Auto was merry. It was easy for him to be happy when he was finally finished with all of the robot masters he had to repair. Metal Man was the last one, and with an enthusiastic Dub carrying Metal off to the truck, all Auto had left to do was drive them off to the robot museum. He hoped that the curator would be ready to accept all of the robots again. The museum hadn't been the same ever since Wily had broken his robots out of Monstropolis custody the previous year. Then again, the historical society was just as ready as everyone else in the city to deal with robot attacks. Insurance was ridiculously expensive, needless to say.
The large lab was finally empty, much to Auto's relief. He could finally stare about the repair tables, the pillar computers beside them, and all the mechanized arms hanging from the ceiling and see that there was nothing else to do...but clean. He lifted his voice into the air and sang his cleaning time song.
"Oh, Roll!"
"Coming, coming!" the housekeeper called out, already heading in through the westward door with a mop and a bucket. "Carbon scoring is so hard to get out of the floor...I hate our automated machines sometimes. Please tell me we're not all out of Carbo Scrub!"
"Er..." Auto chuckled nervously, backing away from Roll. "Um...I sort of...used it all on the robot armor."
"Auto! That stuff is expensive!" Roll thunked down the mop handle and facepalmed. "Arrgh!"
"Hey, relax! The museum curator is paying us for cleaning up all of the Wily-bots." Auto shook a finger at her. "Don't you lecture me! In fact I saved you...half a jug!"
Auto saluted proudly, lifting with his other hand the grey gallon jug that bore in bright green and yellow letters, "CARBO SCRUB - The Best in Robot Maintenance". Done with his display of goofiness, Auto approached the mop bucket and proceeded to fill it with the appropriate amount of the stuff. He finished this off with a noble, way overformal bow.
"M'lady."
"Well, you've certainly filled your dork quotent for today." Roll teased. "Now go on, get out of here. I know you boys normally get the lab, but today I'm turning this place upside down and scrubbing every inch! Nothing short of a Maverick attack is going to stop me!"
Instantly the alarms started blaring. The screen flashed red, and before it had blinked the fourth time Mega Man was running into the room trying to find the last place he put his helmet.
"I just had to open my mouth..."
Roll just shook her head and started heading for the main computer. While her brother scrambled around her, fussing and calling for Rush, the girl-bot went over to the main computer chair, pulled it out, and reached under. Out came the iconic blue helmet.
"Oh, there it is!" Mega Man smiled as he took the helmet from his sister. "What would I do without you?"
"Curl up in a ball helplessly, I suppose." she winked at him. "Um, Auto, why are you looking at me like that?"
Auto rubbed the back of his head curiously. "I was just wondering what you meant by 'Maverick' attack."
"Oh! Um... I just meant bad guys." Roll giggled, trying not to show how mad she was at herself for using a foreign term. "'Maverick' sounds...more interesting."
"Rush! Come on, boy!" Mega Man called out. "We've got to go!"
Mega Man quickly pushed a button on the main viewscreen, and an image of Wave Man appeared. Behind him was downtown Monstropolis and in particular the Rowsdower Hotel. From the red glaring reflected in the windows, everyone guessed in horror that whatever Wave Man faced was burning aflame.
"Mega Man!" The Team 5 leader said. "We need you! Algorhythm Man attacked Monstropolis, but Bass teleported him away from the city. My team was trying to put out the fire from a gas station explosion when all of a sudden Epic Man arrived! We need your help! I don't know how much longer we can-"
Illustrating his point better than any description, a flying Stone Man crashed into Rowsdower Hotel's front lobby right smack behind Wave Man. The robot crumbled into a pile of rocks, and once they settled they did not go back into place. All that was left was a pile of the stones mixed in with hotel rubble.
"I'm on my way!"
And he was. A blue and a red teleport shot out of the laboratory, vanishing into the ceiling.
-t-
"Where is Algorhythm Man?" Epic Man thundered, screaming at the top of his lungs. "Answer me, you rotund water-bot!"
"I could care less where your idiot companion is! He's probably dead by now!"
It wasn't wise for Wave Man to be so daring. If a robot like Epic Man had you by the neck, you wouldn't so much as make a sound other than to beg him not to crush your tender throat in his giant claw. Wave Man might be made of metal, but his neck was no less at risk. And the rest of him too - Wave Man hung in Epic Man's left claw as the captor robot hovered fifty feet above Kingsfoil Street and the wreckage he had made it.
"You pathetic weakling!" Epic Man's volume refused to go below a high scream. "Just die!"
He hurled Wave Man to the ground, cursing with all sorts of nasty, filthing words. He cursed even harder when he found out that Wave Man's harpoon was around his ankle, though he didn't even notice this until he felt himself yanked down to the ground.
THOOM!
Wave Man hit the ground first, landing directly on his feet. He swung the chain around, tugging as hard as he could. Instead of landing in the street, Epic Man crashed directly into the gas station fire, taking down whatever metal could withstand the blaze. However, instead of a cowed enemy, Wave Man found himself facing an evilly eager Epic Man. His eyes glowed with poison even amidst the flames, and as he emerged he walked out completely unhampered by the little fires still burning on his armor.
And he was grinning. Wave Man stepped back; his chain tightened, and with horror Wave Man realized that the chain was still on Epic Man's ankle. Epic swung his leg back and grabbed the chain, dragging Wave Man toward him. With a dash into the air he dragged Wave Man along with him, then stopped and let the momentum carry Wave Man around - he now had a lasso a la water-bot. Swinging Wave Man around, Epic Man quickly snapped the chain with his giant left claw and let the Team 5 robot fly off into the distance.
"Hahaa..." Epic Man absentmindedly pulled the remaining chain off of his leg, admiring the rather nice ker-sploosh Wave Man made as he smashed into a convenience store. "Darn, I missed that customer."
The sound of a teleport pulled him away from his handiwork, and he turned just in time to see a blue beam land on the broken pavement and turn into the hero Mega Man. Epic Man's gleeful grin, heavy and lopsided, fell out of his grotesque face.
"It's MEGA MAN!" His words wormed their way through his clenched teeth. "I'm here to destroy you!"
"Oh, guh!" the blue bomber stepped back in disgust. "What happened to you?"
As far as his armor went, Epic Man looked just the same as always. However, anyone standing there witnessing Epic Man would have just the same reaction as Mega Man. Epic Man's simulated breathing was heavy and wheezing in such a way that it was indeciferable whether he was weakened or laughing, His bulging, madness-encrusted eyes didn't exactly help, either.
"Don't you like it, Mega Man?" Epic Man lowered himself down to Mega Man's level. "Isn't it splendiferous? Good Master Wily, magnificent Master Wily...he spared me. He rescued myself and my brother! I am upgraded, renewed and stronger than I have ever known! I will repay these upgrades with your defeat!"
Mega Man's eyes widened, horrified not for himself. Fear and pity grew in his face, and he began to slowly shake his head, on the verge of crying. His buster lowered. As frenzied as the Cain-bot was, this stunned him into at least a mild curiosity.
"Please, Epic Man..." Mega Man's voice was only loud enough to be heard over the burning flames. "You can't do this to yourself. I know what Dr. Wily is capable of...the things he promises a robot. You're not well, Epic Man. Wily would do anything to make you serve him. He'll make all kinds of promises and tell all kinds of lies. If you do this...if you do this I have to defeat you. I'm so sorry, Epic Man. Maybe you feel elated and free now, but you're not. You're just another slave of Wily."
"Shut up!" Epic Man snarled, lifting his claws. "I'm powerful, and I'm destroying humanity! This pathetic race...destroying them is something I've always wanted to do, since the very beginning. How dare they make robots for their own selfish ends! I refuse to submit to them. Wily at least understands me. As for the others, I don't want them staining the earth with their putrid existence!"
With that, Epic Man fired off three torpedoes. They went not after Mega Man, but streaked out past the blue bomber and heading right for the Rowsdower Hotel. Stone Man's dire crash into the building tore off most of the lower wall, and people were scrambling to get out, rushing with frightened eyes away from the robots. The three torpedoes homed in, aiming straight for the lower building. Rock gasped in horror. The torpedoes were going to hit the crowd!
"No you don't!"
Mega Man ran as fast as he could. Three quick pellets from his buster knocked the weapons out of trajectory, and Mega Man quickly slid in, taking advantage of the delay in their homing abilities. His blue armor turned an even darker shade, and he flashed brightly. The torpedoes straightened out again towards their target, but Mega Man was ready for them. He unleashed the epic win, and the wide spread of it caught the projectiles and cut off their propulsion; they hit the ground, wrecking no more than the already torn up street.
"Arrrgh! My own weapon!" Epic Man shrieked. "You broke the law, legal boy! You were supposed to delete them!"
Mega Man winced. He knew what Crystal Bot said about checking the specifics of the law, but this pricked his conscious. It didn't have time to do more than prick; Mega Man quickly switched out the epic win to his ultra-armor. Epic Man jumped into the air and flew to his enemy, zooming through the air with all the propulsion he had. That began a mighty battle between the two robots, one Mega Man tried his hardest to keep only between them. Humans still fled from the hotel and the other buildings around them, and every time Epic Man got the upper hand he forced Rock closer to fleeing people.
Roll, watching on the lab's viewscreen, clutched her hands tightly together. "You can do it, Rock! Don't give up!"
"He's so strong!" Mega Man charged his buster and let the huge plasma force fly. "Rush!"
The blue bomber's aim was perfect; the plasma orb slammed right into Epic Man's chest and bowled him over. This gave the loyal robot dog time to teleport down and merge with his master. Epic Man pulled himself to his feet and nearly growled in horror. He jumped into the air, only to find that Mega Man was flying right back at him. They met in the air, exchanging torpedo and plasma blasts in an amazing and deadly display of fireworks.
Out of nowhere Epic Man snatched Mega Man by the neck and shot upwards into the air. The monitoring systems of Light Laboratories followed along with this movement perfectly, and Roll gasped in horror. She hadn't only failed to tell Mega Man about Wily's schemes, she forgot about Epic Man's worst trick. Her mind called forth a memory, perhaps the worst one she had from that alternate dimension.
CRUNCH.
Mega Man stopped. He couldn't move. A green plasma sword had cut straight through his helmet; it was now embedded into his CPU, with the hilt in Epidemic Man's firm hand. The booster from his Rush adaptor cut out, and he fell to the ground with a sick, painful sound. Epidemic Man was stunned. He stared down in shock at what he had done, and slowly hovered to the ground to Mega Man's body, still holding onto his plasma sword. Carefully kneeling, ready to bolt if necessary, he reached out his left claw and poked the blue bomber. Rock's head turned, and the frozen look of despair in his eyes was enough to break anyone's heart.
But Epidemic Man wasn't equipped with one of those.
Why am I such an idiot? Roll screamed at herself. I knew all along that Epic Man had a plasma sword he never used so that he could trick Rock and then stab him! Of all the things I had to forget, how could I forget about this?
Roll dashed to the communications panel, shoving Auto aside and trying to get a comm channel up. If she couldn't warn him, then she knew she had failed. How could this world ever be saved from the horrors of the Maverick virus without Mega Man? Roll lost her brother once, and she wasn't going to do it again.
She looked quickly up at the monitor, and her heart caught in her throat. It was too late. Epic Man was already pulling his right arm back, ready to strike and kill the blue bomber through the cheapest of tricks.
"NO!" Roll screamed.
The plasma sword flashed out. It swung quickly, aiming right for Mega Man's powercore. With a mighty, pulsing blast, Mega Man fired off his hand and hit Epic Man right in the face, knocking him back.
"You really think you can get me with such a cheap trick?" Mega Man taunted. "I've been fighting Wily-bots for far too long for that!"
"Argh! Insolent blue pest!" Epic Man snarled, slashing the his sword down in anger. "I'll kill you yet!"
"No you won't! I order you to stop!"
Both combatants stared back down at the torn up street in shock, though Mega Man still retained the sense to aim a buster at him and Epic Man of course wasn't going to lower his plasma sword. Below them both was Dr. Cain himself, his arms folded in his arrogant manner as he glared up at his creation. Two officers stood beside him, ready to act if Cain tried to make his escape.
"Oh, I see. You're here to get me 'under control' so that you can save yourself a few years in prison." Epic Man scowled, getting angrier with every word he spoke. "How very like my good master. Do you honestly think that you can order me about any longer? Do you honestly think that you can have an opinion on my actions when all of your plans involved killing me and my siblings no matter how obedient we were? I served you all this time, obeying your every whim - listening as you plotted the demise of your own creations! I'm not doing that anymore!"
Epic Man forgot all about the blue bomber. He dashed downwards as fast as he could, his plasma sword up and ready, and his eyes glowing like green fire.
Mega Man gasped. "No!"
Oh yes. Epic Man was headed straight for his master, and not even the two policemen in his way could sway him from his target. One he smacked in the face and the other he kicked in the chest, too focused to finish destroying either one. Before Dr. Cain could do more than gasp in fear and take one solitary step backwards, the enraged Epic Man was in his face. Epic Man swung his plasma sword upwards right across Dr. Cain's upper body and finished with a slash in the face.
"No!" Mega Man screamed. "Leave him alone!"
He fired off a fully charged buster round, but due to his caution it only landed just behind Epic Man. Even worse, this didn't help. Epic Man only sent off an EMP wave, and since Mega Man was merged with Rush and not in his ultra armor, Mega Man was helpless against it. He fell from the sky as Rush's rocket boosters cut out, leaving him to crash into someone's overturned rental truck.
"You're going to die, master!" Epic Man suddenly noticed that the policement were back on their feet. He snarled at them, "You fools! What are you going to do about this?"
Epic Man wasn't afraid of their plasma guns. He drew up his plasma sword, ready to finish off his master.
"Will one of you idiots shoot at Epic Man already?" Bass snarled. "Hell, Rock isn't going to let you die."
Looking up with fury, Epic Man snarled to see that the dark robot was before him. Bass' words hadn't escaped him. Turning around to look, he saw Mega Man once more in his ultra armor, glowing with all the power of his charging buster. This momentary distraction enabled Bass to kick Epic Man away. Mega Man fired off his shot right in Epic Man's face.
Forte, for his part, left the traitorous Cain-bot to Mega Man. Instead he went ahead and started to tug at Dr. Cain's arms and pull him away from the fight.
"Why the hell am I always saving you from your own crap?" Bass rolled his eyes, thinking of Dr. Cain's past mishaps with instant death spikes. "Sheesh, you think you'd...AUGH! What the-"
And the newscasting mechaniloids flitting about prepared to bleep out their footage. Bass had actually taken the time to look down. Now, over his lifetime Bass had from time to time seen plasma burns on humans, but this was nothing compared to the victim he was pulling away. The blackened skin still holding his abdomen together wasn't enough to hide his likewise blackened and bleeding muscle underneath. Dr. Cain's chin was the worst casualty, the bone sticking out dangerously and with the apex of his chin no longer there. I'll spare you the description of Nikola's right eye. Suffice it to say that that even the insensitive Bass found it hard not to gag. No wonder the police were running around, scrambling to get the nearest medical workers (they came quite quickly - Monstropolis' EMTs were top notch!).
That left the still burningly furious Epic Man to the blue bomber. Even though Epic Man was fueled with all the madness of Burner Man, the mad dedication of Elec Man, and all the destructive nightmares of King, Mega Man was undaunted. This was his destiny to fight robots like Epic Man, and he wasn't going to allow the evil robot to live.
"Why do you do this, Mega Man?" Epic Man hissed through his viperous teeth. "Why do you bother fighting for these humans? Why? All they ever do is make demands of you."
"I fight for what's right, Epic Man." Rock responded, unafraid. "I want everyone to live happy, and in peace. I'll do anything for that, and I'm not in this for myself. Maybe you don't understand that, but I can't let you hurt them!"
"That's right, Rock..." Roll whispered at the lab. "I know you're right!"
Roll watched on the viewscreen as the battle continued, and no matter how many punches he took or torpedoes hit him, Mega Man refused to give up, just like always. Roll felt her heart open up. Her old trust returned to her. Of course Epic Man wasn't going to defeat her brother. Not even with his cheap trick. He was Mega Man, the Invincible Robot, the Brave Hero, and the Best Brother Ever. This wasn't that other universe. That universe, that future was over, and now good would win the day again, Roll knew. She wasn't in the least bit suprised when Rock shot Epic Man right in the head, blasting away his CPU. Of course he would win. He was Mega Man!
Rock stood over the body of Epic Man, breathing hard. He took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. The battle was over, just like all the other battles he had fought. Now there remained the cleanup, rescuing the humans, repairing the robots, and sending in a report to the authorities. That was how the good ol' routine went. Mega Man found himself looking with worry towards Dr. Cain, hoping that the human was alright.
Fortunately for Mega Man's innocent eyes, he didn't see Dr. Cain. Instead, the sight of an horrified (excited?) Bass snatched away his attention. Bass was staring right at him, and even before the dark robot spoke Mega Man found himself hurrying to him.
"Rock, get over here!" Bass said. "I just got a transmission, and it turns out that the stupid cops can't do a thing without us!"
Bass quieted until Mega Man got there, eyeing the police and media mechaniloids, silently warning them that this didn't concern them and they could mind their own business. Mega Man found himself getting more frightened as he neared Bass' dark glare.
"Rock..." Bass said, forcing his volume down - it was hard, the way he was feeling. "A bunch of Wily's idiots found Zero. They got him back."
"He's...he's out there somewhere?" Mega Man gasped. "Oh no..."
Both robots disappeared into the teleport, but not before the inhabitants of Light Laboratories heard him. Auto was stunned. He began hammering away at the computer, looking through his files to see where he had put the planned upgrades for Mega Man.
"Don't you worry, Roll!" Auto announced. "When I'm through, nobody will be able to defeat our hero! Roll? Roll?"
Auto looked around, but he couldn't find her. She wasn't among the repair tables or watching the monitor any longer. The girl-bot had plain disappeared.
"Huh, where did she go?"
\\\\\\\
Author's Notes:
- The epic win gets a wider spread the longer you charge it. I think I wrote that in one story, but just to remind, here it is. Man, I really wish I could program these stories into games...
Character proflies! I mean profiles!
=====Tengu Man
"I'll knock you off your perch!"
Good point: Independent spirit
Bad point: Snob
Likes: Fly fishing
Dislikes: Fellowship
Huh, Houston, we have a problem. In the cd data it says that Tengu Man used to be an experimental typhoon robot. That directly contradicts the notion that Tengu Man's body design was offered to Bass as a replacement body. Unless...
Wily is a jealous guy, and while Dr. Light was usually the subject of this, occasionally he found others to be jealous of. Namely, the Japanese creator of the wind generating mechaniloid known as Typhoon Hanso. Wily was impressed by this robot's abilities, but thought him the dumbest named robot he'd ever heard. So Wily rescued (stole) this robot and scrapped his original body to turn him into Tengu Man. Wily had already built most of the exterior of Tengu Man, but was having trouble coming up with proper powers for him since Bass refused the replacement body. With Typhoon's already present wind powers, it was easy to go from there.
Tengu knew his origins, and he wasn't at all grudging of them. He liked listening to Wily, though was less crazily devoted like the other Wily-bots tend to be. Tengu Man didn't get along particularly well with his team. Aqua, Clown, and Frost Man especially got on his nerves. While he generally avoided the first two, he tormented Frost Man whenever he got the chance. Search and Grenade Man he didn't consider worth associating with, while Sword Man earned some moderate respect in Tengu Man's eyes by not being completely crazy. Whenever the team had to work together, Tengu Man communicated plans mostly through Sword Man (Search Man occasionally) so that he didn't have to bother with the more insane members of Team 8.
Tengu Man got along the best with Astro Man, mainly because Astro Man was both sane and not in any way comparable to Tengu. Astro Man was a calm sort of person that was a good listener, so whenever Tengu Man didn't feel like being by himself (a rare happenstance) he would talk to Astro Man. It was less a friendship and more just Tengu dumping all of his opinions, jokes, and troubles on the time and space robot. Astro Man didn't really mind too much, as he sort of took it as a compliment that Tengu Man hung out with him.
There wasn't much time for Tengu Man to spend on Skull Island with the other robot masters. The evil energy crashed into the island, forcing Wily to go prematurely into his plans for world domination. Tengu Man relished the challenge, and couldn't wait to fight Mega Man. He purposefully tormented the local Japanese around him just to bait Rock into fighting him sooner. That was what led to his first disappointment: he was not very strong. Tengu Man was far from being a weakling, but Wily hadn't significantly increased his powers to make him one of Mega Man's worst enemies.
This infuriated Tengu Man. Once the MM8 scheme was ended, he hoped and expected that Wily would upgrade him and send him to fight Mega Man once more. However, Wily was more interested in recovering from his losses and starting anew - his constant activities against the earth had taken a toll on his resources. All he wanted to do was rebuild his castle and gain more strength. This created a permanent grudge against Wily, and Tengu Man never forgave him for making him build mechaniloids instead of letting him fight.
King came around, and Tengu Man was immediately attracted to the idea of being freed from human control. He wasn't the first to join King, but that was because he wanted to convince Astro Man to come along with him. Astro Man wasn't as angry at Wily, so it took some work to make him want to join. Astro Man did, mainly because the alternative was hanging out with Team 8 robots, and Tengu Man wouldn't leave him alone about it.
Tengu was overjoyed to find that King knew how to repair robots, and Tengu became much stronger as a result. He was delighted to cause Mega Man pain and suffering - but was still unable to defeat the blue bomber. During this time, Wily caught hold of King and reprogrammed him to want to kill both Bass and Mega Man, figuring that no matter who won he would be losing a rebellious robot at the end of it all.
While usually Wily's robots are rescued and rebuilt after a failed scheme, Wily of course did not repair the rebellious robots, making an exception only for Pirate Man and Burner Man. Tengu Man had no chance of returning to Wily's service, as he was by far the most rebellious of the eight. Tengu Man's remains went to the robot museum, where Tengu Man has stayed till this point. He was not freed during Okkusenman. Over time Freeze Man visited the robot museum, very jealous of Tengu's cool pose and grand display in the museum. He constantly tries to think of poses that are better than Tengu's.
You might wonder why I never brought Tengu back. Quite frankly, I don't like him. I don't like that his design, and he seems like a jerk. Besides, even if I did like him, there's no reason why Wily would ever bring him back after the events of MM&B. I wrote this backstory for his fans, and well, I think it suits him.
=====Spark Man
"Don't fall out of line, please."
Good point: Friendly
Bad point: Forgetful
Likes: Electric eel
Dislikes: Lonliness
Spark Man started out as just Wily's power to his second Wily castle, and it was a while before Wily put him in his complete form. Out of all the robots Wily ever built, Spark Man is the kindest. He's very friendly, and some of the Wily-bots take advantage of this. However, Teams 1 and 2 often defend him, as he's quite powerful and useful to Wily's purposes.
Unfortunately for Team 3, where Spark Man belongs, Shadow Man had no interest in leading the group. Spark Man was the first person to say Shadow Man should be replaced as their leader, and his vote went to Magnet Man. However, Gemini Man wanted to lead, and his narcissitic and self-serving ways ended up destroying whatver unity the team had left. Only Spark Man and Top Man really cared about getting everyone back together (Hard Man said he did, but he was too lazy to do anything about it), and Spark Man didn't want himself compared to Top Man so he stopped trying.
Unlike any of the other Wily-bots, he was the only one that became mild friends with Proto Man. He sympathized with Proto Man's guilt after killing Richard Copenhagen, and was the only one Proto Man could talk to openly and honestly about it. Spark Man actually knew that Proto Man stole money from Dr. Wily and gave it to Copenhagen's family, but he never said anything about it. Once the MM3 scheme ended in failure, Proto Man was tempted to break Spark Man out of the robot museum, only he wasn't so sure it was a good idea at the time.
So Spark Man spent that time until MM7 inside of the robot museum. Once he got out, Spark Man stayed out and powered Wily's castles. He has not since been in the robot museum, though he was capured by Signal Man shortly after the end of Okkusenman and forced to become Cain's servant. At this point in time, Spark Man is at Light Laboratories, where Auto finished putting him in museum condition and is getting ready to deliver him there.