept shooting at both of his opponents. He felt guilty about fighting a kid much younger than him, but talking it out just wasn't going to cut it.
That pained him, but it couldn't be helped.
After landing on the ground, Rokku attempted to grab Jack with his arm, but failed when Jack surprisingly dodged his giant armored hand swiftly.
Even with the sand being the battle ground, this didn't stop Jack's mobility. With the power of his Biometal, Model Ic, he could skate across the terrain as if he were on a ice ring. This allowed him to move quickly and dodge Rokku's shots. Wherever Jack's feet where, there was ice materializing beneath him before quickly disappearing as he moved along, so none of the ice remained in one place for long. He certainly had the speed advantage as the sand made movement difficult for Rokku and Keegan.
All of a sudden, Jack started shooting more Ice Slashers at once towards Rokku as he was skating. Rokku shrieked and rolled around to dodge the arrow-shaped projectiles. It got so bad that Keegan narrowly escaped getting hit by his own partner's shot!
"WHOA!" Keegan cried before shouting at the young boy as he himself shot more flame blasts at the rolling Rokku. "WATCH IT! MEGA MAN IS THE TARGET, NOT ME!"
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Jack cried, almost on the verge of tears.
Rokku jumped again to dodge the Fire Storm just as it narrowly hit him, hanging on the wall of rocks and slowly sliding down the wall.
"These guys won't let up...!" Rokku said as he landed back on the sand.
Keegan shot another Fire Storm blast with his Buster as Rokku was now backed to a wall. Each time Keegan used his Fire Storm attack, a sphere of flames surrounded him like a shield for a brief moment. The shots from Rokku's Busters wouldn't faze Keegan because of these instant fire shields, but a few would hit Keegan once the shield disappeared. But a few wasn't enough.
The young hero ducked and rolled out of the way of each blast, shooting back with his Mega Buster. But he had to take his eyes off of Keegan as he saw Jack skating towards him, suddenly encasing himself in ice and hurling himself towards Rokku.
Rokku dove out of the way with Jack hitting the wall, missing his target. He looked a little dazed for a very brief moment before he chased after Rokku again, giggling as he resumed shooting Ice Slashers.
Rokku noticed that despite how painful it looked for Jack to hit the wall after missing, Jack didn't seem worse for wear. His giggling didn't help much.
"Alright, alright..." Rokku began thinking. "Keegan's the worst one of the two. His Fire Storm attack hurts a lot and every time he uses that attack, he seems to be generating a weird fire shield around him that my Buster's shot won't hit. I can keep dodging, but Jack's right on my heels. If his Ice Slasher hits me again, Keegan won't waste any time hitting me with his Fire Storm. I can't take much more of that..."
Keegan suddenly got on one knee and pointed his Busters at the ground. Rokku was curious on Keegan's plan as Rokku kicked off the wall to escape Jack's Ice Slasher from behind, letting Jack get ahead of him. If Keegan had kept using his Fire Storm, he would've hit Jack. Rokku cursed Keegan's new unknown plan as he was betting on the Fire Storm.
Keegan's Busters would ignite and shoot into the sand. Rokku would see the ground beneath him quickly light up before two geysers of flames shot up high in the sky. Rokku managed to luckily dodge these geysers due to the momentum he created by dodging Jack earlier, but he could feel the intensity of the heat, knowing it had the same power as the Fire Storm.
Knowing how hot Keegan's flames were already, he wasn't too surprised that he could create fire geysers through the sand like he did, even if he questioned how Keegan was able to track his precise movement from where he was sitting when he did that geyser attack. The sand Keegan's fire scorched through had become glass minerals instantly.
"You cannot escape my flames forever, Mega Man!" Keegan warned, now charging towards him as he prepared to shoot more waves of fire at him.
He was right and Rokku knew that. Two Mega Men against one was beginning to get Rokku's mind scrambling. One misstep and it's over.
Jack decides to skate ahead of his partner and hurl himself into Rokku into a icy ball again. Rather than run, Rokku equipped his Super Arm weapon and punched the icy ball, causing it to shatter and sending Jack hurling into Keegan's Bustered arms as his partner caught him.
But before Jack could thank his partner for catching him, he immediately starts wailing and hops off Keegan's arms.
"YEEOOW!" Jack cried. "Your arms are super hot!"
"Sorry partner!" Keegan apologized.
Rokku felt guilty about knocking a little kid like that, but he had no choice but to subdue him.
"Careful Rokku." Model M advised. "You're using a lot of weapon energy on the Super Arm."
"Weapon energy? Whaddya mean?" Rokku asked, dodging Jack's newly thrown Ice Slasher again before he started to chase him down with his skating.
"Individual Special Weapons you copy from others have their own weapon energy." Model M explained casually as Rokku shot at his opponents as he kept his distance. With Rokku running and gunning, and Jack chasing right after him, and Keegan shooting at him from afar, it looked more like a messed up game of tag really. "And you'll have to refill that energy with capsules or something else like it. Aimer automatically has it refilled when she heals me."
"I see..." Rokku said.
He then gasped as he was running to the wall again. He was slightly unfocused on his surroundings, talking with his Biometal and trying not to get frozen and scorched. He had little time to dodge the incoming Ice Slasher attack. In the confusion, Rokku used his Super Arm to try and block the attack. But this would end up being a bad move as his Super Arm was now frozen.
Rokku's shock over his frozen special weapon left him open to Jack who jumped up as he was rushing towards him and pressed both of his feet on Rokku's chest, sending him colliding against the wall, bouncing off it and skidding face first into the sand.
He couldn't sit there for long before either Keegan or Jack uses their signature attacks and eliminate him, so he used his frozen Super Arm to slam into the ground and propel him in the air to dodge Jack's would-be point black Ice Slasher. While in mid-air, Rokku used his other arm to released a Charge Shot at Jack which hit him.
"AH!" Jack cried, rolling in the sand like a ball.
The hero landed back on the ground and grimaced. He was certainly using his Super Arm frequently and his split second decision to send him in the air shattered the ice around it. The Wire adaptor thingy Aimer gave him wouldn't do him much good here against either opponent. He could grab them, but then Jack can either freeze the wire or Keegan can just burn it with his intense heat.
However, he did get one other Special Weapon last night...
"Electro Wave!" Rokku swapped to that special weapon and his Mega Buster had a long beam of electricity sticking out of the barrel. It looked like a...stun baton of some kind.
"...That wasn't what I was expecting." Model M noted in surprise.
"Umm..."
Before Rokku could agree with his partner and question the usage of his weapon, an Ice Slasher hit Rokku's leg, freezing it in place and forcing Rokku to remain stationary. While Jack was rolling from the Charge Shot, he managed to, albeit luckily, shoot an Ice Slasher.
"Gotcha~!" Jack cheered, sitting down with his legs spread across the sand and his hands between his legs as he laughed. "Tag! You're it~!"
"Nicely done!" Keegan congradulated before aiming his Busters again for another wave of the Fire Storm.
"...You aren't the first to catch me." Rokku whispered in a bit of exhaustion, referring to Tizio previously catching him with those pinchers that were still on the field.
He struggled to get his leg free from the frozen ice caused by Jack's Ice Slasher. He wasn't completely helpless. If Keegan shot a Fire Storm, Rokku could still duck and dodge it, but the guy has TWO Busters. This strategy would be a very short lived one.
Rokku's thinking would be interrupted as he caught a glimpse of a familiar Sentry soldier rushing on the scene.
"Let him go!" Raiden shouted. In his right hand was a grenade, but not any ordinary grenade.
Rokku's eyes widened. What was he planning? No way he could take on either Keegan or Jack by himself! "Raiden!"
Keegan was prepared to shoot his Fire Storm at Rokku but his attention went to Raiden. Jack got up and turned to the soldier.
"Hey! Go away!" Jack shouted. "We're fighting Mega Man only!"
He'd shoot a Ice Slasher at Raiden. The soldier, instinctively like Rokku, used his right arm to block the ice blast. And yet, he was still able to toss the grenade with his left hand. Although he succeeded in the latter, the Ice Slasher definitely collided with his arm and only brought pain to it as it was frozen. With a cry, he was sent crumbling to the sand below. But the grenade was sent in the air and exploded in front of Keegan and Jack, leaving them stunned rather than blown back or up.
"AAAGH!" Keegan cried, closing his eyes tightly as his Busters reverted to his hands as he covered his face.
"Owowowowowow!" Jack cried. "What was that!?"
Raiden had thrown a stun grenade. He was initially thinking of throwing a grenade that'd potentially shut down the duo's electronics temporarily. However, that'd affect his friendly Mega Man ally. Raiden, chuckling while holding his frozen right arm in pain, looked at Rokku from the ground who was still standing with his frozen leg.
"Mega Man! I gave you a new chance!" Raiden shouted. "Don't waste it!"
Rokku was somewhat affected by the grenade also, but he would heed Raiden's advice having recovered far quicker than his two opponents. He twisted his arm with the Electro Wave engaged and slammed the baton-like weapon at the ice on his leg, shattering it and freeing him of the ice's hold on him.
"Alright!" Rokku nodded with newfound determination.
Rokku then swung his arm like a sword, sending electric slash waves towards Keegan and Jack. Once they were hit with it, they were electrified from the hit and left them stationary.
The two seemed to be equally suffering through the electric shock.
"AAAAAGGGHHHH!" Keegan and Jack roared in pain.
"So, that's how it works." Rokku muttered when he swung his arm. "I was asking for a way to hit Gravers without shooting my Buster and this is it!"
"Elec Man's Thunder Beam was Ice Man's biggest weakness back then..." Model M noted. "But Keegan here is suffering as bad as Jack...!"
"Aimer used her Ice chip on Wingwave that one time." Rokku explained. "Looks like there's some rock-paper-scissors game going on here with the elemental chips... That's what she told me anyway..."
The Ice Chip would be effective against Elec Chip users. The Elec Chip would be effective against Fire Chip users. And finally, the Fire Chip would be effect against Ice Chip users.
Rokku didn't quite understand these "rules", but Rokku theorized that the intense electromagnetic waves from his special weapon heavily affected the Biometals mostly given how they were made in the past.
It didn't matter. Whether or not the Electro Wave was their "weakness", his special weapon was still effective in stunning them at the very least. But he had to keep in mind that he had Weapon Energy to maintain. This was his biggest advantage yet and it was the only way he could defeat both Keegan and Jack successfully.
He needed to use Raiden's diversion to the best and not waste this opportunity.
"Alright, let's wrap things up!" Rokku shouted.
Keegan would be free from the immobilization caused by the Electro Wave.
"My flame is still lit!" Keegan shouted, his eyes practically becoming flames themselves as he furiously released a blast of flames towards Rokku. "BUUUUURNNN!"
Jack would shake his head after the effect of the Electro Wave disappeared too.
"Stupid electricity! If that guy didn't show up, we'd be finished already! Let's hurry, Keegan!" Jack would skate along the rocky walls and shoot Ice Slashers at Rokku.
Rokku frowned and rushed towards the both of them, dodging the flames with ease. He was on the other side of the flame blast, evading Jack in the process too as he was on the other side.
He'd shoot a Charged Shot at Keegan after the latter finished his blast and prepared recharging. This left him vulnerable and easily hit by Rokku's Charge Shot.
"Rokku, the Electro Wave has one other feature!" Model M shouted. "It'll take about half the weapon energy, but you can do exactly what Wingwave was doing to us! A proper Electro Wave!"
The boy nodded after Model M informed him of what he could do. He dodged the fire and ice blasts, rushing towards Keegan with a plan in mind. He'd dodge the Fire Storms and kept his eyes on him and Jack. The kid would then skate towards Rokku, shooting more Ice Slashers. Rokku's eyes practically flickered as his idea was now being executed. Using his Electro Wave's baton, he'd send another electric slash at Keegan even with his fire shield being active after using Fire Storm, immobilizing him once more.
"N-NOT AGAIN!" Keegan shouted in shock, having expected the fire shield to protect him.
Rokku then fell down to the sand, face flat as the Ice Slasher went past Rokku and hit Keegan, freezing him solid just like it did when it first hit Rokku.
Jack gasped and started wailing as he ran to Keegan, completely ignoring the intentionally fallen Rokku.
"Oh no no no no! Keegan!" He cried. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I got tricked!"
How fitting those words were. Rokku would rise from the ground while Jack apologized to his frozen partner. Much like Rokku's electricity, Jack's Ice Slasher kept Keegan completely immobilized.
Finally, Rokku pointed the tip of his electric baton towards where Jack and Keegan were stationed. He's had a theory in place for a while during this bout. But for now, he'd try and finish things here.
Just like with Alphonse.
A large surge of electric energy began surrounding the baton. With a shout, Rokku shot a giant soundwave of electricity towards the two Mega Men. Jack would cease his apologizing, noticing the big wave coming his and Keegan's way. The fear in his eyes could not be mistaken. It was like looking at a tall building crumbling right before his eyes. Looking at the big wave coming their way, it was far too wide and big to dodge and the two Chosen Ones were caught up in the wave, freezing their bodies completely in electricity. The ice surrounding Keegan even shattered from the wave.
Both screamed from the blast, leaving them immobile once again and unable to fight back as Rokku put away his special weapon and brought out his Mega Buster.
He'd aim his Buster and prepare one more Charged Shot at their immobile bodies, releasing his shot. The big blast completely hit them both, sending them flying and hitting the rocky wall around the shores. Surrounded by electric-like energy of yellow and blue colors, Keegan and Jack remained motionless on the ground.
Rokku lowered his Buster in shock over how hard they hit the wall. He wanted to run over and check on them. He really did... But he wasn't sure if either of them would sneak attack him. But once Jack began to stir and groan, he decided to throw caution to the wind and run to him.
"Hey! Hey Hey! Are you okay?"
Jack groaned and held the top of his head. With the addition of a violent shake akin to that of a dog or cat, he looked up at Rokku with normal blue eyes, far different than the glowing yellow eyes he had before. To the slightly older boy's surprise, the much younger boy chuckled lightly.
"Your big shots really hurt, Mister..."
Rokku frowned in contrast. "...But are you okay?"
Jack tried to get up but he fell back on his rear end, followed with a groan.
"I feel a lot of pain... But it's okay since you freed me!" Jack beamed a happy smile.
"So it WAS just like Alphonse!" Model M shouted.
Jack, who heard Model M, grinned a little. "Well, I don't know who this Alphonse person is, but it sounds like he was brainwashed like me! Ha ha... Haaah..."
Jack wanted to faint right then and there, but Rokku grabbed his hand and helped him to his feet.
"I gotcha." Rokku assured him.
The moment Rokku grabbed her arm, his body was briefly surrounded by light blue energy. A similar crimson colored sphere of energy flowed into Rokku. None of them made mention to this, behaving as if it never happened at all. But this was a similar energy surge akin to when Rokku and Model M had liberated Alphonse and Model Gu, and destroyed Wingwave...
Keegan groaned and slowly got up, rubbing the top of his helmet where the flames were completely out.
"Ughhh... I've been duped..." Keegan groaned shamefully.
"Easy there, Keegan." Rokku told him as he held Jack's hand.
"Fire Man. Ice Man. I don't know if you guys can hear me, but please stay megamerged with your partners! They're going to have to see some doctors to heal them and you staying megamerged slows down the pain from really taking over. We'll even take you to a friend of ours to heal you too."
"I'm glad to hear your voice again!" Model Ic, or Ice Man, replied, albeit weakily.
"Once again, you've saved us from corruption!" Model Fi, or Fire Man, also replied with more excitement in his voice. "I thank you and your partner for your efforts! Your flame hasn't been extinguished after all this time!"
The two Biometals listened to their old friend's advice and remained merged with their respective partners.
Rokku then had Jack sit next to Keegan. "Wait here for a moment."
Jack did as he was told with an obdenient nod. Rokku would turn to Raiden who had finally gotten back up, still holding his frozen arm as he approached the trio.
boy approached Raiden who had finally gotten back up, still holding his arm.
"H-Hi there. I'm really sorry about your arm." Jack apologized solemnly. "I can melt the ice if you'd like."
"I'd like that very much." Raiden quickly said with a smile towards the little kid. Jack wasted no time and melting that ice around Raiden's arm. This didn't mean his arm was A-OK, but this was a start. "Sounds like you two were hit with the same thing that Alphonse was hit with. We're looking into this and we're hoping you'll be able to help us."
"But first, they gotta get some rest." Rokku replied sternly.
Raiden nodded in agreement. "Oh yeah, of course. I need that rest too."
The Guardians and Sentries approached the group after taking care of the Gravers and Mettaur army.
Raiden looked at one of his own and spoke up, "Hey, I need you to take these two where Alphonse is. And make sure that one scientist, Aimer, gets informed ASAP."
He then turned to Rokku. "I need you to stay here."
"Huh? How come?" Rokku was a bit confused.
"As much as I'd like to stick around, I know for a fact that I'm gonna be hauled away so my arm can be checked out. But we're still not done here." Raiden explained. "Sure, you liberated two Mega Men, but we came here to investigate the Gravers' latest hideout. So just in case there's any more surprises, we're gonna need to keep a ally Mega Man here to give us and the Guardians some extra reassurance. Got it?"
"...Okay. I got it." Rokku nodded, understanding.
With that, Raiden left with the Sentry taking Keegan and Jack away while Rokku proceeded to go with some Sentries and Guardians as they investigated the caverns to find any more remnants of the Graver group. He was hoping there would be no more surprises, but he needed to be prepared for anything and help those in need as they investigated the hideout.
While the battle in the rocky shores raged on, in Port Town, one particular building was surrounded by Guardian and Sentry vehicles. That building was one Warehouse 64. There were multiple people outside the building but inside the building were very few people, and one of them included Aimer.
The young scientist was investigating all the surroundings in the building. One Guardian whom she's met before approached her as she examined a particular spot nearby the garage gates.
"You find anything?" Antoine, the coffee shop Guardian, asked.
"Plenty." Aimer replied, standing up and lifting her goggles and placing them on her cap. "After speaking with the people who oversaw these buildings, we know for a fact that this building was definitely empty for a good while before this. There're markings here that show that heavy machinery was here, among many other things. The Gravers had to have been here... But I was hoping for something a little more...concrete."
"Like what? A wheel?" Antoine joked.
"Honestly, that would help..." Aimer admited despite not finding his joke very funny.
Behind a stone pillar in the garage peered a bat bot. Caio looked over at Aimer and Antoine and the other people in here.
"They chose now to come check this place...?" He whispered in annoyance. "Stupid scavengers. Go away already...!"
He was sitting on top of a container small enough for him to carry with his feet. He prepared to move when he thought he saw Antoine look his way, but his panic made him fumble and almost tilt and drop the container, causing him to flap his wings and catch it again.
"Wha-?" Aimer looked over and saw Caio with the container in his talons.
"...Aw crap." Caio cursed. Immediately, he flapped his wings and started to fly past the group and try and escape through the windows on the balconies. "So long suckers!"
Aimer, however, aimed her Buster-Pistol and shot at him nonchalantly. Caio yelped as the shot hit his back, forcing him to drop the container. Aimer then made a mad dash and dove to catch the container before it hit the ground and shattered. Caio knew he screwed up. But before he could do anything about it, Antoine and the others aimed their guns at Caio.
"U-Uh! R-Riiight! You can have that! I-I meant to give it to ya! Yeaaaah! Ha ha! Haaah! ... ... ... SEE YA!" Caio flew out the window and soar the skies, flying frantically before any of them had the bright idea to shoot at him.
Antoine ran to Aimer and helped her up. "You okay?"
Aimer breathed a big puff of air. She then looked at Antoine with the container in her hand. "I'm okay... But I'm feeling even better now that I have this~"
She then looked at the container, dropping her smile and looking anxious. The container had glass, but the contents were hidden behind the tint, leaving her unable to see it outside of a subtle purple glow inside.
"...Whatever this is."