A loud buzzer rang again and again in Rock's room. One leg over the side of his bed, his sheets contorted in a strange clump over the center of his body, Rock slept as if dead. The buzzer rang louder after ten minutes, then even louder after five. Blues kicked the door open and punched his brother in the chest. Rock shot up and grabbed his chest in pain.
"OW!" he cried out.
"Get up" Blues ordered. "And turn that off". Rock scowled at his brother, then turned and saw his clock.
"OH NO!" Rock exclaimed when he saw the time. It was quarter past nine. Rock jumped out of bed and grabbed a pair of pants. He grabbed a blue shirt and pulled it on quickly, then grabbed his lucky bandanna, and hastily tied it around his head. He ran out of his room and to the kitchen table. Everyone on the team was there. Blues was reading the paper, Auto was working on some kind of small engine, Iris was making more coffee, and Dr. Light was inspecting his hand as if he had just discovered it. Iris put a cup of coffee down in front of Rock, then sat down with her own.
"Don't worry Rock, you'll make it on time" Iris said.
"No I won't! I've got…" he checked his watch. "10 minutes!" he exclaimed.
"10 minutes till what?" Dr. Light asked.
"Till I am due at the referee station!" Rock exclaimed. Blues looked up for a moment from the newspaper, but looked back shaking his head in disbelief. Rock gulped his coffee down quickly.
"Wait! It's too hot to drink that fast!" Iris warned him, but it was too late. Rock grabbed his neck as the hot liquid went down throat. He got up and turned the water faucet on and gulped water down to cool his throat down.
"Okay, I'm going" Rock yelled as he grabbed a piece of toast and ran out the door.
Rock ran through the hall of apartments to the elevator. He pressed the button repeatedly till it opened up. Inside was Forte. Forte looked at Rock disapprovingly as he inspected the way Rock looked. His hair was uncombed, his clothes wrinkled and wet, and his bandanna lopsided. Rock stepped onto the elevator and fixed his bandanna. He looked at his watch, he was going to make it.
"Referee room" Rock said, taking in a deep breath of relief. As the door opened, Forte stepped off and walked off to a table. Rock stepped off the elevator, and pulled out a small piece of paper with the table he would need to go to scribbled down on it.
"A42" Rock told himself and he made his way along the tables looking at the numbers on each one. When he saw A42, he looked up, and his feeling of relief was gone. There at the table was Forte singing the pre-fight contract. His mouth dropped open in shock, but he caught himself as the referee looked up.
"Ah, Mr. Light, please sign here and here" the referee said. Rock grabbed the referee's pen and signed the contract as his hand violently shook from fear. When he was done, he shook the ref's hand, then Forte's.
"Good luck" Forte said with an eerie smile on his face.
"You too" Rock said. The two men went to two of the elevators and went to their perspective hangers. Rock slowly walked up the elevator and got into Mega Man. He flipped on several switches and the systems started up. The egg shut and Rock got ready as the egg shot through the tunnel, and out into the air.
"Okay, what will help me to begin with?" Rock said as he looked through his weapons. "Definitely Mega Buster, sniper shot could help. And Machine gun" Rock said. He loaded the programs, and a violent shaking told Rock that the eggs had landed. A large 5 appeared on his window, and when it got to zero, the buzzer rang and the egg opened. Rock ran out and saw that the terrain was covered by small hills. "At least I have some cover" Rock said as he saw Forte step out in Bass. Bass looked from side to side, then saw Mega Man dive behind a large hill.
"What a rookie, he is scared of me" Forte said. He made Bass walk forward and aim right at the center of the hill. He fired a shot that went clear through the ground, and came out right above Mega Man's shoulder. Rock looked down at the large plasma ball in front of his gun barrel.
"Now or never" Rock said confidently. He stood up and fired the blast right at Bass's chest. Bass moved his at the waist to avoid the blast, and when he looked back Mega Man was gone. Forte looked down on his radar and saw Rock has moved his mech to Bass's left. Bass aimed and fired three plasma balls. Mega Man stood up and all three hit him. One in each shoulder and one above his chest gem. Mega Man stumbled back and retracted him hand and fired a quick round of rapid bursts. Bass jumped from side to side to avoid them, but one hit his arm.
"IMPOSSIBLE!" Forte said. "This kid is going down!". Bass ran forward and tackled Mega Man, then rolled off of him to his feet. Mega Man turned over and got to his feet to block another kick. Mega Man threw Bass's leg up and ran backwards, then jumped behind another hill. Bass ran forward and dove over the hill as Mega Man did as well. Mega Man stood up with a half-charged shot and hit Bass in the chest. Rock turned on the Sniper shot and aimed at Bass's forehead while Forte was knocked off guard. The circle turned red and reached its smallest size before Rock fire. The beam shot through the air quickly. Forte regained control just in time to barely dodge the shot, almost. The beam shot diagonally through Bass's left shoulder as he jumped to the side, making his arm useless. "That is it!" Forte called out as he loaded program. "Let's see you handle the Chaos Cannon". Bass rolled on the ground and got to his feet. He retracted his usable hand, then ran behind a large rock formation.
"I can do this, I can win" Rock told himself. He began to charge up another shot. Rock ran around the rock formation to fire, but as when he did, no one was there. Rock looked down on his radar, then turned around right as a large blue blast hit him in the chest. Bass then ran forward and landed a hard punch to Mega Man's head. Mega Man dropped to his knees as his systems shut down, leaving Rock helpless inside him. Rock slammed his hands down on the console in anger. Bass stepped back inside his egg, and it flew off. A moment later, a mech larger than Mega Man walked up. It was a large head with feet and a yellow construction helmet. It's large white eyes looked down at Mega Man. The top of the head opened up and two large arms grabbed Mega Man and dropped him inside. Rock waited as the worker inside opened his cabin and helped him out.
"Wow man, that was amazing" the guy said.
"Yeah, bet you've never seen anyone loose as easily" Rock said in a depressed tone.
"No man, you actually lasted the longest against Forte Wily than anyone I have ever seen" the worker said.
"What?" Rock asked in shock.
"Yeah, you lasted almost 7 minutes. The longest match I have ever seen against Forte and Bass was the final Match of the Mars Cup two years ago". The worker told him.
"I outlasted Blues" Rock said in his mind. "No way".
Rock was numb as he entered the referee station. He walked up to his table, and the referee was waiting for him.
"You certainly took your sweat time" he said coldly as he shoved the post fight contract across the table.
"Sorry" Rock said. He grabbed the pen and signed the paper. He shook hands with the referee and walked over to the elevator. When the doors opened up, Blues was right there.
"Hey" Blues said. He stepped off the elevator and walked away towards his table. Rock got in the elevator and sat against the wall.
"How do I tell him?" Rock asked himself. "How do I tell my brother that I almost beat the only person he hasn't beaten". Rock ran his hands through his hair. He needed to talk to his friends.
"It isn't that big a deal" Iris told him.
"Yes it is!" Rock exclaimed. "My brother takes the utmost pride in his fighting. How do I tell him I have been at it a few months and I did more than he did"
"Do you think he will care?" Auto asked.
"I have no idea" Rock said as his head dropped and slammed onto the table with a loud bang.
"I think you are blowing this out of proportion" Iris told him. "You should be happy you did so well, and Blues should be happy for you". Rock looked up.
"You're right, I should be happy" Rock said cheering up. "I mean, I only have one loss, and it was against the best fighter on Mars"
"Yeah" Auto exclaimed. "That's the spirit"
"Yeah" Rock yelled and he stood up, knocking his chair over. "You know what? So what if I am better than Blues. Is it a bad thing If I am?"
"Here comes Blues" Iris said. She pointed to at the other side of the room.
"Where?!" Rock shrieked. He jumped down behind the table. "I trust you guys won't tell him, right?"
"Yeah" said both of them disappointed in Rock's rabid loss of Confidence.
Back in the Wily's living quarters, Forte was fuming about the results of the match.
"That little bastard took me out of competition for 4 days!" he boomed. He kicked an empty trash been across the room.
"Calm down Forte" Wily said. "It is no big deal"
"No Big Deal! I need as many wins as I can get!" Forte exclaimed. "These four days will make me drop in standings for the Mars Cup"
"Really, brother" Cinder began. "If you are this worked up over a little boy, why don't you do something about it"
"Like what Cinder?" Forte asked in a tone that belittled Cinder.
"Like get revenge on his team, make them all fear us" She told him.
"That is not a bad idea" Forte said. "One problem…I HAVE NO MECH!!"
"There is no reason to shout Forte" Cinder snapped at him.
"Calm down both of you" Wily said. "Forte, I will do what I can to help you get revenge, but until then, stop sulking and get to work on fixing Bass"
"But father…you…I mean, aren't you…" Forte stumbled with the shock of what his father just said.
"What? Am I going to do the repairs?" Wily said snidely. "No, I am not your slave. I built the mech, you take care of it".
"Fine" Forte barked. Forte turned on heel and walked out of the room.
"Why are you making him do the repairs?" Cinder asked.
"I wanted him to leave, he was bugging me" Wily said.