The doctor sits hunched over his desk, which was covered with nuts, bolts, circuit boards, and a myriad of circuit components. He twisted his minuscule Phillips-Head screwdriver in small, slow, and calculated maneuvers, while occasionally letting out a small giggle, perhaps in excitement of nearly completing his project that he had been working on for the past several months. Turning to his servant, he issues a command.

“Once I complete the modifications to this device, I need you to insert it into your weapon arms and test it. Be careful, it may prove to be a bit too much to handle.”

“As you say, master.” The large servant complies, grabbing the component and inserting it into a panel on his arm. Once the installation is complete, the man’s hand changes into a mace linked to the arm with a chain. Raising the newly formed weapon, he swings it at the ground with tremendous force, nearly shattering the metal tiles. With this display of power, the man’s eyes widen in shock. “I-I never planned on using that much strength. I didn’t know I could so easily!”

“It’s the wonder of my engineering. It forces your motors to calculate the most efficient method of forcing out power into a single stroke. Be careful with it, it’s incomplete and may have unexpected reactions.”

“Yes, I shall try to be careful,” the servant says while raising up his arm to recall the weapon. Unfortunately, he once again used more force than he intended, and wildly swung his arm upwards, forcing the mace into the ceiling. Attempting to retract the arm before it was too high only ended up swinging the mace once again into an unintended direction, this time slamming it into a pile of containers filled with various chemicals. Realizing that only halting his actions entirely would help, he immediately freezing in his position. Unfortunately, the damage had been done, and the chemicals had began to mix, starting an unnatural fire.

“Dammit!” the doctor yells. Rushing over to an intercom device, the man begins yelling commands into it frantically.


BOOT-UP SEQUENCE INITIATED
Boot up OS activating necessary fields for operation…
…
…
Power flow normal. Motor functions working normally. Weapon systems online, buster set to power mode. No extra weapons available, weapon copy system functioning normally. Main AI programs booting up…

Slowly raising himself from his recharge capsule, the man with black armor mutters something to himself.

“I have a feeling that the doc’s gonna do something stupid again.” His purple canine companion, sitting next to his capsule, whines at him. “Don’t worry, it’s probably another half-assed attempt at world domination. At the very least, we’ll get another chance to fight the blue dweeb.” Getting out of the capsule, he stretches for a bit, despite not needing to, and proceeds to decide his plans for the day.

“Alright Treble, I think we should go around the Castle and see if the other numbers have any idea what Wily’s been up to.” With this, he begins his brief journey to the training room, both to start up a wake-up routine of sorts, and to see if any of his fellows would have information. With Treble joining him, he walks out the door of his chambers and begins the short walk to his desired location. Along the way, he runs into one of the comrades of his that he was seeking out.

“Hey Quick Man. You headin’ off to train a bit?”

“I see you’re up Bass. No, I just came from there and I’m about to recharge. I know Shade Man and Tengu Man were in there, however.”

“Say, has the doc been planning anything lately? I get the feeling he is.”

“Can’t say I know. He called Knight Man down to his lab earlier, but that’s about it.”

“Well, I guess if he is I’ll find out sooner or later.” With this, they both part ways, headed to their original destinations. Quickly locating the training room, he enters and finds the two robot masters previously mentioned duking it out. Due to both being capable of flight, they were currently engaged in an aerial battle, with Tengu Man focusing with his speed and Shade Man preferring to use his attack’s wide are of effect. Watching the two of them fight was proving to be boring however, mostly due to Tengu Man sticking to the same tactics and repeatedly getting hit by Shade Man’s sound waves.  “Hey, if you two are done up there I need to talk to you!” With this, Shade Man glances down at Bass, although his faster opponent quickly takes advantage of his moment of distraction and Tengu Man rams him into a wall, dropping Shade Man down to the ground.

“You should’ve been focusing more, Shade Man,” Tengu Man mocks.

“I was about to tell you to stop because of our guest. He asked a question, it’s only polite we respond,” Shade Man retorts.

“It was a battle, he could’ve easily waited for us to finish.”

“Or,” Bass starts up, “I could’ve kicked both of your asses to get the answers I need. Anyways, I wan-“

“You think you could beat me?” Tengu Man suddenly interrupts. “Ha! You’re an outdated machine, and you’re also stuck to the ground. I somehow doubt you’d win.”

“Given how badly you were losing to Shade Man, I’m pretty sure beating you into the ground would be easy enough.”

“What!? Did it look like I was losing? I’m the one who won!”

“Yeah, and it’s because Shade Man got distracted. Otherwise you were doing pretty much the exact same thing over and over again.”

Tengu Man retorts, “Then how about we test your theory out!”

“Sure, so long as you two answer my question first. What the hell is Wily planning?”

“Uh,” Shade Man responds, “I don’t think he’s planning anything at the moment. What makes you think he is?”

“I just have this feeling he is,” Bass responds. “Anyways, I guess it’s time for a warm up.” With this, he walks towards the center of the room, with Tengu Man taking to the air.

“You ready to lose kid?” Tengu Man taunts.

“Y’know, I’m actually older than you.” Bass readies his buster, raising it up while grinning. “I’m pretty sure you’re the kid here.”

“We’ll see about that!” With this, Tengu Man begins a similar pattern as the one he used against Shade Man, charging at full speed towards Bass.

“I really wonder which of the two is more arrogant sometimes,” Shade Man mutters to himself. He kneels down to Treble, who happily sits down with him as Shade Man begins to pet the robotic canine. “What do you think, Treble?”

Before Shade Man could attempt to decipher a response from his friend’s companion, the voice of the castle’s master begins to boom over the intercom. “Bass! Freeze Man! I need you two in my laboratory, immediately! Don’t dawdle around, this is an emergency!” With this, the two combatants stop before they can inflict serious damage to each other, both clearly wearing looks of disappointment.

“What does the old doc want this time?” Bass irritatedly says.

“Shall we continue this match at a later date?” Tengu Man inquires.

“Yeah, might as well. Someone’s gotta put you in your place. Treble, come!” With this he begins to walk towards the door, his companion trotting away from Shade Man and towards his master.

Tengu Man hastily throws out another jibe before Bass goes through the door completely. “You’ll be eating those words later, Bass.”

Bass’s only response was to casually flip Tengu Man off before heading out the door, an act that only served to further infuriate the Robot Master.


Now, while Dr. Wily had indeed said it was an emergency and that the two summoned robots should hurry up, Bass wasn’t inclined to do so. He knew that whatever it was could either be ignored for the time being, or dealt with by Knight Man and Freeze Man. Even if it was truly an emergency, it could likely wait long enough for Bass to show up, although that possibility being true was very low. Of course, though, the main reason Bass went through the halls at his own pace was that he simply didn’t care for most of the doctor’s demands. While he may be threatened of becoming scrap metal, he knew that Wily wouldn’t, partly due to fear and partly due to knowing Bass was still his best hope at defeating Mega Man. So when Bass arrived at the laboratory fifteen minutes after he was called, Wily was understandably furious.

“Bass! I told you to hurry up, not take all the time in the world to get here! The lab was on fire for god’s sake!”

“Wait,” Bass begins to ask, “if the lab was on fire, what could I have done to help?”

“I was hoping to have you copy Freeze Man’s ability and help him out,” Wily says while pointing to Freeze Man, “but while you took your time he and Knight Man had to do it themselves.”

“You should respect your master more, Bass,” Knight Man speaks up.

“Give me a good reason to, and maybe I will,” Bass retorts.

Wily responds rather than Knight Man. “I’m the one who made you, I’m pretty sure that’s a good enough reason! Besides, if you keep this behavior up, I’ll just dismantle you.”

“Please, I know you wouldn’t do that, since I’m one of the few things you’ve done right.”

“Tch, a typical response from you. Perhaps it would be easier to reprogram your personality instead, so you’d be more willing to do as I say. No matter, just go and help clean up the mess. You can go now Knight Man, I’m done with you.”

With this, Knight Man begins to head out of the room, giving Freeze Man a brief nod before heading out the door. Freeze Man begins to help on cleaning up the mess the fire started, while Bass reluctantly helps out as well.

“So, actually doing as he says for once?” Freeze Man asks.

Lowering his voice, Bass answers, “Nah, I just need to see if there’s anything new here. For all I know, he’s planning something again.”

“Hmm. Well, if I see anything, I’ll tell you. Not like there’s any harm in being curious...”

“Thanks. I’m guessing you don’t know much of his plans?”

“Nah, I just get called down here every now and then to put out fires or to cool down something that’s overheating. Sometimes I’m with Blizzard Man, but usually it’s me.”

“Hmm. Didn’t think accidents like that happened that often.” Sifting through piles of junk and scorched metal, Bass spots something vaguely familiar to him. “Hey, is this the Time Skipper?”

Wily suddenly turns his attention to Bass. “How badly damaged is it?”

“It looks to be alright save for a few burn marks here and there, although it’s pretty damn hot inside. Something might’ve melted.”

“Hmm. See if you can open up one of the panels and see how damaged it is.” With this, Bass pries open a panel, nearly ripping it out due to the part being partially welded to the rest of the casing.

“It looks to be alright physically, but some of the casing was welding itself together. This thing produce high temperatures when it’s active?”

“Yes, it gives off a lot of energy in a relatively small space, so I had to design it to not melt down while it was operational. Getting it to do so was the hardest part, and I don’t know how many times I’ve replaced the casing on that thing.”

“Hey,” Freeze Man suddenly speaks up, “do you want me to cool it down?”

“I suppose so, just to give me the chance to check it more thoroughly now rather than later. I can’t take any chances with something that unpredictable.” With this being said, Bass hands it to Freeze Man, who lowers the temperature around it in a matter of seconds.

“Here ya go Wily,” Freeze Man cheerily says while giving the Doctor the now-cooled device.

“Thank you Freeze Man. That system I built into you really ha- yah!” The Doctor suddenly flips the device from the hands of the Robot Master, recoiling his hand in pain. “Son of a- don’t make it that cold! Bass, see if the device is damaged any more, and quickly!”

Bass rushes over to where the device had fallen, picking it up and checking it once again.
“Looks like a small part of it busted off somewhat.” Indeed, a small component was hanging off, the point where it should be connected clearly visible beside it.

“Hand it over quickly! We need to make sure this doesn’t send the entire castle hurtling through the depths of the universe or something worse!”

“This thing can do that? Why the hell keep something [/i]that[i] dangerous around?” While he walks towards Wily and Freeze Man, the device suddenly begins to emit oddly colored sparks.

“Well shit,” Bass abruptly says. Treble suddenly rushes over to him, emitting whimpering sounds at his master. “Hey doc, would it be best for me to smash this thing before it gets out of hand?”

“Yes, yes, just do it quickly! Our lives are more important than that thing!”

Tossing the Time Skipper to the ground, Bass quickly arms his buster and aims it at the device. “Well, at least this’ll hold me over until I can go at Tengu Man later.” With this, he begins to power up his buster, the impressive glow of the muzzle overpowering the dim lights of the room. “Here go nothing!”

A release, letting the charged plasma fly through the air to the sparking device on the ground. An explosion, signifying the devices’ destruction. Finally, a bright light show surrounding the vicinity of the machine’s former location, encasing Bass and Treble in a myriad of colors. The first two events were expected by the room’s occupants, the last was not, although Wily has predicted it as a possible outcome that he wished wouldn’t have happened. When the display was over the two who were enveloped by the brilliant dome of light were no longer there, eliciting two distinct reactions. One was of shock from Freeze Man, and the other one was of rage from Wily, who was so furious he was cursing up a storm in a multitude of languages that even the oldest of the Robot Masters had never heard come from him.


When the blinding lights had ceased, Bass looked around himself in search of Treble. He distinctly remembered seeing his lupine companion within the dome-like shape of light, and Bass doubts that the wolf would’ve been able to escape so quickly, even if he disregarded his master’s safety. Seeing no sign of Treble, Bass instead surveys his surrounding for the time being. It was a forest of sorts with the trees being spread rather thinly, perhaps signifying that he is at the edge of it. The ground was at an incline, showing that he was on a mountainside, and the peak rising up in the sky nearby only helped prove this theory. Lastly, he notices a rather large, dark colored figure in a nearby bush watching him. Perhaps his unexpected entrance had surprised a local, although with the glare the eyes of the creature, perhaps it was more of a territorial issue. In the end, it mattered not to Bass, and if he wanted answers he would surely get them.

Fortunately, and secretly to his pleasure, the creature had leaped out and indeed proven its hostility, attempting to attack Bass the moment it was noticed. Bass simply jumps to the side and rolls along the ground, landing on his feet and spinning to face his attacker. His opponent is lupine in appearance, and for all intents and purposes looks and acts like a rather ordinary, if extremely hostile and territorial wolf. The only issue Bass could notice with it was the abnormal size, for even though it was down on all four paws it nearly towered over him. Suddenly, another abnormality presented itself when the wolf chose to speak.

“That was unnaturally fast for just a human, let alone an outsider. I’m even more impressed given that bulky armor you’re wearing.” With this, Bass’ eyes widen slightly with shock, giving a source of amusement to the large wolf. “You’ve never seen a wolf talk before? Either you’re a really sheltered person from the village, which I doubt, or you are indeed an outsider. My bet’s on the latter.” After finishing the taunt the wolf once again leaps towards Bass, baring its impressively large teeth at its target.

Unfortunately for the wolf, Bass had plans that didn’t involve dodging this time. Waiting for the right opportunity, he stands his ground and grabs the wolf by the jaws, holding it in place despite the sharp teeth attempting to puncture his hands. Continuing to hold on to the wolf’s lower jaw, he releases his other hand and pulls his arm back while forming his open hand into a fist. The wolf, which was already thrashing about in a struggle to release itself from Bass’ grip, begins to pull itself even harder, nearly hard enough to pull out its own jaw. However before it could get to that point Bass sent his fist forward with incredible force and slammed it into the beast’s chest, releasing his grip on the jaw immediately before impact. The result ended up with the wolf flying through the air and slamming into a tree with enough force to kill it, had it been an ordinary wolf. However, because it was not it merely lay there on the ground, writhing around in pain and having obvious trouble breathing.

Bass, however, did not care for the beast’s condition, although it being alive only pleased him. Walking over to it, he kneeled down to grasp the creature’s neck, and due to the pain it was in there was no way it could object. “Assuming I was a human was your first mistake, and your second would be to not answer my question.” Squeezing the wolf’s throat for emphasis, he continues. “Alright, did you see a purple mechanical wolf anywhere in the vicinity? A when would also be appreciated.”

Although it was having trouble breathing, it chose to speak, due to wanting to escape the violent robot’s wrath with its life intact. With great effort, further hindered by Bass’ grip on its throat, it gives the only answer I could. “I-I’m afraid I haven’t. You just suddenly showed up with a flash in my territory and I assumed that you were an outside human. I’m sorry, please don’t kill me, that’s all I can tell you.”

Showing obvious dissatisfaction, Bass releases his grip on the wolf as he promised. Scanning his surroundings once again, he goes over his choices.

[ ] Scan for electronic transmissions.
[ ] Interrogate the large wolf more.
[ ] Begin exploration and gather data on the environment.