By the time Mega Man and Roll arrived in Los Angeles, they saw a scene characteristic of the type of chaos Dr. Wily liked to enact—however, neither Dr. Wily nor his robots were anywhere to be seen. Still, it was not difficult to know where to go—for a section of the city was obscured by a purple haze, below it the streets were scored and leveled and looked like dirt racing tracks while gigantic thorny vines covered the remaining skyscrapers, twitching and shifting as they grew denser like a mess of exposed arteries.
"Yikes! Wily's back with a vengeance!" remarked Roll, goggling at the bizarre destruction from the cockpit of the air raider. "Weird he attacked L.A. Instead of New York like he usually does though."
Mega Man frowned. The purple cloud, the otherwordly vines crackling with purple energy… "Are we sure this is Wily?"
"Looks like mad science to me. Who else would it be?"
"Well…something about this kinda reminds me of…Lotos…" A prickle ran down the back of Mega Man's neck at the name.
"…But Lotos was destroyed, right?"
"We were never sure," Mega Man reminded her. Actually, the whole end of Lotos's mayhem in New York City had always been murky, like trying to recall a distant memory.
Exchanging uneasy glances, Mega Man and Roll dropped altitude, the air raider shaking as the radiation began to interfere with its flight stabilization. Landing in an empty intersection in what was almost a crash, Mega Man and Roll quickly leaped out to assess the situation.
It was even eerier at street level. With the vine covered-buildings looming above them and the bulldozed streets all around them, it felt less like they were in L.A. and more like they were on a strange, post-apocalyptic planet where anarchy reigned. Mega Man would have welcomed the sight of Cut Man, Guts Man, or even Dr. Wily (for once, his presence would have grounded the situation in reality!). Instead, they heard a loud whirring noise, something like a speeding dirtbike—small pebbles dancing across the broken street as the ground rumbled. A prickling sense of panic began to rise in Mega Man. Then, they saw it—a large spiked ball had whipped around the corner of another intersection and was tearing straight toward them.
"Look! That must be the cause of all the destruction!" cried Roll.
Both Mega Man and Roll took battle stances, Mega Man with his blaster drawn, Roll with a circular saw ready, Rush growling with ears back. But the spiked ball slowed as it rolled up to them, then unfolded into what looked like a collection of assorted meat tenderizers and metal hoses assembled into the vague shape of a red and black robot. Sickly purple flames smoldered silently around his armor.
"Alright, bad guy, your unlawful demolition streak ends here!" Mega Man called out more confidently than he felt. This robot looked quite intimidating. "…Just who are you?"
"Hellrazor," the robot answered shortly, his voice deep and booming. He seemed to be watching them curiously, his glowing yellow eyes narrowing, his form stoic and unperturbed by the weapons aimed at him. "Welcome to my 'arena.'"
"Whoa, awesome!" Roll whispered to Mega Man, her eyebrows raised, clearly impressed. "Maybe you're right, I can't see Dr. Wily building anything that cool! Yet…something's off. He's covered in purple flames, like that cyclops monster at Red Gulch—which would mean—"
"Evil energy!" Mega Man muttered back.
Quint and Dr. Cossack had told them a little about evil energy back at Red Gulch. Evil energy had been responsible for Lotos's 'magic', and also a gigantic cyclops giant called 'Dark Moon' who had attacked Red Gulch. This was very bad indeed.
"Could it be Lotos in disguise?" Roll whispered again.
"I…don't think so…" Mega Man murmured, though there did seem to be something vaguely familiar about Hellrazor…
A shadow passed over Roll's face. To Mega Man's surprise, she began shaking with fury. "Well, whoever he is, we gotta take him down! As revenge. If it hadn't been for that evil energy monster at Red Gulch, Snake Man would still be alive!"
"No, wait!" Mega Man called as Roll charged. "Only alien energy can fight alien energy!"
If Roll had remembered this, she didn't seem to care. She gave a warlike cry, leaping into the air while firing nonstop at Hellrazor. The blades hit home, but in a flare of purple flames, bounced off and crumbled into dust. Then Hellrazor lashed out with a long, tubular arm like a flail—catching Roll across the waist, and swinging her like a catapult two hundred feet behind him. In quick succession, the flair arm caught Rush next, sending him sailing after Roll, Rush yowling the entire way.
That left Mega Man. Mega Man tensed, his blaster still raised, yet, strangely, found himself unable to fire, or even move. Hellrazor also hesitated, his flail arm dropping to the ground as he contemplated Mega Man, his narrowed eyes becoming yellow slits.
A strange haziness settled into Mega Man. He blinked—everything had gone all murky and vague—Hellrazor had become a hulking shadow. A field of flames fanned out around them. Mega Man thought he heard a distant snicker, but it didn't sound like Hellrazor. In fact, it seemed to be coming from somewhere just behind him—
Wait… Mega Man stared at Hellrazor incredulously over his raised blaster. This is like my dreams…
Shaking himself, Mega Man blinked again, hard. The field of flames vanished. Hellrazor was no longer a shadow, but a blazing figure of purple flames. Still, both Hellrazor and Mega Man continued to hesitate as they looked at each other.
Then, Hellrazor's body dipped forward in a small bow.
Another prickle ran down Mega Man's neck. He went completely rigid, wishing he were a million miles away, or for this monstrosity to sink into whatever realm it had slunk out of. Again, Mega Man did not attack—his blaster was trained on Hellrazor's towering form, but his arm shook, as if something inside was holding him back…
"Mega Man, what are you doing? Run!"
Roll and Rush had returned—and were sprinting past him. Behind them, giant black spikes were bursting through the ground like a sea of lances that was heading straight for them.
Roused by his sister's voice, Mega Man tore his gaze away from Hellrazor to join her in fleeing. There seemed no other option. Ghoulish laughter followed them, then they heard the droning whir again as Hellrazor folded himself into the spiked ball, giving chase.
Bass shuffled down a sidewalk on the outskirts of New York City with his hands in his pockets, his head down, and the hood of his hoodie drawn up. So far, his plan seemed to be working—no one had yet noticed he was a robot (though Treble attracted many nervous looks). No sign of a spy-bats or any of Dr. Wily's idiot robots either.
He passed an electronics store with TVs on display in the window. The array of screens were all tuned to a national news channel, each broadcasting an identical scene of destruction caused by a strange, spikey robo-monster wreathed in purple flames.
A fleeting sense of familiarity passed through Bass. Without quite knowing why, he backtracked back to the store, his head snapping to look at the closest TV. According to the scrolling text at the bottom of the screen, this was live footage of a robot attack in Los Angeles. Bass frowned at the robot burning with purple flames, the fingers of his blaster arm twitching restlessly. Then he saw Mega Man was attempting to fight the robot—though it didn't look like it was going well for him. Bass's hand tightened into a fist. The footage zoomed out to show the whole area of destruction, the bone-colored dome of the Skullker could be seen in the distance—Dr. Wily was there too. Typical. Bass's fist tightened, the knuckles popping.
Bass looked down at Treble. A desire to fight Mega Man had begun burning into him like an old wound that hadn't quite healed—but did he dare go to fight Mega Man if Dr. Wily was there too? As tempting as it was to be rid of both nuisances at once, Bass recalled Los Angeles was on the opposite side of the country, and Bass definitely didn't want to get involved with whatever that purple thing was. He also still needed to find a place to hide out…
"Hey you with the bad haircut!"
Bass jumped away from the storefront. He realized his hood had slipped off, and quickly tightened it back over his head, still unused to the soft, human clothing. Longing to be in the armor currently stowed in the duffle bag on his back, Bass turned to scowl at the human who had shouted at him—the electronics shop owner.
"Either buy something or take a hike, no loitering," growled the human, glaring at Bass, then down at Treble. "Say, ain't that thing kinda big for a robo-dog? Where's its leash?"
The human seemed to be fishing for an excuse to call the cops on them. Treble's ears had pricked backward at the word 'leash'. Bass could have leveled the place if he wanted, but instead he beckoned to Treble and stalked off with gnashed teeth, feeling annoyed and humiliated.
I hate lying low. Next time, Mega Man…
"Yeah, I know, things have gotten a little crazy since yesterday, and they say keeping secrets and doing things on your own is bad," Kalinka told Quint lightly as they snuck back into the laboratory using a secret entrance (fortunately, Hellrazor's vines hadn't yet reached Citadel). "But look at it this way—if Dad got involved, he'd probably go into shock and die—and even if he didn't, he'd go all ballistic and like call in special forces or whatever to go after Punk, turning this into a way bigger drama then it needs to be. You saw what happened to those cop-bots—we don't want that!"
"No, we don't…" Quint agreed. Though it did seem against all conventional advice to handle things themselves, he had to admit there was little that Dr. Cossack or anyone could do to help 9if fact, they could make things worse!) Perhaps it was best not to bother him…yet. "But, what if he notices the radiation cloud outside?"
"Relax, it's fine! His office faces the ocean. You know what a workaholic he is, we have like an hour before he notices something is up."
Quint had to acknowledge she was right. He felt guilty—Dr. Cossack was likely deeply engrossed in work, contently thinking that Quint and Kalinka were safe in Quint's laboratory in the basement of Citadel, and unlikely to notice that the situation outside had escalated.
Brushing these thoughts aside, Quint quickly got to work prepping his prototype inter-dimensional communication machine, programming it with Kalinka's improbability formula. "This should work…" he muttered to himself, "—Though it will take a lot of quintessence…a normal robot wouldn't be able to survive the trip, but we should be fine."
The inter-dimensional communication machine began to hum as it powered on. It was the size and shape of a garden gazebo, its floor a smooth circular platform of silvery metal, a similar circular roof suspended above it.
"Is it safe?"
"My machine? According to all my calculations, affirmative. The aliens? Negative." Quint stood back, nodding to himself. "We'll only have about five minutes. If this works, it'll be like meeting them halfway through dimensions—neither of us really there."
He had used data logs from his visor to lock on to the energy signatures of the aliens he had seen at Red Gulch. He had been trying this for months, but now, with Kalinka's formula, his computer was reporting a positive I.D.
…Admittedly, this plan was a bit insane—but Quint's pulsar pulse pounded with excitement. They were about to make Contact—a real scientific breakthrough!
"Beat, if we're not back in five minutes, go tell my Dad," Kalinka instructed briskly as she and Quint stepped onto the platform.
Beat had been watching them apprehensively from his perch on Kalinka's desk. "Oh…be careful Kali!"
The circular floor began to glow with quintessence. Beat covered his eyes with his wings. First, the room went dark and filled with purple sparks. A green, fog-like haze swirled around them. Kalinka grabbed Quint's hand. Through the haze, they could see distant points of light. Gradually, shapes began to appear—ghostly and indistinct as though made of the shifting green light of an aurora, and humanoid, with glowing eyes like stars.
As they stared at the incorporeal entities in amazement, Kalinka squeezed Quint's hand. "It worked!"
"Yes, these are the good aliens I encountered on Red Gulch!" replied Quint.
The aliens stared back, equally amazed. Quint felt a familiar tickling sensation on his titanium skin—the aliens were scanning him. Then, quite suddenly, the aliens surrounded the circular platform, their star-like eyes blazing out at Quint and Kalinka in all directions like a pack of fierce, unknown creatures defending their territory at night.
Kalinka's grip on Quint's hand tightened. "Uh…Quint? Why are they looking at us like that?"
Quint shook his head helplessly. "I was afraid of this—it's just like last time. They think my quintessence is evil energy, and that I pose a threat!"
"You tell me this now?" Kalinka hissed out of the corner of his mouth.
"No offense, but you're rather bossy—" Quint replied feebly, feeling cornered. "This was a bad idea, we must go back!"
Quint's hand darted toward the emergency abort button, but Kalinka pulled him back.
"Not yet! We still need their help!"
"But—" Quint broke off, casting a tense look at the aliens.
Then, in a flash of light, one of the figures vanished, then reappeared on the platform directly in front of them. They could see the alien's face more clearly—human-like, and cross. He was easily seven feet tall, wore plated armor in smooth contours, and though the air felt still, long green hair swirled wildly behind him.
Then, to Quint's shock, the alien spoke.
"We've met before, Earthling…" The alien's voice was as clear and cold as a mountain lake. "You should not exist…you are a temporal anomaly, powered by our enemy's energy…"
The alien stretched out an arm, palm facing Quint, a ball of green alien energy forming.
Without hesitation, Kalinka stepped between Quint and the alien, spreading out her arms. "Back off, space bully! He's my brother, and to get to him, you gotta get through me!"
She sounded quite fierce, though it perhaps looked a little comical, for Kalinka was shorter and smaller than both the alien and even Quint.
Energy still charging in his outstretched hand, the alien's eyes locked with Kalinka's. Quint froze, certain the alien would unleash his extraterrestrial attack to wipe them both out of existence. Oh, how could he have let Kalinka talk him into this?
But the alien held his fire. "A human? You defend this robot, call him 'brother'?"
"Yes, but you've got it all wrong! He's powered by quintessence, it's like this totally separate byproduct of evil energy—it's not evil, and neither is he!"
"Evil energy? Is that what you call it?" The alien snorted. "An apt if obvious name…"
Quint felt the alien resume his scan—he wondered if Kalinka, being human, could feel it or not. Then, to his disbelieving relief, the alien dropped his hand, the energy he had been charging disappearing. "Perhaps what you say is true…I do not detect a connection to our enemy. I will let you both leave—go before I change my mind."
"Wait!" shouted Kalinka, boldly taking a step toward the alien. "We need your help! Earth is under attack by a robot infected with evil energy—we don't know how to stop him!"
The alien went still. "…Earth is under attack by evil energy? But that can only mean—"
A sudden, palpable sadness flooded the chamber like a cold wave. With a small shimmer of green sparks, the alien's form appeared to grow more solid—though his figure still had a ghost-like transparency. His smooth, contoured armor took on hues of white and marine blue with fiery orange accents, his hair fell behind him in a graceful cascade of green. His eyes, which had shone like stars in the darkness, now had a green cast with oversized pupils and irises, and were slightly luminous.
"Oh…you're so beautiful!" remarked Kalinka.
Quint agreed, awestruck. Though Quint didn't care much for fantasy (he preferred sci-fi) he thought it would be accurate to describe the alien as fey-like—almost human, yet quite otherworldly. "…Who are you?"
"My name is Terra, leader of the Stardroids," Terra replied. His beautiful face was frowning deeply. "We used to be the guardians of Earth's solar system, long ago, before…" he trailed off with a small shake of his head, as if it was too painful to continue.
Stardroids, Quint thought, his excitement returning despite their close call. There were nine altogether—nine for the planets, he surmised.
"Last time we couldn't communicate," Quint murmured aloud. He was surprised most by how eloquent Terra sounded, like someone who had studied on Earth for years.
"We learned much during our last encounter with Earthlings," replied Terra airily.
Question after question after question popped into Quint's head in a crowded bottleneck. "Stardroids? You're named after the planets? If you were guardians of our solar system, then why did you leave? Who is this 'enemy' you speak of?"
Terra's eyes snapped back to Quint's, a brief fire igniting in them "The real question is who are you, how did you find this place?"
"I'm Mega Girl, this is Quint," Kalinka introduced briskly with a small curtsy. "He created a machine that got us here. Please, we don't have much time—Earth is in danger! Is there any way you can help us?"
She fixed Terra with a beseeching look akin to a sad puppy. Though Quint knew this was probably an act, it seemed to be quite effective—the eight Stardroids who lingered outside of the circular platform looked at each other, uncomfortable. Quint heard a chorus of voices as they began murmuring to each other.
"There is no way we can help, we can't leave this dimension—"
"But we must do something!"
"We shouldn't assist the temporal anomaly. I don't care what they say—his very existence is only possible with 'evil energy' or whatever the Earthlings want to call it."
"Perhaps…but his sister is not."
"She's human."
"Yes, human—humans can't be directly infected by evil energy."
"We could lend them one of our powers," a Stardroid suggested finally.
"It can't be mine! Then we really would be trapped," responded another, crossing his arms firmly, a shimmering ring of green haze surrounding him.
"How about mine? Super strength would be handy," rumbled another, who had a vague resemblance to Guts Man, but with bull horns.
A bright light filled the black void surrounding the chamber. Both Quint and Kalinka winced and shielded their eyes.
"Keep your powers, Stardroids, I shall give her mine," said a new voice.
Terra gave a small start. "Sunstar! But that's the most powerful ability we have!"
"If what they say is true, they need it more than we do."
The bright light began to fade. Kalinka and Quint dropped the arms shielding their eyes—another alien had appeared next to Terra.
Sunstar had deep blue armor, like a summer night sky, and was covered in carved crystals that sent rainbow prisms dancing around the chamber. Like Terra, his face seemed at first human, but also infinitely more alien at the same time.
With a small, friendly smile to Kalinka and Quint, Sunstar held out a hand. Hovering suspended above it was a glowing sphere of bright cyan energy.
"Is that…?" Quint gasped. "…Justice energy?"
"Justice energy?" Terra repeated, amused. "Another quaint name. This is the counter to what you call 'evil energy.'"
Sunstar nodded. "Where evil energy feeds off the inner darkness of its host, multiplying as it corrupts, justice energy can only be used by those with heroic thoughts. It is a powerful tool against evil energy, and can even place evil energy into a dormant state, restoring its host to their true selves—but it won't be easy. Evil energy is powerful, so its host will need to be weakened first, and their mind must not yet be completely consumed by evil."
He pulled one of the carved gemstones off his left gauntlet. "This is a sun crystal—the energy will reside in here." With a flash of light, the justice energy disappeared, and the sun crystal glowed blue momentarily. Sunstar held it out to Kalinka. "Please take it. This mechanical suit you wear is advanced enough to be compatible."
Kalinka backed away with her hands up. "Wait, I can't take this!" she said wildly. "I'm not like actually a hero, I just became a superhero to impress some guy! It's your power, you should keep it—"
Sunstar shook his head somberly. "We cannot leave here, and if what you say is true, it may already be too late. Yet only a true hero would have put their life in danger to save one powered by evil energy, as you did for your brother."
Kalinka hesitated, looking for the first time doubtful, but then accepted the sun crystal. "Oh alright…"
Sunstar beamed—the expression filling the chamber with the warmth of dawn. "Watch over your brother. His energy and this are opposites. You will make a good team."
To Quint, Terra added, "We have just given you one of the rarest and most valuable resources in the universe. If you do anything to make us regret this, then I will make you regret it."
Quint gave an uneasy laugh, unsure what to say to that! But he was spared needing a response when suddenly the forms of the Terra and Sunstar flickered. "Oh dear, our connection is timing out—I still have so many questions!"
"Later, you must go defend Earth," said Sunstar.
"Tell no one of our existence," added Terra sternly, then he sighed. "We haven't been the best guardians. Good luck. You will need it."
Terra and Sunstar's forms became green and ghostly again before flickering and vanishing like holograms that had shut off. The darkness lifted, and soon they found themselves back in Quint's laboratory, safe and sound.
Quint gaped at the sun crystal shimmering in Kalinka's palm, beyond impressed. "Wow! This is just what we needed! How on earth did you manage that?!"
Kalinka said nothing. She looked down at the crystal, her eyes glassy and distant.
"Uh…Kali? Everything okay?" asked Beat softly, flapping over to perch on her shoulder.
Kalinka continued to stare at the sun crystal for a moment. Then she reached into a hidden pocket on the belt of her suit, retrieving an old enamel keychain. "Look…" she murmured, holding the keychain in one hand, the sun crystal in the other. "It looks like my mom's keychain."
Quint compared the enamel keychain to the sun crystal. They did have rather similar shapes—an orange circle surrounded by eight yellow points, like a flower.
"How curious!" he marveled.
At the same time, Quint felt helpless at the sudden seriousness that had stolen over Kalinka. He felt awkward, not sure what to say. He didn't know much about Kalinka's mother…
The moment passed, Kalinka's face brightening. "It's like a sign!" she said excitedly, her eyes sparkling. "Like I'm meant to do this!"
Stowing the keychain away safely. Kalinka quickly opened up a compartment on her wrist-mounted the mini-blaster and set the sun crystal inside. There was a brief flash of light as the justice energy bonded with her suit.
"A sign?" Quint repeated. He felt 'coincidence' was a more rational explanation over a 'sign'—but felt it would be imprudent to say so under this circumstance. Instead, he asked, "By the way, when you told Sunstar you only became Mega Girl to impress someone, who did you mean?"
"None of your beeswax!" Kalinka snapped in a tone that couldn't be challenged. But she smiled at him. "Now c'mon! Let's stop Punk!"
When Proto Man opened his eyes, he found himself staring up at the grimy bottom of an underpass. He was lying on his back on a dirty slap of concrete next to a broken street. Elec Man was crouched next to him, his face tense as he stared down at his handheld computer. At first, Proto Man had no clue what they were doing there, but then he recalled his fight with Hellrazor and groaned.
Elec Man's eyes flickered over to Proto Man. "Light?"
"What happened?"
"You fainted."
Proto Man sat up. "I did not! I don't faint."
"Fine…your systems crashed, forcing a reboot. Better?" Elec Man gave an impatient sniff. "This has happened to you before—at Red Gulch, and I suspect back with Brain Bot in Las Vegas."
Proto Man scratched the back of his helmet. "Uh, yeah, dunno what happened, I felt a sharp pain in my chest then just kinda blacked out." He glanced at Elec Man's computer. "What are you doing?"
"Taking radiation readings."
"On me?"
"Yes."
"…Anything I should worry about?" He had no idea why Elec Man was doing this, he felt fine.
Elec Man hesitated. "…You remember what that scientist said—"
"Dr. Cossack."
An annoyed grimace flashed across Elec Man's face, his nose wrinkling. "Yes, him, whatever—he said your systems contain traces of alien energy from when you tried to copy Duo's weapon. It flares when you have contact with other alien energy, causing you to f—well, 'crash.'"
"Yeah, well, I'm better now," Proto Man muttered grumpily, making a move to get up.
Elec Man pushed him back down.
"Hey, what gives? I'm fine now, let's go—"
"No." Elec Man's grip tightened painfully on Proto Man's shoulder, electricity crackling through his fingers warningly.
Proto Man stared at Elec Man. Getting threatened by Elec Man was entirely normal (especially for Proto Man, even if it hadn't technically happened in a while), but the faintest trace of fear betraying Elec Man's perfected, serial killer-like stare was not. "Gee, you really are worried something will happen to me!"
"I…" Elec Man swallowed, the electricity dying from his hand as he let go of Proto Man's shoulder. "…It's like you said back on Deacon's election night. We're family. …Not like brothers," he added, his pale eyes darting away in embarrassment.
"Uh…yeah…" Proto Man responded, surprised. He looked away too. "Alright, fine. Let's get back to Wily and bunker down somewhere until this all blows over."
"…I think that's wise until the radiation in your systems falls back down to an acceptable level."
There was a small, awkward pause. Then, as though needing a snide remark to break up the sentimental nature of this conversation, Elec Man added with a pleasant smile, "Speaking of brothers, yours is here."
"Of course he is," Proto Man muttered dully. He gazed out from the underpass at Los Angeles—which was now a twisted thicket of gigantic vines and nearly obscured in a purple haze that looked well beyond any hope of salvation. He heard the distance booming of battle. "Great, he'll put a stop to whatever this is, just like he always does."
"Don't you want to go fight him?"
"Uh…nah, we'll let him take care of the bad guys, he's the hero after all, it's what he's good at. No need for us to get involved," Proto Man responded, trying to sound casual, all the while thinking, Jerk. He knows why I don't want to fight Mega Man—he's already getting his way, he doesn't have to rub it in.
As though reading his mind, Elec Man smirked.
As Mega Man and Roll ran through the ruined streets, they couldn't help but feel like mice trapped in a thorny maze with Hellrazor chasing after them.
"Any ideas?" Mega Man asked Roll as they took a sharp corner at an intersection into a narrow lane, a dense wall of spikes large enough to impale a skulltank rising on either side. The drone of the speeding spiked ball roared close behind.
"Maybe if we keep running, he'll eventually get tired?" Roll said without much conviction.
A new rumbling sound shook the lane. Mega Man, Roll, and Rush stopped in their tracks, tense, unsure what was about to happen—then shouted as red vines burst out beneath their feet and latched fast onto their arms and legs.
"Where's Quint when you need him?" grumbled Roll as the vines began to creep around them in tight coils, pinning their arms to their sides while lifting them off the ground. "He's the expert on alien energy, so he should be responding to this, not us!"
Mega Man had also been wondering where Quint was. It all seemed ominous—they were quite close to Citadel, after all. Had Quint already tried to stop Hellrazor, and failed? Mega Man also had no idea how they were going to fight off Hellrazor without the help of alien energy.
…At the thought, it felt as though something had twisted inside his power core. Mega Man firmly ignored it. They'd think of something—
Yet, as the vines continued to tighten around them, he felt his plasma power waning. They were hopelessly ensnared, Mega Man could feel small black thorns biting into his titanium skin.
"He's…too powerful…" groaned Mega Man. "I'm…running out of energy."
Rush whimpered.
"Just…try to hang in there," urged Roll, her hair tangled up in the vines, her struggles growing weaker.
Not far away, the spiked ball had unfolded into Hellrazor. A familiar, prickling shiver ran down Mega Man's neck, and something twisted in his power core again. Hellrazor's eyes were locked on his as he plodded calmly closer, the strange, purple flames billowing around him, everything going quiet and still. Mega Man squeezed his eyes shut, as though he could will Hellrazor away. He felt on the verge of powering down—
"Hold it right there, Punk!"
At the high-pitched, unfamiliar voice, Mega Man opened an eye, then frowned. A figure in pink armor had appeared at the end of the lane, two puffy blond pigtails sticking out from under her helmet, a semi-translucent aqua visor masking her face, striking a pose.
"What in the world…?" he heard Roll mutter.
"Mega Girl…" growled Hellrazor, turning toward the figure in recognition. "—I told you I'm Hellrazor now!"
The difference between the two was stark—Mega Girl was bright, small, and pixie-like while Hellrazor was currently twice as tall, ten times as heavy, covered in foot-long black spikes, and engulfed in supernatural purple flames like a demonic entity from the cover of one of the metal band albums Roll liked.
Hellrazor began throwing Screw Crushers in a mad frenzy. Mega Girl nimbly evaded every one in a series of graceful flips. Neither Mega Man nor Roll had seen anyone fight like that before—it was almost like a dance.
This only made Hellrazor angrier, his yellow eyes blazing like the inside of a furnace. "Y-you're finished, Mega Girl! You can't dodge me forever!"
"Come and get me then!" Mega Girl taunted back.
She darted away from the lane down another street. With a snarl and flare of purple energy, Punk folded into a spiked ball and chased after her.
Though they were still ensnared by the vines, Roll and Mega Man looked at each other, eyebrows raised. "Mega Girl?!" they exclaimed together.
They heard incoming titanium footsteps—then saw a flash of green armor at the end of the lane where Mega Girl and Hellrazor had just been.
"Hey Quint, wait up!" Roll called out.
Quint did a double take, then nearly tripped as he skidded to a halt. "Roll? Mega Man? What are you doing here?"
"We were trying to stop Wily, then this happened. Where have you been? This is nuts."
Roll's eyes swept pointedly over the tangle of vines.
"Yes, well, evil alien energy outbreak…you know," Quint explained, holding up his hands helplessly. Though it was hard to tell through Quint's opaque visor, Mega Man had a feeling Quint was avoiding their eyes. "But don't worry, we have the situation contained, and all should be well in just a few moments!"
He looked eager to take off again but Roll called him back. "Hold it! Quint, who was that?"
Quint gave a small jump. "Er…who do you mean?" he asked, his clueless tone unconvincing.
"Mega Girl!"
"Oh, um…it's a long story. Let's just say she's my sister."
"Your sister?"
Grinning sheepishly, Quint replied, "Yes, but please don't mention to anyone that you know about her, especially Dr. Cossack. She's a secret." Quint's head turned to look anxiously down the street. "Sorry, but I should probably keep a close eye on her—primarily for everyone else's protection."
"My sister is the same way," Mega Man told Quint wryly. Roll grinned.
Quint gave a small chuckle, then scampered off.
"Dr. Cossack built another one like Quint?" Mega Man muttered, still amazed.
"Nice," remarked Roll.
Sprinting just ahead of the spiked ball, Kalinka lead Hellrazor into an empty lot.
"Now Beat!" she called.
Beat swooped across the lot just in front of Hellrazor, dropping a small disc-shaped device from Quint's laboratory on the cracked concrete. As Hellrazor rolled over it, the device flashed, then trapped Hellrazor in a small purple forcefield of quintessence.
Stopped midspin, Hellrazor unfolded. "Brainiac's little toys won't hold me for long, Mega Girl!" he roared as he alternated smashing the forcefield with a three-digit fist and his flail arm. Already, the force field was beginning to flicker and die—though Hellrazor was also beginning to tire, his form hunched as he wheezed, the purple flames blazing less brightly. "…For the last time, you can't defeat me!"
"Oh yes I can!" Kalinka sang out, pointing her wrist-mounted mini-blaster at Hellrazor. Activating the power within the sun crystal, a shimmering ball of cyan light began to take shape just above her hand.
Hellrazor's glowing eyes widened. "What the? What's that? No! No! Noooo!"
Kalinka fired. The shimmering blast hit Hellrazor square in the chest. There was a blinding flash of light—Hellrazor struggled and howled, his form twisting and distorting. He fell to his knees, the extra spikes withdrawing into his armor, and he began to shrink back into Punk's original proportions, the purple flames dying down—
The ground rumbled. Kalinka nearly lost her footing. All around them, the vines that had claimed the buildings were dissolving into a shower of violet sparks before winking out of existence, the sky clearing as the radiation field lifted.
Quint and Beat hurried to Kalinka's side. "It worked!" Quint exclaimed happily.
"Yup, we saved the day," Kalinka agreed. "Now let's bounce before the cops come after us."
They looked back at Punk—but Punk was no longer there!
"Uh oh, where did Punk go?" asked Kalinka.
"Don't worry, I saw where he went, follow me!" Beat called, turning in a graceful arc toward a side street.
Punk was hiding behind a stack of broken crates left in an alley, his arms wrapped around his knees. It seemed as though he had thought about running away, but was too low on energy to get far. As Kalinka and Quint approached, he leaped to his feet in a steely clang of armor, but then his form slumped in defeat.
"Oh, it's just you two," he muttered, looking down at the ground. "I suppose you've come to bring me in. Well…get it over with—I couldn't run even if I wanted to."
Kalinka took a step toward Punk, Beat perched on her shoulder. "When you robbed the bank earlier, what did you mean when you said you really needed the money?"
Punk's eyes shifted up to Kalinka for a moment before looking down again in embarrassment. "Like I said, I was a robot tournament fighter in the National Robo-fighting League. Undefeated. Was on my way to the World Robot Tournament—"
"I've read Robo-fighting Tournaments are all fake," spoke up Quint.
Kalinka promptly stomped on Quint's foot, causing him to buckle.
"Oh it's real, Brainiac!" Punk thundered, the fight momentarily returning to him as he glowered at Quint. Then his gaze fell again, his voice somber as he continued. "But before I got there, Dr. Rose, my creator—she d-died. It all went downhill from there. I tried to continue on with robo-fighting like she'd of wanted, but after one of the fights, one of my opponents—a real sore loser—started insulting her memory, said some really nasty stuff! —So I beat him almost into scrap! …And that's how I got banned from robo-fighting. No creator, no sponsors, no career, already in trouble with the police—I had no choice but to go rogue. That's when I fell into trouble with gangsters and began robbing banks. But I never wanted to hurt anyone innocent—not like today. I've never sunk this low." Punk heaved another dejected sigh. "My creator would have been so ashamed of me if she were still alive. Well, they say every rogue robot has a story, and that's mine."
With a bowed head, Punk proffered his wrists toward Kalinka and Quint, as though to be cuffed.
"You're going to arrest me, right? I've…I've caused a lot of trouble. I deserve it," he mumbled, then added miserably, "I just hope they don't reprogram me to become some bootlicking schmuck, take away my mohawk and spikes, and force me to work as some washed-up soccer referee or something."
Quint stared, for neither he nor Kalinka had handcuffs. He glanced over at Kalinka, clueless as to how they should handle the situation.
Kalinka had been listening Punk sympathetically. She tapped her chin thoughtfully, thinking, then smiled. "I've got a perfect idea!" she announced. Then, in a move that once again took everyone completely off guard, she took off her helmet.
In shock, Punk clattered back into the wall, his footfalls sounding like hammers on the concrete ground, his eyes wide. "What the? Kali Cossack? The Kali Cossack? Like the posters all over town?" He gestured to one of Kalinka's ads for her 'California Princess' perfume that was taped to the alley wall. "You're Mega Girl?" Suddenly star-struck, Punk fell to his knees with hands clasped. "I'm such a fan. My creator used to love you, back when she was alive! Said you were always such a shit to cops and reporters alike! You're like the queen of breaking rules. Can…can I get an autograph?"
Smiling smugly, Kalinka waved a hand. "Oh please, you can come work for us!"
Quint jerked and looked sharply at Kalinka. "P-pardon?"
Punk's eyes had widened even further, well beyond the gap in his armor. "Me? Come work for you?"
"Yes, you can help us with our alien research by being Quint's lab assistant!"
"…My lab assistant?" Quint looked doubtfully at Punk.
"Why sure! You have tons of space in that lab!" Kalinka responded cheerfully. From her shoulder, Beat said nothing, but he eyed Punk warily as though he were a hawk.
"Uh…" Quint also felt unsure about taking in the large, unruly rogue robot who had nicknamed him 'Brainiac.' "…I thought you were my lab assistant."
"Lab partner, not assistant, duh."
Punk fidgeted nervously, his hand twisting together. "I dunno much about science nor aliens, but I'm a hard worker, and I'd much rather stick with you than face millions of dollars in charges for what I did today."
"Then it's decided!" Kalinka said happily.
"Uh…" Quint said again, who still had not agreed to this arrangement. He turned to Kalinka and whispered, "…I don't think this is a good idea…"
"What, like you think he should go to jail or whatever?" Kalinka whispered back, shooting him a severe look. "He still has evil energy inside him—without proper supervision, he could turn back into Hellrazor!"
This was a good point. Quint sighed. "So…we're stuck with him?"
Kalinka clapped Quint on the shoulder. "Cheer up, Quint! This is such a nice thing that you're doing!"
"That I'm doing?"
"Yes, you're getting a roommate! Besides, you shouldn't be alone so often, and I can't be with you all the time—If I'm going to be Mega Girl, I still have to put on the billionaire socialite princess alter ego some of the time so no one ever suspects!" She turned back to Punk, beaming. "Look, Quint, we gotta new member of our team."
"Team? Um. Great?" Quint said weakly, though he knew there was no point in fighting this now. Instead, he shot Punk a reproving glare, which Punk mirrored back with interest. Looking extremely pleased with herself, Kalinka replaced her helmet, then began skipping ahead down the alley with Beat flying above her.
After collecting Cut Man and Guts Man (both confused and battered as they stammered apologies to Dr. Wily, the spiked cuffs that had caused them to rebel having disappeared) Dr. Wily, Proto Man, and Elec Man had retreated to the Skullker. With the radiation field gone, they were finally able to take off.
Dr. Wily was hunched over the flight deck monitor, glaring at the data feed from the Global Extraterrestrial Radiation Scanner. The flashing purple dot that had indicated the presence of alien energy in Los Angeles had disappeared. Finally, he slammed his hands down angrily, shutting off the monitor. "We've lost the energy signal! This was all a waste of time!"
"That mean we're done here?" asked Proto Man carelessly from the pilot seat, his mind already back in the western hanger with his fighter jets. Beside him, Elec Man had switched his handheld computer to Tetris, though he occasionally stole covert glances at Dr. Wily and Proto Man, as though monitoring them.
"For now," Dr. Wily replied through clenched teeth. But he settled back into his chair, smoothing his tie. "But if another alien energy signal appears, I'll be waiting."
Just as Quint had promised, the vines that had ensnared Mega Man, Roll, and Rush vanished shortly after he had departed. Yet as they shook themselves off and left the lane, a warm SoCal sun above them and a coastal breeze drifting through the streets, neither Quint, Mega Girl nor Hellrazor were anywhere to be found. Next they searched the surrounding area for the Skullker, but it appeared Dr. Wily must have given up and gone back to Skull Fortress. Then, when they offered to help clean up the damage to the city, the robo-officers waved them off dismissively, muttering that their presence would only tempt Dr. Wily to come back. Shrugging, Mega Man and Roll decided to leave Los Angeles to its own affairs and return to New York City.
The sun gleamed brightly off the air raider's green paint as Roll piloted back toward Dr. Light's laboratory.
"Wow, Mega Girl! Cool." Roll cast Mega Man a sidelong look, smiling slyly, then leaned across the seats to nudge her elbow into his ribs. "With a name like that, people will think you've got a girlfriend!"
"Or they'll think she's you," Mega Man mumbled briskly, ducking away.
"I wonder why Quint was acting so secretive about her!" Roll wondered. "He looked as nervous as a criminal caught red-handed!"
"I'm sure he has his reasons—he's always been secretive about his work at Citadel. She must be some secret new prototype."
"Yeah—Still, Mega Girl didn't have to steal your name."
"Guess I can go back to being Rock and retire from heroics," Mega Man replied jokingly, not in the least offended that Mega Girl had a similar name. He liked the idea of having more heroes around. Then he paused, rubbing his chest. Though he felt fine now, normal—he still vividly recalled what it had felt like around the abundance of alien energy.
Roll's eyes flickered from the horizon to Mega Man. "…You alright?"
"Yeah, just a bit tired."
"Don't worry, we'll be home soon."
Mega Man said nothing, looking out the window at the distant green farmlands below. He thought about Hellrazor, the purple energy called 'evil energy', and his reoccurring nightmare, wondering what it all meant with growing unease. It was strange, but for a brief moment, he had felt a connection to Hellrazor, like two computers linked to the same network—though he was confident he had never seen Hellrazor before in his life. But then, did that mean that identity of the shadowy figure from his nightmares was much closer than he could have ever guessed?
Closing his eyes, Mega Man hoped he was wrong about all this.
It was evening in Copenhagen—many of the human workers had already gone home from the Robot International Police headquarters, for it had been a busy yet normal day of fighting global robo-crime.
Duo and Ra Thor stood alone in a dark control room, reviewing a news report from out of Los Angeles from a large CRT television in utter silence. Plum, an upbeat android reporter, was cheerily advising the public to avoid the downtown area as damage from 'massive red vines' and 'unusual purple fog' was cleaned up, but that city officials had assured that things would be back to normal within a few days. The chaos, now contained, had been brief, and was currently being blamed on Dr. Wily's mad science (which most large cities had contingency plans against) and therefore nothing out of the ordinary—but Duo and Ra Thor knew better.
"Evil energy…" muttered Duo finally.
"I sensed it too," replied Ra Thor quietly. "For the past few days, I have been having strange, ominous premonitions in the back of my mind…like what the humans call nightmares. I had hoped it was nothing, but…this incident in America confirms it."
Duo's face hardened. "Then that means…"
"Yes. I fear Ra Moon has become active again…" Ra Thor gave a small sigh. "…Which means his games are only just beginning."
Next time on Mega Man Recut…
After getting the hang of pretending to be human, Bass feels he has finally eluded Dr. Wily and all other pursuit and can finally be left alone (even if the circumstances are less than ideal) But when another outbreak of evil energy arises in connection to a string of jewelry heists, can his lack of involvement last? …Tune in next time for Diamond in the Rough!
A/N: As guessed, I referenced Punk(exe) for 'Hellrazor,' Punk's evil energy form (but with like extra spikes)
Also! The title of this episode is a reference to the first episode of 90s Sailor Moon, which elements of season 3 take *loose* inspiration from.