Chapter 5
The loud shots of Barrett's gunarm echoed out into the plains. He was bored. Much more than he had been when the Highwind was simply offline. Now he had nothing to do at all. He fired again as he tossed another one of Cid's empty beer cans into the air. Cloud walked over and unleashed his Omnislash on the can before it hit the ground. Pieces of aluminum fell to the ground as Cloud resheathed his sword.
"Any news?" Barrett said, sitting on a rock.
"No. The Highwind is gonna need someone more than Cid. It's screwed up pretty bad. That last attack on the Ultima Weapon really put us in a spot."
"So how do we get extra help?" Barrett asked, not impressed that they might be stuck out here even longer.
"Well Tifa was headed towards a Chocobo Farm not far from here. Though she's been gone a while." Cloud said as he rolled a fire materia around in his hand. The green jewel glistened in the sunlight, almost screaming to be used. He placed it back in his sword, and started walking towards a tree.
"Hey Cloud, what do you figure that is?" Barrett said, looking south. There was a small dust cloud, with what looked like a small figure causing the cloud. It was getting closer as well.
"Hard to say. But I do know one thing for sure. I'm not gonna wait for it to get here." He dug in his pocket and pulled out a sense materia. He took out the fire materia that was in his sword and placed the yellow one in its place. He raised his sword and the yellow materia began glowing.
"Well come on Cloud. What the hell is it?" Barrett said impatiently.
"There's two things out there. One is Tifa. The other is…. I don't know. I can't scan it." He said, placing attack materia in his sword. Tifa finally came into view on a Chocobo moving VERY fast. A creature that looked similar to a red Bahamut, came into view and swung it's spiked tail at Tifa. She avoided the attack, and kept the Chocobo moving. Barrett raised his gun arm and aimed at the beast. He took a shot, and though it was a direct hit, all it did was get the monster pissed off. Cloud started running towards Tifa as the Chocobo was sent flying, badly wounded. Tifa rolled across the ground as she slowed to a stop. She was slow to get up, but was still able to get up.
"TIFA!" Cloud called out as he quickened his pace. He started concentrating as he got closer and his sword started to glow. "Blade Beam…" he muttered as he slashed at the beast, though he was still a bit far away. A rainbow colored beam arced and slammed into the beast as it swooped in to finish Tifa off. The blast knocked it out of the air and it fell to the ground. Tifa got up and started running towards Cloud, holding up a green materia. She threw it at him and he quickly attached the "Exit" materia to his sword.
"Barrett, it's time to go!" Cloud said behind him. He heard the bulky man arrive and he used the Escape spell. The three disappeared in a flash of light as the creature was getting back up. Ridley looked at the spot where they had been.
"Mother Brain thought Samus would be trouble… She's in for a shock." He thought as he flew back the way he had come.
Chapter 6
"MEGA MAN!" Roll screamed as she ran towards his outstretched hand.
"Ohhhh… that smarts." Bass said falling out of the Reaverbot. He landed on the soft sand, and did a quick systems check. His energy was low, and his armor could use some repair, but nothing major had occurred. "Now who's responsible for this?" He demanded, looking at the boat. Tron was the first to spill out, holding her head as a small trail of blood came from above her left eye. Tiesel followed shortly after, bruised, but no worse for wear. Bass started running at them, his arm cannon blazing. Babu flew out the door and took the shots, absorbing most of the damage.
"Babuuu!" he said as he released a wave of homing missiles. Bass dodged as the missiles collided and exploded. Tron managed to regain her wits and jumped into the Geiselchaft.
"Little boys shouldn't play with toys they can't control. That stupid Reaverbot damaged our boat beyond repair. Now you'll pay." She charged bass and grabbed him with the robots big hand. "I could crush you if I wanted to." She growled.
"I doubt it. My armor is too tough for that thing." Bass said. Tiesel walked up beside Tron and looked at Bass.
"Who are you and what do you want with Mega man?" He said, holding his arm in pain.
"Not that it's any of your business, but the name's Bass. Him and I go way back. You could say we're old rivals. I've just been 'out of commission' for a while, thanks to him." Bass said, squirming to get free.
"Where is he anyway?" Tron asked, looking around. She then saw Roll struggling against a Reaverbot leg and a blue hand sticking out from underneath. "Oh no!" She cried, running the Geiselchaft over to Roll.
"Leave him alone. He'll be lucky to be alive. He doesn't need you picking on him." Roll said, tears streaming down her face.
"Knock it off blondie. He saved us and the world didn't he? I just want him out of the way of our work, not dead." She said as she started to use her robot to lift the Reaverbots leg up.
"You've got a point there Tron." Tiesel said, going over to help.
"Who asked you?" Bass said as he charged up his arm cannon. Then it dawned on him. "Wait a minute. If he's dead then I won't get the glory of the kill. You can't escape me that easily Mega man. I haven't gotten my revenge yet!" Bass said as he joined the others. With the four of them working together, the leg was lifted off Mega man and Roll managed to drag him out. There was no sign of life coming from the blue warrior. Roll started to shake him, trying to wake him up. She checked Mega man's energy, but the meter had been damaged.
"Data!" Roll called out. Soon after, the monkey came bounding up and saw Mega man's condition.
"This is serious roll. I don't know if I can help him." Data said, attaching a port into Mega man's side. He started pumping energy into Mega man's lifeless body, and after a few moments, the energy meter kicked in and it showed his energy at ¾ power. Data had to release the link as he was draining himself. Mega man stirred, and slowly opened his eyes.
"Mega man? Are you alright?" Roll asked concerned. Mega man's eyes took in his surroundings, letting everything register. After a few moments, he focused on Bass and he jumped up.
"Bass! I thought I totaled you. Roll, contact Rush, I need his help." He said as he leaped back and fired a shot.
"Now this is more like it!" Bass said quickly joining in the battle. "Good to have you back mega-creep." The two dodged and fired, but Mega man was expecting Rush to show up. There was also something else. He couldn't target anymore like he had on the reaverbots. He also found his abilities had changed a bit. The latest weapons roll had made for him were useless. It was as if his whole system had undergone a change. But there was something else. He could charge up his shots, and not to mention there was a data file he could open. When he did, he got a list of a small assortment of weapons. He selected the Shadow Blade and hurled a shuriken type blade at Bass.
"Damn it Wily, you were supposed to destroy the data on old bots when you gave up!" He fired his charged shot and it hit Mega man square in the head. He fell backwards and didn't get up right away.
"Data what happened to him?" Roll asked watching helplessly. Tiesel and Tron were just as confused.
"I'm not sure Roll. During the transfer I must have somehow sent some information from his previous activation." Data said trying to figure things out. Mega man got up, but he wasn't in battle form anymore. He looked around.
"Roll? Data? Tron? What happened? Where am I?" he asked looking around.
"Oh no you don't. Don't you fake a memory loss on me blue boy." Bass said charging at him. Tron grabbed him with the Gieselshaft and hurled him up against the reaverbot. He was knocked out upon impact.
"Take five you pest." She said without looking back. "Now will someone tell me what the heck is going on here? I'm beyond confused!"