My hands are broken,
and time is going on and on it goes,
forever (how long?)
So I got high and,
lived all that life
that I have taken all for granted
Promise me you'll try,
to leave it all behind
'Cause I've elected hell,
lying to myself
Why have I gone blind?
Live another life
You
You
The only way out
is letting your guard down and never die
forgotten (I know)
Forgive me my love
I stand here all alone
And I can see the bottom
Promise me you'll try,
to leave it all behind
'Cause I've elected hell,
lying to myself
Why have I gone blind?
Live another life
You
You
You
You
You
You
Chapter IX
Incredible Guts
Part I:
Mad Bomber
"So it seems we have some competition." Max begun, watching the news broadcasts of the whole Bombman incident.
"Hrk…!" Wily yelped in pain as he gasped for more oxygen. Max handed the old one an oxygen mask, and allowed him to breathe. "Competition? Hardly… merely… cheap knockoffs…" He gasped once more, Max still holding the mask to Wily's face. "I provided… funding… he provided… assistance… it was the… deal…" He finished. Max removed the mask. "Max. Its time… we have to… prepare. Soon, Kakashi will… be destroyed… my body is too… old… we must be ready for… the trans…plant…" He said.
Max grinned. "But of course. Surely "Bombman" is being upgraded as we speak, and once he destroys Takeshi, that rat Mr. X will most likely send him here, to our base."
"Minor… setbacks… Kakashi will… deal with Bombman first… get on… the kid's good side…"
"Whatever, geezer. I'll go alert Kakashi to his assignment." He snapped his fingers, and a ball of flame split from his body, slowly forming a fiery clone of Max. Given a few more seconds, its appearance shifted to that of the original, and it was then sent to Kakashi's room.
xXx
"Fire!" Several fighter jets unleashed legions of bombs and gunfire upon Wily's base of operations, a manmade Island that was slowly crawling its way to mainland Japan. However, the base itself was a massive robot! It returned fire with flying Mettaurs, gunfire, plasma cannons, and its ultimate defensive cyborg, a yellowish floating blob with a single, red eye. Several planes went down, being replaced with several more. The Mettaurs being shot down rather quickly, it was left to the blob to defend the massive living base.
Blinking, it sent off various square chunks, each cube being formed by eight, smaller, spherical blobs just like it. Once connecting to the fighter planes, the chunks engulfed them slowly then crushed them, taking them in as fuel and extra defense. Once eight jets were taken out, the blob reformed. This time, it opened its "mouth" and launched various parts of the crushed jets out as weapons of debris, taking down all but one aircraft.
The remaining jet quickly disengaged the enemy and headed back to the military base on the shore without resistance from the blob. Wily wanted them to know his power… he was far superior.
xXx
"A robotic bomb maker? Those military fools… a true bomber has to have human thought capabilities. He has to be able to make rash, seemingly irresponsible decisions to get his job done, to be able to assess the situation at hand most properly." The 23-year-old man finished tinkering with the bomb on his table. It was his latest design: A bomb able to stick onto any substance, as well as drill into walls. With a blast radius of several hundred feet, it also had range on its side for such a compact item. "To think they fired me for that thing, a walking bomb factory! Ha! I'll show them what a real bomb can do…" He grinned, walking out his door, carrying a backpack of eight of his custom bombs with him.
xXx
Another morning. Another headache. Another night passed partying to try and forget her, forget the pain. He held his head. Another hangover… same routine, every day…
He took some aspirin and walked out onto his balcony as usual, and just sat there. Staring seemingly nowhere…
"How long?" He asked. It'd been a week since the incident, and the media was still covering the story. He was just trying to forget all of it. It hurt too much… far too much.
"Takeshi…" He awoke from his trance, looking back at the doctor, who'd just entered his room. "Its back."
His eyes widened.
How… how could that be!? She gave her life to kill it! How…
"…" He remained silent. The look in his eyes told the story. He ran off and suited up, heading for New Tokyo and, ultimately, Bombman.
From nearby, Satoshi kept an eye on his "brother". He knew very well the emotional pain that Takeshi felt, for it was a pain he dealt with all the time. "And it comes to be that the light at the end of your tunnel was just a freight train coming your way." He quoted. "It is the way of life, Takeshi. It is the life of one who battles for whatever he thinks is Justice. Loss will follow you like your shadow… the idea is to live with it. To control the emotions you feel…" He told himself. He knew very well that Takeshi could not and would not hear him. Closing his eyes, he stealthily followed him.
Now in his Rockman armor, he was apparently acting an pure emotion; he was not only running faster than Satoshi thought he could, but he forgot Rush, which would've gotten him to Bombman's location even faster.
xXx
"I thought project Bombman was funded by Dr. Wily."
"Oh, it was, Kakashi. Once completed, however, Mr. X betrayed us. He cut Wily's funding with the completed Bombman Alpha model and proceeded to use it on Rockman, like he had planned, but also stated that he would use it against us. You know how Wily doesn't like having competition OR enemies. The good doctor has decided to send you to eradicate this new, minor threat, since he requires my constant assistance."
"Why not just send one of your clones, Max? You seem to be getting better with forming them…"
"Because the doctor's orders were to have you eliminate Bombman and get on Takeshi's good side."
"Takeshi…?"
"Yes, Kakashi. Takeshi. That little twerp is Rockman."
"Why wasn't I told?!"
"Because the doctor knew how you'd react." The clone Max laughed, a smirk now on his face. "Since you know Takeshi, once you help him take out Bombman, you will get on his good side… do as Aimi tried. He's bound to be a bit more trustworthy after her."
The massive cyborg nodded, and began walking toward the exit. "Oh, and Kakashi," The massive one turned. "Don't let us down."
xXx
The scene was far different from last time. Bombman was back in the crater he'd left behind previously, the area deserted as ever. This time, however, he wasn't destroying anything, nor was there any military interference. He just stood there, waiting. "Rock… Man…" He said.
"Over here, you giant bastard." Takeshi snarled.
Finally…
Bombman turned to face his opponent. He could tell with his upgraded intelligence that Rockman was not at the top of his game… he was depressed, hung over, and altogether a mess. "Today you shall die." Bombman stated. Two rocket launchers arose from his shoulders, a new feature for the cyborg, while Rockman stood his ground.
Firing off the rockets held on the right launcher, Rockman somersaulted out of the way, firing off his blaster at the robot, the plasma bullets having no effect.
As expected.
Flashbacks of Aimi entered his mind… oh the pain he felt, deep inside his heart. He could barely concentrate, and was caught off guard by the second barrage of small missiles, which hit his chest dead on. He was flung backward into debris, a small trail of blood coming from his mouth… but he wasn't done yet. "HHHHHHRRRRRAAAAAHHHHH!" He screamed, running as fast as he possibly could toward the robot. "You BASTARD!!" He pulled back his fist to deliver a punch, but coughed up blood three feet from his opponent.
Bombman's fist reached Takeshi's stomach first.
Being thrown into the air like a rag doll by the impact, he was stunned with pain, struggling to catch his breath. Before he could regain composure, however, the behemoth of a robot had jumped into the air. He delivered a barrage of three more punches to Takeshi's stomach and a kick to his head, sending the blue one spinning like a sideways drill into the crater, creating a small dent as he hit the ground. Struggling to get up, he was shoved deeper into the crater by Bombman's right fist, which had detached from his body and, via jets, propelled itself like a drill into Takeshi.
Now buried six feet into the side of the crater, Bombman returned his fist and hurled a bomb into the hole. It was time that Rockman died.
However… the bomb never reached its target.
Now shattering the bomb in its hand was another massive red, black, and yellow robot. This one wearing a Mettaur's helmet and having a massive shovel-like fixture attached to it and wrapping around the back of his head. His face was concealed in shadow, and his 4-foot thick armor wrapped around his wrists, shins, chest, and shoulders, protecting him from any blast. On his back was a dark gray "W" and on his chest was a red crystal indentation, glowing red. The armor around his shoulders, wrists, and shins was red, and his helmet and suit beneath yellow. Standing at 10 feet tall, he was a match for ANY robot or cyborg thrown at his way. "You always did get yourself in deep shit, Takeshi." He said.
The barely conscious Blue Bomber recognized that voice… it couldn't be… could it?
Kakashi and Bombman's fists met with a loud explosion, Bombman's crumpling on contact. "Hah! What a cheap knockoff… let me show you the power of a REAL Cyborg!" Bombman quickly adapted, and met Kakashi's next move with equal strength. And this time, his remaining arm didn't crumple under the pressure. "Adapting, eh? Lets try this, then!" Coming out with a powerful kick, the attack was, once again, met.
But then a beeping was heard.
On Bombman's back, head, remaining arm, and legs were 8 gooey bombs, which had stuck themselves to him. Before the robot could react, a massive explosion sent Kakashi flying as all 8 went off at once in a brilliant show of lights and sounds.
With only the front half of Bombman remaining, the robot, amazingly, still functioned! However, it could no longer produce new bombs, and was left with only its final attack.
The man who'd thrown the sticky bombs was horrified and bleeding. "What the hell!?" He yelped. "That should've…"
"No…" Kakashi said, as Bombman began to glow.
xXx
Takeshi was still deep in his own crater underground, and was fully conscious again at this point, but losing blood fast. He didn't want to move. He knew what was coming next… a self-destruct. He figured he was safest here… besides… he'd rather just lie there in the dark and die. Alone…
"Takeshi… why aren't you doing anything?"
He must've been dreaming. As he looked up, he saw Aimi! She was just sitting there beside him. "You… I must be dreaming or something…"
She smiled warmly.
"Take my hand. You still have work to do."
xXx
Bombman began counting down. Only 30 seconds until detonation… the bomb maker was stuck, pinned by debris. Kakashi should've known that this guy would have a self-destruct mechanism… he couldn't do anything.
But then… smashing through the ground with unbelievable strength was Takeshi! Now an Ice Blue color, he ran toward Bomb Man and began doing what Aimi did one week ago, and formed a thick ice dome around the mad bomber. Thickening it as much as he could, he quickly ran when it reached five feet thick and the countdown reached 3. Kakashi, at this point, had smashed a trench in the ground for himself to take cover in, and Takeshi jumped in there with him.
As the timer reached 1, Bombman once again exploded, the explosion weakened by half due to Takeshi's use of Aimi's ability. As the smoke cleared, Takeshi was going unconscious, seeing only a white figure as he closed his eyes.
xXx
Deep beneath rubble, the bomb maker was barely alive, when a red-haired teenager approached him, smiling. "Would you like to live?"
xXx
Takeshi was now back at home, in his room. Kakashi had taken him there and left, deciding not to stick around and cause any trouble.
In the corner of Takeshi's room sat Satoshi, still armored, looking out an open window. "That was some stunt you pulled."
"Satoshi…" Takeshi began.
"Don't ever act one pure emotion ever again, Takeshi."
"…" He was silent for a moment, soaking in his "brother's" words, when he replied, "I saw her."
Satoshi was unfazed.
"I think… maybe she's alive… she saved me, Satoshi. I was just laying there… wanting to die… when all of a sudden, I saw her, Satoshi, I saw her… I took her hand! I thought I was dreaming… but that smile just seemed so real. It gave me enough strength to get back up and stop Bombman's self-destruction from having full effect."
"…" Satoshi remained silent. "The mind has its own ways of handling things, Takeshi. Aimi is dead. You and I both know this."
"…" Takeshi looked down. "I could've sworn…" As Takeshi looked back up, Satoshi was gone.
A light breeze entered the room.
"I know what I saw… I just know it… she's alive… somewhere."
xXx
Aimi sat in the ice-cold building her arm had retreated to after the first Bombman fight. It was barely damaged by the second battle, and had become her new home, of sorts. She looked at her hands. "From even one bolt, I can regenerate exactly the way I was before. Even all my organic parts have been rebuilt, from that one arm…" She smirked. "You're some genius, Wily… but I'm not your little puppet anymore." She clenched her fists, sighing. "Takeshi…" She smiled, looking up at the starry sky, visible through the broken room of the building. "I'll find you again soon. I promise you that…"
END CHAPTER