Little Boy Blue

Chapter 8

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With Kevin and Kid Icarus flanking Dr. Light, and Duke following behind, the five worked their way as quickly as possible through the halls. Dr. Light carried the tracker in one hand and Mega Man in the other. Kevin and Kid Icarus kept their weapons out and ready to deal with the ever-present robots. But they were expecting worse than what they saw. Now that Tron knew they were there they were in more danger than before. Worse, there was no doubt that the pirate girl knew where they were headed, and why. She'd be waiting for them, that was certain.

Suddenly a blue orb hurled between Kevin and Dr. Light, narrowly missing them both. It continued until it hit the wall at the corner. Then it split into four smaller and faster spheres that began bouncing randomly back down the hallway.

"Crystal Man!" Mega Man cried as everyone moved to dodge the flying blue orbs. They turned to look behind them and saw the Robot Master heading toward them at a dead run.

Kevin fired but his ray hit one of the orbs instead of the robot. Then, before anyone could react, Crystal Man grabbed Dr. Light without breaking stride and kept running.

Everything seemed to happen at once. Taken by surprise, Dr. Light dropped both Mega Man and the tracker. Mega Man managed to grab onto his lab coat collar, but his hold was slipping. Kevin, realizing he couldn't fire without risking hitting Dr. Light, immediately began running after the Robot Master. Kid Icarus dropped down to scoop up the tracker, then followed.

"Wooow!" Mega Man cried, flapping through the air. Finally his grip was broken and he went tumbling head over heels through empty space. He hit a wall and immediately dropped onto a small ledge.

When he looked around he realized he was about two meters off the floor. "Boy, I flew!" he gasped. Then he added in dismay, "Dr. Light!"

The scientist and his captor were nowhere to be seen. In fact, the hallway was empty. But as Mega Man stood up he could hear someone around the corner.

"Guys! I'm over here!" Mega Man called, then, realizing they would never hear him, he put his fingers to his mouth and gave a shrill whistle.

To his surprise, instead of Kevin and Kid Icarus, a blue robot bird responded to his call.

Mega Man blinked in surprise. "Beat!" he let out finally before breaking into laughter. "I forgot I even had your activator chip, ol' buddy."

But Beat wasn't looking at him. The bird was glancing around the room in confusion.

Mega Man smiled to himself. He's looking for me, he realized. Beat was programmed to teleport in at Mega Man's whistle and follow him around, automatically attacking any enemies the two encountered. But now it didn't see anyone to follow.

"Beat," Mega Man called. "I'm over here."

Responding to the voice, Beat turned in that direction but didn't notice the tiny Mega Man. It was used to a full-sized master.

The bird started to fly away. Quickly Mega Man whistled again, trying to decide how to convince the mute robot who he really was. Beat turned and again headed for the noise but passed Mega Man without hesitating.

On the spur of the moment Mega Man leaped off the ledge and landed on Beat's back.

The bird had enough sensors to be able to tell when someone was touching it. In protest it immediately gave Mega Man a good shock.

"Ow! Stop!" Mega Man cried. After his bout with the spider, another shock like that would be the end of him.

Instantly Beat was still.

It was able to identify Mega Man's voice, at least. That was a good sign. Mega Man suddenly remembered the commands Dr. Light had added to increase Beat's maneuverability. They had been designed to allow Beat to be moved into a specific position by voice commands. Now they were going to provide Mega Man with transportation.

"About face," Mega Man commanded, and Beat turned around. "Forward," he said next. The bird began to move. Since it could fly as fast as a normal-sized Mega Man could run, it was able to get Mega Man farther in a shorter time.

Mega Man guided Beat in the direction he'd last heard his friends' voices. That hallway soon led to a pit full of spikes, but Beat easily flew over them.

"Hey, this is great!" Mega Man cheered with a grin. "I could get used to this!"

Together Mega Man and his newest form of transportation glided through the halls almost at random. Mega Man was heading in the direction he had last seen Crystal Man take, but after that he had no idea which way to go.

Luck was with him, though, because after only a short while Mega Man guided Beat through a gate and ended up in the very room where Dr. Light was being held captive.

Tron and Crystal Man were also in the long room, the latter still holding onto Dr. Light. None of them noticed the small bird and its rider right away. But Beat spotted the others instantly. It was programmed to attack any enemy robots in sight. Immediately it shot forward, making a beeline toward Crystal Man.

Mega Man, taken by surprise, just barely was able to hang on. "Beat!" he cried. "No!"

The word 'no' wasn't in Beat's vocabulary of voice commands. It didn't even slow down.

Before he could think, Mega Man lost his grip and fell off Beat just before the bird collided with a startled Crystal Man.

Once again Mega Man was falling though the air, but two hands reached out and caught him before he could hit the floor.

"Mega Man! Nice entrance," Tron commented with a sly smile as Mega Man looked up at her. Crystal Man, as it turned out, had lost his hold on the scientist following Beat's blow.

Meanwhile Crystal Man was trying to avoid Beat, who was making repeated dives at him, almost like a miniature bomber. "Get rid of this stupid bird!" he called out, afraid to fire at it himself. If he were to miss, his bouncing shots had a good chance of hitting Tron.

Before Tron could respond the gate opened again and Kevin, Duke, and Kid Icarus charged through.

Tron was ready for them, at least. With lightning reflexes she moved a lever on a nearby control panel. Instantly two metal walls shot across the room, one on each side of Kevin, Kid and Duke, trapping them.

"Get it away from me!" Crystal Man bellowed, swatting at Beat.

Dr. Light tried to move away but there was no place to go. The new wall was on one side of him, and Crystal Man was on the other. Then he looked up and noticed a cannon built high in the opposite wall. It was aimed right at him.

"Call of the bird, Dr. Light," Tron commanded. "I have four more cannons pointing at your friends in there....and..." Tron held up her captive

Dr. Light froze. "Beat, stop." Dr. Light Beat was also programmed to obey Dr. Light, as well as several other people. It came to a halt instantly. She set Mega Man right where he wanted to be--on the control panel. Without wasting any time he ran over to the lever Tron had pulled and began to push.

"Get away!" she yelled, lunging forward. At that moment, though, the lever gave under Mega Man's pressure and the walls slid away.

The pirate girl tried to grab Mega Man but the boy managed to slip out of her grasp, dropping to the floor. Meanwhile, Crystal Man, now that Beat was no longer attacking him, hurried to intercept Dr. Light, who was trying to help Mega Man. Then Kevin and Kid Icarus, freed from their prison, ran in. Kevin already had his zapper out. Since Beat had greatly weakened Crystal Man, it only took three hits to finish him off.

Kid Icarus scooped up Mega Man, and Dr. Light took cover behind Kevin. Tron, seeing that she was alone, immediately took to her heels and fled.

The others followed; Kid Icarus handed the tracker back to Dr. Light. "This is how we found you," he explained. "We tracked Mega Man here."

"Let's hurry," Dr. Light said. Tron was nowhere in sight. "I'm sure Tron 's planning on heading us off. We have to beat him to that invention of hers!"

The small group started running again, with Dr. Light directing the others. Beat had used up most of its energy attacking Crystal Man, so Mega Man allowed it to teleport away. He no longer needed the bird, since he was hitching a ride on Dr. Light.

They ran as quickly as Dr. Light could go. Tron had apparently called for reinforcements to delay them, but rather to their surprise they met with no other Robot Masters. Various members of the Joe family of robots were the closest thing they saw to Robot Masters. The five of them were unaware of the fact that Tron didn't have any other Robot Masters around to use against them.

With only minor troubles, the group finally entered the room that held the invention. Break Man was even there, still imprisoned by the force field.

"Look out," he called to his friends as they entered the room. " Tron 's ready for you!"

Just as he spoke the others became aware of motion across the room. The Gustaff emerged from the shadows, with Tron sitting at its controls. It lumbered forward, trapping the others by the wall near the gate. "So maybe my shrinking ray isn't completed yet," Tron admitted. "That just means I'll have to finish you off now!"

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