Here we are with another chapter! I've been thinking whether this was a good idea to make a Contra/Sofia the First crossover (my reason for occasionally pausing), all the while adding in some new tidbits for my Game-Jumping Adventures fic series, and even playing all the way through EarthBound Beginnings (aka. Mother 1, Earthbound Zero) and Super Mario 3D World. Then I decided to just continue on anyway - as in take chances, make mistakes, and get creative once again.
DISCLAIMER: Contra is owned by Konami, whereas Sofia the First is a property of Disney - as in, Disney Junior. The concept of one world merging with Enchancia is courtesy of writer Ghost Archer...at least I think so, judging from what I read thus far.
Chapter 3: A piggish man's junkyard hideout
[Briefing BGM: The Returners (Final Fantasy VI)]
BACK TO THE YEAR 2641 - THREE DAYS SINCE THE ROBOT RAMPAGE...
"Good day, you two," Commander Doyle began, facing Bill and Sofia. "I trust you've gotten enough rest while we were figuring out the source of the robots having gone berserk and blew up most of Neo City. Though in the meantime, I never imagined a possibility for time travel..."
"Me neither," said Bill, "but on the bright side, we made it back. I wish I could say the same for Lance..."
"Whoever took him prisoner's gotta be the one behind these mechanized destroyers!" added Sofia.
The chief continued, "Unfortunately, we won't even know who brought Red Falcon back from the dead, but the one silver lining is we've managed to identify the hacker behind the security breach." He ordered a pair of computer technicians to bring up an image of a dark-skinned, piggish man with a black mohawk and what appeared to be cybernetic implants covering his eyes. "His name's Neumann Cascade, the best hacker on the net! Breached our security big time as a first step in his plans... Anyway, he used the panic caused by the robot as a diversion so he could steal the mother alien cell, otherwise known as Red Falcon's DNA, from the research center. Intel suggests that it's very likely there is an organization working behind him. His hideout is under a garbage dump, so don't screw this one up! Oh, and Bill: make sure nothing bad happens to Princess Sofia. Who knows how much damage it'll do to the space-time continuum should anything bad happen to her..."
Sofia nodded. "Don't worry; I'm perfectly safe with Uncle Bill at my side! The magic from my Enchancian Wand will help us both."
"We'll be back as soon as we bust that jerk for sending all those robots after Neo City and Enchancia," acknowledged Bill.
"Before you leave, I'm assigning one of our elite members of the Hard Corps to take over for Lance. He's Brad Fang, the master of hand-to-hand combat. Don't be alarmed by his wolf-like appearance; he's a good guy and we trust he'll keep you two safe."
The chief's right, thought Bill. For all we know, Princess Sofia could be anybody's ancestor...
A tall, wolfman marched his way in, clad in a pair of sunglasses and light blue jeans, and cybernetic arms for combat. His right arm had a gatling gun in place of a hand, the left bearing a metallic fist. According to his profile, his proficiency consisted of the strongest weapons imaginable despite being either short-ranged or slow. The wolfman's upgraded version of the regular machine gun, the Beast Shooter, could fire balls of flame in a stream of fire that ripples up and down, essential for passing through some barriers and sweeping enemies. The second weapon in his arsenal, the Power Punch, made use of his left hand to release a short-ranged shockwave of fire. The Flamethrower, on the other hand, utilized his gun arm once more, whilst living up to its name as a short stream of continuous fire. The last weapon in the wolfman's unique arsenal, again making use of his left hand, could be charged up to store energy and, eventually, unleash a huge and devastating laser blast - or rather, Psychic Blaster. But because of its slow rate of fire, the wolfman would have to move out of harm's way to avoid losing that power-up.
"You must be Princess Sofia," greeted the wolfman. "Like the boss said, I'm Brad Fang, but you can call me Fang if you want."
"I'm...honored, Fang." The 8-year-old paused momentarily to gather her thoughts. That's unusual. Only with my Amulet of Avalor can I talk with animals.
The wolfman chuckled lightly. "Ahh, never seen a wolfman talk before, I guess. But no worries - I'm all for fighting bad guys and alien scumbags alike, and saving the world. I'll help Bill keep you safe and save his long-time buddy Lance before you know it. Wouldn't wanna let the space-time continuum get ruptured all over. So, is this the Enchancian Wand I heard about, since you and Bill got back to the future?"
"Yep! It's got a great variety of spells to help us through our quest, like the Cannonball, and the Star Chaser...really helpful spells!"
"Heh, that kid's sure got spunk!"
"No argument here, Fang," agreed Bill. "So when do we leave for Neumann's garbage dump?"
"Right away, Billy. It's payback time for whatever those scumbags are planning to do with Lance!"
Then Bill turned over to Sofia, handing her what looked to be a face mask. "Where we're going is gonna be awful stinky, even for a kid your age. Here, let me put this gas mask around your head and...voila!"
"Thanks, Uncle Bill," said the young princess-in-training. "I hope our combined powers will see us through this hideout and teach Neumann Cascade a lesson!"
[End BGM]
[Stage BGM: Contra Overdrive (Contra: Hard Corps)]
A few hours later, the trio of heroes had been dispatched under the dusky sky to the huge junkyard from the Hard Corps' allied helicopter. Immediately a group of bikers came rushing down an enormous hill from the horizon, the sounds of their motorcycles' engines roaring like that of a lion, or so the young princess of Enchancia thought. Two power-up pods flew by for Fang to shoot down and acquire the "A" and "C" icons, granting him the Beast Shooter and Flamethrower in his arsenal. No sooner than he shot open the pods did the bikers jump up with streaks of dust coming from the wheels of their motorcycles. Luckily, Bill kept his Spread Gun for later use and made short work of the bikers, while Sofia chipped in with her Star Chaser spell. Once all the bikers were sent flying from the blown up bikes, Bill whistled for Sofia and Fang to follow suit. The wolfman switched to his Flamethrower and took out the small junk robots that jumped out of the pile. Bill spotted a half-crushed car up ahead which opened up its hood to fire a rocket in the group's direction.
"Sofia, get down!" The blue-clad Contra jumped in front of his young friend to shield her from the rocket with his body, sacrificing his Spread Gun in the process.
"Hang on, Billy!" Fang kicked the rocket away to a faraway place where it detonated harmlessly, prior to blowing up the makeshift turret with his gun arm's Flamethrower and more jumping robots as well. The next car was up ahead, but Sofia was ready for it. "Swapper Switchercato, B!" Her wand turned pink in time for her to pummel the half-crushed car with a well-timed Cannonball, denting its hood so hard it could not open up. Then Bill took it out with his Contra Rifle's Vulcan Laser.
But as a flock of crows flew by, a large junk robot emerged from the metallic pile below, bearing two spiked balls on its tentacle-like arms. It swung both arms around, prompting Sofia to charge up her Enchancian Wand's power while Bill and Fang jumped a few times to inflict some damage on its red eye. Then everyone crouched below to avoid the spiked ball, and rushed backward before the junk robot could crush them with its jump.
"Don't let the spikes hit you!" warned Bill, just as the junk robot prepared to swing its spiked tail around in the style of jump rope.
"Almost...got it..." Sofia grunted in between her jumps. "Okay, here goes! POWERHOUSE CANNONBALL!" Her pink wand shot out the enchanted ball straight at the junk robot's head, completely destroying it in a large explosion. The force of the blast from the Enchancian Wand knocked her back, but Bill was quick to catch her before she fell to the rough ground. "Thanks, Uncle Bill."
"You're welcome, Sofia, but aren't you worried about your dress?"
"Not really. I think my wand should be able to clean it up real quick."
"Save it for when we're able to detain Neumann," said Fang. "Let's keep moving!"
As the trio moved on again, the ground sloped sharply into the depths of the junk pile, revealing an underground hideout with wall-mounted turrets opening up. Fang switched back to his Beast Shooter and took them out, just as Sofia chanted "Swapper Switchercato, D!" to change her wand green again, making the Star Chaser available once more.
"Alrighty, it's time we knocked on the door! Hey Neumann, knock knock!" The wolfman punched the metal gate a few times and blew it apart with his gun arm, and did the same for the subsequent door, leading the trio to the hacker's lair, surrounded with sophisticated machinery and computers alike.
[End BGM]
The piggish man, clad in an orange jumpsuit, snorted in between his evil laughter. "Are we havin' Halloween already? 'Cause you sure don't look so tough!"
"You're that creep, Neumann Cascade!" called Bill.
"Heh heh heh, that's right! I'm the guy who staged these robot attacks and UFO invasions, but anyways, why don't you and wolfie and that little brat try this on for size?" Neumann raised his hands and activated a supercomputer's holographic generator, teleporting both himself and his opponents into a virtual reality world. The dark steel metal ceiling and floor appeared to stretch on into infinity with mist enshrouding the surface.
[Fight BGM: JB303 (Contra: Hard Corps)]
"Where in Enchancia are we now?" questioned the little princess.
"Welcome to my patented Virtual Zone. I hope you enjoy yourselves!" Neumann pressed a button on a small box-like device strapped to his beer belly, transforming himself into a cluster of stars that quickly formed a constellation of Taurus. This Zodiac sign did more than represent April 21 - May 21 by floating around, swooping down for a dive towards the group. Bill, Sofia and Fang slid away just by a close shave and returned fire, reducing Taurus to a cluster of stars once again. An "A" icon popped out on the floor, prompting Sofia to pick it up for her Enchancian Wand prior to calling out, "Swapper Switchercato, A!" The wand turned purple, leaving the child to wonder what spell it was this time.
Meanwhile, the cluster of stars swirled around and combined into a Pegasus archer-like constellation of Sagittarius. Sofia aimed her wand upwards and fired blue ring-like laser shots. "Amazing! Uncle Bill, what do you think we should call this spell?"
"We'll talk later," said Bill, pounding Sagittarius with the Vulcan Laser alongside Fang's Flamethrower, destroying the energy arrows the archer shot out and reverting it back to the star cluster again, coughing up a "B" icon for Fang to pick up, granting access to his patented Power Punch. Then the stars flew around one more time, bringing out a twin constellation known only as the Gemini.
"How about Ripple Laser?" Fang asked Sofia. "Nice ring to it - no pun intended."
"Ripple Laser...I like that name! Thanks, Mr. Fang!"
The Gemini twins zoomed around the Virtual Zone until they found a place to stop and tip their bowl, shooting a stream of blue energy balls onto the ground in a deadly rain storm. Fang got nailed by a stray shot, reverting his Beast Shooter back to the default machine gun. Bill, on the other hand, managed to combine his Vulcan Laser with Sofia's Ripple Laser spell, stopping the Gemini twins from dragging out the fight. A "C" power-up icon fell out, which Bill grabbed to recover his Spread Gun. As for Neumann, he briefly turned back to normal.
"You fight well, fools...but let's see if you can handle this!"
[End BGM]
[Boss BGM: R.A.V.E. (Contra: Hard Corps)]
The piggish hacker pressed a button on his device again, turning into a collection of yellow blocks arranged in a large square with a red block serving as the core, hovering in the center of the Virtual Zone. Neumann sent out a cluster of blocks shaped like a capital T, something Bill was able to recognize from an old-school puzzle game he and Lance used to play in high school...
He put aside his train of thought and ordered his comrades to dodge the bouncing T-shaped block and shoot the red core. Neumann, however, changed his attack plan by rearranging the blocks into the shape of a tank. Everyone ducked beneath and hid themselves far away so they wouldn't get hit or run over, whilst Bill encouraged Sofia to use her Star Chaser to stop the tank.
"How many of these forms does this man have?" asked a worried Sofia.
"One more, I hope," answered Fang, readying his Flamethrower.
Neumann rearranged the blocks again, this time into a helicopter. It flew back and forth at the ceiling for a while, and stopped to drop rows of blocks from the foot rail while simultaneously firing off its buzzsaw-like tail blade. Fang managed to swat these stray blocks back with his Power Punch so he and his friends wouldn't be knocked dead, and jumped up to get a couple shots in at the core, causing all the blocks to break apart and Neumann to reappear in his normal form. The Virtual Zone flickered a few times and went into a complete shutdown, leaving everyone back in his hideout with his hands in the air.
[End BGM]
"It looks like it's 'game over' for you, Neumann!" shouted Bill.
Sofia nodded sternly. "Mm-hmm. I'm sorry to tell you this, but it had to be done."
Neumann sniveled in fear, all the while pretending to cry. "Don't hurt me! I'm just trying to make a buck; it's not personal!"
Fang scoffed in response, not moved one bit by the piggish hacker's whining. "You can save your sob story for the people at headquarters!"
"Aw, c'mon...pleeease don't blow up my poor supercomputer! It means too much to me! I'll tell you guys anything you wanna know, I swear!"
"Get moving, punk-ass scumbag!" Bill covered Sofia's ears so she didn't hear the curse word Fang just said to Neumann.
TO BE CONTINUED...
Looks like the piggish man's gonna have to cough up the vital information for the good guys. But anyway, I've also been thinking about whether I want to add Brad Fang to my story in honor of Contra: Hard Corps. He's one of my favorite characters to use besides Sheena Etranzi, so therefore, I think Steven Jay Blum (or Steve Blum, if you prefer) would suit his voice real well like with Heatwave from Transformers: Rescue Bots. As for Neumann Cascade, I found out in a ROM hack of Contra: Hard Corps with the redone English dialogue (which I downloaded from the ROMhacking website.) that his first name is the correct spelling; it was apparently mistranslated as "Noiman" all along.
