Cynthia brought Hermit, Geno, and Couchpo over to her ship. She even let them inside since it was in mint condition. "Welcome to what's been my home as of late! I keep it clean since I sleep here." Cynthia said with a smile.
"Whoa...it's a nice ship!" Couchpo said.
"I forgot how good this ship looked..." Geno had only been inside of it once, and that was before Cynthia set off with Aiden. It may have been small, but it was perfect for one person. Similar to Rebecca's Aquawing in terms of size. There was a question on the tip of Geno's tongue, but he opted to hold it for the time being. There was a lot he had to tell Cynthia, but that was later...
Hermit had her laptop and took a seat at the piolet's chair. "Do you mind if I sit here?"
"Not at all." Cynthia shook her head. "I've been trying to find out what the issue is for ages, but it just says I'm out of fuel. But I don't feel like that's right since I had some when I got here."
"Hm..." Hermit wasn't sure what to make of this. So she placed her laptop on the dashboard and connected it to Cynthia's ship with a USB cable. This way she could directly connect to everything and see what was going on. "Okay, I'm going to look directly into your mainframe and see if there's anything I can figure out."
"Good luck." Cynthia said with a small sigh. "I'm not a pro at this stuff or anything, but I definitely know my way around computers. I haven't been able to get anything..."
"Hermit's pretty good at this hacking stuff. I'm sure she''ll find something!" Geno said with a nod.
"Your ship's security is pretty good." Hermit said casually.
"...Wait, you made friends with a hacker?!" Cynthia glanced at Geno. Where did he find this girl!?
"Yeah." Geno just nodded.
"Hermit's great!" Couchpo said with a nod as well. She was vouching for Hermit.
Before Cynthia could say anything, Hermit already piped up. "Ah ha! I see what the problem is. You have a virus of some kind."
"A virus!?" Cynthia's eyes went wide and she hurried over and looked at Hermit's laptop. "But I did a virus scan already!"
"i can't tell what kind of virus it is. But I was able to detect something shifting about through your mainframe and files." Hermit explained while crossing her arms. "I scanned everything at once. Did you?"
"Agh, darn it. I should've done that! I scanned everything one by one! It wasn't like I was in a rush." Cynthia felt stupid for not considering that option.
"It's not your fault. Even when I scanned everything, I just barely noticed it." Hermit furrowed her brows. "Whatever it is, it's probably been here for as long as you've been stuck. So the only issue now is flushing it out and getting rid of it."
"How are we going to do that?" Cynthia asked.
"Looks like we're up." Geno said while stepping forward.
"Huh?" Cynthia turned to Geno. "I appreciate that. Geno. I know you're a little good with machines and all, but this is kind of out of your league. No offense...!"
That was a completely fair assumption, based on the last time the two had seen each other. But Geno was not the same person from those years ago. "Don't worry. I've done my fair share of growing up while you were gone. Isn't that right, Mega?"
"You're right, kid!" And on that cue, Omega appeared from Geno's wrist device, causing Cynthia to yelp from surprise.
"What the-!?" Cynthia gasped, not having expected Omega's presence whatsoever.
The two of them then merged into Megaman. "I'll head right in and flush the virus out myself! Hermit, we're gonna need your guidance in there."
"You got it." Hermit nodded. Without another word between the two of them, Geno vanished into a bright blue beam of light and went right inside of Hermit's laptop, using that as a starting point to travel into the mainframe of Cynthia's ship.
"What just happened..." Cynthia blinked several times. She felt so, so lost.
"You two have a lot to catch up on." Couchpo said in the corner.
.
.
While Geno and Hermit were helping out Cynthia, the others of the crew didn't have any luck finding her at all. They weren't informed just yet that she was found, so they decided to take a break for the time being and just enjoy the sand and the waves. "No luck at all. I'm starting to wonder if this chick is even here.' Weisz sighed. "She better be cute to make up for all the trouble, too."
"Is that all you're really thinking about?" Kleene tilted her head.
"Don't get too close to Kleene with that gaze of yours." Jinn warned Weisz, causing the young professor to throw his hands up in the air defensively.
"I wasn't doing anything!" Weisz objected. Although he was looking, he did quickly shift his gaze away since Jinn was threatening him.
"So he says." Laguna responded from afar, throwing Weisz under the bus further. "That said...I do understand Blair's concerns about this Cynthia character."
"I think we might be able to trust her." Shiki said while approaching the three of them.
"What makes you say that?" Weisz lifted a brow.
"Well, from what we've heard just by asking around, she's always helping people. I don't think someone who constantly throws herself in danger." Shiki responded with a nod. "Although nobody's gone into detail, she supposedly was the only one to fight off some big creature."
"I don't think that many people would have a reason to lie." Kleene placed her hands behind her back. "I know Blair is a little iffy...but it makes me wonder. If this Cynthia is so nice, why is her mother so...terrible?"
"I think that's something only Vanessa can answer." Shiki crossed his arms. Blair hated that woman and if her story was true, she had perfect reasons to do so. But this made him think about what they were told about the Galactic Fleet. "..."
"What's bothering you, Shiki?" Laguna asked.
"I was just thinking about what Noah told us." Shiki said. "I still can't stand that guy for putting Rebecca in danger. But he gave us a good warning. A person with two of the Black Moon Star shards, and his crew has Cynthia's mother and Aiden's husband. I just think this is all connected somehow."
"Overthinking it won't do you any good." Jinn replied. "Being stuck doing this little pick up quest isn't exactly my idea of fun either, not when we have things to do. But I know we have to take it carefully for now."
"I think we could use this break." Kleene replied. "It really hasn't been long since Delta Ridge. And I feel like when we head back into space after this, we'll be doing a lot of fighting. I want to enjoy this time spent with you and everyone." She turned to Jinn with a sweet smile.
"...I suppose we can enjoy oursevles what little we can." Jinn couldn't find it in himself to frown when Kleene smiled at him like that.
"Guys! There you are!" Rebecca, Pino, Happy, Sister, Blair, and Rebecca rushed over to the group. Rebecca was the one who called out to them.
"What's up?" Shiki turned since they all seemed to be in a hurry.
"I received a message from Hermit." Pino held her hand up in the air. "They found Cynthia."
"Wait, seriously?!" Weisz's eyes went wide. "Where?!"
"She, Couchpo, Geno, and Omega are currently aiding her in the repair of her ship. She had sent us some coordinates." Pino said, preparing to lead everyone in the direction of Cynthia's ship.
.
.
Within the mainframe of Cynthia's computer, Geno was doing battle with the virus that plagued mainframe. This virus took the form of a large winged bird that flew around the datascape, meaning Geno had to chase it down as best he could. "Hey, Hermit! You seeing this?" Geno contacted Hermit as he pointed his Megabuster forward, firing off several shots of ether towards the bird. Each shot just barely missed, as the virus swiftly evaded them. With anannoyed grunt, Geno flew after it.
"Yeah, I see it." Hermit responded. "This is a projection virus. It feeds false information to the system to make it believe there's nothing wrong, while it tries to destroy everything from the inside!"
"WHAT!?" Cynthia's eyes widened. "How long has that thing been in my computer?!"
"Not long enough to cause lasting damage." Hermit said. "Geno, how's it going?"
"I can follow this thing, but I can't land a hit!" Geno said. The virus turned around and closed its wings, only to open them and send numerous blades of 'air' towards Geno. Geno crossed his arms, an emerald colored helix shield appearing in front him. It withstood the incoming blades of air and the explosion that followed suit. He then focused on his lock-on system, targeting the virus as it tried to fly in an erratic pattern to lose him. "Target locked! High Cannon!" His left arm shifted into a gigantic cannon that he steadied with his right arm. He then vanished, appearing right in front of the virus and fired. A large explosion occurred on the spot that blew the virus towards the ground. "Got it!"
"Nice, now delete it, quickly!" Hermit said.
"On it!" As Geno landed on the ground, two emerald swords appeared from both hands and he sprinted forward. The virus looked dazed and he planned to finish it off right then and there. He swung both blades, but the virus recovered and circled around him, slashing his back with its talons. "Gh...!" Geno grunted as his form fizzled a little. Taking damage while data was exceptionally dangerous. If he and Omega sustained too much damage, they would be deleted together as data...
"Hey, easy, kid!" Omega warned.
"I know! It's just fast." Geno was able to shake that off at least. He just knew they couldn't take too many hits like this. "If I could blast it again, that would be great. But I need to make sure the next shot finishes it off..."
"I have you covered." Hermit said with one of her impish smiles. She was watching the fight go down from her laptop. Since Geno was currently data, and they effectively hacked into Cynthia's computer, she could alter that data. "Tell me how this feels!" She pressed a button on her laptop, and suddenly, Geno's body lit up in a blue aura. "Armor upgrade! Let's see you get knocked off your feet now!"
Just in time, as the virus was circling back around in an effort to slam into Geno. Geno held his ground as the virus came flying in and extended both arms up. There was an explosion from the collision, but Geno was holding his ground perfectly. Omega even emerged as Geno's left arm to bite one of the virus' wings. "Nice, Mega! Now...Heavy Knuckle!" Geno slammed his right hand into the face of the virus, causing it to cry out as it staggered back into the air. It was trying to escape, seeing how clearly it was outmatched.
"Where's it trying to go now!?" Cynthia questioned.
"Not good! It's trying to head into the depths of the mainframe to shut everything down!" Hermit gasped. "If it can do that, you'll never be able to use this ship ever again!"
"WHAT?!" Cynthia's eyes went wide. "Geno! Do something!"
"I'm on it! It's not getting away!" Geno stated confidently. Before the virus could get too far, Geno vanished, only to reappear under it. With Omega's head as his left arm, he gripped the throat of the virus with a mighty chomp. He then spun around and slammed the virus into the ground, standing on top of it triumphantly. "Time to delete you." Omega then let loose a roar of ether, completely consuming the virus and deleting it from the system permanently.
"Nice work!" Hermit was never really worried. But seeing Geno in action like that did make her glad they were able to work together. Now that the virus was clear, Hermit could see a whole slew of issues appearing with Cynthia's ship. "Oh, wow. This thing is wrecked internally...but it's nothing a quick fix can't patch up.'
"It's gone, nice job you guys!" Couchpo cheered.
"Guess we should head back now." Geno was about to make an exit, but he stopped when a data projection appeared in front of him, where the virus was. It was a data projection of Aiden. "Huh?"
"Dad...?" Cynthia leaned forward, almost squishing Hermit with how she was hanging over her.
"So, you deleted the virus...I guess you caught on." Data Aiden said while pacing about. It was clear this was a prerecorded message. "Then you must allow me to explain why this virus was here. I put it here."
"What...?" Everyone involved just stared at Data Aiden.
"I'm sure you're confused. I will make this brief. I have discovered something that will turn the universe on its head, and I intend to follow that path. I know that it will ultimately lead to my own destruction, but that is perfectly fine. However...I cannot allow you to follow me on this path." Data Aiden said, arms crossed behind his back. "Your life is your own. I know my actions may damage your future at some point, but I cannot bring myself to do so at this moment. Your mother and I...we do love you very much. But as it stands...I believe this cosmos is better in the hands of machines. Farewell, my daughter. I do not think I will ever see you again." With that, data Aiden faded away, the recording coming to an end.
"U...Uh...what...?" Cynthia was so confused. There were plenty of questions that were swirling about in her head. She had no idea what she just listened to. "I don't understand what that was..."
Geno emerged from the computer, splitting off from Omega as they just stared at each other. "Um..." Geno wasn't sure what to say.
"You've gotta tell her." Omega said.
"...Tell me what?" Cynthia look at Geno with a worried expression. "What do you know that I don't? What happened to my dad? Where's my mom?"
"..." Hermit frowned. This wasn't going to be easy. "...We'll tell you, I promise. But first, we should fix your ship first."
"..." Cynthia rubbed her arm.
"It's a long story..." Geno sighed. "But when your ship is ready..."
"...That's okay." Cynthia said. "I did need my ship fixed for something important aside from just leaving this place anyway! I want to take care of that before anything else."
"Something important?" Couchpo tilted her head.
"I guess you guys haven't heard. But there's something that terrorizes this island. The people think of it like an angry spirit, and are forbidden from talking about it in detail." Cynthia crossed her arms. For the time being, she'd focus on what needed to be done. "But since I'm not from this planet, I don't have that restriction. I was asked not to say anything, but I can't sit by and watch as people are in danger."
"Danger? What's going on?" Geno looked a bit more concerned. "What is this thing terrorizing the whole planet?"
Cynthia paused for a minute. She then looked at Geno and Hermit. They were a good team and she could rely on them. So only two words left her lips. The identity of the creature that terrorized the entire planet.
"A Dragon."