"You can reactivate him now, Roll."
Obeying, Roll pushed a button on the side console, then removed the cord from Bass' USB port. He revived, blinking a little.
"How do you feel?" Roll asked.
"Not that different..." Bass answered hesitantly as he sat up. Treble, waiting for him on the floor, barked happily to see him up.
Checking his systems as the seemingly busy Roll went off to some other task, Bass noticed that only about an hour had passed since he'd deactivated. That was good. The sooner he got to Skull Island, the better. He had destroyed the monitoring system earlier that day, when Wily had ordered him to go back, but he knew that the robot masters would have been able to piece together some semblance of the truth by now. He couldn't let them have time to interfere with retrieving Crystal Bot's memory.
Bass looked over at her repair table. The automated machine had mostly reattached Crystal Bot's arm, and it was working on her power core, which was certainly more tedious and intricate work. She wasn't going to be finished for a while, besides the rebuilding of her brain.
The room itself was alight with sparks and sounds, and Bass got the feeling that if he were human, the noise would be too much. Stone Man was making good progress, as most of his framework was finished. Gyro Man was still a mess of wires, and Gravity Man's innards were half exposed as his armor was being switched out, but the other robot masters seemed to be doing well, at least outwardly. Jewel Man had disappeared.
"Alright, I'll be back." Bass called out to Auto as he reached for his helmet, which someone, probably Roll, had left on the table next to him.
"One moment." Auto said, lifting one arm from the supercomputer's console to get Bass' attention. "I'm afraid that Crystal Man's data for her mind is...haphazard at best. I suspect Wily did a lot of work on Crystal to get her to work in the first place. While you are gone, it would be best if you pick up whatever plans Wily has that describe how he upgraded Crystal Bot's mind from her original design."
"Got it." the venturing robot answered.
"Where's he going?" A familiar voice asked.
Bass turned around. "Rock? Don't you have a million papers or whatever to fill out for the cops?"
But as he approached the blue bomber, he noticed that Mega Man was being re-armored on another table. His entire left side had been removed, and Auto was just gathering some freshly cut titanium to replace the armor that had been too badly torn up. And Mega Man didn't look at all pleased see Bass. He turned away, cringing and unwilling to acknowledge the taller machine.
The dark robot wrinkled his nose, and his teeth flashed viciously. "Don't tell me you let Wily get away again."
Mega Man's smile was awkward and pathetic. "You know how he always has an escape plan...team one showed up...uh...I'm sorry..."
"YOU'RE SORRY? Do you have any clue what you've...no. No, it's okay. That's just fine, Rock." Bass' evil smirk appeared. "I can deal with that. Treble, get over here! Bruce! You're coming too!"
Mega Man asked, "What exactly are you going to do?"
"Dr. Light gave me some good advice today." Bass cryptically answered as he lifted his buster. "I think I'll go ahead and follow it."
Merging with Treble, Bass flew into the air, barely giving Auto enough time to lift the ceiling's hatch before flying away.
"Crap! I should follow him..." Mega Man stared helplessly at his missing armor. "You installed the three laws on him, right?"
"Are you kidding?" Auto answered. "I installed them twice."
-t-
By the time Bass reached Skull Island, it had been dark for hours. Luckily Auto had had the foresight to disrupt Wily's tracer in both Bass and Treble, so their arrival was hailed by no more than the sound of Treble's rockets. Bass wasn't stupid, however. He knew that it wouldn't be long before he would be discovered, so he just hurried towards Crystal Bot's former lab on the island. Trying to think of where else her memory or brain blueprints might be, Bass landed and de-merged from Treble, and they both silently went towards the top entrance to Skull Castle.
As he had imagined, the place was buzzing with activity. Robot masters were running everywhere, packing up everything they could in the shortest time possible.
"Hey Needle Man, what are these?" Top Man asked his fellow Team 3 member as they both went down the hall with large boxes.
"Data from both Crystal Bot and Gravity Man's research." the bulky fellow replied. "We've got to get them to the Skull Capsule, because Wily wants to know exactly what they've been doing."
"So you're saying all this data went to Dr. Light when Team 5 betrayed us?" Top Man exclaimed. "I can't believe it."
"No, Wily made sure Crystal was at least cleaned out. Now shut up and haul the boxes." Needle Man muttered. Very few robots had the ability to tolerate Top Man for very long, much less his own team members.
That was all Bass needed to hear. Knowing which one would put up more of a fight, he snuck up behind Needle Man and kicked his legs out from under him, then pelted him with dozens of shots. That was the end of him. Top Man, frightened out of his mind, had gone off, dumping his load gracelessly as he skated for his life. Treble had no problem at all catching up and pinning Top Man to the floor.
"Good job, boy." Bass picked up Top Man and threw him against the wall, holding him there to squirm uselessly. But as Bass looked at Top Man, his mind wandered a little. He could see that Top Man was also a victim of Wily's whims, general insanity, and short attention span. How else could he have become such a ridiculous robot? Bass cringed, wondering if his new directive was turning him into a sap.
"You know, Top Man, I really feel sorry for you."
"R-rreally?" Top Man stuttered in fear, trying to grin a little. "Sorry enough to let me g-go?"
"No."
Equpping the psycho pulse, Bass promptly punched him in the face, cracking his visage and sending several sparks shooting out of the injury. "Ha! I've been wanting to do that for a long time, you pathetic toy!"
Bruce flew to the box Top Man had been carrying and started pecking at it. Bass opened it for the bird, and Bruce flew in, sorting through the assortment of discs to find a power chip. Clef handed it to Bass with a few merry tweets.
"An absorbable power?" Bass questioned. "Where did Crystal get this?"
Not one to waste a perfectly good ability, Bass absorbed it. Bruce answered his question with more tweeting.
"Oh yes...this will work just fine."
-t-
Elec Man emerged from the automated machine in the main lab, feeling more powerful than he had ever been. The rest of Team 1 was there as well, packing away everything that they could, and deleting everything that they couldn't. Guts Man hauled away a box of discs to the Skull Cruiser, and Cut Man wasn't far behind with the next one. The massive panel door lowered and shut behind them, but none of them noticed the shadow that dashed in just as the door closed.
"Wow, Elec Man..." Ice Man commented as he looked at the monitor's data. "Crystal Bot's brain sure is powerful. A triple processor mind? This is insane! Crystal Man must have stolen a small fortune in RAM to make this run quickly enough."
"Technically it is a quadruple processor mind." Fire Man noted from his seat in front of the supercomputer. "One of them serves to prevent viruses and hacking, and performs no other task. Elec Man is now a a virtual data vault."
As much as their leader liked being talked about, Elec Man was all business. "I'm going to report in and make certain that Dr. Wily is ready to go, so once you've destroyed this automated machine, get over to the Skull Cruiser. Fire Man, do you have the data for our next base?"
Fire Man handed Elec Man a copy of a data disc. "There is another island several thousand miles from here, and it has the appearance of non-habitation."
"Good then. I'll be staying here for a while, so once you're ready here you can go ahead and be the first ones to clear an area for the next Skull Castle. I'll have Team 2 arrange to defend this island from the traitors and prevent them from finding our new home, so don't worry about that."
"Aw, can't I stay behind and blow a few up?" Bomb Man asked. "That Wave Man has been asking for it for years. Water right next to a nuclear power core? Ah, that'd be a fine target!"
Elec Man snorted in amusement, appreciating the enthusiasm. "No, Wily needs you to clear the area on our new island for the fortress. I'd better get going. Hurry up and finish here."
As Elec Man opened the large door and left. Ice Man neared the automated machine and inserted a disc into it, downloading whatever information he deemed useful enough.
"That's the last thing we need." Fire Man said as he pulled two final discs from the supercomputer. "Bomb Man."
He didn't even need to give Bomb Man an order. The bulky robot heaved his explosive at the computer. Bits of wire and green panels flew all over the room, leaving a layer of computer trash scattered over everything.
"GAH!" Ice Man exclaimed as he ducked under the wave of rubbish. "I wish you wouldn't let him do that!"
"Hurry up with that automated machine, Ice Man!" A now over-excited Bomb Man exclaimed. "It's next!"
"Hold your horses, it's got a couple of minutes." Ice Man complained. "And at least wait for me to get out of the way of the shrapnel. Sheesh."
The other two stared at him wide-eyed.
"What?"
It took Ice Man a moment to notice that there was something standing behind him. He slowly turned around. And that was the very last thing he ever did.
-t-
Dr. Wily and Shade Man were busily preparing the second Skull Capsule. While the first had been destroyed, Wily liked to make sure that he had backups. However, the second was not quite flyable yet, and Wily was busily putting the last bits of the engine together in the hangar. He wished he had thought to do it sooner, but this week had quickly gone the opposite of how he had intended. Instead of being the warlord of Monstropolis, California, he was now a refugee from several of his own robots. Not that he cared that much about Team 5, but he knew that with Bass and Mega Man working together, this Skull Island was no longer safe. At the very least this escape would go quickly with all the help of the robot masters.
He gritted his teeth in anger. "And we've only just settled down here..."
"Lord Wily." Shade Man said in his very dignified vampire accent, bowing as he spoke. "The data you requested has been uploaded into the Capsule. Also, Elec Man is here with the location of our next settlement."
"Good, give it here." Wily practically snatched the disc that Elec Man handed him. "Alright, Elec Man, you know what to do. Don't even think about coming to the next location until the both of them are destroyed."
Elec Man knew exactly who his master was refering to. "Don't worry, I can take care them easily now."
"See that you do." Wily's threatening tone left Elec Man a little disturbed. Pushing a button on the console of the Capsule, Wily hailed the main lab. "Fire Man, have you retrieved all necessary data from the main lab and destroyed it yet?"
No response. Wily tried again and signalled Fire Man directly, in case he had already left the main lab, but there was still no answer. Wily was beginning to think that the worst had began. He went over to a communications monitor in the wall and turned it on, looking through the camera into the lab, which was a terrible mess.
"Looks like Bomb Man has been at work." Shade Man noted lightly.
Wily didn't answer. Looking more intently at the wreckage, he noticed a severed, white metal boot sticking out from a pile of twisted metal.
"That would be Ice Man..." he seethed. "Elec Man! Get down there now!"
Elec Man teleported there without hesitation. His environment immediately changed into one of blackened walls, broken glass, and shredded wires.
"Alright Bass, I know you're here. Come on out."
"I am out, smarty."
Elec Man snapped around to find Bass rather casually sitting atop a pile he made of Bomb Man and Fire Man, acting as if he hadn't a care in the world. Elec Man snarled, shooting out a burst of electricity. Even from his unprepared position, Bass was able to zip away and let the shock hit the two Team 1 robots that made up his chair.
"You know, Bass," Elec Man said. "It's interesting that you call me smart. Right now I'm using Crystal Bot's brain, and not to mention a few spare energy crystals we had lying around. I'm now not only immune to your shots, but I've got all of her battle AI and none of her pathetic Toad Man disease."
Bass rolled his eyes. "Duh. I saw the automatic machine. And I had the crystals in my busters removed, so you're not immune. You can die now."
Actually, Bass had forgotten to ask Auto to remove them, but the repair-bot had the foresight to do so anyway. But he wasn't going to admit that to Elec Man, so he just fired. Elec Man jumped over to the side, sending out another electric shock. This one made contact with Bass, and the impact immediately reminded him of the crystal club's energy beams; again, he stumbled aimlessly for a minute as he tried to protect himself and let his mind get back into order.
"How quickly you forget the effects of the crystal energy." Elec Man laughed. "YOU can die now!"
Bass' mind barely cleared in time for him to remember his strategy. He didn't resist as Elec Man shot him a second time, but held on to his last bit of rationality as the crystal-enhanced electric beam coursed through his circuits. Crumpling into a ball, he found that he could barely move. All he could do was sit there on the floor and wait as Elec Man neared him, lifting his hands to fry Bass just as he had fried Crystal Bot the day before.
But the dark robot wasn't finished. As soon as Elec Man was close enough, his yellow markings became brick red, and he engaged the echelon heatshock. Elec Man tried to resist, shooting back his own energy pulse. But the heatshock only reversed his electrical attack, causing Elec Man's own weapon to turn against him. The Team 1 robot screamed, but as his innards melted, the cry was cut off. The energy for Echelon Man's power drained quickly, however, and just as Elec Man finally was destroyed, the weapon had been all used up.
"Ugh, that sucked." Bass mused over his strategy as he downed an E tank. "I'm never doing that again."
Before departing the room, Bass went over and removed the recording device from the camera that had been watching him. He knew Wily had probably seen what happened, if the doctor was still on the island, but Bass didn't care. He hoped that his creator had seen every minute of it.
Wily watched as the monitor turned black. The camera had obviously been destroyed. Wily cringed, realizing what sort of destructive force he had created. Bitterly running off and not taking the time to muse over the irony, Wily went over to the Skull Capsule, looking back over his shoulder just once.
"Delay him!" Wily barked at Shade Man.
"Yes, Lord Wily." Shade Man flew off with determination.
Turning back to the Capsule to get going, Wily started to climb in. However, he soon found himself face to face with a growling purple dog that had the remains of Skull Capsule circuitry in its mouth. The doctor jumped back as Treble started barking loudly, snapping his jaws at his creator. Wily fell back onto the floor.
"SHADE MAN, GET BACK IN HERE!" Wily screamed, both furious and afraid.
Shade Man was out of earshot, however, and Wily could only scoot away from Treble as the metal teeth came closer and closer. However, Wily soon found that he could go backwards no farther, even though he knew the wall was still a few feet away. He looked up. The evil grin that so well personified Bass shined down on him.
"AAAUUUGGGH!"
Bass laughed so hard at Dr. Wily's scream that it gave the human time to stand up and try to get away. However, Bass wasn't caught off his guard. His fist shot out and clutched Wily's shoulder cruely, holding the doctor still so that Bass could finish his laugh.
"Oh man," the robot laughed. "I was just hoping that you would do that ridiculous begging you do when Rock corners you. But that, that right there was really funny, old man. Good job! Oh hey, if you've got anything really smart to say, go ahead and say it now. Make it good, because I'm sure everybody'll be interested the last words of a maniac. Oh yeah, my failsafes are gone." the robot held his buster up to the back of Wily's head. "Bye now."
Nothing happened.
"Huh?" Bass wondered. "What's wrong with my buster?"
He shoved Wily to the ground so that he could take a look. Seeing nothing seriously wrong with his arm (that he could identify), he instead started going through his mind to check his internal systems as Wily started to crawl away. Treble kept his eye on the doctor, so Bass wasn't worried about him escaping. But as he searched his mind, his worst fears were confirmed. The three laws had been programmed into him.
"AUTO!" Bass snarled, immediately trying to think of a way to get back at the repair-bot.
Regaining his confidence, Dr. Wily laughed. "Ah, now I see, That's what you get for trusting the 'good guys', Bass. But since now you're unable to do anything about it, I think I'll just leave!"
And Dr. Wily, walking casually around Treble (who also found himself subject to the rule of harming no humans), opened a door and made his exit. Bass, however, was unwilling to give up so quickly. Once Wily had gone through the door, he got an idea, then charged straight through the wall. Wily, who hadn't gone far, ducked as his creation neared him again.
"You again?" Wily said in his most condescending voice. "Just what do you think you can get away with?"
"A lot, actually!"
Having ripped a long pipe from the wall, Bass grabbed Wily and bent a part of it around his ankle, then bent the other side of it around a pillar.
"You can't do that!" Wily shouted.
"You're not hurt, are you?" Bass snapped. "But guess what. For whatever reason, Auto missed some of my old protocols that enable my free will. So maybe I can't shoot you directly. But..."
Bass punched the pillar. Chunks of plaster tiles fell from the roof and landed on Wily's head.
"That's a load bearing pillar!" Wily exclaimed.
"I know that! Why do you think I stuck you there?" Bass punched the pillar again, and Wily could hear creaking. "You order me around, find fault in everything I do, screw up my mechanic, and expect me to just deal with it? Who do you think you are?"
With the next impact, a piece of the framework for the ceiling tiles fell far too close for Wily's liking. Loving every moment of it, Bass continued to punch the pillar as more and more of the ceiling's building materials fell and piled on and around Wily. "I'm sorry!" he cried. "Please don't kill me!"
"Hehe..." Bass snickered. "Relax. I wasn't going to kill you anyway."
"...Really?" Wily looked up, sounding ever so slightly hopeful.
"REALLY." Bass stated in a way that was not at all comforting. "Now let's get going."
The violent machine took the pipe off of Wily's leg and dragged him away.
-t-
Jewel Man looked worried as he climbed the stairs up into the main laboratory. He had just arrived from the "gymnasium", a special room in the laboratory especially designed for the testing of new weapons. The Team 5 robots were complete, and going over their upgrades. All of the Team 9 robots, other than Spash Woman who prefered staying the water and would be waiting for them there, had arrived, and were also downstairs. All of them seemed fairly optimistic about working with the ex-Wily-bots, but Jewel Man was unsettled. He went over to the table that Mega Man was sitting on as the metallic arms completed the last of his repairs.
"Where's Auto?" the shiny robot asked.
"He's in another lab, working on putting Crystal Bot back together." Mega Man answered as the last metalic arm that worked on him retracted back into the ceiling. "He wants her to be as ready as possible when Bass comes back with her memories."
Jewel Man's expression was demure. "And why exactly are we trusting this fellow? May I remind you that he's been trying to kill you directly for several years now?"
"I'm not really worried about all of that." Mega Man said with a pleasant smile.
"Well, I'm still bothered by his behavior. He might have the three laws and a new directive, but he's still Bass." Jewel Man retorted. "I don't know him that well, but I do know that's he's entirely reckless."
"Yes, that's true." Rock agreed. "Which is why I'm going to look for him, now that I'm ready. He's been gone too long to have just swiped Crystal Bot's memories. There's no telling what he's doing now."
Suddenly a signal went off in his head, and Mega Man realized that he had a transmission from Roll, who was at the hospital with Dr. Light.
" - Rock! - " she exclaimed. " - Have you been watching the news? - "
" - No, why? - "
" - Turn it on! You won't believe it! - "
While a curious Jewel Man stood by, Mega Man set the monitor to the local news. "-er supervillain Dr. Albert Wily has been brought to justice, not by local hero Mega Man, but long time rival Bass, also known as Forte." An earnest blonde woman reported. "In an uncharacteristic show of heroics, Bass has not only brought his own creator to the the police, but he also has made claims of turning away from a life of crime and becoming another champion of justice."
Jewel Man and Mega Man stared at each other, barely believing a word of what the newscaster said.
The news switched to a shot of Bass roughly shoving Dr. Wily up the walk of the police station, as reporters and curious onlookers lined the way. Dr. Wily looked pale, and his hair was all askew. A metal pipe was twisted around his wrists as a form of makeshift handcuffs. Bass, however, was enjoying himself, simply eating up all of the attention.
"Smile for the camera, old man." Bass said as he grabbed Wily in a headlock with his left arm, and made a peace sign with his right towards the line of reporters. Instantly a wave of camera flashes went off.
The next shots were of several excited human citizens, all very over-eager to speak to the reporters. One brown-haired boy spoke into the microphone, "Just yesterday he stopped this guy from stealing my bike!"
A little girl in thick, black-rimmed glasses came up from behind the boy and tugged on his shirt. "Wayne! Momma said we're supposed to be home now! We're gonna get in trouble!"
An alternate camera with a different angle showed Treble approaching the two children. He barked more happily than anyone had ever heard him before, and he started sniffing at the little humans.
"Puppy!" the little girl exclaimed as she went to pet him. "So cute!"
"You kids have a problem?" Bass said as he walked up.
"Yeah, we need to get home, and if we don't we'll get in trouble." the boy answered.
"It's all right. Treble will give you a ride. Back away, little girl, he's got to convert to jet mode."
Treble barked and converted, then let the two children climb onto his back. The girl was a little disappointed, because he wasn't "puppy" anymore, but she let her brother pull her onto Treble in front of him, despite the protests of concerned adults nearby. But before they took off, Wayne turned back to Bass.
"Wow, you're so much cooler than Mega Man!"
At the sight of this, Rock burst out laughing. Jewel Man just shook his head. "I can't believe you."
"What?" Mega Man smiled. "Isn't it funny? Instead of destroying me, he's going to beat me by trying to be the better, or maybe just a more popular, hero. And you know what? That's fine with me. Think of how many more people will be helped!"
Jewel Man looked more closely at the news, watching as they showed several similar clips. "Um, Rock, most of these were filmed an hour ago. He could be -"
"Shooting you in the head right now."
Several buster shots knocked Jewel Man to the floor, and Mega Man barely had time to react before Bass had knocked him down as well. Mega Man tried to get up and shoot, but Bass stepped on his arm, pinning him down. The dark robot then shoved a zip drive into his USB and stepped back.
"Ow, what was that?" Mega Man asked as he stood back up. His robotic mind analyzed the information on the drive. "The scematics of Skull Castle?"
"That's right." Bass nodded. "If everyone's upgraded we'll need to get going."
"Y'know, you could have just handed this to me." Mega Man frowned as he pulled the drive out of his neck.
"No, I couldn't." Bass grinned devilishly. "You're getting slack, Rock, and you shouldn't think you're ever safe, even in the lab."
"That's just a lame excuse for beating me up and you know it."
"Like I'd ever admit that."
Bass equipped the emit shield, and suddenly jewels began to orbit him.
"Not cool!" an angry Jewel Man exclaimed. "Since when can steal my shielding?"
"Hehe," the dark robot grinned. "Just don't think you'll ever be able to sneak up on me, Top Man. Sheesh, why do shiny robots think they're so stealthy? Anyway, where's everyone else?"
"They're downstairs testing their new upgrades."
"Alright. Let's see what they can do."
Mega Man and Bass went down the stairs, and Jewel Man grumpily followed behind them, only to nearly fall down the steps as Treble shoved him to the side, growling as he went to follow his master. Jewel Man was beginning to hate Bass.
"Hey Bass," Mega Man asked. "Since when do you like children?"
"I don't. Ugh. Why do you think I let Treble take them home by himself?"
Down in the gymnasium, Bass was suddenly reminded of Skull Island; the crowd of robot masters annoyed him. But he tolerated it for the time being and watched to see what the Team 5 robots were capable of. Wave Man's harpoon now had a much more powerful range, and if he desired, he could launch a harpoon with a chain attached and swing it to retrieve distant items. Not only that, but on his hose arm large fingers had been attached. He could lift objects now, and the fingers would spread away if he wanted to shoot his wave. He was speaking with Hornet Man, who was trying to get him to use his harpoon to catch hornets.
Star Man was with Galaxy Man, whom he didn't seem to like very much. Galaxy Man was bouncing around him, very hyper. As Star Man shot his shield, Bass noticed that he no longer froze when he threw it, and was also able to shoot chunks of asteroids at Galaxy Man, who absorbed them with his weapon. Star Man could also shoot down an asteroid shower for multiple targets. Nearby was Gyro Man, noticably happier than he had previously been. He now had a spread shot of smaller gyro blades, and his battle AI had been vastly improved; he was doing well at dodging Tornado Man's attacks.
Stone Man's battle AI had also been improved, and he could shoot brick clumps that would burst out and cause extra damage. Charge Man was ran past him, not only faster, but happy to be able to shoot from a buster his chunks of coal. He dodged Magma Man and Concrete Man with ease before Wave Man told him to settle down.
Gravity Man's expression was strange. He was happy, but at the same time he appeared to glitch a little, almost as if he was sad. It happened when robots tried to express emotions they didn't normally attempt or were too extreme. Gravity Man stared at his hands, converted one into a buster, then smiled. His new buster shots were powerful, and he could charge them as well. Not only that, but when he changed the gravity of nearby enemies, he wouldn't have to change his own gravity as well. But at the moment he was standing alone, deep in thought, examining all of the technical and robotic data that now resided in his hard drive. He was a technician-bot, now.
"Look, look!" Napalm Man excitedly said. "I have hands! Glorious hands that convert to napalm launchers!"
Plug Man just laughed. Napalm Man had been going on like that for a while. He could also shoot upwards and aim far better than he ever could before. And he could jump.
"Ah, if I was like this when I fought Mega Man," Napalm Man continued. "I could have beaten him...or at least done better. Look! I can throw now!"
Napalm Man promptly snatched Galaxy Man out of the air and threw him across the room, which didn't bother Star Man at all. Jewel Man jumped forward and caught his sibling, irritated.
"Wow, nice! Throw him back! I can catch him!"
"Shut up!" Bass snarled. "Everybody c'mere, now! If you haven't forgotten the reason why we're all here, there's forty-eight robot masters, and mechaniloids besides, that we have to deal with, and deal with now."
"Roll told me you said there were fifty-four." Mega Man mentioned as the robot masters drew over to the large monitor at the side of the room.
"There were." Bass smirked, then turned his attention to the others as Mega Man put the zip drive into the monitor. "First of all, Gyro Man, leave now and go monitor anyone who tries to leave Skull Island. Let them get far enough away so that the other robot masters don't notice you, then destroy them. Go."
Gyro Man was surprised that Bass was giving him such an important job. "Alright."
Galaxy Man lifted his hand, waving it as he spoke in his ecclectic electronic voice. "I can fly as well. I'll go too!"
"Follow the green guy." Bass pointed to a departing Gyro Man, then turned to the others as the flying robots left. "Alright this on the monitor is the what the castle looks like, Team 9. Also, I got some data on this other island they were planning on going to. They're not that stupid, so they probably know that I know. All the same, Wave Man, you take three masters and go check that out. Go to Skull Island if nobody's there, call us if you need help. Can you handle that?"
"Of course."
Bass threw a disc with the island's coordinates at Wave Man, but an over-enthusiastic Napalm Man caught it for him.
"Skull Island has a lot of underwater defenses, most of which are pretty well hidden." Mega Man spoke. "Most of these won't be a problem, and Splash Woman can handle the ones that will. All the same, the outer land defenses will be bigger a problem. Charge Man, Stone Man, and Concrete Man, if you can destroy the walls as we go in, that will save us a lot of time. Bass and I will be going first to start things off, and once I get them disorganized you come in. Everyone else, spread out, and try to keep the robot masters as seperate as possible."
"Token lame guy," Bass pointed at Plug Man. "You stay behind and monitor everyone. Auto's busy repairing Crystal Bot, and I'm pretty sure Roll can't keep track of all of us by herself." Not waiting for Plug Man to react, he went on. "And who's in charge of Team 9?"
"Uh, nobody." Magma Man answered. "We don't really work together that often."
"Ugh. You guys suck." Bass complained. "Alright, Top Man's in charge of you when you get to the island."
The Team 5 robots snickered at the nickname, and Jewel Man scowled at Bass.
Bass shrugged. "Prove you don't suck and maybe I'll stop calling you Top Man...maybe."
"Wave Man," Mega Man asked. "Who would you like to take with you to the alternate island?"
"Preferably Napalm Man, Star Man, and Magma Man, if he would like to come with us. We'll need robots with lots of destructive power to make absolutely certain there is no Wily-bot presence."
Magma Man nodded, seemingly unworried about traveling alone with three Wily-bots. "Okay."
"That leaves us with ten on Skull Island, nine if you don't count Splash Woman. Nine against forty-six." Mega Man noted, thinking that it may have been a good idea to contact the Cossack-bots, if there had been time for them to arrive. "Will that be enough?"
"It had better." Bass commented. "Now let's go."
"Our numbers might not be the best," Mega Man said encouragingly to everyone. "But when we work together, I'm sure we'll be able to defeat the Wily-bots once and for all! Eddie will be coming along too, so there will be plenty of power-ups. Just call him if you're getting low on power."
The others nodded. Wave Man spoke to Team 5 quietly, and they all nodded solemnly. They had less reason than the others to fight their old companions, but their directives had also been changed, and they all knew what would happen when they abandoned Wily in the first place. It was too late for objections. Mega Man called Roll, telling her to come and monitor everyone, then signalled Beat and Rush also. But as he did, he noticed that Treble was wandering by himself, not following the robot masters to where Dr. Light's aircraft were.
"Uh, what's wrong, Treble?" Mega Man asked.
Treble barked and snarled a bit. Mega Man didn't have a clue what the purple wolf had said, but Rush arrived, barked and translated it for him. Basically the wolf had told Mega Man that he was waiting on his master and the blue dweeb could mind his own business.
Rock was able to figure it out. "You're worried about Crystal Bot too, aren't you boy?"
Treble looked surprised that Mega Man had been so perceptive. He just nodded and whined, leaning his head on his front paws. Treble didn't like it that the nice bot that had upgraded him was in a state of disrepair. He also disliked Rock calling him "boy", so he made himself vocal about it, in rather less than savory terms.
"Don't worry," Mega Man said, not understanding Treble's last few barks (Rush didn't bother to translate it). "Auto knows what he's doing. Crystal Bot will be fine."
"She better be." Bass said darkly as he came down the stairs again, though somehow his voice didn't seem to carry the same threat as usual.
"You ready?"
"Yeah. Let's end this." Again, the black and gold robot seemed a little less himself as he, Rock, and the dogs began walking towards the flight hangar. "Hey Rock, I wanted to ask you...back when we were fighting Wily, why? Why did you save me?"
Bass looked genuinely confused, and a not a little bothered by being rescued by the bomber. His pride was obviously wounded. How could his greatest enemy stand between him and death?
Mega Man smiled. "Bass, you never were an evil robot. Sort of chaotic, but not evil."
"Chaotic? What does that mean?"
"Um, well, you've always done what you wanted to do, bad or good. Chaotic, unpredictable. You were able to put our past aside and fight for good against King, despite hating me and going against Wily's wishes."
"Pssht. You know that wasn't for 'the greater good'."
"So what? You showed that you can overcome whatever evil Wily programmed you with. And you did that again when you changed your directive. Whatever you think you're capable of, you're capable of better. And besides, no robot should ever go to waste."
Bass mused over this, not certain what to think. Mega Man seemed sure of it. And he had been a good guy ever since he'd been built, so Bass guessed he might know what he was talking about. Mega Man was naiive, and quick to consider any robot his friend. It was then Bass realized that all robots were Mega Man's friends - if they would accept it.
"Rock?"
"Yeah?"
"You don't suck."
"Wow, that's the nicest thing you ever said to me."
"Don't get used to it." Bass muttered.
Mega Man just rolled his eyes and laughed. That was the Bass he knew.
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Author's Notes:
- I just want to talk about the whole Korean thing. I can't believe no one got it, lol. Cheosong hamnida means "I'm sorry", formal tone.
Hint #1 was "As it was, he felt like he had failed her."
Wouldn't you apologize?
And hint #2:
"Choesong hamnida..." he said silently, his lips barely moving. But even as he said it, he knew it was completely stupid. Crystal Bot couldn't hear him. She was powerless and mindless, and it was already too late for apologies.
BAH! What do they teach at schools today? Okay, LOL, just kidding. I don't mean it, and you guys are great. Thanks for reviewing so much, and I would give you a cookie anyway, but I ated them.
- Bah, I kept typing "Elect Man" instead of "Elec Man". It's annoying, and I wouldn't vote for him anyway.
- No, fyi, I'm not going to show a massive robot master battle in the next chapter. One, I'm not entirely confident in my fight writing abilities (though I daresay that the fights a couple of chapters ago were fun), two, mass military strategies escape me, and three, do you guys really want to read about battles? Let's see...um, two more chapters to go? Yep.
- Oh hey, props to Tylterra for giving me Crystal Bot's alternate musical name. I promise it will show up before the end of the story, and you'll get to find out which of her ideas I picked.