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The only reason Rock had found out in the first place was through his older brother, Blues.
It was a beautiful afternoon, and spring was finally able to show itself late into March. Rock had suggested having a nice game of soccer with both Roll and Blues. Even if they were tired of it, he was at least hoping to have a nice stroll in the park at the very least. What was odd, however, was that despite being able to get in contact with his mysterious older brother, he declined.
“What, why?”
“Meh, I’m trying to create plans for something else.”
Rock frowned, contemplating. “Usually, you’re free whenever you do pick up the comm. What are you trying to set up today?” Blues paused before replying.
“You know, Bass was a couple of years ago from today.” At the older Light Bot’s words, Rock’s eyebrows shot upwards in shock. It’s not that Rock didn’t know Bass had a birthday, he was just surprised how that fact was even acknowledged, and that it’s enough common knowledge for Blues to know in the first place.
“What makes you so sure?” asked Rock. Without seeing him, the blue Light Bot could somehow sense there was a smirk on his brother’s face at his reply.
“You know how I am. It’s pretty hard to hide things from me. Also, Bass accidentally spilled it a couple of days ago, complaining about Dr. Wily. Something about the guy hanging it over his head because he ‘has yet to make up those years by defeating Mega Man.’” Blues made sure use emphasis, mocking both Dr. Wily and Bass in the process. “He told me to keep the entire thing secret, however.”
A few things brought Rock into further shock and confusion. For one, while he knew his older brother was typically much better at communicating with the angry Wily Bot out of the two, he wasn’t aware of how much they kept in touch with each other to to share birthdays. Even if that piece of information wasn’t intentional, it proved that Bass was at least approachable and willing to talk with other people even if it wasn’t for his own selfish gain. Then, another question popped up in Rock’s mind.
“Wait, if that’s the case, then why are you telling me this?” Rock asked. Bass hardly had a better relationship with Mega Man than Dr. Wily. Really. He only seems willing to cooperate with the Blue Bomber just to spite ‘the old geezer,’ as Bass puts it.
“I don’t know. It sounded like Bass hardly had any plans for that day. You guys always seem to know how to prepare for this type of occasion. You used to always track me down, making the day more manageable.” It was apparent that Blues was referring to the entire Light family when saying this. Back when Blues was still using his former alias, Break Man, the red Light Bot tried to be downright unapproachable toward his siblings. Despite that, Rock and Roll (and even Dr. Light, although he tried to keep his role relatively quiet to not upset the prototype) would try to do something as simple as give him a routine check or provide a treat that day. Still, this was different.
“Even so, I think you would have a better time celebrating with Bass than I would. Even when we team up, he’s never really up for small talk with me,” Rock replied.
“True, but even I don’t think I’ll be able to get him out to try and celebrate properly. He’d probably know what I’m up to and ignore me for the entire day,” Blues argued.
Rock became exasperated at the response. “How do you think I’ll do much better? He would never try to respond to me unless he thinks I’m picking for a fight with him, which will just end in disaster,” the blue Light Bot responded.
The next words coming from Blues’ mouth sounded almost mischievous. “Well, perhaps you would.” Before Rock could even come up with a reply to that, his older brother immediately hung up. At this, Rock dropped his comm and grabbed at his head of hair in stress.
What does Blues even expect him to do? Actually start a fight with the guy? His older brother knows he’s a pacifist at heart and would not resort to such unless it is out of a life-or-death scenario. Even if Bass wanted a challenge that badly, he would never be able to commit to an actual fight with the Wily Bot.
At that last thought, Rock suddenly paused from his worry, an idea suddenly forming in his mind. Yes, Bass is always demanding a challenge from him, but maybe Rock could give Bass what he wanted after all.
He just might have to change around what kind of fight this actually was.
In the Skull Fortress, nothing but Dr. Wily’s screams and complaints and the sound of a door slamming could be heard within the walls. The old man decided now was the time to complain about Bass’ “years of failure,” while the Wily Bot pointed out that they weren’t failures if he did half of that stuff on purpose. This, of course, did not sit well with the mad scientist, as he threw a wrench at the Wily Bots head. Bass would merely dodge, groaning as he headed to his room to ignore the old man’s cries. He wasn’t even really in the mood to start a yelling match at the guy. Bass was about to rest and set himself to idle mode on his metal platform when he suddenly got a ping from the communicator in his helmet. He was about to ignore it, figuring it was Proto Man who would try to screw around with him on today of all days. When taking a quick glance, however, he noticed the message didn’t belong to Proto Man, it belonged to Mega Man.
‘What the heck does that blue twerp want?’ Bass thought as he checked to see the message, incredulous. The Lightbot usually only got a hold of him when there was some threat that would harm both of them, especially after deflecting any former type of “comradery.”
Usually, he wouldn’t bother and delete the message right away, but something compelled him to check it out. When scanning further, he realized that it was just some set of coordinates. Usually if this was him trying to ask for help, it’d follow along with whatever the current threat was, not something ominous like this. What could he want?
The next message, however, surprised him beyond belief: ‘Come here for a challenge,’ it read. Bass gawked at the message before him in disbelief. Was it the end of the world? Was the blue dweeb finally challenging him to a fight. It almost seemed too good to be true. Despite himself, the Wily Bot’s expression turned into an almost manic grin. Finally! The moron was finally going to fight him on equal grounds!
Without thinking of it any further, he quickly began putting the coordinates into his wrist to teleport away. He couldn’t wait.
As Bass suddenly teleported in, he began readying his buster and immediately studying his surroundings with joy, saying “Alright, dweeb, it’s about time you see it my way- what the hell is this?”
Any sense of excitement was suddenly replaced with utter confusion when he took in the Light Bots and room before him. Based on the area, it was obvious that it was part of some beaten down, abandoned building. Despite that, the room was decorated, although pretty cheaply. There was chipping paint and dusty floors, but banners and ribbons were plastered throughout the room. Furniture that did not look like it belonged there was facing a small TV right on the floor. And staring at him were three Light Bots, in civilian attire, with dust caking some of their skin and clothing. Based on their surprised faces and the fact they were holding some sort of colorful decorations on hand, it seemed they were still finishing things up.
“Surprise!” Mega Man exclaimed, throwing what he found out was confetti into the air. Bass, meanwhile, kept his buster aimed at the blue Light Bot with a deadpan expression, while Roll gave a nervous smile and Blues appeared aloof as usual.
“Answer the question, idiot, what’s going on? I thought this was gonna’ be some sort of fight,” Bass questioned. Mega Man appeared nervous and scratched the back of his neck.
“Well it still will sort of be, just not a physical one, more so with-“
“What do you mean it’s not a fight? WHAT AM I DOING HERE- is that a video game console?” It was by then that Bass looked more closely at the display before him near the mentioned TV where, yes, a game console and a bunch of controllers were set there, enough for four people. Bass recognized the device, as it was one that he was hoping to eventually steal out of curiosity. Dr. Wily talked him out of it, however, as he noticed the Wily Bot’s intrigue and mocked him for it. Getting the piece of junk wasn’t worth the old geezer’s complaining.
Like hell he would admit any of this to the three in front of him, however.
Roll seemed to notice his gaze and responded. “We wanted to celebrate your birthday by playing some video games together. We got a few E-Tanks, and we tried grabbing some video games like Smash Bros., Mario Kart, and-“
It seems that Bass was not done interrupting people, however, “My birthday? What- you told them didn’t you?” He equipped his buster off and pointed an accusatory finger at Proto Man. The Light Bot with sunglasses shrugged.
“ A few words may have been shared,” he replied. Bass was furious.
“How dare you!? You weren’t even supposed to know about that,” Bass accused, slowly marching toward Proto Man. Mega Man quickly became a barrier between the two as he came up with a rebuttal.
”L-look Bass, we’re sorry, we just-“ Bass immediately set his sights on Mega Man, making the Blue Bomber pause.
“You just what, huh? Ya’ here to make fun? Ya’ here to laugh?”
“No! I-“
“Then what’s your deal? What’s the point in bringing all of this-“
“It was to celebrate.” Bass looked back over to Proto Man, who had a firm posture toward the Wily Bot.
“Look, you may not admit it, but I know how it can be, isolated in the Skull Fortress. Well, this is just your chance to escape that for the day,” Proto Man added.
Bass remained silent and glared hard at the prototype. While he wasn’t sure of the details, Dr. Wily had mentioned off-hand of Proto Man’s brief stay at the fortress. It was before Bass was made, and he never cared enough to know the story, but it was now that he saw a look on the eldest Light Bot that he didn’t know what to make of. It was frankly annoying.
Then Bass took another glance at the game controllers. Knowing the Proto-Dork, he bet the guy knew about Bass’ fascination with the machines. He didn’t have any evidence to base this off of, he just knew how the creep was. Bass was honestly at a loss of what to do, as while he was itching to finally see what was so great about those entertainment devices, the last thing he’d want to do is share it with these three.
The Light Bots seemed to notice his indecisiveness, which is where Mega Man decided to use the next part of his plan.
“L-like you could beat us anyway.” Bass’ face suddenly hardened as a menacing aura took hold of the Wily Bot.
“What?” Despite the stutter in Mega Man’s voice, the mere offer of a challenge was enough to set Bass off. The Light Bots decided they would use this to their advantage. Roll immediately rushed over to one of the chairs they set up, motioning for him to sit there and choosing her next words carefully.
“Why don’t you try to find out where you stand with us?” Bass seemed to barely register her words and kept glaring at Mega Man. Proto Man could tell, however, that it was working. He just needs to put in the final blow.
“Well, are you just going to stand there? Or are you going to ‘show us who’s boss’?” Proto Man made sure to drop in some air quotes to really seal the deal with the perfect touch.
Bass then looked up at Proto Man and Roll with an unreadable expression. Everything felt like it was moving very slowly, but eventually, the Wily Bot walked over to one of the chairs Roll was motioning to. Before sitting down, he kept his pointed look as he gave final response to all of their quips.
“Bring it on.”
It was an incredibly rocky start, but once when they were able to get Bass into the chair, the group was finally able to unwind. While Bass at first kept holding face expressions that ranged from anger to manic, over time it seemed he was able to calm down, looking like a kid actually having fun rather than a literal war machine.
While it was Bass’ first time playing a lot of these games, the Light Bots were able to quickly take notice of the habits he was forming. For starters, he instantly took a liking to Bowser whenever he was present. Proto Man at some point mockingly replied by calling him a “filthy Bowser main,” resulting in Bass telling Proto Man to stuff it and proceeded to throw an empty E-Tank can at him. Still, it was clear by both their body language and tone that this was all in good fun.
At first, the Light Bots started each game by going incredibly easy on him as Bass learned the mechanics. He would complain about it every time but didn’t seem to get any angrier each time they did so. After much of Bass’ taunts though, the Light Bots would then go full force at him, refusing to hold back. Despite being his first time playing, Bass caught on quickly, easily holding his own in each game he tried with them. The group also had allowed Bass to choose the games they would play, to which it became incredibly obvious that he chose games that seemed the most competitive on the surface.
In the end, all four had a great time. Even if Bass refused to admit it, it took the edge off of today, and it seemed the group hadn’t noticed the time until they looked outside and saw the sun had already gone down at this point.
“Oh, shoot! We have to put everything away,” Roll exclaimed as she started getting the empty E-Tank cans and trash away. Her brothers were quick to aid her, while Bass looked on, remaining awkwardly silent as he just stared at what they were doing. It was probably time to start heading back, as the old geezer was bound to yell at him for staying out for too long.
Just as Bass was beginning to put in the coordinates for home, Mega Man shouted, “Wait!”
Bass looked up as Mega Man began putting some of the trash in his hand away. He hesitated at first, but then began walking over to the gaming device and picked it up. The Light Bot then started to inspect the collection of games they had and picked out two from the bunch. They were the ones Bass preferred the most from the ones they played. Walking over to Bass, Mega Man held everything out in front of him.
“Happy Birthday.”
Bass looked at him and the rest of the Light Bots in confusion, while the three gave equally warm expressions.
“The game system is mine, but I don’t mind you having it. I should be able to find another one,” Proto Man said.
“Yeah, and Rock and I will be able to get another copy of those games,” Roll added.
At this, Bass’ face curled in disgust. This was all becoming incredibly sappy and cheesy, at the same time though…
“Fine,” replied Bass, as he took the stuff out of Mega Man’s hands and began balancing it as he typed in his coordinates to his room. He’ll have to be sneaky, and while the Skull Fortress has a TV, like hell he’d borrow Dr. Wily’s. He’ll have to steal one of his own.
”Later nerds,” was Bass’ final reply as he teleported out. The Light siblings looked at each other with happy, but exhausted looks.
At least it was a start.