Origin Chapter: Aimer
At 7:15 PM evening, a Guardian airship safely landed in the port town of Selena Isle. This airship was one of many docked at the port town nearby Luna Town, though the arriving airship was one of four Guardian affiliated airships currently docked. All four airships were considerably smaller than the Grand Nuage, the mobile main Guardian Base, but the one that just landed was much smaller than the other three. The lights on this airship dimmed to signal its docked status as the door to the cargo opened.
Waiting at the port were two adult Guardian members, a young man, and a young woman, both with the helmets and visors on completely, covering their eyes. As expected of them, these Guardian members had their Buster-Rifles locked in place around their shoulders.
"Is that them?" The young woman asked.
"Gotta be." The young man replied. "We weren't expecting any other Guardian ship, after all. Though these guys are really freakin' late..."
Walking down the ramp were several other Guardian members, but one person stuck out; A young girl with light skin and yellow eyes was walking beside these Guardians.
Unlike these members who were clad in green and bore the Guardian symbol which was a stylized "G" on their uniforms, this girl was clad in light blue and black. She wore a light blue sleeveless vest with a short-sleeved dark vertical striped, black shirt underneath and had very minor armored plating on her shoulders. On her head was a light blue cap with white goggles strapped on the face of the cap. She also wore fingerless gloves, shorts, and small light blue military-esque boots with black soles; all three articles of clothing sharing the same color as her vest and hat. She also wore black biker shorts underneath her actual shorts and black socks. Interestingly, the most noticeable quality about this girl was her long pink hair but all tips of her hair had a fainting white color. This appeared to be a stylistic choice, but it was rather eye-catching all the same.
As the other Guardians that left the ramp spread out, one Guardian, a somewhat elderly but still physically fit man, walked with the young girl beside him. He went to the young man and young woman who were waiting at the port for the airship to arrive.
"Craig. Took you long enough." The young man greeted. "If I had to stand here for another hour, I was gonna scream."
"Sorry for the delay," the elderly man told the two. "But we had to restock some cargo."
He tilted his head to the young girl who appeared to be at most 5 feet tall. "This here is Aimer. From Sentry."
"Hello. Nice to meet you." The girl named Aimer greeted with a small but respectful salute.
"You're Aimer?" The man asked in surprise. "Huh... In this day and age, I shouldn't be surprised and yet I am. I'm Dwight and this is Candice, a new member from my branch of the Guardians."
The young woman, Candice, looked confused. "I'm sorry, Sentry? What's that?"
A sigh came from Dwight. "Geez, newbie. Weren't you paying attention to the briefing or any of your training? Sentry is basically a "sister company" to the Guardians. They're way more militarized than us and usually take care of the big stuff that the Guardians just ain't equipped to handle. The current commander of Sentry works closely with our commander to get things done."
"Okay, gotcha. Could've been a lot nicer about it..." Candice grumbled before looking down at Aimer. Candice herself, despite being an adult, wasn't that much taller than Aimer, being about 5'3-5'4 compared to the 5'9 elder and 6'0 Dwight. "You're the prodigy we heard so much about. You do a bunch of techy stuff?"
Dwight furrowed his brow in confusion and slight agitation. Earlier Candice was acting like she didn't pay a lick of attention to the briefing but now she's talking about stuff that was definitely in the briefing. "Was she...paying attention to the briefing or not?" He thought to himself.
"Well... That's a gross oversimplification but... Yeah. I do a bunch of techy stuff, haha~" Aimer chuckled, blushing a bit. "But as much as I would like to continue our friendly greetings, the delay to get me here has left me...a little impatient? So, if we can, I'd like to check out the temporary home that was prepared for me."
"Heh. She's talking about being impatient?" Dwight scoffed.
"Despite our delays, that doesn't change the respect you should have for one another," Craig stated in a gruff but firm voice. "Aimer may be 12 years old, but her skills and expertise are nothing to laugh at. She has every right to be here as we do, so I don't want to hear any mistreatment of her."
"Yes, sir." Candice and Dwight replied.
Dwight and Candice led Aimer to the Guardian issued Jeep, a wheeled vehicle among aerial vehicles, and once inside, the two adults drove throughout the outskirts of town. At a glance, the island might not look very big, but it was more than big enough to sustain the life and culture it's had for 50 years now, much like the other islands back before the wars ruined the Earth.
Aimer, who was in the back seats, watched from the window as they drove further away from Luna Town, driving along a single stretch of road with a wide-open beautiful grassland being quite a sight.
"So. What brings you to Selena Isle of all places, Aimer?" Dwight asked, not keeping his eyes off the road.
Aimer, who also didn't keep her eyes from the window and the scenery behind the glass, spoke up, "Mr. Craig was here a few days ago. His energy detecting equipment picked up some peculiar readings in the Quarry, readings that no other energy detector on the island could detect."
"Oh? Do you know what it is?" Candice asked from the passenger side.
"...I'm pretty sure I know what it is." Aimer said, her voice becoming a little more urgent. "All the more reason for me to go check it out before someone else gets their hands on it."
"Lemme guess. It's Biometal related, isn't it?" Dwight sarcastically asked, rolling his eyes.
Aimer took her eyes off the outside scenery to look at Dwight's eyes via the rear-view mirror. "Actually, I do believe that is the case."
"Good freakin' grief... I wasn't serious." Dwight groaned.
"Can we not go into that rant of yours?" Candice asked with a tinge of annoyance in her tone as she sensed Dwight's own annoyance.
"Biometal this, Biometal that," Dwight complained, earning a groan from Candice who had asked him not to do this. "Ever since Slither Inc. got destroyed in Cinq Ville, we've been hearing non-stop about Biometals. It's giving me a massive headache."
Two months ago in another nation known as Cinq Ville, the president of Slither Inc. was exposed to be a power hungry maniac, utilizing the power of Biometals. Through the use of one giant Biometal, he had managed to absorb the souls of innocent people for many years, hoping to awaken the Biometal completely and use it for his own darwinist purposes as the Mega Man king. However, a heroic Mega Man put a stop to him for good, ending his ambitions.
Information regarding this event became known to the populace, but how well the information was known to the people varied. Most of the people had a very minor and basic understanding of the events, but others, such as the Guardians, knew every detail about the end of Slither Inc.
The existence of Biometals, no matter how well known it was to a person, was an object to get rich quick, or get power quickly. Ruin Hunters are certainly looking for them.
Guardians like Dwight knew the full details of Slither Inc's downfall and thus had knowledge of Biometals and the Chosen One who had used them to defeat Serpent.
"...Like it or not, Biometals are in our lives now, Mr. Dwight." Aimer told him firmly. "And ensuring that the Biometal's power isn't misused is a priority of mine. I've been eager to get here to check out that Quarry site and so many factors have been keeping me away. I can only hope I'm not too late, and I can't even investigate until tomorrow."
"You definitely sound eager," Candice replied with a nervous chuckle. This girl was 12 years old and moments ago she sounded her age. But now...? She was speaking almost in a mature tone. Even if Candice hadn't seen any of what Aimer had accomplished, she was willing to believe the whole prodigy detail that she's been told about, even just a little bit.
After all, prodigies like Aimer were becoming more and more frequent nowadays.
"Hey, if you wanna go at it, then I ain't gonna stop you," Dwight told Aimer. Despite his own opinion on Biometal, Aimer was right, and he had acknowledged it. "Normally, I wouldn't even consider allowing a person your age to do something like this, but hey, you're in Sentry for a reason. Sentry hardly allows minors like the Guardians do. You've got to be pretty special."
"...Thank you for your kind words." Aimer replied, sounding...a little shy about the compliments, something Candice took notice of.
"Honestly, it's surprising the Mayor is even allowing people to check out the Quarry with their week-long parade going on," Dwight noted. "I know that some Ruin Hunter buddies of mine were complaining about not being able to dig down there until after the parade was over."
"...It's also because my commander requested the Mayor to keep the Ruin Hunters away from the Quarry until after my investigations." Aimer added. "If it is Biometal down there, we don't want anyone taking it."
"Offf course." Dwight sighed. "So, they're keeping a bunch of Ruin Hunters away but they're letting a 12-year-old girl go venturing off like Indiana Jones. Our society is screwy."
"...And, uh... What's Indiana Jones, exactly?" Candice asked.
Given the interaction between the two, one would expect Dwight to be upset at Candice...but he wasn't. "Ah, I'll show ya later. A Ruin Hunter buddy of mine found some ancient films from centuries ago. You'll probably love 'em."
The jeep drove further and further away from the towns and cities. Now, they were entering the forest of the island. No one lived in the forest but the wildlife, but the people of Selena Isle were keen enough to make drivable paths in the forest. Despite that, Dwight drove the jeep off the path, carefully maneuvering around some rather thick wooded trees. Finally, they drove into a wide circular area which was where trees used to be. In its place was a Guardian issued truck and besides that, there was a Sentry issued navy blue colored mobile trailer.
"Here we are," Dwight replied with Candice and Aimer getting out of the jeep.
Aimer walked to the trailer and approached the three-step tall staircase with a door attached to the trailer. This door was one of those fancy mechanism slider doors with a red LED light. Aimer reached into her shorts' pocket and pulled out her Official Sentry ID License and held it up to the door's scanner. With a red light going green and a beep confirming entry, the door slid open, allowing Aimer entry into the darkened trailer. Once she took a step inside, the lights came on, allowing the young girl to feast her eyes on a miniature laboratory. A desk with a swivel chair, plenty of computer screens, a fridge, a bed, and plenty of unopened ceratanium enforced containers. The interior was roomy and spacious.
"Your trailer came yesterday," Dwight explained from outside. "Your Sentry fellas came and set this thing up with our Guardian buds. Looks pretty home-y from where I'm standing."
Aimer was grinning ear to ear. "So cool~!"
Dwight and Candice shared a glance at Aimer's now excited voice. They watched as she dashed over to the desk with all the computer screens. "Just like the commander said! Everything's here! All this will do great for my research! Oh! Wait, my laptop! My notepad! Is it all here?!" Aimer then dashed to one of the containers and popped open the lock to look inside its contents. She let out a small but excited squeal. "Eee! They're all here!"
"...She definitely sounds eager," Candice repeated with a nervous chuckle.
"...Yup. Definitely a gal who does a buncha techy stuff." Dwight also repeated, scratching the back of his head with a bit of a smile himself. He walked over to the door. "Hey, uh, Aimer?"
"Huh?" Aimer looked over at him having stopped digging into one of the containers for her belongings.
"It sounds like you got everything you need for your 'investigation'," Dwight started. "If everything's present and accounted for, what's the next plan?"
Aimer stepped away from the container. "Ah, well... You're all free to go back to your crew. I'll rest here for the night and investigate the Quarry by myself tomorrow. My commander should have left me a vehicle to use so I can travel effectively..."
"Are you sure you'll be okay by yourself?" Candice asked, sounding a little concerned. "The Quarry's bound to have Mavericks there. Honestly, it was a miracle that this forest was Maverick-free aside from the small fry."
"I'm sure." Aimer told her with an assuring tone. "This is not the first time I've done anything like this by myself. Exploring for the sake of my research has always been my passion and forte. This will be no different. If you're curious, I carry my custom-made Buster-Pistol that I use to defend myself against Mavericks. I'll be fine!"
"Custom-made Buster-Pistol... Haha." Dwight chuckled to himself, nodding and turning around to head back to the jeep. Ideally, it normally wouldn't be a good idea to allow a person like Aimer to do such things by themselves, but Dwight figured that she could take of herself. Besides the fact that she told them that she would call for help if she needed it, she's heard of plenty of prodigy Guardian members that have done far crazier things than what Aimer's doing. Granted, they also had special help... "Well, alrighty then. Guess we'll be off. It was nice meetin' ya."
"Ditto," Aimer replied. "And thank you for the ride and hospitality."
"You're welcome," Candice replied, following Dwight back to the jeep.
Aimer watched as the two eventually drove away. Once they did, Aimer shut and locked her door and flopped on her bed. "Haaah~ ...Commander Markos picked a nice bed for me... Or maybe it wasn't him but someone else? Well, whoever is responsible, I've got to thank them for this~"
Aimer wasn't quite ready to sleep yet. She still had to look over everything in her trailer to make sure she had everything she needed for not only her research and investigation but also to keep her alive and healthy. But for now, she'd take a brief rest. It was a long ride to get to Selena Isle.
"...But I have to find that Biometal." Aimer talked out loud to herself with a frown. "The Guardians and Sentry share the same Biometal signature devices. It's definitely on this island still... And tomorrow, I'll find it. So sit tight, Biometal. Aimer's coming to the rescue~"
The following day, Aimer had prepared for her investigation.
The Quarry was a site for Ruin Hunters and others who had the authority to be there. Aimer, being a member of Sentry, was of the latter variety. This particular site was found just outside the forest and by a lake that...no one hardly goes to. And Aimer didn't quite know why. The lake seemed pretty alright. Some purifier materials would clean up the lake quickly but... She didn't know why, but the place seemed eerie to her. Maybe that's why. Still, her focus was on the entrance to the Quarry which was like a big opening to an elaborate cave system. She heard about how a Hunter's Camp nearby the city of Banten, where Legion HQ was located, had a Quarry of its own... She's never been at that Hunter's Camp before, but she's heard about it. She was starting to draw some parallels just from being inside.
With a pack on her back, Aimer traversed through the interior of the Quarry. This was a popular site for Ruin Hunters due to the Energy Crystal Mine. Back in the 22nd Century, these mines were a dime a dozen. But now? In the 26th Century? They were quite a rarity. Still, there were rules about the Energy Crystal Mines from the Mayor to prevent the Ruin Hunters or any other licensed individuals from doing anything crazy with the contents that they aren't supposed to be doing.
But for Aimer, she had zero interest in the E-Crystal Mines. That wasn't her priority. Her priority right now was the energy signature that was pinging on the device she held in her hand. She was looking for what could very well be a Biometal hidden deep beneath the island.
"Okay, it's going to rain..." Aimer said to herself as she traversed through the caverns with illuminated lights thanks to some E-Crystals fused with the walls and some light posts placed there by previous individuals who dug around in here. "I'm really starting to regret not coming here earlier... And I hate saying that because the food I ate was really good..."
She planned to come here around Noon. Her morning was occupied speaking with her commander on her laptop, letting him know that she was going to begin her research today. But after getting everything prepared, she decided to ride her Sentry-issued motorcycle, a vehicle which she found in the trailer, out to Kairos City to explore a little bit... and maybe watch some of the parade that was on its 5th day. There, she used some of her funds to buy herself a nice lunch before retreating to her trailer to prepare her investigations for real. She had no idea it was going to rain. She thought that she'd have a little bit of fun on the island since there was a parade going on and she was feeling a little festive. But now she regrets it. She didn't bring an umbrella when she left her trailer and she's been walking from the forest to the Quarry.
Hopefully, she'll be in and out of here.
"This is...crazy."
Aimer had traversed through the Quarry with her flashlight in hand, going lower and lower inside via man-made elevators within the site. She used her detector as a makeshift guide to find the location of the energy signature. As much as she wouldn't mind spending some of her spare time to examine the entirety of the Quarry, her priority was the energy signature that came from the energy detecting device that was now locked firmly onto her belt.
However, the crazy part came where Aimer came across...an airship. A Raider airship at that. In layman's terms, Raiders were illegal Ruin Hunters. Somehow, someway, this airship managed to get so deep underground on the island. Now, this was something worth investigating on her end...but the energy signature was much stronger in there too, so she had to check it out anyway.
"How the heck did an airship like this get in here...?" Aimer asked herself out loud. "...Did they build Selena Island on top of this? Or did it crash in here from the outside...? So bizarre...but worth investigating!"
The door, which was one of those automatic sliding doors, was locked... Likely because of this ship's decrepit state, the door wasn't going to open via any other means. Reaching into the holster on her belt, she had her custom-made Buster-Pistol on hand. The key thing about her firearm was that she could swap out its functionality with some simple switches; a regular buster shot, a blowtorch function, a freezer shot, and even a taser-like function. Except for the regular buster shots, the other functions had elemental chips installed into them; a fire chip, an ice chip, and an elec chip. Via the fire chip, or blowtorch function, she managed to force the door open and managed to get herself inside, grabbing her backpack, holstering her blaster, and aiming her flashlight throughout the very dark hallways of this airship.
The airship wasn't very small, but it wasn't incredibly large either... It had 3 decks in total, a standard for airships used by Raiders. Due to this ship's state, however, the lower deck was completely buried under rocks and other debris. The elevator, which would get Aimer to the top deck was also inoperable, much like the doors. But after blowing open the door to the electricity room, Aimer used her taser-like function on her Buster-Pistol to jumpstart the six power generators to get some form of power. She had no idea how long this airship was here but she took a gamble to see if any electricity was still functioning.
To her surprise, there was some power left over. The lights flickered and dimmed faintly, but it provided Aimer enough light to the point where she didn't need her flashlight anymore. "Alright, some power is better than no power..." She said to herself.
She proceeded to check through all the doors that were now open due to the power faintly functioning in the decrepit airship. The broken state of the ship and its faint power supply meant this ship wasn't going anywhere ever again, but it left just enough power to keep these doors open and even keep the elevator up and running...until the generators ran out of power. She's checked on the rooms found on the level she's been on and on the upper deck via elevator due to the lower level being buried. She has checked each of those rooms but found nothing...
...Well, except for one room.
On the top deck, there was a room at the end. For the most part, there were electronic signs above each door that let Aimer know what kind of room she was in. The room with the power generators had an electronic sign above the door which was a thunderbolt symbol to let people know that this room was the electrical room. Other rooms she's checked, which had beds or was where old cargo was placed, had no such signs. This one she's encountered, however, had an electronic sign that read "DATA", meaning this was the Data Room.
This door did not open, though.
"Huh. That's weird..." Aimer noted out loud. "All the other doors opened just fine with the limited power. What gives?"
Aimer gave the door further examination to see if anything was missing... Most notably, the light panel beside the door was red. When the power was off, no lights on the panels were on. But when the power came back on, the lights turned on and were green. A red light indicated that the door was locked. Even more, this panel had a different design than the other panels, being circular in design versus the others which were square-shaped.
But the most important thing to note was that her energy detector was going wild, constant beeps pinging from the device on Aimer's person.
"It's here. It's gotta be. But this door... Hnngh, don't tell me I need a lock for this thing... I'll use my fire-chip again if I have to..." She frowned, referring to her custom Buster-Pistol's blowtorch function. "Forcing it open shouldn't alert any alarms anything... Hopefully."
To Aimer's surprise, the panel's red light turned a bright blue, catching Aimer by surprise. To further her surprise, the light beamed wide bright harmless lasers in a square pattern. It was scanner of some kind, starting from the bottom and dropping down to the ground with Aimer being covered by those lights. These scanner lights went up and down 2 more times before the light vanished back into the light panel.
"Uh...Okay?"
Out of the blue, the light turned from blue to green...and the door even opened up.
"...H-Huh. Well then..." Aimer was...confuddled, needless to say. But she decided to enter inside anyway, mostly because something inside caught her eye.
In an airship like this, a Data Room typically contained either a Transerver that was only capable of Communications and checking Mission Reports or a Transerver that could do the former two but with the bonus of being capable of teleporting to other Transervers nearby and Warp Points. The latter was the most well-known function of a Transerver, and all Transervers could allow the user to receive Energy Crystals and, as of late, Zenny as forms of currency, mostly used after submitting Mission Reports.
But while there was a teleporting Transerver in the room, that Transerver...appeared to be heavily modified. It had the look of a Transerver, but it wasn't teleporting any time soon, nor was it accepting payments or the ability to submit Mission Reports or contact others. It looked primarily like a Capsule. Inside the Transerver was a bright aqua-colored light keeping a strange hand-sized piece of metal suspended in the air.
Aimer gasped at the sight. And her energy detector was going nuts. This was it. This floating piece of metal was what she was seeking:
Biometal.
"I knew it! Ha Haaa!" Aimer cheered.
She ran to the modified Transerver, examining what she assumed to be Biometal suspended in the air with the energy. It was a blue Biometal that almost looked like it had a white robotic or even mecha-esque face with dark "eyes" and a blue helmet on its head. The blue helmet was distinct for having what appeared to be a light blue exclamation mark that went from the forehead to the back of the helmet. The overall shape was blocky, a quality that many Biometals shared. Pointy, blocky, and floating... Though in this case, the Biometal was suspended in the air via the energy, but Aimer was sure if she got this Biometal out, it'd float on its own.
Aimer went to check out the Transerver's control panel, right beside the large but heavily cracked window. The control panel did not seem to be too modified from all the other Transervers in the world, which meant Aimer knew how to turn it off. Turning off the Transerver caused the suspending energy within the interior of the Transerver where the teleportation pad was located to turn off. Despite the energy going away, the Biometal still hovered in the air without any contraptions or outside forces keeping it afloat. But when the energy disappeared with the Transerver being turned off, the dark eyes on the Biometal turned on to a bright blue color.
"Whoa, what? It turned on?!" Aimer was surprised by this turn of events. With the lights on the Biometal's "eyes" being "on", it meant that this Biometal was online. It was awake. Alive.
Aimer took a nervous step and waved to the Biometal with a cheeky smile. "Um... Heeey? Can you hear me? Hellooo?"
The Biometal remained stationary in the air...but Aimer heard a voice... But only in her head.
"Hnnn... Huh...? Where am I?"
The voice was only heard in her head. There was no external source coming from the Biometal. It had the voice of what Aimer assumed to be a 10-year-old boy, giving her the idea that this Biometal was...rather young.
"I found you inside this really weird Transerver." Aimer explained casually...despite the obvious weirdness of it all. "You're inside a Raider airship I found deep underground on Selena Isle. B-But I don't want to overwhelm you with so much information. You look like you just came online. What's your name? Do you...remember anything?"
The Biometal floats towards Aimer who, again, is casual about this. It looked like the Biometal was examining the Data Room with its dimly lit lights. The energy field in the Transerver was the brightest thing in the room, but with that off, it was dim again. The Biometal then looked at Aimer again.
"Well... My Biometal designation is... Model M." The Biometal explained. "But... Before I was placed into this new... Um... Body... I was... a robot named Rock. Rock Light. But the world knew me as...Mega Man."
"Wait, what?" Aimer's eyes widened at this. "H-Hang on. Mega Man? As in...the... Robot Master...? From the 21st Century?!"
"Uh... Yeah?" Model M replied, noticeably sounding a little confused by her reaction. "I know that I'm...so far into the future but... I didn't think people remembered me and others from that time. Thought we were forgotten..."
"...Oh my gosh...This is so cool~" But Aimer was quick to rapidly shake her head. "Hang on! I'm so rude! I asked who you are before I even introduced MYself! I'm Aimer. I work for Sentry and my current mission was to follow through on reports of Biometal energy being felt on this island... And you're that Biometal, Model M!"
Model M's "face" was incapable of emoting properly. But if it could emote, it'd be rather puzzled. "Well, nice to meet you Miss Aimer. I'm a little eager to get out of here and see the world."
"Speaking of which, do you know who made you?" Aimer asked.
"Hmm... Sorry, but the memories after my creation...or I guess recreation as a Biometal...are a bit fuzzy." Model M apologized. "I honestly can't tell if the person who put me in that...thing erased my memories or suppressed them."
"I should've guessed..." Aimer said with a frown, sounding not too surprised. "That seems to be a standard with newly awakened Biometals... Or at least the ones that I find... Don't know if that's true though..."
"I see..." Model M replied. "Well, Miss Aimer, I think I can trust you..."
"Please, just call me Aimer!" She assured him. "And I'm relieved to hear you say that. It's my honor to help THE Mega Man of the 21st Century!"
"Heh heh... That praise isn't really necessary..." Model M replied with a chuckle.
"Oh, I think the praise is well placed."
Aimer quickly turned around to face the source of the voice that was NOT in her head while Model M tilted its head slightly to look at the source as well.
Standing by the door were not one, not two, but three individuals. Two of the three were incredibly short but one of them was easily the tallest of not only the two individuals beside him but Aimer and especially Model M as well.
There was a small robot individual on the ground. This was a Met. Or a Mettool. Or a Mettaur. or a Metall. These iconic robots are known by many names and nicknames, even called "Hard Hats" for their... Well, Hard Hats on their heads. But for the sake of simplicity, they'll be referred to as Mets. This Met was familiar in shape and design but was different than other Mets seen throughout the world's history. This particular Met was noticeably frowning and had its..."brows" furrowed, in an intimidating manner. The most notable quality about this Met was the existence of two..."hands". Those "hands" were floating spheres, and they were holding a mallet that was of a similar design to a mechaniloid from the Neo Arcadia wars known as "Moloids".
The other smaller robot was a pure sphere that was perched on the shoulder of the taller individual with its bat-like feet. The sphere opened up, revealing to have a bat-like design. This individual was based on the Batton robot series from the 21st Century. It was overall black in design, but the wings were colored purple, and its eyelids are purple as well. The eyes were viciously red, however. Much like the Met, it looked a little more advanced than normal, but the design was less apparent than the Met...and especially the individual the Batton-like individual was perched on.
The last individual was a robot with human-like proportions. This was a highly upgraded Sniper Joe, yet another robot from the 21st Century but also one of the most well-known enemy bots of the past...right behind the Met... Who has, or rather had, a Met-themed Amusement Park elsewhere in the world... But this individual was clad in red and was dressed or at least designed like a military commander complete with a pointy military cap with a black tip, fancy yellow shoulder pads that held his long black cape. Its singular glowing red eye was focused squarely on the Biometal...before shifting its gaze on Aimer. In a professional but imposing manner, the Joe-like robot had its hands behind its back, fitting of an actual military commander; especially a tyrannical one. The voice came from this one's...mouth. Well, the Joe series, no matter the type, never did have a mouth. Strange considering the Met and Batton-looking bots had mouths. Overall, this guy definitely had a shadowy dictator kind of look...
"What the... What is this!?" Aimer shouted, hand on her holster. "Mavericks!?"
"Mavericks?! We're no Mavericks!" The Met spoke with a slightly high-pitched kid-like voice fitting of a young boy. It, or rather he, shook its hammer wildly. "We're Reploids! We just don't look like every other Reploid!"
"Except for the animal Reploids." The Batton, also with a male but scratchy voice, replied, flapping his wings beside his allies. "And I mean the ones that look exactly like a dog or a cat, not the Reploids with animal themes but had humanoid appearances... Not that I see those types anymore... Seemed to have died out centuries ago-"
"Enough!" The red Joe shouted, forcing the other two to be silent. Unlike the other two, this one's voice was a little older but slightly digitized. "When we came to this island, we were to take simple recon. A couple of Sentry grunts here, a couple of Hunters there, and those Guardian bozos everywhere. Looking at your uniform, you're part of Sentry, aren't you?"
"So what if I am?!" Aimer barked.
Model M shifted closely to Aimer. "These guys... They look exactly like some robots seen back in my time!"
"Huh?" Aimer inquired, taking a glance in Model M's direction before quickly refocusing on the enemy in front of her.
"There were a lot of robots with a bunch of variations." Model M explained. "The Met series, the Batton series, and the Joe series. All three of these were the most well-known series of robots at the time! The Mets for sure have survived all this time but not a lot of people know about the last two lines nowadays... But why are they here?!"
"Ditto on that question. And to add on to that question, who are you?!" Aimer shouted.
"Not that we owe you anything, but we might as well get our names known on this island. It was bound to happen anyway, so we'll just start with you then, girl." Sempronio replied, sounding a little tired with that response.
"I am Tizio!" The Met replied eagerly.
"I am Caio!" The Batton replied viciously.
"And I am Sempronio." The Joe replied calmly but coldly. "And you, little girl, are going to have a nasty wound on you if you don't hand over that Biometal."
"Want to say that again?!" Aimer growled back.
"Ooh~ She's feisty!" Caio stated with a chuckle.
"Hold on! That Biometal looks...really familiar." Tizio noted, squinting its very cartoony looking eyes at Model M's direction. "Should we know that Biometal?"
"I never met you before in my life!" Model M retorted... Though with some of his memories being incomplete, he was considering some small possibilities that they did know him or his comrades.
"Huh. Now that you mention it, I can see it..." Caio replied, also squinting at Model M.
"..." Sempronio was quiet as he took note of his comrades' words. Due to his design, his facial emotions weren't nearly as clear. His singular eye would make subtle changes to its circular shape, but aside from that, people would have to rely on his voice and body language to get some form of a read on how he was feeling. But he took his hands from behind his back and folded them across his chest. "Ahhh, it makes sense. Our creator has spoken about this one."
"What?" Model M replied. Considering these guys could hear it like Aimer could, Model M continued. "What do you mean by that?"
"Well, it's quite obvious," Sempronio began with a sinister tone. "You look exactly like a certain Blue Bomber that our creator seems to have animosity towards... Mega Man. Either that, or you're Model X, but that's pretty unlikely given where he's at."
"Mega Man?! As in THE Mega Man!?" Tizio exclaimed excitedly.
"This is a glorious discovery!" Caio replied, also sounding excited like his partner. "We will be rewarded handsomely for this; I am certain of it!"
"Indeed we will be," Sempronio stated, almost sounding like he's grinning despite the lack of a mouth. All of a sudden, his right hand turned into a very dangerous-looking Arm Cannon; a Buster to be precise. Aimer's blood practically froze at the sight of this sinister weapon. "So, as I said before, hand over that Biometal."
Aimer began to sweat a bit. Obviously, handing over Model M was not on the top of her to-do list, but... She was also held at gunpoint.
"Come on," Sempronio said. "Don't be stupid. Believe it or not, I'm not exactly fond of shooting a little girl like yourself. You remind me too much of someone I know dearly. But I'm also not going to hesitate if you give us trouble here. So do the smart thing. After all, you won't be able to get any reinforcements to help you."
"...How did you find the Biometal?" Aimer asked. She was taking a gamble. She needed to think of a way out of here. So hopefully she can distract these guys long enough for her to come up with a solid enough plan to help both her and Model M get away safely.
"Duh! With a Biometal detector!" Caio told her with such a matter-of-fact tone. "Isn't that how you found it? Or was it just luck?!"
"No. You're right. I found it with a 'Biometal detector'." She confirmed. She took another glance around the room for any form of exit... She noticed the window on her right that led to the caverns outside this broken airship. As expected of airships of all kinds, the glass needed to be well enforced to withstand the high winds and even potential aerial battles from Mavericks or other forces. But given the state of this ship, there were already plenty of cracks on the window. She could probably break through it and make a run for it with Model M.
"What does a girl like you even want with Biometal, anyway?" Tizio asked.
"Shut up," Sempronio said firmly. "She's stalling, you morons."
"Really?" Tizio inquired. "I thought she was asking some serious questions there... You telling me she was just asking to buy time?"
"YES!" Sempronio said, glaring at Tizio.
Once Sempronio turned his head to glare at the Met, Aimer knew that now was the time to move. Every move she made had to be correct or her life was forfeit and Model M would be lost to these sketchy individuals.
Aimer quickly grabbed Model M who replied with a small yelp. With a mad dash towards the window, Aimer quickly whipped out her Buster-Pistol from her holster and swapped from the fire chip function to the regular blasts as she constantly shot at the window to completely shatter it.
"Dammit! HALT!" Sempronio cursed, now shooting at Aimer with semi-big lethally red plasma blasts.
She was fortunate enough to not get hit by any of his shots as she dived out the window. The height was large but not too large for it to harm Aimer. Once hitting the ground, she rolled and landed on her feet, still holding her firearm and Model M. "We're so out of here!" She told him as she made a mad dash to the way she came.
"This isn't how I imagined waking up!" Model M whined in Aimer's hand.
"I don't know, I hear this kind of thing happens a lot to other people!" Aimer replied, panting with each step she took. "We gotta get outta here and hide where these weirdos can't find us. I'll call the Commander, get some troops! Call some Guardians o-o-or some Hunters to check out the island for any suspicious people- Aaah!" She narrowly missed losing her left leg as a plasma blast hit the ground just from where her left leg briefly was. "Right! Got it! Less talking, more running!"
"Yeah, I like that plan!" Model M frantically agreed.
Sempronio, Tizio, and Caio looked out the window and watched as Aimer ran. Sempronio, who started shooting at her from the window as she ran further and further away from the airship, had his singular red eye glare swapped between Caio and Tizio who were standing at each side of him. "What are you two clowns doing?! AFTER HER!"
Tizio shrieked and hopped out of the window while Caio flew with a worried look on his face. Tizio fell to the ground, completely unfazed from the landing. The same went for Sempronio who landed in a far more dramatic manner, and they gave chase to the girl and the Biometal in her hand. While Sempronio's footsteps were heavy and suspenseful, Tizio's footsteps had cute almost squeaky noises. Caio, a bat-like robot, was naturally flapping its wings unnaturally to chase. Both Tizio and Caio joined Sempronio on the shooting. Unlike the bigger bot, these two shot plasma blasts from their mouths. They were smaller than Sempronio's shots but no less lethal than any other shot like it...
"Come baaack!" Tizio shouted before resuming his shooting.
"We'll stop shooting if you dooo!" Caio taunted, obviously lying given his tone.
"CEASE YOUR JOKING AND CAPTURE HER!" Sempronio shouted angrily.
Leading the chase, Sempronio continued shooting at the girl with his two allies following right behind…