//------------------------------// // VSW-007: Inside Out // Story: Wily's Wittle Wub // by Tatsurou //------------------------------// After Mega Man was fully repaired, Dr. Light unfortunately had bad news for him. "Mega Man, you need to get out there immediately," he stated bluntly. "The growing Robot is now larger than most buildings, and is about to lay waste to an entire city block." "How's the military doing against it?" Mega Man asked as he got ready to teleport out. "Not so well," Dr. Light replied. "Apparently, its exterior is made of Mettool alloy, and they can't even make a dent in it." "Damn," Mega Man groaned. "What do they expect me to do?" "They've managed to find one spot on its entire body that isn't completely covered," Dr. Light replied. "They've been working on that spot, and they've managed to make a small hole, big enough to send your teleport signal inside when reflected off a ground-based array." "And they want me to take it down from the inside?" Mega Man asked. "Alright. Where's the entrance?" "The right heel," Dr. Light replied. Mega Man just gave him a look. "...I had no idea Vinyl was so well read in her classics," he mumbled. "Okay, Dad...send me in." Mega Man blinked as he took shape on the inside of the giant foot. Blinking, he saw the incredibly tiny hole he'd been beamed in through, a patch over a seam that had shaken loose and would only have even been visible once Giganto had reached this size. "Wow," Mega Man murmured. "Even Apollo would have had trouble hitting that before." Turning, he examined the rest of his surroundings. He found that the inside of Giganto was tastefully decorated in silver chrome, with numerous tubes, cables, and other such things running along the walls, along with numerous diodes and devices hanging here and there. However, all of it had energy shields, making it plain that trying to blast things to bits wouldn't work. "Alright," he murmured, heading to a stairwell that he assumed ran up the leg. "Guess I'll be doing this the long way-" "Welcome," a computerized voice greeted politely, dragging his attention around. Floating up to him was a black sphere surrounded by waving tendrils with any number of unpleasant looking implements at the ends. "You are unauthorized. Your death will now be implemented. You will experience a tingling sensation and then death. Please do not run. Thank you for your cooperation." Without hesitation, Mega Man fired a barrage of shots from his buster to force the antibody to back up. "Wily lets Vinyl watch too much TV," he grumbled before racing up the stairs. The rest of Giganto's insides were the same, almost monotonously so. Same coloration of the walls, same pattern of cables, pipes, diodes, and devices, same energy shields, and every single antibody gave him the exact same speech as it approached him. The only thing of interest was that each antibody he encountered would know the strategy he used to take down the previous ones, and be able to actively counter it. As he reached the core, he found that it was sealed tight, and could only be opened with four security codes embedded in devices in Giganto's hands and feet. Groaning, Mega Man backtracked through the antibodies to the right foot, finding the device - guarded by a much stronger antibody that he actually had to destroy - in the big toe. When he removed the device - which turned out to be a fez, for some obscure reason - an alarm went off. "Alert! Unauthorized personnel is requisitioning the Core code devices. One device collected. Threat level has been raised to salmon pink. Level 2 attack protocol authorized." "Well, that can't be good," Mega Man murmured as he turned to head back up the leg...only to shudder at what he saw. Two of the antibodies had merged, turning into a strange, bulbous, tentacle covered creature resembling a malboro. It filled the hallway, forcing him to blast his way past it...only for it to break apart into the two antibodies again. As Mega Man discovered as he continued, the merging was universal throughout Giganto's body. The larger antibody amalgamations blocked corridors, forcing him to blast past them...and if he ignored the split portions for too long, they'd merge again, stronger than before. Eventually, he made his way to the left foot, obtaining the second code device...a bow tie. Another alarm sounded. "Alert! Two devices collected by unauthorized personnel. Threat level has been raised to Pony White. Traps have been engaged." Turning, Mega Man saw spikes appearing on some of the walls, ceilings, and floor tiles, forcing him to carefully plan his path to avoid them. The antibodies remained the same threat as he made his way back up and out to the right arm. Reaching the hand, he found no guardian antibody awaiting him. All he had to do was manage to wiggle his way through the index finger to the tip without being crushed by a bending knuckle. Careful sliding enables him to grab the third device, a screwdriver. "Alert! Three devices have been retrieved by unauthorized personnel. Threat level has been raised to Bass Black. Traps activated." Turning, Mega Man saw the spiked walls slamming across the path into the opposite wall, obviously meant to crush him as he went by, forcing him to time his passage through in order to keep from being destroyed. Thankfully, he was able to lead antibodies into the traps, and they didn't fare any better under the crushing than he would. Making his way to the left hand, the device was guarded in much the same way as on the right hand, but more difficult to get to due to the traps, and faster movement of the knuckles. However, he eventually managed to get it...only to discover it was an actual key. "Alert! Threat level has been raised to Mega Man Blue. Growth has been stopped. Engaging reverse function. Ten minutes until core is ready to begin shrinking subject Giganto. Only authorized entities within the super structure will be shrunk along with prime unit." "Crap!" Mega Man shouted out, rushing back up the arm, doing his best to make his way back to the core before the entire thing started shrinking. As he reached the core, the entire structure began to shrink, even as swarms of turrets and antibodies tried to hold him back from blasting the core apart. Eventually, he managed to do enough damage to shut it down. "Warning! Primary core disabled. Self destruct engaged! Five minutes until total annihilation." "Not again!" Mega Man screamed out as he raced for the right heel. He managed to beam out literally at the last second. Upon returning to Dr. Light's lab, he discovered that the self destruct apparently involved the core reabsorbing all the matter of Giganto's body before teleporting away. He also discovered a new Master Weapon in his system. Curious, he looked it over. Enhance This handy dandy program can let any robot get the advantage over his more well endowed foes. Simply activate this and feel the swell of power within. Feel more of a Man with Enhance, the only Weapon for natural Mega Male enhancement. *Enhance is not recommended for children, teens, or female robots. Do not use Enhance if you are drunk, high, underage, pregnant, or planning to become pregnant. If the effects of Enhance do not wear off after four hours, consult your personal physician. Ask your Doctor if Enhance is right for you. Mega Man slowly, carefully closed the information window on his status display, making a mental note to never use that weapon. He then moved to the kitchen sink. "Mega Man," Dr. Light chided, "just because you're a robot and won't be hurt by doing so, doesn't mean you should. It won't actually do you any good." "It's cathartic," Mega Man replied as he proceeded to chug the bleach.