A Different Place

Chapter 21 - Teisel Vs. Guelly: Unresolved Catatonic

Tron couldn't believe MegaMan was standing right here in front of her! Now she'd finally get out of this opulent palace that was actually carved from gemstone...okay, it didn't sound quite as bad as it was. Still, she'd never been more relieved to see anyone in her life!

"I'm so glad to see you," she said happily, her hand unconcsiously going to the bruise on her forehead. Why couldn't she have tried to hide it better? She had all that make-up ready for her to use, but she hadn't, and now MegaMan could see her looking like this!

"Tron," said MegaMan haltingly, as if re-acquainting himself with her name. All right, Tron was happy that MegaMan had finally shown up, but if he'd forgotten her name, well, he was going to be in big trouble, to say the least.

"Not to be rude," said Prince Gary from Tron's right, "but I'm afraid that I'm going to have to ask you to vacate the castle at once." He hid the motion behind his back, but Tron still caught Gary pressing a small button on his wristwatch. Behind MegaMan, Guelly shuddered and began moving. The giant Reaverbot raised one of his powerful fists slowly, clearly intending to crush her Spotter to a pulp.

"MegaMan!" she cried. "Watch out! Guelly's going to---" Crunch! She was too late.

Trigger had realized the intent of the large Iscreme Sentinel seconds before the female carbon shouted out her warning. He leapt directly up, and landed on "Guelly's" fist nearly the instant after it had impacted with the aquamarine floor. Ignoring the female's sigh of relief, Trigger focused his aim on the Sentinel's head and began firing away with his Arm Cannon.

Guelly raised his arm, trying to shake Trigger from his hand. The Purifier kept his stance, shifting his legs as needed and never letting up his barrage. The huge Sentinel stopped moving Trigger around and raised its other fist. Anticpating such a move, Trigger deftly rolled off of his perch and watched as Guelly punched one gigantic hand with the other.

The Sentinel wasn't acting according to Trigger's expectations. In fact, it was reacting far slower than was normal for this mode of Ancient technology. That was okay with Trigger; it would be all the easier to crush it. He gave Guelly another taste of the Arm Cannon as the large robot shuddered with the force of its own blow.

The Iscreme Sentinel groaned as it moved forward on its treads. Suddenly the indentation on the center of Guelly's torso glowed an angry red, and a wide beam of light streaked forward. Trigger dodged out of the beam's path, knowing that any contact with it could be harmful, potentially fatal even for a Purifier such as himself.

I sure hope that didn't hit Tron! Is she okay?

Trigger shook off the odd emotion and fired another few shots at his foe. Glancing backward he saw that female beta, was, in fact, unhurt, as the male had drawn her backward into the arched doorway. But what was happening now? Had Guelly shut down? He knew that the Sentinel hadn't been fighting up to its specified capabilities, but it seemed that he had beaten it far too quickly, even considering its limitations...

"Get back!" shouted Prince Gary, drawing Tron back into the dining room. She struggled to get away from her captor, but her efforts were futile.

"Let go of me!"

Gary shushed Tron and hauled her a bit farther. "I think that's far enough," he said as MegaMan dodged another of Guelly's energy rays.

Tron howled, and lacking any other form of weapon, managed to whack Gary in the face with her hairdo. "What are you talking about!?"

"The Catatonic Blast," Prince Gary said with a look of anticipation in his eyes. "He's going to use it any second now..."

MegaMan kept up a steady stream of fire at the large Reaverbot. Gary clamped his hand over Tron's mouth as she tried to call a warning. A black glow welled up from Guelly, expanding in every direction until it masked MegaMan from her sight.

No! She struggled against Gary's grasp. She'd get over there, pick up MegaMan's weapons, and finish that thing off herself if she had to. The black globe faded to nothing, and MegaMan stood there weakly. Tron expected him to fall at any moment, but he didn't! In fact, he picked up his gun and kept shooting! The Catatonic Blast had failed!

"What?!" the prince demanded, so flabbergasted by this new development that he lost his grip on her.

Tron laughed triumphantly. "What a piece of junk! I guess you're lucky he didn't just fall apart when you turned him on, huh?" Apparently Tron was ignoring her own defeat at Guelly's hands. "Once MegaMan trashes that thing, I hope he doesn't hurt you too much," she bluffed, narrowing her eyes and smirking smugly at the island prince. "He gets really jealous when other men pay attention to me, you know."

"The Catatonic Blast..." said Gary, stunned. "It couldn't have failed. Unless...he's not human!!"

Tron shook her head at the pathetic prince. "Gee, I don't remember the last time MegaMan kidnapped anyone, but he's the one who's not human, huh? Get over yourself. Your pile of trash just couldn't handle a REAL Digger---" Tron inhaled sharply as a heavy blow from Guelly sent MegaMan flying into the castle wall. He slumped haplessly to the floor.

Trigger groaned as he tried to get up. True, the odds were statistically all but impossible of getting through a battle of this magnitude without sustaining a single hit, but he had been hoping that might be true this time. Even though Trigger's self-repair functions were already in action, he needed a moment to recover from the rocking impact he'd just sustained.

"Hey, don't just stand around, there!" the female shouted to someone. "Help him out, you lazy chumps!"

"Roger!!" cried three voices. As Trigger got to his feet, he saw three primitives leap onto the huge Iscreme Sentinel, apparently in a vain attempt to hold it motionless, as all three were unarmed. Curious as to why he should care for the fate of these pieces of equipment, Trigger rushed to join them in the battle.

His Arm Cannon pulsed as it fired, sending its shots to targets specifically pinpointed to avoid Trigger's allies. Guelly began shuddering again, his torso beginning to shine as he prepared to fire another radiation blast. One of the primitive anthro units was latched on to the point right in front of the discharge point.

"Number Twelve!" Trigger yelled. "Get out of there!"

He was too late. The Servbot (for that was what these units were called, he remembered) took the ray blast at point-blank and was knocked over the ledge of the castle wall. Inexplicably, Trigger found himself running to the primitive's rescue. He slid past Guelly and, reaching down into the empty air, caught the leg of the Servbot, and threw him back to safety.

Trigger rolled out of Guelly's reach and resumed his attack on the Sentinel. He had leapt onto his foe's shoulder when the Arm Cannon stopped firing. It was out of power? The power cells on this model were created to last over seventy-five years! Cursing his bad fortune, Trigger hopped off of his enemy and retreated, trying to formulate a new strategy. While he was running, he tripped over a male carbon that was lying convulsing on the battlefield. What was this beta thinking?

"This really isn't a safe place for you to be," Trigger advised.

"Don't....worry...about me," it said. "You've...got to...take it down,...MegaMan."

"What?" said Trigger. How did this unit know him? This confusion delayed him four 4.3 seconds and left him open to the Sentinel's beam attacks. Trigger flew backwards, finally landing on the hard aquamarine floor.

"Mister MegaMan, sir, are you okay?" asked Servbot Number Two, leaning over him.

Man, MegaMan thought, his left leg sure was in a lot of pain. "No!" he said, sitting up rapidly. "Teisel's down over there." He pointed out the pirate's location to the Servbots. "Go get him out of danger, now! You hear me?"

This commanding tone worked just as well for MegaMan as it did for Tron. "Right," agreed Two, and he led the others over to where Teisel lay injured. This left the more difficult job for MegaMan---drawing Guelly's attention, the job even more difficult thanks to his broken Arm Cannon.

"Hey!" MegaMan called to the big Reaverbot, limping back onto the field of battle. This ploy worked, as Guelly immediately turned its gaze to the boy, charging up its beam cannon again. "Oh, no," said MegaMan, realizing that in his current state, it would be very difficult to dodge the shot, if not impossible. He tensed, waiting for the last possible second as the beam fired, no, he'd waited too long, he wasn't going to make it...

An orange blur gripped MegaMan by the shoulders and whisked him to safety. "Babuu!" it said cheerfully, enveloping MegaMan in a crushing hug.