Chapter 9: Drilling For Disaster

"Look, kids. I'm going to tell you this nice and straight, because I am a nice guy. All of you with no more tactics than a charging rhino? You're dead the first time you fight a real opponent unless you wise up. Too many Mavericks have a way of simply avoiding your attacks, like burrowing into the ground. I use that trick myself, so I know how effective it is." -1st Unit Maverick Hunter Armored Armadillo, shortly before his infection and the First Maverick Uprising

"All right... that should do it for this tunnel." Drill Man grunted as he lifted his head out of the dirt. Using his arms, which ended in drills smaller than the one atop his head, the red Robot Master pulled himself completely from the ground. "Hey, Helipon 72-B! Get over here!"

"What is your command?" A whirling helicopter blade kept the addressed robot in the air. Drill Man pointed at the hole he had climbed out of.

"Have this hole filled back up, and only the hole. Don't do anything to do the new tunnel below; I'm going to be setting sentries there soon."

"Understood." The Helipon flew off to get help from others of its series as Drill Man walked away in the opposite direction, towards his command center.

"Computer, update map with the new tunnel I have just completed." He ordered once he had arrived. "Then bring up the list of dormant robots so I may assign some of them to the tunnel."

"Acknowledged." The red Robot Master waited until the correct screen was up, then began selecting the sentries. He was so engrossed in his work that it took him five minutes to notice the blinking "call waiting" light.

"Computer, why did you not inform me there was an incoming call?" He demanded sharply.

"You have set me not to interfere with or interrupt you while you are working on something."
"Ah... yes." He grunted. "Well, put the doctor through... it IS Doctor Cossack, isn't it?"

"Correct." The computer affirmed as the face of Drill Man's creator appeared onscreen.

"Drill Man." He greeted him with an odd, dead sort of tone in his voice. "I am calling to bid you farewell... it seems the least I can do."

"Thank you, Doctor... I suppose." Drill Man tilted his head to show confusion. "However... may I be permitted to inquire why exactly you are saying goodbye to me? Are you going somewhere?"

"Drill Man..." Cossack sighed and looked down. "Drill Man, I am afraid you are deceased." That made the red Robot Master blink.

"Pardon?"

"Mega Man will be coming for you very shortly, Drill Man." Dr. Cossack informed him. "You are the one who possesses the Black Energen Crystal that will enable his mongrel's Jet mode, which was an invaluable tool during the Third Robot Rebellion. He has defeated Toad Man as well too, now... and of course, you know he has the Dive Missiles at his command."

"Could it look any worse for me?" Drill Man rolled his eyes heavanward. "Really. Could it? Inquiring minds want to know." This actually caused Dr. Cossack to chuckle, something which had not often happened from the heart for a long time now, since before the Rebellion started.

"Well, Drill Man, I wasn't going to mention it, but since you asked... I detected him leaving Dr. Light's Lab and heading for Dive Man's old lair a few minutes ago. Doubtless, he is planning to use the Rush Marine in order to acquire the Wire utility that was hidden there."

"Well, that won't make much of a difference down here, at least..." Drill Man smiled. "These tunnels are too enclosed for the Wire to be of much use." Briefly he considered asking the doctor if he would like him to destroy the Energen Crystal, but decided against it. "So... only myself, Bright Man and Pharoah Man remain."

"Correct." Dr. Cossack nodded, grim once more. "Drill Man, I will not lie to you. In my eyes... you and Bright Man are both already lost. In fighting ability, you are on the same level as Ring Man was, at best... and Mega Man defeated HIM even without using solar energy."

"I see... what about Pharaoh Man?"

"Pharaoh Man... may still have a chance. He is the only one who still has a chance." The Russian Doctor admitted. "He is the strongest of you, the most powerful of my Robot Masters. It all depends on the order... if Mega Man attacks Pharaoh Man before Bright Man... but how...?"

"Doctor, does Pharaoh Man not possess the Balloon Utility, as Dive Man possessed the Wire?" Drill Man asked. His creator's eyes widened.

"Yes... yes, he does! I had forgotten about that... thank you, Drill Man. Yes, perhaps I can use that to our advantage, and trick Mega Man into going after Pharaoh Man first... but it will have to be tricky..."

"You can do tricky very well, Doctor." Drill Man smiled again. "And the rest of us have a moderate grasp of it ourselves... most of us, anyways. My network of tunnels, for example... I hope it at least causes Mega Man some trouble. I know it's a slim chance that he will die here, but it is a chance nonetheless."

"You're not troubled by how you are almost certainly going to die soon?" Dr. Cossack looked slightly incredulous. His creation shrugged.

"What would be the point of such a thing? If it will happen, it will happen. Until then, I shall continue forward with our mission, as always. I am not designed for feelings of hopelessness, Doctor."

"So I see..." Cossack mused, half to himself. "Sometimes I almost forget... at any rate, he will likely teleport to your domain directly from Dive Man's once he has acquired the Wire. Be prepared, and make me proud. Goodbye, Drill Man." The connection was cut, and Drill Man sighed.

"Make you proud... that is much easier said than done, Dr. Cossack, especially with Mega Man around. But I shall try to do my best. If you're going to do something, do it right, after all. Correct, computer?"

"That makes logical sense." The mindless machine responded pleasantly. Drill Man rolled his eyes once more.

"I'm sure it does, computer. Now, then, let's get down to more important issues. How many Taketentos do we have that are ready for flight and patrol duty in the mine at this moment?"

"Ah, human nature." Rock snorted. "Figures. Less than a week since I cleared this place out, and already it's a new tourist trap." He was standing on the central portion of the sunken S.S. Fizz, which had formerly been Dive Man's domain, the only part of the ship above the waves. Below on the nearby coastline, humans both native and tourist were swarming around in the hundreds, all eager to see the site of part of the famous Robot Rebellion. None of them were actually IN the water, of course; at this time of the year this far north, it was about fifty degrees below "human ice cube." Rock smiled; for once, he was not wearing his Mega Man armor at the moment. "Good thing I fit in, huh, Rush?" He scratched the head of the dog next to him, who barked happily in response. The robotic boy was wearing bermuda shorts, sandals and a loud blue-and-red hawaiian shirt that had been a gift from his older brother on his last birthday (Roll had recieved an orange-and-green one). "Shall we get going, then? If there's anything important down at the bottom of that hole, it's waited for us long enough, don't you think?"

"Ruff!" Rush barked in agreement once more before squatting down, his body transforming into a miniature submersible craft, with a single seat under a bubble dome. Rock climbed in and closed the bubble above him as Rush leaped off of the edge, going into a perfect swan dive before he hit the water.

"No leaks at all... what about the mouth cannon?" Rock asked. Rush responded by spitting a globe of plasma, and his master smiled. "Excellent. Looks like the Rush Marine's restoration is a 100% success. Forward!" They blasted along the ocean floor, unnoticed by the people above, until they came to the wreckage of the second massive whale robot. Rock quickly spotted the hole in the ground. "In there!" The hole led down to a deep cavern underneath the wreckage of the S.S. Fizz. More importantly, its walls were lined with deadly spikes the entire way down. The good part was, the Rush Marine had excellent steering; Rock was able to guide it down without any close calls at all, even as they dropped lower and the light faded until they were in pitch blackness. At the very bottom, the cave expanded into a small cube with no other entrances or exits other than the way they had come. However, what attracted the attention of both Rush and Rock was a glowing green capsule with a "W" marked on it.

"Ruff!" Rush barked once before picking the capsule up in his jaws. He tried to bark again then, but was unable to.

"Awright, Rush. Let's head back up to dry land!" Rock steered the marine mutt back up the spike-lined tunnel and into the sunlit sea. From there, they sped off towards the closest end of the S.S. Fizz, Rock pleasantly noting that the spike-rafts and explosive mines had been taken out. Once they reached the shore, Rush found a spot that had no nearby onlookers at the moment and leaped out, opening the bubble dome. Rock climbed out and took the green capsule from the dog, who promptly reverted to full canine form. "Shall we see what's in this thing, then?" Producing a Ring Boomerang, he deftly sliced the top off of the canister and peered inside. The contents were packed in multiple layers of bubble wrap. Removing it all revealed... a single computer chip. "Huh? What good is this... wait. I wonder..." Frowning, he tried using the Weapons Copy system on it, and grinned as it worked! "Yes! I've got a new toy! Hmmm... just called 'Wire', eh? So that's what the W stands for... but what does it do?" He tried firing it, but there was no response save a dull clank from his buster. "Sonofa... what's wrong?"
"Did you try examining the schematics?" A voice came from Rush's back. The dog whined and went back to Marine mode, revealing a small communications device set into the cockpit. From the sound of the talker's voice, it was Roll. "Maybe you have to do something special in order for it to work."

"Hmm... you may be right." Rock admitted grudgingly, following the suggestion. "Bingo... the buster has to be pointed upwards? Wierd... but I've seen worse. Let's give it a shot..." Looking upwards, he fired skyward and saw a long metal grappling hook fire upward, clutch at the air ineffectively and retract. "Well, that's... different..."

"What is it?" Roll demanded.

"Grappling hook. I'm guessing it can pull me up to a ceiling... could probably take out an overhead enemy, too. All in all, a pretty nifty invention. I wonder where it came from? A previous invention of Cossack's?"

"Probably." Roll agreed. "Should come in handy, anyways. I assume you'll be heading over to Drill Man's right away?"

"Yup. No point in wasting time in coming back when I'll just be going out again, is there?"

"No... if you plan on fighting Drilly in that hawaiian shirt." She snickered. Rock rolled his eyes.

"Har. Har. Har. I'll switch it for my armor now..." He sent off the command. "There. Shouldn't take too long for the teleport to get here... eh?" He blinked as he looked around, noticing for the first time that he was surrounded by a ring of people. One Norwegian boy with blonde hair walked up to him, eyes wide.

"You're Mega Man, aren't you?" Rock winced.

"Well... kinda. But when I'm not fighting, please just call me Rock, okay? Rock Light."

"If that wire thingy wasn't a weapon, I don't wanna know what is." A woman commented. Rock sighed and spread his hands.

"Look, lady. Do you know what happens to anybody who tries fighting an army of homicidal robots in a hawaiian shirt and bermuda shorts? Even me? They get wasted, that's what. These clothes are fun, not functional."

"That was still really cool, though!" The kid exclaimed brightly. Rush barked as if to agree, and Rock turned to him.

"Et tu, bow-wow?" Suddenly, he was enveloped in blue light, and a moment later the clothing was replaced by his familiar blue battle armor. The people were all staring, wide-eyed, but the kid was first to open his mouth.

"Cool!"

"Thanks. NOW you can call me Mega Man." Mega glanced at Rush, who immediately ran back to his master's side. "I'd love to stick around here and chat with you all day, folks, but I'm afraid I need to be off if I want to stop this Rebellion cold. Drill Man in Switzerland is just asking for a blasting."

"How many are left?" A man on the outskirts of the crowd called. Mega held up three fingers.

"Drill Man, Bright Man, Pharoah Man. After them comes Cossack himself... but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. See you all later!" Waving, the hero and his dog vanished in streams of blue and red light, leaving the crowd behind to stare into the sky for several moments afterward. Once again, the small boy was the first one that broke the silence.

"Anybody who says robots getting too human is a bad thing... has never met THAT guy."

"All right, where'd the bugger go..." Proto Man muttered, wiping snow off of his shades. A flash of brown caught his eye, and he spun and fired all in one movement. The animal went down, smoking. Sighing, Proto walked over and examined the body. "Good... looks like most of it's still salvagable." Indigenous wildlife of Russia was not one of Proto Man's knowledge specialties. Thus, he mentally referred to the creature he had just downed as "deer-moose things." It had been five days since he had busted the girl out, and the deer-moose things were the only real available source of food for her. Fortunately, several years spent wandering in the African Congo had given Proto Man moderately sharp hunting skills, more out of a neccessity for self-preservation than anything else. Robots, even the most advanced ones, were not even capable of eating. Small, sick human girls, on the other hand... Proto Man shrugged as he started to lug the deer-moose thing back to the cave where the girl was sleeping.

"I suppose I should look on the plus side... with all this snow, there's no problem getting enough water. Aah, foolish optimism. What would I do without it?" He thought for a moment, then shrugged. "Burn and die, I suppose. One insane Advanced Robot Master was more than enough for this world. I don't particularly plan on becoming the next Doc Man... bald and grinning isn't my style." The red robot grunted as he tripped over a rock, but managed to right himself before he fell on his face. "Close one. This thing would have squashed me flat. Ah, here we go..." He smiled as he reached the cave, easing the carcass to the ground outside before walking in. The girl was lying on the skin of another one of the deer-moose things. Her eyes flitted up to Proto Man as he entered, but she remained motionless aside from that.

"Blues..."

"Shh, don't talk now." He smiled reassuringly even as he wagged a finger. "You should be getting some heavy sleep, missy, and you know it. We don't know how long that blizzard will be going on outside of here, and the moment it stops we'll have to move on. You need to get as much rest as you can, while you can, because we won't have time for it later." She sighed.

"Yes... I'll try to do that." She turned over and closed her eyes. Proto Man nodded in approval.

"Good. I caught more food for you... I'll cook it now, and you can eat it when you wake up as I carry you. Sorry it's just deer-moose thingy again... there's not much available here in winter, even if I knew how to look for it. For what fruits and vegetables there are still around here, I can't tell which ones are poisonous for the life of me. Maybe we'll get lucky and I'll find a wild boar or something different next time, but for now, this will have to do, I'm afraid."

"It's okay..." The girl replied without opening her eyes. "I'm lucky even to be alive, Blues... you don't need to apologize. For anything at all. I owe you my life... you saved me from there."

"Yeah, yeah." The red robot bowed his head, embarrassed. "Don't thank me just yet... we're not through with this by a long shot." Without turning around, he fired over his shoulder and destroyed the robot that had been sneaking up on them. "Case in point. We've got a long ways to go as of yet, and if we want to make it out in one piece... you need to rest now, you hear me?" She nodded.

"Da."

"Then sleep." Proto turned, walked back outside and began scrounging up some logs for a cooking fire. With all the other problems the girl had from her ill-treatment in the prison, the last thing she needed was some disease from raw meat. "Five days... and who knows how many more it'll take. Frackit, I need some kind of GPS system... it couldn't be THAT hard to install." Five days spent travelling through the Russian wilderness in winter was five days too many, especially for a small child in that condition. But there was no other choice. Teleportation could have gotten Proto out of there at any time, yeah. But that would mean leaving the girl behind, for teleportation scrambled human brains and would violate the First Law of Robotics, causing immediate mind freeze. Not acceptable; not in the least. So he walked.

"Right now, I would give everything I'm wearing for a vehicle." Proto appealed to the heavens. "I meant it. Armor, buster, shades, even my scarf." There was no response. Proto Man waited a few seconds before cheerily giving the bird to the storms. "There you go then, pal. You can have that free of charge." Shrugging, he turned his back on the skies and bent over to pick up a medium-sized chunk of wood. "This'll do. Few more of these, and then we'll be cooking... right, buddy?" He glanced over at a snow-covered lump. Underneath the frost was the remains of Magnet Man, who had attacked shortly after Blues had put the girl in her cave on account of the blizzard. The cocky Robot Master had somehow gotten it into his head that he could beat Proto Man in a straight fight, and had paid for it. On a whim, Proto had arranged the body standing up in a heroic pose, looking for all the world like a statue save the missing head. That had been placed in front of Magnet Man's own foot. Pity the snow covered the whole assemblage; Proto could really use a small laugh right about now.

"That should be enough wood..." He decided. "If not, I can get more. But this should do for a start." An errant thought made him chuckle as he returned to the cave. "I wish they would send Wood Man out here. He could be useful right about now... heh heh heh." He dumped the wood on the ground inside the cave in a pile, pulling out a matchbook. "To whatever gods there are, I offer a resounding thanks for arranging things so that I have these. I shudder to think about what sort of condition we would be in right now if I didn't.... probably be trying to recall how the boy scouts do it, and failing rather miserablly. I'm not exactly boy scout material anyways." He altered his voice, reducing it by about five years. "Sir, I've completed the Robot Killing and World Saving merit badges! Next, I'm going to go for the Jail Breaking one, and then the Brother Whacking badge!" This time, he did laugh at his own joke for a short perioid of time. "Okay, enough of that. Down to cooking." Before too long, he had a nice blaze going. As soon as it had reached the level where he no longer had to constantly keep watching it, the yellow-scarved robot went and brought the latest deer-moose thingy inside.

"Good thing I don't mind gross work, and she seems pretty tolerant of what I have to do to get food out of these things." Proto grunted as he stripped the good meat off of the bones. "Man... I wish I had some Shadow Blades now. Those would make doing this quite a bit easier, I'll bet...." By the time he had finished with the meat, the fire had risen to a healthy blaze. A sharp branch turned out to be a servicable roasting skewer when held up by a pair of rocks on either side of the fire. About twenty minutes later, Proto eyed the meat and pronounced it edible. "I'm no cook, but that shouldn't kill her, at least. Once it's cooled off, anyways." He doused the fire with some snow and packed the meat in more of it, making sure that the frost used for that was clean. The girl had managed to drop off, so Proto had nothing else of importance to do until the blizzard had blown over except guard duty, and he could take a break from that for one minute. Sighing, he leaned against a wall and checked his energy levels for the what must have been the thirtieth time that day. And they still didn't look good.

"Forty-four percent is not enough to stop an onslaught…" He blinked. His vocal processor had slurred the last word. That wasn't a good sign at ALL. Rationally, he would have tried to rest for a while himself, to give his systems time to catch up with the immense drain he was placing on them with everything he did. Of course, rationality also told him that would likely be suicide, both for himself and the girl; ever since the breakout, they hadn't been given a moment's peace. That kind of tended to not help matters, and it showed no signs of changing any time soon. When he wasn't trying to find enough caverns to keep the girl safe from the constant raging blizzards of the Siberian wilderness, he had to face off robotic hordes that had been sent out to bring them back. Most of the time, it was just mindless drones sent on attack paths. Not too tough. But from time to time, a Robot Master like Magnet Man would make an appearance. He dealt with them, but each one was harder. And it didn't help matters that every day they stayed out here, the girl's condition got worse and worse.

She was avoiding frostbite, Proto Man thanked whatever gods there were once more. Her mittens, her hat, her boots, her coat... all her clothes were all designed to withstand the Siberian winter, and if the robots had done one thing right, they had let her keep those. No, cold wasn't the problem with the girl. It was overheating. Untold and unknown sickness ran rampant through her weak body, thanks to the deplorable conditions of her cell, driving her body temperature up and up in an attempt to kill the viral hordes. And yet that seemingly lifesaving measure would destroy her just as easily... probably easier, if they didn't make it through to their destination in time. For the moment, at least, she was sleeping. Proto Man moved over to her and held his hand over her forehead to try and help, if even a little, with the problem. Her eyes drew tighter in on themselves, and she moaned a little, most likely stuck in a nightmare worse than her current life... but she didn't wake up. Slowly, the heat was drained out of her and into his fingers, decreasing the pain, if only marginally. Cold compresses he didn't have, and plain snow was no substitute. But an icy hand of metal and synthskin he did have... that would have to do for now.

"Don't wake up... you have to stay put for a while, all right?" Sighing, Protoman gave the girl's hair one final stroke, then turned about and walked out of the alcove he'd blasted open to stand guard. He'd barely stepped outside and into the high-winded, snow-filled air when something sharp came whistling by and embedded itself in the rock next to his head. "HEY!" Now justifiably pissed, Protoman ducked low under his Protoshield and scooted off into the blizzard to avoid another shot. But his wandering eyes beneath the shades were watching the cave at all times, and they saw what had almost crushed his skull in. And it wasn't good.

A four pointed throwing star. As big as his head. And then, the snowfall stopped. And Proto Man, staying behind his shield, stared out through the vision slot and grimly recognized his opponent.

"Shadow Man." Proto spat out.

"A freight elevator?" Mega Man mused over the only apparent way into Drill Man's mine. "Hmph... I just hope it's not booby-trapped." Stepping on, he signalled for it to go down. Fortunately, the ride was completely uneventful, and once at the bottom, he stepped out into the dark, dirty depths... only to recieve a ladybug-robot in the face. Snarling, he destroyed it. "Cheap shot. Hmm... the dirt seems to have a reddish tinge... is that natural? If so, it's wierd... or maybe it's just an effect of the lighting. Ah well, better think on more important things..." The initial passageway was staffed with a one-two combination of flying ladybugs and hard-hat Metools, which was easily taken care of by simpy approaching each enemy one at a time. Climbing up to the next floor, however, yielded a huge, dangerous road paving robot that took Mega by surprise. Before his blasts could punch through its heavy armor, the enemy robot had smashed into him, doing heavy damage even as it was destroyed.

"I suppose I should consider myself lucky it didn't jump ON me..." Mega muttered as he climbed further. "That probably would have taken at least half my energy off at the very least, instead of a quarter." More ladybugs and Metools provided enough energy capsules to replenish most of what he had lost before the blue hero dropped down to a series of spike-lined floors heading downward. The difficulty of jumping from small spots of safety was not helped by the infestation of Battontons, but he made it through... to a tunnel with spikes on both the ceiling AND floor. Mega looked skyward and spread his arms in supplication.

"Why, oh why can I NEVER catch a break? Did I offend some god or something?" Sighing, he crawled through it across safe-spot stepping stones and climbed up. A series of nastily placed and shielded plasma cannons on the floors above yielded a second E-Tank on a high-up ledge. "Bonus! Time to try this out in the field..." Pulling out his new Wire utility, Mega fired it upward and attached it to the ceiling near the ledge. The metal claw dug into the earth and retracted itself, pulling Mega upward to the prize. Pocketing it, he went on into the tunnels. The next fun obstacle was a bunch of metal chutes in the ceiling. Looking up into one to try and figure it out, Mega recieved a large rock in the face for his efforts. "OW! Okay, that's not even funny." Something else moved at the corner of his eye, and he trained his buster on it. It turned out to be a small, self-spinning helicopter robot with huge eyes. It was cute. Then it landed on the ground and started spitting plasma. Cursing, Mega blew it away with a charged shot.

"Looks can be deceiving, I guess..." He frowned at a place ahead where the ground was covered in inky darkness. "What the hell is that? Some kind of holographic projection? Lovely... can't tell what's there... eh?" The blue hero had spotted a large switch set in the wall. Shrugging, he flipped it and watched the hologram dissipate, revealing a narrow bridge of land across a deep pit. He whistled. "Boy, am I glad I didn't try walking across that..." Mega carefully made his way across before continuing on, sliding under falling rocks and blasting propeller-bots. The next hologram, however, was a bit more problematic, as the switch was over the darkened area. "Hmmm... Wire time again." Using the Wire, he swung over to the switch and pulled it before dropping onto the ground safely. The other blackened areas were dealt with similarly. After the last one, one more rock-dumping tube was all that stood between Mega and the metal shutter signifying Drill Man's control center. One slide, and he was through.

"Oy, Driller!" Mega called as he entered. "Where are you? Come out and fight, already!"

"As you insist..." From the ceiling, three metal drills emerged, followed by a red robotic body. Drill Man fell to the ground, shifting around in midair so that he landed on his feet. "I'm right here. You got here faster than I expected..."

"Your little illusions didn't work. Maybe that's the cause of it." Mega informed him. The red Robot Master's eyes widened.

"Not at all? You didn't fall into even one pit?"

"Nope."

"Nuts..." Drill Man frowned. "Looks like I wasted a lot of time digging the mazes under there, then. Phooey."

"One question first... well, two." Mega amended. "First, where are the hostages. And second, where's the black Energen Crystal?"

"The hostages are in a room behind this one." Drill Man answered. "They are unharmed; I have several Helipon robots guarding them that will shut down with my death. The black Energen Crystal is in the same room. Well, now that all the pleasantries have been taken care of, shall we get on with this?"

"I couldn't have said it better myself!" Mega smiled as he fired off a charged shot. Drill Man, however, immediately leaped up and flipped so that he was doing a handstand of sorts, then burrowed into the ground, the plasma blast passing above him harmlessly into a wall. The blue hero glared around at the ground. "All right, where are you, you little... ah!" He dived away as Drill Man suddenly erupted out of the ground right where Mega had been standing.

"Right here!" He immediately submerged again.

"Cute trick..." Mega growled. "But I'm putting an end to it right now! Dodge THIS!" Turning green, he launched a pod of Rain Flush, which he had recieved from Toad Man. The acid poured down hitting everything except Mega, who was protected from it's effects. From the ground, some mild curses ensued.

"Dammit... that hurt, I'll give you that. However-!" Drill Man sprang upwards again, sending Mega flying. "The earth protects me from the brunt of the acid! You'll run out of power to that weapon before you can do me significant damage with it!" He vanished into the ground again.

"He's right..." Mega realized. "How about this, then?" Activating the Skull Barrier, he waited for Drill Man's attack. However, the red Robot Master was unfazed, coming back up a short distance away.

"No biggie, boy... eat bomb!" He pointed his drill-head arms, and Mega realized too late as they detached and flew out... they were bombs! The explosion not only wiped out the Skull Barrier, but plastered him against the wall. Laughing, Drill Man fired two more before submerging.

"Looks like you're in trouble, Mega Man! No weapons that can get me down here and be effective at the same time!" Mega blinked, then smiled grimly.

"Sorry... wrong." Armor becoming navy-blue and white, the hero released a Dive Missile, which immediately tracked Drill Man. Mega waited a few seconds, then slid out of the way. As Drill Man burst forth, the Missile exploded in his face, and Drill Man went head over heels.

"HEY! You can't DO that!"

"Watch me." Mega laughed as he unloaded more salvoes of the Missiles. Growling, Drill Man responded with Drill Bombs, but Mega jumped them and kept firing. Now fearing for his life, the tunneling Robot Master went to earth once more. Unfortunately, he forgot to collapse the hole behind him, which Mega fired the rest of his Dive Missiles into. Explosions were heard, and then... silence. Nothing more. Drill Man did not come back up. Dropping into the hole, Mega confirmed his suspicions by finding his enemy's corpse. He had to drag it back up above ground before he could rummage through it and find the weapons chip to add to his repertroire.

"The Drill Bomb... this should come in handy. But for now, that black Energen Crystal-and those-hostages-are calling me." He sighed. "Sometimes, a robot's work is never done."