Chapter 5: Snowball Fight

"Hrm… think you have a speed advantage on me, do you? You've never been caught in an avalanche, obviously. In just one moment, the snow can rush forward and crush you without warning. Allow me to demonstrate." -Dopplertown resident Blizzard Buffalo, during his fight with Mega Man X

"Variable weapons system works as well as ever." Mega Man noted as the purple energy globe of the Plant Barrier formed around him in a vague flower pattern. "Let's just hope this force field is as strong as the previous ones, at least."

"Just don't bump into anything." Roll warned him. "You dent the furniture, I dent your skull. And if you're going to practice throwing that thing, go outside to do it."

"Actually, I don't think I can throw this one at all." Mega Man realized, making a face. "Don't see why not… Plant Man himself could. Lousy defective piece of junk weapons chip."

"Look at it this way." His sister suggested. "At least it's not the Top Spin, right?" The Blue Bomber considered that, then nodded empathetically.

"You make a good point, sis. A VERY good point. Anything's better than the Top Spin again. Up to, and including, a violent self-destruct device."

"Don't give Mr. X ideas." Roll joked. "Anyways, at least one of them is down. That's what's really important. With luck, the next one will have a better weapon for you."

"It'd be hard to do any worse, aforementioned Top Spin aside, and none of those guys looked horribly defective to me, so that's not too likely." Mega looked around. "Where's dad, by the way?"
"Sleeping." Roll shrugged, and the Blue Bomber frowned.

"Still? It's noon!"

"He and Doc Cossack were up until 4 AM." Roll explained. "Pharaoh Man had to drive them back to the hotel room. Kalinka was not amused."

"I'll bet. Sheesh, they're really going crazy with Rush and Beat this time." Mega shook his head. "Can't be healthy for them… I'll have to ask them to tone it down before they kill themselves. I'm all for more help, but there ARE such things as reasonable limits." His sister smiled.

"Oh, I think they'll calm down a bit on that now. Last night was just a special case."
"Oh?" Mega raised an eyebrow, now curious. "Curious in a good way, or curious like the time Rush tried to bury a pizza in the backyard?"

"The former, although it does have to do with Rush." Roll explained, smile growing. "You see, they realized that if they really ground it out, one of the two new planned forms for Rush could be completed using existing technology much quicker than they had expected." It took a moment for that to sink in.

"Wait. You're telling me they did all that… in order to get one of Rush's new forms ready today? As in, NOW? It's done?"

"Bingo." His sister confirmed. "You'll need to test it, of course, but as far as they could tell it's fully ready to go."

"Now THAT is a much better surprise than the Plant Shield." Mega looked around. "Now I just need Rush himself. Where is he…" Hearing a frenzied barking, he looked out the window to see the robotic mutt in question tearing down the street with a hubcap in his mouth and a broom-wielding neighbor in hot pursuit.

"Oy." Roll slapped her forehead. "We have GOT to get him to stop chewing those." One defusing of the situation and frantic apology later, the siblings dragged Rush up to the lab. "Right then, now that THAT's taken care of… the new mode is called 'Jet Armor.' Go ahead and command him."

"Right." The Blue Bomber coughed. "Ahem… Rush, Jet Armor mode!" Barking, the red robot jumped into the air towards him and shrank in on himself, folding and compacting bizarrely into what looked like a chest plate with a large box on one side. Dividing down the middle to fit around Mega and then snapping in place, the armor fit snugly on him and caused the rest of his normal suit to turn the same red as Rush. "…Okay. This is definitely something new, I'll give them that. But what exactly does it… eh?" A new energy bar had popped up in the corner of his eye, next to his life energy, where Master Weapons energy bars would usually appear. "Hm…" He sent the command to activate whatever it did, and a moment later, the floor fell out from beneath him… or more accurately, HE flew away from IT, up towards the ceiling. "WHOA!" After a moment of initial confusion, Mega realized the source of the propulsion came from the box on his back; twisting his head around, he saw that twin jets had popped out of the bottom of it. A moment later, they retracted, and he fell flat on his face in front of Roll, who clapped slowly.

"Well, it's good to see that it works." She noted. "In case you hadn't figured it out, it's a jetpack."
"Yeah, so I gathered." Mega watched as the energy meter, which had emptied itself, recharged to full in only a few seconds. "So what's with the timer?"

"Something the guys figured… instead of giving it an energy supply of its own, they tied it to your internal supply." Roll explained. "The catch to that is unless you want it to drain your operations energy, it can only go for about three seconds at a time… good news is it recharges almost as fast. So be careful with it." She looked upstairs. "Enjoy it; it'll be a while before you get the other. Me and Kalinka agree that we're going to keep the old men on an eight-hour minimum, and sticking to the circuit plates, for the next few days."

"Can't say I disagree. Dad's not young enough to pull that kind of thing any more, and Doc Cossack isn't made of titanium either." Mega Man disengaged the jetpack. "Did the UN call, by the way?"

"Yeah… it was pretty much like you predicted. They were irritated as hell, but they gave in eventually. Still, you'll probably want to continue to try to avoid them." Roll frowned. "Only thing that troubles me is that Vinkus wasn't there… I thought Doc Corbun said he'd be out of the hospital by now."

"He did." Mega frowned as well. "That is worrisome… maybe you could look into that?"

"On it." Roll agreed. "I've got to do something until work time today, after all, and it looks like it'll be a few more hours."

"Right. Now then, in the spirit of your suggestion, I'll be heading right off to Blizzard Man's." Mega decided. "Wish me luck." Concentrating on the warp coordinates, he departed.

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"Attention, viewers! I would to announce that the second round of the World Robotics Tournament has begun! Please direct your attention to Mega Man, our Champion, who's managed to fend off one of the challengers to his throne already! Now, he's here to see if the Master of Snow can take his title! Let's watch him and find out, everybody!" Mr. X's voice blared obnoxiously from the hovering camera. Mega Man started to raise his Buster, then shook his head.

"He'd just use another. Keep your mind on what's important… ignore the clowning around." He glanced at the robotic seal waiting for him a few feet ahead in the snow. "That qualifies." Not waiting for him to approach, the seal pointed its nose up in the air and materialized a globe of plasma on top of it, which it threw at the hero. Mega hurdled it easily and obliterated the foe. "That's an interesting design… not too effective, though, unless…" He groaned at what he saw ahead, on top of a wall of ice. "There's two of them." He dodged the first and second shots from the seal pair, but the third and last one clipped him. Growling, he pressed on. The entrance to a fortress that looked like it had once been a ranger station loomed ahead of him, and his face darkened as he thought of what the fate of its inhabitants had likely been… the same fate that befell anybody who happened to be in the area when the robot armies moved in, never having any chance to escape. The massacre of Sennet Robotics workers in the Third had been the worst example, but even on a lesser scale, the deaths of innocents caught in the Rebellions never failed to enrage the Blue Bomber. Wiping out the sentry robots, he stalked into the building.

With no humans left there, the robots had left all windows and doors open and turned the heaters off, exposing the station's interior to the elements. The walls, floors and even the ceiling were all frosted over. Taking full advantage of this, robots that looked more like hockey pucks than anything else slid towards Mega Man; unfortunately for them, their light weight made them easily destroyed. Shield-masked fliers were more of a problem on the slippery ice; twice before being destroyed they slammed into Mega as he struggled to remain upright and in control. A huge green squid-bot the size of a truck on the next floor down didn't help much either, spewing ice blocks at high speed and launching homing missiles.

"This can't go on." Mega realized, looking at his 65 operations energy after squashing the squid. "It's been too long since I fought on a cold front. Time to try out my new upgrade…" He activated a signal, and Rush teleported in. Like Eddie, once he had walked inside the teleport barrier that surrounded enemy encampments he could move directly to Mega's current location. "Let's go, Rush. Jet Armor!" Barking enthusiastically, the red robot dog transformed into the jetpack suit and snapped on. Dropping down into the station's basement; Mega's eyes widened; the floor had been almost entirely removed and filled with water, frozen over lightly in most places. The part that was not, in the center of the large room, was occupied by, of all thing, a SUBMARINE. "Wonder how the heck they got THAT in here…" As he crossed it, taking out the turrets manned by Sniper Joe humanoid robots, the hero began to realize there were a few downsides to the Jet Armor.

"Hm… looks like I can't charge shots. And it's too bulky to pull off the slide move… the jetpack drags. Still…" He reached the end of the sub, and looked over the missing expanse of floor. Only a few untrustworthy-looking floating platforms led to the ladder out of the basement, and below them were the frigid waters. "In situations like this, it can't be beat." Jumping into the air, Mega flew past all the platforms without even bothering and grabbed the ladder's rungs. Walking out of the station's back door, Mega destroyed another giant squid robot without taking any damage this time, then looked across an icy chasm to the two smaller huts waiting side-by-side. Jetting across, he disengaged the Jet Armor. "Now then, which one of these two should I choose… I took the one on the left last time, so…" He walked through the metal shutter on the right. Like with Plant Man, the room it led to had no roof, and was covered in ice and snow. "All right, you, I've arrived! Get your round white butt down here so we can get this over with, already!"

"Anxious to fight, are you, Mega Man?" Mr. X's voice gloated. "That was a very interesting new ability you used on the way here… that can't have been Plant Man's, especially since Rush was involved. He always was such a good doggie… give him a bone for me, will you, and tell him his old buddy Mr. X said hi." Mega gritted his teeth. "But I hope you don't think that will help you in this fight… a jetpack won't do a thing against this foe!" A flash of movement from above drew Mega's eyes to the walltop as Blizzard Man launched himself off of it in a rolling sphere of movement, and the lights flashed with extra-thick drama. "Round 2 of the World Robotics Tournament! Champion: The Blue Bomber! Challenger: The Snow Master! FIGHT!"

"Please excuse the master…" Blizzard Man apologized as he uncurled himself from his rolling mode and turned to face his opponent. "He does so love his theatrics. Am I correct in assuming that the only one of my allies you have defeated so far is Plant Man?"

"That's right." Mega nodded, shifting to the Plant Barrier. "Your point?"

"In that case, a piece of advice. Do not bother calling upon it… your Mega Buster will be all you can depend on in this fight." Blizzard Man informed him.

"That so…" Mega thought back to a previous, similar fight, and shook his head. "Pardon me if I don't exactly take that at face value. I've always been kind of stubborn that way… especially when it comes to hints from enemies."

"I assure you, I am not the type to lie… but if you insist…" Blizzard Man's hands gripped his skis tightly. "I shall have to demonstrate!" His eyes flashed, and four shuriken-like blades of ice flew out from him. Mega Man dodged them all easily and smiled as he saw Blizzard Man immediately launch himself forward in his rolling attack.

"Knew you'd do that!" The Blue Bomber crowed, activating his Plant Barrier. "Now then, let's-OOF!" Blizzard Man's rolling bulk blasted through the force field like it was made of paper and continued forward, smashing Mega Man flat against the ground before continuing on to bounce off a wall. Prying himself off of the ground, Mega shook his head. "What… happened?"

"I am guessing your confidence came from your fight with Dive Man in the Fourth Rebellion." Blizzard Man turned to face him again. "There, his high-speed physical attacks were completely deflected by the force field. This has led you to believe that in a similar situation, the same effect will always occur. However, there are two things you forgot to take into account. One, I believe Dr. Cossack to be superior than Dr. Salguerdo from Brazil, who built Plant Man… in other words, the Skull Barrier is stronger than the Plant Barrier. And second… my attack, while being slightly slower than Dive Man's charge, is also slightly more powerful. These two factors render your Plant Barrier USELESS against me." He glared at Mega Man. "Now, are you ready to fight for real?"

"Heh… you've really done your homework, I see." The Blue Bomber changed back to his Mega Buster. "Fair enough… let's get it on!" He fired a charged shot, and at the same time, Blizzard Man launched his snowflake shuriken again… but this time, the bladed weapons were eradicated as they flew out by the plasma blast, which continued to hit the master of snow right between the eyes. "Speaking of overpowering… those flakes are nothing compared to MY main weapon."

"Hmph… we shall see who triumphs in the end!" Blizzard Man launched himself forward in the rolling attack again, but this time Mega Man hurdled it and ran at a wall. When Blizzard Man pursued him, he jumped again right before hitting it, and the enemy bounced off, reverting to his stationary form just in time to catch a charged shot.

"Your attack has its flaws too… when you hit something solid, you revert." Mega noted. "I may not be able to defend against a head-on collision, but I can still dodge it." He fired again, destroying the snowflakes and landing another hit. "And like I told you, those things won't work against me either." Blizzard Man growled and began rolling again, and once again Mega managed to force him to revert with a wall collision and leave himself open. "Also… that bulk of yours may make for a powerful impact, but it also makes you a big target." One last shot brought Blizzard Man to his knees. "Impressive thinking on the Plant Barrier, but not enough to beat a veteran of five Rebellions, who's had to figure out the flaws and weaknesses in numerous enemies before you."

"So… I see." Blizzard Man gasped. "Then… you truly are… the victor. And yet… I shall not stop until… I am dead." He tried the rolling assault one last time, and Mega's last shot upon its end left him motionless and silent. His hands slowly fell open, revealing the circuit plate gripped in the wool glove on one of them.

"Both right so far." Mega took the chip and began searching the body for Blizzard Man's weapons chip as well. "Let's see how long my streak lasts."

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"They'll all be asleep by now…" Mega Man muttered to himself as he arrived outside of his family's home around midnight. "Teleport took longer than I thought." Matter teleportation, still a new technology, had its share of flaws; the most glaring, of course, was that organic life forms could not undergo the process without suffering severe brain damage or even death. Another, however, was the time factor; Dr. Light maintained that eventually a teleporter would be created that could beam the user to any location on the planet in a matter of seconds or minutes, but as of yet that dream had not yet been realized. Teleporting to a distant locale like Switzerland and back took up most of Mega Man's day. "I'll have to be careful not to wake anybody up… hopefully, Rush and Eddie are in stasis too. The neighbors were NOT amused that time they decided to welcome me home at maximum volume… huh?" Walking into the living room, the Blue Bomber frowned at the sight of somebody sleeping on the couch, covered by a spare blanket. After a moment he realized that it was Dr. Trenton Corbun. "What's he doing here…?"

"Hey, bro." Roll's voice greeted him quietly, causing him to jump again. "I was wondering when you'd be back."

"Roll!" He turned to her. "Don't scare me like that. What are you still doing up, anyways? Shouldn't you be in stasis by now? I thought you said there'd be no more long worknights."

"I figured somebody should be around to explain Doc Corbun to you." She indicated the snoring man. "Let's go into another room… I doubt even an elephant could wake him up right now, but it's best not to take chances." Nodding, Mega followed her into the dining room. "Blizzard Man's kaput, I see."

"Yeah. Plant Barrier was useless, but still, nothing I couldn't handle." The Blue Bomber summarized. "Looks like things have been much more interesting here…"

"You don't know the half of it." Roll sighed and glanced down. "It was pretty quiet for most of the day… we got one of those circuit plates rebuilt. But then around 9 PM, Doc Corbun's rental pulled up out front… well, maybe pulled up isn't the right word. More like 'nearly wrapped itself around a lamppost.' It was close."

"Yeesh." Mega Man winced. "I thought he was a good driver."

"Normally, he is." Roll agreed. "Problem was, he was drunk. Very drunk. He came to tell us… well…" She looked down again. "Yesterday, after he got out of the hospital… Vinkus had a heart attack. He's back in there again."

"No way." Mega murmured. "Why? Why now?"

"You have to ask? The same reason Doc Corbun's been drinking so heavily." Roll shook her head. "Mr. X. Those three were even closer friends with each other than with dad. Either their friend was the real source behind the Rebellion after all… or, even if this is Wily again, he's likely dead or dying by now. He wouldn't be able to survive the same kind of captivity Kalinka and Dad were put through, even if Wily didn't just kill him right off… he's over eighty, and he was in World War III. And that's just one scenario… he could still very well actually be a complete nut job who's been funding Wily while pretending to be our buddy all along. Either way, it's bad."

"Yeah… I can see your point." Mega nodded.

"They aren't sure exactly what caused the attack yet, but I'd bet it's related to that in some way." Roll shook her head sadly. "Doc Corbun was already working on a bottle when somebody on the UN finally had the decency to call him up. It wasn't until he had finished some more that he decided he needed to come down here and tell us about it, too… and in the state he was in at the time, he couldn't tell that it wasn't a good idea right at the moment. I'm just glad he made it here in one piece. After that, we sure as heck weren't going to let him drive back to his hotel, so he's sleeping it off over here. He'll have one killer hangover tomorrow."

"Geez." Mega Man shook his head. "What a downer. Did you look into Vinkus? Is he…"

"Yeah, I check up… and don't worry, he's out of danger. We're going to go visit him tomorrow." Roll assured him. "He's tougher than he looks… I think he'll recover fine in the long run."

"Yeah." Mega Man stood. "Well then, we should probably go into stasis ourselves before this gets any more depressing."

"You've got a point." Roll agreed. "Well, night." Nodding, Mega Man went to his room and lied down in the capsule, hoping that tonight, at least, he wouldn't have any bad dreams about… about… about whatever it was that he had bad dreams about.

"For the life of me, I can't remember what it is… hope that's not a bad sign of something."