Enemies Merge (A Sonic / Mega Man Crossover)

XIV. Mega Man

After sleeping soundly for a few hours, I woke up, getting all of the others to get up. My dog hapily wagged its tail, as if looking forward to spending more time in Wily's Castle. It took time to rouse Sonic, and Tempo informed me that he had even less energy than the day before. It worried me, but there was nothing I could do. I could only hope that the device wouldn't generate itself into him too quickly. If it went slowly enough, perhaps there would be a way to slow the process enough so that it would reverse itself.

Of course, my hope was turned down as soon as I saw him. His entire left arm and most of his chest was covered in what looked like technologically advanced zits. Like, they would have a square-like device, then wires spreading to other devices like itself. It was crazy how Wily could develop a virus to put into a living being.

Sonic nearly refused to get up. He obviously felt horrible, especially with his life force at twenty nine percent. It again made me glad to not be a human, or even an animal. Any kind of living being, really, had to live in constant pain and suffering. "That must be how the devices are growing." I suggested. "They must be feeding off of your energy. You're probably going to feel weak today..."

"Great." He moaned. "Nothing better than feeling like a sack of potatoes all day..."

"Can you move your arm yet?" I asked, half-curious, half-worried.

He shook his head. "Though I don't know if it got stuck because I hurt my back or the virus. I feel old."

"We need to keep moving." I said, though it was probably obvious. "Do you need help walking?"

"I'm fine." Sonic said harshly. "I don't need any help. Come on, let's go."

"Whatever you say." Sonic looked at me with a scowl, as if he were really annoyed. I shrugged, and we moved on.

"I suggest that we go this way..." Tempo said, interrupting as to keep out an argument. We followed her as she went down a long hallway, forcing us into the realm of the next Robot Master. It definitely couldn't be time to defeat Wily; we hadn't even beaten Quick Man yet!

The floor seemed to made up of panels that changed color as we walked. Each time we took a step, they would either revert to a green, blue or red. It didn't seem to be dependent on anything, and each time I thought I had figured out a pattern, something would prove me wrong. It was a puzzling puzzle. Still, it made me forget my boredom, planting my mind on a seemingly pointless task of figuring out a challenge having to do with colors.

Sonic asked far too many times if we were there yet. Half the time, neither Tempo nor I replied, keeping ourselves busy with other tasks. It was easy to see that the attention span of that hedgehog was the worst I had ever seen!

"Are we there yet?" He asked once more.

Before I could scream out with frustration at him, Tempo answered in relief, "Yes! We're finally here!"

Maybe she had felt frustration as well, because she seemed just a bit more carefree. Anyway, the room we entered was even more bizarre. Everything was black, but there was still light so that we could see. There was a lit up grid that covered the floors and walls, like something that would be a background for something on a computer.

"Well, this is..." Sonic paused, as if looking for a word. "Interesting."

"No kidding." I replied. "I wonder what Robot Master is waiting here."

"Seems empty to me." Sonic replied. He took a few steps forward, then touched a wall. I nearly screamed at him, afraid something would happen if he did, but nothing did happen. "It's cold in here."