Mega Man went after Plant Man next. While at first he seemed to be a low priority since he'd went out into some random forest, Mega Man now recalled that Plant Man was designed to be able to control plants, making the potential threat he represented much higher. Upon arrival, the forest seemed peaceful, but numerous insectoid robots - both beetle and grasshopper-like - leapt out of the undergrowth and trees without warning to attack him. Mega Man was able to handle them relatively easily with a quick dodge roll before blasting out a level three charged shot as soon as he was upright.
The most heavily guarded path through the forest - and thus, likely the correct one - led up and into a massive artificial tree. Larger robots blocked the path, but while they were larger and tougher, they were also slower, making it easier for Mega Man to dodge around them. Once further inside, Mega Man paused long enough to grab an energy tank that Eddie - a new robotic suitcase support unit, a gift from Dr. Cossack to show there were no hard feelings about what happened before - threw him, before dropping down into a dark pit. At the bottom, he came face to face with a large tank that resembled Guts Man if he'd been made of stone. Mega Man hadn't encountered any Robot Masters like that before, so he had no frame of reference beyond that.
Although the tank looked impressive, it seemed unable to do much more than roll towards Mega Man and swing a massive stone fist. Smoke pouring out of some of its joints showed that it was close to overheating, so Mega Man fired off several F. Blasts, causing it to completely overheat and explode.
Once out of the tree, Mega Man found some springs along his path that propelled him upward when bounced on. The only point where these were a problem was when they were directly under some spikes, but Mega Man managed to get past it carefully. He then used the same tactic on the second tank that blocked his path as the first one, while jumping to avoid the rocket punch.
Beyond that, Mega Man made his way over several deep pools of water, timing his jumps to avoid being bit by the robot piranha that leapt out to try and eat him. The final stretch involved crossing pools of water by bouncing from spring platform to spring platform, before finally coming to safe landing in front of the boss door.
Plant Man awaited him. "You shall bow before the might of nature!" he roared out, surrounding himself with his Plant Shield. He charged forward...only to slip on a patch of ice and land on his back, his shield failing. "What?"
Mega Man leapt forward, landing on Plant Man's chest. "Watch your step. Winter is coming." He lunged down for the ribbon, only to be smacked aside by one of Plant Man's vines.
"That joke is terrible!" he snapped, leaping away and swinging by his vines from the ceiling for a drop kick.
Mega Man brought his hands up and caught the kick. "Yeah, I could probably do better." Shifting his grip on Plant Man's ankle joint, he slammed him into the ground. "But I'm not Blizzard Man. I've just got his weapon."
"His jokes were terrible too!" Plant Man shouted back, pushing himself to his feet.
"Well I don't want to leave you feeling cold," Mega Man joked as he warped Rush in to activate the Power Adapter, bulking his body up. "So instead Mr. Flower, have some Power." Drawing his fist back, he punched Plant Man right in the face.
"Stop with the puns!" Plant Man screamed out as he lunged forward, only to pause. "...what am I doing?"
Mega Man smiled, tossing the ribbon up and down in his other hand. He'd caught hold of it as he was delivering the punch. "You were about to head home."
"Oh, yeah, right, boss is calling." With that said, Plant Man warped out. A panel opened, revealing a weapon chip for the P. Shield and another blueprint for Rush's Adapter, this time for different functions. Grinning widely, Mega Man grabbed both and warped out.
With the Rush Jet Adapter installed - this version limiting him to normal buster shots, but giving him free flight - Mega Man pursued Tomahawk Man into the desert, following the trail of rogue robots into an underground base. Given how hot it was - both on the surface and below ground - Mega Man chose to rely on F. Blast to make his targets overheat.
After blowing up a Mettool dispenser, Mega Man paused before a narrow path beneath what looked suspiciously like some sort of compressors. "...those things are going to drop after I've been under them long enough, aren't they?"
His helmet began to buzz. Recognizing the sign of receiving an instant message, he checked it.
X-P0N3 (totally not Vinyl): Damn, wish I'd thought of that before! Think you could stand there for an hour or so while I send some bots in to make it do that?
The text included a picture of 'X-P0N3' giving an adorable pleading expression, her hooves clasped under her chin.
Chuckling, Mega Man leapt into the narrow path before sending a message back.
Megs: Not only did you swear, you didn't say the magic word!
Safely past that section, Mega Man made his way up as high as he could go. Once there, he tested out the flight function of the Rush Jet Adapter. While the flight function was impressive, he could only make himself fly so much before he had to land and let the engines cool off. Still, it enabled him to quickly clear the rest of the area to where Tomahawk Man waited for him. Disengaging the Adapter, he readied himself to fight.
Tomahawk Man opened the fight by hurling a Tomahawk at Mega Man like a discus. Mega Man dodged to the side of it, caught hold of it, and hurled it back.
Tomahawk Man stared at the ax-like weapon embedded in his victory ribbon. "...huh. Didn't expect that."
"Oh no!" Mega Man complained. "That is not the end of this fight! You're going to stay right here and give me a real fight! You're not chickening out on me like that!"
"...I have no more reason to fight you," Tomahawk Man countered. "Without the ribbon, I can't win the tournament." With that, he warped away.
"Hey!" Mega Man screamed out, ignoring the panel that opened up to reveal the Silver T. weapon chip. "Get back here! ...you're making me a terrible gift giver!"