A Different Place

Chapter 14 - MegaMan Spots Trouble

Teisel strode in confidently to the Meeting Room, holding Tron's favorite pointing stick in his left hand. "I'm sure you're all wondering why I called you here this morning." Tron, Bon, many of the Servbots, and MegaMan were seated at the table, hot mugs of coffee in hand.

"Oooh, I know!" piped up Servbot Number Eight, waving his arm. "It's because of the new Ruins on---mmmph!"

"Bab--u!" Bon shushed, clamping his massive hand over Number Eight's mouth, or more accurately, over Number Eight's entire head.

"Yes, Number Eight," Teisel sighed, "It is about the new Ruins on Garrdan Island." Teisel paced back and forth in front of the display board. "As many of you have heard, a new Ruin was recently unearthed on Garrdan, just miles south of its capital city. From all reports we've heard, it's one of the biggest ruins ever discovered!" Teisel grinned maliciously. "Just think of the all the good stuff we'll find inside!" Teisel began to cackle incessantly, but cut himself off when he caught the others staring blankly at him. "Ahem. Sorry about that, everyone. Anyway, we'll be over the island within six hours. Tron!"

The young pirate straightened up in her seat. "Yes, Teisel?"

"I want you to prep the Gustaff as soon as possible. We don't know what types of Reaverbots will be inside, so I'd use the Search Cannon."

"Sounds good," said Tron.

"Bon and I will be going with you as well. With all three of us, there's no way any of those other scraggly Diggers will beat us to the treasure!" This time, Teisel didn't hold back on the maniacal laughter. "Get ready, boys! We're gonna clean out that island! Or my name isn't 'Bonne!'"

"Ro---gerrr!" the Servbots sang in unison. Tron and Bon also got in on the cheers, each pumping their fists up in the air.

"Um, so, Teisel," said MegaMan from his still-seated position, "what do you want me to do?"

"You've got the most important job of all," Teisel growled enthusiastically. "You're going to be our Spotter!"

***

All right, so MegaMan hadn't ever Spotted before. That wouldn't be a problem, would it? And just because he REALLY wanted to go on his first Dig, he realized maybe the others still didn't think he was ready, right? To hell with that, he thought, punching the Storage Room wall lightly. He wanted to go on this Dig, and wanted it badly.

Two of the Servbots were loading Teisel's newest weapon into one of the Draches. Tron had just made it for him, apparently from several of the older weapons that had been lying around the laboratory. It was sort of a mechanical frame, which allowed Teisel's face a clear view while protecting both it and his upper body. Unlike the Gustaff, it did not have a cockpit per se, but it moved with Teisel instead of being controlled by a console. If Tron was to be believed, this new exosuit was state-of-the-art, the ultimate Digging tool.

"She never made any special robots like that for me," MegaMan muttered to himself.

"What was that, Mister MegaMan, sir?" asked Servbot Number Thirty, pausing in his loading duty.

"Nothing," grumbled MegaMan, leaning disconsolately against the metallic wall. He crossed his arms and assumed the most unfriendly expression he possibly could.

As the Draches took off, MegaMan tromped up to Fitness Room, ordering Number Thirty-Eight to start Training Program Number One. He took out his frustrations on the cardboard targets in the crudely simulated background. Maybe if he got a high enough score on his training report, he'd be able to go on a mission. In fact, he was really on a roll today. He was catching the Bonne Bombs thrown at him and smoothly throwing them back in one motion. Finally, MegaMan tossed one bomb in the air directly in front of him and vaulted up, kicking the bomb with his right foot as he flipped counter-clockwise. The explosive zoomed forward, smashing through three targets, then ricocheting off the back wall, crushing through another two before it blew up.

"Good job!" said Number Thirty-Eight, brandishing his clipboard. "72! I think you broke the record!"

"Great," MegaMan said grumpily. "I'll be on the bridge." He stomped up to the Gesellschaft's control center, still frustrated at his lack of inclusion. "All right," he demanded of Number One, who had been put in charge of the bridge crew during this operation, "where's the console for Spotting?" He sat down where the first Servbot indicated and turned on the display. A flashing message reading, "Scanning," was the only thing seen for a moment, then the screen blinked twice and a sort of map appeared. MegaMan himself blinked as well, unsure of what exactly he was to do next.

"A--hem," a Servbot coughed delicately to his right, holding out a headset complete with mouthpiece.

"Thanks," MegaMan said, putting on the headset after fitting it correctly. He coughed a bit into the microphone, testing its volume.

"Can you hear me, MegaMan?" Tron's voice rang through the voicelink. "We're ready to go into the ruins."

"Okay, Tron," MegaMan replied. "What am I supposed to do?"

"Just tell us what you see on the screen, MegaMan," Teisel broke in. "We'll be able to handle things down here."

"I'll do what I can," the boy replied as new objects appeared on-screen. "Okay, here's what I see: three green arrows are going into the ruins."

"Yes, those represent us," Tron said. "They point in the direction we're facing. Don't worry, you're doing just fine!"

"Babu!" Bon encouraged him.

MegaMan wiped some sweat out of his eyes. He was really getting too worked up over this, considering he wasn't even physically involved! "There's four...no, five red dots coming toward you from the...north, I think. What're those?"

"Reaverbots!" Teisel shouted, inadvertently answering his Spotter. MegaMan heard nothing over the link for the next few moments save for assorted crashes, explosions, and gunshots. His fingers tightened on the edges of the Spotting console as the battle continued.

"Everyone all right?" he asked hopefully.

"Yes, we're fine," Teisel said curtly. "Tron, something's wrong with this...thing you built me. The cannons only fired half the time I was pulling the trigger."

"It's not my fault!" Tron protested despite the clearly indisputable facts that said otherwise. "You must be doing something wrong!"

"I'm sorry, Tron. I'm not trying to attack you personally, but the left leg is...sticking a bit. I'm havng trouble walking."

MegaMan heard some metallic banging in his headset. "There!" huffed Tron. "Is that better?"

"A little," said Teisel. By this time, the three had passed through another chamber. MegaMan saw a few more red dots appear, and called out a warning to Teisel. "Oh, great. More Reaverbots." The sounds of battle started again, and MegaMan was again unsure of what was happening.

"Okay," Tron said moments later. "That's the last one."

"Guys," MegaMan said, checking his display, "There's something odd ahead---"

"That's it!" exclaimed Teisel. "Tron, I'm sorry, but this isn't working out. I can barely move! I'm taking this suit of yours back to the ship. You two can hang around if you want, but we've made a few zenny, and I think we should call it a day."

"You can run away if you want to, big brother," Tron said derisively, "but I'm going to finish exploring this level, at least, before I turn tail. MegaMan's still with me, aren't you, MegaMan?"

MegaMan laughed sharply. "What am I gonna do, turn off the equipment and let you walk blind down there?"

"I knew I could count on you. Coming, Bon?"

"Babuu!"

"You guys be careful down there," MegaMan advised. "The next room has a large...gap in the center. I think."

"Yep, that's a huge, likely bottomless chasm," Tron said. "I guess we should try to jump it."

"There's a blue dot on the other side. I don't know what that is."

"Looks like it's a treasure box!" Tron radioed back. "Ooo! There must be almost twenty thousand zenny in here!"

"Babu!" Bon said with excitement.

Meanwhile, Teisel spoke up over the link. "I've made it on board the Drache, Tron. Tell you what, once I get back to the ship, I'll find something in the armory and come back down. Nothing like a good, old-fashioned, hands-on Dig, and you know how I hate to leave a job like this unfinished..."

"That's my brother!" Tron said encouragingly.

MegaMan saw as her green arrow and Bon's moved toward the next, larger chamber. This one seemed to be empty, but as the two Diggers pressed ahead... "Look out! There's a huge red dot...no, make that a huge red BLOCK that just popped up in front of you."

"Whoa! That thing's huge! I wonder how long it'll take to beat it!"

"Tron, I really don't think you should take that thing on. Come on back and wait until Teisel's suit is fixed. Maybe I'll come along, too."

Tron, of course, was not to be persuaded to another course of action. "Me and Bon are taking this thing down!" The sounds of battle rang through MegaMan's ears, and once again, he was powerless to affect its outcome.

"Tron," Teisel interjected from the flying Drache, "I really think you ought to back off. If the Reaverbot's that big, then---" His words were cut off by a loud squeal from Bon. "What happened?!"

"This...monster just threw Bon into the other room!" Tron explained, though the distraction in her voice was evident. "You're gonna pay for that, you pile of junk!

More sounds of combat followed. "Just grab Bon and get out of there!" MegaMan called uselessly through the voicelink. "There's no need to---" A deafening crash nearly knocked the headset off MegaMan's ears. Abruptly, nothing but static was coming back to him through the voicelink. "Tron! Tron?! Are you there? Teisel? Can anyone hear me?" MegaMan looked around at the crowd of Servbots who had gathered around his station. "I can't hear anything," he explained to them. Looking at the screen, he realized it was blank as well.

One of the Servbots, he was too worked up to figure out which one, reached around the panel and flicked a switch. "I th-think we needed to reset the d-display, Mr. MegaMan, s-sir," he said, with a catch in his mechanical throat. The display flickered back to life, once again reading, "Scanning."

"...one there? Hello?!" Teisel's voice popped up on the headset. "Tron?! Can you hear me? MegaMan! What's going on down there?!?"

"I don't know yet," MegaMan came back. "Is anyone still there down in the ruins? Can anyone hear me? Hello? This is the Gesellschaft."

He heard some white noise, then a couple of squeaks, as though a microphone was being adjusted. "Gesellschaft? This is Number Fourteen. M-miss Tron, all the others, they're..."

"What happened?" demanded Teisel.

MegaMan's eyes widened as his display re-initialized. The map appeared the same as before, but there were none of the indicator marks that had been on it previously. No Tron, no Bon, and no giant Reaverbot, either.

"They're all...g-gone," finished Number Fourteen. "I'm the only one left..."