Megaman ZX The Novelization Chapter 4

Chapter 4 – The Guardians

Vent and Aile went through the door on the opposite side of the transerver room, which led them to the city. Far away from their location, they could see buildings in various heights along with a few people doing their activities in peace. As they were about to head out, the communication devices went on.

“Hold on. It looks like Slither Inc.’s security force is starting to patrol the area,” Prairie’s voice was heard from the other side.

“Patrols?” Aile turned to Vent, who had his head turned to her as well, “That’s the first time we’ve ever heard of them doing those.”

“Slither Inc. must have already heard about the Maverick attack. If you stay transformed, they might think you’re in league with the Mavericks and attack you on sight. I’m sure the people around town will also find it hard to approach you if you look like that. In any case, it’s too dangerous to walk around town transformed. Be careful,” Prairie explained before cutting off the communication.

Vent and Aile transformed back into their human forms before a Guardian approached them, “You're going to undertake the trial for permission to enter HQ right?” Vent and Aile nodded in reply, “My name is Dorado. There are four Guardians hidden like me throughout town. If you can find all of us, you pass the test,” Dorado moved aside and made a way for the two transporters, “Let the trial begin! Good luck!”

“Thanks!” Aile replied before she turned to Vent, “To speed things up, let’s split up and find those Guardians.”

“Do we have to?” Vent complained, getting a glare from Aile, “R-Right! I’ll go! I’ll go!”

Vent backed away from Aile out of fear, before he ran into the city. Aile watched him go before letting out a sigh, “Seriously… Being with him sometimes makes me feel like I’m pampering a kid!” Aile let out another sigh before she walked into the city.

An hour had passed since Vent and Aile started the trial for the permission to enter Guardian HQ. Vent was the first to find a Guardian, whose name was Oelliet, who was hiding in a house near the point where he started. Meanwhile, Aile had already found Carrelet in a small house and Congre, who was hiding away from the Slither Inc.’s patrol team. Aile was crawling through a series of pipe holes when she noticed a big man in the green Guardian outfit sitting right next to the last pipe hole.

“Ah! You’re a Guardian too, right?” Aile asked as she rose to her feet.

“You’re right! The name’s Thon, and congrats for findin’ me, little miss!” The big man, Thon, offered a hand for her to shake, “I wish we had more of your kind in the Guardians. But whether you decide to join us or not is up to you. I’ll be headin’ back. See ya later!”

With Thon teleported away, Prairie contacted Aile through the communication device on her ear, “It looks like you and Vent found them all. Head to Area C-2 and get the certification for passing the test. That will conclude your trial.”

“Alright, thanks Prairie!” Aile cut off the communication, “Wait, if I found three of them, then…” With a sly grin on her face, Aile reached out for the communication device once more, “Hey Vent! Looks like I win!”

“Huh? Wait, who told you that this is a competition about who finds the most Guardians?” Vent asked from the other side, along with some dog barking in the background, “H-Hey! Cut it out! I’m going out already!”

“Vent, did something happen? Or perhaps you’re doing something silly again?” Aile asked, noticing that the dog barking sound was slowly fading.

“Nothing! So, what’s next? Can we go to the HQ now?” Vent asked impatiently.

“Just one more thing. Go to Area C-2 to get the certification, then we can go,” Aile replied, “I’ll go on ahead and wait for you there, but don’t you dare making me wait long!”

“I promise, I won’t! I’m already in the area… wait! I think I saw the Guardian over there! Okay, race you there!” Vent said quickly before cutting off the communication.

“Hey! That’s not fair! I don’t even know where you are!” Aile complained, but got no answer as Vent had already cut the communication and sighed in frustration, “You’re so childish!” Aile said angrily before running towards the meeting point, where the Guardian, Dorado, was waiting.

As Aile approached them, she saw that Dorado wasn’t on his own. Vent was already there with him, looking at her with a grin and a peace sign, “I beat you here!”

“Whatever…” Aile completely ignored Vent before turning to Dorado, “Are you here to give us the certification?”

Dorado nodded in reply before he pulled out a white stuffed animal, which had many stitches on it, “Here, take this.”

“You’re kidding…” Vent commented in disbelief as he saw Aile taking the stuffed animal from the Guardian, “That’s our certification?”

“You better take care of that,” Dorado said as he turned to Vent, feeling offended, “It’s one of Prairie’s most prized possessions. Anyway, that concludes your trial. You can now use the transerver to go to the Guardian HQ.”

“This is so cute!” Aile commented as she hugged the stuffed animal, “I hope you don’t mind with me holding it!”

“Sure… Just suit yourself,” Vent replied and saw Aile kept holding the stuffed animal as they walked back towards the transerver and smiled, ‘As a tomboy as she is on the outside, Aile is still a girl in the inside…’

As they reached the transerver, they sent the mission report before the teleported themselves into the Guardian HQ. Once they arrived at the HQ’s transerver room, they saw that there were Giro, Prairie and another Guardian in the room. Vent noticed the glass wall on the opposite side of the room, which had the sight of the blue sky along with some clouds, and ran towards it.

“Wow, an airship?” Vent leaned on the glass, completely ignoring the other people in the room, “I certainly wasn’t expecting an airship, but this is so cool!”

“The Guardians have to explore the world, so we need a convenient method of staying mobile,” Prairie shortly explained.

“Oh, I think I have something you should have, Prairie,” Vent reached for his pockets and pulled out a chip before handing it over to Prairie, “This is the chip we found when we were out there.”

“And as for the certification that we passed the trial…” Aile looked down to the stuffed animal she was holding in her arms before handing it to Prairie, “Is this it?”

Prairie took the stuffed animal with a smile on her face, “Yes, that was a gift from Sis. It holds a lot of memories for me. Thank you for bringing it back.”

Giro sighed in irritation before turning to Vent, “Vent! You can’t just call her by her first name! Got it? Hmph, kids…”

“Don’t worry about it Giro,” Prairie turned to Giro with a smile while holding the stuffed animal in her arms, “I want to apologize for the grave danger I put you three in. Let’s meet at the command center and I will explain everything there. Once you’re out of this room, turn to the right.”

The Guardians went out of the transerver room, and followed by Vent and Aile. The two headed towards the command center, where Prairie and Giro were waiting. Prairie was sitting at the main hub with Giro watching her behind her chair. When they noticed the two new Guardian members came in, they turned to them.

“Let me take this opportunity to welcome you to Guardian Headquarters. And…” Prairie rose from her seat, “I am Prairie, the commander of the Guardians.”

“EEEHHH!?” Vent and Aile yelled in unison out of surprise.

“The commander of all the Guardians!? T-Then that means…” Vent turned to Giro, who nodded at him.

“Yes, she’s a very important client,” Giro’s expression turned into an angry one, “Which is exactly why I want you two to call her by her proper title.”

“How could a girl our age be commanding the Guardians?” Aile asked, still in disbelief.

“It all started with the sentient machines, known as Mavericks, continue to attack people,” Prairie started, “This terrible situation should not even exist. Hundreds of years ago, man and machine put aside their differences and agreed to a truce. The Guardians have continued to investigate the root cause behind the current Maverick outbreaks. One day we found a research lab belonging to a certain scientist.”

“A ‘certain scientist’?” Vent and Aile asked in unison.

“The first commander of the Guardians… The one who disappeared,” Prairie lowered her head, “She was my Sis.”

“So you took over when she was gone…” Vent concluded, getting a nod from Prairie.

“And we were hauling the Biometal that you found at the research lab,” Giro added, getting another nod from Prairie.

“A long time ago, the world humans and machines was saved by a group of legends,” Prairie turned away from the three and looked up to the sky through the glass in the room as she continued, “Biometal are fragments containing the consciousness of those legendary heroes. There might be some hint regarding the Maverick outbreaks in the data stored at the lab,” Prairie turned back to the group, “Fleuve’s personal laboratory is right next to the transerver room. Take the Biometal data there for analysis. I’ll be here analyzing that computer chip that you brought back.”

Vent and Aile followed Giro to a short trip towards Fleuve’s lab, where the old Reploid was doing some analysis on Model Z, “Oh, good, good. I have been waiting for you two! Now, where is this fragment of Biometal?”

“Here,” Vent pulled out Model X from his pocket.

Fleuve took Model X from Vent’s hand before returning Model Z to Giro. The old Reploid put the Biometal on table in front of a virtual keyboard and began typing on his computer and codes started appearing line by line on the screen above it, along with part descriptions of the Biometal. Once the data stopped appearing, Fleuve took the Biometal and handed it back to Vent, “Data transfer complete. Much appreciated! You can take the Biometal back now.”

The alarm suddenly went off, “W-What’s going on?” Aile asked as she turned to Vent and Giro.

“Mavericks detected in Area D! Mission objectives will be relayed on arrival. Move out and await further orders,” The voice of the operator was heard through the intercom, “I repeat! Mavericks detected in Area D! Mission objectives will be relayed on arrival. Move out and await further orders.”

“Area D…” Giro thought for a moment and noticed something, “That’s right next to the Slither Inc. head office!”

“It’s too dangerous for you to go back to town now. We must hurry to the command center!” Fleuve suggested before the four of them headed towards the command center.

In the command center, Prairie noticed the four came in and turned her chair around, “It looks like our enemy is on the move.”

“’Enemy’? So they’re not just random Maverick attacks?” Giro asked, getting a nod from Prairie as her expression turned serious.

“After I did a little snooping on the chip Vent and Aile brought back, I found that there is a program controlling the Mavericks,” Prairie started, “There is someone behind the Maverick attacks, but they’re just making them seem like random raids. They must be trying to steal the Biometal you were carrying.”

“I knew it…” Vent curled his hands into fists in anger, “Then what about the Serpent’s security force? Where are they? Why haven’t they arrived yet!?”

Prairie paused for a moment before answering, “It takes time for them to be recalled to the head office from their patrol routes in the city. Guardian ground forces are moving to intercept the Mavericks in Area D.”

A light lit up on one of the operators’ screens, “Maquereau from the ground forces reporting! The Mavericks are heading for the residential district. Troops are exchanging fire on the highway in Area D!”

“No!” It was Aile’s turn to get angry, “Then, what about the people in town!?” Aile turned to Vent, “Come on, Vent! We have to do something!”

As Vent and Aile were running towards the door, Fleuve stopped them, “Vent!? Aile!? Where are you going!?”

“With the help from the Biometal, we can fight! We can help those people!” Vent replied and saw that Giro had come over to them, “Boss! We have to go and help them!”

“Think, you two! That Biometal is exactly what they want! You’ll play straight into their hands if you go out there to fight!” Giro rejected, holding their arms to prevent them from going.

“You saw it, right? You must’ve seen it ten years ago…” Vent lowered his head, “My mom was killed by Mavericks right in front of me, but if the security force… if Serpent’s security force had come sooner, see would have been alive today! They had the power to prevent that, but they did nothing!”

Vent’s angry yell had silenced the whole room and Aile was the first one to speak, “I agree with Vent… The people are going to get hurt when the Mavericks reach them! We can’t just sit here and watch! We’ll take down every last one of them!”

Vent nodded in agreement before he and Aile broke free from Giro’s grip, “Let’s go, Aile! We have some Mavericks to destroy!”

“Vent! Aile!” Prairie called out, but none of them listened and went out through the door.

Giro let out a sigh before putting a hand on his forehead, “Why won’t they ever listen…?”