Mega Loop 1.0 Part 6: Overtime!
Rock blinked. "We're still here."
Roll, no longer in super form but still in her super adapter, looked at him. "Were we supposed to be somewhere else?"
"Yeah," Sonic piped up. "Everything should have gone back to where and when it was before. Heck, this whole Zone shouldn't still be here. Something's up."
"My memories of the last time have fully restored," Rock allowed, "and they show me waking back up in our home universe after firing off Chaos Control."
"Well," Blues sat up from where he'd fallen nearby when his mysterious super form had cut out. He was feeling... mostly better. "Before we do anything else, we should probably secure the doctors."
"When did–?" Rock and Roll blinked in surprise at seeing their brother up and about.
"When you were charging the Chaos Control," Blues told them. "The doctor tried to shoot you. I stopped them. Not entirely sure how though."
"Yeah," Sonic swallowed nervously at hearing how close a call they'd just had, "thanks man. If they'd succeeded it would have been... bad."
"Is everyone alright?" asked Dr. Light as he and Knuckles coasted over on Rush's jet form and the loaned Item-2 jet respectively.
"Well, Albert?" moaned Paradox Eggman from his personal craft, ejected at the last moment before the last of the Egg-Wily Machine X was destroyed. "What now?"
Wily in his own saucer took a moment, as if listening to something. "Now we make a tactical retreat, Ivo. I've still got cards left to play, but we're vulnerable right here and now."
"Hey!" Sonic blurted suddenly. "The docs are making a break for it!"
With that, he took off running towards where the two doctors were indeed flying their personal craft at the opening Knuckles had made when he, Shadow, and Blues had busted in.
After a moment, he realized there was someone running alongside him and turned to look at his ally in surprise.
"You get one guess what your master weapon was," (1) the still-blue and cyan Rock grinned at him as he raced alongside the hedgehog. For an instant, Sonic could almost swear there was an image of himself hovering over the robot, but the feeling vanished and Sonic grinned back.
"So you got the speed? Then let's see if you can handle the pace!"
Air Man was in mid-jump, flinging miniature tornadoes at any enemy he could see with his Air Shooter, when a bolt of electricity struck him in the back, sending him to the ground. He turned, and saw Elec Man approach, lightning crackling over his fingertips. Elec Man looked at him with a smirk, and said with bravado: "Hey, Airhead, you've got three seconds to live, I suggest you use them wisely."
"Foolish creation of Light," Airman shot back, "I control the air itself, you are a pitiful static charger. Once one of my tornadoes strikes you, you are finished. You will never escape its vortex."
"Ha! How arrogant of you!" Elec Man retorted with no small amount of hypocrisy. "Can you put lightning in a jar? Can you put a thunderstorm under lock and key!?" he yelled.
"YES I CAN!" Air Man declared, firing dozens of tornadoes at his foe.
Elec Man, brimming with confidence, closed the distance, avoiding each shot, then loosed his Thunder Beam at full charge, shocking Air Man down to his core. Elec Man walked by Air Man with a smirk as the robot master collapsed, smoking. "Sorry airhead, but you just can't defeat Elec Man." (2)
CHANCE OF LOOP ACTIVATION SUCCESS: #3%
DATA CORRUPTION ERROR.
RECALCULATING...
Sally was the first to notice it. Their opponents had... stopped returning after they were defeated since the wave passed over everything.
"Full press everyone!" She yelled, taking a moment to use her energy blades on Magic Man. "The doctors can't time clone them anymore!"
Shortly after Mega Man sped off with Sonic to chase the doctors, Knuckles was nearly thrown off his feet when the robot Dr. Light had identified as Duo crashed up through the floor with Chaos 0 riding on his back.
"Dr. Light," the large alien robot declared, "I have restored this Guardian of Chaos to his proper self."
Knuckles quirked an eyebrow. That was an interesting way to refer to Chaos. Not exactly inaccurate either.
"Where are the doctors?" Duo asked. "Their Evil actions demand that Justice be served."
"My brother and Sonic took off after them," Roll told him as she and her remaining brother disengaged their super adapters and had their companions turn into their personal jet forms. Roll idly noted the new 'hoverboard' appearance that Beat had taken on as they did.
"I contacted Shade," Blues continued for her, "and the robot master army is beginning to thin. We should go there first and finish up so that our full forces can be brought against the doctors and whatever they have left in reserve."
"I'd prefer to bring Shadow back with us," Knuckles added, "but he's not answering his radio so we'll have to go without him."
"Are you not concerned for your ally?" Duo questioned the echidna.
"Nah," Knuckles waved the question off as he fired up the loaned Item-2 jet, Dr. Light getting aboard Rush's own jet mode. "He can handle himself just fine."
"So," Shadow asked the ebony robot before him, "how do you want to do this?"
Rock was starting to realize why Sonic was such an action addict. This was amazing!
After exiting the Wily Egg's interior, the doctors had stuck close to the surface, allowing Sonic and Rock to run on it after them. Only their speed kept the two heroes from sliding down the steep angle.
Why the doctors had chosen to stay close became clear as exterior defenses clearly made with just this sort of high speed battle in mind activated and began firing on them. Rock occupied himself with destroying the defenses and harassing the doctors with his Mega Buster, which utility weapons like Sonic's allowed for, while Sonic himself was doing his best to disable their craft with Homing Attacks.
If at all possible, the goal was to prevent the doctors from re-entering the Wily Egg at another location.
CHANCE OF LOOP ACTIVATION SUCCESS: 2!%
DATA CORRUPTION ERROR.
RECALCULATING...
"Hey guys," Oil Man said nervously as the flame-wielding robots Turbo Man and Capricorn closed in on him. "No hard feelings, right?" (3)
He'd crashed into Turbo Man's race car mode using his Oil Slider and they'd both gone careening into Capricorn while he was dueling Antoine.
In response to his question Capricorn's saber ignited, as did the large spinning wheels that made up Turbo Man's shoulders.
"In a moment, no," Turbo Man declared. "There won't be any hard feelings at all then."
Fortunately before they could advance any further, a sword erupted from Capricorn's torso from behind and a violet female form kicked Turbo Man in the head, knocking him over.
"Zis eez not how an honorable opponent comports himself," Antoine glared as he finished off Capricorn, "no?"
Oil Man was more concerned with the way his other savior had stumbled after knocking Turbo Man over. "Whoa there hot stuff!" he cautioned as he steadied her. "You alright?"
"I'll be fine," Blaze told him as Antoine engaged Turbo Man and slashed his tires. "Still a little light headed from what happened earlier." 'Not that surprising,' she added mentally. 'It's not often I'm knocked out of super form that hard.'
"Not sure I agree with that, babe," Oil Man returned unbelievingly.
"It's fine," Blaze insisted, summoning a large ball of fire to re-enter the fray, "I can handle–"
Her head swam again and she stumbled, only for Oil Man to catch her once more.
"Yeah, it doesn't look like you're at 100%, hot stuff," he told her flatly.
"It doesn't matter," She clenched her teeth. "My flames are needed."
"Tell ya what," the robot changed tactics. "Can you handle a candle without hurting yourself?"
"I am Blaze," she sneered, "mistress of flame. And this battle needs much more than a candle."
"I ain't disagreeing, babe," he stared straight back. "I'm Oil Man. If you can make a candle, I can turn it into an inferno."
Blaze turned that over in her aching head. "Very well."
A moment later Plant Man and Search Man were lit up by the flamethrower the two had produced.
"Give it up Cut Man!" Metal Man yelled as the two robots flung their trademark blades at each other. "I'm the superior model! I'm stronger! Faster! And my Metal Blades are sharper!"
"Yeah, you're a real cut-up alright!" Cut Man called back. "But you forgot a few things!"
"Like what?" Metal Man asked.
"One," Cut Man said as he grabbed two Metal Blades with his bare hands, "I'm not the one weak to bladed objects."
Metal Man replied by throwing more of the circular saw weapons at his opponent.
"Two," Cut Man deflected the weapons with the ones he'd caught, "the Rolling Cutter's a boomerang-style weapon."
Metal Man's eyes widened as one of the returning scissor-like weapons sheared through his neck.
"But it's nothing to lose your head over."
Time Man almost casually activated his Time Slow as Quick Man made for him and just as casually dispatched the speedster.
"Oh, that feels good!" Grenade Man cried as he exploded.
"Weirdo," Bomb Man declared. (4)
CHANCE OF LOOP ACTIVATION SUCCESS: M5%
DATA CORRUPTION ERROR.
RECALCULATING...
Fire Man and Ice Man stood back-to-back as they took out Cold Man and Burner Man respectively.
Guts Man was plowing through the opposition when he spotted Charge Man gunning for him. Planting his feet, he drew back his fist and got ready.
"Last stop!" he yelled as he belted Charge Man in the face, sending the train-themed robot master careening across the ground. "Everybody off!"
Rock was impressed with the efficiency of the weapon he'd gained from Sonic. He and the hedgehog had been chasing the doctors over the Wily Egg's surface for a while, denied them two alternate entry points, and it still had over half its energy left.
Hmm... If he knew Wily, and he did, the doctor would be switching tactics about now.
Wily got a far-away look in his eyes for a moment before calling out to his partner.
"Ivo! The new developments are almost ready, but we're getting nowhere like this! Time to move to a different battlefield!"
Paradox Eggman looked at the plan Albert had messaged him and grinned. "Brilliant! That'll shake things up for sure!"
CHANCE OF LOOP ACTIVATION SUCCESS: 1*%
DATA CORRUPTION ERROR.
RECALCULATING...
"Okay!" Hephaestus declared. "I think I've isolated the scenario corruption enough that I can repair it!"
"While the Loop's running?" Hermes looked at his companion. "Isn't that kind of risky?"
"If you've got an alternative, I'd like to hear it!"
"Just making sure man," the god of travel held up his hands defensively. "Anything I can help with?"
"Yes!" the volcanic god told him. "Wily's got a virus in his code, I'm sure of it now! I need you to find and either delete, quarantine, or firewall it! He's bad enough as a Dreamer, I don't need him viral on top of it!"
"Uh, exactly how–"
"You're a trickster, aren't you?" the god of the forge cut him off. "Get creative!"
Can you feel that?
Nnng... The headaches were getting worse, but they came with such ideas!
Reality is trying to stop you. Keep you down. Prevent you from achieving the fruits of your genius. Ensure that you'll always be second to Thomas for all eternity.
Yes... It was so clear now. Fate and even creation itself were against him. So they'd pay like all the others...
Do it. End it all.
Because he was a genius!
Duo charged ahead of the rest of the group coming from the Wily Egg and hit the ground in an explosion of energy. The impact decimated a half-dozen robot masters and knocked several more off their feet.
The doctors had changed course and of course the two heroes had chased after them. They'd gone up to the top of the battlestation, and then straight down the other side. Down and down the two heroes had chased the doctors, the slope of the Wily Egg they traversed getting ever steeper until they were in more of a controlled free-fall than an actual run.
And then the doctors began to pull away into the open air.
"Oh, that's just playing dirty!" Sonic complained as the doctors laughed at the two heroes.
Rock's mind however was racing. His utility-class weapons were among the few that supported simultaneous use with his Mega Buster, something he'd discussed with Dr. Light and the two had worked together on an upgrade to his systems. An upgrade that would let him use two utility weapons at once. Plus an add-on Dr. Light had come up with to fire the items into place at range if necessary.
"Trust me," he told Sonic. "I've got an idea."
Rock switched to a particular upgrade that had been made for his brother Blues since Beat as an aerial unit didn't properly support ground-bound modes. The Coil Adapter essentially generated a device that performed the same function as the Rush and Tango Coils.
With it, he fired off two of the devices ahead right into his and Sonic's paths.
"Sweet!" the hedgehog grinned as they both hit the devices at a run and sprang out into the open air after the doctors.
CHANCE OF LOOP ACTIVATION SUCCESS: N0%
DATA CORRUPTION ERROR.
RECALCULATING...
Hephaestus twitched at the notice as he continued typing away.
Blues and Knuckles fought side by side through the diminishing throng of robot masters, all opposition falling to their combined might.
"Well, that's that Albert!" Paradox Eggman gloated. "No way they can jump far enough to get us out–eh?"
"All weapons ready Ivo!" Wily furiously mashed buttons in his craft. "Knock them out of the sky!"
"You don't have to tell me twice!" Paradox Eggman yelled back as he began similar frantic button mashing.
"Hey there Ugly! I'm Aqua Man, but you can call me handsome!" the self-identified robot master gloated to Chaos 0. Up until the liquid guardian leapt down the barrel of his cannon and expanded in the robot's water tank until he burst of course.
Rouge lamented the fact that this would be the last time she'd be able to pry Jewel Man's head gem off as the Chaotix brawled past, downing Dyna Man and Torch Man among others.
"There you are," Hermes spoke towards his terminal as he located the virus infecting Dr. Wily's code. "Geez, you've really dug in haven't you?"
First things first, quarantine Wily so the virus couldn't spread. The work Hephaestus had put together for that Waltz character would be plenty for this task, and fortunately the evidence pointed to Wily being the only one infected. With this virus at least.
"Now to see if I can't reverse what you're doing to the bad doctor..."
No! We will not be contained! We will not be denied!
No, no he wouldn't. He had nothing left to lose and plenty of cards left to play.
An end to everything!
Now that they weren't running anymore, Rock had switched out of Sonic Speed. He'd also switched to another weapon that fit the situation and timed it just right before firing as he and Sonic neared the apex of their spring-aided jump.
They'd each performed synchronized linear three-point landings on a Super Arrow and allowed it to carry them through the air towards the doctors battlecrafts.
"This is tight!" Sonic exclaimed. "It's like grinding on air!"
"Not one of my favorites," Rock admitted, "but it works for stuff like this."
And then they were in the zone of engagement. (5) As Rock exchanged fire with Wily's saucer, Paradox Eggman swung a massive wrecking ball chained to his craft at Sonic. The hedgehog leapt over the assault, sacrificing the Super Arrow, and went for a Homing Attack.
"Foolish hedgehog!" Paradox Eggman called out. "There's nothing to land on!"
Rock ceased his fire for a moment to jump from his Super Arrow and fire off an Item-1 platform right where Sonic would land and then a pair of Item-3s which attached themselves to each doctor's craft.
"You were saying, doc?" Sonic taunted as he went for another attack.
Rock jumped off as Wily retreated into his craft and electrified the exterior as Paradox Eggman's wrecking ball swung up nearby. Switching to the Wire Adapter, he latched onto the wrecking ball and swung under Paradox Eggman's craft and created two more Item-1 platforms for Sonic before switching to his Mega Buster.
Sonic took the hint and bounded off of the lower platform, Homing Attacked the hover mechanisms for Wily's saucer, and landed on the other. As he did so, Rock shot out the thrust for Paradox Eggman's craft with his Mega Buster as he rode his wire attached to the craft's wrecking ball.
"You fools!" Wily cried. "Now we'll all crash!"
"Nah," Sonic retorted as his upwards Spin Dash clipped the side of Wily's saucer even as Rock swung back up above Paradox Eggman's and began firing on the craft. "After all, we're awesome."
"We'll see about that!" the doctors both yelled and counter-attacked.
Yes. Make ..em pay. Make them a.. pa..
Was his headache clearing up?
Hermes frowned as he did his best to firewall the virus in Dr. Wily and break its hold on the man. It had done its best to wrap around Wily's core identity. If Hephaestus hadn't noticed it, then the virus would have been able to dig in further, eventually making removal impossible without doing irreparable damage to the man's personality.
Not that Wily was a shining example in the first place, but it was the principle of the thing.
Cloud Man exploded from one of Shade's bombs as Dr. Light used his makeshift arm cannon to disable Magma Man. A short ways away Tails in the Tornado's walker mode and E-123 Omega gunned down a few other robot masters.
Rock had managed to land on the Item-3 still attached to Paradox Eggman's craft, but Sonic had taken a hit and began falling.
Without thinking, Rock dove after him and fired a Carry platform – Item-1 was running low – below Sonic and a Coil Adapter atop it. The hedgehog hit the spring and rebounded upwards as Rock formed an Item-2 under himself and rocketed after him.
Taking a moment to latch a few more Item-3s onto the doctor's crafts – just in time for Sonic to land on one after another Homing Attack – Rock then switched to his Mega Buster and began firing.
The doctors both swore and counter-attacked, a shot managing to take out Rock's Item-2 jet as he circled Wily's saucer. Thinking fast, he latched onto it with the Wire Adapter and began placing Balloon Adapters as he swung around at high speed, Sonic following behind him to pinball between the balloon platforms and Wily's personal craft. Damaged, the saucer began losing altitude fast.
As he came back around, Rock disengaged the Wire and let himself be flung towards Paradox Eggman's craft at high speeds, Sonic right behind him. They impacted the flying vehicle with great force, sending it plummeting as well.
"Hate! You! Both!" Paradox Eggman yelled up at them as he and Wily frantically tried to get propulsion back online before they crashed into the ground.
"You do have a plan for us getting down safely, right?" Sonic asked.
"Oh, I've saved the best for last," Rock grinned back.
"Sacre bleu!"
The rest of the freedom fighters, plus Cream and Cheese, looked up at Antoine's exclamation to see the falling crafts of the doctors. With the forms of Sonic and Mega Man in freefall right behind them.
"Damnit Rock!" Roll yelled from nearby as she blasted Bright Man. "How is this being careful?!"
A triumphant cry from the doctors as well as their slowed descent indicated that they'd gotten their crafts back in working order.
"Any time now," Sonic sniped impatiently as the ground got closer.
Rock grinned as he reactivated the Sonic Speed weapon as well as one of his all-time favorites. Heck, it was one of the few weapons he regularly practiced with in his spare time.
Pointing his arm cannon ahead of them, Rock produced a glowing blue platform at just the right angle for the two to run on. As they got closed to the ground, Rock curved it so their downward momentum would become lateral momentum.
"This is awesome!" Sonic cheered as he raced on the glowing energy road his friend was making even as they raced along it.
"I know, right?" Rock yelled back. "Just keep going, I've got everything under control!"
Sonic responded by smirking and revving into a Spin Dash as the platform leveled out and extended in the direction of Paradox Eggman's craft while Rock skidded to a halt.
"Fools!" Paradox Eggman righted himself and swung his wrecking ball towards the underside of the platform. "I've got you right where I want you!"
The wrecking ball impacted the glowing platform just as Sonic reached that section... and didn't even make it shudder.
"Oh–" Paradox Eggman swore as Sonic blasted straight through his craft and sent the double flying.
CHANCE OF LOOP ACTIVATION SUCCESS: 6&%
DATA CORRUPTION ERROR.
RECALCULATING...
"I am the last robot master!" Bubble Man declared as the rest of his compatriots finished falling. "That means I am death incarnate! Come and meet your doo–"
Bubble Man was cut off when Paradox Eggman smashed him into the ground and continued rolling into the midst of the gathered warriors. Looking up and realizing he was surrounded by Sonic's allies and without a weapon of his own, the face of Paradox Eggman flipped around to show an electronic countdown.
"Paradox Eggman is–" *ZAP*
"Yeah, we'll have none of that," Elec Man stated as he used his electrical abilities to short out the robot double's detonator, along with most of its other systems. The inert metal body of the false Eggman collapsed to the ground as he spoke. (6)
E.. ...n.. D. .. ... ... ... i... .t... ...!
It was clearing up. His headache was nearly gone, but the ideas that had come with it had served their purpose.
He knew what he had to do.
Hermes swore under his breath. He almost had the virus fully firewalled off from Wily's main personality code, but the damage had been done.
"The virus is just about contained, man," he told his compatriot, "and I've synched up the Loop reset to regenerate the damage to Wily's personality, but the guy's just not changing his mind."
"They can handle him," Hephaestus muttered distractedly as he typed away furiously at his terminal. He had to get the parameters fixed or the Loop wouldn't be able to either reach proper completion or finish setting the Anchors in place.
As Duo used his Justice Energy to help Blaze (or the 'Lady of Righteous Flames' as he called her) recover, the rest of the group surrounded Wily's saucer. Nearby, Orbot and Cubot curled up into their more durable geometric forms.
"It's over Albert," Dr. Light told him. "You've lost. I saw the Genesis Wave Device rendered inoperable by the feedback when Roll restored reality, your army lies defeated, and your partner was slain by your own actions. There is nothing left for you here."
Wily simply began laughing. And laughing. It began to unnerve everyone a bit actually. The only people who laughed like that were those who had completely cracked, or weren't as beaten as they seemed.
And while there was ample evidence for the former, no one was ready to discount the latter.
"And why should I Thomas?" Wily cackled and pointed upwards. "When I've still got this!"
Getting a sinking feeling, all present looked upwards and beheld a fleet of airships stretching to the horizon constructed in the joint Eggman-Wily theme. All were armed to the teeth and headed by what Sonic and his allies recognized as the Egg Carrier as well as what Rock and his family knew to be the Wily Battleship.
'Yep,' Sonic thought to himself, 'that would have been enough to take Prospit and Derse's armies.'
"If you say so Heph," Hermes turned back to his own terminal.
Tails tuned out Wily's rant about how he and Eggman had 'gone easy' on them all and 'let them' get as far as they did. They'd probably just had the fleet too far and spread out to recall quickly or easily. Which would explain all the delaying tactics they'd thrown at everyone along the way here now that he thought about it.
He was getting out the secret weapon Knuckles had asked him to bring along just in case something like this happened. He'd have gotten it out earlier, but he'd been too caught up in the massive melee to heed the echidna's signals and forgotten he'd had it.
"There we go," Knuckles grinned as Tails lowered the Master Emerald out of the Tornado's storage bay. It was a good thing they'd worked on a backup system for the floating island this Loop so this could be done. "Don't worry everyone, I've got this."
And with that, Knuckles used the massive gem's power to transform into the glowing pink Hyper Knuckles and took to the air towards the massive fleet.
"Cease your Evil actions at once Dr. Wily and surrender yourself to Justice," Duo demanded of the doctor. It was only the request of Dr. Light that he stayed his hand from smiting the madman where he stood. "I can feel the power of my ally and your fleet is no match."
The madman laughed at him. "Is that so?"
A different power flared and Duo turned in time to see his empowered ally struck by a massive beam from the floating battlestation. The feeling of empowerment vanished and Duo immediately flew off to prevent his crimson ally from falling to his death.
Wily's laughter followed him mockingly.
So focused was he on the rescue of a Just hero that he missed the flare as Wily's saucer drew power from somewhere to simultaneously repair itself and create a shockwave that threw his gathered allies off their feet.
So focused was he on ensuring that he halted the red beast-man's fall safely that he missed the build-up of power from Wily's saucer directed at him.
But even he could never be so focused that he didn't notice a beam of concentrated Evil Energy pierce his torso.
CHANCE OF LOOP ACTIVATION SUCCESS: $4%
DATA CORRUPTION ERROR.
RECALCULATING...
"If you say so."
"Duo!" Rock shouted in alarm as the charged beam of dark purple energy lanced from Wily's saucer through the alien robot's body.
"Knux!" Sonic yelled as both Duo and the unconscious red body of the echidna in question began to fall.
And then they halted in midair as a tractor beam snagged them.
"Who dares interfere!" Wily demanded to the source of the tractor beam, a carrier-type hovercraft that loosely resembled a certain moth from a series of popular giant monster movies. "How did you get past my fleet?!"
"I dare," proclaimed a blond-brown haired, bearded, and bispectacled scientist who appeared on a holographic projection in front of the craft as the two figures in the tractor beam were carefully lowered to the ground.
"Dr. Cossack!" several members of the Light family cheered.
The named scientist pushed his glasses back up his nose as he regarded Wily. "And you should really install some better firewalls in your airships, comrade."
Indeed, the entire fleet was not only not firing on the craft, several seemed to be listing off course. Even as those below watched, several crashed into their neighbors and went down in flames.
Wily fumed at the sight. "You think you're so smart Cossack! But let's see you deal with this!"
He pressed a button and a flash of teleportation went off in the middle of the gathered heroes. Right over Chaos 0 in fact.
When the light died down, a brand new Devil Core could be seen trying to assimilate itself into the liquid body of Chaos. And succeeding. The burst of Chaos's expansion back into the Chaos Devil threw back all those around it and the beast roared its challenge.
"Heel," Wily commanded his reacquired asset, and the Chaos Devil did exactly that.
"Is that all you have left doctor?" Cossack stared down from his projection.
"No," Wily grinned and pressed a button in his saucer. "Not at all."
More flashes of teleportation lit up the battlefield on Wily's side.
The Light family listed off each one as it appeared.
"Fake Man," Rock pointed out the police robot. "Make that a squad of Fake Men."
"Metool Daddy," Roll said as a giant met smashed into the ground.
"Mecha Dragon," Rock identified the large mechanical dragon next to the giant Guts Man tank. "Guts Dozer."
"CWU-01P," Roll noted a machine in a bubble as a green alien appeared next to it out of thin air in the middle of a bunch of flying square drones. "That damn alien hologram from his second invasion, Picopico-kun drones."
"The four Dark Men," Blues scowled at the four clear dome-headed robots; one green with tank-treads instead of legs and an arm cannon, one gray one that crackled with electromagnetic energy, a purple one with a machine-cannon in place of an arm, and a crimson one that seemed as strong as all of the other three; fortunately with purely robotic processors this time. "Big PETS, CircringQ9," he added the pillar-like robot and the one encased in a ring of metal.
"Tank CSII," Dr. Light frowned at the tripod-wheeled weapon before turning to the tank-treaded torso piloted by a metool and the robot apatosaurus. "Metonger Z, Mechazaurus."
"Mash," Rock stared at what looked like a ball with arm and leg caricatures, and a tiny head as an afterthought next to a robot crab and a steamroller with a mohawk. "Yadocargo, Grinder."
"King," Blues stated flatly as an axe-wielding orange robot in a cape appeared along with a purple tank and a purple flying machine.
"Seriously?" Sonic raised an eyebrow.
"He beat me in single combat last time we met," Blues informed the hedgehog.
"Gotcha," Sonic returned to being serious as more arrivals were noted.
"Bliking," Roll observed a steel-gray flying machine with flat wings that looked like they extended. Next to it was a giant metal turtle and a flying mask with guns. "Gameriser, HannyaNED², and are those Weapons Archive drones?"
"Weapons Archive?" Sally inquired of the cylindrical drones with spikes on top and bottom.
"Each one contains a weapon from one of Dr. Wily's robot masters," Rock began.
"Even ours," Elec Man added.
"And probably yours from when you were roboticized," Rock finished. "There's certainly enough of them."
"Apollo and Luna, leaders of the Constellation Droids," Dr. Light noted two familiar faces. "Damnit Albert..."
"CRORQ," Roll called attention to something that to Sonic and several of his allies looked like the bastard offspring of a supercomputer and one of those Imperial AT-ST Walkers from the Star Wars Loop.
"Yellow Devil, Green Devil, Block Devil," Rock listed each of the Devil series creations forming alongside the Chaos Devil before his voice hitched with the next one. "R-Ra Devil?"
"And Dark Moon," Blues noted the last. "Which means..."
"Ra Thor," Rock gulped as the black robot appeared.
"Terra," Roll's voice trembled, "and the rest of the Stardroids. Even... scrap, that's Sunstar."
"And who's your alien buddy's evil twin?" Sonic asked of the next arrival.
"His name... is Slur," Duo gasped from behind them as he struggled to his feet, waving off concern as he tried to cover the gaping hole in his torso. "I am damaged... not slain my friends. And yes... that one is the... avatar of Evil... as I am the same for Justice. We... are eternal foes."
'Oh, that's not good,' Sonic thought to himself. The Duo guy was knocking on super form strength normally and now there was an evil version of him to fight?
And finally, an off-color copy of Wily's saucer appeared next to the real thing piloted by an obvious robot double before the two vanished and reappeared back among the main force.
"What," Dr. Cossack observed calmly, "no Gamma?"
Wily muttered something that sounded like 'damn size limitations' before responding. "I do not need Gamma with this army!"
"Excuse me?" Sunstar was suddenly in between the two saucers looking unfriendly. (7) "Why should we lower ourselves to work with such an inferior lifeform as you?"
"Because we have a common enemy," Wily was looking as if he was trying not to sweat. "We can settle things between ourselves after Mega Man and his allies lie dead by our hands."
Sunstar was silent for a long moment.
"What about you?" Terra turned to Slur. "You with us or him?"
"I am with whoever shall do the most for the cause of Evil," Slur dismissed the Stardroid. "And for now that seems like the 'inferior' lifeform has exceeded you in that regard."
"Very well," Sunstar's agreement cut off any response Terra might have given. "But you are dead once that is finished."
"We shall see," Wily returned confidently.
"As amusing as all this is," Dr. Cossack interjected, "I'm going to have to cut things short."
And with that, Sunstar was coated with a gooey substance and fell as more globs of the stuff along with large explosive rockets rained down on the gathered forces followed by numerous two-legged machines that began attacking and sowing confusion.
"Cockroaches!" Roll sounded relieved, before noting the looks that had gotten. "Okay, so Dr. Cossack needs a better name for them, but they're on our side!"
And arriving with them was an orange robot on an Item-2 jet that was spraying the globs of goo and Auto on another with his home-made bazooka firing rockets like they were going out of style. (8) They adjusted and made for the two saucers, only to have both teleport away. However, when Wily and his robot double reappeared, another robot riding an Item-2 jet attacked.
"Tempo!" Rock cheered the green-armored female robot sometimes known as Quake Woman as her Quake Drill destroyed Wily's robot double and sent the second saucer crashing to the ground. She, Auto, and the orange robot then made for the gathered heroes as Dr. Cossack landed his craft and exited with Eddie. The walking suitcase began dispensing E-Tanks for the robots while the opposing forces were lost in confusion.
"DLN-009 Bond Man reporting for duty!" the orange robot saluted as he stopped in front of Dr. Light. "Hostiles are shaken, not stirred."
"Good to see you up and about Bond Man," Dr. Light smiled. "We're thankful for the help."
"Yeah," Sonic agreed, "But we still need to do something about those Devil things. I think they're coming for us."
Sure enough, the Chaos Devil was advancing on the gathered heroes along with the Yellow and Green Devils.
"Don't worry," Auto thumped his chest with his free hand, "Me and Eddie got this one. Eddie! Super adapter!"
The flip-top suitcase chirped as the Lights blinked in astonishment and proceeded to combine... with the bazooka.
Auto then aimed the weapon at the Chaos Devil and pulled the trigger. "SHOTGUN FESTIVAL!"
A deluge of fireworks erupted from the weapon and proceeded to pound the Chaos Devil so hard and fast that it couldn't reform its body fast enough to protect the core. The shattered remains of the device landed a short ways away after the barrage died down and the water reformed into Chaos 0, who promptly thrust his arms into the ground and caused a pair of water-spikes to pierce the Devil cores of the Yellow and Green Devils, taking them out as well.
"That was awesome!" several of Sonic's friends cheered the goofy green robot as Chaos 0 returned to their ranks and made its way over to Duo.
He was mad. He was furious. Everything had been going so well and then Mikhail had to show up and ruin it all.
"I am... glad to see you well..." Duo struggled to get out. Chaos merely looked back at him before flowing into the robot's wounds. Duo felt a surge of strength fill him as his damage was... patched and his faulty systems bypassed as his fellow guardian joined with him. Even forming a second giant fist over his smaller hand. "I see. Thank you for your aid, my friend. Let us see that Justice is served."
Sonic narrowed his eyes as Chaos joined his body to Duo's, however temporarily. The Cossack guy and Dr. Light were carrying Knux into the craft and off the battlefield, plus their enemies were getting their act back together pretty quickly. "Yeah, screw this. Everyone, if you've got something big in reserve, bring it out."
As if his words had opened the floodgates, his fellows began pulling out all the stops to win one last brawl for all the marbles.
The three Light siblings re-equipped their super adapters while their robotic allies stood ready and recharged. Blaze might still be burned out on her super mode from her previous transformation Burning Blaze, but Sonic could see she'd recovered enough to surround herself in a burning corona of flame as her friend Marine was summoning massive amounts of water to fight with. Tails was transforming the Tornado into the Mecha form he'd designed into after that trip to the Transformers' place. Amy hefted her best hammer, grinning. Cream and Rouge brought out the intelligent devices they'd gotten during their stint in Nanoha's Loop as Omega cocked his many, many guns while thanking Rouge for access to exploding rounds. The Chaotix were whipping out the magic musical instruments that Vector had browbeaten him into forking over as payment before they'd been roboticized. Silver was apparently still cooling down from a previous super mode transformation, but he nonetheless began glowing with psychokinetic energy while Shade was prepping explosives. Even the Freedom Fighters were gearing up with battle suits Rotor had designed for them earlier this Loop. Big simply stood there and Shadow was... nowhere to be seen.
As for himself? He might still be on cooldown for his usual super form like three of his friends were, but he'd collected plenty of other methods of achieving a similar state over the Loops. He'd probably be regretting this later, especially after going werehog earlier as well, but some things were worth feeling like crap over afterwards.
The emotional energy of the World Rings swept over him as his blue spines darkened to purple. Darkspine Sonic lifted his head to glare with blank glowing eyes at the opposing army and he growled out the order that sent everyone charging forward.
"End this."
CHANCE OF LOOP ACTIVATION SUCCESS: 7^%
DATA CORRUPTION ERROR.
RECALCULATING...
The musical instruments the Chaotix began to play were from those loops where music did things like bend the power of nature. With Espio on guitar, Ray on keys, Mighty on bass, Charmy on drums, and Vector on mike there was an epic storm brewing. (9)
The ground cracked, the sky split, the wind howled, and lightning crashed as the gathered forces of two Loops charged forward.
Darkspine Sonic took the lead with Tails in the Tornado mech, looking to take out the remaining Devil things. Rock and his pals might have tagged a few other things as bigger threats, but the Devil series was a collection of nasty pieces of work any way you cut it.
Too bad there were three of them left.
"Thunder Beam!"
"Time Slow!"
And then there was one less as the Block Devil suffered a bolt of lightning through it's eye for several seconds straight. Darkspine Sonic aimed for Ra Devil as Tails in the Tornado moved to engage Dark Moon.
"AAAAAAAHHHHH!" the purple hedgehog screamed in fury as he body slammed his opponent's single eye.
Duo unioned with Chaos, or Chaos Duo as some of his allies were already thinking of him, went straight for his ancient foe.
"You've seen better days my naive opponent," Slur taunted him.
"And yet my powers of Justice burn brighter than ever," Chaos Duo shot back. "You must know this battle is madness, Slur. Reality itself teeters on the edge of the abyss. None shall benefit if it tips the wrong way."
"Do you think me addled, little Duo?" Slur growled arrogantly. "Of course I know this. My senses are better than even yours in such matters, as they have always been. But what concern is it of mine if reality lives or dies? My place is to see that Evil is done, no matter the consequences. And there is much Evil to do here yet."
"Then we are at an impasse," Duo observed as he clenched both fists, his left beginning to glow the blue of Justice energy.
"Don't pretend to be surprised," Slur retorted as he clenched his own fists in response, his right taking on the dark purple hue of Evil energy. "Beings like us are incapable of change. We are absolutes."
"No," Duo retorted as both glowing fists flew forward to meet in an explosion of energy as the battlefield around them erupted in kind. "I am Justice!"
Amy took a calming breath, bracing herself and winding up with her hammer while waiting for her opponent to make the first move, just like she had learned from all those samurai movies she had watched as part of her self-control training.
Her opponent held his defense, not taking the bait.
"You may be patient, but you'll have to move eventually." she frowned, watching for an opening. Her response came in the form of clicks, beeps, and whistles, followed by a raspberry noise. Amy fought back a twitch. "I'll have you know I'm the very MODEL of patient! YOU'LL snap first!"
And so, Amy and Met Daddy began their standoff, ignoring the increasingly overpowered war surrounding them. (10)
Rock, Roll, and Blues scanned the battlefield as they weaved in and out of assaults and friendly fire alike. Their goal was simple: find and capture Dr. Wily and force him to end this war.
"Bwahahahahaha!" Auto laughed maniacally as he kept the trigger on his super Eddie bazooka depressed, causing it to unleash a steady stream of fireworks at a rate of fire worthy of a gatling gun. (11)
"Target acquired," Omega monotoned as he singled out the stardroid whose design was focused around armaments like his own.
"You dare to challenge Mars of the Stardroids?!" His opponent yelled back. "Then suffer defeat as I unleash the full power of an avatar of WAR!"
"Locked and loaded," Omega replied. "FIRE!"
A hail of glowing bullets that exploded on impact rained down on his opponent as high-yield missiles were launched right back.
"Taste defeat insignificant earth robot!"
"Worthless consumer model."
"You DARE?!"
Amy and Met Daddy continued their waiting game, sweat and coolant beading on their respective foreheads.
"… MOVE already!"
(Whistle click click beep!)
"Oh, REAL mature!"
"GRAAAAHHHHH!" Darkspine Sonic yelled as he pummeled the eye of Ra Devil without mercy. Rapid-fire punches led into rapid-fire kicks that left the mighty behemoth reeling and open for a final energized palm-strike that shattered the Devil Core.
Nearby, he could see Tails grappling with the other one before unleashing a laser from the tornado mech's chest straight through his opponent's own Devil Core.
"For Knuckles!" the two-tailed fox yelled.
Cut Man followed the Freedom Fighters as they wove amongst the chaos, blades flashing and weapons blazing.
Sunstar immolated two more of those annoying things that had been dropped to sow confusion amongst their ranks. The gunk he'd been doused with had been similarly annoying, but no match for his solar fire. So, the pitiful lifeforms wished to play it that way?
He would oblige and show them how such a game was meant to be played.
Sunstar stretched out his senses and felt the auras of the ones who opposed himself and the fool Wily. He felt for their power, but most of all he felt for that aura of a leader. The one whom all others answered to.
How interesting, there were quite a few, including that blue robot he remembered beginning to fight, but not how it ended. But among them one blazed brighter than any other.
How unfortunate for her.
Rock and his two siblings blasted into the center of the growing melee in their search for Dr. Wily. Every other opponent was to be ignored as much as possible and left to their allies to deal with. The faster they brought Wily down, the sooner this ended.
"There!" Blues shouted over the din, pointing his super adapter's sword at the mad scientist's saucer as it fired homing balls of energy in their direction.
The three dodged the attack, allowing it to impact the ground, and cursed as Wily's saucer teleported. The teleporting capsule trick might not be Wily's strongest creation, but it was easily one of the most annoying to fight.
Terra cursed vividly as he finally tore his way free of the gunk he'd been blindsided by. Whoever had done that would suffer.
"Well, if it ain't Terra the bully," a deep voice punctuated heavy approaching footsteps.
Terra turned to see one of the inferior earth robots standing over him, as tall as Uranus. Hmph. As if size alone determined power. He would be a suitable warm-up.
"I don't like bullies," Guts Man pounded his fists together. "That kinda thing ain't manly."
The Freedom Fighters along with Cut Man had engaged the weaponized supercomputer CRORQ when they noticed someone missing.
"Where's Sally-girl?" Bunnie asked her companions.
Sally admittedly was having trouble standing. The one the others had called Sunstar had singled her out for some reason, and her knees were weak from his presence alone. (12)
"You. Your eyes are filled with fear. Your trembling screams that you have no confidence in your ability to fight me. Your body is soft and your skills are weak. And yet, you still join in the battle." he droned, glaring down at her and almost casually kicking her feet out from under her, knocking her on her back. Sally started backing away, but a boot planted firmly on her stomach easily winded her and held her still. "You struggle, knowing that fleeing is your only chance to survive. But why would you be here in the first place?" he continued, ignoring her pained gasps for breath as she strained to push his foot off of her. Sunstar's glare grew sharper. "I'll tell you why... because for some unfathomable reason, you are the so called 'heart' of the team, aren't you? Just BEING here makes the others forming the body of the team fight harder. I do not know why a coward and weakling such as you was chosen, but I do know one thing."
He reached down, grabbed Sally by the neck, and lifted her to eye level, mere inches from him, ignoring her hands as she tried to pull his fingers away. "Kill the 'heart', and the 'body' swiftly follows. If I kill you, I kill everyone here. Consider yourself lucky. Your power is so far beneath my notice, that you should be mere ashes long before you register any pain."
With that, he wound up, and hurled Sally skyward, then surrounded himself in a fireball bright enough to be mistaken for a second sun, and launched himself upwards into a lethal tackle.
Cream had been unleashing Divine Busters on every target she could lock on to, when one actually managed to no-sell the blast. She stared as the largest of the Stardroids grunted in contempt and glared back.
"Foolish child," the bull-headed robot sneered. "I am Uranus! The toughest of the Stardroids! You think you can take ME?!"
The robot leapt into the air in her direction, causing the young rabbit to scramble out of the way as he crashed into the ground where she'd been, knocking several of his own nearby allies off their feet.
"Have at you!"
Blaze had noticed the robot of flames separate Sally from her group, and had tried to move to help. Certainly her control over fire could help tip the tide against another fire user, but she'd been intercepted by the robot called King.
"You have a regal bearing about you," the robot noted. "But you also move like a warrior. We shall do battle."
"Sorry," she refused, "but my friend needs me."
She tried to rush past him, only to barely dodge out of the way of an axe strike meant to take her head off.
"Your fight is here, with me," King told her sharply. "Forget that at your peril."
"Alright," Blaze hissed as flames ignited around her. "You want a fight, you've got one."
"Marvelous."
"No YOU move!"
(Beep click.)
"No, you!"
(Beep!)
"You!"
(Beep!)
"You!"
Darkspine Sonic twisted out of the way of the large energy blast his new opponent had thrown. He'd waved Tails on ahead to take some of the bigger contenders out while he dealt with the robot Rock had called Ra Thor.
The dude didn't have anything in the way of personality – he might as well have tried taunting a wall – but he had power to spare. This could take a few seconds...
The cockroach robots Dr. Cossack had dropped earlier had thinned considerably, but what remained skittered about the battlefield and harassed all enemy combatants in range.
"Hahahaha! With this storm, Jupiter reigns supreme!" the electrically powered member of the Stardroids declared as the lightning generated by the Chaotix's battle concert crashed around him. "You fools have sealed your do–"
Something latched on to his chest and began beeping.
"Eh?" he inquired intelligently as he looked down to see a digital countdown timer on his torso.
Shade nodded firmly as the explosion of one of her biggest bombs, special from Rotor, bloomed overhead. Now to take out these drones that were swarming her.
"You think you can take me?" the brown Stardroid brandished his ring at the arrogant earth robot. "I, who controls the mighty force of gravity?"
"You gonna just stand there and posture, Saturn?" Elec Man smirked as he was struck by lightning and focused the energy into the space between his hands. "Or are you going to bring it?"
"Tracking Wily's movements now!" Blues called out as he cut through one of the Dark Man in his charge across the battlefield.
"Roger that!" his siblings confirmed as they followed their older brother.
The squad of Fake Men was obliterated as Quake Woman led three of Light's robot masters; Bomb Man, Time Man, and Bond Man; along with Big the Cat straight through it and selected the group's next target.
"Ain't you blokes ever heard of a fair fight?" Marine complained as her hydrokinetic powers were taxed to their limit countering her opponents' weapons.
"No," the yellow sideways-walking Stardroid returned bluntly as he fired off more of his exploding bubbles. "Have you, Neptune?"
"It is a concept invented by lesser beings to excuse their weakness, Venus," his fish-man themed companion grunted condescendingly as he continued to blast a torrent of corrosively saturated water at the raccoon.
"Your designated feminine predecessor imprint was a sub-standard model, and ran Windows Vista." (13)
"I'LL DANCE ON YOUR BROKEN BODY!"
"Unhand me sub-creature!" the furred Stardroid struggled against the telekinetic field that held him. "Pluto demands it!"
"Yeah," Silver sweated as he continued to restrain the frothing robot. This was a lot harder than he was used to. "Not happening."
Amy's shoulders were starting to get stiff.
"Yeah, I know the feeling. Only really able to do one thing, but someone more experienced already does it better. It sucks, doesn't it?"
(Click whistle click beep beep...) Met Daddy sighed sadly.
"We'll, can't let it get you down. Maybe you could get an upgrade? Mine did wonders for me."
(Whistle beep click click?)
"Nope, still not moving."
(Click beep!)
"No YOU move first!"
(Beep!)
"You!"
(BEEP!)
The Loops had a near infinite number of variables, but there were some constants. Some very strange constants to be sure, but constants nonetheless.
Sooner or later, everyone ended up in Eiken at least once. Similarly, everyone had a fused Loop in Hogwarts. If you were normally female, you ended up being a magical girl at some point. No matter your baseline, it would eventually be done In Space. Everyone flipped genders at times. Everyone.
And anything feline in the Loops eventually crossed paths with Ranma Saotome.
Thus it was to King's surprise that Blaze was no slouch at all in unarmed combat. Her personal neko-ken style fire claws had scored his armor and broken his axe.
"You are a worthy opponent," he declared. "In another life, I could respect you. Perhaps we could even have been allies."
He stood upright, and two flashes of light flared behind him, revealing the purple – actually more indigo up close – armored vehicles that had appeared with him at the beginning. Apparently they had been engaged elsewhere on the battlefield, but King had now recalled them.
"But my father has ordered your death," he declared, his armor turning purple as his wounds healed and the machines behind him docked together to make a single mecha.
Blaze quickly went on the attack to take him out before he healed fully and took control of the giant machine, but he teleported himself straight into the cockpit.
"Nothing personal, you understand," the self-styled royal declared as his machine powered up. "But I'm afraid that Jet King Robo is beyond even your power."
Blaze glared up at her opponent and produce an aura of flames in response.
"Not bad!" Guts Man admitted, numerous scorch marks in his armor from where he'd been pelted with his opponent's laser weapon. "But I'm built for heavy duty work. You wanna get through my armor..."
"Fall damn you!" Terra cursed as the robot advanced heedless of the damage he was taking and sunk his fist into Terra's gut. The field leader of the Stardroids' eyes went wide as he was lifted bodily off the ground.
"Yer gonna need more PUNCH!"
"Above!" Blues signaled an instant before Wily's saucer appeared in that very spot. All three fired as they dodged the craft's energy blasts, causing the craft to shudder before vanishing again.
Sally's life was racing before her eyes, even as tears leaked out of them as she flew through the air. She felt no shame in admitting that she felt more fear under the gaze of Sunstar than she ever had before. Robotnik, Ixis Naugus, the Dark Legion, the Iron Queen, all had toyed with her, and she had survived. But Sunstar was going straight for the kill and seemed bored about it! The only time she had ever felt so helpless before was the time Nicole had gone rouge. Even when being turned into Mecha Sally, she had made her peace with the world as it happened. But now, as Sunstar charged at her, cloaked in flames not even Blaze could hope to ever control, almost in slow motion to her eyes, she was going to die.
And then in their shock, so was everyone else.
Frantically viewing her life for SOME sense of closure in all this, she saw certain cherished memories in her mind's eye.
The first time she had met Sonic. Even despite her despair, she couldn't help but giggle softly. 'My hair. What was I thinking back then?'
The time before Robotnik. 'It all seems so long ago...'
Saving her father from the Zone of Silence. 'He was so weak. The crown was still mine to bear, for better or for worse.'
The return of her brother. 'I had nearly forgotten him...'
Her very first loop reset. 'I was so confused... what was it Tails said again?' she pondered, thinking back.
"Aunt Sally..." he had said. "You know already that we live in a multiverse. The Zones are proof enough of that. But what you don't know, is that it's so much bigger than anyone could have guessed without seeing the entire scope for themselves. The loops grant a sort of immortality. When you die, you just reset. But... Aunt Sally, somewhere out there is a universe that's only going to get one shot. If that universe dies, who knows the damage it could do to the system as a whole? We can help them. But it will put us as risk as well. We're going to need everyone for this. You most of all. Because even after all the rest of us have experienced... You're still our leader for a reason. We need you for this. Everyone and everything that ever existed and ever will may ride on us. And we can't do it without you."
'Tails... he's been through things like this before. He's probably died before. And he's still fighting. My god, it only just hit me, he's seen so much... become so wise, and he still believes in me. I owe it to him, to everyone, to fight, not run. But... what can I do?' she wondered.
As if in response, another memory flashed before her eyes. That of a pool of seemingly molten gold filled with stars. And as she recalled it, her eyes changed to match it.
Thus, Sunstar was understandably shocked when the weakling he had been poised to kill lashed out with one hand, snatching his own and halting him dead in the air, completely ignoring his flames.
Rouge was running through her blaster bits pretty fast as the battle progressed. She'd need to stock back up the next chance she got.
Without warning, a barrage of strange energy blasts connected and seemed to pass straight through her. Stunned and startled, she fell to the ground and saw the blasts curving back around and carrying...
"This is what you deem the most important of what you hold?" the lime green figure sneered as his arm turned into an amorphous mass and proceeded to engulf and crush most of the gemstones she'd stolen from Jewel Man during the earlier battle. The same ones that had just been re-stolen by his strange energy blasts. "Worthless crystalline garbage. You have wasted my time, and Mercury does not forgive those who waste his time."
"You..." Rouge saw red. To steal her precious gems and then declare them worthless?! Who did this robot think he was?! "Jeweled Heart!"
Understood.
Rouge forgot all about conserving her ammunition as she fired off all six cartridges in her intelligent device at once.
"STARLIGHT BREAKER!" she yelled as multiple bolts of pink energy erupted from her device and converged on the robot who'd dared to steal from her and then destroy her precious gems.
"Oh–" was all Mercury managed to get out as the blast hit and carved a trench into the ground and through the battlefield behind him.
Tails blinked as the mechanical dragon he was fighting was blown apart by a rogue starlight breaker.
"Huh. That was lucky."
Cream yelled in pain as she was hit with a stone thrown by her opponent and fell to the ground clutching her leg.
"Chao!" Cheese cried worriedly before being backhanded away by Uranus.
"Pathetic," the Stardroid scoffed. "To think this is the best warrior that could be sent aga–
He was interrupted by a blob of black sludge hitting him in the face.
"Hey, man, hands off the little lady!" Oil Man slid along the shifting ground at high speed and body-checked Uranus into a convenient fissure opened by the combination of his own stomping and the Chaotix's magic music.
Fire and Ice slammed into Pluto from both sides, causing the Stardroid to cry out in pain.
Silver took the opening that was provided him and blasted his opponent with a psychic bolt that sent him flying into Mechazaurus.
Nodding respectfully to Fire Man and Ice Man, he proceeded to join them in unleashing a hail of energy on both targets.
"Look, I said I was sorry. Can we just drop it with the insults?"
(Whistle click click. Thwbtt!)
"I'm TRYING to be the bigger person here!"
(Beep click HONK!)
Amy's eyes became shadowed under her brow. "Did you. Just. Call. Me. Fat?" she growled.
(HONK! HONK!)
Right, screw self control, this creep was going down. "Tendo style: ..." she snarled, hefting her hammer and exploding foreword with unnatural speed. "BAKA! BAKA! BAKA! BAKA! BAKA! BAKA! BAKA!" she yelled, smashing her hammer against Met Daddy's hat over and over as he huddled.
Wily's saucer reappeared over the battlefield and fired at the trio of adversaries that hounded it, only for the shots to dissipate as they hit Proto Man's shield.
The combination of Proto Man's sword strike and the rocket fists/claws from Mega Man and Mega Woman rocked the craft before it vanished once more.
'Finally!' Darkspine Sonic growled mentally as Ra Thor went down. He'd needed to dip into his ring reserve to keep the form going after a lucky hit and he was getting closer than he'd like to extending the duration past what it was meant to undergo in the first place.
'Consequences are for later,' he berated himself. 'Take care of the problem now so that there'll actually be a later.'
Blaze panted from exertion as Jet King Robo finally exploded from her pyrokinetic assault and threw a wave to the where the doctors were providing support fire in the moth-like craft.
Shade cursed the existence of the Weapons Archive drones as she dodged a blast of ice from the latest one. It was impossible to tell what weapon they were armed with before they attacked.
"Apollo, Luna," Dr. Light sighed as he targeted the leaders of the Constellation Droids from inside Dr. Cossack's craft, "you deserved better than to be dragged into another of Wily's mad schemes."
Tails had to hand it to the met piloting Metonger Z as he unleashed a barrage of weapons fire from the Tornado. It was pretty skilled for a generic minion.
"You... you would DARE–!"
A solid kick to the jaw shut Sunstar up, knocking him away.
Skidding to a stop in the air, he glared at the lesser being that dared to strike him.
"You would destroy countless out of petty bloodlust and the mother of all superiority complexes!" Sally growled, floating in mid-air as wind started whipping around her into a cyclone, golden motes of light filling her fist and surrounding her brow, seemingly merging with one-another one by one.
"SILENCE! You know nothing! I was created to kill, and so I shall! All inferior to me shall die, and ALL are inferior to me!" he snapped, waving an arm and clenching his fists. "It is my right!"
"NONE have that right! Least of all one who demands that he does! By MY right, as a s-serv...en... as an EXTENT...tion... as... as..." she groaned, holding her head and struggling with herself. "As... WIELDER... of the All... I declare All to have judged you... and found you lacking!" she finally managed to growl as a bead of golden sweat ran down her face. "And as you have been Judged... I now deliver JUDGEMENT!"
Through sheer force of will, the motes of light around her vanished, revealing the Ring of Acorns atop her head, and the Sword of Acorns clenched tightly in her fist. Winding up with the sword, she swung it before her in an overhand chop. "You who would deny others life, thy punishment shall fit the crime!"
And Sunstar felt something inside himself snap.
A bright flash of light and an immense explosion larger than the Wily Egg bloomed high above the battlefield.
CHANCE OF LOOP ACTIVATION SUCCESS: J9%
DATA CORRUPTION ERROR.
RECALCULATING...
"Almost there..." Hephaestus coded furiously. He just about had the parameters fixed.
"So, one of you pieces of trash took down Sunstar?" Terra glowered as he got to his feet. "That's the last mistake you will ever make."
"Kiss my steel-plated fists," the scorched and dented Guts Man returned.
Sally panted heavily for breath, arms trembling as she floated in the air, even as the wind died down, and the sword and ring turned to dust around her, her eyes flickering back to normal every few seconds.
"If... if someone could catch me now... that would... be great." she whispered, right before her eyes rolled back in her head.
And she fell.
Bunnie and Rotor took aim as Antoine covered them before firing at their targets.
Bunnie's charged and focused laser punched straight through Neptune's armor and Rotor's rocket launcher blasted Venus fifty feet across the stone ground before the Stardroid was struck by lightning.
"Thanks mates!" Marine called out as she psychically heaved the weaponized water they'd been assaulting her with over her head towards the firefight between Omega and his own opponent.
"HA!" Mars gloated as one of his missiles blew Omega's arm off. "NOW YOU PERISH!"
"You first," the strongest of the E-series monotoned as a deluge of corrosive liquid engulfed the enemy war machine.
Darkspine Sonic had felt Sally tap into... whatever way up above the battlefield for a short time before it faded out with the explosion, having only hung on long enough to guard her from the blast.
He saw her falling and without a second thought drew deeper upon the power of his current form to fly up and catch her.
He caught her easily enough about halfway down and watched as she stirred from unconsciousness as they began descending again.
"Hey, Sal," he said as tenderly as possible for his current form. "Welcome to the super club."
The three siblings fired on the Wily Saucer from all sides when it reappeared next, causing something in the craft to blow out and start smoking.
"Heh. That all your 'manliness' is worth?" Terra gloated over his damaged opponent. He'd taken a few solid hits, more than he'd care to admit to, but the superiority of his heritage had won out again.
"Nope," the critically damaged, but still not dead, Guts Man shot back. He'd taken the worst this bully could dish out and he was still standing. He could barely move, mind you, but he was still standing. "Sometimes being manly means knowing when to call for backup."
As if someone had been waiting for a cue, a pair of whirling blades arced forth from behind the larger robot and curved towards the Stardroid.
Terra laughed as he shot the blades out of the air. "Your backup is even weaker than you are! Let's see how long they last when not using your worthless corpse as a shield!"
Terra was prepared when more blades came around his opponent and he confidently fired his Spark Chaser at them again. He wasn't prepared for the blade thrower himself to dash between the larger robot's legs and into melee range that same instant. Before he could properly readjust his aim and compensate for how much faster this new opponent was than the larger foe, the orange and white robot had sprung up, blade in hand, straight for his throat.
"No one," Cut Man glared as Terra collapsed clutching his sparking neck, "hurts my friends."
Darkspine Sonic grunted from atop the smoking ruin of HannyaNED² that he'd used to cushion his and Sal's landing and looked around the battlefield. The ranks of Wily's last ditch army were almost completely gone and it looked like Rock and his siblings were about to bring Wily down too.
He sighed as he finally released the transformation and returned to his usual self before setting Sally on her feet, only to take a blow to the back immediately afterwards.
"The Dark Man shall reign supre–"
*CRUNCH*
The Chaotix hit the last note of their mystical battle ballade as the Light siblings' shots impacted the Wily Saucer one last time, causing it to spin out of control and come crashing to the ground. The hatch popped open as the craft impacted and Dr. Wily himself spilled out onto the war-torn ground.
Sonic extracted himself from the trench he'd made when the last remaining Dark Man had gotten a cheap shot off. Too bad for the bot he'd been standing right where Tails in the Tornado had landed.
Though considering how Sal glared at the bot's remains, that may have been the preferable option.
"Looks like that's that," Sonic dusted himself off as Tails tossed him a bottle of water from the Tornado's cooler.
"Yep," Tails agreed, taking a swig from his own bottle as everyone converged around the defeated scientist. Everyone except...
"Hey, has anyone seen Amy?" Rotor asked as Bunnie began worrying over Sally. (14)
"–BAKA! BAKA! BAKA! BAKA! BAKA! BAKA! BAKA!–" Amy raged as she continued to drive the source of her anger into the ground like a tent peg.
Met Daddy sweatdropped, not daring to lift its hat for an instant. Maybe it had gone a little far... It took a moment to inspect its surroundings. The hole it was in must be at least seven feet deep by now. 'Yes,' it decided, 'just a bit too far.'
"Eh," Sonic shrugged, "I'm sure she's okay. Amy's a tough gal." 'And a scary one,' he thought to himself.
As the group approached where the Light siblings had Dr. Wily surrounded, they could see the doctor... begging forgiveness?
"Wow," Silver deadpanned, "such self-respect."
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" the defeated Dr. Wily apologized on his hands and knees in front of the Light siblings and their now-disengaged support units. "Please find it in your heart to forgive an old man his mistakes!"
"Rock," Blues placed a hand on his brother's shoulder, halting him from going forward.
Rock blinked as data was transmitted, and then his eyes hardened and he turned to glare at Dr. Wily.
"Rock?" Roll asked her brother worriedly, only to receive a the same data transmission herself, causing her eyes to harden as well.
Rock strode purposefully up to the man and dragged him upright by his shirt.
"Please Mega Man!" Wily sobbed. "I can change! I can make the world a bet–"
Dr. Wily was cut off when Mega Man backhanded his head off...
"Dude!"
...where it proceeded to bounce up and down on the connected spring. (15)
"What in...?"
"Hahahahaha!" the robot double of Wily laughed as its face flipped around. "Par–"
A psychokinetic aura silenced the fake and flung it high into the air where a barrage of weapons fire obliterated it.
"Okay..." Tails tried to get his heart rate back under control. That has been way too close. "If that's not Dr. Wily, then where is he?"
"Right here, you ignorant fools!" boomed the voice of Wily, coming straight from the Wily Egg that still hovered overhead.
Hephaestus swore as his repair attempts generated another error message. He was so close!
A massive holographic image of Dr. Wily in a command center was projected overhead in such a way that the madly grinning face of the doctor leered down at them all.
"You lot may have destroyed the Genesis Wave device and stopped the further generation of chaos energy," the man declared, "but the Wily Egg has more than enough stored chaos energy to destroy you all many times over!"
Dr. Wily began cackling madly as an object trailing light blue and dark purple energy impacted nearby. Chaos Duo emerged looking as if he'd seen better days, the union of Chaos 0 clearly the only thing allowing the space robot to retain movement, and limped over to the group.
"And that is if you were still at full strength!" Wily laughed as a door behind him slid open and allowed Metal Sonic to enter. "And of course, there's still my newest ally! How go things, Metal Sonic?"
"Everything goes according to plan, doctor," the robot hedgehog intoned.
"Excellent!" the mad doctor proclaimed as Eggman's creation moved to stand behind him and to the side.
"My plan, that is," Metal Sonic suddenly placed his hand atop Dr. Wily's head in an iron grip.
"Wh–urk..." Wily twitched as the robot's claws suddenly extended into his head.
"Cerebral download commencing," Metal Sonic's eyes glowed sinisterly as those below watched in growing horror.
"Come on... come on..." the god of the forge urged the coding displayed on his terminal. "Work already..."
"Did..." Rock choked in disbelief. "Did he just...?"
"I think he did..." Sonic looked slightly green.
"Cerebral download complete," Metal Sonic declared, retracting his claws and letting Wily's lifeless body collapse to the floor. "I have surpassed all limitations."
Metal Sonic put his hands on the console and both deformed as cables connected the robot betrayer directly to the battlestation.
"I am now the ultimate lifeform," Metal Sonic declared as the integration proceeded. "I have surpassed Eggman. I have surpassed Sonic. I have surpassed Mega Man. I have surpassed Wil–"
Waltz beat her head against the wall again in what would seem to anyone else to be a pointless gesture.
"How dare you beg her for mercy!" she yelled at herself as she continued the self-torture. "You're nothing more than a barely formed idea! Cast aside and forgotten! You're too weak to deserve existence! I'm Waltz! I'm the instrument of torment and death! You're just a pathetic mewling little weakling who should stay in the back of my mind and watch helplessly as I reduce the world to pain and suffering!"
She didn't notice the machinery of the room come alive until it began to assimilate her into the rest.
"So that's how it's going, eh?" she grinned insanely as the machines reached for her mind. "Take it! Take it all! Just make them suffer! Make them all suff–*"
"–*skrrrk-k-k-k*" Metal Sonic's eyes glitched suddenly and went dark, only to come back online a moment later. Except blue.
"Heh-he-he-he-he!" Metal Sonic began to chuckle in a voice not his own. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
The weary and battered heroes watched as the Wily Egg began to twist and change.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
The hologram had cut out, but the laughter continued as if the Wily Egg itself was the one laughing.
"Done!" Hephaestus declared as he pressed 'enter' on his terminal.
CHANCE OF LOOP ACTIVATION SUCCESS: ZX%
DATA CORRUPTION ERROR.
RECALCULATING...
Hephaestus twitched.
"STABILIZE ALREADY DAMN YOU!" he yelled as he slammed his fists into his terminal in frustrated fury, causing the display to waver.
"SUCCESS!" the voice from the Wily Egg boomed as the battlestation began unfolding like a transformer.
"I AM IMMORTAL!" the twisting machinery began to form arms and legs and the skull plate slid up to the general location of the head.
"I AM SUPREME!" The twisting machinery finished the hands and feet as the behemoth smashed the heads of the doctor's statues and straddled the crater as it loomed over them.
"I AM THE GREATEST GENIUS OF ALL TIME!" the voice declared as metal formed on the side of the head in mimicry of a very distinctive hair style.
Hephaestus's terminal had been idle for a few long moments after the display returned to normal before displaying the line he wanted to see.
SCENARIO PARAMETERS STABLE.
CALCULATION COMPLETE.
"TREMBLE BEFORE THE POWER OF–"
CHANCE OF LOOP ACTIVATION SUCCESS:
"–METAL WILY!"
0.0001%
1) Sonic Speed in case you readers were wondering. Utility-class weapon, Rock's favorite kind.
2) This fight by Jcogginsa. Elec Man may be a hero, but he's still got something of an ego on him.
3) Oil Man is vulnerable to flames. There are over a dozen fire-based master weapons in the classic series. It really sucks to be him sometimes.
4) Just to illustrate how nuts Grenade Man is, here's a fellow bomb-loving pyromaniac with the official statement. Bomb Man loves to blow stuff up. Grenade Man likes to be blown up.
5) Begin reaction command sequence.
6) Elec Man knows how to deal with electronic explosive devices.
7) Sunstar is one of the only foes to ever oust Wily as the final boss in the classic series. He's... not someone you really control.
8) Which assumes anything Auto designs has ever been in style.
9) Insert your favorite epic battle rock ballade here.
10) Amy vs Met Daddy portions by masterofgames.
11) Let's pray Auto and looping Trixie never meet...
12) Sally vs Sunstar also by masterofgames.
13) You can blame or thank masterofgames for this insult, whichever you prefer.
14) This portion is adjusted from/inspired by an interlude in the Amy Tendo vs Metma Saotome battle by masterofgames. He's been a big help with this melee.
15) Who actually thought I'd end the Loop without pulling this classic?
Oh, snap. How will the group get out of this? Stay tuned for the conclusion!