I began running as shots began to fire from the impersonator. He smiled as he kept me on the move, trying to wear me down. He suddenly aimed differently, and a shot hit me, causing me to stumble and fall into a wall.
"Behold, Mega Man! You are to be your own demise!" Wily laughed over speakers. "Copy Robot is a perfect match of you, but under my control."
"Wait a minute..." I grunted as I got up, "You had the whole 'Man' naming convention going on, and it never occurred to you to name a copy of me 'Nega Man?' I just lost some respect for you, Wily."
"Destroy him!"
"With pleasure." Copy Robot replied.
"Wait, you can talk?"
"I am a perfect copy of you." He aimed directly at my head. "I love talking."
Wow, that's subtle.
I ducked as he fired the shot, and I put a few into his chest. He stumbled back. "Not bad. Let me show you what I can do."
He jumped through the air, spinning and landing on top of me. He fired a few shots at point blank, which all were just adding on top of the injuries I had sustained. I managed to punch him off and got to my feet.
"All right, pal..." I muttered, "...how'd you like a little Thunder Beam?"
WEAPON DATA NOT AVAILABLE
"I...I said 'a little Thunder Beam'?"
WEAPON DATA NOT AVAILABLE
"Oh yes, did we forget to mention that?" Copy Robot chuckled. "The energy that allowed Wily to copy you also removed your Copy Weapons. Bummer!" He turned gray and yellow, and held out his cannon towards me. "I think you were trying to use this."
---
Back in the cargo room, it was quiet. The fighting had finished, and the Robot Masters were down. Except for one who was sparking.
Elec Man strained against his damages to move. He had his eyes on a particular crate. When he got close enough, he blasted the side with a Thunder Beam. Dozens of E-Tanks spilled onto the ground. He took a swig of one, and let out a sigh as his wounds began to fix. He took a hand away from his damaged midsection, and used it to grab more cans. "Alright boys. Time to get this show back from commercial."
---
The beam of electric energy shot through me, causing me to fall back. I cycled through the weapon systems, trying to find anything that would work. "Come on, come on..."
I was forced to roll away after he attempted to jump on me again. I was now on the run. I couldn't hope to compete with him in terms of power or weaponry. He was just as fast as me too. It was all I could do to avoid any given shot from him. "No..." I muttered. "Not like this."
I found myself pinned against a wall. He smiled and lifted up his arm. He now changed to orange and yellow. "Be careful. This one's hot."
I suddenly felt a large force from the wall pushing me forward. I heard a smash as I fell on my face. Managing to turn over, I saw something that simply added to my joy.
Standing there were the Robot Masters. They still had some damages, but they all looked in fighting shape, and they weren't happy.
"Surprise!" Elec Man announced.
They began to walk into the room, before slowing to a stop. After a moment of silence, Fire Man said, "Well...this here complicates things."
I was confused for a moment, as the robots began whispering amongst themselves. Then I looked over at Copy Robot, and it occurred to me.
They don't know which is the real me.
Wily must not have programmed them to recognize. Copy Robot was also distracted, and I realized that this might be opportunity I would need to take. I got up as they looked back at us.
"So...this is embarassing, but..." Ice Man began, "...which one of you is the real Mega Man?"
We were silent for a moment, and it was obvious neither me or Copy Robot knew what to say. After a while, though, he managed to speak first. "Don't be ridiculous. He's the real Mega Man."
I was now swimming in my thoughts, trying to find any ideas to get me out of this mess. But I was coming up with nothing. Nothing other than shoot them all, which honestly I didn't want to do and would be next to impossible if I didn't have any...
That's it.
I spoke up. "I suppose it's a little too difficult to tell, isn't it? I mean, at this point you all would be the best to figure it out, since you just fought me with all of my *ahem* Copy Weapons." I held up my buster and tried cycling through the destroyed weapon data. My body glitched a few times before I added, "Hmm. Well, that's interesting, I don't seem to have any. But the robot you fought certainly had all of them." I looked over at Copy Robot, who was still orange and yellow from Fire Man's weapon. "Just like he does."
After a moment of looking at each other, Fire Man announced, "Well, that's good enough for me."
They turned towards Copy Robot and were ready to fight. He began backing up slowly, muttering, "Well, just wait a minute guys. I'm...the real Mega Man. Waitwait I mean, the fake one. Guys, he's tricking you, and you're gonna let him..."
I didn't stick around to hear the rest. I rushed out through where I had entered. The plan had to have everything go right. If Copy Robot was able to defeat them all somehow, he could come find me. If he convinced them he was a copy, that would be even worse.
I stopped for a moment a distance from the room. Suddenly, Wily's voice filled my helmet, startling me on a level I hadn't experienced before. "Hmm. You're smarter than I thought. I commend you for that. Unfortunately, I still have one or two more tricks up my sleeve."
"How...how did you get in my head?"
He seemed to be frustrated by the question, but he sighed. "I suppose I owe you an explanation, seeing as you've beaten all of my other traps. You see, Cut Man, though the hope was to successfully destroy you, he had an extra purpose in his attack. I laced his Rolling Cutters with my own microbots, which would enter your systems and prepare your body for my communications and teleport systems."
"Why?"
"Because if you had any time to prepare for our confrontation, you probably would have found some way to spoil the fun."
I felt the annoyingly familiar sensation in my gut. "Oh boy." In a bright flash of light, I found myself in front of a lone door like that in front of the Yellow Devil's room. I sighed. "This has gone on long enough. I have to end this before I get myself killed." As the door opened, I remembered. "Or innocent people. We don't want innocent people killed."
I walked into the dark room. Only a few dim lights activated upon my entry, and they were only right around me. The back half of the room was cloaked in darkness. "I'm here, Wily. What's your game?"
It was silent. I stepped forward, the sound of my footsteps against the metal floor driving me crazy with anxiety.
After I had taken a few more steps, a loud whirring sounded from the dark part of the room. A strange machine lit up in the darkness, temporarily blinding me. As I adjusted to the light, it began to move forward surprisingly quickly. I blinked in surprise before hopping backward, and re-positioning myself to be ready to fight.
The large robot in front of me was a purplish red, with a large round main body, and a cannon off of one side. It had a sort of shielded capsule on the top, and some engines on the back that hovered it in place.
"The time has come for you to end, Mega Man."
The cannon charged, and a shot was fired into the air. Much to my surprise, it began to fall after traveling a short distance in the air. I rushed forward, but got still got hit by the attack. I grumbled, and fired a few shots at it. They seemed to bounce off most of the body, so I aimed for the cannon. Before I could fire, another shot came, and I scrambled to avoid taking another hit. In doing so, I was hit by the moving machine itself. I bounced back, and tried to stabilize myself.
"I know more about you than you think! You probably wish you had your copy weapons now, don't you? If you think you can possibly defeat me, you are mistaken. You are a machine, and you have your limits."
I looked at him with exhaustion and frustration. I tried to push myself to a standing position. The best I could manage was kneeling.
"You don't know...anything about me." I managed through gritting teeth. I focused as hard as I could, and managed to stand. Another shot was launched from the machine. I couldn't dodge it, and it slammed me at full force into the ground.
I grunted, and forced myself to stand again. "I...won't let you win, Wily."
He fire another shot. This one I was able to avoid. "One thing you can never fully know about me is my limit of when I'm willing to give up. I was raised by humans, Wily, and one thing they do?"
I leaped into the air, landing on the back of the machine. I grabbed on to stabilize, then fired a shot at the capsule on the top. It sparked from the shots, then a cover came off, revealing a clear glass dome around Wily, who sat inside the machine. I hopped in front to give him a good look. "They don't give up." I wound back and punched through the glass.