Mega Man and Bass: Frenemy Mine

Apparent Traps! VS Trap Man!

Dr. Light's Lab: 8:30 p.m.

The good doctor tottered in his chair, trying desperately to stay awake as his Rock made him some coffee. He smiled, stifling a yawn, as he got what he desired at last.

"Thank you, Rock." he stared at the mug sleepily. He hoped it would actually make it to his mouth before he collapsed.

"I've been meaning to ask you," Proto Man began, all the while polishing his shield. "Why do you drink black coffee?"

"I need something strong to stimulate the senses, I guess. It's all I can do while we wait for Bass to get back."

"Me and Rock can go over and take down Trap Man if you want..."

"Once I'm sure that Bass is okay, then you two can go." Dr. Light seemed to be adamant on this point.

"You do realize that Bass would want us all dead, right? That includes me, Rock, Roll, you, and if he ever finds him, Rush."

Proto Man looked exasperated with his creator and his overabundance of patience with this known enemy.

"Perhaps..."

"What?"

The man opened his mouth to speak again, but was stopped by a returning Bass, busy cackling away.

"B-Bass! What's gotten into you, and... Just... How?!"

He crackled with electricity as honey covered him from head to toe. A gooey piece of what was probably the Robot Master was tossed on the floor in front of the other boys. He looked at them all darkly.

" You... You don't want to know... "

Everybody stared at him with open mouths. He toddled over a ways before collapsing on the ground and shutting down.

"BASS!" Rock screamed. Roll, who had just came in upon hearing the commotion, didn't have much better of a reaction.

Dr. Light shot a look at his two creations. "Rock, Blues, go and deal with Trap Man while I fix Bass."

The doctor's eldest creation was outraged. "You're fixing him when he could easily kill us all?"

"It doesn't matter. He's still a robot, and I'm going to take care of him!"

"Do you care about us at all?" Proto Man sounded hurt for once. The Blue Bomber, on the other hand, found himself inching towards the teleporter, clearly uncomfortable with the situation.

"Of course I do!" Dr Light rarely got angry like this. "Bass just needs my attention right now, that's all!"

Proto Man looked like he would cry if he was capable of it. "Why don't you just build Wily's next capsule for him while you're at it. He could certainly use help taking over the world!"

"STOP!" Roll screamed, horrified at the argument. All eyes present fell on her.

"I don't like Bass any more than you do, Blues. He's just plain mean, among many other things. There are also risks involved in fixing him. But we need to do it, because right now, we're responsible for him."

The cool robot growled. "I wonder what Rock thinks..."

He trailed off upon realizing that his brother had taken off.

Ancient Castle: 9:00 p.m.

The robot loved his family. He really did. He just couldn't stand to see them argue. That was almost as scary to him as the giant castle now looming over him, complete with thunder and lightning. Bracing himself, he walked in, not knowing what awaited him...

The place, except for some torches littered about, was nearly pitch black. Lightning flashed in the background sometimes, helping to light up the area naturally.

He quickly found out that he had to use the light he was given to avoid many, many pits strewn about.

Chains lifted planks that provided the way upwards. It added to the creepy atmosphere.

Shade Man would have loved this place.

Occasionally, the platforms tipped over to reveal a bed of spikes at the bottom of the castle. He had to hang onto the chains to stay in one piece.

Eventually, the platforms led to a sitting room area. The couch in it turned into a spiked monster and chased the Blue Bomber around the room.

Regardless of his own fear, he fought off the monster. The victory was eventually won, leading it to fall to its destruction from off a wooden platform.

The next section had him swinging on what were essentially hangman's nooses. He didn't want to really think about that.

He finally made it up to the boss's chamber. A master bedroom that looked really old opened to him on its own.

"Come in, Child."

An old man's voice rang out. The body that owned the voice was in fact an old man, just robotic and with a cane.

"Is there any way you could give up, sir? I'm having a really bad day today." Mega Man looked like he would have just left had that been an option.

The man shook his head in pity. "As you know, I am Trap Man, and no, I am bound by my own programming to fight you. I'm sorry. Let's just have a good match. Perhaps you can finish me quickly..."

The man walked away into the shadows, with the room transforming into a suitable battle arena.

A series of deadly spike traps appeared, making Mega Man work to dodge them. A button then appeared on the wall. He pressed it, apparently hurting the Robot Master, as he heard the associated scream of pain.

The next course required him to work around a net of lasers to get to the button again.

Another scream of pain soon rocked the arena.

The man then came out and personally attacked him. Swatting at the hero with his cane and trying to tie him up with an iron chain simultaneously, the man went on one last attack before falling to his Mega Buster.

"Well done, Child..."

Trap Man's dying words carried a sadness as well as relief to them.

After a moment of silence, the robot took a leftover piece of the enemy to take his power and left.

Weapon Get: Trap Chain (lassos in and strangles enemies with a chain)