Chapter 4: A Truly "Magnetic" Personality

"So it's happening again..." Rock said quietly. "Mega Man once again saddles up his Mega Buster and goes out to save the world from the robotic armies of death." No response came; not that he expected one, he was alone on the roof of his house. Which was the way he preferred it.

Twice before, he had been called into battle. The first was when the teleporter accident that had made Blues vanish finally pushed Dr. Wily off the deep end. The deranged doc had seized the six Lighttech Prototype Robot Masters-Rock's six brothers-and had gone on a rampage, threatening to conquer the world.

And a simple lab assistant robot named Rock had felt the need to stop him. To become a superhero, to halt Wily's insane ambitions.

"Why did I do it?" Rock had asked himself many times since then. "Why did I volunteer? The millitaries could've handled it, somebody else could have stopped him..."

Because they couldn't, a little voice always said. Wily was too strong, his armies too powerful. You were the only one who could.

And if it shattered my life, turned me into something I didn't want to be? That doesn't matter?

That's right. Not compared to what would happen if Wily succeeded.

That part of him was right. He had made the right choice, going on to smash all six of Wily's bases, and then on to the nightmarish Skull Castle in the Alps, where he had brought the doctor to justice. And when Dr. Wily had returned again with eight Robot Masters of his own design, Mega Man had once more gone to save the day. He didn't have to; the world would have understood perfectly if he had denied the task. Mega Man had already done his time. But he went out and stopped Wily again anyways, once again risking his robotic life for the world.

"And I'll do it again, too." Rock whispered. "I'll go out and fight this Rebellion as well. When will it stop? When will I finally be able to live a life of peace?"

The wind had no answer for him.

***

"Say that again." Magnet Man whispered. His subordinate Magnus saluted and repeated what he had said moments before.

"Sir, due to a mistake, Sennet Robotics was left partial access to our network for several hours. Because of this, it is likely that Mega Man will be coming here first."

"Hmmm..." Magnet Man frowned underneath the partial facemask that covered his mouth. "Well, that's no big deal. In fact, now that I think about it, that's great! I want to be the one to kill Mega Man myself! Let him come!"

"So I'll be allowed to live despite my mistake?" The Magnus asked. Magnet Man whirled around and gave it a frigid smile.

"No." With a lightning-quick movement, he had his arm cannon against the subordinate's neck. "You failed. Failure is punishable by death." Activating his buster, Magnet Man blew the Magnus' head off his robotic shoulders with a single Magnet Missile. He surveyed his work for a second, then turned to his computer.

"UV-23 # 4203, clean up this filth." He rapped out an order before walking away, his thoughts on the little blue robot who would doubtless be arriving soon.

"Come on, Mega Man... I'll be waiting for you..." He surveyed his domain through a window in his control center, then activated his comm.

"#2, are all those blocks activated and ready?"

"Yes, Magnet Man." Came the reply from the subordinate on the other end. Magnet Man smiled; his little trap was sure to catch the "Blue Bomber" by surprise.

"Good. Carry on." Clicking the comm off, Magnet Man hummed as the UV-23 "Mag Fly" he had summoned picked up the body of the dead Magnus.

"Ready for you, indeed..."

***

"Coming through! Coming through, you vultures!" Donald Richolds yelled as he fought his way through the screaming crowd of reporters. They had been gathered around the Light house since 6 AM, looking for both Mega Man and Dr. Wily, whom many of them had already pegged as the blame. It made Donald sick. "Excuse me! I need through! Aw, come on, people... MOVE IT!" All activity suddenly ceased as the door to the Light home slowly swung open. Who was coming out? Would it be Mega Man, their hero? Or Doctor Wily, the villain?

Actually, it was neither. It was Dr. Light with a watermelon. Behind him, Roll stood with a large pumpkin in her arms. Both of them had very grumpy scowls on their faces.

"The first one who doesn't move out of Mr. Richolds' way RIGHT NOW gets this baby right in the kisser." The doctor growled. A reporter held out his microphone.

"Dr. Light, what do you have to say about your colleague's descent into ins-"

SPLAM! The reporter flew back, covered in shell and pulp, completely unconscious. Dr. Light calmly took the pumpkin from Roll, who ran back into the house for more ammo, and raised his voice.

"ANYONE ELSE WANNA BE A HERO?!" The throng of newsies all looked at each other, then as one, parted to let Donald Richolds through. As soon as he had reached the porch, though, they swarmed again. Richolds & Dr. Light quickly jumped into the house and bolted the door.

"Sometimes I think that the newsperson is a complete different species." Richolds puffed.

"Sometimes?" Dr. Wily grunted as he walked over. "I've known that since sixth grade. What's up, Don?"

"Not good, Al." Richolds sighed. "I'm sorry, but my influence wasn't enough. They're touting you as the cause of this mess."

"We've already noticed." Rock said dryly. "If we didn't have an unlisted number, I'd go bonkers." On cue, the vidphone began beeping, a sign of an incoming call. "Goddammit."

"I'll see who it is." Roll sighed, answering the phone. "Hello... oh, hi! Guys, it's somebody from Sennet Robotics." The interest of everybody in the room was suddenly drawn to the screen, where a middle-aged man with a trim black mustache was shown.

"Hello, everybody. My name is Dr. Trent Corbun, and I... was... the president of Sennet Robotics. I understand that you will be trying to stop this Rebellion, Rock?"

"That is correct." The robot frowned. Dr. Corbun smiled.

"Well, I may be able to be of service. The invaders of our former mine in France were a bit clumsy; they left a connection to their servers open. We were able to get a great deal of information about their operations, which we would be happy to send you. And we have maps of all eight facilities as well. Also, we still have the data from a special technique used by the Ripwoods, one of our strongest models. The 'Slide' should be compatible with your systems, Rock. Should we send that as well?" The robot nodded glumly.

"Yes, sure. Send it all." He turned to Roll. "Let's go get the Upgrade Capsule powered up."

"Alright." The robots walked up to the lab, accompanied by both doctors and Richolds. Rock calmly stepped into the large capsule which they used to upgrade him. They had even added his armor for the first time with it. Rush sat by his side as Roll sat down at a computer.

"Download from Sennet Robotics coming in... scanning the Slide program... yeah, it's compatible. Transferring to Upgrade Capsule... now." Rock closed his eyes as the familiar tingle that came whenever his systems were changed came over him. A diagnostic window opened in the corner of his eye and he looked at it.

"Slide installation complete." Stepping out of the capsule, Rock tested it. Before the eyes of the others, he suddenly flew low across the floor, feetfirst.

Everybody in the room winced involuntarily as he sailed out the door and down the stairs.

"What IS it with those stairs recently?" Roll complained over the crashing sounds of her brother. "People keep falling down them. Is somebody greasing them? Sheesh!"

"Maybe that's what they'll call this Rebellion." Wily joked halfheartedly. "Mega Man 3: Curse Of The Staircase."

"Hardee har hardee har har." Rock grunted as he walked back in. "I need to get a little more control as to stopping it, but otherwise it's fine." The little robot closed his eyes, and the familiar blue suit appeared on him. A sky-blue jumpsuit, overlayed with stronger armor of a darker blue at his waist, feet, hands and head. Only his face was uncovered by the protective gear. One at a time, he shifted his hands into Busters, checking them. "All systems functional."

"You're leaving, then?" Dr. Light said sadly. Rock-no, Mega Man-nodded.

"Yeah. I want this done with as soon as possible. That server problem indicates the France mine is having difficulties; I'll head there first." He sighed. "I wonder how long it'll be until the people start with all that 'Go Mega Man!' stuff again."

"I'll try to get it going." Richolds smiled mockingly. "I know you hate it, but once I spread about that Dr. Wily's helping you, the mobs out for his blood should die down some."

"And of course we all want THAT..." Rock growled sarcastically as he turned to the doctors. "As for you two, get to work on Gamma. I don't want to have to do this again."

"Can do, Rock." Wily nodded. "Just remember to bring back those Energen Crystals. And call Rush in if you need help."

***

"So this is France..." Mega Man sighed as he blinked in from the teleport. "Funny... I don't see any mimes. I almost wish I would... it'd be good to see something I didn't have to kill." He slapped himself in the face and looked at the path ahead. "Cut it out, Rock. You can feel sorry for yourself later... right now, you have a job to do." Currently, he was on the roof of the facility. About fifty feet away he could see the ladder leading down. Between him and it, though, were several pits. And flying above those-

"HEY!" Mega yelped as he suddenly found himself being hauled backwards through the air. Glaring up, he confirmed his suspicions; it was a UV-23, also known as "Mag Flies". Basically just a large magnet on a helicopter blade with eyes, UV-23s were used for transporting metal. And this one was dragging him towards the nearest scrap pit.

"Not today..." Mega growled, forming his left arm into a buster and firing off several shots at the enemy. The plasma bullets whistled through the air before blasting into the Mag Fly, melting it into a lump of slag. Mega Man instantly dropped back onto solid ground. "I'll have to watch out for those..." He told himself. "Can't let one catch me while jumping a pit, or I'm in trouble." Now that he was expecting them, it was easy to shoot down the other Mag Flies as he moved across the pits to the ladder. Mega Man slowly climbed down into the mine... then screamed as the ladder ended abruptly, dropping him into an empty room with no other exits.

"Greeeeeaaaat..." Mega Man moaned as he picked himself up. "Some kind of trap room... no, wait, that floor over there looks..." He broke off as a strange melody penetrated the silence sharply. It was a five-note whistle, echoing strangely about the room. That tune... where do I know it from? A moment later, another robot dropped from the ceiling on the other side of the room.

"So you're the little blue troublemaker..." He said softly. The newcomer was humanoid, built almost exactly along the same lines as Mega. His armor, though, was of a silvery grey and brick-red instead. On his right arm he held a plasma-deflective shield, and his left arm was modeled into a buster with a vent on it. His head was a red helmet with a single blue eye glaring out from the black expanse of his "face". His most distinctive feature, however, was the bright yellow scarf wrapped around his neck. Mega Man frowned, taking a step forward.

"And you would be...?" The stranger chuckled.

"My name? It's not one I feel like saying... but you can call me Break Man."

"All right, Break Man." Mega harrumphed, looking him over again. "Geez, pal. From the chest down, you look like a recolor of me." Break Man smirked.

"Recolors were used in early-century sprite comics over the internet. I don't think they were ever applied to actual robots. And besides, at least I don't look like a friggin' bluebird."

"Takes one to know one, bub. You call me a bluebird, but I ain't the one singing." Mega Man shot back. "Enough small talk. I assume you're the one who blocked up the floor?"

"That's right." Break Man responded laconically.

"May I ask why?"

"So you wouldn't run away while I'm destroying you."

"You're part of the Rebellion?" Mega Man frowned, raising his buster. Break Man chuckled, raising his as well.

"Maybe. Maybe not. For now, all you need to know is this-you'll get no mercy from me. But if you beat me I'll open the floor up again. Let's get to it, shall we?" Break Man whistled once more before firing off a stream of plasma shots. Mega Man jumped to the side, dodging them and fired off his own. Break Man attempted to dodge but one of the shots pegged him on the arm. He stopped and inspected it, then looked up, smirking.

"Nice shooting, Here, try this!" He began jumping across the room. Mega Man ran under, making sure not to get stomp- Break Man's plasma shot slammed into him, knocking him off balance. A moment later, the red and grey robot landed on his opponent, smashing him to the ground.

"Not so good at dodging now, eh blue boy?" He snickered. Mega Man cursed; those two hits had knocked his operations energy down to 78%. If it went to 0... he would die, and his mission would be a failure. He would have lost, not to the Robot Master, but to some whistling wierdo. That was unacceptable.

"I ain't done yet, Break Man!" Mega growled as he whipped his Buster behind his back and fired into Break Man's face, point blank. Screaming, the enemy fell off, and Mega Man kept up the attack, firing a barrage at his enemy nonstop as he got to his feet. Howling with rage, Break Man blocked as many as he could with his shield before charging forward. This caught Mega off guard, and the blue robot was smashed aside, taking another hit from Break Man's buster afterwards.

"So, you just use a plasma buster too, eh?" Mega asked as he fired after the red robot. "Not too common a design... most robots have some kind of tricky attack individual to their model."

"I'm special." Break Man smiled, returning fire. "One of a kind. I'm not part of a series."

"Another thing we have in common." Mega smiled, firing off a carefully aimed retaliatory shot. Break Man calmly fired off a shot of his own to cancel it out... and the two plasma orbs met in midair and exploded.

"ARGH!" When the flash from the shots' explosion had faded, Break Man's right arm sparking dangerously.

"Ugh... I wasn't expecting that to happen. Next time I'll be more careful with my plasma. Can't use a buster like this, and my energy's getting pretty low. Methinks discretion may be the better part of valor." He tore his eye away from his arm and smiled at Mega Man. "Well, waddaya know, you won after all. Good job, kid. Until next time..." He pressed a button on his right arm, and the section of the floor he had patched up exploded as he teleported away. Mega Man looked up after him, brow creased in thought.

"I don't know who that guy was... but I haven't seen the last of him. He was good, I'll give him that. Damn, my energy's down to 52%... He told me I did good as well, but that explosion was pure luck. That guy was strange... his fighting style and abilities were practically identical to my own. And he had the sense to run when he was beat... he's definately no ordinary Robot Master. I'll need to adjust my strategy the next time I meet him if I don't wanna end up as Metool fodder... the normal stuff won't cut it with this Break Man."

***

"Hmph..." Dr. Light frowned, checking the schematics. "I hadn't reckoned on how much material we'd be needing to build Gamma... I'll need to make a run out for a truckload before we can even begin work. What am I saying? I'll need to hire out a hangar to put it in!"

"That might be a bit tricky, considering them." Roll said, pointing at the throng of reporters still clamoring outside. Dr. Light sighed and covered his eyes.

"At the moment, I'll settle for a temporary abatement of reporters."

"Then I got just what you need." Roll grinned devilishly. "Eddie!" The little suitcase ran up. "Go on in the upgrade capsule, Ed."

"The upgrade capsule?" Dr. Wily asked, confused.

"Rightyo. Wrote a new thing just for him. Downloading Catapult upgrade... done. Now..." Roll hung a target on the opposite wall, then walked over to Eddie, who was emerging from the capsule. "Here ya go." She placed an orange in the suitcase, then pointed at the target. "Fire!"

SPLORTCH! Eddie shot the orange out at amazing speed and accuracy, splattering it all over the wall. Dr. Light harrumphed.

"Very nice. But I don't see how it can..."

"Wait, wait, wait Tom." Dr. Wily stopped him, eyes shining. "Roll, can this new upgrade of yours handle multiple ammo?"

"Yuuup."

"Roll, you're a genius!" Cackling devilishly, the doctor emptied the contents of a nearby fruit bowl into Eddie, then pointed to the front door. "Eddie, go out and fire at the reporters!" The little brown robot obliged. The family didn't say a word as he nudged the door open and walked out to face the reporters, who grew quiet as the door opened. None of the reporters knew quite what to say as this strange little brown robot bent over and...

"YOWP!"

"WHOA!"

"ARGH!"

"D'OH!"

"RUN FOR IT!"

The three people inside the house nearly died from laughter.

***

"Huh." Mega Man frowned as he dropped down. "Giant Springers. Wonder what those are doing here." Constructed to be Warbots, 530-GM Giant Springers were formidable though silly-looking opponents, with heavy armor, missile launchers and a close-range attack that smashed their car-sized mass into an opponent. "Magnus must've had them imported from his boss... can't be too many of them." As he dropped down, the Springer oriented on him and fired a blue missile from its top while inching towards the hero. Wordlessly, Mega Man blew it out of the sky before turning his Buster on the Springer itself. Missing the second missile which curved through the air above and behind him before-

"AICH!" The explosion blew Mega Man forward into the Springer, which lived up to its name, launching its bulk on a man-sized coil and smashing Mega Man into a wall. Growling, the hero extricated himself and finished the Springer off before checking his energy.

"Great... 29%. That fight with Break Man really busted me up... eh?" Walking over to the remains of the Springer, Mega Man picked up a small, glowing pod and smiled as he felt its power seep into him. Energy capsules were often used to supplement the power of less advanced robots; they were seperate from the rest of it, so were often left behind if it was scrapped.

"Left for me to nab." Mega Man chuckled, moving on and wasting another Springer. If he suffered any major injuries, like a broken leg, it would need to be repaired back at Light's lab. But for minor injuries, a simple energy renewal did wonders. Down Mega Man went, blasting a pair of walking-eyeball Peterchies before dropping again to the fifth level of the mine.

"Oh, great." The blue robot grumbled. "They're getting smarter." Embedded in the wall in front of him was a machine that emitted a magnetic pull, drawing him towards it. It couldn't actually hurt him, but the thing looked to be made of plasma-deflective alloys, so he couldn't stop it either. Blasting another pair of nosy Peterchies, Mega Man ran towards the machine and jumped onto the ledge above it.

Or would have if he hadn't been pulled down by the machine so that the edge of the ledge slammed into his midsection, knocking him back down with a painful wheeze.

"This might take a few tries..." After several attempts, he managed to get over it and the next ones. The hole in the floor down to the sixth level didn't have a ladder. Shrugging, Mega Man jumped down. As he did, a sudden pain in his right hand caused him to wince; it had caught on a ledge halfway down. Mega Man started to let go of the ledge, then stopped on a hunch; instead, he pulled himself up. He had to smile at what was there; a row of four small energy pods.

"Some kind of storage..." He mumbled as he absorbed them all and checked his energy. "Back up to 69%. Very nice." He dropped down another floor and pulled up the map he had downloaded from Sennet. "7th floor down... this is the lowest, but I'll have to go up again before I can find the command center. And the Magnus who's in charge here, most likely. If he's up on current fashions, he'll be calling himself Attraction Man or Magnetic Man or something like that... gets old after a while." Shutting down the map, Mega Man looked ahead and groaned loudly.

"Not this AGAIN..." He was referring to the large wall in front of him blocking his way except for the opening near the ceiling... and the bronze blocks that were appearing and disappearing. In both of the Robot Rebellions he had faced so far, Mega Man had run into the blocks that teleported in, hung in the air motionless without benefit of jets, then disappered again. He still didn't understand the technology. It was genius... and it always ANNOYED THE HELL OUT OF HIM.

"This means either Wily's behind it after all... or whoever is has access to his technology." He shook his head. "Figure that out later. I don't have time to monkey around with these things... I know!" Opening up a menu in the corner of his eye, Mega Man selected an icon that would send out a call to Rush that he needed help. The dog would teleport to where he had started, then from there move under the teleport-blocking EM shield before teleporting again to Mega Man's current location. Sure enough, the red dog phased in and looked up at his master before barking and extending the spring on his back. Mega Man jumped on and was immediately launched upward, moving into the gap in the wall. He walked forward and looked down. The next room was almost a mirror-duplicate of the previous one, with one major exception; the floor was out.

"Lovely. Can't call Rush here. Looks like I'm playing with blocks after all." Watching the blocks for a moment, Mega Man quickly learned the pattern. He jumped forward onto a block, waited a few seconds, then leaped forward onto another block just as it appeared, and from there to the top of the wall. The third room looked like the first, but it had another magnetic machine in the far wall.

"That thing would be a problem... If I couldn't call Rush. The enemy wasn't expecting him." Bouncing off the dog's back again, Mega Man vaulted the wall. "Let's just hope they don't... aw, no..." The fourth disappearing-block room had both a missing floor AND a magnet machine. Sighing in resignation, the hero jumped forward onto the block-and the magnetic suction yanked him forward, over the edge. For a moment, Mega Man saw death, in the long fall below him that ended in jagged scrap... until he was saved by the block that phased in centimeters below him, albeit painfully. Thudding into the block, Mega Man quickly righted himself before the still-present suction pulled him off again. Jumping to a higher block, Mega Man managed to accomodate for the force this time, making his way to the ladder going up.

"Phew... that was TOO damn close. Good thing there's no more blocks... eh?" There was a pipe in the wall about two feet in diameter, and on the other side of it... "A large energy pod!" If he could get his hands on it, it would bring him all the way back to 100% energy. "But that pipe's too small. I could slide through it, but there's no floor for me to stand on." Shaking his head regretfully, the blue robot kept climbing. At the top of the ladder, the entire floor was covered in deadly spikes. Several platforms were above them, providing a way across, but standing on the center one was...

"A New Shotman?" The newest in plasma-firing warbots, the New Shotman was basically a head on feet. The upper portion of it resembled a sombrero; cannons on the side of the rotating disk "rim" fired plasma straight out while another on top launched shots in an arc that fell back down. A nasty opponent... especially when strategically placed over a spikebed.

"Losers." Mega Man growled, jumping up to fire and ducking back down before he was hit. The Shotman lobbed an overhead shot, but Mega Man jumped back and fired again. Three more shots later, the enemy was slagged, and Mega Man moved up to where it had stood.

"A ladder up, or a hole in the floor..." Realization dawned on him. "That must go to that large energy capsule!" Dropping down, he grasped the powerup and felt his energy rise to full.

"Oh yeah... that Magnus is toast."

***

"Hey, Doc Light!" The young man behind the counter called out. "How ya doing?"

"Not good, Mark." Dr. Light responded wearily as he walked over. "I assume you've heard the news?" The young man rolled his eyes and made a rude noise.

"Thhhpt. Who hasn't? Sheez, those newsies should be leashed and muzzled. Doc Wily still hanging out at your place?" Dr. Light nodded.

"Yes, he is. He's not behind this one, Mark." The young man grinned and winked.

"Hey, I already knew that! I ain't no backstabbin' newsman, Doc. I remember old Al from back when you two were first settin' up shop here, and I was just workin' a janitor's job at this place. Don't worry; I won't bite him. So, whatcha here for?"

"A lot." Dr. Light frowned, taking out a list of materials. "I assume I can count on your privacy, Mark?"

"As always."

"All right. Here's the list of what we need." He slid the piece of paper across the desk, and Mark picked it up. After looking at it for a moment, he put on a pair of reading glasses and took another look before grimacing.

"Doc, I think you made a mistake with the amounts needed..."

"No, Mark, there's no mistake." Dr. Light shook his head. Mark read down the list, whistling.

"Hoo-wee, Doc! What are you building, a building? ...Hold on there..." He blinked, then stared at the doctor over the top of the list. "Never mind the building, if I didn't know better I'd say you were building a tank! Or a nuclear power plant! I mean, geez, doc! Do you know how nasty the stuff you're asking for is?"

"Yes, Mark." Dr. Light nodded. "Obviously, I won't be able to take it all now, even IF you had it all on hand. I'll take some of the common materials now, and come back for the rest of it-and the rarer stuff-later." Mark sat back, still staring at the paper.

"Doc, I won't beat around the bush with you. A lot of this stuff is definately hard-core, top-of-the-line, highly restricted, whichever you prefer. Some of this is even restricted for the millitary's usage. I hope you've got a good politician on your side; you'll need it to persuade the higher-ups to let you have it." Mark pulled up a window on his computer. "For now, all I can do is give you the materials we have on hand; you'll need permission from the big guys before I can place an order for you."

"I'll get it." Dr. Light said firmly. "For now, I'll take the truck around back."

***

"Shit!" Magnet Man cursed as his computer detected the loss of his last Giant Springer. It had been his bodyguard, which meant Mega Man was right outside. Grumbling, the Robot Master looked to the door at the back of his room which led to the treasured Energen Crystal storage. "Well, let him come. I'm ready."

"That's good to know." Mega Man said sarcastically as he stepped in. "I was afraid I'd be dropping in unannounced."

"No, don't worry about it." Magnet Man chuckled darkly, turning to face him. "The dead robots you left in your wake tipped me off."

"You would be the head Magnus here, then?" Mega Man inquired challengingly. His opponent nodded.

"You can call me Magnet Man... or just call me your undertaker, whichever you prefer. Your record doesn't scare me; I'll blow you to smithereens!"

"Brooooother!" Mega Man groaned sarcastically. "It;s always the same with you underling Robot Masters! 'This' man or 'that' man... Ever heard of originality?"

"You won't be caring much about originality where you're going, Mega Man!" Magnet Man yelled, leaping towards him. Mega immediately ran forward as well, firing. Magnet Man landed in front of his opponent, then hopped over him, taking several hits. Upon landing behind Mega, he leaped straight up.

"Eat some of this!" Howling, the robot master launched three missiles shaped like magnets straight out. At first, Mega thought this a foolhardy attack, as they were far too high; but then, the missiles made a perfect 90-degree turn and slammed right into him!

"Argh!" Mega Man cried as the explosions knocked him on his back. "Homing missiles... great. But they're not truly homing, or it would have curved instead of making a clean turn... aah!" He rolled to the side as Magnet Man landed where he had been a moment before. Angrily, the blue robot peppered his foe with plasma bullets as he got to his feet. Magnet Man growled and squatted on the ground, becoming motionless. Mega frowned.

"Wonder what he's doing. Let's see... stay here, shooting like a dumb bull and leave myself open to attack... or get some distance between us. DUR." Mega turned and ran. After a few seconds, he realized something odd; although he was running, he wasn't moving. "What the-?!" Looking over his shoulder, the blue hero saw some kind of strange distortion in the air surrounding his cackling adversary.

"You like it, Mega Man? You forget what I was designed for! I'm called Magnet Man for a reason! Boy, are you dense." Snickering, the villain grabbed his opponent by the neck and slammed him to the ground before jumping across the room again. Angrily, Mega Man got back up only to meet another hail of Magnet Missiles.

"Damn!" This is NOT good. If he keeps this up, I'm toast... got to figure out some way to dodge.

"I can't believe this." Magnet Man laughed. "YOU brought a halt to two Robot Rebellions? You're pathetic! I guess you just can't cope with the newer models." Inwardly, he winced; the shots Mega had landed had burned into him. But the little blue robot would never survive long enough to take him down.

New models... new! That's it! That new slide technique I picked up from Sennet Robotics! It's fast enough to get me away from that attraction of his, and if I time it right, I should be able to dodge those missiles!

"I ain't done yet, magnet monkey!" Mega Man yelled, firing angrily. Harrumphing, Magnet Man took the shots confidently and jumped behind his opponent, activating his magnetic field again.

"You just don't learn, do you? Come to papa... huh?!" Mega Man wasn't coming towards him; he was sliding away across the floor!

"Yes! It works!" Reaching the other side of the room, Mega turned and fired off a barrage of plasma bullets, scoring heavily. Screaming in rage at his attack's failure, Magnet Man jumped up and fired off another series of Magnet Missiles. Mega Man slid again.

Let's just hope their homing is limited, and they can only turn once... come on... Mega Man slid across... and all three Magnet Missiles missed, exploding behind him. YES!!! Magnet Man landed just in time to be shot in the face repeatedly. Finally succumbing to the many plasma shots he had taken during the duel, he fell to the ground. Mega Man advanced, frowning.

"THAT is how I stopped two Robot Rebellions, Magnet Man. I may take some hits at the start of a fight... but in the end, I always win." Magnet Man looked up at him, seemingly confused.

"But.... how? I'm an advanced... Sennet design. You're old... obsolete..."

"No." Mega Man frowned. "I am more than a robot. I am Mega Man."

"You... it's impossible... I can't... lose... to you..." Magnet Man choked. Inwardly, he chuckled, tilting his launcher slightly so that it was aimed at his blue opponent's head. Mega frowned at his speech.

"Can't lose? Well, guess what, bubsy. You just did."

"No... I didn't... you did." Grinning treacherously, the robot master fired off the Magnet Missile he had been aiming.

A millisecond later, plasma bullet met Magnet Missile an inch from his face, and everything went white.

***

"Send Eddie out again, Roll. Tom's back with the materials." Dr. Wily groaned, observing his partner's truck coming into contact with the throng of rabid newsies. Once the little suitcase had chased them off, Dr. Light parked his truck in the garage and walked in.

"I got all the common stuff we need, but not the rare. We should be able to start on the internals. We'll have to get official permission from the government before we can get the rest. Donald should be able to help us there." Dr. Light sighed. "I wonder how Rock's doing..." As if on cue, a blue blur phased in, and Mega Man stood before them.

"Got 'im." He said tiredly, tossing a microchip to his sister. "You can give me the weapons system later. For now, I need to go into stasis."

"The Energen Crystals... did you get them?" Dr. Wily asked anxiously. Mega Man surveyed him for a moment, then wordlessly dropped four red crystals, each the exact same size and shape, onto the table before walking out of the room. The german roboticist stared after him.

"Schiesse, he must be exhausted; he didn't even ask how Gamma was doing."

"I get the feeling he doesn't really approve..." Dr. Light said sadly. Dr. Wily raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean, he doesn't approve? Gamma will make sure he never has to fight again!"

"Remember, Al, he's still a pacifist at heart." Dr. Light told his friend. "Gamma is a weapon of war."

"Well, I can't really fault him for that." Dr. Wily sighed, looking at the plans.

"Mm-hmm. We might as well get to work."

"Mm-hmm."