Kiriyama walked onto the roof of the ship from the Elevator shaft. He was previously on the [Corridors] and decided not to leave.

"I need to stop leading you around..." Model R said.

Kiriyama was on top of the massive ship, and he had a nice view of the area. There was chaos all around, destroyed Galleons, the tower on fire, and people are at the base of the tower. Kiriyama wondered how he would get down from the base without shattering his legs, enhanced or not.

"Merge with me and slide down the walls." Model R said.

"..." Kiriyama still didn't like merging.

"It feels weird merging... Like I'm giving the finger to everything I stand for. Technology is one thing I hate, yet I'm probably going to be using it for the rest of my life." Kiriyama said.

He grabbed the Biometal, swung his arm above his head, and shouted "R.O.C.K. ON!" Bright white light, followed by Kiriyama in his new merged form. his cast was still on and his arm didn't have a Gauntlet on it from the merge.

OOC: I'm taking the liberty to rename the topic to simply "Deck".

------

[Continued from Corridors]

As requested by Prairie, Carrelet followed the Watchman as fast as he could. He had arrived just in time to see the Watchman transform in a flash of light; a gesture that left the Guardian completely baffled. What was the meaning of it?

"Hey! What are you doing?" Carrelet shouted as he began to walk in the Watchman's direction. "Weren't you supposed to return to the Watchmen?"

Kiriyama jumped when Carrelet spoke to him. He almost lost his balance and fell off before regaining his balance and facing Carrelet.

"... I was, but something else... Came... Up..." Kiriyama said.

His face was blank and he didn't know what he should do at the moment.

"What's so important that makes you come up here and activate your Biometal?" Carrelet asked in a neutral tone.

"Good question." A sharp feminine voice suddenly followed from behind Carrelet. It was Chêne. "What the heck do you think you're doing?" She asked Kiriyama with a demanding tone.

"Wha--since when were you there?" Carrelet eyed Chêne with a startled look.

"Nevermind that right now." Chêne replied, keeping her attention on Kiriyama as she walked closer. "Well?"

"So much for inconspicuous..." Kiriyama said

"Not time for complaining." Model R said.

"I came up here to get out. I have no idea as to how this HQ was made, and this was the fastest way I thought I could leave." Kiriyama said.

"Explain what you're doing will get you out of trouble...?" Model R asked Kiriyama. "God, if I could talk to others, we would never get into situations like this..."

"Sorry guys, gotta go." Kiriyama said, jumping and sliding down the side of the Guardian HQ to [Neo Arcadia - Ruins]

"Hey!!" Chêne yelled after the Mega Man jumped, rushing towards the ledge with Carrelet following.

"You just said in the bridge that you'd go back home!" Carrelet shouted to Kiriyama as he slid down the wall. "Do you want to get in trouble?!" He hoped the Watchman could hear his voice and rethink his action.

"Come back here, you punk!" Chêne shouted when it became clear that Carrelet's words fell on deaf ears, and promptly set her right foot on the ledge. However, Carrelet held onto her arm before she could move another muscle.

"Wait, what do you think you're doing?! Are you crazy?!" The Guardian asked as he used every ounce of his strength to counter Chêne's. It felt as if he was trying to contain an angry dog!

"He's getting away! Who knows what he's up to?! Let me go!" Chêne was mildly surprised to find that Carrelet was stronger than he looked; however, she could think of at least four ways to easily turn the situation around and make the Reploid kiss the floor despite her shoulder injury...

"Don't you remember that acting recklessly didn't do any good earlier?!" Carrelet's grip was persistent. He was quite aware that he could not stop Chêne by force; his hope was that the girl could be a little more reasonable than the Watchman and listen before she knocked him down or something. "Besides, Commander Prairie is right outside! Even if you can take the fall, how do you think she'll react if she sees you leaping from the Grand Nuage like this?!"

"Gh...!" Chêne struggled again... but ultimately found herself yielding to Carrelet's arguments. "... Fine. Now what?"

Carrelet could not help but sigh in relief. "Let's report this to Commander Prairie and trust her to handle the situation." The Guardian finally released Chêne as he ran back to the lift.

"Tsk! That Watchbrat...!" Chêne felt another urge to take the direct route, but shook her head and quickly followed her fellow Guardian.

[Continued in Corridors]

[[Continued from Corridors]]

Vent took a deep breath as he walked into the open again, being finally able to appreciate the afternoon breeze. He would not dwell too much in the sensation, but it helped him relax. He soon stopped near the center, expecting Kile to follow. He then faced the armored man. Aile and the others would arrive momentarily... which gave them enough time to prepare themselves.

"Alright... when that Skoll transformed, the emblem on his chest started to shine just like a Biometal. He yelled something... some kind of activation code, like how we Mega Men say 'Megamerge' to activate our Biometals... dang, what was it again...?"

"Luposynth." Model X spoke towards Kile, knowing now that the apparently young man could hear his voice. "The combination of the words 'lupo' for 'wolf' and 'synth' for 'synthetizer'. It basically means 'to imitate a wolf', which he did quite literally..."

"You, on the other hand, were able to transform into a dragon Mechaniloid." Model Z added, turning in Kile's direction as well. "Do you remember your activation code?"

[From Corridors]

Kile eyed the blue Biometal. Something about that voice sounded familiar... But he wouldn't dwell on it. He turned to the red one.

"Yes, I remember it," Kile replied. "It was 'Dracosynth.'" The swordsman flinched for a second, expecting the transformation to occur as soon as he said it. However, nothing happened. Apparently, the transformation wouldn't activate when using the code in idle conversation. Kile vaguely remembered something in the bunker about it being synchronized with him. Perhaps that was part of the reason.

"I guess that would mean it's a combination of 'dragon' and 'synthesizer,'" he continued.

"This is weird." Vent stared at Kile with a confused look. "Shouldn't you have transformed as soon as you said that?"

"It might be a safety measure to prevent an accidental activation..." Prairie commented as she approached. "Whoever designed your transformation device was a careful person. On the case of Biometals, they usually need to be held by the Chosen Ones as they shout "Megamerge", but I've seen Model X activate by itself..."

"I remember, but that doesn't really help us here..." Vent scratched his head in thought.

[Continued from Corridors]

"And you wouldn't even tell me or Vent?" The indignated Aile continued the conversation with Malcolm as she walked across the deck with him, Fleuve, Vince and the Mettaur Vitesse. "You'd think we can be trusted at this point."

"What we don't trust is the Biometal." Fleuve justified. "We wanted to be sure it isn't dangerous to anybody... and we're just now learning anything about it."

"... Well, I guess it's okay when you put it that way." Aile said with a calmer tone. "But I don't like being kept in the dark."

"I apologize, Aile. We'll discuss this later, though." Fleuve finally turned his attention to Commander Prairie and the others. "What's the current situation?"

"We're figuring out how Kile's transformation works." Vent replied. "We know the keyword he uses, but there's something missing..."

[From Corridors]

"I'm sure the desire or need to transform probably plays a part," Malcolm suggested as he approached with Aile and the others.

"Hey, Vent," he added in greeting. "Commander."

[From Corridors]

"That's plausible," Kile replied to this new individual's suggestion.

"Try thinking back to when you first activated it," Vince suggested. "I know it's sort of cheesy, but try to remember how you felt when you pulled it off."

Think back, Kile thought to himself. What did I do to transform earlier? He thought back... The situation was dire. All he remembered was a desire to resolve it. He was useless before the instant he transformed... "Alright, I'm going to actually try this time. I guess I'm going to need space for this."

Model ó hovered out of Vince's pocket to observe the event. It kept note of the recently activated Biometal in Malcom's pocket. Now that Malcom had admitted to having it, revealing that the Biometal had awakened wouldn't be as big of a problem.

"Hello, Malcolm." Prairie responded to the greeting.

Vent nodded at Malcolm in acknowledgment to his presence. "Hi there. Alright everyone, let's step back." Vent requested as he opened distance between himself and Kile. Prairie and Fleuve silently followed suit.

"This should be fun to watch." Aile remarked in expectation.

"BOOP!" Vitesse uttered in a tone of agreement.

Malcolm readied his scanner and turned it to Kile as the young man prepared to transform.

"Fun and informative," he replied to Aile. If the transformation was as similar to a biometal's as it seemed, at the very least they'd have a better understanding of what they were dealing with. Best case scenario, they might figure out a way to cancel it out.

Vince stepped back while gently dragging his Biometal through the air. Model ó was aggravated by this, but Vince let go before it could respond. The detective crossed his arms and awaited Kile's performance.

Kile took a couple of deep breaths and concentrated. He was nervous, but he continued to focus on one thing. Transform, darn it...! Transform...!

After several seconds of silence, he finally yelled, "Dracosynth!" The Dragon Crest instantly lit up! Kile's body glowed with a blinding light! His form slumped over onto his arms and legs. His body grew in size, and several appendages took form; a tail and wings appeared! His silhouetted body quickly lost recognizable human features. The light quickly faded; Kile's transformation was complete. This all happened in less than a second; it was almost instantaneous to the spectators.

"... I don't know if I'll ever get used to this," the dragon said with a slight sigh. He sat down in a way similarly to a relaxed cat. His tail wrapped around his legs, and he folded his wings.

"Whoa..." Vince muttered. He had never imagined he'd see a golden dragon-themed machine before. It was incredible. This man had transformed like a Mega Man, but became in essence a Pseudoroid. Model ó was speechless, although something about the energy output seemed familiar. Maybe it was because it was similar to a Megamerge...

Or is it something else? it thought. I can't exactly place it, but it just feels familiar.

"... Whoa..."

It was all Vent could utter in response at what he had seen. It was not the first time, sure, but it was dark at the time. Now that the Chosen One could see it clearly, outside of a combat situation, he could allow himself to be impressed.

"BEEP!!" Vitesse hid behind Fleuve, scared at the sight of something large enough to eat it!

"... Wow." Aile stepped closer to Kile with a similar expression, putting her hand on the dragon's neck. "I've got to hand it to you, that's really cool. Hey Prairie, can we keep him?" Not minding the size, Aile started petting Kile as though he was a puppy.

The commander could not help but giggle, feeling comfortable enough to approach as well. "Come on Aile, you know he isn't a pet. Fleuve, are you scanning the data?"

"Locke should be on it." Fleuve turned his gaze to Malcolm at the same time he tried to calm down the frightened Mettaur. "I'm telling you Vitesse, he won't bite you...!"

"Heh..." Vent looked at the two with an embarrassed smile before facing Kile again. "OK, so... we already know you can fly. What else can you do in that form?"

"Recording sensor readings as we speak, Commander."

The transformation had been far too brief to monitor visually on the scanner, but analysis in the lab would reveal the things that had gone by too fast for the eye to see. In the meantime, Locke continued to scan the transformed Kile, chuckling at Aile's goofing around.

Kile could feel the pressure of Aile's hand on his mane. The whole scenario seemed frightening and embarrassing at the same time. Kile's concern remained with the potential of his transformation. Although the shenanigans of several individuals made the situation embarrassing, he couldn't help but feel more relaxed. He wasn't being attacked or discriminated against, even though his form had changed. It was a reassuring feeling being around these people.

Vince sighed at the situation, but remained intrigued by Kile's ability. Model ó remained silent and observant.

Kile thought for a moment in response to Vent's inquiry. "I'm not sure," he replied. "Let me think for a moment. When I transformed before, I had an odd awareness of my abilities. It's like I knew exactly what I could do at the time. I guess you could call it an instinct." He paused for a second and closed his eyes. He could feel something was odd about his throat. A notion of fire passed by his mind's eye. Finally, Kile made a connection. "I think I can breath fire," he spoke. "Makes sense, I guess, considering what I am at the moment."

"... I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but that's so cliché." Aile petted Kile once more before stepping back.

"Hah!" Model F uttered loudly, having escaped Vent's pocket to observe the transformation. "Talk is cheap, show us your fiery spirit!"

"Model F would want to see someone snorting fire," muttered Malcolm, to nobody in particular.

------

The speaking biometal's voice sounded familiar to Model K, but he couldn't quite place it. He was still having trouble recalling names. However, more of his memory was returning to him by the minute.

Though stuck in a lab jockey's pocket for the moment, Model K had continued to monitor the surroundings to the best of his ability; it helped that he didn't rely on sight alone for that. Witnessing this Kile person's transformation had brought certain memories into sharp focus, in particular the judges of Neo Arcadia. Model K had spent the last years of his career as a Maverick Hunter in their service, following their orders and those of X with little regard for much else.

Then things changed. Something had happened to X. Model K had no idea what that might've been, but he distinctly recalled that the Maverick Hunter commander was like a totally different person after a point. It was as if all of his compassion had simply vanished, leaving nothing but a cold, calculating machine deciding who lived and who died.

The memories continued to come flooding back to him. He remembered his decision to leave Neo Arcadia and help the reisistance. But something had gone wrong. A former comrade, still blind to X's descent, had been sent to dispatch him by the same judges he'd served for so long.

Model K felt a great swell of fury and bitterness as he remembered his final hours. The one time in his life he had decided to question X's authority instead of blindly following orders, and he had been swiftly and decisively silenced for his trouble. Just like so many others.

Why had he been brought back like this? His present helplessness did nothing but add fuel to the fire of his anger.

Model ó looked at Model F with the most piteous face a rigid, motionless hunk of metal could muster. "I guess nobody really changes, deep down..."

Vince wanted to facepalm, but standing next to Malcom, he heard him mutter something. Something about how Model F would want to see that...

Wait a second, he thought. Did he just hear Model F? Does that mean...? The detective glanced over to Malcom for a second, but then looked back towards Kile. He would ask the CEO about it later. Right now, they were still testing Kile...

Kile cocked his head sideways a bit. Something about the orange Biometal seemed familiar as well. Why did all these floating rocks seem familiar to him...? But something about his attitude seemed to aggravate him.

"Fine then," Kile looked up towards the sky and concentrated. His 'nostrils' began to glow with a red hue. He opened his mouth, and exhaled! A jet of flame burst from his mouth six feet into the air! After a few seconds, he stopped and closed his mouth. The fire dispersed. Kile tilted his head back down.

"That felt... odd," he said.

Model F instantly faced Model ó. "What was that, tin can? Do you want a piece of me?"

"Calm down, Model F." The blue Biometal requested. "This isn't the time for that."

"... Aye, Master Model X." Model F responded before silencing himself. His attention was then diverted to Kile's fire breath. It was a pleasant sight for the Biometal of flame, the fire remined it of its own burning spirit and made it forget completely about Model ó.

"Well, that was a nice fire alright, but it lacked passion." Model F remarked. "You'd better learn to ignite your fighting spirit if you wanna go out there and rip the Mavericks a new one."

Aile approached Kile again as the fire subsided.

"You're a human who turned into a dragon. You're way past 'odd' now." The girl remarked.

"Locke, do you have a reading on Kile's power output?" Fleuve asked as he continued to calm Vitesse down. Were his hands not on the Mettaur now, it would have ran off as soon as the dragon spouted fire; it definitely did not want to become a fried meal!

Prairie calmly observed the demonstration, when the signal from the bridge ringed on her communicator. She had then met the voice of a nervous operator.

"... Commander Prairie, we're receiving a transmission... it's Chiba, and he wishes to talk to you and Vent."

The commander briefly froze at the news. The Guardians were keeping an eye for strange readings, but to receive a call from the enemy...? She had a bad feeling about this...

"... Understood. We're on our way." She responded before breaking contact and facing Vent. "Vent, please come with me to the bridge. It's urgent."

"... What's going on, Prairie?"

"I'm not sure myself." The commander responded. "Fleuve, Malcolm, can you handle things here?"

"... Very well." The elder Reploid replied; he knew by Prairie's tone that the call she had just received was not good news, and did not protest as the Reploid woman ran off with Vent in tow.

[Continued in The Bridge (Prairie, Vent)]

"I... right."

Whatever had just called Prairie away was undoubtedly bad news. Malcolm probably wasn't going to get a chance to talk to her about Model R immediately, but there were still other things to do, and he could still bring it up with Fleuve.

He turned his attention back to the scanner. "Uh... power output is about seven thousand RP... a little higher than what we've seen Model F do."

Kile sighed and turned to face Aile. "You've got a point," he told her. He heard the guy named 'Malcom' mention his power output was a little higher Model F's. He didn't know whether or not that was a good or bad thing. "Now I just need to figure out how to transform back."

Vince was worried. If Prairie and Vent were needed in the bridge, something serious must be happening.

"I'm worried about what the Commander and Vent were called for," the detective said while looking towards the door. He turned to the others. "I'm going, too."

"But Vince, what about Kile's tests?" Model ó asked. The detective clutched the Biometal and began to walk off with it.

"We've seen what Kile can do, and we know that he can transform like a Mega Man. It's also obvious that his armor is the key to his transformation. We know what we need to know for now."

"But..." Model ó said as Vince carried him off. The detective had already made up his mind. He wasn't going to be left out of the loop.

[Vince & Model ó to The Bridge]

"That's crap!" Model F protested in indignancy. "That piece of junk must be broken."

Model X would tell Model F to calm down a second time, but the blue Biometal had to ponder the statement; in its original form, Model F was arguably the strongest of the Reploids that are now remembered as legends. A tremendous amount of power would be required to surpass Model F's output, and he knew better than anybody what the Biometal of Flame was capable of. However, Model X decided to save the thought for later as it followed Vent with Model Z and the grudging Model F.

"Sure guys, leave me stuck here with the big dragon." Aile remarked; she wanted to follow the others as well, but she could not leave Kile stuck in that form. "Okay, let's see if I can help you out..." The girl rubbed her chin in thought. "If it's anything like a Biometal, all you have to do is to think about turning back to normal. It's kinda like... taking your clothes off with your mind, if that makes sense. Give it a shot."

On the subject of transformations, Malcolm would gladly defer to Aile's judgment. He couldn't use a biometal if he wanted to, and Aile was the closest thing to an expert that they had on hand at the moment.

He did want to follow Vince down to the bridge, but he felt it would be kind of rude to just rush off. He doubted there was any more data he could gather from Kile at the moment, unfortunately.

"Alright," Kile said. He took Aile's advice and began to concentrate. He imagined himself back in his human appearance. Hair... skin... clothes... armor... He focused intently on returning to his original form. Suddenly, the red gem on his chest lit up! The swordsman felt a numbness as his body was engulfed in light once more! Kile shrunk in size. His tail disappeared and his wings were replaced by his scarf. When the light faded, Kile had returned to his human appearance.

"Huh... so that was the trick to it," the swordsman remarked. "I guess that's about as much as I know how to do."

"Alright, now you know how to control your transformation. That's a step up." Aile said with satisfaction. "I hope you guys picked up enough data from that show, because I want to know what's going on in the bridge."

"Go ahead, Alie" Fleuve responded. "You may also take Kile with you if you'd like. Locke and I will organize the data and begin the analysis as soon as possible."

The girl nodded. "Let's go, Kile." She briefly eyed the young man before heading back inside the airship.

[Continued in The Bridge (Aile)]

"A-Alright," Kile replied to Aile. He adjusted his scarf and headed for the door to the lift. He stopped right before the door, however, and turned to face the two remaining individuals. "Thank you," he said. "To be honest, I've been plain terrified of this power. I still am. But everyone here helped me understand it a bit better. I don't feel like a complete freak now."

Kile turned back to the door and walked through. As he stepped onto the lift, he felt like a weight had been taken off of his shoulders. He was still anxious about his abilities, but being surrounded by people who were willing to discover secrets about him put him at ease. Being surrounded by others with the power to transform also comforted him. Perhaps the Guardians could find out more about his past? Even if they couldn't, he remembered what he had been told. His past would come back to him eventually.

For now, he had to focus on the present.

[Continued in The Bridge]

"We'll be sure to pass along any juicy information about your transformation," Malcolm assured Kile as the lift closed behind them.

He turned to Fleuve once the others were gone, glancing at the scanner for a moment. "We should have plenty of data to analyze now, but that does serve to remind me. While I was looking over the biometal data a few minutes ago, I noticed an anomalous pattern in Model R's scan. I'm not sure what it is yet, but I think it's worth checking into."

"I see... very well, let's get to work." Fleuve started to walk back to the laboratory with Vitesse in tow.

[Continued in Laboratory]

Malcolm turned to follow Fleuve back into the ship.

[Continued in Laboratory]