Author's Note: And here is the final chapter, or, rather, the second part of the final chapter! Yes, I decided to split it instead of making a very, very long finale. A sincere thank you to everyone who reviewed, favorited, and followed this story! Your support means a lot to me, thank you!
That being said, I am not done writing SSB fiction, not by a long shot. I will at this point recommend you to check out Flying Chariot and her work, as well as the collab that we are working on together, hosted on my profile.
A blast of red energy flew inches from Bass' left head fin and he turned to see Ra Thor giving chase.
"Well, if he wants a fight, I'll give him a fight. Treble!" Powering up again into Treble Boost, Bass turned around and flew at his opponent, moving erratically to dodge the blasts of energy being sent at him. Ra Thor raised a barrier of energy as he approached. "So, he thinks I'm going to use the Rocket Buster on him, huh? He's in for a surprise." Bass un-fused from Treble and used the momentum of his flight to kick Ra Thor to the ground, the blow passing through the shield without resistance. Unlike shields in Smash, Ra Thor's wasn't able to block melee attacks.
Bass grabbed Ra Thor by the neck, switching to Super Arm again. His forearms swelled to massive size as he pinned the other robot to the wall with one hand and wound back with his other. The blow shook the entire hallway and left Ra Thor's face badly battered, yet he showed no signs of giving up. His body grew hot under Bass' grasp and he let go just before Ra Thor released an energy pulse from his body. Bass was knocked down by it, and now it was his turn to be pinned to the wall. Ra Thor's hand blazed with flickering red energy as he raised his fist, and Bass was rather forcibly reminded of the Falcon Punch when it slammed into him.
Treble teleported in from behind Ra Thor and tackled him. Being used in this manner for most of the Smash tournament had left the wolf extremely well-versed in sudden attacks. While Ra Thor didn't let go of Bass, the latter recovered first owning to Treble clamping his jaws on Ra Thor's neck. He charged another energy pulse, but both of his opponents were ready: Treble teleported away at the last minute and Bass braced himself for the knockback.
Bass checked his weapon energy and cursed as he realized he was out of Thunder Beam. Switching to Cloud Man's Thunder Strike, he started to shower Ra Thor in thunderbolts. Even his resilient body wasn't able to withstand prolonged exposure to a robot's worst enemy, and his limbs were twitching slightly once Bass had finished his onslaught.
"So that didn't kill you? Fine. I'll keep throwing weapons at you until you die!" Now came a barrage of Spark Shocks. The weak electricity was enough to slow Ra Thor's advance and prevent him from charging retaliatory attacks, but did almost no damage.
Which was exactly what Bass wanted. Ra Thor was about a dozen feet away when Bass dashed forward and switched to Jupiter's Electric Shock. He threw both hands out in front of him and devastating arcs of high-voltage electricity leapt between the two robots. Ra Thor shuddered violently from the onslaught and went limp, but Bass didn't stop until smoke began to seep from his opponent.
Satisfied that Ra Thor was dead, Bass continued down the hall to the control room.
There was nothing left for him to work with. He was trapped. And now Bass was going to make him pay for every manipulation he'd ever pulled.
Wily looked up and cursed as the lift descended, carrying Bass. It was too soon. He needed at least another minute.
"You're going to pay for messing with me, old man. And the sum's pretty large."
"Bass, remember that I created you! I gave you all the power you now hold! Why would you turn upon he who has bestowed you this gift?"
"You put a price tag on that power. My free will. You've been manipulating me since day one. I don't think I've made any conscious decisions completely of my own will before these last few years. And as I've told you, nobody tells me what to do."
"You don't have 'free will,' fool! No Robot Master is completely independent! Sunstar and Ra Moon had it because they were alien!"
"I don't care. Apparently I have some sort of it, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to break the mandates your coding."
"That might be. But none of that matters now - " Wily darted his hand to flip a final switch to complete Zero's activation. Unfortunately, Bass noticed, and instead of shooting his hand, aimed straight for the main power cable. Zero's body automatically adjusted to the power loss, though the uncalibrated computer overcompensated, resulting in a power surge. Nevertheless, a faint glow started to emit from the crystal in the center of his torso as his systems booted up. "Awaken, Zero!" He pressed another switch and a vacuum tube quickly descended around him, whisking him up to a hidden control center.
"Hhgh..." Zero's head moved feebly, and then jerked upwards. His eyes flickered on, revealing electric blue irises with the Wily symbol overlaid on them instead of pupils. Bass took a step back, unwilling to fire again without knowing exactly what might happen.
"You were foolish to think I was unprepared, boy," Wily sneered. "And I did tell you that this project was a long time coming. Well, you gave me both the opportunity and motivation to finish it early, just in time for it to bring about your demise! We'll see how long you can dismiss Zero's power like you did before!"
The cables connected to Zero had detached, with the exception of the ruins of the main power cable, still attached to his back. He took a shaky step forward.
"Pah, don't make me laugh! He can barely walk at the moment - Augh!" Zero dashed forward with blinding speed and seized Bass' neck with both hands. His expression remained blank.
"Haha, marvelous, Zero! Now, do as your father commands and destroy this bastard brother of yours!"
Zero's right fist moved away from Bass' neck and slammed into him with blinding speed. There was no wind-up, no grunt, but it was on par with Ganondorf's Warlock Punch. Bass' eyes flickered to static for a second.
Treble appeared and clamped his jaws on Zero's arm, causing him to let go of Bass. But he didn't even flinch or cry out. The red robot remained mute as he turned his attention to Treble. The wolf was too fast for him, however, and Zero was still adjusting to his body, though he was learning fast. The two danced around each other for a few moments before Treble boosted forward and left a deep slash in Zero's left leg. The latter's face contorted in rage and agony, and Zero growled in frustration as he turned around.
Bass fired a charged shot at him that Zero ducked with surprising speed. Treble transformed into jet mode and knocked Zero off his feet, allowing Bass to grab him and throw Zero into a wall. Unaccustomed to such impacts, Zero's systems were slow to recover, and Bass pinned him to the wall and wound up another Super Arm punch before the former processed what happened.
The wall, however, turned out not to be a wall, but a hidden doorway that lead to another room. This one had a sealed capsule in it that contained a large bank of computers and wires surrounding it. Bass didn't care what they did. Zero got back to his feet much faster, and rushed his opponent again. Bass blew him backwards with a charged shot, sending the red reploid crashing into the capsule and breaking the glass covering on it.
In the control center above, Wily had seen the capsule rupture and laughed softly. Bass didn't know it, but he'd just sealed his own fate. From what Wily could figure, the abrupt power surge had wiped Zero's RAM banks, which was the sole location of the majority of his personality data had been located (Wily hadn't had time to transfer it, save basic things like expressions and his voice imprint, to permanent storage). But the virus in the capsule would write him one to replace that.
"Hmph, this is what you call your ultimate creation, old man?" Bass pointed his weapon at Zero. "You must be getting soft in your dotage."
"Nyheheheh..." faint laughter escaped Zero's mouth. He sat up and his eyes opened again. He had human-like eyes now, and his irises appeared to be crackling with electricity. They focused on Bass with a piercing intensity and a maniacal grin spread across the red robot's face.
Bass thought he'd been fast before, but this was almost at Sonic's level. Zero shot out of the capsule and pummeled him with an endless stream of blows before finally slamming his fist into Bass' chest crystal, shattering it. He staggered backwards and fell on his back. Zero cackled madly and his hands glowed with power as he approached.
"There's gotta be a window to wherever the old man's holed up in right now. He wouldn't rely on cameras in case something went wrong during construction." As much as the past decades had warped Wily's personality around cruelty and hatred, the doctor had a practical side from his earlier days, something Bass knew all too well. After all, that was how he hatched the majority of his plans.
Zero plunged both hands downwards, aiming to grab Bass' neck. The latter rolled aside and hurled Atomic Fire back at his attacker. It was a long shot, but Bass' guess was proven correct as the fireballs set Zero's hair on fire and he screamed in agony, the gathered energy in his hands disappating.
"Typical. Old man didn't learn from the mistakes he made when he built me, or even from Rock's own flaws." The powerful energy they both channeled was contained by internal fields, whose generators were sensitive to heat. While it overload was unlikely to cause a shutdown or crippling damage, it forced the dispersion of gathered energy otherwise such damage might occur. Rock had explained the weakness of a chargable buster to him a while ago, and apparently Wily hadn't bothered to change the design even though Zero had no visible buster. Taking advantage of the opening Bass summoned Treble to fuse with him again.
The red robot, however, once again appeared to be overreacting merely because the sensation of burning was new. Once he'd figured out that the flames couldn't do much but scorch his armor and hair and temporarily interrupt his attacks, he attacked Bass with a newfound ferocity, punctuating his blows with feral screams of rage. Bass switched to Astro Crush and bombarded his opponent with meteors, launching them one at a time out of his buster rather than as as storm. The heavy impacts left sizable dents on Zero's armor and cracked the crystals on his chest and helmet, but didn't slow him for long.
"Hahaha! Realized you can't win yet, boy?" Wily taunted.
Incensed, Bass switched to Rain Flush and an acid rainstorm was soon dissolving the walls and floor. Zero growled in frustration at his inability to reach Bass, but the acid rain hadn't been able to even dissolve his armor. It did, however, dissolve part of the lift's shaft, and Bass flew up it, hoping to find another way into Wily's hideout. Zero ran after him, wall-jumping with a fair amount of trouble, but he was becoming more coordinated with each passing second. Bass fired a Hard Knuckle that knocked him off the wall, sending Zero tumbling back down to the bottom. With the few seconds he'd bought he began scanning for organic life. If he couldn't reach Wily directly, at least he'd know where he was.
Suddenly he was yanked backwards as Zero leapt off the wall and grabbed him. The combined weight caused them to start falling, while Zero pounded away at his predecessor and Bass attempted furiously to throw him off.
But his scanner had picked up where Wily was hiding. Bass suddenly boosted downwards, bringing his back up against the wall of the elevator shaft. The collision broke Zero's hold and Bass zoomed back into the room where the red robot had first awakened. A few seconds and a well-placed charged shot later, he'd found the doctor. Before he could shoot, Zero leaped in through the hole in the control center and tackled Bass. Treble un-fused again and appeared behind Zero. The wolf pounced, burying his claws deep into Zero's armor. The latter screamed in rage and leapt up. Treble was unable to free his claws in time and Zero wasted no time in punishing him. Bass switched to Super Arm and slammed Zero from behind, freeing his wolf. No sooner had Treble landed, however, than a blue blast of energy struck him and sent him flying across the room.
Zero stood with his right arm leveled at Bass. Wily didn't know or care why Zero had only noticed now that he had a buster, but it didn't matter. That weapon was in a completely separate class from Bass's. Treble, meanwhile, had turned to Dr. Wily, and was about to pounce on him when Zero took notice and dashed at him. Bass was too slow to stop him and Zero began to rip the wolf apart piece-by-piece, tearing off his armor and shredded his circuitry like paper. Treble's struggles quickly ceased and Zero dropped him unceremoniously before blasting the remains apart with his weapon.
"You...!" Bass lunged, but not at Zero. Instead, he grabbed the surprised Dr. Wily and held him at buster-point. Zero raised his arm and began to charge his buster.
"Zero, what are you doing?! Save your father!" Wily cried. Bass clubbed him hard with his buster, silencing any further words.
"Go on, then, you wanna take me? You'll have to kill your old man first!"
"Don't listen to him, Zero! Save your father, and you will be rewarded beyond measure!"
Zero's aim faltered slightly and his face lost its insane look. He tilted his head to one side as he examined the situation. "No. I must destroy the bastard son," Zero repeated slowly, as if thinking out loud. "Yes..." his maniacal grin returned. "I shall! Hahahaha!"
Bass, realizing that the strategy wasn't going to work, threw Wily forwards into Zero's charged shot and dove out of the way, firing back at the red reploid. He could hear the doctor's agonized scream, but there wasn't time to check whether he was dead or not.
"Deestroyyy! AHAHAHAHA!" Zero let loose another blast from his weapon. Bass rolled to dodge it and did a backflip to avoid the next before throwing more Atomic Fire to disrupt Zero's weapons. It worked, but Zero only got more annoyed.
"Die already!" He charged the Z-buster and let the massive shot loose. Bass threw himself behind a console, which turned out to be a critical mistake. The blast of energy sliced through the computers and the right half of his chest. Though the Z-Buster shot lost a lot of its power and size because it had to pierce through the console, the damage would still have been fatal if it had struck him dead center.
Gritting his teeth in pain, Bass switched back to Super Arm and tore the console from the ground before throwing it. The heavy machinery slammed into Zero and threw him into the far wall with a satisfying crunch. Bass took the opportunity to examine Wily, whose prone form was laying on the ground. The doctor's outfit bore burn marks from the attack, but it had appeared to only graze him. Nevertheless, at his age, he would probably have died from the shock of being burned by searing plasma.
There was no time to ponder the matter further as the thrown console exploded and Zero rushed back at his opponent, screaming with rage. He raised his right fist and charged it with energy, but Bass met the punch and the strength of Super Arm prevailed. The recoiling energy blast knocked Zero backwards. This time, he picked up a jagged length of metal before attacking again.
"Dammit, he's got a range advantage." Sliding under Zero's first swipe, Bass grabbed the arm holding the crude weapon and attempted to rip it from his grasp. To his surprise, Zero did a backflip and stomped on his face, pinning the former to the ground.
The red robot leisurely reached down and grabbed Bass in a chokehold. He managed to pry himself out of it with Super Arm, though Zero lost interest in him and started rummaging for something to use as a weapon. Bass crawled slowly over to Wily so as to not attract Zero's attention. The latter straightened up a second later, a piece of pipe in his hand, and realized where Bass had gone.
Wily screamed in pain as Bass forcefully hauled him to his feet. "You're not going to outlast me, old man!" Zero walked forwards, his grin still in place, swinging his pipe from side to side.
"No! Back, Zero!" Wily screamed. "You wouldn't dare kill your father!"
"Pah! Father?" Bass scoffed. "You don't care about him! He'll just become another failed project, another bastard child, when you come up with something else!"
Zero stopped and the smirk dropped from his face. "What?"
"You're just a pawn, Zero. You're just doing what he wants! He'll just disown you later when he has no need of you any more!"
"I...am just a pawn...?" Zero repeated stupidly, looking at nothing. Then his fists clenched and his face twisted into a vicious snarl. "No. I am not. I will prove it!" He rushed at Bass, but at the last minute, changed his course and slammed Wily with the pipe. The latter dodged the blow but it still struck his leg. There was the audible sound of breaking bones and Wily collapsed, moaning in pain.
"Hmph, that's what you get for thinking you can control things outside your power again, old m - !" Zero now turned to Bass and grabbed him again. Before Bass could so much as cry out in surprise Zero rammed the length of pipe straight through his shattered chest crystal with so much force that it tore through the armor plating on his back.
"U...ugh..." Bass tried to shove the crude weapon out of his body, but Zero relinquished his grip on his neck and angled the pipe upwards, causing Bass to slide further down the pipe.
Zero suddenly positioned his victim so they were making eye contact. "You are right. I am nobody's pawn. Not yours, either." The fluids leaking from Bass' damaged body were making it difficult for his hands to grip the pipe tightly enough to lift himself off. Zero changed the angle on the pipe and jerked it sideways, causing Bass to scream as it caused even more damage. "I destroy. That is what I was built for. And so I will destroy everything. Starting with you."
Zero raised his other arm, now formed into a buster, and began charging a shot. Bass resigned himself to his fate and ceased struggling.
"I...I've failed...I'm sorry, Rock. He's going to be after you next. I just hope you and Blues can succeed where I didn't."
The flash of the weapon lit up the entire room.