Mega Man 1. Lan Ex Machina

BCRS

Blast From The Past

Aile executed a back flip, shooting the approaching galleons with pinpoint accuracy before effortlessly landing on a nearby car. The galleons fell like flies before her, but no matter how many she shot, their numbers would not decline. For every galleon that fell, two seemed to take its place, and soon Aile found herself overwhelmed by shier weight of numbers.

"There's too many of them, you can't last much longer Aile, you have to fall back." Model X pleaded. "Yea kid, these guys aren't going anywhere soon, you can come for them later." Model Z added.

Aile switched from her buster to her Z saber before lunging at the approaching mob of galleons. "We leave now and there's no telling what these things might do", she replies before slicing madly through the galleons with her Z saber, taking out between three and five of them with each slash, "No telling what they might destroy" she ads before slashing two gyrocopters clean in half, "And no telling who they might injure" she finishes before changing back to her buster as their numbers finally start to decline. "This one's for you Giro!" she shouts as one final charge shot drills through the remaining galleons.

With the threat seemingly over, Aile fell to her knees sobbing at the thought of the now departed Giro. Within the space of a few days the life she knew ended…, she lost her friend and guardian for so long…, and she found out who was responsible for the raid on the amusement park those many years ago…  
The very thought that the one everyone held up to be a hero, actually caused all this, both sickened and saddened her.  
Her memories however were soon interrupted by tremors, weak at first but getting stronger and stronger until gradually five enormous galleons came into view.

"Aile, you may have beaten the galleons, but in your weakened state you don't stand a chance against their commanders." Model X warned, as he pleaded her to retreat.

Acknowledging, Aile quickly tried getting up but soon collapsed back on her knees unable to hold herself on her feet, her injuries and exhaustion finally proving too much to bare. And as the first of the giant galleons raises its weapon at her, she looks defiantly into its robotic eyes in preparation for the shot that was to come.

But in a true Deux Ex Machina moment, a voice coming from on top of a nearby building draws the galleons' attention preventing them from shooting. "Hey big, bad & ugly" the voice called out "Didn't anyone ever teach you that you never attack opponents who can't defend themselves!"

Aile is mystified by the sight of this young boy with brown eyes and spiky brown hair, a white shirt, orange sleeveless vest, short black pants with a yellow line running down on each side, orange snickers, a blue headband with a divided red and yellow metal insignia in the middle and a look of determination on his face, who apparently thinks nothing of challenging the five galleon commanders.  
The galleon commanders instantly open fire with their arm cannons, causing the boy to jump head first off the building before it is hit, holding an odd rectangular device in one hand, and a microchip in the other.  
Seconds later as the boy is nearing the ground and the first galleon commander, he shouts a battle cry and in a bright white light, changes into a type of amour consisting of blue boots and gloves with green gems, bright yellow shoulder pads, a two-toned body suit which was mostly a dark navy blue with light blue stripes that ran up his sides, around his shoulder pads, down his arms, two across his legs, and down diagonally to the same crest he had on his headband, now at the center of his chest. He had the same crest for earpieces on his helmet and finally a pack of some sort on his back, also two toned.

"Wide Sword, battle chip in, DOWNLOAD!" the cobalt warrior cried out. And in an instant his right hand changed into a oddly shaped energy sword which cut through the first galleon like paper, just as our hero made a soft landing between Aile and the other galleons. "You ok?" He asked as he turned towards Aile. "I'll live." Came the reply.

With that the cobalt warrior turned back to face the other four galleons and with another swift slash, cuts the forth galleon's weapon just as it was discharging. However, since galleon firearms don't quite like being cut, this action inadvertently causes it to detonate, completely destroying its owner and knocking both Aile and the cobalt warrior against a nearby wall, and while the cobalt warrior is barely fazed, Aile succumbs to her injuries and is knocked unconscious.

"All right you metal monstrosity. You asked for this!" With that our blue hero, dashes in a zigzag pattern towards the third galleon, slashing it with his sword, then slides under the forth cutting it clean in half from head to toe.  
"Four down, one to go" he rhetorically added as he set his right foot on the now two for one galleon commander, "Now where's he hiding I wonder." The warrior took his leg off of the shattered galleon and began slowly walking towards the other mangled galleons.

However, he didn't take many steps before, startled by a noise, he turned around just in time for the fifth galleon to thrust his sword clean through our cobalt clad hero's neck. He screamed in pain clutching the sword, before finally going limp on the galleon's blade. For the simple minded galleon, once the first threat has been eliminated the next threat must be engaged, and so in keeping with it's programming it approaches the still unconscious Aile intent on finishing her off as well.

But, as the galleon marches towards Aile, something remarkable happens. Our cobalt warrior slowly begins raising his right hand, placing it on the base of the galleon's sword, and then raises his head, looking directly at the galleon before adding in a low tone. "That wasn't a very nice thing to do" in a lighter, more humorous tone "Though I do appreciate the reminder to take my daily iron supplements" and in a shout "Hero Sword, battle chip in, DOWNLOAD!"  
And sure enough, his right hand changes into another oddly shaped sword which is then promptly used to slash the hapless galleon to bits, causing it to finally drop it's own blade and our hero who lands softly on his legs.

"Sliced and diced. Anyone up for maverick sushi?"

The boy's body started glowing, his helmet, crest, gloves, boots, shoulder pads, and the pack on his back lifted off him before breaking apart. The glow also removed itself from his person and gathered in front of him, coming together and turning into a small blue and white device which fell into his awaiting hand.

"Nice fight. The bad guys are in peaces, the girl is saved, and collateral damage is at an all-time low." a voice coming from the newly formed device spoke out to the boy. "Thanks." The boy replied. "Though, was that dramatic scene with the sword through your neck really necessary?" the voice asked in a patronizing tone. "Neah, what can I say…its fun fooling around every now and then." The boy added while smiling happily. "Aaaarrrrggghh…I am a zombie from… beyond the grave… here to eat you…" he further jokingly adds while making zombie like movements, the galleon's sword still firmly embedded through his neck only adding to the realism.  
"Yea whatever, we should get her to a doctor." the voice adds as the boy is kneeling before Aile.

Some time later, as Aile is starting to regain consciousness, she realizes that the boy is carrying her in her arms, and dizzily manages to speak a few words. "Thanks for the help. My name is Aile." she weakly speaks out. "Hey, glad to see you're awake. Don't mention it, I'm just glad I was able to help." He replies to her. "I'm Lan Hikari, and this is my best friend Megaman" he further ads, as a hologram of a dark blue suited, yellow shoulder padded, light blue helmeted, gloved, and booted figure appears, hovering in midair in front of them.

"Nice to meet you." Aile weakly replies. "Though, why exactly do you have a sword through your neck?" She then proceeds to ask. To which Lan smilingly replies "Long story short, thought I'd keep it as a souvenir. Now rest, you've been through a lot lately."

And with that, Lan arrives at the teleporter and as its door is opening, the two ends of the swords fall to the ground, the ends that were in touch with Lan's flesh looking as though they've just been melted by acid.

* * *

Dun Dun Dunnn! 

Ah, back for another one of my stories are you now.  
Well, I've tried very hard as you can see to make this story the best it can be, and so to that end not only is the writing style different, but also the action starts right away since I wanted this story to be a stark contrast to my other Megaman NT Warrior story, Star Force which is a prequel of sorts to this one (No serious need to read it first, since the only things linked to it will probably be some passing mentions of its events and mabe a cameo appearance by the navigator in the end).

Whereas Star Force is going into it's seventh chapter and the action has yet to begin, this one's action starts immediatly.  
A measure which I hope would bring in more reviews since:

a) I really want to know what I'm doing wrong;  
b) I suspect that the lack of action as well as the style of Star Force may be why it hasn't recieved a review since chapter 4

Oh well, happy reading...


	2. Prometheus Returns

Lan was leaning on his right hand against a horizontal guide rail, looking off across the blue cloudless sky into the horizon as the wind blew through his brown spiky hair.

"Never realized how much I missed flying" he says to his blue suited, holographic companion without taking his eyes off of the horizon. "Especially Yai's surprise flights. Never knowing when, where or how the next one would be" He further ads, this time turning to face his friend. "Yea" Megaman replied. "It's been some time, though I must admit, I wasn't expecting our next flight to be aboard an airborne command center"  
"That makes two of us". Lan replies as he turns his face towards the horizon once again. "Those were the days Megaman. Those were the days."

Lan continued gazing into the horizon, lost in his thoughts, until suddenly brought back to reality by a voice coming from somewhere to his left.  
"Breathtaking view" the voice said, drawing both Lan and Megman's attention. "Isn't it?"

Lan was surprised by the sight of a young, blond girl in pink and black clothing, holding a plush toy, also gazing into the distance.

"It is." Lan replied as the girl turned to face him. "Thank you for helping Aile.", her bright blue eyes bearing a striking resemblance to those of an old acquaintance of Lan's. "We're just glad we could help. Will she be all right?" Lan proceeded to ask. "She'll be fine in a couple of minutes, our equipment is regenerating her as we speak".  
"That's good to know, though she'd better be more careful next time. Had we not of been there, she might have suffered a lot worse".  
"Normally she's very cautious, but she's just lost someone very dear to her." The girl said with a look of sadness on her face. "And she's dealing with it the only way she can. By preventing more suffering even at the cost of her own wellbeing."  
"Trust me." Lan replied as memories of his own past came flooding back "I, more than anyone, know what it's like".

The girls was about to say something else when, with perfect timing, the door behind them opened and a guard came into view.

"I'm sorry to interrupt." he said, drawing Lan and the girl's attention to himself. "But, I thought you might like to know that Aile is waking up."  
"Thank you." The girl said as she dismissed him.  
"Well, I guess I should be on my way too." Lan said as he started walking towards the door. "Wait, we never got properly acquainted." she called after Lan "I'm Prairie".  
"I'm Lan Hikari." Lan replied as the door closed behind him.

Meanwhile, in the infirmary, Aile's beginning to wake to the relief of both models Z and X, Model Z being the first to break the ice. "Hey kid, glad to see you're still with us." he said hiding his concern, while Model X had a more outright statement. "Don't do that again Aile, everyone was deeply concerned about you".

"Don't worry. I won't." she said, as she reached for the two biometals located on a table next to the bed.

However, as she was reaching for the two biometals, two guards' muffled voices coming from the adjacent room caught her attention. She tried, with limited success, to figure out what they were saying before finally giving up and trying to get out of bed despite the fact that her still weakened state virtually guaranteed, that the only wall she'd be getting close to would be the floor, and sure enough, knees first she did.  
"Aile, don't strain yourself." Model Z said as he started floating towards the respective wall. "I'll have a listen." he added as he propped up against the wall.

The conversation went on for a few minutes, before Model Z hurriedly floated back to Aile who had now managed to get back on the bed.  
"Well?" Aile and Model X, in unison, asked the approaching red biometal. "Well, from what I can tell, Prairie wants everyone to be on their toes around our guest." Model Z said as he landed in Aile's awaiting hand. "Until more is known about him."  
"Is that all those guards said?" asked Model X. "That and there's a guard named Red on level two with a crush on Aile".  
"Really?" Model X said with a "is that so" tone to his voice as Aile started blushing slightly.

But before she could fire off a reply, the door started opening and in came our favorite blue bandana wearing ball of pure energy Lan, donning his trademark cheerful smile.

"I'm not interrupting anything am I? I just stopped by, to wish you the customary get well soon, before I left."  
"Nope, not interrupting anything." Aile hurriedly said, still a little sheepish from Model Z's last remark.  
"Well then, I guess we'll be seeing each other around town." Lan said before turning around and exiting the room.

Aile waited a few moments to make sure Lan was out of earshot before jumping up, megamerging in midair and upon landing, picking up the remaining biometals from the table.

"Aile…" Model X began saying, intent on finding out why she was tempting fate by not resting as she should, before being cutoff by Aile. "Prairie wants more info on Lan, so we're going to get it for her." she said, as she exited the room and began following Lan.

She followed Lan, first to the teleporter, then through several forest areas, two suburban city levels and a skyscraper district, before Lan finally entered an abandoned building. Aile followed Lan into the building, and hiding around a corner, watched him crossfuse before opening a rectangular portal of sorts as tall as himself through which he entered, and sensing her chance, so did she.

She found herself in the middle of a road in complete darkness and, a quick biometal change to Model PX later, she started walking towards the only source of light in sight. A blue roofed, one story house.  
Using her wall hopping ability she made her way up to the first story of the house, and using model PX's claws, grabbed onto the upper ledge of the window the light was coming from. There, she saw Lan at a desk, working on a computer, uncrossfused.  
The computer's screen was too far from the window to clearly discern what was on it, especially since Lan was in the way, but once Lan left to look something up in another part of the house, she could make out something referring to the state of a network of satellites.  
Some of what was on the monitor was indiscernible however, and in trying even harder to see what it was, lost track of what was happening around her.

"You know, it's easier to see from the inside."

Lan's voice suddenly came from behind and to the right of her, startling and almost causing her to let go of the claw she was hanging with. And sure enough, turning around whilst saying in a low tone to herself and her biometals "Busted!", Aile came eye to eye with a now crossfused Lan, hovering besides her with the aid of backpack mounted thrusters.

"How did you know I was following you?" she asks while trying to get her heartbeat to slowdown. "I would have been disappointed in you if you hadn't." he replied her with a smile. "I even let the Panel Out portal open a little longer especially for you."  
"What is this place." Aile asked as she let go of the claw, and as Lan slowly hovered down to earth.  
"This is were I grew up." still smiling at her.  
"Aile, welcome to Dentech City."

On the guardian airship however, Prairie and a scientist survey images coming from the Kepler deep space satellite, a deathly silence between them.

"It just appeared out of nowhere in a burst of energy on Mars' orbit." the scientist finally said.  
"Do you have any idea what it is?" asked Prairie as she turned to face the scientist.  
"I do." he replied, pulling up some more images on another screen. Images which left Prairie speechless for a few moments. "After all this time…" he pauses for a moment "The…" he continues to say but is interrupted by Prairie.  
"Star Force Prometheus." she reads in amazement, from the files.

Minutes later, as the two are still left speechless, eight different colored lights shoot up from the ship and settling on individual courses, start heading towards the Earth and seconds later, a larger, purple, light shot up from the ship also settling on an course for Earth.


	3. Forgotten City

Prairie, sitting at her command station in the cockpit of the enormous Guardian HQ sky ship, was browsing through the old archives searching for any data on the mysterious ship which had appeared in Mars' orbit. Though she found something, the information was fragmented and of little use, and with a sigh she slumped back into her chair, trying to make sense of what was available.

"The Prometheus. Flag ship of Earth's once mighty star fleet, the Star Force" she read off of the holographic display in front of her. "Longest serving ship in the force, it also served as the prototype for every star ship ever built" she continued to read, scrolling down through the corrupt archives. "It's destruction in the early 21xx, marked the end of the so called Navi War" she finishes reading from the archive before powering off the PC, seeing as how there was nothing more to be read.

With the archives not offering the much sought after answers, Prairie got up from her chair and made her way to a nearby window, still pondering on the images of the ship, as shown by the retrofitted Kepler space telescope.  
"If you were destroyed over three hundred years ago, then why are you in orbit now, I wonder…"

Meanwhile, back in downtown Dentech, Aile and Lan were walking down a darkened main street, street lamps on either side of the road offering the only available light. The buildings on either side of the street still stood tall, looking as they did when they were first completed. Though all city street lamps lit up the cityscape, no movement existed as far as the eye could see. And anyone looking at the sky above would see nothing, no clouds, no stars, no anything. Looking into the sky, one would be looking into oblivion.

"Where is everybody?" Aile asked while scouring the cityscape for any signs of life. "Where is this place?" she then asked as she turned to face Lan. "We're the only ones here" the holographic Megaman replied from his position on Lan's shoulder. "The city has mostly been abandoned some time ago" Lan continued Megaman's words whilst gazing into the horizon, lost in though. "And old age was the fate of everyone who didn't leave" Megaman, with a look of sadness, finished the sentence. "Wow, I'm sorry, I didn't realize…" Aile, hung her head as she apologized to Lan. "Thanks, though there's no need to apologize" Lan replied, smiling as he turned to face Aile.

Continuing to walk down the street, the two eventually arrived at their destination. The once prestigious Scilab research facility, now abandoned and forgotten like the rest of the town. "This place, Scilab, has one of the biggest databases around, and is why the city is like this" Lan said as various stuff flew from his backpack as a result of his search for the ID Card which allowed him access into the facility. "Yes! Got it!" He soon yelled while striking a victory pose after having won the battle with his backpack for control of the valuable ID Card.

The door soon became unlocked, and shortly after, Lan guided Aile to the main archive room. "Fell free to look around" Lan told Aile as he continued further down the hall. "I'm gonna' get some more files from the secondary archives"

"Ok" Aile replied as she entered the archive room and sat down in front of the main PC. "Let's see what this relic of a machine can do"

She began typing on the keyboard of the aging computer, and soon came across digital newspaper articles, photos and video files with information on past events.  
"Navi War violence escalating to new heights" one early 21xx period newspaper headline wrote, "Systematic deletion of Navis has been declared genocide" wrote another newspaper from few years later, "Global Navi crime syndicate starts war" wrote a third, this one dated long before the others. And upon delving deeper into the archives, Aile found the most dramatic info yet, in the form of three video news reports, the first labeled "Star Force ship crashes 32 kilometers North of Dentech", the second "City disappears in unexplained circumstances", and the third "Escaping Star Force ships, shot down".

Her curiosity peaked, Aile opened the first file, as the Biometals floated off of her, and into view of the monitor. "The files here might contain information about us and our pasts" said Model X before Aile had a chance to say anything. "Ok, just make sure you all have a good view of the screen" she replied.

The first file opened, starting with images of debris in and around a very large smoldering crater before a Netnavi reporter came into view.

"Just moments ago, in this suburb 32 kilometers north of Dentech City, a large aircraft crashed bringing destruction to the equivalent of an entire city block. Witnesses say it was severally damaged and on fire at the time of the impact. Official sources have yet to comment on these events, but rumor has it that the ship which crashed was the Star Force's flag ship, the Star Force Prometheus. Rumor also has it that the ship was attacked from the ground with anti-satellite weapons as it attempted to reach Earth's orbit. Information is still sketchy at this point and we expect the government to issue a full statement later on. For RNN news, this is Imagine.EXE"

Distraught by the sight of the smoldering wreckage, Aile proceeded to open the second file. The second file started with aerial images of a large open field. The field was completely bare, and had it not been riddled by building foundation shaped holes, one could easily assume it was just ordinary agricultural terrain. And as if the foundation shaped holes weren't enough, in the distance, roads converging on this location suddenly stopped exactly where the normal grassy terrain ended and the bare one began.  
And in a voice over, a Navi reporter began talking.

"Not too long ago, the fledgling city of Dentech apparently disappeared without a trace. Witnesses say that just before it disappeared, a strange dome made out of hexagonal pieces began forming over the city. Officials have stated that the dome was a Dimensional Area, created by the city's research facility in an attempt to shield the city from the devastating effects of the ongoing war. Officials have also stated that most of the city's population had been evacuated before the experiment took place, and that loss of life was minimal, though exactly how many were lost remains to be seen. For SBC News, this is Mega Hog"

"So that's what happened" Model Z said as he floated closer to the screen. "I heard rumors about it, but no one knew for sure" he continued as he turned to face Aile "Back when I first met Giro" he finished saying whilst returning to his viewing position "This place is a legend"

After a few moments of pondering whether to open the third file or not, to the pleas of her Biometals Aile proceeded to open the third and final video file, not sure if she wanted to see what it contained.

Meanwhile, back at Guardian HQ, reports came in that four powerful Mavericks started causing large scale destruction in the areas where four of the lights had disappeared. The closest one to HQ being a green vulture with what looked like an electric guitar, in City Area C. Prairie wasted no time in trying to contact Aile, who for some reason was not answering.

Back at Scilab, Aile was watching the third video file, when a call from Prairie came over her com link. Aile tried to respond, but for some reason Prairie could not hear her. "Aile…Aile are you there?" said Prairie "Aile, there's a powerful green Maverick destroying City Area C, please respond… Aile…"  
"What's wrong with this thing" Aile said as she was shaking her radio, trying to get it to work. "It could have something to do with where this place is" Model X replied. "It could be that radio waves can get in, but they can't get out"  
"We should find Lan and head to area C then" Aile spoke back, as the biometals floated back towards her, before she exited the archive room and began searching for Lan.

A few minutes later, after failing to find Lan, Aile headed back to the place near Lan's house where she hoped, the panel out was still active. Luckily for her it still was, and even luckier, the warehouse it connected to wasn't far from the area the Maverick was attacking.  
In no time at all the reached Area C, and megamerged into Model ZX, before confronting the green Maverick.

And in a darkened Scilab waiting room, on two ancient widescreen plasma TV's, Lan watched news footage of Aile's ongoing battle with the vulture themed Maverick on one TV, and a Megaman with its hair in a long silvery ponytail fighting a gazelle-like Maverick, on the other.

"And so it begins" a blue eyed shadowy figure said drawing Lan's attention towards a nearby darkened doorway, to which Lan replied "Indeed it does".

* * *

I would like to take this moment and give a thanks to all you who have reviewed. Though the story's future doesn't depend on it getting reviews, they do help make me hyper, which in turn meens better ideas for the next chapter.  
For anyone who doesn't know, the Prometheus star ship is the Stargate SG 1 Prometheus, and Star Force is both the name given to the star fleet as a whole and the begining part of each individual ship's name.  
Though, I will give enough background info on the Navi War so the story can be understood, I will not go into detail in this story. Instead it will be the focal point of one of my my next fanfics which takes place after Star Force but before Blast From The Past.  
I still need reporters for later chapters of this story (four at the moment), so anyone care to (in PM's since I don't want spoilers if you get it right) hazard a guess as to who the misterious blue eyed shadowy figure could be? I'll even let you choose the TV station to represent.


	4. Distractions Part 1

Ashe was in her room, balancing herself on the back two legs of the chair she was sitting on, her feet propped up on a nearby table, her eyes closed, and loud music screaming from the large headphones that completely covered her ears. So consumed by the loud music was she, that she not only missed the sound of her door opening but also, the calls of her fellow hunters.

"Hey Ashe! ASHE!" One of the hunters that had just entered the room, shouted in vain. "HEY ASHE!" he shouted one more time, hoping against hope to somehow get her attention.

"Save your breath Mark" Said the second hunter to his friend who was by now gasping for air after all the shouting. "When she starts listening to that stuff, no one can get her to stop."

"Oh yea?" Mark replied with a mischievous grin on his face. "We'll see about that." He said, as he started quietly making his way towards Ashe's chair, which luckily for him, was facing away from the door. "Hold the door open, will 'ya." He told his friend as his hands closed in on the chair's two back legs. "Three…two…one…GO!" He said as he pushed the chair's legs forward, and then sprinted as fast as he could through the open door.

Ashe was sent tumbling backwards as the legs slipped forwards from underneath her chair. Moments later, as she realized what was happening, she brought her entire body forward and gripping the table, managed to keep herself from falling over backwards.

No sooner had she brought the chair back to a normal position, when she shot out of said chair and in a burst of anger induced speed, sprinted after Mark completely ignoring his would be accomplice. With almost inhuman speed she dashed after him, quickly catching up before throwing herself into the air… and body slamming Mark into the ground.

"You have ten seconds to explain why you just did that, and three seconds have already passed." She said, barely holding herself from pummeling the living daylights out of him.

"Calm down Ashe. I just came to tell you about a mission we got from Legion" Mark replied, fear evident in his voice. "Some archeological team found something in some ruins, had it stolen by raiders, recovered by us, and now Legion wants it brought to them." He continued to say, faster and faster, as Ashe's patience was thinning and she came closer and closer to pounding him into next Tuesday.

"You did that just to tell me about some pizza delivery Legion wants done?" Ashe said, almost screaming as she was within inches of going berserk. "So, do it your self!" She shouted to Mark as she started squeezing her right hand into a fist and pulling back her right arm.

"LegionSpecificallyAskedThatYouDeliveIt!" Mark barely managed to say as Ashe's fist came down with full force… centimeters to the right of his head, the force of her punch leaving a fist shaped hole in the ground where it had hit. "This better be good, or else you'll be on the cover of Full Body Cast Monthly's next issue." She said to Mark, as she started getting up and her anger started dieing down.

A short while later, in the train station, Ashe and everyone assembled for the delivery were busy checking their weapons and the locks on the container. And with everything checking out, proceeded boarding the train to Legion.

All went smoothly for the first part of the journey, and it looked like it would be another uneventful trip (for which Mark would have to pay), until flying galleons swooped out of nowhere and began attacking the train, intent on taking the artifact.

However, given a heads up by the lookout, the hunters had time to prepare a defense and in the battle which ensued, many galleons fell. All and all, it looked like they would make it, and as the train started picking up speed the galleons were left behind. Some of the hunters even started congratulating themselves, oblivious to what lay ahead. Oblivious that is until with a large explosion, the train derailed throwing everyone off and destroying the container.

A short while later, as Ashe and the others began coming to their senses, the cause of the derailment became all too apparent. A well placed explosive charge had destroyed the tracks, causing the train to derail into a nearby forest. Ashe, quickly recovering from the derailment started checking the others, as they regrouped. There were injured, but all could be saved provided they got proper medical attention. Ashe then headed for the container, hoping too see what was so important in that container that her friends had to risk life and limb just to deliver it. She cautiously approached the container, and took out what was inside. A strange metallic object, with white, red, purple and grey coloring which was floating ten centimeters above the bottom of the crate.

"This is it? This is what was so important that we had to risk our lives just to deliver it?" Ashe shouted as she picked up the object in her right hand. "Why I oughta…" She began saying before being interrupted by a sudden voice telling her to look out behind her.

She did so, only to see the flying galleons from before, open fire. Grateful for the warning the voice had given her Ashe began shooting down the galleons, and after the last one fell she returned her attention to the object which was now floating in front of her.

"You're the one who warned me?" She asked the object as she took it into her arm once more. "Yup… Model A, nice to meet you." the object responded. Ashe was dumbstruck be this turn of events. The object which nearly cost her friend's lives now saved hers. And it also made a cool looking belt buckle. "I'm going to be keeping my eye on you." Ashe replied as she took Model A and hung it by her belt. "Oh, and thanks. I'm Ashe."

Having secured the artifact, Ashe returned to her comrades who by now had gathered together and were preparing to depart. Ashe initially expressed her desire to join them, but was soon convinced by her fellow hunters to go on ahead since Legion was not far away, and since they were more than capable of reaching safety. And against her better judgment, agreed and soon sped off towards Legion and the mavericks that tried to stop her.

Ashe entered the crisis area, but was shocked to see it was empty. She had just megamerged with Model A, and as if on cue Legion called in to ask that she deal with the situation. It was a crisis area, but if the Maverick had left it surely would've left a path of destruction. However, in this forrest, all the destruction was relatively isolated. There were fallen trees scattered everywhere, except for the center area, where most of the trees still stood. Ashe, still tense, headed for the only place the Maverick could be hiding, noticing along the way that many of the trees were burned by fire, and not lasers. She even found a metal arrow at the heart of one of the flames. "_Thanks for giving me a heads up on your weapon."_ She thought with sarcasm.

As Ashe neared the group of trees, one of the arrows flew past her, setting a patch of grass on fire. "Lighten up, Hunter." came a voice from the forest. "Or this no be fun."

Ashe jumped into a tree. "And you need to talk normally." She said, actually lightening up. "Boy, does this guy sound silly." She said to Model A as she took out her guns, getting ready for a long-ranged battle. Ashe wanted to shoot from where she stood but was forced to jump back on to the ground as another of the opponent's arrows whizzed by.

Now he decided to reveal himself. In short, he appeared to be a gazelle, only standing on two feet with something that looked like Indian feathers running down his back. "Me Buckfire. You next target." Ashe bit back a laugh, as she fired a shot from each gun. Her shots however were blocked by two flaming arrows, with a third heading her way. Ashe jumped out of the way, as did Buckfire. She kept running, shooting at him with her handguns, but Buckfire easily dodged, and even blocked a few shots with his arrows. With every load of three he shot, at least one went beyond Ashe's shots, heading for Ashe herself.

Deciding that she would have more strategic possibilities in the air, Ashe started climbing up the trees. Following suit Buckfire did the same and soon, Ashe found that they were nearing the top of the trees, with nothing but burnt remains all around.

"_I can't use them; they'll crumble under my feet."_ Were her thoughts as she was busily trying to figure where to go to get a good shot. So busy in fact that she didn't notice until the last moment that Buckfire was ramming into her, sending them both crashing into one of the burnt trees, and in the process, nearly annihilating the tree Ashe had been standing on. They were both at ground level, however Buckfire was already on his feet when Ashe got up.

"_So, he's good at long-and close-range combat."_ Ashe thought, as she took a shot at Buckfire's head. The shot connected, and taking advantage of this distraction, she rushed in with a flying kick which also connected with Buckfire's face, sending him crashing into the remains of an unburned tree. Buckfire groaned as he got up, but Ashe was nowhere to be found. He put his guard up, making sure to listen for any sound of her. A trigger, a blast flying, anything. Meanwhile, with the aid of Model A, Ashe was pondering her options. "I have two trump cards." Model A explained to her. "The homing shot and the Giga Crush. Giga Crush drains my biometal energy, but the homing shot is less powerful, though at the moment I'd say that the homing shot is the best way to keep out of site." With this new info, Ashe formulated a plan. Being careful so as to not be surprised by anything, she quietly positioned herself where she could see him. Then, she charged up her homing lightning bolt and locked on.

Buckfire heard a click, and instantly fired his own feathers as boomerangs towards Ashe before she could shoot. She cursed the click, and jumped, but got hit by two of the feathers. Sparks started flying from her left arm, and although it appeared to be just a small injury sustained only by Model A, she knelt down clutching her arm. The Maverick Indian tsked. "You worthless foe. Down already. And from such small wound." He prepared for his charge move, jumping to hit her diagonally. The lock-on was about to time out, but Ashe knew she had to wait just a little more before hitting him. She smirked as he was closing in on her, and as he got to within a meter of Ashe, she fired her lightning bolt which perfectly hit him on the chest. This disrupted the Maverick so much that with a small explosion he was sent flying backwards.

While he was still in the air, Ashe rushed in with a kick, aimed at the exact spot the lightning hit, sending him flying even further backwards. Buckfire wasted no time in launching more boomerangs upon landing; however Ashe recognized his actions for what they were. _"He's getting desperate."_ she thought, as she threw herself towards Buckfire's boomerangs.

Buckfire watched in dismay as Ashe grabbed one of the boomerangs and, letting the other three return to their owner, she threw it back making sure it was aimed for his head. She then charged her guns, knowing that when he was done panicking the boomerang would return to Buckfire's spine. And as the Maverick calmed down, he heard the hum of a gun charging. "I be finished." he said, as he knew that this girl's lightning bolts could just home in on him. She could wear him out.

Desperately he ran anyway, jumping between the remaining trees, until there was no place left to run. He wasn't fast on land so, in a last ditch effort, he aimed one more barrage of arrows towards Ashe after turning back, only to be kicked in the face once more, landing just outside the trees.

When he got up, he saw that Ashe had jumped in front of him, putting him between herself and the trees. She aimed both handguns at Buckfire, and as he turned to try and return to the trees, one shot hit him, then two, then many. "Giga Crush!" She shouted dramatically, as powerful blasts erupted constantly from both guns, eventually pinning him against the tree. Buckfire cried out in pain, as eventually the plasma shots left him pinned against the tree, and riddled with holes.

When she was done, Ashe was still going on battle-high. "You're the one who should've lightened up. That wasn't any fun."

Just as she was about to leave however a cry, coming from behind some nearby trees caught her attention.

"The environment! What have you done to it?" A boy cried out as he ran past Ashe, almost knocking her over. "What's up with that kid?" She rhetorically asked Model A as the boy landed on his knees picking up a burnt up flower which had fallen from the tree Buckfire was still pinned to. "How could you do this? Why would you do this?" He hysterically asked Ashe as he almost started crying over the burnt up flower.

"Look, I don't know what's up with you, but I didn't do this, he did!" She said to the boy, pointing at Buckfire. "Argh… I never should have let him come here. He promised he wouldn't hurt nature." The boy said, rising to his feet, letting the charred flower drop from his hand. "At least all of this wasn't in vain, and I found what I was looking for. Nature will be reborn!" He further added as he turned around. "What are you talking about, who are you?" Ashe asked the boy, her curiosity peaked. "Thetis" the boy replied as himself and the tree Buckfire was pinned to (along with Buckfire himself), teleported away.

"What on Earth was all that about?" she said before she left to try and get to any other Mavericks before it was too late.

Meanwhile, back in Area C, Aile came out of the Panel Out in a hurry as Prairie was still trying to contact her, and she could now finally answer.

"Aile, come in. Where are you? I repeat, where are you?" Aile took the time to answer, as the repeated calls started getting on her nerves. "I'm here. I couldn't respond earlier. I'm already at the area of the green Maverick attack." Aile said, her voice showing off the headache she'd received traveling through Dentech with Prairie shouting in her ear. And before Prairie could say anything else, Aile cut the link so she could find and fight the Maverick.

She didn't have to look far. The people who had yet to evacuate were fleeing in fear from a flying green Maverick with a guitar. A man at the back of the line tripped over a piece of rubble from a building and had fallen on the road. Aile rushed over to him as the Maverick played a note on his guitar, and what appeared to be a green sound wave slashed at the fallen man. He cowered in fear, hands over his head, waiting for the death…. that never came. He heard a slashing sound and above him stood Aile, her ZX-Saber out and the green slash from the Maverick disappearing.

"Get out of here." Aile ordered, not turning to face the man. She had a look of grim determination as she stared at the Maverick, who also looked mad and was diving out of the sky, towards Aile, landing right in front of her. They were in the middle of a four way intersection, with buildings all around that had been damaged by the attack. Something Aile took notice of, since she knew that they would inevitably fight.

Words were wasted on Mavericks.

"Hey girl, what are you doing? No one messes with Vulturon's fun." The Maverick known as Vulturon shouted. Aile kept her determined expression, ticked that so soon after recovering from her last battle, she had to fight a boss Maverick.

In her musings, she almost missed the three waves that were headed towards her. She put away her Saber and did three back flips to dodge, blasting whenever she could see Vulturon. The green pseudoroid blocked the plasma shots with his guitar, which amazingly showed no sign of damage. "Well, there goes the option of taking out his weapon." Aile said to herself as she dashed straight for Vulturon, pulling her ZX-Saber back out only to have him fly away, her slash barely contacting the bottom of his foot. "Can't get me in the air, weakling." shouted Vulturon in an annoying voice.

He was soon proven wrong as Aile jumped onto the wall of a nearby building and slammed herself into the Maverick, surprising him. During the quick fall, she slashed with her ZX-Saber, but hit only air as the Maverick regained himself quick enough to fly out of the way. Vulturon thought he was safe again, getting farther from the buildings, only to be proven wrong when a charged Buster shot barely miss him. "She's fast, guess I'll have to fight for real."

He charged at Aile again, stopping in the air to release three more waves from his guitar, and as Aile dodged to the side, Vulturon found his way next to her giving Aile barely any time to swing her ZX-Saber and block the swing of his guitar. And for a few seconds they stood there, trying to prove whose swing was stronger. However, Aile soon found that she had to jump away as Vulturon started to overpower her, and realizing that hand to hand combat wouldn't work, shot off five shots in random angles at Vulturon. The Maverick blocked with his guitar, missed the last shot which hit him in the face, and as he regained his balance, Aile slashed at him twice with her Saber. The green one fell back some more, but blocked before she could get a third hit on him.

The MegaMan would have to pay for that, so he flew into one of the destroyed buildings.

Confused by this change of heart, Aile wall jumped on the building's side so she could get to where he went. It was dark inside, with all the power out and the only source of sunlight coming from the hole they entered. "_Great, the traditional bad guy surprise jump routine." _She thought as she readied her Saber, waiting for a jump, guitar swing, sound wave, or anything else he might do while hiding.

Vulturon hid behind a filing cabinet, lying in wait as Aile approached his position As he prepared his guitar for an attack, he picked up a piece of debris and hurled it at the opposite end of the room. Aile responded to this, not seeing the rock fly but hearing it hit. As she headed in that direction, Vulturon hit her over the back with a heavy swing. Aile remained conscious, but was forced back to the hole they'd entered through by constant attacks from Vulturon. She knew she'd survive, but Vulturon would have time to escape. Vulturon took a second to smirk, thinking that Aile had lost… and that was his first mistake.

Aile used the second he wasn't swinging to aim a sweeping kick at his feet. Vulturon fell to his back, and as he was rolling up, the ZX-Saber met his left wing, cutting it clean off. Aile shot at him again, but this time used the distraction to get behind him and moments later, Vulturon cried out as his right wing was also chopped off, lying on the floor with sparks flying out from it out. They were still close to the hole, so Aile used this chance to kick him in the back, sending him over the edge. "Fool, I'll survive this fall. Do you think I'm human?" He shouted at Aile as he plummeted to the ground. For a moment, he thought he was clear, but soon gasped when he saw her jump after him, accelerate her fall by streamlining her body, and get ready to strike with her Saber. As Aile closed in on Vulturon, in a last ditch effort, he tried to block with his guitar but couldn't as it was just too heavy to operate while falling to the street.

"No, I lose!" Were Vulturon's final words, shouted just after he hit the street, and just before Aile hit him, slicing his head clean off. Moments later, she sprang backwards out of the crater and back onto her feet.

"We win!" She said, to herself and her Biometals, as she stared at her defeated foe.

"Well, well, well… Looks like Vulturon couldn't keep his act together. Serves him right, the ignorant fool!" A figure wearing armor similar to Aile's in PX form spoke as he teleported in, a few steps away from Aile. "No matter, he served his purpose." He continued to say, as he walked by Vulturon's side. "I got what I came for. And he got what he had coming." He further added as he got down on one knee and picked up Vulturon's severed head.

"And you are…" Aile inquired as her eyes followed his every action. "Aeolus" he replied. "MegaMan of the wind". "And just what was his purpose, or yours for that matter?" Aile asked the armor clad stranger. "I've said enough!" the stranger suddenly said, dropping the pseudoroid's head as he rose to his feet then proceeded to call for a teleport for both himself and Vulturon's remains. "Our paths will cross again. Be sure to stay out of my way!"

"Wait!" Aile shouted as she jumped to her feet, only to be taken aback by a jolt in her right arm. "No way, Vulturon must have hit me harder than I thought back in that building." She opened up her com link, hoping to request a medical transport for herself, only to be disappointed by what Prairie had to say. "Finally! Aile, we have three more Maverick attacks. Some unknown Biometal user is fighting one, but we need you for the others." "I can't." Aile responded, rather angrily. "I was injured in the fight with Vulturon. I can't even use my ZX-Saber in this state." On the other end, Prairie slammed her fist into a table, but refrained herself from raising her voice. "We have no one else, unless you know where your friend Lan is. And even then, the other two are on opposite ends of the city. He can't fight in two places at the same time." It was at that exact moment that Lan stepped up from behind Aile, seemingly from nowhere. "Tell Prairie not to worry. I will take care of one of them. And since this kind of thing always works out somehow, someone will show up for the other."

Aile relayed this message and then turned to thank Lan only to find that he was already gone.

* * *

Whew, finished after a marathon writing session and a week of burning the midnight oil. This in one of the longest chapters to date and is actually part one of the fight scenes.  
Special thanks go to Blast From The Past's betareader **Inferno05** for writing the fight scenes. I initially wanted to have all four fight scenes in one chapter thinking that there was no way I could stretch one or two fight scenes across an entire chapter.  
BOY WAS I WRONG!, because when **Inferno05** started writing, he started writing, and by the end of the weekend he sent me a monstrous thing stretching across more pages than the entire story thus far (chapters 1 thru 3 each took up three pages each for a total of 9, while what he sent me ended up taking 12 pages). Kudos to you **Inferno05**.  
So anyway, as a result, only the first two fights are in this chapter and the other two will be in the next.


	5. Distractions Part 2

Lan sped towards the third Maverick which was by now causing trouble in a factory. The Maverick was a short little thing, with armor like an armadillo and red metal spikes on its back resembling those of a hedgehog. The thing was nibbling on some power cords now that there were no humans or reploids to attack. The creature's ears perked as it heard Lan step into the huge room full of fallen machinery. "Ok Megaman. Let's hurry up and stop him." Lan remarked. "I'm a girl!" it explained, showing itself, obviously mad at the gender confusion. "You will fall by Hedgeshock." it said.

The creature, which was obviously Hedgeshock, curled up into a ball as Lan loaded some of his favorite battle chips into his P.E.T. and got the Cross Fusion chip out, and as he leaned over to dodge the cannonball-like movement of Hedgeshock, he inserted the Chip. "Crossfusion!" he and Mega Man shouted at the same time, the flash of energy that surrounded Lan blowing back Hedgeshock, before Lan revealed himself in the blue suit of Megaman.

Hedgeshock growled. "Cheap trick." She muttered as she started rolling at a high speed on the ground, aiming for Lan's feet. The blue warrior jumped out of her way, but she jumped with him, increasing velocity to try and ram Lan into the ceiling.

Lan however, dodged and when he landed, shot a few buster shots at the quickly moving target. Shots which harmlessly hit the floor, as Hedgeshock was moving too fast. She also showed incredible control as she changed direction and stopped on a dime. She tried ramming Lan again, but he jumped out of the way, this time to the left and out of Hedgeshock's jumping range. "Spreader, Battle Chip In. DOWNLOAD!" Lan shouted, as his left arm changed into what appeared to be another Buster, but when Lan opened fire it shot out lasers, shotgun style, which bathed the entire area around Hedgeshock, creating small explosions all around, sending her flying. As Hedgeshock flew threw the air, she unrolled herself with her back pointing at Lan, and as her red spikes charged themselves with electricity, she launched them as missiles. Lan again jumped out of the way, but this time they followed him. _"Cool. Homing spikes!"_ Lan thought as he walljumped his way to the ceiling, still avoiding the spikes. Occasionally, as they exploded on machinery, Hedgeshock would send out more.

Lan jumped above the Maverick, and began falling headfirst with the spikes still following him. He let more blow up on machinery, twisting his body to get them to fly by whenever they got too close. And as he closed in on Hedgeshock, he grabbed the edge of a nearby piece, coming to a stop and sending the missiles straight towards her. But because Hedgeshock curled up she felt nothing when she hit the wall of the factory. Lan stared at the little thing as it uncurled. "You're tough for a cute little robot." he teased, to which she retorted "You asked for it, blue boy."

Since Lan's arm was still a Spreader, he took the opportunity to shot it at Hedgeshock as she was uncurled, hoping to get a shot in. The pseudoroid however, curled herself back up, even if she couldn't roll out of the way. "Lan, you're going to have to get her out of her shell." Megaman said to Lan as he was shooting Hedgeshock with the Megabuster. "I know, Megaman." Lan replied as he continued to shot, trying to get an idea.

Hedgeshock was by this time laughing, supremely confident that the human had no way of beating her while she was in her shell. She used her advantage to push Lan back into an area with several walls and pieces of equipment and hitting the first wall, she started ricocheting around like a pinball, hitting Lan repeatedly for he had no room to move and no time to think. Now, Lan wasn't the type of person to easily get mad, and thought throughout the battle he kept his cool, being constantly rammed into by Hedgeshock triggered the most uncharacteristic emotion Lan was ever known for. Blind, uncontrolable rage.

With every hit he took, Lan's rage grew and as it did so, cracks started appearing over his right glove and both his boots as they started breaking apart. However these were not the kind of cracks one would expect to see as a result of the crossfusion failing. They were perfectly straight as they ran down his glove and boots; whenever they turned they did so at either forty-five or ninety degree angles, and as they started widening they began glowing with a bright yellow light.

Thinking his armor would fail and he would be knocked out of the fight, Hedgeshock stopped her attack for a moment, uncurling to see her opponent fall on one knee, shivering.

The reason behind Lan's fall however, was far more serious than she could ever understand. Something she was made all too aware of as Lan turned to face her, revealing that his once chocolate brown irises were now glowing bright yellow.

Distraught by this, Hedgeshock, curled back into her armor, and resumed her pinball like attacks.

"Cyber Sword, Battle Chip In. DOWNLOAD!" Lan emotionlessly called out between hits, as his Spreader arm changed into an energy sword which was then used to block the next hit causing sparks to fly from where his sword and Hedgeshock's armor met. And in this new state, Lan effortlessly pushed the pseudoriod hedgehog back into open area.

It was at that point that Lan noticed what appeared to be a small crack in her armor, between two spikes as Hedgeshock uncurled herself, and calling out "Wide Sword, Battle Chip In. DOWNLOAD!" Lan summoned a second sword on his other hand. Since Hedgeshock had yet to notice her own crack, she foolishly ran back towards Lan in ball form, only to be sliced by Lan with both swords at once, causing the crack to grow. "Curse you!" Hedgeshock shouted upon finally noticing the crack herself.

"Not very lady-like." Lan emotionlessly retorted as he started walking towards her, swords crossed across his chest.

Hedgeshock growled loudly, and rolled again. She jumped off the ground, aiming her roll at Lan's chest. But as Lan was prepared to slice, Hedgeshock uncurled in mid-air, flipped so her back faced the blue warrior, and launched her spikes from barely a meter in front of him, blowing our hero across the factory. Lan twisted in mid-air and, prepared to slice at the Maverick, rebounded off of a support beam.

Two slashes later and as her armor broke off in pieces, Lan summoned a long sword as soon as he landed. "Long Sword, Battle Chip In. DOWNLOAD!" He called out, joining the two swords over his head as the third one was being downloaded. They began glowing with a blue aura, and with Hedgeshock still shaken from the loss of her armor, Lan made his move knowing that she was done for.

"Program Advance!" He shouted, as the new blade formed by this attack was brought down on Hedgeshock, leaving the Maverick cut in smoking halves.

Moments later, in a dim light, the crossfusion ended and Lan's eye color returned to normal moments before he collapsed into unconsciousness. It would be about fifteen minutes before Lan would regain consciousness, finding himself propped up against a wall under the careful supervision of his blue suited navi who had come into the real world to tend to his netop in his time of need.

"Hey, you're up." Megaman said with a smile as he helped Lan get back on his feet. "Yea, how long have I been out?" Lan asked, stumbling as he tried to stand. "About fifteen minutes. Think you're ok?" Megaman worriedly asked as Lan finally managed to stand up normally. "Yea, I heal instantly remember?" Lan replied turning away from Megaman as he readied his roller blades for departure. "That's not what I mean Lan, you nearly lost control. You know that if you were to ever go over the edge there would be no telling what would happen and no one capable of stoping you." Megaman said, putting his left hand on Lan's right shoulder. "I know Megaman, I know. It's just that every time this happens it gets harder and harder to stop myself. I'll try harder next time, I promise."

Reassured by Lan's words, Megaman transformed back into the P.E.T. and as Lan started donning his skates, Lan noticed a purple armor clad figure with a long red scarf, kneeling over Hedgeshock.

"Shadow Man?" Lan asked in surprise. "YOUR DEDUCTION IS INCORECT. I AM SIARNAQ. MEGAMAN OF THE SHADOW." The figure replied in a robotic monotone using computer-like language. "What do you want, and what's up with the robot talk?" Lan asked as the strange figure began picking up Hedgeshock's remnants. "I CAME TO INFORM HEDGESHOCK OF THE SUCCESS OF OUR OBJECT RETRIEVAL MISSION." He replied as he took Hedgeshock into his arms. "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!" He said to Hedgeshock's remains as he walked into the shadow cast by one of the machines.

Unfazed by this, Lan skated out of the factory, hurrying to the fourth point. "I hope this factory is well insured, since it looks like it'll cost Chaud's fortune to fix it." He jokingly said to Megaman as he sped away. He soon found the fourth point, and since things were apparently under control, decided to watch the battle that was already beginning. "I told Aile that things like these allways work themselves out in the end."

Elsewhere, a huge blue alligator was on a rampage near the dity dam, destroying power distribution equipment and hydroelectric power plant annexes. Lan watched from a point above the battle as the creature calling itself Bifrost met up with its opponent, a red clad figure, with a black visor, long ponytailed hair, and a sword on his right arm. The figure dodged easily as Bifrost tried to chomp on it, and as sparks started flying from the creature's back, it became all to obvious why Bifrost was concentrating on this one person.

It was at this moment that Ashe arrived, not too far from Lan. She had small sparks flying from her armor, but they weren't bad enough to be considered anything more than scratches sustained by Model A alone.

Lan walked over to her as she stared in surprise at the figure fighting the Maverick. And rummaging through some debris, Lan found two chairs which he set them up for himself and Ashe so they could watch the battle. "Have a seat before you miss the best parts, since I take it you're here for the fight?" Lan asked the perplexed Ashe, who was expecting to be attacked not invited to a sit down. "No way, I've had enough weirdness from kids today, with out you contributing." She shot back whilst waving a determined "no" with her hands. "He's got this under control." Lan said, before Ashe could rush in to help. "Don't ruin his fun." He further added as he leaned back into his chair. "Besides, what could I do to you? You're armed and like you said. I'm just a kid."

Surely, this figure wasn't taking a hit. He kept jumping off of rubble, staff cars, and power processing buildings so as to dodge the attacks, occasionally slashing to take off a tooth with his sword. Three teeth were lost, and the figure was amused to see the gator cry out. The long-haired warrior was however surprised, when Bifrost tried to jump on him, having to lean back so as not to get hit by the belly, and barely being missed by the gator's foot. He sliced at the belly with his sword, causing the creature to reply by summoning a spiked wheel, and rolled to the side as the spiked wheel hit where he was a second ago and flew forward into a power plant annex.

The figure froze for a second as he realized that the wheel had cut straight through the building. _"Note to self: That hurts."_ He thought to himself as Bifrost turned to bite again, only to have the figure jump onto the back of his head, trying to keep his balance as Bifrost tried to shake him off. The warrior left five slashes across Bifrost's back, because that was the only place he could hit without falling, then jumped off of its back and barrel-rolled to the side as another spiked wheel headed his way. "_This creature's mad."_ The figure noted as he sliced off another tooth, barely managing to not get bit.

This time, however Bifrost let out two spiked wheels, both of which our hero dodged only to be hit in the face by Bifrost's tail.

So far this creature had one hit in, but the figure had plenty and Bifrost was mad. It also had a toothache from loosing four teeth. Our hero meanwhile was rubbing his face, noticing a slight crack in his visor. Annoying, but not enough to keep him from seeing. The gator tried to chomp him again, but this time, with two slashes all of Bifrost's teeth fell out and in the distance, Lan was laughing so hard he nearly toppled over backwards with his chair.

Bifrost shook his head, and started running straight towards the warrior, but next thing he knew the man was right behind him, and upon realizing that he was loosing the fight, Bifrost started running towards the water in a desperate attempt to get away, only to have the figure dive right in after him.

A few agonizing minutes of silence, multiple spiked wheels flying out of the water, and a large explosion caused water tower later, Bifrost's roar echoed from the depths of the lake. And a few minutes after that, our red and black armored hero made a rocket boot powered jump out of the lake and onto the dam. The figure then turned towards Lan, who still had a bit of a giggle until he saw that he was being looked at.

Uncharacteristically, Lan got the message and, upon folding his chair, left leaving Ashe and Model A to ponder on who they had just been watching.

However, unbeknownst to Lan, Ashe, and the red clad hero, sitting on the edge of a four story worker's apartment complex nearby, a girl wearing orange boots with yellow anklets, white pants with a brown belt, a black sweater with matching black fingerless gloves, and a jacket similar to Aile's only colored orange, who had also been watching the battle, now watched them depart. She watched Ashe leave for the nearest Trans server, and she watched Lan open a Panel Out for himself and his friend. And as soon as everyone was gone she took out a strange object, examined it for a few minutes before putting it away, and looking towards the lake, said towards Bifrost "Useless as an opponent, but useful as a distraction".

Moments later she stood up, took out a disk shaped object which she threw towards Bifrost and then jumped off of the building, teleporting away moments before hitting the ground as the object landed in the lake, triggering a teleport of Bifrost's remains.

And elsewhere in the city, on top of a very high tower, a green haired man watched as smoke billowed from all four battle scenes across the city. Minutes later, as he continued to watch, Siarnaq walked out of the his shadow, still carrying Hedgeshock, and proceded to give his report. "THE FIRST FOUR ARTEFACTS HAVE BEEN RECOVERED. MISSION ACOMPLISHED." "Excellent." The man replied, not turning to face Siarnaq. "Take Hedgeshock down to the lab, and see that the other pseudoroids are transported there as well." "AFFIRMATIVE." Siarnaq replied walking back into the man's shadow.  
And as soon as Siarnaq was gone, as the man continued to stare towards the rising smoke, everything around him went dark. The city around, the skyline, the sky it's self as well as any light disappeared leaving him the only visible thing is sight. "I was wondering when you'd come." The man calmly said as a short, bipedal figure, with red eyes, appeared out of nowhere several meters in front of him. "The first four parts are ours." he said as the figure approached, stopping right in front of him. "As will be the remaining four." In response the figure raised its right hand, put it on the man's shoulder and, nodding in agreement, turned into a purple light which shot up into the sky, speeding away as it returned to the Prometheus in Mars' orbit. Moments later the darkness disappeared, and everything returned back to normal.


	6. The End Of A Space Dream

Aile, staring at the celing whilst lying on her bed, was lost in thought as she pondered the events that had transpired in the past few days. She pondered on the fight with Vulturon, on Lan and his forgotten city, and she pondered on the video news files she had seen back at SciLab. And of those video files she pondered on the third file. "Model Z, you downloaded the files from that SciLab computer into your database while we were there, right?" Aile, still gazing at the ceeling, asked the red biometal as it floated into view. "I did, why?" The biometal answered. "We never got to see that third news reel, and I can't think of a better time than now to watch it."

Currently, perhaps scared by the defeats the pseudoroid leaders had recently suffered, there were no mavericks causing any trouble anywhere. Something which, for a chosen one, only translaled into one thing. A huge amount of nothing to do.

"I'm bored out of my mind." Aile exclamed as she snapped back to reality. "No mavericks to fight, no errands to run, no anything." She said as she turned towards the nearby table and the remaining biometals it held. "If I don't find something to do soon, i'll go stirr crazy." She added as she sat up.

"Fair enough." Model Z replied as the remaining biometals floated towards Aile. Moments later Model Z began projecting the contents of the third file as a hologram in the air above himself.

The scene opened to a netnavi reporter in the foreground; large amounts of debris, huge craters and thousands of flaming fragments still raining down, in the background; and "Breaking News! Escaping Star Force ships shot down." written in bright red letters on the lower part of the screen.  
"Large scale devastation greeted the people of this once peacefull suburb this morning as they woke to a literal rain of fire. A rain which even now rages on with full fury desp..." The reporter said before being interrupted by the deafening scream then impact of a very large flaming fragment as it flew overhead and then slammed into the ground a good distance away. Despite being in the cyberworld, the navi reporter still flinched at the sound and sight of the meteoric fragment as it made its way through the sky.

"The exact circumstances behind this tragedy are still unknown at the moment, however what is known is that earlier today, the three remaining Star Force ships were attacked by the netopian army using long range weapons as they attempted to reach Earth's orbit. Footage of this attack is currently being analysed and will be made available as soon as possible. For DNN, this was Inferno05.EXE"

The video file ended and soon after, another began playing. This second file, a surveilance satellite feed, showed the Star Force ships come under attack from laser attack satellites and long range missiles as they flew in a V formation.

The first ship, on the right wing of the formation, had its bridge shattered by missiles causing it to loose control. With nothing to keep it's raw power in check, its front section started dipping, sending the ship off course towards the ground at a steep angle, and causing it to begin breaking apart as the friction with the atmosphere subjected it to ever higher temperatures.

As the first ship was breaking apart, the second ship located on the left wing of the formation took a direct hit to its right engine from a laser attack satellite. Underpowered and with asymmetric thrust, it began slowing down and veering off course before gravity got the upper hand, and it too started plummeting towards the ground, though this time at a shallower angle.

And finally the third ship, the formation leader, came under attack from both missiles and satellites and was destroyed instantly.

"Is that all there was?" Aile asked the red biometal as the video file ended. "That's it." Model Z replied. "I'm still working on recovering everything else."

"Well, that did little to cure my boredom." Aile said back as she sat up. "That didn't exactly make things crystal clear, now did it?" She said as she scooped up the biometals, and then headed towards the door. "Come on, let's go downtown. There's nothing here for us to do at the moment anyway."

"You should be resting Aile, though then again, I don't see what harm a simple stroll could do." Model X replied as Aile made her way towards the transerver.

_Meanwhile_, back at SciLab in downtown Dentech city, Lan was overseeing something from a nearby control room. "Check, check, and... check." Lan said through a microphone to our blue eyed hero, who was lying on an examination table in the next room. "Everything checks out fine." Lan added as the figure sat up on the edge of the examination table. "Good, we have no way of knowing when the mavericks will strike again. We have to be ready as soon as possible." The figure said as it set its gaze on Lan in the control room.

"Always serious and always in a hurry." Lan cheerfully said as the figure continued looking towards him. "Apart from a reploid body, you're still the same Protoman." Lan continued saying as cheerfully as ever. "Oh, and you have, mister #348 Curry's eater of the month award holder? Anyway, have you downloaded the latest reports from the satellites while we were in Innerpeace?" Protoman asked as he got off of the table and began walking towards the door linking the examination and the control rooms together. "I did, and I also programmed the satellites to continuously send their observations so we could monitor the situation from here." Replied Megaman from inside the lab computers. "Smart move." Protoman said as he stopped by Lan's left. "What's the latest satellite intel say?" He further inquired as Megaman brought up, on the monitor before them, the telemetry from the satellites.

"The pseudoroids' attacks occured shortly after these nine lights entered the atmosphere. And once the fights were over, only four lights left." Megaman began saying as the data from the surveillance satellites showed the events described. "Moments after the four lights returned, the ship entered Earth's orbit and the fifth light returned to it as well." Megaman continued saying before being interrupted. "So do we have any idea what they're after?" Protoman inquired as Megaman brought up other data on the monitors. "Right after Lan and I finished our battle with Hedgeshock, someone calling himself Siarnaq collected Hedgeshock's remnants and said that he had recoverad the object they were sent to get. And on a whim, I decided to check the news and discovered that someone also appeared at Aile's battle to pick up the maverick's remains."

"The Prometheus returns out of nowhere four hundred years later, mavericks start running rampant more than usual, and someone starts searching for 'objects' in the very places we hid the fragments at the end of the war." Protoman said with a look of determination on his face. "Someone's up to something, somewhere. We'll need to be ready for anything, and we'll need Aile."

"So will you be telling her or should we, Protoman?"

_Back in Area C,_ Aile was walking through the city, looking around at the various shops as people scurried to and fro past her, blissfully unaware of her role in the events to come. All but one, that is.

"Out on a shopping spree, Aile?" A voice came from behind, causing her to flinch as she turned towards its source. "LAN! Are you purposely trying to cause me a heart attack, or what?" She said to Lan, as she jokingly punched him on his right shoulder. "Temper, temper, Aile." Lan replied as he rubbed the place on his arm where she had hit him.

"Anyway, what brings you here? I don't need any rescuing that I'm aware of, and there aren't any mavericks around, so what brings you to this quaint little corner of the world?" She asked our blue bandanna wearer, as he started donning his roller blades.

"Race me, and I'll tell you." Lan said as he started skating circles around her. "What 'ya say? From here to Area F. Me on in line skates, you on anything that doesn't fly. I promise you, it'll be more than worth your time."

"I say…you're on!" Aile agreed as Lan took off towards Area F. "You'll need all the head start you can get." She said lowly, as Lan sped away.

Several minutes later, Aile stormed through the door at Giro Express, catching Vent off guard as he was balancing himself on the back legs of his chair, getting ready to eat a sandwich he just took out of the microwave oven. Though until then he had managed to keep his balance, Aile's storming through the door caused him to loose his balance and take a tumble backwards. "Aile…" he began saying as she ran past him. "Can't stop, need my bike." She said back as she ran past him carrying her helmet. "Weeks worth of sorting is done." He replied as he used the nearby desk to get back to his feet. "Don't forget to do the cleaning." She replied as she again ran past him, helmet on and looking for her keys. "Shouldn't take long." He said as he took the plate with the sandwich off of the desk, moved towards and then leaned on the door frame. "And six month's inventory still needs to be done." She added as she ran towards the garage door, helmet on, keys in her right hand, and grabbing the sandwich off of Vent's plate with her left hand. "Great." He muttered, looking at the now empty plate, before throwing it in the sink and getting ready to do an inventory of the business that had taken place over the last six months.

Outside, the garage door started opening and Aile shot out like a bullet before it fully opened. _"Ready or not, here I come."_ She mentally said to her self as she dashed towards Area F, biting from the sandwich whenever she could afford to take one hand off of the handlebars.

* * *

Long time I took to update, I know.

This chapter and half of the next one exist only to further the plot. Rest assured however, that Inferno05 and I already have the next fights planned out, and they should be every bit as spectacular as the last ones were.

Because I wrote this chapter (like the first half of Star Force's Ch 1) almost entirely on my cell phone, (using DocumentsToGo) some typos managed to somehow sneak in. Please ignore them if you find any.

Originally I didn't want to have Protoman in this story, but I decided against that since Protoman being in the story solved another problem I had no solution for. Initially I wanted to use a reploid Geo Stelar (for originality purposes) who would have turned out to have been the actual villain. Needless to say, Protoman won't be a baddie.

Though the debate still rages on regarding how canon the existence of both Aile and Vent in the same universe is, Vent's presence in this story serves to set up his role in the next (story).

Also, I'd like to take this moment to thank everyone who reviewed Ch 4 (Ch 5 didn't get one review surprisingly, but still). Thanks!


	7. War Torn World

Protoman, sitting in a leather chair, watched from the comfort of a SciLab security station as Aile and Lan raced across the c

Protoman, sitting in a leather chair, watched from the comfort of a SciLab security station as Aile and Lan raced across the cityscape. It was a good thing that Innerpeace's CCTV cameras could be accessed remotely from the absolute safety of Dentech, as this time and time again, proved to be a very effective way of keeping tabs on anything that went down. From maverick attacks to pocket picking, nothing escaped the all seeing eyes of the surveillance cameras, and currently all of those all seeing eyes were tuned to Lan and Aile, as they constantly tried to one up each other's high speed antics.

Lan would jump off of various obstacles like benches, railings, and basically anything that got in the way, to perform just about every in line skates capable trick in the book.

And as if not to be outdone, Aile used stairs, construction materials and even, to Protoman's dismay, cars as ramps to launch herself as high into the air as possible so as to perform death defying motorcycle stunts that would make most 20XX stuntmen, quake in their boots. _"Those two couldn't have been a better match if they were maid for each other."_ Protoman thought to himself as Aile jumped off of a supermarket loading ramp to perform her most daring and life threatening stunt yet. One which sent a chill down Protoman's back in the way few, if any, things ever could, especially by the fact that, in mid stunt, Aile saw fit to answer a call on her cell phone to take a delivery order. _"Four hundred years apart, and its weird to see how much alike those two are."_ His trail of though went on as Lan, trying once again to one up Aile, responded with an equally daring and life threatening stunt involving a half raised dozer blade, a few steel girders being crane lifted by a low level crane, and the crane itself. Though at least in Lan's case, the life threatening part would only apply to bystanders if he somehow messed up and landed on someone.

Protoman continued to watch the two's silliness' for a few more minutes before suddenly jumping out of the chair to change to another surveillance camera, as Aile gunned the engine and hit a ramp for her most hair raising stunt yet. _"It'll be something if Lan doesn't get her killed, and a miracle it she doesn't get herself killed."_ His thoughts went on as he continued changing through the CCTV video feeds, before stopping on one that caught his attention. A video feed of Ashe trashing mavericks left and right. _"She did well in the forest before."_ He thought as he watched Ashe fight her way through a junkyard.

Ashe shot off the heads of the two closest Mavericks, as two more behind her tried to sneak up for a pounce, only to have their faces met with two Biometal-armored backhands. Next, she spun around shooting the Mavericks behind those two, jumped up to shoot more as she flipped, then turned around and twirled to dodge a shot before returning fire. And, as the closing act of the brawl, she picked up scattered pieces of the previous Mavericks, and threw them full force at the remaining opponents, crushing their chests in, causing them to drop where they stood.

"She has the making of a powerful ally." Protoman said to himself as Ashe, deciding to play up the silliness in her battle, finished off the last mechaniloid by throwing one of her two guns at it and then, in a move that made Protoman chuckle, stretched out a sign which read "To Legion: Mission Complete, bad guys beaten, good guys saved, you owe me 5624 EC." in front of the CCTV camera.

"I need to talk to her."

And moments later, as Ashe was checking with Legion to make sure they got the message, Protoman watched her from a tree high above, having made it there long before she had due to extensive use of Panel Outs throughout both Dentech and Innerpeace.

"Impressive fight in the junkyard." He said, jumping out of the tree as soon as Ashe finished her discussion with Legion. "Huh? Do I kn…Wait a minute, you're the one from the dam, aren't you?" Ashe started asking before her memory came through and she remembered the fights which had taken place a few days ago. "Thanks, you weren't too bad yourself."

Meanwhile, after having died down with the antics, Aile and Lan were now fast approaching their intended destination, the Panel Out leading to Dentech through which Protoman had come to see Ashe. And though for the past few minutes Lan had a slight lead, Aile was catching up as they got ever closer, since Lan's rollerblades were obviously no match for Aile's bike on a speed course. Lan had so far managed to stay ahead by outmaneuvering Aile and taking shortcuts she could not, but now as this was just one long, straight stretch of forest road, Lan knew that to win he had to make the last turn count. _"100 meters…50 meters… 25 meters..."_ Lan counted in his mind, as the distance shrank and Aile was about to overtake him, until _"NOW!"_ he literally hollered in thought as he reached the perfect place to cut the corner… and slam right into Ashe as she was curiously studying the Panel Out, sending both of them tumbling through it, milliseconds after Aile thunder bolted through while pulling off a wheelie.

"I WIN!!" Aile beamed with joy as she spun her bike on the spot towards Lan, on Dentech's main street. "Now where's my prize." She asked as both Lan and Ashe tried to stagger to their feet to the sound of an agonizing Model A.

"Look behind you." Came the reply as he, wounds healing at an incredible pace, helped Ashe to her feet. "I swear I'll never get used to you doing that. No other reploid I know comes even remotely close to healing that fast." Aile replied just before the end of her 180 degree turn was greeted by the sight of the last thing she ever expected to see in her life.

There, no more that five meters away, knee long blond hair, fists lightly clenched and looking above everyone and into the distance, Protoman was standing in as imposing a pose as he could muster up.

"Hey kiddo…" He then said as his cobalt blue eyes turned towards Aile, whilst still maintaining his imposing pose. A pose which he quickly had to drop once he found himself with an Aile shaped necklace around his neck hugging the life, and air, out of him.

"GIRO!!" she literally yelled in his ear as her grip tightened even more, leaving our hapless victim half deaf and gasping for air. "Aile…can't…breathe…, need…air…" He barely managed to say in between gasps as he struggled, with all his might, to pry Aile away from his neck just long enough to get some vitally needed oxygen. Though luckily for him, on the very verge of asphyxiation, he briefly managed to loosen Aile's iron grip just long enough to get one long breath before said iron grip tightened once more.

"Aile, meet a very old friend of mine. Protoman a.k.a Girouette." Lan, completely oblivious to Protoman's gasps for air, cheerfully said.

"I wish the circumstances surrounding our reunion were different Aile. Lan and I have a lot of explaining to do to both you and Ashe. And, should time allow, you and I have a lot of catching up to do." Protoman said as Aile released her grip on his neck and instead clang to his right arm. "But this is not the place." He continued under Aile's inescapable gaze. "Next stop, SciLab. Right?" Aile said as Lan moved ahead of the group a little, in order to lead the way.

"No." Protoman replied. "For an occasion such as this, I've got someplace special in mind."

It wasn't until about an hour's worth of walking later that the group arrived at their skyscraper destination in Dentech City's business district.

Like the rest of the town the majestic skyscraper still stood in as pristine a condition today as when it was first put into service and, standing a full ten stories higher than its nearest competitor, it towered over it's surroundings, providing viewers down below with an imposing landmark to guide their paths and viewers up on top with a commanding view of the entire district.

This building was of course Blaze Quest HQ, and the office destination for our group belonged to none other than Blaze Quest's most recognizable vice-president, a full size oil paint portrait of whom still hung, undisturbed by the passage of time.

"You said this place was important. How so?" Ashe suddenly asked, breaking the silence, whilst curiously admiring the figure in the oil painting. "Cute, isn't he?" she added, slightly tilting her head to the right, as a side note about the figure in the portrait.

"I suppose, now would be as good a time as any to explain everything that needs explaining." Answered a now materialized Megaman who had, up until now, been curiously silent. "I presume that by now, both you and Aile are aware of the mysterious ship in orbit? A ship supposedly destroyed in 21XX."

"Legion mentioned something about it, why?" Ashe replied, continuing to admire the portrait before suddenly taking out a camera and snapping a few pictures of the former vice-president.

"That ship…" Megaman continued. "Was part of the most ambitious exploration project history had ever known. In 20XX, following monumental discoveries in network technology, devices called Dimensional Area Generators were created that could bring digital objects from the cyber world into the real world. Realizing the huge potential of the technology, the star ship Prometheus was built as proof of concept of whether or not it was possible to create an interstellar ship using Dimensional Areas to replace technology that did not exist, such as the hyper drives. The ship proved to be a huge success and subsequently became the flagship of the international fleet of starships it helped create. A fleet which, due to the ships' unique characteristics, was named the Star Force.

At the height of its power, the Star Force was comprised of five fully functional ships, with a sixth slated to enter service within the year. The finished ships were: the flagship Prometheus, the Pandora, the Shadow Star, the Ziz, and the Flutter.

But the end came faster than anyone ever thought it would. Just a few months later a global Navi crime syndicate managed to do what no other crime syndicate had ever done. Turn unhappy Navis against their NetOps, starting what history would forever remember as the Navi War.

Under the promise of tenfold payback to humanity what Navis felt they had been wronged with, the syndicate's forces quickly grew in numbers right up to the point where they outnumbered any one of the world's armies. After years of battles, during which the Star Force's activities were suspended, the decision to try save Dentech with a Dimensional Area was made as the battlefront moved ever closer. But something, somewhere went wrong and instead of the Dimensional Area encasing the city like a force field, it teleported the city here."

"And where is "here"?" Ashe once again interrupted Megaman's story, though this time looking out the window into the oblivion which extended beyond the city's borders.

"No one knows for sure." Megaman, a little surprised by yet another interruption, replied. "But the scientists' best guesses is that the city's in a pocket dimension. Accessible from the real world only by the dimension crossing Panel Out chips, used by NetNavis everywhere for as long as anyone can remember. Not long after, a failed attempt by the remnants of the netopian army to evacuate the few remaining Navis still loyal to humanity signaled a turn in the tide of war in favor of mankind. Disgusted by the brutal suppression of the evacuation attempt and all of those involved in it, human and Navi alike, neutral Navis everywhere entered the fight on humanity's behalf, and soon the syndicate that started everything was all but annihilated.

In a desperate attempt to escape, the leaders of the syndicate hijacked all but two of the Star Force ships from their hangars, hoping to reach the safety of space from where they could retaliate without fear of retribution. Needless to say, none of the ships made it into orbit, and with the war over, the world's infrastructure was rebuilt independent of the internet. With its main purpose now gone, the internet was forgotten and the Navis given a choice to either remain in their P.E.T's forever, or take advantage of the latest advancements in robotics, and live out their lives in the real world.

Most chose the latter, and using the latest in copyroid technology, the Navis of the past became the reploids of the present.

The very word reploid is actually a corruption of the original name for the advanced robotic bodies offered to the Navis. Repliroid."

"And you still didn't answer my question. Why is this place so important?" Ashe, who by now was starting to make a habit of it, interrupted Megaman's narration yet again.

"That would be my explanation to make." Now spoke Giro as he, looking up at the portrait, walked over by Ashe's side. "Every reploid in existence, myself included, is either a direct descendant of, or was once, a Navi. And as Navis, most of us worked with and relied on our human counterparts both in and outside of battle. His name was Chaud Blaze, first class netsaver and vice-president of Blaze Quest, the largest corporate entity at the time. Not long after the war started, Chaud and I were testing a new piece of technology called a reverse syncrochip which allowed a kind of megamerge within the cyberworld. The syncrochip worked well at first, but soon became unstable and, without an exit terminal in sight, we were forced to use a television transmission tower as the next best thing. In a twist of fate, I escaped with only a few scrapes and cuts while Chaud disappeared without a trace."

Meanwhile, at Legion, Master Mikhail and Master Thomas were discussing the situation at hand. The recent pseudoroid attacks had not only been broadcast live, but also rerun countless times by the news, and this fact had a devastating effect on the population's morale. Even as the two discussed the best way to handle the situation, protesters started gathering in front of the major public institutions, demanding that something be done to limit or prevent such happenings. Though the fact that all four of the pseudoroids had been stopped fairly quickly helped Legion's situation, the fact that three of the four mavericks had to be stopped by fourteen year olds, put Legion into a particularly bad spot. And as if that wasn't bad enough, recent news just came in that threatened to undue all of Master Mikhail's tedious work in media management. News that the four pseudoroids have been spotted through Innerpeace.

One report stated that Bifrost had now been spotted scaring away tourists and workers alike from the hemisphere's largest space launch facility, the Vostochny Cosmodrome; another stated that Buckfire was doing something in the industrial area of Innerpeace; yet other reports said that Vulturon was causing a disturbance at the airport and, perhaps the most urgent reports of all came from the national physics center and stated that Hedgeshock was threatening the safety of it's massive particle accelerator.

News like this was definitely not what either Master Mikhail or Master Thomas wanted to hear, and the fact that Master Albert had sent all of their forces into the furthest parts on Innerpeace after which he disappeared himself, didn't do much to help their efforts either. Realizing the graveness of the situation Master Mikhail, at Master Thomas' instructions, found himself with no other option but to face yet another media disaster and call for help from both the Guardians and the, for now, a.w.o.l. Ashe.

Back in Dentech, Aile and Ashe had been told all there was to know. Giro told Aile how on the brick of destruction, Lan used a sniper rifle P.E.T. to log Protoman out of his failing reploid body, and how he couldn't make his presence known until another repliroid could be created for him. Aile and Ashe had been everything and now only one question remained unasked.

"You said that Navis worked closely with human operators." Aile, spoke up for the first time since entering the office building. "Yet Lan's a reploid. Did more navis chose to become NetOps for other Navis, ore are you one of a kind?"

"Huh? What makes you think I'm a reploid?" Lan, replied with a question of his own, as, feet perked on the desk, he balanced a small hourglass on his nose while balancing himself on the back wheel of Chaud's leather executive chair.

"You took a sword through the neck and the sword melted off, you took a hard tumble coming here and you shrugged it off and let's not forget, you're a four hundred year old fourteen year old. That's not something humans do on a regular basis, so if you're not a reploid then what's your secret?"

"Simple." Lan, now trying to balance a plasma globe on top of the hourglass, said with a tone emphasizing simplicity, for a situation that was anything but simple.

"I'm immortal." Lan, having just managed to balance the plasma globe on top of the hourglass on top of his nose, replied as if this fact was the most normal thing in the world.

"I'm immortal bordering on invulnerable."

More than a little surprised, Aile was rendered speechless not knowing what to make of Lan's answer. However, as is the case in situations like this, before she could press the issue, Megaman interrupted the conversation by directing everyone's attentions towards the news reporter Carley, on the Plasma TV hanging on the opposite wall of the office, showing Hedgeshock take some time from chasing people around the main building of the physics center to shake her fist up towards the news airship.

And as if to state the obvious, with perfect timing, both Aile and Ashe's comm links came alive with the voices of Prairie and Master Thomas, urging their corresponding owners to respond to the crisis areas.

With full knowledge that the safety of everyone in those areas depended on their quick response times, as well as the thought of partial deafness at Prairie's hand (again) going through Aile's mind, the four raced to the crisis areas, and with the aid of Panel Outs arrived there in next to no time.

In the industrial area, a fully megamerged Ashe exited one of the Panel Outs to the sight of Buckfire just standing there, waiting for the challenger. "Hey, didn't I kick your tail two chapters back?" Ashe, annoyed by the sight and prospect of another battle with the gazelle pseudoriod, fired off a remark as soon as the sight of him met her eyes. And just as he was about to fire off a remark of his own, Thetis warped in and tossed something into Buckfire's arms. "Here, take this back. Nature needs to be saved not massacred like you did last time."

Grumbling at the fact that he's taking orders from a kid, Buckfire nodded and warped out, leaving Ashe and Thetis alone in the now abandoned industrial area to do battle.

On the outskirts of the cosmodrome, ZX model megamerged Aile exited another Panel Out to find Bifrost, like Buckfire, waiting for a challenger after having scared off everyone in the facility. Bifrost turned towards Aile as soon as he glimpsed her, and opened his mouth wanting to try and chomp her…only to find Siarnaq toss an object into it.

"OBJECT RECOVERY SUCCESSFUL. DISSENGAGE COMBAT AND RETURN OBJECT TO HQ. UNIT SIARNAQ WILL ENGAGE INTRUDER IN COMBAT." Siarnaq, in his trademark computer lingo, said to Bifrost who was remarkably receptive and obedient. Moments later, Bifrost was warped out and Siarnaq got in his battle pose, ready to fight.

On an airport runway, a fully armored and battle ready Giro exited from a third Panel Out within sight of the third pseudoroid, Vulturon. Though Giro, by his NetNavi name Protoman, in the past used Model Z for armor and weapons, he did not need the red biometal anymore, as his new reploid body had a characteristic which had not been seen in a repliroid since the last copyroid came off the production line. The possibility to use its NetNavi owner's armor, weapons and abilities as they appeared and had been used in the cyberworld those many centuries ago. In his armored form, Giro was a picture perfect copy of his old NetNavi form. And in his armored and battle ready form, he confronted Vulturon.

Vulturon however did not appear to be particularly worried by the impending fight, and moments later, the reason for this was revealed when Atlas warped in and tossed an object into his winged hands. "Take this back. NOW!" She commanded to Vulturon who was fast to obey, leaving Atlas and Protoman on the airport tarmac to battle it out.

And finally, from a forth Panel Out, a crossfused Lan exited the portal right in front of the physics complex's main building, and right in front of Hedgeshock.

Thrilled at the prospect retribution for being cut in half, she started gloating about how she'll win this time around. Her retribution plans however, were cut short by Aeolus suddenly warping in and throwing something at herm knocking her off of her feet. "The Master wishes this object delivered immediately."

Growling, she got back to her feet and, muttering under her breath, obeyed and warped out, leaving Lan and Aeolus to do battle with each other.

* * *

Yawn...Long time I took to update. I Know. However due to the fact that I've got something pretty big coming up, I have to finish the story as soon as possible. So to that effect, I will be posting the next chapter as soon as I can get a hold of my missing in action beta reader Inferno05. Weather that's five minutes or five days away I have no idea.

I know I promised that this chapter was going to be half story and half fight, but the story telling took so long to write, it just turned out this way. However, like I said, next chapter is coming as soon as I can get a hold of Inferno since the next chapter is nothing but fights and we all know Inferno's the driving force behind my story's fights.

And yes, Protoman is Giro, surprising turn of events isn't it? While Giro was always intended to be a part of the story, initially I wanted to have him as an old friend of Lan's who's been hiding out in Dentech after having feigned his own death. However, I could not find a reason why he would feign his own death, I could not find a reason why he would keep this fact from Aile and I could not find a reason for him leaving the safety of Dentech after having feigned his death. So yea, that would have been troublesome to pull off; however the idea of Protoman being Giro opened up so many doors, including one for a sequel, and plugged up so many plot holes.

And as for Lan being immortal, I was going to explain this in this chapter, but this chapter already got pretty long, so I found myself almost forced to throwing the towel and just hint at the reason. The reason will be revealed, just obviously not in this chapter :)

I would also like to take this moment to thank MegaHog14 and Serenade of Light for your reviews. Thanks a bunch :D

And last but not least, I would like to speak to you on behalf of the review button foundation for solitary review buttons. Every day, thousands of review buttons are brought closer and closer to the brink of depression by lack of interaction from the readers of those stories. As well as those buttons, thousands others have already been pushed over that threshold and are beyond help. You however can make a difference! You can stop this from happening! YOU CAN REVIEW!  
So take a few minutes and save those innocent buttons from a fate worse than death by interacting with them and leaving a few words in those boxes usually associated with them.

Remember, your click matters!!


	8. Neverending Battles Part 1

Aile, on one of the massive cosmodrome's launch pads, stood face-to-face with the cold-hearted ninja, Siarnaq.

"DO NOT INTERFERE!" He said as his machine-like voice was creeping Aile out, though she tried not to show it.

"That's not an option, I'm afraid. And since this is unavoidable, let's get this over with." Aile replied, drawing her buster, only to be surprised by one of Siarnaq's energy stars narrowly missing her head. She'd never even seen him move his arm, so this was a definite change in how her battles fought out.

"END QUICKLY!" Siarnaq said as multiple copies of himself started materializing, in a chain effect, each clone sprouting from the previous one, until Aile found herself surrounded by Siarnaqs.

She shot at one, thinking it was the original, only to have it fade from sight, as Aile had to jump in avoidance of a shuriken to the back. Six clones followed her and, with a horizontal slice from her Saber, she took out two while in mid jump.

Planting her feet on the leading edge of a launch ready shuttle's wing, she got a moment to think as the four who jumped and survived followed her.

"_So he can only control so many? Makes sense, even in Biometal he's only reploid."_ She said to herself in thought as she shot at 3 of the clones, dodging to the side when a shuriken once more came close. As she backed up, more clones joined to replace the ones who'd disappeared. _"He acts quickly."_ Aile determined as she stabbed at the last of the original six, _"controlling new ones the minute old ones die."_

During her thinking, with 5 in front of her now, she was kicked in the back by one who'd jumped up on the shuttle tower behind her. However, she used this momentum to be flung at the 5 clones in front, horizontally cutting all 5 at once, and kicking one of the replacements who'd jumped early, only to see all disappear.

Aile let herself fall rebounding off the ground as she almost had her head cut off by an energy star flung by the real Siarnaq.

"CLONES INEFFECTIVE. DIRECT INTERVENTION NECESSARY." Siarnaq eventually determined after having watched wave after wave of his clones get chopped up in the most creative ways clones could get chopped up in.

And once more, Aile stood in front of the true Siarnaq, who showed no emotion at how creativelly multiple copies of him had just been dealt with. Instead, he began shooting at her as she shot back, both quickly closing in on each other as she countered all of his kunais with buster shots and vice versa.

Once she was close enough, she went for a vertical slice, only to find her saber blocked by a ring of energy stars. Again she tried to slash, horizontally this time, only to again have the ring move in for the intercept.

Growling in frustration, Aile didn't realize an energy star had sliced her arm until the pain from it almost made her drop her ZX–Saber.

She grabbed her wrist in surprise, only to be kicked in the face by the purple clad ninja who had taken advantage of the opportunity at hand. Staggering backwards, she opened fire at him with the megabuster from her good hand, and yet again the cursed ring of blades protected him from her shots. Siarnaq started slowly stepping forward, as his protective barrier blocked shot after shot from Aile until Aile soon found herself backed into a wall, with this untouchable ninja advancing on her.

However, as her mind raced to find a solution, she noticed the ring's behavior. She shot at his shoulder and, immediately after, stabbed at his leg. And in doing so, exposed the one fatal flaw in the barrier that would ensure her success. The ring only protected from the shot, unable to respond fast enough to prevent damage to Siarnaq's leg.

Aile then tried slicing from side to side as the ring attempted to adapt to her previous attack, and sure enough, her Saber finally cut through the barrier.

Bolstered by her success, she started dashing towards Siarnaq, intent on finishing him off, when he suddenly disappeared from next to her and reappeared about 7 meters away.

"DEFENSES BREACHED. WILL FINISH THIS AT A LATER TIME." And with that he unceremoniously beamed himself out, leaving Aile to relish in a relatively easy victory, until that is, she received a desperate call for help.

Meanwhile, at the physics complex…

Aeolus turned to Lan, nonchalant as though he was looking straight through him.

"So, you're the arrogant little boy who's taken to interfering with the Master." He said as he reached to his wrist and, with a jump, activated his model H look–alike biometal. Megamerged he stood in the air, using the biometal's wind powers to stay afloat, and then reached for the twin sabers at his waist as Lan watched him, almost impressed.

"I've seen more impressive transformations, and from what I can tell of your master, I've stopped better evil plans by worse villains. You're in over your head if you plan to fight me." Lan fired off a reply which made Aeolus grimace.

"Cocky little punk. I'll show you just what happens when you interfere." With that, he charged down at Lan, only to find his attack easily side-stepped. Rebounding on the wall behind as Lan turned arround, he again charged towards our hero, this time preparing for a horizontal slice that Lan wouldn't be able to side-step. True Lan couldn't side step this attack, but he could just as easily duck backwards, something which sure enough he did almost like it was nothing, as Aeolus flew overhead after the failed attack.

Ticked, after having failed yet again to score a hit on Lan, Aeolus allowed himself to land back on the ground.

At the moment, neither turned around, so currently they had their backs to each other. Aeolus looked over his shoulder. "You're fast, aren't you? I see we'll need to take this outside." With that, Aeolus spun his sabers in front of him, causing a horizontal electric tornado to cut through the building, then flew out with Lan in hot pursuit.

In a few seconds, with no more words being traded, the battle was on. Lan wordlessly activated two Long Sword battle chips, and ran for the first strike.

Aeolus blocked with a saber, while Lan used his momentum to perform a sweeping kick. Agilely Aeolus jumped this allowing their swords to disconnect and then, as he flew backwards, summoned and sent forward an electric spinner, which flew straight towards Lan, before being cut in half, the broken halves flying into the buildings beyond.

Taking the initiative, Lan ran lunged for Aeolus again, and twirled his foot in front of the Wind Mega Man, fading from sight in a flash of speed. Aeolus saw it coming however, and did a back flip to avoid the horizontal slice the Blue Warrior had aimed at his back. Lan turned around, and their swords clashed again.

Staying at ground level to keep it a fair fight, Aeolus and Lan traded blow after blow, running down the streets.

People who had yet to evacuate, upon seeing this head–on all–out battle, immediately realized that if the battle ended up underground, they'd want to leave the area. So behind the clash, citizens abandoned their living quarters to seek safety.

As the people fled, Aeolus allowed another horizontal tornado to aim at Lan. "Your arrogance seems to come from your skill. I'll admit, you're impressive, but it ends here." Aeolus taunted as he watched Lan get shocked and sliced at by the tornado. To his surprise, Lan got up without a mark on him once the tornado cleared.

"My attitude doesn't come from just skill. But I'll let you figure it out later. I'll admit, though, that I may feel that in the morning." Lan retorted, clutching his head. "_But I can only take so much without possibly losing control, and I haven't been able to hit him either."_ He continued saying in thought as he shook his head from side to side.

Both fighters were by this time frustrated with their inability to hurt one another, and both fighters were giving it their best as the area shook with the impact of strong and swift blows whenever their swords connected.

Sheer concentration was the only thing on either's face, as the immortal faced the perfectionist. Lan spun to attack Aeolus's right side, while said Mega Man jumped back and tried a vertical slice. Lan, having stopped the previous attack, side–stepped this then, jumped to the side, jumped off a building, and slammed his foot into Aeolus's face, grinning at his first hit. Lan used his speed to jump up across the buildings while Aeolus was gripping his face, and in seconds the Blue Warrior was making one final jump high above the buildings, and coming down foot first. When Aeolus could see again, he looked for Lan, not noticing him until he gazed up to receive a second foot to the face, with such power that both warriors broke through the ground and into the massive circular room that housed the gigantic particle accelerator the physics lab was dedicated to serving.

Aeolus was putting his entire power into this fight, leaving him unable to do anything but continue clashing as they fell. Blows high and low crashed into each other as the warriors fell, both flipping to land on a walk–way around the outer rim of the accelerator.

Face to face, they panted, both feeling the adrenaline fade slightly after landing.

"You're tough. I can't seem to pass your defense. And taking such a blow to the face and still fight is impressive." Lan stated, catching his breath.

The Wind Mega Man smiled when he wasn't doing the same. "And I have to admit, you're strong to deliver such kicks. And your swordplay is supreme. I'd like to fight you again." Lan smiled back, almost ready to fight again. "Yes, but we both know only one of us is leaving here."

Lan ducked another horizontal slash, and countered with an upward strike, grazing Aeolus's arm.

Despite the tension of the fight, Aeolus grinned. "We've been holding back, haven't we? We're in this unique location. We must not waste it."

While not being able to fly in the vertically challenged confines of the tunnel, he could still jump fairly far since the tunnel circled in on its self. At first Aeolus, but soon Lan as well began using the massive circular tunnel housing the gigantic particle accelerator as well as the accelerator its self as stepping stones, as they jumped back and forth, slicing at each other as hard as either one could.

They never missed, but always blocked. This pattern once more got them frustrated, fast. Lan, in mid-air, went for a stab to the chest, which was blocked by an upward strike Aeolus was going for at the same time. This caused them to fall again, neither willing to back down. As they continued exchanging blows, Lan felt his mind slipping. He was close to losing sight of the goal as he felt the need to defeat Aeolus take priority over protecting anyone else.

"Lan," Mega Man said in Lan's head, "You need to calm down. We can't let you lose control." Lan was ticked. He was barely holding out in this fight, unable to hit, and now his own Navi was lecturing him mid–fight. As they landed, Aeolus saw Lan's face, realized he was distracted, and stabbed at Lan, who in his rage blocked with both swords, leaving him wide open to a sweeping kick.

As Lan tripped, Aeolus went for a stab, piercing Lan's chest directly through the heart.

Aeolus grinned, holding himself from laughing hysterically after finally defeating Lan, as Lan fell to his knees. The blade had gone straight through, and though it seemed Aeolus had finally won, Lan's next gesture snapped him instantly out of his laughter and sent chills down his spine. Lowly at first, then ever louder until it echoed full way around the kilometric long accelerator tunnel, Lan started laughing as the irises of his eyes turned bright yellow and, staring into Aeolus' eyes, he said "You're not the first to try that."

Aeolus stared incredulously, watching the transformation. He watched as Lan's elbow length gloves, knee high boots, and helmet slowly faded from blue to purple, and then as cracks randomly turning at ninety degree angles started forming along them, looking liked someone dug a maze into his limbs and scalp. Yellow dots soon appeared on the parts between the cracks, and shortly after, the cracks on his boots, gloves and helmet suddenly came alight with yellow energy. Even more bizarre became the rest of his amour, as the light blue lines which ran down its sides changed into weird patterns starting from above his boots, and going all the way to his gloves and up his neck. Finally, in a flash of an eerie dark light, the Navi crest turned from red to dark blue.

Aeolus soon found himself crying out in pain as Lan sliced through the Biometal on his wrist, causing the blade's energy to disappear, leaving him with one blade and an injured hand as he stared in shock at the, should be fatal, injury to Lan's chest. The injury which was healing at an unbelievable rate.

"Lan, no. Get control of yourself." Megaman urged in Lan's head. Pleas which Lan ignored, charging back and slicing faster than Aeolus could keep up. Aeolus cried out in extreme pain as he was on the receiving end of injury after injury only the Biometal could prevent from being fatal. Soon the Biometal couldn't take the damage, and Aeolus was left in his human state. The darker Lan stood with a crazed look in his yellow eyes, staring at the helpless prey.

In one last desperate move Aeolus pulled out a handgun, of the same type used by Ashe in her human form, and began shooting at Lan in a last ditch effort to save himself. He aimed for the navi icon on Lan's chest and opened fire, only to have Lan raise his right arm forward and block the shots with a Life Aura.  
Again Aeolus opened fire and again Lan blocked, this time slicing the shots in two with his swords.  
Realising there's no way to stop Lan, Aeolus tried to run for cover but soon found himself trapped when the tunnel in front collapsed as a result of a well placed cannon shot.

With nothing left to do and nowhere else to go, Aeolus turned to face his foe and opened fire towards Lan's face, hoping that a head shot might be the answer.  
However, as if battling the juggernaut of mythology, Aeolus watched as all of his shots hit Lan dead center in the face and failed to do any damage.  
Resigned to his fate, Aeolus decided that if he was going down, he should at least go down knowing who it was that had proved to be his match.  
Lowering his weapon and looking into Lan's eyes, he spoke out to Lan with almost a tone of friendship in his voice.

"What's your name?" He calmly asked Lan. "Where are you from?" He again asked as Lan came ever closer. "What are you?" He asked one last time as Lan stopped where he stood, ready to deliver the final blow with his swords.

"Name... Lan Hikari... born 10th of June 20XX" He said in a very Siarnaq-esque fashion. "Hometown... Dentech City... renound for its state of the art research facility, SciLab" He continued saying as he raised both sworded arms ready to strike. "I am... I am... I'm a blast from the past!" He shouted as the swords dispareared and his hands clutched his head.  
"run! Run! RUN!" He screamed, demolishing the blockage behind Aeolus with a very powerful charged shot from the megabuster.

Surprised by this sudden change of events Aeolus was all too happy to comply, and with the last of his mental energy exhausted, Lan's conscious mind was finally overcome by his fury, and in his rage he started wildly hacking away at accelerator parts, parts that could force it to do something unexpected.

Back at the cosmodrome…

Aile had just finished her fight, when she received a desperate call from Megaman.

"Hey, I just finished. Where's Lan?" Aile asked, slightly tired from her just finished battle.

"He's the problem. He's gone berserk. Find the Physics Institute and head for the underground particle accelerator. I can open a Panel Out back to Dentech, but you have to force him in. Hurry..." The transmission was lost, and Aile was already on her way down.

"_What could be wrong with Lan? How did he go insane?" _She asked herself, jumping from roof to roof as she made her way to the science labs. Once there, she had no trouble finding Lan, by way of the hole left by his kick. She saw huge amounts of electricity crackle, where Lan had destroyed crucial pieces of the machine. Using the falling pieces to catch up to him, she jumped from piece to metal piece until she surprised Lan by blocking his swords with her saber.

She gasped as she saw just what had become of him. She pushed off his swords back into the air, shooting him with her blaster, but causing no damage as Lan healed instatly.

Aile found that it was very hard to attack Lan in this state, as she barely held on to her guard by using her saber's length to block both swords at once. But this Lan wasn't thinking clearly, and she soon found one opening. After a diagonal block of both blades, Aile did a flip to the side, using her hand to twirl upside down, and sliced at his feet to trip him. She pushed off her hand to jump over him, pulling out her blaster, only for him to recover and slice through each shot.

However, while Lan may not have been thinking clearly, Models X and Z sure were, and upon noticing one particular shot of Aile's buster, soon came to a surprising realization and plan. "Aile…" Model Z called out in order to get her attention. "Fire towards Lan, as parallel to the ground and walls as you can" Model X continued.

Surprised, Aile wanted to ask why, but after one of Lan's swords suddenly slashed by too close for comfort, she quickly dissed the question and fired a volley of shots as parallel as she could.

True to her suspicions, Lan dodged and the shots flew right past, disappearing into the depths of the tunnel.

At this current moment, the Panel Out was behind Lan, and though he knew where it was and to a certain extent, knew what Aile's goal was, his conscious mind was just a spectator, unable to affect the results in any way, shape or form.

With his rage reaching new peaks Lan charged back at her, and she ducked, focusing on the Panel Out. He sliced three more times, and as Aile furiously blocked slash after slash with her Saber, the last part of the Biometal's plan fell into place.

"Aile, DUCK!!" They both shouted in unison. With feline agility Aile did so, and not a second later, the volley of shots she fired before, which had been so effortlessly avoided by Lan, now struck him with full force, each one pushing him closer to the Pannel Out until he was at the very edge of it.

The final push that sent Lan backwards through the Panal Out came, not from the buster, nor from the Saber, but as a gentle nudge by Aile's hand. Panting, Aile fell to the ground as all of her Biometals congratulated her and each other on a job well done.

"The particle accelerator is nothing more that a gargantuan collection of super magnets. The buster fires plasma encased in self contained magnetic fields. Fired correctly, residual magnetism from those magnets kept the plasma shots circling around the entire length of the accelerator until they came round for another time." Models X and Z finally let Aile in on the plan, going so far as to explain it in the finest of details.

* * *

Another month or so, another update.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Sleic (you'll find out why Lan's immortal in chapter 10), MegaHog14 (yes, those review buttons are jumping with joy because you clicked), and D.D.Z. (I'll try to avoid making such long descriptions next time, and from now on I'll start a new paragraph whenever somebody else starts talking) for daring to break the ice and review. And as usual, Inferno05 for the, yet again, awesome fight scenes. My story just wouldn't be the same without you.

This chapter is again (due to chapter length issues) a two part-er, and (unless something else shows up) one of the last chapters as the story nears its end. Hope everyone who has enjoyed my little story so far, keeps enjoying it for the duration of its remaining 4 or so chapters.

And don't forget about all those helpless review buttons in desperate need of reader attention. You too can make a difference!


	9. Neverending Battles Part 2

Protoman and Atlas, on the airport tarmac, silently appreciated the other's capacity to do battle.

Atlas, the last survivor of her people, sent to her death leading the final all out assault against the advancing maverick army that had brought her country to its knees. Cannon fodder in a suicidal mission that would buy the cowardly heads of her country's government, the time they so desperately needed to make their escape. Sole survivor of the attack force, who single handedly defeated the mavericks by eliminating the controllers, which kept their forces together. And executioner of those that led her country into oblivion.

And Protoman, the last netnavi to have left Net City and the internet in favor of the real world. Unbound from his netop following a tragic accident, he spent the better part of the past four hundred years as a humble transporter by day, and as a solo vigilante by night. Constantly on the move under the cover of his job, he slowly hacked away at the ever–increasing maverick threat until the day his path intertwined with that of the guardians'.

Now, here they stood. Atlas and Protoman, two sides of the same coin. Kindred spirits in a way, each fighting the same war for diametrically opposite reasons however.

"You're with the Guardians?" The girl asked. "I was wondering when they'd send someone. Name's Atlas."

Protoman however was currently assessing the field of battle. There was luggage everywhere, seats and bags and other random items dropped when people had fled. It appeared as though this girl had attacked outside as well, for he noted several flaming chunks of airplane out the window.

"Let's save the witty banter my comrades are known for. I'm here to take you in." Protoman stated simply, drawing his built–in cyber sword. And just as simply, he was engulfed by an explosion as Atlas stood smirking.

"The Guardians need to send faster people than that." She said to no one in particular before the smoke cleared and her smirk suddenly faded. Unfazed by the blast, Protoman still stood , the only difference being that he was now surrounded by a blue translucent barrier.

"What is that thing?" Atlas growled, enraged at her failure to finish her foe.

"Barrier Battle Chip." Protoman stated as though it were fighting 101, which to a NetNavi it was.

Atlas stepped back just in time as Protoman ran forward for a horizontal slice. She felt the wind in her face as his blade barely missed her. _This guy's fast._ She though as she did a few back flips while Protoman watched. _He's just standing there again. He must be pretty confident.  
_Landing 10 meters away from Protoman she shot fireballs at him with the Biometal's massive hand cannons, managing however, to only torch the places Protoman used to be standing in.  
Atlas growled again. He was dodging so easily he made it look like some weird dance. She kicked a suitcase from the floor, and as it rose to eye level she shot it at Protoman, setting it on fire and sending it his way.  
Protoman ducked to dodge before using one hand to spring forward closer to Atlas.

Atlas was rapidly growing furious. Yes, she could dodge easily enough as Protoman hacked and slashed in excellent maneuvers, but she didn't have much time to do anything else. And since he stayed so close to her, her fireballs would hurt her as well. Cursing the swordsman, Atlas risked a slice but was rewarded as she pushed forward from a back flip, and her foot connected with Protoman's arm, knocking him off balance. Caught off guard, Protoman could do nothing but get barraged in the face by multiple fireball shots and a bomb, which sent him backwards into a chair, flipping it and himself over.

_This little demon won't be as easy as I thought._ Protoman said in though, and "Time to stop playing with her." out loud as Atlas shot another fireball in response. Protoman was already up however, and she watched as he sliced through her shot, the fireball halves flying past Protoman on either side.

The battle was really on now, as if the safeties had been removed on them both. Atlas was going in for close range attacks while dodging Protoman's sword, kicking or batting at his sword arm's base when he tried to cut her. Both their legs flashed in blurs as they went for kicks, each blocking the other. The combat traveled in a way that sent Atlas backing up, but she was still fighting fierce. Protoman continued to block and kick as he pushed Atlas back to the wall.  
And as said wall came into view, he aimed his strongest kick at her chest, and even though Atlas blocked it she was still sent backwards through the wall.  
Protoman followed, slicing at her again, but Atlas rolled out of the way. She flipped backwards onto her feet, kicking Protoman in the face as he charged after her. He ducked a shot as if he hadn't felt a thing from the kick, and while ducking he'd pushed himself closer. Under a plane they battled, Protoman having temporarily abandoned his sword now.  
Fists flew and legs swept and arched. Atlas ducked a kick, and threw her fist at Protoman again, but his fist met hers dead on. They both tried to overpower the other's fist, pushing against each other with all their might. They were staring into each other's faces by the time Atlas had decided to perform a sweeping kick. Protoman hopped over it, but his fist was forced to disconnect, and Atlas pushed off of one hand to kick him upwards against the hull of the plane. Protoman reactivated his sword when he hit, and swung at Atlas while falling, bouncing off his feet and landing his sword's first real hit, through Atlas's shoulder. Atlas shot him in the face to get him away, and Protoman indeed staggered back, removing the sword.

"Darn you. I've been surrounded by weaklings for so long, I'm not in shape anymore. I'll leave for now, but only so I can fight you again when I'm stronger." With that, Protoman couldn't do a thing as Atlas transported herself out in an orange beam.

Protoman had won the battle, but the war was still raging on. And in an industrial area somewhere in Innerpeace, the fight was still on as Ashe and Thetis faced off.

Ashe stared, surprised to find the same little boy who she had seen at the end of her battle with Buckfire. "Hey kid, what's your deal?" She asked the kid, who answered her question by transforming into the Model L Biometal doppelganger.

"I see... Well, then I have no choice but to bring you with me."

"Defending the demons known as man? Pitiful." Thetis said then shook his head before drawing the Halberd of Model L. Ashe in turn drew her guns, one pointed straight for Thetis.

"Oh, an environmentalist. Look kid, no matter what your reason, if you insist on harming people I can't let you walk away." Ashe warned, and then fired off a warning shot, which Thetis easily evaded with a back flip, landing onto a very large cog that was lying partly buried behind him.

"Look at this, all of it, the fault of man. Can you honestly tell me this is justified?" Thetis yelled, while gesturing with his hands for Ashe to look around at the industrial area this battle would take place in. Ashe instead fired another shot rather than answering, and shot again with her second gun, aimed at where Thetis landed when he jumped again. "If you won't answer, then I guess we'll just end your interference." The boy growled, and raised his halberd. From its tip icicles appeared and were launched at Ashe, who dodged to the left before jumping at Thetis, guns blazing. Thetis recovered from a shot that had hit him in the chest, and tried to put up a wall of ice, but Ashe's flying kick passed first, sending him flying into a piece of metal.

Ashe then charged her guns and shot the laser at Thetis shortly after he had recovered and was about to go on the offensive himself.  
As he stood, he smugly moved his head to the side to let the laser shoot by, only to be surprised when it ricocheted off a derelict crane behind him, and then off of his wall of ice, as it came around for a second time. He ducked from the laser before it dissipated, and was swiftly kicked in the face again as Ashe had used the laser as more of a distraction.  
Thetis was now thoroughly ticked at the Model A Mega Man. He'd thought he'd have this fight easy, but she was going slow and whooping his tail.

"Now kid," she said, looking down on him as he lay on the ground, "When you get older and have some idea of what goes on economically as well as ecologically, you can find a peaceful solution. But for now, just come quietly."  
Still on the ground, Thetis dug the tip of his halberd into the soil, sending a trail of icicles poking from the ground, threatening to give Ashe the cold shoulder, along with some other icy piercings, if she didn't move in time. She jumped back and planted her feet on another large metal cog, before back flipping further up the metal pile behind it, finally landing on the top of said pile of to be recycled metal.  
Ashe was herself now starting to think this would be an easy victory when all of a sudden, something stabbed her in the back. Somehow, Thetis was behind her and was, this time, going for a slice.

"What?" Model A suddenly spoke out, breaking Ashe's concentration and allowing Thetis to land another good hit on the distracted Ashe, sending her to the ground.  
"What?" Ashe returned the question, rolling out of the way, as Thetis launched himself into the air, using the momentum of his fall to help power up his next attack.  
"What, what?" Model A enquired with another question, after having his own train of thought derailed by the icicle dodging Ashe.  
"You just said "What?", so what is it?" Ashe replied with a rasp, as she caught a giant icicle in between the palms of her hands, stopping the needle sharp tip millimeters from her face.  
"Data! Gigabytes upon gigabytes of data! Unknown transformations, powerful abilities, unique weapons…" Model A rambled on, oblivious to Ashe's predicament.  
"MODEL A! You're not making any sense!" Ashe shouted, as she threw the icicle back towards its owner, attempting to get back to her feet.  
"Ashe, pick a form and shout A–Trans!" Model A finally let her in on the deal with a burst of knowledge into Ashe's mind. Knowledge about Model A's special ability, A–Trans, and what A–Trans is capable of.

With a yell, she activated A–Trans while rolling to the side, to avoid Thetis' latest attack, then sprung back onto her feet, leaving Thetis now facing an exact Buckfire copy, flaming arrows ready. Ashe (in Buckfire form) launched three, only for them to be sliced just before hitting Thetis. Undeterred Ashe used A–Trans while charging at Thetis to become Vulturon, slashing at him with the guitar.

"Call me El Kabong!" She shouted as the guitar hit Thetis in the face, and seconds later unleashed, a sonic wave that left Thetis staggering, after he'd just balanced himself against a large excavator bucket. When Thetis regained his senses seconds later, he was facing Bifrost. Thetis jumped back then sideways to dodge saws, as Ashe/Bifrost roared and chomped as well. Unable to actually do any damage since Ashe/Bifrost was now firing projectile like teeth, Thetis jumped into a dome of twisted metal (formally known as a large petroleum tank up for recycling) that Bifrost would not be able to follow through, finally getting a moment to rest.

"I'm not through with you kid. And I'm not going easy!" Thetis heard the shout of a familiar psuedoroid, and was soon whacked in the face with a metal ball before he could react. Said ball bounced off the metal multiple times, as Thetis dodged and eventually blocked with the halberd. The determined Hedgeshock/Ashe was still rolling, bouncing on the walls, tripping Thetis and proceeding to pound him into the ground until he raised his halberd and flipped her into a wall. Ashe landed face–first on a wall, and released her spikes. Thetis twirled the halberd and blocked them, then slammed the butt of his halberd onto Hedgeshock/Ashe's stomache when she hit the ground, disoriented.

"It's time I ended it, you rotten little wench." Thetis growled as he prepared to spear through the Model A fighter. Ashe managed to roll out of the way and transform again, this time taking on the form of Model L Thetis himself.

_So this is Model L. Time to test it out._ She said in though as she turned to Thetis, who didn't seen too pleased by the current turn of events.  
With an explosion of icicles, the metal dome was shattered and the two sent flying when Thetis called up his last trump card, his famed ice dragons.  
The lucky Ashe landed into a nearby cooling lake, while the less lucky Thetis ended up into a large molten metal transport bucket suspended by an overhead crane, in the nearby foundry.

"Hey kid, you all right?" Ashe, floating on top of the lake, called out to Thetis, unsure of where he was at. "Don't run out on me now, when we're finally fighting on equal terms."

_The water doesn't sound like a bad idea_. He said to himself, as he hopped out of the empty bucket and made his way to the lake, where he found Ashe standing on the water, Halberd out and vertical at her side.

Taking a second to judge his surroundings, he jumped and landed on the water in front of Ashe, hoping to avoid any messianic jokes regarding his ability to walk on water.

With a nod of confirmation being their only communication, both fighters let whatever it was keeping them above water shut off, plunging below and charging. Ashe sliced with the halberd, but was blocked by Thetis. She sent out a kick to his chest while the halberds were busy, but he stepped back and stabbed at her. Thetis summoned his icicles, and Ashe twirled her halberd to block them, only to be hit full on by a dragon of ice.  
Knocked back, Ashe took additional hits, as Thetis kicked her several more times before attempting to stab down with his halberd. Ashe however managed to kick it out of the way, as she swam around vertically and fired a burst of icicles.  
Thetis ducked most of them, but felt pain in his left foot as Ashe's weapon and several icicles tried to pierce his armor. Ashe then aimed a powerful swing with the halberd, which Thetis blocked but was still launched away just as Ashe had planned. The disoriented Thetis was starting to feel outmatched as his mind started to lose focus, thinking on the battle so far, and how she almost always seemed to have the upper hand.  
He got it together though, just in time to dodge a vertical slice by rolling, so that his halberd deflected hers, but unable to fend off the next hit, he took a kick to the chest and a stab through his shoulder. Thetis cried in pain, the Biometal's low electricity hurting him, and mildly shocking Ashe from the hole she'd tore open. Ashe almost felt sorry for the kid, before he swam away.

Down he fled, and when he knew it was safe, Thetis beamed himself away.

"All those forms and abilities. I had all of them ever since I could remember, but I could never figure out what they were or what to do with them. Ashe, your fight with that reploid removed all locks on my abilities." Model A finally confessed to Ashe, as she was making her way to shore.

Our heroes had won their battles. They had saved the day, and they had beaten the bad guys. But Protoman was worried, and soon enough, the reason for this would be made all too clear.  
Somewhere in an unknown part on the Outlands, Thetis warped in and joined the reunion of pseudoroids and Megamen gathered there for reasons yet unknown.

"Ah, the last guest has arrived." Said the green haired man, which up until then, had been watching their doings from on top of Innerpeace's tallest buiding. "Thetis" He said as he threw the injured reploid a subtank.

"Everyone's here, so what do you say you tell us what is it you want from us?" Said Atlas, as the green haired man walked towards her.

"Atlas." He said as he walked up besides her and brushed a lock of her hair to the side of her face. "You're right, it's time I tell you all what's going on." He continued as he moved to where he could see and be seen by everyone. "Everyone, please place the objects you have recovered, on the ground over there." He said, pointing towards an empty spot nearby.  
"Thetis, care to do the honors?"

"Yes Master Albert." Thetis said as he placed the first two objects on the ground and then stepped back, to a safe distance when the two objects started glowing very slightly.  
Next was Aeolus' turn to place the two objects that were in his possession. And has he did, the object's glow doubled in intensity.  
Then Siarnaq's turn came and went, as he placed the two objects he possessed, on top of the others, and sure enough, the glow doubled in intensity once more.  
And finally, Atlas' turn completed the process, as she placed the last two objects and the glow doubled yet again.

"Now everyone!" Master Albert started a speech as the objects began hovering around each other and started welding themselves together, one by one.  
"Thank you for your contributions…" The objects welded themselves into one solid piece.  
"And I hope our new master will have a use for you…" Some unknown force emanating from the object, started drawing the Megamen and more particularly the pseudoroids, towards it.  
"In the new world he will be creating." He said as the first pseudoroid, Buckfire, was drawn into the object, making it grow in size proportionally.  
"Now be good Megamen, and surrender the Model W's you were given…" The object, next drew Vulturon into its' self, again growing in size proportionally.  
"Along with the power they absorbed from you…" Now Hedgeshock, which had been the furthest from the object, was draw into it.  
"And maybe, you'll live to serve the master when the time comes." The object drew Bifrost into its' self as it finally gathered enough strength to do so.  
"A new era begins…" Master Albert finished his speech, as the Megamen's megamerges collapsed, and the Model W's the four were using flew into the object, and the object's attraction on them subsided.

"You traitor!" Atlas was first to say, angrily shouting, as Master Albert laughed at the thought of what was to come. "You'll pay for this!"

"We had our reasons for wanting to make this world a better place." Aeolus was next to say, in a calm voice as Albert turned his gaze towards the four. "Your lust for power will be your downfall, and you will accomplish nothing."

"Your master will betray you, like you did us. And nature will refuse to take your lifeless body back into the ground when the time comes." Thetis said, following suit with his fellow Megamen.

"History will forever remember your failure and your downfall." Siarnaq finished the four's warnings, abandoning his machine like demeanor in a rare moment of out of character lucidity.

And with that, the four warped out, leaving Albert alone to greet his master.

Having gained momentum, the object's force now started to draw in metal from all around it. Drawing stand alone metal parts at first, the object soon started drawing in more than just that. It started drawing reploids from the closest parts of Innerpeace.  
Slowly at first, but gradually gaining momentum up to the point where any reploid in its range was now swept off its feet and into the air. All the while, Albert was laughing like a maniac, somehow immune to the object's attraction.  
And as the object drew in ever larger amounts of materials and reploids, it eventually began growing humanoid characteristics and taking on a grey color until it eventually towered over everything.

"Master, your new body is complete!" Albert shouted to the sky, as the purple light from before came in at high speed and struck the towering humanoid figure before him. Engulfed by the light, the figure's physique began changing until it took the form of its new owner.  
And its new owner, took Albert completely by surprise.

Meanwhile, back at their corresponding battle sites, our heroes watched in the disbelief of the acknowledging fact that they had ultimately failed. As the towering humanoid figure in the distance took shape, and was struck by the light, sprouting large yellow horizontally circular antennae, from the front of what became its helmet, that seemed to circle to the back of said helmet, and adopting a pink and black motif with what appeared to be a blond ponytail, the realization of what was happening and who this was, hit Giro the hardest.

"Empress…"

"FFFRRRREEEE!!!…" Empress shouted, her voice booming across the landscape, from horizon to horizon.

* * *

Yes everyone, it's an update!!!

Lately I seem to have made a bit of a habit of telling you the reader how the story was originally supposed to play out. And this chapter will be no different.  
Originally I had planned Dark Megaman (hence the purple light instead of a pink light) to be the final foe (I even asked someone who's written a plethora of stories involving Dark Megaman, to help me keep him in character) but ultimately I decided that Dark Megaman was overused, and I ultimately settled on Empress (And i'm glad I did).  
Also, originally Ashe wouldn't have had the ability to use A-Trans, and the Ashe/Thetis lake battle was never planned to exist. But realistically speaking, A-Trans is what make Ashe and Model A so unique, and Thetis is a water element foe, so ignoring these facts would have been dumb to say the least.

And last but not leas... hey, look at that. A distraction. The site revamped the review button :D. Go on, click it. You know you want to beta test it, you know you want to.  
On a more serious note however, the story has only 3 chapters left (the last of which has already been written, and is ready to go) so I'm asking you (the reader) to tell me if i'm doing something wrong, since I've already got this story's sequel waiting in the background.


	10. Racconto

Empress was running amok in the distance, alternating between destroying anything in her way and absorbing even more materials (including reploids) to help stabilize the structure of her new copyroid body.

However, Empress was not the only one on a rampage. For, back in the pocket dimension that housed Dentech, Lan was also on a demolition derby.

Out of control, the rage Aeolus had triggered burned like wildfire throughout his body and mind, causing Lan to viciously attack anything and everything he set his sights on. From buster shots to sword slashes to cannon salvos, Lan did them all as he attacked Dentech with everything he had. A car was sliced with a wide sword, a building took the full force of a cannon shot, miniboomers flew through the air, and these were only the tip of the iceberg.

"Salamander, Battle Chip In, DOWNLOAD!" Lan emotionlessly said, as his sword broke apart from the strain of his attacks on the city.

The Battle Chip activated, and instantly an orange, semitransparent Phoenix like firebird engulfed Lan then detonated in an enormous fireball, swallowing up a hefty chunk of the city within a few short seconds. But, surprisingly, the buildings still stood. In fact, everything Lan had attacked so far remained unaffected despite the tremendous amounts of damage taken.  
As the scientists had discovered, even as far back as a few days after the ill–fated experiment that was to save the city, everything in the pocket dimension that was not alive became indestructible. Some scientists theorized some unknown particle was the cause, others theorized some sort of change at an atomic level, while others still theorized a change in the laws of physics.  
Regardless of the reasons why, the facts remained. Anything not alive became invulnerable, while anything that was alive remained unaffected.

And now, four hundred years later, Lan was putting their theories to the test.

"Lan, you have to stop!" Megaman yelled as he tried to snap his best friend and NetOp out of his rage. "Lan, please! Get a grip of yourself!"

But it was no use. Lan's rage knew no bounds.

"LAN!" Megaman cried out as his NetOp unleashed another Salamander Battle Chip on the buildings at hand. "Lan…" Megaman called out softly to his friend. "I have to call in a favor…" He continued as Lan stopped for a moment. "I hope you'll understand."

"I… understand…" Lan replied, just as softly, in a moment of clarity, brought on by Mega's earlier shout, combined with the massive blast from the Salamander Battle Chip. A moment of clarity which brought a smile to Mega's face. "Thank you Lan."

"Slur..., Slur I have a favor to ask of you..." Mega, called out across the airwaves from his P.E.T.  
"Slur... I'm asking it for Lan... Help him... Please..."

"A favor I'm happy to accept." Came the reply as a ball of white and green light streaked across the sky, speeding towards the rampaging Lan.

"Hi guys. Miss me?" She said as she swooped in then started circling around Lan, drawing his attention away from the hot dog stand he was about to attack.

"Thankfully yes." Was the reply as the enraged Lan opened fire at her with a Vulcan Battle Chip, but missed with every shot.

"What's with all this negativity?" She said dodging hit after hit as Lan started slashing at her with a Hero Sword. "It's supposed to be a happy reunion."

"What ever happened to hello, we missed you?" She said with the classic childish innocence and naivity of a cyber elf.

"He was in a fight earlier, and it triggered this rage. Please help him." Megaman asked the cyber elf, as the little ball of data circled around Lan endlessly.

"Oh, is that what all the negativity is about? Well I'll soon put an end to that." And with that, the light she gave off, flared as she started ramming into Lan at high speed, passing through him like he wasn't even there.

In obvious pain for the first time in centuries, Lan tried in vain to stop Slur's actions by clutching the areas of his body that stung the most from her intervention. However, it was no use and soon enough, Slur ended her actions with a bang as she rocketed to a point in the sky above Lan and let loose a massive pillar of light which struck him dead center.

"There." She said, as she finished her treatment and then resumed her circling around Lan. "As long as I'm around, you'll never lose your cool again. Neat–o, huh?"

"Thank you." Lan said gasping, as he felt the stinging pain from all over his body, start to die down. "But…why am I still like this?" He then asked as he noticed that, though he was now in full control of his actions and emotions, he was still in what both Mega and himself recognized as Bug Style. And they both suspected Lan's eyes were still bright yellow. Which they were.

"You're welcome, but I can only help you with your anger. I have no control over anything else, though I'm sure it'll wear off eventually. Now tell me how you got in this predicament." The little cyber elf enquired childishly, as the light she emitted started alternating between white and light green. "And start at the very, very beginning."

"I… wait! My friends. How are they? Did I hurt anyone?" Lan asked as the gravity of his previous situation came back to him full force.

"Thankfully, Aile stopped you before you could do anything bad. Only harm done is some property damage." Mega replied with a smile, relieved by the fact that Lan was now back to his old self.

"They're having a race, see?" Cyber elf Slur said as she shot towards, then through, a large TV screen used for displaying commercials. And as she passed through, she changed the video feed to that coming from several Innerpeace TV stations and CCTV cameras showing Aile, Giro, Ashe and Empress, racing across various landscapes towards an unknown destination. "Now tell me, how did you get yourself into this mess!"

"Empress… We've failed. We have to get there, fast!" Lan said as he suddenly took off, towards the nearest location from which he could open a Panel Out.

"We will, now tell meeee!" The little cyber elf again asked Lan, as he ran down the Dentech main street.

"Someone was destroying stuff and hurting people, and I tried to stop him. But the battle stretched on too much, and I lost my temper." Lan started telling Slur. "I should have ended the fight sooner."

"But why did you get mad?" She asked, surprising both Lan and Megaman with her question, since, by being from the same time as them, she should already know why.

"You don't know?" The holographic Megaman now asked, surprised by Slur's unawareness.

"No, I can't remember much from all the way, back then." She replied, with a gesture that could have been described as a pouty face, if cyber elves had faces to pout.

"Well, back in 20XX, when the star ship Prometheus returned from its first flight, several areas of SciLab came under simultaneous attack and Lan and I went to defend one of those areas. We fought the attacker, StarMan, and were winning, until he threw a large container at us as a distraction. Lan destroyed the incoming container but not it's liquid content, which doused Lan and everything he had with him. Only after Lan lost consciousness and was rushed to the hospital did we find out that that liquid was in fact advanced military grade nanites. Intended to make next generation armor, the nanites would have eventually killed Lan, were they not reprogrammed within the three days their transmitters were active. Ultimately, the reprogramming was successful, but the cut corners the scientists had to take resulted in the uncontrollable rage that led to this."

"Panel Out, Battle Chip In, DOWNLOAD!" Lan called as he activated the portal Battle Chip that would take them to the battle against Empress. The battle his friends were already fighting.

* * *

Huh? What's this? AN UPDATE?  
Yes, it's an update. Granted it's a 2 month late update, but an update non the less.

I know I originally said the story would only have 12 chapters, but due to circumstances beyond my control (Inferno05 having a monster writer's cloggage (simply writer's block for all you simple, simple minded simpletons out there) with the fights), the planned chapter 10 became chapter 11 and the thing you just read (you did actually read it instead of just jumping straight down here, didn't you?) came into existence as chapter 10.  
So basically... I LIED!

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank SubZeroChimera for the ax she took to thi... err, I mean, the wonderful editing she did to this chapter. Thanks for the help! ^_^

P.S. Didn't see Slur getting a part in this one did 'ya?  
P.P.S. In case anyone is curious about the chapter name, in literature, Racconto and flashback mean almost the same thing. However, the Racconto doesn't take the narrative back in time so suddenly, and it's longer and more detailed than a flashback.  
P.P.P.S. I am more than a little surprised that no one has yet noticed Ashe's comment towards Buckfire at the end of chapter 7 (and for the record, it was two chapters back).


	11. Empress' Ambition

Giro... Aile... Ashe... and Lan...

Running against time, they did their best to reach ground zero ahead of their hundred meter nemesis...

Although eight pieces were needed for Empress' copyroid, nine were key to its power, and in a vault underneath the former Star Force headquarters, the ninth piece awaited unification with its "brethren".

By land on her bike, Aile knew it wouldn't be easy to reach her destination.

From a nearby hill, she looked down on the hoard of Mavericks whose purpose was clear: They didn't want her in the way. And looking beyond them towards her destination on the horizon, the look of hopelessness on her face gave way to one of utter determination.

Revving her bike, she left a trail of dust in the desert land, concealing the shots that were fired at where she was before. Aile turned to face the Mavericks, shifting left and right to dodge shots as she charged through their ranks.

With speed not thought possible for bipeds they followed, Aile cursing under her breath as she heard the rumbling from the army's feet draw ever closer, despite her gunning the bike to its limits. Sure enough though, they caught up with her. But Aile's reflexes were faster than the Mavericks'.

One jumped towards her, trying to knock her off her bike. It met the business end of a saber and got sliced vertically in half. She turned 360 degrees to take out a round of Mavericks, and continued on towards Empress, weaving in and out of the crowd of Mavericks that had taken over this wasteland. More tried and died to stop her. Yet it seemed that she couldn't stop them no matter how many robotic bodies she left behind.

Aile revved her engine into the red, pushing harder on the pedal, sending the speed needle off the scale. She leaned forwards, holding her sword out in front with one hand and grabbing her gun with the other.

_If ever there was a time the hours spent tuning my bike would pay off, this is it._ Aile smiled at the thought of all the midnight oil burning sessions her quest to squeeze the last drop of speed out of her bike's engine demanded.

"Alright then, time to get serious!" Aile scowled. With no hands on the steering system, it would be disastrous if one of the mavericks stood up to the front end of her bike for more than a few seconds.

She made sure that none of them did.

Slashing and shooting for her life, Aile deflected and/or destroyed every single thing that attempted to make her stray from her course. However, despite her enthusiastic attacks, many more mavericks kept coming. So she continued, slicing, dicing, bashing or thrashing everything she could. The few times that something managed to hold on to her bike, (usually the back) she whacked it with whatever part of her body was free, dislodging it.

Minutes passed in a flurry of energy blade flashes and explosions. Then, suddenly, the mavericks thinned out. Aile looked around her, noticing the sheer number of mechanical carcasses behind her and the lack of anything moving before her. Off in the distance, not nearly as far as she should have been, Empress terrorized the lands around her.

Aile grimaced, leaning forward on her bike, gripping the handlebars solemnly. Tired from her battle, she only hoped that she would be able to gather her second wind in time.

By air via his rocket boots, Protoman surveyed the oil field desert below as he flew towards the giant, ancient evil Navi in the distance. With his thoughts going a mile a minute, his mind raced through all the options, trying to figure out a way to deal with Empress when the time came.

Empress however, would have to wait, as the slightly more pressing issue of a jetpack powered Maverick armada blocking his way took precedence.

"Unoriginal" Protoman said aloud before moving in lower with the guards rushing to meet him.

Protoman pulled his saber and severed the heads from the front few while flying upward again to dodge the fleet, as more guards seemed to come from oil drills and miniature barracks all the way from here to Empress. Sadly the enemies appeared to be faster, so the game was on.

As more reached him, he sliced three times to destroy a total of seven. He kicked off of one and spun, slicing several more in half. He pushed forward again, slicing his way to clear a line through their rank. However, the incoming Mavericks filled that gap, and Giro was already surrounded again.

He swung down and flew down, blowing up more and starting a chain reaction. Yet more came, in seemingly impossible numbers. This time they charged Protoman one at a time to wear him out. Protoman sliced and kicked them in rapid succession. The ones he kicked flew back into the next one, knocking enemies out of the air and giving Protoman a split second to prepare his next strike. As the enemies came faster, Protoman's mechanical body had a harder time keeping up, yet still his sword was a white blur, appearing to be multiple swords as he slashed in multiple directions.

As the desert floor was filling with falling robot parts at an ever increasing rate, Protoman was indeed getting worn out. His jets were using quite a bit of power, and his body would need to rest before the battle. Thankfully though, it seemed like the next line of reinforcements was the last.

A head fell before the jets lost power. A body to Protoman's left was impaled and used as a baseball bat against his allies. Another received a swift, jet–powered boot to the head. Protoman found that as he was descending the remaining power in his body drained. He could recharge it if he could rest long enough, so it was a relief to him as one last enemy made a brave stand. The mechaniloid tried to destroy Protoman from behind, but Protoman (who already landed on the large pile of robot parts), did a backflip and sliced him from the head down and landed crouched on the pile, looking like a badass for a few seconds before he keeled over to rest. He wasn't bothered too much, however since he knew where Empress was heading and he'd be just fine by the time she got there.

And Ashe, from the skies high above, watched the chaos from the deck of a Legion airship. A few hundred meters below, the ground seemed to evolve into a surging mass of mavericks and bodies. Ashe scratched her nose, grinning.

"Heh heh, look at that lot! Darn, almost makes me wish I was down there fighting them! Ah, well..."

Shouts from behind however, interrupted her reverie by drawing her attention.

All across the ship, Legion soldiers scrambled in preparation, and as Ashe looked back at the sky ahead, the reason became all too apparent.

"Tch, looks like I'll get to fight after all!"

She megamerged, eagerly awaiting the arrival of the maverick airships the ship's radar had detected moments ago. Even before she drew her guns, the Legion soldiers began firing. However, even with all the firepower the ship held, there were still enough mavericks left to fulfill Ashe's need to shoot things.

"Yeehaw! Take that!" she yelled loudly, as she fired her weapons, guns akimbo. While most of them were hit by her attacks, high speed still ensured the survival of quite a few foes, including a small group of bird mechaniloids intent on taking on the problem from the source, the airship's control center.

Ashe, acting quickly, aimed at them all with her homing shot, decimating them just as they were about to fire. "DE–NIED!" Ashe said with a large grin, then turned to her left just in time to avoid the gargantuan claws that gouged the deck beside her.

Transforming into the Model ZX Mega Man, she slashed wildly at the mechaniloid, who was now stuck in the deck. Unable to counter–attack, it was made short work off.

Ashe returned to her Model A form and smirked as some of the pieces were dragged off by the wind. "Now _this_ is fun!" she exclaimed, looking back to the front of the ship, ready to fire at more mavericks.

None came. To her partial dismay, the maverick attack had ended just as quickly as it had begun, leaving a hyped up Ashe glancing around, unsure of why. Apparently, the Legion soldiers weren't bad shots themselves. Glancing ahead, Ashe saw the large form of Empress dead ahead. In fact...

Empress stared at them with hatred, then shrieked.

"Uh oh..." Ashe muttered.

Empress herself, however, was no stranger to the location and purpose of the ninth piece, and with each earthquake inducing step she took, she narrowed the lead the others had on her.

Ruined foundations, collapsed walls and scattered paraphernalia, all made nearly unrecognizable by the passage of time. This was where the dreams of an era had come crashing down four hundred years ago.

Casting dirt aside with his bare hands, Protoman dug his way to the vault that contained the final piece of Empress' copyroid. Without its stabilizing properties, it would only be a matter of time before Empress' body lost cohesion and fell apart. With it however, Empress would gain the closest thing to invulnerability anyone could ever hope for.

Fully aware that this was the last chance they would ever have at victory, Protoman ignored the pain of digging with one's bare hands, even managing to double his efforts.

"STAR F…" Part of a large blue sign read, the rest of it mangled beyond readability. The only thing left to tell the tale of the place's once glorious past. Five letters and the upper three arms of a five arm yellow star.

The Star Force HQ. Back in its day, it was one of the most secure locations, in no small part due to its Dimensional Area force field.

"Giro!" Aile, having arrived on the scene, shouted as she turned her bike around on the spot. "Aile, this is the vault I told you about. I can't stress how important destroying its contents is." Giro said as one last sweep of his hand revealed the top of a concrete structure of unknown size, but immense importance.

"Then what are we waiting for." Aile responded, opening fire with her gun on the structure... only to find her shots doing nothing more that raising dust.

"That won't work Aile, this vault was built to resist wars..." Giro tried to explain, only to be cut off, by a certain look in Aile eyes, one that he knew all too well.

"Wars huh?" Aile said, raising her hand to the comm link on her ear. "If it's a war it wants, it's a war it gets... Ashe... We're having trouble cracking open a vault, need a precision strike on this position from that big ol' airship of yours. Maximum damage!" Aile said with a very indicative grin on her face.

"Maximum damage, huh? Then stand back, and enjoy the fireworks." Ashe replied, cutting their link, then turning to face the crew of the airship's bridge. "You heard her. Maximum damage." Ashe said, turning around to face crew of the airship.

"Got it!" The captain replied, the airship opening up with all weapons, seconds after having been issued the order.

Circling the area, the ship pounded the vault with everything from missiles to plasma rounds, kicking up impressive amounts of dirt in the process.

With each hit the ground shook and the vault crumbled while Aile and Giro having dashed to a safe distance, watched the show. Giro was standing up while Aile was cross–legged on the ground.

The bombardment was intense and spectacular, but Giro's mind kept repeating only one nagging thought. _This isn't going fast enough._

With Empress only a hair's breath away, the bombardment was never going to succeed in time, and raising his hand to his comm, he called Ashe... and was completely taken aback to see the ship suddenly drop out of its original course, and settle on a new one.

"Collision course locked! Weapons on auto–fire cycle 3! Everyone, emergency transport!" These three commands rang out throughout the ship, and soon enough only the captain and Ashe remained. One "Good luck," later, and the captain himself transported away.

Ashe made her way to the deck and off the ship, first in the form of Hedgeshock's rolling ball attack (to get as far away from the ship as possible) then as Queenbee.

Guns blazing the ship impacted full speed with terrifying accuracy, utterly annihilating the vault and all its contents, sending debris for kilometers around with the blue Star Force sign prophetically embedding itself into the ground between Aile and Giro.

"Mission Complete!" Ashe said with a wide grin as she megamerged back to Model A form, and landed right in front of the two.

Like feathers gently floating in a spring breeze, bits and pieces of everything that made up the Star Force HQ fell all around as Empress, clearing a building, several fences, and a highway in one final step, arrived on the scene... and promptly started laughing.

"Do you really think you've won? That by taking out one piece, I'll start melting like some fairytale witch and you can all live happily ever after?" Empress said, with an evil grin on her face as she extended her right hand directly forward then, closing her hand into a fist, proceeded to draw an imaginary horizontal circle in midair with her index finger.

And, almost in real–time, a sparkle of light started circling the three, going round until a larger version of the circle Empress drew now surrounded Aile, Giro and Ashe.

With her circle now drawn, Empress turned her hand, palm side up, and no sooner did she do so, than a perfect semicircle of earth rose up from underneath our heroes, carrying them towards the sky before landing in the palm of Empress' hand.

"Did you really think I'd go through all this, knowing full well that you'd do your best to destroy as many parts as possible before I could use them?" Empress went on, as she turned her gaze to some point in the sky, away from the three.

"Right… about… there…" Empress said, pointing with her other hand towards the spot she was looking at. "Right there, in geostationary orbit, is what doubled as my home for the past four hundred years." She continued as her gaze once again shifted to the three. "Ever since I was forced into space at the end of the war, I have waited and I have planned…" Empress said, her fury building, as she got ready to crush the three standing in the palm of her hand. Something which they became all too aware of…

"I started the war that would topple a world, I nearly annihilated humanity as a whole, and I made sure that this time everything WILL go down the way I want it!" She practically screamed, crushing the earth mound into dust.

Aware of her intention however, the three jumped backwards as Empress crushed the dirt mound left in her hand, and opened fire on her as they drifted backwards and away.

"Oh no you don't!" Empress yelled, as her left hand shot out towards the three, grabbing Ashe while her right hand came in from the side, swatting Aile and Giro into the front of an abandoned nearby building.

"Albert made sure that there would always be redundant copyroid parts around to replace any you might destroy." She then said, calming down, as she brought the struggling Ashe to a level just meters away from her face. "Why do you three of all people think you were given the biometals? Hmm?" Empress, said as a white light, now engulfed Ashe, sapping her of her strength. "To fight for justice? To defend the downtrodden? To create a better world?" She now said, as she raised her right arm towards the city, and again began absorbing large amounts of materials and reploids, with no other motive than to hammer home the point.

"Well, you weren't! Everything you ever went through was nothing more than a show for my own enjoyment, and YOUR biometals are NOTHING more than spare parts Albert made in case I ever needed them." Empress finished her speech as she brought Ashe even closer to her face, her grip tightening to near unbearable levels. "And guess what I need right now!"

By now however, Aile and Giro had resumed their attacks on Empress, and as Ashe was on the brink of losing consciousness, Lan made his best entrance since saving Aile.

From a nearby news airship, he jumped towards Empress, and with a Giga Meteor and Hero Sword, rescued Ashe before either her or Model A took any real damage. One precision cut from the Hero Sword was all it took to separate Empress form her left hand, which then splattered into a large pool of grayish liquid metal as soon as it hit the ground.

Knocked backwards by the force of the Giga Meteor then off balance by the loss of her arm, Empress fell to one knee, breathing heavily even though her copyroid body didn't actually need any air. Steadying herself against her still intact right hand Empress stared at the stomp of her arm seemingly shocked as Ashe and Lan ran to rejoin the others.

"Wa…s that it?" Ashe finally asked, with a hint of disappointment evident in her voice, breaking the ongoing silence.

"How can it be over…?" Came Empresses' spoken reply... "When it hasn't even begun!" followed by her unspoken comeback as she swung around then threw a large slab of concrete at the group, forcing everyone to jump to safety.

Not particularly threatening in itself, the slab did however do its job, and by the time everyone's attention was drawn back to Empress, she had already returned to her feet.

Laughing maniacally, she lowered her sight to the stump that was her left hand, stopped laughing, then turned her gaze to our heroes and grinned.

"You had it coming!" Shouted Lan's little cyber elf safety switch as it flared a bright white glow, drawing the towering figure's attention and causing Empress' grin to be replaced by surprise and curiosity.

"Is that…" Empress began saying, then stopped mid sentence as the realization of whom she was talking to, kicked in.

"It is… The mighty Slur…" She said, her grin returning, this time at the little elf's childish demeanor.

"Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Gone from humanity's appraisal, to humanity's slave and now to a kid's toy. Bet you never thought you'd be reduced to this back when you were Duo's right hand, or navigator for the humans' flagship, did you? What were you, third in command I believe?"

"I'm proud of what I did. I've seen and done things you can't even imagine. And it was fun!" The little elf replied whilst striking a defiant pose… or at least as defiant a pose a circular ball of energy can strike. "We're doing the right thing, and that's enough for me!"

"Well then…" Empress then replied, surveying her left hand as metal started flowing down the stump, progressively rebuilding her arm, Empress watched her copyroid body's auto repair system in action, deliberately slowing it down for added drama.

"fun little warm up aside…" Empress then said while raising her newly repaired arm, first towards the four, fist closed index finger pointing in their direction "I hope you're ready to do the right thing, cause I've been waiting four hundred years for this fight..." then towards the sky, causing heavy storm clouds to quickly gather above and around, spewing massive thunderbolts in the distance. "…and I'll settle for nothing less then one EPIC battle." She shouted, now raising her right hand towards the sky in a similar fashion, causing the electrical activity overhead to go into overdrive.

"NOW FIGHT ME!" She yelled, bringing down her right arm pointing towards the four, commanding the clouds above to strike down her foes. With but a gesture, Empress ordered nature itself to do her bidding… and nature all too eagerly obeyed.

* * *

O_O

WTF? This can't be right, please wait a moment while I go double check this. *Double checks.* You have got to be friggin' kiddin' me! An update? AFTER TWO AND A HALF FRIGGIN' YEARS! What kind of sick puppy does that? Honestly now, how on dear sweet EARTH is anyone expected to remember anything about this story after two, count them, two... Friggin...' YEARS? Dude...

Everyone, everyone, calm down, please. We're all friends here, so put down the pitchforks, torches and boiling tar, so we can talk about this. I absolutely assure you that I had one of the soundest reasons possible for my 2 and a half year absence. Something beyond real life problems and hardware failures. In truth, this absence was due to... me being too lazy to actually do anything...

*nervously awaits rioters' reply...*

O_O zomg! Flame Thrower! no! No! NOOO! Aaarrgh...

On a side note, I'd like to take this opportunity to give my sincerest thanks to my two (most likely ex by now) beta reader who have helped me enormously in writing this chapter. Thanks a bunch Inferno05 and SubZeroChimera. You guys are the best beta readers anyone could possibly hope for.

And one final side note, I was initially hoping for this story to be the first in a series of three stories (first one would be primarily about Lan, Aile, Giro and Ashe, second would have started where the first one left off and would have been about Vent, Aile, Maylu, Ashe and Grey, and the third would have explored the ramifications of the heroes' actions from the first two stories, and would have been about Chaud, Aile, Ashe and Geo Stelar/OmegaXis). But, as of late, I'm starting to have serious doubts about the feasibility of this since, let's face it, it took this long to write this one story, and it's still not complete yet.  
IF (and I stress the word IF) I ever do decide to write them, I may write them as unrelated stories. Anyone have any thoughts on this?


End file.

Mega Man, Adventure, Sci-Fi