CB: Ow, my hands. Disclaimer: I do not own Megaman or any products of Capcom.
Forte dashed forward to get up close, and Rock slid under in an effort to trip him up. In response, Forte jumped, flipped, and shot down at Rock in midair. Rock, seeing that his momentum wouldn't get him out of the way of the blast, quickly rolled to the side, dodging by scant inches. Spinning around, Forte launched himself at his prone opponent and struck out with a downward hook. Rock quickly tucked his legs under him, and sprung out of the way, causing Forte to only hit dirt, which his hand got stuck in.
Rock, noticing an opening, took it as he charged forward with his fist high. But Forte had been in a similar situation before, and let his arm switch to canon mode. He blasted the ground, freeing his hand, and grabbed Rock's falling fist by the wrist, tucked it over his shoulder, and flipped Rock over. But Rock was not to be taken out that easily, instead, he kicked with his momentum, making his feet head towards the ground instead through the air, and grabbed the hand that held him. Given his placement, Forte expected Rock to mimic his move, but instead Rock pulled forward and kicked back with his right foot. Having no choice, Forte took the blow, but also grabbed Rock's leg while his hand that still held his. He spun around, taking Rock off of his supporting left leg, and flung him through a crumbling wall.
Anxiously, Forte waited for Rock to stir, he dare not attack his rival when he couldn't see him. Suddenly an explosion erupted from where Rock was, sending dust and debris, obscuring his vision. Random rocks pinged off his armor as he tried in vane to see beyond the blinding dust while covering his face.
He heard a sound above him, and looked up to see a vague outline above him, followed by a blue flash. Forte dived forward and only received a grazing shot on his right leg. A loud Thud! Sounded behind him and, acting on instinct, Forte rolled to the left, and narrowly dodged another plasma shot. Turning as he stood, Forte let loose three plasma bolts in the direction where the shot originated. The first two soared past, but Forte heard a grunt when the third one collided with something. He charged forward while charging his canon in hopes of closing distance, and to get out of the disorienting cloud, when he heard a whoosh above him, and knew Rock had jumped behind him. He spun on spot and fired the shot, which seared through the air, creating a small vacuum in its wake, clearing up some of the dust. But the shot only hit the wall, and when he looked through the small clearing in the dust, he found a beam, near the size of Rock where he heard it land.
So surprised was he, that he never expected the fist that connected with the back of his head.
Roll could only look on helplessly as the two fought it out. She had come out her to see if she was right about Forte, to see if he wasn't all that bad. She was right. Sure he had quite and ego on him, that much was certain, but besides that, he was a fairly good guy. He was never the type to attack without reason, after all, he only had one person he truly wanted to fight, and he was surprisingly deep for someone who was an alleged psycho.
Most of all though, he seemed confused. Not about his lot in life, no he was fairly sure he had that covered, but about what other people did. He didn't seem to fully understand things like affection, and of course, why he never seemed to be able to beat Rock. That confusion seemed to lead to a constant anger, and a hatred for her blue brother. Yet, she couldn't really blame him for it, when he was built, and in the years since then, minus the one when he had been alone, he had been told to do nothing but destroy.
So now, here she was, sitting on the sidelines of a fight between her brother and her new friend, and a problem about that Rock hadn't finished telling her about, and all she could do was watch. She cringed as she watched Forte get a blaster shot point-blank to the abdomen.
Forte doubled over, but quickly pulled himself back up and rammed his elbow against the back of Rock's head. Now it was Rock's turn to double over, and Forte didn't waste the opportunity, he followed up by ramming his elbow in to the top of Rock's back, leaving him sprawling to the floor.
He quickly backed off to make sure that Rock couldn't retaliate. "Do you give up Rock?" Forte asked, though he was pretty sure that last hit had knocked Rock out.
Surprisingly, Rock started to stir again. Ah coughed and groaned as he brought him self to his hands and knees. It seemed so familiar to Forte, in every encounter in the past; Forte had always pushed Rock to the breaking point, brought him to his knees. Yet, somehow Rock always got back up somehow.
"How?" Forte asked. "How do you keep fighting!"
"Because if I don't," Rock replied, "people will get hurt."
"What does that have to do with anything!" Forte shouted in rage.
"Everything."
In rage, Forte charged at Rock, and only at the last moment did he notice Rock's blaster glowing blue. Rock quickly launched himself at Forte's knees, knocking him over the top of him, stood up, grabbed Forte by the leg, spun, and threw him into a wall. Looking at Rock, his vision fading, the last thing he saw, was a blue flash erupting from his blaster.
He had no idea how long he had been out, but when he opened his eyes, the sky was turning from red to violet.
"Good morning." A familiar voice said from nearby. He turned his head to see Roll sitting on the ground next to him, and saw Gospel next to her.
"What are you doing here?" Forte asked.
"Watching over you. Rock and me both thought that you wouldn't hold up to your end of the bargain so easily, so I convinced him to let me talk to you. That, and, well, I was just concerned for you." Roll explained.
Forte was confused for a moment, until he remembered the fight. He had lost again. In anger, he lifted his fist again and slammed it into the ground. "Damn it." He muttered.
"Hey," Roll said, "Don't be so hard on yourself. You put up a good fight. For a while there I wasn't sure who would win."
"But you knew he would come out on top in the end." Forte said.
"Well, he does have an advantage over you. He's six years older than you, and a lot of that time was spent fighting against Wily and the robot masters."
"Is that what separates us?" Forte asked, "Experience?"
"Well, I think that's part of it, but, there is more to it than that." Roll replied.
"What is it?" Forte asked, wondering if for once he was going to get a straight answer.
"I can't tell you. You need to figure that out on your own." Roll answered. No such luck it would seem.
"Everyone keeps saying that." Forte growled.
"Then maybe it's time you start listening." Roll said with an optimistic smile as she stood up. She extended her hand for him. "Come on."
Forte refused the help, "I can move fine on my own." He said as he sat up. Standing up, he stopped half way up as a pain from the recent fight presented itself. He grunted and nearly fell over, but Roll was quickly at his side to help him steady himself.
"Hey! Don't move too much, you were injured."
Forte shrugged off her help, "I said I can move on my own." He growled. Forte nearly made it five feet before he nearly fell over again, again Roll was there quickly to help.
"I told you to calm down!" She said as she pulled one of his arms over her shoulder.
"And I said I don't need your help." Forte replied as he again tried to shrug her off, but was quickly surprised as she wrapped her arms around his waist.
"Please… I don't want you to get hurt any more than you already are." She pleaded.
"Um… Roll?" Forte asked. He heard her giggle into his chest before she moved back to his side and took his arm over her shoulder.
"Don't worry Forte. It's called a hug." She explained.
A hug… he had seen humans do it sometimes when he sneaked through the city. He never quite understood what their point was. He assumed it was just a gesture between comrades.
"Um, Forte?"
"Yes?"
"You are going to help us, right?" Roll asked.
"Don't worry. I always keep up my end of the bargain." Forte replied.
"So… we go back to the lab?"
Forte sighed. He didn't want to see Rock or either of the old men again, but he had to keep a deal, and he needed repairs anyway. "I guess so."
"Okay!" Roll said in a chipper voice. Strangely, it seemed as if she was trying to cheer him up.
They approached the lab late that night, and were greeted by Blues standing at the front door.
"Well, it seems you decided to keep up your end of the bargain." He commented to Forte.
"You knew I would."
Blues chuckled softly, "Yes, I suppose I did. Rock and the others are already asleep, so you don't have to deal with any of them right now."
"Good." Forte muttered. He really didn't have what it took to deal with Wily then. Though he hated him, he knew at least Rock would understand to stay away for a while. Dr. Light, well he didn't know much about him.
Blues led them into the house, making sure to be quiet.
"Welcome home." Roll remarked to Forte happily.
"This is only temporary." Forte deadpanned.
"We'll see." Roll giggled.
She led him to one of the many guest rooms in the house, explaining that they had so many because they would occasionally be sent a robot that needed repairs, so they would usually let them stay a few day's.
"Well, here ya go." Roll said when they stopped in front of a door. "We have healing packs downstairs, you can get one tomorrow."
"I told you before, don't worry about me."
"You can tell me as many times as you want, it doesn't mean I'll listen." Roll retorted with a smile.
Forte sighed. She was an odd girl, by his standards.
"Good night." Roll said as she let Forte go to bed. "Hope you feel better tomorrow.
Gospel walked in first, and Forte followed. The room was empty with the exception of the small bed. It had no windows, a light on the ceiling, and nothing else. He couldn't deny that this was better conditions than he normally slept in. Without taking off any of his armor, he just flopped down on the mattress, and fell asleep.
CB: Whew. This took a long time to type up. Finally, the chapters get longer. You can probably expect them to get a bit longer, and definitively expect them to stay at least this long. Next chapter, the plot is going to start picking up until reaching a nice cruising speed. Please keep your seat trays up and your seat belts fastened, and keep all baggage out of the aisles. Please read and review.