-Chapter 1-

Bombs Away!

Silicon City - Day 1 of the Robot Masters' Attack

The city was a warzone. A group of soldiers were fending off an army of robots.

"Take this!" One of the soldiers, a man with short brown hair and dark sunglasses, lobbed a Mini-Bomb at the squad. He managed to destroy a few, but it did little to stop the rest, who raised their weapons.

"Dammit!"

"Fall back! Fall back!"

The soldiers fell back as the robots opened fire, taking cover.

"Dammit, they just keep coming!" the brown-haired soldier cursed.

"This is bad!" a second cried. "We gotta get out of here!"

"And what, just hand the city to these clunkers!?"

"Xander, wake up! We're outgunned, outmatched, and completely outnumbered! It's gonna take a freaking miracle to stop this!"

At that moment, a blue beam of light came shooting out of the sky, landing between them and the robot army. As it faded, Mega Man stood in its place.

"Not another one!" Xander raised his blaster, aiming at the blue newcomer. "Freeze, clunker!"

"Whoa, hold on!" Mega Man held up his hands. "I'm not gonna hurt you. I'm here to help."

Xander scoffed. "Nice try, Terminator Lite. But Xander Payne wasn't born yesterday! Now...!"

"Xander!" his partner cried. "They're coming!"

Xander looked over his shoulder to see the enemy robots were practically on their doorstop. "Shit! Already!?"

Rock's left hand retracted into his forearm, forming the barrel of the Mega Buster as he took aim.

"Get down!"

Xander and his comrade saw Rock's Buster and immediately hit the deck as he fired on the approaching robots, pushing them back.

"What the...?" Xander let out in surprise.

"Is he...helping us?" his comrade asked.

"You two!" Mega Man turned to them. "Can you still fight? I could use a hand!"

Xander's comrade snapped out of it, raising his blaster and firing on the bots as well. Eventually, they were able to finish them off.

"Whew..." Rock wiped his forehead, "I think that's the last of them."

"I think so..." Xander's partner turned to him. "Thanks for your help, uh…"

"Mega Man. Dr. Light sent me here to stop the Robot Masters. Are you two okay?"

"Yeah, thanks to you." the soldier smiled. "Name's Trent Cobain. Hard Corps. This here's my partner, Xander Payne."

Xander narrowed his eyes at Mega Man, clearly distrustful. Trent turned to him.

"Uhhh...Xander, this is the part where you say hi and thanks for saving our asses."

"Right…" Xander sighed. "Thank you for your...help, Mega Man. Trent, I'm gonna get in touch with HQ. Let me know if more clunkers show up."

He walked off.

"Seriously, man?" Trent shook his head.

"Is he alright?" Rock questioned.

"Ehh, Xander's got a bit of an...issue with robots. But he's not a bad guy."

"Right," Rock nodded. "You better get to safety. I'll handle this."

"You think you can stop the Masters?"

"I'm gonna try. Have you seen any of them?"

"Yeah, one of them's set up shop in an excavation site east of here. Big, fat yellow duck-man thing with a mohawk and a crap ton of explosives."

"Bomb Man," Rock deduced. "Alright, I'll head east."

"Good luck, kid."

As Trent headed off, Rock put two fingers to the side of his helmet. "Dr. Light, I've got a lead on Bomb Man."

"Excellent work, Rock." came Dr. Light's voice.

"Any advice on how to beat him?"

"Bomb Man uses old-style bombs with fuses. So, they won't go off until they burn out. You should be able to use that to your advantage, especially if you can mess up his timing."

"Right…" Mega Man sighed in resignation. "I hate that I'm gonna have to fight him."

"I know." Dr. Light replied solemnly.

-X-

Eventually, Mega Man arrived at a large hole in the ground, broken excavation equipment lying about.

"Alright, I've reached the excavation site."

"According to my scanners, Bomb Man should be at the bottom of that hole."

"A demolitions robot in an underground cave..." Mega Man swallowed nervously. "That's not dangerous at all."

"Be careful, Rock."

"I will."

Rock leapt down into the hole, landing superhero-style. As soon as he got his bearings, he heard a whistle.

"Not too shabby there, kid." Rock looked up to see a large, rotund robot sitting atop a bulldozer. "Awesome three-point landing, perfect look-up timing… you really know how to make an entrance."

"Bomb Man," Mega Man greeted. "It's me, Rock."

Bomb Man scratched his chin in thought. "Rock…Rock…Hang on, lemme check on data banks."

His face scrunched up in thought as his gaze unfocused, an old, Internet dial-up tune sounding somewhere from his body.

"Oh yeah!" he said, snapping his fingers. "You're the little house boy and lab buddy, right?"

"Yeah. That's me," Mega Man rose to his feet. "I'm not your enemy. Stand down and come back with me to Dr. Light's lab. We can fix what Dr. Wily did to you."

"Hmmmm..." Bomb Man tapped his chin. "Tempting offer… Lemme consult my agent..." He pulled out a bomb. "Mr. E. Xavier Plosive!"

Bomb Man chucked the bomb at Mega Man, forcing him to leap out of the way in time before it could blow him to bits.

"Whew!" He wiped the sweat from his brow before turning to his opponent.

"What the heck is wrong with you!?" he demanded.

"I know, sorry!" Bomb Man apologized. "That one-liner totally bombed! Here…

He conjured up two more bombs.

"Lemme ni-try-o again!"

Bomb Man throws the bombs at Mega Man, who dodged them both; only for Bomb Man to start leaping all over the area, throwing bombs as he flew through the air.

"Stop!" Mega Man cried as he dodged the explosions. "I don't wanna fight you!"

"This ain't no fight! It's a massacre!"

As Rock took cover, Dr. Light's voice came over the com. "He won't listen to reason, Rock. You have to-!"

"I know," Mega Man focused, charging the Mega Buster. "I'm sorry..."

He jumped out of his cover, firing. Bomb Man took the charge shot in the test, falling to the ground with a grunt.

"Dang… That little peashooter packs a wallop." He looked up, seeing Mega Man preparing another shot.

"Oh, no you don't!"

Right as Mega Man fired, Bomb Man threw a bomb at the shot, blocking it and causing an explosion. Rock quickly raised his hands defensively as the aftershock of the blast knocked him back into the bulldozer.

"Nice try, junior." Bomb Man chuckled as he summoned another bomb. "But they don't call me a Robot Master for nothin'. Time to fall down and go boom, ya-!"

A blaster shot hit the bomb before he could throw it, detonating it in his hands. Mega Man was back on his feet, taking aim.

"You talk too much." He fired another shot, knocking Bomb Man on his skidplate. "If you're gonna shoot someone, shoot them! Don't stand around talking about it!"

"Why you little...!" Bomb Man sprang back to his feet. "That's it! I'm gonna blow you away!"

He started throwing bombs all over the place like a madman, sending Mega Man scrambling for cover.

"Are you crazy?!" he screamed. "You're gonna bring the whole cave down on our heads!"

He stopped short, recoiling as a bomb landed right next to him… only to blink in surprise when it didn't go off. He looked down, seeing the fuse was still burning.

"Old-style bombs with fuses..." he perked. "Mess up his timing! That's it!"

He snatched up the bomb, throwing it back to its source.

"What's the matter, kiddo!?" Bomb Man cackled. "Too scared to face me cuz you'll blow it!?"

It was at that moment he saw the bomb Rock threw back coming for him…

"Oh, sh-"

… and watched as it exploded in his face.

As the smoke and dust settled, Bomb Man was left standing, covered in soot and scorch marks. He let out a single cough, releasing a cloud of smoke, then collapsed. Mega Man ran over, looking over the charred, smoldering body.

"Is he...?" he began, afraid to finish his sentence.

"His IC chip is still intact," Dr. Light assured. "I can rebuild and reprogram him later."

Rock sighed in relief. "Thank goodness… At least we didn't have to destroy him."

"Indeed… Alright, Rock, it's time for me to teach you how to use your new MEGA System."

Rock nodded. "Okay. What do I have to do?"

"Interface with him. A simple touch will do."

Rock knelt down, laying a hand on Bomb Man's chest. Immediately, a circuitry pattern spread from the point of contact. Rock's eyes rolled back in his head as he visualized multiple schematics and blueprints entering his mind, as well as the image of a bomb.

"Weapon Acquired," Rock said in a robotic voice. "Hyper Bomb download, complete."

At that, his eyes return to normal.

"Whoa!" he said, looking down at his hands. "That was..."

"Interesting..."

Rock paused. He looks up to see a robot in a black and red bodysuit with yellow gloves and a gold mask, along with six other robots.

"Unless I'm mistaken, that's Dr. Light's little errand boy," the gold-masked robot said.

"Seriously!? Bomb Man lost to him!?" asked a large, yellow muscular robot with a hinged jaw. "HAW! What a joke."

"Indeeeeed..." replied an orange and white robot with scissors on his head in a sinister, nasally voice. "Not surprising… He was the weakest and stupidest of us all."

Rock's eyes widened in shock as several other robots joined them: one in a blue parka, one with a grey jumpsuit and red armor with fire on his head, a black, droplet-headed robot with a grey jumpsuit and red scart, and a purple robot with an alarm clock on his head.

"My word..." Dr Light whispered. "The other Robot Masters!"

Rock steeled himself, rising to his feet. "Guys, please listen! It doesn't have to be this way! Dr. Wily messed with your heads. I can help you!"

"Help us?" Guts Man scoffed. "Why would we need help?"

"Dr. Wily has given us our freedom," Fire Man replied.

"This isn't what you were made for!" Mega Man exclaimed. "Can't you see all the people you're hurting?!"

"What we were made for was to be the slaves of a bunch of pathetic, mouth-breaking monkeys," Time Man countered, smugly.

"And now you're Wily's slaves! He didn't free you! You're just doing his dirty work!"

"What we're doing is giving the good doctor what he is entitled to, and the world the brilliant leader it so desperately needs." Elec Man shot back.

"Enough with the yammering!" Guts Man growled. "Let's hurry up and smash this little, blue pipsqueak!"

"No, Guts Man." Elec Man told him.

"Eh?" Guts Man blinked. "Why not?"

"Because Rock is nothing but a mere helper robot. He's just a piece of scrap metal. Not worth our time."

"B-But, sir!" Iceman stammered. "He defeated Bomb Man!"

"Because he got lucky." Cut Man retorted. "Bomb Man wouldn't have lost if he spent less time monologuing and more time fighting."

"Indeed. Besides, Dr. Wily has more important work for us to do." Elec Man turned to Mega Man. "This is a one-time only deal, Rock: stay out of our way. The next time we see you, don't expect to get out alive."

Elec Man put a finger to his forehead. His fingers started sparking with electricity.

"Thunder Beam!"

Elec Man unleashed a blinding flash, stunning Rock and forcing him to shield his optics. When the light faded, the Robot Masters were gone.

"No!" he cried. "Darn it! They got away!"

"It's for the best," Dr. Light told him. "Even you couldn't take them all on at once. On the plus side, they seem to have left the city. If nothing else, you managed to buy us a brief reprieve. Good work, Rock."

"Right…" Rock let out, unconvinced.

"I'm activating the teleporter. Once you're back at the lab, we can get you fixed up and figure out our next move."

With that, Rock was warped away in a blue light.

Some time later, a squadron of Hard Corps led by Xander and Trent were heading for the excavation site.

"The explosions were coming from over here!" Xander yelled. "Come on people, move!"

They headed down into the caves.

"Hard Corps, sweep the area!" Xander ordered. "You see any bots, scrap 'em!"

"Xander, look!"

Xander turned to see Trent pointing at something nearby. He went to get a closer look, and discovered it was Bomb Man's scrapped body.

"That's one of the Robot Masters..." Xander let out.

"The kid...Mega Man...he actually beat him." Trent grinned. "I'll be damned…"

"So, where is he?"

"Looks like he beat feet."

"Maybe they destroyed each other." Xander theorized.

"Then Mega Man's scrap would be here as well," Trent pointed out. "He must've gone off to take the others out. "Either way, we just got some serious firepower on our side."

"We'll see..." Xander shrugged. "Taking down one robot is one thing… If he can take down the other seven, I'll eat my shades."

Author's Note:

Mega Man's first fight is complete. One down, seven to go. Can he stand against the might of the Robot Masters and save Silicon City? Stay tuned…

Voice cast for this chapter:

* Xander - Crispin Freeman (Alucard in Hellsing, Itachi Ichiha in Naruto, Kyon in Haruhi Suzumiya, Haji in Blood+, Togusa in Ghost in the Shell)

* Trent - Xander Mobus (Joker in Persona 5, Darios in Fire Emblem Warriors, PoH in Sword Art Online, Christo in Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance)

* Bomb Man - Fred Tatasciore (Hulk in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2, The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes & Avengers Assemble, Damon Baird in Gears of War, Saren Arterius in Mass Effect, Ripjaws, Cannonbolt, & Way Big in Ben 10)

Please R&R. Until next time!