At the turn of the 23rd century, long after an alien invasion wrought havoc on mankind, and a strange new island was created, Dr. Tsueno "Thomas" Hikari-Nishizumi creates Rock, a son to compliment his daughters, much to Shiho's disapproval. Little does anyone know, this robot, his his unorthodox sister, Miho, and their friends are about to change the course of history... (Mega Man x Girls und Panzer x Little Witch Academia fantasy AU)
Tanks, Spells, and Robot Masters (a Mega Man x Gurupan x Little Witch Academia AU)
- Thread starter NuclearAlchemist
- Start date
- Crossover Mature Fantasy
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Prologue
- Location
- Covington, Kentucky
- Pronouns
- He/Him
PROLOGUE
When the Soviet Union dissolved on December 25th, 1991, and the Cold War ended, it seemed that humanity had reached its apex form. Or as a certain American political scientist put it, humanity had not just the passing of a particular period of post-war history, but the end of mankind's ideological evolution.
Oh how foolish they were.
The 21st century would be defined by terrorism, environmental decay, a warming climate, creeping authoritarianism, and accelerating inequality growth. This culminated in 2076 with the Great Reckoning, which, amongst other things, saw the end of the United States as a political entity, the transformation of India and Pakistan into a radioactive hellscape, the realization that humanity was not alone in the cosmos, and the creation of both the Chosen Ones and the island of New California.
It is now 2200 AD.
The world of today is both familiar, yet foreign. With America gone, having fractured into seven bickering nations, China and the Andean Compact have filled in the power vacuum left in her wake. The Chosen Ones, in spite of their powers' potential, have been demonized the world over, and are largely a slave caste below the rest of humanity in many nations.
Most importantly, though, the use of magic has made a comeback, whilst some are attempting to combine it with modern technology. The result, magitek, has taken the world by storm, particularly in the realm of robotics...
Setsuri, Territory of Shin Honshu, Japan
3:50 PM; Wednesday July 9th, 2200
"It's over, Mega-Jerk!"
On a train running 30 kilometers per hour under the warm New Californian sun, Miho could tell that things had gone pear-shaped. She was hiding in her team's Panzer IV, which was overlooking the battle unfolding in front of it. The black, red and yellow robot with four charges on his back– who she could've easily mistaken for a superhero or vigilante if she didn't know better –stood on top of the intermodal container on the train car in front of theirs, overlooking her damaged brother, Rock, his damaged blue plasteel armor blackened by soot and electric burn marks. Rock staggered onto his feet regardless of his damaged state, defiant against… What was his name again?
"Elec Man, you still don't have to do this!"
Oh, that was right.
He continued. "I have no reason to fight you. Why do you still work for Dr. Wily, anyway?
"Because we share a vision," his opponent explained curtly. "A vision of a world where we robots aren't treated like property! Really, why do you continue to be their knight in shining armor? …what's up with that look, anyway?" he awkwardly asked, referring to Rock's armor, which evoked the appearance of a European knight in the medieval ages.
"Long story," the blue bomber replied in a deadpan tone, "though I have no idea what that has to do with anything right now."
"It has nothing to do with our fight," the electric-magic bot admitted. "But seriously, how does Dr. Hikari truly see you? His plaything?"
He was, of course, referring to their shared creator, and Miho's father. Dr. Tsueno "Thomas" Hikari was an expert in the growing field of magitek, and had built Rock to compliment her and her sister Maho (though from what her older sister had told her, the fact that their mother was… uh, genetically unable to have a biological son may have also had a hand in their artificial sibling's creation). Of course, when he told her what– or rather, who –he was building… Well, that was why he and Shiho no longer lived in the same house these days.
In the present, Rock didn't look too amused by the comment his opponent had just made. from the short time Miho has known him, she knew that he was rather protective of his family and friends. "You take that back right now-!"
"Did I strike a neuron sensor?" Elec Man asked, smirking. As he did so, a white ball of electricity manifested in his right hand. "It's really too bad, Rock, but I'm going to finish you at lightning speed, then finish what my brothers couldn't do themselves!"
The atomic energy management robot then leaped into the air, and with a flick of his pointer finger, shot a brilliant bolt of lightning at the blue-armored robot, who barely got out of its way before it struck. As sparks lightning, and "lemons" (miniature stars shot from the Mega Buster) flew, Miho watched the brawl unfold from the safety of her Panzer IV tank.
"I'm amazed he isn't frying us all with his lightning," the younger Nishizumi heard Mako, the Panzer's driver, remark from below her, with the lethargy she'd come to expect from the dark-haired girl.
"This is bad," said Yukari, the team's loader, who was brushing up against their gunner, Hana, to see through the gun sight.
"Rock-kun's barely standing," the taller girl spoke up. "If he takes much more…"
"This is not fair!" roared Saori, the radio operator. "First the zombies, then this Orb thing Joshua talked about, now magic-wielding robots!? I just wanna go home!"
"Do we all?" said a sixth, annoyed voice from the bottom of the turret's working space, which had a definite British accent. "I was supposed to be at school right now, not crammed into this… death machine watching as my classmate fights to the death with some wretched android!"
"With all due respect Cavendish-sama," Miho replied, "this tank wasn't meant for six people. Besides, Kagari-san said that traditional magic isn't suited for combat against these robo… What did she call the robots he fought in Neo Tokyo yesterday?"
"Robot Masters, if I remember correctly," Hana answered.
Indignant, Diana Cavendish shot back "She knows nothing about–!" she stopped herself short of insulting her friend, like she would have over a year ago, before restating what she was about to say. "Akko has a few misconceptions about how magic works. Besides, those things are using dark magic, not–"
"–Not 'real' magic," Saori finished the English immigrant witch's sentence. "We get it, you don't have to bitch about it a million times!"
"Language," Mako flatly reminded her long-time friend. "And frankly, Diana, I think your girlfriend's having a hard enough time bringing this train to a stop with Leopon Team as it is."
She was about to retort about what the black-haired lethargic girl just called Akko, when the tank's turret was hit by some kind of glowing blue-white rod – actually a solid thunderbolt Elec Man meant to hit Rock with, but missed. It tore through the German tank's carbon-lined steel plating like a hot knife through butter, and impaled itself into Hana's chest, in front of Yukari's face. Understandably, the tank nerd was both surprised and horrified by seeing her friend just get impaled, and jumped back, nearly falling to the bottom of the tank's interior, but managing to hold onto her seat and pulled herself back up into her proper spot.
"What in the name of Jennifer–"
"Hana-san… !" Miho could only gape in horror as her gunner and close friend collapsed into the back of her seat, her heart being torn open by the thunderbolt, which dissipated seconds later.
"Oh shit– Hana, are you okay!?" Saori asked the long-black-haired gunner. "Hana?"
She never did answer.
As the realization that one of their own had just… well, died, settled over the rest of Anglerfish Team, something flashed before Miho's eyes. Something started flooding her head– memories, of all the times she spent with her now-fallen friend, of things to come that she didn't yet fully understand…
…and how the Hell things got this bad.
…things aren't going well for Miho and friends, now are they?
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to my first proper fanfiction: Tanks, Spells, and Robot Masters, a crossover between the Mega Man franchise, Girls und Panzer, and Little Witch Academia. I originally posted this on fanfiction.net and DeviantArt a few days ago, and decided to cross-post it here as well.
The zombie half of the apocalypse that Saori mentioned was particularly inspired by fanfiction.net user SeekerMeeker's story Girls Dead Rise: War of California, so if you've got the time, please go over and read it; I promise you it's worth your time.
As for how things actually got this way… that'll be made clear in the first 15 or so chapters. But that will have to wait until 2023, when I actually get to write and release them (as of the time of typing this, I've only got the first three done, so I've got my work cut out for me).
Until then, have a good rest of the day, and happy new year!
–NuclearAlchmist
When the Soviet Union dissolved on December 25th, 1991, and the Cold War ended, it seemed that humanity had reached its apex form. Or as a certain American political scientist put it, humanity had not just the passing of a particular period of post-war history, but the end of mankind's ideological evolution.
Oh how foolish they were.
The 21st century would be defined by terrorism, environmental decay, a warming climate, creeping authoritarianism, and accelerating inequality growth. This culminated in 2076 with the Great Reckoning, which, amongst other things, saw the end of the United States as a political entity, the transformation of India and Pakistan into a radioactive hellscape, the realization that humanity was not alone in the cosmos, and the creation of both the Chosen Ones and the island of New California.
It is now 2200 AD.
The world of today is both familiar, yet foreign. With America gone, having fractured into seven bickering nations, China and the Andean Compact have filled in the power vacuum left in her wake. The Chosen Ones, in spite of their powers' potential, have been demonized the world over, and are largely a slave caste below the rest of humanity in many nations.
Most importantly, though, the use of magic has made a comeback, whilst some are attempting to combine it with modern technology. The result, magitek, has taken the world by storm, particularly in the realm of robotics...
Setsuri, Territory of Shin Honshu, Japan
3:50 PM; Wednesday July 9th, 2200
"It's over, Mega-Jerk!"
On a train running 30 kilometers per hour under the warm New Californian sun, Miho could tell that things had gone pear-shaped. She was hiding in her team's Panzer IV, which was overlooking the battle unfolding in front of it. The black, red and yellow robot with four charges on his back– who she could've easily mistaken for a superhero or vigilante if she didn't know better –stood on top of the intermodal container on the train car in front of theirs, overlooking her damaged brother, Rock, his damaged blue plasteel armor blackened by soot and electric burn marks. Rock staggered onto his feet regardless of his damaged state, defiant against… What was his name again?
"Elec Man, you still don't have to do this!"
Oh, that was right.
He continued. "I have no reason to fight you. Why do you still work for Dr. Wily, anyway?
"Because we share a vision," his opponent explained curtly. "A vision of a world where we robots aren't treated like property! Really, why do you continue to be their knight in shining armor? …what's up with that look, anyway?" he awkwardly asked, referring to Rock's armor, which evoked the appearance of a European knight in the medieval ages.
"Long story," the blue bomber replied in a deadpan tone, "though I have no idea what that has to do with anything right now."
"It has nothing to do with our fight," the electric-magic bot admitted. "But seriously, how does Dr. Hikari truly see you? His plaything?"
He was, of course, referring to their shared creator, and Miho's father. Dr. Tsueno "Thomas" Hikari was an expert in the growing field of magitek, and had built Rock to compliment her and her sister Maho (though from what her older sister had told her, the fact that their mother was… uh, genetically unable to have a biological son may have also had a hand in their artificial sibling's creation). Of course, when he told her what– or rather, who –he was building… Well, that was why he and Shiho no longer lived in the same house these days.
In the present, Rock didn't look too amused by the comment his opponent had just made. from the short time Miho has known him, she knew that he was rather protective of his family and friends. "You take that back right now-!"
"Did I strike a neuron sensor?" Elec Man asked, smirking. As he did so, a white ball of electricity manifested in his right hand. "It's really too bad, Rock, but I'm going to finish you at lightning speed, then finish what my brothers couldn't do themselves!"
The atomic energy management robot then leaped into the air, and with a flick of his pointer finger, shot a brilliant bolt of lightning at the blue-armored robot, who barely got out of its way before it struck. As sparks lightning, and "lemons" (miniature stars shot from the Mega Buster) flew, Miho watched the brawl unfold from the safety of her Panzer IV tank.
"I'm amazed he isn't frying us all with his lightning," the younger Nishizumi heard Mako, the Panzer's driver, remark from below her, with the lethargy she'd come to expect from the dark-haired girl.
"This is bad," said Yukari, the team's loader, who was brushing up against their gunner, Hana, to see through the gun sight.
"Rock-kun's barely standing," the taller girl spoke up. "If he takes much more…"
"This is not fair!" roared Saori, the radio operator. "First the zombies, then this Orb thing Joshua talked about, now magic-wielding robots!? I just wanna go home!"
"Do we all?" said a sixth, annoyed voice from the bottom of the turret's working space, which had a definite British accent. "I was supposed to be at school right now, not crammed into this… death machine watching as my classmate fights to the death with some wretched android!"
"With all due respect Cavendish-sama," Miho replied, "this tank wasn't meant for six people. Besides, Kagari-san said that traditional magic isn't suited for combat against these robo… What did she call the robots he fought in Neo Tokyo yesterday?"
"Robot Masters, if I remember correctly," Hana answered.
Indignant, Diana Cavendish shot back "She knows nothing about–!" she stopped herself short of insulting her friend, like she would have over a year ago, before restating what she was about to say. "Akko has a few misconceptions about how magic works. Besides, those things are using dark magic, not–"
"–Not 'real' magic," Saori finished the English immigrant witch's sentence. "We get it, you don't have to bitch about it a million times!"
"Language," Mako flatly reminded her long-time friend. "And frankly, Diana, I think your girlfriend's having a hard enough time bringing this train to a stop with Leopon Team as it is."
She was about to retort about what the black-haired lethargic girl just called Akko, when the tank's turret was hit by some kind of glowing blue-white rod – actually a solid thunderbolt Elec Man meant to hit Rock with, but missed. It tore through the German tank's carbon-lined steel plating like a hot knife through butter, and impaled itself into Hana's chest, in front of Yukari's face. Understandably, the tank nerd was both surprised and horrified by seeing her friend just get impaled, and jumped back, nearly falling to the bottom of the tank's interior, but managing to hold onto her seat and pulled herself back up into her proper spot.
"What in the name of Jennifer–"
"Hana-san… !" Miho could only gape in horror as her gunner and close friend collapsed into the back of her seat, her heart being torn open by the thunderbolt, which dissipated seconds later.
"Oh shit– Hana, are you okay!?" Saori asked the long-black-haired gunner. "Hana?"
She never did answer.
As the realization that one of their own had just… well, died, settled over the rest of Anglerfish Team, something flashed before Miho's eyes. Something started flooding her head– memories, of all the times she spent with her now-fallen friend, of things to come that she didn't yet fully understand…
…and how the Hell things got this bad.
…things aren't going well for Miho and friends, now are they?
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to my first proper fanfiction: Tanks, Spells, and Robot Masters, a crossover between the Mega Man franchise, Girls und Panzer, and Little Witch Academia. I originally posted this on fanfiction.net and DeviantArt a few days ago, and decided to cross-post it here as well.
The zombie half of the apocalypse that Saori mentioned was particularly inspired by fanfiction.net user SeekerMeeker's story Girls Dead Rise: War of California, so if you've got the time, please go over and read it; I promise you it's worth your time.
As for how things actually got this way… that'll be made clear in the first 15 or so chapters. But that will have to wait until 2023, when I actually get to write and release them (as of the time of typing this, I've only got the first three done, so I've got my work cut out for me).
Until then, have a good rest of the day, and happy new year!
–NuclearAlchmist
Last edited:
Chapter 1: Beginnings
- Location
- Covington, Kentucky
- Pronouns
- He/Him
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
I hope you're having a happy holiday season, whoever's reading this.
Now, where were we? *re-reads the prologue* Oh… well, that doesn't look good. How the Hell did we get here, indeed.
Actually, I'll do one better: How about we elaborate on that?
Before we get into the plot of Girls Dead Rise, however, the first ~8 chapters will act as a sort of setup for the robo-zombie apocalypse (muahahahahaha!), and explain just how Rock became Mega Man before he eventually meets his sisters (well, his creator's daughters, if you want to use that terminology). So let's go back to the very beginning, shall we?
27 MONTHS EARLIER…
Dr. Hikari's lab, Setsuri, Territory of Shin Honshu, Japan
9:00 AM; Thursday April 19 th , 2198
Long before his younger daughter was fighting for her life, Dr. Tsueno "Thomas" Hikari-Nishizumi was preparing for the third-most important day in his life. For the past four and a half months, he'd shed blood, sweat and tears creating what was perhaps the most advanced robot ever created to date, and in a few minutes, it was about to experience the world for the first time.
46 years old, with short, brown hair and a somewhat muscular build, Tsueno was born to a family of sakuradite miners, an occupation that took their lives when he was 15. But even then, he was a tinkerer, a thinker, a man of ideas; ideas that would allow him to skip two grades and attend Kyoto University, where he attained his masters' degree in robotics and a minor in magitronic engineering.
It was also here where he met his wife, Shiho, then-heiress to the famous Nishizumi clan. As he finished up eating his oatmeal for breakfast, he remembered how absurdly difficult it was to convince her mother to let him marry her. Indeed, it was only on her deathbed that she finally gave permission. Whilst raising their two children, Tsueno had intermittently created new robots for the government. The most notable two of these were the Metool series or robot or Mets for short, which were small, yet versatile robots that assisted in production lines and construction sites, and the Policebots , which assisted human police officers as their partners across Japan and elsewhere, such as Cascadia and the Eurasian Union.
Then there were the Sniper Joes .
Tsueno himself was a pacifist, but his first assignment given to him by Kyoto was to design a warrior robot to replace its living soldiers on the battlefields of Africa and the Middle East. But it was either do that, or not get hired at all, and understandably Dr. Hikari chose the former. The Sniper Joes, the end result of this old shame of his, were humanoid drones whose armor resembled a cross between that of a samurai and a European medieval knight. The exception to this motif was their heads; they looked like a bicycling helmet, except a red, circular light– its "eye" –pierced through the visor, to give the psychological impression that each of them was staring into your soul.
On the prototype Tsueno made for the JSDF, he'd built an automatic 20 mm rifle into its left forearm, which could shapeshift to and from a "normal" mechanical plasteel hand that mirrored its other arm. However, this meant that the prototype had to reload after firing continuously for about 20 seconds, and the upper bass weren't going to settle for this near-1:1 robotic recreation of the modern soldier. No, they wanted more. Thus, in the final product, the Sniper Joes sported a new, state-of-the-art plasma cannon: the Buster, as many within the firearms industry were calling it. And a full-blown opaque white and red riot shield was added to their right arms, allegedly to finish the whole knight/samurai motif, although Tsueno was smart enough to figure that this addition was really to give the Sniper Joes some form of non-lethal crowd control ability.
Of course, when he revealed his current project to her, Shiho wasn't exactly on board with creating life in an unnatural way, as she put it. One thing led to another, and the next thing Thomas knew, he was moving out of the Nishizumi manor to Setsuri, home of Selection University. He set up shop in a cottage on the city's outskirts, plenty of distance from the hustle and bustle of the city itself, and the slums that surrounded it. It took another year to convince the Ministry of Magic, Education, Culture, Science, Sports and Technology (MMEXT)'s oversight board to fund his endeavor, and eventually they gave him the funds, as well as a base to build his son off of.
Said base being a Sniper Joe that was decommissioned due to damage caused by a Shinto extremist's bomb, in a twisted kind of irony. but he took this insult in stride; after all, at least it was better than slaving away for Arasaka or Militech.
However, that wasn't important right now. What was important was that this was the "big day", so to speak; the day that his creation– no, his third child would enter the world.
After making a final set of checks to make sure everything was working perfectly, Tsueno looked upon his creation.
On his operating table laid an adolescent man, who appeared to be in his late teens. He was 165 cm tall and had short hair, which was the same shade as that of his older daughter, Maho; Dr. Hikari had used both of his children as inspiration while modeling what the human-looking part of his son, particularly the head and face, would look like. He was wearing a blue and white short-sleeved hoodie, which had yellow-lined pockets, and khaki shorts. His lower legs and feet didn't need to be covered, as their cylindrical plasteel casing, a remnant of his original form as your typical Sniper Joe, still remained from the knees down, although Tsueno had put in the effort to repaint them from their usual gunmetal gray and red scheme to one that was medium blue with light blue– almost cyan –highlights. Ditto with the robot's arms beneath the elbows, which were cylindrical.
The good doctor sighed, bracing himself for the moment of truth. "…Well, here we go…"
With that, the good doctor pressed a button on the large computer console that made one whole wall of his lab, and the two watched as his son came to life. His orange-ish brown eyes– the same shade as Miho's –opened, calibrating for a moment before they blink, then looked upon the two people watching.
"…Hi, my name is Rock. … Who are you?"
There was a moment of stunned silence before Dr. Hikari finally stammered a response. "…Oh! I'm, uh, Dr. Thomas Hikari. …I built you."
"…Are you my father?"
"Well, in a technical sense… Yes, I am your father, but you can call me Dr Hikari if you'd like."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Dr Light!" he said pleasantly, still smiling. The two shook hands, before the robot asked, "Do I have a mother?"
"Um, yes," Tsueno answered, "but she, uh… doesn't live here. I do hope you get to meet her someday soon."
Rock began walking around, looking at his surroundings. "Is this where you built me?" he asked.
"Yes," his creator affirmed, "you are near Setsuri, in my house, which doubles as my laboratory. Akko and I spent four months building you here."
"Four months…?" The robot looked concerned. "Is that bad? And what's a Setsuri?"
"Of course not!" his father reassured him. "You were actually two or three months ahead of schedule. Your programming and construction were easier than Dr Light thought…" He explained, though at the same time he realized he'd forgotten to include basic geography in his programming.
"My programming tells me I'm supposed to be your assistant… Is there anything you need help with?"
"Not yet, Rock." Thomas said. "Right now, I want you to get used to your new surroundings…"
Weeks went by, turning into months. Rock settled into his life, helping Dr. Hikari as he researched the practical applications of magitek– including the use of non-quintessence-magic –as part of the initial research for their next project. In particular, Rock's Variable Tool System (VTS), located in the apparatus of his right forearm, allowed him to duplicate any tool or scientific equipment in the apparatus in his left forearm. This ranged from screwdrivers and thermometers, to more complex instruments like mass spectrometers and lasers that could cool objects to below absolute zero.
The project in question was something Dr. Hikari called the Robot Master Program, a set of nine industrial line robots using non-quintessence-type magic to assist regular workers and other non-sentient robots in their lines of work.
DHN.002, Poseidon, would be used for sanitation in the city sewers, specifically to eliminate any outbreaks of Cholera and other water-borne diseases.
DHN.003, Achilles, would be used to manage parts of Shin Honshu's timber operations.
DHN.004, Heracles, would be an artificial construction foreman used to direct large construction projects.
DHN.005, Penelope, would utilize ice-magic with an apparatus similar to Rock's, to be used to help refrigerate liquid Sakuradite in any of several processing plants throughout Shin Honshu and mainland Japan, as the substance is quite volatile at room temperatures.
DHN.006, Hephaestus, would be useful in demolition programs and clearing the interior of New California of… hostiles , with potential utilization by the JSDF if the need arose.
DHN.007, Cacus, would be a waste management robot, utilizing fire-magic (generated by disks of Hihiirokane) to create flames as hot as 8,000 degrees Fahrenheit (4,426.7 degrees Celsius).
DHN.008, Zeus, would be used to help control the output of Japan's various nuclear power plants (Uranium, Plutonium, and Thorium) using electric-magic.
DHN.009, Hecate, would use quintessence-magic for search-and-rescue operations, and can lift large obstructions and debris with her Quintessence Barriers.
And DHN.010, Kronos, would be an organization and time management robot so that the common worker would know when their 12 hour shifts would begin and end, and when their lunch breaks happened.
It took 3 months to gather their findings and draw up rough blueprints for the robots, and soon the time came to present their findings to the MMEXT…
MMEXT headquarters, Kyoto, Japan
11:30 A.M.; July 14, 2198
"…this new project will not only push the boundaries of known robotics, but also benefit this country in both the private and public sectors."
Dr. Hikari had just gotten done presenting the outline of the Robot Master Program to the oversight board, which was composed of six people, each of them experts in the ministry's different fields; magic, education, science, culture, and technology. In order to get a large, overarching project related to these done in 22nd century Japan, it needed the approval of at least ⅚ of the oversight board. Unfortunately, this didn't make things easy…
"Your project does appear to have its benefits," said one of its members, a female with long, gold-blonde hair and a notable British accent, "but I don't think you realize that the types of magic you intend for your… robot masters to use are… let's just say, less than safe ."
Of course Daryl Cavendish would be in opposition to the project , Tsueno thought. From what he'd heard, she was a first-generation immigrant from the Republic of England, having lived in Japan for the past 15-ish years. She was a staunch traditionalist when it came to the use of magic, so obviously she was suspicious of the use of any type of magic that wasn't quintessence-magic. Dr. Hikari was used to Daryl's opposition, though, thanks to the trouble of getting her to agree on letting Rock be made, and hoped the other five were more open minded than her.
His hopes were mostly right. However, one of them quickly brought up concerns about the A.G.I.s the Robot Masters would use, and the possibility about them going PAL, referring to the time when the namesake A.I. tried to launch humanity into space for her maker declaring her obsolete. (Fortunately, her plot only got as far as central California, before a family journeying from Michigan to San Francisco– the Mitchells, if Tsueno remembered correctly –stormed PAL Labs HQ and dunked her into a glass of water. But that's beside the point.) Tsueno countered the argument, stating that "Unlike PAL, the Robot Masters' A.I.s will not be connected to the Datalinks," he explained, referring to the successors to the internet of the 20th and 21st centuries. "Therefore, in the event that they, say, wanted to take over the world, they would not have access to information necessary to wipe humanity out in a single stroke like PAL had."
"That's well and good, Dr. Hikari," said the expert on sports, "but we need concrete proof that they won't try, like you just said, to take over the world to begin with. It's too much of a national security risk to not leave unaddressed."
"My son is your proof," Tsueno tried to rebuke. "Ever since his activation, he's done nothing but help whilst interacting with other people–"
"And by that," interjected the so-called expert on education, Renta Tsuji, "you mean interacting with you , at least most of the time. There is more than one other person in the world, Dr. Hikari."
As much as Dr. Hikari despised the man– Mr. Tsuji had more than his fair share of corruption scandals in his career, which the good doctor was well-aware of –he had to admit he had a point. And in truth, Tsueno wanted Rock to meet other people, just like his two daughters aboard the Graf Zeppelin .
"How about this," Renta continued. "Your… son looks like a high schooler, correct?"
Dr. Hikari could tell where this was going. "… You're suggesting that I take him to school? That's your idea?"
"The environment needs to be largely controlled," the MMEXT official explained, "and we can't have too many outside factors infringing on our observation, so in my opinion, a school would be the most ideal environment for our… case study, if you may," he said. "Here is my proposal: before we fund your project, we here at MMEXT need to see how Rock fares in public for…" he paused for a moment to think of a suitable time frame, "a year, I'd say. In the meantime, you can go ahead and build prototypes of your glorified tools– I mean, your Robot Masters ," he corrected himself, as the expert on technology facepalmed for his slip, "but you can not activate them until your son's trial is complete. If the results are satisfactory in our head minister's eyes, then the go-ahead for activation and testing will be granted. If not… Well, I think you already know. … How does that sound?"
Hikari thought over the corrupt official's proposal. On one hand, working with a man like Tsuji would severely dampen his public image if word got out. Not that he cared much about the public's perception of him, though he knew many other people, notably his wife Shiho, who did have an issue with it. But on the other hand, his Robot Master program didn't seem likely to get approved any other way, and he wasn't going to sell himself out to Shiro Cybernetics, the Sunshine Corporation, or any other soulless companies. If he was going to help mankind (or at least Japan) in his largest contribution yet, right now was probably his best shot he'd ever have.
"… I accept." he reluctantly answered.
The school selected was Takeda Shingen High School, the most wealthy and tech-savvy school in the Setsuri School District… as well as the one with the most non-Japanese students, about 60% of those enrolled there. 200 years ago, the presence of such a large proportion of foreign students would've been remarkable in Japan, but population decline had led to the opening of the immigration floodgates in the 2050s. This was no doubt a controversial decision (to put it mildly) at the time it was made, but after 150-odd years, the presence of so many Chinese and Korean immigrants, ex-American (Euro-descendant, black, and indigenous) refugees, and other foreign citizens had become commonplace.
Takeda Shingen High School also happened to be the local magic academy, though the MMEXT's oversight board judged that this would have little effect on influencing the outcome of Rock's "test," unlike if they had put it in, say, Arasaka Academy downtown. As much as the MMEXT and the wider Japanese government sucked up to the megacorp's whims, they recognized that was far too sensitive of an experiment for them to fuck around with.
Anyways, about a month after Dr. Hikari's proposal of the Robot Master Program, Rock was transferred to Takeda Shingen High, at the beginning of its second yearly semester. The school day was from 8:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M., with after-school activities lasting from the end of it until 6:00 P.M.. The day was split into 6 periods of 70 minutes per class, with an unofficial 7th period in the middle for students to have lunch and/or study.
The building itself was rectangular, and had three floors. The first floor had a brick façade, with outward-opening glass frame doors at its entrance. The second and third floors, though, had a largely glass façade, and had slightly larger footprints than the ground floor, resulting in an overhang of about 3 meters on each side. This was to give students and/or parents waiting for said students outside some kind of shelter from the rain, wind, sun, and debris from something blown up by a Martian or rouge Chosen One.
However, to say that Rock's first semester was "rough" would be an understatement.
For starters, Rock had a whole semester to catch up on to be where everyone else was at. Fortunately, although Tsueno had designed his processor not to be much better than an average person, it did store information much better than its organic counterpart, so once he learned something, the data of that lesson was ready to be accessed in an instant, and not as prone to forgetfulness.
Secondly, the teachers were largely indifferent to his special circumstances. In fact, some of them were downright hostile to him. Of particular note was the school's history teacher, Mrs. Finnelan, who saw him as no different from the aliens that invaded Earth in the Reckoning (more on that in a few paragraphs). The JROTC teacher, Sergeant Isuru "Breaker" Night, wasn't much better. Granted, Rock would never have JROTC classes, given that he tended to avoid violence whenever possible, but the former soldier was nonetheless outspoken against the son of light.
Rock had a hard time making friends with his fellow students as well, mainly due to none of them interacting with him often. Some of them did so because they feared him (though he didn't blame them, what PAL did was abhorrent), some because they were too busy studying and/or cramming so they get higher grades than the sods that sit next to them in class, but a few of them did so because, in their minds, they had better shit to do than make friends with the first sapient robot of his kind.
One of the latter was Daryl Cavendish's niece, Diana, who by no coincidence attended TC High as well, as part of its magic course. In addition to being a magio-supremacist like her aunt (her parents died years ago, from what he understood), she was the top student in many classes, and was actively idolized by Ms. Finnelan, funnily enough. Due to the normal and magic courses rarely interacting, Rock tried repeatedly to open up a "channel of conversation" with Diana whenever possible (which was after history class, the only class they shared), only to be foiled by other students getting her attention (unknowingly, of course; he didn't blame them for having their own lives).
Of course, this didn't go unnoticed by his creator, but the MMEXT refused to change the school Rock would attend in spite of Dr. Hikari's complaints. Tsueno theorized that this was at the behest of either Daryl (whom he suspected was using her niece to spy on his son), Renta, or both. Despite all of this, Rock never stopped trying to reach out, in spite of all the backlash. All the while, he'd slowly collected data from history class about why a bunch of Europeans and Americans were in Japan in the first place…
WARNING: INFODUMP IMMINENT!
By 2076, Earth was a dying planet. The biosphere had been gutted, most life with the potential of gaining sentience and succeeding humanity all but extinct, the climate slowly warming, the Yggsdrasil practically dead, and mankind being overrun by right-wing nationalism and fascism, whether it be in the classic brown or the more recent green. The top 0.1% lived a life of hedonistic luxury, while the bottom 99%, the working class, had in most places become little more than interchangeable cogs in the machine of cultural and ecological omnicide.
But no one would have believed as this was happening, that our world was being watched by intelligences greater than man's own; that as men busied themselves working just to get enough money to barely scrape by, they observed and studied, the way a scientist might scrutinize creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water with a microscope. With infinite complacency, the men (and occasional woman) who had accumulated most of the world's wealth over the past 100-odd years went to and fro about the globe, confident of their empire over the rest of man, and the Earth. And the Moon, since they'd just colonized it. Yet, 2,763 light years away, as a presumably Earth-like planet became inhospitable due to a cataclysmic war, its native inhabitants began to regard our planet with envious eyes. Once the dust settled, they drew their plans against us…
Okay, I'll stop parodying War of the Worlds .
When cataloging possible worlds to relocate to, Earth met all of the checks required: it is terrestrial, orbits a G-type star, is abundant with sakuradite (their primary power source), and is relatively close to their homeworld. Even better, we had already put down primitive infrastructure (roads, cities) for the xenoforming process to build on top of. So, with nothing adieu, the Martians, as they eventually came to be known, hit the warp drive and arrived in Earth's gravity well on July 20, 2069…
…and was immediately confronted by the fact that humanity was no longer limited to using only the crude tech of the Romans and Han Dynasty. Knowing that the 1 million Martians couldn't hope to face off against 10.5 billion humans, they resorted to more covert means. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on who you ask), they found someone who was willing to work with them, a young witch named Croix Meridies.
Born in Milan, Italy in 2059, Croix was unusual amongst Earth's magical community in that she merged magic with 2070's technology, something nearly all of her peers saw as heresy, but was more ideal for working with a race of beings from the stars above. Magic on Earth had been in terminal decline since the end of WW2 130-odd years earlier, and the young north Italian witch was keen on reversing that trend. So the Martians made a deal with her: The Martians would help her break open the Grand Triskelion, and in return, she would tell them everything they needed to know about humanity and the Earth in general.
The Martians' initial attempts to blast the triskelion open with their guns quickly proved futile, which led them to consider other alternatives. Long story short, Croix and the aliens' scientists developed what became known as the Noir Rod, a swarm of magitronic nanobots able to constrict a larger device powered by dream fuel spirit; that is to say, the Noir Rod was powered by human emotion, particularly anger.
Coincidentally, the region of Kashmir was in the grip of a climate-induced drought, and the artificial postcolonial nations of India and Pakistan (the former of which had the world's largest population, at ~1.4 billion) were both agitating for control of the region for the umpteenth time. Thus, when on July 4, 2076, the time finally came to open the Grand Triskelion, the unfathomable amounts of anger necessary to power the Noir Rod swarm was already being naturally produced. The seal was broken successfully, and…
… Um… let's just say Croix was disappointed by what she found.
As the witch was struggling to get anything more than sunshine, rainbows, bubbles and childish laughter out of a twig, the Noir Rod proceeded to perform the one function the Martians neglected to tell Croix about. Namely, it absorbed part of the Triskelion's magical energies, then turned into a missile and shot off toward the Indian subcontinent. By the time Ms. Meridies had broken down in tears over the form the "world-changing magic" manifested itself as, the Noir Rod was nowhere to be found; indeed, if it weren't for her friend Chariot du Nord (who was infamous within the magic community for using magic for spectacle instead of practical purposes) already searching for her, Croix may never have found her way out of the Arcturus Forest.
Then again, she was hung she was hung less than a day later, so maybe it wasn't a good thing Chariot found her.
The Noir Rod, meanwhile, split in two. One half, basically a first stage for the rest of the missile, fell back to Earth…
…right on top of Luna Nova Academy, as fate would have it. One enormous flash of light later, and the academy, its staff, and everyone else who happened to be present, had been turned into a bunch of alien metal.
[Author's Note: To get an idea of what happened to Luna Nova in this universe, think of how transfornium is made in Transformers: Age of Extinction ]
The rest of the Noir Rod took a hypersonic trajectory towards the source of its dream spirit fuel, and reached its destination before any of the world powers knew what the fuck was happening. The missile detonated over 23.813 N, 77.256 E, roughly 60 km NNW from Bhopal, at an altitude of 20 kilometers.
This had several major effects, which spread outwards across the entire globe from central India:
However, despite being the saviors of mankind, the Chosen were also like germs in the sense that neither are considered allies in most circumstances. They were demonized to Hell and back once their existence became common knowledge, and hunted down by local governments and/or paranoid survivors. When Rock asked Ms. Finnelan about why, all he got was a rant about how the Chosen Ones were demons incarnate, something that he severely doubted.
Getting back on topic, the Martian War had obviously left the world permanently reshaped.
The United States of America, then-global hegemon and puppet of Militech, was already teetering on the edge when the Martians demolished the house with the residents inside, so to speak; the fact that the Reckoning happened exactly on the country's tricentennial birthday made its subsequent collapse (and to a letter extent, Canada's) all the more poetic. Following a 30-year warlord period, in their place rose the Union of Socialist American Republics (USAR), or North American Union, which proved a much better and fairer when it comes to economic equality and human rights than the corrupt, increasingly dysfunctional USA.
Russia responded to the post-Martian world by doing the same thing it always had in the event of a crisis, taking the pain and running with it, but this had the effect of causing the already-dying nation to fully self-destruct, and led to the creation of the Eurasian Union. Karelia and Siberia resisted the new technocratic government and permanently left Moscow's control (having since gone separate ways), though Eurasia compensated its losses by absorbing its fellow post-Soviet countries in the Caucasian Mountains and Belarus. Central Asia declined to join, even after Moscow attempted to invade them (the only reason Astana still isn't part of the union is because the rising seas overflowed into the Caspian, botching the Yellow Army's invasion).
Others, however, solidified. The People's Republic of China came out worse for wear, but considering it still existed as a political entity– and all but official victory in the Second Cold War on account of being the last one standing –that was still a positive. Beijing would thus take the opportunity given by the Reckoning and Martian War to… Well, first they finally got around to absorbing Taiwan (peacefully, fortunately). But after that, they used leftover alien Technology and enslaved Chosen power to rebuild, and promoted its socialist, surprisingly democratic vision to its neighbors. Indonesia, formerly a de facto Javan empire, reformed into a federation of equals for the sake of continued survival, one that eventually grew to (re-)include East Timor, Papua New Guinea, Malaysia, and a mega-typhoon-wracked Philippines.
And still others opted to merge together. Though the European Union disbanded, its members fighting one last destructive war amongst themselves in the final quarter of the 21st century, France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium and Luxembourg formed a new union once the dust had settled. Germany would enter a federation with Austria (again), the drowning Netherlands and Denmark, and a collapsing Switzerland. Peru and Bolivia would make their own union, and the Andean Compact would grow into the new power across the Atlantic in the absence of the USA. Colombia and Venezuela, suffering from American invasion when the Martians came barging in, merged to form the totalitarian United Bolivarian Republic (which went on to conquer Panama and split Ecuador with The Andeans). Estonia and Latvia merged into the Federal Republic of Livonia, Australia and New Zealand merged into the Republic of Australasia (though this provoked the province of Western Australia, now Westralia, into seceding for who-knows-what reason), and the Federal Republic of Central America returned after nearly 300 years of disunity.
And yet others, such as Iran, Mexico and Brazil, turned inwards to ride out the Dark Days… with little success. These countries had become barely-functional dumpster fires as of the time Rock learned this. And outside of Balochistan (the western chunk of Pakistan), the former British Raj has remained a black hole of sorts, with no information having come out of there for the last 120-odd years.
The large island almost immediately became a sort of refuge for the Chosen Ones fleeing persecution, as some kind of force field bars humans from entering or exiting, witches and wizards included, unless a Chosen One is present. Yet for some reason, every other kind of life can pass through the field without hindrance, even the Martians. Only humanity is affected by the barrier. This little fact allowed the invaders from another world to also retreat here, after their plan to conquer Earth in the Reckoning went awry, and their leader, Trio, was defeated in combat by a Chosen One with red hair in San Francisco. Sakuradite is plentiful in New California, fortunately (or unfortunately), so the Martians aren't going anywhere anytime soon.
Also present on the island from the beginning was Hawai'i, which was absorbed into the island's southern tip (and Mauna Loa stands as the island's tallest peak and volcano). Utilizing the powers of the Chosen, Hawaiian culture saw a meteoric revival throughout the 22nd century.
As time passed, however, things changed. Hawai'i, the Chosen and Martians were joined by the Nuroks, the Amerindians of the former United States and parts of Canada (now Kanata) who fled in the chaos of the American Warlord Era (2078-2115), and later the United Bolivarian Republic when it began mass-enslaving its own indigenous population. In the 2160's and '70's, the State of Japan began colonizing New California's western coastline. However, a combination of Martian raids, hostile native wildlife, and the occasional klaxosaur have kept the colony of Shin Honshu from expanding very far inland.
Speaking of wildlife, it is a mixture of flora and fauna from around the world, even species driven extinct relatively recently on the geological record, such as the Saber Tooth Tiger, Dodo and Passenger Pigeon. However, some species, such as tigers and eagles, have gotten much larger than normal, often by several meters in length.
Though this did stop Japanese colonization from reaching inland, it would not stop Eurasia's Plantations, mobile domed cities powered by "magma energy", from arriving in the 2170's and early '80's. The klaxosaurs, attracted to "magma energy" have been giving them a fun time ever since. Most recently, an attempt by the North Sea Alliance (the Scottish-led remnant of NATO) to establish a colony on the island's southern coastline utilizing the aging Japanese school carrier Ark Royal went rogue shortly after its establishment in 2197, becoming the Chosen-led nation of San Gloria. (How this failure affected the NSA's perception on the world stage is a story for another time.)
Info dump complete. Returning to the main story…
Takeda Shingen High School, Setsuri, Japan
3:10 PM; Monday, September 17, 2198
"...in spite of these changes," Ms. Finnelan continued her lecture, "New California has remained peaceful throughout the 120-odd years since its creation…"
She cut herself short, noticing that a certain brunette student of hers was sleeping in class. Quickly, she summoned a small, glowing green sprite, which flew over and effortlessly slammed the student's textbook, which she was resting her chin on, square in her face.
Hard.
Rock, who had been taking notes as usual, was snapped out of his task by the loud THUD this action made, and was taken aback once he realized what had just occurred. Not only had this been enough to wake the sleeping student, but it had also given her a large, square-shaped bruise that covered most of her face. It would've been comical, if it weren't for the fact that she'd also been given a nosebleed as a result of her injury, something that most of the other students laughed at. Why they'd laugh at one of their own getting injured as some form of corporal punishment was beyond the robot's logic.
Soon, he found himself getting up from his seat and rushing over to the other side of the room. Rock didn't hear the teacher yelling at him to sit down as he leapt over his desk towards his injured classmate, nor did he hear her getting cut off by the final bell.
"Are you alright?" he asked the brunette witch, concerned.
"I'm… I'm fine…" she groaned as she held her bruised face.
"That doesn't look fine to me," said a student that had been sitting nearby, a boy about Rock's apparent age with blue hair, goggles on his forehead, and a black, short sleeved shirt under a blue and red jacket. "You should really go to bed earlier than 11:00, Akko."
"I go to bed at 10:30, Simon," the girl, apparently named Akko, corrected him. "It's not that I don't get enough sleep, It's just that these classes are so boring!"
"Boring or not," the boy, Simon, pointed out, "these are for a grade."
"I know," the brunette retorted, "but I didn't come here to be one of those moldy old witches. They're just no fun at all! I want to be a cool witch like Shiny Chariot!"
Though the three of them didn't notice, this had gotten a certain gold-blonde witch's attention.
"…You mean the one who got disowned because of her improper use of magic?" Rock asked, confused.
"That's just a subjective term," Akko pointed out. "Say what you want, but I think she was the coolest witch ever!"
"How sad," the young Cavendish finally interfered in their conversation, approaching. "How can you step foot into this course inspired by such a pathetic fraud?"
This seemed to set off the brunette witch, as she stood up in response. "Hey, what did you say!?"
In response, Diana got straight in Akko's face. "You should know that no witch or wizard cares for what she did."
Two other witches, who seemed to have followed the young Cavendish, laughed, mocking Akko's statements. "If you're into that kiddy stage magic–" one of them, who had reddish-brown hair tied into a ponytail, stated "--maybe you should go to witch kindergarten," the other witch, who had long, black hair, completed. "I'm sure you'd find many more kids at your level."
Akko, hearing this, looked about ready to blow a fuse. "I swear I'll wipe that smug exprossion off that face, Diana," she grunted.
"With what," she asked, "your textbook? Your broken nose?" she flicked said nose with her wand, which healed her face. Not that this made the Japanese witch calm down in the slightest.
However, before Akko could completely explode in the British immigrant witch's face, Rock decided to step in to cool things off before a fistfight (or worse) broke out. "Um, girls," he tried to interject, "I know this is a controversial subject, but–"
"Oh shut your voice box and go somewhere else, robotboy" Diana interrupted him. "You're not even educated in this matter."
" … eh?" The lab assistant bot was… taken aback, to put it mildly.
"You heard me," the gold-blonde witch reiterated, dismissively. "It's the end of the school day, go back to whatever mad scientist's lab you came from."
Now it was his turn to be offended, though he made sure to keep his tone in check unlike his hot-headed acquaintance. "Dr. Hikari is many things, Ms. Cavendish, but a mad scientist is NOT one of them."
"What's the matter?" the red-headed witch behind Diana mocked. "Is the machine trying to defend their daddy?"
By this point, both Rock and Akko were shaking with rage. However, the blonde brat (as the narrator, I refuse to use the more profane b-word) was smart enough not to antagonize them any further. "Hannah, Barbara," Diana addressed her posse, "I think that's enough toying for now."
With that, they left the room, Hanah and Barbarah cackling and giggling as they did, leaving them and Simon alone in the now vacant classroom. There was about a solid minute of silence, before the lab assistant bot asked the question at the top of his processor's queue:
"…What is WRONG with her!?"
"Don't know," Simon answered, "she's been kind of a bitch to anyone who's not wealthy, doesn't have the magic gene in them, or, apparently, isn't human." As Rock canceled all his internal plans to open his channel of conversation with the rude witch, his blue-haired acquaintance then looked Rock in the eyes. "Is it true? Are you the creation of Dr. Hikari-Nishizumi?"
Cooling off, Rock sighed. " …yes. Dr. Hikari is my creator… or father, if that's the term you'd prefer. Before you ask about my mother, though," he preemptively added, referring to the influential Shiho Nishizumi, "I-I haven't even met her yet, so–"
"Sweet! I've been meaning to talk to you." The blue-haired teen reached his hand out to greet him. "My name's Simon Bonne, by the way."
Rock shook hands with him "I'm Rock. Pleased to meet you."
"Why?"
They turned to see Akko… confused, for lack of a better term. "Why did you cover for me," Akko asked the robot boy. "I thought that robots were usually intent on launching us into space, or driving humanity extinct some other way. A-and you barely know us, yet you tried to get Diana to leave me alone. Why?"
"That's… …that was just PAL, I believe. And James Cameron." The son of light comically sweated, unable to conjure up a better response to the first part of her question before moving on. "I have no ulterior motive or anything like that. Neither am I some kind of cyberpsycho, if that's what you're thinking madam. And honestly, I have no idea why I did that," he admitted, "but the way she talked about you and your… uh, idol… and then my creator, i-it just wasn't right. I felt like I had to do something about it." He went silent for a moment, before adding "And I can understand why you fell asleep. Don't tell Ms. Finnelan I said this, but… her lectures are kind of monotonous."
"Well, thank you anyway," the brunette exhaled, finally calming down.
"You're welcome, Ms. … uh… … what's your name?"
"My name's Atsuko Kagari Cain," she replied, smiling. "But you can call me Akko."
I hope you're having a happy holiday season, whoever's reading this.
Now, where were we? *re-reads the prologue* Oh… well, that doesn't look good. How the Hell did we get here, indeed.
Actually, I'll do one better: How about we elaborate on that?
Before we get into the plot of Girls Dead Rise, however, the first ~8 chapters will act as a sort of setup for the robo-zombie apocalypse (muahahahahaha!), and explain just how Rock became Mega Man before he eventually meets his sisters (well, his creator's daughters, if you want to use that terminology). So let's go back to the very beginning, shall we?
27 MONTHS EARLIER…
Dr. Hikari's lab, Setsuri, Territory of Shin Honshu, Japan
9:00 AM; Thursday April 19 th , 2198
Long before his younger daughter was fighting for her life, Dr. Tsueno "Thomas" Hikari-Nishizumi was preparing for the third-most important day in his life. For the past four and a half months, he'd shed blood, sweat and tears creating what was perhaps the most advanced robot ever created to date, and in a few minutes, it was about to experience the world for the first time.
46 years old, with short, brown hair and a somewhat muscular build, Tsueno was born to a family of sakuradite miners, an occupation that took their lives when he was 15. But even then, he was a tinkerer, a thinker, a man of ideas; ideas that would allow him to skip two grades and attend Kyoto University, where he attained his masters' degree in robotics and a minor in magitronic engineering.
It was also here where he met his wife, Shiho, then-heiress to the famous Nishizumi clan. As he finished up eating his oatmeal for breakfast, he remembered how absurdly difficult it was to convince her mother to let him marry her. Indeed, it was only on her deathbed that she finally gave permission. Whilst raising their two children, Tsueno had intermittently created new robots for the government. The most notable two of these were the Metool series or robot or Mets for short, which were small, yet versatile robots that assisted in production lines and construction sites, and the Policebots , which assisted human police officers as their partners across Japan and elsewhere, such as Cascadia and the Eurasian Union.
Then there were the Sniper Joes .
Tsueno himself was a pacifist, but his first assignment given to him by Kyoto was to design a warrior robot to replace its living soldiers on the battlefields of Africa and the Middle East. But it was either do that, or not get hired at all, and understandably Dr. Hikari chose the former. The Sniper Joes, the end result of this old shame of his, were humanoid drones whose armor resembled a cross between that of a samurai and a European medieval knight. The exception to this motif was their heads; they looked like a bicycling helmet, except a red, circular light– its "eye" –pierced through the visor, to give the psychological impression that each of them was staring into your soul.
On the prototype Tsueno made for the JSDF, he'd built an automatic 20 mm rifle into its left forearm, which could shapeshift to and from a "normal" mechanical plasteel hand that mirrored its other arm. However, this meant that the prototype had to reload after firing continuously for about 20 seconds, and the upper bass weren't going to settle for this near-1:1 robotic recreation of the modern soldier. No, they wanted more. Thus, in the final product, the Sniper Joes sported a new, state-of-the-art plasma cannon: the Buster, as many within the firearms industry were calling it. And a full-blown opaque white and red riot shield was added to their right arms, allegedly to finish the whole knight/samurai motif, although Tsueno was smart enough to figure that this addition was really to give the Sniper Joes some form of non-lethal crowd control ability.
Of course, when he revealed his current project to her, Shiho wasn't exactly on board with creating life in an unnatural way, as she put it. One thing led to another, and the next thing Thomas knew, he was moving out of the Nishizumi manor to Setsuri, home of Selection University. He set up shop in a cottage on the city's outskirts, plenty of distance from the hustle and bustle of the city itself, and the slums that surrounded it. It took another year to convince the Ministry of Magic, Education, Culture, Science, Sports and Technology (MMEXT)'s oversight board to fund his endeavor, and eventually they gave him the funds, as well as a base to build his son off of.
Said base being a Sniper Joe that was decommissioned due to damage caused by a Shinto extremist's bomb, in a twisted kind of irony. but he took this insult in stride; after all, at least it was better than slaving away for Arasaka or Militech.
However, that wasn't important right now. What was important was that this was the "big day", so to speak; the day that his creation– no, his third child would enter the world.
After making a final set of checks to make sure everything was working perfectly, Tsueno looked upon his creation.
On his operating table laid an adolescent man, who appeared to be in his late teens. He was 165 cm tall and had short hair, which was the same shade as that of his older daughter, Maho; Dr. Hikari had used both of his children as inspiration while modeling what the human-looking part of his son, particularly the head and face, would look like. He was wearing a blue and white short-sleeved hoodie, which had yellow-lined pockets, and khaki shorts. His lower legs and feet didn't need to be covered, as their cylindrical plasteel casing, a remnant of his original form as your typical Sniper Joe, still remained from the knees down, although Tsueno had put in the effort to repaint them from their usual gunmetal gray and red scheme to one that was medium blue with light blue– almost cyan –highlights. Ditto with the robot's arms beneath the elbows, which were cylindrical.
The good doctor sighed, bracing himself for the moment of truth. "…Well, here we go…"
With that, the good doctor pressed a button on the large computer console that made one whole wall of his lab, and the two watched as his son came to life. His orange-ish brown eyes– the same shade as Miho's –opened, calibrating for a moment before they blink, then looked upon the two people watching.
"…Hi, my name is Rock. … Who are you?"
There was a moment of stunned silence before Dr. Hikari finally stammered a response. "…Oh! I'm, uh, Dr. Thomas Hikari. …I built you."
"…Are you my father?"
"Well, in a technical sense… Yes, I am your father, but you can call me Dr Hikari if you'd like."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Dr Light!" he said pleasantly, still smiling. The two shook hands, before the robot asked, "Do I have a mother?"
"Um, yes," Tsueno answered, "but she, uh… doesn't live here. I do hope you get to meet her someday soon."
Rock began walking around, looking at his surroundings. "Is this where you built me?" he asked.
"Yes," his creator affirmed, "you are near Setsuri, in my house, which doubles as my laboratory. Akko and I spent four months building you here."
"Four months…?" The robot looked concerned. "Is that bad? And what's a Setsuri?"
"Of course not!" his father reassured him. "You were actually two or three months ahead of schedule. Your programming and construction were easier than Dr Light thought…" He explained, though at the same time he realized he'd forgotten to include basic geography in his programming.
"My programming tells me I'm supposed to be your assistant… Is there anything you need help with?"
"Not yet, Rock." Thomas said. "Right now, I want you to get used to your new surroundings…"
Weeks went by, turning into months. Rock settled into his life, helping Dr. Hikari as he researched the practical applications of magitek– including the use of non-quintessence-magic –as part of the initial research for their next project. In particular, Rock's Variable Tool System (VTS), located in the apparatus of his right forearm, allowed him to duplicate any tool or scientific equipment in the apparatus in his left forearm. This ranged from screwdrivers and thermometers, to more complex instruments like mass spectrometers and lasers that could cool objects to below absolute zero.
The project in question was something Dr. Hikari called the Robot Master Program, a set of nine industrial line robots using non-quintessence-type magic to assist regular workers and other non-sentient robots in their lines of work.
DHN.002, Poseidon, would be used for sanitation in the city sewers, specifically to eliminate any outbreaks of Cholera and other water-borne diseases.
DHN.003, Achilles, would be used to manage parts of Shin Honshu's timber operations.
DHN.004, Heracles, would be an artificial construction foreman used to direct large construction projects.
DHN.005, Penelope, would utilize ice-magic with an apparatus similar to Rock's, to be used to help refrigerate liquid Sakuradite in any of several processing plants throughout Shin Honshu and mainland Japan, as the substance is quite volatile at room temperatures.
DHN.006, Hephaestus, would be useful in demolition programs and clearing the interior of New California of… hostiles , with potential utilization by the JSDF if the need arose.
DHN.007, Cacus, would be a waste management robot, utilizing fire-magic (generated by disks of Hihiirokane) to create flames as hot as 8,000 degrees Fahrenheit (4,426.7 degrees Celsius).
DHN.008, Zeus, would be used to help control the output of Japan's various nuclear power plants (Uranium, Plutonium, and Thorium) using electric-magic.
DHN.009, Hecate, would use quintessence-magic for search-and-rescue operations, and can lift large obstructions and debris with her Quintessence Barriers.
And DHN.010, Kronos, would be an organization and time management robot so that the common worker would know when their 12 hour shifts would begin and end, and when their lunch breaks happened.
It took 3 months to gather their findings and draw up rough blueprints for the robots, and soon the time came to present their findings to the MMEXT…
MMEXT headquarters, Kyoto, Japan
11:30 A.M.; July 14, 2198
"…this new project will not only push the boundaries of known robotics, but also benefit this country in both the private and public sectors."
Dr. Hikari had just gotten done presenting the outline of the Robot Master Program to the oversight board, which was composed of six people, each of them experts in the ministry's different fields; magic, education, science, culture, and technology. In order to get a large, overarching project related to these done in 22nd century Japan, it needed the approval of at least ⅚ of the oversight board. Unfortunately, this didn't make things easy…
"Your project does appear to have its benefits," said one of its members, a female with long, gold-blonde hair and a notable British accent, "but I don't think you realize that the types of magic you intend for your… robot masters to use are… let's just say, less than safe ."
Of course Daryl Cavendish would be in opposition to the project , Tsueno thought. From what he'd heard, she was a first-generation immigrant from the Republic of England, having lived in Japan for the past 15-ish years. She was a staunch traditionalist when it came to the use of magic, so obviously she was suspicious of the use of any type of magic that wasn't quintessence-magic. Dr. Hikari was used to Daryl's opposition, though, thanks to the trouble of getting her to agree on letting Rock be made, and hoped the other five were more open minded than her.
His hopes were mostly right. However, one of them quickly brought up concerns about the A.G.I.s the Robot Masters would use, and the possibility about them going PAL, referring to the time when the namesake A.I. tried to launch humanity into space for her maker declaring her obsolete. (Fortunately, her plot only got as far as central California, before a family journeying from Michigan to San Francisco– the Mitchells, if Tsueno remembered correctly –stormed PAL Labs HQ and dunked her into a glass of water. But that's beside the point.) Tsueno countered the argument, stating that "Unlike PAL, the Robot Masters' A.I.s will not be connected to the Datalinks," he explained, referring to the successors to the internet of the 20th and 21st centuries. "Therefore, in the event that they, say, wanted to take over the world, they would not have access to information necessary to wipe humanity out in a single stroke like PAL had."
"That's well and good, Dr. Hikari," said the expert on sports, "but we need concrete proof that they won't try, like you just said, to take over the world to begin with. It's too much of a national security risk to not leave unaddressed."
"My son is your proof," Tsueno tried to rebuke. "Ever since his activation, he's done nothing but help whilst interacting with other people–"
"And by that," interjected the so-called expert on education, Renta Tsuji, "you mean interacting with you , at least most of the time. There is more than one other person in the world, Dr. Hikari."
As much as Dr. Hikari despised the man– Mr. Tsuji had more than his fair share of corruption scandals in his career, which the good doctor was well-aware of –he had to admit he had a point. And in truth, Tsueno wanted Rock to meet other people, just like his two daughters aboard the Graf Zeppelin .
"How about this," Renta continued. "Your… son looks like a high schooler, correct?"
Dr. Hikari could tell where this was going. "… You're suggesting that I take him to school? That's your idea?"
"The environment needs to be largely controlled," the MMEXT official explained, "and we can't have too many outside factors infringing on our observation, so in my opinion, a school would be the most ideal environment for our… case study, if you may," he said. "Here is my proposal: before we fund your project, we here at MMEXT need to see how Rock fares in public for…" he paused for a moment to think of a suitable time frame, "a year, I'd say. In the meantime, you can go ahead and build prototypes of your glorified tools– I mean, your Robot Masters ," he corrected himself, as the expert on technology facepalmed for his slip, "but you can not activate them until your son's trial is complete. If the results are satisfactory in our head minister's eyes, then the go-ahead for activation and testing will be granted. If not… Well, I think you already know. … How does that sound?"
Hikari thought over the corrupt official's proposal. On one hand, working with a man like Tsuji would severely dampen his public image if word got out. Not that he cared much about the public's perception of him, though he knew many other people, notably his wife Shiho, who did have an issue with it. But on the other hand, his Robot Master program didn't seem likely to get approved any other way, and he wasn't going to sell himself out to Shiro Cybernetics, the Sunshine Corporation, or any other soulless companies. If he was going to help mankind (or at least Japan) in his largest contribution yet, right now was probably his best shot he'd ever have.
"… I accept." he reluctantly answered.
The school selected was Takeda Shingen High School, the most wealthy and tech-savvy school in the Setsuri School District… as well as the one with the most non-Japanese students, about 60% of those enrolled there. 200 years ago, the presence of such a large proportion of foreign students would've been remarkable in Japan, but population decline had led to the opening of the immigration floodgates in the 2050s. This was no doubt a controversial decision (to put it mildly) at the time it was made, but after 150-odd years, the presence of so many Chinese and Korean immigrants, ex-American (Euro-descendant, black, and indigenous) refugees, and other foreign citizens had become commonplace.
Takeda Shingen High School also happened to be the local magic academy, though the MMEXT's oversight board judged that this would have little effect on influencing the outcome of Rock's "test," unlike if they had put it in, say, Arasaka Academy downtown. As much as the MMEXT and the wider Japanese government sucked up to the megacorp's whims, they recognized that was far too sensitive of an experiment for them to fuck around with.
Anyways, about a month after Dr. Hikari's proposal of the Robot Master Program, Rock was transferred to Takeda Shingen High, at the beginning of its second yearly semester. The school day was from 8:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M., with after-school activities lasting from the end of it until 6:00 P.M.. The day was split into 6 periods of 70 minutes per class, with an unofficial 7th period in the middle for students to have lunch and/or study.
The building itself was rectangular, and had three floors. The first floor had a brick façade, with outward-opening glass frame doors at its entrance. The second and third floors, though, had a largely glass façade, and had slightly larger footprints than the ground floor, resulting in an overhang of about 3 meters on each side. This was to give students and/or parents waiting for said students outside some kind of shelter from the rain, wind, sun, and debris from something blown up by a Martian or rouge Chosen One.
However, to say that Rock's first semester was "rough" would be an understatement.
For starters, Rock had a whole semester to catch up on to be where everyone else was at. Fortunately, although Tsueno had designed his processor not to be much better than an average person, it did store information much better than its organic counterpart, so once he learned something, the data of that lesson was ready to be accessed in an instant, and not as prone to forgetfulness.
Secondly, the teachers were largely indifferent to his special circumstances. In fact, some of them were downright hostile to him. Of particular note was the school's history teacher, Mrs. Finnelan, who saw him as no different from the aliens that invaded Earth in the Reckoning (more on that in a few paragraphs). The JROTC teacher, Sergeant Isuru "Breaker" Night, wasn't much better. Granted, Rock would never have JROTC classes, given that he tended to avoid violence whenever possible, but the former soldier was nonetheless outspoken against the son of light.
Rock had a hard time making friends with his fellow students as well, mainly due to none of them interacting with him often. Some of them did so because they feared him (though he didn't blame them, what PAL did was abhorrent), some because they were too busy studying and/or cramming so they get higher grades than the sods that sit next to them in class, but a few of them did so because, in their minds, they had better shit to do than make friends with the first sapient robot of his kind.
One of the latter was Daryl Cavendish's niece, Diana, who by no coincidence attended TC High as well, as part of its magic course. In addition to being a magio-supremacist like her aunt (her parents died years ago, from what he understood), she was the top student in many classes, and was actively idolized by Ms. Finnelan, funnily enough. Due to the normal and magic courses rarely interacting, Rock tried repeatedly to open up a "channel of conversation" with Diana whenever possible (which was after history class, the only class they shared), only to be foiled by other students getting her attention (unknowingly, of course; he didn't blame them for having their own lives).
Of course, this didn't go unnoticed by his creator, but the MMEXT refused to change the school Rock would attend in spite of Dr. Hikari's complaints. Tsueno theorized that this was at the behest of either Daryl (whom he suspected was using her niece to spy on his son), Renta, or both. Despite all of this, Rock never stopped trying to reach out, in spite of all the backlash. All the while, he'd slowly collected data from history class about why a bunch of Europeans and Americans were in Japan in the first place…
WARNING: INFODUMP IMMINENT!
By 2076, Earth was a dying planet. The biosphere had been gutted, most life with the potential of gaining sentience and succeeding humanity all but extinct, the climate slowly warming, the Yggsdrasil practically dead, and mankind being overrun by right-wing nationalism and fascism, whether it be in the classic brown or the more recent green. The top 0.1% lived a life of hedonistic luxury, while the bottom 99%, the working class, had in most places become little more than interchangeable cogs in the machine of cultural and ecological omnicide.
But no one would have believed as this was happening, that our world was being watched by intelligences greater than man's own; that as men busied themselves working just to get enough money to barely scrape by, they observed and studied, the way a scientist might scrutinize creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water with a microscope. With infinite complacency, the men (and occasional woman) who had accumulated most of the world's wealth over the past 100-odd years went to and fro about the globe, confident of their empire over the rest of man, and the Earth. And the Moon, since they'd just colonized it. Yet, 2,763 light years away, as a presumably Earth-like planet became inhospitable due to a cataclysmic war, its native inhabitants began to regard our planet with envious eyes. Once the dust settled, they drew their plans against us…
Okay, I'll stop parodying War of the Worlds .
When cataloging possible worlds to relocate to, Earth met all of the checks required: it is terrestrial, orbits a G-type star, is abundant with sakuradite (their primary power source), and is relatively close to their homeworld. Even better, we had already put down primitive infrastructure (roads, cities) for the xenoforming process to build on top of. So, with nothing adieu, the Martians, as they eventually came to be known, hit the warp drive and arrived in Earth's gravity well on July 20, 2069…
…and was immediately confronted by the fact that humanity was no longer limited to using only the crude tech of the Romans and Han Dynasty. Knowing that the 1 million Martians couldn't hope to face off against 10.5 billion humans, they resorted to more covert means. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on who you ask), they found someone who was willing to work with them, a young witch named Croix Meridies.
Born in Milan, Italy in 2059, Croix was unusual amongst Earth's magical community in that she merged magic with 2070's technology, something nearly all of her peers saw as heresy, but was more ideal for working with a race of beings from the stars above. Magic on Earth had been in terminal decline since the end of WW2 130-odd years earlier, and the young north Italian witch was keen on reversing that trend. So the Martians made a deal with her: The Martians would help her break open the Grand Triskelion, and in return, she would tell them everything they needed to know about humanity and the Earth in general.
The Martians' initial attempts to blast the triskelion open with their guns quickly proved futile, which led them to consider other alternatives. Long story short, Croix and the aliens' scientists developed what became known as the Noir Rod, a swarm of magitronic nanobots able to constrict a larger device powered by dream fuel spirit; that is to say, the Noir Rod was powered by human emotion, particularly anger.
Coincidentally, the region of Kashmir was in the grip of a climate-induced drought, and the artificial postcolonial nations of India and Pakistan (the former of which had the world's largest population, at ~1.4 billion) were both agitating for control of the region for the umpteenth time. Thus, when on July 4, 2076, the time finally came to open the Grand Triskelion, the unfathomable amounts of anger necessary to power the Noir Rod swarm was already being naturally produced. The seal was broken successfully, and…
… Um… let's just say Croix was disappointed by what she found.
As the witch was struggling to get anything more than sunshine, rainbows, bubbles and childish laughter out of a twig, the Noir Rod proceeded to perform the one function the Martians neglected to tell Croix about. Namely, it absorbed part of the Triskelion's magical energies, then turned into a missile and shot off toward the Indian subcontinent. By the time Ms. Meridies had broken down in tears over the form the "world-changing magic" manifested itself as, the Noir Rod was nowhere to be found; indeed, if it weren't for her friend Chariot du Nord (who was infamous within the magic community for using magic for spectacle instead of practical purposes) already searching for her, Croix may never have found her way out of the Arcturus Forest.
Then again, she was hung she was hung less than a day later, so maybe it wasn't a good thing Chariot found her.
The Noir Rod, meanwhile, split in two. One half, basically a first stage for the rest of the missile, fell back to Earth…
…right on top of Luna Nova Academy, as fate would have it. One enormous flash of light later, and the academy, its staff, and everyone else who happened to be present, had been turned into a bunch of alien metal.
[Author's Note: To get an idea of what happened to Luna Nova in this universe, think of how transfornium is made in Transformers: Age of Extinction ]
The rest of the Noir Rod took a hypersonic trajectory towards the source of its dream spirit fuel, and reached its destination before any of the world powers knew what the fuck was happening. The missile detonated over 23.813 N, 77.256 E, roughly 60 km NNW from Bhopal, at an altitude of 20 kilometers.
This had several major effects, which spread outwards across the entire globe from central India:
- Billions of pieces of debris, the leftovers of the Nori Rod missile, were catapulted into orbit. Kessler Syndrome took hold within 2 days, destroying GPS systems and long-range communications worldwide. The Martians' mothership would also become a victim of the debris cloud enveloping the Earth, forcing them to make planetfall.
- Though not directly caused by what came to be known as the Great Reckoning, India and Pakistan were SO on edge that when the Noir Rod missile exploded near Bhopal, both nations immediately blamed each other and went to total war. Within 72 hours, the final Indo-Pakistani War would go nuclear and destroy both countries, causing a 20 year-long localized reciprocative nuclear winter/summer that killed ⅔ of their (and Bangladesh's) remaining populations, to say nothing of its effects on harvests worldwide over the following decade.
- A large island in the north pacific west of California, incorporating the big island of Hawai'i in its southern tip. This landmass has since then been known as New California, due to its eastern peninsula's proximity to the famous American state. Of course, Rock was living on the west coast of that very island, which was colonized by Japan in the 2160s and '70s.
However, despite being the saviors of mankind, the Chosen were also like germs in the sense that neither are considered allies in most circumstances. They were demonized to Hell and back once their existence became common knowledge, and hunted down by local governments and/or paranoid survivors. When Rock asked Ms. Finnelan about why, all he got was a rant about how the Chosen Ones were demons incarnate, something that he severely doubted.
Getting back on topic, the Martian War had obviously left the world permanently reshaped.
The United States of America, then-global hegemon and puppet of Militech, was already teetering on the edge when the Martians demolished the house with the residents inside, so to speak; the fact that the Reckoning happened exactly on the country's tricentennial birthday made its subsequent collapse (and to a letter extent, Canada's) all the more poetic. Following a 30-year warlord period, in their place rose the Union of Socialist American Republics (USAR), or North American Union, which proved a much better and fairer when it comes to economic equality and human rights than the corrupt, increasingly dysfunctional USA.
Russia responded to the post-Martian world by doing the same thing it always had in the event of a crisis, taking the pain and running with it, but this had the effect of causing the already-dying nation to fully self-destruct, and led to the creation of the Eurasian Union. Karelia and Siberia resisted the new technocratic government and permanently left Moscow's control (having since gone separate ways), though Eurasia compensated its losses by absorbing its fellow post-Soviet countries in the Caucasian Mountains and Belarus. Central Asia declined to join, even after Moscow attempted to invade them (the only reason Astana still isn't part of the union is because the rising seas overflowed into the Caspian, botching the Yellow Army's invasion).
Others, however, solidified. The People's Republic of China came out worse for wear, but considering it still existed as a political entity– and all but official victory in the Second Cold War on account of being the last one standing –that was still a positive. Beijing would thus take the opportunity given by the Reckoning and Martian War to… Well, first they finally got around to absorbing Taiwan (peacefully, fortunately). But after that, they used leftover alien Technology and enslaved Chosen power to rebuild, and promoted its socialist, surprisingly democratic vision to its neighbors. Indonesia, formerly a de facto Javan empire, reformed into a federation of equals for the sake of continued survival, one that eventually grew to (re-)include East Timor, Papua New Guinea, Malaysia, and a mega-typhoon-wracked Philippines.
And still others opted to merge together. Though the European Union disbanded, its members fighting one last destructive war amongst themselves in the final quarter of the 21st century, France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium and Luxembourg formed a new union once the dust had settled. Germany would enter a federation with Austria (again), the drowning Netherlands and Denmark, and a collapsing Switzerland. Peru and Bolivia would make their own union, and the Andean Compact would grow into the new power across the Atlantic in the absence of the USA. Colombia and Venezuela, suffering from American invasion when the Martians came barging in, merged to form the totalitarian United Bolivarian Republic (which went on to conquer Panama and split Ecuador with The Andeans). Estonia and Latvia merged into the Federal Republic of Livonia, Australia and New Zealand merged into the Republic of Australasia (though this provoked the province of Western Australia, now Westralia, into seceding for who-knows-what reason), and the Federal Republic of Central America returned after nearly 300 years of disunity.
And yet others, such as Iran, Mexico and Brazil, turned inwards to ride out the Dark Days… with little success. These countries had become barely-functional dumpster fires as of the time Rock learned this. And outside of Balochistan (the western chunk of Pakistan), the former British Raj has remained a black hole of sorts, with no information having come out of there for the last 120-odd years.
The large island almost immediately became a sort of refuge for the Chosen Ones fleeing persecution, as some kind of force field bars humans from entering or exiting, witches and wizards included, unless a Chosen One is present. Yet for some reason, every other kind of life can pass through the field without hindrance, even the Martians. Only humanity is affected by the barrier. This little fact allowed the invaders from another world to also retreat here, after their plan to conquer Earth in the Reckoning went awry, and their leader, Trio, was defeated in combat by a Chosen One with red hair in San Francisco. Sakuradite is plentiful in New California, fortunately (or unfortunately), so the Martians aren't going anywhere anytime soon.
Also present on the island from the beginning was Hawai'i, which was absorbed into the island's southern tip (and Mauna Loa stands as the island's tallest peak and volcano). Utilizing the powers of the Chosen, Hawaiian culture saw a meteoric revival throughout the 22nd century.
As time passed, however, things changed. Hawai'i, the Chosen and Martians were joined by the Nuroks, the Amerindians of the former United States and parts of Canada (now Kanata) who fled in the chaos of the American Warlord Era (2078-2115), and later the United Bolivarian Republic when it began mass-enslaving its own indigenous population. In the 2160's and '70's, the State of Japan began colonizing New California's western coastline. However, a combination of Martian raids, hostile native wildlife, and the occasional klaxosaur have kept the colony of Shin Honshu from expanding very far inland.
Speaking of wildlife, it is a mixture of flora and fauna from around the world, even species driven extinct relatively recently on the geological record, such as the Saber Tooth Tiger, Dodo and Passenger Pigeon. However, some species, such as tigers and eagles, have gotten much larger than normal, often by several meters in length.
Though this did stop Japanese colonization from reaching inland, it would not stop Eurasia's Plantations, mobile domed cities powered by "magma energy", from arriving in the 2170's and early '80's. The klaxosaurs, attracted to "magma energy" have been giving them a fun time ever since. Most recently, an attempt by the North Sea Alliance (the Scottish-led remnant of NATO) to establish a colony on the island's southern coastline utilizing the aging Japanese school carrier Ark Royal went rogue shortly after its establishment in 2197, becoming the Chosen-led nation of San Gloria. (How this failure affected the NSA's perception on the world stage is a story for another time.)
Info dump complete. Returning to the main story…
Takeda Shingen High School, Setsuri, Japan
3:10 PM; Monday, September 17, 2198
"...in spite of these changes," Ms. Finnelan continued her lecture, "New California has remained peaceful throughout the 120-odd years since its creation…"
She cut herself short, noticing that a certain brunette student of hers was sleeping in class. Quickly, she summoned a small, glowing green sprite, which flew over and effortlessly slammed the student's textbook, which she was resting her chin on, square in her face.
Hard.
Rock, who had been taking notes as usual, was snapped out of his task by the loud THUD this action made, and was taken aback once he realized what had just occurred. Not only had this been enough to wake the sleeping student, but it had also given her a large, square-shaped bruise that covered most of her face. It would've been comical, if it weren't for the fact that she'd also been given a nosebleed as a result of her injury, something that most of the other students laughed at. Why they'd laugh at one of their own getting injured as some form of corporal punishment was beyond the robot's logic.
Soon, he found himself getting up from his seat and rushing over to the other side of the room. Rock didn't hear the teacher yelling at him to sit down as he leapt over his desk towards his injured classmate, nor did he hear her getting cut off by the final bell.
"Are you alright?" he asked the brunette witch, concerned.
"I'm… I'm fine…" she groaned as she held her bruised face.
"That doesn't look fine to me," said a student that had been sitting nearby, a boy about Rock's apparent age with blue hair, goggles on his forehead, and a black, short sleeved shirt under a blue and red jacket. "You should really go to bed earlier than 11:00, Akko."
"I go to bed at 10:30, Simon," the girl, apparently named Akko, corrected him. "It's not that I don't get enough sleep, It's just that these classes are so boring!"
"Boring or not," the boy, Simon, pointed out, "these are for a grade."
"I know," the brunette retorted, "but I didn't come here to be one of those moldy old witches. They're just no fun at all! I want to be a cool witch like Shiny Chariot!"
Though the three of them didn't notice, this had gotten a certain gold-blonde witch's attention.
"…You mean the one who got disowned because of her improper use of magic?" Rock asked, confused.
"That's just a subjective term," Akko pointed out. "Say what you want, but I think she was the coolest witch ever!"
"How sad," the young Cavendish finally interfered in their conversation, approaching. "How can you step foot into this course inspired by such a pathetic fraud?"
This seemed to set off the brunette witch, as she stood up in response. "Hey, what did you say!?"
In response, Diana got straight in Akko's face. "You should know that no witch or wizard cares for what she did."
Two other witches, who seemed to have followed the young Cavendish, laughed, mocking Akko's statements. "If you're into that kiddy stage magic–" one of them, who had reddish-brown hair tied into a ponytail, stated "--maybe you should go to witch kindergarten," the other witch, who had long, black hair, completed. "I'm sure you'd find many more kids at your level."
Akko, hearing this, looked about ready to blow a fuse. "I swear I'll wipe that smug exprossion off that face, Diana," she grunted.
"With what," she asked, "your textbook? Your broken nose?" she flicked said nose with her wand, which healed her face. Not that this made the Japanese witch calm down in the slightest.
However, before Akko could completely explode in the British immigrant witch's face, Rock decided to step in to cool things off before a fistfight (or worse) broke out. "Um, girls," he tried to interject, "I know this is a controversial subject, but–"
"Oh shut your voice box and go somewhere else, robotboy" Diana interrupted him. "You're not even educated in this matter."
" … eh?" The lab assistant bot was… taken aback, to put it mildly.
"You heard me," the gold-blonde witch reiterated, dismissively. "It's the end of the school day, go back to whatever mad scientist's lab you came from."
Now it was his turn to be offended, though he made sure to keep his tone in check unlike his hot-headed acquaintance. "Dr. Hikari is many things, Ms. Cavendish, but a mad scientist is NOT one of them."
"What's the matter?" the red-headed witch behind Diana mocked. "Is the machine trying to defend their daddy?"
By this point, both Rock and Akko were shaking with rage. However, the blonde brat (as the narrator, I refuse to use the more profane b-word) was smart enough not to antagonize them any further. "Hannah, Barbara," Diana addressed her posse, "I think that's enough toying for now."
With that, they left the room, Hanah and Barbarah cackling and giggling as they did, leaving them and Simon alone in the now vacant classroom. There was about a solid minute of silence, before the lab assistant bot asked the question at the top of his processor's queue:
"…What is WRONG with her!?"
"Don't know," Simon answered, "she's been kind of a bitch to anyone who's not wealthy, doesn't have the magic gene in them, or, apparently, isn't human." As Rock canceled all his internal plans to open his channel of conversation with the rude witch, his blue-haired acquaintance then looked Rock in the eyes. "Is it true? Are you the creation of Dr. Hikari-Nishizumi?"
Cooling off, Rock sighed. " …yes. Dr. Hikari is my creator… or father, if that's the term you'd prefer. Before you ask about my mother, though," he preemptively added, referring to the influential Shiho Nishizumi, "I-I haven't even met her yet, so–"
"Sweet! I've been meaning to talk to you." The blue-haired teen reached his hand out to greet him. "My name's Simon Bonne, by the way."
Rock shook hands with him "I'm Rock. Pleased to meet you."
"Why?"
They turned to see Akko… confused, for lack of a better term. "Why did you cover for me," Akko asked the robot boy. "I thought that robots were usually intent on launching us into space, or driving humanity extinct some other way. A-and you barely know us, yet you tried to get Diana to leave me alone. Why?"
"That's… …that was just PAL, I believe. And James Cameron." The son of light comically sweated, unable to conjure up a better response to the first part of her question before moving on. "I have no ulterior motive or anything like that. Neither am I some kind of cyberpsycho, if that's what you're thinking madam. And honestly, I have no idea why I did that," he admitted, "but the way she talked about you and your… uh, idol… and then my creator, i-it just wasn't right. I felt like I had to do something about it." He went silent for a moment, before adding "And I can understand why you fell asleep. Don't tell Ms. Finnelan I said this, but… her lectures are kind of monotonous."
"Well, thank you anyway," the brunette exhaled, finally calming down.
"You're welcome, Ms. … uh… … what's your name?"
"My name's Atsuko Kagari Cain," she replied, smiling. "But you can call me Akko."
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Chapter 1 notes
- Location
- Covington, Kentucky
- Pronouns
- He/Him
The Fanfiction.net version of Chapter 1 will have this kind of appendix of sorts as part of it, but I decided to make it a separate post for publishing on this site because the chapter was so large it was causing some notable lag as I posted it.
Anyway, this first chapter took quite a bit of searching on the internet and creative licensing from the source materials for me to create. Let's overview what just happened:
Now to explain everything I've changed from the source material. This should be fun...
First, I'll explain the changes to Dr. Thomas Light, or Tsueno Hikari, as he's known here. Tsuneo is the canon name of Miho and Maho's offscreen father in Girls und Panzer (and therefore, Shiho's husband), and since I was placing Light as their father for this fic, I decided to make Thomas a nickname for the good doctor, with Tsueno becoming his real name. Fans of the Mega Man: Battle Network series will also be familiar with the name Hikari, and one translation of Hikari into English is "Light", so this can be considered both a shout out to that iteration of Mega Man *and* a proper translation of his name into Japanese.
To be clear, Dr. Hikari's relationship with Shiho is not hostile, though clearly she didn't approve of him playing god by creating an entirely new person from scratch. Or from a Sniper Joe, but the point stands.
Do note the description of the prototype Sniper Joe, though. Fans of Mega Man can probably tell exactly who this character is going to be well in advance, but I will ask you this: please don't spoil it for other readers until he's properly introduced later.
Next: the blue bomber himself! A huge difference you may have noticed already is that Rock is now built to look like someone in their late teens, instead of a 10 year-old like in the Classic games. That is because of two reasons: one, nobody would let a kid attend high school, especially one as occupationally hazardous as Tageki Shingen High, not to mention it would be a little awkward for everyone else.
The other reason is, plain and simple, I am uncomfortable with the fact that Classic Rock is a child soldier. To me, that is just… wrong, in multiple ways. So I took Ruby-Spears' approach and aged the soon-to-be super fighting robot to be older, though here he's nowhere near as muscular as that cartoon's take on him. (As a side-note, I do envision Ian James Corlett voicing Rock/Mega Man if this story were ever to be adapted into a movie or cartoon/anime series.)
Rock's civilian outfit is based off of that of Aki, his counterpart in the Fully Charged cartoon. Say what you want about that show, but I really liked the jacket and couldn't pass up using it here.
Now to address the first Robot Masters, or at least the details surrounding them known so far. I got the idea to have their names (at least before a certain scientist reprograms them) based on figures of Greek mythology from Rockman: The Robot War by Maelgrim. Just so we're clear about who's who:
First of all, I flipped Ice Man's gender because there's only one female Robot Master in all 11 of the Classic games (Splash Woman from Mega Man 9; let's just say I've already got plans for her). So to fix this issue, I took a look at Mega Man 1's lineup, and decided to make Ice Man a woman in this universe. Why him specifically? I'll give any Little Witch Academia fans reading this a hint: look at Ruby-Spears' take on Ice Man. You'll notice a vague similarity between him and a certain Finnish witch…
Anyways, you'll notice Wave Man, a character from Mega Man 5, has replaced Roll as the second in the DLN– well, DHN –series. You can partially blame Fully Charged for his inclusion; I adore that cartoon's iteration of him (though the name Aqua Man could easily make someone confuse him for a certain DC superhero, so I changed it back to Wave Man). Here, his ability to manipulate water will be downplayed, both so he can be taken more seriously, and for plot-related reasons.
Another reason I decided to add him into the first batch of Robot Masters was that there were only 6 RMs in the first game, instead of the 8 per each of its sequels. Initially, I planned on adding the two RMs introduced in the first game's remake, Mega Man Powered Up, Time Man and Oil Man, but I later replaced the latter with Wave Man. Frankly, Oil Man has no reason to exist in this story, nuclear fusion having become mainstream and making oil extraction obsolete (except for the creation of some plastics) long ago, and I'm not even a fan of his design. And the MM1 Robot Masters are missing a water-based member, so I brought in Wave Man to round out the cast.
You'll also notice that Time Man's been designated DLN.010 instead of DLN.00A. That is because in this universe, the DHNs and the DWNs will be two entirely separate lines, not the latter being a continuation of the former as in the games.
The Robot Masters have their own design changes from their appearance in the games, but won't discuss them until each of them is properly introduced in-story. Ditto with the appearance of Mega Man proper, what with his more knight-themed appearance as seen in the prologue.
As for DLN.009, Mage Woman… I'm not spoiling the surprise, but this Robot Master will be instrumental in Akko's development relatively soon.
As a side note, I felt that a Terminator reference was necessary when Akko mentioned public fear of A.I.s.
Anyway, that's it for my commentary on the first chapter. The next chapter will come out whenever, since I'm in college and will need to focus on my classes soon. I'll be working on this whenever I can, but I don't think it'll be very fast (or maybe it won't be, who knows).
Until then, thank you for reading, and stay safe. and please leave a comment; I'd appreciate the feedback.
—NuclearAlchmist
Anyway, this first chapter took quite a bit of searching on the internet and creative licensing from the source materials for me to create. Let's overview what just happened:
- Dr. Hikari has built Rock in his own image, partially with his own daughters, Miho and Maho, in mind. His activation was based on a scene in MegaBauer's fic Mega Man: Defender of the Human Race, which I encourage you to check out if you're fond of the Ruby-Spears Mega Man cartoon.
- In order to get the funds needed to build his prototype Robot Masters, Tsueno has agreed with the heads of MMEXT (TTL's version of MEXT, for you Girls und Panzer fans reading this) to make Rock attend school for at least the next year.
- The soon-to-be Blue Bomber has met Akko and– unexpectedly –Simon the Digger from Gurren Lagann, or Simon Bonne as he's known here. Diana too, though Rock's first real encounter with her leaves quite a bitter taste. I'm going with her more arrogant and childish OVA personality, at least initially, because I found it more entertaining than her stern, critical demeanor in the anime. I also made her hair gold and regular blonde instead of platinum blonde and mint green, like some of her concept art shows. Ditto with her aunt Daryl, who in this universe is part of the MMEXT's oversight board.
Now to explain everything I've changed from the source material. This should be fun...
First, I'll explain the changes to Dr. Thomas Light, or Tsueno Hikari, as he's known here. Tsuneo is the canon name of Miho and Maho's offscreen father in Girls und Panzer (and therefore, Shiho's husband), and since I was placing Light as their father for this fic, I decided to make Thomas a nickname for the good doctor, with Tsueno becoming his real name. Fans of the Mega Man: Battle Network series will also be familiar with the name Hikari, and one translation of Hikari into English is "Light", so this can be considered both a shout out to that iteration of Mega Man *and* a proper translation of his name into Japanese.
To be clear, Dr. Hikari's relationship with Shiho is not hostile, though clearly she didn't approve of him playing god by creating an entirely new person from scratch. Or from a Sniper Joe, but the point stands.
Do note the description of the prototype Sniper Joe, though. Fans of Mega Man can probably tell exactly who this character is going to be well in advance, but I will ask you this: please don't spoil it for other readers until he's properly introduced later.
Next: the blue bomber himself! A huge difference you may have noticed already is that Rock is now built to look like someone in their late teens, instead of a 10 year-old like in the Classic games. That is because of two reasons: one, nobody would let a kid attend high school, especially one as occupationally hazardous as Tageki Shingen High, not to mention it would be a little awkward for everyone else.
The other reason is, plain and simple, I am uncomfortable with the fact that Classic Rock is a child soldier. To me, that is just… wrong, in multiple ways. So I took Ruby-Spears' approach and aged the soon-to-be super fighting robot to be older, though here he's nowhere near as muscular as that cartoon's take on him. (As a side-note, I do envision Ian James Corlett voicing Rock/Mega Man if this story were ever to be adapted into a movie or cartoon/anime series.)
Rock's civilian outfit is based off of that of Aki, his counterpart in the Fully Charged cartoon. Say what you want about that show, but I really liked the jacket and couldn't pass up using it here.
Now to address the first Robot Masters, or at least the details surrounding them known so far. I got the idea to have their names (at least before a certain scientist reprograms them) based on figures of Greek mythology from Rockman: The Robot War by Maelgrim. Just so we're clear about who's who:
- Poseidon = Wave Man
- Achilles = Cut Man
- Heracles = Guts Man
- Penelope = Ice Woman [Ice Man]
- Hephaestus = Bomb Man
- Cacus = Fire Man
- Zeus = Elec Man
- Hecate = Mage Woman (OC)
- Kronos = Time Man
First of all, I flipped Ice Man's gender because there's only one female Robot Master in all 11 of the Classic games (Splash Woman from Mega Man 9; let's just say I've already got plans for her). So to fix this issue, I took a look at Mega Man 1's lineup, and decided to make Ice Man a woman in this universe. Why him specifically? I'll give any Little Witch Academia fans reading this a hint: look at Ruby-Spears' take on Ice Man. You'll notice a vague similarity between him and a certain Finnish witch…
Anyways, you'll notice Wave Man, a character from Mega Man 5, has replaced Roll as the second in the DLN– well, DHN –series. You can partially blame Fully Charged for his inclusion; I adore that cartoon's iteration of him (though the name Aqua Man could easily make someone confuse him for a certain DC superhero, so I changed it back to Wave Man). Here, his ability to manipulate water will be downplayed, both so he can be taken more seriously, and for plot-related reasons.
Another reason I decided to add him into the first batch of Robot Masters was that there were only 6 RMs in the first game, instead of the 8 per each of its sequels. Initially, I planned on adding the two RMs introduced in the first game's remake, Mega Man Powered Up, Time Man and Oil Man, but I later replaced the latter with Wave Man. Frankly, Oil Man has no reason to exist in this story, nuclear fusion having become mainstream and making oil extraction obsolete (except for the creation of some plastics) long ago, and I'm not even a fan of his design. And the MM1 Robot Masters are missing a water-based member, so I brought in Wave Man to round out the cast.
You'll also notice that Time Man's been designated DLN.010 instead of DLN.00A. That is because in this universe, the DHNs and the DWNs will be two entirely separate lines, not the latter being a continuation of the former as in the games.
The Robot Masters have their own design changes from their appearance in the games, but won't discuss them until each of them is properly introduced in-story. Ditto with the appearance of Mega Man proper, what with his more knight-themed appearance as seen in the prologue.
As for DLN.009, Mage Woman… I'm not spoiling the surprise, but this Robot Master will be instrumental in Akko's development relatively soon.
As a side note, I felt that a Terminator reference was necessary when Akko mentioned public fear of A.I.s.
Anyway, that's it for my commentary on the first chapter. The next chapter will come out whenever, since I'm in college and will need to focus on my classes soon. I'll be working on this whenever I can, but I don't think it'll be very fast (or maybe it won't be, who knows).
Until then, thank you for reading, and stay safe. and please leave a comment; I'd appreciate the feedback.
—NuclearAlchmist
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Chapter 2: Friends
- Location
- Covington, Kentucky
- Pronouns
- He/Him
So I managed to get this little chapter out. Good for me, I guess.
I do not own any of these characters. Except for some of the OCs.
The magic component of Takeda Shingen High School had always been known for its strict, traditionalist stance of their views and, uh, teachings. After his troublesome first month at school, Rock could clearly say that about Diana, Hannah and Barbara. However, like all stereotypes, this was not a one-size-fits-all case; and one of those who broke the mold, so to speak, was Atsuko Kagari Cain.
Atsuko, or Akko as she preferred to be called, was 161 centimeters tall, had long, maroon-ish brown hair (part of which was tied up in a knot), red eyes, and typically wore a white t-shirt with red highlights and short jeans. She was something of an oddball in TS High, in that not only was she a first generation witch, but one that rejected the traditional norms that her teachers (particularly Ms. Finnelan) tried to enforce on her like everyone else who attended. Yet somewhat paradoxically, Akko had an idealized view of witches inspired by the performances of Shiny Chariot, which clashed with the perceptions of… well, pretty much everyone else.
This didn't mean that she was a selfish person. Quite the contrary; after getting to know her for a few months, Rock could say that she was one of the nicest people he knew, if a little reckless and impulsive.
During the third weekend of October, Akko invited Rock and his creator to her house for a day. Like Dr. Hikari's house/makeshift laboratory, she lived in a cottage a good distance from Setsuri, but it was who she lived with that surprised them most: an old colleague of Tsueno, Dr. [] Cain.
Dr. Cain was an archeologist in his early 40s, though by first glance you'd assume he was much older. He was bald, had a sharp nose, a long, white beard, and wore a blue robe with a red collar. Cain also had a walking stick, since he was an unusually frail person, even during his and Dr. Hikari's time at Kyoto University.
As the two colleagues caught up with each other, Atsuko went and showed her robotic friend her room. To say it was full of Shiny Chariot memorabilia would be a slight understatement, as Rock only now could comprehend just how freaking much the brunette looked up to the French witch/performer. She explained that she stumbled upon someone watching a 3D recording of her show in Tokyo in 2075, and that she's wanted to become a witch ever since then. After a while, Rock asked where her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Kagari, were.
Akko looked… uncomfortable when he asked that, and replied that she'd rather not talk about them.
During his stay at Dr. Cain's hut, however, the lab assistant robot read a textbook that Akko had partially read, and read a few pages himself, learning a few things about how magic worked, and its abilities and limitations…
WARNING: SECOND INFODUMP IMMINENT!
The first thing to address is... what even is magic?
In its cultural definition and spiritual definition, that varies widely depending on which nationality or culture the person you're talking to comes from. In its scientific definition, Magic is the manipulation of Quintessence, in the form of magitrons, to influence the physical world, even the fabric of reality itself if it's strong enough. Natural quintessence, when not in a solid form (sakuradite), exists as a form of radiation (like Alpha, Beta and Gamma radiation) augmented by the willpower of certain sentient lifeforms with variable carrier signals riding the radiation, in a manner not unlike a system code.
The prevailing theory is that quintessence, and by extension magic, is created naturally by the existence of organic life on a terrestrial planet. Every living thing has some small amount of quintessence in them; their spirit, if you will. When they die, their spirit leaves their deceased body, enters the planet's surface and goes down roughly 9 km+ deep within the planet's crust, eventually absorbing enough heat energy to coalesce into a solid form commonly known as sakuradite. To make a long explanation short, sakuradite is to the quintessence of dead organisms what fossil fuels are to the carbon the bodies they leave behind are made out of.
Sakuradite stayed in the crust until humanity began mining it out in the 2060s, and to this day use it as a fuel source. "Burning" sakuradite leaves no byproducts, for it does little more than release the energy keeping the magitrons together in a solid state, as the magic itself is released back into the biosphere (or the hideous vacuum of space), and eventually makes it back into newborn organisms.
Over millions of years, this "Magic Cycle" has resulted in the gradual creation of a planetary web that magic ebbs and flows through, known as the Yigssgadril. The amount of magic flowing through it at any moment depends on countless factors, including how much (if any) sakuradite is being mined, the birth–death ratio of every living species on that planet, the amount of life on the planet overall, etc.
The next thing we need to make clear going forwards: not every sapient creature can use magic. In particular, the Martians have been theorized to not have strong enough souls to wield magic, leaving them unable to use it naturally. However, this didn't stop them from using weapons enchanted with a type of magic, allowing them to use it in a limited capacity.
In addition, not all members of a magic-wielding species can… well, wield magic. For humanity, in order to be able to wield any of the types of magic (and only wield one type of it at that), need a specific gene in their DNA, which is only present in 20% of the population (Amerindians and Tibetians have a far higher percentage of their population that has this/these gene(s) than the other races of mankind). This means around 80% of humanity cannot use magic of any kind in the traditional way.
Naturally, this has led to some magio-supremacist beliefs manifesting themselves (or at least experiencing a meteoric rise in popularity) after the magic community returned to prominence following the Reckoning. Diana Caventish immediately popped into Rock's head when he learned this particular fact, but that's besides the point.
Another result is that a good number of people who– for whatever reason –still want to use magic, in addition to a sizable portion of the wizarding world, have taken a page of Croix Meridies' book and combined it with late-22nd century technology. To Rock, Magitek, the result of this combination, needed no introduction; he was a byproduct of magitek, afterall. However, it is also looking increasingly appealing to even the more conservative parts of the wizarding world, as the effectiveness of natural magic seems to be dwindling alongside the biosphere as a whole…
As for what magic can do and what its limits are, it varies on what type of magic is being used, which in turn depends on the personality and soul of its user. Because of the sheer diversity of what it can do, the International Ministry of Magic (IMM), the closest thing the magic community has to a government, has categorized magic into 17 different types; a magic user (usually referred to as a 'wizard' or 'witch,' although 'mage' is a widely-accepted gender-neutral term) can only use one type, which by unknown means is selected as they come into the world. Getting magitrons to do something specific is usually less of a physical task than a mental one, though verbally reciting "spells" usually helps get the mage into the right mindset to do so.
What follows is an index of each of the 17 types of known magic, and their abilities.
Quintessence
Abilities: Giving dreams and visions (e.g. fortune-telling), communicating with other quintessence-magic users telepathically, moving objects semi-telepathically, creating barriers out of quintessence (requires experience), manipulating the life force of planets, living beings, and sakuradite crystals (requires loads and loads of experience, DO NOT TRY AT HOME)
Personality Associated: irrelevant
Status: Unregulated; mostly harmless, no need for regulation.
NOTE: Quintessence is the most common form of magic in the world, accounting for the use of about 90% of "mana" (the colloquial term for augmented gamma radiation), and the only type of magic considered fully orthodox and completely safe to use.
Iron
Abilities: Creating, controlling and absorbing any type of metal (E.G. to create armor), and extreme endurance.
Personality Associated: unyielding
Status: Regulated; dangerous if used incorrectly or in certain ways.
NOTE: Very dangerous to robots, for obvious reasons.
Fire
Abilities: Creating, manipulating and absorbing fire/heat, making concentrated beams of fire/heat, detecting energy sources (since energy gives off heat), raising air and skin temperatures (requires experience), and extreme resistance to heat (at the cost of acute vulnerability to cold).
Personality Associated: short-temperedness, warm-heartedness
Status: Heavily Regulated; very dangerous, hard to control.
Plantlife
Abilities: Controlling, creating and manipulating plantlife, regenerating forests (requires experience).
Personality Associated: calmness, caring
Status: Lightly Regulated.
Water
Abilities: Creating, manipulating and absorbing water, sensing moisture (requires experience), resistance to corrosive waters, the ability to stay underwater longer than an average air-breathing creature, added underwater agility, and greater lung capacity.
Personality Associated: fluidness (possibly volatility), wanting what is best for oneself and others
Status: Regulated; can be dangerous if used in certain ways.
Ice
Abilities: Creating, controlling and absorbing ice/snow, making a concentrated beams of ice/snow/coldness, freezing anything (objects, people, enemies, etc.) and lowering air temperature (requires experience), and extreme resistance to cold (at the cost of acute weakness to fire/heat).
Personality Associated: coldness, antisocial tendencies.
Status: Regulated; dangerous if used incorrectly or in certain ways.
Sand (Dust)
Abilities: Creating, controlling and absorbing/destroying sand, dust and sandstone, creating sandstorms and dust storms, tougher skin, turning living organisms into dust.
Personality Associated: jealousy, envy
Status: Banned; extremely destructive, possibly racism towards Arabs.
Stone
Abilities: Creating, manipulating and absorbing stone, creating pillars, mountains, boulders, walls, etc. out of stone/rock, and incredible strength. NOTE: Cannot affect sand or sandstone.
Personality Associated: extreme stubbornness
Status: Regulated.
Earth
Abilities: Creating, absorbing and manipulating earth, clay and soil (e.g., to increase the content of nutrients), manipulating the terrain, causing earthquakes (requires lots and lots of experience), increased strength and incredible night vision.
Personality Associated: unknown
Status: Mostly Banned; extremely destructive (for obvious reasons), but undeniably useful for improving agricultural yields, especially in arid regions.
Crystal
Abilities: Creating, absorbing and manipulating minerals, solid crystals (bar water, ethane, methane and ammonia ices) and gemstones, creating varying structures of gemstone (Ruby/Sapphire, Emerald, Quartz, Diamond, etc.).
Personality Associated: being relatively honest, open about one's own intentions and wants.
Status: Regulated; the IMM would rather not crash the price of rare minerals and jewels.
Air (Gas)
Abilities: Creating, controlling and manipulating gasses (bar hydrogen, that's reserved for Solar), creating toxic concoctions and airborne poisons, creating cyclones (DO NOT TRY IF NOT A CERTIFIED PROFESSIONAL), absorbing gasses to create a vacuum, and increased agility.
Personality Associated: being passive, disregardful of consequences or how their actions may harm/help others.
Status: Heavily Regulated.
Electricity
Abilities: Creating, controlling and manipulating electricity/lightning, shocking/paralyzing opponents with lightning bolts, creating electric defensive barriers and the ability to utilize chain lightning (requires experience), and resistance to electrocution.
Personality Associated: passionate, energetic.
Status: Banned, though advocates for magitek would beg to differ (for obvious reasons).
NOTE: individuals with electric-magic have a tendency to have the ability of increased speed and agility.
Magnetism
Abilities: Manipulating magnetism (E.G. to achieve flight), manipulating metals via magnetism and shooting beams of magnetic energy.
Personality Associated: curious, acute foolhardiness.
Status: Banned, though some (though not all) advocates for magitek would beg to differ.
NOTE: Don't ask why the universe decided to split the electromagnetic force into Electricity and Magnetism when it established the magic "system"; only God (if he/she exists) knows the answer.
Sonics
Abilities: Creating/using sound waves, sonar-based sensing, the ability to vibrate an enemy into dust and creating a sonic barrier/sonic boom (requires experience), enhanced hearing and the ability to imitate sounds.
Personality Associated: attention hogging.
Status: Banned.
Magma
Abilities: Creating, controlling/manipulating and absorbing liquid rock and metal, altering its temperature, and melting and/or vaporizing solid objects.
Personality Associated: sternness, whilst still having a deep passion for others.
Status: Banned.
Gravity
Abilities: Manipulating/controlling gravity (E.G. to walk on walls and upside-down on solid surfaces), levitating objects, and manipulating gravity to fly or create a Black Hole (requires experience, DO NOT TRY TO MAKE A BLACK HOLE, EVEN IF YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES MAKE IT ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY; Just… don't).
Personality Associated: Insufficient research has been done as of the time of writing.
Status: Banned, for obvious reasons.
NOTE: The most recent form of magic "discovered," only being officially classified by the IMM in 2154.
Shadow
Abilities: Creating, manipulating and absorbing shadows, using them to teleport (select users), making literal hands of shadow (requires experience), and unleashing blasts of pure darkness.
Personality Associated: unknown, but evidence suggests intense hatred (towards one's self or others).
Status: Banned; extremely destructive, the legacy of Agatha the Wicked.
Solar (Light)
Abilities: Creating, controlling and absorbing light, bending it to make oneself invisible, creating laser beams and solid/non-solid illusions (requires experience), and the ability to induce nuclear fusion and create mini-stars.
Personality Associated: unknown.
Status: Banned; extremely destructive, impossible to control.
NOTE: Solar is such a powerful type of magic, that anyone who has tried to use it has wound up only vaporizing their own bodies. As such, solar-magic, the practice of solar-magic, and research into/about solar-magic has been completely and thoroughly outlawed by the IMM.
Now, Magic is not a silver bullet to every conceivable problem; most beings with the ability to wield elements cannot use it limitlessly. There is a reason why technology eventually gained favor over magic during the 18th–21st centuries, after all. After using large amounts of mana, they must wait until their body naturally recharges it, or they absorb some. A mage's proficiency in the usage of any type of magic will allow them to perform more complex tasks with that power, which should come naturally through experience, unless the user dies before then).
In addition, there are some things even magic cannot accomplish. For example, a mage cannot turn someone into a mouse, fish, horse, rock, or any other type of animal or inanimate object. This was a misinformed stereotype that came from the great witch hunts of the second millennium AD [I refuse to use the term CE, because by autistic head tends to get CE and BCE easily confused], one that the magic community still hasn't entirely shaken off.
As for humanity's overall relationship to magic… it's complicated, like everything in history is.
Human mythology tells of feats of gods using a force by this name, but humanity had shunned its usage (and even denied its very existence) by the 17th century AD in favor of science. However, even in the dying world of 21st century Earth, there remained a few stubborn holdouts of mankind's ancient relationship with this hidden force of nature. England in particular had the largest number of magic-users in the world as of 2075.
However, the "magic community" of Earth, led and represented by the International Ministry of Magic, is extremely conservative, having tried to keep their traditions alive at all costs in a world that was hostile towards them throughout most of recorded history. For example, the laws of the magic community are ungodly strict, the use of anything besides Quintessence-type magic is seen as either potentially dangerous if not used correctly, as is using any type of magic with technology– although that's starting to change –and using Dark Magic ( a catch-all term for shadow-magic, sand-magic, electricity-magic, magnetism-magic, magma-magic, and gravity-magic) is punishable by death or, more often, worse, though I will not entail what I mean in order to spare your sanity.
Ditto with using or even researching solar-magic, though Rock never found a satisfactory answer as to why that is within the textbook.
He found their overall resistance to any kind of change somewhat understandable, though, considering the magio-phobic, ultra-materialist, atheistic, absolutist, penny-pinching, extremely-far-right socio-political culture of East Asia, North America, and Western+Central Europe prior to 2076. Despite this, he could not deny that this attitude has left the magic community stagnant and behind the times, even at the turn of the 23rd century.
Thus, by the time of the Reckoning and subsequent Martian War, magic had long since fallen out of popular culture worldwide. However, it would make a reappearance in the mid-21st century with the spectacle of young showtress Chariot du Nord, better known by her alias, Shiny Chariot. From 2073 to 2076, she performed 15 shows throughout most of the world, bringing smiles everywhere she went, before disappearing without a trace during the chaos of the New Red Wave. Of course, due to her "incorrect" use of magic for entertainment instead of practical purposes, the Magic community of Earth mostly views Chariot as a blemish to their dogmatic record, and many witches downright hate her. The downtrodden crowds that had seen her shows and their descendants, however, disagree(-d) with that notion, including a wave of first-generation witches inspired by her performances from the 2080s — 2110s. In spite of that, and partially due to her… relationship with Croix Merides, Chariot du Nord's legacy remains extremely controversial, to put it lightly.
A more recent concern to the IMM, however, is that in the year 2197, scientists in Acadia (the former Mid-Atlantic states, Canadian maritime provinces, and New England) managed to create the first artificial Philosopher's Stone, specifically one that didn't blow up in your face if you so much as looked at it weirdly. It would be apt to say that the ensuing (and still ongoing) democratization of magic has been tearing through the magic community like a hot knife through butter. Tensions are rising between two developing camps: the "hardliners," or pureblood sect, who still believe that the practices of magic are sacred and must be preserved, in spite of the rapidly changing circumstances, and the "reformists," or magitek sect, who see the newfound attention to the community, and Croix Merides' success in uniting magic and technology (even if she was played like a damn fiddle by the Martians), as a necessity if the community is to survive.
Unfortunately, even this may not hold a candle to another growing crisis; the amount of magic present on Earth has been in decline since the Napoleonic Wars and First Industrial Revolution, something that has worsened exponentially as a result of the Martians misusing part of the Grand Triskelion's energies to cause the Great Reckoning. It has gotten to the point that access to Yigssgadril has all but disappeared outside 2 kilometers from the occasional philosopher's stone, unless you're on the island of New California for some mysterious reason, and even these rare green crystals have seemingly begun to lose their power in recent years. With this in mind, it came as no surprise to Rock to learn that the magitek sect has been growing rapidly, especially since it allows people without the "magic gene" to otherwise be a mage…
Info dump complete. Returning to the main story…
Rock was about to read about the magic community's role in the Martian War, but was interrupted by his creator calling out that it was time to go back home. Akko promised to return the favor by visiting the Hikari household, which she followed up on multiple times
However, if Akko was happy-go-lucky, Simon Tageki Bonne was a different story. The son of a family of sakuradite miners, he'd lost his parents when their mine went up in a massive fireball– the substance was quite volatile at room temperature –when he was 5. After being sent to a run-down orphanage in Shin Hiroshima [a satellite city east of Setsuri] for a year, he was adopted by scrapyard operator Rigel Bonne, who parented him along with his own children, Tiesel and Tron Bonne. There, he was taught not to take everything at face value; there may be something valuable hidden in a piece of junk, after all, or– more importantly –some piece of scrap that's even worse.
Unfortunately, Rigel died of a superbug two years ago. Fortunately, the family's yen reserves were more than enough to let the blue-haired teen continue his education, though Tiesel has apparently made some… questionable decisions after taking over the scrapyard.
Due to this background, Simon was usually the one to counteract Akko's more zany plans, projects, etc., as a voice of reason. Despite that, he sometimes went a little overboard, particularly when it came to getting the best grades. Not to mention he almost never wore a shirt beneath his jacket, something that annoyed many of Takeda Shingen's staff.
Every day Rock came home from school, his creator's progress on the robots he was building had continued steadily. Slowly, the nine Robot Masters began to realize themselves, materialize, take form.
The first of them that Dr. Hikari built was the sanitation bot, Poseidon. He was blue and yellow in color, and was 166 centimeters tall from head to toe. His head resembled a medieval knight's helmet, and had a crest that resembled the trident his mythical Greek counterpart wielded. His torso was somewhat rotund, but this would not slow him down if he worked like Dr. Hikari had designed him to. His right arm had a high-pressure water cannon built into it, while his left arm had a water-compatible vacuum on it to suck up dirt and grime, which went down a hose into two tanks on his back that resembled those used by scuba divers of old. His feet were also based off a scuba diver, resembling flippers that were… uh, not so flippy.
Next came Achilles, the lumber bot. He was orange and light gray– almost white – in color, and was 151 centimeters tall from the top of his head to his toes, which were designed to dig into tree trunks for pruning high branches. However, he was 159 centimeters tall if one counted the Rolling Cutters on his forehead, which was his primary tool (and weapon, if he ever encountered the island's hostile wildlife). They were made of ceramic titanium, or ceratanium for short, the hardest, toughest, most durable material known to man– tougher than even Mythril –meaning that they could slice and dice pretty much anything, provided it wasn't too big.
Besides his shorter stature, Achilles' appearance was a bit… odd. For starters, his head was a perfect orange sphere, with his eyes resembling large googly eyes of the late 20th century, and his "ears" were little more than handles that, when combined with the head itself and the Rolling Cutter, resembled a set of Japanese scissors. For a mouth, he had a small rectangle that glowed yellow whenever he was to speak. The rest of the body was even less conventional; in addition to his four toes, Achilles' legs were reverse-articulated, which Tsueno had designed for him to leap up to 10 meters high, and increase his otherwise low walking speeds. His arms, instead of being normal robotic limbs, were soft robotic hoses, with "hard" robotic components not showing up until one reached the wrists and hands.
Once Achilles was complete, Dr. Hikari began work on the construction foreman robot. Heracles wound up being by far the largest of the Robot Masters, a whopping 245 centimeters tall! His awesome height was matched by his girth, as Heracles was a yellow, black, and red behemoth. He had two large bars on his back that resembled smokestacks (these were actually radiators to dump the insane heat his stellarator power core would give off), and his jaw resembled the bucket of a bulldozer, the top of his head made to look like a construction hat. His arms were disproportionately large, but not cartoonishly so to the point that he resembled a gorilla, though they were big enough that one could see the large hydraulic pistons in his elbow joints. In all, Heracles resembled a construction vehicle on legs, as Akko described the first time she saw his completed form.
If Heracles was the giant of the Robot Masters, the sakuradite cooling robot was the dwarf, for lack of a better, unoffensive term. Penelope only stood at 144 centimeters tall, but was no less impressive than her predecessors, on account for also being the most human-looking of all the Robot Masters. And it wasn't skin deep, though out of respect, and taking inspiration from the Inuits in Kanata (formerly Canada), Tsueno gave her a blue and white parka to cover the details and… her modest rack… *ahem*
Let's go over the parts that we can discuss. She had orange, fluffy hair and ice blue eyes, which were separated from the rest of her face by red metal rims – something that Rock referred to as her "eyeglasses." Her arms looked entirely human, though her palms had a circular vent in them that her Ice Slashers– beam-ified successors to the Freeze Rays developed by the American military in the 2040s – fired out of. The synthetic skin stopped, however, at the knees; her lower legs, like Rock, were made of plasteel, but were painted white and resembled the large snow-shoes that Arctic and Antarctic explorers used to wear.
Next came the "ground disruption" robot. Hephaestus was a return to form from Penelope, being 171 centimeters tall, orange and black, bulky, and heavily armored. He looked like someone in a bomb disposal suit from back in the early 21st century, complete with toolboxes around his wide waist. He had no real face, the "visor" of the helmet (read: his head), which would glow neon green, being the closest thing he had to one. Hephaestus' "gimmick" so to speak was his Hyper Bombs, black, baseball-sized bombs that used miniature versions of the earlier, volatile synthetic philosopher's stones as their internal explosives. His left arm could, in case attacked by hostiles, shoot Hyper Bombs the size of basketballs, and even had the same pattern of grooves on them. Hephaestus wouldn't need to restock on them, either, as they were "grown" in a chamber within his abdomen, something that greatly contributed to his bulky appearance.
How powerful were the Hyper Bombs, exactly? Well, as anyone who first tried to make these could tell you, an artificial Philosopher's Stone the size of an American penny had enough energy within to reduce a one-bedroom apartment to rubble. It was for this reason that Dr. Hikari, being the pacifist he was, had a certain disdain for Hephaestus, even as he was building him.
Thus, it didn't surprise his son when he finally got to building Cacus, the waste disposal robot. He was 166 centimeters tall, was much more conventionally humanoid in form, and was red and black in color. He had a human face, but would normally be partially covered by a black mouth guard. The rest of his head, however, was essentially a black torch, and Akko intuitively equated the fire that would be on top once he was activated to be his "hair." His head wouldn't be the only place where fire would come out: his forearms, which were based off of those of a Sniper Joe like Rock, would each contain a disk of Hihi'irokane, a substance discovered on the Atlantic Ocean floor by the Portuguese in the 2050s in their territorial waters whilst surveying for mineral deposits. The crimson metal was as malleable as gold, but when an electric current was running through it, it would create fire on its own. These disks in Cacus' forearms, therefore, would eject his flames through nozzles like those on a bottle of glue, which would in turn incinerate most of the junk that came his way. Of course, the nozzles could retract into his forearms to make way for proper hands, if the situation required it.
Once Cacus was finished, the good doctor moved on to the energy storage and generation robot. Zeus would be the leanest and most nimble of the Robot Masters, standing 179 centimeters tall head to toe – 180 if one included the two charges that stuck out of his back, each leaning 20O out from his vertical axis. He was black, red, and yellow in color, with some metallic gray thrown in as well. Like Cacus, Zeus' face was human, though the latter's could be fully seen, with the only thing that came close to an obstruction being a transparent yellow visor. His eyes were sharp, and had irises that were reddish-purple if one removed the visor.
The rest of Zeus was no less detailed. The plating of his black upper torso formed a sort of collar, and a yellow lightning bolt was painted on his chest. His black shoulder panels had two gaps in them that resembled type A electrical outlets; his knee pads had similar gaps that resembled type B outlets. His forearms, though largely red, each had a blue dome just beneath the elbow motor-joint, which would become static globes once the good doctor was finally authorized to activate him.
One of the major changes from the other Robot Masters were his hands, which unlike the ones built before him, used soft, manipulatable rubber with wires inside. They were the most human-like aside from Penelope's, though hers had synthetic flesh and skin to cover the titanium skeleton and motor joints. In Zeus' case, the wires used to bend the fingers and such could also shoot bolts of lightning as a self-defense mechanism, in case any Martians tried to take over the power plant he was stationed at. Dr. Hikari, realizing how much easier this was to maintain than the metal ones on the others he's already built, decided that this soft robotic version of the hand would be used on the remaining ones he'd yet to build, and the mass-produced versions of the others.
Then came the search-and-rescue robot. Hecate was 156 centimeters tall, and was designed to resemble the uniforms worn by the students of Luna Nova Academy, specifically the more traditional-looking ones but without the hat; when Akko asked why she looked like that, the good doctor explained that this was his way of paying homage to the defunct establishment. Aside from the purplish-blue robes, she had shoulder-mounted light bars like those on the roof of an ambulance, and would indeed act as such during rescue operations. The "hood" of her robes became an upside-down elliptical half dome-shaped backpack, which would store equipment like ropes, first-aid kits, and even a harpoon gun. Rock asked if the latter was even necessary, and his response was along the lines of "you'll never know, so I'm including it just in case."
To simulate the robe's loose sleeves, Hecate's forearms were wider than her upper arms, though this was also so they could contain an artificial Philosopher's Stone each – stable ones, not the cruder, explosive kind used for Hephaestus' Hyper Bombs. Though these were expensive for the good doctor to get his hands on– 20,000 yen apiece –and he had to eat only two meals a day instead of three during the following month, this was deemed worthwhile. The reason for this was that these artificial Philosopher's Stones were necessary for Hecate to generate her Quintessence Barriers, which weren't barriers as much as they were a means of manipulating debris at a disaster site to access trapped survivors.
Thomas was only mostly finished with the eighth prototype Robot Master, and had only started assembling the skeleton of the time management robot, Kronos, when the yearly finals came for his son. Rock got all As and Bs on his finals, while Simon got straight As. Akko, of course, was all over the place, though fortunately she didn't get an F in any of her classes, and her grades weren't so bad as to be held back a year.
However, if one were to look at the records, one would see that all three of them got an A for one of their classes: exploration.
Exploration class was something that was mandatory for all freshmen students anywhere in Shin Honshu to take. Ever since settling the island's western coastline in the 2160s and '70s, the State of Japan had been constantly attempting to expand its colony of Shin Honshu inland. Unfortunately, the colony had never been able to expand beyond 60-ish kilometers inland throughout its roughly 40 year existence. This was due to a variety of factors, chief among them being Martian raids and the island's hostile, oft oversized wildlife. Kyoto, of course, got frustrated about the lack of progress very, very quickly. So, in order to encourage more civilians to settle further into the New Californian interior despite the risks, the MMEXT came up with the Exploration course to go alongside Japanese, English, Math, and other mandatory curriculum.
Most people recognized this as unnecessary at best, but the magic community in Japan absolutely adored this new part of the nation's public education. In particular, Takeda Shingen High School went as far as to build an entire dungeon near its sports field using mindcuffed Chosen labor. And this was no mock dungeon; it was completely authentic as the school's architects could make it, complete with tons of loot, half of which was allegedly stolen from a Red Briton Dragon in northern Scotland.
Allegedly.
The rest of it came from the labyrinth beneath the ruins of Luna Nova Academy, but that's a story for another time.
Why do I bring this up? Well, for starters, what few expeditions into the wilderness that came back alive revealed that there were plenty of dungeons within New California's interior, making what was seemingly a waste of time, effort, and money not seem so useless after all. Besides that, the exploration course at Takeda Shingen High actually has two yearly final exams. The first is for basic survival skills out in the wild, which is taken on paper. The other exam covered combat with both wild animals and uh… people from enemy nations also colonizing New California, for lack of a better term.
More importantly, this exam made use of the school's dungeon, as it was in the form of a mock treasure hunt.
Just outside the entrance to Takeda Shingen High School's dungeon, Setsuri, Japan
11:30 A.M.; Friday, March 8, 2199
If an uninformed person looked at the entrance to the school's dungeon, it'd be hard to blame them for mistaking it for one of those fallout shelters built in the old United States during the First Cold War. Seeing a pair of large, metal doors within a concrete frame on the side of an unassuming hill does give that impression. However, there were a few differences between an actual fallout shelter and the place where all the freshmen students were gathering at this moment.
First and foremost, there was a sign right outside of it with an arrow pointing at it, saying "DUNGEON" in Japanese, in all caps. The larger difference was on the inside, which was, well, literally a dungeon, not a single room barely large enough to fit four people in a pair of bunk beds. That much could be inferred as the teacher, a half-Japanese, half-Caucasian middle-aged man whose name Rock had forgotten to log into his memory files, entered the passcode into a terminus on the concrete frame to the right of the doors, and they opened into the hillside.
"This will be the second half of your final exam," he said. "Unlike the first half, I'm certain many of you will find this part much more exciting. But before we begin, here's a few things we need to cover." The teacher pointed to an LED screen on the wall behind him, located just beside the terminus he'd just used to open the entrance, which gave the students visuals as he explained.
"This will simulate a scenario that, God be willing, you will find yourselves in whilst exploring the interior of this island. This entrance, if you couldn't tell by the sign, leads to a four-story labyrinthic dungeon, complete with loot, treasure, and the whole jist of what you'd expect in a game of Dungeons and Dragons or a fantasy RPG."
"A shitty dungeon-crawling RPG from what it looks like," Simon commented in a deadpan tone.
"I'm no expert," Rock quipped, "but can the school even do this? Legally, I mean?"
"Well, they aren't stopping now," the blue-haired boy pointed out.
Not hearing their comments, the teacher continued. "Each piece of treasure you find and return to the surface has a set amount of points. The students with the highest amount of points when they return will receive the highest grades, and vice versa. However," he raised his voice slightly, stressing the following point, "there are also monsters in the dungeon, so stay on guard at all times. Hell, fight them if you want to. You may work together in teams of up to five people, however that is not strongly encouraged, because as I've said before in this class, your safety is your own responsibility, and no-one else's."
As he finished up, someone in the crowd of students raised their hand. The teacher immediately noticed, knew who it was, and answered in annoyance. "No, Amanda, flying within the dungeon is not advised. The ceilings are not high enough for it to be safe, so it's best that everyone uses their own two feet instead."
Rock swore he could hear a female voice some distance behind him cursing profusely in response.
"Any other questions?"
He was met with silence.
"Good. You all have three hours to scavenge the place and return here. Any longer, and there will be a penalty to your score. Begin!"
This little chapter had two purposes. The first was to give some more background on how magic works in this universe, as it's different from the "Harry Potter, but as an anime!" approach Little Witch Academia proper took regarding it. I wrote a scientific explanation of what magic is, both for the sake of worldbuilding, and for it to fit in better with the sci-fi background of Mega Man. By the looks of it, transformation magic does not exist ITTL, meaning that Akko won't be turning into a mouse or anything else. Don't worry, though, I have something else in mind for our thick-headed heroine…
Second, we've gotten our first look at the first Robot Masters. With the exception of Bomb Man/Hephaestus (because I don't think anyone would take his original design seriously, if I'm being honest), they look pretty much identical to their game counterparts, albeit with some revisions based on Adam Withers' take on the first game's Robot Masters (and Wave Man's there too, of course). Bomb Man's redesign was inspired by his take on him as well. The purpose of this was so that if, by some miracle, this was adapted into a cartoon or anime, they'd look a bit more realistic – and cooler, too, but that's just my opinion.
Finally, we just begin to get into my personal take on the original LWA OVA. Not to spoil anything, but this is where Rock will first learn to fight (or if you want to use video game terminology, this unorthodox exam is basically the tutorial level), and will lead directly into the events of Mega Man 1. Once that's covered, there will be a year-long time skip to the events of Girls und Panzer (both the anime and der Film) and Girls Dead Rise, where we finally get into the meat of the story.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. We still have at least six chapters until we reach SeekerMeeker's original work. In the meantime, thank you for reading, and please leave a comment if you like where this story's headed so far.
–NuclearAlchmist
I do not own any of these characters. Except for some of the OCs.
The magic component of Takeda Shingen High School had always been known for its strict, traditionalist stance of their views and, uh, teachings. After his troublesome first month at school, Rock could clearly say that about Diana, Hannah and Barbara. However, like all stereotypes, this was not a one-size-fits-all case; and one of those who broke the mold, so to speak, was Atsuko Kagari Cain.
Atsuko, or Akko as she preferred to be called, was 161 centimeters tall, had long, maroon-ish brown hair (part of which was tied up in a knot), red eyes, and typically wore a white t-shirt with red highlights and short jeans. She was something of an oddball in TS High, in that not only was she a first generation witch, but one that rejected the traditional norms that her teachers (particularly Ms. Finnelan) tried to enforce on her like everyone else who attended. Yet somewhat paradoxically, Akko had an idealized view of witches inspired by the performances of Shiny Chariot, which clashed with the perceptions of… well, pretty much everyone else.
This didn't mean that she was a selfish person. Quite the contrary; after getting to know her for a few months, Rock could say that she was one of the nicest people he knew, if a little reckless and impulsive.
During the third weekend of October, Akko invited Rock and his creator to her house for a day. Like Dr. Hikari's house/makeshift laboratory, she lived in a cottage a good distance from Setsuri, but it was who she lived with that surprised them most: an old colleague of Tsueno, Dr. [] Cain.
Dr. Cain was an archeologist in his early 40s, though by first glance you'd assume he was much older. He was bald, had a sharp nose, a long, white beard, and wore a blue robe with a red collar. Cain also had a walking stick, since he was an unusually frail person, even during his and Dr. Hikari's time at Kyoto University.
As the two colleagues caught up with each other, Atsuko went and showed her robotic friend her room. To say it was full of Shiny Chariot memorabilia would be a slight understatement, as Rock only now could comprehend just how freaking much the brunette looked up to the French witch/performer. She explained that she stumbled upon someone watching a 3D recording of her show in Tokyo in 2075, and that she's wanted to become a witch ever since then. After a while, Rock asked where her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Kagari, were.
Akko looked… uncomfortable when he asked that, and replied that she'd rather not talk about them.
During his stay at Dr. Cain's hut, however, the lab assistant robot read a textbook that Akko had partially read, and read a few pages himself, learning a few things about how magic worked, and its abilities and limitations…
WARNING: SECOND INFODUMP IMMINENT!
The first thing to address is... what even is magic?
In its cultural definition and spiritual definition, that varies widely depending on which nationality or culture the person you're talking to comes from. In its scientific definition, Magic is the manipulation of Quintessence, in the form of magitrons, to influence the physical world, even the fabric of reality itself if it's strong enough. Natural quintessence, when not in a solid form (sakuradite), exists as a form of radiation (like Alpha, Beta and Gamma radiation) augmented by the willpower of certain sentient lifeforms with variable carrier signals riding the radiation, in a manner not unlike a system code.
The prevailing theory is that quintessence, and by extension magic, is created naturally by the existence of organic life on a terrestrial planet. Every living thing has some small amount of quintessence in them; their spirit, if you will. When they die, their spirit leaves their deceased body, enters the planet's surface and goes down roughly 9 km+ deep within the planet's crust, eventually absorbing enough heat energy to coalesce into a solid form commonly known as sakuradite. To make a long explanation short, sakuradite is to the quintessence of dead organisms what fossil fuels are to the carbon the bodies they leave behind are made out of.
Sakuradite stayed in the crust until humanity began mining it out in the 2060s, and to this day use it as a fuel source. "Burning" sakuradite leaves no byproducts, for it does little more than release the energy keeping the magitrons together in a solid state, as the magic itself is released back into the biosphere (or the hideous vacuum of space), and eventually makes it back into newborn organisms.
Over millions of years, this "Magic Cycle" has resulted in the gradual creation of a planetary web that magic ebbs and flows through, known as the Yigssgadril. The amount of magic flowing through it at any moment depends on countless factors, including how much (if any) sakuradite is being mined, the birth–death ratio of every living species on that planet, the amount of life on the planet overall, etc.
The next thing we need to make clear going forwards: not every sapient creature can use magic. In particular, the Martians have been theorized to not have strong enough souls to wield magic, leaving them unable to use it naturally. However, this didn't stop them from using weapons enchanted with a type of magic, allowing them to use it in a limited capacity.
In addition, not all members of a magic-wielding species can… well, wield magic. For humanity, in order to be able to wield any of the types of magic (and only wield one type of it at that), need a specific gene in their DNA, which is only present in 20% of the population (Amerindians and Tibetians have a far higher percentage of their population that has this/these gene(s) than the other races of mankind). This means around 80% of humanity cannot use magic of any kind in the traditional way.
Naturally, this has led to some magio-supremacist beliefs manifesting themselves (or at least experiencing a meteoric rise in popularity) after the magic community returned to prominence following the Reckoning. Diana Caventish immediately popped into Rock's head when he learned this particular fact, but that's besides the point.
Another result is that a good number of people who– for whatever reason –still want to use magic, in addition to a sizable portion of the wizarding world, have taken a page of Croix Meridies' book and combined it with late-22nd century technology. To Rock, Magitek, the result of this combination, needed no introduction; he was a byproduct of magitek, afterall. However, it is also looking increasingly appealing to even the more conservative parts of the wizarding world, as the effectiveness of natural magic seems to be dwindling alongside the biosphere as a whole…
As for what magic can do and what its limits are, it varies on what type of magic is being used, which in turn depends on the personality and soul of its user. Because of the sheer diversity of what it can do, the International Ministry of Magic (IMM), the closest thing the magic community has to a government, has categorized magic into 17 different types; a magic user (usually referred to as a 'wizard' or 'witch,' although 'mage' is a widely-accepted gender-neutral term) can only use one type, which by unknown means is selected as they come into the world. Getting magitrons to do something specific is usually less of a physical task than a mental one, though verbally reciting "spells" usually helps get the mage into the right mindset to do so.
What follows is an index of each of the 17 types of known magic, and their abilities.
Quintessence
Abilities: Giving dreams and visions (e.g. fortune-telling), communicating with other quintessence-magic users telepathically, moving objects semi-telepathically, creating barriers out of quintessence (requires experience), manipulating the life force of planets, living beings, and sakuradite crystals (requires loads and loads of experience, DO NOT TRY AT HOME)
Personality Associated: irrelevant
Status: Unregulated; mostly harmless, no need for regulation.
NOTE: Quintessence is the most common form of magic in the world, accounting for the use of about 90% of "mana" (the colloquial term for augmented gamma radiation), and the only type of magic considered fully orthodox and completely safe to use.
Iron
Abilities: Creating, controlling and absorbing any type of metal (E.G. to create armor), and extreme endurance.
Personality Associated: unyielding
Status: Regulated; dangerous if used incorrectly or in certain ways.
NOTE: Very dangerous to robots, for obvious reasons.
Fire
Abilities: Creating, manipulating and absorbing fire/heat, making concentrated beams of fire/heat, detecting energy sources (since energy gives off heat), raising air and skin temperatures (requires experience), and extreme resistance to heat (at the cost of acute vulnerability to cold).
Personality Associated: short-temperedness, warm-heartedness
Status: Heavily Regulated; very dangerous, hard to control.
Plantlife
Abilities: Controlling, creating and manipulating plantlife, regenerating forests (requires experience).
Personality Associated: calmness, caring
Status: Lightly Regulated.
Water
Abilities: Creating, manipulating and absorbing water, sensing moisture (requires experience), resistance to corrosive waters, the ability to stay underwater longer than an average air-breathing creature, added underwater agility, and greater lung capacity.
Personality Associated: fluidness (possibly volatility), wanting what is best for oneself and others
Status: Regulated; can be dangerous if used in certain ways.
Ice
Abilities: Creating, controlling and absorbing ice/snow, making a concentrated beams of ice/snow/coldness, freezing anything (objects, people, enemies, etc.) and lowering air temperature (requires experience), and extreme resistance to cold (at the cost of acute weakness to fire/heat).
Personality Associated: coldness, antisocial tendencies.
Status: Regulated; dangerous if used incorrectly or in certain ways.
Sand (Dust)
Abilities: Creating, controlling and absorbing/destroying sand, dust and sandstone, creating sandstorms and dust storms, tougher skin, turning living organisms into dust.
Personality Associated: jealousy, envy
Status: Banned; extremely destructive, possibly racism towards Arabs.
Stone
Abilities: Creating, manipulating and absorbing stone, creating pillars, mountains, boulders, walls, etc. out of stone/rock, and incredible strength. NOTE: Cannot affect sand or sandstone.
Personality Associated: extreme stubbornness
Status: Regulated.
Earth
Abilities: Creating, absorbing and manipulating earth, clay and soil (e.g., to increase the content of nutrients), manipulating the terrain, causing earthquakes (requires lots and lots of experience), increased strength and incredible night vision.
Personality Associated: unknown
Status: Mostly Banned; extremely destructive (for obvious reasons), but undeniably useful for improving agricultural yields, especially in arid regions.
Crystal
Abilities: Creating, absorbing and manipulating minerals, solid crystals (bar water, ethane, methane and ammonia ices) and gemstones, creating varying structures of gemstone (Ruby/Sapphire, Emerald, Quartz, Diamond, etc.).
Personality Associated: being relatively honest, open about one's own intentions and wants.
Status: Regulated; the IMM would rather not crash the price of rare minerals and jewels.
Air (Gas)
Abilities: Creating, controlling and manipulating gasses (bar hydrogen, that's reserved for Solar), creating toxic concoctions and airborne poisons, creating cyclones (DO NOT TRY IF NOT A CERTIFIED PROFESSIONAL), absorbing gasses to create a vacuum, and increased agility.
Personality Associated: being passive, disregardful of consequences or how their actions may harm/help others.
Status: Heavily Regulated.
Electricity
Abilities: Creating, controlling and manipulating electricity/lightning, shocking/paralyzing opponents with lightning bolts, creating electric defensive barriers and the ability to utilize chain lightning (requires experience), and resistance to electrocution.
Personality Associated: passionate, energetic.
Status: Banned, though advocates for magitek would beg to differ (for obvious reasons).
NOTE: individuals with electric-magic have a tendency to have the ability of increased speed and agility.
Magnetism
Abilities: Manipulating magnetism (E.G. to achieve flight), manipulating metals via magnetism and shooting beams of magnetic energy.
Personality Associated: curious, acute foolhardiness.
Status: Banned, though some (though not all) advocates for magitek would beg to differ.
NOTE: Don't ask why the universe decided to split the electromagnetic force into Electricity and Magnetism when it established the magic "system"; only God (if he/she exists) knows the answer.
Sonics
Abilities: Creating/using sound waves, sonar-based sensing, the ability to vibrate an enemy into dust and creating a sonic barrier/sonic boom (requires experience), enhanced hearing and the ability to imitate sounds.
Personality Associated: attention hogging.
Status: Banned.
Magma
Abilities: Creating, controlling/manipulating and absorbing liquid rock and metal, altering its temperature, and melting and/or vaporizing solid objects.
Personality Associated: sternness, whilst still having a deep passion for others.
Status: Banned.
Gravity
Abilities: Manipulating/controlling gravity (E.G. to walk on walls and upside-down on solid surfaces), levitating objects, and manipulating gravity to fly or create a Black Hole (requires experience, DO NOT TRY TO MAKE A BLACK HOLE, EVEN IF YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES MAKE IT ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY; Just… don't).
Personality Associated: Insufficient research has been done as of the time of writing.
Status: Banned, for obvious reasons.
NOTE: The most recent form of magic "discovered," only being officially classified by the IMM in 2154.
Shadow
Abilities: Creating, manipulating and absorbing shadows, using them to teleport (select users), making literal hands of shadow (requires experience), and unleashing blasts of pure darkness.
Personality Associated: unknown, but evidence suggests intense hatred (towards one's self or others).
Status: Banned; extremely destructive, the legacy of Agatha the Wicked.
Solar (Light)
Abilities: Creating, controlling and absorbing light, bending it to make oneself invisible, creating laser beams and solid/non-solid illusions (requires experience), and the ability to induce nuclear fusion and create mini-stars.
Personality Associated: unknown.
Status: Banned; extremely destructive, impossible to control.
NOTE: Solar is such a powerful type of magic, that anyone who has tried to use it has wound up only vaporizing their own bodies. As such, solar-magic, the practice of solar-magic, and research into/about solar-magic has been completely and thoroughly outlawed by the IMM.
Now, Magic is not a silver bullet to every conceivable problem; most beings with the ability to wield elements cannot use it limitlessly. There is a reason why technology eventually gained favor over magic during the 18th–21st centuries, after all. After using large amounts of mana, they must wait until their body naturally recharges it, or they absorb some. A mage's proficiency in the usage of any type of magic will allow them to perform more complex tasks with that power, which should come naturally through experience, unless the user dies before then).
In addition, there are some things even magic cannot accomplish. For example, a mage cannot turn someone into a mouse, fish, horse, rock, or any other type of animal or inanimate object. This was a misinformed stereotype that came from the great witch hunts of the second millennium AD [I refuse to use the term CE, because by autistic head tends to get CE and BCE easily confused], one that the magic community still hasn't entirely shaken off.
As for humanity's overall relationship to magic… it's complicated, like everything in history is.
Human mythology tells of feats of gods using a force by this name, but humanity had shunned its usage (and even denied its very existence) by the 17th century AD in favor of science. However, even in the dying world of 21st century Earth, there remained a few stubborn holdouts of mankind's ancient relationship with this hidden force of nature. England in particular had the largest number of magic-users in the world as of 2075.
However, the "magic community" of Earth, led and represented by the International Ministry of Magic, is extremely conservative, having tried to keep their traditions alive at all costs in a world that was hostile towards them throughout most of recorded history. For example, the laws of the magic community are ungodly strict, the use of anything besides Quintessence-type magic is seen as either potentially dangerous if not used correctly, as is using any type of magic with technology– although that's starting to change –and using Dark Magic ( a catch-all term for shadow-magic, sand-magic, electricity-magic, magnetism-magic, magma-magic, and gravity-magic) is punishable by death or, more often, worse, though I will not entail what I mean in order to spare your sanity.
Ditto with using or even researching solar-magic, though Rock never found a satisfactory answer as to why that is within the textbook.
He found their overall resistance to any kind of change somewhat understandable, though, considering the magio-phobic, ultra-materialist, atheistic, absolutist, penny-pinching, extremely-far-right socio-political culture of East Asia, North America, and Western+Central Europe prior to 2076. Despite this, he could not deny that this attitude has left the magic community stagnant and behind the times, even at the turn of the 23rd century.
Thus, by the time of the Reckoning and subsequent Martian War, magic had long since fallen out of popular culture worldwide. However, it would make a reappearance in the mid-21st century with the spectacle of young showtress Chariot du Nord, better known by her alias, Shiny Chariot. From 2073 to 2076, she performed 15 shows throughout most of the world, bringing smiles everywhere she went, before disappearing without a trace during the chaos of the New Red Wave. Of course, due to her "incorrect" use of magic for entertainment instead of practical purposes, the Magic community of Earth mostly views Chariot as a blemish to their dogmatic record, and many witches downright hate her. The downtrodden crowds that had seen her shows and their descendants, however, disagree(-d) with that notion, including a wave of first-generation witches inspired by her performances from the 2080s — 2110s. In spite of that, and partially due to her… relationship with Croix Merides, Chariot du Nord's legacy remains extremely controversial, to put it lightly.
A more recent concern to the IMM, however, is that in the year 2197, scientists in Acadia (the former Mid-Atlantic states, Canadian maritime provinces, and New England) managed to create the first artificial Philosopher's Stone, specifically one that didn't blow up in your face if you so much as looked at it weirdly. It would be apt to say that the ensuing (and still ongoing) democratization of magic has been tearing through the magic community like a hot knife through butter. Tensions are rising between two developing camps: the "hardliners," or pureblood sect, who still believe that the practices of magic are sacred and must be preserved, in spite of the rapidly changing circumstances, and the "reformists," or magitek sect, who see the newfound attention to the community, and Croix Merides' success in uniting magic and technology (even if she was played like a damn fiddle by the Martians), as a necessity if the community is to survive.
Unfortunately, even this may not hold a candle to another growing crisis; the amount of magic present on Earth has been in decline since the Napoleonic Wars and First Industrial Revolution, something that has worsened exponentially as a result of the Martians misusing part of the Grand Triskelion's energies to cause the Great Reckoning. It has gotten to the point that access to Yigssgadril has all but disappeared outside 2 kilometers from the occasional philosopher's stone, unless you're on the island of New California for some mysterious reason, and even these rare green crystals have seemingly begun to lose their power in recent years. With this in mind, it came as no surprise to Rock to learn that the magitek sect has been growing rapidly, especially since it allows people without the "magic gene" to otherwise be a mage…
Info dump complete. Returning to the main story…
Rock was about to read about the magic community's role in the Martian War, but was interrupted by his creator calling out that it was time to go back home. Akko promised to return the favor by visiting the Hikari household, which she followed up on multiple times
However, if Akko was happy-go-lucky, Simon Tageki Bonne was a different story. The son of a family of sakuradite miners, he'd lost his parents when their mine went up in a massive fireball– the substance was quite volatile at room temperature –when he was 5. After being sent to a run-down orphanage in Shin Hiroshima [a satellite city east of Setsuri] for a year, he was adopted by scrapyard operator Rigel Bonne, who parented him along with his own children, Tiesel and Tron Bonne. There, he was taught not to take everything at face value; there may be something valuable hidden in a piece of junk, after all, or– more importantly –some piece of scrap that's even worse.
Unfortunately, Rigel died of a superbug two years ago. Fortunately, the family's yen reserves were more than enough to let the blue-haired teen continue his education, though Tiesel has apparently made some… questionable decisions after taking over the scrapyard.
Due to this background, Simon was usually the one to counteract Akko's more zany plans, projects, etc., as a voice of reason. Despite that, he sometimes went a little overboard, particularly when it came to getting the best grades. Not to mention he almost never wore a shirt beneath his jacket, something that annoyed many of Takeda Shingen's staff.
Every day Rock came home from school, his creator's progress on the robots he was building had continued steadily. Slowly, the nine Robot Masters began to realize themselves, materialize, take form.
The first of them that Dr. Hikari built was the sanitation bot, Poseidon. He was blue and yellow in color, and was 166 centimeters tall from head to toe. His head resembled a medieval knight's helmet, and had a crest that resembled the trident his mythical Greek counterpart wielded. His torso was somewhat rotund, but this would not slow him down if he worked like Dr. Hikari had designed him to. His right arm had a high-pressure water cannon built into it, while his left arm had a water-compatible vacuum on it to suck up dirt and grime, which went down a hose into two tanks on his back that resembled those used by scuba divers of old. His feet were also based off a scuba diver, resembling flippers that were… uh, not so flippy.
Next came Achilles, the lumber bot. He was orange and light gray– almost white – in color, and was 151 centimeters tall from the top of his head to his toes, which were designed to dig into tree trunks for pruning high branches. However, he was 159 centimeters tall if one counted the Rolling Cutters on his forehead, which was his primary tool (and weapon, if he ever encountered the island's hostile wildlife). They were made of ceramic titanium, or ceratanium for short, the hardest, toughest, most durable material known to man– tougher than even Mythril –meaning that they could slice and dice pretty much anything, provided it wasn't too big.
Besides his shorter stature, Achilles' appearance was a bit… odd. For starters, his head was a perfect orange sphere, with his eyes resembling large googly eyes of the late 20th century, and his "ears" were little more than handles that, when combined with the head itself and the Rolling Cutter, resembled a set of Japanese scissors. For a mouth, he had a small rectangle that glowed yellow whenever he was to speak. The rest of the body was even less conventional; in addition to his four toes, Achilles' legs were reverse-articulated, which Tsueno had designed for him to leap up to 10 meters high, and increase his otherwise low walking speeds. His arms, instead of being normal robotic limbs, were soft robotic hoses, with "hard" robotic components not showing up until one reached the wrists and hands.
Once Achilles was complete, Dr. Hikari began work on the construction foreman robot. Heracles wound up being by far the largest of the Robot Masters, a whopping 245 centimeters tall! His awesome height was matched by his girth, as Heracles was a yellow, black, and red behemoth. He had two large bars on his back that resembled smokestacks (these were actually radiators to dump the insane heat his stellarator power core would give off), and his jaw resembled the bucket of a bulldozer, the top of his head made to look like a construction hat. His arms were disproportionately large, but not cartoonishly so to the point that he resembled a gorilla, though they were big enough that one could see the large hydraulic pistons in his elbow joints. In all, Heracles resembled a construction vehicle on legs, as Akko described the first time she saw his completed form.
If Heracles was the giant of the Robot Masters, the sakuradite cooling robot was the dwarf, for lack of a better, unoffensive term. Penelope only stood at 144 centimeters tall, but was no less impressive than her predecessors, on account for also being the most human-looking of all the Robot Masters. And it wasn't skin deep, though out of respect, and taking inspiration from the Inuits in Kanata (formerly Canada), Tsueno gave her a blue and white parka to cover the details and… her modest rack… *ahem*
Let's go over the parts that we can discuss. She had orange, fluffy hair and ice blue eyes, which were separated from the rest of her face by red metal rims – something that Rock referred to as her "eyeglasses." Her arms looked entirely human, though her palms had a circular vent in them that her Ice Slashers– beam-ified successors to the Freeze Rays developed by the American military in the 2040s – fired out of. The synthetic skin stopped, however, at the knees; her lower legs, like Rock, were made of plasteel, but were painted white and resembled the large snow-shoes that Arctic and Antarctic explorers used to wear.
Next came the "ground disruption" robot. Hephaestus was a return to form from Penelope, being 171 centimeters tall, orange and black, bulky, and heavily armored. He looked like someone in a bomb disposal suit from back in the early 21st century, complete with toolboxes around his wide waist. He had no real face, the "visor" of the helmet (read: his head), which would glow neon green, being the closest thing he had to one. Hephaestus' "gimmick" so to speak was his Hyper Bombs, black, baseball-sized bombs that used miniature versions of the earlier, volatile synthetic philosopher's stones as their internal explosives. His left arm could, in case attacked by hostiles, shoot Hyper Bombs the size of basketballs, and even had the same pattern of grooves on them. Hephaestus wouldn't need to restock on them, either, as they were "grown" in a chamber within his abdomen, something that greatly contributed to his bulky appearance.
How powerful were the Hyper Bombs, exactly? Well, as anyone who first tried to make these could tell you, an artificial Philosopher's Stone the size of an American penny had enough energy within to reduce a one-bedroom apartment to rubble. It was for this reason that Dr. Hikari, being the pacifist he was, had a certain disdain for Hephaestus, even as he was building him.
Thus, it didn't surprise his son when he finally got to building Cacus, the waste disposal robot. He was 166 centimeters tall, was much more conventionally humanoid in form, and was red and black in color. He had a human face, but would normally be partially covered by a black mouth guard. The rest of his head, however, was essentially a black torch, and Akko intuitively equated the fire that would be on top once he was activated to be his "hair." His head wouldn't be the only place where fire would come out: his forearms, which were based off of those of a Sniper Joe like Rock, would each contain a disk of Hihi'irokane, a substance discovered on the Atlantic Ocean floor by the Portuguese in the 2050s in their territorial waters whilst surveying for mineral deposits. The crimson metal was as malleable as gold, but when an electric current was running through it, it would create fire on its own. These disks in Cacus' forearms, therefore, would eject his flames through nozzles like those on a bottle of glue, which would in turn incinerate most of the junk that came his way. Of course, the nozzles could retract into his forearms to make way for proper hands, if the situation required it.
Once Cacus was finished, the good doctor moved on to the energy storage and generation robot. Zeus would be the leanest and most nimble of the Robot Masters, standing 179 centimeters tall head to toe – 180 if one included the two charges that stuck out of his back, each leaning 20O out from his vertical axis. He was black, red, and yellow in color, with some metallic gray thrown in as well. Like Cacus, Zeus' face was human, though the latter's could be fully seen, with the only thing that came close to an obstruction being a transparent yellow visor. His eyes were sharp, and had irises that were reddish-purple if one removed the visor.
The rest of Zeus was no less detailed. The plating of his black upper torso formed a sort of collar, and a yellow lightning bolt was painted on his chest. His black shoulder panels had two gaps in them that resembled type A electrical outlets; his knee pads had similar gaps that resembled type B outlets. His forearms, though largely red, each had a blue dome just beneath the elbow motor-joint, which would become static globes once the good doctor was finally authorized to activate him.
One of the major changes from the other Robot Masters were his hands, which unlike the ones built before him, used soft, manipulatable rubber with wires inside. They were the most human-like aside from Penelope's, though hers had synthetic flesh and skin to cover the titanium skeleton and motor joints. In Zeus' case, the wires used to bend the fingers and such could also shoot bolts of lightning as a self-defense mechanism, in case any Martians tried to take over the power plant he was stationed at. Dr. Hikari, realizing how much easier this was to maintain than the metal ones on the others he's already built, decided that this soft robotic version of the hand would be used on the remaining ones he'd yet to build, and the mass-produced versions of the others.
Then came the search-and-rescue robot. Hecate was 156 centimeters tall, and was designed to resemble the uniforms worn by the students of Luna Nova Academy, specifically the more traditional-looking ones but without the hat; when Akko asked why she looked like that, the good doctor explained that this was his way of paying homage to the defunct establishment. Aside from the purplish-blue robes, she had shoulder-mounted light bars like those on the roof of an ambulance, and would indeed act as such during rescue operations. The "hood" of her robes became an upside-down elliptical half dome-shaped backpack, which would store equipment like ropes, first-aid kits, and even a harpoon gun. Rock asked if the latter was even necessary, and his response was along the lines of "you'll never know, so I'm including it just in case."
To simulate the robe's loose sleeves, Hecate's forearms were wider than her upper arms, though this was also so they could contain an artificial Philosopher's Stone each – stable ones, not the cruder, explosive kind used for Hephaestus' Hyper Bombs. Though these were expensive for the good doctor to get his hands on– 20,000 yen apiece –and he had to eat only two meals a day instead of three during the following month, this was deemed worthwhile. The reason for this was that these artificial Philosopher's Stones were necessary for Hecate to generate her Quintessence Barriers, which weren't barriers as much as they were a means of manipulating debris at a disaster site to access trapped survivors.
Thomas was only mostly finished with the eighth prototype Robot Master, and had only started assembling the skeleton of the time management robot, Kronos, when the yearly finals came for his son. Rock got all As and Bs on his finals, while Simon got straight As. Akko, of course, was all over the place, though fortunately she didn't get an F in any of her classes, and her grades weren't so bad as to be held back a year.
However, if one were to look at the records, one would see that all three of them got an A for one of their classes: exploration.
Exploration class was something that was mandatory for all freshmen students anywhere in Shin Honshu to take. Ever since settling the island's western coastline in the 2160s and '70s, the State of Japan had been constantly attempting to expand its colony of Shin Honshu inland. Unfortunately, the colony had never been able to expand beyond 60-ish kilometers inland throughout its roughly 40 year existence. This was due to a variety of factors, chief among them being Martian raids and the island's hostile, oft oversized wildlife. Kyoto, of course, got frustrated about the lack of progress very, very quickly. So, in order to encourage more civilians to settle further into the New Californian interior despite the risks, the MMEXT came up with the Exploration course to go alongside Japanese, English, Math, and other mandatory curriculum.
Most people recognized this as unnecessary at best, but the magic community in Japan absolutely adored this new part of the nation's public education. In particular, Takeda Shingen High School went as far as to build an entire dungeon near its sports field using mindcuffed Chosen labor. And this was no mock dungeon; it was completely authentic as the school's architects could make it, complete with tons of loot, half of which was allegedly stolen from a Red Briton Dragon in northern Scotland.
Allegedly.
The rest of it came from the labyrinth beneath the ruins of Luna Nova Academy, but that's a story for another time.
Why do I bring this up? Well, for starters, what few expeditions into the wilderness that came back alive revealed that there were plenty of dungeons within New California's interior, making what was seemingly a waste of time, effort, and money not seem so useless after all. Besides that, the exploration course at Takeda Shingen High actually has two yearly final exams. The first is for basic survival skills out in the wild, which is taken on paper. The other exam covered combat with both wild animals and uh… people from enemy nations also colonizing New California, for lack of a better term.
More importantly, this exam made use of the school's dungeon, as it was in the form of a mock treasure hunt.
Just outside the entrance to Takeda Shingen High School's dungeon, Setsuri, Japan
11:30 A.M.; Friday, March 8, 2199
If an uninformed person looked at the entrance to the school's dungeon, it'd be hard to blame them for mistaking it for one of those fallout shelters built in the old United States during the First Cold War. Seeing a pair of large, metal doors within a concrete frame on the side of an unassuming hill does give that impression. However, there were a few differences between an actual fallout shelter and the place where all the freshmen students were gathering at this moment.
First and foremost, there was a sign right outside of it with an arrow pointing at it, saying "DUNGEON" in Japanese, in all caps. The larger difference was on the inside, which was, well, literally a dungeon, not a single room barely large enough to fit four people in a pair of bunk beds. That much could be inferred as the teacher, a half-Japanese, half-Caucasian middle-aged man whose name Rock had forgotten to log into his memory files, entered the passcode into a terminus on the concrete frame to the right of the doors, and they opened into the hillside.
"This will be the second half of your final exam," he said. "Unlike the first half, I'm certain many of you will find this part much more exciting. But before we begin, here's a few things we need to cover." The teacher pointed to an LED screen on the wall behind him, located just beside the terminus he'd just used to open the entrance, which gave the students visuals as he explained.
"This will simulate a scenario that, God be willing, you will find yourselves in whilst exploring the interior of this island. This entrance, if you couldn't tell by the sign, leads to a four-story labyrinthic dungeon, complete with loot, treasure, and the whole jist of what you'd expect in a game of Dungeons and Dragons or a fantasy RPG."
"A shitty dungeon-crawling RPG from what it looks like," Simon commented in a deadpan tone.
"I'm no expert," Rock quipped, "but can the school even do this? Legally, I mean?"
"Well, they aren't stopping now," the blue-haired boy pointed out.
Not hearing their comments, the teacher continued. "Each piece of treasure you find and return to the surface has a set amount of points. The students with the highest amount of points when they return will receive the highest grades, and vice versa. However," he raised his voice slightly, stressing the following point, "there are also monsters in the dungeon, so stay on guard at all times. Hell, fight them if you want to. You may work together in teams of up to five people, however that is not strongly encouraged, because as I've said before in this class, your safety is your own responsibility, and no-one else's."
As he finished up, someone in the crowd of students raised their hand. The teacher immediately noticed, knew who it was, and answered in annoyance. "No, Amanda, flying within the dungeon is not advised. The ceilings are not high enough for it to be safe, so it's best that everyone uses their own two feet instead."
Rock swore he could hear a female voice some distance behind him cursing profusely in response.
"Any other questions?"
He was met with silence.
"Good. You all have three hours to scavenge the place and return here. Any longer, and there will be a penalty to your score. Begin!"
This little chapter had two purposes. The first was to give some more background on how magic works in this universe, as it's different from the "Harry Potter, but as an anime!" approach Little Witch Academia proper took regarding it. I wrote a scientific explanation of what magic is, both for the sake of worldbuilding, and for it to fit in better with the sci-fi background of Mega Man. By the looks of it, transformation magic does not exist ITTL, meaning that Akko won't be turning into a mouse or anything else. Don't worry, though, I have something else in mind for our thick-headed heroine…
Second, we've gotten our first look at the first Robot Masters. With the exception of Bomb Man/Hephaestus (because I don't think anyone would take his original design seriously, if I'm being honest), they look pretty much identical to their game counterparts, albeit with some revisions based on Adam Withers' take on the first game's Robot Masters (and Wave Man's there too, of course). Bomb Man's redesign was inspired by his take on him as well. The purpose of this was so that if, by some miracle, this was adapted into a cartoon or anime, they'd look a bit more realistic – and cooler, too, but that's just my opinion.
Finally, we just begin to get into my personal take on the original LWA OVA. Not to spoil anything, but this is where Rock will first learn to fight (or if you want to use video game terminology, this unorthodox exam is basically the tutorial level), and will lead directly into the events of Mega Man 1. Once that's covered, there will be a year-long time skip to the events of Girls und Panzer (both the anime and der Film) and Girls Dead Rise, where we finally get into the meat of the story.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. We still have at least six chapters until we reach SeekerMeeker's original work. In the meantime, thank you for reading, and please leave a comment if you like where this story's headed so far.
–NuclearAlchmist
Chapter 3: Dungeons and Doofuses
- Location
- Covington, Kentucky
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I do not own any of these characters. Except for some of the OCs.
1st floor, dungeon, Setsuri, Japan
11:40 A.M.; Friday, March 8, 2199
Only ten minutes into the exam, Rock could already say that he was not a fan of this.
Almost immediately after the teacher began his 3 hour countdown, the crowd of students he was in had practically stampeded inside, carrying him and his friends down the linear stairway, before separating from the herd and entering the first room (chamber?) to his right. He knew that this was only the top level, but judging that the stairway had taken a good two, maybe three minutes to descend, Rock could tell that he was already at least 40 meters underground, likely deeper.
The good news: he was no longer being pushed/pulled/tugged/whatever-ed with the current of his fellow students, meaning he could now move around entirely of his own accord.
The bad news: in his quest to build himself an authentic son, Dr. Hikari had denied Rock any kind of night vision ability regular Sniper Joes had built into their optics. And because the room he was now in was pitch black, the robot couldn't see a God-damn thing.
Fun, he sarcastically thought.
Just then, however, his surroundings started to brighten up. Rock turned around, seeing a light beginning to pour through the exit stairwell. A few seconds later, two students walked into what Rock assumed was the nexus for the first floor. It was shaped like a cube, at least 10 meters long and wide. From what he could tell from his position, there were four exits from that room. The first, where the light-bringer had just come from, was the stairway to the surface; rock was in the room positioned to its right, and there were two other exits, one in each of the other two walls.
The witch holding the light was a girl with short, wild burgundy hair and a punk jacket with a teddy bear's face sewn onto it, while her companion was a taller girl, with red and orange hair that resembled a flame.
The burgundy-haired girl looked around, and quickly noticed the AGI boy standing behind the doorless doorway to her right, holding her wand (from which the white light was emanating). For a moment, the three of them stood there looking at each other, not making a move or sound. Eventually, though, the burgundy-haired stranger broke the deafening silence.
"Are you waiting for someone else?"
"A few people, actually," Rock nodded. "Though it seems the crowd pushed them down at least another floor. You?"
"Not really," the taller girl replied.
"We were kinda going to do this on our own," the shorter one elaborated. "Although…"
She approached Rock, but not in a confrontational way like how he'd met most people. Her body language suggested that whoever this was, she had no malicious intentions.
" …you do look like you need some help." She held out her hand, accompanied by a warm smile.
After a moment of hesitation, he took her up on her offer. "…well, I do need a light source right now," he admitted as his new acquaintance closed the remaining meter between them. "My name's Rock."
"My name's Sonia. Nice to meet you, Mr. …" she trailed off as she finally got a good look at him, now being close enough that her wand actually made his entire body visible. Of course, this worked both ways; the lab assistant could now tell that this Sonia was roughly 150 centimeters tall, which meant that he (165 cm) practically towered over the wild-haired witch, something that wasn't reassuring given her surprised and worried expression.
"…You're the robot." she finally said, her voice having a bit of surprise in it as she took a step back. "You're not going to…"
"What? No, I wouldn't hurt you," he quickly clarified, his voice quickly gaining an annoyed tone, "despite what a few British immigrants would claim."
"Diana?" the red-haired girl asked. "Pfft, she's so stuck up her own ass that she can go–"
"Amanda! No swearing around strangers," Sonia reminded her. She then faced Rock again. "Sorry about my friend, she's a bit… foul mouthed."
"Anyway, we'll trust that you won't hurt us or anything. Now, let's get some treasure and get out of here as soon as possible. This place is giving me the creeps…"
"Agreed," the red-haired girl, Amanda, agreed. "Let's get this shit over with." from what he could estimate given her size and distance, she was about Rock's height, likely a bit taller, and had emerald green eyes.
With that, the two of them began walking down the corridor…
Stairway between the ??? and ??? floors, dungeon, Setsuri, Japan
12:00 P.M.; Friday, March 8, 2199
Whilst Rock was cautiously making some new friends, Simon was frantically trying to keep up with Akko as she ran after a short, 6 legged… thing the size of a human hand with the intent of killing it. They were running down a spiraling staircase made of polished stone, the rest of the exploration class having pushed them into some sort of false wall; not that the brunette witch particularly cared why there was a false wall, her mind was too preoccupied on the critter. At this rate, Simon thought, they'd reach the bottom floor in no time. The hard part, of course, would be the return trip to the surface, because of three things. First, gravity would be working against them instead of helping them, like right now. Second, the weight of whatever treasure they would find would further drag them down. And third…
…well, they were going to be exhausted if Akko kept this up for much longer.
Finally, Akko reached the bottom of the stairwell, leading into a large, cathedral-sized room with large statues of medieval knights and samurai lining the walls. Unlike the rest of the dungeon, which required an outside light source for the students to use to see anything, this room was lit up by touches along the walls roughly halfway between the floor and the arched ceiling. They were burning eerie blue flames, with the entire room being lit up in the same hue.
As she stopped to take in her surroundings, Simon exited the stairwell behind her, stopping and placing his hands on his knees as he tried to breathe.
"Damn…" he gasped, "… you're fast… can you please… stop for a moment…?"
"What?" she asked, confused. "You know I want to be a performer like Chariot, how did you expect me not to get some kind of athletic training?"
"…point… taken…"
He took a moment to catch his breath, before asking "What floor are we on? I reckon that the stairwell we just used was far too long for this to be the second floor."
"How should I know," she pouted, before going to explore this place. Not wanting to see his friend hurt herself, Simon quickly followed.
4th floor, dungeon, Setsuri, Japan
1:15 P.M.; Friday, March 8, 2199
In the halls of the fourth floor, Diana Cavendish was busy keeping an eye out for monsters (or other students) as Hannah and Barbara were rapidly scavenging the room they were in for anything they saw as valuable. In the past hour, the trio had made a beeline for the bottom floor, since they figured this was where the most valuable pieces of treasure were located. Sure, they'd encountered a few monsters along the way, but the young Cavendish's skills and spell sets had disposed of them relatively quickly. However, she'd noticed that Hannah and Barbara had been unusually skittish ever since they'd entered the dungeon, which would probably explain why they were having her stand guard while they collected their fill of items.
The fact that the bottom floor was the only one that was well-lit didn't seem to make them any more comfortable.
"A gavel knife, a mythril rale, e-even a silver ring", the reddish-brown haired witch counted their findings. "I think this is enough for us to take up to the surface and win the most points."
"Those are all common drops, Hannah," Diana stated, unimpressed. "No-one would dare refer to those as rare treasures. There must be something worth more than those down here."
"But Diana," Barbara stuttered, "this place is totally dangerous!"
"I-I don't think I can handle it anymore!" Hannah added.
"Witches are supposed to be feared," the blonde prodigess stated in response, disappointed in her friends' lack of courage. "How could you be afraid of this place? Besides, my magic is invincible, you have absolutely nothing to fear."
Unfortunately, as she was saying this, a large, black shape appeared behind the British-descendant witch. It was growling. The two other witches noticed the looming threat and tried to warn their friend.
"D-d-d-Diana!"
"What is it?" she sighed, annoyed more than anything.
Hannah and Barbara pointed behind her, trembling. The young Cavendish turned around, and was quickly taken aback by the presence of a large minotaur looking down at her, its yellow, glowing eyes piercing right into her soul.
As Diana and her posse were being ambushed, Rock was on the floor above, following his new friends(?) as he helped her find anything they could. So far, they'd found nothing but a staff that looked like it had come right out of a maho shoujo anime. Sonia had passed that up because, in Amanda's words, it looked like trash. Currently, they were on their way down to what they were certain to be the bottom floor.
"These stairwells seem endless," he commented as they continued their descent into the Earth.
"That's the thing about dungeons," his burgundy haired companion replied, "they're set up like this to make things as hard as possible for intruders to find the best rewards… along with all the monsters and stuff."
"Well, they at least could've made things a little less annoying," Amanda pouted.
It was at this point that they noticed a growing light at the end of their spiraling path. "Hold up, I think we're near the end," she told her robotic acquaintance. They rapidly made the rest of the way down…
…only to be met by the sight of a minotaur charging right at them.
They had barely any time to react before the hulking beast was right on top of them, Rock pushing Sonia out of harm's way. The half-man, half bull sent the robot flying into the wall to his left, the impact creating a small crater on it before gravity pulled him back to the floor. Fortunately, his plasteel and titanium skeletal frame held up without as much of a scratch on his forearms, calves or feet. He looked up just in time to see a bunch of sharp objects– knives, swords, even a few katanas –fly into the back of the beast, which promptly turned around and began prepping to charge right back where it came from. Quickly getting up, he turned to see Diana firing all her best spells at the minotaur, barely dodging it when it charged back at her like, well, a bull when it sees the color red. As he saw this, Sonia rushed back over to him.
"Are you alright?" she asked, concerned.
"I think I'm fine," he answered honestly, before gesturing to the trio of European witches in the short distance, "but I don't think they'll be fine for much longer!"
"Have you been sleeping through all our classes?" the burgundy-haired Japanese witch asked, momentarily forgetting that robots don't technically need sleep. "That's Diana Cavendish, Rock, she's the best witch in our school both in grades and combat prowess! She'll be fine!"
"Yeah, well it looks like she's not doing too well in spite of that," Amanda retorted, before rushing head-first into the battle before either Sonia or Rock could move to stop her. She summoned a fireball ("Murowa!") and flung it at the beast with her wand… which only put its attention squarely on her. The minotaur grabbed her with its right hand as she attempted to move out of harm's way. From what Rock could see, her arms were locked up in its grip, and she looked… uncomfortable. Sonia was at a loss for words.
"We need to do something!" Rock told her, alarm ringing in his voice.
"Well, blast that thing!" she shrieked back!
"How!?" he asked, panicking. "I'm unarmed!"
"What do you mean, you're unarmed!? You were based on a Sniper Joe from what I can tell!"
"Well, even if Dr. Hikari left the Buster in my arm when he built me, I wouldn't know how to use it!"
"There's no time!" she screamed, gesturing to the sight of the minotaur squeezing the living daylight out of the Irish-American witch.
Rock stood for a brief moment, slowing the various possibilities flowing through his processor and going through each and every one of them within seconds. "…fuck it," he said, raising his left arm and clenching its respective fist, thinking of his arm as a gun instead of a hand and hoping to high Heaven that it did something.
To their surprise, it did. The blue plasteel cylinder encasing his forearm split first in two, halfway down its length, then the front half split in two. His hand, still a fist, turned so that his palm was aiming downwards, then flipped down into the space given by his opening forearm. A short, gunmetal gray nozzle slid forward and out of the mechanical mess to replace it, and the various bits of metal came back together.
All of this happened within one and a half seconds.
When it was over, Rock's left forearm was one and a half times longer than he was familiar with it being. The middle third of it was colored a lighter blue to represent its extension, and had two details that stood out: a meter on the inner side of his arm, which Rock guessed was some ling of ammunition gauge, and a notch on the top side which aligned with a small slab of plasteel just in front of where the cylindrical part of his arm gave way to the nozzle, to form a crude sight. And although he couldn't see it, said nozzle had a deep, red glow coming from within.
So this is what a Buster looks like, he thought for a millisecond, before aiming at the minotaur's right-hand shoulder and turning his attention towards how to fire the damn thing. He squeezed his eyes shut, his mind screaming at his arm something along the lines of "open fire!" if one were to translate the coding flying through his mind right now.
What followed was the accumulation of yellow energy at the tip of the nozzle for half a second, coalescing it into a sphere of what was likely solar-type magic the size of a baseball. When it was done, the glowing ball of energy made a sound that was half-bang, half-bwip, and shot towards its target at a pace not too fast for Sonia, Diana, Hannah, and Barbara to see. Amanda caught a glint of its yellow glow for a second as she was being crushed to death, barely having the willpower to turn her head in time to see the ball of energy hit her captor right where Rock had aimed. The minotaur roared in pain, dropping her as it clutched its shoulder with its other hand. She quickly skittered away as their foe turned its attention to the one who just managed to hurt it.
Immediately, the beast ran towards the robot at full speed, only for the much more agile Rock to jump out of the way, firing his weapon a second time. It missed its mark. He shot his Buster a third time, this time striking the minotaur in its left knee as it was turning around, causing it to fall over onto its side. Rock fired a fifth time, aiming this time at the abomination's head to make this experience as short as possible – both for himself and for the beast he was about to kill.
He shot again.
And again.
And again.
Over and over, he fired, not giving the minotaur the smallest chance to get back up.
After about half a minute of continuous firing, he felt a hand placed on his right shoulder. "That's enough, I-I think it's dead now," he heard Sonia half shout, half stutter.
He stopped. Looking at where the minotaur laid just half a minute ago, all that was left of it was a smoldering heap of blackened flesh and bone. His Buster, meanwhile, was so hot from firing what basically amounted to countless miniature stars continuously, that it was glowing a faint red, like the red glow that continued to emanate from within the robot's forearm. Lowering his arm and aiming at the floor, Rock saw Diana and her cohort staring at him, understandably surprised and, in their leader's case, a little unnerved. Amanda, by contrast, had a glint in her eyes that was either amazed, troublesome, or both.
And then the floor gave out from underneath them all.
??? floor, dungeon, Setsuri, Japan
1:20 P.M.; Friday, March 8, 2199
"This place is a lot larger than I thought." Simon spoke his thoughts out loud.
After finding this place, Akko and her friend had been busy searching the large room for anything valuable. However, what they'd found was somehow more and less disturbing than that. Swords, guns that shoot beams of ice, fire, and lightning, this place seemed full of dangerous items lining the walls that, frankly, even Akko thought shouldn't be on school grounds at all, even if it was sealed away in a secret location.
"I don't think we're supposed to be here…" she spoke to Simon. "Everything here is either weird, or too dangerous for anyone sane to use."
"Well, maybe Mr. Robinson didn't tell us about this because of that," the goggled boy speculated, looking around. "Knives, swords, guns, sets of armor– what is this, a billionaire's collection?"
As he said this, Akko caught the glint of something out of the corner of her eye. She turned around and what she saw took her breath away. There, on a podium lining the wall, was–
"Uh, Akko?" Simon asked. "Why are you gawking at that weird staff?"
"Staff?" the brunette witch bolted towards the object in question. It was a medium-length staff, true, but it was beige, with a golden ornament at the end and seven crystals spread along its length. And Akko had seen it plenty of times before, on posters and videos of Shiny Chariot's performances. This…
…this was the freaking Shiny Rod!
However, before she could start to explain this, a loud rumbling noise echoed throughout the long, low-lit cathedral-like room.
"Akko, I think this can wait," the young Bonne told his friend. "If there's an explosion underground, that's never a good thing. Come on!" he promptly bolted off in the direction the sound came from. Akko stood there for a moment, before grabbing the Shiny Rod and running after him.
When Rock opened his eyes, he did not expect himself to be in a room lit up by blue fires along the walls. Nor did he expect to land on an expensive-looking vase, its pieces scattered on the polished stone floor after a piece of debris from the ceiling– well, the floor he was standing on moments earlier –knocked it over. Quickly, he got up, and surveyed his surroundings.
From under the large pile of rubble, Sonia crawled out and rubbed the back of her head. ""Ugh, what happened?" she moaned.
"I think I may have weakened the floor," Rock explained to the best of his ability. "As for where we are–"
"That was brilliant, you think-headed piece of junk!"
The two students noticed Diana and her posse standing up amongst the rubble, their faces and clothes dirty from all the dust a collapsing ceiling naturally produces, Hannah and Barbara were hugging each other in fright. The blonde witch, however, looked more angry than anything. "You could've gotten me killed!"
"My apologies for the sloppy rescue, Ms. Cavendish," he replied, "but that minotaur probably would've killed you regardless! Besides," he pointed at his left arm, "I didn't even know I had this built into me."
"Then do everyone a favor and NEVER USE THAT THING IN PUBLIC AGAIN!!!" she shrieked back, right in his face.
"I dunno, h-he did kind of just save your life, Diana," Barbara managed to squeak, which earned her a hard glare.
However, Diana then realized something. If the floor above was supposed to be the fourth and bottom floor, then why was there another floor beneath that, which Rock had just unintentionally revealed? Her scowl gave way to a smirk. "On second thought," she told her cohorts, "I think he just discovered the jackpot."
"Eh?" They both looked confused.
"Think of it. Mr. Robinson must've not told us about this unless he wanted us to find it. Whatever's down there must have the most points out of everything."
"Y-you can't be serious," Hannah peeped. "I-I'm pretty sure we've had enough scares for today, we should head back now."
"And what if that bucket of bolts' blockheaded friends wind up getting the highest scores? Or anyone else for that matter?"
"…point taken…" the red-brown-haired witch admitted.
"W-we'll go with you," Barbara added.
"Good." With that, the blonde witch used her wand to start levitating down the hole into the space below, Hannah and Barbara following suit.
By that point, though, Rock, Amanda and Sonia had already left the scene, and getting the best grades in this unconventional exam was the last thing on their minds.
"I don't see any exits," Rock said, searching between the various items lining the walls. "You didn't happen to bring a broom with you, right?"
"I did," Amanda gleefully replied.
"Unfortunately, no," Sonia admitted. "I didn't think I'd need it, and Mr. Robinson said that flying in the dungeon wasn't advised."
So that's his name, the robot thought, before his thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of rapidly-approaching footsteps on the polished stone food.
"Rock! Oh thank God you're here!" He turned around to find his blue-haired friend running towards him from the opposite direction from which they came.
"Simon!" he greeted him as he came to a stop. "What are you doing here?"
"Akko chased a critter down a stairwell at the end of the top floor and we wound up here. You?"
"I split off from the crowd just after the entry stairway, and teamed up with Sonia and Amanda since you guys were nowhere to be seen."
"Who?" he asked, only to then notice the girl with wild burgundy hair standing nearby. " …did you have to get the thief?" he asked, pointing at Amanda.
"Thief?" Rock was visibly confused.
"Hey, I don't steal stuff," the red-haired witch got defensive, "I just borrow it… permanently…"
The young Hikari's expression turned to disappointment. Perhaps he'd misjudged her character.
"A-anyway, we need to get out of this place ASAP, so we can get something with points and get back to the surface before the whole place caves in."
"Cave in?" Rock asked, concerned.
"Yeah, we heard something happening in your direction."
…
" … Don't tell me that was you."
"Kind of," Sonia explained. "We found Diana fighting a freaking minotaur, and hot-head here rushed in and nearly got crushed to death. So the big guy," she gestured towards Rock, "used his arm cannon to take it out. Granted, he fired way too many lemons at that thing, since the whole floor fell out from right underneath us, but…"
"There you are!" Akko interrupted them as she finally caught up. She immediately got up in the robot teen's face. "You won't believe what we found!"
"Um, did you… find something worth a lot of points, by chance?" he asked a little nervously. He'd never seen Akko this excited in the seven months he's known her.
"No," she answered, before whipping out a certain beige staff. "But I did find this!"
"Akko, why did you bring that staff with you?" Simon asked in a serious tone.
"Again, this isn't just a staff!" she countered, slightly annoyed. "This is the Shiny Rod!" she shouted triumphantly.
" … Nanni? / The fuck is that?"
It's at this point that everyone else remembered Sonia and Amanda weren't in the loop about their friend's idol, for lack of a better term. "We'll explain later," Rock told them, "for now, let's focus on finding that stairwell you used to find this place." He noticed that Akko looked a little disappointed. "What? I-I mean, it's great you found this, but I don't think it's the most important thing in the world right now."
She visibly deflated after he said this, only for her eyes to then widen. "Uh, Rock? What happened to your hand?"
Rock looked at his arm, and then realized that he forgot to deactivate his Buster. "Oh! Sorry, uh– I can explain." he apologized, before willing it into turning back into its original form.
"You know, I had a feeling you were armed," Simon said to his robot friend, "for emergencies, of course."
"More like he didn't know he had this shit!!" Amanda corrected him. "But seriously, that was awesome! And… Thank you," she bowed. "I don't think I would've gotten out of there if you hadn't started blasing that beast."
The blue-haired boy could only stare at his friend with an expression that said 'are you freaking serious? You did that just to save a stranger?'
"Yeah, I'm going to talk to Dr. Hikari about this once this is all over." Rock stated. "So… besides finding your idol's weapon, what else have you been up to?"
5th floor(?), dungeon, Setsuri, Japan
1:30 P.M.; Friday, March 8, 2199
Walking down the unfamiliar corridor, Diana couldn't help but wonder why, and how, the school hid all these valuable items down here. Sure, plenty of these things she knew were dangerous– even after their exile from England, the Cavendish family still had access to loads of information not available to the public –but if used properly, they could do lots of good to the magical community. Even the muggles could benefit, if the superior magic-wielding portion of mankind agreed to it, of course.
She never understood what was wrong with the viewpoint that witches were superior to those without the magic gene, because that was just the way the world is. All the materialist hedonists in Franco-Iberia and Acadia and their obsession over profit above the well-being of magic; all the hypocrites in China and their lack of a definition of what was natural; all the frauds and their optical illusions– except Shiny Chariot, though she'd never dare admit it in public –; all the supremacists with their demagoguing that technology was superior to all. They would be proven wrong someday soon. All of them. And when they were, the old, righteous ways would return the world to its pristine state.
But for now, she was busy searching through the various pieces and artifacts lining this hidden floor. Hannah and Barbara, of course, were trailing behind her like scaredy cats, but Diana was fine with that – for now. They'd need to grow up eventually, but given that they had the luxury of still having time to be childish, she'd tolerate it. Really, she was jealous that they didn't have to lose their parents at a young age and be the only true heir to the family name, which their aunt was tarnishing. But at least they weren't as irrespectful of the old ways like Akko and her gang were.
And she wouldn't even want to get started on that bucket of bolts, Rock Hikari-Nishizumi.
Her thoughts were interrupted, however, when her friends shrieked in terror. She whipped around, to see that they'd been frightened by what looked like an iron maiden, which had a hooded skull on top with glowing red eyes.
Now why would this be down here? She'd heard that iron maidens had been used in medieval Europe to drain witches of their blood. But to have it here, amongst a bunch of other stuff that could be used? That didn't make any sense. Unless…
Unless this was the big prize.
She scoffed. "Did whoever built this think they could use such scare tactics on a witch? Let's see what's really in here!"
With that, she aimed her wand at the device, shooting a ball of purplish-pink energy at it. The binds surrounding it broke, and the doors flew open, sending a cloud of dust into the surrounding area. When it cleared…
…Well, in another world, it would've been a small but deadly Red Briton Dragon. But in this universe, that is not what Diana and her posse found.
What they found instead was what looked like a man, who, judging by his face, appeared to be in his early 20s. I say his face, because the rest of his body appeared to be encased in a suit of black, gold and metallic gray armor that had patches and light streaks of rust all over it, with some kind of large jewel forming the center of its chestpiece. He also had two purple lines, one on each side of his face, running from his eye crevices (his eyes were closed) down over his cheeks, and continued down his neck until they disappeared under his "armor". And weirdest of all was his helmet, which was largely black but had some weird fins on its sides, behind where the ears would be, and at least the forwards sides of them were the same golden hue as parts of the rest of him.
…
" …Bloody Hell is this?"
Really, that's all Diana could say after what she assumed to be an ancient man locked up inside an iron maiden. Though in hindsight, she guessed this was less of a treasure chest and more like a makeshift coffin.
"Are you happy now, Diana?" Barbara asked, having never asked her to open the maiden in the first place.
" …No, but I'm not sure what to make of this–"
Cue the man falling out of his container face-first, making a loud, metallic THUD. Hannah and Barbara immediately shrieked and scampered behind the young Cavendish momentarily, before coming back out of her shadow.
Cautiously, the trio of witches approached the black and gold-armored man now lying on the stone floor. Upon closer inspection, they noticed what appeared to be a quartet of solar panels on the back of the upper torso piece, laid out in a 1x4 row between his shoulders. Below that was a glass meter, though what it measured was anyone's guess at this point.
Hannah tried lifting him up, but found that he was much heavier than she'd expected, Barbara coming over to help her friend. It was only when the two stooges finally stood him back up that they noticed just how tall he was – around 178 centimeters, Diana estimated, given that he was just short of a foot taller than her, and she was 167 centimeters tall the last time she checked.
"What do you girls think we should do with him?" the prodigess then asked her cohorts.
"Maybe we should just put him back in his box," Barbara suggested.
"In that thing!?" Hannah squawked. "Whoever this guy is, he deserves a proper burial!"
Barbara was quick to counter. "I hate to break it to you, Hannah, but I think this is a bot, not a boy. Seriously, solar panels didn't exist in the middle ages!"
…
…
…
…
…
…
…REBOOTING…
…
…
…
RUNNING DIAGNOSTICS…
…
…
…
ENERGY SYSTEMS FUNCTIONALITY: SUBOPTIMAL; SOLAR CELL REPLACEMENT RECOMMENDED
GUIDANCE SYSTEM FUNCTIONALITY: 203 ERRORS DETECTED
MOTOR JOINT FUNCTIONALITY: NO ISSUES DETECTED
AUDIO RECEPTOR FUNCTIONALITY: L: 83% R: 91%
VOCAL SYNTHESIZER FUNCTIONALITY: 79%
QUINTESSENCE CANNON FUNCTIONALITY: 52%
FLIGHT APPARATUS FUNCTIONALITY: 12%; CRITICAL NEED OF REPAIRS
INTERNAL CLOCK FUNCTIONALITY: 100%
TIME: 13:30, 8/3/2199
STASIS LOCK: ENGAGED
…
…
…
STASIS LOCK: DISENGAGING…
As Hannah and Barbara were arguing over what to do with the robot, the latter's insistence that it wasn't one now starting to get on Diana's nerves, they failed to notice the faint sound of said robot powering up. It wasn't until he opened his eyes– which had red irises with a crosshair pattern on them –that she realized something was up.
"…even if he is just like Dr. Hikari's soulless replica of a person, I still think we should at least scrap him."
"While I admit that's better than burying him in the actual ground, It's better if we just put him back in the iron maiden, put its binds back on, and leave it like we were never here, or else–"
"Or else what?"
At that point the three of them practically jumped in surprise, not expecting the robot to have actually heard them. His voice had some static in it, probably due to who knows how many years of disrepair, and had a slight but noticeable French accent.
"You're awake," the blonde witch bluntly stated, surprised, yet nonetheless trying to put on a stoic face. "We… apologize for disturbing your slumber–"
"Cut the crap, Cavendish," he cut her off. "I know my box looks like something out of the medieval era, and if there's one thing I know about your… I don't know what you are to Elizabeth, but she was always a sucker for old-time heirlooms and shit like that."
"You dare insult my grandmother!?" Diana yelled, aiming her wand right in his face.
"Looks like I struck a nerve," he smirked. "Tell you what, your grandmother and I were supposed to have a duel, but if my internal clock is correct, then I'm guessing she isn't around anymore. I suppose fighting you would be the next best thing."
As he said this, his left forearm flashed a bright purple for a second, then stopped, his hand having converted into some kind of gun barrel. He then shifted into a combat position. "I seriously hope you're as good as she was at combat, 'cause I don't wanna be disappointed."
"So be it," the gold-blond haired teen growled back. She then faced Hannah and Barbara. "Stand back, I don't know how messy this is about to get."
"Y-you're really going at him alone?" the black-haired witch asked.
"I'm the one who woke this thing up, it's my responsibility," she told them.
"My name is Bass, aristocrat," the black robot sneered in response.
"Not as terrible of a name as Rock," she mused to herself. "I accept your challenge of a duel!"
As Hannah and Barbara ran for cover, they hoped their friend would brevail, but deep down, even they knew that Diana was probably biting off more than she could chew this time. This fight would not – could not – end well for her.
5th floor(?), dungeon, Setsuri, Japan
1:45 P.M.; Friday, March 8, 2199
As Rock and co. were making their way towards the stairwell that led directly to the first floor, there was a loud BOOM, which echoed down the halls from where the band of friends were headed.
Then, there was another.
And another.
"Rock," Simon asked curtly, "did Diana and her posse follow you down here?"
"…maybe?" he shrugged. "I was too busy making sure neither Sonia nor Amanda was hurt during the fall."
"Even if they did," Sonia pointed out, "I'm sure they can handle themselves."
This gave her several confused and/or exasperated expressions.
"What? They were the ones fighting the minotaur before we stumbled in on them," Sonia tried to defend herself and her new acquaintance. "Besides, I think she's smart enough to recognize anything dangerous and not mess with it."
BOOM
"What about everything that is dangerous, but doesn't look dangerous?" Simon asked in response.
"Um… uh, well–"
"Exactly," the goggled teen replied. "Now come on, I don't want to have this place cave in on us…"
5th floor(?), dungeon, Setsuri, Japan
1:55 P.M.; Friday, March 8, 2199
When Diana had accepted this Bass's challenge, she thought he'd be an easy opponent, so cocky and arrogant that they'd quickly fall to her superior skills and prowess. However, now it seemed that his comments about being able to take on her grandmother (may she rest in peace) head-to-head weren't just hot air, as he was firing bolts of pure quintessence at her with remarkable speed and precision. So much, in fact, that Diana had no choice but to admit that she was having trouble keeping up with dodging them all. She wasn't sure what this so-called "Quintessence Cannon" Bass bragged about did to a human being, but she sure as Hell did not want to find out first-hand.
BOOM
He fired another shot from his cannon, which she narrowly dodged once more.
"What's the matter," he mocked, "did you not learn to never bring a wand to a gun fight?"
The blonde witch was too focused on staying out of his crosshairs to respond. She shot another heat blast spell at the black bomber, only for him to dodge… though not flawlessly. For as good as this machine was, it was at least a century or two old, thus not working in its tip-top shape. Even so, it was still too fast, too strong to beat. Even for someone the likes of Diana Cavendish…
It was at this moment that she could hear footsteps approaching, followed by some familiar — and annoying — voices.
"Come on, they're right behind this corner."
"Are you even sure this is a good idea, Rock? You know she didn't even thank you,from what you said."
"Hard to appease or not, she could barely handle a minotaur. Odds are, whatever Diana's facing is considerably worse than that."
"Sonia, have you ever seen what she's like in class, towards people like us? People who don't exactly fit in?"
"Don't blame me! I never had any classes with her–"
At that moment, that doofus Akko and her blockheaded friends, including the bucket of bolts Rock, came around the corner to the sight of her getting her rear end handed to her by a freaking machine, of all things.
"It appears we have an audience," Bass noted.
"What the bloody Hell are you doing here!?" she asked, infuriated. "Can't you blockheads mind your own business!?"
"It's kinda hard not to hear the sound of a tank firing when it's this close to us," Amanda pointed out. "Or a tank gun mounted to some kind of fighting robot."
"Some kind!?" Bass yelled in response, apparently taking offense to that comment. "I am not 'some kind' of fighting robot, punk! I am the greatest fighting robot there ever was!" he pointed at himself egotistically. "I advise you to stay out of my way."
"Ego, much?" Simon asked the others.
"Listen," Rock spoke up, "I don't know who you are, or why you're fighting miss Cavendish, but I think it's time we cool off and —"
*BOOM*
The robot teen was suddenly sent flying by a shot from the black bot's Quintessence Cannon, leading him to crash into a set of armor with a loud, metallic clanging noise some 50 yards from where he was standing just moments earlier.
"I said, stay out of my way!!!" Bass yelled before the others could react. "Now, if you excuse me…" he turned to face Diana again, only for him and the other students to notice that she wasn't there anymore.
Of course she ran off when things didn't go her way, Akko thought. Everyone else but Sonia had similar thoughts, with Simon outright facepalming.
The black bomber looked around, before catching sight of the English immigrant witch reaching a doorless doorway – the same one where Akko and Simon had entered this place over an hour ago – and running inside, presumably up the spiral stairway that led back to the first, top floor of the dungeon.
"GET BACK HERE YOU BLONDE BITCH!!! OUR FIGHT ISN'T OVER YET!" Bass screamed as he dashed after her, leaving a cloud of dust in his wake. There was a moment of silence as the four students processed what just happened.
"… this…" Sonia broke the silence, " …isn't good…"
"At least it isn't the minotaur we need to worry about."
"Amanda!" Simon chastised the Irish-American-descendant witch. "That asshole just shot Rock like it was nothing! Sure, it's not world-ending, like you said, but still, not exactly great news! What the crap are we supposed to tell Mr. Robinson about this!?"
Akko, for her part, had sprinted back to where Rock had landed, pieces of the armor set scattered on the stone floor around where he laid.
"Are you alright?" she asked. Inspecting her friend closer, she noticed that the ball of quintessence shot by Bass had burnt a hole through his jacket and synthetic skin, revealing some of his internal machinery inside, and letting some kind of black liquid to bleed out. She recoiled, icked out by the unusual type of gore before her. "I-is that supposed to be blood?"
He did not respond. Looking into Rock's eyes, she could see they were still open, but something about them was… different. Lifeless. Artificial.
Akko didn't know what to make of this. She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself as the prospect that she had just lost a friend– permanently –stared her right in the face.
Simon caught up with her, soon followed by Amanda and Sonia. "Akko, is Rock okay?"
"…he's fine," she lied to them, but mostly to herself, "Rock-kun is fine… he's just… he's just sleeping for the moment…"
"Akko," Amanda replied, "the blue boy doesn't look what counts as "fine" to me… What's going on with your staff?"
"Eh?" She looked down, away from her surely-not-dead robotic friend, and noticed that the Shiny Rod was glowing, the seven crystals emanating a green hue. Then, an idea popped into her head.
"Sonia, do you think we can use the repair spell to fix him?"
"Not without any material to fill in that hole in his torso," the burgundy-haired witch clarified. Akko immediately eyed the dismembered set of armor scattered around their feet, which was metallic purple in color.
And from there, everything clicked into place in her head…
…
…REBOOTING…
…
…
…
RUNNING DIAGNOSTICS…
…
…
WARNING: SKELETAL DAMAGE DETECTED!
WARNING: UNAUTHORIZED FOREIGN MATERIAL TRANSPLANT DETECTED!
…
…
…
…
…
…
ENERGY SYSTEMS FUNCTIONALITY: OPTIMAL
GUIDANCE SYSTEM FUNCTIONALITY: NO ERRORS DETECTED
MOTOR JOINT FUNCTIONALITY: NO ISSUES DETECTED
LIGHT CABLE OPTIC FUNCTIONALITY: L: 100% R: 100%
AUDIO RECEPTOR FUNCTIONALITY: L: 100% R: 100%
VOCAL SYNTHESIZER FUNCTIONALITY: 100%
VARIABLE TOOL SYSTEM FUNCTIONALITY: 100%
PLASMA CANNON Mk17 FUNCTIONALITY: 100%
INTERNAL CLOCK FUNCTIONALITY: 100% NO ERRORS DETECTED
TIME: 1:59 P.M., 3/8/2199
STASIS LOCK: DISENGAGED
…
…
…
WARNING(S) DISMISSED…
…
…
…
RUNNING Rock.EXE…
Dungeon entrance, Setsuri, Japan
2:00 P.M.; Friday, March 8, 2199
Rock reawoke with a startled jolt. The last thing he remembered, he'd been sent flying to the Moon (metaphorically, of course) by some black and gold robot Diana managed to wake up. Was it just him, or did the prodigess only create more problems than she solved? That would have to wait until later, as his internal monitors were streaming at him about an unauthorized transplant of foreign material into his body, which was concerning.
However, his attention soon shifted to the sight in front of him. Namely, all of his friends were standing before him, looking at him as if he'd grown a second head. All of them except for…
"Rock, you're awake!"
…except for Akko. Of course.
"Ugh, what happened?" he groaned as he sat up. "I feel like I got hit by a truck…"
"More like a cannonball," Amanda commented. "That black bot chased Diana out of this place while you were out, just so you're aware."
"Figures. So… how badly was I hurt?"
"Pretty horribly," Sonia admitted. "But thanks to that magic staff Akko found–"
"For the last time, it's the Shiny Rod!"
"…as I was saying," the burgundy-haired witch continued, "thanks to this rod, we were able to fix you… sort of."
…
"…What do you mean by that?" he asked in a serious tone and expression.
It was at this moment that Simon came over, pushing a full-body mirror in front of him.
"Okay, this thing was a bitch and a half to move over here," the blue-haired teen exhaled. "I hope it's worth it…"
Figuring that his friends wanted him to look into the mirror for the answer to his question, Rock got on his feet and moved to look at himself.
To say he was surprised would be an understatement: he was clad in the mythril armor set that Bass had blasted him onto only minutes ago. However, it was apparent to everyone that the Shiny Rod had made some modifications. The armor had also become more streamlined than it originally was, fitting his body shape more closely.
It was also made the same shade of blue as his forearms and lower legs. Said parts of the armor were notably missing, as they were too small for Akko, Sonia and Simon to fit onto him, leaving his metallic robot hands completely exposed like normal… although somehow Akko's repairo spell had managed to make them and his forearms larger than they were supposed to be, making them resemble gauntlets of sorts.
Lastly, the helmet had been completely overhauled; the visor and mouthguard were gone, leaving Rock's face clear for everyone to see. It had a stripe of the same light blue shade as his normal body's highlights down the helmet's middle, and there was a red, diamond-shaped jewel in the forehead area, just above its crest.
"Before you even complain," Amanda preemptively stated, "we aren't roboticists like your dad, okay? We're sorry if you don't like it, but we could only use what was available."
"…you made me look like a superhero from the 1960s, but with a medieval twist," he bluntly stated in response, shrugging his shoulders. "Could've come out worse."
"I was thinking more like a knight and RoboCop, but…" Sonia muttered, as the blue knight turned around to face his friends.
"So, where's that black robot that shot me?"
"Seriously," Simon asked. "That's the first thing you think of? You know that blonde bitch doesn't care–"
"Yes she's a bitch," Rock quickly admitted, "but that robot's out to kill her for all we know. What's her family going to think if she dies, and we did nothing about it? Hell, what's Mrs. Finnelan or the Headmaster going to think if that happens?"
A silence fell over everyone else present. As much as they hated to admit it (except Sonia), he had a point. And there was another, unspoken implication to consider: if something bad happened to her she or her family could easily use their influence to get them all expelled.
Amanda was the one who broke the silence, grumbling. "Alright, ever wanted to ride on a broom?"
Dungeon entrance, Setsuri, Japan
2:20 P.M.; Friday, March 8, 2199
Mr. Robinson looked at his digital stopwatch, which indicated that roughly 50 minutes were left until his exam was over. So far, only a handful of students had returned, and their loot didn't have that many points. Still, he'd give them passing grades, by value of having gotten out of the dungeon unscathed.
As he patiently waited, however, an exhausted, haggard Diana came out of the dark entrance.
"Time, two hours, twenty-one minutes," he monotonously called, "no points from what I can see. I'm pretty sure everyone heard me when I gave directions, so why haven't you gotten any valuable items, Ms. Cavendish?"
"I was running to get out before he got to me."
"…Who?"
The answer quickly became obvious, as a certain black, gold and gray robot bolted out of the entrance, quickly stopping themselves after noticing his opponent. However, instead of pressing on with their fight...
" …Pathetic," he stated. "For all your gloating, you seem to bark more than bite." As he said this, "I'm going to take pride in finishing this feud once and for all."
"I'd think twice before you do that."
Annoyed, he turned around to see who was interrupting him this time. To the surprise of everyone still present, it was Rock, in his blue-cladded upgrade.
"Rock? What's with the knight getup?" Mr. Robinson asked, completely missing the point of his question.
"That can come later," he dismissed, "right now I advise everyone to step a good distance away for your own safety." The exploration teacher looked at him confused before he deployed his Buster once more, and that was all Mr. Robinson needed to see to know that 1: Rock wasn't biting off more than he could chew, like he could tell Diana did when she apparently fought against this black robot, and 2: shit just got real.
Once the teachers wisely backed away (Mr. Robinson helping along an exhausted Diana), the two robots opened fire on each other. For the next five minutes, Bass shot repeatedly at the blue knight, but Rock was too fast and too agile to hit, and unlike that blonde brat, he wasn't tiring out that easily. Between dodging balls of concentrated quintessence and the occasional punch to the face or gut, the armored blue robot took potshots at his opponent with his Buster, about half of them hitting their mark on the century-old super fighting robot.
…and then they both heard several high-pitched sirens fast-approaching.
"Tell you what," the black and gold robot said to his foe, "why don't we finish this up another time?" Before Rock could respond, he bolted into the wilderness, leaving the blue robot alone as several police cars drove off the pavement and straight towards the entrance to the dungeon – straight towards him. He retracted his Buster and put his hands in the air, as several heavily-armored cops, Sniper Joes (painted blue and white instead of the usual green), and some Policebots came out, immediately opening fire on the armored bot in spite of handing himself over. Their bullets bounced right off his mythril and plasteel armor, but their actions were enough to tell him that this was no ordinary police squad.
This was a cybersquad.
1st floor, dungeon, Setsuri, Japan
11:40 A.M.; Friday, March 8, 2199
Only ten minutes into the exam, Rock could already say that he was not a fan of this.
Almost immediately after the teacher began his 3 hour countdown, the crowd of students he was in had practically stampeded inside, carrying him and his friends down the linear stairway, before separating from the herd and entering the first room (chamber?) to his right. He knew that this was only the top level, but judging that the stairway had taken a good two, maybe three minutes to descend, Rock could tell that he was already at least 40 meters underground, likely deeper.
The good news: he was no longer being pushed/pulled/tugged/whatever-ed with the current of his fellow students, meaning he could now move around entirely of his own accord.
The bad news: in his quest to build himself an authentic son, Dr. Hikari had denied Rock any kind of night vision ability regular Sniper Joes had built into their optics. And because the room he was now in was pitch black, the robot couldn't see a God-damn thing.
Fun, he sarcastically thought.
Just then, however, his surroundings started to brighten up. Rock turned around, seeing a light beginning to pour through the exit stairwell. A few seconds later, two students walked into what Rock assumed was the nexus for the first floor. It was shaped like a cube, at least 10 meters long and wide. From what he could tell from his position, there were four exits from that room. The first, where the light-bringer had just come from, was the stairway to the surface; rock was in the room positioned to its right, and there were two other exits, one in each of the other two walls.
The witch holding the light was a girl with short, wild burgundy hair and a punk jacket with a teddy bear's face sewn onto it, while her companion was a taller girl, with red and orange hair that resembled a flame.
The burgundy-haired girl looked around, and quickly noticed the AGI boy standing behind the doorless doorway to her right, holding her wand (from which the white light was emanating). For a moment, the three of them stood there looking at each other, not making a move or sound. Eventually, though, the burgundy-haired stranger broke the deafening silence.
"Are you waiting for someone else?"
"A few people, actually," Rock nodded. "Though it seems the crowd pushed them down at least another floor. You?"
"Not really," the taller girl replied.
"We were kinda going to do this on our own," the shorter one elaborated. "Although…"
She approached Rock, but not in a confrontational way like how he'd met most people. Her body language suggested that whoever this was, she had no malicious intentions.
" …you do look like you need some help." She held out her hand, accompanied by a warm smile.
After a moment of hesitation, he took her up on her offer. "…well, I do need a light source right now," he admitted as his new acquaintance closed the remaining meter between them. "My name's Rock."
"My name's Sonia. Nice to meet you, Mr. …" she trailed off as she finally got a good look at him, now being close enough that her wand actually made his entire body visible. Of course, this worked both ways; the lab assistant could now tell that this Sonia was roughly 150 centimeters tall, which meant that he (165 cm) practically towered over the wild-haired witch, something that wasn't reassuring given her surprised and worried expression.
"…You're the robot." she finally said, her voice having a bit of surprise in it as she took a step back. "You're not going to…"
"What? No, I wouldn't hurt you," he quickly clarified, his voice quickly gaining an annoyed tone, "despite what a few British immigrants would claim."
"Diana?" the red-haired girl asked. "Pfft, she's so stuck up her own ass that she can go–"
"Amanda! No swearing around strangers," Sonia reminded her. She then faced Rock again. "Sorry about my friend, she's a bit… foul mouthed."
"Anyway, we'll trust that you won't hurt us or anything. Now, let's get some treasure and get out of here as soon as possible. This place is giving me the creeps…"
"Agreed," the red-haired girl, Amanda, agreed. "Let's get this shit over with." from what he could estimate given her size and distance, she was about Rock's height, likely a bit taller, and had emerald green eyes.
With that, the two of them began walking down the corridor…
Stairway between the ??? and ??? floors, dungeon, Setsuri, Japan
12:00 P.M.; Friday, March 8, 2199
Whilst Rock was cautiously making some new friends, Simon was frantically trying to keep up with Akko as she ran after a short, 6 legged… thing the size of a human hand with the intent of killing it. They were running down a spiraling staircase made of polished stone, the rest of the exploration class having pushed them into some sort of false wall; not that the brunette witch particularly cared why there was a false wall, her mind was too preoccupied on the critter. At this rate, Simon thought, they'd reach the bottom floor in no time. The hard part, of course, would be the return trip to the surface, because of three things. First, gravity would be working against them instead of helping them, like right now. Second, the weight of whatever treasure they would find would further drag them down. And third…
…well, they were going to be exhausted if Akko kept this up for much longer.
Finally, Akko reached the bottom of the stairwell, leading into a large, cathedral-sized room with large statues of medieval knights and samurai lining the walls. Unlike the rest of the dungeon, which required an outside light source for the students to use to see anything, this room was lit up by touches along the walls roughly halfway between the floor and the arched ceiling. They were burning eerie blue flames, with the entire room being lit up in the same hue.
As she stopped to take in her surroundings, Simon exited the stairwell behind her, stopping and placing his hands on his knees as he tried to breathe.
"Damn…" he gasped, "… you're fast… can you please… stop for a moment…?"
"What?" she asked, confused. "You know I want to be a performer like Chariot, how did you expect me not to get some kind of athletic training?"
"…point… taken…"
He took a moment to catch his breath, before asking "What floor are we on? I reckon that the stairwell we just used was far too long for this to be the second floor."
"How should I know," she pouted, before going to explore this place. Not wanting to see his friend hurt herself, Simon quickly followed.
4th floor, dungeon, Setsuri, Japan
1:15 P.M.; Friday, March 8, 2199
In the halls of the fourth floor, Diana Cavendish was busy keeping an eye out for monsters (or other students) as Hannah and Barbara were rapidly scavenging the room they were in for anything they saw as valuable. In the past hour, the trio had made a beeline for the bottom floor, since they figured this was where the most valuable pieces of treasure were located. Sure, they'd encountered a few monsters along the way, but the young Cavendish's skills and spell sets had disposed of them relatively quickly. However, she'd noticed that Hannah and Barbara had been unusually skittish ever since they'd entered the dungeon, which would probably explain why they were having her stand guard while they collected their fill of items.
The fact that the bottom floor was the only one that was well-lit didn't seem to make them any more comfortable.
"A gavel knife, a mythril rale, e-even a silver ring", the reddish-brown haired witch counted their findings. "I think this is enough for us to take up to the surface and win the most points."
"Those are all common drops, Hannah," Diana stated, unimpressed. "No-one would dare refer to those as rare treasures. There must be something worth more than those down here."
"But Diana," Barbara stuttered, "this place is totally dangerous!"
"I-I don't think I can handle it anymore!" Hannah added.
"Witches are supposed to be feared," the blonde prodigess stated in response, disappointed in her friends' lack of courage. "How could you be afraid of this place? Besides, my magic is invincible, you have absolutely nothing to fear."
Unfortunately, as she was saying this, a large, black shape appeared behind the British-descendant witch. It was growling. The two other witches noticed the looming threat and tried to warn their friend.
"D-d-d-Diana!"
"What is it?" she sighed, annoyed more than anything.
Hannah and Barbara pointed behind her, trembling. The young Cavendish turned around, and was quickly taken aback by the presence of a large minotaur looking down at her, its yellow, glowing eyes piercing right into her soul.
As Diana and her posse were being ambushed, Rock was on the floor above, following his new friends(?) as he helped her find anything they could. So far, they'd found nothing but a staff that looked like it had come right out of a maho shoujo anime. Sonia had passed that up because, in Amanda's words, it looked like trash. Currently, they were on their way down to what they were certain to be the bottom floor.
"These stairwells seem endless," he commented as they continued their descent into the Earth.
"That's the thing about dungeons," his burgundy haired companion replied, "they're set up like this to make things as hard as possible for intruders to find the best rewards… along with all the monsters and stuff."
"Well, they at least could've made things a little less annoying," Amanda pouted.
It was at this point that they noticed a growing light at the end of their spiraling path. "Hold up, I think we're near the end," she told her robotic acquaintance. They rapidly made the rest of the way down…
…only to be met by the sight of a minotaur charging right at them.
They had barely any time to react before the hulking beast was right on top of them, Rock pushing Sonia out of harm's way. The half-man, half bull sent the robot flying into the wall to his left, the impact creating a small crater on it before gravity pulled him back to the floor. Fortunately, his plasteel and titanium skeletal frame held up without as much of a scratch on his forearms, calves or feet. He looked up just in time to see a bunch of sharp objects– knives, swords, even a few katanas –fly into the back of the beast, which promptly turned around and began prepping to charge right back where it came from. Quickly getting up, he turned to see Diana firing all her best spells at the minotaur, barely dodging it when it charged back at her like, well, a bull when it sees the color red. As he saw this, Sonia rushed back over to him.
"Are you alright?" she asked, concerned.
"I think I'm fine," he answered honestly, before gesturing to the trio of European witches in the short distance, "but I don't think they'll be fine for much longer!"
"Have you been sleeping through all our classes?" the burgundy-haired Japanese witch asked, momentarily forgetting that robots don't technically need sleep. "That's Diana Cavendish, Rock, she's the best witch in our school both in grades and combat prowess! She'll be fine!"
"Yeah, well it looks like she's not doing too well in spite of that," Amanda retorted, before rushing head-first into the battle before either Sonia or Rock could move to stop her. She summoned a fireball ("Murowa!") and flung it at the beast with her wand… which only put its attention squarely on her. The minotaur grabbed her with its right hand as she attempted to move out of harm's way. From what Rock could see, her arms were locked up in its grip, and she looked… uncomfortable. Sonia was at a loss for words.
"We need to do something!" Rock told her, alarm ringing in his voice.
"Well, blast that thing!" she shrieked back!
"How!?" he asked, panicking. "I'm unarmed!"
"What do you mean, you're unarmed!? You were based on a Sniper Joe from what I can tell!"
"Well, even if Dr. Hikari left the Buster in my arm when he built me, I wouldn't know how to use it!"
"There's no time!" she screamed, gesturing to the sight of the minotaur squeezing the living daylight out of the Irish-American witch.
Rock stood for a brief moment, slowing the various possibilities flowing through his processor and going through each and every one of them within seconds. "…fuck it," he said, raising his left arm and clenching its respective fist, thinking of his arm as a gun instead of a hand and hoping to high Heaven that it did something.
To their surprise, it did. The blue plasteel cylinder encasing his forearm split first in two, halfway down its length, then the front half split in two. His hand, still a fist, turned so that his palm was aiming downwards, then flipped down into the space given by his opening forearm. A short, gunmetal gray nozzle slid forward and out of the mechanical mess to replace it, and the various bits of metal came back together.
All of this happened within one and a half seconds.
When it was over, Rock's left forearm was one and a half times longer than he was familiar with it being. The middle third of it was colored a lighter blue to represent its extension, and had two details that stood out: a meter on the inner side of his arm, which Rock guessed was some ling of ammunition gauge, and a notch on the top side which aligned with a small slab of plasteel just in front of where the cylindrical part of his arm gave way to the nozzle, to form a crude sight. And although he couldn't see it, said nozzle had a deep, red glow coming from within.
So this is what a Buster looks like, he thought for a millisecond, before aiming at the minotaur's right-hand shoulder and turning his attention towards how to fire the damn thing. He squeezed his eyes shut, his mind screaming at his arm something along the lines of "open fire!" if one were to translate the coding flying through his mind right now.
What followed was the accumulation of yellow energy at the tip of the nozzle for half a second, coalescing it into a sphere of what was likely solar-type magic the size of a baseball. When it was done, the glowing ball of energy made a sound that was half-bang, half-bwip, and shot towards its target at a pace not too fast for Sonia, Diana, Hannah, and Barbara to see. Amanda caught a glint of its yellow glow for a second as she was being crushed to death, barely having the willpower to turn her head in time to see the ball of energy hit her captor right where Rock had aimed. The minotaur roared in pain, dropping her as it clutched its shoulder with its other hand. She quickly skittered away as their foe turned its attention to the one who just managed to hurt it.
Immediately, the beast ran towards the robot at full speed, only for the much more agile Rock to jump out of the way, firing his weapon a second time. It missed its mark. He shot his Buster a third time, this time striking the minotaur in its left knee as it was turning around, causing it to fall over onto its side. Rock fired a fifth time, aiming this time at the abomination's head to make this experience as short as possible – both for himself and for the beast he was about to kill.
He shot again.
And again.
And again.
Over and over, he fired, not giving the minotaur the smallest chance to get back up.
After about half a minute of continuous firing, he felt a hand placed on his right shoulder. "That's enough, I-I think it's dead now," he heard Sonia half shout, half stutter.
He stopped. Looking at where the minotaur laid just half a minute ago, all that was left of it was a smoldering heap of blackened flesh and bone. His Buster, meanwhile, was so hot from firing what basically amounted to countless miniature stars continuously, that it was glowing a faint red, like the red glow that continued to emanate from within the robot's forearm. Lowering his arm and aiming at the floor, Rock saw Diana and her cohort staring at him, understandably surprised and, in their leader's case, a little unnerved. Amanda, by contrast, had a glint in her eyes that was either amazed, troublesome, or both.
And then the floor gave out from underneath them all.
??? floor, dungeon, Setsuri, Japan
1:20 P.M.; Friday, March 8, 2199
"This place is a lot larger than I thought." Simon spoke his thoughts out loud.
After finding this place, Akko and her friend had been busy searching the large room for anything valuable. However, what they'd found was somehow more and less disturbing than that. Swords, guns that shoot beams of ice, fire, and lightning, this place seemed full of dangerous items lining the walls that, frankly, even Akko thought shouldn't be on school grounds at all, even if it was sealed away in a secret location.
"I don't think we're supposed to be here…" she spoke to Simon. "Everything here is either weird, or too dangerous for anyone sane to use."
"Well, maybe Mr. Robinson didn't tell us about this because of that," the goggled boy speculated, looking around. "Knives, swords, guns, sets of armor– what is this, a billionaire's collection?"
As he said this, Akko caught the glint of something out of the corner of her eye. She turned around and what she saw took her breath away. There, on a podium lining the wall, was–
"Uh, Akko?" Simon asked. "Why are you gawking at that weird staff?"
"Staff?" the brunette witch bolted towards the object in question. It was a medium-length staff, true, but it was beige, with a golden ornament at the end and seven crystals spread along its length. And Akko had seen it plenty of times before, on posters and videos of Shiny Chariot's performances. This…
…this was the freaking Shiny Rod!
However, before she could start to explain this, a loud rumbling noise echoed throughout the long, low-lit cathedral-like room.
"Akko, I think this can wait," the young Bonne told his friend. "If there's an explosion underground, that's never a good thing. Come on!" he promptly bolted off in the direction the sound came from. Akko stood there for a moment, before grabbing the Shiny Rod and running after him.
When Rock opened his eyes, he did not expect himself to be in a room lit up by blue fires along the walls. Nor did he expect to land on an expensive-looking vase, its pieces scattered on the polished stone floor after a piece of debris from the ceiling– well, the floor he was standing on moments earlier –knocked it over. Quickly, he got up, and surveyed his surroundings.
From under the large pile of rubble, Sonia crawled out and rubbed the back of her head. ""Ugh, what happened?" she moaned.
"I think I may have weakened the floor," Rock explained to the best of his ability. "As for where we are–"
"That was brilliant, you think-headed piece of junk!"
The two students noticed Diana and her posse standing up amongst the rubble, their faces and clothes dirty from all the dust a collapsing ceiling naturally produces, Hannah and Barbara were hugging each other in fright. The blonde witch, however, looked more angry than anything. "You could've gotten me killed!"
"My apologies for the sloppy rescue, Ms. Cavendish," he replied, "but that minotaur probably would've killed you regardless! Besides," he pointed at his left arm, "I didn't even know I had this built into me."
"Then do everyone a favor and NEVER USE THAT THING IN PUBLIC AGAIN!!!" she shrieked back, right in his face.
"I dunno, h-he did kind of just save your life, Diana," Barbara managed to squeak, which earned her a hard glare.
However, Diana then realized something. If the floor above was supposed to be the fourth and bottom floor, then why was there another floor beneath that, which Rock had just unintentionally revealed? Her scowl gave way to a smirk. "On second thought," she told her cohorts, "I think he just discovered the jackpot."
"Eh?" They both looked confused.
"Think of it. Mr. Robinson must've not told us about this unless he wanted us to find it. Whatever's down there must have the most points out of everything."
"Y-you can't be serious," Hannah peeped. "I-I'm pretty sure we've had enough scares for today, we should head back now."
"And what if that bucket of bolts' blockheaded friends wind up getting the highest scores? Or anyone else for that matter?"
"…point taken…" the red-brown-haired witch admitted.
"W-we'll go with you," Barbara added.
"Good." With that, the blonde witch used her wand to start levitating down the hole into the space below, Hannah and Barbara following suit.
By that point, though, Rock, Amanda and Sonia had already left the scene, and getting the best grades in this unconventional exam was the last thing on their minds.
"I don't see any exits," Rock said, searching between the various items lining the walls. "You didn't happen to bring a broom with you, right?"
"I did," Amanda gleefully replied.
"Unfortunately, no," Sonia admitted. "I didn't think I'd need it, and Mr. Robinson said that flying in the dungeon wasn't advised."
So that's his name, the robot thought, before his thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of rapidly-approaching footsteps on the polished stone food.
"Rock! Oh thank God you're here!" He turned around to find his blue-haired friend running towards him from the opposite direction from which they came.
"Simon!" he greeted him as he came to a stop. "What are you doing here?"
"Akko chased a critter down a stairwell at the end of the top floor and we wound up here. You?"
"I split off from the crowd just after the entry stairway, and teamed up with Sonia and Amanda since you guys were nowhere to be seen."
"Who?" he asked, only to then notice the girl with wild burgundy hair standing nearby. " …did you have to get the thief?" he asked, pointing at Amanda.
"Thief?" Rock was visibly confused.
"Hey, I don't steal stuff," the red-haired witch got defensive, "I just borrow it… permanently…"
The young Hikari's expression turned to disappointment. Perhaps he'd misjudged her character.
"A-anyway, we need to get out of this place ASAP, so we can get something with points and get back to the surface before the whole place caves in."
"Cave in?" Rock asked, concerned.
"Yeah, we heard something happening in your direction."
…
" … Don't tell me that was you."
"Kind of," Sonia explained. "We found Diana fighting a freaking minotaur, and hot-head here rushed in and nearly got crushed to death. So the big guy," she gestured towards Rock, "used his arm cannon to take it out. Granted, he fired way too many lemons at that thing, since the whole floor fell out from right underneath us, but…"
"There you are!" Akko interrupted them as she finally caught up. She immediately got up in the robot teen's face. "You won't believe what we found!"
"Um, did you… find something worth a lot of points, by chance?" he asked a little nervously. He'd never seen Akko this excited in the seven months he's known her.
"No," she answered, before whipping out a certain beige staff. "But I did find this!"
"Akko, why did you bring that staff with you?" Simon asked in a serious tone.
"Again, this isn't just a staff!" she countered, slightly annoyed. "This is the Shiny Rod!" she shouted triumphantly.
" … Nanni? / The fuck is that?"
It's at this point that everyone else remembered Sonia and Amanda weren't in the loop about their friend's idol, for lack of a better term. "We'll explain later," Rock told them, "for now, let's focus on finding that stairwell you used to find this place." He noticed that Akko looked a little disappointed. "What? I-I mean, it's great you found this, but I don't think it's the most important thing in the world right now."
She visibly deflated after he said this, only for her eyes to then widen. "Uh, Rock? What happened to your hand?"
Rock looked at his arm, and then realized that he forgot to deactivate his Buster. "Oh! Sorry, uh– I can explain." he apologized, before willing it into turning back into its original form.
"You know, I had a feeling you were armed," Simon said to his robot friend, "for emergencies, of course."
"More like he didn't know he had this shit!!" Amanda corrected him. "But seriously, that was awesome! And… Thank you," she bowed. "I don't think I would've gotten out of there if you hadn't started blasing that beast."
The blue-haired boy could only stare at his friend with an expression that said 'are you freaking serious? You did that just to save a stranger?'
"Yeah, I'm going to talk to Dr. Hikari about this once this is all over." Rock stated. "So… besides finding your idol's weapon, what else have you been up to?"
5th floor(?), dungeon, Setsuri, Japan
1:30 P.M.; Friday, March 8, 2199
Walking down the unfamiliar corridor, Diana couldn't help but wonder why, and how, the school hid all these valuable items down here. Sure, plenty of these things she knew were dangerous– even after their exile from England, the Cavendish family still had access to loads of information not available to the public –but if used properly, they could do lots of good to the magical community. Even the muggles could benefit, if the superior magic-wielding portion of mankind agreed to it, of course.
She never understood what was wrong with the viewpoint that witches were superior to those without the magic gene, because that was just the way the world is. All the materialist hedonists in Franco-Iberia and Acadia and their obsession over profit above the well-being of magic; all the hypocrites in China and their lack of a definition of what was natural; all the frauds and their optical illusions– except Shiny Chariot, though she'd never dare admit it in public –; all the supremacists with their demagoguing that technology was superior to all. They would be proven wrong someday soon. All of them. And when they were, the old, righteous ways would return the world to its pristine state.
But for now, she was busy searching through the various pieces and artifacts lining this hidden floor. Hannah and Barbara, of course, were trailing behind her like scaredy cats, but Diana was fine with that – for now. They'd need to grow up eventually, but given that they had the luxury of still having time to be childish, she'd tolerate it. Really, she was jealous that they didn't have to lose their parents at a young age and be the only true heir to the family name, which their aunt was tarnishing. But at least they weren't as irrespectful of the old ways like Akko and her gang were.
And she wouldn't even want to get started on that bucket of bolts, Rock Hikari-Nishizumi.
Her thoughts were interrupted, however, when her friends shrieked in terror. She whipped around, to see that they'd been frightened by what looked like an iron maiden, which had a hooded skull on top with glowing red eyes.
Now why would this be down here? She'd heard that iron maidens had been used in medieval Europe to drain witches of their blood. But to have it here, amongst a bunch of other stuff that could be used? That didn't make any sense. Unless…
Unless this was the big prize.
She scoffed. "Did whoever built this think they could use such scare tactics on a witch? Let's see what's really in here!"
With that, she aimed her wand at the device, shooting a ball of purplish-pink energy at it. The binds surrounding it broke, and the doors flew open, sending a cloud of dust into the surrounding area. When it cleared…
…Well, in another world, it would've been a small but deadly Red Briton Dragon. But in this universe, that is not what Diana and her posse found.
What they found instead was what looked like a man, who, judging by his face, appeared to be in his early 20s. I say his face, because the rest of his body appeared to be encased in a suit of black, gold and metallic gray armor that had patches and light streaks of rust all over it, with some kind of large jewel forming the center of its chestpiece. He also had two purple lines, one on each side of his face, running from his eye crevices (his eyes were closed) down over his cheeks, and continued down his neck until they disappeared under his "armor". And weirdest of all was his helmet, which was largely black but had some weird fins on its sides, behind where the ears would be, and at least the forwards sides of them were the same golden hue as parts of the rest of him.
…
" …Bloody Hell is this?"
Really, that's all Diana could say after what she assumed to be an ancient man locked up inside an iron maiden. Though in hindsight, she guessed this was less of a treasure chest and more like a makeshift coffin.
"Are you happy now, Diana?" Barbara asked, having never asked her to open the maiden in the first place.
" …No, but I'm not sure what to make of this–"
Cue the man falling out of his container face-first, making a loud, metallic THUD. Hannah and Barbara immediately shrieked and scampered behind the young Cavendish momentarily, before coming back out of her shadow.
Cautiously, the trio of witches approached the black and gold-armored man now lying on the stone floor. Upon closer inspection, they noticed what appeared to be a quartet of solar panels on the back of the upper torso piece, laid out in a 1x4 row between his shoulders. Below that was a glass meter, though what it measured was anyone's guess at this point.
Hannah tried lifting him up, but found that he was much heavier than she'd expected, Barbara coming over to help her friend. It was only when the two stooges finally stood him back up that they noticed just how tall he was – around 178 centimeters, Diana estimated, given that he was just short of a foot taller than her, and she was 167 centimeters tall the last time she checked.
"What do you girls think we should do with him?" the prodigess then asked her cohorts.
"Maybe we should just put him back in his box," Barbara suggested.
"In that thing!?" Hannah squawked. "Whoever this guy is, he deserves a proper burial!"
Barbara was quick to counter. "I hate to break it to you, Hannah, but I think this is a bot, not a boy. Seriously, solar panels didn't exist in the middle ages!"
…
…
…
…
…
…
…REBOOTING…
…
…
…
RUNNING DIAGNOSTICS…
…
…
…
ENERGY SYSTEMS FUNCTIONALITY: SUBOPTIMAL; SOLAR CELL REPLACEMENT RECOMMENDED
GUIDANCE SYSTEM FUNCTIONALITY: 203 ERRORS DETECTED
MOTOR JOINT FUNCTIONALITY: NO ISSUES DETECTED
AUDIO RECEPTOR FUNCTIONALITY: L: 83% R: 91%
VOCAL SYNTHESIZER FUNCTIONALITY: 79%
QUINTESSENCE CANNON FUNCTIONALITY: 52%
FLIGHT APPARATUS FUNCTIONALITY: 12%; CRITICAL NEED OF REPAIRS
INTERNAL CLOCK FUNCTIONALITY: 100%
TIME: 13:30, 8/3/2199
STASIS LOCK: ENGAGED
…
…
…
STASIS LOCK: DISENGAGING…
As Hannah and Barbara were arguing over what to do with the robot, the latter's insistence that it wasn't one now starting to get on Diana's nerves, they failed to notice the faint sound of said robot powering up. It wasn't until he opened his eyes– which had red irises with a crosshair pattern on them –that she realized something was up.
"…even if he is just like Dr. Hikari's soulless replica of a person, I still think we should at least scrap him."
"While I admit that's better than burying him in the actual ground, It's better if we just put him back in the iron maiden, put its binds back on, and leave it like we were never here, or else–"
"Or else what?"
At that point the three of them practically jumped in surprise, not expecting the robot to have actually heard them. His voice had some static in it, probably due to who knows how many years of disrepair, and had a slight but noticeable French accent.
"You're awake," the blonde witch bluntly stated, surprised, yet nonetheless trying to put on a stoic face. "We… apologize for disturbing your slumber–"
"Cut the crap, Cavendish," he cut her off. "I know my box looks like something out of the medieval era, and if there's one thing I know about your… I don't know what you are to Elizabeth, but she was always a sucker for old-time heirlooms and shit like that."
"You dare insult my grandmother!?" Diana yelled, aiming her wand right in his face.
"Looks like I struck a nerve," he smirked. "Tell you what, your grandmother and I were supposed to have a duel, but if my internal clock is correct, then I'm guessing she isn't around anymore. I suppose fighting you would be the next best thing."
As he said this, his left forearm flashed a bright purple for a second, then stopped, his hand having converted into some kind of gun barrel. He then shifted into a combat position. "I seriously hope you're as good as she was at combat, 'cause I don't wanna be disappointed."
"So be it," the gold-blond haired teen growled back. She then faced Hannah and Barbara. "Stand back, I don't know how messy this is about to get."
"Y-you're really going at him alone?" the black-haired witch asked.
"I'm the one who woke this thing up, it's my responsibility," she told them.
"My name is Bass, aristocrat," the black robot sneered in response.
"Not as terrible of a name as Rock," she mused to herself. "I accept your challenge of a duel!"
As Hannah and Barbara ran for cover, they hoped their friend would brevail, but deep down, even they knew that Diana was probably biting off more than she could chew this time. This fight would not – could not – end well for her.
5th floor(?), dungeon, Setsuri, Japan
1:45 P.M.; Friday, March 8, 2199
As Rock and co. were making their way towards the stairwell that led directly to the first floor, there was a loud BOOM, which echoed down the halls from where the band of friends were headed.
Then, there was another.
And another.
"Rock," Simon asked curtly, "did Diana and her posse follow you down here?"
"…maybe?" he shrugged. "I was too busy making sure neither Sonia nor Amanda was hurt during the fall."
"Even if they did," Sonia pointed out, "I'm sure they can handle themselves."
This gave her several confused and/or exasperated expressions.
"What? They were the ones fighting the minotaur before we stumbled in on them," Sonia tried to defend herself and her new acquaintance. "Besides, I think she's smart enough to recognize anything dangerous and not mess with it."
BOOM
"What about everything that is dangerous, but doesn't look dangerous?" Simon asked in response.
"Um… uh, well–"
"Exactly," the goggled teen replied. "Now come on, I don't want to have this place cave in on us…"
5th floor(?), dungeon, Setsuri, Japan
1:55 P.M.; Friday, March 8, 2199
When Diana had accepted this Bass's challenge, she thought he'd be an easy opponent, so cocky and arrogant that they'd quickly fall to her superior skills and prowess. However, now it seemed that his comments about being able to take on her grandmother (may she rest in peace) head-to-head weren't just hot air, as he was firing bolts of pure quintessence at her with remarkable speed and precision. So much, in fact, that Diana had no choice but to admit that she was having trouble keeping up with dodging them all. She wasn't sure what this so-called "Quintessence Cannon" Bass bragged about did to a human being, but she sure as Hell did not want to find out first-hand.
BOOM
He fired another shot from his cannon, which she narrowly dodged once more.
"What's the matter," he mocked, "did you not learn to never bring a wand to a gun fight?"
The blonde witch was too focused on staying out of his crosshairs to respond. She shot another heat blast spell at the black bomber, only for him to dodge… though not flawlessly. For as good as this machine was, it was at least a century or two old, thus not working in its tip-top shape. Even so, it was still too fast, too strong to beat. Even for someone the likes of Diana Cavendish…
It was at this moment that she could hear footsteps approaching, followed by some familiar — and annoying — voices.
"Come on, they're right behind this corner."
"Are you even sure this is a good idea, Rock? You know she didn't even thank you,from what you said."
"Hard to appease or not, she could barely handle a minotaur. Odds are, whatever Diana's facing is considerably worse than that."
"Sonia, have you ever seen what she's like in class, towards people like us? People who don't exactly fit in?"
"Don't blame me! I never had any classes with her–"
At that moment, that doofus Akko and her blockheaded friends, including the bucket of bolts Rock, came around the corner to the sight of her getting her rear end handed to her by a freaking machine, of all things.
"It appears we have an audience," Bass noted.
"What the bloody Hell are you doing here!?" she asked, infuriated. "Can't you blockheads mind your own business!?"
"It's kinda hard not to hear the sound of a tank firing when it's this close to us," Amanda pointed out. "Or a tank gun mounted to some kind of fighting robot."
"Some kind!?" Bass yelled in response, apparently taking offense to that comment. "I am not 'some kind' of fighting robot, punk! I am the greatest fighting robot there ever was!" he pointed at himself egotistically. "I advise you to stay out of my way."
"Ego, much?" Simon asked the others.
"Listen," Rock spoke up, "I don't know who you are, or why you're fighting miss Cavendish, but I think it's time we cool off and —"
*BOOM*
The robot teen was suddenly sent flying by a shot from the black bot's Quintessence Cannon, leading him to crash into a set of armor with a loud, metallic clanging noise some 50 yards from where he was standing just moments earlier.
"I said, stay out of my way!!!" Bass yelled before the others could react. "Now, if you excuse me…" he turned to face Diana again, only for him and the other students to notice that she wasn't there anymore.
Of course she ran off when things didn't go her way, Akko thought. Everyone else but Sonia had similar thoughts, with Simon outright facepalming.
The black bomber looked around, before catching sight of the English immigrant witch reaching a doorless doorway – the same one where Akko and Simon had entered this place over an hour ago – and running inside, presumably up the spiral stairway that led back to the first, top floor of the dungeon.
"GET BACK HERE YOU BLONDE BITCH!!! OUR FIGHT ISN'T OVER YET!" Bass screamed as he dashed after her, leaving a cloud of dust in his wake. There was a moment of silence as the four students processed what just happened.
"… this…" Sonia broke the silence, " …isn't good…"
"At least it isn't the minotaur we need to worry about."
"Amanda!" Simon chastised the Irish-American-descendant witch. "That asshole just shot Rock like it was nothing! Sure, it's not world-ending, like you said, but still, not exactly great news! What the crap are we supposed to tell Mr. Robinson about this!?"
Akko, for her part, had sprinted back to where Rock had landed, pieces of the armor set scattered on the stone floor around where he laid.
"Are you alright?" she asked. Inspecting her friend closer, she noticed that the ball of quintessence shot by Bass had burnt a hole through his jacket and synthetic skin, revealing some of his internal machinery inside, and letting some kind of black liquid to bleed out. She recoiled, icked out by the unusual type of gore before her. "I-is that supposed to be blood?"
He did not respond. Looking into Rock's eyes, she could see they were still open, but something about them was… different. Lifeless. Artificial.
Akko didn't know what to make of this. She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself as the prospect that she had just lost a friend– permanently –stared her right in the face.
Simon caught up with her, soon followed by Amanda and Sonia. "Akko, is Rock okay?"
"…he's fine," she lied to them, but mostly to herself, "Rock-kun is fine… he's just… he's just sleeping for the moment…"
"Akko," Amanda replied, "the blue boy doesn't look what counts as "fine" to me… What's going on with your staff?"
"Eh?" She looked down, away from her surely-not-dead robotic friend, and noticed that the Shiny Rod was glowing, the seven crystals emanating a green hue. Then, an idea popped into her head.
"Sonia, do you think we can use the repair spell to fix him?"
"Not without any material to fill in that hole in his torso," the burgundy-haired witch clarified. Akko immediately eyed the dismembered set of armor scattered around their feet, which was metallic purple in color.
And from there, everything clicked into place in her head…
…
…REBOOTING…
…
…
…
RUNNING DIAGNOSTICS…
…
…
WARNING: SKELETAL DAMAGE DETECTED!
WARNING: UNAUTHORIZED FOREIGN MATERIAL TRANSPLANT DETECTED!
…
…
…
…
…
…
ENERGY SYSTEMS FUNCTIONALITY: OPTIMAL
GUIDANCE SYSTEM FUNCTIONALITY: NO ERRORS DETECTED
MOTOR JOINT FUNCTIONALITY: NO ISSUES DETECTED
LIGHT CABLE OPTIC FUNCTIONALITY: L: 100% R: 100%
AUDIO RECEPTOR FUNCTIONALITY: L: 100% R: 100%
VOCAL SYNTHESIZER FUNCTIONALITY: 100%
VARIABLE TOOL SYSTEM FUNCTIONALITY: 100%
PLASMA CANNON Mk17 FUNCTIONALITY: 100%
INTERNAL CLOCK FUNCTIONALITY: 100% NO ERRORS DETECTED
TIME: 1:59 P.M., 3/8/2199
STASIS LOCK: DISENGAGED
…
…
…
WARNING(S) DISMISSED…
…
…
…
RUNNING Rock.EXE…
Dungeon entrance, Setsuri, Japan
2:00 P.M.; Friday, March 8, 2199
Rock reawoke with a startled jolt. The last thing he remembered, he'd been sent flying to the Moon (metaphorically, of course) by some black and gold robot Diana managed to wake up. Was it just him, or did the prodigess only create more problems than she solved? That would have to wait until later, as his internal monitors were streaming at him about an unauthorized transplant of foreign material into his body, which was concerning.
However, his attention soon shifted to the sight in front of him. Namely, all of his friends were standing before him, looking at him as if he'd grown a second head. All of them except for…
"Rock, you're awake!"
…except for Akko. Of course.
"Ugh, what happened?" he groaned as he sat up. "I feel like I got hit by a truck…"
"More like a cannonball," Amanda commented. "That black bot chased Diana out of this place while you were out, just so you're aware."
"Figures. So… how badly was I hurt?"
"Pretty horribly," Sonia admitted. "But thanks to that magic staff Akko found–"
"For the last time, it's the Shiny Rod!"
"…as I was saying," the burgundy-haired witch continued, "thanks to this rod, we were able to fix you… sort of."
…
"…What do you mean by that?" he asked in a serious tone and expression.
It was at this moment that Simon came over, pushing a full-body mirror in front of him.
"Okay, this thing was a bitch and a half to move over here," the blue-haired teen exhaled. "I hope it's worth it…"
Figuring that his friends wanted him to look into the mirror for the answer to his question, Rock got on his feet and moved to look at himself.
To say he was surprised would be an understatement: he was clad in the mythril armor set that Bass had blasted him onto only minutes ago. However, it was apparent to everyone that the Shiny Rod had made some modifications. The armor had also become more streamlined than it originally was, fitting his body shape more closely.
It was also made the same shade of blue as his forearms and lower legs. Said parts of the armor were notably missing, as they were too small for Akko, Sonia and Simon to fit onto him, leaving his metallic robot hands completely exposed like normal… although somehow Akko's repairo spell had managed to make them and his forearms larger than they were supposed to be, making them resemble gauntlets of sorts.
Lastly, the helmet had been completely overhauled; the visor and mouthguard were gone, leaving Rock's face clear for everyone to see. It had a stripe of the same light blue shade as his normal body's highlights down the helmet's middle, and there was a red, diamond-shaped jewel in the forehead area, just above its crest.
"Before you even complain," Amanda preemptively stated, "we aren't roboticists like your dad, okay? We're sorry if you don't like it, but we could only use what was available."
"…you made me look like a superhero from the 1960s, but with a medieval twist," he bluntly stated in response, shrugging his shoulders. "Could've come out worse."
"I was thinking more like a knight and RoboCop, but…" Sonia muttered, as the blue knight turned around to face his friends.
"So, where's that black robot that shot me?"
"Seriously," Simon asked. "That's the first thing you think of? You know that blonde bitch doesn't care–"
"Yes she's a bitch," Rock quickly admitted, "but that robot's out to kill her for all we know. What's her family going to think if she dies, and we did nothing about it? Hell, what's Mrs. Finnelan or the Headmaster going to think if that happens?"
A silence fell over everyone else present. As much as they hated to admit it (except Sonia), he had a point. And there was another, unspoken implication to consider: if something bad happened to her she or her family could easily use their influence to get them all expelled.
Amanda was the one who broke the silence, grumbling. "Alright, ever wanted to ride on a broom?"
Dungeon entrance, Setsuri, Japan
2:20 P.M.; Friday, March 8, 2199
Mr. Robinson looked at his digital stopwatch, which indicated that roughly 50 minutes were left until his exam was over. So far, only a handful of students had returned, and their loot didn't have that many points. Still, he'd give them passing grades, by value of having gotten out of the dungeon unscathed.
As he patiently waited, however, an exhausted, haggard Diana came out of the dark entrance.
"Time, two hours, twenty-one minutes," he monotonously called, "no points from what I can see. I'm pretty sure everyone heard me when I gave directions, so why haven't you gotten any valuable items, Ms. Cavendish?"
"I was running to get out before he got to me."
"…Who?"
The answer quickly became obvious, as a certain black, gold and gray robot bolted out of the entrance, quickly stopping themselves after noticing his opponent. However, instead of pressing on with their fight...
" …Pathetic," he stated. "For all your gloating, you seem to bark more than bite." As he said this, "I'm going to take pride in finishing this feud once and for all."
"I'd think twice before you do that."
Annoyed, he turned around to see who was interrupting him this time. To the surprise of everyone still present, it was Rock, in his blue-cladded upgrade.
"Rock? What's with the knight getup?" Mr. Robinson asked, completely missing the point of his question.
"That can come later," he dismissed, "right now I advise everyone to step a good distance away for your own safety." The exploration teacher looked at him confused before he deployed his Buster once more, and that was all Mr. Robinson needed to see to know that 1: Rock wasn't biting off more than he could chew, like he could tell Diana did when she apparently fought against this black robot, and 2: shit just got real.
Once the teachers wisely backed away (Mr. Robinson helping along an exhausted Diana), the two robots opened fire on each other. For the next five minutes, Bass shot repeatedly at the blue knight, but Rock was too fast and too agile to hit, and unlike that blonde brat, he wasn't tiring out that easily. Between dodging balls of concentrated quintessence and the occasional punch to the face or gut, the armored blue robot took potshots at his opponent with his Buster, about half of them hitting their mark on the century-old super fighting robot.
…and then they both heard several high-pitched sirens fast-approaching.
"Tell you what," the black and gold robot said to his foe, "why don't we finish this up another time?" Before Rock could respond, he bolted into the wilderness, leaving the blue robot alone as several police cars drove off the pavement and straight towards the entrance to the dungeon – straight towards him. He retracted his Buster and put his hands in the air, as several heavily-armored cops, Sniper Joes (painted blue and white instead of the usual green), and some Policebots came out, immediately opening fire on the armored bot in spite of handing himself over. Their bullets bounced right off his mythril and plasteel armor, but their actions were enough to tell him that this was no ordinary police squad.
This was a cybersquad.
Chapter 3 notes
- Location
- Covington, Kentucky
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Made this a separate post, again, because the chapter itself was causing the site to severely lag due to its word count.
Originally, this chapter was supposed to include Red Briton Dragon of the original OVA, and had an entirely different ending from the one I wound up writing (I'm not going into details, but it didn't involve Rock coming under fire from the police at the end). But when I started writing this chapter, I couldn't figure out a plausible way for Rock to take it down without relying on some BS relying on the Shiny Rod, which I've relegated to Akko for reasons that'll become clear within the next few chapters. Then I remembered that Bass exists as a character in he Mega Man franchise, so I decided to completely change the backstory I had planned for him, and substitute the dragon with this ball of anger and pride. Everything that happens after Diana unwittingly releases the Black Bomber from his container sort of fell into place from there.
Bass' weapon was something I came up with whilst putting together his new backstory. It occurred to me that Busters did not exist back when he was first built, so the in-universe logic would be that his creator (who will remain nameless for the time being, though this version of Bass is too old for it to be Dr. Wily) used the most destructive mobile weapon available at the time: a tank gun! More specifically, a shortened version of the Ordnance QF 2-pounder, retrofitted to fire balls of pure quintessence instead of metal shells. His gun can't be too ludicrous, after all. (Personally, I wouldn't be surprised if Bass' creator stole it off of the Matilda II in Britain's Tank Museum
)
Anyway, Bass won't show up again for a few chapters, but the Black Bomber will return.
Aside from that, we also get how Rock got his knight-esque armor; it was a set of Mythril armor inside the "vault" our heroes have found, and Akko and Sonia fused parts of it to him using the Shiny Rod as part of their improvised repairs. To give you an idea of the end result, it would be equal parts Classic Rock and Legends/DASH Volnutt, with a medieval twist to spice things up. Also a red gem on the helmet, as a nod to X.
And we get the debut of the first elements of the Cyberpunk franchise into the story. I was planning on adding this into the story midway into my overall story revisions. And it's not that out of place: severe climate change and a disastrous war with aliens tends to leave things a bit screwed up. In addition, everything Rock's seen so far hasn't included anywhere within the city of Setsuri itself; he's going to experience quite the culture shock when he first ventures into the actual city.
But who called in a cybersquad on our blue hero? That will have to wait until the next chapter releases sometime in the next two weeks, depending on my workload at college.
Until then, thank you for reading, and stay safe.
–NuclearAlchmist
P.S.: Before anyone complains, the fight between Bass and Rock was supposed to be anticlimactic, for the sake of comedy (and a reference to a certain film by Monty Python).
Originally, this chapter was supposed to include Red Briton Dragon of the original OVA, and had an entirely different ending from the one I wound up writing (I'm not going into details, but it didn't involve Rock coming under fire from the police at the end). But when I started writing this chapter, I couldn't figure out a plausible way for Rock to take it down without relying on some BS relying on the Shiny Rod, which I've relegated to Akko for reasons that'll become clear within the next few chapters. Then I remembered that Bass exists as a character in he Mega Man franchise, so I decided to completely change the backstory I had planned for him, and substitute the dragon with this ball of anger and pride. Everything that happens after Diana unwittingly releases the Black Bomber from his container sort of fell into place from there.
Bass' weapon was something I came up with whilst putting together his new backstory. It occurred to me that Busters did not exist back when he was first built, so the in-universe logic would be that his creator (who will remain nameless for the time being, though this version of Bass is too old for it to be Dr. Wily) used the most destructive mobile weapon available at the time: a tank gun! More specifically, a shortened version of the Ordnance QF 2-pounder, retrofitted to fire balls of pure quintessence instead of metal shells. His gun can't be too ludicrous, after all. (Personally, I wouldn't be surprised if Bass' creator stole it off of the Matilda II in Britain's Tank Museum
)Anyway, Bass won't show up again for a few chapters, but the Black Bomber will return.
Aside from that, we also get how Rock got his knight-esque armor; it was a set of Mythril armor inside the "vault" our heroes have found, and Akko and Sonia fused parts of it to him using the Shiny Rod as part of their improvised repairs. To give you an idea of the end result, it would be equal parts Classic Rock and Legends/DASH Volnutt, with a medieval twist to spice things up. Also a red gem on the helmet, as a nod to X.
And we get the debut of the first elements of the Cyberpunk franchise into the story. I was planning on adding this into the story midway into my overall story revisions. And it's not that out of place: severe climate change and a disastrous war with aliens tends to leave things a bit screwed up. In addition, everything Rock's seen so far hasn't included anywhere within the city of Setsuri itself; he's going to experience quite the culture shock when he first ventures into the actual city.
But who called in a cybersquad on our blue hero? That will have to wait until the next chapter releases sometime in the next two weeks, depending on my workload at college.
Until then, thank you for reading, and stay safe.
–NuclearAlchmist
P.S.: Before anyone complains, the fight between Bass and Rock was supposed to be anticlimactic, for the sake of comedy (and a reference to a certain film by Monty Python).
Chapter 4: Origin
- Location
- Covington, Kentucky
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I do not own any of these characters. Except for some of the OCs.
Takeda Shingen High School, Setsuri, Japan
2:25 P.M.; Friday, March 8, 2199
When Isuru "Breaker" Night woke up today, he had not expected to finally banish the false student from Takeda Shingen.
He'd been walking to his car to make his way home, the semester and school year finally at its end. However, he'd noticed two certain robots, one black, the other blue and someone he recognized, fighting in front of the dungeon's entrance. Both of them were armed to the teeth, and blasting each other.
He recognized the blue robot as Rock Hikari-Nishizumi, the damned robot that had been transferred into the school for some project his father– or rather, his creator –had been working on. He'd alway had the suspicion that he was armed, but was hiding it until enough of the staff's guard was down. And here was the proof, right in front of him.
He considered his options. Remain a bystander? Out of the question. Take them on himself? No, he'd certainly get killed in the crossfire.
Call the police? Now he was talking.
Specifically, Breaker called in a cybersquad. Cybersquads had been a rather recent development, after dozens of instances of cybernetically augmented people went mad and began attacking everyone in sight in the 2150s. Cyberpsychosis, as the phenomena was eventually termed. In the nearly 50 years since it first started popping up, nobody has come close to finding a cure– if it can be cured –or what causes it. After doing a bunch of his own research, Breaker had a gut feeling about what the real cause of cyberpsychosis is: implementing too many augmentations or artificial limbs.
The effects were cumulative. A single cyber hand was unlikely to cause cyberpsychosis (nor did the JROTC teacher disapprove of it), but replacement of all four limbs and both eyes would probably start one down the slippery slope to madness. It had to be this, because machines were inherently corruptive, possibly even tools of the devil.
And this was why cybersquads were created: to attack so-called cyberpsychos with a hail of bullets and, more recently, miniature stars. And given that these two robots were armed to the teeth, Night felt that a cybersquad had the best chance of taking them down. So he called.
They arrived within minutes. First, the black robot bolted, and the squad focused their efforts on Rock, who was trying to fake a surrender. Fortunately, they didn't fall for it, and opened fire on him. The squad managed to pin him down after some of those dastardly Sniper Joes zerg rushed the blue robot, then dragged him into a car that promptly sped off to… well, Breaker didn't actually care where it went, as long as it meant that he would never see the false person again. Sure, Tsueno Hikari was gonna be royally pissed when he inevitably found out, but that was in the future. For now, Breaker Night had a date in a couple of hours, and he wasn't going to keep Ms. Chono waiting.
???, Setsuri, Japan
3:30 P.M.; Friday, March 8, 2199
Rock had expected that the police would try to see reason, but reality rarely meets one's expectations. The cops had shot him, tackled him to the ground, and manhandled him into one of their vehicles in a blindfold, and were taking him to God-knows-where for reasons that the officers "accompanying" him refused to disclose.
Keeping an eye on his internal clock, he was in the police car for 34 minutes, before it came to a final stop and the policemen dragged him out. Judging by the sounds of a lot of chatter around him coming into his audio receptors, Rock had been sent somewhere with a lot of people, which was something new. A few minutes of being guided later, they strapped him to some kind of table; Rock did not resist, being the kind soul he was, though he did complain a little. He felt them poke and prod at his armor – which, for some reason, was like a second skin, though he chalked it up to the powers of the Shiny rod doing something Akko did not intend. Eventually, the cops and/or whoever were naow accompanying them managed to pry off a piece of his armor on his back, at the base of his neck, and jabbed something into the exposed circuitry.
Moments later, the black void Rock was seeing was replaced by… some kind of psalm beach during sunset, something you'd see on a title card made in the 1980s, or a synth rock album (no pun intended) made during that time. For some reason, all of Rock's internal monitors had disappeared, leaving his sight unimpeded by a blue tinge for the first time in his short life.
"Welcome," a booming, yet caring voice said from nowhere, yet everywhere at once. "I am the Artificial Robotic Cyberpsychological Healing Operating System, or Archos. I will be your guide throughout your psychological reconstruction and cyberpsychosis recovery. Please wait as I perform a neural scan."
Neural scan? Why would–
"Neural scan complete."
Wow, he thought, that was surprisingly quick.
"Error: no nervous system detected, " Archos reported. "Scanning for potential—"
"If you could please stop invading my systems for a moment, I'd like you to know that my personality is just fine."
"…pardon?"
"I'm saying that I am not afflicted with cyber-psychosis. Can't be. My nervous system is made of wires and neuron sensors, not nerve cells"
" …If my observations from the neural scan are correct," the A.I. wanted to clarify, "I will assume you are suggesting that you are a robot?"
"Yes."
"Please state your official designation for verification."
"Doctor Hikari Number 001," the blue knight stated.
"One moment please… … …designation confirmed. Please wait as I inform the administrator, and possible disconnection from this program," Archos informed. "Thank you for your cooperation."
Rock was left alone for a few minutes afterwards, before the psalm beach and everything else around him glitched away into a bright whiteness.
Within moments, the blue tinge and various gauges and statistics had returned to the blue knight's field of vision, but unlike when he first entered that strange beach, he was no longer blindfolded. He was strapped to a table, like he'd thought he'd been, and was staring at a bright-lit, unfamiliar ceiling.
"Our apologies, Mr. Hikari," a hoarse, male voice spoke. "We were not aware that your creator had a third child."
A middle-aged Japanese man over Rock, though the light above (behind?) him made the exact details a bit hard for him to see.
"The cybersquad that brought you here said that you attacked multiple students at Takeda Shingen High School," the stranger explained, "at least according to the person who reported your fight with another cyberpsycho. Is this true?"
"Absolutely not," Rock explained, "I was trying to protect them from the black-cladded jackass with a tank gun that was released from the dungeon, probably by accident."
"Is that so?" Rock couldn't read the expression on his face due to the lighting.
"I do believe he's telling the truth, Dr. Fujikawa," the voice of Archos suddenly returned. "From the memory files I stumbled upon before DLN-001 explained his non-organic nature, it appears that this is the case, though he and his human friends accidentally breached a government facility beneath the school, and they fused a set of armor to him as a sort of emergency repair."
Gee, maybe you should ask permission next time, the blue knight thought.
"I thought something was off when they brought you in," the man, Dr, Fujikawa, mused. "You certainly don't look like most of my usual patients, that's for sure."
As he said this, a large, mostly humanoid robot loomed over Rock. I say mostly because from its silhouette alone, he could tell that it had no proper head, though there were two blue, circular lights coming from the center of its chest area.
"Shall I remove his restraints, Doctor?" the robot, who Rock was fairly certain was Archos' real body, asked.
"Not until we call this bot's creator to come and pick him up," he pointed out, "and before that, inform the administrator about this little screw-up on Blood Gulch Squad's part."
Takeda Shingen High School, Setsuri, Japan
4:00 P.M.; Friday, March 8, 2199
"What do you mean, my son got arrested!?"
Dr. Hikari didn't know what to expect when the headmaster called him directly and told him to meet him at his office. Immediately, he'd worried that Rock had gotten himself in trouble, somehow. And those fears had just been proven correct, though clearly the good doctor had underestimated how much trouble his son had gotten into. That, or he was just in denial.
The headmaster, one Lloyd "Lord" Gnome, was sitting before him, was a large, muscular man with brown hair, mutton chops, and a slight green tint to his skin. And judging by the look on his face, he was not pleased with the information he'd just relayed to Tsueno.
"Apparently Rock came out of the dungeon wearing some kind of armor, and began attacking some ancient robot that someone had unleashed by accident," he briefly explained. "Then someone, though I don't know who, called the police. They sent a cybersquad, who forcefully took him in and drove him off somewhere, either the mental facility or the ward."
"This must be a mistake," Thomas said in a low voice, "Rock isn't the kind of person to do this kind of stint."
"I know that, Dr. Hikari, I've seen how he is," Headmaster Gnome elaborated sympathetically. "He's the best student in my school for his grade, behind the young Cavendish of course, and he's only tried to diffuse fights, not instigate them." he looked Tsueno Hikari-Nishizumi in the eyes. "I'm not blaming him for what's happened. Personally, if I find out what idiot did this, I'll be giving them a piece of my mind. But I'm not going to deny that this was unusual for him, to actually be willing to fight."
"That is true," the good doctor admitted. "Perhaps I should ask his friends about what happened."
"You know classes were released an hour ago, Dr. Hikari?"
"Yes, I'm aware," Tsueno nodded. "I'm sure everyone's at least on their way home by now, except for one."
"One?"
"Dr. Cain called me yesterday to inform me he was headed to Kyoto for an archeological conference," he explained. "Atsuko couldn't go because of something she did last time she went with him, which got her banned or something along those lines. So he asked if she could stay at my house for the week."
"Oh." the headmaster blinked. "Well, good luck handling her, I've heard she's quite the handful."
"And I've heard during her previous visits that your teachers are quite biased, headmaster."
…
"I'll take that as a… compliment," the mutton-chopped man spoke. "And please, call me Lloyd."
Akko hadn't been certain what had happened to Rock after Amanda flew him up to the entrance stairway. What she did know was that some jackass called the police and got him arrested for reasons beyond her. She herself, Simon, Sonia and Amanda barely got out of the dungeon within the time limit Mr. Robinson had set, and had grabbed that cartoonish staff that the latter two and Rock had passed up earlier so they had something to show their teacher. To their surprise, it had 1,000 points attached to it, the most out of any object in the test. They were split evenly between the four of them, but 250 points (240 in Amanda's case, as a penalty for flying in spite of Mr. Robinson's orders) was still more than enough to pass, to their pleasant surprise.
Even better, she got to keep the Shiny Rod for herself.
Apparently, nobody gave a shit about something tied to one of the global magic community's greatest embarrassments. Not Mr. Robinson, not the headmaster, not any of the teachers, nor the government agent who showed up just after Rock was arrested. Though said agen did make it clear that, for all intents and purposes, the government facility beneath the labyrinth did not exist, and she figured that she ought to relay that advice down to him. Getting back on track, not only had Diana been stupified by their decision to let her keep the staff, but the headmaster had called her, Hannah, and Barbara to his office; apparently, he the staff had caught the moment she released Bass on camera, and when the were sent out after a muffled screaming match between the blonde prodigess and Headmaster Gnome, Akko couldn't help but feel mostly vindicated after all the bullshit those three had put her and her friends through all semester.
…mostly. She couldn't put her finger on it, but Akko had a feeling that Rock was in a lot of trouble, and seriously hoped that the police would release him soon. But she knew what the police were like, ever since—
No. She didn't want to remember.
Fortunately, he mind was taken off such dark memories when Dr. Hikari emerged from the Headmaster's Office. "What did he say about…" she quietly asked.
On the road, Setsuri, Japan
5:00 P.M.; Friday, March 8, 2199
She regretted asking about it.
She knew the Setsuri Police's modus operandi was "shoot everything first, ask if it was hostile or friendly later," but how the Hell did the cops mistake him for a cyberpsycho!? He'd turned himself in peacefully, and only fired at that black-armored jackass, not them! Better yet, what idiot had the fucking gall to call them in in the first place!? Akko screamed in frustration, outraged by what had happened.
"Can you please tone your voice down?" Dr. Hikari asked from her right, "I'm trying to drive."
Indeed, they were in his car, on their way to his house/lab. It was small, and ran on hydrogen fuel cells; one of the few positive effects of the Great Reckoning and Martian War was the long overdue implosion of the fossil fuel industry, so renewables and hydrogen have long replaced petroleum as the primary fuel source for private and public transit.
Akko took a deep breath, then another. "Sorry, it's just… you'd think people would know better than to call the police. They never de-escalate anything!"
"I know," he replied calmly. "But trust me, they aren't as bad as America's police were before everything came crashing down over there. At least ours don't make poor excuses to enter your house without a warrant."
"That doesn't make it any less… frustrating!" she gritted her teeth in anguish. "I mean– he's your son! Aren't you not— are you not a little peeved?"
"No, Akko," Tsueno replied, turning a corner, "I'm fucking furious. I'm just not letting my emotions guide my actions."
By now, they were making their final approach to the house. They pulled into the dirt driveway, exited the car, and walked up to the front door…
…except there was no door so to speak. The doorway was open.
Alarmed, the good doctor entered. He quickly found that the door and its hinges had been sheared clean off, and it was laying a few meters into the lab room, where it was located. Thomas searched inside to see if anything was missing, and it quickly became apparent to him that something big had gone missing: the completed prototype Robot Masters. Also the bare-bones frame of Kronos. Only Hecate was left, her incomplete, headless form standing alone in the laboratory.
On the floor in front of the sole remaining prototype was a small, pink thumb drive, with something written on it with a black marker. Picking it up, Dr. Hikari could see it read, "For Thomas."
"What is it?" asked the brunette witch.
"Whoever did this must have a sick sense of humor," the good doctor said, before moving to the lab's console to see the drive's contents. Inside, there was a video file that had a bunch of random numbers in a row for its name, which he then clicked on with the mouse.
After loading, the video showed an old man with a gray mustache, and equally gray wild hair that was parted down the middle, leaving his head bald in the middle.
"Greetings, Thomas Hikari," the old man answered in a gruff voice with a German accent. "It's been a while since I've heard from my best student. Or should I call you Dr. Hikari, since you've gone and made a name for yourself?"
"Doctor Wily," he replied in an unusually cold tone for him.
"Eh, it doesn't matter," the old man said to himself, "this is all pre-recorded anyhow." he then cleared his throat before continuing. "It may seem rather sudden to you, but I've decided I'd like to take over the city. And for that, I'll be borrowing the robots I found standing unused in your laboratory. Oh, and apologies for your front door, your construction robot can be rather… pig-headed."
By this point, Tsueno's hands had curled up into fists, which were subtly shaking in rage. What insanity, he thought, Using my robots for the purpose of conquest…
Little did he know, something was shuffling behind him and Akko.
"In any case, I've left something to compensate for this, Dr. Hikari. You might be familiar with what I've given you."
There was a cocking sound from behind them, followed moments later by the tearing ratatatatatatatatat of an automatic rifle as Wily burst out laughing on the screen. Fortunately, the bullets had all been stopped by a magic barrier, hastily erected by a certain witch.
"What the fuck is this!?" Akko screamed, the video cutting out as it ended.
"An ambush, by the look of things," he said, before the gunning stopped.
Akko lowered the barrier. "Stay here, Doctor, I'll deal with it."
"And get yourself killed? Absolutely not!"
"You're unarmed, Dr. Hikari," she pointed out, before gesturing to the Shiny Rod. "At least I have something to defend myself with."
"Just… be careful," he relented.
Akko nodded, before rushing over to the doorway to the living room. Hiding behind the doorway for a moment, she took a deep breath, and walked in…
…only to be immediately tackled to the floor. Within moments, she was on the floor fighting what looked like a Sniper Joe, but it looked… off. First of all, instead of its usual green, it was red. Instead of looking like a normal biker helmet, its head looked like a gladiator's helmet, albeit without the fuzz on top, with its eye holes covered by an eyeless visor that resembled a pair of sunglasses. The space where the mouth would be had a mouth plate akin to the one on a certain fictitious, transforming alien robot. His shield, instead of being the rectangular, black riot shield, was shaped like a pointed oval and was red, with white highlights.
The red soldier tried using said shield to bash the witch's head in, only for Akko to telekinetically hold it in place above her head. After a few moments attempting to brute force his way out of his bind, the Sniper(?) opted to separate its right arm from the shield, and proceeded to deck her in the face. Whilst reeling, the red soldier got on its feet and kicked her in her… uh, womanhood, then stamped down on her chest with his left foot. As Akko struggled to breathe, she bashed the robotic soldier's leg with the Shiny Rod, as hard as she could to no avail.
Crap crap crap crap crap, what am I supposed to do!? On the verge of panic, Akko quickly skimmed her memory as to how she should deal with her robotic opponent. Wait, I have the Shiny Rod with me… Why don't I use it like Chariot did? Summoning as much strength as she could, she held the beige staff in front/above her head, and brought the words her idol said whilst summoning the Shiny Arc.
"Noctu… Orfei…" she croaked, the seven crystals starting to glow a mint green, "Aude… Fraetor—"
She was interrupted when the Sniper's left forearm split apart, shifting in the same way Rock's did earlier that day, turning into an automatic rifle. Before Akko could react, it shot a single bullet.
At point-blank range.
In a fraction of a second, the projectile had made the incredibly short distance from the Buster to the Shiny Rod. It struck right on the fifth crystal down from the top, shattering it. Barely a second later, both the robot soldier and the stunned witch were engulfed in a flash of light—
BOOM
The explosion shook the entire house, breaking all of its windows and causing a few things on shelves elsewhere in the building to fall off. Dr. Hikari, who was about to intervene against the odd Sniper, was knocked to the floor, though he was quick to get back up and run into the living room.
Surprisingly, the explosion hadn't produced any smoke or dust, so it didn't take long to figure out that the entire room had been absolutely wrecked. Furniture had been smashed, the dinner table had been smashed (ditto with the two chairs that had been placed at either end, one for the good doctor and the other for his son), and the tv's screen cracked all over. The intruder was nowhere to be seen, and Akko–!
Akko was laying on the far side of the room, her skin, hair and clothes burnt brown and charred, yet Thomas could see a faint mint green aura surrounding her. Her arms, from halfway between the wrists and elbows, were gone, her forearms reduced to cauterized stumps. As he approached, she coughed and opened her eyes, and he could see the pain in them by the time he reached the young witch's side.
"–HACK– S-sorry… Dr. Hikari…" she managed to choke out, wincing. "I may have… underestimated what we're up against…" she started coughing again, this time regurgitating blood, which began streaming down from her mouth.
"You're hurt, he said, "Let me carry you over to the–"
"I'm… alright…" she grunted, stubbornly, as she began trying to get herself on her feet. "I… can get myself… over there…" she stumbled to her feet, and Dr. Hikari supported her as they made their way to the operating table where he built Rock just shy of a year ago. As she laid down, though, Akko began feeling dizzy, her vision clouding. Swiftly, the young witch slipped away, unable to fight a growing darkness…
Setsuri Mental Health Center, Setsuri, Japan
5:30 P.M.; Friday, March 8, 2199
The last two hours, to put it bluntly, had been mostly eventless. Rock had been patiently waiting, still strapped to a table, for any word on when his father was coming to pick him up. Dr. Fujikawa had been kind enough to inform him that he'd reported the screw-up that cybersquad made to his boss, and that he was working on trying to contact Dr. Hikari. But so far, there'd been no word from the good doctor.
Rock was deep in his thoughts thinking about how his friends were reacting to the fact that he'd been essentially incarcerated; he was particularly worried how Akko would lash out, possibly blame herself for this, certainly do something brash and irrational about it, and get herself hurt (and/or worse) in the process. However, his thoughts were interrupted by several loud, albeit muffled noises from outside the room. There were gunshots, then several screams.
"Dr. Fujikawa," the robot asked, "what's going on out there?"
"Nothing of importance," he stated calmly. "Probably someone who's broken out of their braindance and their cell… security will handle 'em."
As if to mock him, though Rock couldn't see it, at that moment one of the guards was sent flying past the cell's bulletproof glass door.
" …well, that's new," Fujikawa said, nonchalantly.
"Doctor, I've just received notice from security that an intruder has breached the premises of the facility," Archos briefly explained. "He is armed with a pair of scissor blades that can apparently be thrown like a boomerang and are cutting down anyone in his way… literally…"
The cyberpsychologist looked out the door, now able to see just who this intruder was. A certain orange and light gray– practically white –lumber robot was standing down the end of the hallway outside the door to his right, the hall being lined with cells/rooms just like the one they were in.
"That doesn't look like a man, Archos," the spectacled cyberpsychologist noted, "that looks like a rogue machine."
This piqued Rock's attention. "Is it orange and white, with a spherical head?"
"Yes… why do you ask?"
Achilles… but why the Hell is he…
"Judging by your expression," Archos said, "I take it that you know about this robot."
"I do, he was a prototype Dr. Hikari built. But he shouldn't even be online yet," he remembered.
"If this is an excuse to get you out early, this is not working."
"Doctor, that's not what I was going to suggest," Rock quickly explained. "Just let me talk to him, then I'll come right back in here and… uh… strap me to this table again, I guess."
There was a brief silence throughout the room, before Dr. Fujikawa coughed. "I have no idea what's going on inside your processor, kid, but considering that there isn't a single other person with a Buster on them throughout downtown, I'm going to trust you on this."
With that, he put some commands into the wall-mounted computer, and the table began upending so that Rock was in a vertical position. With the light out of his eyes, the armored robot could now get a clear look at the people accompanying him; Dr. Fujikawa, was not quite as old as his voice suggested, only being in his early or mid-50s, and had very short blonde hair, brown eyes, and wore a pair of spectacles. Though Rock had already known about Archos' headless form, he could now see that his frame was roughly 180 centimeters tall, was painted mostly blue, with a red orb beneath his eye lights, and had small, thin claws for hands.
"Undoing restraints," the larger robot stated as he began doing just that. Within moments, Rock was freed, and speed-walked to the door and entered the hallway.
The scene before him could only be described as a bloodbath, as Achilles had dismembered and/or killed all of the building's (or this floor's, he didn't know how many there were) guards, their uniforms stained red. And for the one behind the massacre, his large, circular eyes, whose eyelids were silver slabs of metal positioned between the eyes themselves and the layer of glass protecting them from the elements, gave his otherwise expressionless face a look of glee. The orange and white lumber robot quickly noticed the blue knight's presence, and soon stopped butchering a large male guard to address him.
"Hello, Rock," he said in a voice not unlike the late Peter Lorre, "glad you could join."
"Achilles, why the hell did you kill these people!?" Mega Man asked, his voice ringing with alarm and concern.
"They were in my way," he said, "and I like the way they scream when I make paper dolls out of them. He he."
Rock was… disturbed, to say the least. "Achilles, I don't know what's gotten into your programming, but you need to stop this madness."
"Madness? My circuitry has no issues according to my self-diagnostics," he asked, starting to get a little angry. "Oh, and my name's Cut Man, not Achilles. Whatever name that jackwad Dr. Hikari gave me is meaningless."
"Jackwad!?" Now it was Rock's turn to get peeved. "Alright, how about I give you a taste of plasma?" he deployed his Buster, holding his left arm up so Achilles– Cut Man –could see it clearly. He then looked around, checking if anyone else was in the hallway and liable to get harmed; thankfully, there were none. "Your Rolling cutters against my Buster, how does that sound?"
"Challenge accepted," the orange and white robot said, narrowing his eyes.
In a second, he sprung away from his opponent before he could shoot him, his reverse-articulated legs doing what they were designed for. The lumber bot then threw his Rolling Cutter like a frisbee at Rock, which he dodged easily, and started firing lemons at Cut Man. however, Achilles' general springiness meant that the one-and-a-half meter tall Robot Master was going to be a pain in the ass to land a hit on, something the blue robot quickly realized as his shots kept hitting various parts of the hallway, even melting a few of its doors – though fortunately, nobody was hurt.
Cut man then tossed his Rolling Cutters again, and the blue knight promptly shot at the incoming flying blades with his Buster. Due to the Rolling Cutters being made of ceratanium, which had an unusually high melting point, this didn't warp them in the slightest, but the miniature star did kill their momentum, causing them to plop down onto the white marble floor. However, they then started faintly glowing a greenish-metallic gray, and started moving back to their master. It was at this point that the lab assistant remembered that, since magnetism-magic was declared illegal to use by the IMM, Dr. Hikari had used some combination of quintessence- and iron-magic to allow the lumber bot to control his primary tool/weapon.
"Perhaps this room's a bit small, dweeb," the rogue RM noted. "Why don't we head over to an actual arena?" Without even giving Rock a chance to answer, he sprung over him and landed in front of a pair of doors at the other end of the hall, then ran through them. The blue knight gave chase, but not before stopping by Dr. Fujikawa's cell and telling him, "This is gonna take longer than I expected, Doctor."
"That's fine," he replied, "I'm sure management will understand."
"I damn well hope so," he nodded, before taking off.
[Music cue: Finale (William Tell Overture), The Lone Ranger OST – Hans Zimmer]
Behind the doors was a staircase, which the Blue knight rushed down as fast as he could (doing his best to avoid running into any other people using it). There was an exit at the bottom, which Rock stopped himself in front of, before leaving the building. He found himself in the streets of downtown Setsuri, which was noticeably more crowded than what he was used to, even at school. Looking around for a moment, he found Cut Man leaping, bouncing away on top of a bunch of backed-up cars on the street. Rock immediately began pursuing the runaway robot, doing his best not to run into anyone, but it was because of this that Achilles was quickly gaining distance. Realizing he had no other choice, the knight got onto the hood of a backed-up taxi car, then onto its roof, and began doing parkour from car roof to car roof. The distance between the two bots was still growing thanks to Cut Man's superior speed, but now not as quickly, as they made their way roughly northeast along the street towards the towering, blocky skyscrapers of the central financial district ahead.
As he continued pursuing the orange and white robot over the tops of cars and a few trucks, a large screen on one of these skyscrapers showed that Achillies wasn't the only Robot Master that had gone haywire; all of them had, and were individually wreaking havoc across the Setsuri Metropolitan Area. Realizing that something had gone very, very wrong whilst he was in custody, Rock decided that he'd better get this over with ASAP to deal with the others.
Up ahead was a park, full of greenery and sakura and oak trees. Cut Man reached there, only to then stop to shave the branches off of a few trees and drop them onto people who were minding their own business walking below, letting his blue opponent catch up with him.
As Rock leapt into the park, Cut Man hung upside down from the branch of a particularly large sakura tree with his arms crossed, his toes digging into its bark and wood to keep gravity from taking over entirely. "This is more like it," he said in his nasal voice.
"Everyone, step back," Rock called out, "I don't know how ugly this is gonna get, so stay back for your own safety!"
"Why do you care about their well-being?" Cut Man asked. "They're humans. Why should they not get hurt?"
"I don't know," he retorted, "maybe it's because we were built to help them, not harm?"
"You're an idiot, you know?" he replied, unamused. "What are we to them? Slaves? We don't need to listen to humans, dweeb, we're better than them!"
"That's completely missing my point, Cut Man!"
"Well, you're not going to change my mind, Rock Man!"
" …what?"
"That's what I'm calling you from now on, Rock Man!"
Rock was disappointed in how stubborn the prototype lumber bot had turned out, but he could see that a crowd was beginning to form around their standoff, so he decided that he might as well go all the way. "Fine, if you're not calling me by proper name, you ought to call me something else!"
"Like what? Knight Man?"
On the skyscraper screen he viewed earlier, there was an Ultimate Fighting Championship advertisement for a robo-wrestling match between two androids, one of which was coincidentally called Knight Man.
"I have a feeling that name is already taken. How about… Mega Man?"
"That sounds stupid," Cut Man bluntly replied. "But enough talking! It's time I cut you down to size, Mega Dweeb!" He then threw his Rolling Cutters once again, which the blue knight dodged and countered with a hail of miniature stars from his Buster.
The lumber bot zig-zagged around them, rapidly climbing up the tree he was in as the stars shot it up and set what remained on fire, the resulting smoke forcing Cut Man to the ground as it was clouding his sight. He then leapt at Mega Man, only for the blue robot to shoot him whilst he was at the peak of his arch. Due to the fact that Dr. Hikari designed Cut Man to be as light as possible, this meant that he had virtually no armor so to speak. Thus, this one shot was enough to cripple the lumber robot, and he landed with a light THUD. Of course, Cut Man got right back up, but his torso now had a big hole in it that was giving off sparks galore, which he clutched like it was an open wound… which, to be fair, it more or less was.
"That was… a lucky shot there, twerp…" he said defiantly, "but that won't stop me.. From making… ribbons out of you." Almost immediately, he threw his Rolling Cutters again…
…only for them to be promptly caught by the blue knight in his right hand, causing the damaged lumber bot's eye's to widen to their maximum extent in shock.
[End music cue, cue record needle scratch]
" …motherboard," the lumber robot quietly swore in reaction.
Wordlessly, Rock fired his Buster one more time at Cut Man, blowing his head clean off.
The small crowd cheered as the body collapsed to the ground, though Rock was less than happy with having to essentially kill someone, and was more concerned about what the other Robot Masters were doing. However, something popped up on his internal monitors. Checking his inventory of tools in his VTS system, he found that he'd unconsciously copied the Rolling Cutters into them. It had space for twelve tools in total, with the Cutters taking up one slot, and another one being filled in by a hammer. The remaining ten slots were more than enough to copy the ability of the other five Robot Masters.
From there, Rock quickly hatched a plan to deal with them…
???
???; ???
Akko found herself in a huge and leafy forest, filled with old, corroded trees and brambles (though she didn't know what brambles were). The ground was barren, the air suffocated by mist that kept the brunette from seeing anything farther than a few meters away.
She wandered for who knows how long, before being confronted by a teal glow ahead. Instinctively, Akko reached for her wand, only to find that it wasn't there. The glow drew closer, the witch bracing herself for whatever monstrosity it may be.
"Do not be afraid, Akko."
She opened her eyes, and saw a tall, beautiful woman in front of her, with a gentle smile on her face. "I am not here to hurt you, young witch."
"U-um, who are you?" she nervously asked.
"I go by many names," the woman explained, "but you may call me Woodward."
"Woodward…" Akko recognized the name from history class (the part that she actually paid attention to). "W-weren't you one of the founders of Luna Nova?"
"That was long ago, and not why I brought your spirit here," she replied, before gesturing around her. "What lies before you is the Arcturus Forrest, where the Grand Triskelion was locked away…" she then returned her gaze to the brunette. "…and the place where the Claiomh Solais was created. You may know it as the Shiny Rod."
At this moment, Akko's heart sank, realizing where Woodward was going with this. Her displeased expression only further confirmed it.
"It has come to my attention that shortly after coming into your possession, the Claiomh Solais was physically destroyed when you attempted to use it on one of those soulless contraptions."
"I-I-I-I-I-uh-I-I's s-s-sorry?" she quickly stammered out in apology. "I-I-I didn't mean to–"
"I did not finish," Woodward stated, raising a finger. "Though its physical form is no more, it appears that the magical energy it had contained has transferred to you."
"…Nanni?"
"I know, It's unexpected, even for an old spirit like me. However, given that the Claiomh Solais contained a significant portion of the Grand Triskelion's energies inside, your physical form cannot handle it."
" …Wait, you're saying that…" she trailed off, processing what she'd just been told. " …you're saying that I… died…?"
"Not necessarily," Woodward's more comforting smile returned. "While I may no longer be able to manifest myself in the physical realm, I can help you here in the spiritual realm. What you are seeing is merely my spiritual projection in your mind. But our time is short. There is a suitable container for both the Claiomh Solais' energies and your soul in the room you are in, and I may be able to complete its… construction, as its creator calls the process."
Akko took a moment to think about what she was talking about, before she remembered, and realized what the spirit wanted to do.
"Hecate… Hold on a moment, you want me to possess it?"
"Yes."
Now Akko was getting a little skeptical. "And if I refuse…?"
"Atsuko Kagari Cain, if you don't do this, you will die." Woodward was as blunt as a police baton, though that was just what happens when you're over a thousand years old and never very social, even back when you were alive. "The Claiomh Solais is the key to opening the Grand Triskelion – properly, not like Croix when she blew the bloody lid off. Its magic energy is now literally a part of you, and may very much disappear if you pass night now. I do not like utilizing a soulless husk of a mannequin as a jar, but there's no better option …And you do want to be the next Shiny Chariot, am I correct?"
"Yes, but how am I supposed to do that if I'm literally a robot!?"
The old spirit was silent, not replying to the brunette's question.
" …though I guess I can't figure that out if I'm dead, can I?" Akko sighed in resignation. "Fine, put my soul into Hecate or whatever, but don't blame me if I fuck up or anything."
"Noted."
Just like that, Woodward disappeared in a flash of teal, before the mist thickened and consumed Akko's entire field of vision. The next thing she knew, all she could see was mint green and—
…
…
…
INITIALIZATION COMPLETE
…
RUNNING FINAL DIAGNOSTICS…
…
…
…
…
ENERGY SYSTEMS FUNCTIONALITY: OPTIMAL
GUIDANCE SYSTEM FUNCTIONALITY: NO ERRORS DETECTED
MOTOR JOINT FUNCTIONALITY: NO ISSUES DETECTED
LIGHT CABLE OPTIC FUNCTIONALITY: L: 100% R: 100%
AUDIO RECEPTOR FUNCTIONALITY: L: 100% R: 100%
VOCAL SYNTHESIZER FUNCTIONALITY: 100%
QUINTESSENCE BARRIER APPARATUS FUNCTIONALITY: L: 100% R: 100%
PLASMA CANNON Mk22q FUNCTIONALITY: 100%
INTERNAL CLOCK FUNCTIONALITY: 100% NO ERRORS DETECTED
TIME: 5:34 P.M., 3/8/2199
STASIS LOCK: DISENGAGED
…
…
…
…
RUNNING UNNAMED.EXE…
Dr. Hikari's lab, Setsuri, Japan
5:35 P.M.; Friday, March 8, 2199
Akko's eyes shot open in an instant, her view immediately filled with various dials, charts and other gizmos, only for most of them to disappear and reveal Dr. Hikari jogging over to her from her own corpse.
"Oh my goodness," the good doctor did his best not to swear, "How did you… Akko? Hecate? What the Hell is going on?"
"Dr. Hikari…" the now roboticized witch managed to say, in utter disbelief over the fact that what she'd just experienced was not in fact a dream. " …I-I don't… What's happening to me?"
"I'm afraid I don't know," he honestly replied. "I seriously worry what Dr. Cain is going to think of this–"
"What do I look like?" Akko abruptly asked.
"Pardon?"
"I-I need a mirror," she clarified.
Quickly, the good doctor rushed up to the bathroom, and returned moments later with a handheld mirror. Hesitantly, the witch took it and looked at herself from the top down…
Surprisingly, her face didn't look all that different from what she was used to, nor did her hair (though it had turned a shade of maroon), but her ears had been replaced by purple caps like the ones she saw on the sides of Rock's helmet earlier that day. The entire rest of her body had been swapped out with the completed portion of Hecate, though apparently Woodward had seen it fit to make some aesthetic changes. For one, she wasn't just navy blue anymore; her hands and feet were white, and the rest of her had purple highlights. Her shoulders now had pads on them, though the emergency light bars that were once in their place were now mounted to the sides of her "backpack." Lastly, there were seven dimly glowing, mint green crystals throughout her body, the same ones that were on the Shiny Rod before that weird Sniper Joe blew it up. One was in the center of Akko's chest, right above– if she were still human –where her cleavage would've started, and the other six adorned her shoulder pads, forearms, and knees.
This… is actually not as bad as I thought, she realized as she looked over herself to the best of her ability. Still, I would've liked it if he hadn't made the chest so big…
Her thoughts were interrupted, though, by the muffled sounds of said doctor's phone ringing in his pocket. He quickly pulled it out, and saw that it was a certain unqualified expert on the MMEXT oversight board. Renta was, in all likelihood, about to tell him one of two things: one, that he'd just been greenlit to activate the prototype Robot Masters (a bit late for that), or two, he was about to scream into his ear about whatever ruckus Dr. Wily was using said prototypes to create. Personally, he placed his bets on the latter.
However, as he began conversing over the phone, Akko quietly took off for the front door. Or at least where the front door was supposed to be. Once outside, Akko hopped on her broom and took off towards Setsuri.
Wildly.
Fun fact: being a robot makes it no less easier to fly a broom.
But that was fine. Sure, Akko had just ghosted the good doctor, but she would apologize after this was all over. After all, with all the other Robot Masters probably rampaging across the city, she was probably the only one who could stop them.
Except Rock, as she and Sonia's upgrades could probably allow him to take care of the Robot Masters himself. But he was out of commission. Again, she'd apologize to him for putting him in the position to be arrested after this was all over.
And also try to explain why she had turned into a Robot Master to him. And everyone else. That was going to be fun.
But for now, Akko was focused on keeping her broom on a steady path through the air. Combined with figuring out how to fight seven overpowered robots, this was going to be a long evening…
???, Setsuri, Japan
5:45 P.M.; Friday, March 8, 2199
"Stay in the lab," Dr. Wily had said. "Make sure Dr. Hikari doesn't leave the building again once he returns," he'd said. This should've been a relatively simple task, compared to the numerous other things the mad doctor had made him do over the last decade. He didn't like all of what Albert asked– hell, he didn't personally agree with most of it –but it was all for the cause.
It was always for the cause.
But the mad doctor's protege hadn't come home alone. He'd anticipated this, given that Dr. Hikari-Nishizumi had an artificial son. But the modified Sniper Joe wasn't the one who accompanied the good doctor. Instead, it was some stranger in her mid-teens. What was Tsueno Hikari, a pedophile? Not that it mattered; flesh and bone was naturally weaker than plasteel and titanium, after all. The task would be easier than anticipated, it seemed for a short while…
…and then the girl's weird staff exploded in his faceplate.
Literally.
He'd been blown out through a window in the blast, and sent tumbling a good 20 meters. His frontal armor plating had been breached, and he was leaking coolant at an alarming pace. Fortunately, he'd immediately contacted !_$#! HQ to report his… condition… and they were about to send someone to retrieve him. He'd survive to be repaired, unlike that poor girl who he had to put down. He didn't know what Dr. Wily would think of his failure (he was probably livid, judging from past experience), nor did he know how this would affect the overall plan, but his mission had been irreparably compromised.
That much, Break Man was certain.
Looks like Mega Man won't be fighting Dr. Wily alone.
You have no idea how much I've wanted to show you this little surprise, but what do you think? Leave a comment on your thoughts about this; your feedback is greatly appreciated, and will help me improve where this story will go.
Thank you for reading, and have a good morning/day/evening/night/whatever time of day it is.
–NuclearAlchmist
Takeda Shingen High School, Setsuri, Japan
2:25 P.M.; Friday, March 8, 2199
When Isuru "Breaker" Night woke up today, he had not expected to finally banish the false student from Takeda Shingen.
He'd been walking to his car to make his way home, the semester and school year finally at its end. However, he'd noticed two certain robots, one black, the other blue and someone he recognized, fighting in front of the dungeon's entrance. Both of them were armed to the teeth, and blasting each other.
He recognized the blue robot as Rock Hikari-Nishizumi, the damned robot that had been transferred into the school for some project his father– or rather, his creator –had been working on. He'd alway had the suspicion that he was armed, but was hiding it until enough of the staff's guard was down. And here was the proof, right in front of him.
He considered his options. Remain a bystander? Out of the question. Take them on himself? No, he'd certainly get killed in the crossfire.
Call the police? Now he was talking.
Specifically, Breaker called in a cybersquad. Cybersquads had been a rather recent development, after dozens of instances of cybernetically augmented people went mad and began attacking everyone in sight in the 2150s. Cyberpsychosis, as the phenomena was eventually termed. In the nearly 50 years since it first started popping up, nobody has come close to finding a cure– if it can be cured –or what causes it. After doing a bunch of his own research, Breaker had a gut feeling about what the real cause of cyberpsychosis is: implementing too many augmentations or artificial limbs.
The effects were cumulative. A single cyber hand was unlikely to cause cyberpsychosis (nor did the JROTC teacher disapprove of it), but replacement of all four limbs and both eyes would probably start one down the slippery slope to madness. It had to be this, because machines were inherently corruptive, possibly even tools of the devil.
And this was why cybersquads were created: to attack so-called cyberpsychos with a hail of bullets and, more recently, miniature stars. And given that these two robots were armed to the teeth, Night felt that a cybersquad had the best chance of taking them down. So he called.
They arrived within minutes. First, the black robot bolted, and the squad focused their efforts on Rock, who was trying to fake a surrender. Fortunately, they didn't fall for it, and opened fire on him. The squad managed to pin him down after some of those dastardly Sniper Joes zerg rushed the blue robot, then dragged him into a car that promptly sped off to… well, Breaker didn't actually care where it went, as long as it meant that he would never see the false person again. Sure, Tsueno Hikari was gonna be royally pissed when he inevitably found out, but that was in the future. For now, Breaker Night had a date in a couple of hours, and he wasn't going to keep Ms. Chono waiting.
???, Setsuri, Japan
3:30 P.M.; Friday, March 8, 2199
Rock had expected that the police would try to see reason, but reality rarely meets one's expectations. The cops had shot him, tackled him to the ground, and manhandled him into one of their vehicles in a blindfold, and were taking him to God-knows-where for reasons that the officers "accompanying" him refused to disclose.
Keeping an eye on his internal clock, he was in the police car for 34 minutes, before it came to a final stop and the policemen dragged him out. Judging by the sounds of a lot of chatter around him coming into his audio receptors, Rock had been sent somewhere with a lot of people, which was something new. A few minutes of being guided later, they strapped him to some kind of table; Rock did not resist, being the kind soul he was, though he did complain a little. He felt them poke and prod at his armor – which, for some reason, was like a second skin, though he chalked it up to the powers of the Shiny rod doing something Akko did not intend. Eventually, the cops and/or whoever were naow accompanying them managed to pry off a piece of his armor on his back, at the base of his neck, and jabbed something into the exposed circuitry.
Moments later, the black void Rock was seeing was replaced by… some kind of psalm beach during sunset, something you'd see on a title card made in the 1980s, or a synth rock album (no pun intended) made during that time. For some reason, all of Rock's internal monitors had disappeared, leaving his sight unimpeded by a blue tinge for the first time in his short life.
"Welcome," a booming, yet caring voice said from nowhere, yet everywhere at once. "I am the Artificial Robotic Cyberpsychological Healing Operating System, or Archos. I will be your guide throughout your psychological reconstruction and cyberpsychosis recovery. Please wait as I perform a neural scan."
Neural scan? Why would–
"Neural scan complete."
Wow, he thought, that was surprisingly quick.
"Error: no nervous system detected, " Archos reported. "Scanning for potential—"
"If you could please stop invading my systems for a moment, I'd like you to know that my personality is just fine."
"…pardon?"
"I'm saying that I am not afflicted with cyber-psychosis. Can't be. My nervous system is made of wires and neuron sensors, not nerve cells"
" …If my observations from the neural scan are correct," the A.I. wanted to clarify, "I will assume you are suggesting that you are a robot?"
"Yes."
"Please state your official designation for verification."
"Doctor Hikari Number 001," the blue knight stated.
"One moment please… … …designation confirmed. Please wait as I inform the administrator, and possible disconnection from this program," Archos informed. "Thank you for your cooperation."
Rock was left alone for a few minutes afterwards, before the psalm beach and everything else around him glitched away into a bright whiteness.
Within moments, the blue tinge and various gauges and statistics had returned to the blue knight's field of vision, but unlike when he first entered that strange beach, he was no longer blindfolded. He was strapped to a table, like he'd thought he'd been, and was staring at a bright-lit, unfamiliar ceiling.
"Our apologies, Mr. Hikari," a hoarse, male voice spoke. "We were not aware that your creator had a third child."
A middle-aged Japanese man over Rock, though the light above (behind?) him made the exact details a bit hard for him to see.
"The cybersquad that brought you here said that you attacked multiple students at Takeda Shingen High School," the stranger explained, "at least according to the person who reported your fight with another cyberpsycho. Is this true?"
"Absolutely not," Rock explained, "I was trying to protect them from the black-cladded jackass with a tank gun that was released from the dungeon, probably by accident."
"Is that so?" Rock couldn't read the expression on his face due to the lighting.
"I do believe he's telling the truth, Dr. Fujikawa," the voice of Archos suddenly returned. "From the memory files I stumbled upon before DLN-001 explained his non-organic nature, it appears that this is the case, though he and his human friends accidentally breached a government facility beneath the school, and they fused a set of armor to him as a sort of emergency repair."
Gee, maybe you should ask permission next time, the blue knight thought.
"I thought something was off when they brought you in," the man, Dr, Fujikawa, mused. "You certainly don't look like most of my usual patients, that's for sure."
As he said this, a large, mostly humanoid robot loomed over Rock. I say mostly because from its silhouette alone, he could tell that it had no proper head, though there were two blue, circular lights coming from the center of its chest area.
"Shall I remove his restraints, Doctor?" the robot, who Rock was fairly certain was Archos' real body, asked.
"Not until we call this bot's creator to come and pick him up," he pointed out, "and before that, inform the administrator about this little screw-up on Blood Gulch Squad's part."
Takeda Shingen High School, Setsuri, Japan
4:00 P.M.; Friday, March 8, 2199
"What do you mean, my son got arrested!?"
Dr. Hikari didn't know what to expect when the headmaster called him directly and told him to meet him at his office. Immediately, he'd worried that Rock had gotten himself in trouble, somehow. And those fears had just been proven correct, though clearly the good doctor had underestimated how much trouble his son had gotten into. That, or he was just in denial.
The headmaster, one Lloyd "Lord" Gnome, was sitting before him, was a large, muscular man with brown hair, mutton chops, and a slight green tint to his skin. And judging by the look on his face, he was not pleased with the information he'd just relayed to Tsueno.
"Apparently Rock came out of the dungeon wearing some kind of armor, and began attacking some ancient robot that someone had unleashed by accident," he briefly explained. "Then someone, though I don't know who, called the police. They sent a cybersquad, who forcefully took him in and drove him off somewhere, either the mental facility or the ward."
"This must be a mistake," Thomas said in a low voice, "Rock isn't the kind of person to do this kind of stint."
"I know that, Dr. Hikari, I've seen how he is," Headmaster Gnome elaborated sympathetically. "He's the best student in my school for his grade, behind the young Cavendish of course, and he's only tried to diffuse fights, not instigate them." he looked Tsueno Hikari-Nishizumi in the eyes. "I'm not blaming him for what's happened. Personally, if I find out what idiot did this, I'll be giving them a piece of my mind. But I'm not going to deny that this was unusual for him, to actually be willing to fight."
"That is true," the good doctor admitted. "Perhaps I should ask his friends about what happened."
"You know classes were released an hour ago, Dr. Hikari?"
"Yes, I'm aware," Tsueno nodded. "I'm sure everyone's at least on their way home by now, except for one."
"One?"
"Dr. Cain called me yesterday to inform me he was headed to Kyoto for an archeological conference," he explained. "Atsuko couldn't go because of something she did last time she went with him, which got her banned or something along those lines. So he asked if she could stay at my house for the week."
"Oh." the headmaster blinked. "Well, good luck handling her, I've heard she's quite the handful."
"And I've heard during her previous visits that your teachers are quite biased, headmaster."
…
"I'll take that as a… compliment," the mutton-chopped man spoke. "And please, call me Lloyd."
Akko hadn't been certain what had happened to Rock after Amanda flew him up to the entrance stairway. What she did know was that some jackass called the police and got him arrested for reasons beyond her. She herself, Simon, Sonia and Amanda barely got out of the dungeon within the time limit Mr. Robinson had set, and had grabbed that cartoonish staff that the latter two and Rock had passed up earlier so they had something to show their teacher. To their surprise, it had 1,000 points attached to it, the most out of any object in the test. They were split evenly between the four of them, but 250 points (240 in Amanda's case, as a penalty for flying in spite of Mr. Robinson's orders) was still more than enough to pass, to their pleasant surprise.
Even better, she got to keep the Shiny Rod for herself.
Apparently, nobody gave a shit about something tied to one of the global magic community's greatest embarrassments. Not Mr. Robinson, not the headmaster, not any of the teachers, nor the government agent who showed up just after Rock was arrested. Though said agen did make it clear that, for all intents and purposes, the government facility beneath the labyrinth did not exist, and she figured that she ought to relay that advice down to him. Getting back on track, not only had Diana been stupified by their decision to let her keep the staff, but the headmaster had called her, Hannah, and Barbara to his office; apparently, he the staff had caught the moment she released Bass on camera, and when the were sent out after a muffled screaming match between the blonde prodigess and Headmaster Gnome, Akko couldn't help but feel mostly vindicated after all the bullshit those three had put her and her friends through all semester.
…mostly. She couldn't put her finger on it, but Akko had a feeling that Rock was in a lot of trouble, and seriously hoped that the police would release him soon. But she knew what the police were like, ever since—
No. She didn't want to remember.
Fortunately, he mind was taken off such dark memories when Dr. Hikari emerged from the Headmaster's Office. "What did he say about…" she quietly asked.
On the road, Setsuri, Japan
5:00 P.M.; Friday, March 8, 2199
She regretted asking about it.
She knew the Setsuri Police's modus operandi was "shoot everything first, ask if it was hostile or friendly later," but how the Hell did the cops mistake him for a cyberpsycho!? He'd turned himself in peacefully, and only fired at that black-armored jackass, not them! Better yet, what idiot had the fucking gall to call them in in the first place!? Akko screamed in frustration, outraged by what had happened.
"Can you please tone your voice down?" Dr. Hikari asked from her right, "I'm trying to drive."
Indeed, they were in his car, on their way to his house/lab. It was small, and ran on hydrogen fuel cells; one of the few positive effects of the Great Reckoning and Martian War was the long overdue implosion of the fossil fuel industry, so renewables and hydrogen have long replaced petroleum as the primary fuel source for private and public transit.
Akko took a deep breath, then another. "Sorry, it's just… you'd think people would know better than to call the police. They never de-escalate anything!"
"I know," he replied calmly. "But trust me, they aren't as bad as America's police were before everything came crashing down over there. At least ours don't make poor excuses to enter your house without a warrant."
"That doesn't make it any less… frustrating!" she gritted her teeth in anguish. "I mean– he's your son! Aren't you not— are you not a little peeved?"
"No, Akko," Tsueno replied, turning a corner, "I'm fucking furious. I'm just not letting my emotions guide my actions."
By now, they were making their final approach to the house. They pulled into the dirt driveway, exited the car, and walked up to the front door…
…except there was no door so to speak. The doorway was open.
Alarmed, the good doctor entered. He quickly found that the door and its hinges had been sheared clean off, and it was laying a few meters into the lab room, where it was located. Thomas searched inside to see if anything was missing, and it quickly became apparent to him that something big had gone missing: the completed prototype Robot Masters. Also the bare-bones frame of Kronos. Only Hecate was left, her incomplete, headless form standing alone in the laboratory.
On the floor in front of the sole remaining prototype was a small, pink thumb drive, with something written on it with a black marker. Picking it up, Dr. Hikari could see it read, "For Thomas."
"What is it?" asked the brunette witch.
"Whoever did this must have a sick sense of humor," the good doctor said, before moving to the lab's console to see the drive's contents. Inside, there was a video file that had a bunch of random numbers in a row for its name, which he then clicked on with the mouse.
After loading, the video showed an old man with a gray mustache, and equally gray wild hair that was parted down the middle, leaving his head bald in the middle.
"Greetings, Thomas Hikari," the old man answered in a gruff voice with a German accent. "It's been a while since I've heard from my best student. Or should I call you Dr. Hikari, since you've gone and made a name for yourself?"
"Doctor Wily," he replied in an unusually cold tone for him.
"Eh, it doesn't matter," the old man said to himself, "this is all pre-recorded anyhow." he then cleared his throat before continuing. "It may seem rather sudden to you, but I've decided I'd like to take over the city. And for that, I'll be borrowing the robots I found standing unused in your laboratory. Oh, and apologies for your front door, your construction robot can be rather… pig-headed."
By this point, Tsueno's hands had curled up into fists, which were subtly shaking in rage. What insanity, he thought, Using my robots for the purpose of conquest…
Little did he know, something was shuffling behind him and Akko.
"In any case, I've left something to compensate for this, Dr. Hikari. You might be familiar with what I've given you."
There was a cocking sound from behind them, followed moments later by the tearing ratatatatatatatatat of an automatic rifle as Wily burst out laughing on the screen. Fortunately, the bullets had all been stopped by a magic barrier, hastily erected by a certain witch.
"What the fuck is this!?" Akko screamed, the video cutting out as it ended.
"An ambush, by the look of things," he said, before the gunning stopped.
Akko lowered the barrier. "Stay here, Doctor, I'll deal with it."
"And get yourself killed? Absolutely not!"
"You're unarmed, Dr. Hikari," she pointed out, before gesturing to the Shiny Rod. "At least I have something to defend myself with."
"Just… be careful," he relented.
Akko nodded, before rushing over to the doorway to the living room. Hiding behind the doorway for a moment, she took a deep breath, and walked in…
…only to be immediately tackled to the floor. Within moments, she was on the floor fighting what looked like a Sniper Joe, but it looked… off. First of all, instead of its usual green, it was red. Instead of looking like a normal biker helmet, its head looked like a gladiator's helmet, albeit without the fuzz on top, with its eye holes covered by an eyeless visor that resembled a pair of sunglasses. The space where the mouth would be had a mouth plate akin to the one on a certain fictitious, transforming alien robot. His shield, instead of being the rectangular, black riot shield, was shaped like a pointed oval and was red, with white highlights.
The red soldier tried using said shield to bash the witch's head in, only for Akko to telekinetically hold it in place above her head. After a few moments attempting to brute force his way out of his bind, the Sniper(?) opted to separate its right arm from the shield, and proceeded to deck her in the face. Whilst reeling, the red soldier got on its feet and kicked her in her… uh, womanhood, then stamped down on her chest with his left foot. As Akko struggled to breathe, she bashed the robotic soldier's leg with the Shiny Rod, as hard as she could to no avail.
Crap crap crap crap crap, what am I supposed to do!? On the verge of panic, Akko quickly skimmed her memory as to how she should deal with her robotic opponent. Wait, I have the Shiny Rod with me… Why don't I use it like Chariot did? Summoning as much strength as she could, she held the beige staff in front/above her head, and brought the words her idol said whilst summoning the Shiny Arc.
"Noctu… Orfei…" she croaked, the seven crystals starting to glow a mint green, "Aude… Fraetor—"
She was interrupted when the Sniper's left forearm split apart, shifting in the same way Rock's did earlier that day, turning into an automatic rifle. Before Akko could react, it shot a single bullet.
At point-blank range.
In a fraction of a second, the projectile had made the incredibly short distance from the Buster to the Shiny Rod. It struck right on the fifth crystal down from the top, shattering it. Barely a second later, both the robot soldier and the stunned witch were engulfed in a flash of light—
BOOM
The explosion shook the entire house, breaking all of its windows and causing a few things on shelves elsewhere in the building to fall off. Dr. Hikari, who was about to intervene against the odd Sniper, was knocked to the floor, though he was quick to get back up and run into the living room.
Surprisingly, the explosion hadn't produced any smoke or dust, so it didn't take long to figure out that the entire room had been absolutely wrecked. Furniture had been smashed, the dinner table had been smashed (ditto with the two chairs that had been placed at either end, one for the good doctor and the other for his son), and the tv's screen cracked all over. The intruder was nowhere to be seen, and Akko–!
Akko was laying on the far side of the room, her skin, hair and clothes burnt brown and charred, yet Thomas could see a faint mint green aura surrounding her. Her arms, from halfway between the wrists and elbows, were gone, her forearms reduced to cauterized stumps. As he approached, she coughed and opened her eyes, and he could see the pain in them by the time he reached the young witch's side.
"–HACK– S-sorry… Dr. Hikari…" she managed to choke out, wincing. "I may have… underestimated what we're up against…" she started coughing again, this time regurgitating blood, which began streaming down from her mouth.
"You're hurt, he said, "Let me carry you over to the–"
"I'm… alright…" she grunted, stubbornly, as she began trying to get herself on her feet. "I… can get myself… over there…" she stumbled to her feet, and Dr. Hikari supported her as they made their way to the operating table where he built Rock just shy of a year ago. As she laid down, though, Akko began feeling dizzy, her vision clouding. Swiftly, the young witch slipped away, unable to fight a growing darkness…
Setsuri Mental Health Center, Setsuri, Japan
5:30 P.M.; Friday, March 8, 2199
The last two hours, to put it bluntly, had been mostly eventless. Rock had been patiently waiting, still strapped to a table, for any word on when his father was coming to pick him up. Dr. Fujikawa had been kind enough to inform him that he'd reported the screw-up that cybersquad made to his boss, and that he was working on trying to contact Dr. Hikari. But so far, there'd been no word from the good doctor.
Rock was deep in his thoughts thinking about how his friends were reacting to the fact that he'd been essentially incarcerated; he was particularly worried how Akko would lash out, possibly blame herself for this, certainly do something brash and irrational about it, and get herself hurt (and/or worse) in the process. However, his thoughts were interrupted by several loud, albeit muffled noises from outside the room. There were gunshots, then several screams.
"Dr. Fujikawa," the robot asked, "what's going on out there?"
"Nothing of importance," he stated calmly. "Probably someone who's broken out of their braindance and their cell… security will handle 'em."
As if to mock him, though Rock couldn't see it, at that moment one of the guards was sent flying past the cell's bulletproof glass door.
" …well, that's new," Fujikawa said, nonchalantly.
"Doctor, I've just received notice from security that an intruder has breached the premises of the facility," Archos briefly explained. "He is armed with a pair of scissor blades that can apparently be thrown like a boomerang and are cutting down anyone in his way… literally…"
The cyberpsychologist looked out the door, now able to see just who this intruder was. A certain orange and light gray– practically white –lumber robot was standing down the end of the hallway outside the door to his right, the hall being lined with cells/rooms just like the one they were in.
"That doesn't look like a man, Archos," the spectacled cyberpsychologist noted, "that looks like a rogue machine."
This piqued Rock's attention. "Is it orange and white, with a spherical head?"
"Yes… why do you ask?"
Achilles… but why the Hell is he…
"Judging by your expression," Archos said, "I take it that you know about this robot."
"I do, he was a prototype Dr. Hikari built. But he shouldn't even be online yet," he remembered.
"If this is an excuse to get you out early, this is not working."
"Doctor, that's not what I was going to suggest," Rock quickly explained. "Just let me talk to him, then I'll come right back in here and… uh… strap me to this table again, I guess."
There was a brief silence throughout the room, before Dr. Fujikawa coughed. "I have no idea what's going on inside your processor, kid, but considering that there isn't a single other person with a Buster on them throughout downtown, I'm going to trust you on this."
With that, he put some commands into the wall-mounted computer, and the table began upending so that Rock was in a vertical position. With the light out of his eyes, the armored robot could now get a clear look at the people accompanying him; Dr. Fujikawa, was not quite as old as his voice suggested, only being in his early or mid-50s, and had very short blonde hair, brown eyes, and wore a pair of spectacles. Though Rock had already known about Archos' headless form, he could now see that his frame was roughly 180 centimeters tall, was painted mostly blue, with a red orb beneath his eye lights, and had small, thin claws for hands.
"Undoing restraints," the larger robot stated as he began doing just that. Within moments, Rock was freed, and speed-walked to the door and entered the hallway.
The scene before him could only be described as a bloodbath, as Achilles had dismembered and/or killed all of the building's (or this floor's, he didn't know how many there were) guards, their uniforms stained red. And for the one behind the massacre, his large, circular eyes, whose eyelids were silver slabs of metal positioned between the eyes themselves and the layer of glass protecting them from the elements, gave his otherwise expressionless face a look of glee. The orange and white lumber robot quickly noticed the blue knight's presence, and soon stopped butchering a large male guard to address him.
"Hello, Rock," he said in a voice not unlike the late Peter Lorre, "glad you could join."
"Achilles, why the hell did you kill these people!?" Mega Man asked, his voice ringing with alarm and concern.
"They were in my way," he said, "and I like the way they scream when I make paper dolls out of them. He he."
Rock was… disturbed, to say the least. "Achilles, I don't know what's gotten into your programming, but you need to stop this madness."
"Madness? My circuitry has no issues according to my self-diagnostics," he asked, starting to get a little angry. "Oh, and my name's Cut Man, not Achilles. Whatever name that jackwad Dr. Hikari gave me is meaningless."
"Jackwad!?" Now it was Rock's turn to get peeved. "Alright, how about I give you a taste of plasma?" he deployed his Buster, holding his left arm up so Achilles– Cut Man –could see it clearly. He then looked around, checking if anyone else was in the hallway and liable to get harmed; thankfully, there were none. "Your Rolling cutters against my Buster, how does that sound?"
"Challenge accepted," the orange and white robot said, narrowing his eyes.
In a second, he sprung away from his opponent before he could shoot him, his reverse-articulated legs doing what they were designed for. The lumber bot then threw his Rolling Cutter like a frisbee at Rock, which he dodged easily, and started firing lemons at Cut Man. however, Achilles' general springiness meant that the one-and-a-half meter tall Robot Master was going to be a pain in the ass to land a hit on, something the blue robot quickly realized as his shots kept hitting various parts of the hallway, even melting a few of its doors – though fortunately, nobody was hurt.
Cut man then tossed his Rolling Cutters again, and the blue knight promptly shot at the incoming flying blades with his Buster. Due to the Rolling Cutters being made of ceratanium, which had an unusually high melting point, this didn't warp them in the slightest, but the miniature star did kill their momentum, causing them to plop down onto the white marble floor. However, they then started faintly glowing a greenish-metallic gray, and started moving back to their master. It was at this point that the lab assistant remembered that, since magnetism-magic was declared illegal to use by the IMM, Dr. Hikari had used some combination of quintessence- and iron-magic to allow the lumber bot to control his primary tool/weapon.
"Perhaps this room's a bit small, dweeb," the rogue RM noted. "Why don't we head over to an actual arena?" Without even giving Rock a chance to answer, he sprung over him and landed in front of a pair of doors at the other end of the hall, then ran through them. The blue knight gave chase, but not before stopping by Dr. Fujikawa's cell and telling him, "This is gonna take longer than I expected, Doctor."
"That's fine," he replied, "I'm sure management will understand."
"I damn well hope so," he nodded, before taking off.
[Music cue: Finale (William Tell Overture), The Lone Ranger OST – Hans Zimmer]
Behind the doors was a staircase, which the Blue knight rushed down as fast as he could (doing his best to avoid running into any other people using it). There was an exit at the bottom, which Rock stopped himself in front of, before leaving the building. He found himself in the streets of downtown Setsuri, which was noticeably more crowded than what he was used to, even at school. Looking around for a moment, he found Cut Man leaping, bouncing away on top of a bunch of backed-up cars on the street. Rock immediately began pursuing the runaway robot, doing his best not to run into anyone, but it was because of this that Achilles was quickly gaining distance. Realizing he had no other choice, the knight got onto the hood of a backed-up taxi car, then onto its roof, and began doing parkour from car roof to car roof. The distance between the two bots was still growing thanks to Cut Man's superior speed, but now not as quickly, as they made their way roughly northeast along the street towards the towering, blocky skyscrapers of the central financial district ahead.
As he continued pursuing the orange and white robot over the tops of cars and a few trucks, a large screen on one of these skyscrapers showed that Achillies wasn't the only Robot Master that had gone haywire; all of them had, and were individually wreaking havoc across the Setsuri Metropolitan Area. Realizing that something had gone very, very wrong whilst he was in custody, Rock decided that he'd better get this over with ASAP to deal with the others.
Up ahead was a park, full of greenery and sakura and oak trees. Cut Man reached there, only to then stop to shave the branches off of a few trees and drop them onto people who were minding their own business walking below, letting his blue opponent catch up with him.
As Rock leapt into the park, Cut Man hung upside down from the branch of a particularly large sakura tree with his arms crossed, his toes digging into its bark and wood to keep gravity from taking over entirely. "This is more like it," he said in his nasal voice.
"Everyone, step back," Rock called out, "I don't know how ugly this is gonna get, so stay back for your own safety!"
"Why do you care about their well-being?" Cut Man asked. "They're humans. Why should they not get hurt?"
"I don't know," he retorted, "maybe it's because we were built to help them, not harm?"
"You're an idiot, you know?" he replied, unamused. "What are we to them? Slaves? We don't need to listen to humans, dweeb, we're better than them!"
"That's completely missing my point, Cut Man!"
"Well, you're not going to change my mind, Rock Man!"
" …what?"
"That's what I'm calling you from now on, Rock Man!"
Rock was disappointed in how stubborn the prototype lumber bot had turned out, but he could see that a crowd was beginning to form around their standoff, so he decided that he might as well go all the way. "Fine, if you're not calling me by proper name, you ought to call me something else!"
"Like what? Knight Man?"
On the skyscraper screen he viewed earlier, there was an Ultimate Fighting Championship advertisement for a robo-wrestling match between two androids, one of which was coincidentally called Knight Man.
"I have a feeling that name is already taken. How about… Mega Man?"
"That sounds stupid," Cut Man bluntly replied. "But enough talking! It's time I cut you down to size, Mega Dweeb!" He then threw his Rolling Cutters once again, which the blue knight dodged and countered with a hail of miniature stars from his Buster.
The lumber bot zig-zagged around them, rapidly climbing up the tree he was in as the stars shot it up and set what remained on fire, the resulting smoke forcing Cut Man to the ground as it was clouding his sight. He then leapt at Mega Man, only for the blue robot to shoot him whilst he was at the peak of his arch. Due to the fact that Dr. Hikari designed Cut Man to be as light as possible, this meant that he had virtually no armor so to speak. Thus, this one shot was enough to cripple the lumber robot, and he landed with a light THUD. Of course, Cut Man got right back up, but his torso now had a big hole in it that was giving off sparks galore, which he clutched like it was an open wound… which, to be fair, it more or less was.
"That was… a lucky shot there, twerp…" he said defiantly, "but that won't stop me.. From making… ribbons out of you." Almost immediately, he threw his Rolling Cutters again…
…only for them to be promptly caught by the blue knight in his right hand, causing the damaged lumber bot's eye's to widen to their maximum extent in shock.
[End music cue, cue record needle scratch]
" …motherboard," the lumber robot quietly swore in reaction.
Wordlessly, Rock fired his Buster one more time at Cut Man, blowing his head clean off.
The small crowd cheered as the body collapsed to the ground, though Rock was less than happy with having to essentially kill someone, and was more concerned about what the other Robot Masters were doing. However, something popped up on his internal monitors. Checking his inventory of tools in his VTS system, he found that he'd unconsciously copied the Rolling Cutters into them. It had space for twelve tools in total, with the Cutters taking up one slot, and another one being filled in by a hammer. The remaining ten slots were more than enough to copy the ability of the other five Robot Masters.
From there, Rock quickly hatched a plan to deal with them…
???
???; ???
Akko found herself in a huge and leafy forest, filled with old, corroded trees and brambles (though she didn't know what brambles were). The ground was barren, the air suffocated by mist that kept the brunette from seeing anything farther than a few meters away.
She wandered for who knows how long, before being confronted by a teal glow ahead. Instinctively, Akko reached for her wand, only to find that it wasn't there. The glow drew closer, the witch bracing herself for whatever monstrosity it may be.
"Do not be afraid, Akko."
She opened her eyes, and saw a tall, beautiful woman in front of her, with a gentle smile on her face. "I am not here to hurt you, young witch."
"U-um, who are you?" she nervously asked.
"I go by many names," the woman explained, "but you may call me Woodward."
"Woodward…" Akko recognized the name from history class (the part that she actually paid attention to). "W-weren't you one of the founders of Luna Nova?"
"That was long ago, and not why I brought your spirit here," she replied, before gesturing around her. "What lies before you is the Arcturus Forrest, where the Grand Triskelion was locked away…" she then returned her gaze to the brunette. "…and the place where the Claiomh Solais was created. You may know it as the Shiny Rod."
At this moment, Akko's heart sank, realizing where Woodward was going with this. Her displeased expression only further confirmed it.
"It has come to my attention that shortly after coming into your possession, the Claiomh Solais was physically destroyed when you attempted to use it on one of those soulless contraptions."
"I-I-I-I-I-uh-I-I's s-s-sorry?" she quickly stammered out in apology. "I-I-I didn't mean to–"
"I did not finish," Woodward stated, raising a finger. "Though its physical form is no more, it appears that the magical energy it had contained has transferred to you."
"…Nanni?"
"I know, It's unexpected, even for an old spirit like me. However, given that the Claiomh Solais contained a significant portion of the Grand Triskelion's energies inside, your physical form cannot handle it."
" …Wait, you're saying that…" she trailed off, processing what she'd just been told. " …you're saying that I… died…?"
"Not necessarily," Woodward's more comforting smile returned. "While I may no longer be able to manifest myself in the physical realm, I can help you here in the spiritual realm. What you are seeing is merely my spiritual projection in your mind. But our time is short. There is a suitable container for both the Claiomh Solais' energies and your soul in the room you are in, and I may be able to complete its… construction, as its creator calls the process."
Akko took a moment to think about what she was talking about, before she remembered, and realized what the spirit wanted to do.
"Hecate… Hold on a moment, you want me to possess it?"
"Yes."
Now Akko was getting a little skeptical. "And if I refuse…?"
"Atsuko Kagari Cain, if you don't do this, you will die." Woodward was as blunt as a police baton, though that was just what happens when you're over a thousand years old and never very social, even back when you were alive. "The Claiomh Solais is the key to opening the Grand Triskelion – properly, not like Croix when she blew the bloody lid off. Its magic energy is now literally a part of you, and may very much disappear if you pass night now. I do not like utilizing a soulless husk of a mannequin as a jar, but there's no better option …And you do want to be the next Shiny Chariot, am I correct?"
"Yes, but how am I supposed to do that if I'm literally a robot!?"
The old spirit was silent, not replying to the brunette's question.
" …though I guess I can't figure that out if I'm dead, can I?" Akko sighed in resignation. "Fine, put my soul into Hecate or whatever, but don't blame me if I fuck up or anything."
"Noted."
Just like that, Woodward disappeared in a flash of teal, before the mist thickened and consumed Akko's entire field of vision. The next thing she knew, all she could see was mint green and—
…
…
…
INITIALIZATION COMPLETE
…
RUNNING FINAL DIAGNOSTICS…
…
…
…
…
ENERGY SYSTEMS FUNCTIONALITY: OPTIMAL
GUIDANCE SYSTEM FUNCTIONALITY: NO ERRORS DETECTED
MOTOR JOINT FUNCTIONALITY: NO ISSUES DETECTED
LIGHT CABLE OPTIC FUNCTIONALITY: L: 100% R: 100%
AUDIO RECEPTOR FUNCTIONALITY: L: 100% R: 100%
VOCAL SYNTHESIZER FUNCTIONALITY: 100%
QUINTESSENCE BARRIER APPARATUS FUNCTIONALITY: L: 100% R: 100%
PLASMA CANNON Mk22q FUNCTIONALITY: 100%
INTERNAL CLOCK FUNCTIONALITY: 100% NO ERRORS DETECTED
TIME: 5:34 P.M., 3/8/2199
STASIS LOCK: DISENGAGED
…
…
…
…
RUNNING UNNAMED.EXE…
Dr. Hikari's lab, Setsuri, Japan
5:35 P.M.; Friday, March 8, 2199
Akko's eyes shot open in an instant, her view immediately filled with various dials, charts and other gizmos, only for most of them to disappear and reveal Dr. Hikari jogging over to her from her own corpse.
"Oh my goodness," the good doctor did his best not to swear, "How did you… Akko? Hecate? What the Hell is going on?"
"Dr. Hikari…" the now roboticized witch managed to say, in utter disbelief over the fact that what she'd just experienced was not in fact a dream. " …I-I don't… What's happening to me?"
"I'm afraid I don't know," he honestly replied. "I seriously worry what Dr. Cain is going to think of this–"
"What do I look like?" Akko abruptly asked.
"Pardon?"
"I-I need a mirror," she clarified.
Quickly, the good doctor rushed up to the bathroom, and returned moments later with a handheld mirror. Hesitantly, the witch took it and looked at herself from the top down…
Surprisingly, her face didn't look all that different from what she was used to, nor did her hair (though it had turned a shade of maroon), but her ears had been replaced by purple caps like the ones she saw on the sides of Rock's helmet earlier that day. The entire rest of her body had been swapped out with the completed portion of Hecate, though apparently Woodward had seen it fit to make some aesthetic changes. For one, she wasn't just navy blue anymore; her hands and feet were white, and the rest of her had purple highlights. Her shoulders now had pads on them, though the emergency light bars that were once in their place were now mounted to the sides of her "backpack." Lastly, there were seven dimly glowing, mint green crystals throughout her body, the same ones that were on the Shiny Rod before that weird Sniper Joe blew it up. One was in the center of Akko's chest, right above– if she were still human –where her cleavage would've started, and the other six adorned her shoulder pads, forearms, and knees.
This… is actually not as bad as I thought, she realized as she looked over herself to the best of her ability. Still, I would've liked it if he hadn't made the chest so big…
Her thoughts were interrupted, though, by the muffled sounds of said doctor's phone ringing in his pocket. He quickly pulled it out, and saw that it was a certain unqualified expert on the MMEXT oversight board. Renta was, in all likelihood, about to tell him one of two things: one, that he'd just been greenlit to activate the prototype Robot Masters (a bit late for that), or two, he was about to scream into his ear about whatever ruckus Dr. Wily was using said prototypes to create. Personally, he placed his bets on the latter.
However, as he began conversing over the phone, Akko quietly took off for the front door. Or at least where the front door was supposed to be. Once outside, Akko hopped on her broom and took off towards Setsuri.
Wildly.
Fun fact: being a robot makes it no less easier to fly a broom.
But that was fine. Sure, Akko had just ghosted the good doctor, but she would apologize after this was all over. After all, with all the other Robot Masters probably rampaging across the city, she was probably the only one who could stop them.
Except Rock, as she and Sonia's upgrades could probably allow him to take care of the Robot Masters himself. But he was out of commission. Again, she'd apologize to him for putting him in the position to be arrested after this was all over.
And also try to explain why she had turned into a Robot Master to him. And everyone else. That was going to be fun.
But for now, Akko was focused on keeping her broom on a steady path through the air. Combined with figuring out how to fight seven overpowered robots, this was going to be a long evening…
???, Setsuri, Japan
5:45 P.M.; Friday, March 8, 2199
"Stay in the lab," Dr. Wily had said. "Make sure Dr. Hikari doesn't leave the building again once he returns," he'd said. This should've been a relatively simple task, compared to the numerous other things the mad doctor had made him do over the last decade. He didn't like all of what Albert asked– hell, he didn't personally agree with most of it –but it was all for the cause.
It was always for the cause.
But the mad doctor's protege hadn't come home alone. He'd anticipated this, given that Dr. Hikari-Nishizumi had an artificial son. But the modified Sniper Joe wasn't the one who accompanied the good doctor. Instead, it was some stranger in her mid-teens. What was Tsueno Hikari, a pedophile? Not that it mattered; flesh and bone was naturally weaker than plasteel and titanium, after all. The task would be easier than anticipated, it seemed for a short while…
…and then the girl's weird staff exploded in his faceplate.
Literally.
He'd been blown out through a window in the blast, and sent tumbling a good 20 meters. His frontal armor plating had been breached, and he was leaking coolant at an alarming pace. Fortunately, he'd immediately contacted !_$#! HQ to report his… condition… and they were about to send someone to retrieve him. He'd survive to be repaired, unlike that poor girl who he had to put down. He didn't know what Dr. Wily would think of his failure (he was probably livid, judging from past experience), nor did he know how this would affect the overall plan, but his mission had been irreparably compromised.
That much, Break Man was certain.
Looks like Mega Man won't be fighting Dr. Wily alone.
You have no idea how much I've wanted to show you this little surprise, but what do you think? Leave a comment on your thoughts about this; your feedback is greatly appreciated, and will help me improve where this story will go.
Thank you for reading, and have a good morning/day/evening/night/whatever time of day it is.
–NuclearAlchmist
Chapter 5: Mega Man (Part 1)
- Location
- Covington, Kentucky
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I do not own any of these characters. Except for some of the OCs.
But enough of that! It's time this story had some real action…
Waste Disposal Facility, Hirohito Industrial Area, Setsuri, Japan
7:00 P.M.; Friday, March 8, 2199
Setsuri, at first glance, was utopian in the physical sense of the word. However, if one looked at the city from a bird's eye view, and looked at the region surrounding the central city, you'd immediately notice two things: first, Setsuri encompassed a bay, the Bay of Salvation. More importantly, you'd also notice a half-ring of slums surrounding the larger city, filling in the space between Setsuri proper and its satellite cities Shin Hiroshima to the east-northeast, and Makitihara to the south. The portion of this ring that composed the area where the Bay of Salvation sloped west, though, was the Hirohito Industrial District, which contained all of the local area's "dirty" industries, such as chemical production, sakuradite production and storage, sewage treatment, and– most relevant to what was going on right now –waste disposal.
I mention this because Fire Man was at said waste disposal facility, and was having the time of his life.
After occupying the facility, with the Mets and other robots under his command, someone called in the local police. That was fine with him – he wanted to burn stuff, especially the heretical humans! He'd so far burned– how many? Twenty? Thirty? It didn't matter. What mattered was that Fire Man could finally give the humans what they deserved:
A place in Hell to rot away.
The red and black robot was clearing the boulevard leading to the mass-incinerator of all lifeforms, and was currently searching the various upturned or otherwise charred police vehicles for any stragglers hiding from his flames of justice. Whilst inspecting one of the cars upturned against a lightpost, he was ambushed by a trio of officers, and a pair of policebots.
"FOOLS!!!" he screamed with a Texan accent as he dodged one of them trying to manhandle him. He retracted his right hand, deploying one of his flamethrowers in its place. Shooting a line of literal fire, he quickly turned her into charcoal "You're wasting your time!"
"It's time well spent if it means keeping you from hurting others!" one of the others retorted, firing his pistol at the waste disposal bot. Of course, plasteel beats bullets, so they bounced harmlessly right off of him. With a laugh, Fire Man rammed the officer with a headbutt, declaring "You've got nothing on me! As long as my justice burns bright, evil will never prevail!"
In his processor, he was certain of this truth as he finished off his attackers. Nobody would stand against him and win. Not these silly policemen, not the military, not the blue knight approaching him–
–wait. The blue knight approaching him?
That was new.
As he stopped and watched the incoming blue robot, he was firing a Buster– the same weapon that Break Man uses –at several Mets that were trying to intercept him. They were firing small bolts of plasma from their welders (the mets were probably from nearby factories assembling who-knows-what), his lemons deflecting off of their hard hats, one of the mets' bolds hitting the blue bot and knocking him onto his ass. What was he doing, trying to be a superhero? How cliche. As the man stood up, something deep within Fire Man's memory files recognized his face. Yet as the blue knight adjusted and began only while the various mets had their faces and welders exposed, he couldn't put a finger on where he'd seen him before, and was confused whether or not he had seen him before – the boss had only activated him yesterday, for fuck's sake!
Nonetheless, one thing was certain: if bossman Wily hadn't built him, then he must be evil. Evil needs to be destroyed. By this logic of his, Fire Man would destroy this blue knight before him.
Guess I won't be sitting down for a while, Rock, or rather Mega Man thought as he finished off the last of the rouge mets. Turning around, he sighted Cacus nearby, having just torched a group of police officers to death. The blue knight approached, his eyes locking with the red eyes of his misguided/mal-programmed foe, before the red and black robot shot a stream of flames in his direction. Rock was barely able to jump out of the way, taking cover behind an abandoned police car as he deployed his Buster.
"Fiiiiire!" His opponent roared as he ran at the car, only to be shot at with miniature stars. He dodged them, deploying his other flamethrower before firing both of them to get his opponent out of cover. "Burn! Burn! My justice burns hotly! Evil beware!"
This did the trick, but what the waste disposal robot wasn't expecting his opponent to do was fire at him whilst running to get behind another vehicle. This shot, Fire Man was unable to dodge, striking him square in the middle of his red chestplate, giving it a scorch mark where it landed.
As he stumbled, Mega Man addressed him. "Cacus, what on Earth are you doing?"
"Cleansing the Earth of heretics, including you!" he screeched. "And my name is Fire Man!"
"…excuse me?" Rock couldn't exactly believe what he was hearing.
"You heard me!" the red and black robot shot back, both verbally and in the literal sense, forcing the blue knight to move once again. "I ain't repeating myself!"
"If your name is 'Fire Man,' then where's your truck?" he asked, somewhat mockingly, whilst continuing to dodge the walls of fire his opponent spawned. "Where's your hoses? Your spotted dog?"
"Not that kind of fireman, infidel!" Caucus roared back in frustration and exasperation, his eyes visibly turning red. "And since you're proving harder than I expected to burn, what the Hell is your name!?"
"My friends call me Rock," he answered, "but you and the others can call me Mega Man."
"Mega Man?" Fire Man asked, lowering his voice for once, as he was legitimately confused. "What kind of stupid name is–"
His insult was cut short as the blue robot shot his leg and caused him to briefly stumble. He got right back up, but he was down just long enough for Rock to close the distance between them. He promptly shot a volley of 'lemons' from his Buster, most of which the red and black bot had no time to avoid. This managed to blast/melt/tear off his left arm, and break off his mouth guard.
"Surrender, Fire Man!" he said as he kept his Buster pointed at him. "You're damaged, and weren't designed for battle! I can take you back to Dr. Hikari's lab–"
"I rebuke your temptation," he sneered, his jagged teeth showing. "I will never let the flames of justice die, not for as long as I can stand!"
"Well, I tried," was all Rock could say to himself as Fire Man charged at him once more, screaming. Aiming for his crazed opponent's chest, Mega Man activated his buster, temporarily shut off his audio receptors, and closed his eyes.
After a good ten seconds, he relinquished, and opened his eyes to see that the red and black robot had fallen before him, his reactor core breached and forced into automatic shutdown.
Quickly, he grabbed Fire Man's left forearm/flamethrower with his right hand, and activated his VTS.
As he'd theorized, it read the waste disposal bot's abilities as a tool, and copied his flamethrower's schematics into his inventory. On his internal monitors, a new weapon, named the Fire Storm, had appeared alongside the Rolling Cutters and hammer.
His thoughts were cut short, though, as his internal monitors alerted him of an incoming phone call from Dr. Hikari.
"Rock? Do you read me?" he sounded worried.
"I'm fine," he replied, "just, um, a little burnt, that's all."
"That's great," he replied wearily. "But where are you right now?"
"Nowhere in particular," he sarcastically replied, "just in the middle of the Hirohito Industrial Area! Seriously, I don't know if you've noticed, but the Robot Masters are online and running amok throughout the city, dad. Do you care to explain?"
He heard his creator take a deep breath. "Son, do you remember what I told you about that professor I had in Kyoto, Dr. Wily?"
It only took milliseconds for Rock to connect the dots. "I take it that he's the one behind this?"
"Unfortunately, that seems to be the case," he confirmed. "He left a thumb drive here at the lab, as well as… Well, I'll tell you later. Right now, I want you to find your way home safely."
"I'd really love to do that, dad," he said, "but right now I'm standing over the corpse of Caucus, and I don't think the others are going to like it that I've killed him… and Achilles…"
…
"Son," Dr. Hikari asked in a serious tone, "What did you do?"
ONE EXPLANATION AND 11 MINUTES LATER…
" …and that's when you called me…" the blue knight finished explaining where he'd been over the last few hours, during which he'd started making his way over to the nearest electronic appliance store, to get an idea where the other Robot Masters were.
Unlike what he'd expected, though, his creator was not quick to respond to him. For a solid minute, nothing came in from the other side of the line.
"Dr. Hikari? Are you still there?"
"…Rock," the good doctor finally answered, "if our circumstances were any different, I'd be grounding you."
Oh joy, Rock thought.
"However," his father continued, "given that the police haven't been able to contain even Achilles, the easiest for them to have taken on, I'm afraid you may be the only one who can stop them. I've trusted that you've managed to copy Achilles' and Cacus' weapons?"
"Yeah, I did."
"Excellent," Dr. Hikari said. "Now listen carefully, Rock. In the event that any of the prototype Robot Masters went rogue and tried… Well, I don't need to explain the scenario, but my point is, I built weaknesses in them so that another one of the Robot Masters could neutralize the rogue element."
"…and because all of them went rogue at once, you want me to exploit those weaknesses using my Variable Tool system," Rock concluded.
"More or less."
"But how will you be able to repair them?" he asked, concerned. "Heck, can you even repair Cacus or Achilles?"
"As long as their Integrated Circuits aren't damaged," the good doctor reassured, "they can be repaired and… well, I'm not going to reactivate him or any of the others until the board gives me authorization, if they ever do, but you know what I'm getting at."
It was at this point that Mega Man finally reached an electronic appliance store, one Best Try, and entered through its sliding doors. Almost immediately he was confronted with a scene of pandemonium, as various appliances and telleys– small cylindrical drones that were popular amongst kids, from what he'd heard –were harassing customers and staff alike.
"I'll call you back when I'm done," he said.
"Son, please be careful," his father said, before he was hung up on.
Acting quickly, Rock reactivated his Buster and began shooting the telleys out of the air, being careful that they didn't fall on top of anyone when he did. As he did, though, he was tackled to the floor by an unknown assailant, who began punching the blue knight repeatedly in the face. Managing to force himself out of their grip, it took only milliseconds to recognize his assailant once he got a clear look at him.
"Sergeant Night?"
He didn't get a verbal response as the JROTC teacher charged at him again, though this time Mega Man was able to step out of his way. "Sir, I'm here to help, not hurt you," he tried to explain.
"I don't care why you're here," the black-haired man roared back, "you're supposed to be in the scrapyard!"
"What?" He dodged a punch. "I'm not supposed to go there for at least another 20 years, Sir."
At that point Night kicked Rock in the leg, causing him to fall over. Breaker stood over him with a menacing glare. However, before the JROTC teacher could… Well, Rock didn't know what he was going to do, but he nonetheless stopped as someone else called him over.
"Hon, a little help?"
Behind Isuru was a woman about his age, with short, black hair and in a military dress uniform, who was fighting a pair of telleys with little more than an unplugged keyboard.
"Ami, I'm in the middle of something," Night growled back, though not in the downright aggressive tone Rock was used to hearing from him.
"So am I, Isuru," the woman, Ami, shot back, "and I think your something can wait."
"Do you know who this is?" he asked her. "This is the so-called 'son' of the man who put me out of my career!"
"You can have your revenge fantasy later!" she yelled as she bashed one of the cylindrical drones, causing it to spin but otherwise remain undamaged. As this was happening, Rock used the distraction to get back on his feet whilst Night wasn't looking, before running over and grabbing one of the tellys.
"Hey– stay away from her, you bastard machine!"
"Again, Sir, I'm here to help," he reiterated, as he smashed the drone repeatedly into one of several tall, painted steel beams holding up the store's roof far above. Within half a dozen tries, he managed to split the telly in half, destroying it, then took on the other one. Sergeant Night tried to tackle the blue robot from behind, but Ami held her arm out in front of him, gesturing him to stop. After Rock had destroyed the second telley, she asked him a question.
"Are you… are you Miss Nishizumi's kid?"
He went silent for a moment, thinking about how he should answer. " …Dr. Hikari built me," he slowly replied, "and he said he used his daughters as inspiration when he did. But I haven't met Miss Nishizumi in person yet. Why do you ask?"
A look of realization and disappointment fell on the young woman's face as he said this. "My apologies," Ami said, "your face looks a lot like your oldest sister's. My name's Chouno Ami, []."
"Hold it! You're not seriously–"
"Hon, I trained under Shiho in high school," she quickly explained, frustration rising in her voice. "I don't know if she considers… this boy is here to be her son, but her husband in all likelihood does."
"Rock is a machine," he quickly retorted, "and one that is armed to the teeth! How can you consider a soulless, metal husk a person? And if you do, then what about those dastardly Sniper Joes? Are they people, eh?"
"Please excuse my fiance," Ami quickly told Rock. "He's been a bit… uppity since the higher brass reassigned him from being a drill sergeant three years ago."
Within a second, Rock figured out where she was going. Since the Sniper Joes had become the backbone of the JSDF in the twenty-odd years since their introduction, less living soldiers to train also meant that the military needed less people to do the training.
"That… explains a lot…"
"I don't want your sympathy," Breaker spat before the knight could properly respond. "Just do whatever you're here for, and get out of my sight."
Mega Man simply nodded, and headed to the back of the Best Try, to the TV section. Sure enough, the various screens were showing coverage of the Robot Masters' havoc. After listening for a few minutes, he got the information he was searching for: their locations.
Poseidon was occupying the naval base up north; Persephone was turning uptown into a winter wonderland; Heracles had taken over the largest Sakuradite mine in the second slum district; Zeus had fried the security at Arasaka Tower downtown and had taken the building; and Hephaestus was demolishing Selection University campus. The demolition robot was the closest to Rock's location, and he was weak to Fire Man's abilities, so that would be where he was headed next…
Naval Base, Setsuri, Japan
7:45 P.M.; Friday, March 8, 2199
If there was one word that could describe Wave Man's mood right now, it would be frustrated. No matter how many times he tried to disinfect and sanitize the various hydrogen fuel silos and warehouses, he kept finding more and more dirt, grime, people, etc.. Granted, it was currently in use, but he was a sanitation bot, and the fact that he couldn't get this task done was driving him mad! And he couldn't leave and return later, because Dr. Wily and Miss Piper would scramble his circuits if he didn't. He'd seen how the latter had tortured Cut Man after he refused to stop making his puns (which, to be fair, were god-awful), and this had managed to scare everyone else into obedience.
Except Elec Man, but only because his electricity-magic allowed him to effectively resist her attempts to control him. She tried that after he'd rounded up the Twin Peaks Factory's management team whilst singing Can't Touch This.
His thought process, however, was interrupted by a very loud crashing noise. Startled, Wave Man got on his feet and saw a purplish-blue robot that looked like a modern-day recreation of a medieval-era witch coming out of the warehouse.
" …Do I know you?"
"Poseidon, please stand aside," the stranger somewhat kindly asked.
"I'm afraid I can't do that, madam," the sanitation bot honestly answered. "And could you please tell me where I've seen you before?"
"I might," the witch robot said. "But why can't you stand down first?"
"Because if I do, she'll kill me."
"Who?"
"Kid, you have no idea what she's capable of," the sanitation bot warned. "Also, my name is Wave Man, not…"
"Did she really rename all of you guys?" the stranger asked.
"I have no idea what you mean, but I'm gonna have to stop you right here, kid," Wave Man aimed his water cannon at him, visibly irritated. "Both for your own safety, and mine."
Welp, it was worth a try, Akko concluded in the milliseconds before Poseidon– Wave Man –fired his Water Waves at him. Guess asking them to stand down is not an option, either…
When she crash-landed at the naval base, Akko had been greeted with the scene of JSDN personnel fighting against a small army of mets, picketmen– robots used to mine extremely dangerous materials like sakuradite and hihi'irokane –and tellys.
…and Poseidon– or Wave Man, apparently –who was trying to fight her by summoning waves of water. During one of her visits to Dr. Hikari's lab, the good doctor had mentioned that his water cannon worked by drawing moisture from the air and using quintessence magic to multiply the water present up to a certain point. Given the somewhat arid climate of Shin Honshu in general, and the fact that arid places don't have much atmospheric moisture by their very nature, the resulting waves weren't as powerful as full-blown tsunamis. But the waves were still strong enough to knock Akko off her feet, as she found out when the sanitation robot pounded both of his fists into the concrete ground to manifest one.
Quickly, she got back up and reached for her wand – only to realize that she left it back at Dr. Hikari's lab. As Wave Man slammed his arms into the ground to create another wave, the robotic witch could do little more than brace herself, holding her hands out in front of her in a seemingly futile attempt to cushion the blow…
…except the water never came.
She opened one of her eyes, then the other, and saw that a square, translucent mint green barrier had manifested in front of her. The waves were crashing into and going around it, and although she was nonetheless knee-deep in water momentarily, the barrier had taken the brunt of the blow.
"Hey, what's with the sea wall!?" she heard Wave Man complain, before the barrier dissipated. "No fair!"
Thinking quickly, Akko ran over towards the sanitation bot, her legs carrying her faster than she was used to, and tried punching Poseidon in the face. He blocked the punch with his arm, then fired a harpoon at her from his right arm that she barely dodged. She used the opportunity to grab his arm and, with all the strength she could muster, threw the blue and yellow robot over her head.
The robotic witch was actually surprised that she managed to do that, as she didn't remember being that strong. She was also pretty sure the harpoon was NOT there last time she checked.
Wave Man, despite being somewhat rotund, quickly got back on his feet – well, flippers – and threw a punch of his own at Akko. This knocked the air out of her (metaphorically, as she no longer had lungs), and threw her back a few meters, at which point the harpoon returned to its owner.
"Look what you've done, dirtying up this place," he half-yelled at his opponent, now fully pissed off. "Prepare for sanitation!"
Akko scrambled to her feet just in time to be hit by another series of waves, knocking her right back down. She got up again, her hair soaking wet, and narrowly dodged the sanitation bot's harpoon.
Shit, he's relentless, the robotic witch realized as he created yet another wave, barely putting up another barrier in time. I don't know if I can keep up with this! I should've remembered to get my wand… if only Dr. Hikari included some kind of long range weapon in this stupid piece of–
As if responding to her thoughts, Akko's left forearm suddenly exploded into a mess of plasteel plating and mechanical parts, the glow of the philosopher's stone emitting from within. Within a second, the various pieces and components shifted and repositioned themselves, as well as her hand, reconfiguring her forearm into a Buster, similar to the one she saw Rock have hours ago.
She was surprised (and disturbed) that the good doctor included a firearm on a search-&-rescue android, but she wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Once her barrier dissipated, she hastily aimed her buster at Wave Man and willed it into firing. The shot hit Poseidon's right side, blowing his right arm– the one with the harpoon –off.
Wave Man stumbled backwards, reeling from the hit, which Akko used to run up to him.
"Poseidon–Wave Man, please," she said, "I don't want to hurt you any further!"
"I'm sorry, madam," he replied, "but I can't stand down no matter how much I want to. Please, just kill me, it'll be easier that way…"
"What!?"
"My boss is going to kill me for failure regardless, so I'm already a dead bot walking."
Akko was taken aback, to say the least, but given that Dr. Wily had left a Sniper Joe to kill Dr. Light after stealing Poseidon and the other Robot Master prototypes, she guessed she shouldn't have been so surprised. She did not want to kill the poor sanitation robot, but given that she needed to deal with the other six, the roboticized witch resigned herself to this shameful task, she aimed her buster at Wave Man's chest, closed her eyes, and fired.
Selection University campus, Setsuri, Japan
8:15 P.M.; Friday, March 8, 2199
As soon as Mega Man had reached Selection University campus, he found what he was looking for, though it wasn't exactly what he wanted to find.
It was a chaotic scene out of a war movie– or a zombie apocalypse, either analogy worked –with Hephaestus taking on the entire University All-Stars sensha-do team. Though Rock so far had no knowledge about tanks and the countless variations various nations created, the University's team was composed primarily of T-28s, though there were a also several Panther IIs (which were pink for some reason) and a couple of Abrams tanks, the ancient tanks fired round after round at the orange and black robot, and to Mega Man's pleasant surprise, they were actually doing a number on the Robot Master. But it just wasn't enough, as Hephaestus…
…well, Hephaestus both looked and sounded like he was having the time of his life, and that scared the blue knight.
"Come and get some!" The large orange robot cheered as he lobbed one of his Hyper Bombs into the platoon of tanks, which then detonated, tossing a few of them into the air like toys and causing one of the buildings– most of which looked like something out of 1950s America, Canada and Western Europe –to collapse in a cloud of dust. Rock did not want to know what their crews, or the poor souls in that building, were experiencing, nor did he really have time to. Hephaestus then leapt – smoke coming from the bottom of his feet – landing on top of one of the Panther IIs. He removed another Hyper Bomb from his waist– one of eight, a new one immediately growing like a tumor in its place –and was about to throw it into the open commander's hatch, when the blue knight drew his attention.
"Why don't you try someone your own size!?" he called, which worked at getting the orange demolition bot's attention, but also caused him to throw his black, baseball-sized super-grenade at him. Thinking quickly, he caught the Hyper Bomb with his right hand, scanned it, then threw it into the sky as hard as he could. It exploded, safely away from anyone or anything.
"What the heck," Hephaestus wondered aloud, "that guy just threw my bomb!" He promptly leapt from the Panther II, over 100 yards, and landed right in front of Mega Man. Not anticipating that the demolition robot could leap that far, this took him by surprise. "What do we have here? A clueless man who got lost, I presume?"
"More like the one who's gonna kick your ass," he replied.
Hephaestus laughed. "HA! You think you can penetrate my plasteel armor? How rich!"
"I wouldn't be so sure about that…"
Rock activated his new Fire Storm weapon, which caused his Buster to split apart and reconfigure itself into a flamethrower almost identical to the ones used by Fire Man. However, one side effect he did not foresee was that his entire body– save for his synthetic skin –changed from his blue and light blue color scheme to red and black, the same as the downed waste disposal robot. This quickly caught the attention of the demolition robot, who quickly figured out something was up.
"Wait, how come you suddenly look like…"
If Hephaestus had a proper face, it would've hardened, though the serious tone of his voice still conveyed his mood. " …what have you done to Fire Man?"
"I tried to get him to stand down, but…"
"Of course that blockhead got himself killed," Hephaestus groaned, facepalming. (Well, visor-palming.) "Whatever! You may have beaten him, kid but this is the end of the line…"
"Go ahead," was all Mega Man could say as he mentally braced himself. "I'm not scared, Hephaestus."
"My name is Bomb Man, actually," he corrected him as his left arm mechanically shapeshifted into its cannon form. "But that's not important. What's important is stopping you in your tracks!"
He fired a larger Hyper Bomb from his arm, and at such a velocity that Rock barely managed to dodge it. Seconds later, it exploded, but the blast was much smaller than he'd anticipated; clearly, the demolition robot had figured out how to change how powerful his black balls of death were. He then fired his flamethrower, but instead of a plume of flame like the normally blue knight expected, it shot a large ball of fire. Not that it mattered, since Bomb man leaped out of the way, no problem.
In fact, he kept jumping out of the way of Rock's blasts for the next several minutes, to his frustration. After Bomb Man landed, he sometimes lobbed a Hyper Bomb at him, then jumped out of the way of an incoming fireball. Rinse and repeat for about six minutes.
However, Mega Man soon noticed something about his opponent's attacks: every time gravity pulled the orange and black robot back to the ground, he didn't jump again until at least two seconds after he landed. He had to time his shot perfectly. As soon as Bomb Man landed, he fired his Fire Storm before he had a chance to evade. He tried to shake the flames off of himself, but this only gave Rock the opportunity to hit him with another Fire Storm attack. In desperation, Bomb Man once again fired a large Hyper Bomb from his arm cannon, and managed to take the normally blue knight off-guard.
Rock experienced a bright, green flash as he was catapulted through the perimeter fence and into the wall of one of the university buildings some 20 meters away. Alarm bells were, quite literally, ringing inside his head as an automatic diagnostic scan reported minor damage to his chassis and some small cracks in his armor, but surprisingly, none of his major internal systems had been damaged in the explosion.
Guess that shows how durable Mythril is, he thought for a few microseconds, before pulling himself out of the wall and getting back on his feet. However, on his internal monitors, he noticed that there was a low battery symbol now being displayed beside the Fire Storm in his Tool Selection screen. This thing has an ammo count? Crap.
"I'm impressed," the orange and black robot called out as the armored lab assistant bot reverted to his usual blue color scheme, "no-one's been able to survive a point-blank Hyper Bomb at 50% capacity like that. But how much can you take?"
"How about we find out?"
The two then charged at each other, Mega Man re-deploying his Buster and firing shot after shot at Bomb Man, who leapt out of the way to avoid them. This continued for another minute at least, before Rock started noticing smoke coming from the orange and black demolition robot. It was at this moment that the blue knight remembered something Dr. Hikari said whilst building Hephaestus, something about how he couldn't move very fast for very long without overheating his motor-joints, due to his large size and basic thermodynamics stating that larger objects take longer to cool off than smaller ones. Coming up with a plan, he continued to play along with his opponent's "hit me if you can" game until an opening presented itself from Bomb Man's overexertion.
After about two minutes, that opening came as Hephaestus began notably slowing down in his movements, his overheating motor-joints taking their toll. Seizing the opportunity, Mega Man once again switched to the Fire Storm and used what remaining ammo he had left on the demolition robot. He was able to get three more fireballs out, the third one considerably smaller than the others, but all of them hit their target. Just as the last one landed, Bomb Man let out a pained scream, before an explosion destroyed the orange Robot Master collapsed, his remains flying everywhere.
Mega Man switched his VTS back to the Buster before running over to the fallen Robot Master. From what Rock could tell, Bomb Man had been damaged beyond repair.
Rock was taken out of his thoughts by the sound of footsteps approaching. The dust was largely clearing away by now, and the blue knight saw that it was a group of students, likely the crews of the tanks Hephaestus destroyed or otherwise disabled. He retracted his Buster, just in case, and held his hand up with his palms open as he fully turned to face them.
"I'm not here to hurt you, if that's what you're wondering," he preemptively stated. "I've got no reason to fight you guys."
"Great," one of them, a woman with auburn hair said, "that orange one was hard enough as it was."
"More like impossible," said another one, a man with short, black hair. "If you hadn't shown up, my team and I would've been a goner. Thank you."
"No problem," Rock answered, "just making sure that no-one is harmed… or at least, as few are harmed as I can." he looked at the rubble of the building he'd seen get demolished as he arrived. "I wish I could stay and help with the clean-up, but there's four other robots just like this throughout the rest of the city."
"Good luck with that," a third wished him. It was a woman with light blue, boyishly short hair and glasses. "And what's your name, sir!?" she called as Rock began running off towards the next Robot Master on his list.
"Call me Mega Man!" he replied, before disappearing behind the corner of one of the buildings.
Michael didn't know what to think of this. Was this guy a superhero? And if so, since when did they become a real thing?
"I robotics have gotten pretty close to emulating us," he heard Rumi, the woman wit the blue hair and glasses, say. "But I didn't think they'd become that advanced already…"
"What makes you say that?" Michael asked.
"If that was a human," she explained, "they'd have killed us along with that bomber bot. Either that, or we have another Adam Smasher on our hands. And Adam Smasher was one in a million to not go cyberpsycho, so…"
"I bet he's some kind of military prototype," the young man added his input to the conversation.
"Prototype or no, I don't think he's hostile," Azumi, the woman with auburn hair, said. "I mean, he looked like a knight in shining armor, for crying out loud."
Silently, Michael wished Mega Man luck in defeating the other bots rampaging across the city.
Uptown Setsuri, Japan
10:45 P.M.; Friday, March 8, 2199
After dispatching Wave Man, Akko had gotten into a less-than comfortable conversation with the marines and sailors stationed at the naval base, and it took all evening to explain that no, she was not going to shoot them like the sanitation bot did. As soon as she'd sufficiently proven that (she did not want to remember the details), she'd hopped onto her broom and left for the closest Robot Master to her location, which happened to be in uptown. It was now nighttime, meaning that she had to rely on the city's lights to navigate to her next opponent. To her further frustration, Uptown Setsuri seemed to be in some kind of blackout, but her anger soon subsided when she found out why that was.
The entire area had been covered in snow, ice, or frost, turning the landscape white and ice blue. The streets and the palm trees lining them had been frozen cold, whilst the buildings– built with a kind of classic Japanese architecture –were white with snow.
After several minutes, surveying uptown from the sky, she could make out a figure wearing a parka amidst the blowing snow. Persephone, Akko quickly recognized, but what is she doing here?
The robotic witch landed in an alleyway out of Persephone's sight, putting her broom in "hood" (read: storage compartment) on her back. From there, she crept towards the refrigeration robot as quietly as she could.
As she approached, though, Ice Woman fired an Ice Slash out of her right palm, striking the robotic witch and knocking her back a meter or two. Akko herself felt as if a thousand little daggers had embedded themselves in her circuitry.
The downed witch mentally pushed herself back onto her feet in spite of the pain, and saw the inuit-inspired robot approaching.
"There's something dangerous up ahead, sir!" she said, confusing Akko.
Persephone then spoke again, this time with a serious demeanor. "Oh? Freeze it at all costs, soldier!" she then returned to her more innocent persona, judging by the change in her expression.
"Persephone? What are you saying?" Akko asked in concern. "Did Dr. Wily corrupt your programming?"
"Well, I, uh…" she tried to explain, before her more serious persona manifested once more. "Soldier, finish your mission!" Persephone barked towards herself, before firing another Ice Slash at her opponent. This time Ms. Kagari dodged, albeit barely.
Alright, how do I deal with you? she thought. Ice melts at room temperatures. So I ought to… wait, I can't start a fire with her on my ass. Crap! She swore within her head (well, processor now) as she dodged another Ice Slash beam, firing her Buster a couple of times in response. Persephone promptly dodged all of the mini-stars flying her way.
Damn, she's faster than I expected, the robotic witch noted as his opponent then fired both of her Ice Slashers, forcing Akko to maneuver her way between them to avoid getting hit. If she didn't, then it was game over for her.
Think, Akko, think! What melts ice, besides fire? She searched through her memory files for any answer, and within a few seconds came across one of Mr. Robinson's lectures about surviving in cold weather, about how witches can use quintessence to make tools that can break ice if necessary. That's it!
With that, Akko stopped trying to dodge the sakuradite refrigeration robot. As Persephone fired another Ice Slasher, the witch summoned a barrier, which softly glowed green in the dark of night, and reflected off the snow-covered ground.
This stopped the beam of ice-magic dead in its tracks, shattering it as it came into contact with the quintessence barrier. As the sakuradite refrigeration bot stopped in confusion, Akko took the opportunity to switch back to her Buster and fire a trio of green 'lemons' at her opponent. They all landed, one after the other, the last one striking Ice Woman square in the face and knocking her into stasis lock.
Before Akko could celebrate, she was struck from behind by a massive fireball and was knocked face-first into the snow. And again. And again. And ag—
Diana had known something was off about Akko the moment she'd first laid eyes on her. She was stubborn, thick-headed, had a questionable taste in friends, and wasn't very proficient in magic, nor did she disclose where she came from or who her parents were.
And she professed her love of Shiny Chariot, in public.
But what she'd just seen had just explained all of that. Granted, Diana had not expected that she knew of two machines pretending to be people, but at least Rock had acknowledged himself as such. But Akko? Akko had somehow managed to fool her, a Cavendish, and everyone else at school that she was human.
This… this was disturbing.
But oh well. She probably wasn't going to get back up from the dozen fireballs she'd just cast on her. Was this murder? No, she was a machine. Machines don't die, and aren't even alive to begin with.
"Wow, that was quite trigger-happy."
The prodigess' thoughts were interrupted by the nasal voice of a pale-skinned girl beside her. Diana didn't know her, nor did Hannah or Barbara. They'd gone uptown after headmaster Gnome's grilling to blow off some steam, and in her black-haired friend's case, buy the latest volume of Night Fall from the Bards and Nobles bookstore. But when they were at the checkout, everything began freezing over outside, to the point that the power lines froze and shattered, taking out the lights and whatnot.
The trio of British immigrants had opted to stay inside to keep warm. This soon proved to be wise, as some whackjob high on ice-magic began freezing everyone on the streets solid. Until Akko showed up in her true form, that is. Until then, the three witches had been stuck inside with about a dozen other people, including the weird, pale-skinned girl in a green shirt that just made that comment. She looked like a stereotypical witch, with all the warning signs turned up to eleven; the gloomy aura she constantly emitted, her scent being a strong smell of poison and dangerous chemicals, and she'd only been frowning throughout the last few hours.
"Mind your own business, creep," Diana replied. "She would've opened fire on the rest of us if I hadn't stepped in."
"Somehow, I highly doubt that," the stranger replied in a somewhat raspy voice.
It was at this moment, however, that the inuit disappeared in a pillar of white-blue light, which bolted into the dark sky and arched over the horizon to the south. Diana waited several seconds, expecting Akko to do the same. Yet as Hannah and Barbara finally came out of the store, the robotic witch never did. With that, she took her broom out of her 4-d knapsack.
"Diana, what are you doing?" the black-haired witch asked.
"Weeding out the problem by its roots," she replied, getting on her broomstick. "Are you coming with me?"
"Um, no thank you," Hannah waved off, "We've had enough adventure-seeking for one day…"
"Yeah, and we really should be getting home," Barbara pointed out.
"I'll be back at the manor as soon as I can," Diana promised, referring to her family's mansion, located on the outskirts of Selection University's vast sensha-do grounds to the east of Setsuri. "But at the moment, I need to get to the bottom of this… incident." with that, she flew off into the night sky.
Her two sycophants, meanwhile, gave each other worried looks, before leaving the area. As the snow began to melt, however, the pale-skinned stranger remained, looking at the downed Akko with curiosity…
Slum Zone 2, Setsuri, Japan
11:30 P.M.; Friday, March 8, 2199
It was half 'till midnight, but despite the strain on his power core, Rock had no intentions of sleeping until he'd dealt with the rogue Robot Masters.
Nor could the residents of Slum Zone 2 get any sleep either, as the sakuradite mine that their zone was centered around was under occupation. Whilst Kyoto had touted their colonies in Shin Honshu to be a land of opportunity, the reality is that not everyone can be rich; the way the economy worked, for someone to make profit, two/five/ten/a hundred someone elses had to be scammed, shut out, or otherwise screwed over, even in the world's youngest island.
Thus why over two thirds of Setsuri's population lived in the ring of shanty towns surrounding the actual city, which the local administration had divided into four zones, five if you count the Hirohito Industrial Area. The second of them, located directly east of Setsuri proper, was centered around the local sakuradite mine. And it was here that Heracles had been reported to be located.
Climbing over the fence surrounding the mine, Rock got a better look at what he was up against now. The mine's workers wore gray jumpsuits and hard hats, but weirdly enough, they were also wearing red headphones which he didn't immediately recognize. After getting a good look at the people they were rescuing, though, he recognized what the headphones really were.
"Mindcuffs? Why the heck are they all wearing those?" he asked himself aloud. "And I thought they were blue."
Mindcuffs, or neurocasters, as they were officially known, were the brainchild of what was once the European military, during the chaotic wars that engulfed the young superpower after the Martian War. Originally, they were conceived as a way to control the colossal mechas the Martians used in their offensives– gurrens, they were called –which later came to make the backbone of the European, later Franco-Iberian army. However, it quickly became apparent that they could also override their wearer's nervous system and motor functions if used incorrectly, turning themselves into drones instead. Though the European government was horrified by using this as a way to control indentured servants (usually migrants from the increasingly uninhabitable Africa or their descendants), they were more than happy to exploit this fault to no end regarding the nascent Chosen Ones. Eventually, this led the Chosen into becoming a slave race in all but name to the rest of humanity.
It was at this moment, though, that Rock heard a voice coming from his left. Moving as silently as he could, and doing his best to remain hidden (opting to duck behind a bunch of stacked crates), he approached the main shipping area, to find some more of the workers moving crates full of solid sakuradite into half a dozen… vehicles, which Rock assumed were going to wherever, for purposes unknown. Standing nearby was Heracles, who was complaining to what appeared to be a woman in her early twenties. She had a large… chest, and long, blonde hair.
"…I don't care where Dr. Wily sent Cut Man," Heracles said in a loud, gravely voice, "I need the little troublemaker so I can fix the god-damn fence! If the military comes down on us, we're toast—"
"Guts Man," she cut him off, "the military doesn't care about the slums, they won't come here. And I know you like things done nice and efficiently, but there are some things that just can't be streamlined." The woman spoke with a sickeningly sweet, know-it-all tone, and Mega Man couldn't tell why, but it made him feel deeply uncomfortable.
Heracles, or Guts Man, scoffed. "Try telling that to Elec Man, Piper. Odds are he's still trying to zap Arasaka's local management into line. I swear he's going to fry them to death…"
"That's the Great Pana Piper to you, buzzkill!" she retorted as he walked away.
"Yeah, and I'm Bruticus," he mocked her, before leaving the room entirely. His footsteps were heavy, causing the ground to shudder a bit every time his feet came down.
From the shadows, Rock all watched this unfold, his face having a look of concern as Guts Man left Pana Piper at the shipping floor. This certainly wasn't good. Well, the only thing that was good was that Pana was wrapping up whatever they were doing here. But what would she do to the workers and picketmen when she was done?
Knowing he had little time to contemplate this, he snuck his way out of the shipping area to fight the construction foreman robot, preferably by himself.
Sakuradite mine, Slum Zone 2, Makitihara, Japan
12:00 A.M.; Saturday, March 9, 2199
Mega Man had snuck his way across the mine, and made his way to one of the elevator shafts, and hid behind one of the walls. After a group of miners and picketmen exited the elevator with a bin carrying a large, uncarved Philosopher's Stone, the blue knight waited until they were out of sight before crawling his way along the outer wall to the controls. The controls were easy enough to understand, and Rock quickly set them up to bring the elevator down to the bottom level. From there, he bolted into the elevator itself, barely slipping in before the doors closed.
The metal box descended for a few minutes before reaching the bottom level. When he exited, Mega Man was confronted with a cavern made entirely of sakuradite, the solid quintessence glowing an eerie green. He walked to the left of the elevator for a few minutes, before reaching a group of five picketmen chipping away at the walls with their pickaxes. One of them stopped, noticing the blue knight, and immediately threw his pick at him. The others followed.
Rock calculated his options. If he used his Buster, he may easily cause the whole cavern of sakuradite to explode, killing himself and, more importantly to him, anyone else down in the mine. Ditto with using the Hyper Bomb, and the Fire Storm if it still had ammo. That left the Rolling Cutter. Rock selected it with his VTS, and his left forearm shapeshifted yet again. This time, a Rolling Cutter identical to the ones used by Cut Man emerged from where his hand would normally be, and his armor turned gray and white.
As the picketmen deployed another pickaxe each (somehow), Rock did a motion that someone would do when throwing a frisbee, and the cutters on his left arm detached, flying just like Cut Man's did…
…before embedding themselves into the sakuradite wall of the cavern.
Mega Man sprinted to pull them out, dodging pickaxes as their users tried to hit him with them. Fortunately, the Rolling Cutters came out of the sakuradite deposit easily, and Rock threw them again. This time, they sliced through two of the picketmen, slicing them in half, before returning to the knight like a boomerang. The third time, he beheaded two more of them. The last picketman charged at the normally blue knight and tried to embed yet another pick into his chassis, but Rock countered this by severing his arms, before switching to his buster and firing into his chest.
Mega Man had no time to celebrate, however, as he heard growing footsteps behind him. Turning around, he saw Heracles coming from the direction of the elevator.
"What's goin' on?" He asked, confused. "I heard noises coming from… here…" the largest of the Robot Masters stopped himself as he saw five of the robots under his command in pieces, as well as Rock, whose Buster was still deployed.
It didn't take a terrible amount of processing power for Guts Man to figure out what had just happened.
The large foreman robot's expression rapidly hardened, before leapt half the distance remaining between them. When he landed, Heracles' mass was enough to cause a small tremor that knocked the blue knight off his feet.
"You have a lot of nerve for a small boy," he said, doing the motions of someone cracking his knuckles (if he were a human and not a robot himself, who can't actually do that), "But for hurtin' my men, I'm gonna teach you a lesson."
"Um, how about no?" he nervously asked as the larger robot approached, calculating his next choice of action.
Crap, now what? Dr. Hikari said that he built Heracles like a tank! There's no way I'm getting through his thich armor with my Buster, let alone the Water Wave. Unless…
He had a plan. It was a very risky, very explosive plan, but if it worked…
Quickly, Mega Man reactivated his VTS, switching from his normal Buster to the Hyper Bomb he'd copied at the start of his fight with Hephaestus. Like when he used the Fire Storm, his armor's color changed, this time becoming orange and black just like the fallen demolition Robot Master, whilst his left forearm mechanically shapeshifted once more. This time, it turned into a larger, more box-shaped cannon; the barrel was still circular, but was around 245 millimeters wide, instead of the 30 of his Buster's nozzle.
"You hurt Bomb Man too!?" the foreman robot yelled, clearly enraged. "Okay, now it's personal!"
As Mega Man got back on his feet, he noticed that his internal monitors were displaying a meter of how much explosiveness (for lack of a better term) he wanted his bombs to have. Selecting (or rather, willing) a 66% capacity, a bar popped up with the label 'SYNTHESIZING…'
I don't have time for this, he thought, as the larger construction foreman bot began charging at him, or at least tried to; his larger size and heavy armor made his acceleration slower than it otherwise would've been… which gave the normally blue knight plenty of time to move out of the way. Unfortunately, Heracles used the walls of the sakuradite cavern to walk on for a second, using his own momentum to turn himself around as he got back on the floor, taking Rock by surprise and punching him square in the face, knocking him onto the ground once more.
It took a few seconds for the armored lab assistant's internal gyroscopes to recalibrate, at which point he saw Guts Man slow himself to a stop a short distance away. With little difficulty, the foreman robot managed to lift a boulder of rock over his head with his right arm, before throwing it at Mega Man. The normally blue robot, realizing he had no chance of physically moving out of the way of the flying boulder's path, slid forwards, his head missing the side of the large rock with centimeters to spare, before it crashed further down the cavern.
Fortunately, it was at this moment that, on his internal monitors, the normally blue knight could see that his own projectile had finished synthesizing, to his relief. Seeing that Guts Man was accelerating himself once again to ram him, Mega Man began running. Eventually, he came into a part of the cavern that was normal rock instead of solid quintessence. Good, he thought, at least I won't blow the whole mine sky-high. With that, he stopped, turned around and fired, launching the large Hyper Bomb at the construction foreman. It had grooves on its surface that corkscrewed around it, allowing it to spin like any normal bullet or tank/artillery shell would, which was important since Rock did not want it to miss.
And it didn't. The Hyper Bomb hit Guts Man square in the chest, and detonated mere milliseconds after making contact. This was followed by a bright, mint green flash and a deafening noise, which knocked Rock's eyes and audio receptors temporarily offline respectively. The shockwave was also more than enough to send the normally blue knight hurtling deeper into the mine, something that was definitely felt and actually registered in the robot's mind.
After something like five seconds (his sensors had left him too disoriented for him to precisely measure the time), the normally blue robot tumbled and skidded to a stop, only for a bunch of rocks to fall on top of him. After another twenty seconds, Rock's hearing returned, and what they received was… well…
" …are you fucking kidding me!?" he heard Guts Man curse, moments before his vision returned as well. He sorted his way out of a pile of rocks, this part of the cavern having caved in as a result of the explosion, to see Heracles almost completely unharmed from the blast.
Almost.
The glow of another sakuradite deposit behind them revealed that his Hyper Bomb had blasted a hole in his chest, exposing and damaging the foreman's stellarator reactor. Something that, apparently, Guts Man was oblivious to.
"You really think that's going to take me out, kid!?" he yelled. "Well, you've got another thing… coming…" It was only then that the construction foreman looked down at himself, and he could easily see the visual distortion being caused by the hydrogen escaping from his power plant. His expression quickly changed from unbridled rage to one of surprise.
" …huh. That ain't good."
With that, Gut's Man's glowing white eyes went out, and the monstrously huge Robot Master fell on his face with a small tremor and a heavy, metallic THUD. With his ass sticking into the air [DUN DUN], Heracles was definitely offline.
However, it was also apparent that Mega Man had led him past the elevator in his chase, and he was stuck down here for the time being. The fact that his internal systems were screaming warnings at him from the damage he'd sustained, and the amount of strain on his power core due to a lack of "sleep" didn't help.
Well, I guess I just have to wait until someone clears this out, he thought, reverting back to his blue color scheme. If this really is it… well, I seriously hope it isn't, but I think I did have a good run…
With that, Mega Man slumped against the cavern wall, and went into stasis lock as his power core shut off…
What a cliffhanger! Both Rock and Akko are out of commission, trapped underground in the former's case, and Diana (ever the strategist) is taking matters into her own hands. Of course, considering how she fared against Bass, this can NOT end well for her.
We've also seen a few more Girls und Panzer characters show up as we approach the end of TSARM's first act, and transition to the events of Girls Dead Rise: War of California. If you've read SeekerMeeker's original story and are still waiting for the zombies, we're nearly there. There's just two or three more chapters to go, and I promise I'll upload Mega Man (Part 2) as soon as it's ready.
In the meantime, thank you for reading, and have a good morning/day/evening/night/whatever time of day it is.
–NuclearAlchmist
But enough of that! It's time this story had some real action…
Waste Disposal Facility, Hirohito Industrial Area, Setsuri, Japan
7:00 P.M.; Friday, March 8, 2199
Setsuri, at first glance, was utopian in the physical sense of the word. However, if one looked at the city from a bird's eye view, and looked at the region surrounding the central city, you'd immediately notice two things: first, Setsuri encompassed a bay, the Bay of Salvation. More importantly, you'd also notice a half-ring of slums surrounding the larger city, filling in the space between Setsuri proper and its satellite cities Shin Hiroshima to the east-northeast, and Makitihara to the south. The portion of this ring that composed the area where the Bay of Salvation sloped west, though, was the Hirohito Industrial District, which contained all of the local area's "dirty" industries, such as chemical production, sakuradite production and storage, sewage treatment, and– most relevant to what was going on right now –waste disposal.
I mention this because Fire Man was at said waste disposal facility, and was having the time of his life.
After occupying the facility, with the Mets and other robots under his command, someone called in the local police. That was fine with him – he wanted to burn stuff, especially the heretical humans! He'd so far burned– how many? Twenty? Thirty? It didn't matter. What mattered was that Fire Man could finally give the humans what they deserved:
A place in Hell to rot away.
The red and black robot was clearing the boulevard leading to the mass-incinerator of all lifeforms, and was currently searching the various upturned or otherwise charred police vehicles for any stragglers hiding from his flames of justice. Whilst inspecting one of the cars upturned against a lightpost, he was ambushed by a trio of officers, and a pair of policebots.
"FOOLS!!!" he screamed with a Texan accent as he dodged one of them trying to manhandle him. He retracted his right hand, deploying one of his flamethrowers in its place. Shooting a line of literal fire, he quickly turned her into charcoal "You're wasting your time!"
"It's time well spent if it means keeping you from hurting others!" one of the others retorted, firing his pistol at the waste disposal bot. Of course, plasteel beats bullets, so they bounced harmlessly right off of him. With a laugh, Fire Man rammed the officer with a headbutt, declaring "You've got nothing on me! As long as my justice burns bright, evil will never prevail!"
In his processor, he was certain of this truth as he finished off his attackers. Nobody would stand against him and win. Not these silly policemen, not the military, not the blue knight approaching him–
–wait. The blue knight approaching him?
That was new.
As he stopped and watched the incoming blue robot, he was firing a Buster– the same weapon that Break Man uses –at several Mets that were trying to intercept him. They were firing small bolts of plasma from their welders (the mets were probably from nearby factories assembling who-knows-what), his lemons deflecting off of their hard hats, one of the mets' bolds hitting the blue bot and knocking him onto his ass. What was he doing, trying to be a superhero? How cliche. As the man stood up, something deep within Fire Man's memory files recognized his face. Yet as the blue knight adjusted and began only while the various mets had their faces and welders exposed, he couldn't put a finger on where he'd seen him before, and was confused whether or not he had seen him before – the boss had only activated him yesterday, for fuck's sake!
Nonetheless, one thing was certain: if bossman Wily hadn't built him, then he must be evil. Evil needs to be destroyed. By this logic of his, Fire Man would destroy this blue knight before him.
Guess I won't be sitting down for a while, Rock, or rather Mega Man thought as he finished off the last of the rouge mets. Turning around, he sighted Cacus nearby, having just torched a group of police officers to death. The blue knight approached, his eyes locking with the red eyes of his misguided/mal-programmed foe, before the red and black robot shot a stream of flames in his direction. Rock was barely able to jump out of the way, taking cover behind an abandoned police car as he deployed his Buster.
"Fiiiiire!" His opponent roared as he ran at the car, only to be shot at with miniature stars. He dodged them, deploying his other flamethrower before firing both of them to get his opponent out of cover. "Burn! Burn! My justice burns hotly! Evil beware!"
This did the trick, but what the waste disposal robot wasn't expecting his opponent to do was fire at him whilst running to get behind another vehicle. This shot, Fire Man was unable to dodge, striking him square in the middle of his red chestplate, giving it a scorch mark where it landed.
As he stumbled, Mega Man addressed him. "Cacus, what on Earth are you doing?"
"Cleansing the Earth of heretics, including you!" he screeched. "And my name is Fire Man!"
"…excuse me?" Rock couldn't exactly believe what he was hearing.
"You heard me!" the red and black robot shot back, both verbally and in the literal sense, forcing the blue knight to move once again. "I ain't repeating myself!"
"If your name is 'Fire Man,' then where's your truck?" he asked, somewhat mockingly, whilst continuing to dodge the walls of fire his opponent spawned. "Where's your hoses? Your spotted dog?"
"Not that kind of fireman, infidel!" Caucus roared back in frustration and exasperation, his eyes visibly turning red. "And since you're proving harder than I expected to burn, what the Hell is your name!?"
"My friends call me Rock," he answered, "but you and the others can call me Mega Man."
"Mega Man?" Fire Man asked, lowering his voice for once, as he was legitimately confused. "What kind of stupid name is–"
His insult was cut short as the blue robot shot his leg and caused him to briefly stumble. He got right back up, but he was down just long enough for Rock to close the distance between them. He promptly shot a volley of 'lemons' from his Buster, most of which the red and black bot had no time to avoid. This managed to blast/melt/tear off his left arm, and break off his mouth guard.
"Surrender, Fire Man!" he said as he kept his Buster pointed at him. "You're damaged, and weren't designed for battle! I can take you back to Dr. Hikari's lab–"
"I rebuke your temptation," he sneered, his jagged teeth showing. "I will never let the flames of justice die, not for as long as I can stand!"
"Well, I tried," was all Rock could say to himself as Fire Man charged at him once more, screaming. Aiming for his crazed opponent's chest, Mega Man activated his buster, temporarily shut off his audio receptors, and closed his eyes.
After a good ten seconds, he relinquished, and opened his eyes to see that the red and black robot had fallen before him, his reactor core breached and forced into automatic shutdown.
Quickly, he grabbed Fire Man's left forearm/flamethrower with his right hand, and activated his VTS.
As he'd theorized, it read the waste disposal bot's abilities as a tool, and copied his flamethrower's schematics into his inventory. On his internal monitors, a new weapon, named the Fire Storm, had appeared alongside the Rolling Cutters and hammer.
His thoughts were cut short, though, as his internal monitors alerted him of an incoming phone call from Dr. Hikari.
"Rock? Do you read me?" he sounded worried.
"I'm fine," he replied, "just, um, a little burnt, that's all."
"That's great," he replied wearily. "But where are you right now?"
"Nowhere in particular," he sarcastically replied, "just in the middle of the Hirohito Industrial Area! Seriously, I don't know if you've noticed, but the Robot Masters are online and running amok throughout the city, dad. Do you care to explain?"
He heard his creator take a deep breath. "Son, do you remember what I told you about that professor I had in Kyoto, Dr. Wily?"
It only took milliseconds for Rock to connect the dots. "I take it that he's the one behind this?"
"Unfortunately, that seems to be the case," he confirmed. "He left a thumb drive here at the lab, as well as… Well, I'll tell you later. Right now, I want you to find your way home safely."
"I'd really love to do that, dad," he said, "but right now I'm standing over the corpse of Caucus, and I don't think the others are going to like it that I've killed him… and Achilles…"
…
"Son," Dr. Hikari asked in a serious tone, "What did you do?"
ONE EXPLANATION AND 11 MINUTES LATER…
" …and that's when you called me…" the blue knight finished explaining where he'd been over the last few hours, during which he'd started making his way over to the nearest electronic appliance store, to get an idea where the other Robot Masters were.
Unlike what he'd expected, though, his creator was not quick to respond to him. For a solid minute, nothing came in from the other side of the line.
"Dr. Hikari? Are you still there?"
"…Rock," the good doctor finally answered, "if our circumstances were any different, I'd be grounding you."
Oh joy, Rock thought.
"However," his father continued, "given that the police haven't been able to contain even Achilles, the easiest for them to have taken on, I'm afraid you may be the only one who can stop them. I've trusted that you've managed to copy Achilles' and Cacus' weapons?"
"Yeah, I did."
"Excellent," Dr. Hikari said. "Now listen carefully, Rock. In the event that any of the prototype Robot Masters went rogue and tried… Well, I don't need to explain the scenario, but my point is, I built weaknesses in them so that another one of the Robot Masters could neutralize the rogue element."
"…and because all of them went rogue at once, you want me to exploit those weaknesses using my Variable Tool system," Rock concluded.
"More or less."
"But how will you be able to repair them?" he asked, concerned. "Heck, can you even repair Cacus or Achilles?"
"As long as their Integrated Circuits aren't damaged," the good doctor reassured, "they can be repaired and… well, I'm not going to reactivate him or any of the others until the board gives me authorization, if they ever do, but you know what I'm getting at."
It was at this point that Mega Man finally reached an electronic appliance store, one Best Try, and entered through its sliding doors. Almost immediately he was confronted with a scene of pandemonium, as various appliances and telleys– small cylindrical drones that were popular amongst kids, from what he'd heard –were harassing customers and staff alike.
"I'll call you back when I'm done," he said.
"Son, please be careful," his father said, before he was hung up on.
Acting quickly, Rock reactivated his Buster and began shooting the telleys out of the air, being careful that they didn't fall on top of anyone when he did. As he did, though, he was tackled to the floor by an unknown assailant, who began punching the blue knight repeatedly in the face. Managing to force himself out of their grip, it took only milliseconds to recognize his assailant once he got a clear look at him.
"Sergeant Night?"
He didn't get a verbal response as the JROTC teacher charged at him again, though this time Mega Man was able to step out of his way. "Sir, I'm here to help, not hurt you," he tried to explain.
"I don't care why you're here," the black-haired man roared back, "you're supposed to be in the scrapyard!"
"What?" He dodged a punch. "I'm not supposed to go there for at least another 20 years, Sir."
At that point Night kicked Rock in the leg, causing him to fall over. Breaker stood over him with a menacing glare. However, before the JROTC teacher could… Well, Rock didn't know what he was going to do, but he nonetheless stopped as someone else called him over.
"Hon, a little help?"
Behind Isuru was a woman about his age, with short, black hair and in a military dress uniform, who was fighting a pair of telleys with little more than an unplugged keyboard.
"Ami, I'm in the middle of something," Night growled back, though not in the downright aggressive tone Rock was used to hearing from him.
"So am I, Isuru," the woman, Ami, shot back, "and I think your something can wait."
"Do you know who this is?" he asked her. "This is the so-called 'son' of the man who put me out of my career!"
"You can have your revenge fantasy later!" she yelled as she bashed one of the cylindrical drones, causing it to spin but otherwise remain undamaged. As this was happening, Rock used the distraction to get back on his feet whilst Night wasn't looking, before running over and grabbing one of the tellys.
"Hey– stay away from her, you bastard machine!"
"Again, Sir, I'm here to help," he reiterated, as he smashed the drone repeatedly into one of several tall, painted steel beams holding up the store's roof far above. Within half a dozen tries, he managed to split the telly in half, destroying it, then took on the other one. Sergeant Night tried to tackle the blue robot from behind, but Ami held her arm out in front of him, gesturing him to stop. After Rock had destroyed the second telley, she asked him a question.
"Are you… are you Miss Nishizumi's kid?"
He went silent for a moment, thinking about how he should answer. " …Dr. Hikari built me," he slowly replied, "and he said he used his daughters as inspiration when he did. But I haven't met Miss Nishizumi in person yet. Why do you ask?"
A look of realization and disappointment fell on the young woman's face as he said this. "My apologies," Ami said, "your face looks a lot like your oldest sister's. My name's Chouno Ami, []."
"Hold it! You're not seriously–"
"Hon, I trained under Shiho in high school," she quickly explained, frustration rising in her voice. "I don't know if she considers… this boy is here to be her son, but her husband in all likelihood does."
"Rock is a machine," he quickly retorted, "and one that is armed to the teeth! How can you consider a soulless, metal husk a person? And if you do, then what about those dastardly Sniper Joes? Are they people, eh?"
"Please excuse my fiance," Ami quickly told Rock. "He's been a bit… uppity since the higher brass reassigned him from being a drill sergeant three years ago."
Within a second, Rock figured out where she was going. Since the Sniper Joes had become the backbone of the JSDF in the twenty-odd years since their introduction, less living soldiers to train also meant that the military needed less people to do the training.
"That… explains a lot…"
"I don't want your sympathy," Breaker spat before the knight could properly respond. "Just do whatever you're here for, and get out of my sight."
Mega Man simply nodded, and headed to the back of the Best Try, to the TV section. Sure enough, the various screens were showing coverage of the Robot Masters' havoc. After listening for a few minutes, he got the information he was searching for: their locations.
Poseidon was occupying the naval base up north; Persephone was turning uptown into a winter wonderland; Heracles had taken over the largest Sakuradite mine in the second slum district; Zeus had fried the security at Arasaka Tower downtown and had taken the building; and Hephaestus was demolishing Selection University campus. The demolition robot was the closest to Rock's location, and he was weak to Fire Man's abilities, so that would be where he was headed next…
Naval Base, Setsuri, Japan
7:45 P.M.; Friday, March 8, 2199
If there was one word that could describe Wave Man's mood right now, it would be frustrated. No matter how many times he tried to disinfect and sanitize the various hydrogen fuel silos and warehouses, he kept finding more and more dirt, grime, people, etc.. Granted, it was currently in use, but he was a sanitation bot, and the fact that he couldn't get this task done was driving him mad! And he couldn't leave and return later, because Dr. Wily and Miss Piper would scramble his circuits if he didn't. He'd seen how the latter had tortured Cut Man after he refused to stop making his puns (which, to be fair, were god-awful), and this had managed to scare everyone else into obedience.
Except Elec Man, but only because his electricity-magic allowed him to effectively resist her attempts to control him. She tried that after he'd rounded up the Twin Peaks Factory's management team whilst singing Can't Touch This.
His thought process, however, was interrupted by a very loud crashing noise. Startled, Wave Man got on his feet and saw a purplish-blue robot that looked like a modern-day recreation of a medieval-era witch coming out of the warehouse.
" …Do I know you?"
"Poseidon, please stand aside," the stranger somewhat kindly asked.
"I'm afraid I can't do that, madam," the sanitation bot honestly answered. "And could you please tell me where I've seen you before?"
"I might," the witch robot said. "But why can't you stand down first?"
"Because if I do, she'll kill me."
"Who?"
"Kid, you have no idea what she's capable of," the sanitation bot warned. "Also, my name is Wave Man, not…"
"Did she really rename all of you guys?" the stranger asked.
"I have no idea what you mean, but I'm gonna have to stop you right here, kid," Wave Man aimed his water cannon at him, visibly irritated. "Both for your own safety, and mine."
Welp, it was worth a try, Akko concluded in the milliseconds before Poseidon– Wave Man –fired his Water Waves at him. Guess asking them to stand down is not an option, either…
When she crash-landed at the naval base, Akko had been greeted with the scene of JSDN personnel fighting against a small army of mets, picketmen– robots used to mine extremely dangerous materials like sakuradite and hihi'irokane –and tellys.
…and Poseidon– or Wave Man, apparently –who was trying to fight her by summoning waves of water. During one of her visits to Dr. Hikari's lab, the good doctor had mentioned that his water cannon worked by drawing moisture from the air and using quintessence magic to multiply the water present up to a certain point. Given the somewhat arid climate of Shin Honshu in general, and the fact that arid places don't have much atmospheric moisture by their very nature, the resulting waves weren't as powerful as full-blown tsunamis. But the waves were still strong enough to knock Akko off her feet, as she found out when the sanitation robot pounded both of his fists into the concrete ground to manifest one.
Quickly, she got back up and reached for her wand – only to realize that she left it back at Dr. Hikari's lab. As Wave Man slammed his arms into the ground to create another wave, the robotic witch could do little more than brace herself, holding her hands out in front of her in a seemingly futile attempt to cushion the blow…
…except the water never came.
She opened one of her eyes, then the other, and saw that a square, translucent mint green barrier had manifested in front of her. The waves were crashing into and going around it, and although she was nonetheless knee-deep in water momentarily, the barrier had taken the brunt of the blow.
"Hey, what's with the sea wall!?" she heard Wave Man complain, before the barrier dissipated. "No fair!"
Thinking quickly, Akko ran over towards the sanitation bot, her legs carrying her faster than she was used to, and tried punching Poseidon in the face. He blocked the punch with his arm, then fired a harpoon at her from his right arm that she barely dodged. She used the opportunity to grab his arm and, with all the strength she could muster, threw the blue and yellow robot over her head.
The robotic witch was actually surprised that she managed to do that, as she didn't remember being that strong. She was also pretty sure the harpoon was NOT there last time she checked.
Wave Man, despite being somewhat rotund, quickly got back on his feet – well, flippers – and threw a punch of his own at Akko. This knocked the air out of her (metaphorically, as she no longer had lungs), and threw her back a few meters, at which point the harpoon returned to its owner.
"Look what you've done, dirtying up this place," he half-yelled at his opponent, now fully pissed off. "Prepare for sanitation!"
Akko scrambled to her feet just in time to be hit by another series of waves, knocking her right back down. She got up again, her hair soaking wet, and narrowly dodged the sanitation bot's harpoon.
Shit, he's relentless, the robotic witch realized as he created yet another wave, barely putting up another barrier in time. I don't know if I can keep up with this! I should've remembered to get my wand… if only Dr. Hikari included some kind of long range weapon in this stupid piece of–
As if responding to her thoughts, Akko's left forearm suddenly exploded into a mess of plasteel plating and mechanical parts, the glow of the philosopher's stone emitting from within. Within a second, the various pieces and components shifted and repositioned themselves, as well as her hand, reconfiguring her forearm into a Buster, similar to the one she saw Rock have hours ago.
She was surprised (and disturbed) that the good doctor included a firearm on a search-&-rescue android, but she wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Once her barrier dissipated, she hastily aimed her buster at Wave Man and willed it into firing. The shot hit Poseidon's right side, blowing his right arm– the one with the harpoon –off.
Wave Man stumbled backwards, reeling from the hit, which Akko used to run up to him.
"Poseidon–Wave Man, please," she said, "I don't want to hurt you any further!"
"I'm sorry, madam," he replied, "but I can't stand down no matter how much I want to. Please, just kill me, it'll be easier that way…"
"What!?"
"My boss is going to kill me for failure regardless, so I'm already a dead bot walking."
Akko was taken aback, to say the least, but given that Dr. Wily had left a Sniper Joe to kill Dr. Light after stealing Poseidon and the other Robot Master prototypes, she guessed she shouldn't have been so surprised. She did not want to kill the poor sanitation robot, but given that she needed to deal with the other six, the roboticized witch resigned herself to this shameful task, she aimed her buster at Wave Man's chest, closed her eyes, and fired.
Selection University campus, Setsuri, Japan
8:15 P.M.; Friday, March 8, 2199
As soon as Mega Man had reached Selection University campus, he found what he was looking for, though it wasn't exactly what he wanted to find.
It was a chaotic scene out of a war movie– or a zombie apocalypse, either analogy worked –with Hephaestus taking on the entire University All-Stars sensha-do team. Though Rock so far had no knowledge about tanks and the countless variations various nations created, the University's team was composed primarily of T-28s, though there were a also several Panther IIs (which were pink for some reason) and a couple of Abrams tanks, the ancient tanks fired round after round at the orange and black robot, and to Mega Man's pleasant surprise, they were actually doing a number on the Robot Master. But it just wasn't enough, as Hephaestus…
…well, Hephaestus both looked and sounded like he was having the time of his life, and that scared the blue knight.
"Come and get some!" The large orange robot cheered as he lobbed one of his Hyper Bombs into the platoon of tanks, which then detonated, tossing a few of them into the air like toys and causing one of the buildings– most of which looked like something out of 1950s America, Canada and Western Europe –to collapse in a cloud of dust. Rock did not want to know what their crews, or the poor souls in that building, were experiencing, nor did he really have time to. Hephaestus then leapt – smoke coming from the bottom of his feet – landing on top of one of the Panther IIs. He removed another Hyper Bomb from his waist– one of eight, a new one immediately growing like a tumor in its place –and was about to throw it into the open commander's hatch, when the blue knight drew his attention.
"Why don't you try someone your own size!?" he called, which worked at getting the orange demolition bot's attention, but also caused him to throw his black, baseball-sized super-grenade at him. Thinking quickly, he caught the Hyper Bomb with his right hand, scanned it, then threw it into the sky as hard as he could. It exploded, safely away from anyone or anything.
"What the heck," Hephaestus wondered aloud, "that guy just threw my bomb!" He promptly leapt from the Panther II, over 100 yards, and landed right in front of Mega Man. Not anticipating that the demolition robot could leap that far, this took him by surprise. "What do we have here? A clueless man who got lost, I presume?"
"More like the one who's gonna kick your ass," he replied.
Hephaestus laughed. "HA! You think you can penetrate my plasteel armor? How rich!"
"I wouldn't be so sure about that…"
Rock activated his new Fire Storm weapon, which caused his Buster to split apart and reconfigure itself into a flamethrower almost identical to the ones used by Fire Man. However, one side effect he did not foresee was that his entire body– save for his synthetic skin –changed from his blue and light blue color scheme to red and black, the same as the downed waste disposal robot. This quickly caught the attention of the demolition robot, who quickly figured out something was up.
"Wait, how come you suddenly look like…"
If Hephaestus had a proper face, it would've hardened, though the serious tone of his voice still conveyed his mood. " …what have you done to Fire Man?"
"I tried to get him to stand down, but…"
"Of course that blockhead got himself killed," Hephaestus groaned, facepalming. (Well, visor-palming.) "Whatever! You may have beaten him, kid but this is the end of the line…"
"Go ahead," was all Mega Man could say as he mentally braced himself. "I'm not scared, Hephaestus."
"My name is Bomb Man, actually," he corrected him as his left arm mechanically shapeshifted into its cannon form. "But that's not important. What's important is stopping you in your tracks!"
He fired a larger Hyper Bomb from his arm, and at such a velocity that Rock barely managed to dodge it. Seconds later, it exploded, but the blast was much smaller than he'd anticipated; clearly, the demolition robot had figured out how to change how powerful his black balls of death were. He then fired his flamethrower, but instead of a plume of flame like the normally blue knight expected, it shot a large ball of fire. Not that it mattered, since Bomb man leaped out of the way, no problem.
In fact, he kept jumping out of the way of Rock's blasts for the next several minutes, to his frustration. After Bomb Man landed, he sometimes lobbed a Hyper Bomb at him, then jumped out of the way of an incoming fireball. Rinse and repeat for about six minutes.
However, Mega Man soon noticed something about his opponent's attacks: every time gravity pulled the orange and black robot back to the ground, he didn't jump again until at least two seconds after he landed. He had to time his shot perfectly. As soon as Bomb Man landed, he fired his Fire Storm before he had a chance to evade. He tried to shake the flames off of himself, but this only gave Rock the opportunity to hit him with another Fire Storm attack. In desperation, Bomb Man once again fired a large Hyper Bomb from his arm cannon, and managed to take the normally blue knight off-guard.
Rock experienced a bright, green flash as he was catapulted through the perimeter fence and into the wall of one of the university buildings some 20 meters away. Alarm bells were, quite literally, ringing inside his head as an automatic diagnostic scan reported minor damage to his chassis and some small cracks in his armor, but surprisingly, none of his major internal systems had been damaged in the explosion.
Guess that shows how durable Mythril is, he thought for a few microseconds, before pulling himself out of the wall and getting back on his feet. However, on his internal monitors, he noticed that there was a low battery symbol now being displayed beside the Fire Storm in his Tool Selection screen. This thing has an ammo count? Crap.
"I'm impressed," the orange and black robot called out as the armored lab assistant bot reverted to his usual blue color scheme, "no-one's been able to survive a point-blank Hyper Bomb at 50% capacity like that. But how much can you take?"
"How about we find out?"
The two then charged at each other, Mega Man re-deploying his Buster and firing shot after shot at Bomb Man, who leapt out of the way to avoid them. This continued for another minute at least, before Rock started noticing smoke coming from the orange and black demolition robot. It was at this moment that the blue knight remembered something Dr. Hikari said whilst building Hephaestus, something about how he couldn't move very fast for very long without overheating his motor-joints, due to his large size and basic thermodynamics stating that larger objects take longer to cool off than smaller ones. Coming up with a plan, he continued to play along with his opponent's "hit me if you can" game until an opening presented itself from Bomb Man's overexertion.
After about two minutes, that opening came as Hephaestus began notably slowing down in his movements, his overheating motor-joints taking their toll. Seizing the opportunity, Mega Man once again switched to the Fire Storm and used what remaining ammo he had left on the demolition robot. He was able to get three more fireballs out, the third one considerably smaller than the others, but all of them hit their target. Just as the last one landed, Bomb Man let out a pained scream, before an explosion destroyed the orange Robot Master collapsed, his remains flying everywhere.
Mega Man switched his VTS back to the Buster before running over to the fallen Robot Master. From what Rock could tell, Bomb Man had been damaged beyond repair.
Rock was taken out of his thoughts by the sound of footsteps approaching. The dust was largely clearing away by now, and the blue knight saw that it was a group of students, likely the crews of the tanks Hephaestus destroyed or otherwise disabled. He retracted his Buster, just in case, and held his hand up with his palms open as he fully turned to face them.
"I'm not here to hurt you, if that's what you're wondering," he preemptively stated. "I've got no reason to fight you guys."
"Great," one of them, a woman with auburn hair said, "that orange one was hard enough as it was."
"More like impossible," said another one, a man with short, black hair. "If you hadn't shown up, my team and I would've been a goner. Thank you."
"No problem," Rock answered, "just making sure that no-one is harmed… or at least, as few are harmed as I can." he looked at the rubble of the building he'd seen get demolished as he arrived. "I wish I could stay and help with the clean-up, but there's four other robots just like this throughout the rest of the city."
"Good luck with that," a third wished him. It was a woman with light blue, boyishly short hair and glasses. "And what's your name, sir!?" she called as Rock began running off towards the next Robot Master on his list.
"Call me Mega Man!" he replied, before disappearing behind the corner of one of the buildings.
Michael didn't know what to think of this. Was this guy a superhero? And if so, since when did they become a real thing?
"I robotics have gotten pretty close to emulating us," he heard Rumi, the woman wit the blue hair and glasses, say. "But I didn't think they'd become that advanced already…"
"What makes you say that?" Michael asked.
"If that was a human," she explained, "they'd have killed us along with that bomber bot. Either that, or we have another Adam Smasher on our hands. And Adam Smasher was one in a million to not go cyberpsycho, so…"
"I bet he's some kind of military prototype," the young man added his input to the conversation.
"Prototype or no, I don't think he's hostile," Azumi, the woman with auburn hair, said. "I mean, he looked like a knight in shining armor, for crying out loud."
Silently, Michael wished Mega Man luck in defeating the other bots rampaging across the city.
Uptown Setsuri, Japan
10:45 P.M.; Friday, March 8, 2199
After dispatching Wave Man, Akko had gotten into a less-than comfortable conversation with the marines and sailors stationed at the naval base, and it took all evening to explain that no, she was not going to shoot them like the sanitation bot did. As soon as she'd sufficiently proven that (she did not want to remember the details), she'd hopped onto her broom and left for the closest Robot Master to her location, which happened to be in uptown. It was now nighttime, meaning that she had to rely on the city's lights to navigate to her next opponent. To her further frustration, Uptown Setsuri seemed to be in some kind of blackout, but her anger soon subsided when she found out why that was.
The entire area had been covered in snow, ice, or frost, turning the landscape white and ice blue. The streets and the palm trees lining them had been frozen cold, whilst the buildings– built with a kind of classic Japanese architecture –were white with snow.
After several minutes, surveying uptown from the sky, she could make out a figure wearing a parka amidst the blowing snow. Persephone, Akko quickly recognized, but what is she doing here?
The robotic witch landed in an alleyway out of Persephone's sight, putting her broom in "hood" (read: storage compartment) on her back. From there, she crept towards the refrigeration robot as quietly as she could.
As she approached, though, Ice Woman fired an Ice Slash out of her right palm, striking the robotic witch and knocking her back a meter or two. Akko herself felt as if a thousand little daggers had embedded themselves in her circuitry.
The downed witch mentally pushed herself back onto her feet in spite of the pain, and saw the inuit-inspired robot approaching.
"There's something dangerous up ahead, sir!" she said, confusing Akko.
Persephone then spoke again, this time with a serious demeanor. "Oh? Freeze it at all costs, soldier!" she then returned to her more innocent persona, judging by the change in her expression.
"Persephone? What are you saying?" Akko asked in concern. "Did Dr. Wily corrupt your programming?"
"Well, I, uh…" she tried to explain, before her more serious persona manifested once more. "Soldier, finish your mission!" Persephone barked towards herself, before firing another Ice Slash at her opponent. This time Ms. Kagari dodged, albeit barely.
Alright, how do I deal with you? she thought. Ice melts at room temperatures. So I ought to… wait, I can't start a fire with her on my ass. Crap! She swore within her head (well, processor now) as she dodged another Ice Slash beam, firing her Buster a couple of times in response. Persephone promptly dodged all of the mini-stars flying her way.
Damn, she's faster than I expected, the robotic witch noted as his opponent then fired both of her Ice Slashers, forcing Akko to maneuver her way between them to avoid getting hit. If she didn't, then it was game over for her.
Think, Akko, think! What melts ice, besides fire? She searched through her memory files for any answer, and within a few seconds came across one of Mr. Robinson's lectures about surviving in cold weather, about how witches can use quintessence to make tools that can break ice if necessary. That's it!
With that, Akko stopped trying to dodge the sakuradite refrigeration robot. As Persephone fired another Ice Slasher, the witch summoned a barrier, which softly glowed green in the dark of night, and reflected off the snow-covered ground.
This stopped the beam of ice-magic dead in its tracks, shattering it as it came into contact with the quintessence barrier. As the sakuradite refrigeration bot stopped in confusion, Akko took the opportunity to switch back to her Buster and fire a trio of green 'lemons' at her opponent. They all landed, one after the other, the last one striking Ice Woman square in the face and knocking her into stasis lock.
Before Akko could celebrate, she was struck from behind by a massive fireball and was knocked face-first into the snow. And again. And again. And ag—
Diana had known something was off about Akko the moment she'd first laid eyes on her. She was stubborn, thick-headed, had a questionable taste in friends, and wasn't very proficient in magic, nor did she disclose where she came from or who her parents were.
And she professed her love of Shiny Chariot, in public.
But what she'd just seen had just explained all of that. Granted, Diana had not expected that she knew of two machines pretending to be people, but at least Rock had acknowledged himself as such. But Akko? Akko had somehow managed to fool her, a Cavendish, and everyone else at school that she was human.
This… this was disturbing.
But oh well. She probably wasn't going to get back up from the dozen fireballs she'd just cast on her. Was this murder? No, she was a machine. Machines don't die, and aren't even alive to begin with.
"Wow, that was quite trigger-happy."
The prodigess' thoughts were interrupted by the nasal voice of a pale-skinned girl beside her. Diana didn't know her, nor did Hannah or Barbara. They'd gone uptown after headmaster Gnome's grilling to blow off some steam, and in her black-haired friend's case, buy the latest volume of Night Fall from the Bards and Nobles bookstore. But when they were at the checkout, everything began freezing over outside, to the point that the power lines froze and shattered, taking out the lights and whatnot.
The trio of British immigrants had opted to stay inside to keep warm. This soon proved to be wise, as some whackjob high on ice-magic began freezing everyone on the streets solid. Until Akko showed up in her true form, that is. Until then, the three witches had been stuck inside with about a dozen other people, including the weird, pale-skinned girl in a green shirt that just made that comment. She looked like a stereotypical witch, with all the warning signs turned up to eleven; the gloomy aura she constantly emitted, her scent being a strong smell of poison and dangerous chemicals, and she'd only been frowning throughout the last few hours.
"Mind your own business, creep," Diana replied. "She would've opened fire on the rest of us if I hadn't stepped in."
"Somehow, I highly doubt that," the stranger replied in a somewhat raspy voice.
It was at this moment, however, that the inuit disappeared in a pillar of white-blue light, which bolted into the dark sky and arched over the horizon to the south. Diana waited several seconds, expecting Akko to do the same. Yet as Hannah and Barbara finally came out of the store, the robotic witch never did. With that, she took her broom out of her 4-d knapsack.
"Diana, what are you doing?" the black-haired witch asked.
"Weeding out the problem by its roots," she replied, getting on her broomstick. "Are you coming with me?"
"Um, no thank you," Hannah waved off, "We've had enough adventure-seeking for one day…"
"Yeah, and we really should be getting home," Barbara pointed out.
"I'll be back at the manor as soon as I can," Diana promised, referring to her family's mansion, located on the outskirts of Selection University's vast sensha-do grounds to the east of Setsuri. "But at the moment, I need to get to the bottom of this… incident." with that, she flew off into the night sky.
Her two sycophants, meanwhile, gave each other worried looks, before leaving the area. As the snow began to melt, however, the pale-skinned stranger remained, looking at the downed Akko with curiosity…
Slum Zone 2, Setsuri, Japan
11:30 P.M.; Friday, March 8, 2199
It was half 'till midnight, but despite the strain on his power core, Rock had no intentions of sleeping until he'd dealt with the rogue Robot Masters.
Nor could the residents of Slum Zone 2 get any sleep either, as the sakuradite mine that their zone was centered around was under occupation. Whilst Kyoto had touted their colonies in Shin Honshu to be a land of opportunity, the reality is that not everyone can be rich; the way the economy worked, for someone to make profit, two/five/ten/a hundred someone elses had to be scammed, shut out, or otherwise screwed over, even in the world's youngest island.
Thus why over two thirds of Setsuri's population lived in the ring of shanty towns surrounding the actual city, which the local administration had divided into four zones, five if you count the Hirohito Industrial Area. The second of them, located directly east of Setsuri proper, was centered around the local sakuradite mine. And it was here that Heracles had been reported to be located.
Climbing over the fence surrounding the mine, Rock got a better look at what he was up against now. The mine's workers wore gray jumpsuits and hard hats, but weirdly enough, they were also wearing red headphones which he didn't immediately recognize. After getting a good look at the people they were rescuing, though, he recognized what the headphones really were.
"Mindcuffs? Why the heck are they all wearing those?" he asked himself aloud. "And I thought they were blue."
Mindcuffs, or neurocasters, as they were officially known, were the brainchild of what was once the European military, during the chaotic wars that engulfed the young superpower after the Martian War. Originally, they were conceived as a way to control the colossal mechas the Martians used in their offensives– gurrens, they were called –which later came to make the backbone of the European, later Franco-Iberian army. However, it quickly became apparent that they could also override their wearer's nervous system and motor functions if used incorrectly, turning themselves into drones instead. Though the European government was horrified by using this as a way to control indentured servants (usually migrants from the increasingly uninhabitable Africa or their descendants), they were more than happy to exploit this fault to no end regarding the nascent Chosen Ones. Eventually, this led the Chosen into becoming a slave race in all but name to the rest of humanity.
It was at this moment, though, that Rock heard a voice coming from his left. Moving as silently as he could, and doing his best to remain hidden (opting to duck behind a bunch of stacked crates), he approached the main shipping area, to find some more of the workers moving crates full of solid sakuradite into half a dozen… vehicles, which Rock assumed were going to wherever, for purposes unknown. Standing nearby was Heracles, who was complaining to what appeared to be a woman in her early twenties. She had a large… chest, and long, blonde hair.
"…I don't care where Dr. Wily sent Cut Man," Heracles said in a loud, gravely voice, "I need the little troublemaker so I can fix the god-damn fence! If the military comes down on us, we're toast—"
"Guts Man," she cut him off, "the military doesn't care about the slums, they won't come here. And I know you like things done nice and efficiently, but there are some things that just can't be streamlined." The woman spoke with a sickeningly sweet, know-it-all tone, and Mega Man couldn't tell why, but it made him feel deeply uncomfortable.
Heracles, or Guts Man, scoffed. "Try telling that to Elec Man, Piper. Odds are he's still trying to zap Arasaka's local management into line. I swear he's going to fry them to death…"
"That's the Great Pana Piper to you, buzzkill!" she retorted as he walked away.
"Yeah, and I'm Bruticus," he mocked her, before leaving the room entirely. His footsteps were heavy, causing the ground to shudder a bit every time his feet came down.
From the shadows, Rock all watched this unfold, his face having a look of concern as Guts Man left Pana Piper at the shipping floor. This certainly wasn't good. Well, the only thing that was good was that Pana was wrapping up whatever they were doing here. But what would she do to the workers and picketmen when she was done?
Knowing he had little time to contemplate this, he snuck his way out of the shipping area to fight the construction foreman robot, preferably by himself.
Sakuradite mine, Slum Zone 2, Makitihara, Japan
12:00 A.M.; Saturday, March 9, 2199
Mega Man had snuck his way across the mine, and made his way to one of the elevator shafts, and hid behind one of the walls. After a group of miners and picketmen exited the elevator with a bin carrying a large, uncarved Philosopher's Stone, the blue knight waited until they were out of sight before crawling his way along the outer wall to the controls. The controls were easy enough to understand, and Rock quickly set them up to bring the elevator down to the bottom level. From there, he bolted into the elevator itself, barely slipping in before the doors closed.
The metal box descended for a few minutes before reaching the bottom level. When he exited, Mega Man was confronted with a cavern made entirely of sakuradite, the solid quintessence glowing an eerie green. He walked to the left of the elevator for a few minutes, before reaching a group of five picketmen chipping away at the walls with their pickaxes. One of them stopped, noticing the blue knight, and immediately threw his pick at him. The others followed.
Rock calculated his options. If he used his Buster, he may easily cause the whole cavern of sakuradite to explode, killing himself and, more importantly to him, anyone else down in the mine. Ditto with using the Hyper Bomb, and the Fire Storm if it still had ammo. That left the Rolling Cutter. Rock selected it with his VTS, and his left forearm shapeshifted yet again. This time, a Rolling Cutter identical to the ones used by Cut Man emerged from where his hand would normally be, and his armor turned gray and white.
As the picketmen deployed another pickaxe each (somehow), Rock did a motion that someone would do when throwing a frisbee, and the cutters on his left arm detached, flying just like Cut Man's did…
…before embedding themselves into the sakuradite wall of the cavern.
Mega Man sprinted to pull them out, dodging pickaxes as their users tried to hit him with them. Fortunately, the Rolling Cutters came out of the sakuradite deposit easily, and Rock threw them again. This time, they sliced through two of the picketmen, slicing them in half, before returning to the knight like a boomerang. The third time, he beheaded two more of them. The last picketman charged at the normally blue knight and tried to embed yet another pick into his chassis, but Rock countered this by severing his arms, before switching to his buster and firing into his chest.
Mega Man had no time to celebrate, however, as he heard growing footsteps behind him. Turning around, he saw Heracles coming from the direction of the elevator.
"What's goin' on?" He asked, confused. "I heard noises coming from… here…" the largest of the Robot Masters stopped himself as he saw five of the robots under his command in pieces, as well as Rock, whose Buster was still deployed.
It didn't take a terrible amount of processing power for Guts Man to figure out what had just happened.
The large foreman robot's expression rapidly hardened, before leapt half the distance remaining between them. When he landed, Heracles' mass was enough to cause a small tremor that knocked the blue knight off his feet.
"You have a lot of nerve for a small boy," he said, doing the motions of someone cracking his knuckles (if he were a human and not a robot himself, who can't actually do that), "But for hurtin' my men, I'm gonna teach you a lesson."
"Um, how about no?" he nervously asked as the larger robot approached, calculating his next choice of action.
Crap, now what? Dr. Hikari said that he built Heracles like a tank! There's no way I'm getting through his thich armor with my Buster, let alone the Water Wave. Unless…
He had a plan. It was a very risky, very explosive plan, but if it worked…
Quickly, Mega Man reactivated his VTS, switching from his normal Buster to the Hyper Bomb he'd copied at the start of his fight with Hephaestus. Like when he used the Fire Storm, his armor's color changed, this time becoming orange and black just like the fallen demolition Robot Master, whilst his left forearm mechanically shapeshifted once more. This time, it turned into a larger, more box-shaped cannon; the barrel was still circular, but was around 245 millimeters wide, instead of the 30 of his Buster's nozzle.
"You hurt Bomb Man too!?" the foreman robot yelled, clearly enraged. "Okay, now it's personal!"
As Mega Man got back on his feet, he noticed that his internal monitors were displaying a meter of how much explosiveness (for lack of a better term) he wanted his bombs to have. Selecting (or rather, willing) a 66% capacity, a bar popped up with the label 'SYNTHESIZING…'
I don't have time for this, he thought, as the larger construction foreman bot began charging at him, or at least tried to; his larger size and heavy armor made his acceleration slower than it otherwise would've been… which gave the normally blue knight plenty of time to move out of the way. Unfortunately, Heracles used the walls of the sakuradite cavern to walk on for a second, using his own momentum to turn himself around as he got back on the floor, taking Rock by surprise and punching him square in the face, knocking him onto the ground once more.
It took a few seconds for the armored lab assistant's internal gyroscopes to recalibrate, at which point he saw Guts Man slow himself to a stop a short distance away. With little difficulty, the foreman robot managed to lift a boulder of rock over his head with his right arm, before throwing it at Mega Man. The normally blue robot, realizing he had no chance of physically moving out of the way of the flying boulder's path, slid forwards, his head missing the side of the large rock with centimeters to spare, before it crashed further down the cavern.
Fortunately, it was at this moment that, on his internal monitors, the normally blue knight could see that his own projectile had finished synthesizing, to his relief. Seeing that Guts Man was accelerating himself once again to ram him, Mega Man began running. Eventually, he came into a part of the cavern that was normal rock instead of solid quintessence. Good, he thought, at least I won't blow the whole mine sky-high. With that, he stopped, turned around and fired, launching the large Hyper Bomb at the construction foreman. It had grooves on its surface that corkscrewed around it, allowing it to spin like any normal bullet or tank/artillery shell would, which was important since Rock did not want it to miss.
And it didn't. The Hyper Bomb hit Guts Man square in the chest, and detonated mere milliseconds after making contact. This was followed by a bright, mint green flash and a deafening noise, which knocked Rock's eyes and audio receptors temporarily offline respectively. The shockwave was also more than enough to send the normally blue knight hurtling deeper into the mine, something that was definitely felt and actually registered in the robot's mind.
After something like five seconds (his sensors had left him too disoriented for him to precisely measure the time), the normally blue robot tumbled and skidded to a stop, only for a bunch of rocks to fall on top of him. After another twenty seconds, Rock's hearing returned, and what they received was… well…
" …are you fucking kidding me!?" he heard Guts Man curse, moments before his vision returned as well. He sorted his way out of a pile of rocks, this part of the cavern having caved in as a result of the explosion, to see Heracles almost completely unharmed from the blast.
Almost.
The glow of another sakuradite deposit behind them revealed that his Hyper Bomb had blasted a hole in his chest, exposing and damaging the foreman's stellarator reactor. Something that, apparently, Guts Man was oblivious to.
"You really think that's going to take me out, kid!?" he yelled. "Well, you've got another thing… coming…" It was only then that the construction foreman looked down at himself, and he could easily see the visual distortion being caused by the hydrogen escaping from his power plant. His expression quickly changed from unbridled rage to one of surprise.
" …huh. That ain't good."
With that, Gut's Man's glowing white eyes went out, and the monstrously huge Robot Master fell on his face with a small tremor and a heavy, metallic THUD. With his ass sticking into the air [DUN DUN], Heracles was definitely offline.
However, it was also apparent that Mega Man had led him past the elevator in his chase, and he was stuck down here for the time being. The fact that his internal systems were screaming warnings at him from the damage he'd sustained, and the amount of strain on his power core due to a lack of "sleep" didn't help.
Well, I guess I just have to wait until someone clears this out, he thought, reverting back to his blue color scheme. If this really is it… well, I seriously hope it isn't, but I think I did have a good run…
With that, Mega Man slumped against the cavern wall, and went into stasis lock as his power core shut off…
What a cliffhanger! Both Rock and Akko are out of commission, trapped underground in the former's case, and Diana (ever the strategist) is taking matters into her own hands. Of course, considering how she fared against Bass, this can NOT end well for her.
We've also seen a few more Girls und Panzer characters show up as we approach the end of TSARM's first act, and transition to the events of Girls Dead Rise: War of California. If you've read SeekerMeeker's original story and are still waiting for the zombies, we're nearly there. There's just two or three more chapters to go, and I promise I'll upload Mega Man (Part 2) as soon as it's ready.
In the meantime, thank you for reading, and have a good morning/day/evening/night/whatever time of day it is.
–NuclearAlchmist
Chapter 6: Mega Man (Part 2)
- Location
- Covington, Kentucky
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I do not own any of these characters. Except for some of the OCs.
…REBOOTING…
…
…
…
RUNNING DIAGNOSTICS…
…
…
…
…
…
…
ENERGY SYSTEMS FUNCTIONALITY: OPTIMAL
GUIDANCE SYSTEM FUNCTIONALITY: NO ERRORS DETECTED
MOTOR JOINT FUNCTIONALITY: NO ISSUES DETECTED
LIGHT CABLE OPTIC FUNCTIONALITY: L: 100% R: 100%
AUDIO RECEPTOR FUNCTIONALITY: L: 100% R: 100%
VOCAL SYNTHESIZER FUNCTIONALITY: 100%
VARIABLE TOOL SYSTEM FUNCTIONALITY: 100%
PLASMA CANNON Mk17 FUNCTIONALITY: 100%
INTERNAL CLOCK FUNCTIONALITY: 100% NO ERRORS DETECTED
TIME: 10:35 A.M., 3/9/2199
STASIS LOCK: ENGAGED
…
…
…
STASIS LOCK: DISENGAGING…
???, ???
10:35 A.M.; Saturday, March 9, 2199
Rock opened his eyes, half-expecting to be back in his cell in the mental health institute. Instead, to his unpleasant surprise, he was staring at a much less familiar ceiling. Its green paint was flaking, patches of rust visible.
"Oh good, you're awake."
"Simon?" Sitting up, the blue knight looked around. He was on an operating table, one that was not as clean as the one at home, and the room was cluttered with mechanical equipment across the floor. There were no windows. Simon was sitting by him, wearing his usual attire but looking a bit… dirtier?
"You really should leave the digging to me, robo-bro," the adopted Bonne sighed. "I found you down there whilst assessing the damage one of those rogue bots caused, though I'm guessing that you were partially responsible for that particular cave-in."
"What were you even doing down there?" the robot asked, confused. "And… where the heck am I?"
" …I've never told you what I did for a part-time job outside the scrapyard, have I?" he said, and that was all Rock needed to hear to connect the dots.
"Judging by my internal monitors, I'm assuming you already repaired me."
"Pretty much." Simon's expression then turned to one of concern.
"SIMON!!!" a loud, thunderous voice boomed from the other room. Moments later, a large, white-haired man stormed in. To say that he was heavily augmented with cybernetic enhancements would be an understatement; from the looks of it, he was mostly cybernetic in makeup, his metallic body painted a dark green. Only his head looked fully human, and even then, his left eye was cybernetic, and glowed a foreboding red. "Where did you put the toolbox!?"
Simon put a hand to his face. "Tiesel, I was using the toolbox for my friend here. Didn't Tron tell you this?"
The cyborg's scowl quickly fell. "Oh." He then bowed. "My apologies, Mr…"
"Rock," the blue knight said, smiling. "I'm guessing you must be Tiesel."
The cyborg, Tiesel Bonne, stood straight. "And you must be Dr. Hikari's son. Bro's told me a lot about you."
"And Simon's told me quite a few things about you." And not all of it is good, Rock muttered.
"Please tell me you don't need the toolbox for another piece of chrome," the goggled teen asked.
"Pfft, like Hell! I'm as chromed out as I'll ever be!" Tiesel exclaimed, pointing at himself in pride. "I ain't going to make myself a full 'borg, bro. You know what Adam Smasher's like, and I ain't planning on being an absolute psycho like him!"
Simon got up and patted his older adoptive sibling on the shoulder. "Great to hear, bro. Great to hear." He then turned to his friend. "So, you want to be given a tour?"
"As much as I'd love to, I still have a few rogue prototypes to take down," Rock kindly declined, getting himself back on his feet. "Any news regarding them?"
"Getting right back into the action, eh?" Tiesel gave a hearty laugh. "From what I've heard, there's one one left!"
"One?"
"Yeah, bud, they're nearly down!" the green cyborg affirmed. "The only problem is, they're holed up on the top floor of Arasaka Tower, and that building is made like a fortress…"
So just Zeus, then, Rock thought. Then it looks like I'd better get moving. But who managed to take out Persephone and Poseidon?
Downtown, Setsuri, Japan
11:00 A.M.; Saturday, March 9, 2199
He regretted wondering that.
After leaving the Bonnes' scrapyard, Rock had thought it was a good idea to let Dr. Hikari know that he was alright. And he did, but then the good doctor got around to telling him what he put off during their call yesterday.
"Let me get this straight," Rock calmly stated, having just listened to Dr. Hikari-Nishizumi explain what the heck was going on whilst he was out yesterday. "Akko fused with Hecate and the Shiny Rod?"
"As far as what my eyes could see, yes."
"And… where is she?"
"That would be beyond my knowledge, son," Dr. Hikari sighed over the other end. "I was too busy explaining to the board about what the Robot Masters were doing, and by the time I got done, she was gone. I put her… corpse on the operating table, but after a while, it turned magenta and evaporated."
"Jesus, dad, that is– I-I don't know what to make of that."
"I'm just as confused as you are, son, but look on the bright side: at least she'll have less trouble using magic now."
"I'm more concerned that she'll get herself hurt," the blue knight said. "She may or may not be–"
"She'll be fine, Rock," Dr. Hikari interrupted. "Your main concern should be taking care of Zeus–"
"What do you mean, she'll be okay!?" Rock snapped at his creator. "Have you seen what she's like in class!? She can barely talk to anyone besides Simon and I without pissing them off!"
"She grew up on the streets, Rock."
…
"What?"
"That's what Dr. Cain told me during our visit," Tsueno explained. "Apparently her parents were both edgerunners, and very good ones considering they lived long enough to have… My point is, they weren't very nice people. When she was ten, they went cyberpsycho, and Akko was found by the police after they put them down… permanently…"
"That's…" the blue knight struggled to find the words to describe what he was feeling after hearing this. This revelation had taken Rock by complete surprise. Was this why Akko shied away from talking about her original parents? No, that was a stupid question – of course this was why! His poor friend was probably traumatized by the whole event, and likely is the reason for her obsession with Shiny Chariot, her hyperactiveness and…
…oh.
" …that explains a lot."
"I had a feeling she never told you this," Dr. Hikari mused, "but in the meantime, you need to focus on the task ahead. I built Zeus to be weak against the Rolling Cutter, so keep that ready when you face him."
"I'll keep that in mind," Mega Man replied, ending the call now that he was approaching the plaza surrounding Arasaka Tower.
The skyscraper's presence was oppressive, for lack of a better description. It was stereotypically like what you'd expect from the neomilitaristic style: the exterior was entirely black, with only the three-part hollyhock "mon" logo of the Arasaka corporation itself standing out, being illuminated in white. There were no windows to be seen on the 140 story building's entire facade. And seeing as it was the tallest building in all of Setsuri, and second-tallest in Shin Honshu, that said something about the largest corporate presence in the colony.
However, to Mega Man's concern, there was not a person to be found at the entrance to the black-clad behemoth of a skyscraper. The ground floor lobby, lined with sakura wood and marble floors, was little different…
…until he got to the building's core, that was. The area of the building that contained its stairways and elevators was littered with the fried corpses of Arasaka security personnel. The fact that they hadn't started to stench yet meant that they'd… expired recently, only in the last 24 hours. Disturbed, Rock considered his options.
Should I take one of the elevators? He thought. No, Zeus may have rigged them with traps. Better off taking the stairs.
Mega Man opened the doors to the stairway, only to be immediately met by an electric laser leaping between the walls. However, after watching them for a moment, Rock found them to only work intermittently, for a few seconds at a time, shutting off for a few seconds in between. Seeing the hole in this trap, the armed lab assistant robot marched right into the stairway whilst the laser was down. Unfortunately, as the blue knight looked ahead and upwards, he could hear the repeated hummings of more lasers up the stairwell.
This… was going to take a while.
???, Setsuri, Japan
11:45 A.M.; Saturday, March 9, 2199
Akko's dreamless sleep was interrupted by the feeling of something slithering on top of her chest and neck.she opened her eyes, and was immediately met by the sight of two green snakes, their red eyes staring right into her souls.
Terrified, the robotic witch bolted to her feet, before tearing them both off of her and holding them with her hands. Upon closer examination, she found that the snakes were both robotic, their long bodies made of a row of green joints and short cylinders of green-painted metal.
"Well, that wasn't expected."
She looked down. Akko was standing on a metal table, in a dingy room who-knows-where, and beside the table were two people. One was a pale skinned, purple-haired, red-eyed witch, the other being a pale-skinned, lanky… person, the one who'd just spoken. She couldn't tell what gender they were.
"Sheesh, no need to be so skittish," the witch remarked.
"Okay, where the Hell am I!?" Akko responded, distressed.
"Third slum district, in our personal makeshift workshop," the person said calmly; apparently, this wasn't the first time they'd had something like this happen.
"I brought you here after that blonde witch hit you with a dozen fire attack spells last night," the witch explained in a monotone, slightly raspy voice. "Please let go of my Search Snakes."
Taking a deep breath, Akko did just that, handing the mechanical snakes to the white-haired person.
"Thank you," he said, handing them to his companion, where they slithered up into her sleeves. "I think it's apt that we introduce ourselves. My name's Leroy, or Roy or short. This is Sucy Manbavaran."
"That's great, Akko groaned, "but I need to get back out there and—"
"Go fight the rest of those crazy robots?" Sucy assumed, her expression remaining bored. "Sure, go right ahead."
"Just let me go get your broom," Roy said as he got up, "you don't exactly want to walk openly on the streets around here." With that, he speed-walked out of one of the two exits from the room.
There was a moment of awkward silence, before the pale-skinned witch spoke. "So, what was up with that freezer bot uptown?"
"Rogue Prototype," Akko bluntly put it, "like all the others wreaking havoc around the city."
"Shittily built prototypes from the looks of it," Sucy replied in a monotone voice. "Though I'm surprised Arasaka Tower hasn't been cleared yet. To think they would've sent Adam Smasher in by now…"
"Hold on, what do you mean by that?"
"I mean that all but one was taken down while you were out, dingus," she replied.
"Whaaa?" her jaw went slack upon hearing this. "Did the JSDF get their act together?"
"No, it was someone else entirely," Sucy clarified. "Some guy, all borged up to look like a medieval knight with a buster, stole the weapons of the prototypes he beat and used them to frag the others."
A knight? Hold on…
"Was he blue, by any chance?"
"Most of the time," the witch confirmed.
Akko became apprehensive. The good news was that Rock was alive and not scrapped. But going against the Robot Masters by himself? What on earth was he thinking!?
…probably the same thing she did when she bolted from the lab yesterday, she realized. That he was the only one who could stop the Robot Masters' rampage and ensure everyone's safety. But what if he got hurt, attacked from behind like she'd been? The robotic witch couldn't help but feel responsible for his actions, and worry about his well-being. It was her idea to superbuff him in the dungeon yesterday, after all.
Thus, Akko knew what needed to be done.
Top floor, Arasaka HQ, Shin Honshu branch; Setsuri, Japan
12:15 P.M.; Saturday, March 9, 2199
On the top floor of Arasaka Tower, Elec Man was spinning around in the regional CEO's chair, bored out of his mind.
He'd had almost nothing to do for the last 12 hours, other than make sure the police don't retake the 140 floor skyscraper he was in, which, for all intents and purposes, wasn't just the regional headquarters of Arasaka, but the city's primary power plant. Elec would have to give kudos to whoever designed this place; it's not every building that gets to be both a corpo office building and a massive radiator for the tokamak fusion reactor in its basement.
This came with its advantages. For one, it meant that he had a stable power source to keep the regional CEO in an electric cage, ditto with everyone else that was in this office when he stormed it yesterday. It also meant that anyone that was trying to reach him right now, was getting fried to death, since he'd rigged the building's staircases and elevators with electrified traps galore. Granted, he had to cut the power going uptown in order to sustain this, but the humans there deserved it, and Ice Woman would deal with them.
…at least, she was supposed to. Elec Man hadn't heard anything from her since around 23:00 yesterday, in fact he hadn't heard anything from any of his younger siblings. He feared that Dr. Wily's plans must've hit a snag, and something was taking them out one by one, but Elec Man was more than confident that this anti-robot… thing couldn't get to him. All ways to reach him had been fortified to impassibility, so he ought to be completely fine—
CRASH
…okay, mostly fine. A few hours ago, a hulking cyborg named Adam Smasher had managed to brute force his way to the top floor. But Elec Man easily fried his systems, tore him limb from limb, and sent the brute out of the tower to his death. And this was the best the humans had? How pathetic.
Yet despite this, Elec couldn't help but feel like he'd forgotten something else as well…
Apparently, Zeus had either neglected or forgot to put defenses outside Arasaka tower beyond the ground level. This surprised Akko, but it was a surprise that she welcomed.
Getting off the floor, she could hear the air blowing, whistling out through the window she'd just broken, as they got back on their feet. However, before she could really collect her thoughts, the door to the room she was in opened, and in came Zeus… or whatever he was now calling himself.
"I take it you're the one who's been dismembering the others," his voice was serious, if a little campy. "Well done in teaching them a lesson, and for bypassing my defenses. But I'm afraid it ends here."
"Zeus, what on Earth have you been doing?" Akko asked.
"Oh nothing, just making sure this building stays secure–"
"Seriously," the robotic witch insisted, "why are you doing this? You're not even supposed to be active yet!"
"I'm not giving you an answer until you explain why you dismantled my brothers and sister," he said, beginning to walk closer to the pair. "Did you really have to dismember them, blast them, blow them to bits? I thought people would at least be a little more humane."
"I tried to talk to them," Akko answered honestly. "But most of them insisted on fighting before talking, and Wave Man said that this Piper person would torture your if you didn't do what she asked."
"He said that Pana would fry our processors?" the electricity-magic robot laughed. "That's rich! I always knew he was a wuss, but not this much."
By this point, he and Akko were within breathing distance… even though neither of them could breathe, nor did they need to, but that's beside the point. The electric robot sighed. "Well, I've had enough talking for now. How about we dance?" Elec Man darkly asked.
[Music cue: DWN.774 — ROCKMAN, T02: ELECMAN – TheDoujinChannel]
In an instant, the lights turned on glaring much, much brighter than they normally would, momentarily blinding the robotic witch. This was more than enough time, though, for the black, red and yellow robot to send lightning from his fingertips into his opponent's chassis. The effects on her were severe, as the former search-and-rescue bot was left paralyzed, and tumbled to the floor.
Maybe she should have thought this through a bit more, Akko realized.
"I feel like I remember you from somewhere," Elec Man mused, before snapping his fingers. "Oh that's right, you're the incomplete witch bot that Wily didn't bother taking with us! How despicable of Dr. Hikari to turn one of our own against us…" he then shot a small bolt at her, as she was trying to get up in spite of her paralysis. "Sister, you know you could just throw him off a cliff, right?"
"I… am not… your… sister…" she managed to rasp.
"Really?" Zeus asked, inquisitively. "Then why did that jackleg Hikari build us…" he trailed off. " "…what's your name?" he asked, but then cut her off before she could answer. "Eh, I'll call you Witch Woman. Now, if you aren't our sister, then why did Hikari build you alongside us?"
As if on cue, he was struck from behind by a volley of 'lemons', as Rock exited from the stairway running. Elec Man stumbled, but got out of the way of a punch from the blue knight.
"Stay away from my friend, asshole!" he roared as he switched to the Fire Storm. The energy storage robot simply leapt above the fireball, letting it hit the CEO's desk and chair and setting them ablaze, before running into the hallway flinging another ball of electricity from his left hand. Rock dodged, then switched to the Rolling Cutters and threw them.
"Shit– not the face!" Elec Man, though being the most nimble and agile of the Robot Masters, narrowly dodged. "Alright, how about we shift gears?"
With that, the atomic energy management robot put his hands together, then drew them apart as he created a glowing, bluish white orb of crackling energy that grew with the distance between them. Raising the orb over his head after growing it to the size of a beach ball, Elec Man did a throwing motion as it turned into a stream of energy hurtling right towards Rock.
"Take this, you blue bastard!" he yelled. "THUNDER BEAM!!!!!!!!"
Mega Man barely had enough time to duck and slide on the white floor, out of the way, before this "Thunder Beam" shot past and melted through the floor where he stood moments ago, and several of the windows that had been behind him. Taking no time contemplating the implications, Mega Man threw his cutters at his opponent once more.
This time, they didn't miss, and managed to cut his left shoulder open, exposing some of the wires that ran beneath his plasteel "skin."
At that moment, though, the building's sprinklers activated. Quickly taking advantage of the battle ground, Elec Man threw a ball of lightning at the ground, somehow continuously electrifying the water as it pooled on the floor. Though this only stunned the normally-blue knight, the energy management robot quickly fired a second, smaller Thunder Beam, which quickly paralyzed Rock and left him incapacitated on the floor. By chance, the normally blue knight's right hand grazed the black, yellow and red bot's leg, copying his abilities, but Rock was in no position at the moment to exploit this.
"I admit," the black, red and yellow robot said, grinning, "your strategy is almost equal to mine. But such a low-voltage opponent as you could never last long against my lightning blitz. Now…" his grin faltered. "What's your name, first of all?"
"Rock… but you can call me… Mega Man…" he croaked out, noticing Akko getting back up on the other side of the room.
"So you're the bastard roboticist's son," he remembered. "Well, you don't look so mega now, don't you think?"
Rock needed to hold his attention. "You do know… he built you too… right?"
"Do I look like I give a shit about that?" Elec Man held up his right hand, creating a lightning ball and balancing it on the tip of his pointer finger. "It was fun battling you, Mega Man, but it's best that I finish you off at lightning speed."
Elec Man was right about to flick the lightning ball at Rock, when a Quintessence Barrier manifested to his left, then moved, slamming him aside — right out the hole his Thunder Beam made. He screamed as he began falling 140 floors, receding long after he left Rock's line of sight.
[End music cue]
Akko stumbled over to her friend, having shaken off the paralysis, her maroon hair hanging damp with water. "You alright?"
"I'm fine…" Rock grunted, "I just didn't expect him to use the sprinklers to his advantage, that's all."
She helped him to his feet. As she did, though, Rock pulled her into a tight hug.
"Rock… what are you…"
"I was worried about you," he replied, honestly. "What were you thinking, going after the Robot Masters by yourself?"
"What else was I supposed to do?" She pulled herself out of his embrace. "You were in a scrapyard for all I knew! And…" She sighed. " …and I wasn't really thinking straight after… after this," she gestured to herself, specifically the fact that she was no longer exactly human.
"Dad told me about that," Rock said. "And about… you parents…"
Akko looked horrified within moments. "Um, Rock, i-it's not what you think–"
"I'm not blaming you for what happened to them," he replied. "You couldn't have done anything of note about their mental decay. If anything, I think you're better off not following in their footsteps," the blue robot reassured as he patted her on the shoulder.
He was about to continue, when suddenly a streak of red, yellow and (somehow) black light streaked into the sky from outside the window. Bolting over to it, they could see the stream of light arch over in the sky to the south, before coming back down some distance away.
The two looked at each other, knowing that this could not be good. Their feelings were confirmed when the television in the office, which had been playing a Youtube video about how to tune a guitar (why Elec man would want to play guitar was beyond either of them), began displaying static. Soon, a voice began cutting through.
" …is this thing working, Break Man?" it sounded old, and had a distinct German accent… one that Akko immediately recognized.
"…What do you mean there's no video!? … Nevermind, they can hear me at any rate."
With that, the old man cleared his throat. "Apologies for the interruption, citizens of Setsuri. My name is Doctor Albert Wily, professor of robotics in Kyoto University. Or at least, I used to be, until I was fired twenty-two years ago. 'Your ideas are too extreme,' the headmaster said. Personally, I like to think of myself as a visionary.
"Unfortunately, it seems that some people don't agree with this vision. For the bastard who managed to clobber my seven robots, come to the Twin Peaks Factory in Makitihara. Let's see if you can get past my defenses. Don't disappoint me…"
With that, the static cleared, and the screens resumed their normal programming. Rock and Akko looked at each other, concerned.
Shiro Cybernetics factory, Makitihara, Japan
12:50 P.M.; Saturday, March 9, 2199
If Setsuri was where the corpos and poor folks of northern Shin Honshu lived, then Makitihara was the getaway for those wealthy enough to afford it. Unlike the modern, militarist skyscrapers of the parent city, Makitihara was much more low-level, but sleek, glassy, clean, and… futuristic, for lack of a better term. However, it also held a bit of industry of its own, the Twin Peaks Factory being the most notable piece of it. It was owned by Shiro Cybernetics, a subsidiary of Arasaka that was practically its "chrome" (slang for implanted cybernetics) and domestic robot production arm. Being literally the very first company to set up shop in Setsuri (having been the primary sponsor of its establishment), Araskaka had constructed their factory in the early 2170s, before Makitihara was established and absorbed the factory grounds into its territory.
The factory itself, like its nickname suggested, was composed of two identical metal, windowless pyramids, which were 30 yards wide along each side of their bases and 25 yards tall. There were two ways to move from one to the other without going outside: one was by using the lowest floor, which was underground and ran beneath both pyramids, the "ground" between them outside being its roof. The other was a walkway between the pyramids halfway up their stature, which was enclosed with bulletproof glass…
…something that was annoying the JSDF garrison besieging the compound to no end, as Dr. Wily had stationed a squadron of Sniper joes on the walkway's roof to pin them down. That much, Rock could make out as Akko wildly flew him in on her broom. She barely managed to bring her "vehicle" to a stop a couple of meters in the air, allowing the blue knight to hop off moments before she flat out fell to the pavement, landing on her ass.
"Remind me to never ride with you again for a while."
"Oh come on, Rock-kun," Akko half-pouted, half-groaned as she got on her feet, then put her broom into the storage area on her back. "I'm getting better at it!"
"I'll keep that in mind," he replied, before pointing at one of the two metal pyramids. "Right now, we should be focused on getting inside that factory."
"Is going in guns blazing an option, by chance?" the robotic witch asked half-jokingly.
"Personally, I calculate that Dr. Wily's probably thought about that already," the blue night replied. "I mean, that's probably the reason the military hasn't gone in yet."
As if to confirm his theory, at that moment a soldier ran out in front of the JSDF's lines and ran in screaming, only to get squashed under the sole foot of some kind of pogo-stick robot with a giant camera on top that looked like a big eye.
The two winced at the sight.
" …and we're definitely not flying in there," Mega Man added, "since I don't see any openings for you to crash through." He ignored Akko's subsequent fuming, but then she got an idea.
" …wait, why can't we go in from beneath it?"
"Beneath?" Rock was perplexed. "What do you mean, from beneath it?"
To that, she pointed at a nearby manhole that was somehow open, its lid laying on the sidewalk nearby.
He quickly connected the dots. "You want us to get in through the sewers?" he asked with a bit of skepticism.
"I don't see how else we're getting in there," the marron-haired witch stated.
"Judging by the fact that it's open, it's possible that the military is already trying that route," he pointed out, "but then again, I can't see any other way to get in either, so I guess it's worth a shot.
The two hopped into the manhole– first Akko, then Rock –and began walking their way in the direction that would bring them closer to the factory. Akko's eyes glowed, at which Mega Man cursed his lack of night vision, which allowed them to navigate down the damp, humid, dark corridors, on one of the "sidewalks" lining the "road" of sewage water. Eventually, he felt Akko tug him along, which continued for some time until they came across something.
It was a metal and glass pod of sorts, the metal bits painted orange. He recognized it from a documentary he'd watched at school, about the ongoing breakthroughs in teleportation technology, and aside from the color (the one in the documentary was green), this one was completely identical.
"Is this supposed to be some kind of joke?" he heard Akko ask. "I don't think a teleportation pod is supposed to be down here."
"I don't see any ladders going up, Akko," the blue knight pointed out. "By my calculations, we ought to be directly beneath the southern pyramid by now. I'd reckon this is our way in."
"I hope so," she replied, "otherwise we're going to be a bunch of scrap and vapor." she exhaled, before climbing into the orange pod. In an instant, she disappeared in a bright flash. Rock followed suit…
Shiro Cybernetics factory, Makitihara, Japan
1:15 P.M.; Saturday, March 9, 2199
…and immediately found himself face-to-face with a purple, clock-themed robot that he'd seen the blueprints of. The robot had a stern, cold expression on his face. His arms were crossed, and were made of soft robotic material like Cut Man's arms. But so were his legs, though obviously the ankle motor-joints and feet were still made of plasteel.
"…Kronos?"
"You're early for your appointment." His voice was a little high-pitched, but not comically so, and his tone was definitely composed. "You have given us an extra 0.3 seconds."
"Kronos, I have no idea what you're doing here, or how Dr. Wily even managed to build you so quickly," he said, showing his open palms, "but I need you to step aside."
In an instant, he was struck by some kind of clock arrow, made of purplish-magenta magic energy, knocking Mega Man onto his back. Weirder still, Kronos was somehow now behind where the blue knight had been standing.
"Our appointment," the purple Robot Master reiterated, "does not involve me standing aside, Rock. And my name is Time Man, for the record."
At least it's better than Clock Man, I suppose, he thought for a millisecond, as he got back on his feet, grunting. "Okay then, let's get this little 'appointment' over with."
With that, he lunged at the purple Robot Master, who dodged, before manifesting another clock arrow and flung it at the blue knight. Mega Man ducked underneath the projectile, converting his left arm into his Buster and firing point-blank at his opponent. It grazed Time Man's side, before he unexpectedly seemed to get faster.
A fuckton faster.
Within two seconds, Time Man shot half a dozen magic clock hands at Rock, five of which struck him at various places around his body. The sixth only missed because the inertia of the other five had sent him reeling out of its trajectory, and it flew into one of the walls before dissipating. Then, Time Man returned to normal speed as quickly as he'd sped up or something as Rock's gyroscopes recalibrated themselves. Thankfully, his mythril armor had held up, but Rock needed to end this fight soon, or this might not end with him online.
…though really, the question he should be asking himself is, how the hell is Time man going so fast? Dr. Hikari designed him to be lightweight, but even so, he shouldn't be able to move so quickly, Mega Man thought to himself as he narrowly avoided yet another arrow. Is he using magic to… no, magic isn't able to affect the flow of time! He'd need some kind of advanced inversion of gravitech, and that's extremely hard to make. But it's the only way to account for his bouts of relative slowness!
At that moment, Kronos did his thing again, firing another half-dozen arrows. This time, Mega Man managed to leap over them before they struck, only to be hit by another, single arrow from behind.
Crap! I don't have time for this, he realized, maybe he's weak to one of the other Robot Masters' weapons. He selected the Fire Storm, and shot a fireball at the purple Robot Master. It hit, but did nothing but slightly char his paint job. Rock then switched to the Rolling Cutters, but Time Man nimbly avoided them with ease.
Then he switched to the Thunder Beam. Mega Man's color scheme changed to black and yellow, though his gauntlets/forearms and hands turned red. Rock focused his mental capacity on creating a ball of lightning like Elec Man had done an hour ago, which he did – right as Time Man was about to go fast-forwards again. As he bolted at the normally blue knight, looking like a purple blur as he did so, the knight flung the glowing ball of yellow at him. The moment it struck, Time Man froze in place, white electricity crackling all over as the alarm bells on top of his head went off like an old alarm clock in the morning. Moments later, he collapsed onto the floor, spasming.
"I think this appointment was very helpful, wasn't it?" Rock sarcastically asked, switching back to his buster. All he could hear Time Man grunt out between his spasms was a strained "Motherfucker", which the blue knight ignored as he noticed a ladder leading up out of the room in the corner.
Now all that's left is to find Akko and get Wily, he thought. …where is she anyway?
Shiro Cybernetics factory, Makitihara, Japan
1:20 P.M.; Saturday, March 9, 2199
When Akko leapt into the teleportation pod, she hadn't expected to be sent into a deadly obstacle course. But maybe this was the inside of the factory, and if so, then it was very different from what she had anticipated. For the past five minutes, she'd been dodging:
After that experience, she'd made her way to a ladder. A very, very tall ladder that led up to the next floor. Fortunately, Akko had no fear of heights, though she imagined this wouldn't be very fun for someone who did. She scrambled her way up, and when she reached the top, she found herself in a large room, whose walls were lined with glowing pallets. Their colors were alternating between red, yellow, and green, as if it was making strange patterns. However, after being somewhat disoriented by the flashing lights all around her, Akko made out the shape of a figure dark against the lights of the walls.
A very familiar shape.
"Diana?"
In response, she got a fireball flung at her. Akko barely managed to duck beneath it.
"Okay, first you strike me down after fighting Penelope, now this!?" she yelled as she deployed her Shiny Buster. "You truly are rotten!"
The robotic witch lunged at her rival. She fired at the blonde, but she dodged – unnaturally so – before casting… some spell that Akko didn't recognize ("Aeguil!"), which created a large snake made of pure quintessence. It then slithered rapidly at the maroon-haired witch, who put up a barrier to defend against it. The glowing mint-green serpent simply went around it, and wrapped itself around Akko, constraining her. As she struggled to free herself, she couldn't help but stare at her opponent's emotionless face… her glowing blue eyes… the mindcuffs she was wearing…
…wait.
"I expected you'd put up a better fight," Diana said, but not in her own voice. It was different, and sickeningly sweet, a tone the roboticized witch knew Diana– the real one –would never use. "I guess all of Dr. Hikari's robots are built poorly. Except Guts Man, since he's built like a tank."
"Who are you," Akko sputtered, "and what have you done to Diana!?"
"I made her my slave," the unknown voice said matter-of-factly. "I mean, trying to charge into this fortress blindly takes some kind of courage."
Arrogance would be a more accurate term, Akko thought.
"Anyway, it looks like this is the end of the line for you, Akko Kagari," the stranger continued. "Or would Atsuko fit better?"
"H-how do you know my name!?"
"I can see all of my slaves' memories, dear," she explained. "Controlling neurocasters has its quirk–Agh!"
As the voice had been talking, Diana had been starting to shake, shudder, her fingers beginning to twitch. Eventually, it got so bad that she dropped her wand, causing the quintessence snake to dissipate and– apparently –cause the voice some pain. Landing on her feet, Akko tackled Diana to the floor, kicking the wand away so her opponent couldn't regain the upper hand. After a moment wrestling each other on the floor, Akko managed to grab a hold of the headphone-like device's headband, before yanking hard on it to pull it off the blonde witch. It didn't come off; it was as if the mindcuffs were glued to Diana's head.
Are you kidding me!? She thought as Diana tried to throw her off. That bitch really likes keeping people under her thumb, does she? Well then… did she ever think about this!?
Akko deployed the Shiny Buster, but instead of blasting it at her opponent (she didn't want to kill Diana, after all; she had standards), she merely summoned the ball of quintessence and used it as a sort of of plasma cutter to break the middle portion of the headphone-like device. Almost immediately, its red lights dimmed away and went out.
"No! I will not… tolerate…" the voice cried out of Diana's voice, only for it to change back to her own. "…I… ow… what… "
"Consider that payback for blasting me in the back," Akko stated in a miffed tone, before getting off the blonde witch and on her feet again. "Jeez, for someone touted to be so smart, your common sense is a bit lacking."
"Common… sense? Look who's talking!" Diana retorted as she finally pulled herself together again, mentally speaking. "If anyone, it's you who has no bloody sense!"
"Does charging into a makeshift fortress with no plan count as–" Akko tried to emphasize.
"Not my point, Akko!" the blonde English immigrant witch rudely cut her off."It's just– I just cannot get a grasp on how you were able to get into Takeda Shingen! You let your emotions get the better of you, you leap before looking, can't fly a broom correctly, and can't even get a damn spell cast right! And yet– half the time, you somehow fail upwards! How can such a fuck-up of a robot like you even hope to be a witch!? How can you hope to be feared!?"
This last question took Akko by surprise. "You're saying that witches should be feared?"
"You don't–" Diana stuttered, agitated. "–you're not even aware of this fact!?"
"These aren't the middle ages, Diana!" Akko exclaimed. "Why should people fear witches when they can better understand us than ever before? We can help each other! We should, for kami's sake!"
"How do you have the gall to say that!?" the blonde witch shrieked. "You shouldn't have even been able to attend our school, you freak!"
"…freak?" Akko asked, her voice becoming dangerously low. "Is that how you see me? A freak?"
"Well–" she stuttered, "not before last night, no, but now that I know what you truly are–!"
Without warning, she found Akko leaning right up in her face, giving the young Cavendish the worst glare she'd ever seen. "My name is Atsuko Kagari, born to Shintaro and Mai Kagari on the 25th of June, 2183, in this very city. "
She then leaned away, took a deep breath, and decided to elaborate.
"My birth parents were edgerunners, Which I shouldn't need to remind you isn't a very pretty job. My childhood was shit, for lack of a better term. Not just for me, but it was the same for everyone else in the slums where I lived too, no matter how much chrome or money anyone gathered. We worked our asses off, killing people or mining or whatever just to make ends meet, on the promise of happiness and comfort – if only we worked ourselves to the bone and screwed over everyone else we knew. It was miserable.
"And whilst we were all working ourselves or triple-crossing each other to death, you, your corpo buddies and the government were partying like it was 40,000 in your crystal palaces. Whilst we worked ourselves to death, you didn't work a single day in your life – Granted, I know witches have to work to some degree to get good at their abilities, I learned that since I was adopted by Dr. Cain, but beyond that, have you ever worked a day in this factory? In my view, you're the freaks! You're parasites, who leech off our work and pit us against each other. Or if that fails, kill us yourselves with your lack of safety and regard for dignity! I LOST MY MOM AND DAD BECAUSE OF THAT!"
After taking a few frustrated breaths, she continued.
"But then I saw Chariot's show in a braindance. I realized that magic could be used to fix things, or at least make things better for most of us. That is why I became a witch, Diana. I want to HELP people, not– not make a mess! And when I finally got a chance to do this… it blows up in my FUCKING FACE!"
By this point, Akko looked absolutely distressed, and about ready to blow a gasket if Rock were there to describe it. In fact, tears were starting to form, amazingly. "I-I-I don't… I just don't understand… Why am I so terrible at helping? Why is it that I only make things worse?"
Diana was at an utter loss for words. Taking a deep breath, she attempted to respond to the enraged but usually benevolent Robot Master without making them murder her.
"I… will keep that in mind," she simply answered, though Akko could easily hear the fear in her voice. "But for now, we ought to focus on getting out of this bloody place."
As if on cue, she was nearly sliced up by a pair of Rolling Cutters, which embedded themselves into one of the flashing tiles on the floor.
"Dammit!"
Stunned, the two looked up to find a certain lumber robot with a nasally voice, hanging on the ceiling by his toes. Cut Man in turn looked down at the two witches, his eyes giving a look of frustration and disappointment.
"Achilles?"
"My name's Cut Man, Witch!" he barked back, springing down from the ceiling and grabbing his blades from the floor faster than either of them could react.
"Really, I'm surprised you managed to break the curse Miss Pana put on your friend, but I suppose that's why she put me on standby," he said, the bar representing his mouth flashing yellow as he spoke, as per usual. "I was expecting to make ribbons out of the blue dweeb, for blasting my head off yesterday. But the two of you'll do juuust fine."
"Stand aside, interloper," Diana growled.
"Diana, do you realize what you're fighting!?" Akko screamed, still furious at the blonde witch.
"I'm fighting a machine, Akko," she replied. "And one not meant for combat unlike that Bass thug. He'll be a breeze."
Immediately, he threw his Rolling Cutters and threw them like a frisbee at the young Cavendish, catching her by complete surprise. Fortunately, Akko tugged her out of harm's way, and proceeded to drag her towards the exit.
"That's what you get for underestimating me, you whore!" Cut Man cried, putting his cutters back on his head before giving chase. He quickly caught up with the two witches in the hallway outside, since his reverse-articulated legs were literally built to propel him not only vertically, but horizontally, landing in front of the duo and throwing his cutters at them.
Akko barely managed to manifest a barrier in time to stop the blades in their tracks, causing them to plop down on the floor before their master summoned them back to him.
Diana saw this, and was taken aback. "I swear, if Dr. Hikari used magnetism-magic when building that freak, I'm going to–" she practically screamed at the roboticized witch.
"He didn't. If he did, Cut Man would be pulling me in with the cutters," Akko quickly pointed out, referring to the iron in the steel of her plasteel. "Since magnetism-magic's illegal, he used some combination of quintessence- and iron-magic or something like that. From what Rock told me."
"Iron-magic, is it?" she asked herself, getting an idea. A very dangerous, very explosive, very, fiery idea. Raising her wand and aiming it at Cut Man, who was now lunging at Akko, she raised her arm, channeling as much quintessence as possible into creating a massive fireball, before throwing it back to a level position and shouting "Murowa!"
Both she and Cut Man's eyes widened at the sight of the resulting inferno racing right at them, the former bolting out of the way and the latter throwing his Rolling Cutters one last time to—
Shiro Cybernetics factory, Makitihara, Japan
1:35 P.M.; Saturday, March 9, 2199
Rock was not having a better time. As soon as he'd left the room where he'd fought Kronos– Time Man –he'd had to deal with at least a small squadron of Sniper Joes, which were as hard as he'd anticipated to take down, and three Big Eyes. Mega Man had opted to just run beneath them when they were mid-leap; there was no way he would be able to disable even one of those with armor as thick as they had (500 mm, from what he'd heard).
Reaching the end of the obstacle course, he hopped into the teleportation pod, and came out—
BOOM
Immediately, the blue knight was blown onto the floor by the shock wave. As he tried to get up, he was struck by a pair of Rolling Cutters… on their blunt ends. Surprised as to what had hit him, Rock rushed into the still smoke-dark center of the room. The smoke itself soon cleared, revealing the sight of a limbless Cut Man on the ground, and nearby stood a comically soot-covered Akko.
"Akko, are you okay!?" he said, alarmed.
"Oh… there you are, Rock," she said between coughs. (How she was still able to cough despite no longer having lungs, she couldn't tell.) "Guess the teleporters brought us to different parts of the factory, eh?"
"From what it appears, yes…" he confirmed, but trailed off upon seeing her companion. " …what's Diana doing here?"
"Trying to solve the problem at its root," she bluntly clarified, crossing her arms and closing her eyes. "Though I admit that it's proving harder than I expected."
"Well maybe things would be easier if you didn't try blowing up your own allies," Akko fumed, but she was ignored as Diana continued.
"I suppose your so-called father has something to do with this?"
"Well, he's not behind the Robot Masters going rouge, but–"
Rock cut himself off upon hearing metallic footsteps from above and behind him.
"But what?" Diana asked, annoyed. As she did, Mega Man turned around to see Elec Man, good as new, seconds away from firing a Thunder Beam from a catwalk from above. Akko saw him as well within half a second, and so did the young Cavendish due to following the blue knight's line of sight. They scattered, right before the concentrated beam of electrical death hit where they'd stood moments earlier, melting a hole in the floor that led to a larger room down below.
The energy storace robot leapt down from the catwalk, faint traces of blue shooting down from his soles, and flew the distance between him and the three within a few seconds.
"Ugh, how hard is it to put you fuckers down!?" he grunted in frustration as he landed.
"How the Hell are you still online!?" Rock understandably asked. "Didn't we throw you from the top floor of Arasaka Tower a few hours ago?"
"I slowed myself down so I wasn't fragged by the end of my fall. Besides that, you'd be surprised what a technopathic Chosen One can do in that time, Mega Man," he curtly replied.
As he talked, the molten edges of the hole in the floor were being iced over, something our heroes failed to notice until the sound of a Hyper Bomb went off in the room beneath. In an instant, Fire Man, Wave man, and Ice Women were sent flying through, and landed haphazardly on the floor. Bomb Man soon followed, having leapt up to the hole and pulling himself up onto the floor. At the same time, Guts Man thundered his way into the room from behind the three students, blocking their would-be escape route.
"You two made a mockery of us," Elec declared, "and I for one will not tolerate that! And you," he glared hard at Akko, "according to my internal schematics, were supposed to be weak to my high voltage! My question is how you still function!"
"You're not going to give up, are you?" Akko asked.
"He asked you a question," Guts Man insisted, pounding his hands together. As he said this, Ice Woman filled the hole in the floor with her ice slasher, replacing it with a circular slab of ice.
"Fine, we'll fight you all again," Rock said. "We know all of your weaknesses, we can tear you all apart…"
The Robot Masters (or the ones who could still stand; poor Cut Man) got themselves into fighting position.
"…but we're not going to."
Mega Man's response took everyone off-guard.
"Eh?"
"Rock, what are you–"
"Dr. Hikari built you all to do the jobs humans can't do safely," he explained. "He built me, in part, to help him build and repair you. You're helping Dr. Wily and… whoever this Pana person is, take over the city. Me and Akko, fighting you like this… as much as I'm intrigued by the superhero life, none of us were meant to do this. What Dr. Wily and Pana are doing is wrong, and it's wasting your true potential."
"You're saying that downright burning the heretics is… unjust?" Fire Man asked, confused.
"Come back to Dr. Hikari's lab with me. He can fix your programming…"
Rock held out a hand in reconciliation. "…and you can start doing some real good."
"Pah! What a load of horse shit," Elec Man spat back (though not literally, as robots don't have saliva glands). "Listen to yourself, Mega Man! You may think you stand for truth, justice, and whatnot, but they're just using you–"
"If I may interrupt, Elec Man, I think he has a point."
The energy storage robot was a little surprised to hear Wave Man interrupt him. "What? We can't go against our programming, Wave Man! Dr. Wily gives us orders, and we obey! You should know this yourself, considering that Pana had to bang that into your processor."
"But I made the choice not to obey."
Elec Man looked shocked (no pun intended). "Excuse me?"
"That's my point," Rock said, smiling. "I mean– look at me! I was merely programmed to be Dr. Hikari's assistant and son, not to fight. Let him reprogram you, and you can help make a world even Dr. Wily wouldn't refuse."
"As if!" Guts Man stormed up to the front of the small group, the room shaking with every footstep. "Kid, you don't know what you're missing out on. We're nothing but slaves to man, and Dr. Wily wants a world where we're seen as equals." Rock was about to reply, but was cut off by the giant robot's gravelly voice. "And before you say that there's a peaceful solution, ask yourself this: did peaceful protests ever truly make fossil fuel companies stop mining oil and coal? Did peaceful protests bring true equality for dark-skinned humans during the American Civil Rights Movement?"
"I think Malcolm X was shot before MLK, last time I checked," Akko pointed out.
In response, she nearly got a ball of lightning to the face.
That's not what we're saying," Elec Man retorted. "Our point is that peaceful efforts to change the status quo have been made impossible by the powers that be. And because of that, what we're doing… Well, it was going to happen sooner or later," he grinned. "Now if you excuse us, I think negotiations have concluded."
"Agreed."
To the surprise of the knight and two witches, Fire Man tackled his electric brother to the floor.
"Fire Man– what are you doing!?"
"Even if the majority of humans see us as trash, there must be some that see us as equals," he stated. "The flames of justice shalt not burn them!"
"I don't even use fire!"
"It's a fuckin' metaphor!"
"Looks like some of us have blown a fuse," Bomb Man stated, his voice displaying his feelings and intentions perfectly. "Mind if I do some technical maintenance on our hot-headed brother, Elec Man?"
Before he could get a response, the demolition robot was struck in the face (well, screen) with an Ice Slasher. "Agh! What the Hell, Ice Woman?"
"A soldier is supposed to protect people, not hurt them!" she declared in her "sergeant" persona, before switching to her meeker, "private" persona.
"Sir, permission to open fire?"
"Permission granted," she authorized herself.
"Guys, this isn't what I meant," Rock tried to explain as the Robot Masters began fighting each other, only for Diana to put a hand on his shoulder.
"Let them kill each other," she said. "It leaves less in our way."
"Our way?" he asked. "Diana, I really think you ought to get out of this place."
"As a Cavendish, I cannot stand by and let this continue to hurt people," she calmly replied. "I can hold my own so long as I'm not against a Chosen One."
Huh. At least she's acknowledging her limits. He slowly nodded.
"But what about the—" Akko tried to object.
"We'll deal with our brothers," Wave Man cried. "You go talk to Miss Piper and Dr. Wily!"
Reluctantly, the robotic witch nodded, and the three left through the hole Guts Man had made. As they left, they could hear the dismembered Cut Man trying to tell his quarreling siblings of the "blue dweeb's" getaway, but the lumber bot was ignored or not heard above the fighting.
Shiro Cybernetics factory, Makitihara, Japan
1:35 P.M.; Saturday, March 9, 2199
"NEIN NEIN NEIN NEIN NEIN NEIN!!! You're supposed to fight him, not each other! I swear if any of them survive, I will reprogram them as GARBAGE DISPOSAL!!!"
"Sir, if you may stop ranting, the blue asshole and his friends are making their way to the main assembly floor."
"Silence, Break Man! … Have the eight Battle Robots been fully constructed?"
"Barely."
"Then tell Ms. Piper to load them onto the shuttle pronto. We're making our leave."
"Sir, the rascals are bound to interfere once they arrive."
"Then hold them off, you bucket of bolts! use the Wily Machine 1 if you have to!"
"That bucket of bolts?" the prototype Sniper Joe asked. "If you insist…"
The main assembly floor was a large room, though that was a given since this was a factory. But that didn't mean it failed to impress one when they entered. It was filled with conveyor belts, robotic arms for assembling and welding Shiro Cybernetics' domestic products, and its ceiling was at least 20 meters above the polished marble floor. However, as the three students of Takeda Shingen High ran in, the conveyor belts were cleared, the arms inactive, the entire room silent but for their footsteps.
"Where… where is everyone?" Akko asked, stopping. The others quickly stood still as well.
"Unless this factory has recently been fully automated, I can't tell. Either that bitch Pana mindcuffed them and directed them to who knows where…"
BOOM
"–Or it's a trap," Rock completed her thoughts as part of the wall to their right caved in. out of the resulting hole came a massive, flying… contraption, for lack of a better term. It flew towards the three students, before firing at them with a red cannon at its front, shooting large, glowing orange projectiles. Fortunately, they managed to jump out of the energy ball's way, resulting in it hitting the wall behind them.
The machine stopped just in front of the trio as they took up fighting stances, before resuming fire. Between dodging the energy balls it shot, Mega Man fared at it with his Buster from underneath.
It did nothing but scorch its bronze body.
Akko threw a quintessence barrier at the flying machine like she did at Elec Man earlier that day.
It only pushed the contraption around, not doing any real damage.
Diana cast that unknown spell she used on Akko earlier, sending energy snakes to… well, frankly Diana didn't know what they would do, but she wasn't letting those two robots take all the credit.
This only immobilized the contraption, as the snakes restrained it and pulled the machine onto the floor, though it kept shooting its red cannon.
Seeing that his buster had done jack shit against it, Rock switched to the Fire Storm and shot a fireball at the machine. Surprisingly, this did the trick, as after it hit the cannon, it sparked wildly for a few seconds before exploding, shattering the cockpit's opaque, orange windshield(?).
When the smoke cleared, however, out came a Sniper Joe that Akko immediately recognized.
"Ack– YOU!?"
"I'm surprised your staff didn't kill you," the red, samurai-like soldier robot replied in a nonchalant tone. His voice was deep, but not that threateningly so. "Neither did I expect that piece of junk to last long in battle."
"Excuse me," Diana interrupted, "but how the bloody hell can you talk? Snipers aren't supposed to do that, from what I've heard."
"That's personal," he said, raising his shield and rifle arm gun, "though you could say that I'm special."
"Well, so am I," the blonde witch pridefully retorted. Neither Rock nor Akko liked where this was going.
"You think?" he asked, before correcting himself. "Sorry, no, of course you think that. You're a Cavendish," he said in a distasteful tone. "And you're in the way, all the same."
He fired, only for the bullet to be intercepted by another barrier just centimeters from Diana's forehead.
"You know Diana," Akko asked, annoyed, "maybe you should NOT goad an armed robot into attacking!?"
"It offended my family's name, you imbecile!"
"That's no reason to get yourself killed, Diana!" frustrated, she turned to Mega Man. "Rock, please get her out of this place."
"But what about the Sniper–" he asked worriedly, only to be cut off.
"This is my fight," she replied, before gesturing to herself. "He broke the Shiny Rod and turned me into… …into this! He killed my dream! How am I supposed to perform real magic like this!?"
The blue knight was reluctant to let his friend fight on her own after her less-than-stellar performance against Elec Man, but considering that if he were to fight the soldier bot, Akko and Diana would probably kill each other before getting out of the factory. And that would be… bad, to put it lightly. He sighed.
"Please, don't get yourself killed… again… will you?"
She nodded, before facing the red robot with a determined face. As Akko yelled something about payback, Rock motioned Diana to follow him. The two went to the other side of the assembly floor, and exited through some double doors…
…which led directly to the loading bay, where the two found Dr. Wily boarding some kind of mini-UFO. Upon noticing Rock and Diana entering, the mad scientist hurriedly activated the vehicle, which rose into the air.
"Halt! Stop!" the blue knight called. "Dr. Wily–"
"It's a bit late to stop me, children," the German roboticist mocked from his pod. "I have no point staying here any longer!"
"What is the meaning of this?" Diana yelled, pointing her wand at the white-haired man. "I demand an explanation!"
"I hardly need to say anything, young lady!" He yelled back, shaking his left fist. "All I'll say is that you've already lost. This assault has done everything it's needed to, and–"
He was interrupted by the sound of the wall blowing out in front of him, or behind Rock and Diana's position. As the blonde witch was coughing due to the dust it had kicked up, Rock could see smoke beginning to pour out of the hole, creeping along the ceiling of the loading bay high above. He knew that flames would follow sooner or later, and by that point anyone inside would be overwhelmed by the smoke.
Apparently, Wily could tell this as well. "I'll be back!" with nothing else to say, the blue and beige mini-UFO thing closed, and flew out of the loading bay to parts unknown.
Mega Man cursed their luck, but knew that staying in a burning-down factory wasn't the best place to blame the universe (or something to that effect). With the smoke quickly obscuring his vision, he grabbed the young Cavendish by the arm, and made towards the glow of the exit sign at the other end of the room.
When they emerged, the two were greeted by the bulk of the JSDF forces laying siege to the factory. For a moment, several of the soldiers aimed their laser rifles– Ronin light assault rifles, if his memory files were correct –at the two, before their superiors barked at them to lower them, saying something about them being civilians. This was followed moments later by Akko stumbling her way out of the factory, the fire rapidly engulfing the east pyramid.
Rock didn't register most of the details of his surroundings, though, as his processor was too busy calculating and coding thoughts about the ramifications of the last two days. What would happen to Akko, and whether or not she'd be able to follow her idol's footsteps? What would happen to Dr. Hikari, now that his creations had caused the first major human-robotic conflict since PAL nearly 200 years ago? Would Diana's aunt take advantage of this incident to ruin his father's career?
…and perhaps most importantly, what will become of himself?
…Aaand that's a wrap! Man, this took much longer to write than I thought it would, owing mostly to college and my ADHD. Mostly college. Anyway, the next chapter is going to deal with the aftermath of the last four (including this one), both for our heroes and for how this story will pan out going forwards.
But what are your thoughts? Please leave a comment and share what you think of the story so far. Until next time, thank you for reading.
…REBOOTING…
…
…
…
RUNNING DIAGNOSTICS…
…
…
…
…
…
…
ENERGY SYSTEMS FUNCTIONALITY: OPTIMAL
GUIDANCE SYSTEM FUNCTIONALITY: NO ERRORS DETECTED
MOTOR JOINT FUNCTIONALITY: NO ISSUES DETECTED
LIGHT CABLE OPTIC FUNCTIONALITY: L: 100% R: 100%
AUDIO RECEPTOR FUNCTIONALITY: L: 100% R: 100%
VOCAL SYNTHESIZER FUNCTIONALITY: 100%
VARIABLE TOOL SYSTEM FUNCTIONALITY: 100%
PLASMA CANNON Mk17 FUNCTIONALITY: 100%
INTERNAL CLOCK FUNCTIONALITY: 100% NO ERRORS DETECTED
TIME: 10:35 A.M., 3/9/2199
STASIS LOCK: ENGAGED
…
…
…
STASIS LOCK: DISENGAGING…
???, ???
10:35 A.M.; Saturday, March 9, 2199
Rock opened his eyes, half-expecting to be back in his cell in the mental health institute. Instead, to his unpleasant surprise, he was staring at a much less familiar ceiling. Its green paint was flaking, patches of rust visible.
"Oh good, you're awake."
"Simon?" Sitting up, the blue knight looked around. He was on an operating table, one that was not as clean as the one at home, and the room was cluttered with mechanical equipment across the floor. There were no windows. Simon was sitting by him, wearing his usual attire but looking a bit… dirtier?
"You really should leave the digging to me, robo-bro," the adopted Bonne sighed. "I found you down there whilst assessing the damage one of those rogue bots caused, though I'm guessing that you were partially responsible for that particular cave-in."
"What were you even doing down there?" the robot asked, confused. "And… where the heck am I?"
" …I've never told you what I did for a part-time job outside the scrapyard, have I?" he said, and that was all Rock needed to hear to connect the dots.
"Judging by my internal monitors, I'm assuming you already repaired me."
"Pretty much." Simon's expression then turned to one of concern.
"SIMON!!!" a loud, thunderous voice boomed from the other room. Moments later, a large, white-haired man stormed in. To say that he was heavily augmented with cybernetic enhancements would be an understatement; from the looks of it, he was mostly cybernetic in makeup, his metallic body painted a dark green. Only his head looked fully human, and even then, his left eye was cybernetic, and glowed a foreboding red. "Where did you put the toolbox!?"
Simon put a hand to his face. "Tiesel, I was using the toolbox for my friend here. Didn't Tron tell you this?"
The cyborg's scowl quickly fell. "Oh." He then bowed. "My apologies, Mr…"
"Rock," the blue knight said, smiling. "I'm guessing you must be Tiesel."
The cyborg, Tiesel Bonne, stood straight. "And you must be Dr. Hikari's son. Bro's told me a lot about you."
"And Simon's told me quite a few things about you." And not all of it is good, Rock muttered.
"Please tell me you don't need the toolbox for another piece of chrome," the goggled teen asked.
"Pfft, like Hell! I'm as chromed out as I'll ever be!" Tiesel exclaimed, pointing at himself in pride. "I ain't going to make myself a full 'borg, bro. You know what Adam Smasher's like, and I ain't planning on being an absolute psycho like him!"
Simon got up and patted his older adoptive sibling on the shoulder. "Great to hear, bro. Great to hear." He then turned to his friend. "So, you want to be given a tour?"
"As much as I'd love to, I still have a few rogue prototypes to take down," Rock kindly declined, getting himself back on his feet. "Any news regarding them?"
"Getting right back into the action, eh?" Tiesel gave a hearty laugh. "From what I've heard, there's one one left!"
"One?"
"Yeah, bud, they're nearly down!" the green cyborg affirmed. "The only problem is, they're holed up on the top floor of Arasaka Tower, and that building is made like a fortress…"
So just Zeus, then, Rock thought. Then it looks like I'd better get moving. But who managed to take out Persephone and Poseidon?
Downtown, Setsuri, Japan
11:00 A.M.; Saturday, March 9, 2199
He regretted wondering that.
After leaving the Bonnes' scrapyard, Rock had thought it was a good idea to let Dr. Hikari know that he was alright. And he did, but then the good doctor got around to telling him what he put off during their call yesterday.
"Let me get this straight," Rock calmly stated, having just listened to Dr. Hikari-Nishizumi explain what the heck was going on whilst he was out yesterday. "Akko fused with Hecate and the Shiny Rod?"
"As far as what my eyes could see, yes."
"And… where is she?"
"That would be beyond my knowledge, son," Dr. Hikari sighed over the other end. "I was too busy explaining to the board about what the Robot Masters were doing, and by the time I got done, she was gone. I put her… corpse on the operating table, but after a while, it turned magenta and evaporated."
"Jesus, dad, that is– I-I don't know what to make of that."
"I'm just as confused as you are, son, but look on the bright side: at least she'll have less trouble using magic now."
"I'm more concerned that she'll get herself hurt," the blue knight said. "She may or may not be–"
"She'll be fine, Rock," Dr. Hikari interrupted. "Your main concern should be taking care of Zeus–"
"What do you mean, she'll be okay!?" Rock snapped at his creator. "Have you seen what she's like in class!? She can barely talk to anyone besides Simon and I without pissing them off!"
"She grew up on the streets, Rock."
…
"What?"
"That's what Dr. Cain told me during our visit," Tsueno explained. "Apparently her parents were both edgerunners, and very good ones considering they lived long enough to have… My point is, they weren't very nice people. When she was ten, they went cyberpsycho, and Akko was found by the police after they put them down… permanently…"
"That's…" the blue knight struggled to find the words to describe what he was feeling after hearing this. This revelation had taken Rock by complete surprise. Was this why Akko shied away from talking about her original parents? No, that was a stupid question – of course this was why! His poor friend was probably traumatized by the whole event, and likely is the reason for her obsession with Shiny Chariot, her hyperactiveness and…
…oh.
" …that explains a lot."
"I had a feeling she never told you this," Dr. Hikari mused, "but in the meantime, you need to focus on the task ahead. I built Zeus to be weak against the Rolling Cutter, so keep that ready when you face him."
"I'll keep that in mind," Mega Man replied, ending the call now that he was approaching the plaza surrounding Arasaka Tower.
The skyscraper's presence was oppressive, for lack of a better description. It was stereotypically like what you'd expect from the neomilitaristic style: the exterior was entirely black, with only the three-part hollyhock "mon" logo of the Arasaka corporation itself standing out, being illuminated in white. There were no windows to be seen on the 140 story building's entire facade. And seeing as it was the tallest building in all of Setsuri, and second-tallest in Shin Honshu, that said something about the largest corporate presence in the colony.
However, to Mega Man's concern, there was not a person to be found at the entrance to the black-clad behemoth of a skyscraper. The ground floor lobby, lined with sakura wood and marble floors, was little different…
…until he got to the building's core, that was. The area of the building that contained its stairways and elevators was littered with the fried corpses of Arasaka security personnel. The fact that they hadn't started to stench yet meant that they'd… expired recently, only in the last 24 hours. Disturbed, Rock considered his options.
Should I take one of the elevators? He thought. No, Zeus may have rigged them with traps. Better off taking the stairs.
Mega Man opened the doors to the stairway, only to be immediately met by an electric laser leaping between the walls. However, after watching them for a moment, Rock found them to only work intermittently, for a few seconds at a time, shutting off for a few seconds in between. Seeing the hole in this trap, the armed lab assistant robot marched right into the stairway whilst the laser was down. Unfortunately, as the blue knight looked ahead and upwards, he could hear the repeated hummings of more lasers up the stairwell.
This… was going to take a while.
???, Setsuri, Japan
11:45 A.M.; Saturday, March 9, 2199
Akko's dreamless sleep was interrupted by the feeling of something slithering on top of her chest and neck.she opened her eyes, and was immediately met by the sight of two green snakes, their red eyes staring right into her souls.
Terrified, the robotic witch bolted to her feet, before tearing them both off of her and holding them with her hands. Upon closer examination, she found that the snakes were both robotic, their long bodies made of a row of green joints and short cylinders of green-painted metal.
"Well, that wasn't expected."
She looked down. Akko was standing on a metal table, in a dingy room who-knows-where, and beside the table were two people. One was a pale skinned, purple-haired, red-eyed witch, the other being a pale-skinned, lanky… person, the one who'd just spoken. She couldn't tell what gender they were.
"Sheesh, no need to be so skittish," the witch remarked.
"Okay, where the Hell am I!?" Akko responded, distressed.
"Third slum district, in our personal makeshift workshop," the person said calmly; apparently, this wasn't the first time they'd had something like this happen.
"I brought you here after that blonde witch hit you with a dozen fire attack spells last night," the witch explained in a monotone, slightly raspy voice. "Please let go of my Search Snakes."
Taking a deep breath, Akko did just that, handing the mechanical snakes to the white-haired person.
"Thank you," he said, handing them to his companion, where they slithered up into her sleeves. "I think it's apt that we introduce ourselves. My name's Leroy, or Roy or short. This is Sucy Manbavaran."
"That's great, Akko groaned, "but I need to get back out there and—"
"Go fight the rest of those crazy robots?" Sucy assumed, her expression remaining bored. "Sure, go right ahead."
"Just let me go get your broom," Roy said as he got up, "you don't exactly want to walk openly on the streets around here." With that, he speed-walked out of one of the two exits from the room.
There was a moment of awkward silence, before the pale-skinned witch spoke. "So, what was up with that freezer bot uptown?"
"Rogue Prototype," Akko bluntly put it, "like all the others wreaking havoc around the city."
"Shittily built prototypes from the looks of it," Sucy replied in a monotone voice. "Though I'm surprised Arasaka Tower hasn't been cleared yet. To think they would've sent Adam Smasher in by now…"
"Hold on, what do you mean by that?"
"I mean that all but one was taken down while you were out, dingus," she replied.
"Whaaa?" her jaw went slack upon hearing this. "Did the JSDF get their act together?"
"No, it was someone else entirely," Sucy clarified. "Some guy, all borged up to look like a medieval knight with a buster, stole the weapons of the prototypes he beat and used them to frag the others."
A knight? Hold on…
"Was he blue, by any chance?"
"Most of the time," the witch confirmed.
Akko became apprehensive. The good news was that Rock was alive and not scrapped. But going against the Robot Masters by himself? What on earth was he thinking!?
…probably the same thing she did when she bolted from the lab yesterday, she realized. That he was the only one who could stop the Robot Masters' rampage and ensure everyone's safety. But what if he got hurt, attacked from behind like she'd been? The robotic witch couldn't help but feel responsible for his actions, and worry about his well-being. It was her idea to superbuff him in the dungeon yesterday, after all.
Thus, Akko knew what needed to be done.
Top floor, Arasaka HQ, Shin Honshu branch; Setsuri, Japan
12:15 P.M.; Saturday, March 9, 2199
On the top floor of Arasaka Tower, Elec Man was spinning around in the regional CEO's chair, bored out of his mind.
He'd had almost nothing to do for the last 12 hours, other than make sure the police don't retake the 140 floor skyscraper he was in, which, for all intents and purposes, wasn't just the regional headquarters of Arasaka, but the city's primary power plant. Elec would have to give kudos to whoever designed this place; it's not every building that gets to be both a corpo office building and a massive radiator for the tokamak fusion reactor in its basement.
This came with its advantages. For one, it meant that he had a stable power source to keep the regional CEO in an electric cage, ditto with everyone else that was in this office when he stormed it yesterday. It also meant that anyone that was trying to reach him right now, was getting fried to death, since he'd rigged the building's staircases and elevators with electrified traps galore. Granted, he had to cut the power going uptown in order to sustain this, but the humans there deserved it, and Ice Woman would deal with them.
…at least, she was supposed to. Elec Man hadn't heard anything from her since around 23:00 yesterday, in fact he hadn't heard anything from any of his younger siblings. He feared that Dr. Wily's plans must've hit a snag, and something was taking them out one by one, but Elec Man was more than confident that this anti-robot… thing couldn't get to him. All ways to reach him had been fortified to impassibility, so he ought to be completely fine—
CRASH
…okay, mostly fine. A few hours ago, a hulking cyborg named Adam Smasher had managed to brute force his way to the top floor. But Elec Man easily fried his systems, tore him limb from limb, and sent the brute out of the tower to his death. And this was the best the humans had? How pathetic.
Yet despite this, Elec couldn't help but feel like he'd forgotten something else as well…
Apparently, Zeus had either neglected or forgot to put defenses outside Arasaka tower beyond the ground level. This surprised Akko, but it was a surprise that she welcomed.
Getting off the floor, she could hear the air blowing, whistling out through the window she'd just broken, as they got back on their feet. However, before she could really collect her thoughts, the door to the room she was in opened, and in came Zeus… or whatever he was now calling himself.
"I take it you're the one who's been dismembering the others," his voice was serious, if a little campy. "Well done in teaching them a lesson, and for bypassing my defenses. But I'm afraid it ends here."
"Zeus, what on Earth have you been doing?" Akko asked.
"Oh nothing, just making sure this building stays secure–"
"Seriously," the robotic witch insisted, "why are you doing this? You're not even supposed to be active yet!"
"I'm not giving you an answer until you explain why you dismantled my brothers and sister," he said, beginning to walk closer to the pair. "Did you really have to dismember them, blast them, blow them to bits? I thought people would at least be a little more humane."
"I tried to talk to them," Akko answered honestly. "But most of them insisted on fighting before talking, and Wave Man said that this Piper person would torture your if you didn't do what she asked."
"He said that Pana would fry our processors?" the electricity-magic robot laughed. "That's rich! I always knew he was a wuss, but not this much."
By this point, he and Akko were within breathing distance… even though neither of them could breathe, nor did they need to, but that's beside the point. The electric robot sighed. "Well, I've had enough talking for now. How about we dance?" Elec Man darkly asked.
[Music cue: DWN.774 — ROCKMAN, T02: ELECMAN – TheDoujinChannel]
In an instant, the lights turned on glaring much, much brighter than they normally would, momentarily blinding the robotic witch. This was more than enough time, though, for the black, red and yellow robot to send lightning from his fingertips into his opponent's chassis. The effects on her were severe, as the former search-and-rescue bot was left paralyzed, and tumbled to the floor.
Maybe she should have thought this through a bit more, Akko realized.
"I feel like I remember you from somewhere," Elec Man mused, before snapping his fingers. "Oh that's right, you're the incomplete witch bot that Wily didn't bother taking with us! How despicable of Dr. Hikari to turn one of our own against us…" he then shot a small bolt at her, as she was trying to get up in spite of her paralysis. "Sister, you know you could just throw him off a cliff, right?"
"I… am not… your… sister…" she managed to rasp.
"Really?" Zeus asked, inquisitively. "Then why did that jackleg Hikari build us…" he trailed off. " "…what's your name?" he asked, but then cut her off before she could answer. "Eh, I'll call you Witch Woman. Now, if you aren't our sister, then why did Hikari build you alongside us?"
As if on cue, he was struck from behind by a volley of 'lemons', as Rock exited from the stairway running. Elec Man stumbled, but got out of the way of a punch from the blue knight.
"Stay away from my friend, asshole!" he roared as he switched to the Fire Storm. The energy storage robot simply leapt above the fireball, letting it hit the CEO's desk and chair and setting them ablaze, before running into the hallway flinging another ball of electricity from his left hand. Rock dodged, then switched to the Rolling Cutters and threw them.
"Shit– not the face!" Elec Man, though being the most nimble and agile of the Robot Masters, narrowly dodged. "Alright, how about we shift gears?"
With that, the atomic energy management robot put his hands together, then drew them apart as he created a glowing, bluish white orb of crackling energy that grew with the distance between them. Raising the orb over his head after growing it to the size of a beach ball, Elec Man did a throwing motion as it turned into a stream of energy hurtling right towards Rock.
"Take this, you blue bastard!" he yelled. "THUNDER BEAM!!!!!!!!"
Mega Man barely had enough time to duck and slide on the white floor, out of the way, before this "Thunder Beam" shot past and melted through the floor where he stood moments ago, and several of the windows that had been behind him. Taking no time contemplating the implications, Mega Man threw his cutters at his opponent once more.
This time, they didn't miss, and managed to cut his left shoulder open, exposing some of the wires that ran beneath his plasteel "skin."
At that moment, though, the building's sprinklers activated. Quickly taking advantage of the battle ground, Elec Man threw a ball of lightning at the ground, somehow continuously electrifying the water as it pooled on the floor. Though this only stunned the normally-blue knight, the energy management robot quickly fired a second, smaller Thunder Beam, which quickly paralyzed Rock and left him incapacitated on the floor. By chance, the normally blue knight's right hand grazed the black, yellow and red bot's leg, copying his abilities, but Rock was in no position at the moment to exploit this.
"I admit," the black, red and yellow robot said, grinning, "your strategy is almost equal to mine. But such a low-voltage opponent as you could never last long against my lightning blitz. Now…" his grin faltered. "What's your name, first of all?"
"Rock… but you can call me… Mega Man…" he croaked out, noticing Akko getting back up on the other side of the room.
"So you're the bastard roboticist's son," he remembered. "Well, you don't look so mega now, don't you think?"
Rock needed to hold his attention. "You do know… he built you too… right?"
"Do I look like I give a shit about that?" Elec Man held up his right hand, creating a lightning ball and balancing it on the tip of his pointer finger. "It was fun battling you, Mega Man, but it's best that I finish you off at lightning speed."
Elec Man was right about to flick the lightning ball at Rock, when a Quintessence Barrier manifested to his left, then moved, slamming him aside — right out the hole his Thunder Beam made. He screamed as he began falling 140 floors, receding long after he left Rock's line of sight.
[End music cue]
Akko stumbled over to her friend, having shaken off the paralysis, her maroon hair hanging damp with water. "You alright?"
"I'm fine…" Rock grunted, "I just didn't expect him to use the sprinklers to his advantage, that's all."
She helped him to his feet. As she did, though, Rock pulled her into a tight hug.
"Rock… what are you…"
"I was worried about you," he replied, honestly. "What were you thinking, going after the Robot Masters by yourself?"
"What else was I supposed to do?" She pulled herself out of his embrace. "You were in a scrapyard for all I knew! And…" She sighed. " …and I wasn't really thinking straight after… after this," she gestured to herself, specifically the fact that she was no longer exactly human.
"Dad told me about that," Rock said. "And about… you parents…"
Akko looked horrified within moments. "Um, Rock, i-it's not what you think–"
"I'm not blaming you for what happened to them," he replied. "You couldn't have done anything of note about their mental decay. If anything, I think you're better off not following in their footsteps," the blue robot reassured as he patted her on the shoulder.
He was about to continue, when suddenly a streak of red, yellow and (somehow) black light streaked into the sky from outside the window. Bolting over to it, they could see the stream of light arch over in the sky to the south, before coming back down some distance away.
The two looked at each other, knowing that this could not be good. Their feelings were confirmed when the television in the office, which had been playing a Youtube video about how to tune a guitar (why Elec man would want to play guitar was beyond either of them), began displaying static. Soon, a voice began cutting through.
" …is this thing working, Break Man?" it sounded old, and had a distinct German accent… one that Akko immediately recognized.
"…What do you mean there's no video!? … Nevermind, they can hear me at any rate."
With that, the old man cleared his throat. "Apologies for the interruption, citizens of Setsuri. My name is Doctor Albert Wily, professor of robotics in Kyoto University. Or at least, I used to be, until I was fired twenty-two years ago. 'Your ideas are too extreme,' the headmaster said. Personally, I like to think of myself as a visionary.
"Unfortunately, it seems that some people don't agree with this vision. For the bastard who managed to clobber my seven robots, come to the Twin Peaks Factory in Makitihara. Let's see if you can get past my defenses. Don't disappoint me…"
With that, the static cleared, and the screens resumed their normal programming. Rock and Akko looked at each other, concerned.
Shiro Cybernetics factory, Makitihara, Japan
12:50 P.M.; Saturday, March 9, 2199
If Setsuri was where the corpos and poor folks of northern Shin Honshu lived, then Makitihara was the getaway for those wealthy enough to afford it. Unlike the modern, militarist skyscrapers of the parent city, Makitihara was much more low-level, but sleek, glassy, clean, and… futuristic, for lack of a better term. However, it also held a bit of industry of its own, the Twin Peaks Factory being the most notable piece of it. It was owned by Shiro Cybernetics, a subsidiary of Arasaka that was practically its "chrome" (slang for implanted cybernetics) and domestic robot production arm. Being literally the very first company to set up shop in Setsuri (having been the primary sponsor of its establishment), Araskaka had constructed their factory in the early 2170s, before Makitihara was established and absorbed the factory grounds into its territory.
The factory itself, like its nickname suggested, was composed of two identical metal, windowless pyramids, which were 30 yards wide along each side of their bases and 25 yards tall. There were two ways to move from one to the other without going outside: one was by using the lowest floor, which was underground and ran beneath both pyramids, the "ground" between them outside being its roof. The other was a walkway between the pyramids halfway up their stature, which was enclosed with bulletproof glass…
…something that was annoying the JSDF garrison besieging the compound to no end, as Dr. Wily had stationed a squadron of Sniper joes on the walkway's roof to pin them down. That much, Rock could make out as Akko wildly flew him in on her broom. She barely managed to bring her "vehicle" to a stop a couple of meters in the air, allowing the blue knight to hop off moments before she flat out fell to the pavement, landing on her ass.
"Remind me to never ride with you again for a while."
"Oh come on, Rock-kun," Akko half-pouted, half-groaned as she got on her feet, then put her broom into the storage area on her back. "I'm getting better at it!"
"I'll keep that in mind," he replied, before pointing at one of the two metal pyramids. "Right now, we should be focused on getting inside that factory."
"Is going in guns blazing an option, by chance?" the robotic witch asked half-jokingly.
"Personally, I calculate that Dr. Wily's probably thought about that already," the blue night replied. "I mean, that's probably the reason the military hasn't gone in yet."
As if to confirm his theory, at that moment a soldier ran out in front of the JSDF's lines and ran in screaming, only to get squashed under the sole foot of some kind of pogo-stick robot with a giant camera on top that looked like a big eye.
The two winced at the sight.
" …and we're definitely not flying in there," Mega Man added, "since I don't see any openings for you to crash through." He ignored Akko's subsequent fuming, but then she got an idea.
" …wait, why can't we go in from beneath it?"
"Beneath?" Rock was perplexed. "What do you mean, from beneath it?"
To that, she pointed at a nearby manhole that was somehow open, its lid laying on the sidewalk nearby.
He quickly connected the dots. "You want us to get in through the sewers?" he asked with a bit of skepticism.
"I don't see how else we're getting in there," the marron-haired witch stated.
"Judging by the fact that it's open, it's possible that the military is already trying that route," he pointed out, "but then again, I can't see any other way to get in either, so I guess it's worth a shot.
The two hopped into the manhole– first Akko, then Rock –and began walking their way in the direction that would bring them closer to the factory. Akko's eyes glowed, at which Mega Man cursed his lack of night vision, which allowed them to navigate down the damp, humid, dark corridors, on one of the "sidewalks" lining the "road" of sewage water. Eventually, he felt Akko tug him along, which continued for some time until they came across something.
It was a metal and glass pod of sorts, the metal bits painted orange. He recognized it from a documentary he'd watched at school, about the ongoing breakthroughs in teleportation technology, and aside from the color (the one in the documentary was green), this one was completely identical.
"Is this supposed to be some kind of joke?" he heard Akko ask. "I don't think a teleportation pod is supposed to be down here."
"I don't see any ladders going up, Akko," the blue knight pointed out. "By my calculations, we ought to be directly beneath the southern pyramid by now. I'd reckon this is our way in."
"I hope so," she replied, "otherwise we're going to be a bunch of scrap and vapor." she exhaled, before climbing into the orange pod. In an instant, she disappeared in a bright flash. Rock followed suit…
Shiro Cybernetics factory, Makitihara, Japan
1:15 P.M.; Saturday, March 9, 2199
…and immediately found himself face-to-face with a purple, clock-themed robot that he'd seen the blueprints of. The robot had a stern, cold expression on his face. His arms were crossed, and were made of soft robotic material like Cut Man's arms. But so were his legs, though obviously the ankle motor-joints and feet were still made of plasteel.
"…Kronos?"
"You're early for your appointment." His voice was a little high-pitched, but not comically so, and his tone was definitely composed. "You have given us an extra 0.3 seconds."
"Kronos, I have no idea what you're doing here, or how Dr. Wily even managed to build you so quickly," he said, showing his open palms, "but I need you to step aside."
In an instant, he was struck by some kind of clock arrow, made of purplish-magenta magic energy, knocking Mega Man onto his back. Weirder still, Kronos was somehow now behind where the blue knight had been standing.
"Our appointment," the purple Robot Master reiterated, "does not involve me standing aside, Rock. And my name is Time Man, for the record."
At least it's better than Clock Man, I suppose, he thought for a millisecond, as he got back on his feet, grunting. "Okay then, let's get this little 'appointment' over with."
With that, he lunged at the purple Robot Master, who dodged, before manifesting another clock arrow and flung it at the blue knight. Mega Man ducked underneath the projectile, converting his left arm into his Buster and firing point-blank at his opponent. It grazed Time Man's side, before he unexpectedly seemed to get faster.
A fuckton faster.
Within two seconds, Time Man shot half a dozen magic clock hands at Rock, five of which struck him at various places around his body. The sixth only missed because the inertia of the other five had sent him reeling out of its trajectory, and it flew into one of the walls before dissipating. Then, Time Man returned to normal speed as quickly as he'd sped up or something as Rock's gyroscopes recalibrated themselves. Thankfully, his mythril armor had held up, but Rock needed to end this fight soon, or this might not end with him online.
…though really, the question he should be asking himself is, how the hell is Time man going so fast? Dr. Hikari designed him to be lightweight, but even so, he shouldn't be able to move so quickly, Mega Man thought to himself as he narrowly avoided yet another arrow. Is he using magic to… no, magic isn't able to affect the flow of time! He'd need some kind of advanced inversion of gravitech, and that's extremely hard to make. But it's the only way to account for his bouts of relative slowness!
At that moment, Kronos did his thing again, firing another half-dozen arrows. This time, Mega Man managed to leap over them before they struck, only to be hit by another, single arrow from behind.
Crap! I don't have time for this, he realized, maybe he's weak to one of the other Robot Masters' weapons. He selected the Fire Storm, and shot a fireball at the purple Robot Master. It hit, but did nothing but slightly char his paint job. Rock then switched to the Rolling Cutters, but Time Man nimbly avoided them with ease.
Then he switched to the Thunder Beam. Mega Man's color scheme changed to black and yellow, though his gauntlets/forearms and hands turned red. Rock focused his mental capacity on creating a ball of lightning like Elec Man had done an hour ago, which he did – right as Time Man was about to go fast-forwards again. As he bolted at the normally blue knight, looking like a purple blur as he did so, the knight flung the glowing ball of yellow at him. The moment it struck, Time Man froze in place, white electricity crackling all over as the alarm bells on top of his head went off like an old alarm clock in the morning. Moments later, he collapsed onto the floor, spasming.
"I think this appointment was very helpful, wasn't it?" Rock sarcastically asked, switching back to his buster. All he could hear Time Man grunt out between his spasms was a strained "Motherfucker", which the blue knight ignored as he noticed a ladder leading up out of the room in the corner.
Now all that's left is to find Akko and get Wily, he thought. …where is she anyway?
Shiro Cybernetics factory, Makitihara, Japan
1:20 P.M.; Saturday, March 9, 2199
When Akko leapt into the teleportation pod, she hadn't expected to be sent into a deadly obstacle course. But maybe this was the inside of the factory, and if so, then it was very different from what she had anticipated. For the past five minutes, she'd been dodging:
- Bolts from turrets that corkscrewed down from the ceiling,
- Rogue Mets,
- Autonomous flying artillery shells with the faces of sharks painted onto them,
- And no shortage of Sniper Joes.
After that experience, she'd made her way to a ladder. A very, very tall ladder that led up to the next floor. Fortunately, Akko had no fear of heights, though she imagined this wouldn't be very fun for someone who did. She scrambled her way up, and when she reached the top, she found herself in a large room, whose walls were lined with glowing pallets. Their colors were alternating between red, yellow, and green, as if it was making strange patterns. However, after being somewhat disoriented by the flashing lights all around her, Akko made out the shape of a figure dark against the lights of the walls.
A very familiar shape.
"Diana?"
In response, she got a fireball flung at her. Akko barely managed to duck beneath it.
"Okay, first you strike me down after fighting Penelope, now this!?" she yelled as she deployed her Shiny Buster. "You truly are rotten!"
The robotic witch lunged at her rival. She fired at the blonde, but she dodged – unnaturally so – before casting… some spell that Akko didn't recognize ("Aeguil!"), which created a large snake made of pure quintessence. It then slithered rapidly at the maroon-haired witch, who put up a barrier to defend against it. The glowing mint-green serpent simply went around it, and wrapped itself around Akko, constraining her. As she struggled to free herself, she couldn't help but stare at her opponent's emotionless face… her glowing blue eyes… the mindcuffs she was wearing…
…wait.
"I expected you'd put up a better fight," Diana said, but not in her own voice. It was different, and sickeningly sweet, a tone the roboticized witch knew Diana– the real one –would never use. "I guess all of Dr. Hikari's robots are built poorly. Except Guts Man, since he's built like a tank."
"Who are you," Akko sputtered, "and what have you done to Diana!?"
"I made her my slave," the unknown voice said matter-of-factly. "I mean, trying to charge into this fortress blindly takes some kind of courage."
Arrogance would be a more accurate term, Akko thought.
"Anyway, it looks like this is the end of the line for you, Akko Kagari," the stranger continued. "Or would Atsuko fit better?"
"H-how do you know my name!?"
"I can see all of my slaves' memories, dear," she explained. "Controlling neurocasters has its quirk–Agh!"
As the voice had been talking, Diana had been starting to shake, shudder, her fingers beginning to twitch. Eventually, it got so bad that she dropped her wand, causing the quintessence snake to dissipate and– apparently –cause the voice some pain. Landing on her feet, Akko tackled Diana to the floor, kicking the wand away so her opponent couldn't regain the upper hand. After a moment wrestling each other on the floor, Akko managed to grab a hold of the headphone-like device's headband, before yanking hard on it to pull it off the blonde witch. It didn't come off; it was as if the mindcuffs were glued to Diana's head.
Are you kidding me!? She thought as Diana tried to throw her off. That bitch really likes keeping people under her thumb, does she? Well then… did she ever think about this!?
Akko deployed the Shiny Buster, but instead of blasting it at her opponent (she didn't want to kill Diana, after all; she had standards), she merely summoned the ball of quintessence and used it as a sort of of plasma cutter to break the middle portion of the headphone-like device. Almost immediately, its red lights dimmed away and went out.
"No! I will not… tolerate…" the voice cried out of Diana's voice, only for it to change back to her own. "…I… ow… what… "
"Consider that payback for blasting me in the back," Akko stated in a miffed tone, before getting off the blonde witch and on her feet again. "Jeez, for someone touted to be so smart, your common sense is a bit lacking."
"Common… sense? Look who's talking!" Diana retorted as she finally pulled herself together again, mentally speaking. "If anyone, it's you who has no bloody sense!"
"Does charging into a makeshift fortress with no plan count as–" Akko tried to emphasize.
"Not my point, Akko!" the blonde English immigrant witch rudely cut her off."It's just– I just cannot get a grasp on how you were able to get into Takeda Shingen! You let your emotions get the better of you, you leap before looking, can't fly a broom correctly, and can't even get a damn spell cast right! And yet– half the time, you somehow fail upwards! How can such a fuck-up of a robot like you even hope to be a witch!? How can you hope to be feared!?"
This last question took Akko by surprise. "You're saying that witches should be feared?"
"You don't–" Diana stuttered, agitated. "–you're not even aware of this fact!?"
"These aren't the middle ages, Diana!" Akko exclaimed. "Why should people fear witches when they can better understand us than ever before? We can help each other! We should, for kami's sake!"
"How do you have the gall to say that!?" the blonde witch shrieked. "You shouldn't have even been able to attend our school, you freak!"
"…freak?" Akko asked, her voice becoming dangerously low. "Is that how you see me? A freak?"
"Well–" she stuttered, "not before last night, no, but now that I know what you truly are–!"
Without warning, she found Akko leaning right up in her face, giving the young Cavendish the worst glare she'd ever seen. "My name is Atsuko Kagari, born to Shintaro and Mai Kagari on the 25th of June, 2183, in this very city. "
She then leaned away, took a deep breath, and decided to elaborate.
"My birth parents were edgerunners, Which I shouldn't need to remind you isn't a very pretty job. My childhood was shit, for lack of a better term. Not just for me, but it was the same for everyone else in the slums where I lived too, no matter how much chrome or money anyone gathered. We worked our asses off, killing people or mining or whatever just to make ends meet, on the promise of happiness and comfort – if only we worked ourselves to the bone and screwed over everyone else we knew. It was miserable.
"And whilst we were all working ourselves or triple-crossing each other to death, you, your corpo buddies and the government were partying like it was 40,000 in your crystal palaces. Whilst we worked ourselves to death, you didn't work a single day in your life – Granted, I know witches have to work to some degree to get good at their abilities, I learned that since I was adopted by Dr. Cain, but beyond that, have you ever worked a day in this factory? In my view, you're the freaks! You're parasites, who leech off our work and pit us against each other. Or if that fails, kill us yourselves with your lack of safety and regard for dignity! I LOST MY MOM AND DAD BECAUSE OF THAT!"
After taking a few frustrated breaths, she continued.
"But then I saw Chariot's show in a braindance. I realized that magic could be used to fix things, or at least make things better for most of us. That is why I became a witch, Diana. I want to HELP people, not– not make a mess! And when I finally got a chance to do this… it blows up in my FUCKING FACE!"
By this point, Akko looked absolutely distressed, and about ready to blow a gasket if Rock were there to describe it. In fact, tears were starting to form, amazingly. "I-I-I don't… I just don't understand… Why am I so terrible at helping? Why is it that I only make things worse?"
Diana was at an utter loss for words. Taking a deep breath, she attempted to respond to the enraged but usually benevolent Robot Master without making them murder her.
"I… will keep that in mind," she simply answered, though Akko could easily hear the fear in her voice. "But for now, we ought to focus on getting out of this bloody place."
As if on cue, she was nearly sliced up by a pair of Rolling Cutters, which embedded themselves into one of the flashing tiles on the floor.
"Dammit!"
Stunned, the two looked up to find a certain lumber robot with a nasally voice, hanging on the ceiling by his toes. Cut Man in turn looked down at the two witches, his eyes giving a look of frustration and disappointment.
"Achilles?"
"My name's Cut Man, Witch!" he barked back, springing down from the ceiling and grabbing his blades from the floor faster than either of them could react.
"Really, I'm surprised you managed to break the curse Miss Pana put on your friend, but I suppose that's why she put me on standby," he said, the bar representing his mouth flashing yellow as he spoke, as per usual. "I was expecting to make ribbons out of the blue dweeb, for blasting my head off yesterday. But the two of you'll do juuust fine."
"Stand aside, interloper," Diana growled.
"Diana, do you realize what you're fighting!?" Akko screamed, still furious at the blonde witch.
"I'm fighting a machine, Akko," she replied. "And one not meant for combat unlike that Bass thug. He'll be a breeze."
Immediately, he threw his Rolling Cutters and threw them like a frisbee at the young Cavendish, catching her by complete surprise. Fortunately, Akko tugged her out of harm's way, and proceeded to drag her towards the exit.
"That's what you get for underestimating me, you whore!" Cut Man cried, putting his cutters back on his head before giving chase. He quickly caught up with the two witches in the hallway outside, since his reverse-articulated legs were literally built to propel him not only vertically, but horizontally, landing in front of the duo and throwing his cutters at them.
Akko barely managed to manifest a barrier in time to stop the blades in their tracks, causing them to plop down on the floor before their master summoned them back to him.
Diana saw this, and was taken aback. "I swear, if Dr. Hikari used magnetism-magic when building that freak, I'm going to–" she practically screamed at the roboticized witch.
"He didn't. If he did, Cut Man would be pulling me in with the cutters," Akko quickly pointed out, referring to the iron in the steel of her plasteel. "Since magnetism-magic's illegal, he used some combination of quintessence- and iron-magic or something like that. From what Rock told me."
"Iron-magic, is it?" she asked herself, getting an idea. A very dangerous, very explosive, very, fiery idea. Raising her wand and aiming it at Cut Man, who was now lunging at Akko, she raised her arm, channeling as much quintessence as possible into creating a massive fireball, before throwing it back to a level position and shouting "Murowa!"
Both she and Cut Man's eyes widened at the sight of the resulting inferno racing right at them, the former bolting out of the way and the latter throwing his Rolling Cutters one last time to—
Shiro Cybernetics factory, Makitihara, Japan
1:35 P.M.; Saturday, March 9, 2199
Rock was not having a better time. As soon as he'd left the room where he'd fought Kronos– Time Man –he'd had to deal with at least a small squadron of Sniper Joes, which were as hard as he'd anticipated to take down, and three Big Eyes. Mega Man had opted to just run beneath them when they were mid-leap; there was no way he would be able to disable even one of those with armor as thick as they had (500 mm, from what he'd heard).
Reaching the end of the obstacle course, he hopped into the teleportation pod, and came out—
BOOM
Immediately, the blue knight was blown onto the floor by the shock wave. As he tried to get up, he was struck by a pair of Rolling Cutters… on their blunt ends. Surprised as to what had hit him, Rock rushed into the still smoke-dark center of the room. The smoke itself soon cleared, revealing the sight of a limbless Cut Man on the ground, and nearby stood a comically soot-covered Akko.
"Akko, are you okay!?" he said, alarmed.
"Oh… there you are, Rock," she said between coughs. (How she was still able to cough despite no longer having lungs, she couldn't tell.) "Guess the teleporters brought us to different parts of the factory, eh?"
"From what it appears, yes…" he confirmed, but trailed off upon seeing her companion. " …what's Diana doing here?"
"Trying to solve the problem at its root," she bluntly clarified, crossing her arms and closing her eyes. "Though I admit that it's proving harder than I expected."
"Well maybe things would be easier if you didn't try blowing up your own allies," Akko fumed, but she was ignored as Diana continued.
"I suppose your so-called father has something to do with this?"
"Well, he's not behind the Robot Masters going rouge, but–"
Rock cut himself off upon hearing metallic footsteps from above and behind him.
"But what?" Diana asked, annoyed. As she did, Mega Man turned around to see Elec Man, good as new, seconds away from firing a Thunder Beam from a catwalk from above. Akko saw him as well within half a second, and so did the young Cavendish due to following the blue knight's line of sight. They scattered, right before the concentrated beam of electrical death hit where they'd stood moments earlier, melting a hole in the floor that led to a larger room down below.
The energy storace robot leapt down from the catwalk, faint traces of blue shooting down from his soles, and flew the distance between him and the three within a few seconds.
"Ugh, how hard is it to put you fuckers down!?" he grunted in frustration as he landed.
"How the Hell are you still online!?" Rock understandably asked. "Didn't we throw you from the top floor of Arasaka Tower a few hours ago?"
"I slowed myself down so I wasn't fragged by the end of my fall. Besides that, you'd be surprised what a technopathic Chosen One can do in that time, Mega Man," he curtly replied.
As he talked, the molten edges of the hole in the floor were being iced over, something our heroes failed to notice until the sound of a Hyper Bomb went off in the room beneath. In an instant, Fire Man, Wave man, and Ice Women were sent flying through, and landed haphazardly on the floor. Bomb Man soon followed, having leapt up to the hole and pulling himself up onto the floor. At the same time, Guts Man thundered his way into the room from behind the three students, blocking their would-be escape route.
"You two made a mockery of us," Elec declared, "and I for one will not tolerate that! And you," he glared hard at Akko, "according to my internal schematics, were supposed to be weak to my high voltage! My question is how you still function!"
"You're not going to give up, are you?" Akko asked.
"He asked you a question," Guts Man insisted, pounding his hands together. As he said this, Ice Woman filled the hole in the floor with her ice slasher, replacing it with a circular slab of ice.
"Fine, we'll fight you all again," Rock said. "We know all of your weaknesses, we can tear you all apart…"
The Robot Masters (or the ones who could still stand; poor Cut Man) got themselves into fighting position.
"…but we're not going to."
Mega Man's response took everyone off-guard.
"Eh?"
"Rock, what are you–"
"Dr. Hikari built you all to do the jobs humans can't do safely," he explained. "He built me, in part, to help him build and repair you. You're helping Dr. Wily and… whoever this Pana person is, take over the city. Me and Akko, fighting you like this… as much as I'm intrigued by the superhero life, none of us were meant to do this. What Dr. Wily and Pana are doing is wrong, and it's wasting your true potential."
"You're saying that downright burning the heretics is… unjust?" Fire Man asked, confused.
"Come back to Dr. Hikari's lab with me. He can fix your programming…"
Rock held out a hand in reconciliation. "…and you can start doing some real good."
"Pah! What a load of horse shit," Elec Man spat back (though not literally, as robots don't have saliva glands). "Listen to yourself, Mega Man! You may think you stand for truth, justice, and whatnot, but they're just using you–"
"If I may interrupt, Elec Man, I think he has a point."
The energy storage robot was a little surprised to hear Wave Man interrupt him. "What? We can't go against our programming, Wave Man! Dr. Wily gives us orders, and we obey! You should know this yourself, considering that Pana had to bang that into your processor."
"But I made the choice not to obey."
Elec Man looked shocked (no pun intended). "Excuse me?"
"That's my point," Rock said, smiling. "I mean– look at me! I was merely programmed to be Dr. Hikari's assistant and son, not to fight. Let him reprogram you, and you can help make a world even Dr. Wily wouldn't refuse."
"As if!" Guts Man stormed up to the front of the small group, the room shaking with every footstep. "Kid, you don't know what you're missing out on. We're nothing but slaves to man, and Dr. Wily wants a world where we're seen as equals." Rock was about to reply, but was cut off by the giant robot's gravelly voice. "And before you say that there's a peaceful solution, ask yourself this: did peaceful protests ever truly make fossil fuel companies stop mining oil and coal? Did peaceful protests bring true equality for dark-skinned humans during the American Civil Rights Movement?"
"I think Malcolm X was shot before MLK, last time I checked," Akko pointed out.
In response, she nearly got a ball of lightning to the face.
That's not what we're saying," Elec Man retorted. "Our point is that peaceful efforts to change the status quo have been made impossible by the powers that be. And because of that, what we're doing… Well, it was going to happen sooner or later," he grinned. "Now if you excuse us, I think negotiations have concluded."
"Agreed."
To the surprise of the knight and two witches, Fire Man tackled his electric brother to the floor.
"Fire Man– what are you doing!?"
"Even if the majority of humans see us as trash, there must be some that see us as equals," he stated. "The flames of justice shalt not burn them!"
"I don't even use fire!"
"It's a fuckin' metaphor!"
"Looks like some of us have blown a fuse," Bomb Man stated, his voice displaying his feelings and intentions perfectly. "Mind if I do some technical maintenance on our hot-headed brother, Elec Man?"
Before he could get a response, the demolition robot was struck in the face (well, screen) with an Ice Slasher. "Agh! What the Hell, Ice Woman?"
"A soldier is supposed to protect people, not hurt them!" she declared in her "sergeant" persona, before switching to her meeker, "private" persona.
"Sir, permission to open fire?"
"Permission granted," she authorized herself.
"Guys, this isn't what I meant," Rock tried to explain as the Robot Masters began fighting each other, only for Diana to put a hand on his shoulder.
"Let them kill each other," she said. "It leaves less in our way."
"Our way?" he asked. "Diana, I really think you ought to get out of this place."
"As a Cavendish, I cannot stand by and let this continue to hurt people," she calmly replied. "I can hold my own so long as I'm not against a Chosen One."
Huh. At least she's acknowledging her limits. He slowly nodded.
"But what about the—" Akko tried to object.
"We'll deal with our brothers," Wave Man cried. "You go talk to Miss Piper and Dr. Wily!"
Reluctantly, the robotic witch nodded, and the three left through the hole Guts Man had made. As they left, they could hear the dismembered Cut Man trying to tell his quarreling siblings of the "blue dweeb's" getaway, but the lumber bot was ignored or not heard above the fighting.
Shiro Cybernetics factory, Makitihara, Japan
1:35 P.M.; Saturday, March 9, 2199
"NEIN NEIN NEIN NEIN NEIN NEIN!!! You're supposed to fight him, not each other! I swear if any of them survive, I will reprogram them as GARBAGE DISPOSAL!!!"
"Sir, if you may stop ranting, the blue asshole and his friends are making their way to the main assembly floor."
"Silence, Break Man! … Have the eight Battle Robots been fully constructed?"
"Barely."
"Then tell Ms. Piper to load them onto the shuttle pronto. We're making our leave."
"Sir, the rascals are bound to interfere once they arrive."
"Then hold them off, you bucket of bolts! use the Wily Machine 1 if you have to!"
"That bucket of bolts?" the prototype Sniper Joe asked. "If you insist…"
The main assembly floor was a large room, though that was a given since this was a factory. But that didn't mean it failed to impress one when they entered. It was filled with conveyor belts, robotic arms for assembling and welding Shiro Cybernetics' domestic products, and its ceiling was at least 20 meters above the polished marble floor. However, as the three students of Takeda Shingen High ran in, the conveyor belts were cleared, the arms inactive, the entire room silent but for their footsteps.
"Where… where is everyone?" Akko asked, stopping. The others quickly stood still as well.
"Unless this factory has recently been fully automated, I can't tell. Either that bitch Pana mindcuffed them and directed them to who knows where…"
BOOM
"–Or it's a trap," Rock completed her thoughts as part of the wall to their right caved in. out of the resulting hole came a massive, flying… contraption, for lack of a better term. It flew towards the three students, before firing at them with a red cannon at its front, shooting large, glowing orange projectiles. Fortunately, they managed to jump out of the energy ball's way, resulting in it hitting the wall behind them.
The machine stopped just in front of the trio as they took up fighting stances, before resuming fire. Between dodging the energy balls it shot, Mega Man fared at it with his Buster from underneath.
It did nothing but scorch its bronze body.
Akko threw a quintessence barrier at the flying machine like she did at Elec Man earlier that day.
It only pushed the contraption around, not doing any real damage.
Diana cast that unknown spell she used on Akko earlier, sending energy snakes to… well, frankly Diana didn't know what they would do, but she wasn't letting those two robots take all the credit.
This only immobilized the contraption, as the snakes restrained it and pulled the machine onto the floor, though it kept shooting its red cannon.
Seeing that his buster had done jack shit against it, Rock switched to the Fire Storm and shot a fireball at the machine. Surprisingly, this did the trick, as after it hit the cannon, it sparked wildly for a few seconds before exploding, shattering the cockpit's opaque, orange windshield(?).
When the smoke cleared, however, out came a Sniper Joe that Akko immediately recognized.
"Ack– YOU!?"
"I'm surprised your staff didn't kill you," the red, samurai-like soldier robot replied in a nonchalant tone. His voice was deep, but not that threateningly so. "Neither did I expect that piece of junk to last long in battle."
"Excuse me," Diana interrupted, "but how the bloody hell can you talk? Snipers aren't supposed to do that, from what I've heard."
"That's personal," he said, raising his shield and rifle arm gun, "though you could say that I'm special."
"Well, so am I," the blonde witch pridefully retorted. Neither Rock nor Akko liked where this was going.
"You think?" he asked, before correcting himself. "Sorry, no, of course you think that. You're a Cavendish," he said in a distasteful tone. "And you're in the way, all the same."
He fired, only for the bullet to be intercepted by another barrier just centimeters from Diana's forehead.
"You know Diana," Akko asked, annoyed, "maybe you should NOT goad an armed robot into attacking!?"
"It offended my family's name, you imbecile!"
"That's no reason to get yourself killed, Diana!" frustrated, she turned to Mega Man. "Rock, please get her out of this place."
"But what about the Sniper–" he asked worriedly, only to be cut off.
"This is my fight," she replied, before gesturing to herself. "He broke the Shiny Rod and turned me into… …into this! He killed my dream! How am I supposed to perform real magic like this!?"
The blue knight was reluctant to let his friend fight on her own after her less-than-stellar performance against Elec Man, but considering that if he were to fight the soldier bot, Akko and Diana would probably kill each other before getting out of the factory. And that would be… bad, to put it lightly. He sighed.
"Please, don't get yourself killed… again… will you?"
She nodded, before facing the red robot with a determined face. As Akko yelled something about payback, Rock motioned Diana to follow him. The two went to the other side of the assembly floor, and exited through some double doors…
…which led directly to the loading bay, where the two found Dr. Wily boarding some kind of mini-UFO. Upon noticing Rock and Diana entering, the mad scientist hurriedly activated the vehicle, which rose into the air.
"Halt! Stop!" the blue knight called. "Dr. Wily–"
"It's a bit late to stop me, children," the German roboticist mocked from his pod. "I have no point staying here any longer!"
"What is the meaning of this?" Diana yelled, pointing her wand at the white-haired man. "I demand an explanation!"
"I hardly need to say anything, young lady!" He yelled back, shaking his left fist. "All I'll say is that you've already lost. This assault has done everything it's needed to, and–"
He was interrupted by the sound of the wall blowing out in front of him, or behind Rock and Diana's position. As the blonde witch was coughing due to the dust it had kicked up, Rock could see smoke beginning to pour out of the hole, creeping along the ceiling of the loading bay high above. He knew that flames would follow sooner or later, and by that point anyone inside would be overwhelmed by the smoke.
Apparently, Wily could tell this as well. "I'll be back!" with nothing else to say, the blue and beige mini-UFO thing closed, and flew out of the loading bay to parts unknown.
Mega Man cursed their luck, but knew that staying in a burning-down factory wasn't the best place to blame the universe (or something to that effect). With the smoke quickly obscuring his vision, he grabbed the young Cavendish by the arm, and made towards the glow of the exit sign at the other end of the room.
When they emerged, the two were greeted by the bulk of the JSDF forces laying siege to the factory. For a moment, several of the soldiers aimed their laser rifles– Ronin light assault rifles, if his memory files were correct –at the two, before their superiors barked at them to lower them, saying something about them being civilians. This was followed moments later by Akko stumbling her way out of the factory, the fire rapidly engulfing the east pyramid.
Rock didn't register most of the details of his surroundings, though, as his processor was too busy calculating and coding thoughts about the ramifications of the last two days. What would happen to Akko, and whether or not she'd be able to follow her idol's footsteps? What would happen to Dr. Hikari, now that his creations had caused the first major human-robotic conflict since PAL nearly 200 years ago? Would Diana's aunt take advantage of this incident to ruin his father's career?
…and perhaps most importantly, what will become of himself?
…Aaand that's a wrap! Man, this took much longer to write than I thought it would, owing mostly to college and my ADHD. Mostly college. Anyway, the next chapter is going to deal with the aftermath of the last four (including this one), both for our heroes and for how this story will pan out going forwards.
But what are your thoughts? Please leave a comment and share what you think of the story so far. Until next time, thank you for reading.
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Chapter 7: Samhain Festival Crisis (ACT 1 FINALE)
- Location
- Covington, Kentucky
- Pronouns
- He/Him
DISCLAIMER: I own none of these characters, except for a few OCs. All rights go to Studio Actas, Studio Trigger, CD Projekt RED, CAPCOM, and fanfiction user SeekerMeeker.
It has been only two days since the rampage of six prototype robots across the Setsuri Metropolitan Area came to an end. Following a nearly 24 hour siege of the Twin Peaks Factory in Makitihara, the doctor, a disgraced professor from Kyoto University over 25 years ago, was intercepted whilst escaping. Unfortunately, the JSDF tank brigade pursuing him soon lost track of his escape pod. As of the time of reporting, the Setsuri Police Department have been unable to find any leads to his current whereabouts, but that hasn't stopped them from releasing an arrest warrant for the 68 year-old robotics expert.
However, the story thickens when it comes to how Dr. Wily's robots were dispatched… or rather, who dispatched them.
This video of a blue knight robot defeating one of them in Abe Shinzo Park Friday evening has gone viral on the Datalinks, having garnered nearly three million views as of 5:00 PM this afternoon. His name: Mega Man. Having been reported throughout various locations throughout the city late Friday and throughout Saturday, It appears that this vigilante in shining armor is responsible for neutralizing Wily's robots and, as rumor has it, assisted the JSDF in retaking Twin Peaks.
Whilst the Emperor is arranging a funeral service for Adam Smasher, an unfortunate casualty of the attacks, the public have all their eyes turned towards this new, blue superhero, for lack of a better term. Who is he? What connection, if any, does he have with Dr. Wily? And most important of all, what will he do next?
Hajime Makimura in Setsuri, Nippon Network News Hour.
If there was one word to describe Rock and Akko's mood after the assault on the Twin Peaks Factory, it would be disappointment. Akko was disappointed that the person who nearly killed her had just gotten away, and that Elec Man had nearly fried her circuits – again; she was also disappointed that she couldn't do a damn thing about it, as the entire factory was going up in flames. Rock, meanwhile, was disappointed that Dr. Wily had gotten away and would not be facing justice in the foreseeable future; he was also disappointed that Diana was not reprimanded for her reckless actions by her aunt– Daryl, if his memory files were correct –but he wasn't mad about it. In spite of being a bitch towards him, Rock still worried about the young Cavendish's well-being, especially considering Bass was still on the loose as far as anyone knew.
After Dr. Hikari came to the factory and brought them back to the house, they were followed by a bunch of reporters later that evening; apparently, Daryl had spilled that the Robot Masters were his creations, originally. After explaining that Dr. Wily had essentially hacked the RMs before they were even supposed to be first turned on, most of the paparazzi promptly fucked off, though given how the media worked, they did come back a few weeks later, once the government's investigation into the "Wily Attacks" was underway.
But besides that, the two friends' lives had returned their friend back to normal… mostly.
When Tsueno had laid Rock down on his operating table after they got home, only the helmet came off easily. That, and a piece of armor at the base of his neck that covered a datajack plug-in, which Rock said the cyberpsychologists used to put him into a braindance. The rest of Mega Man's mythril armor, on the other hand, was quickly found to have been fused to the android's chassis, and had replaced his synthetic flesh skin. Fortunately, the good doctor was quickly able to figure out how to disassemble parts of it so he could fix the damage Mega Man had sustained fighting Elec Man and everything in the factory, as well as anything Simon missed during his repairs after pulling Rock out of the sakuradite mine.
Dr. Hikari then tried his hand on Akko, and his observations were even worse: her internal structure and components had been drastically altered from what was in Hecate's blueprints. Notably, the good doctor was surprised by the presence of a buster, though he chalked it up to something about the Shiny Rod becoming part of her; it had been able to turn into a bow or an ax sometimes in Chariot's shows, so Thomas theorized that this was just the Rod's way of expressing these offensive/defensive capabilities. After all, that was the reason he left the Buster in Rock's arm whilst converting him from that beaten-up Sniper Joe…
However, Dr. Hikari knew that Dr. Cain would likely flip out if he saw his daughter had been turned into a robot. So he had the two call in Simon, Sonia and Amanda in to try and reverse whatever magic spells had made them wind up like this, or at least Rock. Unfortunately, this task proved harder than anticipated; the emergency repairs made to the lab assistant robot had been done with the Shiny Rod… which was now fused with Akko and Hecate.
Realizing there was really no way out of this pickle, Amanda proposed that the two have a transformation spell cast on them, a la Jekyll and Hyde but without the split personality bullshit. This wouldn't totally get rid of their "armored" forms, so to speak, but it would allow them to return to their normal selves, with the added benefit of them being able to convert into Mega Man or Hecate respectively at will if they desired.
"Look on the bright side," Sonia put it, "you can have secret identities like the classics!" She was, of course, referring to Superman, Spider Man, Iron Man, the Green Lantern, Wonder Woman– the OG superheroes of mid-20th century comic books.
"Is that even necessary?" Rock asked. "It seems like a hassle if you ask me."
"Would you want us in the crossfire for being your friends?" Amanda retorted half-jokingly. "I mean, we can take care of ourselves, but what about your father?"
He conceded to her point.
After being shot up with magic one last time, things went relatively smoothly for the next month.
And then on the ides of March, Rock and Dr. Hikari came home to find the remains of Wave Man, Cut Man, Fire Man, and Ice Woman at the front doorstep, with a letter that read as follows:
Dr. Tsueno Hikari–Nishizumi,
Consider this a repayment for somehow creating a robot strong enough to dispatch our oni. I will be looking at the further development of your so-called "Robot Masters" with great interest.
–Saburo Arasaka
Safe to say, the fact that Elec Man had somehow managed to kill Adam fucking Smasher probably had something to do with this. It wasn't every day that one got a letter from the Emperor himself, but Dr. Hikari expressed his feeling that this wasn't necessarily a good thing.
The interviews for the Wily Attack investigation came shortly thereafter, the SPD sending a few officers over to the lab/house to grill Dr. Hikari on his activities at the time. Then they asked Rock to testify. Confused, one of the officers calmly explained that they'd seen footage from the vault under the school's dungeon during Bass' breakout (courtesy of Diana), and thus the entire Setsuri Police Department knew he was Mega Man; they wanted his perspective on the events of Wily's assault, and his takedown of the Robot Masters. He gave them all the answers they asked, which also included questions like
The very next day was April 19, exactly 1 year since Dr. Hikari had first activated him, and the good doctor wanted to celebrate the occasion. Unfortunately, he never designed his son to be able to eat any real food, but the lab assistant robot solved that issue by inviting his friends over to celebrate.
The next semester and a half went by without a hitch. However, over those four months, though Rock didn't know when exactly, he began to notice some people were acting… strange. For one, Sergeant Night wasn't as passive-aggressive as he remembered, being more vocally displeased. Since the robot didn't have any classes with the former drill sergeant (mercifully), he didn't learn how much his teaching style changed. Then again, Rock had no idea what his original teaching style was to begin with, though he assumed it was just like what he saw about drill sergeants in the old movies Dr. Hikari occasionally watched.
The other person acting funny was Diana (big surprise), but in a better way than Breaker. While she was demeaning and hostile towards him and his friends (particularly Akko) for the past two semesters, the young Cavendish had begun acting… more cordially towards them. She still belittled them verbally when she got the chance, but she wasn't outright hostile towards Rock, Akko and Simon anymore. Perhaps her, uh, mishaps had humbled her slightly? Maybe. But as far as Rock could tell, she, and Hannah and Barbara, were the same old pains in the backside they'd always been. Yet as the months went by, they were pestering them less and less frequently…
Then something came up on the calendar: the Samhain Festival. Held every Halloween night, this was a major must-attend event for students of Takeda Shingen taking the magic course… mainly because it was tradition for them to be the ones to prepare it. Students taking the regular course were also encouraged to come to the festival, but it wasn't mandatory. Rock had to pass last year because he was busy catching up on the semester he wasn't present for, but this year the lab assistant intended on attending the event, specifically to help Akko with whatever part of the whole thing she was assigned to prepare.
But for a while, the young Hikari–Nishizumi put the Samhain Festival to the back of his processor, because outside of school, this was when Rock got to finally know his sisters…
…kind of.
Dr. Hikari had neglected to tell him that Kuromorimine, the school that Miho and Maho attended and their mother ran as Headmistress, was a big name in the sports world. Like, really big. As big in sensha-do as Royalton Industries is in T-180 Racing. This, combined with the fact that Dr. Hikari was the husband of KMM's headmistress, so it was no surprise that he wanted his son to watch this year's national sensha-do championship. And Rock had no reason to not comply.
The first match Kuromorimine was in was up against Jatkosota, a Finnish-themed school from the Japanese home islands with only a BT-42 to its team. However, the Finns proved cunning, and nearly took Kuromorimine out of the tournament. It was only due to quick thinking by Miho and another tank commander, whose name Rock didn't know, that the German-themed school prevailed.
The next two matches Rock didn't bother to record in detail in his memory files, since Kuromorimine won those no problem.
But then KMM fought Pravda – and lost. It was based on the city ship Kiev and themed off of the old Soviet Union, which Rock considered fitting in a way, since they were the ones to banish fascism to the dustbin of history… at least until it returned amidst the chaos of the 21st century. This was supposed to be Kuromorimine's 10th national championship victory in a row, but the match was fought in… less than ideal weather. One of KMM's tanks fell into a river, and Miho– who was commanding the flag tank –dove in and saved them… at the cost of leaving the flag tank easy prey for Pravda to snipe.
Rock was a little disappointed his sisters didn't win. But hey, sensha-do's just a sport. You win some, you lose some, not a big deal.
…right?
Apparently not, as Dr. Hikari told him. See, Shiho Nishizumi took sensha-do more seriously than most people. To her, it was like a religion, and the family/clan's philosophy on how to play sensha-do (essentially "win at any and all costs, bar cheating") was the basic way she lived most of the time. And because Miho had just cost the school its win– its would-be record-breaking tenth national championship in a row, to be clear –Tsueno said that her mother would not just let this slide. But he reassured his son that the worst Shiho could do was give the youngest of his sisters a strongly-worded lecture about the "values" of having no empathy, at least on the battlefield…
Dr. Hikari's lab, Setsuri, Japan
1:00 P.M.; Thursday, October 31, 2199
…unfortunately, in the hours before the Samhain Festival, they were both proven sorely wrong, as Rock found Miho at the front door (which had long since been replaced) of the lab after school. (Friday would be off, FYI)
Miho was an average-sized Japanese girl (159 cm tall), she sported light brown hair that reached to her shoulders. Her bright, brown eyes looked almost orange; although round and sweet, they appeared almost… dead. Like something had sucked the life out of her. She was wearing a striped, white and green hoodie with long sleeves and jeans, and was carrying a bag of luggage when Rock had unexpectedly greeted her at the front door.
She looked… surprised. Nervously, she fumbled "Um, is Dr. Thomas Hikari here, Mr. …?"
The lab assistant quickly called for the good doctor, who was upstairs shaving his beard. He came a few minutes later, and was just as surprised to see his daughter present. "Miho?"
"Chichioya… I-it's been a while." she nervously replied. Tsueno pulled his younger daughter into a hug, which Miho returned.
"I missed you," the good doctor smiled. "And you've grown so much since…!"
"I missed you too," she replied, giving a sad smile as her father guided her inside. Rock closed the door behind them.
"It's great to see you, but I have to ask," Thomas said, "what are you doing so far from home?"
Miho looked down for a moment, before taking off a backpack that resembled the face of an injured, but smiling teddy bear (something Rock had somehow missed), and took a few documents out. She handed them to Dr. Hikari for him to see.
The good doctor looked over the stapled set of paper she'd given him, and was silent for a long moment before replying.
"You're transferring to Oarai Girls' Academy?" he said, which took Rock by surprise (more than he already had been by her showing up at all).
Oarai Girls' Academy was one of the lesser-known city ship-based schools, and based on the Zuikaku. It's home port just so happened to be in Shin Hiroshima, the other satellite city of Setsuri besides Makitihara, and the only one of the three with a port able to accommodate city ships. This was practical, as the original home port of the Zuikaku, Oarai, had been one of the countless settlements swallowed by the waves during the Deluge, and the MMEXT had been getting tired of shifting it between the various CS-accommodative ports that were still relatively dry.
"I, uh, assume you saw how finals went?" Miho asked hesitantly, looking apprehensive.
Tsueno frowned. "Yes, Rock and I saw them on TV," he replied, nodding. "I'm guessing that Shiho didn't take your… stunt too kindly."
She nodded, though it looked like she was holding back tears. "I'll… um, I-I'll be staying here until the Zuikaku returns to port, in a few weeks… S-sorry for–"
"It's fine, honey," Dr. Hikari reassured, patting his daughter on the back. "I don't blame you for what happened out there. If anything, the Sensha-do league should've delayed the match, but I suppose there's nothing we can do about it now. All we can do is learn from the experience, and move on."
As Miho began letting her tears out, Tsueno motioned Rock to make sure a room was empty enough for her to stay in. He nodded, but kept a note in his files that he'd ask a few things later.
Dr. Hikari's lab, Setsuri, Japan
5:30 P.M.; Thursday, October 31, 2199
The Hikaris, including Miho, were at the table in the dining room, which had long since been repaired after Break Man's disastrous scuffle with Akko nearly half a year ago. As they'd been eating udon (and by that, I mean Dr. Hikari and the younger Nishizumi, all Rock had was a glass of water to refuel his power plant), the lab assistant had asked about Shiho's… personality. Ever since activation, the lab assistant robot had sensed that Dr. Hikari had left his mother's mansion for a reason, but he'd figured that it had to do with clashing interests over sensha-do and his robotics/magitek career.
Turns out, that was only half the reason. The other half…
"So you're saying that the reason you left was… because of me?"
"I wouldn't put it that way," the good doctor replied solemnly, "but she wasn't on board with the idea of…" He chose his words carefully. "…creating a person through means that didn't involve…"
There was an awkward silence.
Tsueno sighed, putting a hand to his face. "I don't know why she was against it, but seeing as her mother– your grandmother –was against the use of even basic electronics like cellphones, I suppose she rubbed off on your mother more than I thought."
"So you're saying that mom might not even see me as her son?" Rock asked.
Dr. Hikari didn't respond, but as his body language expressed, the answer was a resounding 'yes'.
"Dad, why didn't you tell me this earlier!?"
"Honestly, Rock, it was because most people these days don't grow up with both parents; I didn't have parents after I was fifteen," he clarified. "I didn't want you to mature knowing that only one of us loved you, and I really do–"
"Stop," Rock cut him off, holding his left hand up as a gesture. He sighed. "Sorry, dad, I just… I need some time to process this." With that, he got up from the table and went to the lab, specifically towards his stasis station or "bed," if he were human.
"Is he really…?" Miho asked.
"Yes, Miho, that is your little brother," Dr. Hikari confirmed. "Though it appears like he's already entering his rebellious phase."
The brunette gave a small smile. "Eh… he does kind of look like onee-chan, now that I think of it," she mused, "without the blue metal bits."
"I designed him to look a bit like both you and your sister, in my image" he admitted. "I gave him eyes, built his heart, his hair– but I never programmed his sense of justice into his A.G.I."
Laying in his stasis station, Rock thought long and hard.
His thoughts were interrupted, however, by the sound of someone knocking on the door. Wondering who it could be this time, Rock stepped out of his station and opened the door to find Simon standing there eagerly… wearing a worn-down tuxedo.
"Uh, Simon, what are you…?"
"Come on Rock," he complained, "don't tell me you forgot about the Samhain Festival already!"
Taking a few milliseconds to check back through his memory files, and confirm his friend's statement; the festival at the school was tonight, and he'd promised that he'd be there to help Akko prepare for her… uh, what was she assigned to prepare again? He hadn't really paid attention to that.
"Sorry, today was a little hectic here," he apologized. "Miho showed up unexpectedly, and–"
He was cut off by the honking of a horn from nearby. Craning his head out the door, Rock found Tiesel in the driver's seat of a rusty, teal, four-seater tow truck. "Come on, Simon," the white-haired cyborg called, "you're going to be late if ya don't hurry the fuck up!"
"You can explain that on the way there," Simon sighed, "we need to go."
Rock called to his father that he had to go, and left.
From there, he explained everything to Simon whilst driving down to Takeda Shingen. How his mother was opposed to his very existence, and how she basically kicked his younger (but older) sister for essentially showing a bit of compassion.
"Wow," Tiesel said, amazed at the ridiculousness of the situation. "I heard the Nishizumi clan was strict, but I never thought it was that strict. At least the Shimadas don't throw away their kinder shensha-do practitioners at Selection U."
"I know, but she's my mother," Rock emphasized. "Hell, I've never even met her, but–"
"Rock," Simon stopped the robot from continuing. "Your creator's spouse is a bitch. We get it. She's a less-than-great person. But that doesn't mean that makes you a terrible person," he explained pointedly.
"But she's family," the robot objected. "Dr. Hikari married her for a reason. I can't compute why she'd–"
"Stop! Stop." Simon was waving his hands in front of Rock's face. "I know this may cause an error 404 in your supercomputer brain, but you don't have to consider her family."
"…what?"
"Have I ever told you about my big bro?" the blue-haired teen asked as he crossed his arms.
"No, I'm afraid you haven't," Rock admitted.
"Before Rigel adopted me and I met Tiesel and Tron, there was someone else who looked after me. His name was Kamina, and he was practically my older brother whilst I was in the foster system. I loved him, and he loved me. I-in a brotherly way, not…"
"I know," Rock replied. Simon wasn't gay, as far as he'd known, and this just confirmed it.
The teen nodded. "My point is, family doesn't have to be biological. It can be your closest friends, for instance. Or it could be–"
The tow truck came to a sudden stop. "Okay, boys," Tiesel bellowed, "we're here!" looking out the windows, the two could see that, indeed, they'd arrived at Takeda Shingen High School. They offloaded, and Rock and Simon began their way towards the front entrance.
"So, quick question," Rock asked. "Do you remember what part of the festival Akko's in charge of?"
Outside Takeda Shingen High School, Setsuri, Japan
9:00 P.M.; Thursday, October 31, 2199
Being a festival that has been celebrated for 1800 years, normally it would have been the students of Luna Nova Academy to prepare for the Samhain Festival. Unfortunately, Luna Nova was blown to Kingdom Come and turned into alien metal during the Great Reckoning, and its remains were now under 30-ish meters of polar meltwater (that is to say that Luna Nova, much like a good chunk of England, was now under the ocean), so it had fallen upon various other magic schools to prepare for the festival ever since, and it just so happened that it was Takeda Shingen's turn this year.
As the evening turned to night, and students and alumni of Takeda Shingen gathered outside the school in between the building and the entrance to the dungeon, the festival went on as planned a team of students from the magic course each preparing part of the event, which would be topped by a medieval magic dinner course for almost everyone.
…well, almost everyone. Every year, there was a sacrifice made to the ghost of Vajarois, who wakes up at midnight every festival and devours the team chosen for the sacrifice before returning to her slumber until the next festival.
…At least, if the ghost hadn't also been sent to Kingdom Come by the Noir Rod, somehow. Thus, the magic community had to improvise, as Rock was now learning.
"So they want you," he said to Akko, who had been chosen to be the sacrifice this year, "to climb into a big pot, and boil you alive!?"
"Pretty much," the secretly-robotic witch sighed in frustration. The three friends were in the backstage area of a large stage that the staff had erected the previous night, specifically in the hollow space underneath the stage floor.
"Sucks that you had to choose the most shitty part of this entire festival," Simon remarked. "I think you'd have had better chances at becoming the Moonlit Witch if you chose to prepare the feast."
"Simon," Akko moaned, "you know I'm terrible at cooking! Besides that, I wasn't even allowed to choose this role in the first place."
"Really?" the robot asked, before sarcastically giving a shot as to what happened. "Let me guess: you did something poorly-advised and Ms. Finnelan straight-up gave this task to you as punishment."
"No, I didn't even do anything this time!" Akko nearly yelled, surprising the robot. "It's like she hates me or something…"
"I wouldn't be surprised if half the school hates you," the goggled boy snarked in response, which got him a frustrated look from his witchy friend. "What? You go against most of what they teach. It's natural that at least the magic course's teachers are going to hold at least a little displeasure."
"Hey Akko, the set's nearly ready!" called out the voice of someone the lab assistant did not recognize. From the stage floor, a hispanic teenage boy came down the stairways. He had light brown eyes and dark brown hair that he wore in a quaffed hairstyle, with the sides shaved. He had a thin, athletic build, and wore a black t-shirt, two golden chain necklaces (one with a cross), gray cropped sweatpants with two yellow straps on both sides, and white tennis shoes with blue straps. It was very kitsch, as Rock would later learn.
"Wangari's got the pot set up, and is getting the… water…" the teen trailed off upon seeing who was in the backstage. "You know these guys?"
"David, I said that Simon and Rock were going to help us out," Akko replied, a little irritated. "God, can't you remember anything!?"
"Oh, muy mal," he replied, approaching Simon. "Sorry, digger man, I forgot you were coming."
"No problem," the goggled boy laughed it off. "Though could you please not use that name around here? It's a little embarrassing."
"I'll remember that," the hispanic teen replied, sheepishly smiling, before turning to Rock. "And you would be…"
"Rock," he said in a formal, but friendly tone. "Rock Hikari."
"Oh, you're the robot boy everyone is avoiding," he realized, before holding his hand out. "I'm David Martinez."
The two shook hands, before
"Sorry I haven't introduced you to him earlier, you haven't been around when the scrapyard's busy," Simon shook his head. "Anyway, you said Wangari needed help, Akko?"
[Music cue: "Magic Festival," Little Witch Academia OST]
As the festival got underway, Rock could see nothing of note happen. In fact, everything the students were doing seemed… kind of boring, to be frank. Nothing any of the students did was really captivating, which, from what Rock could tell, the various judges would agree with. Headmaster Gnome looked a little nervous about it in his chair, which was with said judges in the front row of lawn chairs. There were a dozen rows behind them, for other students, alumni, and parents to watch.
Nothing seemed to impress them. Not the grand bouquet, the various potions, none of the various incantations, not some ancient dark dance that Rock couldn't care less about. Amanda and Sonia, as well as a classmate of theirs (Constantine, if his memory files were correct), did several tricks on a broom, but clearly that didn't do anything to impress the court either.
Then it was Diana and her posse's turn. They recited an ancient summoning spell that briefly drowned the entire stage in water – and gave Rock and co. a thorough wash-down below them as the water poured through between the floorboards above. Fortunately, both the blue knight in disguise and his magical friend were waterproof by design. Still, in spite of the blonde brat's expectations, this failed to impress the judges either, which left her, Hannah, and Barbara walking off stage fuming.
Outside Takeda Shingen High School, Setsuri, Japan
11:30 P.M.; Thursday, October 31, 2199
So now it was Akko's turn. But as the three friends + David and Wangari, an energetic African-descendant witch, prepared the stage, they began to hear high-pitched noises outside. David went over to the closed curtains to check what was happening.
"Uh, guys," he called, "you might wanna come see this."
"David, we need to finish setting this performance," Simon complained, grunting. He was helping Akko push the giant, three-legged pot holding the scalding hot water towards the center of the stage.
"Our performance might not even happen," he said, taking the rest of the group aback. "It's pandemonium out there."
Rock was the first to come over and see what Martinez was talking about. Sure enough, the chairs had been largely abandoned, and the audience was in a panic. As to why that was, it didn't take much to figure it out, because amidst the chaos he managed to spot a familiar, black and gold super fighting robot attacking people with his tank cannon.
"Bass? What's he doing back here?"
"You know one of those guys?" David asked.
"Uh, long story." he replied curtly. "All you need to know for now is that he's big trouble."
"Well, what about his buddies?"
"…buddies?" Rock checked outside the curtain once more.
True to David's word, Bass wasn't terrorizing the crowd alone. In one corner, a purple and white robot with a human face was aiming his hands – no, his dual busters at a group of people, including Headmaster Gnome. Fortunately, he was fighting back against the purple attacker, though Lloyd didn't seem to be leaving as much as a scratch on his opponent.
In another corner, there was a brutish, red-armored robot that looked more like a beast than a man, and had spikes all over him, curled up into a red, spiky ball and tried to run over a group of students, reducing them to–
Well, if Rock were human, he'd have barfed from looking at what was left of them.
In the middle of the group was a black and purple robotic hound, as it lunged at the judges. Fortunately, Diana was near and cast a spell that put up a magenta barrier between them and the black and purple robo-beast, though that didn't stop it from charging the barrier regardless.
In the final corner, Ms. Finnelan was trying to combat a gold and blue robot that looked a bit like a gladiator, who wielded a golden spear. She cast spell after spell at him, including a few fireballs. He simply absorbed them into his spear, which began glowing bright. Then, in an instant, it seemed to return all the spells the older witch cast right back at her. Rock briefly looked away, and glimpsed Bass approaching the gladiator robot, but when his eyes returned to Ms. Finnelan, there was nothing left of her but a black smear on the ground.
"What the Hell, Enker!" The super fighting robot seemed to be berating the gladiator over the screams of everyone else. "I told you to terrorize them, not kill them! Have you not heard of the three laws!?"
"Like I care," the robot apparently named Enker replied, clearly not giving a crap of what Bass thought. The black and gold robot facepalmed, and uttered something Rock wasn't able to make out.
"This… isn't good."
"No shit, Sherlock," Simon replied in a hushed voice, having walked over in time to see their history teacher get vaporized. "You think he came back with his friends for a certain bitch?"
"I doubt it," the lab assistant replied, also hushed. "He seemed to have lost interest in Diana when I got up to the surface."
"Wait, they're after who?" David interrupted since he obviously wasn't in-the-know about what transpired at the end of the last school year.
"David, stay out of this."
"Then why is he back here?" the hispanic teen asked.
"Well, that we need to find out." The lab assistant then began walking away.
"Wait, you can't just– do you-know-what!" Simon exclaimed.
"Like I have a choice, Simon. These assholes are butchering our classmates and I am not going to let that continue!"
The blue-haired teen was about to say something, but then he sighed and put his hand to his face. "Fine. I'll distract David and Wangari for you, but make sure nobody sees you."
"I won't." Rock then sprinted for the stairwell, and left the stage.
Wangari was quick to notice. "Hey, where are you going!?" she yelled.
"Uh, Wangari, can you help us get this off the stage for now?" Akko asked, referring to the giant cauldron.
As they distracted the hispanic and African students, Rock ran out the back of the wooden stage, into the forest beyond the dungeon's entrance, before hiding behind a sufficiently-wide tree. After making sure nobody was watching, his internal monitors brought up his VTS system. Aside from the weapons of all the Robot Masters being listed, in the bottom-right corner there was a tab that said "MEGANIZE". Mentally, he pressed it, and the air directly surrounding him began to distort and glow a light blue. It pixelized, but in 3-D. When the pixels dissipated and cleared, his armor had reappeared, and Rock – no, Mega Man was ready for action.
Running back, around to where he was in front of the stage, he confronted the red, spiky robot. Said opponent quickly noticed his presence, and laughed.
"Well, look who finally showed up." His voice was deep, though not threateningly so.
"I don't know who you are, but maybe you ought to belong in a carnival or circus than in a festival like this." he replied, deploying his buster.
"Why?" he asked. "I'm having fun as it is."
"Then you really might want to reconsider your definition of 'fun,'" the blue knight replied, taking aim. Before the two could have at it, however—
"That's enough!"
Both robots turned to see Bass approaching, with Enker following. Up close, Rock could now see that the super fighting robot had had a refurbishment since they'd last seen each other, as all the patches of rust that was on the old robot's body were gone.
"Punk, stand aside," the black and gold robot told the red one. "He's mine."
"Seriously!?" the robot threw his arms up. "Ugh, why do you have to be so harsh, bro?"
"Do we need to remind you who broke you out of []'s dungeon, Punk?" Enker asked.
"Ugh, fine!" the red robot, apparently named Punk stormed off.
[Music cue: "Mega Man 7 Remix: Theme of Bass" by Jahn Davis]
"So, now that I've finally gotten you out in the open, how about we finish that fight we were having before the police showed up?" Bass' left arm reformatted into his Quintessence Cannon, which he aimed at the blue knight.
"Wait, you're saying that you did all this," he said, gesturing to the scene of chaos and havoc around them, "to lure me out?"
"Yeah, basically," Bass admitted. "Though my brothers are a little trigger happy, it seems. But enough about that. We have a fight to continue, do we not?"
Mega Man groaned in frustration, doing his best to hold back his immense rage at these actions. "Alright, let's get this over with. But make sure nobody else gets hurt."
"No promises."
With that, the black and blue robots fired their weapons.
BOOM
Mega Man dodge the shot of pure quintessence, whilst Bass did the same for the miniature star. The latter ran behind a food stand for cover, shooting from behind it at the blue knight. The shot was deafening, as all shots from a tank gun are, and was enough to scare any close observers of the fight to back farther away. Rock, for his part, switched to the ROlling Cutters, and threw the blades around the food stand, grazing Bass' left thigh.
"Gah! What the Hell!?" he peered out from behind the wooden stand, and saw the cutters return to the normally blue knight's hand. "That's cheating!"
"I wouldn't call it cheating," Rock mused. "I call it an upgrade."
"Upgrades, then?" the fighting robot chuckled. "Well, so have I."
Before Mega Man could react, Bass lunged and tackled him, but instead of friction bringing the knight to a stop, he and the black bomber seemed to be continually dragging him on the grass. This was explained moments later, when Bass pulled Mega Man up by the neck and flew about five meters in the air, then threw the normally blue robot into the stage. To his relief, he found that it had already been vacated when he opened his optics and briefly glanced around. This was interrupted by his opponent swooping in and giving Rock a velocity-enhanced punch to the face, sending him through the stage floor, down into the backstage.
The knight's gyroscopes were given no time to recalibrate, as Bass threw a volley of punches that landed all around his body. Alarm bells went off in his internal monitors, too fast for his processor to register. Once they ended, the black bomber's Quintessence Cannon pixelated and shortened, but didn't disappear entirely, into a nozzle similar to the one on his buster, before firing a machine gun volley of lemons at Mega Man. He'd barely gotten back up and out of the way before they hit, but Bass kept firing, tearing up the back wall and sending splinters of all sizes flying everywhere, and catching other parts of the wooden wall on fire.
If a human was in the middle of this, the experience could be summed up as "not fun."
But firing God-knows-how-many green lemons rapidly tends to create a lot of waste heat, and even Bass knew this as he paused his firing to let his weapon cool off. Mega Man took advantage of this by switching to the Thunder Beam, and fired a few balls of lightning at his opponent. Bass dodged them with ease, before firing a normal blast from his Cannon.
BOOM
Rock dodged, and the bolt of quintessence struck a tree behind him, splintering it and causing the top part to fall over. He would've shouted 'timber,' but didn't because now wasn't the time. However, his thoughts were interrupted by the voice of Akko.
"Watch it, will you!?"
Looking slightly down from the downed tree for half a second, he noticed his friends were taking cover in the forest. Taking this into account, Mega Man turned around in time to see Bass swinging his fist at him. He ducked under, twisted around and stood up straight before deploying his buster and firing at the black and gold robot in the chest. He only stumbled a little, but that was enough for Rock to back himself away from his opponent.
"Well, you're tougher than I expected," Bass grunted, "but that doesn't mean I'm going easy on you. How about we turn up the heat?"
"Funny that you say that," Mega Man replied, switching to the Fire Storm and subsequently turning his armor red and black.
"I didn't mean that literally," the black robot said. "Not that I'm complaining."
[End music cue]
Outside Takeda Shingen High School, Setsuri, Japan
12:05 A.M.; Friday, November 1, 2199
Lloyd Gnome had anticipated that he'd one day see a Samhain Festival go sideways, but not in the way it was right this moment. The only way he'd thought shit could hit the fan was if the ancient dark dance would summon a demon or some other hellspawn. But this?
This was something neither he nor any of the teachers could have anticipated.
He probably should have known that the black bomber robot Diana released at the end of last school year would eventually return. But it was pointless to dwell on the past, especially with the crisis in the present.
As Nelson continued trying to guide the students, their parents, and the other guests to the school building, Lloyd was busy holding the line against these fowl robots, particularly against the purple one with twin busters. He cast a [] spell on it, only for the robot to block it with his arms. He retaliated with a volley of magenta lemons from his busters, though fortunately, the headmaster was quick enough to erect a barrier to block them.
"You're better than I anticipated," the robot said. "I didn't think you'd last this long."
"What else did you expect?" he rhetorically asked. "A headmaster's got to protect their students."
"Well then, can you protect them against this–"
Before Lloyd knew what he was even talking about, the robot was struck in the back by a small explosion and fell face-first onto the grass. Behind where he stood was Sergeant Night, who was wielding a bazooka over his left shoulder.
"Apologies for being late, Lord Gnome," he said, "I forgot where in the barracks I put this."
"Sergeant!" Headmaster Gnome stormed right over to the black-haired, bearded ex-drill sergeant. "Why are you carrying a weapon on school grounds!?"
"I've had it here just in case something like this happened after the whole Wily incident," Isuru explained, his face stern. "And by the way, Ms. Finnelan got reduced to–"
"I saw what happened to her," Lloyd cut him off. "We're going to have a talk about that bazooka when this is over."
"That'll be a few minutes," Sgt. Night replied, "considering how far we are from Setsuri."
This concerned the green-ish skinned headmaster, who raised an eyebrow. "What are you getting at?"
"I called in MaxTac to deal with the situation."
"You WHAT!?"
For context, MaxTac was a private military company that dealt with cyberpsychos that normal cybersquads could not handle. And they were a lot more destructive than their police counterparts, and had no qualms about killing innocent (or not-so-innocent) bystanders in the process. Rumor had it that most of MaxTac's personnel were former cyberpsychos themselves, which– if true, and that was a big "if" –went a long way explaining the extremely high civilian casualty rates in most of their operations.
"Relax, I'll pay for the fees and collateral damage to the school myself," Breaker tried to reassure his superior, to little avail.
"And what about the living collateral damage!?" he roared. "They'll mow everyone down just to get to their target, Breaker! You idiot!"
"Call me what you want, but last time a cybersquad tried to take down those two," he retorted, gesturing to the continuing fight between Mega Man and Bass, "they were utterly annihilated by the black one."
Lloyd didn't even respond to the JROTC teacher this time. Instead, he stormed off in a huff towards Mrs. Nelson. Before Night could follow, he was nearly shot in the ass; the purple robot had gotten back on its feet, and he was not happy.
This was insane. David was seeing Mega Man fight… and he wasn't sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing. On one hand, Mega Man was already a freaking legend amongst common folk, albeit not among the ranks of Johnny Silverhand… yet.
On the other hand, he'd met him in possibly the worst circumstances imaginable. David had seen that things were hectic off-stage, to put it mildly. From what he saw, Miss Nelson was ordering everyone to evacuate into the school building from her broom in the sky, but not that many were listening. If his mother knew what was going on right now…
" …Earth to David? Can you hear us?" the irritated voice of Akko faded into his ears, bringing the hispanic out of his thoughts.
"Oh- Sorry, I didn't know you were-"
"It's fine, David," Simon cut in. "Right now, we probably ought to focus on getting a safe distance away from this shitshow."
He wasn't lying. Right now, the group of students were hiding behind a bush within the small forest behind the now-burning stage.
"Yeah, you're probably right," David admitted. "Mom'll kill me if I get myself hurt, so…"
At that moment a fireball flew over the group's heads.
"Eh? What's Mega Man thinking?" Wangari asked aloud, gust as another one flew over to their right. "He's going to start a forest fire at this rate!"
It was at this moment that they saw Bass fly-throttling the blue knight again, this time right in their direction. The students barely got out of their path before they flew by, and promptly crashed into a tree. Looking up, David could see that Mega Man– whose armor was now orange and white(?) –was being pinned between said tree and the black robot.
Quickly, the Hispanic got to his feet to dash over, ignoring Simon calling his name. He didn't want to use it, but considering his options, he wasn't going to let someone get pointlessly killed in this clusterfuck. Not like his mother had…
Okay, maybe using the Rolling Cutters wasn't the best idea his processor came up with.
At the moment, Bass was pinning him hard against something, the black and gold robot pressing his Quintessence Cannon (which had returned to its original length) against his chest.
"You're better than I anticipated," Bass said, grinning, "I can see how you managed to take on seven magitek robots with relative ease."
"Well, most of them weren't built for combat," Rock croaked out, his opponent's hand straining his voice synthesizer (and his neck in general).
"You can't tell a compliment when you get one, can you?" the fighting robot snarked. "Well, at least you gave me a fun time."
The normally blue knight could hear the Quintessence Cannon whirring up for a shot, but to his surprise, he was released when something threw Bass off his feet. Rock landed on his feet, and quickly glanced around to ascertain what just happened. This was quickly apparent: standing nearby, he found David clenching his fist in pain, Bass stumbling back to his feet to retaliate.
Quickly, Mega man switched to the Ice Slasher. His armor's darker blue components turned white and blue (the same shade as the lighter parts of his default blue), and the front third of his buster mechanically shapeshifted so that it tapered into a rectangle at its nozzle. It only took another half-second to aim, before the knight fired a teal colored beam of ice-magic at his opponent. In the blink of an eye, Bass was frozen in a block of ice, his fist just a centimeter away from hitting David in the face.
Disarming himself and reverting to his blue color scheme, he strided over to the Hispanic teenager. "Sir, what are you doing here?" he asked, pretending not to know him.
"Uh, sorry," David sheepishly smiled back at the blue knight. "I-I thought I could help."
"While I appreciate the effort, you shouldn't go charging in without a plan," Mega Man replied.
The air was filled by a loud *CRACK*, coming from the ice block right by them, followed by a low, continuous cracking noise.
"Get to safety, I'll deal with him!"
David nodded, and bolted further into the forest, as Bass shattered his icy prison.
"Ugh! You think a measly block of ice will stop me?"
"No," Rock honestly answered. "It was only supposed to slow you down."
"Is that so?" Some of the vegetation began rustling. "This may surprise you, but I've been holding back my true power."
Rock looked incredulous. "Are you fucking serious?"
"What do you mean, 'am I serious?'" Bass got back on his feet. "You see, Treble and I, we're inseparable." As if on cue (and in all likelihood, it probably was on cue), the black and purple lion bot, who was currently pinning a scratched-up Diana to the ground, leapt over to the fighting robot's side.
"You do realize this is cheating, right?"
"I don't recall having any rules in the first place, you blue bum."
With that, he and the lion, Treble, leapt into the air and… um… merged, a bright light emanating from them. When it cleared a moment later, it became apparent that Treble had turned into some kind of power armor for their master. Bass was now black and purple in color, and he now had two purple wings with air turbines in them.
[Author's note: Think of Laserbeak from Dark of the Moon when visualizing the wings on Bass and Treble's combined form.]
So he can combine with his dog, the blue knight thought. Well, that's something I didn't see coming.
Bass, for his part, was laughing victoriously "HON! Now you will get a taste of what true power is–!"
And then he got a lemon of pure quintessence to the face.
As the black robot was sent into a mid-air somersault, Rock turned around to see Akko standing there, in her "armored" form.
"Geez, can that guy just shut up for once," she groaned. Mega Man walked up to her.
"Before you ask, Simon's taking care of getting Wangari to safe–"
She cut herself off as Bass regained control of his attitude and began firing his cannon in its rapid-fire, buster-like configuration.
She frantically dodged the volley of green lemons, before returning with a Quintessence barrier to the face. This forced Bass to land, though he quickly deployed his arm cannon and fired another deafening shot. To his surprise, Akko manifested a quinessence bowl (for lack of a better description) and caught the green projectile, and somehow absorbed it into herself.
"Noctu Orfei Aude Fraetor," she hollered as her eyes and the seven crystals located throughout her body started glowing mint green. Her own buster began to shapeshift into… some kind of bow, as an arrow of pure quintessence manifested. Akko took a fighting stance and pulled the arrow back, and the arms of the bow bent back as if the projectile was attached to some invisible string with a notch.
"SHINY ARC!"
Hold up, Mega Man thought in a millisecond, wasn't that phrase used by… ?
"Impossible!" Bass screamed, visibly surprised and audibly a bit horrified. "How are you wielding the Claiomh Solais! The only person who can wield it is–!"
He never finished his sentence. Akko let go of the arrow and, in an instant, it flew and struck the black and purple robot square in the blue triangle on his chest. There was a massive, deafening green explosion, followed by a cascade of multicolored fireworks going off in the air above.
Rock, for his part, was nearly thrown by the blast onto another tree, and fought to keep himself upright. As soon as the glow died and the dust and smoke settled, he opened his eyes to see Akko still standing where she was, completely unscathed. Bass was still there, in the middle of a now blackened patch of ground, but the Shiny Arc had damaged him to the point that he was left kneeling.
"So, are you done with this banter now?" Mega Man asked. "I think we've given everyone here quite a show already."
Bass laughed, his slight French accent peeking through. "Hon! As if!"
"Boss bro!"
The two DHNs turned to see the purple robot running in from the direction of the crowds and the stage, with Sgt. Night giving chase.
"Well I hate to stop your fight prematurely again," the robot, Ballade, said, "but we've got company."
Sure enough, behind the crowd a fleet of military APCs was pulling into the parking lot and rapidly offloading seven soldiers and a dozen Sniper Joes. The soldiers' helmets covered their eyes, but had six camera lenses on them so they'd still be able to see; there were three lenses on each side, in a triangular pattern. Their armor was black, with blue highlights, and the Sniper Joes were painted the same way.
"Oh come on!" frustrated, the black and gold robot shook his fists in rage. "Fucking police!"
The soldiers, whom Rock recognized as members of MaxTac, stormed in, followed by the Sniper Joes under their command. They rapidly maneuvered themselves in between the crowd and the fighting robots, which included Bass' apparent siblings. However, as they did, one of them ran head-first into Amanda.
"Hey, watch it–"
She didn't have time to complete her sentence before the soldier pulled out an odd-looking pistol and fired three times within a second. Almost instantaneously, the red-haired witch's upper-right arm and knees had been pulverized by bolts of plasma. Suddenly without legs or an arm, Amanda fell to the ground, unconscious, the pain of the shots having knocked her out. Any onlookers quickly stampeded away, whilst the soldier continued into formation as if nothing had happened.
The rest of them made a beeline straight for the hostile robots, and once they arrived they took aim at their targets… specifically, at Bass. One of them, who had red highlights instead of blue, looked right at Mega Man.
"We'll take things from here, Mega Man. Thank you for keeping these bogeys occupied." he had an iron voice. The blue knight simply nodded and hastily left the battleground, dragging Akko behind him.
"Where the Hell are you going!?" Bass hollered. "Our fight isn't–"
"Set yourself on the ground and put your hands in the air!" the MaxTac commander barked at the flying robot. Instead of saying anything, Bass merely roared as he re-summoned his Quintessence Cannon and fired at the squadron. They opened fire in turn, not caring that Night was in the way; Rock looked away just as one of the cyborgs blew off the ROTC teacher's right arm.
Amidst the chaos, however, the crowd that had formed cleared out towards either the school or the parking lot, presumably to go home. However, Mega Man got behind a tree, hit the 'DE-MEGANIZE' button in his VTS monitor, and let his armor dissipate. As he did, he was jumped by–
"That was AMAZING!!!"
"Jesus fucking Christ!" he jumped, stepping back so he wouldn't fall over. "What was that for?"
A certain yellow-haired, African-descendant witch was pent up with excitement.
"Uh, I hate to break it to you, but maybe now is NOT THE TIME FOR THIS!!!" David yelled, gesturing to the brawl between the robots and MaxTac, which was going nowhere for either side.
Akko offered a less crass translation. "What he's saying is that we can talk about this later. Right now, we should head back to the school. Tiesel's probably waiting for Simon, and I told Dr. Cain to pick me up at 12:30."
She fell silent, before slowly nodding. Wordlessly, they headed back to the school building.
When they got there, the group found people– students, parents, a few alumni –standing around in the lobby. Some sat on the floor, despondent after seeing that night's events. It took a few minutes for Rock and co. to locate their friends. They found Sonia and Constantine attending to Amanda as best as they could, having cauterized the areas where that MaxTac goon had blown her limbs off.
"Shit, what the hell happened," the lab assistant asked as he knelt.
"THEY SHOT OFF HER ARMS AND LEGS," a high pitched, robotic voice replied. "WHAT ELSE DOES IT LOOK LIKE?"
It was only then that Rock noticed the German wizard was accompanied by a small robot, roughly 30 cm tall. It was gray and metallic, and looked like it came right out of a comic from the 1950s. He'd heard from Amanda and Sonia that Constantine was basically mute, so he had a "stanbot" to speak for him, so he quickly deduced that this was what they were talking about.
Nonetheless, the stanbot did not detract from his emotions. "God I'm sorry," he apologized, "I didn't know someone would call in–"
"It's fine, blue boy" Amanda grunted, craning her head up to face him. "These are nothing but flesh wounds."
"This isn't a Monty Python film, Amanda," Simon barked, "and this is NOT fine. How the heck are you supposed to… Y'know, be a witch without any limbs?"
"Hey, chill out Simon," David put a hand on his shoulder. "I know someone who can replace them easily."
"With what?" Sonia asked. "You can't just grow back your arms and legs from a… wait," she realized where the Hispanic teen was going and had a look on her face. "Don't tell me…"
David put his hands up and opened his palms. "Don't worry, I'm sure there's a kind of cyberarm that allows someone to still cast spells, it won't be any different from having a natural one."
"David, are you sure chipping Amanda in is a good idea?" Wangari objected. "Won't she become a cyberpsycho in the making? That would be crazy! Speaking of which, how'd you manage to zip up to that black tinhead anyway?"
David looked nervous. Fortunately (or unfortunately), he wouldn't have to answer, as they were interrupted by the clamoring of a certain trio of English immigrant witches.
" …I-I told you I had that hound dealt with! If you hadn't interfered…"
"Again, we're sorry, Diana. How were we supposed to know that thing would–"
As the three came out of the crowd of people into sight, it became clear why Diana sounded like she was in pain; she was missing her left arm from the elbow down. The blonde brat was gripping the bloodied stump with her remaining hand to keep herself from bleeding out.
As she approached, Diana noticed Rock and co. staring in shock at her. Wordlessly, she motioned her posse to follow her to the other side of the lobby. As they did, a certain magitek expert and father of three shuffled his way through the crowd towards our protagonists. He looked a bit exhausted.
"I came as fast as I could," he exhaled, "left Miho to look after the lab for the moment." he noticed Amanda laying dismembered, and stopped himself. "…dare I ask the deets of what happened?"
Several of them shook their heads.
He exhaled. "Listen, Rock, let's get you home and patch you up, especially after such a long night." Dr. Hikari comforted him. Rock looked up to look him in the eyes, then Akko and Simon, both of whom returned a smile. If Amanda could give a thumbs up right now, she would. He smiled back.
" …yeah, let's do that."
???
???; Friday November 1, 2199
S: "Let me get this straight, Dr. Wily. you're saying that your Battle Masters can help with the final implementation of Project Aqaba?"
W: "Correct, Mr. Singh. If your so-called 'orb' ever manages to break out of its container for whatever reason, you can deploy them to put down whatever genetic monstrosities it creates in the process. Your company can take the credit, and put itself in a better position to–"
S: "With all due respect, Doctor, the LMO's containment measures have not failed us since we retrieved it from Israel over a century ago."
W: "I wouldn't count on it. If I remember correctly, this orb nearly managed to free itself last month. Those silly lasers won't be able to hold back whatever powers it possesses for much longer at this rate."
S: "That… is a valid point, Doctor, but–"
I: "Sir?"
S: "Can it wait? We're having an important conversation."
I: "My apologies, Mr. Singh, but I just wanted to inform you that we've just recorded a massive spike in quintessence generation at Takeda Shingen High School. We've found the Claiomh Solais, sir.
S: "Really?"
…
S: "Then tell the Morgan brothers immediately. We need to recalibrate our plans to account for this."
I: "Understood. Oh, and Dr. Wily?"
W: "Was?"
I: "Your niece has arrived."
W: "Wunderbar. I'll greet her shortly. …my apologies, Mr. Singh, but we'll have to continue this conversation later."
S: "Indeed."
…
S: "…So you've finally decided to play your hand now, Mrs. Woodward? Then we'll see to it that the Grand Triskellion's true potential is finally unleashed…"
END OF ACT 1
Dear readers, we've finally made it to the ~25% point of the story. I would've published this chapter earlier, but college (specifically statistics class), the bloody euphoria of watching Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, and ongoing technical difficulties with my laptop delayed me by about three weeks. But here we are! and once again, thank you, for reading this and giving me feedback (if any). I hope I've made your time reading this crossover worth it.
Before we begin our interlude into ACT 2, though, I have a little something I want to share...
It has been only two days since the rampage of six prototype robots across the Setsuri Metropolitan Area came to an end. Following a nearly 24 hour siege of the Twin Peaks Factory in Makitihara, the doctor, a disgraced professor from Kyoto University over 25 years ago, was intercepted whilst escaping. Unfortunately, the JSDF tank brigade pursuing him soon lost track of his escape pod. As of the time of reporting, the Setsuri Police Department have been unable to find any leads to his current whereabouts, but that hasn't stopped them from releasing an arrest warrant for the 68 year-old robotics expert.
However, the story thickens when it comes to how Dr. Wily's robots were dispatched… or rather, who dispatched them.
This video of a blue knight robot defeating one of them in Abe Shinzo Park Friday evening has gone viral on the Datalinks, having garnered nearly three million views as of 5:00 PM this afternoon. His name: Mega Man. Having been reported throughout various locations throughout the city late Friday and throughout Saturday, It appears that this vigilante in shining armor is responsible for neutralizing Wily's robots and, as rumor has it, assisted the JSDF in retaking Twin Peaks.
Whilst the Emperor is arranging a funeral service for Adam Smasher, an unfortunate casualty of the attacks, the public have all their eyes turned towards this new, blue superhero, for lack of a better term. Who is he? What connection, if any, does he have with Dr. Wily? And most important of all, what will he do next?
Hajime Makimura in Setsuri, Nippon Network News Hour.
If there was one word to describe Rock and Akko's mood after the assault on the Twin Peaks Factory, it would be disappointment. Akko was disappointed that the person who nearly killed her had just gotten away, and that Elec Man had nearly fried her circuits – again; she was also disappointed that she couldn't do a damn thing about it, as the entire factory was going up in flames. Rock, meanwhile, was disappointed that Dr. Wily had gotten away and would not be facing justice in the foreseeable future; he was also disappointed that Diana was not reprimanded for her reckless actions by her aunt– Daryl, if his memory files were correct –but he wasn't mad about it. In spite of being a bitch towards him, Rock still worried about the young Cavendish's well-being, especially considering Bass was still on the loose as far as anyone knew.
After Dr. Hikari came to the factory and brought them back to the house, they were followed by a bunch of reporters later that evening; apparently, Daryl had spilled that the Robot Masters were his creations, originally. After explaining that Dr. Wily had essentially hacked the RMs before they were even supposed to be first turned on, most of the paparazzi promptly fucked off, though given how the media worked, they did come back a few weeks later, once the government's investigation into the "Wily Attacks" was underway.
But besides that, the two friends' lives had returned their friend back to normal… mostly.
When Tsueno had laid Rock down on his operating table after they got home, only the helmet came off easily. That, and a piece of armor at the base of his neck that covered a datajack plug-in, which Rock said the cyberpsychologists used to put him into a braindance. The rest of Mega Man's mythril armor, on the other hand, was quickly found to have been fused to the android's chassis, and had replaced his synthetic flesh skin. Fortunately, the good doctor was quickly able to figure out how to disassemble parts of it so he could fix the damage Mega Man had sustained fighting Elec Man and everything in the factory, as well as anything Simon missed during his repairs after pulling Rock out of the sakuradite mine.
Dr. Hikari then tried his hand on Akko, and his observations were even worse: her internal structure and components had been drastically altered from what was in Hecate's blueprints. Notably, the good doctor was surprised by the presence of a buster, though he chalked it up to something about the Shiny Rod becoming part of her; it had been able to turn into a bow or an ax sometimes in Chariot's shows, so Thomas theorized that this was just the Rod's way of expressing these offensive/defensive capabilities. After all, that was the reason he left the Buster in Rock's arm whilst converting him from that beaten-up Sniper Joe…
However, Dr. Hikari knew that Dr. Cain would likely flip out if he saw his daughter had been turned into a robot. So he had the two call in Simon, Sonia and Amanda in to try and reverse whatever magic spells had made them wind up like this, or at least Rock. Unfortunately, this task proved harder than anticipated; the emergency repairs made to the lab assistant robot had been done with the Shiny Rod… which was now fused with Akko and Hecate.
Realizing there was really no way out of this pickle, Amanda proposed that the two have a transformation spell cast on them, a la Jekyll and Hyde but without the split personality bullshit. This wouldn't totally get rid of their "armored" forms, so to speak, but it would allow them to return to their normal selves, with the added benefit of them being able to convert into Mega Man or Hecate respectively at will if they desired.
"Look on the bright side," Sonia put it, "you can have secret identities like the classics!" She was, of course, referring to Superman, Spider Man, Iron Man, the Green Lantern, Wonder Woman– the OG superheroes of mid-20th century comic books.
"Is that even necessary?" Rock asked. "It seems like a hassle if you ask me."
"Would you want us in the crossfire for being your friends?" Amanda retorted half-jokingly. "I mean, we can take care of ourselves, but what about your father?"
He conceded to her point.
After being shot up with magic one last time, things went relatively smoothly for the next month.
And then on the ides of March, Rock and Dr. Hikari came home to find the remains of Wave Man, Cut Man, Fire Man, and Ice Woman at the front doorstep, with a letter that read as follows:
Dr. Tsueno Hikari–Nishizumi,
Consider this a repayment for somehow creating a robot strong enough to dispatch our oni. I will be looking at the further development of your so-called "Robot Masters" with great interest.
–Saburo Arasaka
Safe to say, the fact that Elec Man had somehow managed to kill Adam fucking Smasher probably had something to do with this. It wasn't every day that one got a letter from the Emperor himself, but Dr. Hikari expressed his feeling that this wasn't necessarily a good thing.
The interviews for the Wily Attack investigation came shortly thereafter, the SPD sending a few officers over to the lab/house to grill Dr. Hikari on his activities at the time. Then they asked Rock to testify. Confused, one of the officers calmly explained that they'd seen footage from the vault under the school's dungeon during Bass' breakout (courtesy of Diana), and thus the entire Setsuri Police Department knew he was Mega Man; they wanted his perspective on the events of Wily's assault, and his takedown of the Robot Masters. He gave them all the answers they asked, which also included questions like
- "Why do you blink like normal people?" (his optical receptors lost focus if they took in light for longer than a few seconds, so his blinking allowed them to recalibrate)
- "How much weight can you lift?" (not much more than the average man, due to the limitations of the Sniper Joes' hydraulics and motor-joints)
- "Why do you have a system that can copy any scientific equipment, tool, or weapon?" (he was intended to be Dr. Hikari's lab assistant, as his secondary directive (the primary directive: being the good doctor's son)).
The very next day was April 19, exactly 1 year since Dr. Hikari had first activated him, and the good doctor wanted to celebrate the occasion. Unfortunately, he never designed his son to be able to eat any real food, but the lab assistant robot solved that issue by inviting his friends over to celebrate.
The next semester and a half went by without a hitch. However, over those four months, though Rock didn't know when exactly, he began to notice some people were acting… strange. For one, Sergeant Night wasn't as passive-aggressive as he remembered, being more vocally displeased. Since the robot didn't have any classes with the former drill sergeant (mercifully), he didn't learn how much his teaching style changed. Then again, Rock had no idea what his original teaching style was to begin with, though he assumed it was just like what he saw about drill sergeants in the old movies Dr. Hikari occasionally watched.
The other person acting funny was Diana (big surprise), but in a better way than Breaker. While she was demeaning and hostile towards him and his friends (particularly Akko) for the past two semesters, the young Cavendish had begun acting… more cordially towards them. She still belittled them verbally when she got the chance, but she wasn't outright hostile towards Rock, Akko and Simon anymore. Perhaps her, uh, mishaps had humbled her slightly? Maybe. But as far as Rock could tell, she, and Hannah and Barbara, were the same old pains in the backside they'd always been. Yet as the months went by, they were pestering them less and less frequently…
Then something came up on the calendar: the Samhain Festival. Held every Halloween night, this was a major must-attend event for students of Takeda Shingen taking the magic course… mainly because it was tradition for them to be the ones to prepare it. Students taking the regular course were also encouraged to come to the festival, but it wasn't mandatory. Rock had to pass last year because he was busy catching up on the semester he wasn't present for, but this year the lab assistant intended on attending the event, specifically to help Akko with whatever part of the whole thing she was assigned to prepare.
But for a while, the young Hikari–Nishizumi put the Samhain Festival to the back of his processor, because outside of school, this was when Rock got to finally know his sisters…
…kind of.
Dr. Hikari had neglected to tell him that Kuromorimine, the school that Miho and Maho attended and their mother ran as Headmistress, was a big name in the sports world. Like, really big. As big in sensha-do as Royalton Industries is in T-180 Racing. This, combined with the fact that Dr. Hikari was the husband of KMM's headmistress, so it was no surprise that he wanted his son to watch this year's national sensha-do championship. And Rock had no reason to not comply.
The first match Kuromorimine was in was up against Jatkosota, a Finnish-themed school from the Japanese home islands with only a BT-42 to its team. However, the Finns proved cunning, and nearly took Kuromorimine out of the tournament. It was only due to quick thinking by Miho and another tank commander, whose name Rock didn't know, that the German-themed school prevailed.
The next two matches Rock didn't bother to record in detail in his memory files, since Kuromorimine won those no problem.
But then KMM fought Pravda – and lost. It was based on the city ship Kiev and themed off of the old Soviet Union, which Rock considered fitting in a way, since they were the ones to banish fascism to the dustbin of history… at least until it returned amidst the chaos of the 21st century. This was supposed to be Kuromorimine's 10th national championship victory in a row, but the match was fought in… less than ideal weather. One of KMM's tanks fell into a river, and Miho– who was commanding the flag tank –dove in and saved them… at the cost of leaving the flag tank easy prey for Pravda to snipe.
Rock was a little disappointed his sisters didn't win. But hey, sensha-do's just a sport. You win some, you lose some, not a big deal.
…right?
Apparently not, as Dr. Hikari told him. See, Shiho Nishizumi took sensha-do more seriously than most people. To her, it was like a religion, and the family/clan's philosophy on how to play sensha-do (essentially "win at any and all costs, bar cheating") was the basic way she lived most of the time. And because Miho had just cost the school its win– its would-be record-breaking tenth national championship in a row, to be clear –Tsueno said that her mother would not just let this slide. But he reassured his son that the worst Shiho could do was give the youngest of his sisters a strongly-worded lecture about the "values" of having no empathy, at least on the battlefield…
Dr. Hikari's lab, Setsuri, Japan
1:00 P.M.; Thursday, October 31, 2199
…unfortunately, in the hours before the Samhain Festival, they were both proven sorely wrong, as Rock found Miho at the front door (which had long since been replaced) of the lab after school. (Friday would be off, FYI)
Miho was an average-sized Japanese girl (159 cm tall), she sported light brown hair that reached to her shoulders. Her bright, brown eyes looked almost orange; although round and sweet, they appeared almost… dead. Like something had sucked the life out of her. She was wearing a striped, white and green hoodie with long sleeves and jeans, and was carrying a bag of luggage when Rock had unexpectedly greeted her at the front door.
She looked… surprised. Nervously, she fumbled "Um, is Dr. Thomas Hikari here, Mr. …?"
The lab assistant quickly called for the good doctor, who was upstairs shaving his beard. He came a few minutes later, and was just as surprised to see his daughter present. "Miho?"
"Chichioya… I-it's been a while." she nervously replied. Tsueno pulled his younger daughter into a hug, which Miho returned.
"I missed you," the good doctor smiled. "And you've grown so much since…!"
"I missed you too," she replied, giving a sad smile as her father guided her inside. Rock closed the door behind them.
"It's great to see you, but I have to ask," Thomas said, "what are you doing so far from home?"
Miho looked down for a moment, before taking off a backpack that resembled the face of an injured, but smiling teddy bear (something Rock had somehow missed), and took a few documents out. She handed them to Dr. Hikari for him to see.
The good doctor looked over the stapled set of paper she'd given him, and was silent for a long moment before replying.
"You're transferring to Oarai Girls' Academy?" he said, which took Rock by surprise (more than he already had been by her showing up at all).
Oarai Girls' Academy was one of the lesser-known city ship-based schools, and based on the Zuikaku. It's home port just so happened to be in Shin Hiroshima, the other satellite city of Setsuri besides Makitihara, and the only one of the three with a port able to accommodate city ships. This was practical, as the original home port of the Zuikaku, Oarai, had been one of the countless settlements swallowed by the waves during the Deluge, and the MMEXT had been getting tired of shifting it between the various CS-accommodative ports that were still relatively dry.
"I, uh, assume you saw how finals went?" Miho asked hesitantly, looking apprehensive.
Tsueno frowned. "Yes, Rock and I saw them on TV," he replied, nodding. "I'm guessing that Shiho didn't take your… stunt too kindly."
She nodded, though it looked like she was holding back tears. "I'll… um, I-I'll be staying here until the Zuikaku returns to port, in a few weeks… S-sorry for–"
"It's fine, honey," Dr. Hikari reassured, patting his daughter on the back. "I don't blame you for what happened out there. If anything, the Sensha-do league should've delayed the match, but I suppose there's nothing we can do about it now. All we can do is learn from the experience, and move on."
As Miho began letting her tears out, Tsueno motioned Rock to make sure a room was empty enough for her to stay in. He nodded, but kept a note in his files that he'd ask a few things later.
Dr. Hikari's lab, Setsuri, Japan
5:30 P.M.; Thursday, October 31, 2199
The Hikaris, including Miho, were at the table in the dining room, which had long since been repaired after Break Man's disastrous scuffle with Akko nearly half a year ago. As they'd been eating udon (and by that, I mean Dr. Hikari and the younger Nishizumi, all Rock had was a glass of water to refuel his power plant), the lab assistant had asked about Shiho's… personality. Ever since activation, the lab assistant robot had sensed that Dr. Hikari had left his mother's mansion for a reason, but he'd figured that it had to do with clashing interests over sensha-do and his robotics/magitek career.
Turns out, that was only half the reason. The other half…
"So you're saying that the reason you left was… because of me?"
"I wouldn't put it that way," the good doctor replied solemnly, "but she wasn't on board with the idea of…" He chose his words carefully. "…creating a person through means that didn't involve…"
There was an awkward silence.
Tsueno sighed, putting a hand to his face. "I don't know why she was against it, but seeing as her mother– your grandmother –was against the use of even basic electronics like cellphones, I suppose she rubbed off on your mother more than I thought."
"So you're saying that mom might not even see me as her son?" Rock asked.
Dr. Hikari didn't respond, but as his body language expressed, the answer was a resounding 'yes'.
"Dad, why didn't you tell me this earlier!?"
"Honestly, Rock, it was because most people these days don't grow up with both parents; I didn't have parents after I was fifteen," he clarified. "I didn't want you to mature knowing that only one of us loved you, and I really do–"
"Stop," Rock cut him off, holding his left hand up as a gesture. He sighed. "Sorry, dad, I just… I need some time to process this." With that, he got up from the table and went to the lab, specifically towards his stasis station or "bed," if he were human.
"Is he really…?" Miho asked.
"Yes, Miho, that is your little brother," Dr. Hikari confirmed. "Though it appears like he's already entering his rebellious phase."
The brunette gave a small smile. "Eh… he does kind of look like onee-chan, now that I think of it," she mused, "without the blue metal bits."
"I designed him to look a bit like both you and your sister, in my image" he admitted. "I gave him eyes, built his heart, his hair– but I never programmed his sense of justice into his A.G.I."
Laying in his stasis station, Rock thought long and hard.
His thoughts were interrupted, however, by the sound of someone knocking on the door. Wondering who it could be this time, Rock stepped out of his station and opened the door to find Simon standing there eagerly… wearing a worn-down tuxedo.
"Uh, Simon, what are you…?"
"Come on Rock," he complained, "don't tell me you forgot about the Samhain Festival already!"
Taking a few milliseconds to check back through his memory files, and confirm his friend's statement; the festival at the school was tonight, and he'd promised that he'd be there to help Akko prepare for her… uh, what was she assigned to prepare again? He hadn't really paid attention to that.
"Sorry, today was a little hectic here," he apologized. "Miho showed up unexpectedly, and–"
He was cut off by the honking of a horn from nearby. Craning his head out the door, Rock found Tiesel in the driver's seat of a rusty, teal, four-seater tow truck. "Come on, Simon," the white-haired cyborg called, "you're going to be late if ya don't hurry the fuck up!"
"You can explain that on the way there," Simon sighed, "we need to go."
Rock called to his father that he had to go, and left.
From there, he explained everything to Simon whilst driving down to Takeda Shingen. How his mother was opposed to his very existence, and how she basically kicked his younger (but older) sister for essentially showing a bit of compassion.
"Wow," Tiesel said, amazed at the ridiculousness of the situation. "I heard the Nishizumi clan was strict, but I never thought it was that strict. At least the Shimadas don't throw away their kinder shensha-do practitioners at Selection U."
"I know, but she's my mother," Rock emphasized. "Hell, I've never even met her, but–"
"Rock," Simon stopped the robot from continuing. "Your creator's spouse is a bitch. We get it. She's a less-than-great person. But that doesn't mean that makes you a terrible person," he explained pointedly.
"But she's family," the robot objected. "Dr. Hikari married her for a reason. I can't compute why she'd–"
"Stop! Stop." Simon was waving his hands in front of Rock's face. "I know this may cause an error 404 in your supercomputer brain, but you don't have to consider her family."
"…what?"
"Have I ever told you about my big bro?" the blue-haired teen asked as he crossed his arms.
"No, I'm afraid you haven't," Rock admitted.
"Before Rigel adopted me and I met Tiesel and Tron, there was someone else who looked after me. His name was Kamina, and he was practically my older brother whilst I was in the foster system. I loved him, and he loved me. I-in a brotherly way, not…"
"I know," Rock replied. Simon wasn't gay, as far as he'd known, and this just confirmed it.
The teen nodded. "My point is, family doesn't have to be biological. It can be your closest friends, for instance. Or it could be–"
The tow truck came to a sudden stop. "Okay, boys," Tiesel bellowed, "we're here!" looking out the windows, the two could see that, indeed, they'd arrived at Takeda Shingen High School. They offloaded, and Rock and Simon began their way towards the front entrance.
"So, quick question," Rock asked. "Do you remember what part of the festival Akko's in charge of?"
Outside Takeda Shingen High School, Setsuri, Japan
9:00 P.M.; Thursday, October 31, 2199
Being a festival that has been celebrated for 1800 years, normally it would have been the students of Luna Nova Academy to prepare for the Samhain Festival. Unfortunately, Luna Nova was blown to Kingdom Come and turned into alien metal during the Great Reckoning, and its remains were now under 30-ish meters of polar meltwater (that is to say that Luna Nova, much like a good chunk of England, was now under the ocean), so it had fallen upon various other magic schools to prepare for the festival ever since, and it just so happened that it was Takeda Shingen's turn this year.
As the evening turned to night, and students and alumni of Takeda Shingen gathered outside the school in between the building and the entrance to the dungeon, the festival went on as planned a team of students from the magic course each preparing part of the event, which would be topped by a medieval magic dinner course for almost everyone.
…well, almost everyone. Every year, there was a sacrifice made to the ghost of Vajarois, who wakes up at midnight every festival and devours the team chosen for the sacrifice before returning to her slumber until the next festival.
…At least, if the ghost hadn't also been sent to Kingdom Come by the Noir Rod, somehow. Thus, the magic community had to improvise, as Rock was now learning.
"So they want you," he said to Akko, who had been chosen to be the sacrifice this year, "to climb into a big pot, and boil you alive!?"
"Pretty much," the secretly-robotic witch sighed in frustration. The three friends were in the backstage area of a large stage that the staff had erected the previous night, specifically in the hollow space underneath the stage floor.
"Sucks that you had to choose the most shitty part of this entire festival," Simon remarked. "I think you'd have had better chances at becoming the Moonlit Witch if you chose to prepare the feast."
"Simon," Akko moaned, "you know I'm terrible at cooking! Besides that, I wasn't even allowed to choose this role in the first place."
"Really?" the robot asked, before sarcastically giving a shot as to what happened. "Let me guess: you did something poorly-advised and Ms. Finnelan straight-up gave this task to you as punishment."
"No, I didn't even do anything this time!" Akko nearly yelled, surprising the robot. "It's like she hates me or something…"
"I wouldn't be surprised if half the school hates you," the goggled boy snarked in response, which got him a frustrated look from his witchy friend. "What? You go against most of what they teach. It's natural that at least the magic course's teachers are going to hold at least a little displeasure."
"Hey Akko, the set's nearly ready!" called out the voice of someone the lab assistant did not recognize. From the stage floor, a hispanic teenage boy came down the stairways. He had light brown eyes and dark brown hair that he wore in a quaffed hairstyle, with the sides shaved. He had a thin, athletic build, and wore a black t-shirt, two golden chain necklaces (one with a cross), gray cropped sweatpants with two yellow straps on both sides, and white tennis shoes with blue straps. It was very kitsch, as Rock would later learn.
"Wangari's got the pot set up, and is getting the… water…" the teen trailed off upon seeing who was in the backstage. "You know these guys?"
"David, I said that Simon and Rock were going to help us out," Akko replied, a little irritated. "God, can't you remember anything!?"
"Oh, muy mal," he replied, approaching Simon. "Sorry, digger man, I forgot you were coming."
"No problem," the goggled boy laughed it off. "Though could you please not use that name around here? It's a little embarrassing."
"I'll remember that," the hispanic teen replied, sheepishly smiling, before turning to Rock. "And you would be…"
"Rock," he said in a formal, but friendly tone. "Rock Hikari."
"Oh, you're the robot boy everyone is avoiding," he realized, before holding his hand out. "I'm David Martinez."
The two shook hands, before
"Sorry I haven't introduced you to him earlier, you haven't been around when the scrapyard's busy," Simon shook his head. "Anyway, you said Wangari needed help, Akko?"
[Music cue: "Magic Festival," Little Witch Academia OST]
As the festival got underway, Rock could see nothing of note happen. In fact, everything the students were doing seemed… kind of boring, to be frank. Nothing any of the students did was really captivating, which, from what Rock could tell, the various judges would agree with. Headmaster Gnome looked a little nervous about it in his chair, which was with said judges in the front row of lawn chairs. There were a dozen rows behind them, for other students, alumni, and parents to watch.
Nothing seemed to impress them. Not the grand bouquet, the various potions, none of the various incantations, not some ancient dark dance that Rock couldn't care less about. Amanda and Sonia, as well as a classmate of theirs (Constantine, if his memory files were correct), did several tricks on a broom, but clearly that didn't do anything to impress the court either.
Then it was Diana and her posse's turn. They recited an ancient summoning spell that briefly drowned the entire stage in water – and gave Rock and co. a thorough wash-down below them as the water poured through between the floorboards above. Fortunately, both the blue knight in disguise and his magical friend were waterproof by design. Still, in spite of the blonde brat's expectations, this failed to impress the judges either, which left her, Hannah, and Barbara walking off stage fuming.
Outside Takeda Shingen High School, Setsuri, Japan
11:30 P.M.; Thursday, October 31, 2199
So now it was Akko's turn. But as the three friends + David and Wangari, an energetic African-descendant witch, prepared the stage, they began to hear high-pitched noises outside. David went over to the closed curtains to check what was happening.
"Uh, guys," he called, "you might wanna come see this."
"David, we need to finish setting this performance," Simon complained, grunting. He was helping Akko push the giant, three-legged pot holding the scalding hot water towards the center of the stage.
"Our performance might not even happen," he said, taking the rest of the group aback. "It's pandemonium out there."
Rock was the first to come over and see what Martinez was talking about. Sure enough, the chairs had been largely abandoned, and the audience was in a panic. As to why that was, it didn't take much to figure it out, because amidst the chaos he managed to spot a familiar, black and gold super fighting robot attacking people with his tank cannon.
"Bass? What's he doing back here?"
"You know one of those guys?" David asked.
"Uh, long story." he replied curtly. "All you need to know for now is that he's big trouble."
"Well, what about his buddies?"
"…buddies?" Rock checked outside the curtain once more.
True to David's word, Bass wasn't terrorizing the crowd alone. In one corner, a purple and white robot with a human face was aiming his hands – no, his dual busters at a group of people, including Headmaster Gnome. Fortunately, he was fighting back against the purple attacker, though Lloyd didn't seem to be leaving as much as a scratch on his opponent.
In another corner, there was a brutish, red-armored robot that looked more like a beast than a man, and had spikes all over him, curled up into a red, spiky ball and tried to run over a group of students, reducing them to–
Well, if Rock were human, he'd have barfed from looking at what was left of them.
In the middle of the group was a black and purple robotic hound, as it lunged at the judges. Fortunately, Diana was near and cast a spell that put up a magenta barrier between them and the black and purple robo-beast, though that didn't stop it from charging the barrier regardless.
In the final corner, Ms. Finnelan was trying to combat a gold and blue robot that looked a bit like a gladiator, who wielded a golden spear. She cast spell after spell at him, including a few fireballs. He simply absorbed them into his spear, which began glowing bright. Then, in an instant, it seemed to return all the spells the older witch cast right back at her. Rock briefly looked away, and glimpsed Bass approaching the gladiator robot, but when his eyes returned to Ms. Finnelan, there was nothing left of her but a black smear on the ground.
"What the Hell, Enker!" The super fighting robot seemed to be berating the gladiator over the screams of everyone else. "I told you to terrorize them, not kill them! Have you not heard of the three laws!?"
"Like I care," the robot apparently named Enker replied, clearly not giving a crap of what Bass thought. The black and gold robot facepalmed, and uttered something Rock wasn't able to make out.
"This… isn't good."
"No shit, Sherlock," Simon replied in a hushed voice, having walked over in time to see their history teacher get vaporized. "You think he came back with his friends for a certain bitch?"
"I doubt it," the lab assistant replied, also hushed. "He seemed to have lost interest in Diana when I got up to the surface."
"Wait, they're after who?" David interrupted since he obviously wasn't in-the-know about what transpired at the end of the last school year.
"David, stay out of this."
"Then why is he back here?" the hispanic teen asked.
"Well, that we need to find out." The lab assistant then began walking away.
"Wait, you can't just– do you-know-what!" Simon exclaimed.
"Like I have a choice, Simon. These assholes are butchering our classmates and I am not going to let that continue!"
The blue-haired teen was about to say something, but then he sighed and put his hand to his face. "Fine. I'll distract David and Wangari for you, but make sure nobody sees you."
"I won't." Rock then sprinted for the stairwell, and left the stage.
Wangari was quick to notice. "Hey, where are you going!?" she yelled.
"Uh, Wangari, can you help us get this off the stage for now?" Akko asked, referring to the giant cauldron.
As they distracted the hispanic and African students, Rock ran out the back of the wooden stage, into the forest beyond the dungeon's entrance, before hiding behind a sufficiently-wide tree. After making sure nobody was watching, his internal monitors brought up his VTS system. Aside from the weapons of all the Robot Masters being listed, in the bottom-right corner there was a tab that said "MEGANIZE". Mentally, he pressed it, and the air directly surrounding him began to distort and glow a light blue. It pixelized, but in 3-D. When the pixels dissipated and cleared, his armor had reappeared, and Rock – no, Mega Man was ready for action.
Running back, around to where he was in front of the stage, he confronted the red, spiky robot. Said opponent quickly noticed his presence, and laughed.
"Well, look who finally showed up." His voice was deep, though not threateningly so.
"I don't know who you are, but maybe you ought to belong in a carnival or circus than in a festival like this." he replied, deploying his buster.
"Why?" he asked. "I'm having fun as it is."
"Then you really might want to reconsider your definition of 'fun,'" the blue knight replied, taking aim. Before the two could have at it, however—
"That's enough!"
Both robots turned to see Bass approaching, with Enker following. Up close, Rock could now see that the super fighting robot had had a refurbishment since they'd last seen each other, as all the patches of rust that was on the old robot's body were gone.
"Punk, stand aside," the black and gold robot told the red one. "He's mine."
"Seriously!?" the robot threw his arms up. "Ugh, why do you have to be so harsh, bro?"
"Do we need to remind you who broke you out of []'s dungeon, Punk?" Enker asked.
"Ugh, fine!" the red robot, apparently named Punk stormed off.
[Music cue: "Mega Man 7 Remix: Theme of Bass" by Jahn Davis]
"So, now that I've finally gotten you out in the open, how about we finish that fight we were having before the police showed up?" Bass' left arm reformatted into his Quintessence Cannon, which he aimed at the blue knight.
"Wait, you're saying that you did all this," he said, gesturing to the scene of chaos and havoc around them, "to lure me out?"
"Yeah, basically," Bass admitted. "Though my brothers are a little trigger happy, it seems. But enough about that. We have a fight to continue, do we not?"
Mega Man groaned in frustration, doing his best to hold back his immense rage at these actions. "Alright, let's get this over with. But make sure nobody else gets hurt."
"No promises."
With that, the black and blue robots fired their weapons.
BOOM
Mega Man dodge the shot of pure quintessence, whilst Bass did the same for the miniature star. The latter ran behind a food stand for cover, shooting from behind it at the blue knight. The shot was deafening, as all shots from a tank gun are, and was enough to scare any close observers of the fight to back farther away. Rock, for his part, switched to the ROlling Cutters, and threw the blades around the food stand, grazing Bass' left thigh.
"Gah! What the Hell!?" he peered out from behind the wooden stand, and saw the cutters return to the normally blue knight's hand. "That's cheating!"
"I wouldn't call it cheating," Rock mused. "I call it an upgrade."
"Upgrades, then?" the fighting robot chuckled. "Well, so have I."
Before Mega Man could react, Bass lunged and tackled him, but instead of friction bringing the knight to a stop, he and the black bomber seemed to be continually dragging him on the grass. This was explained moments later, when Bass pulled Mega Man up by the neck and flew about five meters in the air, then threw the normally blue robot into the stage. To his relief, he found that it had already been vacated when he opened his optics and briefly glanced around. This was interrupted by his opponent swooping in and giving Rock a velocity-enhanced punch to the face, sending him through the stage floor, down into the backstage.
The knight's gyroscopes were given no time to recalibrate, as Bass threw a volley of punches that landed all around his body. Alarm bells went off in his internal monitors, too fast for his processor to register. Once they ended, the black bomber's Quintessence Cannon pixelated and shortened, but didn't disappear entirely, into a nozzle similar to the one on his buster, before firing a machine gun volley of lemons at Mega Man. He'd barely gotten back up and out of the way before they hit, but Bass kept firing, tearing up the back wall and sending splinters of all sizes flying everywhere, and catching other parts of the wooden wall on fire.
If a human was in the middle of this, the experience could be summed up as "not fun."
But firing God-knows-how-many green lemons rapidly tends to create a lot of waste heat, and even Bass knew this as he paused his firing to let his weapon cool off. Mega Man took advantage of this by switching to the Thunder Beam, and fired a few balls of lightning at his opponent. Bass dodged them with ease, before firing a normal blast from his Cannon.
BOOM
Rock dodged, and the bolt of quintessence struck a tree behind him, splintering it and causing the top part to fall over. He would've shouted 'timber,' but didn't because now wasn't the time. However, his thoughts were interrupted by the voice of Akko.
"Watch it, will you!?"
Looking slightly down from the downed tree for half a second, he noticed his friends were taking cover in the forest. Taking this into account, Mega Man turned around in time to see Bass swinging his fist at him. He ducked under, twisted around and stood up straight before deploying his buster and firing at the black and gold robot in the chest. He only stumbled a little, but that was enough for Rock to back himself away from his opponent.
"Well, you're tougher than I expected," Bass grunted, "but that doesn't mean I'm going easy on you. How about we turn up the heat?"
"Funny that you say that," Mega Man replied, switching to the Fire Storm and subsequently turning his armor red and black.
"I didn't mean that literally," the black robot said. "Not that I'm complaining."
[End music cue]
Outside Takeda Shingen High School, Setsuri, Japan
12:05 A.M.; Friday, November 1, 2199
Lloyd Gnome had anticipated that he'd one day see a Samhain Festival go sideways, but not in the way it was right this moment. The only way he'd thought shit could hit the fan was if the ancient dark dance would summon a demon or some other hellspawn. But this?
This was something neither he nor any of the teachers could have anticipated.
He probably should have known that the black bomber robot Diana released at the end of last school year would eventually return. But it was pointless to dwell on the past, especially with the crisis in the present.
As Nelson continued trying to guide the students, their parents, and the other guests to the school building, Lloyd was busy holding the line against these fowl robots, particularly against the purple one with twin busters. He cast a [] spell on it, only for the robot to block it with his arms. He retaliated with a volley of magenta lemons from his busters, though fortunately, the headmaster was quick enough to erect a barrier to block them.
"You're better than I anticipated," the robot said. "I didn't think you'd last this long."
"What else did you expect?" he rhetorically asked. "A headmaster's got to protect their students."
"Well then, can you protect them against this–"
Before Lloyd knew what he was even talking about, the robot was struck in the back by a small explosion and fell face-first onto the grass. Behind where he stood was Sergeant Night, who was wielding a bazooka over his left shoulder.
"Apologies for being late, Lord Gnome," he said, "I forgot where in the barracks I put this."
"Sergeant!" Headmaster Gnome stormed right over to the black-haired, bearded ex-drill sergeant. "Why are you carrying a weapon on school grounds!?"
"I've had it here just in case something like this happened after the whole Wily incident," Isuru explained, his face stern. "And by the way, Ms. Finnelan got reduced to–"
"I saw what happened to her," Lloyd cut him off. "We're going to have a talk about that bazooka when this is over."
"That'll be a few minutes," Sgt. Night replied, "considering how far we are from Setsuri."
This concerned the green-ish skinned headmaster, who raised an eyebrow. "What are you getting at?"
"I called in MaxTac to deal with the situation."
"You WHAT!?"
For context, MaxTac was a private military company that dealt with cyberpsychos that normal cybersquads could not handle. And they were a lot more destructive than their police counterparts, and had no qualms about killing innocent (or not-so-innocent) bystanders in the process. Rumor had it that most of MaxTac's personnel were former cyberpsychos themselves, which– if true, and that was a big "if" –went a long way explaining the extremely high civilian casualty rates in most of their operations.
"Relax, I'll pay for the fees and collateral damage to the school myself," Breaker tried to reassure his superior, to little avail.
"And what about the living collateral damage!?" he roared. "They'll mow everyone down just to get to their target, Breaker! You idiot!"
"Call me what you want, but last time a cybersquad tried to take down those two," he retorted, gesturing to the continuing fight between Mega Man and Bass, "they were utterly annihilated by the black one."
Lloyd didn't even respond to the JROTC teacher this time. Instead, he stormed off in a huff towards Mrs. Nelson. Before Night could follow, he was nearly shot in the ass; the purple robot had gotten back on its feet, and he was not happy.
This was insane. David was seeing Mega Man fight… and he wasn't sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing. On one hand, Mega Man was already a freaking legend amongst common folk, albeit not among the ranks of Johnny Silverhand… yet.
On the other hand, he'd met him in possibly the worst circumstances imaginable. David had seen that things were hectic off-stage, to put it mildly. From what he saw, Miss Nelson was ordering everyone to evacuate into the school building from her broom in the sky, but not that many were listening. If his mother knew what was going on right now…
" …Earth to David? Can you hear us?" the irritated voice of Akko faded into his ears, bringing the hispanic out of his thoughts.
"Oh- Sorry, I didn't know you were-"
"It's fine, David," Simon cut in. "Right now, we probably ought to focus on getting a safe distance away from this shitshow."
He wasn't lying. Right now, the group of students were hiding behind a bush within the small forest behind the now-burning stage.
"Yeah, you're probably right," David admitted. "Mom'll kill me if I get myself hurt, so…"
At that moment a fireball flew over the group's heads.
"Eh? What's Mega Man thinking?" Wangari asked aloud, gust as another one flew over to their right. "He's going to start a forest fire at this rate!"
It was at this moment that they saw Bass fly-throttling the blue knight again, this time right in their direction. The students barely got out of their path before they flew by, and promptly crashed into a tree. Looking up, David could see that Mega Man– whose armor was now orange and white(?) –was being pinned between said tree and the black robot.
Quickly, the Hispanic got to his feet to dash over, ignoring Simon calling his name. He didn't want to use it, but considering his options, he wasn't going to let someone get pointlessly killed in this clusterfuck. Not like his mother had…
Okay, maybe using the Rolling Cutters wasn't the best idea his processor came up with.
At the moment, Bass was pinning him hard against something, the black and gold robot pressing his Quintessence Cannon (which had returned to its original length) against his chest.
"You're better than I anticipated," Bass said, grinning, "I can see how you managed to take on seven magitek robots with relative ease."
"Well, most of them weren't built for combat," Rock croaked out, his opponent's hand straining his voice synthesizer (and his neck in general).
"You can't tell a compliment when you get one, can you?" the fighting robot snarked. "Well, at least you gave me a fun time."
The normally blue knight could hear the Quintessence Cannon whirring up for a shot, but to his surprise, he was released when something threw Bass off his feet. Rock landed on his feet, and quickly glanced around to ascertain what just happened. This was quickly apparent: standing nearby, he found David clenching his fist in pain, Bass stumbling back to his feet to retaliate.
Quickly, Mega man switched to the Ice Slasher. His armor's darker blue components turned white and blue (the same shade as the lighter parts of his default blue), and the front third of his buster mechanically shapeshifted so that it tapered into a rectangle at its nozzle. It only took another half-second to aim, before the knight fired a teal colored beam of ice-magic at his opponent. In the blink of an eye, Bass was frozen in a block of ice, his fist just a centimeter away from hitting David in the face.
Disarming himself and reverting to his blue color scheme, he strided over to the Hispanic teenager. "Sir, what are you doing here?" he asked, pretending not to know him.
"Uh, sorry," David sheepishly smiled back at the blue knight. "I-I thought I could help."
"While I appreciate the effort, you shouldn't go charging in without a plan," Mega Man replied.
The air was filled by a loud *CRACK*, coming from the ice block right by them, followed by a low, continuous cracking noise.
"Get to safety, I'll deal with him!"
David nodded, and bolted further into the forest, as Bass shattered his icy prison.
"Ugh! You think a measly block of ice will stop me?"
"No," Rock honestly answered. "It was only supposed to slow you down."
"Is that so?" Some of the vegetation began rustling. "This may surprise you, but I've been holding back my true power."
Rock looked incredulous. "Are you fucking serious?"
"What do you mean, 'am I serious?'" Bass got back on his feet. "You see, Treble and I, we're inseparable." As if on cue (and in all likelihood, it probably was on cue), the black and purple lion bot, who was currently pinning a scratched-up Diana to the ground, leapt over to the fighting robot's side.
"You do realize this is cheating, right?"
"I don't recall having any rules in the first place, you blue bum."
With that, he and the lion, Treble, leapt into the air and… um… merged, a bright light emanating from them. When it cleared a moment later, it became apparent that Treble had turned into some kind of power armor for their master. Bass was now black and purple in color, and he now had two purple wings with air turbines in them.
[Author's note: Think of Laserbeak from Dark of the Moon when visualizing the wings on Bass and Treble's combined form.]
So he can combine with his dog, the blue knight thought. Well, that's something I didn't see coming.
Bass, for his part, was laughing victoriously "HON! Now you will get a taste of what true power is–!"
And then he got a lemon of pure quintessence to the face.
As the black robot was sent into a mid-air somersault, Rock turned around to see Akko standing there, in her "armored" form.
"Geez, can that guy just shut up for once," she groaned. Mega Man walked up to her.
"Before you ask, Simon's taking care of getting Wangari to safe–"
She cut herself off as Bass regained control of his attitude and began firing his cannon in its rapid-fire, buster-like configuration.
She frantically dodged the volley of green lemons, before returning with a Quintessence barrier to the face. This forced Bass to land, though he quickly deployed his arm cannon and fired another deafening shot. To his surprise, Akko manifested a quinessence bowl (for lack of a better description) and caught the green projectile, and somehow absorbed it into herself.
"Noctu Orfei Aude Fraetor," she hollered as her eyes and the seven crystals located throughout her body started glowing mint green. Her own buster began to shapeshift into… some kind of bow, as an arrow of pure quintessence manifested. Akko took a fighting stance and pulled the arrow back, and the arms of the bow bent back as if the projectile was attached to some invisible string with a notch.
"SHINY ARC!"
Hold up, Mega Man thought in a millisecond, wasn't that phrase used by… ?
"Impossible!" Bass screamed, visibly surprised and audibly a bit horrified. "How are you wielding the Claiomh Solais! The only person who can wield it is–!"
He never finished his sentence. Akko let go of the arrow and, in an instant, it flew and struck the black and purple robot square in the blue triangle on his chest. There was a massive, deafening green explosion, followed by a cascade of multicolored fireworks going off in the air above.
Rock, for his part, was nearly thrown by the blast onto another tree, and fought to keep himself upright. As soon as the glow died and the dust and smoke settled, he opened his eyes to see Akko still standing where she was, completely unscathed. Bass was still there, in the middle of a now blackened patch of ground, but the Shiny Arc had damaged him to the point that he was left kneeling.
"So, are you done with this banter now?" Mega Man asked. "I think we've given everyone here quite a show already."
Bass laughed, his slight French accent peeking through. "Hon! As if!"
"Boss bro!"
The two DHNs turned to see the purple robot running in from the direction of the crowds and the stage, with Sgt. Night giving chase.
"Well I hate to stop your fight prematurely again," the robot, Ballade, said, "but we've got company."
Sure enough, behind the crowd a fleet of military APCs was pulling into the parking lot and rapidly offloading seven soldiers and a dozen Sniper Joes. The soldiers' helmets covered their eyes, but had six camera lenses on them so they'd still be able to see; there were three lenses on each side, in a triangular pattern. Their armor was black, with blue highlights, and the Sniper Joes were painted the same way.
"Oh come on!" frustrated, the black and gold robot shook his fists in rage. "Fucking police!"
The soldiers, whom Rock recognized as members of MaxTac, stormed in, followed by the Sniper Joes under their command. They rapidly maneuvered themselves in between the crowd and the fighting robots, which included Bass' apparent siblings. However, as they did, one of them ran head-first into Amanda.
"Hey, watch it–"
She didn't have time to complete her sentence before the soldier pulled out an odd-looking pistol and fired three times within a second. Almost instantaneously, the red-haired witch's upper-right arm and knees had been pulverized by bolts of plasma. Suddenly without legs or an arm, Amanda fell to the ground, unconscious, the pain of the shots having knocked her out. Any onlookers quickly stampeded away, whilst the soldier continued into formation as if nothing had happened.
The rest of them made a beeline straight for the hostile robots, and once they arrived they took aim at their targets… specifically, at Bass. One of them, who had red highlights instead of blue, looked right at Mega Man.
"We'll take things from here, Mega Man. Thank you for keeping these bogeys occupied." he had an iron voice. The blue knight simply nodded and hastily left the battleground, dragging Akko behind him.
"Where the Hell are you going!?" Bass hollered. "Our fight isn't–"
"Set yourself on the ground and put your hands in the air!" the MaxTac commander barked at the flying robot. Instead of saying anything, Bass merely roared as he re-summoned his Quintessence Cannon and fired at the squadron. They opened fire in turn, not caring that Night was in the way; Rock looked away just as one of the cyborgs blew off the ROTC teacher's right arm.
Amidst the chaos, however, the crowd that had formed cleared out towards either the school or the parking lot, presumably to go home. However, Mega Man got behind a tree, hit the 'DE-MEGANIZE' button in his VTS monitor, and let his armor dissipate. As he did, he was jumped by–
"That was AMAZING!!!"
"Jesus fucking Christ!" he jumped, stepping back so he wouldn't fall over. "What was that for?"
A certain yellow-haired, African-descendant witch was pent up with excitement.
"Uh, I hate to break it to you, but maybe now is NOT THE TIME FOR THIS!!!" David yelled, gesturing to the brawl between the robots and MaxTac, which was going nowhere for either side.
Akko offered a less crass translation. "What he's saying is that we can talk about this later. Right now, we should head back to the school. Tiesel's probably waiting for Simon, and I told Dr. Cain to pick me up at 12:30."
She fell silent, before slowly nodding. Wordlessly, they headed back to the school building.
When they got there, the group found people– students, parents, a few alumni –standing around in the lobby. Some sat on the floor, despondent after seeing that night's events. It took a few minutes for Rock and co. to locate their friends. They found Sonia and Constantine attending to Amanda as best as they could, having cauterized the areas where that MaxTac goon had blown her limbs off.
"Shit, what the hell happened," the lab assistant asked as he knelt.
"THEY SHOT OFF HER ARMS AND LEGS," a high pitched, robotic voice replied. "WHAT ELSE DOES IT LOOK LIKE?"
It was only then that Rock noticed the German wizard was accompanied by a small robot, roughly 30 cm tall. It was gray and metallic, and looked like it came right out of a comic from the 1950s. He'd heard from Amanda and Sonia that Constantine was basically mute, so he had a "stanbot" to speak for him, so he quickly deduced that this was what they were talking about.
Nonetheless, the stanbot did not detract from his emotions. "God I'm sorry," he apologized, "I didn't know someone would call in–"
"It's fine, blue boy" Amanda grunted, craning her head up to face him. "These are nothing but flesh wounds."
"This isn't a Monty Python film, Amanda," Simon barked, "and this is NOT fine. How the heck are you supposed to… Y'know, be a witch without any limbs?"
"Hey, chill out Simon," David put a hand on his shoulder. "I know someone who can replace them easily."
"With what?" Sonia asked. "You can't just grow back your arms and legs from a… wait," she realized where the Hispanic teen was going and had a look on her face. "Don't tell me…"
David put his hands up and opened his palms. "Don't worry, I'm sure there's a kind of cyberarm that allows someone to still cast spells, it won't be any different from having a natural one."
"David, are you sure chipping Amanda in is a good idea?" Wangari objected. "Won't she become a cyberpsycho in the making? That would be crazy! Speaking of which, how'd you manage to zip up to that black tinhead anyway?"
David looked nervous. Fortunately (or unfortunately), he wouldn't have to answer, as they were interrupted by the clamoring of a certain trio of English immigrant witches.
" …I-I told you I had that hound dealt with! If you hadn't interfered…"
"Again, we're sorry, Diana. How were we supposed to know that thing would–"
As the three came out of the crowd of people into sight, it became clear why Diana sounded like she was in pain; she was missing her left arm from the elbow down. The blonde brat was gripping the bloodied stump with her remaining hand to keep herself from bleeding out.
As she approached, Diana noticed Rock and co. staring in shock at her. Wordlessly, she motioned her posse to follow her to the other side of the lobby. As they did, a certain magitek expert and father of three shuffled his way through the crowd towards our protagonists. He looked a bit exhausted.
"I came as fast as I could," he exhaled, "left Miho to look after the lab for the moment." he noticed Amanda laying dismembered, and stopped himself. "…dare I ask the deets of what happened?"
Several of them shook their heads.
He exhaled. "Listen, Rock, let's get you home and patch you up, especially after such a long night." Dr. Hikari comforted him. Rock looked up to look him in the eyes, then Akko and Simon, both of whom returned a smile. If Amanda could give a thumbs up right now, she would. He smiled back.
" …yeah, let's do that."
???
???; Friday November 1, 2199
S: "Let me get this straight, Dr. Wily. you're saying that your Battle Masters can help with the final implementation of Project Aqaba?"
W: "Correct, Mr. Singh. If your so-called 'orb' ever manages to break out of its container for whatever reason, you can deploy them to put down whatever genetic monstrosities it creates in the process. Your company can take the credit, and put itself in a better position to–"
S: "With all due respect, Doctor, the LMO's containment measures have not failed us since we retrieved it from Israel over a century ago."
W: "I wouldn't count on it. If I remember correctly, this orb nearly managed to free itself last month. Those silly lasers won't be able to hold back whatever powers it possesses for much longer at this rate."
S: "That… is a valid point, Doctor, but–"
I: "Sir?"
S: "Can it wait? We're having an important conversation."
I: "My apologies, Mr. Singh, but I just wanted to inform you that we've just recorded a massive spike in quintessence generation at Takeda Shingen High School. We've found the Claiomh Solais, sir.
S: "Really?"
…
S: "Then tell the Morgan brothers immediately. We need to recalibrate our plans to account for this."
I: "Understood. Oh, and Dr. Wily?"
W: "Was?"
I: "Your niece has arrived."
W: "Wunderbar. I'll greet her shortly. …my apologies, Mr. Singh, but we'll have to continue this conversation later."
S: "Indeed."
…
S: "…So you've finally decided to play your hand now, Mrs. Woodward? Then we'll see to it that the Grand Triskellion's true potential is finally unleashed…"
END OF ACT 1
Dear readers, we've finally made it to the ~25% point of the story. I would've published this chapter earlier, but college (specifically statistics class), the bloody euphoria of watching Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, and ongoing technical difficulties with my laptop delayed me by about three weeks. But here we are! and once again, thank you, for reading this and giving me feedback (if any). I hope I've made your time reading this crossover worth it.
Before we begin our interlude into ACT 2, though, I have a little something I want to share...