//------------------------------// // Rival Reboot // Story: Wily's Wittle Wub // by Tatsurou //------------------------------// Forte carefully made his way into Vinyl's lab, staring around at the dark chamber, deep in the center of Wily Castle atop Sky Lagoon, so no sunlight entered unless directed inward for experiments. As much as he liked Vinyl, her habit of keeping her lab in darkness and maneuvering by the sounds of the equipment unnerved him. It was like walking into a sci-fi horror movie lab. The one time he'd actually expressed this to Vinyl, she'd given her best maniacal laugh - which still managed to be adorable - and said it was good. "V...Vinyl?" he called out nervously as his eyes flickered from glowing buttons to electricity arcing between metal coils, ending on glowing chemicals in glass vials. He expected either a few music notes, Vinyl calling out to him, or the background noises of the lab in response. However, what he got instead was a deep growl. As he turned towards the source, he saw two glowing eyes staring at him, and heard heavy padded feet stalking towards him. As the eyes approached closer and closer, Forte backed up slowly. Gleaming white teeth appeared below the eyes as the growl deepened, and Forte let out a terrified scream. "Aaah!" he shouted, stumbling away. "Vinyl's been making Grues and I'm going to get eaten by one!" Something leapt, and Forte was carried to the floor, only just barely managing to get onto his back so he could fight back against the attacking figure that was...licking his face? "Yo, Forte!" Vinyl greeted, clopping up on her tiny hooves. "I see you've met Treble. Looks like he likes you." "Treble?" Forte asked, confused. He felt whatever was on top of him climb off. Reaching up, he switched his vision type as he sat up. Infared illuminated Vinyl and a wolf-like shape. "You've been taming wolves?" "Not taming, building!" Vinyl countered. "He's your support unit! He's even got a functional Super Adapter, once I give you your combat upgrade!" Forte grinned widely. "That's awesome!" He gasped out, reaching forward and pulling Treble into a rough cuddle. "You built me a pet robo-wolf trained to destroy my enemies! ...think you could turn the lights on so I could get a look at him?" Vinyl chuckled. "Sure thing. I need to turn the lights on to work on you, anyway." Walking over to the wall, she turned on the light. Once the lights were on, Forte got a good look at his support unit. Treble had an overall lupine body shape, his inner metal body colored grey. His paws and muzzle were white, and both claws and teeth were large and sharp, making the rest of the visage very intimidating. Purple armor plates covered the lower half of all four of his limbs, just below his neck, over his rump, and fanned back from his head in a large helmet. Yellow mettool alloy plates covered the joints where his limbs connected to his body, and cables ran over his back to channel the deflected energy from those into the blaster at the tip of his tail. However, for as intimidating as he appeared when he growled or got into an attack stance, he was unable to hide his true nature while flopped over onto his back, pawing at Forte in an attempt to get belly rubs, as he currently was. "Aww!" Forte cooed, leaning in to rub his belly. "Who's a good wolfy who's going to tear my enemies limb from limb? Yes you is! Yes you is!" At that point, Vinyl returned, lunging in to blow a loud raspberry on Treble's tummy, making the robo-wolf growl and wriggle before rolling back to his paws. Vinyl let out a happy laugh before turning back to Forte. "So...are you ready for the Mega Boost?" Forte frowned nervously as he turned, staring at the work table Vinyl had prepared for this procedure. He'd be strapped in and offline as Vinyl completely rewired his circuitry, adding all the combat systems and switching out his power core for the pulsing green sphere that was the perfected Bassnium core, designed to give him near limitless power as well as energize the Bass Cannon. The systems for the Bass Cannon was opposite the core on the work benches, and would be going into the buster on his right arm. "I think I'm ready," he insisted firmly. "Are you sure?" Vinyl asked worriedly as Forte lay on the table. "We've...we've never taken a robot's power core out as part of a maintenance operation. Even when I converted Doc Robot into Secret, there were multiple cores and one was always plugged in. But the Bassnium Core isn't compatible with the standard Power Core design. If I try to install it in you without removing your old one, one or the other will explode. And...I don't know what effect removing your power core will have on data storage in your CPU. There...there might be data degradation. And even backing you up in the Sky Lagoon central hub before the work doesn't guarantee a full backup. We don't know why Guts Man had changed when he was downloaded into Stone Man..." "It's alright, sis," Forte interrupted. "I trust you...and I'm ready." Laying back on the table, he closed his eyes. Nodding, Vinyl stepped up to beside the table, placing her hoof on Forte's chest. "...sleep well, Forte," she whispered worriedly. Steadying her voice, she spoke the voice command Albert had installed to put Forte into shut down for emergency maintenance. "For in the sleep of death, what dreams may come." She watched as the light faded from Forte's eyes, and his systems powered down, his power core ceasing its continuous flow of energy into his body. She shuddered at the sight of her brother looking dead on the table. She hesitated as she moved for her tools. Do...do I really want to do this? she asked herself silently. If...if I give him the upgrade...he'll go into battle. He might come back broken, even if it's not from Mega Man. I...I might see him like this again...but unable to bring him back... She shook her head, steeling herself. The same thing might happen if I don't give him the upgrade. Something might come after us to destroy us all. I'm not turning him into a war machine and sending him out to fight. I'm giving him the power to fight if he chooses to do so...and he wants to do this. I can't take that choice away from him just because I'm afraid for him. If I would do that to him, then I don't belong in Sky Lagoon... Steeling herself, she popped open Forte's chest compartment and began to work, starting with the power core. She had to do that part when she had the most focus, as the slightest mistake there could prove fatal for Forte. And she had to work quickly. She didn't want to leave Forte offline for any longer than absolutely necessary... System check running... Bassnium power core fully operational. Armor unit stabilized. Alloy strength at 100% Buster functionality...both busters fully operational. Weapon Copy system online. Bass Cannon online and ready for use. Number of shots: one. Dash systems online. Angled shots available while stationary. ...all systems Condition Green Checking CPU for data degradation... Personality core stable, 99% accurate, +/-1% margin for error Programming core successfully updated. Combat systems integrated successfully. Super Adapter fully integrated. Treble Link established. ...Link viable. Engaging higher brain functions to complete startup. That means wake up, dumbass. Forte sat up slowly as his eyes opened, staring down at his black armor. He couldn't help but grin as he felt the power flowing through him. In his lap, Vinyl was curled up sound asleep, apparently having worked herself to exhaustion to complete his upgrade. Scooping her up, he gently tucked her into the cot she had in the lab, much like Wily had one in his. Guess you're not such a bad bro, bro. Blinking, Forte turned to the source of the voice in his head, and found himself staring at Treble. That's right, I do the head talk thing. Yet another sign of how I'm vastly superior to that domesticated dimwit of Blue Bozo's. Treble smirked up at Forte. That's right, know your place in the pecking order- Chuckling, Forte broke Treble's train of thought by scratching him behind one ear. Ooh...by the howl, the she devil gave you fingernails! Treble's thought moaned as he panted, his hind leg thumping the floor of the lab quietly. Grinning ear to ear, Forte went to the computer, calling up an image of Light Labs. He stared, crossing his arms as he saw Mega Man working around the lab. He knew their fight would come soon. He grinned from ear to ear. "Mega Man...get ready to drop it!" Bass intoned.