Lost Dog Chapter 1: Lost, a mega man fanfic

As pointed out in the summary, this story takes place in the Ruby Spears 1990's cartoon universe, Not the orignal
video game universe.

The following takes place between seasons one and two of the Mega Man cartoon show.

The year is 20X2.

The season of Spring has begun on this glorious April morning and right now it is blissful outside of Dr. Light's Laboratory.
Birds can be heard chirping, the breeze is still nice and cool and the sky is a wonderful shade of blue, without a cloud in the sky.

Out in the back yard behind Dr. Light's residential/lab complex are Mega Man - the Defender of the Human Race - , his sister
Roll and their dog Rush.
Mega Man and Rush are playing a soccer game with Rush acting as the goalie and Roll is by herself sitting in the grass, occasionally
writing in her diary as she takes in the beautiful day around her.
All of a sudden, she feels something hit her in the center of her back.
The blonde-haired ladybot is startled for a split second and gasps, until she realizes it was just the boys' soccer ball.

"Oooops!", says Mega Man, "Sorry, Sis! You wouldn't mind sending it back, would you?"

Roll stands up with the ball in her hands and she drops it down and punts it back over with her right foot, however, the kick
did not resemble a soccer kick of any kind.

As the ball falls back down into Mega Man's hands, he says, "That was not a soccer kick."

Roll, who admitedly is not much of a sports fan, replies with her hands on her hips, "Excuuuuse me, big brother! I don't know
all these sports like you do."

"It's your loss, sis", Mega says, throwing the ball in the air and hitting it with his helmeted head back towards Rush.

"Oh, really?" Roll asks, tilting her head, "And why is that?"

"It's cool, for one," Mega answers, now turning back to his sister, "There's nothing quite like witnessing the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat."

Just as Mega Man finishes his sentance, the ball bounces off the side of his helmeted head.

"What the?", Mega gasps as he looks over to find Rush standing in front of the goal laughing at him. Rush nailed him with the
ball when the hero wasn't looking.

Roll can't help but laugh at the sight too. "And you just got defeated by your own dog!", she giggles.

Mega grins and picks the ball back up and Roll begins stepping over towards her brother with her arms folded behind her back,
wanting to bring up something she was just writing about in her diary.

"You know," She says, "According to my internal chronometer, this week is the anniversary of you and me coming online for
the first time."

"Our birthday", Mega replies, "... with all of the times we've fought Dr. Wily in the past year, I haven't thought of it much."

Roll's facial expression becomes one of concern. "Not even enough to get me a gift?", she asks.

"... well, I did think about it enough for that", Mega teases.

"Can you tell me what it is?", Roll asks, with a wide smile accross her face.

"Nope!", Mega replies, shaking his head, "It's top secret. Just like Christmastime."

"Come on! Please?", Roll begs, "I promise I'll stay home next time you go on a mission."

"Sorry, Roll," Mega replies, now smiling himself, "I still can't."

Right on cue, the robot heroes can hear the sound of the emergency signal wailing from inside the lab.

"Speaking of missions," Mega says, his smile now melted into a frown.

Mega, Roll and Rush run into the lab to find Dr. Light already standing in front of the main computer console with a close up
shot of the Nimoy Science Insitute and Museum on the large viewscreen.

"What's he up to this time?", Mega asks, referring to Dr. Wily.

"There must be one reason only," the good doctor says, "The new robot I designed is being constructed there.
His name is Galaxy Man." Dr. Light turns to Mega Man and stresses, "It is imperative you make sure Wily doesn't get his hands
on this robot."

"What makes him so dangerous?", Mega asks.

"I created him to counter the threat of an astroid collision," Thomas replies, "So his special power is the ability to create a black
hole. Anything that goes in... won't make it out."

Roll's eye's widen in shock.

"Um," Mega stammers, "I can see why we can't afford to lose him."

"The robot shouldn't be online just yet," Thomas adds, "But if Albert ever got him hands on him..."

"Don't worry, he's not going to get so much as a finger on him!", Mega interrupts, "Rush, let's move!"

Rush barks and transforms into Jet Mode. Mega mounts himself on Rush's back and they fly out of a hatch in the roof of
Dr. Light's lab.
Roll wastes no time and and sprints to the garage where her skycycle is. Soon, she follows her brother towards the factory and towards danger once again.

Nimoy Science Institute and Museum.
New York City.

The Skullker hovers over the science building as people inside begin fleeing. The building is known by it's large glass dome
sunroof whch depicts the globe. Unfortunatly, Dr. Wily's robot's always feel the need to make an entrance, so the robot masters
GutsMan, Cut Man, Star Man and Hard Man dive out of the Skullker and crash through it and into the museum.

The Skullker itself lowers itself through the hole that remains in said sunroof and parks inside. The roboguards try to put up a fight,
but only get swatted down by the robot masters in no time. Some guards are cut down by Cut Man's cutters, or are crushed by
GutsMan or Hard Man, while Star Man used his star shield to protect himself from attacks... as one can guess, his weapon isn't really
much of a weapon at all.

Star Man looks perturbed by his rather lame "weapon."
"I need a blaster!," he mopes in his scratchy voice, "or some nifty weapon like you guys have."

"Well, why don't you tell Dr. Wily himself!", Cut Man says, pointing over to the Skullker where Dr. Wily and ProtoMan exit.
Wily looks particularly chipper today, vigorously rubbing his hands together and nearly salavating over the chance to steal this
top secret robot that he's read so much about (thanks to a little hacking into the federal government's servers, of course.)
Star Man uses this chance to try and speak with Wily about upgrading his weapon.

"Oh, boy! This should be funny!", GutsMan laughs.

As Wily and ProtoMan proceed, Star Man approaches and walks alongside them.
"Dr. Wily, I was thinking that perhaps you could upgrade my primary weapon system when we return to the fortress.", he says.

"Star Man, can't you see that I'm busy prepareing to liberate the robot who will help me capture the world?", Wily replies, still
wearing his smile on his face to the best of his ability, trying not to sound annoyed... yet.

"But, almost all of the other robots in our army-"

"My army!", Wily snaps, now starting to get agitated.

"Your army, I mean, all have very deadly weapons. If I am going to live to up my programming and destroy Mega Man as you wish, I
am going to need-"

"Star Man, shut-up!" Wily finally snaps, "The only reason why I even let you be a part of this mission is because you - an astrological
robot - didn't want to miss the chance to meet the new robot in person. And I only let you come along to get you to stop
begging! Now, let me get the damn robot!"

Wily storms off, his good mood ruined.
ProtoMan smirks and chuckles, shaking his head.

"Good work there, Sparkles!", he quips, mockingly giving the disappointed Star Man a pat on the back.

Dr. Wily and company make their way through the structure, occasionally taking out a robo security guard along the way.
As Wily approaches a corridor marked "Authorized Personnel only", he knows he's reached his destination.
But, as soon as he turns the corner to enter the hallway, he sees a group of human guards huddled in front of a titanium
reinforced door.
Wily panics and takes shelter just outside of the corridor, nearly getting shot when one guard fires off a round from his gun.

"Proto, deal with them!", he gasps.

"No problem.", Proto grins.

Proto begins walking toward the human guards who start firing their weapons at him. The rounds in the guns are standard
bullets and can't do much of any damage to a robot with titanium armor.
Proto puts his right arm up, protecting the small area of synthetic flesh on his face that is exposed, and aims his blaster arm at
the guards, retracting his hand inside of his forearm and producing the blast nozzle in it's place.

"You never learn, do you?", Proto says, firing a stun blast at the humans, knocking them all out.
Proto could have killed them with a full blast, but he's never felt the need for such a mess.
The red robot kneels down as he approaches a knocked out guard and pulls his keycard off his waist.

"You guys need some better bullets," Proto jokes, "the ones you use now kind of tickle."

ProtoMan swipes the card into the keypad, unlocking the titanium door.

"Good work, my boy!", Dr. Wily says as he walks towards his best robot along with the rest of the robot masters behind him.
ProtoMan opens the door and enters the "Clean Room" with Albert behind him.
Cut Man and Star Man have no problem entering, but GutsMan and Hard Man can't fit in the human-sized doorframe.
After both try to enter the clean room, they both tear the walls up to make the doorway bigger.
Problem solved.

Dr. Wily stops in front of a robot who is almost complete and is propped up on his feet, but is offline.
His armor appears to be grey, but changes colors every so often to pink, green or orange, thanks to his solar engery.
The robot resembles a flying saucer with arms and legs and the dome of the saucer is the robot's head and two antenae
sticking out on top.

"Galaxy Man!", Dr. Wily says with his arms outstretched, "You will be a fine addition!"

"You might want to read up on him first, Doc!", Proto says, tossing Wily a folder.
Wily catches the folder and opens it and begins reading the technical specifics on Galaxy Man.

"Titanium combat chassis, yes I know," he mumbles, reading out loud, "Space travel... developed by... ugh... Dr. Thomas Light...
what's this?"
Wily reads and his eyes go wide as he reads, "... he can create temporary black holes!"
Wily looks back at ProtoMan, stunned.

"Why didn't I think of that?", he asks.

Proto shrugs, "Well, we don't exactly have ability to create an event horizon at the Fortress, Doc."

"We do now, don't we?", Dr. Wily says with a grin, "Let's get him aboard the Skullker!"

GutsMan and Hard Man hoist the robot off of his platform and carry him out. GutsMan carries him by his arms; Hard Man by
the legs.

On the way back to the Skullker, Wily dreams about what he'll do with Galaxy Man.
"Just imagine," Albert says, holding his hands outward infront of his face as he visualizes the future, "all we have to do is sick Galaxy
Man on that blue pest of a brother of yours, Proto, and he'll be lost inside a black hole forever! The world will be mine!"

"Not anytime soon, Wily!"

Dr. Wily, ProtoMan and the robot masters look up to see Mega Man and Rush hovering above them.

"Quick!", Wily yells, "Get Galaxy Man to the Skullker!"

Guts Man and Hard Man run in double time towards the back door of the Skullker.
Mega Man leaps off of Rush to deal with Star Man, Cut Man and his brother ProtoMan.

"Rush, I think you know how to deal with GutsMan!", he says.

Rush barks and jets off to the Skullker to block the path of the large Wily bots. Before GutsMan and Hard Man can take Galaxy
Man inside the Skullker, Rush stands directly in their way and growls, showing his teeth.

"Uh-oh!" GutsMan freaks, "I'm not dealin' with you, ya' mutt!"

Gutsy drops Galaxy Man on the floor and hides behind Hard Man, not wanting to deal with being bitten by Rush.

"What are you doing?", Hard Man groans.

"If you want to deal with him, you deal with him! I'm not gettin' bitten!", GutsMan babbles...
yes, he really did say it like that, folks.

"Hey, Mega Man!" Star Man says, "You'll wish you were in a galaxy far, far away when you feel my power!"

Star Man emits his spinning Star Shield, again making little stars spin around his body.
ProtoMan facepalms and groans, "Oh, brother!"
Mega puts his hands on his hips as he looks at Star Man, unimpressed.

"That's your deadly weapon?", he scoffs.

"Well... yeah, it is!", Star Man says, sounding disheartened.

"Okay! This is my weapon!", Mega says, fireing a blast from his plasma cannon, knocking Star Man out and sends his little twinkling
stars falling down with him.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING STANDING THERE?", Wily shouts at ProtoMan, "TAKE HIM OUT!"

With the order, ProtoMan lunges at his brother and they begin grappling.

"When are you gonna learn to stay out of our way, little brother?", Proto snaps.

"When you and Wily surrender, that's when!", Mega fires back.

"Not happening anytime soon!", Proto says.

Cut Man stands nearby and pulls his cutters off his head.
"Keep him still, ProtoMan! I'll give him a buzzcut! Eh-heh! Eh-heh!"

Just then, the orange robot feels a powerful surge of suction from behind him that yanks the cutters right out of his hands.
This is coming from Roll's vacuum adapter in her utility arm. This is the second time she's used the vacuum to thwart a Cut
Man Rolling Cutter attack.

"How many times do I have to tell you?", Roll jokes, "You shouldn't leave your toys flying around like that!"

Cut Man turns around and looks quite angry that she stole his scissors again.

"You always do this!" he spits, stomping his foot, "That's it! I'm gonna take take care of you once and for all!"

Cut Man runs towards Roll with his fists balled up and Roll takes a karate stance. As Cut Man gets closer, he lets out a primal
yell that sounds more like a wheezy warble.
When he's close enough, Roll twists her body and performs a side superkick right to Cut Man's chin, knocking him out.
Roll regains her posture and pumps her arm victoriously.

"Wooo!" she hoots, but her excitment becomes concern when she sees Mega still dealing with Proto and Rush still dealing with Hard Man.

Rush still growls in front of Hard Man back at the Skullker, ready to bite him when ready.

"Get outta my way, you stupid robodog!" Hard Man threatens.

Rush leaps ahead and bites Hard Man on the arm.

GutsMan snaps, "I'm outta here!" and lumbers away!

Hard Man pulls Rush off of his arm and throws him away from him. The robocanine powers his jets and zooms back towards him, but
Hard Man fires his weapon - the Hard Fist - at him.
When fired, Hard Man's fist detaches itself from his left arm and heads towards the intended target.
The bad news for Rush is, he is the target.
The Hard Fist collides with Rush's body while he was flying towards him, so the impact of the shot was even worse.
Rush begins flying off aimlessly and lets out a painful howl. His helmet piece on his head even becomes partially dislodged and he
eventually veers out of the shattered sunroof of the Science Museum out of control.

"Rush!", Roll cries out.

Mega Man hears Rush's howl and sees him flying out of the building.
The anger burns inside of him and he powers his blaster and shoots ProtoMan at close range, sending him falling back,
scorching his grey armor.
Mega charges towards Hard Man, firing more shots from his blaster at him, but the shots riccochet off of his body!

"HA-HA!", Hard Man laughs, "My armor is doubly reinforced, You can't hurt me, Mega Geek!"

Mega stops firing and leaps over Galaxy Man's body and throws a stiff kick at the small area on Hard Man's head where his
face is. He figures if this big bully has a weak spot, it's that small face of his.
Mega Man's foot smacks Hard Man's face and the big barrel-shaped robot goes down with a thud.

"Now that the mutt is gone, you've gotta deal with ME!" GutsMan says, his confidence returning now that Rush is gone.

But, right on cue, the front doors of the museum are broken down by New York's finest, who come pouring into the building
with weapons drawn.

"N.Y.P.D." says a voice on the loudspeaker, "Come quietly, or there will be trouble!"

Realizing that he and his robots are now outnumbered, Dr. Wily runs to the Skullker as fast as his legs can travel, deciding
to forget captureing Galaxy Man... for now, at least.

"Abort!" he yells, "Abort!"

As Wily and his robots stagger to the Skullker, the human officers and policebots open fire upon them.
The Skulker takes off and the front windshields shatter when ammunition rips through it.
To say this mission was a failure would be an understatment.

"Blast!", Mega says, "He got away!"

"Well, look at it this way, Mega," Roll reasons, "At least Wily didn't get Galaxy Man."

"That reminds me," Mega turns and says with a skeptical eye, "You promised to stay home during the next mission."

"Only if you told me what I was getting for my birthday! You didn't, so, I'm here." Roll replies, folding her arms.

Mega shakes his head at his sister, but then he realizes something... something horrifying...

"... Rush never came back!"

Looking concerned, Mega makes a sharp whistle.
Some of the police officers and policebots look over, but when they realize he wasn't trying to get their attention, they return
to their work. Mega Man then presses the communication button on his left forearm and tries to contact Rush.

"Rush, it's Mega Man. Do you read me?", he calls.

... there is no response.

Roll covers her mouth with her hands and is now worried about Rush and his whereabouts.
Mega Man also fears for Rush and contacts Dr. Light.

"Dr. Light, it's Mega Man. This is urgent!"

"Mega! Did Wily get away with Galaxy Man?"

"No. He got away, but without the robot... this is something much worse."

"What is it?", Thomas asks, the concern in his voice very much appearent.

"We can't find Rush! He got involved in the battle and... I think he got hurt."

"I'll pick up his tracking signal and link it to you and Roll. You should have it shortly."

After Mega Man disconnects, Roll grabs her brother by his right arm.

"Mega," she asks, sounding shaken, "You don't think Rush is... is..."

"Don't think that way, Roll! Not even for a second!", Mega assures, holding his sister by her arms and looking into her sad
blue eyes, "Rush is out there. We're going to find him!"

Shortly thereafter.
Rochester, New York.

Mega Man is driving the skycycle and Roll is seated behind him with her arms clasped around his torso.
Thanks to Dr. Light's assistance, they are following the location of Rush's tracker.
A beeping noise can be heard coming from Mega's communicator, and as they get closer, the beep becomes more frequent, but,
Roll has a bad feeling about this.

"Mega, Rush's signal hasn't moved since we located it," she says.

"That doesn't mean anything, Roll." Mega stresses, "He's probably resting. He's gotta be alright."

Mega Man now sounds like he's trying to convince himself that Rush is okay, trying desperately to block out of his mind the
possibility of the worst case senario.
The beeping now becomes much faster as Mega and Roll approach a nearby office building.
But, both Mega and Roll don't see Rush anywhere in sight, unless he's hiding inside the canopy over the stairwell leading
to the roof, or perhaps somewhere inside this place..

"Are you sure his tracker is working?", Roll asks.

"It has to be," Mega insists, again sounding like he's trying to convince himself that everything will be alright.

Mega parks the skycycle on the roof and the tracker's beeping is now very fast.
Roll and Mega waste no time and call Rush's name.
After there is no response, Mega Man spots something small and shiny on the roof.
As Mega slowly approaches the item, his jaw hangs slightly ajar and Roll - who also sees this item - follows her brother,
looking scared.
Mega looks down to see a lone microchip lying there and the beep from Mega's forearm now becomes a persistant flatlining tone.

This was Rush's tracker.
Somehow, it became disconnected and ended up here.

"Oh, Rush!" Roll whimpers as she hugs Mega Man, whose stare is fixed on the tracker, his whole world going numb,
focusing soley on that lone microchip...

"Mega Man! Did you find him?"

"... No... Dr. Light... Rush is... gone!"

References:
The "The following takes place..." intro is a tribute to 24.
Mega Man playing soccer is a reference to "Mega Man Soccer" the game.
Roll's "Excuuuuuuuse Me!" was a refernce to the Legend of Zelda cartoon.
And, as you may have guessed, I named the Nimoy Science Institute and Museum after Leonard Nimoy.
The "Come quietly or there will be Trouble" line was used in RoboCop.

I just want to add that this is pretty much it for the "action" part of the story. In the remaining chapters, it just gets sappy from
here. So, for those of you expecting a climatic confrontation, you'll be disappointed.

Also, as you may have noticed, Rush doesn't speak Scooby-Doo-ish. And I'm going to stick with that through any Mega Man stories I post,
unless of course, I feel it would be necessary.