Chapter 12 : Light
Blues opened his eyes, and there was a light. A faint, barely noticeable white light a noticeable distance away. Blues stared intently at it watching it intently, quietly, filled with awe. It seemed bright and welcoming… He didn't know what it was, but his legs seemed to move for him.
He began to slowly walk towards the light, and the light seemed to get bigger and brighter, as if preparing to either embrace him or swallow him whole. With every step he took toward it, it got blindingly larger, until the light seemed to be swallowing him, and he covered his eyes with one arm, blinded.
Even as he stopped, the light got larger and larger until it revealed it's true identity, and he was face-to-face with a freight train coming straight toward him. Blues wanted to roll out of the way, but his legs seemed to be figuratively frozen solid…
He saw it just as it collided with him. On top of the train was Mega Man, in the way he originally was, in a pose of preparation, staring at the sky. Mega Man vanished in a blue beam of light just as the train was literally on top of Blues, towering over him…
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"You know, old man, we never did go through with that plan." Forte muttered thoughtfully, chewing on the piece of steak he could actually cut and wincing slightly, holding his jaw after swallowing it.
"What plan?" Wily responded, still trying to cut his own. He glared at it furiously and fruitlessly stabbed it with the knife.
"The one where I was going to sneak into the Light residence as a human and steal their plans?"
"I decided you weren't much for stealth and sent a different person to do the job. They succeeded, and soon enough, I'll figure out a way for you to turn back into a robot." Wily replied matter-of-factly, finally slicing off a small chunk of the steak and eating it.
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Roll looked through the science cabinets, hoping to find something that would make things better for her. She was supremely jealous, a feeling she had never felt before, and wanted to know what Rock felt like…and never be ridiculed by rude guests like that boy for being what she was again.
…On the other hand, she didn't want to go stealing things or experimenting with them either. She'd wait until Dr. Light got home… After all, he was her father. He, of all people, would understand how she felt. With that decided, she closed the science cabinets and went to find something to do.
…Was there anything she hadn't cleaned yet?
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"So, how is he?" Dr. Light asked, after talking to a doctor immediately upon arrival at the hospital.
"He's fine. He's had a few small spasms and other such things, but those are basically minor considering what could have happened. We almost lost him at times, but he's pulled through… He's going to be in a recovery ward for a week, though."
Rock quickly got bored with the conversation and went to look for something else to do., and saw a nearby television in a nearby room, so he walked over there and watched whatever was on. On the screen was a picture of himself and Dr. Wily, as well as a reporter.
The ticker at the bottom read "Dr. Wily still at large after escaping from jail yet again… Possibility of attack is at highest point"
Rock stared in silence. He knew it was going to happen again eventually… He thought about teleporting out to go look for him, but quickly caught himself and stopped.
He couldn't teleport anymore. Or fight. And with that thought, he suddenly felt helpless again… What if Dr. Wily attacked again? What if Dr. Wily knew he was human? No matter what way he looked at it, if Dr. Wily attacked again, he knew it'd be catastrophic.
And he knew Dr. Wily… Dr. Wily was stubborn… No matter how many times he was defeated, he wouldn't give up. He'd try every scheme and attack until he eventually managed to find the tiniest little crack and break through.
Rock sighed in defeat. He knew the world would need him again at its most desperate hour, and he wouldn't be there.
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Forte gave up on trying to eat what was in front of him, thinking he might have just broken a tooth doing so, and stood up, walked out of the room, and went back to working on his unfinished robot masters.
He walked into the room and stared at his first finished creation, Scorpion-Man. Everything down to the sturdy black tank-like armor had been completed. As an added touch, there was a purple stripe going around it's deep, unfeeling red eyes, and down its huge, powerful tail, which had a thick spike at the end of it.
Forte's robot masters looked awesome in his eyes. Deadly and menacing, not laughable and weak like his father's failures… Top Man came to mind instantly. What had Wily been thinking when he had created that thing?
Now Skull Man on the other hand… And Elec Man, and Napalm Man. Those three packed power and looked neat to boot. That's what he wanted in his robot masters.
"You know, I made something you might find useful." Dr. Wily said out of nowhere, throwing Forte's train of thought off course.
"…What?" Forte said as calmly as possible, turning around to see Wily holding a small computer chip.
"It's a simulation program that will allow you to test your robots to see how much damage they can cause, any possible weaknesses, and their chances of surviving a battle against Mega Man. As you can see with my previous attempts, it doesn't always work perfectly, but… Even fixing the slightest flaws will help."
Forte snatched the chip out of his hand and looked at it.
"How do I use it?"
"Simply place it inside the robot, and watch a recording of the simulation on the computer screens. After it's done, it will give you all the data you need."
Forte walked up to his robot and followed said instructions, and the robot's eyes glowed a shade of white before changing back to their regular color.
Forte looked at the computer in the same room, and the screen turned black for a second, then faded to a menu, asking what Forte wanted to do.
Forte chose "Mega Man Battle Simulation", and another menu opened up, asking him what area he wished to simulate a fight in. He chose a map of the city, and a disturbingly realistic one popped up on the screen.
Suddenly, the simulated camera panned down to Scorpion Man, and a battle appeared on the screen as it and Mega Man faced each other in the city. Forte had already programmed it's entire battle characteristics, and hopefully, if Wily was right, this would allow to him to find any flaws in the design and the A.I.
The simulated Mega Man yelled out and began flashing blue, releasing a large plasma blast from his arm cannon that Scorpion Man quickly dodged by launching itself off the ground…
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Roll was fast asleep (in a matter of speaking) when Dr. Light and Rock came home that night. All the support robots except for Auto were doing the same, Tango being smart enough to keep a safe distance from Rush, and Beat being smart enough to keep a safe distance from Tango.
Outside, a storm brewed. Lightning broke the silence and split the sky, and rain came pouring down, flowing down the slopes and soaking the grass. Rock ran in with his hands above his head to keep himself from being soaked, and Dr. Light came in carrying a black umbrella.
As long as he was here, Rock didn't feel any worries about Dr. Wily attacking, and he felt warm and safe, all his worries seeming to bury themselves into his subconscious. Right now, he just wanted to sleep.
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"Dr. Light?" a voice whispered. "Dr. Light?"
Dr. Light slowly woke up, looking around for the source of the voice, and saw Roll staring back at him.
"Roll?" he muttered.
"Dr. Light, I wanted to ask you… Can I be a person too?"