We stood quietly for a moment after the teleport, simply staring at the Wily castle looming a short distance away.
I raised my weapon. "Alright, guys. It's now or never."
Time Man coughed, "Well, I've calculated that leaving in four minutes and 27 seconds would likely give us equal, if not greater, chance of-"
Bomb Man groaned. "No one cares, dude."
He looked around at us, seeming really frustrated for a moment. Then began to knit his fingers together anxiously. "Fine..."
I turned back towards the castle. "So let's do this thing."
We took off across the castle grounds. I fired a few shots at a small robot sitting on a platform up ahead. A familiar bird robot with an egg dropped the object over our group, but Elec Man blasted it out of the air. We approached one of the small robots that launched small pieces of metal. It was hard to get a good shot at it with its low position, but Oil Man performed an oil slide into it to destroy it quickly.
The Robot Masters and I fast approached the castle now, taking out anything around us efficiently.
Time Man grunted as he ran beside me. "This isn't working. We're going to far too slowly through here. If we plan to stop Wily, then we simply have to be incredibly punctual."
I tried to respond as well as I could while firing and running. "Time Man, relax. We can't change what happens, we just have to adapt and respond when it does."
He looked at me. "B-but...that's running in blind. I mean, surely you didn't just charge this castle without a specific plan of attack."
I rolled my eyes. "What do you think?"
He shifted his attention, lunging forward and hurling a purple arrow-like energy bolt into a robot approaching from my right. "I think we'd be better off under my direction."
I groaned. "Look, Time Man. I don't know what your deal is, but you have to be ready to help us. Light's idea isn't going to work if you're not all in."
He seemed a little offended. "But...what makes you think I'm not going to help you? Of course I will, I would never just let you get destroyed."
"I trust you, Time Man. Okay? Relax, and just let yourself do this. You don't always have to have a strict schedule."
Soon after, we reached a small opening where we could head to a ladder and begin climbing up to the top of the castle. We hurried through while Guts Man leaped up to the platform, landing beside us as we were reaching the top of the ladder. From down below, I heard Ice Man shout in surprise when Guts Man landed.
We continued upward through a number of ladders, having to take out a few Sniper Joe's holding positions on the platforms. Upon reaching the top, we waited a little bit for Bomb Man to catch up. When he finally joined us, he wheezed heavily beside us. "I...still hate...heights..."
I looked forward, spying yet another ladder ascending very high into the sky. "Well, there's more where that came from."
Oil Man lightly shoved Bomb Man towards the ladder he had just climbed, causing him to stumble forward, flailing his arms about.
Oil Man laughed under his mask, while Bomb Man grumbled under his breath.
"Enough, you two. Let's get moving." Elec Man interrupted.
"Absolutely. Time is of the utmost importance." added Time Man.
Oil Man started to give Time a talk about being obsessive compulsive, when I felt the ground underneath me become light. "Guys!"
As soon as I finished making the call, the ground gave way, causing us to fall into a dark room. I managed to catch myself on the landing fairly well.
Pretty much no one else did.
I heard a series of large crashes as they slammed into the metal floor from above. After a moment, I heard a softer landing, and Fire Man shouted. "Hey y'all, that wasn't so bad."
Ice Man grunted. "That would be because you landed on top of us."
After brief moment, the lights in the room began to turn on, illuminating us. I looked over at a significant pile of Robot Masters flopped across the ground, with Fire Man sitting on top of them.
He looked down at his brothers. "Huh. Well how 'bout that?"
They began to pick themselves up off of the ground grumpily. While they were doing so, I decided to pursue a way out of here. I walked around, carefully looking for any sort of door. What I did notice first was a series of small outcroppings in the room. They were in the eight directional extremes of the room, high above the ground. In each of the holes was a large bright blue machine, looking similar to what I had been through when I fought Nega Man (I think it's a good name).
I finally found a large doorway, directly ahead from the center of the room. There was a circle of metal containers stacked around the perimeter of the room, which broke to leave a straight path for the exit.
I turned around and called back. "Over here, guys!"
I just barely turned around in time to avoid a metal blade slicing right past my face.
I turned my head to the direction of the attacker, and was greeted with Metal Man standing silently in one of the machines around the room. As I slowly turned my attention, I noticed the one to his left emit a burst of light that left behind Flash Man, and the right to be Bubble Man.
I heard the other Robot Masters slowly come up behind me, forming a tight circle as we looked at our assailants surrounding us on all sides.
Quick Man spoke first. "So glad you could make it. We've got unfinished business."
I swallowed and responded. "What's going on, Quick Man?"
"What's going on is retribution. You took us all down, by some stroke of luck, and now we're here to return the favor."
Flash Man nodded. "I've got better things I could be doing right now, so if you don't mind, I'm going to make this quick."
I looked over at Time Man, who promptly raised his arms as the bells on his head began to ring. I looked up at Flash Man, who still wore the same cheeky grin, and noticed his arm very slowly beginning to lift.
I smiled and looked back at Quick Man, who looked at Flash Man in surprise. "What did you do to him?"
"Nothing." I replied. "Just keeping things fair. You were the one who insisted on that last time we fought, right?"
Quick Man growled, and Heat Man shouted, "I'll handle it!"
As he ignited and shot towards Time Man, Guts Man stepped into his path, swinging a massive arm into his path, knocking Heat Man back into the wall.
"Ow..." The yellow robot whimpered before falling to the ground.
"That's why we're here!" Guts Man grunted. "If you wanna get to him, you'll have to go through us."
There was a moment of tension, as both sides looked at each other, completely still.
Quick Man shifted. "Destroy them. Every last one."
Fire Man stepped forward. "Alright-y boys, time to pick yer dance partner for this here shindig!"
Elec Man cracked his knuckles. "I'll take dark and brooding over there." He motioned toward Metal Man, who had jumped down from his spot.
Ice Man straightened up into a salute. "Requesting permission for combat with Wood Man, sir!"
Guts Man pounded his fists together. "I got matchstick." He began to run toward the wall where Heat Man had been hit.
Bomb Man pulled out two large explosives. "I like that one with the fan in his chest."
Cut Man looked over at Bubble Man. "Well, I really hate to burst his bubble..."
Everyone looked at him. "What?" He asked.
Fire Man turned towards his target. "Then leave Spikes-fer-Hands to me."
Crash Man's face quickly turned into an enraged frown.
I wasn't sure where to prioritize myself. The Robot Masters were handling themselves well enough. I just stayed near Time Man.
"How are you doing?" I asked.
He grunted. "It's easier to project the field in one small area, so I can hold it longer than normal."
"Great!" I replied.
"Doesn't mean it's fun, though."
"Right. I'll do what I can." I assured him. I turned away to see Quick Man make a beeline for Time Man. I didn't have time to fire.
Not that I needed it. Right in front of his target, Quick Man slipped rather violently, flinging himself into the air, and causing him to miss Time Man completely.
He stumbled to his feet, grumbling. "What...in the..."
Oil Man slid up beside me, his oil cannon dripping. "Watch yo step there."
Quick Man roared before charging, quickly approaching Oil Man with incredible ferocity. The two of us stepped out of the way before I fired a shot into his back. He stumbled forward from the hit, before spinning around to face me. "You have no idea how much pain you've doomed yourself to."
I shrugged. "You have no idea how easy it is to make you look stupid."
He took off running, moving in an unspecified zigzag motion. I tried to turn about and track his movements, but he quickly changed to a direct charge. I was carried into a metal container, where he grabbed me by the head, smashing me repeatedly into the wall. "You always have to make things difficult, don't you? I could kill you so easily if you'd just fight me. But you have to be a coward. I don't know how to fight someone who doesn't really want to FIGHT!"
I looked him in the eyes. "That's just on you, then. You have to learn to deal with whatever happens to you."
He stood quietly and stared back at me. Then he drew his fist back to punch again, before he was slammed in the side by Oil Man, who slid into him on his oil trail. He held out a hand to me as I clutched my head. "You alright bro?"
I grabbed his hand and he lifted me up. "Yeah. I'm alright, man. Thanks for that."
Oil Man scratched the back of his head. "He's a lot faster'n I realized."
I nodded. "Yeah. And at full strength he's gonna be tough to beat. We don't have the time to take down all of these guys. We need a better idea to take them out fast." I looked over the area around us, but found my eyes resting on Time Man.
"I've got it. Oil Man, go around and get everyone to get their guys into the middle."
He frowned. "Ya want us to throw 'em TOWARD clock boy?"
I put a hand on his shoulder. "Just trust me."
I turned as he slid off, finding Quick Man as he got to his feet. "We're not done here."
"I know. I realize that your head is so full of yourself that you can't bring yourself to accept your own faults."
He growled and lunged at me, swinging with a boomerang in hand as I quickly moved backward, carefully dodging. I made sure I ducked under his follow up swing, hitting him in the side with a few shots. He let out a shout and clutched the area, lessening his attack. I took the opportunity to run behind one of the metal containers, grabbing the corner and swinging myself around for what little extra speed it provided me.
My next move would have to be almost perfect. I heard his feet begin to hit the floor, and I swallowed before swinging my arm out around the corner.
I felt him collide with it head first. I looked over as he was clothes lined, flipping backwards through the air before landing on his face. After a few tense moments, I walked over to him. He seemed to be out. I grabbed him by the arm and shoulder and began to drag him toward the middle.
When I arrived there with him, I found a few other unconscious Masters there. The only one who wasn't was Heat Man, who was kind of staring off into space and giggling.
I looked over at Guts Man.
"So I might have hit him a few times in the head. No biggie."
I did a quick count. "We're missing one."
"Coming up." Elec Man's voice sounded, as he sent a Thunder Beam coursing through Metal Man's body. He promptly grabbed the robot, and hurled him over to the pile.
I nodded. "Alright, everyone, let's go!"
The Robot Masters joined me, Time Man moving steadily away from the center as he continued to hold his Time Slow. He made his way over to the door beside us.
CRASH BOMB LOADED
I fired the weapon into Flash Man's pod, where it waited in the Time Slow field to activate.
I heard Quick Man grumble from where he was lying. I looked back to see him climb to his feet. "What are you doing?" He looked over at Flash Man, and seemed to make the connection. "No. NO!!" He rushed towards us, but we quickly dashed through the doorway, Bomb Man grabbing Time Man to pull him through. Elec Man and Oil Man threw the large metal doors shut, and we were completely still for a moment.
Quick Man never hit the doors, and eventually I heard an explosion from inside the room.
Ice Man wiped his forehead. "Well that went far better than I had anticipated."
I looked over at Time Man, who seemed incredibly drained. "You alright?" I asked him.
He shrugged as he leaned against a wall. "I will be. We need to keep moving."
Oil Man put a hand on his shoulder. "Pace yo'self, bro."
I smiled at them, as they all stood, tired and a little beaten, in a circle. They had managed to beat Wily's Masters.
We took a moment to rest before we started moving again. We were unusually quiet this time around, with no one cracking a joke or even just talking. The battle had made it obvious that this wasn't going to be an easy fight.
We found a series of ladders ahead of us when the light returned, this time heading down rather than up.
I sighed grabbed the first rung.
-A short time later-
The ability to think and move returned instantly.
Quick Man suddenly sped to life, almost crashing into the now closed doorway. He stood in front of it for a moment, before pounding a fist into the metal. "NO!"
The rest of the Robot Masters in the pile began to get up a few seconds later.
"Well..." Bubble Man muttered, "That went poorly."
Quick Man growled and dashed over to Bubble. "You THINK!?" The speedy robot turned around and threw his hands up. "Idiots. We were idiots, and they played us right into their hand. How were we possibly that stupid?"
Air Man put his hand on his brother's shoulder. "Relax. We mustn't dwell on our failure."
Quick Man nodded. "Fine. Let's go, I want to show those twerps who's boss."
He began to walk off, the rest of the Robot Masters following. Except, that is, for one.
"I will not, brother."
Wood Man's voice seemed to echo off of the nearly silent room over and over.
Quick Man froze on the spot, turning slightly, before asking, "You what?"
The robot looked down at the floor of the room for a moment, then raised its head with newfound determination.
"I will not join you. My only orders at the moment are to destroy Mega Man. However long I choose to delay those orders is up to me."
Quick Man growled. "So what do you think you're going to do?"
Wood shook his head. "I do not know yet. But I know that I will not stay here, and I hope to seek redemption for my actions."
Quick Man simply stared back at him for a few moments. His voice slowly began to come out, rising in volume. "You, Wood Man, are a spineless, lying, backstabbing piece of SCRAP! You want to leave, FINE! Nothing's stopping you. In fact, anybody else want to join him? Any of you other idiots want to try abandoning your entire purpose for existence?"
The room was silent with his final words still ringing on the walls.
Then a slow sliding sound could be heard nearby. Metal Man quickly raised a blade, but it revealed to be Flash Man, extremely damaged from some sort of explosion. His body was charred, with holes across it in various places, and his leg seemed to be non functional.
He limped his way over to where Wood Man stood, and propped himself up as well as he could.
"Quick Man, I'm sorry. I can't do this." He spoke.
The red robot was too confused and enraged to speak. He simply stared at the robot.
"Mega Man is unlike anyone I've ever seen. He's strong in a way that you will never understand. He wants us to be happy. Really happy. Even if it means difficulties for him, that's what he dedicates himself to. He's not just fighting for humans, he's fighting to save us, too. I realize that now."
There was awkward silence, which was finally broken by the sound of two Robot Masters breaking away from the cluster around Quick Man. Bubble Man and Heat Man walked over to the pair of their brothers, before stopping and turning toward Quick Man.
Bubble Man spoke first. "I'm scared. I won't lie. But Mega Man fills people with confidence. I want that. I want to be brave, and strong, regardless of my weapon."
Heat Man followed. "Mega Man's certainly more fun than you, Quick Man."
And so, the two lines of four stared at one another, as if waiting for the other to make a move. Quick Man and Wood Man didn't take their eyes off of one another.
Finally, Quick Man threw up his hands. "Whatever. Do what you want. I'm not gonna make you. But know that when the time comes, and Light eventually falls, I will be the one who personally rips your central processor out of your still functioning bodies."
He turned around. "But as for me, I'm going to go kill some Robot Masters."
Heat Man hung his head. "Air Man, why are you doing this?"
The blue robot had mostly been silent, but now looked at Heat Man with a certain look in his eyes that most of them had never seen before.
"I'm sorry. I have to. I long to pursue something of my own interest, but I also value my existence. I will not go against the man who created me. Not of my own accord, while he still has orders for me. I...wish you luck."
And with that, he turned himself around and joined the three others walking toward the door.
None of the robots in Wood Man's line dared move until all four of the others had gone through.
---
The Robot Masters made their way through the castle, encountering a number of obstacles, such as leaps of faith over spike pits, falling spike crushers, and drills like those Mega Man had seen with Metal Man.
The nine of them eventually reached another blind drop. They jumped down one at a time, finding their way through by landing on platforms as we went. Eventually, through careful coordination, they reached the bottom of the large pit.
"Well. That wasn't so bad." Fire Man announced when he arrived.
"You're tellin' me. I wasn't built to take all this." Oil Man wheezed.
Guts Man, however, was turning about worriedly. Fire Man looked up at him. "What's wrong, big guy?"
Guts Man swallowed before replying. "I think we lost Cut Man."
Oil Man frowned. "What? That's like-that's impossible, man. He was like...right beside me the whole time."
Time Man shook his head. "That's not all we're missing."
A quick head count revealed that only the four of them were still there. Elec Man, Ice Man, Bomb Man, and Mega Man were also missing.
"I don't understand. What 'appened to 'em?" Fire Man pondered aloud.
"I wish I knew..." Time Man muttered.
---
I hit the ground hard, rubbing my back as I started to get up. I was really not a fan of ground giving out underneath me, yet it happened far more than was reasonable.
I came to my senses and started calling. "Hello? Anyone? Can you guys hear me?"
A reply came, first weak, then with energy. "I'm here."
It was Elec Man. He sounded a little more hurt than I did, but hopefully he was alright.
The lights flickered to life, and I had to squint to get myself used to them. I looked around, my eyes landing on Elec Man, who made his way to his feet with one arm hanging at his side. When I looked again, I noticed that there was a massive tear at the elbow, so much that the bottom half of his arm flailed around when he moved it, almost entirely disconnected from the rest of his body.
I hurried over to him. "Are you alright?"
He held up his good arm. "I'll live. Where are we?"
I looked around to see an empty room, barely bigger than an average garage. There were lights emerging from the walls high above us, but that was the only fixture around.
Apart from a tall red robot, who was dual wielding razor sharp boomerangs. His face wore a smile, poorly covering his obvious frustration.
"Nice to see you again, Mega Man." Quick Man tossed both weapons toward us, before catching them mere inches away. He held them completely still, poised to kill us in an instant.
"Feeling a final battle?"
---
Well, that's that. Merry Christmas and all that (and Happy Hanukkah [which I'm pretty sure is over by the time most of you read this]). I hope you enjoyed, and let me know what you think of the story so far and if you have certain characters (besides Robot Masters) you think could find their way into the story!
And I'll see you 2018!