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Post by Professor Fann on Aug 25, 2009 23:57:11 GMT -5
Today I am back. Three chapters.
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All characters belong to Capcom, except for those you’ve never seen before and the story doesn’t intend to hurt anyone’s interests.
-M’siaFanWriter
Chapter Thirteen: Technician
It was late night the same day. Everyone was excited about the future times of peace ahead with new cooperation with the PB Force, now legally under X’s command based on the verdict.
All 3000 PB Force Reploids were stationed at the south wing under the shades of the structures of rocket base and giant cannon. They appeared to have no personalities at all, so the snow didn’t bothered them.
X was planning to have them programmed to legally serve the government, just like the Hunters, but he first wanted to know where the remaining PB Force members out there were; he knew 3000 wasn’t just all Bob had.
The only ones who didn’t feel like celebrating the concessions were Axl and inhabitants. Due to the recent rush in internal and external affairs, X had to put off the bedtime limit for all Hunters but some were still able to find time to sleep. He or she certainly wasn’t Axl.
Lumine and Iris were squabbling with Axl over bedtime.
Axl didn’t feel like sleeping but his inhabitants sure were very tired. They were protesting over Axl’s decision to head over to the VR room and compete to wrestle and achieve the highest score, thus beating Lumine’s score under Axl’s name.
“Axl, we are dead tired over the boredom today! I want some sleep!”
“I was going to the VR room only! You guys can just rest in me!”
“No, we can’t! I can’t sleep with all that noise and shooting and damages you’ll bring us afterwards! Besides, you’ve dealt with enough stress today! Do you really have that much to worry? Just relax this once!”
“No, Iris! I’m going to beat Lumine’s score and that’s final!”
Lumine darted a sharp eye at him. “I don’t think so.” He emitted his waves of crimson light suddenly to everyone’s shock. “I also need some time out, dear boy, and I’m making you give us one.”
Iris agreed whole-heartedly with him and emitted her own pink waves. The two waves were a symbol of two personalities united to gain Axl’s body.
Axl was much more prepared so he made a cross with his arms and broke them, thus unleashing a bigger wave of dark blue light to counter his friends.
Lumine was impressed but undisturbed. “Interesting. Darker blue aura than the previous lighter dark blue. He’s determined to stop us.”
Axl was in the cubicle department so the clash of three auras in the head for control mechanisms meant that Axl’s movements were disturbed. Axl from walking became fidgeting. His head turned in many directions and his hands moved in many ways. Axl eventually crashed here and there on other Hunter’s cubicles.
“Hey, Axl! What’s up with you? Aaah! Stop it!” Their internal bickering became a source of attraction and many Hunters wanted to watch the new insanity. But his frequent crashing with others made them stay away.
Five minutes of fighting caused much trouble in the cubicle department. The walls were fallen and many belongings were messed up. Finally not wanting any more destruction to the other half of the department, Hunters dashed to grab the struggling Axl but the three weren’t finished fighting.
Iris and Lumine were definitely worn out a lot although they haven’t surrendered yet. Axl was also getting tired but not as tired as the other two. Outside, Hunters were struggling to suppress Axl to normalcy and looking at his white pale eyes and sharp gnashing teeth weren’t very encouraging for them.
Suddenly, a loud rumbling of a noise was heard until the Hunter HQ shook a little. Everyone paused in his or her actions, even the bickering three. The lights went out suddenly in every part of the HQ. It was another blackout.
In the darkness, Axl returned to normal and stood up. “Is there another blackout in Megalopolis? That was a loud rumble!”
Everyone suddenly remembered Axl and asked with a little anger what happened to him. He apologised, saying he turned insane suddenly, and dashed away to the command room. He did not hear the other quarrels the rest were directing at him, so he didn’t care. The main priority was the emergency.
Alia was quick to give a status report on the source of the blackout.
“No, Megalopolis didn’t suffer a Maverick attack. WE had an attack but Mavericks didn’t do it. Our own energy reactors suffered a setback.”
“The total amount of generators that we have is 8, including the 2 basic generators, all in the southeast wing. This time one of the generators has suffered great damage, thus causing the other 7 to overheat and fuse. We need someone to go down there while the others supply some temporary light sources.”
X quickly turned towards Axl and Layer. “Alright, you two go down there and find out the source of this.”
Layer dragged on a reluctant Axl to the same backup elevator that they previously boarded down to the basements.
Once again, Layer led Axl down to the maze of balcony side walkways and down the ladders. Without asking for it, Lumine provided the red aura as a brighter source of light through Axl’s fingertips.
They passed down the many same previous circular routes and the meters and the pipes and the hanging screens. However, this time the routes were deeper because Layer found the 2 basic generators okay, meaning one of the advanced generators this time was faulted and it was deep in the darkness.
“Keep walking, dear boy, it’s bound to be down here somewhere. Dear girl, don’t be so wimpy, it’s not like there’s horrible monsters down here.” Lumine let loose a small wild laughter at the scared Iris.
“Oh? Calling me ‘dear girl’ this time? I thought it was ‘lover girl’.”
“Change in plans. It sounds better. Maybe you can also call me ‘dear boy’.”
“No way! Sounds too Lumine-ish! Besides, you frequently use them, not us!”
Axl was cheered up with the little conversation but Layer had apparently not found the faulty generator. This time the surroundings were much darker with creepy dinghies and the all-time-favourite thick huge pipelines and wires.
Finally, Layer found the faulty generator.
“Just as I was afraid of. The advanced generator number 5 was damaged severely at the cooling chamber. This cooling chamber will need other advanced components to fix. Once again, the culprit must’ve been the same person because the pipelines and wires were ripped off their stabilizers and many wires were left dangling everywhere. Hm…how can this be fixed?”
Axl’s right hand suddenly switched on the speakers on his ears. “Maybe I can do something here. Let me check.” Lumine made use of Axl to properly analyse the damage. Layer could only wait.
“Hm…apparently some vital gears are missing. Many electronic components have been ripped off, strangely by using screwdrivers. Connecting wires have been vandalized by a strong punch of a fist and some power cells have been squashed by feet. The vandal must be a strong fighter. Someone ... but strong.”
“Wow, Lumine how do you know all this?”
“Simple. Father taught me all these for years before I was corrupted. We have to contact the suppliers for these parts. Old parts such as these can’t be found anywhere so easily. We’re talking about 15-year-old equipments here.”
“Alright, I’d call the suppliers while you stay here-”
“Hello? Anyone down here?” A certain Reploid called out so loudly, the two were startled. Lumine quickly switched off the speakers.
“Yes! We’re over here!” Layer called back louder while Axl watched. A dark figure approached but the image was getting more visible.
The Reploid that soon appeared had armour of those mining Reploids: the human-like blue clothes that looked a lot like hillbilly clothes and the safety helmet. He brought along a large suitcase of black.
“Oh it’s you Abe. Axl, this is Abe, one of the technicians in the HQ who’s an expert on these generator besides…you know who I mean.” Layer was indirectly referring to Lumine.
“Pleasure. Ah…let’s see what we have here…”
Axl was quick to notice one thing: Abe only looked around for a mere 6 seconds and he had already started to fix all the problems immediately.
He opened the suitcase to reveal a huge chunk of devices and components. He quickly took out many screwdrivers and blazers to fix up the damages. He took out many other components that Lumine said were missing and quickly fixed them in proper place.
Abe repaired the connecting wires with molten tin-lead wires though the dented rubber weren’t fixed with the blazers and he also took out many pieces of metal and plastic and silicon, thus remoulding them into the power cell containers. He poured out some liquid mercury and zinc as their fuel.
The burst pipelines and wires were quickly readjusted into the positions of their stabilizers and reactivated. The dangling wires were remoulded back into proper places. At the end of two-and-a-half hours, he had finished every single repair, except for the vital gears.
“Hey, what about the gears?” Axl quickly questioned him.
“Hm…here we got is a very old model of gears. Hm…maybe I can remould them in the laboratories. I’ll try my best. See you all later.” He reactivated the generator, though not performing so well but still good, and hurriedly left.
“Hey! He forgot about the other seven generators’ fuses!” Layer said.
Then, the security cameras around the entire basement twitched and blacked out. Apparently Axl’s right hand secretly sent out some invisible charged particles to stun the cameras and in a blink second, Lumine appeared before Layer.
Lumine knew that the fuses were in very high places since his earlier session in the basement. So he had floated upwards to all the generators and removed their fuses.
One by one, he opened the hatches and used a small but powerful plasma to remould the metal copper and readjusted them into the fuses and fixed them back.
The finishing touch was the reactivating of the seven generators; de-stun the cameras and Lumine wobbled back to become Axl. Axl fell to the floor with a great pain in the end.
“Wasn’t Abe a good technician just now, Axl?”
“Yeah, a little too good…” They got back up to the floor of X’s office and found that the entire place had been lit up. X was there to greet them.
“Was Abe helpful down there?” X asked.
“He was great. He quickly fixed up all damages in a record 2 ½ hours. Well, he also did his share too. Not Axl, the other ‘he’.”
Axl was back in his cubicle. Once he placed his head hidden under his hands, he began to express what he felt, of course to Lumine and Iris.
“How in the world did he fix up the damage so much? I’m telling you, I just know that Bob’s behind all this! He must have planned all this attacks and have his henchmen buddy Abe here and fix it up so quickly! I’m telling you! He’ll just trouble up the Big City again someday!!”
The phenomenon happened again. The light vibrations of component outlines, the inactive data circulating like mad and this time, a strong rumbling inside the computer brain. Lumine quickly checked in and gave Axl an electric shock, the equivalent of stunning Axl.
“Dear boy, remember that you are speculating theories again! These theories are unproven as there are no real evidence to support them! That will be enough for now, okay? Keep the theories to yourself, just don’t get too emotional!”
Lumine turned to Iris. “Well, this feeling just now was the third different feeling: too much anxiety. Dear girl, we are taking dear boy to go and see father. I know I’m going against what he said about the investigation and emotions, and the time now is already ten past midnight, but trust me, this is way too much for me to remain patient anymore.”
In a mere two seconds, Lumine took control of the body and turned to his human form, white sweater and all. He teleported away before he was spotted by anyone else, leaving the other two too shocked to do anything.
Continued in Chapter 14.
Notes:
Thought up the best chemistry of components and engine I could for the procedure of repairing. Maybe the mind phenomenon is boring by now, but it’s a plot too.
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That smart technician ... suspected by Axl.
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All characters belong to Capcom, except for those you’ve never seen before and the story doesn’t intend to hurt anyone’s interests.
-M’siaFanWriter
Chapter Fourteen: Therapy
It was nearly 15 minutes of another brand new day. The Big City is once again bustling ripe in activity just like for the past decade or more, thought to be estimated nearly 28 years since the Space Colony incident.
The lights glittered here and there but not the Prez Corporation grounds. Only a few lights and extreme tight security was enough for the giant plants. One of those few came from mister Prez’s room.
Right at the top of the southwest wing’s tallest structure, Prez’s master room was glowing brightly from the lights. He was busy typing something, which seemed really important. He coughed again and drank from his flask. Then at the corner of his left eye, he spotted a tall white figure standing, awaiting permission for entry.
“Well, well. If it isn’t Lumine!” He walked slowly with his cane towards the sliding door and drew it open. Lumine in human form was partially covered with snow on head and shoulders so Prez reached out to brush them off.
“Come now. How long have you been waiting there? It looks thick on your head. Lucky your headset is tightly attached to your metal hair. Or else you’ll get wet!”
“Sorry, father. I will be more careful next time.”
Lumine just walked into the room, led by Prez. Prez coughed a little and then drank him cough syrup and anti asthma gas. He then sat on the nearest chair.
“It’s quite early but not too late for you to come here. What would you like to have, some hot drinks perhaps? Hot cocoa? Some warm tea?”
“That wouldn’t be necessary, father. I have a report about Axl.”
“Father, dear boy just had his third emotional fluctuation. This time the emotion was anxiety, much of them. Anxiety seemed to have a greater impact. I agree that that it is indeed that the emotions were displayed at extreme degrees. But my findings show that dear boy is the only one who couldn’t control his feelings and it isn’t a mixture of emotions; it’s a single one.”
Axl burst out suddenly. “Hey! I can control my own emotions, okay?! It’s just that…I’ve only not maintained proper balance on the control yet.”
“Oh really, dear Axl? Just the other day I’ve recorded some eruption inside the nuclear chamber the other day. There was a slight trouble of containing the nuclear energy resulted from radioactivity in the digestion. I was surprised to find that happening even when dear girl was in control. It seems there were some leftover complications as a result from your anger over human trash’s arrival.”
“Do you understand what I’m getting at here? You still couldn’t control your feelings properly. If you continue this further, especially since this affects areas where nuclear reactions are involved, we will all be in grave danger.”
“I am fine! Just leave me alone, Lumine!”
Prez suddenly coughed harder and harder. He started to wheeze heavily and tried to calm himself down. Lumine quickly rushed over to his aid.
“Nice going, dear Axl. Father had to cough hard because of your stubbornness to accept some very ill facts about yourself!”
“You’re saying I did this? You were persistent to say this is my entire fault!”
Then Lumine appeared stunned, for the very first time. So was Axl. Apparently Iris used some of her aura to stun them both to avoid the situation from worsening.
“You guys! Please stop your quarrelling! Lumine’s right, Axl! If you don’t do something about this problem, we will end up in serious trouble! Look at father! He’s sick and getting sicker if we don’t maintain healthy, happy selves!”
Prez heard all this from the mouth of the white Reploid. He gulped more cough syrup and breathed slightly easier. He properly sat on his chair.
All three were silent. Axl frowned for a moment and gave in.
“Alright. I give. So what do you suggest we do to help me stop myself from losing control over my feelings?” The suggestion came from Prez.
“Axl, you will go for a…therapy, and you’ll like it. C’mon now.”
This time, they entered the elevator on the left side and Prez pressed the button labelled ‘35’. The door closed and they went downwards slowly.
“Therapy, father? Only humans go through therapies.”
“It’s a figure of speech, Lumine. I’m deciding that Axl be analysed, once again with the use of my latest technology that detects every single abnormalities.”
They arrived at floor 35. Not surprisingly, the floor was the floor of a combined three-storey lab. Prez walked on till he approached a further right corner and switched on the lights. They saw a cylindrical machine with a strong strap chair in the middle.
“Father, that’s the machine that X used to detect my presence!”
“Exactly. Somewhere around a month ago, the Hunters suddenly planned an order for a machine to what they say ‘cure a fellow Reploid’. So I assume that must’ve been you, because after that order, I was informed you escaped to the Jakob Tower and tried to protect yourself!”
Lumine hung his head down in shame of the painful event that happened.
“Come now. I’d need Axl in Reploid form to be strapped on the chair.”
Lumine wobbled to become Axl in human form, and then he changed to Reploid form and voluntarily sat on the chair. Unlike the previous time, Axl wasn’t afraid.
His head gem was opened and many wires were connected to it automatically. Axl was strapped up at his neck, hands and legs. Then Prez pushed down a level that started immediate analyse of the unique body.
Unlike the previous time, Axl felt no electric shock that crept throughout him. This time, it was more towards a squirmish feeling like something slimy was injected slowly inside him. Then he felt himself pulled upwards by a certain strong force.
In seven minutes, the body became totally numb. In fact it looked like a Reploid corpse. Then, at three screens hanging in the air, three data souls were collected and displayed one on each screen. They all watched the machines process data from the analysis.
Then, a ring sound was emitted from the set of huge machines. The huge printer printed out big sheets of rough paper bearing all the results of organized data. The Paper was six feet wide and when done printing, 18 feet long.
Prez ripped the paper from the machine and started to read and interpret the charts and graphs. Several pictures of Axl’s body outline were printed and labelled with tiny lines. He finished reading it in no time at all.
“Ah here’s the problem. It seems that the source of the problem is connected to the Chameleon Chip that has been integrated to control the flow of inexhaustible energy. It appears to be rather stressed.”
“Stressed, dad?” Axl was curious to find out more.
“As you know, Axl’s body is a source of…near-unlimited energy power and the Chameleon Chip had been implanted to control the energy flow for Axl’s copy ability and increase his survival skills.”
“Most recently, upon Axl’s request, the body now has a nuclear chamber and a switch mode between Reploid and human form. The Chameleon Chip has been tied to the extra duty of maintaining their stability. The problem is here.”
“The Chameleon Chip has too many duties to perform until some nuclear energy has been sort of left out from being used in any activity at all. This started since Axl had a human form. All over his body, especially his head, there lay a huge amount of stagnant energy that has been unused. The body is waiting to make use of this energy so anxiously that it used them on the slightest outburst of reaction: emotions.”
“But the main part here is why this only happens to Axl. You see, the Chameleon Chip has long recognised the longest predominant data soul and the most active, which is you, Axl. So this creates a type of rigid dependency on Axl to use all energy resulted from various reactions.”
“The Chameleon Chip simply diverts all such energy to the disposal of Axl. The lesser data souls, you other two, could only feel the pressure created from this mass accumulated energy because the body doesn’t depend on you to use the energy. Understand so far?”
Axl and Iris got the general idea but Lumine seemed to understand it the most.
“So to simply put it, the Chameleon Chip demands that only Axl makes good use of this energy but the problem here is that he can’t. I can’t insert any more programs to help Axl because it will create more stress. So the only solution here is that Axl better learn how to remain patient most of the time so the sudden energy outburst wouldn’t damage anyone.”
“So you two,” referring to Iris and Lumine, “your new duties are to train Axl in controlling his emotions so that the stagnant energy remain stable instead of unstable and possibly be diverted to other uses. Axl’s patience degree must be increased or else there’ll be grave consequences.”
“Dad, I told you I’m fine. I can control it.”
“Yes you can, only if your two friends here assist you! This is a serious matter here, very serious! It will affect your Hunter reputation, I’m reminding you again, as a Class S Hunter! If you mix combat skills with emotions, things will go haywire. The worst is that suddenly the stagnant energy becomes highly unstable and that you’ll release a nuclear reaction that will vaporize the City!!”
Axl gulped and admitted defeat. “Thank you, dad.”
“Now as for the minor topics; Lumine’s rage doesn’t affect this because he’s a lesser data soul and I understand all your feelings towards Bob now. Don’t worry too much. One day, he will be revealed his true side, I’m sure.”
Iris’ eyes widened. “Father, I almost forgot! Just some hours ago, the government pardoned Bob! They forgave all his previous crimes and even allowed X to have legal control over the PB Force! But the cheerier side of this is that X continued to imprison him because he refused to cooperate in giving the Maverick Hunters all of his units!”
Prez was shocked. “WHAT?! That’s impossible! The government already told me that the Hunters could only have the PB Force if Bob suddenly dies in jail or that his sentence is complete then automatic transfer will happen!”
“Father, it’s true. Even a huge majority of the Hunters supported this decision and that human scum’s image thing is now that he’s a man dedicated to peace.”
Prez flew into an outrage. “That’s preposterous! This shouldn’t be allowed at all! I will make a huge complain about this, you’ll hear from me about this!” Then Prez coughed harder and harder till he was curling on the floor.
“FATHER!” All three yelled out together.
Automatically they retreated back into the body of a prototype, thus disconnecting all wires and closing Axl’s head gem. The strap unbuckled by itself and Axl dashed out to tend to Prez.
“Dad, no! C’mon we’ll get you back to your room!” Axl quickly switched off all the machines and brought the coughing tycoon back up to his room.
Slowly and carefully, Axl laid Prez on bed like a log and gave him another spoon of cough syrup and anti asthma inhaling. Eventually the sick man was covered with nice warm blankets and had his cane put aside.
“Father. How are you now?” Iris’ voice boomed out.
“This morning, the doctors said that my conditions had improved better. They did warn me not to get angry suddenly or else my lungs will be affected. Guess I need to be patient myself. My illness is slowly subsiding though they still haven’t found out the source of my chronic fever. I’ll be informed later.”
“Oh…you all are so good to me. What would be of me if I don’t have you three by my side? I might have died early and people will be squabbling over inheritance of my plants and facilities, my belongings all over the world I tried to help rebuild… You’ve been good children. Now, go back. I need…a…sleep…”
Prez was snoring away peacefully. Axl laid his hand over him and closed his eyes. Then, he decided it was time to go so he left for the balcony and shut the sliding doors tight.
“So, dear boy, I’ll be training you starting later today. Any problems?”
“No, Lumine. If you don’t mind, I’ll prefer to sleep now. Help me go back to the HQ please…” Axl abruptly wobbled to become Reploid Lumine.
“If you say so, dear boy. I’ll just take you back the slow way.”
Lumine then floated in the air, carrying a resting Axl and Iris in his head, and flew slowly all the way back to HQ amid the snow that seemed to be falling lightly towards the ground. But he hoped that he wouldn’t be caught so easily. Of course he didn’t intend on that happening or else he’ll be in serious trouble.
Continued in Chapter 15.
Notes:
Hope that would be a very good explanation to the emotional fluctuations. Come to think of it, the chemistry here is way impossible to be achieved. But what good is technology then?
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Not much of a therapy ...
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All characters belong to Capcom, except for those you’ve never seen before and the story doesn’t intend to hurt anyone’s interests.
-M’siaFanWriter
Chapter Fifteen: Spotted
The very same morning hours later, X got up from his own resting pod and he first thing he did was head to his office. But he noticed that the door was locked. Suspicious, he took out the key that he had with him and unlocked the door. The moment he entered his office, he saw Lumine sleeping in a sitting posture on one of the cushions at the sidewall.
The white Reploid woke up the moment X stepped into his office. He remained where he was and spoke to the Commander.
“Good day, X. You weren’t expecting me in here, weren’t you?”
“What are you doing here? And what happened to Axl? Last night, some Hunters were complaining something about him being insane…”
“Go figure. Last night I decided to make a little trip to father’s. It was about dear boy Axl but you don’t need to know that. He slept along with dear girl so I was the only one active. I had to stealthily get past many cameras and corners; you don’t know how tough it was.”
“I can’t simply retreat to dear boy’s pod so I had to make do with somewhere else. Who would have thought I found your door unlocked, X. I’m now in a position your cameras wouldn’t snap records now. Tsk tsk. A Commander like yourself should really emphasize security on your own office first before going to Big City.” Lumine gave him a small, wicked laugh.
“Uh…Alright, you win. Now just let Axl come out, will you? I’ve got some other Hunters to meet this morning and I don’t want them to know you’re here.”
“Pleasure.” Lumine rapidly released control back to Axl, now seen as sleeping and, due to the lack of stability, fell flat on the floor.
“Ow! Gah…oh, what time is it already? Hey, I’m not in the resting pods!”
Much later, close to afternoon, Iris in her Reploid new form was displayed. She was busy reading some human magazines and at the same time, watching the latest on news in X’s office. She had her chat with Zero earlier after Axl had woke up.
While X was typing out something on his computer, he also noticed that Iris was slightly shivering. She was doing her best to maintain herself from any mishap at all. Deciding to rid of his curiosity further, X approached her.
“Iris, why are you shivering? Is it that cold in here?”
Iris smiled at him. “Oh no. I’m fine. It isn’t cold in here but rather warm. It’s just that Axl’s being trained for patience.”
“Patience? Why would he undergo such training?”
“Recently and before, Axl’s had some emotional breakdown due to…his presence. The one locked up in the west wing. Somehow Axl gets overexcited or angry and this caused the body to act a little weird on the inside.”
“Tell me something I don’t know about you three, Iris.”
“You knew Axl had some emotional fluctuations, X?”
“It’s too obvious. Running away to secluded corners and silent rages. I know. Bob’s deeds in the past caused many problems, especially on Axl. So how’s Axl being trained?”
“Lumine will be insulting him all he could. If Axl reacts in anger early, he must train more. If Lumine tires out earlier on the other hand, Axl’s had good control on all his emotions. You don’t want to know what Lumine says in here, trust me.”
“Okay, I’ll take your word for it.” X was just about to leave back behind his desk when Iris suddenly screamed out and fell down the ground.
“Aaahh! Ouch, that hurts! Axl!”
X rushed forward to carry up Iris. “Iris! Are you okay? What happened?”
In the computer brain, Axl could no longer be patient at Lumine’s direct and piercing insults and he got so angry that he pounced on the white Reploid to shut him up, shocking him and Iris too. Apparently the impact of the pounce wasn’t limited to the inner mind so Iris was made to fall down somehow.
Lumine was calm however. He managed to check the surrounding conditions while Axl tried to strangle him. Of course strangulation doesn’t work since Reploids don’t breathe. Then Lumine smiled at Axl.
“Well done, dear Axl. Despite your rage of anger, the anger didn’t fluctuate at all. And this is your first training session. Congratulations. You’ve improved a lot for start, although you lasted only 25 minutes.”
Axl got up and was happy with himself. “Really? I’ve improved?”
“Of course, dear boy. Don’t get so excited now. You’ve only partially mastered control over anger. You still need some more training. I’ll fix up some more over the days, this time with a mixture of other emotional tests. That’s it for today, dear boy. You deserve a rest.”
Iris saw the whole thing and summarized it for X. “Axl managed to improve! But Lumine says he still needs more over the next few days.”
X raised an eyebrow. “Well, congratulations. He’s doing quite a good job there, that Lumine, and Axl’s coping well at it.”
Then the emergency alarm rang. “Hunters of these following units, please report to the command room immediately. There have been robberies on several banks at the neighbouring district west of the Hunter HQ.”
“Well, that’s the call for Axl.” Then Alia read out the list of units called. “Yes, Axl’s called.” Iris wobbled to become Axl. Axl dashed towards the door but halted to ask X if he was coming along.
“No, Axl, they specifically called you. I’m waiting for a phone call from mister Prez. Seems that he found out about the government verdict on the human criminal.” X indirectly referred to Bob, though X didn’t tell Prez firstly since it was Iris and Lumine who broke the word to him.
Moments later, in the command room, Axl met up with Zero.
“Ready? Let’s go beat up some Mavericks!”
Seconds later in the neighbouring district, humans evaded the scene where around 20 rampaging Mavericks were driving speedy vehicles here and there, thus troubling the local ground traffic. All transportation came to a halt.
The scene was at a wide 8 lane intersection road, half of which the direction was the opposite of the other. Once again there were tall buildings at the side of the roads with lots of hanging advertisements and mid-air infrastructure.
The local police had managed to collapse all the speeding vehicles but the Mavericks were fine. The restaurant behind them was fast enough to close thus halting the Mavericks from escaping. Then, several Hunter units and PB Force members appeared just on time, as local police went off to secure other roads and people. A gun battle followed.
During the battle, not so much public property suffered damage. The Mavericks had their own share of guns to gun down any Hunter possible. Zero was trying to look for an opportunity to slice the Mavericks but found none.
Then Axl decided to dash forward instead of shooting the Mavericks while hiding behind vehicles. But then his movements were stunned.
Lumine had some ideas of his own how to quickly end the gun battle.
“Gee, that’s great Lumine. What are you going to do?” Lumine smiled.
“Watch me, dear boy. It’ll be great.” Lumine rapidly got hold of Axl’s body control mechanisms and even displayed his own physical appearances! Fortunately for him, no one noticed this, even the Mavericks on the other side of the road. Secretly he floated upwards, sat on one of the advertisement signs on the Hunters’ side, and watched the battle as he waited for the right time.
Then came a point where the Mavericks had to refill their guns with bullets. The Hunters were about to charge forward and rampage the Mavericks when they heard loud claps from above.
Everyone saw Lumine, clapping and smiling meekly at the whole situation.
“My, my. This is a beautiful event. Too bad I can’t do anything to keep it.”
Lumine saw Zero winked once at him and seems Zero knew how to hide things. “YOU! You are still alive?! It’s amazing how you managed to escape the Elevator a month ago! What are you doing here?” Even Mavericks were stunned.
“I thought I’d just come down to play a little visit to the Maverick Hunters. Hm? Where’s X and the prototype? And we also have a couple of Mavericks here. Such a lowlife crime, compared to the new world.”
Lumine held forward his left hand, beaming with his purple aura. He fired a thin laser of it that surprised many. Somehow the laser twitched and turned here and there, scooping up all the bags of human currency. The lasers then wobbled to become that of a ladle and had all the bags in it. The ladle roughly threw all the bags of cash at the Hunters.
The ladle-shaped laser wobbled back to be a thin ray and returned back to the purple aura on Lumine’s left hand. The purple aura vanished.
Apparently, the Mavericks this time had a little sense of thought and speech.
“That was ours! You’ll pay for this, traitor of the new Reploids!” They all aimed their guns at Lumine but he only laughed out lightly.
“Oh? So now you know how to think and speak? Let me see if you also know how to feel! Taste destruction! HAH!”
The white Reploid merely swung his right hand to his left and a giant explosion was emitted from the roads. The 20 or so Mavericks were flung high into the air, severely damaged and even disintegrated, but the speeding vehicles were blown in many directions towards the opposite side of the road.
Fearing danger, the Hunters shot their gunshots at the flying vehicles, causing them to explode in mid-air. The PB Force also fired their plasma shot, which destroyed some vehicles and damaged themselves. Zero had used his saber and sliced some vehicles and got hit himself.
The smoke then vanished in the air. Many Hunters were tired, with the exception of Zero and the PB Force were injured themselves. Zero looked up at Lumine.
“Look at the damage you’ve done!” Guns were aimed at him.
“Aw bully me then. You got your bags of cash back, why aren’t you happy? Besides I’m in no condition to do anything, what’s more the revival of the Elevator.”
Zero and Lumine were still pretending to be enemies, though this time Zero was a little upset about the destruction Lumine caused. Lumine laughed loud.
“That’s okay anyway. The humans can just patch some rocks here with a little oil, that’s all. Don’t even think of trying to take me down. You know very well you are all no match for me. Hahahahahaha!”
Lumine roughly teleported away. Zero and gang were left alone to clean up the mess caused during the battle and the slight interruption they had.
Later that evening, Axl had returned from a small meal in the district’s restaurants. Lumine earlier on had teleported back to the HQ’s rooftop and gave back Axl control. Axl had dealt with trouble from his fellow Hunters for the mess in the cubicle department and Iris lectured Lumine for causing much destruction.
Axl didn’t mind because Lumine’s performance was good and felt he needed some human food. So upon returning to the central chamber, he saw the newscasters reporting about the latest sights of Lumine in the Big City itself and that caused a stir in the chamber.
Zero congratulated Lumine for his performance but expressed regret over the explosion and the Mavericks’ deaths because he wanted to know who planned the robberies. X on the other hand was slightly angered that Axl allowed Lumine to expose himself in the public.
“Axl, we’ve received tonnes of calls today and most people demanded why Lumine wasn’t dealt with immediately, especially the explosions! Why didn’t you just say no to his request?”
“I…don’t know. I don’t think this will be a big problem, X. Besides, Lumine only wanted to help. I can’t say no to that. And the better focus would be who the mastermind behind all the attacks and riots is this while.”
Once again, X was forced to give in to Axl’s valid point. X decided to retreat back to his office. Zero and Axl exchanged looks and decided to follow suit. Lumine was however quite satisfied with himself.
Continued in Chapter 16.
Notes:
At least Axl improved. If the control of lasers were to be properly explained, it is just theory and very impossible to achieve realistically.
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And that would be all for today. Tomorrow is another 3 quick-read-through chapters.
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Post by Professor Fann on Aug 27, 2009 3:52:54 GMT -5
And yes, it's time for another 3 chapters! The last three chapters for now though. Coming updates will have 2 chapters only instead. Thanks for coming to read!
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All characters belong to Capcom, except for those you’ve never seen before and the story doesn’t intend to hurt anyone’s interests.
-M’siaFanWriter
Chapter Sixteen: Sneaktrap
Axl felt relieved three days later and he was never more grateful. The last three days was like a repetition of the isolation and the insults he experienced back then when Lumine was a Maverick corrupted to dominate the world in the name of evolution, only this time not so intense.
It was back to the theory that Axl had an infected virus from the Moon, only this time a little more accurate because they said Axl could turn into Lumine and run wild. However, X and friends were the only ones to disregard the rumours. Nonetheless, the rumours collapsed again.
The news and video footage shown on the news and Internet sparked various question from the public and government about the credibility of the Maverick Hunters. Most people agreed that the ex-Maverick’s presence in Big City and the world was not tolerated and only a miracle would change their minds; the miracle already happened – Axl made him turn over a new leaf.
Calls have come in from all over the world, demanding explanations why Lumine escaped time and time again. X bore most of the grunt when he dismissed Lumine’s Maverick status on grounds that the wandering Reploid is now of no harm (based on what he said and did earlier in the gun battle) and the bigger focus was now finding the most responsible person behind the attacks.
On a brighter note, Lumine’s records have been cleaned a little and that Axl didn’t mind the isolation, saying he needed it to relax properly, thus making the white Reploid relieved of guilt due to what he did earlier. Axl still continued to receive patience training, of which his performance had small improvements.
At the Prez Corp. however, Prez was glad to let them know that the massive reconstruction projects in the regions of the world’s far west, southwest, south, southeast and east he started fifteen years ago were a huge success, thanks to the new generation Reploids that work tirelessly day and night, and he was widely gaining popularity around the world.
Axl was lying on the cushions in the central chamber, enjoying the heat to shield from the winter. Lumine decided to play along with Axl and made Axl suddenly jump in the air and balance the body with both hands on the floor.
“Hey, what did you the acrobatics for? I was relaxing nicely!”
“This is my way of relaxing, dear boy. You will enjoy the claps from your fellow friends for this.” He gave Axl a light snicker.
Indeed, Hunters enjoyed the sudden acrobatics and marvelled at Axl. Axl then placed himself on the floor carefully and rested on his cushions.
“Axl, you sure are pretty quiet. What are you thinking about?”
“I’m thinking about Abe, Iris. I’m very suspicious about him the last time the place had a blackout. He fixed it so fast. I think that Lumine would be a better technician than him anytime, but it looks as if he set up the whole thing…”
Lumine interrupted by saying “No, there’s no fluctuation. Dear boy’s quick to learn to control himself. I don’t even know what you are thinking sometimes, Axl, despite the fact I can read your mind. The data is all jumbled up in a mess.”
“Good, then you can leave me alone for now. I’ve a lot more thinking to do and it will make you more confused.” Lumine decided to heed the advice and brought Iris with him. “Let’s leave him alone for now. Dear girl, let me show you around the body. Perhaps while you are bored, you can always check it or mess it.”
“Hey, you know I wouldn’t mess around in the body systems!”
20 minutes passed on just like nothing. Most Hunters don’t know what to do because there were no uprisings recently. Axl on the other hand had to withstand the pain his inhabitants caused him when they went on a tour around the body.
“Guys, could you cut out the pain? Ow! That’s my leg this time!” “Sorry, dear boy, we were…touching the boot rockets.”
Then, the blackout came again. The whole HQ became dark just like before. This time, the emergency respond was faster. Everyone was ordered not to panic and remain calm where they were.
Axl seized this opportunity to dash to the command room and volunteer with Layer to go down the basement and check out the generators.
“Wow, Axl, you look full of high spirits. What’s the occasion?” “I don’t know if this works. But I’ll give a try whether I’m wrong or not!”
Axl raced around the entire basement past the small routes and meters and screens many times. He was able to fully recognize the way around the basement this time and knew which generator and where it was.
“So, Axl what’s your plan this time?” “Oh it’s going to be good, Layer. Real good! Hey, the faulty generator is this way!” He yelled out to her and she ran as fast as she could to keep up with Axl.
This time the wrecked generator was generator number 5. The route was down a slightly brighter surrounding and the damage this time was done towards the tank that held the metal liquids essential for power.
Once again, the wires were ripped out from their casings and stabilizers. This time the odd features were that the metal pipelines were twisted and tied like a shoelace and the control box was slammed and punched. Liquid metal such as zinc, nickel and cadmium were spattered everywhere around the tank.
The most important pipeline was clawed out so the fiber optic wires inside were scarred too. “Okay…Layer I’ll need a paper and a pen.” He just got one and started to jot down all the damages caused. All the other three Layer, Iris and Lumine had no idea what was Axl up to.
“Alright, time to go and ask the expert Abe for help.”
“Axl, won’t you just quit your theory that Bob did all this and Abe is a suspect? It’s giving me a headache already.”
“No, I just know it’s them. C’mon!”
Axl and Layer went to the department where technicians were placed. Abe was surprised that only he was called to fix all the damages. Axl and Layer, who was told by Axl, were careful not to tell what damages happened.
“Me? Why? There are other good technicians around too!”
“Aw c’mon. We feel that you are the best one around here to fix an advance generator like that of number 5! Isn’t that right, Layer?”
“Er…yeah, that’s right…you are the best technician around here!”
Abe smiled widely. “Really? Okay, let’s see what was the damage done.”
As they walked along the corridor that was packed with many Reploids, Axl and Layer heard Abe talk so much that he’ll beat Axl any day in a bigmouth competition.
“Being a technician, it sure isn’t easy. You have to fix the wires back in the stabilizers and watch the pipelines without being scarred. Blah blah blah…”
“Axl, are you sure your plan will work?” Layer whispered to him.
“Patience is virtue. I came across this old proverb.”
“…you have to be careful to reuse back the metal liquid zinc, nickel and cadmium back into tank number 5. It isn’t going to be easy to mould back the giant punch in the generator. And that twisted metal pipeline, whooey, you have to melt them real careful and the slammed control box will need replacements.”
“Wait a minute. I didn’t say anything about all those damages.”
Axl and Layer turned around and glared at Abe. “So this means that you were the one down there who made the damages to generator number 5!”
Abe was frozen. “Em…er…I don’t know what you are talking about…”
Layer glared the most at him. “I hate to admit it, but Axl was right. You gave yourself away. You made the blackouts!”
The scream got everyone’s attention. There was a slight whisper.
Abe began to move backwards, his hand still carrying the suitcase. “Listen, I don’t know what you are talking about but if you don’t stop talking nonsense-”
“Hey! You were the only one who could accurately describe what happened down in the basements! Guess what? I didn’t even tell you anything!”
“I’ve got every word of his recorded down in this tape recorder, Axl. This will be enough evidence to prove that Abe wrecked generator number 5.”
“No, I don’t think so, Layer. We still need to check the surveillance cameras. Lucky I noticed that Abe didn’t break them just now, unlike previously!”
The crowd started to become wild. The Hunters were starting to believe that Abe caused the recent blackouts.
“Listen, here I can explain what really happened down there…”
He lifted his hand to show some gesture, thus dropping the suitcase on the floor. It was a big mistake of him to leave the suitcase unlocked, because the suitcase then opened up to reveal a whole lot of devices and gadgets. If Axl wasn’t mistaken, some familiar items were hidden among the screwdrivers.
“Hey, Layer, isn’t this the vital gears of old model that was missing the other time? Oh look there’s some power cells here! And some missing components!”
“What do you have to say, Abe? Did you start the blackouts?”
The crowd was getting furious over what they’ve learnt. They began to shout at the technician who was shaking like crazy. “My data was all gone! My time used! You fool!” “Your blackout caused my electronic items to fuse suddenly!”
Finally not able to bear anymore, Abe ran away to his back. Axl and Layer gave chase and so did an angry mob of Hunters. The whole situation got X and Zero of their attention.
“Hey, why’s there an angry mob chasing the technician?” “C’mon, let’s go check it out.” Zero ran to follow the crowd.
Eventually after much running, Abe came to the corner of a dead end. The dead end only has a big glass window to the outside snowing City and there’s no way a Reploid would escape by jumping down 30 storeys high.
Finally he was surrounded and could no longer be patient. “You idiot! You had me trapped and humiliated!”
“So what? It’s the proper thing. Only an advanced technician would so easily repair an advance generator in two hours without even glancing at it for a minute.”
The angry mob became angrier and demanded Abe to leave the premises.
“Gaaahhhhh!” Abe shouted out loud, shocking everyone there as they backed away, and his appearances changed. His armour turned from the blue hillbilly to become that of a knight with many spikes. His metal boot was revealed and so was his headgear. He grinned out evilly and crashed into the glass window.
Axl ran to look out the window and suddenly, Abe appeared flying in the air, startling Axl as he collapsed backwards. Abe now have an evil face at Axl.
“Alright! You want to know the truth?! I did it! I caused all the blackouts in this stupid place! I did it all! Even the riots you Hunters suppressed!”
Everyone was shocked to learn that.
“Yes, it is I who planned every single riot in the entire Big City ever since that idiot human Bob escaped from his prison! Why? Because I too shared the same ambition as his: to grab Big City as a base and then spread out to rule the world!”
“I am a new generation Reploid! One that survived all previous attempts by that giant corporation to purge the world of all Mavericks because they disgrace the great idea of a new world led by the great leader, Lumine!”
Lumine began to feel angry that some Reploids till now still regarded him as a model example for those who endorsed the idea of Reploid evolution.
“Installing disorder everywhere so that my Mavericks would have a firm grip! They will be bases for my future plans of dominating the world and usher in a new age solely for Reploids on Earth! I will be their ruler!”
“But you ruined it all! You the prototype, Axl! You will pay for this! Mark my words! In the next few days, I will make a comeback! That time I’ll destroy you for all this humiliation! I shall make leader Lumine proud!!”
“Tell it to someone who cares, Abe.” “GAAAAHHH!” Abe just screamed out his might and flew away in full speed. Then, most Hunters cheered and praised Axl. Some rubbed his head, some shook his hands and some cheered even more. X and Zero appeared to offer their congratulations too.
“Well, Axl,” Zero folded his arms “I guess you were right after all. Abe was the one behind the blackouts but we all didn’t guess he made all those riots and uprisings in the first place. Well done.”
“The thing now is that we have to clean up the mess he had created. We need some extra help in making the Maverick Hunter HQ a safer place for all Hunters. We need upgrades in security and equipment and clean officers of every rank.”
“Like you suggested, Axl, we’ll recover footage evidence of Abe destroying the generator. And everyone around here will have their periodic duties back to normal right where we left, after the incident where Lumine was spotted in Big City.” X and Zero led the crowd away for more duties.
Axl remained where he was. As last his two inhabitants surfaced. “Congratulations, dear boy. You did it this time. You helped to expose the culprit behind all this menace. Now that you mention it, human scum could be involved in this, or not.”
“Great job, Axl! What are you going to do now?”
“Well, I’m going to meet up with the gang and get some work myself so I won’t die of boredom. Anyone care to join?”
“I’m in.” “Me too!” Axl ran to catch up with X and Zero.
Continued in Chapter 17.
Notes:
Once again the chemistry of engines and a little common sense. Finally maybe the Hunters can get better peace in their home.
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The revelation of an insider mastermind! Gasp!
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All characters belong to Capcom, except for those you’ve never seen before and the story doesn’t intend to hurt anyone’s interests.
-M’siaFanWriter
Chapter Seventeen: Recovery
Oddly enough the following three days, much progress had been done alone in the Maverick Hunter HQ. The security system has been upgraded and more new equipment had been bought to secure the place even more. Those requesting to reach the basements are accompanied by guards and as for other parts, access codes are strictly needed. Of course, the window Abe broke was fixed.
Some officers were frightened by the incident where a Class S Hunter had revealed the mistakes of a low-rank technician, so anything was possible. Some had tried to leave out of fear but were quickly arrested by inspired Hunters. Their secret crimes too were revealed and were also imprisoned and due for brain cleansing and body recycling.
Bob remained where he was: in his plastic prison in the isolated west wing because there was no evidence from Abe that he made all the attacks. This part and Abe’s treachery had been released to the press, delighting many.
With the help of strong spirit that Axl indirectly installed, many Hunters volunteered, but not ordered, to join the periodic patrol around the Big City. The PB Force was of great help too, to enter patrol and secure the City.
Axl was knocked out from boredom to replacing Zero and X to carry out their duties while they were gone. The three navigators greatly helped Axl to get rid of the new exciting but troublesome burdens the Commanders had to face everyday.
Fortunately for Axl, on this 60th day where Lumine resided in him, there had been not much tasks to complete. Even if there were some, they were minor and easy ones, not like that of two days ago, and the three navigators could finish them fast. So Axl was not needed here; the only thing needed was his signature as Acting Supreme Commander of the Maverick Hunters.
It was already evening, meaning that Zero’s 8-hour patrol, with another 1200 Hunters and PB Force members, was over and it was X’s turn to do his patrol lead. Zero had been kind enough to relieve Axl of further tasks and decided to do two Commanders’ jobs. Axl retreated to the central resting chamber.
Of course, it was still snowing as the meteorological departments had forecasted and Axl was now widely recognized by virtually everyone. “Well, dear boy, I must once again give my congratulations to you. The impact of your exposing of Abe, the so-called loyalist, is still very strong.”
“Yes, Axl. Practically you’ve had the entire headquarters changed overnight!” “Er…thanks I guess. But I’m not really in the mood for celebration now. I know that somehow Bob is behind all this mess. I just know it. I wouldn’t stop until I’ve hit out at all troublemakers.”
“You aren’t talking about getting revenge, aren’t you dear boy?”
“Relax. It’s not about revenge already. It’s more towards justice now. The world needs to do away with all these greedy people. Huh…alright, let’s not talk anymore about this subject. I’m going to see dad and his illness.”
Lumine replied too quickly. “Be our guest.” “But, this time it’ll be different. I’m going to try out the transport what humans call ‘underground train’. Sure, it’s old fashion, but worth’s a try.”
They decided not to comment any further. Axl quickly dashed out of the HQ by climbing on the walls and sometimes leaping off a great distance to make him fall faster to the ground. He switched to human form and ran all the way to the underground trains, shocking many humans.
Axl used some cash to pay a ticket and entered the stairs underground. He then gazed up in the large white hall to see the various addresses he hoped to go. Having found the address, he hopped on the particular train and watched the door shut tight.
The sights then amazed him. Inside the train itself were many people and also Reploids holding on to the belts. Outside the moving train there were many advertisement posters about jewellery and consumer goods. He thought of how dangerous it was for caretakers to paste them up on a small walkway amid the 24-7 running trains.
Then some 40 minutes later, he arrived at the address and skipped off the train. He also ran here and there to cut people’s spaces, shocking many too. Then he arrived just in front of the south wing, the entrance to the grounds.
“Should I register or just hop on the walls quickly?” “Anyone, as long as we reach the grounds.” Lumine’s answer encouraged him to hastily climb up the walls and oddly; he got no opposition from Iris.
In just seconds he had entered the main compound without being spotted by the security. The main compound was where he had a lift back to the HQ by Prez’s limousine and if he turned to the further left and left, he will reach the southwest wing where Prez’s home lay.
He then saw Prez walking around with his fellow advisors who work overtime. Axl was happy and surprised to see the man walking instead of having a wheelchair.
Axl ran up to him and Prez also saw him coming. “Son!” “Dad!” Both embraced each other while Prez’s advisors were surprised, because many people were told that Prez never had a family.
“Ah! Glad you could come! How are you, my boy?” “Never better, dad! I’ve seen that you have healed!”
“Yes, I’ve recovered fully. The illness is gone and I’m healthy again! The doctors have already properly identified the source of my illness! C’mon to my home! Gentlemen, you may leave back to the comfortable reaches of your homes and families.” The advisors left after saying goodbyes.
It was back to the elevators. They arrived at the left elevator and Prez slipped in his special residential card and the elevator opened. They entered and watched as the elevator rises up all the way till floor 60.
Prez relieved himself of his coat and hat upon entering his private room. He still had his regular suit with a tie of black grey stripes and grabbed the newspaper and read it on his favourite chair.
“Ah, yes Axl I almost forgot! The doctors have emailed me the source of my chronic fever and I’ve printed it out. It’s by the coffee table there.”
Axl rushed over and held the paper, reading in his palms. “Highly concentrated bacterial infection? What’s that?”
“It means that I’ve been infected with the bacteria responsible for my chronic fever. The doctors were amazed that the concentration of the bacteria is very high.”
Axl’s hand reached up for the speakers. “Well, correct me father if I’m wrong, but it’s impossible for a human to get infected by high concentrations of bacteria especially since the Big City has the latest medical equipment.”
“Quite right you are, Lumine. The Big City is a very clean place, thanks to me of course, even in the capital core’s outskirts and the rest of the Federation. And here I was, infected with huge amounts of bacterial strains. The next thing the doctors said was most revealing. Read it yourself.”
Lumine made Axl’s head bent down and read the paper further. “Point of infection spread: the intestine. Father, that means you ate the bacteria?!”
“Possible. All I know is that the night after the speech at the Maverick Hunter HQ, I went for a little supper of the best beef in the City before back to the grounds. The waiter that approached me was rather fidgety and handed me the food. I noticed a mix of ground white powder but I decided it was icing. Who knew that the powder was immobile bacteria! I had the manager contacted but the waiter was never found nor was he actually employed!”
Axl became angry. “Someone tried to poison you, dad!”
“Don’t you worry Axl. The restaurant knew about this and the manager had my meal refunded with double the cost of the beef. But I rejected it and only asked them to improve their services.”
Axl sighed as he didn’t expect someone to try to kill Prez.
“Don’t get all upset okay? I’m still alive, right? That’s all that matters. Ah yes, some other news as well. It seems that when I’ve contacted the government concerning the final verdict of the PB Force and Bob, they replied that their answer was a sentence to Bob for 50 years, a complete recycling of all PB Force members and an aid to the Hunters of 5000 Reploid Hunters!”
Axl and inhabitants were astounded. “What? That means the verdict was forged!”
“Exactly. When the government tried to contact the Hunters about the reason why Bob wasn’t sent over, their communications were jammed! When they were able to talk to X about the part where the Maverick and Bob’s innocence, the communication suddenly jammed up!”
“Hey, X didn’t tell me that!”
“Must’ve felt it as irrelevant for you to know, Axl. You’re just a Maverick Hunter of Class S, not the Supreme Commander! What’d you expect?”
“It must be that Maverick Abe! He must have done all this! He intends to silence Bob through a psychological attack on X and then corrupt the PB Force to attack everywhere! He has to be stopped!”
Axl stopped when he gazed upon Prez. Prez sulked and mumbled.
“Seems that I’ve left out some more of the corrupt new generation Reploids. Now I know why only one checkbox was not ticked. The Corporation had retrieved the new Reploids, millions of them and others in hiding, but we didn’t get that one, just one corrupt new Reploid. I’ve caused so much…”
Axl took pity on him. He went over to Prez and the other two spoke up.
“Father we know how you feel. Some still just want to remain evil for their own self. Axl, Lumine and I will dedicate ourselves to finding that Abe, but we just don’t know where he is now, what’s he doing and what’s he planning…”
“That Reploid only smeared my name more by calling me a great leader to the stupid new world and evolution ideas! And I will not tolerate that! Dear boy and dear girl know I’m sick of that idea! Father, you have my word that I will do all I can to finish off the idiot myself!”
“Dad, don’t worry yourself too! We’ll do everything to stop the guy, practically!”
Prez stopped sulking and looked up at Axl. “You all are really good children to me…Reploid or human, it doesn’t matter…”
“Thank you, father. It is only natural that a child does his or her responsibility back to their parents. We remain loyal and obedient to you forever.” Lumine’s comments started a silence in the room for 2 minutes.
“Hey,” Axl broke up the silence. “I’ve got an idea. Dad, I’ll be back in 30 minutes. I’ve got something to buy for you.” He teleported away in a hurry after switching off the speakers on his ears. Prez and the other two didn’t know what he was planning. Prez decided to wait by reading the day’s paper and upgrade his knowledge of everyday affairs.
Around 40 minutes later, Axl teleported back to Prez’s home, only this time outside the balcony because he registered that place’s coordinates, with a wrapped box of colourful paper. Prez rushed to the door and allowed him in after taking off Axl’s shoes for him. Hurriedly he opened the box for Prez.
It was a large sponge cake iced with delicious flavours of chocolate, strawberry and orange. Peach and grape pieces lay decorated. Axl quickly put on the candles.
“Dad, I’m just wanted to inform you that today’s the eve of Lumine’s second month anniversary for being with us. So I bought the cake so we could all celebrate together.” Prez was widely smiling.
“Oh, what a coincidence! Today’s my birthday too! Now I’m… 49 years old! 49 years and 15 hours ago, I was born! Bless you all! Today is such a glorious day for all of us!”
With Axl’s speakers on, laughter soon filled the room as mister Prez and the trio-in-one Reploid celebrated an anniversary and a birthday as the cake was chewed off piece by piece in the day’s late evening snow.
Continued in Chapter 18.
Notes:
If the days were to be counted properly, it is the eve of the second month. Once again, a little science and happiness is inserted here. Hm, why was Prez hesitating to tell his age?
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And more stuff.
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All characters belong to Capcom, except for those you’ve never seen before and the story doesn’t intend to hurt anyone’s interests.
-M’siaFanWriter
Chapter Eighteen: Training
It was close to eleven in the night, several minutes after the little celebration party in Prez’s room ended with cleaning of mess and some embraces. Axl then changed back to Reploid form and teleported back to the HQ’s rooftop. Overall, he was so happy with himself he forgot all about any trouble.
Just when he was about to head for the stairs going to the 54th floor, he wobbled too fast to become Lumine. Lumine smiled to himself.
“Well, I suppose you’re satisfied now, dear boy, for celebrating that birthday and anniversary at father’s. Well, I’m not. I’m just going for a little walk at the Big City Park, if you don’t mind.” He floated in the mid-air and flew towards the Park.
“Are you crazy? You’ll get seen again and the public will go mad over your single appearance!” Iris countered. “Dear girl, then what is the use of the human forms father had granted? I suppose a little denial wouldn’t hurt anyone too much, don’t you think?” Lumine gave her a small laughter at her while flying.
“But your face will surely give you away and so does your hair.”
“Do you want me to misuse your physical features then, dear boy?”
“Hey! My look is mine and so is yours!” Lumine got the perfect excuse. “Well done, then I shall do my things the way I see fit and you shall do yours. Do we have an agreement? … Very good, dear Axl. So shall it be this way then.”
Some time later, Lumine the human form had reached the Park without facing much protest. In a minute, he found a nearby bench covered in snow and wiped away all the snow. Some snow was still on the chair so he somehow emitted some purple aura and melted the snow away. “Hey, how could you do that?” Axl and Iris were shocked.
“You don’t expect human forms to be the limits for the combat skills a Reploid form performs, do you? Of course, it’s risky but I’ll take the risk and time to enhance myself while inside this body.” Lumine sat on the bench.
He looked around and noticed the familiarity of the surroundings. This was the exact bench and place where May had previously met Axl to try to corrupt him. “Hm. The bad memory comes back again. Hopefully this will never happen again.” He crossed his arms and shut his eyes for a while.
Unknown to him, some humans who passed by noticed the lack of thick clothing he had besides his thin white sweater, white-grey trousers and black leather shoes. Two men eventually walked closer to him and tried to look at him.
Lumine opened his eyes so suddenly that the humans were startled.
“Well, that’s not nice of you to stare at an individual while he’s resting. You should consider manners for humans like yourselves. Humans are so mysterious creatures, building high everywhere and the abuse of emotions and wealth that eventually costs the society much loss. So weird.”
The first man taunted back. “You don’t need thicker clothes? It’s like freezing out here! It’s like as though you don’t have feelings! … Wait a minute! I know this face! You’re that Reploid with the evolution and new world idea! You’re a wanted criminal! You’re in big trouble this time!”
“Oh really? Do I look like that Reploid so much?” He smiled sneeringly.
“I’m calling the cops! You’re in big trouble and don’t even think of-! Hey where did he go?” The two men looked up and found the bench empty. They then started to look for him around the Park, assuming that he ran away.
In actual fact, Lumine had teleported silently back to the Hunter HQ. In just a second, he landed right on the cushion he used previously to sleep in X’s office.
X and Zero were having a video conference with the government officials so they were shocked to see the white Reploid in human form appear so suddenly. Before they said anything, Lumine turned back to a Reploid and locked the office door.
“Hey, what are you doing here? Don’t surprise us like this!” “So sorry, X. I was just done scaring some humans and I decided to find somewhere safe to have a little rest and training.” Zero decided the situation was bad enough so he went over to Lumine.
“Lumine, you should know better than to reveal yourself in the outside world! The public will cause us trouble again!”
“Bully for the people then. I also deserve my own freedom, whether people like it or not. …Alright, I won’t show myself again unless necessary. I have to train dear boy Axl anyway, he has yet to fully control his emotions or else they’ll burst open. Now, be a good Commander and leave us, will you?”
“Emotions? Burst open? What’s wrong with Axl?” Zero stared at Lumine.
“So X didn’t tell you anything at all?” Lumine laughed a little at Zero. “You’ll ask from X and you’ll do just that. Run along and talk with the human officer then.” Zero was fortunately patient with Lumine at this troubling time. “Alright. Do what you have to do. Just don’t scare anyone else.”
The white Reploid watched and analysed the two Commanders, as they were talking with the government representative. It seems that the problem was that concerning the condition of Bob. The government had yet to receive Bob in their hands so a negotiation was held.
Lumine decided not to bother them any further and slept in the sitting position. Inside the computer brain, Lumine confronted Axl and Iris.
“Emotional training again? You just did that to me this morning!”
“Surprise test, dear Axl. Rules just like usual; if I wear down earlier than you, you have completely controlled your emotions. But so far, this has never been achieved yet. Iris, keep track of the time like usual.”
The test immediately begun. Lumine insulted all the best he could. This time the test was unique because he threw in insults that would result in Axl feeling anxious, angry and sad. Some covered sensitive issues but others were plain simple.
“So tell me Axl, do you usually hide here while I fight the Mavericks?”
“Axl, how does it feel like to be a mere prototype for every single new generation Reploid in the world? What’s more, a low grade prototype?”
“I bet you liked Iris from the very beginning, didn’t you?” “Do you think I should make your precious hair purple forever?”
Axl actually had the perfect formula to counter Lumine’s insults from the very beginning but he had never used it in a test like this before, so now was a good chance to apply it for his own future.
“Hey, I hide in here every time you wanted to beat up the Mavericks.”
“Who cares about being a prototype? Dad contributed a lot to the world just because of this low grade prototype. I’m unique.”
“Iris is pretty, but no, she’s a friend. Not to that degree yet.”
“Huh. Maybe purple hair will look good if I turn Maverick. But that will never happen so I prefer my hair brown.”
Lumine was clearly impressed with the new method Axl used. Then he decided to throw in more and more insults that can render the method worthless. “Well, you sure are being dishonest a lot today. Why not try to do the opposite and tell me the truth just for one day?”
“Sorry, that was the truth. Or else things will be messed up everywhere. Just like mister human scum. The Federation’s had enough trouble for a decade or so, and so does the world.”
The list of insults just goes on and on. There was no stopping when Lumine insulted anyone; it seemed to be of infinite supply. Nonetheless, the test went on. Iris knew better than to take Axl’s words about her earlier seriously; it’s just a test.
While X and Zero had their session with the representative about issues such as economics and budget of the Hunters, Zero looked at the ‘sleeping’ Lumine.
Finally their talks came to an end. X and Zero were relieved that they were not slammed with penalties, only the government demanded Bob be returned to the prison authorities and that X and Zero find ways to cut down on spending.
Zero asked about the emotions Lumine mentioned earlier. He was told that Axl had a series of complications with his emotions though not anyone of the three in the prototype body told them why. That, to him, explains the unruly behaviour of Axl just the other time in the cubicles when the blackout came.
Zero understood. “If Axl didn’t do anything, he’ll be in more trouble.”
“Or something must worse than that. I wonder how’s the training coming? It’s been almost two hours since he suddenly arrived in here. It’s amazing how long the test goes on. He must be trying hard to control Axl’s feelings.”
Two hours, meaning that it was now the 61st day since the battle on the Moon. If anyone noticed, it was already two months that Lumine’s presence in the Hunter HQ had been secret from most members.
Then suddenly, Lumine’s eyes opened widely, shocking the Commanders. He then panted heavily and smiled to himself.
“Hm. Congratulations, Axl. It turns out I wear down earlier than you. You just remained calm all this while. You passed the test. You have complete control over your emotions.”
“Wow! Axl did it? That’s amazing!” Zero awed. “Good job, Axl! You finally did it.” X tapped his hand on Lumine’s shoulder. “He says thank you and that it was no problem. He’s made father proud of him, if he knows about this.”
Then the office door was knocked on hardly. Lumine quickly hid himself and there was Axl on the cushions. X reached out to greet the visitors.
Two dragged-down humans were in front of X. Their suits were badly torn here and there and they suffered some injuries everywhere. The three Hunters were shocked to see them in the Maverick Hunter HQ itself.
“You gotta help us! Please, Maverick Hunters! It’s an emergency!”
“Calm down! What’s going on?” Zero approached them.
“It’s BOB! Remember the news about officers kidnapped? That was us! US! Earlier on weeks ago, Bob had brought in this fierce knight Reploid and kidnapped us! He faked the emergency leave! It’s the final verdict we were supposed to approve! We were planning to order his immediate arrest!”
“The verdict was forged! The PB Forces are the Mavericks! They are planning a mass invasion of the Big City and purge all humans! He had been planning all his steps for months and it comes down to this! His secret armies somewhere inside Big City will march out tonight! Help us!”
“The riots! The uprisings! The Mavericks! All were planned and set up to crush you all slowly! All done by the berserk machines! We made it out of his fortress! After weeks of torture! Please help us!!”
Then the emergency alarm rang. Alia’s voice boomed loudly. “EMERGENCY! Abe has resurfaced and had taken Bob with him! The PB Forces are attacking the Maverick Hunter Headquarters from the south wing! All Hunters please dispatch immediately!”
“So it begins! His blitzkrieg! We don’t want to die!”
“Keep it together, man! Zero, contact the government immediately! Call for the national armies! Take these two to safety first! Axl, come with me! We’ve got some PB Force to destroy!” Axl quickly followed X while Zero had the two men away.
“It would be a good time for Lumine’s powers now! Iris’ too! Hurry! We can’t let them topple us or else it means the fall of Big City, the Federation and then the world!” A great battle is about to begin again.
Continued in Chapter 19.
Notes:
A new war approaches and the truth is revealed. What is to be done with Bob?
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And so quickly, the minion Abe takes action quick! Stay tuned for battlez.
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Post by Professor Fann on Aug 28, 2009 6:10:01 GMT -5
It's time for the battles!
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All characters belong to Capcom, except for those you’ve never seen before and the story doesn’t intend to hurt anyone’s interests.
-M’siaFanWriter
Chapter Nineteen: Assault
Axl had known it was Bob all this while but now he didn’t care about that. He was now more focused on Abe and his treachery, the Hunter HQ and also the inner invasion by the 3000 PB Force. As he ran with X to assist the other Hunters, his thoughts of the scenes made him angry.
Lumine managed to spot a rising pressure inside Axl’s head and warned him.
“Dear boy, you’re getting angry at the wrong time! Now focus on getting rid of the blue Reploids human scum left in this place!” Axl nodded in agreement. The HQ was in serious danger of destruction and anger wasn’t needed here.
First they have arrived at the south wing where the swarm of 3000 PB Force Reploids was most concentrated. A blue blanket of Reploids was seen on the ground. Other structures around the area were the Enigma cannon, the rocket launch site and some scattered tanks. Some fiery explosions occurred.
“Alright, Axl! Let’s move out! Iris, Lumine you too!”
The trio-in-one Reploid didn’t say anything and they just dashed forward and released all they got, also kicking the snow. X used his famous charged Buster shots, which were giant-sized, destroying many soldiers in one straight line backwards.
Axl was boosted by Lumine’s abilities to fly in the air and kept firing all his bullets, which was impossible because his gun had unlimited plasma bullet supply, at all the Reploids he could. But then, Lumine made his left hand stop shooting and used it to fire away his share of laser rays and Iris her fireballs.
The explosions expanded from underground thus throwing up many blue Reploids. Some tank structures collapsed due to imbalance from explosions and smashed or blocked other Reploids. They exploded thus taking out many PB Force soldiers. Other Hunters weren’t doing badly either.
Iris kept firing her fireballs at various targets. Lumine decided that his secret laser method was best to conserve energy so he used it and sliced many soldiers in half. His mere hand swipe attack he did the other day at the bank robberies was also useful.
Meanwhile on the other side, Zero had the two men safe up a Hunter helicopter.
The pilot yelled at him: “Commander, we’ve already received reply from the government! They are already sending their armies to deal with the other PB Force members in the Big City!”
“What? In the City now?”
“Yes! Now hurry and save the HQ!” Zero nodded back and zipped off to the southwest and west wings while the helicopter flew away.
A small number of PB Force members have been everywhere in the two wings but Zero was not willing to spare any alive. With his fast jumps and slides, he passed by many jars of chemicals and pipes undamaged and the Reploids were sliced in half or had their necks cut off.
Other Hunters too blasted their way in the west and east wings of the HQ. Since X and Axl were too busy at the south wing, he decided it was best to take out the PB Force members everywhere except the south wing.
“Bring it on, you scrap pieces!” He charged forward to a huge battle. Back at the south wing, the number of blue soldiers had greatly decreased. This time the major nuisance was the big Bee helicopters that came and sent out many other PB Force members.
“Darn, we were so close to taking out all of them! Aim at the helicopter’s head!”
“Got it!” Axl targeted every single Bee’s heads but he alone wasn’t enough. Iris’ fireballs sure were great but Lumine’s attacks were the best. His thick laser flames and slicing lasers (the secret laser method) were the most successful in instantly destroying all the Bees and the PB Force.
“Hey, you should get the control of the body instead of me!”
“No time for small talk, dear boy! There’s got to be more from where they came from! I’d rather just use your left hand instead for now!”
Then, moments later, X received a transmission from Alia and Pallette that the entire inner HQ wings had been rid of PB Forces and everyone was sent to either guard the areas or restore back the proper machinery.
Another fellow Hunter reported that the south wing was now fully rid of the PB Force members. “Alright, good job! Tell everyone here to guard the areas for anymore of them and clean up the mess!”
“Yes, sir!” Many Hunters soon rushed to do X’s orders, retreating the sides of the south wing’s walls and cleared every piece of metal and rubble.
X and trio-in-one were left alone in the middle of the wide grounds of the south wing, still snowing. “Let’s go and help the rest clean up!”
Just when they were about to go, a huge rolling ball of black-red crashed onto the ground before them. A giant armadillo with many spikes at its sides unveiled and charged at them.
“Oh great! Just what we need: more distractions!”
The rolling armadillo charged at them in many directions though non-directional. Axl’s bullets and X’s Buster shots were easily bounced off the armour as it gnawed X.
“X!!” Axl fired more bullets but they were too bounced. This time, Lumine didn’t do anything because he was waiting for the perfect chance to fire.
Then the armadillo stopped charging and gnawing the grounds. Lumine made Axl dash forward and his right hand stretched out, his palm at the Maverick’s face.
Without saying anything, ‘Axl’ fired a thick laser flame inside the Maverick’s body. The instant exposure to such powerful plasma energy resulted in a gigantic explosion in the grounds. All were shocked and ducked to avoid the tremor.
“Darn! I thought I was going to slice it, Axl!” Zero jumped on the ground.
“Zero, you’re back! What took you so long?” X immediately asked.
“Helped the rest of the Hunters bust more Mavericks in the whole HQ! Now c’mon! We have to settle with the thousands more outside in the City!!”
This time the snow fell slightly lighter. The three Hunters teleported to the entrance grounds of the HQ. It was a huge bloody zone. Government military had already been deployed to counter the artillery of the PB Force.
Aircraft had repeated deployed homing missiles to Bee helicopters but a huge number missed, hitting the buildings on the sides of roads and highways. Tankers rolled over many PB Force members but the blue Mavericks’ cannons also blew some tanks up.
Heavily armoured human soldiers battled the dangerous Mavericks. Shooting in the heads and shotgun shots at their bodies killed the Mavericks. Frequent missile launches also hit the roads and buildings below, flinging both enemy and government soldiers up in the air and creating giant craters.
“Alia, there’s simply too many of them! How do we finish them off quickly?”
“X! We’re having some machinery problems here so it’s difficult to estimate the numbers and find solutions! As far as I know, from the Big City core’s outskirts to the HQ, there are about 3 districts! Just hang in there!”
“Hunters, let’s just move out!” All three dashed forward.
Their presence made the fighting a little easier and faster. Zero used his charged saber and launched saber attacks on the road, the long wave of saber damaging many and destroying some structures. X’s giant-sized Buster shots blasted tens of Bees, thus crushing their allies below them.
Axl had his bullets destroy enemy tankers while Lumine’s hand swipe wiped out many to pieces. Iris this time contributed to the two’s health.
Then, Axl rested on the ground for a while when a rampaging enemy tank and PB Force member charged at him. Zero saw that, so he quickly retrieved his saber and reached out for Axl; the two enemy sentries colliding.
“Thanks, Zero!” Zero didn’t answer back Axl as he hopped higher.
On top of the 40-storey building, they gazed on the ground. They still saw a big blanket of blue Mavericks and green government forces fighting below the many roads here and there. Axl became frustrated.
“Gah! Where do all these enemies come from? There must be some sort of direct source where they come besides the City outskirts!”
Then, came in the answer via Alia’s contact. “X, Axl, Zero, I’m found a large reading of not one but two sources of the Mavericks! They are at the Big City River bank on your side! Hurry there and terminate them!”
The Big City River was nearly southeast of where Zero and Axl were. They hurriedly jumped by many buildings to reach the river. Suddenly, Axl stopped and his hands reached up in the air, creating a big sphere of purple-pinkish plasma energy.
He somehow threw it down towards a straight line of a large, wide road and it exploded so huge, that a long blanket of blue Mavericks was wiped out, leaving a long trail of black rubble instead.
Inside the computer brain, Lumine was panting a lot. Axl wanted to check his status but Lumine stretched his right hand towards Axl’s face.
“Not now, Axl! I’m just a little tired! Go to the River!”
No sooner, Zero and Axl reached the Big City River and were shocked. The River was so wide that it could fit two super tankers, one in front the other in the first half of the River’s width, with their extending platforms on the bank and releasing many armies. The top ice layers had been broken.
“Those are registered cargo super tankers! They were stolen!”
“Correct, Axl! If we don’t stop them, they’ll have Big City in no time at all!”
Iris and Lumine then combined their efforts to take out the giant ships by once again raising Axl’s hands in the air and gathered a big sphere of plasma energy. This time, the colour was more towards pink than purple because Iris contributed more energy than Lumine.
Axl suddenly yelled: “Aaaarrrgggghhh!!”
It was Iris’ doing. They threw down the sphere at the first super tanker and in a few seconds, that super tanker was shredded into a million pieces or so, with many pieces of metal flying here and there, disrupting enemy supply.
The two inhabitants hastily collected another sphere of energy and threw it at the second super tanker. It too was broken into millions of pieces, killing off enemies.
Zero was fascinated but had no time to marvel at the scene. He urged Axl and friends to retreat back down on the ground when Alia and X called them.
“Guys, the reading has vanished from my scanners! Great work, now that only leaves the enemies on the grounds and the outskirts base! Great news is that order has been restored in the HQ and the area around it!”
“Zero, Axl, come down here! We’re going to head straight away to the base where Abe and Bob are hiding! The Federation armies had successfully quelled more than 95 percent of the enemy’s armies! The 3 districts or so filled with enemies are now cleared! Axl, mister Prez wasn’t attacked too!”
Axl and the two inhabitants blew a great sigh of relief. Axl turned to look at Zero.
“Alright this is it! We are going to teach those two a lesson so unforgettable!” Lumine, Iris and Zero agreed with him. Zero looked upwards.
“Finally! We dealt with Sigma already, now we deal with Bob for once and for all! Funny it’s still snowing all this time…”
The duo hastily jumped off the building and dashed past many ruined streets and roads filled with Federation soldiers and equipment. They had been fighting for three hours already and they were not yet tired and done.
Somewhere along the maze of roads and sky roads, the two eventually met up with X. He was also dashing with great speed to hurry to Bob’s base outside the City core. All smiled to each other as they went on.
Soon, they had passed the Big City core limits. Even without the borders of fences or signs, they knew because the heights of buildings decreased bit by bit and the carnage was less, though still filled with Federation soldiers. For example, big lanes as the border split apart two buildings distinguishable of their height, one in the City 47 storeys while the other 30 storeys.
Then they reached a slightly busy area where buildings were about 20 storeys maximum and there was no carnage. At the foot of a hill, part of a long mountain range, there laid another new batch of PB Force soldiers on the main road and their main base: a large prison structure.
Continued in Chapter 20.
Notes:
Big City battle done; now it’s in the sort-of outskirts. Fight on!
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And the continuation. Get it?
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All characters belong to Capcom, except for those you’ve never seen before and the story doesn’t intend to hurt anyone’s interests.
-M’siaFanWriter
Chapter Twenty: Hideout
Three hours of fight in the snowing Big City alone and it all comes down to this. Maverick Hunters X, Axl and Zero as well as allies Lumine and Iris were finally on the verge of facing Abe and Bob. The only thing standing between them was another batch of PB Force soldiers ready to invade Big City.
The prison structure at the hill’s foot was 7 storeys but covered a really vast amount of land, explaining how Abe had the capacity to store thousands of the blue Mavericks. At the sides were minaret-like towers and the front of the building had many un-glassed windows. It also had tanks and chimney stacks.
Suddenly, the main gate opened swiftly and out come a new batch of tankers and rocket launchers. The blue Mavericks began to march forward and charged their cannons, aiming at the three Hunters.
“Spread out and take them down!” All three spread out and attacked.
Axl used his bullets; this time aimed at all their heads, and stopped the frontline from marching so the rest behind fell hardly on the ground. X and Zero took the chance to perform combined power attacks thus wiping most forces and the road.
Lumine decided not to fire yet so Iris used this to prove herself just as strong. Axl’s left hand emitted cometing fireballs, which immediately destroyed many tankers.
“Wow! I didn’t know you could do that!”
“Thanks, Axl. Now just focus on the fight, will you?”
As soon as they thought they were done, more blue Mavericks, tankers and Bee helicopters came out, firing out their ammo. The roads were further damaged and the range of the ammo extended all the way up to the nearby buildings.
“No! Can’t let them destroy more structures!” X charged his Buster and his giant-sized shots vaporized oncoming Mavericks. Zero had his saber slice up the front parts of the tankers’ cannon, so when the shots were made, somehow the tankers self-destructed, taking out other Mavericks.
Lumine had an idea. He boosted Axl further in the air and suddenly activated data ‘White Axl’. Axl felt much pain and he was shocked to see himself white.
“Hey! What’s this white armour for?” Lumine was still panting.
“Dear boy, listen. You can take out the incoming Bee helicopters by continuously shooting at their heads and propellers, but this time, you can’t fall. You’ll remain where you are as long as you are still firing. Give it a try.”
Axl then fired at an incoming Bee. He had taken out its propellers, thus crashing to the ground and smashing other tankers, but he was exactly where he was in the air.
“Hey! I guess this is kinda handy! Take this, Mavericks!!”
He kept on firing and turned in various directions doing so, taking down many Bee helicopters without any injury. But suddenly a Bee helicopter charged and crashed onto Axl, causing him to fall backwards.
Trying to remain stable, he fired back at the helicopter that crashed onto him. He took much longer just to beat it because he was shooting at the face, but remained in the air. The same Bee crashed down close to where X was.
“Hey, Axl watch it! Is that the white armour the other time?” No matter how many times Axl and X fired and Zero sliced, more Mavericks and tankers just kept rolling out. Eventually they became tired.
“Oh no! Not again! Do we need to find the source of these armies too?” Suddenly, a missile came out of nowhere and blasted a minaret, bringing it down to the ground and smashing a huge warehouse, which exploded into flames. The Hunters looked around and saw incoming Federation forces.
They were too charging at the Maverick forces in a bid to stall Bob and Abe so that the Hunters could go in and arrest them. Knowing better, the three ran inside.
A fierce battle happened both inside and outside the grounds of the prison structure. The noise of the destruction was so loud that people first woke up to see what was going on, but quickly hid themselves to avoid death.
Inside the grounds, there were no more PB Force Mavericks, only armoured Reploids. As long as the Hunters are fighting, walls were reduced to rubble.
However it seems that only Zero could pierce through their armours and there was little bullets and plasma shots could do to damage them. The Mavericks then fired their bombs rapidly at the Hunters, injuring them a lot.
Taking note that a busy battle means no one could notice him, Lumine asked for control from Axl, saying he had enough rest.
“Be careful, Lumine. You might tire yourself too much again!”
“Relax, dear girl. I feel it’s time you and dear boy should get some rest of your own. I’ve been watching for too long. Besides, I’m still angry over that technician’s claims that I’m his great model.”
“Remember to control your emotions now. I don’t want you to be me, especially after you just only passed me for emotion control.”
“Hey, that’s not nice of you, dear boy. I will maintain myself.”
“Just don’t use too much energy from the body. Iris is right; you will tire yourself too much.” Lumine returned a small laugh. “Not to worry. I won’t do the same thing again. Watch me.” Axl’s form turned back from white and purple to red and blue. The form then wobbled to become Lumine. He smiled mischievously to himself.
“Watch out, Mavericks. Here comes one angry Reploid.”
His hands fired out purple laser rays in many directions. Some he had purposely fired towards some warehouses to further rid of enemy arms, some he had fired just for the fun of it and also to tear down the prison.
“Lumine, a little help here wouldn’t be too much trouble!” X was struggling to protect himself from the bombs and the personal strikes of the armoured Mavericks.
“But of course Commander.” He charged up some energy. X knew he was going to do the large, long flame ray so he ducked and asked Zero to do so.
“Zero, watch out for the thick lasers! Duck!” “Oh great! Not Lumine this time?!” He quickly ducked.
Lumine fired a large purple flame just like X predicted. The heat was so intense that the armoured Mavericks had their armours melted and they were torn apart piece by piece. A giant explosion occurred, wiping out a lot of the prison structure to large rubble pieces and also shocking the soldiers battling just outside.
Just as Lumine had calculated, the large prison walls were still intact from the explosion and no one saw his presence. He also managed to grab X and Zero in the air and shielded them with his force shield. He then dissolved his shield away and placed the Hunters gently on the snow-covered rubble.
”Thanks, Lumine.” X first placed his gratitude to the white Reploid. “No problem, X. I’ve just one more thing to do.” He lifted his hand high and fast, causing the ground just at the prison entrance to explode high and reveal huge jagged rocks. The jagged rocks had sealed the prison entrance in such a way that no one was able to get in and made surveillance by plane also difficult.
He smiled at the duo. “For safety. I can’t be revealed, can’t I?” “Yeah, sure, whatever!” X and Zero responded quickly.
By now, most warehouses and minarets have been in flames and only a huge quarter of the front was destroyed to giant rubble and rock. The structure of this old prison facility was in such a way that it was dark and creepy inside.
“Alright team. Let’s move.” The three Reploids ran inside the prison.
On the outside, rubble had disfigured much of the building design but the interior was still perfect. Concrete were still in perfect place so the outlines of how prison rooms and bars looked like were still there. The most they walked in, the more it got darker. But none were afraid.
Then they had arrived at one large chamber. It was more like a hall but the walls only had windows built there. The only source of light was a glass window on the hall’s ceiling. The hall was barely illuminated.
“This doesn’t look good, X. Let’s split up and search.” “Well said, Commander Zero. I’m looking for the berserk machines that made most riots and uprisings in the last 4 weeks. I’ll have them terminated so they won’t bother us anymore.” Lumine folded his arms. “Alright then. We-”
But suddenly, the wall in front of them collapsed hard on the floor and it was revealed that a giant 5-storey high ape Maverick smashed it forward. It roared out loudly and repeatedly beat its chest.
Lumine only put his head on his right palm.
“Huh…I’m so tired of fighting this type of Mavericks.”
The Maverick then charged forward and slammed its fist hard on the concrete floor. The force was so strong that the floor cracked and shattered to pieces, making the three Reploids fall to 4-storeys below.
But of course they knew better. Lumine floated in the air while X and Zero climbed on the wall opposite. The Maverick however grabbed the two with its fists and slammed them hard on the ground below.
“No!!” Lumine flew downwards to help them but was just about to be grabbed by the Maverick. Wham. Two big fists were slammed onto each other.
But something was different. No matter how hard the Maverick tried to squish Lumine, it felt as though it was rubbing plaster into round globes. Then a light purple aura gushed out madly and the Maverick’s fists melted.
Lumine survived the ordeal by shielding himself with his force shield.
“You’ve made me really angry, scrap.”
Lumine merely held out his hand and fired a thick laser blast at the Maverick’s middle body. The destruction of vital engines caused it to self-destruct into metal shards.
Satisfied with himself, he floated down on the ruined ground and dashed to X and Zero to tend to their health status.
“X! Zero! Are you alright? C’mon!” His voice reflected a little but pure concern for the two Hunters. X and Zero got up to their feet.
“Yeah…we’re fine…” Just when they were about to escape, a Bee helicopter came in to trap them all in one spot. A large compartment at its bottom unveiled a grey cannon. In a split second, X and Zero were trapped on the floor like flies stuck to sticky papers.
Lumine tried to escape but the Bee was too quick and fired a huge slime at his feet, dragging him down to the floor. Fortunately he was standing stuck to the ruined floor; it would be horrible if it wrapped him up.
“Neat. This time, I’m stuck to the ground thanks to this quick-drying slime.”
“This time? What did it do previously to you or Axl?” X asked.
“It used a giant magnet to pull us to it. Then Mechaniloids hammered us into brick walls. This would mean that we are about to meet Bob.”
“Hee hee hee. Quite right, you parasite!” Out of the darkness, Bob appeared along with Abe following behind him. The place brightened up a lot. Armoured Mavericks marched into the deep hall and stood at the wall’s perimeters.
“Heh heh. Long time no see, you obnoxious bratty Reploid!”
Continued in Chapter 21.
Notes:
Figured the white Axl would be useful earlier. Refer to Axl Story chapter 22; that’s when the white Reploid used too much energy before knocking out. Evil Bob steps in!
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The appearance of Bob ... the evil mastermind ... or rather, scriptor of an evil plan and Abe is the executioner.
And that is all for today.
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Post by Professor Fann on Aug 29, 2009 5:43:36 GMT -5
Today, I am back with two battle chapters. Yippee.
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All characters belong to Capcom, except for those you’ve never seen before and the story doesn’t intend to hurt anyone’s interests.
-M’siaFanWriter
Chapter Twenty-One: Storytelling
“Well, well, well. What do we have here? This time I caught on myself not only Lumine but also the world-famous X and Zero!” Bob laughed evilly. Contrary to Bob, Abe was literally feeling ‘honoured’ to meet the white Reploid.
“Lumine? The great leader of the new generation Reploids? Here? Why have you joined these fools? They tried to stop the inevitable from happening! The new world of Reploids will be realized and Master will be the ruler of all!”
“I’m glad Prez had recycled everyone else. The new generation Reploids were originally corrupted and made to purge our human creators. I’m just lucky that Axl was able to convince me that the idea is wrong; it’ll never work.”
“The prototype?! What did he do to you, great leader?!”
Lumine smirked at Abe. “He only made me see the errors of my ways and allowed me to live on. He also gave me rich experiences no Reploid ever has.” Abe was shocked. “Master…the great leader has gone crazy…” Lumine wobbled to become Axl. “Hey! Serves you right! Mavericks like you disgust every Reploid and human imaginable!”
The white Reploid resurfaced. “I’d rather be in the body of a prototype anytime than one of your kind. Filthy, corrupted and plain useless. The newer Reploids are far better performers than you; even the old Reploids here are better.”
“Why has this happened to you? Why? Why?” Abe whimpered. X shot a sharp eye at Bob. “Alright, human, why don’t you tell us what exactly has been going on all this while?”
Bob smirked back. “Fine, if you must know. It started all very early.”
“I had always dreamt of ruling the world. Pathetic humans, except for me! I have had a long interest in science myself. Therefore, I will work my way up till the world was finally mine to control and order!”
“I first had my own technology which can manufacture war machines at immense amounts. But then I realized that Prez’s technology was far better than mine. That creative fool, always beating me in every field possible! He humiliated me! I never felt so insulted in my whole life! Besides ruling the world, I will have my revenge on him as well!”
“So the only way to obtain some of his technology was to go and work for that idiot! While being his loyal assistant, I would smuggle out any of his technology possible and also teach myself to be better than him! All this started nearly 45 years ago.”
“I also needed to acquire my own type of place as a base so that I can secretly compete with him and one day when the time was right, I purge him, gain his grounds and then use it to rule the world! So I found this old abandoned prison structure which no one wanted to even demolish!”
“It took me months and years for me to stealthily scrap up some metal and blueprints to engineer my own type of armies. Who would’ve known that my plan was further expanded thanks to the ingenious idea of that glob Sigma and the Repliforce!”
“Each had the same similarity: the creation of a nation only for Reploids! That was even better than ruling the world of humans and robots! Robots are made by law to strictly obey human orders! So in the near future I would purge all humans and I would rule a world where Reploids are ever obedient to me!!”
Secretly, Zero said: “This guy is nuts. Just like that idea of Gate.”
“Then the stupid Space Colony had to collapse! But Prez and the world would suffer more than me at that time! Prez lost all his factories! It was only in a matter of weeks that I would unleash my armies and rule the world!”
“But trouble had to come when Sigma and Gate showed up again! I was counting on the Maverick Hunters to destroy them both so my chances are better! But Prez had to resurface from underground and reconstruct his grounds in such a fast speed! The government also survived the crash and cooperated with him to rebuild the world! The worst part was that he was a better worker than me!”
“The self-humiliation! Disgraced again! The government trusted him more and more and his influence spread across the world! And I was still working for him!”
Zero said to himself: “This guy is a total nut.”
“The next seven years, I heard news that he pulled down all the space settlements, recycled them as scrap and had rebuilt the Federation so fast! If I didn’t do something fast, my work will come to nothing! So I thought of various plans!”
“Then, new Reploid technology arrived. They announced the creation of a brand new prototype that will change the way Reploids function! That was my first golden opportunity!”
Lumine first spoke: “You had to kidnap Axl, didn’t you?”
“Correct!! I had allied myself with the illegal Red Syndicate and arranged the kidnapping! Though I must admit I have never seen such a big scar on the face. Once I have assisted the Red Alert and the situation of the Maverick Hunters was bad enough, I would also cripple the Hunters, corrupt Red Alert to my will, launch massive attacks on the developing world and then quickly rule the world!”
“But that glob Sigma had to appear again and mess it up, throwing me aside and forgotten! I had no choice but to wait for the Hunters to quell Red Alert so I’ve lost my base, my kidnapping was worthless and I still have to work with Prez!”
“Then the world was growing so fast! Ah yes! Did I mention that I stirred up most rebellions ever since Axl’s kidnapping?! Yes! It was all me!”
“This time my plans worked! With rebellions, Prez’s sadness over the loss of his dear prototype and government stupidity, I was on the way to success! Prez built obnoxious brat” – referring to Lumine – “and foolishly trusted him to me! All I had to do was corrupt his data and made him think that Reploid evolution was inevitable! Then I would get rid of all opposition!”
Lumine was halfway boiling with anger when he had to hear that horrible story again. Iris and Axl tried to calm him down.
“But obnoxious brat was defeated so I had to resort to continue making riots and uprisings while working for Prez not only for technology but also cash! Who would’ve known that obnoxious brat was still alive and somehow turned over a new leaf! I had never planned to revive Jakob since Prez was already dismantling the Tower and Moon facilities! My base was again ruined!”
“After obnoxious brat’s defeat, I had to corrupt that Hunter to decrease Hunter discipline and slowly destroy the Hunters! She was also convinced that the new world was inevitable and helped me all she could! In the end, I was revealed and so was May so we escaped to get here! Lucky Prez never detected this place!”
“Finally I could not stand it! I had to silence my old time human enemy and launch an attack against all humans, Reploids and the government! But it all failed thanks to you!”
All three Reploids were bored with the old story. But Axl noticed that Bob had his plans for 45 years already. “Wouldn’t Prez be a child that time?” He wondered to himself, unheard by a boiling Lumine.
“That’s nice but what actually happened? The most recent events?” X asked.
“I’m getting there, you impatient trash! So anyway, I was arrested but made it back here again! My new plan was to raise more riots and try to buy in the Hunters and also legally set myself free!”
Axl thought to himself: “At least we know how he got the technology and the base here. That old story only bored up 26 minutes.” Lumine laughed at him.
“So after May, I had Abe here re-educated that Reploid’s new world and evolution was inevitable! To think the luck I had when he was the last new generation Reploid! And we hate Prez and the government too! Our cooperation was perfect!”
“Abe came up with a magnificently complex way to confuse things! He arranged the riots with the use of smuggled berserk machines! And my culminated works all these years, the 100 000 PB Force was put to action! Abe also kidnapped the officers in order to change my verdict! Who would have thought he would let you, X, to continue imprisoning me!!”
Abe whimpered even more. “Master, forgive me for my mistake…”
“I purposely offered fake peace to make everyone think I repented. I refused to give in my PB Force because you, X, would change my plans to destroy the Maverick Hunters once and for all! I had no choice but to wait in jail for my escape!”
“I attempted to personally poison Prez in the restaurant by sprinkling highly concentrated bacteria in his food so when he was sick, I would storm the corporation again, but failed! I also siphoned the news and communications so you and government couldn’t discuss certain topics which concern me!”
“I also had Abe make the blackouts in the Hunter HQ to distract you while Abe prepared the next riot! I needed some parts for the machines I have here but it was too late when all was revealed! Who would’ve thought he gave away himself by being a bigger bigmouth than the prototype! Axl was a serious threat to my plans then!”
“The various corrupt officers in the Maverick Hunter HQ were done by me too to further destroy the Hunters bit by bit! The most nuisance organization ever! They did my bidding to stop some information from being exchanged! Why, the communication between you and Prez and the government was jammed by them!”
“Abe flew back here and started to plan out a massive attack that is bound to engulf the Federation and me as the new ruler and then spread out to the world! Abe also arranged that the PB Force quickly steal cargo super tankers and flood the City. I was also planning to purge Prez again but it failed!”
“Why do all my genius plans fail? It was because of all of you! I was on my way to history! You all simply had to cut me short!” Zero yawned. “Alright so this is basically the whole story?”
“Why you red scum! All my hard work these years! I will not let them go to waste! I will rule the world! -” While Bob was busy taunting Zero, X had noticed that the slime that froze his legs to the ground was cracking fast.
“The slime’s cracking up. Now all I have to do is to get him to talk more while it cracks and then we’re out of here!” Apparently the white Reploid heard the tiny whisper. “Dear boy, listen. The slime will make us free again. Seems that X is thinking of a way to stall human trash until the slime cracks.”
“Yeah, all we need now is time. Guess we have to be patient.” Zero had also noticed that cracks on the slime on his feet. He kept this thing secret to himself and wondered how long he had to tolerate the screams.
“- I hate you all! That’s it! I’m going to take you all down this instant with another one of my secret weapons -!” “NOW!!” The three Reploids jumped high in the air; the slime breaking to hard pieces of red glass. Bob and Abe were too shocked to say anything at first. Then, the Reploids acted on their own.
Zero dashed around the hall and sliced all standby armoured Mavericks of their armour and X used his giant charged Buster shots to destroy them. Lumine on the other hand fired some purple beams at Bob and Abe.
“Aargh!” Bob was thrown back onto the wall behind him while Abe suffered all the damages of the laser beams. Abe was about to retaliate when he was stopped. “Stand down! I will fight these Reploids myself and I will crush them without your help!” He faced three angry Reploids.
“Satisfied with your babble now, human? You’ve made me angry. Thinking of escaping? I don’t think so.” Lumine prepared a combat stance.
“You can babble all you want, but we’re not going to let you get away with this, especially after all the damage you’ve caused to us and the world!” Zero charged up his saber at the furious Bob.
“Looking for a fight again? I’ll make sure you don’t survive this one, you pesky Reploids!” Bob in turn shouted back.
Continued in Chapter 22.
Notes:
Blah blah blah, the old story and new story. Seriously can anyone in reality be that nostalgic about his or her horrible past?
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And more stuff now. Oh wait, that wasn't a battle chapter ...
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All characters belong to Capcom, except for those you’ve never seen before and the story doesn’t intend to hurt anyone’s interests.
-M’siaFanWriter
Chapter Twenty-Two: Confrontation
Another battle with Bob began. Three, or more accurately five, Reploid personalities were furious with the human as he consistently found new ways to cause social disorders. Bob too was at the height of his anger because his genius plans were always interrupted and he wasn’t going to tolerate that further.
He pressed a button of a control device in his pocket and once again, the ground shook. He had activated his next machine to fight them all. Suddenly, Abe spoke.
“Master! Please let me fight them! For the great idea!”
“No! I will not let my assistant be sacrificed to the hands of these fools! You must continue on the revolution of this world! I’ll deal with them myself!”
The walls behind them exploded to rubble, revealing Bob’s newest machine. It was a horizontally oval machine with many globe attached on its top half. It had an uneven spread of red and purple colour everywhere. Just at the center of top oval’s half, surrounded by the globes was a hemispherical glass.
The hemispherical glass opened, allowing Bob to jump in and manage the machine controls. When the glass sealed Bob in the machine, it revealed its weapons. At the machine’s backbone, two cylindrical tanks surfaced along with a giant sharp blade of a scythe. The other globes revealed many rocket launchers and four long purple tentacles.
“HAHAHAHA! I’m bound to crush you all today!!”
The tentacles moved about suddenly, colliding on walls. All three Reploids jumped up and began to attack back. X firstly fired multiple small plasma shots at the machine. But the armour of Bob’s machine was strong, so all shots were reflected. Lumine fired continuously small beams of laser, striking the machine hard.
“Grr! You’ll pay for that!” Bob yelled back.
One of the tentacles hastily grabbed Lumine’s legs and began to swing him everywhere in the air. It then headed in such a way that it wanted to smash the Reploid. Lumine knew better and activated his force shield so instead of being smashed by the wall, his shield merely melted the wall.
The shield became a purple aura, thus melting the tentacle instead. Lumine broke free and retaliated back with laser rays. A big explosion ensued.
Then the same tentacle charged forward and grabbed him. “AAHH!!” The split wires were electrocuting him, thus stunning him.
“HAH! Impudent brat! Not expecting that, weren’t you?”
Zero, who was all along avoiding the other tentacle strikes, saw that and charged forward, slicing the very same tentacle. But suddenly, the hole that emitted that tentacle unveiled another full-grown tentacle, thus swiping Zero to the opposite wall.
“Argh!” He crashed right through the wall into another room. X, who secretly went behind the machine, charged up his Buster and was exposed by Abe.
“Master, behind you!” Bob heard that last minute warning and pressed more buttons. His machine jumped up high in the air to the opposite side of the huge hall so X’s Buster shot missed its target.
“You sneak! I’ll teach you!” Another of his tentacle came out to him. X repeatedly jumped to and fro to avoid the tentacle but was eventually caught. The tentacle swiped him towards the adjacent wall, crashing through.
Lumine, free from the sliced tentacle thanks to Zero’s efforts, fired another thick laser flame at the machine’s back. As a result, the two tanks were destroyed and it was blown away, crashing at another part of the hall.
“What? You!!” Bob stabilized his machine and made his tentacle charge forward and grab the white Reploid. He was then flung towards a part of the hall that had jagged rock and rubble.
He activated his purple aura, thus melting the tentacle again. But he was under a strong force from the throw, so he landed on the rubble real hard but not painfully; his purple aura had burst through all the rocks.
Iris quickly acted: “Lumine, are you okay?!”
“Am I okay? Of course, dear girl. A simple fling like that never hurt anyone.”
Lumine floated forward and blasted Bob with his secret laser method. The slicing laser had hit one of the globes, cutting it into half and creating a massive explosion. The machine was terribly out of balance.
Zero re-emerged from his crash and leaped at Bob. His saber sliced off the giant blade in many places, thus breaking off and falling on the ground, all nearly hit Abe.
One of the tentacles formed a mouth at its tip and spit out the same sticky slime at Zero. He avoided the slime by jumping higher in the air and repeatedly did saber attacks on one globe specifically, thus making it explode.
X noted that the protecting hemisphere glass had a thin but long crackline so he decided to charge his Buster and shoot there. Then, a big explosion ensued, meaning that the protecting glass was the weakness of the machine.
“Everyone, the glass on his top is the weakness! Aim there!”
Lumine smiled. “With pleasure. Taste destruction! HAH!” He fired another thick laser ray, causing another big explosion and the glass cracked more.
“You must be stopped!” Zero leaped again, with his saber charged, and attacked the glass. It seemed the glass glittered a bit and cracked even more.
“WHAT? Well then, let’s see how you like my multiple attack combo!”
Bob hit on his special ‘All-Out-Attack’ button. At first there were 5 globes on the top half oval’s surface, but since 2 globes have already been taken out, that only left 4 cannons and 2 more holes for the 2 tentacles, assuming the other globes had 2 rocket launchers and 2 tentacles each.
The four cannons launched out many flames and missiles at the three Reploids. X and Lumine got hit directly by the flames and missiles, but Zero’s injury was due to the explosion by slicing the missiles.
Zero grumbled. “Grr…it’s the same thing just like before!”
X got up quickly and charged-shot the protecting glass even more. One of the cannons fired out the same sticky slime towards X but quick Lumine snatched X real fast and vaporized the slime with a purple fireball.
“Thanks again, Lumine.” The white Reploid let him down on the ground.
“No problem, Commander. But this is not the right time for that.”
In his head, Iris rebuked him: “Hey, don’t reject the gratitude!”
Lumine’s homing fireballs damaged the glass no matter where Bob had his machine fly here and there. Bob had the remainder of his scythe, a long metal pole, brought forward and tried to whack both the Commander and the white Reploid. Naturally both dashed away.
Zero had his saber charged up and sliced the metal pole into half and dropped on the ground. He then went ahead and sliced the two tentacles. But Bob launched his missiles and long-range flames to him.
X tried to stop the missile by blasting it but the resulting explosion only pushed Zero further stronger and crashed onto Lumine. X himself was hit by the flames.
“Aw, man, that guy’s tougher than the last time.” Zero got off Lumine.
“Naturally, since you’ve never encountered him before.” Lumine’s sneer before he floated made Zero speechless before he also charged forward at Bob.
X used his small multiple plasma shots to take out the cannons. Bob launched his missiles top counter him but that didn’t stop him. Finally, a charged shot put one of the two globes with rocket launchers un-functional.
Lumine raised his hands and gathered a sphere of purple plasma energy. His left hand hovered it directly towards the remaining globe with the rocket launchers. The giant explosion shattered the hemispherical glass.
“Darn! My protecting glass is broken! But you robots can’t kill me! Gwahahaha!”
The remaining globe suddenly dissolved its long tentacles to become its main units: flexible multi-functional circular beads. There were hundreds of them and they floated in the air to form a giant filled skull.
The skull flied around the room, searching for its next victim. The three Reploids kept running here and there. It seemed that the skull was determined to finish Lumine first because it kept chasing him.
“Oh no! We gotta help him!” X fired his charged Buster shots at it but missed. Zero air-borne charged saber attack sliced the skull into half but the two half then reattached itself.
The skull kept ramming on walls to deter Lumine from flying. Then one of the places where the skull rammed created a big concrete piece and fell down onto him.
“Urrrgggghh!!” Lumine quickly activated his force shield that made his body shine silver, meaning that anything that hit him won’t decrease his health status but still made him feel pain.
The skull further increased the pain he felt by ramming even harder on him.
“Argh!” Next, it was Bob’s turn to finish him off personally.
“Hahahaha! This is your end now, you obnoxious brat!” Now that the skull had smashed him and the concrete piece to the ground, Bob had his machine jump and crush him.
“Lumine!” X and Zero shouted out, stopping their attacks.
“Gwahahaha! Impudent brat, I have finally crushed you for betraying me! Wahahahaha-! What the?!”
The lower half of the oval machine emitted much purple light and then Bob’s machine was propelled upwards so strongly. X and Zero ducked to avoid any calamities. Bob was able to stabilize his machine in the air.
Out from the crater came Lumine. He had his purple aura on earlier and gathered lots of energy to forcefully blast Bob’s metal creation away. He appeared very tired and panting heavily due to the immense loss of energy.
“I’m fine…had just destroyed the metal armour…engines revealed…terribly damaged…shouldn’t be long now…” He fell to his knees and palm.
The Hunters dashed over to Lumine to check his conditions. Bob was laughing away at the sight of his battered enemy.
Lumine panted heavily still and looked up on the Hunters. “X…Zero… Axl… finish him off…Abe too… for me… Pity I can’t finish them myself…”
The form changed. Axl was on his hands and knees, looking fully healthy. He was fully recharged, along with confidence, to finish off Bob for him. “Let’s go!”
Bob kept making his machine jump here and there. The bottom engines were clearly smoking badly. The Hunters charged forward upon the right opportunity.
Zero gave a giant charged saber attack while X charged-shot. Axl fired his bullets at will then suddenly his left hand stopped and fired a big purple flame. Apparently Lumine gave in his last before he rested for good.
The resulted explosion was so huge that the Hunters were blown back far away to the walls behind them. Even the audience Abe ducked a little. Bob was propelled high above to the ceiling and surprisingly crashed right through the glass window there.
A military helicopter above amazingly received a flying Bob. One of the soldiers just somehow caught the half-conscious criminal. Abe was stunned suddenly.
“Huh? What the? It’s him! I’ve got him! I’ve got the wanted man! He’s here!”
The pilot spoke: “This is Plane 3! We’ve got the core enemy! I repeat, we’ve got the enemy! We’re sending him down right away so that the rest can bust in the prison!” The soldiers were still drilling their way at the jagged rocks at the entrance.
While Abe was stunned to see his ‘master’ caught in the hands of government military, X and Zero tended to Axl.
“Axl, is Lumine okay?” X asked first.
“He’s fine. Just being very tired and energy-drained. Iris is tending to him. Guys, don’t look now but I think we still have to take down another Maverick.”
X and Zero looked behind them. Abe was growing angrier and angrier at the sight of his ‘master’s’ arrest. He stared at all three with an evil face.
Continued in Chapter 23.
Notes:
Hurray. Bob’s arrested! A new battle, as expected.
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And the end of today.
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Post by Professor Fann on Aug 29, 2009 22:46:25 GMT -5
Chapters 23 and 24, people. The second two last chapters of Continuation!
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All characters belong to Capcom, except for those you’ve never seen before and the story doesn’t intend to hurt anyone’s interests.
-M’siaFanWriter
Chapter Twenty-Three: Armours
They were still in the 11-storey high hall from underground. The next thing they must do is to quickly take out the remaining Maverick, Abe. “You’ve let my Master fallen into the hand of the foolish humans! I must save him!!” Abe was about to fly off when he was suddenly hit in the face by a plasma bullet shot. It was Axl who pulled the trigger.
“Are you still so blind? The whole idea of a new world for Reploids will never work! Many attempts have been made in the past and it all comes down to failure! Heck, nobody in the world wants a corrupt foundation for a government! It’ll only harm humans and us Reploids too!” Abe held his face on his left palm. He glared at Axl evilly.
“You fools! The idea never worked because you, Reploids and humans, keep interrupting, never gave us a chance! Fine! It seems to be up to me to finish you all first then go ahead and re-establish the world the traitor failed to set!”
The traitor was referred to Lumine but he obviously didn’t hear that.
Abe then prepared his own combat stance. Yellow aura started to swell from his armour, making everyone retreat back a little in case of any attack. The knight’s armour then changed colour to become that of rich grey.
Abe glared at the whole group of three again. This time, he stretched out his hands and emitted large magnetic waves. The sound was so sharp and piercing that everyone was forced on the ground to cover their ears.
“Argh! Noise too loud! Must stop him!” X fired a charged shot at Abe. But the shot was deflected from Abe’s armour. “Master knew all of your attacks already! So he prepared me this set of armours so I can finish you off!”
Zero raised an eyebrow. “Set of armours? There’s more?”
Eventually the noise came to an end. The walls of the hall cracked rapidly and small pieces of concrete were pulled out by some force and circulated around Abe.
“You all shall die!” Abe charged forward at a speed faster than anyone else’s dash. Axl was the first to get hit and there was little he could do to counter. After being forced into the air for a while, he was released of the pounding attacks and dropped to the ground.
“Axl!” X charged more Buster shots and aimed at the Maverick. Of course with his speed, Abe avoided many of the blasts and charged towards X. X knew better and started to dash and jump around the room himself. His attempt to run and accumulate some energy seemed to fail since Abe was gaining on him.
“Ha ha ha! Feel my wrath, Maverick Hunter! GAAHH!”
Zero had leaped up in the air too only to give Abe a powerful saber slash on his back. The strength of the charged saber had managed to cut through the shield of concrete rubble and then penetrated deep into his back.
“Gah! Why you! ARRGH!” Axl had already gotten up and blasted him continuously with his non-stop bullets. The bullets also penetrated part of the rubble shield and inflicted damage on his front body.
X used the opportunity to charge Abe again with his giant charged Buster shot.
“Gah! You all are nuisances!” Abe waved his hand to and fro, making the rubble fly in three separate ray-like formations towards all three Hunters.
Zero was able to avoid the flying rubble by giving them charged saber attacks, slicing them into clean halves. Axl was not so lucky however, as he shot some of the rubble but most of them damaged his health.
X instead chose to jump continuously here and there. He was successful in avoiding the homing rocks while not inflicted with damage and not having them destroyed. He flew towards Abe and blasted him with another charged shot.
“Ommpffh! Why you! ARRGGHH!” The tailing ray-like formation of rubble somehow hit Abe instead of the fleeing X. Zero had earlier on tended to Axl. “I’m fine, Zero. Just injured a little, that’s all.”
Abe’s grey armour broke into many metal pieces and fell to the ground, implying that his first armour no longer tolerated any damage. Axl yelled at him.
“Hey, is that all you’ve got? You’re a wimpier fighter than May!”
“You low grade, weak prototype! Of course I have more than this! Feel even more wrath!” Abe’s knight armour grew back on him and he emitted the same yellow aura. This time, the armour turned green and he had a force shield.
“You disgraceful prototype! I’ll like to finish you off first!”
The force shield emitted even more sparks of electricity. Abe charged at Axl first. Axl was determined not to get electrocuted again so when Abe was about to grab his neck, he dodged to the right and fired plasma bullets at his back.
”Argh!” The injury propelled him further to the front, crashing into rubble.
Zero was skeptical of his attack method. “The Maverick is using simple attacks first and he wants to finish us off. What is he up to?”
A giant explosion occurred, thus flinging back many sharp rubble pieces directly at the three Hunters. Zero sliced away many rocks whereas X vaporized the rocks with his plasma shots.
Axl on the other hand climbed up an opposite wall to avoid the spike-like rocks on the ground below. Before he even knew it, Abe was already in front of him and he had grabbed Axl’s neck very hard.
“Taste this, you prototype trash!” Giant waves and jolts of electricity surged out of Abe’s hand and shocked him greatly, decreasing his health status very severely.
Iris inside him was also having hard time dealing with the pain from the shocks. She screamed out all his might as she fell to her knees and hands. But somehow, the circuit component outline sparked a little with a wavy light of red and Lumine woke up so suddenly. He immediately got up and went to Iris. “Aaaaahhh! Iris? What’s going on?”
“Lumine?! You’re awake! Thank goodness! Aaahhh! That Abe is electrocuting us all! Help! Aaaaah! How did you wake up?!”
“Grrargh! I don’t know! …Oddly enough, the pressure in Axl’s head here had decreased significantly! Dear boy, I’m coming!”
Abe was still shocking Axl with megawatts of electricity, determined to fry Axl’s internal systems and finish him off. “Prototype! Your end is here – AAHH!”
Zero had wiped out his force shield with and even stronger charge of saber slash, which stopped the shocking. X had dealt him with an even more charged Buster shot on his back. Axl was relieved that the shocks had stopped. Suddenly his body moved by its own. His hands grabbed Abe’s head while his own head rammed hard onto Abe’s head, though not breaking his head gem, and a huge punch.
Both hands held each other tightly and smashed Abe’s head hardly, causing him to yell in pain and his body to be destabilized. Axl leaped higher a little and gave Abe a strong kick downwards to the ground.
Axl saw his hands reach together and emitted a giant purple flame toward the falling Abe. The impact of the fall and the amount of concentrated energy combined together created a giant explosion that tore the ground and made a huge crater.
X and Zero retreated to the wall’s height while the Axl-turned-Lumine Reploid floated in the air and gazed on the results. The ground was very much messed up with the jagged rocks and the crater.
Then, Abe jumped out of the crater, causing certain rubble to fall out and fragments of green armour metal to fly. Abe was extremely tired from Lumine’s attacks and gazed on the white Reploid.
“Had enough yet? That’s too bad. I’m not satisfied till you are deleted and recycled.” Lumine sneered back at him. Inside his head, Axl and Iris awed at the display of his strength the moment he waked.
“Traitor! Enemy to the great new world! Ally to the humans! You’ll pay for that, you fake leader!” Abe emitted out much yellow aura and revealed his strongest armour. The knight’s armour glimmered golden yellow and red. Flames of orange surrounded him. X and Zero prepared their stances.
Lumine smirked back at the golden Reploid. “Enemy. Ally. This issue wasn’t so black and white back then. Thoughts and deeds were complicated back then. Any Reploid who loves the new world idea is now deemed worthless, even for an advanced model like yourself. Dear Axl, I leave him to you now.”
Lumine turned back to become Axl and Abe yelled out loud. “IDIOTS!” He released out a huge fury of orange fireballs in every direction and the ever-fast circulating shield made of rubble and this time, old machine parts.
The three Hunters kept dashing here and there to avoid every single object of attack a fast as possible. Axl was scowling back at Lumine in his head.
“Why did you have to spark more anger in him? Why?”
Lumine chuckled back. “Well, it was the truth and a fact. Don’t worry; I know you can take him out easily. Here’s my aura just in case.”
Indeed, around Axl suddenly was Lumine’s purple aura. Many dangerous objects came in contact with Axl but didn’t injure him; they merely melted upon touch.
X and Zero were slightly ticked off at the sight of Axl protected by Lumine.
“Hey, if it’s not too much trouble to you, come help us quickly defeat the Maverick!” X blasted Abe with his Buster and Zero leaped close to Abe and slashed him. Axl’s right hand fired his plasma bullets while his left hand fired out fireballs.
The outburst of orange fireballs suddenly turned green. X and Zero were a little electrocuted but not Axl. Lumine decided it was best to help them to be fair. Axl was made to dissolve the purple aura at first and fly over, scooping up X and Zero and then activated the purple aura again.
Abe then concentrated his attacks onto the purple aura, trying to burst through. Lumine decided to increase more power into the aura. The aura thus enlarged in size and then shone more dark purple. The green flames were deflected back to Abe.
“AAAHHH!!” Abe suffered the pain from his own attacks thus making the golden armour crack and fall apart. Axl was too quick to drop them back on the ground because the remaining rubble and mechanical parts fell onto them.
But there were no worries. X and Axl blasted the mechanical parts away while Zero sliced the rubble away. All then gathered on the ground, not faraway from Abe. The Maverick was already panting heavily due to terrible health status. If this fight was to be a videogame and the health status can be measured, Abe’s health is about 2 pint bars left.
Abe was left with his black jumpsuit. He glared up at the Hunters angrier.
“GGRRR! You bothersome Hunters! I’ve dedicated much time to the new world and I will not stop! Since the new world can’t be established by me, I also wouldn’t allow anyone of you to be left ALIVE!!”
His final armour was brought out but only from glaring yellow light. X, Zero and Axl shielded their eyes to avoid their optical sensors from being fired by the intense heat in the form of light.
Eventually the brightness toned down and everyone saw Abe’s new look. It was the exact same knight armour design as usual but the colour was black and his eyes turned dark green. Some revealed teeth were nastily sharp.
“Grrr!! Your doom awaits you! This is the special suicidal armour that Master gave to me! I have now made my entire body highly sensitive to any single touch! Whosoever touches me will trigger a kilo-tonne bomb in my body and then, WE WILL DIE TOGETHER!!”
All the three Hunters and two Reploids were shocked. It was almost so close to defeating the Maverick but now someone must sacrifice himself to stop the rampaging Abe. Who will be willing to do that?
“Come on, you cowards!!” Abe furiously charged at the Hunters.
Continued in Chapter 24.
Notes:
Not so much effort in typing out the various attacks and armours here. Darn, they’re so close to finishing off the Maverick. Hoped you enjoyed the action.
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Suicidal. Kaboom.
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All characters belong to Capcom, except for those you’ve never seen before and the story doesn’t intend to hurt anyone’s interests.
-M’siaFanWriter
Chapter Twenty-Four: Victory
The gang was almost successful in destroying the last henchmen of Bob for once and for all, but Abe had to pull up another trick to defend his mistaken pride.
“C’mon, cowards! Aren’t true heroes the only ones willing to die? For the betterment of their world? Are you heroes or zeroes?!”
Abe kept dashing around here and there, mostly very close to the three Hunters. X and Zero kept on jumping everywhere to avoid the mad new Reploid. Abe smiled to himself, as everyone was afraid to sacrifice their lifes.
“Hahahaha! Just as I expected, everyone is afraid of becoming heroes!” Then he was blasted by X’s buster and Axl’s bullets but they were not effective. Zero tried a charged saber slash on his body but wasn’t damaging.
“MWAHAHAHA! I told you, my body is highly sensitive to touch only and only touch, not by the likes of your weapons!”
Lumine came in control and used some of his laser methods, such as the thick flame, the secret laser and even his purple aura. But the flame was deflected and so was the secret laser, causing huge damage to the other walls and collapse to the ground, and the aura was repelled back heavily.
Lumine cursed Abe under his mouth and Abe laughed.
“Not even your lasers and auras can stop me!! I told you! Only the touch from a Reploid body part, except myself, will detonate me!!”
Lumine had no choice but to take drastic action. Even without the agreement of Axl and Iris, he was willing to do it so that he could finish him of personally. The other two were confused over his silence.
Lumine had decided to sacrifice himself for everyone’s good.
But even before he could do that, Abe had decided to blow himself up with Zero.
“I know! I’ll finish this with your sacrifice, Commander Zero! Gwahahaha!” Abe laughed more evilly and madly as he boosted himself to the red Reploid.
“NO!” X dashed across the air to quickly shove Zero aside, thus making him the one to be sacrificed. Zero was terrified to see one of his best friends die so he made a bodily argument with X by trying to push him aside.
The following events happened in mid air in a few seconds.
X and Zero were busy trying to shove each other aside, trying to avoid the other from being sacrificed by Abe’s sensitive powerful bomb explosion. Abe laughed madly as he charged himself towards both Commanders.
Lumine flew even quicker to the two arguing Commanders and planned to push both of them aside and bear all the damage for Abe’s suicide.
All 4 Reploids were very close to each other, by the meters. It was going to be a terrible explosion for all Reploids in that ruined hall.
Then suddenly, Lumine jerked as his physical appearances changed so fast. Someone else wanted to sacrifice to prevent any deaths. X and Zero were stunned but Abe didn’t care who was going to die with him.
Iris appeared in front of Abe.
Axl and Lumine tried to stop her from sacrificing herself. “Dear girl, NO, not you!!” “Iris, you’re a girl! Don’t do this to yourself!”
Iris merely countered back: “Just because I’m a girl, it doesn’t mean I can’t do my part in this battle. I’ve been watching the fight all this while and I’m very angry with myself for not doing anything.”
“The Maverick chose Zero to be his sacrifice and I’m not letting that happen. Zero’s my responsibility too. Just let me face this. For all of us.”
The other two still opposed her. “NOOO!!”
On the outside, Zero tried to reach for Iris and pushing X away. “IRIS, NO!!”
In a split second, a giant explosion ensued just like what Abe promised. Abe’s body disintegrated bit by bit as the explosion occurred. All three, X, Zero and Iris were blown down to the ruined ground.
Seconds later, the light and smoke were gone. Abe’s various body parts rained the hall. X and Zero got up and covered themselves from the falling components and dust. Somewhere in the middle of the silent ruined hall, there lay Iris’ battered body.
Zero was the first to rush over madly to Iris. The condition of her body was far worse than that in the Final Weapon. Zero held her in his arms and screamed out.
“NO, not again! Why, Iris, why!? Don’t leave me again!!”
Apparently, Iris was barely alive and so were Lumine and Axl, because Iris’ form wobbled to become Axl again. This meant that Iris still had some energy left to surrender back the body mechanisms to Axl.
“X, Iris…Axl…they’re still alive! We gotta treat them now!”
“Is it true?! C’mon, there’s not a moment to spare! The government troops are just about to raid the place after taking down the jagged rocks Lumine created.”
They then teleported back to the Hunter HQ, leaving the place to be swarmed by Federation soldiers. Some were shocked to see the carnage in the abandoned prison. “What happened here hours ago?”
Back in the Hunter HQ, pretty much most of the place has been cleaned of dust and Maverick bits and the sun began to rise. All Hunters were busy cleaning up and restoring back their headquarters to its original state.
Since most Reploids were out cleaning the mess, most rooms in the HQ were void of occupants. So was the observation room. Axl had been put into the very same maintenance pod in the very same observation he was sent to after the battle on the Moon and the battle with May.
The same fluids that meant to place his body in suspended animation for healing purposes covered Axl. The time was now close to 7.30 in the morning of the 61st day since the battle with Maverick Lumine.
X, Zero and the three navigators watched anxiously waiting for any signs of recovery from the red Reploid. The status bars on the same machines used to extract Lumine in the beginning showed no progress.
“It’s nearly 1 ½ hours already… the body’s taken too much damage for any of them to survive… we only can hope for the best.” Alia reported.
“I just don’t get it! Why would Iris sacrifice herself? She’s way too weak to take the kind of damage! Better me than her!” Zero released his anger and sadness.
“But she showed that she really cared for you.” Layer silenced him up.
“I don’t know… I hope that his recovery wouldn’t take too long just like the previous one… 30 hours… mister Prez is coming right over to see them…”
X’s comment brought silence again to the room. The only noise heard was that coming from the scanning machines and the walking outside the room.
Meanwhile, inside Axl’s subconscious, something was about to happen.
Axl was the first to wake up, through not too weak, and looked around him. The pitch-black surroundings and inactive data circulating was all he could see. He couldn’t find his inhabitants.
Then a red and a white figure, two of them, were seen not far away from him. “Could it be…?” He ran over and was shocked.
Iris and Lumine were both lying down on the pitch-black floor, unconscious at all. Axl didn’t believe his eyes and went to wake them by hardly shaking them.
“Iris, wake up! Wake up! Do something! Anything! Please, don’t die!” Iris was limp and petrified, unable to do anything at all. Axl turned to Lumine.
“Lumine, not you too! Wake up please! Don’t leave me here all alone!!” He tried to make the white Reploid sit but he fell down hardly on the floor. His head turned to the left due to the size of his purple extending hair. Axl fell to his knees and cried.
“No…death after death… first berserk innocent Reploids… now it’s my only two friends in within me…what will dad feel? What will I feel? No…”
The tears dropped more and more on the floor. The more he thought of it, the more he cried and the more his emotions fluctuated. The phenomenon of emotional fluctuation returned although he was trained to control it.
But this time his emotions fluctuated because something real happened to him; no longer the simulated tests that Lumine had done to him. This was real, his friends weren’t coming back to him anymore…
The outline of components glowed even more and the data circulated even more violently. The entire subconscious was rumbling and the pressure he felt was increasing more and more. He didn’t care about any of those now.
“I WANT MY FRIENDS BACK!!” He yelled out all his might. The subconscious rumbled and quaked even more violently.
Alia noticed that the scanner were off range suddenly. “Something wrong is happening! The perimeters here are unable to detect the exact problem!”
“What?!” The gang looked back at the petrified Axl.
Inside the subconscious, Axl felt like yelling again. Oddly the more he did, the more violent it got in there and something was pressuring its way inside Axl.
“AAARRGGGHHH!!” Suddenly, the rumbling ended abruptly. The circulating data stopped being violent and the wavy outlines disappeared. Axl didn’t know what happened. He then found himself struck with a large lightning and he was glowing very brightly with dark blue aura.
He awed to himself and examined the glowing light. He didn’t know what it was. Yet he reached out and grabbed one of Lumine’s hand and Iris’ too.
He felt strong waves all flowing through him. The immense energy and pressure just flowed from him to his two inhabitants. They too were glowing in marvelous blue light. The pressure itself also energized him. Auras of blue light suddenly exploded out from the three data souls and encompassed the entire subconscious.
Alia found the perimeters and meters to have decreased rapidly to normal levels. She didn’t know what went wrong so she checked a screen displaying the outline of Axl’s body. It was filled with only one colour: dark blue. Several seconds later, the colour resided to cover everywhere, except a part of the brain: purple and pink.
Back in the computer brain, things finally turned normal. The only thing that filled the air was the circulating inactive data. There was no more pressure to be felt and there was certainly no more emotional fluctuation.
Iris and Lumine showed signs of awakening when they itched a little and tried to stand up straight. Axl was bursting full of happiness and rushed forward.
“Iris! I’m so glad to see you! I thought you were dead!!” He gave her a huge hug. Iris was mildly surprised but soon returned back a hug with a hug.
Lumine couldn’t help but smile. “Well done, dear boy. You have restarted our main codes that kept us running all this while and had also repaired every single abnormality in the body.” Axl looked behind Iris and also rushed to embrace him.
The white Reploid was surprised by the quick act; his eyes wide open in surprise. He also returned Axl’s embrace with pats on the shoulders. “Welcome back, Lumine. Welcome back, Iris. Everyone.” That was what Axl said.
Back in the physical world, Axl had already waked up. He was being dried with towels and was cheered by the Commanders. Zero was relieved that Axl was okay and so was Iris. The door suddenly opened ajar.
“Axl, mister Prez is waiting for you.” Pallette made way for the human.
“DAD!” Axl rushed forward and hugged him tightly. “You wouldn’t believe how grateful I am to see you! The others are also still alive!!”
“Still alive? Of course they are! C’mon, it’s time for a little private session! I’m still busy and I thought I’d bring you along with me today! I’m also anxious to learn your battle experiences!”
Axl switched to human mode and followed Prez, leaving the other five. The rest had decided to resume rebuilding the Hunter HQ. Prez was happy to be with his ‘children’ and so were they to be with their ‘father’.
“Dear boy, I’ll be back in a minute. I’m having a check on the body’s systems. Dear girl, please join dear Axl with father while I’m gone. It shouldn’t take too long.” Lumine disappeared from their sight.
Continued in Chapter 25.
Notes:
Abe defeated, Iris and friend resurrected, happy reunion, could this get any better? Even data souls need start-up engines too.
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And the coming two last chapters are tomorrow ... and then a week's break before going into AN AXL STORY EXISTPEACE.
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Post by Professor Fann on Sept 1, 2009 3:04:32 GMT -5
Again, another delay ... but this is the end of the Continuation series. AN AXL STORY EXISTPEACE should begin about 9 to 10 days after this post. Thanks a lot for coming to read.
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All characters belong to Capcom, except for those you’ve never seen before and the story doesn’t intend to hurt anyone’s interests.
-M’siaFanWriter
Chapter Twenty-Five: Despair
The trio-in-one Reploid was taken to Prez’s grounds by limousine. Along the roads, Axl saw the much destruction that was caused during the battle. He looked on as Iris told Prez the fascinating adventure she experienced hours ago, although she was partially worried of what Axl was thinking.
Prez placed his palm on his face. He was sighing quite a lot to himself. Axl was certain that he had some bad news to tell but he just couldn’t get the courage to do so. It was certainly nothing to do with the destruction; it was the wee snowy morning hours and people and Reploids are already cleaning up the places.
Upon arriving at the main compound of the entrances, guards received the man with great caution. Axl only followed behind ‘father’ and walked with him. It seems that he was returning back to his tower mansion for a light breakfast.
The elevator rose all the way to the 48th floor and both Prez and Axl walked out. It turned out that this floor was especially for culinary delights. Iris jumped at the idea of eating a lot of food for she longed to eat something.
“Axl, remember to eat lots of the human energy sources! The tastes are simply wonderful!” Axl stared back at the cheery girl.
“Are you serious? I don’t know if I can take a lot. Even if I could, I’m not sure if the nuclear chamber can rapidly digest more and more. Maybe-“
“Yes, you can, dear boy.” Lumine’s voice boomed out of nowhere.
Axl gave in to Iris’ wish and sat with his ‘dad’ just perpendicularly to him. The dining table was in the middle of the huge hall whereas the kitchens and ingredients were all put at the walls. The table was draped with a beautiful plastic cloth with remarkable designs and the three-candle-throng.
Prez only had a simple breakfast of warm milk, table salad and pineapple rice. Axl on the other hand, was busy chewing on the much of food he could just to make Iris feel content. “You know … being greedy isn’t so bad after all.” He commented.
“Thank you, Axl. I must’ve made you feel terrible to eat so much just for me…”
“Em…no problem, I guess. All these food are rather tasty.”
“Having fun, dear boy?” Lumine appeared in front of Axl so suddenly that in the physical world, Axl appeared to have choked on his food. But since Reploids don’t breath, Axl was merely shaken with a piece of chicken in his hand.
“Hey! Don’t startle me like that, ever!”
“So sorry, then. Maybe you should just watch the way and speed you are eating.”
Axl ignored him. Finally Lumine knew the reason Axl’s body was now performing so well again and there had been no emotional fluctuation.
“Well, well. My analysis has been complete. The pressure inside here has been eliminated and dear boy’s emotions will not fluctuate anymore. This is because the large amount of stagnant energy in the body has been eradicated.”
“The stagnant energy? Gone?”
“Yes, dear girl, and here’s the reason. If it was one emotion that I hadn’t trained dear boy to control yet, it was despair. Despair is one of those emotions that will drive up Reploid’s use of energy to extreme amounts, normally accompanied by increase of will power. Along together with extreme levels of depression, the two thoughts could normally drive humans mad and Reploids Maverick too.”
“This was all because of the Chameleon Chip. Earlier on during the battle, when the Maverick shocked Axl with huge amounts of electricity, Axl was the dominant personality. He had despair in himself. Oddly enough, it was the desperation of needing me in battle that triggered the Chip to use some stagnant energy and fully energize me. Then I came in and gave the Maverick a great bash.”
“Remember that this body depends on the dominant personality to spend that stagnant energy, even in anyway possible, but the dominant personality must be in control. That was you, Axl. You woke me up from much tire.”
“Then, about the case where dear girl sacrificed herself. Apparently the bomb did damage us a lot till zero level. But dear girl had some tiny bit energy left with her and that was enough to pass back the control mechanisms to dear boy.”
“That was enough to make me wake up?”
Lumine smiled at him. “Exactly. So, dear girl and I were really considered ‘dead’ but more accurately deactivated. The data codes in our personalities had this code that enables us to move on. It’s the exact principle used when applying electric power to jumpstart a robot. This code had no energy supply to reactivate us.”
“Axl, you were so desperate and wished us to be alive again so much that the Chameleon Chip complies with the wish. The despair emotion was the catalyst that channeled the stagnant energy via you to us. That energy powered the codes that reactivated us. As for any excess energy, it was used to restart the body systems.”
Lumine folded his arms and smiled at Axl.
“I guess you wouldn’t need insults anymore, dear boy. I’d just kill myself.”
“Hey! That’s enough! I like it when you guys are alive!”
“And so do I.” It was Prez who interrupted them. Axl’s speakers were still switched on so he heard every word. “By now, the Chameleon Chip has already stabilized and can properly spend nuclear energy on all of your body functions, right?”
“Yes, father, that’s absolutely true.”
“Now, I can leave…never mind, just hurry and finish your chicken. I don’t have all day waiting for you. I have to meet other diplomats and officers.”
Axl hurriedly ate the chicken and cleaned his hands.
“Okay, dad, ready when you are.” Prez’s servant carried two giant suitcases for him and headed to the elevator first. Axl and Prez got in the limousine and started heading for the government offices where the ministers and head of states worked.
Along the way, Axl saw that many Reploids and humans have begun to restore the carnage of buildings and roads.
“Dad? Aren’t those your workers?” Axl asked.
“Yes, that’s right. The government paid for the damages. The corporation was assigned to do the work of restoration. The workers…sooner and later… Never mind, I’ll tell you later.”
Some time later, Prez and Axl arrived at the main government headquarters. Prez was due for a closed meeting with ministers and head of state, but Axl wasn’t excluded. Prez wished to bring him along.
In a huge decorated hall to look like a High Court, Prez stood up instead of sitting down in front of the ministers and head of state. His act surprised many though Axl, Lumine and Iris couldn’t see what the problem was.
“Mister Prez, are you sure you want to remain standing the entire session? And even considering your age?” Prez smiled back.
“Age doesn’t really matter. All I care is the fruits of today’s session.” Axl wanted to ask what he meant but his inhabitants hushed him.
“Ministers and the head of state of the Federation, we are all very clear what had happened the last few hours and weeks. We all also know the main perpetrator who had been arrested hours ago. What I have to say may be long so please be patient with me.”
“Why, yes. Yes, of course. You are an important man to the Federation. We have lots of time, don’t worry. It must be very important.”
“I request that the Court impose a resolution on the man called Bob.” Prez stirred a little uproar among the people.
“Mister Prez, we can’t afford to so suddenly sentence this man to death on account of the various procedures we must do. It’ll take years.”
“The Big City is now in ruins of tall, bitter buildings, now damaged by Bob who had long sought to destroy us all. Just overnight, the people and the economy have lost a stable, strong direction. Didn’t you see? It was a complete mess down there! The people are sullen and lacked motivation to restart their lives! Now all you care is the practice of law in this troubled time?” Mister Prez was distraught.
“He alone can cause our Reploid officers to be corrupt in the sly and no one knows about it! He stirred up the rebellions so we fell into his trap! We built the Jakob Tower for his own purpose! That’s why I’m still dismantling it! Countless lives, human and Reploid, have been lost! Think of all the intellect we lost!!”
The Court was silent. The trio had never seen ‘dad’ speak so fiercely before.
“The Court must impose a resolution on this man! We must deal with him first! The world has had enough violence already! We must build lasting peace! Six super nations alone can’t even stop him! That’s a shame! We must be strict on our current policies and continue to be flexible on the situations!”
“Mister Prez, what are you asking for now?”
“A request that Bob be dealt with immediately with the government’s full approval of a resolution. The death sentence thing was your suggestion, not mine. The people must be motivated to work harder. However, I still wish that the Jakob Project be continued and newer Reploids be manufactured. No more copy chips. Space explorations can continue but no settlements on any planet.”
“What about those that you’ve pulled down?”
“They are being recycled. You have my word that the materials will be used to build more corrupt-resistant space shuttles. That’s exactly where the rocket base at Point Galapagos comes in handy. Finances will be settled by the corporation.”
The head of state pondered. “Very well. You’ll have our answer tomorrow by 5 o’ clock. By the way, we hope your health will be preserved. Meeting dismissed.”
The three were full of questions to ask Prez.
“Dad, what did the human mean by ‘considering your age’? Is there something we have yet to know?” Prez kept walking on with silence.
The two were already walking out of the government headquarters. Many humans and other Reploids recognised them as the father and son from the news article where Prez made a speech in the Maverick Hunters HQ. They waved at them but only Axl waved back.
“I’ll tell you in the law firm.” Axl asked no more.
The limousine drove on the sky infrastructure and the view of the tall buildings was magnificent. Unfortunately, the three weren’t interested at all as they demanded to know what was going on.
In a few minutes, they arrived at another one of those tall, sophisticated buildings. This one had many small globes here and there, housing some tens of offices. The limousine stopped in front of the entrance of the building and Prez sighed.
“I’m going to tell you about something very serious of which you have all mistaken and I never had the courage till now to tell. I need Lumine.”
Axl wobbled and in turn, Lumine in human form was displayed. He was very confused on the situation that Prez was going to tell them. Iris and Axl were anxious to know what was going on.
“This is very serious business. When the time comes, I shall explain it all to the world and maybe you can resume your normal life back again.”
Shortly after, Prez, the man of brown suit, and Lumine, the Reploid in human form of white sweater, got out of the limousine. Lumine only followed close by Prez. There were many onlookers who recognised him as the Reploid bent on evolution and a new world. They didn’t know that he was already reformed, so he ignored them.
They went up the elevator and approached one of the lawyers. The lawyer saw mister Prez, hurried over and welcomed him by a strong handshake.
“Good day, mister Prez! This must be the heir, I assume?”
“Yes, that’s right. Lumine, meet my lawyer. He’ll be discussing some things regarding you and the rest.” The lawyer shook Lumine’s hard hand.
“Pleasure. Father, what’s this all about?” The lawyer smiled.
“At this point of time, mister Prez is unable to speak further due to limitations he imposed on himself. He had asked me to speak on his behalf. Mind you, it will be shocking. Let’s proceed into my office.”
In the lawyer’s office, he took out a large envelope and poured out the contents, sorting the papers by order. He also brought out a thick file of many papers and clips.
“That’s the file of the Maverick Hunter profiles!”
“Yes. You see, mister Prez is actually much older than you think he is. He knows that he will be…departing soon. So he asked us to sort out all his legal bearings, certificates and value of every single asset he had. Em…I should get to the point.”
“Mister Prez is not 48 years old. He is SEVENTY-FIVE years old, including his recent birthday. There was a lack of update in the Reploid file regarding human contributors. Mister Prez knows he will…pass away soon.”
“Upon his death, you, hereby the sole legal heir, are to inherit a vast collection of every asset he has. The firm and the government have never seen a human-Reploid inheritance case before but nonetheless recognize it. Please sign on these papers.”
The three were aghast. Prez knew this was going to happen and he decided to get it done fast. Lumine’s eyes released tears as they rolled down his cheeks. He didn’t expect this to happen so much, just when they have met their creator 2 months ago. Without saying a word, he quickly hugged Prez.
“I’m sorry, children. This has to be done now. It’s because I love you all so much that I’m doing this. For your futures. Humans will leave anytime and there’s no such thing as immortality. You deserve to live on longer.”
Lumine wiped the tears away and released him. He quietly signed the inheritance papers and left with Prez back to the grounds.
Later in the snowing evening, Axl returned back to the HQ, still having the stunned look on his face. The Reploid just walked back slowly to the cubicle department and sank his head into his palms. He heard other Hunters talk.
“Oh man, it’ll be busier soon. Now with Bob arrested thanks to Axl, we are assigned to join the City’s reconstruction of damages. That human won’t have a chance to escape the trial he’s now in! It’s a pity he’s still treated like a human…”
Axl pouted. “He should be treated like trash instead.”
Iris wanted to hush him but Lumine stopped her. She was sad too but she knew where her limits of emotion and rationality lay. She then tried to calm him down.
“Axl, you’ve have a rough day… If you want to, you can still play video games… I don’t mind now… maybe you can hide in the library…”
“Iris, not now okay? Don’t say anymore…”
Everyone was then silent. Axl wiped away some flowing tears and then sank his head on the table, hidden by his hands. He still couldn’t stop the crying. Eventually he cried himself to sleep, never entering the resting pod that night.
Continued in Chapter 26.
Notes:
Bob’s arrested, peace comes in, now Prez’s close to dying? Boy, that’s sad… Prez knew they were mistaken because he read Axl’s collected files. Refer to An Axl Story chapters 4 and 8.
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The second last happy end, which I believe was negated by that death wish ....
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All characters belong to Capcom, except for those you’ve never seen before and the story doesn’t intend to hurt anyone’s interests.
-M’siaFanWriter
Chapter Twenty-Six: Newspirits
Five days passed on later. But for the trio-in-one Reploid, it was very short. They didn’t know when their ‘father’ was going to die and join the rest of the human spirits. The only thing they could do for now was spend as much time as possible to have happy times with Prez. Bad enough, even for a snowy day.
No one felt like saying much, even the talkative Axl began a real silent. He even didn’t object that he was made to walk outside of the Maverick Hunter HQ and then he was taken over by Lumine. The white Reploid quickly assumed human form and made a run for the Big City Park.
He also had no idea what he was going to do but he simply had to get rid of the sorrow and guilt in his heart. Slowly, he sat on one of the benches and glared at his surroundings. After watching the blurry airs due to the gusting wind and the falling snow, he sank his face onto his palms as he thought back important details.
The entire Big City and the Federation had seen new spirits instilled in them for the greater drive to peace and prosperity. Many damages had been repaired and all abandoned facilities, including Bob’s ‘castle’, had been demolished and recycled (yes, even concrete was recycled), thanks to Prez technology.
Prez is actually an old man of 75 who had undergone various facial operations to maintain his look of his 40’s. He had decided not to tell the three Reploids of his real age because he feared their happiness would be affected.
Despite the fact he’s very old, he had continued to invest in major projects although he tends to switch sides of opinion. He also bought more land for development and even started reconstructing his tower mansion and factories. His last project was to be the Jakob Project. Though he earlier opposed it, now he changed mind after seeing certain benefits for mankind.
The Jakob Project has been continued and the rocket facilities at Point Galapagos became the best point to send materials and humans into space. The Orbital Elevator had been completely dismantled and the recycled materials are used for world reconstruction.
Abe had been successfully recycled and brain cleansed into a new Reploid. Speaking of which, all Maverick scrap had been recycled and it has been affirmed that the world embraced the use of newer Reploids who love peace and do not possess copy abilities. Thus development and prosperity set in nicely.
The government had passed a resolution on Bob, just like promised. Bob has been declared a national enemy and the laws were skipped and he was sentenced to death, along with evidence of his crimes based on the two kidnapped officers’ account and the massive destructions. At the same time, he was officially declared bankrupt and been blacklisted.
The bad news was that on the day of execution, a person who looked like Bob very much was executed and the criminal was able to escape once again. He was last spotted in the Big City forests again and police had been mobilized to search for him. When confronted by Prez, the government assured him that he will be caught.
Though old, Prez had been very glad that after 50 years or so, he had been reunited with his creations. He felt that he was able to die in peace years to come and having seen possible squabbles and the potentials of the trio, he named Lumine as his main heir apparent of his multi-trillion worth of assets, yet to be told to the world.
Concurrently, the white Reploid is undergoing huge education over the economics and also had made various friends inside the network of Prez’s branches of his corporations, from workers to executives. Lumine was also seen by many in the corporation as Prez’s rightful heir, though he also wished to share the properties with Axl and Iris.
As for the trio with the rest of their friends back in the Maverick Hunter HQ, the south wing is undergoing much renovation, from the scrap of the cannon and rocket base, to make way for another 6000 new recruits from Prez.
X and Zero were having harder times than ever to manage the newly-expanded facilities. Newer, transparent officers had been employed in overseeing these duties. Signas was recalled from retirement and entrusted the job. As of 2 days ago, he was acquitted of his mistakes (if noticed he had been lagging much since Eurasia, all he did was talk and talk) and held a position lower than X and Zero.
The periodic patrols still went on like usual, thus leaving Axl as the Acting Supreme Commander of the Maverick Hunters when it comes to official documents. The three navigators and his inhabitants are just like usual great help and apparently, many are gushing to be his assistant, though he had no comment.
Axl had finally achieved a score higher than Lumine’s in the VR room after much effort and encouragement. This time, the inhabitants didn’t help at all. He also confirmed with Lumine to deactivate the code of White Axl to become what he calls ‘data for exhibit’.
The only thing not settled was that Axl kept having the feeling that the trio cannot be bound to forever remain together in the prototype’s body.
This issue was raised again by Axl on this same day: day 66. When none reached an answer, they remained quiet and prompted the white Reploid to make a run for the Big City Park and try to relax. When relaxing, he suddenly reflected on all the things on the past 5 days.
He saw two issues as most depressing for him: the fact he was to lead Prez Corp after Prez’s death in the near future and also lose his presence, and the question of future bodily separation. He was moved to tears and sank his face on his hands.
Though it may be normal for any Reploid possible to cry due to certain situations, it was uncanny that an emotionless Reploid would suddenly cry for things he’ll soon face with great depression in the near future, especially since he only just begun to appreciate the last decade with his ‘father’.
Lumine silently wept on and fortunately, no one noticed. Iris and Axl took pity on him and tried to comfort him by the best way possible. In the pitch-black computer brain, Axl walked towards a Lumine who was standing at the front with his eyes closed and tears flowing out slowly.
“Lumine, what’s wrong? You can always discuss your problems with us. C’mon, don’t hide anything. Iris and I are here to help you. C’mon.”
Lumine’s eyes opened again and he was mildly surprised to see himself being pulled gently by Axl towards a corner of the brain. The three formed a circle and sat down on the floor. Lumine wiped his tears away.
He smiled at them. “It’s just sad… Life is so full of sadness, misery and other negative elements. Wars waged for the benefit of the evil, while the good are tortured. History repeats itself.”
Axl replied: “C’mon, Lumine you told me that we should forget all about the past and learn from it to rebuild the future. The philosophical likes…”
Lumine shook his head. “No, dear boy, you were right about a month ago. You said what I said just now. I just realised that you were more able to appreciate and learn from history than I do. You were able to grasp an inner meaning of history back then. I just started to learn that.”
“Humans have longed for happiness and a life with sadness all this thousands of years. The worst part is that you can’t reach it and it never comes. You don’t know how to achieve it. Something vital is missing. Most just can’t fully grasp that vital part until they experience its absence.”
The other two became more interested. “What is that?”
“Love. The most important feeling in the world. Throughout the ages, mankind and also Reploids never fully understood this feeling. Otherwise, there would have never been wars and bloodshed. And I have just only fully grasped it.”
“Father had shown it all this while. To the world, to his people, to us. I never really understood why he shared with me all the knowledge he had. I took it for granted. But then, along came two special Reploids that made me fully appreciate that love. You, dear boy and you, dear girl.”
He hung his head down and the tears dropped out again.
Iris could no longer hide her own feelings, so she suddenly went forward and embraced the crying Reploid.
“There, there. It’s okay. Lumine, we are here, right? Don’t make yourself so sorrowful.” Lumine looked up at her.
“No, dear girl, it’s not that. I’m just…immensely happy. Happy for all the things that ever happened to me. If it weren’t for father and you and dear Axl, I don’t know what I may become of me. I may be on the Moon two months ago, saluting the human as the leader of all, living under the false idea. I will definitely never understand the meaning of our existence and life.”
“If it wasn’t for Axl’s conversations with me on the Moon, I would have never passed myself on to this body and may never learn to understand my purpose. If it weren’t for Axl and also you, I might be still stuck with the stupid idea of Reploid evolution and never have the chance to prove myself worthy.”
“I must thank you both and also father from the deepest in my heart. Thank you for helping me to be who I am now. Thank you.” Lumine wiped his tears away.
Iris smiled at him. “It’s okay. What are friends for?”
Axl continued: “Hey, we are always here for each other!”
The white Reploid looked up. “Do you mind, if I recite our entire history again? For the last time?” Iris and Axl nodded. “Go ahead.”
Lumine blew a sign of relief. “It’s been so long now. First there was father, fifty over years ago. Then came Bob who started his career in order to dominate the world. Only Sigma was the worst threat to the world. Numerous fights caused tonnes of misery. Then Repliforce was created.”
“Iris was created. Due to conflicts, Commander Zero had to… kill dear girl in the last Final Weapon of father. The war was over and father sent rockets to collect scrap and father found dear girl. While space colonies ruled the space, father on Earth studied Iris and tried to start you over.”
“Space Colony collapses and most of the world is destroyed. Father hid underground and so did Bob. Bob tried to take over but was halted by Sigma again. After his destruction, father set to rebuild the world while Bob massed armies and planned rebellions.”
“Finally, dear boy with dear girl inside was created in the rebuilt world but was kidnapped in a step to place Bob higher. Red Alert had to be gloated by Sigma. Dear boy ended up in Hunters. Father sought to replace you with me.”
“Rebellions continue. I was taught everything father knew. Bob corrupted me with the stupid idea of Reploid’s world and evolution. Somehow Sigma messed up and I destroyed him for Bob. I tried to destroy Hunters but was in turn defeated. Thanks to dear boy’s conversations, his close distance to me and my close destruction, I passed myself to you, Axl.”
“Bob launched more rebellions and corrupted May while working for father. I tried to revive Jakob Tower but was fired and tower dismantled. Axl and Iris made me saw errors along the road. My attempt to hide after my discovery was foiled.”
“May tried to corrupt us but was exposed and ran away and so was Bob. Another attempt to conquer Big City was made but we defeated Bob and May. Bob escapes prison but May was recycled. Bob then corrupted the last new Reploid: Abe.”
“Abe kidnapped officers and forged the verdict and planned rebellions and blackouts while Bob tried to poison father. Dear boy gets emotional fluctuation. Bob tried to convince us he’s good and overthrows Hunters but X indirectly foils that. Dear boy revealed Abe and Abe gets back Bob. Massive invasion but foiled.”
“Bob arrested and Abe defeated at the cause of us. Axl’s desperation saves us. Father reveals he’s on verge of… passing on to spirit world. Bob escapes. Jakob Project continues and newer Reploids come in. Dear boy questions whether we remain forever. I will inherit Prez Corporation. We enjoy happiness.”
“Hey, that was just now!” Axl countered. Lumine stood up and smiled back.
“Well, I’m the heir apparent for father’s entire network of industries. It’s going to be very tiring for me just to manage along, despite the fact there’s a disposal of executives, directors and workers. Will you help me along, when the time for inheritance comes?”
Iris said cheerfully: “Of course, silly! Like I said, we are friends! We’ll help you in your work in any way we can!” They turned to Axl.
Axl put his hands behind his head and tried to find an answer. “Em… I’ll try my best. I just don’t know how to, that’s all. You are the best expert around here, with you helping me as the Acting Supreme Commander and trying to solve the stagnant energy problem.”
The white Reploid smiled. “It’s okay; you’ll know when the time comes.”
“So does it mean that you guys will also still help me in the battle against Mavericks too?” Lumine laughed but Iris scowled.
“Of course, dear boy. How else would you be able to defeat stronger Mavericks in the near future? Just think back all the times we had. Defeating master Mavericks needs more skills and power. Also, look back at Abe and May. They were strong fighters too. How could they be defeated if it weren’t for us?”
“Axl! Do you think we’ll neglect you just like that!?”
“Gee thanks guys. I can’t help but feel that we’re bound to separate sooner, seeing that Lumine would inherit everything dad has and have to go to meetings. How do you intend on staying with me longer? I feel that you all can’t be kept secret anymore…”
“We’ll think of something, Axl. Don’t worry.”
“Dear girl’s right. That time hasn’t come yet so don’t worry anything about it. There has to be alternatives where I can walk around with directors while I’m still in you. Besides, we vowed to remain in you for all time.”
“I’ve just remembered. I’m going to have a talk with X regarding father. I’ll try to squeeze in a timetable where you’ll stay with father and also perform duties as Acting Commander and Hunter. I’ll do it first thing tomorrow morning.”
Lumine opened his eyes. The crying had long stopped and he was back to being his cold, emotionless self. He looked up to the skies and mumbled one last thing to himself. “Thank you, dear boy and girl. I’m glad you’re here.”
A few minutes later, two men along with someone else approached the Reploid. They were the exact same people who discovered Lumine in the Park, except for the new guy. Lumine smiled at them with a sly grin.
“You! You’re here again! You can’t fool me, Maverick! You’re definitely Lumine, the Maverick! I’m calling the cops! They’ll arrest you for good! No more foul ups in our City!” The first guy reached for his phone.
“Really? I don’t think so. You’ve finally recognised me, human. You’ve seen me once before but I assure you that you’ll see me again in the future. This time, on a worldwide scale.” He was indirectly referring to his inheritance.
“Enough nonsense! Get him!” Before the other two reached out to grab him, Lumine vanished. They fell on the bench while Lumine made it on the lamp post behind him. He gave a light snicker.
“Hey! Where did he go to?” The other two shrugged their shoulders. “Grr! He’s around here somewhere! Let’s look!”
While they were looking for him, he smiled slyly, watching a drop of snow fall on his palm. He then looked around him. He was glad that no one noticed him.
The City was finally back to its normal state where the people and Reploids are back to being busy bees. Vehicles were running fast both on ground and air. The aero trains were packed full of people and rushed off here and there. The snow had never bothered them at all.
“Humans are mysterious creatures. But now they’re not so mysterious anymore. Everyone tries to live their lifes to the fullest possible. There will be a time when they’ll have to leave this world for another. Just like father.”
“He’s trying his best to reach the utopia where humans and we Reploids work and live together. He knows that he’ll pass on just like the others. But, he doesn’t want his work to stop there. That’s where I come in. That’s where we come in.”
“Right now, the most urgent thing to do is to spend as much happy times with father as possible. Dear boy, you have to resume your proper duties. Dear girl, your duty is to help him as much as possible. My duty now is also to help you both while undergoing massive education myself.”
Both of them agreed with him. Then, Lumine sighed a puff of relief.
“Sooner or later, I’m bound to have my presence known by everyone. Our agreement to keep me secret will cease to exist. The world will have to know that I have reformed, so that no one will suspect father.”
“Well, dear boy, shall we go for a snack or two? That is if dear girl doesn’t mind me waiting up in the lines with humans and onlookers…”
Iris giggled. “I don’t mind. You’re right. Everyone is bound to know you’re still alive someday. I also have to be known. Go ahead.”
“Suit yourself, Lumine. This is going to be good. Be careful.”
Lumine smiled. “I will, don’t worry.” He teleported away to an area of great culinary delights. Just as expected, many humans and Reploids were shocked and afraid to approach him while he ordered some food in a restaurant.
The Big City had obtained its peace back and so did the Federation. While the human criminal remains out there, no one knows when he will strike back or what he has been planning. But one thing’s for sure: the City can count on Maverick Hunters X, Zero, Axl and allies Lumine and Iris to stop him, and so can the world!
The End.
Notes:
An Axl Story Continuation has been finished! The dates taken to draft the story is from 2nd December to 13th December 2005 and the date to type out all the drafts is from 19th December 2005 to 6th January 2006. All are Asian time.
I would like to thank everyone from the readers who took their time to read the fanfiction to the Zero Virus administrators and moderators for keeping the forum alive to host the fanfic. Big thanks go to Keiji Inafune for having developed the Megaman series or else the story will never exist.
I’ll just take a long rest and also plan up the upcoming third series: An Axl Story Existpeace. Hope you all will be patient, just in case you are excited. Yes, it will be a giant set of chapters just like this one.
See you later in the near future! May your souls be blessed!
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And another sad end. But with new happy beginnings. That is all for this time. Stay tuned next week!
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Post by Professor Fann on Sept 11, 2009 23:43:41 GMT -5
Well, it's finally been one long week.
This time, I give you the awesomeness that is AN AXL STORY EXISTPEACE!! Dunn duun duuuun!! A brand new sequel - not really, new, as this was written a long time ago, but it's the sequel which should be new so to speak ... or something - immediately following the last chapter update!
For starters, I'm posting up both Chapters 1 and 2, and then from then on, I'm posting one Chapter per day. And that's that, till further notice.
Happy reading.
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Hello, fellow readers! This is the third series of the ‘An Axl Story’ saga. Like previous times, this fanfic is solely for entertainment and enjoyment and once again, solely inspired by myself without other writer’s influence. All characters are based on the Megaman X series and belong to Capcom’s Keiji Inafune, unless those are ones you’ve never seen before. Happy reading!
-M’siaFanWriter
An Axl Story Existpeace
Chapter One: Peacetime
Once again, Bob has successfully escaped from prison, determined not to be caught and will one day have his revenge on his enemies, such as the Maverick Hunters and mister Prez. His escape certainly was the talk of the Federation and the giant super nation was on full alert to arrest the criminal that wreaked havoc for the past decade or so, especially in the Far East.
Axl kept on thinking about that issue and found it really annoying, because he, Lumine and Iris just discovered that Prez is really old, despite his looks, and he was determined to spend as much time as possible with Prez.
“Axl, just stop thinking about this. That criminal will be caught and dealt severely with by the law and we will have good times with father. Don’t get so worked up over this.” That was Iris’ assurance to the blue-red Reploid.
“Thanks, Iris, I guess. Your advice could be handy later today, not now. In case you’ve forgotten, we have a situation to face here.”
Lumine was in control of the prototype’s body and he had his human form appearances on. He had been sort of arrested by the human police, regarding his crimes in the Big City, when he was eating in a restaurant somewhere downtown. The three humans earlier laughed at his so-called ‘arrest’.
It was still the same day; day 66 since Axl’s knock-out on the Moon. The human authorities had contacted the Maverick Hunters, asking them to find a solution on how to deal with the ‘Maverick’ who constantly showed up everywhere from time to time. X knew better than to reveal the secret ties so he had requested that Lumine be brought over to the Hunter HQ by security van.
It had been hours since Lumine’s ‘arrest’ in the restaurant somewhere downtown. Thanks to quick-acting journalists, both human and Reploids, the small issue became the talk of the Big City and the Far East. The white Reploid didn’t like the attention but decided to remain quiet about it.
X sighed as two security guards led the white Reploid into his office. He asked them to leave so he and Lumine could have a private conversation. Just seconds later, Zero came rushing into the room. He quickly shut the door behind him.
“Okay, X. I got here as fast as I can. This isn’t good. There’s quite a crowd outside of the HQ and they’re demanding answers.”
“Yeah, I know. Alright Lumine, why do you keep appearing in the public? Isn’t your presence supposed to be kept secret? The public still has the idea that you are a Maverick!” Lumine remained quiet and shut-eyed for a while.
Axl and Iris were worried. It was partly their fault for letting him out, at least in this case. This certainly happened before as Axl had let him out many times, but he didn’t expect the human police to suddenly arrest Lumine and get into this much trouble.
After some time, Lumine opened his eyes and smiled a little at the two Commanders. “Well, then bully for the public. I deserve my own rights, don’t I? You know very well what I mean. Besides, I have reasons for my own exposure. I’m not talking about being purposely revealed, but I’m saying that I have to reveal myself besides the fact I have my own rights.”
“In other words, I must reveal myself to the public, whether I like or not.”
“And you also enjoy the freedom? That’s pretty much taking advantage of the situation you are in now.” Zero smirked at the white Reploid.
“Exactly, Commander Zero. I’m glad you understood.”
X decided to get the conversation to the main point. “Wait, are you saying that you must reveal yourself just because of some sort of situation? Are you saying that some day, you have to be revealed? What situation is this exactly?”
Lumine smiled at X. “Congratulations, X. You knew what I’m talking about. At the moment, I can’t really speak of this. All I can say is that it’s something to do with father and his age. He will tell everyone when he feels the time is right.”
Zero darted his eyes at Lumine. “Why don’t you just tell now and get this whole thing over with? Things will be easier for us and the public.”
“You really don’t have a grasp of the situation at hand, do you? Oh well. You’ll find out soon enough.” He smirked back at the two Commanders and turned to the door.
“Hold it! You said that on the Moon and we never found out the situation at that time at all! Now, you’re making us guess the situations? Just tell us already!” X countered the Reploid’s stubbornness.
Lumine turned around. “Alright, about the situation in the past, it’s already over. By right, Bob would have launched a massive worldwide Reploid rebellion that would topple every nation in a matter of weeks and rule all. But, thanks to dear boy and girl here, he was exposed and his attacks were limited to this City itself.”
Axl and Iris didn’t know if this was a good time to be praised or not.
“This time, it’s all up to father. He will decide the proper time to tell the world. It’s not up to me to tell anyone. It lacks…authority. You’ll see, X.” Lumine’s arms were spread out in like a letter ‘V’ downwards as he glared at them. He was referring to his huge inheritance written in the will of mister Prez.
X and Zero exchanged looks. Then, Lumine spoke again.
“Commander Zero, about the public outside, you can tell them that Lumine is strictly under… a certain someone’s watch and that he can pose no threat to anyone. Even if I were to step out on the streets one more time, rest assured that I don’t have time to do anything harmful.” His form wobbled to become Axl.
“Hey! What was that all about?” He countered back. He only heard Lumine laugh loudly but X and Zero didn’t; for his speakers were shut off.
3 days later, the City resumed normalcy. A new poll conducted by the media showed a large percentage finding the white Reploid to be of no harm to anyone, though some say he may go berserk. The three humans earlier didn’t approve of him at all.
Lumine became out of sight so fast after Zero passed the word about him being under surveillance. Actually, those words he said were meant to assure many that he meant no harm at all and in fact, no one was watching him at all.
“Lumine, you are such a sneak. There. I said it already. I still can’t believe you… you… assured outsiders and lied at the same time!” Iris squealed.
“There, there, dear girl. You’ll learn to get over it. You’ll have to learn to get over everything me and dear boy do, such as what he’s doing now: boring us with computer doodles.”
Axl was lazily drawing sticks and squares on Zero’s touch screen computer. Zero had gone out with his batch of team on the periodic patrol and Axl was again back in charge as Acting Commander. No calls had come in, or anything, so he was very bored.
“Axl, try doing something else, will you? I can’t take the boredom anymore!”
“Hah! You can’t take anything at all, Iris! Winter breezes, boredom, insults! You’ll have to learn to get over it!” Axl smiled to himself.
“I told you so, dear girl.” Iris’ face became red of anger. She wanted to stun Axl herself but a wall of purple aura blocked her from walking towards Axl.
“Dear girl, it’s not wise to release your anger on something so… small. If you wish to do so, at least pound them on one of human trash’s henchperson in the future.” Lumine’s advice was worth the patience so she stopped.
“Hm… why is Axl looking at the clock so stressfully? Oh! It’s nearly time!”
“Well then, tell me when he gets there. I’ll be resting here.” Lumine sort of floated and rested on an imaginary hammock and dozed off.
“Three… two… one… alright! Time’s up! X should be here any minute now!” A second later, X and Alia entered Zero’s office together.
“Alright, Axl. You can go off now. I’ll be taking Zero’s work from here on. Just enjoy yourself at mister Prez’s home.” The prototype joyfully jumped out of the room and jumped out the window in front of Zero’s office.
Apparently, Lumine had already made a deal with X and it was amazing he didn’t tell the reason for it: Axl would have to ‘endure’ a certain time period as Acting Commander then he would be allowed to go off to visit his ‘dad’. It can occur anytime in the day or night, as long as either Commanders or one of the navigators comes to let him off.
The reason was obvious: spend as much time as possible with Prez, at least before his predicted death comes at hand.
X sighed as he locked Zero’s door and walked back to his own office. Alia noticed the face he had and immediately asked.
“C’mon, X. Let him have the time off. It’s already close to evening by now and Zero will just have to fill in your seat then. It isn’t everyday that a Reploid meets his or her creator and gets to enjoy much human-like experiences.”
“Yeah, I know. But I still don’t know what to do with Lumine. As long as Axl gives consent, he will pop up and start walking in the Big City. Despite the poll results, I’m sure some humans will come and complain.”
“Relax, X. I’m sure Lumine knows what he’s doing. He’s not a human child. Mister Prez will only make cover-ups when necessary and in his case, he’s not doing anything. Lumine will be fine.” Silence prevailed.
“Alia, how’s everything for tonight?”
“All’s up and going well. Security is at maximum level.”
“Great. It’s that time of the year again where humans will celebrate all over the world and watch that fireworks display to mark a new beginning. We don’t want any injuries now, do we?” They continued on walking.
Axl had already assumed human form when he jumped off the window. He safely clung onto the walls and landed on the ground in a small alley at one of the HQ corners. He got back to his feet and started walking.
While walking, he was fully aware of the mood for celebration in the City, with all the lights and statue displays, and was aware that people came to accept Lumine as part of the Reploids.
“Well, it’s that time of the year again. We’ll get to see the fireworks display again at the Big City River, and also the concerts and the dancing. Once again, congratulations Lumine. People actually approve you in the society.”
He put his hand behind his head and scratched it. “It’s nothing, dear boy. It’s all for father. I just don’t want him sad…” A mere mention of the old man made him sad.
“Lumine, don’t get so upset. I just know that father will go on being healthy as ever. Axl, you’ll have to move faster! It’s getting dark soon and we don’t want to be late for a dinner!”
Axl quickly dashed on the ground, running in many curves and turns, shocking many people as they struggled to maintain balance while avoiding Axl.
In no time at all, Axl had reached the grounds of Prez. However, his time, the buildings were remarkably higher than usual. Factories had their height increased by tens of storeys and the south wing tower mansion looked like it had a new half of it.
Prez’s tower mansion is now 86 storeys high, compared to the previously 60. It could easily be one of the highest buildings in the Big City, if not the Federation. The exterior design was exactly the same as previously: the office structures and dark windows.
Prez loved heights so if Axl wasn’t mistaken, his personal room would now be at the 86th floor. Axl made it into the grounds after a security check for identity and immediately headed for the elevator, thus pressing the button labeled ‘86’.
“How in the world dad made this place so high so fast just amazes me. I’ve never seen work here done so fast…” Axl looked up at the ceiling.
Seconds later, true to his prediction, mister Prez was in his same old personal room, only at a higher level. He was reading the paper at his favourite sofa in front of the fireplace. The moment he saw Axl, he stood up in joy.
“Axl! Iris! Lumine! You all are here at last!”
“Dad!” Axl rushed forward and embraced him. Prez held him even harder with al his might. The trio-in-one Reploid felt much more back at home. Finally, after a while, Prez let go of Axl and straightened his tie.
“Well, you three! Do you like the place? I built it higher! I figured that I needed to see the skies so I renovated the entire place! Thanks to my plaster and steel technology, all I had to do was erect lighter steel supporting pillars on the extended bases! The rest, you know, concrete, installments, are all easy and fast!”
Axl was pretty much confused. “I don’t understand you, dad.” His right hand suddenly moved up and pressed on a familiar purple button, hidden under his hair.
“Ha ha ha. Too bad, dear boy. I understand. Em…father, about me… do you think that… oh, never mind… Forget about it. I’ll trouble you more…”
“Hah! What are you, nuts? What you asked Zero to say was brilliant! You found a good way to defend yourself somehow! Simply brilliant!”
Axl suddenly changed shape to Lumine the human form. “You knew that?”
“Of course!” Prez seemed so happy and raised his hands up. “I was informed by X earlier after the so-called arrest! You do know how to care for yourself! For that, I’m proud of you! That’s the original you I knew!”
Lumine’s eyes glittered again, out of sudden stroke of happiness. He quickly wiped all flowing tears away and looked up at Prez. “Thank you, father. I suppose that it is time now to have our planned dinner.”
“Oh no! I cancelled the dinner! We are going to the Big City River now and get hold some hotdogs or something like that. I know it’s around three more hours or so to the New Year celebrations and that’s, in fact, just enough! C’mon, let’s go!”
The trio never saw Prez more energetic. Lumine was really stunned at the spot and did nothing, as Prez grabbed an overcoat and wore it. Lumine seemed to be staring in deep space and never heard the words of his friends, until Prez’s firm hand slapped heavily on his shoulder.
“Are you okay? You look pretty dazed. What’s in your mind?”
“…Nothing. Let’s just go.” The white Reploid of purple hair followed his creator behind and prepared to get caught up in the snow.
The snow was most heavy so far as of these two months. Nonetheless, Prez and the trio got safely into the limousine and were driven off to the River.
The limousine was parked at a suitable spot, just close to the river. Huge crowds gathered there, anxious to get a good look at the fireworks later. Since there were quite a number of stores there, Prez himself bought two hotdogs and hot cocoa. Fortunately he wasn’t well recognized and he made it back at the limo with the trio.
“Alright! There you go! One hot cocoa and a warm hotdog! Enjoy it; I hear the maker of these is good when it comes to taste.” The white Reploid silently accepted the drink and drank it slowly. His hotdog was untouched.
Prez tried to dig up as much as he can from the silent Reploid. “Okay, what’s going on here? You are unusually silent, even for you; there must be something on your thoughts which is very disturbing.”
“Father, do you think that the peace we just earned will last for long? For all I know, it’s been two months I’m back again and it’s already two times that criminal attempted takeovers. I know he’s blacklisted and bankrupt, but I’m sure he will find ways back.”
Prez gulped all his cocoa down quickly and thought for a while. “Hm. That’s a good question. He will definitely be back, for all I know, he isn’t the type that easily quits. Just like me though. He will rope his way back into the Big City underground style.”
“Then, isn’t his threat still strong?”
“Well, the one thing you must remember is that he doesn’t have anything in possession now. Everyone knows that cash is most important to survive in this complex world. He won’t be back for some time now.”
Lumine reached for his hotdog and started to enjoy the tasty treat. Iris and Axl, though worried for their friend, were waiting for the sausage bun to land in their mouth.
“C’mon, eat it already.” “Axl! Don’t rush him!” Lumine heard them but ignored it.
“Well, father, how’s everything back at the corporation? I’ve not checked since the signing…of the papers…” Lumine said no more.
Prez got to the point quickly. “Pretty busy. The agents sent to the southern hemisphere of the earth reported tonnes of scrap metal going to waste, as well as abandoned concrete. The people’s level of thought somewhat increased, so the demand for goods have been increasing and everyday, piles of scrap and rock are sent here for processing.”
“The good news is that I’m earning more. The bad news is that I’ve earned myself some enemies amid my group of investments and I have to make the corporation rest for the coming five days, though the scrap collecting work still goes on.”
“Why’s that? Is there another celebration?”
“Two days after New Year’s day is Christmas Day! Everyone wants to celebrate! I bowed down to the demand by the government. But that was years ago.”
Truthfully, Lumine had only begun appreciating the times he had with Prez, at the time where Axl made it into the Hunters. He had been with Prez for a decade or so, also celebrating various occasions but taking it for granted. He only had those times for about 8 years, the remaining 2 lost due to corruption by Bob.
Axl and Iris couldn’t tell what he was thinking. But suddenly, they came face to face with Lumine in the computer brain. He had a look of full determination.
“Dear boy, dear girl, I want to relive the old times I had with father for all these celebrations. I want to celebrate also with both of you because you showed me deeper meanings to all these occasions. So help me, will you?”
“Hey, of course we will!” “Definitely!” Axl’s reply came first.
Then, a lot explosion was heard. “Children! The fireworks have begun! Let’s go outside and watch this! The umbrellas are here!” They quickly got out to watch the fireworks. Amid the wild screams of humans and Reploids, giant displays were brightening the skies.
The shapes and designs were just as spectacular when Axl took the three of them to the Carnival two months ago or so, but at least this time there was snow and no giant Maverick Mechaniloid to destroy the place.
As the snow rained heavier and the colours grew prettier, Lumine was hoping to pass on New Year greetings to Prez. But it seemed that Prez did his greetings first; he held the white Reploid firmly with his right hand over the Reploid’s right shoulder.
“Happy New Year, Lumine. Happy New Year to you, Axl, Iris.”
“Happy New Year, father.” They watched the displays for another few minutes.
Continued in Chapter 2.
Notes:
Doesn’t everyone wish to celebrate something with their families? Due to unspecified reasons, Christmas is now celebrated at a new day. Now that you know when New Year is and on what day, try counting backwards to find out the date of the first day.
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Yes, I switched Christmas Day from 25th December to 3rd January instead, because I LIKE IT LIKE THAT.
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Once again, the fanfic is solely for entertainment, not for hurting other’s interests, and all characters, except those never seen before, belong to Capcom. Enjoy the story!
-M’siaFanWriter
Chapter Two: Christmas
The Federation had celebrated New Year, with all that usual hope of prosperity, healthy living and hope for longer peace. It is still snowing in the Big City alone, the Federation’s capital in the Far East.
Bob is still nowhere to be in sight thus confirming mister Prez’s prediction: Bob won’t be returning for a while. Peace will eventually be secured, along with the aid of newer Reploids. But there is a price to pay for all this…
“It’s so boring! Just having the thought of wiping the floor of Mavericks makes my trigger finger itch! Isn’t there anything I can do around here?!”
Axl was pouting away his tantrums on boredom. His two inhabitants decided to give no comment and let him be. The celebrations for New Year were now over and two days had already passed by; meaning that this new day is now Christmas.
No humans were in sight on the roads and streets, only Reploids that were able to venture outside. Bulldozers were running active, shoveling the snow aside just in case any vehicle dared to brave the cold freezing snows.
Axl had waked early that morning for no reason. He felt that he could while away time by continue sleeping or doodling on Zero’s computer again. However, he was disappointed by two things: one, his friends kept pestering him to wake.
“Axl, it’s best you wake up this instant! Too much rest for you is bad!”
“Aw, Iris, what if my body needs more rest? The functioning of the Chameleon Chip and the inexhaustible energy supply that needs to be replenished-!”
“No, it doesn’t, dear boy.” Lumine stepped in out of nowhere. “The body’s conditions are fine, energy supply is back to normal and the Chip is not overly stressed. Nothing’s wrong, dear boy. Just wake up.”
Suddenly, Axl felt a pang in his head. “Ow! Hey, did you guys do that to me just to make me wake?”
“Axl, we didn’t do anything yet.” Lumine nodded at Iris’ statement.
Assuming it was nothing, Axl merely shrugged. “Oh well, guess that’s nothing anyway. Fine, I’ll wake up already…”
The second thing was that for some reason, X voluntarily took over Zero’s duties while he was on morning patrol amid the snow, thus making Axl excused from any duty at all. Axl now gained more time to himself, becoming more bored in the process.
“What?! X, are you sure? I’m fine here as the Acting Commander and stuff!”
“No, it’s okay. I’m taking over Zero for the time being. It happens that I felt like doing that today. Now, go have fun with whatever you want to do.”
“But I want to be Acting Commander badly!”
“Axl, I’m fully aware that you despise being the Acting Commander. Here’s your chance. Go be free and so something else.” X proceeded to lock Zero’s office door and then stared at Axl.
“Lumine, I’m still waiting for you to tell me what situation you are in.”
Axl voluntarily switched on the speakers on his ears, surprising the white Reploid a little. Nonetheless, he still spoke to X.
“Well, well. I remembered saying that I’m in no position to tell you anything about this issue. I’m restrained from speaking about this due to the law firm. But, father isn’t, and he will tell everyone about this when he feels like it.”
There was actually no restraining order on Lumine. He made it up as an excuse to NOT tell anything at all, or in his terms ‘leak the secret out’.
“Don’t worry, you’ll find out soon enough.” A light laugh was last heard from him before Axl decided to switch off the speakers. The sullen Axl merely walked away.
Axl then decided to ask the three navigators if there was anything he could do at all.
“Sorry, Axl. I’m quite busy at the moment. Layer and I are monitoring Zero’s patrol group two districts away. Maybe you should try asking Pallette.”
Palette was in the computer room typing fastly a lot of documents.
“Sorry, Axl. I’m fine at the moment. I don’t need help at the moment. Try going somewhere else.” Axl walked away with a sad face.
The blue-red Reploid retreated back to his cubicle and checked his computer for any abnormalities and the HQ’s internet zone for anything to do. So far there has been nothing at all that he could use or do to while away his time.
He gazed at the clock. It was only around 9.30 a.m. All he could do was wham his head on the table and cover it with his hands. His actions were so fast; Lumine and Iris were shocked and saw only black through Axl’s eyes.
“Pity dear boy. Is there really nothing that can be done to get rid of this boredom?”
“Hm… isn’t today the occasion father and the other humans call Christmas? Why don’t we celebrate Christmas with father?”
Lumine brightened up. “That’s a good idea, dear girl! I just remembered that I celebrated it with father years ago! We would sort of exchange presents around a huge artificial tree and wish others of well health!”
Iris got more and more excited. “Then we can ask Axl to buy presents for father! We can still go over now and do this!”
Lumine did some thinking. “That would be great except that we have a major problem: today is the celebration day and barely any buildings are open to visitors due to the blistering weather.”
“Not a problem! This will be a piece of cake!” Iris and Lumine turned around behind and saw a beaming Axl. Smiles showed up on all faces.
“Axl! You heard us talking? I thought you were sleeping!”
“So it seemed. I’m going out to look for stores that are open! Mind you, this may take a long time to accomplish.” Axl got up from his chair and started to run to the central chamber where other Hunters gathered.
Suddenly, he felt as though he was no longer moving but was being moved. Apparently, Lumine silently stole his controls and made him do magnificent acrobatics. Many Hunters now see Axl doing a couple of somersaults and jumps before he darted out of a nearby open window.
“That was cool! When did Axl started doing that?”
Back outside, Lumine had already given control back to Axl, who was forced to quickly cling on the wall and land safely on the ground. Iris was giggling away while Lumine himself was laughing away quite madly.
“You don’t know when to quit, do you?”
“As a matter of fact, yes I do, dear boy. I’ve already quit. Now, run along and look for another operating outlet of goods.” He proceeded to float in the air and sleep on an imaginary hammock.
Axl quickly assumed human form and ran down the streets amid the falling snow. Not even a minute since he started his quest to find any open stores, he was mulled by snow shoveled to the side by one of the bulldozers.
“Argh! Hey, Axl! Watch your steps!” “Dear boy, must I really assist you in every single trouble, no matter how small or big they are?”
Axl got up quickly and shoved away all the snow that covered him. Though his sweater was now a little wet and dirty, he didn’t mind it at all.
“No, thanks. I’m fine here. I’ll be going now.” He dashed off again to look.
As he kept on running, he looked around him and above. All the shops were closed and black with no electricity being used. It doesn’t stop there. Jewellery stores, restaurants, ordinary convenience stores and other types of shops were all closed and all the way down many streets and districts.
The grey sky and snow made the surroundings look real terrible. Along with the hanging advertisement signs and the snow-coated buildings, the Big City was not a welcoming sight at all. Everywhere seemed to be dead.
After some hours of looking, Axl stopped and held onto a nearby bench. He panted to release his stress and looked to see where he was now. Oddly by chance, it was the very same bench where he had waited for May and Lumine was spotted twice.
“Aw man. The bad memories are coming back again. Why is it that things always evolve around here?” The word ‘evolve’ irked Lumine a little because it was connected to the term ‘evolution’.
“Don’t say that word again, will you dear boy? Just relax for a while and then continue your search for an open shop.” Axl looked onto the bench and sighed.
“I’m fine. Besides, I don’t want me being dirty and wet again due to the snow and I don’t want to sit on this bench again.” Iris and Lumine knew what he meant and decided to not comment till later.
Several hours later at 3 in the afternoon, Axl had to stop because he was running out of energy. He had already run through 5 of the nearest districts to the Hunter HQ and he found none of the stores to be open. Just when he decided to finally sit on the snow again, he saw a dim orange light from far away.
“Is that light? I must be dreaming…” But Iris cut him short.
“Axl, that’s a shop! It’s open! Quickly go in there!” Axl made use of any remaining energy to run to the source of light, and indeed it was a small convenience store.
He slammed hard on the store’s entrance and rushed inside before slamming the door close. He panted harder and from a leaning position, he sat on the floor.
“Congratulations, dear boy.” Axl saw Lumine smile at him. “You’ve finally found a store and you’re lucky too; this is a multi-function store, not just an ordinary store that sells human goods for the stomach.”
“I told you: it’s a piece of cake. I can do it.” Lumine smirked at him.
“I thought I was going to suggest giving belated presents to father. But I guess I was wrong. Someone must really like you.” Axl then got up and looked around. The shelves sold not only human food, but also electronic appliances and various gifts.
The store was fashionably painted with dark green and the lights were bright orange. The window panes all had snow on their corners and the door was wooden green. It was amazing that the glass wasn’t shattered and the wood not dented due to the strong force Axl used to close it minutes ago.
Finally, he found something that he could buy as a present. Axl decided that his present for mister Prez was going to be a crystal jar containing colourful jelly which held a plastic card saying ‘I LOVE MY DAD’ suspended in the middle.
“Really, dear boy, that’s the type of present dear Iris would buy instead.”
“Hey!” Iris countered Lumine’s insults. “I’ve already chosen my present for father! Axl, take one of those lovely bear-like dolls over by the end there!”
Axl walked on to grab one of the teddy bears and held it together with his jar of jelly. “Well, Lumine, what have you decided on?”
The white Reploid was speechless for a while. “I’m not sure. Just keep looking around so I can make up my mind.” Iris giggled at him.
After walking around the shelves several times and the wild glares of the cashier of an old man, Lumine asked him to stop walking and stop on a certain spot.
“What? That’s your present? It costs so much!” Axl winced.
“Well then, check your wallet and see how much there is.” Axl counted the amount of cash in his wallet and totaled up their presents’ prices. He was relieved.
“Hm, you’re lucky, Lumine. If I were to take your item and pay up, I’ll have only a couple of coins left.” Lumine laughed lightly while Iris looked on.
“Well done. Then just take it. A model ship encased inside a huge bottle jar worth several hundred in cash is worth the trouble so far.”
Axl took all three items and placed them on the cashier’s table. He went to take out all the paper money he had, four hundred worth of cash, and placed it on the table.
The old man, of wrinkled skin, a little white moustache and thick glasses, gave him back a few coins as the balance. As Axl put all items in a big plastic bag, the old man spoke to him.
“Young man” – Axl wasn’t exactly a human, just an imitation – “you must have had lots of trouble coming all the way here and buying all these expensive goods. Christmas occasion, I suppose?”
“Hah. You know very well, old person. I had to find a present for my dad so I thought I grab extra ones too, for my friends.” Axl was saying that all the items were meant to be given to Prez by him only; for that he got rebukes from his inhabitants
The old man glared at him longer. “You look familiar, don’t you? I can’t put my thumb on it. I’ve seen you before, just can’t remember when and where.”
Axl shivered a little. “But…I’ve never seen you before!”
“I know…It seems as though you are the son of some sort of rich guy who’s very famous and important in the Federation who got into the media very recently. But that’s just plain funny, huh? … Young man? Young man?”
Axl had already teleported with his items to Prez’s tower mansion upon urges from his inhabitants, when the old man said the word ‘Federation’. The old man tried to look around for Axl but was out of sight.
Axl teleported directly to the 86th floor of the tower mansion and is now at the entrance of Prez’s elevator. He saw his ‘daddy’ sleeping by the fireplace on his favourite couch, wearing a suit as usual. On top of the fireplace were three new objects.
The three objects were separate photos of the three Reploids in human forms, all shown with Prez. They were taken just only two days ago after the New Year celebrations and the background was the surroundings at the Big City River.
“Axl, don’t disturb him. Just grab a seat and wait for father to wake up.”
Just when Axl was about to do what Iris had suggested, Prez woke up so suddenly that the trio were shocked. Prez smiled and stood up to greet them.
“Well, it’s about time you got here! The snow is so darn heavy I can’t even do anything at all! As you would have probably noticed by now, my plants are not functioning.” The trio were silent.
Axl broke the silence by saying: “Dad, merry Christmas. Here are our presents to you. We hope you like it. We took the trouble to search for every store in the City for them.” He then turned on the speakers.
“A crystal jar from Axl, a teddy bear from Iris and a model ship from Lumine! Do I like it? I love it! As a child, I always wanted a ship and I slept with the nicest bear! What a nice jar! I appreciate them, I really do! Here are your presents!”
Iris was most astounded. “Fifteen thousand cash!? That’s a lot, father!”
“Not for me! I call them pennies! Anyway, merry Christmas you all! This is a great occasion! Oh look, it’s almost evening! Let’s go down to the dining room and eat some dinner together! Sadly, my servants have all gone during this week, so I can only spend the time with you all. C’mon!”
Iris held firm control over the body so her form was exhibited. She happily skipped on the floor and followed Prez. Lumine was teasing Axl.
“Well, dear boy, your wallet’s full again. What are you going to spend them on?”
“Only when necessary! Right now, I’m more concerned about dinner!”
“Ah yes, I just remembered! My so-called enemies among my investments have been subjugated totally by will! Everyone’s happy now... except for that bloke of a fat man. He may listen to what I say but he is a constant pain in the neck! If I wasn’t so angry, I would have pulled out all my cash and make him bankrupt!”
“Father, relax. Forget about him and let’s just have dinner together.” The descending elevator closed its doors as they headed down for some food. The trio-in-one Reploid were determined to earn as much pleasure as possible out of this special occasion and a fat man wasn’t going to stop them.
Continued in Chapter 3.
Notes:
Whew. 3 hours of typing and this chapter’s done. Hope you like this Christmas chapter.
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And that is all my goodies for you today. Stay tuned for tomorrow.
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Post by Professor Fann on Sept 14, 2009 0:14:36 GMT -5
Today the Chapter 3 is due. Enjoy.
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All characters belong to Capcom, except for those you’ve never seen before and the story doesn’t intend to hurt anyone’s interests.
-M’siaFanWriter
Chapter Three: Lingering
Everywhere was dark except for the presence of inactive data. Axl looked around and tried to find his inhabitants. He walked around and all he saw were the same strands of data. Iris and Lumine were nowhere in sight and he made calls for them.
“Lumine! Iris! Where are you?” He got no instant reply which was weird, because they would usually respond to his call the instant he calls them. Still, he continued walking around in an effort to locate them personally.
Something still didn’t feel right. He had the squirmiest feeling that something bad was going to happen. Then suddenly, he experienced the pang of pain again. The headache was so strong that Axl somehow passed out.
Minutes later, he was able to open his eyes again. He was still inside the active subconscious. He saw a crouching Iris next to his left and Lumine standing on his right. Both were concerned for him, as Axl wouldn’t pass out suddenly.
“Axl, are you okay?” Iris was holding his left hand firmly. “You were sort of struggling with yourself. Looks like you had a terrible dream…”
“I’m okay, thanks.” Axl stood up, rubbing his eyes for a while. “But I didn’t have a dream at all. I was awake, but the body’s still sleeping. That pain came again…”
Lumine, without saying anything, stretched his hand forward to Axl. His hand penetrated Axl’s head and emitted his purple aura. Axl felt warm and soothed over his entire self. Lumine’s eyes were shut as he analyzed Axl’s data codes. Seconds later, he was done.
“So, let me get this straight. You woke up, called us but we didn’t reply back. You walked around here and suddenly got shocked by a great stun. This is the second time, I suppose?” Axl only nodded at Lumine as he stood back on his feet.
“We heard you calling, dear boy. When we woke up, we only found you lying on the floor. You were unconscious for the past 15 minutes.”
Axl fidgeted and shivered. “What does that mean?”
“Well then, this means that we are having an extra company. It must have gotten in the body illegally and is now working hard to create disturbances.”
Iris became worried. “Is it a virus?! We will be in grave danger then!”
Lumine made a face. “I’m not sure at the moment. That’s why I need your help, dear girl. We are the only one who can do this, since dear boy has no experience of analyzing data before. Dear boy, while we are gone, try and wake your body up.”
Both his inhabitants vanished away. Almost instantly, he felt huge pressure from their combined auras spreading out to the entire body. He made more efforts to make his body active. Eventually he succeeded, thus pushing away his resting pod’s glass and stepping out. An angry Alia was standing next to him.
“Axl! Zero’s already on his patrol hours ago and now you wake up? Hurry up to his office!” Axl tried to find an excuse for his behaviour.
“Em… sorry, I’ll be there in a moment. Just give me five minutes while I run back to my cubicle!” He hurriedly dashed off to the cubicle department, leaving Alia behind. He found his computer to be on standby mode so he activated it and checked the Internet for any news.
He ran through the news update quickly. So far it was all about incidents regarding humans involved in accidents, awards and projects. The only news concerning Reploids was that of Lumine’s appearances. It was rumoured he was present during the New Year celebrations and some interviewed doubted his words about being watched.
“Really, dear boy, could you stop reading all that news about me? I’m really tired of seeing that same pile of junk: incidents, witnesses, doubts. Just switch it off…”
Axl disconnected his connection and switched off the computer. He immediately dashed off to Zero’s office and did what he’s best at: doodling and lying around.
He sighed and thought back to wonderful events of yesterday. He enjoyed his time dining with mister Prez and loved the troubles he faced just to buy the presents for the Christmas celebration. Axl was once again backing to drawing on Zero’s paper supply.
He made a neat sketch of the entrance to the factories and proceeded to draw more. He remembered the tower mansion’s exterior design and Prez’s looks and drew well, he did. Next he began drawing out the faces of X and gang and Iris and Lumine.
“Ha ha ha. That’s a nice one, dear boy. Listen, Iris and I had already checked the entire body system and we found nothing wrong. All dormant data seems to be functioning normally. We couldn’t find any traces of foreign files.”
“Oh, okay. But how does that explain the pangs of pain I experienced?”
“I don’t know, dear boy. I doubt it has anything to do with the Chameleon Chip. It’s already clearly very stable and all excess stagnant energy has been used up. We can’t do anything right now…” The white Reploid looked to Axl for an answer.
“Alright. Thanks anyway. You can rest now.” Lumine went ahead to sit on the pitch-black floor while Iris suddenly appeared. “I scanned everywhere but I can’t find anything. Wow, nice sketch of me, Axl! You make a fine artist!”
Axl said nothing at all. He placed the sheets of paper one side together with the pencil and whammed his head softly on the table, signifying his boredom. The inhabitants said nothing about the sudden behaviour.
Axl sighed to himself as he got up from Zero’s chair and crashed himself on the other sofas adjacent to the office entrance. He was quite tired and decided to sleep.
“Axl, you can’t sleep now! A call might suddenly come in for you!”
“So wake me up when the call comes in then. It’s so boring around here I’m desperate to go through all the trouble yesterday to buy dad his Christmas presents again.”
Lumine and Iris exchanged looks. Barely minutes when Axl was sleeping, Lumine held control over his body joints and made Axl move to lock the door and switch off the security camera in Zero’s office. Axl took the act seriously.
“Hey, what are you doing? The security room guards are sure to come here and check what’s going on!” Lumine smiled at him.
“Don’t worry, dear boy. I’ve locked the door and the guards can only hear speech in this room. Seems that you need more rest at the moment and I’ll be happy to fill in the void.” Lumine then made his physical features appear.
Oddly enough, for the next two hours, no guard came to the office to check for abnormal situations. Lumine simply flew about the room and read the books on Zero’s shelves. Occasionally, he would peep out the highest window to look outside.
He had also resorted to his acrobatic skills just for the fun of it. He would balance the entire body upside-down with his palm or even do several somersaults and thankfully, with a little flying independent of gravity, he crashed onto no part of the fragile place.
Suddenly, the phone rang. Lumine released hold of the prototype’s control mechanisms and made Axl the dominant data soul, so Axl naturally fell down to the floor.
“I hope you would stop doing that, Lumine.” The white Reploid merely laughed as Axl reached for the telephone. “Hello, Acting Commander Axl speaking.”
“Axl? This is X. How have you been doing? The security department reported that the camera is dead blur and the doors have been locked. What’s going on?”
“That would be Lumine. Listen, X, I’m really tired of sitting here doing nothing. You were right yesterday. I deserve to have my own free time. If you don’t mind, I’ll be lingering around the whole HQ. I’ve made all calls for Zero diverted to your line.”
“Axl, wait-!” The phone line was disconnected.
Axl made up his mind to linger around the entire HQ. At the same time, Lumine was unavailable for comment while Iris was protesting the hardest.
“Axl, what are you doing?! You’re skipping your duties just for a walk? I’m really disappointed in you! I thought you would have been better! Go back!”
Axl sighed harder. “Iris, I know what I’m doing is wrong. But you expect me to bore myself over the time? I’ll rather get scolded by Alia or anyone else because of this. I don’t think you would also be willing to go through all the boredom.”
Lumine laughed like usual. “Very good, dear boy. You are still good.”
Iris hated it when she was convinced according to Axl’s point-of-view sometimes so she would have no choice but to accept Axl as he is and stay not commenting. She chose to just sit down on the pitch-black floor and watch Axl’s movements.
Axl made slow walks around the entire HQ. Firstly, he made a stop at the entrance of the south wing, the ground site where Hunters and PB Force Reploids had clashed. Thanks to cash provided by mister Prez, the place had been repaired over the short time of winter.
Being in the middle of a grounds halfway renovated, he saw that the old cannon and rocket bases have been torn down and two different structures connected to the main Hunter HQ wing were still under construction. Humans aren’t working at all, only the newer Reploids which were highly cold-resistant were present.
Axl made a slight cough. “It’s been nearly two weeks already. Dad’s technology is helping progress faster. Maybe peace will still be maintained after all.”
He walked back inside the facilities and walked more. Several Hunters made the effort to say “Hi” or “Hello” to him while rushing on their work. Axl only smiled in return as he headed to the west wing block.
The west wing was too under renovation. The sizes of prisons were decreased yet the security technology is being improved further. A lot of space is now devoted to the research of further Reploid sciences alongside cooperation with the Prez Corp and other small technology companies. This is the place where nurseries were located.
Axl remembered well the exact spot where X read out the forged verdict and saw Bob rage back at him for being so-called ‘unfair’. The plastic prison was no longer there but it was like only yesterday.
“Hah. The secret rages and the emotion fluctuating, all sounds like good times to me, no matter how much I hate it.”
Iris and Lumine now felt sorry for the blue-red Reploid. It must have been hard for Axl to refresh back all the painful memories while putting a smile on his face. They decided to approach him.
“Em, Axl, are you okay? You know you don’t like to rethink all this horrible things of the past. What’s gotten into you?”
“Really, dear boy, are you so bored until you are willing to look back in time?”
Axl, fixed at a certain position along the walkway, closed his eyes to meet his inhabitants. Iris was definitely worried and Lumine, though hardcore emotionless most of the time, showed a little expression of sympathy and concern.
“I’m fine, guys. Don’t worry. I’m not being stressful or anything. I’m just doing this for the fun of it.” He opened his eyes and walked on, this time heading to the north wing where the central main plaza was.
During the first days since coming back from the Moon, Axl had befriended a repented Lumine and had most of his conversations with him there. That time, Iris’ presence was only known by the white Reploid. Outside was the main entrance grounds where Axl and Lumine raged and tried to strangle Bob.
“Huh. Memories here sure are sweet. Guess I shouldn’t spend more time here though.” Axl continued on his tour around the HQ. Unknown to him, his position was being determined.
“Where is Axl exactly? He keeps moving around here and there!”
“Sorry, X, but the radar says that he’s constantly moving, like you said, so the exact location is impossible to determine. Right now, he’s heading to the HQ central wing.” Pallette was busy crunching numbers.
The central wing is where most of the Hunter offices and hostels were located. The cubicle departments, many resting chambers and the central gathering chamber are all here. Axl had nothing to say about this wing so he headed on to the east wing.
The east wing is where most of the Hunters’ scientific departments were located, the largest and most highly technologized area, besides the labs in the west wing too. The computer, command, mechanics, entertainment and maintenance rooms and the library are all here. This wing also provides access to the basement of power plants, besides the central wing.
In the early weeks of the white Reploid’s presence, Axl experienced how it feels like to lose his body to someone else. He also played games with Lumine just for the fun of it and was told of tips to discovering his origins. Lumine’s first amok ever since the Moon incident was here and the trio were always revived here after huge battles.
Axl gave a light laugh. “Hah. The best memories are all in this wing. Well, you can’t relive old times so it’s best to just remember it.”
His inhabitants were puzzled why he would say something irrelevant but brushed it aside for it would cause no harm. Then Axl went ahead and walked around the places. He felt rejuvenated by the old memories because they were so precious to him.
He approached a door that led down to the basements. The security Reploid halted him for a password and a retina scan. By right, this method works best on ordinary and new Reploids.
However, given Axl’s condition, Lumine can just easily grasp Axl’s body without the slightest appearance change and sneak into the lower levels. But the trio knew better and declared the method ‘only used by Mavericks’.
Anyway, Axl passed the scan and toured around the walkways. There were already some old technicians working and repairing the equipment. Newer technologies have been presented to the HQ, obviously by Prez, and old generators had been sent to the recycling plants. The screens still showed bars and charts and there were unmistakable hints that a tunnel is constructed to connect to the new buildings.
Axl remembered his experience with motors and appliances with Layer, thanks to the blabbermouth Lumine. The white Reploid disabled all cameras the first time to repair generators himself. The second time was where Abe stepped in to fix everything and Axl suspected him a lot, later exposing him as the mastermind of the HQ’s blackouts.
All this while, Axl had long felt some pain and pangs of touch. They were caused by his inhabitants as they had attempted again to analyze Axl’s body for any abnormalities. The final straw was when Iris tried to analyze the nervous systems while watched by Lumine and she twitched numbness over Axl.
“Hey, could you guys now quit it? I’m tired of tolerating the pain you caused when touching my body systems!”
Iris became embarrassed of herself and stopped her attempts to dive into the strands of data that code for Axl’s joints. Lumine only sighed and hid his head from both.
Somehow Axl had reached the end of the road and surfaced in the central wing. The moment he exited the elevator, he met a furious X. They knew that Axl was in for trouble.
Unknown to him, what he assumed to be just minutes of walking around the HQ was actually hours. By then, it had been already evening and Zero had returned from his periodic patrol, later than usual because he made visits to other super nations.
“Axl, I’ve been trying to get to you the whole time since you hung me up! Listen, I have some humans to attend to afterwards but now it’s my turn to patrol the City and several places around the world. So your job now is to see that the humans be attended to and Zero will help you.”
“Alright, finally some work to do!” Axl dashed towards X’s office and met Zero there, who praised him for creating nice sketches with his paper supply. X merely walked to the command room to await teleportation.
True to X’s words, the humans came from Prez Corp., wanting signatures that X agreed to accept Prez’s aid in the facilities’ construction. Zero had pointed out important points Axl didn’t understand and Lumine only helped with strange vocabulary. Iris was pretty much quiet all the time. In the end, another day was about to pass.
“Aw man! I can’t let this day repeat again in the future! One day wasted by walking and lazing around! I gotta have something else to do besides my duty as Acting Commander! I just don’t have any ideas yet!”
“Pity. We will think of something for you, dear boy. Right now, you should remain patient while your period ends. Then, we’d have a nice rest back in your pod.”
“Yeah, Axl! We also want you to spend your time more properly!”
“Thanks, guys. I knew I can count on you for help.” Axl thus waited for more appointed meetings. However as time passed, he gradually became sleepy and eventually slept, head on X’s table. The others also slept in the same office while seconds pass, another day begins to dawn on them.
Continued in Chapter 4.
Notes:
Nothing much to say here. Sometimes you have a lot of free time; you try to use all of them properly but usually end up in waste. Also applicable to Reploids here.
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Post by Professor Fann on Sept 15, 2009 3:56:06 GMT -5
Back with the Chapter 4. Enjoy.
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All characters belong to Capcom, except for those you’ve never seen before and the story doesn’t intend to hurt anyone’s interests.
-M’siaFanWriter
Chapter Four: Mimicking
During the next seven days, Axl got what he wished for and was briefly congratulated for it. Axl managed to fulfill his proper job as Acting Commander and in the evenings, Acting Supreme Commander.
He personally got some errors and mess straightened in the HQ with no one’s help and made sure that the HQ’s regular trash cans were cleaned out on time. He also ensured the accuracy of weights concerning supplies of materials in construction, not too little and not too much.
In a record two separate days, he managed to make visits to Prez’s place and spend quality time with him, while X had to take up his duty on those days. This time, instead of the regular stays and listening to stories about Prez’s business, the trio were taught to do something practical and handy: cooking.
“You see, the function of the installed taster in your mouth is not merely for you to recognize food and tastes. Like humans, you will be able to experience the different degrees of various tastes and use them to enhance you further tasting pleasure.”
Axl the human form was puzzled as usual to Prez’s words.
“In other words, you can tell how delicious food is and you can add your own mixtures to make it more delicious.” Prez sighed.
Axl was the first to try ahead cooking methods. He first tried to steam some fish and cook some meat and eggs. Given the fact that he was only best in busting Mavericks, it was obvious that his fish was over-steamed and his meat and eggs were roasted black.
“Ha ha ha ha! That’s the dear boy I know: caring only for justice and Mavericks but pathetic in other things. Well, let me teach you then.”
The white Reploid surfaced and performed his own methods of cooking. His meat and eggs were well-done and the fish was well mixed with gravy and vegetables. Iris was paying attention all this while so she could do better herself.
“Now, Lumine, don’t be a show-off. You can do most human things right but the only thing you need to do now is lower your sarcasm tone! Teach your friends gently now, don’t overdo your ego.”
“Yes, father.” The cooking lesson went on as planned.
Iris on the other hand did better than anyone expected. Her food though a little messy was still nonetheless tasty.
“Hm. Very good, Iris! It’s delicious!” Prez munched even faster.
“Hah. At least it’s better than dear boy’s food.” Axl’s face glowed red.
Today was day 80. Axl was just done being the Acting Commander on behalf of Zero. Today’s job wasn’t so bad; Axl didn’t grumble about the boredom because he had gone on the Internet looking for all kinds of cooking recipes he could use the next time he visited mister Prez.
“Axl, those are nice! I want the cookie recipe!”
“Rather nice. I’ll take the one on preparing noodles with exquisite meat, dear boy.”
“Hey, those are mine! I’m making them and it’s final!”
Oddly, Iris and Lumine simultaneously emitted their auras, robbing Axl of his hands and body, though their features weren’t shown. Lumine only make Axl unable to move and Iris took a blotch pen and scribbled her name on the cookie recipe and Lumine’s on the beef noodles. Moments later, Axl got his body back.
“Huh… Fine, you can have them. Take whatever you want. At least I’m keeping my five recipes.” He hurriedly took them and left for his cubicle.
He arrived at his cubicle in just two minutes. Axl opened the drawer and placed the recipes there. Just when he was about to close the drawer, he experienced a painful shocking headache. He let out a small scream.
“Ahh! It’s the pain again!” Other Hunters heard the cry and rushed to see Axl.
“Axl! What’s wrong?” Axl mumbled words no one could really understand.
“Headache… Electric shock… can’t resist…” At the same time, not only Axl was suffering the headache. Lumine was yelling out in Axl’s head.
“Aaaahhh! What’s with the pain? So terrible! Aaaahhh!” Iris was helpless and saw Lumine and Axl both sparking out electric shocks on their appearances.
Then, a huge shock pounded on both their heads. It hurt so much that Axl immediately collapsed to the floor without any yells. The other Hunters, being worried, rushed and carried Axl to immediate aid.
Iris saw the horror as both data souls appears to be completely stunted. Lumine looked exactly the way he looked when Iris sacrificed herself to stop Abe thus nearly killing everyone. Seemed as though the data soul engine had just stopped working. Axl was lying on the pitch-black floor, eyes wide open.
Iris couldn’t do anything. She wasn’t the main dominant personality of the body and the Chameleon Chip wouldn’t respond to her desires to revive them, even if there were some stagnant energy. She wept hardly on the floor.
Somehow, in the maintenance room, Axl’s eyes cried on its own. Still no one noticed as the scientists were trying to cure Axl. The computer screens show readings of complex data.
“There are two unknown files in the subject! The subject and one of the unknown files are knocked out! Another one more is active but it seems to be doing nothing! What exactly is inside the subject?”
The scientists, all this while from day One itself, had never really known who had been staying in Axl, despite the fact they were also present in the mechanics room when Lumine resurfaced amok.
X, Zero, Layer and Pallette were present, looking upon the knocked out prototype. This was exactly the same type of situation when Lumine first tried to take over Axl but this time, it wasn’t Lumine. No one knows.
“X, what are we going to do? We can’t give the set of quarantines and work suspensions again. The source will probably try to rage around again!”
“It seems that the only option is to wait. Besides, Lumine is in Axl now and when he comes to, he’ll definitely want to settle this with Axl. However, we’ll put him on watch again. Pallette, tell security to put Axl on a watch for 2 weeks.”
The navigator rushed away. Layer suggested that the advanced machine in the mechanics room be used to scan Axl for foreign files but X declined.
“No, Axl’s body is a copy prototype and submits… to the strongest controlling personality. The source may rage again, just like Lumine the other time.”
Hours later into the night, Axl woke up in his resting pod, slightly dazed. Earlier he had been declared stable and was sent to rest in the resting chamber. Zero and Layer were there to greet him.
“Axl, are you okay? You suddenly passed out back then.”
“I’m fine. The headache came twice already. So far, nothing’s wrong.”
“Axl, do we need to run a scan in the mechanics room? Perhaps we can trace the source and extract it faster before it gains control on your body.”
“No, thanks, Layer. I’ll rather not go through all those again. Besides, Lumine and Iris said they hadn’t found anything to do with foreign viruses or personalities yet. I’ll let you know by then. Promise.” Axl just walked back to his cubicle.
Zero and Layer could only exchange looks before departing.
Iris went forward to greet Axl in his head. Iris quickly embraced him hard and didn’t want to let go. Axl was twitched of his movements and suddenly brushed her aside, thus posing like what it seems to be waking up after a sleep on the floor.
“Axl! What was that for?!” Iris was rather stressed by that push.
“I don’t know! I didn’t do – Aaah… my head…” Axl’s conversations halted suddenly and uttered another half of someone else’s words – Lumine.
Lumine soon brought himself to his feet and Axl’s appearances mimicked the exact body movements. Iris saw the two move and put her hand over her mouth.
“Axl? Lumine? Are you guys okay?”
“Er… yeah…” The reply didn’t come from anyone specific; rather it came from both of them. The two stared at each other in the face and both jumped backwards with the exact timing and opposite position.
“What’s going on? Why are you imitating me?” Axl and Lumine asked the same question. Both suddenly flung their right hands in the air and charged at each other. One of them slipped, so both of them ended up on the floor.
Iris was starting to cry again. She had never been so confused all her life.
On the outside, Axl looked perfectly fine, sitting on his chair, eyes closed and head pointing at the ceiling. Inside Axl, there was serious trouble and no one knew why.
“What’s happening? Why are both of you suddenly copying each other’s moves? Has the headache just now knocked you out of your senses?” Iris’ tears rolled down her cheeks more and eventually dripped on the floor.
“No! Dear boy’s copying me!” Both of them said these words. Suddenly, Iris hit realization. She spotted something which could be used to solve the problem.
“That has to be you, Lumine! Only you call Axl that! So this means that if one of you speaks, the other is forced to say the same! What exactly happened?”
“It has to be that electric shock! Somehow, dear boy and I are connected together, though this doesn’t look so. The shock must have implanted connecting threads into our data codes.” Both sighed as their left hands dusted their chest.
“WHAT? I have to do everything he does? No way! We gotta get rid of the stirred programming that shock did! How?”
“Let me try that.” Lumine managed to plunge his hand into himself, hoping to search for the connecting threads he theorized. The problem was that Axl had no experience or knowledge whatsoever to trace codes so operating on himself hurts a lot.
“AAAHH! GET IT OUT! NOW!” Axl grabbed his left hand with the other and used all his available strength to pull it out. Despite the increasing pain, he still went head. Similarly, Lumine’s left hand was being pulled out slowly.
A big repulsion occurred. Due to the large force from pulling the hand out, the two personalities were blown backwards on the pitch-black floor. Both were sighing away from the pain and one another tried to get back standing up.
“Ow! Lumine, let me bring us up! I’m the one crouching down here!”
“No you don’t, dear boy. We are in a dangerous situation now. Let me!”
Their conversation turned into an argument where two different voices were uttering the same words, always from one personality at a certain time. Due to prolonged misunderstanding, they fought each other by inflicting damage on themselves.
“Lumine! You should have known better than to cut me!”
“Dear boy, don’t make me angry. Stop making me punch myself – ah!”
“GUYS, WILL YOU STOP IT?!”
Both of them immediately stopped their quarreling and looked at Iris. Iris was angry but also concerned for the two. She quickly ran forward to them.
“Lumine, you know very well Axl cannot analyze his own codes! You should have remembered! Axl, I’m surprised at you! Lumine didn’t mean to hurt you! If this is so troublesome, I will do this myself!!”
Lumine was stunned and his eyes glittered. “Thank you, dear girl…”
Iris reassured herself that it was nothing to be afraid of by sighing to herself repeatedly. Then, she turned to Lumine. “Okay, I’m going to analyze-!”
“Dear girl, it would be better to analyze both of us at the same time.”
Iris suddenly became a little frightened. “Are you sure? What if I somehow hurt you guys? Ohhh… I’m nervous all over!”
“Iris, you won’t screw up here! Believe in yourself!”
“Dear boy’s right. Look at your incident concerning data code analyzing. You analyzed me properly but you did it confidently. I know you can do it!”
“Alright, here goes nothing!” Iris inserted her hands quickly into both of them, the left one into Axl and the right into Lumine. Glowing waves of white light was suddenly emitted from the cut-like entrance and brightened up a lot of the subconscious.
Iris made a face that showed she was uncomfortable. She appeared to be struggling heavily to analyze every single code; of course it was difficult, she was doing two Reploids at the same time.
“Grr… almost there… I’m tracing the signal of the waves… Got it! The data here, or accurately connecting threads, are exactly the same! They’re making you both move the exact same by sending signal from one to another! It’s rather messy and incomplete though!”
“Iris, destroy it now!” That was Axl’s words to her.
“GAAHH!!” Iris emitted a strong pink aura from both her hands, neutralizing the signal waves and deleting the codes. The moment she was done, her hands were automatically repelled from the two and a giant spherically-expanding wave repelled all three of them far from each other.
In the outside world, Axl appeared to jerk a little heavily. His jerking of the chair was so rough that the chair slipped, Axl’s body losing balance and thus fell onto the floor with a crash. The cubicle was shaken rather violently and attracted other Hunters’ attention. Axl was now lying unconscious on the wrongly-positioned chair.
Sighing again, several Hunters’ carried Axl to the maintenance room.
Inside the computer brain, Iris got back up to her feet and was really exhausted. She panted for a moment and when she looked up, her face shone full with happiness.
Axl and Lumine were okay and this time, their movements were completely different. Axl was getting back up using his hands whereas Lumine floated to a standing position. It was only a few seconds later that they realized they were back to normal.
“YOU’RE OKAY!!” Iris ran forward and gave Axl a big hug. Axl was happy to see himself free again and he returned a hug with a hug. Iris’ cheeks were rolling tears all the way down to the pitch-black floor.
The white Reploid only smiled at the happy sight. “Thank you, dear girl.”
Iris apparently heard that and rushed over from Axl and also hugged Lumine. He felt rejuvenated again to feel the nice sensation of love and care. Closing his eyes, he just patted Iris’ shoulders. “Everything is fine now.”
Iris mumbled to him. “I’ll rather you tease me as much as you want than be merged with Axl for even another one more minute. I’m just glad you’re you.”
Axl came forward and broke up the meeting. “There was definitely something wrong around here. I still had the feeling that a virus or wild personality is loose. Why in the world would that thing, if it’s real, merge only both of us?”
“That’s what I hope to find out now.” Lumine’s aura flashed dark purple and he stretched out all his arms and legs, thus expanding the aura everywhere in the computer brain. Axl was suddenly fidgeting so violently that the Hunters carrying him soon released him out of fear. Axl floated in the air a little, scaring the rest.
In a bid to extract out any irregularities, Lumine’s aura encompassed the whole body. Naturally the joints were not left out so he was in firm control. Axl still looked like Axl but only the Hunters couldn’t spot his eyes, covered in dark shadow.
“Once again, there is nothing foreign inside this body. I suspect that it has the ability to hide itself and make itself undetectable. I do not know what this is, but mark my words. I will not linger more in searching for the criminal source. You were hurt, dear boy, and I can’t allow that to happen anymore.”
This was what Lumine said to Iris and Axl in the computer brain. Outside, Hunters were still staring at a floating Axl. They didn’t know what to do.
“Oh that reminds me. Layer asked Axl if we need to go through the scan using the advance machine in the mechanics room. The one that detected us.”
Lumine made a face. “Really, dear girl? Let’s pay her a visit.”
‘Axl’ teleported away, shocking the audience. Fortunately, Layer was in X’s office so he was saved of the trouble to look everywhere for her. He had always felt it best to consult her on electronic affairs for some reason, ever since she installed speakers for Axl.
“Ha ha ha. Good evening, X. So word has it that Layer asked dear boy for permission? Permission to undergo another scan in the mechanics room?”
“LUMINE. Yeah, that’s true. She’s pretty convinced by now that the source of Axl’s headaches is something that may rapidly gain strong control over the body if Axl goes for the scan.”
Layer answered back. “That’s correct.”
‘Axl’ smiled. “Well, actually that machine does have its own usefulness. Indeed, dear boy’s headaches are caused by another unknown program and it attempted to merge us to oblivion. We may need the technology of the scanning machine but right now, the level of the threat is not so serious yet.”
“NOT SERIOUS YET?” Axl and Iris burst out their thoughts. X and Layer raised their eyebrows. Lumine ignored his friends.
“Don’t worry. I have a plan to extract it, but I require your help and some time before it strikes back more seriously. Do we have a deal?”
X nodded at Layer so her answer was an obvious ‘Yes’.
“Well done. We’ll talk again next time.” Lumine returned control back to Axl so he fell on the floor again. X stood up from his chair and saw Axl stand up again.
“Hey, Axl why don’t you just tell Prez about this?” Axl looked at X. He didn’t speak as he waited for Lumine’s answer.
“Em… Lumine feels that Layer will be quite enough. I am going to rest now. See you, X.” Axl just exited the office and X and Layer exchanged looks.
While setting the dial, many questions were raised. Why were only Axl and Lumine affected? Why wasn’t Iris affected at all? What exactly is Lumine’s plan until he dared to wait for the next threat? What is this new threat that acted like a Maverick Lumine?
Axl then boarded his pod and closed the shutter. Before the sleeping program was induced, his last thought was: “I hope something bad doesn’t happen…”
Continued in Chapter 5.
Notes:
A new threat exposed inside Axl! What more troubles are ahead? By the way, from the next chapter onwards the term such as ‘float in the air’ is replaced by ‘levitate’. Just only remembered that word.
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Post by Professor Fann on Sept 16, 2009 0:11:48 GMT -5
And something bad does NOT happen!
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All characters belong to Capcom, except for those you’ve never seen before and the story doesn’t intend to hurt anyone’s interests.
-M’siaFanWriter
Chapter Five: Employed
Though that incident lasted merely minutes, the trio were bent on making sure that it wouldn’t happen again. Axl had been injured most severely among the three and Lumine wasn’t going to let that happen again to his host and friend.
Axl had a good night’s rest that night. He heard so far nothing from the white Reploid, whom Iris said to have made many checks around the body when Axl was sleeping. He sighed for the Reploid and walked on to his cubicle.
It was already the following morning, where the sun shone rather brightly amid the falling snow. He hadn’t started the day and he felt another pang of pain. This time, his all inhabitants felt it.
Before anyone could do anything, a white blur passed by them as it darted into the dark. Axl and Iris followed Lumine’s trail of movements and they came to a stop. The white Reploid emitted some of his aura to check the surroundings.
Lumine grumbled to himself and turned around, knowing that the other two were following behind him. He put up a weak smile.
“It’s the fourth pang dear boy’s had. We are now at the system components at your chest, dear boy. Unfortunately, I found nothing again.”
“Hey, you’ve been working hard. I think you ought to rest for a while.”
“No, I can’t let it harm you or us anymore. We must watch out.”
“Well, I’m asking you now to rest!” Axl glared at him. “Look at you! You look as though you’re about to fall ill if you were a human! When the pain comes, I will need you. Right now, just rest. You’ll need it.”
Lumine said nothing and merely vanished. Iris went ahead to check on him and returned to Axl seconds later. “He said thank you and he’s resting now. Er, Axl, I think you ought to continue walking. You’ve been standing here for some time already.”
Zero’s arm rested on Axl’s shoulder. “Hey, Axl are you okay?”
“Huh? Oh, I’m fine. Thanks anyway.” Axl brushed Zero’s hand away lightly and continued on walking to the cubicle department.
That was day 81. Today was now day 83. Axl is helping Pallette in the computer room with more paper sorting, as he was requested of aid. He was still the Acting Commander and he was glad to help her; so far there had been no calls for him.
Lumine had not been seen for the past two days since Axl asked him to rest. Axl of course had no idea how he made himself undetectable (he suggested that to himself since he heard Lumine say it, so he thought that’s how he and Iris often vanish away). He often counted on Iris to tell him how Lumine was doing.
“He’s fine, don’t worry. He’s really taking a rest, like you said, and he asks you not to bother him for the time being.” All this conversations were made when Axl was separating the paperwork.
“How do you guys do it? The vanishing thing? Every time I turn around, you would just disappear. How do you do that?” Iris tried to find a proper answer.
“Every Reploid personality has it. It’s just that this is never heard of before because the norm is that one personality inhabits one body. But we are a definite different case. We are three personalities in this prototype body. Only the dominant ruling one will see us disappear. It’s quite simple really. You can also do that.”
“Really? How?”
“You go somewhere else in the body, that’s all. Remember one time I was in control the whole day and you saved me from three thugs? That’s one incident. When I looked for you, you also ‘vanished away’. Another alternative is hiding among inactive data. I did that all this while to hide my presence.”
“Wow.” Axl hit realization. “What if the cause of my recent headaches couldn’t be found because it was also hiding among the inactive data? What if you guys missed that?” Iris was slightly surprised.
“… Never thought of that before. I’ll tell Lumine right away.” She vanished away, or more accurately went to another place. Axl sighed as he went back to sorting out papers.
Hours later, he was done being in the computer room and was now resting, head on table, in Zero’s office. His eyes were shut. He was bored and he thought about trying to do something real fast or else he would be lingering again.
Just then, Lumine appeared in front of him. He had the usual smile-like lip on.
“So, dear boy, you knew how to hide yourself already? Very good. Iris told me of your theory and yes, I was resting among inactive data all this while.”
“I will give your theory a try, dear boy. But I’ll be doing that later. I’m not in the mood for that now. Be patient. I know what I’m doing.”
He was about to walk away when Axl groaned over his boredom. Lumine faced himself to Axl. “That reminds me. I have a suggestion on how to get rid of your boredom. You may have troubles conducting your time if you accept this suggestion.”
“Out with it, Lumine.” What he heard was slightly shocking.
“You want me to get employed?! But I’m already part of the Maverick Hunters!”
He was smirked back. “Well then, you aren’t exactly satisfied with this job aren’t you? I’ve seen humans take up several jobs. Why can’t you, dear boy?”
Iris came out suddenly and confronted Lumine. “You aren’t serious, aren’t you? You are suggesting Axl to get another job? He’s already a Hunter and Acting Commander and Supreme Commander! Isn’t that enough?”
“Hm. Those jobs are great, if they weren’t boring dear boy out so badly until he needed something else to do! Besides, he doesn’t know much about the outside world unless you call fighting Mavericks a big outside world.”
“Iris, Lumine’s right. Being a Maverick Hunter is okay but Acting Commander and Supreme Commander is too much for me! I gotta find something else. What do you suggest, Lumine?”
Lumine did some thinking for a while. Then his eyes brightened. “Well, for starters, maybe you ought to try being a cleaner, or maybe a steel worker and even a chef. Then that way, you’ll be recognized all over.”
“Lumine! Those ideas are crazy enough to get us killed!” Lumine just laughed at Iris. “Well then, perhaps you should just ask father for some advice.”
Axl raised an eyebrow. “At least that’s a better piece of advice. Don’t give me anymore silly ideas, Lumine. I’ll take it from here onwards.”
The white Reploid continued his light laugh while Iris merely folded her arms.
Firstly, Axl made a paper sign which read ‘BACK AT 5’ and hanged it a Zero’s office doorknobs and locked the door. He turned into his human form at a spot where the cameras couldn’t catch him and thus teleported away, along with an angry Iris who was grumbling about Axl’s sneaky ways.
“Axl’s ways are good, dear girl. He merely told others that he would be back at 5 o’clock and now it’s only 1 at noon. He is still good.”
“LUMINE, DON’T ENCOURAGE HIM!!”
In an instant, Axl arrived in the 86th floor of the tower mansion belonging to Prez. No one was apparently home so he checked for the status and location of Prez. But Lumine halted him from waking any further.
“Dear boy, I’m sure he’s at his office. Just teleport there.”
For some reason, Axl heeded those words and teleported to Prez’s office. However, Prez wasn’t there at all. The office was lush with delicate curtains and priceless books and valuable furniture, but the old intelligent man was nowhere in sight.
The giant screen above the office entrance was conveniently displaying Prez’s schedule. Axl saw it and looked for the period of 1 o’clock. It seems that Prez is now attending a conference with his fellow directors in the conference room.
“The conference room? With directors? Aw man, too much corporate elements for me to handle! Lumine, take over me for a while!” Axl rapidly hid himself and Lumine was really stunned, having never expected this to happen.
The white Reploid was for the first time hesitant to take control over the body but nonetheless accepted as it was and he exited the office for them. Iris was wildly surprised at Axl’s sudden fear and confronted him.
“Axl, are you allergic or something?!”
“No actually. It just doesn’t feel right for someone like me to barge in like that. Lumine is the heir apparent so I think it’s proper for him to appear.” Lumine was irked a little at the mention of the word ‘heir’.
“Don’t say that word again, dear boy, besides the word ‘evolve’. Please.”
Lumine walked slowly to the conference room, looking on the sight of machine and blaze and various passageways. The scene of the factories are burning orange and red everywhere, a grim reminder that there was still winter outside.
Like he expected, no one had given him bows or greetings. It was either because he was walking too fast for them or they didn’t see him or the fact that no one was informed he was the heir to trillions’ worth of assets of the Corporation or they were accustomed to his presence. He decided the fourth option was most reasonable.
He met Prez just after the meeting was over. Of course, as always, Prez held him tight on the shoulders, causing the white Reploid to not say anything for a while. On the way back to Prez’s office, Lumine told him about Axl’s boredom and a need for another kind of occupation.
“New job, eh? Well, this corporation is currently loaded. There are no vacancies. Even if there are any, you would see wanted posts such as…”
Axl’s voice blurted from Lumine’s mouth. “What? What are they?”
Prez frowned for a while. “Hm… Maybe just a cleaner of the corridors but that would be disgraceful. Perhaps a steel worker by chance but you are quite fearful of lavas and spikes. Maybe a chef, but I doubt your skills will take you far.”
Lumine raised his left hand to cover his mouth and tried to refrain from laughing. Axl was stumped by what he heard and Iris was giggling away. Axl spoke out his ideas through the white Reploid.
“Aw, man. Is there really nothing I can do around here? I mean, I can still hang out with you, dad, but I just need to do something else! Is there anything you can suggest, dad?”
“Hm… Not that I know of. Try somewhere else in the Big City. Somewhere near and convenient for you. Something you will enjoy doing. Just watch out if they ask you for any documents or qualifications. That will bring you trouble. Haven’t you discussed this with your superiors?”
Axl didn’t reply back so Iris decided to answer for him. “No, father. Axl’s going it out all alone. Just the Axl I know.”
Prez made a face that made guessing his feelings difficult. “Alright, be careful now. You don’t want to get into any trouble at all.” He was about to walk off when Lumine stopped him.
First, he was hesitant but then he eventually spoke out. “Father, could you perhaps tell me more about this fellow… whom you called a bloke and fat?”
Prez halted his steps and paused to think for a while. “Him, you say… Perhaps this will be useful to you, I suppose. He owns one of the many hundreds of companies and corporations my cash is worth 80 percent of their shares. The company works to sell manufactured ocean produce. Fish, lobsters, crabs, the sort of stuff.”
“I made huge investments in the company two years ago. Then, early months ago, he got all snobbish and boasted that his earnings are solely made by his own work. I do receive profits but his constant attitude of demeaning me, as if I’m a small partner, makes my nerves turn black. Yet, my patience got me.”
Lumine was rather surprised. “Well, the corporate world won’t tolerate him. It’s amazing you are so patient with the… bloke. Just pull out your cash.”
“Oh no! I can’t do that yet. I’m waiting to humiliate him to everyone of a crowd and expose some of his wrong deeds I collected recently. You know me, I need a trigger for me to explode. Someday, it will come.”
The trio puffed altogether at the same time. “Well, we’ll see you again soon, father. Dear boy, kindly have your body back. You have streets to walk. Do watch out for piles of snow then.”
Lumine’s form wobbled back to Axl the human form. Axl retorted back.
“Alright already! I’ll watch out for the snow! See you, dad!” Axl teleported out of sight, leaving a smiling Prez to walk back to his office all alone. Axl in a second had arrived at the Big City Park, his presence unnoticed by any humans or Reploids.
Axl stretched his hands forward. “Okay, I’m starting now.” He didn’t care what the others thought of him; all that mattered was whether his search would be fruitful on that day itself. Lumine had already slept levitating whereas Iris was admiring the inactive data circulating in the air.
Axl had kept on walking and walking amid the snow and blanket of people and Reploids. He had entered the many shopping malls and other office buildings to analyze the types of shops and the available vacancies.
Finally after some while, he was feeling a little tired. He got himself a stand to rest on and just across the street of high structures and aero-trains, he saw an old-fashioned needle-pointing clock which stated 4.30 p.m.
Axl was shocked. He had no idea that time past so fast. So far he had traveled through only four of the nearest districts to the Hunter HQ and viewed through a few thousand workplaces.
Around 50 percent were outlets of restaurants and eateries. 18 percent were those of entertainment places such as cafés, arcade places and shops that sell games. 23 percent were commercial outlets where land, property and finance are managed and the remainder was grocery shops and supermarkets.
All had one thing in common: Axl needs to have human educational and personal documents in order to work there.
Axl frowned harder and let out a tiny whimper. His inhabitants didn’t hear him at all. Lumine was still sleeping and seems Iris got his bug. Axl struggled on with thinking as he needed to be back in Zero’ office by five.
Not far away, Axl spotted a ‘HELP WANTED’ sign. He was particularly attracted to the further details below the highlighted words as they read:
URGENT NEED. NO PAPERS NEEDED. WALK-IN APPLICATION.
The shop that needed help was awfully familiar: it was the very shop of which he bought the three’s presents for mister Prez on Christmas Day itself.
He knew that the shop owner, of wrinkled skin, white moustache and thick gasses, seemed to have recognized him. Axl still had no choice but to enter the shop and asked for a job from him. His inhabitants were still sleeping.
The shop was still as green as ever on the inside. The shelves were plentiful of goods although the customers were few. Axl picked up the card sign and walked straight to the counter. He saw the old man halfway counting the amount of cash.
“Hey, old person” – Axl put the card sign on the countertop – “I’m applying for this job of yours. Can I start working?”
The old man looked up, wearing his glasses properly. “Oh, I see. You want this job? Alright then, you’re a good man. Not many youngsters want to work these days…” He said all that with coughs in within it. He put all cash back in the register.
“Hm… oh, you’re that young man, who rushed in here and bought so many items that day, weren’t you? You do look so intelligent and hardworking. Your parents ought to be proud of having a handsome son. Only it’s that scar of yours on the face…”
Axl was stunned at the spot. “Er… thanks, I guess…”
The old man looked up closer onto Axl. He was analyzing the Reploid very carefully. “Huh… you still look very familiar though… My memory’s bad though… You look like a son of a rich man who made in it big in the country…”
Axl shivered at the thought that the old man would know his identity.
Suddenly, the old man sighed. “Oh well. It’s just my imagination. I do happen to need someone to clear out more stock so it seems you’re the perfect one. Come on, start by clearing out those cardboard boxes under the stairs.”
Axl brightened up. “You mean I can work here?”
“Well, sure you can! I asked you to pick up those darn boxes, didn’t I? Go on now!”
Axl ignored the last sentence (it was scolding) and immediately went to clear up the cardboard boxes. He quickly piled them up with his feet and hands and tied them up nicely. He couldn’t find the proper trash bin for the cardboard stack though.
The old man interrupted him. “The trash bin is at the back of the store.”
Axl was surprised. He followed along as he went on to do the shop’s chores and forgot that he was supposed to meet Zero at his office.
Speaking of which, Zero had already noticed the poor sign on his door and picked it up, showing it to X. X was quite furious that Axl slacked off his duty and went to the command room to pick up Axl’s signals.
“Axl’s somewhere districts away. According to this three-dimensional map of the area where his signals are last picked up, he’s apparently… fixed at this particular place. He’s walking all around here and there. I can’t tell; his communicator’s been locked off.” X stared at Pallette for a moment.
“What could Axl possibly be doing at that spot among the humans? Get me the data about everything of that store!”
The next few hours, Axl had been doing just fine. He had been clearing out trash, sweeping the floors clean and sorting items to their shelves. By then, Lumine and Iris had woken up, finding Axl employed and wanted to help him in his job. Axl plainly rejected their offer as it was his responsibility now.
The old man approached Axl while he was cleaning the shelves of dust. “Well, you are certainly a hardworking person.” Axl flinched at the word ‘person’. “I must have your name, contact number, address and guardian-in-charge, and then we will talk about your pay.” Axl politely asked them to be at a quiet spot.
“Em, sir.” Axl scratched his head. “I’m called Axler. Here’s the contact number, address and name of my dad. Please don’t tell anyone of this.”
The old man was shocked and happy. “I remember now! You’re that son of mister Prez! Something about coming back from overseas and other children as well! This is a happy day for me! Trust me, sonny; your secret’s safe with me!”
Axl merely smiled back at him as he resorted back to his work. His inhabitants had no comment on the incident and only watched him work. The old man was literally tap-dancing behind his counter, expressing his happiness.
Continued in Chapter 6.
Notes:
Well Axl has a job now. Wonder what will X and the gang think? Iris in control the whole day and saved by Axl? Refer to An Axl Story Continuation chapter 11.
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Post by Professor Fann on Sept 16, 2009 19:29:24 GMT -5
I always had the impression Axl is lazy. But what the heck.
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All characters belong to Capcom, except for those you’ve never seen before and the story doesn’t intend to hurt anyone’s interests.
-M’siaFanWriter
Chapter Six: Hardworking
Axl kept on working on keeping the floor squeaky clean and the shop owner of an old man was still tap-dancing behind his counter. Unknown to him, his friends at the Maverick Hunter HQ have already known of his absence. Axl went on to pour some liquid detergent on the cement floor and smashed the mop on it, thus pressing hard on the floor to scrub away the stubborn dirt.
His inhabitants were quite tired of watching him work all day so they held a discussion among themselves on what to do.
“It’s best that we give dear boy a hand. In this condition, I’m willing to do just about anything to get rid of my own boredom.”
“I agree, but we gotta act only when there’s the special chance to do so!”
By then, Axl had already finished cleaning the floor and resorted to rinse it in a pail of water. Suddenly, his hands were taken over by another personality. Axl closed his eyes to see who did it. Lumine only shrugged his shoulders.
“Don’t look at me. I didn’t do a single thing.”
Axl turned to Iris. “Hey, if you wanted to do my chores instead, I’ll be glad to let you have it! Just ask next time!” Iris ignored him but her face turned red.
Iris-controlled Axl repeatedly rinsed the mop in the pail. ‘He’ then returned back to wiping dust and dirt away from the shelves and window panes. The old man called out to ‘him’, asking ‘him’ to help count the amount of stocks on the shelves.
“I’ll be right at it!” Iris used Axl’s voice to answer the old man back and she got a rebuke from Axl. Lumine still remained out of action.
As though they were operating with one another, Iris rapidly passed on the body control mechanisms to Lumine, leaving the poor Reploid helpless but to watch his friend work. ‘Axl’ now merely walked around the shelves, looking at all items, but was actually analyzing the types of items and rapidly counting their numbers.
Minutes later, ‘Axl’ approached the old man.
“Old human, here’s a paper listing down all items and their precise amounts.” The old man gently took the paper away from his hands.
“Hm… you sure do count fast. Seems that only 14 percent of all my goods are sold today. Anyway, you helped me save time, young man. It’ll take me up till 11 pm to count all these stuff. You are one good chap.”
Axl suddenly realized he had forgotten about the time and rudely regained his joints from Lumine. “What time is it now?!” Axl turned to the wooden clock above the counter. “It’s already 9.30?! Aw man, X is gonna kill me!”
The old man raised an eyebrow. “Who? What?” Axl closed his mouth quickly. “Er... nothing. I just realized I’m supposed to meet someone and I’m already late! May I leave now?!” Axl was anxious to be dismissed.
“Well, most of the work’s already done here… I guess you can leave now. See you tomorrow at 10 in the morning.” Axl hurriedly thanked the old man and dashed outside the store. He quickly made it into a dark alley, resumed Reploid form and teleported away.
Axl thus arrived at the highest rooftop of the HQ. He kicked the snow as he rushed to hurry down to the elevator. Just then, he halted his movements.
“Oh no. What am I going to tell X and especially Zero? It will be another round of lectures from them! Guys, what am I going to do?”
Lumine smiled with a mischievous look in it. “Just bend the rules like you always do, dear Axl. We don’t want any trouble now, do we, dear Iris?” He turned to her.
Iris had long opposed Axl and Lumine from using methods that would break the law just for their own gains but since she saw the possibility that X may even scold her for not stopping Axl, she hesitantly agreed. “Fine… just do it…”
Axl dashed back to the resting chamber and immediately set the dial to around 7 the following morning. He quickly hopped in the pod and induced himself and his inhabitants with so much of a sleeping program that they nearly slept on the spot.
“Axl, gah-!” “Dear boy, no-!” They immediately knocked out on the spot.
Inside Axl’s computer brain, all three were already sleeping in strange positions of those they weren’t accustomed to when sleeping. On the outside, Axl was well positioned and surrounded by X and Zero.
“He managed to knock himself out before we even got to him.”
“Don’t worry, X. I’ll take it from here. 7 o’clock, huh? I’ll just have to be outside his pod at around ten minutes earlier then.” X shrugged at him and simply walked away.
The following morning, true to his word, Zero was standing outside Axl’s pod, waiting for him to wake. He sighed as he watched the petrified body. Then, a short ringing noise was heard, the pod opened and Axl woke up.
The first thing the trio saw was Zero, arms folded and looking stern, outside the resting pod. Axl quietly whispered to his inhabitants: “Oh no.” Iris was slightly shivering of fear for the first time but Lumine was silent and calm.
Axl got off his pod and shut it tight, next looking straight in the eye at Zero.
“Alright, Axl. What happened yesterday? You made a leave notice sign on my door and left the whole day! You were last spotted at a store belonging to an old human!”
“Zero, you want to know everything? Fine. I’m just tired of being the Acting Commander and Supreme Commander every time you and X go out on patrol. I want a job that constantly gives me assignments, not for me to wait and watch! I have to go after the assignments, not the other way around!”
Zero smirked back. “Welcome to my world then. So being a Maverick Hunter is bad for you then? I see you have a lot of patience.”
“No! Not that way! I’ve been here for around eleven years already and I’m not complaining! I just need something to spend my time properly, besides seeing my dad.”
Zero looked down on the floor for a while. Looking at Axl’s right ear, he pushed on the little purple button on it gently, meaning he would ask Axl’s inhabitants something.
“Iris? Are you okay with that? Axl being who he is and all?”
Silence prevailed for a few seconds. “Yes, Zero. I’m fine with that. Please understand. I know what Axl’s doing and I’m fine with it.”
Zero pushed on the switch again. “Alright, you’re excused. I’ll have a word with X. I’ll just go on a patrol around the world again. Anyway, go have your thing. I’m surprised you got a human job. You two, look out after Axl.”
Iris and Lumine heard the last sentence and replied back a rather nasty comment only Axl heard but he didn’t mind it at all. Satisfied that he was released of the acting job, he rushed out of the HQ and cleverly-secret resumed his human form.
Axl firstly made it to a nearby restaurant and grabbed some food to eat. Lumine had no appetite at all and had to endure the taste of meat when his mood was rather bad. Iris tried to calm him down but she was rejected politely.
An hour or so later, Axl made it to the old man’s shop. Surprisingly, the old man was seen sweeping the grounds outside his store and Axl rushed to approach him.
“Hey, sir! Why are you so up and early? I thought old people like you are more prone to sleeping big overtime.” Iris rebuked him for his rude question.
“Ah, you are up and early too! I may be and old man, but I now I have lots of work to do! Come, you can start the day by helping me sweep the leaves and trim the tree over there!” He pointed to an old tall tree at his store’s side.
Axl quickly put on an apron the old man handed him and started to sweep the pavements. Thank goodness he had a giant plastic bag ready because there were a lot of leaves and branches he had to clear as well as a bit of snow.
Soon, Axl was back to working inside the store. He was now in charge of arranging some consumer items as well as supplying bags for customers to carry their goods. The inhabitants offered to help but he rejected them.
“Dear boy, we wanted to do the chores for you yesterday but you said we wanted to help you. Now, you are saying that we should ask you for the job. There are no differences in the two!”
“Sure there is. The last time and now, you said it through statements. Those are not questions. I remembered saying that you ought to ask, not say it.”
Lumine sighed with his palm on his face. Iris sighed more and grumbled up to Axl. “Alright, so may I arrange the goods and bags for you?!”
Axl smiled back. “Now that is the proper way. Okay, Iris, you can do my work.”
“I’m going to kill you for this tonight, dear boy.”
Iris-controlled Axl arranged the goods according to the type, such as candy, canned items and refrigerated stuffs. She made sure that the amount of bags was sufficient, and she did it too well, Axl thought.
“Young man, come help me carry in the crates!”
Iris rushed Axl’s body outside of the store and saw a lorry unloading crates of food and fruit. As the old man signed the papers, strong burly men only carried them up till the store’s entrance, not putting them inside the store.
Lumine saw this as a good chance to show his help but according to Axl’s definition, he didn’t know who to ask: Axl or the personality in control, Iris.
“You want to help carry the crates? Sure, come on. The body’s yours.”
“Hey, you didn’t ask, Lumine!” “Just keep quiet, will you, dear boy?”
Lumine showed his skill of strength by lifting up three huge crates from the ground and brought them inside the store. He proceeded to rip apart the wood with his bare hands and throw them away to one corner as he sorted the contents out. ‘Axl’s’ act was catching attention from some young human onlookers.
“Hey, mister, how’d you do that?” Lumine looked up and smiled to them. “It’s quite simple really, humans. Concentrate your energy on your hand and rip it apart, that’s all. But you’re too young and feeble for this.” Axl’s eyes shone crimson red.
Lumine obviously scared the kids so they were yelling out their might and ran out of the store. When other customers looked at ‘Axl’, he had already resumed piling up food on the shelves. Iris was laughing away whereas Axl was red over a satisfied white Reploid.
“What did you do that for?! Now I’m going to have a bad reputation too!”
“Relax, dear boy. Their parents will just dismiss them off a wild imagination. Look, Iris seems to be having a good time.” They looked at her. Iris was wiping away the tears that dropped out her eyes due to too much laughter.
“That was probably the funniest thing I’ve ever seen. You’re lucky I’m not mad or angry today, Lumine, or else I would have scolded you by now.” The white Reploid was satisfied to himself so he merely nodded at her.
The next few hours, Axl did nothing at all. He only watched his inhabitants frequently switch places as they made the body move around here and there doing the chores the old man gave originally to Axl. He then broke his silence.
“Why are you guys doing my work for me? I’m the one having the responsibilities around here.” The other two turned to look at him.
“Dear boy, you really ought to share more things with us than just controls over the body. Let me remind you that you are having a very interesting job and the craziest things can happen here. I also deserve my share of workload, don’t I?”
“Axl, he’s right. I’ve been stagnant here for around 50 years already. I don’t want to miss out this chance of a career here too. Why should I watch? It would be better of me to do something too.”
Their conversation was interrupted by the old man. “Lunch time!”
It was already around 1 o’clock in the afternoon so it was most appropriate that any employees who could eat go to fill the stomachs. Axl does have that choice as he could choose not to eat; instead he decided to comply by gaining back his body and walk out to the nearest store for some grub.
He had a satisfying meal of fish and chips, along with tomato sauce and a soda. He just remembered that he had to also practice his cooking skills at the home of mister Prez sooner or later, just in case he got in needy situations.
It was close to back to work. Axl hurriedly slurped down all his soda and threw all waste into the trash bin and rushed back to the store. It seems that he have to work faster because there were a lot of customers to attend to now.
Thanks to Lumine who wanted to do Axl’s chores, Axl was able to pack most things for the first few customers and move on to the next ones. However, Axl quickly gained back his body because the white Reploid was ‘teaching him to work faster’.
“Hey, that’s no fair. Why don’t you do that for all the other humans?” Axl asked him as he packed up a carton of milk for a young adult and cashed in the cash.
“I’ve had my share of fun, dear boy. Now, the body’s rightfully yours.” He levitated in the air and began to work on something Axl was too busy to notice.
Some time later, Axl was done. The shop now was empty, except for him and the old man. The old man suddenly disappeared out of sight up the stairs behind the shop. Axl soon discovered that the man’s home was above the store and he was indirectly asked to watch the shop while he slept.
Axl tapped his fingers on the countertop. Now, he was bored due to the fact that most of his work was already completed. He decided to grab a can of drink by taking one from the refrigerators and paid for the can, putting some cash in the register.
“So, you’re the new worker around here? Mister old man was pretty fond of you although this is your second day of work.”
A beautiful human blonde girl was at the counter, facing Axl. Axl was quite surprised of her presence and nearly choked on his juice. Nonetheless, he brought himself to face the human teen.
“Is there something I can help you with, miss?”
“No, I’m not buying anything. I’m just here to talk to you. Mister old man told me about you. He said that you are a hardworking person. He seemed to be excited about you for some reason which he prefers to keep secret.”
The trio shivered. The human was referring to Axl’s identity as Axler, the ‘son’ of mister Prez. However, Axl didn’t care much about that for now. He blushed slightly as he was praised so suddenly on his second day on work.
“Er… thanks, I guess…” Axl was speechless then.
His inhabitants were quick to catch Axl’s feelings. “Tsk, tsk ,tsk. Dear boy, it seems you two will be catching on soon.” Iris giggled at the thought of Axl’s love. Axl was irritated by it and hushed them, out of embarrassment.
“Me catch on with her?! I don’t even know her but she does!”
Axl was pretty calm on the outside. He kept on listening to her speak. “It was really nice of you to help him manage this store. You also came at a convenient time.”
The trio were silenced by the second last word. “Convenient?”
“Yeah, the old sir was practically having a hard time with himself. You see, his children whom he raised have all gone away to other parts of the county and manage their own businesses. Last I heard they settled permanently there.”
“They just kept sending money back to him. But they never learnt that their father needed some company around. He’s all lonely here. The only way to rid of his loneliness was to open a shop of his own. He didn’t want to while time away just like that.”
The trio remained silent. This was the exact same scenario where mister Prez was just about to embrace Axl when he was kidnapped and Lumine had been away from him for nearly three years. The only difference was that now they were reunited whereas the old man and his children weren’t.
“Now that you mentioned it, I feel sorry for the guy. His children are such jerks.”
“Darn right you are! It certainly serves that right that they are now working for Prez! Last I heard nearly two weeks ago, some of them incurred Prez’s wrath and they lost all their companies to him! They are currently workers in the far western deserts of the Federation, part of a huge project of de-desertification.”
Lumine now understood what Prez meant when he said ‘enemies in investments subjugated by will’: the old man’s children put themselves in a situation that Prez was able to gain all companies so easily simply according to the laws, so they had no choice but to surrender their sweat and blood.
It is true that Prez is gaining huge monopolies here and there. All would go well if no one dared to incur his wrath. Pretty rough for a man of seventy-five years old.
“Still he is too domineering. Maybe sooner or later, everyone in the Federation will end up working for the guy.”
Axl felt it was best to cut the topic about his dad and move on elsewhere. “Er, enough about that guy, okay? Let’s just talk about something else.”
The human giggled. “Wow, you are a nice and cute guy. It’s so easy to see why old sir liked you a lot. My name’s Sue. Nice to meet you.”
Axl held out his right hand and shook hands with Sue. Axl smiled as he got to know someone else who’s human other than the gang back at the HQ. Similarly, his inhabitants were rather proud of him.
Sue became shocked. “Oh my! Is that the time? I’ve got to go back to college or else I’ll be late for a lecture! See you later, err… Brownscar!” She quickly took off. Axl was stunned as he was Brownscar because of the X-scar he had and its brown colour. On the other hand, he was glad he didn’t have to tell his name.
Later in the night, Axl was reclining in his seat in his cubicle back at the HQ. It seems that X decided to approve Axl’s human job on Zero’s word and Lumine decided not to ‘kill’ him after all. Then, the red Reploid showed up next to him.
“Had a good day, Axl? You look very tired.” Axl immediately stood up.
“Yeah, I guess so. Maybe I should go rest in my pod now. I’ll make sure that you can talk with Iris tomorrow morning.” As Axl walked past Zero, Zero had a little smile on his face. He was pleased Axl knew what he wanted so he could only walk off.
“That wasn’t nice of you, Axl. I wanted to have a talk with Zero! It’s been quite some time we never met!” Lumine interrupted by saying: “Dear boy, after dear girl’s little talk, I wish we go to visit father.”
“Alright, I’ll make sure you both get your wishes tomorrow. I just need to make some arrangements. Right now, we ought to sleep.”
Continued in Chapter 7.
Notes:
Axl’s first other human contact! In case you can’t figure out the ‘far western deserts of the Federation’, it’s in the Middle East. Here I would take a continent as a super nation but I wouldn’t say it in the text because I would prefer anonymity on things close to reality. And what is Lumine working on?
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Post by Professor Fann on Sept 18, 2009 4:47:38 GMT -5
And now for an extremely light moment in the fan fiction.
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All characters belong to Capcom, except for those you’ve never seen before and the story doesn’t intend to hurt anyone’s interests.
-M’siaFanWriter
Chapter Seven: Musicality
The following day, Iris had got her talk with Zero. Iris had informed Zero about the most recent things happening to the trio after Lumine’s ‘arrest’. She also told him about their celebration of New Year and Christmas with Prez and about Axl in a merger attempt. The last thing she spoke was about Axl’s meeting with Sue.
Zero was slightly embarrassed because he experienced nothing good to share with Iris. Iris only smiled and embraced Zero for a moment before letting go and giving the body back to Axl.
It was only during lunch time at the old man’s shop that Lumine was able to get to meet with Prez. He soon learnt that those ‘enemies subjugated by will’ had actually made Prez angry because his machines had been involved in an environmental disaster in the far west of the Federation, prompting him to take over and restore order.
Lumine also learnt more of his future responsibilities. In the corporate world, many small companies and big corporations have been reminded again to not mess with Prez’s investments or risk increasing his monopoly. As heir apparent, his job was to ensure no such mess occurred or else the monopoly will increase, besides usual tasks.
“So father, this is all about monopoly? Over the markets?”
“Well… yes. Having big businesses is good but too much monopoly is also bad for one’s health. It will take away a lot of coffers and my… time with you. So that’s why other people have been warned not to misuse my every investment.”
Prez saw a sad look in Lumine’s eyes. It wasn’t visible at all but it takes a little heart to pull that observation out. He asked the white Reploid to tell him everything but Axl decided to take it from there.
“Dad, I got a job at an old human’s store. His children were the ones whose companies you took over. I don’t know about how he will feel when he learns that his children were downgraded by you. I’m just worried, that’s all…”
Prez was mildly surprised. “Really? The exact ones who are toiling the sand and rock in the deserts? I see. That was nice of you to tell me that, Axl. Please help me find out more about the old person as of now. That would be helpful to me.”
Later when the lunch break period was over, Axl was back in control and went to work as usual. Sue didn’t come to the shop so he had a private time with the old sir. It seems that the old sir’s children still afford to send back cash and they were too embarrassed to talk about their losses. That afternoon, the old sir wept himself to sleep in the comforts of his bed.
Three days later, it was day 88. Inside Axl, Lumine has been working on something big but he wasn’t going to tell dear boy so easily. Axl guessed it had something to do with the merger incident a week ago and those of which he had planned.
The white Reploid sat on the pitch-black floor of the subconscious and held his knees together with both hands. He panted a little but was overall not tired. Axl and Iris approached him, hoping to know what’s going on.
“Part of my plan’s almost complete. I just need a specific trigger and the proper timing, that’s all. Dear boy, you really aren’t planning to do anything, are you?”
Axl is now in his cubicle, reclining with a rather awkward position on his office chair. The old man’s store is closed for today but the sad news over his children’s business was definitely not the main factor. Axl isn’t working today at all.
“Well, I don’t know what to do as of now. I had just practiced some cooking yesterday and so did both of you. I also did my share of paperwork for X again. There’s nothing as of today.” Axl shrugged at him.
“Pity. Today’s snow is rather light and I can see some sunlight from Axl’s eyes. Looks like another day will be lingered again.” Iris also shrugged.
Suddenly, the telephone on the computer rang out loud, shaking the trio and Axl made them fall on the floor. Axl got back up and put on an adjustable headset before answering the call. It turned out to be Prez.
Axl lowered his voice. “Dad?! What are you doing here?”
“Traced your computer and rang up. Listen, I just want to know if you’ll be interested in coming with me to another district to watch a performance. It’s a musical play about a young orphan who struggles his way to finding his origins and parents.”
Axl had long guessed that Lumine had been with Prez the longest and the most exposed to outside cultural elements so he decided it was best to let him control.
“I’m not really that interested, dad. I bet Lumine is.”
The white Reploid’s eyes grew wide of surprise. “What…?”
“Excellent! I’ll see you in half an hour at the corporation ground’s south wing! Be ready with a formal suit! Stay in control until we get to the theater box seats then Lumine can come out and enjoy the show! Goodbye!”
After Prez disconnected the line, Iris and Lumine glared at Axl. Axl remained calm, expecting Lumine to be angry at him. Instead, Lumine made a meek smile.
“I’m amazed, dear boy. This is the first time you did this to me. No matter; this is of no consequence. I must admit that you are quite right. Years ago, father did introduce me to the field of arts and culture. Mind telling me why you just did that?”
“Like I said, music isn’t really my thing. Maybe you enjoy it more. Iris, are you fine with that?” Iris had no expression on her face. “It’s rather okay, Axl.”
“Alright, let’s go! Lumine, your suit since the… signing… is still here with me. But you would look neat with black instead of grey. So, the suit’s just plain useless here. I’ll give it back to dad later.” Lumine raised an eyebrow.
“Very well.” That was all the white Reploid said. In an instant, Axl teleported to the 86th floor of Prez’s tower mansion. When Prez had donned another of his beloved suit, he was surprised to find Lumine wearing a black suit instead of usual casual clothes.
“Do you like it, father? It was dear boy’s idea.” He flapped his hands a little. “I’m sorry, dear boy suddenly acted as though he knew this place well and got this suit out of an old closet. I’m amazed it’s still new…”
Prez suddenly burst out: “And Axl did a great job! You look brilliant! It fits you nicely too! The whole closet full’s yours! Hm, you three could instead make use of multiple clothing! I’ll think of something later. Time for the opera!”
Lumine was pretty much dazed at all that. Nevertheless, he switched back to let Axl come out, only donned with his usual clothes, and walked to the elevator, leaving the grounds by the usual limousine.
During the journey, Prez decided that Axl’s clothes were good enough and didn’t remind him to wear the suit. Around an hour later, after the chauffeur left the limousine for a valet service Prez and Axl rushed inside for their box seats.
“Ah, mister Prez and son! Your seats are at the private box over there!”
The attendant led the way to the private box. Just as soon as Axl closed the door behind them, Lumine’s form came out; he dusted himself on the chest and walked down to sit next to his father.
“So father, what’s this opera all about again?”
“…An orphan tries to find the traces of his family at the same time, struggling to cope with the various stress and abuse of meaner adults. In the end, his family has passed away a long time ago and he being adopted into a better family.”
“That’s so sad! Has literature been cruel like this?” Iris squealed out.
“Well, it certainly has been so for around 200 years already. Dear girl, I would suggest you keep comments to yourself till the opera’s end. Dear boy… continue sleeping at your will.” Inside the computer brain, Axl had already slept on the pitch-black floor.
Lumine reached for a cup of tea when the curtains were brushed aside slowly. The orchestra began their music first with the strong shrills of the violin and cello. Gradually the sounds of oboe and clarinet came in to play.
The characters then came out into play on the stage. Artificial snow was released to show it was winter and the background of ancient houses of rock appeared. A child character sang out loud his pains and agony in the workhouse.
Soon after, ladies came out, holding hands and dancing around the ‘orphan’ and shrilled out loud their tunes of insults and pity. Iris was close to crying at the situation but held her tears back to not distract Lumine.
The ‘orphan’ begged for alms on the ‘cold streets’. Higher class adults ignored him and some old men even kicked him on the ‘mud’. Then, the music of the grand piano came in as a kind gentleman took him back to his own house.
Eventually, a crisis arises. Some ugly criminals kidnapped the child and held him hostage in return for cash. The gentleman was very sad of this news and the police kept patrolling the streets for the criminals.
As the story progresses, the criminals tortured him non stop. A kind lady pitied the child and offered him aid of food and clothes. Along the story, she told him clues about the past of his family and how she knew him.
Close to the end, the child had succeeded in escaping the horrifying hideout. The criminals and their gang went out to get back the child. He put up a brave fight to all of them and suddenly, the police came! Eventually all truth came to light.
As the music progressed to greater shrills of the violin and cello, the melody of the oboe and clarinet and the stunning stuns of piano and harp, everything was known. The child is related to the gentleman through his mother. His parents died of terrible tragedy and people have forced him to wander elsewhere as his property were squandered.
The court declares the criminals and gang guilty and subjected to hanging to death. The ladies too were punished by the gentleman for the child’s maltreatment. In the end, the orphan was brought to live in a better family of his uncle’s.
The ending was done by one of the actresses. Her shrills of Yule echoed through the whole theater and all characters gave a deep bow to the audience.
Everyone applauded the well-presented play as a standing ovation. Prez and Lumine were also part of the standing ovation. In minutes, the large audience cleared the huge theater and when Lumine finished his cup of tea, Axl took over.
“… So Lumine, how was the play? I enjoyed my share of time.”
“It was rather good, dear boy. I must admit that you were right to make me listen and watch the opera. Right now, if you would be so kind, allow me to take away this suit. I’ve a feeling we’ll still be going out.”
Minutes later, Lumine had already taken off his black suit and resumed his usual white shirt, sweater, white-greyish trouser and black leather shoes. As a surprising move, he held firm control over the body, holding Axl back rather rudely, and walked out with Prez to his limousine. Some humans noticed his presence and other humans and Reploids also came to notice a glimpse of him.
The people didn’t see Prez at all; only that the most-talked-of Reploid was entering a human vehicle. Some people and Reploids whispered about, some tried to see through the dark limo windows but in vain.
“Hey, what was that for? You’re be scaring them again! Let me back out!”
“If you were in my place, dear boy, I would see this as a chance to prove my words: I don’t have time to harm anyone at all. Unless, of course, someone else tries to.”
By now, it was already time for tea, according to human tradition. The white, pale Reploid sat restlessly on chair, trying to prevent Axl from taking over as much as possible. He saw Axl’s increasing improvements in body control affairs, for example Axl’s aura turned from light blue to dark blue, and was determined to hold them down his best.
“Hey, come on! Let me out already! You’re not supposed to be here!” Axl’s dark blue aura surged more against Lumine’s dark purple one. Iris chose not to interfere.
“I’ll make it up to you, dear boy. I’ve got years of experience with music thanks to father, so I’ll be sharing some with you. You must have never done this before, haven’t you? I’m not surprised; ten years of Reploid rebellions caused by human trash” – referring to Bob – “and you barely had time to do anything nice.”
Iris suddenly stepped in. “Axl, he’s right. You’ve fought so much. You’ve never done much and I was patient for ten years. Just let Lumine show you something. He means no harm. Please…”
Axl gave in. “Gah! Fine! Give me your best!”
Prez was originally going to bring the trio to his place and let them hang around but upon the pale-white Reploid’s request, he dropped them off at a roadside, bid them careful and farewell and went back to his grounds.
Lumine was going to a shopping mall quite far away from the Hunter HQ and buy some musical devices for Axl and Iris to enjoy music. He didn’t care about the attention he was getting; he was going to get straight to the point and ignore the stares of humans and Reploids.
He didn’t care if people hushed away their children upon his sight. He didn’t care if he was avoided in the elevator. He didn’t care about the three humans that laughed at him he coincidentally saw near to the music store.
“YOU! What are you doing here?! You’re being controlled! You can’t come here!”
“Says who? I don’t have time to deal with you humans. Get out of my sight.” He crashed his shoulders onto one of them and just walked on. Out of rage, they rushed off.
Axl was impressed. “Nice one. Now, you are all even.”
“Thank you, dear boy.” Upon entering the music store, he waked rather hastily to a music section and looked closely around. A few seconds later, he grabbed some tiny compact discs of various genres, a comfortable, small brown bag and a music player box set. Axl and Iris were surprised.
“Wow, thanks but you-” He hushed them all at the same time.
“I’ve chosen many types of music for you to enjoy, dear boy and girl. There’s rock, pop, country, sentimental, classic, jazz, rap and heavy metal. This portable bag can store your discs. I’m leaving now.”
Without saying anything at all, he paid up for everything and proceeded to walk away. Passer-bys just kept looking while he ripped the box open, connected the wiring headset to his own and played a compact disc of a particular genre.
“This one’s called pop, the most enjoyed genre around. I’m going to stroll back to the HQ for you so if you want to listen to listen to others, dear boy and girl, just ask.”
It was another 15 miles back to the HQ and so far, the other two had asked Lumine to change the compact disc twice. They had enjoyed the pop and rock genres so far. The one they are currently listening to is country. Oddly, Iris was dancing to herself whereas Axl just tapped his feet.
“Iris, what do you think of this music thing?” Iris kept on dancing.
“It’s great. The opera just now was also nice. You shouldn’t have slept.”
“The music is great but operas… I can’t take that. Humans and musical performance don’t mix well. Audio alone would be better.”
“Axl, come on. Just be more open, okay? We are rather new to this so we have to judge everything, whether we like it or not.”
“You never had the chance 50 years ago?” Iris was struck silent by that question. She even stopped dancing. She looked down on the pitch-black floor.
“Please understand. I was alive, well in active sense, for around 4 years or so. But I never had much time at all. Conflict was brewing at that time. I had to concentrate on peace activities.” Iris shrugged her shoulders a little.
The white Reploid heard all his conversation yet he still could afford to shake his head a little to the left and right for he was also enjoying the music. Unknown to them, Lumine had been walking for nearly two hours and they were getting close to the HQ.
Suddenly out of nowhere, a sharp thrusting knife was pointed up at Lumine’s head. An armed robber full of knifes had held him in a position of being threatened. Nearby people and Reploids who saw that quickly became afraid and went to the sides of the streets.
Oddly enough, a knife slash could cause damage to Reploids, but only if pointed at the head area and used with strong force. That robber was doing just that to Lumine. Axl was alarmed while Iris frightened but Lumine was not worried. He glared on meanly.
“Hah! Word has it ye’re being controlled! Seems ye have got some cash! Better hands it over if ye know what’s good for ye!”
Lumine smirked at him. “I don’t think so.”
He quickly grabbed the robber’s coat and carried him so high and shook him so violently that all his knifes, including the one he held, all dropped on the floor. Lumine threw the man own ahead of him, roughly on the street.
With the purple aura emitted from his hand, the knifes were lifted in the air and entered the range of the spherical aura. The stainless steel melted to form a metal glob whereas the wood burnt so intensely into carbon fragments. He super-cooled the metal glob to a bearing ball of steel and kept it in his pocket.
Lumine glared at the frightened robber with a meaner eye. “I don’t suppose you want the same fate as the wooden part of your knifes, do you? Being burnt alive?”
“No!” Panting and breathing so fast, the robber ran away from the Reploid. Lumine could only walk on, ignoring the look of other public citizens.
Hours later in the evening, Axl was now back in his cubicle in Reploid form. He listened on to the music through the original headset and bounced the bearing ball of metal on his desk.
Lumine earlier had entered a dark alley and teleported to the highest rooftop of the HQ, thus surrendering control to Axl. The news about the robber threatening the white Reploid didn’t receive much response as supposed to the arrest, pleasing the Reploid.
Iris stared bluntly at Lumine. “I…I can’t believe it. I can’t believe at all what you did. There were only eye witnesses on the Internet news. The way you stopped the robber was… fascinating. X was very surprised.”
He breathed a sigh of relief. “Dear girl, it’s just like what I said before: if someone else tries to harm me, I’ll fire back. There’s no harm done. I’m tired of telling him to wait. I don’t have the authority to tell anyone about… the inheritance. Father will; only thing is a matter of time.” He rested on the pitch-black floor.
The inhabitants had a short laugh with themselves. Axl, on the other hand, got up from his seat, still holding the metal bearing ball he was given, and teleported to a dark alley at the HQ’s corners and resumed his human form.
“I don’t know about you guys, but I’m going out to eat something for the fun of it. It’s time to consume something that can get rid of this tea taste still in my mouth.”
“Don’t blame me, dear boy!”
It was still snowing but rather lightly, meaning that spring would kick in soon. Axl walked on to the streets, ready to join the human world again.
Continued in Chapter 8.
Notes:
Hoped I write it good. The details on the music and performances. Another one of those chapters where Axl is free and had nothing to do at all. The opera play has nothing to do with Oliver Twist.
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Post by Professor Fann on Sept 18, 2009 22:45:50 GMT -5
Time to go meeting a girl! And I seen all every day.
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All characters belong to Capcom, except for those you’ve never seen before and the story doesn’t intend to hurt anyone’s interests.
-M’siaFanWriter
Chapter Eight: Girlmeeting
Two days later, Axl woke up fresh anew from his pod. The previous day, he had resumed his job at the old man’s store and also had a brief practice of cookery at Prez’s home. He also got to enjoy the music Lumine bought for all of them. He felt for some reason that today was going to be an even better day.
After having slight chats with the three navigators in the command room and X and Zero at the south wing grounds, he decided to go ahead back to the old sir’s store. Suddenly, he felt the pang of pain – so far, the fifth – on his head again.
“It’s that pang again!” His inhabitants didn’t need telling; they also felt it. The white Reploid was as usual the fastest to dart to the source. Iris was trying to keep up with him. Then they arrived at a different area compared to that of the computer brain.
Maintaining his usual silence, he spread out his dark purple aura in search of everywhere. The aura reached the range of where inactive data was circulating and everywhere else. Iris also decided to follow Lumine’s actions.
Over his entire body, Axl felt very warm, both inside and outside. His body was twitching and fidgeting a bit but he maintained his joints not be taken over by any of his inhabitants. Only the white Reploid was pleased with that finding.
In seconds, the warmth had disappeared and Axl made it to the north wing central main plaza, the area of the HQ’s entrance. He grabbed himself a seat and closed his eyes.
Axl and Iris both approached the panting white Reploid who had already lied down on the pitch-black floor. His eyes were close and he didn’t say anything yet. Then, he opened his eyes and sat up properly so fast, the other two were shocked.
“Sorry, but I didn’t mean to scare you both. This time, the search around the body yielded the same results but at different variables.” The other two were curious. “Different variables but same results?”
Lumine got back on his feet. “Yes, different variables. This time, I have searched the entire body, the usual. Your joints, systems, fuel supply, dear boy. Only that I have taking in your suggestion: to search behind the inactive data. I suppose that the inactive data will be the only place for this source to hide.”
“You searched me? A hundred percent?”
“Exactly. Even the inactive data, the things that code the very way your systems work. Dangerous things, inactive data. They code for your propulsion systems, the mathematics and physics behind your every move, the mind’s intelligence and even the Chameleon Chip. But enough of the Chip. The source isn’t behind or among the inactive data.”
“Dear boy, did you feel the pangs even more painful than usual?”
“Er, yeah I guess. So tell me about what you have been planning all this while.”
“Ah, so you’ve figured it out. Very well. I have been working on a program that will scan out this very source of the pain and the merger incident. It’s a prototype but it’s already a good and more sensitive one and unfortunately, incomplete. I will need Layer to bring me a program of that advance machine and have it installed inside this body.”
The advanced machine was the same one that detected all Axl, Iris and Lumine in the mechanics room months ago. It was operated by Layer so Lumine had long figured her genius in machines like that one would be helpful to him.
“That sounds like a highly effective anti-virus program.” Iris concluded.
Lumine smiled at her. “Very good, dear girl. Just like a computer program, this program will scan out the source of dear boy’s pain. It can also delete this source at the spot of detection. Right now, I am waiting for a specific trigger. Later when the source has been captured, I will need dear boy’s confirmation so I could destroy it.”
Axl looked quite reluctant. “Alright, we’ll wait till the right time. Right now, it would be best for me to get to work.”
Axl then proceeded to teleport at another dark alley close to the old man’s store and resumed human form. Brushing his hair to the side, he hurriedly walked out to meet his human boss and start his chores.
It was around 8.00 in the morning. College and university students poured over the streets amid corporate people and other groups of humans. Axl enjoyed the sight as he cleaned the windows with his wet cloth. Someone just knocked on the door and who should he expect to come but Sue.
Sue is actually in fact a frequent customer at this very store Axl worked in so he will get to see her very often in the near future. Sue was wearing her college’s jacket along with her own clothes: a net pink scarf, a red shirt, a green skirt and neat strap shoes and white socks. Axl looked quite stunned to see her.
“Well, you’ve been up early, Brownscar. I suppose you are older than me because you can afford to work. Anyway, I thought I’ll buy some things on my way to class.”
Axl became stunned again. She was close to touch on a sensitive topic about him. He felt that his personal details such as name, career, age, parents and address ought to remain secret. If anyone tried to pry out info out of him, he would be in a lot of trouble.
Sue picked up several cans of fruit juice and a couple of sandwiches and placed them at the counter. Axl quickly counted the prices and received her cash, in turn handing in the extra balance. As Sue was putting them all in her bag pack, she spoke to him.
“If I asked everything about you, will you answer back? Like your age, name, hobby and so on?” Axl tried to find an answer, also getting nothing from his inhabitants.
“Em… er… I…” Sue sighed to herself. “Never mind. Forget I asked that. I’d better focus on my work rather than pry out some info about a friend I trust. You’re also the kind type I can express my feelings to and you listen fine.”
Axl was not ready for Sue’s habit of quickly changing the subject so he remained silent. Then, Sue continued on talking to Axl.
“I believe you saw yesterday’s news. The Reploid called Lumine was spotted somewhere a district away; first he bought some items in a music store, then walked out on the streets and wrestled a human! Witnesses say he melted knifes and made it like a pinball of some sort! What could he be up to?!”
The trio were shocked and still remained quiet. They listened on to Sue nagging.
“There’s got to be a trick on this! He’s a Maverick for crying out loud! He looks like he’s trying to help us humans but deep inside him, I know it’s that evil new world idea of his! One day he will purge us all!”
Lumine became slightly ticked off with the comments and just vanished away. Iris who was worried for him, went to chase after him. Axl decided to divert her attention away to something else.
“Didn’t you hear that the human Bob was behind all this things? That was what the Hunter Commander X said in a news conference the other time! Bob was the one who caused all this! Lumine isn’t such a bad Reploid after all! I know; I’ve seen him more than anyone else does.”
“Well, if you say so. You must know him well! … Sorry, I got so far-fetched again. I just explode out all my anger sometimes. I’m sorry; I’ll just be leaving now.” Sue was about to turn away when she stopped and smiled at Axl.
“You really are a nice person to talk to. Shall we go out together? Spend some time together? Maybe say by tonight at 9?” Axl remembered back his first encounter with May except this time; it was a human asking him out.
Axl stammered a little. “Er… sure… I guess we could…”
“Alright, it’s a date then! See you at the Big City River!” Just when Sue left the store, Axl sighed heavily on the countertop. He hid his face under his hands on the table and closed his eyes to look for Iris and Lumine.
“Lumine… I’m sorry. I didn’t know she was one of the public who hated you.”
“No, dear boy, it’s okay.” The white Reploid turned and looked at Axl. “I had also never expected this. It’s only natural for humans and Reploids to express their opinions. The truth will be revealed someday. Thank you for defending me.”
Axl smiled at him. He reached out his hand and in return, Lumine stretched his out and Axl pulled him back up to his feet. Iris was cheerful to see that.
“Okay, now that’s done. Axl, go ahead on your date with her. I know that-”
Axl stopped her from further speaking. “I know what you’re going to say, Iris. You say I’m thinking back about that stupid thing with May the last time. You’re going to assure me it’s alright this time. I know, Iris. I’ve figured it out already. I’ll go.”
Iris shrugged her shoulders a little. She was happy for Axl and was Lumine.
“It is only proper to accept an invitation from a human. They know better, compared to Mavericks. Alright, let’s leave him alone. It’s time for him to work.”
The entire morning was spent in the old sir’s store. It was weird that Axl saw the old sir occasionally, sometimes getting himself food or water and then retreated back to his home upstairs. He roughly assumed that he hadn’t quite got over the sad news that his children are only working for Prez in the far west of the Federation.
Later in the afternoon, Axl and inhabitants visited Prez during Axl’s lunch break. Of course, Axl sort of didn’t like to meet the board of directors so he got Iris, this time instead of Lumine, to cover up for him. Iris happily told Prez about Axl’s date. Amazingly, Lumine still refused to inform Prez about the new threat inside Axl.
“A date? I say, you are growing more and more! Good luck!”
The rest of the day till evening, Axl had spent his time in the old sir’s store, tending to the needs of customers and with help from Iris and Lumine, respectively kept the store clean and regulate the supply of goods and profits.
He had to ask permission from the old sir to leave early at 7 in the evening. The old man happily granted him permission to leave. His inhabitants were wondering why he would leave so early when he could just teleport to the City River.
Back in the HQ cubicle department, Axl reached out for his device player and the bag of compact discs. He was about to leave when Zero stopped him.
“Hey, Axl, what’s the rush? I haven’t seen you the whole day.”
“Sorry, Zero, I don’t have time! I have a date to go to!” Axl rushed out to the central resting chamber and then out of sight, giving Zero no chance to talk to him.
Axl had already assumed human form when he arrived at the Big City River banks. It was close to 8.30 pm. Having had another half an hour to go, he put on the headset for the device player and listened to one of the discs Lumine bought for them. He also took out the metal bearing ball and bounced it on the street tiles while enjoying the music.
“I see you enjoy playing with the metal bearing ball, dear boy. But I’m afraid I don’t understand. Its elasticity is low and it only cracks about anything it hits. How could you enjoy it so much?”
“Dunno. I kinda liked it when you made this entirely out of stainless steel. If I were to turn Maverick, will you also do this to me?” Lumine chuckled.
“Not a chance, dear boy! If I did that, the whole body would melt and we will perish and father will be most upset! Seriously, how did you get such ideas? The least I’ll do is take over you and purge your codes for corruption.”
Then, Axl felt a hand tap on the shoulder. It was Sue. He got away from leaning on a lamp post and brushed his hair to he sides, greeting Sue.
“Hey! So where do you want to go tonight?”
“I think we should just go somewhere to eat together. Somewhere romantic and beautiful. No big buildings and signs. Just plain nature and the lakes.”
“Er… how about the west coast of the Big City? It’s just a plain town facing the sea and there are a couple of hills not far away from there. I’ll get us there in a jiffy.”
“But that’s around 300 miles and 4 districts away from here! How do we get there? Taking a cab with take around 3 hours there-!”
Axl had covered her lip with a finger. “I have a way. Just close your eyes and relax.”
Iris and Lumine became alarmed at what Axl was about to do. “Axl, you can’t seriously! Lumine, he’s going to teleport there!”
“Dear boy, only selected and authorized Reploids can have a teleporting machine! Are you trying to reveal to her that you are a Reploid?!”
“Watch me, guys. Nothing will go wrong.” He held on Sue’s shoulders, who was already closing her eyes, and activated the teleporting device. In an instant, they teleported to a secret alley of the west coast town. Sue felt warm all over.
When Sue opened her eyes just as Axl told her to, she was really surprised and happy. She was also bursting full of question upon seeing the rather beautiful town of flora and small buildings, short compared to those of the Big City.
“We’re here! I don’t believe it! Only we can get here by teleporting, which only Reploids have that sort of device! How’d do you do that?”
“I got it as a present. Comes once in a lifetime and I don’t want to refuse it, do I? Now, come on! The restaurant I know is over there!” He took her down the streets.
The scenery of the west coast town was indescribable. Although most buildings were around three storeys high, the decorations and surroundings were just beautiful. The snow only hid a little of all those beauty. The mountains and hills nearby were a great mixture of green for forests and white for snow.
Axl knew the restaurant because he had already consulted Prez that afternoon. That restaurant was one where he used to dine ten to fifteen years back during his period of growing fame. Neither Axl nor Lumine were created that time while Iris was being remolded as a dormant soul in soon-to-be Axl’s body. However, the one thing Prez didn’t tell Axl was that the food here was expensive.
Their table was one by the balcony, looking over to the sea and a little potion of the hills and mountains. The dim yellow light shone their table and a small thin glass held a rose on it. Axl invited Sue to her seat and then he sat on his.
“Wow, Brownscar” – Axl still didn’t want to tell her his real name – “you sure do know the best place to eat. This is great! Oh, here comes the menu!”
Compared to the Big City, this west coast town has a relatively small population of Reploids so the probability of meeting humans is very high. The human waiter passed their menus to them and the shock Axl had to see the prices of the food.
“Aw man! Several hundred for a big dish of meat and vegetables! Dad didn’t tell me about this or else I would have been more careful!”
“Axl! Don’t worry about the price! Father has more cash from where that came from! Just enjoy your dinner with her! Just be careful a little though.”
“Really, dear boy, stop worrying so much and eat.”
Axl went along with their words and ordered a few dishes but were among the most expensive and a fresh bottle of wine. Even Sue was shocked.
“Brownscar, this is all really costly! Something tells me you are no ordinary store assistant! I can’t figure it somehow.” Axl shivered more.
First came the bottle of wine. Lumine felt that he should help Axl open the bottle but then declined on his own. Axl shook the bottle vigorously and directed the cap elsewhere. He pulled out the cork so hardly and the pressure just burst out the foam towards the ground of grass. He poured a half-cup full of wine for Sue first.
“Em… well, that’s a new way of pouring wine. I’ve never seen it before.”
In Axl’s thoughts, unheard by the two inhabitants, was: “Grr… she has a sharp tongue and mind. Sooner or later, I’m bound to go nuts!”
The main course of food came. They ate the meat and vegetables together. Occasionally, Axl would offer her a small piece of the food first, for example roasted pork. Sue would even pass Axl some other food.
Along the course of eating, Sue would try to dig some info about Axl’s personal details, though not by direct questioning. Axl knew this but still tried his best to answer her and not give any full details.
“I would prefer to know you more, Brownscar. Speaking of which that’s a pretty attractive X-scar you’ve got on your face. How did you get that? It must hurt a lot.”
“Em… I got it in an accident years ago. That’s all I can say.”
“I think you got it at a convenient time, though. Once, the news was talking about this Maverick Hunter who knocked out on the Moon. Ten years ago, he became a subject of war between two rivaling groups. But that’s over with. Are you a fan of the Maverick Hunters?”
“Sure, yeah. Let’s go with that.” His inhabitants smirked at him.
This of course made Sue a little more suspicious of Axl but she didn’t show it. “So you’re not going to tell me anything about yourself? Your name? Home? Age? What school you’ve been to?”
Axl stopped eating by putting down his fork and knife. “I’m sorry; it’s all private and confidential. If I tell you… never mind, it’s just very dangerous for me to tell you. I can tell you but it will have to take time. My father acknowledges it.”
“Ah! Perhaps you can tell me about your parents then, Brownscar?”
“Er… sure. That will be fine. My dad’s a businessman. His industries are diversified. I don’t know my mum, though. Never met her.”
“So, what’s your dad like, Brownscar?”
“He has the neatest laboratories. I can just toy around or… use it for work. He’s a neat person. He cares for me all the time. Truth be told, I’ve never met him for many years now. I’m just glad I can spend time with him.”
Axl earned some smiles from Iris and Lumine. Sue was sad on the other hand.
“Gee, your dad sure is one of a kind. He sure must be rich, since it’s like you said, diversified industries. He’s also so loving and caring to you. My dad’s opposite though. He is a rich businessman also but, he’s like a total jerk!”
“He became an even worse jerk than before! He used to laugh at anyone, but now he’s even insulting everyone he sees! I know it has to be his ego. He can’t stand Prez so much. He thinks Prez’s a bug waiting to be squashed. Actually, I think my dad’s looking for trouble.”
“Mister Prez invests in your dad’s?!”
Sue got pretty flared up. “Doesn’t he? That man pours money in half the corporations and companies in the Federation, doesn’t he? He’s getting more domineering. His monopoly increases if you make him mad. My dad’s one of them. There’s tens more people out there like him and sooner, if they don’t stop making Prez mad, they’ll work for him instead.”
Axl said nothing. Lumine knew that Prez gets mad only if people misuse his cash and equipment in embezzlements so it wasn’t his fault they lost their lives to him.
“I just hope my dad stops the insults, Brownscar. Who knows, we may one day be living in the dark alleys. I just want him to stop…” Sue began crying.
Seeing that the food was all finished, Axl hurriedly called the waiter and paid the bill worth nearly a thousand cash. He brought the crying Sue to walk slowly to the nearby park. In the park, he got them a bench to sit on and wiped away Sue’s tears.
“Sue, if there’s one thing your dad has to learn, it’s to respect other people. He’s already blinded by his ego too much. It must have been surging profits I suppose?”
“Yeah… How’d you know that?”
“Every company and corporation has got to earn tonnes thanks to Prez’s investments, don’t they? Money has blinded your dad. Too much, in fact. I don’t know if he’ll ever change. But if there’s one thing you can do, it’s to hope he’ll change.”
“Or you can go up to his face and scold him.”
“You’re so mean! I can’t scold my dad! I’ll just get my mum to do it for me! You’re a genius!” Still crying a little, she hit Axl’s chest with her fist but it didn’t hurt him.
Later, they had a long walk along the walkway of the side of the sea. Axl kicked on the thin snow layer as the Moon shone its light on the world. They suddenly stopped walking on the walkway underneath a lamp post.
“I’m still hungry, Brownscar. That supper wasn’t satisfying enough.”
“Er… want to go get some hotdogs then? There’s a stand over there.”
“That would be great, Brownscar.” She held his hand real tight and they rushed towards the stand. As soon as Axl got them hotdogs with extra mustard and pepper, they sat down on a nearby bench and munched on.
“You must know that Lumine pretty well in order for you to defend him back at the store, Brownscar. When did you know him?”
“Aw, c’mon. Get off that topic already. He’s probably wandering elsewhere as we speak. Just leave him alone.” Lumine thanked Axl for that comment.
“Hm.” Sue finished her hotdog and threw the wrapper in a bin then laid her head on Axl’s right shoulder. “For a secretive guy like yourself, you sure are nice to hang out with. If only my friends at college were all just like you…”
Sue had somehow dozed off on Axl’s shoulder. It was already close to 11 at night. Feeling it was best to let her rest, Axl only placed his hand on her shoulder and waked for her to wake. As he looked up to the Moon, he commented to himself.
“This is the best thing anything’s ever happened to me.”
Continued in Chapter 9.
Notes:
Phew. Hope I wrote this chapter good. Axl seems to be having a good time with Sue.
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Post by Professor Fann on Sept 20, 2009 7:37:26 GMT -5
I am back today with the Chapter 9. Enjoy.
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All characters belong to Capcom, except for those you’ve never seen before and the story doesn’t intend to hurt anyone’s interests.
-M’siaFanWriter
Chapter Nine: Serious
That very same night of day 90, Axl had ensured that Sue arrived back at her home safely. Her home was a three storey home, bordered by a rocky wall and automatic entrance gate, and had many nice windows and statue designs on the outside. It is located just outside the Big City core and close to a mountain range.
Ironically, it was located not so far away from the neighborhood site where Bob’s prison base was located. Now the prison has been demolished and a green park had been constructed. Axl was just pleased that somehow, in the past thanks to Iris’ self-sacrifice, he got rid of many headaches by using up all stagnant excess energy.
Axl waved back to Sue as she entered back her home. Axl teleported away back to the Hunter HQ and resumed his usual Reploid form. He rushed back to the central chamber, finding not many Hunters there and got himself a seat around the fireplace.
“Congratulations, Axl! I say that date was rather great!”
“Well done, dear boy. You performed well. This will be one of your best times. I can say no more.” Lumine just gave him light claps.
“Gee, thanks guys. I just wanted to make the most of this meeting and also tried not to give away our secret. Man, she sure has a sharp mind! I was almost exhausted just trying to talk to her! I’m bushed.” Axl lied on the cushions more.
Iris though happy looked quite worried. “I know you enjoyed yourself today but what if this sort of relationship develops further? It will go against the practical norm. Oh, I’m just so worried for you, Axl!”
Axl stared back at her. “What? A human with a relationship with a Reploid? Grow strong? The most it will go is just being friends, that’s all. We are of different kind!”
“I don’t know, what if she learns you are you and you lied just to be friends and her heart becomes broken…” Iris made them all silent.
Then Lumine reached out his hands on both their shoulders. “Listen, time will decide everything. Someday, the truth will be revealed. It cannot be helped. I suggest we get to sleep now before the time limit and stop worrying about this. Dear boy’s earned his day.”
Axl took Lumine’s advice and got off the cushion. Stretching out his hands and his body, he headed to his resting pod and set the dial.
“Well, at least I can finally get some rest. Then, it’s another tomorrow of work at the store and perhaps we‘ll meet Sue again.”
Lifting the glass cover, he slowly laid himself on the soft cushions under him and the needles induced the sleeping programs into the trio. The glass cover then closed down, sealing them in Axl’s pod.
Meanwhile on the other side of the HQ, the Commanders and three navigators have drafted up a surprise plan for all the Hunters. According to X, this plan was to create a new environment for all Hunters and to make full use of everyone’s roles, responsibilities and intellects.
“So, we will put the other Captains on duty too. As for the Hunters, we’ll divide them all into two batches. The first batch on this day, for example, will go on patrol duty while the other will attend classes.”
“The following day, the two batches will switch sides. There will be small assignments to boost creativity and also Hunter levels. Tests will be held occasionally for identifying intellect levels. The syllabus comprises of six subjects, three on a certain day for both batches to learn, as recommended by the government.”
“As for the teaching staff, I’ll hand in details later. So far, Zero and I will be part of it and Pallette has volunteered herself. We’ll get other volunteers later. This plan is due to be approved soon by the government. Any questions?”
Alia raised her hand. “Why are we doing this again?”
“Our main investor has raised concerns about the Hunters’ one-sidedness towards battle. Now that things are becoming stable again unlike that of 20 years ago, he feels that all should develop equal abilities in an effort to create the utopia we all crave for.”
“So, now mister Prez is meddling in our affairs, huh?” That was Zero.
“What can we do? We can’t simply undermine the increasing monopoly he’s had since fifteen years ago. His concerns can’t be simply ignored.”
Layer raised her hand. “So, what about Axl and the other two?”
“Prez personally requested they be given the right to decide for themselves. I was told Lumine has to be part of this new program. I just don’t know why. So, it will mean that Axl and Iris have to be dragged along. We’ll inform them later.”
The meeting ended. Alia and Layer were ordered to inform this to the rest of the navigating staff whereas X and Zero reached out for the combat staff.
Hours later, into the new 91st day, something bad and serious was about to happen to the trio in the prototype body. They just didn’t know it.
Inside the computer brain, Axl suddenly found himself to be awake. He didn’t know why. He had been using a lot of energy yesterday and he wanted to have a good rest. His senses informed him something was wrong.
He felt heavy and weird all over himself. His head was nudged forward by an unknown force that was felt rather sharp and he couldn’t go against it.
He looked around and he spotted no one. His friends were nowhere in sight. He was tied to tilt his head downwards but he was also blocked from doing so by that same unknown force. He was tied up all over to something so hard he couldn’t move.
“What is happening to me? Iris! Lumine! Where are you?”
However, the one thing he could reach for was his right hand. When he held it up, he was utterly shocked. His hand wasn’t the blue metal chunk with a red strip and grey humerus arm. His was all glowing white and silvery with small square data fragments revolving around it.
He made his hand move to the left and pick up his left hand. It wasn’t that easy as he thought. A huge numbing force was trying to prevent him from doing so. However, when he jerked the left hand closer to himself, he felt numb and someone groaned over the force. His left hand was partially engulfed by revolving silver data and the other half seemed to be white in colour.
He was pulling Lumine’s hand towards himself.
Just suddenly, the other half of Lumine’s hand was engulfed by silver data up till his shoulder and a huge pressure was exerted and their shoulders were close to being merged. Full of shock, Axl cried out loudly to his friends.
“IRIS! LUMINE! WAKE UP!! HELP!!”
Lumine woke up the fastest compared to Iris. He also felt the same thing like Axl. He felt all heavy, weird and his head was jerking on something. When he realized that he was being merged with Axl again, he yelled out louder to Iris.
“DEAR IRIS!! WAKE UP!! IT’S URGENT!!”
Iris woke up abruptly and looked around her. She eventually saw what shocked her the most. Axl and Lumine were being merged as a single body this time but wasn’t near completion yet.
The silvery glowing body was enveloping the two but only up till their shoulders. Their hands had become only a single pair but their heads were still the same. Axl was tied to lean back against Lumine’s back but the wide long purple hair was pushing against his head.
“What’s going on?! How could this happen?!” Iris’ eyes were glittering from the reflection of light on her tears and her hands covered her mouth.
“We don’t know! That thing has appeared again, only to strike us while we were sleeping! Do something, Iris!” Axl cried out to her.
Iris was panicking all over. She didn’t know what to do as she had nearly every time depended on instructions from the both of them. Her tears flowed down her cheeks more and more.
A giant electric shock came out of nowhere and hit the two subjects. The shockwaves spread out to infinite space of the pitch-black surroundings from the silvery body and were stunning Axl and Lumine so hard they were drained of energy.
“AAAHHH!!” Axl’s yells were so loud and deafening. Lumine tried to break free from the body by using the body’s left hand and dig into it, but a huge repulsion occurred and he was shocked with even more pain.
“The shock’s trying to knock us out! It’s also attempting to merge me fully with dear boy! Aaaaahhhh! Dear girl, analyze us now!! Aaaahhhh!!”
Iris was shaking full of fear and trembled as she walked slowly to them.
All resting pods have been under the surveillance of the security room. The guards there were not only responsible for making sure that all Hunters got back to sleep before the reinstated bedtime limit, but also to monitor all health performances.
The two security Reploids noticed that in a certain cubicle, its occupant’s health was rapidly declining to alarming levels. It was around 6 in the morning.
“Hey! Something’s wrong! That Hunter’s health is declining like crazy! Dispatch the emergency recruit team! Notify the Supreme Commander immediately!”
Axl’s resting pod soon became a hotspot. A team of 4 medics soon arrived at Axl’s pod minutes later. X and Zero also rushed to the spot. Despite the relatively calm looks on Axl’s face, inside a huge problem was occurring.
It was important to note that Iris still didn’t take any action yet to analyze the body. She was so afraid that something wrong might happen if she dived her hand further into them. Axl called out again to her amid the huge shocks.
“Iris! What are you waiting for? Come help us! Gwaaaahhh!!”
“What if I do something wrong again?! The connecting data was far more complex that time! What if I made it permanent and you two are merged forever?!”
“NO, YOU WILL NOT!!” Lumine screamed out amid the pain inflicted on him. “Just remain calm and confident!! Believe in yourself!! Try to at least puncture a hole in one of those nerve data!! Gwaaaaa!!”
“Here goes nothing!!” Iris charged her right hand out, closed together like a fist, towards the silver body. She emitted some slightly dark pinkish aura on her fist and forcefully penetrated the silver body, chipping off some data.
Right from the cut created by Iris’ penetration emerged several lightning-like electric strikes and they all were headed towards the poor girl. The odd part was that the lightning strikes all suddenly spread out in opposite directions, thus avoiding her.
She was very surprised and just stopped to wonder but the other two yelled back.
“Hey, don’t just stop like that! Go on!”
“Dear girl, you have your chance now! Try and find the threads and disable it! Dear boy, prepare to exert some strength on my count!!”
Iris inserted her hand deeper into the cut. She was struggling hard to find the source of the merging personalities. Her eyes were closed and she saw a miraculous scene of hat it feels like to travel inside the data. She was ‘moving’ very rapidly through highway-like passages, all curving here and there to various ‘destinations’.
“Grr… must resist pain... personality data… combat powers… the nerves! Here it is! The joints and body structure, too! Hang on… I’m analyzing it now…”
“DEAR BOY, NOW!!” Axl and Lumine flared up their respective dark auras in an instant. Their heads were enveloped by their own auras and slowly, bit by bit, small hole appeared on the silvery body and rays of dark purple and dark blue light shone through them. Nonetheless, the electric shocks got stronger.
“Control over the nerve data… the source is having little control… I’m bursting it now… done!” Iris has destroyed the threads made by the unknown source so suddenly, Axl’s and Lumine’s hands broke free from the body, thus shattering the silvery shoulders.
Iris was still trying to analyze the data of the joints and body structure of the data souls. She made a face, squirmish and all, because she was being blocked from accessing the data. She looked up to Lumine.
“Lumine, I’m blocked from accessing the data of this merger body!”
“Alright, let me do this! Dear boy, exert more strength to break free of this clutches! Dear girl, you can let go now! I’m going in personally!”
The moment Iris removed her hand, she was repelled back far away from them. Overcome by extreme tiredness, she immediately fell unconscious on the dark floor.
“IRIIISSS!!” Axl yelled out to her while flaring more aura.
On the outside world, the medics were having a problem. The glass pod was sealed tight due to a jam on one of the locks. It wasn’t the security’s faults as all locks were working just fine. One lock simply wouldn’t give way.
“Commander, the subject is experiencing various pressures inside him. According to this diagram, there are three different colours of dark purple, blue and pink but they are all mixed up! There seems to be a small dot of silver here but we don’t know what it is!”
X thought to himself: “There’s another personality inside Axl?!”
Inside, Axl had continued to flare his aura to break free totally from the knots and threads of the silver data. Lumine had already dived his hand deep inside the cut to analyze the joints and body structure of the new data soul.
He tried his best to stand the pain from the electric shocks and also dig and destroy the irritating data.
“There it is! The new system is trying to integrate our designs into one and our joints to be frozen solid so it can take over! Here goes! GWAAH!!”
A giant explosion occurred from them. The two were blown back far away room the spot and opposite from each other. Axl and Lumine were severely drained of energy due to the fact they were struggling very hard to break free from an extremely tight knot. Axl was already too tired so he passed out first.
“Dear boy!” Just then, he saw a fascinating sight. The millions of pieces of data that formed the silvery body, firstly sprinkled in the air, regrouped to form clusters of data, and those clusters formed a long strand of silver data. It was made of various rectangles and squares knit together and it was about 3 feet long, if this was the physical world.
It wriggled fast as it was trying to hide itself somewhere in Axl. Lumine made an angry look and held up a tip of his finger. “OH NO, YOU DON’T!!”
A thin purple ray pierced though one of the square data on its other end. Smaller fragments were formed inside the purple ray and they regrouped to form a rectangle: it was the simplified version of the 3-foot long data strand data. Although the long data strand escaped away, Lumine was pleased with himself.
“Now I have you…” Lumine in turn passed out, though not entirely.
Outside Axl’s pod, they had just nudged the lock and lifted the glass cover. Axl opened his eyes a little. His sight was blurred and dim because he was so tired. This time, he was completely knocked out so he lost balance and fell down onto the ground below him, just like that. Other Hunters quickly grabbed him and rushed him to the mechanics room, upon X’s orders.
X made it a point for him and Zero to be left alone with Axl. Without saying anything, Zero strapped Axl’s body to the chair and connected wires into Axl’s head gem. X run the machine and listed only three personalities in the prototype body. A screen showed what it was like inside Axl’s head.
Lumine saw a screen appear to him and also saw an astonished X with Zero. He used his last energy to smile back and talk to the Supreme Commander.
“Call Layer her quick… it is that advanced scanning machine, isn’t it? …ask her to… download the machine’s… scanning program… create a strong… file detector… quick… it’s very serious now… nearly destroyed… merged… quick…” Lumine had just passed out like that.
Zero rushed wordless to Layer’s room to inform her those words whereas X logged them out back into the prototype body and set the body to rest till completely healed.
“What exactly is going on all this while? I’ll want answers soon, Lumine. About everything…” That was the last thing he said before locking the mechanics room door and let Axl sleep.
Layer had already received the message and started working on the unknown file detector based on that advanced machine’s technology. Hours later, Axl and inhabitants had been fully energized. By then, it was close to afternoon.
Continued in Chapter 10.
Notes:
There, all done. Lumine will be giving answers soon, all right. It’s about time he told everyone what’s going on around here anyway. Maybe not the whole thing though. This chapter took a lot out of me. And yes, X has seen the colour-personality match thing before in An Axl Story chapter 10. Refer there.
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Post by Professor Fann on Sept 21, 2009 0:22:03 GMT -5
And for something boring of an occasion.
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All characters belong to Capcom, except for those you’ve never seen before and the story doesn’t intend to hurt anyone’s interests.
-M’siaFanWriter
Chapter Ten: Socialite
Hours ago, they had just suffered another direct attack from an unknown entity which attempted to merge Axl and Lumine – the second if the one where the two’s movements were exact is also considered – and mysteriously, not Iris. Now, they were fully energized yet the white Reploid was the first to wake.
He had gently shaken Iris and Axl so that Axl would go on and reactivate the body. Axl then smirked back smilingly at Lumine.
“It’s been quite some time since you did that. The gentle waking and all.”
“Well, I can’t just shake or even kick you, can I, dear boy? Come on, I need to have a talk with the purple navigator. I’ve got my trigger for the master plan. I’m got surprising and sad news for you all though.”
Axl was able to force his body to wake up and start moving around. But before he could even move around, he had to be un-strapped first. He needed another person’s help in order to do that; Layer was conveniently there for him.
“Thank goodness you’ve come to. Everyone was so worried. Let me unbuckle those straps.” Layer walked to Axl and set him free to walk around the mechanics room.
Axl’s head suddenly moved fast. He was made to look at various corners of the room before he lost control of the body to the white Reploid. Lumine smiled at her.
“Just the one I need to talk to. The absence of security cameras is very helpful. Please sit first.” He invited Layer to sit on one of the chairs at the room’s corner.
“Well, I suppose you’ve got my message?”
Layer straightened herself. “Yes, Zero informed me earlier. I have already downloaded copies of the core programs from the advanced file detector. I’m working on a type that can work inside a complex body like Axl’s. You’ll have to give me some time before I could finish it.”
“Very good. Please do hurry. This time, that thing nearly destroyed us all. My existence is vitally needed for my father, but that’s not the point. Who doesn’t want to live anyway?”
Lumine quickly switched back to Axl before they left the mechanics room.
Back in Axl’s cubicle, Axl had contacted the old man and presented his late apologies and request for a leave on just the day itself upon reasoning that he fell unconscious for the whole morning and was ill. In fact, Axl wasn’t lying at all; he had been made to stay in the HQ in case he fell ‘ill’ again.
“Well, that’s done. Lumine, what news did you have for us?”
Iris rushed to meet them from nowhere. “Yeah, what sad news is that?”
Lumine sighed for a while. He firstly took out a rectangle-shaped set of data codes, the one which he copied from the glittering 3-foot long original strand while the other two were unconscious. “This is our criminal.”
Axl stared on it for a while. “That’s the one which tried to merge us?!”
“A copy of the original criminal. The surprising part is that I was able to copy it. But the sad part of the news is this: this data came from me.”
Like he expected, Axl and Iris were shocked. “It came from you?!”
“More accurately, dear boy and girl, when I first rudely entered this body. The criminal is the data strand for White Axl.” White Axl was the codename given to a formula created by the combination of Axl’s and Lumine’s appearances.
“That’s not all. It’s a combination of dear boy’s and my own personality codes and protocols. It also has a mixture of combat codes from me and dear boy. In other words, it is a brand new Maverick fighting personality.”
Axl became slightly frightened and fidgeted. “The Maverick data? Inherited from you? All this while in dormant program? Wait! We tested it on me! Does that mean I’ll go Maverick later?”
“Sorry, but prototypes like you don’t have the specs to cause something like that.” Lumine chuckled. “Funny, that’s the same thing I said on the Moon. Anyway, it didn’t contain any of dear girl’s codes because she’s a personality originally of an old model Reploid. This code is programmed to merge only features of new generation Reploids.”
Iris made a face. “That doesn’t make any sense. How come?”
“I do not know, dear girl, but I will find out. I won’t let this Maverick remnant of me endanger us anymore!!” Lumine was so infuriated that he smashed all the copy data with his bare hand, scaring the other two a little.
“Dear boy, I will need your permission to destroy it.”
“I’m saying this again, Lumine. We will wait till the time is right.”
The following hours, Axl found himself doing nothing. He had been pretty upset about knowing the presence of a Maverick data inside him. He only played with his pens and pencils on the desk. Eventually the computer phone rang.
Axl put on his headset, lowered the voice and answered the call. It turned out to be Prez and he seems to be really excited. The background was that of a laboratory with all the nifty gadgets and chemical tools.
“Axl! This is me! I want you to come down to the grounds at the south wing right away! There will be a guard leading you the way! I want to show you all something!”
“Dad? What’s going on? Seems like you made something great.”
“You all will have more human forms! This may be last minute but you could use some great clothing, especially Lumine! Tonight will be the big night where I’ll tell the world my proudest news ever! See you!” The line was cut abruptly.
The three of them sighed. “So, do we have to go?”
“Do we even have a choice, Axl? We have to go, of course!”
“Alright, but I won’t like it.” Axl lazily got up the chair and switched off the computer. He was about to exit the cubicle department when X confronted him.
“Axl! Where are you going? You’re not allowed to leave the HQ as of yet!”
“Well, not according to mister Prez. He wants the three of us to go down to his labs and try something out.” Axl wanted to leave but X held on his shoulder tight.
“Axl! This is an order!” Axl sighed. “Alright, X, do you really want to know why Lumine has to show himself to the face of the public?” X softened his grip a little. He looked on Axl but all he saw was his back.
“I get the feeling you’ll know the reason tomorrow. And that may be the reason why my dad’s calling me. I have no choice. I assure you I’ll be fine. I won’t be under any attack… at least for today.”
The two were silent. “I’ll see you later, X. I’m sorry.”
Axl teleported himself to the south wing grounds, leaving behind a doubtful X. A security guard was there to welcome him as said by his ‘dad’, and Axl was led all the way down to the laboratories. This time, the new security was retina scan and heat frequencies, and only Axl made it through the thick metal gate.
“I still feel bad for going against X, though. How will I ever make it up to him?”
“You don’t have to, dear boy. You are right; this has to do with father. He’s planning to tell the world about me. That news ought to be satisfying enough for him. After all, he’s desperate to know why I must appear in the public.”
“Lumine’s right. Axl, calm yourself down, will you?”
Axl later reached the part of the laboratory which had all the nifty gadgets and tools. Unknown to him, it was the same place where the three of them received human forms at the same time. Then, Prez and a fellow scientist appeared to Axl.
“Ah, there you are! There isn’t much time so this fellow scientist here had configured a simple device for the three of you to switch to multiple forms. But we still need to reconfigure the Chameleon Chip though; we must make sure that the Chameleon Chip doesn’t over stress out or create stagnant energy or the disasters happen again!”
“Yes, that’s quite right.” The scientist said through muffled teeth. “The copy chip, or Chameleon Chip in your case, is highly unusual for a prototype. There’s only one such copy bot in this world, which is you, but that’s not the point. Let’s go.”
Axl was once again subjected to straps and knots. The sleeping program was induced into Axl and the three of them slept immediately. Prez and the scientist worked on the prototype body’s systems.
This time, Axl woke up much earlier than he expected. True to Prez’s words, the operation only took about 2 hours, meaning it was close to evening. Axl got up from the seat and observed himself. His left hand was clear of something.
“Yes, that button has been eliminated. It’s rather useless now since I’ve added in a brand new application. See here; now, when you are in human form, you’ll be having a watch instead. This watch will correspond to the Chameleon Chip and allow you to switch to two different human forms or back to Reploid form.”
Axl turned himself to human form. He was wearing the first given clothes of the shirt, sweater and the rest. But when he turned to the other human form, it was a neat black suit. Lumine rudely took control and found himself wearing a black suit also.
“Ah yes, a new configuration. If Axl’s wearing a commoner’s clothes, the two of you will also wear your commoner’s clothes. Likewise the same, if he’s wearing the suit. But, either of you three can switch types. Well, now that’s done, let’s go.”
Prez dragged Lumine along. The scientist managed to speak out: “It’s an honour to meet you, sir heir.” The white Reploid only smiled back and said “Thank you” before he disappeared with Prez.
The two of them, neat and smart in suits, were already on their way to the far southwest part of the Big City, also a west coast city and acing the sea. The white Reploid was going to know who’s who in the corporate world and they were going to know him too. Somehow, Axl winced a little.
“What if Sue’s coming too? I don’t want to be seen. Lumine, you can have the body for the whole day.” Lumine raised an eyebrow and smiled.
“Gladly accepted, dear boy. There is a possibility she will come. We’re talking about major corporate members around the Federation and the world meeting in a small place here. Should we see her, I’ll cover up for you, dear boy. Don’t worry.”
“So, Lumine what is a data soul actually? More details, please.”
“Alright, dear girl. A data soul is a huge collection of unique codes which determine the personalities of a Reploid. This data soul holds codes for other features such as the physical looks of a Reploid, which includes metal density, and the layout design of the internal machines and systems, and if necessary, fighting abilities. All these are programmed in a Reploid body during production and can be expressed with help from nuclear energies. The personality bidding is a random mix based on a master computer.”
“So, what about the Maverick data and the like?” Axl interrupted.
“During the mass production of new generation Reploids eight years ago, Sigma’s data was also included but this was only the outer design and metal density. That’s why most Reploids copy such a body to prevent damage in accidents. But somehow, Sigma included his personality of going Maverick at will in all of us. I was no exception.”
“However, thanks to human trash’s corruption, the Maverick data in me was rigidly controlled thus making me loyal to him alone. He made sure that I install him only as king of the new world. That’s why I destroyed Sigma on the Moon.”
“On the other hand, this White Axl is a combination of many: a Maverick and a loyalist to Bob, a mixture of my designs and yours, a mixture of two different battle systems and personalities. Now, it’s on the run.”
“Are you sure of all this? What about me?” Iris came back in.
“Your data wasn’t included in White Axl because your data was never incorporated in Axl’s copy chip or mine either, when I had a body back then. Father hid that data away from Axl’s copy chip because you were designed to be a dormant personality meant to assist dear boy in every way of communications only.”
“WHAT?!” Both Axl and Iris were shocked.
“Lumine! How do you know all this things?!” Axl stared at him.
“Partly because of what father taught me, partly of my own observations. Now if you were going to ask any more, you’ll have to wait. We are here.”
They had arrived at a hotel resort at the far southwest coastal city. Prez first got out of the limousine followed by Lumine. They were led up 2 floors to a giant hall, decorated with chandeliers and paintings. Inside the giant hall are many wealthy upper-class members who displayed moderate behaviour, talking or drinking champagne.
Prez noticed a while later that Lumine wasn’t with him. He rushed back out to the elevator and found the white Reploid in black suit leaning against a brown carpet wall. Lumine was actually rather hesitant himself to meet the corporate society.
“Lumine what are you doing here? You have nothing to be afraid of. I’ll help you around here. Don’t worry.” The Reploid was led forward with a light tap n the shoulder.
Inside his head, he talked to the other two. “Amazing. Now the ‘What do I do’ question has been solved. I must admit, this is rather hectic.”
“Yeah, we just got over a terrible trauma and now this?”
“You are so right, dear boy. Anyway I will try my best to… behave.”
“That’s the way! Just relax!” Iris encouraged him to move forward more.
The duo walked past by many people, almost all never noticed them at all, except for a colonel-like person who saw them and said ‘Hello’. Even the members of the press didn’t notice. They walked up to the front stage which read ‘THE ESTABLISHMENT OF WORLD CORPORATE FUND’.
“Ladies and gentlemen. May I have your attention please? Aside from the main agenda, mister Prez wishes to make an announcement everyone should know.”
Mister announcer guy certainly got every person’s attention to the stage where Prez and Lumine stood. The press members got their cameras and laptop computers ready.
The announcer guy had passed on the microphone to mister Prez. He sighed for a while wit his eyes closed, looking on the floor. Then, he looked back to the crowd of humans and began to speak.
“Many of you know who I am now, and what I am also. I’m just an old person, trying to make the best out of everything he owns for the better world and beyond. I should have brought my cane along for me to walk, but it seems this old man has his memory so close to being poor I even forget to eat my morning bread.”
That was a joke so everyone laughed a little.
“But enough about me. We are gathered here today, upon permission from the Federation and six other nations, to establish a fund that is meant to further develop the world. This old man can only contribute much, but much more is needed to lift the poor out of the poor and those of bad out of badness.”
“We will go into details later from the impartial committee. Right now, my main concern is my heir. You all know already, I’m an old man who used too much time for the world; I don’t even have my own family. I will pass on to the other world soon. I have already designated my heir of one of my three children of Reploids.”
Many people began to whisper and wonder about. Some were eager to know and meet his heir, some were critical if Reploids ought to inherit possessions.
“After much consultation and debates and observations also, and with recognition by the Federation government, I am announcing to you all and the world that my heir is here, on the stage with me; no, not the announcer.” A little laughter ensued.
“He’s over there: he used to be a Maverick but under intense investigation, the government has cleared his name and he has been reformed. He used to be the Jakob Project director and is also currently my son: Lumine.”
The camera flashes were most intense during his period as Lumine walked out further on the stage to look on the humans. Axl and Iris were already encouraging him to maintain calmness and not be afraid. He bowed to them a little.
Suddenly, a thunderous roar of clapping ensued. Lumine was a little shocked so he jerked a little backwards but maintained his position. Amid the claps, there were also some whispers about him. Some time later, the clapping stopped but the camera flashes continue on.
Prez continued: “He is my dearest creation, along with another two more children who sadly couldn’t make it here today in self-appearance. So anything you all would like to know, please ask while we are serving some appetizers.”
Lumine got off the stage by jumping on to the floor while the appetizers were being served. Some people first went to get their food but most wanted to go close to the heir they heard about so much from and meet him themselves.
“Congratulations! You just earned yourself the biggest corporation in the world! Jolly good! I hope our corporations will cooperate more in the future!”
“It’s a pleasure, sir human.” Lumine shook hands with the happy fat man.
Prez came in. “He’s a good friend of mine from the super nation which has a land the shape of a boot. He’s pretty excited to enhance ties, especially with you around.”
Other men with dark skins and traditional-looking men came forward to talk with the Reploid. He was bombarded with tonnes of questions and tried to answer them all.
“Lumine, this man on the left is also a very good friend of mine. He helps me dig up scrap in the world’s largest desert. This one here comes from the same continent super nation with a horn on its east. We are dealing with construction works. This last man on the right, he received huge investments where we dig up diamonds for commercial and research in the same continent super nation.”
Other men and ladies started coming to meet the Reploid.
“This lady comes from the giant subcontinent of the Federation. We’re cooperating in technologies to alleviate people from poverty. This white gown sir is my new manager of the de-desertification project at the far west Federation deserts.”
“This nice old man and his wife are from mainland Federation Far East. We are dealing well in consumer goods and pollution control. This man wearing a bowtie comes from the giant archipelago far south. This man wearing a thick coat comes from the coldest nation in the world and we are digging for oil.”
“Ah, yes, this big person comes from the super nation with the largest river basin in the world. We are conserving the environment further. This kind sir here comes from the militarily powerful super nation in the world.”
Lumine had just about enough meeting so many humans in one shot and he was just about to storm rather rudely out of the hall when the announcer guy announced that it was time to mark the beginning of the Corporate Fund. He sighed with relief when most humans turned to the stage.
“Lumine! That’s not nice of you! Storming out of the hall just like that!”
“I have not done that yet so just keep your words to yourself, dear girl.”
Just then, the establishment of the Fund was completed. Most humans were now directed to another hall for dinner. Of course for a Reploid, Lumine had never felt hungry. Instead, he felt like having some time for himself so he went to Prez.
“Rest for a while? Well, okay… There’s a park downstairs; maybe you can relax better there. When I need you, I’ll ask someone to call you here.”
“Thank you ever so much, father.”
Minutes later, the white Reploid in black suit managed to arrive in the park. He was panting a bit on his knees. Eventually, he got himself a bench to sit on and lean back while enjoying the flora under the glimmer of a full moon.
“I don’t want to do that again. Ever. Dear boy, it seems you have a valid point for not wanting to meet these humans in the first place.”
“Nah, I just don’t want to. Anyway, just relax for now. You’re free of hustle and bustle. At least you made dad proud to have you here.”
Lumine was wordless for a while. “Thank you. Alright, let me just rest for a while.”
He put his face on both his palms and panted a little still. He thought he could be alone but he was wrong. He heard minute sound waves coming from being him. It was the steps of feet on grass. It was Sue.
He didn’t express his feelings and thoughts at all on his face. Axl was however shocked and Iris didn’t know what to do. Sue looked quite angry.
“I hope you’re satisfied now, you… you ex-Maverick.” She had acknowledged that Lumine is no longer a Maverick, which made him slightly happier, but she still didn’t trust him. “You roped in the biggest monopoly in the world. You know that, don’t you?”
“I’m aware of that, human. Is there something wrong?”
“Oh? Isn’t it obvious? Your plan to deceive us all certainly has worked! Then, you’ll release out your true intentions! Isn’t that what you will do?”
Lumine raised an eyebrow. “I don’t think so.” He got up standing and looked at Sue straight in the eye, though he had to lower his head a little because Sue was around three inches shorter than him. She breathed harder.
“It’s like what my father has said: I’ve been completely reformed back to my old self. You can’t stop that, can you? Maybe you haven’t noticed, but I said before that I have no time to harm anyone at all. That applies for humans and Reploids unless they disturbed me first. Of course, I had never been controlled by a certain someone before.”
“That news the Maverick Hunter gave?” Sue referred to Zero.
“I wouldn’t call it a lie, human. It’s only a white lie. A mere assurance that I meant what I said: I don’t intend to ham anyone except if they harmed me. You’ll see.”
Sue sat down next to Lumine; her mood calmed down. “‘You’ll see?’ You are secretive, aren’t you? Just like that brown hair person I meet at the store.”
Axl was alarmed that she may start to probe Lumine with more questions about himself so he asked Lumine to do something to distract her from doing so.
Lumine didn’t reply. He turned to the left and stretched out his hand. Sue noticed that and was shocked to see him emit the purple aura and a laser far away. Seconds later, several tens and tens of forks and spoon of metal came flying right into Lumine’s aura. They were melted immediately and formed into a metal bearing ball. From the ball, the shape changed into a nice small ‘bouquet’.
The words engraved on it were ‘TO SUE FROM BROWNSCAR’. Axl tried to stop Lumine but he already super-cooled it and handed it over to Sue. Sue was very surprised and asked him questions.
“How did you do that? How did you know my name? I knew it! You have met him before! Brownscar! You two must be friends, isn’t it?”
“We’ve met. He asked me to do this for you. Just don’t ask how it’s done.”
Then, an attendant came rushing to the both of them. “Mister Prez wants you up, sir. He wants you to attend the ballroom dance, along with a partner if possible.”
“Well, well.” Lumine got up, starting to walk. “Your own will to come down and investigate me seems to make your presence convenient. Do you mind if you were to be my dance partner for the night?” Sue was speechless.
“Em… not at all. That may be fine.” She hurried along behind the Reploid, unaware of Lumine’s thoughts. Lumine was feeling quite happy with himself whereas Axl hung his head down like sore defeat and Iris giggled lightly.
“Let me make the best out of this dance tonight, dear boy. I promise I won’t disappoint her, for you.” They walked on back to the hall, just like socialites.
Continued in Chapter 11.
Notes:
I hoped this chapter isn’t too ‘corporate’ and all. Did my best for the title. Hoped the explanation on data soul is comprehensible. This is the longest chapter I’ve written so far. It’s tiring. For the ‘super nation with boot like land’, that’s European Italy. The second continent is Africa, with diamonds referring to South Africa, the Horn of Africa as the ‘horn’ and there’s the Sahara Desert. Since the Federation refers to Asia, far west means Middle East, ‘subcontinent’ means India, ‘archipelago’ means around giant islands of Southeast Asia, mainland Far East would mean mostly China. Coldest nation refers to Russia, ‘super nation of largest river basin’ would mean Brazil and powerful military nation means mostly the United States. Anonymity of places is maintained in the story, not the notes.
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