Author: Time for the adventure to really get underway! …Along with other shenanigans.
Bomberman and Max's ships zipped through space, departing from Planet Bomber en route to Primus Star. Inside of the white ship, Pretty Bomber gazed at the stars while Bomberman piloted the ship through.
"Space is certainly pretty," giggled Pretty Bomber.
"Yep, it sure," agreed Bomberman.
"So, this Primus Star," began Pretty Bomber, "you've been there before?"
"Yeah, I had to help rescue their kidnapped princess, Millian," recalled Bomberman. "I had some assistance from her pal, Pibot, but the first time I traveled through the planet, I had to deal with hostiles everywhere."
"That's a shame," murmured Pretty Bomber. "But, you did make it through."
"Sure did, and the second visit was much better," remembered Bomberman. "They celebrated my victory and Princess Millian…uh…"
"What about her?" ask Pretty Bomber, just a hint of annoyance on her voice.
"She was returned home, safe and sound," quickly finished Bomberman, as he tightened his grip on the steering wheel.
"Oh, how lovely," deadpanned Pretty Bomber.
The two then sat in silence for a moment, as Pretty continued to watch as the ship sailed past the stars. Bomberman scratched the wheel and glanced back at Pretty Bomber, and then returned his attention forward.
"So, uh…what have you been up to, lately?" he asked.
"Before this? Nothing special," shrugged Pretty Bomber. "In a way, I'm almost glad that this adventure started and gave me something to do." She paused for a moment, before she added, "It's just a shame that the universe has to be at risk."
"You should try traveling more," suggested Bomberman.
Pretty Bomber sighed. "The idea sounds charming, but I have no one to go with and wouldn't know where to begin."
"I could go with you, sometime," cheerfully offered Bomberman, but Pretty Bomber laughed at the notion.
"That's a sweet offer, but I wouldn't have my hopes up for a normal journey with you around," noted Pretty Bomber. "In fact, I would be impressed if we actually managed to make it a whole day without you needing to run off to save lives somewhere."
Bomberman chuckled, "You have a point there."
"Don't you ever get tired of it?" she questioned. "Playing the big hero?"
"Sometimes it can feel like a chore," admitted Bomberman. "But if I don't do it, who else would?"
"There has to be other Bombers who would offer their services," argued Pretty Bomber.
"Perhaps, but they might not be quite as qualified," countered Bomberman.
"True," relented Pretty Bomber. She sighed and shifted her attention back and forth between space and Bomberman.
Meanwhile, Max sat quietly in the front of his red and black ship, while Regulus and Nitros shifted uncomfortably in their seats in the back. They tried to keep their attention elsewhere: Max piloted, Regulus flexed his hand, and Nitros looked at the walls of Max's ship.
"So, Regulus," Nitros broke the silence. "How do you know Bomberman again?"
"Back when I was with the Masked Trio, I tried to stop him from freeing his planet and probably would have killed him," Regulus nonchalantly explained.
"O-Oh," Nitros nervously nodded.
"After that, my boss, Altair was killed by the homicidal lunatic, Sirius, and I worked with Bomberman to stop him," recalled Regulus.
"Cool," noted Nitros.
"Yeah, and then I met him later on while trying to stop the demon-pirate," remembered Regulus. "I tried to beat him up again, since I was more powerful, but ended up helping him out again." He paused and thought for a moment before he added, "Good thing he won that time; killing him might have been pretty awkward considering he was doing a much better job at saving the day than I was."
Nitros stared at Regulus's helmet obscured face. "Uh…"
"So, let me get this straight," Max piped in. "Your whole relationship with Bomberman is about trying to outdo him, kill him, but then end up working with him to stop greater evils?"
"Well, that's one way to look at it," muttered Regulus.
"Technically, I tried to kill him too," shrugged Nitros. "I was brainwashed and fought him a bunch of times while he tried to save a princess." For a quiet minute, Regulus stared at Nitros while Max momentarily glanced back.
"If you're trying to earn cool points, kid, that's not the way to do it," snapped Max as he returned his attention to following Bomberman's ship.
"Right, because heroics are always the exciting route," deadpanned Regulus.
"Actually, I was talking about the mind control," clarified Max.
"Oh. Yeah, that's not too cool," agreed Regulus as Nitros slumped down in his seat. "So, what about you, Max? Ever try to kill Bomberman?"
"Once, when I was brainwashed myself," shuddered Max. "It didn't last long, but it sucked."
"Guess that's why we're all on this ship," observed Regulus. "We must be the 'friends who tried to kill Bomberman' club."
"Two of us have excuses and I only fought him once," argued Max. "More over, Pretty also tried to kill him more than once, and she's alone with him."
"Seriously?" questioned Regulus. "Does Bomberman have any friends that don't try to kill him?" He waited a few seconds and quickly added, "Or get controlled into doing so?"
"Pommy and Ein count, I suppose, along with a good number of other folks," considered Max. "If you meant fellow Bombers, not so much."
"Huh, Bomberman leads a pretty tough life," perceived Nitros.
The other two nodded and the three fell into silence again.
After the wait, Nitros inquired, "So…Max, you usually help Bomberman with heroics?"
"Sometimes, I guess," shrugged Max. "I prefer to do things my way."
"Right, sounds like a success story," mocked Regulus. "How many times did you single handedly save the universe?"
"Hey, technically, Bomberman gets a lot of help," contended Max.
"That may be true, but I'm sure he's done more than you," laughed Regulus.
"I seriously wish I installed eject buttons," Max whispered under his breath.
"Ok, uh, Regulus," Nitros pressed on, "what do you usually do, outside of battling Bomberman?"
"Train to battle Bomberman," answered Regulus.
"…Nothing else?" questioned Nitros.
"If they're ever desperate, I work with the Elemental Knights on random universe crises," explained Regulus.
"And how's that work out?" Nitros asked.
"One time, a fellow knight named Zoniha had me chase after a guy that she claimed was trying to resurrect an ancient doomsday device that was supposedly capable of transforming every living being into robots, after which he would force them to fight in an underground lair to his whim," regaled Regulus.
"Wow. What happened?" requested Nitros.
Regulus shrugged. "It turned out that she just wanted me to hunt down a guy that gave her a lousy date."
"…Oh," sighed Nitros.
"So, we're actually together on this ship because we're just really uninteresting company," surveyed Regulus.
"We're on this ship because Pretty wanted to keep Bomberman to herself," corrected Max.
"Does she like him?" asked Regulus.
"I have no idea," shrugged Max. "Sometimes she flirts with him, other times, she'll try to blow him to bits." He paused and added, "Usually, she does both."
"She can't be all bad," defended Nitros. "Bomberman trusts her enough to be on this mission, right?"
"Do we need to go over Bomberman's friends again?" ridiculed Regulus.
"Never mind…" groaned Nitros.
"Well, if we're still going over them," piped up Max, "I'd like to know more about those freakish bird attacks that you fire out, Regulus."
"It's called a Horror Bomb," Regulus grumpily amended.
"You realize you're only proving my point," snickered Max.
"Whatever," he huffed. "You're just jealous that you don't control darkness."
"Control darkness?" asked Nitros.
"It's my element," enlightened Regulus. "Each of the Elemental Knights can control one with the power of the Elemental Stones."
"But, if they were stolen, how do you still have that power?" questioned Max.
"Since I spent a long amount of time with the Shadow Stone in my possession, the powers are pretty ingrained into me," explained Regulus. "Unlike Bomberman, they stay with me for an extensive period of time."
"…Is that a good thing?" wondered Nitros aloud.
"Saved your sorry butts, didn't I?" retorted Regulus.
"Guess that counts as good," decided Nitros.
"Hey," Bomberman's voice sounded from the communications channel. "Max, you see that green planet in the distance?"
"You mean the one that's rapidly approaching and becoming larger by the second?" corrected Max.
"Um, yeah. That's Primus," revealed Bomberman.
"Great, see you in a bit," replied Max.
The two rocket ships launched themselves down toward Primus Star, entering its atmosphere. They flew around for a bit before Bomberman found a large enough opening in a lush green forest to bring the ships down. The quintet exited their respective ships and checked their surroundings.
"I thought we were going to a castle," protested Pretty Bomber.
"Ah, this was the only place with enough space," shrugged Bomberman. "Besides, I know a quicker path to the castle than the first time I came here, so it won't be that bad."
"Where exactly is here?" asked Max.
"This is known as the Groog Hills, named after little horned reptile creatures that inhabit the area," Bomberman gestured the area around them. "The greater location is known as the Woods of Esuram."
He waited and watched as his friends stared blankly at him.
"Yeah, the names are pretty weird," Bomberman sheepishly confessed.
"Huh. Pretty lively place, anyway," observed Nitros.
"Ha-ha, yeah, except when it's frozen," laughed Bomberman. Again, there was silence as Bomberman's friends stared at him. "Uh…I had to freeze it using a flower once in order to progress to the castle."
"You…froze the entire area…with a flower?" questioned Nitros.
"Kid, you've dealt with brainwashing," cut in Regulus. "I shoot shadow birds out to attack people. Using an ice flower to freeze a forest is not the weirdest thing. Or should I bring up the demon-pirate again?"
"That last one does make a strong argument," agreed Max. "Almost as strong as you and Pretty helping us." He chuckled as Pretty Bomber and Regulus glared at him.
"Anyway, let's get going," advised Bomberman. "Oh, and watch your step; the lakes around here are pretty deep and you wouldn't want to fall in and drown."
"Who would be dumb enough to not watch where they're going?" questioned Pretty Bomber.
"Uh…exactly, yeah," nervously laughed Bomberman.
The group strolled forward when a Groog popped out and glowered at them. It waited a moment before charging forward at the five. Quickly, Bomberman tossed a bomb and blasted the creature away.
"They're vicious little things," he murmured. "Didn't miss them."
Abruptly, a group of three card soldiers and four robot troopers dropped down from the trees in the forest and aimed their weapons at the quintet.
"See, this is why you shouldn't impulsively attack wildlife, White Bomber," scolded Pretty Bomber.
"How was I supposed to know that they'd be here?" protested Bomberman.
"Considering that we were sent to investigate a disturbance, the chances were pretty high that it would be the bad guys," quipped Max.
"Fine, I goofed," shrugged Bomberman and readied another bomb. "We would have needed to fight them anyway."
He tossed the bomb at the Club Fighter and Diamond Soldier, both dodging it.
Regulus summoned his Horror Bomb, firing the bird-shaped shadow at the robotic troopers. Most caught on, leapt away, with only the red trooper destroyed.
"Huh. That's the easy one to stop," muttered an annoyed Regulus.
"Guess we won't need you for this one," mocked Max as he threw a Thunder Bomb.
It connected and exploded on the blue trooper, but its thunder wave missed the green and purple ones completely.
"Right. Great work," teased Regulus as Max clenched his fist.
The purple trooper launched a missile, which exploded behind Max and Regulus, knocking the two off balance. Following up on it, the green trooper fired two rifle blasts, but both Bombers managed to duck beneath them.
Nitros and Pretty Bomber hid behind two different trees, watching as Bomberman lured the two card soldiers closer to them.
"Ready?" whispered Pretty to Nitros as she lifted her bomb.
"Of course; this is my specialty," assured Nitros, as he produced a red bomb.
As soon as they were close, the two dashed out from the trees and launched their bombs, knocking both card soldiers away from Bomberman.
"Nice shots, you two!" Bomberman complimented his friends.
Just as Nitros and Pretty Bomber were about to respond, an indigo beam zapped the two backwards. They dropped to the floor, dazed from the blast.
Bomberman whirled around and lobbed a bomb at the Spade Knight, which knocked it back, but didn't destroy it.
"Not good," murmured Bomberman as each card soldier recovered and approached him again.
"What, can't handle three enemies at once?" ridiculed Regulus as he flipped over to Bomberman's side. "You used to do it all the time, no?"
"You're one to talk," retorted Bomberman as they both readied bombs and launched them at the Diamond Soldier and Club Fighter, incinerating the two.
Another indigo beam fired across the woods at the duo, both who jumped away to dodge it.
Max rolled over to where they landed and laughed. "It seems like you're both still pretty rusty!"
He lobbed another Thunder Bomb, which exploded and stunned the purple and green troopers. Bomberman lobbed a bomb between the two, blasting them both and destroying them.
"I don't know, guys," huffed Bomberman. "Seems like I'm scoring the most points with finishing these things off."
"Please, you'd be doomed without us," Regulus scorned and threw a bomb at the approaching Spade Knight, who dodged it.
Quickly, Max threw a bomb of his own, which connected and knocked the Spade Knight back.
"Who would be doomed, exactly?" questioned Bomberman as Regulus fumed.
Recovering, the Spade Knight launched another beam at the trio, as each one ran off to avoid the attack.
It continued to approach them, until a red bomb blasted behind the Spade Knight's back and forced it to the ground.
"This one is relentless!" groaned Nitros as he walked around from another tree.
"No need to worry," soothed Pretty Bomber, who hastily threw another bomb next to the Spade Knight. It burst and fried the card soldier to bits.
"Great work, everyone!" congratulated Bomberman.
"We should cut short the celebration and hurry to the castle," noted Max. "This planet could be in more danger than that."
"Right," agreed Bomberman. "Normally, we'd need to take a route through Bubble Hole to get there, but I know a path that leads directly to the Water Slider sewers."
"Sewers?!" snapped Pretty Bomber. "We have to go through sewers to get to a castle?!"
"Um, yeah," nodded Bomberman. "Is that a problem?"
"How is it not a problem?" questioned Pretty Bomber. "It's unsanitary to wade through sewer water!" She paused when no one else spoke up. "Oh, come on. I can't be the only one that feels that way."
"I think it's kind of gross too," Nitros concurred.
"And this goes on a list of benefits to wearing full body armor," Max observed, and Regulus nodded.
"Actually, the water is fairly fresh," clarified Bomberman. "Blue, not deep, and usually doesn't smell awful."
"Really? …I'm holding you to that," relented Pretty Bomber.
"Bomberman?" a robotic voice sounded. The quintet pivoted around to find a small robot wheel over to them. It had thin pincer arms, small antennas on its head, lights for eyes, and tractor wheels for feet.
"Pibot!" greeted Bomberman. "What are you doing out here?"
"A report was sent out about there being two rocket ships that descended onto our planet, one being a familiar white color," explained Pibot. "The princess sent me out to investigate and see if it was you."
"Yep, she was right," nodded Bomberman. "These are my friends and allies for this mission too."
"Very good. Welcome to Primus Star," greeted Pibot to the other four. "Now, come with me for another route to the castle. It'd be a shame if Bomberman had to take the Water Slider sewers again."
As Pibot rolled away, Nitros and Pretty Bomber glared at a sheepish Bomberman, who then ran after the robot. The two chased after him, with Max and Regulus checking the Groog Hills one last time before following after the others.
...
Author: Ok, the heroes managed to arrive on Primus Star, not kill one another, and defeat a threat. Hooray!
Each of the named locations are actually from the game, Bomberman Hero, and are found as different levels on Primus Star. Personally, I enjoyed the titles, and the first area was memorable to me, so I used that location as the main area of arrival. Also, I had to include gags on both freezing the level and just how weird the Bomberman universe is.
Another fun bit about this chapter was that, since each of the heroes are introduced, they could finally have extended interactions with one another. While this is good for explaining things, like Regulus's background, it's even better for developing relationships. It's not something that gets featured a lot in Bomberman games, since we're usually told of friendships (Bomberman & Max, Bomberman & Pretty Bomber), backgrounds (Regulus, Nitros), and otherwise only view one-on-one interactions, with everyone mostly chatting up the main protagonist. Sometimes, like in The Second Attack, secondary characters will get to interact, but that's less common in the series as a whole. So, expect more between the heroes (and villains) here!
That's all for this chapter, and the next chapter will feature a little more time on Primus Star. After that, there are other places to go, so there's still more that will go on! Comments and criticisms are welcome, just send me a review or message. Thank you once again for reading through!