Scarlett: Hey guys! I just wanted to say this is based off of Mega Man comics made by Ian Flynn and the only character I actually own is Nora and her family. Please enjoy!
Once there was a 5 year old girl who lived in a very boring society. Her name was Nora. Nora had only a mom to live with her and no one else, but her mom hardly acted as if she was there. Nora started skipping school so she could explore the woods surrounding her home. After all, she had an IQ of 652. She had skipped 3 grades already in the course of a month. Nora longed for adventure and activity, but stuff always seemed to get in the way.
One day, she came home from school to find her mother gone. Nora didn't know what to do. She didn't want to call the police, and it would be fun to do whatever she wanted because her mom wasn't there. She started to enjoy living by herself, but after a week or two the food started to run out. Summer Break was over and she had missed school yesterday, and was supposed to be at school right now. Nora ran away from the house with her backpack full of scrap metal and inventions she had created. After awhile she came to a junkyard, where she found more pieces of metals and circuits and had an idea.
She built herself a robot suit fitted with extra padding on the shoulders and knees. The padding was made of a dark grey rubber, that Nora dyed purple, thanks to a can of hair dye. The rest of the suit was a lighter purple, shiny and metallic. The suit included many chip slots, and a large energy storage tank. The suit made Nora look more like a teenager, even though Nora was only 5. She looked like one of those robots they had at the museum that were on the posters. A few hours later, Nora finished making a chip that would give her flame power.
Nora figured she could become a superhero or something, and make money that way. She wouldn't reveal her age to anyone, and in order to keep them from guessing accurately, she made the suit in such a way, that she appeared taller than she actually was.
After a few weeks, she made upgrades on her suit. It had a flap she could open like a computer laptop on her left arm and she could run a scan over her suit for a status report and she made a log of weaknesses she had and found ways to fix them. One weakness she had was that she was very slow, but when she rearranged her suit design and did a little bit of work around her feet, she could move faster than the speed of light. Her suit also had a dissinegration chip that she could use for clearing up some of the junk that wasn't needed for her building such as banana peels and all the other gross stuff that ended up in the junkyard. Her armour was very strong, but light and able to hold a lot of energy.
Many months passed, and Nora decided to go to somewhere more peaceful and comfy rather than the hard dump. She found an old newspaper that said tourists were scared of a place called "The Lanfront Ruins" which was a place where there was some old historic buildings that were falling apart, surrounded by a forest in a perfect circle.
Nora read on. Apparently there was a strange force surrounding the woods and the ruins that deactivated machinery. Nora winced. If this was true, then maybe it wouldn't be a good place for her after all. Then Nora's face lit up in a smile. She got to work upgrading her suit.
In some time, she decided she was ready. Nora had covered herself in a solid coating that would protect her from deactivation. Or so she hoped. She grabbed the newspaper pamphlet, her backpack and her building supplies and put them in the compartment attached to her suit. Nora left the junkyard and read the newspaper more as she walked. There was a map, and some more concerns about the ruins, but they were about falling wreckage from the old buildings instead of more serious things that Nora would need to avoid.
When Nora reached the ruins, she paused. She opened the flap on her arm and did a suit scan to make sure everything was working. The scan completed and reported that everything was normal. Nora took a deep breath and passed the barrier . . .
Inside the Lanfront ruins, Dr. Albert Wily was arguing with one of his robots, Quick Man, who could move faster than the speed of light. Dr. Wily had many other robots as well, and they were all powerful. He had Bubble Man who can shoot bubbles of concentrated acid and Flash Man, who can stop someone in their time for a few seconds so he can dodge weapons firing at him, appearing to be as fast as Quick Man.
Dr. Wily had found a machine deep in the Lanfront Ruins called Ra Moon that could take designs of robot on paper and make them appear just like that. So now, he was getting even more robots that he hadn't even built! The argument with Quick Man was interrupted by an alarm going off, and everyone was startled for a few seconds. Dr. Wily shut off the alarm and said, "Oh. It's just the proximity alarm. Someone has crossed into our territory. Quick Man, Wood Man, Flash Man, and Heat Man, go see who dares to cross into my territory!" Wood Man and Heat Man race out the door attempting to catch up with Quick Man, and Flash Man.
Nora passed through the invisible barrier perfectly fine. Her systems were still normal and everything was quiet. A few minutes later, as Nora was looking for a place to sleep come nighttime, she thought she heard footsteps. Nora's instincts took over and she nimbly scurried up a tree. Nora couldn't believe her eyes when two robots entered the small clearing below where Nora's tree was.
The first robot, which was blue all over except for a gold shiny bald spot on his top was arguing with the other robot which was bright red all over, and was carrying a large boomerang shaped sword. He also had a boomerang blade painted on his chest, and one attached to his helmet. The blue robot spoke to the red robot, "For Wily's sake, Quick Man, it's not a race. All we have to do is bring whoever crossed into our territory to Dr. Wily, and you're turning it into a game!" Ok, Nora thought, The red robot is Quick Man. I wonder just how quick he is. Quick Man spoke back, "Ok, ok. It's just we never get to have much fun like we used to, when Wily was in jail. I'm almost sad he's back." Nora's eyes widened as she thought back to what Flash Man had said. They're looking for me! Then Nora had another thought. Whoever Wily is, he must be human. Robots would never get sent to jail, they would be destroyed! He must be their master too, because they are obeying him.
Nora decided to confront the robots and leapt from the tree landing right in front of them with her hands glowing with flame. The two surprised robots stepped back. Nora spoke for the first time in many months, finding that her voice was strong and steady, "Why are you looking for me?" Quick Man started to speak then stuttered on his words. "Uh . . . because . . . we were ordered to?" Quick Man was not quick with his words, the way he was with his body. Flash Man spoke in place of Quick Man, "Our master ordered us to apprehend whoever crossed into our territory." Flash Man stepped forward to grab Nora's arm surprised she was still functioning, but then paused seeing her hands were still glowing with fire.
Then Heat Man and Wood Man came through the bush. "There you two are! Next time, wait for us . . . um." Heat Man stuttered seeing Nora. "And who are you two?" Nora demanded. "Here to supposedly apprehend me for crossing into your territory?" Flash Man spoke, "Exactly." Nora stepped back from him and replied, "This is a public place. People can come here. Anyone can. The only reason the people don't anymore is because they're scared of the barrier here." Nora held up the pamphlet showing that it was a public place.
Wood Man said, "That is an old pamphlet in surprisingly good condition. If you look there might be a date." Nora eyed Wood Man for a few seconds, then checked the pamphlet. Sure enough, there was a date that said it was printed 5 years ago. "Oh." Nora said. "It's not public anymore?" The robots shook their heads.
Nora then thought of something. "Wait a minute. Who said this place was yours then?" The robots looked at each other. They didn't know. "Um . . ." Heat Man said. "That would be a matter to consider with our master, Dr. Wily." Dr. Wily? Nora thought. He's a doctor? Hmm.
"No thanks. I'm not that interested in meeting him. Now leave me alone." Then Nora started to walk away but Flash Man grabbed her arm because Nora had distinguished her fiery hands. Nora flared with anger at Flash Man and using her electricity chip, electricity shot out her hands and flung him away from her, sending him sailing over the other robots heads. Nora glared at the other shocked robots as if daring them to fight.
Heat Man shot fire at Nora, but she blocked it with ice. Quick Man rushed toward Nora with a quick blade but Nora who was just as fast, dodged and as he tried to slow down, Nora stuck her foot out, and Quick Man tripped and started somersaulting away frantically trying to stop himself. Heat Man fired more flame, but Nora held up her hand using her force field power and deflected it on Wood Man. Wood Man put up his leaf shield, in case that happened again, then shot 5 leaves at her. Worthless robots. Nora thought as she disintegrated the leaves. Wood Man tried to duck when Nora's hands flared with the rays that would disintegrate his leaf shield but it was too late. Wood Man's body now lay on the ground damaged slightly from flame and his leaf shield was down. Nora felt pity for him, and ran away instead of finishing him off. It was good she ran away for Quick Man came back looking for revenge and damaged from bulldozing trees down with his nose during his somersault, all thanks to Nora's foot.
Flash Man and Heat Man who were both heavily damaged as well helped Wood Man up. What were they going to tell Dr. Wily?
Nora was sitting in a high tree checking her system for damages. None were found. It was now sunset, and Nora started to get sleepy. It didn't take much for her to nod off . . .
Dr. Wily heard footsteps and eagerly walked to the door to see who had crossed his territory, only to find heavily damaged robots. "My goodness!" Dr. Wily immediately started asking them questions. "What happened? Who crossed my border line?" Quick Man, Flash Man, Heat Man and Wood Man tried their best to explain everything in detail.
"You say it was a girl robot? How on earth did a girl robot nearly . . ." Dr. Wily couldn't finish his sentence. "She's still hiding in the woods. If she goes out, the alarm will go off and we'll know." Said Quick Man. Dr. Wily did not appear to be listening. He walked over to the control board and pressed scan. The computer started scanning the area and a dot appeared on a map of the Lanfront Ruins. The dot was not moving. "Ah ha! Looks like she's on the southern part of the ruins." Dr. Wily exclaimed. "In the morning, I will send some of my . . . newer robot masters."
Then Dr. Wily started laughing at the absurdity of a girl robot master defeating his male supposedly stronger robot masters. Quick Man and the others rather looked like a deflated balloon.
Nora awoke to a beautiful sunrise. The Lanfront Ruins gave her a rather good view of the sky. Little did she know it would give her trouble too . . .
Nora had no trouble getting a good breakfast. There were fruit trees everywhere. Nora wondered why she hadn't seen so much of the Lanfront's beauty yesterday. Probably because I was busy fighting puny robots. Nora thought. Just as she was climbing down from her tree, she heard a branch crack. Nora scurried immediately back up the tree. She watched as Magnet Man, Top Man, and Snake Man came out of the bushes. "She's hiding around here somewhere . . ." Snake Man said.
Magnet Man looked up and saw Nora. "There!" he shouted and fired his magnet missile. Nora was too stunned to move and she was knocked out of the tree. She tried to get up but Snake Man had put his boot on her stomach and his weight was keeping her down. "I'm going to warn you one time." Nora's voice was dangerous. "You had better leave me alone." Snake Man paused. Her voice sent a chill through him and that rarely ever happened. Most of the time, he was the one who was feared. "Oh shut up." Said Top Man. "I warned you!" Nora shouted and her hands flared and filled with energy. "Uh oh." Said Magnet Man, and he dived into a bush. Top Man and Snake Man were less lucky. They were blown nearly half a mile away from where Nora lay. Nora started to breathe a little easier now that Snake Man wasn't on her anymore. She ran the opposite way not knowing Magnet Man was watching her.
Magnet Man decided the best thing to do was to follow her and take her by surprise. But then again, she was powerful enough to throw Snake Man and Top Man that far, while she was laying on the ground! Magnet Man went to his instincts and tried to find his brothers so they could go to Dr. Wily and tell him the news. The bad news.
Magnet Man saw Top Man on the ground, but about 2 yards before approaching him, Snake Man leapt out from behind a bush yelling "BOO!" Magnet Man fell on his face. Then Magnet Man rose and scolded Snake Man like a toddler. Snake Man wasn't listening though. In fact, he was rolling on the forest floor laughing. Snake Man and Top Man had managed to land okay enough that they weren't heavily damaged, but they still decided to go to Dr. Wily. Before they reached the ruins in the middle though, Magnet Man gave Snake Man a good kick in the back for earlier. Snake Man hardly felt it, and Magnet Man now had a damaged foot. What is in that armor of his?! Magnet Man thought as he groaned from the pain. I'm gonna get him for that.
Nora decided to stay in another tree for now. She was absolutely certain she did not want to meet Dr. Wily. He obviously wanted her killed, or reprogrammed so he could use her for his own purposes. That's the problem. Nora thought. I can't be reprogrammed. I'm human. Nora found that she kind of enjoyed fighting. She sat in wait for more robots.
Magnet Man, Top Man, and Snake Man told Wily everything. Dr. Wily was attempting to hide his worry without success and found himself biting his nails. "Oh and Snake Man jump scared me earlier." Magnet Man added trying to get Snake Man in trouble. Dr. Wily wasn't listening. Snake Man grinned when he realized he wasn't going to get in trouble. "He jump scared you?" Magnet Man turned around to see that Quick Man had spoken. "Yeah." Magnet Man said. Then Quick Man high-fived Snake Man while laughing his head off. Not the reaction I was expecting. thought Magnet Man.
Dr. Wily walked over to the control room where some of his other new robot's were working. "Needle Man, Spark Man, Hard Man, and Metal Man! Oh and Bubble Man too! Follow me!" Dr. Wily called out. Spark Man and Bubble Man followed Dr. Wily out while the other robots took their time to finish what they were doing before following. "What do you need, Dr. Wily?" said Hard Man. Dr. Wily explained what happened when he sent out the other robots to fetch an invader. "A girl? Oh brother. This is going to be a piece of cake." said Metal Man. "Don't be too cocky about it. The others thought the same way and look what happened to them!" Dr. Wily said as he pointed at Magnet Man, Snake Man, and Top Man. Snake Man hissed. "Ok. We'll be careful." Said Bubble Man. And together they walked out of the ruins.
Nora was getting bored again. No robots had come for the last 2 hours. Just as she resolved to go and search for the robots herself and see where they were coming from, she heard voices, and immediately went still.
Hard Man, Spark Man, Metal Man, Needle Man and Bubble Man came into sight. "I told you multiple times Metal Man, STOP POKING ME WITH THAT . . . um . . . blade thingy!" Bubble Man said. Nora had to put a hand over her mouth to stop herself from giggling. Metal Man said, "I'm not doing anything to you!" "Yes, you are!" Bubble Man replied.
"No, I'm not!"
"Yes, You are!"
"No, I'm NOT!"
"YES YOU ARE!"
"SHUT UP!" shouted Hard Man over all the noise of the bickering robots. Even Nora had to plug her ears. "We're getting nowhere." Spark Man sighed. Nora pondered whether she should leap out and start the fight, or stay hidden.
"If I hear one more word out of you, (points at Metal Man) or you, (points at Bubble Man) Dr. Wily is going to hear about it." warned Hard Man. "Ok, fine. Whatever. Let's go track down that girl." Metal Man sighed. Nora leaned over the tree branch she was on to get a better view of the robots. Crack! The branch broke and Nora fell out of the tree. "Oof!" She said. Then got to her feet before the robots could realize what happened and attack. "Sneaky. Very Sneaky. Hiding up in a tree and eavesdropping." Said Hard Man as he cracks his knuckles. Metal Man tossed a blade in the air, then caught it and got into position to fight. Nora's eyes narrowed and her hands flared.
Metal Man threw 15 metal blades at the same time Spark Man fired a high powered electricity bolt. Nora easily blocked it with her force field bubble. Then she pushed the force field bubble out so it knocked over Spark Man and Metal Man. Nora switched to ice power just in time for Bubble Man to fire water at her. But it wasn't water, it was concentrated acid.
When the acid hit the ice, it burned through the ice and still flew towards Nora. Nora ducked just in time and the acid hit a tree behind her. Some of the acid splashed off the tree and hit Nora a little bit. Nora screamed in pain. Oh! She had never felt anything like this before. Nora rubbed her arm and groaned. Bubble Man and the other robots stopped and it took them a second to realize Nora couldn't stand under acid. "Fire again Bubble Man!" Metal Man shouted. Nora's eyes widened as Bubble Man fired and acid came toward her again. Nora put up her force field bubble again deflecting it easily. I should have used that to begin with! Nora thought angrily. She shot electricity at all the robots knocking them on their backs, even Hard Man! Then Nora ran away clutching her left arm where the acid had hit her, groaning in pain.
Nora heard the robots trying to follow her, but she managed to get up in another tree. She quickly took a vacuuming tool and sucked the acid out of the armor, and stored it in her compartment so she could study it later. Her arm felt better instantly. Then, Nora heard the other robots approaching her tree and froze, hoping they wouldn't see her.
"She's probably in a tree somewhere." Metal Man said looking up at some of the tree's. Nora silently hoped he wouldn't look her way. "Do you think she's injured badly enough we don't have to fight anymore?" Spark Man said. Metal Man shrugged. "Who cares?" Metal Man said. Spark Man blushed a little. "She has electricity just like me." Spark Man sighed. Metal Man's eyes widened. Then they narrowed and he shoved Spark Man playfully. "You like her! You like her!" Metal Man chanted. Spark Man blushed deeper. "I do not!" He said. Nora rolled her eyes, but was trying not to laugh. A small giggle escaped her mouth though. Metal Man and Spark Man looked around. "Did you hear that?" Spark Man said, "Or was that just me?" Nora covered her mouth and cursed herself for being careless. Who knew how many robots Dr. Wily had, and was willing to send?
Metal Man looked up in the tree's again. Nora froze when he looked in her tree and fired a metal blade. Nora caught it, and flung it back so fast Metal Man didn't see it coming until it hit him in the face. Metal Man was disabled now, that meant he couldn't fire blades anymore. Nora shot electricity at Spark Man and Spark Man was so "shocked" that he didn't even defend himself. Nora hopped to the ground when both robots were disabled.
Metal Man couldn't believe his eyes. This was not going as planned. "Spark Man likes you." Metal Man smiled. But the smile left his face when Nora slapped him across the face. "Where are all the other robots coming from?" Nora demanded. Metal Man stayed silent. "Tell me!" Her hands flared with disintegration power.
Metal Man looked at her hands. Then he looked at her, still silent. Nora realized he wasn't going to tell her anything if she didn't show him what the disintegration chip did. She fired it at a tree and the tree immediately turned to black dust. Metal Man eyes widened and he tried to not start shaking. Nora glared at him with such ferocity that Metal Man thought she looked almost as creepy as Snake Man.
"Ok, ok! There's a machine that Dr. Wily has, called Ra Moon, that can take robot designs that are on paper and make them appear just like that." Metal Man confessed. Nora looked at him suspiciously. "It's true." Spark Man said. Nora considered this. It could be true. She decided to give it a shot. "Ok, but you two stay here don't go anywhere." She combined her force field with her ice and froze them to a tree. "That should hold you at least until I get back. If you're not telling the truth . . ." Nora gave a menacing glare, and ran off. Metal Man looked like he was going to barf his screws out.
Hard Man, Needle Man, and Bubble Man were still looking for Nora. Then they heard footsteps coming toward them. "It's probably Spark Man or Metal Man." said Needle Man. Hard Man listened. "Those footsteps sound lighter than Metal Man or Spark Man." Then Nora rounded the corner of a tree and then stopped when she saw the other robots.
Hard Man said, "Well, well, well." Then he chuckled at Nora's expression when she looked at Bubble Man. Her force field went up immediately. Bubble Man fired but Nora blocked it. The acid couldn't burn through the force field. Needle Man's needle spikes that he was firing did no good to the force field either. Hard Man shot one of his Hard Knuckles at the force field. It shook the force field slightly and Nora stepped back a little, but the force field didn't have a single dent in it. Clearly, the force field was an unstoppable defense and the robots knew it.
Nora formed the force field into a giant ball, about two times the size of a tree, and pushed it in their direction. The force field ball rolled toward the robots about to crush them. Hard Man wasn't sure if he could stop it, but he wasn't going to take any chances. The robots turned the other way and ran. Nora headed back the way she came so she could find Dr. Wily.
About half an hour later, Nora reached the center of the Lanfront Ruins. There was a man with a mustache outside of the ruins talking to a robot who the man called Air Man. After the man finished talking, Air Man said, "Yes, Dr. Wily." and ran inside the old building. So that's Wily. Nora thought. She walked up behind him and cleared her throat.
"Ahh!" Said Dr. Wily, surprised at the sudden noise. Dr. Wily turned around and at first he was confused at the sight of Nora, but then he realized he was looking at the girl robot who was constantly winning over his own robots. His eyes widened in awe at this tiny little robot with so much power. "Where are my robot. . . " Dr. Wily couldn't finish his sentence. All of a sudden there was a loud crash! sound behind them. Nora turned around to see Hard Man, Needle Man, and Bubble Man running from a giant force field ball. As they passed Nora, Nora grinned and stuck her foot out. Hard Man fell to the ground and Needle Man tripped over Hard Man, and Bubble Man tried to stop, but crashed into Needle Man. Nora made the force field ball disappear before it crushed them. "Oh. There they are." Dr. Wily finally spoke. Nora couldn't stop grinning.
"Let's me and you have a little chat, ok?" Nora said to Dr. Wily. Dr. Wily nodded, wondering what she wanted. They sat down inside at a table near Ra Moon. "That's the machine that prints your robots?" Nora asked and pointed at Ra Moon. Dr. Wily nodded. Nora looked at it a minute then turned back to Dr. Wily and said, "Well, it obviously didn't do its job very well, if I can destroy them easily." Dr. Wily was not happy at this little comment. Nora ignored his glare and got to business, "Who said this place is yours, Dr. Wily? How can I "cross into your territory", if this place isn't yours?" Dr. Wily was silent for a few minutes. "It's a hideout." He finally spoke. Nora nodded, "I gathered that. You're a wanted criminal and this is your hideout, but what makes it yours? That's what I'm asking." Dr. Wily blushed when she mentioned him as a wanted criminal. "Are you going to turn me in?" He asked. Nora said, "If it comes to that, yes."
Dr. Wily put his hands in his face. "How do you know who I am? How do you know anything about me?" Nora smiled slightly. Should I tell, or shouldn't I tell? Nora thought. Then she spoke, "That's my business." Dr. Wily sat up straighter and replied, "Well, it isn't any of your business to come snooping in my . . . hideout."
"It's not yours, though. This is a public place."
"Who cares if it's not mine? I have control of the place!"
"Yes, you have control over the place . . . illegally. I want to stay here, in this public place and your robots are being disruptive."
Dr. Wily put his face in his hands again, defeated by Nora's words. "Why here?" Dr. Wily spoke through his hands. Then he looked up and said, "Why here? Why can't you go somewhere else?" "Why can't you go somewhere else? You're the wanted criminal, not me." Was the reply from the irritated girl. Nora got up and left the troubled man in his hideout.
Dr. Wily realized, this girl was too powerful for him. He couldn't reprogram her, and use her for his own purposes. He couldn't . . . slam! Dr. Wily's thoughts were interrupted by a loud noise. Hard Man, Needle Man, and Bubble Man entered. "Where are Spark Man and Metal Man?" Dr. Wily asked. The other robots shrugged. "We split up, because the girl got away after . . . uh . . ." Hard Man stuttered. The other robots explained about Nora's weakness to acid. "The girl must have done something with Metal Man and Spark Man. Otherwise, they're still out there looking for her." Bubble Man said. Dr. Wily shook his head. "It's very unlikely they would still be out there looking for her. She probably has them disabled somewhere."
Metal Man and Spark Man were startled when Nora came through the bush. She had a very light walk. When she ran, it was a little loud, but Nora can walk very quietly. "Turns out you were telling the truth." Nora said, as she used flames to unfreeze them from the tree. "You might want to tell Dr. Wily that I'm developing a coating that will protect me from acid. It would save him a lot of trouble, trying to send more acid related robots after me." Metal Man and Spark Man nodded then ran away.
"Dr. Wily! Dr. Wily!" shouted Metal Man and Spark Man as they raced into the ruins. Dr. Wily looked up from his building of an acid robot and stood up to interrogate them. "What hap-" Dr. Wily didn't get a chance to finish because Metal Man and Spark Man were telling him everything. "She's already working on a coating! I've got to finish this and fast!" Dr. Wily exclaimed. Metal Man sighed looking sorry for himself. "I guess a girl really could beat me up and freeze me to a tree for an hour." Quick Man snickers in the background, repaired and ready for battle.
Magnet Man casually takes a sledgehammer from the toolbox and inches toward Snake Man. Snake Man pretends not to see him. Magnet Man is right behind the "unsuspecting" Snake Man, and he swings the hammer. Snake Man without even turning around catches the hammer by its handle, yanks it from Magnet Man, and tosses it in the air. Magnet Man looks up to see where the hammer flew, only to have the hammer fall back down on his face. "Youch!" Magnet Man shouts covering his face and jumping up and down. Snake Man high fives a grinning Quick Man and walks away. Magnet Man is starting to lose his temper.
Nora finishes the coating. She takes a drop of acid and drops it on the tree bark scrap that has the coating on it, and the acid slides right off like water, not burning through the bark. Yay! I've perfected the art of creating coatings to my advantage! Nora thinks proudly. She starts to apply the coating to her suit. Nora is in her human form now, and is painting the coating on. She sets it out to dry and takes a walk . . .
Quick Man is on the computer scanning the Lanfront Ruins for Nora. He is literally aching for a rematch ever since Nora tripped him while he was running, and he somersaulted over trees with his nose. He has a bottle of acid in his pocket, not knowing the rest of the information that Metal Man and Spark Man delivered to Dr. Wily about Nora developing a protection against acid. He finds the location of Nora using the scanner on the Lanfront computer and leaves without Dr. Wily's permission. He hopes he won't get too damaged, because he knows Nora is unusually strong, and Dr. Wily won't know he went out.
Nora's suit has dried, and she puts it back on. She climbs down from the tree and walks around. She thinks she hears a noise somewhere behind her and she turns around. She doesn't hear anything now, and nothing is moving. She dismisses it as her imagination and continues walking.
Quick Man saw Nora from a distance, climbing down from a tree, and crept up on her. All of a sudden, she turned around and Quick Man ducked behind a bush, watching through the leaves. She looks around for a few seconds, then turns back around and keeps walking.
All of a sudden, Nora was on the ground, rolling. Someone had tackled her from behind and rolled in the process, and they were going downhill. I let my guard down! thought Nora. Nora grabs a tree as she and her attacker roll by at an amazing speed. Then when the grabbing of the tree jerks them to a stop, she kicks her opponent in the face, and Quick Man? falls down. "An excellent ambush. I approve." Nora claps a few times, and she sets her foot on his chest. "I am willing to admit you caught me off guard. But seriously? Rolling is the best you can do?" Nora chuckles.
Then Quick Man reaches into his pocket, and before Nora can realize what happened, he dumps the acid on her chest. It slides right off, and Nora has no reaction at first. Then she shakes her head at him, almost mocking and says, "Water?" She looks at some of the liquid on her chest and realizes. "Oh. That's acid." Then she starts to laugh. "I'm well protected from that now. Too late!" Nora lets her guard down again as she laughs, and Quick Man kicks her off him. She gets to her feet first though. Quick Man throws a quick blade at her, but Nora catches it, and flings it back so fast, Quick Man is hit in the arm and again falls to the ground. Nora walks over to him too slow. Quick Man is on his feet again.
He throws one quick blade at her and as Nora catches it again, he throws another. Nora isn't expecting it and dodges too late. It hits the button on her helmet and the suit falls off, folding into a cube, showing Nora is human. The helmet is a headband now, still on Nora's head. Nora realizes what happened only 3 seconds after Quick Man has and grabs the suit, folded in a cube. There is a button on the top of the cube, that Quick Man eyes. He looks at Nora and grins. Nora looks stunned and scared, and turns and runs as fast as she can, knowing she won't make it far.
Quick Man tackles her from behind again, and Nora struggles to get up. Quick Man laughs at her. "You're just a child." Quick Man laughs at her angry and slightly scared expression as she tries to get up, but Quick Man is pressing on her too hard.
Quick Man looks at the button on the cube again. "So what does this do?" He asks. Nora tries not to smile as she tricks him. "If you push it, it explodes and I won't have it anymore." She tries to look sad, and Quick Man is too prideful to pay close attention to her words. "Hmm." He looks at it and inches his finger toward the button. Nora smiles when he pushes it and throws it far away, thinking it will explode. The suit immediately comes back, like a magnet and attaches itself to Nora again, and her headband is her helmet again.
"Hey!" Quick Man shouts as Nora gratefully kick-shoves him off her. "You tricked me!" He shouts as he gets to his feet. "That's right." Nora says smiling. "Thanks for the helping hand." Quick Man glares at her and says, "You . . . you . . ." trying to think of something insulting to say. Nora wipes her brow. That was close. He won't fall for that again if he manages to hit my helmet button again. Nora uses her force field to shove him backwards, then she scurries away before he can get up.
Quick Man decides to head back to the ruins with the news of Nora being human. Great. I've lost her. Quick Man thinks. He remembered Nora's scared face and grins, as he imagines the scene again. I should tackle people more often. He concludes.
Nora is running through the forest in her human form and Quick Man is chasing her. He's gaining on her, and when he grabs her, Nora screams. Quick Man puts his hand over her mouth to stop the scream. He tackles her and pins her to the ground. "Now Nora," He says, "What is 24 times 8?"
Nora wakes up in her tree, sweating. Quick Man in her dream had spoken in her teachers voice. That wasn't real. Nora told herself, trying to stop shaking. Besides, he doesn't even know my name! Nora shivered, even though it was a warm night. She sighs, turns over, and tries to go back to sleep.
After explaining about everything to Dr. Wily, Dr. Wily seems lost in thought. "Sir?" Quick Man asks. "Are you ok?" Dr. Wily nods and gets up thinking. "This is a very interesting point of news. It also means I can't reprogram her." Dr. Wily thinks some more. "Sleeping Gas." He says. "That's it! Sleeping Gas would work on her! She's human, so she has more weakness than we originally thought!" Everyone nods eagerly. "Everyone to their charging stations!" Dr. Wily orders. Quick Man likes being the center of attention when he tells the story, so of course he's telling it again and again as he walks over to his charging wire for the night.
Nora rolls over again and again. I'm never going to get to sleep. Nora thinks. Better walk my jitters out. Nora gets down from the tree. It's too hot in her suit, so she presses the button on her helmet, and she's in her human form again. She slides the cube in her pocket, and the night air cools her. She thinks back to Quick Man's ambush, and becomes frightened it will happen again. So much so, that when a moth lands on her arm, she shrieks. Then she sighs, and shoos the moth away.
Quick Man had snuck out of the ruins again. He wanted to catch Nora sleeping, and remove the suit easier. If only he could remember where he had thrown the quick blade that pressed the button, and removed the suit! He had no acid. Only him, the quick blades, and training from Snake Man; How to catch prey PROPERLY! Hssssssss. Snake Man had added the hiss on the end for dramatic effect. It took a bit of work, because Snake Man kept telling him he was catching the prey, improperly and his method wouldn't work the same way on bigger animals, or . . . girl robots, like Quick Man was hunting now. He was mostly looking up in the tree's because where else would she be sleeping?
Then he saw her, on the ground, awake, and in her human form. She was looking at the stars, and he could hear her humming. He almost went over to her and asked if she would let him listen to her. Then he shook his head. He came here for the suit, and nothing else. But, maybe he could stay and listen for a few minutes.
Nora was sitting at the base of the tree, humming a song she used to hum when she was very bored at home. Right now, she wasn't exactly bored, but she didn't know what else to do, since she couldn't sleep. She heard something, in the distance and immediately got to her feet and stopped humming. She quickly reached into her pocket, pulled out the cube and pressed the button. She was now
in her robot form. She cautiously walked toward the area where she thought she heard the sound. Quick Man saw her walking in his direction and got in a crouched position, so he could leap up, and take his prey by surprise. Snake Man had taught him that after all.
Nora looked around. Seeing nothing, she started to dismiss the thought but remembered Quick Man's tackle on her. That was when she was sure someone was hiding around. "Quick Man!" Nora shouted. Quick Man nearly fell over. She knew! How? "Come out!" Nora shouted again. Here goes nothing. Quick Man thought and leap out from the bush landing in front of an angry Nora. Nora smiled a little. "Knew it." She said proudly. Quick Man demanded, "How did you know?!" Nora smiled in a secretive way. She stayed silent.
Nora stopped smiling when Quick Man took out his boomerang sword. Then, she formed her force field into a strong thin stick she could hold. Quick Man and Nora started to sword fight. Nora had never done this before, but she liked it and had a natural talent. She slit Quick Man's wrist slightly when he attempted to block her swing. Quick Man didn't do this often enough to be well practiced, and was struggling. Eventually, Nora knocked the sword out of his hands and kicked him to the ground.
Nora glared at him. Quick Man's face was expressionless. "Did Dr. Wily send you?" She demanded. Quick Man said, "For every question you ask me, I get to ask you one." Nora shook her head. "You do not get to question me. Did. Dr. Wily. Send. You?" She said slowly. Quick Man was as stubborn as Nora herself. "For every question you ask me, I get to ask you one." He said again. Nora pondered this. "On one condition. You are not allowed to ask me about weaknesses in my structure or anything like that?" Nora demanded. "Got it?!" Quick Man nodded solemnly. They sat down and stared at each other for a few moments before beginning.
"First question, I get to ask." Said Nora. Quick Man didn't say anything, but decided she was being fair enough. "Did Dr. Wily send you?" asked Nora. Quick Man shook his head. "I sent myself. I wanted to see if I could take your suit again while you were sleeping." Nora rolled her eyes. "Well, that sure worked." Quick Man smiled. "My turn." Nora waited. Quick Man thought for a minute. "What's your name?" Nora hesitated. "I . . ." She looked down at her feet. What was the harm in telling him? "Nora." She said. Quick Man looked at her closely. "Nora." He said, trying it out. "Huh. Interesting."
Nora looked back at Quick Man, "Next Question. You can go first if you like." Nora wanted him to say his question, get it over with, so she could ask her's and not have to have him ask another. Quick Man thought. "How did you make the suit?" He said. Nora was silent for a few seconds before answering. "I just did. I'm good at that kind of stuff. I ran away from home, because it's boring to be a human, and was living in a junkyard before coming here. I built my suit there." Quick Man looked at her curiously. "It's boring to be a human?" He wondered. "Yes!" Nora said in disgust. "It's very very VERY boring to be a human. Wake up, Do chores, Go to school, Come Home, Do more chores. Have 30 minutes of free time in my room. Dinner, Bed. Repeat every single day. YES. Very boring."
Quick Man said, "I wouldn't know. I don't live like that." Nora sighed. "Exactly! Being a robot is cool! Plus you're less vulnerable than us!" She buried her face in her hands and said, "This place is perfect for me. And it's getting ruined by a cranky old doctor and his robots." She started to sniffle. Quick Man patted her arm in sympathy. Nora didn't object. No one had ever shown kindness or sympathy to her before, and it felt good. Nora sobbed while Quick Man comforted her, and they stayed like that until morning. Nora forgot about asking her question.
Nora woke up leaning on Quick Man's shoulder. Quick Man had dozed off too. As soon as she sat up, Quick Man awakened. "It's morning." Nora remarked. Quick Man nodded. They sat in silence. Nora tried to stand, but her leg had been in an odd position and fell asleep, so she struggled a little. Quick Man helped her up, as she shook her foot around trying to wake it up. When she could walk, Quick Man said, "I hate to say this, but Dr. Wily is going to be wondering where I am if I don't get back soon." Nora nodded, a little disappointed. "You won't tell him anything will you?" She asked looking at him with her wide, blue eyes. Quick Man smiled. "Do you want me too?" Nora laughed and shook her head. "No way." Quick Man laughed a little too. "Then I won't." He said, and walked away.
Nora couldn't concentrate for the rest of the day. She kept thinking back to Quick Man and how he listened to her, gave her sympathy, helped her up when her foot fell asleep. Then she realized, she was in love with him. That has to be it! Nora thought. That's why I can't keep him off my mind! She rocked herself back and forth in the tree, and wondered when he would come back.
Quick Man entered the building to the sound of nothing. All was quiet. Dr. Wily was sleeping at his desk. All the other robots were still charging at their station. Quick Man hooked himself up to his station, and started charging. He couldn't stop thinking about Nora and her name and the fact that she was a genius. Short and easy to remember, yet so powerful. Why couldn't he stop thinking about her? Then he realized he was in love. Oy. He thought. Flash Man and the old Quick Man would disapprove. But then Quick Man smiled as his charger reached 92%. There is no more old Quick Man. This is the new me. And with that thought in his head, he went to sleep.
The alarm went off. Dr. Wily woke up immediately. Someone had come into their territory. The robots heard the alarm, and scrambled to unplug their wires and reach Dr. Wily. Magnet Man tripped Snake Man in the hustle. Snake Man fell and sprang up almost immediately, walked over to the casual whistling Magnet Man and was about to punch him in the face, when Hard Man socked Snake Man. Snake Man fell on his face, and Magnet Man and Hard Man laughed together as they continued to where Dr. Wily was. Quick Man helped Snake Man up.
When they reached the center room, where Dr. Wily was looking at the computer alarm screen, he was looking confused. "It's not the girl." He said. "Someone came into the Lanfront Ruins." The robots immediately grabbed each other and mockingly cried, "Oh no! Whatever shall we do?! It's Mega Man!" Then they all laughed. Even Quick Man a little, whom Flash Man was getting suspicious of. He wasn't acting like his normal self anymore. Hard Man cried, "And his oh so horrible back-up robots!" The robots laughed harder. "Quiet!" Dr. Wily said. The robots started to simmer down, but were still giggling. "How do you know it's Mega Brat? It could be anyone!"
The robots shrugged. "Who else?" Magnet Man said. "Maybe the girl went out, and that's why the alarm went off." Needle Man asked. Dr. Wily shook his head. "The alarm sounds different when someone leaves. I programmed it that way, so I could tell." The robots nodded. "Then it's definitely Mega Man!" concluded Hard Man. Then he paused and couldn't help adding, "And his horrible extremely strong back-up robots." The robots burst into laughter again. Dr. Wily put his face in his hands. "If you all think it's funny, go out there and destroy him for once!" The robots, still laughing, fought over who would get to deliver the final blow.
Quick Man watched the argument, but didn't really feel like destroying Mega Man. He just wanted to see Nora again. Flash Man came over to Quick Man and started whispering in his ear. "What is wrong with you?" He hissed. Quick Man looked confused. "What are you talking about?" Flash Man looked at him, not convinced. "You're not acting like the Quick Man I know. You're even hesitant on destroying your nemesis. Seriously? What is wrong with you?" Flash Man insisted. Quick Man shook his head. "Nothing is wrong with me. My feelings changed. That's all." Flash Man rolled his eyes, but let the matter drop.
Nora was in a tree waiting for Quick Man to come. She knew it might take him a while, because Dr. Wily wanted her turned to his power somehow, and Quick Man was now working against that. I wonder if he likes me too. She thought.
Quick Man snuck out of the building. The other robots were now heading towards the southern part of the Lanfront Ruins, where Mega Man or whoever else crossed into the territory would be. Quick Man easily lost them. He thought he heard voices ahead and headed towards them staying hidden. Did I not lose my brothers after all? He wondered. He peeked around a tree and saw Nora talking to Mega Man.
Nora had been restfully sitting in her tree, when she heard voices and immediately assumed the worse. They're launching another attack on me. She thought, and got prepared to fight. She decided to eavesdrop first, like she always does. A blue robot with a blue helmet came into view with 4 other robots. One was a dog robot, one was a orange and white robot with scissors on his head, one was a robot with a fin on top of his head, and the last was big and strong, carrying a load of wires and plugs. The blue robot said, "Guts Man, bring the communicator over here, and we can contact Dr. Light."
Who is Dr. Light? Thought Nora. She silently climbed higher to get a better view, careful not to crack a branch and fall. The big robot, Guts Man as he was called, carrying the wires and plugs deftly lowered a communicator radio to the ground. "Bomb Man, can you help me with the connection signal?" The blue robot asked. Bomb Man came over and said, "I have no idea how these work, Mega Man. Throwing bombs is my thing you know."
After a few minutes, Nora became sympathetic for the confused robots, and called out, "Need some help?" The robots jumped to their feet and looked around. Mega Man said, "Who said that? Rush, sniff boy!" The robot dog started sniffing around, then looked up at Nora and barked. The robots looked up too. "Ah, I guess I'm sniffed out." She dropped to the ground and said again, "Need some help?" Mega Man looked at the other robots and they shrugged. Nora walked over to the radio, and with a twist of the wires here and there, she got a strong signal coming through. The radio started beeping. The other robots stared in wonder.
"There you go. That ought to do it." Nora smiled. "I take it you don't work for Dr. Wily?" Mega Man and the others shook their heads. Mega Man said, "We're actually trying to apprehend him, and we received information that he might be here, so we came here to investigate." Nora smiled and shook his hand. "He is here. He has a hideout base in the middle of the Lanfront Ruins. Back that way." Nora turned and pointed north. "He can literally print robots, just by inserting a robot design that's on paper. He uses a machine called Ra Moon." Nora added. Mega Man and the others looked at each other again. This was going to be a hard journey.
Then they heard a noise, and Nora's hands flared with flame and looked around. Then she thought she saw something red dart behind a tree. Nora smiled as her hands extinguished and she said, "You can come out, Quick Man." Mega Man's eyes widened. "Quick Man?!" Nora shushed him and walked over to the tree she saw Quick Man dart behind. Quick Man slapped his forehead. Now he had to come out in front of Mega Man. Nora pulled him into view. "They're not going to hurt you." Then she looked dangerously at Mega Man's mega buster. "Right?" Mega Man changed his mega buster back to his hand and nodded looking at Quick Man. "Are you two . . . friends?" Mega Man asked. Nora and Quick Man looked at each other and back at Mega Man. "Sort of." Nora said. "We know each other."
Quick Man was embarrassed. He was embarrassed because he had to stand in front of Mega Man. The robot he tried to destroy so long ago. Mega Man looked sort of the same way. Nora wasn't embarrassed. In fact, she was happy and calm. For one, she had been waiting for Quick Man to come, and he did. And she was making new friends. She hadn't realized it before, but she was kind of lonely.
"Can me and you talk for a minute?" Quick Man asked Nora, and he glanced at Mega Man and added, "Privately?" Nora nodded and curiously followed Quick Man over to a distant tree. "So what do you want to talk about?" Nora asked. Quick Man looked behind them to make sure Mega Man wasn't listening. He wasn't. In fact, he was talking into the communicator. Quick Man looked back at Nora and said, "I tried to destroy that guy multiple times in the past." He paused to let Nora process this. "It's very embarrassing to be standing there in front of him, while you try to make us be friends." Nora shook her head and said, "I wasn't trying to make you two friends. I was more interested in meeting new beings so I wouldn't be lonely."
Quick Man said, "It's still embarrassing to be near him in this kind of a situation." Nora looked at him like he was stupid. Then said, "You should apologize." She said said. Quick Man looked down and knew she was right. They started to walk back over to the others who were done making the signal they needed to Dr. Light.
After embarrassed Quick Man apologized to Mega Man, he felt a little less embarrassed. Mega Man and the others went on their way, while Nora and Quick Man hung out together in a tree. Nora is in her suit, but her helmet has transformed into her headband. She is eating a pear. "So what's the full story with you and Mega Man?" Nora asked, then added, "Just curious. You don't have to tell me." Quick Man shook his head. "It's something I'm trying to forget. I'd rather not talk about it right now." Nora nodded in understanding and said, "It's ok. There are a lot of things I'm trying to forget too." She sighed and looked over the tops of the bright green trees that were sparkling in the sunlight. Then she realized they were holding hands. Nora didn't object.
End of Part 1