"So, what Robot Master are we closest to now?" Mega Man asked Prometheus. "And what are their abilities?"
"Next up would be...Sheep Man," Prometheus explained after consulting the data file he'd downloaded. "He's a weather control Robot Master designed to...herd sheep."(1)
"What?" Bass demanded flatly. "Just what kind of sheep need to be herded with lightning bolts?"
Mega Man shrugged. "Robotic sheep?" he offered innocently.
"What the heck is the point of robot sheep?" Bass countered angrily.
"...high quality synthetic wool?"
Bass stared at Mega Man, seething rage in his eyes. "And why, pray tell, wouldn't such robotic sheep be programmed to herd themselves?"
"Because then Sheep Man would be out of a job?" Mega Man postulated whimsically.
With a scream of inarticulate fury, Bass lunged for the Blue Bomber, only for Prometheus to grab the fin-helmeted battle bot by the scruff of his neck to haul him up short. "You haven't shown enough symptoms for this to be Roboenza," Prometheus chided, "so keep your temper under control."
"I'll be perfectly controlled once I've throttled that idiot for ten minutes!" Bass snapped out.
Prometheus gave him a glare.
"He's a robot!" Bass growled in protest. "He'll be fine."
Prometheus thought about that for a time. "...five minutes."
"Deal!"
"What?" Mega Man gasped out. "What do you-GYAK!"
Prometheus carefully watched the clock.
Exactly five minutes later, the trio beamed into the structure that the berserk Sheep Man had turned into his base. Mega Man and Bass were still trading glowers, so Prometheus led the way past more of the same enemies, through green walled halls, and over sections of colored blocks that vanished in color groups shortly after anyone stepped on them.
The path through the structure remained straightforward, and the three working together were able to plow their way through the enemies, and moving quickly kept them ahead of the vanishing blocks. The next new obstacle were platforms that could only be raised to stand on by running on a treadmill, which was also easily dealt with.
The guardian of the structure proved to be a giant light bulb robot hooked up to treadmills that caused it to light up, which was the only time it could be damaged. It also released smaller floating light bulb bots that seemed to swim through the air towards the group. Bass focused on taking out those, while Mega Man ran on a treadmill. When the bulb became illuminated, platforms revealed themselves. For a better shooting angle to not interfere with Bass, Prometheus hopped up the platforms and shattered the main bulb with a fully charged shot, opening the path further into the building.
Beyond there, a long sequence of disappearing blocks blocked the path. "...any reason we can't call in Rush and Treble to carry us across?" Mega Man asked curiously.
"They might get infected," Bass pointed out bluntly.
"Fair enough," Mega Man admitted, resigned.
The only other new obstacle were drones shaped like mouse cursors that created hard light images of blocks that flew at the group, but they proved to be exceptionally fragile, proving no real obstacle to the group. This left the path clear for them to enter the chamber Sheep Man awaited them in. He was a sheep shaped Robot Master with white wool and yellow horns...or at least, that was as much as the trio were able to see before he burst into four clouds to shoot lightning at them.
"So, he herds sheep?" Bass clarified.
"Yup," Prometheus confirmed.
"Like a sheepdog?"
"Yup."
"Think he'll chase a ball?"
Deciding to give it a try, Mega Man hurled a Rebound Striker, the weapon they'd gotten from Strike Man. The ball ricocheted off a couple walls and nearly took Sheep Man's head off on impact.
Bass and Prometheus immediately switched weapons.
With the Thunder Wool weapon in tow, the trio decided to go after Pump Man next. Being a Robot Master that dealt with high volumes of water, it was presumed he might be vulnerable to high levels of electricity.
Pump Man had based himself in the sewers, forcing the trio to slog their way through sludge to make it to him. Despite the few new enemy types moving about the sewers, the sludge and endless water flow proved to be the biggest obstacle for the trio, as it limited their movement capabilities far more than any danger from the drone bots themselves. Not to mention, it stank to high heaven.
"Okay, after this guy, we are going back to the lab for a full decontamination," Mega Man grumbled, not surprised that no one gainsaid him.
When a path split offered them a choice between going into the water or staying above, none hesitated to take the upper path, blasting their way past the drones that fought them to make it to where Pump Man awaited them. He was a dark blue Robot Master that looked like he'd been built out of a water pump. He generated a shield of bubbles around himself as he leapt towards them...only for the lightning of the Thunder Wool the three released to tear through both shield and Pump Man's energy reserves almost dangerously fast, leaving the bot a smoking wreck.
"Four down," Mega Man grunted. "And I need a shower desperately."
"Have you got spares?" Bass asked hopefully.
"There are eight robot showers back in Light's Lab," Prometheus stated flatly.
Bass turned to stare at Mega Man. "Why are they specifically 'robot showers'?" he asked coldly.
"Because they use streams of high pressure water that robotic superstructure and synthoflesh can handle, but would severely injure humans," Mega Man explained directly.
Bass blinked for a few moments. "Oh. Fair enough."
The group downloaded the Water Shield weapon, and then promptly beamed out to get their hoped for showers.
(1) In canon, Sheep Man was meant to just herd sheep until Wily modified him to have lightning based combat abilities. The following conversation derived from justifying that ability in the present situation. ...I may have enjoyed writing it a little too much.
And we enjoyed reading it...
I guess Wily made him Baaad to the Bone.
I can safely say this has become one of my favorite moments in this entire story! I just can't stop imagining Bass and Homer Simpson and Mega Man as Bart Simpson.
Do robot masters dream of Sheep Man?
Another great chapter. You are definitely just about my favorite author on this site
This was a hilarious read, especially the parts with the strangling and the battle with Sheep Man
7584160 Bass: Why you LITTLE- *strangles and growls while Mega Man gags with a wall-eyed expression*
So robots have something to count as they go into sleep mode, duh!!!
Makes you wonder WHY Wily gave him lighting instead of a charge attack with his horns or a wool barrier. Oh well, still a good change in this version.
7584156 Guess he really wanted to pull the wool over their eyes on that one.
Also, another reason I can think of Wily doing this was because he might have been similarly shocked by either carpets or swarmed by sheep for some odd reason.
Would help explain his penchant for his current hairstyle.
Welcome to the world of Wily's Wittle Wub / MotF, where all of reality is systematically designed to infuriate any who hold hope, with no more an explanation than this meme allows.
jpninfo.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/slang-tehepero.jpg
Do Mega Man dream with electrical sheep?
7584317 Yes, yes he does, in fact.
On one hand, that conversation is justified, on the other, now I want to see that actually done in a comic. Maybe he does it by using precisely controlled bolts to change their routing parameters as needed.
Is it possible to give the mastermind behind this and the Mars Incident a wedgie for trying to frame Dr. Wily?
GIANT FLYING SHEEP!
"Those are clouds..." -_-
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
Uhhh... What?
I was kind of expecting Sheep Man to act like a Pokémon. With Double Team, Thunder, Thunder Wave....
Still, it was humorous for Rock to explain Sheep Man's purpose was. At least, what he could guess anyway.
Another enjoyable chapter. Good job.
If this chapter is any indication, the next chapters up to the end are going to be a lot of fun to read.
Insert ship-shape joke here.
7584317 Is that your favorite Dick book?
I can see why you enjoyed writing that scene in particular, it caused a spit-take of coffee here.
I'm guessing that is what the chapter title was alluding to.
And since this isn't the comics no one has used weapons data to infect Megaman before, right?
7584194
tse3.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.M0baec3fc31e2f2804e50ae23ee7a5bc7o0&pid=15.1
Yeah, I agree.
Hah!
7585117 Actually, given how great these chapters are, and how attached I've gotten to the characters, I can honestly say I am NOT looking forward to the end. For additional context, go back to Melody of the Future and read where X and Zero are found...
As soon as Mega Man justified the Robot Showers I had the dumbest, funniest racist thought. I'm only sharing it because part of it offends me.
Bass: "Why is it black showers?"
Mega Man: "Because white showers use bleach."
Bass: "Fair enough. R.I.P. Michael Jackson."
7605400
*repeated facedesk*
Can't say ya didn't deserve it, Mega.
So hearing Mega as DBZA Goku, Bass as Vegeta, and Prometheus as Piccolo.
sheepman and pumpman are down, 4 remain, and time may soon be running out.