The stack of the photographs of the ore mines lay ripped in two, leaving only five more stacks on the table. The lightbulb hanging from a wire on the ceiling waivered around the room, rolling their shadows all around the room as they looked at the other pictures.
"Well, what do you want to do now, Rock?" Blues asked.
Rock eyes the photographs intently. After a lengthy silence, Rock took the stack on his left. "I'll go for the power plant," he said.
"Wait, Rock," said Auto, "I don't think that's a good idea yet."
"Why not?"
Auto pushsed his glasses further up his nose. "If you got in contact with electricty in the power plant, I'm not sure if your body could handle the overload."
Rock paused, and looked at the photographs again. "Well, there's only one way to destroy that power plant," said Rock, "I may as well go there now."
Auto groaned. "Well, if you want to," he said. "I'll get the teleporter ready."
When Auto left the room, Blues leaned over to Rock. "Are you sure you know what you're doing?" he asked.
"Positive."
******
After a blinding flash of light enveloped him, Rock was standing inside the gigantic threshold of the power plant. A sudden buzzing filled his ears, and Rock pressed the side of his helmet closer to his ear. "Roll? Roll, are you there?" When all Rock got for a reply was more static, he groaned. "I guess I'm doing this one alone." Taking a deep breath and coiling his knees, Rock took off into the plant.
With all the speed his legs could muster, Rock barreled his way into the power plant, letting his cannon run wild, streaking stray energy blasts and flaming wreckage everywhere he went. Mechanical drones, everything from insects to walking lightning rods, came at him from every side, and as more and more swarmed around him, Rock took sharp turn after sharp turn around the winding corridors, and just when he thought he had lost them by running into a small dark room, he collided with something.
A searing pain tore at his body as his arm began to shake and twitch, and Rock realized that he had just ran into an gigantic power motor, filling half of the room. Nursing his tingling shoulder, the motor suddenly began to grow more and more active, until the room was lit up in a flash.
The doorway was suddenly sealed by another iron shutter, and the motor began to hum and blow smoke out from all around it. Rock backed away, and glanced around the room for another way out. Just as he saw that he was trapped, a small tube from the motor extended Rock's way, and a thick cloud of black smog blew into his face. Rock coughed and gagged as the smoke filled the room, and soon all he could see was nothing but a thick, endless haze.
Suddenly, a blast of energy tore into his side. Purely on instinct, Rock fired his cannon, feeling the energy stun his stinging arm. More small jabs of pain blasted against his body, and Rock let his cannon loose around him, firing in any direction he could into the thick smog. Anchored to the spot in panic, Rock blasted anywhere his arm could point, and just as his arm felt like exploding from the intense energy his cannon shot, he suddenly stopped, resting his burning limb. The room had fallen silent, and Rock saw the smoke beginning to clear. When he could see the room around him again, Rock saw the giant motor was now nothing but a wrecked heap of junk, and a slew of wreckage lay around him. Breathing heavily, Rock looked around the room again, and noticed a thin space between the motor and the wall, just wide enough for him to slip through. Squeezing through the hole, Rock once again found himself in complete darkness. Suddenly, a doorway opened up in front of him, and Rock hastily leapt through it. Now inside of a dimly lit room, Rock saw nothing but four walls, a floor, ceiling, and another shutter blocking the door he came through. "Great," Rock muttered, rubbing his tingling arm, "This just gets better and better."
Suddenly, the floors beneath his feet began to shake. A loud buzzing filled the air, and Rock's paralyzed arm began to stiffen as the crisp smell of electricity filled the air. There was a blinding flash, and then a bolt of lightning shot into his damaged arm. Rock screeched as he fell to his knee, clenching his stinging shoulder. A pair of footsteps echoed around the room, and soon, Rock found a tall, slender robot standing in front of him. "So, this is the Megaman I've been hearing so much about, eh?" He said, putting his hands on his hips.
As soon as Rock shot out his arm cannon at the robot's chest, the Virtuloid grasped onto Rock's barrel and snickered cruelly. Suddenly, a wave of electicity surged through Rock's body, and Rock yowled in agony as the surge ripped through his every bone. The rush stopped when the Virtuloid released Rock from his grip, and a weak kick from the Virtuloid was enough to send the shivering Rock onto his side. As Rock lay on his back, trying in vain to stop his damaged arm from shaking, the Virtuloid pointed his finger at Rock's neck, and grinned. "Any last requests?"
As the power surge began to wear off, Rock said, "Tell me your name."
The Virtuloid shrugged. "Lightning."
"Then do you know what your problem is, Lightning?" Rock asked with a sudden smirk, "You're too arrogant."
With that, Rock jabbed his arm cannon into Lightning's knee, and fired a blast of energy into his joint. Lightning yelped as his leg collapsed from underneath him, letting Rock struggle back to his feet. Charging his arm cannon with as much power as his shocked arms could bear, Rock unleashed a blast at Lightning's head, barely enough to make Lightning flinch. Rock winced as his arm buckled with tingles running through his shoulder.
Before Rock knew it, Lightning was back up on his feet. Rock aimed his cannon at Lightning once again and let out a quick blast at Lightning's chest. The blast bounced off of Lightning's armor, and Lightning hardly even stumbled. "So you want to play dirty, do you?" Lightning hissed. Rock began blasting his cannon in a panic, with each weak shot bouncing off of Lightning like pebbles. As Rock's arm began to sting and shake, he noticed two large poles attached to Lightning's back begin to shoot bolts of electricty between them as Lightning spread his feet and glared at Rock. The crackling bolts began to flare wildly as Lightning continued to lock his eyes on Rock, and Rock soon felt his electrocuted arm begin to shiver once more. As Lightning began to hum with the electricy surging between the tips of the poles on his back, Rock slowly backed away, bracing himself for the worst.
With a sudden roar, Lightning threw his arms to his side, and a fierce wave of electicity blasted against the entire room around him. Rock screeched as he was knocked off of his feet and sent crashing head-first into a wall. Landing hard on his back, Rock groaned as rubbed his aching neck as the electricity around Lightning subsided. As soon as Rock sat up, he was blasted in the stomach with a jolt of electrcity. Rock howeld as he wrapped his arms around himself, kicking his legs as Lightning quickly walked to his side. Raising his palm, Lightning shot his hand around Rock's neck, and hoisted him up agaisnt the wall. And with another snarl, Lightning sent another surge through Rock's body. Rock felt like his body would tear itself apart before he would be electrocuted as Lightning continued to pump volt after volt into Rock's trembling body.
Just before Rock felt he could take no more, his body suddenly exploded with a wave of energy, and his arm cannon sprouted one of Ground's drills. Lightning suddenly stopped his assault, staring at the drill with hatred. Releasing Rock, Lightning raised his other hand, and then sent a blast of electricty at Rock's drill. The bolt bounced off of the drill and flickered into the air. As Rock staggered back to his feet, Lightning sent a flurry of bolts at Rock's arm, with the metal drill deflecting each one all around the room. Once he had his scrambled wits recollected, Rock quickly held his drill-hand up to his chest, and Lightning continued to throw bolt after bolt at it, each bouncing off of it leaving not even a scratch.
Rock grinned. "What's wrong, Lightning? Don't like my drill?"
Just before Lightning could throw another bolt at him, Rock thrust his arm forward and shot his drill into Lightning's chest. The tip of the drill just managed to burrow into Lightning's chest, and Lightning suddenly dropped to his knees. Crackles of electricity began shooting out of the drill, and Lightning grew more and more visibly tired. Ripping the drill out of his chest Lightning threw the drill back at Rock, who had already found strength enough to sprout another drill from his cannon, knocking it away and firing another drill into Lightning's body. Lightning weezed as the drill began to shoot out more electrcty from his body, letting the dril drop out before collapsing onto his hands and knees. As Rock grew another drill from his cannon, Lightning shot another bolt at Rock's damaged arm, driving Rock back to his knee. As Lightning struggled back to his feet, Rock had already staggered back to his, and shot another drill into Lightnig's hand. Lightning screeched as the drill sped into the ground, anchoring Lightning to the floor. Just as Rock was about to fire again, the poles on Lightning's back flared up again, and another wave of electricity smashed Rock back against the wall. Lightning roared and struggled to free his hand from the drill, but it still remained pinned to the floor as the drill began shooting out more of Lightning's power. By the time Rock struggled back to his feet, Lightning was now barely moving, still trying to weakly wrench his arm free. Not wanting to take any more chance, Rock fired another drill at Lightning, spearing his other hand onto the floor, pinning his shoulders flat. "Goodbye, Lightning," said Rock, sprouting another drill from his cannon. Lightning screamed as Rock plunged the drill into his stomach, and soon, Lightning's scream turned to a moan, and then to silence. When all was finally quiet, Rock took a deep breath, and fell onto his back. His arms tingled and shivered, and his body felt like someone had set his every nerve on fire, but a grin stretched itself across his face. He had survived.
Suddenly, Rock heard another pair of footsteps running towards the shutter from the hallway on the other side. Rock quickly bolted back to his feet and looked at Lightning's body. Rock teared out the drill in Lightning's stomach and kicked out the drills that pinned him down. With whatever strength his body had left in him, Rock lifted Lightning's body into his arms and felt his body copy Lightning's weapon systems just as the shutter flew open.
"Lightning! Rock!" The Virtuloid who ran through the shutter gasped.
"Marie," Rock sighed with relief, "Thank God you're here."
Marie ran to Rock's side and looked at Lightning's face. "Lightning!" Marie shrieked, "Is he-?"
Rock put on his best sorrowful face. "He's dead, Marie," said Rock. When Rock saw Marie's face twist up in a mix of shock and sadness, he added, "It was him- that guy who's been wrecking everything in sight. Lightning and I tried to stop him," Rock said, beginning to weeze, "But he was just too strong."
Marie looked at Lightning's damaged body, and the looked at Rock's numerous wounds. "Give him to me," she said as Rock gently set Lightning into Marie's arms, "You'd better wapr back to HQ for repairs, quickly."
Rock blinked. Roll had no idea that he needed to teleport out of the power plant. "I can't," said Rock, "My teleport system is damaged."
Marie looked at Rock with curiousity. "Your teleport system is damaged?" She asked. When Rock nodded, she said, "The teleport system is practically indestructible, Rock."
"I know," said Rock quickly, learning something knew, "We both took a lot of damage." Wondering what Marie was doing in the plant alone, Rock asked, "Where are the others?"
"They thought that the Megaman would be attacking the hydro-electric dam next," said Marie. "You probably didn't hear the announcement, Alpha sent everyone to the dam. I thought that the dam would be the last place he'd attack, so I came looking around here."
"Wait, if Alpha sent everyone to the dam, then why are you here?"
Marie looked back at Rock straight in the eyes. "I should be asking you the same thing."
Rock gagged. "I was excused," he said quickly. "I'm actually part of some special operations unit- We can do whatever we want unless Alpha says otherwise."
Marie suddenly gasped. "You mean- you're part of the Alpha Elite?"
Rock's eyes glanced around the room. "Uh, yeah," he said.
Suddenly, Marie looked at him wishfully. "Oh God, please don't marhsall me for breaking my orders!" Marie pleaded, "Please!"
Rock grinned. "All right, I'll let you off," he said, "But just this once."
"Oh, thanks Rock," said Marie. "I'll get Lightning back to HQ for you." Suddenly, Marie said, "Oh Rock, your teleport system's damaged," she said, "I'd better warp you out of here too." Biting her lip, she took Rock's hand and said, "I'm not sure if mine can handle taking all three of us."
"We're not going to get out of here any other way," said Rock.
Marie took a deep breath, and the three instantly vanished.
"Well, what do you want to do now, Rock?" Blues asked.
Rock eyes the photographs intently. After a lengthy silence, Rock took the stack on his left. "I'll go for the power plant," he said.
"Wait, Rock," said Auto, "I don't think that's a good idea yet."
"Why not?"
Auto pushsed his glasses further up his nose. "If you got in contact with electricty in the power plant, I'm not sure if your body could handle the overload."
Rock paused, and looked at the photographs again. "Well, there's only one way to destroy that power plant," said Rock, "I may as well go there now."
Auto groaned. "Well, if you want to," he said. "I'll get the teleporter ready."
When Auto left the room, Blues leaned over to Rock. "Are you sure you know what you're doing?" he asked.
"Positive."
******
After a blinding flash of light enveloped him, Rock was standing inside the gigantic threshold of the power plant. A sudden buzzing filled his ears, and Rock pressed the side of his helmet closer to his ear. "Roll? Roll, are you there?" When all Rock got for a reply was more static, he groaned. "I guess I'm doing this one alone." Taking a deep breath and coiling his knees, Rock took off into the plant.
With all the speed his legs could muster, Rock barreled his way into the power plant, letting his cannon run wild, streaking stray energy blasts and flaming wreckage everywhere he went. Mechanical drones, everything from insects to walking lightning rods, came at him from every side, and as more and more swarmed around him, Rock took sharp turn after sharp turn around the winding corridors, and just when he thought he had lost them by running into a small dark room, he collided with something.
A searing pain tore at his body as his arm began to shake and twitch, and Rock realized that he had just ran into an gigantic power motor, filling half of the room. Nursing his tingling shoulder, the motor suddenly began to grow more and more active, until the room was lit up in a flash.
The doorway was suddenly sealed by another iron shutter, and the motor began to hum and blow smoke out from all around it. Rock backed away, and glanced around the room for another way out. Just as he saw that he was trapped, a small tube from the motor extended Rock's way, and a thick cloud of black smog blew into his face. Rock coughed and gagged as the smoke filled the room, and soon all he could see was nothing but a thick, endless haze.
Suddenly, a blast of energy tore into his side. Purely on instinct, Rock fired his cannon, feeling the energy stun his stinging arm. More small jabs of pain blasted against his body, and Rock let his cannon loose around him, firing in any direction he could into the thick smog. Anchored to the spot in panic, Rock blasted anywhere his arm could point, and just as his arm felt like exploding from the intense energy his cannon shot, he suddenly stopped, resting his burning limb. The room had fallen silent, and Rock saw the smoke beginning to clear. When he could see the room around him again, Rock saw the giant motor was now nothing but a wrecked heap of junk, and a slew of wreckage lay around him. Breathing heavily, Rock looked around the room again, and noticed a thin space between the motor and the wall, just wide enough for him to slip through. Squeezing through the hole, Rock once again found himself in complete darkness. Suddenly, a doorway opened up in front of him, and Rock hastily leapt through it. Now inside of a dimly lit room, Rock saw nothing but four walls, a floor, ceiling, and another shutter blocking the door he came through. "Great," Rock muttered, rubbing his tingling arm, "This just gets better and better."
Suddenly, the floors beneath his feet began to shake. A loud buzzing filled the air, and Rock's paralyzed arm began to stiffen as the crisp smell of electricity filled the air. There was a blinding flash, and then a bolt of lightning shot into his damaged arm. Rock screeched as he fell to his knee, clenching his stinging shoulder. A pair of footsteps echoed around the room, and soon, Rock found a tall, slender robot standing in front of him. "So, this is the Megaman I've been hearing so much about, eh?" He said, putting his hands on his hips.
As soon as Rock shot out his arm cannon at the robot's chest, the Virtuloid grasped onto Rock's barrel and snickered cruelly. Suddenly, a wave of electicity surged through Rock's body, and Rock yowled in agony as the surge ripped through his every bone. The rush stopped when the Virtuloid released Rock from his grip, and a weak kick from the Virtuloid was enough to send the shivering Rock onto his side. As Rock lay on his back, trying in vain to stop his damaged arm from shaking, the Virtuloid pointed his finger at Rock's neck, and grinned. "Any last requests?"
As the power surge began to wear off, Rock said, "Tell me your name."
The Virtuloid shrugged. "Lightning."
"Then do you know what your problem is, Lightning?" Rock asked with a sudden smirk, "You're too arrogant."
With that, Rock jabbed his arm cannon into Lightning's knee, and fired a blast of energy into his joint. Lightning yelped as his leg collapsed from underneath him, letting Rock struggle back to his feet. Charging his arm cannon with as much power as his shocked arms could bear, Rock unleashed a blast at Lightning's head, barely enough to make Lightning flinch. Rock winced as his arm buckled with tingles running through his shoulder.
Before Rock knew it, Lightning was back up on his feet. Rock aimed his cannon at Lightning once again and let out a quick blast at Lightning's chest. The blast bounced off of Lightning's armor, and Lightning hardly even stumbled. "So you want to play dirty, do you?" Lightning hissed. Rock began blasting his cannon in a panic, with each weak shot bouncing off of Lightning like pebbles. As Rock's arm began to sting and shake, he noticed two large poles attached to Lightning's back begin to shoot bolts of electricty between them as Lightning spread his feet and glared at Rock. The crackling bolts began to flare wildly as Lightning continued to lock his eyes on Rock, and Rock soon felt his electrocuted arm begin to shiver once more. As Lightning began to hum with the electricy surging between the tips of the poles on his back, Rock slowly backed away, bracing himself for the worst.
With a sudden roar, Lightning threw his arms to his side, and a fierce wave of electicity blasted against the entire room around him. Rock screeched as he was knocked off of his feet and sent crashing head-first into a wall. Landing hard on his back, Rock groaned as rubbed his aching neck as the electricity around Lightning subsided. As soon as Rock sat up, he was blasted in the stomach with a jolt of electrcity. Rock howeld as he wrapped his arms around himself, kicking his legs as Lightning quickly walked to his side. Raising his palm, Lightning shot his hand around Rock's neck, and hoisted him up agaisnt the wall. And with another snarl, Lightning sent another surge through Rock's body. Rock felt like his body would tear itself apart before he would be electrocuted as Lightning continued to pump volt after volt into Rock's trembling body.
Just before Rock felt he could take no more, his body suddenly exploded with a wave of energy, and his arm cannon sprouted one of Ground's drills. Lightning suddenly stopped his assault, staring at the drill with hatred. Releasing Rock, Lightning raised his other hand, and then sent a blast of electricty at Rock's drill. The bolt bounced off of the drill and flickered into the air. As Rock staggered back to his feet, Lightning sent a flurry of bolts at Rock's arm, with the metal drill deflecting each one all around the room. Once he had his scrambled wits recollected, Rock quickly held his drill-hand up to his chest, and Lightning continued to throw bolt after bolt at it, each bouncing off of it leaving not even a scratch.
Rock grinned. "What's wrong, Lightning? Don't like my drill?"
Just before Lightning could throw another bolt at him, Rock thrust his arm forward and shot his drill into Lightning's chest. The tip of the drill just managed to burrow into Lightning's chest, and Lightning suddenly dropped to his knees. Crackles of electricity began shooting out of the drill, and Lightning grew more and more visibly tired. Ripping the drill out of his chest Lightning threw the drill back at Rock, who had already found strength enough to sprout another drill from his cannon, knocking it away and firing another drill into Lightning's body. Lightning weezed as the drill began to shoot out more electrcty from his body, letting the dril drop out before collapsing onto his hands and knees. As Rock grew another drill from his cannon, Lightning shot another bolt at Rock's damaged arm, driving Rock back to his knee. As Lightning struggled back to his feet, Rock had already staggered back to his, and shot another drill into Lightnig's hand. Lightning screeched as the drill sped into the ground, anchoring Lightning to the floor. Just as Rock was about to fire again, the poles on Lightning's back flared up again, and another wave of electricity smashed Rock back against the wall. Lightning roared and struggled to free his hand from the drill, but it still remained pinned to the floor as the drill began shooting out more of Lightning's power. By the time Rock struggled back to his feet, Lightning was now barely moving, still trying to weakly wrench his arm free. Not wanting to take any more chance, Rock fired another drill at Lightning, spearing his other hand onto the floor, pinning his shoulders flat. "Goodbye, Lightning," said Rock, sprouting another drill from his cannon. Lightning screamed as Rock plunged the drill into his stomach, and soon, Lightning's scream turned to a moan, and then to silence. When all was finally quiet, Rock took a deep breath, and fell onto his back. His arms tingled and shivered, and his body felt like someone had set his every nerve on fire, but a grin stretched itself across his face. He had survived.
Suddenly, Rock heard another pair of footsteps running towards the shutter from the hallway on the other side. Rock quickly bolted back to his feet and looked at Lightning's body. Rock teared out the drill in Lightning's stomach and kicked out the drills that pinned him down. With whatever strength his body had left in him, Rock lifted Lightning's body into his arms and felt his body copy Lightning's weapon systems just as the shutter flew open.
"Lightning! Rock!" The Virtuloid who ran through the shutter gasped.
"Marie," Rock sighed with relief, "Thank God you're here."
Marie ran to Rock's side and looked at Lightning's face. "Lightning!" Marie shrieked, "Is he-?"
Rock put on his best sorrowful face. "He's dead, Marie," said Rock. When Rock saw Marie's face twist up in a mix of shock and sadness, he added, "It was him- that guy who's been wrecking everything in sight. Lightning and I tried to stop him," Rock said, beginning to weeze, "But he was just too strong."
Marie looked at Lightning's damaged body, and the looked at Rock's numerous wounds. "Give him to me," she said as Rock gently set Lightning into Marie's arms, "You'd better wapr back to HQ for repairs, quickly."
Rock blinked. Roll had no idea that he needed to teleport out of the power plant. "I can't," said Rock, "My teleport system is damaged."
Marie looked at Rock with curiousity. "Your teleport system is damaged?" She asked. When Rock nodded, she said, "The teleport system is practically indestructible, Rock."
"I know," said Rock quickly, learning something knew, "We both took a lot of damage." Wondering what Marie was doing in the plant alone, Rock asked, "Where are the others?"
"They thought that the Megaman would be attacking the hydro-electric dam next," said Marie. "You probably didn't hear the announcement, Alpha sent everyone to the dam. I thought that the dam would be the last place he'd attack, so I came looking around here."
"Wait, if Alpha sent everyone to the dam, then why are you here?"
Marie looked back at Rock straight in the eyes. "I should be asking you the same thing."
Rock gagged. "I was excused," he said quickly. "I'm actually part of some special operations unit- We can do whatever we want unless Alpha says otherwise."
Marie suddenly gasped. "You mean- you're part of the Alpha Elite?"
Rock's eyes glanced around the room. "Uh, yeah," he said.
Suddenly, Marie looked at him wishfully. "Oh God, please don't marhsall me for breaking my orders!" Marie pleaded, "Please!"
Rock grinned. "All right, I'll let you off," he said, "But just this once."
"Oh, thanks Rock," said Marie. "I'll get Lightning back to HQ for you." Suddenly, Marie said, "Oh Rock, your teleport system's damaged," she said, "I'd better warp you out of here too." Biting her lip, she took Rock's hand and said, "I'm not sure if mine can handle taking all three of us."
"We're not going to get out of here any other way," said Rock.
Marie took a deep breath, and the three instantly vanished.