//------------------------------// // 5-Alive: Round 2 // Story: Wily's Wittle Wub // by Tatsurou //------------------------------// As Mega Man went after Star Man at the old space station, he discovered something interesting. In addition to getting the Master Weapon when he defeated the Robot Masters, he also got one number of an eight digit coordinate code. A bit of thought brought him to the conclusion that this would be the location of the mysterious ninth, new Robot Master. Keeping track of that, he continued on. He arrived on the outside of the station, where a weaker gravity let him jump higher and float slowly downward, but he quickly became more concerned with the meteor shower coming straight for the station, forcing him to run ahead of it to keep from being blasted apart. Once inside the station, he was safe from the meteors, but the robots and hazards lining the interior halls proved designed to make the lower gravity more difficult to maneuver in, with spike traps in midair or on the ceiling and turrets in the floor. Despite this, Mega Man was able to progress rapidly, as he was quite used to dealing with low gravity settings, and the vacuum was easier to deal with than the pressures of deep water. The only major hazard he encountered was a bot that resembled an AT-ST in build, but with a flatter head. Unfortunately for the bot, its weapons didn't charge fast enough to make it any sort of real threat after everything Mega Man had dealt with before. It wasn't long before Mega Man reached the control center for the station, where Star Man awaited. "You are. Late," Star Man stated bluntly, his voice seeming to skip at odd moments, leaving strange gaps in his speech. "I expected. You to come after me. First." "Uh...is something wrong with your voice?" Mega Man asked worriedly. "My voice is. Perfect," Star Man insisted. "I am. The greatest star. Ever to perform in space." He struck a dramatic pose. Mega Man rolled his eyes. "Right..." He leveled his buster. "Shields up!" Star Man proclaimed, putting his arms to his side and conjuring a shield of stars around his body. "Set phasers. To stun." Mega Man blinked in surprise. "You actually have phasers?" "...not as. Such." Mega Man groaned as he put his face in his hands, then charged forward between the spinning stars to unleash Water Wave at point blank range, sending Star Man slamming back against the wall in a soaking mess. "...I am forced. To see the truth," Star Man spoke sadly. "I am nothing. But a washed up. Has been..." With that, he teleported out, leaving his weapon chip behind. Mega Man collected the chip, acquiring the Star Crash Master Weapon...and Super Arrow. "Hmm?" Mega Man wondered, examining the new program. "I'll have to check that out at some point..." With that, he warped away, heading for the anti-grav research institute. When Mega Man arrived in the institute, the first thing he noticed was a large display on the wall with two sets of arrows, one set pointing up, one set pointing down. The arrows pointing down were presently illuminated. "I get the feeling I'm not going to like that," he murmured thoughtfully. "I think I'll test out this 'Super Arrow' before I go any further. Let's see..." Loading up the weapon, he fired it off...seeing it generate a suction cup arrow big enough for him to stand on. It floated in the air in front of him for a few moments, then shot forward. "...okay..." Mega Man murmured, feeling singularly nonplussed. He began reading the weapon documentation. "Uh huh...oh, not meant as a weapon. It's a transport item. I can ride it or use it to climb walls. That's...useful, I'm sure." With that determined, he switched back to his buster and made his way forward. As he progressed through the area, he saw several columns of the flashing arrows, pointing in opposite directions. Every time he passed by them, he found gravity reversing itself. "I see," he observed after the first one. "These arrows mark the boundaries between areas of altered gravity. I'll have to keep track of that." It quickly proved that the altered gravity was the only hazard of any significance in the area, and once Mega Man got a handle on that, he was able to breeze through to the central chamber, where Gravity Man awaited. The only concern Mega Man had was that gravity reversed so he walked on the ceiling as he entered the final chamber. Gravity Man dropped in to the floor. "This is going to be a very short fight," Gravity Man proclaimed as gravity reversed itself, sending Mega Man to the floor and Gravity Man to the ceiling. Gravity Man tried to shoot Mega Man as he zoomed by, but Mega Man was able to dodge the small projectile. "You're right about that," Mega Man confirmed as he switched to Star Crash, activating the shield. He positioned himself on the floor, then hurled the shield forward as Gravity Man reversed gravity again, taking the three stars right to the face. The fight continued in that pattern for several rounds, with Mega Man using Star Crash both to block incoming shots and damage Gravity Man. After a time, Gravity Man remained where he was. "...I can't beat you," he concluded finally. "You did say it would be a short fight," Mega Man pointed out. "I had thought my mastery of gravity would have given me an advantage, but it appears I was mistaken," Gravity Man admitted. "You have advanced too far, and I cannot match you. I admit defeat." Walking forward, he dropped his weapon chip down to Mega Man before teleporting away. Mega Man couldn't help but frown thoughtfully as he downloaded Gravity Hold. Why would Vinyl pit me against Robot Masters I can defeat so easily, when they're programmed to recognize this and have the option of leaving? The ninth can't be powerful enough to counterbalance that- He froze as realization hit him. This is all televized. The more overpowered I seem compared to the Robot Masters she didn't make, the stronger the one she did make seems by comparison when it's on even footing with me... He slammed his fist into the wall as he figured out what was going on. She's trying to Worf me!