The men scattered.
The arms were disabled.
The diagnostics ended.
Project Bombman was complete…
The large robot's eyes flashed open, glowing red, and he looked down at the small Mr. X, a third of his size. "Go, my creation! Go and eliminate Rockman…!" The Robot looked up and in a large explosion; the behemoth took off, the force and sound of his jets sending Mr. X flying into a wall. He laughed and laughed, happy with his creation. Such power… there was no way… no way "Rockman" could withstand the force of a million bombs!
Chapter VIII:
Aimi
Part IV:
Soul of Fire
Takeshi yawned and lay back in his bed, flipping on the TV and browsing through the channels, clad in the pants of a pajama set. It'd been two weeks since anything big happened, and Dr. Light was starting to trust Aimi… but not completely. He still thought that this was a trick…
Two knocks.
The door slid open and Aimi walked in, a cheerful smile on her face. She fell onto the bed next to the teen and chuckled. "Its two PM and you're still not up and dressed?"
"No need. Not like anything big's gonna happen, right?"
"Well, we don't know for sure… but…" Takeshi rolled to his side and pulled Aimi close, smiling.
"Aw come on… can't a hero get some rest?" The two chuckled and ultimately got up, after sharing a brief kiss.
… … … … …
Such a strange Cyborg… so much more advanced than the others… always hiding in shadows… who was he? The remaining warriors of Wily, sans Max, always had the mysterious man on their mind… he was always just barely hidden in the shadows. "It seems Mr. X wants to become a problem… this Bombman is sure to be a threat." The shadowed figure said, his chest flashing red.
"Patience, Katsu... all good things come in time. I want to see… how Takeshi handles this Government funded…" The old man known as Wily inhaled deeply and sharply, concealed in shadow as well. "War machine…" He finished.
"Hmph. As you wish, Master…" Katsu said, leaning against the wall.
… … … … …
Love. What a feeling. What a sound. What a gift… Takeshi fell onto the grass, the wind ever-so-slightly caressing his face, and slightly speeding up the only cloud in the sky. How strange, this high temperature… usually it was cool around here. But he wasn't complaining. Some eighty degree temperature could do him good. He rubbed his temples, suffering from a slight headache, and fell into the grass behind him. Clad in his normal clothes, he was pretty much unnoticed… which was nice. He didn't need the Paparazzi on his tail all the time.
Explosions.
Close ones, too… he quickly jumped up, eyes wide, and turned to see smoke behind him, in the middle of the city. He summoned his armor, and ran off toward the large metropolis.
… … … … …
"FIRE AT WILL!" The military was now involved, completely unaware of the monster's origin, blasting it with tanks and discussing whether or not to drop bombs on it. The large bullets vaporized on contact with the robots armor, merely creating soot marks on it. "Damn it… nothing's working…" As if on cue, Takeshi appeared as a silhouette in the sunlight, leaping from a building, and in front of the large, mechanized monstrosity.
"Heh… so you're his latest creation? Show me what you've got." The armored cyborg ran at the Bombman, as the citizens called it, and began firing plasma bullets at it, causing little damage.
The commander of the squadron signaled for his men to stand down. It was up to Rockman now. "But sir…!"
"I said stand down! If he can't take him down… if he can't take him down we'll have no choice. Now let a hero do his job!"
Bombman screamed, his battle cry, the sound so loud that weaker buildings began to crumble. Takeshi stood his ground though, clinging to the ground with his magnetic boots. When it ceased, Takeshi leapt high into the air, flipping and firing several bullets at Bombman, who swung his arm back at the blue hero, making contact. Takeshi saw the arm coming and grabbed it, twisting off it as if it were a flagpole.
The way Bombman saw things, Takeshi was a mere human, and of no threat… but this would be proved wrong, as he copied the ability of Elecman, frying his sensors. The behemoth screamed, and Takeshi's armor slowly began to change yellow and black to match his ability. With a small sonic boom, Takeshi sent himself eighteen feet in a matter of milliseconds and delivered an electrically charged fist to Bombman's chest, making a large impact crater and sending him to the ground.
"How's that?" He asked the voiceless robot. It responded quickly however, pushing off the ground with his hands and twisting mid air, spitting bombs from holes in his feet at Takeshi. The blue one's eyes widened, and he rolled on the ground, away from the explosions which soon followed the black orbs, narrowly escaping them. The robot landed on the ground with perfect balance, the hydraulics in its legs and torso wushing loudly. Takeshi tried to catch his breath… even now it was hard running from bombs. How was this thing so agile, anyway? It's too heavily armored…
"How's that?" Bombman repeated Takeshi, and ran at him, pulling his left arm back for a punch. Takeshi twisted around, and as the fist came at him, he slammed it down with his hands, leapt off the right one, now coming at him from the side, and repeatedly kicked the robot's head, sending it into a backward fall, inch by inch. Finally losing its balance, it fell to the ground, and used one of its own bombs to get back up, revealing to the military that it was impervious to bombs… or at least the ones he uses.
The General looked away in disgust. He and his squad was useless now… "Remove from standby. Bombs have no effect." He warned. The fighter pilots above confirmed his order, and headed back to base.
Takeshi snarled, and rushed back at the robot, this time launching one of Cutsman's scissor-like boomerangs at it. It succeeded in cutting off its left arm… but shattered soon after. Takeshi tried again, but as Bombman's body flashed, it became apparent that he adapted, the attack bouncing off.
"So you can adapt… very resourceful. Looks like its time for something new. Rush!" The recently repaired dog barked, jumping through a building's window, now clad in a chrome-crimson armor. "Time for a little tag teaming! Ready?" The dog barked in reply, and the two launched themselves at Bombman, spinning like drills. The large robot was caught off guard, and sent flying into a building, two new craters creating a triangle pattern on his chest. But they weren't done yet… as the robot got up, Takeshi was holding onto Jet Rush, and delivered a kick into the first crater at over three hundred mph, turning it into a large hole. Bombman looked at him, snarling, and plugged it up with a stone bomb, throwing Takeshi away with ease. Takeshi decided to give the robot a taste of its own medicine, unaware of the warning of earlier, and sent several bombs at the behemoth.
"Bombs have no effect." It said, smashing the ground with a fist with such strength that the ground around him arose like pillars, sending Takeshi high into the air.
From atop a building, about nine hundred feet away, X stood, watching the battle. He smirked, closing his eyes. "Even if he manages to defeat Bombman… I can rebuild him. Bigger… better… smarter… he will always adapt, "Rockman"!"
Takeshi used the jets on his boots and slammed into the robot's head with his own head, sending it staggering backward. It caught itself on a building, and was then… frozen in place? Ice encased the robot's feet, as Aimi leapt from her frozen disc. She smiled and stood next to Takeshi, now atop a pillar which was slowly lowering back into the ground. "You didn't think I'd let YOU have all the fun, did ya?"
"Of course not. Rush, return home!" The dog barked, disappearing as a beam of light into the sky. Bombman arose, and copied Takeshi's jet ability, rushing through the pillars and severing them from their base! Takeshi jumped to the ground as Aimi took to the air, firing blasts of ice at the robot, piercing its armor. It roared, and picked up its arm, re-connecting it to his body! Fully functional, he began plugging the holes with bombs, which forced Aimi to stop her barrage. He was a ticking time bomb…
"Takeshi! Run!" She yelled. Bombman created several hundred bombs around him, the fuses lighting automatically. Takeshi didn't obey however, and began running toward the robot with anger. Bombman made no attempt to move, and as Takeshi's fist made contact, he was sent flying by an explosion, which set off another bomb, and another bomb! The robots body was severely damaged now, all the bombs placed within detonated, while the ones on the ground continued to get closer and closer to detonation.
"No… I can take him!"
"You don't get it. There's enough firepower there to level this whole quarter of Tokyo! And if he keeps adding…"
"…" Takeshi scoffed. "Now what?"
"Now you run. I think I can contain it." Takeshi refused.
"No. If it doesn't work…"
"It will. Trust me." Aimi floated down beside Takeshi, a sure look in her eyes.
Takeshi was silent.
"…Fine…" He sighed. Aimi grinned, and began forming a dome around the battered and broken robot, growing closer and closer to thicken the walls. She knew it wouldn't work. It could only contain the blast to this block… she knew she wouldn't make it out alive… but she didn't care. This was her chance to be an actual hero. As Takeshi ran off, the bombs began to detonate, and the area shook. As the inner walls began collapsing, the girl put even more energy into the dome, sucking the moisture from the air and releasing it as frozen rays. But there was only so much. The smoke drove the air dry, and she eventually ran out of her source of power… from her current position, she was directly above the dome's center, and fell on its top, unable to move… as the bombs exploded one after another in a domino effect, the ice shattered, and she fell into the blast… limp… Takeshi, still running, was sent flipping through the air, along with the soldiers and tanks, and various other cars and items. One, two, three buildings he flew through, until he finally stopped on the fourth, creating a small crater in its wall. His eyes widened as he saw the fires, and dashed into the flames and smoke, unable to see… to breathe… everything was fading as he suffocated, falling to the ground, unconscious….
… … … … …
Takeshi awoke in his room, bandaged, with an oxygen tank and mask, beside him. "What…?" He remembered the battle with Bombman, and flipped on the news. Did they find Aimi? Was the robot really dead?
"…And this is the scene post battle. Rockman, later followed by a dog and female companion, fought valiantly against a massive robot, capable of creating bombs endlessly. The robot was supposedly impervious to his own blasts, yet was reported destroyed in the final blast by Mr. X, who headed the recovery team. According to him, all that was found were burnt steel scattered about the crater." The camera shifted to a helicopter view, where the two-block large crater was easily seen, completely barren and charred. Takeshi turned off the TV. He knew she was dead… there was no way she could survive that explosion. It was impossible. Impossible… he closed his eyes, placed the remote beside him, and silently cried…
… … … … …
"Is he fixable?"
"Yes sir. Bombman is already in repair."
"Excellent… next time, that annoyance won't be so lucky…" Mr. X turned his chair to his massive window, and watched the sunset as always…
… … … … …
Silence… the wind gently blew through the crater, cooling the warm, midnight air… hydraulics. The sound of metal clicking against stone echoed, as a single arm dragged itself out, slowly regenerating. It dragged itself away with its fingers, headed toward the rubble of an apartment complex, slowly growing back into a full body…
END CHAPTER
Gah… probably not my best… ah well. Thus the Aimi saga ends… next up, Gutsman!