Hello everyone, I'm very sorry for not updating sooner. Some stuff happened and I had to take a break but now I'm back!

I hope you packed tissues for this chapter because there's going to be more than just a fight in it.

Elec Man woke the next morning when Dedenne decided to try and suffocate him.

Being a robot he didn't really need to sleep, eat or even breathe but he found comfort in all of those things. The Robot Masters were designed to get energy in as many ways as possible. Sleeping was also a good time for their systems to update and made it difficult for them to catch any viruses. Eating didn't give them a lot of energy, but they could store the energy in case of an emergency. E-Tanks, of course, were the most popular way for a robot to replenish their energy levels.

As for breathing, it was more of a comfort than a necessity and while he could do without it, the process helped calm him down and helped keep him cool on hot days when the threat of overheating became more serious.

So when he found himself unable to breathe he decided to open his eyes to see what was going on. Dedenne was sitting on his face, staring at him with her little round black eyes in a way that reminded him of Rush when the robotic dog wanted an extra treat.

Hungry. The Dedenne signaled to him.

"Alright, let's go get you something to eat." He chuckled, gently picking her up off his face so he could sit up.

The little dedenne let out a soft purr, her whiskers twitching. This puzzled Elec Man, for he had always thought purring was exclusive to cats, but considering how the little pokemon wasn't exactly an animal from his would he decided to just shrug it off and get out of the bed. He looked over and spotted Rock still fast asleep, half of his blanket on the floor

Rock had already went back to his civilian form and would probably remain in it until he had to go to a match. It wouldn't surprise Elec Man too much as he was used to Rock looking like a human, but he was a little worried how the rest of the Smashers would react to seeing the brave blue bomber looking like a child. He carefully made his way over, trying not to wake his brother as he pulled the blanket back onto the bed and over his sleeping sibling. He then made his way out of the room and shut the door so no one would bother him.

Moments later he was swarmed by small little yellow creatures with big ears and stems on their heads, some topped with leaves other with buds and at least two or three had flowers. The creatures couldn't have been taller than four feet. They all crowded around his legs and let out soft squeaking noises, waving their arms at each other. He looked over at dedenne, wondering if she could translate. She looked just as confused as he did, so Elec Man came to the conclusion these creatures were from a different world.

"Do you need something?" He asked. The creatures were too busy chatting with each other to answer him. He tried to walk away, but they all swarmed around him again and made it very difficult to walk. He almost tripped several times. Finally they all halted at once and Elec Man fell to the ground with a loud thud. He heard Dedenne squeal in alarm as she tumbled off his shoulder.

Grumbling in annoyance, Elec Man tried to scare them away by giving them a very low voltage zap. The creatures didn't seem at all bothered by it. He tried again several times but they still refused to leave. It was then that Elec Man realized they were immune to electricity just like him. If the circumstances behind their meeting were a little different he might have been a little more curious about the little creatures, but at that moment he found this fact more of an annoyance.

He quickly sat up just in time to see the little creatures grab Dedenne and begin to carry her away. Furious, Elec Man chased after them.

"Put her down right now!" He snapped. A whistle made the creatures stems perk up. They dropped Dedenne and rushed over, swarming around a small man in a space suit. The man was a little smaller than Rock, and his eyes were round and dark.

"Sorry about them." He spoke in an odd language and yet Elec Man was still able to understand him somehow.

It had been made a rule long ago on his world that, like with morse code and sign language, all robots must be built with the ability to understand and speak every language possible. The scientists all teamed up with translators all around the world to create the data for their language chips, and the chips were sold all over the world for a fair price.

However, Elec Man knew that the language the man was speaking was not of his world, so he was surprised to find he could understand it.

"Confused?" The man chuckled. "The Mansion is enchanted. Everyone can understand each other no matter what language you use." Elec Man nodded quietly.

"I thought so." He glared down at the yellow creatures. They stared back up at him with their emotionless eyes.

"I see you've met the pikmin." The man forced a nervous smile. "I'm very sorry about them. I try to keep them from getting into trouble, but they have minds of their own and they don't always stay put for too long."

"Are they from your world?" Elec Man asked.

"In a way…" The man began to explain his story. His name was Captain Olimar and he was a resident of the planet Hocotate. After his ship had crashed while he was on vacation he enlisted the help of the pikmin of that world to help him find the parts of his ship so he could go home. The pikmin had a variety of abilities depending on color; some could breathe underwater, others were immune to fire or poison.

While Olimar told the robot master of his home and family, Dedenne managed to climb her way back onto Elec Man's shoulder.

"The first match of the day between Elec Man and Pikachu will begin shortly!" Elec Man and Dedenne both jumped a little in surprise as Master Hand's voice boomed through the halls.

"You'll get used to that." Olimar stated. "I wish you luck in your match!"

"Thank you." Elec Man nodded to him and headed downstairs.

The noise from the lobby died down as he made his way into the room. He saw many Smashers pause in their conversations to glance at him before whispering to their friends. He tried to ignore them. Dedenne scurried down off his shoulder and over to a table where some more pokemon were sitting. Elec Man looked back to the stairs as he heard Rock hurry down, grumbling loudly.

"Why didn't you wake me up!?" He shouted.

"You needed your rest." Elec Man replied.

"I could have missed your match!" Rock protested, a hint of a whine in his voice.

"You didn't." Elec Man pointed out.

"I might have! Besides, I could have gone without a few minutes of sleep!"

"You're a child, you need your sleep."

"I'm a robot!"

"Built to be a child."

"Ugh!" Rock turned and stormed over to a table and sat down, pouting quietly to himself. Elec Man heard a few other Smashers laugh at the sight and a small chuckle escaped his own lips. The tall green haired woman who was sitting at the same table with Phosphora glanced to him as if to say 'kids, am I right?'. Phosphora was glaring at him.

"Are you both ready for the match?" Master Hand looked down at Elec Man and Pikachu.

"I am." Elec Man answered

"Pika!" Pikachu agreed, a small bit of electricity sparking from his red cheeks.

"Then the match will begin! You will be participating in the Maze Version of Guar Plains. This way neither of you will have the advantage of familiar terrain. You will start in a random spot on either side of the area." Master Hand explained. "There will be no items and you each only have one stock. The only rule is that you be a good sport and don't be bitter over who wins or loses. Good luck!" A light engulfed him in a way that reminded him of the teleportation feature he and all the other robots were built with.

As his vision adjusted to his surroundings, he found himself unable to move for a moment in awe. The area was breathtaking bright and green with a clear sky and healthy plants all around him. He could hear the soft chirps of birds and the breeze whistled around him, and far in the distance was the roar of a waterfall, but other than that the area was quiet; completely different to the loud, busy city he was so used to. Large pieces of earth stretched into the sky like unfinished arches, sharp stalactites hanging from them. Flowers dotted the grass and he could see no signs of any civilization from where he was standing.

He could see a large figure in front of the area, dark and seemingly far away. He thought it to be a statue but then realized it was far too big to be something that was built. This thing in front of him appeared to be some sort of god covered in robot-like armor. It was wielding a sword in a way like it was striking an opponent.

Whoever lives in this world is very lucky. I've never seen such a beautiful area before. Though whatever that thing is in the distance is quite unsettling. He thought. He quickly reminded himself that he needed to focus on the battle. He looked around for any sign of the little pokemon. Pikachu would definitely stand out among the grass, his yellow fur was far too bright to hide.

"This person who lives in that world is named Shulk. He says that Guar Plains is not even the most gorgeous area he's seen." Elec Man barely managed to keep himself from being surprised. He had quickly gotten used to when a Goddess would speak to him. He didn't recognize the voice as Viridi's. He wasn't sure to be annoyed that yet another person was invading his thoughts or relieved that Viridi was leaving him alone. He decided that the latter would be better as at least this Goddess was being polite.

Thank you for telling me, I'll be sure to seek him out later. Elec Man replied. Are you a friend of Viridi's?

"Sort of." The woman replied. "I am the goddess of light; Palutena. You and Rock seem to get along quite well."

I'm his older brother. AI wise that is. Elec Man cautiously made his way through the tall grass. If Pikachu was smart he might use the grass to his advantage by covering himself with it or hiding a trap somewhere. He was built before me so he's technically older than I am.

"Neither of you act like robots." Palutena stated.

We were created to be as human as possible. We can feel complex emotions such as grief and love and we have the ability to feel pain as well, to an extent. We can eat and breathe, though it's not necessary, and we sleep to help our systems cool down and update overnight. Rock was never meant to fight; he was meant to help out in the lab so he and our sister Roll were created to be children no older than fourteen, perhaps younger. If I were human I would most likely be in my early twenties. Most industrial robots are built with the AI of adults, some such as Bomb Man, Oil Man and Cut Man being the exceptions. Even then they're still around their late to mid teens. Elec Man explained, keeping an eye out for any familiar yellow fur. He thought he saw Pikachu for a moment, but brushed it off as a trick of the light.

"How many siblings do you have?" Palutena questioned. Elec Man paused to think for a moment.

Well, there's the seven others in my line plus Rock, Roll and Blues...then there's the other eight from Dr. Light's second line...I suppose you could count Wily's third line as well since they were co-created by Dr. Wily and Dr. Light, with the exception of Shadow Man. I don't know where Shadow Man came from, I don't think anyone does...So I have around twenty five siblings, twenty seven if you count Rush and Tango. Well, I suppose twenty eight actually since Dr. Light created X as well. In truth, Elec Man hadn't even realized how big his family was until that moment.

"That's the biggest family I've ever heard of!" Palutena exclaimed. "And Rock had to fight all of them?"

All except for Roll. And that's not counting Wily's robots and the others he stole. Rock's fought about a hundred robot masters, if not more. It's been hard on all of us. Rock almost broke the three laws once and tried to shoot Wily. Elec Man could briefly feel Palutena's sympathy through their connection.

"We can talk more about this later. Right now I think it's best you focus." Then the connection was broken. Elec Man became more alert, scanning the grass. He spotted a flash of yellow and a weak shield of electricity surrounded him. He always did that whenever he was nervous or just needed something to help him feel safer. He knew it wouldn't do much to protect him from Pikachu, but the little rat could take damage from electrical attacks so it was worth the chance. He let out an embarrassing yelp as something slammed into his back and sent him tumbling to the ground. He could already see Phosphora laughing at him in the room, probably thinking to herself about how easy it would be to defeat him. He scrambled to his feet, staring around. He saw Pikachu dart into a patch of tall grass.

He shot a Thunder Beam towards the grass, a small bit of joy rushing through him when he heard Pikachu's startled squeal. The electric pokemon hopped out of the bush, the tip of his tail smoking a little from where Elec Man's attack had struck. Pikachu stared at him, sparks flying from his cheeks as he thought of his next move. Elec Man braced himself for Pikachu's next attack.

Pikachu raced towards him with a quick attack. Instinctively, Elec Man barely managed to dodge out of the way by sending a burst of electricity through his feet.

It was a move he had created when Quick Man decided to start pestering him about how the two of them should fight sometime. Elec Man finally gave in and agreed, but only if Quick Man promised that he would not use any abilities or aim anywhere that would end in severe damage for either of them.

Elec Man had found that using his electrical powers he could make himself almost as fast as Quick Man for short periods of time by focusing his electricity on his feet and sending it out in short, powerful bursts. It took him a while to perfect this technique, but it was all worth it when he saw the bewildered look on Quick Man's face when he tried it out for the first time against him.

Pikachu stumbled, startled by Elec Man's dodge. Taking advantage of Pikachu's imbalance, Elec Man shot a Thunder Beam at him. Even if he was using it at full power, the attack didn't do a lot of damage to the pokemon. Pikachu skidded back a little, digging his claws into the dirt as he shook off the attack. Seeing that using another quick attack would be useless, Pikachu instead used a thunder against the robot master. Elec Man didn't bother dodging the attack.

"Is that all you've got" He sneered as the attack ended, leaving him unharmed. Gathering some of the electricity Pikachu's attack had left behind, he shot it back towards the pokemon.

"Pika!?" Pikachu's startled cry was cut short as he scrambled out of the way. His ears twitched before he turned and glared at Elec Man.

Elec Man would never verbally admit it, but he enjoyed fighting quite a bit. It was the only reason he had even agreed to come to the tournament in the first place. The only times he had gotten to fight recently back home was with Quick Man, and if he spent too long with the Wily robot he worried he might end up doing something he would regret later. The tournament gave him an excuse to fight and a nice break from what he considered a boring job back at the power plant.

"You should have done your research." Elec Man shrugged innocently. "I cannot be harmed by electrical attacks." This only seemed to upset Pikachu more. Pikachu raced forward and leaped, swiping at Elec Man with his tail. Elec Man raised his arm to guard himself, wincing slightly as a small sting raced through his arm. When Pikachu landed he aimed a skull bash to Elec Man's leg. Elec Man growled as he fell, rolling out of the way of another tail strike and hurried to his feet. Pikachu hopped out of the way of his Thunder Beam as he tried to counter. Pikachu tackled him, sending him stumbling back. Elec Man grabbed Pikachu's tail and sent a shock through the pokemon as he tossed him away. Pikachu landed on his paws, staggering for a moment as he tried to recover. Elec Man waited patiently. Pikachu stared at him.

"Why aren't you attacking?" Pikachu questioned. This surprised Elec Man for a moment, but then he remembered that the Hands had enchanted everything so they could understand each other.

"I don't want this fight to be over so soon. Elec Man replied. "You're an interesting opponent to fight and it would be a shame to end it so quickly. Besides, I think it would be unfair to finish you when you're so open for an attack."

"You didn't have an issue with it earlier when I stumbled." Pikachu's tail flicked.

"That was a temporary imbalance that you could have corrected easily if I had waited a second longer." Elec Man pointed out, surrounding himself with another shield of electricity. "That's different from trying to recover from an attack."

Pikachu darted towards him with another quick attack, and Elec Man darted out of the way the same way he had before. What he wasn't expecting was for Pikachu to change course and skull bash right into his stomach. Elec Man was thrown back by the combined attacks into a large boulder. He collapsed to the ground, sore from both, Pikachu's attack and the boulder. He noticed Pikachu sway for a moment, smirking as he realized his electrical shield had done its job and damaged Pikachu a little as the pokemon attacked. Pikachu shook himself as Elec Man slowly got to his feet. He knew he would feel a little pain, but he wasn't expecting it to be that bad. His back felt like he had gotten blasted by Rock's Mega Buster and his arm felt as if it had gotten sliced by a Rolling Cutter. He did his best to ignore the pain. He had no idea how much damage he or Pikachu had taken, but he didn't want to risk letting his guard down to check.

Pikachu charged towards him, electricity surrounding him. Elec Man recognized it as volt tackle. He and Dedenne stayed up for a while the night before and she explained all of Pikachu's attacks in detail for Elec Man. He knew it was one of, if not the, most powerful moves Pikachu knew. Dedenne had mentioned that under normal means, the attack would damage the user as well, so Pikachu must have been pretty confident to use such a risky attack so late in the battle. Elecman guarded himself with his arms, trying to shield himself with a little electricity. Pikachu collided with the shield before Elec Man could finish it and the two slammed back into the boulder behind them.

The next thing he knew Elec Man was standing back in the lobby. He stumbled for a moment as a wave of weariness swept over him. Rock rushed over and jumped up, hugging him tightly.

"You won!" He exclaimed. Elec Man blinked in surprise. He wasn't exactly sure how he could have won, but when he looked at Pikachu he noticed the Pokemon had a bit of a guilty look on his face.

Pikachu turned reckless with that final attack. Dedenne signaled to him. If you hadn't made that shield the match would have ended in a tie.

Elec Man turned his attention to Phosphora, who was staring at him with an unreadable expression.

"That was a pretty interesting fight." She stated. Elec Man smiled at her.

"I hope you've changed your mind?" He teased. She let out a soft grumble of annoyance.

"Yeah, yeah, I can't fight you." She was clearly still upset. Elec Man was aware that many of the Smashers were whispering to each other, casting wary looks his way. He glanced down at Rock and noticed there was a guilty look on the blue bomber's face. He ruffled Rock's hair and made a note to speak with him later about what had happened. Rock let out a noise of protest.

"I hope this is a lesson well learned, Phosphora." Elec Man glanced over as the green haired woman, Palutena he was guessing, spoke. "Next time don't be in such a rush to fight someone, especially if you've been given a good reason not to."

"I get it already!" Phosphora snapped. Phosphora grinned and walked over to Elec Man.

"I hope you won't be fighting anymore today." She stated. "You look quite tired."

"No ma'am, I've had enough fighting for today." Elec Man chuckled. He realized too soon that he had made a mistake. Phosphora cast him a 'it was nice knowing you' look. He fell back onto the ground with a pained yelp as he was hit rather hard on the head with a staff. Palutena huffed and walked back over to her chair. Viridi burst out laughing and soon the rest of the room joined in. Embarrassed, Elec Man got up.

"Did I say something wrong…?" He asked.

"Palutena doesn't like it when people call her 'ma'am." The brown haired angel stated. "She says it makes her feel old."

"Then I apologize." He glanced over at Palutena. He really didn't want to get on the bad side of a goddess.

"Just make sure not to do it again and we won't have a problem." She replied.

Dedenne bounded over and climbed back up onto Elec Man's shoulder. Elec Man smiled at her. She snuggled close to his neck, purring softly as she sent him one-word happy signals.

"You should join the Villain Club!" A tall dark skinned red haired man called. Elec Man frowned and looked over to him.

"What makes you think that?" He challenged.

"Little Mega Man there told us all about how Dr. Wily turned you and your brothers evil." The man laughed. "I think you belong with us!" Elec Man would have loved to fry him.

"I didn't turn evil willingly." He pointed out, glaring at the man. "None of us did. We were stolen and reprogrammed against our will. We were forced to attack and kill and when Wily was defeated and we were reprogrammed back to our original coding we helped fix the damage he had caused. It's not something I'm proud of and if I had the chance I would hang Wily with his own intestines myself." He turned and made his way back up to his room before the man could reply. He sighed and sat down on the bed.

Are you alright? Dedenne asked, hopping down onto his knee so she could look up at him.

"I'm fine." He replied. He gave her a gentle scratch on the head. "I just don't like talking about...what happened. I suppose I do belong with the villains in a way."

Don't say that! Dedenne nuzzled his finger. You're better than them! A lot better!

"Not by much." Elec Man muttered bitterly. "Dedenne, I killed people! Innocent people who were just trying to find a place to hide. People I had been helping not even a day before. Not only that, but one of the people I attacked later formed a group of extremists known as the Emerald Spears. During the ARTs Convention they took the place of the guards and set bombs all over the building. They took my father and two of his friends hostage and they forced the humans out and the robots to stay inside. Rock and I helped a couple friends of ours disable all but two bombs and their leader, the man I had hurt, activated the bombs early while there were people still inside. I-I don't know how many people died that day, but it was my fault...If I hadn't attacked Xander then they would all still be alive and safe…" He had started to shake a little. He held Dedenne close, petting her in an attempt to calm himself.

It wasn't your fault. Dedenne stated. Wily reprogrammed you, you didn't have a choice.

"I should have known something was wrong!" Elec Man snapped. "I shouldn't have let him trick me like that!"

Even if you didn't hurt Xander I'm sure someone else would have started the group. Dedenne continued.

"Xander was the one who activated the bombs! If I hadn't attacked him they might not have used bombs at all!" Elec Man retorted. Furious, Dedenne bit into his finger and sent a high voltage shock through him. Elec Man yelped in surprise and almost dropped her.

Now you listen to me. Dedenne snapped up at him. You were stolen and reprogrammed. Xander is clearly insane if he's so willing to kill people just to get rid of robots. He doesn't deserve your pity. All of this is Wily's fault, not yours. If I ever hear you blaming yourself like this again I will bite your nose off, understand!? Elec Man stared at her for a moment in a stunned silence. He chuckled, a few tears sliding down his cheeks.

"Y-yes, I understand." He murmured. "Thank you." Dedenne nuzzled his hand, her tail curling around his wrist.

I'm sorry for biting you. I didn't know what else to do. She signaled.

"It's fine, I deserved it." Elec Man smiled. "Can you at least warn me next time?"

Nah.

Finally got this finished. I'm very sorry for the wait and it might be a while before the next chapter as well because of Finals coming up in the next couple weeks.

I'd apologize for that last part but I'm not at all sorry haha. Don't worry there's not going to be a lot of sad moments like that. Maybe.