MegaTale (Pacifist) Part 12- Arctic Jungle

Soon, Rock and Rhythm spots yet ANOTHER post. They already seen both Beta's AND MegaBoy's, so Rock has no idea who's post this could be. Suddenly, a strange-looking robot jumps in front of them from the trees. The armor looks identical to Copyie, who they saw earlier, but instead of full-out dark greys and some whites, the dark greys are replaced with black and red. The robot also had on what seems to be a black mask with a red bandanna, sporting the letters "RG". "That's Ninja Man, one of the Royal Guard!" Rhythm states. "HUMAN!" Ninja Man exclaims. "No longer will I be second-in-rank to that blade-wielding 'Captain'! I shall kill you and take your SOUL to MegaBossMan MYSELF!" Suddenly, a FIGHT starts.

"This is bad." Rhythm states. "If the Royal Guard is aware that you're around the area, then they're gonna hunt us down for sure! Don't worry, though, I know how to work around them..." Rock nods, and prepares to act. "Ninja Man has always wanted to prove his strength in order to become captain of the guard..." Rhythm continues. "...Maybe if we could convince him that power isn't the ONLY way to prove yourself. Be careful, though, he has a special kind of attack... All you need to know is that if you see an attack that's orange... Move through it, and don't stop until you don't see any more of them." Rock was confused on this concept, but nods.

Rock tried to think of something to say to Ninja Man. Soon, he figures it out. "Hey, it takes more than just raw power to be a leader, you know." Ninja Man becomes reluctant from hearing this, but gets back into a fighting position. "Hmph. I don't take advice from a little kid." Ninja Man states. "Just stand still and DIE!" Ninja Man then pulls out a laser-like katana with an orange glow. *This must be the attack Rhythm was talking about...* Rock thought to himself. Ninja Man slashes at Rock, as Rock decides to move through the attack without stopping, as Rhythm stated. Surely enough, it worked! "Skill and courage is another way to prove yourself." Rock continues. "And you seem to have plenty of that." "...Now you're starting to sound like Beta." Ninja states. "Listen kid, even IF there are other ways, orders are orders, and I have to follow through, no matter how much you try to convince me!" Ninja Man prepares another attack. "...Not that it matters much anyways. Once I'm done with you, I'LL be the one calling the shots!" Ninja Man slashes at Rock again, who moves through the attack once more.

"It also takes loyalty and knowledge to become a leader." Rock continues. "I'm sure if you show off all that instead of power, you'll become a GREAT leader." Ninja then stops completely. "...Heh. You know what?" Ninja says. "...You're right. Maybe I should try other methods of proving myself." Rock takes this opportunity to press the Mercy button. "Thanks for opening my eyes, kid." Ninja continues. "But as I said, I have my orders. Surely we will meet as enemies again sooner or later." Ninja then disappears into the trees. "...And when we do, we'll be ready." Rhythm says in response. Rock nods in agreement, and continues forward.

Soon, Rock meets up with Beta again. "Oh, hey, it's you." Beta states. "Listen, there's something you should try and remember. There are two kinds of special attacks. If you see an orange attack, move through it." *And you didn't tell me this earlier, because...?* Rock thought. "But, if you see a blue attack," Beta continues, "stay absolutely still. Think of it like this: When driving, there are these streetlights, right? And when you see a green light, it means go. But if you see a red light, it means stop. You get what I'm sayin'? Just think of Orange Attacks like Green Lights, and Blue Attacks like Red Lights." Rock actually found this to be pretty helpful. He thanks Beta and continues on.

Suddenly, Rock starts sliding on the ground. He looks down and notices that he is on ice. "Yep, that's some slippery ice, alright." Rhythm states. "Once you step on it, you move forwards without stopping until you touch land. I suggest being careful, there's a lot more of it around here." Rock nods, and heads upwards. Rock then encounters what seems to be a snowman. "Greetings, traveler." The snowman spoke suddenly. "I am a snowman. Rather, I'm a robot who's core and I.C. chip got placed in this body as an act of a joke. However, as you probably can tell, I can't move. And I'd like to be able to see the world. So if you could take a piece of my snowman body and take it with you, if you please?" Rock nods and takes a piece of the snowman, then leaves to continue on his journey.

Suddenly, he spots yet ANOTHER robot. This one looks like Retro, except pinkish and has a grey mask and a equally pinkish-and-grey cape that seems to have a rip at the bottom, which is odd considering it looks new. A FIGHT starts immediately, with the pinkish robot stating nothing. "Who... Wait, I know this guy!" Rhythm states. "It's Jazz, another member of the Royal Guard! He usually holds secrets... Maybe if we could teach him that lying gets him nowhere, he'll stop attacking us. But he knows both orange AND blue attacks, so just remember what Beta told us!" Rock nods, and tries to convince Jazz to stop hiding secrets.

"...You think I'm hiding secrets from the others?" Jazz responds. "That's a laugh. The only thing I'll be hiding is your body when I send you to the Capital!" He then fires an array of blue lasers that bounce around off the floors and invisible walls (which were oddly not there before the fight started.) Rock just stands absolutely still, and it worked, just like Beta said. Rock then tells Jazz that he sounds like he is, stating that he sounds mischievous. "...Well, it's true that I haven't been talking to the others much lately..." Jazz responds. "...But that means nothing." Jazz then fires a few orange lasers like he did with the blue ones last round. Rock knew what to do with these already, and kept moving around and through them. Then he tried to convince to Jazz that it probably means something to the REST of the guard. "You don't have ANY idea what you're talking about, do you?" Jazz states. "Enough of this. Time to die." Jazz then fires a barrage of both orange AND blue lasers. The first few moments were easy to get around, but over a short period of time, it gotten a bit hectic, with Rock getting hit once with an orange laser while he was preparing to avoid a blue one.

Rock manages to survive, however, and tells Jazz that he should try to talk with the others so he wouldn't seem as if he was holding secrets. "...Perhaps you're right." Jazz responds. "Thanks, kid." Rock presses the Mercy button and ends the FIGHT. "...But don't think this is over." Jazz continues. "I'm giving you a bit of respect because you taught me something. But all I'm going to give you in return is a head start. And you better get going, because it begins NOW." Rock nods and quickly heads on his way.

Soon, he spots Beta and Mega talking again. "Beta, you're just so LAZY!" MegaBoy states. "You were napping until 12 today!" "Sorry 'bout that." Beta states. "I'll be sure to set up an alarm." "You always say that!" MegaBoy responds. Suddenly, the two spots Rock. "Ah, human, you made it!" MegaBoy states. "In order to stop you, I have set up many puzzles! ...Because before you came, I was bored, so I decided to set up puzzles for when someone like you would show up. This one will be quite the SHOCK! For you see, this is..." Before MegaBoy stated what the puzzle was, four blocks appeared on the far left (in Rock and Rhythm's perspectives) side of the path, all of them with some kind of taser thing pointing downwards. "...The Elec Block Challenge!" MegaBoy continues. "Every 3 seconds, these blocks will fire bolts of electricity at you, thus shocking you! Then, when you pass out, I will turn off the puzzle so that I may retrieve your passed-out body! Then I shall take your unconscious body to Waterfall Institute, where I will... You know what, you get the point. IN ANY CASE! Let the challenge begin!"

"Don't worry, Rock." Rhythm states. "Just keep walking forwards. If my calculations are correct, they won't even reach you. They have shorter range than you think." Rock nods and moves forwards. And surely enough, Rhythm was right! "Beta, this isn't working!" MegaBoy states. "The range is too short! I thought I told you to increase the range!" "Sorry, I'll get it done next time." Beta states. "Ugh, nevermind, they already gotten past it." MegaBoy states. "HOWEVER! You won't get the better of me next time, human! The next puzzle won't be so easy! It was actually made by my roommate, Beta! Surely you will be surprised! I know I am!" MegaBoy leaves laughing again, as Rock goes up to talk to Beta.

"Say, thanks for doing this." Beta states. "MegaBoy seems to be having fun. By the way, that outfit he's wearing? He says he's in the progress of making another one with a blue scarf instead of green. ...To be honest, though, something tells me that he'd end up looking like someone else." Rock was genuinely confused, but continues on anyways.