Little Boy Blue

Chapter 5

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Smoothly Tron reached down and closed her hand around Mega Man, lifting the tiny boy up to eye level.

"Well, what do you think?" she gloated.

Mega Man couldn't answer. He was still in shock.

"You see, now, what an incredible invention I have here," the girl went on. "I can now rather effectively cut my enemies down to size--if you'll excuse the pun."

"You're planning on using that thing as a weapon?" Break Man spoke up. "How do you intend to do it? Lure everybody under it?"

"Something even better," Tron answered. "This is only the initial format. Now that I know it works, I intend to fashion it into the form of a cannon. Then I can fire at and reduce anybody who dares to oppose to me."

Tron motioned and Crystal Man--suitably enough--came over. "And you," the girl said to Mega Man, holding him up, "will be the example. I'll use you to show what happens to those who oppose me."

Mega Man shuddered, knowing now why Tron had wanted so much to test her invention on her nemesis. It was a way of getting back.

At the same time, Mega Man was finding that despite his great strength he couldn't even loosen the hold of the hand around him. Apparently his reduction in size also reduced his strength. With his arms pinned to his side, there was little he could do to free himself.

Suddenly he noticed what Crystal Man was holding. It was a tiny cage with a U-shaped handle on top. It looked like a rat trap.

That was too much. Angrily Mega Man resorted to firing his arm cannon into the girl's hand.

"Yeeoow!" Tron shouted, shaking her hand in pain, the blast had been set to it lowest level though . Mega Man found himself plunging down the long distance to the floor. He landed, as usual, on his feet, started running, slipped, scrambled back to his feet, and resumed his dash.

He soon outdistanced Tron, who didn't even try to chase him. But suddenly a big metal boot slammed down in front of him. Mega Man skidded to a halt and looked up in time to see Crystal Man reaching down toward him. Desperately Mega Man fired, startled by his own pitiful shots that didn't even make the Robot Master flinch. Crystal Man ignored them, scooping the little teenager up before he could even start to dodge.

Mega Man fired again but he couldn't make Crystal Man loosen his grip. Unlike Tron, the Robot Master had no nerves and felt no pain. Mega Man's tiny little shots hardly tinged him.

Tron was now holding the cage. she slid up a section of four bars joined together, forming a doorway. Crystal Man pushed his captive toward it, and despite his struggles Mega Man was shoved inside. With a satisfied smile, Tron snapped the section of bars down into place.

Mega Man grabbed onto two of the bars to prevent himself from sliding all over his prison. Tron started walking, triumphantly carrying the cage. she glanced back at Break Man, still imprisoned in the force field, and grinned. "I'm glad you dropped by," she called to him. "Now I can use you to test the ray."

Much to Dr. Light's surprise, they actually ended up on the island instead of the beach. "The crystal must have been removed," the scientist guessed. There was only one way to go, so together the four headed inland. It wasn't long before they came to the clearing.

"Wow, neat place," Kevin said as they emerged from the trees.

Dr. Light went up to the pillar. "I'll bet this is where the crystal was." He thought for a moment. " Tron must have already taken it back to the Skull Fortress." He shook his head. "And Mega Man with him, too!"

Kevin and Kid Icarus looked at each other. "What now?" the latter asked.

Dr. Light was using a small computer to scan the pillar for any traces. Finding none, he then turned and began to head back they way they'd come. "Hmmm," he said. "I may be able to reopen his warp. If I can, you might actually end up inside the castle instead of outside."

"I'm game," Kevin agreed. Dr. Light was already at work.

Tron carried Mega Man down several hallways and into a small rectangular room. Two gates were set into each of the narrower ends of the room. To the left of the gates was a wall. To the right was the rest of the room. Most of the space was taken up by a large metal table. Beside either gate, metal shelves were built into the walls.

Carefully Tron slid the small cage into a slot in the far wall. It fit so perfectly it could only have been built to go there.

Then the pirate stood back. "Have fun," she said with a tiny smile. "I'll be back for you, Just you wait blueboy, I've got so many plans for us I don't know were to start!" Then she turned and left through the same gate she'd entered.

Dr. Light managed to rebuild the warp, but after a couple of seconds it began to pulse and waver. Kevin bulked, staring at it.

"What's wrong with it?" he asked.

Dr. Light was looking at his scanner. "The dimensional fabric is unstable."

The other two frowned. "What's that mean?" Kid Icarus inquired.

"It means--jump!" Dr. Light leaped forward, pushing the others into the warp.

They came out in a barren hallway. "What happened?" Kevin wanted to know.

Dr. Light was still with them. "The warp was about to disintegrate," he replied. "There was too much interference."

Kevin and Kid Icarus looked at him, surprised. They hadn't known that the scientist had followed them into the warp.

"Dr. Light!" Kevin cried.

The scientist laughed. "Well, we're here, at any rate." He paused. "Getting back may not be so easy."

Kevin shrugged. "We can worry about that after we find Mega Man."

Mega Man wasn't sure how long he remained in that cage. What was especially embarrassing was the fact that the bars couldn't have been wider than match sticks, and yet he couldn't even bend them. Either they were made of an incredibly strong material, or he was much weaker now than he'd first thought. With that idea, Mega Man stepped back and fired at a bar, but his shot fizzled out as it would when hitting any normal metal. There existed a very powerful metal that Tron sometimes used that reflected Mega Man's shots. Obviously this wasn't it, and with renewed vigor Mega Man began firing over and over at the same bar. After a few moments, though, he realized that he was wasting his energy. His shots were hardly damaging the metal bar at all.

Mega Man gave up and walked back up to the row of bars. Putting his hands on adjacent ones, he peered out into the room. The bars may have been thin, but they were close together. Mega Man couldn't even fit his head between them--which was a good thing for Tron because she hated Mega Man escaping. This room was different than most rooms Mega Man encountered in Tron s fortresses, although he knew there had to be more to the castles than the well-guarded halls and rooms he usually saw. The table was cluttered with computer printouts, pieces of circuitry, wires, tools, and other such items. Behind that, Mega Man could just barely see the computer monitors built into the wall. The lack of any elaborate input devices, though, indicated that the main CPU was elsewhere.

Because his cage was in a small niche in the wall, and because the bars were too narrow for him to fit his head through, Mega Man's view of the room was rather limited. He could see the gate across the room but not the one right next to him, and he could only see part of the table and the monitors. Nowhere in this line of vision was there any sign of anything to aid in his escape.

Dejectedly Mega Man sat down. He had run out of ideas. His only chance rested with Tron making the first move. Maybe then Mega Man could find a chance to escape.

No sooner did he think this when suddenly he heard the sound of a gate going up. Quickly he glanced across the room but the gate there hadn't moved. Then, to Mega Man's utter astonishment, Kevin, Dr. Light, Kid Icarus, and Duke walked right past him, heading for the other gate. They didn't even glance his way.

"A data room," Dr. Light commented. "We're getting closer to the main lab, I expect."

"This isn't what I normally see," Kevin agreed.

Mega Man couldn't believe it. What luck! He realized that the others didn't bother searching this room because they thought Mega Man was still full size. And there was no place to hide a four foot robot in here.

Immediately a wave of relief washed over him. Maybe he had a chance after all. "Dr. Light!" Mega Man cried out happily.

But the four continued on without pausing.

They hadn't heard him. Apparently he couldn't speak as loud at this size, either.

"Dr. Light!" he yelled louder. "Captain N! Kid Icarus! Over here!"

They were approaching the other gate. Mega Man watched helplessly. In a few seconds they would leave the room and might never find him. "Dr. Light!" he called again, banging on his bars in an attempt to make some noise. "Don't go off and leave me here!"

At the last second Kevin stopped. "Did you hear something?"

Encouraged, Mega Man pounded harder. "Captain N! I'm over here!"

Dr. Light turned to scan the room. Mega Man waved his arms and called again. Finally the scientist's sharp eyes spotted him, blinking in surprise. "Well, I'll be..."

With that he started back across the room. Kevin and Kid Icarus followed him with confused expressions, only seeing Mega Man when they were most of the way across the room.

Dr. Light leaned over to peer into the cage. "Mega Man?" he asked with a hint of laughter in his voice. "Is that really...you?"

Mega Man was suddenly disgusted with their amusement. With a wounded pride he crossed his arms and replied, "Of course it is! Get me out of here!"

But the others were too shocked to do anything but stare. "Mega Man!" Kid Icarus got out finally, and Kevin chimed in with, "You're...you're...."

"I know, I know," Mega Man said sourly, "I'm the size of a mouse."

Dr. Light looked more amused than surprised. "Let me guess," he spoke up. " Tron used that crystal in some sort of new invention of hers."

Mega Man nodded. "And look who got to test it," he added.

"That's an incredible accomplishment," the scientist went on.

"Thanks a lot," Mega Man replied sarcastically.

"What I mean is that it's difficult to create a machine to do something like that," Dr. Light explained thoughtfully. He noticed that Mega Man didn't look very thrilled at the part he'd played in Tron 's achievement, and so he added, "Well, look on the bright side--at least it worked."

"Dr. Light!" Mega Man protested.

The scientist chuckled. "Think about it," he told him. "Think of what could have happened if it had malfunctioned."

Mega Man thought about that and shuddered. Then he remembered where he was. "Well? Are you guys going to just stand there gawking or are you going to help me out of here?"

Dr. Light laughed. "Of course, Mega Man. Hang on."

Immediately he ran his hand over the cage but found no opening. "How did he get you in here?" he asked with a frown.

Mega Man had to think for a second. "Some of the bars went up," he replied finally.

"Ahh," the scientist mused, suddenly wrapping his fingers around a few of the tiny bars and giving them a firm yank. Mega Man lost his balance and fell.

"Sorry about that," Dr. Light apologized. Mega Man remained kneeling as his creator gently jimmied the cage back and forth until he'd freed it from the niche in the wall. Then he turned and set it on the nearby table.

Immediately Dr. Light found the switch on the top of the cage that released its sliding door. As soon as the bars went up Mega Man stumbled out and, in his hurry, slipped on some of the scattered papers cluttering the table. He dropped to his hands and knees but was unharmed. In fact, he was smiling.

"That feels much better," he said.

Kid Icarus settled onto the table top next to the cage. "That's too small for even me," he remarked, fluttering his white wings.

"A nice tiny mouse cage for a nice tiny mouse," Mega Man agreed, getting up.

"Now don't worry, Mega Man," Dr. Light told him. "I don't intend to leave you that way. Tron 's machine ought to be able to reverse its effects." He put his hand down invitingly onto the table top. "All you have to do is show us where she's hiding it."

Mega Man nodded, climbing onto the scientist's palm. "And we have to free Break Man, too."

Dr. Light froze.

Mega Man glanced up. "Oh. Break Man showed up just in time for the show," he explained. "But he should still be full-size. Tron said she was going to use him to test the ray."

"The ray?" Dr. Light echoed.

"Didn't I tell you? Tron's planning on altering the machine into some sort of cannon. she calls it cutting the competition down to size."

"That would do it..." Kevin agreed.

"What's this book?" Kid Icarus said as he picked up a little book "Uh-ho, Tron's diary!" and he started to read it. Mega Man gulped, if Tron found out about this...

Dr. Light looked worried. "Let's get moving. And Mega Man--you'd better stay out of sight for now. Assuming Tron doesn't already know, keeping your escape a secret may buy us some time." He looked around before remembering his huge lab coat pockets. "You can hide in here."

Mega Man agreed with the statement but he didn't like the idea of hanging out in someone's pocket. His dignity didn't stretch that far. Still, it was the best place, and with a resigned sigh he stepped out of Dr. Light's hand and into the pocket.

"Will that be enough room?" the scientist asked him.

"If you get this scanner out of the way," Mega Man's muffled voice replied.

Dr. Light looked startled; he had forgotten about the device. Quickly he pulled it out and transferred it to another pocket. "Is that better?"

"It's fine," Mega Man said, but his tone still held a note of disgust. "Oh, and the invention's through that gate you almost went through before."

The others nodded and headed across the room. Once in the hallway there was only one way to go, so they needed no further directions for now. Nevertheless, Mega Man poked his head above the pocket to look out, and soon he had hooked his arms over the fabric and was hanging on the top of the pocket.

"Mega Man," Kevin finally scolded softly. "You're supposed to stay out of sight."

"It's too stuffy down there," Mega Man replied. "Besides, I have to tell you which way to go."

"True," Kevin agreed,"but think what would happen if Tron 's robots knew you were there. Dr. Light would become their prime target."

Mega Man hadn't thought of that. "You're right," he admitted, and reluctantly he slipped back out of sight.

"I'll be fine," Dr. Light spoke up quickly.

"Not if they have anything to say about it!" Tron had sent a small squad of robots heading for them. Kevin whirled and began firing. At the same time Dr. Light jumped back out of the way. The movement took Mega Man, who was still near the top of the pocket, by surprise. With a cry he felt himself flipping up and over the fabric barrier. Then he was falling.

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