"Um. The Knitter?" repeated Ring Man.
"The Knitter…" Needle Man (or the Knitter) declared again in his impressively unimpressive voice.
"That's stupid!"
"Shut up! I was going to go with 'Skewer' but then I thought, why not be more true to myself? And I've always had this deep dark secret. All that stuff I said earlier about being part of an apparel smuggling gang isn't true. The truth is, I—" Knitter paused, taking a deep breath, then uttered with heavy gravity, "—like to knit. I've never told anyone; I don't want them making fun of me because criminal robots aren't supposed to like knitting," he finished, his voice quivering tremulously.
"You like to knit? Like some little ol' human granny?" guffawed Ring Man. "What do you like to make, tea cozies? That's so dumb!"
"Dumb, am I? Does this seem dumb to you now? Euurrrrgh!"
Concentrating hard, his glowing yellow eyes narrowing to slits, Knitter sunk into a deep crouch, his stout body shaking like a volcano about to explode as he lifted his arms above his head. Two long straight needles slowly extended from his twin blasters, each the size of a spear.
"See? Look what I can do now!"
Elec Man had remained silent. He felt as though his tongue was glued to the roof of his mouth. Handing the case with quintessence over to Jewel Man, he scrabbled desperately for the handheld computer clipped to his belt to take a radiation reading. He was still bodily separating Jewel Man from the evil energy, though perhaps this was unnecessary as the evil energy now inhabited Knitter, and Jewel Man seemed content to cower behind Elec Man, while both Cut Man and Guts Man were backing away.
Behind them, the security door suddenly opened with a series of rasps and loud clanks.
"Alright Bad-bots, your number is up, we've got this place surroun—" shouted Mega Man triumphantly as he and Roll came storming into the room. They immediately skidded to a halt as they caught sight of Knitter, who was still burning with purple flames. "Oh shit…"
"Whoa!" agreed Roll.
Knitter turned eagerly toward Mega Man. "Ah, perfect timing! The blue dweeb himself! How's about ya face off against the Knitter?"
"The—what? Needle Man?" asked Mega Man dubiously.
"No, I just said I'm 'the Knitter' now!" replied Knitter irritably. Though Knitter's voice had become deep and booming, it still also had the buzzing quality of someone talking into cupped hands, the overall effect rather muddling. "Here, it's better if I just show ya!"
He raised his needle arms over his head, and three gigantic balls of yarn appeared in a row of poppy red, mustard yellow, and royal blue. Each was ten feet tall and looked like it weighed several tons as they came careening toward Mega Man and Roll. They both shouted in surprise, quickly retreating back through the security door as the yarn balls gave chase down the hall outside like marbles rolling through a shoot, leaving only a trailing thread of yarn in their wake.
Meanwhile, Knitter let out a jubilant peal of squeaky laughter, clearly having the time of his life. "That'll keep them busy! Now—who else wants to fight the Knitter? Hahaha!"
A purple haze was beginning to fill the storage room, not unlike what had happened at the Tinsel Ball gala, and the blaring security alarms faded to silence, then disappeared. Stranger yet, long twisting ropes of what could only be described as fuzzy titanium yarn began appearing out of nowhere and stretching across the room with small, unsettling twangs. In fact, the storeroom was slowly becoming unrecognizable as a room at all as it began to fill with colorful, paranormal yarn.
Elec Man had backed away from the Knitter. With an effort, he tore his gaze away to look down at the radiation readings on his handheld computer.
"Elec Man!" cried a familiar voice.
Elec Man turned, realizing he had been abandoned by the other Robot Masters—both Magnet Man and Ring Man had vanished toward the back of the storage room, Cut Man and Guts Man were likewise gone, and while Jewel Man had remained nearby with the quintessence case, he had promptly hidden behind an upturned storage locker as ropes of yarn continued to stretch across the room. "Brain Bot?"
"It's Quint now," replied Quint, rushing up to Elec Man. The part of Quint's face that wasn't masked by a dark visor looked nearly identical to Mega Man's…more naive, perhaps, and bearing a wide, happy grin.
Elec Man had not seen Brain Bot since he and Proto Man had failed to kidnap him in Las Vegas (though Elec Man dimly recalled Dr. Cossack mentioning Brain Bot had a new moniker). "Tasteful name. Your new armor suits you," he said approvingly.
Looking quite pleased by this praise, Quint's face turned toward Elec Man's handheld computer, then lit up. "You're studying alien energy too? Excellent! What an interesting device, may I—"
Without waiting for permission, Quint reached for the computer, but Elec Man quickly whisked it out of reach behind his back. Unabashed, Quint continued brightly. "We should pool our research. I know we are technically on opposite sides at present, but if I captured you, you can come work with me for Dr. Cossack—he'll be so pleased—"
"Dr.—?!" choked Elec Man. Feeling betrayed, his face darkened like a storm rolling in. "I'd rather die."
Quint started. "I—huh?"
Elec Man stepped quickly back from Quint. "Don't try it, you don't want me as an enemy."
"But—I-I do rather think it's for the best—" Quint stammered helplessly, stricken by Elec Man's sudden turn.
Quint was watching Elec Man with an expression that Elec Man had sometimes seen on Top Man's face. Apparently, Quint looked up to Elec Man for some reason (Grudgingly, Elec Man recalled that Dr. Cossack had once told him this too); and Quint was likely responsible for Cossack's apparent willingness to adopt a known gangster-bot into their quaint little family of scientists. Elec Man stifled a shiver, feeling momentarily confused. Normally, he would have been outraged at Quint's audacity, however, Quint was looking at him with such naive admiration that it was hard to be truly annoyed at him about that right now.
Fortunately, a sudden thicket of yarn appeared between Elec Man and Quint, ending the conversation and forcing them to separate. Quint looked forlornly through the gaps in the yarn at Elec Man, but Elec Man quickly withdrew into the shadows and out of sight.
Letting out an unhappy sigh, Quint turned away from where Elec Man had vanished. Mega Man and Roll were in trouble, he must focus on helping them. Yet, he feared finding them would be a difficult task; the evil energy was already causing significant paranormal distortions, warping the interior of the storage facility into some sort of yarn maze as he completely lost sight of Dr. Wily's robots.
Punk came running up to Quint. "Yo Brainiac, glad I found ya, this is nuts! Just a minute after we all split up to secure the halls, I suddenly began to feel that weird tingly feeling in my circuits again—and lo an' behold, there's another evil energy outbreak! Who's the unlucky host this time?"
"Needle Man—or 'Knitter' as he's now designating himself."
"That loser? We're not prepared for this, we need to teleport out of here and regroup with Mega Girl and the others!" Before Quint could respond, Punk was already pounding on the button of his teleporter, but nothing happened. "Shit, why aren't they working?"
"The evil energy radiation is interfering with the satellite signal."
"…You know, using your teleporters is like signing up for cable," Punk told Quint. "There's a lot of hidden catches!"
Quint only held up his hands helplessly. "Regardless, you must find Mega Girl as fast as possible! Mega Man and Roll are in danger!"
"What you saying, we should split up again?"
"I'm afraid so—you can travel much faster than me."
"Alright, but good luck!"
Punk curled up into a spiked ball and rolled away.
Shortly after losing contact with Elec Man, Proto Man cursed to himself as he ran down the super steel corridor. Something had gone wrong, and not just with the teleporter!
Shit. We shouldn't have split up, he thought dismally. I just had this weird feeling…
He still did, his plasma core prickling, a strong feeling of being watched pervading his circuits, even though he knew Elec Man had knocked out the facility's security protocols…
Yet, the storage facility they were attempting to rob was now becoming a super steel prison. Security doors were suddenly thudding into place across the corridors—soon blocking both Proto Man's way forward and way back. He was trapped. But Proto Man wasn't worried for himself, but for Elec Man, who was still inside the central storeroom. Though Elec Man was the smartest, most resourceful robot Proto Man knew, Proto Man didn't like the odds if Elec Man was forced to fight his way out, nor what might happen to Elec Man if he was arrested. He vainly hoped Elec Man would figure out a way to reconnect the teleporter to the satellite grid and use it to save himself, though Proto Man suspected Elec Man might not leave Proto Man behind…
Frustrated, Proto Man blasted the security door ahead of himself, ducked as the plasma rebounded, snarled, then punched it instead, which hurt. How the hell was he going to get out?
But then, to his great surprise, the door slid open. On the other side stood a petite robot with blonde pigtails and pink armor. Proto Man stared curiously at her. Though the visor of her helmet was semi-translucent and a different shape, it somehow reminded him of his own.
The pink robot started. "Oh! Proto Man! Uh—hi!"
"Heh. Hi," said Proto Man, momentarily distracted. Then he smiled, "Funny story, but I was in the neighborhood and heard an intruder alert, so I was just being a good samaritan and checking it out when I accidentally got locked inside." He shrugged innocently.
"Oh, don't worry, I can help you out of here!" said the pink robot, standing aside.
"Thanks!" said Proto Man sidling past her. He gave her another curious look, hesitated, but said, "Alright, gotta go!"
"W-wait!" she called after him.
Proto Man had already torn off, determined to get to the central storeroom as fast as possible—but as he turned a corner, he stopped short. "What the?!"
Where he had expected to see another smooth corridor of super steel leading to the central storage room now looked like a multi-colored tunnel of string. Giant yarn in vibrant shades criss-crossed in every direction, a faint purple haze hanging in the air. Flummoxed, Proto Man turned around on the spot, taking it all in, and was surprised to find a solid wall of yarn behind him. It was uncomfortably reminiscent of being trapped in Curator's Jewel Cave…
"Shit…not again…"
To his left, Proto Man heard a soft rustle of yarn. He quickly raised his blaster, but then relaxed. "Elec Man!"
"Proto Man, what are you still doing here?" hissed Elec Man, climbing through a barrier of crisscrossing yarns toward Proto Man.
"Making sure you get out, obviously," replied Proto Man. Then he caught sight of Jewel Man, who had crept cautiously through the yarn after Elec Man while carrying the quintessence case, and raised his blaster again. "You! You did this!"
"Me?!" cried Jewel Man, quickly stopping short and throwing up his arms over his head but sounding thoroughly indignant. "Why would I do this? It's tacky."
"I see you are admiring my craftsmanship!" called a booming, squeaky voice.
Proto Man whirled, then beheld the Knitter, who was marching proudly toward him, his eyes glowing yellow, his figure still burning brightly with purple flames, two long sharp straight needles extending from his blaster arms. "Aw shit, you gotta be kidding me, Needle Man?!"
"No, I'm the Knitter!"
"—What? Why? Whatever." Proto Man looked back at Elec Man. "How did he get like this?"
Elec Man shook his head. "I don't know, the alien energy just appeared." He hesitated, then dropped his voice so only Proto Man could hear him. "You need to get out of here, you're in danger."
"Uh, think we're all in danger?" Proto Man pointed out fairly. "At least it's an ally who's gone all evil this time? Wily will like this," he added unenthusiastically, then turned back to Knitter. "Yo—Needle Man, let us out of this weird yarn dungeon and let's roll."
Knitter stomped a foot while the purple flames roared higher. "It's the Knitter!"
"I'm not calling you that, it's dumber than your normal name."
"Why does everyone keep calling me dumb?" demanded Knitter, swinging his needle arms menacingly.
Jewel Man promptly backed far away while holding the quintessence case in front of him as though it was a shield. Elec Man looked uneasily between Knitter and Proto Man, but Proto Man, feeling angry, continued on heedlessly.
"Needle Man, quit messing around, we need to get out of here!"
"You need to learn to quit bossing me around and show some respect!" cried the Knitter, jabbing a needle arm toward Proto Man. "And I'll be the one to teach ya!"
Knitter fired off one of the spear-length needles at Proto Man. It landed with a dull thunk at his feet, Proto Man having just leaped backward in time. "Shit! What are ya attacking me for?! I'm on your side!"
A fresh needle instantly replaced the one Knitter had just fired as he let out a peal of laughter. "Heard that one before, Red Bomber! I still remember when you ripped out my circuits back when yas was 'pretending' to be a good guy! That wasn't very nice! You know what, maybe we should see if you like having your circuits ripped out?"
"Idiot, that was just part of Wily's plan—whatever, I'm second-in-command, and I'm not taking crap from a bot like you!" snarled Proto Man, raising his blaster.
"'A bot like me'?" jeered Knitter. "You really don't understand what you're dealing with yet, do ya?"
Knitter rushed toward Proto Man, his needle arms held before him like the horns of a charging bull. Proto Man fired back at Knitter, but his electric blue plasma bolts merely fizzled against Knitter's armor. Laughing ecstatically, Knitter grew several feet taller, forcing Proto Man to dive out of the way as he came barreling through.
Reluctantly, Proto Man hid amongst the strings of yarn before Knitter could return for another pass. Though he didn't like being on the defensive, the thicket of yarn made for useful cover—that was until a length of neon green yarn snagged tightly around his ankle. Yanked short, Proto Man stumbled and was caught fast. He tried tugging at his ankle, but remained firmly stuck. He was a sitting duck—but Knitter's attention was no longer on Proto Man, it was now on Elec Man, who had noticed Proto Man's predicament and caused a distraction by firing a loud Thunder Beam over Knitter's head.
"You stupid fool, I told you not to touch the alien energy," Elec Man sneered, darting backward as Knitter swung clumsily at him with his oversized needle arms.
"And I told ya not to tell me what to do! And if you're going to help that jerk, you're going down too!" bellowed Knitter, his yellow eyes flashing. "Take this!"
Knitter fired one of his large knitting needles toward Elec Man. Proto Man expected Elec Man to dodge again, for Elec Man was fast and clever, yet to his horrified shock, Elec Man let out a strangled cry as he was thrown backward into a wall of yarn. The needle appeared to have caught him in the side of his ribcage. From his vantage point, Proto Man could not see how bad the damage was, or if the needle had struck any vital circuitry, but Elec Man's face had gone taught with pain, his breathing slightly labored.
Even the Knitter was taken by surprise. "I got you?" he murmured in awe, his eyes widening. Then he did a sort of triumphant jig. "Ha, I got ya!" he crowed. He held the point of one of his knitting needle arms to Elec Man's neck, but hesitated.
"I'd finish ya off, but…I sense my master doesn't want me ta kill ya!"
Elec Man's eyes cracked open. Though trembling, he glared defiantly at Knitter. "Who's your master?" he hissed through clenched teeth.
Knitter blinked. "I…I don't know! He's the master, ya know? The big boss, the head honcho? Like he rules everything."
He trailed off, scratching the back of his head with a needle and looking confused. Then, from somewhere in the far distance came a faint shout, the sound muffled by the yarn. Knitter gave a slight start.
"Oh yeah, I forgot! Mega Man is still here! And so's the rest of those guys! That's who I should be fighting first!" he exclaimed. He looked over at Elec Man smugly. "I'll deal with ya later, now that I have ya pinned, ha! Stay put!"
Cackling triumphantly in his wheezy voice (and apparently forgetting about Proto Man altogether) Knitter charged off.
Terror-stricken, Proto Man finally wrenched his ankle free from the titanium yarn and pelted to Elec Man, his pulsar pulse hammering in his ears.
But the moment the Knitter had left, Elec Man had stopped trembling, the look of pain wiping clean from his face. He shifted slightly—it then became plain that Elec Man had not actually been pierced by the needle—rather, the needle had missed Elec Man completely; Elec Man had just been holding it between his elbow and his ribcage the same way actors pretended to be stabbed by plastic swords in plays. Dropping the act, Elec Man slid to the floor and dusted off his armor nonchalantly.
"Are you—wait—you're not hurt!" spluttered Proto Man, relieved yet cross that he had fallen for what now appeared to be a very obvious ruse.
"No, I was faking," admitted Elec Man. "No point in fighting, we already know our weapons are useless against alien energy. 'Knitter' is still as much of an imbecile as Needle Man, and just as poor of a shot. His 'master' or whoever should recruit someone with more brains if they want to accomplish anyth—"
Elec Man stopped short, comprehension freezing his face like a sudden frost.
"Huh?" said Proto Man, peering closely at Elec Man. "Hey…you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost!"
Elec Man shook himself. He beckoned to Jewel Man, who had been watching from a safe distance, clutching the quintessence case to his bejeweled chestplate and looking terrified. "It's not important right now. Let's get out of here before that idiot comes back."
Mega Man and Roll had fled for their lives down one of the super steel corridors, the yarn balls tumbling like massive boulders at their heals, until they had reached a fork—and, without meaning to, had gone in opposite directions, the royal blue and mustard yellow yarn balls rolling after Roll, the poppy red rolling after Mega Man.
For several terrifying minutes, Mega Man ran on, until finally the red yarn ball became completely unraveled and rolled harmlessly past his boots, no larger than a basketball.
"Roll? Roll!" he called, but by then they too had been long trapped in the yarn maze, and Roll could not be seen nor heard anywhere.
Great. Just great. Not only do we gotta stop the Bad-bots from stealing the quintessence, but also the Knitter… Mega Man thought dismally to himself.
Stumbling slightly, he leaned against a wall of yarn for support. The dormant, trace amount of evil energy inside his power core was stirring again.
Shit…keep it together Mega. Remember what Quint and Mega Girl said, your evil energy isn't actually active. You're just a little…'sensitive', that's all. And even if the evil energy becomes active, Mega Girl will take care of it…
Yet somehow, Mega Man still didn't feel reassured. Nevertheless, worrying about it now helped no one. Instead, he gazed around at the yarn maze, thinking about what to do next.
"Mega? Mega!" Roll hollered at the top of her voice, peering anxiously down dark, hazy tunnels of yarn. "Crap, not evil energy again. I hope he's okay…" she murmured to herself, biting her lip, before hollering again, "MEG-AAAA!"
"Hey! You're not Mega Man!" cried a squeaky voice behind her.
Ropes of yarn suddenly twisted around Roll's arms and ankles, hoisting her up into the air. "Hey!"
Knitter walked around to face Roll. "There, that will hold ya! Now, do you know where Mega Man is?" he asked, clinking his needle arms together tentatively.
"I'm not going to tell me that!" Roll snarled angrily, pulling futilely at the yarn.
"Fine! Be that way! Hang up there until you rust! I'll find him myself!"
Knitter tromped off down one of the tunnels, calling Mega Man's name in a hopeful, sing-song voice.
For several moments, Roll tugged vainly at her bindings, then froze—it sounded as though something large was rolling through the yarn maze toward her—
"Don't worry Roll! I'll get ya out!"
Punk had come to her assistance. With some difficulty, Punk used his Screw Crusher to cut some of the yarn snared around Roll, freeing her.
"Thanks," said Roll as she dropped to the floor. "Have you seen any of the others?"
"Just Quint. He's alright, but we gotta find Mega Girl."
"Will she be able to fix this?"
"Hope so…but so far I can't make head nor tails of this maze. Don't get me wrong, I like puzzles as much as the next bot, but I'm no genius like Brainiac—"
"It's alright, I'll help look," Roll told Punk, smiling kindly. "But we better hurry—Mega's in trouble and no telling what Wily's scumbots are up to now!"
Elec Man felt increasingly ill at ease. Knitter had spoken of some sort of 'master', just like Jewel Man had earlier…was there really some sort of alien entity orchestrating this chaos? And of all the billions of lifeforms on earth, was this alien targeting Elec Man? No, that was ridiculous, it had to be—
His mind racing with questions, Elec Man searched through the tunnels of titanium yarn for a familiar flash of grasshopper green armor. He didn't have to look far. Quietly separating himself from Proto Man and Jewel Man, Elec Man approached Quint.
"Robots who have become corrupted by evil energy…they can be returned to normal?"
Quint started, but looked pleased that Elec Man had singled him out again, and answered promptly. "—Yes, the evil energy's corruption can be neutralized so long as the corruption is not too deep, nor the host's mind completely consumed by evil. You see, evil energy corrupts its host by feeding off their evil thoughts and multiplying them."
"Evil thoughts? Like crime?" Elec Man queried sharply.
"Yes, or being selfish or manipulative; using intimidation, acting sinister; greed, malice, or hurting others, anything that can be broadly classified as 'evil,'" clarified Quint, waving his hand loftily.
Though spoken lightly, the words thudded bluntly against Elec Man, and his circuits clenched. "…Uh-huh."
"I-is something wrong?" Quint asked, his visored face turned toward Elec Man anxiously.
Elec Man turned quickly away from Quint. "No. This sounds like pseudoscience to me."
"I know—it is rather imprecise," replied Quint, hanging his head apologetically.
After a moment's hesitation, Elec Man reluctantly asked, "…Entertaining this pseudoscience for a moment, what would happen if an evil energy 'host' was too corrupted?"
Quint shuddered. "I hope we never have to find out! But—" Quint added brightly, "Though Needle Man may be a criminal, he's not categorically evil, so I have high confidence that we will be able to reverse this. It is a straightforward procedure, actually."
…Contrary to Quint's reassuring tone, Elec Man remained worried. After all, he very much doubted Needle Man had been the intended host for this unexpected source of evil energy…
"—I would be honored to discuss more at my lab," Quint pressed hopefully, edging closer to Elec Man.
Shaken out of his thoughts, Elec Man looked over at Quint. Yes, Quint definitely looked up to Elec Man. Perhaps this explained why Dr. Cossack had acted so—so—well, Elec Man didn't want to define the way in which Dr. Cossack acted toward Elec Man. It was confusing, and Elec Man didn't need it. He already had a creator, Centum, and Elec Man felt associating with Dr. Cossack was not only extremely disloyal, but would somehow put Centum in danger…After all, if Quint captured Elec Man, Quint would reprogram him. Perhaps Quint would even manage to unscramble Elec Man's scrambled memories, obliging Elec Man to give out incriminating information about Centum and the Syndicate. This was a terrible thought. So long as Elec Man wasn't programmed to be Syndicate, Elec Man had been content to have scrambled memories; a secure vault of Syndicate secrets even he himself couldn't break…
"I can't join you. I'm a criminal," Elec Man said quietly, taking a step backward from Quint.
"Don't worry! I'm sure we can figure something out—" replied Quint eagerly while reaching out toward Elec Man.
…Perhaps Quint thought Elec Man wouldn't attack him, but he was wrong. With a high-pitched yelp of pain, Quint crumpled to the yarn-covered floor, a Thunder Beam crackling through his circuits.
"I didn't want to do that. I advise in the future you don't attempt that again," said Elec Man harshly as he left Quint behind to rejoin Proto Man.
"What the—why'd you take off like that? We coulda lost you!" complained Proto Man. "…Everything okay?"
"Later," said Elec Man shortly.
Kalinka had been disappointed when Proto Man had taken off so suddenly again, but soon discovered why when the storage facility gave way to an expansive yarn maze filled with a purple haze.
Oh no! Another evil energy outbreak! she thought, becoming alert.
Yet, she couldn't help but feel excited too. No wonder Proto Man had rushed off—he must have known about the evil energy. Maybe this time she'd get to see her masked hero and his justice energy in action! She just hoped he was alright—no, she was certain he had things under control—but maybe she could help him!
Motivated by this delightful prospect, Kalinka began to work her way through the maze, unaware of how vast it might be.
Proto Man, Elec Man, and Jewel Man were weaving through strands of yarn searching for an exit. The Citadel storehouse had only been the size of a baseball field, they should have reached an outer wall by now, however Knitter's yarn maze did not appear to have bounds. Though they had thought they were traveling in a completely different direction, they suddenly found themselves back in the middle of the maze with the Knitter.
Knitter whirled around to face them. "Huh? Elec Man? How did you escape my trap?"
Though he was not currently alight in purple flames, Knitter looked very different. His body was now made of knitted yarn with soft bulbous limbs, sharp black knitting needles poking from his forearms and the crown of his head, his eyes resembling dinner plate-sized buttons.
"Needle Man, you idiot, if you're going to attack someone, attack the good guys, not us!" growled Proto Man (it felt extremely silly talking to what looked like a nine-foot-tall Needle Man doll made of blue and black yarn).
"No! I'm tired of cheek like this, and for the last time, call me the KNITTER!"
Knitter descended on Proto Man, Elec Man, and Jewel Man with surprising speed. There was a mad flashing of clicking needles, then all three found themselves suddenly wearing a constricting sweater—Proto Man's was a carnation pink waffle knit with a red heart on the front; Jewel Man's was a cream turtleneck with diamond brocade stitching and covered in sparkly pink pom-poms; and Elec Man's a celeste blue fair isle sweater with a pattern of black kittens across the shoulders. Each of the sweater sleeves were tied around a giant straight needle that appeared like poles behind them, binding them like straightjackets.
"There, your own personalized sweaters! Now I know for sure I have you trapped!" declared Knitter proudly. "Those look real good on ya!"
"Oh, real swell. Your knitting sucks! This sweater is lumpy and itchy," grumbled Proto Man, squirming within his pink sweater like a fly trapped in a web.
"Like steel wool," put in Jewel Man, seething. "If this sweater scratches the gems on my armor, so help me…"
"Oh put a pin in it, Curator!" shouted Knitter, pointing a needle at Jewel Man.
Jewel Man's turtleneck promptly rolled up over his head, stifling further protests.
"Now, where was I?" said Knitter, tapping his head with a needle. "Oh yeah!"
Knitter pointed at Proto Man, and the needle Proto Man was tied to zoomed forward across the yarn floor, bringing him close.
Proto Man glared at Knitter, looking brave and menacing despite still wriggling miserably in his itchy pink sweater. "You're making a big mistake, pal. We're. On. The. Same. Side!"
Knitter leaned forward, the stitched 'X's in the center of his flat button eyes inches from Proto Man's visor. "That's not the way I see it! I think we'll all be better off without you around, and my master agrees! So take this!"
The pink sweater burst into a raging tower of purple flames, and there was a blinding flash of cyan light. When the flames dissipated a second later, Proto Man hung slumped against his bindings, his head lolling to the side and mouth parted, unconscious.
"Ha! What a weakling!" laughed Knitter. "Now ta finally finish off Wily's lazy, disrespectful, puffed up little 'second-in-command'. Then Wily really will make me his number two!" Resting the point of a needle against the heart on Proto Man's sweater, Knitter squeezed one button eye closed as he took aim. "And this time, I can't miss!"
But before Knitter could deliver the finishing blow, a sudden mess of blue yarn flew into his face. "Ahhh!" he cried in surprise, staggering backward, his needle arms flailing and becoming tangled.
Elec Man appeared at Proto Man's side, having managed seconds before to unravel his kitten sweater, which he had thrown at Knitter like a net. While Knitter continued to shout and blunder around wildly, Elec Man quickly freed Proto Man, sliding the sleeves of his sweater off the needle and pulling one of Proto Man's arms over his own shoulder. From the sidelines, Jewel Man let out a stifled whimper from within his turtleneck, still carrying the quintessence case, his face turned toward the commotion, but unable to see what was happening. There was no choice but to leave Jewel Man behind for now as Elec Man dragged Proto Man's dead weight away from Knitter.
With an aggravated yell, Knitter finally threw off the tangle of yarn, then started as he spotted Elec Man fleeing. "Escaped again? But how? I knitted that sweater myself!"
Elec Man spared Knitter a cold, haughty look. "Apparently the expansive list of things you are terrible at includes knitting."
"How dare you! Why I outta—take this!"
Knitter fired several knitting needles at Elec Man, but Elec Man had already pulled Proto Man through a hedge of yarn and disappeared.
The Sniper had just reached his hidden boatshed on the Mexican coast, where he was rapidly packing, when Shadow Man dropped suddenly from the rafters.
"Don't do that!" complained the Sniper, who had only just stopped himself from reflexively blasting Shadow Man with the heavy blaster welded to the end of his left arm.
Shadow Man did not appear to have heard the Sniper. He was pacing in extreme agitation (his tabi boots managing of course not to make any sound on the creaking floorboards nor disturb the thick layer of dust). "Oh shit. Shit shit shit. Shit. We need to get off this planet."
"Huh?"
"He's here."
"Who?"
"Ra Moon."
"Ra—what?"
"Ra Moon. Ancient alien supercomputer, super evil, literally the worst thing in the entire universe? I crossed paths with him on my home world, the secret shadow planet of the Ninja star system, many Earth years ago, and he's here."
The Sniper's single red optic bored blankly into Shadow Man. He was getting cross by what he interpreted as Shadow Man's usual boastful absurdity as he stuffed energy cans and spare repair kits into a nylon pack. "Look…I know you don't like to talk about your past (neither do I), but you don't have to lie about it."
"What? You don't understand—Earth is so boned," emphasized Shadow Man.
"I…I can't listen to this right now. Sorry. You're the only bot I've ever really trusted let alone liked, but R.I.P. is still tailing us, remember? I gotta find a new hideout, I don't have time for outer space problems," said the Sniper, sounding as though he were trying hard to keep sarcasm out of his voice as he closed the drawstring of the bulging pack and hoisted it onto his back. "I'll see you later…if I can keep out of jail."
With a small salute, the Sniper quickly climbed out of a window and exited the boatshed.
Shadow Man watched him go, dumbfounded that the Sniper hadn't taken him seriously. He turned, wondering if he should go after the Sniper, when Shadow Man noticed his own shadow on the floor had become a perfectly round circle with a glowing outline of an eye at its center.
"Hey there!" greeted his shadow.
Shadow Man leaped back onto the bow of a speedboat. "…Hi."
The shadow lifted from the floor—becoming a floating, semi-transparent black sphere, two horizontal bands of ancient alien runes running around its top and bottom halves, its eye fixed curiously on Shadow Man—Ra Moon. "Huh. You're not from around here."
"Uh—"
"Are you from that one ninja planet? That's weird. I didn't think there was anyone left—I got kinda carried away on the other planets."
Shadow Man began to shake.
Ra Moon hovered closer. "You've been in hiding, haven't you? I first noticed you back in the storage facility where I left my little gift—By the way, so typical, am I right? There was only one good choice in that room yet the evil energy ended up with the annoying knitting idiot. I can barely stand talking to him, it's like trying to exert evil influence over a toothpick. Don't even care what happens to him. Ah well, better luck next time, right? Hey! I've got an idea, why don't you come work for me? Be one of my goons, I'm starting a club!"
Pretending to contemplate this for a moment, Shadow Man edged surreptitiously backward. "Um, naaaaaah. It's really flattering, everyone is always asking me to join their club, but a ninja works for no one."
Long cables were beginning to fan out around Ra Moon's floating body. "Are you sure? Here's another way of looking at it…do you really want to be against me?"
"No, really! I'm good. In fact, I think I'll just be going now—"
Quite daringly, Shadow Man flicked a Shadow Blade at Ra Moon, which sank directly in the center of his giant eye.
Ra Moon recoiled backward, crashing into a rickety wall, which shook the entire shed and sent cascades of dust pouring from the ceiling.
"Ow! Geez, that hurt—" he whined, one of his cables quickly threading through the eye of the Shadow Blade and pulling it out while another rubbed his eye. "Like, not really hurts, but hurts like a paper cut hurts, know what I mean? Ow." Ra Moon glared over at Shadow Man, but then blinked. "Where'd he go?" he demanded, rotating on the spot and scanning the room, but the boatshed was now empty. "…Stupid ninja."
Disgruntled and still rubbing his sore eye, Ra Moon sank into a shadow on the floor, then disappeared.
Elec Man concentrated on putting as much distance between Knitter and Proto Man as possible. It was difficult navigating through the yarn maze—everything looked the same, and Elec Man suspected the multi-color yarn continued to shift and change the entire layout. Nor could one move fast, as sometimes yarn stretched every which way in an annoying obstacle course that required constant ducking and climbing while being careful not to become tangled up. Finding anyone else in the maze seemed like it was becoming impossible.
Therefore, Elec Man was quite surprised some moments later when he took a turn and nearly ran straight into Mega Man.
"What the—Elec Man? Proto?!" asked Mega Man, his voice rising in alarm as he took in Proto Man's condition. "W-what's wrong with Proto Man? Did Knitter do something to him?"
Elec Man said nothing, backing slowly away while adjusting Proto Man's weight on his shoulder. Mega Man himself didn't look very good presently, he seemed stooped over with fatigue, his hand rubbing his chest, but he staggered forward, reaching out for Proto Man.
"If Proto Man's hurt or something, his family needs to know, he shouldn't be left with some criminal Robot Master! Hey!"
Mega Man had lunged toward Proto Man, but Elec Man had stepped away, and Mega Man tripped over a chartreuse string and fell into a tangle of yarn.
Banishing the accusing look Mega Man had given him from his mind, Elec Man hurried on until he found a small clearing where he felt they were finally safe (or as safe as they could get). Elec Man laid Proto Man down on the springy yarn floor and began shaking him urgently while slapping his cheek lightly.
"Light, c'mon, wake up. Now. Please."
After a few tense moments, Proto Man stirred feebly, at first seeming confused as to where he was, then bolting into a sitting position.
"Before you say anything, I did not faint!" he snapped defiantly. But then his voice broke, unable to hide a genuine note of panic as he whispered, "What's happening to me?!"
"Another alien energy flare up," murmured Elec Man. Though his voice was calm, his grip on Proto Man's shoulder was painfully tight.
"But what does this mean? A-am I going to change into something like Hellrazor and Curator did?" stammered Proto Man, remembering how his blaster arm had distorted into a large, boxy, three-digit skeletal hand back when he had first copied Duo's weapon, and picturing himself becoming a scarf-wearing version of Duo.
"I…don't think so," Elec Man responded slowly. "I think the mechanical mutations are properties of the evil energy, not justice energy. But you must be careful, your body is not built to handle alien energy."
"Justice energy…" Proto Man said bitterly, his left hand clenching tightly. "I can't possibly have that, unless this is somebody's idea of a big, cosmic joke. This is so…stupid!" An involuntary shiver ran through his circuits.
"It's okay, I'm here," said Elec Man sounding equally as scared as Proto Man, his grip on Proto Man's shoulder still tight. Then he looked away in embarrassment, releasing Proto Man. "But it's like I said earlier, you need to recover your nerve."
Proto Man stared at Elec Man, then smiled shakily. "Look who's talking!"
"Shut up. This stuff is just…weird, okay?" responded Elec Man defensively. Then he hesitated, looking shiftily back at Proto Man. "By the way, I ran into Mega Man while you were unconscious. He wanted to know what was wrong with you."
Proto Man went rigid. "You didn't tell him anything, did you?"
"…Of course not."
"You're the best. I—he—whatever's happening to me, it's no one's business, least of all his," said Proto Man with unnecessary harshness. Inside, he still felt a pattering sense of panic—and the last thing he needed was for Mega Man to find out about his justice energy and come to completely baseless conclusions…
"Hey, Proto Man! Nice sweater! Did your valentine get ya that?"
Ring Man and Magnet Man had come stumbling out of a wall of yarn.
Both Proto Man and Elec Man stood up, Proto Man tugging off the itchy pink sweater and kicking it aside. He scowled as his scarf crackled with static and clung uncomfortably to his back. "Where have you two been?"
"Uh…hiding? You didn't actually think we'd help?" replied Ring Man as though this was a stupid question.
Elec Man stalked forward, a dangerous shadow falling over his face. "Oh, you're going to help, alright. Ring Man, I had to leave Jewel Man behind with Knitter. He needs assistance."
"But—I don't want to go near that knitting freak—"
Arcs of electricity buzzed through Elec Man's fingers. "You claim Jewel Man is your friend, correct? So go rescue him. Besides, he still has the quintessence we came here to steal."
"Alright, alright, sheesh!"
Elec Man turned to Magnet Man next. "Magnet Man. You have one of the most powerful weapons in Skull Fortress. You will help me or face something scarier than the idiotic monstrosity in the middle of this stupid maze. Are we clear?"
Magnet Man gave a long sigh, his flat gaze drifting leftward.
"I said are we clear?" Elec Man repeated warningly, holding up his sparking hand in front of Magnet Man's face.
"…Fine…" Magnet Man grunted finally with the same huff of a human teenager being nagged into taking out the trash.
The strings around them rustled again as Cut Man and Guts Man shuffled out of another wall of yarn.
"Duh, we got lost," Guts Man told Proto Man.
"Yeah, this place is a real maze!" added Cut Man with wide eyes. "We need a shortcut out of here!"
Elec Man was rubbing his forehead through the holes of his harlequin mask. "Why does Wily always pick these morons? Cut Man, your weapon is literally Rolling Cutter—forget it. Now that we're together again, don't get separated. We can backtrack toward Jewel Man so long as the maze hasn't shifted too much—now move."
Luckily for Ring Man, Knitter was nowhere to be seen near Jewel Man, and rescuing him was easy (especially with Cut Man's Rolling Cutter and Magnet Man's Magnet Hold helping to move obstacles).
"Y-you came back!" stammered Jewel Man gratefully to Elec Man after he had been released from the pom-pom-covered turtleneck.
"Of course, you're Syndicate," said Elec Man simply.
"You—are—the nicest boss—I've ever had—"
Elec Man wrinkled his nose. "Stop being pathetic, Jewel Man. We're associates, remember?"
"Hey! It was me who came to get ya!" spoke up Ring Man irritably.
Cut Man was looking around nervously. "What about Knitter?"
"We should kill him," said Proto Man.
"Agreed, but how?" said Elec Man. "We need a way to weaken him first."
"…Mega Girl and the Sun Crystal…" murmured Jewel Man pensively.
"Knock it off about Mega Girl," said Proto Man warningly, a blaster arm raised toward Jewel Man.
"But—" stammered Jewel Man, casting Proto Man a frightened and confused look. His eyes flickered over to Elec Man, again hoping he'd intercede, but again disappointed as Elec Man merely rolled his eyes and turned his attention to his notes on his handheld computer. "—Er, never mind."
"Hmph, that's what I thought," said Proto Man.
After a moment, Elec Man shook his head, powering off his computer. "This is useless. Our options are to either find our own way out, or to force Knitter to let us out—even betting odds which will be easier. For now, stay together. Ring Man, Magnet Man, take the forward guard, Cut Man and Guts Man, take the rear. Jewel Man, you're with Proto Man and I."
The orders were quickly obeyed (for no one dared to risk getting shocked by a Thunder Beam) but with much mutinous grumbling, except for Jewel Man, who hasted to Elec Man's side while keeping a wary distance from Proto Man.
"Way to command the troops, champ!" Proto Man snickered admiringly, clapping Elec Man on the back. "But don't worry about Knitter…I got this."
"No, you need to rest."
"What the—? Don't boss me around too!"
"Stop whining, this could have gone a lot worse," Elec Man murmured grimly, half to himself.
"…Huh?"
"Later."
Quint had been busy analyzing the yarn cave with visor, taking in many fascinating readings of the paranormal phenomena, when Punk came rolling toward him again.
"Oh, you again! Any luck finding Mega Girl?" asked Quint.
"No, it's like I'm just going in circles. Listen, I got this weird feeling this maze has a mind of it's own and will make it impossible for us to find Mega Girl and for her to find Knitter. We could be stuck here a long time, and I bet the Knitter is only getting more powerful and crazy!"
"Oh dear. Then I suppose desperate times call for desperate measures—and if my calculations are correct—"
Forming a blaster, Quint took aim at a yarn wall and fired an ultraviolet blast of quintessence. Then, impossibly, a hole appeared, like a large shining disc hanging against the yarn. Through it, they could see the plain, beige alleyway outside—daylight streamed into the dark, multi-color tunnel.
"Yes!" cheered Quint, quickly climbing through the hole, which was already beginning to close up as fresh strings of yarn stretched across it with small twangs.
"Where you going?"
"No time to explain—I have an idea. A rather eccentric one, but it may just work!"
"…That's not very reassuring, Brainiac! Fine! We'll just hold down the fort here with the dangerous robo-monster, shall we?" Punk called sarcastically after him, but wasn't sure if Quint had heard him, for Quint had teleported in a stream of green light as the hole closed as though it had never been there, and Punk once more was lost in the middle of the yarn maze.
To be continued…
A/N: Due to Knitter stealing the show, this episode has been retitled from The Teleportation Race to Teleportation Tangles. Enjoy!
A/N Hate to end it there, but going to for sake of length—but the majority of part 4 is also done, so hopefully another update by end of month~