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Cosmine

"No..." Geo faltered weakly, lowering his buster in disbelief.

Not only was Omega-Xis right that it was this mystery FM-ian Siren, but she was clearly in complete control of Triese. She was unreachable like this. His hesitation left him completely unprepared for Siren Splash's attack and he was hopelessly bubbled by it.

"Geo!!" Omega-Xis barked, slashing at the inside of the bubble, tearing it open with one claw attack.

"Right!" he bounced back, righting himself and tossing a hand out, "Shuriken!!"

A spinning blade whirled out of the arc from Mega Man's arm, swooping low and then angled up, aiming to head Siren Splash off and prevent her escape. He readied a Jet Attack and began pursuing after her, holding off on activating it until she attempted to dodge his first attack.

The visor indicated a line of hazardous space just before Siren Splash.

A twinge of excitement arose from Siren as Mega Man very clearly became aggressive, "Trust me, little doll, we've got this."

Words alone would likely not be fast enough in this fight so Siren nestled into the nice little space she had carved out in Triese's heart ready to steer her precious little catch whenever the poor little thing inevitably faltered. Triese's body no longer belonged just to her now.

snoruntpyro

Siren's tweaks worked like a charm, at least for the first few seconds that their opponent spoke. She took a step back, glancing at Mt. Belenus nervously... and then their mysterious assailant just to happened to specify his name. Something in the Wave Change snapped, and Siren couldn't help but recoil. "M-Mega Man...? Huh?" Triese muttered, her shoulders raising as she swirled back to face him. "B-but that... wouldn't that mean...?"

"What's wrong, my doll?" Siren immediately interjected, though she was having trouble keeping herself completely composed. Well, it was no surprise that Triese would have that sort of reaction to hearing the name of the supposed 'hero' of this wretched planet. "Ah, you didn't know? Yes, despite his reputation, Mega Man is quite the... unsavory character. Every wise Wave Changer knows not to cross into his territory..."

It was then that Mega Man raised his buster, and Triese began to panic. "N-no, wait that doesn't make any sense," she muttered to herself. "If he's Mega Man, then that means, he, he- Reg- he-" Her head twitched a little bit. "He... helps people..."

...What was she trying to say? Whatever. It didn't matter - Siren needed to get Triese back under her thumb before she figured out what was going on. A bass-heavy tone began to hum in Triese's ears, drowning out her thoughts. "Only the people under the Satella Police's thumb," she clarified, her voice lowering to a whisper. "But there's an easy way to beat him, my doll. We have to strike the very place he gets his support from. Only Siren Splash can do that... do you understand?"

Triese clutched her head, her oversized sleeve briefly drooping over her visor. "I-I'm... I..." she muttered, before she slowly took another step back... and raised her buster back at Mega Man. "I-I'm... Siren Splash..."

Suddenly, she fired a cluster of bubbles at Mega Man's feet - and then made a break for it, following Siren's directions to try and reach Mt. Belenus before they were crushed.

Cosmine

That Mega Man looked shocked and a bit hurt at the blubbering Triese was making so Siren knew she as going to have to swoop in and salvage this whole thing. Subtle changes to the visor display made Mega Man more shadowed, obscured his eyes and expression, and projected a menacing aura looming over him.

The dialogue he was spewing was a bit harder to tweak, but she made due. Triese heard through the shells a low drone with a slight robotic compression to the sound each time Mega Man or that partner of his spoke.

"Triese!" she heard, "We don't have to fight. Just turn yourself in and you'll be safe. I'm Mega Man, I'm with the Satella Police. I'll need to bring you in to the station so we can talk."

"There's a way out of this, Triese," Siren advised gently, "Their databases are located in the same place as the monitoring equipment. Destroy them both and we can be free. Remember, you don't have to beat him, just survive long enough til we get to Mt. Belenus. Don't worry, I'll be right here with you, my doll."

"Geo I don't think she's listening," Omega-Xis grumbled.

"Should I apologize harder? I thought I was pretty clear..." Geo worried, holding his fists in close.

"It's not that... I think... If I had to guess," Omega-Xis contemplated, "This might be Siren's doing. I don't know much about her, never met her, but long ago Ophiuca and Gemini kicked an FM-ian named Siren out of Cepheus's court cause she was 'too good' at manipulating. So if we're dealing with a master manipulator, it's gotta be her."

Geo recalled the cutthroat world of Planet FM with its many power hungry advisors and their eyes on Cepheus's throne. For this Siren to be such a danger to Ophiuca's and Gemini's plans that they would agree to get rid of her? That must've meant she was downright terrible.

"The only way your words are gonna reach her is if Siren's grip is loosened," Omega-Xis shot a glance at Geo, "Forcefully."

Geo slowly recoiled, knowing what his partner meant but dreading the actions needed to do it.

"Triese if you can hear me..." he raised his buster, charging it, "You have to fight back against the Wave Change! You're being manipulated! Please...!"

He couldn't bear to fire, not until he knew for certain that it was absolutely necessary.

snoruntpyro

Triese immediately jumped as soon as a weirdly familiar voice called out to her, turning around to face the first actual EM Being she'd had the opportunity to encounter. "H-huh...?! Who are you?!" she reflexively barked out. "H-how do you know my name?!"

Siren let some of Triese's own panic overtake her the second she saw that Mega Man had caught her red-handed. Of course, this wasn't entirely unexpected... this girl just so happened to latch herself to a dangerous person, after all. But for Mega Man to come after them before they had even made it to WAZA... Well, her luck was certainly taking a turn for the worse. Luckily, she had just conditioned Triese with the very excuse she could use to turn the tables in her favor - and it was all the better that Triese didn't seem to recognize the person she'd been hanging out with, either.

Feigning a gasp, she began to speak inside of Triese's mind again. "Ah! Speak of the devil! They must have been tracking us down after all," Siren exclaimed, trying her damndest to sound worried so Triese would also worry. "That's one of the Wave Changers that sold themselves to that organization! I suppose we can't all be so noble..." Already, she was placing targets on Mega Man through their visor. "If there's any time to act, it's now, my doll~! Before he gets the upper hand!"

The idea couldn't help but make Triese hesitate even more, though. She couldn't run, and this person would probably chase her to that mountain in the distance, right? She raised her buster in a panic as she took a step back, but she didn't fire, not yet. "W-wait! Please! I'm just trying to help! I-I'm not doing anything bad, I swear!" she blubbered. "D-don't make me fight... because I don't want to... I promise!"

(She didn't exactly sound confident about it, though. Which was great for Siren!)

Cosmine

Siren giggled deep and melodically, "Perhaps there is something we can do..."

"It's not gonna be that big of a problem, Geo," Omega-Xis grumbled over Geo's shoulder.

"Well, I know, but," Geo sighed, arms full of fresh snacks from the local konbini, "It's gonna be awkward if I hand her a tuna fish sandwich and she doesn't eat fish and gets sad about it cause she likes fish that are alive, you know?"

"Things eat tuna! Ocean things! Probably some big thing like a shark!" Omega-Xis countered.

"No Triese likes fish and probably small and cute fish, right?" he wondered, trying to recall all the chatroom messages he had back read, "Girls like small and cute things, right?"

"Girls like many things, Geo," Omega-Xis warned with a far off stare.

Geo wasn't sure what his partner was thinking about in particular, but he nodded to himself in agreement. Girls did like many things.

They passed by the park outside Big Wave, but slowed down as they noticed Mr. Suther looking rather worried about something. Before even asking what was wrong, Omega-Xis held a claw up in front of Geo, stopping him.

"Geo, something's up," his partner cautioned, "I'm sensing... an FM-ian. Intentionally obscured trail. Whoever was here is trying their best not to be found."

"You're kidding," Geo worried, heart rate quickening, "We need to check on Triese!"

He ran as fast as he could to the top of Vista Point, huffing and puffing, nearly collapsing as he dropped all the snacks he was carrying once the truth was revealed to him. Triese was gone. And a new FM-ian was threatening the peace. He didn't like how that sounded.

"Mega-"

"It's Wave Changing time! Get to it Geo!" Omega-Xis barked.

"Right," he nodded, holding his Hunter-VG out and then up, "Transcode! Mega Man!" and in a beam like flash disappeared and jumped onto the Wave Road up above.

Up on the Wave Road Omega-Xis materialized next to the Wave Changed Geo to assist in looking around for anything Triese shaped. Luckily for them, it wasn't hard to spot the suspiciously blue thing in the distance and he dashed over to investigate.

"No doubt..." Omega-Xis muttered, "That hair and that water theme..."

"Triese!" Geo called out, "Are you okay!?" coming to a stop some distance away, just in case things were not okay. And in his experience... things probably weren't okay, but he had to hope.

snoruntpyro

Triese twitched once Siren spoke up, having been hit with a bizarre wave of anxiety as she listened to her partner explain the situation. W-well, of course. All good things had to have a catch, didn't they? She'd always been warned about how the Net in ACDC was monitored, so this wasn't really a surprise. Staring at Mt. Belenus from afar, a strange feeling of deja vu overcame her - but the anxiety was slowly winning out, and she stepped forward on the Wave Road as if to get a better look at the peak on the horizon.

"Th-that's horrible," she muttered, putting a hand on her mouth - perfectly following Siren's script. "Wh-what can we do about them, if they're watching us? I mean, we can't just go in and fight them alone... right?" Nervously, she curled her fingers, taking a look around the Wave Road. That's right... no one like her was around. It was just a bunch of smaller maintenance programs... just like how her own Net worked...

"B-but what if..." She didn't want to imply that they were the 'only ones', because Siren was telling her there were other Wave Changers she had to help. "W-well... we have to do something! I can't be totally useless! We need to go there... right?! Sabotage something... at least!"

(Too easy.)

Triese was brave. She was getting stronger. Siren had gifted her power! She wasn't going to be a coward and completely ignore the problem, right...? If she Wave Changed back in her world, then she'd start taking down all the people she didn't like with no hesitation... right? Siren Splash would do that, right?! No... would she...? What was she thinking...?

She continued to step forward toward the silhouette of Mt. Belenus in the distance, as if she expected it to whisk her away at any moment, but her anxiety was slowly turning to hesitation and panic.

Cosmine

What a good natured girl. If there was one flaw to this whole plan it would be that.

Siren kept her thoughts to herself on this matter, even if she longingly contemplated the Break Time Bomb. Those things probably had some sort of tracking program on them as they were high value items. Can't be having that. Oh well, c'est la vie.

As they popped back out onto the Wave Road Siren waited for the opportune moment. Right when Triese began to settle, curious about what could possibly be next, Siren made her move.

Ever so slightly she increased the tension, the anxiety. That little reptile part in the back of all human minds that squirmed and ran from danger. Fear of something far away as if a sniper was aimed a poised to fire at any moment at her position.

When Triese finally acknowledged the feeling, Siren was quick to swoop in and soothe, "You've noticed it, haven't you?" she directed Triese's attention far off into the horizon, "That."

She put a circle over the target -- the far off peak of Mt. Belenus.

"What you see there is where the headquarters of a pernicious organization lays, one that is hellbent on monitoring all EM Wave Change activity. They're watching us, Triese. Never taking their eyes off of us nor any of our fellow Wave Changing brethren," Siren intoned low and quietly, then sighed, "It's just a shame that no one has shown up who's brave enough to take them on. To free all of us. Maybe one day a hero will appear."

Silence, with a low growing anxiety emanating from that peak like it was a crack that broke the horizon. Like it shouldn't be there. Like with just a swipe of the hands it could be wiped off the face of the Earth if the hand was strong enough. And Triese... Siren Splash... was strong, wasn't she?

snoruntpyro

Triese felt a mixture of emotions as she saw the vault split open - it was mostly the sight of the rare Battle Chips (cards? Were they the same...?) that made her hesitate. It was so hard to get something like a Giga Chip, so much so that a few falling into her lap this easily just seemed... wrong. W-well, she didn't need them, anyways. She would earn them... from her hard work... like she usually did...!!

"Y-yes! Um! Okay!" she nervously responded, nodding her head as she ducked into the vault. They would have to hurry, wouldn't they?! She wasn't completely sure why they were under a time crunch, but she just knew that it was true intuitively. After she took Siren's suggestion and pocketed the Sticky Rains and the familiar Ice Stage, she searched for any other Aqua cards she could find. She didn't really have time to ask what any of them did... so she was running off of a lot of assumptions, but...

Wait! Wait! If they were getting Battle Chips out of the vault, then did that mean she got to use them?! It really was like Cross Fusion...! Oh my gosh, she had to pick the cutest ones and then use them as soon as she could!! There was a card with a shark on it that seemed kind of familiar, and another with what looked like a yeti virus on it, and one that kinda looked like an Ice Seed, th-there was this really cute bunny oh my gosh...

"I-I don't want to take too much, because it kinda feels weird if I do," Triese voiced as she backed away from the vault. "I'll do my best with this, anyhow!" She bounded across the comp and to the exit pad, returning back to the main Wave Road above Echo Ridge. Giddily, she bounced in place, staring at the sky in lieu of actually being able to see Siren. "Okay! What next, what next?! This is so awesome!!"

Cosmine

"We'll never lose anything ever again," Siren giggled.

Even though she knew she was the one pulling the strings, Siren was taken aback briefly by how easily Triese was falling deeper and deeper under her spell. This was going much more smoothly than she expected! How wonderful, maybe she should press her luck.

"Nice shot!" Siren cheered, "You cleared out the targets with ease! You're a natural!"

And she really did mean it. Triese was perfect. The delighted anticipation Siren was feeling was infectious.

"Now all you need to do is go inside the treasure room and pick out the cards that suit you best," she suggested.

In addition to the regular fair of cards that were frequently traded in, there was a selection of extremely rare exclusive cards that dealt massive damage. She would let Triese decide which ones she wanted to use as it was so much easier when the weapon chose the bullet themselves. She did however, point out the Ice Stage and Sticky Rain cards as they worked quite well with their Aqua abilities.

"Once we're done here, we should skedaddle," she mentioned, excited for the next phase.

snoruntpyro

Triese narrowed her eyes at the virus standing guard in front of the vault. “H-hey, you’re right! What’s a virus doing here? W-we can’t let it eat that data!” she exclaimed, raising her buster. She… hesitated for a moment, overcome with a strange feeling of nausea, a hyper-awareness of how light and hollow she was - but it quickly passed. She wanted this! It was supposed to be this way!

“People die all the time. Data gets eaten up all the time. It’s really sad,” Triese couldn’t help but mutter in response to Siren’s reassurance. “W-we have to be as strong as we can… so that doesn’t happen as often, right? So we don’t lose everything again!”

She took another step forward, calculating her battle plan in her head. With Siren helping her out, it felt even easier than she thought it’d be. One confident grasp of her bubble arm later, and she charged up a triple-spread of shots, making up a call-out on the fly. “S-Siren… Spreader…!!”

The centermost bubble flew straight for the virus in front of the fault, trapping them in… well, a bubble, while the other two nailed some of the vault’s weak spots. Almost automatically, Triese then swirled forward and blew a kiss, manifesting a little note made of water to swirl towards and finish off the virus.

(This was so cool! This was exactly what she wanted! And it was all because she listened to Siren! S-she should… always listen… to Siren!)

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