Chapter 31
Welcome to Eagleland?

Rosanna remembered that when light burst into her living quarters, she immediately reacted by grabbing her gun, but then the light overwhelmed her before she could do anything else. When her eyes could see again, she was standing in what appears to be a peaceful neighborhood with people going around doing their own business.

She was not alone in this unfamiliar place though, in an empty grassy lot located on the side of a street of a suburban area. Alongside her were a couple of familiar people, such as the doctor Pepper, the policewoman Poli, and that girl from Cafe Sweetie named Milk. There's also Bay, a girl she remember seeing in a cheerleading contest on TV once. There are two female students she didn't recognize, but since they had guns with them, she assumed they must be Nikke as well.

Now came four males she did not recognize whatsoever. There were two men in martial art grabs, a guy in boxing getup, and a kid who looks like… an average neighborhood kid.

Looking around, the kid said, "Huh? Strange… How come I'm in Twoson all of a sudden?"

"Hmm? I was training in the woods… How'd I get here?" said one of the martial artists, the one that looks Japanese.

"Same here! I was doing training indoors, and… What happened?!" said the other martial artist who looks American.

"Zwei? What happened?" the blonde female student said to her black-haired friend. "I thought you went back to your dorm room already?"

Zwei shrugged. "No idea… I'm just as confused as you…"

"What the heck is this?! I was finishing up my customer's order when I suddenly find myself in this place?! Where is this place anyway?!" said Milk in frustration. "And why am I holding my Flawless Victory?!"

"Clay? Where are you?" asked Bay, looking around in confusion.

"What the…? How'd I get from my office to this place?" wondered Poli.

"Doc Louis… Where are you? How'd I get here…?" asked the boxer in confusion.

"Whoa… Time out! I'm not supposed to be here!" said Pepper in surprise. "I was supposed to be treating my patient!"

"Huh, it looks like everyone is just as confused as I am," said Rosanna as she observed all their reactions. Remembering the kid saying something that implied he knows this place, she approached him and asked, "Hey you, I think you know what this place is?"

The kid turned to her and replied, "Yeah, this is Twoson."

"Twosome?" replied Rosanna.

"No, Twoson, but I hear the pun you mentioned quite a lot…" replied the kid.

"Never heard of that place… Where in the Ark is it?" asked Rosanna.

"What do you mean Ark? Twoson is in Eagleland," replied the kid.

"Eagle Land? That almost sounds like some kind of nickname for America…" said the American martial artist.

The kid turned to him and replied, "America and Eagleland are indeed very similar, so much they're basically sister countries, or twins."

"Never heard of Eagleland though…" said the same person.

"How can you not? It's one of the most well known and powerful countries in the world!" said the kid in surprise.

"America? Isn't that a country on the surface world?" asked Milk.

The boxer turned to her and asked, "What do you mean surface world?"

Milk turned to him and asked, "What are you smoking? The surface world humans once lived on before Raptures ruined everything! Now we all live underground thanks to them!"

Question marks appeared all over the heads of the four males when they heard this. "But we are on the surface… I'm very sure we are not living underground…" said the Japanese martial artist.

Now it was the Nikke's turn to be confused. How could these people not know they were living underground or even aware what was happening on the surface?

"If I may suggest… I'm a psychic and can read minds, so will you allow me to read your minds and see if I can find out what is happening?" suggested the kid. "By the way, my name is Ness."

Hearing his name, the Japanese martial artist introduced himself as Ryu, while the American introduced himself as Ken. The boxer introduced himself as Little Mac, or Mac. The Nikke each introduced themselves as well.

After they were done, Poli asked Ness, "So you were saying you're going to read our minds?"

Ness nodded. "Yes, I'm a psychic, and reading minds is one of my talents, but I don't do so without permission due to privacy."

"Reading minds isn't real! And so are psychics!" said Pepper. "You're just fantasizing yourself having powers, kid, and that sounds oddly familiar to someone I know…"

"Psychic, huh? Fought one of those before, I think..." said Ryu.

"Huh, I was under the impression psychic powers are widespread knowledge," said Ness. "Anyway…" He pointed at a rock lying nearby and flicked his finger, causing it to float into the air.

"Whoa! That rock floated!" pointed out Ein.

"How'd you do that?!" asked Zwei.

"Psychic!" replied Ness with a smile.

"Just like Oro! I knew I fought a psychic before!" said Ryu.

"Great Tiger can float and teleport using mystical powers, so I guess psychic powers exist too," said Mac.

"Why are you people talking like this is the most normal thing in the world?! There's nothing normal about this!" Pepper said to them.

"Maybe for you, but stuff like psychic powers are fairly normal where we come from," said Ken.

The rock fell back to the ground as Ness said, "Now do you believe me?"

"Okay, you have my interest, so I'll let you read my mind," said Rosanna. "Tell me what you know, boy."

Ness stared at Rosanna for a few seconds and then said, "Oh, so you're a robot? A cyborg, to be precise. And you're also a… mob boss?"

Rosanna smirked and said, "Correct on both accounts, boy! Looks like you're not just some stage magician after all!"

"Apparently, the world you come from has been taken over by robots called Raptures, and humanity is forced to move underground to live in a massive city called the Ark…" continued Ness. "Okay, this is getting weird and contradictory from history class… I can only conclude that you folks must come from another world…"

"Another world?" said Ken curiously. "You mean something like Alice in Wonderland?"

"What?! How did that happen?! Assuming what you said is true," said Poli.

"Your guess is just as good as mines… At least I'm still in my own world, just out of my hometown…" said Ness with a shrug.

"Whoa… This is weird… Does that mean I'm out of my own world too?" wondered Little Mac.

"Where do you come from?" Ken asked him.

"Bronx, New York," replied Little Mac.

"Ah, we have that where we come from too," said Ken. "How about Metro City?"

Mac shook his head. "Can't say I heard of that…"

Ken continued to ask him some other locations as well as famous names that he think everyone should know. Little Mac gave yes for some and no for some. "I guess you either come from another world too, or you live under a rock," said Ken.

"That's not nice… I guess we're not from the same world after all," said Little Mac.

Ness turned to the girls and said, "I peeked into your minds earlier, but don't worry, I avoided looking at private matters. It seems that you all come from the same world, and you're all cyborgs? Or Nikke, as you call yourselves."

Poli nodded. "Right, we are Nikke, machines designed to combat Raptures and protect humanity."

"Can't say things have been successful though…" said Ein.

"I'm sure you'll manage eventually. I managed to save the world once, and it wasn't easy," said Ness.

"What did you do?" Bay asked him in curiosity.

"Saved the world from an alien invasion," replied Ness.

"Huh, that's quite a feat you have there," Ryu said to him. "I also saved the world from an evil man who wanted to take over the world and become the strongest."

"Wow, you people must be very strong if you can manage all those!" commented Pepper.

"Look, knowing about you lot is nice and all, but what do we do now? We're suddenly in an unfamiliar place with nowhere to go, and I have been trying to contact my group members and anyone I know just now, to no avail!" said Milk.

"I can't get in contact with Rei and Miss Marciana either," said Zwei, looking at her smartphone.

"Before that, are we really on the surface? I mean, it maybe really isn't our world, but it's still on the surface? If so, wow… I've never thought about seeing a surface world so lively before!" said Bay, looking at the place around her. There weren't much people, only a few walking down the sidewalk occasionally, as well as some cars driving down the street.

"Your definition of lively is interesting…" commented Ken, seeing that the place didn't have a whole lot of people.

"I mean… When you spend your entire life living in a world where the surface is devoid of people and only has ruins, you're going to think something like this is very lively…" Poli told him.

"You have a point. It's unreal to think that we are on the surface world, and one where there are people living peacefully!" said Pepper in agreement.

"Then I hope you relish your experience while you're at it! A peaceful surface world not ruined by evil robots called Raptures! Anyway, since this is my territory, so I can show you around," said Ness. "I spy a familiar building over there. It's the school Polestar. See that building over there? A friend of mine lives there, so let's go over and tell her everything and think of something."

Thinking that was a good idea, the group headed over to Polestar Preschool. When they got there, they saw an unexpected sight of two men intimidating a woman who appears to be a teacher. When Ein and Zwei saw her, they were surprised. "Miss Marciania?!" they said in shock.

"Uh? Is she someone you know?" asked Ness.

"She's a teacher from our school!" replied Zwei. "What is she doing here?"

"And what are those two mean-looking men doing to her?" wondered Ein.

"I know those two," said Ken. "That's Damnd and Abigail, members of the gang Mad Gear. I'm surprise to see that they are here as well!"

They listened to what Damnd and Abigail were saying to Marciana, about demanding protection fee from her and whatnot or face consequences. Angered at what they heard, Ein and Zwei stepped forward with their guns pointing at those two and yelled at them.

The two men turned around to face them, and Damnd asked, "Huh? Who the hell are you?"

"You stop bothering Miss Marciana at once, or else I'll make you pay!" said Ein angrily. Zwei said the same thing.

Ness stepped forward and said, "I don't know what problems you have with this school, but it belongs to my friend, and I will see to it that you don't mess with this place!"

Damnd and Abigail saw the others with them stepping forward with looks of anger, and Damnd said, "You think you scare us? Do you realize who you are messing with? You're not messing with the Mad Sharks and getting away with it!"

"Mad Sharks…?" said Ken and Ness in confusion, as that name sounded familiar to them.

"Look, if you two don't want things to get messy, then leave this place at once," Ryu said to them. "I do not appreciate you messing with the weak!"

"Right! Either you leave now, or we'll give you a beating! You're outnumbered in case you can't see!" said Little Mac.

Damnd gritted his teeth. He had to admit that these people had the number advantage at the moment, so he said, "Fine, I'll let you off the hook for now, but don't think this is over! Once the boss hears about this, you're all dead meat! You've already made an enemy of the Mad Sharks just for antagonizing us! Abigail, let's go!" The two men then left.

After those two left, Ein and Zwei went up to Marciana, and the former asked her, "Are you all right, Miss Marciana?"

"Thank you for the help, but you people are putting yourself in needless danger because you threatened them!" Marciana said to them.

"Eh, don't worry about us," Ness said to her. "We can deal with them if they come back, even with an army."

"What's more important… Miss Marciana! What are you doing here?" Ein asked the teacher.

"I work here, of course," Marciana told her, sounding confused.

"What?! You're a teacher at M.R.R. Vocational School! How are you in this place instead?!" asked Zwei in surprise.

"M.M.R. Vocational School? What's that?" asked an even more confused Marciana. "Who even are you? Why are you acting like you know who I am?"

"Because we're your students!" Ein and Zwei said to her.

"Um… I don't remember teaching you, and you're too old to be in preschool…" said Marciana. Just then, the school door behind her opened, and some children came out, one of them being Rei.

"Miss Marciana, are those scary men gone?" Rei asked the teacher.

Marciana bent down in front of her and patted her head. "It's all right, Rei. They're gone."

"Rei?! What are you doing in preschool?" Zwei asked her in surprise.

"Rei in preschool? That's cute and hilariously fitting! Heheh!" commented Ein with a laugh.

Rei looked at them and asked, "Who are you?"

The two students were at a loss of words that even Rei did not recognize them. The other Nikke were confused at what was happening as well, the people they supposedly know not knowing who they are. Ness then asked Marciana, "Is Paula here?"

"Paula isn't here. She… left for Metro City to join the Monotoli Fighting Tournament," replied Marciana.

"Metro City?" said Ken in surprise.

"Fighting tournament?" said Ryu with interest.

"Monotoli? This is the first time I've heard about this!" said Ness.

"Despite Monotoli being a well known name, this tournament isn't advertised all that much because they don't want to glorify violence, I think. The tournament is for the most part small-scaled and localized," explained Marciana. "However, the prizes promised are still great, and Paula is trying to win a place so that she can get our school out of debt."

"It feels so out of character for her to be doing this…" said Ness.

"I know, which is why I tried to stop her, but she insisted that she was doing this for the good of our school," said Marciana. "And who are you to her?"

"I'm her friend," said Ness.

"Funny… Paula never said anything about a friend like you…" said Marciana, which made Ness confused.

"That's weird… By the way, do you have a phone? I'd like to phone home to my mother for a second," Ness said to her.

"Sure, and where do you live?" Marciana asked him.

"Onett," replied Ness.

Marciana was confused to hear that. "Where's Onett?"

Ness just stared at her in response with a confused and surprised face in silence for several seconds.

"Okay… This is bizarre…" said Ness as he and the others looked at the map of the country. "I recognize several locations, but there are some missing, like Onett. And instead of Fourside, there's this never heard before place called Metro City!"

"I know Metro City. It used to be quite a slum run by gangs, but thanks to its new mayor, things got better," said Ken. "Speaking of which, Mad Sharks… That sounds a lot like Mad Gear…"

"And it also sounds like the Sharks, a gang group from my world," said Ness. "It's like the two of them got merged together or something… Anyway, at least now I can say that this isn't the world I know… Something must've happened that merged our worlds together," said Ness. "Maybe that bright light that engulfed each of us has something to do with it?"

"I guess that's the only explanation," said Poli. "I've never seen anything like that before…"

"What are we doing to do? We can't get in contact with people we know, and assuming we run into any of them, they likely won't recognize us like with Marciana too…" said a worried Pepper.

"Rather than worrying about that, I'd rather be worrying about the Mad Sharks now," said Rosanna. "I know how gang members work, and you can be sure that they will be back again to harass this school."

"So you're saying that we should…?" asked Little Mac.

Knowing what he was going to say, Rosanna nodded while interrupting him with a smirk. "We bite back before they come bite us!"

The hideout of the Mad Sharks was located into an arcade building. The place was a mess for the most part, with gang members doing whatever they want, be it playing games, getting into fights, eating, or having fun.

The leader of the gang, Frank, reclined on his couch in a room at the back of the place, listening to what Damnd and Abigail told him. "They dare pick a fight with us?" said Frank in surprise. "Well, that's on them! They've picked the wrong people!"

"I'd say we go back to the school and see to it that they learn a lesson! They must be new in town, so they have to learn that we Mad Sharks are the boss around here!" suggested Damnd, to which Abigail agreed.

"I don't see why not," agreed Frank. "Go ahead and take some men with you. Make sure that you teach those jerks a lesson for speaking out against us!"

Suddenly, they heard screaming and shouting, not to mention the sound of things breaking and… gunfire?

"What the hell is happening out there?!" asked Frank.

Damnd and Abigail exited the room and saw some members beaten up on the floor, while the remaining ones where in shock as they looked at the good guys standing near the entrance. Holding up her gun, Rosanna said, "You wouldn't let us in and even threatened us, so we retaliated. Don't blame us for deciding to go rough on you!"

TO BE CONTINUED

Congratulations to all those guessed this world is a fusion between Earthbound, Street Fighter, and Punch-Out! It's a three-way fusion! Sure, it looks weird to fuse those three together, but I'm sure I can make things work. You may asking why not fuse Street Fighter with Tekken and Fatal Fury/King of Fighters, since those three series are very similar? That's because I'm not familiar enough with Tekken and Fatal Fury to make a story out of them, and I don't have the time and interest to study them more too.

Again, in order to maintain consistency from since the beginning of this story, none of the other Nikke outside of Counters knows about Gatekeeper and alternate universes, even if they do in the game, as shown in the Evangelion crossover event.