20XX A.D. Shortly after the events in MM8...

Dr. Thomas Xavier Light was rather annoyed and he had a migraine. "Rock," he said calmly, "you know I love you like a son, but if you don't get out of here for a few hours, I am going to have a nervous breakdown!"

The boy he was talking to was in his early teens and had darker-than-midnight black hair. He was wearing a light blue tee shirt and a pair of worn jeans. His feet were covered by a pair of white tennis shoes and the left laces were untied. "Okay, Doc. I think I'll take ol' Rush and go into town. See ya!" Dr. Light let out a sigh as Rock ran out of the room with his dog, Rush at his heels. On his way out, Rock almost mowed down a blonde teenage girl wearing a red dress with black sleeves.

"Hey, Rock!" She said, clearly annoyed. "Watch where yer goin'!"

"Sorry, Roll!" Rock said with a grin as he ran out of the house, but Roll could tell that he wasn't the least bit apologetic.

Dr. Light sighed again. It had only been a few weeks since Rock stopped the latest mad scheme hatched by the nefarious Dr. Wily. Then Wily managed to get a super powerful energy source from a meteorite and incorporate it into his latest bunch of Robot Masters. A robot from outer space had appeared about then and was destroying any of this energy he could get. Rock had defeated the Robot Masters and Bass who, with his dog Treble, had interfaced with this energy. Mega Man defeated Dr. Wily, but his fortress exploded. It was a mystery as to how Rock survived, but it was doubtful that Bass and Wily were so lucky. Ever since then, he had been much more restless than usual. Dr. Light was startled out of his musings by the sound of the doorbell. "That's right!" he cried, slapping his head. "I was expecting Cossack and his daughter any minute!" Then he ran to the front door to greet his friends with Roll.

Somewhere in space, on an orbit around the moon, floated an incredibly foreboding space station. At least, it would be foreboding if anyone could see it. It was equipped with the best cloaking technology known to man, and it wouldn't be seen unless its owner decided to let it be seen.

Inside the topmost chamber of the Space Node, on a small stool and working on the machinery scattered on the table before him, sat the all too alive Albert Wily. Behind him stood Bass. Treble was at his feet begging to get his belly scratched, but Bass studiously ignored him. "Alright, Doc," Bass said with more than a touch of annoyance in his voice. "What have you dragged me and Treble all the way up here for?"

Wily spun around with a glowing purple orb in his right hand. "This!" he shouted triumphantly. "I have done it! I have successfully created synthetic 'Evil Energy!'" Bass was actually stunned into silence by that. Evil Energy was the alien energy source that Wily used to power his latest Robot Masters. They had all fallen to Mega Man's arm cannon like all the others before it and the only trace of it left resided in Bass and Treble. "Not only that, but I've rebuilt all of my newest Robot Masters!" Bass looked around at the eight forms around the lab, covered with white sheets.

"Okay, Doc, that is a nifty thing you've accomplished there, but I have the feeling that isn't the only reason you called me up here."

"Ah, Bass. You truly are my greatest robot. Other than Zero, of course." Bass winced slightly at that. Zero was more than a robot. He was a new breed and Bass considered him to be his little brother. Zero got put into a stasis capsule last week and wasn't going to be reactivated for a good forty years. "You're right, of course," Wily went on. "I did call here for more than that. I have discovered a few interesting qualities of this energy. First, it seems that integrating with it has turned you and Treble into 'bioroids'--Living Machines. Second, I believe that it could be used to open rifts in the very fabric of time and space."

` Bass wasn't too surprised about any of that. He expected that the nature of this alien energy would be capable of anything. But he pretended to be surprised anyway, for the scientist's sake. "Ya mean, like travelin' to other dimensions and stuff?" he asked with just the right amount of awe.

"More like time travel. In fact, I've already developed a chip to enable you to not only create these corridors, but control where and when you will end up." Wily held up a small microchip. Now, give me your left hand. The one with your teleporter controls." Bass did so, allowing Wily to install the thing. "The controls are very similar to the controls of your teleporter system," Wily said after he was done. "I'm sure you'll get it on your first try. Now, I want you to go to this time and place." Wily pointed to a year and coordinates on the screen of the computer that was also on the table he was working on.

Bass whistled. "Woah, Doc, that's quite a way into the future!"

"I know," Wily answered with a grin. "That time period is sure to have some sort of advanced technology we could use. I want you to go and see if there is anything in that time period we could use to destroy Mega Man and take over the world."

Bass didn't say anything else to Wily. He just called Treble to him. Treble knew what Bass wanted, so he leaped into the air, changed shape, and, after a blinding burst of energy. Bass stood alone, wearing what was known as the "Super Adaptor"(which he needed to use the Evil Energy stored within his body). Afterwards, he punched in a sequence of numbers in his teleportation controls, hidden in his left wrist. Then a glowing, purple doorway appeared in front of him. Bass stepped into the portal and then it closed behind him.

Bass returned five minutes later--and by then, Wily had already activated Grenade Man, Frost Man, Tengu Man, Clown Man, Astro Man, Aqua Man, Sword Man, and Search Man. "Well?" Wily asked somewhat annoyed, when he noticed that Bass left the portal open behind him.

"I think I met someone you should probably meet, Doc. In fact, he has a proposition that you might find rather beneficial to your conquest of the world." Wily's interest got sparked immediately.

"Go on..."

"Well, this guy wants you and the new Robot Masters to go...bargain." Wily almost leaped into the portal right then, but Bass stopped him. "Wait a sec! Wait a sec! This is your kind guy, all right, but he just might get you fried if you try ta go through that thing by your lonesome. Get in that egg-shaped flying saucer of yours and then go through."

"Yes, that makes sense, Bass," Wily admitted when he went to his craft.

As they flew off, Bass yelled after them, "Don't worry if I don't follow right behind you! I've got something I need to do here.

Rock sauntered lazily down the busy sidewalk in the middle of downtown New York, with Rush pulling on his end of the leash as hard as he could. "Now, what is there left to do," he thought to himself. He had already gone to the local arcades and conquered every game there. Rock looked at the frisbee he was holding. "I guess that I could go to the park and play catch with Rush." Rock wondered again at how much Rush looked like a "real" dog with his holographic camouflage on. After all, Rush wasn't a real dog any more than Rock was a human. He was a robot. A Reploid to be exact. One of the only three in the world (Well, maybe four. He didn't know if Bass was one or not.). The other two were Roll and...

"Hey, bro!" a voice came from behind Rock, who spun around to face his attacker and gasped in shock. He was looking at his own face, grinning at him. Then, his "twin" doubled over laughing. "Oh, man. You should have seen your face! It was a classic. Rock glared at the figure in front of him.

"That's enough, Hadrian!" he said. Hadrian Blues stopped laughing, with a few hiccups erupting from his lips. "Ya know, ya c'n really annoy somebody." Rock grumbled to his brother.

Hadrian brought a pair of mirrored sunglasses from his leather coat pocket and put them on his face to cover his eyes. Rock studied his older brother for probably the thousandth time since he met him years ago. His face was exactly like Rock's, but that was where the similarity ended. His choice of cloths was much different. He always wore a pair of sunglasses, a leather jacket (even if its the middle of summer, like it was now), and black jeans with black tennis shoes. He also always had a yellow scarf around his neck.

"Aw, c'mon Little Rocky Horror, ya know that's what I live for. So, what are you and your mutt doing out and about in the city, anyway?"

Rock was about to answer that it wasn't any of his business when the two of them got knocked over by a small explosion created by a plasma shot hitting the sidewalk behind them. The two Bioroids spun around to face their attacker and found Bass, in his Super Adaptor, grinning sardonically at them. "Wha...?" Rock gasped in amazement. "Y-y-you're supposed ta be.."

"What, dead?" Bass interrupted, obviously amused. "Not in this lifetime, bucko! In fact all our last experience did for me was give me an itchier trigger finger; if y'know what I mean." Rock did know what he meant, and he did what any sensible unarmed person would do when faced against an enemy as powerful as this one. He ran. Fast. With Hadrian less than a step behind.

"Hey! Wait...a minute!" Hadrian panted. "Why...not...just transform...to ...you-know-...who and....fry this sucker?"

"Because...too many...humans are...still...watching...If the press...found out who I was...I wouldn't be able to...get an ounce of peace!"

"Yeah...and if he catches you..." Hadrian pointed to the ebony clad robot behind them. "You'll get more peace than you'll really want!"

"Good point." Rock admitted as he ducked a bolt of plasma. Then he spotted an abandoned alleyway. "This way!" he yelled to his brother as he dove in. The alleyway was a dead end, but no one was on the sidewalk on their side of the street, and a large semi truck was blocking the view from the other side. Just as Bass spotted them, Rock and Hadrian began to glow. The glow began at their feet and worked its way up to their heads. When the nimbus of light died down, the two brothers who had been standing there disappeared. In their places were two robots, both famous the world over.

Rock was now wearing the blue armor and helmet that identified him as Mega Man. Hadrian was wearing red and white armor almost exactly like his brother, but his helmet had a dark visor, he had a welding shield strapped to his back, and he still wore the yellow scarf. Hadrian had become Protoman.

The two instantly began charging up their arm cannons as Bass started firing at them. Mega Man hid behind Protoman, who protected the both of them with his Proto Shield. When they had charge sufficiently, they fired large balls of plasma at their opponent. When the bolts hit Bass, he was lost in the middle of a large explosion of light and sound. When he could be seen again, his chest was smoking and he was laughing hard. "Is that the best you can do? Now, here's a good shot!"

Bass began to glow with a purple light, then he released a huge purple beam at his enemies, which was barely dodged. Mega Man was about to attempt to tackle Bass, but Bass took a remote control out of his belt and pushed a button on it. The side of the truck behind him opened up to reveal two forms bound and one of them was gagged. "Roll and Doc Light!" Mega Man screamed as he saw them. Roll was bound by metal cords and she was gagged with a sock stuffed in her mouth. Dr. Light was tied up with ropes of a more regular variety, and Mega Man saw blood dripping down his face from somewhere in his white hair. Mega Man looked away from his family and glared at Bass, hate showing clearly in his face as he did so. "You'd better let them go you..."

"What and spoil the fun?" Bass said with a smile as he stepped into the truck. As he did so a circular vortex of energy appeared behind his captives. Bass picked Roll up with one hand. "This is your sister, ain't it, Mega Man? Annoying as heck...I had to stuff a sock in her mouth to shut her up!" He threw Roll into the door he created and she disappeared without a trace. Then he picked up Dr. Light just as easily. "Oh, and say good bye to 'daddy.'" he said nonchalantly as he threw him in as well. "Noooooo!" Mega Man cried. He leaped into the warp before he even realized what he was doing. Rush followed his master.

"Rock! Don't go in there!" Protoman cried as he leaped in after his younger brother. Bass didn't say a word. He just stepped into the portal before it disappeared completely.