Disclaimer: I do not own Rockman/Megaman. It belongs to Capcom. I wish I did own Axl but sadly he too belongs to Capcom (for those of you that don't know, he comes from Rockman/Megaman X7 for the PS2 [Which will be out in approximately four days]).  I do own Ryu Shingure and all other non Capcom characters. This story takes place several years before the Rockman.EXE series.

The Road Not Shown
By David Knight

Chapter Five: The Mistress of Metal

It was Monday morning as both Ryu and his grandfather was both having breakfast. a bit earlier than normal but then again, Ryu was starting to want to get to school on time these days.

"Looking forward to another day of testing out Axl in battle," Wily asked.

"You bet," Ryu smirked, _I'm looking forward to testing out the chips we got from Starman. They are going to blow everyone away._

"I won't be home until dinner time today," Wily spoke, surprising Ryu. "I have a meeting with an old friend of mine today."

"Anyone I know?" Ryu asked.

"No. You've never met him before."

"Whatever," Ryu said as he finished off the rest of his breakfast, "I'll see you around dinner time then Gramps." he left the house with his PET in hand.

Wily took in thought as he waited a while before going down to the lab. He sat down at his desk and started up the program. "Computer. Play back security computer log from last night from 10 pm to 8 am this morning."

"Acknowledged Professor Wily."

As Wily read the log, he saw that no one had been in at all, and Ryu had apparently logged out at around midnight. _But did he?_ "Computer. Play back security camera footage from midnight and on." It did so, and Wily saw his grandson still on the machines past his written logout time. _You may be able to hack the system log but not the video security system. What were you doing?_

From the video records he saw what was done and where his grandson had went. _... so he found my back door into SciLabs. It would explain why my old friend called me up this morning and wanted to meet earlier than we planned._ Wily let out a breath, _Ryu, just what did you do... and did you do anything to compromise my work?_

* * *

"You sure your grandfather isn't going to have figured out you went hacking into SciLabs?" Axl asked Ryu as he got off the bus and started walking towards school.

"Considering who he is, he might find out," Ryu admitted, "How much though is anyone's guess. How did the work on the Virus Breeder go?"

"The programming for it relatively simple," Axl reported. "Buying the parts you'll need to build the thing... that's the killer."

"Guess we'll have to play it by ear then," Ryu shrugged. His attention however was soon diverted as he saw two thugs from Hirokazu's former gang near a young woman Ryu had never seen before.

She wore a white tank top, green jeans, a Japanese style coat, a choker around her neck, and striped wristbands. Raven black hair flowed down her back with a small silver saw blade on the right side of her head, used as a hair decoration.  

"She must be new," Ryu realized.

"And it looks like even though Hirokazu's gone, his old running buddies like to harass new students." Axl stated.

"Yeah well I don't think that's going to happen." Ryu growled as he was about to go over to help her but Axl spoke and said, "Don't even try it."

"Excuse me?"

"You'd be insulting her." Axl told him sternly.

"And how pray tell do you figure that?" Ryu snapped as he turned back to the scene, seeing one of the thugs rush her from behind...

Only to see her side step gracefully away from him, get right beside him to grab his arm and then throw him hard to the ground. The other thug let out a cry as he tried to attack her with a punch but she expertly blocked it and then landed an open palm strike to his stomach, knocking the wind out of him and sending him crumbling to the ground.

"... holy..." Ryu muttered in disbelief as he watched the girl he thought almost defenseless just kick the crap out of those two thugs.

"Because she can take care of herself," Axl said smugly, "I saw it in her stance. She practices in the Art."

"... uh-huh..." Ryu nodded as he decided to get to class before he became late, though he wondered just who that girl was and if he would be seeing her again.

* * *

Wily waited at the cafe that been mentioned by his old friend. He wondered how long it would be until he did show up, as he always had a knack of being late to everything.

Today it happened only to be five minutes. He saw a middle aged man with a pale complexion, dark black purple hair and wearing a black suit take a chair across from him. "Albert."

"Eiji," Wily nodded, "Its been a few months since we last spoke like this."

"Work at SciLabs has kept me busy," Professor Eiji Hoshimaru sighed,  "Sometimes I wonder why I even stay there at all. Is it because I like the money I make... or because if I don't keep an eye on the fools within the system then we'll just go down to hell that much faster."

"At times you feel like the only one that understands where I am coming from Eiji," Wily said as he took a sip of his drink. "The Net that Takeru created has become flawed by idiots and fools who only care for money. For making their own lives much easier, and could care less about how many people die because of their ambitions."

"The death of your daughter really did change you Albert," Eiji said, "I may not say it was for the better, as such a tragedy would be better off never happening, but at least you had your eyes opened to the truth."

"The truth often seems hidden from us my old friend," Wily shook his head.

"As is who broke into SciLabs last evening," Eiji replied, looking at Wily in the eyes, "I helped you find the back door into our systems Albert."

"Don't even finish that statement," Wily returned, "You know me Eiji. I don't take if I can't remain invisible. What was taken?"

"No one knows yet but Yuuichiro's getting hammered by the suits," Eiji said, "Times like this I am glad not to be at the head of the department and stick in the background. Makes my work much easier. Much more comfortable too."

"I assume you brought scans of the intruders with you," Wily surmised. Eiji pulled out a PALM to show the images. _Some things never change and I am glad for that._ the scientist mused as he first saw a kid size golden Navi. "This one I haven't seen before. Is he the perpetrator?"

"Actually he's the one that alerted us to the Navi that was responsible for the theft," Eiji explained as he showed an image of a ninja type Navi, followed by an image of a Navi Albert Wily only knew too well. "SciLab security tried to detain him and this Navi that was with him but they avoided detainment as the bulk of security was trying to capture the thief who managed to escape."

"Considering it was Shadowman that was your thief, I am not surprised." Wily said with an amused smirk.

"Shadowman?" Eiji asked.

"He's an Elite Mercenary Navi. Supposedly he has no operator but has a flawless record of giving his clients what they want," Wily answered, "Whomever hired him is anyone's guess."

"And the other Navi? Have you seen it before?"

"No, I have not. It possibly could have been some rich man's son who decided to take a hack into your systems," Wily proposed.

"Perhaps," Eiji nodded. "But enough of that now. Let's get back to enjoying this day that we had planned back for the last two weeks."

"Yes. Better to think of different things on a nice day like this," Wily agreed. He could not have told his friend about Axl. If anyone, anyone, ever found out about Axl, what he had within him... there wasn't a doubt in his mind that the Officials wouldn't hesitate to send every Navi they had to delete him.

And hell would have to freeze over before he allowed that to happen.

* * *

"What does this make now, the eighth day in a row you've managed to get to class on time?" Kaede asked Ryu as he took his seat in front of her.

"Come on, it's not like I've got anything to be worried about now," Ryu shrugged.

"You're saying that only because you got Axl now," Gendo smirked, "Admit it buddy, you've changed ever since you got him."

"And you were expecting something else to happen?" Ryu returned.

"I don't see what you two are making such a big fuss over," Madoi sighed, "Ryu's happy how he is now. Just let him enjoy it."

Ryu's face reddened slightly at Madoi's words, but his face returned to normal when he heard the door open and saw Yuriko-sensei walk into the room. However his eyes went wide as he saw the girl from before come in with her. "No way..."

"What's wrong, Ryu?" Madoi asked.

"Two thugs from Hirokazu's old gang tried to rough her up this morning," Ryu explained, "Only thing was, they got roughed up instead."

"You're kidding me," Gendo mouthed.

"Everyone, may I have your attention please," Yuriko-sensei spoke up, "I'd like to introduce a new student into our class. Please introduce yourself."

"Makino Tamako," the raven-haired teen spoke calmly.

"Please take a seat in the front," Yuriko-sensei told her and she did so. "Now then, let's pick up where we left off."

Ryu however wasn't entirely focused on the lecture though, as he was looking at the raven-haired girl, Tamako, and wondering what she was all about.

* * *

There was someone else that was staring at Tamako, but instead of wondering who she was, he was wondering of how to hurt her. _You little bratty girl. You think you can humiliate Lo Yang like you did. Dream on._ he gripped his PET tightly, _I'm going to challenge you, one way or another._

* * *

Class seemed to pass by them and it was time for lunch. Ryu, Madoi, Gendo and Kaede were all at the table that had pretty much set up as their own for lunch. Madoi and Kaede were gossiping amongst one another, much to Gendo's displeasure. As it turned out Kaede and Madoi had quite a few common interests, it had made them close friends in a relatively short time.

Ryu on the other hand was looking over to the far end of room, and saw Tamako sitting there by herself, just no one but herself.

"Ryu?" Gendo asked as he saw his friend get up.

"I'm going to talk to Tamako for a bit. See if she'd like to eat with us," Ryu said, "Looks like she could use some company."

_I know how that feels like._ Madoi mused to herself.

Ryu ended up walking over to where Tamako was sitting, never once noticing that someone also staring at him.

_It's going to be my turn now Shingure. I have the okay from Makoto. So now I, Wong Fu will take you on and defeat your Navi. My friend Hirokazu will be avenged!_

* * *

_So far this is boring,_ Tamako mused to herself as she ate her curry lunch prepared by her mother, _I mean I got attacked by two really pathetic seniors on my first day. Not that it wasn't a welcome distraction, but I just miss having any challenge at all._ She put her right hand in her coat pocket, feeling a very important thing to her. _Wish we were back at Yoka High, with all my other old friends. At least at my old school we didn't have any..._

"Hi. This seat taken?"

Tamako looked up, and saw a sandy blonde haired teen around her age come over to her. Motioning with her head for him to sit down, he did.

"Shingure Ryu. We had home room together today," he said.

_I hope he isn't not going to try to hit on me for a date,_ Tamako groaned.

"Those were some nice moves you had outside. Really took Hirokazu's old thugs by surprise," Ryu smirked, "Where'd you learn to fight like that?"

Tamako actually blinked for a while before actually speaking, "Excuse me if I look surprised, but of all the things I was expecting you to say, that was last on my list."

Ryu let out a smile, "I'm not your typical guy. I'm glad Axl told me not to interfere though. He knew even before I did that you were a practitioner in the martial arts."

"Axl?"

"That would be me," Ryu's Net Navi spoke from his PET, which Ryu showed to Tamako. Tamako looked into Axl's eyes and saw something she rarely saw in a Navi nowadays: the spirit of a warrior.

"Arigato, Axl-san for keeping your operator from interfering," Tamako said kindly, "That was my own fight and I would have taken offence to interference."

"Just Axl, Tamako," the Navi returned, "I'll assume you want us to not add the '-chan' to your name."

Tamako just smiled, "That would be very appreciated."

"So what style was that?" Ryu asked.

"My father trained me in Kempo and Aikido."

"Styles meant for offensive and defensive fighting respectively," Axl surmised.

"My father believed that it was best to have both a strong offence as well as a strong defense. Having or only developing one while ignoring the other is foolishness," Tamako said. "Its why he teaches classes at my family's inn."

"Your family owns an inn?" Ryu asked.

"The Ura Inn in Yoka," Tamako replied, "It's not that far from here. About fifteen, twenty minutes. Plus there's the zoo near by so that helps bring in customers."

"Wow," Ryu mused, "Hey listen, I got some friends over at this table. Think maybe you'd like to join us for lunch?"

Tamako thought about it for a moment, "Its better than eating alone."

Ryu smiled, "Great. Come on I'll introduce you to them." He got up as did Tamako, ready to go to his friends... only he ended up getting shoved by a senior in the other direction out the door.

"What the hell?" Tamako muttered as she saw Ryu in the hallway, and it looked like some people just like the two idiots she had educated this morning were now surrounding him. _Geez. First I wanted it exciting and then someone makes me like the quiet, then action comes in. Can't Kami-sama make up his mind already?_

Still, she was going to put her own hand, or fist into the matter. To her, Shingure Ryu was so far the only boy worth talking to in this school. She wasn't going to stand for this.

Her honor wouldn't stand for it.

* * *

_Got you now brat!_ Yang sneered as he followed Tamako intent on getting her. But as he was intent on getting Tamako, Ryu's own friends had realized something had happened and were now following the thug, knowing that once again, one of Hirokazu, or rather now Makoto's gang, had decided to challenge Ryu.

* * *

"Don't you have any common manners," Ryu growled at the gang members, "At least when your current leader is with you, you at least behave."

"What do you think we are Shingure? Dogs?" one of them snarled.

"Is that a trick question?" Ryu asked.

"Enough talk. I Wong Fu challenge you now Shingure!"

Ryu shook his head, "Yeah, yeah. Fine. I am assuming we are going to do the Chip Bet Rule right?"

"Yeah we are," Fu stated as he put down two chips, "Knight Sword and Hammer."

The Hammer chip wasn't really to appealing to him, but the Knight Sword chip on the other hand was. _And its a Lv 4 no less. Only sword chip stronger is Paladin Sword._ "Alright, here's my chips to make equal worth. My Elec, Aqua and Fire Sword chips."

"That's fine," Fu said as he looked over to someone in the back.

"What's with you?" Ryu asked, wondering what was with his look. A few seconds later, a groan could be heard.

"Apparently he thought he could hurt you before netbattling you to make you weaker."

"Tamako," Ryu muttered as she saw the raven-haired girl holding a thug against the wall, with one of his arms being restrained by said girl.

"You really have no honor, you know that." Tamako said with disgust apparent in her voice.

"Just who the heck do you think you are?" Fu growled.

"You! You are the witch that humiliated me!"

Everyone turned to face one of the thugs that Tamako had beaten earlier this morning. Rolling her eyes, she asked, "Are you sure you should be advertising you were humiliated, or do you just don't have a brain?"

"Shut up! No one does what you did to Lo Yang and gets away with it!" the arrogant bully hissed, "Let's do it here and now!"

"Yang, we can't fight on school grounds. Remember what Makoto told us," Fu said.

"So what?" Yang spat.

Tamako however eyed on what was in Yang's hands, his PET. "Let's see if your skills are any better than your mouth."

"Eh?" Yang blinked.

"A Tag Team match. Me and Ryu versus the two of you," Tamako said with a smirk, "Unless of course you think you'll get humiliated again by a girl."

"Screw you!" Yang spat. "Let's do it Fu! Let's kick their buts and their Navis!"

_Well I like better odds, though Yang isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer. Still, even his Navi has to be better than any female Navi... cept of course for Aoshi-sama's Navi._ Fu muttered to himself. "Let's get this started then. To the comp lab, and the rest of you just keep teachers from seeing us battling."

The rest of the gang did that, making it clear for no one to see, while Ryu, Tamako, Fu and Yang got to a terminal and got their pets out.

"Ladies first," Yang sneered.

"I'll prefer to go last thank you." Tamako replied.

"Fine. PLUG-IN, CANNONMAN.EXE, TRANSMISSION!" Yang sneered.

"PLUG-IN, JETMAN.EXE, TRANSMISSION!" Fu commanded.

"PLUG-IN, AXL.EXE, TRANSMISSION!"

* * *

In the Net, Axl looked on as he saw his two opponents. Jetman looked somewhat alright, at least more formidable than Tankman had. He was blue and white colored all over, and he looked like a jet Transformer robot in their humanoid form. Though he had wings sticking out of his back and his head was nothing more than the cockpit of a fighter jet.

Cannonman was worse looking however. Pretty basic, all black with pirate cannon arms, a cannon on his chest, even his head was shaped like a cannon.

"Haha! This punk pest is our opponent!" Cannonman sneered.

"Don't underestimate him Cannonman, he did after all demolish Tankman," Jetman cautioned.

"I can tell already you're the 'brains' of your tag team," Axl smirked, "though that's not saying much."

"Why you..." Cannonman snarled, ready to fire but Jetman restrained him, as the match hadn't even officially begun.

_Pathetic._ Axl sighed, _Still though, I am wondering what kind of Navi Tamako owns? Something tells me it won't be your standard type, that's for sure._

* * *

"Hey lady! Where's your Navi?" Fu asked.

"Maybe she's out on the net getting a manicure or practicing to be a cheerleader," Yang snickered.

However to both thugs surprise, Tamako just laughed, "You truly are honorless dogs to make such a sexist remark." a wicked smile formed on her face, "Just because I'm a lady doesn't mean I have a female Navi... PLUG-IN, METALMAN.EXE, TRANSMISSION!"

"What?! She has a MALE Navi?!" Fu and Yang shouted.

Ryu was slightly surprised, but it wasn't unheard of for operators to have Navis of the opposite gender. A smirk formed on his face, _I'm curious to see what Metalman looks like, though I don't think I'll be disappointed._

* * *

Axl saw Tamako's Navi materialize next to him. He was taller than Axl by two or three feet and was considerably more bulkier. His legs were black though wore red boots with a silver gear at the end of them. His upper torso was red, with two white stripes on the left and right of a large blue stripe in the center. In the center there was silver gear symbol. On his shoulders was half of a metal saw blade. His hands were gray and red though at the cuffs there was a metal gear as well. Lastly, his red helmet covered all but his face, which was gray and on that helmet was a metal saw blade.

"Um... which one do you want?" Jetman asked Cannonman, who foolishly decided to strike first, firing off a shot at the other two Navis.

Axl just jumped upward to avoid the shots, however Metalman just kept his ground and when the cannon balls came his way, he simply punched at them.

The cannon balls turned to dust by his touch.

'No way!' Yang gasped.

'Jetman take Axl out now!' Fu ordered.

"Right! Jets on!" Jetman roared to life as he went flying at high speeds, firing off missiles at Axl, who was dodging them all or destroying them with Suzaku.

'Hang in there Axl,' Ryu replied.

Meanwhile Cannonman was firing all of his shots at Metalman, who was either breaking them or did get hit by some of the shots, yet they didn't do major damage. Still Cannonman seemed to be trying to wear the giant Navi down.

'Metalman wait for it, we will see it when the time comes.' Tamako told her Navi.

Metalman silently obeyed his operator, and continued to remain on the defense.

"Hey Cannonman, are you having any fun now?" Jetman said as he was starting to enjoy chasing Axl down.

"Yeah, I'm just blasting this big junk pile until he breaks down," Cannonman sneered, "And then..." *Click Click* "... uh-oh."

'That's your limit. That's pathetic.' Tamako smirked.

'Why's that!' Yang hissed, 'My Navi clobbered yours!'

'Take another look baka,' Tamako snorted.

Yang and Cannonman looked to where the smoke was now departing, and saw Metalman, who had only suffered minor damage from the several direct hits he had taken as well as destroying cannonballs.

'Its time to stop playing around,' Tamako said sternly, her voice showing that she was done playing. 'BATTLECHIP, METALSTAGE, SLOT IN!'

Suddenly the floor beneath them became entirely metal. Cannonman felt that nothing had changed yet and had wondered what was the point of this.

'BATTLECHIP, FLOOR GEARS, SLOT IN!'

Suddenly, large grinding gears appeared out of the floor and started moving forward and backward. As Cannonman learned the hard way as one of them tore out a chunk of his left leg.

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" Cannonman screamed.

"Cannonman!" Jetman roared, looking down at Metalman, who wasn't even turning around. _I'm going to get that sucker right in the back once I finish Axl. Time to stop..._

"Frost Dragon Bullet!"

Jetman barely had the time to see Axl fire off a shot at his cockpit head. Once it connected, his head was encased entirely in ice. Unable to see, he ended up crashing into the ground. _How! He was using his gun to stop my missiles!_

As if hearing his thoughts, Axl answered, "I was using Suzaku to stop your missiles, while charging up Seriyu to take you out."

"I won't lose to you! I won't! I won't! I won't!" Cannonman boasted.

Finally Metalman spoke, "Your arrogance... annoys me." He then flung his hand forward and from it came a metal saw blade that went right into Cannonman, but not through him.

Still, it went enough into him that he fell to the ground and he had to log out before ending up deleted.

"Nice move." Axl said to Metalman.

"Thanks for watching my back," Metalman returned.

"I... fight on..." Jetman rasped as he got back up on his feet.

"May I?" Metalman asked.

Axl nodded and stepped out of his way, "Have a party big guy. I've already had my fun with him."

"Thank you," Metalman nodded, as his back rockets went off, propelling him in the air as he launched out five rockets at Jetman, who only said one thing when he saw them.

"Slag."

Once the rockets hit him, he immediately logged out.

"Well that's it," Axl shrugged, looking back to Metalman, "Thanks for teaming up with me. Maybe next time we could test our own strengths." He held his hand out to the larger Navi.

A hand that Metalman accepted, "I'd be honored to have a fight against a Navi with a spirit such as yours."

* * *

A few minutes later, Ryu collected his winnings from Fu while Tamako got the satisfaction of seeing their faces after her Navi beat theirs. Just when they thought the two thugs might try something, they backed off and left with the rest of their 'friends'.

"Strange, I would have assumed they wouldn't have kept their bargain," Tamako mused.

"Yeah well, after what happened to Hirokazu, and how they all seem to be afraid of one Shidou Aoshi, I think they just want to stay in school till they graduate instead of being thrown out." Ryu shrugged.

"Well this has definitely turned into an interesting day," Tamako mused, "And we still have ten minutes of lunch left."

"Enough time to meet with my..."

"Ryu!"

"Friends," he finished as he saw Kaede, Madoi and Gendo coming to them.

"Ryu, what happened?" Madoi asked, seeing there wasn't even a gang member at all this time.

"Um, let's explain it with my new friend here. Everyone this is Makino Tamako," Ryu started to say, and seeing the look in Madoi and Kaede's eyes, added, "And her Navi is Metalman.EXE."

"She's got a male Navi?!" All three of his friends gasped.

"Is everyone going to react this way to my having a male Navi?" Tamako rolled her eyes.

"Well around here, you only really see guys with male Navis, and girls with female Navis." Ryu replied.

"I really don't see what the big deal is. Everyone's got different preferences and styles," Axl spoke, "Just deal with it and move on."

"Well said Axl, Well said indeed." Tamako agreed whole-heartedly.

"Come on let's go back and salvage what's left of lunch okay guys." Ryu said as he pocketed his new chips. Everyone else agreed and walked back to the lunch area with him.

Tamako couldn't help but feel that she had found a real friend her, more friends through him, but most important of all she had found what she had been lacking for some time now.

A challenge.

* * *

Unseen by all, Aoshi watched Ryu and his friends leaving by looking at the feed from the security camera outside the hallway. It was relatively easy for him to control the school security system, what with Kodachi as his Navi.

"That Axl is becoming more interesting Aoshi-sama," Kodachi said sweetly, "I think he really could be a challenge. Can we go fight him now? Please, Aoshi-sama. Pretty pleaseeeee."

Aoshi's face lips curved into a grin, "Its not yet time Kodachi. I'm still amazed at his strength and speed, yet he's less than a month old. I'd like study the subject more. After all this was the first time we saw him use that Frost Dragon Bullet attack."

"You are truly a masterful tactician Aoshi-sama," Kodachi praised.

"Thank you Kodachi, but I must thank our only loss for this wisdom." His face became like stone as he admitted his only defeat. "If nothing else, our fight with Blues taught me one valuable lesson: Never underestimate your opponent. I have no intent on underestimating Axl as we once underestimated Blues simply because of his brat operator. We will watch him for a while longer."

"And then after that while is over, then I can have my fun?" Kodachi pleaded, "Then can I play with him Aoshi-sama?"

Aoshi's lips returned to a smirk, "Yes Kodachi, then you can play with him until he breaks."

To Be Continued...