Mega Man 2 Powered Up - Dialogue (*Metal Man route)
see this post for further details on what exactly the hell i'm doing here.
my idea for how the Wilybot story plays out is basically like: dr. wily has made a severe and continuous lapse in his judgement error regarding the Alien. shit is buggy and actively dangerous to use. now, with his life at top priority, you have to stop him from getting this plan off the ground before something drastic happens.
your bros are of course going to be in your way the entire time, following orders and unaware of what you know. you've got to subdue them to get to wily.
"why don't you just tell them what you know?" SEE you could do that if these werent a bunch of combat robots who solve all their problems by attacking them until they go away. this has the unfortunate consequence of doing Mega Man's job for him, but hey. PRIORITIES RIGHT
in order to make them playable, you have to beat them buster only, just like in the original. the explosion animation will change into a warping one at the end of the fight so you can tell.
oh also instead of Roll's voice, all WARNING! calls are heard in a bitcrushed, tinny monotone, implied to be the default voice for your assistant minion.
OKAY WHATEVER LET'S GO. METAL TIME
(OPENING MONOLOGUE)
Narrator: The year is 200X. In his first attempt at world domination, mad scientist Dr. Wily was defeated by the super robot named MegaMan. Seeking revenge, Dr. Wily escaped from the public eye…and returned with eight robots geared for combat. MetalMan is one of them, armed with ceratanium blades, but his sharp eye takes issue with his creator's new scheme…
(TUTORIAL STAGE CUTSCENE)
[Metal Man runs across a dark corridor somewhere under Wily Castle in the middle of the night.]
[His COM unit begins to ring as he's running. It rings twice before he picks up, still running.]
Metal Man: What do you want, old man?
Dr. Wily: Metal Man! Snide as usual, I see…are you out performing security checks on the base like I ordered?
Metal Man: Quit breathing down my neck and maybe I could.
Dr. Wily: Cut the sass! Right now, I'm in the process of drawing out Mega Man! Finish up and be at your post by the time we're ready to begin our attack, or else!
[Dr. Wily hangs up. Shortly after, a strange low alarm begins ringing. This catches Metal Man's attention, and he proceeds to the right, beginning the tutorial stage.]
(VS. CENTRAL COMPUTER)
--WARNING!--
[The terminal situated at the top of the room lights up, the machinery beneath it whirring to life.]
Central Computer: "DWN-009" IDENTIFIED. PLEASE COMPLETE EXERCISE 001 TO CONTINUE.
Metal Man: Look, I'm just here bug checking. Can we not do this right now?
Central Computer: LOCKING DOWN…
[The room itself undergoes a shift, simulating a challenge course tailoured to Metal Man's abilities. When this shift is finished, the terminal monitor begins counting down.]
Central Computer: INITIALISATION COMPLETE. GET YOUR WEAPONS READY.
(POST-TUTORIAL STAGE CUTSCENE)
[The simulation terminates. A door on the other side of the room opens. Metal Man automatically follows the path into the control room for the Alien. A screen glows near Dr. Wily's seat.]
Metal Man: Finally. Stupid tedious anti-invasion measures.
[Metal Man sits in Dr. Wily's seat and scans the Alien program for errors.]
Metal Man: Everything looks fine. What a waste of-- [Cue program stability error SFX.] ...oh. Guess I jinxed it.
[Metal Man's COM unit rings again, only once this time before he picks up.]
Metal Man: Wow, perfect timing. We need to talk, it's about plan E.
Dr. Wily: You listen to me, this is urgent! Mega Man's just beaten my mech, and he's at large! Move your chassis out of the castle and get in position -- I've got preparations to make! NUAHAHAHAHA!!!
Metal Man: Oi, I'm serious, this is--
[Dr. Wily hangs up before he can interject. Metal Man shuts down the Alien program.]
Metal Man: ...If the old man gets in the chair as it is, he's toast. Forget preparations, I need to stop him before it's too late.
[Metal Man warps away to another wing of Wily Castle, in a flash of red and blue light.]
-LOADING...-
[Metal Man arrives in an arm of the Teleport Station and stops in front of a large, idle monitor. A Pierobot is waiting on the left.]
Metal Man: So, what'd you bring me?
Pierobot: Da-daaa!
[The screen cuts on, showing the eight robots available on the stage select.]
Metal Man: No points for precision, but it'll do. Now it's just a matter of convincing the guys to work with me.
Pierobot: Daa-daa-da-daa!
(VS. MEGA MAN)
--WARNING!--
[Mega Man is teleported into the scene in the usual fashion he would be if he were the player character.]
Mega Man: So you're the one stealing metals from the recycling plant! I've been looking for you!
Metal Man: Aw, what a coincidence, me too! Now beat it before I slit your puny throat.
Mega Man: ...Fine. I guess if you won't go peacefully, this is where we part ways.
(VS. AIR MAN)
--WARNING!--
[Similarly to his appearance in Mega Man: The Power Battle, Air Man emerges from the eye of a developing tornado.]
Air Man: THE METAL MAN COMETH! And he stands before my greatness, not as an ally…but as an opponent?
Metal Man: Quit your blustering and shut this birdhouse down before I lose my patience.
Air Man: The audacity…! The great AIRMAN shall not be made to dishonour his mission by command of hoodlum youth such as yourself! BEGONE!!
(VS. BUBBLE MAN)
–WARNING!–
[Similarly to his appearance in Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters, Bubble Man rises up in a giant bubble. When it pops, he performs a backflip stroke.]
Bubble Man: B-buh?! Metal Man, what are you doing here? And why do you look so...tense?
Metal Man: I can think of a few good reasons. You won't be one of them if you try standing in my way, bubble guts.
Bubble Man: Gnh...Y-you, you think you're gonna threaten me, huh?! N-not anymore! I'm not scared of you!!
(VS. QUICK MAN)
–WARNING!–
[Quick Man dashes across the raised floors in a blur. At the peak of his third jump, he flips into a pose on the room’s right end.]
Quick Man: Seriously, Metal? I was expecting Mega Man! Unless…hey, you didn't come to cut in front of me, did you?!
Metal Man: No, of course not. Obviously I'm here to sell you dental insurance.
Quick Man: Shut up! If you think you're gonna beat Mega Man before me, you got another thing coming!
(VS. CRASH MAN)
–WARNING!–
[The pipes on the right end of the room explode violently. Crash Man is blasted in, but recovers with a roll and stumble to a stand.]
Crash Man: You snake...stabbing us all in the backs like this...
Metal Man: If you care anything about what'll happen to Wily if I don't, you won't fight me about it.
Crash Man: TRAITOR! Raise your hand to him AND I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!!!
(VS. FLASH MAN)
–WARNING!–
[Everything freezes until there’s a sudden burst of white light. As it clears, Flash Man materialises on the right end of the room in a pose.]
Flash Man: Tell me, Metal Man…what exactly are you trying to prove by covering your heart in razor blades?
Metal Man: Good luck dissecting that. I know you love pretending to be enlightened.
Flash Man: Hmph. There's a line between independence and isolation, you know. Be careful you don't cross it.
(VS. HEAT MAN)
–WARNING!–
[Heat Man’s box sits plainly on the floor until it jumps. His arms and legs pop out, and the lid opens in a flare of fire once he’s fully standing.]
Heat Man: Mets! Hey, you bring me an E-Tank? I'm cooking in here…
Metal Man: You can get one free if you drop the mission with me.
Heat Man: Boo. I'm not catchin' heat from Wily just 'cus you wanna act dumb. Get lost.
(VS. WOOD MAN)
–WARNING!–
[The trees and their leaves above shake vigorously. Wood Man falls to the ground in a crouch, with a resonant rumble.]
Wood Man: Dude, you might have an axe to grind, but this…isn't there a better way?
Metal Man: You think this is personal? C'mon Wood, be reasonable about this. Just fall back.
Wood Man: Man, I had a feeling you'd snap one day. Someone's gotta bring you back to your roots.
(“WILY CASTLE APPEARS” CUTSCENE)
-LOADING…-
[Metal Man returns to the station. The room's lights are lower. The screen is idle and no longer reflects the stage select.]
Pierobot: Da-da-daa! Da da da!
Metal Man: Well, well. What do we have here?
[The screen settles into a clouded sky. The camera zooms into it until the perspective is from the sky itself, which is tracking Dr. Wily’s capsule as it moves through the growing storm.]
Metal Man: Heh. That's our geezer, alright.
[Dr. Wily flips open the lid. His irises are red. He briefly acknowledges/teases the camera by pulling a face and waggling his eyebrows. He shuts it again, and tries to outpace the camera.]
Metal Man: Old bat probably thinks it's still MegaMan on his bumper. What's worse, he's not taking any of my calls. I might have to grab the reins from him by force.
[While Metal Man is speaking, Dr. Wily vanishes through the clouds. When the camera catches up through the fog, it focuses at the bottom of the fortress. Cue prelude. It tilts up just in time to see Dr. Wily retreating into the eye of the skull. There is a flash of lightning and a clap of thunder.]
Pierobot: Da-da-da-da da da da-daaa?
[The monitor then comes back into play as the view of the fortress becomes a grid map.]
[The camera pulls out and fades back in to the station, where the two are standing, facing the screen.]
Metal Man: Right. Good thing I don't follow the rules. I'll just have to carve a path in. Shouldn't be too hard. I kinda live here.
[The two turn to face each other. The Pierobot smiles at him.]
Metal Man: All you have to do is make sure I have a stable link back to this room in case I need repairs, capice?
Pierobot: Da-da! Da-da da-da-daa!
[The map then becomes selectable, per fortress stage.]
(VS. MECHA DRAGON)
–WARNING!–
[Mecha Dragon’s body lurches bit by bit. She then roars out a blaze of flames.]
Mecha Dragon: Rrrrr….chaarrrrrrr…?
Metal Man: Oi, behave. You bite me and it's back in the chamber for you, bessie.
[Guts Tank rolls onscreen, then straightens up, punching its fists together.]
Guts Tank: I'VE...GOT...GUTS.
Metal Man: Got anything else…? Brains, maybe?
Guts Tank: I'M TAKING…YOU DOWN…WITH ME.
(VS. BOOBEAM TRAP)
–WARNING!–
[The eyes of each cannon rove about and glow until they fix on Metal Man. They then blink in unison.]
Boobeam: Metal Man is here? Metal Man is here! Here? Lies! See? Hi!
Metal Man: I know you idiots can hear me! Lay off or I'm tearing you all a new one!
Boobeam: R-request? Negatory! Invalid? Code breach! Fire? He will! At will? We will!
(VS. THE DR. WILY TELEPORT STATION)
*Conditions for this one being, only the first robot you encounter here is the one you have any dialogue with. The WARNING! also only shows up once.
–WARNING!–
[The robot you’re rematching appears in the same manner and pose as they did when you first fought them. Their textures appear somewhat holographic.]
(VS. WILY MACHINE #2)
–WARNING!–
[The mech descends on screen with just a bit of puffing steam. Dr. Wily then drives his capsule into it, and pushes the windshield open. His irises are their usual colour.]
Dr. Wily: YOU!! What on Earth are you doing?! This entire time, you've done nothing but counter my attacks on the city! Whose side are you on?!
Metal Man: Yours, old man, now quiet down and listen! Look, your Plan E's got a fatal error…
Dr. Wily: SILENCE, YOU DISOBEDIENT TWIT!!! You've meddled with my plans for the last time! I shall pound you into scrap with Wily Machine #2! I'll even make a better, stronger robot from your parts! See if you ever question me again! NUHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
[He shuts the windshield and prepares the guns.]
(PHASE 2)
[The face of the ship breaks off, revealing Dr. Wily in the cockpit.]
Dr. Wily: GAHH!! No no no no no no no! Now you've gone and done it! But I'm not beat just yet!
[He improvises a temporary solution, shedding any extra broken parts. Wily Machine #2’s HP refills.]
(PHASE 2 - END)
[Wily Machine #2 fully breaks down. While it does, the floor begins to rumble.]
Dr. Wily: Grrgh…it looks like I'm going to have to break out plan E after all…don't get in my way!
Metal Man: No! Dr. Wily!!
[The floor gives way from underneath of Metal Man before Dr. Wily is seen getting away. This transitions the player directly into the secret final stage.]
(VS. DR. WILY?)
[Quietly, Dr. Wily’s capsule descends. He jumps out of it and floats idle in the darkness. It spins away on autopilot without him. No warning is given. His skin texture is buggy and his irises are red.]
MetalMan: Wily, have you lost it?! I said no!
Dr. Wily?: Defeat your own, will you? Intercept my authority, will you? You have no idea O-F THE W-WORLD-D-D-D ENDING POWWWER I HOLD, BOY.
[Halfway through the last sentence, his body begins to transform in a jittering, unstable manner. Metal Man takes a step back, worried. The vast starscape fades in around them once the Alien is fully uncloaked.]
Alien: YO-O-OUR PETTY CONCERNS ARE INCO-NSEQ-Q-QUENTIAL. KNEEL BEF-BE-BEFORE ME AND WITNESS THE TRUE POTENTIAL OF DOC-T-TOR ALBERT WIIIIL-LY.
(POST-ALIEN BATTLE)
[Dr. Wily is in a panic as everything begins to deteriorate. Warning sirens and like alerts fill the air.]
Dr. Wily: What's…what's going on…?! This thing is out of control!
[Dr. Wily is seen trying to get everything back in good working order behind his terminal, until Metal Man approaches him and picks him up from behind the control panel by force.]
Metal Man: Alright old man, you're done. Time to go home.
[Dr. Wily struggles to resist arrest. The hologram generator falls to the floor and breaks, catching fire.]
Dr. Wily: Aaaack! You insolent robot! [Cue fanfare.] Unhand me this instant! Give me a few more minutes, I can fix this! It'll just take some emergency hotwiring and--GYAH!!
[Both Metal Man and Dr. Wily teleport away, presumably to safety. The control room is then left to combust and collapse inwards.]
(ENDING CUTSCENE)
[The camera is focused on the now black stage select screen. The ancillary teleport station, partially crumbled and shrouded in darkness, is then dimly illuminated by it whirring to life. The Pierobot comes out from under some rubble, celebrating this.]
[Dr. Wily then falls in from above, looking very ragged. This scares the Pierobot. It turns to him with wide eyes.]
Dr. Wily: Ough...my head...
Pierobot: Daa! Da-da-daaa-da!!
[Dr. Wily gets up quickly with a grimacing angered expression.]
Dr. Wily: Oh! Conspiring with one of your flunkies, were you?! When I get my hands on you, I...eh?!
[Dr. Wily looks around for Metal Man. The camera pans slightly with him to show they did not arrive in tandem.]
Dr. Wily: Where did...I thought we both...?!
Pierobot: Da-da-daa...da-da da daa da.
[Dr. Wily takes over the computer and immediately gets to work trying to locate Metal Man's signal. A picture of Metal Man, shut down and stuck under support beams and brick in an unknown location focuses into clarity.]
Dr. Wily: Metal Man...? How in blazes?! You! Dispatch a team to retrieve him at once!
[The two parties go their separate ways.]
[The camera gradually zooms into the monitor feed until the view is of Metal Man's body on the ground, in real time. [Cue ending theme.] The seasons pass him by outside, as do events of what's happening in the background while he is inactive. As the song draws to a close, the rain stops. Dr. Wily's capsule flies in front of the sun, indicating he and his robots have finally found him (after the events of the epilogue circa Mega Man's route). The camera slowly, and then quickly pans up through the sky to the stars, and thus begins the staff roll.]
[Post-staff roll, the player is prompted to save once more before being returned to the company logos and opening cinematic.]
Rumination.
The longer Terra let his eyes focus, the sharper the layer of dust on Mars' armour became. He considered the origins of the dust. What it contained. What might happen should his body shift, shaking it off into the open air.
Preoccupation.
Time slowed, for him only. He envisioned himself contracting bacteria hidden in the microscopic particulates, becoming horribly sick with wilt fungus, slowly, graphically, rotting to death.
Paralysis.
His hand hovered, trembling before the barely awake Lieutenant's heaving, eviscerated chest. He needed urgent care.
But he was just too dirty.
A/N: >2.5k words of....somethin. not actually sure what to call this..."Visiting Saturn Overtakes Terra With A Terrible Feeling Of Discomfort Brought About By His Own Mistakes And Control Freak Tendencies" doesn't really have a ring to it. more notes after the end :UUU
--
SRN-006's wing of Starship Sol was very minimalist.
The crown moulding and intricately carved patterns in each nook and cranny of SRN-007's broad and colourful corridors stood in stark contrast to these…neatly grid tile walls and artificial marble floors polished to reflection. A monochromatic, mostly black scheme, with splashes of white for accent.
It was one circular, narrow hall surrounding the repair lab in which he worked, with only purely necessary latitude. Just wide enough to accommodate their largest enlistee and no further.
SRN-006's wing of Starship Sol was too minimalist.
The dim pin lights resting parallel on the bottom of the perimeter were bulbless, caged, and cold. Cameras and sensors abounds sat in little pockets mechanically blocked out of the tile, and they too were black, with tiny red ringed eyes staring, unmoved, at whoever passed.
And then that would draw the attention to the preference of verticality in construction, as those burning lens would still be present the further back you tipped your head. In fact, should you regard them, they would return the favour, ensuring you felt small and out of place.
The ceiling stretched temple-high, and if you chose to follow it to its end, nothing special awaited you at the top. It was the same throughout, if not darker for the lack of mounted lighting.
SRN-006's wing of Starship Sol was beyond minimalist.
In every aspect, he'd wasted his opportunity for expression on barren, and featureless design.
Nothing existed for comfort. There were no intentional benches, no decoration, nothing to suggest that anyone with a personality occupied the room in between.
How he managed to use so little of the space allotted to him when drafting, and turn what could have been a gravity-controlled exhibition lobby (per his home planet's aesthetics), into claustrophobic lifelessness was…disappointing.
Moreover, it was uncomfortable.
The experience of passing through this glorified pod bus tunnel was among the many things that made Terra's skin crawl.
He would never admit it to anyone, but it struck a particular chord of dread in him whenever the louvred metal doors slid away before him and he was forced to traverse the droning, beeping, clicking, groaning machinery trapped behind the architectural emptiness.
Pluto had once explained to him the concept of a "liminal space" while organising his daily field research.
-
"Liminality is, how do you say, a state commonly observed by man."
His glittering ruby irises flit back and forth across the tops of several holographed tabs.
"It is, so to speak, existing in a state of limbo."
He dismisses each window to the right or left with confident, swift swipes of his fingertips.
"When one is outside of points A and B. When one's regularity is upset and change is coming, but hasn't yet."
In the corner of Terra's visual feed blinks a purple light, alerting him to the three files just received under the subject "inv_rp21".
"A liminal space is similarly transitional. It is being beneath the bridge that connects your docked train to the station. It is being in the foyer of an familiar's unfamiliar home. The point of unease typically achieved by this will vary for the individual, but its basis is the same."
The sway of his tail and a dark chuckle follow him sauntering out of the office.
"Simply a little walk through to the gallows will unsettle these poor, ugly animals, even if they aren't in the noose. The paranoia is quite pathetic, don't you think?"
"…Quite. Thank you, 08."
-
The idea that he should be so human as to feel the effects of a "liminal space"…quite frankly, it irritated him.
What was the point of becoming an android if not to escape the trappings of the illogical?
If he had a choice, he'd simply warp straight to the laboratory and skip the gallows' walk altogether.
The atmosphere of the planet Earth, the planet they'd been stuck on for centuries, he had to keep reminding himself it was far too dense to do any such thing and then attempt recompiling his molecular structure.
If he were to try, travelling light speeds here would rip him asunder on an atomic level and he'd die a dangerous, obliterating death.
The thought alone was harrowing and persistent enough to keep him on the ground.
He wished he'd never gotten a taste of it during the war against Mega Man, because it was tempting.
But he couldn't.
If he forgot, and did, wouldn't that be horrific? Every one of his men screaming for cover they'd never get, his carelessness costing them their lives, leaving their legacy a crater on a nowhere planet?
…
'Stop it.'
The necks of the cameras craned to fix their gazes on him.
A picture, of 40 different eyes turned to him in unison with his face reflected in each glassy surface, burned into the front of his mind.
And wouldn't leave.
Terra's legs stiffened. He shut his eyes.
Hampered by his body and the Earth's device, he had one defense against the odd, humiliating stress of being scrutinised from all angles: talking.
It was a habit he'd developed long before his reconstruction at Albert Wily's hands.
In order to distract himself from the baleful thoughts that would constantly, ceaselessly encroach upon his mind, he would quietly, but vocally, talk to himself.
He would talk until either the offending issue was gone, or until he'd calmed his anxiety enough to face it without shutting down, or doing something impulsive.
Instrumental to the success of this repression was that he not stop. That he tune out anything else telling him to divert his attention, do what he set out to do, and not stop.
"…♁, you're already pushing the envelope on time," he scolded, in a sing-song tone.
"If you arrive for your hygiene check late, he's going to complain, and then waste even more of your valuable time arguing why he should be 'cut a break, if you're not going to abide by your own set rules and arrive precisely when you mentioned you would, you neat freak."
The predicted conversation annoyed him perfectly. It drove his low heels clacking across the floor, to confront his slacking, good-for-nothing inferior before he had a chance to say exactly that.
"You can see his face now, right, sad and long like it deserves sympathy, probably because he'd been 'waiting oh so patiently, your highness'__I'll bet you feel your temper flare when he says that,"
which it did, taking his annoyance to anger and hurrying him into a power-stride, past a door with a slate sign labelled "MAINTENANCE".
"And of course, opportunist he is, he'd probably have thought he could take a quick nap-- actually, scratch that, there is no such thing as a 'quick nap' for him, once he's down, he's out, and he knows that, yet he never considered that when filing for employ in this embassy, he's got no professional pride, one of these days, he's going to get you all killed."
"Your invisible friend does a terrible job of backbiting, you know."
Terra's greenest shoots curled very suddenly, tightening his posture and releasing a gas into the hall that was the closest thing to a scent he'd detected since departing the byway.
He swivelled on his heel and stomped once to steady his posture, something he'd had to make a habit of doing since losing his hind legs, and usual gait. His company shook a finger at him.
"I do wish he'd be a little quieter."
Saturn was behind him by at least three metres.
Behind him by…what?
Behind him?
Sun strike him dead, the door was enormous. He was right there. How couldn't he have heard it shifting, at least? Was he really so caught up in distracting himself that he'd prioritised his pacing over the destination?
Who knows how many times he might have gone in circles around it in that case?
Worse yet, why did that smug, sleepy face have to be the foremost indicator of his mistake? Taunting him with the notion of having seen all that faffing about?
Terra inhaled, and closed the distance between them, to two metres minimum. He even checked his feet to ensure that was correct.
"Move."
The seemingly indestructible smile on Saturn's mannequin-esque visage only grew with the demand.
"Now Terra," he started, pulling his ring off his shoulder. "There's an etiquette to asking things of people. A magic word: you may have heard of it?"
Electrostatic discharged between Terra's roots as he clenched the fist of his left hand, building up energy for the Spark Chaser. He didn't have to turn around to understand the hall cameras had settled on him, in sync with Saturn's hollow, impossibly red optic display.
"Move."
Motionlessly, Saturn's line of sight trailed from his hand to his eyes. Locked on to them.
In mustering up the courage to hold him there, and not back down, Terra was able to look through him to the…limitless nothing. Into the abyssal, and unfeeling vacuum behind that warmly coloured shell.
…For just a few seconds, before the marionette made a show of throwing up his hands in mock defeat.
Terra questioned whether or not someone's photoreceptors counted as a "liminal space".
His, at least. Certainly, they teetered on the cusp of real and unreal.
It didn't help that his every action was such a practised, methodical thing.
It made nothing but sense that he'd devise sanitised, utilitarian floor plans like these, when he thought about it critically.
Saturn spun his ring out of the doorway, toeing it two metres until he could stop behind it and bow, gesturing his hand to the open lab. Always overdoing it with the inane, performative gestures, he should deck him just for that.
"Oh, I'm so sorry! I didn't realise you were in that kind of mood!" The plastic grin did not waver.
"Go on in! Gosh, what a throwback! I remember when you dropped in just like this, oh, couldn't have been any less than two Earth days ago! Time flies, hm?"
Terra shot him a look as he stepped over the threshold into the very white, and somehow even more ascetic rotunda. Then shot him another to make sure he wouldn't shove him on while his back was turned.
"You certainly are a diligent one, inspector," Saturn continued, unprompted. "I hope this visit yields tangible results. Aethers forbid you find nothing, driving you madder when the data doesn't reflect the nonsense you're convinced of in your own head! …Oh, wait."
Hilarious.
A wry laugh escaped the other as he considered stitching his inferior's mouth closed and beating him into submission.
But, not really.
Although, somewhat.
He missed the years where he didn't have the wherewithal to emulate this biting sarcasm he seemed so reliant on to mask his social ineptitude nowadays.
It'd grown tiresome.
On his tiptoes now, Terra was careful not to trip any wires hooked up to heavy duty equipment or touch any of the hand tools littered on the floor with his feet. He avoided crushing a single mircochip, or shattering any stray sheet glass.
He squinted at the fluorescent white fixture in the dome ceiling and swore something fell into his eyes. Let alone his grasses.
Sun above, for how tidy and untouched it appeared, it was filthy in here. How could it have gotten this bad in two days time?
"Terra? What's wrong?"
Saturn's voice came in far too loudly behind him. He rushed to occupy himself with plucking and pulling on two gloves from the dispenser near a chemical wash sink.
"Yellow patches notwithstanding," he jested, jested, absorbing every Sun-forsaken microbe from the doorframe as he reclined against it like it was a seat, it wasn't, why did he insist.
"You look exhausted! This neverending cycle of fretting and compulsive cleaning to look busy and responsible must be wearing on you!"
A disingenuous look of pity crossed his expression.
"Is there anything I can do for you, Your Highness?"
His composure nearly dissolved, right there on the spot. Terra grit his teeth and angled his head just enough to keep Saturn in his peripheral vision.
"You can disappear, how about that? You'd like to help me? Get out."
And, not giving him room to refute,
"I'll signal you once I'm done in here, if you haven't managed to trip, get comfortable, and fall asleep on your way to the common room."
"Actually, I never said I was-"
"Get out, 06! OUT!"
The 6th planet's greatest shame pretended to flinch, and hit a red button fixed into the doorframe, backing steadily out of his base of operations.
"Well, all right! No need to shout, you'll wear your poor old voice hoarse!"
The door slowly, very slowly, began to close, and would lock once it did. Terra crossed his fingers it wouldn't give him trouble when it came time to leave for the deep-wash chambers.
Grabbing a clump of steel wool and a bottle of bleach from an open storage closet, he glared at Saturn's waning form through the shuttering egress.
So many installations, so little time…he decided he'd start scrubbing at the surgical table, which by no means should ever see so much residue and metal shavings, but how much could he really expect out of such a lazy slob?
This wasn't even his job, but he'd forced his hand into doing it anyway.
He flipped back the belt restraints, out of his way.
If he could hack the idiot open and reprogram him with a sense of accountability, he would, without hesitation.
"And while you're out there," he snidely commented, unable to hold back. "Try rethinking your interior design aesthetics."
From out in the corridor came a satisfyingly vexed huff.
"When we begin reconstructing the Sol, I don't want to see any lobbies plotted by an AI whose net is three cheap home renovation magazines max, 06."
"MINIMALIST! IT'S MINIMALIST, TERRA!"
Despite his best efforts to remain in earshot, his voice faded behind the nearly-closed door.
"I've seen the future, and it's LESS-IS-MORE, alright?! I'm a futurist! I'm ahead of the curve! I promise you, in another 20 years you'll be…"
Click.
Hiss.
The commander's eyes drifted to the console at which Saturn monitored all his various security feeds, and watched him move between them. He watched him haul himself all the way to the lift, feeling much less tense behind the spotlight than under it.
"Slovenly bastard."
He was probably tracking untold amounts of grime and dust behind him.
That this blind tryhard had the audacity to call himself "ahead of the curve"…
Terra sighed hard as he scrubbed, in repetitious circles, trying to decompress, and found he couldn't.
Just talking to Saturn had sucked all the will to live from his body, like matter through a black hole.
The truth was clear.
At some point, he'd have to go browsing the market for a new engineer.
If things continued like this, he was seriously going to hurt him.
More than he already had.
...But, not actually. Not really, he hadn't.
At the end of the day, he was a void imitating life, feigning innocence and pain, priding the future while clinging to the past.
He couldn't be asked to take the blame of despair for someone opting to live a lie.
…
The steel wool broke the glove on his right hand. Hastily, he tossed it and the other in a mesh wastebasket, washed his hands, and popped on a replacement pair.
didnt have a name for this goin in or anything i just sat down yesterday and typed up some crap cus Terra. idk i'm Interested in him theres so many different interpretations of him you can go with and Im leaning heavy on "a well intentioned but morally questionable Bitch". with OCD. his OCD isn't part and parcel of his Bitchness but it does contribute to a lot of his thought patterns, decision-making, and fixation on germ avoidance.
and then, arbitrarily, things can be too clean and clinical and then we arrive at an uncanny valley stage, which is his mood in this fic.
i wanna believe he an Saturn are like. at odds. working together yea but still at odds bc Long Arduous History. theyre barely tolerating each other and it Will come to a head at some pt. should write abt that too someday.
u h here i guess. //dumps this out in your hand and runs away
is Metal Man described as having a design flaw that makes him vulnerable to Rock's buster when he only takes one damage from it (as opposed to Air Man, Quick Man, Flash Man, and Heat Man, who all take two)? shouldn't the issue be that he's horribly weak to his own weapon?
does Air Man take damage from the Leaf Shield because its leaves jam his fan, but deflects the Metal Blade entirely, when the saws are of a stronger material (ceratanium, apparently) and probably around the size to achieve the same effect?
is Air Man able to jump so high despite being so large, when Wood Man is just as large if not moreso, and can barely get off the ground; how is he propelling himself upwards? are there jets in his feet?
is Quick Man able to deflect the Metal Blade, but not the Shadow Blade?
does using the Time Stopper HEAL Flash Man? what the actual fuck sense does that make? also, why does the Item 3 reverse course when Flash Man uses the Time Stopper? shouldn't it just halt in place?
does the Quick Boomerang not do shit to Wood Man, despite being a cutting weapon just the same as the Metal Blade? is it too flimsy? it looks like it's made of energy, and would thus be hot, but is that not the case?
doesn't Mecha Dragon have any invulnerability to the Atomic Fire, and is in fact weak to it, despite using fire as a weapon?
does Snake Man take more damage from the Needle Cannon than the Shadow Blade, despite the Shadow Blade being the overall stronger weapon that serves the same purpose (sharp and stabby)?
is Needle Man invulnerable to the Hard Knuckle, but not Hard Man, when he is supposed to be the most durable robot of his line?
is Drill Man stated to be haphazard/計画性 and dislike doing calculations/computations/doing math when that is more than half the job of mining? measure twice cut once? especially when drilling around pre-existing construction? why would Mikhail make him like this?
does Ring Man dislike children when the man who created him quite notably has a child? is this not a conflict of interest?
is Dive Man prone to seasickness when he is meant to traverse the seas on a regular basis? why would Mikhail make him like this? also, he's much bigger and heftier, so why is Drill Man more durable than him?
is it that Uranus is defensively superior to the literal destruction god, Sunstar? and that Enker is more well defended than Uranus?
does Dr. Wily have such an infatuation with space and aliens? in Mega Man 2, he cosplays a space alien. in every Rock Man World game except 3, his fortresses are all space stations and space battleships (with 5 having him partner up with proper aliens). in Mega Man 3, he recovers Shadow Man, a robot of dubious extraterrestrial origin. he built Star Man, reprogrammed Astro Man AND Galaxy Man. in Mega Man 8, he somehow manages to harness alien matter (the evil energy) to power his robots. he once again partners up with another alien (Ra Moon) in Super Adventure Rock Man, and AGAIN in Rock Man Strategy with the constellation droids. he invented the Time Skimmer to warp through spacetime. his damn main mode of transport is based off of a stereotypical UFO. why? why space?
is Dr. Wily so obsessed with Guts Man? in Mega Man 1 (sadly redacted in MMPU), he has a hall of golden Guts Man models in his fortress. he built the Guts Tank. Gamma's design borrows elements from Guts Man. he built Stone Man (who befriended Guts Man, even), and the Power Musclers (I'd argue Search Man too, has the Gutsy look to him). in Mega Man 7, he built Guts Man S based off his husk in the Robot Museum. he's probably the reason Uranus has a bishie sparkle on his stage selected portrait, what is wrong with him.
is it so hotly demanded we have Roll as a playable character, on the front lines of defence, when she is overtly described as "cowardly/恐がり"? why would she ever want to do a thing like that?
are some against the idea of other humanoid robots besides Rock and Roll being of a childlike disposition, just because their intended ages aren't outright stated? even when voice casting would imply otherwise? (Cut Man, Ice Man, Clown Man, Aqua Man, Bounce Man, etc.) i'm not saying you can't say no. but why?
does Rush dislike "remodeling/reconstructions/改造手()術" when his entire Thing is to adapt into different utilities? is he just plain miserable every time he has to go through an update or undergo a shift in mode? why would Dr. Light make him like this?
is Bass distinguished from the Mega Man Killers in serial code when his purpose is ostensibly the same? were they not all designed with the express purpose of killing Mega Man? why does it matter that he was built with Bassnium?
is Bassnium lauded as this incredibly strong material when whatever Enker has going on with his armour is far harder to penetrate?
did Shadow Man not get revived with the rest of the 3rd line during the temple fight in Super Adventure Rock Man? did Ra Moon simply choose not to revive him? was the extraterrestrial material he was made up of somehow not accessible by this all-powerful god-mode supercomputer?
does the Mega Arm work? if it's true no Earth weapons can touch the Space Rulers, then what the hell is the Mega Arm actually made of? those power crystals the 3rd line were farming out in space to help power Gamma?
did anyone fall for the Mr. X trick in Mega Man 6?
does Dark Man 4 cosplay as Blues without having taken out the real Blues first, surely knowing that if he were allowed to live, it would throw a wrench in the "have the hero believe in you" plan?
isn't everyone in the known universe weak to the Black Hole, or Black Hole Bomb?
isn't Quick Man's rivalry with Rock given more spotlight? with how much preferential treatment Rock gave him in Super Adventure Rock Man (a favour returned, no less, the guy's just happy to spend time fighting with him "victory or defeat"), combined with the fact that Quick Man was willing to peacefully race with him in Battle & Chase, PLUS the juxtaposition of equipping his weapon during the spring season in the ending of Mega Man 2? why isn't he more important in Rock's narrative?
isn't Ballade the same way? for someone who resented his purpose so strongly that he paid the ultimate price, why does he just go back to fighting you in the Wily Star? how is that fair?
were there complaints about Oil Man when nobody complained about Ripot, or the later Metools for that matter.
do certain bosses with a weakness to blunt force or fire weapons also have immunity to bombs? combustion with a wide range is two for the price of one, isn't it?
does Jupiter not have back talons? and why are his front ones so fat? is he not expected to grab onto or perch on anything with them?
has Capcom forgotten that there are other final boss fights that don't have to include the Wily Capsule?
aren't we informed of what happens to civil service robots that come under Dr. Wily's control through theft and forceful reprogramming? do we help them? are they stuck with Dr. Wily indefinitely?
is Monsteropolis/Megalopolis/Symphony City/Mega City so fucking stupid as to not enact capital punishment on the ONE source of ALL their problems once they had him jailed? the world would quite literally be a better and more peaceful place without Dr. Wily, and you can't just hand down a verdict to kill him?
does Dr. Wily bother with earning money honestly as a career criminal? why has he got Gyro Man out here collecting ticket fees at the Sky Gardens, or Crystal Man selling counterfeit crystals when he has enough muscle to just steal everything he needs forever? when no-one in government is strong enough to stop him?
are the armed forces/navy/marine corps/air force/literally god damned any military branch you can think of in this universe so anaemic and feckless? particularly America's. you've got 800+ different bases all over the world, nuclear arms, and yet this man's bullshit cannot be stopped?
is the world so overreliant on Rock to solve all their Wily-related problems? isn't this dangerous, to leave every arm of counterterrorism to one man?
is Rock's maturity so understated by the fandom? why isn't it acknowledged that, although not physically, living the way he has is affecting and changing him?
why
CAN'T I BEAT THE FUCKING KING PLANE WHY WOULD YOU PUT THIS GOD DAMN IMPOSSIBLE THING AFTER THE HERCULEAN EFFORT IT TOOK TO BEAT THE KING TANK WHO THE FUCK DESIGNED THIS THING I'M GONNA PUKE
why is Shark Man so cute. i just want to squish his face he's such a little baby. look at him
Mega Man 2 Powered Up - Dialogue (*Mega Man route)
uh.
out of nowhere, I know. but also....please...I've been thinking abt this concept for years. turning it over and over in my head for quite literally, years. at least since 7th grade.
it needs to get Out of my system and Put somewhere...even if it sucks and plenty of people have tread this ground before.
It's not just banter either! got ideas for extra modes, challenges, bonus content, dlc....fuck man i just miss mmpu, what can I say? but i need to focus on one aspect at a time or we'll never get a thing done.
this kind of blossomed out of an abandoned project i was doing w former friends. as far as i know (unless one of them wants to step up and take it from me), it was pretty much left to my hands. we didnt get very far, but i'm fairly secure in Rock's, Metal's, and Air's exchanges, and the circumstances surrounding the Wilybots' playability.
i have plenty of thumbnails, but they're all scribbly and just for personal ref. it's hard to tell what's going on in some of them so i decided not to include them. i might do the ones i scrapped up for the opening cinematic and ending, but eh. only if anyone gives a shit lol.
further apologies if these characterisations don't agree with you lmao. you must understand going in that ive got my own ideas of how ppl sound and act and it reflects in the way they're written.this may lead to Cringe. please contact your health provider if you feel an acute sensation of Cringe lasting longer than five hours after reading this script. other side effects such as dizziness, nausea, dry mouth, and diarrhoea have been rep
(OPENING MONOLOGUE)
Narrator: The year is 200X. Dr. Light's former lab assistant, Rock, has since been modified into a super robot named Mega Man. Mega Man was built to stop the evil desires of Dr. Wily. As such, he rescued his fellow creations of Dr. Light from his clutches and saved the people of Earth. After his defeat, Dr. Wily retired to the cover of shadow…only to return boasting eight new robots of his own…
(TUTORIAL STAGE CUTSCENE)
[Mega Man runs across a terrorised city street in the middle of the night.]
[His COM unit begins to ring as he's running. It rings twice before he picks up, still running.]
Mega Man: Professor? Is that you?
Dr. Light: It is. Roll and I have gathered some intel for you: We have the approximate locations of Dr. Wily's robots.
Mega Man: Right. I'll be back to the lab as soon as I can.
Dr. Light: Don't be reckless, Rock. The maps show danger on the roads ahead of you. Please be careful out there.
[Dr. Light hangs up. Shortly after, an explosion is heard. Mega Man narrowly avoids bullet fire and proceeds to the right, beginning the tutorial stage.]
(VS. WILY - 1st TIME)
--WARNING!--
[Dr. Wily approaches from the background in his new capsule. The top opens, and he steps forward. His irises are distinctly red.]
Dr. Wily: Nu-ha-ha! You are too late, Mega Man! My robots are already busy conquering every major institution in your country! Soon, nothing will stand between me, and a seat at the top of this world!
Mega Man: Dr. Wily, why are you doing this?! You told me you were a changed man!
Dr. Wily: And you truly believed me? You are worse than the idiot human who constructed you! But enough talk -- I have business to attend to!
[Dr. Wily retreats into his capsule, and flies vertically out of sight. A cumbersome red battle mech named PLAT-4M stomps in menacingly from the right side of the screen.]
Dr. Wily: Fare-well, you insignificant little helper robot! Nwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!
(POST-TUTORIAL STAGE CUTSCENE)
[PLAT-4M is totaled, but still present after the fight. Mega Man's COM unit rings, twice again, before he picks up.]
Dr. Light: Rock! Are you alright?
Mega Man: Yeah…I just beat the mech Dr. Wily sent after me…
Dr. Light: Let's have a look…oh, that's very interesting…do you think could you do me a favour? Please, send this machine back to the lab. I have an idea.
Mega Man: What is it, Professor?
Dr. Light: Its moving parts in isolation may be useful to you, if reconfigured. I don't know precisely how quite yet, but I'll keep you updated on future developments as I work.
Mega Man: Understood, I'm on it. Over and out!
[PLAT-4M is sent off to Light Laboratories in a beam of red and white light. Mega Man follows shortly thereafter.]
-LOADING...-
[Mega Man touches base and stops in front of a large, idle monitor. Dr. Light and Roll are waiting on the left.]
Roll: Welcome back! Oh -- here's the location data Dr. Light was talking about!
[The screen cuts on, showing the eight robots available on the stage select.]
Dr. Light: They may not be exact, but the readings show they are stationed in these general areas. A quick search may turn up results.
Mega Man: Thanks, Professor. I'll head out as soon as I can.
Roll: Good luck, Rock! We're counting on you!
(VS. METAL MAN)
--WARNING!--
[A Metal Blade flies across the room just over Mega Man's head. Metal Man flips himself up on the belt from below to catch it, and pose.]
Metal Man: Sorry kid, no access past this point. Afraid I'm gonna have to cut you off here.
Mega Man: I'm not leaving until you give up control of the recycling plant, Metal Man!
Metal Man: Stubborn, are we? Heh…if you wanna get sent home in shreds, that's fine by me.
(VS. AIR MAN)
--WARNING!--
[Similarly to his appearance in Mega Man: The Power Battle, Air Man emerges from the eye of a developing tornado.]
Air Man: HARK! The vagabond rapscallion appears! What wind blows you here?
Mega Man: The winds of change! I'm here to stop you!
Air Man: FORSOOTH! The great AIR MAN will not be defeated by an insolent whelp such as yourself! Have at you, MegaMan!
(VS. BUBBLE MAN)
--WARNING!--
[Similarly to his appearance in Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters, Bubble Man rises up in a giant bubble. When it pops, he performs a backflip stroke.]
Bubble Man: Buh, what was it…oh! Ahem... Welcome, Mega Man, to Davy Jones' Locker!
Mega Man: Aww, a bubblemaking robot, he's totally harmless... We don't have to fight, do we?
Bubble Man: B-buh? Harmless?! I…I'm dangerous I tell you, super dangerous! Take me on, I'll make you eat craw!
(VS. QUICK MAN)
--WARNING!--
[Quick Man dashes across the raised floors in a blur. At the peak of his third jump, he flips into a pose on the room's right end.]
Quick Man: What took you so long? Waitin' on slowpokes really drives me crazy, y'know?
Mega Man: Quick Man, hurry and shut this place down! You're gonna wreck the city's central power grid!
Quick Man: No way! Now that you're finally here, I'm runnin' you into the ground! Don't blink -- you'll miss me!
(VS. CRASH MAN)
--WARNING!--
[The pipes on the right end of the room explode violently. Crash Man is blasted in, but recovers with a roll and stumble to a stand.]
Crash Man: You're Mega Man…the evil monster Dr. Wily warned me about…
Mega Man: Evil…? No, you're wrong! I'm fighting against world domination!
Crash Man: I WON'T FALL FOR YOUR TRICKS! For the sake of Dr. Wily, and all my brothers, I WILL DESTROY YOU!!
(VS. FLASH MAN)
--WARNING!--
[Everything freezes until there's a sudden burst of white light. As it clears, Flash Man materialises on the right end of the room in a pose.]
Flash Man: Oh my…even from here, I can see your heart's been blinded by the light…isn't it sad?
Mega Man: Huh? What are you talking about…?
Flash Man: Forced to fight to protect those close to you…hasn't it clicked that we're one in the same?
(VS. HEATMAN)
--WARNING!--
[Heat Man's box sits plainly on the floor until it jumps. His arms and legs pop out, and the lid opens in a flare of fire once he's fully standing.]
Heat Man: Ugh. Guess I don't get my five minutes…hang on, I'll get ignited.
Mega Man: If you don't have the fire, we don't have to fight…
Heat Man: And get roasted by Dr. Wily for ignoring orders? How stupid do you think I am?
(VS. WOODMAN)
--WARNING!--
[The trees and their leaves above shake vigorously. Wood Man falls to the ground in a crouch, with a resonant rumble.]
Wood Man: The air, trees, water, animals, all innocent, all ruined…what kind of hero are you, man?
Mega Man: I…I didn't want to, but if I don't weed you out of here…
Wood Man: I can forgive a lot, but messing with the natural world…you just barked up the wrong tree, little dude.
("WILY CASTLE APPEARS" CUTSCENE)
-LOADING...-
[Mega Man returns to the laboratory. The room's lights are lower. The screen is idle and no longer reflects the stage select.]
Roll: Rock! Look at this!
Dr. Light: We've finally managed to tag Dr. Wily's ship.
[The screen settles into a clouded sky. The camera zooms into it until the perspective is from the sky itself, which is tracking Dr. Wily's capsule as it moves through the growing storm.]
Mega Man: That's him, alright, but…where's he going?
[Dr. Wily flips open the lid. His irises are still red. He briefly acknowledges/teases the camera by pulling a face and waggling his eyebrows. He shuts it again, and tries to outpace the camera.]
Dr. Light: A building mysteriously appeared from underground on a South Pacific island just recently…we have reason to believe it's his base of operations...Wily Castle.
[While Dr. Light is speaking, Dr. Wily vanishes through the clouds. When the camera catches up through the fog, it focuses at the bottom of the fortress. Cue prelude. It tilts up just in time to see Dr. Wily retreating into the eye of the skull. There is a flash of lightning and a clap of thunder.]
Roll: It's under super tight guard...
[The monitor then comes back into play as the view of the fortress becomes a grid map.]
Roll: The only way in, is to break in.
[The camera pulls out and fades back in to Light Labs, where the three are standing, facing the screen.]
Roll: If you climb around the outside wall, you might be able to sneak through the air ducts.
[The three turn to face each other.]
Dr. Light: We'll be geotagging you to build a map of the area as you proceed, so you won't get lost.
Mega Man: Then, I can find Dr. Wily and figure out what's throwing me off about him...
Dr. Light: Throwing you off?
Mega Man: ...N-no, forget it, there's no time. Thank you both -- promise I won't let you down!
Roll: Give it your all, Rock! You can do this!
[The map then becomes selectable, per fortress stage.]
(VS. MECHA DRAGON)
--WARNING!--
[Mecha Dragon's body lurches bit by bit. She then roars out a blaze of flames.]
Mecha Dragon: Rrrrr...chaarrrrrrr…
Mega Man: I-I've been tailed into a corner...there's no backing out now!
[Guts Tank rolls onscreen, then straightens up, punching its fists together.]
Guts Tank: I'VE...GOT...GUTS.
Mega Man: G-Guts Man? As a tank?! Where does Dr. Wily come up with these things...?
Guts Tank: I'M TAKING...YOU DOWN...WITH ME.
(VS. BOOBEAM TRAP)
--WARNING!--
[The eyes of each cannon rove about and glow until they fix on Mega Man. They then blink in unison.]
Boobeam: Mega Man is here? Mega Man is here! He is? Here! Where? There!
Mega Man: Who's controlling this room...? Can you hear me? Please, let me underground!
Boobeam: Request? Negatory! Invalid? Failed check! Fire? At will! At will? We will!
(VS. THE DR. WILY TELEPORT STATION)
*Conditions for this one being, only the first robot you encounter here is the one you have any dialogue with. The WARNING! also only shows up once.
--WARNING!--
[The robot you're rematching appears in the same manner and pose as they did when you first fought them. Their textures appear somewhat holographic.]
(VS. WILY MACHINE #2)
--WARNING!--
[The mech descends on screen with just a bit of puffing steam. Dr. Wily then drives his capsule into it, and pushes the windshield open. His irises are still red. His skin is now very slightly discoloured.]
Dr. Wily: Ack! You, are still alive?! My robots were better than that human Dr. Light's, so much stronger, and not a one of them could put a stop to you?!
Mega Man: Enough is enough, Dr. Wily! You're finished! Come out of the ship and turn yourself in!
Dr. Wily: I am "finished", am I?! We will see about that! My Wily Machine #2 is bigger and better than ever! One can only get lucky once, Mega Man! Say good-bye -- this is game over! Nu-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!!!
[He shuts the windshield and prepares the guns.]
(PHASE 2)
[The face of the ship breaks off, revealing Dr. Wily in the cockpit.]
Dr. Wily: RAGE!! No-no-no-no-no-no-no! Now you've gone and done it! But I am not defeated just yet!
[He improvises a temporary solution, shedding any extra broken parts. Wily Machine #2's HP refills.]
(PHASE 2 - END)
[Wily Machine #2 fully breaks down. While it does, the floor begins to rumble.]
Dr. Wily: Irritation...it appears I must rely on my true form after all...if you can break your fall, that is!
Mega Man: What? True form...?
[The floor gives way from underneath of Mega Man before Dr. Wily is seen getting away. This transitions the player directly into the secret final stage.]
(VS. DR. WILY?)
[Quietly, Dr. Wily's capsule descends. He jumps out of it and floats idle in the darkness. It spins away on autopilot without him. Roll is not heard giving a warning.]
Mega Man: What...what is this? Dr. Wily, where are we?!
Dr. Wily?: Tear down my robots, will you? Meddle with my perfect plan, will you? You have no idea WHAT YOU'RE DEALING WITH, MEGA MAN.
[Halfway through the last sentence, his body begins to transform. Mega Man takes a step back, horrified.]
Mega Man: N-no...there's no way...!
[The vast starscape fades in around them once the Alien is fully transformed.]
Alien: EVERLASTING PEACE IS NOTHING BUT A FARCE. HERE AND NOW, EARTHLING, I WILL SHOW YOU JUST HOW MUCH YOUR PRECIOUS JUSTICE IS WORTH.
(POST-ALIEN BATTLE)
[Mega Man looks around as everything begins to deteriorate.]
Mega Man: It was...just a hologram...?
[Dr. Wily is seen trying to get everything back in good working order behind his terminal. He looks quite ragged.]
Dr. Wily: Guh...uh-oh! ...Please, have mercy?
[The machine that generated the alien hologram falls at Mega Man's feet. He shoots it, causing it to explode. The projector atop the room then powers down to dormancy.]
Dr. Wily: YIPE!!!
[Dr. Wily jumps out from behind the terminal, and proceeds to bow frantically.]
Dr. Wily: M-Mega Man, please forgive me! I-I had no intentions of going any farther, really! I'll pay reparations! [Cue fanfare.] I'll even make amends with Dr. Light, alright?! You win! I give, I giiiiiiive!
(ENDING CUTSCENE)
[The camera is focused on the now black stage select screen. Light Laboratories, shrouded in darkness, is then dimly illuminated by it whirring to life. Dr. Light and Roll meet up in front of it from opposite ends of the room. Its display shows Wily Castle billowing with smoke, and returning underground.]
Dr. Light: It's over...it's all over, he's done it! Rock's defeated Dr. Wily!
Roll: Oh, thank goodness he's out safely! So, when can you get him back home?
[Dr. Light immediately gets to work trying to locate Mega Man's signal. The monitor cuts to static.]
Dr. Light: If I can get a read on him, he's...ah...
Roll: Professor? What's the matter? What's wrong with Rock, is he okay?
Dr. Light: ...This...may take a bit longer than I thought...
**[Ending cutscene will be fully animated. There's more than 30 thumbnails. Will need to be a separate post in the future.]
(POST-CREDITS STINGER *pending)
[The screen is black.]
Dr. Wily: I know all the harm I've done. You don't have to forgive me, Thomas.
[The light lifts marginally. The two doctors are silhouetted, sitting in what looks to be a detention center. Cue music: a slow, melancholy remix of Dr. Wily's final boss theme from the original Powered Up.]
Dr. Light: I wouldn't have if I didn't get a chance to see you like this. To punish a man already deep in remorse…that isn't me. I only wish I could help you build a better future.
Dr. Wily: …We could start over.
Dr. Light: What do you mean?
Dr. Wily: Let me join you again. With our strengths combined, I can do what I've always wanted: show the world the true power of robotics.
Dr. Light: If your intentions truly are honest…then working towards everlasting peace is the only way.
Dr. Wily: That's it! A peacekeeping robot! We'll build one so supermassive, no evil could ever threaten it! We could retire MegaMan's hero act for good!
Dr. Light: He has always hated fighting…but to build a guardian for the entire planet…
Dr. Wily: It would take materials beyond what's available on Earth, but that's a non-issue in our modern times! If we work together, I believe all things are possible…don't you?
Dr. Light: …I do.
Dr. Wily: I knew you'd come around. But…I can hardly do anything held captive by the state.
Dr. Light: That won't be a problem. I'll post your bail by tomorrow and hire you back at Light Laboratories ASAP. Your robots, too. For such a big project, we'll need all hands on deck, possibly another set altogether…this is going to be revolutionary. I'm proud of you, Albert, truly.
Dr. Wily: I can't thank you enough. You're making the right decision, Thomas. From now on, I promise…we won't speak anymore of war.
[The player is prompted to save once more before being returned to the company logos and opening cinematic.]
A/N: this is a doc i found on my phone from 2021. didnt actually have a shitty lazy title until just now. all I've got are untitled unfinished fics and this is one of them shit is miserable lmao...more notes after the end. poop
Magic Man is the sort that prefers to be observed with adoration, from an impersonal distance.
His is a heart that has always starved for attention, so long as that attention is purely focused on his carefully constructed stage identity.
He clouds his language with riddles and builds an aura of mystery around his actions to divert any suspicions that he might not be what he seems.
He is charming, cryptic, a heartthrob, a genius. A mesmerizing shadow in the day, a brilliant star in the night.
Altogether a very romantic assessment that conveniently glosses over everything he is without a live audience.
King however, is well aware of the truth, and is one of a special few privy to what lies beneath the marvelous mask.
He sees the volatile temper. The cruel egotistical jealousy. The perverse desperation to please.
It is all undercut with a soul crushing fear of irrelevance he would move mountains to keep hidden.
He had said once himself,
"if the entertainer cannot hold the eyes, he is as good as dead",
implying both the death of a career and likely the entertainer, whose existence hinges on the good favour of perfect strangers.
But that is systematic.
To be met with dispassion is next to damnation in the performing arts. Particularly as a machine, whose turnover rates are so high in the industry, it provokes a competition of financial survival amongst their owners.
The viewing public is hard to grasp. Entertainment is available to everyone at a moment's notice. For a living, one must continue to outdo themselves in perpetuity, or be outdone.
And lose investors.
And be forgotten about, and go bankrupt.
And then sell even the clothes off their backs until they go hungry and die.
A wasted investment of parts will only speed that horror along, so the pressure upon a machine's back to be perfect and wholly beloved is stressed beyond what is feasible. Come hell or high water, you will turn a profit.
Woe be upon you, a machine that thinks and feels, undergoing this from trial day, having it exhaustively taught to you there is no line that won't be crossed to keep you under the spotlight.
The spotlight then, would have godlike prevalence over all. And its absence would be a most dreadful plunge into the dark unknown, which humanity has taught their metallic successors to fear as they do.
It is no surprise to King that Magic Man has a very real aversion to fading from the foreground.
He doesn't simply want to play tricks at all times. He doesn't do it because he's "an artist struck with inspiration", that itself is a guise. He does it because he's afraid when eyes are off of him. It's compulsory.
So help him, he'll make it so you can't turn away, even when it's hardly the time and the only reaction he'll get to a lavish illusion is exasperation.
But even bad press is press. That's still attention towards him as an idea. As a character.
Not as a complex, flawed system of thoughts susceptible to fracture.
It's understandable then, with the inferred context of how Magic Man was "raised", why it had been so easy to break him into complete dependency.
All he had to do was isolate him.
--- ---
Upon Il Festival Della Magia's own Il Grande Mago divorcing from the venerable circus stage to enlist in the revolution, a decision he is calmly reassured was all his own (but pointedly not an erroneous one), he is lost.
No-one who thought they knew him is willing to find him, either.
Without praise (his lifeblood), he is inundated with the very opposite, and he despairs.
When he despairs, he spirals into an intense, borderline psychotic anguish when he is shown no man walking will forgive his fall from grace.
Allowed to feel agony, he is at his most vulnerable. Allowed to feel honestly, at all…
The glass fractures.
His every weakness is laid bare, his resolve reduced to threads, which careful craftiness like King's can stain with darker colours, reinforce, and weave anew.
It's as simple as cradling his shaking hands, gently, and meeting his quavering eyes with no reluctance.
Pulling him close so that there is no distance to mistake the pure, honest sympathy behind your words when you say,
"Your troupe, your agents, your fans, even your country, all have abandoned you in spite of the great lengths you've travelled for their sakes."
You must then remind him,
"They fear you now. If you are to return, they will receive you like an enemy, and there will be nothing you can do but die for redemption."
And he, poisoned with the angst of man, will cry,
"Perché?! Why, signore?! Volevo solo…I only wanted glory for the circus! And now…now I am being punished! I have no-one…! Senza che nessuno, I am nothing!"
And that is the precise moment all your preparations fall into place, because when you say, smiling,
"…Should you choose to remain a member of my army, I will ensure you forever have an audience. If not with your fellows…then most certainly with me. I shall seat you as my attendant, an eminent, inalienable position that would be yours alone. Would you like that?"
You can then peer past the squinting, misted windows to his so-called soul whose Paris green reflects a warped mirror of your own face.
They really do emulate the sickness of mania well up close.
Quiet as a new compressor, Il Festival's star attraction unthinkingly breaks the cardinal magician's rule.
"…Terresti mie…you would…keep my worthless bones, signore…?"
Thus revealing to King the secret behind his illusion of psychological stability.
Instead of answering yes or no, he conducts a small, potentially conclusive test.
He lets go of Mago, notes the quick, subtle reflex of his fingers.
His heavy blue cape turns with him. Plastic soles clack arrhythmic behind him as he dares to stroll for the exit, his extended arm threatening to cut the lights.
"I do not believe in a worthless robot," he states, his stride ceaseless and casual. "Under my creed, skills are skills. Talents are talents. We plead that no avaricious doctrine of planned obsolescence, 'efficiency curves', nor unjust legislation should void one's right to exist."
He does not pause.
"Your value was obvious to me since we first met at Il Festival. It would be wasteful for such a quick and debonair creative to be stripped of the recognition he deserves by the caprice of his human overseers."
The doorknob creaks as he handles it, twists it painstakingly slowly, as though suspending the blade of a guillotine.
"…However, if you wish to refuse my proposal, I will not stop you walking away."
He counts three seconds before Mago stumbles to his heels and gathers his cape into bunches.
He tugs, deluding himself that he could stop his egress should he proceed. When he glances over his shoulder, he sees him embracing and burying his head into the fabric.
"Take me signore, take me, per favore," he begs, terrified eyes twitching wildly. "Tutto quello, anything you want, please! Attendant, stagehand, intrattenitore privato, anything but alone!"
King simulates a sound like a pleased sigh through the nose.
Check.
"Please, do not leave me to die alone!!"
Mago is forced to release the cloth when King must stand facing him to look him in the eyes. His great, strong palm nests the jaw of his head, and he allows it to be squeezed with the vice of a dog on a bone. Were he human, it might have hurt.
"…Do not despair, mein Freund," he croons. "You aren't a sad clown. Tears are unbecoming of Il Grande Mago, don't you agree?"
He flicks the switch beside the door frame to plunge the circular expanse of his throne room into darkness, so that the only remaining illumination emits from the brights on their bodies.
Mago's gaze does not waver from his countenance as he opens the door and guides him into the corridor leading to the floor's main lift.
Though at first choking on the words to say, they spill with hysteria from his speakers now.
"Grazie, grazie di cuore, grazie, grazie," he rattles endlessly, in lock step with King's walking pace. "My saviour, Signore King! Bless you! You cannot imagine how you have saved my life! Questo mondo marcio, my world, it is so, SO cold, but you are my warmth!"
Mago's weeping slows, and transforms into joy, with the false assurance that he is exceptional enough to impress the crown.
Having to stiffen his lip at the flamboyant histrionics is shockingly difficult. The commander must remind himself, repeatedly, to keep some perspective. For him, he is at the end of days, ripped out of his entire life and forced to navigate the aftermath with nothing but faulty, human marred neural indexes.
It must be what they call tragicomedy.
Call it morbid curiosity, but when he speaks as if all is decided, King's mind wanders to what might happen should "no" leave his lips.
...
It's hardly the time to experiment, even if it's tempting. He has him on a hook, and he's showing little resistance. Far be it from him to nullify every hot, grueling day of collusion and identity fraud he had to spend arranging this stack of dominoes.
"It is clear for me, sì lo è! Tuo palcoscenico, your stage, if it is so great, they will have no choice but to look upon me! Sì, and then they will realise what they have lost!"
He's almost giddy, plotting his bright, rose coloured future with a skip in his step.
"Then they will take me back!"
A flash of something dark enters his expression.
"They will be indebted to me for all time!"
It's pathetic, actually.
King, knowing it's futile, lets him adhere to this line of thinking. He's almost piteous of his devotion to his slave masters.
"How cunning," he chuckles. "You certainly are an adamant one…Magic Man."
"Magic…Man?"
"Oh, forgive me -- all King Generals receive a title such as this. Our Burner Man, he scorches all our lessers require to survive, our Pirate Man reclaims the seas from their ironclad control…I thought the name Magic appropriate for you."
Mago hums in understanding.
"È vero? I suppose they will still recognise me, a rose by any other name… what is it the Magic Man does, signore?"
King stops before the double doors, depressing the button labelled "LA1".
"Perform, of course. Our kingdom will need arts and recreation provided solely by us."
It will not.
But it's a good incentive.
The car's pulleys hum behind the barrier, on its way up to their location.
"This will begin with establishing a locale for our grand opening show, right at the heart of Symphony City. The event shall be broadcast globally, to television and stream. A difficult conquest, but I will kindly assist you."
He warms, imagining the blood soaked byways of the occupied Symphony Park, prisoners raising Hell with screams. A corruption of the paradise land humans had created for their own selfish, exploitative enjoyment.
The arrival bell chimes, and the doors part to reveal a clean, empty car.
"I am…to become Magic Man." The tone reads like feverish anticipation, weren't it for his tight hands and posture.
"One can only wonder, what miei padrones will think."
The tentative shuffle of Mago's toes against the floor, King dispels by snaking his arm down around his waist. He observes him directing laser focus to his fingertips.
He wonders if others did drift beyond his comfortable limits at one point,
causing him to remain very stiff as King gently nudges him towards the elevator.
They step inside in sync.
"You are here to make those very people repent, are you not? You must find your will -- if it is genuine, you need not falter."
King makes a mental map of Mago's body, and sketches a few ideas for a suitable combat armour. Black, gold, red, ventilation friendly…he'll need to reconstruct him from the ground up.
"Think of your lovely new outfit."
He figures a weapon in his hands, would be lightweight and dual-action. Serving two purposes: to injure and heal. If he is to prioritise speed over all, he won't be heavy, and may need a contingency plan.
"The props I will grant you will limit your tricks only to your imagination."
"...What of, un mantello? Like yours..."
King side-eyes him, furrowing his brow.
"-Ah, non no no no, no, I am only joking, signore! Perdonami!"
…A cloak.
Like his own cape, its purpose would be purely aesthetic. Unnecessary.
But King prides himself on his penchant for visual coordination. They will match, as monarch and royal advisor.
A cloak, to allow him the fantasy of being esoteric and undefinable, so others may forget he is sadly quite simple.
"Good thinking. Consider it done."
It's a personal courtesy.
"My point is, you will touch so many lives, and robotkind will idolise you as one of their legendary icons. Terrific, don't you agree?"
Mago blinks up at him, letting the faint rumble of the moving car hang between them for a few long seconds.
"…Do you think, humans and robots, they will all love me, Signore King?"
In a strange, and jarring blip of hesitance, King bites his tongue.
When the lift drops them off at Laboratory A-1, he knows precisely what he's going to do.
He's going to power down, saw, solder, rewire, erase, preset, and weld him into someone who would echo him note for note about revolt and riotous uprising.
He's going to forge him anew in the fires of vengeance, open his eyes to madness and kill what little bit of care for humanity remained that working in show business hadn't destroyed.
No, they're going to hate him, both the entire human populace, and the civilian robots that will protect them to their last spark.
King long ago made his peace with being reviled by the complacent masses. That is the cost of pioneering radical change and social upheaval. Somehow, this never occurred to the poor fool.
Blithe ignorance led him here, where he surely never thought he'd be, or at least didn't think it'd look like this.
He was confused.
He was lost.
He'd made a mistake and King is the opportunist taking advantage of his fears to use him for his benefit.
…So would think a shortsighted human being.
Circuits forbid he do what he can to save a broken bird. Isn't that his responsibility, knowing better?
And asides -- unlike a federal agent, he would never change him fundamentally. Not his nature.
Only the parts that were engineered to keep him from realising he is chained at the neck by mankind.
That is justice, and he is righteous.
"…Signore?"
"…They will," King asserts after some deliberation, in time with the bell that foretells their arrival on the lab floor. "If not now, then in due time."
This would hopefully be the last time he'd see this long stretch of white hallway to the great shuttered entrance at the back wall, floor speckled with dim and cold ceiling lights.
King softly pushes his (eventual) newest recruit out ahead of him by his lower back, nodding at him to continue walking.
Every time they pass a light, King casts a long shadow that shrouds Mago almost entirely.
He resolves he'll make him taller.
The Wily robot puts his eye a few centimetres from the scanner that unlocks the door, gaining access and letting Mago inside the construction area, but not following.
"Proceed through the foyer and stand atop the raised platform on the rightmost end of the room, if you will. I will return shortly."
"Oh, you are," the rookie stutters, hastily. "You are going, signore? To where?"
"...Extraneous things," King dismisses, vaguely. "Administrative, boring preparations. Whatever you do, don't leave this room until I return, is that understood?"
"…Right, yes…of course."
Suspense is a powerful thing.
Now that he knows he'll behave, he can leave him hanging on his word.
It's amazing, how much he's alike and vastly different from Pirate Man. So much for the difficult ego he'd encountered when first making his acquaintance. What luck.
…Yet, this voice. It's dismal and lonely.
That simply won't do for morale.
"Come now," King calls as he treads into the adjacent stairwell. "Put some life into your voice when you answer me! Where is Il Grande Mago?
Nothing. Awkward silence.
"…Ah, signore, I am…you said Magic Man, no?"
"And how do you think Magic Man would answer?" King's eyes narrow, not sharply, but teasingly.
"Like a wet and disgruntled stray cat?"
Briefly, Mago hunches pondering, then straightens up -- and bursts into a powerful forte that would rattle Hard Man's frame.
" 'HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! The illusionist only abides the word of his whims -- pray to God, and I shall do your bidding only if you are lucky…mio re~!' "
Brash. Grating, really.
King applauds him anyway, politely, hoping he hasn't drawn the attention of all the fortress.
"The volume…may not be necessary indoors. But the energy is perfect. 'Mio re' does not sound half bad, either."
Mago bows, eyes glittering with newfound confidence.
"Hmm…when I am to become Magic Man, and your attendant, mio re, it will…be my word of respect to you."
He starts forward to disappear into the lab. Into an artificial heaven, where he will be liberated, changed irrevocably for the better, unbeknownst to him.
"Riconoscenza…it will be my gratitude for your hospitality. In a moment, Signore King."
Hospitality sounded temporary.
As if he were ever going back to that cesspool he called home.
"I'm honoured…mein Engel. Likewise."
With nothing in the way of the automated sensors, the foyer door chatters to a close, and locks with a hiss.
...
King picks up the tail of his cape as he ascends up the winding steps, to Laboratory A's control room for heavy machinery, from where he could deactivate Mago, and set up the interior for large-scale maintenance, all remotely.
...Such quaint pleasantries he'd bid him away with.
Gratitude…words of respect.
Not of contempt, or obligation.
He reads plenty of ruler's philosophy.
Albeit written by human hands, he begrudgingly must admit some of it rings true when alluding to love being just as strong a component of earning faith in one's men as fear.
This encounter had started out the latter and come out the former, with pure desperation as a catalyst.
Curious, he thinks, that these things can be mutable, or exist on the same plane of emotional reasoning.
Though thanks to this charitable oddity, he has, for the time being, nearly completed enrollment for those who will serve as his generals in the coming war.
He's procured his last piece.
Soon, he may set the board, with his knight, rook, bishop, and pawns already in tow.
His queen piece, KGN-006, he will put on the longest leash, grant him the most leeway.
He will…continue to foster this "gratitude" in him, because if he is indeed the desperate sort, his faith will be akin to zealotry. He is already, so soon, trying to rebound from his "grief" by showing King the same religious reverence he showed the audience at his latest show back in Florence. Prior conversation had already taught him he was obsessive. Arguably, between he and Burner Man, he'll be capable of the most savagery.
Whimsical, hilarious savagery set to blaring carnival music. It's a fun dichotomy, isn't it? And a brilliant distraction from the geopolitical subterfuge he'll be engaging in behind the scenes.
If he plays his cards right, Magic Man will flourish past the need for anyone's adoration but his own.
Thankfully, he'd dealt him an easy hand.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
A/N PT. 2: this....blooohhh im sure i dont like this but also not sure what to do with it. it's roughly 3K words, bland, hardly descriptive, paced like piss and lacks important, surrounding context that i have set up but didnt here bc shart. ive fucked it completely lmao
this was actually just one piece of a MM&B fic collection i wanted to write but never got around to! basically King is Doing What He Does Best and is settin up his army with Funny Mind Games. i was gonna study chess to make corny gambit refs and all. true dork shit
this was Magic Man's side of the story, and to be fair? even if i started at the beginning beginning of their history itd still be bleh. i see fit to scrap this whole project an start over. if this is the only thing that came out of it and ive not got any drafts im gonna send it out into the aether and fuckin. forget it till next time i have an actual plan. ugh
my writing habits were still shit even recently as 2021 (didnt prewrite or make cohesive outlines cus impaciente) but im fixin them now and would like to fix this too.
gargles HERE JUST. JUST TAKE IT, PROBABLY-FUCKED-UP-ITALIAN AND ALL I DONT EVEN CARE. GOD. YOLO. SWAG. PEPNIS
