Mega Man Legends 2, A Novelization

Chapter 2 - Slow Chemical

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The Flutter had been flying for about three hours, and Rock was still nervous. This was one of the first few times he had piloted the airship and he was still learning. His palms were sweaty and his heart was pounding as he tried to navigate through a section of the sky lousy with ships. Suddenly, the Caskett family's pet robot monkey jumped in front of him, completely obscuring his vision.

"Hey!" Rock shouted as he tried to look over the robot, who was dancing. "Data, could you move, please? You‘re kinda in the way, y‘know?"

"I just thought I could help you relax! Loosen up!" said Data in his high-pitched voice. His dance increased in tempo slightly.

"I- I really appreciate it, but could you sit still? Aggh!" Rock cried as he grazed a ship, causing the whole Flutter to shudder violently.

Data did absolutely nothing to help, by laughing shrilly.

"Look, Data, I'm serious!" Rock said, now extremely irritated. "Just go get Roll, and fast!"

"Boy, Rock!" squeaked Data, completely failing to get Roll. "I'm disappointed! I thought you were braver than this. Come on, pull through, you can do it!"

Rock was saved the necessity of ripping Data's head off by the timely arrival of Roll.

"Data, out!" barked Roll. "Go make lunch."

Data hopped down from the dashboard and ran out of the room.

"Oh, God, thank you," Rock sighed. "This new engine sure is something, huh?"

"Well, it cost a lot, but it was worth it, trust me!" said Roll. "By the way...thank you."

"What?" asked Rock, uncomprehending.

"Well, I was a little down before, worried that someone would find the Mother Lode before me, and what would happen if they did. I'm just...scared. I thought, if I found the Mother Lode, I'd be able to see my parents again, but...really...I'm just fooling myself. I have to accept reality, and face the facts. They're gone. They're both gone."

Rock sad nothing. There was nothing he could say. Roll's tone was sad, full of longing, but as she continued, her voice got stronger.

"But, when you said we should go see for ourselves, you reminded me of something my mother told me, a long time ago. She said a Digger should never give up hope! And I won't! My parents...the Mother Lode...well find them!"

"That's the spirit!" said Rock, trying to be upbeat. Roll giggled.

"So, what do you think we should do when we get to Gramps' ship?" she asked.

"Well, couldn't we land on Forbidden Island?"

"No, there's no way the Flutter could survive the snowstorm. We'll have to build a special kind of ship, one I read about in one of Dad's old diaries. He called it a dropship."

"Huh...Oh, by the way, what happened to my weapons?"

"I'm sorry, Rock, I'm really sorry!" Roll cried, suddenly looking very upset. "I had to sell them to upgrade the Flutter!"

"Hey, hey, calm down," Rock said. "It's all right."

Roll smiled, relieved. Rock turned back to the window, but stopped.

"Um, Roll?" he asked. "Do you smell something...burning?"

Roll paused to sniff the air. Suddenly, there was a loud shriek from the kitchen. The two minds in the cockpit reached the same conclusion at the same time.

"Data!"

"I'll go see what's wrong!" Rock said, standing up. Roll ripped a fire extinguisher off the wall and threw it to him. He nodded in thanks and left the cockpit.

The flame were raging, and the temperature in the hall was blistering. Fire blazed on the wallpaper, smoke pouring from the hole leading to the lower deck. Rock aimed his fire extinguisher and sprayed like his life depended on it.

Well, Rock reminded himself, it does.

He climbed down the ladder cautiously. The fire was even stronger here. Flames licked the walls and paintings, and the door leading to the storage room was completely ablaze. Rock sprayed and sprayed, causing the flames to fall back. He blasted them util they wee nothing but a few wisps of smoke.

Rock ran to the door of the living room.

"Ouch!" he cried as the doorknob burned his hand. He blew on it for a few seconds before reaching up with his foot and opening the door to the living room. As he stepped in, he was nearly incinerated as the fire caused the television to explode. Dodging the shrapnel, Rock sprayed and sprayed, calming the blaze, before finally focusing his attention on the kitchen. He kicked the door open to reveal a burning stove and Data running around with his tail on fire.

"Help!" Data shrieked. "Help me!"

Rock took that time to ignore how annoying Data had been earlier and blasted the flames with his fire extinguisher. Black smoke filled the small room, obscuring his vision. It filled his lungs and he started to cough. His eyes were watering. Closing his eyes, he pointed the extinguisher in the general direction of the flames and smothered them.

Gradually, the smoke cleared, the temperature dropped, and Rock opened his eyes to see a sobbing Data curled up in the middle of the floor.

"I was just trying to cook pizza..." Data blubbered.

Rock looked at the pathetic form of Data, and his heart softened.

"It's OK, Data," he smiled. He looked around the kitchen, trying to figure out the damage costs. The kitchen was completely destroyed. The dishwasher was blackened, the stove was melted, and the refrigerator was fused to the floor. Before he could get very far with his calculations, the intercom clicked on. It was Roll.

"We're here, Rock!" she sad. "We've caught up to Gramps' ship!"

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Outside the Sulphur-Bottom, the sky was full of green ships. They were of average size, but next to the hulking form of the Sulphur-Bottom, they looked positively miniscule. Inside these ships were reporters and cameramen, reporting as the Sulphur-Bottom prepared to make its final descent.

"This is your live update!" one was saying. "Although the Sulphur-Button's hull was damaged in the attack by a mysterious woman, it has been repaired! We're expected to enter the maelstrom surrounding Forbidden Island anytime!"

The Sulphur-Bottom's hatches opened as she was talking, and it angled itself towards the storm. With a dull roar, it accelerated toward the swirling vortex.

"Preparations are complete! The crew ready! The Sulphur-Bottom is gathering speed, preparing to penetrate the cloud of mystery surrounding Forbidden Island! Following the attack hours ago, we were all asked to disembark and return to our ships where we stand watching Von Bluecher embark on his greatest adventure, and what may be humanity's greatest adventure! Will he succeed in reaching Forbidden Island? We'll continue with live updates throughout the day!"

"Final check complete, sir!" said a security guard to Von Bluecher, saluting.. "We are clear to go as soon as you are ready!"

"Understood," Von Bluecher replied. "Well, then, everyone, are you ready?"

Teisel, Glyde, Tron, and the suit of armor were the only reporters who had stayed.

"We won't let anything get in the way of a story!" said Teisel. "We're not like those other wimpy reporters!"

Barrel was standing next to Von Bluecher. He sighed.

"Are you really going to go through with this?" he murmured.

"I've told you already, I have to," Von Bluecher replied testily.

"Well, if you're going to do it, then let's do it."

Von Bluecher blinked.

"Thank you, Barrel," he said, smiling.

The Sulphur-Bottom's main engines were firing. It was headed straight toward the center of the island. From afar, the woman whom Barrel had referred to as "Matilda" watched, perched on her glider.

"It looks like they've ignored my warnings," she sighed.

"Weapons activated!" said the glider.

"Remember, I don't want them hurt!" the woman said.

"Understood."

Inside the Sulphur-Bottom, Tron was admiring the ship's handling with something close to reverence.

"The stabilizers on this ship are amazing!" she gasped. "You can hardly feel the wind!"

Her awe was interrupted by loud klaxons. The ship's alarms were wailing as red lights flashed.

"Unidentified object approaching from the air at high speeds!" shouted a guard.

"Activate the defense grids!" barked Von Bluecher. "No one will stop me! Not now!"

A guard hurried to obey his orders. Inside the control room, people were hammering buttons on the dashboard as the glider drew closer and closer.

"I've got a bad feeling about this..." Teisel muttered. He picked up a walkie-talkie. "Bon!" he yelled into it. "Order the Draches to go to yellow alert and stand by!"

The woman's glider started firing blasts toward the Sulphur-Bottom. They struck the massive ship, causing it to rock. Through one of the large windows, Von Bluecher was glaring at the woman, willing her towards the ship.

"Come on..." he breathed. "Come on, just a little closer...NOW!"

The Sulphur-Bottom fired a missile towards the glider. It went faster and faster, but the woman dodged just in time and the glider fired a concentrated blast towards one of the Sulphur-Bottom's main engines. There was a loud explosion, and the engine was completely destroyed. Smoke poured out of the hole that had been blown into the ship.

"Fire suppressors activated!" a guard yelled over the wailing sirens. "Engines offline! The escape pods are damaged! She's going out of control!"

"No!" screamed Von Bluecher, pounding the windows. "No! Damn it!"

"Now you've done it..." moaned the woman to her glider.

"Apologies, Mistress Yuna," said the glider, apologetically.

Suddenly, a large ship appeared behind Yuna and the glider. It was taller than it was long, and had very large cannons, which were currently pointed straight at her. A large skull was spray painted on the front of it.

Yuna glanced over her shoulder, and beat a hasty retreat.

"They probably won't crash for a while now," said Yuna as she soared away. "I hoped to stop them before they got this far..."

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Back inside the Flutter, Rock stood rooted to the spot.

"Roll!" he gasped. "The Sulphur-Bottom is being sucked into that storm!"

"Gramps!" Roll cried.

"What should we do?" Rock asked.

"We can't take the Flutter in there, and we're almost out of fuel!" Roll moaned. "We'll have to land on a nearby island and see what we can do."

"All right," Rock replied. He went back to piloting the ship.

"There's not a lot we can do until we land there," Roll sighed, "but look what I found!"

She held out a plan for an oblong ship. The plan seemed extremely old, and had lots of little notes scrawled on it in an unfamiliar hand.

"It's a dropship," she explained. "Remember, I told you about it? Dad designed it a long time ago for landings in rough atmospheres. We can go to Forbidden Island in one. We'll need to go to a junk shop to get some parts. Let's go!"

She grabbed a hold of the steering wheel and made her way to a nearby island below.

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