Academy Chronicles: Rise of the Skylanders
Chapter 27: Preventing the Bittersweet
As the battle continued to rage on, a rumbling stirred the entire island. All the fighters on both side stumbled slightly as they call regained their bearings.
"What… was that?!" Sayaka asked, groaning as she struggles to get back up.
Facing her was Izanami, who while floating was also able to be stunned by some sort of recoil. She put her hand to her forehead.
"I sense something… terrible." She states in her usual stoic tone before turning to Sayaka and her hedgehog partner.
"What… did you do?" She then asked, gritting her teeth in clear annoyance.
"Don't ask me! But judging by that expression of yours, sounds good to us!" Sonic stated.
The rumbling intensified as the entire factory itself began to crack, pieces of the marble roof flying off into the sky and rocketing down as debris proceeds to crush multiple Liberators in their paths.
Some Skylanders needed to move out of the way, dodging the falling pieces of the crumbling building.
Eventually, something flew from a hole in the factory.
"GAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
Crashing into Izanami, the two tumbling into a nearby tree, once the dust settled the heroes noticed the Monokuma fell onto her.
"Monokuma, you imbecile, what have you wrought?!"
"Don't blame me! Blame them!"
Monokuma pointed at Sonic as he dusted himself off.
"You!" He growled, unsheathing his claws. "You stinkin' hedgehog! You ruined everythin' again!"
"I suppose you found Makoto and Kyoko?" Sonic asked Monokuma, getting his sword ready to strike in case Monokuma were to lunge forward.
"No DUH, I found them! And trust me, you just caused the sappiest, most hopeful idiot to become even… more sappy and hopeful! Blech! And he destroyed the factory!"
"Eh?! What do you mean destroyed the factory? That kid is nothing but a powerless, lowly, human fool!" Kaos ranted.
"I'd retract that first claim if I were you." Monokuma told Kaos.
Suddenly, a huge burst of white and black completely incinerated the factory, including the machine within and halting all Liberator production.
Purple Heart, Spyro, Madoka and Homura covered their eyes to shield themselves from the bright destruction while Pop Fizz looked onwards in awe…
…Even though he probably shouldn't.
"Ooooh! Prettyyy! And it also burns my eyes, but prettyyy!"
Once the light faded away, two figures can be seen coming out of the debris, floating out of the debris.
Bathed in a heavenly glow, Makoto was the first to come into full visibility. Subsequently, Kyoko appeared in a dark aura.
Izanami floated back up. She wanted to question Monokuma as to how exactly these two have gotten the power necessary to obliterate an entire Arkeyan factory… but she can sense enough to identify it.
"They absorbed the Elemental Foundations! Kill them!"
Reacting to her command, the remaining Liberators began to charge at the superpowered luckster and detective.
"Skylanders, protect them!" Spyro commanded in retaliation. With that, Spyro and Sonic's teams both continue the struggle in fighting the swarm of Liberators. However, there's more enemies than friends at this point.
Makoto turned to Kyoko, removing his neutral expression that of a smiling one.
"Heh… that took a lot out of me." He chuckled.
"Still, we're finally turning the tide." Kyoko stated with a small grin. "Thanks to you."
Makoto nodded before turning to the large Liberator army. "But we're not done yet!"
Thrusting forward like a missile, Makoto opened his hand, unleashing a beam of light to decimate a radius of Liberators into nothing but digital particles. Makoto then landed on the grass to proceed with his assault.
He punched a Liberator in the face before whacking a troll with a roundhouse kick.
"Whoa! Makoto!" Madoka shouted in awe. "How'd you learn to do that?"
"I-I don't know!" Makoto laughed. "But it feels good!"
"Kid's finally doin' it!" Tails stated, blasting off a Liberator's head with a bazooka. "He's turning the tide!"
The Skylander Stealth Elf, hopping between opponents then landed next to the fox.
"But wasn't there two of them?" She curiously asked.
"Yeah, where's Kyoko?" Tails then wondered.
"…I'm right here."
The two turned around at the sound of Kyoko's voice to see nothing. Appearing in a puff of smoke a second later though, revealed Kyoko who followed with a mere hair flip.
"Wait, you can turn invisible now?" Tails asked.
"Is this plagiarism?" Stealth Elf pointed out. "She's stealing my shtick."
"Less talking, more fighting." Kyoko told them, harnessing darkness once again to cloak herself as her invisible form knocks out several unsuspecting minions before erupting into a huge dark explosion.
Makoto meanwhile sped back to Sonic and Sayaka as the three stood together.
"Did I keep you waiting?" Makoto smirked, dusting himself off, still crackling with light.
"A bit, but I'm not that impatient." Sonic told the boy, the two softly fist bumping. "So, what exactly happened over there that turned you into… well… that?"
"I'll explain later." Makoto told the Sentinel. "But I think Kyosuke would be uh… quite surprised at what I've done here."
"Probably." Sayaka said, rolling her shoulders a bit as a stretch.
"But right now, we have an army to finish."
Makoto adjusted his hood. "Couldn't agree more! I can't let any of them do what they did to my world!"
The three looked onwards to see Monokuma face them, claws extended.
"Nope! Nope, nope, nope! I'm not letting you take this chance to finally see you dead, Naegi! You're gonna be mine!"
He jumped forward at the boy. But Makoto chose to do what he did best.
He pointed his finger.
"No… that's… WRONG!"
He moved his finger up, essentially finger gunning. Emerging from his fingertips is a Truth Bullet made of light.
Sonic and Sayaka looked at each other and nodded, following up instantly. Sonic pointed his sword forward and shot a golden energy blast to merge with the bullet.
Sayaka joined in with her own blast of inner golden energy to mix together.
With all three attacks combined, they become a powerful ball to hit Monokuma in the chest. This sends the bear flying further and further into the island and into the factory's burning remains.
Monokuma groaned as he opened his eyes again, noticing how that hurtful flight he endured caused a ton of minions and even leaders such as Ronin and Kaos fallen from the sudden impact.
He then looked up to see Makoto looking down on him.
"You… you happy?" He coughed. "Mister… Pacifist? Look at 'cha. Remember when I first died?"
Makoto looked down at Monokuma, looking back at the day Junko Enoshima was self-executed.
"Waaahhh…" Monokuma mocked. "You didn't want anyone to die. Yet look at 'cha, Superman. You pretty much destroyed an army, and you're faced with me. You gonna snap my neck? Hand through the chest? How much of the villain do you wanna play today?"
"Junko…" Makoto sighed. "I'm going to destroy your army… but I'm not gonna kill you. Whatever plan you'll have in the future, though… I'll stop it. We'll stop it. As a team."
"Even now, you're still ungodly cheesy." Monokuma growled.
Makoto shrugged it off, looking at the remaining Liberators which has dwindled in size. The Skylanders and the remaining Disciples were having a far more manageable time to beating them. Izanami was even pinned down by Sonic and Sayaka, with a gun pointed at her head thanks to Kyoko. The three look at Makoto with a nod.
"It's over, Monokuma. It's ov-AGH!"
Makoto clutches his head, his eyes glowing. He proceeds to stumble and fall.
The same happened to Kyoko, who got on her knees.
"What the hell?! What's happening to them?!" Sayaka gasped.
Izanami, while pinned and weakened looked at the bluenette.
"You fool. You think an average mortal could handle all that power for long? Without proper inhibitors, your friends will die." Izanami smiled. "You got too cocky."
Using electricity, Izanami shocked the hedgehog and girl away, grabbing Kyoko by the throat. Makoto did the same, grabbing Makoto by his neck. The two wait for the both of the to self-destruct.
"Got too hopeful, Naegi."
A shadow then loomed over the two as the Skylander army faced them.
"…Got too hopeful, Enoshima." Sonic stated.
Tree Rex throws the other LOSE members and Monokubs in front of them, exhausted and beaten.
"You have five minutes to run."
Izanami gritted her teeth, knowing they can't stand a chance anymore. She opened a portal behind all of them.
"Retreat." She admitted as she let go of Kyoko.
"This ain't over, Sonic! You have no idea what's in store for you." Monokuma proclaimed before dropping Makoto.
"But have fun watching them die!"
LOSE then retreated into the Portal as the Skylanders looked down at the suffering Ultimates.
As Purple Heart turned into Neptune, she watched the two in concern.
"Uhhh… we need to get these guys help. Fast."
Pop Fizz then hopped off.
"I don't get it! This whole fight was all epic and stuff… but uh, you think we should've done better? Like, we usually end in like a blaaaze of glory or something! This feels anti-climactic."
"Not always." Sonic said. "It's almost like the Liberator Crisis. We win, but it doesn't always feel like a victory."
He closed his eyes before opening the once more with determination.
"But not today! Get them to the Dreamcast! We're heading back to Borg! Sayaka, keep healing those two. Make sure you sustain their bodies enough to contain that power."
Sonic ran ahead, making a small and hasty salute.
"See you later, guys! Thanks for the help!"
Several Skylanders nod in acknowledgement as the Disciples team ran off, Madoka and Homura carrying Makoto and Kyoko away.
Spyro looked at the others, then back to Sonic. The dragon then flew off to follow…
