Author's Notes: Hehe, I did say that this was a sequel to Bro-Bot's Christmas.

Shishio: I'm glad you like the song. Just wait until my next Mega Man fic, which will be an MMX fic. ;)

Day 3: A Little Cross World Help

Another day passed. Mega was quite enjoying himself with the Half-Kins, relaxing and sharing stories. It kept him from wondering about home. At the thought, he felt an itching on his neck. He frowned and scratched at it.

“Mega?" Selina asked.

“Huh?”

“Is something wrong with your neck? I’ve seen you scratch it a lot.”

“I can feel a bump,” he confessed, “but it’s where I can’t see it.”

“Let me look." Zana crawled from beside the fire where she was reading over to him to examine his neck. She had him pull off his shirt and lean forward slightly, and brushed aside his hair. Then she gasped. That didn’t sound too good to Mega.

“What?" He twisted, trying to see.

“Hold still,” Zanta commanded, holding him in place with a surprising show of strength. She looked for a few moments more, then said, “I think this might need to be looked at. Soon." Mega gulped.

“What is it?”

“Basically it’s a blackish lump." Mega had heard well what that could be. But, how could he have gotten any form of cancer? He hadn’t been human that long. Zanta handed him back his shirt. “I’ve got a friend who’s a doctor. He probably wouldn’t mind looking at it. You could even be asleep, if you want." She could evidently see the unease in his eyes.

“Okay." So about hid-afternoon the Half-Kins had Mega drink a strange concoction. The last thing he heard was a zinging of a portal.

‘I really don’t know what good I can be, Zanta,” the elderly man said as he stepped out of the portal. “You know I’m not that kind of doctor.”

“I know, bit it’s not what I led him to believe.”

“Then why - ” began one of the good doctor’s sons. Then he stopped when they saw the patient.

“See what I mean?”

“Yes. Now I do." The blue-eyed, white-haired doctor knelt by Mega and examined the lump. Carefully he cut back a layer of skin over the top, then scanned it with a high-tech device. Mega remained asleep through the whole thing. “There. That’s all I need.”

“I’ll go back with you,” Zanta said.

“Okay then. Lets go." The four left.

On their world, the doctor worked quickly while the others looked on.

“The device is designed to enhance emotions,” the scientist said. “Specifically anger." He turned to Zanta. “Are you sure he said his name was Mega Man?”

“Positive.”

“Think you could copy the device?” one of his sons asked, the lab’s light glinting off of his visored helmet.

“Probably.”

“Then do so and try it on one of us,” his other son said. He paused to shift his blue helmet, which had a gem-like object on the front, then added, “Just be sure you can turn it off and remove it quick.”

“Are you sure?" He didn’t like the thought of either of them putting themselves in danger voluntarily, past what they were used to.

“You bet.”

“But I’ll be the one who tests it,” the visored ’son’ said.

“No. I will.”

“Don’t think so, little bro.”

“You’re the wrong one, number one son." Their father just shook his head and began to work, leaving them to decide. Within an hour and a half he had created a thorn-like object about a quarter of an inch wide at its base and one inch long. Also he had built three rods of wands of a sort, about half an inch wide and the length of a new pencil.

“Finished." He turned to see his sons settling things an easy way, with their version of rock, paper, scissors: Metool, Blaster, and Spikes.

“One, two, three, shoot!” the gem-helmeted son threw a fist, meaning Metool, while the visored son threw palm up with fingers curled slightly for Spikes.

“Hah! Spikes pierce Metool. I win!" His brother groaned.

“Now that that’s settled,” their father said, “here’s the closest I can figure." He held up the thorn. “These can activate, deactivate, and remove the thorns." He indicated the wands. “Green dot starts,” He held out a wand with a green dot showing on one end, “red stops,” He flipped the wand he held over so the other end showed its red dot, “and yellow removes." He touched the yellow stripe in the middle of the rod.

“Ready whenever you are,” the visored son said, stepping up. The scientist carefully inserted it directly into his son’s arm, then tapped the spot with the green end of the wand. At first - nothing.

“How do you feel?” the younger asked. He got a scowl in return.

“What do you care?" All blinked in surprise as the visored son lashed out at his father and brother until the scientist hit his arm with the red end. He went still, then said, “Bro, father, I’m sorry. I - I didn’t mean to - ”

“It’s okay,” the younger said. “At lease we now know for sure what the thorn does.”

“But you didn’t attack me,” Zanta observed.

“The thorns must only react to Mega’s brother and creator,” the scientist surmised from the Half Kin’s observation.

"Mega did say that he got into an argument with his bro before he fled from his creator." She suddenly paused, ears up as if listening, then added, "Mother says that Break Man is in Kijo's Glen too."

"Then we'll go help," the gem-helmeted son said, taking a wand. So did his brother.

"I'll find Break Man," the visored son said.

"And I'll find Mega."

"And I'll help you since I don't know Break Man that well or where he could be," Zanta said to the son in blue. After a quick farewell, the three returned to Catron. It was early dawn, and apparently, Mega had woken up because he wasn't where they had left him and his tent was empty. The three split up to search.

Back in Megaland, Dr. Light lay on his bed in his room-turned-prison cell. It had been two days since Wily had announced to his former colleague that he'd be taking over and Mega had vanished. Wily'd been right about the shields; they hadn't held up long. However, they'd given Dr. Light enough time to scramble the codes on the computer to a random number code that even he didn't know and only Dr. Light's voice could unlock it. So, for now, Wily was forced to keep the good scientist around, in effect making him a prisoner in his own home.

Wily had turned Roll into his cook, maid, housekeeper, basically whatever trivial job he needed. He hadn't reprogrammed her, and for that Dr. Light was grateful. Instead he'd left the choice up to Dr. Light: either the kind scientist tell Roll to obey Wily's commends without question or she'd be reprogrammed. The decision for Dr. Light was only too easy. Roll hadn't liked it, but one of the primary rules of robotics was Obey your creator, even if it meant obeying someone else to do it. One small consolation, though, was that she brought Dr. Light his meals, as he was forbidden to leave his room, and whatever he was allowed to have to keep himself entertained, usually books. She also was able to keep her 'father' up to date on Wily's doings. As Wily bragged, he was only two or three days from being fully prepared for his final assault on the city.

Dr. Light sighed. He was helpless to stop Wily from accomplishing his goals. And, as far as he knew, he might never see either of his 'sons' again. That was what hurt the most. He loved them both dearly, as if they were truly his own flesh and blood, but he'd just about admitted to himself that they were gone forever.

Quietly Dr. Light said a little prayer for his family, himself, and the world. He knew that unless a miracle occurred, dark days were ahead.