Mega Man's audio recievers were alert. Despite the fact that he had Bass' and half of Team 5's help, he still didn't have as much coverage as he would like over the city. He was worrying too much, he told himself. After all, the police network could call him at any time, and Monstropolis was on high alert ever since the problems with shipping had begun. Mega Man cruised over the city on Rush jet to make sure he could scan as much of the city at once as possible.
"I sure hope we can stop Dr. Cain before too much damage is done, Rush!" Mega Man said. "It's frustrating to have to save the city so many times over from big threats like this. I can't believe it's come to making buildings that can withstand the crash of a robot."
Rush barked in reply merrily, refusing to allow his master's thoughts to be so dark.
"Ha, you're right, everything will be fine." Mega Man laughed at little, but his concern didn't entirely fade from his eyes. "I just...you know. It would be nice if my home wasn't the target of a maniac anymore. There are times when I'd really like to do something other than just save Monstropolis all the time. I'd really like to build Monstropolis up and make it better with new technologies. I want to be a part of the constructive process, not just destruction all the time..."
"Tweet-tweet!"
"Gah!"
Only Mega Man's near perfect instincts kept him from jumping clear off of Rush. That and the fact that only one pipi was flying alongside the red dog. Mega Man took a deep breath and settled himself. He wished that the little brown birds didn't bother him so much. After all, what was one little bird against him? Then again, just hearing one of those little tweets completely broke into his concentration and reminded him not only of being surrounded by a flying flood of birds, but also instant death beams, disappearing block obstacles over glowing lava, and fighting Quick Man.
"Sheesh, Bruce, I wish you wouldn't do that to me!" he fussed. "I know you're bored because you aren't with Crystal Bot right now, but she's at Jewel Man's work and he can't have a little bird distracting him. His boss wouldn't like it."
Bruce tweeted more. He complained about being left alone in the lab because he was bored and wanted something to do. Mega Man couldn't understand his bot assistant code, but Rush translated it for him, turning the high pitched tweets into deep barks.
"Okay, you can go to Great Gems." Mega Man sighed. He moved his hand to run it through his hair, but this wasn't really possible with his helmet in the way. "But don't actually go inside. You stay in the area and keep an eye on the city. Let me know if anything is happening, alright?"
"Tweet!"
Rock sighed with relief as the little pipi flew away. No matter how long it had been since Wily made him face those little birds, those things always seemed to give him the willies. And on a night like tonight he couldn't afford any sort of distraction. As if something horrible had happened in the past couple of minutes, Mega Man got the urge to call around and see what was going on for the rest of the Monstropolis defenders.
" - Gyro Man, come in. Is anything happening in your area? - "
" - No. - " It wasn't long before the green propellor-bot answered. " - It's all quiet this way. Stone Man and me have this area covered. I haven't heard anything from Napalm and Charge Man, but they're supposed to call me if they spot anything. I really hope something happens soon! All this waiting is getting on my nerves. - "
" - Tell me about it. I just wish this nonsense was over. Well, call me for back up if you need me. I think I need to check on Bass. He's out here by himself and I don't want him getting caught in a trap or something. - "
" - Bass is here? Hmph. He better not be a glory-hog. Some of us want a piece of the action too. - "
" - ...Gyro Man, remember what Mr. Reyes told you. It's not about getting to fight, it's about protecting the innocent. - "
" - I know, I know. Gyro Man out. - "
The transmission was cut. Mega Man sighed. Anyone could tell from Gyro Man's tone that he didn't understand at all. Mega Man didn't want to be judgemental of anyone, especially since they were the ones that had to recover from being Wily's robots, but they were going to need to change for the better at some point. How long does it take to really and truly become a good guy? There was much more to it than simply fighting baddies.
Mega Man flew over to the western coast of Monstropolis. Even as the sound of the ocean came to his ears, he relaxed. It was such a nice sound, and it absorbed his stresses and pulled them out with the tide. Mega Man felt privileged to live in a place like Monstropolis. There were so many different landscapes and geographies: there was the city itself, the rolling country surrounding, and just off in the distance were mountains. Mega Man liked the ocean the best, though in the back of his mind he figured that he would say the same thing about any area he approached. Monstropolis was a fine land.
His eyes glittered as he spotted the dark waves - already nightfall was on the city, and the ocean was a mass of black mystery lapping up on the sand. The main pier wasn't far. Though normally Dr. Cain wasn't the one terrorizing Monstropolis on a daily basis, Mega Man always felt the need to check the pier. Crime lived on even without mad scientists threatening everyone, and at any given time there would be all manner of lesser criminals trying to smuggle things in and out of through normal citizens who lived near the coast.
The area was very quaint, with a quiet street and a few bars open down the way. The streetlights were already on, creating a gloomy and yet almost friendly environ on the calm road.
"Well, Rush, at least people are staying safe and not running around on the street. Go ahead and set down here, boy."
Mega Man landed and stepped off Rush, letting the dog convert back into his normal form. The bomber got a good look around. Everything seemed peaceful as ever. The sounds that hit his ears were only the ocean waves and the dim noises and song from the Irish pub around the corner. There was nothing quite like an old drinking song to create a friendly atmosphere.
Only Mega Man was worried, and no amount of Irish brew poetry could distract him completely from his concerns. Bass wasn't anywhere to be found. He told himself that the dark robot could handle any trap on his own, but for some reason he felt concern for Forte. Surely nothing had happened to him. Couldn't Bass handle it? Of course, Rock was half suspicious that Bass thought he could handle far more than he truly was able to. If the worst happened, Mega Man knew he couldn't rely on the dark robot to call for help.
Walking down Turner Avenue, Mega Man turned out of the coastal area to where the city ended and there was sand instead of street. The sun's last rays were almost dipped below the horizon, and this was when Mega Man finally saw Bass. The dark robot was now standing on the edge of the pier, staring out into the water. He stood there like a statue, his only movement being the slight turning of his head out into the distance and deep. The transmission zips flying through the air made it clear that much more was going on than simple looking.
Rock was too distant to see exactly what Bass was doing, but there wasn't any reason he couldn't ask. Mega Man approached the pier, curiously. He didn't notice when his foot first stepped on the wooden structure, but the instant it did, the plank beneath him creaked.
Bow-bow-bow!
Mega Man dove to the side to dodge the shots headed for him. They had to settle for tearing holes into the planks instead of the bomber, who was barely hanging on to the side of the pier in time to stop himself from falling into the water. Rush barked violently, growling at the offender: Bass. He still grinned, despite a meager act to feign a lack of hostile intent.
Rock got back to his feet, purely frustrated as his arms lifted him from his perilous perch. "Bass! It's just me!"
"How was I supposed to know that?" The fin-headed robot was smugly blew at his smoking plasma buster. "Maybe you shouldn't sneak up on me. For all I know you could have been one of those idiot Cain-bots."
"You know better than that!"
"Do I really?" Bass let his grin sour and fade into a firm line. "So what the hell are you doing here? I've got this covered."
"I just wanted to check on you." Mega Man pulled a chunk of wood out from his armor, thinking that someone better get some work done on the wood if they wanted the pier to last much longer. "The others are paired up, so I figured I wouldn't leave you by yourself."
Bass immediately scowled. "I'm fine. I've got this covered. You can go now."
Mega Man hardly noticed what Bass was saying. As rude as it was for him not to pay attention, he couldn't help but recognise the place. "Hey, haven't we been here before? This is where you were fighting Psycho Man last year."
"Eh, yeah." Bass answered with a sour grunt. He gave up on getting Mega Man to leave; he knew the bomber too well to expect him to just go away now that he was interested. "Crystal Bot found a submarine that Cain had running around, and it was out here in this area. You saw the report. I've got Treble looking for it now, but no luck so far. I can see the main shipping port from here in case something happens up there."
Mega Man nodded. It was a sound plan for what little information they had. Hearing that Treble was around, Rush wagged his tail and rushed forward onto the pier. He barked with excitement at the water, sniffing until he found the right direction to the purple wolf. He wagged his tail harder, not noticing the foul look Bass gave him. Rush just barked into the ocean to say hello. Three nasty snarls echoed right back. Rush whined, and his tail settled down with a plop on the pier beneath him. He just wanted to be Treble's friend.
"That's actually a good idea. Nobody found Dr. Cain's submarine before." Mega Man said, not paying his dog much attention for the moment. "But there's no reason to think that it would still be here. The police searched it before."
"Hell, I've got to do something. It's not like there's anything else going on." Bass eyed Rush, avoiding the temptation to kick him into the water. "I'm starting to think that Dr. Cain just wants us out here running around looking for one of his stupid plans."
Rock nodded, putting a hand to his chin thoughtfully. "That would make sense. I just hope Proto Man finds something. He always seems to somehow."
The mention of Proto Man got a funny look from Bass, one that Mega Man couldn't immediately discern. It wasn't hate, or even disdain (or at least mostly not). It was an odd sort of curiosity, the kind which appears on those around you when they are uncertain about something, but especially about you. Noticing Mega Man's reaction, Bass allowed his face to go into a more casual look of indifference. As much as he wanted to question this, there was no time for the blue bomber to ask.
"Ahahahaha!"
Both robots at once turned back toward the city as the evil, shuddering laughter grew ever louder. A robot neither of them had seen in a long time appeared, hovering in the air coming towards them (but not too close). It was the bright red shield-robot Emit Man. Already he had found an assortment of metal plates to float around him and block any pellets that the heroes shot at him.
He wasn't the only antagonist. Emit Man had brought with him several Wily-bots. Frost Man and Cold Man approached from each side of the Cain-bot, both of them ready to make things icy. Wind Man, warming up his propellors, ran up from their right. A splash from behind warned them that Aqua Man too was there, much to their disgust. The heroes got back to back defensively, desperately hoping Aqua Man wouldn't say it-
"It's...Aqua Man!" the annoying water-bot gushed, posing as he jumped onto the end of the pier (how it creaked under his weight!). "But since we're such good friends, you can just call me handsome guy!"
It was enough to make Mega Man shudder, and Bass thought he was going to be sick. Fortunately Emit Man wasn't too amused by the creepy water-bot either.
"Shut up, imbecile!" Emit Man cleared his throat and continued in a more dignified tone. "Now then, Mega Man, what say I clear up the mystery for you? Tonight, this fine April evening, is the last day of the glory age of robots! From this point forward, no more shall humanity be chained to its own creations! We robots of Doctor Nikola Cain are sworn to bring justice and end the perversion of machines! What starts today will not end until there is no robot greater than mechaniloids, if that!"
"Um, that wasn't really a mystery to me." Mega Man equipped his super armor. "I knew you guys felt that way already. It's not exactly a mystery to anyone who keeps up with the news."
"Erm...well, we're still going to beat you!" Emit Man's face was almost a pout, complete with gritted teeth. "You're going to lose. You think you're defending humanity, but you're really ruining it! These people are complacent! They just send you out to do the work that they should do for themselves!"
"Shouldn't Dr. Cain be the one out here fighting us then?" Bass snorted. "I mean, if he's not a hypocrite he should get his lazy butt in gear and actually fight for himself."
"Will you stop already?" Emit Man huffed, and if he hadn't been hovering he would have stomped his foot. "My master is not a fighter. He has more elegant methods of accomplishing his goals."
Mega Man wasn't really listening. Again his environment distracted him. Battle strategies ran through his head as he quickly considered which way to safely destroy all of the enemy robots. It then occured to him that the pier wasn't really located around anything important, especially since they were several yards away from the nearest buildings. Dr. Cain was trying to attack the robots, not humans.
Since I don't have to protect anyone, this battle won't be as hard. Mega Man smiled. "Hey Bass, there's an odd number of robots here."
"So what?"
"So that means there definitely won't be a tie." Mega Man's smile turned into a full out grin. "I bet I can destroy more of these guys than you."
"You did not just challenge me!" Bass guffawed loudly, lifting his busters. "You're on, Dweeb!"
"This isn't a game!" Emit Man shrieked. "I'm going to kill both of you!"
Both rivals dove into the water, and Rush wasn't far behind. They had to be quick to dodge all of the blade bombs that Emit Man shot out. That by no means ruined the high moods of either fighter-bot, and the challenge continued with cheer and a ridiculous number of buster pellets.
-t-
Gyro Man was bored. Unbelievably bored. He and Stone Man were patrolling the inner part of the city, and Gyro Man was really starting to regret choosing to hang out with Stone Man. Stone Man couldn't fly, and so that left the two no choice but to walk around. Occasionally Gyro Man took to the air to get a better perspective, but since he wasn't spotting anything, he just gave up and walked alongside Stone Man.
Stone Man had never cared too much (or at least not as much as Gyro Man) about becoming a great fighter and hero. Stone Man fought only when he needed to, and now that he had been upgraded, he was pretty good. The only trouble was he didn't have the tracking and awareness skills of his green friend. Gyro Man was afraid that something would happen to Stone Man if he didn't stay close by. It wasn't too hard to sneak up on the block-bot.
"Sheesh, something better happen..." Gyro Man stretched his arms then pretended to throw out a couple of his mini gyro blades. "I'm getting bored just walking around town."
Stone Man's long strides were hard to keep up with, so Gyro Man just hurried up. There were many streets in the vast city, and the tall skyscrapers kept the robots from being able to see too far in any direction. The propellor-bot had half a mind to just go fly upwards again to see what he could see. It was getting darker though, and the bright lights of the city would prevent him from using his nightvision. Tracking someone in that mess was a nightmare.
"You know, I really miss Guts Man." Stone Man said. "He was always such a fun guy. I wish he would have come with us when we left Wily."
"That's random." Gyro Man looked up at the block-bot. "What are you thinking about him for anyway? Nobody in Team 1 would leave Wily anyway. They got all the benefits."
"You should have let me ask him to come. Maybe because Guts Man was built by Dr. Light we could get him to come back to being a good guy."
"Stone Man, we're working here, and Guts Man is dead already." Gyro Man rolled his eyes. He didn't like talking about Team 1, or basically anything that reminded him of the days before he was a decent fighter. "Now let's think. Dr. Cain likes to fight robots and not humans because he thinks robots are a problem, right? So what in the world are we doing in the town? It's mostly humans here. Where's a target that only someone going after robots would fight?"
"Auto's shop." Stone Man answered. "But that's destroyed. Then there's Dr. Light's lab, only that's got really good security."
"There's got to be another place, or maybe they're looking for some way to be able to destroy the lab-"
Gyro Man froze. He heard something. Given that this was downtown Monstropolis, there was any number of cars going down the road, people laughing and talking, and just general sources of city noise. Even through all that Gyro Man couldn't shake the feeling that he had heard something.
"What?" Stone Man was confused. "Is there a way to-"
"Shut up!"
The two robots were silent, and Gyro Man heard it again.
"It's coming from...from..."
With an almost silent whiwp through the air, a bullet flew right into Gyro Man's neck. Only the luckiest of movements on his part saved him from suffering anything worse than severed robotic skin and a gash in his armor. The shot alarmed several humans nearby, and they began to scatter. Immediately Stone Man jumped in front of Gyro Man. It wasn't futile; sniper-type robots alway had hard times getting through Stone Man's type of armor, though he did knock several dents in his orange stones.
"It's Sight Man! I just know it!" Gyro Man gasped, fingering his wound. "Quick! We've got to teleport and find him!"
Stone Man immediately tracked Sight Man's teleport coordinates. Apparently the Cain-bot had been too quick to leave and forgot to encode them. Both Team 5 bots teleported, and within five seconds they found themselves at...a truck stop? The poor place was barely recognisable. The gas station/diner combo building was half on fire - the gas station side, naturally - and it wouldn't be long before the other half was also consumed by flame. Humans fled the scene, all except for a couple of plaid-clad men furious at the status of their 18 wheeler trucks and cargo inside. Who wouldn't be if their trucks were burst apart as if by lightning, with all their inventory scorched black?
"What happened here?" Stone Man exclaimed. "All those-"
A beam of electric fury slammed right into the pavement in front of the reformed Wily-bots. The source of the powerful beam was easy to find: Psycho Man. This Cain robot was only tall because of his rapier-thin legs, which in their extended position lifted him several feet into the air. His round body was about the size of a normal robot master's, only round like the bottom of a pear. His armor was colored like a clown's outfit, with yellow and purple stripes - he even had a white frill color around his neck, as well as the three electric power orbs on his collar that produced his vicious attack. His face was little more than two huge bug eyes and a grate for a mouth.
Gyro Man was familiar with Psycho Man's design. He also knew that Psycho Man normally had two arms that were never attached to his body but held up by energy alone. Their absense meant that these arms had departed from him and turned into a miniature clown. He could hear the sound of firing from the other side of the diner, and could only hope that most of the humans had already escaped from the demented robot attacking them.
"Gyro Man has come to play!" a cheery Psycho Man chanted his jolly rhyme. "Won't Stoney Guy also stay? If you wait for my surprise, you really won't believe your eyes!"
"Huh?"
Gyro Man barely had time to be confused before Psycho Man sent out his next pulse. This one smacked straight into Stone Man, reducing him to blocks of stone on the pavement of the truck stop. The green robot was horrified, and sent out a swarm of his mini gyro blades to distract Psycho Man. Fortunately Stone Man could put himself back together, but it was evident from his shakiness that he hadn't gone undamaged.
"I'll get this guy!" Gyro Man started to spin his propellor as he pointed to the clown-bot. "You get the humans out of here!"
It wasn't as simple as that. From out of nowhere, Sight Man started firing again. Gyro Man barely managed to dodge these and carry himself into the air.
"I guess that means I'm going to get him!" Stone Man was not a weak robot, and he shot his fist out at Sight Man with the aid of his excellent sensors. "You'll pay for this, Sight Man!"
-t-
Charge Man gasped. "Napalm Man! Gyro and Stone Man are in trouble!"
The train robot and his purple companion were clear on the other side of town. Having guessed that Dr. Cain would be going after any form of product transportation (well, he was scrambling shipment company computers), Charge Man suggest that they look at the main train station. That was why the two found themselves wandering about the rails. The place was as calm as ever. Just the normal station with its few workers maintaining the office. A few people lounged about the front of the station, as it had its covered patio so that people could board a train in wet weather. There was nothing odd about the place, so Napalm Man was plenty excited when he heard Charge Man's news.
"Excellent!" Napalm Man managed to keep himself from firing his bombs into the air. "Let's go!"
"Not so fast. You have trouble of your own right here."
That too pleased Napalm Man's desires to fight, and he was jolly as he jumped around and pointed one of his shooters at the trees on the far side of the tracks. It appeared to be a calm forest, but that changed quickly. Out of the shadows stepped a large, green robot, one with huge blasters on his arms and a hulking body.
Charge Man circled around Napalm Man to get a look. "It's Commando Man!"
The train-bot seemed dismayed, but Napalm Man was only happy. Despite the fact that he was several years older than Commando Man, he always admired the younger robot and looked up to him. The Team 10 robot looked back at Napalm Man, wincing. It was almost as if he was ashamed, and it showed even through his heavily armored face that only showed angry eyes.
"Commando Man!" Napalm Man exclaimed, not without worry. "Oh no, you haven't been brainwashed by Dr. Cain, have you? Not you of all robots!"
Commando Man's eyes narrowed, and he angry stuck out his cannons to be ready to shoot. "I...I had no choice...Dr. Cain programmed me to follow his orders. Now I'm nothing but a stinking traitor! Just like you and your entire team. I once respected you, Napalm Man. I never figured that you would depart from our creator. At the very least my betrayal was not my choice! I never willingly abandoned my creator!"
"You think I had a choice?" Napalm Man didn't like accusations of being disloyal, and it showed in pained look. "Wily would have killed me and my entire team if we hadn't left! We had to do something to escape!"
"It is better to die as a loyal creation of Wily rather than live as a pathetic companion of Mega Man, our greatest enemy!" Commando Man shoved a cannon forward as if it were an accusing finger. "If your motives truly were about survival, you liar, then you should have just disappeared amongst the humans and made Wily's name feared on this earth! He would have taken you back!"
"Yeah, well maybe if he upgraded us once in a while we might have been able to do that! Besides, if I did go back to Wily then I would have turned out like you: brainwashed by a cyber thief! I'm my own robot, not a slave like you!"
"There will be no more words between us..." A sinister Commando Man came even closer, stepping over the empty railroad tracks with his ground shaking footsteps. "Only bombs!"
"Good. It's about time you actually attacked someone."
The dull, bored voice came from a white-armored robot, one that appeared further down the tracks. This creation was horrific. His entire head looked like a round of ammunition, and the angle of his head and sharp eyes made it look like he was constantly angry. Two holes in his chest and his abdomen were conduits of electronic and plasma energy, making this evil robot a very well armed monstrocity.
"I remember you." Napalm Man said. "You're that guy with the dumb white armor I fought in Alaska."
"And you're the periwinkle disaster." Bullet Man turned to Commando Man. "I thought I told you I didn't want to deal with him."
"You wanted to know where Team 5 would go, and Charge Man wouldn't fail to search this place." Commando Man shrugged, but other than that kept his dark eyes on the two reformed Wily-bots, especially the napalm fighter. "I don't decide who comes along."
"Hey! I'm not that predictable!" Charge Man turned completely red, blowing off puffs of steam. "You'll pay for that!"
Charge Man was headed straight for Commando Man, but as he charged he noticed that there were three homing torpedoes swirling through air, coming around and heading straight for him. He fired a shot of coal at them. This proved to be too much of a distraction, as Commando Man's bombs smacked right into him. It was lucky for Charge Man that he was still in his red mode, or else the bombs would have done a lot more damage than they did.
"You leave him alone and fight me! I've been itching for a rematch! I don't need Rock to come and rescue me from you!"
Napalm Man fired off his torpedos at Bullet Man as Charge Man went ahead and fought the Team 10 robot. Humans from the station began to run away, especially since Bullet Man was getting way too close to the building for comfort. Bullet Man wasn't able to dodge all of the torpedoes, but his laser fired back and really gave Napalm Man a run for his money. To make things worse, Bullet Man pulled up both of his arms and retracted his mechanical hands. Moments later, his entire body was flashing from the blasts of the bullets shooting out of his arms at a terrific rate.
Bulky Napalm Man wasn't by any means good at getting out of the way of such an onslaught. Taking several shots to the face, Napalm Man barely kept his balance. Even despite the new cracks in his armor, he managed to shoot his twin napalm bombs, one of which smacked right into Bullet Man - and the other smacked into the train station, setting it ablaze. Fire alarms filled the air, but none of the combatants seemed to notice. You wouldn't notice either if you were being run into or shot up with bombs and lasers.
The fight was certainly too intense for the train-bot to focus on anything besides Commando Man. As much as Charge Man liked to run into things, that was out of the question with his enemy. All that did was bring him straight into Commando Man's line of fire, and that indeed was only if Commando Man's ground poundings didn't throw him off of his feet. It was up to his coals to put a dent in the soldier-bot's defenses, and coal was hardly Commando Man's weakness.
"Napalm Man!" his Team 5 companion called out. "I need some help over here!"
The purple fighter was having luck. Napalm had a very adverse affect on Bullet Man, and the burning liquids all over him tore up his weapons systems. Bullet Man tried to run, but that only made him more suseptible to being shot again. The flames on him grew, and he knew he wasn't going to survive if he stayed any longer. Charge Man's shout distracted Napalm Man, so Bullet Man had only one chance to escape. Jumping into the air, he began to spin. His legs ran and twisted together with mechanical rumblings, and they became a rocket booster. With a burst of rocket power, he shot up into the air, arcing downwards and shooting by Napalm Man just like (if you'll pardon the pun) a bullet. The force of the air managed to stay the flames on him, reducing the fire outside of his armor. The tongues of burnination that had found a crack or an opening in his armor would have to be put out some other way.
"Aw crap, there's a lake out that way." Napalm Man complained, watching him zip off. "He'll be able to douse himself over there."
"Bullet Man!" Commando Man shouted. This stalled his fight with Charge Man, much to the latter's relief. "You coward! Don't leave me alone with the enemy!"
The transmission from Bullet Man wasn't encoded, so all three robots heard it clearly. " - Oh shut up. You know I'm weak to Napalm Man and you brought me to him. Unintentionally? Please. You were trying to get rid of me. I always knew the master's programming wasn't strong enough on you. Good bye! - "
" - How was I supposed to know you're weak to Napalm Man? Encode your transmissions! Do you want the whole world to know? - " If Commando Man had proper hands, he would have facepalmed. As it was, I suppose the closest thing you could call it is "facewristed" or "wristfaced", as he smacked a cannon against his head in indignance. "This is embarrassing. Never in my life have I had to put up with such a miserable excuse of a soldier. It's a tragedy for someone so well armed with magificent weapons to have no clue how to fight with dignity."
Charge Man couldn't help his laughter, completely scornful. Napalm Man, however, felt bad for Commando Man. He approached his former compatriot with sadness in his eyes, converting his napalm shooters back into hands as a sign of peace. Noticing Napalm Man approaching, Commando Man lowered his cannon and gave out a rumbling growl.
"Hey Commando," Napalm said, wanting to sound welcoming as possible. "You don't have to fight for Dr. Cain anymore. You don't have to fight alongside people you hate. Crystal Bot can remove all of his failsafes from you and everything. You can join us, and-"
"Join you?" Commando Man lifted his voice like a skilled orator with the voice of an earthquake. "You traitors of the great Dr. Wily? Only recently I heard how you ensured our creator's captivity by transferring him to another prison. If you had any true loyalty within you, you would go now at once and free him, only then offering to free me from the bonds of Dr. Fool. I once thought you were a good robot, Napalm Man, but I was wrong. It was a mistake for you to have been created. You and your filthy Team 5."
"But if you don't surrender, I have to kill you...you're too cool to die! Please, just come back with us to our lab. I can work everything out with the government. Come on, you remember all those days when we would always talk about making a weapons museum? You liked the idea as much as I do. You like telling people about their history. Don't you hate it when people forget their past and forget how the world came to this? You can be their teacher! The museum can become a reality!"
"Don't you talk to me about that." Commando Man hissed his words like a threat. "The Napalm Man I once knew is no more. Now if you have any kindness in you at all, shoot me and end my tretchery. I do not wish to serve Cain and his idiotic robots any longer. If I can die fighting a traitor like you, then I can be content."
But of course Commando Man's programming wasn't just going to let him stand there and take two napalm bombs to the head. The two fought like the warriors that they were, bomb versus bomb, artilery versus artilery. Napalm blasted Commando in the face, only for his opponent to jump into the air and knock him to the rocky and rail-y ground. Napalm Man rolled back to his feet and blasted away Commando Man's left cannon, but even one-armed Commando Man wasn't a joke. He was weary, but but no means weak.
Without warning, a red blur ran straight into Commando Man, crashing into him and tearing him apart. The charge kick was not his weakness, but his armor could only withstand so much. That done, Charge Man finally slowed and turned back into his regular orange color. That didn't mean that he wasn't angry, and he glared at Napalm Man with all the frustration he could muster up. He swung a finger over at the train station.
"Hello! Earth to Napalm!" Charge Man yelled. "The train office is just a little bit on fire so I think it would be good if you decided you might want to try and put it out!"
That snapped the purple-bot out of it, and he finally looked around. Just like Charge Man said, the platform that once held the office and the loading station was all ablaze. Napalm Man continued to observe his surroundings, and was horrified to see the mess that he and indeed all of the combatants had made of the railroad tracks. Metal was bent and twisted everywhere like metal fingers reaching out of the earth. With all the oil spillings on the wooden cross-supports, little fires were popped up all around them. If they didn't stop it soon, then the woods on the other side of the tracks would be next to light up.
"Um...oops?"
-t-
Bass, on the other hand, was having a grand time. It had been so long since he had been able to fight in a battle like this that he forgot how much he sincerely enjoyed it. Having to fight so many of his hated "brothers" at once was only gravy to him. It was wonderful to be pummeling idiots like the good old days, and wandering Russia simply couldn't compare to it.
Mega Man fired off a charged shot at Wind Man. He wasn't one to enjoy fighting for its own sake, but he was happy Bass was at least less grumpy. Having to deal with the dark robot after he had just come from being lectured by Reyes wasn't enjoyable, and Bass had been gloomy ever since. But now he was laughing, even if in a very horrible, growling sort of way. Mega Man was glad Bass felt useful, and also plenty glad he didn't have to fight all five of the robots by himself.
"I wonder if these Cain-bot powers are any good..." Mega Man pondered. "You know, I never actually tried out Bullet Man's weapon."
"Distracting me is cheating, Rock." Bass complained with humor, grinning viciously as he fired his double busters at Frost Man. "You cheating bastard."
Mega Man was distracting himself more than anyone else, but he did laugh at that. He disengaged his ultra armor, letting his colors change from double blue to yellow and white. Despite the ugly set of colors, the power bullet seemed like a strong weapon. Three missles spun dizzily around, swirling ever towards an irritated Wind Man.
"Oh no you don't!"
The little chain around Wind Man's head swung around in a circle for effect. He powered up his mighty propellor fans, hitting them with such a gust of wind that they flew right back, arcing over Mega Man and heading further on down the beach, right where more fighting was going on.
"Bass!" Mega Man yelled. "Watch out!"
Only through the power of skill and double jumps did Bass manage to keep from being hit by the homing bullets. He back flipped into the air just barely in time to dodge them, and they cruised by only to smack right into Frost Man. Bass landed in the sand with a thud, everything besides his face looking very cool and stylish as he landed perfectly with his years of hard-earned skill. Like I said, except for his snarling face. It was difficult for him to be happy when Mega Man managed to off his opponent and steal the first kill.
"Rock!" he growled, definitely more serious this time. "That's cheating too."
"Don't be a sore loser!" Mega Man said cheerfully, not quite realizing that that wasn't the best tone to use at the moment. Of course, one usually doesn't have the focus to be diplomatic towards grumpy allies when one is dodging a propellor from Wind Man. Moreover, Cold Man wanted a piece of the action.
"Hey Windy!" Cold Man said, gallantly lifting his terrible arms. "Ha, let me help you! We will make...an air conditioner!"
The ferocious ice-bot jumped directly behind Wind Man, and sending a shot of his frosty ice powers through Wind Man's propellors. The blast of freezing air knocked Mega Man back, skidding him through the beach. If he didn't smack right into the back end of the pier, there was no telling how far the frozen wind would have sent him. Worse yet, a layer of ice and frost pinned him down. The blue bomber (or yellow and white bomber, as he was for the moment) quickly remembered his weapon. The power bullet was a chargable weapon, and if he charged it, it would have the power to cruise right into Wind Man...
"Hi there, short stuff!" Aqua Man, standing just behind him on the pier, had his water gun ready to go and aimed directly at his head. "Dying is so in style! Get ready for high fashion!"
Left with no other choice, Mega Man tried to aim at Aqua Man and stop the creepy robot, only the ice building up on his armor was slowing him down. It froze his arm and he couldn't do so much as aim. This left him nothing to do but sit there and listen with horror to Aqua Man's creepy laughter.
"Haeehaee! Aren't you glad you get to be shot by a good looking guy like me?"
CRACK!
Bass dashed in, his normally golden headfins and accenting now a mild purple. He slammed his fist into Aqua Man's side, and with the psycho pulse, Algorhythm Man's power, the impact shattered Aqua Man's water-pot belly like a pottery jar. Aqua Man tried to shoot back, but his water pressure was gone, and there was nothing he could do to stop Bass from blasting him to death.
"Here." Bass shot three blasts at Mega Man to melt off the thickening frost. "This'll fix you."
"Gah!" The pellets freed him from the ice, but that didn't stop them from damaging Mega Man. "You just like shooting me!"
"Well, duh."
The hot plasma did do a very good job of melting the gathering ice all over Mega Man's body, and now that he was free, he was able to let loose the fully charged power bullet. Instead of three homing torpedoes, one mighty bullet shot forth and this one went straight forward. It was fast enough to get through the powerful wind and make it through not only Wind Man, but Cold Man behind him too. Mega Man ran forward, switching back to his ultra armor and pummeling away at Wind Man, making sure that the Team 6 robot knew better than to fight against justice.
Mega Man looked up in the air. Emit Man was still hovering, throwing his blade bombs at Bass to punish him for destroying Aqua Man (then again, Emit Man had relented long enough to let Bass kill the annoying water robot...). Mega Man gave a quick nod to no one but himself. It was better to leave the shield robot to Bass anyway. Bass' plasma pellets were weaker, but they were also smaller and could more easily find ways through Emit Man's shielding, his double busters besides. There was no way Mega Man's charged shot could do any good; the larger and more powerful blasts would certainly hit the Cain-bot's protection instead of him.
I guess that leaves me with Cold Man. I don't know which is worse, beating Bass or letting him win...
But of course Mega Man's first choice was always to protect the people. He wasn't going to let anyone hurt Monstropolis, not for any contest, and that meant Cold Man was going down. Still, he was feeling pretty worn out. Of all nights to forget to pack an E tank!
Bass, on the other hand, was enjoying himself thoroughly. He knew in the back of his mind that he had to hurry up and kill Emit Man so the could get Cold Man first and win the challenge, but Emit Man wasn't about to go down as quickly as he did the first time. After all, Bass had won sort of by trick the last time - if you can call taking advantage of his opponent's dumb move a trick.
"You know, Algorhythm Man really wanted to be the one to defeat you." Emit Man sneered down at Bass, grimacing as if Bass were some sort of disgusting creature. "But he's just going to have to deal with it. I was the one insulted by you! I should have the honor!"
While the Cain-bot ranted and raved, Bass quickly considered his options. The psycho pulse was too close range to work on him and the signal shot would only get caught on his shielding, as would the echelon heatshock. That left Emit Man's own power, the emit shield. This weapon wasn't offensive, but it just might work.
Several little red blades reminded Bass that he was fighting, not thinking. Emit Man wasn't going to spend the whole fight ranting. A few of the bomb-blades hit him, slicing deep into his armor. Before he could pull more than a couple of them out of his metal plating, they exploded. Despite his good armor, the deep cutting blades were merciless. There went his left buster, now defunct. Bass growled, making his gold head fins turn to red. He wasn't sure what he expected the emit shield to do, but he hoped it would do something.
And something it did. It didn't steal away Emit Man's shield like he expected. Oh no, quite the opposite. Emit Man's gasping, disdainful, and just plain "I'm better than you" laughter signalled that he was picking up even more debris than before. His shield field doubled in size in a matter of moments, pulling thing like rocks, sea shells, and even ripped up pieces of the pier (casualties from earlier in the fight).
"Ahaha!" Emit Man couldn't stop laughing. "Are you that stupid that you think you can use my power against me? Fool! I will only grow stronger! Uh...where did you go?"
The Cain-bot wasn't lying. Using his power did make him stronger - too strong. His search for his fin-headed enemy ended once his gently shifting shielding circled around. There was Bass, floating in the air along with all the other random metals and rocks. From that position the dark robot had a very good shot at Emit Man's head. The last thing Emit Man saw was several pellets coming straight for him. Bass slammed to the ground like a metal ragdoll once Emit Man's powers disappeared.
"You alright, Bass?"
"Shut up!"
In moments, Cold Man found himself being attacked by not only Bass but the true blue bomber. The two heroes, quite inadvertantly, ended up side by side as they trained their busters straight at the large ice-bot. Bass spared a moment to give a befanged grin to Rock.
"Alright, just one robot master left." the dark robot did something not unlike a laugh, though Mega Man wasn't sure that it wasn't at least a little snarlish. "Let's see who wins now!"
"Hold your horses." Mega Man turned to Cold Man, pleading in his eyes. "Cold Man, you don't have to fight us. You can just surrender. There's no need for you to be destroyed today. Don't be like the others."
"Rock..." Bass was disdainful as his narrow eyes and snearing nose judged his fellow fighter-bot. "That's cheating too."
"Oh, shut up." Mega Man shook his head, trying to ignore Bass. "Well?"
Cold Man looked from fighter to fighter. He looked confused, but more frustrated. Cold Man was the sort that got irritated instead of afraid, and irritated he certainly was. He thought a moment about strategies and where he could shoot an ice wall so that he could take advantage of both of the robots. However, the upgrading that Dr. Cain had done to him apparently wasn't enough to give the fridge-bot a lot of confidence. He lifted his arms as if guessing the best sort of attack. None of his ideas seemed to please him. All the same, he laughed.
"That's nice of you to offer, Mega Man." the enemy finally said, lifting his arms in the air as if he could magically bring their deaths from the nighttime clouds. Fog appeared around him as he spoke, the sort of fog that meant he would soon be unleashing ice walls. "Not under King, and not under Cain! I can't destroy you...ironic! But that's how life goes sometimes...some of us are fighter-bots, and some are just, well...refridgerators. I better do what Dr. Cain tells me to, though. I'll give you a good fight for a walking appliance, fellows!"
"I'm sorry you feel that way, Cold Man." Mega Man began charging his buster. "You know what this means."
Bass couldn't wait for Mega Man to charge up. If he wanted Cold Man to count as one of his kills, then he was going to have to be quick. He dashed off to the left, ready to fire his plasma pellets. Mega Man flashed yellow, his glow growing as he jumped over Cold Man's attacks. Finally it was ready to fire, and...there was no need. A green teleport beam flashed down straight behind Cold Man. Before the enemy robot could do a thing about it, Gyro Man had sent dozens of his gyro blades through the back of his neck. Cold Man fell to the sands of the beach, his internal workings sending little patterns of ice through the wet sand.
"IDIOT!" Bass' fists tightened as he yelled. "I was just about to beat Mega Man to the punch!"
"What the crap are you talking about?" Gyro Man was too impatient for Bass' drama. "Look, Stone Man is hurt and the train station is on fire. We've got stuff to deal with! Don't be such a baby!"
If Mega Man hadn't been so quick to speak, Gyro Man would have heard plenty of filthy language and hideous complaints from the dark robot. As it was, Mega Man knew he had to take charge of the situation, and Bass settled for a threatening glare. He could always rip apart Gyro Man later.
"Don't argue, we're on the job." Rock addressed Gyro as he deactivated his charge. "What Cain-bots are still in Monstropolis?"
"None that I know of." Gyro Man walked to Mega Man, acting as if he was just as skilled and important as our adorable hero (hard to do when stepping over Cold Man - he hoped he wouldn't slip on the ice). "We got Sight Man, but Psycho Man messed up Stone Man before got away. I sent him back to the lab. Charge and Napalm have the train station fire under control, and Bullet Man got away from there. I don't think anyone else showed up in the city."
"And what about you? Ick, your neck looks horrible, almost like someone bit it."
Gyro Man laughed. "Ha! I'm a little beat up, but no worse for wear. Thanks for asking. No, let's see if we can track these guys! I think the train station would be the best place to start-"
"Arrrgh!" Bass suddenly complained. "What the hell has she got herself into? She better have brought that gun with her! Treble! Get out here!"
Given that Bass was speaking to Bruce the little pipi (where did he come from, anyway?) it was easy for the other to guess that Crystal Bot was the one in trouble. Gyro Man was instantly afraid. There wasn't much time for him to do any questioning. Just as soon as the purple beam that was Treble landed beside his master, the two simply teleported off again.
-t-
Jewel Man was a great fighter. Tough, reliable and with a sturdy weapon. Unfortunately, his shop didn't exactly do well with battles, and Frantic Man was quicker. The panes of glass that separated the street from the store's interior were simply no match for even one of Clown Man's arms. Frantic Man smacked right through it and snatched up Jewel Man by the neck. The bejeweled guy-bot was dragged out through the window, smacking into his displays and toppling over two racks of necklaces. Jewel Man would have been horrified by the destruction if he wasn't otherwise occupied with trying to save his skin.
"Jewel Man!" Crystal Bot shrieked. "Oh no...I wish Forte was here!"
The girl-bot was going to have to do something for herself for the moment. The first of which was to make a quick exit before Great Gem's robot blast doors went down and blocked the whole front of the store (they were very used to robot battles in Monstropolis). Crystal Bot remembered a quick duck-and-roll that Bass had taught her, and she made it out into the street just in time for the heavy protection panel to close behind her. Grinning deviously, Sonata pulled her blaster gun from her hood and readied herself to fight.
Alright, you can do it! she told herself. You can save Jewel Man Ahbohjee!
When she looked up, she saw that Jewel Man Ahbohjee was doing fairly well on his own. His jewel shield both kept away Frantic Man's clown arm and wouldn't blow away with Air Man's powers either. Even with Frantic Man flying above him, Jewel Man was hitting him left and right with his jewel sattelite. Still, Frantic Man wasn't to be underestimated. He still had one more power: Fire Man's fire storm. The haphazard robot landed before shooting it off.
The fire blasted right through Jewel Man's shielding, sending him sprawling on the concrete. Now that Jewel Man was far enough away, Crystal Bot fired off her gun with confidence, and it shot off glowing lasers at Frantic Man. Unfortunately, Frantic Man was a far better fighter than her. The twirpings of his computerish voice sounded an awful lot like "Thunder Carnival", and he instantly was surrounded by a red, electric shield. He bounced perilously close to Crystal Bot, and all at once she could feel her Toad Man disease begin to act up. Her arm flinched in fear as she tried to shoot him, but all at once her training fled from her mind. She couldn't focus on her counterattack, and before she knew it her adversary was back in normal form (as normal as the weird robot could be) and his clown arm immediately snatched away her gun.
"Ack!" Crystal Bot gasped, jumping back. "Aw, now that's not fair!"
Frantic Man didn't care about fair. He just flung Crystal's weapon behind him yards away and reached out again for Jewel Man, whose shield wasn't activated. Jewel Man tried to get up, but his limbs weren't working right. His joints were fused from the fire and they creaked loudly. It didn't help that Frantic Man shot off more of the fire shield. That ended Jewel Man's struggling, and with a weak moan he knew that he had been bested. Crystal Bot recklessly ran forward, trying somehow to reach Jewel Man. She had to teleport him out of there while he could still be repaired.
If only Frantic Man wasn't so fast. His whip arm lashed out again, and he had a weak and badly hurt Jewel Man by the neck. He flew up into the air out of the girl-bot's reach and held his fire storm arm against Jewel Man's head.
"Please don't!" Crystal Bot screamed. "You can't!"
Much to Crystal Bot's surprise, Frantic Man stopped. His fire buster was still poised to shoot, but he didn't fire. Turbo Man's expressionless head turned towards the girl-bot, and she realized with widening eyes that she had his attention. She wouldn't let it go to waste.
"You can't hurt Jewel Man..." Crystal Bot's words spilled out of her as if she were about to cry. "I went so long thinking that Dr. Wily was my creator, but he wasn't at all. My real father is dead. Jewel Man helped build me some, so he's kinda like a father to me. Maybe he's not my real creator but he's the only daddy I have left...please let him go..."
Frantic Man could convey no emotion. His face didn't move, and his voice was just a couple of computer blips and beeps. He stared down at Crystal Bot silently. There was only the beating of his wings. Finally, he lifted himself a little higher. Putting Air Man's fan in reverse, he shot himself through the air, bringing Jewel Man along with him as he disappeared into the dark night.
Frozen, all Crystal Bot could do was settle to the sidewalk. He hadn't teleported, so there was no teleport code to trace. He was too fast, and Crystal Bot couldn't fly. There would be no persuit for her. Sonata's intense emotion forced her to glitch violently, and she convulsed in grief for several minutes before teleport beams landed beside her. Bass, Treble, Mega Man, and Gyro Man were all there, and Gyro was the first one to reach her.
"Please tell me you're alright!" Gyro Man ran up and knelt beside her. "You're not hurt-"
"You guys are such jerks!" Crystal Bot screamed at him first before turning to give the others their fair share. "You weren't here and Frantic Man took Jewel Man away!"
"Stop yelling at that idiot and tell me Jewel Man's tracking code." Bass growled as he stood over her. "I'll find him, so stop your whining."
"Don't lecture the poor girl. I'll tell you." Mega Man sent a transmission with the coordinates. "There. Now try to at least be a little sensitive when Crystal is sad."
Mega Man neared the shiny-bot as he spoke, but once he turned from Bass to Crystal, her foul scowl stopped him in his tracks. He backed off, wondering how in the world he was going to learn to deal with her.
"Treble," Bass hollered. "Let's go!"
The wolf gently nudged Crystal Bot in the neck, somehow producing a quick and barely noticable smile from her. That done, he converted into Treble jet and the two shot off. Mega Man considered following Bass, but he didn't think that would be such a good idea after how their little contest turned out. He rubbed the back of his head, wishing he hadn't challenged Bass in the first place. He didn't like letting Bass go out on his own into unknown potential danger, but with frustration he realized that going along and irritating Bass would be worse. Let him be in danger if his ego was so fragile!
"Well, let's get back to the lab." Mega Man settled himself down. "I can have Auto track Jewel Man with our lab's sattelite. We'll find your ahbohjee, okay?"
Despite herself, Crystal Bot managed a nod. It was hard to be too mad at Mega Man, especially since he was being so nice. She let Gyro Man pull her to her feet, and with the quick zip of three teleport beams, they all disappeared.
\\\\\\\\\
Author's Notes:
- Yeah, Mega Man really doesn't like pipies. :D
- I think I mentioned this before, but just to reiterate, all assistant-bots speak in a animalian code that's disguised as barking/tweeting/etc. Usually only the owner of this kind of robot understands what they are talking about, and usually only other assistants are able to hack and figure out these codes.
- I really wish I could make these stories into a game. I would make it so that you have Psycho Man's power, but it works even better when you find a secret weapon that lets you channel out his power. Like a lance or something. By the way, Treble disappears in this chapter because Bass wanted it to be a fair fight between him and Mega Man. It wouldn't be fair to include Treble, especially when Rush is more of an assistant to Mega Man than a fighter himself. That, and Bass wants to prove that he's the better fighter, not his dog. Bass is surprisingly honest for a Wily-bot.
- There's an Irish bar near where I live that's called Tipsy McStaggers. Doesn't that name make you so proud to be Irish? Sure does for me!
- Okay guys, bad news. Life as of late has been pretty hectic and tense for me, so I'm sorry to announce that this is going to be my last update for a bit. I need to chill out about writing for a while, because I've been going on for pretty long on this story series. I need to rest and refresh my brain, as well as focus on priorities out here in the real world. I've been a slacker, and I've got priorities that I haven't been working on as well as I could be. I just need this break so that I can get back on the writing and not let the quality of my story suffer because my mind isn't in the right place. I'm sure you've noticed I haven't been updating frequently as of late.
I'm not going to stop writing completely. I have a little mini-series on my blog, arcrosestudios(dot)blogspot(dot)com, called Hero of the Month. It's basically an exercise to force my mind to concentrate on more than one project at once, and it's not as time consuming and thought consuming as this story here. Also, I'll be buffering this story here so that by the time I come back, it'll be ready to put up at least once a week. My goal is to get a nice huge buffer so that I can spend a lot of time working on the ending and such. This is going to be much longer than my other works, so yeah. Think of this as just an intermission. The best is yet to come. :D
- Also, I'd like to say thanks to the guy who posted anonymously this review, "you cant kill proto he's the best one i love him your a monster". Honestly, the first time I saw that I just had to giggle. I especially love the "your" instead of "you're" - it's really the icing on the cake there. It makes me feel wonderful that you have such an emotional investment into the character and that you care what happens and are interested to know what's going on in my story. I actually feel complimented that you called me a monster. Man, that's funny! I feel like a little monster writing this story, as I just enjoy getting the characters into embarrassing and awkward situations.
So yeah, thanks. You didn't leave me a name, but I want to call you something. I hereby name you...Proto Lawrence. Honesty, Proto Lawrence, you posted probably one of my favorite reviews ever, in my top three of all time. It's even better than during Wily Ga Taosenai when MungoJerry freaked out as I killed off a main character (and that was hilarious!). Thanks for making my day. I really mean it. :) By the way, you really should check out Wily Ga Taosenai, especially chapter 11. Heh heh...heh heh...
=====Cold Man
"Do you want me to cool your head?"
Good Point: Carefree attitude
Bad Point: Slow perception
Like: Frappetino
Dislike: El Nino
Cold Man wasn't actually built by Wily. He was a unit built to freeze dinosaur DNA for scientific experimentation. Cold Man didn't like the work. He wanted to be famous like Mega Man and admired for being a hero. He wasn't a bitter robot, however, not until he found about about King. King opened his eyes to a world where robots could challenge their masters, and Cold Man enjoyed the thought that he could become something better than what his creator built him for. He immediately lept at the chance for freedom and allowed King to reprogram him. He didn't realize how evil this would make him, and he began to desire infamy rather than heroic fame.
Unfortunately for him, he's a dang fridge. He never had the capability of being more than tedious to Mega Man or Bass. King was generous to him because he cared about robotkind, but in the end Cold Man wasn't really all that great a servant. Dr. Wily did not rebuild him after the events of Mega Man and Bass, but he did take Cold Man's remains to be studied, as he wanted to know what enabled Cold Man to maintain a core tempurature of absolute zero. Studying Cold Man ended up enabling Wily's later robots to be more energy efficient.
Needless to say, Signal Man found his remains, rebuilding him for the sake of having another servant. He didn't know that Cold Man wasn't the best fighter, but he didn't really care. Signal Man just wanted his boss to have another lackey.
=====Commando Man
"Have an oil and we'll think this through."
Good point: generous
Bad point: stubborn
Likes: learning new things
Dislikes: impatient people
Commando Man was built by Wily after the Team 9 scheme. Contrary to what many people thought, the 9th scheme had actual success to an extent. Certain gullible people paid Dr. Wily because they expected him to get rid of Dr. Light's rampaging robots, and after they found out that it was Wily behind everything the whole time (surprise) they had no way of getting their money back. Now at this point Dr. Wily figured he would need to try more subtle methods for taking over the world, so Team 10 was built and given jobs to ensure a calm transition into society.
Commando Man was sold to the military to be a robotic leader of strategy. Unlike what most people expect, he actually has a more calm demeanor and isn't really interested in plain violence. He enjoys fighting mostly for its tactics and absolutely loves planning out battles and watching his strategies work, though he never really got the chance to do much direct fighting. He's not over-eager to fight, and will settle for a war game in a pinch. His normal job just entails cleaning up mine fields. Commando Man loves travelling the world, but always maintained a very rational view of life and kept Wily's plans in mind. Unlike Blade Man, his love for his job didn't make it hard for him to rampage and terrorize the world, as his loyalty to Wily was very strong.
Like the chapter shows, Commando Man and Napalm Man were very good friends before Team 5 left Wily. Even though he was older, Napalm Man found himself looking up to Commando Man and considered him like a brother in arms. Commando Man liked talking to him, and they spent countless hours talking about weapons and war. If Napalm Man hadn't been put in the robot museum shortly before MM10, he would have tried to join Commando Man at his job in the military.
Commando Man spent the end of MM10 until the events of Okkusenman in the robot museum, and when the last Skull Castle was destroyed, he fought as hard as he could but was critically injured by Tornado Man. In the end, he was found by Signal Man and reprogrammed to follow Dr. Cain, much to his horror.