Chapter IV:
Brothers

Part II: Brother Red, Brother Blue

After the massive explosion, an ash-covered Cutsman emerged, a grin on his face. "NOW THAT'S POWER!!! SHOW ME MORE!!!" Cutsman cloned himself twice and the three fazed out, and fazed in around Takeshi, sending two spinning blades each at him. He ducked, barely dodging them and jumped into the air once they returned to their masters, sending another large blast at one of the Cutsmen. They sliced right through it, as he had hoped, sending smaller blasts across the area, instantly destroying the clones. "HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HAH! BANG, BANG!!!" He sent two glowing spinning blades at the blue one, a gunshot-like bang echoing as they were launched. Takeshi, knowing they were moving to fast, awaited impact… only to hear the clanging of metal. As he opened his eyes, the red warrior from before was blocking each with his shield, which showed now wear.

"Can't you do anything right?" He shoved Takeshi aside and split himself into three different red warriors, all of which fired at Cutsman. His power multiplied by four, this would be slightly stronger then a charged blast… meaning massive damage would be taken. As the madman stumbled, he grabbed his shoulder, a yellow light surrounding his hand. "You can copy abilities, Takeshi! Don't forget that!" Before he left, he sent a single spinning blade at Cutsman, severing his left arm.

"GGGGAAAHHH!!!" He screamed, a mixture of oil and blood emitting from his wound. He jammed a sword up the wound, stopping the bleeding, and giving him a new permanent weapon. Takeshi glared angrily at Cutsman. This madman had to die, right here, right now. Memories of his parents brought a tear to his eye and anger on his face. This was his chance. He could kill this vile man; end his reign of terror, right now. So why was he holding back? Was it the fear of killing? He didn't care now. It was time to move on, and end this man's life, NOW.

"You smile at my wound!? Are you becoming more like me, boy?"

"No… I just love seeing a murderer get treated the way you are… in my book, you've been given the death penalty… and I'm sure Italy, and the world, agree." Cutsman smirked.

"Bring it!" He dashed forward, slicing horizontally with his new arm, only to have Takeshi, amazingly, launch into the air by pressing down on the madman's blade. From there, he copied the red and white one's ability, and sent dozens of his own, blue, spinning blades. Cutsman took the hits, minor gashes appearing on his flesh. He took to the air, sending three clones at Takeshi, all of which in a kicking position. Takeshi moved to the left and dodged them, following up with three more spinning blades, all of which returned after being reflected off of Cutsman's blade. Cutsman began slashing the air as he approached the blue hero, who seemed unimpressed. He ran and slid across the ground, knocking Cutsman down. He quickly got up, spun around, and fired several blasts of blue plasma at him. Unfortunately, he slashed through each of them. From a pile of bodies, the red-clad warrior sat, intrigued. This was getting interesting. Takeshi sent spinning blades flying vertically, horizontally, and diagonally at Cutsman, which he blocked by sending his own toward them in opposite positions. The clanking of metal against metal echoed as they continued their endless fire.

"Fool… doesn't he know his copied abilities aren't limitless?"

"Take this!" Takeshi flipped through the air, encasing his spinning blades in plasma, and sending them slicing through Cutsman's own and through his chest.

"Nice move…" The red one commented silently. Cutsman's wounds were deep… yet he did not bleed. He was beyond that human reflex in most parts…

"That's it! WE END THIS NOW!!!!" 14 clones surrounded Takeshi, all of which charging their spinning blades. This was not good.

"He can't survive all that…" But the red one was wrong; Takeshi had leapt into the air and shot at all of them with his own plasma blasts. The clones faded, while Cutsman staggered backward.

"…You…" Cutsman's energy was fading fast. "LIMITLESS BLADE!!!" His sword gleamed and began to glow with a red aura, and all his damage was converted into energy. "GO TO HELL!!!"

"Ugh…!" Full contact… yet it wasn't with Takeshi. The red one had blocked and reversed the blade backward and into Cutsman's chest, and directly through his core. "Y… you… will… not succeed!" Cutsman wasn't dying easily. He removed the blade and tried again, slashing at Takeshi's head as the red one watched. Takeshi ducked and began his finishing move.

"Have a taste of your own medicine, bastard!" Takeshi punched and at the same time sent a spinning blade directly through Cutsman, killing him instantly.

"You… beat me…!? GUH!" Cutsman began to flash and finally exploded into thousands of miniature explosions, sending chunks of metal about.

"Feh… not bad…" The red one said. "But look at you… clueless and injured… badly, I might ad."

"…Thanks for helping."

"No problem. Remember… you can access Jakob's weapon anytime… but also remember it's limited."

"Why are you helping me, anyway?" A slight breeze pushed his scarf.

"You're as a brother." With that, he was gone; leaving Takeshi to think… but it was interrupted by barking. There was Rush, completely healed! Just another gift from the red one… He climbed aboard and flew off back home.

… … … … …

"Cutsman's dead…" Wily gasped for air.

"Not to worry. It was expected… after all, his goals were not ours… he was a lone star, and the weakest of us. The others shall not fail. "Rockman" will die." Max stepped up beside the man. He was very old… about 200 in age, and was on life support. His throne was his body, several tubes connected to his body and an iron lung over his face. His eyes were the darkest shade of red, and his body was quite raggedy. He wore a white lab-coat, black pants, and a purple shirt beneath. He was bald, mostly, except for on the sides where it parted out in a strange fashion. He also had a thick, gray mustache, mostly covered by his iron lung.

"Forget Rockman!" Wily gasped. "This red one is truly powerful… he must be mine!!"

"Sir! Calm yourself! You're going to have a heart attack!"

"Understood… while Rockman can pose a threat, this red one is in the spotlight for now… I want you to take him in… alive…"

"Yes sir."

"For the most part." Wily cackled and watched as a new warrior beamed in. Electricman, as he had been dubbed. "You know what to do. Lure them in." Unable to speak, the black and yellow robot just teleported away.

… … … … …

The life of a renegade. The red-clad warrior, going about calling himself Alpha, or Prototype Robotic Humanoid, Protoman for short, wandered through the city outskirts. Beyond Tokyo was lush forests and endless coastline… the only thing mucking up his view was that damn fortress Wily had constructed. It was usually silent and a perfect place to hide… but not today. "Hello, "Protoman". My name is Max… and Mr. Wily himself sent me to come capture you. He's quite interested in your knowledge and abilities." Protoman smirked.

"So the old man sent you… he couldn't come get his own creation personally?" Max glared angrily, orbs of fire appearing in his palms.

"Watch it, buddy. He told me to get you by any means necessary. Now come on!"

"No." Max grinned.

"I was hoping you'd say that." He launched three orbs of fire through the air and at Protoman, who neutralized them with his golden plasma blasts. "Feh." Max was unimpressed. "Any weakling can do that… but how about this!?" Copying Protoman's attack by mere sight, he sent fiery versions of Protoman's plasma blasts back at him… they were fizzled out on contact with his shield, however.

"So you can copy abilities too…"

"And that's only the tip of the ice burg…"

… … … … …

Hong Kong, this ancient city untouched by modern times for nearly 40 years remains one of the largest in the world, ever expanding and growing in power. In fact, they were the first to discover Crotos, the space rock very abundant 3 miles below the earth with unimaginable energy in only a gram. Of course, electricity was still used, but Crotos had taken place of all solar and nuclear powered plants and vehicles, and is used as fuel for the sky trains and airplanes. However, wherever electricity was, there was a possibility for overloading… which is exactly what Elecman, or the Thunder Demon as the elder, traditional Chinese called him, intended on helping along. Signs, buildings, street lights; all overloaded by him merely walking by. Bulbs exploding, buildings frying, signs exploding… he never needed to do anything but walk by.

"Halt!" Rubber-clad cops yelled. Why they had rubber suits, no one may ever know, but the fact was they were prepared… somewhat. They fired several bullets, only to have them reflect off the robot's armor and fall to the ground. He seemed to laugh, and sent a blast of electricity at an above freeway, melting its supports, and sent it, cars and all, tumbling atop the police. He then continued on his way… no one else daring to challenge him.

… … … … …

Protoman and Max skid across the ground… neither could make direct contact without sending each other flying or blocking each other. Max shoved his hands inches into the ground, and it began cracking, fire erupting from each miniature hole. He then used the holes to propel himself forward via the arms and delivered a kick to Protoman's shield, sending him flying. "You're quite skilled…" Protoman remarked, wiping the blood from his lip. A minor wound caused by his diamond shaped shield bumping into him.

"I wish I could say the same for you… but your struggling with such weak attack's as these. I can condense any and all fire into any shape, body, or even intelligence I wish. My control over all heat is unimaginable!" His arms encased in fire, they molded into sword shapes and he dashed forward, slicing and spinning through Protoman's thick armor, inflicting moderate burns on his flesh.

"Guh!" Protoman staggered as the flames faded.

"Why must Wily take you as a prize when I can do so much more?" As Max approached, Protoman fazed out of reality, traveling through space and time to another destination… "…" Max was silent, and walked away, burning the area in the process.

End Chapter