The Mega Man: Legend

Ch. 40 The True Masters Part 4

I felt the ground clang under my footsteps as I led our group into the newest room. There was a quiet whirring, like a machine being kept online. The lights were dim, only bright enough to clearly see about ten feet in. We readied ourselves for anything.

I heard a faint noise from across the room, and I quickly aimed my buster at the source. I silently nodded toward the sound to notify the others. We slowly approached until we were completely in the dark. A quick shout to Elec Man filled the darkness with crackling sparks. It wasn't incredibly bright, and the light flickered frequently, but it did the trick. I caught sight of the first real target and trained my weapon on it.

Until I caught a small fire sparked nearby it, and grew to offer much more light. In the new lighting, I discovered just who our surprise guests were.

"Guys!" I smiled, lowering the buster. Fire Man wiped his forehead with the side of his cannon and walked forward to give me a bro hug.

The rest of us happily interacted as the reunion continued. We shared a few brief summaries of our exploits, and after a moment I stepped off to the side to think.

When I got away from the others, I remembered the noise. Unfortunately, whatever was making it picked that moment to remember us, too.

The lights flared to full power, blinding me as a series of loud and painful mechanical noises echoed across the room, and a droning hum started that continued long after the other noises slowed and stopped. I carefully adjusted my eyes to the new lighting, and looked at our new threat.

It was a large red machine, which hovered a short distance above the floor, likely the source of the hum. Its front section resembled the nose of a plane, coming to a rounded point a good distance away from the main body. A number of thick metal ducts of a dull gold color extended from the base of the machine to the back. A massive cannon of the same color extended down from its hull area.

After an uncomfortable silence, Wily's voice began to echo through the room. "You finally made it! Well done, Mega Man. And friends..."

He cleared his throat. "Anyway, thank you for all your efforts. I appreciate that you made my investments worthwhile. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to finish this very soon. I've grown tired of playing with you, Mega Man."

The machine began to move forward, and its cannon roared to life. A shot fired from it, a massive ball of energy, which, bizarrely, traveled in a curved path, dipping down to the ground before rising into the ceiling.

Soon afterward, a number of those shots followed, leading us to hurry out of the way. Fire Man lit up his flames and launched a large burning wave towards it, which seared against the cockpit area with minimal damage.

Ice Man desperately launched his small ice shots, which unfortunately dissipated harmlessly against the metal surface. Guts Man didn't have any ammo, so grabbed Bomb Man and threw him onto the machine (much to the latter's frustration).

Oil Man slid up beside me. "This isn't workin', Mega Man."

"Yeah..." I muttered. I dropped down to avoid a shot as it began to rise, and caught sight of an open door behind. "I gotta get through there."

"Go ahead, pardner!" Fire Man shouted, continuing to launch as many shots of the Fire Storm as he could, "we'll handle this 'ere machine."

I nodded and made a break for the doorway. On the way, the cannon swiveled and turned itself to me. It locked on to me, and fired a shot that approached with devastating speed. I braced for impact.

I opened my eyes a second later to see Time Man straining himself, holding onto my leg. His alarms rang like crazy, and they were wobbling unnaturally. The shot had slowed to near stopping speed directly in front of us.