Mega Man found himself propelled upwards into an ocean...somehow. At this point, he'd decided to not question how Vinyl had gotten the Wubtress to work. It was already in defiance of everything he knew about natural law as far as how big it was on the inside. It really shouldn't be a surprise, as far as he was concerned, if he went up to come up the bottom of an ocean.
He was grateful to find that the consistency of the liquid actually allowed him to swim around, since he was unable to get a signal out to Rush. Waving his arms and kicking his feet, he was able to more or less propel himself through the liquid. Unfortunately, he quickly discovered that while doing so he couldn't fire his buster. Unless he was braced on a platform, he couldn't shoot at the enemy robots that came after him.
The robots were an...intriguing variety. White robotic squids shot balls of ink at him, while varicolored robotic fish swam back and forth or pursued him, depending on their color scheme. Flowers shot fireballs at him that somehow burned underwater. Giant clams opened and shut, tantalizingly revealing various energy replenishing items he could absorb, plainly ready to snap shut on him should he dare to try and snatch them.
Through it all, a massive robotic eel swam, plainly hunting him whenever he got too close to it. It was far too big for him to take down readily, and it moved too fast for him to risk bracing somewhere and opening fire. Thankfully, there were quite a few stone structures he could swim through that were too small for the eel to pursue him through...even if they did have a glut of the other enemies. He did discover the occasional green or red box he could grab hold of and ride for a time as it sped forward.
Every so often, Mega Man was able to find an air pocket underwater that the robots couldn't pursue him into. He took advantage of these areas to rest and recuperate as he made his way through, especially as they had energy capsules hanging from the ceiling, just out of his reach ordinarily, but he was able to find a way to get high enough to shoot them down from the ceiling by stacking boxes.
At long last, Mega Man reached the surface of the ocean...and saw nothing. Looking around in all directions, he struggled to find where the next Guardian could be. He groaned. "Don't tell me I have to fight him somewhere underwater!" he groaned loudly.
"Okay, I won't," a familiar voice told him from behind as music erupted into the air.
Spinning, Mega Man yelped, barely managing to get out of the water before the giant eel snatched him up. Landing on its head, he saw a familiar figure standing there. It was Shadow Man, but he'd changed. His blue garb had darkened to purple, and a long red scarf flowed in the air behind him. Spikes stuck out from his elbows, and a sword was strapped to his back. "What the-who are you?" Mega Man demanded, shocked.
"I was Shadow Man," the figure replied. "I am now Umikage. You have two questions left."
Mega Man ground his teeth. "Is this going to happen with all of you?" he demanded angrily.
"Yes, but four hardly counts as all," Umikage replied. "You have one question before I attack."
Mega Man struggled not to snap in anger or give a sarcastic quip. "Is this another pattern learning trial?"
"Correct," Umikage stated bluntly before lunging forward, his sword leaping into his hand.
Mega Man let out a gasp as he evaded the charge the only way he could, by leaping over Umikage. He couldn't dodge far side to side without falling off the eel, which sometimes changed directions without warning, making him restabilize to avoid falling off into the water, where robotic sharks now waited to tear him apart. Umikage followed up his charging slash by hurling several shurikens, leaping into the air to hurl kunais, and landing at the head of the eel and thrusting his arms up to send a wave of water at Mega Man, which ran the risk of pushing the blue bomber off the eel.
Acting quickly, Mega Man evaded each strike as best he could. The shurikens could be slid under. The kunais could be dodged by running back and forth. He could dodge the wave by hiding close behind one of the eel's spines, which rose up as it drove through the wave. Unlike Gaius, Umikage did not follow a specific pattern of what order he used the attacks in, although his movements did give Mega Man a warning of which attack came next.
In trying to find the damage point, Mega Man made the mistake of moving into melee range, only to receive a barrage of sword slashes, punches, and spiked elbow strikes before being tossed away, having to grab hold of a spine quickly to avoid being thrown off the eel.
Eventually, Mega Man managed to figure out where Umikage was vulnerable: the blue and white shuriken on his forehead. Unfortunately, he deflected shots aimed there with sword strikes, thrown shurikens, or thrown kunais. The only time the shots could get through was when he was summoning the wave. However, Mega Man was nothing if not determined.
At long last, Umikage pulled back, sheathing his weapons. "That is enough," he stated bluntly. "Hold on tight." With that, he vanished.
"Wait, what-" The eel suddenly dove, and all Mega Man could do was hold tight to a spine. It then leapt out of the water, swimming into the sky. "Why can't this place make sense?!?!" Mega Man screamed out in frustration.
A panel opened up on the eel as it soared into the sky, revealing a note.
Because it's more fun if it doesn't.
Two questions left.
Vulcan.
Groaning, Mega Man smacked his face against the eel as it soared ever upward.