San Fransisco had its share of robots. In some of Wily's schemes it had seen major trouble and devastation. That was why they took extra care in making sure that Dr. Albert Wily was secure behind bars.
Dr. Wily didn't mind his jail cell too much. That was the benefit of solitary confinement: no annoying, arrogant, or "more gangsta than thou" co-convict trying to intimidate him or steal his cigarettes. Of course that also meant there was no one to give Wily cigarettes either, but he could deal with it. There was also no snoring to keep him up. It was true that in the snoring department Wily gave as much as he endured, but now it would be fine. The room was tiny and the bed was hard, but at least it was all his. Due to his age, he even got his own bathroom in the cell. Of course, that had as much to do with mistrust as it did his weaker bladder. It wasn't as if anyone would dare let him out of his cell for long, and only the word of the law allowed him to go get fresh air during the day.
Wily always found himself hanging about the heavy door to his cell. It had a thick, bullet-proof, impact-resistant window in it, and it was Wily's only way to see out of the white-painted cement block room. His view wasn't much. Mostly it was a desk, and sometimes a guard sat at it for paperwork, taking a break every few minutes to glare at Wily and insist that he get away from the window. Wily never obeyed. Most of the guards stopped demanding.
So the mad scientist, looking very bored, rested his arms on the little ledge of the window. The ledge wasn't really big enough to do that, and it kinda hurt a bit, but Albert wanted to look out of the window anyway. There wasn't much about his cell that was that interesting. It was the same as always, and he was getting tired of looking at the dull white walls. He had long since stopped judging Greg "Crazy Man" Hardy for fingerpainting on the walls of his cell. He might be completely nuts, but at least Hardy knew how to deal with boredom.
Wily hmphed and went on staring. It was getting late, and soon enough a guard -
BANG, BANG! The gruff face of the unshaven guard Grant passed by as he smacked on the door with a clipboard - one of those thick ones that had a storage box on the back so it made a lot more noise. "Fatty" Grant liked the noise. "Go lay down, old guy. It's your bedtime."
Not waiting for the scientist to object, the guard immediately shut off the lights. Albert scowled, but the oaf barely annoyed him. He liked to think he was used to "the ignorant masses" by now. All the same, he did sit down on the little bed with its thin blue blankets, if nothing else other than to make Fatty go away. He silently counted to himself, listening to each footstep of the bulky guard as they quieted out.
"Twenty-five...twenty-six...twenty-seven."
Wily grinned. It took twenty-seven steps for the guard to round the corner and go off to the less infamous prisoners. He didn't just look out that window in the door for his health. Glancing over just in case, Wily saw there were no shadows at the window. He turned to the wall across from him, and his grin got even bigger. There might not be any shadows outside, but there was one in the cell: Shadow Man. The robot fingered a shuriken with a wry smile, waiting on an order from his master.
The mad scientist had to try very hard not to let out an evil laugh. That could wait until he was outside the walls of the prison.
-t-
"Wow, you were right about Stone Man!" Auto exclaimed, his hands grasping his head in shock. "His realignment capabilities are totally shot! I'm going to have to special order some parts."
"Which...won't get here fast because of the shipping situation..." Gravity Man facepalmed. "Just great...well, if I'm lucky there's a spare on the space station."
It hadn't been long since their fight against the robots in Monstropolis, so there were many robots in Auto's laboratory that day. Half of the repair tables were used up. Stone Man lay in a pile on one of them, his round alignment core plugged into one of the computer pillars. Gyro Man was in an automated repair process, unconscious as the claws and lasers and wrench arms hanging down from the ceiling finished off his armor. Charge Man was on the repair table next to Stone Man's, and he looked pretty horrible. His armor was cracked in many places, and while most of that could be replaced it was going to take some doing for him to be able to fire his coal with precision aim again. Crystal Bot was checking on him, and though worried she still seemed optimistic.
Every so often her glance would go to Mega Man. The blue bomber was tough. Most of his injuries were done to his armor, and replacement armor was being made for him while he, helmetless and clad only in one of Dr. Light's lab coats, steadily bent over the main computer on the wall. His eyes narrowed with concentration, and for once he looked determined without being too adorable to completely drown out said determination. So in other words, he was cranky. Jewel Man was his friend, and Mega Man wanted more than anything else at that moment to be able to find him. After a minute, he sighed, straightening some.
"There, I've got the computer tracking Jewel Man's position now." Mega Man stretched his arms and let himself relax a little. "I'm sure that his tracking code is still working, it's just a matter of tracing it back. Don't worry, Crystal Bot. We'll find him!"
"I know Forte-kun will." Crystal frowned, quickly turning away and pretending to work harder on Charge Man's coal buster. "He's the best."
Mega Man just sighed again. He was in no mood for being diplomatic to Sonata's preference for her boss. Couldn't she for once pretend to be polite? "So, Gravity Man, where's Napalm?"
"He's back at the space station briefing Wave Man." Gravity Man replied, still poking a bit at Stone Man's alignment core. "Ick, this guy looks bad. So um, let's see. The train station got torn up, Psycho Man destroyed three truck stops before he and Sight Man were defeated before running away, and you and Bass took out five robot masters on your own. Wow, that's a lot of damage going around."
"Yeah. I'm pretty sure we stopped them from destroying the shipyard." Mega Man said. "I mean, we weren't far from it, and they were going after robot manufacturing deliveries. Splash Woman reported no trouble at the main harbor port. We were only at the old pier because Bass wanted to look there, so they probably noticed us before they got to their objective."
"Pssht, yeah." Gravity Man grinned haughtily. "Back in my day I would abandon anything to kill you. Too bad I never got the chance!"
Gravity Man winked, and Mega Man tried to grin. Rock still wasn't in the mood for that sort of joke so it faded quickly. He ran a hand through his thick hair, then rubbed his eyes. "Um, thanks for not killing me."
"Hey, you don't look so good, Rock!" Auto said. "I can't imagine that your circuits haven't taken a beating. Come on, let me do some work on you."
"Not now. I still have to keep an eye out for Jewel Man. I can't let something happen to him just because I'm hurt." Mega Man went back to the computer and started tapping on the keyboard. "Alright, yes! I think I found him!" Mega Man quickly pulled out the microphone from the console. "Bass, I'm sending you Jewel Man's coordinates!"
" - I know right where he is, Rock. - " Bass' sarcastic voice sounded over the radio. " - I'm standing twenty feet away. Tell Crystal to stop moping around. I'll have him back in a minute. - "
She was indeed moping, but she could hear on her own. She gleefully clapped her hands. Mega Man stopped looking. He didn't want to see her smirking at him, which she was sure to do. He honestly didn't care about comparing to Bass, and if she disapproved of him then it didn't matter to him. He was just so sick of her posturing and her constant negativity towards him. As grumpy as he was at the moment, he wasn't interested in becoming friends with her.
"I really gotta invent something so Forte-kun can teleport more than himself. It'd be handy if he could bring Jewel Man directly here." Mega Man wasn't looking so he didn't know who Crystal Bot was speaking to. "I just want Jewel Man Ahbohjee to be okay!"
"Sheesh, be patient." It was easy to recognise Gravity Man's affable voice. "Didn't you check the computer? He's not that far out of Monstropolis."
Mega Man checked the distance again on the computer. Jewel Man was tracking in from the south, where Rock knew the forests were. "Oh, he'll be here soon. No wonder Bass was so quick. That's less than fifteen miles from the lab...strange..."
"I doubt we'll find any clues there." Auto folded his arms. "I mean, wouldn't they know we can trace our robots? It comes automatic in most models these days."
"Frantic Man probably wanted to throw us off the trail." Mega Man said simply. "He couldn't bring Jewel Man back to his base without us finding this base, not without deactivating the trace somehow which apparently he couldn't do. By leaving Jewel Man so close to us he prevents us from discovering more. If we're lucky, Proto Man will have found Frantic Man and followed him."
The thought of his brother warmed Mega Man's heart. It helped him overcome his barely perceptible frown and turn it into something of a hopeful smile, bringing him back to his usual level of happiness. That, however, was in turn overcome by another worry that appeared at the door. It wasn't an urgent worry (he hoped), but seeing a miserable Roll come into the main lab disheartened him.
When Roll had been cleaning up the "library" a few days ago, she had been happy. It had been a good day. Today was not a good day. Roll just quietly scuttled into the room, clasping her hands in front of her and only lifting her heavy eyes to look up occasionally at a person or two, listening in on the tech talk to see if the injured Team 5 members were okay. Ever since Dr. Light died (or more specifically, two weeks after) Roll had been acting strange. Her emotional roster was suddenly out of control, and she swung from exhuberantly happy to down in the dumps. Lately it was all dumps, so much so that Mega Man didn't entirely blame Crystal Bot for making a Dust Man reference (though it annoyed him all the same).
"Yeesh, you're gloomy like Dust Man!" Crystal Bot, now that her "step-father" was coming back, seemed ready to be peppy. At least enough so to try to cheer up her friend. "Don't be so down, okay? Nobody died today! Even Jewel Man is gonna come back and I'm going to fix him!"
Her last statement was more to convince herself, but Roll took this to mean that she already knew how. "Really? Good. I've been so worried..." The blonde girl-bot sighed, staring back down at the floor. "I just wish all this fighting was over already!"
Mega Man wanted to cringe. Roll had never liked it when anyone she cared about was fighting. She just didn't want to think that something horrible could happen to them at any time. Rock thought that by all this time she was more or less used to it, but now it was back to the early days when he fought Team 1. It was all "please be careful, Rock" or "please be sure to take lots of E tanks!" or Mega Man's personal least favorite, "whatever you do, don't get hurt!" Getting hurt was sort of the point; if he got hurt, no one else would.
He wasn't angry only for his own sake. He loved his sister. It just drove him nuts for her to be so depressed, and yet nothing he did seemed to cheer her up. It was as if she was expecting something to happen: either a good thing that would just instantly make everything better, or a bad thing that would ruin what she did have. Rock just wished she would count her blessings more often. She had her family and her health. Any threat from any mad scientist Mega Man would handle. Roll should trust him.
I'm not a replacement for Dr. Light, but I at least try to take care of the household...
-t-
As all this was going on, Bass found himself in the forest not that far from Dr. Light's home. It was a rather large gathering of trees, stretching out for miles. Anyone without a built-in satellite map function (or else a good map and compass) was sure to get lost. Bass had Jewel Man's tracking code, which was still working. Bass rolled his eyes. Any bad guy with sense would try to destroy something like that. Of course, poor Jewel Man broadcasting that signal could attract any manner of people with the capability of detecting the narrow beam tracer. Granted, there weren't a lot of people that could do that, but even still Bass eagerly awaited the day his probation ended, then he would be legally able to remove the tracer the government put on him.
Stupid feds don't realize it's a liability to make ourselves tracible. Who knows if Wily can hack the signal?
A grumpy Bass thought this without any sense of hypocrisy. After all, wasn't he using it to find Jewel Man? Oh look, there the shiny-bot was, sitting there against the base of an oak (it might have been something else, but Bass didn't know much about trees). Jewel Man's eyes were completely blank, but somehow he retained the expression of misery as he sat at the base of his tree. Frantic Man placed him a bit awkwardly, so if Bass had been human, he would have seen Jewel Man's horribly bent back and cringed at the very thought of sitting there in that position. However, neither were human or had the concept of a sense of pain.
" - Bass, I'm sending you Jewel Man's coordinates! - "
" - I know right where he is, Rock. I'm standing twenty feet away. Tell Crystal to stop moping around. I'll have him back in a minute. - "
The dark robot rolled his eyes. He didn't need Mega Man's help in finding someone with a tracer. It wasn't exactly hard. He just strolled on closer to the downed robot and headed in to grab him and hurry back. Thankfully the chase hadn't wasted too much of his time.
"I wonder why Frantic Man dumped him here." Bass said aloud. "There are a lot more convenient places to spring a trap on would be rescuers, Algorhythm Man."
Sinister laughter broke out from amongst the trees, and out of them popped the orange and neon robot known as Algorhythm Man. Other than thinking the Cain-bot had done a fair job hiding his brilliant neon colors in all the trees, Bass wasn't impressed. Maybe other robots could be intimidated by him, but Forte sure wasn't going to be one of them.
"Clever, Bass." the Cain-bot grinned. "I thought I was rather well hidden, myself."
"First of all, this is obviously a trap." Bass readied his busters and pulled his lip up to reveal his fangs. "And secondly, I can sense you trying to hack into me. Thanks for showing up. It's about time I tore you to pieces."
"Ahaha! My pleasure!" Algorhythm Man's laugh was loud and haughty. "But are you really sure that you can defeat me? Especially after I do...THIS?"
All at once the mild hacking that did little more than cut off Bass' communications became an all out assault, forcing itself into Bass' mind and reaching for whatever programming it could grab hold of. Bass crumbed down on a knee as more of his mind departed from defending him physically to defending his head. Still laughing his Supreme Laugh of Superiority(tm), Algorhythm Man sauntered in more closely. He came far more near than Bass was comfortable with.
"Oh, how sad." the Cain-bot said as he leaned over the shaking Bass. "I was expecting more of a challenge out of you. I suppose my latest upgrades are a bit stronger than you're used to. Oh well. I'll just say that you're getting exactly what you deserve for interfering with the great, powerful, and very much intelligent Dr. Nikola Cain. Good bye, dear Fish. It's been a pleasure destroying you."
Bass looked up, still glitching. Algorhythm Man lifted his buster and aimed at Bass' head, only to see that his grimaces were turning into one of Bass' classic, malicious, and downright ugly grins. In only a moment, his fists impacted into Algorhythm Man's chest and sent him scooting back. He only stopped when he tripped over Jewel Man's stuck out legs and ended up sprawled out on the forest floor.
"Ha, you think I'd get beat up by some loser like you?" Bass wasn't at all upset. He just got back to his feet, not letting the glitches he suffered hold him back one second. "You've got mental problems if you think you can ever defeat me!"
Eager to prove his point, Bass fired off his double busters. Algorhythm Man jumped up and fired back with his buster pellets, each shining a different color of the rainbow. As the fight ensued, Bass could only think of shooting and pummeling the idiot that had cost him the destruction of Zero. It did occur to him after a while that Jewel Man would get damaged in the fight that Crystal Bot would get mad at him, but thankfully enough Algorhythm Man was more more interested in shooting him. That was good enough for Bass; he grabbed Algorhythm Man by the arm and hurled him through the trees, where the Cain-bot, after smacking his limbs into a tree or two, finally settled into the underbrush.
The buzzing of an incoming transmission could be heard, and Bass could hear Algorhythm Man groan. Obviously his master was trying to contact him for some reason. Bass didn't care about this. He just dashed past the trees to find the orange and neon-bot clinging to a twisted arm and growling in his direction.
"Well...I won't beat you today..." Algorhythm Man took a step back, his visage grimacing and terrible. "But I will return to fight you again! If only my master would allow me to finish the fight! Adieu, Fish!"
With a snarl, Bass let loose several blasts from his buster, but all they hit was the bushes. For whatever weaknesses Algorhythm Man had, he certainly was quick to teleport out, and his orange beam disappeared into the air. Bass lowered his buster, feeling instant relief. Algorhythm Man hadn't hacked into him too badly, but he could feel his systems struggling to recover.
"Ugh..." Bass muttered. "Idiot. Next time I see him I'm going to kill him."
-t-
Mega Man's musings into his sister's problems were at once interrupted by a tall, gallant Bass sauntering in with Jewel Man hanging over his shoulder like a heavy sack of potatoes. He strode in like a conquering hero, grinning to himself as he brought in the Team 9 robot. While Gravity Man and Auto certainly approved, this show was for his tech assistant, and Crystal Bot simply ate it up. She clapped her hands and squealed with delight, practically hopping around Bass as she cheered him on.
"Yay, Forte-kun! I knew you could do it!"
Bass' superior grin aimed its way toward his technician. "All in a day's work. Hey Auto, you got somewhere for me to put this guy?"
"Right over here!" Auto directed him to the repair table furthest from the laboratory's door main door. "I'll have to get a good look at him before I can really see what we can do. Don't worry little Sona-chan!"
"He's going to be alright?"
"He will be!" Auto pulled out his fans and popped into a full on kung-fu stance. "You can count on me!"
Bass plunked Jewel Man quite ungently onto the repair table, his metal body clanging with an ear-ringing echo around the room. Crystal Bot winced, but she said nothing. She only rushed to his side and pulled a screwdriver out of her armor, searching for somewhere to start the repair.
"Hey, don't worry, sweetheart!" Auto put a hand on her shoulder and gently pushed her aside. "I was here when Jewel Man was built, so I know how to make him function again."
"Um...okay..." Crystal Bot anxiously clutched her screwdriver like it was a teddy bear. "Please do!"
"I will! So, to start off, let's see if he activates! Hm, low power level. Just a minute..."
That minute to Crystal Bot seemed like it would take forever. All Auto had to do was plug Jewel Man into this repair table's computer pillar so that the energy of the lab could power him up, but every second was like five minutes to her. She hoped that Bass would stay by her side, but he didn't care at all about the bejeweled guy-bot so he simply got out of the way. Crystal Bot almost scowled at him. She did scowl a little when instead Mega Man walked up, but he was just coming up to get a look at what was going on rather than supporting Crystal. She sighed, not noticing how much this irritated him.
"Did I miss anything?" Gyro Man, done with his repairs, hopped down from the repair table. "What's going on?"
"Bass found Jewel Man!" Gravity answered for him. "We're seeing if Jewel Man wakes up."
"I hope he knows where to go next! I want to kick butt on Cain's turf!"
"And there we go!" Auto announced. "Power charging, jumpstarting the core...and now, the flick of a switch!"
Auto activated Jewel Man. The Team 9 bot at once opened his eyes, a little weary. He moaned a little, but seeing Auto, he sat up. The joints in his body made a nasty metal scraping sound as he did, but that didn't seem to immobilize him any.
"Ahbohjee!" Crystal Bot exclaimed. "You're okay!"
"Ugh, yes, as good as I can be." Jewel Man tested out his arms by stretching them and wriggling his fingers. They were fine. "What happened? The last thing I remember was fighting Frantic Man."
"You got kidnapped!" Crystal said, her eyes wide with remembrance. "Frantic Man took you away and it was so scary! But then Forte-kun found you and brought you back!"
"Please say you're kidding..." Jewel Man's jaw clenched as his eyes found Bass. "I think I'm going to be sick."
"Shut up and be grateful." Bass was too smug to snap at him, and he folded his arms with a smirk. "If my technician didn't like you so much I would have left you out there. Besides, if you didn't suck like Top Man then you wouldn't have been in that dilemma anyway."
"I'm not like Top Man!" Jewel Man tried hard not to shout. "You try fighting a robot with four different powers and see how it turns out for you!"
"Hell, that sounds like fun. Especially since I don't suck like Top Man."
"Stop it, please." Mega Man said. Why was everything doing its best to annoy him that day? He just shook his head and turned to their rescued friend. "So you didn't see where Frantic Man was trying to go?"
"Unfortunately not. I was unconscious the whole time."
"From these computer scans." Auto suddenly piped up. "It looks like Frantic Man was trying to hack into your head. He was looking for security codes into our lab and any weaknesses we might have. He was also hacking back through your personal memory storage, as early as your memories go."
"Really? What does he expect to find there?"
"It's possible he wants to know about the time Dr. Wily reprogrammed you." Mega Man said. "Maybe Dr. Cain wants to know more about Dr. Wily's machines so that he can build better robots."
"Or maybe he wants to find a way to defeat Wily again. He'll need to if he wants to succeed." Everyone turned to see that Proto Man had returned, standing there with the aura of solemnity about him. "I was out searching tonight, and I discovered that just a few hours ago, Dr. Wily has escaped prison, and I have reason to believe that most of Team 2 is with him. We now have two mad scientists to deal with."
Everyone let out a collective gasp. Gravity Man and Gyro Man were at once going on about how they were going to defeat Wily, admittedly more excited than upset. Bass was grim, but he only leaned on the lab's wall with silence. Mega Man was not curious to know what sort of poisonous thoughts the dark robot was sure to be having. Unfortunately he could very easily guess what was going on with his sister, who still lurked about the room with dark curiosity. Roll, once she heard the news, immediately was crestfallen. She almost seemed to shrink before she quietly turned away and headed out the door, silent as a shadow.
It was just too much. Rock had to care for his sister, he had to keep the lab from drowning in debt and he had to keep Monstropolis safe. How was he supposed to do any of those when he had two evil scientists trying to make things difficult? He couldn't even let one defeat the other, because no matter which of them won the people of their city and indeed all the world would still be in danger. Worry upon worry laid itself on Mega Man, and he found himself struggling to breathe. He clenched his eyelids together tightly.
No! I'm not going to be this way! I'm not going to give in! Maybe things are harder without Dr. Light, but he trusted me with the safety of Monstropolis. He believed in me! I know I can do this with the help of my friends! Well, if we can all work together for once.
Mega Man immediately straightened, clearing his throat in such a way that all eyes immediately went to him. He spoke with a clarity and hope that only the brave blue bomber could, and his words were as uplifting as his perfectly straight posture.
"Everyone, listen to me." he said. "Maybe today is a darker day than any of our struggles in the past, and maybe we have a lot more fighting to do than any of us would like. But you know what? Dr. Wily hasn't defeated me in the past. I've gained a lot of friends and allies in all of you since then, so no matter how powerful either of our enemies may be, I know for a fact that they can't beat us. We're too strong for them, and we're too just. In fact, I just don't see how they can. No matter what happens, don't ever be afraid of them or what would happen if they won. They're not going to win, so there's no point in worrying about it."
For a minute there, it almost seemed as if Bass approved of Mega Man. Or he at least thought that what Rock said was funny. Proto Man did approve, and it was clear from the ever so slight grin that showed under his visor. The Team 5 robots in the room cheered, and even Crystal Bot smiled at him (she did it because heroic Mega Man is just about the cutest thing ever, but he didn't know that). Jewel Man approved and gave a thumbs up. Mega Man was actually glad that Roll left the room, because for some reason his speeches had strange affects on her. It was as if she had stopped believing in his confidence. The rest of them did, so for now Mega Man focused on strategies. He and Gravity Man began to discuss strategy, and Gryo Man approached also.
Crystal Bot wasn't going to listen. Bass wanted to add his input to the discussion, but he found his technician pulling on his arm.
"Forte-kun." she said, using her screwdriver to point at one of the smaller labs at the side of the room. "Come on over to the AI lab. I need to get a look at you."
"What? I'm fine." Bass glared down at her, tuggin his arm away. "Aggravate someone else."
"Forte!" she said with stern emphasis. "You haven't been worked on since you were fighting everyone at the pier. That, and I can see the fresh plasma burns on your armor. Don't pretend you weren't getting into a fight. You've got to be in top condition at all times!"
As much as Bass wanted to join the others talk about strategy (and establish himself as someone more in charge), it was really better to give in. How could he ignore his technician when she was being so insistent? Besides, from the very pert expression she wore, he knew that something else was on her mind. He sighed and let her drag him away. If he didn't deal with whatever she wanted now, then it would become a problem later.
They went into the smaller lab meant for detailed work on A.I. There wasn't much in there besides a wall of computers on the right, a tool table to the left, and the repair table in the center that specialized in delicate mental work. The far wall was a pleasant window, showing that the sun was coming up in the trees. It had been a long night. Bass went ahead and sat on the repair table as he was directed by his very insistent assistant. She went to go close the door when Treble nosed his way in. Impatient, Crystal Bot stomped her foot and pointed inward. The confused wolf just scooted in and finally let her shut the door, cutting off the sounds of the others.
"Whew!" Crystal sighed with relief. "Now let's take a look at you. Who exactly were you fighting that shoots plasma? None of the guys you were fighting at the pier had that as their weapon."
"Eh, it was Algorhythym Man." Treble hopped onto the table as Bass answered, and the guy-bot happily rubbed Treble behind his ears. "He's really an idiot. If he was going to leave Jewel Man out in the open and try to use him as bait for a trap, then you think he would have at least brought along some stupid mechaniloids."
"Yeah, I never did get why that guy hates you so much." Crystal Bot plugged Bass into the computer and began to scan his mind. "Well, he likes to hack into people, so lets see how far he got into my anti-virus programs. I'm glad I uploaded those upgrades into you last month."
Crystal didn't say anything further, but Bass knew her too well. He eyed her even as he pet his wolf, but she seemed perfectly calm as she began removing his chestplate to reach the damage underneath. Forte just waited. It would be coming soon. She would definitely talk about what was bugging her...unless that really bad dent in his side proved too much of a distraction. He wished, he hoped.
"Wow, Forte-kun, you really hurt yourself this time." Crystal whistled in amazement. "When you fell after you got Emit Man, you did some major damage. There's a broken metal tent peg stuck in here! You've got so much sand under your armor too."
"Eh, I've had worse." Bass gave Treble's face another playful rub. "Nothing to worry about."
"True, true." Sonata said, contently deciding which of her tools was the best to set her boss right. "You know, that was a nice speech and all that Rock gave, but you know he's underestimating Wily. Wily's really smart when he's mad."
"Yeah, I know. That bastard's really going to tear Cain a new one, and he's not going to stop there. It's going to get pretty ugly."
"So..." Sonata nervously went on as she checked the computer. "I was thinking...maybe...that you would let me do my plan now?"
"I knew all this was going somewhere." Bass groaned. "No, you can't. It's too risky!"
"Risky is fun!" she begged. "Besides, I made all the precautions and stuff. Nothing bad will happen!"
Bass sneered and turned to the wall. Crystal was definitely right about his creator: Dr. Albert Wily was led by revenge, and no one who had ever scorned him in his life ever got away with it. Or if they did, it was only because they were lucky enough for Wily to forget about them. In the mad scientist's wake, others would definitely suffer. Bass' new directive to protect the peace urged him to do something serious to take one of the scientists out of the way completely so that dealing with the other wouldn't be so hard. One enemy they could fight, and while they could win against two (Bass never believed in losing) the collateral would be pretty bad.
All the same, this was Crystal Bot's idea, and she was not the sort of person that had any clue how to strategize or fight. She was a tech nerd, not a fighter, as the difficulty of her fight training had proved. Besides, he wasn't lying. The plan could end up working as well for enemy as for them.
"Sonata..." he finally said. "You're competely nuts."
"But Forte!" the girl-bot whined. "Think about it! It's such a good plan! If it works then we'll just have to deal with-"
Bass stood up from the table, getting very firm (and very angry) as he answered. "I said no! You know what that means? It means no. Your plan is too much trouble, too dangerous, and there's a pretty high chance of them finding out how to not only get into this lab but also destroy everything Dr. Light ever created. I'm not going to risk that! Now hurry up here and finish so that those of us that know something about strategy can do something about Wily and Cain. Got it?"
He glared straight into her eyes, and she glared right back. But while Crystal Bot was a stubborn robot, Bass was far more so. She sighed intently, waving her hand to get him to stop staring at her with his typical evil glare. It was hardly an enjoyable experience. Especially not for Crystal Bot. As much as Treble liked girls, he was always on Bass' side. Though Crystal was trying her best to be stubborn, she knew the growling below her was a serious warning.
"Fine, fine." she threw her hands into the air. "Have it your way. Like always."
"Sonata." she was lucky Bass didn't say her normal name - that meant he wasn't as angry as he could be. "You were the one that agreed to come along with me. That means I'm the one that decides what happens, got it?"
"Yeah, yeah, got it, boss." she folded her arms, giving the floor so sour a look to make it ashamed of itself. "Whatever you say."
The way she gritted her teeth as she spoke revealed how uncompliant she really felt, without so much as a genuine attempt at hiding it. Crystal Bot wished he would just sit down again on the repair table and let her finish, but the black and gold robot would do no such thing. Once she dared look up at him again, his firm set face beamed right back down.
"Go on." he seethed. "Tell me how you really feel."
"Oh, you're asking me then?" Crystal Bot snapped. "You really want to know? Fine, I'll tell you. You've changed! You're becoming someone I don't know anymore! You used to be cool, but now you're just listening to Rock and doing what he tells you to do! What happened to the champion I used to know?"
"Crystal, I explained this already." Bass stepped in closer. "I'm not offing Rock just because Wily programmed me that way. It's my stupid job to work with the guy, and you're just going to have to get used to it! Or do you want me to end up in the robot museum?"
"Y'know, maybe that would be nice!" Crystal Bot wasn't at all intimidated, and she dared to step forward herself. "The panel could say 'here is Forte, the robot that used to be a not lame guy'!"
"And you'll be one display case over, and it'll say 'stupid broad that couldn't keep her mouth shut'!" Bass snapped back.
"I upgraded you to defeat him! You're supposed to be the champion, not him!" for a girl-bot, Crystal sure knew how to snarl. "And at the very minute you could have destroyed him, you and Rock are BFFs! How am I supposed to work with that?"
"What the hell did you want me to do?" By now there was nothing that could keep Bass from shouting. "Kill him and get arrested by the REA? Get my memory deleted? Run and hide like that idiot Proto Man? Dang it, Crystal, he saved my life! How the hell can I kill him now? If you don't understand that, then there's no way in the world I could possibly get it through your skull that Rock doesn't deserve to die!"
Crystal Bot wavered only slightly. From the look on her face anyone would have guessed that Bass had wronged her somehow, rather than the opposite. Her sad scowl was enough to make anyone (besides Bass) feel sorry for her. But still, Bass was Bass. He only glared at her in that authoritative way that always made Crystal Bot uncomfortable.
"Well..." she said, trying to make him stop. "I just...I just want you to listen to me. I'm trying to be a good guy, but if you don't let me...I just...I just miss blowing stuff up..."
"OH, I'm SORRY." I could by no means convey in writing the amount of sarcasm in Bass' voice. "Little Sonata wants to blow stuff up and she's all sad I won't let her. Boo-hoo."
"Shut up!" she yelled. "I just wanted to do my plan so that I could pretend to be a bad guy for a while and then get it out of my system. Sheesh. You don't have to be a jerk about it."
"So that's what all this is about." Bass just rolled his eyes. "Just when I thought you were getting used to everything."
"I thought I was too. But then we come back here, and...well, Rock. He's such a little dope and I can't stand him." Her eyes, seeming innocent, wandered upward to Bass. "Um, Forte...you don't have to hold back anymore. It's not like Dr. Light is here-"
Before Crystal Bot even knew what was happening, her ears were filled with noise: the noise of Bass shoving her against the wall. His large hand was over his mouth, and his red eyes glowed as lava. Crystal Bot couldn't help letting out a whimper.
"For your own sake." Bass hissed. "I'm not going to let you finish that sentence. Now, you're going to go get my spare chestplate, and when you come back you're going to act like a rational person. Got it?"
As cruel as Bass seemed, he wasn't actually holding her against the wall that hard. Crystal Bot was able to shove his arm away with a stubborn pout, to conveying that he might have won the fight, but she wasn't going to act happy about it and pretend everything was fine.
"Yeah, I got it."
That was all the angry girl-bot muttered before opening the door and heading out, taking the cloudy storm of her annoyance with her.
-t-
Roll didn't know what to do. She was tempted to just leave the house, but if she did there was nowhere for her to go. She began to wish that she had made more friends with outside people before Dr. Light died. Sure, she knew plenty of people and very few were not perfectly kind to her. Still, Roll wasn't that close to so much as one.
As much as she really wanted to leave the house, Roll was only in her room, sitting there on her perfectly made bed with a red comforter. She hardly ever used it, and never to sleep on. It wasn't as if she needed to sleep. Somehow the cute little room just felt incomplete without a bed. It was a small room, as Roll was usually busy in other parts of the house, but Dr. Light insisted that she have a place for her own sanctitude and hobbies. Roll did little more than knit or read in her room. It was small, a narrow rectangle. The bed was up against the window with its bright curtains and yellow flowers. The closet was next to the door, and on the other side of the room from the window was her standing mirror, very elegant. With her vanity next to the bed, the room was complete.
Roll just sat there. The part of her mind that never stopped working was going over some things she needed to buy for the lab, though she doubted that she would be able to get any of it, not now in all this trouble. She sighed. Maybe the shipping loss from the other parts of Monstropolis could be make up for by the still intact shipping fleet.
No one else knew. Her brothers had never been there and Bass didn't remember - Roll wasn't sure that she wanted him to, as nice as it would be to have someone to talk to about it. This was Bass, after all. At this point, only Roll remembered the Mavericks and the Maverick Hunters. She knew that the future included X's new wars against a virus brought about by his best friend, Zero, the very robot anyone in the lab would give their right arm to see destroyed (being robots, they could just get the arm replaced).
Roll had met Zero, many years into the future. She knew, even if he never told her, about all the struggles he faced. She could see in his eyes how much it hurt him that he had unintentionally done so much evil to the world, and he bore a regret that Roll wondered if anyone really could handle the weight of. It crushed him, driving him to do everything he could to end Mavericks for good. It was hard for her to be impressed with his fighting abilities when most of them arose from his experiences fighting to atone for his sins.
Even worse was the knowledge that Zero had failed. In that lifetime, that horrible future, Roll had met the strangest girl she ever saw. Just to look at the author, no one would ever see more than a nerdy girl with only a mild grasp of fashion. But no, this girl was apparently writing everything that happened to her.
"Oh, that's right..." Roll murmured with contempt. "She's not the author, she's an author. There's a lot of them apparently."
GrimMoody claimed to have been writing her story ever since she met Crystal Bot for the first time, and Roll still wasn't sure what to believe. Moody had told her a lot of things. The Maverick War indeed would end, but only to morph into the Cyber Elf War which saw the deaths of most humans and the destruction of even more reploids. After that was the Second Maverick War. After this, still another war for another century. Even worse, despite the fact that these wars were all supposedly won by the good guys, humans died out. Reploids too were gone, including X, Zero, and everyone else Roll had known in that future. This left the earth barren and empty for apparently a new race of people, one that GrimMoody knew practically nothing about. Roll wanted to scream. It was bad enough that she had to learn all this, but being from someone that apparently didn't know the end of it all just made things worse.
The author gave Roll the task of somehow setting everything right. She sent Roll back into the past, where her family and friends were all alive, all optimistic. Roll could hardly describe herself as upbeat; she had seen the future, and the future sucked. The words from her brother that used to comfort her when he went out to fight were now useless to her. He had said those sorts of things in the alternate future, the one that led up to the Robot Apocalypse and the beginning of each and every disaster. Rock's fighting against Wily had not saved anyone in the end. Where was the eternal peace he fought so hard for?
Well, GrimMoody seems to think that I can change things... Roll thought. I don't think she knows me very well. I fight cockroaches, not Wily-bots. I don't even like doing that. Roaches are so nasty! Ew!
But Roll had fought before. There was a time when she was believed to be the only sentient robot that survived the Robot Apocalypse. She had been repaired by the eldest of Dr. Cain's sons, Rodney. He hadn't done a very good job, and Roll was plugged into her secondary and unused memory data card. She forgot her entire past and strove to protect the humans of the world beyond the apocalypse, though there wasn't much direct fighting to do there other than take out a few glitchy mechaniloids and blow up some tanks that a few evil men wanted to use to rule over eastern Europe.
After breaking down one last time, Roll reawoke in Maverick Hunter HQ, where she met her brother Mega Man X. She also met Alia, who was very cute and professional. Less so were the goofy Pallette and serious Layer, the latter of whom had a crush on Zero. Roll giggled a little at the thought, though that laugh petered out. Roll doubted that the purple navigator could even think of him in that light if she ever found out why Zero was always different, always keeping himself separate from the other Hunters. His guilt would not disappear.
Bass too had survived in that alternate universe, but he was changed. He hadn't destroyed Zero, and that meant that he took the guilt of everything Zero had caused on his own self. After all, hadn't the very first thing he set out to do once he left Dr. Wily been to go after Zero? Both Bass and Zero fought for the sole reason of making up for their sins. The difference between the two Wily brothers was very evident: Bass could actually hide his bitterness under his violent and rude demeanor. That, however, was the only difference. Their guilt destroyed them both in the end.
I still don't know how I can really help. Even all the fighting I did was just spar with Bass.
Roll just sighed. She had no power and no options. Things had already changed drastically from the other path in time, but that was no guarantee that everything was going to turn out alright. Roll promised herself she would try.
There came a knock at the door, a gentle one.
"Um, come in."
She expected Mega Man to enter, but instead it was her other brother. Proto Man came in, glancing around at the cute girlyness of the room. It didn't appear that he liked the flower wallpaper, but she didn't expect him to. She was tempted to giggle; even people who didn't know Proto Man could guess he had a sort of allergy to pretty daises and red carnations decorating a wall.
"Hi, Blues!" Roll merrily greeted him. "I thought you didn't like being in the lab."
Proto Man shook his head at the wall (as if that would make the offensive flower wallpaper go away), before bringing his gaze to his sibling. "I don't, but you're my sister. I know I always hang out with Rock, but we're family too."
He sat down beside Roll, a looking a little curiously at the bed. If he was wondering why a robot would have one, he didn't ask. "You seem like you're taking this situation very hard. What can I do to help?"
Had he been reading her mind? Well, it was certainly very like him. Roll relaxed a little, calmly pulling a stray strand of hair out of her face. She swung her legs over the side of the bed, feeling a bit mischevious.
"You can tell me a story."
"A story?"
"Yeah. About something you did out on your travels. I want to hear about that."
Proto Man nodded faintly, thinking to himself. He disappeared into his own mind as he searched for a story he could tell his sister. After a moment, his mouth opened slightly, almost out of nervousness. Before Roll could really observe this, Proto Man went back to his neutral calm and began to speak in a softer tone. The story was an important one to him, Roll guessed.
"A long time ago," he said. "I was helping a small family pay their mortgage. They couldn't afford to live in their house anymore, and I wanted to find a way to pay it off. It took a while, but I managed to get what I needed."
"Where from?"
Proto Man let the corner of his mouth go up a bit. "Dr. Wily's pocket. I suppose it's my fault he went to Dr. Cossack instead of having the funds to build more robots of his own. Now don't interrupt."
Roll giggled. "Sorry."
"Anyway, I gave the money to the bank and told them to pay it off. I didn't actually want to tell the family about it, but I did want to leave a note on their door. I tried to leave it there, but one of the lights was on. I waited until midnight, but the light still didn't turn off. So I went up to the door and just tried to put it through the mail slot. I didn't know until then that there the little girl that lived in the house was watching me the whole time through the window. This was several years ago, and I wasn't as stealthy then as I am now."
His sister giggled again as he continued. "Just as I was about to leave the note, a little girl opened the door. She wasn't afraid of me for some reason. She just pointed her finger at me and called me a stalker. I think she was joking. She said that as punishment for my crime I had to give her my scarf."
"Aw, that's so cute!"
"Yes, she was very cute." Proto Man nodded. "I told her I wasn't a stalker so I didn't have to, but she really wanted my 'cool' scarf. She said to give it to her because her...dad had died."
Roll thought that the sadness in his voice was only sympathy. "Oh, so that's why they couldn't afford to keep the house."
"Exactly. I told her I couldn't give her my scarf because it was from my dad."
"Dr. Light gave it to you?" Roll asked.
"No, I stole it from his mechaniloids. They were making so many of the poly-aluminoid scarves that I'm not sure Dr. Light even noticed. Now what did I tell you about interrupting?"
"Oh, sorry!"
"It's alright. Of course the girl didn't want to take the scarf once she knew that. However, since I was still 'a creepy stalker' she said I owed her a box of cookies. 'One of the really, really big ones', she said. I offered to go and get them right away, but she said that I had to be at her house tomorrow at four so that I could attend a little tea party involving a number of stuffed animals."
Roll was trying her hardest not to interrupt, but imagining someone as cool as Proto Man sitting at a miniature table surrounded by teddy bears as a little girl served him imaginary tea was just too funny. Roll was laughing into her hands, trying to force herself not to comment. Proto Man smiled a bit awkwardly. As much as he tried to guard his dignity, it didn't always work.
"I felt like being nice, so I went. She had a little tea party all set up...ugh...those chairs were so small. She had everything, even real tea. Once I told her I was a robot, she ran off and got a carton of engine oil from the garage. Only later did I find out that she hadn't told her mother about me, and she was supposed to be at her neighbor's house while her mother was away. That was awkward, but by then her mother had talked to the people at the bank so she went easy on me."
"That's the sweetest thing I've heard in a long time!" Roll could hardly stand the cuteness. "Aw, what was the little girl's name?"
Proto Man was a little reluctant to answer, but he did, shoving aside his discomfort. "Leila. I check on her from time to time. It's been several years since we met. She's about ready to go to college now."
"Really? Oh, I'd just love to meet her."
That got to Proto Man. His face straightened out into a flat line, and he was more uncomfortable than ever. "Um, perhaps not. I haven't spoken to her in a while, and I'm sure she's busy with schoolwork."
"If you say so." Roll knew better to push Blues when he was being stubborn - even with so little of his face exposed, she knew his moods. "That's a good story. Thank you. I feel a lot better now."
"Good." he said. "Roll, it would be better for Rock if you stopped worrying so much. He's always concerned about you. Besides, you've got Team 5, Team 9, and the Cossack-bots to help him protect the world and you. Bass too. Even if he is a jerk he's going to make sure that Zero's dead."
"Oh, push come to shove Bass is very nice, in his own way." Roll smiled a bit, thinking of the memories that she couldn't share. "You should have seen him when I ...well, when he was around Dr. Light, I mean."
Proto Man didn't really want to talk about Bass, and by far disagreed with Roll. He wouldn't argue about it, though. "See? You still have the power to be optimistic. Besides, look at Auto and Crystal Bot. They're smart and they'll protect the lab from anything those crazy scientists decide they're going to do. And haven't you heard about Armor Core Antivirus? It's supposed to protect robots from Dr. Cain's viruses that he uses to take control of robots. ...Roll?"
She was acting strange. Up till that point she'd been open and getting more cheery, but all of a sudden she just stopped and stiffened, her eyes growing wide. She remembered too well what Armor Core Antivirus was and what integral part it had played in the robot apocalypse. As soon as she turned to Blues, she realized that she had no way of explaining her concern to him. How was she supposed to tell him that this "anti-virus" was really from Dr. Wily, and he used it in an alternate universe to destroy robotics as they knew it?
"I heard bad things about Armor Core...rumors." Roll said nervously. "Um...Auto said he didn't like it."
"Auto prefers using his own anti-virus programs. You can't expect him to use anything on the market." Proto Man said. "Since when do you listen to anyone talking about technology?"
"I don't know...it just gives me a bad feeling." the housekeeper-bot said, trying to sound like she was making sense. "I don't like it somehow. If it's such an important anti-virus, then we should know a lot about the company that programmed it."
"I can check it out for you." Proto Man offered. "If it helps you."
"Thanks, Blues!" Roll couldn't describe the relief she felt. There was another anti-virus Wily had used in his evil schemes, but of course Roll couldn't just directly say it. She wasn't less clever than her brothers, however. Feigning a sort of paranoid fear, she nervously rubbed her hands together and said, "Um, the army doesn't use Armor Core for their anti-virus, do they?"
"Not that I know of. I can check." he squeezed Roll's arm before getting up and heading for the door. "Don't worry about a thing."
"Thanks. I'll always feel better knowing that Blues is out there to protect me!"
Proto Man froze for a moment, standing there in front of the door as still as a tree. He turned back, sending a happy smile back at his sister, who smiled herself in return. After that, Blues left, any hint of merriness still left on his face completely gone. "Always" was such a strong word.
The story was a nice one, and Roll found herself giggling. I should have asked him if he was wearing a tiara or something. Aw, Proto Man does the sweetest things. I wish I could meet Leila.
Roll flopped back on the bed, amused even by this girlish act. Better still, she had told Proto Man about Dr. Wily's "anti-virus programs". That meant that Wily wasn't going to be able to infect the world's robots. She hadn't mentioned Hitenshi Firewall and Light Subsidiaries, but neither of those programs existed yet. The former wouldn't be around for another three years, assuming it was going to happen at all with Proto Man investigating. Light Subsidiaries was created when a downturn in the economy made Auto create an anti-virus program to make more money for the lab. Roll shuddered to think that Dr. Wily somehow got control of this.
Oh...of course it was Dr. Cain. Wily was dead by this point in the other universe. Roll remembered. Wait, now that I know the economy is going down, I can plan accordingly. Ooh, I can buy stock in the companies that make it afterward. Hee hee, I'm such a time-travelling cheat!
And of course, that reminded her of how she got to the past in the first place. Roll at once looked up, somehow imagining that the author was watching her from an upward angle. There was really no reason to assume this, but Roll felt giddy and not scientific (and how does science apply to authors, anyway?). She just beamed a brilliant smile upward, showing off her perfect teeth.
"Thank you so much, GrimMoody!" she exclaimed. "Now everything is going to be okay! I just know it!"
All the same, Roll felt a little bored. She wanted to get out of the house and do something. The shipping was a mess, so there wasn't really any point to shopping. Their store rooms were pretty well stocked. All the same, she wanted something to do that involved her getting up and going out into the sunlight. Monstropolis wasn't going to be destroyed after all. An idea hit her, and Roll immediately sent out a transmission.
" - Hey, Sona-chan, what are you doing? - "
" - I'm going out to get a part for Dub. - " came the reply. " - Mr. Redford said that it made it here before the truck stops got destroyed. - "
" - Cool. Where are you now? - "
" - Over by Great Gems. I wanted to go see Jewel Man, but it's really busy in there right now. - "
That settled it. In an upward flash of red and white, Roll teleported away. Next thing she knew, the world had assembled itself into the street outside Jewel Man's workplace. The street was as vibrant as always, and Roll made sure to land beside the building rather than on the sidewalk. Crystal Bot wasn't far away. In fact, she and the spider-bot were just walking past the photographer's shop next door before Crystal Bot heard the teleport beam land behind her.
"Roll-chan!" Crystal Bot exclaimed. "Bored today at the lab?"
"Yes, I'm bored out of my mind." Roll-chan agreed as she merrily walked up to her auburn friend. It wasn't quite true, but surely she would get bored if she stayed there any longer. "Let me go with you to get the part for Dub. What part is it, anyway?"
"Oh, just a replacement frame augment." Crystal Bot patted Dub atop his flat head. "Dub's second front left leg acts weird when it retracts."
With that, the girl-bots headed down the street and started to head for Redford's shop. Dub walked ahead of the girls with his spidery stride, and they strolled behind and talked. It wasn't too far by foot, but still Roll had to ask.
"So why are we walking?" Roll asked. "We can just teleport there."
"Yeah, but what fun is that? Besides, you're not in any rush to get back to the lab, are you?"
"Definitely not! I've been stuck in the lab for years. I want to do something different."
"What, you mean get a new job? You could be a maid or something."
"I'm not sure I want to do something like that..."
Roll had tried being a housekeeper in other homes in the alternate universe, and it just didn't work. She inwardly groaned, thinking of all the suggestions Crystal Bot might have that were occupations she'd already tried. How could she explain that she didn't like any of them? What reasons could she give? Then again, Roll wasn't sure she had any reasons. She'd simply tried each different task and it felt wrong. Being a floral shop worker with Hornet Man was no good, being a nurse was too hectic, and she just felt weird about working in a nursing home.
Of course I'm being silly. Roll told herself. I should be grateful! The robot apocalypse isn't going to happen, the Maverick virus won't ever spread, humans won't die out, and my family is going to live. What's silly job trouble to that? I'd rather have a new job every six months for the rest of my life then have the world end! Ooh...I should be a temp! Eh...nevermind.
Speaking out loud, Roll went back to her happy self. After all, she was hanging out with a friend. She blithely asked, "So, do you think it would be more fun to work at a circus or at the country fair? I'm thinking about the fair because I can make some of my homemade apple butter, but at the circus I'd get to work with animals. What do you think?"
Roll expected Crystal Bot to say something about shoveling elephant poo, but instead the tech-bot had gone silent. Something about her was no longer chirpy. Crystal Bot blinked, finally noticing by Roll's silence that she was being asked a question. She turned to Roll, serious but instead pretending to be casual. It didn't work.
"So, Roll...why don't you head on back to the lab?" Crystal started tugging at her hair. "I can...get this done by myself."
"What are you talking about?" Roll laughed. "I'm not going back to the lab. I'm so tired of staring at those walls all day! I've already cleaned them twice!"
"Ach, you're stubborn." Crystal Bot tried to wink. "Um, why don't you just, um, oh hey! Let's go over here! I think it's a shortcut! Come on, Dub!"
Crystal Bot grabbed Roll and started tugging her down an alley, going behind the old arcade and ice cream shop. Roll, forced to follow at Crystal's fast pace, could barely keep up. Thinking quickly, she realized that this wasn't a shortcut at all. In fact, they were going the wrong way.
"Sona! This doesn't go toward Mr. Redford's shop! What's going on?"
Without warning, Crystal Bot stopped and tugged Roll nearly off her feet, forcing her on her knees. Roll tried to remember what to do when someone grabs you like that, but at once every thought of martial arts she knew was blasted out of her mind by a sudden blast of crystal energy. The electric pink surrounded her and for several seconds that pink was all that she could see.
"Hey, Roll-chan," Crystal spat. "Remember last year when I said that I'm not your friend? You should've listened."
Pink. Roll fell limp, almost settling to the ground but for the arm that Crystal Bot held. Crystal Bot grinned viciously before tucking her pink crystal back into her hood.
"Dub, hurry!"
The obedient spider-bot ran up to her, and Crystal Bot put the unconscious Roll atop him. Four of his arms hastily grabbed her and secured her for carrying. The footsteps behind them were completely silent, but the girl-bot nonetheless turned around to face Epic Man. She grinned, and the spined and spiked robot couldn't help grinning himself in return.
"Hiya, Epic!" Crystal Bot winked. "What took you so long?"
\\\\\\\\
Author's notes:
- Mega Man, you're so cute you make me squee. D'aww...
- And for my return, an extra long chapter! Now the bad news: there's a possiblity of iffy updates. It's not entirely for certain, but due to moving troubles the possibility exists that I won't be able to get my internet connected on this computer. That, however, is an iffy possibility. So much is up in the air...like my sanity.
- There hasn't been enough korean in my story so far. Okay, korean lesson of the day. To say that something is convenient, you add p'yonhalehyo to the end of a sentence. Like, you can say "Wal-Mart p'yonhalehyo" to say Wal-Mart's convenient. If you add koh to it, as in p'yonhalkoh-ehyo, that means it will be convenient; future tense.
- In case anyone forgot and for new readers, directives are the principles that first generation robots follow because they aren't capable of choosing their own core purpose. Mega Man's is to protect the peace, and Bass changed his to that during the events of Okkusenman. It was to be the best robot in the world before that, and there must be a subdirective or something running around in Bass, because it's still affecting his choices. Proto Man's directive is unknown.
- Notedly, Dr. Light did notice that the yellow scarf was missing. He kept a good record of how much poly-aluminoid fiber clothes his mechaniloids produced.
=====Auto
"Mega Man! I am your biggest fan!"
Good point: Pure and innocent
Bad point: Trouble maker
Like: Riddles
Dislike: Study
Yeah...I pretty much ignored this for my stories. At the beginning of writing my stories, I didn't really like Auto or see the point of his creation. However, after seeing more of him in MM7, 9, and 10, I have since recanted. All the same, he's never had a big part in my stories, so I've never written that much about him. Is anyone disappointed with that? There haven't really been that many Auto stories out there. Maybe I should write one at some point.
Hm...a couple of those points seem detrimental to someone who's going to assist a scientist. Troublemaker? Um, electronics can be pretty sensitive as far as being vulnerable to trouble. Definitely not good in a lab. And shouldn't he study if he's going to help out Dr. Light? Well, now that I see this, I still think I'm not really going to regard it. Kind of like how I ignore Fire Man being "redneckish". I like it because it's funny, but to me that is not the real Fire Man (I tend to disregard the Powered Up series as far as plot goes anyway - it's like Battle Network, it's own separate thing).
In any case, I now regard Auto as a humorous and ever optimistic tech guy that basically serves as a storage of Dr. Light's information as well as lab mechanic until Light's return in hologram form. He's always working and enjoys it very much. He likes Japanese culture and visits there whenever he can get a chance, and he's good friends with Dr. Imahara. He considers himself Japanese because most of his original parts came from there.
I guess I can put his dislike of study in there, because he's too impatient to learn - he wants to know everything right away. And I guess he's innocent too. He's not a troublemaker. I mean, how many times in the games has he actually made trouble? He teased Rock with a met hat once, but that was it and that hardly counts as trouble. Yeah, I tend to regard characters' actions in the actual game as more important than any notes on that character. I really don't like rebelling against these character profiles, but in Auto's case I think I have to.
=====Shadow Man
"I can hardly wait for the surprise!"
Good point: Flexibility
Bad point: Impulsiveness
Likes: To surprise others
Dislikes: Obvious tricks
Shadow Man is an alien robot. Or at least that's what the wiki says. I've been debating myself as to whether or not I'm going to follow it. I always found it sort of stupid. Then again, the plot of MM3 is that both Wily and Light worked together to create the Team 3 robots, and it seems strange to me that Dr. Light would create a ninja robot. Samurai, maybe, but ninjas are sneaky assassins. Not really a Light Industry sort of thing even if Dr. Wily is involved. I'm pretty unresolved on the issue, but for now I'll go with the alien thing.
So yeah, alien. Shadow Man was found in the wreckage of an asteroid that landed in an abandoned field near the lab, broken and almost destroyed. Wily and Light found him. Dr. Light wasn't so keen on the idea of repairing a robot with the stealth power of Shadow Man, but Wily pointed out that it was against Dr. Light's own ethics to just let a robot remain dead. Thomas agreed, and Shadow Man was repaired and given a job in the Gamma Project. He was taken over by Wily when he betrayed Dr. Light, and he's been following the mad scientist ever since. He was immediately repaired after his defeat by Mega Man, and is the only Wily-bot to never have been on display in the robot museum (the only others are Cossack-bots and Signal Man).
Shadow Man was surprisingly a very friendly robot as a good guy. He spoke kindly with the others, and was surprisingly talkative for a ninja-bot. Dr. Light assigned him to lead the others in what was then called the Gamma Squad. They were excellent protectors of Gamma who worked well with humans. Shadow Man was in fact good friends with Richard Copenhagen.
Reprogrammed by Wily, Shadow Man became more silent. He commited horrible crimes without so much as a word of regret, and he came to be one of the most loyal Wily-bots. While still technically the leader of Team 3, the ninja-bot refused to acknowledge this any longer. Any attempts the others made at requesting his influence were mostly ignored or given trivial answers, as Shadow Man grew to like working alone. He even started dipping his shurikens into poison in order to be more deadly to humans.
Now the ninja-bot is very evil, though still friendly to those he finds clever. He hasn't been seen in months.