None too happy about the "government property" being discovered, Burke and his loyal colleagues take to the extreme to brand all who aren't working for Weyland-Yutani as "terrorists", all the while attempting to annihilate every trace of evidence to their secret connections with the Bacterions.
DISCLAIMER: WarioWare is a property of Nintendo; Contra and Gradius belong to Konami; Bomberman is owned by Hudson Soft despite the company being absorbed unto Konami as of March 2012. Everything else not mentioned here, let alone Final Fantasy, are properties of their respective owners, save for my Bomberman OCs/fan characters.
Chapter 9: Planet Bomber in crisis
[Interlude BGM: Moonlit Army (Contra: Hard Corps)]
On behalf of his superior Carter J. Burke, Admiral Ares proceeded to broadcast his speech to everyone on board the non-military space colonies, intent on hunting us down so neither one would ever live to tell the story to the people of planets Earth and Bomber.
Attention all citizens of the two neighboring space colonies: it is imperative the Weyland-Yutani Corporation shall declare martial law. Your terrorist friend, Arctic Bomber, has breached her way into our military space station with an intent to expose us. Since it's very likely our classified information reached your minds, you are to be taken alive. Either you submit, or we will have to take a step further to make certain that all sinners are to never come back again. It pains me to have to do this, but let me assure you we are no terrorist organization. We are doing everything in our power to build better worlds...however, in order for the human race to survive, a deal had to be made with the Bacterions. Only by having them around can our planet Earth be cleansed of all terrorism, war crime, immorality and the like. The assimilation of the four planets within the Bomber Nebula was but an incredible discovery of what Bacterion technology can do. Your friends have breached our top secret areas and destroyed our government property long enough, and for that, they must die.
Yuffie could only groan to express her exasperation over Weyland-Yutani's lies and deceit, too stressed to even bother facepalming herself. "Ugh. All of us here are against terrorism, but his concept is just completely twisted beyond the shadow of a doubt! I oughta kick him where the sun don't shine if we ever see him again!"
King Billy threw his hands up in the air, though not in a childish manner but rather to vent his annoyance. "I know, right? He's a freakin' extremist!"
"Yuffie, what are we gonna do now?" asked 9-Volt.
The girl assured him by patting his head in an affectionate manner. "We may be classified as rebels to a corrupt multi-million dollar corporation, but we'll go out fighting together."
Jaguar readied his heavy machine gun to help defend his teammates, Colonial Marine or otherwise. "Admiral Ares's men will be expecting heavy resistance just as much as do, so we have to make everything count while Blaze Bomber, Jimbo, Sully, and the Four Contras save the remaining planets and the Chrono Crystal shards alongside Vic Viper T-301."
Wario pumped his fists in agreement. "Yeah! His evil concept on Bacterion technology brainwashes us, and so do his motives to 'cleanse all sinners'! If you ask me, Weyland-Yutani's a bunch of sinners around here like in the Alien movies!"
King Billy thought to himself momentarily, albeit out loud, "Don't be dead, Arctic..."
"I'm sure she's okay," said Mona.
"I dunno. I never should have left her to die, even when she told me to warn you guys!"
"She probably had her reasons, such as destroying the Bacterions that are being cloned aboard Weyland-Yutani's space station, apparently speaking."
Billy sighed in defeat. "Yeah, I guess so. By the way, that crazy-ass admiral keeps using the terms 'terrorist' and 'government property'. I know it doesn't need to be said anymore, but I seriously don't think they mean what he thinks they mean! I'm glad I turned over a new leaf long ago, because in my opinion, being an ultimate ruler of the Earth is extremely boring. Drags-ville, I tell ya."
"Guys, I hate to interrupt," said Phoebe, "but here come the enemy soldiers!"
9-Volt panicked with his best friend. "They're coming right at us!"
Mona, however, was quick to reassure her young friends. "Don't worry, little bro! We won't let them near you and Phoebe as long as we live!"
5-Volt agreed, "Mona's right. The truth must be spread to every living man and Bomber alike."
"Heads up, everyone! We're going in!" announced Jaguar. "Weapons free!"
[End BGM]
[Boss BGM: Gravity (Cave Story 3D)]
Mission 8: Alone and battered
Despite her efforts to expose Weyland-Yutani's illegal operations regarding the cloned Bacterions, Arctic Bomber was easily defeated with little effort by the Contra Killers, each implemented with a stolen piece of the Contra power-up data. Injured and alone, she strives to find a way out...
November 10, 20XX
7:09 PM
Elsewhere, aboard the Weyland-Yutani space station, Arctic Bomber was unconscious from her humiliating defeat. Never in her life had she ever felt the pain from the fact that our own Contra power-ups are being used against us. In just minutes, she was locked in combat with an experimental BigCore MK-I, which looked exactly like its regular self at first. However, rather than disintegrate her body right away, it changed its color black with red streaks and slightly widened itself with six laser cannons mounted up front. In the meantime, Arctic Bomber got her act together by smacking herself in the head a few times.
"That's the experimental BigCore? It looks more like that fourth boss from Gradius ReBirth..." The modified BigCore MK-I charged its laser cannons, prompting the Bomber-girl to rethink her plans. "Damn! It'll be useless fighting it on foot! I've gotta get off this station somehow! Maybe if I stole one of its space fighters...?"
Desperate to save herself, the ex-Hate Bomber ran away from the experimental warship flying after her. Along the way, she rolled one Bowling Bomb after the other at the large glass tanks containing the cloned Bacterions, destroying them in the process. As much as she wanted to trigger the military station's self-destruct mechanism, she personally declared her safety as priority one.
"I guess attempting to sacrifice myself to blow up this station isn't a hot idea after all, but at least everybody knows Weyland-Yutani's true motives. First and foremost, I've gotta get rid of this BigCore and rendezvous with Aaron and the others!"
While dodging the laser beams for dear life, she later ran into an abandoned space fighter in a miracle. She immediately hopped inside and pushed a bunch of buttons in hopes of activating the ship. With pure luck, she finally got it running and few out of the military station, though the modded BigCore was still hot on her tail. As it shot a big hole in the command bridge's hull to attack, Arctic flew around and returned fire only for the warship to deflect her shots with a barrel roll.
"Aww man, you've gotta be kidding me! Does this crappy prototype of a ship even have missiles the BigCore can't deflect?!" She checked the controls only to no avail, and pounded them in frustration. "Ugh, perfect...nothing but laser shots to use!"
The modded BigCore MK-I wasted no time gaining its upper-hand by firing more lasers, leaving Arctic with little time to react since it was obviously her first time piloting a space fighter alone. To make things worse, it didn't even have any shields to absorb some hits. Just when it seemed like she was going to die, the Contra Cruisers flew by and rescued her while the Vic Viper and two flanking space fighters attacked the BigCore. She could tell it was us!
Blaze Bomber's voice sounded on the radio, Arctic! I thought we lost you!
"Ace timing, fellas! Honestly, the ship I'm using now is a piece of crap!"
I called up next, We'll take you to planet Bomber since it's closer from here. We heard the news from Lt. Jaguar.
Then came Ami's voice, Judging by Weyland-Yutani's obsession with Bacterion technology, I'm not surprised.
Blaze radioed the pilot of the T-301 model now. Vic Viper, we'll free planet Bomber while you go with Jimbo and Sully to Mazone Star. Chances are, since it is an icy planet, you're likely to encounter a wintry beast or a souped-up Crystal Core with the Ice Breath power-up data from our Contra arsenal. And when you can, find the next Chrono Crystal shard.
Roger that, Blaze. We'll draw the BigCore's attention away from you. Godspeed.
You too, said Lance. Watch your back.
Bill, Lance, Blaze, Ami, and I guided Arctic to safety before her ship could be destroyed, leaving the other three to deal with the modded warship. Now ready to do battle, it opened up its core and commenced its firing pattern: a spread of six lasers four times in a row, followed by a pair of powerful beams. Working around its laser fire and barrel rolls, Jimbo and Sully fired a smart bomb from each of their ships to inflict damage, breaking off some barrier panels in the process. The Vic Viper's pilot followed up with a stream of laser fire and two of his ship's Multiples backing it up, exposing the enemy warship's core to direct hits. However, rather than repeat its attack pattern, it flew away toward the Interstellar Diamond in a suicide run, intent on blowing it up like a kamikaze!
"Rats!" cursed Jimbo. "That thing's gonna kill everyone inside, by which I mean those who aren't Weyland-Yutani's lapdogs!"
"Not for long!" commented the T-301 pilot. "This way! We'll cut it off from there."
"I hope this works," worried Sully, "because from the looks of it, one shot is all we got!"
The Vic Viper blasted off after the suicidal BigCore with enough speed to catch up. Just when its core began to close, the pilot fired the two Multiples at the BigCore like missiles (a feature seen only in Salamander 2, which was never released out of Japan), miraculously destroying it. The experimental warship stopped moving and gave off a series of explosions before detonating in a larger explosion.
[End BGM]
"Whew! That was too close for comfort, though it's quite strange the core was a bit...frail."
Jimbo nodded in agreement with the T-301 pilot. "I think it must be a prototype as part of Weyland-Yutani's cloning experiments. But hey, at least we stopped its kamikaze attempt."
Sully finished, "Next stop, Mazone Star!" And thus the threesome flew off to begin their part of our big mission to relieve the remaining planets of the Bacterion assimilation.
Mission 9: Evading capture and certain death
Only two more planets in the Bomber Nebula remain infested by the Bacterions. This isn't the only problem, as the Contra Killers are still hot on the trail. Whenever they catch up with the six Contras on planet Bomber is anybody's guess, but the powers they personally demonstrated on Arctic Bomber are to be reckoned with.
November 10, 20XX
7:40 PM
During the flight to planet Bomber, Arctic Bomber explained herself about Spread Garnet, Laser Amethyst, and Homing Jasper of the Contra Killers. As soon as she finished, Blaze Bomber could not even begin to imagine the possibility of fusing a stolen Contra power-up data with Bacterion DNA into an artificial Bomberman, let alone install their jewel-wrought armor. It didn't come as much a surprise to me, Ami, Bill, or Lance since this has Weyland-Yutani's name written all over it. They want us dead now so the truth would remain classified to the civilians of planets Earth, Bomber, and Gradius. But we did not plan on dying in vain, for the sooner we derail Burke and Ares's latest science project, the better.
[Fight BGM: BigCore MK-I (Gradius V)]
Blaze Bomber's train of thought stopped abruptly when we came under attack by another Bacterion warship. This time, it was the Rolling Core, one of the bosses from Gradius IV and the first boss of the second boss rush in Gradius V. Before it showed up, it summoned the Zub Rush to bring us down. We used the opportunity to power up our Contra Cruisers by shooting down the spherical Zubs, grabbing the power-up pods to strengthen our ships with two Multiples each, as well as the Laser, Two-Way Missiles, and Force Fields. Once we had finished off the Zub Rush, the Rolling Core showed itself before us. Its appearance consisted of two semi-independent body parts, with the outer one carrying eight regenerating laser guns at its disposal. The inner part held the core with four barrier panels up front, and three on the rear, but the warship in general took a note on its obvious weakness by rotating its outer part back and forth as a shield.
"It's not gonna be easy," noted Bill, "but as long as we work our way around, we'll be fine."
"Say no more," said Lance. "Let's take out its laser guns first."
Blaze Bomber noticed something critical being displayed, about the enemy warship. "Yeah, but our Contra Cruisers' scanners indicate the guns can regenerate."
Ami also glanced at the analysis. "That's odd...Now it's saying the Rolling Core possesses one of our Contra power-ups, but the Rolling Core itself isn't showing any signs."
"Well, we're not gonna find it out just by standing around like idiots now, are we?" retorted Arctic Bomber.
"Cut the chatter, fellas!" I interrupted. "Evasive maneuvers!"
Because we had strengthened our Contra Cruisers from the Zub Rush, we didn't have a difficult time taking out the Rolling Core's laser guns, but rather than regenerate them, it brought out missile launchers instead. Upon firing blue missiles in our direction, Ami's suspicions were correct: the Rolling Core has the Crash Missiles data installed in its system. We swerved about to evade the explosions from the missiles, and returned fire by shooting open the barrier panels on the inner part. The Force Field on both of our ships were taken out by the time we exposed the core to attack, and the Rolling Core flipped its center to the right by 90 degrees to fire a large laser beam, barely grazing us by the roof of our Contra Cruisers. After the attack was over, the Rolling Core rotated itself around counter-clockwise and charged forth, banging up our Contra Cruisers but not bad. When we returned fire once more and took out the core, the Rolling Core detonated in a large explosion, coughing up the Crash Missiles data for Blaze Bomber to extract into the ship he was in with me and Ami.
[End BGM]
Right after the battle was over, we boosted our Contra Cruisers through planet Bomber's atmosphere, and landed on the surface in the end. We were again thankful the Crygors' engineering on the titanium alloy enabled our ships to survive reentry without burning up in the atmosphere. However, we were immediately ambushed by the three Contra Killers!
[Alert BGM: Boss Intro I - Enter the Astral Knight (Bomberman 64: The Second Attack!)]
"Surprise! Didn't expect to see us here?" taunted Homing Jasper.
"Who the hell are you guys?" demanded Bill.
"I guess that stupid Bomber-brat was too knocked silly to even bother telling you about us, eh. No matter."
Spread Garnet joined in, "We knew you'd be coming this way, so we waited for just the right time to ambush you."
"And what clever timing: you brought Arctic Bomber along for another humiliating defeat!" Laser Amethyst stared at the aforementioned Contra menacingly.
"Shut up! You three disgust me!"
The self-proclaimed Mistress of Spread Fire mocked Arctic's outburst. "Awww, what's the matter? Still sore about the punishment we dished out on you?"
"No, mad!"
"Hate to burst your bubble, but that still counts as being sore."
Laser Amethyst eyed Ami next, interested in her Bomberman powers in an unhealthy way. "So...I take it you're the Ami who carries the Bomberman Watch with you at all times, eh? This'll be interesting, especially when I do this!" She shot a laser beam at Ami's watch without delay, causing it to go on a fritz. "This beam isn't like the ones I've used on Arctic Bomber. It's filled with the Skull Virus, which can cause your Bomberman Watch to malfunction in one of many different ways, such as...oh my, it seems you can't use your bombs now, can you?"
"Aack! How'd you guess?"
"A single Skull item is a Bomberman's bane, so the folks at Weyland-Yutani figured that since your watch gave you Bomberman powers, a Skull Virus should be able to prevent you from using your bombs properly. Thus, Admiral Ares installed that special laser beam into my arsenal."
Homing Jasper added his two cents: "Normally, you'd have to walk it off in order for the effects to disappear, but in this case, it's impossible. The only way to cure the Skull Virus on your Bomberman Watch is to kill Laser Amethyst, but too bad you'll be dead before that ever happens!"
Ami and I exchanged our worried looks with each other. "Aaron, I hate to say this, but we gotta get outta here!"
Arctic Bomber ran up front to defend the both of us. "I'll handle those clowns!"
But before she could even throw a punch or a bomb, Laser Amethyst cut in. "Oh no, you don't!" She shot Arctic with the Skull Virus beam, causing her to feel woozy.
"Ooooh, I don't feel so good..." groaned Arctic, with a groggy tone.
A few seconds later, her Bowling Bombs magically appeared around herself uncontrollably, with each one already primed for detonation. In short, she was like a walking time bomb when her Bowling Bombs exploded immediately upon hitting the ground. Laser Amethyst laughed heartily while watching Arctic blow herself up against her will. Then she shot the ex-Hate Bomber again with the Skull Virus, changing the effects to a different "disease": in which her Bowling Bombs burst in small, harmless explosions.
Homing Jasper fired some heat-seeking missiles at us afterwards, inflicting damage. "Try beating us under these conditions set upon you! Oh wait, I forgot: our jewel-wrought bodies reflect all non-concussive shots!"
Damn! thought Blaze Bomber. It's all up to me to save us...but my Molotov cocktails won't be of much use since the Contra Killers are quite durable. If only I can build a portable power-up generator so Aaron, Bill, and Lance can use the Crash Missiles and the Drill Shot...then we just might have a chance of survival.
"You can run, my misguided friends, but you can't hide! Our masters can't afford to have you around to terrorize our benevolent organization anymore!"
Bill grunted in response, "Benevolent my ass! We'll find a way to defeat you scumbags!"
On the run once more, we could not do much except evade as many attacks as possible until we get to safer ground. Blaze Bomber figured if we can reach Bomber Base (assuming it's not completely taken over by the Bacterions), he'll be able to build the portable power-up generator to give us the upper-hand. As for Arctic Bomber, she thought about getting in touch with our friends who are stuck in a firefight against Ares's soldiers in hopes of picking up her Neo Contra Rifle she lent to King Billy earlier. That is, if we can get to Bomber Base alive...
[End BGM]
TO BE CONTINUED...
The first confrontation with the Contra Killers may not have gone well, but our heroes aren't licked yet.