Chapter 14: Brother Act
As he always did, when Mega Man caught his first view of the newest Skull Fortress he stood motionless for several moments, taking in every facet of it… the differences and variations on the theme, and the parts that were hatefully familiar. Unlike most previous ones, it had no outer wall nor array of tower structures. Aside from one water tank on the left and a single bone-shaped tower on the right, it was all one building. That edifice resembled a Japanese home from centuries ago, on a massive scale with a smaller duplicate riding atop the larger. What was similar… the identifying skull mask that doubtless doubled as a massive shield against frontal assault, and the gaudy, neon color schemes, purple and green in eye-killing tones. Even the sand heaped beneath the fortress had been dyed lavender. Tearing his eyes free from the monstrosity, Mega looked around and quickly spotted something else, almost as garish but far more welcoming. A neon arrow sign, pointing toward the Fortress' right side, with a note taped to it.
"I wonder where Blues got THIS…" The Blue Bomber muttered to himself, reading the note.
Hey, bro. I decided it would be better to start carving a path on in BEFORE the sentries activated. As usual, the right side's weak-seems to be a structural flaw in Wily's architectural education. Ain't that a shame. Anyways, head on over there. I'll be blowing a hole in on top of that bone-tower with a bomb Drill Man rigged up for me. Just look for the huge smoking crater. Don't worry, there's nothing up there that'll kill you if your aim's off, so you can teleport up there safely once you're inside the barrier. I'll leave another one of these further in. See you inside!
"What would I do without you, bro." Mega Man chuckled for a moment before becoming serious. "Right, I'd better go before ALL the security robots get out there." Running towards the bone-tower, he teleported on top of the bone-tower and easily rocketed over a strangely-placed electrified fence around the tower-top's perimeter. Inside, he saw that a small defense force was already patrolling for him; Wily had activated the Fortress as soon as he had arrived, it seemed. "Hm… looks like mostly Metools so far. Good." He switched the Jet Armor for the Power formation; the mighty fists destroyed Metools entirely, even through their protective helmets. Soon, he reached the massive hole in the roof Blues' note had indicated, leading the way into the tower's depths. "Hm… I don't like the looks of this." After a moment's thought, he called down Beat once more. "Heya. Mind taking a look in there for me?" Chirping, Beat flew down and returned a few moments later to inform him in binary that the tower's interior was a sheer drop with nothing in his way but spiked barricades and flying cannons. "Great. Maybe it's not a structural flaw after all… Wily figured we might come this way. Well, it's too late now… think you can help me out?" Beat agreed, and flew down ahead of the Blue Bomber in his Jet Armor again. By following the bird-bot's movements and using tiny spurts of his jets, he was able to avoid impalation on the spikes and reached the bottom of the tower in one piece.
"Looks like it goes straight into the main fortress… good." Disengaging his armor, Mega destroyed a few more sentries, then walked up to a metal shutter with another note attached.
Three guesses what'll be in the next room when you come in, and it ain't Santa Claus or Elvis, so you should be able to nail it in one. Unfortunately, at the moment I write this the damn thing's in a side garage that's armored like a bank vault. I shoulda brought bigger bombs, I guess. Nothing I can do about it-can't even see it-so I'll have to just keep going. Good luck.
"Oh well, can't ask for everything…" Sighing, Mega Man walked through the doors and confronted the first Fortress Guardian of Skull Fortress XI. Unlike the ones found in the X Fortress, he knew as soon as he saw it that this thing was no joke-not even close. A massive metal brontosaurus in purple and green, the robot's main body was stationary, but its head moved back and forth on a metal neck to glare at him before opening its maw and releasing a huge wave of fire that scored into the floor itself as it moved towards him. "Hothead, huh…let's see how you like being cooled down, then!" Unfortunately, the Blizzard Attack's snowflake shuriken didn't seem to have much effect on the Brontobot, even when aimed at its head. The flamethrower continued to blaze, and from a hatch in the chest, spiked disks began to fly out in an upward arc reminiscent of the Silver Tomahawk. "That one probably wouldn't work either…" He glared up at the enemy's head. "I'd aim for the eyes, but that muzzle and the flames block it when I'm down here-wait…" He stared at one of the flying disks, then on an impulse jumped onto the flat top. Despite his weight, the weapon's arc continued upward, and he was brought level with the face. "Yes! It worked!" Grabbing a weapon at random, he fired the Yamato Spear and was rewarded with a gout of sparks as the weapon pierced the enemy's mug. "All right, now we're-uh oh." Striking the opposite wall, his ride had finally faltered, tumbling down and dropping him in the flamethrower's path. Fortunately, he was able to roll away before feeling more than the edge's singing. "Oww… have to watch out for that." Six more hits with the spear and only one additional brief brush with fire later, the Brontobot's head flopped over to one side like a falling tower, and all its motion ceased. Examining himself, Mega concluded that his injuries were minimal and continued on through a door in the back of the room.
"Right, I'll be inside the main area now… hope it's fairly straightforward." Mega Man muttered, then blinked at a feeling of low temperature. "What the heck… it's freezing! Who turned the AC up?" The entire hallway ahead of him was covered in a thin film of ice, and the most numerous of the enemy robots resembled sliding hockey pucks. Slipping and sliding his way down the hall, Mega was able to manage by using the Flame Blast to judiciously melt areas of the ice. Climbing a ladder up to the next level, he looked around the room and groaned; over a bed of spikes, Wily's favorite Disappearing Blocks were popping into existence and then vanishing in a set pattern. A flicker of white drew his eye to yet another taped note left by his brother.
Don't want to deal with this? Yeah, I figured as much when I saw the setup, even though it wasn't active yet. Fortunately, you've got an alternative-look up on this wall above my note here and you should see a secret passage I found and left open. Merry Christmas.
"That IS a welcome present." The Blue Bomber looked up and smiled. Apparently Wily had discovered Blues' action but had been unable to reverse it; as a shoddy attempt, he had covered it with a massive wall of ice. A hit of the Flame Blast, however, melted it all away easily and left Mega Man to jump on through. Punching through some armored cannons with his Power Armor and then carefully navigating a series of jumps over deadly pits with a low, spiked ceiling put Mega in front of another familiar metal shutter. "Fortress Guardian time again, I guess…" No enemy was visible initially when he entered the room, but after a moment a hatch in the back opened up, and a clanking monstrosity rolled out, smoke rising from its back. The lower body was almost humerous, shaped like a child's tricycle in reverse with two wheels in front and one in the back, all three with legs rising up to meet. There was nothing funny about the massive cannon barrel atop them, though, nor the plasma focusing crystal above that. Even as both began firing spherical bombs and arcing bullets, the machine rolled on forward inexorably, obviously intending to pin Mega against a wall and destroy him there.
"Right, I can deal with the guns second… first, I've gotta stop it from moving." The Blue Bomber decided, pulling out a weapon he hadn't yet used much-the Wind Storm. As he had hoped, the miniature tornado slammed into one of the wheels and accelerated its movement, throwing it off balance with the others and causing the Guncycle to veer crazily. A few more judicious applications ended with the enemy's slamming into a wall, where it remained still-for a moment anyways, until the gun barrel swiveled around and continued firing. "Tough guy, huh… no matter. If you're immobile, you've got no chance." Though dodging both kinds of fire proved tricky, only a few hits landed in comparison to the many charged shots Mega launched, and before long the upper portion of the Guncycle died as well. "Onward again…" Walking through the door, he immediately realized something was wrong. There was nothing below his feet. Fortunately, it was not spikes or worse that he fell onto, merely a tank of water. Growling, he looked around and soon saw the way forward. "I hate this place. I hate ALL these places." Blowing away mechanical fish and powerful fans that tried to shove him into spikes-and failed-he reached the opposite side of the tank and climbed out. Waiting for him there was a familiar device-a capsule that teleported any who entered to a set location. In the Skull Fortresses, one of these would always lead him to a room with eight more, each of THOSE taking him to a duplicate of one of the Rebellion's featured Robot Masters. One last note was pinned to the capsule.
Hope you're doing okay, bro. Looks like this place is coming to life now, so it seems we were right and old man Wily's still kicking. He'll probably see me soon, so I'm gonna go on ahead into the Teleporter Room-you've done them all before, I know, but I doubt you'll be in the mood for this junk when you come this way, so I might as well clear it out. See you when you get here!
"So, he's been tackling the Teleporter Room while I've been plowing my way through here…" Mega Man shook his head. "I've been hurrying right along, but he'll still probably be done with it. Hope Wily didn't get pissed and send in a squad of robots to stop him. Only one way to find out, though…" Taking a deep breath, he stepped into the capsule and vanished.
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"What a pain… I've never had to do one of these before." Proto Man looked around at the eight identical teleporter capsules surrounding him, each topped with a blinking light, and sighed. "Oh well, might as well get it over with… this is no time to stand around doing nothing." Choosing one of the capsules at random, he hopped in and assessed his opponent. "A Yamato Man. Figures I'd get one of the tougher ones right off."
"What are you talking about?" The Japanese Robot Master snapped. "I have no interest in fighting you. My opponent is Mega Man. Begone!"
"Sorry… not your call to make." Proto Man shot him a grin before hurling a Silver Tomahawk. The bladed weapon sliced the ornamental prong off of Yamato Man's helmet before gashing into the side, causing his eye to twitch.
"Fine! I'll use you as a warm up!" He threw his spearhead out, and Proto Man frowned.
That thing'll bust my shield up just like it did to Knight Man's, and I can't get a repair job here… can't block it. He jumped away, but the spearhead still grazed his leg. Proto Man grunted before throwing again, this time slicing him in the arm. "My aim's off… I meant to hit you between the eyes." Still smirking, he dodged the Robot Master's charge and chopped at the arm wound again in passing, deepening it. A third tomahawk as he affixed the dropped spear head severed it entirely. "I already know all your moves, chump… I've fought-and beat-one of you before. Think you can still wield that as efficiently with one arm?"
"Watch me!" Jumping into the air, Yamato Man twirled the spear, firing a tri-shot of plasma. Sighing, Proto Man blocked with his shield and threw another tomahawk, hitting his other shoulder. Another one sent it flying off as well.
"Hm, only needed two that time. Maybe I'm not so bad with these things after all." Helpless, Yamato Man could only stare as the last tomahawk took his head. Looking at the gouge the flying spearhead had made in his leg, Proto Man concluded that it was only a flesh wound-so to speak. "Right, one down. Next!" The second capsule led him to Plant Man. "Oh, good. An easy brawl to make up for that one."
"Well, aren't you the cocky one." Plant Man snickered. "Let's see how well that holds up in actual practice!"
"Suit yourself." Proto Man shrugged. "This won't take long anyways. Plants don't take well to fire or cold… one of the two should wilt you." Plant Man immediately brought up his Barrier, and despite Proto's hopes, neither the Flame Blast nor the Blizzard Attack pierced it.
"Ha ha! Fool, you can't get through my shield that easily!" Plant Man crowed as he hurled the force field out. Shrugging, Proto Man jumped it and hit him point blank with the snowflakes, causing him to stumble back in pain. "Why you… nice shot, but it won't be enough for you to win…!" With those words, he proceeded to continue following the exact same attack pattern until the last dose of cold stopped his movement.
"Or… you could just NOT toss it out." Proto Man kicked the corpse before leaving. "Amateur. Hope the next one's at least worth my time…" He groaned as he saw Knight Man inside the capsule. "I didn't MEAN IT!"
"Eh?" Knight Man raised an eyebrow inside his heavy helmet. "Are you feeling well? Perhaps you should depart and let your brother challenge me instead…"
"No, thanks." Proto Man smiled, switching to the Yamato Spear. "I think I can manage."
"As you wish… your reputation may not be quite as staggering as his, but you are a worthy opponent regardless, Sir Blues! Let's go!" Charging, Knight Man swung his mace ball, and Proto Man jumped it-and him-before firing down on top of his head with the spear. The heavy helmet was only slightly dented by it, and Knight Man whirled, swinging his mace with him.
If I get hit by that even once, I'm in trouble. Blues noted, rolling out of its path and firing another spear upward into Knight Man's breastplate. Maybe I should try somewhere else… Rising, he charged at his opponent head-on, and Knight Man's eyes widened before he swung the mace ball. Diving under it and between the enemy's legs, Proto Man jerked his Buster up and speared the enemy between the shoulder blades. Grunting, Knight Man tried to turn slowly, but Proto Man nailed him there repeatedly, and he collapsed.
"How… base…" The black-armored Robot Master whispered before falling silent. Proto Man shook his head.
"Sorry… this isn't a tournament with rules any more." His face remained absolutely motionless as the limp mace ball slammed down onto his foot in a last act of defiance. "Okay… I deserved that. Still… OW." Limping, he made his way to the next capsule and entered, then groaned as Centaur Man turned to meet him. "Back to back… I have no luck at all."
"Heh… so you're taking us on this time instead of your brother? Interesting…" Centaur Man looked him over. "From your injuries and words, I'd say you've already defeated both Yamato and Knight Man, at least… impressive."
"Got Plant Man too, although that one's not saying much." Proto Man sighed and pulled out the Knight Crush. "You know, this thing really isn't my style… it's got kick, but it's awfully slow and bulky. Oh well, since it does a number on you…"
"That's IF you can hit me with it." Centaur Man teleported and reappeared behind Blues, who had already turned and thrown out the mace ball.
"I'm a pro at that kind of move myself." He smirked as the heavy weapon slammed into his enemy's side. Centaur Man stumbled, but did not fall.
"Hmph… what about this, then?" He fired a plasma shot, and Proto Man groaned. Dashing, he attempted to intercept it with his shield, but failed. Hitting the wall, the plasma burst apart and struck him in the back several times. He stumbled, and Centaur Man charged, trampling him.
"That's IT. You're going DOWN, horse boy." Proto Man angrily rose and ran at his opponent, who smirked.
"You boast, but you've lost your head!" He fired the Centaur Flash and grinned. "Now wh-" His words broke off as the Knight Crush smashed into his face.
"There's a reason I wear THESE, idiot." Proto Man tapped his shades as his enemy fell, twitching. "Knew you'd do that if I charged." Judiciously hammering the enemy's head in once more just to be sure, he moved on to the next one, which turned out to be Wind Man.
"Hello there, Proto Man." Wind Man greeted him cheerily. "It's nice to meet you. Shall we see which of us is stronger?"
"I don't suppose I could get you to agree to settling this with a round of Street Fighter II instead?" Proto Man remarked dryly, pulling out the Centaur Flash.
"Unfortunately, my programming forces me to refuse." Wind Man sighed before launching himself into the air.
"I figured as much." Proto Man blinded him with a flash, and the aerial Robot Master spiraled out of control, crashing into a wall. "THOUGHT that would work. Good thing I was right. Man, I'm just goin' from one to another in order here. I feel like a domino or something."
"It's… not over yet!" Wind Man groaned, pulling himself out of the crater. "Try this!" He fired a pair of twin blades, which Proto Man jumped before blinding him again and firing a charged blast into his head. After a moment, he repeated both.
"Staying down this time?" No response. "Good." Departing, he went on to Tomahawk Man. "Hm. I already know what works on you, and it ain't the Wind Storm… so much for the chain."
"I have no idea what you're blabbering about, and really, I don't care." Tomahawk Man snarled. "Come on, let's go already!" He leaped into the air, blade high.
"Right, right…" Proto Man brought up the Plant Barrier and ran under his enemy's jump to his landing point. "You hotheaded types sure are predictable." Bouncing off the force field, Tomahawk Man landed unceremoniously in the corner, twitching. After a moment, he jumped back up and whirled around, enraged.
"NOW you're in for it!" He threw a Silver Tomahawk, nicking his enemy's shoulder, then followed with a flurry of darts from his headdress which Blues deflected with his Proto Shield. "Damn it, you like defense, don't you! Use an actual attack, already!" Blues shrugged and shot him in the chest. "I HATE YOU!" Actually roaring, he charged again, swinging the tomahawk on his arm like a war axe. Blues just brought the Plant Barrier up again at the last moment, flinging him away again. Instead of waiting for him to rise, this time the red-armored Robot Master ran forward and jumped, summoning one more Plant Barrier around him as he stomped his fallen foe flat. Actually embedded in the floor, Tomahawk Man muttered a few more curses before falling silent and still, and Proto Man moved on.
"Ah, Proto Man." Flame Man nodded as he entered the room. "If I may ask, how many of my compatriots have you destroyed thus far?"
"Six." Proto Man informed him. "Just you and Blizzard left, and I'm still raring to go."
"I see." Flame Man sighed. "Then it seems unlikely that we shall triumph. Nevertheless…" A fireball was deflected by the Proto Shield and countered with a Wind Storm that sent him flying. "Ah! You already know my weakness?"
"Of course… I watched my brother fight your predecessor, just in case I'd have to fight another of you." Proto explained, launching another. "Didn't have to there, as it turned out, but here we are now, so it came in handy after all."
"So I see…" Flame Man started to slam his flamethrower arm into the ground, then paused. "If I do that, you'll just blow them out with the Wind Storm too… I might as well stick with something that at least has a chance of working." He reverted to the Flame Blast, but even that was continually blocked by the Proto Shield until the repeated Wind Storms brought him down.
"No chance after all, I guess…" Proto Man entered the last teleporter capsule. As he did, he saw a flash of blue in the one he had entered from. "Huh? Was that… Rock coming in?"
"Eh?" Blizzard Man peered at him dully. "I ain't your brother, boy."
"Oh, shut up." Proto Man shook his head, setting him on fire. "And don't bother pretending it doesn't work. Process of elimination means for some reason it has to… I never did figure out why the hell that always happens, but it does." Growling, Blizzard Man began rolling around the room, but Proto Man hurdled him and repeated the Flame Blast treatment when he hit the wall. Even the Blizzard Attack was useless, and in less than a minute the last of the eight was toppled. Returning to the main room, Proto Man smiled as he saw his brother waiting for him. "Yo, Rock. You're a little late… I've already cleaned this mess up pretty well."
"Blues!" Mega Man ran up to him. "You took 'em all, huh? Should have expected as much…" He looked him over. "Looks like you took a beating from a few of them, though."
"Yeah." Proto Man looked at the ninth capsule, which had begun blinking its light again. "That should take us to the final segment now… Wily'll be at the end of it, I'm sure. Waiting for you."
"Yeah…" Mega Man muttered. "Well, I'm ready for him, too."
"Best to be sure." Proto Man pulled a pair of blue canisters from behind his shield. "Found these babies here in the fortress… figured I might need 'em since I forgot to bring an L-Tank. Stupid, I know. Looks like you'll need 'em more, though, so go ahead and take 'em."
"What will you be doing, then?" Mega Man inquired, not moving to take the capsules.
"Disabling the self-destruct. Of COURSE he has one." Proto Man smirked. "And I found where it's located when I was snooping around here before it activated. A hidden offshoot of the area up ahead is the way to go, so I'll head down there and leave you and the old man to settle things in your usual fashion while I make sure he can't blow the place sky-high. Should make it easier to apprehend him when you bring him down… we're not gonna let him run off AGAIN, are we?"
"You read me like an open book." Mega chuckled without much actual humor. "Then you take one, and I'll take the other. No, don't argue-I've already got one more just in case."
"…Fair enough, but only because I know it's useless arguing with you. You're stubborn as hell." Proto Man sighed and opened both cans. "Cheers. To Wily's capture, and the end of the last Rebellion."
"To the end." Mega Man agreed somberly, both of them clinking the E-Tanks together before draining them. "Right then… let's go. It's time to finish this farce once and for all."