VSW-012: Earth
As Wily and Vinyl watched via remote cameras, Mega Man entered the tower...only to find himself in a vast rainforest, easily several dozen miles wide. "Vinyl," Albert asked curiously, "how did you manage to fit that much rainforest inside a tower that isn't even a square mile at the base from the outside?"
"The same tech that made Giganto work," Vinyl answered readily as she watched Mega Man make his way through the thick foliage.
"You expanded the tower when I wasn't looking?" Albert postulated.
"Nope!" Vinyl replied happily. "The space inside the tower!"
"What?" Albert gasped out, shocked. "But that's..."
He hesitated. By all he knew about science, what Vinyl had named should have been impossible. It violated every known law of physics, and even the very design of the matter expansion device itself. However, he wasn't entirely sure how much of Vinyl's technological developments were pure science, and how much was her magic bending the laws of physics to work how she thought they should because no one had told her otherwise. If he told her that what she'd said just now was impossible, and it was because of her magic, would that magic stop working?
"...genius," he finished quietly, deciding he didn't want to discover if Puffs of Logic could really happen if he was going to be at the epicenter of one.
"I know, right?" Vinyl replied eagerly, completely missing her father's hesitation.
Mega Man pushed his way through the rainforest, doing his best not to damage the foliage as he made his way through. He didn't know what it was doing there, and didn't want to take the risk it was somehow important beyond just being a thematic area to fight his way through. He kept his eyes open and his sensors strong. Not only were there robotic animals - everything from ostriches to bats and giant monkeys - there were flesh and blood animals, too...and those were even more dangerous. He'd already seen an anaconda crush one of the robotic monkeys in its coils, thinking it was a meal. And he wasn't going to go close enough to the trumpeting bellows to learn if the elephants were flesh or steel.
Thankfully, some of the area led into tunnels under the ground, although the dangers were no less. The giant blue robotic wolves that breathed fire only appeared underground, after all. Admittedly, there weren't any organic animals underground, so he could just blast his way through.
After quite some time of exploring, Mega Man finally noticed something...off about the area. Here and there, certain trees were missing chunks of bark, revealing circuitry underneath. His sensors told him plainly that most of the trees were organic, but there were some mechanical ones fleshing out the numbers. Towards one region of the rainforest, there were a great deal more synthetic trees than organic ones, which didn't make sense if the machine trees were there to promote natural growth.
As he moved into that region, he saw that the natural growth was quickly choked out by the synthetic, leading him to an area that was entirely machine plant life, and not even any robotic animals. Approaching the center, he spotted a familiar figure sitting on a tree stump with his back to him. "Wood Man?" he called out, shocked.
The figure stood and turned to face him. It was certainly Wood Man, but he looked different, as though he'd been re-carved. Instead of a stumpy block of wood like a section cut out of a tree, his torso was thick and strong, with carvings of muscle rippling under wooden syntho-flesh. His limbs, once spindly, were now quite thick, and he towered over Mega Man by at least three feet.
"I was once called that," the figure replied calmly. "But today, my mind is clear, and I serve a new purpose. I am the Earth Guardian of the mighty Wubtress. I am Gaius." He shifted into a combat stance. "Are you prepared to see my full strength, Mega Man?"
"Can I ask a couple of questions first?" Mega Man pleaded.
Gaius thought for a time. "I am allowed to answer three of your questions. You have one left."
Mega Man gritted his teeth, but nodded. "Does 'Wubtress' refer to Vinyl or the tower?"
"The tower," Gaius replied. "Prepare to fall."
With no further warning, Gaius surged forward. When his fist slammed into the ground in front of Mega Man, the earth surged up, forcing Mega Man to leap backwards even as the trees and grass lunged for him at Gaius' command. As Mega Man dodged and weaved, he tried to blast Gaius, but the only part of him that took damage was the back of his head.
Eventually, Mega Man began to notice Gaius' pattern. He'd start with a lunge to make the ground surge up, quickly followed up with making the plants attack. Then he'd surround himself with a Leaf Shield for a charging attack. If he didn't hit anything, he'd immediately spin around and restart his pattern. If he hit Mega Man, he'd grab him and smash him into the ground before hurling him over his shoulder, and then restart his pattern. If he hit one of his trees, however, he'd freeze up for a few moments as leaves fell. Mega Man was able to get a few shots in if he managed to aim between the leaves as they fell.
After managing to land about 16 hits in this way, Gaius stopped. "I'm done now," he stated softly.
"You mean...I beat you?" Mega Man gasped out.
"No," Gaius replied. "I'm under orders to fight you with a specific pattern. If you're able to deal enough damage to me by that pattern to show you've learned it, I'm to let you move on to the next area of the Wubtress. This does not count as defeating me, merely proving your capabilities in overcoming the Trial of Earth. Four other trials await you before you can face the true Mistress of this place, and three Guardians. Good luck, you will need it."
Before Mega Man could react, Gaius took a strong horse stance, slammed his fists into the ground, and thrust them together into the air. A pillar of earth shot up under Mega Man, launching him screaming into the sky...and to the next area of the Wubtress.
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Woodman became an earthbender...nice! And if we are following the avatar cycle next would be fire, water, air, and then Avatar Vinyl.
Scream launcher activated.
Sadly, the music lasts far longer than it takes to read the fight portion. The set elements mentioned alerted me to the boss being a reformatted Wood Man before the reveal, with the reformatting being clued in by Air Man being called Typhon last chapter.
That said, decently well-written.
Oh, yeah, and did Vinyl just accidentally reinvent the TARDIS effect?
6855535 Air comes after Fire.
So the first four guardians are going to be the robots he never actually defeated... Interesting.
Horse stance... heh, and that's even an actual martial arts stance.
Also, Giaus... Similar to Gaia, Goddess of the Earth.
Typhon... The son of Gaia and Tartarus, the storm giant, and one of the few monsters who ever actually came close to defeating the Greek gods.
I wonder who else Megaman is going to face.
Well, magic is basically Achievements in Ignorance anyway.
Awesome job mate.
Heh... It'd be interesting if she ever wound up meeting Qwark.
Bu Megaman only asked two questions, unless his second one counted as 2 to make 3
6855589 I followed that too far and found this under something to do with strength born of madness.
Anybody remember Avatar the Last Air Bender because I'm getting a King Boomy vibe, here.
6855656
There were three, but the whole thing was set up to be a dick move of sorts.
6855750 ohhhhh i see it now!
I'd ask if metal would be included, but we all know the answer to that.
That was fun, may I have another? Looking forward to more.
Keep up the good work. Deus tecum.
6855664
Nah, Pinkie is perfectly aware of what she does. She just doesn't necessarily know exactly how she does it.
6855709 You are not the only one.
6855864 A prelude to Metalman?
6856161 It'd be pretty cool to see, but it'd most likely not happen.
For one, it's apparent they're doing a "four elements" motif (Gee, I wonder why...) if Typhon and Gaius are anything to take from it.
And then there's the fact that, despite his combat capabilities, he was decommissioned because of he was too scary or some such.
It'd be neat to see some sort of coming to terms with that whole subplot, but it probably won't happen. Oh well, a guy can dream.
Make sure that Typhon does the windy thing!
When you started with the rainforest, all I could think of:
Another enjoyable chapter. Good job.
I read Gaius and think of Tales of Xillia.
6856600 Pretty sure we all know who's been upgraded for THAT position...
Vinyl stop breaking physics! That's Pinkie's thing.
There really should be four more guardian for a total of Earth, Fire, Wind, Water, HEART! Unless the last one is Vinyl. Because everyone knows a cute little filly using their cuteness powers makes hearts go HHHHHHNNNNNNGGGG!!!
6857169 And then, with the Element of Science from Willy, they launch a Rainbow to Mega Man
Crash Man could be Fire, Shadow Man might be part of this as Water with Ninja Techniques or something. Maybe Bass or Proto man are in on this as well.
Hey, I just remembered that Mega Man refought Skull Man, who also seemed to be upgraded at the start of this story... Perhaps VInyl had a hoof in that as well...
6857320 Well, they have a whole periodic table of Elements of Science to use, 118 of them.
6858030 ....
6858047 No, they just hit him with every element on the Periodic Table at the same time. All of them mixing together suddenly would probably make a pretty good boom.
6860866
That's the best kind of bi.
I kind of wonder if I'm the only reader rooting for Mega Man at this point. I'm really hoping that Vinyl actually learns a lesson from this for once instead of the other way around.
6856600 Ah, memories.
6855544 The reason the music lasts longer is because everyone reads at different speeds, and it's better to go over than under, the music cutting out in the middle of the fight scene. Also, a better term for the TARDIS effect.
But it counts as defeating a challenge, so he still won
6861394
I am rooting for him.
7732121
REALLY?! TREE PUN?! YOU'RE AS BAD AS MIKE SCHMIDT FROM THE FNAF COMICS!
Timelord tech level, Vinyl is very smart.
the fact the robot masters got upgrades to become even stronger is an awesome idea, showcasing how mega isn't the only one advancing over time.