"Finally, Albert! We completed him!" Two scientists were standing in a laboratory, together with a sentient being placed on a steel table. One of them, a portly man with white hair and a Santa-like beard, was wiping his forehead with the side of his arm to clean off sweat that had gathered there. He was Doctor Thomas Light.
"Well, it took a while, and it's only a prototype, but we did complete him, Thomas!" The other scientist, a balding man with a huge, grey moustache and hair shaped like a pair of wings on the back of his head, held his hands at his hips and nodded. This was Doctor Albert Wily. "We have to hold a celebration! I'll get us some sake!" Wily said, before he left the room.
Light looked down at the being he and Wily had created. Its primary colours were red and grey, the helmet, gloves and boots being red, and most of its body being grey. It also had a shield strapped to its back. Suddenly, it blinked a few times, before sitting up, looking at Light. "Who… are you? And who am I?" it said, holding its head in confusion.
"Your name is Proto Man," Light began, as he bowed humbly at the robot sitting in front of him, "and I am Doctor Thomas Light, one of your creators."
The robot, identified as Proto Man, looked at Light with a confused look. "Creator…? So I am… artificial." he mused, as he looked around his surroundings. Various gadgets were lying mixed everywhere in the room, and a few puddles of oil were visible, proving the ordeal the two scientists had went through to create him.
Light nodded. "Yes, you are the prototype of a series of humanoid robots that I and my colleague, Albert Wily, are creating to create a brighter future for the world." Light said, before he noticed something on Proto Man's body. "Proto Man, would you lay down, please?"
Proto Man gave another confused look. "Why… why would I do that?" Suddenly, he clasped his chest, as if he was in pain. "Wha- what's going on?"
"As I feared," Light sighed, as he looked shamefully downwards, "the power generator you're equipped with has a fatal bug. I need to fix this right away."
Proto Man suddenly widened his eyes, and jumped off the table he had been sitting on. "Fix me?! You're saying that you're going to remove what makes me myself?! You're going to steal my individuality?! Is that what you're saying?!"
Light shook his hands and head in order to calm Proto Man down. "No, nothing like that, Proto Man!" he began, as he slowly approached the robot. "You have to calm yourself and let me-" he continued, before being interrupted by Proto Man.
"No! I won't let you remove my individuality! I will not!" Suddenly, Proto Man's left hand turned into what seemed to be a cannon, much to the shock of Light. "If that's how things are going to be, then I'm outta here!" Then, he aimed the cannon arm towards Light, who quickly threw himself behind a machine.
"Stop, Proto Man! According to the First Rule of Robotics, you cannot harm a human being!" Light yelled, as multiple blasts could be heard from a mile away. Then, it died down. Light quickly stood up and saw that there was a hole in the wall, and that Proto Man had disappeared.
Suddenly, Wily came running into the room. "Thomas! What on Earth happened? And where is the prototype?!" he said, as he looked at the shocked Light, who was only paying attention to the gaping hole in their lab.
"He… left." was all Light could say. Sighing, Wily left the lab, leaving Light to regain his composure, whilst only a whistle could be heard flowing in the air…
--
The year is 20XX AD. The world is benefiting from the work of world-renowned scientist Thomas Light, who has been a pioneer in the world of robotics, which has garnered him many an award, including the Nobel Prize. His greatest accomplishments, though, are 10 humanoid robots, eight of which are designed to help humanity prosper, whilst the other two are designed to help Light in his research.
But soon, one of them will have the chance to become a hero to be remembered for many an age…
--
A giant boulder crashed into the ground, smashing it into rubble. The one who had thrown it was a massive robot with a black, yellow and red colour scheme. Its shoulders, feet and arms were covered by a red layer of metal, whilst its chest was covered by a black half-circle with a red gem implanted in it. It also wore a constructor helmet, and had an overly huge jawbone. "That's how a MAN does it!" it said, as it cracked its knuckles. This robot was known as Guts Man.
"Brute strength ain't everything, partner!" another robot called, this one with the same colour scheme, although only its head, feet and hands were yellow, while the rest of the body was red, although most of it was covered by a metallic layer reminiscent of a black undershirt. It also had a red Mohawk made out of metal, and it was holding a bomb. Suddenly, it threw the bomb towards where Guts Man had thrown the boulder, creating an explosion. The bomb-throwing robot was Bomb Man.
Suddenly, a massive fire broke out where the bomb had detonated, and Guts Man and Bomb Man hastily retreated from it in fear of being incinerated. However, a huge water stream suddenly extinguished the fire, making the two robots look behind them to see another pair of robots.
"You just can't go too far without letting something crazy happen, right?" one of the robots said, this one wearing a blue Eskimo outfit with white gloves, boots, and trim. This was Ice Man.
The other robot, whose primary colour scheme was red and grey, had a primarily grey body, with the only red parts being its kneecaps, shoulder plates, chest plate and two arm cannons in place of hands. It also had a helmet in the shape of a torch, which actually contained a live fire on it. Also, in place of a mouth, it had a grey mouthpiece blocking its mouth. This was Fire Man. "It sickens me to even THINK about the things you two get yourselves into!" he said, which made Guts Man and Bomb Man hang their heads in shame. "Didn't it seem KINDA obvious that a certain SOMEONE had spread oil all over the place where you threw your bomb, Bomb Man? Right, Oil Man?!"
Turning back again, Guts Man and Bomb Man saw another robot, who was laughing very hard. This robot's head was shaped like a drop of oil, given the colour of its head, hands and feet, which were dark blue, contrasting its more bleached body colour. It also had thick, yellow lips and an orange scarf. This was Oil Man. "Hey, who ya callin' "a certain someone"? I'm the slickest of any Robot Master ever created, fo' yo' info'mation!" he responded in a rapid manner.
Suddenly, lightning zapped down next to Oil Man, startling the robot. When the lightning died down, a new robot stood in its place. This one also had a red, black and yellow colour scheme, though black seemed to dominate. It wore a yellow mask with a lightning mark on it to conceal most of its face, and it wore yellow boots and armlets as well. Its hands, arms, chest and knees were red, whilst its legs and head-to-shoulder region was black. A lightning mark was also embedded into its chest. This was Elec Man. "Sheesh, the doctor gives you freedom to practice your abilities, and you immediately create a mess." he said, as he shook his head.
"Moreover, you have spent sixty-five point seven seconds too long on training!" another voice called, which made the other robots turn their heads to the left. This belonged to a robot with a purpler colour scheme in comparison to the others, its head, hands and feet being darker in shade than the rest of its body. It also had gold-ish armlets, a clock on its chest, a triangle-shaped gem pointing downwards on its forehead, and what seemed to be the bells of a clock on its head, together with the striking mechanism. This was Time Man. "Furthermore, only Cut Man, Rock and Roll have bothered showing up at Doctor Light's lab! We were supposed to gather there for repairs, post-haste!"
"Oh, zip it, Clock-Face!" Fire Man shot back, cocking his head to the left. "You're not exactly the boss of us!"
"He does have a point though." Ice Man said, looking towards Fire Man with a serious look on his face. "The repairs that Light would issue on us would be pivotal to us not malfunctioning like the prototype he previously built."
"Stow it, Chill-Head!" Fire Man retorted as he turned to fully face Ice Man. "You're just to chicken to go out in the field with only your measly Ice Slasher!" This seemed to tick Ice Man off, who looked angrily towards Fire Man.
"At least I have hands, you overgrown container of combustible reactions!" Ice Man snapped back, as he and Fire Man stared intensely at each other, sparks coming out of their eyes.
"Look, whatever the case," Elec Man spoke up, "we should see the good doctor, so that we won't be accused of demolishing an entire block." With that, he looked at Guts Man, who was twiddling his thumbs.
"But my job is demolishing, and the building was condemned, so I don't see the problem!" Guts Man said, his voice practically begging Elec Man not to short-circuit him.
"'ey, I have nothin' against neither a friendly chat nor a power upgrade, so could som'one make up their minds now?" Oil Man said, jogging in place.
"Whatever you're doing, I'm going ahead." Bomb Man said, as he spun a bomb on his index finger. "I'll see if Light has something with a bigger bang in store for me!" Then, he vanished into the air, teleporting away from the other robots.
"We're only wasting time here. Let's get a move on." Time Man said, before he teleported away as well. Soon, the other robots followed suite.
--
A small boy with a blue T-shirt, dark-blue shorts, futuristic-looking blue boots and messy, black hair, was strolling through a rather large building, tossing a wrench in his right hand up in the air, before catching it and repeating. As he strolled along, he heard someone running up behind him.
"Big Bro, wait up a moment!" When the boy turned around, he saw that a robot was following him. The robot had a red and white colour scheme, the head, arms and feet being red, whilst the majority of the body was white, with the pubic area being red, like it was wearing a pair of red underwear. Its most notable feature, though, was the scissor-like contraption on its head. This was Cut Man.
"Cut, why are you following me?" the boy said in a cheery tone, as he flung the wrench into the air again. "I'm just going to buy some equipment for Doctor Light! I'll be fine on my own." At first glance, the boy would seem like a normal boy, but he was, like Cut Man, a robot. His name was Rock.
"Well, Big Bro, I just thought that, well…" Cut Man began, before Rock placed his hand on Cut Man's shoulder.
"Look, I can get the equipment on my own, okay, Cut? I know that I'm nowhere near as powerful as you, Guts, Elec, Time, Oil, Bomb, Fire or Ice, but it's just a quick trip to the hardware shop!" he said, smiling like a small kid would. "I'll be fine; you go back to the lab. Just send Roll if something's going on!" Then, he turned around and ran towards the shop, catching the wrench with his left hand.
"Big Bro…" Cut Man shook his head, and turned away, ready to return to the lab. "You're growing really quick." Then, he rushed back to the lab.
--
"Okay, let's see here…" Rock rummaged through a paper bag filled with various technical gadgets after having bought them at the store. "Some ceremical titanium for Cut's weapon, a few gas launchers to power Fire up, some fuses to create bombs for Bomb, an oil canister for Oil, and…" Rock continued to examine the contents of what he had purchased, when he suddenly bumped into someone, making both of them fall on the ground.
"Ow…" the other person muttered. It turned out to be a girl, with blonde hair bound together in a ponytail with a green bow, who wore a red dress with a white undershirt sticking out underneath the hem of the dress. She also wore small, red futuristic shoes, contrasting Rock's blue boots. She, too, was a robot, by the name of Roll. "Oh, Rock! Sorry, I didn't see you on the way…" she said as she noticed Rock rubbing his head in pain.
Rock looked at Roll with a confused look, before he stood up. "What are you doing here, Roll?" he asked. "Did Cut send you?"
"Yeah, he did!" she said, now showing signs of worry on her face, to the confusion of Rock. "Doctor Light received this disk, and then out of nowhere, all these small robots showed up everywhere! The rest of the group went to protect the lab, but Light wanted you to see this." With that, Roll handed Rock a small diskette, which had a single button on it. Interested in seeing what this disk had to offer, Rock pressed the button.
Suddenly, the disk started glowing and wailing like an alarm, and soon, wailing noises could be heard everywhere you went. Then, a cackling voice was heard, prompting Rock and Roll to turn their heads to the right, seeing that on a massive widescreen monitor, the image of an old, grey-haired man was visible.
"Hello, citizens of Earth!" the man cackled. "I am Doctor Albert Wily, future ruler of the entire world! It may sound sudden to many of you, but I have decided on that to be my foremost goal, and I will not let that opportunity slip past my fingers! Nuahahahahaha!" His insidious cackle pierced through Rock and Roll's eardrums, as it was more of a shriek than a laugh.
"Also, to further my goal of world domination…" Then, he disappeared off the screen. Rock and Roll looked at the monitor with fearful eyes, until… "Doctor Thomas Light! Your Robot Masters will serve me!" Then all of a sudden, the monitor shattered, and Wily flew straight out of it inside a flying saucer, startling the robot children.
"Nuahahahaha! Now I will- eh?" Wily turned around to see Rock and Roll standing before him. Upon seeing them, he started laughing. "Hah! Robot helpers! What good will you do in my plans for world conquest? Get lost! I have no need for scrap metal!" With that, he flew away, heading towards Doctor Light's lab.
"Rock! He's going to abduct our friends!" Roll suddenly said, realizing what Wily had planned. "You have to stop him! I'll head back to the lab; you follow Wily, okay?" Then, she ran off, leaving Rock behind.
"Roll, wait!" Rock called, but she was already too far ahead. Losing sight of her, Rock turned to face the direction Wily flew off to. "I have to stop him, before he takes everyone away!" Then, he ran after the mad doctor, intent on saving his robot brethren.
Following Wily proved to be more difficult than anything he'd expect: Enemy robots were patrolling the streets, forcing Rock to take detour after detour, since he had nothing to protect himself with than his own feet, which he used for kicking. Sadly, this did more damage to soccer balls than the actual robots, so he had no choice but to simply run through the streets in pursuit of Wily.
After a while, though, Rock had seemed to lose trace of Wily, which lowered his spirits. Suddenly, he saw Wily's saucer in the distance, a huge bag hanging underneath it. "No way…" Rock said to himself, believing that Wily had made good on his threat to steal Light's Robot Masters. In desperation, he picked a small rock from the ground, and hurled it towards Wily, who was far too busy gloating over his victory to notice it.
"Nuahahaha! That was far too easy! Nuahahaha- GEGRH?!" Suddenly, the rock made contact with his forehead, sending him flying out of his saucer, which stopped completely due to a lack of a pilot. He got up quickly to see who had thrown the rock at him. "You again?!" he spurted out once he saw Rock. "You managed to follow me… Impressive. But I don't have time for games. Play with THIS!" Suddenly, he pressed a button on a small remote he pulled out of his scientist coat, causing a massive, grey robot to jump in front of Rock. "Have fun with my Proto Eye!" Wily laughed, as he jumped into his saucer, and flew away.
Rock looked towards Wily's saucer, now too far away for him to reach it, before quickly avoiding a laser shot from the massive Proto Eye, who immediately afterwards started bouncing around on its "leg", if one could use that term. "I can't fight that thing!" Rock said to himself as he avoided another laser shot. "I need to find a way to beat it, though…" Quickly, he jumped inside an abandoned building, before Proto Eye managed to crush him.
"What to do, what to do…" Rock tapped his forehead a few times, as he hid from the robot outside, who apparently didn't see Rock hide inside the building. "It looks like it's built out of tougher stuff than the others… Maybe…" Quickly, he grabbed a rock, and quickly ran out of the building, in order to face Proto Eye. "I'm over here!" he yelled, causing the robot to turn around, looking at Rock with its lone eye.
"Here goes nothing!" Rock said, as he hurled the rock at Proto Eye, aiming for its head, or more specifically, its eye. However, before the rock made contact, Proto Eye managed to fire a laser blast at Rock, hitting his left arm, knocking it straight off. However, once the rock made contact, the robot seemed to wince in pain.
"That's it! The eye is its weak point!" Rock said, as he took the opportunity to hide inside the building, before Proto Eye noticed him doing so. However, Rock was faced with a dilemma: His left arm, being his primary arm, had been disabled, which meant that he couldn't utilize his normal throwing strength with his right one. "But maybe..."
Suddenly, a portion of the ceiling collapsed, due to Proto Eye actually jumping on the roof of the building, in an attempt to smash it to pieces. "Woah! I only got one shot now!" Rock said, before quickly picking up a bigger and sharper rock. As Proto Eye stopped bouncing, it noticed Rock, and charged up a laser from its eye.
"NOW!" Quickly, Rock flung the rock upwards, before kicking it as it descended, sending it flying at rocket speed straight through Proto Eye's eye, short-circuiting the giant robot. Then, it toppled backwards, crashing into the ground, electricity crackling around where the eye used to be, before it exploded, spreading loads of rubble everywhere.
Taking cover, Rock was able to avoid most of the rubble, now being spread like bullets freshly fired from a gun. "Phew…" Rock wiped his brow with his arm, before walking over to where his left arm had been flung, and picked it up. "No time to fix this! I have to see Doctor Light!" With that, Rock ran back to the lab, where Wily had been flying away from…
--
The lab was a complete and utter mess. A giant hole in the wall indicated where Wily had broken and entered the lab, and the many holes, dents and burn marks indicated a massive battle had taken place there. Roll and Light were busy trying to salvage what was salvageable, moments before Rock entered the room.
"Rock!" Light exclaimed as he saw his robotic helper stumble into the room. "My God, what happened to you? Your arm… Rock, what happened?" he asked, as he examined Rock, who seemed rather worn-out, despite being a robot.
"Sorry, Doctor…" Rock stuttered, clutching his left arm. "I'm sorry… I let Wily get away with everyone…" At this point, tears began dropping from the android's eyes, showing just how advanced Light's creations were.
"Nonsense, Rock!" Light retorted, embracing the robot in a hug. "This is most definitely not your fault, Rock! The one to blame is Doctor Wily, and no one else!" Then, Light broke the hug, and held his hands on Rock's shoulders. "Now, we have to get you patched up, before we-"
"Doctor…" Rock said, wiping the tears from his face. "Turn me into a battle robot!" he exclaimed, with a determined look on his face.
Light was taken aghast at Rock's request, and backed away in shock a little. "R-Rock, what are you saying?"
"I know that the others are much stronger than the army, and with Wily's robot minions, he can easily conquer the world! So, there's really no one that can stop them… But I know that I won't rest until Wily is defeated! So, please, Doctor, make me stronger, so I can help my friends!" Rock said, with no trace of anything other than pure innocence in his voice.
Light had a worried look on his face. Pitting his robot assistant against eight of the most powerful weapons of all time? Light knew that it was near-suicide, but if Rock didn't do it, who would? Looking towards Roll, she could only nod, agreeing with Rock.
"Well, I guess it's settled, then. Rock, follow me, please." Then, Light walked into a room seemingly untouched by Wily and his forces, and Rock followed suite. Both of them stopped in front of a machine. "Give me your arm." Light said, and Rock complied, handing him his dismembered arm. Then, Light placed the arm inside a capsule of some sorts, and connected the capsule to the machine. "Now step instead, please."
Rock nodded, as the machine suddenly opened up. He walked inside the machine, as the door closed behind him. Then, all of a sudden, he felt his body being strengthened, as small mechanical arms attached several pieces of armour on his body. Soon, he also felt the feeling of his left arm returning to him. Then, as soon as it had begun, it ended. The door opened, and Rock stepped out of the machine, seeing that Light and Roll had excited looks on their faces.
Rock had now undergone a severe change in wardrobe. Unlike his previous design, he now resembled Cut Man's design, the only difference being that the red areas were now blue, and the white areas were in a lighter shade of blue. He also sported a helmet which covered his black hair completely, and his left arm was back in its original spot, but it was now looking like a cannon.
"Thanks to the machine, your arms are now equipped with Mega Busters, cannon arms that I had developed prototypes for some time ago." Light said, as Rock examined his new look. "Your left one, however, is modified with the Variable Weapons System, but I'll explain what it does in good time."
"Alright!" Rock said, as he threw his hands in the air. "Does this mean I can help the others?" he asked, looking at Light.
"Not quite." Roll said, waving her right index finger in bliss. "If you're going to fight that vile Wily, you need a name like the other guys have!" Both Rock and Light looked at Roll in confusion, who was simply smiling at her idea. "What about something signifying greatness?" she suggested, leaving no room for Light's and Rock's thoughts.
"Well…" Light shook his head, and rubbed his chin in thought. "I doubt we could call him Super Man… But maybe something along those lines… I got it!" he suddenly exclaimed, before turning towards Rock. "Rock, from this moment on, you are a new robot; a new you, so to say. So, I hereby dub you Mega Man, saviour of Earth? Sounds good, doesn't it?"
Rock tilted his head, before he started laughing. "That sounds great! Mega Man it is, then!" he said, before he looked out the hole in the wall. "Just you wait, Wily! I'm going to stop you and your schemes!"
--
"Ah, eight mighty Robot Masters, all under my control…" Wily mused, looking at Cut Man, Guts Man, Ice Man, Fire Man, Bomb Man, Elec Man, Time Man and Oil Man, all surprisingly silent. "Now go, my slaves, and make this world mine!" The eight robots nodded, and quickly left the massive castle Wily held his residence in, which was filled to the brim with robotic creations protecting its nearly impenetrable walls…