Melody of the Future

by Tatsurou

3: Groundwork

When X and Octavia returned to HQ to grab another Neutralizer, they found Zero there waiting for them, along with a female reploid they didn't recognize. she had pale skin, long brown hair, green eyes, and was wearing a form fitting red, blue, and yellow dress with a Victorian flare to the skirt, along with a red beret with a Repliforce pin attached over her right eye. She also had a headset on, indicating she was a spotter reploid.

"Welcome back X, Tavi," Zero greeted. "This is Iris. She's acting as liaison officer between us and Repliforce during this crises." He then turned solicitously to her. "Iris, this is X and Octavia. I told you about them."

"It is a pleasure to meet both of you," Iris spoke up, a slight British accent adding a lilting tinge to her voice as she curtsied. "I'm looking forward to working with both of you. X, you seem to be every inch the hero your reputation proclaims." With a wide smile, she knelt down to gently stroke Octavia's mane. "And you are even more adorable in person!" she squealed happily.

Octavia leaned into the caress, discovering one thing this Iris had that made her caresses even better than X's. "...fingernails..." she muttered under her breath happily, making Iris giggle.

"I take it Repliforce is in agreement?" X asked.

"Affirmative," Iris replied, her voice all business despite the fact she hadn't stopped caressing Octavia. "My brother, Colonel, is leading a force to isolate Doppler Town and the surrounding area. Land troops, boats, submersibles, and assault aircraft are positioned at the outermost edge of the Neural Computer's reach, along with detectors placed in case Doppler attempts to move the Computer to put any of our soldiers in range of the signal."

"That's excellent news," X confirmed gratefully. "Thanks for your cooperation."

"It would have happened sooner, but it took a while to convince her hot headed brother that charging in was a bad idea," Zero joked.

Iris giggled at the barbed jab, causing Octavia's eyebrows to go up. "Also, I have a warning for you," Iris added. "Doppler apparently has three powerful Reploids at his call, stronger than those he has control of via the computer. He refers to them as his Nightmare Police. Two are his own design, going by Bit and Byte. The third..." She stood up, glancing back and forth between everyone. "The third is Vile. He has, apparently, been reconstituted somehow."

X's eyes narrowed. "We'll keep an eye out for him," he promised. He then turned to Alia. "Who should we go after next?"

"The Acid Burst will be most effective against Tunnel Rhino's drills," Alia replied.

"Alright, let's go," Octavia agreed. The pair stepped onto the teleporters, beaming out.

---

As the pair beamed into the rocky ground around a mine, Octavia spoke up. "I think Uncle Zero likes Iris."

"I like her too," X agreed. "She seems nice."

"Not that way, Daddy," Octavia chided.

X blinked. "Huh. Hadn't thought of that."

Chuckling, Octavia led the way in. While a couple of mechanaloids on a rail tried to crush them by dropping a boulder on them, but they were easily able to evade them. Once they were inside the mine itself, they continued on past a mechanaloid that attempted to block their path as a wall, and another disguised as a boulder. A side passage led into a spike filled room, one that Octavia was able to navigate to collect a Heart Tank.

While there were various obstacles along the way - including spike pits, conveyor belts, and points where mud and slurry were dumped from above to try and press them into obstacles beneath - the path was relatively straight forward. X took a brief detour into an upper alcove containing a Sub Tank, before the pair continued downward past crab shaped mechanaloids that climbed the walls and shot spheres of electricity that bounced around to attack.

Shortly after, the pair were confronted by an orange armored Reploid bearing Doppler's insignia, with a large focus crystal in his forehead. "Welcome X, Octavia. I'm Bit," he greeted. "I have my orders to destroy you both."

X quickly switched to the scanner CiCi had provided, confirming that Bit was not under the control of the Neural Computer. "Then we'll destroy you first," he grunted.

Bit launched energy rings designed to ensnare and fireballs that attempted to track movements, as well as charging towards the pair with an energy blade held out in front. While X went above to avoid most of the attacks, Octavia went below, dashing under Bit's attacks and leaving Frost Shield's in the air behind her for him to run into. To Octavia's surprise, this did a great deal of damage to him. Seeing this, X switched to Frost Shield and added his own shots.

Before long, Bit came to a halt. "Your...special abilities...too much...D-d-damn you...!" His power core went critical due to the temperature imbalance, and he exploded.

X grunted a bit as he got back to his feet. "Iris wasn't kidding about these guys being tough," he grunted. He'd taken several hits through the course of the battle.

Octavia panted for breath. "Well...he's down now..."

Once they were both more or less recovered, they set out to find Tunnel Rhino. One new mechanaloid was a purple tank-like vehicle, smaller than X, wielding a small bomb launcher and dual drills that it could launch as well. While the drills blocked buster shots, X and Octavia were both able to shoot at it as they jumped over the drills, aiming downward, although they had to jump over the drills again, since its destruction launched both drills forward.

Further along, X and Octavia had to dodge falling boulders as they continued through the mine. At one point, a boulder blocked a narrow path, hanging from metal cables from the ceiling above a pit of spikes. Octavia stared at it for a time, then climbed up its side. Using her beam saber sub weapon, she managed to slash through the cables, dropping the boulder into the pit of spikes. X and Octavia both followed the path upward, leading to a Light capsule.

Light smiled as he appeared in the hologram. "X, Octavia, this capsule contains an upgrade for your helmets, containing a radar system that will allow you to scan an area for upgrade collectibles, such as Heart Tanks, Sub Tanks, and my Capsules."

"That will be useful," Octavia murmured, stepping back as X climbed in, letting Varia download the upgrade from X.

Not far beyond that, the pair faced off against a large mechanaloid riding a drill pallet. It continuously tried to ram them, knocking them from the walls when it slammed into the wall. The pair were able to avoid it, firing off charged shots which eventually took it down.

It was not long after that the pair reached Tunnel Rhino's chambers. He came bursting out of the ceiling to smash into the ground. "I will crush you both!" he shouted as he landed heavily. "Get ready for-"

"Can you jump?" Octavia asked.

Tunnel Rhino blinked. "Umm...no. But I can slam into the walls hard enough to make you fall off!"

Smirking, Octavia summoned Classic and merged with him. As she floated up into the air, X clung to her. "How about now?" she asked as X switched to Acid Spray.

Tunnel Rhino sank to his knees. "Just finish me off, then."

Seeing an opportunity, X launched the Neutralizer.

Tunnel Rhino blinked as it took effect. "...huh. That's better than I thought."

"Apparently, the core personality is unaffected by the signal," Octavia commented. "And if we can trigger the core persona, we can create an opportunity for applying the Neutralizer."

"We'll keep that in mind if we can," X replied.

"And I retain full memory this way," Tunnel Rhino added. His expression turned sour. "Not entirely sure if that's a good thing..."

"We'll fix things," Octavia promised as she landed.

"Here," Tunnel Rhino offered, holding out his drill. "Use my weapon. Make them pay for using me like that."

"Will do," X promised as they beamed out with the weapon program.

Comments

[Nova Blaze]

I like this guy. He's cool.

[recentteen14]

"Iris, this is X and Zero.

Zero, why are you introducing yourself instead of Tavi?

[Xinrick]

Small thing

"Iris, this is X and Zero. I told you about them."

Apparently Zero want's to introduce himself again.
But again it's a good story and I like how your doing things. Keep up the good work.

[Terabyte West]

Promise me we don't have to kill Iris! (Spoilers for X4 rather than 3.)

[cyberlord4444]

I like tunnel Rhino, he's reminds me of Maud.

[Skyeheart]

So, we're not going with the Bit/Byte fusion boss, does that mean we're also not going to see Vile's new pride and joy too?

[Kenshinryuu]

ith a wide smile, she knelt down to gently stroke Octavia's mane. "And you are even more adorable in person!" she squealed happily.

Octavia leaned into the caress, discovering one thing this Iris had that made her caresses even better that X's. "...fingernails..." she muttered under her breath happily, making Iris giggle.

DAAAWWWWW, looks like Octavia has a new favorite Auntie. PLEASE DON'T KILL IRIS OFF!!!

And now... they have THE DRILL THAT WILL PIERCE THE HEAVENS!!!

6689701 In all honesty, I'd rather see him face them twice since that was one kick ass machine and it's funner if X can say Vile ran away crying after their first encounter.

[Dirty Bit]

6689614 "WHAT AM I FIGHTING FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOR~!?!?!?"

[RanmaChaos]

Another enjoyable chapter. Well done.

[F14m3rz]

And so, one of the most tragic characters in the Mega Man series is introduced, and we can all expect to value her character for the same reasons as we've all come to appreciate it for in the ca- I can't type it with a straight face; we already know she's going to be either saved or repurposed or whatever you're going to do. Who knows, maybe she'll be likable as we get to know her, rather than just a character with an averted fate. Maybe she'll serve as a foil to Zero's random bouts of memes and contribute to an adorable relationship. Perhaps things will be entirely different than it was in the canon because hilarity and circumstance demands it... oh, right, I'm supposed to be talking about the chapter, not what you might or might not do.

Iris spoke up, a slight British accent adding a lilting tinge to her voice as she curtsied.

Huh, she seemed more along the lines of disconcertingly starstruck when the situation does anything else but call for it. Case and point, her death scene. I suppose since Colonel actually seems like he's played by an actor, it would be in your best interests to have Iris sound like him since they're siblings.

The third..." She stood up, glancing back and forth between everyone. "The third is Vile. He has, apparently, been reconstituted somehow."

... I can already tell how that's going to go.
{Vile:...
Octavia: Aren't you going to say anything?
Vile: *sigh* What's the point? You're not going to take me seriously, and even if you do, it's not like there was much point in me squaring off against you anyway. Life's a drag like that.
X: I would've expected you to find the situation more troublesome.
Vile: Of course you would. Now then, are we going to waste time talking or are we actually going to fi- oh wait, I've already lost.
*WARP!*
Varia: Huh, that was even easier than I expected.
[Self-destruct sequence initiated. T minus 5 minutes before nuclear detonation]
X: What's the point of having such a large window to escape from if the main goal is to axe us off?
Octavia: I don't know, let's just move out.}
It won't be nearly as meta, but we all know it would be just as easy.

[HB_DS2013]

I think now I know where Tavi got her accent from.

[the other sans]

Octavia leaned into the caress, discovering one thing this Iris had that made her caresses even better that X's

1. I believe you mean Than in this case.

I'm shocked that I never realised until now, X didn't have any fingernails. I had thought he was designed almost as an exact human in shape, down to the nails as well. Even if they don't grow and are artificial. Oh well, that was quite a shocker. Gotta drill this new info into me to make sure I don't forget.

[SilentMech]

So, bets on if Octavia can save Colonel or not?

[jwizard]

Tatsurou, this is just the X generation of games, correct?

Or are you planning to bring Megaman Legends and that gen into it as well? It won't matter if you do or not, I'm just curious.

And now I want Megaman 64 to play. Same game as Legends, except it was made for the 64.v Licensing crap and all that.

[Frission]

IRIIIIIISSSS!!!

Iris is my all-time favorite character from the X Series. Save her, Obi-Wan Tatsobi! You're her only hope!

[Jake Witt]

6691323
Seriously. Your Zero has this "screw destiny" thing going on. Instead of the whole "WHAT AM I FIGHTING FOR?!?" he could like her less.

Give Iris a chance to live and let Zero target Colonel! Maybe Iris will allow it?

[KaijinZero]

6692293 Zero's always been like that. moreso after Iris died.

[Jake Witt]

6695036 Thanks!

[Solaris_flare]

6695036 umm...i rather not be a bother.... but don't you mean you

[Arcanum -Phantasy]

7460294
Considering what happened to Rock, I don't hold much hope for Iris.

[zacman2000]

thus vile returns, man he's like a cockroach, whats it gonna take to bring him down for good?