It was weeks after the fight with Zero, but since Monstropolis' shipping only began to resemble to normalcy in the past week, perhaps Auto could be forgiven for being so behind in repairing the probots that had so bravely, and so stupidly, volunteered to fight the blond monstrocity. Yes, and most of the supplies that were shipped into Monstropolis went into repairing the city itself, rather than the roots that most people were only grudingly grateful to. The mood in the city, however, was one of joy and peace. Business workers joining construction not only in celebrating the knowledge that Wily was gone, but in rebuilding their beloved city. They did this joyfully, thinking perhaps the city of Monstropolis could be peaceful for once, and not suffer fhe consequences of continual war.
Auto's mood was by no means similar. Sure, he was plenty grateful that the Wily Wars were over, but here he was, stuck in the lab and trying to repair almost fifty robots all over again. Auto hmphed as his impatient eyes looked up from the remains of Yamato Man and glared at the other side of the lab. His side was full of the defeated Wily-bots, but the other was full of activated ones - Team 5 - all huddled around the beginnings of Crystal Man's new body. The part that they had been waiting for was now finally there, and they had to be at the lab to get the delivery. It wasn't as if UPS could deliver packages to space. It was bad enough that Crystal Bot and Gravity Man, the two robots most qualified to help Auto, each bent over the incomplete Crystal Man to attach the joint clamps. The other six Team 5 members, however, also felt some strange urge to be there as well, getting in Auto's way and not even bothering to offer to help.
Auto hmphed again. It should have been good news that just this morning Dr. Kenneth Imahara had arrived in Monstropolis. Auto had to dodge the mass of construction workers, large CAT machines, and roadblocks just to get to the airport (thankfully itself untouched) and bring Imahara to the lab. Now the Japanese scientist, finally at the lab, was huddled over there with the Team 5 people. Auto made sure not to glare if Imahara looked up - which meant Auto could glare as much as he wanted. Imahara was as focused on the crystal-generating robot as Gravity Man and Crystal Bot. The three surrounded the body like mystical dancers around a fire, the only ones who knew the magic, while the unmagical audience could only watch in awe.
"Hmph!"
Mega Man tried not to laugh, and hoped Auto didn't see his grin. Rock had at least managed to volunteer his and Roll's serviced in Operation Reduce Auto's Workload, but his knowledge was out of date, and Roll wasn't exactly a tech-bot. Still, they obediently did as Auto told them, running around and trying not to get in his way. Roll went off to get Yamato Man from storage as Mega Man went over to Cut Man's repair table. Rock thought that he could at least figure out how to put a Team 1 robot back together. They weren't that advanced since his scientific days. Just in case, though, Mega Man did keep a nice big technical manual open on the foot of the table.
"Ooh, poor Cut Man." Mega Man winced over the remains, gently patting what he thought could be Cut Man's shoulder. It was sort of hard to tell, as it wasn't attached to the rest of him. "Don't worry, I'll try to get you back in working order...I hope."
Mega Man had plenty of reason to doubt. While Cut Man's cutters had been relatively simple to find, it had taken a full week to find most of him, and nobody was sure they had all the parts. The poor robot was a scattered mess. The left foot and the whole right leg were each a separate piece. The rest of the left leg and most of the thighs were another chunk. The chest was in two different pieces, and the head and shoulders in three. That didn't count all of Cut Man's multifarious innards that had fallen out of him at one point or another. Rock's job was to inventory what was missing, what parts could be salvaged, and what parts would be too damaged to do anything but be recycled.
As Mega Man got to work, he couldn't help his attention wandering to the other end of the lab. The excitement of Team 5 was catching, and Rock very much wanted to know that Crystal Man was going to be up and about soon. It distracted his thoughts from his own missing family member.
"So what exactly is this?" Dr. Imahara asked, pointing to Crystal Man's unarmored chest. "I didn't see this in the schematics you showed me."
"That's because it's an upgrade, and you saw Crystal Man's original schematics." Crystal Bot squealed, happily clapping her hands even with a screwdriver in the way. "I'm a more advanced model for crystal generation, so he needs to be more powerful too. Man, that new shipment of transmodifiers took forever to get here, but we'll need all ten of them to make my dad operate at an efficient capacity."
"I can't wait to tell him all the things we've done since his day!" Star Man said. "He's going to want to know everything about my space station - he'll be so proud of what I've done to it!"
"I hope he still likes movies." Stone Man pondered. "He always used to like Bollywood. I got a whole bunch of them for him to see! I hope we're done with him soon, because I got one where an alien crashes into earth, and that one looks really good!"
"You're going to show me how to compress the transmodifier technology, Sona." Gravity Man frowned into Crystal Man's power core, poking at it with his wrench. "I don't see how we're going to fit all of them in here."
"Come on, Gravity-kun." Crystal Bot teased. "How many times have you worked on me and you still don't get it? It's not that hard."
"Actually, that's the part I'm the least worried about." Imahara bent down to examine the ten rectangular metal boxes below Crystal Man's repair table. "I think I know what Crystal Bot is going for. We're really going to have to cannibalize the transmodifiers, but if you tell me how the wiring is hooked into his power core, I'll be able to program the automated machinery to set them up."
"Okay, let's do that now." Crystal Bot gestured her team closer. "Everyone, please put the transmodifiers on the next repair table."
"I'll keep working on his power core while you guys do that." Gravity Man agreed. "Oh, hey Gyro Man, why don't you stick with me and keep a look out on the monitor to make sure his power level doesn't fluctuate."
"Okay..." A doubtful Gyro Man stepped out of Charge Man's path (nobody liked being in Charge Man's path) and went over to the little computer pillar next to Crystal Man's repair table. He tried not to trip over the long, orange wire that connected the beginning of the shiny-bot's neck to the pillar. "Um...how do I do this? I'm not exactly a tech."
"It's alright." Gravity Man pointed to the monitor embedded in the computer. "See that red line? Just make sure it stays in the green field and doesn't go too high or too low. Tell me if it does, and I'll handle it. You don't have to do anything hard."
Auto looked up from Centaur Man's remains and glared at the other robots. Now they weren't just being unhelpful, they were taking up more of his space. At that point Roll re-entered the room, merrily carrying Yamato Man over her shoulder. But of course she came in from the far door, so that she would have to pass by Crystal Man to get back to her side of the lab. And, since she was over there, she might as well have a look and see how Crystal Man was coming. Auto hmphed.
"Hey, Sona-chan!" Roll said, coming alongside her friend at the repair table with the transmodifiers. "I came up with a human name for Crystal Man. What do you think of 'Chris Tillman'?"
"Chris Tillman?" Crystal placed her transmodifier down to give the name a think. "Well, it's kind of simple, don't you...wait, I get it! It's 'Crystal Man' said differently! Oh, that's so creative!"
"Isn't it though? You should use it!"
"I like it." Charge Man placed his transmodifier next to Crystal Bot's. "It's better than what Crystal Bot came up with for me. I'm not sure I like Ishihara McKnight. It seems like a name for Knight Man rather than me."
"Well it's not like 'charge' is in any human last names. And knights charge." The girl-bot stuck her tongue out at him before turning back to the Light-bot. "Anyway, Roll-chan, I don't think I can come up with a better name than that. Aw, I guess my last name will have to be Tillman too. Sonata Tillman...that doesn't sound as cute as Sonata Costa!"
"Chris Costa..." Roll thought. "No, I like Tillman better."
Another hmph! from the other side of the room reminded Roll what she was doing. Roll quickly ushered poor Yamato Man to Auto's side, placing him in the repair table meant for him. Roll stretched her shoulder, making sure that the weight of Yamato Man hadn't dented the metal any.
"Alright, Roll." Auto came over to her, still rapidly waving his fan at his head. "Go ahead and bring Wind Man in. He'll fit on the last repair table over here. If we're lucky we'll get Team 6 done today. Oh, and try to be quicker about it this time, okay?"
Roll nervously chuckled. "Um, sorry, Auto! I'll be-"
Ding-Dong!
"Oh! That's the doorbell!" Roll said as she dashed off through the lab, again through the far door. "I'll be right back, Auto!"
The green repair-bot glowered, shooting a poof of steam out through his head. "Geez, how am I supposed to get any work done around here? I have the most unreliable help ever!"
Mega Man couldn't help but laugh. "Everyone's too excited today, Auto. They have a reason to be. Don't worry, by tomorrow we should be able to get back into the swing of things."
"You mean kick Team 5 back to their space station." Auto muttered, low enough for only Mega Man to hear. "Hmph!"
"I wonder who's at the door." Rock checked his chronometer as a hopeless Auto went back to Centaur Man. "Dr. Cossack isn't supposed to be back for another half hour. The meeting he was supposed to go to ends about now, but it's going to take a while for him to get back. Hmm...what meeting was that, anyway?"
"Oh, something about destruction recovery procedures." Auto lifted a piece of Centaur Man's head, examining it with one eye shut. "I think Dr. Cossack invented some sort of building support technology that will help in case of earthquakes."
"That makes sense. With so many of Monstropolis' buildings destroyed, now is a very good time to get that technology." Rock laid his notepad computer next to Cut Man. "Alright, I think he's all catalogued. Do you want to go through the broken parts? I think they're destroyed, but I'm not really...sure..."
Mega Man stopped. All the words dropped out of his head, and all his problems along with. He forgot all else that existed. There at the door was the red and grey robot who always appeared at the times he was least expected. This time was no different. Only moments ago he feared his brother was gone for good. Only now, there he was, standing in the doorway! Roll called out "look who's here!" but before she even finished, Mega Man (who heard nothing) was already there.
"Blues!" Rock threw his arms around his brother.
"Oof. Hey Rock. I'm back."
The room exploded with applause. As soon as Rock let go of his brother (and that took a while), Proto Man found himself surrounded. Numerous hands stuck out at him from every direction, all at once so that Proto Man had to use both his hands just to appease all of the hands. And even Auto, his projects forgotten, bounded over from the other side like an impatient rhinocerous. He scooped up Proto Man right off the floor, smothering poor Proto Man in Auto's biggest bear hug.
"BLUES! I missed you so much!"
"Erk! I missed you too, big guy. I'm not so sure I missed your hugs, though."
Auto did finally put Proto Man down, and as thankful as he was, Proto Man was still nervous. He surveyed the crowd around him timidly, and much to his annoyance they were all full of questions. So many, in fact, that it was hard to hear over all of them.
"I was hoping you'd get out!" Charge Man exclaimed. "I crossed all my fingers and made a wish on Star Man!"
"Um, thanks..." Proto Man rubbed the back of his neck uncertainly. "Huh, I wasn't expecting so many of you to be here..."
"Hey, we're your friends too." Gyro Man gave him a friendly punch in the shoulder. "We wanted you to make it out of the REA's hands."
"Congrats, Proto Man!" Napalm Man slapped him on the back. "Oh hey, let me shake your hand! I can do that now because I have hands now! You never saw my new hands!"
"I always knew they would release you." Wave Man said, gurgling with laughter as Napalm's huge hand dwarfed Proto Man's arm. "There's absolutely no way in the world a robot like you would be deleted!"
"It's great to finally meet you, Proto Man." the human greeted, managing to get a hand past the metal people. "I'm Dr. Kenneth Imahara-"
"Second cousin in-law of Dr. Light." Proto Man politely shook his hand. "I know. I did a background check on you when I found out that you were going to be inheriting a lot of Dr. Light's property."
"Oh, wow. I guess I should have expected that." Imahara chuckled. "So do I pass inspection?"
Proto Man let some playful doubt cross his face before letting it relax into a smile. "Yes. I've seen your records. You really need to get out of the house more."
"Hey, I like my work." Imahara shrugged. "You can't fault a guy for that."
"Aw, I got my daddy and Rock-kun got his brother back!" Crystal Bot clapped her hands together. "So wonderful!"
"Alright, alright everyone." Mega Man spoke up, making himself sure to be heard. "I'm sure we're all very curious, but let's give Proto Man some breathing room here. Come on in, Blues. Don't stand in the door."
Proto Man allowed his brother to lead him by the elbow to one of the center repair tables - the one meant for Wind Man, apparently. Proto Man still felt a bit awkward; he wasn't sure what Rock was trying to accomplish. He was now in the middle of the lab, but the crowd still followed him. He'd been hoping that only his family would be home. All he could do was shrug and pull himself onto the table so that he could sit down. The others packed around him like children at storytime.
"Well..." Proto Man managed. "I guess I might as well tell all of you all about it while you're here. I'm sure you have lots of questions."
"We have a ton!" Stone Man exclaimed. "Tell us everything! How did they let you off? When? You don't have to do any community service, do you?"
"What the hell is all this noise out here? Some of us are trying to read!"
Team 5 parted to reveal the speaker: Bass. The dark robot emerged from the A.I. lab and still holding War As I Knew It in his dangling left hand. The parting of 5 also revealed the source of the commotion without any explanation. It wasn't as if Bass needed any. His volume spoke enough for him. He spotted Proto Man and immediately frowned.
"Well, crap." a snarky Bass approached Proto Man. "I thought finally wasn't going to have to look at your ugly mug anymore."
Mega Man would've glared at Bass, only he was so flabbergasted he almost forgot how. How could someone, even someone like Bass, say something like that to someone who's been through as much as Proto Man?
"That's the one thing that sucks about being alive." Proto Man smirked. "I still have to put up with Bass' pathetic attempts at wit."
Forte laughed. "Screw you, Blues. Eh, good to see the REA actually made a smart decision for once." Bass glanced over at Rock. "See there? I said something nice about your brother. Don't have a heart attack, alright?"
Rock shook his head to hide his embarrasment. He'd forgotten how abrupt Bass' sense of humor was. At the same time, the doorbell rang again. As much as she didn't want to leave her brothers, Roll reluctantly went through the crowd to head out and answer it. She made sure Rock saw her annoyed glare before she left, though.
"Gee, a compliment from Bass." Proto Man rolled his eyes. "I'll treasure it forever."
"Of course you will." Bass let his smile drop, and at once his arms folded up in a sudden rise of contempt. "But in all seriousness, if you get off all those crimes you committed with less probation than I got stuck with, I'm going to punch you in the face."
"Relax. I've got probation for ten years." Proto Man admitted with a sigh. "I wasn't pardoned for everything. It was epionage and avoiding arrest that got me. The REA doesn't trust me completely, and..they're justified in feeling that way. I haven't given them too much reason to trust me. I'll just have to live with it. Technically I'll still be owned by Dr. Light's primary heir-"
Rock suddenly brightened. "You mean to say I'm going to be my brother's keeper?"
"Ha, I wish. Primary human heir. It'll be a long time before they ever let robots own robots." Proto Man glanced up at Dr. Imahara. "I hope I pass inspection. I'm your robot now."
At once the light in Imahara's eyes glowed and danced like a five year old after a Mountain Dew. He began to laugh, mostly inward laughs as he delightedly rubbed his hands together and disappeared into his thoughts. Star Man, a bit creeped out, edged away a couple of steps.
"All scientists are the same!" Mega Man couldn't help his amusement. "I've never met a scientist that didn't get that way when they got a piece of new technology!"
"Are you sure?" Star Man distanced himself another step from Dr. Imahara. "I can't imagine Dr. Light ever doing that."
Proto Man stiffened. He was definitely more on Star Man's side of that argument Being owned by someone was definitely something he was going to have to get used to. "Well, technically I won't be able to go to Dr. Imahara's lab for the next ten years. I'm legally restricted to the continental 48 states unless I get special permission. I'll have to stay with an REA agent until the probation is up."
"And by REA agent, he means me!" The newest guest of Light Laboratories, Harry S. Briggs, came up and plopped his hand right on Proto Man's helmet. "This guy's going to spend some time with his Uncle Harry."
"...HA! BA HAHA HAA!" Bass exploded. "Oh man, this is too good!"
"Y'know, Bass, I really hate you." Proto Man shook Brigg's hand away. "Really. A lot."
"But you're a Senator, not an agent." Wave Man said.
"That's true." Harry nodded. "But November the elections are coming up, and I don't know if I've got another round of fighting the press in me again. These modern people don't really like a smoker representing their state, you know? Besides, the wife's complaining I'm not home often enough. I guess I might want to see my kids again before they grow up and move out, so I'm just going to finish my term up, get back in the Robot Ethics Agency, and be done with it."
"You mean," Proto Man corrected. "You're getting out of office early just so that you can spend the next ten years bugging me."
"Exactly! Sharp as a tack, aren't you, kid?" Harry laughed, patting an indignant Proto Man on his head again. "Y'know, Rock, you've got spunk and all, but I'm sorry. Proto Man's my favorite robot."
Mega Man grinned wide, looking at his brother as he did so. "That's okay. He's my favorite robot too."
"Hey, what about me?" Roll stuck her hands on her hips with fake annoyance. "And I do so much work around here too."
"Alright." Rock put a hand on her shoulder. "It's a tie. I'm just glad we're a family again."
Proto Man nodded, though inwardly he still felt strange about the idea. He was so used to those barriers, inside and out, that told him he could never really be one of the Lights. But those barriers were gone now. Proto Man tried to release them in his heart. After all, he was here at the lab and free, surrounded by cheery friends all happy to see him. Blues shook off his futile emotions and paid more attention to the conversation around him. Team 5 wandered back to their repair table and Bass with them, but Proto Man's siblings, owner, and "Uncle" Harry still stood by, talking together.
"You're not going to take Blues away now, are you?" Roll asked Briggs as she clung to her eldest brother's arm. "He just got here!"
"No, no, of course not." Briggs patted Roll on the head. "I'm letting him stay here the rest of today. Besides, my house isn't too far from here. It's out in the country, only a couple of miles out of Monstropolis. You can visit him if you call ahead, and I'll haul him out here every so often. You'll actually get to see him a lot more, now that he's not going to be disappearing all the time."
"Now that's going to be hard to get used to." Proto Man said. "I don't know if I can stay in one place for too long..."
"Heh, nothing's impossible for Blues!" Briggs grinned. He slapped Proto Man on the back. "You'll do just fine. As soon as you live the good ol' boring life, you might find you like it."
"Not likely, Harry. Not likely." Distracted for a moment, Proto Man looked down, bending his right arm with a frown. "Hm, that feels weird. I should get that looked at. Crystal Bot, come here. There's something going on with my elbow bindings. Could you check it out?"
Crystal Bot looked up as she was addressed, but she didn't smile as she usually did. In fact, she seemed a little nervous. She even bit her lip. However, she didn't object. She merely stepped away from her team and pointed to a door.
"Okay. Here, I left my spare parts in this A.I. lab over here. I think I have some bindings I can replace yours with. If we have to. You might just need realignment."
"Excuse me a sec, bro." Proto Man smiled at his brother. "This'll only take a minute."
"What? Elbow trouble?" Mega Man asked. "That doesn't sound bad. Auto can fix you up."
"Auto? No, he's too busy. You see that huge pile of robots he has to work with. Crystal will fix me up, and then I'll come and help you and Auto. Well, as much as I can. I'm not exactly a technician. How does that sound?"
"Very good!" Auto exclaimed, much too loudly. "Hmph! See, Proto Man cares about me! Unlike some people with technical expertise..."
Dr. Imahara found himself under Auto's scrutinized glare, and he blushed. "Heh, sorry, Auto. I did come all this way to help you. Alright, let's get to work. Rock, you help me with Wood Man. A robot made out of wood? Seriously, Wily was a madman. A very daring madman, at that."
Mega Man glanced back at his brother uncertainly. Proto Man smiled, and there was nothing on his face that indicated anything was wrong. Rock shrugged and joined Dr. Imahara at the repair table holding Team 2's most unique robot. Proto Man followed Crystal Bot into the A.I. lab, careful to shut the door behind them. The girl-bot turned to him, clutching her arm. She didn't even bother to pretend searching for elbow bindings. She knew that Proto Man was fine.
"I got your message earlier. I didn't think it would take you this long to get here." Crystal Bot said, getting more nervous the more she looked at Blues. "Um, your memory chip is ready. I wasn't expecting you to need it again."
Proto Man felt his heart sink. It should only be natural that Crystal would be weird around him. Some people weren't as good at forgetting as others, and the poor girl was so darn sensitive. Still, Proto Man could only wish his old reputation would fade away faster.
"Okay. Where do I need to plug in?"
"Come sit on this repair table back here. I've got the memories on my handheld computer."
Proto Man silently complied, and as he lifted himself over the edge of the table to sit, Crystal Bot opened one of the cabinets under the computer console and rooted around. After a minute of pulling out various other machines and parts, Crystal emerged with a small handheld computer and the appropriate orange-red wire that hooked up into a robot's neck. She went over to him and plugged it in.
"I didn't tell anybody about it, not even Forte." Crystal Bot let her giggle and pride hide her timidity as she tapped on the buttons. "You should be glad I distracted him back in Russia by stealing your shield and using it as a sled. That was fun! Best of all, Forte never even asked what brought you to Dr. Cossack's lab in the first place. He completely forgot!"
"I had to find some way to keep my sensitive memories from the REA." Proto Man said. "They had to know the complete truth about me, but I couldn't let them find out about Mega Man X. I knew I could count on you to understand this. Thank you for keeping them for me. The REA bought my story of having an obsolete memory disc with some errors in it. Heh. You didn't try to hack into my memories, did you?"
She giggled again, a little more nervously this time. "Only a little. Definitely not after I found out...about you. Yeah. I figured maybe I didn't want to learn your Proto secrets so much after all."
With that, Crystal Bot laid the handheld beside Proto Man and took a few steps away. Blues sighed, but he could hardly blame Crystal Bot for feeling that way. She was such a child compared to most robots. Of course the knowledge of his crimes would scare her. But of course, this was a teachable moment, and Blues no longer felt the sting of the past.
"You're afraid because I've killed someone." Proto Man figured he might as well state the obvious. "Aren't you?"
"Um," Crystal Bot turned back to him nervously. "Yes. It's...it's so weird though. I don't feel this way about the Wily-bots. They've done lots of bad things and killed lots of people. This thing never used to scare me before. It's just...different somehow."
"There's two explanations for that." Proto Man replied. "The first is you never put a lot of thought into evil before. I wasn't there when you served Wily, but from knowing you I can guess that all you liked about evil is the infamy you earned working for Wily."
"It's not even that." Crystal Bot squirmed. "I just liked blowing stuff up and scaring people. I didn't want to hurt anybody. I didn't even know about half the bad stuff Wily ever did. I didn't even bother looking it up until I found out about you. But still, I knew that some people had to die because of what Wily did. It's weird, though. The robot masters were bad and stuff, but it seemed like the government always had it out for you way more than it did them."
"That's the second explanation. The REA expected more of me because I'm a Light-bot. You did too. Surely you've noticed that the Wily-bots have very narrow personalities. Most of them are goofy and one dimensional. The authorities expected more from me because I'm capable of broader thought. They thought I should have known better, and they were correct. I'm complex enough to understand morality. I have no excuse."
A beep sounded from the handheld. Proto Man checked his memory. Everything he had blanked out was now once again safely stored in his own CPU. Proto Man unplugged himself and laid the cord down on the table. Now unhindered, he went over to Crystal Bot. The girl-bot didn't step away as he approached, but her hands clutched each other tightly.
"You're more complex too, Crystal." Proto Man warned her. "You've based on X, making you the world's most advanced technology."
The girl-bot almost jumped. "But no! I was so clumsy and I have - had three brains just to make me work! I had to get rid of one to keep that virus from taking me over."
"That may be so, but you're still a complex robot. The REA has high expectations for you. And so do I." Proto Man looked her straight in the eye. "You're naiive in many ways, Crystal. I have to know you're mature enough to stay away from evil, no matter how much you liked serving Wily in the past."
"I am!" she nodded vigorously. "Being evil is scary! I...I didn't realize before how bad it was. But after I saw Leila at the testimonial hearing...well, before I just never knew how evil evil was." Growing more somber, the girl-bot stared down at her hands. She didn't have to be told that she could have been just as guilty as Proto Man, had Wily ever given her the order. She spoke again, slowly this time. "I never really put him together in my mind. I mean, there was always bad man Wily that they talked about on the news, and then there was Grandpa Wily to me. I didn't think they were the same thing until I found out about you. It's weird thinking of someone I'm so close to as being evil."
"You say this after he turned you into a mechaniloid?" Proto Man asked in disbelief. "He wasn't nice to you."
"Well yeah. I mean, being evil to me is one thing, but being really evil to other people, like humans and manipulating you and stuff, is something else. If he's mean to me, it's just personal drama." Crystal Bot sighed, her head drooping. "I really got on his nerves sometimes."
Proto Man put a hand on her shoulder. "Sonata, being mean to you is evil. You're a person like everyone else. And now that you know what evil is, you're going to stay away from it, yes?"
"Yes! I promise!"
"And you're not going to try and get Bass to fight my brother anymore?"
"No way!" Crystal Bot beamed. "Not after Rock found my dad. He even asked the REA to pardon him!"
"Have they answered yet?"
"No. They said they would decide when Dad's activated." Crystal shook her head, but happily. "They'll probably let him off because Wave Man says my dad's really practical and calm. He won't have a problem being a good guy."
"Good." Proto Man relaxed and stretched his perfectly functional arms. "Alright, let's go back. No need to get everyone else suspicious. I want to be able to spend as much of this day as possible with Rock before I have to go off with...ugh, Harry Briggs."
Proto Man groaned at the mention of his "uncle". Before he could head to the door, however, Crystal Bot suddenly snatched up his arm.
"Hey Proto-kun, wait a second." Crystal Bot quickly sent her hands into her cloak. "I got something for you. Did you know that you have a mom?"
Blues was tempted to roll his eyes. "I don't have a mother. But yes, I do know that Dr. Light was married many years ago to Azuma Ayumu."
"Aw, I wanted to be the first to tell you." Crystal Bot pouted. She even stomped her foot a little.
"Heh. You're a little late for that. When I found out that Dr. Imahara was inheriting most of Dr. Light's estate, I checked his background. It didn't take me long to find out he was a distant relation."
"Oh. Well, Mrs. Light was too your mom." Crystal finally produced what she was looking for. She pulled out a photograph from her cloak, handing it to him. "There she is, with Dr. Light a long time ago. I found that in one of Dr. Light's old college journals. In that same journal she did a sketch of your face. Someone wrote on the bottom that it was what their kid would look like if they had one. Forte-kun showed me what you look like without your helmet, and the sketch is definitely you. Therefore! She's your ommah-ni!"
Proto Man stared at the picture. It was strange. Somehow he got the feeling he'd seen it before. But when had that been? Something about the way the young couple enthusiastically smiled at the camera seemed familiar. It was weird to see Dr. Light so young. Proto Man had never seen Dr. Light when he had brown hair. That was before his time. As for Ayumu, well, it was clear to see in the picture why anyone would want to date her. She was beautiful, well-dressed, and friendly. Sure, some might call it an assumption to call her friendly from a simple picture, but all of her personality shined outward from the way she clutched at Thomas and pulled him into the camera's range. Proto Man could imagine how shy Dr. Light had been around her. The unsocial scientist wouldn't be so sure he knew how to handle relationships, but there she was beside him, making his eyes shine in a way Blues had only seen very rarely.
They were rare because they were the times Dr. Light looked at him. Light hadn't seen much of his oldest son in the last thirty years. Proto Man began to shake. He wanted desperately to look away from the picture, but he couldn't. There it was, the image of his parents, both gone away. The glitching came, and whatever self-control Proto Man had earned for himself over the years failed him.
"Proto-kun!" Crystal Bot exclaimed. "Why are you crying?"
The girl-bot at once went to comfort him, though Blues wished she wouldn't. It hurt too much to share with anyone else. Why wouldn't the dratted girl leave him alone? These were his parents, not hers.
"It's...Doctor Light." Proto Man, between sobs, tried to find the shortest words that would explain the most. "I'll never see him again..."
Much to his surprised, the tech-bot was only confused. "What are you talking about? Thirty years isn't so long a time for robots."
"What?" Proto Man lifted his head and forced down a glitch. "What are you talking about?"
"You didn't see what happened? Rock and Auto put his mind into a computer immediately after he died."
"I...I left." Blues answered slowly. "I didn't want to stay there when...it happened."
"Oh. Well, Dr. Light stored his mental data in a computer console. He's going to spend thirty years testing Mega Man X's morality A.I., and then he's going to wake up and be a hologram. Isn't that so cool?" The girl-bot grew gleeful. "Dr. Light is so smart! I wish he was going to be a robot instead, but it has something to do with brain data being too complex to fit on a small CPU. But anyway, a hologram isn't bad. Sometime when there's not so many people over, you should ask Rock to show you. He's really secretive about it - he won't let even me see - but since you're his brother of course he'll let you."
"So Dr. Light going to live?"
"Sure. Technically speaking he's alive right now." Crystal Bot patted his arm. "Aw, don't worry, Proto-kun! You'll get to see your daddy again. Now you take a minute to calm down before you go back out there. Yay! I got to tell you first! Aw, you're so cute being sensitive!"
Proto Man tried not to gag. He didn't like being babied. All the same, he took several deep breaths. The questions growing in his mind he hid away. Crystal Bot was right; it was too crowded to ask Mega Man all the questions he wanted to. He also wasn't certain if Dr. Imahara knew, and was willing to bet that Mega Man didn't want the irrascible Harry Briggs to find out anything. As for the picture, Blues tucked it into his armor. Crystal Bot didn't object; it wasn't her parents, so it wasn't her picture. Proto Man lifted a hand and gently shoved away hers. That was enough "comforting". Proto Man stiffly pulled himself into order. He didn't want to go out there and look like he'd been crying. Thankfully, his years of immense self-control hadn't left him - though it was a bit difficult not to let Crystal's sugary-sweet sympathy smile get to him.
"Thank you, Crystal Bot." Proto Man managed. "This really means a lot."
"No problem, Proto-kun." the girl-bot twirled about in a circle. "It's my job to make people happy! Now let's go out. We don't want people to get suspicious!"
They exited, Crystal Bot considerably more bouncy than she needed to be as they did. Proto Man let the excited girl-bot go on ahead of him. The crowd that was her family stood outside the door, except for Gravity Man and Napalm, who were gathering up Crystal Man and all the transmodifiers. Charge Man's back panel was open, and the two robots busily stuck their robot and their machinery inside his compartment. Bass was nowhere to be seen.
"I was just going to get you." Wave Man told Crystal Bot as he shoved in another transmodifier. "We're going back to the space station now. This lab is too crowded, and we have more or less what we need to complete Crystal Man. The station is orbiting close enough for us to leave now. Do you have your tools with you?"
"Oops!" Crystal Bot gasped. "I left some in the lab! Wait for me, Wave Man! I'll be just a minute!"
And with that, Crystal Bot rushed back by Proto Man and back into the A.I. lab. Proto Man shook his head at the silly girl-bot and headed to the other side of the lab where his family was. Finally Auto was satisfied: Dr. Imahara, now undistracted, was working on Wood Man. Mega Man helped him complete some wiring, and Harry Briggs, contrary to his nature, was actually staying out of the way. He only interfered every so often to give a completely unhelpful comment. Proto Man had never seen Briggs so well behaved.
"And...done!" Rock smiled with relief and put the pliers down next to Wood Man. Catching sight of his brother, Mega Man headed right that way. "Hey, Blues, is your elbow any better?"
"Sort of." Proto Man wiggled it a bit. "Crystal Bot did what she could, but I'm starting to think that the REA doesn't really know how to work on robots very well. I'm going to need an overhaul at some point."
"We'll have to get to that then." Mega Man offered. "We can work on the Wily-bots another day. We'll get you sorted out!"
"No thanks. Not today." Proto Man shook his head. "Today I want to do something I've never done in all my life."
"Oh? And what's that?"
"Spend some time working in the lab with my brother!" Proto Man merrily pulled his brother back to the others. "I'm not much of a technician, but I know a thing or two about CPU engineering, and I think I know how to use a power drill."
"Great! I don't know too much about CPUs, so that'll be a big help!" It was Mega Man's turn to lead his brother, and he pulled Proto Man over to where Cut Man lay. "Over here I need to install a new CPU. I was able to recover most of the data from Cut Man's old one, but I have to get him one of the standard issue CPUs now because no one makes his old version anymore."
"I can do that." Proto Man tapped the pillar computer next to Cut Man. "All his data is in here, right?"
"Sure is!" Auto exclaimed, lifting up a wrench to get their attention. "Hey Blues, make sure you make an extra copy of Cut Man's memories about volunteering to fight Zero! Wood Man's memory is damaged, and I want to make sure he knows why he's not working for Wily!"
"Definitely." Proto Man agreed. "I'll gather memories from all the robots that I can, just so the ones with damaged memories will have lots of evidence. It's not easy to fake memories, but some of them are bound to be suspicious anyway."
"In that case, I'll start working on cataloging the rest of the robots." Auto said. "Rock, you help me with that."
"I'll tackle Wood Man." Dr. Imahara whistled painfully at the pieces of wood on his repair table. "This guy has been through a lot. I'm going to have to cut out a new body of wood for him!"
"I guess I'll let you boys get to work on that." Roll gladly placed Wind Man down on his repair table, stretching her shoulder again. "I've got to get lunch going."
"And I'll stand here and look pretty!" Harry grinned. "I do it so well!"
"Hey Bass," Mega Man called out. "Would you mind getting some stuff from storage for us? We're going to need a lot of things. Oh, I mean if you're not busy."
Bass, who had found a seat by the main computer, now leaned back in the rolling chair far more than the chair was supposed to. His nose was buried in the autobiography, and he had just gotten to the part where General Patton made it to Europe. When Mega Man spoke, Bass peered out over the top of the book. His eyebrow twitched, hesitating just above a nasty glare.
"Eh, sure." Bass shrugged and placed the book on the console beside him. "It's not like I'm pretty enough to be lazy like Briggs over there."
The Senator burst out laughing. Proto Man, however, knew that laugh. It was the laugh that said, "you will soon pay for your out of order remark". Proto Man knew what went next. In just a couple of seconds, Briggs would lower his laugh volume and come back with a bitter comeback that was sure to make sure Bass knew which person in the room was the King of Wit. The red and grey robot knew what to do.
"Newsflash, Uncle Harry, you're not that pretty either." Proto Man didn't even bother looking from from his monitor. "Go help Bass and make yourself useful for once."
"What? I'm not pretty?" Briggs winked. "You say the most hurtful things, kid."
Despite Briggs' comment, Proto Man knew he wasn't at all disheartened. Now the human could joke and pester Bass' to his hearts content, and the supplies would thus get to the lab faster. Only for a moment did Bass think Proto Man meant to support him. It took him a second to realize Proto Man's true intent, and the dark robot made sure to glare at Blues as he accepted the supply list from Auto.
Proto Man never really cared that much for repair work, so it surprised him when he found himself enjoying the work. Well, not the work, exactly. Only Auto and Dr. Imahara really knew what they were doing, and the others had to be constantly corrected. Not that the scientists minded. Dr. Imahara never tired of work, leaving the others to wonder what would happen when they finished (if they ever would, at that rate). Still, the conversation was cheery, homey, and quite regular. Proto Man had never had many frivolous conversations, but here he was, having a nice time talking about whatever with his family and friends. Surprisingly, that applied to Bass too, who started up a converstation about World War I tanks. It turned out Bass was good at installing limbs, as that was one of the few things Crystal Bot had managed to teach him while they were in Russia. That got him off "go-fer" duty. Of course, Harry didn't like doing anything by himself, so Auto had him at another repair table scrubbing the carbon scoring out of Team 6's armor. Soon enough, the smell of lunch was in the air, and the humans cheered up even more.
Blues looked up from his computer. He'd been working on robot memories for half an hour, but he was happier than he had ever been since...since when, really? He smiled at everyone, keeping his head down so that no one would see. And no one did - besides Mega Man of course, who smiled right back.
"Hello, everyone! We're back!" Dive Man announced, breaking the tone of the room immediately. "The Cossack family return - wha? Is that Proto Man?"
Even as Dive Man spoke, both Cossacks and their grim bodyguard-bots stopped in their tracks - mostly because the shocked Dive Man stood in the door. Kalinka peeped over his shoulder, and the very instant she saw her favorite robot she let out a squeal. Skull Man shoved his aquatic brother out of the way, letting loose a very excited Kalinka. Dr. Cossack and Pharoah Man came in more calmly, but they were headed for Proto Man nonetheless.
Proto Man let out a fake groan; here came another wave of bear hugs and handshakes. Of course, he wasn't at all upset. He was as excited to see the Cossacks as they were to see him.
-t-
The last time Crystal Bot had been in the space station was months ago, and the place had changed significantly. The first time she'd gone with her team to clean the place up. Wily had abandoned it after the MM5 scheme. The cold place at that point hadn't even been capable of holding organic life. It was nothing more than carved rock, metal beams, unpowered death spikes, and the few mechaniloids wandering about that had survived Mega Man's attack on the place. Star Man's last act as Mega Man came to defeat him those many years ago was to set up an anti-inward teleport field so that the authorities couldn't reach it. Of course, he'd been hoping that Wily would want to go back. Wily didn't.
That past year, however, a change to the good side brought the station new life. Star Man and Team 5 were allowed to return, and now the place was a stunning display of modern technology with an old, 1970's space fiction flair to the design. Everyone liked that much better than modern designs. After all, where else but the 70's would you find such brilliant colors, bizarro style, and gracefully huge windows? Crystal Bot liked the new railing along the bottoms of the windows, with its gleaming reddish and green streaked color. She loved the frequent display panels, the highly polished floors, and the daring red numbers painted on every deck and door, all connected by a red stripe along the wall. But still, she found herself focusing on that silly railing.
The whole place was redesigned by Star Man and a human designer that Sonata hadn't met. Of course the place was now pressurized, and humans dwelt on the station. Team 5 was still in its own probation, and there were plenty of scientists that wanted to come up anyway. Crystal Bot understood, but that didn't mean she liked it. Fortunately, room 5-92 was there, and it was hers. She'd been working very hard on repairing her father, but for the moment she wanted a short break. The girl-bot held her palm over the doorplate of 5-92, and the two double doors pulled away to reveal her own personal laboratory.
Since leaving Wily, Crystal Bot worked for Bass. She'd only seen this place for the first time a few weeks ago. As such, as nice as it was, it really wasn't up to par. Crystal Bot's standards were truly high, but they were at least sated by this lab.
It wasn't a big place, by any means. That was fine. Crystal Bot didn't want it too big to attract the attention of other scientists. Aside from the door and the wall immediately across it, the room was oval in shape, wider than it was long. To the left was the automated machine, enclosed with a tempered and blue-tinted transparent alluminum cover. On the left side closer to the door were Crystal Bot's machine controls, comm center, and research computer. The upper left corner was similarly decked out, though it had less counterspace. Most of the room on the right side was taken up by an adjustible repair table. The far right part of the wall held the shelving units, little square cubbies for her materials.
Crystal Bot ignored all of it. Instead she went straight across the room. That flat wall was covered in tools, each firmly put in place. She ignored those too. Instead she reached down and hovered her hand over the handle of a cordless hammer drill. Then she backed away two steps as the wall came forward, opening up. The space inside? Remarkably boring. It was little more than a shallow closet, with nothing obvious inside.
Crystal entered this "closet", letting the wall close in behind her. As it hit the closed position, it locked into place with a thunk and the mechanical clicks and clunks of unseen machinery. All light disappeared. More gears spun, and the featureless room went downward. Moments later, opposite wall panel slid away to reveal an entirely different lab. This one didn't quite meet up to her standards either, but that was Crystal's own fault. The tools and gadgets and gizmos all spread out under the repair table and all across the floor of the slant-roof lab were all the results of Crystal Bot's tinkering. It was her glorious mess.
But the most glorious part of the room was Zero.
Sonata daintily strolled up to the massive robot laying there on the repair table, letting her feet kick in celebration now that she knew no one could see. She clapped her hands, giggled as loudly as she dared, then patted Zero on the cheek. Reaching down, she touched his neck and activated him.
"Wakey, wakey, Zero buddy!"
His eyes opened, though only to a squint. He twitched uncomfortably, and though he moved his hands upwards, they barely rose an inch and did that only with shaking. All Zero had the energy to do was turn his head to the shiny girl-bot and glare. Crystal Bot was fine with that. She giggled delightedly, then promptly planted her elbows on Zero's chest and rested her head on her hands.
"Hey, Zero! I hooked you up with a standard robotic power core! Doesn't it suuuuuuuuuuuck?"
With all the energy he could muster, Zero forced his lip into an upward sneer. Crystal laughed louder.
"I know you don't like it, Zero. You're so underpowered with this model power core." She tapped on his chest for emphasis. "But I didn't want you going and messing up my little setup. I just want you to be awake enough to listen. First of all, remember to be grateful! I worked so hard to hide you on the space station. I had to keep both Mega Man's end and our end free of prying eyes. It wasn't easy, you know!"
Crystal Bot winked at him before continuing. "I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, 'well, gee, Crystal Bot, how did you trick the authorities?' I have to admit, I had a little help. My grandpa was in the hospital, and he wasn't going to live for much longer, so he told me a little secret: there's a replica of you hidden up in Canada! You have no idea what kind of trouble I had to go through to get it! I mean, it wasn't too hard to pretend it's replacement supplies, but then I had to replicate all the damage you went through so that it would trick the Robotic Ethics Association. But I'm a true genius, and so all of it worked out just fine!"
Crystal lifted herself off of Zero's chest and spun around as she boasted, letting her green coat twirl about her. She suddenly wished she had a fancier dress with a long skirt to twirl in, but it was a bit late to be thinking of that.
"And so now you're my robot." Crystal Bot neared him again, not at all afraid of the way his arms shook with fury. "Oh, you thought you had me with that whole virus thing, didn't you? Aw, that's so cute. But no, I figured you out. It took a lot of careful work with my pipi, but I managed to find the problem."
Crystal tapped the forehead of his helmet, and where once had been a blue gem was now an empty space. "It was up here. Your new radio wave technology. Well, it's not really 'radio' because it's more advanced, but you know what I mean. Radio-ish. That's how you were transmitting the virus. Weird, though. I mean, Dr. Wily goes through all this trouble just to build you, and then he makes your transmit gem so fragile. As much as I'd like to study that technology, I can't risk the virus. I had the gem burned up. It took a lot of work, but the thing's gone now. There's going to be no more of this 'Lord Zero' silliness, okay? You savvy?"
She giggled, not bothering to see if Zero responded. She liked the word "savvy". It was now her new word, and she was going to say it as often as she liked.
"You're wondering why I saved you, aren't you?" Crystal leaned over him, stroking his long hair. It was simply too nice to resist. "It's because of Mega Man X. Well, his brain, really. I have a brain like his. Sort of. It's similar enough. Robots like us...how should I say this? Let's just say it's really hard to be a robot like me and X. We've got all these confusing emotions that don't really make much sense. We're supposed to be more human. Sheesh, if having more complex emotions and understanding makes us more human, it really must be hard being one of them. There's just so much of myself that I don't understand...it really sucks."
Crystal Bot leaned over Zero, poking his nose. "It's not so bad for me. I have my Forte-kun, and he's so smart! Dr. Light told him a bunch of stuff about how my brain works, and Forte watches out for me. He's my best friend in the whole world, and I'd be really sad without him. That's where you come in. I have a friend, but Mega Man X doesn't. He's going to wake up in three years and find that nobody's like him. He'll feel all alone. I've got my team and Forte to work with, so I don't have the time to be the good friend that X needs. So I want you to be his friend. You've got a brain like X's because Dr. Wily stole the technology from him. That way he'll be your friend too, and you won't be lonely.
"Still, you've got several years before X is ready to wake up, and you've got to learn to be a good guy. I found some ethics programs that Dr. Light had in his lab and he's using them to test X's morality too. It won't be the same because Dr. Light himself is testing X, but you'll at least have something in common with X when he wakes up. You'll have something to talk about. I'll be nice to you too! Until X wakes up, I'll come here and read you stories and the newspaper. That way you can learn all about the world and all the nice people in it. I hope you like Korea as much as I do, because I have so many Korea books! If you're nice, I'll give you enough power to tell me what you like and what you don't like. But you have to be nice."
Sonata pulled a zip drive out of her hood. She stuck it in Zero's neck. "There you are. Those are your morality programs. Dr. Light made them specially for Forte, but I've adapted them to work on you. Don't try to resist. I've already taken down your firewall. They won't hurt you, so don't worry about that. Also, don't worry about your power core. I don't know how to make more fortenium, but I've got some clues how. It's going to take a lot of research, but I can do it...eventually. I've got thirty years, at least. And you've got thirty years to prove that I can trust you. If you're mean, I'll blow you up. But if you're nice, you get to be X's friend and live. Don't worry about the government. If the Lights like you enough, they'll arrange a pardon for you. It's so nice to have connections! Time to go to sleep mode! Nighty night!"
With that, Crystal Bot did as she said, and Zero's eyes shut as he went into sleep mode. He wasn't deactivated, as his eyes proved by moving frantically under his closed lids. Crystal frowned, judging him for a moment. After a minute, she shrugged and patted his hands, gently placing them on his abdomen. He looked more like a gentle sleeper that way.
"I'll be back later to read you from my history book, Zero." Crystal said over her shoulder as she headed back to her secret elevator. "You'll like Yi Sun Sin. He's a general that never lost a battle! He once defeated 133 Japanese boats with only 12 on his side! Isn't that so cool?"
Crystal Bot deactivated the lights and headed back into her normal lab. The echo of her giggling followed her all the way up. Zero heard none of it, but slept more or less peacefully as the morality programs went to work.
\\\\\\\
Author's Notes:
- You didn't think I was just going to leave Zero dead, did you? Pssht. Anyway, Yi Sun Sin is a real Korean general that lived a long time ago, and the aforementioned battle was real. Many accounts say Yi had 13 ships instead of twelve, but the thirteenth is claimed to be a "spirit ship". Admiral Yi is also known for his use of the Kapuksan, turtle ship, which is essentially an armored boat shaped more or less like a turtle.
- I hope you like Proto Man's and Zero's ending. Man, and to think back when I was writing How Many I didn't have a clue as to what I was going to do with him. He sort of took a life of his own. It always bothered me in the games that PM never liked Dr. Light. You'd think that the closer he got to Mega Man the more accepting he'd be of his creator. So there has to be a legitimate reason why PM feared he could never go back home. And thus his plotline was born.
Character Profiles!
=====Dive Man
"Yuck. I feel seasick. Bleah."
Good point: Keen ear
Bad point: Motion sickness
Like: Coral reefs
Dislike: Pirate Man
Dive Man is one of the four robots Dr. Cossack was first working on right when Dr. Wily kidnapped Kalinka. As such, he was activated as a bad guy, and a devious one at that. He loved his underwater fortress, and was quite happy to fight Mega Man during the MM4 scheme. However, while tricky, he didn't prove to be too much of a threat to Mega Man and was one of the bomber's earliest victims.
For two years Dive Man, as well as the rest of his siblings, were held at the robot museum in Monstropolis, California. At this point, Dr. Cossack had already reprogrammed him, and was trying to convince the authorities to let his robot go. Dr. Cossack didn't much appreciate Americans holding his robots, but the REA could hardly be blamed for wanting to keep a threat in check. Ironically, letting Cossack have his robots back proved a lot safer than keeping them in the robot museum, but that's another topic.
In any case, Dr. Cossack got most of his robots back (it took another year to get Pharoah, Skull, and Ring Man back), and immediately Dive Man was appalled at his past. He was very pleased with his creator for saving him from being destroyed, and as a result was instantly extremely loyal to Dr. Cossack. Dive Man became very afraid that someone was going to reprogram him again, so he added a loyalty failsafe to his own mind and passlocked it several times. He boasted that not even Dr. Wily could get past that failsafe, but he was never captured again, so he never knew for sure.
One of the first things Dive Man did when he was back in Russia was go to check on his former robot master fortress. He really liked it, especially the whales that were in it. He convinced Dr. Cossack to build more of the whale-bots to protect Russian waters. The Russian government decided that it would be Dive Man's job to maintain and oversee operations of these robots in the Pacific Ocean (under Russian guidance, of course), and Dive Man generally does the same sort of job that Splash Woman does, only Dive Man has more authority in his country.
Also, Dive Man is authorized to leave familiar territory to persue underwater threats to Russia. Namely, Wily robots. He and Bubble Man frequently fought, though Dive Man and his mechaniloids managed to keep him under control. Pirate Man replaced Bubble as Dive Man's rival shortly after MM7, and proved a worse threat. Or perhaps just more annoying. Pirate Man didn't care so much about actually attacking Russia as he did about getting treasure and aggravating the Cossack-bot. Pirate Man even stashed his loot once in one the whale-bots to get the loot past one of Dive Man's blockades. Just his luck, that particular whale was due for scheduled maintenance that day. Dive Man never let him live it down.
One day, Dive Man began to hear rumors of a mermaid across the ocean. Making some pitiful excuse about Pirate Man, Dive Man headed for the Californian coast. He there encountered Splash Woman for the first time. Dive Man admired her very much, and even though he technically had more power than her, he considered her an equal and possibly even superior. He was always impressed that Splash Woman could control not only her mechaniloids with her ocarina, but also real sea animals. Dive Man programmed his mechaniloids so that they also would listen to her, but he's been far too shy to actually tell Splash Woman about it. Pirate Man encountered Dive Man one day when he was on the way to Monstropolis, and that was when they both discovered how much the other liked Splash Woman. A bitter rivalry, and headaches for Splash Woman, ensued.
During the Team 9 scheme, Dive Man had hoped to somehow save Splash Woman so that she didn't have to fight Mega Man, but he got there too late. He was the one who brought Splash Woman's remains to Light Laboratories. He beat Pirate Man, though, and he never let the latter live it down. As much as Dive Man isn't good at comebacks against Pirate Man, he's the superior of the two in actions.
Of course, you know that Dive Man's rivalry led him to fight Zero. And that got him nowhere, both against Zero, in Splash Woman's eyes, and with his master. He was the first volunteer repaired by Auto, mainly because Dr. Cossack was on his way. No, Dive Man didn't ask Dr. Cossack's permission first. He claimed he merely happened to find out about Zero when he was "in the neighborhood". Cossack knows better than to believe him. Dive feels a little guilty about this, but Dr. Cossack isn't mad about it. He managed to get the truth out of Dive, and now he thinks it's funny.
=====Bright Man
"Something comes to me in a flash!"
Good point: Long on ideas
Bad point: Talks too much
Likes: Invention
Dislikes: Unmoral districts
Bright Man is Cossack's tech-bot, though he's not as good as Auto in a lab. Bright Man is classy, witty, and mildly stuck up. He was designed to provide emergency power and light in case of an emergency in Dr. Cossack's lab. Thus, Bright Man is designed to know just about anything about Dr. Cossack's lab. That made him Wily's prime target when Wily wanted to initiate the MM4 scheme. Wily stole the incomplete Bright Man's CPU and gained access to Cossack's computers.
Bright Man never fully forgave himself for this, even after Dr. Cossack recovered and reprogrammed him. However, over time he grew more secure in himself, and he spent the years since MM4 working by Dr. Cossack's side and assisting with his biological experiments, as well as shouldering the burden of much of Cossack's robotics work. He maintains the robots of the Russian lab, and as much autonomy, just like most of the other Cossack-bots.
He gets along very well with his siblings, though personally he wishes they were more talkative. Dust Man is gloomy and Skull Man is scary, but generally Ring Man is a pretty good friend of his. Bright Man wasn't so sure he would like Ring Man at first, because Ring Man was Dr. Wily's idea. However, Ring Man is the most normal of the Cossack-bots (including Bright Man), so his fears were unfounded. He and Toad Man get along pretty good as well, though Bright makes sure to stay out of the greenhouse whenever Toad Man is at work.
Bright Man was a bit less than happy when Dr. Cossack decided to let Bass and Crystal Bot stay in their laboratory, but he couldn't object. Bass turned out to be away most of the time, for which Bright Man was only thankful early on. Very quickly Bright Man realized that Bass was the only person that could really keep Crystal Bot under control, and the girl-bot amused herself frequently by annoying Bright Man with her silly pranks. He is happy she's gone, but is pretty grateful for the chance to learn from her knowlege. Still, he doesn't want her coming back any time soon.
Only Pharoah, Skull, and Dive Man are in Monstropolis right now. Bright Man is back in Russia taking care of the lab while the doctor is away. He's trying to keep Drill Man from having a "robot party" in the basement.