The Scramble [Complete]

[Proto Man]

Before the white, the last image he’d seen was the skull fortress collapsing into the ocean, its fiery debris raining down the cliff face as the android played his flute. His helmet rested on his lap, and his scorched shield rested just a few yards away. Dr. Wily’s base was destroyed, his robotic children were destroyed, and the last image Proto Man had of his co-creator was the scientist fleeing into a room seconds before it was filled with debris. The threat they posed to Monsteropolis was no more, which meant that only Dr. Light remained. The ‘good doctor’ had once again managed to triumph over his partner-turned-nemesis, but what had the cost been?

From Proto Man’s perspective, there wouldn’t be true peace until both of those madmen were behind bars. He was their first creation--their first failure--and Proto Man wouldn’t rest until neither of them could harm the world with their children. Light claimed that he was in the right, but the red robot had seen the dark depths that the man had gone to stop his rival. The overweight man with the santa beard had tried to use his robots to murder Wily. Even worse, the robot he picked was derived from corrections to Proto Man’s flawed power core and programming.

The blue robot had proved to almost be Proto Man’s equal in combat, yet his programming kept him on a lesser level. Mega Man, like the rest of the ‘Robot Masters,’ lacked the spark that made his brother the most unique android in their world. Sure, he had a stable power supply that didn’t run the risk of someday failing spectacularly, but Proto Man would rather self-terminate then go a day without his sense of self.

As he played his flute, the red robot looked down at the brother he had saved. The soft, doughy features of the android were at peace, but the scorched and broken appearance of his body suit and armor showed the struggle he had gone through to defeat Wily. Proto Man didn’t know why he’d bothered to carry the robot out through the collapsing fortress. Wouldn’t Light just wind up sending his favorite son out to capture him? Surely the good doctor wouldn’t want to leave any loose ends, especially when one of them was a walking nuclear bomb with sapience?

Without his helmet, Mega Man looked almost identical to Proto Man, and it was probably that very resemblance that made it impossible for him to kill the smaller robot.

And just like that, Proto Man let out a yawn and closed his eyes. In a jolt, he shot them open in time to catch a glimpse of a white figure standing still among an ocean of black. Another jolt caused nearly half a dozen messages to pop up on the android’s internal display, all sent from an individual labeled as ‘Omni.’ Graphic representations of some material called Omnilium and multiple landscapes flashed across the HUD, and then everything was white again, with only the sound of voices and rushing water telling Proto Man that he was somewhere else entirely.

The android slipped his helmet on as he rose to his feet. He clenched his right hand, and when he relaxed his fingers, his hand was replaced by an arm cannon. In his left hand, his shield materialized and he slipped it over his shoulders until it rested on his back. Although he was battered, burnt, and in need of some rest, Proto Man wouldn’t be caught off guard. He hadn’t lived this long just to die to a bunch of strangers at the base of a fountain.