Mega Man next decided to go after Centaur Man in the ancient city, after briefly stopping off at Light Labs to pick up something he'd asked Dr. Light to make for him. With that in his possession, he warped in.
The ancient city shone brightly in the sun, its soaring towers rising out of the waters. The entire area was peaceful, even the few robots - shaped like jellyfish and seagulls - that wheeled to block Mega Man's path. He destroyed or ignored them as the situation seemed to call for it, focusing instead on drawing the peaceful setting into his core, finding a tranquil state of mind.
As he reached the main portion of the ancient city, he dropped down a narrow tube into the water below. In the water, the primary hazards were fish like robots, spike balls, and most of his sub weapons not working underwater considering the most effective ones were fire based, ice based, or had an air based launch program. Not only that, the Armor Adapters for Rush had neutralized his other forms, including Rush Marine, which would have been useful in the present situation. He kept going even as his systems worked to find a workaround. The only weapon that still worked as normal was the P. Shield...which was surprisingly effective against the underwater enemies. "Should have remembered my Pokemon," he muttered, smirking at how the water distorted his voice.
As he dropped low enough, he dropped out the bottom of the water and watched as it receded upward. "...I have got to figure out how that works at some point," he muttered to himself after staring for a time, then kept moving. Even as he watched, however, the water continued to raise and lower above his head, creating an ever changing environment as he progressed past several robots and over wide spike pits. Finding that the Rush Jet Armor worked even in water, Mega Man quickly took advantage of the extra buoyancy of being in the water to cross.
At the end of the hall, the water vanished, leaving a clear path for Mega Man to climb upward. Once back above ground, he continued past several more pools of water and boat shaped bots that rode in clouds before trying to land on him. Climbing further, Mega Man used the Jet Armor to get around a giant squid bot and across a wide pit to Centaur Man's boss chamber.
Inside the chamber, Centaur Man awaited him, saying nothing. Mega Man smirked. "Not talking since 'Wilbur's not around?" he asked teasingly.
Centaur Man nodded, getting into a fighting stance.
"You know..." Mega Man began. "I think it's time to make these fights cooler." Reaching into his armor, he pulled out a pair of shades, putting them on. "So no Mega Buster for me. Just my fists. Let's see how you handle that."
Grinding his teeth, Centaur Man unleashed his Centaur Flash and charged forward...only to be caught off guard as Mega Man dropped into a sweep kick, tripping up his front legs before delivering an uppercut to his chin.
Mega Man grinned widely, tapping the shades. "Special request from Dr. Light. Blocks your Flash."
Grinning, Centaur Man spun to kick with both hind legs. Mega Man ducked under the blow, striking out with his clenched fist at Centaur Man's underbelly. The two bounced back, dancing around each other for a time. Centaur Man had his own buster, but he seemed to be respecting Mega Man's decision to use no busters. Each watched carefully for their opportunity to strike.
When Mega Man tripped over a loose floor tile, Centaur Man charged forward, aiming a haymaker at Mega Man's chin. The blue bomber saw it coming and did the only thing he could think to do. Pushing off hard, he leapt over the charge, spinning to land on Centaur Man's equine back facing forward. Reaching up, he grabbed the two side pointing horns of Centaur Man's helmet and hauled back. "Whoa!" he shouted out even as Centaur Man bucked.
With one last surge of strength, Mega Man reached around and tore away Centaur Man's ribbon. The robot fell back to all four hooves before beaming out. Mega Man once more collected the Master Weapon chip left behind, the C. Flash.
The last remaining competitor was Wind Man, based in the Mechanical Tower. He warped in high in the air, making his way upward past several panda shaped robots as he climbed ladder after ladder. Some of the ladders were out of reach, but fan turbines in the floor allowed him to jump much higher. The arcing Silver T. proved useful in dealing with many of the flying bots that waited near the turbines.
Once he'd climbed high enough, he found he had to drop back down the inside of the tower. Shrugging, he progressed forward until he spotted a ladder leading upward. "Up, down, up...I am up, down, touch the ground..." he began in a sing-song voice.
A nearby panda robot seemed to take offense at his song, as it timed its projectile so as to catch him at the peak of the turbine below propelling him upward to grab the ladder, knocking him off the ladder and back onto the turbine several times. Mega Man grumbled in frustration as he finally managed to climb the ladder.
As he reached Wind Man, the walls surrounding the battlefield dropped away. "Let's make this interesting," Wind Man offered flatly. "If I'm able to blow you off the tower, I win. If you're able to pull my ribbon off, you win. If you use your buster, all bets are off. We begin." Wind Man activated his turbines at full, trying to blow Mega Man off the tower.
Leaning into the wind, Mega Man slowly pushed himself forward, struggling against the breeze. He continued, taking step after step.
"You are determined," Wind Man complimented. "That is good." Pointing his buster forward, he unleashed an additional storm of wind, driving Mega Man backwards.
Struggling, Mega Man summoned the Power Armor. The extra weight slowed down his backwards movement, enabling him to continue to stalk forward, until he was able to reach forward and tear the ribbon off.
"...well done," Wind Man admitted. "I lose." With that, he warped away, leaving Mega Man his weapon chip for W. Storm.