//------------------------------// // 5-Alive: Final Round // Story: Wily's Wittle Wub // by Tatsurou //------------------------------// The final of the eight Robot Masters, Stone Man, was based in the foundations of the Hanging Gardens. Upon arriving, Mega Man made his way forward towards where he suspected the Robot Master would be, past the support towers that held up the gardens. Finding only Mettools and bat-like bots, he faced little obstacle as he made his way into the mountain the gardens hug around. Other than rock throwing bots, rat bots, and the occasional walking bomb, Mega Man encountered no other obstacles as he made his way through the long tunnel, past its twists and turns towards the center. He found himself disappointed at the lack of challenge the area presented him, and made a mental note to keep his guard up. It would be just like Vinyl to make an area just long and boring enough to put him off his guard before springing something he wasn't prepared for at the last minute. She'd done just that one time in D&D. Of course, she'd also used the same method to trick him into being overly cautious when it wasn't necessary, leading to him losing in a time based situation. At the other end of the tunnel, he came out in an above ground area that he decided to ride across with Super Arrow, skipping over most of it before climbing back into the mountain. A few more similar sections led to the control chamber for the Garden Support Towers, where Stone Man awaited him. "It's time to be terminated!" Stone Man proclaimed fiercely, smashing his stone fists together. Mega Man stared at Stone Man for a time. "...no," he said simply. "I'm not doing this. You're the same one of the set of eight Robot Masters that I would have fought back when the only advantage I had was two busters to charge. I've gone so far beyond that now it's not even funny, and you haven't even been upgraded at all." He switched to the Napalm Bomb weapon. "I could blast you to bits with your weakness, or just take you on with my normal buster...but either way, you haven't a chance of even damaging me, let alone taking me down. Fighting you isn't going to be fun, or entertaining. Just...boring. Just like the area I had to get through to get to you. So no, I'm not doing this. Just give me your weapon chip and beam back home so I can go after the Robot Master that's actually meant to challenge me." He sighed, lowering his eyes. "Besides...I never wanted to fight you the first time around either, Guts. I'm not going to do it again." Stone Man stared at Mega Man for a time, then nodded. Tossing him his weapon chip, he replied, "I'll be back," before warping away. "That's the idea," Mega Man confirmed, programming in the eight-digit coordinate code for the last Robot Master and teleporting straight there. Mega Man found himself appearing before a huge building with flashing lights and heavy music pouring out of the windows. A massive sign above the front entrance proclaimed it Club DDRE. Mega Man blinked in surprise. "I know this place. Kalinka and I came here on a date once." He scratched his chin thoughtfully. "...I'm almost afraid to find out what sort of Robot Master Vinyl designed for this place..." With nothing else for it, he stepped inside. As he'd expected, the doors sealed shut behind him, as did the windows, locking the building in total darkness save for the flashing spotlights which shifted in position and color to the beat of the heavy music that blotted out all sound. Tables and chairs bounced visibly to the beat when they were visible, and speakers belted out shockwaves of sound mixed in with the music. Mega Man made his way through the first floor, shooting the few chairs and tables that came flying at him and dodging the shockwaves before reaching the elevators at the opposite end. Much to his surprise, only one was available, the doors wide open. Careful of a trap, he stepped in. Instead of the normal floor, a DDR pad covered the bottom of the elevator, and a screen projected onto the door. Holes lined the sides of the elevator. Arrow cues immediately started sliding up the screen, and Mega Man quickly started following the pattern, shifting his body desperately to dodge spears that popped out of the holes in the walls. As he danced, the elevator moved upward until it reached the second floor, at which point the door opened. He was unsurprised to find a looping path available around the floor leading to the other elevator, with pit traps dropping to the floor below added to the hazards from the floor below, illuminated only when the lights shone on them, and the brightness of the lights making other forms of vision inapplicable. He carefully made his way around the looping path, eventually reaching the other elevator, the interior exactly like the previous one. This time, if he made mistakes in the steps, the elevator went down, and more than it went up for getting the steps right. Finally, Mega Man stepped out onto the third floor...and groaned. Mixed in with the music, he heard the telltale sound of disappearing blocks. Rather than rushing ahead right away, he took in as much of the floor as he could, tracking the pattern of the blocks as best he could as the lights shifted, only occasionally illuminating the blocks as they appeared, forcing him to logic out the appearance of some of the blocks based on his jumping range, as he knew Vinyl would never make a hurdle that was impossible to clear, and the looping path made using Super Arrow or Rush Jet to cross impossible. Sighing, he made a leap of faith. Luck was with him, as each block appeared right where he'd plotted out, even those he'd anticipated to mess up his jumping range, and he was able to safely make his way back around to the other elevator. Once again, he danced his way up to the next floor, where jukeboxes lining the walls spat their records at him in addition to the obstacles he'd faced up till then. Thankfully, the thrown records bounced off the disappearing blocks the lights didn't illuminate, allowing Mega Man to make his way across more safely before dancing his way up to the fifth and final floor. Mega Man had expected more obstacles, but instead found a waiting room complete with a shield energy and weapon energy dispenser, and calming music in the background. Across from him, he recognized what he'd come to think of as the 'boss door', but with a hand shaped imprint near the top. When he approached the door normally, it didn't open. Seeing this, he chuckled as he took a few steps back. "Bringing it all back, huh?" he asked, running forward and leaping into the air to slam his palm into the imprint, making the door slide open. He found himself on the concert stage. Across from him, an unusual Robot Master stood, belting out 'sick beats' from its turntables. At this distance, Mega Man couldn't tell if the Robot Master was meant to be masculine or feminine. What he did see, however, was that it had a mostly humanoid build with a blue and white coloration based exactly off Vinyl's colors. A magenta visor covered its eyes, and a horn rose from its unhelmeted head as its hair bounced as it banged its head to the beat. As Mega Man stepped out further onto the stage, the Robot Master turned the turntables towards him. "Hello, darling," the robot purred. "So nice of you to finally arrive. You're late for the final performance." Mega Man braced himself, certain this would be an intense fight. "And who am I performing with?" he asked curiously. "I'm Wub Man," the robot responded, spinning one of his records and unleashing a sonic disruption blast from one of the speakers, forcing Mega Man to flip to the side to evade. "And I'll make your last moments...absolutely beautiful!" The sound based attacks came swiftly after that. Each wave was visible and came in different colors. Red waves inflicted damage on Mega Man when they impacted his shields. Yellow waves deflected his shots. Green waves caused his motor functions to error, making him move in ways he didn't intend until the effects wore off. The blue waves were the most dangerous, as they tore through the stage, showing they were disruption blasts. Mega Man did his best to evade, but he took several hits as he sounded out his foe. Eventually, however, he realized something important. All of Wub Man's attacks came from the turntables. Dashing in close, he unloaded several Napalm Bombs onto the turntables, destroying them. "Oh, is music not your scene?" Wub Man purred. "Then let's take this performance in a new direction, darling!" He danced out of the ruins of the turntables, spinning and kicking out at Mega Man, forcing him to evade as best he could. Mega Man quickly adapted to the battle, relieved that it was all physical now. Here, he had some advantage, as his shielding was strong enough to take several big hits...if he could only manage to hit Wub Man. Finally, Mega Man saw an opening and struck, slamming his fist into Wub Man's torso, smashing through the thin armor and damaging the internal components as Wub Man fell back. "Well now..." Wub Man purred. "Looks like my time is up. Wonderful show, darling. Until we meet again." With that, he beamed out, leaving behind a weapon chip. Picking it up, Mega Man installed it. Inside was the coordinates of the Skull Fortress Vinyl mentioned...and a new weapon. You got... Bass Cannon Mega Man couldn't stop himself from cackling a little wickedly. This would all end soon...