Chapter 10

Alliance

After their business discussion over the robots' features, the Blues returned to their Base where Lloyd sent Presea back to the jail, left Genis to guard and went to talk to Emil, but he was shocked to learn that their machines had left.

"So Luna and Aska were just gone when you got back here?" he asked incredulously.

"Yep, they even left a note," Emil replied, pointing to a letter written in binary code and signed 'Aska y Luna' pinned to the wall. "It says they've gone off to start their own robot army. That's just great."

"Didn't they have a non-compete clause?" Lloyd asked.

Emil turned to look at the letter again. "It's also says they want us to meet them in the middle of the canyon at 0600 to discuss the terms of our defeat and/or surrender." He scratched his ghostly head in confusion. "0600… What does that mean?"

"Isn't that when we're supposed to be surrendering to the Reds?" Lloyd recalled.

"It means six o'clock, right?" Emil replied but then he frowned. "Si- or does it mean, six hun- o six hundred? Does six hundred mean minutes, six hundred minutes? Because that'd be…" He did a quick calculation. "That'd be ten o'clock. Is it six o'clock or ten o'clock?"

Lloyd sighed and face palmed himself. "Man, we should get a day planner or something, 'cause this shit's getting ridiculous."

It took them all night to work out what the time was, but they eventually decided to just show up at six.

All night was also the time it took for Kratos to build the robots but as morning came, he now had two figures standing by the Base, one black and one cobalt blue.

Sheena came out just as Kratos was finishing screwing in a new component. "How's it going, sir?"

"Great," Kratos replied as he pointed to a large plan on the ground next to him. "With these new color-coded instructions, building robots has never been easier. Now all the thousands of mistake I've made in my previous efforts seem laughably obvious!" He chuckled before turning to the maroon soldier. "Uh, except for you, Fujibayashi. No mistakes there."

"Yeah I didn't think so," Sheena agreed as she casually took out her pistol. "You're great at this, even without any formal training or first party certification." As she spoke, she lowered her gun down and fired at her left foot.

Kratos glanced down at this and frowned. "Did you just shoot yourself in the foot?"

"Yeah I do that now sometimes," Sheena admitted, with a bit of pain noticeable in her voice, as she put her gun away. "And I'm not really sure why."

"I'm sure it's user error," Kratos shrugged.

Just then, Zelos came running out the Base. "Hey guys, it's almost time," he called out as he approached. "Are the robots ready yet?"

"Just putting on the finishing touches…" Kratos screwed in the component, closed the robot's armor and stepped back. "Gentlemen, allow me to introduce Francisco Montague Zanzibar." He nodded to the black robot before turning to the blue one. "And this one over here is Robot #2."

"Why didn't this one get a fancy name?" Zelos asked, pointing to the cobalt robot.

Kratos glowered at the second robot. "Let's just say somebody has an over clocked sass-back chip, and rejected all the names I came up with."

In response, Robot #2 gave four loud tones followed by a honk and threw the bird at Kratos.

"But that's okay," Kratos continued. "I can even use it to my advantage. I made some special modifications on numero dos. Check it out." He turned back to the robots. "Robot #2, codewooord: Dirtbag!"

The blue robot gave two loud beeps then a loud "Eep!" then stepped forward and punched Zelos in the face. "OWW!" he yelped as #2 stepped back. "Hey!"

Kratos chuckled at this. "Pretty nifty, huh?"

"That's awesome, sir!" Sheena laughed in delight. "Lemme try, lemme try. Codeword: dirtbag."

Beep, boop "Eep!" And #2 punched Zelos again.

"OWW!" Zelos yelled again. "Okay fine, two can play at this game. Codeword: dirtbag!"

Beep, boop "Eep!" And #2 punched Zelos yet again, this time knocking him to the ground.

"Oh, son of a bitch," Zelos scowled.

"But that's not the only feature," Kratos said.

"What do you mean, sir?" Sheena asked curiously.

"Well…" Kratos looked slightly embarrassed. "I don't want to give anything away, but let's just say for instance that one of the robots contains a hidden microphone that will allow us to eavesdrop on the Blues whenever we want. And let's just suppose, shall we, that the other robot contains a ten megaton bomb!" He burst out laughing before he realized, "I guess I kinda gave it away."

"Yeah, ya kinda did," Zelos replied as he got to his feet.

Meanwhile at the Blue Base, Lloyd told Genis that the time was getting close and he should untie Presea.

"I think this is what they call the calm before the storm," Presea told the Blue as he struggled to undo the knots.

"I call it nap time, which is right before food time," Genis replied as he finally succeeded. "And then comes food-nap time! That is my favorite time of them all."

As Presea stood up and rubbed feeling back in her arms, she turned and smiled at the Blue. "Genis, I just want you to know that even though we are on different teams, and we may never see each other again, whatever happens out there today, I'll always remember the moments we shared together." He let out a sniff. "You are now, and forever will be… my friend!" And she flung her arms around Genis and even planted a kiss on his cheek before bursting into tears.

Genis hugged him back before saying, "Private Combatir? That kinda sounds Spanish."

"Yes, it does," Presea sobbed.

At 0600 exactly (six o'clock), the Reds and their robots were approaching the rendezvous in the middle of the canyon.

"You think they'll show up?" Zelos asked.

"Well, my gut says no," Sheena replied. "But then again, my gut's made of an advanced polymer, it doesn't know what the hell it's talking about. Stupid gut…"

Just then, the ground began to shake and Kratos looked round to see Luna and Aska, now brown once more, approaching from the side. "Great Caesar's Toast, looks like they brought out the heavy artillery!"

Aska stared at them in bafflement. "¿Por qué estan los rojos aquí? No el vamos a conquistarlos hasta la Jueves próximo." (What are the Reds doing here? We aren't scheduled to conquer them until next Tuesday.)

On the other side, Lloyd and Genis led Presea up the hill and came to a stop. "That's far enough." Genis warned the pink private.

Kratos spotted the Blues as they arrived. "Ah, they're lining up in flanking formation, those Blue jackals," he muttered. "Keep yer eyes peeled, fellas, this could get ugly."

On a cliff overlooking the canyon, Emil watched through his ghostly sniper scope as the three armies arrived. Then his radio crackled and Lloyd's voice called out, "Are you there, Castagnier? Castagnier, are you there?"

"Hey man," Emil replied. "I've been trying to get you on the radio for ten minutes. What's going on?"

"Sorry, man," Lloyd apologized. "I'm still picking up the Reds' transmissions from when we broadcast that Aska song. There's a lot of chatter."

"Well, are you at least getting any useful information?" Emil asked intrigued.

"Nah," Lloyd replied. "It's just the same two people bickering like an old married couple. I've only been listening for like five minutes and I can already tell they're really in love. Why can't they see it?"

Emil sighed and looked through his scope. "Alright, get ready to launch Operation Circle of Confusion."

Lloyd looked around puzzled. "Uh, Castagnier, it kinda looks more like a triangle from down here."

"What?" Emil asked.

"I'm just saying it doesn't look much like a circle," Lloyd explained with a shrug. "It looks more like we're forming a triangle. It's just a side-note."

"Okay, fine, Triangle of Confusion," Emil sighed. "Rhombus of Terror, Parabola of Mystery, WHO CARES? Get the God damn show on the road!"

"Alright, alright, sorry," Lloyd muttered. "Initiating primary commencement phase."

Presea listened to the conversation in bafflement. "What're they talking about?"

"Quiet, Commander Pop'n'Fresh," Genis snapped. "I think they're talking about your golden flaky crust."

Lloyd then turned to address the Reds and the robot army. "Hello, everyone, we're here to surrender! At this time, we would like to ask for one representative slash prisoner from each group to cross sides."

Zelos looked over to the robot army. "Hey, I think I see Aska over there!"

"Aska la pesado no te haga caso." (Aska the Heavy takes orders from your kind no more.) the robot yelled out.

"Tell him, big daddy!" Luna concurred.

"Yep, it's him," Zelos told the others.

Lloyd then turned to Presea. "Okay, get going, pinky."

Presea nodded and set off across the gulch.

"Goodbye, Major Cinnamon Bun!" Genis called out. "I will always remember your buttery goodness!" He then turned to Lloyd. "Who was that chick?"

"Look, they're releasing Presea!" Sheena cried.

Kratos turned to his robots. "Go on, Francis Ex, front and center."

Francisco Montague Zanzibar gave a quick nod and set off towards Presea. Aska let out a gasp in horror. "¡Un robotesa! Quieren echar nuestros contra nosotros! (A robot! They wish to turn our own kind against us!)

Lloyd heard Aska's shouts and activated his radio. "Um, Castagnier, do you think maybe in hindsight, it was a bad idea for us to put Aska around a bunch of robots?"

"Just stick to the plan, Irving," Emil ordered as he set off down the cliff. "Get the first robot over there, I'll draw Aska's fire, come on!"

While Lloyd was distracted, Aska ran up between the exchanges and pointed his gun at Zanzibar. "Alto, traidor." (Don't move, traitor.)

"What the…? It's a double cross!" Kratos yelled out. "Combatir, Frankie Zane, get back here!"

"No!" Lloyd shouted as he aimed at Aska. "Stay where you are! Do not go back!"

"Now the Blues are aiming at each other?" Sheena asked confused. "What the hell's going on?"

"We've been outmaneuvered, men!" Kratos bellowed. "Take cover, I'm calling in an airstrike!"

As Kratos activated his radio, the feedback blared through Lloyd's earpiece, almost deafening him. "OW, MOTHER- what the hell is that noise?"

"Red Command, come in!" Kratos called out. "This is Blood Gulch Outpost #1! Do you read me?"

"Hello, hello, who's there?" Lloyd frowned at the voice that responded. It sounded familiar somehow… "Come in; is that you, Private Irving? Hello."

"Private who?" the Red CO asked confused. "No, Botta, this is Kratos Aurion, from Blood Gulch Outpost #1."

Lloyd gasped in horror as Botta realized his mistake. "Oh, hey there, Kratos, long time no see. Sorry 'bout that, I uh… anyway what can we do here for you at Red Command today?"

Red Command? Lloyd thought in alarm as Kratos gave the sitrep. "I'm up to my haunches in hyenas here, Vic. I need an airstrike, and I need it on the pronto!"

"Can do, Aurion." At his console, Vic clicked on the Airstrikes option on his screen. "I will send an airstrike to target the Blue forces now. 'Course I'll need you to fax in the airstrike requisition form."

"But I can't," Kratos protested. "I had to use spare parts from our fax machine to build Fujibayashi 2.0!"

Behind her, Sheena suddenly gave a loud series of beeps followed by a dialing tone. "Whoa," she coughed. "Hmm, excuse me, man it must have been something I ate."

Zelos looked behind her. "Hey Sheena, why is there paper coming out of your ass?"

"What the hell, Botta?" Lloyd cut in at this point. "How do you know the Red Team? Why are you helping them against the Blues? What the fuck is going on here?"

At his console, Vic suddenly looked embarrassed. "Oh… Private Irving, you're on here too, um… See, I uh… you guys are, uh…" He gulped loudly. "Uh, I gotta go; bad connection."

"Wait, Botta! Red Command! Come in, I need ya!" Kratos called out as Vic hung up.

Vic breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, that's not gonna be very good for business."

Back at Blood Gulch, Kratos let out a sigh of defeat. "Fujibayashi, Wilder… We're out of luck." He then pulled out his shotgun. "Get ready to open fire. Today is a good day to die!"

"Wait," Zelos cried out. "I think today is actually a good day to retreat. Can't we push dying to a week from Friday?"

"Yeah," Sheena agreed. "Let's all take dying as an open action item and come back with suggestions next meeting."

"No," Kratos growled as he cocked his shotgun. "It has to be today! For our ancestors!" And with a great rebel yell, he charged over the hill.

Lloyd ran up his hill, but for a different reason. "Wait everyone, stop fighting!" he called out desperately. "It's all a lie! Blue is Red, Red is Blue!"

But Kratos's yells of conquest overlapped Lloyd's shouts of reason, and there was total pandemonium!

From behind the Reds, Emil appeared and tried to contact his teal teammate. "Irving, your radio's giving too much feedback, shut it off!"

Genis then charged towards Kratos, firing his pistol in the air. "This is fun!"

"Quiet, Sarge," Sheena yelled to her CO. "I can't hear what that guy's yelling!"

Luna then rolled into the canyon, her turret waving every which way. "Lock and load."

"I LOVE BLOOD AND VIOLENCE!" Kratos screamed as he fired his shotgun into the air. "I'VE GOT A BONER FOR MURDER!"

"Stop fighting!" Lloyd cried out. "Stop fighting!"

"What did you say, Blue?" Sheena called back.

Quickly, Emil took over Robot #2's body and ran towards his team.

Amidst the chaos, nobody noticed Mithos approaching in the purple vehicle towards them at top speed… until it was too late.

"There's no Red versus Blue! It's all a-WAAAAAAAGHHH!" A rocket had suddenly slammed into Lloyd and sent him flying. "Son of a bitch!"

"What the hell is that?" Kratos cried out, dropping his weapon in alarm.

"What the hell is that?" Emil screamed in alarm.

"Mira que cosa?" Aska shouted.

Presea gasped in horror. "Oh my God, it's the cave devil! Run for your lives!"

At once, another rocket shot out and hit the ground, making Presea, Emil, Genis, Aska and Zanzibar scatter in terror.

"Oops," Doc called out. "Sorry about that big explosion!"

"Sorry it wasn't bigger!" an evil voice added with a sinister laugh.

Emil skidded to a halt and whirled round. "Wait a second, I'd know that laugh anywhere… That's Tenebrae!"

As Doc fired at the Reds and made them run for it, he shouted out, "My bad!"

Emil ran over to Zanzibar and grabbed his shoulder. "Come on, robot, you're with me!"

Aska ran back to his tank sweetheart. "Luna, stop them!"

"My pleasure," Luna replied, firing her cannon at the retreating robots.

Nearby, Kratos and Zelos had run behind a boulder to avoid Tenebrae's wrath.

"Zelos, we're going to die," Kratos sighed in condemnation. "I'm glad we get these last few moments to make amends. My only hope is that I die before you, so that I don't live through the horror of losing a man on the battlefield."

"Yeeeah," Zelos muttered awkwardly. "I hope you die first too."

Meanwhile, Emil and Zanzibar met up with Genis and together they ran over to their wounded comrade.

"Irving!" Emil called out, kneeling beside his teal teammate and propping him up slightly off the ground. "Irving, are you okay?"

With a groan, Lloyd opened his eyes and looked at his leader. "Castagnier… the purple guy… he's-"

"Yeah, I know," Emil interrupted. "It's Tenebrae. He must have got in the medic somehow."

"No," Lloyd moaned, shaking his head stiffly. "He's an asshole."

"Castagnier, how come Irving gets to nap during battles and I don't?" Genis asked.

Behind them, the possessed Mithos swooped down to the robot army, leant over in his seat of the scooter and plucked Aska out of the canyon before zooming away.

"Aska, no!" Luna cried out. As quickly as she could, she trundled towards the Blues. "Help, he took Aska!"

"What?" Emil leapt to his feet in alarm. "Where'd he go?"

Then O'Malley's evil laugh echoed from behind them. "Here I am, you fool!"

Emil, Genis, Zanzibar and the Reds all spun round… to see Mithos/Tenebrae standing on the roof of the Red Base, one hand on Aska's shoulder, the other raised in victory.

"How'd he get up there so quick?" Emil cried out.

"That guy's wicked fast!" Presea complimented.

"Thanks!" Mithos replied. "I lettered in track in high school! It was the least competitive sport I could find!"

"Track sucks." Zelos yelled.

"You suck!" O'Malley shouted back before he whipped out his stolen pistol and pointed it at Aska. "And now I make my escape with my metallic hostage, never to be seen again! Unless I want to be seen, in which case, if I see you before you see me… look out!"

Zelos and Sheena glanced at each other in fear as O'Malley finished his rant. "The universe will be mine! Hahahahahahaaaaaa!"

Luna rolled back in horror. "Aska! Nooooo!"

O'Malley then shoved his prisoner into the Reds' teleporter. "Move it, brown pot. Into the abyss!" And he jumped in afterwards, his laughter echoing around the canyon.

"Everyone hold your fire!" Emil called out. "We're coming out. Truce."

"Time out," Genis added as he followed Emil and Zanzibar in joining the befuddled Reds.

"Would someone explain what just happened here?" Zelos demanded.

"That evil guy in the scooter shot one of our guys and ran off with Aska," Emil explained.

"But we need Aska for very specific reasons that we don't have to explain to you," Kratos cried out. "We have to get him back."

"Yeah, and we have to get the evil guy back," Emil added. "He's the only one around here that can heal Irving."

"So now we're forced to work together," Zelos muttered. "How ironic."

"No, that's not ironic," Sheena argued. "Ironic would be if we had to work together to hurt each other."

"No," Presea differed. "Ironic would be instead of that guy kidnapping Aska, Aska kidnapped him."

"I think," Kratos then suggested, "it would be ironic if our guns didn't shoot bullets, but instead squirted a healing salve that cured all wounds."

"I think it would be ironic," Genis added, "if everyone was made of iron."

It took another two hours for the argument to get anywhere, but eventually the Blues (sans Lloyd), the Reds and Zanzibar had gathered on the roof of the Red Base with Luna waiting next to the Warthog and Doc's abandoned scooter.

"Okay," Emil said slowly. "We all agree that while the current situation is not totally ironic, that fact that we have to work together is odd in an unexpected way that defies our normal circumstances. Is everyone happy with that?"

"Yes," Kratos said and Zelos and Presea nodded in agreement.

Sheena then came up behind Emil. "And I just finished reprogramming our teleporter to take us directly to Aska and Tenebrae's coordinates."

Kratos nodded at this. "We'll leave one member of each team so that no one can trick anyone and take over the canyon. Our person will be Presea."

"We will leave Corporal Croissandwich," Genis added.

"Sage…" Emil warned.

Genis sighed. "We will leave Luna."

"Yeah, thanks guys," Presea muttered crossly. "Because, you know, if it is a trick, I'm sure I can hold her off."

Emil then turned to the others. "Alright, we're gonna do this one at a time. You first, Aurion."

Kratos nodded and raised his shotgun. "Today seems like a good day to teleport! Geronimo!" And he ran into the teleporter.

Genis followed with a cry of "Piscataway!"

Sheena started forward then paused. "Hmmm…."

"What's wrong?" Zelos asked.

"I just had a really weird feeling that I'm never gonna see this place again," Sheena muttered, taking one last look at the canyon.

"And that's a bad thing?" Zelos asked.

"I didn't say weird bad, I just said weird." And with that, Sheena ran into the teleporter.

Emil then stepped forward. "Alright, it's Zelos, right? You and me will go through together. Ready?"

"You first," Zelos replied.

With a nod, Emil ran into the teleporter and Zelos followed right behind.

Now Presea was all alone, save for Luna and Zanzibar. "Huh," she muttered to himself. "I wonder if I should have told the guys that thing I heard Tenebrae say about sabotage when I was in the cave… Ah well," he shrugged then he turned towards Luna and coughed embarrassingly. "Uh, hi!"

"Stop staring at my treads, buddy," Luna snapped.

"Geez, sorry," Presea apologized and turned towards the canyon wall, whistling to herself.

Behind her, a black, ghostly figure climbed onto the roof, spotted Zanzibar and took the robot over without hesitation. Then she turned round and spoke. "Alright, you sons of bitches, I'm back and I've got some-"

Marta stopped as she realized no one was there. "Hey, where'd everybody go?" She then spotted Presea standing nearby. "Do I know you?"

Presea turned round and Marta snapped her fingers in realization. "Hey, you're the girl who blew me up!"

As Luna turned her turret towards him, Presea gulped in fright. "Uh oh…"

Meanwhile, Kratos emerged from the teleporter and pointed his shotgun out. "Prepare to surrender, dirtbag!"

"Okay, I surrender," Genis called out as he appeared behind him. "Now it's your turn."

"Not you, moron," Kratos yelled then he suddenly took his surroundings. They were standing in a creek which ran through a small forest in the middle of a canyon smaller than Blood Gulch. "Wait a minute, where are we?"

At that moment, Sheena also came out the teleporter, but she found herself all alone in a massive series of corridors filled with glowing teleporters. "Guys? Oh guys…" She looked around in confusion. "Where is everybody?"

At the same time, Emil and Zelos leapt out of the teleporter and ran up a hill.

"Alright, now let's just find-" Emil stopped as he realized the other weren't there. "Where is everybody?"

Zelos meanwhile was taking in the view. The cliff they were standing on overlooked a great snowy field. On one side was a large clump of frosted trees and on the other, a great building squatted like a frog in the icy plains. "Whoa," the orange soldier breathed with a shiver. "Where are we? What is this place?"

Emil looked around, took in the sights and immediately he recognized the place: he was back on Flanoir Island.

"Freeze!" A voice called out to them. "Drop your weapon!"

Emil and Zelos whirled around to see a tan-clad soldier pointing his assault rifle at them. "Uh oh," Emil gulped.

The soldier glowered at the trespassers. "I said, freeze, dirtbag!"

Emil suddenly gave a loud beep, boop then an "Eep!" and he punched Zelos right in the face.

"OW! Oh, come on!" Zelos yelled as he slipped into unconsciousness.

Before Emil could ask what happened there, he felt a sharp crack on the side of his head and everything went black…

FUCKING FINALLY! I GOT THIS CHAPTER DONE! OK SO ONCE AGAIN, SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG, IT'S HELL TRYING TO GET THESE UP. OK SO FOR THOSE THAT KNOW RED VS. BLUE: A NEW CHARACTER'S COMING INTO PLAY IN SEASON 3. OUR FAVORITE BRITISH FREELANCER, WYOMING. NOW I JUST NEED TO DECIDE THE CODENAME THATS GONNA BE USED FOR WHO USES HIM AND THE CHARACTER HIMSELF. I'M THINKING RICHTER BUT I MIGHT CHANGE IT UP. HAVEN'T DECIDED YET. ANYWAY, THANKS FOR READING. SEASON 3 WILL BE COMING WHEN IT COMES, COCKBITES! AND ALSO ONE MORE THING, THE NEW EPISODES IN SEASON 10, AWESOME! GLAD THEY DECIDED TO REALLY GO INTO THE AI UNITS AND CAROLINA'S DEVELOPMENT AS A CHARACTER. ANYWAY, HASTA LUEGO!