Outside Tephra Cave - Rock
Mega Man flies to the exit of a cave to get some thinking done on how to make sure that blond haired boy wouldn't fight him next time they met up. "I could go to him in my civilian clothes, or maybe help him fight off one of those rogue robots. What did he call them? Mechon?" He thinks on what to do next, and decides to try the first option. Better to not get into any more fights, what with the damage he sustained from the fight. "Rush, I need you to help me get down there again, okay?"
"Roof!" He transforms into a jet once again, and Mega Man gets into a set of civilian clothes from home. "This should work."
He flies down to the field he arrived in, just before the two humans come near. Rush beams out, and Mega Man, now Rock, is alone for about 10 minutes before the two arrive at the field. The muscular one - Reyn, he thinks the name was - is telling the blond one that the fastest way to Colony 6 is through a place called Tephra Cave. Then the blond one stops, seeing Rock. "You alright over there?" He calls out.
"Hm? Oh, yeah, I'm fine. What's going on, I saw smoke from the town." He tries to sound like he has no idea what happened.
"The Mechon came back. Most of the townspeople died in the attack." Reyn replies. "The defence force couldn't do a thing about it, Shulk and Dunban had to fight them off with the Monado, but it didn't stop all of them."
"The Monado?"
"This." Shulk holds up his sword. "It's the only weapon able to kill Mechon. But it couldn't hurt this one… It's strange. It should have been able to kill it, but it didn't do anything against one of them."
"The big one that was just flying overhead? Didn't look too tough."
"You don't know how strong it was… It killed Fiora. Ripped right through one of the mobile artillery units. It was a horrifying sight." Shulk sighs. "And then they all left, like they only wanted to kill her specifically. Except one. It didn't even try to fight back, it just ran off."
Rock thinks about this for a while. (How to handle this…) "Maybe you could use a little help finding it?"
"You'd do that?"
"Of course I would. I help people, it's what I do." (Plus, that robot needs to be disabled. Permanently.)
Shulk thinks it over, but eventually accepts. "We're heading to Colony 6."
"Got it. I'm ready to go!"
"Alright! Name's Reyn. Yours?" Reyn offers a hand, which Mega Man accepts.
"Rock Light, pleasure to meet you."
"Same to you. I'm Shulk."
Light Labs - Dr Light
Dr Light steps away from the intercom. "Roll, could you get me a full cup, please?"
A young looking girl nods. "Yes sir, Dr Light! How's Rock doing?"
"He's encountered some locals. They tried to kill him."
"Already? This isn't good." She looks rather scared for the guy.
"Don't worry, Roll. He's gotten out of there. But apparently, the Stardroids are invading this planet as well."
"Wait, didn't he already defeat their leader?" Roll thinks back to the first day of Earth's invasion.
Rock and Roll had been walking through a field, when a rather oddly dressed robot teleported in front of the two. "Ah, so you are Mega Man." They said. "I am Terra. And you will soon be my slave!"
Rock had Roll go back to the lab, and his armor, following the programming for a fight, formed around him. He shot a few pellets at Terra, but they bounced off. Same for the charge shot. Terra easily defeated him, but Dr Light got him out of there before the final blow could be struck. He upgraded Mega Man's charge shot to the powerful Mega Arm, and he went on to defeat the Stardroids' eight generals, and Terra himself. Only then did Terra reveal that Dr. Wily had taken them over, and planned to awake Sunstar, the Stardroids' ultimate weapon. Mega Man fought through Wily's space station, and defeated Sunstar, who's explosion destroyed the entire station. Dr Wily, once again, had bowed in surrender.
But that was years ago. Wily had once again escaped justice, but hasn't attacked since the Roboenza outbreak, giving Dr Light enough time to reinstall the Charge and Slide functions into Mega Man's system.
"He did, but who knows? Maybe they had another general."
"Or maybe it's the Kuiper Droids again!" A green, much less human like robot calls from the back.
"That's not possible, Auto," Dr Light shoots down this idea. "That would imply the return of Ra Moon, but he was destroyed in the Lanfront Ruins." Roll brings back the coffee he wanted.
"Hey, you never know."
Tephra Cave - The Trio
The trio of "humans" reach the mouth of Tephra Cave. Rock heads inside already, but Reyn and Shulk make sure they have everything before following. "So, what exactly is this place?" Rock looks around the cave walls.
"It's Tephra Cave, the only way to Colony 6 from here. The defence force there is leagues ahead of ours," Shulk explains. Reyn seems to take offence from this, but Shulk simply says "You guys crashed a mobile artillery unit into the residential district. They're a lot better."
"You did what?" Rock finds this disturbing. "Was anyone hurt?"
"Nah, everyone was out at the time," Reyn assures, much to Rock's relief. They continue wordlessly, before finding two human bodies.
"What happened to them..?" Shulk questions as Rock crouches down to inspect the bodies.
"There's webbing on the bodies, bites, and they look drained of blood." He informs. "Apparently there's some sort of large variation of spider in these caves."
"Those'd be the Arachnos." Reyn shudders at this. "Creepy little things."
"Rock, Reyn, should we return them?"
"What? Oh right, what's born from the Bionis is returned to the Bionis."
Tephra Cave - Shulk
After the human bodies are brought to a small lake, The three make camp. "I'll take watch." Rock says, letting the other two find spots to sleep. All is going well, when Shulk's eyes start glowing. Rock, ever the inquisitive one, goes to see what's up. "You alright, Shulk?" He asks, but he gets no response. Not for a few minutes, anyway, once his eyes return to their natural brightness. "What is it?" He replies.
"Is anything wrong? You didn't respond to me for a bit."
"... No, nothing's wrong. Rock." Shulk replies. "Just… a headache."
"That didn't seem like a headache."
"It's nothing, Rock, I'm fine."
Reyn stands in the middle of a large spider web, Scrap Driver at the ready. He's fighting off a horde of Arachnos, but a much larger one jumps down on him, killing him.
(Should I tell Reyn about it..?) Shulk inwardly sighs, trying to sleep, but he's wide awake. So he simply gets up. "You get some sleep, Rock. I'm wide awake, I'll take watch."
Rock simply nods, going to his own bedroll to get some sleep.
Shulk thinks of Rock. (He seems familiar, though I can't tell where. But he has some sort of… aura of danger around him.) He sits on this thought until Reyn comes to relieve him. "You get some rest." "It's time already?" He asks.
"Yeah, I didn't sleep a wink."
"That can't be good." Shulk sighs, going to his own bedroll. At this point, he's absolutely exhausted, so he falls asleep immediately.
Tephra Cave - Rock
Rock is awoken by screams.
He gets up from his bedroll to find a horde of Arachnos attacking Shulk and Reyn. They really don't look to be in good condition, even if there's not many. Following his programming, he dons his armor, and gives them a hand. Shulk is a bit busy to notice this, and calls to Reyn. "A chain attack should finish them!"
"Alright, I've been waiting for this!" He calls back. Mega Man silently nods.
Shulk goes behind the head of the Arachnos, striking with the beam of his sword. "Backslash!" He cries, followed by "Reyn, to you!"
"I know, I know! Sword Drive!" He rams the blade of the Scrap Driver into the Arachno. "Rock, It's your go!"
"Getting into Attack Formation!" He switches to a yellow and navy coloring. (Dr Light gave me another weapon!) "Thunder Bolt!" He fires a ball of electricity at the Arachno, killing it, and giving the group some breathing room, and giving Shulk and Reyn the ability to see Mega Man in his full armor. (Oh… wait. This isn't good.) Mega Man puts his hands up. "Wait, I can explain."
"…" Shulk thinks of this, though Reyn goes to strike. And, just like Mechon Armour, the Scrap Driver bounces right off.
"Shulk, could you help out here?" He asks, though Shulk shoots down this idea. "Wait, let him speak. He did help us fight the Arachnos off."
Reyn sighs, and puts the Driver into its shield forme.
"Allow me to properly introduce myself. I am Rock Light, also known as Mega Man. I was sent here by Dr Light to find a friend we've lost communication with here. He's a mining robot. Orange, has a large top on his head, but by the time I got here, I saw smoke on the horizon, so I went there. He's gone rogue before, it would make sense that he was behind it. Instead, I found that thing. My Mega Buster hardly did anything against him. It was so odd… Anyway, after I saw this one man carrying that sword, I got him out of the fight against it."
"You thought Dunban couldn't handle a few Mechon?" Reyn scoffs.
"He couldn't. He was coughing up blood by the time that large one left. You know what happened by then. I mean you no harm, I'm just here to find a friend, and make sure that you two don't get yourselves killed against these things, now that I've seen what you're up against. If these robots are specifically designed to kill humans, I've got a good feeling as to who's behind their sudden invasion."
Shulk shakes his head. "You're saying a Homs is behind this attack? That's impossible. The Mechon kill anyone they see."
"People say that about Robot Masters reprogrammed by Dr Wily, but it all depends on who's in charge. An invasion by robot forces is all too common for me."
"Dr Wily? Who's that?" Shulk inquires, a tone of curiosity in his voice.
"Oh right! He's an evil scientist back home, bent on world domination. Sends out Robot Masters to do his dirty work. He's done it about 17 times now, and every time, I have to stop him."
He tells the two of his first adventure, his fight against his own family, continuing on until he reaches the end of his most recent, and his fight against the Roboenza virus. "In the end, Dr Wily ended up coming down with influenza. I could have just left him there to perish on his own, but the laws of Robotics state I can't let a human come into harm without doing anything, so I brought him to a hospital. He ended up leaving enough antidotes to cure the outbreak entirely as thanks. This isn't even counting the Battle and Chase race, or the one time I had to relive my past adventures."
"You've time traveled?" Reyn exclaims. Shulk seems rather surprised about this as well. "So you're created to act like a Homs? I didn't know that was possible."
"If it wasn't, I wouldn't be here today." Mega Man nods. "After this is done, I could bring you to my world, let you talk to Dr Light about it."
"I don't know. I need to be around to keep the Mechon at bay in case of another attack." He shakes his head, but Reyn is not having any of it. "You're going to go, Shulk. It'd be like a playground for you. We'll take care of the Mechon, then you can take a trip to relax."
Shulk laughs a bit at this. "You're not going to let me say no, are you?"
"Nope." He shakes his head. "Knowing you, you'd be able to teach this Dr Light a thing or two."
Mega Man just smirks at this. "I don't know about that, Dr Light isn't that into weapon development, he makes robots to help humanity. Now, let's get going, I can sense the end of the cave not too far from here."
"Agreed," Shulk replies. "Be careful, there may be more Arachnos around."
Tephra Cave - Shulk
The trio continue until they reach a small dip in the pathway, housing a few large egg sacs. "What on Bionis are those?" Reyn asks, a tone of heavy disgust in his voice.
"Monsters' egg sacs," Shulk says. "But it looks like there's Mechon parts inside as well."
"What monsters are they?"
"Probably some type of… Arachno." Shulk goes quiet for a second, before shouting. "Reyn, get back!"
Reyn has less than a second to react before he's covered in webbing, and dragged upward.
"Reyn! No.. If that vision comes true, then Reyn will… I've got to find him!" Shulk starts running toward a large lake.
"Vision? What are you talking about?!" Mega Man calls out, running after him.
The two keep running, until they find a large lake. "Rock, do you have any way to get us up there?" Shulk inquires, pointing to a ledge high above the two.
"Yes! Rush! Here, boy!"
A red light comes down, and Rush appears before the two. Mega Man smiles. "Jet, Rush. We need up there!"
Without so much of an acceptance, Rush lies down, transforming into Rush Jet. "Alright, we can get on. Brace yourself, he goes pretty fast."
"You have a robotic Dobercorgi!?"
"Long story, just get on!"
Shulk hops onto the board area of Rush Jet, and the dog takes off. Shulk almost loses his balance from the sudden start.
"Get ready to jump, Shulk!" Mega Man calls back to him as Rush reaches their destination. Without giving him time to not hear this, he grabs his shirt collar, and jumps to the ledge. Shulk looks to the right. "Let's go! Reyn went this way!"
Mega Man nods, and the two head over to a webbed antechamber, crawling with Arachnos, and Reyn is right in the middle of them. "I can't handle this!" He calls out to the other two. "I kill one, and ten more pop up!" Knowing he can't hold them off forever, he starts running to a vined wall.
"Reyn, not that way!" Shulk calls out, but it's too late. A massive Arachno drops from the ceiling, ready to strike Reyn. The Monado starts to glow a golden yellow, and Shulk swings out at the battlefield. All of a sudden, Reyn is covered in a translucent yellow shield, and the Arachno Queen's attack hardly does anything to him. "What!?" He mutters, in awe of what just happened. Shulk looks to his blade. "Could it be a new power of the Monado?" He wonders aloud, but he's quickly called by Mega Man. "Let's get this over and done with," He says. Shulk nods. "Reyn, you take care of the little ones. We'll take care of the queen!"
Tephra Cave - Arachno Queen Fight - Rock
The battle is a blur.
Shulk and the Queen trade shot for shot on each other, Mega Man covers for him with his arsenal, Reyn keeps the smaller Arachnos away from the other two. Shulk sends out Monado Shield to Reyn when he's in trouble. But pretty soon, the Arachno Queen turns from Shulk, and starts attacking Mega Man. Knowing how hard the Queen hits, he sends a Shield over to Mega Man. Oddly enough, it has no effect. Nevertheless, Reyn calls out. "A chain attack should finish 'em!" And the three get into position to attack the Queen.
Shulk opens up with Backslash, and Reyn follows up with Sword Drive. "Rock! You're up!" He calls over.
"Understood! Beginning Attack!" He responds. "DOUBLE ROCK BUSTER!" Both of his arms are replaced by Arm Cannons, and he sends out a powerful shot right through the Arachno Queen, killing it instantly.
With the Queen dead, the rest of the Arachno die out as well. Mega Man drops to the ground, breathing heavily. "I… I shouldn't have done that so carelessly…" He says through his panting. Reyn comes to his aid. "Man, that was amazing! How'd you do that?"
"I… put most of my energy… into my Mega Busters…" He replies, exhausted. "It… Drains me, though… Can't use it often… I'll… Be right back…" He teleports out of the cave, and into Dr Light's Lab. "I'm home…!" As soon as he gets those words out, he collapses.
Dr Light gets to work immediately, with Roll and Auto helping out however they can. After an hour, Rock is back up and ready. "Dr Light, I'd like to make a request," He says. "I'd like the Mega Arm back."
"Whatever for?"
"The robots there are much too strong for the Mega Buster to handle. I need some more power."
"... Alright." He agrees, and outfits Mega Man with the upgraded Mega Arm. "You already know how this works. Now, make sure Top Man gets back as soon as possible."
Mega Man nods, and beams back to Tephra Cave, where Shulk and Reyn await. "Alright, Rock." Shulk says. "The exit is just ahead."