Mega Man VI
Chapter One: The Tournament
"I'm afraid these were the closest seats I could get for you." Dr. Thomas Light said, handing off the passes near the front gate of the coliseum. "Now, I'll be down front for the whole event, so look after your sister."
"Don't worry, Dr. Light, we'll be fine." Rock replied, taking the hand of the blonde girl next to him. "Come on, Roll, this is gonna be awesome!"
The event in question was The 1st Annual World Robot Tournament, held in Kyoto, Japan, and featuring robots from all over the world in a friendly test of skills, similar to how the Olympics were for humans. Rock had wanted to enter the tournament as soon as it was announced over the radio some months ago, but Dr. Light wouldn't allow it, saying that all of the combat experience he had during his time as Mega Man would give him an unfair advantage in this friendly competition, but that the two of them and Roll could go as spectators. Of course, that was before the old scientist had received his invitation to be one of the judges at the tournament, along with two free passes courtesy of the competition's sponsor, the reclusive billionaire known as Mr. X.
Along with Dr. Light, the only other judge that Rock knew so far was Dr. Mikhail Cossack, who met them at the airport, and whom the group had some dealings with in the past. A few years ago, the evil Dr. Albert Wily had kidnapped Dr. Cossack's daughter, Kalinka, and forced the Russian scientist to use his own robots in an attempt to conquer the world. Rock as Mega Man was able to rescue her, before joining with Dr. Cossack to defeat Dr. Wily, and Kalinka hadn't forgotten about that, either. Upon seeing them, she threw her arms around Rock and gave him a kiss on the cheek, and if anyone wondered whether or not a robot boy could blush, the answer came along with some chuckling from the two scientists, and some teasing from Roll.
To the surprise of all, there was someone else who was eager to meet this little group as well, complete with a hover stretch limousine to take all of them to the coliseum. Everyone's luggage was to be taken to the hotel for them by the billionaire's robot servants, and as the tournament was a several day long event, there would be plenty of time to check in and rest after the first session. A taller gentleman around the same age as Dr. Light, Mr. X had a bushy gray bears and dark sunglasses, but was the friendly sort, greeting the two scientists as if they were old friends, and then patting Rock on the head before mussing up his hair and laughing.
"Ah, my friends, welcome to Kyoto." He said with a big grin hardly visible under that beard. "And what a pair of adorable girls… which of you is the older sister?"
His accent was hard to identify, sounding like a mixture of American and maybe, uh… Brittish… sort of? His surprised reaction after finding out that while Kalinka was human, Roll was a robot just like Rock, didn't exactly seem that surprised, as if the emotions he was showing were almost forced. Then again, this was also a reclusive billionaire who probably didn't have much contact with people, or human-like robots for that matter, so a degree of awkwardness was to be expected. Either way, Mr. X laughed it off, mussing up Rock's hair again, before pinching his cheek like one would do to his grandchild, although a little harder than needed, and then they all got into the limo.
The billionaire was very excited about the tournament, his emotions not seeming forced at all anymore while describing the series of events that were to take place in the upcoming days, focusing on both an individual demonstration of each robot's unique abilities, and also two types of competition: Timed events such as obstacle courses and shooting ranges, as well as direct physical combat, which would no doubt be the part everyone in the stands and tuning in from home would be most excited for. He then produced one of the tournament's tri-fold programs that featured a little information on each of the eight robots that were to be featured, handing it to Rock after making sure to pinch his cheek again, harder this time.
The 1st Annual World Robot Tournament
The city of Kyoto, Japan welcomes to its Sanga Stadium the 1st Annual World Robot Tournament, sponsored by the reclusive billionaire, Mr. X. This five day tournament will feature the most advanced robots from all over the world, their individual abilities and competitive prowess judged by three of the most illustrious scientists in the world.
Tournament Judges
Dr. Thomas Light of the USA
Dr. Mikhail Cossack of Russia
Dr. Ada Uji of Japan
The Eight Competitors, Only One Will Reign Supreme
Centaur Man
Country of Origin: Greece / Power Source: Dry Battery
Not much has been disclosed by The University of Athens, creators of the uniquely designed Centaur Man, aside from a few hints about cutting edge technology, and a sly laugh from lead designer Professor Gloria Feist followed by 'wait and see'.
Wind Man
Country of Origin: China / Power Source: Wind Turbine
Third Mann Enterprises presents a marvel of clean, self-sustaining wind power with a robot that can both fly up to maintain the giant fans of wind farms, and also serve as backup power when a generator is down.
Flame Man
Country of Origin: Saudi Arabia / Power Source: Thermal Engine
An old fashioned robot that has been refit for modern usage, Flame Man was designed to guard oil fields belonging to The Midnight Sun Company, and also contain spills by extreme measures via the combustion based byproducts of his engine.
Blizzard Man
Country of Origin: Canada / Power Source: Solar Battery
A joint venture of The Northern Light Corporation and NORAD, Blizzard Man was designed for extreme cold weather reconnaissance and meteorology, this robot features an experimental system that allows him to modify local weather to more favorable conditions.
Plant Man
Country of Origin: Brazil / Power Source: Solar Battery
Green Light Energy Solutions actually created the nimble Plant Man to care for and restore damaged sections of the rainforest, and it has been rumored by some of the less reliable news sources that he can actually communicate with plants.
Tomahawk Man
Country of Origin: USA / Power Source: Solar Battery
The latest prototype model of American Industries Ltd., Tomahawk Man, modeled after historical Native American warriors, is designed for research and security of arid regions, boasting the ability to throw a tomahawk and extinguish a candle light 100m away.
Yamato Man
Country of Origin: Japan / Power Source: Solar Battery
With a design based on the ancient Samuri, Yamato Man was designed by Fuji Enterprises with armor and spear for one purpose: To fight and protect the world in all terrain against dishonorable men such as Dr. Wily.
Knight Man
Country of Origin: UK / Power Source: Solar Battery
Unicorn United Robotics had the old time medieval knight in mind while constructing the heavily armored Knight Man that focuses more on defense than attack, and has an impressive record of defeating over 1000 test robots in combat.
With what he had read about the eight competing robots, Rock was almost bursting with excitement as he and the judges went their separate ways, moving through the crowded stadium to their reserved seats, which thankfully weren't hard to find. Kalinka Cossack was already there, calling out to them and waving, only to wrap her arms around Rock's arm and put her head on his shoulder, her furry winter hat tickling his nose. How come she couldn't just wear a smaller hat like Roll? His sister, on the other hand, was enjoying this immensely, even going so far as to take out her camera and get a picture of the two of them, which she claimed Rush and Eddie were going to love.
"You two are just the cutest couple." Roll teased as the competing robots began to make their way onto the gray colored field. "Hey, Rock, make sure to look away from your girlfriend long enough to see the tournament once in a while, okay?"
"I'm so glad you're here, Roll." He replied, tilting his head away from that big hat. "What would I do without you?"
Out on the field, the eight competing robots were marching their way into the center single file, stopping to execute a left-face in order to look out on the cheering spectators, or at least one side of the stadium. Off to the far right side from where Rock was seated, the three judges could be seen sitting at a prepared table with small microphones for any remarks they had after each event, and next to them were the pit-crews for each of the eight robots. Finally, the reclusive Mr. X took center stage for the commencement speech. However, instead of simply declaring the tournament to begin in the time-honored way, the reclusive billionaire simply took a remote control from under his heavy coat, and pressed a big red button.
Suddenly a high pitch, incredibly loud noise swept through the stadium for several seconds, forcing everyone, human and robot alike to cover their ears while all other sounds were drowned out. When it stopped, all of the spectators had either fallen to their knees or were holding onto something to keep from falling over… and then the first explosion went off. BOOM! A blast of fire impacted the stands, sending seats and spectators flying as panic began to spread through the crowd, but this was interrupted by a second explosion, and a third, always occurring right in front of where the frightened people and robots were trying to flee.
"Ladies and gentlemen, if I could have your attention, please." An unexpected voice said over the loudspeakers. "Try to remain calm as I finish gaining control of these robots… and hopefully no one else has to vanish in an explosion today."
It was Mr. X, pointing that remote control at the eight competing robots, all of whom were looking just as disoriented as everyone else, even the turban wearing Flame Man, whose vents were still smoldering. Even though he was without his mega armor, Rock knew that this had to be stopped, so he warned Roll and Kalinka to get to safety while he began to leap over the next row of seats, only for that horrible debilitating high pitch noise to return. Another explosion hit the stands at the same time that Rock lost his grip on the next row of seats, causing him to fall face first into them while the sound went on and on.
