Chapter 6: Battle in the Depths
Mega Man sank quickly towards the bottom of the lake. He could feel his mechanical body doing its best to compensate and become as buoyant as possible. His eyes also flickered between various vision settings until he could see reasonably well through the dark water around him. He gave a start as be became aware of strange devices all around him in the water. They floated more or less in place and he knew he was going to have to pass right through them. The closest he could come to describing them simply was to call them jellyfish but they were obviously not intended to evoke much of an animal feel. He could see the machinery in the round glass top and found himself thinking the word bomb.
"This is going to be a bit tricky" he muttered to himself. The words were blunted by their transmission through the water but they were nonetheless true.
He noticed a water bomb right beneath him and he had very little time to act. He spread his arms wide and then brought them together. The force of the motion propelled him backwards but more quickly than he would have liked. He had to very quickly change course again as he almost hit another bomb behind him. He adjusted slightly and was soon dropping straight downwards again. He pressed his arms to his side, brought his legs together and narrowly fell through a gap in a particularly large clump.
This odd dance continued until his feet found the bottom of the lake. He looked up and found that the mines were now floating slowly but surely downwards toward him. He groaned and began searching for correct way to go. Not very far away, back towards the great falls, a tunnel had been constructed. Whether it was a normal but alerted part of electric plant or an addition of Dr. Wily's he didn't know. He did know that the amount of minor enemies scattering the way gave indication that he should try to enter it. He started picking his way through the large, mechanical hermit crabs that rolled back and forth across his path with relative ease. One crab approached more quickly than the others and Mega Man instinctively fired upon it. This accomplished two things; first that its shell was knocked off and that it began rolling much faster. Mega Man jumped and felt himself shoot up through the water and almost collide with one of the floating mines.
"Bubble Man must be a firm believer in small but annoying minions" he thought to himself as he picked his way towards the tunnel. Suddenly a huge metal angler fish rose out of the mud and began to spit robotic shrimp the size of Mega Man himself. "I thought wrong"
He fired a rapid series of plasma shots toward the foremost shrimp and it was destroyed. The fish in turn released a replacement. While Mega Man was watching this, another shrimp floated near his feet and he jumped very carefully and deliberately over it. While afloat, he fired the strongest shot he could muster into the left eye of the fish and the eye cracked. Mega Man had suspected they'd be a weak point and he'd been proven right. Realizing that his enemies were closing in, he spun on the spot and fired with the intent of destroying, or at least stunning, as many as he could.
Seeing his plan create and opening, he took it and ran backwards and leapt upon a rock jutting from the muddy lake floor. The water mines were now close overhead and he knew he had a very small window of time. He took aim and fired repeatedly at not only the eyes of the fish but the glowing angler on its head. In short order, the combined effect shorted out the systems of the gilled robot and it exploded. Mega Man had a quick thought about pollution to the lake but pushed it aside and ran for the tunnel as quickly as the mud, water, and enemies would let him.
It took some time but he was soon inside the tunnel where he was instantly blinded. He shut his eyes tightly and dialed the vision settings back to normal. He opened them again and saw that the tunnel was well lit by small lamps hanging from the ceiling. He also noticed a complete lack of current in the tunnel. Neither this nor the lamps had been what he had expected so he was a bit off guard. Still there was no choice but to move forward so started walking.
The lack of current was explained when he reached a large, horizontally segmented gate that blocked the entire tunnel. A large "Dr. W" was painted in bright colors upon the gate and Mega Man rolled his eyes but found he was amused by the symbol.
"I suppose I should have expected it given Dr. Wily's ego. So how does this work? Do I just knock?" He put his hand forward and touched the gate. It instantly rolled upwards with surprising speed. The area beyond was dark and he couldn't make anything out "Ready or not, here I come" he said as he stepped through the gate and felt it slam shut behind him.
Lights powered up and the area was revealed to be a wide, square room with fishing nets made of thick rope covering the walls. Above him, Mega Man was not pleased to see a ceiling coated in lethal looking spikes. He knew they were just low enough that he would hit them if he jumped too high so he'd have to control his movements. This was easier said than done because the room was filled with the same lake water he'd been fighting against all along.
"How do you like my arena?" a voice bubbled in his ears
"It strikes me as simple yet effective, just like everything else you've thrown at me. You must be Bubble Man."
"And you must be my prey" the light, rippling voice returned. His green body was squat and plump with flippers instead of feet. He had a large red jewel on his chest and left arm had a buster instead of a hand. His head displayed no visible mouth with his ears being simple golden circles. His eyes were encased in a transparent shield similar to diver's goggles and a small, forward facing spout jutted from the top of his head.
"I'd really rather not fight you but I suppose I'm wasting my…well breath isn't the right word."
"Your soft hearted words are indeed wasted. I exist simply to destroy you and I shall delight in fulfilling that purpose. Bubble Lead!" As he spoke these final words a large bubble rapidly inflated and shot forth from the spout on his head. It sank as it moved, as if it somehow had weight, and seemed to roll towards its target. Mega Man was too confused and surprised to dodge and cried out as the bubble touched him. The water around him was momentarily discolored as a strange acid was dispelled from the popped projectile and damaged the blue robot.
"I never thought a bubble could pack such a punch."
"Are you impressed? In that case, have some more. Bubble Lead!"
This time a series of three bubbled was quickly formed and fired. Mega Man managed to dodge them and fired at his enemy. Bubble Man had already half leapt, half swam towards a nearby wall and latched onto the netting. He moved like a spider over the ropes as he fired more and more bubbles. These bounced toward their target in high leaps and Mega Man tried to roll beneath the one in the middle. He had forgotten he was underwater and his movements were miscalculated causing the bubble to brush his back and burst. He screamed and Bubble Man laughed.
"And in case you thought that was all I can do have some plasma." He scuttled across the netting like as three-legged crab while extending his buster and releasing shot after shot. Mega Man had to move carefully to avoid the rain of plasma bolts. He leapt over one particularly nasty looking energy projectile, took quick aim with his own buster, and fired on Bubble Man. The aquatic robot screamed and lost his grip on the netting. Both robots hit the ground and quickly resumed the exchange of buster shots with a few acid bubbles occasionally joining the mix.
Mega Man and Bubble Man struggled in this manner for a while before a break finally occurred in the fighting. The two opponents were injured and losing power. Bubble Man was back on the wall of nets while laughing quietly. "Do you know what, Mega Man? This is actually kind of fun. Don't get me wrong, I still plan to kill you but I must admit I'm enjoying this."
"The sport of battle is indeed thrilling" Mega Man conceded "but unlike you I don't want this to end in death."
"Tough kelp, Mega Man, I must do what I was built to do."
"Then we continue."
"Oh yes, especially if you want Camp to stay unharmed."
"If I surrender, will you let him go and promise not to hurt anyone else?" The blue bot asked in sudden hope.
"No" Bubble Man responded flatly and resolutely "My brothers and I exist to fight and that is the only way we want to see you defeated. On that note…Bubble Lead!"
Mega Man shot the bubble in front of him and it burst a safe distance away. His energy wasn't going to last forever and he knew that he had to end this soon one way or another. Fortunately, Bubble Man himself was running out of steam and both knew the end of the battle was near. Mega Man fired very carefully at Bubble Man's right hand causing his amphibious enemy to slip and fall to the floor. He growled in frustration and fired on Mega Man with some very large bubbles. Mega Man in turn jumped with too much power and rocketed up towards the spikes on the ceiling.
Bubble Man chuckled softly knowing that Mega Man, especially at his current power level, had made a fatal mistake. Therefore his eyes widened in shock when Mega Man fired upwards with gusto and thus was propelled back towards the floor with shocking speed. Bubble Man couldn't move and screamed as Mega Man's body slammed feet first into his head. Bubble Man crashed to the floor under his enemy's weight and felt the effects throughout his whole body. Mega Man quickly touched Bubble Man's buster, absorbed his weapon data, and then took aim for the final shot.
Bubble Man had enough time to say "Well played" before he was shut down by Mega Man's attack. Mega Man softly smiled his acknowledgment as he sent a message to Light Labs for a teleport home.