I am so sorry for the delay, Faithful Readers. I am getting back into writing semi-steadily but for some reason I kept getting sidetracked as far as actually posting. Here are two new chapters at once. Enjoy!
Chapter 11: Factory of Fear
"At least I found out that Sen. Camp's alive" Mega Man said. He was lying face down on a lab table while Dr. Light mended his leg.
"Ok, so what's the good news?" Roll asked from nearby before receiving cold looks from both her father and her brother "Ok, it was just a joke. Yes, it's good he's fine."
"Yes it is" Dr. Light responded "Unfortunately, that's all the new information we have. We still have no idea where he's being held."
"We will once I finish this sick little game."
"I just hope there are no more surprises" Dr. Light said as he finished the repairs and indicated that Mega Man could get up "Sick is indeed the word for this situation and that was before they started changing the rules on us."
"Yeah…Dr. Light, I'm not quitting, I'm really not but I am scared. Not just for myself but for Sen. Camp. Dr. Wily has made it very clear that I'm his best hope but if there are more like Quick Man…I'm just not strong enough."
"Rock, we will figure this out together. You are incredibly strong."
"Thanks. Hey, what about the others we picked up; Bubble Man and co? Did you find anything out from them such as a weakness?"
"They're gone Rock" Roll answered "I think we have your friend Quick Man to thank for that."
"And" Dr. Light added "What little I did study didn't tell me much except that they were very well built robots. That" he said in response to the look on Rock's face "is exactly what you are, if I do say so myself. Now, if we must play let's play."
"Play?!" Roll exclaimed "How can we keep calling this a game? Dr. Wily's not even playing fair. What if he repairs those robots he took back from us?"
Mega Man looked at his frightened and angry sister and put a hand on her shoulder "If he does then I'll just have to beat them again. We beat Dr. Wily once and we'll beat him this time too."
"Ok Rock" She suddenly flashed a fierce grin and said "Go stick it to them Mega Man!"
"Ok! Let's see here" he said as he gave her shoulder a last squeeze and marched over to the computer. His optimism quickly faded as he studied the screen. The five remaining robot faces revealed nothing except the one he certainly wasn't going to pick. "Um, wow this is not getting any easier. Oh let's just go for it!"
He thrust out his finger and it landed on Metal Man. Mega Man waited until the teleportation had finished before examining his surroundings. His sense of hearing got the first turn to explore due the place being so loud. All around him echoed the sounds of heavy machinery; a constant throbbing, grinding, and clanking cacophony. The dull red light allowed just enough visibility for Mega Man to see that he was in a large factory of some kind. Specifically, he was standing on a platform directly in front of a series of conveyor belts. The lighting was dim enough that he couldn't see the ground below and he had a feeling that it wouldn't be safe to jump down there.
"I mean if it's a choice between the obvious danger that I can see and the implied danger that I can't…ok maybe that's a question of context but I think I'm meant to go this way."
He jumped onto the conveyer belt and was quickly thrown onto his backside by the swift motion of the belt. It was actually a very sturdy material and he was about to find out why. His ungraceful attempts to stand back up were all that saved him from being crushed under a large press with spikes on its bottom. Mega Man was initially shocked and afraid but he had a sudden brainwave. As the press began its slow ascent back to its starting position, he grabbed the safe top side and let his body get pulled into an upright position. Then it was simply a matter of running under it.
"Ok that actually wasn't so…oh gosh there's another one!"
He had to literally dive to get past the second crusher in one piece. He glanced upwards and saw a third one. He rolled his eyes and muttered "Really?" before quickly scrambling to crawl backwards. "This is ridiculous."
It took a little concentration and patience but Mega Man finally found his way safely to the end of the conveyor belt. It connected to another conveyor belt that continued the path ahead. He quickly discovered that this one was running in the opposite direction of the first and he had to run to actually go in the right direction. The good news was that this reverse belt didn't look like it had as many presses slamming into it from above. The bad news was that this belt had Met's standing along its sides.
Mega Man grunted in frustration as he began running forward against the motion of the belt while dodging the shots from the hard hat wearing enemies. He put on a sudden burst of speed as the press began to rise again. He felt the shots from the Mets hitting him but he knew they would do far less damage than the spiked terror above. As it happened, he only barely made it past the press and had one more to get past before the belt ended. He felt another shot hit his arm and he fired back. Sadly, the Met ducked like a turtle and Mega Man's plasma shot simply bounced off of the helmet.
Mega Man wondered for a second what Dr. Wily made those things out of before forcing his mind back to the situation at hand. The nearest Met raised its helmet and fired. In a burst of inspiration, Mega Man stopped running and let the belt carry him backwards while he fired back simultaneously. He was carried out of the path of the enemy fire but his own shot hit the robot underneath the helmet. This situation resulted in two things: the first result was the enemy robot was the destroyed and the second result was that the enemy press behind him was now dangerously close once again. Mega Man ran forward and almost hit the press in front of him. He saw the Mets shifting their position and knew that his trick would not work on all of them, at least not without great risk.
And so he simply ran. He activated a couple of Leaf Shields that did a decent job of deflecting the enemy fire and he made it past the press. Reaching the end of the conveyor belt, he stepped onto the platform waiting for him. He had gotten used to the moving floor and lost his balance upon reaching stable ground. He tumbled down a very short flight of stairs and discovered that the ground was actually not that far away. Somehow the dim light had concealed a floor that was only about four or five feet below the conveyor belts. This also meant that the Mets were easily able to follow him. He was barely on his feet when he found himself being pummeled by their tiny but effective shots.
Mega Man began firing back but it was a slow process. He would have been quicker at dealing with them but they were moving around all over the place. One of the irksome machines planted itself underneath Mega Man's feet and dropped down into defense mode. His foot connected with the firmly planted hard hat and he fell over sideways. As soon as he was down, the Mets began to dance all around him and shoot at him.
"Leaf Shield" he shouted. The razor sharp leaves began to swirl and a few of the Mets were caught with their helmets up. Those hit smoked, sputtered and stopped moving. "That'll even things up a bit."
He leapt to his feet and fired upon the startled enemies. Most still had their helmets up and so they went down quickly. The few that remained were now frightened and backing up. That was their mistake; they should have hidden under their hard hats. As it was, they were soon out of commission.
"Ah, thank goodness that mess is over. Now to see what fresh horrors Metal Man has in store for me."
Some of the lights were a bit brighter than others causing them to form a path between walls of huge clanking machinery. Mega Man followed the path with is buster at the ready. As he walked, he heard something moving among the large wheels and gears. He looked around through the eerie red light but saw nothing. Then again, maybe that had been a flash of movement in the shadows. He was beginning to get feel uneasy and so he quickened his pace. Suddenly, a loud metallic crash sounded behind him and Mega Man was knocked to the ground the next second. He screamed in pain and shock as a large heavy gear rolled right over his back. He looked up as his continued to roll forward and he saw that a robot was riding it like a unicycle. It had a small humanoid shape with monkey like movements.
Mega Man raised his buster but the gear riding robot had already rode back into the machinery. Mega Man began moving forward as quickly as he could and climbed to his feet as he progressed. He wanted to get out of this place as soon as he could. As soon as he was properly on his feet, he heard the crashing sound again and spun. Instead of firing, he jumped out of the way to avoid being run over again. The wild robot flashed him a malicious grin as it passed right near him. Mega Man began firing but the horrid thing dodged with dance like movements. This was not entirely without result because it had danced so wildly that is lost its balance and knocked its odd vehicle over.
The robot rolled across the ground and Mega Man took his chance. He didn't mess around with plasma bolts and roasted the little bugger with an Atomic Fire. As soon as it stopped moving, Mega Man ran to the end of the path as fast as he could. He came to a wall and turned right to run along it. He dealt with more Mets as best as he could but kept running. Finally, he came to a clear spot and stopped.
"Stupid Rock" he berated himself "What kind of hero lets himself get carried away by fear like that?" He glanced around and discovered that he had stopped right by a long corridor. The lights were just as dim here but if he looked hard he could just make out a large gate with the now familiar "Dr. W" symbol painted on it. "Almost there."
He entered the corridor but was immediately struck across his back by something large and painful. He turned around but there was nothing there. He felt his back as best he could and was dismayed to feel a fairly large scratch. It didn't go all the way to the machinery within but his armor now had a weak spot. He allowed himself a rare curse word as he turned back towards the Wily Gate and began to walk very slowly forward. Almost immediately something began to rise out of the floor. He stopped just short of it and watched in horror as a large, sharp screw rose from a hole in the floor and gained speed at a steady rate. He heard a faint sound from the ceiling discovered another one coming down directly above him. He jumped back just in time but his movement triggered more hidden screw silos.
"I suppose this is what they mean by so near and yet so far" he said in his frustration.