With the S. Tomahawk now in his program, Mega Man decided to make a couple of preparations before going after Yamato Man. First, he made a few inquiries of Yamato Man's creator. Then he recruited a bit of backup, uncertain whether or not it would be needed. However, he decided it was better to have this backup and not need it rather than need it and not have it. Once that backup was in position, he made his way into the Fortress that Yamato Man had taken over.
The Fortress proved to be more machine and metal than ancient stone, soaring into the sky like a tower. As Mega Man entered, however, he noticed a wall that had undergone some structural damage. Activating Rush's Power Adapter, he broke through the wall, seeking a swifter way to reach Yamato Man than climbing the tower. Behind the broken wall was a samurai robot, but not Yamato Man. Mega Man was able to evade its spear strikes by staying out of range and shooting after it had hurled its spear, and before it drew another one. He then broke another wall, dropping downward.
Confronted by a giant frog tank driven by another samurai bot, Mega Man evaded its lasers and thrown bombs, shooting at the frog tank's eyes to take it down. Once the tank went down, Mega Man continued onward, pausing only to break another wall to grab an extra E Tank. After a short path with few robots guarding it, Mega Man encountered a split in the path, with ladders leading up and down. After careful consideration, he went down.
The path once more had very few robots guarding it, allowing Mega Man to swiftly make his way through before making his way up. It wasn't long after that before Mega Man safely made his way to the path to what he'd come to think of as 'the boss chamber'. Once inside the path, he paused.
Let's see... he thought to himself. Elevation...good. Position relative to the Fortress...good. And...yes, I guessed the right wall to put her at. If things work out that way... He smiled widely. At least this will be a good part of the gift. With that determined, he made his way into the 'boss chamber'.
When Yamato Man dropped in, Mega Man immediately noticed something amiss. He wasn't wearing his Tournament ribbon. "Yamato Man! Why haven't you responded to your maker's order to withdraw?" he demanded.
"A prior order takes precedence," Yamato Man explained simply. "He ordered me to do my best to win FART."
Mega Man stared at him for a time. "...so you're manipulating Three Law loopholes so you can keep your promise to Merkava?" he inferred.
"I don't see how that is any business of yours, or how it applies to this encounter," Yamato Man replied simply.
Mega Man sighed. "Then I guess we'll just have to fight now." He immediately fired off a charged blast.
Yamato Man spun his spear, deflecting it. "You will have to do better than that," he replied simply.
Mega Man began running around, seeking a better vantage even as Yamato Man did the same. "Shouldn't you be trying to troll me about now?" he asked curiously as he fired off several probing shots.
"I won't be doing that to you," Yamato Man replied as he deflected each shot with a wave of his spear. "While there are several points I could attempt to taunt you on, I make an effort to do no real emotional damage to my opponents with those taunts."
"Huh," Mega Man admitted. "That's...rather noble of you."
"So I suppose I am limited to just my spear in this fight," Yamato Man admitted, quickly lunging in for a stab.
Mega Man back-flipped out of the way, his eyes narrowing. "Wait...what's that supposed to mean?"
"You have a lot of sore points in your psyche, Mega Man," Yamato Man explained sensibly. "I am merely trying to be sensitive to the trauma of your past-"
"Sensitive nothing!" Mega Man snapped angrily. "You're treating me with kid gloves because you think I can't take your taunts!"
"I suppose one could look at it like that," Yamato Man allowed. "But I don't feel it would be right to take advantage-"
"Take advantage!" Mega Man snarled angrily, equipping the Rush Power Armor. "I can handle everything you can throw at me!" He lunged in, delivering a solid punch that Yamato Man barely blocked with his spear shaft.
"I would rather not take that risk," Yamato Man replied, spinning his spear shaft to deflect each of Mega Man's blows. "I would not be able to live with myself if I made you cry."
"You really think I'm going to cry?" Mega Man roared angrily, charging up. "I'll make you cry!"
"I somehow doubt that," Yamato Man replied softly. "But with all you'd been through, I thought you'd welcome-"
"Don't treat me like an invalid!" Mega Man roared out, firing off a Power Armor amplified Skull Buster shot.
Yamato Man dodged to the side, watching as Mega Man flew back against the wall, the spear blade embedded in the back of his waist being driven forcefully through the Rush Power Armor, severing some key components and forcing Rush to disengage before warping out. Mega Man sank to the floor, his hand going to the blade in his back, wincing. He stared out the massive hole in the wall he'd left, seeing the trees off in the distance.
Yamato Man stepped in front of Mega Man, between him and the wall. "It looks like I've beaten you," Yamato Man stated bluntly. "I won't let you escape to take that away from me."
Mega Man smiled widely. "You know, your maker tells me that, unlike most robot designs, there's no fundamental circuitry in your head. Your personality core and hard drive is stored elsewhere in your body. If you lose your head, you'll be just fine when you get a new one. Just a temporary shut down."
"I fail to see the significance of your observation," Yamato Man stated calmly.
"It's because I didn't come here to beat you," Mega Man replied. "I don't want you to break your promise, either."
Yamato Man stared at Mega Man in confusion...until he noticed how much lower than his head Mega Man presently was. His eyes widened as he turned towards the hole in the wall.
The laser blast tore through Yamato Man's head, incinerating it and dropping him to the floor, punching into the wall well above Mega Man's head.
Off in the trees, Merkava lowered her laser-sniper rifle attachment, one she'd swapped in for one of her heavy machine guns. "Got him, Mega Man," she called through her communicator. "I'll be there to pick you both up soon." Discarding the camo sheet that had concealed her presence, she turned her tank treads towards the Fortress.
Once Mega Man and Rush were fully repaired - which didn't take long - it was discovered that the blade embedded in his side had been enough to download the Y. Spear Master Weapon. With that in hand, Mega Man went after Knight Man, who had conquered an old style castle from which to lead his efforts.
At first, the obstacles didn't seem too different as Mega Man made his way into the castle. The robotic defenses were easily dealt with using his variety of Master Weapons. However, one of the early chambers held a new challenge. Spikes raised and lowered throughout a long hall at different heights, the lowest level of spikes meeting the floor. Mega Man was forced to carefully maneuver his way past, positioning himself so that the spikes didn't so much as touch him when they reached their lowest, and jumping the smallest of heights as they raised up, all the while dealing with attacking robots.
Eventually, Mega Man made his way past it, making his way up the castle. The Rush Jet Armor proved effective at making his way through most of the remaining obstacles until he made his way back inside the castle. The next chamber had spring balls all throughout it, making him bounce around at unexpected angles as he struggled to make his way through. The only hazard was spiked bots that moved back and forth along springs or platforms, indestructible and damaging when he slammed into them.
Beyond that, he finally reached Knight Man himself. Knight Man stayed braced behind his shield, holding it over his Tournament Ribbon. "You shall not destroy my ribbon! And without that, you cannot remove me from the Tournament! I shall be victorious! You cannot penetrate my shield!"
Mega Man stared at him for a time...then smacked himself in the forehead. "I don't have to." He calmly switched to Flame Man's weapon.
"W...what are you doing?" Knight Man demanded.
"Well, you turtling isn't going to be a very entertaining fight," Mega Man explained, "so since I can't make this fight awesome, I'm going to make it funny." With that, he shot the flames at Knight Man's feet.
"Yowch!" Knight Man yelped, hopping up and down. "Hot foot! Hot foot! Hot foot!"
Mega Man waited for a time, then used Blizzard Man's weapon to put out the fire. "And...done."
Knight Man paused, then looked down. His ribbon was ashes on the floor. "Huh..." With that, he beamed out.
Mega Man chuckled as he grabbed the weapon chip for Knight C. from the hidden chamber that opened when Knight Man beamed out. "Hope that was funny enough..."
No cookies for me
Why, I want a cookie, but I can't figure out the reference.
The title reference is a bust for me. I'm not knowledgeable enough for that.
Another great chapter but no cookie for me.
I wanna say Contra, or think of Monty Python, but I'll just surrender to the fact that I cannot earn a cookie
If no one gets it before the next chapter could you tell us in the next chapter?
It's kind of funny that mega man has resigned himself to the fact that he is battling for Vinyls Amusement.
by-the-by is it a reference to space odyssey or something like that, referring to contradictions in the laws of robotics?
My mind is screaming "ACE ATTORNEY!" but that's probably because it's the only one that makes sense to me. Particularly because the story behind the King of Prosecutors trophy is symbolic of the origin of the word "contradiction", which is a mixture of the words for halberd and shield.
7092242 HEY!
Is it that old unbeatable spear and shield story?
My guess it's the Monty Python sketch with the argument clinic, where the guy just contradicts everything the other says?
7092242
7092237
The two of you get internet cookies.
It has to do with how the kanji for contradiction is written, by combining the kanji for Spear and Shield, referring to the story of the spear that could pierce anything and the shield that could block anything.
Nice.
Excellent strategy
oh the spear / shield legend... of a spear so sharp there was no shield able to stop it and a shield so hard all spears bounced... the contradiction comes because Rock bypassed both the spear and shield easily...
Oho! what a twist!
Please tell me Yamato Man is okay!
7092528
He is. Mega Man made a point of finding out that necessitating replacing his head would have no effect on his personality core or memories.
As much as I'm glad Merkava is continuing to be of use and significance, I don't think that counts as a re-match. As such, I'm looking forward to when they settle things.
Also, nice reference and bypass with the irresistible force / immovable object.
Keep up the great work. Deus tecum.
MONTY PYTHON~~!!!
Wait, you mean like entourage backup, or memory backup?... Guess we'll see.
I wouldn't call it trolling. What he did is more along the lines of triggering, using the correct words in the proper sequence to get the appropriate response. Because let's be honest, would anyone here be offended by the things he said earlier?
Exactly.
So uh, anyways. That was good. Not what I expected, but good. Carry on, then... (Why do I always get my hopes up?)
... Interesting choice of words, there. See you later, I guess.
Nothing quite as romantic as having your love interest snipe you.
Another enjoyable chapter. Good job.
yay for updates!
7092712 I agree! More specifically, Argument Clinic! It's a fair cop in the end, ain't it? Tatsurou, give us both our cookies, if you please.
7092712
7092947
You are both incorrect. Read the comments to see what the real answer is.
7092974 What?! Reverb!
"Yes?"
Chalk one for Tatsurou. Again.
There is also the Contradiction in that Megaman was getting trolled by Yamato claiming to not troll him.
*head tilt* So was Yamato Man taunting Mega Man by not taunting him????
Very nice chapters, especially Merkava getting to super snipe Yamato man. The fact she can swap out weapons makes her even more awesome.
7093416 Yeah, I thought that to. Mega Man was annoyed at not being treated with respect and made some sloppy moves.
You are referencing Game Grumps Contra playthrough, arent you?
7093934
I have no idea what you're talking about.
Read posted comments to see what I'm talking about.
Darn. And here I was thinking it was some obscure reference to the old Starburst candy commercials, with that weird Scottish guy pointing out "contradictions" like an albino lifeguard. But I couldn't think of how that would translate into this chapter. x_x
Can you hurry up on updating your stories?
7095957
This story and Another Hatchling updates every Sunday and Wednesday.
"Heart of the Dragon General" and "Sons of Damas" update every Monday and Thursday.
"Moon in the Dark" and "The Sparkle in his Eye" update every Tuesday and Friday.
Melody of the Future updates every Saturday.
Pray tell, how exactly does that need 'hurrying up'?
7096047 Sorry, it's just that this story and your 'Moon in the Dark' are the only stories of yours that I like but haven't been finished yet. Plus I'm very impatient when waiting for great stories to get a new chapter. Again, sorry.
7096047 Uh, where's the next chapter for 'Moon in the Dark'? You said it received an update on Tuesdays.
7099162
I'm currently writing it. These stories don't have specific update times, just days.
7099171 Sorry, I was curious, which is not good when combined with impatience. Unfortunately, that's pretty much me in a nutshell.
7096047 Did you mean both this story and your 'Another Hatchling' story get updated on both Sunday and Wednesday, or this story on Sunday and your 'Another Hatchling' story on Wednesday?
7102309
Both get updated on Sunday and Wednesday. So both will be updated today, once they are written.
7102310 Thanks for telling me. Still, that means I almost waited until the next chapter was uploaded. 'GASP' THE WORLD IS ENDING!
I just realized that when Megaman said gift giver in the chapter before this one, he was referring to Vinyl's birthday. He's trying to put on a show as a present to her.
I can't help thinking there's a reason why Megaman had only three walls to break through in Yamato Man's fortress.
7114801 Mind body and soul
My personal choice for this chapters music.
7117832 DOOMRIDER
That's metal and awesome as fuck mate.
Fire & Ice
Gotta say, good chapter, though am running out of ways to respond, though I won't lose my head like Yamato man did.