Once Mega Man decided he'd had his fill of catharsis, he turned back to Dr. Light. "So which Wub Master is the next big threat?" he asked.
"Well, there is one at the local combination gas turbine power plant/fuel processing center," Dr. Light explained.
"...that seems oddly impractical," Mega Man muttered. "Are we sure I need to stop this one?"
"What happens if it lights a fire?" Dr. Light offered.
"Right," Mega Man agreed, sighing. "Send me in."
Mega Man glanced around as he arrived at the other end of the teleport. He was outside the main part of the plant, the massive turbines visible in the distance. Seeing no threat at first, he made his way in.
Unlike many of the other Wub Masters he'd faced, this one was - for the most part - using robotic foes he'd faced previously. The usual mix of metools, Sniper Joes, dive bombing birds, and bomb launchers. The only thing he really had to watch out for in the outside portion were the robotic gas pumps, which sprayed fuel at him. While the fuel didn't damage him, it could easily catch fire if anything exploded near him. Destroying the pumps wasn't a good idea, either, since they were still connected to the main gas lines of the plant, and the flames resulting from their destruction could possibly ignite the whole plant. Also, the fuel that didn't end up on him made the ground slippery.
Eventually, Mega Man reached the main entrance of the plant, only to be confronted by a massive robotic fuel truck that had been equipped with a flame thrower in addition to its main hose. It drove around the entrance of the plant, trying to run Mega Man down.
"Crap crap crap!" Mega Man shouted as he desperately slid away. "What do I do? What do I do? I can't shoot it, the explosion could destroy the whole place! Can't distract it, one wrong flame could destroy the whole place! How am I supposed to stop it without blowing this place sky high?" Managing to leap ahead, he spun to examine the truck. "...it has a driver car?"
Desperately, Mega Man sidestepped the truck as it charged him, leaping into the cabin at the front. Seeing keys in the ignition, he twisted them to off and pulled them out. The truck slowed and then stopped...millimeters from a turbine. "...maybe I should have steered first," Mega Man murmured as he leapt out, shaking like a leaf as he made his way back to the entrance to the main factory.
Once inside the main building, he found the way was rather straight forward. Just a straight path through the center to the manager's office, where the strong control signal of a Robot Master - or, in this case, a Wub Master - could be detected. The only problem was a mass of worker robots carrying torches and gas tanks moaning as they stalked towards him like zombies, nearly filling the room.
Glancing around, he noticed a few highly ferrous metal grates hanging here and there, along with several chains hanging from pulleys. Thinking quickly, Mega Man activated a new system Dr. Light had given him, specifically for situations where maneuvers he wasn't normally capable of were required. Dr. Light had dubbed it the QTE System. Racing forward, he took a huge leap.
Coming up to the first ferrous grate, he flipped so his feet were towards it, magnetizing the bottoms of his armored boots. Once he attached, he raced across as fast as he could before his weight dragged the grate to the floor and the waiting worker zombots. Reaching the edge of the grate, he leapt, catching hold of a hanging chain. The momentum of his leap propelled him across the pulley's track, but he had to rapidly pull himself up the chain to keep from falling to the floor.
As the chain ran out, he flipped into a spin, kicking off a zombot to catch hold of a hanging pipe, swinging around it to launch himself forward before the pipe broke under his weight. The pulley by now had reached the end of its track, smacking into a ferrous grate and breaking it into falling pieces. Mega Man landed on the first fragment before leaping to the successive ones, gaining height each time.
Nearing the manager's office, he saw a clear space around it. Thinking quickly, he spun and shot some beams on the roof as he leapt. The beams fell, landing behind him and blocking off the zombots, leaving him safe and ready to confront the Wub Master. The QTE System disengaged.
"...that was fun!" Mega Man gasped out eagerly. "I hope I get more chances to use that. Just wish it didn't burn itself out each time and needed to be reset back at the Lab." Brushing himself off, he opened the door.
"Ah, so you've finally arrived!" the Wub Master proclaimed, stepping out of the shadows. "I do so hope you enjoyed yourself...as my face will be the last you ever see, Mega Man!"
"...that would be such a disappointment," Mega Man muttered. "I mean, you're a giant whoopee cushion with eyes! Your hands and feet aren't even attached to you! They're just...floating there!" He blinked. "Wait a minute...how are you even talking?"
"I am Gas Pump!" the Wub Master proclaimed, the 'mouth' of its cushion body shaping its words. "I shall paint you with the colors of my wind!" Leaning forward, Gas Pump compressed, spraying a vile green gas at Mega Man while surrounding itself with a gaseous shield.
Mega Man carefully sidestepped the incoming gas wave, his sensors telling him it would damage him. "...I'll take the damage," he grumbled, storming straight up to Gas Pump as he disengaged his buster, stalking straight through the gaseous shield.
"What are you-"
Before Gas Pump could say anymore, Mega Man grabbed hold of it by the 'neck' of its cushion body, and proceeded to flip it like a flapjack. He continued this until the Wub Master shattered explosively.
"...not using that shield weapon," Mega Man muttered as his systems registered the download of the Master Weapon, 'Broken Wind'.
I have to say this vinyl's a bitch
6807014
yyyyyyyyyyyyup
I really like the QTE system...I hope we see it in Octy's story.
6807033
And any minute someone's going to realize what it means in terms of viewing this story from the outside as video games.
6807025
6807014
For good reason!
Call me crazy, but I can't shake the feeling that this is a reference to something, just me?
SO MANY WEAPONS!
That you'll never use.
6807044 *looks at the initials* OH THE HUMANITY!!!
Vinyl's evil.
Okay... This Wub Master was kinda stupid, not gonna lie. Enjoyed the QTE part, however.
6807044 Quick Time event
6807044 Goddamn Quick Time Events!
When you start to play Resident Evil 6,
YOU HAMMER THE BUTTONS AND WIGGLE THE STICKS!
hahahhahahahhaha
Fartman
6807048
And in the best way!
6807274 Yup!
6807138 So I wasn't the only one that noticed.
God, I don't like interactive cut scenes that only let me push one button. It's just annoying filler.
...the Final Boss is going to require him using all of the Wub Master Weapons to win, isn't it?
His reward will be an entire water tower filled with bleach to use afterwards.
6807014 Seriously! She destroyed Dr. Light's good name with Da Bomb and Love Machine, broke Megaman, turned Megaman into a bad ass, broke Wily out of prison, and made a fart robot and gave it a fuel plant to fart around with! This is both underwhelming and overwhelming so I don't know how to made an appropriate response!
6807179
Huh, he's getting the hang of this whole "Mega Man" thing.
Wanna know what would be cool, though? Since Battle Network isn't a thing, but some iterations of other games are applied, it'd be interesting to see Mega Man pull off the MstrStyl.
Or some other iteration of the Program Advance.
Edit: I had no clue about the playback thing. Sorry about the slight inconvenience.
Vinyl... You are a mean little filly... I love you.
I almost thought the truck was the Wub Master. It would've been cool...and a hell of a lot better than Charge Man.
6807063 She learned from the best.
Vinyl is a vengeful little thing isn't she.
You clever bastard.
Not enough steel beam jokes.
... So, it took me reading the comments to realize I was staring a Quick Time Event in the face and didn't even realize it. Being a Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm fan, I am immensely disappointed in myself for this.
Another enjoyable chapter. Good job.
Tats... I don't know how, but you have done the near impossible: YOU MADE A WRITTEN DESCRIPTION OF A QUICK TIME EVENT AWESOME!!! Now I wish the games had these. I remember missing a jump by a pixel and wishing I had the X wall climb as Mega Man plummeted onto spikes.
6807044 Well played. I want to murder you for making QTE a thing, but you made it awesome... Well played indeed. You are allowed to live.
This one was pretty tame in comparison to the other ones. Some of the other looked like they were designed to traumatize Megaman. Vinyl might be going a bit too far with some of them, especially the crotch thrusting one.
6807064
THere's a probably a specific reason she's making them the way she is. Vinyl is the adopted daughter of a mad scientist, after all. Most, if not all of the weapon types he's earning he doesn't want, or see any practical use for. If she were to drop an ACTUAL tough boss fight into the mix, Megaman would have to fight them normally, with no special weapons to affect its weakness, assuming it has one.
That was fun, may I have another? Looking forward to more.
Keep up the good work. Deus tecum.
After all this, I really want to see Megaman eventually snap at everyone for all the crap he's been put through. I mean, what he did to Wily is not technically his fault, he is a slave to his programming and could stop himself because of it, and yet he's getting the harshest punishment for it all.
Then there's the general abuse and trauma from the previous wars and all I can say is that I'm waiting for him to have another break that's even worse that requires both sides to work together to stop him from hurting anyone.
It would be interesting, if rather dark. You can't just heap this kind of constant abuse and trauma without something like that occurring.
In short, I can't say I'm rooting for Vinyl in this round, now I just kinda pity Megaman because he's kind of the real victim here and this abuse is rather uncalled for and unwarranted.
TROLL!
6818443 YEAH, but Mega Man got Vinyl's father IN JAIL.COMPLETLY WARRENTED
6818443
7313070
I'm with E on this one.
Pocahontas? seriously? f
6818443
Ah, but remember, Vinyl was like 10-12 years old when Megaman busted into her home and held her hostage on the pain of death to forcibly detain her, at this point, mostly-harmless father. On New Years.
I don't think any middle-schooler is going to be able to care that said person wasn't completely in control at that point. Yes, logic is well and good, and it is extremely petty, but what real harm is she doing to Megaman? Humiliating him? I can think of at least a dozen times me or my friends had to deal with pranks that were just as petty and humiliating as taking a forced tour of the red light district. A certain prank with a locker full of lotion-filled condoms comes to mind.
I'm not saying that what Vinyl is doing is right, but it isn't exactly that bad, and I think she deserves at least a little leeway considering the circumstances.
6807044
Cutie honey 🍯
man the only way this could have been funnier is if before megaman beamed out, he saw a random met with a match rushing at him, only ro realize the match was wet and unlit before teleporting away.