Disclaimer: I do not own Mega Man, Bass, or anything else in this fanfic. I do, however, own certain Robot Masters that I myself have created. Ask before you use them.

Author's Note: Despite being robots, Mega Man, Bass, and pretty much any other non-droid robot can feel heat, pain, cold, ect.

Chapter 1: A New and Unknown World

According to theory, there exist an infinite number of universes. Among these universes, or dimensions as they are often called, there are branches; alterations in the timeline. From a change in the smallest movement to drastic changes in the laws of physics, timeline branches are the most common and pretty much ONLY kind of universal change.

However…there exists one other type of change. It's very rare. So rare, in fact, that you have better chance to win the lottery seven-hundred million and five times within a ten year period. This type of universal change is called an Outside Interference change, and occurs when something from outside any form of universe alters the set path of past, present, and future inside of a universe.

It is unknown how an Outside Interference change could be possible, since it has been deemed 'impossible' for any being to exist outside of any kind of universe. Whilst God has been mentioned time and again, there is no strict proof to whether any form of god even exists. And…if a god did not create a change…what else could?

***

"Eat this, Mega Man!" Bass shouted as he fired yet another super shot. Mega Man, however, gladly countered with a blast of his own, and the two attacks cancelled each other out in a large explosion. Bass and Mega Man were thrown back from the force, but were not hurt otherwise. Grumbling, Bass got back on his feet and began to glare at his opponent. "Why don't you just hold still? I've got a little present for you, Mega Man. Die!"

He raised his buster high and began to fire small, uncharged plasma shots at Mega Man, who merely dodged the not-so-threatening blasts. "Bass, I really didn't want to fight you, but you leave me no choice!" Mega Man said, unleashing a fully charged super shot at Bass, who didn't even attempt to dodge it. It struck him full in the chest, knocking him down, but his armor prevented any major damage.

Mega Man started charging again ready to launch another shot. He was sure Bass would run away after getting a little bit of damage.

Mega Man…

He stopped and blinked. Had he heard something? Looking over at Bass, he saw that the black-and-gold robot's eyes were darting around, looking for something. Perhaps he heard it too?

Mega Man…
 There it was again! Mega Man didn't know what to think. He heard someone calling his name, but he couldn't figure out where. It was like he was hearing it inside his head. There was no way anyone was out in the middle of nowhere like this…was there?

"H-hello?" he finally called. There was a long pause. No response. "Hello?"

"Yeah, hi. What the hell'dya think you're doing?" Bass responded sarcastically. Mega Man blinked.

"I thought I heard something." he said. Bass rolled his eyes, standing back up.

"Yeah, sure. Eat this, Me-"

MEGA MAN!

Bass stopped immediately and started glancing around nervously.
"You heard it too?" Mega Man asked.

"No, I didn't. I just reacted like I heard someone calling your name even though I had the chance to nail you good! Of course I heard it, moron!" Bass shot back. Bass turned away from his opponent and shouted out, "Go home! Mega Man's mine to kill!"

Mega Man raised an eyebrow, but didn't bother saying anything. He just started to call out for whatever was saying his name. The last thing he remember is feeling his body being pulled backwards by some mysterious force, then blackness.

***

Heat. Severe heat. Extreme heat. Desert heat. That's what Mega Man felt at that moment. He groaned loudly and began to force himself to sit up. He brought up his 'operating status' screen and took a look at all his internal functions. 100% power, 10% buster charge (standard shot level), no armor damage. Warning? Sand in mouth?

Mega Man then snapped back into reality and realized that he had flaming hot sand inside his mouth.

"EYYYYACK!" he screamed, spitting out the sand. "Bleh! Bleh! Bleh! Bleh!"

"So, little blue boy's awake?" he heard Bass say, chuckling both before and after the sentence. "Really. You should thank me. I could've done you in by now."

"Oh yeah, it's wonderful knowing that all mighty Emperor Bass spared my pitiful, insignificant life." Mega Man replied, using the same sarcasm his rival was known for. Bass grunted and turned away, staring off in the distance.
"You might want to activate your internal cooling systems. The sun's hitting us full force." Bass said, a small hint of seriousness in his voice. Mega Man nodded and brought up his internal operations menu and made sure to activate the cooling systems. Minus 4% buster power. It wasn't much, but it could make quite a difference; especially if he was fighting Wily.

"Where are we?" Mega Man asked. Bass shook his head.

"Damned if I know." he muttered. "The only thing here is sand, sand, and more freakin' sand!"

"…I guess it's gonna be a long walk home, then." There was a pause.

"If we're even in the same dimension as home. Before I went under, I saw a swirling black portal, pulling us in like a vacuum." Bass said. He gritted his teeth, then looked around. He suddenly found what he want, formed a buster, and turned a small rock into dust. "Why the hell do I have to be freaking stuck out here in the middle of the freaking desert with freaking Mega Man! I would rather freaking take on a freaking army of freaking aliens!"

Mega Man tilted his head to the side. "You sure love the word 'freaking', don't you?"

There was a long pause, with a small gust of wind occurring partway through to add to the dramatic effect.

"Freaking shut up." Bass mumbled.

***

At that same time, somewhere very far away and yet very close at the same time, a metal hand was outstretched in front of a disfigured yet sinister mechanical figure. A holographic chessboard appeared in front of it. There was a small chuckle from the figure, who lowered its hand down to its side. On the chessboard, the two opposing sides faced each other.

On one side was a huge army of pawns, with eight knights, rooks, and bishops, two queens, a king, and a black, unidentifiable piece. On the other end were two pawns, one blue and the other black, a purple knight, a red bishop, a yellow rook, and a sky blue king.

"The game has been set up. Oh, yes…this will be most fun. It has been quite a long time since I messed around with fate." it said, its voice deep and robotic, but still holding a menacing tone within it. "Heh heh heh…yes. Let the games begin. What fun it will be…watching them die."

The black pawn suddenly turned and began to advance towards the blue pawn, while an opposing pawn moved forward…

***

"Oh, to HELL with this!" Bass screamed. He began to fire at every rock in sight, hitting each one with pinpoint accuracy.

"Interesting how you can hit things that aren't moving, eh Bass?" Mega Man teased. Bass glared at him, raising his buster.

"Oh really? Well, how about you be the moving target!" Bass then opened fire on the unsuspecting Mega Man, who barely dodged the blast. Bass charged up his buster again, then fired. Once more, Mega Man escaped the attack's path. "Grrr. Screw this!"

Bass then changed his buster's mode from 'standard Mega Buster' to 'rapidfire Forte Buster' and sent a barrage of small blasts at Mega Man, who got hit by at least five of them. There was an insane chuckle from Bass, who continued firing.

"Bass, what the heck do you think you're doing!?" Mega Man shouted as he felt another blast strike him on the chest. He's depleted me by only a few percent in operating power, Mega Man thought. If I can just get him to stop firing…

As Bass prepared for another round of his Forte Buster attacks, a low and almost inaudible hum began to ring in his ears. He stopped and looked around, trying to find where it was coming from. From over the horizon, what appeared to be a squadron of insect-like droids was flying towards them.

A sly smile crept across Bass's face. He had found something to blow up that wouldn't take more than a hit or two. He raised his buster, aimed, then released wave after wave of buster shots. Bass watched as his shots collided with the robotic droids, destroying them instantly. Shrapnel from those droids destroyed by his blast eliminated any that managed to escape his shots.

"Direct hits!" Bass shouted in glee. "Who rocks over Rock? I do!"

Mega Man rolled his eyes as Bass did a weird victory dance. He was learning things about his rival that he never would've guessed. I always thought Bass was an intelligent robot, albeit malevolent and violent, but…he's just NUTS.

***

A single, obviously robotic figure stood in the blazing desert, about ten or fifteen miles from where Mega Man and Bass were. Its head look bald and its mouth had fangs, on its purple colored arm was a buster designed to emit sound wave attacks, two huge mechanical wings sprouted from his back, and on its feet were two bat-like claw-toes.

It scanned the area, perhaps scouting the area. It did not notice the two tiny black and blue dots on the edge of the horizon; they were far too small to make out without enhanced vision.

"Base, this is Shade Man." it said into a communicator built into its other arm. There was a long pause. "Base, you there?" Again, no reply. Shade Man's patience was wearing thin. "Metal, where in bloody hell are you!?" he finally shouted.

There was a scream from the other end, and the noises of someone falling down and landing on the floor. Not too long after that, he finally got a response.

"God, Shade." came the reply from the other end. "I was sleeping!"

"What the hell for!? We're ROBOTS, we don't NEED to sleep!" Shade Man shot back viciously. There was an inaudible grumble from the other end. "What was that!?"

"Nothing, nothing. Look, whaddya want?"

"I've finished scouting out my sector of this planet. I've dealt with a few scouter droids, but little else. He doesn't seem very active."

"I know. It ain't like Wily to be inactive. It's also like some of his robot factories are shut down. It's plain weird. He's up to something. Something BIG. Now, return to Base."

"Right away, Metal Man. This is Shade Man, over and out."