Hours after resting at a Holiday Inn, our heroes prepare themselves for the next chapter in their campaign against a potential army of Phazon addicts. Blaze Bomber, on the other hand, has preparations of his own to help make the journey less difficult...

DISCLAIMER: WarioWare and Metroid are owned by Nintendo; Bomberman belongs to Hudson Soft albeit in Konami's hands as of March 2012; Contra is a property of Konami; Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi belongs to Renegade Animation; Final Fantasy is owned by Square-Enix; and the Alien franchise is a property of 20th Century Fox. All other franchises mentioned, briefly or otherwise, belong to their respective companies, unless stated otherwise.

Chapter 6: Giant dinos and Phazon addicts

[Overworld BGM: Ocean (Contra 4)]

Mission 4: Deep descent
12 hours after the reunion in Sydney, Australia, the six Contras and their two honorary partners are informed by Commander-in-Chief Doyle of the anti-Phazon gear Penny and her grandfather transported from Crygor Labs upon request. Each armorsuit would come equipped with a shield that not only surrounds the user's body, it can negate any Phazon-fueled attack to ensure that said user does not become infected further by its radiation. Although we can't confirm how long that feature will last or how much it can absorb in battle, what we do know is the user can "recharge" the prototype's anti-Phazon shielding by deactivating it for a time.
It's our only hope of ending the global-scale threat before the intergalactic drug spreads beyond the Galuga Archipelago. Should the armorsuits fail to carry the Contras through, the Corruption status on their bodies would be disastrous and we fear our planet may end up like Tallon IV, Aether, Bryyo and Elysia almost did: a "Class XIII wasteland."
January 5, 20XX
10:00 PM

"No sign of hostiles anywhere on the sea or underwater..." informed Blaze Bomber. "I wonder why they're just letting us come all the way here with our jetbikes unharmed?"

"Isn't it obvious, Blaze?" added Arctic Bomber. "You know how in some movies, the bad guys love playing the 'step into my parlor, said the spider to the fly' card! Siren Bomber tried that on us during World War III, all the while impersonating 9-Volt's mom right in front of the poor kid just to scare us into submission! Kinda makes me appreciate defecting to the Contras even more, don'tcha think?"

"Whatever the reason, we've gotta be more careful and - like Bill said - more evasive than what we're already used to," said Aaron. "Hey Ami, what's that new feature you got on your Bomberman Watch?"

"I dunno, Aaron. It's just showing the image of an aquarium."

"Oh, that's the Aqua Mode I installed on your watch before we checked out of the hotel in Cyber City," explained Blaze Bomber. "We're gonna encounter situations where fighting underwater is a necessity in order to get from point A to point B. Normally your bombs, let alone your Bomberman Watch, would be useless because fuses don't light underwater, but when you activate Aqua Mode, they'll be changed into bowling ball-shaped torpedoes."

Ami snapped her fingers with ecstasy. "Like in Bomberman Hero!"

"Don't forget Bomberman Tournament," Aaron reminded his pink-haired best friend. "You were saying, Blaze?"

"As long as your watch is in Aqua Mode, Ami, you can fight enemies while swimming underwater. However, you'll have to remember to deactivate it when you're on dry land, because if you forget, then your bombs would simply squirt out a droplet of water from the fuse and disappear in pink glitter."

"So like in Bomberman Tournament," summarized Ami, "bombs that normally work on dry land are useless underwater, but Aqua Bombs that function beneath the sea can't do diddly-squat on the surface."

"Exactly," said Yumi. "And are we still gonna have some Contra power-ups brought over from Crygor Labs for Aaron, Bill and Lance to use with their Contra Rifles?"

"I'm not too sure, Yumi...I've got a bad feeling our trip to Galuga Island's not gonna be so easy this time. If Red Falcon's followers and worshipers have really beefed up security big time, then chances are they've also built some kind of jamming technology."

Bill nodded. "And for good reason too, Ami. They know we're not that easy to kill, and we oftentimes rely on our power-ups to give us a hand against uneven odds."

Blaze Bomber pulled out a small laptop-like device on his wrist. "Which is why Penny and I have planned a countermeasure of our own, by inventing this Eco-friendly Power-up Generator. Its batteries run on solar energy from the Sun. Plus, it's programmed to give you guys some power-ups to use, in case we're either too far out of range for Crygor Labs to teleport one our way or a jammer is preventing it. Dr. Mandrake may have the smarts, but mine and Penny's are better. You can guess why that's the case."

"Simple: because we're the good guys!" whooped Yuffie.

"What now, Billy?" asked Arctic Bomber.

"From what Z told us over the phone when we rented our jetbikes," answered Bill, "there are three big bosses we'll have to face before we get any further into Colonel Bahamut's base: Kraid, Phantoon, and Draygon. Ridley is among them too, but Z also mentioned he's not joining the fray...yet."

"Here is where our starting point is," stated Lance, pointing at the southwestern section of Galuga Island on his phone's map screen. "Kraid is somewhere ahead; Phantoon's to the right aboard a wrecked ship that suddenly appeared out of nowhere; and Draygon's somewhere underwater to the left. Tactically, splitting up will help accomplish our first objective faster, but given Kraid's huge size, I'd say four of us will have to take him on. Yuffie, you'll come with me to the wrecked ship since the undead are typically weak against healing spells as well as fire and holy power. My Flamethrower power-up can help make short work of them, but even then, you'll have to pull your weight too, in case I get hit once and my Contra Rifle reverts back to its default machine gun."

Yuffie shivered at the thought of fighting ghosts inside a wrecked ship, but she remembered to gulp down her courage and fight on, as though she were doing it for 9-Volt as his guardian angel.

"Aaron, will you be alright without me for a while?" asked Ami.

"I've been through worse, even if we're not always side-by-side. Why?"

"Yumi and I will accompany Blaze and Arctic on the way to fight Kraid. I dunno how we're gonna defeat him without the aid of the Hi-Jump Boots that Samus gets for her Power Suit in every mission, but we do know his weakness. He can only be damaged when his mouth's open."

"...Alright. Then Bill and I will go underwater and face Draygon. We may have a use for the Hookshot attachment yet...It's gonna be a bit suicidal, but we won't know unless we try."

"Hmmm...fighting a big boss monster like Draygon won't be any easier unless...unless I go with you and Bill instead! My Bomberman Watch's Aqua Mode can be very helpful! I wish your Contra Rifles had that new feature too...Blaze Bomber did do the same for them, right?"

"Ahh yes, thank you for reminding me, Ami," assured Blaze Bomber. "And yeah, I modified the Contra Rifles to have that feature, too. The pros and cons are technically the same as with the Bomberman Watch's Aqua Mode, except the guns will shoot harmless droplets of water on dry land if you forget to turn it off. Plus, your shots will suffer from slowdown and a sharp decrease in attack power if you don't enable Aqua Mode underwater. Oh, and one more thing: I've done some modifications on myself so that instead of Molotov cocktails, I can materialize what I'd like to call Blazing Bombs. They work and look similar to Ami's Fire Bombs, except they're red instead of black, and explode correspondingly to incendiary grenades. Besides, I've been thinking for quite a long time that Molotov cocktails sort of make me look more like a corrupt soldier and less like a Bomberman."

"I know what you mean, Blaze," said Arctic Bomber. "That's why I'm sticking with my Bowling Bombs; they give the word 'strike' a whole new meaning! Now don't you worry about a thing, Ami; I'll just get as close as I can to Kraid and throw my bombs at him like I'm doing the Shot Put at the Olympic Games! Easy!"

After discussing their plans and new abilities, the team split into three groups as instructed to fight Kraid, Phantoon and Draygon simultaneously, unaware that the Four Bomber Kings are prepped for a whole another beating to give them.

[End BGM]

[Stage BGM: Tragedy's Pulse (Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia)]

-BLAZE, ARCTIC AND YUMI'S PATH: SWAMPY JUNGLE-

"Be ready...for anything and everything," said Yumi. "My trusty guitar's sound riffs can stun 'em long enough for you two to blast 'em away!"

"I'll have my radar on at all times to warn us of any incoming threats," added Blaze Bomber.

"Any machine gun the terrorists have at their disposal, I'll gladly steal from them and return fire for you in case my ice powers alone won't cut it!" boasted Arctic Bomber. "AK-47, SG5 Commando, P90, UMP-45, KS7, you name it! Personally, I prefer the AK-47 because to me, it's got a certain flair to it...but hey, what can I say? I like playing FPS games sometimes. Just no sniper rifles, please. I really hate their slow rate of fire, plus I don't like having to aim down my sight if they're gonna swat me all over the place like a freakin' fly."

"Then I'll provide covering fire with a sniper rifle if necessary. I've been practicing up with Bill and Lance at a shooting range and by playing Silent Scope in my spare time. Think of this as an insurance policy in our favor, because knowing Sniper Bomber, he tends to wise up on his dirty tactics. Furthermore, considering the Red Falcon Empire's MO based on our last visit to Galuga Island, it's no secret their gunmen always use the deadliest sniper rifle of all: the AWP."

"But what about your flame powers? It's not like you to just throw it over for-"

Blaze interrupted, "Assuming the enemies we encounter have fireproof or iceproof armor. I could have both of us combine our fire and ice powers for high-explosive damage, but it's best that we conserve our energy for emergency situations...such as our battles against the likes of Kraid and Ridley. If my theory is correct, we'll need to be in perfect harmony to pull off such a tag team attack."

"In other words, don't waste it too much on the small fry. Speaking of which..." Arctic spotted three enemy guards chattering about how they should be given access to better weapons, and a first-class meal for having to slog through swampy areas in their patrol every 10 hours. She could relate to them in a way, but they were still among terrorists serving under a legion of alien warmongers from space; they had to be taken out ASAP. "Ahh, so you clowns like playing with bombs, huh? Well bombs away, you unpatriotic, bomb-kissing cheeseballs!" She knocked them over with a Bowling Bomb, stealing a scoped SG5 Commando and two P90s as her bomb blew them up.

"Why do I get the feeling they're about to know we're here?" wondered Yumi, picking off a sniper atop a palm tree with a sound blast from her guitar. Blaze wasted no time taking the dead grunt's AWP, making sure it still had plenty of armor-piercing rounds left in reserve.

"Who gives a crap, Yumi? They're gonna come after us anyway."

"If I may interrupt for a moment, Arctic," called Blaze Bomber. "My radar indicates Kraid isn't too far ahead from here, but he is somewhere underground. We'll have to press on and...is it me, or were those guns illegally modified with Phazon? Our Geiger counter shows high readings...and yet none of us are feeling any negative side-effects from touching them."

"Hello! Anti-Phazon gear, remember? These gloves we're wearing must have came with our armorsuits!" The Mistress of the Cold put the SG5 Commando on her back with a sling, as though it were a backpack, and held both P90s with her hands akimbo. "Now it's time to do what I always do at light gun arcade games like Area 51 or Aliens Armageddon: Dual-Wielding Action!"

"Don't go overboard, Arctic," warned Blaze.

"It's under control, Blaze. Just because I'm not as skilled as Aaron, Bill or Lance are, doesn't mean I can't play Rambo."

Yumi took Arctic's words to consideration. "Odd, I don't seem to recall John J. Rambo fighting like that in the movies..."

All of a sudden, they felt an earthquake tremor beneath their feet, accompanied by thundering footsteps. It turned out not a moment too soon, that the swamp was a front for an underground lair as a giant claw pierced through the ground and pulled them in!

[End BGM]
[Boss BGM: VS Kraid (Metroid: Zero Mission)]

RRRRROOOOOOOOOAAAAAARRRRR! The first noise they heard upon being grabbed by the claw, and already they reconsidered ever splitting up! No sooner than they had fallen into the cavern did they notice the claw belonged to a giant-sized, three-eyed dinosaur.

"Holy freakin' crap...Is it me, or does he look like he let himself go? Man, if Aaron and Ami were here, they'd say something like I haven't played much Metroid to realize that..."

"We may not have access to the Crash Missiles, Arctic," noted Blaze Bomber, "but we still have our own explosive means to win. Still, given that Kraid is WAY bigger than us, trying to get on top to aim for his head is another story. Plus, we don't have the High Jump Boots or Space Jump like Samus usually does; therefore we must work our way around Kraid's massive size."

"If you have any suggestions..." Yumi batted away the sharp projectiles coming from Kraid's claws with her guitar. "NOW'S THE TIME!"

"I'm afraid you won't live to rendezvous with your friends again anytime soon," called Dr. Mandrake. He stood on a hovering platform, safe from the attacks beneath himself. "Such a remarkable specimen, and with enormous attack power to boot. Colonel Bahamut will soon have an unstoppable army and by the time the people of your Diamond City realize it, it'll be far too late. Kraid, would you be so kind as to show them we mean business?"

He pressed a button on a control console mounted atop his platform, bringing in a large box of pizza for Kraid to devour. "I've tried countless ways of exploiting Phazon to crush the likes of you, so I figured that since Kraid apparently likes to eat, lacing all kinds of food - junk or otherwise - with Phazon will surely boost his attack power. Enjoy your last meal on Earth, lowly pawns!"

"No...you...DON'T!" Arctic broke herself and her two partners free from Kraid's grasp upon them, unloading on Kraid with both "her" P90s, all the while remembering to keep her aim steady when wielding two machine guns simultaneously. The only downside she had to put up with was each gun had to be reloaded from time to time, as opposed to the Contra Rifles' unlimited ammo. One of her stray shots damaged Dr. Mandrake's platform, forcing him to retreat lest he be next to fall into Kraid's gaping maw. "Hey Kraid, careful what you eat! You might get a little bad case of indigestion!" She hurled her Bowling Bomb directly into the giant dino's mouth, inflicting damage on the inside. Then he knocked her into the ground in anger, roaring again as he fired three large spikes from his belly. But the Mistress of the Cold jumped in front of Blaze and Yumi, intent on taking damage for them with her armorsuit's anti-Phazon shields still active. In the end, she eyed the box of pizza, therefore giving her an idea...

"Five Space Nights at Ridley's Pizzeria: FOR ALL YOUR SPACE PIRATING NEEDS, eh? Well, if Kraid's gonna use that Phazon junk, then let's see if I can't turn it against him."

"ARCTIC, NO!" cried Yumi. "What the hell do you think you're doing?! Don't be stupid!"

"Our armorsuits were designed for protection against Phazon attacks only!" warned Blaze Bomber. "You're gonna risk getting Phazon Corruption in your body!"

"Relax, fellas! I can handle it! If that stupid dino's not gonna play fair, why bother using strategy to exploit his weak spot unharmed?" Her eyes and body began to glow a radioactive blue hue, therefore increasing her finesse and attack power sharply. Then she jumped unnaturally high to unload on Kraid some more, punching him left and right in the face, and throwing more of her Bowling Bombs down his gullet until he finally gave up the ghost and fell to the ground face-first, nearly crushing Blaze Bomber and Yumi's bodies in the process.

"HA HA HA HA! See? I told you I can handle it! Phazon CAN make you strong after all, meaning if they're not gonna fight fair, neither will we!"

[End BGM]

"Arctic, we need to get you back to Crygor Labs," said a stern Blaze Bomber. "I think you're developing Phazon addiction, because our Geiger counter's readings indicate you've just spiked yourself up to about 30% Phazon Corruption after eating all of Kraid's unfinished boxes of drugged pizza."

"But don't you see, Blaze? I can save you guys from getting corrupted yourselves, even if it kills me! I've gotta have the stuff now if we wanna beat Bahamut and Mandrake at their own game!" Without warning, she ran off to find some Phazon reserves to steal.

"You're a Contra, not a martyr! Arctic, come back! The space drug will kill you!" But it was too late for Blaze. "Dang!"

He opened up the transmission channel on his wrist communicator. "Aaron, Ami, Bill, Lance...and Yuffie, we've got a problem on our hands. We just did our part by defeating Kraid and..." There was static on his end. "Guys? Crap, it's gotta be that jamming device somewhere on the island! We'll have to get in touch with Z if we can, but in the meantime, we've got to chase after Arctic Bomber and stop herself from getting killed by Phazon!"

"I thought you guys said she knew better!" said Yumi.

"I know...It's just sometimes she gets a little too reckless for her own good. I pray she knows what she's doing..."

TO BE CONTINUED...

Interesting side note: the James Bond 007 games were known for renaming real-life guns to avoid copyright issues. The "SG5 Commando", which appeared in 007: NightFire, is actually the SIG SG 551, whilst the "Koffler & Stock KS7" from James Bond 007: Agent Under Fire is known in real life as the Heckler & Koch MP5. Furthermore, I am basing the selection of guns that the heroes can temporarily steal from dead terrorists in case of trouble on my personal experience; in other words, I've played enough hours of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive via Steam to decide which guns I like using the best (P90, for instance). However, I do need some practice pulling off perfect headshots with a sniper rifle, let alone an AWP, without getting noticed or swatted away quickly...but I'm okay with a shotgun.

Unfortunately, my MSI Gaming Laptop doesn't seem to be as powerful as an actual gaming desktop, so any attempt to play the game online would defeat the purpose with slowdowns. But that's okay, because I can always practice with AI bots in any game mode. On a personal note, however, I consider Team Fortress 2 to be more fun (that, and there aren't any slowdowns on my end so far) because of its sense of humor.