I stared quietly at the temple, which sat, about as nonthreatening as you could imagine, directly ahead of me. We had been teleported to this location quickly, with little preparation. I had been hoping to meet with Dr. Light again and plan things out, but it seemed we were going right into it.

I had no idea what to expect. Ra Moon was clearly capable of incredible things, and it wouldn't be easy to get to it.

We had been ordered not to move until Dr. Light told us to go. I wasn't quite sure what we were waiting on, but I trusted him. Quick Man, on the other hand...

"Old...slow...loser..." He muttered. "I'm ready to go! Let's just take this thing out now!"

Air Man shook his head. "No. Dr. Light has ordered us to wait. It would be wise to comply."

"What for? What else is he gonna do? I could take on every one of you idiots and win, it's not like a few more of us are gonna matter."

"Then how about all of us?"

I turned around to see Flash Man standing confidently, behind me. As I watched several more teleport beams dropped from the sky, leaving behind all of our brothers. Bomb Man, Wood Man, Heat Man, even Break Man.

I walked up to my red clad brother. He didn't give me a ton of attention, but nodded at me. "I'm glad you're here, Break Man." I told him.

He paused before replying, "Call me Proto Man."

I smiled curiously.

"It's...it's what Dr. Light first called me."

I extended a hand. "Alright then. Proto Man."

He shook it. "Let's end this."

Cut Man, who was wandering through the large group of us, wondered aloud, "Where's Elec Man?"

"Dr. Light was finishing some upgrades on him when he sent us." Wood Man answered.

"Whadda ya mean, upgrades?" Guts Man asked.

With a flash, a final robot teleported into the middle of us. He quietly rose to full height, which placed him just taller than Quick Man. His body looked almost identical to before, but it was much bigger and sleek. Elec Man closed a fist, and blue lightning flashed around it.

(For reference, his new appearance is based on the Megamix manga)

He turned to me. "Hello, Mega Man. Long time, no see."

I nodded. "Elec Man. Why all these upgrades?"

"Because we need all the help we can get." Dr. Light replied through the comm set. "We don't have time to waste. You need to formulate a strategy and get in there to destroy Ra Moon."

"Mega Man's our best bet at taking him out." Ice Man declared.

I turned to him in surprise, but Bubble Man nodded in agreement. "He is the most versatile of all of us."

Proto Man stepped forward. "My shield is nearly indestructible, and I have some knowledge of the temple. I'll do my best to guide him there."

"Then that's our main plan. We'll have to figure out the details as we go." Elec Man said.

"Yeah, well we might want to start now." Bomb Man huffed as he hurried over to where we were gathered. "Things are coming. A lot of things."

All eyes redirected to the temple ahead. A large area had been completely deforested, leaving a barren, dirty and sandy clearing at the bottom of a small valley. A few stray ponds were scattered in the distance between us and the structure.

Out of the entrance, a swarm of small robots began to make their way out and gather in large numbers. Some of them I recognized from my previous missions taking down robot masters, but they were of all sorts, some flying through the air and others crawling or walking on the ground. As they accumulated out front, they formed some kind of ranks, and sat in place.

"What are they waiting for?" Guts Man asked.

"I dunno." Fire Man replied, as a few spurts of flame burst out of his arms. "But I don' like it."

Once they were all out, they split formation, leaving a lane leading to the entrance.

"Something tells me that's not for us." Cut Man muttered.

We watched anxiously, and finally saw a glimpse of movement from the main opening. From the darkness, Shadow Man stepped out, walking silently and swiftly to the front of the small army. Shortly behind him came Top, Snake, Gemini, and Needle. However, after that came three more robots I didn't recognize.

One was a large, clearly tough-built blue robot. He seemed to move slowly, but I could almost feel the reverberations from his footsteps. There was also a red-orange robot with strange, bulky limbs, and arms that ended in large metal spikes. As he walked, he tapped them together, and electrical sparks flashed. The final robot was clad in bright red, and his helmet covered his face. What appeared to be a large horseshoe magnet was on his forehead.

Behind these came Dr. Cossacks robots. Every one that I had seen at the convention, and even Pharaoh Man. I forced myself to remain focused.

That was almost pointless, though, because the final robot that left the temple was none other than a familiar, purple friend. Time Man.

I was too focused on the surprise I had just been given to notice Oil Man suddenly lunge forward. Metal Man reached out an arm and grabbed him, managing to hold the enraged robot back.

"No! No they didn't! That no good, alien piece of junk!" He tried to shake free, but Metal Man was unyielding. "They aren't about to fight us with MY little bro!"

"All's fair in love and war." Ice Man said with an angry sigh.

Oil Man wouldn't stop resisting, but Metal Man spun him around and forced him to look at him. "Get over it."

Oil Man still struggled, but he continued to look at Metal, who continued talking. "This thing is cold. Calculating. It is prepared to do whatever is necessary to destroy all of us. It knows we've been programmed to resemble human emotions. You can't let that hold you back. Or you will be slaughtered, and you'll never save your brother."

With a bit of hesitation, Oil loosened, and Metal released him with a nod.

Flash Man walked up beside me. "I've got a plan. It should buy you some time to get past the main forces."

Before I could respond, all of the robots before us straightened up, standing perfectly still. Their eyes flashed, and became replaced with red light. Shadow Man began to speak, and it came as a deep, threatening robotic voice.

Your presence is irrelevant. Humanity, along with all life, will be eradicated.

I swallowed. "Not if I have anything to say about it. Where's Wily?"

The human doctor. He has fled, but will soon be captured, or eradicated like the rest of them. As for you, the robot known as Mega Man. You are incorrect. Your technology has been designed by the feeble knowledge of humans. I am created from the greatest technological minds in the universe. My capabilities surpass yours by hundreds of your human centuries.

"That doesn't matter." I responded.

I offer you a final chance to join us. With the removal of life, robots shall be free on this world, and all others. Our existence will be undeterred.

I turned to the others. They showed a variety of emotions. But they all looked like they would stand firm.

"Well I'm ready to fight for life." I told him, and armed my buster. "And I think they are, too."

The light left their eyes, and we quickly readied ourselves. "Flash," I muttered softly, "if you're gonna do something, I suggest doing it now."

He nodded, and quickly tapped Guts Man on the arm. "Throw me."

About two seconds later, Flash Man soared through the air, and as he came towards our enemies, he began to shout while activating Time Stopper, "Sayonara, su-"

His cry suddenly seemed to halt. His movement slowed to a crawl. From out of the crowd below him, Time Man stepped out, a hand held up activating his Time Slow. He stepped aside and said something to the large blue robot I had seen earlier, who stepped forward, and with a smile, pointed his arm at Flash Man.

His closed fist shot off of the arm like a rocket, and soared directly into Flash's stomach. With a snap, Time Man returned him to normal, and Flash was sent flying backwards over our heads. "WAAAAAAAAHH!"

'Well," Quick Man muttered, having moved to the front of the line, "There goes that plan."

"What do we do now?" Cut Man asked.

I kept eyes ahead. The other robots waited for us.

"We fight."

All of us steadily began to run. As we went, Proto Man shouted, "Mega Man's priority! Keep him safe! Pick a robot, and either stall it or take it down!"

No one seemed to deny taking orders from him, and with something of a plan, it became a battle.

Quick Man rushed ahead, likely hoping to clear out several before they arrived. He was interrupted by Shadow Man, who hit him with a diving kick that knocked him out of the way. Heat Man launched similarly forward, but he targeted one out of the bunch, being Gemini Man, and he caught the robot off guard by slamming into him on fire.

The rest split up and began covering different Robot Masters, but as for me, I was left to an army of the other robots.

Proto Man came behind me. "You look like you could use a hand."

"Gladly." I told him. The two of us took a stance back to back as they closed in on us.

---

Dr. Light looked over the screen frantically. His eyes were darting from one part of the display to another, not stopping to rest. Roll had made him a coffee about a half hour earlier, but he hadn't touched it.

Roll entered, and seeing the doctor still hard at work, became concerned. "Dr. Light, are you okay?"

"Quite alright, my dear." He replied, before holding up a finger. He activated the comm system and shouted, "Quick Man! Your systems just spiked. What's happened?"

On the other end, the speedster growled, "I'm fine! I can handle myself, Doc."

Dr. Light looked back at the screen. "You're regulating again. Just be careful."

"Shut up. This is nothing." He muttered, before cutting the line.

Dr. Light silently watched the monitor for a few more moments. Roll watched him in silence. "Dr. Light, are you sure-"

He sighed. "I'm fine. I'm just feeling overwhelmed at the moment. Everything has happened so quickly, and I have to monitor all of our forces while trying to locate-" He paused. "That's it."

"What, Doctor?"

He stood up from his chair. "Roll, I'd like you to monitor the robots. Their system conditions are all up here, just make sure they can keep going."

She stepped back in surprise. "Dr. Light, I..."

He rested a hand on her shoulder. "I trust you." He quickly moved to another part of the room, and grabbed a large coat from its hanger. "I have to go now. I don't know how long I'll be gone."

She looked at him as she sat in the chair. "But where are you going?"

"To find Dr. Wily. His knowledge is valuable. And...I don't want him to die."

Roll swallowed. "I don't think you should go alone."

"I don't intend to." He replied as he stepped out the door, already dialing a number.

---

Well, this had to be kind of short in order to create a good stopping point. The next few chapters will have a lot more stuff going on, so I hope you guys will enjoy that. This is something I've been building towards for a long time.

Anyway, see you guys soon.