Mega Man Legends 2, A Novelization

Chapter 4 - The Rage of Winter

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Three hours later, the familiar swirling storm surrounding Forbidden Island came into view. Rock stood on the deck of the Flutter, shakily twirling the steering wheel to get closer to the mass of clouds. The door behind him opened and Roll walked in.

"OK, everything's ready," she said, nudging Rock out of the way and grabbing the steering wheel.

"All right," Rock replied. He went to his room to pick up all his equipment then proceeded to the hangar.

The dropship stood, still oblong and still yellow, in the middle of the hangar. Rock stared at it, shaking slightly. He really didn't want to do this. He could think of many other ways he'd prefer to spend his time than by hurtling through a stormy sky in a metal sausage to crash-land on a Godforsaken iceberg that had a reputation for killing anyone who set foot on it.

But he had to do this, he reminded himself. He had to do this for Roll.

His resolve strengthened, he walked purposefully towards the dropship, opened the door, and stepped inside.

"Are you ready, Rock?" Roll's voice came through on his headset.

"Yes," he replied. No! he thought. No, I really don't want to do this oh god make it stop no help m-

Suddenly, the floor vanished, and the dropship was sent tearing through the sky.

"Help!" Rock was screaming. "Help!"

His cries were unheard. The dropship kept falling, faster and faster, and Rock kept screaming.

Suddenly, there was a crash, and all was black.

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Rock was floating in the ether. He lay in the middle of complete and utter nothingness. He couldn't move, he couldn't talk, he could only think.

It's cold out here.

His floating body gave an involuntary shiver.

Where am I?

He tried to look around, but to no avail. He seemed frozen in space, staring into the infinite blackness.

"...ock!"

A girl's voice floated to his ears in the darkness. He concentrated hard, trying to make out what this voice was saying.

"Rock!"

His name? But why would somebody be calling his name in this place?

"Rock! Can you hear me?"

Suddenly, it was like someone had turned on the world. Rock's eyes flew open and he saw the inversion of where he had just been. The landscape was white, completely white, and the voice was Roll, yelling at him through his headset.

"Rock, tell me you're all right!" she was yelling.

"I'm here Roll," he said. "I hear you."

"Oh, thank goodness," Roll sighed. "I was so worried."

Rock thought he heard her voice catch slightly, but ignored it.

"Yes, everything's fine," he said. "What do you need me to do?"

"I have Gramps' ship on the RADAR," Roll replied. "Try and find it. It looks like it's drifting."

Rock gave a noise of affirmation and set off into the snow.

He could barely see two inches in front of him. The raging snowstorm was too thick, too cold. He couldn't run without kicking up more snow in front of him.

"This is impossible!" he complained. "Roll, you're going to have to help me out by telling me what's happening."

"Roger that, Rock," said Roll's voice. "Right now you're clear, but I'll warn you if anything pops up."

Rock continued to press forward, fighting the thick blizzard. Suddenly, he saw some shadows in the distance. They lurched forward on two unstable feet. Rock squinted, trying to discern what they were.

"They look like people," Roll's voice said. "But how can that be?"

Slowly, eyes still peeled, Rock pressed forward. The shapes slowly became clearer.

Whatever they were, they were not human.

They looked like vaguely humanoid umbrellas. They were made of some dark gray metallic substance and didn't appear to have any form of offense. They simply walked, teetering, forward.

Cautiously, Rock moved closer to them. They appeared harmless enough, but Rock had been around long enough to know not to judge by appearances.

It was a good idea. As Rock got too close, the things unfolded, revealing a nightmarish array of whirring metal blades and insides. Rock yelled and jumped back, unloading onto the Reaverbots with all he had. The Reaverbots gave robotic screams, thrashing about as each blast hit them. With a final wail, they collapsed, quickly getting buried by the storm.

Rock ran past their remains, and into a large clearing. There was a howl behind him.

"Oh, no," he moaned to himself, as he turned around to see a Reaverbot wolf standing right behind him. The wolfbot howled again, and took a swipe at Rock, who ducked. The claw grazed the side of his face, leaving a shallow scratch on his cheek. Rock rolled to one side before firing a single, concentrated blast at the wolf. It hit the wolf's power core dead on. The wolf gave a strangled howl as it malfunctioned and fell to the ground, its refractor dropping onto the snow. Rock hurried to pocket it before it was buried by the snow.

Moving forward, Rock ran past the frozen, twisted remains of ships used by those who had tried to explore this island. He didn't stop running until he tripped, and fell against an orange ship. With a shock, Rock realized that a woman's body was trapped inside.

"Roll," he whispered. "Run a scan on the ship right in front of me."

There was a few seconds' pause.

"I'm not getting anything," Roll said, surprised. "Is there something inside?"

"Yeah, there's a-" Rock started to say, but stopped. "No, nothing."

"OK..." Roll's voice said, but she didn't sound convinced.

Rock continued walking, and found himself in a natural corridor caused by snowdrifts. He paused, wondering why there was a space between the two drifts. What would cause snow to build up like this, with a path in the middle?

A loud stomping sound behind him answered his question. Slowly, he turned round on the spot and dived to one side as a mammoth Reaverbot stampeded past him, trumpeting wildly. It tore down the path, straight into a ravine where it smashed to pieces on the floor.

That was close, Rock thought to himself. I have to be more careful.

He looked at the snow banks. The were little indentations spaced periodically in the sides. If he squeezed himself into one of them tightly, he could just barely fit. It might not work, but he had to get past here and push on the rest of the island.

He stood pressed to the hill until another Reaverbot had stampeded to its death, and then quickly darted to the first indentation. He pressed himself against the snow, hoping against hope that this would work. In the distance he heard to loud calls of the latest Reaverbot, and his heart started beating faster than it had ever had before. If this didn't work out, he could be killed. He listened as the stampeding grew closer and closer, his heart beating faster and faster. Suddenly, the bot blasted past his hiding space, stomping and trumpeting. Rock's hair blew around his face as the Reaverbot hurled itself into the ravine, destroying itself.

Rock dodged in this manner from hiding spot to hiding spot, until finally he made it into a clearing.

"Can you see Gramps' ship yet?" Roll's voice sounded in his ear. "It should be around here, according to the RADAR."

But Rock wasn't listening. In the center of the island, a massive purple diamond floated above the ground. Rock slowly walked up to it, and stretching out a trembling hand, touched it.

A bright light flashed as the diamond vanished.

"What did you do?" Roll asked, her voice frantic. "I'm picking up a massive energy surge! It might be a giant Reaverbot! Get out of there!"

Her voice was interrupted by a bout of static.

"Ro..." Roll's voice said, fading in and out of static. "Ca...you h...m...?"

A shrill noise caused Rock to wince as Roll's voice faded completely.

Then, a mountain exploded.

In its place stood a mammoth Reaverbot. However, it was far larger than any of them that had been hurling themselves to their doom in the corridor. When it gave a cry, the mountains trembled and an avalanche threatened to rear up and destroy all.

Well, that would make my life easier, thought Rock to himself sarcastically.

But it was not to be. The mammoth stomped forward, smashing things with its trunk. Rock jumped as the protrusion nearly knocked his legs clear from his body. Reaching out, he grabbed the end of the trunk. The Reaverbot bellowed as Rock stuck his buster inside and blasted away. The trunk split and curled up with a horrible grinding sound. The Reaverbot screamed mechanically, and stampeded in a circle. Rock fired again and again. Finally, the Reaverbot gave a loud, low wail and sunk to its knees. Within the belly of the beast, Rock heard explosions happening one after the other, like machinegun fire. The mammoth roared one last time before its body burst, sending oil and metal flooding out.

Rock was suddenly aware of a conspicuous absence of falling snow. Looking up, he saw the clouds slowly changing from grey to white, before vanishing altogether. The wind stopped, the storm had been calmed. Silence reigned. It was all rather unnerving.

A loud noise caused Rock to flinch. The Sulphur-Bottom, battered and beaten, slowly landed on the island. A door in the ship opened, revealing Barrel and Von Bluecher.

"Oh, has it stopped?" groaned Barrel. He was shaking violently.

"You're getting old, Barrel," chuckled Von Bluecher, seemingly unshaken by the ordeal. "That was nothing!"

"Showoff," Barrel harrumphed. "For all the money you spent on it, you'd think that flying washtub of yours would have held up better than it did."

"W-well," Von Bluecher coughed, "accidents happen! If they were meant to happen, we wouldn't call them accidents, would we?"

Behind them, Tron, Teisel, Glyde, and the suit of armor were staggering around, very dizzy.

"My stomach feels like it's been through a washing machine spin cycle," moaned Teisel. "How are those old fogies so chipper?"

"Uh, Teisel," said Tron, staring out of the window. "Look!"

The purple diamond had returned. It was spinning faster and faster. Inside, Rock could see silhouettes of two people. As the diamond melted, the silhouettes became clear, and the figures stepped onto the snow.

One was a man. He was tall, with long, light green hair and brown skin. He was attired in a white robe, and his skin was tattooed with ancient symbols.

The other was a young girl, with shorter hair of the same color. She had the same skin, the same markings. She was also completely naked.

If Rock had looked up at this moment, he would have seen the figures of Yuna and a man high upon a hill. Yuna stared down at the scene, and sighed.

"Well, that's done it," she said. "They've woken her up."

"The Carbons have decided their own fate," said the man. He was holding the body of a woman. "They have activated Mistress Sera. You've done enough for them, Yuna. You must relinquish the keys to them."

"No, Gatts, it's not enough," replied Yuna. "Why did the Master entrust that Purifier Unit with his genetic code? It was his job to hunt down and eliminate all aberrant humans, so why did he end up becoming he greatest aberrant of them all? There are too many unanswered questions."

"Mistress Yuna," Gatts said, turning towards her. "Surely you have enough information to reach a conclusion?"

"Think for a moment. What if the Carbons, which the Master loved so dearly, were more important than the Master System? What then?"

"That's impossible! The possibility of something like that happening is non-existent!"

"Can you be so sure?"

Suddenly, Yuna realized that the tall figure below was turning to stare at her.

"We'd better get out of here," she said to Gatts, who nodded. They jumped on their glider and flew away.

The tall man watched as Yuna and Gatts flew into the distance. Then, he turned to speak to the girl.

"It appears that Mistress Yuna does not wish to give you access to the Keys, Mistress Sera," he murmured

"What is she thinking?" Sera asked. "Her logic is as mysterious as was the Master's. Well, Geetz, you know what you have to do."

"Yes, Mistress Sera," Geetz replied. "The directive of this Unit is ensuring your safety."

"Very well," Sera said. She turned her head slightly to look at the Sulphur-Bottom. "Oh, look, one of the Carbon's ships. We must first try and find the keys to the Library. We can deal with the Master's genetic code sample later."

"Understood," said Geetz, nodding.

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