- Chapter 9 -

Robot Rampage

Author's Note:

So, I've been kicking a few ideas around in my head. I've been planning on having the Sonic characters and the Kongs use some of the Mario power-ups, as well as some fan-made ones I read about on the Fantendo Wiki, but I've been debating on whether or not to have Mega Man's crew use them as well. What do you guys think about that?

And to my guest reviewer Erika, I spliced in the comic canons because I felt like it. This is my story, and I'll do what I please with it. Thanks for your review, though.

Soundtrack for this chapter:

* Super Mario Galaxy 2: Megahammer (Mix)- www. youtube watch?v=8RrKFPlPMvk

The Castle, Bowser's Skull Egg Zone

Burnbot stood before the portal in the castle's main hall, the portal having been programmed to send it to Toad Town.

"You know what to do when you see them, Burnbot," Eggman said. Burnbot turned to its master, nodded, then wheeled itself through the portal.

"Your little scrap heap better work this time, Eggman," Bowser snarled. Eggman looked at him, unafraid of the Koopa king's demeanor.

"Even if it doesn't, we have reserves." he said calmly. Bowser nodded at that before making his way over to the portal's control panel and typing in new coordinates. The image in the portal shifted from Toad Town to a tropical island with a large rock formation in the shape of Donkey Kong's head (1); Donkey Kong Island.

"Well, guess it's time for me to go talk to another evil king," Bowser said, his expression and tone of voice making it clear that he didn't particularly enjoy having to do so.

"Who?" Wily asked. Bowser folded his arms across his chest.

"King K. Rool (2), leader of the Kremlings. He's to Donkey Kong what Mario is to me," Bowser explained. "Let's just say the two of us don't really like each other that much (3). But desperate times call for desperate measures."

With that, Bowser made his way through the portal, which closed behind him, leaving Wily and Eggman by themselves.

"So now what do we do?" Wily asked. Eggman stroked his mustache thoughtfully.

"For now, I say we just continue with the projects we have going," he said. "If all else fails, they'll be our ace in the hole."

The Dungeons, Bowser's Skull Egg Zone

In the dungeon, a Super Troopa and an Egg Swat stood at attention in front of a cell door, which contained a little blonde girl wearing a red dress and a female anthropomorphic hedgehog with purple fur, blue eyes, a tuft of blonde hair on her forehead, and a purple dress.

Roll turned to look at Bernie, the two having explained their situation after being thrown in the cell. She was the mother of this Sonic character whom Wily and his new allies were trying to pit against Rock, and they had been kidnapped to be used as bait to trick them into doing so, though they had heard little else since then.

Bernie sniffled, and a tear ran down her cheek. "Sonic," she said softly. "My baby boy... please be safe."

Roll hesitated for a second, then stood and put a comforting hand on Bernie's shoulder. Bernie looked at her.

"Don't worry," she said. "From what you've told me, Sonic is tough, and my brother is no slouch either. They'll pull through and come for us."

Bernie smiled and raised a hand to wipe her tears. "You're right, Roll," she said. "They'll be fine. We just have to have hope."

At that moment, the Super Troopa turned and rapped his knuckles on the bars of the door, startling the prisoners. "Hey!" he bellowed. "Shut up in there, will ya? (4)"

Bernie just shot the Troopa an icy glare, while Roll blew him a raspberry.

Toad Town, Mushroom Kingdom, The Mushroom World

Mario's group walked through the streets of Toad Town. They had just made it out of the Boo Woods after the battle with DK Man and King Boo, and had returned to stock up on items and power-ups before they left on their quest.

"The best place to get items would be Toadles Boutique (5)," Mario said. "It's on the west side of Toad Town."

"Okay, let's do it," Sonic said.

The group made their way to west Toad Town, and before long found themselves standing before a tall yellow building with a neon sign reading "Toadles Boutique" in big neon letters. Nodding to each other, they made their way in.

On the inside, Toadles Boutique was large and spacious, with alternating yellow-and-orange tiles on the floor and a red-and-yellow carpet bearing the image of an orange Super Mushroom leading from the door to the counter. Behind the counter stood an older Toad with a bushy brown mustache and eyebrows. He looked almost identical to the other toads, except his vest was black while his mushroom cap was yellow with white spots. He smiled when he saw Mario's group come in.

"Hey hey, it's the Mario Bros.!" he said. "What can I do for ya?"

"We're here for some power-ups and whatnot, sir," Luigi said politely. "We got another big adventure coming up."

The Toad looked at the group assembled behind Mario and Luigi. "Judging by your pals behind you, I would say so."

It didn't take long for the group to assemble a mass of power-ups, along with an Item Bag to carry them all in. Just as Mario handed a bag of coins to the Toad as payment, they suddenly heard a series of loud, fearful screams come from outside. The gang whirled towards the door.

"What's going on?!" Mega Man shouted. Rush barked in response.

"We better find out!" Sonic said. With that, the group dashed outside just in time to see a mass of Toads dash past them, screaming in fear. Without warning, a long red-and-black metallic arm, tipped with metal pincers, shot out from the distance, the claws clamping around one unfortunate Toad's waist and reeling him in.

"What the?" Tails yelled. The group looked in the direction the arm came from to see an egg-shaped robot, colored red, black, and gray with glowing blue eyes, holding the Toad in its claws.

"Mario! Luigi! HEEELP!" the Toad screamed as he fought to break free. Though Sonic had never seen this robot before, just looking at its shape and sleekness left him with no illusions about where it came from.

"It's one of Eggman's clunkers!" he shouted, clenching his fist. As if on cue, they heard evil, demented laughter sound out, and the robot's chestplate popped open to reveal a monitor, with Dr. Eggman himself appearing on it.

"Eggman!" Sonic snarled, his face contorted with rage at the sight of his nemesis. Eggman grinned.

"Hello there, Sonic, my loathsome enemy," Eggman said. "Consider this payback for what you and Fox-Boy there did to me at the Lost Hex!"

Sonic glared at Eggman in a rage. "First you kidnap my mom, now you threaten innocent Toads..." he spat. "You've gone too far this time, Ro-butt-nik! When I get my hands on you, I'm gonna crack you wide open!"

Eggman chuckled. "Whatever you say, rodent. In any event, I'd like to introduce you to Burnbot, the instrument of your destruction!"

Sonic looked the robot up and down. Despite the name, it didn't seem to have any flame-based or chemical weapons to do any burning.

"Okay, I'm confused," Tails said. "What does he burn with?"

Eggman face-palmed at that. "He doesn't burn with anything, you morons!" he shouted. "Do you not see the blasted claws?!"

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Then you should've named him 'Clawbot,' or 'the Lacerator,' or 'the Pinch-a-tron 9000!' I mean, Burnbot? That's just false advertising (6)!"

Eggman let out a furious growl. "I name my robots, Sonic!" he shouted. "But enough of your incessant babbling. Burnbot... KILL 'EM!"

*On that note, the monitor went blank, and Burnbot's chestplate closed. Burnbot tossed the Toad in its claws at the group, but Mario caught the Toad in his arms and set him down gently. The Toad nodded to him in thanks and quickly ran to safety.

Burnbot's wheels revved up with a loud squeal, and it charged at the group. DK jumped to the front, wound up his right fist several times, and just as Burnbot reached him, the ape let loose with a Giant Punch that connected solidly with Burnbot's face, sending the robot skidding back.

Mega Man quickly shifted to Eggdozer mode. Morphing his arm into the Mega Buster configuration, he aimed at Burnbot and fired an Eggdozer, which slammed into Burnbot's chestplate and detonated on contact. Before Burnbot could react to that, Diddy fired off his Jet Barrel and flew into the air, drawing his Peanut Popguns and firing on him.

The nutty projectiles detonated on contact with Burnbot, sending it skidding back. As it did so, Mario and Luigi dug into the Item Bag and pulled out a pair of Fire Flowers. Squeezing the flowers in their hands, they were engulfed in a bright light.

When the light faded, Mario and Luigi's clothes had changed. Their hats and shirts had become white, and their overalls had become red and green, respectively. They were now Fire Mario and Fire Luigi.

The two Mario Bros. quickly charged in, projecting red and green fireballs at Burnbot, the fiery projectiles bursting on contact with the robot even as it lashed out with its claws. Mario sprang back a split second before the claws could ensnare him, but Luigi wasn't so lucky; one of Burnbot's pincers snagged his pants and reeled him in.

"Help!" Luigi shouted as he was yanked into the air. "He's giving me a wedgie!"

Sonic bit his lip to keep from cracking up laughing, but charged in and delivered a solid kick to Burnbot's face, causing him to drop Luigi.

It was at that point that Mario decided it was time to end it. He spread both arms wide, fire collecting in his palms. "Oh, yeah!" he shouted as he thrust both palms outward, projecting twin streams of fire that swirled around one another, expanding vertically as they moved.

The Mario Finale hit Burnbot at full force, and he was engulfed in a massive fireball that burned for several seconds. When it dissipated, Burnbot was charred and sparking, and collapsed to the ground, only to try to regain its feet once more.

Seeing this, Yoshi and Rush sprang into action. Rush morphed into the Rush Coil, with Yoshi bouncing off of the spring on his back and fluttering above the robot, landing on him with a Ground Pound that squashed him flat. Burnbot shuttered, then died, its blue eyes fading to black.*

The group just looked at the scrapped robot for a few moments.

"Well," Sonic said flatly. "That was... bracing."

Monkey Mines, Donkey Kong Island, The Mushroom World

Bowser stepped out of the portal and stood before the Monkey Mines, the old abandoned mines of Donkey Kong Island. If the rumors he had heard were true, somewhere within the mines lurked King K. Rool and the remnants of the Kremling Krew, though why they had kept such a low profile for so long was a mystery to the Koopa King.

Shaking it off, Bowser entered the mines. He was not exactly eager to see K. Rool, but with Yoshi and Donkey Kong having been de-roboticized, and the likelihood that Burnbot would fall as well, desperate times called for desperate measures.

Author's Note:

(1): I decided to go with the pre-Donkey Kong Country Returns design for Donkey Kong Island. I grew up playing games with that design, and I just prefer it, y'know?

(2): Here, it's pronounced "Kuh-Rool," like in the Donkey Kong Country cartoon.

(3): A reference to Mario Super Sluggers, in which Bowser and K. Rool have bad chemistry if on the same team.

(4): Metal Gear Solid reference.

(5): Toadles Boutique is one of the shops from Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story.

(6): Taken word for word from the pilot episode of Sonic Boom.

My sincerest apologies for the long wait. Writer's block, other stories I've got in the works... you know.

Next chapter... a meeting of evil kings.

Please R&R. Until next time...