'What is this?!' You are probably asking as you notice that this chapter is far shorter than my usual lengths. Remember how I said I may make this four parts? Yeah...

The biggest reason is the potential length of these chapters. The chapter below stands at seven pages in Microsoft Word. The rest of the final chapter is coming along well for the most part. All I need to finish is the first half of the climax and the Grima Show concluding scene. All together, the chapter would be at least 12 pages. Ultimately, I decided to play it safe and not have a 19+ pages chapter (even if it technically does make sense in this case). I haven't decided how I'll handle later arcs going forward, but I think more about it after I finish this one.

So, enjoy part 1 of Wouldn't You Like To Know: The Blue Bomber's Waltz With The Prince of Koopas

(Also minor warning: This is around the plot that Cerebus Syndrome kicks in. It's not there completely yet though.


The Lord Grima Show is Back!

Grima smiled at the audience. Or at least his vassals did. Grima himself floated in all his 'Gravity defying fell dragon" glory.

"Welcome back to our very special episode." Grima said. "Tonight is the night we learn how far a Kouhai will go to impress his senpai!"

Bowsy and Rock glared from their chair.

"Now! Make haste shipping bait! Tell us of another key point in your escapade!"

Bowser slow clapped as Mega Man stood up for the presumed final time.

"I think I really made progress as I went after Ludwig Von Koopa. Luckily, he followed Iggy Koopa to Dr. Wily's fortress…

Wavy Flashback transition: I really need a raise for this.


Ludwig Von Koopa stood at a payphone outside of Wily Castle, waiting impatiently for the person on the other end to pick up. A few rings later a bratty voice picked up.

"Hello?"

"Bowser Jr. This is Ludwig."

*click*

Redial!

"Hello?"

"Bowser Jr. This is-"

*click*

Re-Redial!

"Hello?"

"Bow-"

*click*

Ludwig gave up after that. If the brat felt like holding a grudge simply because he doesn't get to go kart racing, then so be it.

Meanwhile, at Bowsy's fortress, the prince made a disgusted face at the telephone.

Bowser Jr. sat in his throne, installed into the fortress along with a chair for Blink. He drummed his fingers impatiently as he waited for one of his minions to come back with the fruits of Iggy's research.

"Now I know how Dad feels when he sends me to stop Mario…" The koopa mused before noticing Dark Toon Link glancing at him and perking up. "But it doesn't matter. Once our new weapon is done, we'll totally crush Mega Dweeb! Speaking of…" Junior cleared his throat before shouting:

"That weapon had better be ready!"

The Monty Moles and Rocky Wrenches all jumped slightly. They turned to where the command had come from.

"Don't worry Prince Bro-ser Jr.! It's just about ready!" one of the Montys assured. The prince was unamused.

"It was supposed to be 'just about ready' an hour ago! If it's not ready in the next two hours, then you'll have to explain to Papa why I couldn't use my latest mecha to crush Mega Dweeb!"

The Montys jumped whilst the Rockys began banging random parts harder.

Blink rested a comforting hand on the Prince's shoulder. Bowser Jr. sighed and sank back in the throne in response.

"Prince Bowsy, I don't see why you don't trust me to stop that dumb robot." Dark Toon said. "You should really take it easy."

"I'll take it easy when Mega Dweeb knows how fearsome I am!" Bowser Jr. replied, kicking his feet which just barely reached the edge of his chair. "And when he does, I'll let him fear me for a minute or two before I make him my second minion!"

"But Mega Dork's a weenie!" Blink countered. Bowsy scowled.

"Don't remind me! We'll need to fix that eventually… somehow. Maybe get Mr. Eggman in on it. That reminds me…" Bowsy got up from his throne and grabbed his Magic Paintbrush. He painted a rainbow graffiti version of his sigil, creating a portal to Bowser's Castle 8. "Let's go see what Mr. Mega Dweeb's Dad is up to."


Ludwig Von Koopa!

"And this is the man who helped you?" Ludwig asked, sizing up Iggy's new partner.

"Yup! He's the one who knew what these parts did!"

Dr. Wily stared, terrified of the two ox-lizards. He honestly didn't know what to expect when Bass said that there was someone who wanted to "make a deal." Bass failed to mention that said someone was actually an unhinged, prank-happy monster.

"According to Eyebrows over there, these parts allow anyone to combine with a machine to create a special suit, capable of flying and increasing physical prowess."

Ludwig furrowed his own (currently second best) brows.

"So? What use is it to us?"

Iggy giggled that insanely creepy laugh that he does nowadays.

"Why don't you ask Bowsy? He sent me one of Lord Bowser's old devices and told me to 'Do something sweet' with it."

"Ah yes. The prince. Speaking of the prince, how do you feel about him-"

The sound of shutters interrupted their chat. Ludwig hurried over into the other room as Mega Man entered.

"Ah, Rock Light. I heard that you have been tearing through my siblings in order to find your precious spare parts. I don't really appreciate that."

"So, I don't suppose you'll just give me the key will you?" Mega Man asked. Not to his surprise, Ludwig shook his head.

"But beware Mega Man: I'm not like my siblings. They are mere trainees compared to me! Watch and learn!"

Ludwig jumped into the air and created a giant blast of light. When the light faded, there were four Ludwigs.

"Confused? Frightened? Good!"

Mega Man jumped out of the way of the four Ludwig's magic blasts and began looking for a tell as to which Ludwig was the true one. The eldest Koopaling scoffed at him yet again.

"Go ahead Mega Man. Shoot me! But which one is the real me?"

Ludwig then shot more magic before realizing that the real him shot two fireballs instead of one.

"…Wow. This just got worrying."

Mega Man wasted no time in shooting plasma at Ludwig, but the eldest Koopaling leaped into the air and Yoshi-jumped above the blue menace. Rock rolled (heh) out of the way of Ludwig's girth. They committed to their battle strategies for three minutes before Ludwig threw up his hands in annoyance.

"Do you ever tire out?! Oh yeah. Robot. Of course. No matter!" Ludwig whistled, which was the cue for Iggy and Wily to emerge in the Blooper-Bot 2000. "You shall meet your end here in due time Mega Man!"

Mega Man was still shocked, despite expecting it, to see Dr. Wily in the cockpit of the robot.

"Dr. Wily!" He shouted at the bat-haired doctor. "So you are in league with the Koopa Clan!"

"Technically, yes." Wily answered. "The only reason I am working with these creatures is to crush you and because I fear they may eat me if I don't listen to them."

"Don't worry doctor!" Iggy said. "We won't eat you… yet."

"Do something." Wily whispered to Mega Man, except not really because he was in the cockpit of the Blooper-Bot on the other side of the room.


Bowser Jr. and Dark Toon Link ran giddily into the dungeon and approached Dr. Light's cell. The brats were extra pleased with their prisoner.

"If it isn't Mega Man's dad." Bowser Jr. said. "You better be prepared to see how badly I'll beat him! In fact…" Bowser Jr. felt a hand fall on his shoulder. He turned around to see his father straining not to unleash his confused rage.

"Son." Bowser said gently to his offspring. "Why don't you tell your papa the exact reason why you had me kidnap Blue Buffoon's dad. I would love to hear it."

Junior exchanged a nervous glance with Blink. He started speaking gently.

"Well papa, a couple days ago I…borrowed something from Mega Dweeb. I let some of my minions look at it and they said it could do something really cool. So I gave the parts to Iggy. Then, he said that those parts could make this really cool supersuit, which can fly and shoot weapons and junk!"

"My Super Adapter!" Dr. Light realized, perhaps a bit too loudly. Bowsers Sr. and Jr. and Dark Toon Link turned their attention to him.

"Hey Santa!" Bowser said. "Are those parts yours? What do they do?"

"I'm afraid I don't feel comfortable sharing that with you or your followers. They seem to be the 'evil warmonger' type and I don't associate with those."

Bowser walked up to the bars of the prison cell as smoke escaped from his mouth.

"And what makes you think you're in any position to refuse? Your lame beard?"

Suddenly, Bowser dived out of the way as a blast of energy came roaring through the bars. Dr. Light frowned as his Karate Gi (which came out of nowhere by the way) transformed back into his usual outfit.

"I didn't want to use that unless I had to. Unfortunately, I'll need to wait before I can reuse it."

Bowser stared at Dr. Right. He burst out into laughter.

"Oh man Beardy! For a moment I was almost impressed. I don't know what that was you just did, but it'll take more than that to knock me down!" Bowser walked up to the doctor. "It'd be a real shame if your kid found you banged up because you refused to compromise. Of course, that would be imply you'll actually see your kid again before he becomes a member of the Koopa Troop. Gwahahahaha!"

Dr. Light felt anger boil within him. These creatures stole his technology, kidnapped him and caused his family grief. Now this man intends to brainwash his son and make him a heartless weapon? Bowser failed notice Thomas' cold glare as he looked thoughtful.

"Now, before I was so rudely sidetracked: That adaptor thingy. What does it do?"

Dr. Light thought about his options. He has no idea whether or not Roll and the robot masters would be able to find out where he is, or that Mega Man is even aware of his kidnapping. Even disregarding that, giving this tyrant information on how to use the super adaptor could be putting Rock in grave danger. On the other hand… what could he do? The doctor doesn't have a weapon which he could use to counter Bowser and Master Hand knows what else the king of koopas was capable of. Thomas had heard tales of black magic, insidious weapons and a talent for mastering magical weapons with ease. He heard stories of how quickly and quietly the Koopa Troop were able to conquer locations. He had no guarantee of Bowser's threat to take him out of the picture, but he had no reason to doubt the possibility. The only hope he has is the same one as the previous 16+ times: That Mega Man would prevail nonetheless.

"…Very well." He said, defeated. "I'll tell you."


Mega Man dove to the side as another tentacle slammed onto the platform he was previously. His buster was on overdrive, rapidly firing plasma in the direction of the Blooper-Bot. Iggy laughed as Mega Man tried shooting the cockpit.

"Silly robot! Cockpit weaknesses are for suckers!" Iggy shouted as the Blooper-Bot's tentacle cannons opened. "You'll have to try harder than that to beat this thing!"

Mega Man found himself in a dangerous situation as he eyed the cannons. Out of desperation, he aimed for the cannons and fired a Mega Buster shot. The shot instantly took out one of the tentacles, leaving only a stub with a comically large band aid.

"Iggy. Wily. I am giving you one chance."

"Let me guess: You want those parts Prince Junior stole from you."

"…yes."

"Okie Dokie, here you go!" Iggy tossed the parts to Mega Man who received them happily. "It doesn't really matter anyway since Eyebrows and I-"

"Please do not include me with your lot."

"-reverse engineered those parts!"

"Even though I already had blueprints and notes on the Super Adapter." Dr. Wily muttered bitterly under his breath.

"So even now, Bowsy probably has those parts and is delivering them to King Bowser!" Iggy laughed manically at Mega Man's stunned look. "But don't worry! You won't live to see it!"

The rest of the cannons had been charging while the previous exchange took place and were now aiming at Mega Man. Suddenly, before Mega Man could dodge or the weapons could fire, a large fireball took out another one of the tentacles. Iggy, Wily and Ludwig (who quietly hid himself while repaired himself) gasped.

"Taste the burning flames of Justice!" A gruff Texan voice shouted. Mega Man's face lit up as he saw Fire Man along with the rest of the Light-bots lead by Roll and a bazooka toting Auto.

"Gah! You're not supposed to get help! You're the one who's supposed to explode!" Iggy shouted. The Blooper-Bot tried to counterattack, but it got blasted by Ice Man, Bomb Man took out another tentacle, Cut Man took off his head sccissors and lobbed off another tentacle-ooh, Time Man just used Time Stopper.

As the Robot Masters continued to trash the boss machine, Roll approached Mega Man and gave him a hug.

"What are all of you doing here?!" Rock asked.

"We were tailing that guy who kidnapped Dr. Light when Beat went on ahead and saw you. We decided you could use a little backup and that a detour was necessary."

Rock grinned and produced the keys he won against the other two Koopalings.

"If you're gonna rescue Dr. Light, you'll need these." Rock pointed at the Blooper-Bot. "They have the third one. I gotta go. I have someone I need to pay back."

"Is it the guy?"

"His son actually."

"Good luck Rock."

"Knock em' dead Mega!" Auto shouted as he fired his bazooka.

"We'll handle things here!" Elec Man added.

Mega Man beamed at his robot brethren before beaming off to hunt down the Koopa Prince.

Dr. Wily and Iggy looked at the Light-bot army that was now staring them down, ready for a rumble.

"Say Eyebrows," Iggy said to the doctor. "You wouldn't happen to have an escape plan, would you?"

Dr. Wily considered the question for a moment and nodded.

"I do have one plan, yes." Wily said. Iggy motioned for him to go on. "It's simple. First: I press this button." Wily did so. "Next…" Wily snapped his fingers. The roof blew open to reveal Dr. Ivo Robotnik in his Egg Mobile. Attached to the underside of the Egg Mobile was a wrecking ball with a checkerboard pattern. Dr. Wily stuck out his tongue to everyone before pressing the eject button. Wily grabbed on the chain and together, the doctors flew off into the sunset.

"Well. This doesn't bode well for us." Iggy muttered seconds before a rain of bombs, fire, ice, electricity and really, really big rocks descended upon him and Ludwig.


"What happened in there Albert?!" Robotnik asked as the Egg Mobile flew onward. Dr. Wily sighed.

"I don't want to talk about."

Eggman was curious, but shrugged. "Fair enough then. What do ya say we go out for a night on the town?"

"… You know what? We should. Head for the biggest city that doesn't know who we are!"

The doctors laughed and set on a course for Fourside.


Frank the goomba wandered into the dungeons, balancing a box on top of his head precariously.

"Yo! Prince Bowsy! Dose parts you were askin' for are here!" He yelled into the echoing dank and spooky dungeon. Shortly after his announcement a much more gruffer and scary voice echoed back.

"Bring em here Frank."

Frank gulped as he went deeper into the dungeons. He eventually found the king, son and amiibo in front of Santa Claus' cage. He turned to the royals.

"Okay Lord Bowser, I have good news for all of you and I have bad news for the prince. The good news is that the device Iggy created is right here!"

The villainous trio grinned.

"The bad news…" Frank leaned over to Bowser Jr. and began whispering. The color didn't fade from Junior's body, so much as vanish.

"Mega Dweeb's approaching my house!? He's supposed to be heading here! Kamek!" Bowsy grabbed Blink's arm and pulled him back towards the upper floors.

"There's also an army of robots led by a little girl on their way here!" Frank shouted after him.

"What?!" Bowser said, flames visible in his throat. "How-…" Bowser turned his gaze back to Dr. Light. He picked up the box on Frank's head and opened it. Inside was a variant on his old Megamorph Belt, except with a purple and gold tint. Bowser smirked as he realized what it was connected to. He turned back to Light.

"Boom Boom! Pom Pom! Take Santa McBeardface to the Great Tower! That ought a buy me enough time to take down blue boy! Gwahahahaha!"

Bowser's two ninja koopa henchmen appeared in a puff of smoke and approached the doctor. As they each grabbed an arm of the doctor, his only thought was:

"Rock… I'm sorry."


Mega Man reappeared in the Electrodrome, far away from Wily Castle and the sounds of battle as his "siblings" went to war with the remaining two Koopas. The city-size club was still very active as the robot boy climbed onto the rooftops and began to make his way over to the entrance to that section of Bowser Land. He pulled out a pamphlet he got in Golden Bell Station.

"Let's see… If I go through the exit, I'll end up in Neo Bowser City. After that, I have to navigate the city to reach the other side and that'll take me to Junior Street." Mega Man put away the pamphlet and dodged a blast of magical fire.

"Kehehehhe! You must be the one named Rock Light, I take it?"

Mega Man stared into the sky to see Kamek, flying onto his broomstick. Hanging onto the bottom of the broomstick was Blink.

"Yeah, that's Mega Dweeb." Dark Toon Link confirmed. "Prince Junior's been itching to see him taken down! And I wanna be the one to finish him!"

Mega Man began charging his Mega buster but Kamek waved his wand around several times.

"No young amiibo! Master Bowser Jr. was quite clear on what he wanted us to do with the perpetrator. Besides, you are still rather inexperienced. Shielding and rolling repeatedly is not expertise." Blink gave a mean sneer, but the magikoopa held fast onto the decision. Kamek looked towards Mega Man. "As for you, you adorable little bot, Master Junior was rather specific on how to deal with you. He said that he wanted you to 'meet his father.'" And before he could process that comment, Rock was "magiked" away to the outer Badlands, en route to Bowser's Castle 8. With the enemy gone, Dark Toon Link dropped down onto the ground and punched a wall. The robes that the amiibo had previously consumed were already proving effective as he managed to punch a hole in the wall well beyond Toon Link's ability. Unfortunately, he still wasn't very strong, as he clutched his hand in pain.

"I warned you." Kamek said quietly. Blink looked annoyed for a moment, but it quickly turned defeated. He inspected his hand and found that his fingers were slightly changed, becoming more pointed at the tips. He became vaguely aware of Kamek speaking in the background.

"…And then I would arrive to make him bigger. But I don't see how Prince Junior intends to fight Mega Man at this rate… Unless he's expecting Lord Bowser to fail."

"…And what if he is?" Blink asked.

"That's the big question. What is this scheme that Bowsy's trying to pull and what is he trying to prove doing it?"

Blink silently contemplated the facts. Bowsy fought against Mega Dweeb, lost, and swore revenge. Bowsy gave the Super Adaptor parts to the Koopalings. Bowsy expected them to fail. Bowser didn't get involved until he had to. Bowsy sent Mega Dweeb to Bowser. Bowsy expects him to fail…

A pattern was quickly becoming apparent.


To Be Concluded...

Next Chapter: A Great Tower Showdown

...Also Koopas eating people? Look up Hotel Mario. It made that a thing.