Chapter 11: I Watched The World Go To The Dark Side Of The Moon

"I'm right here... or am I? Maybe I'm right here. Or over here. Or maybe over here. Which one is real? you don't know, do you? Well, neither will Mega Man X or Zero. Hell, even if they both come, it'll still be four on two. They'll never see the real me." Maverick agent Split Mushroom, during the Fourth Maverick Uprising, aka the Repliforce Disaster

"Hmm." Gemini Man thought for a moment, then moved his bishop, taking Gemini Man's pawn.

"Bad move." Gemini Man chuckled, countering with his queen to take out Gemini Man's bishop.

"Damn!" Gemini Man swore. Gemini Man simply laughed and leaned back while Gemini Man angrily contemplated his next move.Behind Gemini Man, his computer started buzzing, signaling an incoming call. Gemini Man groaned.

"That'll be the boss. We can finish the game after we talk with him." Gemini Man nodded in agreement, then merged with Gemini Man in a flash of light as he walked towards the comp.

Gemini models were a Robot Master ahead of their time, Sennet Robotics' greatest triumph. They possessed both basic plasma busters and extremely powerful reflective lasers, but their real winder was the ability to temporarily create a complete duplicate of themselves using the same matter synthesizers in the weapons systems of the Robot Masters. Normally, the duplicate could only be maintained for a few seconds. However, as the lead Robot Master of the moon mine, Gemini Man had augmented himself with the white Energen Crystals, and was able to sustain his duplicate for up to an hour without recharging.

"Gemini Man." The master growled as his face popped on screen. "Snake Man has fallen. That leaves you as the last of my Robot Masters."

"Yes, I already know." His underling replied easily. "Gimme a break, boss. I'm on the moon, not Pluto."

"Don't be insolent." The master snapped. "Mega Man will be coming soon, and he'll probably kill you."

"Oh, please." GeminI Man laughed. "You're forgetting something. All of Mega Man's duels have been one-on-one. I'd bet some of them, like Shadow Man and Needle Man, even preferred it that way. Sickening. MY fight will be two against one. He won't stand a chance."

" Nevertheless, be prepared." The master told him. "It may not be as one-sided as you think. There's some fool who calls himself Break Man running around; he can't seem to make up his mind whether he wants to kill Mega Man or help him. And he seems to be almost as good as the blue bastard. Watch for both of them." The communication cliked off, and Gemini Man sighed.

"He's such a worrywart." Frowning, he split again.

"Yeah, he is. Let's get back to the game. It's your turn." Gemini Man smiled.

"Indeed it is." Gemini Man agreed as he sat down on the opposite side of the table from Gemini Man.

After all, there wasn't much else to do on the dark side of the moon.

***

"I'm going to KILL Richolds." Dr. Wily swore as he bolted the door of the Light residence against the swarm of newsies that were fighting to get in. "First he tries to get Gamma behind his political campaign, and now he tells these newsies that his 'good doctor friends' would be happy to give matching interviews with him! I HATE politicians!"

"Be reasonable." Roll smiled. "I'm sure there are SOME nice politicians out there. Just because we've never met any is no reason to judge them all by the standards of Richolds and Vinkus. Remember old Hume? He turned out okay, didn't he?"

"Roll, Ezriah Hume was a robotocist, not a politician. And he's DEAD."

"Well, I meant aside from that." Roll countered lamely. From the repair table, Rock laughed.

"Give it up, Roll. You're not gonna win this one." He realized his mistake too late as his sister rounded on him.

"Oh, really?" Roll said coolly. "Big words coming from a guy who nearly got eaten by snakes no bigger than a shoe! I believe I distinctly asked you not to get yourself nearly killed anymore!"

"Hey, if it wasn't for Break Man, you guys wouldn't even be seeing me. Snake Man was gonna self-destruct. Talk about a sore loser."

"Break Man?" Dr. Light asked, confused. "Who's Break Man?" Rock frowned.

"Oh yeah, I haven't told you guys about him, have I?" He shrugged. "Break Man is a wierd guy who's been dropping around the Energen mines. Apparently he wants those crystals too. I've fought him several times. He uses a plain plasma buster like me, and he seems pretty good with it. He's an okay guy, actually; I kinda like him. Wish he'd stop that whistling, though."

"Whistling? ...Rock, what does he look like?" Dr. Light inquired.

"Actually, his basic body structure was a lot like mine, but he's in brick red and grey instead."

"Those colors..." Dr. Light said with a swift intake of breath. "Al, do you think..."

"Was there anything unusual about his head?" Dr. Wily asked quickly. Rock nodded.

"He's a cyclops.... one blue eye. He has a yellow scarf, too."

"No..." Dr. Wily frowned. "He's not."

"Not what?" Roll asked, confused. Dr. Light smiled.

"Oh, nothing. It's just that for a moment, this Break Man sounded almost like... well, never mind. We'd best all get to work. Rock, you ready for the dark side of the moon?"

"Yup." Rock nodded, getting into his armor. "You got that Item-2 into Rush okay?"

"No problem at all." Dr. Light smiled. "The Rush jet is ready."

"All right." Rock smiled. " Remember, the trip to and back from the moon will take longer than an ordinary teleport, so don't be concerned if I seem to be a few hours late. Come on, Rush. Ciao!" His fiathful dog ran over and they teleported out in a blaze of blue and red light. Roll soghed.

"I suppose you two will be taking off again?"

"Of course." Dr. Wily nodded apologetically. "Sorry, but we've got to finish up Gamma. We've got him armored from the waist down; now we need to work on the upper half. With our current work rate, we should get his arms and back covereed today. Then tomorrow, we can build the core and put it in his chest, then armor that up. On the next day, we'll construct the head just in time for that big presentation that idiot Richolds wrangled us into. Of course, right now the problem is getting through that crowd of newsies."

"All taken care of." Roll smiled. "I hit the grocery store the other day, so we have a fresh supply of potatoes. Come on up to the roof with me, Eddie. You two know the drill; drive out of the garage when there's an opening." The brown suitcase beeped and followed Roll up while the doctors chuckled and walked into the garage for their departure.

***

Earth's moon. A relatively small hunk of rock that orbited the planet like the planet itself orbited the sun. Human visits to the moon were very hard to do; they could only get there by rockets, and the lack of oxygen made prolonged stay impossible, even with modern technology. Robots, however, were a completely different story. With teleportation and no need for oxygen, robots could function on the moon for ages. Unfortunately, very few of them lacked the minds to appreciate the sight of seeing Earth from there. Mega Man was one of those few.

"Whoa." Mega Man muttered as he saw the globe that he had spent the entirety of his life on. It was a lot bigger than the moon was when seen in the sky, but he could still take in its entirety without shifting his gaze. Blue water, white clouds and ice, green and brown land... and there, partially obscured by clouds, was Japan, the tiny little piece of the Earth he called home.

"A guy could sit here for days looking at that..." Mega Man muttered, then clenched his fist. "But I have a job to do. If I don't wipe out the Robot Master here and find whoever's behind this, I don't even wanna think about what'll happen to that planet." He forced his eyes away to the mine. Unlike the other mines, here the Energen Crystals were not simply underground, but embedded in a miles-long formation of lesser crystal. Decades ago, a cache of this size could have counted for more wealth than the fortune of William Gates, the major computer systems leader of the early twenty-first century. But now, it was overlooked in favor of the Energen Crystal.

"Well, it's pretty to look at, at least." Mega Man smiled as he walked across the shining expanse. Patrolling the skies were Nirons, robots that dived to drop flames from their single eyes, and Bomber Pepes, robotic penguins whose round white abdomens were bombs they hurled. However, they were not always intelligently placed; one Niron's flight path was so close to the ground that when it dived it smashed into the crystal it exploded.

"Whoever's in charge here, logic ain't his strong suit." Mega Man commented as he hurdled a pit and blasted a penguin. "There's the main complex up ahea-aw, crap." The entryway to the main complex resembled one of Wily's old Skull Fortresses; a sheer face of crystal with a single entryway that looked to be guarded by hundreds of hostile robots. There was no way in hell he'd be getting through there alive. "Now what do I do?" The blue robot asked grumpily.

"What ARE you doing, Mega Man?" Came from above as a familiar whistle was also heard. Break Man landed on his feet, then followed the blue bomber's eyes to the entrance. "Contemplating suicide, looks like. You gotta know there's no way in there."

"Got any alternatives?" Mega Man growled angrily. Break Man nodded.

"Actually, I do. Follow me." He led the way to what looked like a solid wall of crystal. In front of it was a large metal seal in the ground. "This leads to the waterways underneath here. Gemini Man had the abovegrounds exit sealed off in case you'd come in through it."

"So we can't go through. Thanks for telling me that." Mega snapped. Break Man wagged his finger reprovingly.

"Temper, temper. I never said that. I said he THINKS we can't. You should know by now that I always carry an opener." Smiling, he produced a large esplosive and affixed it to the seal, then raised his shield. "You might wanna step back."

"Good advice." Mega Man said as he moved away. A few moments later, the seal exploded, flinging crystal shards everywhere. When the smoke was gone, the hole was open before them.

"How'd you know about this thing, anyways?" Mega Man asked as the two robots jumped down.

"Hacked Sennet's computers." Break Man replied proudly as they landed in a tunnel of odd stones that shone with light in different flashing colors, illuminating the tunnel. He swore as they came across an obstruction. "Damn... looks like Gemini Man's got more foresight than we thought. We've got company."

"Where?" Mega Man frowned. "I don't see anything except those wierd globes blocking the path."

"Exactly." Break Man growled. "Those look like standard Sennet issue to you? Try blasting one and see what happens." Mega Man shrugged and complied. The orb blew apart and a blue, floating robot that resembled a tadpole crawled out.

"Those are eggs?" The blue bomber said, surprisingly.

""Yup. The buggers inside are called Poles."

"Well, no big deal." Mega told him as he shot the Pole down. "They die easy."

"Yeah, but it'll take time to clear them all out." Break Man grumbled as he began clearing a path. Mega Man smirked.

"For you, maybe. But you forget, I have the Needle Cannon." His colors changed to brown and white, and he sent out a flurry of needles that decimated the eggy blockage. Break Man nodded.

"Yeah, there's that." The next couple floors were equally jammed, and the Needle Cannon worked well on them too. Eventually, they came out in a clear tunnel. However, simply because their weren't any eggs didn't mean it was enemy-clear. A huge robot resembling a giant penguin barring the way. There was a large hole in its lower stomach, and a crank on its head turned by itself. A moment later, a small bomb painted like a penguin flew out of the hole and slid across the ground towards them.

"I'll kill those things. You wipe out the big one!" Break Man yelled. Mega nodded.

"That crank looks like a weak point..." Mega muttered, firing at it. A dozen shots sent the apparatus flying off, and the robot halted, its eyes closing. Break Man smiled.

"Good work." They dealt with the second one the same way, then hopped down a couple floors. The waterway glittered before them.

"Hmm..." Break Man observed a series of tiny platforms above the water. "Looks risky, but we'll have to chance it, since we can't swim."

"Speak for yourself." Mega smirked. "Oh, Rush!" The loyal robotic mutt teleported into the water and immediately changed into the Rush Marine.

"Cute dog. Cuter trick." Break Man told him. "A single-seater, unfortunately. Well, you know how that song goes... I take the high road, you take the low road..." He began jumping across the platforms as Mega got into the Rush Marine and sped along. Ahead, he saw a fat blue mechanical fish with a small red dome built into the top. As it swam under Break Man, the red part was revealed to be a missile that it fired at him. The red robot was hit, almost falling off and cursing in some vile foreign language.

"Hey, blue boy! Think you can keep those things from killing me?! That ride of yours does have weapons, right?"

"Yeah. Sorry." Mega Man apologized, activating the plasma cannon in Rush's mouth and wiping out the fish.

"Great." Break Man called. "I'll do my part and wipe out the dragonfly-bots up here." The pair continued on until Mega Man saw something on a small outcropping of land.

"Hey, an E-Tank!" Smiling, he retracted the bubble dome to grab it.

"I found one up here too." Break Man smiled. "Seems Gemini Man didn't bother actually cleaning up from when Sennet controlled the place. Mistake. Here's the ladder." Mega directed Rush to the surface and jumped out onto a platform only to find that the red robot had disappeared. "Break Man? Hm. Must have gone ahead." There was no sign of him in the next room up, just a pair of Kero Hoppers. The following room, however, held a Bikki stomper with a familiar graffiti makeover.

"Still doing that, I see." Mega commented as he blew it away. "There's the door to the control chamber... if Break Man's in there, he'll probably need help."

***

"How's this sound? Go with Gamma! Vote Richolds in 20**!" Donald Richolds said. His assistant, Ronald Dove, frowned.

"I dunno, sir. A little simplistic."

"My boy, sometimes simplistic is good. Let's roll with that one. I want you to get that slogan printed out over the pictures we designed be noon tomorrow. At least a thousand flyers, you got me?"

"But sir, we don't have the picture! Gamma isn't completed yet!" Ronald protested. Richolds smirked.

"Ronny, you'd be surprised what modern computers can do in the way of picture modification. Now get moving!" The assistant nodded and departed as Richolds leaned back in his chair, reflecting on the past month. The whole thing with the third Robot Rebellion had been a blessing; whenever a Rebellion came along, there was a major upheaval in political offices. This suited Richolds' agenda perfectly; he hadn't scored much on the last two rebellions, but this one would be the big payoff. Getting in with Wily and Light had been a stroke of genius; the greedy politician congratulated himself. Who would have guessed that what had started as simply repaying old debts would blossom into the crowning point of his career? Richolds sobered. Truthfully, there had been times when he had considered wavering from his purely political mindset. Despite himself, at times he had found himself almost liking the Lights. Honestly, could he really be certain that those times he was playing up to them, he hadn't really meant the friendly words he had spoken? Might he not have actually thought of them as more than stepping stones in his career?

Get a hold of yourself, Richolds, the politician shook his head. Friendship? Ha. No such thing. That was one of the first lessons Richolds had ever learned, when the lawyer he had done his internship for (who had invited him to parties and over for dinner) heartlessly fired him over a false accusation from a sycophant bootlicker. When his money vanished, so did all the rest of his friends. No, friendship was a joke. All that mattered was yourself. And besides, he thought grimly, whatever dim feelings of comradeship the Lights might have felt towards him had vanished the moment he had asked for their help. He could see it in their eyes; the same disgusted glare. He's a politician, you can't trust him, he's only looking out for himself. Richolds laughed. He'd be insulted, if it weren't all true. And thus, once he had gotten into the UN with Gamma, he would cheerfully dump the Lights and forget he had ever known them. As Richolds lit a cigar, he frowned. There was still one loose end... something that was bothering him. What was it...

Froid. The thought shattered his feeling of relaxation. There was something very wrong about that doctor. Richolds didn't know what it was, but it was definately bad news. Froid's treatment had been the major point for getting Wily out of jail. If anything happened to suggest that Froid might have been wrong, under the current mood of the UN, Wily might be tossed back in. If that happened, Gamma wouldn't be completed. And if THAT happened... Richolds growled and tossed the cigar in a nearby wastebasket, his good mood evaporating. No, Froid could not be risked. Whatever fishy behavior that scientest was up to, it was time he stopped it. Richolds knew he couldn't just brace Froid; he had to get more information. But how... he paced his office for a few minutes, heavily in thought, then stopped with a broad grin. Of course! In his youth, he had gained his first real political position when the former holder had resigned in shame due to the revealing of several documents. Documents which Richolds had acquired by sneaking into the man's office. He had used those skills time and time again in his climb; what was one more time? Chuckling, he walked outside and took the elevator down.

"Avery, I'm going out." He told the man behind the desk as he exited through the doors. Destination: The house of Dr. Cedric Froid.

***

"This cannot be..." Doc Man moaned to himself, clutching his head as he sat int he corner of his lair. "No... no, Gemini Man can't be the only one left... no, Mega Man cannot be on the verge of stopping my vengeance... no, no! I'm not losing! I'm notnotnotnot...no, insanity again..." He screamed once, echoing horribly around the lair. "Who am I? Who am I? WHO AM I?!" Suddenly, the answer came to him, and in a flash, his insanity was banished. "NO! I am DOC MAN! I am the devil incarnate, the avenging angel! The monster and the hero! Who says I can't be both? I can be anybody! I can be anybody in the world, in the blink of an eye! I am the mastermind of the Third Robot Rebellion, the slayer of Mega Man and Dr. Wily both! I will... no I must succeed! I did all this! It's all through my genius, my revenge! It's all under my control... I am as strong as I was at the start! I must play this game by my rules... I will conquer this world with my tools..." Humming more of an old song, Doc Man's eyes once again lit up with the familiar red glow. "I am THE DOC MAN!!!" Cackling, the evil robot rose and sat down in front of his computer.

"Right, then! Mega Man is off fighting Gemini Man... which means this is a perfect time to use Emergency Plan C! See, nothing to worry about! I had planned for this all along, hadn't I? Yes! The moment of my revenge is at hand... Wily, you will pay..." His grin stretching even wider, the madbot checked his plans one last time, then fired off a shot from his plasma buster to make sure it was working properly. Nodding, he shifted into his holographic guise and left the room, his thoughts filled with the lust for revenge and death and blood, oh so much blood...

***

"So you're Gemini Man." Mega Man smirked at the white-and-blue robot in front of him. "I must say, I'm not impressed."

"Really? That's a shame." Gemini Man smirked back. "I always want to put on a good show for an audience."

"Audience. Ha." Mega Man laughed slowly. "You think this is just some kind of game?" The Robot Master shrugged.

"Hey, I get bored up here on the moon. Well,, let's play." Smiling, he jumped across the room, sailing over Mega Man's head. The blue hero followed him with his sight and blasted at him... only to be hit in the back by another plasma bullet. "Huh?!" Turning, he saw Gemini Man standing there, snickering. Angry, he threw a Shadow Blade at him... then stumbled as he was shot in the back once more. "What the HELL?!" He turned to see Gemini Man standing there.

"You forget my powers, Mega Man!" Gemini Man and Gemini Man chanted in unison. "I am two, not one!"

"Oh yeah, that..." Mega Man growled. "Well, try some of this!" He fired a Magnet Missile, but one Gemini Man blasted it out of the sky while the other fired at Mega Man again as both of them slowly advanced, snickering. "Hey! Why you... try some Spark Shot!" The Gemini Man easily jumped it while his partner fired. Grr... if they can jump that, the Hard Knuckle'll be no use... too slow. Needle Cannon would work, but I used it all up back on those eggs, dammit... I'm in a tight spot.

"Two against one isn't exactly fair, boys." A familiar voice and whistle accompanied Break Man jumping out of a corner of the ceiling. "Give me a break, Mega Man. You haven't even tried your newest weapon?"

"Oh yeah, the Search Snake!" Mega Man grinned. The Gemini Men growled and advanced on the newcomer.

"Whoever you are..."

"You'll pay for interfering!"

"Oh please." Break Man yawned. "You two sound like badly translated anime twins. Do you really think Mega Man is the only bloke in the world with Weapons Copy?" Before three stunned sets of eyes, his red-and-grey colors changed to green-and-white of the Search Snake. He raised his buster. "Say goodnight." From the aperture, three small robotic snakes emerged and launched themselves at Gemini Man's face. He choked and writhed as they went down his throat, worming their way into his delicate machinery and... a moment later, he exploded in blue sparks, leaving no trace of his existence. The real Gemini Man screamed.

"You... KILLED ME! I'LL KILL YOU!" Without the strain of his double on his energy, the furious Robot Master brought his main weapon into play; the Gemini Laser. The powerful beam of blue light pierced both of Break Man's arms.

"ARGH!" The one-eyed robot howled and jumped to the other side of the room. "I'm down... think you can finish him, blue-boy?" Mega Man smiled grimly.

"Oh, yeah." He grinned and changed his colors to the Search Snake as well. Snarling, Gemini Man fired a laser at him as well, but the hero jumped it and threw off two Search Snakes from each arm. They latched onto each of Gemini Man's appendages, pinning him to the ground. Gemini Man, however, just laughed.

"Behind you, fool!" Without even looking, Mega Man ducked, and the laser that had reflected off the wall and ceiling past over him by mere millimeters. Straight into Gemini Man's chest.

"Well, that's that." Mega Man sighed as he removed Gemini Man's weapons chip from his chest cavity. "Now, we have to come up with how we're going to decide who gets the Energen Crystals. Neither of us is in any shape to fight."

"Challenge you to a game of Street Fighter 2." Break Man joked. "Me Ryu, you Ken. We'll see who can out-Hadouken the other."

"Har, har."

"Aw, hell with it." The red robot groaned. "You take 'em." Mega Man's eyes grew a bit wide at this.

"Huh?! But..."

"Look, just do it, okay?" Break Man snapped, his eye glowing. "Go on, before I change my mind!" Shrugging, Mega Man opened up a chest in the back of the room and took out the white Energen Crystals. When he looked back, Break Man was gone. So was Gemini Man's head; a discarded Shadow Blade was lying next to the corpse. Mega Man smiled.

"How many of the weapons does he have?" He teleported out.

***

"Roll! Doorbell!" Dr. Light called.

"Yeah, yeah." His daughter called back. "I'm checking our e-mail."

"Oh, just get it yourself, Tom." Dr. Wily suggested. "She'll be hours on there." Dr. Light nodded and walked down the stairs. Roll grumbled a few curses about doctors.

"...Hello, what's this? From Richolds? Movie format? This better not be another request for an interview..." Frowning, she opened it. As she watched, her eyes slowly grew wider, and her mouth dropped open...

"Dr. Froid! Good to see you!" Dr. Light smiled as he showed his guest in. "Come in, come in! Al's in the living room; we're having tea. Come join us, why don't you?"

"Thank you..." The psychologist nodded. As Dr. Light led the way, he observed the house as if seeing it for the first time. Dr. Cedric Froid smiled.

And for less than a second... his eyes glinted red with insanity.