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AFTERMATH

Cascading Waters

Rockman was sitting on the Wave Road with an enormous stack of Battle Cards beside him. At a consistent rate, he would take one and feed it to WarRock.

"Here comes the next one, WarRock," he warned, "One, two, three, open." The alien's head on his left arm opened his mouth and he quickly popped in a Sword card.

"Why are we doing this, Subaru?" WarRock asked as he swallowed the Battle Card.

"Well the Star Carrier can store Battle Card data so we can access it easily in a pinch." Rockman took a MopLance3 Battle Card and fed it to his partner. "We can't afford to lose time by feeding you Cards in battle. So I'm feeding all of them to you now so the Star Carrier can register and store them all."

"All of them?" WarRock asked with a worried tone in his voice.

"Mhm. Now open." Before the alien could say anything else, Rockman stuck a Cannon card into his mouth.

"How many more of these do we have to Predate?" asked WarRock with his mouth full.

"Quite a lot," answered Rockman, "I'd say we'll be here for another hour at least."

"Another hour?" exasperated WarRock, "We're wasting time here!"

"You know what? You're absolutely right," Rockman agreed. WarRock swallowed his mouthful and sighed. As he looked up at his partner, he noticed Rockman had a crazed grin on his face and about forty Battle Cards in his hand.

"Subaru…" WarRock looked uneasily at his partner, "You wouldn't…"

"Open."

ooo

Meanwhile, thousands of miles above the surface of the Earth, several FM beings had gathered on the moon. Aquila was among them being bereted by his fellow aliens.

"You failed, Aquila."

"WarRock was there," the eagle said.

"That doesn't change the fact that you lost. Seriously, how could you lose to him?"

"I'm going to tear him a new one the next time I see him!"

"Not before the rest of us have a go at him," the other FMs chorused.

"Then see if you can. Any one of you, step forward and take on WarRock and his human partner!" Silence fell upon the moon before one FM finally floated forward. Their solid parts were composed of a single white helm and a large urn. Sea-green energy made up the rest of the body taking on the form of a humanoid being devoid of legs coming out of the urn like a genie.

"You, Aquarius?" asked Aquila.

"Just let me find someone on Earth and you'll see," Aquarius assured the eagle.

"Fine. Just remember, failure means facing her wrath." These words caused the waterbearer to cringe.

"I'll find someone who can get close to WarRock's host."

ooo

The day's P.E. class was outdoors. And it would be on the roof at the school swimming pool. The boys had been separated from the girls, who would be swimming on their own end. Subaru tugged at his school-issued swimsuit as it bound to him uncomfortably. He wouldn't have minded if the students had been allowed to bring their own suits. At least then he could swim more comfortably in something more loose-fitting instead of the unnecessarily tight Speedos that the school had given out.

"At least they're free," Kizimaro pointed out.

"That really doesn't change anything," muttered Subaru. He wished he could talk to WarRock right now. However, with his Visualizer in his locker along with the rest of his day clothes, he would have to wait until later to speak with the invisible alien.

"Okay, boys," the teacher called out, "I want you each to swim five laps for warm-up. Now get to it!"

"Alright, let's go, Subaru!" shouted Gonta as he roughly shoved Subaru into the pool. The spiky-haired brunet nearly swore out loud as he hit the cold water and splashed up to the surface for air.

"That wasn't funny, Gonta!" Subaru swam to the ledge and held onto it as he wiped water from his face. As his vision cleared, he caught sight of a young boy in the same class as him with aqua-blue hair dive gracefully into the pool. Everyone watched as he effortlessly swam the five laps before climbing out. On the other side of the pool, Luna and the other girls couldn't help but fawn over him.

"Well done as always, Keita," the coach complimented.

"Thank you, sir," the young swimmer answered.

"I can see you've been training a lot since last year."

"Well after you said I couldn't make the swim team last year, I trained hard at the local rec center every day."

"Well there's no doubt now that you'll make the team this year." The coach then turned to the rest of the boys. "Well don't just stand there. You've all got your laps to complete!" Immediately, they all jumped in at once, splashing Subaru to the point that he almost felt like drowning.

ooo

Aquarius appeared on the Wave Road and looked around. He needed a human host whose frequency was similar to his own. "Alright, time to get this search started." He began zipping along the radio wave pathways. He first tried a nearby park. There were plenty of people there, but nothing he was looking for. His search took him to a shopping mall next. Once again, he found plenty of people but no one with the same frequency. He was just about to leave when a man walked through the door and his frequency instantly registered. Excited, Aquarius dove straight for him.

"Aquarius, stop!" The waterbearer came to a halt and looked up to see a naga-like FM with a grey belt and a white goat's mask as his solid parts with the rest made up of white energy.

"What is it, Capricorn? Can't you see I'm busy?" Aquarius said in an annoyed voice.

"I just came to remind you that you can't choose just any human with the same frequency," said Capricorn, "We have to choose humans who don't believe we exist."

"And how did that turn out for Aquila?" replied Aquarius.

"Better than if he had picked a host who did believe."

"Capricorn, there's only a handful of people who don't believe in our existence now. Finding one will be hard."

"Those are our orders. Now, I'm heading back to the moon. The others need help moving into our permanent base."

"I'll come back when I'm finished."

"Don't screw up, Aquarius." And with that, Capricorn shot back up into space. Aquarius sighed and continued to look. Two hours passed before his search brought him to an elementary school. He looked inside and saw a boy with spiky brown hair wearing a red jacket with a girl with blond hair tied into two enormous pigtails, a large boy, and a short boy with glasses. He gazed inside and looked around. His gaze was quickly drawn to a boy with aqua-blue hair wearing cargo shorts and a white polo shirt who was speaking with the group.

"So Keita, you're convinced that there's no such thing as aliens?" asked Subaru. Aquarius' interest suddenly piqued.

"I'm not saying I don't believe in them," the blue-haired boy replied, "I fully support the idea that there might be intellectual life out there. I just don't think they could exist out there as merely radio waves."

"So you're skeptical about these FM aliens that are around us," Kizimaro noted.

"I'm just saying it physically impossible for any creature to survive as a radio wave. You see, neural signals are just small electrical impulses that travel to and from the brain. A being made up of radio waves would be incapable of doing such a thing."

"Hmmm. You do have a point there." Kizimaro pushed his glasses up, letting the sunlight reflect of the lenses.

"But what if they use something else?" Gonta suggested.

"Look, scientists are working to research them right now," Luna assured everyone, "We'll find out what they're like once they do."

"I'm going to the pool," Keita said as he got up, "I need to get some swim practice in today." And with that, he got up and left.

"Hmm. I think I've got one." Aquarius cackled as he continued to watch. "That child not only matches my frequency and does not believe in the FMs, but it seems he enjoys something I enjoy just as much: water!"

"Hey Subaru!" a voice suddenly boomed, causing Subaru and Aquarius to jump. The latter peered back in and gasped when he saw WarRock floating in the classroom.

What's WarRock doing here? he asked mentally. Now was most definitely not the time for a confrontation. Making haste, he flew off. He needed to wait for an opportune moment and seize his host before he could strike.

Meanwhile, Subaru had quickly gone to the bathroom and shut himself inside the furthest stall before pulling his Visualizer down over his eyes. "That was incredibly rude of him, Subaru," grumbled WarRock.

"He just doesn't understand you guys yet, WarRock. Don't worry, he'll come around," Subaru assured his alien partner.

"Hmph. Still doesn't change how insulting that was," growled WarRock as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"You're being a little oversensitive, WarRock."

ooo

Keita came out onto the roof in his school Speedo and stretched for about fifteen minutes before diving into the pool. The moment his body hit the water, he took off like a bullet as he swam to the other side. As soon as he reached the other end, he twisted himself around and pushed off the wall with his feet before swimming back. Above him, Aquarius watched from the Wave Road with intrigue. For a human child, he was very agile in the water. He thanked the FM Planet that he was able to find him before his coworker Pisces could. As Keita finished his tenth lap, Aquarius made his move. He dropped down from the Wave Road and changed his frequency.

Keita was just bringing himself to the edge of the pool for a short rest when a sea-green incorporeal creature coming out of an urn appeared before him. "W-what are you?" he asked.

"What am I?" Aquarius answered, "I think the more important question is 'what are you?' And the answer to that is simple. You are an excellent swimmer for someone your age. You are like the fastest fish in the sea. You…are my host!" And with that, the waterbearer came down on Keita and merged with him.

This act did not go unnoticed. A bright sea-green light shone out from the roof, causing many eyes to turn toward it. Among them were those of Subaru and WarRock as they had begun to head home. "Is it an FM?" asked Subaru.

"Yes, Subaru. We must investigate." WarRock followed Subaru as he ran behind the wall separating the schoolyard from the street and into some bushes. The boy then took out his Star Carrier and held it up.

"Denpa Henkan, Hoshikawa Subaru! On Air!" WarRock appeared in a flash and wrapped his arms around his partner in a bear hug. Instantaneously, the boy was garbed in a blue bodysuit with blue armor and a helmet with a light-red visor with WarRock's head replacing his left hand.

As soon as his transformation was complete, Rockman teleported himself onto the nearest Wave Road and dashed over to the school roof. Upon his arrival, he was met by a humanoid warrior approximately his own height wearing a sea-green suit and a white chest piece with matching gloves and boots with water patterns on them. The image of a water jug with a splash of water being poured out was emblazoned across his chest and his head was protected by a white helmet with similar water designs to the rest of his outfit along with long waist-length aqua-blue hair flowing out of it. In addition to that, he was also carrying a large water urn on his back.

"So it's you, Aquarius," WarRock noted.

"I go by Aquarius Cascade in this form," replied the result of yet another electromagnetic wave change, "and I'm here to finish what Aquila couldn't."

"We'll beat you just as easily as we beat Aquila," WarRock barked.

"Do you really think so?" Aquarius Cascade chuckled as he unsealed his urn. Water flowed out from the container and surrounded his arms. "Hydro Whip!" He swung his right arm and the water around it suddenly extended to an incredible length. Rockman was caught by surprise and he was struck hard and slammed into the wall.

"Subaru, watch it!" shouted WarRock.

"That would've been helpful about five seconds ago!" Rockman pulled himself from the wall and turned to Aquarius Cascade. "That was fast. I couldn't even see where it was coming from!"

"And here he comes again from above!" On WarRock's warning, Rockman looked up and saw Aquarius Cascade overhead swinging his whips down. He quickly dove to the side and just narrowly dodged.

"Rock Buster!" The blue-clad warrior pointed his left arm at his opponent and proceeded to fire buster shots at him. Aquarius Cascade quickly discarded one water arm and used that water to form a shield, which sizzled lightly as the shots hit it. The short barrage ended quickly and he turned the shield back into a whip and lashed out. Rockman immediately sidestepped, but in doing so he failed to see the other water whip wrap around his leg until it was too late and his opponent had flipped him onto his back.

"Battle Card: FireRing3!" WarRock's head transformed into a launcher with a flaming wheel loaded into it and Rockman fired it at his opponent.

"Fire against water? What are you thinking?" Aquarius Cascade launched both armloads of water and extinguished the FireRing3.

"Pay attention, Subaru!" roared WarRock as his head reappeared, "What good will fire do?"

"I was thinking I could evaporate his water," Rockman answered, "That water is his weapon. So I thought that if we could get rid of it, he'd be defenseless."

"As much as I appreciate that you've been paying attention in science class, THAT'S NOT GOING TO WORK!"

"I suggest you pay attention!" yelled Aquarius Cascade as he held his hand out toward the swimming pool and extracted a long tendril of water, which he immediately flung at Rockman. The blue hero just barely avoided getting hit as he dropped down to his side and then quickly sprang back up.

"He can manipulate water in the environment, too?"

"Subaru, if you're planning to lure him somewhere, be careful where you lure him to," WarRock warned, "You better think of something fast."

"I've got it! Battle Card: PlasmaGun3!" WarRock's head transformed into plasma ball with an electrode on one end and Rockman took aim at his opponent and fired.

"An electric attack. How predictable." Aquarius Cascade quickly recalled the pool water he had launched and used it as a shield. The electric bolt struck the water.

"I got him!" exclaimed Rockman.

"Not quite." Aquarius Cascade pulled his arm back and revealed that he was completely unfazed. The pool water he commanded hovered beside his arm sparking wildly.

"What…did he just do?" Rockman asked.

"He couldn't have, could he?" WarRock wondered out loud.

"I could have and I did," replied Aquarius Cascade, "Water conducts electricity, but where is that electricity supposed to go if there's nothing to conduct it to?" He laughed as he launched the electrified water at Rockman and splashed him, which returned the electric attack he had just shot out from his weapon. His target screamed as several volts of electricity shot through his body and he fell to the floor in a crumpled heap.

"Subaru, get up!" yelled WarRock. He pulled as hard as he could to get his partner up, but it was to no avail. His head turned toward Aquarius Cascade, who was summoning more water from the pool. "Subaru, get up now! Or we are going to die!" Rockman slowly got up to his feet holding onto the railing at the edge of the roof. "Good, you're up. Now how do we beat a water-based opponent who can turn our electric attacks against us?" The Blue Bomber was still a little stunned from the shock earlier, but he had an idea forming in his head.

"Maybe if we can freeze him, we can hit him. Battle Card: IceMeteor2!" As Aquarius Cascade prepared to launch another blast of water, several giant hailstones came down and struck him. They exploded upon impact and froze him in place.

"Nice, Subaru!" WarRock exclaimed.

"And since he's frozen, our next electric attack will deal double damage," Rockman pointed out.

"Well then, what are we waiting for?"

"Right. Battle Card: StunKnuckle!" WarRock's head was quickly replaced with a large yellow fist. He casually made his way over to his frozen opponent and prepared to punch him. However, just as he neared him, he noticed that the ice was melting at a rather alarming rate.

"Have you forgotten?" Aquarius Cascade's voice could be heard asking, "I command water. It doesn't matter what you do to it or what state it's in. Water shall always be my ally." The water-based FM suddenly burst from the ice and the shards came together in his hand and melted together into a single orb of water. "Here, have a taste of your own medicine." He flung the water at Rockman and splashed him against the nearest wall. Immediately after that, he clenched his fist and turned the water into ice, trapping his opponent.

"I can't move!"

"That's the idea," Aquarius Cascade laughed as he began Hydro Whipping Rockman repeatedly.

"Subaru, quick! Change your frequency!"

"R-right…" Rockman suddenly vanished and he reappeared on the nearest Wave Road. "That was close," he sighed with relief.

"We're not finished yet, Subaru," Rockman warned. Aquarius Cascade soon joined them on the radio wave pathway with more water submerging his hands as well as two rings of water circling around him.

"You're persistent, Rockman. If I'm to defeat you, I need to be even more persistent." The waterbearer lashed out with his water tendrils. Rockman danced back away from their strikes as he tried to think of ways to counter. From one of the water rings, a set of icicles quickly shot out like senbon which Rockman quickly had to transfer to the next Wave Road over to avoid.

"Rock Buster!" Several magenta plasma shots were fired and successfully hit their target.

"Aqua Wyrm!" Aquarius Cascade quickly merged the water rings and the orbs surrounding his hands with the remainder inside his urn and lashed out with a large water dragon.

"He's got one of those things too?" Rockman asked as he turned around and ran as fast as he could.

"At least it's name doesn't end in 'Dragon'," WarRock said, "Keep going. We have to lure him away from any water."

"Right!" Rockman continued to speed forward, but as he made his way down the Wave Road a slash of water struck the radio wave path and froze. The blue hero suddenly felt his feet slip out from under him and he fell flat on his face.

"You're not getting away from me that easily." Aquarius Cascade came surfing in on a board made of ice on top of a large wave. He stood over his opponent as the ice melted and melded with the water, which began to swirl around his legs and kept him afloat. "Minions of the Deep, make sure he doesn't get away!" Several more masses of water appeared and took on the form of four large bodied creatures.

"Are those water elementals?" Rockman asked as he pushed himself onto his knees, "I thought they only existed in fantasy."

"They are very real," Aquarius Cascade cackled as his minions of water grabbed his opponent and roughly pulled him up to his feet.

"Battle Card: StrikeEdge!" WarRock's head disappeared in a swirl of green energy and was replaced by a sword with a long yellow flame. Rockman stabbed the water elemental holding his left arm and watched as the electricity coursed through its body and caused it to erupt. He then swung his arm the other way and stabbed the elemental holding his other arm. The other two rushed in trying to smash him with their watery bodies only to be cut down by the electrified sword. "That takes care of them."

Suddenly, Rockman found his head engulfed in water. He turned and saw a tendril leading out of the orb that surrounded him leading to Aquarius Cascade's arm. "Don't think you can escape this just by changing your frequency, Rockman. This water surrounding your head isn't like the water from the swimming pool; this water comes from my urn and has been fused with radio waves. That is what makes my water special. You can't escape it, Rockman. And very soon, you and your partner will drown." A fist of water suddenly punched Rockman in the stomach, causing him to expel a large amount of precious oxygen and forcing WarRock to change back. As soon as the alien's head reappeared, Aquarius Cascade surrounded him with water, as well. WarRock tried to call his partner's name, but no words came out.

"I wonder how long it'll be until you drown," Aquarius Cascade cackled, "Maybe I should speed things up!" Suddenly, Rockman felt the water pushing against his mouth as did WarRock and they both realized what their enemy was planning to do. Aquarius Cascade was going to force his water into their lungs. They needed some way to break free as quickly as possible.

What Battle Cards did I feed WarRock the other day? Rockman asked himself as he began scrolling through a mental list of his partner's forced lunch from the other day. At the same time, WarRock was doing the exact same thing. It brought on the unpleasant memories of indigestion he had that night, but this was life or death. He opened his mouth, but Aquarius Cascade caught onto it incredibly quickly and forced water down his maw.

"Giving already I see, WarRock." With the alien sure to die now, the waterbearer turned his full attention to Rockman. In doing so, he failed to notice the ball of lightning building up in WarRock's throat until it was launched and several volts of electricity shot through the water tendril and struck Aquarius Cascade with a paralyzing shock. The attack caused him to lose control and his water splashed against the Wave Road. Rockman dropped onto his knees coughing violently.

"Subaru..." WarRock hacked just as violently as his partner, "are you okay?"

"Barely..." Rockman managed to get out in between coughs.

"Quickly, Subaru! We have to strike now while he can't move!" The blue hero slowly rose to his feet, still coughing, and took in several deep breaths of precious oxygen. Once he had enough to keep himself going, he held out his buster.

"Battle Card: StealthLaser1!" WarRock's head transformed into a laser gun and he fired several electrified laser beams into Aquarius Cascade. "FlickerKick3!" His weapon returned to normal and his right boot started to glow bright yellow. He dashed in and slammed the sole of his foot against his opponent's face three times.

"Gah! I can't see!" Aquarius Cascade shouted.

"End it now, Subaru!" ordered WarRock.

"StrikeEdge!" For the second time that day, Rockman's buster transformed into a bright yellow-flamed sword. He stepped forward and swung his blade three times, cleaving into his enemy with each stroke. When the final slash had been dealt, Aquarius Cascade let out a cry before the FM separated from his human host.

"Hey, it's Keita!" Rockman exclaimed.

"You won this time, WarRock. But we have many more where I came from." And with those words, Aquarius shot up into space. "She's not going to be pleased..." With no FM occupying his body, Keita began to fall toward the ground.

"Subaru, catch him!"

"I'm on it!" Rockman jumped off the Wave Road and immediately changed his frequency. He appeared underneath the aqua-blue-haired boy and caught him in his arms before gently landing on his feet just inside the school gates.

"Ugh..." Keita slowly came to and he realized that he was being held. "What happened?"

"Hey, you okay?" The young swimmer looked up and saw the blue-clad hero standing over him.

"Yeah, I think so." He got off and tried to stabilize himself on his feet. "Who are you?"

"Hey, it's Keita!" several students shouted.

"Kyaaa! Rockman-sama!" cried Luna.

"Gotta go!" Rockman quickly said.

"Wait! What happened?" Keita asked. Rockman stopped. He figured that the boy at least deserved an answer.

"You were possessed by an FM," he explained trying to keep it short.

"And you saved me?"

"It's what I do."

"Thank you."

"No need." Rockman grabbed his helmet like he was tipping a hat and shot up to the Wave Road.

"How do you think this will affect him, Subaru?" asked WarRock as they returned to the school's roof.

"I think he'll be more willing to accept the existence of FMs," answered Rockman.

ooo

The following morning started the day with another PE class. After the events of the previous day, Subaru had a better appreciation for the school-issued swimwear. He still didn't like them, but he could at least appreciate them now as he watched Keita swim back and forth in the pool and broke the school record.

"Now it's your turn!" Gonta shouted before shoving Subaru into the pool. The boy yelled as he fell in face-first.

"Gonta!"

"Relax, it's just water," Keita assured him as he got out and placed his towel around his neck.

"Yeah! How bad can it be?" Gonta laughed.

"You have no idea..." muttered Subaru.

That's it for this chapter.