Chapter 4
Fight for City Hall!
Data approached the north end of the downtown area with a box. As he drew neared, he heard several explosions. "Wonder what Blue Boy's doin' now?" he chattered to himself.
A building exploded fifteen feet away from him. The explosion had been caused by the Feldynaught landing on it.
"Ayi yai yai yai yiddly-yiddly-yiddly yippy-i-o-kiyay!" exclaimed Data, nearly dropping the box. "He's up to his neck in trouble this time!"
The mech took no notice of the little monkey, its pilot concentrating solely on Rock, who was busy dodging bombs, gunfire, the Feldynaught's feet, and occasionally guided fireballs bigger than he was, and firing at it with his Buster. Rock jumped over a fireball, grabbed onto one of the legs, and started firing at the cockpit. The Feldynaught slammed its leg into another building, knocking him sprawling towards Data.
"If whoever's piloting that thing said they'll teach you not to mess with 'em, they're a really good instructor," commented Data.
"Data," said Rock, "this isn't really the time to -- Whoa!" He scooped Data up in his arms and threw himself to the side to avoid another fireball.
"Shee-yowks!" said Data. "Thanks for the help. Uh, I'll stay out of the way for now." He dashed off towards the north wall.
Rock ducked under another bomb and got off another shot at the Feldynaught before it tried to step on him; and suddenly he got an inspiration. He took out a splash mine, slipped behind one of the legs, and hurriedly stuck the mine into one of the joints on the armor. It exploded, leaving an ugly scorch mark and opening a hole in the armor.
Tron, meanwhile, grimaced at several of the readouts on the monitors. Several of the Feldynaught's systems were inching towards the red, and so far she hadn't killed the blue boy yet. This was turning out like the fight with Glyde ...
She had the Feldynaught jump again, hoping to crush him. When she landed, she failed to feel a sickening crunch through its legs, indicating that she'd missed. But now he wasn't on any of the monitors.
"Where is he?" she muttered, swiveling the Feldynaught around, trying to find him. And then she found him.
"At a VENDING MACHINE!?" she exclaimed, shocked at his apparent cockiness. "Okay, this is getting ridiculous!"
Rock put in some Zennies and accepted a can of soda from the machine. He turned and raced towards the giant robot, which was dashing towards him. It looked like it was about to send off another fireball ...
Rock dodged to the side and ran behind the damaged leg. He popped the soda can, threw it into the small hole in the armor, and raced away as fast as he could. If he wasn't going to win this fight easily, he wanted to have some fun anyway. Besides, if Tron got mad enough, she'd probably lose concentration and let him get more shots in as well as missing more often.
Unbeknownst to him, each of the Feldynaught's large feet had a small generator to assist with the intense power required for a robot that big. The can was smashed in the machinery and soda poured into the generator, which promptly exploded, taking most of the leg with it.
The power surge initiated a chain reaction, causing the other four legs to explode, and the cockpit -- which was basically all that was left of the Feldynaught -- fell to the ground and blew apart. Tron was thrown clear and landed on the ground, looking a bit blackened and roasted.
Rock jogged over, guessing that it was safe. He was also somewhat embarassed about potentially harming her, even if she was a pirate... "Um, I'm s -- I mean ..." He had no idea what to say.
Tron got to her feet, apparently still with dignity despite being covered head to toe in soot. "Not bad," she said. "Not bad at all. I'll give you credit for that. But the --"
A Drache flew over and landed near by, ruining Tron's speech. "Miss Tron, are you all right??" said a Servbot from inside. The hatch opened. "Get in, quick!"
"Right," said Tron, smoldering. She got up to the door and turned to Rock. "It's not over yet! Don't think you've won!" she warned. "Next time, I won't be so easy on you! I'll make sure you pay for this!" She seemed to run out of words. "Let's go!" she shouted to the Servbots, and slammed the door behind her. The Drache flew away.
Data hopped over to Rock. "She was goin' easy on you?" he chuckled. "Didn't know you had it in you."
Rock blinked. "I don't know what you're talking about," he said.
"Hmm ..." said Data. "Oh, whatever. You think yer Buster can handle long-range?"
"Uh ..." Rock fired off his Buster. The gout of plasma disappeared after a few feet.
What Data said next is best described as "....." Then he added, "That's no good, MegaMan. Here, I got an upgrade for ya!" He opened the box he had been carrying and handed Rock what appeared to be a small length of tubing with some machinery on it.
"What's this?" said Rock.
"Put it on the D-tunnel in yer Buster," said Data. "Now it'll go twenty feet."
Rock installed the part. "Okay," he said. "What now?"
"Now you go to City Hall," said Data. "Didja think Her Royal Highness and those Lego people in tanks were the only ones here? There's about to be a real air raid on City Hall!"
Rock was already halfway to the north gate.
"Quiet down, everyone!" said Dan. "I've got the TV to work!"
The Yass Plains were crowded with the island's entire population, minus those who were stranded in City Hall. Roll pushed her way to the front where she could get a better look at the television set. Dan hooked it up to a portable generator and turned it on.
"... here. Indications are that the mysterious group of pirates will continue its offensive for the foreseeable future," the reporter on the screen was saying. Behind her, several large robots made threatening motions towards City Hall. "Recaping our top story of the day -- At two o'clock this afternoon, the city center has been attacked by a group of unknown pirates, who demanded that they be given the keys to the caves and tunnels underneath this island. The mayor has refused to give in to their demands and is currently being held under seige. Local police are helpless against the power of the pirates' weapons. It may only be a matter of time before City Hall will be destroyed ... Hopes are rapidly fading as --" Someone off-camera handed her a piece of paper. "I've just been handed this update viewers: It appears that the machines used to lay sedge to the city have been destroyed by a single young boy! And now, that same boy has come through the gate and is heading toward City Hall!"
The camera angle changed slightly. "It's Rock!" exclaimed Roll, and was shushed by those around her.
"Huh?" said Dan, looking at the television. "Well, I'll be..."
"Can this lone hero save the mayor!?" intoned the reporter.
Rock was immediately in the thick of it. Around him were robots obviously designed for destruction. Some of them were yellow; some of them were red; all had Maiberu Haagen and a number printed on the side in large letters. The yellow ones seemed intent on trashing any buildings they got near, while the red ones seemed to ignore everything in favor of City Hall and also had less armor.
Rock started to blast them apart, when he saw three large flying mechs with arms.
"Horunisse Deployers away!" he heard a Servbot's voice say. Then he was fighting for his life as the three robots dropped bombs towards him and tried to ram him. They came from all directions, and in the confusion, he had no idea where to aim.
He happened to glance towards City Hall and saw a Maiberu Haagen trying to break into one of the windows. He abandoned the Horunisses and blasted the ground robot to bits before it could do further damage.
Rock looked around and saw one of the Horunisses charging straight towards him. He blasted it as it approached him, and at the last minute it pulled upwards ... only to bounce off one side of City Hall and crash into the ground.
"One down, two to go," he muttered. And then he saw that one of the Horunisses had left. The other didn't seem to be paying much attention to him, so he set about destroying the rest of the Haagens. The Horunisse immediately started charging towards him, throwing bombs. He timed his dodging correctly ... and some of the bombs destroyed two of the Haagens.
By this time, the third Horunisse was returning. In its arms it carried another Maiberu Haagen. And the second Horunisse was starting to fly away, apparently with the intent of getting more Maiberu Haagens.
Rock yelled in frustration and blasted away at the two robots, untill the Haagen was destroyed and the Horunisse was smoking. It threw a bomb and sent him sprawling.
"Bombs, hard-to-say names, pirates with giant robots ..." muttered Rock. "This has NOT been my day!"
As if to accent this, a Maiberu Haagen charged towards him, apparently mistaking him for a building. He blew it apart with a few shots from his Buster.
The Horunisse currently on the field flew towards him, apparently trying to ram him. He jumped up to the top, pulled open the door, and threw out the Servbots inside. It looked like it was designed for a human, with booster chairs for the Servbots to use. He threw them out and sat at the controls, pulling up before he crashed into the ground.
"Okay, now how do I work this ..." he muttered, glancing at the controls and the main viewscreen. "Okay, what happens if I do this?" He pushed a button and several bombs destroyed most of the Haagens. "Nice," he said.
The remaining Horunisse dropped its Maiberu Haagen in astonishment when it saw what was going on. Its pilots quickly deduced that a hostile force had taken over the other flying mech, and tried to grapple at him.
"Uh-oh," said Rock. "I'll try spinning. That's a good trick." He threw his Horunisse into a barrel roll, and the second aircraft crashed into another group of Haagens. "That was a close one," he said.
Then he realized that that was all of the Maiberu Haagens! He had won! "Woo-hoo!" he exclaimed, flying the Horunisse around. (He was starting to get the hang of how to handle it.) "I've won!"
Then he had a sudden premonition. He turned the Horunisse around and saw a large, orange robot hovering above City Hall. It looked odd, to say the least. Its face gave more the impression of a giant baby than anything else. "Babuuuuu~!" it said.
"What!?" exclaimed Rock. "I'm being attacked by a giant baby!?"
The robot fired ten missiles at him. Rock threw his Horunisse out of the way to avoid them, and they all collided and exploded. Then the "baby" fired a long streamer from its "mouth", slamming into the side.
"Uh-oh," said Rock, as most of the readouts started yelling red lights at him. He tried to bring it down nicely, but he overcompensated and started going almost straight up. The engines promptly failed, and Rock pressed a large red button labeled Eject. The Horunisse collided head-on with the "baby." There was a massive explosion, and Rock and the "baby's" head fell to the ground.
A Drache with a magnet attatched to the bottem flew towards them. "Master Bon! Are you all right?!" exclaimed a Servbot from inside as the magnet picked up the "baby's" head.
"Ba ... bu ..." said Bon groggily as the Drache flew away.
Rock sat up, giving himself a once-over. His armor was badly damaged. "Okay," he said. "NOW I've won."