Hello! How are you?

So I decided to edit this story for the sake of quality. Hopefully you guys will enjoy better if it had less errors and if it was in past tense. If you've read my stories before, you notice I use to use present tense. But I will stop for the sake of the reader's comfort. Apparently present tense isn't that well liked. Oh well. That's okay. I'm bilingual in both at least!

If you haven't read the comics before, I recommend you do so. This fic is placed in issue twelve, where Mega Man got reprogrammed and junk. This is just a different interpretation of it!

Enjoy!

--E--

Elec Man raced pass the two robots. "Chat later. Let's move!"

Cut Man and Guts Man stopped joking and followed him, followed him as the rest of the Robot Masters caught up. With Elec leading the group, they charged deeper into Wily territory, deeper into familiar territory they once patrolled. They blasted Sniper Joes and stormed the Castle.

Elec grinned. The adrenaline, the strength from leading the group, flooded through him. "And Dr. Light was worried. Hah! We're tearing through Wily's defenses!"

Fire Man caught up to him. "But there are eight of us this time. Remember, Dr. Wily's had much more time to prepare for an assault. There's no telling what surprises he..."

A rattling moment, a moment too fast for the Robots to process, a mammoth dragon exploded through the steel floor. Metal stripes fell away from the robotic beast's body. The Dragon roared and made the walls shrivel up into wilted roses. The Robots jumped back.

"See?" Fire said. "This is the kind of thing I was talking about."

Elec Man gawked, the adrenaline fading. "My apologies."

From the dragon's green belly: fire. Fat flames tunneled through the room as the robots scattered. Wily's first major attack came with fire and sharp claws, and they had to deal with it before they could face Wily, find Mega Man, and get him back to his senses. It was hard to avoid the fire. It caught on metal, welding itself to other metal debris before it died, created shiney lumps to trip the Masters.

Cut Man threw cutters at the Dragon, scraping scales and loose bolts off its steel coat. Guts Man helped by throwing punches, but the attacks were short lived when the Dragon swung its tail. Seconds later, with the Robots thrown out of the way, more fire. Heat snapped at them.

Oil Man dove behind Guts Man. The fire nearly swallowed his scarf.

"I was hiding here first!" Ice Man, who hid behind Guts too, frowned.

"I'm full of oil, man! It ain't like you're gonna melt!"

"I can't take extreme heat!"

"Ain't Fire Man weak to your power?!"

The two bickered while Guts Man shouldered the burden, shouldered the wall of fire that pushed them back toward more fire. He grimaced as it towered over them, growing brighter like conifers of a wildfire. They did not do anything with fire in the way, but had to wait for the Dragon to attack other Robot Masters before they could flee toward safer grounds, less heated grounds.

"I know you guys can't get near the stuff," Guts brushed the fire off his head. "Wouldn't want you two gettin' wrecked or somethin'!"

"In coming!" Elec Man jumped up onto Guts Man like he was a pedestal, using him and aiming for the perfect shot. Seconds later, the zap of an amber lightning strike. The Dragon cried, its voice bleeding into static, as the electric bolt scorched its underneath. It jerked up and tore through the air. Its small wings jetting across the room as it roasted the Robot Masters in a foul exhale. More orange and red spawned over the steel debris.

"Watch out!" Bomb Man yelled, facing the flames and suckering a bomb to choke the dragon. "I won't allow some robot lizard to get in our way!"

"Easier said than done, man." Oil Man said as he grew light-headed. He wobbled as the oil in him bubbled at the faint touch of heat. Right now, with the fire feet away, he was his own hypersensitive bomb. Luckily Time Man used his powers to guide Oil out of destruction, and even made a window for Bomb Man to land another bomb on the Dragon.

"Thanks, man!"

"Don't get cocky, Oil. This place is too dangerous for you."

The battle carried on. A plan bloomed.

"You guys keep it there!" Elec Man shouted, charging his fingertips to collect deadly power. "Bomb and I are gonna finish it... Just keep it in that corner! Keep it still!"

The other Robot Masters, excluding Oil and Ice, ganged up on the dragon, punching the dragon back in a corner with fists, fire, or cutters. It was not easy. Its tail and jaw snapped at them, threatening to shred metal bodies if they got closer.

"Leave it there!" Bomb said with an armload of bombs, preparing to finish the job. "Just leave it there..."

It had to work. The bombs had to hit the weak points on its neck and shoulders. It had to save them.

"Just leave it..."

The Dragon screeched static.

"Leave it..."

BOO-WHIP!

Cut Man looked up and away from the Beast and at different one, a different one across the room on a wall's platform. "Uh-no... Heads up, guys! Rock's here!"

From the eyes of a few Robot Masters, from the platform he stood on, Mega Man never looked more poisonous. The red eyes and purple scarf flared corruption. The grin of a viper's. He was nothing like the gentle helping robot or the super fighting robot from before. He, Rock, was no longer there. Only flaming evil.

"Quickly!" Fire Man turned away from the Dragon, firing at the Blue Bomber instead. "Subdue him and upload the last of the antivirus."

Mega cocked his neck, like it snapped, and fired globs of plasma, attacking without a second thought, attacking without his own permission. Rock was not there. The robots threw themselves out of the way.

A shot grazed Cut Man's cutter. "Yeah, let's 'subdue' the guy who tore through us when he was still nice!"

Bomb and Elec Man looked at each other as the Robot Masters, the barriers keeping the Dragon at bay, walked off to face the new, immediate threat. They had to finish the Dragon themselves then. They carried on with the plan. Once they attacked the Dragon, it did not destroy its frame well enough as it breezed out of the corner, going to set everything on fire.

The two took care of the dragon while the other six took care of the virus-infected robot.

The mega-buster sizzled and choked on its own smoke, its own rapid abuse to break metal bodies. But Mega Man pressed on, shooting at distant Robot Masters and kicking the close ones to the ground. He attacked and the simmering ground toasted the fallen Robots. The red had completely overtaken the blue.

"Guys! We have to stop him!" Guts Man hollered, trying to push Mega to the floor, but the Robot switched to his super arm and put up a fight.

Ice Man returned the frown. "You don't say! Sorry! It's like I could get destroyed if I touch fire or something!"

"You know what I mean! Just hurry and get that antivirus download goin'! I don't wanna bust 'im up too badly... or have 'im bust us up!"

"Can't!" Ice said. "We needa hold him still and get that tablet to his forehead. Elec has it, so just get him down and he can do the upload."

Guts Man lost the feat of strength against Mega Man because the Dragon flew in and snapped at him. With the large robot distracted, Mega shoved him over unto a pile of flaming scraps and raced to finish Ice Man off, equipping himself with the flame blast. Red eyes flashing.

"Uh-oh..." Ice Man shrunk at the oncoming beast. "Help!"

Time Man stepped up, blocking Mega Man just in time. He manipulated the air to freeze and stop Mega in his tracks. He expected him it to work, but the Robot sped out and switched over to his new ability: quick boomerang. The boomerang ripped through air, knocking Time Man and Ice Man to the ground. Through fire, he smiled razor blades.

In an instant, Cut Man scraped color off Mega's shoulder. "Hey! You lil' bugger, you're not supposed to be fighting us!"

Cut distracted Mega from stepping another foot closer from demolishing a toppled Guts Man. They shared stares. One annoyed. One tweaked with a sick joke. They attacked.

With the Mega-Buster, with the rapid fire of siccors, the Robots clashed. Plasma met cutters. They did not let up, do not quit as they aimed for each other's throat, each other's weapon. Fire rose and licked the ceiling. It did not help that the Dragon added to the chaos.

"Anytime now, guys!" Cut hollered. "I could sure use a non-virus Rock right now!"

Elec Man growled at the rampaging dragon. "Little busy! Bomb and I got our hands tied!"

Cut got a blast to the knee. It buckled. He turned his head. "Ice! I need ya to do it then!"

But Ice Man was far away getting himself and Time Man away from the fires. Which, now that Cut realized, was the reason behind the lacking help. The fire. The Dragon exhaled it, exhaled and ringed it around them, isolating them from the others. This was why he had no help. This was why he had to stop Mega Man himself.

He put up a fight.

A ways off, Oil Man stumbled. He avoided the fires, but the Dragon's hammering tail and claws were a constant hurdle, especially a fuzzy head keeping his strength limited. Attacking, he tried to fend it off, tried to fight and find a way to avoid the Dragon's fire with fists and feet. If the Dragon was gone, then they could go about the floor as they please and stop Mega Man from obliterating Cut Man, but the fire was renewed often. It took a long time, but Oil Man eventually found Elec, Bomb, and Fire Man. He protected their six o' clock.

"What's the plan, brathas?" he asked, rubbing his pounding temple with a smirk under his scarf. "I know we gotta fix Mega ASAP and all that junk... So what's the plan?"

"Dunno yet," Elec said, "but we really need to get Rock back or taking out that dragon's gonna be a pain in the..."

The Dragon whipped its tail again, but not at them. The Robots saw it trying to destroy Guts Man, who was slamming it against the wall like a football player to a overstuffed sandbag, throwing raw, metal muscles at it. But punching and crumbling its side only did so much. It was only a scratch. The Dragon threw him off.

"Good to see we have Guts back on his feet at least!" Fire said. "But I'm not too sure about Cut."

From the sight far off, Cut Man struggled through the flames.

"Guys," Elec started, taking the dragon-less moment to evaluate. "Let's forget about the Dragon for a second..."

Oil Man got what he meant. "Sounds good. We can't have Cut get spanked too badly. Though it'll be beyond tricky with my oil tank, man. I don't wanna explode too much, thanks."

If the Dragon blasted them while they try to cure Mega Man, then Oil Man could be in trouble. Life-threatening trouble. If only getting to Mega Man and Cut Man would be easier and less heated, less like a gamble.

"What are you doing?" Guts ran up to them, the Dragon circling. "Stop standin' 'round and let's go help Cut Man!"

"We need to find a way to get there though," Fire Man said. "And Ice and Time need help too, so that's another thing on our list."

"We can't divide and conquer either. If we split up," Elec's face twisted into a frown, "then that Dragon could take us out easily."

"Scrap metal..." Oil mumbled.

Guts Man huffed to himself while the Dragon roared. "We need to get everyone at once and not have anyone die. That would be embarrassing."

Elec Man pulled out the tablet. "All we need to do it get this on Rock's forehead, change him back, then we can take out that Dragon. His scanning chips should pick it up just fine, but the question is," he held up a finger towards the battling Mega Man and Cut Man, "how's Ice and Oil gonna be safe? Better yet, what's gonna keep Rock still in the best way?"

"We don't wanna hurt him too much..." Bomb said quietly.

Guts Man snorted loud enough for them to hear over the crackling flames. "At this point, I've had enough of it! Whatever it takes, just pin 'im down and download the antivirus. So what if we're a lil' rough?"

The Robot Masters looked at each other like Guts Man had suggested to return back to serving Wily. They shared the same thought; since Mega Man saved them from being Wily's pawns, they would not cause harm to him. They respected him. But Fire and Oil agreed with Guts, crossing arms and bobbing heads. Perhaps they had enough of this virus, this trouble, this embarrassment of the Blue Bomber owning them again. There were eight of them as a super fighting team, so what was the excuse to lose to one robot?

"I guess we could," Elec Man shrugged. "I guess we should too... Although we could dent him pretty good..." he pondered. "Just don't tell the Doc or Roll about it and we should be fine."

"Don't tell Rock either."

They laughed.

The five of them ran off to gather Ice and Time, hoping they were not demolished or that they did not mind getting cocky to save Cut Man and Mega Man. It was a risk they had to take. The more hands they had, or the more Robot Masters present, the better.

"Stop movin' around, will ya?"

If he was human, Cut Man would be sweating and roasted to a crisp by now, but he carried on and chucked cutters. He carried on. Carried on while he and Mega Man tumbled and tossed themselves across the floor in a uphill battle, battling to dominate the other. Meanwhile the fire around them fluctuated. Shrinking and growing. The Dragon fire died off but new fire took its place as the Beast swooped in again. It was dangerous. A tight spot.

He was fed up with it.

"C'mon, Rock!" Cut Man frowned and threw another cutter. "This is ridiculous! You know we shouldn't be fighting... You remember us, right? You remember that we're all good guys, right?"

Through the plasma, Mega Man said nothing. His eyes painted the perfect picture of rebellion that Cut knew not to waste his breath on. The purple scare danced.

"Fine then, but once you're back to your senses, don't complain to me about being dented," he said, but he knew he had at least three dents in his back. He was barely standing and sparring with Mega, barely keeping his head above orange waters, but, out of the entire fight, it was the eyes that shook him the most. The red eyes. It was the toxic eyes that altered his view of the hero in front of him. This was not Rock.

They brawled over the floor, rolling over and under themselves and the metal scraps. Mega got the higher ground and shoved his blaster in Cut's face. A shot. A stinging blow between the eyes. Cut winced and flipped his body like a caught shark and tried to shake the other off, tried to shake off the pain while he dragged cutters into Mega's side. But, even through his efforts, he knew he lost when Mega manhandled his wrist to drop the cutters. He was weaponless.

"Y'know, you're better at fighting now that you have a lil' kick in ya," Cut grinned under the cutter Mega Man held to his face. "You could say you've gotten to be a cut above the rest!"

No reaction. Only red eyes through the smoke.

Out of nowhere, Guts Man soared over the fires with the other Robot Masters flanking. They tried to beat the Dragon off while Oil and Ice Man took a different scenic route, a risky scenic route into the flaming ring. With time, they were in but the Dragon still harrassed them. But dealing with the bigger picture, dealing with the eye of the storm, they all charged at Mega Man.

Cut saw them. He smiled even if Mega Man was on him and blasted plasma at his shoulder. "About time!"

"Oh shuddup," Guts said, then he and Fire Man tackled Mega. A dog pile formed, an uncomfortable thing, but only briefly. While Fire Man left to help with the dragon clawing at the others, Guts and Mega tumbled and trailed off across the floor, leaving Cut Man to take a break, to take a break after holding off a beast single-handedly.

Guts and Mega tumbled across the floor, just like how Cut and Mega did minutes before, but Guts rained on top. His thick arms clenching Mega's arms, like a wrestler to a mad dog.

"I got 'im! Hurry up with the installer before he changes weapons!" Guts yelled and watched as Mega Man slowly turned brown and cream: the super arm. Murderous eyes flashing.

While Elec Man was the first to come near, the first to lead the Robots and secure the virus-filled robot, Mega Man sucker punched him. A perfect uppercut. Elec recoiled and toppled over just as white sparks scattered.

Ice Man winced. "That wasn't nice!"

"Just get over here and help, darn it!"

The others, Oil, Time, Bomb, Ice, and Fire, surrounded Mega Man, jumping on his arms and legs and kept him down, to keep him from punching anymore, to keep him from surplexing Guts Man off. It worked. Although they had to act fast before the Dragon came back. The Dragon could come back and take them out in one swipe, one swipe to demolish them all. They hurried. Oil and Ice may be in trouble.

Mega gnashed teeth, throwing himself up and down like a trampoline under a tightrope. He was possessed.

"Stay still!" Guts Man demanded as the Robot Masters all wrestled him, suffocating his limbs to give up. "This is for the greater good!"

Oil drilled his knees into Mega Man's wrist and pulled the tablet off Elec Man, who was still dazed. "Yeah, dude, chill out."

At a distance Cut Man rolled his eyes. "Guys, he can't hear us. He's not there with that virus in his system!"

"Dang," Bomb said. "What a virus!"

"ENOUGH TALK!" Ice, having enough of this chaos, stole the tablet and slapped it on the Blue Bomber's face.

In a moment of truth, the Dragon came by, roaring and circling over them. It swiped at Fire Man, a stripe of armor flaking away, but he held his ground. But, the others worried. If the tablet did not work, they were trying to save Mega Man in vain.

Luckily, for the sake of baby flames creeping up on the robot pile, it did.

The blue killed off the red. Mega Man's eyes widened and became azure. The jerks in his limbs ceased as the purple scarf scurried into the fire. Burning into ash. He blinked.

Guts let go of him. "So... Did it work?"

The Blue Bomber opened his mouth. "That dragon damaged Elec Man! Let's take it down!"

"Wooh! Yeah! He's back!" Oil Man thumbed up.

--E--

"Could someone fill me in on what's going on? I'm so confused."

--E--

Hope you enjoyed this fic! I had fun with it! But, I'm always looking for review. If you are a fiction writer, please let me know how I can improve! Feel free to leave likes too! It tells me if I am achieving my goal of making people's day.

Have a golly good...

Wait a minute, I'm not done yet! Here's a blooper I thought up. Maybe I got jiggy with it and added an unserious snippet. (This is where the humor comes in!) I hope it tickles your fancy!

--E--

"ENOUGH TALK!" Ice stole the tablet and slapped it on the Blue Bomber's face.

Shattering the rubies in his eyes, blue took its place back. Mega Man's eyes widened, but soon his scarf fell away into the fire. He was back.

Guts quirks a metal brow. "So... Did it work?"

The Blue Bomber opens his mouth. "That dragon damaged Elec Man! Let's take it down!"

"Wooh! Yeah! He's back!" Oil Man thumbed up.

"WAIT."

The Robot Masters, who still held Mega down, holding down his buster in particular, looked up smugley at Elec Man. He stood before them. Tottering and fuzzy-eyed from Mega's super punch, he held his crooked jaw and grinned.

"That's fine and dandy that you're back... Glad you're not evil anymore," Elec announces, "but don't think for a second we'll just let you go."

Cut Man shimmied over to them, stepping over little flames, "What about the Dragon?"

"Bah! We have time to answer a question."

"Now? We planned to do this when everything wasn't on fire!"

The Robot Masters snickered to each other. Mega Man, still confused over why they pinned him down or what happened half an hour ago, looked uneasy. Bothered at the way the Masters held mischievous shadows over their smiles. It was like Wily controlled them again to do messy deeds.

"Guys...?"

Elec Man pulled out a giant feather, one the size of a tennis racket.

"What...?"

"Don't take it personal," Elec said in a sleazy tone. "We're just curious just how well the Doc made ya to be human. We know you got different robot-and-human qualities since you're supposed to look and act like one."

"We're just curious," Fire said.

"Uh...?"

"It's for science," Time claimed.

"W-wait a second..."

Instantly, the grips on Mega's arm, his buster, his legs, increased and soon did his abdomen as Elec pressed a heavy boot on him. He was completely secured to the ground. He grew timid when every eye sparked with no mercy. The feather jumped on him; in seconds Mega Man yipped.

Laughs.

"Wha-?! N-no! What is this?!" he squealed. "WHAT IS THIS?!"

Elec man snickered himself. The feather he used on Mega's sides worked better than he thought. It was priceless.

"WHAT THE HECK!"

Time smirked. "Oh, it's just something I found out in my human anatomy book. I told the other Masters about it... It said that humans can experience gargalesis: a funny, touchy thing, really. It makes you laugh when disturbed in places like your neck, armpits, and sides. Isn't interesting?"

"Absolutely!" Guts chuckled himself.

Mega Man's face bloomed red. The heat seeped through his face and down into his chest. It was amazing that Doctor Light could replicate this life-like quality in a robot, but that was not what he thought at the moment. He floundered against the twelve arms keeping him down. They were too strong. Overpowering. Almost overkill since Mega could not struggle or jerk centimeters off the ground. He was bound and teary at the feather's bristles storming his sides.

"SOMEONE HELP!"

Elec Man did not stop. This made him laugh too. "Looks like we're right then, huh?"

The Robots agreed while the Dragon screeched in the background.

"I guess you're closer to being human than we are then."

Mega Man cannot yell as he gagged on giggles.

"To be honest, I'm actually okay about it. I wouldn't want, say, a mess of robots jumping me like this at any given moment. I'd be paranoid."

Once Elec Man took the feather to invade his neck, Mega laughed like an old man.

If only the Dragon came by to take a swipe at them. That way they could let him go and leave him alone, leave him alone and curled up in a shaking ball while they fought it off. But it seemed, by the way the Robot Masters laughed at him, that it would not happen.

--E--

Have a golly good day!

(PS: Sorry, Mega)