Protoman shook his head as he watched the army of children march out to attack Yamagatchi's fortress. The children were quiet and silent- he guessed maybe Lui and Charity would make it to Trinity.
He'd been watching them for some time. Probably since Chaos tipped off that Megaman was there. Protoman looked and looked, but he still hadn't found Megaman. He sighed and sat back to watch the group slip into three different sets. He looked up at Yamagatchi's castle, the tower that everyone could see. It was a good fifty Kilometers away. The kids would be walking for hours upon hours except for the streets and the cars. The first wave left, and the second waited, cramming up the alleys. Marie was in charge of the first wave, and she rode on the motorcycle fearlessly as she threw her life away.
Protoman couldn't believe that Megaman was alive. Chaos mentioned something along the lines of 'really lucky that Blue's alive'. Blue was the name she called Megaman. She had been looking at the sky, but her words echoed through his head.
"Lui!" Protoman's head spun around, his heart leaping at the sound of the voice.
Lui looked up to Rock, running with Computo Cat, Zero, and Forte behind him. He ran up to her, his feet sliding as he stopped. He looked at her, with everyone around.
"Lui, what's going on?" Rock asked. "It's not war yet, is it?"
Lui messed with a gun. "Rock. Listen closely." She spoke coldly. "I appreciate the concern, but Larry's confirmed the suspicion. You did a good job, kid, keeping up morale. It was hard, and it you saved Marie's life. But now, Joe is gone. The fighting spirit is gone- reduced to kids now. Yamagatchi has been gathering strength- Chaos told us by handing us money. When she has money to give, that's a sign. Yamagatchi is going to kill everyone on the planet. Only I can stop him. Not you, not Forte, not Zero. Me."
"That's an ego, woman," Forte said, raising an eyebrow.
Lui's face was hidden underneath a shadow. "You'd be surprised, Forte." Suddenly, there was a huge blast. To everyone, she gave a cry. "It has begun! Let us do our families proud!" The group ran out onto the streets, knives, guns, and wooden poles upraised. Person after person passed before Rock's eyes. Brandon. Larry. Terry. He even saw Charity, in her battle dress- not the coat and pants, but almost a swimsuit with huge boots, along with spades. He watched as the alley was suddenly empty. He looked to Zero, who was looking up.
"Come down or I'll shoot," Zero told the figure. Protoman jumped down. As he did so, Rock's memory all came back.
The start of Wily. The reprogramming of the robots. Roll's creation. Rush's. Tango's, and SunGod's downfall. Forte destroying the lab. Protoman's whistle. Auto's creation. Duo.
Megaman's head swirled around. He grasped it, trying to heal the pain with his hands. He was on the ground soon, his eyes showing binary everywhere.
"Trinity…" he said, his voice cracking. "Why…." Suddenly, a blue light erupted from Megaman's body. He was engulfed in flame, his clothes burned away. The fire was too bright to look at, but Protoman still stood facing his brother. Megaman's voice spoke, and his eyes were far away. "What happened, Protoman? What did they do?"
Protoman's eyes held tears, something he had acquired on his trip around the universe. "It…It was horrible, Megaman. Roll had even transformed her arm cannon. Light had hidden X in the emergency capsule. He won't awaken for thirty years or so. After that, Yamagatchi broke in. He had Trinity, and she was wise. Her own abilities, plus his, were amazing. He was able to fire electrical blasts from a gun. They shut down anything. Trinity took on myself, Tango, and Auto, while Roll, Beat, and Rush took on Yamagatchi. There was no contest. Yamagatchi won with nothing to spare. Roll, in a last attempt, hit my teleported and Tango hit me right then. I was teleported away. I tried to teleport back, but the signal was jammed. When I did make it back…. My God…." He fell to his knees, tears streaking down his face, his voice cracking, his shoulders sobbing. "Light… hadn't had a quick death. He was…. torn apart…. piece by piece… The others were shown the same light." He went numb, sobbing.
Megaman's voice appeared, the light even more intense. "To you?" he asked Forte and Zero.
Zero began. "I was created to rival your brother, X," he said. "My sole mission in life is to destroy you. But as I've seen, missions can be altered. Wily wasn't shown any mercy. Forte and I were out training in the woods when Quick Man ran up to us. He said Wily was in trouble. Forte and I ran to help, but it was too late. A beam crashed down into the Earth. Quickman knocked us down, sacrificing himself for us." Zero turned to Forte to continue.
Forte did so. "It was hard. Hell, I even took off my helmet in respect. Wily wasn't robotic, so Trinity came down and took him down. She didn't go slow, either. She wrote the words 'Justice' in his blood. Wily was still alive when Zero found him."
The light went from blue to white, then almost invisible, except to the robots eyes, was still blinding from energy. Megaman's voice let out a terrible yell, then as it finished, he stood, his eyes narrowed.
His uniform was back, and his megabuster was readied. Protoman looked up, and shook his head. "Megaman… we can't do anything."
"Wanna bet? With those kids, we can make it all the way to Yamagatchi." Megaman started running off, his eyes almost on fire.
Protoman looked up. His fingers traveled to his scarf, the one Light had made for him. He gave a nod, and then followed.
Computo went next, and hopped onto Protoman's shoulder for a ride.
Forte looked at Zero, who shook his head. But Zero felt surprise as Forte ran off, trying to catch his rival. Sighing, Zero followed as well, knowing Wily would want it that way.
Trinity waited by Yamagatchi's desk. Her uniform was on, all but the helmet. Silky, thick, brown hair spilled from her head to midback. Her hairpins were on her armguard, magnetically sticking on.
Yamagatchi was an older man, about sixty, but with a head full of white hair, shaven off on all but the very top. Yamagatchi's eyes narrowed as Hawk #3704 entered the room. "Sir. The children are attacking."
"Yes, how pitiful. Destroy them. Keep them from entering." He smiled and pressed a button on his desk. "You hear that, Joe? Your children have fallen strait into my trap." Trinity didn't falter as Joe let out a yell. It was still echoing after the comlink was shut off. Trinity's eyes fell upon the portrait of a woman. She was surprised, and had been watering a garden. Her eyes had spent countless minutes trying to figure the woman out, but did nothing. Yamagatchi spoke. "You destroyed the robots?"
"One, sir." She turned as Yamagatchi stood up, angry. He got in her face, spitting.
"You DARE destroy only ONE? May I even dare ask which? The bouncy cat, right?"
"Yes, sir." Trinity's eyes were unmoving.
"Damn you!" Yamagatchi said, slapping her cheek. A red mark was left and she refrained from rubbing the mark to ease the pain. "They'll get farther! We'll lose more people!"
"That was the purpose, right?" She asked coldly.
"Yes. It was." He sighed, sitting in the chair. Trinity started putting up her hair. Yamagatchi gave an unseen grin.
Lui entered the building with Forte behind her. The robots and the humans were in different sets, but few humans were left. The robots mainly hung together, but Forte insisted keeping "ego-woman" company, giving her crud every inch of the way.
"What makes you so sure you can defeat Yamagatchi?" Forte asked, as the two entered a room. A marksman stepped up. Lui lifted up a gun.
"I have my reasons," She shouted before jumping up into the air. The marksman fired, but missed her. Trinity waited from above, holding a self-destruct button.
Forte grinned as he pelted the marksman with shots. Lui continued her firing. The Marksman took the hits, then fired back at Lui. Forte's eyes went wide as not only the bullets, but the shrapnel from the explosion of the body went at her.
As the smoke cleared, Trinity was gone. Lui lay on her side, her bureau badly burned. Forte kneeled down beside her.
"Damn you humans, always dying," he uttered.
"Forte… listen," She said quietly. "Yamagatchi…" she gasped. "He's a robot."
Forte blinked. "No he's not. He's never given any hint-"
"My mother, Forte," she rasped, "wanted to make a robot with free will. To replace my father. Of course, Yamagatchi went bad. He killed mother in a fit of rage, and disowned me. He tried to redo his actions, he tried to build a better life- when the idea struck him. The idea to destroy the human race." She coughed up blood, but still tried to finish. "He's trying to unleash a virus that makes robots destroy humans. He has known we're here all along. He knew this would happen. He's going to try and kill you all, and Trinity will help. She needs to be shown the truth."
Lui looked up at Forte with big, round eyes. Forte nodded, and sighed. "I'll not try not to kill the bitch," he responded. Lui smiled, then, with the last cough of blood, died.
Forte made a Catholic cross, then stood and left, never looking back. Trinity jumped down, staring at this girl. She took off the bureau to find a picture, a photograph, of a woman with a hose, looking surprised. Angrily, she crumpled the paper into a ball.
"Thanks, Charity," Megaman said, staring blankly at the dead humans sprawled against the wall, their guts on the opposite wall. Zero looked around.
"Nice woman," he said, nodding his head approvingly. Protoman's eyes narrowed. "Nice scarf."
She glared at him. "Just don't go around looking for reasons to die," she told Megaman.
She then entered the next room. As she did so, an axe promptly chopped her in half.
"You've killed too many men," a voice said, laughing. The robots stood outside, not wanting to come in. Computo growled and placed a force field on the door. The voice laughed louder. "Don't be serious," he said. "I know you can't keep that up forever. Let it go."
Computo did so, still hissing. Smoke entered the room, from unknown and unseen air vents.
"Let me welcome you to my humble home," Yamagatchi said, his eyes glowing.