Legends of the Halcyon Era – The Avion Adventure: Dinner with a Draco

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Legends of the Halcyon Era

The Avion Adventure: Dinner with a Draco

by

David Oxford/LBD “Nytetrayn”

*****

Previously, in Legends of the Halcyon Era…

The group are invited to a special dinner by Nytetrayn’s father, Black Draco, the supreme commander of the planet Avion. While Nytetrayn himself was feeling nervous about the prospect, Celeste tried to encourage him.

Elsewhere, Adam Powers was exploring Avion City when he ran into someone – or rather, they ran into him, literally. A Reploid named Katrina, quickly took a liking to the Digger, as they went for a sparring session and then off to see the city.

While all that was going on, Black Steel and Janine visited a local medical facility, where she discovered that her systems were no longer running at full power, and he found out that his remarkable ability to heal from damage was due to nanites occupying his body!

Avion City.

The sun has begun to set, and the planet’s two moons are poised to shine brightly over the capital city of the planet for which it was named.

While this special event is taking place, our heroes are preparing for another special event of a different sort. To that end, the red Mechadrake Edge made a note to inform them that formal wear would be the order of the night, and that anything they might need would be arranged for them.

In their hotel room, Nytetrayn sat at the end of the bed, suited up in sleek black attire that had a slightly futuristic feel, his refractor shard necklace resting atop his collar. He sighed as he held his hat in his hands, looking at it and pondering whether or not to wear it, formal etiquette be damned.

Celeste looked over at her boyfriend as she finished getting ready, wearing a simple, short blue evening dress that came up to just above her knees, along with a pair of heels and her own matching ever-present necklace. “It’ll be alright,” she tried to reassure him.

“I guess.”

“If it makes you feel a little better, I’m nervous, too,” she said. “I’m not used to heels…”

“You look good,” he told her. “I’m sure you’ll do fine.”

“Heh, thanks,” she said as she finished up, and the two headed out into the hallway to meet with Janine and Steel before going to their evening’s destination.

Inside a nearby room, Black Steel looked in the mirror wordlessly. Finally, he let his feelings be known: “This sucks.”

He was nicely dressed in a black suit that felt almost alien (at least by Terran standards), complete with a suit jacket and tight black undershirt. Despite his dapper appearance, he still bemoaned the situation. “Slacks are so not me.”

“Well, I think you look nice,” Janine said, as she placed a peck on his cheek.

“Thanks,” Steel replied as he continued to look at himself in the mirror. “Still feel like a tool.”

With a sigh, he looked over to see how Janine had decided to dress for the occasion. He was met with the sight of her in a sparkling black gown with a plunging neckline and a slit up the thigh on either side. She kept her usual bracelets on, and was wearing open-toed heels with fasteners around the ankles, which matched her dress.

“Wow,” he said, stunned. “You look… gorgeous…”

“Aww, thank you, sweetie!” she said. “Ready to go show them what style’s all about?” she asked. She struck a pose with one hand on her hip, the other pointing into the air.

“As ready as I can be, I guess,” Steel said wearily, while Janine took his arm and led him into the hallway. “I can’t shake this feeling that I’m a monkey in this thing,” he said as they stepped into the hallway.

Outside, a Reploid banana walked by, none the wiser.

Following an awkward, silent pause, Steel turned to go back into his room when Janine grabbed him. “Relax, you’ll be fine!” she reassured him again. Behind her hand, she quietly added “And if you want, I can help you get out of it later,” with a wink and a smile.

“Alright!” Steel said, cheered up by that thought, while Janine briefly pondered what might happen if she were to use these powers of hers for evil. Steel looked at her, wondering what she could be thinking to elicit such an expression as the odd grin on her face.

Janine just shook her head. “Okay, let’s hit it!”

“Alright,” Steel said, eyebrow raised.

“There they are,” came a familiar voice, as Nytetrayn and Celeste caught up with the pair.

“Hi guys,” Celeste said.

“Hi guys!” Janine said with a wave. “Oh, look at you two! You’re just adorable!”

Nytetrayn and Celeste lowered their heads and turned them away a little bit, with him rubbing the back of his while she just blushed.

Sensing weakness as a predator would when stalking his prey, Steel looked at Nyte with a dark smile. “So,” he said.

“So?”

“I see I’m not the only one who’s become a slave to fashion.”

“I’m not a slave to fashion,” Nyte retorted. “I make fashion my slave.”

“Is that so?”

Nyte continued. “And I guess Jan is like a high priest or something…”

Janine let out a short, sharp laugh at that, earning odd looks from the others.

“It’s all a part of what I was made for,” she explained. “You can’t be a bureaucrat and look sloppy, now.”

“I guess not,” Nyte said, while Steel tightened his hold on her, thrilled to be able to touch her like this. “Well, anyway,” Nyte continued, “let’s get going. Don’t want to be late…”

He and Celeste started down the hallway. She was a little wobbly in her heels here and there, and Nyte helped steady her along the way, while Jan offered a sympathetic smile.

Steel followed along, still a bit apprehensive about this whole thing. Not only did he have to look the part of a jackass, in his mind, but he also wasn’t able to go digging.

Along the way, the group ran into Fenix and MegaMan Magnus. Fenix was wearing an outfit that bore some resemblance to a tuxedo, but was mixed with medieval finery, complete with a cape and topped by his trademark visored helmet. Magnus looked the same as he usually did, albeit a bit more polished and shined-up.

“Hi guys,” Nyte said. “Where’ve you been all day?”

“On the run from local law enforcement,” Fenix said with a wink and a smile, though only the first could be seen through his visor.

“Nice suit–” Celeste began to say when Fenix’s answer hit her.

“Say what?” Nyte asked, trying to avoid getting too concerned.

“It was only a statue, I swear!” Magnus chimed in. “The urine won’t even be visible by now!”

“I know, right?” Fenix continued. “The way they were carrying on about it, you’d think we had spray-painted it or something.”

Nytetrayn and Celeste looked on at them, slack-jawed. “…statue?” he asked apprehensively.

“Yes,” said Magnus. “Some joker who went by the name ‘Mega Man X’. Ugly guy, that one. There’s no way he could be related to me!”

“…why…?”

“When you gotta go, you gotta go,” Fenix said with a shrug.

Nyte just paled, while Janine put her hand over her mouth, now red in the face from trying to withhold her laughter.

After a quiet, awkward moment of being stared at, Magnus asked “What?”

Nytetrayn straightened up, coughed, and held out his hand. “Hello, stranger. I do not believe we have met. My name is Nytetrayn, and yours?”

“Oh, they’re just jealous because they had to stay inside and have sex all day,” Fenix told Magnus.

“Yes…” Magnus said flatly. “They sure did get the short end of the stick on that one. Boy, howdy.”

“…let’s just get going,” Nyte said, almost ready for the night to end before it even began. “And not a word of this to anyone.”

“Ohhhh, alright…” Magnus mock-pouted as Fenix snickered.

The group proceeded down the hall once more, with Steel remaining coolly silent as Janine leaned on him a little.

“Nice shoes, Cel,” Fenix said.

Wobbling slightly, Celeste said “…th-thanks…”

Magnus gave Fenix a look that said “That was cruel. Funny, but cruel.”

***

As Nytetrayn and the others arrived at the dinner hall, Edge was there to greet them. He was fully decked out in his usual battle armor, albeit shinier than before.

“Hi, guys,” he said to the approaching group. “Glad you could all – wait, wasn’t there one more of you?”

Nytetrayn and Celeste looked back at the others and stammered.

“Adam seems to be late,” Steel said. “I’m sure he’ll show.”

“He’s probably off getting himself some, the lucky bastich,” Fenix bemoaned.

“Is that the only thing you ever think about?” MegaMan Magnus asked him.

“Isn’t that all you ever think about?” Fenix shot back.

“…that isn’t the issue here,” Magnus said.

“Eh, anyway,” Edge interrupted. “Hopefully he shows.”

“Shall we proceed, then?” Steel asked.

Edge led the six to the dining hall, which looked much as one might expect from such a place: a nice sort of fanciness with a long table, lots of big chairs surrounding it, and food both familiar and not set out all across its length, ready for the taking. The other Dragon Knights were already there, waiting, decked out in their own polished armor “uniforms”.

“Hmm, looks like they rolled out the red carpet,” Fenix mused.

“Once again, I feel I should have come armored,” Steel said as he looked first to Edge and the Knights, then to the others, and finally Magnus and Fenix.

“Lucky for me, mine never comes off,” Magnus said.

“Oops, sorry,” Edge said. “Guess I forgot to tell you guys that ‘formal’ now means ‘battle ready.’

“I can do that,” Fenix said, as he flicked his wrists to bring a beam saber to rest in each of his hands. “Now, just point me at the turkey or wildebeest or whatever E.T. you guys dug up for us!”

After a brief, awkward pause, Edge nervously coughed and told them “Actually, it was more of a joke.” He explained that battle armor is considered a formal attire, as long as it’s properly presented.

Magnus high-fived Fenix, while Steel just felt more ridiculous. Nytetrayn wasn’t sure if he made the right call or not, while both Celeste and Janine were fine with their situation.

“Ever tried to stuff wings, a tail, claws, and a big horned head atop a long neck into a tux?” Edge asked. “Ain’t easy. So what we do is sort of a carryover from what some military-types used to do back on Earth with military uniforms,” he said, the other Knights nodding in agreement.

“Seriously, though, you guys look good,” he added.

“Thanks, man,” Steel said, feeling a little better about the situation.

“Trust me, you look better in that thing than I ever would.”

“I’d probably look a bit ridiculous in a tuxedo,” Magnus noted.

“You’d never fit,” Fenix said, as he sheathed his sabers.

“Precisely! I’d be like the Incredible Hulk, or something.”

“If you would be more comfortable,” Black Draco said, addressing their guests, “we can instead make this an informal dinner…”

“Hey, don’t worry about it,” said Fenix, as he gestured to his attire. “I didn’t get this thing for nothing.”

“Guess we didn’t think this out too well, huh, BD?” Edge said.

Black Draco nodded. “Well, as long as they’re alright with things as they are, that’s what matters, right?”

The Terrans made their way to their seats, with Fenix throwing in a couple of dance moves in the process. Nytetrayn and Celeste took their seats in chairs equipped with gaps in the back that would likely ensure that anyone with a tail would have no problems with the arrangement – a detail for which Magnus was grateful – at least, until he found himself stuck, anyway. Steel held out Janine’s chair for her, and she smiled and thanked him as she took her seat.

“So, how are you guys diggin’ Avion?” MoonRazor asked the group.

Steel chose to remain silent, thinking it better to not be a rude bastard at such an occasion as this as he had been on so many others.

“It’s a wonderful place,” Janine said in his stead.

“Thank you,” said Black Draco.

Steel finally decided to speak up. “You have good ruins here.”

“You have excellent bars, as well,” Magnus added. Nytetrayn would have kicked him under the table, if only he could have reached him.

“Oh?” Black Draco asked, while others were getting and passing around food.

“They are virtually untouched and ripe for archaeological research,” Steel continued. “Not to mention guarded by some decidedly technologically advanced machinery.”

“Advanced machinery?”

“Nyte and I discovered something of a mechanical golem in a ‘dig’ to the east. The thing nearly killed me, and likely would have, were it not for Nyte’s intervention.” Black Draco listened on, interested. “According to what the Professor at Arkopolis told us, most of the ruins here are mostly unexplored, with little interest in the history of this world. I find that discouraging, actually. The ruins I saw had a distinctive primitive feel, and yet to be guarded by something like that golem… Well, that is intriguing to no end.”

“I see,” Black Draco said, as he pondered this information with intrigue. “That is interesting.’

“I plan to return as soon as possible. Hopefully, I won’t need Nyte to pull me out of the fire again,” Steel said, a little more cheerful than before.

Black Draco nodded. “Who knows? Perhaps your discovery will encourage others to start investigating these ruins.”

“I do hope so,” Steel replied.

“A golem?” Magnus asked. “You mean some sort of robot?”

“An automated machine,” Steel confirmed. “Like a living statue, yet mechanical in design.”

“Fascinating…” Magnus said.

“Indeed,” Black Draco agreed.

As several others looked on, Magnus’s faceplate split to reveal a mouth full of teeth that were like chisels, and took a bite of steak, pulling half of his fork into his maw with it. Fortunately, there were plenty of extras on hand.

“So, why don’t you guys tell us more about yourselves?” Edge asked of the Terrans. Nytetrayn fidgeted slightly at the dreaded question, while Celeste just placed a reassuring hand on his leg, out of view of the others.

“What would you like to know?” Fenix asked.

Black Draco then spoke up again. “How did you all meet?”

“That’ll take a spell,” Fenix mused.

“I met Fenix while exploring a ruin shortly after I awoke…” Nytetrayn said.

“I jumped Nyte and Fenix when I needed a refractor desperately,” Steel chimed in.

“Yeah, we got away by throwing him to the kangaroos,” Fenix added.

“Seven months of memory loss later, I turned up on their friend’s ship and got beat up by my lovely girlfriend here,” Steel continued, as he gestured to Janine, who now had a distant look in her eyes at the mention of the kangaroos.

“Kangaroos?” Black Draco asked, as several of the Knights looked to Fenix, curious. MoonRazor and SunFlame shuddered, knowing full well what they were referring to.

“Yep,” said Fenix, as he leaned back in his chair with his hands behind his head. “The main type of Reaverbots guarding the ruin where we found Jan were a mad bunch that resembled kangaroos.”

Magnus nodded in agreement, while Black Draco and the others looked on, befuddled.

“Can we switch to another story?” Steel asked, after he noticed the traumatized look in Janine’s eyes.

“Er, yeah,” Celeste agreed.

“But aren’t we gonna tell them how we found her?”

“No!” Janine shouted.

“Not if you want to live past this segment,” Steel added.

“Fine,” Fenix shrugged.

“Magnus, we found in another ruin,” Nyte said.

“Yes,” Magnus concurred. “And then East attempted to use me to kill the lot of you,” he added grimly.

“I think Adam found Fenix and I as we left another ruin,” Nyte continued. “Wait, no, it was the same ruin we found Jan in… and Steel… huh.” The young Digger turned to Fenix. “We were busy that day, weren’t we?”

Fenix nodded, while Steel sipped some wine and said “Fate, I tell you.”

“Yeah, we were meeting people left and right that day,” Fenix said. “And then Xenos some weeks later.”

“It’s been interesting, that’s for sure,” Janine said. Nytetrayn and Celeste both nodded.

“…and then Cel was in that hospital we checked into after our first go-round with Shermie.”

Black Draco raised an eyebrow with interest upon hearing that.

“Yeah,” Celeste said.

“That’s when Nyte had to go and use our last refractor to wake her up,” Fenix added. Celeste just lowered her eyes ashamedly.

“Oh, come on, now,” Janine said. “What would you rather have had? The refractor, or Celeste?”

“…I plead the fifth.”

One of Janine’s eyes widened, eyebrow raised, while Celeste just frowned. Nyte would have whacked him, had he been within reach. Fenix tilted his helmet up just enough to show him smiling in a way that said he was kidding.

“I see,” Black Draco said. “And what was the problem, if you don’t mind my asking?”

“Oh, yeah,” Fenix continued. “She was in a coma, but we never did find out exactly why.”

“Yeah,” Celeste said, looking down sadly as she placed her head in one hand, resting on the table, while she poked at her food with her fork.

Janine patted her on the shoulder. “I know, amnesia sucks.”

“I see,” Black Draco said again, looking at Celeste as he took all this in. “You don’t know what happened to you before the incident, then?”

Black Draco sat back, and said “Amnesia…” as he thought to himself for a moment.

Crossfire raised an eyebrow as he looked at his leader. “BD, are you thinking what I think you’re thinking…?”

“Maybe…”

Magnus chimed in, “If he’s thinking what I think you think he’s thinking.”

“…and what would that be?” the blue Mechadrake asked.

“I would guess that here on this planet, you have some pretty advanced medical technology.”

Crossfire nodded.

Janine blinked. “Wait, you mean you can treat memory loss?”

Crossfire looked back to Black Draco.

“Yes… we can.”

Nytetrayn, Celeste, and Magnus all looked on, speechless.

“That’s interesting,” Janine said.

Black Draco explained. “It was developed for amnesia cases incurred during the wars with Repliforce. It mostly involves giving a sort of ‘jump start’ to certain electrical impulses in the brain. It goes a bit beyond that, but that would be the basic gist.”

While Steel considered this, Celeste began to quiver with excitement. “I… you mean I could… find out…”

Black Draco nodded.

She turned to her boyfriend. “Nyte! I… I can finally find out everything! I can find out who I am, what happened to me! Isn’t that great?!” she said excitedly, with possibly the biggest smile he’d ever seen her flash.

“Y-yeah!”

While Fenix observed these goings-on with a slight frown behind his helmet, she turned back to the black Mechadrake, and asked anxiously “What’s it like?”

“Well,” he began. “Usually, one gets their memories back, but is able to retain what happened after the memory loss occurred as well… sort of.”

“Hey,” Steel said to the Commander.

“Yes?”

“I’d like to give it a go, too… if you wouldn’t mind.”

“That won’t be a problem.”

Janine looked to Steel in alarm, as he looked back to her and said “I’d like to know what exactly happened during those months you guys said I was present for.”

After a pause, Janine nodded, slowly.

“Do you know something I don’t, Jan?”

“No, I just…” she replied, biting her lip as she hesitated.

As he looked at her inquisitively, she continued. “Messing around with organic brain tissue can be tricky. That’s an advantage of being mechanical. I’m… I’m just worried about you, that’s all.”

Fenix addressed Black Draco. “Wait, you said ‘sort of’?”

The commander explained. “Well… those who have undergone the process have likened their renewed state to being akin to waking up from a dream. Some things are sort of fuzzy, they say. Sometimes details tend to fade a bit in favor of the original brainwave…”

“…oh,” Celeste said, now appearing uncertain.

“So she’d become more like the person she used to be, is what you’re saying?” Fenix asked.

“Well, that would be the likely scenario,” Black Draco said. “Though, if I’m understanding things correctly, Steel might be able to better remember his lost memories like they were the dream, if this is truly his original state.”

“I’m sure it’s safe,” Steel said, almost unusually trusting for him. “Besides… I have to know what happened. I’ve had this nagging feeling something happened to me… and I’m hoping it might reveal more about these nanites.”

Janine nodded. “If they’re sure it’s safe…”

“The Commander seems to think so.”

“That is pretty much the extent of the side-effects…” Black Draco said.

While Celeste continued to mull this over, Nyte swallowed a bite of his food, and said “Go for it, Celeste…”

From across the table, Fenix blinked in disbelief from behind his mask.

“This… this is what you’ve been wanting to know… right? Go for it.”

“Nyte,” she said. “I… are you sure?”

Nytetrayn straightened in his seat. “Yeah. I mean, you’ll still remember us and stuff, he said, right?”

The stem of Fenix’s glass snapped. “Oh, I’m sorry,” he said. “How clumsy of me…” He managed to keep from spilling much water, but it was clear that he was only spared a bad cut on account of the hand holding the glass at the time being mechanical, as he apparently gripped it too tightly.

“I’ll help with that,” MoonRazor offered.

“Ya’ got nothing to worry about, Cel,” Steel said reassuringly. “Besides, if you don’t take this opportunity now, you’ll have to live the rest of your life asking questions about yourself. I’m not gonna relegate myself to that, neither should you.”

“Yeah, what Steel said,” Nyte added.

“O-okay,” she said. “How soon can we do… this?”

Magnus looked from Fenix to Nyte, unusually quiet. Steel also watched Fenix out of the corner of his eye, amused somehow, while he waited for an answer to Celeste’s question.

“Well… I could put in a call or two, and we could actually do this immediately, if you wanted… or we could wait.”

“Shouldn’t she, y’know, take some time to think about it?” Fenix asked.

“It’s their decision.”

Steel set his cup down. “I’ll go first. That way if there’s any danger involved we’ll know beforehand.”

Black Draco nodded. “When do you wish to go?”

“As soon as possible.”

“Very well,” the black Mechadrake said as he rose from his seat. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll make the necessary arrangements.”

“Thank you. Again,” Steel said.

Black Draco nodded in turn, before exiting the room.

Fenix sat in silence, Steel looked down at his glass, pondering what revelations this could bring.

“Wow…” Celeste said, still in disbelief. “I’ll finally be able to… know.”

Fenix rose from his seat abruptly, and left the table.

“…Fenix?” Nytetrayn asked.

“Sorry, excuse me, pardon moi,” he said as he quickly headed away from the table. “I have something to, er, not do.”

Steel tilted his head in regards to the masked Digger’s strange behavior.

“Huh,” Janine said. “You would think the guy with all the artificial body parts would be all in favor of medical technology.”

“…I guess I can go after Steel does,” Celeste said quietly.

“…uh-huh…” Nyte replied.

Soon, Black Draco returned. “Everything is set. If you all would like to go back to your rooms and change into something more comfortable, we can meet back up and go to the facility in one hour.”

Nytetrayn nodded.

“Yeah, okay,” Celeste said.

“Thank you,” Steel said. “I’ll be there.”

He stood and helped Janine up, her smiling as she accepted, and Nyte did the same for Celeste.

As the rest of the Dragon Knights departed the table, Edge waited to help their guests out. Magnus began to get up, but then quickly sat back down, a disturbed expression in his eyes. He got to his feet on the second attempt, though his chair appeared to be stuck.

“Y’ok over there, Justice?”

“Yes! All good!” he said, as he pushed and pulled on the chair, attempting to get his tail back out. After a quick look around, he gave it one final, big pull, and ended up ripping it apart.

Edge watched the whole ordeal as it unfolded, and Magnus feebly tried to reassemble the chair before opting instead to just make a hasty departure.

“Alrighty, then,” the red Mechadrake said, as he escorted the group back to the entrance. There, he told the group “We’ll pick you guys up in an hour, ‘kay?”

“Sounds good,” Steel said, and Celeste simply nodded, each anxious in their own ways.

With that, the Terran contingent went back to their hotel rooms to get ready for their moment of truth.

To be continued…

Next time: “Mind Games”!

—–

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, and on Mega Man Legends Station!

Character designs by LBD “Nytetrayn” and Victor Campan. Cover layout by LBD “Nytetrayn”, inks and colors by Victor Campan. Logos by Tabby Ramsey.

Thanks for reading!