The Robotic Endgame

VII. Mega Man

Without any hesitation, I turned around, expecting to find robots surrounding me. I sighed with relief, however, when I saw something that looked like another very small energy signature - one that I didn't recognize. It didn't look like Sonic's rainbow, and it didn't look plain, like a robot. It was red and glowing.

Immediately, with a smile on my face, I ran toward it, both scared and excited. What if I was completely wrong, and it was a new robot Dr. Wily had set on me? After all, it did look as if it had teleported. I just hoped it wasn't something bad.

After coming within a few hundred yards of it, I noticed that whatever it was wasn't moving. It was like a dot on my sensors. It was just inside a little forest area. I would be surprised at this point if it was an ambush from Wily.

I slipped in between the trees, looking around me constantly. "Hello?" I called, over and over. I didn't think a robot would come and say hi to me.

Then it appeared in front of me. "Sonic...?" I said, turning my head to the side. "Did you color your fur or something?"

The thing in front of me looked like an angry, maybe evil Sonic. It was black with a bit of red in its quills, and shoes with slots on the bottom that made them look like hover shoes. It was sitting and rubbing its head. When it opened its eyes, I noticed that its eyes were the opposite color of Sonic's - red.

I took a step backward. "Who are you?"

The figure stood up, looking straight at me. "I am Shadow the Hedgehog. It's you I should be asking the name of."

"What?" I asked. "I'm the one who found you. Shouldn't I get to ask the questions...?"

"And you did," Shadow replied, "and I answered. Would you like me to answer again? If so, can you actually listen this time?"

"N-no, I heard your name..." I said. "I'm Mega Man. I'm the hero of this world. You're from Sonic's world, aren't you?"

"Hmph," Shadow sighed. "I would have expected something that actually looked heroic."

"H-hey!" I gritted my teeth, trying not to think of how I failed Roll and Blues. "I'm a good enough hero. I get the job done."

"Hmph," he sighed again. "Yes, I am from Sonic's world, to answer your question. Have you..."

He folded his arms and looked at something at the ground, as if he was struggling with something. "What is it?" I asked.

"I seem to have lost  the rest of my team." Shadow wouldn't meet my eyes, as if this was something he was ashamed of. "Have you seen anyone around?"

"Well, what do they look like?" I asked. I assumed Sonic wasn't part of this team.

"One is a giant robot with big guns." Shadow told me. "And the other is a white bat."

"A robot?" I blinked. "You mean there's another robot in the city?"

"Why would that be a problem?" Shadow acted like he was extremely annoyed, which annoyed me.

"That's a huge problem!" I yelled. "There's a virus that's taking over all the robots. I actually happen to have an extra copy of the code that's keeping me stable with me. If we can find your friend before a stray robot gets near him - within ten feet, to be exact - then he'll be fine."

Shadow blinked and frowned. "You're a robot?"

"Oh, yes! My father is the greatest robot creator and inventor there is!"

"Uh-huh." Shadow looked me over, a tinge of concern in his eyes. "I suppose that means you'll have to be coming with me."

"Well, I suppose if you know how to code..." I blinked. "It would probably be best if I came, though. I wouldn't want anything to happen to your friend. Besides, I might find who I'm looking for, too!"

"Oh?" Shadow said, though he didn't sound like he actually cared. He started to walk off deeper into the forest. "And who might that be?"

"Tails," I replied, following him. "You see, there was this machine, and Dr. Wily and Dr. Eggman tested something on Sonic, and it blew up, and I kind of came in the nick of time."

"Dr. Eggman is here as well?" In this, he actually seemed interested.

"The guy that kind of looks like a really big egg? Yeah, he's here. He had all of the... I don't remember what they're called."

Shadow raised an eyebrow and stared at me for a moment. "Chaos Emeralds?"

"Oh, yeah!" I smiled, kind of hoping it would inspire him to do the same. "He had them all, except Sonic managed to grab one on our way out."

For a few minutes, neither of us said anything. "And what became of Sonic?"

I stopped in my tracks. I hadn't just lost Roll, Blues, and Rush - thanks to everything, now Sonic was incapacitated. And who knew what had actually happened to Tempo's mother? Maybe she had been kidnapped by the doctors and Dr. Lalinde was watching her daughter become more and more corrupt each day.

"Hey, kid." Shadow said, snapping me back to reality.

"Sonic is..." I sighed. "I don't know. He had one of those emeralds, but it was out of power. He was really sick."

Shadow looked at the ground for a moment, as if he was holding something back. Then he turned around. "Too bad."

I knew I had seen even a tiny bit of sorrow or something in Shadow, which made me feel like he was more than just a mindless... something. I followed Shadow, replaying events in my head, trying to reassure myself that it wasn't actually my fault...

Then I saw another little dot. This one was purple and glowed as well.

"Hey!" I shouted, squinting to get a better look. It was quite a ways away. "There's something over there!"

"Huh?" Shadow muttered as I pushed by him to follow the dot. This one, unlike Shadow, was moving. It wasn't moving fast, but it was fast enough to make us work to get to it. "Hey, kid," Shadow said, grabbing my arm abruptly and taking off at Quick Man's speed. "Which way?"

"Uh, go to the right a little bit." I told him. There was a little streak where the purple dot had gone. "Too right! A little left... keep going straight..."

It looked like we were going to run straight into it. For another minute, Shadow went around trees, taking him a bit off course, but he spotted the person and went to her.

"There you are, Shadow!" the girl said. When Shadow finally let go of me, I saw the bat, white, as Shadow had described. She smiled at me. "Who's the cutie?"

My face became warm, and I was uncomfortable. "This is Mega Man," Shadow announced. "There is apparently a virus going all over the city to robots, so we need to find Omega."

"Well, then, what are we waiting for?" Rouge winked. "Good to see you, Shadow. I don't know what I would do without a man to take care of me."

"Don't pretend to be dramatic, Rouge," Shadow waved his hand. "Let's just get this over with."