Mega Man and Bass: Frenemy Mine

Frenemy Mine!

Wily Castle Prime, Section 2...

After a short elevator ride, the Blue Bomber found himself looking up at a series of ladders.

Mega Man was a nice guy, but this boy was really starting to wear on him...

Unfortunately for the hero, he found out that this week's obstacles consisted of a series of lasers that gunned for any sudden movement.

Why couldn't one of the weapons he got have made him invulnerable?

Alternating sets of lasers went off as he slowly worked his way up. Occasionally, the ladders would turn red hot, forcing him off to another section. It caught him off guard the first time, burning him. Learning the pattern didn't make it fun, though.

"I guess a proclivity for stupidly bizarre and dangerous puzzles runs in the family..."

Eventually, the segment ended, leading to an ice section. A long ice section.

After a long, tedious section lined with swarms of bee enemies (of course) he reached the end of the section... as well as his own sanity.

"Aren't you tired of this?" Mega Man asked, bent over with his hands on his knees. His deactivation clock was going to be absolutely wrecked for the next few days...

"Tired?" The teenager's yawn echoed throughout the building. "This is nothing! I could do this all night, so there!"

"Why can't you be more agreeable, like your grandpa when it comes to the timing of your schemes?"

I'm better than he ever was!"

"I'm sure you are. Now what's your big thing?"

"It's your doom, by the hand of your dear friend!"

Mega Man braced himself to see a brainwashed Proto Man, only to get a very sane Bass instead.

He wanted to feel betrayed at least partially, but along with the tiredness, he had deep down known throughout all of this that Bass would remain his enemy... Why had he believed anything different? Proto Man was right... wasn't he?

"After all we've been through..."

"That was just business, Mega Man. We'll always be enemies. It has to be like this."

Was it just him, or did Bass sound almost sad when he said that?

"However," Bass continued, producing an Energy Tank. "I need you at full strength to fight you."

Didn't Bass usually like to kick Mega Man when he was down? Why let him heal at all and make his job harder?

"Thanks?" He drank up the tank greedily.

The evil robot struck a fighting pose. "Save your gratitude for the GRAVE!"

He reluctantly struck a fighting pose of his own. "I guess I'm disappointed in you, too..."

The fight started out with the two combatants feeling each other out. A bunch of jumping, dashing, and sliding.

Bass didn't pull his punches once he really got started. The pellets came fast and furious, which the hero dodged before returning fire with a charge shot.

"Pathetic." Bass evaded the attack before using the Trap Chain to catch Mega Man's buster. He then yanked the chain and slammed the heroic robot to the ground.

Mega Man grunted in pain, looking up to see Bass, who looked quite annoyed, actually.

"This is the kind of fight I get? This is what the 'World Famous Blue Bomber' is capable of? The only reason why Wily hasn't taken over the world by now is because he's so utterly idiotic!"

"You shouldn't talk about your father that way..."

"Ha! You're losing and you have the nerve to open your mouth about me? If I were in your position, I would be a far better hero than you would ever be!"

Bass may have been grinding his foot against the side of his skull, but Mega Man heard every word of that sentence.

"What did you just say...?"

"You heard me! I said that I would be a far..." The black and purple robot trailed off upon realizing what he'd said. He kicked the hero across the room. "N-Nothing! Now prepare to die!"

Bass started spraying special weapons haphazardly, trying to silence Mega Man. All strategy was thrown out the window.

A smirk was on Mega Man's face as he sidestepped the barrage. "I knew it!"

"SHUT YOUR MOUTH!" A spray of Cheese Whiz came his way.

"Dr. Light was right about you." He got caught by the yellow goo, but didn't care too much at the moment.

"He was dead wrong! I'm evil to the core!"

"Bad guys usually don't have to advertise like that..."

Bass stopped firing altogether and rushed him with his fists. He wailed on him as if he could beat the knowing smile off his face.

"You know, Wily didn't have to give you free will..."

"I will kill you, Mega Man! I'll prove that I'M the strongest robot around!"

"Maybe one day there will be robots that can actually think and feel completely of their own accord, kind of like us, but better..."

"Stop talking nonsense and DIE!" He punched more furiously than ever.

Closing his eyes and bracing for impact, he soon opened them to find Bass on the other side of the room instead of on top of him.

"Huh?"

He found Proto Man standing over him, offering him a hand to help him up. "You're going to tell me that he's a hero, right?"

He tossed him another E-Tank. "You'll need this."

Mega Man drank it. "I don't understand..."

"Just let it be, bro. He's the bad guy, and that's all there is to it." His tone was curt, not allowing any further argument.

The blue hero looked over to see that Bass had already fled.

"Now that the chicken's left the building," Proto Man said. "Shall we go on?"

In the Secret Lab...

"What was that?!" the boy raged, tossing away his chair.

"I don't know," Wily muttered. "But I think I'll need to reprogram Bass later on. He's starting to... feel things."

"Who cares?!" The boy pumped his fist triumphantly. "Your empire will be mine, anyway!"