NAN-001: COSMO-MAN
HEIGHT: 145CM
WEIGHT: 255 LBS
POWER CORE: NEBULA-DOUGEN ENGINE MKV
CORE PURPOSE: INSTRUCTOR UNIT TO BRING OUT THE INNER DARKNESS AND STRENGTH OF AFFILIATE'S STUDENTS. THIS UNIT ALSO FUNCTIONS REMARKABLY AS A CLOSE RANGE COMBATANT, USING HOLOGRAPHIC DRONE TECHNOLOGY REMINISCENT OF (REDACTED) TO CONFUSE AND DISORIENT TARGETS.
SPECIAL WEAPON: (REDACTED) SLASHER. DERIVATIVE?(YES) SOURCE WEAPON? (CHARGE KICK)
FUNCTION: USING THE NEBULA-DOUGEN ENGINE, (REDACTED) SLASHER OUTPERFORMS ALL ENERGEN POWERED DERIVATIVES BY USING THE VERY (REDACTEd) BECAUSE (REDACTED) IS IN ABUNDANCE, THERE IS NO NEED FOR OFFSITE REFUELING OR FOR THIS UNIT TO PAUSE DURING COMBAT TO INGEST A W-TANK. THANKS TO THE ENHANCED POWER GEMS FOUND IN THIS UNIT'S ARMS, HEAD, AND LEGS, IT CAN PERFORM THE (REDACTED) SLASHER WITH ANY LIMB THAT IT DESIRED, AND WITH THE NEBULA-DOUGEN ENGINE POWERING IT'S EVERY FUNCTION, THERE IS NO WORRY OF THIS UNIT OVERHEATING, NOR DO WE HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT IT MALFUNCTIONING FROM OVERUSE.
SPECIAL WEAPON 2: SPACIAL RENDER
DERIVATIVE?(YES) SOURCE WEAPON(NONE. DERIVATIVE OF WILY MADE HOLOGRAN CAMOUFLAGE UNIT)
FUNCTION: THIS WEAPON DRAWS ON THE UNIT'S INTERNAL ENERGEN BATTERY TO FUNCTION. UPON ACTIVATION, ANYONE WHOSE EYES OR OPTICAL UNITS SUPPORT THE ABILITY TO USE THE VISIBLE LIGHT SPECTRUM WILL FALL UNDER THIS ILLUSION. (REDACTED) AND (REDACTED) WILL BE ALTERED AT (REDACTED). NEBULA KEY A REQUIRED TO VIEW DATA ON SPECIAL WEAPON.
CURRENT STATUS: DESTROYED BY MEGA MAN
DESTRUCTION DATE: 3/22/05
REBUILD PROGRESS: 22%.
NOTES(?)
NAN-002 BEAST MAN
HEIGHT: 100CM
WEIGHT: 450LBS
POWER CORE: LIGHT LABS ENERGEN REACTOR VERSION 22.3
CORE PURPOSE: ADMINISTRATOR UNIT FOR ALL RECON SQUADS, ORGANIC OR OTHERWISE, WITHIN 120 MILES OF THE SELECTED BASE THIS UNIT IS STATIONED AT.
SPECIAL WEAPON: WILD HUNT. DERIVATIVE?(NO)
FUNCTION. THIS UNIT CONSISTS OF FIVE REMOTE CONTROLLED DRONES OPERATING IN UNISON UNDER A SINGLE AI. EACH DRONE IS MULTIPURPOSE, INSTALLED WITH FIVE DIFFERENT WEAPONS ON EACH, WITH A SINGULAR CHARGEABLE BUSTER GIVEN TO ALL OF THEM. EACH UNIT IS EQUIPPED WITH THERMAL SENSORS, RADAR, SONAR, AND HIGH GRADE SOUND DETECTORS THAT CAN ASSIST AND DIRECT SQUAD LEADERS NO MATTER THE TERRAIN.
THIS UNIT IS ALSO EQUIPPED WITH ENERGY CLAWS POWERED BY THE AMBIENT ENERGY IN THE AIR. THESE (REDACTED) ARE POWERED BY (REDACTED) AND IN PRIOR TEST RUNS, HAVE BEEN DEMONSTRATED TO (REDACTED)
NEBULA KEY A IS REQUIRED TO VIEW THE FULL FILE.
CURRENT STATUS: DESTROYED BY MEGA MAN
DESTRUCTION DATE: 5/22/05
REBUILD PROGRESS: HALTED. THIS UNIT HAS DISPLAYED NONE OF THE LEADERSHIP SKILLS IT WAS BUILT TO UTILIZE, NOR WAS IT ABLE TO KILL A SHINOBI CHILD FITTED WITH AN ENERGEN SUPPRESSOR. THIS UNIT'S ARMOR AND WEAPONRY WOULD BE BETTER SUITED FOR A MORE COMPETENT AND OBEDIENT ROBOT MASTER
NOTES(?)
INTRUDER DETECTED WITHIN NETWORK! INVALID USER! INVALID USER!
BEGINNING LOCKOUT!
PASSWORD: *****************
LOCKOUT CANCELED
CURRENT USER ACCESS RIGHTS AT LVC
LOADING NEXT FILE…
MMMM
"Comeoncomeoncomeon…" She felt the truck come to a slow stop. According to her map, they were at the fifth light from their destination. After this light there was a massive bridge, where a security checkpoint was in place. 'Keep downloading you stupid stick!' The USB device didn't heed her plea, as it kept at the glacial pace it was already going at.
MMMM
NAN-006 GRID MAN
HEIGHT:200CM
WEIGHT: 885LB
POWER CORE: NEBULA DOUGEN ENGINE MKV
CORE PURPOSE: HEAVY DUTY RETRIEVAL UNIT MEANT TO RETRIEVE KEY TARGETS FROM SPECIFIED LOCATIONS. NEBULA KEY A,B,&C REQUIRED TO VIEW PERFORMANCE DATA AND DESIGN DOCUMENTS.
MMMM
'Damn it!' It's a robot shaped like a giant football player! What about it needed this much security?!
MMMM
SPECIAL WEAPON(LOCKED) NEBULA KEY A,B,&C REQUIRED TO VIEW PERFORMANCE DATA
CURRENT STATUS: DESTROYED BY MEGA MAN
DESTRUCTION DATE: (REDACTED)
REBUILD PROGRESS: 66%
NAN-005 PLANET-MAN
NEBULA KEY SSS REQUIRED TO VIEW INFORMATION
DESTRUCTION DATE:(REDACTED) DESTROYED BY MEGA MAN
MMMM
"..." Well, that was worthless. 'Did I get the wrong truck?' She thought as she sat down on the chair next to the giant computer built into the trailer. 'No, I couldn't have!' This truck had an energy shield around it, and Senpai's rampage made it so that getting these things equipped was too expensive to do as much as they used to!
She took out the USB drive and pocketed it in the secret compartment of her helmet. And it was when the compartment slid back in place, hiding the drive, that the trailer door disappeared. No, it wasn't blown up, sliced open, or melted, it literally disappeared, as in it faded away, revealing the convertible behind it, its driver's eye focused on the road as it waited for the light to turn green. Rushing between the two vehicles were 3 men, faces obscured and armed with high powered rifles, who came rushing in, the driver, and really anyone else on the road, as if they hadn't noticed any of what just happened.
Two of the men held point at the truck's entrance, while the third went to the truck's computer. After a quick login and a look at the access logs, he let out a curse. "We've been hacked!" The man yelled, his voice muted by the helmet wore. He relayed the information to the other two via their helmets, and they all silently groaned, still keeping their rigid stances. For their intruder, centimeters away from the soldier at the computer, her heart was beating a mile a minute.
By now, he probably alerted Central Command about the breach. And if her information on their helmets was correct… "We have an energy spike, someone's in here! Set your rifles to Tranq! We're taking this one alive!" …Then that meant upgrading their energy sensors was their highest priority in the last 5 years.
Sadly for them she had already escaped, having taken advantage of a small gap between her and them, and was currently sitting on the roof of one of the cars on the congested road. Paranoia set in as she couldn't find any drones or cameras around, before she remembered that Nebula didn't have the capabilities to for that outside of Galaxy City; not anymore at least.
Still, that didn't mean they couldn't find her. Sure she had five hours of power left in this suit, but using anymore energy at the moment could alert any of the Nebula agents hiding in plain sight, the ones with the good power suits, where they fit over the user's skin like a glove and didn't weigh 60 pounds. Yes, this suit was thin, it was skintight, it almost looked painted on, but in her current state it was just awful to lug around.
The slow and steady approach was needed if she wanted to escape, and she needed her Stealth Field active for it while using as little energy as possible. The answer to this problem was simple: hitch a ride. She simply got off the roof of the car, and slowly walked through the sea of vehicles, until she found an empty vehicle with an open window and empty seat. Given how much the driver was sweating, there likely wasn't any air conditioning in this car. Luckily for her, sweating wasn't a thing she needed to worry about while wearing this suit. He also didn't seem to have anything that would warrant him interacting with the back seat in any capacity, so she slid into the window and plopped herself on the back seat, the sweaty man none the wiser.
'Alright, I have five hours left of suit energy before it runs out.' And the only data she managed to get was stuff she already knew in the first place. This guy didn't seem to be very perceptive, so she didn't have to worry about getting caught by him. Senpai's suit truly was the gift of the gods.
It didn't take long…just four hours and 50 minutes… for the traffic jam to end and for the truck to leave the area.
Once the sweaty man got two lights away from her favorite rest stop, he began wondering just where the hell that beeping was coming from. 'Oh crap!' The source of said beeping looked at the clock on the upper right of her suit's HUD. 'How did I miss that?!' Luckily for the very unattentive runaway, she was close to the bus stop that led to her home/hideout. The now very terrified young girl bolted out the window and headed deep into the nearest alleyway as the moon shone down on the city of Kodama,the broken city she called home. Ignoring the drunken bums and drug dealers that populated the alleyways, a common sight in almost every city nowadays, she took her usual shortcut across the rooftops and found herself on the other side of town. Kodama was Nebula territory, and though it wasn't as corrupted as the part of the city she made her home, it was still very vile. If a Shinobi was stationed here, they hit the jackpot with the sheer amount of Shinobi work they didn't have to do.
Her helmet began beeping, alerting her that time was almost up. She'd already stressed the Jinzotenshin too much this month, and if she didn't get out of it fast, she was going to be defenseless. The gil quickly reached into her pocket and pulled out a few yen, and went into the nearest restaurant just as a family was entering. Following behind them as the door closed, she bobbed and weaved through the crowds of people in the fast food joint, their confusion over the source of the beeping, and headed to the girl's bathroom. She pulled out a talisman and placed it on the door. It emitted a simple spell, one that would cause anyone in the area to have the sudden urge to leave, which would make sure she was alone just as her makeshift transformation ran out of power.
Thankfully there wasn't a burst of energy like most Shinobi whenever their transformations ended. The Jinzotenshin was far more energy efficient than the powers she had been using up until she met him all those years ago, though it goes without saying that a Shinobi of her caliber scurrying around like a rat wasn't normal. Two heavy weights permanently attached to her arms were a permanent, ever present reminder of what she had lost. made Hyōki forgot about the skills she worked so hard to obtain and perfect, but the weight on both of her arms reminded her of what she had lost.
All because of Senpai, her hero, Mega Man.
"That'll be 5000 yen, thank you very much!" Keep a nice, perfectly level smile, and make sure that you don't show an ounce of resentment in your voice. The 18 year old boy put the money in the register and 'eagerly' waved at the family of six as they thankfully left the restaurant. 'Six down…' He let out a groan as someone else came up to the register. 'Sixteen more to go.'
The bell on the counter rang. 'Come on Junya, you can do it!'
The bell rang again.'I can do this!' If he put his best foot forward, he only had an hour at best left! Then he could go home, sit down, buy some food off of Nebulazon, and play that Vita he got at the pawn sho-'Oh shit the bell!' How long was it ringing?!" 'Is my smile on?!' Oh thank god, it was! "Good evening, and welcome to McRonalds! How can I…help..you…" Oh. oh wow. "UHmm..hehehehe.." Well, this must be his lucky day! Cute, short, fair skinned, black hair, and with a rack that-
"I'm 14." -was completely and utterly untouchable! "Yeah, I can tell what you're thinking." The girl grumbled in displeasure. "Can you stop staring at my chest so I can order?" She asked/demanded. "I'm hungry."
"S-sure." It didn't take long for her order to be completed, they already had plenty of junk ready to be refrigerated for tomorrow at this point, and soon she was sitting at the window overlooking the river. "Well…that was embarrassing." What an understatement that was! Bad enough he was caught ogling someone, worse that the person he was ogling was the one to call him out on it, and for the cherry on top, she was that young! And now that he got a good look at her, she probably had one hell of a plastic surgeon.
Now he didn't say that because of the giant twins hanging off her chest as she ate the greasiest food on their menu, there was just this…fakeness emanating from her. Yeah, that made sense. Soft, fair skin with silky smooth black hair kept up in a baseball cap? Piercing yellow eyes? A large shirt meant to hide her figure and failing miserably? This is every man's dream come true…if she looked the least bit hygienic.
Oh sure, she looked clean, but her skin had this strange…clamminess to its complexion. It was obvious that she was naturally fair, but she was covering it up with a lot of makeup, the type of stuff used to darken one's complexion. Thanks to his glasses he could see strands poking out from underneath her hat, which reminded him of his mom's hair, and just like mom, since they both didn't take care of themselves.
"Sir, I would to order the #4 please."
"Oh ok, Nebula Galaxy Meal, got it. Anything else?"
He was pretty sure a 14 year old girl wasn't supposed to have the straw like and sticking out every which way like his 60 year old mom, unless the amount of fucks they gave about their appearance was just that low. She probably didn't have the chance to eat much either going by how she was shoving those burgers down her throat. And looking at her arms specifically…they were quite thin, even for a young girl her age.
"A LaserMan LaserShake."
"Got it."Hell, if he had to guess? This was probably the first bit of real food she was having in a long while. Her denim jacket, baggy shirt and pants, and shoes were obviously the cheapest thing she could afford, and they barely even fit her. And that wasn't because of her chest, everything looked like it was made for a girl 3 years younger than her. The only thing keeping the pants on her body was the big belt wrapped tight around her waist,and by belt he meant a long sleeved shirt. A part of him wanted to know what this girl's story was, because by god she demanded attention, attention that everyone was around her was trying not to give, but that would mean interacting with the 14 year old, and after what happened a few minutes ago..
"Sir, can I take my order now?" Oh shit!
"Y-yes, can I help you?"
The woman on the other side of the counter looked at him, unamused. "I already paid,I want my food?"
At the window, the girl was too busy filling herself on the greasy fatty food, using every aspect of her willpower to fight the urge to vomit the disgusting slop back up. Her mental fortitude was always her strongest point, when it came to everything but her family, and after 2 years of this life, that will was breaking. Having to vomit back up as much as she shoved down her gullet was quite the feat, especially given what she was spitting out didn't have any physical mass, but that's Dark Chakra for you.
Thankfully it didn't take her too long to swallow down the slop, Nebula's added ingredients excluded, and soon she was out of the restaurant, power walking down the busy streets of Kodama's middle class districts. Already she could sense sixteen potential enemies in the area, their energy blaring their presence to anyone who wanted to find them. Senpai's 'gift' was certainly helping in hiding her from their prying eyes, and combined with her current appearance, it made her completely invisible to every single ninja in the city, putting her on the level of a civilian.
Already she could feel the 'gift' working their magic through her arms, weakening her to the point that if she were a run of the mill fighter she would have been dead minutes after Senpai put the Energen Suppressors on her arm. Her power at one time was as deep as the sea, deep and full of potential she hadn't yet reached despite her immense skill . Now it was the equivalent of a pool, with far less output than those who walked the path she once did.
She sat down at the bus stop, and busied herself by staring at the night sky. The bus came a few minutes later after that, a particularly purple one that everyone in the city knew to avoid. If you didn't have business in the Mystery District, most didn't even bother to look in its general direction. As she got on it and sat down, she brought out a burner phone with a special talisman on it. A part of her didn't want to waste a talisman, remembering the months of effort to create one as she was now, instead of twenty or so a regular Shinobi could make in an hour, but for a trip down memory lane, but what the hell?
As soon as the sky turned purple, she was going to indulge in her nostalgia. Like her, no one would bat an eye to the sudden change in scenery, but unlike her, it's not like they would even notice. She stared out the window as the bus took off, wondering when it'd be the last time she would see this part of town again. And most importantly, when she'd see him again. "Senpai…." The young girl let out a wistful sigh as the bus turned the corner and drove down the hill through the subdivisions. "I want to see you again so much."
Eight years of progress undone by two years of relentless rebuilding, yet the city was rising from the ashes stronger than ever. Despite the scars left by the Blue Bomber in the Battle of New Dentech, the resilience and loyalty of his citizens was evident in the meticulous reconstruction efforts.
Within the confines of a luxurious coffin-shaped limousine, the man responsible for New Dentech's creation and resurrection observed his city's reconstruction with a mixture of pride and ambition. Through the purple-tinted windows, he surveyed the bustling streets below, his gaze turning to the towering skyscrapers slowly rising from the rubble like a phoenix from the ashes.
With a satisfied nod, he turned his attention back to his tablet, a faint smile playing on his lips as he continued the conversation. "My apologies, I just had to take a second to admire my handiwork." He handpicked the workers after all, so their efforts were his.
{U-understandable sir!} The unimportant man on the other side of the screen understood that his ruler's attention could wander at any time if he so pleased. Good man, good man.
"Now then, back to the subject at hand.." He continued. "You basically found no physical traces of the intruder's presence onboard the truck, is that what you're saying?
{Yes sir!} shouted the unimportant man.
"I see…" He put a hand to his head as his limo stopped at a light, the people outside oohing and aahing at the sight of his prized limousine. "Thaumaturgic results, now."
{Yes sir!} The man shouted. {We've identified the signature as belonging to the Nukenin, Hyōki Saiga of the Saiga family!}
"I see.." Well well well, little Hyōki's been busy! "Did she manage to steal anything of importance from her raid?"
{Nothing as far as we can tell!} The man in the limo smiled at that. The data for the Darkloids was nice and safe! {Analysis shows that the Security Gate Level E was breached, and nothing else!}
'Then she's completely in the dark!' She was just full of surprises! That trap was for those annoying renegades trying to barge into his business, but to think that Mega Man's little sidekick would be the one to take the bait, and show just out of her depth she was! "Excellent work, young man. That will be all." He cut the transmission before the sycophant could shower him with praise, and switched to another feed, this one showing a rather inhuman, robotic looking fellow. "Gate Man?"
{I hear and I obey.} The Robot Master answered. {I patched into her burner phone the second she activated it. She should be heading towards the Mystery District as we speak. If she's taking the usual bus routes, she'll be there within the hour.}
"Make sure our analysis team was correct in their report when they said she barely got any information." Just because she found nothing important on the server didn't mean she wasn't a threat. Those armbands around her wrists may have weakened her body, but her mind was still just as sharp.
{Understood sir.}
The screen turned black as the man leaned back in his chair, stroking his beard as his monocle whirred in tune with his emotions. 'If she's making her move now, then that could only mean two things.' She was either desperate to get the Energen Suppressors off her body before the DarkGalaxy could be completed, or the worst case scenario for his plans was coming to pass, and she was preparing for Mega Man's return. Neither was good for him in the slightest.
He had faced Mega Man in the past, a Mega Man, and nearly came out victorious twice. But this Mega Man was not from a world of Net Navigators and annoying 10 year olds that could easily be thrown to the wayside were lacking in this new field of work. He no longer had the ability to reign in his darker impulses for pragmatic purposes, hard to do that when your father cut you out and shunted you through Cyberspace. Once Mega Man came running back with god knows what other powers he managed to pull out of his butt, he severely doubted his chances at his plans surviving a confrontation with him. Time was not on Nebula's side, and without the reconstruction of his father's greatest work, all of his plans would go to waste.
"Reploids…" Just what was Dr. Cain thinking, tarnishing the legacy of his betters? Whether its Cyberspace or otherwise, lesser people just loved to tinker with the legacy of his father and those he respected. But at least this time, he had a secret weapon in place, one that Mega Man and his little dog couldn't counter. It was all dependent on how lucky he was, and how willing the Shinobi under his thrall were willing to sacrifice themselves. Again, time wasn't on his side. He had the satellites up and running, the Zennin and Akunin councils from around the world were thoroughly tainted, and everyone loved Nebula, even if they knew they didn't! But he knew from experience, whether it be a spiky haired kid with his digital brother, or an armored robot teenager with plasma shooting arm cannon, the boys in blue always managed to grab victory from the jaws of defeat.
That's why he needed to expand. For the sake of the DarkGalaxy and his perfect world, The Soul Net must be reconstructed!
{Attention passengers, we are now three stops away from Subaru Street.} The automated alert said on the bus intercom, waking Hyōki up as the remaining passengers aside from her began to panic. {I repeat, we are now approaching Subaru Street in three stops. Exit here for-}
Hyōki tuned the announcement out as everyone else began to shake from fear. She heard someone curse, freaked out that the bus was going to her stop; she couldn't blame the poor bastard for his reaction. She lived there, and she hated it just as much as they did.
Letting out a yawn, she brought out her phone and activated the talisman fused into the touch screen, giving her some privacy from any potential prying eyes. Sure she sat in the back of the bus to minimize such a thing, but Shikigami, though seldom used, had bit her in the ass enough times for her to warrant this level of cautiousness. There weren't that many icons on it, mainly because she barely used the thing, but it was the SD card inside that contained what she really wanted: the pictures.
Opening up the gallery app she found the first image in the list of hundreds, which was ironically the last picture taken. The people in the images were always the same two, with a few exceptions here or there. First was her of course, because she couldn't stop thinking about her after all these years, but the majority of the images were all of…him.
Senpai, friend?...Rival?…She honestly didn't know what to call Mega Man , but just thinking about him and the time they spent together set her heart aflutter. Oh sure, any normal person would look back at those times when he threw her across the water so hard she ricocheted like a skipping stone to be horrifying, or the time he let go of those so called 'Three Laws' to put those suppressors on her arms to be traumatizing, and they were! At least she thought they were? It was kind of hard to tell with how hard her heart was beating just thinking about the memories.
You'd think a robot wouldn't be able to manifest that much killing intent, especially one shaped like a Gaijin 15 year old dressed up like a giant toy, but let's just say that was the straw that broke the camel's back amidst her shattered pride. After that, she's had him on her mind, and she learned a veeeery valuable lesson to never, ever use Yōma energy in the presence of a robot powered by Energen.
This last image was especially special to her. It was the month after they defeated Nebula for the first time and beat 's giant robot. Just the two of them. No one else. There certainly weren't five other leeches helping her hero's battered body up as they fled the exploding fortress to safety.
Getting him to pose for the picture, that was a tough one. Those phantoms that didn't exist hypothetically helped him up into their getaway truck, and it was kind of hard to hear anything with all the crackling electricity and smoke coming from his body distracting them. He was so busted up that every word he said, literally every word, glitched to another language. One word he was speaking Japanese, the next he was speaking Russian, it was amazing that he even understood, let alone agreed, to take the picture with her and those people that didn't exist. With. after that, he healed up, and everyone went their separate ways, six years of memories with those leeches, 3 years of memories for herself. He had long since stopped looking at her like she was a criminal, she had long since stopped trying -and failing- to kill him, and before he went back to his world, he gave her the suit, the Jinzotenshin, that she used to this day. Being friends with a walking talking 3D printer had a lot of benefits.
Suddenly, she felt a chill, as did the last two passengers, and the driver as well as he almost screeched to a halt in fright. 'I'm almost there.' Home sweet 'home' was just a few lights away.