Mega Man Mega Man's First Dig- Revised

-Mega Man's First Dig-  
Revised  
  
By Macrossgrn  
  
  
Standing at the entrance to a large mineshaft, Rock Volnut was checking his equipment. "Let's see here… buster gun," and as he said that, his left arm switched into the newly designed blaster. At least, it was fairly new to him, ever since Gramps re-introduced it to him. It had been lying beside him in the small pod when he had been found when he was a baby. In fact, only this year was he big enough to actually have the buster gun fit onto his arm once again, without trouble. Mega Man smiled, remembering the first time he'd handled the buster gun- he had been eight years old, and he fired it off on accident. The recoil had knocked him back against the far wall of the small weapon development room, and the blast from the buster gun itself damaged one of Roll's 'Mega Man' game cartridges. "She never did let me off the hook for that," he told himself, chuckling lightly as he checked his other supplies… a minimal covering of armor over his chest, arms, and legs.  
  
Running an armored set of fingers through his hair, he laughed softly. At least he'd had a haircut recently, he thought. No need to worry about losing sight of his target if his hair fell in his eyes, after all. "Well, I'm ready when you are, Roll!" he said into the intercom that had been a part of the buster, built in by Roll herself as one of her first successful designs. He gave Gramps, who was sitting close by on a bench, a thumbs-up, as Roll responded. "Alright, it looks like everything here is ready, Mega Man. Remember, if you get hurt, hurry back here, and Data will help you out, okay?" her voice came out over the com-link, and Mega Man nodded. Glancing to his right, he saw the other thing that had been with him since birth- the robot monkey known as Data. As usual, it was jumping up and down, though lately he had begun dancing instead, hopping left to right, repeatedly.  
  
"Eeek! Eeeeek!" Data went, and that was the only sounds that Roll or Gramps could hear. However, for some reason, Rock was able to translate his monkey speech. "Good luck, Mega Man!" Data said, pausing for a moment on both feet, on the ground, as he looked up to the blue armor-clad boy. "Remember, next week, we get to celebrate your 13th birthday!" At that, Rock just grinned, and as he entered the mineshaft, he said for the first time, "Here we go!"  
  
----  
  
Back in the Flutter, Roll began having some doubts. When she saw Gramps return, walking into the bridge, she expressed them. "Gramps, what if Rock isn't ready? What if I'm not ready? I mean, this is the first time ever I'll be spotting, and him digging…" Roll placed a hand to her mouth as she spoke, sniffling before almost tearing up. "Well, Roll, I'm sure you'll both be all right. After all, I've been training you both, you know. Still, if you two need any help, I'm right here. But, I'll only help if you absolutely need it. Got it?" he said, rubbing the metallic part of his head, even as he laughed a bit. Roll suddenly got serious, and nodded at that, looking back to the console which interpreted the radar data from the ruins. "Hai! All right Rock, lets get this adventure going!"  
  
----  
  
The ruins were lit up with lights on the ceiling, Rock noticed, as the elevator touched down onto the floor. "Better be careful… I can hear a something nearby… probably a Reaverbot," he said to himself, quietly. Sure enough, there was a loud clanking sound close by, which was a telltale sign of a reaverbot. The alarm on his left arm's cannon flashed from green to red instantly. There was only way to go, he noticed- forward, and through the corridor. Suddenly, he could hear Roll's voice. "Rock? Rock, can you hear me? I guess it's time to help you out. Okay, listen up! There are four small reaverbots on ledges next to the corridor in front of you. So you better be careful when going through there." Rock nodded in understanding, and headed over to the doorway, quickly getting himself ready to go. A moment of running in place got his legs warmed up, as he looked down the small, rather narrow hallway. He could see a ramp leading up and onto the ledges, he thought, and grinned. 4 on 1 odds… as long as they were small, there shouldn't be a problem, he figured. "Well… Here we go," he whispered, and made a mad dash up the ramp, turning and locking his sights onto the nearest reaverbot.   
  
They look like large trashcans, he thought as he raised the buster gun to settle onto the reaverbot. Suddenly, it flopped up and onto its back, a large hole opening up on the bottom as he could hear something about to shoot out. "Uh-oh!" and he dived off to the side, somersaulting as a bomb flew from the open end of the bot, and Mega Man went onto one knee, aiming carefully at the 'bot as he pulled the trigger inside the gun, blasting away with his buster gun. He immediately felt the temperature of the air heat up around him as shot after shot left his buster gun, the superheated plasma energy barreling through the air at his intended target. After about four solid hits (out of about a dozen-wild shots), the thing blew up, just as the bomb that had landed off to his side also blew.   
  
"Refractor shards!" Rock exclaimed, and he ran over to collect the small shards, before remembering the other three reaverbots nearby, "Oops!" Turning quickly, he saw the other one on his side of the ledge about to shoot out a bomb or two, and his buster gun was up, raised, and blasting away. The first blast hit the bomb that was about to be shot at him, and it blew up, taking that reaverbot with it. The other two were out of range as they patrolled their side of the ledge. He watched the two reaverbots as they went in a circular, clockwise patrol around their two large parts of their ledge.  
  
"Rock, there are two doors in that area. One on your ledge, and one on the other," Roll's voice came into the room once again. "You might be able to jump over to the other ledge, but you better take out those reaverbots first, alright?" she sounded concerned, and Mega Man smiled lightly. "Got it Roll, I'll do that," he whispered back into the com-link, before picking up the refractor shards from the defeated 'bots. He turned to face the two reaverbots on the other ledge, contemplating a way to attack. He was out of range from here, and, thankfully, so were they, at this point.  
  
He could walk back to where the ramp had gotten level with the floor, but that would have alerted the Reaverbots too soon. Deciding with a nod on a course of action, he walked over to the edge of his platform, and targets the closest one with his buster gun at the ready, steadied by his other hand. However, they were almost out of range of his gun… but he wasn't out of their range! Both of the Reaverbots, now alerted to his proximity, moved to the edge of their platform and flipped onto their backs and began shooting bombs, even as Rock ran back and out of range. The bombs hit the side of his ledge, and blew up immediately at the contact. "That could've hurt!" he muttered, wondering how he could defeat those things without getting himself hurt from their bombings. He then got an idea, and grinned.  
  
Standing close to the edge again, he made sure he was only within range of one of those trashcan-like reaverbots. Sure enough, it flipped back onto its back again, and blasted a bomb at him. It were timed bombs, he noticed (since it didn't explode upon impact with anything), and he caught it and ran out of the way of the other bomb, and then another, as the reaverbot shot them out at a fairly rapid rate in his general direction. All three bombs that had made it to his side of the ledge, including the one in his hands, began to flash red as the 3 or 4-second countdown neared extinction. Holding the near-to-exploding bomb in hand, over his head, he turns carefully, taking a quick aim at the reaverbot.  
  
"Try this one!" he yelled at the reaverbot, and Rock threw the bomb back at it, gasping as he completely missed. To compensate, even as the other two bombs on the ground nearby (fortunately, he was out of the blast radius) blew up, the reaverbot sent another stream of 3 bombs in his direction. They each landed rather close, and he picked one up quickly, throwing it at the reaverbot, and then followed suit with the other two that had landed at his feet. All three landed very close to the Reaverbot, and an almost blinding red light filled the small room as the bombs exploded, completely demolishing the reaverbot in its wake.   
  
"Strike, you're out!" he laughed, and quickly jumped over to the now open space of the other ledge, where one reaverbot remained. Targeting that one, he blasted it to bits before it even noticed his presence on its ledge now, the temperature of the air rising again. Picking up all the refractor shards, he the notices a dark hole in the wall, close to the door. "I wonder what's in here?" he said aloud, and reached a hand into the small space. With a blink, he pulled out a bunch of refractor shards. "Must be their stash for when they need to recharge," he guessed, and stuffed all the shards into his backpack.  
  
"Okay, Roll, which door should I take now?" he asks, while wiping a little bit of sweat from his forehead. He wasn't used to dodging and jumping to keep himself out of harm's way yet, that's for sure. "Let's see… Take the door in front of you Mega Man. I'm not picking up any reaverbots in that room, but there might be one anyway. There'll be another door, straight across from you when you enter the room." She said, and Rock nodded. Looking at the door, he touched the small, dark crystal-like knob, and the halves of the door quickly slid open as he stepped through. Then, it shut just as suddenly behind him, and the door's crystal emanated a reddish color. "Can't go back now," he smirked, and he looked around the room slowly, not finding anything moving…  
  
Sure enough, there weren't any Reaverbots in that room, just as Roll had mentioned. There were, however, two large chests in the room, one on either side, and a door directly across from him, set into the far wall. "Hey Roll, this room has a couple of chests of some kind in 'em… they're orange and yellow in color." He says over the com-link, as he looks around carefully. 'This might be a trap…' he thinks, as he waits for Roll to give him directions. Sighing softly, he waits a moment, then blinks slightly in surprise. Static, however little, could usually be heard on the com-link. However, there wasn't any now. "Roll? Roll, can you here me? Are you there?" he asks loudly, then shakes his head. "Nope… looks like I'm on my own," he says to himself, then shrugs, walking over to the chest. Stretching his arm carefully toward the lock-like button in the center, the lid flies open, revealing a rather good sized refractor… as well as some kind of engine equipment.  
  
"Not bad…" he grinned, then turned to the other chest, walking over to open it as well. With the simple press of the lock-like device, the lid flew open again… but this time, something flew out! Surprised, Rock jumps back, only to get hit in the chest with an impact bomb, knocking him away from the chest about ten feet! "Ow… Stupid trap box…" he mutters, slowly getting to his feet and shaking his head. Pointing his buster gun at the chest, he fires, only to see the hot plasma energy dissipate before it could reach the target. He quickly saw a problem, as the chest continued to spit out bombs in a radius, which also showed him the trap's maximum range. It also showed him something else.   
  
Rock grinned slowly, and carefully, but quickly, ran around the blast radius of the chest to position himself behind it. The trap couldn't fire its bombs behind itself, he realized, and he laughed a bit as he steadied the buster gun and blasted away. After half a dozen solid hits from behind, the trap chest blew up, leaving behind lots of refractors, as well as an orange energy cube. He picked all the refractors up, and then he looked to the orange cube. He hadn't been hurt badly at all by the bomb… but, it had shaken him up a bit. He shrugged, and picked up the cube, using the energy port on his free arm, and inserted the cube. Immediately, he sighed in relief, as he could actually feel the armor strengthen from the energy. 'Roll said something about this being bio-mechanical armor… I guess that means that I feel what the armor does… and the orange cube things actually heals the armor's integrity… nice feature,' he thought, as he grinned slightly, stretching before going to the door across from the one he'd entered from. Since he couldn't get hold of Roll over the com-link, he walks over to the door, after pressing the ruby-like switch in the center of it, passed through.  
  
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"Gramps, I'm not getting any readings other than Rock's in that room," she said, turning to the only blood-related family she knew. "What if there's a reaverbot in there?" she asked him, getting very concerned. Indeed, the console only showed what was on the floor and walls of the room, and there weren't any signs of a reaverbot. The computer had designated the reaverbots that Rock faced in the first room as Zakobens, she knew, but she was afraid if there were others in that strange room. "Relax, Roll. Rock will be fine. He's been through some rigorous training, you know. Anyway, the computer and its sensors will pick up any reaverbot in the ruins, as long as he doesn't go too deep. So don't worry, okay?"  
  
Roll sighed gently, and looked up to the ceiling of the Flutter as she thought about Rock. Though she had named him Mega Man, after her favorite videogame series, Gramps had given him the name Rock as soon as he'd found him, back when he was a baby. Then, she thought to the time when Rock had actually damaged one of her Mega Man games- Mega Man 4. She shook her head slightly, and smirked, as she remembered telling him that sooner or later, she'd get back at him for that, but she never had. She'd come up with a better idea, and this one idea would more than make up for the damage. When she started making special weapons and items for Mega Man, she'd make him pay extra. She shook her head quickly as she brought her mind back to the present, and she turns to face Gramps with a soft smile.  
  
"Oh, alright Gramps. If you say so, I guess it'll be all right…" she said, turning back to the console. Oh, I wish I could help you now, Rock… she thought, even though she knew she wasn't a digger. No, her best job was as a Mechanic and a Spotter, and she was good at being a Mechanic, she knew… but this was her first time spotting, and she didn't want to get Rock hurt. "Please be careful," she whispered, making sure that her voice didn't go over their com-link. Roll didn't want to worry him anymore than he might already be. If she were in his place, she'd be very scared. Of course, part of that was the touch of claustrophobia she had, which was mostly why she was a spotter, but one day, she knew, she'd have to get over that.  
  
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Walking into the large room, Mega Man gazed around warily. 'It was way too quiet in here' he thought. Even the last room, though it hadn't had an actual reaverbot within it- just a trap chest, had more noise within it. Three support beams, or columns, reached from the ground to the ceiling, and there was a door directly ahead of him once again, along the far wall. Each one of the support columns/pillars had a dark hole in the middle of them, and they began to worry Rock. Pacing around the walls of the room slowly, he had inadvertently triggered a silent alarm, which woke up a reaverbot… which he still couldn't see, or hear. The red eye in the middle of the reaverbot's 'head' came on, and it began searching the room silently, along the ceiling, for the intruder that had entered its lair.  
  
Rock slowly moved over toward the other door, and pushed the crystal and blinked suddenly, as the crystal glowed a deep red, and locked into place. "Uh-oh…" he said to himself, quickly turning to look around as he stood in the doorway. He blinked, as the loud sound of metal contacting metal became apparent, though whatever it was producing the sound was not to be seen. Not seeing it along the walls, or the floor, or even on the support beams, and with the process elimination taking hold in his near-panicked mind, he gasped as he looked up and to the ceiling, where he saw a rather disturbing sight. A rather large Reaverbot, easily two or three times his size, was hanging there, using it's four hook-like legs to keep itself anchored to the ceiling as its large head with the one red sensor eye swung downward… "Oh no!" he whispered, his eyes going distant as the large, quadruped reaverbot's red eye glowed darker, as if focusing on him. With Mega Man caught watching the reaverbot, it dropped a bomb, blowing a fair-sized hole to be blasted open in the floor, before letting go of the ceiling, dropping down to squash its intended target..  
  
He shook his head minutely, as he quickly ran forward to jump across the deep gap in the floor. Raising the left arm, he blasted above him as his arc made him barely miss the large reaverbot, but when it came down, crashing downwards, it blew up from the impact. "Woah… ack!" he cried, losing his balance as pieces of the reaverbot fell down around him, causing Rock to fall backwards, and into the deep hole. A few seconds and a thud later, he landed at the bottom of the pit. "Ouch…" he winces, and looks around the dark pit. "Roll? Roll, can you hear me?" he asks, looking at his com-link as he spoke. When he didn't get an answer, Mega Man sighed gently, and closed his eyes as he assessed the situation calmly. The reaverbot's carcass is over the top of the pit, and now I can't get a hold of Roll…" he said to himself, and sits down on the floor. "Even if I could blast through the reaverbot, it's too deep for me to jump up… Yeah, I'll be here for a while." With that in mind, he did the one thing he could do- sit down, and rest.  
  
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"Rock? Rock! Are you there? Where are you? Come on Rock, answer me, this isn't funny!" Roll yelled into the com-link, after 20 minutes of static and silence. "Gramps, something's wrong!" she exclaimed, looking back over to her grandfather. "Alright Roll, calm down. I'm sure he's fine. Sometimes, in some of these ruins, there are rooms where you can't send a radio signal. I'm sure he's in one of those now. We'll check in on him if he doesn't contact us in an hour, okay?" the old man said, as he dozed off. "A... all right, Gramps…" she said softly, and sat down to wait. She fell asleep as well, after half an hour of waiting, without any word from Rock.  
  
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"Eeeeeek! Eeeeeeek!! Eeeeeek!" Those loud, nearly ear shattering sounds went, echoing through the bridge of the Flutter, forcing the two occupants awake. The sky was now dark out, Roll saw, as she slowly woke up… and then jumped with a start, looking around. "Data? Is Rock back yet? Where is he?" she yelled at the still jumping up and down monkey, who stopped his movement long enough to shake its large head. "Oh no… Gramps, we have to find him!" she said loudly, looking back over to her grandfather, who was putting on his old Digger's coat, and he grabbed his titanium cane as well. "Roll, I'm going to look for an hour. If I can't find him at the end of that hour, I'll be back. We may have to wait for tomorrow though. At night, the ruins sometimes produce new protectors, or reaverbots." He said, to his granddaughter, opening the door to leave the flutter. "No matter what happens though, do not come after me, Roll! Just wait for Rock to get back." With that, he was gone into the night, to search for his missing adopted grandson.  
  
An hour later, Roll was pacing within the confines of the Flutter's bridge. She'd already lost contact with her best friend and brother, and she was beginning to wonder if she'd lost her only family to this ruin. Suddenly, she heard a door open and close, and then she looked to the bridge door as it was opened. "Gramps! Did you have any luck?" she asked, walking over to him… her voice quiet, her steps soft, and her eyes cast down to the deck. "I'm sorry Roll, I couldn't find him. We'll look again tomorrow, when there's daylight." Roll nodded, and ran off into her bedroom, locking the door behind her before jumping onto her bed, crying softly as she blamed herself for getting him lost.  
  
Another day passes, with the same results as the first day, but with one notable exception.  
  
"Roll! I found the room we last saw Rock in!" Gramps exclaimed, hobbling out of the ruins and back toward the Flutter, where she was sitting down on the ground. "But, the thing is, he's in the room after that one, and there's a big reaverbot in there, but it's been destroyed. I got the refractors, but I couldn't move all of the wreckage! I think Rock's trapped underneath the Reaverbot. We'll have to wait for tomorrow, then I'll go back into the ruins and get him out from underneath the 'bot, I promise." Gramps said, smiling to Roll as she burst out crying in joy. 'Finally, we're going to get you back, Rock,' she thought, smiling to her grandfather as they hugged gently.  
  
----  
  
He shivered lightly, though it wasn't very cold in the pit. No, the reaverbot's body was a good insulator. "I wish they'd find me soon" he whispered, and then brought his water bottle he had had in his backpack up to his lips, and took a meager drink. "I have to make this last," he said, putting it back away, and then he laughed softly. "I'm starting to talk to myself too much, I think," he said out loud, once again. Trying the com-link once more, he sighed, as he heard absolutely nothing once again. "Just great… Looks like I'm gonna be stuck here for a while… Huh?" he asked in surprise, blinking once as he looked up to the 'ceiling.' Footsteps reverberated along the floor, the same as he'd heard yesterday, he noticed, as he listened. A high pitched whine made him cover his ears as he winced, and a glowing light began to trace over a portion of the ceiling.  
  
"Laser torch…" he said to himself, as he got to his feet and grinned… "Gramps! Is that you?" he yelled, even as a beam of unseen light lanced straight through the ceiling, and to the ground he was next to. The beam began to move in a jagged, half-moon, somewhat crescent-shaped arc, as whoever was operating the torch began cutting through the Reaverbot's body in order to get to him. Finally, a chunk of metal fell down, and hit the ground at his feet, at which point Rock was forced to close his eyes.  
  
Suddenly, a bright light shone down onto Mega Man, and he squinted in order to see, since his eyes weren't used to the light above, after 2 days in darkness. "Rock! You're all right!" the old, gruff voice exclaimed, as Rock jumped a little bit. It was unnerving to hear another's voice after only listening to yourself for the past few days, he thought. "Yeah, I'm okay, Gramps! I can't jump that high, so I need a rope to get out!" he yelled, squinting as his vision slowly came back, and now he could see his Gramps form up there, looking down, even as something slid from the old timer's hand. "No problem at all, Rock! Come on up! Roll has been worried sick about you!"  
  
Looking to the strong rope, Rock grinned, and began climbing up quickly. So fast, actually, that Gramps felt very little train on the rope at all as it sagged from his hands thanks to Mega Man's weight. "Well, it's good to have ya back, m'boy. Let's get outta here!" he said, wrapping the rope back around his waist before grabbing his cane, and heading the way back out to the entrance. Rock followed slowly, and sighed. "Guess I'm not cut out to be a Digger…" he whispered to himself, and Gramps stopped, looking back to his grandson. "Nonsense, Rock! Every Digger gets lost sometime! Why, even I did, my first time out!" he laughed, and so did Rock, as they went through the doors, down the ramp, and out to the elevator. A moment later, they emerged into the daylight.  
  
A moment after that, however, when they stepped out of the mineshaft, Rock was on the ground as Roll tackled him. "Roll!" Rock exclaimed, hugging his stepsister in return to her hug. "Are you all right? He asked, holding her up so he could see her. Her eyes were watering, and she seemed to be about to cry. "Rock, don't do that again! Never make me worry about you like that again!" she said to him, loudly, even as the tears began to stream down her face. "It's okay Roll… and I promise, I will try to never worry you again. All right?" he smiled to her softly, moving so they both get up.  
  
"All right, Rock," she said, sniffling as she wipes the tears from her face with her red gloves. "I'll keep you to that promise. I'm sure that some day, in the future, we're going to laugh at the last few days here." She smiled slowly, and so did Rock, as they rose to their feet. Gramps just smiled, and looked back to the Flutter. "Well, time to be going, I guess," Gramps said, to no one in particular, though Rock and Roll smiled, and nodded at the same time at that. And so, the three humanoids and one little, hyper active monkey 'bot made their way back to the Flutter, to continue on with their adventures.  



End file.

Mega Man