Station Square: Incident Unfortunate

[Lans]

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"What the...?" Acting practically on instinct, Harpuia instantly flipped out of the way of the new opponent. "It can self replicate!?" Harpuia shouted incredulously. ...Oh FRACK no! They were having enough trouble with one, he wasn't about to tolerate another. Flipping around in mid air, Harpuia's wing verniers actually gave off a visible flare as he shot himself straight at the new Juno, sabers outstretched an making him into a living spear aimed right at its chest.

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[Mage]

(Ant and I agreed to make a collab post in order to fix a post issue)

When Sonic appeared to save their lives, he waves and cheered at the blue blur. "WHOOOO, SONIC'S BACK!"

A smirk escaped his lips, since he gets that reaction a lot. But the task he was focused on as he looked up in the sky, while the moths were still away. He spotted the aerial battle between the familiar robot boy, some green flying guy, and two strange robotic beings. "Let me guess; those two walking science projects are the king of these moths?"

The soldier girl nodded at the hedgehog. "Yeah, it's the one who looks like a woman. Everyone else is on our side. Save for the robot moths." She said, as she reloaded another clip into her M4 rifle.

"Ah..." Scanning the skies, he quickly studied which of the Reaverbots flew close to the battle above. "Looks like a woman? Can't really tell from here. Heh! I'll just get a closer look." Rocketing high, Sonic flew into one of the moths with his Homing Attack...and did the same at another one...pretty much, he climbed to air by using the Reaverbots like pins in a pinball machine. Launching off the last moth, Sonic hurled right up at the Juno Harpuia was attacking

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Thankfully, the tank avoided most of the moths "hug of doom". Making the damage minimal. And countered with an attack from the cannon.

Ammo 1/3

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The anti-air gunner however wasn't so lucky, the moth's death grasp smothered the machine. Heavily damaging it. But despite that, it still had enough juice for another barrage.

Ammo: 1/3

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[AnT]

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"Hmph!" With his gorilla robotic arm, Juno #1 swatted the giant plasma blast before spinning around Trigger's shots. "The original Mega Man?"

Juno smiled pleasantly. "I am Mega Man Juno. It is an honor." Lifting a giant pyro ball over his head, Juno tossed it down at the two Mega Men.

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"The original...?" Sera and Yuna told him that the Mega Man he seen in the cartoons...THIS Mega Man, truly existed, but....but now Rock spotted the falling energy ball. "Watch out!!"


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"HUUUGRH!!!" Meanwhile, Juno #2 suffered the strike of Harpuia's blades on his chest, tumbling back he did. However, while there were some scratches and burnt marks across his chest, Juno was hardly damaged. "We shall enjoy studying you, Reploid."

Smiling, Juno then batted Sonic's strike.

But when Sonic bounced over Juno's head, he landed on the back of it, leaning over his face. "Whoa! Who built you? A music studio?"

His brow nearly twitched, yet his smile didn't quiver. "Annoyance..." And he tried to swat him off...

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But Sonic rode on his claw with joy. "WOOO!!! Nice try, Smooth Criminal!"



Meanwhile, as Metabee blasted away the moths coming at him, he hurried over to the building Ikki was on. But with Marina on his back, and his dirty and battered body, and the moths now knocking him off his feet, he wouldn't do much good for Ikki.

"Argh...I wish they made a Raid Meda-part or something..." he muttered, trying to get on his feet, while lifting the weight on his back.

But then, he saw two pairs of feet; ones wearing white boots, the other with pink robotic feet. His green optics looked up to their owners. One was someone with pigtails...wearing a comical yet frightening smiling mask. The other was a small pink robot donned like a nurse.

And that nurse robot reached for Metabee, with her white glowing hands.




Oh, and the moths, attacking the army, were destroyed by the Orange Star tanks. Look at them blow like fireworks. [rand=773589247785556337174884274031355242778209720246894775135628811]

[Vize Viper]

Mega Man's eyes widened at the sight of the massive ball coming towards them and was about to tell Rush to get out of the ball's path, when... he heard something.

Was that... a whistle? Five notes, almost a scale... Only one person whistled that tune.

And a red beam came down from the sky, striking Rush's head, and forming into the android in question, who, without a word, leapt from his precarious landing site, and swung his shield at the ball of energy.

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Which, considering it's size relative to him, he AMAZINGLY directed downwards towards part of the ruined street below. Falling after it, he watched the ball blast the street apart as he stood on top of a light post.

"Hey, little bro! Looked like you could use a hand!"

And the Blue bomber... was grinning like an idiot.

"PROTOMAN! You're here too!"

"Yeah, yeah. Now get yer head back in the game before ya get toasted!"

In response, he just nodded. "Right!"

And then leveled his buster at Juno, firing several smaller plasma shots.

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[Alien-Child]

"(Who the hell is he?)" Umbreon asked his brother in his langrage.


"(I...yhink he's Harry Hedgehog from Yoshi Island)"


"OMG! It's Sonic the Hedgehog!" Rui squel, "He, Mario and Snake are my al time favs! Let's go guys!" Rui said to the Pok?mon. They all look at each, shrug and follow the girl...leaving Wes' burnt body-Wait, where is he?8

[Stoney]

Beeyow.

A second beam of light split the clouds as it slammed down with the sound effect of a laser weapon from a campy sci-fi movie. As this light hit the ground it bulged outward, took shape, and became a red-armored Reploid with long blond hair.

Zero paused for the briefest of instants, maintaining the kneeling position he'd materialized in. During this crucial half-second he took stock of the situation, using radar and scanning techniques far superior to anything Station Square had yet seen to determine that yes, the battle was still going; the enemies far outnumbered the allies; the city was taking a MASSIVE beating; and the object of his search was 1/3rd of a football field away and some distance up in the air.

The next half-second he was rolling to the side as a laser blast from one of the Reaverbots slammed into the spot where he'd been, leaving behind a small crater in the concrete.

Zero stood up and frowned at the beast. It was similar to the mindless Mechaniloid drones from his time period; a machine without higher reasoning abilities, designed and built for war alone. Destroying them should be relatively easier than the Pantheons.

Zero pulled the cylinder for the Z-Saber off of his back, but he did not activate the energy blade; instead he pulled what looked like a laser gun missing its top half off of his belt. He slid the Z-Saber's cylinder into the section where the gun's barrel would be, feeling it click into place with comforting precision.

Raising the combined weapon in both hands, he took aim at the offending Reaverbots around him and began firing.

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Meanwhile he was also activating his internal comlink, setting up to broadcast on an encrypted frequency commonly used by Neo Arcadian soldiers. He rerouted power to his communications relay so it could send out a pulse with maximum range, giving anyone who heard it a very loud greeting.

The pulse contained a message, formed from a single word spokeen in his voice:

“HARPUIA!!![/i]”[/size][rand=976577648179848754282252334444844209862324442825719907790753408222]

[Lans]

Bad timing...


Harpuia was about to take advantage of Sonic's distraction to land another hit on Juno...when he heard something the was like somebody had pulled the emergancy brake on his train of thought, stopping him dead in mid attack.

"Zero!?"

[Mage]

When the moths were destroyed, the OS soldiers cheered in glory. They were victorious in this rough battle!

"RIGHT ON! WOOOOOO!" The mechanic cheered happily too, then looked over at Juno. "But there's still that guy..."

"Yeah, I know. What can we do now?" Sami thought that conventional weapons might not work so well against him, but should they just leave it to the bots?

[AnT]

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Like swatting away pieces of paper, Juno did the same to the three plasma shots. "Though...I expected more from the legendary Mega Man original. Pity..."

Funny, he never seen the red guy from the cartoons, but those question can wait. Mega Man Volnutt in the meantime aimed his own Mega Buster. "Then try this!" And fired, a more rapid barrage than the original.

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And just like with the original, Juno swatted the shot...at least three of them, before the last two exploded in his face. "ARGH!!" His pleasent, but now dirty look, twitched with anger. "Yes, Trigger! From past experience, I never underestimate your prowess."

Growling with rage, Juno rocketed at Blue Bombers.

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"Hey!!" Sonic called out to Harpuia, while perched on the other Juno's arm. "Hello! I'm the distraction here!"

"And soon to be purged." When Juno's arm that Sonic sat sparked out flames, the arm then burst into fire.

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The fire just engulfed Sonic, burning around his black silhouette like paper....or so Juno thought.

For Sonic was now standing behind his head, with a pair of scissors and a shaver handy. "Remember, kids; don't run around with scissors!"

Whirling the tools around Juno's hair so fast, a cloud formed around them. A few second later, Sonic waved off the smoke with a mirror. "Fini!" He held the mirror in front of Juno. "What you think? Should I cut a little closer?"

Picture this, folks! Juno...the Bureaucratic model of Elysium, third class...in an old school Sonic moe-hawk.

Sonic has truly become one of the few people to ever...EVER get Juno angry. But not only that...Sonic has become the first to make his eyes...OPEN.

"HOW DARE YOU!!!!!!!!!" Clapping his hands over his head, Juno created an exploding light.

But Sonic back-flipped off before that happened, letting gravity pull him toward the city...while laying like he was resting on a beach chair "See ya!!"

That just put more insult to injury as Juno dived after him.


And as for the moths around Zero, yeah he blasted them like fireworks. But don't celebrate too early, solders. More were arriving, flying out from the corner of the buildings, again surrounding the Orange Star army.

And while that happened, a little 'Lego' robot hovered under the cloud of Bache Moths, with a little propeller attached to his head like a Lego piece. Fluttering over the roof Sami and Andy were on, the bot beamed and waved at them; mostly Andy.

"HIIIIIIIIIII!!!!" [rand=9735710040678768636698528643218329394105887504654313305007276971]

[Vize Viper]

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With a practiced move, Mega Man steered Rush out of Juno's path, moving him and Trigger to safety, before he brought the dog around.

"Gimme a break, I just got repaired!" The Blue Bomber yelled, before the familiar high pitched whine that accompanied his Buster charging filled the air, a green glow surrounding the boy robot.

(Charge: 0)

But it seemed that Protoman had been ignored by the moths, a fact he was taking advantage of as he aimed at Juno 1.

"Looks like those two still need a hand." He mumbled, before letting fly with two orange fireballs of plasma.

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[Alien-Child]

"Plusle, Minun...SPARK!" Rui commanded as the Pok?mon shot out electric balls at Juno and maybe his robotic minions.
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And joining them was Espeon with a Psychic attack.
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[Lans]

Harpuia quickly snapped himself back to the present and dove in pursuit of the Juno he was fighting.

Meanwhile, he sent back along the same frequency: "Zero...still have a penchant for meddling in fights that aren't your own, I see."

[Stoney]

(OOC EDIT: Much thanks to Lans for this amazing exchange! All Harpuia parts are posted with his permission.)






Zero scowled. Had this copy's creator programmed in Harpuia's personality and memories? What a terribly cruel thing to do. And that voice...it sounded exactly like the one he remembered.

Brief images of Harpuia as he was before his death flashed up in front of Zero's vision, triggered by the voice. The reploid felt a pang of emotion that made the fiber-optic cables in his chest area tighten, but he shook it off as he sent back a reply: "Harpuia...no, I shouldn't use that name. You aren't worthy of it." A scowl was working its way across his face despite his suppressive efforts. "How'd it feel to get blown to smithereens, Copy? Or did your creator neglect to mention that detail?"

---

"...Actually it was very excruciating, but thank you so much for the reminder," Harpuia responded with a deadpan. "As for my creator, since they've been dead about a hundred years, from my perspective, you're obviously referring to whoever saved and/or rebuilt me. Your guess is as good as mine, especially since I had a curious encounter with someone who's supposed to have been dead for over 200 earlier."

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Zero began putting more force into his movements, taking a twisted pleasure out of watching the robot moths explode around him. This copy was clearly built to replace Harpuia, retaining even the memories of the reploid's destruction.

"Then you are aware that you are a copy." It was not a question; merely a simple confirmation of the facts. Zero flipped around one of the moths that dove at him and removed his Z-Saber's hilt, slicing through the Reaverbot as he spun gracefully through the air. By the time he'd landed, the hilt was back in his gun and firing shots again.

"I'm going to keep this short and simple,” He transmitted to Harpuia. “I want to know who created you, why they did it, and whether they built copies of the other X Guardians." During a brief pause in the battle, he turned to glare up at the flying green figure. “I will not let you escape until I know the truth.”

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"Of course I'm aware that this body is a copy, as I quite clearly remember Omega's death throes vaporizing me. But you should know better than anyone that just because my body isn't the original that who I am in my mind isn't the same." Harpuia sent back, clearly insulted that Zero thought he was a fake.

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Zero narrowed his eyes as something akin to a snarl was transmitted across the line. “If you are referring to me, you'd do well to remember that there is one part of this body that is not a copy -- my Control Chip. It retains everything that makes me me and has not changed an iota over these years. THAT is what separated me from Omega, and Copy X from the original.”

“I was saved from Omega's destruction because of the Original X. He teleported me out using the last of his strength.” Zero gave a vicious downward cleave with his Z-Saber, slicing a Reaverbot in twain and dashing away to the next target before the two halves exploded. “The original Harpuia, on the other hand...he did not have a Cyber-Elf that could teleport him out of range, like I did. His Control Chip was completely destroyed.”

A section of Zero's wrist slid open as white machinery extracted itself, surrounding his fist and placing four glowing ports of energy over the tops of his knuckles. Taking the Z-Saber's deactivated hilt and slamming it into the center of this machinery inside of his curled fist, he let the Z-Knuckle fly forward with a roar and punched through the gut of the nearest Reaverbot. A burst of green plasma was expelled from the energy ports at the last second, piercing through two more robots behind it.

“I lived for years after that – alone! Without Fefnir, without Leviathan, without Harpuia!” Zero raged over the connection, emotion boiling to the surface unbidden. “The Guardians are DEAD! Beyond salvage, beyond recovery! You...you may have Harpuia's memories and personality, but you cannot be the original. You do not have his soul!”

“SO TELL ME.” He glared up at the figure above once again, his body shaking with rage unleashed. “Tell me who dared to defile his grave! Tell me who spat on his sacrifice and mocked his life by building YOU!”

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Harpuia stopped dead in mid air. "You want the truth? I have NO IDEA who rebuilt me, why, for what purpose, ANYTHING! My first memories here were waking up in a statis capsule in a warehouse! Further, I have no inkling of where, or WHAT this place is, seeing as I find myself not only meeting the legendary Dr. Light, creator of master X, but also fighting alongside his prototype: the original Mega Man! For all I know, I'm STILL being incinerated by Omega so this and you could just be a product of my dying mind!" Harpuia raged. "But know this!" he said aloud, "I am Sage Harpuia, Guardian of X, and former leader of Neo Arcadia's Rekku army, and I WILL NOT be spokeen to like this, even by YOU, o' 'Legendary Warrior!'" And with that, and a snarl, Harpuia dove, not at Juno, but swooping in for an attack run on Zero!

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Whatever Zero had been expecting, it wasn't that.

Unlike the radio transmissions, Harpuia's spokeen voice could not reach him through the auditory haze of explosions, gunfire, robotic screeching and the yelling of the Orange Star soldiers on the ground. So when Zero suddenly felt the tips of two beam sabers pierce into his side, his eyes went wide with complete shock. To him, the attack was unprovoked and sudden; there was no time to raise his defenses.

He was lifted into the air slightly by the force of Harpuia's charge as the green-armored Guardian ascended into the air before gravity caught up with Zero and he was pulled off the sabers, inertia throwing him sideways into a building and leaving a visible dent behind as he crumpled to the ground.

Zero felt his helmet hit the earth with a dull clang that rang in his ears like a church bell, his body impacting soon after. Pain signals swept through him in a tidal wave before focusing in the two most critical points of damage, twin holes in his side that were even now cracking with electricity and spilling forth dark coolant.

Zero slowly lifted his head, levering himself up on his hands and knees as he glared at the new attacker. "You...BASTARD!" He yelled at last, standing up and drawing his saber with the fury of an exploding sun. He'd almost completely lost control of himself now; flashes of memory and broken visions were swimming through his head as the rage that had steadily been building in the background this whole time ignited, lighting a fire in his mind.

He swung the Z-Saber in a horizontal slice in front of him, the energy blade leaving a green streak behind before reestablishing its normal shape. He pointed it at the flying Reploid like a lance, eyes glowing with menace. "I defeated the original Harpuia three times before! You have no chance against me, you faker!"

And with that he launched forward, a wordless attack cry leaving his lips as he leaped off the ground with one foot to slice his Saber across the impudent copy's FACE.

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[Lans]

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Instantly Harpuia's sabers were there, crossed in an X and catching Zero's saber before It could do anything. He shoved back, roughly knocking Zero back to the ground. "Maybe you just never angered me enough before! Well congratulations Zero, YOU'VE SUCCEEDED!!" he snarled as he dove, his sabers still ignited but instead of striking with his blades it was a FIST he was aiming to plant between Zero's eyes.
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[Stoney]

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Zero's eyes went wide during the fraction of a second it took Harpuia to cover the distance between them. During previous battles, the Guardian had always used his sabers -- never before had they resorted to fisticuffs.

A millisecond of pure surprise ticked by.



Then Zero's eyes narrowed to slits as his hand flashed up, catching Harpuia's fist in his palm inches from his face. Unlike before, he was facing Harpuia's attack full-on and could react to it properly rather than getting blindsided.

Zero slowly clenched the fingers curled around Harpuia's fist, exerting pressure on it as he planted his feet and began forcing the Reploid back despite the forward momentum of his jets. His side screamed in pain at him, but he ignored it; all his concentration was focused on removing the new threat and countering it.

With a triumphant grunt, Zero knocked the fist away. But he didn't use his saber again, oh no; if Harpuia wanted to get up close and personal, he'd oblige.

The Z-Saber's hilt slammed home again as the Z-Knuckle's machinery curled around his fist.

"HAAAAAA!" Zero raised the completed weapon up and threw it forward in a haymaker punch, a sound not unlike a gunshot going off as he discharged a burst of plasma energy from it at the end of the motion.

(The punch)
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(The plasma)
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