Authoress' note:
Countdown to Regeneration, otherwise known as "Megaman Regeneration", is based on the Mega Man franchise by Capcom. I'll do my best to keep this story unique and interesting, as well as watching out for the occasional grammar errors. Enjoy!
A young man wearing blue armor with a black bodysuit underneath is strapped to a chair, rendering him defenseless. He is looking at two mechanical goons, one with a pair of scissors on top of his head and another who is buff and well-built.
"I liked you better when you didn't have that blue armor and that large "X" scar on your chest!" Said the robot with the scissors on his head. "You were a lot more defenseless back then, Rave. Or should i say, X?" He let out a wheezy laugh.
"I liked you better when you weren't going Maverick either, Cutman." Rave replied. "Same with you, Gutsman."
"Maverick?" Gutsman yelped, "Where the heck did you get that idea from?"
"You either being reprogrammed, caught a virus or have really lost your minds," Rave replied to Gutsman, "You know what I'm talking about."
"Once we find your little brother and your little sister, we're going to cut them down to size!" Cutman laughed. That made Rave very mad, and he's very protective of his siblings. He really wanted to be free from Gutsman and Cutman's grasp, and making sure they're safe from the two.
"You are not getting my siblings!" Rave yelled at the two.
Gutsman began to pick up Rave, who is still strapped to the chair, he doesn't seem to be impressed by Gutsman's threats against the possible Blue Bomber. "Let's see if you like this, Blue Dweeb!" The giant robot threw Rave right out the window, landed into the pavement. At least he threw him out from the first floor. imagine what he felt if Gutsman threw him out from the top floors of the building.
Luckily, Rave survived the fall and the chair broke to pieces, freeing the man from the restraints and the chair itself. "Bad move, Gutsy," He thought. "That chair is made out of wood!" Despite this, he is injured from being thrown off the window, as he begins to crawl back up, limping.
He isn't giving up that easy, he wants to make sure that Gutsman and Cutman's not going to escape from him. Sure, they used to be domestic robots, until they started to act like Mavericks, according to Rave.
"If Gutsman and Cutman are affected, then Elecman, Iceman, Fireman and Bombman might be in danger, too!" He went back inside of the building to see if Gutsman and Cutman's still there, unfortunately, they escaped. "Great. Just great." He teleported to a laboratory, assuming it's his home, only to see it ruined.
He saw an elderly man with a white beard similar to Santa Claus', wearing a white lab coat with a shirt and tie underneath, red slacks and brown shoes, lying on the floor. Rave checked on the man, seeing if he's okay.
"Dad!" Rave shouted, the man woke up and regained consciousness, he looked at Rave with a horrified look. "They took Rock and Roll!" The man shouted.
"Who did?" Rave spoke.
"The rest of the robots," The man replied to his son.
Rave knew it was going to happen sooner or later. He carried his father to the couch, only suffering a few bruises, otherwise nothing serious except seeing Rock and Roll taken away by the other robots besides Gutsman and Cutman.
"Did you see anyone reprogram the robots?" Rave spoke.
"No," The man replied. "Whoever it is, might've left the laboratory before we got a good glimpse of them."
Rave has no other choice but to rescue Rock and Roll, get the domestic robots under control and find whoever made them act like this. He sees a small robot with a yellow hard-hat on top, it looks like a black puffball with eyes and yellow feet. "Did they hurt you?" He asked the hard-hat robot.
It shook its head "no", which gives Rave a bit of relief. "I want you to take care of my father for me," He replied, "And make sure no one else gets inside of the laboratory!" The small hard-hat robot took Rave seriously while he left the laboratory, and giving his father medical care while he left.
Somewhere in a desert field, nothing else is seen except for a building with a giant skull head on top and an aircraft with a (you guessed it!) skull head on the front, landing on the building's aircraft carrier. After it landed, the other reprogrammed robots exit the aircraft with Rave's younger brother-and-sister duo, Rock and Roll.
"What's keeping Gutsman and Cutman?" Said Bombman, the pudgy robot with a mohawk on his head. "They outta be back with their older brother by now."
"No idea," replied Fireman with a flaming torch on his head. "We did a good job bringing Rock and Roll to justice."
"Pffft! Justice?!" Elecman added, carrying Rock and Roll, "You've got to be joking! That's probably Rave's thing, not yours."
"Shut up, Electro-wannabe!" Fireman shouted at Elecman. "Just be lucky you're not trapped in a giant spider web."
"Touche," Elecman finished.
"Ugh, what's up with the skeleton obsession?" Rock spoke, who has brown hair and green eyes, wearing a light blue shirt, blue shorts and blue/white sneakers. "I never seen a place that tacky before!"
"Watch what you say, Rocky boy," Fireman spoke, "Wily always have an obsession of skulls and skeletons since he was a teenager compared to father's laid-back peaceful atmosphere."
"Wily?" Rock thought, knowing that there's something very wrong here. "Dad and Wily used to be friends!"
Even Roll, who has blond hair and green eyes, wearing a simple red-and-white dress and white dress shoes with black socks, doesn't like the place either. Who knew Wily isn't such a good housekeeper? Shame on him. She smacked Elecman a few times, trying to brake free from his grasp.
"Ow! Yikes!" Elecman shouted, "Are you trying to be like Rave now, Rolly my dear?"
"We're lucky that Rave just enrolled to the Maverick Hunter Base! Just wait till he gets here!" Roll shouted, "And you're going to be sorry you captured us!"
"You and your brother will be working for us by the time he gets here," Bombman spoke, "Too bad for him."
"I'd rather clean your dirty, disgusting rooms than be working with you!"
"Can you at least take it easy on them?" Iceman spoke with a concerned tone, "Hurting Rock and Roll while waiting for Rave to arrive isn't going to solve everything, soldier."
"At least Iceman's being honest with them," Rock spoke to his sister. "He's the least Maverick of the bunch!"
"That's good at least," Roll replied.
They eventually see Wily himself, wearing a white lab coat, a simple white shirt and tie, blue pants and brown shoes, he has crazy gray hair similiar to Albert Einstein's and has blue eyes, but looks slightly blood-shot.
"Wily, how could you?!" Rock shouted.
"Ah, Rock my boy," Wily started with a German accent, "What you and your sister about to see is going to be part of our idea of a new world."
"New world?!" Rock shouted again, "The world's fine the way it is!"
"What are you trying to do?!" Roll added, "Take over it?!"
"That's the idea all along," Wily replied, "Once we get Dr. Light and your brother out of the way, that is. Everyone in the Skull Fortress is part of this."
"Not all of us!" Rock shouted once more at Wily, and he isn't buying the "world domination idea" either. "What drove you to do this?!"
Wily laughed nervously. He'd rather not say about what drove him to the edge, it could be either Dr. Light stealing all of his thunder throughout the years, gone senile or worse, wants to enjoy a Maverick-infested world?
"I don't know what's wrong with him," Rock spoke to his sister. "And he's not giving us a good answer."
"He's losing grip on reality and starting to replace it with a terrible fantasy," Roll replied.
"What do you want us to do with them?" Elecman spoke to Wily.
Wily thought for a bit, then decided on what to do with Rock and Roll, "Reprogram them, to do our bidding."
Both siblings gasped in fear, knowing that Wily is really serious about this, and the fact that the domestic robots being under his control doesn't help either. He sees Gutsman and Cutman entering the Skull Fortress empty handed.
"Well, where is he?" Wily asked.
Gutsman started, "I threw him out the window, trying to shut him up."
"Did you destroy that pesky robot?!" Wily shouted to both Gutsman and Cutman.
"He escaped after the chair broke!" Cutman replied, "I told him it was a stupid idea, letting his strength do all the talking!"
"I didn't know the chair was going to brake into pieces!" Gutsman pleaded. Hearing that made the siblings giggle a little bit, as a sign of hope. Cutman looked at them, and he was about to get the scissors off his head, threatening Rock and Roll with it to quiet down or else. They stopped giggling as they do what he said.
"You should've let me handle Rave and froze him while he blacked out, sirs!" Iceman spoke to Gutsman and Cutman. "It would've gone well instead of just throwing him out the window while restrained to a wooden chair."
"I know it's my fault, but I'm not going to argue with ya," Gutsman reasoned with Iceman, Cutman and Wily, "Rave's probably looking for us and wants his brother and sister back, maybe you should let us counter-attack him before he starts ruining your plans. For starters, I'll be at the construction site."
The other robots agree with Gutsman's idea. Spitting up to different areas, guarding their bases, while waiting for Rave to arrive in each and one of them before heading to the Wily Fortress before the showdown against Dr. Wily.
"Lock them up," Fireman spoke, "And make sure they don't escape from the fortress."
"Of course." Wily replied, taking Rock and Roll to their cell.
"My base is going to knock Chill Penguin's base off its icy foundation." Iceman spoke before teleporting out of the fortress.
"You're going to get Wily ideas." Fireman did the same.
"Yeah, seriously." Bombman replied.
Elecman, Cutman and Gutsman said nothing while teleporting to their bases in different areas. Wily then closed the cell door afterwards, leaving both siblings angry and worried.
"He's going to rescue us, i know it." Rock thought.
In Abel City, all TV programs are interrupted by Dr. Wily, telling everyone about his new ambition. Even Rave is watching it outside of the electronics store.
"Greetings everyone," Wily started, "What you're about to see is the beginning of the new world. It is i, Dr. Albert Wily, your new ruler, will rename "Abel City" to "Wily City", and of course, take over the world! It doesn't end there, I'm going send my robots to get rid of Thomas Light's oldest son, Rave, who might be ruin my plans of my ideal world!"
"His robots?" Rave thought. "That's a lie! Those robots belong to my father!"
"I already have two of his younger siblings, locked up in their cell, and they're soon to be reprogrammed!" He started to laugh before he continued his speech.
Rave is still upset, but starts hearing a beeping sound, coming from his left wrist armor, he answered it. "This is Rave."
"Rave! This guy is-!"
"Scoot over, Chill Penguin! I'm taking over your base!"
"What's wrong with you?! You shouldn't act like this!"
"Wily's orders, sir!"
"Wily?! Wharmp-!"
The communication broke up. Rave wasn't going to wait any longer. He listened to the rest of Wily's plan and teleported into the arctic tundra, where Iceman is located alongside Chill Penguin, a Maverick Hunter of the 13th Polar Region unit.
He began seeing a couple of comical-looking robots, called the Crazy Razy's, running towards Rave, he shot its lower body using the X-Buster, only to see the upper body (and head) floating upward, punching the blue armored teen on the head. He grabbed the Crazy Razy and threw it at the other Crazy Razy, also losing its legs. Rave shot the second Crazy Razy to proceed.
Along the way, he saw flying penguin robots, known as the Pepe's, have propellers on their beaks, flying towards him. He avoided some of them while a few of them ram into him.
Rave sees a hole on the ground, he jumps into it, landing in a puddle of water with a Gabyoall underneath. He ignored the little titanium robot most of the time, as he sees platforms appearing and disappearing. "Didn't expect this."
He followed the patterns of the Yoku Blocks, but falls back down a couple of times, it didn't help that the little Gabyoall made things troublesome for Rave, wanting to pick it up and throw it out of the way. He tried following the blocks' pattern again before seeing another segment of Yoku Blocks, wishing he had double jump and air-dash, or learn how to wall jump.
2 Yoku Block segments later, he saw a series of Foot Holders flying over a large chasm full of water, they occasionally fire their lasers from time to time. He jumped on one Foot Holder at a time, it didn't take long for the Pepes to reappear, making Rave's life more difficult, shooting them down with the X-Buster, and finally sees what used to be Chill Penguin's base, he jumped on the final Foot Holder and lands to a safe spot next to the base.
He entered the empty base, seeing a Big Eye bouncing around in the entrance. He payed no attention to it until it tried to flatten Rave, he dashed under it in order to get further in the base. He saw a door with a large "Dr W" logo on top. He entered the door, only to see a room full of Octopus Batteries floating forward and backward, and others up and down, and of course, a stray Pepe. "Seriously?" Rave spoke.
He fired several X-Buster shots at whatever Octopus Battery that attempted to attack him before he could get to Iceman's chamber. More Octopus Batteries continue to swarm around the area until Rave clears them out. Finally, he entered the chamber, seeing Iceman tormenting Chill Penguin, turning him into a man-sized penguinsicle.
"Iceman," Rave spoke to him, "What have you done?"
"Taking over Chill Penguin's base, sir!" Iceman replied.
"Do you always talk like this?" Rave doesn't seem to understand Iceman's speech pattern too well, as it confuses him.
"Loud and clear, soldier! What brings you here?"
"I'm here to rescue you from Wily's orders! He's the reason he made you Maverick in the first place!"
"Maverick?! You're the one who's going Maverick, soldier! And besides, what's with that giant scar on your battle armor?"
Rave looked at the X-shaped scar on his chest armor, reminding him the time he had a nasty run-in with a few Blade Joes, while trying to get his younger siblings to Dr. Light's lab. Bad memories with the Blade Joes," He gave the Eskimo robot an honest but short reply. "I almost died from their attacks."
"I'm going to finish what the Blade Joes started, sir! Except you'll be frozen alive like Chill Penguin did!" Iceman began firing several Ice Slashers out of his mouth, attempting to freeze Rave, he only dodged a few, which is painful while doing so. He shot a few X-Buster plasma shots at Iceman, which have little effect on him.
"Surrender peacefully!" Rave shouted.
"No can do, soldier!" Iceman replied, as the battle continues. He began to summon a minor snowstorm, thinking it'll slow Rave down, and it does work, as he began to shiver a little bit, but he isn't going down unless Iceman snaps out of it. "Had enough, sir? Or do you want more?"
Rave attempted to free Chill Penguin from his icy prison with his X-Buster, melting the ice off but Iceman won't let him as he fired another Ice Slasher at him.
The mechanical penguin is only half-free, began to scream for Rave's help, Iceman turns around, only to see Chill Penguin use Shotgun Ice at the Eskimo's face, blinding him.
"Can't see...!" Iceman shouted. "You really did it this time, soldier!"
Chill Penguin eventually frees himself from the rest of the icy prison that Iceman created, checking on Rave to see he's okay, and tries his best to wake him up before Iceman attacks again. Rave finally comes to, seeing the Eskimo bumping into walls with a chunk of ice in his head.
He began to bang his head on the wall several times, breaking the chunk of Shotgun Ice off his head. He saw the two and starts firing Ice Lasers at them.
Rave and Chill Penguin both dodged the lasers, but only to find out they bounced off the walls, the ceiling and the floor, destroying parts of the base. "Those lasers are tearing the base apart! Get's get out of here!"
They escaped from the collapsing base, leaving Iceman behind. Rave wished he told him to leave, but he wouldn't listen. Leaving him no choice but to see him getting buried under the base's debris. Once the collapsing stopped, Rave ran back to the ruined base, digging for the antarctic investigation robot.
"X-!" Chill Penguin shouted, "Err, Rave! What are you doing?! Do you realized that guy almost killed us with those crazy Ice Lasers?!"
"I am not leaving him behind!" Rave replied while continuing digging through the rubble, "I have to get him back to my father's laboratory and repair him, making sure he's out of Wily's Maverick trance!"
A hand pulled out of the rubble, hanging on to Rave's wrist, he pulled the arm out of the rubble and knew that it came from Iceman, who is badly damaged from the collapse. Rave smeared the rubble out of the tiny Eskimo's face. The strange thing is, he kept hanging on to Rave's wrist, not letting it go.
The teenage Blue Bomber began feeling something a bit... Weird, like his data is been transferred to Iceman. His parka color changed from light blue to dark blue. He knew that something is wrong. "Did he just... Copied my X-Buster?" Rave thought.
Iceman opened his eyes, letting him go and implied that he wasn't done with the fight yet. His arm turned into a white, buster cannon, pointing at Rave. "Now I've got your power!" He began firing at the teen with ice-filled plasma shots with colors of the aurora borealis.
"Did your dad gave him the Variable Weapons System by any chance?" Chill Penguin spoke.
"I think he did!" Rave replied while dodging Iceman's newly copied X-Buster shots. "I can see why he spend extra time with him!"
"Stand still, soldier!" Iceman shouted.
Rave holds Chill Penguin's arm for a moment. "What are you doing?!" He spoke.
The teen's armor colors change from blue and black to light blue and yellow. "I have to borrow your Shotgun Ice weapon for a second. I have an idea." He saw a power plant in the distance, not too far from the ruined base.
Iceman shot Chill Penguin at a point blank range with the ice-type version of the X-Buster weapon, freezing the penguin's face by accident. "Oops! Sorry about that. I was aiming for the blue soldier!"
"Oh, not again!" Chill Penguin muffled, trying to get the ice off the face. Iceman sure has a huge grudge against him...
Rave created a large, penguin made out of ice, using it as a snowboard, ramming Iceman with it. The Shotgun Ice-made penguin is already sliding towards the power plant, he jumped off the penguin and watched Iceman being defenseless, seeing the his last moments of his activation as Wily's servant as he gets closer and closer to the power plant's door, seeing several electrical generators active.
"I'm sorry, Dr. Wily...!" Those where Iceman's last words before he got shocked by the generators, implying that electricity is his weakness. Rave watched the whole thing before the generators stopped working. He entered the power plant, seeing the Eskimo being fried to a crisp, he hold his hand, copying his Ice Slasher weapon. Rave already began to cry, as he didn't want to destroy him, but rather slowing him down to take him back to Dr. Light's laboratory. He picked him up and began to leave the power plant.
He saw Chill Penguin entering the power plant, "Why are you so teary-eyed, X? I mean, Rave."
"I'll be fine," Rave replied, "And so will Iceman." He looked at the penguin, confused, and slightly jealous of Rave's actions, "Thank you for helping me out, Chill Penguin. You did your best trying to stop Iceman."
"You're welcome," the mechanical penguin replied, "I tried to help you out, but he kept freezing me."
"I know. At least he won't be like this forever. Thanks again." He eventually teleported out of the area, leaving Chill Penguin still confused about the whole thing, not sure what he wants to do next, except for finding another base in the arctic, or teleport out of there. The jealously returned, wishing he was like Rave, mostly in combat, rather than compassion.
Back at Dr. Wily's Skull Fortress, the computer showed Iceman's mugshot, putting the words "INACTIVE" on his mugshot as Rave defeated him.
Rock and Roll is watching Wily talking to someone on a walkie-talkie through the door's barred window, overhearing what he's saying.
"I didn't know it was going to happen!" Wily spoke, "He just took out Iceman and he might be going after Fireman next!"
"His worrying is the cause of his actions," said a mysterious voice from the walkie-talkie, "It drove him to the edge to get the robots back to Dr. Light's laboratory."
"He's always a worrywart! Just look at Dr. Light! He worries about his family, too!"
"I already know that it's his strength, rather than his weakness. Maybe the children have it, too."
"They already have. They really want to see their brother, really badly. But they won't once Fireman and the others get rid of him!"
"You can't always rely on everyone else to do your dirty work, Wily. Because he's just going to get through all of them to get his siblings back."
"He won't! He's a crybaby, like his father!"
"Sorry to say, X is not a crybaby, he's a strong, young man. His potential is limitless. You can see for yourself as he goes through getting the robots back to his creator."
"Pfft! Limitless potential?! Ha! He couldn't finish watching a movie without crying!"
"The tears are a sign of heart and compassion. It is more than just a feature for an advanced android like him."
"My android can kick Dr. Light's whiny creation out of water once he's completed! Just you wait!"
"Luck won't last forever, Wily. No offense. If all of your forces have been destroyed by X, I'm going to take over and go after him. And it won't be a pretty sight either."
"His name is Rave!"
"The scar doesn't lie, Wily. It fits him better than his real name."
"I don't care! He's a freaking super fighting robot!"
"You're doing the best you can to take him out before i do. Remember, this is your last chance." The mysterious man hanged up, leaving Wily worried that if the reprogrammed robots fail to stop Rave, the man will take over Wily's spot as the leader of world domination.
"Isn't that the guy from the Maverick Hunter Base?" Said Roll. "It sure sounds like him."
"It can't be." Rock replied. "He's the commander of Rave's unit, he can't be supporting the idea of world domination."
"Should we talk to Rave about it when he saves us?"
"I'm afraid so."
To be continued.
Next: Fireman