Memory Bank

[Proto Man]

With an electrical bloop, Proto Man beamed into the center of the large industrial park that served as Magnet Man’s base of operations.  Apparently, Dr. Wily’s plans to take over the city always involved his expensive, robotic weapons of mass destruction squatting on important landmarks and waiting for someone to come and destroy them.  Why the evil doctor didn’t simply use said robots to blow up the City Hall or the Police Department was apparently beyond even Proto Man’s grasp.

Must be some sort of human thing… Behind his face guard, the prototype Robot Master smirked.  

“Intruder Alert!  Intruder Alert!”  The dry, staccato voice ended and was replaced by a thumping techno beat that seemed to emanate from everywhere at once.  All around Proto Man, once idle machinery began to hiss steam as it clambered to life.  Less humanoid robots lit up and began to patrol the various catwalks and passage ways, trying their damnedest to ensure that the intruder didn’t reach their overlord’s domain.  The few machines that were nearby either failed to notice Proto Man or were programmed not to view him as a threat.

Up ahead, a more humanoid robot was leaned against a larger boiler.  For a moment, the prototype thought he was looking at Magnet Man, but after a step forward, the android realized he was simply gazing upon a newer robot.  The seeming slacking machine was human-shaped, but he had a glowing yellow eye, a buster arm, and a very familiar-looking shield design.  The only thing missing from the entourage was a red paint job and a scarf.

Are you kidding me?  I don’t see this as a compliment.   Stomping forward, Proto Man jabbed the taller robot in the side with a metal finger.  The poor facsimile turned its eye to bear on the prototype and promptly tilted his head to the side like an inquisitive cat.  Lifting his hand, the android clenched his fist, prompting the extremity to convert into a buster gun.  The other robot continued to stare even as the back of the gun flashed yellow.  A beat later, a concentrated burst of energy crashed through the machine’s face—tearing apart its skull and blowing a hole through the back of its helmeted skull.  Now headless, its body jerked a few times and spewed a few handfuls of electricity before collapsing onto its haunches.

“I’m sorry.”  Proto Man kept his gun-hand trained on the twitching body, as if he half-expected the headless robot to spring up and attack him. “But I don’t find this flattering.”

Somewhere behind the prototype, there was an explosion strong enough to shake the concrete ground.  Spinning around, the Robot Master watched as one of the heavy boilers fell over onto a group of scrambling machines.  Twisted chunks of metal and thick, viscous clouds of boiled water splayed out in all directions.  As Proto Man watched, a blurred figure jumped up onto the boiler for a brief moment before making another jump that brought him within sprinting distance of the prototype.

Smiling, the Robot Master jogged behind a small generator.  Reaching for his neck, he wrapped his metal fingers around the whistle that hung from a thing piece of rope.  As the dull, echoing thumps approached the hallway adjacent to the generator, Proto Man placed the whistle up to his lips and played a short, melodious tune.  At once, the footsteps stopped a few paces beyond the generator.

Dropping the whistle back beneath his scarf, Proto Man jogged out from behind the humming piece of machinery and leveled his weapon with the blue android standing in front of him.  A proximity warning must have gone off in the other robot’s head, because he promptly spun around and brought his blue-plated buster-arm to bear on the masked robot.

Creepy…  Behind his shades, Proto Man’s eyes couldn’t help but widen as he sized up the other android.  While their armor varied in color and style, the material was the same, and in terms of their boots and hands, they were almost identical.  Their pelvic girdles were different in terms of plating.  Their helmets, although having unique ornamentation, both shared the same base shape and distinctive aural receptors of the Dr. Light and Dr. Wily robots.  Although they had their disparities in terms of clothes, the other Robot Master’s facial structure was nearly identical to Proto Man.  Had the prototype’s exoskeleton not become haggard over the last few years, he was certain they would look exactly the same.  I was offended by that machine and yet Dr. Light went and made a copy of me...  

“You’re … not the same as the other robots.”  The blue-plated android’s voice was squeaky and slightly prepubescent.  “Who are you?”

“I am Pro—ere… Break Man!”  Throwing his hand forward, Proto Man smiled behind the face mask as his left hand converted into a buster weapon.  “And I’m here to test you…” It was then that the robot realized he’d never learned the name of the blue android.  All of Wily’s files pertaining to his prior defeats had just mentioned ‘one of Light’s infernal robots’ or ‘that damn Blue Bomber!’

“Mega Man.”  The response took Proto Man by surprise, as the perplexed expression on his face was concealed behind a dark visor and a mouth guard.  Stepping back, the younger machine threw up his buster arm and released a burst of energy.

“Pleasant.”  Sidestepping, the prototype threw his own identical weapon forward and fired back a quick series of concentrated projectiles.  The first tagged Mega Man on the chest, but the preteen robot rolled with the force of the impact and escaped the path of the next several blasts.  Grinning beneath his metal mask, Proto Man dashed toward his opponent and gracefully leaped over the bursts that came surging at his face.  As he passed up and over Mega Man, the prototype slung his gun-hand down and nailed the other robot a few times on the skull and back.

Landing a few feet behind his opponent, Proto Man spun around and aimed his weapon just as a blue fist sailed into his chin.  Reeling back as his face plate caved beneath the synthetic strength, the prototype Robot Master fired a few blasts to stall any attempts by his adversary to press the advantage.  As Mega Man moved to evade the blasts, the other android retreated to a nearby generator and scaled it.  Once at the top, Proto Man aimed his blaster down at the blue robot and released burst of energy.  The younger machine threw up his buster arm and returned fire.  

The two projectiles, both shades of yellow, struck one another and violently exploded.  The omnidirectional shockwave was enough to throw Proto Man off the generator and send Mega Man rolling backwards head over heels.  Landing with a dull thud, the prototype cringed as warnings began to flare up along the corners of his display.  After pulling his torso up off the ground, the red robot placed a hand to his chest and tried to calm his synthetic breathing.  

I guess we’re more identical than I thought.  Energy fired from buster guns that operated on the same wavelength tend to react catastrophically when slammed together.  That only meant that Dr. Light hadn’t bothered to change much when he took Proto Man’s designs and created his brother.  I’m sure he has a functional power core!  Cursing his maker beneath his ‘breath,’ the prototype used the nearby generator to pull himself up into a standing position.  He quickly slipped around to the other side and noticed that his sibling was lying motionless on the ground about ten yards away.  Well I suppose having an unstable energy core can have its advantages at times.

“Get this thing off,” Proto Man hissed as he clenched a metal hand around one side of the face guard.  With a grunt, he tore the dented armor away from the lower half of his head and threw it across the room.  The accessory clanged loudly against the metal walkway and slid a few feet before falling silent.  Raising his buster arm, Proto Man watched it return to its idle mode, allowing him to utilize his left hand once again.  After flexing the digits to ensure they were responsive, the android brushed them across his bare chin and smiled.  If he could easily destroy Wily’s ingenious ‘disguise,’ what was there to prevent him from seeing just how far he could interfere with the dear doctor’s nefarious scheme?  Proto Man’s grin spread a little wider as he glanced over his shoulder at the tall factory near the center of the city’s industrial park.

“I think I’ll pay a visit to Magnet Man…”