The sun set slowly, the skies turning orange, pink, purple and other marvelous pigments, signaling the arrival of dusk. A deep, smoking crater contrasted sharply against the soft greens and browns of the surrounding forest. Within the crater, the wreckage of Ouroboros lay, faintly glowing red as if it were covered with the blood of a radioactive monster. Fragments of the ship, in assorted sizes, were haphazardly placed all across the crash site. Some had miniature craters all their own.
A pile of rubble began moving. Crashes, bangs, and argumentative voices were heard from inside.
"Move over, you idiot! How am I supposed to blast down the wall if you're in front of it?"
"I would move, if a certain reploid on top of me gave me the chance to!"
"CURRENT SITUATION INESCAPABLE."
"No shit, Sherlock!"
"DESIST VOCAL FUNCTIONS OR BE TERMINATED."
"I love you too."
"COMMENCING DESTRUCTION OF TARGET."
"And just how do you plan on doing that?"
"RESPONSE; LIKE THIS."
More thuds, scraping noises, and other sounds came from the pile along with some yelps and grunts. Without warning the pile was blasted apart, two bodies sent flying out from inside. A third walked out of the hole that had been created, looking down at one of the humanoid projectiles.
"I told you to move over," said the third. The figure was female with orange armour, yellow horns decorating her blocky frame. She held two large knuckle busters, one in each hand.
"Geeze, Atlas, that really hurt!" responded the one she had been looking at. He was younger in appearance than her and wore streamlined blue armor. There was a ponytail-like projection on his head which was broken in places, along with the fractured fins on other parts of his body
"Then it sucks to be you, Thetis." Atlas replied. She walked over to where the first body had been flung, kicking roughly in the back when she arrived.
"Wakey wakey, Siarnaq." Siarnaq partially rolled over, giving his assailant a rather rude gesture with his middle finger.
"TERMINATION OF NEW TARGET TO COMMENCE WHEN BODILY FUNCTIONS STABILIZE," stated the purple ninja, his red scarf just as tattered looking as the rest of him.
"Hey Thetis, I think I made him mad!" Atlas shouted back at Thetis, even though the statement was more directed at the man on the ground in front of her. She received a sudden kick in the stomach for her efforts.
"BODILY FUNCTIONS STABLE. PREPARE TO DIE."
"Glad you're okay," wheezed Atlas sarcastically.
A new voice cut in, interrupting any hopes for a fight.
"And now that you know that you're all okay, could one of you fools GET OVER HERE AND HELP ME OUT ALREADY!"
The trio looked around. Within a couple of seconds, they spotted the source of the demanding male voice. It came from underneath a mattress-sized chunk of Ouroboros' wall, or was it the floor? They'd both looked the same, so whatever. Two armored legs were protruding out from underneath it, one bent as if its owner had tried to free himself and failed miserably.
"Aeolus? Is that you?" asked Atlas, trotting over.
"Yes it's me! Now get me out!" The green Mega Man shot back angrily.
"Okay, okay, just give us a second" Atlas said. She grabbed the chunk, fingers digging in ruthlessly, and threw it aside with her superhuman strength.
"About time," snapped Aeolus, getting up.
"A thank you would've been nice."
"I guess I'm not nice, then," Aeolus snapped as he turned his back on Atlas, his metallic wings bent and misshapen.
The two walked back over to where Siarnaq and Thetis were standing on yet another fragment, rubbing at various injuries. All four of the Mega Men were battered and bruised, but the two were particularly worse off after Atlas' attack.
"What the heck happened, anyways?" asked Thetis, looking at a nasty scrape on his arm.
"I don't know. All I remember is trying to get to Albert, then getting in a fight with that Guardian leader, the Model ZX." answered Atlas.
"Then that stupid talking biometal, Model Z, did something weird to us. Temporarily froze us, I think." Aeolus added, putting a hand to his hurting temple.
"Actually, I did more than that." The group turned around to where the voice had come from.
"MODEL Z!" They roared in unison, pointing their weapons at the red floating object that had appeared, the Model Z biometal.
"Well, at least you remember me," said Model Z with an exasperated tone.
"How did you survive the crash? Just what did you do to us? Explain this instant!" demanded Aeolus.
"For your first question, Aeolus, let's just say that you make a great meatshield."
The vein on Aeolus' head bulged.
"And as for your second question...why ask me? Just ask your biometals," it explained.
"Ask our biometals? How're we supposed to do that? They don't talk!" inquired Thetis.
"We do now," said a feminine voice. Thetis was suddenly forced out of his megamerged state as the blue biometal, Model L, began to float in front of him. The same happened to the other three.
"Huh? What the-?" was all they could stutter, Atlas, Aeolus and Thetis all gasping or yelping in shock while Siarnaq, stunned, just widened his eyes.
"Oh, come on, we aren't all mutes," said Atlas' orange biometal, Model F.
"Before Albert gave us to you, he suppressed our minds so that we couldn't object to the way we were being treated," Model H explained.
"But now, thanks to Model Z, we are back to normal," finished Model P.
The former mega men kept staring in disbelief. Thetis finally spoke up.
"So, does this mean that you don't wanna work with us anymore...?"
The five biometals shared a quick glance with each other before looking back to the Mega Men.
"Not unless you promise us something," said Model L.
"Anything!"
"Quit hurting innocent people in order to achieve your own goals. From now on, fight for justice and truth. Protect those you once sought to destroy, and if you still wish to attain your old goals, then do it so that it will also create peace and happiness for others." Model Z stated.
The Mega Men shifted, gazing at each other and at their biometals. None of them was quite sure how to respond. An uneasy atmosphere settled over the whole group. No one spoke for several minutes.
Then Thetis spoke up again, "All I ever wanted to do is to save the environment. I'll try my best not to not to hurt others, if you'll still help me, Model L."
If she had been able to, Model L would have smiled, "Yes, I'll help you. Saving the environment is a noble cause, one that I fully support." She returned to Thetis, and they merged.
The dark atmosphere returned, despite Thetis' smiling. That is, until Model F turned to Model Z. "You know, instead of that cheesy speech you could've just told them to go and work for those awesome government guys, you know, Legion?"
"My speech was not cheesy," Model Z snarked.
"Uh, it totally was."
"No it wasn't."
"Yes, it was."
"No. It. Was. Not."
"Was."
"Was not."
"Was!"
"Was. Not!"
"WAS!."
"WAS NOT!"
Their argument continued, breaking the atmosphere. Everyone watching smirked, even Siarnaq, although you couldn't see it under his scarf. Aeolus lowered his head for a moment, then raised it again.
"I could do that." Everyone turned to face him, except for Model Z and F, who were attempting a fight which proved considerably harder since they were floating rocks without appendages. As such they had resorted to tackling one other rather ungracefully.
"I think I could too. Join Legion and fight for the 'good guys', that is," Atlas added.
"AFFIRMATIVE," droned Siarnaq.
"Work for Legion? Great idea! I'm in!" yelled Thetis enthusiastically.
"It's decided, then!" Model F said as he flung himself at Model Z one last time, sending the red biometal flying into a small boulder before floating over to Atlas himself.
"We're going to Legion!"
The other biometals went to their respective Mega Men and merged, leaving Model Z to float dizzily back to his previous position. Quickly shaking himself out of his stupor, the biometal triumphantly announced;
"Then forward we go, to our new futures! To Legion!"
Wind howled past as the group stood, ready to head off to their new destinies. Across the stark landscape Ouroboros' scattered corpse glowed eerily, visible even in the dark left behind from the sun setting a few minutes ago. The mangled pieces of the ship cast shadows over everything that was not illuminated by its dim red light, the moon and stars nowhere to be seen. Several tense minutes passed.
"Uh, guys? Which direction is Legion anyway?"
Everyone except Thetis, the one who had spoken, crashed to the floor in an outraged stupor. Within a second, they'd gotten back up. Before they could begin any sort of arguments, however, the platform they were on began to shift.
"What the hell? I thought the Ouroboros was dead!"
"I did too!"
"Uooooh..." moaned the rock.
"Is it still alive? Impossible!"
"RESPONSE; OUROBOROS CRASHED, SYSTEMS CANNOT HAVE REMAINED OPERABLE."
Terror rose in the mega men's systems as they felt a new aura radiate from the piece of rubble.
"Ooooooaaaaahhooooooooooohhhh..." The rock shifted again, this time more frantically.
"Let's get outta here!" screamed Thetis as he bolted off the platform and away into the distance.
"Wait for us!" the other Mega Men ran quickly in the same direction.
"Wait for me!" Model Z yelled, doing his best to catch up despite having no legs.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
"Urgh... Ahh... Grngh..."
The rock kept shifting long after the Mega Men had run off.
"Almost... there... Gk..."
It began to lift into the air.
"HRROOOAAAARR!" The rock flew, landing with a clatter ten feet away from where it had been only moments before.
"Heh heh... got it..." A figure with glowing red eyes and long white hair stood up, brushing off dust and grit from the immense boulder he had just thrown.
"Damn, that was one hell of a wakeup call."