The Red Bomber's Quest, Part 1: A Broken Heart and a Damaged Core
The Mega Man franchise doesn't belong to me. It's Capcom's, and we all know it.
Enjoy!
At the lab…
It was late evening in the lab, and Rock, Roll and their brother Blues were just heading off to bed. Roll got a room all to herself, and Rock and Blues had to share but they didn't mind. After all, it was a part of being siblings.
"Hey, Rock? Are you feeling OK?" Blues called down the stairs to his little brother as they climbed the stairs, noticing how sluggish the usually perky Rock was.
"Yeah… just…" Rock stopped midsentence to yawn. "Just really tired." he finished. The two bots went to bed after greeting goodnight to their creator/father, Dr Light and Roll, Rock's twin sister.
Blues slumped onto his bed and pulled out a small games console, and started playing with it. Rock, who was wearing plain blue pyjamas and slippers, quietly asked "Can I watch you play?"
"Sure you can!" Blues replied cheerfully to his smaller bro. He patted the space beside him, as if to say "Come sit here!". Rock got up from his bed and sat watching the Red Bomber's game. It was definitely fun, but the older brother noted that his little sibling was finding it hard to stay awake. He kept yawning, and nearly fell asleep with his head on his brother's shoulder.
Later…
"Rock, you should get some sleep. You look exhausted." Blues sighed, packing up his game console. Rock was practically asleep at that point though, so the bigger boy bot picked up his sibling, laid him on the correct bed and pulled the duvet over his tired little body. "Sweet dreams, little brother." Blues smiled, before walking over to his bed, getting under his duvet and drifting into a deep sleep.
A while past midnight, Blues was startled awake by the sound of someone moaning and crying a little in pain. Tiny beads of sweat stood out on his forehead as he stood up nervously. He glanced over at Rock, then suddenly gasped in fright and walked quickly over to his bedside, before kneeling down beside him.
Rock was the one making the noises. Even in the dark, Blues realised how pale and pained his little brother's face looked, even though he was asleep. There was a sticky blackish-red substance covering one wrist messily, and it was on his bedsheets too, and a closer look at it revealed that a coolant line in the Unarmoured Blue Bomber's wrist had ruptured, so the fluid that was supposed to stop him from overheating had bled across his wrist. This was confirmed by how unnaturally warm Rock's forehead felt when Blues carefully rested his hand across.
"Little bro! Wake up, please!" he pleaded, quietly at first but then louder. "Rock!" he shouted, shaking him carefully but firmly. No response. Only his tiny sleep-cries of pain.
Blues stood up and stared at the horrible situation Rock was in.
He tried his best to work out what was going on, why Rock had suddenly become so sick and injured to the point of near unconsciousness. Nothing came to mind, and his anxiety reached its peak. Finally, Blues sprinted as fast as possible to Dr Light's room, tears streaming down his face. The scientist and parent of the three robot children was asleep.
"Dad! Dad, wake up, now! Rock's become really unwell!" Blues yelled urgently. Dr Light woke up and asked "What?" worriedly, seeing Blues in anxious tears.
"Rock's really sick, Dad! He keeps crying and moaning, but he won't wake up, and he has a fever, and I think a coolant line in his wrist busted!" Blues started sobbing. He couldn't handle what was going on. It was too traumatic, and it was late, so being like a tired 14 year old, Blues' moods easily shifted. Dr Light stood up and ran after his eldest son as they headed into the boy's room. As they walked in, Blues realised that Rock's condition had worsened. He now looked even paler, but had a reddish flush across his cheeks and nose, more of the fluid had bled out and he wasn't making a sound anymore except for his short, sharp attempts at breathing.
"Oh no… Blues, go get Roll." Dr Light ordered, picking up his younger son and carrying him out of the room.
In Roll's room…
"You're n-not joking. It's seriously t-true that Rock really is super sick?" Roll sniffed quietly, tears welling up in her eyes. After Blues had explained the situation to her, she was at first reluctant to believe what was going on, but once it kicked in what her brother was saying, she looked anxious and worried.
"I'm really sorry, Roll, but this isn't a prank, and Dad needs us." the Red Bomber shakily whispered. The two robot children, hand in hand, walked along silently to the repairs lab.
In the Repairs lab…
"Blues… Roll… there's something that I need to tell you about." Dr Light called sadly from the actual lab itself. The two bots quietly walked in, only to spot their brother with his chest panel open, wires hooked up to his power core, which was flickering and sparking weakly. The father of the three children turned around to face them. He was tearful, which was a really bad sign.
"Y-yes, Father?" both children stuttered at the same time. Dr Light took a deep breath, before quietly seating himself and the two kids on chairs. "I'm sorry to tell you this so late at night, but… Rock's power core has severely malfunctioned, to the point of life-threatening damage. He's in a comatose state and might not survive much longer." the father whispered.
Blues simply stared in shock and Roll clung to her brother like he was the last person in the world, hiding her face in his shoulder.
"Y-you can fix his core though, right?" Blues asked quietly. Dr Light looked at him, not quite in the eye, and said the most heartbreaking 12 words:
"He's dying, and there is nothing I can do without the materials."
This hit the Light siblings so hard, that Roll began sobbing loudly. Blues, on the other hand…
Out of his tiredness, shock and upset, Blues felt his legs buckle beneath him, he stopped feeling anything, and blacked out on the floor.
Next part of The Red Bomber's Quest, Blues has an idea - - - but what is it, and will it work?