Legends of the Halcyon Era – The Avion Adventure: Galactic Voyage

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Legends of the Halcyon Era

The Avion Adventure: Galactic Voyage

by

David Oxford/LBD “Nytetrayn”

*****

Previously, in Legends of the Halcyon Era…

As the group prepared for their journey back to the world of Avion, Janine and Black Steel cleared the air, while Adam Powers made a new friend down in the base’s workshop, and MegaMan Magnus vented some frustrations on the firing range. Meanwhile, Nytetrayn went to see what his creator, the base’s commander, wanted to see him about so urgently, only to come away disappointed.

Now, they find themselves racing through deep space, seeing sights among the stars they’ve never seen before, and may never see again after they return…

As the Terrans gathered together in a hub area near their quarters, they were able to look out into the vastness of space that now surrounded them. The field of stars, planets, solar systems manages to be entrancing and mesmerizing, and at the same time, almost frightening in some ways.

Side-by-side, Nytetrayn and Celeste looked out the window. Adam stood as he stared out in fascination, his sword on his back so that MegaMan Blade could take in the view, too. Janine sat next to Steel, her head on his shoulder, as he stared blankly out at the endless sea of stars. Fenix sat next to Magnus, his head on his shoulder, as Magnus had one arm around him, and the other around Mr. Hoppy.

“I was not prepared for this,” Steel said. As he looked over at the other “couples,” he added, “Yeah, space travel does have bad side effects… hallucinations being the first for me.”

Adam glanced back at the others, and raised an eyebrow behind his shades at the sight of Fenix and Magnus.

“So much out there…” Nytetrayn said. Celeste nodded quietly.

At that moment, Edge entered the room. “So, how are you guys hangin’ on, on your first trip out?”

“I feel… insignificant,” Steel said, eyes wild as he stared at various galaxies. Nytetrayn and Celeste just nodded in agreement.

“Heh, you get used to it,” said the Mechadrake. “It can be overwhelming sometimes.”

Adam turned back to the window, and mused. “I wonder how many of them are inhabited… and if they’re creatures like us…”

“Well, there are alot of inhabited planets out there,” Edge explained. “You might’ve seen some of the species around the ship. Some of them adapted by other Reploids, even.”

“Things aren’t gonna get weird now, are they?” Fenix said.

“Nah,” Magnus replied.

“You mean they weren’t before?” Nytetrayn fired back.

“You’ll likely see a lot of them on Avion,” Edge continued. “While we’ve made significant progress in restoring their homeworlds, alot of them have either stayed on Avion as their new home, while others are sort of like refugees, you might say.”

“So, how far have you explored?” Adam asked.

“Quite a ways. There are probably still worlds we’ve yet to discover, but we’ve been to many, many new places. It’s just a shame the circumstances weren’t better for a lot of them.” Edge looked out the window as well, wistfully. “Still, no changing the past…”

“Indeed,” said Magnus.

“So,” Adam said. “You say you’ve eradicated Repliforce, eh?”

“As far as we know. We figure there could still be small sects of them hiding out there, somewhere, regrouping… but so far, intelligence hasn’t found anything yet. Hopefully, if there are any, we’ll find them before they can do any significant damage. It’s been a long, drawn-out experience… I’m just glad it’s finally over.”

Edge paused for a moment, then added “Ironic, really. We find a new world, we create a new society, virtually erasing the problems that we came from – though there are still a few troublemakers here and there –, and yet we end up in a conflict far worse than anything Sigma or Wily had ever done.”

“Tell me,” said Magnus, “why did they create an all-Reploid military in the first place? Given the prevailing attitude of the government at the time, I can’t imagine how such a thing came to exist.”

“Yeah,” Adam added, “that doesn’t seem to make a whole lot of sense.”

“Honestly?” Edge replied. “I don’t know the details behind the creation… I heard something about them being something out of Cain Labs, a supplement to the Maverick Hunters, and that it was an experiment that ultimately failed, and the project was to be terminated.”

“Cain meant well… he really did, I’m sure,” Edge continued. “But it seems everything he touched crumbled like ash after he dug up X.”

“Yeah, really,” said Fenix.

“The road to hell is paved with good intentions,” Adam said, gazing out at the stars in deep contemplation.

While Nyte and Steel each continued quietly looking out at everything passing by, lost in their own respective thoughts, Celeste spoke up. “Edge…”

The red Mechadrake turned to her, listening.

“What was… what was the… uh… ‘other’ Celeste like?”

Edge thought back. “She was nice… looked a lot like you, of course. Really close to the Commander, thanks to their history together. I heard that she and the Hunter, Zero, also had a bit of a history, if I recall correctly.” Celeste nodded, and Edge went on. “She was also good in battle. She and the Commander made a formidable duo when together, thanks to their mental link…”

“Were they making you anatomically correct by then?” Fenix asked.

Edge’s expression dropped for just a moment before answering. “It was more a case-by-case basis, a lot of the time. It’s a lot more common now, however. In fact, it’s usually those firmly rooted in the ways of old who wouldn’t be… er, ‘equipped’. So it wasn’t out of the question.”

Edge took a seat. “Oh, by the way – when we reach Avion, I need to hook you all up with proper identification and currency cards.”

“Nifty,” said Fenix.

“Yeah, you guys’ll be able to live it up, first-class. Sort of on the ‘royal bank account’, as it were. Should be some interesting sights for you to see, once we get there.”

“I can deal with that,” said Magnus.

Nyte looked over and nodded in agreement. “Be a nice change from the apartment.”

“Yeah Nyte, you kids can afford the honeymoon suite,” Fenix said, as he lightly elbowed Nyte in the ribs.

Nyte’s eyes widened. “…we… we’re not…” he said.

Celeste’s expression mirrored his. “…but… we…”

Fenix leaned back with his arms behind his head contentedly. “I just love the looks on their faces when I pull stuff like that…”

As that was going on, the door had opened, and MoonRazor, SunFlame, and Crossfire entered. “Honeymoon?” MoonRazor said. “What happened, our invites get lost in the mail?”

“Hey guys, nice of you to join us,” Edge said.

“Eh, thought we’d make sure you weren’t eating all the guests yourself,” Crossfire replied.

“Yeah, you always hog all the good parts,” added SunFlame.

“Dibs on the cape, once he’s finished,” MoonRazor said as he pointed at Fenix.

As the Terrans started to look at each other nervously, the Mechadrakes all busted out laughing before grabbing some seats. “Just a little dragon humor for you, there,” said Crossfire.

Suddenly, Steel stood up, his brow set and eyes filled with determination. He glared at SunFlame and MoonRazor, his hair framing his angry frown. “I…”

His stomach growled.

“…am very hungry.”

Janine died laughing.

“Heh, no prob,” said Edge. “We can head down to the galley, if you want.”

“Lead the way!” said a now-jubilant Steel.

As the group headed for the dining hall, a thought occurred to Steel. “So what do you guys eat? You’re bio-organic… dragons, right?”

“That’s right. And we pretty much just eat what we want.”

“So… if you ingest organic food, is it digested in the same manner as a man, or is it internally disposed of?”

“Uh, internally, I guess. Generally, there’s not much left when we eat.”

Edge noted the puzzled expressions on the Terrans’ faces. “Um, how do I put this? You guys ever seen ‘Back To The Future’? Part 2?”

“Back to the Future…?” Steel asked.

“Is that the one with the modified DeLorean DMC-12 time machine with hover conversion and Mr. Fusion Home Energy Reactor?” asked Nytetrayn.

“Yeah,” said Edge. “So you’ve seen it?”

Nytetrayn paused. “Nope. Never.”

Edge almost fell over, then sighed. “Yeah, didn’t think so. And I really need to talk to the commander about what sorts of programming he left lying around in that head of yours.” He tried to think of how to explain it. “Basically, we eat, and fusion generators sort of make use of the leftover matter to provide our mechanical parts with energy, while the more ‘nutritious’ parts help sustain the organic parts.”

“I see…” Steel said, as he nodded in understanding.

“Do you really?” Janine whispered in his ear.

“Yes… maybe… okay, no, not really,” Steel whispered back.

Janine couldn’t help but giggle a little at that.

When they arrived in the dining area, the group lined up and got to pick their foods from a lineup, cafeteria-style. While some of the names were unfamiliar to the Terrans, the offerings overall seemed surprisingly normal.

As they took their seats at a table, Nytetrayn opened up his burger and gave it a thorough examination, even poking it a couple of times. “So… is this actual beef?”

“Probably,” said Edge. Nytetrayn raised an uncertain eyebrow at the red dragon. “Well, maybe I should explain. See, we don’t exactly raise animals to be slaughtered back on Avion. Instead, we’ve got various techniques to basically replicate the various foods they produce. Some of it involves using DNA to clone the various tissues, while others are plant-based solutions developed even before our time back on Ear– er, Terra.”

“Oh,” Nyte said, as he looked warily at his burger again, oblivious to the others watching him in curiosity. He took a big bite, chewed it for a bit, paused for a second, and then swallowed. His eyes opened wide as he perked up, a smile on his face. “Hey! That’s pretty good! Tastes just like the ones at McLight’s! Better, even!”

“Well, we have had a few years to perfect the process,” Edge mused.

Reassured at the quality of the food, the rest of the Terrans dug in.

As they ate, the conversation soon turned elsewhere.

“So,” said Adam. “You guys are from our world long ago, huh? What was it like back then?”

“Yeah,” Fenix added. “Tell us your super-secret origin stories!”

“Wow,” said Crossfire. “That feels like a lifetime ago. Maybe even several.”

“Yeah,” said Edge, as he leaned back with his arms behind his head. “I mean, it’s nothing super-glamorous, but I guess if you’re really interested…” The Terrans nodded, which was all it took to spur Edge on. “Okay, you twisted my arm.”

“First,” he said, “I don’t remember if it’s come up, but Crossfire and I are brothers.”

“Built together, deployed together,” Crossfire said.

“As Mechadrakes, we were built out of an experiment to combine more bestial instinct with mechanical efficiency.”

“Mechadrakes weren’t Reploids originally, though. They predated the discovery and rollout of that technological leap from Dr. Cain, but were later upgraded easily enough.”

“Unfortunately,” said Edge, “that came a bit late in the program. In any case, Crossfire and I were deployed in a short-lived war between two nations. Won’t bother you with the details, since they’re kind of unimportant as of now. That, and you probably wouldn’t know any of the players, anyway.”

“So, what happened after the war?” asked Janine.

“Politics,” said Crossfire.

“We were kept around for a while as a contingency,” said Edge. “But eventually, the faces of war had changed, and it became evident that – shall we say – ‘our services were no longer needed’.”

“Basically, we were discharged,” said Crossfire. “Free to do whatever we wanted, but nowhere to go. And so we drifted. We were granted the gift of sentience, but at the time, it felt more like a curse.”

“What about that organization the Commander spoke of?” asked Magnus. “The Maverick Hunters?”

“We tried that,” said Edge. “Unfortunately, things just didn’t work out.”

“Probably not helped by some of the things we had to do in order to survive,” Crossfire added. “Stuff we’re not exactly proud of.”

“Then one day, we were approached,” said Edge.

“Or maybe it was more like ‘found’.”

“Apparently, this one guy, a black Mechadrake – maybe you know him,” Edge said coyly, “had been keeping tabs on us. He offered us a chance to join up with him, make something better of ourselves. And that’s–”

“That’s when we became ‘Dragon Knights’!”

“Heeey, that’s my favorite part!” Edge said, as Crossfire smirked. “Anyway, the commander was working as a Maverick Hunter at the time, but had his own sort of vigilante thing going on the side.”

“Not that we weren’t in favor of his cause,” said Crossfire, “but the opportunity to quit scavenging for energy and sleeping in alleys and warehouses was too good to pass up.”

“When he began the whole ‘New World’ initiative, we were first in line to sign up,” Edge said. “And I think you know the gist of the rest.”

Steel looked to MoonRazor and SunFlame. “What about you two? Were you soldiers as well?”

“Ah, not exactly,” said MoonRazor, as he rubbed the back of his head. “Our story is a little different. At least, at the start, anyway.”

“Oh, here we go,” SunFlame said, throwing his hands up before rising from his seat and going over to the beverage station.

“…yeah, SunFlame doesn’t like to think about it too much,” MoonRazor said, a little sadly. “Most Mechadrakes were built for the war effort, but SunFlame and I? We were specially commissioned by a guy named Anton Dunn, this big captain of industry, as bodyguards for his daughter. After all, who’s going to mess with his little girl when a couple of big robot dragons are shadowing her, right?”

“His daughter, though, Erica? She was good, kind of a sweet kid. She liked us, we liked her. Actually,” MoonRazor said, glancing over to where SunFlame was, and lowering his voice. “SunFlame and her got on really well.”

“She liked the angry types, huh?” said Fenix.

“Well, no, it wasn’t anything like that,” MoonRazor said. “And… well, he wasn’t always like this.”

“But as I was saying,” he continued, “we got on well. Unfortunately, her dad…”

“…was an asshole!” SunFlame shouted, as he sat back down. “Anton Dunn was an asshole, and that’s the nicest thing I’ll ever say about him.”

“Yeah,” said MoonRazor. “It was so weird. He was the one who commissioned us, but he didn’t seem to like us very much, either. But then there was that night when everything changed…”

“Ugh,” SunFlame muttered with disgust, as he got back up and walked away to another part of the dining area.

“As usual, we were doing our duty, the whole bodyguard thing, as we escorted her home. We were laughing, we were having a good time, and then they appeared. It was a group of Mavericks who wanted her. They surrounded us…”

The Terrans – save for Steel, who seemed lost in his own thoughts – leaned in with widened eyes, as they waited for the next part.

“SunFlame and I fought them off, as best as we could. Unfortunately, one or two of them got by us… they got her, and took off. We tried to give chase, but there were too many…” MoonRazor’s head lowered.

“When we got back, well… you can imagine. Her father was furious. It wouldn’t be long before she was found, but…” MoonRazor paused.

“I don’t know why he didn’t like us before, but this was the tipping point. He blamed us for everything, and accused us of being Mavericks, and being in-league with the ones who took her. We had to go on the run… from the police, from the Hunters…”

“They almost got us, too,” SunFlame said, as he arrived back at the table. “Til he showed up.”

“The Commander – though he wasn’t really the Commander, then – found us. He gave us a choice: We could go with him, or we could deal with the Maverick Hunters.”

“Wasn’t much of a choice, really,” said SunFlame.

“Better than what we’d had only a few seconds ago,” MoonRazor pointed out.

“Yeah, true…”

“He brought us back to his base… that was the ship you woke up on, Nytetrayn,” MoonRazor told the young Digger. “There, he said he could help us. He could get the Hunters off our backs, and help us find the Mavericks who did this to us in the first place.”

“I gotta give him that. He kept his word,” SunFlame said. “It took a little while, but he found them. In the meantime, we joined up with his group and did some covert Hunting of our own.”

“We found the guys who took Erica, and we made them pay,” MoonRazor said, while SunFlame pounded his fist into his palm for emphasis. “But…”

“…but?” asked Steel, to the surprise of the others, as until now it hadn’t seemed like he was paying much attention.

“But the Mavericks weren’t the ones behind the whole thing.”

“Then, who?” asked Adam.

“It was… her father,” MoonRazor said. “Anton Dunn.”

The Terrans looked on in surprise.

“Turned out, Erica was his daughter with his ex-wife. As part of their settlement, she’d get a stake in his businesses when she turned 18. He didn’t want that. He’d wanted to cut them out of his entire fortune and business operations, and decided to find a way to make sure it would never happen.”

“That’s… that’s…” Celeste started to say.

“Yeah,” MoonRazor said. “Thanks to the Commander’s leads, we were able to confront him about it. Even got him to admit to what he’d done…”

“I was ready to give him a little reminder of what we could do, too,” SunFlame said. “Wouldn’t take much, and he’d have just been an ugly smear on the wall,” he added.

“But then…” MoonRazor said.

“Yeah, yeah, I know…” SunFlame groused, sounding like he’d heard this before. “‘That would make us Mavericks’. Feh. Lopsided system, if you ask me.”

***

Several thousand years ago.

21XX.

Late one stormy night, in a highrise overlooking Abel City, Anton Dunn entered the main room. He felt like he’d been seeing ghosts all week, like the very shadows themselves were watching him. Whenever he’d look, however, no one was ever there. By this point, he was starting to wonder if maybe he was losing his mind.

Was he just paranoid? Or was someone really out to get him? In his line of work, he’d made no small number of enemies to make it to the top, and perhaps even more just to stay there. Was someone finally making a move against him?

He shouldn’t worry, he thought to himself. He had a full entourage of security to watch him, after all. They waited for him outside his doors, ready to rush in at an instant if anything seemed to be amiss. They were the best money could buy…

That is, if they were to be trusted. What if it was one of them? Anton looked around again, as he fumbled for the lights. He flipped the switch, and… nothing. The only thing currently illuminating the room was the pollution of light seeping in from the other buildings outside, breaking up the silhouettes of shadow that populated the darkness.

He tried the switch again, repeatedly, each time met with the same fruitless response. Carefully, he moved over to try a lamp instead. Again, no result. The place was like a dead zone.

Anton backed away from the table, but didn’t get far. His back ran right into something solid, something that he was sure hadn’t been there before. Towering above him rested a pair of glowing red eyes, and as if on cue, a flicker of lightning followed by the crack of thunder revealed that they belonged to a very large gold dragon.

A very large, pissed off gold dragon.

Dunn started to yelp in fright, but didn’t get the chance to finish before he was lifted off the ground and slammed into a wall, where he was held aloft, his feet dangling. From this angle, he could now see his attacker clearly as fingers of light from outside stretched across his face.

“S-SunFlame…” he sputtered.

“With just a flick of my wrist, I could end you right here, right now,” SunFlame growled. His other arm was drawn back, axe in hand, as his eyes narrowed. “And we all know the world would be better for it.”

“SunFlame…” said a lighter voice from behind the gold Mechadrake. Anton looked in the direction of the voice, where another, slightly shorter Mechadrake stood in the shadows.

“M-MoonRazor…” Dunn said, still stammering and sweating. “H-help… me…”

“You don’t have to do this,” MoonRazor said worriedly, as he reached out to his brother.

He wasn’t having it, however. “Back off, MoonRazor,” the gold Mechadrake said without diverting his stare, yet still caused his silver sibling to withdraw his reach. “I know what I’m doing.”

As SunFlame glanced back at his axe, the panicked Anton said, “Y-you wouldn’t!”

His answer came as the axe smashed right into the wall he was being held against. A faint trickle of blood ran down his head from where the weapon had grazed his scalp as it was embedded into the wall.

“No,” SunFlame said, a little more stoically than before. “Not because of you, or anything you did, though,” he said, as he relinquished his grip and let the man fall to the floor. His legs too wobbly to support him at the moment, he landed on his rear with a thud. “But despite everything… I don’t think she’d want me to. And unlike you, I’m going to respect that.”

It was as if upon hearing those words, Dunn instantly became a totally different person.

“Coward,” he said, smug. As he got back to his feet and straightened his suit’s collar and tie, he continued. “I always knew you were a fool, but I never took you for a coward, too, SunFlame.”

“That’s why I’m where I’m at in this world, and you… things… are wherever you’re at now. Breaking into peoples’ homes, making idle threats… you Reploids are all alike at your core, aren’t you? Some of you are sniveling criminals who want to bite the hand that feeds you, but don’t have the fortitude to do what it takes to get what you want, while the rest of you are only too eager to declare all-out war on the human race?”

“You know, those kinds of ‘Mavericks’” he said with air quotes, “I can actually respect. They have drive. Passion. They know what they want, and they aren’t afraid to do whatever it takes to get it.”

As SunFlame grimaced and MoonRazor looked on sternly, Dunn continued. “Just look at me. I’ve been willing to step on and step over anyone in my way to get to the top. I’ve destroyed companies and ruined lives. If I want something, I can have it stolen. If I want someone dead, all I have to do is give the word. And yes, I’ve given that word lots of times. You didn’t really think my ex-wife’s daughter was the first, did you? She would probably have taken after her mother, and she was an even bigger battleaxe than the one you lug around!”

“Dude,” said MoonRazor. “She was your own flesh and blood! She–”

“She was going to take over my company when she turned 18!” Dunn bellowed. “And I couldn’t allow that to happen!” He smirked. “But… that was only if she turned 18. If only her ‘bodyguards’ had done their jobs, and hadn’t gone ‘Maverick,’ maybe she’d still be around to get in my way.”

MoonRazor grimaced, and SunFlame snarled.

SunFlame spoke up first, with clenched fists. “Mark my words, you son of a bitch: I’ll find a way to make you pay for this, no matter how long it takes. Even if I have to walk straight out of Hell to do it.”

“Oh, please,” Anton said dismissively. “If you had the nerve, the gumption for that kind of action, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation. As dragons go, you pathetic lot are toothless.”

MoonRazor added, “You have the nerve to call us criminals?! After everything you’ve admitted to doing?!”

“Oh, MoonRazor, surely you’ve heard of ‘The Golden Rule’? ‘He who has the gold, makes the rules.’ So the difference between us is that while I’m absolutely golden, the only thing golden about you two are his scales. And that makes you two essentially worthless. Now, why don’t you two run along now, back to whatever hole you’ve been occupying all this time, and leave me to return to my business, hmm?”

“He’s right,” said a steely voice. “It’s time to go.”

Black Draco stepped forward from the shadows, though one would be hard pressed to tell. His wings were draped around him, effectively masking his other colors from view.

“What the–?” SunFlame said, surprised.

“How long have you been there?” asked the equally-surprised MoonRazor.

“Long enough,” Black Draco replied. “I was waiting to see what you would do, but I trusted you wouldn’t give in to your darkest desires,” he said, addressing SunFlame.

“Hmmph,” said Anton. “You put your trust into him? You must all be crazy.”

SunFlame was already sick and tired of Anton’s bluster, and was starting to reconsider. “You’re gonna get yours one day,” he said. “I don’t know how, but you can bet it’ll happen. I just hope I’m there to see it.”

The billionaire scoffed as he brushed the remark aside. “You don’t get it, do you? I. Am. Untouchable! I can do whatever I please, to whoever I please, and all these squealing, wretched, pinhead puppets who I’ve manipulated into worshiping me will love me for it! And you? You’ve got nothing. You are nothing, in every sense of the word, just like all of them. Especially to me.”

As Anton continued his spiel, Black Draco quietly held up his arm, and an access port on his armor popped open, allowing him to remove a data slug. “W-wait. What is that?” Dunn said, with a little less fire in his voice.

Black Draco quietly handed the data slug over to SunFlame. “A full recording of your confession, and more,” he said. “In the proper hands, I imagine it would be quite a headache – maybe even a nightmare – for a person like you.” He turned to the human. “I already had a file on you, well before I met these two. Their ordeal simply helped motivate me to expedite things.”

Turning back to SunFlame and MoonRazor, he simply said “Let’s go,” and the trio beamed out. A moment later, the lights began to flicker, as the highrise hummed to electronic life once again.

Though he was no longer alone in the dark, Anton Dunn was now more afraid than he’d ever been.

***

“So then what happened?” Steel asked, intrigued. “Surely evidence like that could have been faked.”

By this point, SunFlame seemed more relaxed, and maybe even a little cheerful in his tone. “Yeah, BD thought of that,” he said. “The Biorhythmic Scan certification and special encryption he used validated the authenticity, though. It was pretty irrefutable.”

“Sounds like his number was up,” Janine said. “Did they send him to jail? Prison? Locked in a ruin with a giant robot kangaroo?”

Everyone looked at Janine.

“What? It happens!”

“Yeah, well,” SunFlame said, “funny thing about that. He never wound up serving any time.”

The Terrans stared in quiet disbelief. Then Fenix raised his hand, and then spoke up. “That doesn’t sound very funny to me.”

“Well, that’s where things get interesting,” said MoonRazor. “You see, the nature of the evidence, specifically how it was obtained, might have been enough to put some people away, but not Anton. His lawyers were good. Really good.”

“But that wasn’t really the objective,” SunFlame smirked. As he turned to Nytetrayn, he continued. “The Commander is pretty good at playing the long game. All that stuff with the confession and evidence? It was just a feint. He knew none of the charges would stick.”

“Then why…?” Nytetrayn started to ask.

“Well,” MoonRazor answered, “while Dunn was tied up in court and spending a fortune on his ace attorneys, that was just the first domino. While everything else we had on him was good, the confession of what he did to his daughter was the crown jewel. When that got out, his public image was tarnished, and no one would ever want to touch him again. Even better, what we had was enough to get the ball rolling, and other investigations were opened into his dealings. Various other charges were brought up and tried, but in the end…”

“…it all came down to the taxes!” SunFlame concluded.

MegaMan Magnus’s eyes widened. “My god,” he said. “There are still legends about the IRS to this day… and they’re all terrifying!”

“Yep!” SunFlame said as he leaned back kicked his feet up with his hands behind his head, clearly enjoying himself. “His lawyers were good enough to keep him out of prison, but by the time everything was said and done, he was left virtually penniless. He was ruined.”

“Go ahead,” MoonRazor said to his brother. “Tell them the best part.”

“Oh, I dunno,” SunFlame said, suddenly seeming self-conscious. “I mean, it wasn’t that –”

“When the Ark program was underway,” MoonRazor said, “guess who showed up, wanting to sign on? And guess who got to personally give him the boot?” He leaned over next to his brother, grinning and pointing to the both of them with his thumbs.

“…okay, yeah, that was pretty good,” SunFlame admitted.

“Sounds like you two got the last laugh,” Steel said.

“Yeah,” SunFlame said, almost wistfully. “Still, though…”

After a little idle chatter, Adam stood up and stretched his mechanical arms up into the air with a big yawn. “Well, it’s getting… wait, how do you keep track of what time it is out here?”

“We have clocks set to the standard time for where we’re from,” Crossfire said. “More specifically, Avion City time.”

“But it’s okay,” Edge reassured him. “Space travel can be a little taxing, until you get used to it. If you guys are tired, go on and rest up, and we’ll catch up with you later.”

The Terrans by and large seemed agreeable to this, and headed off to their respective quarters.

Back in their quarters, while Janine fell into a deep slumber beside him, Steel stared up at the ceiling. Though he was slowly warming to the Avions, he still carried a feeling of dread deep within the pit of his stomach.

Meanwhile, as Celeste slept peacefully next to him, Nytetrayn stared at the ceiling, pondering what he’d heard about his creator and wondering what awaited him in the days ahead.

To be continued…

Next time: “Arrival”!

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Bonus! Thinking about doing the covers in mobile wallpaper proportions as well.

Want more? Maybe redo some previous covers in that format? Let me know!

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Legends of the Halcyon Era is a work of fan fiction set in the world of Mega Man Legends. It is largely adapted from a series of freeform RPG sessions, combining ideas from several contributors, and further fleshed out here in a prose format.

David Oxford, also known as LBD “Nytetrayn,” is a lifelong Mega Man fan who, along with his wife Nadia, has co-written the Mega Man Robot Master Field Guide and Mega Man X Maverick Hunter’s Field Guide from UDON Entertainment, and runs The Mega Man Network (themmnetwork dot com). You can also find him on Twitter @LBD_Nytetrayn and @themmnetwork, and on Twitch and YouTube under the name “Nyteworks.”

You can also find Legends of the Halcyon Era as it updates at Archive of Our Own.

Cover by LBD “Nytetrayn” and Victor Campan. Character art by Victor Campan. Logos by Tabby Ramsey. Arrangement by LBD “Nytetrayn”.

Thanks for reading!