APOLOGY TO BOB AND GEORGE FORUM-GOERS – Sorry, Snot Man. When I tried to
think of an odd robot, you were the first, and only, thing I could think
of. Also, I used MetBoy's signature without even realizing it
Chapter XVII – The Face of Evil
Bass could see the factory in the distance. It spawned some odd questions, though.
"Dragon, you there?"
"Yeah, I'm here. What is it?" The two were flying a few miles apart to avoid being detected.
"Why would there be a factory in the middle of an ocean?"
"It's probably some sort of deep-sea mining station. The equipment could easily be converted from making mining equipment to making Reploids."
"Oh."
The two flew in silence for a while, then Bass spoke up again.
"You'll need a name."
"What?"
"You will need to think of a Maverick name. Just 'Dragon' isn't enough."
"How about 'White Dragon'?"
"Nah, that's too simple. What about 'Silver Dragon'?"
"And that's any better? I suppose it should relate to my abilities in this form."
"Well then, what can you do?"
"I can use Nall's head as a cannon for blasting out mini-tornados."
"That's it! We can call you 'Wind Dragon'."
"That sounds pretty good. And it makes enough sense."
"Now that that problem is solved, we need to figure out how to get in," Bass said. Surely they couldn't go in together, but Bass needed an excuse to know why the base was there.
"I could claim to be returning after doing reconnaissance, and you could say that you were following me."
"Fine. You know, you don't seem much like ProtoMan."
"Why should I force myself to emulate someone else's personality? I changed my program as I saw fit while in the capsule."
"I thought you were offline in there."
"No, more like a deep sleep. I could sense time going by, but everything seemed far away. I took the opportunity to change myself from what the eccentric doctor wanted me to be."
"Eccentric?"
"It's a state of mind that occurs in many humans when they get old."
"I know what it means, but how was Doc Light a mad scientist?"
"He would build robots on a whim. If he got an idea into his head, no matter how absurd, he would try to build it. I'm sure you noticed 'Snot Man' and 'Toaster Man' while you were browsing through robots. For some reason, he programmed into us, or at least me, what we were based on.
"Whether it was some cruel joke, or that he was trying to prove he could make a robot from anything, I'll never know. I'm probably one of the lucky ones."
"What do you mean by that?" Bass was eager to hear about his creator's greatest rival, as well as his new companion.
"I was based on various games that Light played. You can tell from my support unit that he enjoyed playing Lunar. That's also where he got the design for my beam sword. Modeled after the best sword from that game. The whole 'Dragon Knight' concept came from his time as an avid Dungeons and Dragons player. Compared to the ones like Snot Man, I got off easy."
"Look at some of Wily's 'bots. What kind of name is Metal Man? They're all made of metal!"
The conversation about oddly-named robots continued for a while, until they started to see guard Reploids. Bass warned Dragon of this, and told him to keep radio silence. However, Dragon found that he had to comment on one thing:
"They've got Mets with jetpacks!"
It had been about twenty minutes since Dragon went into the complex. As he hadn't gotten a distress call yet, Bass decided now was the best time to make his move. He flew towards the hanger, and got stopped by one of the flying Mets.
"Halt! What is your business in this facility?"
"Tell your superiors that Wily sent me, Top Hat."
The Met gave a snort of disgust, then flew into the hanger. A few minutes later, someone in ride armor came out. The jets on the armor activated, and it flew towards Bass. The pilot of the ride armor had navy blue armor, and a helmet with a black T-slit on it. A red light was glowing from one half of the T, and the Maverick's shoulder cannon was humming menacingly.
"What do you know of Wily?" asked the Maverick.
"There's no way the leader of this operation would come out into a possible trap," said Bass. With the utmost contempt, he added, "Go tell him to let me in, and not to send his proxies to do his work for him."
"Listen, you pile of scrap metal," growled the Maverick, "If you don't tell me what you have to do with Wily, I'll blow you to bits right here."
Bass, who thought it best to act like his original self did, had been charging his Buster. When the Maverick finished, Bass raised his arm and sent a blast of plasma into one of the blasters on the ride armor. The heat syncs on the Buster not only stopped his systems from immediately overloading, but for some reason the also reduced the recoil. The ride armor, however, was sent flying backwards. The blue Maverick started cursing, and flew back to the hanger. The Met returned and beckoned Bass to enter the mining base.
Everything was oddly quiet. Treble was anxious, expecting a battle. The Reploids around him made no sound, other than their footsteps on the hard metal floor. Nobody they passed said anything to them. The silence was getting to him, so he started playing music from one of the video games. Since he had no actual speakers, only he could hear the music, which was for the best anyway. They eventually came to an elaborately designed door and stopped. Voices could be heard from inside, and Bass turned off the music to hear them better. One sounded familiar, though it could have been that the door was muffling it to the point where it could sound like any voice, but the other was distinctly different, though in what way Bass couldn't fathom.
The door opened, and Dragon walked out. He glanced at Bass and gave him a wink, probably to show that everything was okay. Bass walked in to the room, and the door closed behind him., leaving him in pitch dark. He spoke to the darkness.
"Are you always this melodramatic?" asked Bass, "I'm sure your lackeys get tired of it quickly, or if they don't than MegaMan does."
The lights in the room turned on. The only figure in the room was a Reploid sitting on a raised platform. Even though he was sitting, Bass could tell that this robot was at least eight feet tall. The bald Reploid had dull blue gems for eyes, and a bright red crystal housed his control chip. Bass knew instantly who this Maverick was, and had to fight down his urge to throw up, though how he, being a robot, could throw up was not important. The Blue Maverick from the ride armor was standing at his side. Treble started to growl at them.
"The great Sigma, I presume?"
"So you must be that rogue Wily-Bot," declared the giant, ignoring Bass' comment. "The one that wasn't destroyed at Wily's death. What brings you here?"
"It's my duty to make sure that MegaMan is eradicated. I will not rest until I put an end to the cause of my creator's difficulties," said Bass.
Chapter XVII – The Face of Evil
Bass could see the factory in the distance. It spawned some odd questions, though.
"Dragon, you there?"
"Yeah, I'm here. What is it?" The two were flying a few miles apart to avoid being detected.
"Why would there be a factory in the middle of an ocean?"
"It's probably some sort of deep-sea mining station. The equipment could easily be converted from making mining equipment to making Reploids."
"Oh."
The two flew in silence for a while, then Bass spoke up again.
"You'll need a name."
"What?"
"You will need to think of a Maverick name. Just 'Dragon' isn't enough."
"How about 'White Dragon'?"
"Nah, that's too simple. What about 'Silver Dragon'?"
"And that's any better? I suppose it should relate to my abilities in this form."
"Well then, what can you do?"
"I can use Nall's head as a cannon for blasting out mini-tornados."
"That's it! We can call you 'Wind Dragon'."
"That sounds pretty good. And it makes enough sense."
"Now that that problem is solved, we need to figure out how to get in," Bass said. Surely they couldn't go in together, but Bass needed an excuse to know why the base was there.
"I could claim to be returning after doing reconnaissance, and you could say that you were following me."
"Fine. You know, you don't seem much like ProtoMan."
"Why should I force myself to emulate someone else's personality? I changed my program as I saw fit while in the capsule."
"I thought you were offline in there."
"No, more like a deep sleep. I could sense time going by, but everything seemed far away. I took the opportunity to change myself from what the eccentric doctor wanted me to be."
"Eccentric?"
"It's a state of mind that occurs in many humans when they get old."
"I know what it means, but how was Doc Light a mad scientist?"
"He would build robots on a whim. If he got an idea into his head, no matter how absurd, he would try to build it. I'm sure you noticed 'Snot Man' and 'Toaster Man' while you were browsing through robots. For some reason, he programmed into us, or at least me, what we were based on.
"Whether it was some cruel joke, or that he was trying to prove he could make a robot from anything, I'll never know. I'm probably one of the lucky ones."
"What do you mean by that?" Bass was eager to hear about his creator's greatest rival, as well as his new companion.
"I was based on various games that Light played. You can tell from my support unit that he enjoyed playing Lunar. That's also where he got the design for my beam sword. Modeled after the best sword from that game. The whole 'Dragon Knight' concept came from his time as an avid Dungeons and Dragons player. Compared to the ones like Snot Man, I got off easy."
"Look at some of Wily's 'bots. What kind of name is Metal Man? They're all made of metal!"
The conversation about oddly-named robots continued for a while, until they started to see guard Reploids. Bass warned Dragon of this, and told him to keep radio silence. However, Dragon found that he had to comment on one thing:
"They've got Mets with jetpacks!"
It had been about twenty minutes since Dragon went into the complex. As he hadn't gotten a distress call yet, Bass decided now was the best time to make his move. He flew towards the hanger, and got stopped by one of the flying Mets.
"Halt! What is your business in this facility?"
"Tell your superiors that Wily sent me, Top Hat."
The Met gave a snort of disgust, then flew into the hanger. A few minutes later, someone in ride armor came out. The jets on the armor activated, and it flew towards Bass. The pilot of the ride armor had navy blue armor, and a helmet with a black T-slit on it. A red light was glowing from one half of the T, and the Maverick's shoulder cannon was humming menacingly.
"What do you know of Wily?" asked the Maverick.
"There's no way the leader of this operation would come out into a possible trap," said Bass. With the utmost contempt, he added, "Go tell him to let me in, and not to send his proxies to do his work for him."
"Listen, you pile of scrap metal," growled the Maverick, "If you don't tell me what you have to do with Wily, I'll blow you to bits right here."
Bass, who thought it best to act like his original self did, had been charging his Buster. When the Maverick finished, Bass raised his arm and sent a blast of plasma into one of the blasters on the ride armor. The heat syncs on the Buster not only stopped his systems from immediately overloading, but for some reason the also reduced the recoil. The ride armor, however, was sent flying backwards. The blue Maverick started cursing, and flew back to the hanger. The Met returned and beckoned Bass to enter the mining base.
Everything was oddly quiet. Treble was anxious, expecting a battle. The Reploids around him made no sound, other than their footsteps on the hard metal floor. Nobody they passed said anything to them. The silence was getting to him, so he started playing music from one of the video games. Since he had no actual speakers, only he could hear the music, which was for the best anyway. They eventually came to an elaborately designed door and stopped. Voices could be heard from inside, and Bass turned off the music to hear them better. One sounded familiar, though it could have been that the door was muffling it to the point where it could sound like any voice, but the other was distinctly different, though in what way Bass couldn't fathom.
The door opened, and Dragon walked out. He glanced at Bass and gave him a wink, probably to show that everything was okay. Bass walked in to the room, and the door closed behind him., leaving him in pitch dark. He spoke to the darkness.
"Are you always this melodramatic?" asked Bass, "I'm sure your lackeys get tired of it quickly, or if they don't than MegaMan does."
The lights in the room turned on. The only figure in the room was a Reploid sitting on a raised platform. Even though he was sitting, Bass could tell that this robot was at least eight feet tall. The bald Reploid had dull blue gems for eyes, and a bright red crystal housed his control chip. Bass knew instantly who this Maverick was, and had to fight down his urge to throw up, though how he, being a robot, could throw up was not important. The Blue Maverick from the ride armor was standing at his side. Treble started to growl at them.
"The great Sigma, I presume?"
"So you must be that rogue Wily-Bot," declared the giant, ignoring Bass' comment. "The one that wasn't destroyed at Wily's death. What brings you here?"
"It's my duty to make sure that MegaMan is eradicated. I will not rest until I put an end to the cause of my creator's difficulties," said Bass.