Disclaimer: Power Rangers...owned by Saban. Mega Man and characters...owned by Capcom. I think we all know this drill.
Authors' note: This fanfic is fourth of our series "The Anibots." If you not sure what is happening in the series, don't read this fanfic. Read the first three. We made our own history about Tommy's family. If you remember the Zeo episode with Tommy's uncle, Mr. Rush, we figured that's the last name of Tommy's adoptive parents. We are writing that Oliver was his real last name. It goes along with our storyline. Trust us. Hope you all enjoy.

Proto Man's Major Malfunction
by ZeoSaturn and DonsArtNGames

Jason was very quiet since their battle with Dr. Wily two weeks before. Not only did he get a taste of what it was like to be a minion of Dr. Wily and to get humiliated by Proto Man as well, but he saw his best friend fall to his death. Jason felt like it was his fault for not trying to save Tommy the first time and it did not help when he saw him at the tournament looking at him with pure hatred. He couldn't believe the situation he was in.

"Jason?" Kimberly said as she waved her hand in front of his face. "Are you ok?"

After waking up from his trace he was in, Jason answered in an angry voice, "I'm fine." He walked out of the room bumping into Justin.

"Whoa, what's wrong with Jason?" Justin asked Kimberly in a concerned voice.

"I think Tommy's death is bugging him still. He thinks that it's his fault."

"It's not! I don't think any of us could have helped Tommy. Dr. Wily overpowered Jason and the others when we were still on the trip. Besides, we don't have any of the Rangers' powers anymore."

"I know. I wish we had the powers we do now back then."

"Hey, Kim. What are you doing?" Justin noticed that Kimberly was collecting some of the CDs from the Entertainment Room's stack of music.

"Billy, Rocky, Aisha, Tanya, Trini and I are going back to Angel Grove. We need to fix the computers and the Morphin' Grid if we can."

"Oh. I can't go. I have got cleaning duties here and no one wanted to trade with me."

"That's what you get for extra desserts."

"When are you guys going to be back?"

Just then, Tanya came into the room. "Let's go. It's noon. We're leaving."

"When we get the major repairs done," Kimberly answered. "We don't know how long that will be. Billy estimates three hours to two days. We will come back either today or tomorrow."

Adam, Zack, Katherine and Justin escorted Kimberly and everyone else outside and into one of Dr. Light's company vans. Jason was nowhere to be seen.

"Tell Jason to lighten up," Tanya yelled out the window as Rocky began to pull away.

"Bye," Adam, Zack, Katherine and Justin yelled.

The four went back inside wondering what they were going to do. It was a little over one week until school was going to start and the summer class were over. They had nothing to do, but vegetate and to try to make Jason feel better.

"Guys," Zack said, "let's find Jase. Let's take him somewhere so he can relax."

"Movie?" Adam suggested.

"I don't know," Katherine said. "Seems a little cliché."

"I know!" Justin said with excitement. "Paintball. We can have fun and work on our accuracy at the same time."

"Oh yeah," Adam said sarcastically. "Just what we need. An angry Jason with a gun."

"Yeah," Zack said agreeingly. "I think that is a great idea. Let's go find Jason."

The four searched their townhouse, but couldn't find him. They went to the gym nearby and saw Jason punching the stuffing out of the punching bag. Judging by the intense look on his face, Jason was mad at himself.

"Jase,... Jase,.... Jason!" Adam yelled, but Jason didn't respond until the third time.

"Oh sorry," Jason said as he punched the bag one last time with all of his might. "I'm just..."

"Frustrated, man?" Zack said finishing his sentence. "We all had a great idea. Let's go paint ball shooting."

"Are you sure you want me with a gun in my current state of mind?" Jason jokingly asked.

"Yes," Justin said.

"Ok," Jason said with a small smile. He knew that this might make him feel better, because he has always wanted to do paint ball. The five got into some old clothes that they knew was alright to get dirty and got into one of Dr. Light's company cars and drove to a nearby paint ball arena. When they arrived, they say that the place was a run-down industrial warehouse in the middle of the industrial zone of L.A. next to a cleared field. Adam went to the trailer where they paid for the paint ball equipment.

"We are going to have full hoppers and 15 paint ball balloons," Zack explained to everyone. "The masks are there to protect your entire face."

"Why did I get the white paint?" Justin complained.

"Would you prefer hot pink?" Zack said.

"So we know who hit who," Adam said. "Zack got red, you got white, Katherine got yellow and I got gray. Jason has green."

"Everyone ready?" Zack said. "You are done when your ammo is gone. If you get within 20 feet of someone, yell 'safety kill!' Shooting that close can seriously hurt someone. If everyone is ready, then GO!"

All of the five Anibots spilt up. This game that they were playing was a free for all. Justin was the first of everyone to hit anyone by hitting Zack in the butt and a second time in Zack's hair. Katherine managed to shoot Adam in the back of the head making him jumpy and his hair yellow.

"You're yella, you 'fraidy cat," Katherine yelled to Adam.

"Yeah, but I'm not dumb," Adam said.

"What?"

"You left yourself wide open." Adam took out one of his paint grenades and launched it at Katherine. Jason was sneaking up behind her when she dodged the paint grenade. It ended up exploding all over Jason's front side. "Oops!"

The game continued. Jason's mood was brightening as he got really into the game. Jason pegged Justin in the chest a few times.

Near the end of the game, Zack, Justin, Adam, and Katherine banded together to try to get Jason. Katherine and Zack had only one of their paint balloons left and Justin had about five paintballs left. Adam was out of ammo. Zack gave the signal and he launched his last balloon which landed in Jason's face covering his mask and his hair. Justin fired his last paint balls which all landed and splattered down the middle of the face. Katherine finally threw her balloons into Jason's chest.

"Hey, no fair!" Jason yelled, but began to laughing his head off. Just then, everyone else started to laugh as well. Jason didn't know what they were laugh for or at. "What?"

"Jase," Zack said trying to stop laughing. "You look like Proto Man."

"What?" Jason said as he pulled off his mask. Jason looked into one of their car's side mirrors. Jason laughed even harder. The way that the other four had hit him with their paint had made Jason look like a poorly painted Proto Man. "I do, don't I?"

Just then, a big explosion happened right behind the paint ball arena.

"That's the bank," the owner of the gallery said as he realized where the explosion came from. Jason with the other Anibots ran toward the explosion. As they approached the entrance to the building, they saw robots holding some of the employees of the building hostage. At that point, Proto Man came out of the building.

"Make sure that you don't let any of them trying anything, Snake Man," Proto Man said to a snake looking robot.

"Yesssss, Proto Man," he answered back.

"Hey, Jase," Zack said jokingly. "There's your twin."

"Shut up, Zack," Jason said annoyed. "Come on guys, let's transform." With that, the former Rangers punched in their passwords into their transformation bracelets and they became the Anibots. The Anibots climbed up on top of the roof of the building that was facing the factory and Jason shot at the feet of Proto Man.

"What the...?" Proto Man yelled in surprise. All of the robots turned toward where the blast came from and saw the silhouettes of the Anibots. Proto Man immediately knew who they were. With annoyed tone he said, "Oh great! Here they go again!"

"I will put a sting in your plans and damper your hopes," Zack said. "I am Stingray."

"I am the annoying pest that can or will ruin your day," Justin said. "I am Mouse."

"I am the black cat that will give you bad luck," Katherine said. "I am Cat."

"As a hawk flies for it's prey, so shall I hunt down evil to destroy," Adam said. "I am Hawk."

"How dare you destroy the peace of this area," Jason said. "We won't let you triumph. On behalf of everything good, I shall puni-huh?" Justin was poking at Jason in the arm.

"You are quoting Sailor Moon," Justin whispered.

"Uh...we are the Anibots and we will defeat you," Jason said finishing his speech. Justin shook his head in embarrassment.

"Oh lord," Proto Man said as he put his hand to the forehead of his helmet. "All of you are worse than the Power Rangers." The Anibots turned beet red out of embarrassment. "There are so many things wrong with your spiels. Stingray and Hawk, too cliché. Get some new lines. Rodent, you are annoying anyway. I'll leave it at that. Cat, you're white, not black. And Mega Man (oh my god), yours is the worst. First of all, you are taking lines from a damn cartoon show. Second, way too cliché like always. And last, how can there be peace in this area? You have a frickin' paint ball arena behind us and by the looks of it you were all having fun there before we came here by the looks of it. You should all be ashamed of yourselves. Hypocrites, that's what you are."

"It's not 'Rodent', it's MOUSE," Justin yelled back. Just then, Cut Man came up to Proto Man and whispered something into his ear piece. Proto Man looked back at the Anibots and began to laugh.

"I didn't know I had a twin brother, Mega Twit," Proto Man said.

Jason realized that some of the paint from the paint ball game was still on his face and Proto Man had seen it. "Dang it," Jason whispered under his breath and then he yelled out, "Let's get them!"

"We don't know what you are up to, but we will sure as hell stop you," Zack yelled out. The Anibots jumped down from the building and each took on a robot. Jason headed for Proto Man to settle old scores.

As Jason fell from the rooftop, he shot a few plasma shots to get Proto Man on the guard. Proto Man was completely on guard and dodged the shots easily. Jason was not happy about having all his shots miss.

"Not bad, bro, but you need some more serious training on your shooting," Proto Man said tauntingly. He fired a couple of shots back at Jason. They were dodged easily.

Jason recovered. "The same could be said about you too," he smirked.

"You know that I am better than you are, bro."

"Stop calling me bro!" Jason's fight continued with Proto Man, both physically and verbally.

Katherine took on Snake Man. When she got near him, he fired a Snake Shot at her. The shot was a small mechanical snake. It hit the wall behind her and the snake chewed through the wall. Katherine now looked a little worried. She ran up to Snake Man to try to fight him hand to hand. It was working. Snake Man was too slow for the fast Cat and she was making huge dents and scratches into Snake Man's armor. Finally when she saw a few loose wires exposed, she grabbed them and use her lightning attack.

"Static Shock!" Katherine yelled and she electrocuted him. Snake Man fell to the ground.

Zack saw a familiar looking robot. The Zippo robot, Heat Man. Zack ran towards Heat Man with his water guns ready to fire. Heat Man fired a huge fire trail on the ground that was heading straight for him. Zack jumped and put his arms together and fired a massive barrage of water attacks. Everyone of the shots hit and Heat Man fell backward onto his back motionless.

"Doesn't Wily realizes that Cut Man can't beat us?" Justin said jokingly. Adam and Justin were up against Cut Man.

"Let's finish him off!" Adam said and jumped up. He began flying and circling about Cut Man. Justin began to dig under ground with his claws. He was digging a tunnel with rapid speed.

"Ready, Mouse?" Adam said stopping just above Cut Man.

"What are you doing?" Cut Man said to Adam.

"Yeah, Hawk!" Justin replied.

"NOW!" Adam flew downwards with his razor wings bared and Justin jumped up from underneath Cut Man. Justin's attack sent Cut Man flying upwards and Adam slashed his wings at Cut Man while he was on the way up. Cut Man was split into two. Justin landed next to the hole he dug, but Adam crashed into the hole.

"We need to work on that," Adam said as he came out of the hole rubbing his head. Adam and Justin watched as Jason flew towards the wall passing them.

Jason was hit into the wall. Proto Man came at him about ready to punch Jason. At the last minute, Zack jumped at Proto Man with a jump flying side-kick and hit him in the stomach.

"Not today, bud," Zack said. "Only I can give Mega Man a bad time." Zack smiled back at Jason. Jason had a half-relieved and half-dumb founded look on his face, but he then went into a surprised look. Zack looked back and Proto Man used a haymaker punch to Zack's face. Zack's nose began to bleed.

"Ha!" Proto Man laughed, but then realized that he was the only fighter for Dr. Wily standing. He began to run toward the nearest building which was the paint ball arena. "I guess the Guppy still has a few thing to learn about fighting. Later!"

"GUPPY!?" Zack yelled. Zack was furious. He was being called a baby fish who couldn't do anything. He ran into the paint ball arena building after Proto Man.

"Stingray!" Jason said as he tried to get up, but fell back down exhausted.

Zack ran inside the arena. No one was inside except for Proto Man and him.

"You shouldn't have followed me, Stingray," Proto Man said as he fired a shot at Zack. Zack tilted his head to dodge the shot and shot hit the top of the only entrance into the arena.

"Ha," Zack said. "You missed."

"Did I?" Proto Man said with a mischievous smile on his face and a second later, the entrance collapse. Zack realized then that he was now trapped in a building with a homicidal maniac.

"Great," Zack said as turned back to Proto Man and got into a fighting stance. Zack knew that this situation was the worst that he could possibly be in. He was trapped with one of the best fighters that he has ever came across and he was all alone.

"Do you really think, Stingray, that you are going to win this?"

"No, but I am going to do my best to defeat you."

"You don't stand a chance, Guppy. You are going to die."

"If I'm going down, you're coming with me."

"Ugh, another bad cliché."

Zack ran up to Proto Man to give him a haymaker punch, but Proto Man managed to dodge to the punch and tried to counter Zack with at roundhouse kick with one of his long legs. Fortunately, Zack saw this and he barely dodged it.

"You're fast, Guppy, and slippery."

"Good thing. At least I'm not a hard-headed idiot."

"Why you!"

They went all out against each other.

Zack decided to charge his water gun to maximum and started firing at Proto Man. Unfortunately, Proto Man was too quick for the water and Zack's shots all miss him. Proto Man then ran up to Zack and began punching Zack. Zack blocked a few of the punches, but the majority of the punches were hitting. Zack's stomach, chest and face were getting pummeled.

"You're pathetic, Stingray," Proto Man said. "Stingrays are suppose to be fast, not floundering."

"I'll flounder you," Zack said under his breath and he decide to doing his Hip Hop Kido.

Proto Man looked confused for a second. Zack was dancing in front of him. As Proto Man was about to attack him, he stopped right in front of him. Zack was starting to break dance too. Proto Man decided to attack, but ended up with a foot in the face. Zack was using capoya and did a spin kick to Proto Man's head. It connected. Proto Man stumbled back, got frustrated, took out his Proton Buster and start to fire at Zack. Zack realized he was being fired upon. He got up and ran as fast as he could across the room nearly dodging each one. Zack realized he was heading towards the wall and climb up the face of the wall and flipped over the last blast. Zack turned around and found a metal pipe in front of his face. It connected causing Zack's helmet to crack and him to fly back into the wall. When Zack's head connected with the wall, the helmet split into two halves and they fell off of Zack's head exposing his face and hair.

"Wow. The stress must be getting to you, Stingray," Proto Man said tauntingly. At that point, Proto Man saw Zack's face. "It's turning your hair white." Zack realized that his helmet was gone.

"No!" Zack said as he tried to hide his face.

"There is no need to hide your face," Proto Man said. "I know who you are, Zack."

Zack couldn't believe what had come out of Proto Man's mouth. How did he know who Zack was? "How do you know who I am?"

"The fast dancing, suave Zackman. Ha! Your Hip Hop Kido? I know who you are and I assume that the other Anibots are your friends. Mega Man must be Jason Lee Scott. He is strong, powerful and as stubborn as always. Now, I know how to fight you all and win."

Zack couldn't believe his ears. Somehow Proto Man knew about his friends and that Jason was Mega Man.

"How do you know that?"

"What? That you and the other Power Rangers are the Anibots? That's for me to know and you to find out." Zack's mouth literally dropped. Proto Man knew more than Zack want him to know.

"How? Who- Who the hell are you!?"

"Someone that you don't want to cross Zack. Oh, and tell Jason that he needs to work on his clichés. They are getting worse." Proto Man blasted the roof right above Zack and the entire building was collapsing around Zack.

"No!" Zack said as he was covering his face. He looked toward the roof and saw Proto Man jumping toward the hole that he blasted. When he finally reached the hole, Proto Man smiled evilly at Zack. Proto Man then was hit in the back of the head by a metal support beam. Proto Man shook off the pain and jumped out.

"No! Proto!" Debris hit Zack in the head and all went black.

"Zack," a familiar male voice said. "Wake up, man. Zack!" Zack opened his eyes and saw that Jason was in front of him. "Thank God. Are you ok?" Zack was alive, but had a splitting headache. Part of the roof had hit Zack in the head. Zack was out of his Stingray suit and was all cleaned up from the paint. Apparently, Katherine, Adam, Justin and Jason had taken the unconscious Zack back to the Lab and cleaned up from the mess.

"I am fine," Zack said sarcastically while holding is head.

"Zack, why did you do that?" Jason said in a stern voice. "Why did you go after Proto Man like that? You are lucky to be alive."

'You sound like Dr. Light,' Zack said to himself and then said out loud, "I got frustrated. I couldn't get anything in on him and I wanted to get him. I know that it was stupid, bro. I am sorry."

"It's ok, Zack. Remember to control your temper. I know it's 'do as I say, not as I do', but we don't want you dead, Zack."

"I know, I know."

"I want to ask you one more thing, Zack? How did your helmet come off? When we found you, it was off."

Zack's face went from being physically hurt to embarrassed. "Proto Man knocked me up against the wall with a pipe. It cracked and he saw my face. I am really sorry, Jason."

"That's alright, Zack. He knows who you are?"

"Hey guys!" Justin said as he came running into the room. "The others are back!"

Zack and Jason walking into the hallway and saw Billy and the other Anibots that went with him coming towards them. They were all followed by Adam and Katherine.

"You guys are back early," Jason said a little surprised. "That took only five hours. I though it would take longer to fix the Power Chamber."

Trini said, "We thought so too. All the computers except for the Morphin Grid are up. The computers are all running diagnostics checks. That's is going to take about two weeks to finish because there are so many files."

"Well, I am glad that mostly everything is up and running. We had a little trouble here with Wily."

"We know," Tanya said. "Katherine, Justin and Adam filled us in on it. Zack, are you ok?"

"I'll be fine," Zack said and then realized that he hadn't told Jason what happened in the fight that he had with Proto Man. "Jase, Proto Man knows who we are."

"I would think so, Zack," Jason said. "He has seen your face. He knows how you are."

"No! He knows who everyone here is! Jason, he called you by named and assumed you were Mega Man! He knows who we are!"

"Zack! You just got hit too hard. You think he knows us personally. Calm down."

"Jason! He knows somehow that we are Rangers!" The hallway was silent.

"Zack! Not so loud!" Rocky said in a whisper as he looked down the hallway. "We're clear, but keep it down."

"He knows we were Rangers?" Jason asked to make sure that he heard him right. Zack nodded. "Ok then. He knows who we all are, that we were Rangers, and he knows how to fight us. No one knows we were Rangers at all except the current Space Rangers and the bad guys that we fought in the past."

"Are you saying that he could be a bad guy we fought earlier?" Adam asked.

"I think so," Jason said, "but who?"

"It can't be Goldar, Rito or any other minion of Rita, Zedd, the Machine Empire, or Divatox," Katherine said. "They are too big and bulky to be Proto Man. Besides, he's human."

"We didn't fight anyone like that back then," Tanya added. "Who else do we know that knows that we are Rangers?"

"I don't know," Jason said. "Probably the only person that Proto Man could be is..." Jason stopped before he finished his sentence. He had figured out who Proto Man was. "Oh my God! Why didn't I see this before?"

"Jason," Zack said. "Do you know who he is?"

"He's...." Jason began to say, but was interrupt by Dr. Light's alarm. "Shoot! What now?"

The Anibots changed into the suits before they went into the Lab.

"What's wrong now?" Jason asked Dr. Light.

"Proto Man has gone nuts!" Dr. Light said.

"Oh, we knew that already," Justin said jokingly.

"No, he has literally gone crazy. Look!" The Anibots looked that the big screen in the Lab. They saw Proto Man blasting everything and laughing hysterically.

"Poor ..." Jason said as he watched and looked away in anguish. Suddenly, Dr. Wily interrupted the transmission and showed his face on the big screen.

"Wily!" Dr. Light said in anger. "What are you.....?"

"Please, help me, Anibots!" Dr. Wily said in distress. "Proto has gone out of control! I can't control him anymore! You must help me to get him back!"

"Why should we help you?!" Rocky yelled to Dr. Wily.

"We'll help you, but only to eliminate him," Dr. Light said.

"What?!" Jason said under his breath. "No!"

Dr. Wily gave a stern look to Dr. Light and end the transmission. Dr. Light turned to the Anibots and said, "Be careful out there. He is very dangerous!" Jason began to say something, but Dr. Light interrupted him. "We will eliminate him! Follow orders! Go! Oh and Jason, this is for you!" Dr. Light opened up a compartment in the wall next to him. Inside was a robotic dog that looked to be asleep. A whirling sound came from the dog and it opened its eyes.

"Jason," Dr. Light said. "Anibots. This is Rush. He is not only a robotic pet, but also a transporting system. He can change into any vehicle. He is yours, Jason." Suddenly, Rush jumped toward Jason and knocked him to the ground and began to lick him. Even though Rush was a robot, Jason was getting slobbered by fake dog drool. "Now go and take out Proto Man!"

The Anibots got into their flying transport vehicle and Rush transformed into a rocket powered moving platform. Jason got onto Rush and they all headed towards where Proto Man was attacking.

"Everyone! Take off your helmets now!" Jason commanded.

"Why?"

"NOW!" Jason yelled. Everyone, even Trini and Jason, took off their helmets. Jason pulled on the microphone cord in his helmet that linked their conversations to Dr. Light. Jason went to the transport and went inside. "Guys, don't eliminate Proto Man. Knock him out."

"But Dr. Light said to..." Billy said.

"I know what he said, but he doesn't know what I know and that Proto is human. We can't kill Proto Man. He doesn't know that he is under controls of chips like Steve, Mark and I were."

"That could explain why he is going nuts," Billy said. "The chip might be shorting in and out making him confused and crazy."

"He was hit in the head when I was escaping from the paint ball arena building," Zack said remembering the fight he had with Proto Man earlier. "The chip must be in his helmet or on his neck like yours, Jase."

"I think so too," Jason said. "We can't kill him. It's not his fault for any of this."

"Jason," Trini said. "You are taking this too personally. You are making this sound like it is your fault."

"Guys, in a way, it is." Jason looked at the screen in their vehicle to look at Proto Man. He watched the technique and moves that Proto Man was doing. It confirmed Jason's suspicion. "I know who Proto Man is."

Everyone looked at Jason in surprise. Justin said, "Who?"

"The techniques, how he knows all of us, knows that we are Rangers and that he call Zack and I by name. It has to be him. Guys, Proto Man is not an enemy and he wasn't one when we were all Rangers."

"STOP WITH ALL THE DRAMA!!!" Kimberly said annoyed.

"Tommy," Jason said quietly.

"That can't be!" Katherine said in disbelief. "How?! You said that he was dead!"

"I thought so too. He was at the tournament as a scouter for Dr. Wily and he was helping Wily look for the best fighters. The reason why Tommy was trying to pull on his clap was because he wanted to fall. He probably transformed into Proto Man before he hit the ground. He was making sure that we didn't see him transform and Wily wanted to make sure that his fortress was ready for him when he got there. He was sending Tommy make sure it happened."

"Wow!" Zack said. "I helped uncover all this! So, what are we going to do about Tommy?"

"Knock him out so we can remove the chip," Jason said as he was plugging in the microphone wire back in. "You all know how to fight him, but be careful! You all know how powerful he is out of any suit. Put on your helmets. We are about to enter the battle."

Trini landed and the Anibots got out of the vehicle. They ran to Proto Man and surrounded him. Proto Man became defensive and took his shield from his back. He knew that he was going to be in a fight.

"Proto! We don't want to hurt you," Jason said as he put up his hands to try to calm him down. "We want to help you."

"What do you want?" Proto Man growled.

"To help you, Proto," Katherine said.

"LIES!" Proto Man yelled and shot twenty rapid fire shots at the Anibots.

Everyone was frantically dodging Proto Man's shots, but a few of them did hit some of the Anibots. Jason tried to get close to Proto Man, but Proto Man fired a medium charged shot at Jason's chest and he was sent flying backward into a wall.

"Mega!" all the Anibots said at the same time.

"I'm alright," Jason said rubbing his chest and getting back up. The shot really hurt. Jason made his way back to Proto Man. "Proto, I don't want to hurt you."

"You should think about me hurting you!" Proto Man yelled and shot him again. Jason was sent flying back again making a huge dent in the wall.

"Ok," Jason said groaning. "We don't want to hurt you, but we want to help you." Jason got up and headed again toward Proto Man. Jason stopped when Proto Man had his gun aimed at Jason's head about a foot in front of him.

"Leave me alone!" Proto Man said in a demanding tone.

"Please, Proto. Bro. We don't want to hurt you." Jason grabbed a hold of Proto Man's buster and slowly pushed it away. Proto Man tried to resist Jason pushing his gun, but for some reason he couldn't. "That's right. We're here to help."

Proto Man shook off the feeling, pushed Jason away and he began firing again. Adam flung his razor feathers at the shots which neutralized most of them. The other shots were easily dodged by the Anibots.

Kimberly, Billy and Adam jumped up into the air and started flying in circles. Justin and Rocky stood ready to give a combined attack. Katherine, Trini and Tanya backed up Jason as he began to move forward toward Proto Man again.

"Look we know that you are hurting from the chip that is controlling you," Jason said. "Please, bro. Don't fight us. We want to help. Please...Proto Man...Tommy...trust us."

Proto Man became surprise and then angry. Jason had figured out his identity. Proto Man lunged at Jason growling.

"Stop!" Adam said. "Or we'll fire!" Proto Man didn't listen and continued to run toward Jason taking out his shield. Proto Man slammed him up against the wall with the shield and then began to grinned Jason's head with the shield into the wall. Proto Man laughed evilly.

"Twinkle, twinkle little star," Jason said as Proto Man was continuing to push Jason into the hall. Apparently, Proto Man hit Jason so hard and the pressure that Proto Man was putting to his head was making Jason not think correctly. "How I wonder what you are."

"Man!" Zack said. Kimberly, Billy, and Adam landed. "Proto hit him so hard that he knocked him back to kindergarten." Jason still continued to sing. Proto Man was laughing harder.

"We got to do something, but what?" Adam said in a worried tone.

"I know," Billy said and he picked up Justin.

"Hey, what are you doing!?" Justin yelled as Billy picked him up and over his head. Billy threw Justin towards Proto Man. "AAAAHHHH!"

"Ha! I will make sure that you are not in my hair again," Proto Man yelled. He heard Justin at the last second and turned toward him. "Huh?......Oooo!" Justin had slammed into Proto Man in the head knocking him into the ground. Justin landed on top of Proto Man.

"How I wonder what...you...are," Jason said as he was sliding down the wall and landing on both Justin and Proto Man at the word "are." Justin was sandwiched in between Mega Man and Proto Man.

"Get him off of me!" Justin yelled as the others came up to the three of them. Jason came to his senses as the other Anibots were pulling him off.

"What happened?" Jason said and then looked down. "Mouse!?" Jason noticed that Justin was underneath him.

"GET OFF!" Justin pushed Jason off him. Jason got up, then noticed that Proto Man was laying on the ground motionless.

"Proto?" Jason said as he tried to stir Proto Man. "Guys, bring him back to the transport. We are taking him back." Jason, Billy and Rocky picked up the unconscious Proto Man, but Jason then saw Dr. Wily's Skullcer coming toward them. "Hurry!"

They put Proto Man into the transport and took off. Dr. Wily didn't follow them because he didn't know that they had fought and took his right hand man. Apparently, Dr. Wily didn't even know that the Anibots had been there.

"We are out of Dr. Wily's range, Mega," Trini said from the cockpit of the transport vehicle. "What's up with Proto?"

"MEGA MAN!!!" Dr. Light yelled into the communication system. All of the Anibots had to take their helmets off because Dr. Light had yelled so loud. "You disobeyed my direct orders. I order you to eliminate Proto. Why didn't you?!" All of the Anibots back on their helmets.

"Dr. Light, Proto Man is human," Jason explained. "We knew at the last battle and forgot to tell you. I know who Proto Man is and I know that he is not evil at heart. He is under Wily's control."

"Why didn't you tell me this earlier?" Dr. Light sounded calmer. "Restrain him and try to find any of those mind control chips. I will analyze them later. Hurry back. We need to deal with this situation as soon as possible."

"Right," Jason and Trini said at the exact same time. The Anibots took Proto Man into a room in the back of the transport where they held any criminals. Rush flew Jason toward the transport and the two jumped back onto the transport. The Anibots strapped Proto Man to the floor with metal straps and Jason reached for Proto Man's helmet.

"Jason?" Katherine said.

"Owl, try to find the chip when I take his helmet off," Jason said to Billy. Billy nodded. Jason grabbed Proto Man's helmet and slowly pulled it off. Everyone gasped. Jason was right all along. They saw Tommy's face. "Owl?"

"Right," Billy said and began to search Tommy's head. Billy's face lit up with happiness. He pulled on something on top of Tommy's head and then he was holding in his hand. A mind control chip. Everyone smiled with joy. They knew that Tommy wouldn't attack them intentionally and seeing the mind control chip relieved them.

"Yes," Justin said and then ran to Trini. "Spider! Owl found a chip on him! He is on our side!"

"That's great!" Trini said with a huge grin on her face.

"Good work, Owl," Dr. Light said. He had see what had happened in Billy's camera helmet. "He should be fine." At that point, Tommy was stirring. He was waking up.

"Proto?" Jason said as Tommy's vision finally focused. "Are you ok?"

"Mega Man?" Tommy said as he tried to get up, but then found that he was being held down. "What happened?"

"You went nuts back there, bro," Jason said. He couldn't believe that he was calling Proto Man "bro" after the teasing that Proto Man had done earlier, but he always did call Tommy bro anyway. Billy undid the straps to let Tommy go. Tommy staggered to his feet. "We removed your chip that was controlling you."

"Did you get both of them?" Tommy said

"Both?!" Billy said surprised. "There's two?!"

"Yeah there...ahhh!" Tommy started to say, but then was interrupted by a sharp pain. Tommy grabbed his head.

"Proto?!" Katherine said in a very concerned and scared voice.

Tommy stopped grabbing his head and turned toward the Anibots. Tommy lunged at Jason and pinned him up against the metal wall. Tommy was choking Jason with one hand.

"Land this thing!" Tommy barked out.

"But..." Rocky began to say.

"NOW!!" Tommy yelled. "Or do you want to see your precious leader die before your eyes?" Tommy tightened his grip and Jason started gasping for breath. "DO IT!!"

"Spider, land the transport!" Kimberly yelled. "Now!"

Tommy grabbed Jason in an arm choke hold and made his way to where Trini was piloting the transport. Trini was trying to land as fast as she could.

"Land it now!" Tommy yelled.

"I'm trying!" Trini said. "We don't want to crash!"

"Three!" Rocky yelled.

Rocky, Adam, Zack, and Justin all lunged at Tommy and tackled him. They pinnedTommy as Jason got out of the hold. Jason then had Tommy did the same hold behind Tommy's back, Adam and Rocky had Tommy's feet, Zack held his legs together and Justin held his head.

"Hold him!" Jason yelled.

"Let me go!!" Tommy yelled.

"I found the other chip, Mega," Billy said and grabbed the chip and yanked on it. Billy pulled it out and Tommy started to calm down. The Anibots let go of him.

"Proto?" Billy said. "Are you ok now?"

"Yeah, I think so," Tommy said. "My head feels a whole lot better."

"That's good," Tanya said. "You're not under the chips' control anymore."

"I guess you know who I am now," Tommy said with a sad look on his face. "Plus, I caused a lot of trouble."

"It's ok," Jason said. "It isn't your fault."

"Zack, I am really sorry about that fight earlier. I wasn't myself and..."

Zack made a zipper motion with his hand and then said, "Drop it. It's ok, Tommy."

"Are all of you...Rangers?" Tommy asked the Anibots. The Anibots all took off their helmets and smiled at him. Tommy hung his head in shame, because he realized that he was attacking and hurting his friends. "Jas...I...I..."

"Tommy, don't dwell on it," Jason said. "It's over and done with. Let's all go home."

All of the Anibots and Tommy made the trip back to Dr. Light's Lab. Everyone put their helmets (even Tommy) back on and entered the lab. Dr. Light had a happy look on his face.

"Guys, you should have told me earlier about Proto Man," Dr. Light said as he came up to shake Tommy's hand. "Otherwise, he is lucky to be alive right now."

"Dr. Light, I am ...sorry," Tommy said. "I didn't mean to..."

"We all know now that you didn't mean to do the things that you did. Anibots, the chip, please."

"There were two," Billy said as he gave both to Dr. Light.

Dr. Light look at them curiously. "Yes, these are mind control chips. You had to have had a strong mind and/or a pure heart in order for him to use two chips. One chip wasn't enough for you. Even though that the chips have older circuitry and is the older model to Crash Man, Metal Man and Quick Man, this is really impressive." Jason blushed when Dr. Light mentioned about Crash Man. "Would you like to join us Proto Man? Tommy? Be an Anibot with Mega Man and the others?"

Tommy turned to his friends and saw their smiling faces. All of them looked like they wanted for him to be one of them. Tommy shook his head and pressed two buttons on his buster. Tommy detransformed into his regular clothes and pulled off his transformation bracelet. It was all red, but not as fancy looking as the new Anibot models.

"I can't," Tommy said. "Proto Man is a symbol of evil and I don't want to be that symbol anymore." He handed Dr. Light the bracelet. "I believe that this belongs to you, doctor."

"Why?" Jason said surprised, "Why not?"

"I have a feeling that my parents think I am dead. I want to go home to tell them I am alright. Besides, I might run into some old friends. T.J., Cassie and the others. Plus, I need a break from this."

"Yeah. Like you said before we met Wily, you were sick of fighting."

"Yup, but I think that I am destined to. You know our history. We can't avoid it."

"Tommy, stay the night here. We will talk to Mr. and Mrs. Rush in the morning. Besides, it's been a while since we all were together."

"Rest well, Thomas," Dr. Light said. Tommy gave a disgusted look.

"Don't call him Thomas," Trini whispered into Dr. Light's ear. "He hates it!"

"Why?"

"We don't know. He won't tell us."

The Anibots and Tommy went back to their townhouse. Tommy couldn't believe the place. They had different kinds of pizza for dinner honoring Tommy's return. After dinner, a few of the Anibots watched TV, but Zack and Tommy were in Zack's room.

"So what's going to happen from here, bro?" Zack said.

"After I visit everyone back home, I was going to come back to school here," Tommy said. "I already talked to Dr. Light before dinner about it and he said that I can work for him for money to pay tuition."

"That's great! But, when are you leaving tomorrow?"

"Early, before the sun rises. Knowing everyone, they will to make a big production about seeing me off. I don't want that. The only one that might be up at that time is Billy and he won't say anything."

"True."

"I will come back in a few days. Dr. Light told me that I will room with you guys when I return."

"Tommy, do you want to make your return interesting?"

"What are you think about, Zack?" Zack smiled evilly.

Eleven at night came to them so quickly. Everyone was happy now. They all felt complete having everyone together, but they knew that it would last for a few more hours. Tommy slept underneath Jason in the buckbed. Tommy set Jason's alarm clock and quickly turned it off at six the next morning. Tommy took a lunch that he made the night before and was about to take a company car when Dr. Light came outside when Tommy was about to go into the car.

"Leaving now?" Dr. Light said.

"Yeah," Tommy said. "I didn't want..."

"Go, Tommy. I won't tell. Just come back soon. Okay? We want to have our Proto Man back." Tommy looked a little annoyed.

"Doc, it's just plain old Tommy. I am not Proto Man anymore."

"No matter where you go, Tommy, you will always be Proto Man. It is what you do with the suit that counts. All you need to do is to do good deeds with the suit. I want you to have the suit back."

"Not now though. Maybe later. See ya later, Doc." Tommy got into the car and drove off.

"See you soon, Tom."

End