Wily's Castle was curiously decorated.
When a guy dresses up a place with large skulls and death robots, one of the best words for it is "curious".
I began walking forward, and as I did, a bright path lit up in front of me leading to the base of the castle. Wily's voice sounded over loudspeakers. "It'd be best to follow the path, since either side is a little booby trapped." I looked down as a bird landed peacefully on the path beside me and was instantly electrically deep fried. I felt a little repulsed.
"Impressed?" He asked proudly.
"Did you like, train that bird to that? Because the timing on that was way too perfect."
He grunted and disconnected.
I began to move forward at a light jog, when a shadow made me look up. I saw something coming at high speed, which I only just managed to leap out of the way of. It was a large robot with a jet on around its lower body, a spring below it, and a large eye. It leapt at me again, and I took off. I spun around and fired with my buster several times. They hit it plainly, but it wouldn't stop. I tried more and more, but it just wouldn't work. I ran a little further back, but I couldn't figure out anything to do. I remembered my weapons. I cycled through them mentally.
Super Arm's no good, nothing to throw.
Fire Storm could work.
Thunder Beam probably won't damage it much.
I narrowly avoided having my head smashed again.
Hoo boy. Better be careful.
Hyber Bomb is too hard to time.
Rolling cutter wouldn't do much better than my regular shots.
So it was Fire Storm or Ice Slasher. "Well..."
ICE SLASHER LOADED
"Guess we'll just guess." I blasted it as it leapt into the air. The shot went through its systems, freezing them. The jets remained on, so it hovered idly in the air. I stood for a second, before deciding to run under while it was busy.
I was pretty satisfied with how it turned out, so I did the same to two more as I rushed towards the large fortress. The third one, however, I almost got my head crushed as I got a little cocky and almost didn't make it in time. "Okay, don't do that again."
I ran up to the end of the path, and found that there was no door. I frowned and felt around for some kind of switch. Nothing. I then noticed that where the path met the wall, it seemed like two parts had been divided into segments, one higher, and one lower.
SUPER ARM LOADED
I grabbed one and crunched into the metal. I tore it off and dropped it behind me. I then reached up and grabbed the other part of the wall, doing the same. I found one more gate, which I tore off and threw at one of the jumping robots that attempted to follow me.
I stepped forward into a hallway. I walked forward, and let myself fall down a small drop, about three feet. I looked up and saw a ledge high above me. I frowned, and as I tried to figure out what to do, a humming sound filled my ears. I looked down as the grate I was standing on filled with red light. I turned around and jumped towards where I had been, only able to make it partway before searing hot fluid erupted out, filling the entire vertical chamber, and singing my lower body. I landed in pain.
I looked at it again, trying to think through the heat that tormented my legs. I thought about everyone who was depending on me. My mom. Roll. Michael.
It didn't exactly make me super energized, but it helped a little. I stood and looked down. Somehow I had to use that to my advantage to reach the top, but it was too hot to simply ride on.
If it was too hot, then maybe I would have to cool it down. I forced myself onto my legs and dropped down to the ground just behind me. I knelt down and saw a small access vent that looked straight at the pillar of molten material.
ICE SLASHER LOADED
"Really hope I won't need this thing later." I blasted through the hole just as the pillar launched. It froze completely within a few seconds. I grinned and hopped back up and onto the frozen tower. I was now able to go high enough to reach the next level. I jumped up and found another molten spout. I froze it again through another vent, and the third one I came across I had a better angle and was able to hit it with the Ice Slasher from up above it. I leapt off of it, and found a ladder leading up into another area I couldn't see. I grabbed on and began climbing.
As I climbed, Wily's voice came over the speakers again. "Impressive work. You're a little smarter than I thought. Of course there's still more to come."
I grunted as I reached the top. I saw a small platform in front of me over a short bed of spikes. I hopped to it, and another, higher platform was now in front. I leapt up and and just made it over. In front of me now was another deadly pit, this time with no platform. I spotted the ladder hanging down from a hole on the ceiling. I took a deep breath, then rushed forward, leaping at the edge. I held out and arm, and grabbed onto one of the rungs, and held on tight while my body swung forward. I let myself slow, then began climbing up again.
I made it to the top and began moving forward. Suddenly, a small blue object dropped from the ceiling. A pair of crimson eyes lit up, and the small robot began hopping towards me. "Aw, seriously? It's so...cute."
It leapt at me, with an electrical shock coming out of its bottom. I quickly stepped back. "Alright, fine." I blasted it with my weapon, and it exploded in a single shot.
I jogged forward, blasting another one as it dropped down from a series of stair-like platforms. I jumped up and reached the top. I then dropped down and found more gates like those at the entrance. I used the Super Arm to dispose of them. When I did, I approached the ladder. Suddenly, the speakers came on again.
"Well, this interesting and all, Mega Man, but I just can't take it anymore. We're going to have to speed things up." The wall in front of me began to slide into the ceiling, forming a brief tunnel. I swallowed and walked through.
I found myself at another ladder, which I climbed, leading to an empty room like all the others I had been in. I jogged over, jumped up a small platform, and came to a massive door.
As I prepared to Super Arm through, it rumbled, and rose into the ceiling, allowing me to enter. "Uh oh." I stepped through.
It was a blank, gray room. I walked in and stood quietly. "All right! What now?"
It was silent for a few moments. Suddenly, a shifting sound made me turn, as a wall opened up. In an instant, a yellow object flew out of it at high speed. I only just managed to jump in time. It suddenly stopped behind me and began hovering. Another piece flew out, followed by another, and within a minute, more than I had bothered to count at the time had emerged.
They hovered aimlessly, before ejecting a yellow fluid onto one another. They began to bond, until they formed a massive yellow body. A single red eye appeared on it. "Hoo boy."
"I would like you to meet my Yellow Devil."
---
As soon as he finished speaking, the eye began to glow, and fired shots at me. I took one to the chest, then began running. As I did, Wily continued.
"He is my greatest creation! Able to transport quickly, and made out of material that is completely invincible. You have no hope, Mega Man." He was silent for a moment. "I suppose, since you will perish in a moment, Dr. Light might as well get to check on your progress."
I slid to a stop as the shots stopped firing. I fired three shots into its body. The material basically collapsed around the plasma, nullifying them on impact. A portion of its body separated, and flew at me again.
"Are you all right?" Light's voice began entering my audio.
"Yeah. A little damaged, but at the moment, mostly ticked." I narrowly stepped out of the way of an incoming blob.
"Have you tried damaging it, yet?"
I grunted as a piece hit my arm, spinning me a little with the force. "Do you know who I am? Of course I tried shooting it. The shots sunk in like he was made of pudding."
"Watch out, Rock!"
I rolled on the ground, firing a laser shot into the body of the massive yellow behemoth. "I know you're worried, Light, but seriously, leave the dodging to the guy who's actually looking at the giant yellow death machine." I fired a few more shots at it, but they sunk in harmlessly. "Come on..." I switched over to the Fire Storm, trying to do any kind of damage, but it was unscathed. It began to break into pieces, which rushed towards me.
"Aw, crap!"
I was flung through the air, smashing into a metal wall. I stumbled to my feet. "All right, buddy...you are so gonna-"
Mega Man was suddenly gone, and the Yellow Devil stood unmoving in the middle of the room.
---
(Author Note: In between these two parts is a crossover event that I have planned. I eventually hope to get working on it, but for right now, it won't affect the story much. Anyway, we now return to the story.)
---
I opened my eyes to darkness. I tried to recall what was happening. Wily. Castle. Yellow Devil. Almost died.
"Well..." I muttered to myself as I began pushing at a collapsed piece of building on top of me, "not the weirdest thing that's happened to me recently."
I dug a hole out of the rubble before taking a moment to compose myself. I needed to get my head in the game. Crazy time-related stuff aside, Wily was still here. And I had to stop him.
I pulled myself out. Sure enough, I was still in the room with the Yellow Devil. It stood, unmoving.
I frowned.
FIRE STORM LOADED
"Hey, ugly!"
The eye turned to look at me.
"Eat this!" I launched the ball of flame directly at the eye. It hit and actually left some remnants of damage. The fire burst against it, and it began turning into blobs to escape.
"Alrighty, come on now..." I pulled up my visible files of how he had moved both times prior. I studied them in an instant and memorized them. "Please work..."
Number one...jump.
Two.
Three: jump.
It worked. Every piece disassembled in the same order. I completely avoided damage. When Yellow Devil fully reformed, a Thunder Beam was already on the way.
The eye began to glow brightly, and exploded with a large flash. I was blinded in the moment, then knocked down by something.
After opening my eyes, I found a large piece of the robot on top of me. I threw it off, and stood gradually. "Alright. That. That wasn't terrible. Pretty much." I suddenly felt the strange sensation again, and I was teleported.