Chapter 8: Home Turf

"Despite the threatening capacity of Robot Rebellions to the entire globe, the Blue Bombers have always resided in the nation of Japan, both the original and his modern successor. Dr. Thomas Light, the creator of both, must have loved his country greatly to remain there for nearly his entire life." -Rebellions & Uprisings: Comparison Of The Past & Present

"Oh, the foot wire's connected to the leg wire…" Mr. X sang to himself in a low tone as he worked on his secret project, lying flat on its back before him open to the world. "And the leg wire's connected to the… never-mind-that wire…" He frowned. "That ain't right. I think I may be misremembering how this goes. Bah, that's what I get for distracting myself. Focus, old man. Get the job done, then you can play around some. Who knows, you might even have this fella done in time to haul him in for the Fortress… no, no, plan ahead. This one's for NEXT time. Keep your priorities straight…" He began inserting a delicate microchip. "And above all, FOCUS…"

"Incoming call." The computerized voice startled him, causing him to plunge the chip straight into a crack in the table. After a few mild curses, Mr. X sighed.

"Perhaps it's time I took a break anyways… put it through."

"Hello, master." Centaur Man greeted him. "How are things going at the fortress today?"

"Oh, about the same." Mr. X shrugged. "I was in the middle of something, but it's all right. How are you and the other remaining Robot Masters doing? I assume you've been checking the comm lines regularly for them too, like I asked?"

"Of course." Centaur Man assured him. "Flame Man seems somewhat relieved now that he doesn't have to play the referee any more, now that Tomahawk Man's out of the picture. Knight Man's happy to see the last of that lunatic too, although you know he'd never admit it openly. You know, the whole honorable-as-heck thing he's got going on."

"Yes, I know all about Knight Man." Mr. X sighed.

"Yeah. He's been playing up the avenge-fallen-allies angle, but he did it a little TOO much when Tomahawk Man bit it." Centaur Man shook his head. "Oh well, it's not reducing his capabilities any, unlike Tomahawk's cockiness. It shouldn't really be a problem. Yamato Man, now…" The quadrapedal Robot Master frowned. "That one, I haven't seen on the comm channel at all, ever since day one. It's starting to worry me. Perhaps you could…"

"Yes, this needs looking at." Mr. X agreed. "Computer, signal Yamato Man's current location."

"Acknowledged." The computer replied pleasantly. A few moments later, a new face joined the comm channel.

"Centaur Man… master." Yamato Man bowed to them. "To what do I owe this summons?"

"Just wanted to see how you were doing, old buddy." Centaur Man explained, raising a metallic eyebrow. "You haven't said hi to anybody ever since we all set off on this caper. We were starting to think you didn't like us."

"Humor. Ha ha ha." Yamato Man stated drolly. "In response to your worries, was there really any need to? I have my mission, and I am carrying it out. Until then, all that is necessary is for me to continue waiting for Mega Man, yes?" Sighing, Centaur Man and Mr. X both passed hands in front of their faces.

"Yes, Yamato Man… I suppose so." Mr. X admitted. "Just… be ready for when he does come."

"I shall." Yamato Man paused. "How many of the others has he destroyed so far?"

"Four." Centaur Man grumbled. "Plant, Blizzard, Tomahawk, Wind."

"I see." Yamato Man nodded. "So currently… there is a 25 chance he will choose me next. And he will have four Master Weapons at his disposal." He seemed to smile. "That should provide a suitable challenge… I hope I get lucky. If you have no further messages for me…"

"No, go ahead." Mr. X waved him away. Nodding, Yamato Man broke the connection. "Ugh… I'm sorry, Centaur Man, but sometimes your robotic brethren are so… so…"

"Mechanical?" Centaur Man finished. "I know… I'm just glad I'm at least a little beyond that, myself… and there are other Robot Masters even farther than me, of course. Hm… speaking of which…" He looked at what was in front of Mr. X. "Is that what I think it is, master?"

"That depends…" Mr. X chuckled. "But if you think it is a Robot Master in progress… then yes, it is indeed. A little pet project of mine… something I've been working on for a while even before I started this Rebellion."

"If it's taking so long, then it can't just be an ordinary Robot Master." Centaur Man realized. "Is he close to completion, though? Do you plan to utilize him in the current Rebellion?"

"In the current one… no, I'm afraid not. He's a contingency plan… preparing in case a seventh is needed." Mr. X's sunglasses glittered. "I have always kept backup plans… I have another fortress ready and waiting aside from this one to run to if everything goes south, and I have plans for even more Robot Masters after this fellow here. Make no mistake, I dearly hope this Rebellion will be sufficient… but if it is not, I shall go on to a Seventh, then an Eighth, and a Ninth… however many are needed in order to finally kill Mega Man once and for all."

"I see." Centaur Man nodded grimly. "While I applaud your forethought, master… such things will not be necessary if I have anything to say about it." He smiled a bit sheepishly. "But then, I suppose most of the Robot Masters before me have said similar things. We shall simply have to see when the time comes." He glanced down at the Robot Master under construction once again. "So, if a seventh comes, this one will be part of the next set of eight?"

"Oh, no." Mr. X grinned fiercely. "Not at all. You were right when you said he had to be something special, Centaur Man. This fellow right here… isn't like the rest of you Robot Masters at all. Call him… the next level."

"…I see." Centaur Man looked slightly uncomfortable now. "Well. I suppose I should leave you to your work, then. Farewell, master."

"Goodbye, Centaur Man." Mr. X chuckled as his servant cut the comm. "Ah well… no rest for the wicked…" Bending over the Robot Master once more, he continued his work.

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"Yikes… this place is closer to Tokyo than I thought." Mega Man frowned, looking out at the city visible in the distance from the mountainside location of Yukishiro hot springs. "Boy, am I glad this guy hasn't gotten antsy and started making raids… well, at least he hasn't for all I know. I haven't been looking at the news much this time around… could he… nah, the guys back home would have told me." Slightly relieved, he set out, obliterating the tanuki robots that now squatted in the resort's front entrance. Beyond them, a humanoid robot sighted him and bellowed a war cry; it wasn't a robot master, but it looked dangerous enough anyways, with a backpack full of spears like its master used. Grabbing one, it twirled it as a shield for several moment before hurling it at Mega Man with surprising speed. The Blue Bomber attempted to slide under it, but the spear still managed to graze his shoulder. Growling, he fired a charged shot, only to have it deflected by the next spear's twirling. This time, when the spear flew out, he was ready to dodge it and managed to destroy the enemy before it shielded again. Beyond it, a flock of dragonfly bombers flew in bearing deadly cargo, and were ripped out of the sky by a few well-aimed tomahawks. The next enemy was a bit more serious, though; a huge, heavily armored mechanoid was patrolling around on two long, spindly legs with flat feet that made up most of its mass. The remainder was an orange head with a single, sky blue eye that had just spotted him. The robot was a familiar sight; it had been one of Wily's favorites in the previous Rebellion. Mega blinked.

"One of those things! Mr. X decided to reuse them, I see…" He blinked as the frontal turret activated, but unlike in the Fifth, it didn't release laser beams. Instead, plasma bullets sprayed out. "Huh! Modified it a little… lucky me, to be less effective. Chumps." As before, charged shots to the crystalline eye destroyed the operator and shut it down. Looking inside the cockpit, Mega discovered that it was… a Metool. He stared at it for a moment, then slapped his face. "Modified for autopilot, right… and a stupid joke. Ugh." Shaking his head, he continued on to a pair of staircases. One led up, and one down. "Huh… the path fork already? That was fast…" After a moment of thought, he decided to go downward. The stairs led to the actual hot springs of the resort, pools of water set in rock. Even this was filled with enemies; cannon turrets fired and robotic fish lunged, but neither were able to do more than scratch him. At the back of the last room, another spear-man stood as the last bodyguard before Yamato Man's metal shutter. Unlike the first one, this robot was unable to hit Mega Man even once, and after he went down, the hero walked on in.

"Mega Man." Yamato Man turned around to greet him the moment he entered. "I've been waiting for you."

"Hiya." The Blue Bomber grunted in response. "You certainly didn't put much effort into setting up your defenses here."

"That would only make it a longer wait until you came here to challenge me." Yamato Man shrugged, grabbing his spear off of a rack set in the wall. "It was extremely doubtful that stupid robots like those would seriously pose any actual chance of killing you, so I didn't waste my time too much with them."

"Funny… thought you said you had had a lot of time on your hands just a moment ago." Mega shook his head in amused contempt. "First Tomahawk Man gets careless because he's so cocky… and now you get even moreso just because you want to fight me yourself. What is wrong with you guys? And here I pegged you and him as two of the MORE dangerous ones. I must be slipping… oh well, at least it's not as much as you guys. Guess amateur talent can only do so much after all." One of Yamato Man's eyes twitched.

"You should wait to make such assumptions until you see what I can really do!" Spinning his spear, he jumped into the air in a high vertical leap, launching three spearhead-shaped energy darts down at Mega in a spread. Sliding away from one only took him straight into the path of another, piercing his foot. Yamato Man landed and smiled. "Well? How was that?"

"Didn't hurt." Mega shook his head, firing a charged shot. Growling, Yamato Man took it and threw his spear out ahead of him.

"How's THIS, then?" The tip of the spear launched like a rocket, blasting at him and through his already-wounded shoulder. That one caused Mega to yell in pain. "Ha! Not so cocky now, are you?"

"A cheap shot." Mega shook his head, firing again. "That won't be enough to bring me down."

"Heh… you seem to be mistaking me for that blowhard Knight Man." Yamato Man charged, swinging his spearshaft like a staff. "Cheap shots are fine with me… all that matters is winning! You're not the strongest in Japan any longer… that title shall belong to me!"

"Is THAT why you're so fired up about fighting me?" Mega kept up the line of patter, searching his weapons. Plant Barrier's no good against that kind of attack. Armor looks too heavy for the Blizzard Attack to do much either. That leaves the Silver Tomahawk, or… He changed to a grey color. "Because we're from the same country? You want to be the best from Japan?"

"Exactly!" Yamato Man picked up his spearhead and re-attached it. "I was built with a strong sense of national pride… and when he reprogrammed me, my master left it in, knowing it would enhance my fighting spirit against you even further!"

"Your master's a fool, then." Mega Man snorted. "You lack focus. Here… I'll let you try this weapon out, though!"
"Wind Man's, I'm guessing?" Yamato Man chuckled. "Amusing… let me have it, then!" He charged forward, and Mega launched the attack. "Which one of the idiot's powers have you taken-eh?"

"None, actually." Mega smiled as his buster launched a small pod that formed a tiny whirlwind around itself. "First time the master weapon's turned out to be something the bad guy himself never actually used… weird, but it works!" Yamato Man's legs were caught up in the whirlwind, and he fell forward, but as he did, his spear shot out and pierced Mega Man's side.

"Got you anyways!" He crowed, and Mega fell back, choking.

Got to use my E-Tank… Pulling out the blue canister, he drained it quickly as Yamato Man pulled the spear out, then slid away before he could be stabbed again. This isn't going too well. I need to turn the tables… let's hope this does it!

"You're strong, I'll admit… I can see how you got this far." Yamato Man chuckled. "But not enough to destroy-" He screamed as a flying blade tore through him, opening up a deep cut in his side to match Mega's impalement.

"Well, now." The Blue Bomber created another Silver Tomahawk. "Looks like you got careless."

"You…" Hissing, Yamato Man charged again, only to have his spear blocked by the tomahawk held in his enemy's hand.

"Better back off." Mega Man smiled. "Or I'll chop that thing in two."

"Damn you!" Yamato Man jumped back, firing his three-way energy shot again. This time, however, Mega Man simply stepped between the paths of the attack before throwing another tomahawk that sliced into Yamato Man's arm.

"That won't work either." The Blue Bomber shook his head. "And before you even try it, your last attack's even more useless. Try it, and you'll lose right away."

"SHUT UP!" Screaming, Yamato Man launched the spearhead, and it buried itself deep in the Blue Bomber's left arm. "Ha! Couldn't dodge that, you-" He choked as the next tomahawk hit his arm again, in the exact same place, sending it flying off entirely.

"Not enough." Mega Man shook his head. "It will NEVER be enough. Not from you."

"I'm… not through yet!" Yamato Man grabbed his spear pole in his remaining arm. "I'll finish you…" He trailed off as Mega bent down and picked up the spearhead lying on the ground.

"Without this?" Mega Man smiled grimly. "Stupid… letting your weapon go like that. Maybe an ordinary Robot Master would be too dumb to pick up on that… but I'm far from ordinary. Let's see you fight without this."

"I…" Yamato Man could only sputter before charging, waving his spearshaft. Stepping to the side, Mega beheaded the fool with one final swing of a tomahawk. Searching the body turned up nothing, even when he checked the severed arm. "Damn… wrong again. Is Blues…" In reply, he heard a familiar tune whistled, though his brother didn't show himself. "…Heh. Guess that answers that. At least the real idiot will be disappointed not to get his shot at me. Might as well head back, I guess."

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"Welcome back, Dr. Cossack." Pharaoh Man greeted the doctor and his daughter as they opened the door of their hotel room. "I assume that today's labors were successful?"

"As much as usual, I suppose." Dr. Cossack shrugged. "Another day, another device. You know how it goes."

"That's not exactly true, father." Kalinka protested. "There was that problem with the circuit plates, remember? I wouldn't call that 'successful' by any means."

"Just a temporary setback." Cossack shrugged. "It happens in this career. We shall overcome it. Besides, there's still the work we did with Rush. That was certainly successful."

"Well… I suppose." Kalinka sighed. "I guess I'm just grumpy about the circuit plate thing. Probably because none of us spotted it before now… I'd have thought at least one of us would realize there would be a problem with our plan before it actually happened."

"Nobody's perfect. We should probably turn in now." Cossack yawned. "As usual, we have a busy day ahead of us tomorrow. No problems, Phare?"

"Just the normal altercation with the cleaning staff." Pharaoh Man sighed mechanically. "I do wish they would get used to having a Robot Master answer the door and wait around while they worked."

"Give them a break, Phare." Kalinka teased him. "I'm still not entirely used to it, and I LIVE with you."

"If I was capable of feeling insulted by that, I probably would be." Pharaoh Man replied with just the barest flicker of sarcasm.

"Well, too bad you're not, then, huh? Night, dad." Smiling, Kalinka walked into her bedroom. As soon as she had closed the door, her ears perked up as the first part of a familiar tune was whistled from her window. Though nobody was in sight, Kalinka walked over and answered back with the rest of the tune. After a moment, in a blur of red and grey, Proto Man fell past the window, completely failing to even grasp a handhold. Fortunately, a tree broke his fall. Several times. Kalinka winced as she heard the final thud of his impact with the ground.

"I'm… okay…" Proto Man called up after a few seconds.

"Shall I come down?" Kalinka replied.

"Naw… I can climb this thing." A few moments later, the shades-clad Robot Master jumped from the treetop into her room, covered in twigs and scuff marks. "Oww… before you start worrying, I totally deserved that. My fault for trying to show off and dangle down from the upper windowsill upside down by my feet. Forgot how heavy the metal I'm made of is for a moment."

"It seems easy to forget to me." Kalinka smiled.

"Flatterer." Proto Man chuckled. "Anyways, my pratfalls aside. How have you been doing, Kalinka? Still helping my family out, I see."

"Yup." The Russian girl nodded. "Anything I can do. Even Roll knows more about robotics than I do, but I can at least go with her to get food and bring the doctors tools and materials."

"Hey, it all adds up in the end." Proto shrugged. "I'm glad you're still at it… I know that, most of the time, robots aren't exactly your favorite thing to be working with a lot."

"It helps your brother… and by extension, that helps you." Kalinka explained with a small smile. "That's all that I need to give it my all."

"Heh… I suppose that works." Proto Man smiled back. "If you see him tomorrow when he's awake, by the way, go ahead and tell him I waxed the real Yamato Man. He busted the circuit plate, of course, but we knew that would happen sometimes. I've been trying to hack into the computer systems of at least one enemy territory to pinpoint the real deal, but so far no luck with that."

"I'm sure you'll figure it out eventually." Kalinka assured him. "You can do anything if you really set your mind to it, Blues."

"If only it were that easy." Proto Man sighed. "No luck on finding the big bad boss's headquarters either. No matter how hard I look, I find nada. All I've got is another Skull Fortress, but it was totally inactive… I was able to stroll through there like I owned the place, and there wasn't a single robot there to stop me. It didn't even have any power. Near as I can tell, it was Wily's latest backup contingency, but Mr. X capped him before he actually used it."

"He deserved it." Kalinka muttered darkly. "No… it looked like it was too quick. He deserved to suffer."

"Well… I can't exactly disagree with you on that." Proto Man shook his head. "Mr. X seems to be just as bad, though… at least he does right now at the moment, anyways."

"True." Kalinka admitted. "I still find that hard to believe… I know I only met him a few times, but he always seemed like such a nice man. For him to have actually been like this the whole time… it just doesn't seem right to me. And Wily… I just can't believe that monster would go down that easily, after everything he's survived so far through the other Rebellions."

"So you don't believe it, huh…" Proto Man raised an eyebrow, unseen behind the massively oversized shades. "You figure it's just Wily playing games one more time, just like before?"

"Yeah." The Russian girl confirmed. "I do. What about you, Blues? Do you think so?"

"I'm reserving judgment, to be honest." Proto Man explained, glancing out the window. "There still aren't enough facts for me to be absolutely certain… the fact that he took Wily's corpse with him when he left is the biggest pain. If we had gotten that, we would have known for sure… which is of course why he took it. Even if it is X, he doubtlessly enjoys our squirming on the subject. I suppose we'll find out in the end… and it doesn't really surprise me that you're skeptical about this. After all, you never believed it was me last time."

"That was an entirely different matter, and you know it, Blues." Kalinka chided him.

"I'm just joking, Kalinka." The red-armored Robot Master assured her. "Believe me, I wouldn't forget something like that." He sighed. "I'm sorry this had to happen now… we haven't really gotten the chance to go out together. I wanted to show you around, but with this Rebellion going on…"

"I understand." She smiled. "I know, your duty comes first. I've always understood that. When this Rebellion is done with, I'm sure we can talk father into an extended stay… we can spend some time together then."

"Count on it." Proto Man grinned, and Kalinka nodded.

"I will. Always. My only wish is that I could see you more… I miss you, just like I do when I'm back at the castle and you're off wandering. But I know that it's your way… your path to walk… and it's one of the things I like about you the most. I'll always wait for you, Blues… no matter how long it is. I understand."

"Yeah… you always did." Proto Man agreed quietly. "That's one of the reasons we get along so well. Thanks, Kalinka… for understanding. And for my part… I'll always come back to you."

"Miss Kalinka? Are you preparing for bed?" Pharaoh Man inquired, a little too loudly.

"Whoops, chaperone's here." Proto Man winked. "Better beat it before I'm busted. I'll see you around."

"Right… good luck." Kalinka waved as he backflipped out the window, this time managing to land on the tree branches securely. Whistling once more, he disappeared into the foliage.