Roleplay

[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/97aXU0e.png[/img] [img]https://i.imgur.com/QFiGE60.png[/img] [emoji=puzzle piece orange size=1] [b]Lan & MegaMan.EXE[/b] [emoji=shockswitch blue size=1][/center] MegaMan was quick to take his own battle stance after ProtoMan distanced himself from him, summoning his own blade. The usual amount of excitement and anticipation he experienced before a sparring session filled his core. He could be slightly more relaxed, since this wasn't a full-on battle, but it never hurt to be resilient, especially when sparring with someone who trained as often as ProtoMan did. [color=2B88C6]"Really? How polite of you!"[/color] he replied with an eager grin on his face. By this point, the world outside of Chaud's PET was completely tuned out. His previous worries, from simple to more existential concerns, were also pushed to the back of his mind. He brought his arm blade in front of his chest, preparing for a strike. [color=2B88C6]"Alright, ProtoMan! Here comes your entertainment value!"[/color] Seconds after his exclamation, the blue Navi took off, speeding towards his sparring partner with vigor. When he was in range, he thrust his blade outward to slash at ProtoMan. ... Lan was clearly amazed when Aile bragged about her top score at her local arcade. The fact her home had an arcade was exciting, and he didn't doubt her for a second. He might have more friendly competition on his hands! He wondered how Dex would react. Surely the three of them could be video game rivals together. Maybe he could get Chaud in on it too. He was convinced the other boy was a closeted fan of Robo Hero X, and if he wasn't, then he was determined to get him to at least see why Lan himself enjoyed it. "That's so cool, Aile!! When I visit you, we should hang out at your arcade!" he suggested cheerily. He watched as she stepped out of the line, quickly figuring out what she was doing. He then turned to Chaud and let out an incredulous huff at his statement. "C'mon! You need to loosen up a little bit, Chaud! I know you overwork yourself, don't lie. Playing video games is perfect for blowing off steam." [i]Actually, they can be stressful... but I say BRING IT.[/i] "Okay, maybe not perfect, but-" He stopped himself after Chaud gave in and agreed to get himself a copy. Of course, Lan's response came in the form of a smug, pleased smile. "Heh, I knew you wanted to play too! We'll see who's better. Here's a hint: it'll be me." He playfully nudged Chaud's side with his elbow, shortly before the other decided to follow Aile to the big booth she had picked out. Wow, that was a really good seat she'd claimed! That was good; every time he entered a restaurant, he was always worried about missing the good seats. He looked from left to right, deciding it would be better to order from the booth instead of continuing to wait in line by himself. He was usually fine being alone, except technically, he wasn't alone. Aside from Model X and Model Z, Aile's Models were still in his backpack. [i]You guys will get to come back out at some point![/i] he thought, curious as to whether they could read his thoughts right now or not. [i]Just hang tight![/i] He was the last to arrive at the booth, letting the other two choose where they wanted to sit before he made his choice. Thankfully, he wasn't as clingy as he was mere moments ago, giving the other two some breathing room (for now). He removed his backpack and set it down right next to him. As soon as he sat down with his friends, he could barely stop swinging his legs. He practically slammed his hands onto his knees to stop his legs from being so restless. "Whew! I'm so glad to be here!" he declared, leaning back in his seat. He took another look around and leaned forward, lowering his voice so the entire town couldn't hear him (that would be impossible, but sometimes it felt like his voice could reach that far with how loud he was sometimes). "So! Uh... you had questions to ask about Aile's Models, right Chaud? They're actually her best friends, like how we are with our Navis! They're really cool and advanced. Did you know she can fuse with them??" Realizing he was on the verge of speaking for Aile, he gave her an apologetic smile. "Sorry, I got carried away! You go ahead." ----- [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/1LbofWZ.png[/img] [img]https://i.imgur.com/H1B8PN7.png[/img] [emoji=treefrog size=1] [b]Ribbita & ToadMan.EXE[/b] [emoji=shockswitch green size=1][/center] "Oh, sorry Neige! I thought I told you already," Ribbita apologized sheepishly, her voice as soft as she could make it. "Dr. Hikari is Lan's father. In other words, he's not going to react well to his dad's office being broken into by this mystery person, whoever they are." Before she could think too much about what might have been stolen from there, she made her way into the room along with Neige. She ignored the persistent ache in her limbs, instead focusing on different details. With the amount of destruction in the room, it was a mystery as to what the intruder was searching for. She moved out of the way of Neige's camera so she could get clear pictures, looking towards the desk. She wished she could fix up at least some of the damage done, but if she did, someone else would get suspicious and wonder who cleaned it up. Despite that, she couldn't help but gingerly pick up a framed photo on Dr. Hikari's desk lying face down, most likely knocked over in the midst of the intruder's break-in. She made sure to tuck her hands in her sleeves first; although it looked awkward, she was hoping to avoid leaving fingerprints. ToadMan was allowed to look at the photo along with her, and both smiled at the heartwarming image, though Ribbita's smile was more of a thoughtful one. Dr. Hikari himself was in the picture, alongside his wife and two smiling boys. "Strange..." Upon hearing his operator whisper under her breath, the green Navi's attention was caught. [color=8ECD55]"What is it, Ribbita?"[/color] "That... that has to be Lan's brother with him, right? I never knew he had a sibling. They could've just been friends, but this is a family photo, and they look way too similar for them not to be related. Almost identical, even." [i]Hold on, Ribbita. He had two sons and I didn't know? How did I not?? I thought a bunch of people would know something important like that with his reputation and everything! Or did I just forget? If I did, there must be something seriously wrong with my memory. I'm not supposed to be that forgetful, after all... either that or I didn't want to pry for once. Where is the other boy now, anyway?[/i] She thought about showing the photo to Neige, but she got the feeling they were running out of time here. Besides, she was giving her advice on not staying in the same place for too long, and it was a smart tactic to consider. She held back a giggle at the unintentional rhyme her friend came up with, and she carefully set the photo back down in its previous position. Thankfully for Neige, the building was mostly familiar to Ribbita. She had been in and out before, while Nebula was on the move. She remembered when she didn't have to stay hidden, and it really would've been so much easier if she was able to get permission to inspect SciLab. She even could've claimed Neige as her new partner or something. Oh well! They were working with what they had, and it was working pretty well. Every time they stopped, ToadMan had an opportunity to whisper back and forth with Ribbita, with the two being extra careful to not let themselves be heard by anyone except for their nearby friend. He wore a solemn expression after a while, unusual for the little guy. [color=8ECD55]"Ribbita? About that photo... I did a quick search, and..."[/color] "And what?" [color=8ECD55]"...I'm sorry, ribbit. I've changed my mind. I'll tell you later."[/color] "Okay? Are you sure you're doing alright, ToadMan?" Suddenly, ToadMan forced a smile on his face while using the same quiet voice. [color=8ECD55]"I'll be fine! I just don't want to take your focus away from the investigation, ribbit!"[/color] Ribbita reluctantly nodded, smiling back at her Navi before turning her attention over to Neige. She lifted her head slightly, closing her eyes to focus better on the sounds her friend was describing. After only a few seconds, she could hear... drilling? Yeah, it [i]was[/i] drilling, just like she said. The same urge to investigate the noise tugged at her, and before she knew what she was doing, she was moving closer to the source of the sound along with Neige. There were a couple ways they could either avoid getting caught or facing consequences should they get caught. "I do hear it," she murmured, giving Neige a nod after she asked if she could see anything. Her heart was hammering against her chest at this point, but she ignored it. Slowly, she leaned over and peeked through a tiny crack in the door. She could tell there were scientists in the room, but she couldn't tell which ones they were. They seemed to be working on something, and she could make out blue and white colors; in fact, the blue and white parts looked like metal. That was the most she could see before she abruptly pulled back, moving a little closer to Neige. "Sorry if I moved a little too fast," she apologized softly, looking over at her. "They're working on something in there. Something made of blue and white metal, maybe... that's what it looked like, anyway. I think I saw more than one, actually... I wish I could get a better view." Despite not being able to see much, her stomach still sank, and she had no idea why. Something felt off here, even more so than she expected.

[img]https://piskel-imgstore-b.appspot.com/img/39da44c2-fc3f-11ed-bbab-99bb2bd24f98.gif[/img][emoji=gold crown size=1][b][font=Constantia][size=5][color=#1041c7]Copy X[/color][/size][/font][/b][emoji=blue gem size=1] As he watched the two bicker and bother Rémy, Copy X couldn't help but giggle. "Ah, you two never fail to make me laugh! Hopefully you two don't [i]fail[/i] to find your brothers, either. I know you won't, I have faith in you. The sooner you find them, the better. I don't want anyone taking advantage of the situation if they know their Guardians are gone somewhere, yet again, it isn't like most of the populace sees all of you on a daily basis." ... "And Rémy, could you be a doll for me and fix that wall over there?" ------------- [img]https://piskel-imgstore-b.appspot.com/img/7208e573-fc3c-11ed-825c-99bb2bd24f98.gif[/img][b][font=Constantia][size=5][color=#391366]Phantom[/color][/size][/font][/b][emoji=sword size=2] Once again, that trouble maker was able to avoid yet another attack of his, grabbing onto a pole and launching himself out. Phantom pulled the shuriken out of the train's wall as quickly as he could before teleporting himself out of the train, nearby where the kid was. What caught him a little by surprise was all the civilians standing outside in a crowd with....cameras!? Eyes still red, Phantom yowled; "WHAT PART OF EVACUATING THE SCENE OF CIVIL CORRECTION DO YOU CIVILIANS NOT UNDERSTAND!? IS IT TOO...ENTERTAINING TO MISS!? DOES RISKING INJURY MAKE UP FOR BREAKING THE MUNDANITY OF YOUR DAYS OF SAFETY!? WHAT IS IT, CIVILIANS!? Tell me! TELL ME!" Wait, were they...afraid? Shocked? He was familiar with those emotions concerningly well, and immediately, he could tell all, or at least, most of them were one or two of those things. Perhaps more. Even what Phantom assumed were the security guards looked afraid as well! This was definitely not typical civilian behavior, but again, he didn't know and understand the people as well since he liked to keep himself reserved from them. And now here he was, present in front of everyone. "You just have to find out what happens, don't you? Well, if you want a show, I'll give you one! Behold, civilians, the Guardian of the Shadows! Hidden Phantom!! Eheheheheheheheee!!!" Phantom snatched the blaster from the reploid kid and teleported himself onto the ceiling, hanging upside-down and twirling it around mockingly. "How do you like it when others steal your weapons, boy!? FREE SOUVENIRS, EVERYONE!!" Phantom nonchalantly tossed the blaster into the crowd, and along with that, a bunch of more free ice cream coupons and taffy candy of various flavors, primarily mulberry, huckleberry and fudge, but there was also vanilla, caramel and banana in there, too. Meanwhile, some children in the crowd began arguing again. "I told you he was the Phantom of the Opera!!!" the little girl from the train shouted. "No I still think he's a ninja! His name is a coinidenense!" said the little boy. "[i]Coincidence[/i]!" "Whatever!" "Phantom of the Opera!" "Ninja!" "[i]Phantom of the Opera!!![/i]" "[i]Ninja!!![/i]" "Fine! Ninja of the Opera!!" "No!!! Phantom of the Opera....as a ninja!" "That's what I'm saying!!!" -------------------------- [img]https://piskel-imgstore-b.appspot.com/img/a17ffe42-fc3e-11ed-80e5-99bb2bd24f98.gif[/img][emoji=book 2 size=1][b][font=Constantia][size=5][color=#b50b1c]Neige[/color][/size][/font][/b][emoji=paintbrush size=1] "Oh yeah, that's who he was! Sorry, I forgot for a moment he he." ... "It's alright," Neige whispered, "what was that? Blue and white? Metal? Here, lemme take a look." Neige tip toed to the door and looked through the slit-open door. As Ribbita said, there wasn't really a great view. Neige opened the door barely a couple a few centimeters unhurriedly, making sure it wouldn't make a noise or draw any major attention but wouldn't appear drastically different. It was slightly better, but still a little hard to make out what else, especially since some of the scientists were moving around in the way of her field of vision inside. At first, Neige thought about seeing if she could stick her camera in there and taking a picture to hopefully get a better view- the click would've been a concern and it may or may not get them into serious trouble if anyone found out, but maybe she could try to sneak a snap or two since the loud sawing and drilling noise might mask it. Danger was her best friend, so the jounalist snapped a photo. She backed up from the door, looking around. Thankfully no one was coming by...yet, so she turned a piece on the top of the camera around towards her and clicked some things on the side and on the screen so she could take a look at her photo. She tapped Ribbita on the shoulder to show her as well. "I'm not entirely sure what it is," the journalist murmured. "I think...they're working on some sort of machine? Machine[i]s[/i]? Mechaniloids, maybe? I don't know, but there's something [i]wrong[/i] here, and it's instinctive, too. And that's how you know something is really, really wrong.......wait. Wait wait wait wait. No, that can't be. No way." Neige inspected the photo closer, inspecting the shapes and color schemes of the things the scientists were working on. Something clicked in her mind and she looked back up at Ribbita. "I...uh, might have an idea what those are. Ribbita, do you remember when I told you about those....creepy droids that apparently Electopia didn't have...?" Neige gave Ribbita an apprehensive look that one could pretty much guess the meaning of. The good news was that those were the older models and not the newer, worse ones, which would've meant something else even worse. The bad news was that...why were those things here in the first place? The two ideas that came to the journalist's mind was that they either found them and were about to get invaded or were building more of them. Well, this was some dream, maybe mentioning them brought them here, right? So if she thought about something else, maybe they would go away??? Neige tried to think about something nicer. She thought about the scientists working on some new technology that could help everyone. A water purification machine, perhaps. She looked over again, but those things WEREN'T gone. They just couldn't go away! Neige nervously chuckled, saying, "I'm so sorry. Ribbita, you were a great friend and it was nice getting to know someone with the same ideologies, passion and interest but I [i]really[/i] need to wake up now! People need me! Now...wake up! Wake up!" Neige kept telling herself to wake up, even slapping herself and pinching herself. She could feel it. The next thing she remembered was that text was weird in dreams, right? She opened up her journal and skimmed through the pages and pictures. She knew her journal really well since she liked to flip through it from time to time, and everything was exactly the same. Maybe she knew it too well, that had to be why. Wait...when she came here, it seemed like she went through some sort of wormhole? Did that have something to do with this? No, it couldn't have! Surely there was a completely normal explanation! She was a bit dehydrated out there when she went to the pond. Was she more dehydrated than she thought she was? The tunnel had to be some dizzy wave spell...but she remembered falling through it for some time and falling onto the ground, which didn't entirely feel that great. If she's unconscious, she has to try harder to wake up, but again, she didn't want to cause enough ruckus to get those scientists attention. If this was all a dream, she shouldn't worry so much, but she still did, anyways. Neige put her hands on Ribbita's shoulders and begged to her; "Ribbita, tell me this is a dream, please! Tell me the truth! If...if it's not...I...you guys might be in a lot of danger...no, not might. Will be. I...I don't want to...no...this can't be real....this isn't. No. No no no no no no. If you don't and have never had them then...then you aren't apart of us, then...if you aren't apart of us then you aren't with us...and if you aren't with us.....Ribbita who's the leader of your nation?" //PTSD -> Pantheon Traumatic Stress Disorder

[img]https://piskel-imgstore-b.appspot.com/img/d5b937b3-c4d5-11ed-ac8b-a1ad6d65efdb.gif[/img][b]Zero[/b] There was quite the scene in the area. There were whistles blowing, cameras clicking, and shouting from the crowd. Zero hated to have as much unwanted attention as this, and it felt like the entirety of this place had their eyes on him. At least they weren't just focusing on him too, because the police were currently trying to arrest Phantom as well. He was currently resisting arrest, evading the officers in the crowd and trying to get his gun back from Phantom. However, when the masked reploid tossed the "sourvenirs" to the crowd, his eyes went wide. He tried getting over to where his buster was thrown, only to see it get picked up by a little kid. "OH COOL! WHAT AN AWESOME TOY!" "Son! Put that down [i]RIGHT [/i]now!" Now, he was worried even more. He grimaced, shuddering to himself, "Ooooooh, that's not a toy! Oooh no!" The crowd backed out of the kid's way as he pointed around and made "Pew pew" noises. Zero also had to get it before the police officers took it too. The reploid wished he was back fighting Pantheon scout teams and dust storms in the wasteland over whatever stressful situation this was. [i]"Phantom must be reeeeally enjoying this. He still doesn't know that he's not back home, isn't he?[/i] ------------------------ // I merged the two parts together, so I color-coded their dialogue. [img]https://piskel-imgstore-b.appspot.com/img/912dab97-c4d5-11ed-9b4e-a1ad6d65efdb.gif[/img] [b]Aile[/b] + [b]Chaud[/b] [img]https://piskel-imgstore-b.appspot.com/img/6254a4e1-c4d3-11ed-a6ff-a1ad6d65efdb.gif[/img] [color=#521813]"Hey Aile,"[/color] Chaud said, getting her attention. [color=#521813]"You gotta show me one in action! Can I see?"[/color] [color=#161c82]"Oh uh-"[/color] Aile replied. She knew he'd say that, but she didn't want to megamerge with all these other people around. [color=#161c82]"I mean, I can show you the fusion part later, just not with all these people"[/color] [color=#521813]"Sorry. I was just curious. [/color] [color=#161c82]"I know, they're so cool! Like Lan said. I can show you them! As long as you don't tell anyone else, K?"[/color] [color=#521813]"Dude, I'm an expert at keeping secrets!"[/color] Aile looked around to see if anyone else was watching. Once seeing everyone was too busy with their own food and conversations, Aile proceeded to take out Model X and Model Z from her pockets and show Chaud. He was just as intrigued about them as MegaMan was when he first heard of them. Aile introduced the two to Chaud. However, the two biometals were rather... quiet. [i]"Chaud's really cool! You want to say hi to him?"[/i] [img]https://piskel-imgstore-b.appspot.com/img/ab89c64a-a29e-11ed-8f22-450f363a41db.gif[/img] [color=#b00909]"..."[/color] [img]https://piskel-imgstore-b.appspot.com/img/444da9a8-a29e-11ed-830b-450f363a41db.gif[/img] [color=#4287f5] "..."[/color] [i]"Hey guys? What's wrong? Are you shy? It's okay if you are, but-[/i] She was interrupted in her headspace when Chaud asked her another question so soon. [color=#521813]"Your Models look so awesome! [i]Hey, they're kind of like ProtoMan and Lan's Navi![/i] So how does Model fusion work? Where'd you get them from?"[/color] [color=#161c82]"Oh uh- I don't know [i]exactly [/i]how it works or what the mechanisms are behind it, but I just hold them out, say my buzzwords and presto! I get sweet powers and armor! Each one has their own unique little things!"[/color] Aile wasn't ready to share exactly where she got them from. None of them were exactly fun experiences, and she didn't want to kill the mood. [color=#161c82]"Hey Lan, did we pick up any menus? Also what's the date?"[/color] ... In the background, the news was on a TV set. The news was on, but Ribitta wasn't on it. "Well, it looks like there's a commotion happening in Beach Street's metro station! We've heard reports from witness that a person wearing a red costume was fighting a man dressed as a ninja with "strange weapons", were destroying the train, and are currently resisting arrest. Let's cut to the footage." The footage cuts to a large crowd, with the camera focused on a very [url=https://i.ibb.co/XJhS0S7/MMZ-Zero.jpg]specific individual[/url], with a large red "LIVE" tag in the bottom right. They looked nervous and were trying to get a gun, or what looked like a gun back from a little kid. A few police officers try to apprehend them or intervene, but the costumed person kept pushing them away, even if they looked like they'd be overpowered. "Stop resisting arrest! [color=#b00909]"You don't get it!"[/color] The camera then pans over to the "[url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/megaman/images/e/ec/Phantom.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/1000?cb=20220226203522]ninja[/url]", who is hanging from the roof. Their eyes glow red as they laugh, with officers trying to get them down too. [color=#521813]"Lan, Aile, look at the TV! I saw that person! And that other dude, they kinda look like the person Harpuia described."[/color] ------------------------- [img]https://piskel-imgstore-b.appspot.com/img/9ef489ae-ff13-11ed-9247-f33f7aa048c8.gif[/img][b]ProtoMan.EXE[/b] Proto quickly jumped backwards, parrying with his sword from the opposite direction. The two swords clashed, emitting pixelated sparks. The red navi had to admit that Mega had a pretty strong swing! [color=#eb0000]"Nice one!"[/color] ProtoMan complimented. His mind had been taken off of the strange feeling and the thought of whoever that bald cyborg guy could've been. It was a good day after all! He sprung backwards, then leaped towards Mega with energy, swinging his blade downwards from above. [color=#eb0000]"Hey, did you ever figure out where Aile came from?"[/color] ProtoMan asked seemingly out of the blues (haha pun) [color=#eb0000]"Sorry, it just came to my mind. Anyways, how'd you guys meet up in the first place?"[/color] --------------------------- [b]???[/b] "Eh, those Navis are [i]okay[/i]." The orb replied to Peacock. "They're no better than something like you, though." With the way it was speaking, it almost sounded like it was flattering him. "We might find some use for them." ... The door opened up, revealing a different hallway. The doors here were larger, with the rooms being more labs and storage rooms than offices. Over half of them were occupied, and you could hear people at work from the other side of them. The data orb let off a giddy laugh and released more of that glittery substance, whisper-shouting to Peacock, "This is the right place, I can feel it! We just gotta find the right room!" The orb kept moving, looking down each hallway and not taking more than a second to decide on where to go. "I'm sure he's probably working on something impor-" The orb stopped talking, holding completely still. In the background, the two could hear something: Talking and faint machinery. Well, the talking sounded feminine and distressed. The machinery sounded like drilling and sawing into metal "I bet an intern's having a bad day!" The orb joked. "Let's get a closer look, shall we?" Getting a better look, there were two humans, and neither of them looking like they worked here. There was a taller one with brown hair and eyes, a green jacket, and a ridiculous hat. The other one was a redhead with blue eyes, wearing some sort of yellow crop-top and was currently begging for the other to "wake her up." "Heh. What's wrong with her? I bet they're doing some horrible things in there! Wanna see?"

[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/97aXU0e.png[/img] [emoji=puzzle piece orange size=1] [b]Lan[/b] [emoji=puzzle piece orange size=1][/center] Lan nodded in agreement with Chaud when he said he was really good at keeping secrets. With every adventure they went on, he trusted him more and more. He could be trusted to keep Aile's secret, he was sure of it; probably even more so than Lan himself, since he could be an excitable blabbermouth sometimes. He almost wanted to brag about having seen it first, since Aile was fused with Model X when they first met, but he kept his mouth shut. He watched as Aile proceeded to show him Model X and Z, relieved to see they were still there. Wait, why was he even entertaining the idea of them somehow [i]not[/i] being there? He was getting attached way too quickly, wasn't he? That point was being further proven with the silence emanating from the Models. [i]Uh, guys? Is something the matter? Chaud won't bite,[/i] he thought, hoping at least one of them would hear him. "Oooh, you use buzzwords? You know, I say those too!" Lan replied enthusiastically. [i]Battle routine set! Execute!! Feels amazing every time we recite it![/i] Before he could go on about how neat it was for each set of armor to be unique in one way or another, he was asked if they'd picked up any menus. The question about today's date wasn't an odd one to him, considering... well, he didn't always know what the date was either. "The date? It's... uh…" Aaaaaaand this was another one of those days. Fantastic. Lan shrugged sheepishly. "Okay, so, I may or may not have forgotten what today is. Don't judge me! I do remember three things right now: it's not the weekend, it's Spring, and it's 200X. I'll get us our menus. Be right back!" Lan hopped up from his seat and quickly went to fetch a few menus for the trio. As he was going about his task, he happened to notice a peculiar newscast on one of the TV sets around the restaurant. While holding the thin menus in his hands, he looked up and watched with some of the people around him. He kept walking while his eyes were glued to the TV, nearly bumping into someone as a result. He muttered a quick apology and continued on his way, making it back to the table with the menus. As he handed one menu to Chaud and the other to Aile, he continued to watch the footage. Ribbita wasn't reporting on it, and although pretty much no one would have much of an idea as to why, he knew exactly where she was and what she planned on doing thanks to ToadMan's messages. He would have to apologize for missing the SciLab investigation if she and her new friend happened to leave before he could get there. "Oh yeah! ProtoMan told me all about it. The one who might've been trying to be a superhero, right? Do you guys think that's a real gun that kid has??" Lan finally sat back down at the table, getting a look at someone who looked like he was cosplaying a ninja. It could've also been Phantom of the Opera cosplay, but either way, his appearance rang a bell. "Red eyes, cape, black and white... kinda looks like he scares children... that has to be him!" he exclaimed, looking between his two friends. The reporter said they're at the Beach Street metro station. Let's keep that in mind when we get done here, even if they end up going somewhere else by the time we're finished." He was starting to think the kid in the footage was holding a real gun, mainly due to how the red person was reacting to it. To him, they seemed genuinely worried about the situation. He wanted to know the context behind it, but he doubted he would get those answers anytime soon unless he directly went up to one of them and asked. After a moment, he decided to comment on something else. "Hey, that red person has a lot of blonde hair, huh?" Lan grinned at Chaud specifically. "Reminds me of ProtoMan's white ponytail. Imagine if they were connected somehow." ----------------------- [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/QFiGE60.png[/img] [emoji=shockswitch blue size=1] [b]MegaMan.EXE[/b] [emoji=shockswitch blue size=1][/center] [color=2B88C6]"Hey, thanks! You as well!"[/color] MegaMan pushed back against the sword clashing with his own, his green eyes shining from the glow of both blades. Getting a compliment certainly made him happier, as if his mood wasn't light enough already. Every movement he made was planned, taken from memories of previous battles with his friend, and he was able to fall into step with ProtoMan in no time flat. He braced himself, bringing his sword back just in time for the strike to land. The power emanating from the other Navi impressed him as usual. It was good for the both of them to be in top shape with what they'd been dealing with all week. He crouched and met Proto's sword with his own, grinning widely before giving the other a powerful shove. He then launched right back towards him and fell back into the usual rhythm of slashes and strikes. As he'd suggested, they were talking while sparring at the same time, starting the conversation off with the topic of meeting Aile. [color=2B88C6]"Oh, we did! She's from outside Electopia, actually. She lives in a place called Banten,"[/color] he answered enthusiastically. [color=2B88C6]"We met her at the ACDC playground. There was another kid there, and we were helping her find her Models after they got lost in the sand. She was actually fused with one of them at the time! We thought she was hurt at first, but she was just feeling a little unwell. That's when Lan offered to take her here!"[/color] That was when a certain detail hit the blue Navi like a brick. [color=2B88C6]"Now that I think about it, we don't know how she ended up lying down in the sand like that..."[/color] ------------------------- [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/1LbofWZ.png[/img] [img]https://i.imgur.com/H1B8PN7.png[/img] [emoji=treefrog size=1] [b]Ribbita & ToadMan.EXE[/b] [emoji=shockswitch green size=1][/center] Ribbita stayed back as Neige took a look into the room herself, snapping a photo for good measure. She was a little worried about the snap of the camera being heard, but then she remembered the drilling would be a good cover-up for the noise. Once she'd gotten the photo, she peered over her shoulder to study it, responding to the tap on her shoulder with a nod. It turned out she wasn't the only one feeling [i]wrong[/i] about all of this, and it only went downhill from there. Neige was getting tense. She cut herself off to take in more details of the photo, and then she asked Ribbita about the droids she'd talked to her about earlier. Instantly, a cold chill went down the reporter's spine. "I do," she replied, barely able to keep a stutter out of her voice. The look on her face transformed into confusion and dread. "You mean... those are...? But... but how...?" She was at risk of getting a headache from all the spiraling thoughts she was now getting, but she didn't care. How could there possibly be Pantheons here, unless they were covertly invading the country of Electopia? Since Neige was from outside Electopia, she supposed it made sense for those things to only be showing up now, but it still made little sense to her. Not only that, but it was scary to think about. Just how many more were there, and just what were they planning to do? How did the scientists get their hands on them? She would have been on this development the millisecond she found out about dangerous white and blue killing machines. Actually, shouldn't the higher-ups want to lock down Den City, or heck, all of Electopia to keep the citizens safe and informed? Then again, there would be mass panic, but- Her thoughts were soon cut off by her friend's sudden shift in attitude. She was clearly nervous, addressing her as if she wasn't real. As if all of this was just a dream... was she only thinking that way now, or had she been like that this entire time? "Neige? Neige, what are you- Neige!" Ribbita's hushed voice became panicked the moment Neige began trying to wake herself up, going from pinching herself to slapping herself. The young woman was no longer worried about getting caught so much as her friend's wellbeing. Before she could get the chance to take hold of Neige, her shoulders were grabbed instead. She flinched a bit in surprise, but made no attempt to pull away. She was ready to listen to every word she had to say. There was no need for her to freak out right now, not even as she was being told she and her fellow citizens were in a lot of danger. They had never had those white and blue machines up until now, which apparently meant she wasn't with 'them', presumably meaning Neige's nation. Unfortunately, the last question ended up going over her head. She placed her PET down beside her, knowing her Navi was just as worried as she was. She then moved her hands to Neige's arms, grasping them gently. "Neige. Listen to me, okay? The truth is, you're not in a dream. I'm real, ToadMan is real, and all of this is real. I have no idea how our scientists found those things, but if we really are in danger, then we can't sit around and do nothing about it, can we? Our job is to seek the truth and help as many people as we can, right? If you have anything else to tell me, anything that can help us figure this out, I'm ready to listen!" She tried to offer a reassuring smile, yet deep down inside, she was nervous as well. It might have been harder for her to keep her composure if she didn't have company aside from her Navi. Speaking of her Navi, ToadMan heard something strange. Down the hallway, he thought he heard someone speaking to another, specifically hearing the words 'time', 'pitiful' and 'target'. His pupils shrank as he frantically whispered to his two companions. [color=8ECD55]"Ribbita, Neige! There's someone else here! Ribbita!!"[/color] Ribbita heard her Navi, looking down at the PET with a worried look on her face. Someone else was here? Slowly, she pried Neige's hands off of her shoulders and lowered them. "Neige, stay here for a second," she told her quietly, scooping up her PET and standing. "We may need to get going. ToadMan, direct me." [color=8ECD55]"Okay."[/color] The Navi pointed in the direction he wanted her to go. She snuck down the hall as quietly as possible, until she caught a glimpse of something that nearly stole the breath from her lungs. She pressed her back against the wall, even while knowing full-well she was probably discovered by- what even was that? It looked like a tall, mechanical avian being. Either SciLab was secretly continuing to develop CopyBots despite what apparently occurred in Cyber City, or this was an actual cyborg. "What did you hear it say??" she hurriedly murmured to ToadMan. The Navi wore a fearful expression. [color=8ECD55]"I heard it say something about a target-"[/color] And from there, a plan was quickly formed in Ribbita's mind. It was crazy, it would involve her exposing herself at the very least, and she would likely face consequences afterwards, but something told her she needed to do this. At the very least, she would stand by Neige. She took another peek at the avian cyborg and glared at it, making her presence known. "Hey, you! Get out of here if you know what's good for you!" She then quickly made her way back to her friend, giving her a serious look. She spoke rapid-fire, the pressure of the developing situation weighing on her shoulders. "Neige, I dunno if you know any bird robot people, but there's one here. You don't have to show yourself. You can go ahead and escape without me if you want, or you can hold that bird guy back, but I need to warn those people in there, and I need to warn Dr. Hikari! I'll probably need to warn his family too. Lan and MegaMan will inevitably get wrapped up in all of this, and... I can't let what happened with Nebula repeat itself. I just can't." With that, Ribbita grit her teeth and practically threw open the door to the lab, making sure Neige was out of sight first before doing so. She looked between each and every scientist in the room, her gaze pointedly averted from the blue and white robots they were studying as she stood in the doorway. "EVERYONE!!" she yelled, keeping one hand firmly on the door. "I know I'm not supposed to be here, but stop what you're doing and listen to me! You all need to evacuate the building right now! There is someone in SciLab who may be targeting one or more of you! You have to believe me!!" At this point, ToadMan decided to chime in, his voice high-pitched and desperate. They both sounded crazy, and both of them knew this, but that didn't mean they wouldn't try to help. [color=8ECD55]"She's right! There's a bird cyborg after someone here! We need Dr. Hikari and everyone else to get themselves to safety!"[/color] ((I know Cyber-Elves are only visible to Reploids, so I made it to where Ribbita only glimpsed Cyber Peacock! If I'm wrong and this particular Cyber-Elf can be seen by everyone, feel free to lemme know!))

//Hmm, I remember Aile being able to see Cyber Elves in ZX, unless if that was effect from the Biometal? I dunno. [img]https://piskel-imgstore-b.appspot.com/img/14cec761-ff2c-11ed-abc5-2f3772f8b9e2.gif[/img][font=Constantia][emoji=shockswitch green size=1][size=5][color=#035729]Harpuia[/color][emoji=shockswitch green size=1][/size][/font] To find him, Harpuia had to think like Phantom...or at least try. Especially being broad daylight, it should've been easier to find his brother, but after all the bickering from earlier and Harpuia demanding Phantom to come out awfully aggressively, it was no wonder his brother continued to hide in the shadows! Trying to act nicer or find some other way to coax Phantom out clearly wouldn't have worked out, and Harpuia was having difficulty coming up with some other tactic for the moment, anyways. The Guardian of the Skies stopped on a rooftop, sitting over the edge and looking down at the town, the buildings and all the people running around. That's what he typically did to calm down, anyways. How long were the two out here in...who knows where? It didn't feel like he was out here for [i]that[/i] long, but when things were eventful, time flowed faster than it typically did. He could leave to go into battle in a minute and not come back until 40 if the threat was large enough. It happened quite a few times before, sometimes less, sometimes significantly longer. Ugh, this was such a mess... A small commotion began in the people below. Something on one of the billboards was grabbing everyone's attention, and it wasn't an exactly good reaction from the crowd, either. At first, they showed an awfully familiar-looking reploid teenager trying to get his weapon back from a young child, while at the same time, some officers tried to arrest him. Maybe he shouldn't have been chuckling, but Harpuia did, anyways. It was a [i]little[/i] funny in a pathetic way, but it quickly stopped being funny when the cameraman panned the footage over to Phantom, who was having way too much fun doing whatever he was doing. Whatever he did, it clearly made the crowd afraid of him. Harpuia groaned in aggravation, putting his hands on his face and complaining to himself; "All this effort looking for you and here you were, wasting even [i][b]more[/b][/i] time terrorizing some humans that don't even know about us!? Ugh! Is this what this was all about!? FUN!? No wonder I'm the wise one! How can anyone manage to be so...DOLTISH!? Did you hide your sense in the dark and forget about it!?" The next problem was that Harpuia had to find wherever "Beach Street" was, which he had a feeling wouldn't be too difficult to get to... ----------- [img]https://piskel-imgstore-b.appspot.com/img/7208e573-fc3c-11ed-825c-99bb2bd24f98.gif[/img][b][font=Constantia][size=5][color=#391366]Phantom[/color][/size][/font][/b][emoji=sword size=2] Phantom was indeed enjoying the moment the longer the madness went on, gleefully chortling and clapping his hands together. One man in the crowd threw an aluminum soft drink can at him, some others tried jumping up to him or using poles or mops to get him down. Phantom swung and crawled across the roof, easily maneuvering himself out of the way and dodging all the attempts these people made to get the Guardian down. He even laughed and pointed at the crowd as the failed to do so. "Oooh! Oooh! I see I see! This is apart of the game! Everyone tries to get me down and I have to avoid you all! Eheeheheheeehehee! Let's make it even MORE- OW! You hit me! You with the soft drinks! Stop it! I'm serious! HEY! QUIT IT! Grrr!! If you wanna cheat then I'll cheat, too! Fun-ruining scoundrels!" Phantom crawled over to one of the lights on the ceiling and pulled it out, resulting in him getting a pretty...not pleasant shock, to say in the least. He would've fallen down if he didn't have those retractable claws, and how he still managed to be fine dazzled the crowd. However, it only led to more of those officers and even other civilians yelling even more, going from frightened to...angry? "You've caused enough destruction! Get down from there!" "Oh kids these days!!!" "Hey I need to get back to work and I'm already minutes late because of you, freak!" "I wanted to go to my best friend's birthday party and I already missed it! She's going to wonder where I was!" "I knew I should've walked!" "Did anyone ever teach you any common sense!?" "You take cosplaying way too seriously! Do you really think you're some supervillain or something!?" "[color=#391366]What are you talking about!? Do you really think I'm a poor fool playing dress up!?[/color]" "YES! THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT YOU ARE!" "WELL HOW'S THIS FOR DRESS UP!?" On camera, it looked like nothing was happening at all. Amongst, the crowd, it seemed like the world was getting dark and fuzzy, even making a person or two fall over. It came to a stop when someone stepped in; a loud, strong, authoritative voice. "[size=7][i][b][color=#035729]ENOOOOOOOOUGH!![/color][/b][/i][/size]" The crowd went dead silent for a moment, turning into small murmuring. "Oh great, another costumed maniac!?" someone said in the crowd. "This has to be some promotion stunt for a movie or something!" another said. "Maybe for that robot cartoon that's everywhere?" "Or a spin-off?" "Hey maybe it's for the Robo Hero X game coming out!" "I think there was a comic convention or something in a few weeks from now, wasn't there?" "Mommy she looks like Princess Emerald! Look at my dolly!" "Who is that guy?' "No that's clearly a woman! Did you hear that voice!? And look at her, the body looks feminine, too!" "Well did you see the kid in red? They look like a girl but sound like a guy! Maybe it's the same thing!" "Hey, there's no problem with that! Maybe it's personal choice!" "I never said there was a problem with that!" -------------------------- //Get ready for Neige existential time [img]https://piskel-imgstore-b.appspot.com/img/a17ffe42-fc3e-11ed-80e5-99bb2bd24f98.gif[/img][emoji=book 2 size=1][b][font=Constantia][size=5][color=#b50b1c]Neige[/color][/size][/font][/b][emoji=paintbrush size=1] "This...this is not a dream? But...that...makes no sense...that..." Neige could be seen attempting to settle herself down, breathing in and out rhythmically. "But that...how......well, if I could tell you what I know about them....they're cheap, but they make too many of them. If there's a few 10 or 15 of them, there's hundreds, if not thousands behind them. And even more than just some hundred thousand in their arsenal in total. And a bunch of planes and missiles and who knows what! Besides, the entire deal was that they were the only ones left in this world and there was nothing but sand outside....that they knew of. Do you [i]know[/i] what they're gonna think and do when they all of the sudden find this nation with OTHER people who have their own history, living with real trees and real grass and animals and...oh, what am I saying! The state's gone now, blown to rubbish! Maybe these were just some leftovers wandering around from way back then with no direct orders...but then again, I did go...through some weird....space tunnel thing." And then it dawned on the Journalist. "Am I...this is going to sound insane but....did I...end up in an alternate...reality somehow? Is that why you're so similar to me....are we just....different versions of each other...? Well, I like red, you like green, which are opposites. Both of us have news related jobs, just slightly different, you look formal, I look, at least in my sense, casual, we have the same ideals for the truth and helping people, and maybe this one not so much but...our names are things in the outside, like...Ribbita, maybe it's a nickname but Ribbit, like, a toad, like the little guy you have...and me, Neige; Snow-" It only went downhill from there when Ribbita's Navi, ToadMan, warned them about having company. Turns out the reporter and journalist and their digital amphibian friend, along with whoever broke in earlier weren't the only ones who thought going into the lab today was a good idea. Ribbita told Neige that she could escape this place, but since she was going through a situation that had...parallels to something that recently happened, there was no way she was backing out of this one! "No way I'm staying behind!" Neige announced, "you're right, we both have to do something! If they're with who I think they are, I'd rather go down doing the right thing than living with guilt for the rest of my life, and if not, I'd still rather do the right thing then not! You go warn everyone, I'll try to keep him busy! And that's another similarity! We both have a situation we'd rather not repeat, too! Pound on and open the doors, start yelling, get ToadMan to set off some alarms, anything! Maybe try to get Hikari out, too!" Neige quickly went into the closet and grabbed various tools; wrenches, screwdrivers, anything that she could probably throw around, then darted out towards the "bird robot person". That made it even clearer this was an alternate reality, since "robot" was an archaic term, and if they were using such old words, then they clearly didn't have them here...or at least this settlement didn't know what reploids were and forgot they existed. Or something weirder was going on here. It wasn't important for now. Well, she did see what Ribbita meant, saying "robot bird person", and that was mostly true. A white, blue and purple avian with large green "feathers" fanned out from behind him. Neige wasn't the strongest with animals but wasn't he supposed to be a peacock? It was a little odd since the peacock reploid (if it even was one) looked a little bit like an older design, too! Definitely something that had to do with this reality. It seemed there was something else here that was strange, but Neige couldn't exactly identify what it was supposed to be. "Hey pigeon!" the journalist taunted, "this is our break-in! Don't you know the "ladies first" rule!? What brings you in here, anyways? Shouldn't sky rats like you be ruining the sidewalks!? Or I suppose you got tired of people throwing booze bottles at you all day! They say it became a drinking game; whoever misses has to take a shot, and whoever hits one first wins! Isn't that so idiotic!?"

[img]https://piskel-imgstore-b.appspot.com/img/d5b937b3-c4d5-11ed-ac8b-a1ad6d65efdb.gif[/img][b]Zero[/b] Finally, Zero was able to get his buster back; Luckily the little kid didn't shoot anyone on accident. He darted back through the crowd, avoiding law enforcement. Watching from afar, Zero saw someone throwing aluminum cans at Phantom. It brought a sense of satisfaction to the reploid, finally seeing the people stand up to their "superiors" (well not anymore). He couldn't help but notice how strange Phantom was acting, or unless he always acted like this. With the way gave little to no care for any civilians while trying to "punish" him, especially humans (if they were), it was almost like he was going Maverick! [i]That's ironic.[/i] Soon enough, someone came in and broke up the loudness of the crowd. It was... Harpuia. Zero muttered under his breath, "Oh great...", wondering if Phantom called him in to help. Luckily, they didn't seem to notice him, probably. [i]Well, if Phantom didn't recognize me for some reason, would Harpuia not recognize me too? I don't feel like fighting two Neo Arcadian Guardians at once, so maybe I can just slip away and get repairs. Those dust storms have been deteriorating my armor, and who knows what else is up with me! But what about these people? What does Harpuia and Phantom want? I don't know if I should leave...[/i] Welp, he settled on staying and watching to see if everything would be alright. While the other two seemed distracted, he slipped away through the crowd, looking for somewhere to hide. He saw a frog-shaped recycling bin of sorts. "[i]Eh, looks empty enough.[/i]" He slowly slipped into it, grimacing that this was where he [i]actually [/i]chose to hide. The thing must've been knocked over once or twice during the process. Maybe he could listen in on the Guardians' conversation if they have one in here? It'd suck if they saw him though. Meanwhile, he thought of how this was a terrible hiding place, but it could've been worse. // He's hiding in the famous Froggy Bin [img]https://piskel-imgstore-b.appspot.com/img/90a59c7d-022b-11ee-9bf6-cfe6f1041c9d.gif[/img] // Oh no he recycled himself ------------------------ [img]https://piskel-imgstore-b.appspot.com/img/3a5a3961-fd92-11ed-8627-4de4cfde746e.gif[/img] [b]Chaud[/b] "Oh yeah, that's the one that tried to be a superhero" Chaud replied to Lan, confirming that was the person. "I' was super worried that they'd get run over by a train, but at least their alright. And that gun? They had it holstered on their leg, so I think it's a part of the costume." After Lan mentioned the guy's hair, he smirked just a little. "Yeah, it is kinda like Proto! I wonder how much conditioner they use." A familiar green person came in on the footage too, which he recognized as Harpuia. "Hey look, it's the jetpack guy! I think he'll get it under control." Chaud looked over to Aile, seeing her strange reaction; She seemed stressed about the situation. Seeing her cover her face with a menu only reinforced his concern. "Hey, what's wrong? You alright?" ... ------------------------- [img]https://piskel-imgstore-b.appspot.com/img/9ef489ae-ff13-11ed-9247-f33f7aa048c8.gif[/img][b]ProtoMan.EXE[/b] Proto was pushed back, though he caught himself. The Navi was happy that his friend was so strong, so Mega could give him a good challenge and that they both could take out bad guys with ease. Proto was looking forward to the next time they could work together, as they made a great team. Proto jumped forward too, meeting the other Navi's attacks with more clashing. He listened in to what Mega said about Aile too, all ears. [color=#eb0000]"Banten?"[/color] ProtoMan replied. [color=#eb0000]"That sounds like a cool place! But I haven't heard of it before. Wanna do a quick search of the place?"[/color] ... [color=#eb0000]"So you met her at the playground? Did a kid steal and bury the Models? Probably not, I don't think that little kids wouldn't want to mess with her! Unless she dropped them. And you said she was lying in the sand feeling sick? Huh. Do you think she hit her head or something?"[/color] --------------------------- [img]https://piskel-imgstore-b.appspot.com/img/912dab97-c4d5-11ed-9b4e-a1ad6d65efdb.gif[/img] [b]Aile[/b] While watching the footage, Aile was staring with a very... odd look. These two looked way too similar to people using the power of biometals to be a coincidence. She recognized the red one as Model Z, and the other one as Model P (even if it was much duller in color). Were there even more fragments she never heard about? And now that Harpuia person was there too! With the person with Model Z's concern and the person with Model P's craze and how he was messing with the other, she immediately remembered the moment she saw Giro and those other... [i]terrible [/i]people. The thought flooded her with guilt and sorrow. Aile smiled awkwardly, then snatched a menu and hid her face behind it. She was trying to block it out of her mind, reading through the menu inventively. The teen simply replied with, "Oh yeah um- maybe. That woulldn't be a good thing- heh heh. Oh wow! They have such an amazing selection of food here! I can't even [i]choose [/i]what to get!" [i]What were they doing here!? Didn't Lan say they didn't have that kind of technology here? Wait... are they making people play the "Game of Destiny" here too!?!? I-I- I have to stop this! I- I don't know if I can... IS THIS WORLD WIDE!? Um... X, Z? You still there...?[/i] "Wait Lan, did you say 200X?" Aile let out a laugh, though no one else would really laugh at that. "That's so funny! Thanks, that cheered me up... a little..." [size=2][i]Wait, is he serious? No way, it's gotta be a joke! That'd be like, centuries ago! Before Legion and all that stuff Wait, is that why Model Z was insinuating me to find the date...? Does that mean- ... No, I'm probably just dizzy because I'm [i]literally [/i]on the verge of tears... Hey, maybe they reset their calendars! Prairie told me about some terrible doomsday device, and how it destroyed a lot of things after crashing. That makes sense! Maybe they think of this as the dawn of a new era! Good for them, I guess.[/size] ------------------- [img]https://piskel-imgstore-b.appspot.com/img/6309323a-fb6e-11ed-9a9a-61d21171ee02.gif[/img] [b]Model X & Model Z[/b] [img]https://piskel-imgstore-b.appspot.com/img/7419d05c-fb6e-11ed-ac38-61d21171ee02.gif[/img] [img]https://piskel-imgstore-b.appspot.com/img/ab89c64a-a29e-11ed-8f22-450f363a41db.gif[/img] [color=#b00909]"Did you just see what was on the screen? It can't be... And was that Harpuia too?"[/color] [img]https://piskel-imgstore-b.appspot.com/img/444da9a8-a29e-11ed-830b-450f363a41db.gif[/img] [color=#4287f5]"Yes, I saw. Unless it's a coincidence, that certainly looked like your old body. And that other person, that looked like just how Phantom looked."[/color] [img]https://piskel-imgstore-b.appspot.com/img/ab89c64a-a29e-11ed-8f22-450f363a41db.gif[/img] [color=#b00909]"I knew it! That just confirmed my theory. But one thing... I don't remember ever fighting him in any sort of Metro. We fought in that old factory! Unless my memory's just bad, like I've said a million times already..."[/color] [img]https://piskel-imgstore-b.appspot.com/img/444da9a8-a29e-11ed-830b-450f363a41db.gif[/img] [color=#4287f5]"No, you never fought him in the Metro, and never at wherever "Beach Street" was. There's more to this, I know it."[/color] [img]https://piskel-imgstore-b.appspot.com/img/ab89c64a-a29e-11ed-8f22-450f363a41db.gif[/img] [color=#b00909]"Yeah, that weird tunnel, and all that space stuff. It [i]really [/i]felt like we were taken somewhere else. I wonder... are we stuck in a parallel world?"[/color] [img]https://piskel-imgstore-b.appspot.com/img/444da9a8-a29e-11ed-830b-450f363a41db.gif[/img] [color=#4287f5]"That would... be most likely. We've gone here by complete accident, and we are in even [i]more [/i]trouble. We'll have to go back to that same playground and... I'm not sure, get Aile to dig in the sand until she passes through the same tunnel? If that doesn't work, then-"[/color] [img]https://piskel-imgstore-b.appspot.com/img/ab89c64a-a29e-11ed-8f22-450f363a41db.gif[/img] [color=#b00909]"Should we tell her? She still doesn't know the situation, and she's getting so worked up over the news footage. But then again, I'd hate to ruin her fun with the new friends she met.[/color] [img]https://piskel-imgstore-b.appspot.com/img/444da9a8-a29e-11ed-830b-450f363a41db.gif[/img] [color=#4287f5]"..."[/color] [img]https://piskel-imgstore-b.appspot.com/img/444da9a8-a29e-11ed-830b-450f363a41db.gif[/img] [color=#4287f5]"Not yet."[/color] -------------------- [b]???[/b] "C'mon! Let's go see!" The orb pushed Peacock, almost like it was begging as a child would. It won't take that long, and we can go mess with-" Unfortunately, the humans took notice of them thanks to one of those Navi things. The humans could only see her reploid friend, however. Taking a little opportunity of mischief, the orb floated over to the human in green and waved its wing in front of her face, laughing and mockingly chanting things like, "HEEEEEELLOOOOO!? CAN YOU HEAR ME!? YOU THERE!?" The ball of data stopped when the human she was mocking said she needed to warn Dr. Hikari, the [i]exact [/i]person she was looking for! How lucky were they! And the human also mentioned some "Lan" person and Mega Man... "Hey wait, there's a Mega Man in this world?" The orb dumbfoundedly said to itself. "I thought there weren't any reploids or any high-tech A.I from this accursed place! [size=2]Besides those Navis, they're kinda stupid though.[/size] I must be wrong! Unless that's where that room's for!" After coming out of thought, it turned around and came flying right after Ribitta, hastily looking around the room. There were a bunch of random scientists, and turns out they had some mechaniloids from far off. The orb came to a conclusion that they must've come from a rift. Then how'd these guys put a hole in the mechaniloid's heads. That didn't matter for now. The orb hastily looked around and observed each scientist, hoping to recognize one. She stopped directly in front of Dr. Hikari, letting out a gasp of surprise. She was 97.39% certain that this was him! He still looked mostly the same, except slightly older and just in a different outfit. She currently had a blend of different emotions, angry because of his selfishness and excitement that she could finally get on with her plan now. The ball of data started rapidly blinking various colors, mainly bright and flashy ones, as to be easily discernable. She backed up from the scientist and levitated above him so that Peacock could see her. She kept pointing to Dr. Hikari and informed her friend that their target had been found. "HE'S HERE! OUR TARGET'S HERE! THIS IS HIM RIGHT HERE! GO GRAB HIM!" [size=2][i]"I could try myself, but I'd just phase through him! Eh who cares? Friend will help me!"[/i][/size] She looked over to see the redhead harassing her friend, calling him "Pigeon." How rude of her! She quickly stopped her task of pointing out Dr. Hikari from the rest of the crowd and went over to the white and blue mechaniloids. She flicked her wings out at them, releasing some sort of glittery data. Most of their lenses flickered on and off, finally flashing a bright white color. Their lenses and headlights turned into a constant red light, each one sluggishly getting up and looking around. The orb commanded them, "Ahem, as your new master, I command you to go chase the humans out of here! Don't touch that nice reploid over there, he's with us." After that, she went back to pointing out Dr. Hikari to Cyber Peacock. // 5 out of 6 of the Pantheons were revived. They're kinda slow, sluggish, and weakened, but good luck anyways because they're still, y'know, [i]Pantheons[/i]. Watch out for two gunners, two arm-shockers, and one big-arm punchy guy. (I forgor what they were called [emoji=skull size=1]) ------------------------- [img]https://piskel-imgstore-b.appspot.com/img/a51f8ae3-f737-11ed-a795-a5beb3a95809.gif[/img] [b]Dr. Hikari[/b] Work was going smoothly. Everyone was working so quickly, as they managed to actually get one of the robots' head compartments opened up! And quickly too! The rest of them had some progress on them, but not quite as much the other one. The robot with the opened head was shot near a connection joint, and the metal there seemed to have been softened. Strange... Next, they started salvaging the important-looking components. Motherboards, chips, even the weird gem-looking piece. Hey, who knows? Now it was his time to shine. Dr. Hikari and a few other programming experts were given the main motherboard, or at least what must've been it (since it was big compared to the others). He hooked it up to a computer, and went straight to work. This one was strange. The programming on it was quite unique, and it was encrypted. Well, he and the others would still try their best and see what secrets it held, possibly revealing who made this. While typing away on a keyboard, Dr. Hikari was completely oblivious to what was going outside of the room. [size=7][b][i]*SLAM!*[/i][/b][/size] The door slammed open, with none other than Ribitta coming in. Dr. Hikari jumped in surprise, like some others in the room did, and turned to see her. "Ribitta, what are you-" The scientist asked, before cutting himself off when the reporter mentioned someone targeting somewhere here. Well, someone [i]did [/i]break into his office earlier, but what else? "What do you mean "evacuate"? This place should be sa-" The scientist looked behind Ribitta. There was another lady with her (must've been an accomplice) and... some sort of robotic bird man? For some odd reason, Dr. Hikari felt much more scared than what he should've been feeling at the sight of the thing, especially with its cartoonish look. His heart skipped a beat, and a cold chill went down him. It was as if he knew what that was, or at least had seen it before, and it wasn't a good thing; He had a feeling that it would be after him as well, though he was uncertain. The scientist never did recall such an event too... Dr. Hikari got up from his chair, not exactly sure what to do next. He felt an odd prescense floating above him, almost ghostly even. It seemed to be only brief and- the robots came alive. THE ROBOTS ARE ALIVE!? That bird guy must've brought them alive, nothing else could right? Now the panic set in, as well in all the other scientists. The blue robots started walking around like zombies, and readying their weapons! Just for a brief moment, he had the slightest bit of courage. He grabbed a hold of one of the tools to at least arm himself against these... things. [i][color=#FF0000]"[/color][color=#FF1300]Y[/color][color=#FF2700]o[/color][color=#FF3B00]u[/color] [color=#FF6300]c[/color][color=#FF7700]a[/color][color=#FF8B00]l[/color][color=#FF9E00]l[/color] [color=#FFC600]t[/color][color=#FFDA00]h[/color][color=#FFEE00]a[/color][color=#FBFF00]t[/color] [color=#D3FF00]a[/color] [color=#ACFF00]w[/color][color=#98FF00]e[/color][color=#84FF00]a[/color][color=#70FF00]p[/color][color=#5CFF00]o[/color][color=#48FF00]n[/color][color=#34FF00]?[/color] [color=#0DFF00]I[/color][color=#00FF06]t[/color][color=#00FF1A]'[/color][color=#00FF2E]s[/color] [color=#00FF56]s[/color][color=#00FF69]o[/color] [color=#00FF91]p[/color][color=#00FFA5]r[/color][color=#00FFB9]i[/color][color=#00FFCD]m[/color][color=#00FFE1]i[/color][color=#00FFF5]t[/color][color=#00F5FF]i[/color][color=#00E1FF]v[/color][color=#00CDFF]e[/color] [color=#00A5FF]a[/color][color=#0091FF]n[/color][color=#007DFF]d[/color] [color=#0056FF]u[/color][color=#0042FF]s[/color][color=#002EFF]e[/color][color=#001AFF]l[/color][color=#0006FF]e[/color][color=#0D00FF]s[/color][color=#2100FF]s[/color][color=#3400FF]![/color] [color=#5C00FF]H[/color][color=#7000FF]e[/color][color=#8400FF]h[/color][color=#9800FF]![/color] [color=#C000FF]H[/color][color=#D300FF]a[/color][color=#E700FF]h[/color] [color=#FF00EE]h[/color][color=#FF00DA]a[/color][color=#FF00C6]h[/color] [color=#FF009E]h[/color][color=#FF008B]a[/color][color=#FF0077]h[/color] [color=#FF004F]h[/color][color=#FF003B]a[/color][color=#FF0027]![/color][color=#FF0013]"[/color][/i] [i]Huh? What was that voice?[/i]

[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/97aXU0e.png[/img] [emoji=puzzle piece orange size=1] [b]Lan[/b] [emoji=puzzle piece orange size=1][/center] Lan laughed in response to Chaud's question regarding how much conditioner the blonde person used. "Probably a whole lot!" His own joke about there possibly being some sort of connection between him and ProtoMan made him think a little more about the coincidence, only for him to shut it down. More than one person could wear red, have long hair tied in a ponytail and look like they were good at fighting. It had to be a coincidence and nothing else. He recognized Harpuia as soon as the cameras turned on him. "Oh yeah, it's Harpuia! He found the guy!" He was honestly relieved, since it meant no more children would be frightened by the red-eyed person and he would get to head over to SciLab without any extra plans developing beforehand. He still would've been willing to help if he hadn't found him, but now they didn't need to worry. When he looked over at Aile, however, he could immediately tell something was wrong. She had a look on her face he could only describe as stressed. He glanced back at the television screen, then at her again. She was hiding her face behind one of the menus, giving Chaud an answer which only concerned him more. As much as he loved food, he could tell she was trying to change the topic as quickly as possible. "It'll be alright, Aile! They'll get a handle on it," he tried to reassure her, opening up a menu of his own. He found himself unable to really focus on reading the menu, an unusual thing for him, especially after she laughed at... the current year? Well, she said it cheered her up a little, but it was still confusing. What was so funny about the number 200X? Was it the 'X'? Did Banten have a different way of telling what day, month and year it was? Did she think it was a different year? Wait a second, how [i]did[/i] she end up lying in the sand back in ACDC Town, anyway? Why was there a sinking feeling in his stomach now? Why did there have to be so many questions?? "Uh, you're welcome! Yeah, I guess... that is a little funny?" he squeaked out, looking over the menu again. He cleared his throat. "Anyway, if you want a recommendation, you can't go wrong with a classic burger. Curry is also really good, and there's more than one kind of curry on the menu, too. Oh, and their grilled steak is delicious! And- and... oh. I might be having trouble deciding too." Lan could eat a variety of foods and enjoy it, as long as there were no white spring onions anywhere near it. It wasn't just his indecisiveness bothering him, however. He lowered his menu when he realized it was hiding his face. He gave Aile a sympathetic smile. "Hey Aile? If anything's bothering you, don't be afraid to tell us. I'll help in any way I can." ----------------------- [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/QFiGE60.png[/img] [emoji=shockswitch blue size=1] [b]MegaMan.EXE[/b] [emoji=shockswitch blue size=1][/center] After ProtoMan suggested searching the town of Banten, MegaMan nodded in agreement. He himself was curious as to what Aile's home was like. [color=2B88C6]"Sure! I'm sure we'll get coordinates from Aile so we can visit at some point. I had never heard of it either until now. Maybe she just lives really, really far away?"[/color] He had a feeling he was right in a sense, but the fact he was even a little doubtful with his guess was worth paying attention to. If he was participating in a combat analysis test, he was sure he'd be doing well. He was keeping up with his sparring partner while talking and thinking about other things at the same time. That took care of his worry about there being something wrong with his code for the most part. It wasn't entirely gone. [color=2B88C6]"I'm thinking she dropped them by accident,"[/color] he continued, bringing his sword down on top of Proto's blade. He then pushed down on it to help propel himself upwards as jumped up and over the red Navi, performing a flip in mid-air. He landed behind him, expecting him to turn around before he went in for another strike. [i]Ha! I've still got it![/i] He went ahead and kept talking as if he hadn't just changed his position. [color=2B88C6]"I hope she didn't hit her head, but that's more likely than any other reason I can come up with. Unless... she fell from the sky?"[/color] He took a moment to realize how ridiculous he sounded, suggesting that out of the blue. He felt he needed to elaborate quickly. [color=2B88C6]"I know how it sounds, but I feel like something is off about all this. She had armor on, so that should've protected her from broken bones or worse. Then again, she should've probably been feeling more than a little sick if she actually fell from the sky, so something different had to have happened, but..."[/color] The blue Navi abruptly took a step back. He moved his free hand to his head, keeping his blade out in front of him. After gently patting his helmet, he gave ProtoMan an apologetic look. [color=2B88C6]"Sorry! I'm okay, my head's just starting to hurt from all the speculation,"[/color] he claimed. [color=2B88C6]"I'm still raring to go!"[/color] It was a half-truth he spoke. Sure, all the speculation was making him feel as though he would get a headache if he kept thinking about it, but there was something else. He had an extra theory he'd been about to reveal, only to trail off and keep it to himself because it sounded unreal. It might have been entirely unfathomable to him if he didn't vaguely recall something like it happening before. Sometimes he thought of the whole ClockMan situation as an incredibly weird dream, especially since he was frozen in time for most of it, and then there was someone who kind of looked like him right in front of him when he came to... [i]That didn't actually happen, did it? Did I really meet someone from the future then? I think he told Lan and I not to forget him... so why can't I remember? Maybe those memories went fuzzy after Alpha...[/i] While MegaMan didn't like reminding himself of his momentary death, it would explain why he only vaguely remembered a few things from when ClockMan attacked. He knew it was before Lan learned he was Hub Hikari, and he remembered someone who kind of looked like him getting involved. The words 'arm Navi' came to mind as well. It was insane, but he was starting to think maybe, just maybe, Aile [i]wasn't[/i] from this time. For the record, he wasn't sure about Harpuia either. [color=2B88C6]"Actually... may I have a moment?"[/color] he asked ProtoMan sheepishly, lowering his blade arm. [color=2B88C6]"I just had a crazy thought. It involves missing memories, and it's going to sound incredibly weird. ProtoMan, do you believe in time travel?"[/color] ((Hehe, Operation Shooting Star reference!)) ----------------------- [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/1LbofWZ.png[/img] [img]https://i.imgur.com/H1B8PN7.png[/img] [emoji=treefrog size=1] [b]Ribbita & ToadMan.EXE[/b] [emoji=shockswitch green size=1][/center] Ribbita took no notice of the strange orb mocking her, as she was a human and thus unable to see it. She was sure SciLab was safe before, but definitely not now. She kept glancing back at the robotic bird, seeing Neige confront it, going on about a drinking game or something. She had to admit, the rules of said drinking game [i]did[/i] sound idiotic, but she couldn't focus on that right now. She took a few steps away from the doorway, her free hand balled up in a fist. "When I say evacuate, I mean EVACUATE! Look, we've got to go now, Dr. Hikari! Your kids need you, your wife needs you, we need you to get somewhere safe, so let's-" She cut herself off with a surprised shriek when the blue and white robots the scientists had been running tests on [i]came to life.[/i] The robots were sluggish it seemed, but alive nonetheless, and they were armed. She missed the fact she had said [i]kids[/i], but ToadMan didn't think now was the time to correct her. Definitely not in front of Dr. Hikari. Following the scientist's example, she snatched a nearby tool, not caring what anyone had to say about that. She would return it when her life wasn't in danger. She was still reeling from the information Neige had given her, along with the theory of her being from an alternate timeline. Given how foreign these machines were, maybe that was where they'd come from, but... wasn't time travel a largely fictional concept? She didn't think it was even remotely possible. Numerous times in her life, she wished to go back and fix past mistakes, but that wasn't how life worked. Now the rules were changing? What was going on here?! At the very least, she could confide in Neige, no matter where she came from. Both were willing to help, and they weren't going down without a struggle. A part of her wanted to smash one of the robots to pieces with the tool she held, but Neige had already talked about how dangerous they could be. Recklessly taking any of them on would probably get her seriously hurt or killed. "I hope you've got defense systems in place here," she said aloud, looking up at Dr. Hikari. "I can send ToadMan in to sound alarms if needed, but we really should [i]go[/i]." Then she thought of something she could do with the tool. It would free up her hand, because the other was occupied with her PET. She steeled herself, glaring at the Pantheons. [i]"You'll never get us alive!!"[/i] she shouted, throwing the tool at a gunner Pantheon with as much force as she could muster. Ribbita then took hold of Dr. Hikari's wrist without delay and turned around to make a break for it. "Alright, let's go! GO GO GO!"