Rage of the Rathalos (Saga)

[Proto Man]

Despite the fact that he expected to be subjected to a mountain of bureaucracy on his way out of Coruscant, Proto Man faced little more than a polite conversation with the stormtroopers stationed at the Gate. Rather than ask him why he was leaving or where he was going, they simply wanted to know what he had been up to since his victorious ‘war’ against the Copper Eye. It seemed as if Dredd had been dead set upon placing the unjust, wholesale slaughter of those ‘terrorists’ onto Proto Man.

After awkwardly shrugging off discussion of the incident, the preteen android made his way through the Gate. On the other side, he found himself staring across the white wasteland of the Nexus. Taking about a hundred paces forward, Proto Man relaxed and summoned a hover bike. Once the bike was fully fashioned, he boarded it and made his way toward the other end of the Nexus as fast as it would carry him. En route, he passed the gateway verse’s only landmark--the ever-shifting fountain at its epicenter. A dreadful green glow emanated from the fountain’s waters, and the usually stone surface was black and resembled naturally formed stone more than any manufactured variety.

Although he swore he saw a figure in the water, Proto Man kept moving forward, deciding that he’d best get to Camelot as fast as he could. He knew that the rules of time were different in the Nexus, and he didn’t want to stall too long and wind up wasting precious days trying to traverse the white landscape. When he made it to the other side, he found himself confronted by gate bordered by large blocks of hewn stone. Compared to the steel frame around Coruscant, this looked like something a bunch of people in the dark ages had constructed.

Leaving his bike behind, Proto Man strode through the Gate. On the other side, he found himself atop a small hill that overlooked a sprawling field. To his left and right, he spotted guard stations populated by men in chain or plate mail. As the android started to walk ahead, one of the soldiers jogged over. A quick glance revealed that the man’s armor had insignias that the others lacked.

An officer? Proto Man furrowed his brow as he stopped and waved a hand at the approaching knight. “Hello, Sir.”

The soldier, a man in his early thirties with a beard that could have used a shave, nodded politely at the boy and gestured off toward the horizon. “If you’re one of the mercenaries here to deal with the dragon, we’re rather confident it nests near the mountains by the Tangled Green Gate.”

“Why do you think I’m a mercenary?” Proto Man asked after taking a moment to make a note of the direction that the man had pointed.

“Not many kids in armor like that, and you’re the second fully-plated person to come here. She didn’t talk to anyone, but she sure left in a hurry in that direction.”

Samus? Proto Man wondered as he gave the man a polite nod and headed off. He had managed to make it a few yards before he got a dashboard notification about an email from Roll. Opening the file, he skimmed it and wore a smile on his face before he reached the end. ‘Dear Brother: You’re going to want transportation when you get there...something fast, agile, yet versatile enough to deal with changes in terrain. Might I recommend the mounts from the game we were trying to beat last week?’ The android chuckled as he pictured the large, flightless bird in his head.

A few minutes of focusing later, the image in his head was alive and standing in front of him. The only alteration he had made to the creature was to scale it down and give it some extra muscle so it could serve as a mount to his awkward physique.

“Are you ready to go?” Proto Man asked as he fed the bird a handful of greens and gave the saddle on its back a tug to ensure it was stable.

“Kweh!” The bird chirped in response as it dipped down to give the preteen android an easier hand climbing into the saddle. A smile spread across the youth's face as his mount rose back to its normal height. Despite the fact that he'd traveled here to follow a lead, that fact was already lost amidst the surprising amount of glee he suddenly felt about being in a bizarre, new world. Anyone his age in a medieval kingdom and riding an animal from a video game would have felt that same strange mix of joy and wonder.

“Then let’s go find us a dragon!”