Chapter 36: A buster?
Rock saw himself on the ship and started walking, jumping and shooting. He was quite determined and nothing is going to stop him from defeating Break Man this time.
Jump, shoot or launch the Rolling Cutter and continue. Everything was fine until it came to a fall.
There was a point where blocks of ice were blocking his way.
"Jump on them, your weight may be enough to break the ice"
Dr. Light suggested it and Rock tried it feeling like the ice broke under his weight.
"I haven't tried that before"
Rock commented advancing.
"It's because the ice was hollow inside. You can tell by looking at the big bubble in the ice."
Dr. Light explained calmly.
Rock continued advancing shooting and avoiding falling on the spikes.
A fall and he saw himself in a place full of spikes and blocks that appear and disappear.
"Have I ever told you I don't like those blocks?"
Asked Rock looking at the pattern of the blocks and running the calculations.
"No. But I understand the feeling. I hate them even though I don't had to get into one of those. I hate you have to get on those things."
Dr. Wily said by his side agreeing with Rock.
When he finally reached the other side, he took a moment to see how it goes until he jumped.
A few more jumps and shooting at those birds that release eggs, Rock fell once more and continue.
Jumps and shots and more jumps and more falls.
"This is getting weird and repetitive"
Quick Man commented somewhat impatiently.
"Try to see it from my side, if they shoot me or touch me, it's going to hurt"
Rock retorted advancing.
The platforms that appeared and disappeared...again
"I know. Just because we know Break Man is at the end of the road, we don't rush you into making things faster"
Responded Roll making Rock smile.
"At least we know it is Break Man and his strange machines"
Said Rock finally reaching the other side and jumping towards the fall.
Within the fall he found more jumps and firing at enemies.
A long way Rock had to jump from time to time until he reached the other point of the place to climb stairs.
"Stairs!"
Rock complained. He had climbed more stairs on these roads than the ones he climbed in all his life.
"I know Rock. You hate the stairs"
Dr. Light said amused as Rock climbed the stairs carefully.
"It's just me or these stairs make you climb them and go down them and then climb them again?"
Asked Roll making Rock growl. He didn't like climbing stairs with things approaching Rock.
"You could use the Fire Storm so the enemies don't approach you while you go up."
Dr. Wily opined while Rock did what he was told and kept going up.
Upon reaching the part without stairs, Rock continued advancing carefully shooting the Rolling Cutter at the enemies and using the carrier until it began to fall and fall and fall.
He landed behind a fire robot.
"Shoot the Ice Slasher!"
They all exclaimed in unison as Rock changed weapons and threw the Ice Slasher freezing the robot and shooting it with the buster to deactivate it.
With the free path, he continued to advance until he fell and keep going. Jumps, and enemies and more jumps to see, with his eyes open, he was in the door against the robot of Break Man.
"I've arrived"
Rock muttered as he fell.
"Rock? How do you feel? Are your levels normal?"
The doctors asked as Rock advanced.
"Yes. Everything is fine"
Said Rock advancing in the dark.
"Not so fine. Mega Man-Man"
He heard Break Man talk and Rock was in front of the Break Machine.
It had the face of Break Man and opened its mouth letting out attacks towards Rock.
"If you shoot the jaw, it will not be able to control the attacks and it will concentrate inside the machine and making it explode"
Quick Man reported. How did he know it would work? Rock didn't want to know and just shot.
Repeating the procedure was necessary to finally beat Break Man. The machine start to explode and in the dust of the explosion, Break Man's shadow appear.
"I did it! Don't run, Break Man!"
Rock exclaimed, running after the guy until Break Man growled and his hand became a red buster that fired at the center of the ship they were on.
"Now-now, I know how-how to beat you! We will see each other again, Mega Man, and in the next-next it will not end like the other-other times"
And with a final laugh, Break Man teleported away from the ship while Rock watched the teleport take him back to the lab.
"He's a robot!"
Rock exclaimed when he saw the doctors quite agitated and with pale faces.
"We saw him Rock!"
Quick Man exclaimed, carrying Rock to the work table while Roll approached the E-Tank.
"He had a buster"
Observed Quick Man.
"But it was red"
Said Roll.
"It's Blues"
Dr. Light finished.
"What?"
Rock asked as Dr. Wily began to repair Rock.
"He's the DWLN-000: Blues"
Dr. Wily said while Dr. Light was still in shock.
"Blues?"
Asked Rock curiously.
"He was the prototype of every robot master. The first of all of you."
Dr. Light said melancholy.
"The army gave us money back then when we were just beginning and asked for an artificial intelligence that could serve as a combat robot. We modified the design of Blues so he possesses a great strategic capacity and enormous power at that time. The Buster and his shield were perfect and his flexibility and movements surpassed everything has been seen before. The army liked the Buster and they paid us to create a lower version that would later become the Sniper Joe."
Dr. Wily explained, focusing on fixing Rock.
"But Blues ran away"
Dr. Light counted without wishing to deepen the subject or see any of those present.
"Blues has a problem in his power core and it threatened to turn him off. At that time we didn't know how to fix it and the only option was an operation that could erase his memories if it didn't work. Blues heard one of our talks and thought we were going to do that. He fled without letting us explain what was really happening."
Dr. Wily explained as he finished repairing Rock.
"We searched him for a long time and we didn't find it. Why would he become Break Man now?"
Dr. Light asked for himself.
"Possibly a short circuit. With the energy levels he had at the time and the effort to keep himself functional all this time, his core must have caused a short circuit in his systems or in his mental chip. If we can find him, we can fix him now without losing any of his personality"
Dr. Wily answered reviewing Rock's systems and erasing Rock's battle data so he can remove the armor.
"Then ... the boy in the photograph of Dr. Wily's office ... Is Blues?"
Rock asked, deactivating his armor and sitting down at the table.
"Yes. That was Proto Man or Blues"
Dr. Wily said, taking a seat.
"That means Break Man is Blues. And every single of his plans went wrong because his head made a short circuit"
Finally, Quick Man said.
"What will we do now?"
Asked Rock emotionally exhausted.
"We are going to give the official statement, to speak with the robot masters and finally finish my project"
Dr. Wily said standing up and pulling Dr. Light by the arm.
"It's strange Dr. Wily is going to make the official statement"
Roll commented when the doctors left.
"Well, Dr. Light was in shock. Someone must take charge until Dr. Light got better"
Said Rock pensively. Break Man is his brother ...
Despite the harshness of the news for both doctors, Dr. Wily made the official statement to the press and the public.
"... therefore, Mega Man defeated Break Man, who blew up the place to escape. No human lives were lost in the process"
Dr. Wily finished. Although he still thought Enker survived, he couldn't say any robot master was damaged because it would be a very big lie.
The press conference was much shorter than the other times because Dr. Wily lost patience with the universal stupidity of the world and after a while, refused to repeat what he said before.
A few more words from Mega Man and the press could be satisfied to leave. Dr. Light was still affected by Blues and was not able to make a public statement.
Dr. Light firmly believed it was his fault the escape of Blues and his consequent fall into dementia. He thought if he had talked to Blues, he would have fixed everything. If only he had not commented anything that day, or had let Albert talk and explain to him why it was a terrible idea to try to do something with Blues at that time…
He couldn't imagine Blues alone, in the middle of nowhere, suffering a short circuit and waiting for one of them to find him. He had failed Blues in a horrible way and now he could only hope that one day he will forgive him for all the damage he has done to him.
"... so stay here, Thomas. Don't dare to move, although I don't think you're going to do it considering that you're still in shock. Just, wait here"
He listened lightly Albert indicating him while watching him move from one place to another talking with the robot masters and closing the windows. He didn't want to deal with the press again.
At least, he was sure he was not going to lose his great friend at the time when he needed his support more than anything.
When Dr. Wily had enough of Dr. Light's misery, he plotted, along with Rock, Roll and Quick Man, to take Dr. Light out to visit the island he had bought a couple of years ago with his savings. Taking advantage of the free days of all the robot masters, they prepared everything to take them to the island a few months after the great revelation of Break Man.
"Ready?"
Asked Roll very excited. She was very happy to finally have the vacation she was expecting.
When the robot masters nodded, Roll activated the transporter remotely and they all ended up on the island. Roll was the one who transport them back when the holidays were over.
Dr. Light, seeing himself in the change of environment, began to cheer up a bit.
"Such a beautiful island you found"
He commented appreciating nature while the robot masters took the initiative to start building something.
"I just wanted to get away from everyone and it was the best option. But we can use it to build something to keep the robot masters together during their free time"
Dr. Wily explained pointing to a point on the island.
"Up there I will make my own Skull Castle!"
He exclaimed proudly, visualizing his castle.
"But Break Man did it before you!"
Protested Rock before laughing while carrying some things for the shelter made by Guts Man, Bomb Man, Crash Man, Cut Man and Metal Man.
Dr. Light, despite Dr. Wily's bad predictions, let out a laugh patting his friend's back.
"This time, Rock is right. It would be very unoriginal"
He said amused about the situation.
"I'll make a Skull Castle. You'll see"
Responded Dr. Wily. It encouraged him to see his friend much better than before.
Fortunately, the warm climate of the island was perfect for most robot masters. The volcano was the perfect addition for Heat Man and Fire Man who took the exploration as something personal and came back covered in lava. The volcano had its own snowy which Ice Man took advantage of until he couldn't take it anymore and ended up in a snowball fight against Flash Man and Air Man. Bubble Man was happy to swim around the island and look for the nearby fish for the doctors.
The large number of trees was a great point for Wood Man and the expeditions of the doctors, Rock and Roll. The varied fauna of the place was a very pleasant experience for Rock. Cut Man and Metal Man enjoyed cutting all kinds of materials they had not tried before. After making the refuge, they dedicated themselves to investigate the island for everything that could be cut by Metal Man and what could be photographed by Cut Man.
Crash Man had a lot of fun exploiting sand with Bomb Man that traveled around the perimeter of the island playing in the sand. Dr. Wily hit them all with a wooden wand for being careless.
Elec Man walked around the island and helped in everything. He had a lot of fun playing with all his brothers and enjoying a moment of peace until they decided to use him as a walking electric tower and had to control them all.
Quick Man kept taking care of his brothers fairly calmly and coordinating the doctors' food and shelter for all. He loved being in control.
Dr. Light was very happy about the situation and Rock had enough fun with his brothers and forgot to worry about something more than enjoying a sunny day on a beach with lots of funny things to do.
"Thanks for bringing us on vacation!"
Said Roll when their vacation ended and they were going back to the city.
"Well, you worked hard and deserved a reward"
Dr. Light said quite relaxed and cheerful. This vacation helped him a lot to improve.
Dr. Wily was satisfied with his observations and his study of the terrain.
Everything went very well and within the plans of Dr. Wily.
"Did you get what you wanted?"
Time Man asked looking at Break Man smiling.
"Of course. Do you suggest something-something against Mega Man?
Asked Break Man, glancing at the robot master.
"I suggest we make ourselves present. I want to fight against him and I want the doctors to see that I am functional and perfect"
Suggested Time Man determined. He will not give up until the doctors regret what they did with him and his brother. He's going to show them that they didn't have to be turned off, that he had control over his abilities and that he knows how to use them.
"Well, then let's do it. You've seen-seen how he fights and how-how he thinks. If you think-think you can fight-fight against him. You must have your-your opportunity"
Said Break Man without losing his smile. He had to keep Time Man and Oil Man happy to stay with him.
"Do you want the-the same Oil Man?"
He asked looking at Oil Man with Time Man. They usually didn't separate unless Break Man had a different mission for one of them. It was one of Dr. Light's ideas to make everyone in pairs or groups so that they would not "feel alone like Blues." Poor mind of Dr. Light.
"I want revenge and I want answers. You asked us to trust you and you have not given us the same trust you ask"
Said Oil Man. He had practiced that for a few days to say it with the determination he wanted. Time Man wanted the same but had already spoken before.
Break Man nodded a little. What they asked was fair.
"Blues. The name-name is Blues"
Said Break Man without taking his eyes off them.
"I want the-the same as you. Revenge towards-towards Doctors Light and Wily. They left me as I am-am now"
He explained without giving many unnecessary details to continue with his plan.
"Now let's-let's wait for them to let-let their guard down"
Said Break Man calmly letting the two robot masters rest.
If everything went well, it would be the last time he faces Mega Man.
Metal Man was walking back from a profitable day's work to the warehouse he shared with his brothers. He had stayed longer because he wanted to finish cutting the last scrap in many pieces.
He stopped short when he heard something crawling. In the midst of the shadows, a figure moved slowly, carefully crawling in the middle of the deserted street. Pulling out a Metal Blade he approached the source of the sound when he saw it.
A wounded robot crawling in the middle of the street. Knowing that the robot was alive, Metal Man approached him carefully looking at him.
"How much percentage is functional?"
He asked to the robot going down to its height.
"23%"
The robot responded pantingly and Metal Man nodded, lifting the robot and taking it to a nearby warehouse where he used to pass when his brothers bothered him too much and wanted to cut them into pieces.
"I don't need help"
The robot said when he saw Metal Man take him away.
"You need to get repaired or killed. I can do either"
Metal Man answered, leaving the robot on a table and studying it. He was not Quick Man but he knew a lot about robots. Dr. Wily taught him while fixing his brothers and Mega Man.
"I don't want to die ... I still have to fulfill ... my mission"
The injured robot said and Metal Man nodded a little, checking it. It would take a long time to fix the robot. He could take it with the doctors but they have just stopped Break Man once again with Mega Man.
Also, he knew they were thinking about models for the next generation. Putting them one more robot is going to make it very difficult to create robots before Break Man steals them.
With the conclusions ready, Metal Man began to open and check the robot.
"Can you wait until you are functional to continue your mission?"
Asked Metal Man removing some parts he will have to replace completely. Fortunately, the head is, for the most part, intact.
"Yes, I guess so. Are you going to fix me?"
The robot asked and Metal Man nodded. Dr. Wily said he should have a hobby.
"I'm the DWLN-009: Metal Man. I'll repair you but it will take time"
He introduced himself and begun to remove or fix some things.
"Thank you"
The robot said while Metal Man was still checking some things.
"I'll call you Wounded Robot until you tell me your name"
Threatened Metal Man without stopping his job.
"..."
"I'm Enker"
With this, we ended the Game Boy game and start this Friday the Third NES Game! Yay!
Will Dr. Light recover the trust of his precious Blues?
Will Dr. Wily built his Skull Castle?
Will Metal Man fix the robot?
itanimulli: Did I ever tell you I'm pretty bad in wattpad? Rock is such an adorable cutie, and he will keep being adorable, don't worry. My poor baby Enker is suffering...As for the suspense...don't worry, Heat Man will burn stuff...just not very soon, wait for it. See ya darling!
SharpDragonKlaw : Enker is a cool robot :D
Thank you for reading!