To be honest when I updated this fanfic, I didn't expect to still receive this much response several years after. I'm forever grateful for all your continuous support!

To merendinoemiliano:

Why thank you very much, I'm glad you like it. Being one of the properly fanfics I've made over the past few years, I, myself, is pretty proud of this as well.

That being said, because this story was made back when I was still in early high school years, there's plenty of loopholes that I'm trying to fix at the moment so I do apologize if you find parts of the storyline that more or less didn't make sense.

To dexter4327:

Yes, I'm glad you noticed the foreshadowing. I myself wasn't quite sure just how much of the important details I've covered since the last time I updated this (but knowing my younger self, I'm pretty sure I left out an ample amount of them) so I intend on making every new chapter as less of a filler as possible. That being said, I do appreciate that you read previous chapters that much, I can barely read a single chapter without cringing at my old grammars.

To .2015:

Thanks, it took a while but I finally managed to sum up the courage to continue this story!

As for the meeting of King and Queen, don't worry, it's going to come up soon enough :D

To Detinc:

Thanks! Glad to know that all those years spent on reading novels and being stuck in English class wasn't in utter vain!

To Ai Star:

One can only wonder ;)

To animeman12:

Well, considering how long I've left this fanfic, I'm not surprised that people assumed that this fanfic no longer exist. I myself was wondering if I'll ever resume this fanfic or not.

To ABSOLUTE:

Thank you very much! I'm glad you're happy!

To KeyofVoid:

Yes, I miss you all too

To A patient review:

Don't worry, I will do my best to continue this story to the best my of capabilities!

To merendinoemiliano(2):

Don't worry, I will :D

And with that, we move on to the story as always!

Reassessment of Situation

Sonia was never a fan of firearms-based weapons

However, it wasn't because she hated them or anything, it was more because they never fit her taste. More importantly, it usually doesn't bode well with the faint-hearted civilian Hertz whenever they see a Satella Police officers or Wizards moving about in the public carrying weapons. And even if she did, there was no reason for her to be equipped with that amount of firepower either.

At least, not until now

If her past few combats with them were of any indication, their opponents – Dealer faction or not – were one step ahead of them in both battle strength and tactics. And what's worse was that she wasn't the only one affected this time.

The Gemini Brothers were ganged and outwitted in their own forte playground

Taurus Fire was bested in a battle of raw strength for the first time in forever

Even their own chief, Acid Ace whom have overcome his previous health limitations to a limited extent in the last few years thanks to a dozen of surgeries, was beaten without a sweat.

But amidst all the odds that were against the Satella Police, one person was able to eliminate the Hwarang Fighter.

The golden knight

Initially, she had thought that he was nothing more than a typical vigilante who were lucky enough to form a pact with a stray FM-ian capable of Wave-changing and proclaiming to be successor to the late Mega Man (They had encountered plenty of such cases before, much to her dismay) but upon his inpromptu victory against the yellow juggernaut, they soon realize that his grandeur appearance wasn't simply just for show.

To top it off, he wasn't alone

Having realized that these unidentified group weren't the type to be easily trifled with and were proven to be a potential hindrance to the Satella Police's current objectives, the top brass has assigneed multiple professional WAZA personnel with the ultimate task of scrounging the entire Transcode database for any intel on them. But much to their surprise and annoyance, none of them were able to garner even a sliver of information. Whoever these band of people were, they were good in keeping themselves off the radar. Especially when they're able to perform EM-Wave transformation at will without leaving any trace.

Bang!

Ka-chink!

Bang!

Ka-chink!

Bang!

Ka-chink!

Still confined within the echoey hall of the shooting range, beads of sweat rolled down Sonia's cheek as she routinely pulled and twisted the bolt of the rifle, her complete and utter concentration unwavering as she continued playing with her newly profound toy courtesy of Dr. Goodall. After having an ample amount of practice with it, she came to realization that the Lazarus was way different than she first anticipated it to be.

Granted, the slower rate of fire was indeed quite a nuisance for someone like her, it was easily compensated by its high accuracy and penetration power. Heck, she managed to struck three holographic targets at once with a single projectile.

Leave it to Dr. Goodall for providing them with innovative gadgets from time to time. If the higher management had made up their decision about properly funding the R&D department then they probably would've had a better time combating against Dealer's forces.

Had she had her own way with the rifle then she probably would've spent longer time in the training range. But unfortunately, all joy and happiness must come to an end when the red-hot heat sink vents popped out and pressurized steam started billowing out of the rifle itself, indicating that the rifle has reached its maximum heat capacity and was in need of an emergency cool down.

"I guess that's enough playtime for today." Glancing to her side, the popstar couldn't help but grimace at the sight of the huge pile of spent battery clip magazines that was a result of her impromptu training. It was a good thing the clips were rechargeable, otherwise, they'd be the main reason why Satella Police were caught in a financial distress as of lately.

At some point during the practice, she deliberately took off her Satella Police jacket because the thermal energy that was emanating from the rifle was proven to be a hindrance to her concentration, leaving her with the standard-issued black WAZA tank top underneath along with her navy-blue cargo pants that was neatly tucked in a pair of military boots. It was a good call because she was now drenched in sweat from head to toe and was in desperate need of a fresh hot shower.

Unfortunately, fate was not on her side when she received a call on her Hunter, prompting her to put the weapon aside for now to pick it up. "Sonia here, what's up?"

"Sorry to bother you, miss Sonia, but you have a guest here who wants to see you at the front entrance." The Voice-Only window said.

The popstar was puzzled by that. A guest? As far as she was concerned, she didn't recall expecting any visitors today. "What type of guest are we talking about here exactly?"

There was a brief silence followed by small chatter on the other side. Sonia wasn't sure if it was just her imagination or not but she could've sworn she heard a female voice talking in the background.

"…I think it's better if you see them for yourself."

Sonia could only sigh. Such phrase usually doesn't bode well for her. "Alright, bring them to the guest lounge, I'll be there shortly."

"Copy that."

Ending the transmission right there, she grabbed hold of her Satella Police unform jacket, slung it over her shoulder and walked out of the shooting range. Along the way, she couldn't help but wonder just who would visit her at times like this.

…

Throughout this whole years, Bermuda Labyrinth was still considered one of the most dangerous area to be ventured in by both civilians and EM-beings. Not only was this due to the dense forest down below grown by continuous effect of hypernutrification over several decades that made human exploration near impossible but it was also caused by to the overly-congested Wave Roads up above obscured by thick electromagnetic wave-disrupting fog. The whole place sufficed to say was a literal death trap.

A perfect place for conducting inconspicuous deeds

"They're late." Taurus snorted as he overlooked the thick forest below in complete and utter disinterest.

"Give them more time. It's not easy navigating around this place." Lyra said.

"Remind me again why we have to be here?" He asked exasperatedly. "We could've gone somewhere less troublesome to go to."

"Sorry Taurus but I need to make sure our conversation is safe from any prying ears." She elaborated seriously.

"It's that bad, huh?" Taurus inquired solemnly after a brief moment of utter silence.

"It is if she's here." Lyra said out loud as she recapped back to their encounter with Lupa.

…

"Lupa!?" Harp called out from her Harp form in disbelief.

Though the wolf lacks any proper facial features in her bow form, Lupa seemed pleased at seeing her former apprentice. "Hello Lyra, it's been a while."

Lyra materialized beside her human companion. "W-What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be back in planet FM!?"

Lupa chuckled. "Indeed. If I had my way, I wouldn't be here as well." The alpha wolf was about to talk further but halted when Laura cleared her throat. "Ah, but as much as I want to sit by and talk, I'm afraid time is not on our side."

"What a coincidence, so are we." Queen Lyra chided in as she stepped forward in a defensive stance. She had no clue what the deal was with Harp and them but judging from her tone of voice, it seemed her FM-ian companion knew her. She'll need to have a word with her after this.

"Glad to know that we're both in the same page then." Silver Fang agreed.

"Then, would you be so kind to move aside. We have a place to go to." She asked politely.

Laura tilted her head sweetly. "Sorry, I'm afraid we can't do that." As if to prove her point, she rested her knuckle-clad palm on one of her hunting knives and began unsheathing it ever so slowly.

Sonia could only sigh. "I figured as much."

Realizing the inevitably of the situation, Lyra took the cue to dematerialize herself back into her Harp form just as Queen Lyra unclipped it from her hip. 'Sonia, be careful, Lupa is my mentor back in planet FM.' Harp warned in an uncharacteristically serious manner. 'She's on an entirely different level. And knowing her, her partner probably isn't any lesser. Be. Very. Careful.'

"Got it." Darting her eyes back and forth, she tried to reassess her current situation. If Harp's warning was to go by with anything, she'll need to play her cards well.

Unbeknownst to her, Silver Fang was also being as wary as her as well. "Lupa, she's your disciple, right? Any good advice?"

Lupa mentally hummed in consideration. 'Normally, I wouldn't fret too much but it's been over nine years since I last saw her. A lot of things could've changed in that much of time.' She said. 'For now, let's just be wary and see what she got under her sleeves.'

"Understood."

Deciding to take the initiative, Queen Lyra made her move by strongly strumming her harp. The musical instrument responded likewise by letting out a sharp yet harmonic melody and materializing a dozen of statically-charged music notes that immediately propel themselves towards Silver Fang whom remain unfazed by her attack.

"Electrical projectiles, huh." Laura remarked mentally as she watched one of the static-charged music note flew towards her face in a slow motion-like manner.

'She's identifying us, trying to see what makes us tick.' Lupa explained.

Laura mentally nodded at that. "Then let's give them what they want then, shall we?"

'I couldn't agree more.' Undergoing a pouncing stance, the huntress charged straight towards the Satella Police commander, her blonde hair whipped graciously against the howling gale of the wind.

"She's charging straight for the Shock Notes!?"

There was no denying it. With agility Sonia has never witnessed before in her life, she could only watch in both amazement and horror as Silver Fang danced through the bullet hell of music projectiles as if it was nothing.

"She's fast!" Queen Lyra said in between gritted teeth as she continued strumming her harp, unleashing volley after volley of Shock Notes in her way but to no avail.

'Not surprised. Lupa is one of the fiercest warrior ever exist.' Lyra elaborated as she tried her best to keep up with the pressure. 'Not even King Cepheus dared to mess with her.'

"Thanks for the vote of confidence!" The pinkhead sarcastically replied.

'Look out!'

Distracted by their brief mental conversation, Sonia was slow to notice that Silver Fang has successfully dodged the last volley of Shock Notes unscathed and had closed the distance between them in a matter of split second.

Her left palm poised for a jab, she agilely struck Queen Lyra in the chest. The pop star-in-disguise foresaw this and redirected the jab away by pushing her attacking arm away from her all the while rotating her whole body in the same direction. Recovering quickly, Cecilia retracted her arm back and attempted another jab with her opposite arm. It failed once more, prompting her to repeat her actions but with faster velocity.

Just when she was reaching her optimum speed, Sonia did the unexpected by clamping both of her arms stuck in a crossed manner. With both of her arms locked in place, Queen Lyra proceeded on delivering a straight kick in the huntress' stomach, knocking the air out of her. Taking the opportunity to a good use, she kept the pressure, sprinted towards the partially-stunned Silver Fang and tried to knee jab her by the face.

The blonde recovered faster than she anticipated and countered her by elbow striking her by the knee, denying her of the momentum she had been preparing prior hand and prompted Queen Lyra to collapse in front of her in a compromising kneeling position. Taking a quick step back, the huntress swung her left leg in a perfect roundhouse kick aimed for Queen Lyra's head. Queen Lyra flexibly leaned her body backwards to narrowly dodge the kick.

Realizing her failure, Silver Fang maintained her momentum from the kick and replaced her stance mid-swing by pressing a palm on the Wave Road in a handstand manner and doing a low sweep to her ankles. The pinkhead was one step ahead of her and did a tactical somersault over the huntress.

Upon landing, she recuperated her original fighting stance and launched a straight punch aimed at her back. Having predicted this, Silver Fang recovered herself, spun around clockwise and prepares for a counteracting measure.

Thud!

It was a close call but Laura was able to negate her punch with a punch of her own.

"Not bad. For a Satella Police." Silver Fang complimented with a minor smirk. "But it doesn't look like we're going anywhere at this point."

Much to her surprise, Queen Lyra responded with a smirk of her own. "I'm not the only one who does the fight here."

"…What?"

'Go up!'

Sensing the sudden shift of the air around her white fur, Silver Fang soon understand what she meant by that.

Channeling a small amount of energy into her free hand, Silver Fang quickly delivered a weak but unexpected palm strike onto Sonia's ribs. It wasn't fatal in anyway but it prompted Queen Lyra to reel back in shock, giving her enough room to leap away to safety just in time before the two laser Bits finished charging and simultaneously fired laser beams on her previous position.

"That was close." Silver Fang sighed in relief as she safely landed on the Wave Road a safe distance away. "If I was a second too slow, we'd be a goner."

'Don't let your guard down. It's not over just yet.'

And it didn't. Seemingly following their host's mental order, two more levitating laser blasting Bits agilely flew towards Silver Fang and began firing alongside the first two. Biting back a curse, Silver Fang did a reverse somersault to evade over the first barrage of emerald laser beams.

The pressure was on as the laser bits travelled in a circulated and firing in a seemingly uncoordinated pattern, prompting Laura to evade them all by either sidestepping, ducking or even jumping out of the harm's way.

The four bits formed a makeshift line and began circulating around her in a spiraling matter in attempt to threw her off with the unorthodox attack pattern. The tactic nearly worked as one of the laser managed to nick her by her left should pad.

"There's no end to them." Silver Fang remarked under her breath.

'Patience, Laura.' Lupa mentally chided. 'Those drones consume a lot of the user's mental energy when used, you'll have your chance soon enough.'

As the laser prolonged further, Silver Fang began to notice there was a slight delay in the Bit's reactions. Looking back at Queen Lyra, she was able to distinguish several beads of sweat that was rolling down from behind her visor and down her cheeks as she stood still in an effort to control the laser bit drones. Lupa was right, controlling all of the eight Bits at once was starting to take its toll on her mental capacity.

Not putting the golden opportunity to a complete waste, she pulled out a throwing knife and skillfully threw them in the direction of two of the laser bits just as they entered the knife's trajectory path. Already in their sluggish pace and without any means of properly reacting in time, the knife easily pierced through the two of them, causing them to explode in a small burst of data.

Sonia was profoundly shock at what she saw. "What, how is that possible!?"

Lyra shared the same response as her human companion but for a completely different reason. 'Oh no, she noticed.'

The third and fourth Bits tried to corner her by firing lasers from both of her flanks. Still in her running pace, the huntress tactically slid beneath them simultaneously. Plucking two more hunting knives from her hip holster, she flicked her wrists and threw them to the Bits. The blades punctured them through the side as well and exploded in a burst of sparks.

"That was close." She said as she was able to regain her breathing once more. "Now it's my turn."

Having no more tricks up her sleeve and gimmicks in play, Silver Fang took out one last knife and charged straight for Queen Lyra at a blinding speed, this time with no holds barred.

"Fuck!" Panicked, Queen Lyra attempted to slap a Battle Card into her Harp but Silver Fang beat her to it when she materialized out of nowhere in front of her and kicked the card away out of her hand before it could as much as touch the slot. Having lost contact with its holder, the Battle Card harmlessly dematerialized out of existence by default.

"No trick is going to help you this time!" Unsheathing one last throwing knife from her holster, Silver Fang tried to slash her by her throat. Queen Lyra ducked around the swing, blocked and lock the arm holding knife and disarmed it before it could harm her in anyway.

However, Silver Fang must've learnt of said disarming maneuver and had purposely dropped the knife so that her free hand can grab it in an icepick grip instead and use it to randomly slash in her general direction. The attempt was nearly successful as the huntress managed to leave a gash on her left cheek but was unable to deal any actual damage on her.

Staggered back from the blow, Queen Lyra glared at Silver Fang with a newly-profound anger as she clutched her cheek to slow down the raw data bits leaking out. While it won't leave any scar in her real-life counterpart, it didn't delve well with her that a complete stranger she just met a few minutes ago was able to land a near-fatal hit on her.

"Quick Strings!" Putting her Harp to a good use, she launched a stream of EM quick strings in her direction. However, rather than aiming at trapping her whole body in general, Queen Lyra focused the strings on her hand that was holding the knife, effectively ensnaring it in an unescapable cocoon and disabling one of her available appendages. She grinned. "Gotcha!"

"Ngrh!" Silver Fang tried to claw the strings out but to no avail. With the convoluted state it was in not to mention it being laced with EM-repelling technology, it was virtually impossible to tear it open without manually untangling each string one by one.

"Give it up, you're trapped! You can't escape my Quick Strings!"

Imagine to Queen Lyra's surprise when she realized that Silver Fang was in fact smirking under her mask. "That's what you think." Although she was disabled by one hand, Queen Lyra wasn't any better either as she is required to hold the Harp where the strings originated from.

Whipping the strings from her end, Silver Fang coiled the strings around Sonia's leg, causing her to trip on her very own creation and lose grip on Harp.

"Harp! No!" Queen Lyra cried out as she watched her companion fell down into the forest down below. Sharing similar fate to the Battle Card before, the Quick Strings slowly dematerialized into harmless bits of data that soon scattered by the wind and freeing Silver Fang's claw-knuckled hand from its momentary confinement.

Realizing the compromised state she was in without Harp, Queen Lyra spun around to confront Silver Fang once more. Instead, she found herself stumbling back when a glowing silver arrow suddenly struck near her feet, erupted and unleashed a cluster of ice crystals that confined her within a matter of seconds.

"Gah!" Grunting hard, Sonia tried to free herself but could do nothing than squirming in her own spot. The ice had her confined her whole body in a way that it restricts all her four limbs but not her face. And without any access to her Harp nor her Battle Cards, there was no way for her to escape.

However, any further attempts of escaping went down the drain when she felt something cold and sharp pressed against her virtual skin.

"I'll have to admit, you nearly got me in several occasions." Laura earnestly complimented as she held the tip of her knife by her throat. "In fact, you're one of the dozen that managed to at least hit me once."

"Splendid." Sonia sarcastically spitted at her. "So are you going to finish me now or not?"

With the odds stacked heavily against her, there was no way for her to survive through this unscathed. Hence, it was natural for her to be completely and utterly dumbfounded when Silver Fang lowered her weapon down. She was confused. Not only was she rendered unmovable, she was also unarmed altogether. She could've easily killed her right there…

So why didn't she?

"From the look in your eyes, I can tell you're confused why I didn't kill you right here and now." Laura pointed out as she sheathed back her knife. "Suffice to say, that is not my purpose for being here."

Queen Lyra furrowed her eyebrows at that. "What do you mean by that?"

"I'd elaborate more but I'm afraid I'm not in the position to answer that question. Well, not yet at least." She continued on. "One thing for sure though, we're not the ones you're supposed to be fighting."

"And why should I believe you?" Queen Lyra bravely spat at her despite the humiliating state she was in, prompting Silver Fang to pause in her step. "You and him kept on saying that but neither one of you have yet to show anything to prove it."

Much to her surprise, Silver Fang merely turned around with a gentle smile on her face. "Don't worry, you'll find out soon enough." She responded. "For now, just sit tight. The ice will disappearin a couple minutes time and by then, you'll be able to move again and we'll be long gone."

With that one last word, Silver Fang disappeared out of sight, leaving a paralyzed Queen Lyra all alone on the Wave Road with no choice but to do what she said and wait for it to arrow.

…

"They're here."

Having mentioned that, the two FM-ians glanced up just in time to see three beams of light coming straight down from the Astro Wave of the color cyan blue, light blue and orange respectively.

"You do realize that gathering like this is almost like having a war meeting." For once, it was Taurus who was being rational in this type of situation in contrast to anyone else.

"That's the thing, Taurus." She remarked. "We are having a war meeting."

And with that, the beams struck the Wave Road and simultaneously unleashed a bright flash of light, effectively illuminating the whole place in a myriad of colors.

The first cyan blue ball of light dissipated to reveal a certain FM-ian in the shape of a swan. The swan majestically spread its broad wings upon escaping its photon confinements as if it had just underwent hibernation and was completely prepared for a whole day's work.

Not so long after, the second emerald ball of light shattered into million of pieces to reveal an FM-ian wolf howling loudly into the skies above. Had they been in any public place of general, such an unorthodox action would've singlehandedly got everyone's attention within a kilometer radius. Thankfully, that was not the case as they were in an entirely remote location devoid of any living things but themselves.

Last but not least, the third orange ball exploded as well to reveal a certain crustacean that the two couldn't help but exasperatedly sigh upon seeing. It was more annoying when said FM-ian let out his annoying catchphrase of 'Buku' Had the situation been any less contingent, Lyra was more than glad to not contact him but alas, she needed all the hands she can get on deck.

"I sure hope you have a valid reason for bringing us all here of all places." Cygnus remarked.

"Agreed. With Dealer still out in the open, it's not a wise idea for all of us to leave our partners back home unattended like this." Wolf chipped in, his EM-wave ears flicking back and forth sensitively as he surveyed the foggy surroundings warily. It didn't take a scientist to tell that he was uncomfortable for being there.

"Yeah, what's the big deal, buku!" Cancer chided in with his usual catchphrase.

"Sorry gentlemen, I'm well aware that none of us here are in any positions to be straying too far from our human partners but I needed to make sure we're safe from any prying eyes and ears." The three was surprised by her reasoning but mentioned nothing in return. "As for why we're here, well, let's just say that the things I'm about to tell you all involves all of us in more ways than one. Especially you, Wolf."

The three FM-ians quizzically eyed each other, or more specifically the two glanced at Wolf, at that before looking back at her.

"Go on," Wolf gestured on. "We're listening."

And that's a wrap for chapter 18! As usual, don't forget to leave a review and tell me what your opinion on this chapter and I'll see you guys very soon!