[Coda]

SUBJECT: Experiment Log: DWN-012
AUTHOR: Dr. Albert Wily
DATE: May 20, 20XX
FORMAT: Holovid + Telemetry with attachments

After running the gauntlet of death traps that had been emplaced along the route to get there, Mega Man seems justifiably more cautious than usual as he enters Quick Man's chamber. The sides of the room are lined with parts salvaged from destroyed robots, sorted out into neatly organized groups based on the type and condition of the parts.

Quick Man himself is rushing around the room, checking on each piece of his collection in turn. He suddenly skids to a halt and turns to face the entrance. "There you are! I've been waiting for you!"

Switching to the Leaf Shield and hastily erecting one, Mega Man takes a defensive posture. "Waiting for me?"

"Yes! I can't wait to add you to my collection!" The Robot Master suddenly springs back into action, leaping into the air and hurling a spread of Quick Boomerangs. Most of them fly wide, but one bounces off of the Leaf Shield. Mega Man counters by throwing the shield back at his attacker, but Quick Man effortlessly pivots around the swirling metal plates.

The Robot Master deftly scoops up the deflected boomerang, but that motion is a distraction, and the other boomerangs that had missed take that moment to change course, converging on the now-undefended Mega Man. The collisions smash into his armor, leaving deep dents in the plating, and Mega Man raises another Leaf Shield in anticipation of a follow-up attack.

Quick Man isn't fooled. He leaps around the room, occasionally pausing to try to bait his opponent into throwing an attack, but he never throws an attack of his own as long as Mega Man is turtling behind a shield. He taunts the hero, "I want that shield! I'll take it from you!"

Mega Man realizes that he's in a stalemate -- he's not going to be able to land a hit with the comparatively slow Leaf Shield, but he's going to get pummeled if he lowers his guard.

Finally, the hero decides on a strategy.

"You can have it!" Mega Man throws the shield at Quick Man, who predictably weaves around it. But as soon as he lets it fly, he switches back to his Mega Buster and opens fire, strafing to make a wide spray to try to catch Quick Man, no matter which way he slips.

Sure enough, he manages to land a hit, which makes the Robot Master scowl -- more in annoyance than pain. Quick Man jumps into the air to avoid the rest of the shots. He doesn't seem to notice the faint orange light shining from the new hole in his armor; he just jeers, "I guess the new addition to the trophy room is going to have authentic battle damage!" before he rains down another flurry of Quick Boomerangs.

Mega Man keeps moving, ducking aside from the initial shots, but right when the boomerangs redirect, he turns green and white again in order to erect a Leaf Shield at the last second. The incoming attacks are all successfully intercepted, but Mega Man doesn't let up. He throws the shield at Quick Man as soon as he blocks the last boomerang and again chases it with as many blasts from his arm cannon as possible.

For as fast as he is, Quick Man's reaction time doesn't seem to keep up with his velocity. The follow-up attacks strain his ability to track all of the projectiles, and as Mega Man scores more hits the Robot Master's extremely lightweight armor is looking visibly worse for wear.

"This isn't what I wanted!" Quick Man laments, "I wanted to win!" As the Robot Master sustains damage, he loses maneuverability. and Mega Man doesn't let up on the assault, scoring further hits.

"You took what I wanted from me!" Quick Man tries to counterattack, but Mega Man has seen enough now, and he uses a Leaf Shield as a distraction to make Quick Man turn around. When the boomerangs loop back, Mega Man has positioned himself with Quick Man in the way, and Dr. Wily's creation falls to his own weapon.


SUBJECT: Re: Experiment Log - DWN-012
AUTHOR: Dr. Albert Wily
DATE: May 20, 20XX
FORMAT: Plain Text

Note to self: Critical mobility systems must be reinforced when using ultra-lightweight chassis design.

I find these results to be disappointing. Since I was able to manipulate the orange energy myself, I expected the evolved algorithm to exhibit a greater amount of control over it. I will need to perform more offline research to find the source of the problem. That said, DWN-012's behavior may provide some hints about what the algorithm discovered.

The Quick Boomerang needs some refinement. It was overall very successful but its targeting algorithm needs to take collateral damage into account. According to the telemetry its energy consumption was as low as predicted.

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Word Count: 824
Total Words: 11276

I went for DAYS without getting anything written. x.x Trying to find my momentum again. I'm not happy with this, but it's better than nothing.