Arctic Bomber and her two allies have finally arrived in the year 1944, intent on setting things right one last time for history's sake.
EDIT: Sorry I accidentally marked this chapter as 7 instead of 6, but I got it fixed now.
DISCLAIMER: Bomberman belongs to Hudson Soft, despite the company being in Konami's hands as of March 1, 2012 (with the latter having bought them out). WarioWare, on the other hand, is owned by Nintendo, whereas Contra belongs to Konami. Final Fantasy is a property of Square-Enix. Any songs "used" throughout the course of this fanfic are properties of their respective owners, along with any characters that aren't within the four franchises listed here, unless stated otherwise.
Chapter 6: The time-altered World War II
[Stage BGM: Menu Theme (Call of Duty 3)]
June 6, 1944...
This was the time the Allied forces began their assault throughout Normandy, France, firstly by storming Omaha Beach. Clearly, it was supposed to be the decisive Allied victory as far as historical facts go, but ever since Sirius took over Nazi Germany, he turned the tides by sending in an armada of unmanned aircraft and a bunch of tanks to wipe out the opposition. The unmanned machinery, unlike the aircraft and tanks the Germans used during the war, was rumored to have been reinforced to render all Allied forces' weaponry useless.
Of course, this would come as no surprise to Cheerful White, Cute Pink, and Arctic Bomber by the time they arrived in 1944, via the skies. They had dealt with enemy machines reinforced with Super Titanium alloy before. In short, they'd have to destroy all of the unmanned machinery so that the Allied forces would survive to win World War II against the Axis Powers...and history's future would be returned to normal.
"1944 at long last, fellas! You know what this means, right?" Arctic Bomber got out her Neo Contra Rifle in mid-sentence and continued, "I don't have to hold back from using my gun anymore!"
"Yeah, but how can we hope to survive?" asked Cheerful White.
"We just fight on, I guess." answered Cute Pink.
"You two pilot the ship," ordered Arctic, "I'll do the shooting around here."
Convinced there weren't any enemy tanks during the battle at Omaha Beach, Arctic Bomber got out a pair of magnetic boots and opened the door of the time machine. Then she jumped on top and closed the door; she was lucky the ship came with some emergency supplies in case of an ambush from the Axis Powers.
"Hey, Krauts! Here's some hot lead for breakfast, followed by a charged-up Energy Shot for lunch!"
Keeping her rifle equipped with Machine Gun, she unloaded aggressively on the enemy planes. Surprisingly to her, there weren't any pilots aboard said planes, giving her the assumption that they're all unmanned. Apparently, Sirius claimed that an unmanned ship is more competent than a manned one. Either way, Arctic shot them all down without mercy, thus giving the Allied soldiers on the surface the air support they need to make their way to Normandy. Once the enemy fighters were down, an all-too-familiar warship flew by.
[Interrupt BGM]
[Fight BGM: Theme of the Mechanical Boss (Salamander 2)]
"The BigCore MK-I?!" Arctic questioned with exasperation. "What the hell's that thing doing in this time period?"
Cheerful White's voice came on through the radio. I dunno, but I can tell it's not supposed to be here.
Cute Pink's voice followed behind, That might be the reason our present time was altered...but I thought you, Blaze Bomber, Aaron, and Ami blew up all of those Bacterion ships.
Arctic Bomber could only sigh in response, still focused on the fight at hand. "We'll ask Sirius about it when we're clear, but right now, steer clear of its lasers! I'll prepare to destroy its core!"
Taking a gunner's stance, Arctic Bomber charged up her currently-equipped Fire Whip for its Energy Shot. As soon as she locked in, she unleashed the charged shot directly at the BigCore's center, piercing through its barrier panels and destroying the core, blowing up the whole Bacterion warship instantly. Unfortunately, that was merely a warm-up for what's coming next: a giant dragon-like battleship modeled after a many-headed hydra.
"I think I've seen this boss before. It's fought at the end of level 2 in the Japan-only Salamander 2...but where did Sirius get the Bacterion technology? He could only have gotten it if...no...that's not possible. Ahh, screw it!"
The giant battleship (which obviously wasn't supposed to be in World War II), known as the Hydra, extended its seven mechanical heads to blow flames at the time machine. White and Pink avoided the attack, whereas Arctic switched back to the Machine Gun before attacking the heads. The Hydra quickly retracted its heads to charge up and release a huge blast of fire from its main body. Arctic Bomber strategically countered with a mighty blizzard of her own, blowing out the flames and freezing the heads. Then she switched to the Fire Whip again and blew the Hydra's heads off with a barrage of Energy Shots, eventually causing its main body to detonate in a large explosion.
Then came one more Bacterion warship: this time the Lizard Core, encountered as a boss only in the arcade version of Gradius III (Japan-only). Its arms extended from the middle area to move up and down firing lasers in conjunction with its main body's. The time machine took some hits, but not bad. Arctic Bomber, on the other hand, fired another barrage of Energy Shots at the barrier panels to expose the core. The Lizard Core's arms blocked some shots, but not all of them since it concentrated mostly on firing its lasers haphazardly. Fortunately, Arctic Bomber caught on to its attack pattern and took out the core, destroying the Lizard Core just before any Allied fighters were shot down nearby.
[End BGM]
As the Allied soldiers finished their battle on Omaha Beach, they cheered for White, Pink, and Arctic Bomber even though they never really met before. Arctic Bomber covered up the identity by telling the soldiers on the radio, that she and her friends call themselves the Time Pilots, who fight hard to secure the world's past...and that of World War II's history. Afterwards, she stepped back inside the time machine just before she and her friends were contacted by none other than Sirius.
[Interlude BGM: Environmental Intrigue (Metroid Fusion)]
Hello, Arctic Bomber. It sure has been a while, hasn't it? I'll admit: I didn't expect you and your Bomber-pals would come this far, let alone undo the damage I did to history.
"How do you know about me, and why are those Bacterion ships here?" Arctic questioned. "They're not supposed to be around for another several years during World War II!"
My, what a cold reception! Well, if you don't remember me, then surely you must recognize my motives. "Sirius" could only have acquired some Bacterion warships if I was pulling the strings. But since you really made it all the way to 1944 alive despite the computer virus I indirectly planted on your time machine, I suppose it won't kill me to explain everything.
"I think I've just figured it out. Who else would have an unhealthy obsession with Bacterion technology than someone like you?"
Over 70 or so years from this time period, you and your fellow Contras killed me. I am General Shepherd...
"But that's not possible - you're supposed to be dead!"
The tyrant changed his voice to remind Arctic of who he really is. Indeed I was...and the real Sirius was actually dead long before I showed myself to you. When the Contras defeated 'King Sirius', his Rainbow Palace exploded, though its remains along with what's left of him miraculously flew off into the Pacific Ocean nearby New Zealand. After World War III was over, my men secretly salvaged the ruins of the Rainbow Palace and brought Sirius's dead remains into a classified section of Galuga Island's underground base. We merely managed to recreate his body based on our research, but could not revive him. Therefore, we did the next best thing and thought why not do the impossible by bringing a perfect meld of man and machine, or in my case, man and Bomber alike?
White, Pink, and Arctic Bomber became flabbergasted at what they had just heard, especially the part about Shepherd being reborn inside Sirius's body. The thought about him having formed a meld of man and machine made them shudder in fear. Only Arctic had the guts to respond at this point. "So that means...Aaron, Ami, and Blaze Bomber must've overlooked it all this time during that second visit!"
You're beginning to understand. I had it kept a top secret so that no one would ever suspect a thing. But even then, I held a sneaky suspicion you would eventually expose me and my true motives, so I had Colonel Bassad secretly scan my consciousness and personality, and implant them directly into Sirius's dead body long before your three Contra friends killed him. This was all part of my backup plan, in the event that you and your allies do manage to kill the original me. Of course, since Aqua Bomber and Cyclone Bomber severed their ties with me, I had to put on a faux personality by pretending to be King Sirius, so that they wouldn't suspect it was me. I even brainwashed them into thinking I was Sirius, their new master.
"So this was merely some kind of illusion you put on, isn't it...?" wondered Cheerful White.
Yes. I lured them in telepathically by bribing them with the revival of their two dead comrades: Earth Bomber and Fire Bomber. Of course, I only intended on using them insofar as to keep them from finding me out. In the end, I used a decommissioned cloning machine to regenerate the Bacterion ships, in addition to creating the tanks. The heart of the machine was a one-eyed spherical beast, known as Zelos Force. I then used him to create a flagship out of the underground base's remains, and to travel back to 1944 to change history in my favor. You could say he also provided me with an uncanny ability to summon monsters from the dead...
"But why conquer the country you - the original you - actually came from?!" demanded Arctic Bomber.
Revenge, for what you and your five Contra allies did to my dreams of building an empire for my very own! I've come to a realization the Bacterion technology was a gift from the gods in space. Believe me, I didn't want to have to resort to changing history in the first place, but you forced my hand.
"You STOLE it!"
And I'd do it again throughout the next 70 years when I'm through! But since you killed the four Fiends of Chaos fair and square, I'll be happy to save you the trip to Germany. It's like the old saying: if you want something done right, you've gotta do it yourself. Shepherd's image was replaced with a large Bacterion flagship, while his voice continued emanating from the radio. This flagship you see on the monitor is the heart of the Bacterion ships and tanks that are doing well in the place of Hitler's so-called German soldiers, courtesy of Zelos Force. As long as he exists, my Bacterion forces will continue to multiply, for they are linked in a hive mind! Now that you've figured me out for who I really am, I'll just have to change my history-altering plans a little, so that instead of Sirius ruling the world 70 years since World War II, it's the Bacterions...with me at the helm. This may not be what I had in mind to begin with, but that's fine by me.
[End BGM]
[Justice BGM: Character Select (Contra ReBirth)]
"I've heard enough, you bastard!" Arctic shouted. "Your sick obsession with Bacterion technology ends here! You hear me?! You can't mess with history as long as we Bombermen and women are around to set things right for mankind - and our human friends!"
"Though we unofficially dub ourselves as Time Pilots," added White, "we're gonna make sure the history of World War II stays the way it was supposed to be - in favor of the Allied forces!"
"We Bombermen are also capable of learning from history, just so you know!" concluded Pink.
The heroic "Time Pilots" shut off their radio, and flew off for Berlin, Germany to do battle against the reincarnated General Shepherd and his recreated Bacterion armada. They spent a few minutes theorizing that if they take out the flagship at its source, all of the Bacterion technology linked to it in a hive mind would all self-destruct simultaneously. Then the Axis Powers would no longer have any unfair advantage from the future, and the Allied forces would survive to defeat Hitler in Europe, along with the Imperial Japanese Army within the Pacific Theater...
[End BGM]
[Fight BGM: Boss Rush Part 1 (Gradius Gaiden)]
But even when it was still June 6, 1944, the tides of World War II were still in the Axis Powers' favor due to the unmanned Bacterion ships and tanks alike, all reinforced with Super Titanium alloy. Arctic Bomber, Cheerful White, and Cute Pink knew by then that they must destroy the heart of the flagship, Zelos Force, along with General Shepherd. Even though the underground base of Galuga Island was now a shell of its former self, it wasn't any less dangerous. However, since Zelos was fused with the remodeled base, it now sported a major weakness. Recalling from the Gradius games Arctic had played so far, destroying the absolute center of the Bacterion invasion would not only take out the whole base, but the machines it deployed in a hive mind as well. It'd be like taking them out in one blow, but the obvious problem was there were no extra lives to keep Arctic and the others afloat. One shot was all they got, but one shot was all they needed to ensure that all traces of stolen Bacterion technology on Earth would really be no more.
Along the way, the heroic Bombermen were assisted by a small fleet of Allied fighters, whose pilots introduced themselves as the Cure Squadron. Fighting behind enemy lines, the squadron swore to "cure" Europe of the Axis-infested dictatorship. Apparently, they were on the same mission that Arctic, White, and Pink are now: to destroy the Bacterion flagship that was branded earlier as Nazi Germany's ultimate secret weapon. If they manage to take out the core, the Germans will be left with no other option but to use their old military technology again, thus returning the history of World War II back to the way it was meant to be.
It was not a moment too soon, that the Allied squadron arrived above Berlin, Germany, with the Bacterion flagship flying right in front of them. Arctic Bomber immediately recognized it as bearing a small (but still large) resemblance to the planet-sized Bacterion warship that showed up in both Gradius II and IV. Its frontal hatch opened, releasing not one, but two Covered Cores at once. Both of them haven't changed a bit from the last time Arctic Bomber fought one (at least, in the unaltered present time, when she was with the other three Contras). All the Covered Cores did were rotate their nuclear symbol-shaped shields around their main bodies, firing a barrage of missiles in the process.
Before commencing attack on the twin Covered Cores, Arctic Bomber ordered, "Half of our squad will destroy the machine on the right, while the other half handle the one on the left! The barrier panels should be easy to penetrate with your missiles!"
The Mistress of the Cold strapped on her magnetic boots again, and got out on top of the time machine to do some damage with her Neo Contra Rifle (but not before setting it to Diver Mines). She fired a barrage of homing missiles, the Diver Mines' charge shot, at the Covered Cores' own missiles to prevent them from taking out the Allied fleet. Then the Cure Squadron focused on firing their own missiles to break through the barrier panels whenever the Covered Cores' shields stopped spinning. Finally, they targeted - and shot the exposed cores, destroying both Covered Cores simultaneously. Arctic Bomber switched to the Fire Whip, and fired a few charged Energy Shots to blow the Bacterion flagship's frontal hatch open.
[End BGM]
"We're heading inside the flagship to take out the primary core," she called. "Exercise caution now!"
The Allied forces wasted no time blasting the gun turrets that were not reinforced with Super Titanium, while Arctic took out the Bacterion ships with the Machine Gun from her Neo Contra Rifle. A few minutes later, the fleet stopped just before hitting a wall.
"That's no ordinary wall," said White.
"It's a gun wall!" Pink shouted the obvious.
Arctic Bomber added her two cents, "There's a variation of gun walls in the Gradius games, and I know which one this gun wall came from..."
The gun wall, codenamed "Bloody Gate" due to its reddish hue like in Gradius IV, was armed with four laser cannons, along with two hatches that generated unmanned walkers. It also housed two cores, each protected by five barrier panels. While the cannons weren't reinforced, they could regenerate a few moments after being destroyed. Fortunately, though, the walls outside of the contraption didn't move up and down sporadically like in the actual game. Still, the constant laser fire was to be taken into account. The Cure Squadron used their ace piloting skills to avoid the shots, circling around to blow up the cannons and the barrier panels guarding the cores. Arctic Bomber got into the action by firing more charged Energy Shots to destroy the cores, eventually causing the "Bloody Gate" to detonate in a big enough explosion to reduce it to a pile of scrap.
But just then, a surprise came from behind the wreckage. It was a giant spider walker, codenamed the Shadow Dancer in Gradius II.
The Cure Squadron leader called Arctic and friends on the radio: This metallic menace looks indestructible. Time Pilots, we'll distract it while you take out the main core!
Arctic Bomber acknowledged, "Copy that! Try to come back with the Allied forces alive."
You too. Good luck, and may the tides of history flow in your favor.
[Final battle BGM: Last Battle (Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls (GBA, via FFI))]
Air-dodging carefully through the Shadow Dancer's spear-tipped legs, Arctic Bomber and her Bomber-pals flew all the way to the center of the Bacterion flagship, with a metallic gate closing behind them. To their surprise, they saw Shepherd (in Sirius's body) floating above Zelos Force's spherical being. It appeared as if he were merely fusing with the core itself! "Somehow, I knew you'd come all the way here unscathed, and alone to boot. Well, you're already too late! Once I've finished absorbing Zelos Force's life force, I'll be reborn as the mighty Bacterion God! Why rule only one or two countries, when I can rule an entire planet from within my flagship! Kneel, all those, that stand before me!"
"We'll never kneel to you, traitor!" yelled Cute Pink.
"Hitler and his Axis forces may have been power-mad with dominion, but their agenda didn't involve using sophisticated - yet stolen - alien technology to end mankind's existence on Earth!" reminded Cheerful White.
"Yeah!" agreed Arctic Bomber. "You're just as bad as they are, if not a lot worse! You know we're gonna stop you, Shepherd!"
"Such empty words, Arctic Bomber," Shepherd said coldly. "But even if you do kill me again, that time machine of yours will cease to exist, leaving you stranded in the year 1944 for the rest of your lives."
"Oh, right..." said White. "We got it from the time-altered year 20XX - our time."
"But we'll still be able to return before it disappears...right?" asked Pink.
"If it does cease to exist, our sacrifices will be worth it."
The treacherous general called out one last time prior to the mutation, "Either way, your time is nigh! Oh, and one more thing, in case you missed the point on how I was able to summon a group of monsters: I used Zelos Force's power to revive the four Fiends of Chaos from the dead! Once again, I had no intention of doing all this to begin with, but you kept forcing me to take extreme measures to kill you."
Having finished absorbing Zelos Force's life force, General Shepherd shed Sirius's body, once again no longer a man but a distorted beast. Unlike last time, however, he took the form of a large beast with bat-like wings, along with a spiky tail on his back and a pair of horns atop his head. Arctic, White, and Pink recognized this form as Chaos from Final Fantasy I. With that done, he beckoned in a monstrous voice, "Now, I'm gonna scare you like you've never been scared before!"
Recalling himself Chaos, the self-proclaimed "Bacterion God" began by attacking with Blaze, a strong fire-elemental attack. It instantly enveloped the entire center of the Bacterion flagship in a volcanic manifestation with lava geysers erupting all over the place. Arctic Bomber quickly got back inside the time machine and activated its emergency force field to nullify the fatal damage. The time machine, despite losing the force field from the intensive lava geysers, only suffered little damage. Chaos followed up with Tsunami, a strong water-elemental attack which enveloped the lair in a giant tsunami wave. White and Pink fired the boosters on the time machine to "ride it out", so as to avoid getting slammed against the wall which could wreck their ship. Once the tsunami was over, Arctic Bomber jumped out on top of the time machine once again with her magnetic boots.
"That's it! I'VE HAD ENOUGH!"
Because time was not on her side during D-Day, the honorary Contra attacked aggressively with machine gun fire, followed by shooting Diver Mines in grenade launcher fashion, and Energy Shots from the charged-up Fire Whip. Chaos countered the attacks with Cyclone, a strong wind-elemental attack which summoned a devastating tornado to inflict serious damage on the time machine. White and Pink flew around to get out of the tornado's range of gusty winds, until it dissipated. Arctic Bomber kept attacking like crazy with her Neo Contra Rifle along with her Bowling Bombs, but stopped only a minute later to calm herself and focus on the enemy's weakness. The still-alive Zelos Force was the source of Shepherd's "Chaos" form, and destroying it would end his Bacterion campaign for good. While the winged beast attacked, Zelos Force was defenseless.
"Pound me all you wish, but I'll never be defeated! Curaja!"
The beast healed all wounds to his body instantly, seemingly restarting the final battle anew. But Arctic Bomber wouldn't have it anymore. She focused her attacks directly on Zelos Force, until he went "BWAAAAAAAAAAAH!" and exploded like a time bomb, finally ending the battle.
[End BGM]
"What?! No! I absorbed Zelos Force's power to become an invincible Bacterion God! I...I shouldn't be..."
"You only linked yourself with him in a hive mind," explained Arctic Bomber. "All of your Bacterion forces will perish in self-destruction, returning World War II's history back to normal on both opposing factions. I know it can't guarantee the Allied forces will pull through unscathed, but it's way better than negatively affecting the present and future with the Bacterion warships."
"Nevertheless, there will be a distant Bacterion God from 70 years in the future, following in my footsteps where I failed. Even if you do return to the present before your time machine ceases to exist, the Bacterion invasion is inevitable. As for what's going to happen to you, if I die, you die with me in hell! Good bye!"
With his last breath, Shepherd/Chaos self-destructed in an explosion, starting a chain reaction which would eventually destroy the entire flagship. Since Arctic Bomber, Cheerful White, and Cute Pink were still trapped inside the center, it seemed there was no way out anymore. They would have to take the sacrifice, so that we, the Four Contras (including honorary Contra, Blaze Bomber), would live again in the restored present time. Just then, two manned enemy fighters flew by. Aqua Bomber and Cyclone Bomber were inside, albeit no longer hostile.
"We're finally free from Shepherd's brainwashing!" beamed Aqua Bomber.
"But, that doesn't excuse everything we've done to you and your friends, Arctic Bomber," added Cyclone Bomber. "It took us a while to realize that we were wrong."
Arctic Bomber nodded. "I'm glad to hear that. But you do know we're all about to die!"
The unofficial leader of the Dark Force Bombers acknowledged Arctic's words, knowing the time to join the other two dead comrades in the afterlife was nigh. "Not yet. However, Cyclone and I will have to make a kamikaze run to open the exit for you three."
"This is all we can do for you now." Cyclone closed her eyes in mid-sentence. "I guess it's been nice knowing you..."
In a last ditch effort, Aqua and Cyclone Bomber thrust their fighters as fast as they could, setting them to explode along the way. Immediately, they crashed and detonated their ships, not only sacrificing their own lives, but also destroying the metallic gate. With little to no time to mourn their deaths, the three heroic Bombermen flew on out of the exploding flagship alongside the Cure Squadron.
[Victory BGM: Popstar Saved (Kirby Super Star)]
As the Allied forces evacuated in time to a minimum safe distance, the Bacterion flagship exploded like an atomic bomb, followed by all unmanned Bacterion ships, planes, and tanks self-destructing simultaneously. The history of World War II was restored to its former glory at last.
"Now that's one heck of a D-Day indeed!" White beamed triumphantly.
"I know, right? We did it!" Pink cheered happily.
[End BGM]
The Axis Powers in Germany were left with one option: to declare "King Sirius's" plans unconstitutional, release Hitler from cryogenic stasis (which was Shepherd's doing), and resume the war as normal. It eventually became a historical fact once again, that the Axis Powers were later defeated in 1945, ending World War II in spite of heavy casualties on the opposing factions. Either way, the space-time continuum from 1944 up to the year 20XX was restored back to normal, with the Four Contras, Blaze Bomber, and the WarioWare staff alive and well. White, Pink, and Arctic felt their time-restoring job was finally done, and thus bid the Cure Squadron farewell on behalf of the Allied forces before departing one last time...
TO BE CONTINUED...
History is saved, and our heroes are returning to the present in glory - at least before their time machine disappears out of existence.
