Chapter 19: Ray MK III

The robot that interrupted the brawl begins to descend to the ground, while at the same time a red-haired swordsman is rushing towards the group. Upon a closer look, the robot is revealed to be far shorter than Samus's group expected, as it stands at about 12 inches. It has a blue and white color scheme and red appendages that function as its wings. When the swordsman also gets to see the robot, he readies his sword.

Of all people present there, only Samus seems to recognize the swordsman. "Huh? Isn't he...?"

The swordsman begins to charge towards the short robot, while the latter begins firing laser shots, which are dodged by the man while he still dashes to his target. The swordsman then performs a sword slash, with the sword's blade now wreathed in flames, though it's also dodged, leaving both fighters still unscathed. Seeing the sudden fight, the two different groups can only watch in confusion, especially Dark Samus's group, as they've never seen the red-haired swordsman before.

When the fight stops, Lakitu, one of Dark Samus's cohorts begins to speak up, "...Hey! How dare you strike our master like that?!"

The swordsman doesn't answer. But then, noticing that Samus is present among other people, the swordsman finally decides to speak up. He first approaches Samus, then tells her, "Sorry for suddenly diverting my attention away from giving a proper introduction. Now... I believe that you still remember me, hm?"

Everyone else is surprised. Samus knows that she had seen the swordsman before, but she feels unsure about when she met him and what his name is.

"Hmm... I guess you've forgotten me already. I'm Roy. I met you in your dream a long time ago, remember?" Roy reintroduces himself. This surprises everyone else even more.

"Oh. It's you. Never thought I'd see you in person." Samus said.

"Same here. I was going on a long journey, and here I am."

Suddenly, Pinky says something to Roy. "I'm sorry. But you still haven't answered my pal's question about why you suddenly attacked our master..."

"Hmph. Why would it matter? I've been destined to fight against it."

The robot's name is called Ray MK III. Its origin is unknown, but it is said that it was man-made. Even then, who created Ray remains unknown as well. Roy's first encounter involving Ray happened in a city, where the latter managed to rescue a citizen from getting run over by a school bus before the former arrived. Seeing the potential for helping him in his jobs, Roy tried to get Ray to join his alliance. However, the robot refused, then proceeded to attack him with a volley of lasers. After that, intense battle ensued, something like what happened after Ray interrupted the fight between Dark Samus's group and Samus's group, only in a bigger scale. Their fights in that city managed to destroy buildings and killed people they supposed to keep safe. It ended with Roy getting trapped underneath the rubble of a ruined building, while Ray disappeared. Fortunately, he was rescued by his own allies, but they were late to the battle itself. And that's what drove Roy's motivation on defeating Ray MK III.

Back at the current situation, Ray MK III suddenly points at something, prompting everyone else to look at what it's pointing to. It points to Samus, specifically her held trophy.

"I get it." Roy said. "It wants that."

"What 'that'? This trophy?" Samus asked.

"I guess so."

"Excuse me, but you should get out of our sight and actually let our master sort things out." Ashley said to Roy.

"...Why are you calling it your master? It doesn't deserve to be a trustworthy ally."

"Our master trained us, and since Captain Falcon hired it that makes us being hired to kill that woman's group as well."

Ray MK III then makes a gesture as if it's asking for a fight against Roy only.

"Huh. That's settled then."

"What?" Samus asked.

"That robot, Ray, wants your trophy, correct? And since it has to go through me first, it asked for a battle between me and Ray only. None of you, from either side, are allowed to help me or Ray in any way. Also, neither group should attack each other during our battle just so we're not distracted. The victory of one of us will determine whether the trophy will go or stay."

"Teehee! That's cute. But you really, really can't mess with our master!" Pinky gleefully said.

And with that, Roy steps forward and readies his sword once again, while Ray floats slightly. The two then charge at each other, with the impact causing them to get knocked back. Roy then prepares for another flaming sword slash, while Ray fires an explosive shot to the ground. The smoke from the explosion disrupts Roy's sight, which, combined with the robot's small size, makes it difficult to find his target. A laser shot suddenly hits Roy's right hand, causing him to drop his sword and clutch his injured hand with the other. When he discovers that Ray is attacking from behind, Roy surprises it with a kick that it's too late to dodge from, launching it away. As the smoke clears, Roy picks up his sword with his left hand and begins searching for the robot again. Ray is flying behind him again, though much further away. It then fires another explosive at Roy, which he noticed, causing him to quickly sidestep away, though the explosion's blast causes him to get knocked down after said sidestepping. Ray then quickly fires another volley of lasers, which Roy quickly dodged from by rolling sideways. The latter then gets up and begins thinking how to work his sword attacks with his left hand. Meanwhile, Ray begins to charge towards him again, prompting him to do the same just so he can pierce the robot with his flaming sword.

However...

Just when the two are about to collide with each other, a lightning bolt strikes both fighters, destroying Ray and leaving Roy paralyzed. More lightning bolts struck the ground and any other part of the environment, so the others have to find a safe place or shelter to protect themselves from the sudden lightning bolts. Suddenly, Dark Samus is struck by a lightning strike, weakening her and exposing her true form, a blue blob monster not too different from the ones that disguised as Falcon's army of Bob-ombs and Beedrill. Shortly after, all of Dark Samus's allies end up burst into the same blue blob monster. Then, all of those creatures flee from the location.

After all of that, no more lightning bolts striking. Samus and her allies managed to survive. They then quickly approach the still-paralyzed Roy on the ground.

"Do you think he would remain alive?" Popo asked.

"A lightning strike like that can kill a person. I think he won't survive..." Jeff replied in a worried tone.