//------------------------------// // Let's Watch Megaman: 3-2 // Story: Wily's Wittle Wub // by Tatsurou //------------------------------// As Mega Man returned with Hard Man's capsule of Energy Element, Wily had more bad news. "Mega Man, I'm afraid you're going to have to head out immediately after Snake Man." "What?" Mega Man demanded as he started recharging his armor. "What's the rush? I was hoping to rest up a bit and catch my breath-" "The planetoid Snake Man was mining can be steered into pathways other than its orbit," Wily explained quickly. "And the cameras that are sending us data about the various planetoids indicates that he's working on building a cloaking device for the entire sphere. Do you want to imagine what he'll be able to do if he succeeds?" Mega Man shuddered as he finished recharging. "I don't suppose Magnet Missile or Hard Knuckle will be effective against him?" he asked hopefully. "He's designed to ground out against the energies of the planetoid," Wily explained. "Magnet Missile will have no effect on him whatsoever. Hard Knuckle will be only somewhat more effective than your buster, and probably harder to aim." "I'll keep that in mind," Mega Man stated as he beamed out. "Thanks for that, Al," Dr. Light said softly. "I hate giving Rock bad news." "No problem," Wily replied as he sat back down, Vinyl immediately climbing onto his head. "You're getting a bit big to sit up there," he pointed out. "I don't think my spine can take it." Vinyl blew a raspberry at him and made a few gestures, waving one hoof up and down before waving another back and forth. Wily let out a laugh. "No, I'm not letting you build me a new spine just so you can sit up there longer!" As the whole group laughed, the screen zoomed in on Mega Man's progress through the planetoid. While he had to do a lot of precise jumping to progress, there weren't any pits for the most part, making things much easier on him. What pits there were that showed up later were also quite small and easy to jump over. The snake head enemies were also easily dealt with, as were the other robots guarding the paths. Before too long, Mega Man made it to Snake Man's chamber. As Mega Man entered the chamber, he glanced around. "Okay...Snake Man should be around here somewhere...but all I see is a cardboard box." He blinked. "...what's a cardboard box doing here?" He began approaching it carefully. After a time, he leveled his Buster at it...and fired. The cardboard box fell apart, empty. "Well-" Snake Man dropped down from the ceiling atop a writhing mass of Search Snakes that resembled some form of giant battle robot. "METAL GEAR!" he roared out as it began shooting lasers at Mega Man. "The fuck?" Mega Man demanded as he began dodging and shooting. "Good question," Wily gasped out. "I certainly didn't design Snake Man with that!" "Might be the Freak Mode," Light offered. "The original version was related to their personalities, rather than their weapon weakness." "You mean it was triggered by Mega Man shooting the box?" Crash Man asked in surprise. "That would be logical," Air Man allowed. "Alternatively, Snake Man might have grabbed some of Wood Man's stash." "Dude, those are relaxants!" Wood Man complained. "Not when undiluted," Air Man pointed out as Mega Man desperately tried to take Snake Man down. "Oh," Wood Man replied, blinking a bit. "Yeah, that'd do it...this stuff is pretty crazy when raw..." At long last, Mega Man managed to finish off Snake Man, beaming back in with the Energy Element. "Please tell me whoever's next will be easier!" he gasped out as he set the capsule down. "Top Man isn't much of a combatant," Wily pointed out. "Also, the kinetic force of the Hard Knuckle would knock him right out of his Top Spin." "Sounds like a plan...once I'm recharged," Mega Man managed to get out between deep breaths. Vinyl walked up beside him, nuzzling him and offering him a smoothie. "Thanks," he managed, taking a deep drink. "Strawberry kiwi! How'd you know my favorite flavor?" "Roll!" Vinyl replied happily. "I'm so glad I was designed to be able to eat," Mega Man replied. Once he was recharged and had finished his smoothie, he returned to the teleporter. "Send me up, docs!" Once Mega Man was underway, the group returned to their seats to watch. Top Man's planetoid was rather straightforward, the path lacking in pits. Instead, it mostly had stairs with enemies at the top, which Search Snake proved effective at dealing with. It didn't take long for him to reach Top Man. Mega Man stepped a bit more carefully into Top Man's chamber. "Top Man?" he called out. "Oh, hello Mega Man," Top Man replied morosely. "Seems like I was right. You're here to shut me down now..." Mega Man blinked in surprise. "Well...yeah. You've gone rogue...haven't you?" "I suppose I could have," Top Man mumbled. "Might have been fun. Probably not, though. Probably would have gone horribly wrong. Not that it matters much. I'm a joke either way. If I weren't a Robot Master, the other robots wouldn't even obey me. I can tell they don't respect me. Just...just finish me off already." Mega Man lowered his buster. "Gosh, I...this feels just awful. Isn't...I mean, have you tried being happy?" "And what could there possibly be for me to be happy about?" Top Man asked, his eyes turning flinty. "I don't know," Mega Man replied. "Is...is there anything I can do to make you happy?" Top Man stood up slowly. "There...is one thing," he growled out as he stepped forward. "I can rip both your arms from their sockets, and shove one down your throat and the other up your ass so far you can shake your own hand!" Mega Man blinked. "...like this?" he asked, interlacing his fingers of both hands and shaking them up and down." Top Man stared at him for a while. "...I'm even a failure at being threatening..." he sobbed. Mega Man blinked. "Umm...there...there?" he offered helplessly, gently patting Top Man on the shoulder. "Don't patronize me!" Top Man shouted out, going into his Top Spin and sending Mega Man slamming against the wall. "...that...worked..." Growling, Mega Man switched to Hard Knuckle and aimed his buster at Top Man. Energy began to gather. "What are you doing?" Top Man asked. "I'm charging my buster," Mega Man replied. Top Man gaped at him. "You...you can do that?" he gulped. "We're about to find out," Mega Man replied angrily. The camera signal cut out in a bright flash. "What happened?" Dr. Light demanded. Shortly after, Mega Man beamed in, the Energy Element under one arm, the other a sparking stump. "Dad?" he called out. "I...got the Energy Element...I stopped Top Man...and I need a new arm..." He set the Energy Element down on the counter, and then promptly collapsed to the floor.