A Different Place

Chapter 8 - Fight to the Finish

Loath split his mouth in a sinister smile as MegaMan sat haplessly on the base of the Colossus. "You see, my boy, I can't let you blow up this marvelous machine. It's simply too valuable. I have big plans for it, yes I do."

Servbots Number Three and Fifteen were cowering behind MegaMan's back, for all the good it would do them. The boy looked down at his plain white deck shirt, so worn with use it now appeared grey. Tron had offered to give him some old armor plating, but it looked so ugly that MegaMan had just plain refused. This meant the armor was exceptionally bad-looking when taking his low standards for clothing into mind. Still, despite the fact that Loath was seemingly unarmed, MegaMan felt the need for some extra protection.

"Three, Fifteen," MegaMan said calmly, pushing himself back to his feet, "go finish planting the bombs. All of them." MegaMan, too, was weaponless; he'd left his shotgun in the car, and even if he hadn't, he run out of shells, anyway. "You guys have done a great job so far. I just need you to do one thing for me: just set all of the bombs, okay? Put as many bombs as you can around those pillars, and try to find the control panel and put one there, too." MegaMan realized that he probably shouldn't know where the weak points of the Colossus were, and yet somehow, he did.

"R-roger," Three said, while Fifteen chimed in with, "Yes, sir, Mister MegaMan, sir!"

Loath grimaced even more, if that was possible. "What makes you think I'm going to let your little friends do anything, let alone destroy my Colossus?"

"I think you'll be a little busy," MegaMan said, clenching his fists at his sides. He felt something click in his mind, and let that feeling take over his conscious actions.

Loath threw the first punch. MegaMan could tell Loath was fairly strong as the blow connected, but this bloated beta was still so outmatched, it was almost embarrassing. He blocked Loath's second blow with a lazily outstretched palm, then drove his booted foot into the crimelord's stomach. Loath's breath wheezed out shortly, and he backed off a bit.

"You're...stronger than I thought," Loath gasped, clutching his stomach.

Loath's opponent stared at him darkly. Not wanting to wait another second, Loath launched another attack at him, landing two punches on the boy's body. Then, Loath raised his arms over his head, striking down with a forceful two-handed blow. Loath put his palm flat on his opponent's chest, shoving him gently back and toppling him over to land flat on his back.

At least, that's how it was supposed to happen.

Before Loath could bring down his two-handed hammer, his opponent head-butted him, then fired three rapid punches to Loath's chest. He then lifted Loath over his head, twirled the well-dressed gentleman around four times, and threw him through the stone wall of the cave. Loath's shrill screaming was cut short by a huge splash as he fell into the ocean.

Huffing, MegaMan found that he had returned to a sense of himself. For a second, he wondered what had become of Loath, but recalled once he saw the sunlight streaming through an impact crater in the wall of the ruins. He scanned the Colossus for the Servbots---not for very long, as it turned out. They were already running back towards him.

"Let's get out of here!" Three yelled. "The bombs will blow up reeeeealy soon now!"

MegaMan grabbed a Servbot under each arm and bolted to the edge of the Colossus. As he reached the edge, he dove forward, all three tumbling to the ground. As the Colossus had not exploded by this point, they all rose to their feet and continued running to the chamber's exit, only to be knocked down once again as the bombs exploded. MegaMan scampered to his feet, leading the Servbots ahead.

***

Tron's fight was going badly, Teisel realized, as that boy ran off with his two Servbots. Teisel lay down some more covering fire for his sister. The bullets plinked harmlessly off Glyde's robotic frame---in fact, Teisel wasn't certain Glyde even noticed him at all. The Gustaff was starting to give off smoke, and he could do nothing? And where was Bon, anyway?

Teisel stepped heavily off the wrecked car. Taking immediate action, he lunged at Glyde's robotic armor, which, upon later reflection, was probably a mistake. Glyde's attacks didn't even slow down as the young pirate hung listlessly from its shoulder joints, being swung back and forth like a large, bulky, olive green cape. Forcing the contents of his stomach back down, Teisel called out to Tron's remaining four Servbots. "Hey! Whoa!" Glyde really needed to stop moving so fast. "Hey! Guys! Get over here! That's an order!" Quickly all four Servbots leapt onto Glyde's robot, which, in combination with Teisel's own efforts, actually managed to slow the its attack down somewhat.

"Yah!" the Servbots shouted randomly, trying to hold Glyde immobile. Unfortunately, Glyde was only momentarily ensnared, and quickly shook off the bothersome Bonnes.

"Ooof!" Teisel expostulated as he hit the ground face-first. He rolled painfully to his feet, searching in vain for some weapon to use against his sister's foe.

"Babu!" Bon said, leaping into the fray. The younger Bonne brother was carrying a rather large rafter, one which must have come loose from the ruins' frame over the centuries. Bon reared back and brought the rafter down rather painfully hard on the headpiece of Glyde's robot. This gave Tron the opportunity she needed. She drew the Gustaff backwards and let fly with its gatling gun. Glyde was knocked backwards, shaken but not out of the fight. It was at this point that the Colossus exploded.

All of the combatants. major or minor, were thrown off their feet as the ground quaked. Luckily, Tron recovered before Glyde and was able to finish the mobster off with a megaton-sized punch. Glyde's frame began shuddered, then began smoking.

"My scarf!" Glyde cried pitifully, emerging from his cockpit covered in soot. He plaintively shook the offended golden garment, which was itself blackened and slightly scorched from the explosion. "I'm sending you the cleaning bill, Tron Bonne!"

"Hah!" Tron said from the Gustaff's external speaker. "It's not like I can't afford it!"

"That's right, Tron!" Teisel said, beaming as he approached his sister. "Especially with the Golden Refractor in our grasp!"

"The Golden Refractor?" Glyde sounded shocked. "You mean you found it?"

"That's right," sneered Teisel, "and once we plug it into the Colossus, this island will be easy pickings for the Family Bonne!"

"Baboooo," Bon moaned.

"Hm? What is it, Bon?"

"He's trying to tell you that the Colossus just blew up!" Tron shouted, pointing the Gustaff's finger at the now-sinking colossal war machine.

Teisel's jaw dropped. "No..."

"Hi, guys," MegaMan said, sidling up to the rest. "What're you looking at?"

"The Colossus," Teisel wailed. "It's blown up! What happened!?"

"Oh," said MegaMan nonchalantly, "well, Loath tried to attack us, so I beat him up and then tossed him out into the ocean."

Glyde's eyes widened. "What? Mr. Loath is out in the water? But he hates getting wet!" Glyde began sprinting for the ocean, arms flailing as he shouted, "Hold on Mr. Loath! I'm coming to save you!" Two of the remaining Birdbots chased after him, quacking incessantly and following the well-dressed henchman into the drink.

Some faint splashing and hollering could be heard in the background as MegaMan continued his explanation. "Anyway, while Loath and I were fighting, I had Numbers Three and Fifteen set Bonne Bombs at the Colossus weak points, and obviously it worked."

Teisel stared in disbelief at the boy. "YOU...are the one who blew up the Colossus?"

"Yeah," said MegaMan. "I thought Loath might try to use it against you, or Tron, or something..."

Eyes ablaze, Teisel threw MegaMan back against the ruined wall. "What the hell were you thinking?" he screamed.