Author's Revision Note: Here's the next chapter of the fanfic. I was
expecting to have this whole "spying" plot crammed into one chapter, but I
have a bad habit of leaving cliffhangers in certain chapters (not that this
would bug you since I just have the whole revised chapters joining the
latest installment), so I ended up cutting it into two parts. Anyway, I
hope you enjoy this revised chapter (And so on) and I'll just shut up now
so you can read this.
_ 2 _
Escape from Captivity
Mega sat in the corner of the wall, head drooped and worried.
"I can't believe it," he muttered, "outmatched by a kid who looks like me. What's worse is that Wily tricked him into thinking I'm the enemy." He sighed, "Some search and rescue operation this turned out to be."
He thought back to the day this whole incident happened. He and Roll were just standing next to Dr. Light as he demonstrated his inter- dimensional warp machine, capable of traveling to places man has never been to before. He displayed it at the next Robot Expo, which turned out to be a bad idea when Wily all of a sudden got the information about a warping machine and crashed in to grab it.
Everyone in the expo scattered as a fight began, tearing up random displays and knocking over the walls that separate them. Unfortunately, it got to a point where Mega accidentally shot one of Wily's robots right into the several buttons controlling the machine, causing it to malfunction and begin sucking in everything in its path like a black hole. Wily and his robots went first. Dr. Light held onto Roll for support to keep him from getting pulled in as well, but he soon lost grip and went flying into the vortex a minute before it finally went dead.
Frantic, Mega began punching in the last coordinates that flashed across the computer next to the machine and, with Rush, jumped into the vortex before Roll had a chance to stop him. That's all Mega remembered up to the point where he woke up and found himself surrounded by people in a world almost like his own, but seemed to be played out differently than he had expected.
* * *
Bomb Man, fully repaired, stood by the cavern leading to the stone prisons, twirling a ring of keys on his index finger. He doesn't know why he got stuck on guard duty since Mega had been blasted to a point where he could barely stand up on his own and there weren't many people who found out about this place. But Wily knew somehow Mega, no matter what condition he ended up in, would manage to pull himself through and escape.
"Wily's just overwhelmed...." Bomb Man muttered, "That blue wuss is so weak, he could barely stand up without his knees knocking. This is just a waste of my...." Before he could finish his sentence, a pebble pelted him on the side of his face. It barely moved him, but got his attention.
Bomb Man looked in the direction it came from to see nothing but another cavern doorway. Shrugging, he went back to ranting quietly until a rock hit his face. He ran towards the direction the rock came from, poking his head in the doorway of the next cavern path.
"Alright! Whoever's hitting me with stones better come out before I blast the inside of this cavern!"
"Gee, that's not a nice thing to say to an ally," came a voice. Bomb Man looked down to see Rock looking up at him with his hand on his paralyzed arm. He laughed.
"Well, well. If it isn't Wily's new lackey," Bomb Man said, "Whatsamatter. You so bored, you decided to throw gravel at us?"
"Oh, not really," Rock said, "I just wanted to test this device out." Rock takes his hand off his arm with a little black marble in front of his thumb and flicks it at Bomb Man's head. The marble nearly knocked him onto his back.
"Why you little...I atta...." Bomb Man was about to finish when the marble glowed, sending sparks all over his body. He trembled everywhere before standing straight, looking like a mindless slave, "I hear and obey...."
Rock looked at the black marble with content, "Heh, that mini control device Dr. Light gave me worked like a charm." He then turned his attention back to Bomb Man, "First order of business, I want you to put the keys down gently." Bomb Man complied, bending down and placing the keys neatly on the floor in front of Rock.
But he wasn't satisfied with that. Rock decided to have a little fun with the device, "Next, I want you to...get on all fours and run 300 yards from this cavern, acting like a dog, then curl up and go to sleep." He grinned as Bomb Man got on his hands and knees, turned around and began trampling down the path, barking until he disappeared, sound and all. He snickered, "It's a good thing Dr. Light only made one of these and that they disappear after a while. Now onto other matters."
Rock grabs the keys and ran towards the cavern Bomb Man previously stood at.
* * *
Mega looked around his prison cell again. If his clone hadn't blasted him in the chest, he would've used his plasma cannon to melt the man-made bars keeping him locked up and escape. But being in a nearly crippled state, all he could do is hope that someone comes along and helps him escape. But how? For all he knew, he was the only one who knows something sneaky was going on and no one would believe him if he tried to tell it.
Robotic footsteps cut off his concentration. Mega looked towards the bars to see Rock standing on the other side, doing the same thing. They just stared at each other, not saying anything for the next two minutes. Mega then looked at the gash on Rock's left shoulder blade, then the floor in front of him.
"You better get that arm fixed," Mega half mumbled, "Then again, I'm probably talking to myself."
Mega looks back at the prison bars, expecting Rock to disappear. Instead, he saw the little robot throw something in his direction. Unconsciously, he reached out and grabbed it before it passed him. He could hear some kind of liquid sloshing around the object he caught. Mega brings the object in front of him, seeing a blue and white can with an E on both sides.
After a moment, Mega pulled the tab off the can and slowly drank it. A sudden rush of energy flew through his systems. He got up, feeling strength in his whole body, and turned to the bars, noticing Rock had disappeared. After checking to make sure he was back in one piece, he looked at the can in his hand.
It was clearly an energy can, but why did his alter ego throw it at him? Mega dropped the can and ran over to the bars of the prison, looking around for Rock, but couldn't find anyone within his sight. He then looked down, seeing a ring of keys sprawled near the cell door. Either he knew Wily had tricked him from the start, or he had just come to the realization that he was being tricked.
Mega grabbed the keys and began fiddling with the lock of the prison cell doors, trying to find the right key to fit through and get him out.
* * *
"I can't believe Wily's making us do this," Guts Man grumbled, "First he has us sitting outside all night with nothing but an electrical lamp guiding us and now he wants us to keep an eye on Mega Man?"
"That kid may've disabled Mega Man, but he could still escape," Cut Man said, "I'd rather be obeying Wily rather than be off playing cards and find out he somehow got out of his cell."
They came to a stop, seeing Bomb Man on his back with his arms and legs in the air and his tongue lagging on the side of his mouth, panting like a dog. The two Wily bots also noticed he was "asleep". Guts Man scowled.
"HEY! WAKE UP!" he shouted, kicking Bomb Man into the ceiling of the cave. Bomb Man hit the ground and bounced onto his butt, the mini controlling device shorting out and exploding.
"Whoa! What a nightmare!" Bomb Man exasperated, "I dreamt I was turned into a dog."
"You didn't just dream it, you were acting like it," Cut Man laughed.
"Enough of that!" Guts Man grunted, "What were you doing out here, pretending to be Mega's dog in dream world when you should be guarding the makeshift prison!?"
"What?" Bomb Man looked around, finding he was in the middle of the path 300 yards from where he was originally standing, "How did I get all the way out here?" he then snapped remembering Rock flicking something onto his forehead before everything went black, "That brat! He must've hit me with some kind of controlling device!"
"Ha! You know kids. They always act like that," then Cut Man noticed something was missing, "The keys to the prison! Where are they!?"
"Keys!?" Bomb Man felt around for the keys only to make full contact with his sides. He then screamed, "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! I'M GONNA KILL THAT BRAT!!!" and storms off with Guts Man and Cut Man looking at each other before running off after Bomb Man.
* * *
Mega went through seven keys before the next one registered with a click.
"Finally," he sighed. He pulled the cell doors opened and stepped out only to meet the three Wily bots face to face.
"WHA!?!? MEGA MAN!?!?" they all shouted.
"Crap!" Mega muttered before turning to run.
"H-How did he get the keys!?" Bomb Man yelled.
"Who cares!? We gotta stop him before he reaches the communication room!" Guts Man yelled as the trio gave chase.
* * *
The alarmed sounded as both Wily and Proto heard it.
"What!? Mega Man's escaped!?" Wily cried, "but how!?"
"It's gotta be that miniscule clone of his!" Proto yelled, "I told you we should've trusted that brat!"
Wily just chuckled, "Don't be ridiculous, Proto. Don't forget, that miniature Mega Man was the one who blindly joined our side. He's so stupid, he'll believe anything."
"Really? Then I suppose I wouldn't be stupid enough to do this!" came a voice.
"What!?" the two turned to the door to see a red and yellow Rock shoot a ball of fire at the communication console, causing an explosion that knocked them both to the ground.
"It was fun being evil for a while, but I've gotta be going now!" he turns gray and white, throws a bomb at the communications room and runs off as it exploded, "Don't say I did anything for you!"
Surrounded by smoke, Wily began coughing and hacking, both he and Proto covered in soot. The whole room began to shake as more explosions ripped through the cave.
"I've been double crossed!" Wily cried between coughs.
"I won't say I told you so...." Proto began to say.
"Just get that brat!"
* * *
The ground shook as all four of the robots tried to stay standing.
"This cave's gonna blow!" Cut Man cried.
"Looks like your 'partner' wasn't so trusting after all, fellas!" Mega yelled.
"You'll never leave this cave alive!" Bomb Man yelled as he threw a bomb at Mega.
"Didn't you learn your lesson the first time?" Mega asked rhetorically before kicking the bomb back at the trio, causing it to hit the ceiling and explode, leaving a pile of rocks that blocked the path between them, "As much as I'd like to stay, I'd feel a whole lot better if I had more than ten seconds of life left, so this robot is outta here!" he turned and ran off.
"He's getting away!" Cut Man yelled, although he didn't really see what was behind the pile of rocks in front of him.
"Let's split up and search!" Guts Man said, "It's like a labyrinth in here. He couldn't go far without that little resemblance guiding him out!"
* * *
The shaking began to increase the closer Rock got towards the doorway of the chasm. This was just like all those other explosions he caused when he fought the real Wily six times, only this time, he had Robot Masters coming after him to try and keep him from escaping.
A bomb suddenly slammed into the back of Rock's head, causing an explosion that shoved him onto his face. His helmet flew off and bounced down the path until it rolled to a stop several feet from him.
"I never did pay you back for reducing me to a dog-brained idiot!" Bomb Man said, walking towards Rock who pushed himself onto his back. When Bomb Man got a full view of his raven hair, he cried out in shock, "I thought I saw that face somewhere! You're that wimpy little kid from the mall! That must mean you knew it was a trick all along!"
Bomb Man slammed his foot on the gash on Rock's left shoulder, hearing him scream in pain, "That's good! Cause I never liked you in the first place!"
"Yeah!?" Rock gasped, "Well, for someone who looks like my brother, I never took a liking to you or the altered forms of my other three brothers anyway!" he points his right Mega-Buster at Bomb Man.
"Not this time, kid," Bomb Man jabbed his foot deeper into Rock's gash, causing him to scream louder as sparks began flying out of the bottom of the altered Robot Master's foot, "you may've heard why we showed up, but with that injury, you'll never leave this chasm alive!"
"Maybe I won't! But at least my twin would be able to get out now that he's up and about!"
"Ha! That's a laugh! He's the only one who doesn't know his way out of this cave! He'll be just as dead as you are!"
* * *
Rocks and stalactites rained everywhere as Mega continued down the path until he came to the center point of a fork in the path. Seeing bits of moonlight seeping in, he only knew that would have to be the way out.
"There it is!" he said, "Good! This place is about to blow in two minutes! I just hope I can...." he stopped both in words and in movement when he heard faint screaming somewhere along the path.
Following the scream, Mega came to the center of the fork and looked around, trying to figure out which path the scream came from. He then noticed Rock's helmet laying beside his feet and looked past it, seeing Bomb Man increasing his foot pressure on Rock's left shoulder.
"I could blow you up now," Bomb Man said. He then began wiggling his feet back and forth, hearing Rock screaming louder than his voice box could handle, "But I'm having too much fun hearing you scream like a helpless child."
"Pick on someone your own size!"
"Huh!?" Bomb Man looked up to receive a plasma blast to the chest, knocking him off Rock and landing two feet away from him.
Mega then ran towards Rock, "Hey, are you...." when he stopped beside Rock and bent down to him, his eyes widened in shock upon seeing his counterpart's raven hair, "No way! You're Mega Man!?"
Rock tried to force a sheepish grin, "Life's full of surprises, isn't it?" he asked hoarsely. Mega noticed he was slowly losing consciousness and held his upper body in his arms.
"A-are you going to be okay?" Mega asked.
"I...I don't think so. When Bomb Man began crushing my left shoulder, it felt like my whole body was starting to go numb. I...don't know how much longer...I can...stay awake...." Rock's voice went from hoarse to a mumbling slur, his eyelids slowly drifting down.
Mega was getting desperate, "W-What about that energy can you gave me? Don't you have another one of those stashed away somewhere?"
"Sorry...that was the last E-Can I had. I was going to use it to get my own strength back, but seeing how crippled you were from that blast, I couldn't just leave you like that."
The ceiling suddenly exploded. Mega quickly scoops up Rock and jumps out of the way as stalactites and huge rocks rained in his place.
"Sizzling circuits! I forgot about the explosion!" Mega yelped. He looks at Rock, "I'd better get you out of here before the whole place collapses on us!"
Mega ran towards the entrance as fast as the shaky ground would let him, ducking his head with every explosion that broke through the ceiling.
"I'd enjoy the fourth of July if it didn't blow up in my face!" Mega sarcastically pointed out. He saw the mouth of the chasm getting closer before an explosion sent a pile of rocks tumbling down the ceiling, blocking their only chance of escape.
"Damn!" Mega cursed. He heard laughter and turned to Bomb Man who picked himself up, pointing at him.
"You're too late, Mega Man!" Bomb Man yelled, "You can blast it open, but you'd run a very high risk of damaging your kiddy resemblance further than the condition he's already in!"
"He's bluffing! Go ahead and blast it!" Rock mumbled. Mega looked at Rock, gritting his teeth, then the pile of rocks.
"No, he's right," Mega said, "If I blast the piles open, the debris and explosion could damage you beyond repair! I can't risk it!"
"The truth hurts, doesn't it?" Bomb Man asked rhetorically, "but don't worry. You and your baby cousin will spend the last minute together before the base goes up in smoke! In the meantime, I've got a date with the Skulkur and I can't keep it waiting!" with that, Bomb Man turned and ran off.
Mega dropped to his knees and punched the ground in front of him, "No! There has to be another way out of here!"
"There is...I just didn't want to blurt it out in front of Bomb Man." Mega looked at Rock, seeing him try to lift his arm, "Open the panel on my arm...and press the emergency teleportation button."
"The emergency what!?" Mega ask, not out of stupidity, but out of shock.
"Emergency teleportation. It's the purple button on the right."
Mega picked up Rock's right arm and pulled open a panel below it. Inside were two buttons, one blue, another purple. Mega quickly pressed the purple button and both were engulfed in a bright blue light as it shot through the ceiling right before the whole chasm erupted in one big explosion.
* * *
"A portion of Capcom-Tokyo's park just went up in smoke!" the reporter shouted as everyone saw a huge mushroom cloud loom over the city, "At first the police reported a land mine being planted in the ground, but this one is huge. It's as if a base was built underground. Policemen are hard at work trying to figure out this strange anomaly. We believe it may have something to do with those robots from the parallel universe. We will give you live updates as it comes."
"Oh no! Didn't you sent Rock over there to investigate?" Roll asked.
"Yes," Dr. Light said, looking down, "I can only hope he made it out okay."
"We'd better check around for him," Bomb said, "who knows what kind of trouble he got into."
"How can you say that!?" Roll cried, "Our brother is the strongest robot on Capcom! There's no way he could have been blown to bits!"
"Guys! Look!" Fire called out. The other five Robot Masters and Roll ran over to him as a beam of light hit the ground in front of him. Once the light faded, Mega looked up and around, Rock still cradled in his arms.
"What the...where are we now?" Mega yelped. Everyone's eyes went wide as they stumbled back.
"Look out! It's that dangerous Mega Man everyone's been talking about!" Bomb cried.
"What!?" Mega looked in front of him, seeing the six Robot Masters and Roll staring back at him with horror in their eyes.
Fire was the first to recover. He quickly thrusts his fire blaster in Mega's face, causing him to lean back slightly. The other five also recovered, ready to ambush the shocked robot who just sat there, head turning to each Robot Master he saw.
"No!" Rock cried, getting everyone's attention as they all focused on his weakened state, sparks flying out of the gap on his left shoulder blade.
"Oh no! Rock's been damaged!" Roll cried. Guts glared at Mega and grabbed his shoulder.
"Monster! What did you do to him!?" he growled, throttling his fist, ready to punch Mega in the face.
"No, Guts! Don't!" Guts looked at Rock who's trying to raise his hand as if to push him back, "He...he tried to...save...me...." he then went limp in Mega's arms.
"ROCK!" Roll screamed. She spun around, "Dr. Light! Rock needs help!"
The crowd opened as Dr. Light pushed his way through, walking up to Mega. Once up close, Mega saw he could make full eye contact with the altered scientist without having to get up. Dr. Light took his gaze off Mega and moved down to the unconscious robot in his arms. Mega followed the gaze.
"I'm...I'm sorry," Mega muttered. Dr. Light sighed and took Rock from his arms.
"It seems we were wrong about you," Dr. Light said, "we don't know how Rock got in this condition, but you seem too honest to be fully responsible for damaging him."
The good scientist walks towards one of the tables, the others backed away from Mega, the Robot Masters except for Cut and Guts leaving the lab and Roll heading over to the table. Mega soon gets up and goes with her, sitting on another worktable.
"How bad is it, Dr. Light?" Roll asked.
"The damage isn't too serious," Dr. Light said, "I should have him working again by morning."
"Are you sure you can work this late?" Cut asked. Dr. Light smiled.
"How else would you and the other Robot Masters be alive if I hadn't pulled an overnight to revive you when Rock brought you here? I've never felt healthier even with the lack of sleep." Dr. Light then looked at Roll, "Could you go fetch a sleeping bag from the closet?"
"Whoa! Wait a minute! You mean that towering twin of Rock's going to be sleeping here!?" Guts demanded, throwing his finger towards Mega, making him cringe.
"He doesn't have to sleep with you," Dr. Light said, "He can share Rock's room since there's enough space."
"N-no, it's okay. I can leave if I'm bothering everyone," Mega offered. Dr. Light shook his head.
"No. We are the only ones who know you aren't as dangerous as the reports say. If we send you out now, the police will eventually find you and lock you away. It's safer if you stay with us until we can find a way to get you back home."
* * *
The storm died the next morning. While most of the policemen continued their investigation on the exploded chasm last night, the reporter told everyone that while Mega Man's alter ego was still on the loose along with all the other altered characters, it was still safe to come out. The streets and sidewalks of Capcom-Tokyo was bustling with people either getting to work or just hanging out.
The Skulkur flew overhead, Wily looking at the people crowding the morning streets as talking flooded the otherwise silent sky.
"What foolish people," Wily snickered, "They really think it's safe to be out when I can easily take it away with one simple ambush."
"They must think that miniature savior of theirs would come to their rescue if this happened," Proto said, "It's a shame they haven't found out he got blown up along with my brother and that base."
"I wouldn't count the real Mega Man out just yet. I could throw an earthquake at him and he'd still manage to get out in one piece. But since he's still hiding from the police, he won't be making much of an appearance when I decide to strike with the very robots that are helping keep this place safe for mankind." Wily finished with a sinister laugh as the Skulkur turned and flew off.
* * *
Back at Dr. Light's lab house, Cut and Guts insisted that they go to the mall and hang out for a while. With Rock fully repaired, replacing his fighting uniform with a red shirt and black pants, they begged him to come along.
"Okay, I'll be right back," Rock said, "I've got to go get my wallet. There're a few things I wanna get at the mall."
Rock went to the door of his room. Remembering that Mega was still sleeping in his room, he had to be sure he doesn't make much of a racket when he goes inside. He sighs and opens the door, seeing his towering double still in the black sleeping bag, sleeping with his arm serving as a pillow. Rock found it odd that despite the fact that he would usually go around in his fighting uniform without a helmet, he would think Mega looked strange having his brown, raven hair present instead of his helmet, which stood above his head on the floor.
Rock snuck past the sleeping bag towards his closet at the far end of the room, slowly pulling them open and reaching inside. He grabbed the wallet sitting right next to his Gameboy and slips it into his back pocket.
"Hey, how ya feelin'?" Rock nearly jumped when he heard Mega's voice. He turns around to see him propped on his hands with the sleeping bag still covering his lower body.
"Don't do that!" Rock snapped, "You act like my brother when you sneak up on me like that."
"Sorry," Mega said. He watched Rock heading towards the door, "What's going on?"
"Guts, Cut and I are heading to the mall," Rock opened the door, "I'd better get going before they get impatient and decide to leave me behind."
Rock went outside as Mega got up and picked up his helmet.
"Wait a minute, Rock," came another voice. Rock turned to see Roll run up to him, "Why don't you take him with you?"
"What?"
"Dr. Light feels its unfair leaving him here while the rest of us go outside and hang around."
"But what about the police? They're still out looking for him. We can't risk having him caught before we have a chance to explain."
Roll winked as Mega appeared behind Rock, "Don't worry, I can fix that. You wait outside with Cut and Guts."
Rock was confused, but he slowly turned and left. When he came outside, he found Guts and Cut sitting on the porch.
Guts wore a brown, oversize, wool trench coat, gold-colored sweat pants and a black beanie on his head. Cut wore a yellow jumpsuit with a rolling cutter ironed onto his chest and legs. The rolling cutter on his head has been replaced with a violet red beanie larger than what Guts had on.
"It's about time you showed up," Cut said, "Ready to go?"
"Um...can you two wait a little longer?" Rock asked.
"What for?" they asked.
"I think we may have someone joining us."
"Really? Did Ice decide to come out for once?" Guts asked tauntingly, "You know him. He never is much for hanging out unless it's the middle of winter." Rock was about to utter something when a voice got their attention.
"How can you guys walk in these pants!?" The trio turned to the door to see Mega coming outside, wearing a light blue t-shirt over a purple, long sleeve shirt and a pair of black sweat pants with legs that a little fatter than Mega's own legs. The bulginess of his arms and legs only told them that his fighting uniform wasn't removable.
"Holy cow! Where did you get that outfit!?" Rock yelped.
"Your sister got them out of Bomb and Guts' closet," Mega grumbled, fiddling with the belt keeping his pants up. Rock nervously laughed.
"I guess since Bomb and Guts are the only ones that match your height, she figured their clothes were best."
"Wait a minute, Rock," Cut yelped, "he's not going with us, is he!?"
"Dr. Light thought it would be unfair if we left Mega cooped up in the lab house, so Roll insisted we take him along."
Mega walked up to the three robots, looking at both Cut and Guts with a cocked eyebrow, "You two aren't seriously going to a mall looking like that, are you?"
Guts turned his head to the air, "Huh! Shows how much fashion sense you have. I bet you don't wear a lot of clothes when you were just an ordinary android without a gun." He gets up and walks off with the other three following.
* * *
"How's it going, Dad?" Roll asked as she came into the lab. Dr. Light stood in front of the monitor, typing on the keyboard.
"I've downloaded most of the coordinates from Mega's memory bank," Dr. Light said, "But the design for this warping machine from the blueprint he studied isn't going to be a walk in the park. It could take me a while to figure out the instructions on building it." He stopped typing and looked down, "Was letting Mega go outside the best idea? I cannot decipher the calculations of these plans without him."
Roll walked up to Dr. Light and put her arms around him, "You did the right thing, Dad. I wouldn't be happy if someone who resembles you had to keep me cooped up in a lab on a nice day, fearing that I might get captured for something I didn't do."
Dr. Light looked at Roll and smiled, "It's good to know someone is there to straighten my problems."
"That's what you programmed me to do."
* * *
The mall was mostly crawling with policemen baring metal detectors and running them over any person they found suspicious. Mega felt uncomfortable whenever he saw them do it.
"Maybe coming here wasn't such a good idea," Mega said.
"Oh, don't worry," Cut said, "these clothes are so thick, the strongest magnet couldn't hit you in the back. That's how we were able to go out in public without being spotted by metal detectors."
"Ooh! Let's go to the arcade!" Guts said, pointing towards a huge arcade room at the far end of the mall.
"Hey! Bet I can beat you at House of Horrors!" Cut challenged.
"Bring it on!" Rock said. The two ran towards the arcade center with Mega and Guts following behind.
"Wow! This place is huge!" Mega said when he came through the door, seeing the whole place swarming with games and people. Guts laughed.
"What's the matter? Never been to an arcade before?" he asked.
"Not in New York," Mega said, shrugging, "This is the first time I've seen a Japanese arcade up close."
"Hey! Check it out!" came a voice. Both Mega and Guts looked in front of them to see a huge screen in the back of the arcade center with arrows going in various places. There were two people dancing in front of the screen, one was just an ordinary kid in a t-shirt and jeans, another was a sleazy looking adult in a white disco suit with 70's style hair.
"Wow! The rumors are true! No one on this planet can beat Disco Man!" one of the people from the crowd said. Disco Man's opponent was panicking as he tried to keep up with the wimpy moves he was already putting on the nine buttons strewn along the platform below him. When the song finished playing, the computer announced the winner.
"Ah, yes. Even a robot can't beat me at this game," Disco Man said, stroking his chin, "I am the dancing king!"
"Is that a DDR machine?" Mega asked as he and Guts walked up to the front of the crowd.
"In a matter of speaking," Guts said, "This is next stage in dancing games because there are more than four buttons you have to step on."
Disco Man then turned around as the exhausted challenger stumbled off the stage, "Who wants to humiliate himself in front of me now?"
"Humph! For a human, he's totally stuck up," Guts grumbled.
"No kidding," Mega said, "I think his ego's gone to his head."
Disco Man eyed Mega and points to him, "You there with the messy hair. You think you can do better than me?"
"Let's get out of here," Guts said, "This guy's starting to get on my nerves." The two turned to leave, but Disco Man just laughed.
"Yeah, listen to the big guy, kid. Run along with your tail between your legs. You know no one can beat me."
Mega stopped. If he were human, a vain would've appeared on his head.
"That's it!" he shouted, turning to Disco Man, "No one disses me and gets away with it!"
"Hey! Wait a minute...!" Guts yelped. But Mega had already jumped onto the dance stage, standing beside Disco Man.
"Being on, Elvis!" Mega yelled.
"Ha! Such a fool!" Disco Man laughed, "Pretty soon you'll be leaving the stage just like that sap who challenged me earlier."
"Why don't you save your words so you can breath when you're done dancing?"
"Yow! Did you hear that? This guy's got spunk!" a man from the crowd said. Guts just stood there, half embarrassed, half dumbfounded.
"There you are, Guts!" Cut called as he and Rock ran towards their towering brother.
"Where's Mega?" Rock asked. Guts points a disconcerting finger towards the dance stage.
When the two other disguised robots turned to the stage, the music started playing. Everyone gasped when they saw how Mega was keeping up with egotistic opponent.
"Whoa! Check this guy out!" one of the people from the crowd said.
"He's pulling moves not even Disco Man can do." Another said. This annoyed Disco Man.
'That's what they think', he snarled. He then jabs his foot towards Mega, attempting to knock him off the dance pad. Mega saw it and jumped out of the way.
"He's cheating!" Mega cried out. He landed back on the dance pad and continued stepping on the buttons as Disco Man tried to throw punches at him only to see him duck and dodge them.
"Hey! Stay focused, Disco Man!" One of the people shouted.
"He's still going at it!" Another person shouted, seeing Mega still stepping about as if he was actually dancing to the music. The score in front of Disco Man began dissing him with every mis-step he took.
'This blasted machine's busted!' He thought. He tried to keep up with Mega only to slip and fall on his back as more arrows were missed. The song soon ends as the computer announced the winner, leaving Disco Man on the floor, snarling.
The crowd cheered as Mega turned and did a thumbs up to the three robots in front of him. Rock and Cut were joining the cheering crowd while Guts just returned the gesture.
* * *
A man in a trench coat and hat snuck into the mall, looking around cautiously before showing up to one of the potted plants and pulling out a stack of dynamites with a timer next to it.
"Ha! This mall is going to receive the biggest explosion in history," the man muttered, "The fireworks will begin in less than an hour."
He took out a small shovel and pushed some dirt out of the way, pressing the dynamites into the hole and throwing dirt around it until it was completely hidden inside. He snickered and was about to leave when he saw Rock, Guts, Cut and Mega walking towards him. He yelped and hid behind the pot, panicked.
"No! How can he still be alive!?" he hissed, "He's just as annoying as his pre-adult twin!"
"That disco nerd would think twice before he goes boasting about his skills," Guts said.
"Yeah, you never told me you could dance," Cut said.
"I've only been here one day," Mega said, "You didn't expect to read me like a book that long."
"Okay, Bomb Man. Calm down. You are wearing a disguise. No one will see you if you just walk away and act like a normal person." Nodding to himself, Bomb Man gets up, his hands in his pocket and tries to calmly walk away when a wandering policeman saw his metal detector beeping the closer he got to him.
"Excuse me, sir," he said, addressing the heavily dressed man, "Will you open your coat so we can see what kind of metal you have?"
Bomb Man grinned, "Why certainly." And with that, he throws his disguise into the air, revealing his true form. The policeman stumbled back, whipping his gun out and pointing it at him as another one appeared on the other side.
"Alright, you imposter! Lay down your weapons and come along quietly." One of them demanded.
"You guys are too much!" Bomb Man laughed. He reached behind him and throws two bombs in their direction. The policemen screamed and scattered as the bombs hit the ground they stood on and exploded.
The people all cried out in terror and began scattering around the mall. The four robots stopped in their tracks, seeing them running all over the place.
"Now what!?" Cut cried out.
"Look!" Rock points to Bomb Man who turns to the quadruplets.
"Nice to see you're still alive, kid!" Bomb Man pulls out another bomb, "Here's a little welcoming present!" he hurls the bomb at the group, causing them to scatter as it hit a potted plant and explode, sending dirt, bark and leaves flying everywhere.
"What'll I do!?" Rock wailed, "I can't transform in here! There're too many people!"
"Don't worry your kiddy head off," Bomb Man said, "In less than half an hour, there won't be anyone but me left in this place! I've planted a bomb somewhere in this mall. Good luck looking for it!"
Guts threw his disguise off, "I'll hold him off! You look for the bomb!" he charges at Bomb Man.
"Hold me off all you want, you'll never find that bomb in less than 30 minutes with all that pandemonium going on." Bomb Man throws another bomb at Guts only to see him catch it.
"Time to practice on my curve ball!" Guts said. He winds up the same way a pitcher from a baseball field would and throws the bomb right back at Bomb Man, blowing him out of the mall.
Meanwhile, the other three disguised robots began looking around the area for the dynamites until Cut saw a lump of dirt in one of the other potted plants. He pushes the lump away, seeing the dynamite appear halfway out of the dirt.
"I found it!" He cried.
Outside, the Skulkur appeared and shot a beam of light down to the blown Bomb Man, lifting him into the cockpit.
"We finished what we came for! Let's get out of here!" Wily growled. The Skulkur turned to leave as Cut ran outside with the stack of dynamites in his hand.
"Hey! Gramps! You forgot something!" he finished by hurling the dynamite towards the Skulkur, causing Wily and Proto to panic before an explosion filled the afternoon sky. A smoking streak skyrocketed out of the smoke cloud and into the distance. There was no explosion, so no one knew what happened to the Skulkur.
OOC: Go ahead. Say it. That dancing plot was yanked right out of one of the episodes on Yu-Gi-Oh, but I've been waiting to do that scene like that the minute I saw it. Of course, you're all must be finding it hard to imagine Mega disguised in civilian clothing as well as Guts and Cut, but it's either that or have so many plot holes, you'd turn away before you finish reading this.
Next Chapter: A fight over breakfast ends in tragedy when Rock accidentally shoves Mega into the very machine that turned him into the fighting robot Mega Man, turning him into a full flesh human. With the machine damaged, it would take a while for Dr. Light to fix the damage, time which Mega doesn't have, fearing that his family won't recognize him as a human.
With a plasma cannon as his only defense, how will Mega ever be able to fight off Wily's Robots when they once again try to attack the city and he can't copy their weapons to retaliate? Can he even defend himself as a human long enough for help to come along?
_ 2 _
Escape from Captivity
Mega sat in the corner of the wall, head drooped and worried.
"I can't believe it," he muttered, "outmatched by a kid who looks like me. What's worse is that Wily tricked him into thinking I'm the enemy." He sighed, "Some search and rescue operation this turned out to be."
He thought back to the day this whole incident happened. He and Roll were just standing next to Dr. Light as he demonstrated his inter- dimensional warp machine, capable of traveling to places man has never been to before. He displayed it at the next Robot Expo, which turned out to be a bad idea when Wily all of a sudden got the information about a warping machine and crashed in to grab it.
Everyone in the expo scattered as a fight began, tearing up random displays and knocking over the walls that separate them. Unfortunately, it got to a point where Mega accidentally shot one of Wily's robots right into the several buttons controlling the machine, causing it to malfunction and begin sucking in everything in its path like a black hole. Wily and his robots went first. Dr. Light held onto Roll for support to keep him from getting pulled in as well, but he soon lost grip and went flying into the vortex a minute before it finally went dead.
Frantic, Mega began punching in the last coordinates that flashed across the computer next to the machine and, with Rush, jumped into the vortex before Roll had a chance to stop him. That's all Mega remembered up to the point where he woke up and found himself surrounded by people in a world almost like his own, but seemed to be played out differently than he had expected.
* * *
Bomb Man, fully repaired, stood by the cavern leading to the stone prisons, twirling a ring of keys on his index finger. He doesn't know why he got stuck on guard duty since Mega had been blasted to a point where he could barely stand up on his own and there weren't many people who found out about this place. But Wily knew somehow Mega, no matter what condition he ended up in, would manage to pull himself through and escape.
"Wily's just overwhelmed...." Bomb Man muttered, "That blue wuss is so weak, he could barely stand up without his knees knocking. This is just a waste of my...." Before he could finish his sentence, a pebble pelted him on the side of his face. It barely moved him, but got his attention.
Bomb Man looked in the direction it came from to see nothing but another cavern doorway. Shrugging, he went back to ranting quietly until a rock hit his face. He ran towards the direction the rock came from, poking his head in the doorway of the next cavern path.
"Alright! Whoever's hitting me with stones better come out before I blast the inside of this cavern!"
"Gee, that's not a nice thing to say to an ally," came a voice. Bomb Man looked down to see Rock looking up at him with his hand on his paralyzed arm. He laughed.
"Well, well. If it isn't Wily's new lackey," Bomb Man said, "Whatsamatter. You so bored, you decided to throw gravel at us?"
"Oh, not really," Rock said, "I just wanted to test this device out." Rock takes his hand off his arm with a little black marble in front of his thumb and flicks it at Bomb Man's head. The marble nearly knocked him onto his back.
"Why you little...I atta...." Bomb Man was about to finish when the marble glowed, sending sparks all over his body. He trembled everywhere before standing straight, looking like a mindless slave, "I hear and obey...."
Rock looked at the black marble with content, "Heh, that mini control device Dr. Light gave me worked like a charm." He then turned his attention back to Bomb Man, "First order of business, I want you to put the keys down gently." Bomb Man complied, bending down and placing the keys neatly on the floor in front of Rock.
But he wasn't satisfied with that. Rock decided to have a little fun with the device, "Next, I want you to...get on all fours and run 300 yards from this cavern, acting like a dog, then curl up and go to sleep." He grinned as Bomb Man got on his hands and knees, turned around and began trampling down the path, barking until he disappeared, sound and all. He snickered, "It's a good thing Dr. Light only made one of these and that they disappear after a while. Now onto other matters."
Rock grabs the keys and ran towards the cavern Bomb Man previously stood at.
* * *
Mega looked around his prison cell again. If his clone hadn't blasted him in the chest, he would've used his plasma cannon to melt the man-made bars keeping him locked up and escape. But being in a nearly crippled state, all he could do is hope that someone comes along and helps him escape. But how? For all he knew, he was the only one who knows something sneaky was going on and no one would believe him if he tried to tell it.
Robotic footsteps cut off his concentration. Mega looked towards the bars to see Rock standing on the other side, doing the same thing. They just stared at each other, not saying anything for the next two minutes. Mega then looked at the gash on Rock's left shoulder blade, then the floor in front of him.
"You better get that arm fixed," Mega half mumbled, "Then again, I'm probably talking to myself."
Mega looks back at the prison bars, expecting Rock to disappear. Instead, he saw the little robot throw something in his direction. Unconsciously, he reached out and grabbed it before it passed him. He could hear some kind of liquid sloshing around the object he caught. Mega brings the object in front of him, seeing a blue and white can with an E on both sides.
After a moment, Mega pulled the tab off the can and slowly drank it. A sudden rush of energy flew through his systems. He got up, feeling strength in his whole body, and turned to the bars, noticing Rock had disappeared. After checking to make sure he was back in one piece, he looked at the can in his hand.
It was clearly an energy can, but why did his alter ego throw it at him? Mega dropped the can and ran over to the bars of the prison, looking around for Rock, but couldn't find anyone within his sight. He then looked down, seeing a ring of keys sprawled near the cell door. Either he knew Wily had tricked him from the start, or he had just come to the realization that he was being tricked.
Mega grabbed the keys and began fiddling with the lock of the prison cell doors, trying to find the right key to fit through and get him out.
* * *
"I can't believe Wily's making us do this," Guts Man grumbled, "First he has us sitting outside all night with nothing but an electrical lamp guiding us and now he wants us to keep an eye on Mega Man?"
"That kid may've disabled Mega Man, but he could still escape," Cut Man said, "I'd rather be obeying Wily rather than be off playing cards and find out he somehow got out of his cell."
They came to a stop, seeing Bomb Man on his back with his arms and legs in the air and his tongue lagging on the side of his mouth, panting like a dog. The two Wily bots also noticed he was "asleep". Guts Man scowled.
"HEY! WAKE UP!" he shouted, kicking Bomb Man into the ceiling of the cave. Bomb Man hit the ground and bounced onto his butt, the mini controlling device shorting out and exploding.
"Whoa! What a nightmare!" Bomb Man exasperated, "I dreamt I was turned into a dog."
"You didn't just dream it, you were acting like it," Cut Man laughed.
"Enough of that!" Guts Man grunted, "What were you doing out here, pretending to be Mega's dog in dream world when you should be guarding the makeshift prison!?"
"What?" Bomb Man looked around, finding he was in the middle of the path 300 yards from where he was originally standing, "How did I get all the way out here?" he then snapped remembering Rock flicking something onto his forehead before everything went black, "That brat! He must've hit me with some kind of controlling device!"
"Ha! You know kids. They always act like that," then Cut Man noticed something was missing, "The keys to the prison! Where are they!?"
"Keys!?" Bomb Man felt around for the keys only to make full contact with his sides. He then screamed, "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! I'M GONNA KILL THAT BRAT!!!" and storms off with Guts Man and Cut Man looking at each other before running off after Bomb Man.
* * *
Mega went through seven keys before the next one registered with a click.
"Finally," he sighed. He pulled the cell doors opened and stepped out only to meet the three Wily bots face to face.
"WHA!?!? MEGA MAN!?!?" they all shouted.
"Crap!" Mega muttered before turning to run.
"H-How did he get the keys!?" Bomb Man yelled.
"Who cares!? We gotta stop him before he reaches the communication room!" Guts Man yelled as the trio gave chase.
* * *
The alarmed sounded as both Wily and Proto heard it.
"What!? Mega Man's escaped!?" Wily cried, "but how!?"
"It's gotta be that miniscule clone of his!" Proto yelled, "I told you we should've trusted that brat!"
Wily just chuckled, "Don't be ridiculous, Proto. Don't forget, that miniature Mega Man was the one who blindly joined our side. He's so stupid, he'll believe anything."
"Really? Then I suppose I wouldn't be stupid enough to do this!" came a voice.
"What!?" the two turned to the door to see a red and yellow Rock shoot a ball of fire at the communication console, causing an explosion that knocked them both to the ground.
"It was fun being evil for a while, but I've gotta be going now!" he turns gray and white, throws a bomb at the communications room and runs off as it exploded, "Don't say I did anything for you!"
Surrounded by smoke, Wily began coughing and hacking, both he and Proto covered in soot. The whole room began to shake as more explosions ripped through the cave.
"I've been double crossed!" Wily cried between coughs.
"I won't say I told you so...." Proto began to say.
"Just get that brat!"
* * *
The ground shook as all four of the robots tried to stay standing.
"This cave's gonna blow!" Cut Man cried.
"Looks like your 'partner' wasn't so trusting after all, fellas!" Mega yelled.
"You'll never leave this cave alive!" Bomb Man yelled as he threw a bomb at Mega.
"Didn't you learn your lesson the first time?" Mega asked rhetorically before kicking the bomb back at the trio, causing it to hit the ceiling and explode, leaving a pile of rocks that blocked the path between them, "As much as I'd like to stay, I'd feel a whole lot better if I had more than ten seconds of life left, so this robot is outta here!" he turned and ran off.
"He's getting away!" Cut Man yelled, although he didn't really see what was behind the pile of rocks in front of him.
"Let's split up and search!" Guts Man said, "It's like a labyrinth in here. He couldn't go far without that little resemblance guiding him out!"
* * *
The shaking began to increase the closer Rock got towards the doorway of the chasm. This was just like all those other explosions he caused when he fought the real Wily six times, only this time, he had Robot Masters coming after him to try and keep him from escaping.
A bomb suddenly slammed into the back of Rock's head, causing an explosion that shoved him onto his face. His helmet flew off and bounced down the path until it rolled to a stop several feet from him.
"I never did pay you back for reducing me to a dog-brained idiot!" Bomb Man said, walking towards Rock who pushed himself onto his back. When Bomb Man got a full view of his raven hair, he cried out in shock, "I thought I saw that face somewhere! You're that wimpy little kid from the mall! That must mean you knew it was a trick all along!"
Bomb Man slammed his foot on the gash on Rock's left shoulder, hearing him scream in pain, "That's good! Cause I never liked you in the first place!"
"Yeah!?" Rock gasped, "Well, for someone who looks like my brother, I never took a liking to you or the altered forms of my other three brothers anyway!" he points his right Mega-Buster at Bomb Man.
"Not this time, kid," Bomb Man jabbed his foot deeper into Rock's gash, causing him to scream louder as sparks began flying out of the bottom of the altered Robot Master's foot, "you may've heard why we showed up, but with that injury, you'll never leave this chasm alive!"
"Maybe I won't! But at least my twin would be able to get out now that he's up and about!"
"Ha! That's a laugh! He's the only one who doesn't know his way out of this cave! He'll be just as dead as you are!"
* * *
Rocks and stalactites rained everywhere as Mega continued down the path until he came to the center point of a fork in the path. Seeing bits of moonlight seeping in, he only knew that would have to be the way out.
"There it is!" he said, "Good! This place is about to blow in two minutes! I just hope I can...." he stopped both in words and in movement when he heard faint screaming somewhere along the path.
Following the scream, Mega came to the center of the fork and looked around, trying to figure out which path the scream came from. He then noticed Rock's helmet laying beside his feet and looked past it, seeing Bomb Man increasing his foot pressure on Rock's left shoulder.
"I could blow you up now," Bomb Man said. He then began wiggling his feet back and forth, hearing Rock screaming louder than his voice box could handle, "But I'm having too much fun hearing you scream like a helpless child."
"Pick on someone your own size!"
"Huh!?" Bomb Man looked up to receive a plasma blast to the chest, knocking him off Rock and landing two feet away from him.
Mega then ran towards Rock, "Hey, are you...." when he stopped beside Rock and bent down to him, his eyes widened in shock upon seeing his counterpart's raven hair, "No way! You're Mega Man!?"
Rock tried to force a sheepish grin, "Life's full of surprises, isn't it?" he asked hoarsely. Mega noticed he was slowly losing consciousness and held his upper body in his arms.
"A-are you going to be okay?" Mega asked.
"I...I don't think so. When Bomb Man began crushing my left shoulder, it felt like my whole body was starting to go numb. I...don't know how much longer...I can...stay awake...." Rock's voice went from hoarse to a mumbling slur, his eyelids slowly drifting down.
Mega was getting desperate, "W-What about that energy can you gave me? Don't you have another one of those stashed away somewhere?"
"Sorry...that was the last E-Can I had. I was going to use it to get my own strength back, but seeing how crippled you were from that blast, I couldn't just leave you like that."
The ceiling suddenly exploded. Mega quickly scoops up Rock and jumps out of the way as stalactites and huge rocks rained in his place.
"Sizzling circuits! I forgot about the explosion!" Mega yelped. He looks at Rock, "I'd better get you out of here before the whole place collapses on us!"
Mega ran towards the entrance as fast as the shaky ground would let him, ducking his head with every explosion that broke through the ceiling.
"I'd enjoy the fourth of July if it didn't blow up in my face!" Mega sarcastically pointed out. He saw the mouth of the chasm getting closer before an explosion sent a pile of rocks tumbling down the ceiling, blocking their only chance of escape.
"Damn!" Mega cursed. He heard laughter and turned to Bomb Man who picked himself up, pointing at him.
"You're too late, Mega Man!" Bomb Man yelled, "You can blast it open, but you'd run a very high risk of damaging your kiddy resemblance further than the condition he's already in!"
"He's bluffing! Go ahead and blast it!" Rock mumbled. Mega looked at Rock, gritting his teeth, then the pile of rocks.
"No, he's right," Mega said, "If I blast the piles open, the debris and explosion could damage you beyond repair! I can't risk it!"
"The truth hurts, doesn't it?" Bomb Man asked rhetorically, "but don't worry. You and your baby cousin will spend the last minute together before the base goes up in smoke! In the meantime, I've got a date with the Skulkur and I can't keep it waiting!" with that, Bomb Man turned and ran off.
Mega dropped to his knees and punched the ground in front of him, "No! There has to be another way out of here!"
"There is...I just didn't want to blurt it out in front of Bomb Man." Mega looked at Rock, seeing him try to lift his arm, "Open the panel on my arm...and press the emergency teleportation button."
"The emergency what!?" Mega ask, not out of stupidity, but out of shock.
"Emergency teleportation. It's the purple button on the right."
Mega picked up Rock's right arm and pulled open a panel below it. Inside were two buttons, one blue, another purple. Mega quickly pressed the purple button and both were engulfed in a bright blue light as it shot through the ceiling right before the whole chasm erupted in one big explosion.
* * *
"A portion of Capcom-Tokyo's park just went up in smoke!" the reporter shouted as everyone saw a huge mushroom cloud loom over the city, "At first the police reported a land mine being planted in the ground, but this one is huge. It's as if a base was built underground. Policemen are hard at work trying to figure out this strange anomaly. We believe it may have something to do with those robots from the parallel universe. We will give you live updates as it comes."
"Oh no! Didn't you sent Rock over there to investigate?" Roll asked.
"Yes," Dr. Light said, looking down, "I can only hope he made it out okay."
"We'd better check around for him," Bomb said, "who knows what kind of trouble he got into."
"How can you say that!?" Roll cried, "Our brother is the strongest robot on Capcom! There's no way he could have been blown to bits!"
"Guys! Look!" Fire called out. The other five Robot Masters and Roll ran over to him as a beam of light hit the ground in front of him. Once the light faded, Mega looked up and around, Rock still cradled in his arms.
"What the...where are we now?" Mega yelped. Everyone's eyes went wide as they stumbled back.
"Look out! It's that dangerous Mega Man everyone's been talking about!" Bomb cried.
"What!?" Mega looked in front of him, seeing the six Robot Masters and Roll staring back at him with horror in their eyes.
Fire was the first to recover. He quickly thrusts his fire blaster in Mega's face, causing him to lean back slightly. The other five also recovered, ready to ambush the shocked robot who just sat there, head turning to each Robot Master he saw.
"No!" Rock cried, getting everyone's attention as they all focused on his weakened state, sparks flying out of the gap on his left shoulder blade.
"Oh no! Rock's been damaged!" Roll cried. Guts glared at Mega and grabbed his shoulder.
"Monster! What did you do to him!?" he growled, throttling his fist, ready to punch Mega in the face.
"No, Guts! Don't!" Guts looked at Rock who's trying to raise his hand as if to push him back, "He...he tried to...save...me...." he then went limp in Mega's arms.
"ROCK!" Roll screamed. She spun around, "Dr. Light! Rock needs help!"
The crowd opened as Dr. Light pushed his way through, walking up to Mega. Once up close, Mega saw he could make full eye contact with the altered scientist without having to get up. Dr. Light took his gaze off Mega and moved down to the unconscious robot in his arms. Mega followed the gaze.
"I'm...I'm sorry," Mega muttered. Dr. Light sighed and took Rock from his arms.
"It seems we were wrong about you," Dr. Light said, "we don't know how Rock got in this condition, but you seem too honest to be fully responsible for damaging him."
The good scientist walks towards one of the tables, the others backed away from Mega, the Robot Masters except for Cut and Guts leaving the lab and Roll heading over to the table. Mega soon gets up and goes with her, sitting on another worktable.
"How bad is it, Dr. Light?" Roll asked.
"The damage isn't too serious," Dr. Light said, "I should have him working again by morning."
"Are you sure you can work this late?" Cut asked. Dr. Light smiled.
"How else would you and the other Robot Masters be alive if I hadn't pulled an overnight to revive you when Rock brought you here? I've never felt healthier even with the lack of sleep." Dr. Light then looked at Roll, "Could you go fetch a sleeping bag from the closet?"
"Whoa! Wait a minute! You mean that towering twin of Rock's going to be sleeping here!?" Guts demanded, throwing his finger towards Mega, making him cringe.
"He doesn't have to sleep with you," Dr. Light said, "He can share Rock's room since there's enough space."
"N-no, it's okay. I can leave if I'm bothering everyone," Mega offered. Dr. Light shook his head.
"No. We are the only ones who know you aren't as dangerous as the reports say. If we send you out now, the police will eventually find you and lock you away. It's safer if you stay with us until we can find a way to get you back home."
* * *
The storm died the next morning. While most of the policemen continued their investigation on the exploded chasm last night, the reporter told everyone that while Mega Man's alter ego was still on the loose along with all the other altered characters, it was still safe to come out. The streets and sidewalks of Capcom-Tokyo was bustling with people either getting to work or just hanging out.
The Skulkur flew overhead, Wily looking at the people crowding the morning streets as talking flooded the otherwise silent sky.
"What foolish people," Wily snickered, "They really think it's safe to be out when I can easily take it away with one simple ambush."
"They must think that miniature savior of theirs would come to their rescue if this happened," Proto said, "It's a shame they haven't found out he got blown up along with my brother and that base."
"I wouldn't count the real Mega Man out just yet. I could throw an earthquake at him and he'd still manage to get out in one piece. But since he's still hiding from the police, he won't be making much of an appearance when I decide to strike with the very robots that are helping keep this place safe for mankind." Wily finished with a sinister laugh as the Skulkur turned and flew off.
* * *
Back at Dr. Light's lab house, Cut and Guts insisted that they go to the mall and hang out for a while. With Rock fully repaired, replacing his fighting uniform with a red shirt and black pants, they begged him to come along.
"Okay, I'll be right back," Rock said, "I've got to go get my wallet. There're a few things I wanna get at the mall."
Rock went to the door of his room. Remembering that Mega was still sleeping in his room, he had to be sure he doesn't make much of a racket when he goes inside. He sighs and opens the door, seeing his towering double still in the black sleeping bag, sleeping with his arm serving as a pillow. Rock found it odd that despite the fact that he would usually go around in his fighting uniform without a helmet, he would think Mega looked strange having his brown, raven hair present instead of his helmet, which stood above his head on the floor.
Rock snuck past the sleeping bag towards his closet at the far end of the room, slowly pulling them open and reaching inside. He grabbed the wallet sitting right next to his Gameboy and slips it into his back pocket.
"Hey, how ya feelin'?" Rock nearly jumped when he heard Mega's voice. He turns around to see him propped on his hands with the sleeping bag still covering his lower body.
"Don't do that!" Rock snapped, "You act like my brother when you sneak up on me like that."
"Sorry," Mega said. He watched Rock heading towards the door, "What's going on?"
"Guts, Cut and I are heading to the mall," Rock opened the door, "I'd better get going before they get impatient and decide to leave me behind."
Rock went outside as Mega got up and picked up his helmet.
"Wait a minute, Rock," came another voice. Rock turned to see Roll run up to him, "Why don't you take him with you?"
"What?"
"Dr. Light feels its unfair leaving him here while the rest of us go outside and hang around."
"But what about the police? They're still out looking for him. We can't risk having him caught before we have a chance to explain."
Roll winked as Mega appeared behind Rock, "Don't worry, I can fix that. You wait outside with Cut and Guts."
Rock was confused, but he slowly turned and left. When he came outside, he found Guts and Cut sitting on the porch.
Guts wore a brown, oversize, wool trench coat, gold-colored sweat pants and a black beanie on his head. Cut wore a yellow jumpsuit with a rolling cutter ironed onto his chest and legs. The rolling cutter on his head has been replaced with a violet red beanie larger than what Guts had on.
"It's about time you showed up," Cut said, "Ready to go?"
"Um...can you two wait a little longer?" Rock asked.
"What for?" they asked.
"I think we may have someone joining us."
"Really? Did Ice decide to come out for once?" Guts asked tauntingly, "You know him. He never is much for hanging out unless it's the middle of winter." Rock was about to utter something when a voice got their attention.
"How can you guys walk in these pants!?" The trio turned to the door to see Mega coming outside, wearing a light blue t-shirt over a purple, long sleeve shirt and a pair of black sweat pants with legs that a little fatter than Mega's own legs. The bulginess of his arms and legs only told them that his fighting uniform wasn't removable.
"Holy cow! Where did you get that outfit!?" Rock yelped.
"Your sister got them out of Bomb and Guts' closet," Mega grumbled, fiddling with the belt keeping his pants up. Rock nervously laughed.
"I guess since Bomb and Guts are the only ones that match your height, she figured their clothes were best."
"Wait a minute, Rock," Cut yelped, "he's not going with us, is he!?"
"Dr. Light thought it would be unfair if we left Mega cooped up in the lab house, so Roll insisted we take him along."
Mega walked up to the three robots, looking at both Cut and Guts with a cocked eyebrow, "You two aren't seriously going to a mall looking like that, are you?"
Guts turned his head to the air, "Huh! Shows how much fashion sense you have. I bet you don't wear a lot of clothes when you were just an ordinary android without a gun." He gets up and walks off with the other three following.
* * *
"How's it going, Dad?" Roll asked as she came into the lab. Dr. Light stood in front of the monitor, typing on the keyboard.
"I've downloaded most of the coordinates from Mega's memory bank," Dr. Light said, "But the design for this warping machine from the blueprint he studied isn't going to be a walk in the park. It could take me a while to figure out the instructions on building it." He stopped typing and looked down, "Was letting Mega go outside the best idea? I cannot decipher the calculations of these plans without him."
Roll walked up to Dr. Light and put her arms around him, "You did the right thing, Dad. I wouldn't be happy if someone who resembles you had to keep me cooped up in a lab on a nice day, fearing that I might get captured for something I didn't do."
Dr. Light looked at Roll and smiled, "It's good to know someone is there to straighten my problems."
"That's what you programmed me to do."
* * *
The mall was mostly crawling with policemen baring metal detectors and running them over any person they found suspicious. Mega felt uncomfortable whenever he saw them do it.
"Maybe coming here wasn't such a good idea," Mega said.
"Oh, don't worry," Cut said, "these clothes are so thick, the strongest magnet couldn't hit you in the back. That's how we were able to go out in public without being spotted by metal detectors."
"Ooh! Let's go to the arcade!" Guts said, pointing towards a huge arcade room at the far end of the mall.
"Hey! Bet I can beat you at House of Horrors!" Cut challenged.
"Bring it on!" Rock said. The two ran towards the arcade center with Mega and Guts following behind.
"Wow! This place is huge!" Mega said when he came through the door, seeing the whole place swarming with games and people. Guts laughed.
"What's the matter? Never been to an arcade before?" he asked.
"Not in New York," Mega said, shrugging, "This is the first time I've seen a Japanese arcade up close."
"Hey! Check it out!" came a voice. Both Mega and Guts looked in front of them to see a huge screen in the back of the arcade center with arrows going in various places. There were two people dancing in front of the screen, one was just an ordinary kid in a t-shirt and jeans, another was a sleazy looking adult in a white disco suit with 70's style hair.
"Wow! The rumors are true! No one on this planet can beat Disco Man!" one of the people from the crowd said. Disco Man's opponent was panicking as he tried to keep up with the wimpy moves he was already putting on the nine buttons strewn along the platform below him. When the song finished playing, the computer announced the winner.
"Ah, yes. Even a robot can't beat me at this game," Disco Man said, stroking his chin, "I am the dancing king!"
"Is that a DDR machine?" Mega asked as he and Guts walked up to the front of the crowd.
"In a matter of speaking," Guts said, "This is next stage in dancing games because there are more than four buttons you have to step on."
Disco Man then turned around as the exhausted challenger stumbled off the stage, "Who wants to humiliate himself in front of me now?"
"Humph! For a human, he's totally stuck up," Guts grumbled.
"No kidding," Mega said, "I think his ego's gone to his head."
Disco Man eyed Mega and points to him, "You there with the messy hair. You think you can do better than me?"
"Let's get out of here," Guts said, "This guy's starting to get on my nerves." The two turned to leave, but Disco Man just laughed.
"Yeah, listen to the big guy, kid. Run along with your tail between your legs. You know no one can beat me."
Mega stopped. If he were human, a vain would've appeared on his head.
"That's it!" he shouted, turning to Disco Man, "No one disses me and gets away with it!"
"Hey! Wait a minute...!" Guts yelped. But Mega had already jumped onto the dance stage, standing beside Disco Man.
"Being on, Elvis!" Mega yelled.
"Ha! Such a fool!" Disco Man laughed, "Pretty soon you'll be leaving the stage just like that sap who challenged me earlier."
"Why don't you save your words so you can breath when you're done dancing?"
"Yow! Did you hear that? This guy's got spunk!" a man from the crowd said. Guts just stood there, half embarrassed, half dumbfounded.
"There you are, Guts!" Cut called as he and Rock ran towards their towering brother.
"Where's Mega?" Rock asked. Guts points a disconcerting finger towards the dance stage.
When the two other disguised robots turned to the stage, the music started playing. Everyone gasped when they saw how Mega was keeping up with egotistic opponent.
"Whoa! Check this guy out!" one of the people from the crowd said.
"He's pulling moves not even Disco Man can do." Another said. This annoyed Disco Man.
'That's what they think', he snarled. He then jabs his foot towards Mega, attempting to knock him off the dance pad. Mega saw it and jumped out of the way.
"He's cheating!" Mega cried out. He landed back on the dance pad and continued stepping on the buttons as Disco Man tried to throw punches at him only to see him duck and dodge them.
"Hey! Stay focused, Disco Man!" One of the people shouted.
"He's still going at it!" Another person shouted, seeing Mega still stepping about as if he was actually dancing to the music. The score in front of Disco Man began dissing him with every mis-step he took.
'This blasted machine's busted!' He thought. He tried to keep up with Mega only to slip and fall on his back as more arrows were missed. The song soon ends as the computer announced the winner, leaving Disco Man on the floor, snarling.
The crowd cheered as Mega turned and did a thumbs up to the three robots in front of him. Rock and Cut were joining the cheering crowd while Guts just returned the gesture.
* * *
A man in a trench coat and hat snuck into the mall, looking around cautiously before showing up to one of the potted plants and pulling out a stack of dynamites with a timer next to it.
"Ha! This mall is going to receive the biggest explosion in history," the man muttered, "The fireworks will begin in less than an hour."
He took out a small shovel and pushed some dirt out of the way, pressing the dynamites into the hole and throwing dirt around it until it was completely hidden inside. He snickered and was about to leave when he saw Rock, Guts, Cut and Mega walking towards him. He yelped and hid behind the pot, panicked.
"No! How can he still be alive!?" he hissed, "He's just as annoying as his pre-adult twin!"
"That disco nerd would think twice before he goes boasting about his skills," Guts said.
"Yeah, you never told me you could dance," Cut said.
"I've only been here one day," Mega said, "You didn't expect to read me like a book that long."
"Okay, Bomb Man. Calm down. You are wearing a disguise. No one will see you if you just walk away and act like a normal person." Nodding to himself, Bomb Man gets up, his hands in his pocket and tries to calmly walk away when a wandering policeman saw his metal detector beeping the closer he got to him.
"Excuse me, sir," he said, addressing the heavily dressed man, "Will you open your coat so we can see what kind of metal you have?"
Bomb Man grinned, "Why certainly." And with that, he throws his disguise into the air, revealing his true form. The policeman stumbled back, whipping his gun out and pointing it at him as another one appeared on the other side.
"Alright, you imposter! Lay down your weapons and come along quietly." One of them demanded.
"You guys are too much!" Bomb Man laughed. He reached behind him and throws two bombs in their direction. The policemen screamed and scattered as the bombs hit the ground they stood on and exploded.
The people all cried out in terror and began scattering around the mall. The four robots stopped in their tracks, seeing them running all over the place.
"Now what!?" Cut cried out.
"Look!" Rock points to Bomb Man who turns to the quadruplets.
"Nice to see you're still alive, kid!" Bomb Man pulls out another bomb, "Here's a little welcoming present!" he hurls the bomb at the group, causing them to scatter as it hit a potted plant and explode, sending dirt, bark and leaves flying everywhere.
"What'll I do!?" Rock wailed, "I can't transform in here! There're too many people!"
"Don't worry your kiddy head off," Bomb Man said, "In less than half an hour, there won't be anyone but me left in this place! I've planted a bomb somewhere in this mall. Good luck looking for it!"
Guts threw his disguise off, "I'll hold him off! You look for the bomb!" he charges at Bomb Man.
"Hold me off all you want, you'll never find that bomb in less than 30 minutes with all that pandemonium going on." Bomb Man throws another bomb at Guts only to see him catch it.
"Time to practice on my curve ball!" Guts said. He winds up the same way a pitcher from a baseball field would and throws the bomb right back at Bomb Man, blowing him out of the mall.
Meanwhile, the other three disguised robots began looking around the area for the dynamites until Cut saw a lump of dirt in one of the other potted plants. He pushes the lump away, seeing the dynamite appear halfway out of the dirt.
"I found it!" He cried.
Outside, the Skulkur appeared and shot a beam of light down to the blown Bomb Man, lifting him into the cockpit.
"We finished what we came for! Let's get out of here!" Wily growled. The Skulkur turned to leave as Cut ran outside with the stack of dynamites in his hand.
"Hey! Gramps! You forgot something!" he finished by hurling the dynamite towards the Skulkur, causing Wily and Proto to panic before an explosion filled the afternoon sky. A smoking streak skyrocketed out of the smoke cloud and into the distance. There was no explosion, so no one knew what happened to the Skulkur.
OOC: Go ahead. Say it. That dancing plot was yanked right out of one of the episodes on Yu-Gi-Oh, but I've been waiting to do that scene like that the minute I saw it. Of course, you're all must be finding it hard to imagine Mega disguised in civilian clothing as well as Guts and Cut, but it's either that or have so many plot holes, you'd turn away before you finish reading this.
Next Chapter: A fight over breakfast ends in tragedy when Rock accidentally shoves Mega into the very machine that turned him into the fighting robot Mega Man, turning him into a full flesh human. With the machine damaged, it would take a while for Dr. Light to fix the damage, time which Mega doesn't have, fearing that his family won't recognize him as a human.
With a plasma cannon as his only defense, how will Mega ever be able to fight off Wily's Robots when they once again try to attack the city and he can't copy their weapons to retaliate? Can he even defend himself as a human long enough for help to come along?