Mega Man Mega Man - From Rock to X

Mega Man, Mega Man X, and all related Characters are property of Capcom. Two Robots…  One Name… An Adventure That Would Become A Legacy… _MEGA MAN_ _From Rock To X_ A.D. 20XX Skull Castle Wily grinned sadistically as Terra arose form the chamber which had helped rebuild him.  He turned to the others that had likewise been recently resurrected: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, Enker, Quint, Punk, and Ballade. 

            Bass walked into the room, with Treble slinking behind.  He stopped short when he saw the assembly in the room.  He smacked his metallic forehead.  "Oh, no," he grumbled.  "Not _again_… when is that old fool going to learn that rebuilding old models isn't going to do the trick?  I mean really, how many times have these guys been destroyed?  Three?  Six?  Twenty?"

            "Twice for these four," said Wily, sweeping his hand to indicate the non-Star Droids.  "Only once for the rest.  Well, twice if you count the clones.  But I don't.  I have rebuilt each of them, using all the data on their personalities I managed to duplicate just before their destruction."

            "So they all remember fighting Mega Man?" said Bass.

            "Yesss," hissed Pluto, scraping his claws together in feral anticipation.  "Just before our destruction of course."

            Treble went over to Pluto, who was crouched down so he was currently at eye level with the robo-wolf.  Treble got in Pluto's face and glared at him in a testing, analytical way.

            Pluto growled at Treble.  Treble growled at Pluto.  Pluto growled at Treble again, baring his teeth.  Treble growled at Pluto again, baring his teeth.

            "Knock it off!" commanded Terra and Bass simultaneously.  Their respective charges immediately parted, walked nearby their commanders and glared at each other some more.

            "Well, Wily, what's the plan this time?" said Ballade.

            "We get to kick Mega Man's metallic ass again?" said Quint.  Punk made a motion as though he were cracking his knuckles, making a rapid, metallic hammering sound for a quick moment.

            "Of course," said Wily.  "You'll find that not only have I used your recovered memories, but I have upgraded your bodies and weapons for more durability and damage capability."

            "Sweet!" said Quint.

            "What shall we do first, Master Wily?" said Enker, standing as bold and impressive as the medieval night he somewhat resembled.  Even though he was shorter than all the others save Quint, he was no less a warrior than Terra.  And unlike Terra, or Bass for that matter, his personality programming did not include needless boasting.

            "Well, probably the best thing would be to draw Mega Man out into the open," said Wily.  "What I am planning is simple revenge…"

            "Again," Bass cut in.

            "Shut up, Bass," said Wily.  "Simple revenge by brute force.  I believe that, while he could take you all down one-at-a time, even one right after the other assuming he adapted your weapons, all of you at once could easily destroy him if you work together.  Oh, would that I could fully resurrect Sunstar, under my complete control, of course, your victory would be assured.  However, many of his parts were unique and irreplaceable.  A pity, that.  Oh, well."

            Wily turned to view some data before saying, "Right now, I have eight of my previous Robot Masters rebuilt, but I'll merely use them to guard my castle.  You Star Droids and special Warrior Robots have been my best creations over the years.  I'm counting on your combined powers and efforts to destroy Mega Man.  And you'd better do it.  Or I'll reconsider ever resurrecting you again."

            "Don't worry, Master Wily," said Enker, bowing.  "We shall not fail this time."

            "Yes, well, see to it that you don't," Wily muttered as he stalked off.  When he realized that his minions were still standing there, he whirled around and hollered at them, "Well, what are you waiting for!  Go cause some ruckus to draw out Mega Man and destroy the metal pip-squeak!"

            "We will, Master Wily," said Enker.  "But, our efforts would be better coordinated were we to have a field leader.  I would be honored to fill the position, if you believe I can…"

            "Don't be ridiculous," said Terra, striding up to Enker and glaring down at him as if to challenge him to retaliate, "I am leader of the Star Droids.  Naturally, I should lead.  Besides, I am the one destined to destroy Mega Man."

            "Don't give me that destined crap," said Enker, not at all intimidated by Terra's size.  "And I'm no Star Droid."

            Wily rolled his eyes and groaned.  He pointed to Bass, saying, "Because of his nearly free-will capabilities, Bass shall lead you.  Terra shall be second in command, and Enker third.  Now get going."

            Enker nodded in acceptance of his creator's commands.  Terra glared at Bass, who merely sneered back, enjoying his little victory.  As they proceeded out the door, Bass whispered to Terra, "Oh, and by the way, bush-head, Mega Man's _mine_ to destroy."

            Terra opened his mouth to object, but Bass laughed and leaped into the hover craft Wily had prepared for them all.  Terra growled.  It was then that he realized Pluto wasn't in the ship.  Bass also realize Treble wasn't either.  Both Terra and Bass leaned out the door of the hovercraft to see the Star Droid and the robo-wolf glaring at each other.  Groaning in irritation, both leaders yelled, "Hey, get over here, bolts for brains!"

            Still glaring, Pluto (who remained crouched down so that he walked on all fours) and Treble stalked into the hovercraft.  They zoomed off.

Light Lab 

"Doctor Light!  Rock! Come quick!"  Roll dashed into the work area of Doctor Light's lab.  The fifty-year old scientist and his second creation, the bioroid warrior Mega Man (a.k.a. Rock), dashed over to her.

"What's wrong, Roll?" asked Rock.

"Doctor Wily's attacking the city again!" said Roll.

Rock sighed.  "Of course," he said to himself.  "'What's wrong?'  What _else_ would be wrong?"

            "According to the video images, it looks like the Star Droids!" Roll said.

            "Star Droids?" said Light.  "I'd hoped Wily would never be able to rebuild the alien technology.  But I guess it was too much to hope for.  Very well, Mega Man.  I'll need to out-fit you with the Mega Arm again."

            "Ah, we might just want to leave it there, this time," said Rock as he sat down on the operating table.  "I do like my Buster better, but if it keeps getting out-dated, I'll just have to ditch it for good."

            Doctor Light made his adjustments, and within minutes, Mega Man had been re-outfitted with the most powerful (and useful) weapon he'd ever possessed.  Hitting the recall device on his belt, his street clothes melted into light, and reconfigured over his body, solidifying as his blue costume.  He grabbed his helmet from a nearby shelf and slapped it on as he typed in the coordinates for his teleporter.

            "I'll alert Proto Man, incase you need some help," said Doctor Light.

            "Thanks, Doc," said Mega Man, activating his teleporter.  "See you later."

            Doctor Light turned to Roll.  "Better prepare Beat, Rush, and Tango," said Light.  "Against the Star Droids, without their weapons to back him up, he'll be in for a major fight."

            Roll nodded and walked off.

The City Park 

Mega Man appeared in the city park.  It was actually fairly large, and on the edge of the city, so that it sort of blended into the country side that the suburbs faded into.  The Star Droids were heading his way.

            Charging up his Mega Arm, he waited behind some nearby trees.  If he could manage to ambush one of the Star Droids (yeah, that was gunna happen), he could take one of their weapons and then attack the Droid weak to it.  So long as he was careful, he could take them all out one by one.  He just had to make sure he got the order right.

            Mars was coming up, just over the hill, zooming along on his treads.  _No,_ thought Mega Man.  _Mars is way to tough to tackle.  I wouldn't be able to beat him before the others arrived to back him up.  Better wait for Mercury.  At least his weapon can recharge me._

            He powered down his Mega Arm so Mars wouldn't notice the flash charging it caused.  A pity, that.  A giant flying razor wheel plowed into him, knocking him out from behind the tree.

            As Punk returned to his robot form, Ballade strode up to Mega Man and grabbed him by the neck, lifting him into the air.  His face reconfigured itself into its "battle mode", indicating that he was ready for a knockdown, no-holds-barred slugfest.

            _Oh, no,_ thought Mega Man.  _Not again!_

            Mega Man remembered how the original Ballade had saved him from destruction by blasting an escape from Wily's exploding space fortress.  Mega Man highly doubted this copy was going to do anything similar to help him.

            Ballade held one of his Ballade Cracker bombs and was about to slam it into Mega Man's face, when he paused.  Gazing at Mega Man, Ballade felt something pop up into his memory.  Suddenly, he wasn't sure that destroying Mega Man was the right thing to do…

            Ballade dropped Mega Man.

            Suddenly, Uranus hurtled by, slamming Mega Man back.

            "What were you doing?" asked Venus of Ballade as Uranus, Mars, Neptune and Punk ganged up on the Blue Bomber.  "Why'd you drop him?"

            "I… uh…," Ballade stuttered.  "I… had to get clear of the blast range of my own bombs."

            Venus gave him a funny look.  "But I thought you were immune to your own weapons, like us," he said.

            "Well… you can't be too careful," said Ballade.

            Venus rolled his eyes.  "Whatever," he muttered, hoping off towards his comrades.  Ballade blinked.  Venus reminded him a lot of Toad Man, now that he thought of it.  But that was something else to ponder.  Right now, he had to think about what had just happened.  Something wasn't right.  Something in him was telling him that fighting Mega Man was wrong, but he couldn't figure out why.  He remembered feeling this doubt before.  He wondered if it was a bug that had carried over into his programming.

            As Ballade pondered this, Mega Man had to dodge and jump and fire and dodge and jump and slide and fire and dodge again, and so on, as he evaded the combined fire-power of the Star Droids and Punk.  Mega Man noticed Enker was charging towards him from the right and Quint was trying to get the jump on him using Sakugarne to his left.  At the front, Uranus was charging him, and at the back, Pluto dashed towards him, moving so fast he was like a giant slash across the ground.  Mega Man waited until the last moment, then leaped away.  The four robots collided into each other.

            Saturn appeared, creating the black hole with his ring.  Mega Man barely managed to slide so as to avoid collision with the Star Droid.  But he wasn't able to slide far due to the gravitational pull.  As Mega Man fought the gravity well, Terra launched a Spark Chaser, which struck Mega Man three times before fading.  Reeling from the hits, Mega Man succumbed to the gravity attack and slammed into Saturn, who immediately put him into an arm lock.

            Shaking his head to clear it, Mega Man used his immense strength to hurl Saturn forward, into an on-coming ball of liquid Mercury.

            Huffing, Mega Man charged up his Mega Arm and fired it at Terra.  The fist struck him full in the face, and latched on, inflicting damage again and again more quickly and viciously than the Star Droid's own Spark Chaser weapon.

            Charging up again, Mega Man prepared to launch another attack at Terra.  The Star Droid leader was reeling awkwardly.  Mega Man's attack must have screwed up something in his balancing systems.  Were a robot capable of it, Mega Man might say the Terra looked sick.  It was the perfect opportunity.  He took aim and prepared to fire another devastating repetitive blow.

            That's when the rapid-fire shots of Bass's Forte Buster blasted across his back, slamming him into the ground.

            Bass strode over to Mega Man, aiming his Buster right at Mega Man's face.  Mega Man raised up to fire his Mega Arm, but a Spark Chaser struck him just as he fired it off, causing the energy to dissipate, and the attack to cancel.

            "Mega Man isss mine!" yelled Terra, still wobbling slightly. Mega Man could have sworn the Star Droid leader's word's were slightly slurred.  Perhaps the blow to the head had damaged something vital.

            "Wrong, Earth," said Bass, sneering at Terra.  "He was _mine_ to destroy long before you came around."

            "Not that-at long, Bass," said Terra.  Yes, there was definitely something wrong with him.  If Mega Man could only charge without his would-be executioners noticing, he might be able to land another headshot on Terra that could finish the Star Droid.

            "Back of, Terra," commanded Bass.  "I am your superior.  Wily made it so."

            "NO!" shouted Terra with a sudden ferocity.  He thrust his hand forward and shot a Spark Chaser at Bass.

            "Treble!" shouted Bass, leaping back.

            As Bass leaped backwards, Treble leaped up forward, landing on his back.  The two slammed together, and there was a flash of light.  Spreading his jagged, purple wings, Bass used his Treble Booster to fly and dodge the Spark Chaser as it followed his trajectory.

            Terra turned to see Mega Man get up, having begun to charge in that moment of distraction.  Terra quickly formed three orbs in his hands and fired them at Mega Man just as the Mega Arms charge reached it's maximum level.  Mega Man jumped up, raising his arm to fire a second too late; he was frozen in place by the orbs just before he could fire.

            Terra staggered towards him.  Helpless, Mega Man could only hang in mid-air as Terra reached out a hand to fire off another Spark Chaser.  Mega Man glanced at the side of his arm and was able to see his power meter: it was down to three units.  One Spark Chaser would probably do him in.

            Suddenly, Bass dive-bombed Terra, slamming him into the ground.

            _Yes_, thought Mega Man.  _If Bass can only distract him for a few more moments, then the freeze will wear off and I can teleport out of here and get help._

            But instead of merely fighting him, Bass took the next few moments to fire his Treble Booster's spread shot in Terra's face, blowing the Star Droid's head off.  The body followed a second later, knocking Bass into the sky.  Bass merely used his wings to ride the shockwave, flipping around to face Mega Man.

            Coming to rest hovering only inches from Mega Man, Bass grinned evilly and looked Mega Man over.  He aimed his weapon at Mega Man's face.  The freeze wore off a slit second before Bass fire.

            Mega Man dropped under the shot.  Unfortunately, the bottom-most bolt of plasma nicked Mega Man in the head, knocking him forcibly to the ground and cleaving off two of the remaining energy units on Mega Man's meter.

            Reeling, Mega Man sprawled on the grass.  Bass shut off the Treble Booster's jets, and Treble separated from him.  The two hit the ground simultaneously.  Treble grabbed Mega Man by the neck with his mouth and forced the hero down to the ground.  Bass aimed his Forte Buster at Mega Man's head.

            "I've would've waited an eternity for this, Mega Man," said Bass, his eyes gleaming with what could only be described as bloodlust.  "You're finished."

            Ballade and the others watched as Bass prepared to destroy Mega Man.  The Star Droids were all outraged at Terra's destruction.  Quint, Punk, and Enker watched Bass with interest.  Ballade's face reformed into its normal sate.  The look upon it was one of shock growing to horror.  He remembered now.  Just before his destruction, Mega Man had first defeated him, causing severe damage.  Ballade had fled to ponder the motives of Mega Man's actions against Wily, against his own kind.  Perhaps the battle had jarred something in his programming, Ballade wasn't sure.  But Ballade remembered realizing that Mega Man's goals had been far better, and far more beautiful, than Wily's.  Ballade remembered going to help Mega Man, just before his memory faded completely.  Wily's systems must have remotely upgraded his copied personality just before he'd gone to help Mega Man.  Unfortunately for Wily, the mad scientist hadn't known of Ballade's treachery.  Otherwise, he would have left those memories out.

Ballade didn't care about "what ifs" right now.  All he knew was that he had to stop Bass.  He pulled out a Ballade Cracker and hurled it at Bass.

            He was a second to late.

            Although he was a robot and could process information at the incredible speeds of a supercomputer, time seemed to slow for Ballade as he saw Bass's Forte Buster blow Mega Man's head to pieces, a mere second before his own weapon exploded against the black robot's side, ripping open his armor and blasting off his helmet.

            Bass hit the ground, his long, jet-black hair falling over his face.  He grabbed his side, where a huge gash had been ripped, exposing sparking wires and cracked circuitry.

            "Aw, Goddamn son of bitch!" said Bass.  "Ballade, what the hell…?"

            Suddenly, the Star Droids were surrounding Bass, preventing Ballade from having to explain his actions.

            "You destroyed Terra!" said Venus.

            "Our Leader!" said Neptune.

            "You shall perish," said Saturn.

            "Wait, hold on, what are you doing?!" yelled Bass.  Treble leaped over his master, coming between him and the advancing Star Droids.

            Pluto crouched down and snarled at Treble.  The two leaped at one another, and rolled off to the side, a blur of slashing claws and gnashing jaws.  The remaining Star Droids ganged up on Bass.

            "No!" said Bass.  "Stop this!  I order you!"

            "You aren't our leader," said Mars.

            Bass tried to activate his teleporter, but it wouldn't work.  Ballade's bomb must have damaged it.  Ballade would pay for that… but right now, Bass had to worry about surviving against the Droids.  He turned to look for Treble, but the wolf was still in a fight with Pluto.  Damn it!  Right now, Bass's best hope was to merge with Treble and fly away, but that didn't look likely.  He formed his Forte Buster and blasted the Star Droids with a sweep of his arm.

            Venus, Neptune, Jupiter, and Saturn all dodged.  Mercury liquefied himself at the last moment so the shots didn't hurt.  Neither Mars nor Uranus seemed to mind the shots much.  Bass cursed, managed to get to his feet, and tried to dash.  If he could just get in a super-jump, he could probably leap to safety…

            He forgot Saturn could slide.  The Star Droid's feet collided with his own, spilling Bass onto the ground.  Saturn grabbed his ring and formed the gravity well with it, forcing Bass towards him.  Bass flew towards Saturn, helpless.  Uranus and Mars intercepted him trajectory, body slamming him through a tree fifty yards away.

            "Say good night, Bass," said Mercury.

Battered, broken, with no means of escape, Bass was unable to prevent the impact of a combined Deep Digger, Grab Buster, and Photon Missile attack.  Bass exploded.

            A few moments later, Pluto dropped the shredded remains of Treble in a pile next to Bass's helmet.  He, too, was torn up in many places, but ultimately, the Star Droid had arisen superior.  Without Bass, Treble hadn't stood much of a chance.

            Enker put his head in his hand and shook his head, sighing.  "Master Wily isn't going to like this," he said.

            "Don't see why," said Mars.  "We got Mega Man!  And for real, this time!"

            "But we lost Terra and Bass," said Enker.

            "And Treble," growled Pluto with a tone indicating savage glee.

"Aw, the both of 'em were just arrogant cusses," said Quint, still balancing on Sakugarne.  He noticed the Star Droids glaring at him.  "Well, they were!  Frankly, I'd rather follow Enker here."  He patted Enker on the back.  "Least he can keep his cool."

"Yes, thank you, Quint," said Enker.  "And, speaking of me being leader, I believe with our former commander and second in command destroyed, that puts me in charge."

The Star Droids grumbled a bit, but consented.  After all, Wily had made it so, and it's not like they had anything against Enker.

"Hey, Ballade," said Quint.  "You all right?  You look funny.  What, you got a glitch or somethin'?"

Ballade had been standing there, staring off into space.  When Quint spoke, he merely turned and stared at him.  Then, he slugged him in the face.  Hard.

"Hey!" yelled Quint as he fell of Sakugarne.  "What?"

Then, Ballade mounted Sakugarne, and used it to power leap away before teleporting off.

"HEY!" said Quint.  "THAT STUPID PUNK!  THAT'S MINE!"

Punk grunted and walked up to Quint, as though waiting to hear what the smaller robot had to say.

Quint noticed Punk looking at him, and said, "No, not you, Punk.  Ballade!  He's acting like a punk!"

Punk jerked a thumb at himself and made a loud grunt that might have been an attempt at, "ME!"

"Yes, I know you're name is Punk," said Quint.  "But I'm talking about Ballade!  He stole Sakugarne, so he's acting like a punk!"  Punk looked at him very confused.  Obviously, something was not computing in the brute's synthetic mind.  "Look, I mean…" Quint decided it wasn't worth explaining, and frankly, he wasn't in the mood.  He threw up his arms, saying.  "Whatever.  Forget it."

Enker rubbed his chin, mimicking a human as he thought.  "That certainly is strange," said Enker.  "We'd better alert Wily."

Skull Castle 

"So Bass is gone, eh?"

            Wily looked a lot happier than they had expected, considering two of his finest warriors had perished, and another had apparently gone rogue.  They supposed Mega Man's destruction had something to do with it.

            "Ah, well," said Wily unable to hide the grin on his face, despite his relatively somber tone.  "With Mega Man gone, Bass's existence would have become meaningless anyway.  And he has fought against me in the past.  Who knows, without Mega Man to fight, he might have turned against me full time.  And you're right Quint, Terra could be a little haughty, though his loyalty was without question.  Maybe I'll rebuild him as a reward for this success.

            "Hmm.  I'll have to figure out what went wrong with Ballade, though…"

            Wily suddenly did a little jig.  "Oh, what the hell?  My greatest enemy is destroyed!  I feel like a celebration!  And you know how I like to celebrate?"  Wily looked to is creations.

            "Global conquest and mass destruction?" Mars suggested.

            A sadistic gleam appeared in Wily's eye.  "Exactly!  And without Mega Man to stop me, no one could hope to oppose me!  Come!  Let us prepare my forces for conquest!"

Light Lab 

Roll answered the door hastily.  She was very surprised indeed by what she found there.

            Ballade was standing at the doorway, a somber look on his otherwise grim face.  Sakugarne was strapped to his back.

            "Greetings," said Ballade.  "Is this the home of Mega Man?"

            Having just arrived moments earlier, Blues strode up to the door in full Proto Man uniform, minus the helmet.

            "Roll, who is…" he began.  "Ballade!!!"  He knocked his sister aside and aimed his Buster at Ballade, charging it.

            "I'm… not here to fight you, Proto Man," said Ballade.

            Proto Man held him at Buster-point for a few more moments before saying, "What do you want?"

            "Mega Man has been destroyed," said Ballade.  "I want to help you avenge him."

            Proto Man blinked.  "You lie," he said.

            "I'll take you to the battle field," said Proto Man.

            Shaking slightly, Doctor Light came into the room.  "Blues… Roll… I'm afraid that… that Ballade is… correct.  They just showed footage of the battle on the television.  I saw Bass destroy Mega Man.  And I can't find Mega Man's tracking signal with my instruments, so it must mean that…"

            Doctor Light sat down heavily on a chair.  "Rock…" he whispered.

            Roll walked over to him, saying, "Do you need anything, Doctor Light?"

            Proto Man hadn't taken his eyes, or his Buster, off Ballade.

            "What do you mean, you want to help avenge him?" said Proto Man.  "You've tried to destroy him!"

            "I've had a… revelation of sorts," said Ballade.  "Again."

            Doctor Light shook himself out of his daze and looked at Ballade.  "Roll," he said, "Check the sensors for any sign of hostilities other than Ballade.  See if we have a potential ambush on our hands."

            Roll went to comply.  Ballade said, "I'm alone, and I won't attack you."

            "We shall see," said Doctor Light.

            Roll came back.  "He's right on the first account," she confirmed.  "He is alone.  Whether or not he'll attack us, I cannot determine."

            "I think I can," said Doctor Light.  "Mega Man once told me of how the original Ballade saved him from getting blown up in one of Wily's space fortresses.  Assuming Wily used the same programming, it's possible that this latest incarnation could have had the same change of heart."

            "Too bad it didn't come sooner," said Proto Man.

            "I tried to save him!" said Ballade.  "Honestly!  But I… acted too late."

            "The footage I saw did show you apparently attacking Bass and not Mega Man," said Doctor Light, cautiously approaching Ballade.

            "Careful, Doc," said Proto Man.  "It could be a trap."

            "I'm aware of that, Blues," said Doctor Light.  "But if Ballade is truly here to help, then he won't mind my deactivating his weapon."

            "I wouldn't prefer it, but do what you feel you have to," said Ballade.

            Doctor Light nodded and went to Ballade's arm, opening a panel and disconnecting a few wires.  "That takes care of the firing mechanism," he said.  "I'll reconnect it after I've made some adjustments."

            A half hour later, Doctor Light had made a quick check up on Ballade, making sure Wily hadn't planted any nasty surprises.  After he could ascertain that Ballade was telling the truth about his switching sides, he installed an anti-reprogramming chip before reconnecting the weapon.

            Doctor Light, Blues, Roll, and Ballade sat around the living room area of the lab adjacent to huge the work area.  Beat stood atop a bookshelf, Tango lay on Roll's lap, and Rush lay at Blues' feet, looking depressed.  Auto was off gathering parts for Doctor Light and wouldn't be back until later.  Sakugarne rested against the wall next to Ballade.  No one was saying anything.

            "Well," said Doctor Light finally.  "We have to find and stop Wily right away, before he gets the chance to attack again.  Without Rock, the danger has increased dramatically."

            He looked to Blues.  "Seeing as how you are Mega Man's identical twin, many of the things I built for Mega Man should work for you."  He got up.  "Come with me, Blues.  You too, Rush.  I'm going to modify the Super Adaptor for you to use.  I have a feeling that you might need it."

            Ballade and Roll watched them go.

            Ballade turned to Roll.  "What about you?" asked Ballade. "Do you ever fight?"

            "No," said Roll.  "I wasn't designed for it.  I'm a house-keeping robot, not a warrior."

            "Oh," said Ballade.  They sat in silence again.  There was a knock on the door after a few moments.

            "I'll get it," said Roll.  "It's probably Auto."

            It turned out it was indeed Auto.  Ballade looked the green robot over.  He was fairly simple in design. Ballade doubted that he was a fighter.  From the tools he could see the robot carry, Auto struck him as a fixer.  Probably a good idea, when you thought about it.  All Wily did was make battle robots.  Doctor Light made robots for various functions.  At least he diversified.

            But Auto wasn't all that came in through the door.  A large yellow and orange robot with a huge helmet and cape strode in behind the green robot.

            "Hey, look who I picked up on the way home!" said Auto.  "I heard the bad news on the news.  Tough break.  I'll miss him.  But anyway, Kaiser here wants to help."

            "That's King," said King.

            "Yeah, Czar, that's what I said," said Auto.  He bustled off to the lab's work area to give Doctor Light the parts.

            King shook his head.  "Nice guy, but a few bolts short in his bucket," he said.  Doctor Light and Blues came out to see the new arrival.  King turned to them.  "I am deeply sorry for your loss, good Doctor.  I will do whatever I can to help you in this time of need."

            "Wow," said Proto Man, remembering when he'd had to fight the large robot. "You really did turn a new leaf."

            "Mega Man's efforts and beliefs were an inspiration to me, and many others besides," said King.

"No argument here," said Ballade.  King looked startled to see him, but figured he probably wasn't a danger; if he was going to blow up the place, he would have done so by now.  He'd get the details later.

"His loss will be deeply felt by the world, I am sure," said King.

            They stood around in silence for a moment.  "So…" said King.  "What can I help with?"

            "It's time for massive retaliation," said Proto Man, with a fierceness that took even Ballade by surprise.

            "We've always fought defensively, waiting for Wily to make his move before going after him," said Proto Man.  "It's time we went to him."

            "Blues, we need to go about this sensibly," said Doctor Light, "We don't even know where his castle is now."

            "I do," said Ballade.  "Proto Man is right.  It's time Wily paid for his crimes.  For good."

            Doctor Light opened his mouth to object.  But then, he thought about Rock, and he just couldn't think of a reason not to agree.  He sighed.  "Very well," he said.  "Come, Blues, I'll finish the adjustments so you can use the Adaptor.  Ballade, King, wait out here and… prepare whatever weapons you need.  I'll see about contacting Duo.  With most of the Star Droids are still active, you'll need all the help you can get.  Considering that Duo himself is an alien, he may know something about the Star Droid technology that could come in handy.  Roll, are Beat and Tango prepared for battle?"

            "They have been since Rock left," said Roll.

            Doctor Light winced at that, but nodded.  "Good," he said.  "We'll figure out our strategy when everything's prepared."

A few hours later, everything was set.

            Rush had been modified to merge with Proto Man as the Super Adaptor.  "I've also integrated the Mega Arm technology into the Super Adaptor's Power Fist," said Doctor Light.  "Fully charged, the fist will have all the features of both in one handy weapon: it can latch on to an enemy for a repeated attack as well as home in on them and grab things from afar."

            "Thanks, Doc," said Proto Man, slinging his Proto Shield over his shoulder.

            "Ballade, I've modified Sakugarne so you can control him remotely," said Doctor Light.

Ballade was surprised.  "Thank you, Doctor Light," he said.  "I'm certain that will come in handy."

"I did manage to contact Duo, but he's out in deep space," said Doctor Light.  "Even using one of his alien ships, it will still take him some time to get here."

"Well, we can't wait for him unfortunately," said King.  "All right, here's the plan:  Proto Man, Ballade and I will attack Skull Castle.  Proto Man will go in from the top and work his way down, armed with the Super Adaptor.  I'll go in at ground level and try to work my way up to join you at Wily's strong hold in the center.  Ballade, since you know the castle best, and you're weapon is best suited to do the job, it will be up to you to destroy Wily's power Core and blow that castle sky high."

"Gladly," said Ballade.

"Should Duo appear before we've returned, send him out to back us up," said King.  Doctor Light nodded.

"Let's do it," said Proto Man.

They teleported off.

"Godspeed," said Doctor Light.  He sat down heavily on a chair again.  He was very tired, but something had come to mind.  If Wily could constantly rebuild his robots, why couldn't he?  Doctor Light dismissed the idea.  He knew Rock was unique; even if he were capable of recreating a bioroid, there was no way he could bring Mega Man back, not exactly the way he had been.  He sighed.

Still, anything was worth a shot.  Maybe he couldn't create a bioroid.  Maybe, instead, he could try something different.  Something new.  Something better and more powerful than anything he'd built before.  He was too tired to start building anything right away.  However, that didn't stop his mind from racing through ideas and diagrams as he sat and rested.

Skull Castle 

Proto Man, King, and Ballade teleported down in front of Skull castle.  There was a ladder on one side.  Proto Man immediately began to climb it.

            "Proto Man, activate your Super Adaptor," said King.

            "Not yet," said Proto Man.  "Only when I have to.  It's too bulky, and would hinder my movement."

            King shrugged.  He went over to what appeared to be a loading dock.  Ballade blasted it open.  He and King stepped inside.  Immediately, they were attacked by Bladders.  They didn't last more than a few moments.

            The two walked into a hallway.  "Here's where we split up," said Ballade.  King nodded.

            "Good luck," said the larger robot.

            "Same to you," Ballade said, running down a passage to the right.

            King noticed an escalator of some sort going upwards.  He walked towards it, and rode it several stories to the top.  He was in what appeared to be a storage area.  Carefully he stalked through the piles of boxes and crates.  He almost didn't see the three red feathers fly at him from the side.  Bringing up his axe, King sliced the feathers in half out of the air.

            A tomahawk flew at him and King jumped back.  Fortunately, the weapon's path curved upwards after a certain distance, and it flew over Kings head, missing him.  With a howling battle cry, Tomahawk Man leaped down from some boxes to confront him.

            Grinning, King raised his axe to prepare for battle.  This was going to be interesting.

Proto Man had made it to the roof and was blasting his way through Mets, Bladers, and a few Joes.  He found a doorway that appeared to lead into the castle.  Charging his Buster, he opened it and dropped down into the darkness below.

            He hit the floor with a clang.

            "Greetings, Proto Man," said a voice.

            Proto Man whirled to see Enker behind him, hefting his sword.  Behind him, Mercury stepped up.

            "Master Wily noticed your approach on some monitors," explained Enker.  "Others have been dispatched to take care of King and the defective Ballade."

            "How lovely for him," said Proto Man, launching a Buster attack.

            Enker let the blast hit his sword, but he didn't take damage.  The sword merely charged.  Enker smiled at Proto Man's surprise.  "Master Wily fixed that little glitch," he said.  He thrust his sword out, sending a wave of energy at Proto Man.

            Proto Man dodged it as Enker dashed towards him.  Proto Man managed to just barely leapfrog over him, but was slammed into the ground by a piece of Mercury.  The Star Droid reformed himself and fired several Grab Buster shots.  Proto Man felt his energy slip away, and saw little capsules of it fly back at Mercury.  Mercury grinned.

            "Didn't really need a recharge," he said, "but it's nice to have some spare energy."

            Enker pounced on Proto Man, pinning him with his sword.

            "Bring him to me alive!" came Wily's voice over the intercom.

            Mercury grabbed him and pinned his arms behind his back.  Taking his Proto Shield, Enker grabbed Proto Man's feet and the two carried him back to Wily's lab.

Ballade had made it to the power core with very little resistance.  He looked over the massive generators in the Castle's basement levels.  It would take one gumbo-size boom to trigger the explosion he need.  Fortunately, Ballade had enough boom to nuke an entire city.

            He stepped towards the nearest generator, then stopped when he heard his name called.

            "Ballade," said Quint, stepping out of the shadows, "return to me that which is mine."

            "Go away, Quint," said Ballade, hefting one of his spiked bombs, "or I'll hurt you."

            "Tough talk, asshole," said the green, horned android.  Ballade wondered why Wily thought to program Quint with such a flagrant vocabulary.  He supposed every army had to have at least one potty mouth to insult the enemy.

            Unfortunately for Quint, not even sticks and stones, much less words, would hurt him.  He prepared to throw his bomb, when he heard the sound of metallic knuckles being "cracked".  Ballade glance to his left to see the brutish Punk step out from more shadows.

            "Sakugarne!  Attack!" shouted Ballade, whirling and throwing the bomb at Punk.

            Sakugarne suddenly appeared out of nowhere and drove Quint into the metallic floor.  A Screw Crusher cleaved the Ballade cracker in half, making an explosion only halfway through the trip, damaging neither robot.

            Punk transformed into his giant spiked wheel mode and flew at Ballade.  Ballade easily leaped over him, throwing another bomb at him.  The bomb didn't hurt Punk in his spiked shell, but it knocked him to the ground, where he transformed back.

            Quint was yelling and cussing up a storm as he tried to grab Sakugarne and wrestle the robotic jackhammer/pogo-stick to the ground without getting gutted in the process.

"Ah, Proto Man," said Wily, rubbing his hands together gleefully.  "So good to see you.  Usually, you're the one to bail Mega Man out of trouble.  But I seem to understand that duty is yours no longer.  Of course, you never really had to be your brother's keeper.  Now that he is gone, I offer you position in my army.  You worked with me once before, after all.  Now that Mega Man is gone, it is hopeless to oppose me.  Join me, or you will be destroyed.  Those are the only choices."

            "I'd rather die than serve you again," said Proto Man.

            Wily waved a hand dismissively.  "Very well then," he said.  "Destroy him.  One less menace to worry about."

            Suddenly, Proto Man shouted, "Rush, NOW!"

            Rush teleported in and leaped onto Proto Man, knocking him out of Enker and Mercury's grasp.  As the two red and white robots hit the ground, there was a flash, and Proto Man arose from the ground decked in the Super Adaptor.

            "Nice trick," said Mars, blasting him with his rapid-fire shots.  "But it didn't work for Bass and it won't work for you."

            Venus leaped at Proto Man, pausing at the apex of his flight to riddle the room with bubble bombs, before descending.

            Proto Man grabbed his shield from Enker, blasting him in the face at the same time.  He whirled in time to block Venus' body.  Activating the jets, Proto Man flew away, Venus dropping off the shield.

            Jupiter followed his trajectory, but Proto Man cut the jets at the last second; Jupiter wound up slamming into the nest of Bubble Bombs.  Hit repeatedly by his main weakness, Jupiter was destroyed.

            "Whose next?" said Proto Man, charging up his Power Arm.

            Uranus and Pluto charged at him.  Pluto wound up slashing through Uranus with his Break Dash, and, having not repaired himself after the battle with Mega Man, Uranus was destroyed.

            "Beat, Tango!" shouted Proto Man.  The two robo-animals teleported in and began to attack, Beat dive-bombing the robots and Tango plowing through them in his spiked-ball form.

            "Grrr… this won't save you, Proto Man!" said Wily, running off into an adjacent room.

            As Beat and Tango distracted the remaining Star Droids, Proto Man raced off after Wily.  Enker staggered to his feet and let his systems recalibrate for a moment.  When he was feeling more stable, he dashed after Proto Man.

Ballade leaped over several Screw Crushers and dove underneath an air born body slam.  He and Punk had landed a few good hits on each other, but Punk was far more damaged.  Just as the spiky brute unfolded out of his shell, Ballade hurled a Ballade Cracker at him.  The Cracker caught him full in the chest and blasted him to pieces.

            Smiling grimly, Ballade stood over Punk's shattered body.  "Only those who fight for something they believe in can succeed, not those who mindlessly do what their told," he said.

            Unfortunately, voicing this wisdom only served to distract him from another attack.  Ballade shouted in surprise as the spiked bottom of Sakugarne busted through his stomach, smashing him several yards away into the hard floor.

            Ballade turned to see Quint grinning evilly at him.  "I got him back," he said gleefully.  "Guess he knows who his real master is."  Then, his grin faded into a scowl.  "You're not some kind of newly converted savior, Ballade.  Only a defect."

            "Shut up, Quint," said Ballade.  He struggled to his feet.

            "You shut up," said Quint.  "You're in no position to try and boss me around, asshole.  Look at you!  You can barely stand!"

            Ballade hurled a bomb at Quint, but the green robot used Sakugarne to vault over it, aiming the deadly spike at Ballade as he came to Earth.

            Somehow, Ballade found the strength to grab Sakugarne and hurl it off balance in mid-air.  Quint fell off the jackhammer robot, and both of them sprawled onto the ground.  Quint looked up to see a Ballade Crack come right at his face.  He leaped back and it blew off his left arm and everything below his torso.

            Ballade sneered at Quint, "You should talk," he said.  He turned to go to the generator, but fell down.  His legs weren't working right, as Quint's first salvo had severed lots of important wires.  But at least he could drag himself with his arms.  So, slowly, but surely, he dragged himself along.

King cursed as the monster divided itself up and its pieces flew through the air at him.  Maybe someone Mega Man's size could easily dodge this contraption, but for some one large, like King, it wasn't so easy.

            His own version of this Cyclops robot, which had consisted mostly of a green, nearly solid gelatin, hadn't been this hard to hit.  All you had had to do with that one was blast your way through the surface to hit the eye.  This version of the Cyclops, the Rock Monster as King remembered it, was invincible all but the briefest moments its eye was open, and there was no way to force it open.

            King was fairly high on energy, still, and he was able to bash away most of the blocks with his axe.  But this incessant form of attack was wearing him down.  It was his hardest adversary yet; as Ballade had said, there had only been eight resurrected robot Masters, but they hadn't been much of a problem.  After Tomahawk Man had fallen, he encountered the rest one by one in rapid succession.  Metal Man, Shadow Man, Skull Man, Gravity Man, Turbo Man, and Aqua Man never knew what hit them.  Elec Man had been a slightly harder problem: he'd been able to get the drop on King with one of his Thunder Beams, as lightning-based weapons were his own weakness.  Fortunately, King was able to best Elec Man with but a few quick slashes.  Unlike Dynamo Man's Lightning Bolt, the Thunder Beam didn't make the user invulnerable while preparing to fire.  That had been extremely helpful for King.

            King had wondered to himself just then why every time Wily made or reprogrammed a batch of new robots, he made each one weak to the weapon of another in the group.   Perhaps it was Wily's idea of a failsafe; should one Robot Master defect and become a danger to him or his plans, Wily would always have one other robot who could easily take down the renegade if necessary.

            King supposed it was a good idea, except that meant Mega Man could always acquire the weapons to more easily defeat the Robot Masters.  If Wily had really thought it through, he would have made sure that no Master Weapons were especially affective against any of the other Robot Masters, thereby making it more difficult for Mega Man.  Perhaps it had been so obvious a problem that Wily had overlooked it while trying to come up with more complex solutions.  King supposed it was little things like that that always led to his defeat.

            An interesting hypothesis, but right now, King had to concentrate on the task at hand; he was reminded of this as the last piece conked him on the head.  Whirling around to face the once again whole Rock Monster, he aimed for the spot where the eye would open.  He hoped he hadn't attacked to soon, or he could miss the opportunity.

            Fortunately, he hadn't.  The eye opened just as the axe struck.  The Rock Monster roared and exploded.  It had only taken five hits.  King sighed in relief.  He didn't want to go through that again.

            He dashed down the hall and into another room.  He was sure he was near the center, close to Wily's lab.  He hoped.  Suddenly, something huge and orange slammed down just behind him, forcing him to pitch forward.  King whirled to see a giant orange pumpkin with rockets on its bottom, grinning down at him.

Beat and Tango fought valiantly against the Star Droids, but they only had so much energy to spare.  Together, they had knocked most of the Droids around, taking down their energy severely.  Combining their efforts, the two used their remaining energy to destroying Venus as the vaguely frog-like alien robot tried to leap at Beat.

            Tango uncurled himself and had to pause for a minute to catch his breath before teleporting away.  Unfortunately, this gave Pluto the perfect opportunity.  Tango fell in a fraction of the time Treble had.

            Beat tried to fly away, but Neptune managed to leap up and snag him.  Mars slagged the little attack bird with a Photon Missile.  The Star Droids picked themselves up and regrouped.  Of the nine that had been rebuilt, only Mercury, Mars, Saturn, Neptune, and Pluto remained.

            "Where'd the boss go?" asked Neptune.

            "That way," said Saturn.  The five Star Droids went to help their creator.

Wily made it to one of his smaller lab rooms.  He quickly yanked a sheet off a fairly large capsule and stood waiting by it.

            Proto Man dashed into the room, blazing a flashing white, his Power Arm charged to the maximum level.  He aimed at Wily, then noticed the robot in the capsule next to the mad scientist.  He gasped, "What the…?"

            The robot resembled Proto Man himself in that he wore red and white armor, but that's about where the resemblance stopped.  This robot was about five foot nine, had a blue diamond on the forehead of his helmet, and had long blond hair hanging down almost to his ankles.

            "Behold my greatest creation," boasted Wily.  "A robot more sophisticated than Bass, more so than even King!  More so than even you or Mega Man!  A new kind of robot, with the power to turn you to scrap, no matter what kind of armor you wear."

            Proto Man didn't say a word.  He knew wasting his time listening to Wily brag would only give the scientist the time he needed.  Proto Man wasn't going to make that mistake, not like his brother had only a few years ago.  After all, he who hesitates is lost.  

Proto Man merely fired.

            At the same time, Enker dashed into the room at full tilt, sword first.  It tore through the jets on Proto Man's back and went straight thought his chest.  Proto Man gasped and fell to his knees.

            This did not stop the shot, unfortunately for Wily.  The Power Arm rocketed towards him.  Wily managed to dodge, but the energy-incased fist wheeled around and followed him, latching onto his chest.  Wily cried out in pain and anguish.  He may have been able to survive one hit from the Power Arm with a few major injuries.  But the Power Arm was using its "Clobber Fist" function, blasting Wily again and again with deadly force.

            Wily hit the ground, motionless, his dead eyes glaring at Proto Man.

            Enker merely stared at his now lifeless creator.  "No," he said.  "Master Wily!  No!"  He turned to Proto Man.  Despite his words hinting at feeling, the robot's voice had no emotion to it as he said, "You have destroyed my creator; now you must die."

            "He destroyed my brother," said Proto Man, his voice dripping with venomous hate.  "As much as I cherish the gift of life, Wily deserved it."

            Enker withdrew his sword and swung it back to strike Proto Man with the killing blow.  Proto Man was faster.  He had already been charging.  He launched the Power Arm point blank at Enker.

            Enker was struck in the chest, unable to bring his sword down in time to absorb the attack.  Enker reeled as the Power Arm inflicted damage again and again.  Enker barely managed to survive, his energy brought down to one unit.

            Proto Man was about fire a regular shot finish off Enker, when a Photon Missile got itself stuck in the hole in his chest.  It exploded, blasting Proto Man to scrap.

            "Enker!" said Saturn.  "We have destroyed Beat and Tango."

            "And, _I _got Proto Man!" said Mars triumphantly.

            "We can see that, moron," said Mercury.

            Enker didn't say anything.  "Enker?" asked Saturn.  "Where is Doctor Wily?"

            "Dead," said Enker.  "Proto Man killed him before I could stop him."  They were all silent for a moment.  Enker continued, "That does not matter.  There are still other Skull Castles set up in other locations, whose resources we can use.  We will continue with Master Wily's grand dream: to conquer the world.  With no Mega Man _or _Proto Man to oppose us, we will succeed where Master Wily failed."

            Suddenly, they heard an explosion.

"You can't do this, Ballade!" shouted Quint.  "You… you… you miserable @#*#$#&*&$%##*&#*&#!^#^^%^#^!#$+!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

            Ballade was surprised that even Wily would put such a foul string of profanities in a robot's vocabulary.  But that didn't matter.  Soon, Quint would be shut up for good.

            "You just watch me, short stuff," said Ballade as he finally reached the first generator.  He paused.  "You know, maybe I am defective.  But you know what?  I don't care.  I'm doing this for a robot… for a living being who believed in something that we true robots cannot even fathom.  Something good… something beneficial for our kind, and that of our creators.  I may have been activated as an instrument of war, but right now, I choose to be an instrument for peace… even if destruction is the only way I know how to bring it.

            "I may die again, Quint, but once again, I'll be sacrificing myself for the greater good… just like I was destined to."

            Quint had given up protesting and now simply lay with his helmeted head resting facedown in the ground.  In a low voice, he muttered, "Just shut the fuck up and do it."

            "I shall," said Ballade.  He generated several Ballade Crackers and threw their combined mass at the generator.  "This is for you, Mega Man.  My final tribute to your legacy…"

            If Ballade said anything else before his end, it was drowned in the roar of utter destruction.

Having defeated the pumpkin robot and then a dragon robot, King burst into Wily's main lab just as the first explosion was heard.  He saw the remains and Tango, Beat, Venus, Jupiter, and Uranus.  He heard voices in a smaller room nearby.

            He dashed in just in time to see Enker and the five remaining Star Droids teleport off.  King saw Proto Man's remains and checked them.  There was no fooling himself: Proto Man was destroyed.  All his vital circuitry was slagged, even those leading up into his head.  It was obvious that nothing was recoverable.  King noticed parts of the Super Adaptor still attached to Proto Man's body.  King sighed.  That meant the Rush was gone as well.  He tried to contact Ballade via radio, but there was no response.  Had King been the only survivor?

            King then noticed the red and white robot in the capsule.  He walked to it.  Another of Wily's creations?  Apparently.  But it must have been either very new or very secret, as King did not remember having seen a data file on this particular robot when he'd taken over Wily's fortress last year.  As he looked it over, King realized this was no ordinary robot.  It was neither Robot Master nor Star Droid, nor anything like Wily's previous unique models.  Another explosion reminded King that he had to get out of there fast, lest he perish as well.  King turned to leave.  Any creation of Wily's was best left destroyed.  The explosions would take care of it.

            That's when he noticed Wily's corpse.  King stared at his creator for a moment, lost in thought, before yet another explosion brought him out of his reverie.  King glanced from Wily to the robot, to Wily again.  Then, he went over and grabbed the robot, capsule and all, and hefted it onto his back.  Perhaps, with the threat of Wily forever gone, there was still some way to salvage this particular robot.  Assuming it wasn't already programmed to make be an engine of mass destruction, there might yet be potential good in this one.

            Picking up Proto Man's Proto Shield almost as an after thought, King teleported out.

King reappeared on the edge of a forest, a fair distance from Skull Castle.  King stashed the capsule away in a safe place, then went back to see the castle explode, as Wily's fortresses almost always did.  Just as expected, the Castle blew sky high after a few moments.  For a brief moment, King fancied that the mushroom cloud vaguely resembled a skull.  Then, the impression was gone, fading into the atmosphere.

            It was then that King noticed the six robots gathered in a clearing not far off.  King saw that it was Enker and the last five Star Droids.  He prepared his axe.  Best not to leave any loose ends.  With Jupiter destroyed, he didn't have to worry about being weak to any of their weapons.

            Suddenly, something huge fell from the sky, blazing with electric blue light.  The comet, or whatever it was, smashed through the small group gathered below.  When they picked themselves off their feet, they noticed Mars was not among them.

            "Hey!" yelled Neptune.  "What the heck was that?!"

            "Mars!" yelled Saturn.  "Where'd you go?"

            They heard the sounds of metal being bent and smashed and an explosion in the trees nearby.  Mars' head came flying out at them, digging into the dirt just in front of Enker's feet.  The five remaining robots looked up to see a massive form rise out of the trees, hovering menacingly above them, enormous fists blazing with power.

            "I am Duo," said the massive robot.  "And you are no more."

            King was impressed; Duo plowed into the five robots, swing his blazing fists.  While it didn't appear as though he could fire the energy he generated, each energy-incased fist appeared to do as much damage in one hit as the Power Arm could with its "Clobber Hand" feature.

            The Star Droids were scraped in seconds.  Enker was the last to go.  Defiant and valiant to last, he dashed at Duo sword first.  Duo ripped the sword away with one hand, and slugged Enker with the other.  Enker had obviously been fairly low on energy, because one hit did him in.

            Duo came to rest on the ground, looking towards the devastation that was once Skull Castle.  King walked towards the alien robot.

            "You're too late, I'm afraid," said King.  Duo turned to face him.  King noticed that Duo was indeed huge: King was a large robot, and Duo was good two-and-a-half to three feet taller than he.

            "Are you King?" asked Duo.  His voice no longer held the malice it had when he'd confronted the Star Droids moments before.  Though deep and gruff, the voice was almost gentle.

            "Yes," said King.  "And unfortunately, the only survivor."  He pulled out the Proto Shield from behind his back.  Duo took it, looking it over.  He gave a deep sigh.

            "We'd better see Doctor Light," said Duo.  King nodded.

            They teleported back to the Light Lab.

Light Lab 

Doctor Light didn't speak for some time.

            Finally, he said, "Damn."  He sighed.  "Damn."

            "I'm sorry," King said for the third time.  "There was nothing I could do."

            "I should have gotten here sooner," said Duo.

            "There's no sense in beating yourselves up over it," said Doctor Light.  "They made a sacrifice to save their world, and they succeeded.  I only wish there had been another way.  Violence only breeds more violence and useless destruction.

            "Alas, poor Albert.  He was a genius in so many ways.  If only that accident hadn't driven him insane all those years ago, there's so much he could have done for this world.  Things even I probably couldn't have done."

            "Had Wily escaped alive, there would have been no hope of stopping him," said King.  "All things considered, I think it was a wise choice of Proto Man's behalf."

            Doctor Light nodded.  "Thank you for returning the Shield," he said, indicating the Proto Shield.

            "I figured you should have at least something to remember him by," said King.

            Duo said, "I'm sorry, but I have to leave soon.  If there's anything you need me to do…"

            "No, that's fine, Duo," said Doctor Light.  "Thank you for coming and what help you could give.  I'm sorry if I dragged you away from anything important."

            "Helping a friend in any way is important," said Duo.  "Farewell.  Hopefully, with Wily gone, this world will finally be at piece again."  He exited the lab and flew off.

            "What will you do now, Doctor?" said King.

            "I already have a project begun," said Doctor Light.

            "Really?" said King.  "Mind if I ask what it is?"

            "I'd rather not reveal it right now," said Doctor Light.  He turned and walked into the work area of his lab.

"I'll keep in touch," said King.  He left.

Roll went and followed Doctor Light to his lab.  Auto and Eddie were waiting for them.  "Well, then," said Doctor Light to his remaining creations.  "Shall we begin?"

OVER THE YEARS For years, Doctor Light worked on building his new robot.  It was a new form of synthetic life, capable of thinking for itself and making its own decisions.  It was an android replication of man: a Reploid. 

            But he knew the dangers that such a creation could pose.  This Reploid had the combined powers of human's freewill with the body of the most sophisticated android ever created.  Should the Reploid ever turn against humanity, as was all too possible, Doctor Light could have wound up creating a greater monster than even Dr. Wily… and the world wasn't ready to go through that kind of war again.

            Doctor Light decided it would be best if the Reploid were to be activated far later on.  However, he was getting to be very old by the time he completed his creation.  Doctor Light told Roll, Eddie, and Auto to watch over the capsule he had built to contain the Reploid for thirty years before awakening it.  Hopefully by then, without Wily around to always take advantage of every new technological discovery, humanity could have developed technology to the point where they could deal with such a threat.

            With Dr. Wily gone, Doctor Light hoped that his new creation could awaken into a world of peace.  But he was all too aware that danger could arise in another form.  Surely, Wily wasn't going to be the last villain this world would see.  So, Doctor Light created more capsules with the ability to upgrade his creation with armor and weapons, should the Reploid ever choose to defend humanity if a new threat were to arise in the future.

            Just before Doctor Light's death, due to old age, Doctor Light chose to name his creation, hoping it would be able to make the right decisions without his guidance.

            He called the Reploid Mega Man… Mega Man X.

Decades passed.  Without Doctor Light's expertise to fix them, Roll, Eddie, and Auto eventually broke down after twenty-eight years.  Since Light had told them to guard the capsule, that's what they had done.  Personal safety had become secondary, and thus the three had ignored the ravages of time.  Thus did Mega Man X remain in the capsule not thirty years, as was originally planned, but for nearly seventy years.

Almost three-quarters of a century after Mega Man X's creation, another scientist named Dr. Cain discovered X's capsule during an archeological dig in a once-proud city.  He saw the message Doctor Light had put in the capsule.

            Deciding that it would be best if X were not yet awoken, Dr. Cain released him from the capsule, but did not awaken him.  However, he studied X's design.  Using the advanced technology as a basis, Cain was able to create his own Reploids.

            Unfortunately, the very thing Doctor Light had feared X would do happened with some of Dr. Cain's creations.

            Calling themselves Mavericks, these renegade Reploids, led by the incredibly powerful Sigma, began to wage war on humanity and the Reploids loyal to them.

            There were those who tried to stop the war.  Out of nowhere came a warrior named Zero, a mysterious robot in red and white with long blond hair, battling against the Mavericks.

            The robot named King, world-renowned for his efforts in bringing peace between man and machine, tried to use peaceful measures to bring the Mavericks around.  Indeed, with some of them, he did succeed.  His success was short-lived, however, as he was destroyed by Sigma himself during one of the more violent Maverick revolts.

            Despite the efforts of humans and Reploids alike, even with the mighty Zero spear-heading many a victorious battle, the Mavericks were quickly winning the growing war.

A.D. 21XX Cain Labs 

Dr. Cain walked into his study and sighed.  For the thousandth time, he wondered to himself how all this could have happened.  Why was it his creations, the greatest examples of human achievement, had turned against those whose work had sired them?

            Dr. Cain wondered if it was simply the nature of all intelligent life to do so.  History had shown how many times humanity had warred upon itself in the name of God, and then turned against God when they realized He wasn't going to reward anyone for their victory.

            But, even if it was merely the nature of things, that didn't make it right.

            Dr. Cain walked into the lab where he had kept the body of Mega Man X.  He reflected again on the message that Doctor Light had left on the Reploid's capsule.  He should have heeded it far more thoroughly than he had.

            Just because Light hadn't mentioned that other Reploids didn't present a danger didn't mean that such was the case.  How was Doctor Light to have known that he, Dr. Cain, would create a whole race of robots based of his one creation?

            Times were desperate.  Dr. Cain knew that humanity would need all the help it could get against the mavericks.  Zero could only do so much.  They needed another champion.

            It was time to awaken Mega Man X.  Perhaps he would join the Mavericks like Doctor Light feared.  Dr. Cain sighed.  If X did, then humanity really wouldn't be that much worse off than it already was.  And if he didn't… humanity might have more reason to hope.  There was really nothing to loose.

            Dr. Cain began the process of awakening X…

A FEW MONTHS LATER The City 

Standing atop a cliff overlooking the highway, he surveyed the destruction that was only a few miles off.  He had been briefed about the situation: Mavericks were attacking downtown, led by a robot named Vile.

            X was nervous.  This would be his first battle of any sort since Dr. Cain had awakened him from the capsule, which had held him dormant for over seventy years.  It was going be a test, to see just how ready X was to help fight the war against the Mavericks.

            Zero put a hand on his shoulder, reassuring him.  "You'll be fine," Zero said.  "Just remember what I taught you.  And also remember that I'll be here if you need me."

            X nodded.  He took a deep breath.  Once again, he thought to himself, _Why am I doing this?  I don't have to.  Light gave me the ability to choose my destiny from the moment I was activated.  I don't have to do this…_

            "Thank you for the support, Zero," said X.  Suddenly, an explosion could be heard in the distance.  A wave of robots was spreading across the highway.  People were driving away as fast they could from the onslaught.  The fear on their faces was easy to see.

            Deep down, he knew why he was going to fight.

            Rock hadn't had a choice, even after he had become a bioroid, not if he had wanted his world to know peace.

            "It's time, X" said Zero, the tiniest trace of impatience in his voice.  "If you want, I'll come along.  That is, if you don't feel ready…"

            He was a Reploid, able to choose his path.  The irony was almost sickening, considering the circumstances.  Rock hadn't had a choice… and neither did he.

            X had a legacy to keep alive, whether he really wanted to or not.  He wondered briefly if Rock had felt the same way.  X was certain he had.

            Both of them had a duty to fulfill that Destiny had chosen especially for them.  One had to start the dream.  The other had to continue it.

It was the dream, the legacy, of Mega Man.

            "I'm ready," said X.  He teleported down onto the highway.  The last of the cars zoomed past him, some of them smoking from damage.

            He hesitated for just a moment.  He formed his X-Buster on his left arm, and patted the Buster with his right hand.  "Time to see what we're made of," he said to himself.

            He began to charge the Buster…

            _This is for you, Rock.  This is for your dream… and the dream of our Father._

            …as charged across the highway.

The Beginning… of Mega Man X.


End file.

Mega Man