Once Mega Man was fully repaired, Dr. Light stepped back with a frown. "Alright, I've got you all fixed up...but don't go trying to charge your buster again. While I do have such a system under construction, it's nowhere near ready, and even when it is it'll only work for your buster. I'm a long way from being able to produce a system to charge subweapons. A hundred years at least."
Mega Man groaned as he worked out his new arm. "I'll keep that in mind, Dad. Hopefully I'll have some time to get used to this arm before-" He cut himself off as Wily approached. "Scratch that, hopefully I'll learn to keep my mouth shut."
"Sorry about this, Mega Man," Wily told him, "but Shadow Man's issued you a formal challenge. He says he's built a superweapon utilizing his planetoid's Energy Element, and if you aren't fighting him within the hour, he's going to blow up the moon."
"He's what?" Mega Man demanded, leaping to his feet. "Get me there immediately!"
"The coordinates are already keyed in," Wily explained as Mega Man rushed for the teleporter.
Once he was beamed out, everyone immediately gathered around the screen to see what would happen. The planetoid seemed to be filled with magma, oddly enough. Given the time limit involved, it was understandable that Mega Man rushed heedlessly through, leaping downward and charging through, pushing past enemy robots through sheer physical force if possible to avoid slowing down.
"Glad I gave him a couple E tanks," Dr. Light muttered as he watched.
"He's going to need them," Wily agreed.
Protoman beamed in to battle Mega Man again, only for Mega Man to charge up and punch him in the face before rushing onward. Vinyl winced visibly at the punch...and Protoman's swearing as he turned to pick pieces of his sunglasses out of his synthoflesh face. She quickly raced away to work on a new set for him when he got back...one that wouldn't break from being punched.
As Mega Man continued his charge to reach Shadow Man's chamber, Wily scratched his chin. "I wonder if I should have told him that Shadow Man's internal gyroscope has increased sensitivity to allow him to walk across floors and ceilings without vertigo."
"Why would that be important?" Dr. Light asked.
"It makes him vulnerable to being spun around rapidly," Wily explained.
"Top Spin," Air Man clarified.
As Mega Man charged into the chamber, he spun around, pointing his buster everywhere. "Shadow Man!" he called out. "I'm here! I'll fight you! It's only been ten minutes! Don't blow up the moon!"
"Blow up the-" Shadow Man dropped down from where he'd been braced against the ceiling. "The hell are you talking about?"
"You sent me a challenge proclaiming you had a superweapon and were going to blow up the moon if I didn't fight you within the hour!" Mega Man declared angrily. "I won't let you!"
Shadow Man blinked, scratching his chin for a bit, then chuckled. "So that's how it is..." he muttered under his breath. He then grinned. "Try and stop me!" he proclaimed loudly. Drawing several shadow blades - a rather fancy name for what were basically oversized shurikens - he hurled them before he began leaping from wall to wall.
Mega Man dodged out of the way of the attack, pursuing Shadow Man and managing to tackle him to the ground. "You're not getting away that easily!" he growled out.
Chuckling, Shadow Man managed to embed a Shadow Blade in Mega Man's buster. The variable weapon system began randomizing. "Let's see how well you do when you can't control your own weapons!" he snapped.
Growling, Mega Man triggered his weapon, and began spinning rapidly.
"Damn...Top...Spin..." Shadow Man groaned as he felt his energy dropping as his power core struggled to stabilize his gyroscope. Drawing forth another Shadow Blade, he drove it into Mega Man's chest.
Both robots staggered away from each other, clutching their chests. Shadow Man noticed the alert on his readout that his gyroscope had failed. "You win this round, Mega Man," he growled out. "But you won't be so lucky next time." He promptly beamed out, leaving behind a capsule of the Energy Element.
Staggering over to it, Mega Man promptly beamed it out and back to Light's Lab.
Repairs to Mega Man went quickly, as he had to head out immediately because Gemini Man's planetoid was passing dangerously close to the Earth's orbit. If Gemini Man caused a chain reaction with the Energy Element in the planetoid, the explosion could conceivably destabilize Earth's orbit. There was no evidence that Gemini Man was planning such a thing, but there was every possibility that he was insane.
Vinyl, for her part, chose not to watch this time around, as she was busy repairing Protoman and Shadow Man, both of whom had warped in with their damages. Shadow Man's repairs would take a while, as the gyroscope had been reduced to slag and she had to rebuild it from scratch...along with any impulsive redesigns she came up with in the process. Protoman's glasses, however, were already finished, and the only repairs still needed in his case were replacement optics, which he insisted on taking care of himself, much to Vinyl's frustrations.
Mega Man, meanwhile, had reached Gemini Man.
As Mega Man entered Gemini Man's chamber, he found himself face to face with Gemini Man, wearing dark sunglasses and a suit. "Greetings, Mega Man."
"Welcome to your end," another said from behind him.
"Your defeat is at hand," a third said, stepping up to the right.
"The Energy Element has amplified our power," a fourth said from the left, as dozens of others took shape.
"We are infinite now."
"You will fall to us."
"It is inevitable, Mr. Mega."
Mega Man glanced around at the gathered Gemini Men. "You do realize I know that most of these are just hard light holograms, right?" he pointed out.
"It does you no good if you cannot find the real me," another Gemini Man stated.
"And you noticed that I'm currently green?" Mega Man inquired.
The real Gemini Man blinked as he saw himself surrounded by Search Snakes. "Well played, Mr. Mega," he stated as they all struck at once.