Hello there everyone. We are at last embarking on a journey that's been cooking in my head for quite some time. It's an original story taking place between Mega Man 2 and Mega Man 3. I've taken inspiration from other Mega Man sources and am crafting what I hope will be a fun tale. Certain details are remarkably slow in coming so we'll discover certain things together. Let's begin!

Chapter 1: The Awakening

The sun blazed hot and bright upon the Amazon Rainforest. The birds sang their songs as they cleaned their feathers, pecked around for food, and fluttered throughout the canopy. A family of monkeys was sitting in a tall tree cleaning each other's fur. The smallest monkey watched as one of the birds landed on their branch. He was enthralled by the colorful plumage and began reaching out to touch it. The bird glanced at the little money disdainfully before turning away and fluttering further down the branch. The tiny monkey laughed and crawled out on the branch trying to touch the bird. The colorful bird shrieked at the tiny monkey and it almost fell out of the tree as he watched his prey fly away.

As the monkey was climbing back onto the branch, the entire tree shuddered. The parents scurried to save their child from falling as the tree shook again. Smoke was rising in the distance and the ground was now beginning to rumble in earnest. The monkeys leapt to another tree and then another trying to escape this strange envision. Not too far away a tree began to vibrate wildly before toppling to the ground. Others soon followed suit and animals of all sorts ran for their lives as their homes were destroyed.

The source of this chaos was a crew of humans and their large machines. There were bulldozers, wood chippers, large trucks, and other construction vehicles. A large ugly swatch of land devoid of vegetation had already been cut through the forest and there was no sign of stopping. At the head of the pack walked a small red robot with a large pronged blade on his head.

"We should slow down" Cut Man shouted to the foreman over the noise of the machines. "The jungle is getting denser all the time and we don't want to do more damage than necessary."

"Time is money" the foreman responded "The faster we get this land clearer, the less money we spend and the bigger the profit to us."

"Money isn't everything you know."

"Try living as a human for a while and then say that."

"I don't think I'm cut out for that."

"I told you to knock it off with the puns!"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Vargas! It slipped out."

"Robots…" Mr. Vargas said with a shake of his head "I still don't see why we need you here. Work went on perfectly well before you robot masters came about."

"There's always room for improvement and I am an expert on deforestation."

"You were programmed. I've been doing this for years."

"Then we can learn from each other, can't we?"

"Ah let's just focus on the job."

The work continued carefully but efficiently as the jungle grew denser and darker. Cut Man seemed to be growing ever more uneasy the deeper they went. He kept calling more stops as he would walk ahead and scout out the terrain. Mean while Mr. Vargas' patience was wearing thin.

"What's going on? Are you going to let us do our job or not?"

"According to your employer, my job is to make sure your job is safe as well as efficient. Well something doesn't feel right here."

"Feel right? What does that mean?"

"Exactly what I say, something is making my systems feel a bit off. Almost like…I don't know… an electrical interference."

"Electrical…we're in the middle off the stinking jungle! Not even natives live out here. I think you've finally blown a fuse on us."

"I'll have you know that I'm paying very careful attention to my maintenance…"

"Oh just put a sock in it" the frustrated foreman said as he took a final drag on his cigarette and flung it at Cut Man's feet. The disgusted robot picked it up and took it to the proper waste receptacle. Meanwhile, Mr. Vargas grabbed a machete and hacked his way through the brush to inspect things for himself.

"I knew it, there's nothing here. Robots…who needs them? I think that Camp has the right idea. I just wish we had more like him here…ahhhh!"

His tirade turned into a scream as the ground gave way under his feet and he fell right through it. Everyone came running to see what had made him shout and gathered around the hole with mixed fascination and horror.

"Hey boss" one of the workers called out "Are you alright?"

"Yeah…yeah I think so. There's a lot of dirt down here and that cushioned my fall."

"All the same" Cut Man replied "We need to get the med crew down there. Just hang on while we get some rope."

Soon, Cut Man and several of the men had climbed down the hole with powerful lanterns and first aid kits. They found themselves in some sort of tunnel. Mr. Vargas was sitting against a big rock and lighting another cigarette.

"Those things really aren't good for you, you know" the head of the medical unit said to him

"Hey I could have died just now. Call it stress relief."

Meanwhile, Cut Man was examining the tunnel. "I don't think this is just a cave. These walls almost look like they were carved."

"What?" Mr. Vargas said as he tried to stand up against the wishes of those tending him "Did we discover some kind of temple or something?"

"Possibly, I'm going to scout ahead."

Cut Man walked down the tunnel with one of the lanterns and spied a large cavern up ahead. He path was filled with thick roots and he was having a hard time climbing through them.

"Just chop them" an impatient voice shouted "We're cutting these trees down anyway."

'"Oh yeah and risk a cave in? You've already proven how obviously sturdy the place is, Mr. Vargas."

"Ah…good point."

Cut Man finally broke through the wall of roots and gasped in amazement. He was indeed standing in some sort of shrine with a large blue crystal on a pedestal. It was glowing faintly and made Cut Man's inner parts tingle with energy. There were also strange statues all over the place. They were shaped similar to a squat hourglass with four short legs, a spike on their head, and a single red eye with a curve like a smile under it. The far wall of the room had an outline in the wall like a closed door but no visible way of opening it.

"Holy Catfish!" Mr. Vargas said as he pushed his way through the roots "It's the Mother Lode!"

"Yeah.." Cut Man said in an awestruck voice "This place is amazing. What is it? Who built it? What…"

"Who cares about any of that junk when the mother of all jewels is right in front of us?" Before anyone could react, he was already approaching the large blue gem. He ran his hand over its surface and smiled "It's kind of tingly. Wait, did anyone else hear that?"

The little statues around the room were beginning to move and the red eye in their front was glowing. "They're not statues" Cut Man shouted shock "They're robots!"

As if on cue, the closest one bad a dull beeping sound before falling onto it's back. An opening at the bottom dislodged a small orb that exploded when it hit the ground. Mr. Vargas and Cut Man had to jump away to not get blown up.

"Cut that out!" Cut Man shouted "I don't want to criticize too much but bombs in an unstable underground space aren't exactly smart."

"They're not listening" someone screamed as more bombs flew. The men who had crawled into the crystal chamber were now rushing to leave it while Cut Man engaged the robots in battle. As a robot leaned back to launch a bomb, he launched a Rolling Cutter into the opening. The bomb was triggered early and the robot was disabled.

"I love you Cut Man" Mr. Vargas said as the red robot defeated another enemy by kicking one of its own bombs back at it.

"Aw, that's a slice thing to say"

"I love you a little less"

"The puns aren't that bad" he said as he took down another little robot "These things aren't that tough really. Kind of like an ancient Met."

"They can't actually be ancient can they?"

"It certainly looks that way."

"That's impossible…isn't it?"

Before Cut Man could answer, they were both distracted by a rumbling sound and dust falling from the ceiling. The door at the far end of the room was sliding downwards and something human-shaped was standing in the opening. Cut Man took a step backwards and found that Mr. Vargas was already behind him. The being stepped into the light revealing what seemed to be a person with light skin and purple hair that stopped just above the shoulders. They wore a green skintight suit under purple armor that covered the chest, shoulders and part of his back. The boots were made of the same purple metal as were the gauntlets that covered the wrists. The hands were white and upon the head rested a crown resembling metal oak leaves. The most distinguishing feature however was a fan of feathers on the lower back giving the strong impression of a peacock's tail.

"Is that a robot too?" Mr. Vargas asked in a small voice

"I think so; it certainly looks like a robot master."

"It is such a rude word" the being said in a calm voice as the eyes opened with a green glow. The glow faded as the robot continued "My name is Juno and I am male."

"How do you know our language?" Cut Man asked

"I am fitted with a universal translator. Now my question for you is who you are and what are you doing here."

"I'm Cut Man"

"You can call me Mr. Vargas and I'm in deforestation. My job brought us here."

"Deforestation?" Juno said in shock as his green eyes grew wide "Does that mean that you would destroy the beautiful forests and jungles?"

"Hey it's called progress. I can't stop it."

"I doubt you would try. What year is it?"

Both Cut Man and Mr. Vargas were confused by the question but Cut Man said "It's 200X. Why?"

Juno closed his eyes and furrowed his brow "It would seem that in all this time humans have not changed. They still seek to destroy the balance of nature. I must examine this world of 200X and decide mankind's fate."

"Decide mankind's what now?" Cut Man said "Robots can't hurt humans."

"Who came up with that ridiculous rule?"

"Oh dear"

"Now are you going to stand aside?"

"Not if you're going to hurt people I'm not" Cut Man said as he struck a fighting pose.

"I suppose I could do with a warm up" Juno said with closed eyes and a polite smile. "I have been asleep for sometime after all."

Juno raised one of his arms and made a fist. That fist began to glow and transformed into a buster cannon. Cut Man barely had time to force Mr. Vargas to the ground as a plasma ball flew above them and tore right through the root system blocking the tunnel. Juno looked distressed and said "This is not a good place to fight. Let's take this outside."

With incredible speed, he approached Cut Man and Mr. Vargas. He put his hands on them and they teleported back into the jungle. He pulled Cut Man into a standing position and said "Stand aside if you do not wish to be hurt human"

Mr. Vargas did not have to be told twice and was already running to rejoin his men. Cut Man was going to try to reason with Juno but the ancient robot was already firing more plasma bolts. Cut Man dodged these and hurled a Rolling Cutter. Juno jumped over this and pulled the tail from his back. He held the feathers like a fan and waved it. Cut Man was knocked to the ground by the gust of wind.

"Is this the extent of your powers, Cut Man? I did not expect to win this quickly."

"I just…wait a minute…you're flying "

"Indeed. My brethren and I have mastery over the elements and air is mine to control."

"There are more of you?"

"Certainly and we will purge this earth if we deem it necessary."

"Yeah that is not happening. Rolling Cutter!"

Juno swooped under the blade and simply sidestepped it on its way back. "You have performed the same technique twice. Is that the extent of your powers?"

"Uh…maybe."

"This is not worth my time." He returned the peacock fan to his back and said "If you are foolish enough to stand in my way again, I will regrettably be forced to destroy you. Farewell!"

A whirlwind stirred the leaves and kicked up a dust storm while Juno vanished into the sky. Cut Man stared in stunned shock at where the odd robot had used to be before being snapped out of it by the voice of Mr. Vargas.

"What was that? You let him get away."

"I don't think I can cut it. I need to call Dr. Light."