Mega Man returns! I hope you guys will enjoy this next part!

-Somewhere in the Amazon-

The sun beat down heavily on the treetops, sending spires of light streaking down to the rainforest floor. Somehow this made it just as warm, if not warmer, in the shade. The heavy humidity that is the way of a rainforest meant that insects swarmed by the truckload, gladly taking a peck or a sting at anything that they could get to.

The conditions wouldn't be ideal for anyone. However, for Dr. Albert Wily, they were a waking nightmare.

Being a robotics expert, he was not accustomed to going out into nature. He was also not accustomed to doing his own work. So being in the Amazon rainforest, wandering in hallucinogenic heat, being attacked by all manner of six to eight legged creatures, and tripping over hidden tree roots, all while lugging a makeshift cart filled with the broken and incapacitated bodies of several robots. Robots that would have done this for him without hesitation.

He hiked a few more minutes before setting down to rest. The sun seemed to have not moved since he had started, and he was starting to wonder if he was actually traveling as far as he thought.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead, silently cursing Break Man for not arriving as soon as expected. Wily had established contact with the robot and told him where he was, but thus far, he had yet to intercept the Doctor.

He sighed, staring up hopelessly into the trees. "This had better be worth it."

-Back in Metro City-

I let out an impatient sigh staring at the elevator. The machine seemed to travel incredibly slowly whenever it was most inconvenient.

"Should've taken the stairs..." I muttered as it finally approached my floor. I stepped out onto the sleek marble floor of the small hallway. Down its length, I could see the tops of buildings, large distances away, just barely visible from the high floor. I stepped forward to the secure metallic door and knocked on it.

I stood awkwardly for a moment before the door slid open. Standing in the doorway was none other than my sister, Roll.

She smiled when she saw me, wrapping me in a hug. "You're back!"

I smiled as I patted her on the back. "I'm back."

The familiar footsteps of Dr. Light drew my attention into the room, where the old man happily walked over to the door. "Rock." He smiled, holding out a hand. "I trust all is taken care of?"

I nodded in reply. "Yep. I'm all caught up."

"Caught up with what again?" Came a voice from inside. I stepped in and moved past my welcoming party to find a robot lying on the couch.

"Flash Man."

"'Sup, Mega?" He held a small device in his hands, tinkering with it with his free hand. He sat up, his silver Time Stopper appendage reflecting light all over the room. ""How ya been?"

I sighed. "Fine. With all due respect, why are you still here?"

"Hey, I've got a very peculiar skillset. Between my expertise and my abilities, I could do whatever I want."

"So why aren't you?" I asked.

He shrugged. "I'm told that my personality is a little more...obnoxious." He gagged on the word, as if it was the name of an ex.

"Gee, why could that be?" I muttered.

Dr. Light decided it was time to interrupt. "Regardless, Flash Man's personality and limited knowledge base make his ideal work difficult to find. The other three are far simpler in their intended purpose."

Flash Man fell back onto the couch. "Look, Rock. Can I call you Rock?" He didn't wait for an answer. "I've never really had anything against you. You helped convince me to give up the charade Wily tried to pull on you. You care about how people feel. And yet you abandon that when your enemies aren't your enemies anymore. It's not healthy, Rock."

He rolled over and picked up the TV remote. "So...what was it you were doing anyway?"

I remembered my reason for coming here. "I had to make up school. I missed weeks for all the time I spent dealing with the mess you guys made."

Flash Man gave me a frustrated frown. "I already told you I apologize for that."

I ignored him. "Anyway, I needed to take the whole time off to get caught up again. I'm glad I'm finally back. I was missing you guys."

Dr. Light smiled. "We missed you as well."

Roll caught my attention. "How's Tempo doing?"

I shrugged. "I think she's doing better. She at least seems semi normal now. I don't know if she's done anything specific, or if she's just adjusting. I think she said she was going to talk to her mom again soon."

Dr. Light rubbed his chin. "What about Michael? Is something going on with him?"

I gave him a curious look. "Nothing I've really noticed. Why?"

He shook his head. "It's not much. I just would've expected to see him around a little bit since everything died down. I always thought he loved coming here."

"Well, I guess he has been a little more reserved lately."

The two of us stood there deep in thought for a few moments. It made me curious. Michael had changed very subtly in the last few weeks. Was there something going on with him? Was I letting down my duty to him to help him out?

Flash Man brought us both out by clearing his throat. "So, you been keeping up with the news lately? 'Cause you're gonna love this one." He pointed to the TV, which had been silently playing a news report.

I rolled my eyes and looked over. The footer read "Mega Man Copy Comes to Town", and it showed a blurry picture of someone wearing blue.

I couldn't help but frown. "What's going on?"

Flash Man kept watching the TV. "Some guy showed up, seemingly a week or so ago, in some fancy outfit equipped with lasers and everything. He's been taking down criminals, kind of like back alley superhero work. Finally someone got a picture of the guy, and everybody thinks he's copying you."

I shook my head. "Great, just what I need. A copycat."

"Well, so far he's done nothing extremely serious. He seems to be like an urban legend still." Dr. Light assured me.

Flash Man leaned back against the couch cushion. "At least it's not Wily, am I right?"

Roll put an arm on my shoulder. "Just relax."

I took a breath and continued. "He still hasn't shown up?"

Dr. Light shook his head. "Unfortunately, no. I hope Wily will be smart and turn himself in, but I have a bad feeling he's beyond that. But thankfully, after the last escapade, all his assets have been officially frozen, so he's got nothing to build on."

Roll smiled incredibly sweetly. "Maybe we can finally have some peace for a while, huh?"

I grinned and was about to agree when Flash Man groaned loudly. I turned over to him. "What on earth, man?"

He threw his arms up. "Why does nobody realize that there are things you just don't say? Stuff like, 'I think we're safe now', and 'That was easy'. Seriously, how has every single Staples on the planet not gone up in a fiery explosion?"

"What are you saying?" I asked.

"I'm saying..." He rolled his eyes, "...that Roll has inevitably doomed us to some sort of huge disaster. And here I thought I was gonna get to relax after fighting nine Robot Masters..."

I shook my head. "You're absolutely ridiculous."

He gave me a look that told me he didn't care. "Whatever, I'll just be here waiting for some crazy alarm to go off and everything to go nuts."

And so we stood there for a few moments, waiting for anything ridiculous to happen for some strange reason.

The tension was finally broken by Roll quietly coughing.

I gave Flash Man a weird look. "And was that supposed to happen just now?"

"Doesn't have to. Given the circumstances, the time frame is very extensive."

I shrugged. "All right, well, I was just coming by to say hello. I've gotta run, so I'll see you guys later."

"Goodbye, Rock." Dr. Light replied as I exited the room.

---

Sometimes I forgot how easily school was a bore.

Once I was caught up on all I had missed, I suddenly had nothing to do. All of the bells seemed to drag on. Like any typical high school student, every bone in my body (or wire, or metal rod or whatever) ached for lunch. Recently I had been skipping the welcome break in the day (again, in order to make up work), so this time I was happy to be back.

I slid into a seat next to Michael, who didn't seem to notice me for a second. He turned his head slightly, and finally seemed to notice I was there. He sort of jumped, and had to compose himself for a second before greeting me.

"Oh! Hey, man! How are you?" He asked with a hint of discomfort.

I gave him a playful, skeptical look. "I'm doing pretty well. And you?"

He shook himself a little as he turned in his seat. "I'm, uh, doing good!"

I laughed under my breath as I checked out my meal. Michael looked down at it with me, and added, "I'm still not used to the fact that you eat stuff."

I twiddled (Author Note: Best word ever) a plastic utensil between my fingers. "Same. It's kinda weird how I don't actually need to." I leaned back carefully on the back-less bench, and did a quick scan of the lunch room. The flood of noise was to be expected, and there were the usual clusters of students.

My eyes fell on a large collection of skin that I knew only belonged to Dex. I hadn't actually interacted with him much since I had kinda made him into a joke a while ago. He sat at a table with a few guy, loudly discussing something. It was kind of odd, as if their voices could be heard throughout the whole lunch room, yet you couldn't piece out a word.

Michael was also looking over at the table. "Man, I need to get a date with that."

I turned around to stare at him. "Uh...what?"

He continued looking for a second, but then seemed to notice what I was referring to. He quickly raised his hands. "Oh, nononono. No, I was talking about...I mean...not Dex, not Dex, just...some girl." His voice dropped off at the end.

I looked back at the table. A few seats over from the guys were a small group of three girls. I recognized two quickly. Though my recent experiences had made me forgetful of their names, I knew that they weren't exactly the best people. Just really popular.

The third, however, was new. She had blonde hair that leaked out from a gray-blue beanie. She wore a pink hoodie, an interesting choice when taken with her head wear. She was a little quieter than the others at the table, as if she wasn't entirely comfortable.

"Who is she?" I asked, assuming that this was who Michael referred to.

He tapped me on the shoulder, and gave me a look that implied I should stop staring. "Her name is Sonia. She moved in a few days after you got really busy."

I frowned. "If she's new, how'd she get to the 'in-crowd' so quickly?"

Michael swallowed a bite of a sandwich. "She's a growing pop-singer. Got a Youtube channel with about 50,000 subs."

I nodded. "Yep. That'll do it. Now what about Dex? He's kinda, I dunno, tame today."

Michael opened his mouth to reply, but heard a shout from someone behind him. After shouting something back, he cleared his throat. "You should've seen him when you were gone. It was like he was trying to make up for all the time he couldn't mess with people. As in, every day you were around."

I set an elbow down on the table, resting my head in my palm. "That's...actually really sad. Does he have ANYTHING better to do with his life?"

"Who knows? It's Dex." Michael replied nonchalantly. He finished up the last of his food. "So. You gonna tell me about taking down the great Dr. Wily?"

I cast furtive glances around the room, and leaned in closer to him. When I was next to his ear, I whispered, "Not until you talk to Sonia."

He pushed himself back from me. "You've gotta be kidding. You can't do that!"

"Why not? You did this same thing with me and Tempo, and look how that turned out."

He leaned in closer to me this time, saying quietly, "Yes, but both of you are also robots. It was probably...magnetic attraction or something."

I shook my head. "Please, do you know how difficult it would be to get magnets inside a robot? The generated field would be almost impossible to control when directed through a large collection of metal."

He just looked at me with a frustrated face.

I rubbed the back of my head. "I've picked up some things from Dr. Light."

He rubbed his forehead. "Come on, man. Do I have to do this?"

I just nodded in reply. Frustrated, he stood up and walked to the trash can. As he put his stuff in, I noticed his mouth moving, as if he was talking to someone. There was no one around him, although I supposed it was possible he was just talking to himself about me.

Until he kept doing it for a few minutes. I didn't want to stare and alarm him, but he had been sort of slowly moving around, looking like he was having a conversation.

I shook my head. Maybe he was taking acting classes.

About a minute later, the lunch bell finally rang, and I stood, and walked over to dispose of my garbage. It was there that I realized I hadn't actually eaten anything really. I had spent the time talking or distracted. It probably looked weird that I had spent good money on a meal I didn't touch.

I made a mental note to be more careful about that, and joined the crowd filing out of the cafeteria. Our school had an interesting schedule, offering about ten minutes of time after lunch where you could basically do what you wanted to. Mostly it was a time to get homework done or connect with friends before finishing out the day. Today, I instead stayed a distance away from Michael, who, much to my surprise, was already talking to Sonia. I had never seen him so quick to conversation with a girl he liked.

The two were calmly communicating. Michael looked a little uncomfortable, but little enough that I doubted anyone besides me could pick up on it. He looked like he was doing okay.

He might just pull this off.

And then, because why not, the front doors exploded.

I immediately went into alert, preparing for the worst. The clear glass that had made up those doors was now spread out, appearing as though someone had decided the carpeting could use some laminate.

I quickly ducked into a corner. I made sure that I was out of view, making sure I was away from any exits. I blinked once, then twice. When my monitor appeared in my vision, I spoke: "Activate."

Blue light flushed my eyes, and I felt the Mega Man armor attach to my body piece by piece. When it was finally done, I stretched myself out a little, and looked down at my gloves. "Maybe I did miss this a little."

I snuck out of the side of the building, carefully getting a decent distance away, so as not to "magically appear" at the school within seconds of disaster.

I turned around and hurried toward the building. A few screams could be heard, and a column of fire shot up into the sky.

"Well. That's wonderful..."

When I showed up, however, I found something very uncomfortable. A massive robot stomped around in the front grounds, easily as big as Guts Man. Despite being very humanoid, the head looked like a bull, and its feet seemed to have hoof-like plating. It had a very broad chest, and massive arms that poured fire out of the elbows.

"Oh geez." I muttered.

It took notice of me, letting out a devastating roar. I found myself paralyzed to the spot as it lowered its head and charged.

---

I don't really know what to say at the end of this. Mega Man's back. Yay.

I'll try to get chapters out a little faster now. This one took a while.