Bass didn't like the crowds. With all eight of Dr. Wily's robot teams wandering about the underground lab and preparing for the mad scientist's next scheme, he felt no inclination to remain there. That, and he was programmed to follow Dr. Wily's orders. So he would make himself scarce, but he told himself he was doing it because he wanted to. He went up to the highest point on the fortress, which was an escape point that allowed the robots to reach the surface.

Skull Island was a surprisingly peaceful place. Of course, this was the fourth "Skull Island" that Wily and company had settled on, as Mega Man would discover them sooner or later. And when the blue bomber did, they would move on and rename some other island whose actual name no one ever bothered to find out. But out of all of them, Bass liked this one the best. There was more vegetation, which meant that there would be more animals. And that meant that there were more targets to shoot at.

But he didn't have the heart that night to shoot random furry or feathery critters. Instead he walked, looking around to make sure he was really alone. It wouldn't do to have Shadow Man sneaking after him. Bass was surprised that some of the more powerful robot masters hadn't destroyed Shadow Man by now. But other than that, he simply didn't want to be bothered.

Crystal Bot climbed the ladder that led to the surface. Treble was ready, and Shadow Man told her that Bass had gone that way. Shadow Man always knew where everyone was, and even if it was at times creepy, it was useful. So she lifted the rock that let in the sunlight (it was many times too heavy for a human) and climbed out from the underbrush.

Looking around, she mused over the pleasant surroundings, wondering if there were any cute animals around. But as she walked on, she thought she heard the strangest thing: singing. Peeking around a tree, Crystal Bot's eyes widened as she noticed that Bass was singing. It was a song she hadn't heard in a long time, a Japanese one. But surely enough, she was hearing the first part of a song about nostalgic childhood. It was surprisingly hyper for a nostalgia song, and her favorite part of it was coming up, where the background singers would cheer loudly. Crystal Bot thought it would be cute to join in, so she snuck up, ready to cheer.

"Okkusenman! Okkusenman!" She sang along, loudly and a little off-key.

Bass froze, cringing. There was silence for a moment.

"Oh, why did you stop?" Crystal Bot giggled. "You're really good, especially on those high notes. You get a good amount of ear bleed without losing control of your voice, just like the original singer. I like that one better than the stupid girly remix. If it doesn't make human ears explode, then what good is it?"

Bass turned to look at her, completely embarassed and angry. "What are you doing here?" he demanded.

"I came to tell you that Treble is complete. He's waiting for you in the main computer lab with Dr. Wily."

"Fine..." Bass growled. "Then, just get out of my way. And don't you dare tell anyone about this."

"Aw, why? You sing really well." Suddenly a thought occured to her, and she grinned, putting her hands behind her back in a very childish manner. "What'll you give me?"

He glared and lifted his blaster. "How about your life?"

"Okay, fine. Algessimneedah." Crystal Bot jokingly saluted. "You're no fun."

"Yeah, remember that. And shut up with that korean already." Bass turned away and grumpily headed back for the secret entrance.

"Aniyo!" Crystal Bot called back quickly before running away.

Bass turned back to see if he could get a shot in at her, but she had already disappeared in the trees. He just sneered in her general direction before continuing on into the fortress, thinking that Crystal Bot was very lucky he had better things to do than get back at her. He'd think of something later, she could be sure of that.

But for now he headed through the imposing and purposely dangerous hallways of the skull fortress. Wily knew that Mega Man would probably arrive at some point, so it was best to always be ready. He wished Treble was ready so that he wouldn't have to waste time with the stupid disappearing blocks or bottomless pits. But even as Bass was brooding, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. It was a small glimmer coming from a side hall.

"Flash Man? What are you doing?"

Flash Man didn't answer. Instead, he put out his arm and froze Bass with his flash stopper, then switched to blaster and began to fire, pelting Bass with several buster rounds. As his first weapon wore off, Bass fell back.

"You're not getting away with that!" Bass snarled. "I don't care what Wily says."

Dodging as Flash Man attempted to jump behind him, Bass turned and fired a volley of his own buster shots, quickly exploding through Flash Man's glass skull and severely damaging his internal operations. But even as the powerful robot finally got rid of his odd nemesis, Shade Man snuck in from behind. Bass noticed him, however, and as he punched Shade Man in the face to prevent the winged bot from draining his energy, he saw that other robots, from robot masters down to mets, were approaching, and none of them seemed to be anything but hostile. It wasn't going to be an easy fight.

Not that he minded that much.

"Finally! A challenge!" Bass tore a wing from Shade Man's back and threw it at the upcoming robots, snarling as he did so. "Bring it!"

-t-

Dr. Wily, more frustrated than he had ever been in his life (besides the time that Dr. Light won a Nobel Prize), was working relentlessly on the computers in the main computer room, trying to figure out why many of his robot masters had suddenly gotten rebellious, and why those robots were now trying to affect the rest of his machines. Team 1 guarded the heavily locked doors, watching the outdoor cameras to make sure that none of the rebels would corrupt them or hurt Wily. Treble, unable to do anything but watch, paced nervously.

"The vent!" Ice Man exclaimed, pointing upward.

Immediately five weapons fired at the vent, while Guts Man held his rock above his head just in case the robot would survive the first volley. Surprisingly, Spring Man had managed to make it through, though he obviously weakened. As he fell from the vent, he suicidally charged after Cut Man, trying to get into contact with him and spread his disobedient condition by means of a small green chip in his hand. He was nearly successful, but as he got close he was only crushed by Guts Man.

"Wow, thanks bro." Cut Man said, visibly shaken.

Treble suddenly began barking loudly, and a sharp banging pounded on the western door. The robot masters, and even Wily, jumped in surprised. His robots readied their weapons while he looked to the screen.

"Bass?"

"Open up this door and tell me what's going on right now! I'm in no mood for games, old man!"

That was the Forte he knew alright. Wily's upper lip twitched at Bass' rude remark, doubting that whatever was going on affected his more powerful creation. But it was better to be safe.

"Code identification report, Wily origin: Forte!" the doctor commanded, using the small intercom that allowed communication when the two feet thick armored doors were closed.

That, of all commands, was Bass' least favorite. Any other orders Wily gave him could be carried out in any manner he wished, and even delayed for an indeterminable period of time. But not this one. This order appealed to his most basic programs, and it had to be carried out immediately.

"Identification, Bass/Forte. Model number SWN-001. Status: stable."

Bass grimaced, feeling as if the words had forced themselves out. The identification program was for keeping track of the robots, detecting viruses, and troubleshooting any mechanical errors. If there would have been anything wrong with any robot, that robot wouldn't have been able to complete the sentence, or the status would have been something other than stable.

"Alright, let him in."

Without waiting for the door to lift to its fullest height, Bass ducked under and entered. Fire Man pulled the lever again, the door returned to its place in the floor. Treble barked cheerfully and wagged his tail. Bass smiled one of his very rare smiles. It was an occasion though, as he hadn't seen Treble in almost a month. He petted the purple dog before returning to his usual disgruntled demeanor.

"What's going on?" he asked with aggravation. "Why am I suddenly being attacked by a dozen junkbots in my own home?"

Wily was too busy to respond, so Elec Man replied for him. "Not even half an hour ago a transmission went out, and apparently it activated some hidden programming in some of the robot masters. Not all of them, but if another unaffected robot is caught, they'll be infected as well. It takes a little work to spread the virus, because it has to be spread through small implantable chips that these robots have somehow gotten hold of." Elec Man sighed. "Right at the exact wrong time though."

"Bass." Dr. Wily suddenly interrupted. "Who did you run into in the halls?"

"Shade Man, Aqua Man, Flash Man, Bubble Man, and Heat Man. I destroyed them. Quick Man was there also, but he got away."

"Alright, cross them off the list..." Wily murmured to himself and nodded without looking at Bass.

"Quick Man must not be infected." Fire Man mused. "He would have gone after you if he were."

"Oh no!" Dr. Wily smacked himself in the forehead and suddenly began madly pressing buttons and flipping switches. A loud whine permeated the air, and it took a minute to get it to stop. Trying again, Wily managed to finally open the audio communications (the video feed communications were still down). "Code identification report, Wily origin: Team 5!"

Several identifications, each with a unique voice, sounded over the intercom.

"Identification, Gravity Man. Model number DWN-033. Status: stable."

"Identification, Wave Man. Model number DWN-034. Status: stable."

"Identification, Stone Man. Model number DWN-035. Status: stable."

"Identification, Gyro Man. Model number DWN-036. Status: stable."

"Identification, Star Man. Model number DWN-037. Status: stable."

"Identification, Charge Man. Model number DWN-038. Status: stable."

"Identification, Napalm Man. Model number DWN-039. Status: stable."

"Identification, Crystal Bot. Model number DWN-040. Status: stable."

He sighed with relief as he heard that Crystal Bot was alright. He wasted no more time, demanding, "Where are all of you right now?"

"We went into the city, just as we were told earlier." Wave Man, the team's leader, answered. "Is there some change in our orders?"

"Yes. This morning a signal went out, and it activated some sort of hidden virus in several of the robot masters, causing them to suddenly rampage."

"Oh no!" Crystal Bot exclaimed. "Dad, are you going to be alright? Do I need to come back?"

Dr. Wily shook his head. "No, I can't risk you getting the virus. I managed to trace the source of the transmission, but I need you to either deactivate it or use it to shut down the radical programming. Also, try to find out what you can about who activated the device. The signal came from the city, and I'm sending you the coordinates now. Everyone else, make sure that she gets there safe."

"Very well." Wave Man answered in his usual solemn manner. "We'll handle it."

With that, the doctor very carefully shut down communications, trying to prevent it from whining again. After that, he turned to his robots. "Elec Man, Ice Man, and Fire Man, you three go out and try to recover as many of our non-infected robots as you can. Destroy any already affected. I'll be able to fix them later, hopefully. And Bass, get to the city and make absolutely certain that Crystal Bot is safe."

"What?" A clearly offended Bass responded. "A babysitting mission? She's got those other guys protecting her. She doesn't need me."

The seven others in the room looked at him as if he were completely stupid.

"How long has it been since you actually met any Team 5 bots?" Bomb Man retorted. "They're all weak, and anything that's actually a threat will end up with all of them getting killed."

"That's interesting coming from you." Bass remarked. He may not have known about Team 5, but as the first team had escaped imprisonment in the robot museum, he knew what he considered too much about them. Bomb Man's fighting AI wasn't very good at all.

"Just shut up and do what I say." Dr. Wily grumpily demanded. "I'm getting tired of your attitude."

"Fine." Bass and Treble teleported away.

Team 5 arrived at the source of the transmission, a large and abandoned storage building, uneventfully.

"Charge Man, if you please." Wave Man said patiently.

"Ah-HA! Who needs doors anyway?" Charge Man posed dramatically before ramming himself through the metal wall of the storage building. The others laughed to themselves. Charge Man was always ridiculously enthusiastic about running into things of various densities, whether or not it was actually necessary. None of them judged him for it.

Entering, they found that the place itself was fairly unremarkable. Several large tractors, cars and buses, all rusted beyond usability, were stacked and scattered around the huge room, which appeared to have been abandoned for decades. Wave Man had to wonder why the metal hadn't been recycled before it got to that state.

Charge Man pulled himself out from the cars his momentum had embedded him in. "Guys, I don't think you're going to like this -"

Before he could finish, several of Wily's own mechanoloids burst out from hidden areas in the room, all obviously infected. Mets, hot heads, and sniper Joes all appeared from their hiding places behind various parts of the wreckage. They didn't seem to be spread the virus, which was fortunate for Gravity Man, who had been ambushed by five mets before he could use his gravity powers to reach the ceiling.

It was at that point in time when Bass showed up. He blasted a few of the minor enemies, but as they weren't in the least bit interesting or challenging to him, he left them for the robot masters, none of whom appeared to be doing well (in Bass' opinion). Wave Man was managing, but his water wave wasn't a big weapon, and it was difficult for him to actually hit the quick moving mets around him. Even though he was doing well against the hot heads, if one of them was standing on a car or bus, he couldn't hit it, because his water wave didn't reach that high and he could only fire his harpoon straight forward. He was better off letting the enemies come to him.

Charge Man was happily running into everything he could, stopping only occasionally to fire coal into the air. That attack however, was ineffective, as it couldn't really be aimed. The sniper Joes easily blocked it with their shields anyway. Gravity Man was able to dodge easily, but since his weapon was only a weak buster, it was taking him a ridiculously long time to actually destroy anything. Stone Man busily threw pieces of himself at the enemies, jumping on them as well. Out of all of them, he seemed to be doing the best.

Gyro Man was doing decently with his blades, but when they were swirling through the air, he had no back up weapons to defend himself with. One of the hot heads was causing him a lot of damage. Star Man's situation with his star crash was exactly the same, except he had several sniper Joes taking advantage. Napalm Man, while having a lot of fun shooting his explosives, had as hard a time at aiming as Wave Man, as his torpedos could only go forward as well, and his napalm bombs were released only at high arcs.

Bomb Man was right.

This is pathetic. Bass thought. But I guess I better find Crystal Bot.

Crystal Bot wasn't fighting anyone, choosing rather to dodge and let the others distract their enemies. Instead she explored the room, climbing over a wall of decrepit taxis. Behind them was a mostly cleared area, and a small electrical box on the far wall.

Odd,

she thought to herself. According to electrical engineering, that box shouldn't be there.

And of course, as she guessed, this was where their elusive enemy was hiding the device that caused trouble on their island. She attempted to approach it, only to be stopped by the weirdest robot she had ever seen, made from old traffic lights and the remains of car engines. Whoever had created him was certainly being resourceful. His traffic signals in his limbs were shining green at that point, and she had to wonder what it meant.

"Hi, I'm Crystal Bot." she said, not really certain of how else to react.

"Why, hello there. I'm Signal Man," The oddity replied with a bow. "Faithful servant of Dr. Nikola Cain."

"Dr. Cain? I've never heard of him."

"And there's a reason for that." Signal Man's voice darkened considerably as he said it. "But eh, I'll have to make a name for him somehow! And I'll do that by defeating Dr. Wily."

Crystal Bot was confused. "Don't people get famous by attacking Mega Man?"

"That's on the list, but one thing at a time." Signal Man lowered the blaster on his right arm. "Are you ready?"

"Uh..." Crystal Bot cringed at the idea of fighting. Looking up, her worried face switched to one of relief. "Ah, you better watch out, Signal Man, Forte-kun is here! He'll blast you away real quick-like! You're doomed already!"

Bass grinned and leaned back from where he was sitting, on top of a double-decker bus. Treble, who seemed equally relaxed, was on a car beside him.

"What a nice thing to say." Bass said indifferently. "But I think you can handle this guy. Besides, I'm just waiting for Mega Man to arrive so I can fight him. He's sure to show up at some point or another."

"But...Bass...I can't...please, don't leave me by myself!" Crystal Bot begged.

Ignoring her, Bass instead turned to his dog. "So Treble, how about those Yankees? Think they'll win this year?"

Treble, happy to be in on the joke, barked jovially.

"Bass..."

"Look's like he's about to attack. You better do something."

Bass wasn't interested in getting into a fight with Signal Man, as he appeared to be nothing more than another robot master. While his orders were to protect Crystal Bot, he figured he could at least let her do some of the work. He wouldn't let her get destroyed.

Crystal Bot turned uncertainly back to Signal Man, forcing herself to try to be intimidating. Her opponent just laughed. "If you expect me to be scared after that little display, I'm afraid you're wrong, little girl."

Signal Man rushed her, shooting a green and powerful looking laser. But as he did, she jumped into the air, and the crystals on her chest and helmet glowed, charging and firing her crystal eye. It sent out four crystal orbs in four different directions. One of them managed to hit Signal Man, and another bounced straight into Bass' face (which didn't bother Crystal Bot at all). However, Signal Man's next weapon, which Crystal Bot was unable to dodge, was some sort of strange yellow substance that crammed itself into Crystal Bot's joints and forced her to slow down, as well as cutting down on the height of her jumps. It seemed to wear off after a while, but it was still annoying, besides allowing Signal Man to hit her.

Try as she might, Crystal Bot couldn't get one of her homing shots to land on Signal Man. She would jump and fire it, but it aimed at where Signal Man had been standing when she first energized the weapon, so if he moved an inch before she fired, it wouldn't hit. Frustrated, she just gave up and formed a long blue crystal rod, which allowed her to at least hit Signal Man. However, a little light on Signal Man's arm changed from yellow to red. As he fired his buster, nothing emerged, but Crystal Bot was frozen. The light on her enemy switched back to green, and he got ready to fire his laser at her.

"Alright, that's enough." Bass finally jumped down and fired at Signal Man, destroying him. "This was taking way too long. Seriously, Crystal Bot, what's wrong with your weapons? Can't you fire without jumping? And your homing shot just plain sucks. You should have fired more of those orb things. They at least were a little dangerous."

"I...couldn't." she confessed unwillingly.

"Why not?"

Crystal Bot bowed her head and clenched her fists, answering barely audibly. "I have Toad Man disease."

"AHAHAHAHAAHAA!" Bass couldn't contain himself. "Oh that's rich!"

"It's only a mild case!" Crystal Bot insisted. "At least I can still fight when someone's near me."

Bass kept laughing. "You call that fighting?"

"Having disadvantages creates challenges where I'm forced to be smarter." she defended herself, poking him in the chest with her crystal rod. "So at the end of the day, I may be weak, but I become a smarter fighter. I bet I'm better than you at fighting with my crystal rod."

"Right..." Bass sneered sarcastically, smacking it away. "Because blunt instruments are so useful against robots."

"Hey!" Napalm Man shouted accusingly. "Toad Man disease is no laughing matter! Leave her alone!"

"You have it too, don't you?"

Napalm Man silenced, unable to find a good comeback. The accusation was true.

As Charge Man ran into the last few of the reprogrammed mechanoloids, the other robot masters gathered to Crystal Bot's position. She pulled the box from the wall, opening it to look inside.

"Whatever it is, it's not transmitting now." Crystal Bot observed. "That means that the signal wasn't responsible for corrupting the robots. Something must have compromised them while they were being held in the robot museum, to be activated once this thing went off. Signal Man must have been expecting us to come after him and retaliate."

"But...like this? It wasn't too bad." Gyro Man pondered. "If he was expecting us, wouldn't he have prepared something more?"

"I guess we got here fast enough...but you're still right..." Crystal Bot replied, wondering what Dr. Cain could have been thinking. "I suspect maybe they didn't think Dad could trace the signal this quickly."

"In that case," Wave Man said. "We shouldn't stay here for too long. More of them are sure to be on the way."

"I don't think it'll be too bad." Gravity Man spoke up. "After all, all this guy did was send in our own robots, as if he didn't make any more of his own. Most of the mechanoloids stay on Skull Island until we actually have plans. These must have been the ones that Wily sent out to get things started."

The conversation was relatively boring to Bass, who chose to stare out the window rather than listen to any more of it. Where was Mega Man?

As if she could read his mind, Crystal Bot suddenly addressed him. "Explosions are pretty. I like them. I bet Mega Man likes them too, and if we blew some things up, Mega Man would arrive to come and watch."

Wave Man nodded. "It's probably for the best that we destroy this place."

"Alright!" Napalm Man exclaimed, readying his torpedoes. "What are we waiting for?"

\\

Author's notes:

- This part was a bit longer than I wanted, but I just wanted to get in a good chunk of ideas before moving on to the next chapter. I hope you enjoyed it. As you may expect, Signal Man is going to be one of eight new Cain robot masters. By the way, if you play Mega Man 5, you find out that it is true Crystal Man and Napalm Man have "Toad Man disease", where if you get too close to them or attack them too quickly it interferes with how they attack. Crystal Man won't fire his crystal eye, and Napalm Man won't fire his straight torpedo.

- Dr. Cain's first name, Nikola, comes from Nikola Tesla, a Serbian-American who was a scientific rival to Thomas Edison. While he was intelligent and invented many things of his own, Edison ended up with more fame.

- I rechecked the guidelines, and I don't think my writing "Okkusenman" violates the rules, because I'm not copying the lyrics. We're not supposed to put in the lyrics for songs in here (which made writing the early part of this chapter more difficult), but I had to include those two words to make it work. Someone let me know if it's okay. Besides, it's technically the title of the song, and the rules only say you can't have the lyrics, so I think I'm alright. But if I'm wrong, tell me so I can change it. I'll somehow make it work. But in any case, it's only polite to link to the real song, which can be found here: you tube .com/watch?v=FzSR_TFMirs . That version is the version Bass was singing, complete with the ear-bleeding high-notes. The site has also a lot of mixes without the crazy high notes, but like Crystal Bot said, what good are they? Oh, and the link has english subs for the lyrics.

- For the record, "Algessimneedah" is the korean equivalent to "I'll go do that" or "I understand" or something of that nature. It doesn't translate directly into english all that well. And like any word ending in "imneedah", it's in formal style, reserved for people you should show a lot of respect. "Aniyo" means no, the "-yo" part being the polite ending, which you would reserve for people you should be polite to, like your parents or people that you don't know well. When you're with your good friends you can just say "ani" or "andeh".