While this isn't the chapter I've been occasionally working on (where, from Team SuperVolt's point of view, the aforementioned heroes are soon to face Colonel Bahamut and Black Viper in person), I had this extra one pop up in my mind within the last month or so - courtesy of my binge-watching Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy and playing all the way through Contra: Rogue Corps (honestly more of a Gauntlet clone than an actual Contra game).
For this chapter, I switch over to the heroic Contra Force (at least two of its co-founders and the weakened Arctic Bomber who's trying hard to fight Phazon's hold over her); introduced in a flashback are a breed of mutant scorpions calling themselves the Crimson Aculeus Commonwealth (headed by King Volgoth and his second-in-command General Toxmarko, and his bratty daughter Princess Venomina, all of whom I just made up). They won't come into play now, but rather in a future GJA entry.
DISCLAIMER: WarioWare and Metroid are owned by Nintendo; Bomberman belongs to Hudson Soft albeit in Konami's hands as of March 2012; Contra is a property of Konami; Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi belongs to Renegade Animation; Final Fantasy is owned by Square-Enix; and the Alien franchise is a property of 20th Century Fox. All other franchises mentioned, briefly or otherwise, belong to their respective companies, unless stated otherwise. As for the Bomberman fan characters/OCs since I am adding a few more at this point, I own only Arctic Bomber, Blaze Bomber, Volcano Bomber, Axe Bomber and Sniper Bomber; my DA friend Dakwater's OCs are Lover Bomber and Molten Bomber; and G-Bomber and Wing Bomber are owned by...well, G-Bomber, my longtime online friend.
Chapter 14: Flashback to the past
[Quiet moment BGM: Environmental Silence (Metroid Fusion)]
"Hey, Ami..."
"Wh...what's wrong, Aaron...?"
Aaron took a moment to muster his strength, before opening up the conversation with Ami. "You remember the one time where we fought this one organization...somewhere near the Pacific Ring of Fire...?"
"...Y...you mean...like..."
Aaron nodded weakly, still in the sickbed next to Ami, Bill and Lance at Crygor Labs' temporary ER. "You and I were assigned to fight mutant scorpions...and their leader...what was his name again?"
"...King Volgoth, I think...the biggest, baddest mutant scorpion of them all..."
[End BGM]
[Stage BGM: Facing a Huge Reaction (Metroid Fusion)]
(FLASHBACK - DECEMBER 1, 20XX, ONE MONTH BEFORE COLONEL BAHAMUT'S INVASION ON JAPAN AND AUSTRALIA)
(AARON'S P.O.V.)
While Yumi and Yuffie were doing their basic training, under Blaze Bomber's supervision at the lab...Bill, Lance and Arctic were assigned to thwart an attempted invasion by some of Red Falcon's remnants in India... It was just you and me, way over at the Luzon mainland in the Philippines...
...We sure made one helluva entrance, with the way we blew up the scorpions' fortress wall threatening the local populace in the mountain city of Baguio... But of course, that was only the beginning of our journey to what used to be the unknown organization's secret laboratory on Mount Pulag, with our driving distance over two-and-a-half hours away from Baguio. Still, a bit of an excuse for us to test-drive our Contra Cruiser's prototype missile launcher at the time...
"Aaron, Ami, are you okay?"
"Bit of a rough landing with the missile ride from our Contra Cruiser," I answered Penny's call, "and its prototype launcher got wrecked by anti-air fire, but we'll manage."
"At least we're not fighting a global-scale war this time around," you told her.
"I know, but please be careful - one sting from a mutant scorpion can be deadly."
"We'll keep you posted, Pen. Ami and Aaron out."
You and I took a brief moment to discuss where we needed to start. Bill and Lance always told us: plan first, don't rush headlong into danger. "According to Penny's intel, a renegade organization had been experimenting with a breed of mutant insectoids since the Alien Wars."
"That was about six months after Bill and Lance - with Pit and Phosphora's help - defeated Red Falcon," you replied. "Oddly enough, it wasn't Purple Basilisk's doing at all despite his being the only surviving veteran in his ex-boss's namesake empire."
"For all we know, that unknown organization wanted to see whether they could do a better job spreading mutant abominations all over the planet to terrorize humanity, as if paying tribute to Red Falcon himself. They were somehow able to keep it top secret so as to avoid early detection by global authorities, having learned how tough Bill and Lance can be in the battlefield. Yet one year since the beginning of Project Aculeus, the humanoid scorpions turned on their creators, eventually claiming the entire mountain base as their own."
"Hmm...that project name Aculeus sorta makes sense, at least in relation to an insect's ovipositor being modified into a sting. Pretty common with bees, wasps, even scorpions."
"Eeeugh...mutant scorpions I can understand because facehuggers tend to resemble them, but mutant wasps?! Nooooo thank you!" Oh, how I wish it weren't so...but thank Mihaele we didn't have to deal with said wasps too...
"Don't worry, Aaron. With my bombs at our side, we won't let them touch us!"
"At least Penny was smart enough to equip my Contra Rifle with the Spread Gun and Homing Missiles before we left. We'll need 'em to fight those sting-happy bastards. Then again, that's if I can avoid getting hit at all during our mission."
(END P.O.V.)
[End BGM]
(INTERRUPT FLASHBACK)
"I still remember that mission...like it was yesterday..." Ami said weakly. "Even so, I'm just as surprised as the rest of us...that Volgoth and his warriors hid themselves for so long...waiting in secrecy for the right moment..."
(RESUME FLASHBACK)
[Stage BGM: Bowser's Stolen Castle (Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story)]
(AMI'S P.O.V.)
...Then he made his announcement, just seconds after we reached the doors to his throne room. "Mighty warriors of the great Crimson Aculeus Commonwealth! We, the former creations of that pathetic paramilitary organization have been in hiding for five long years since the Alien Wars. Yet within these past years, the earthquakes and typhoons that constantly occur in this country are a mere blessing, to punish the humans for their sins against our kind!
"Today, our time in hiding under the cold, windy mountain has come to an end, for it is true that we waited until after the recent global war was over. We could have aided our one true god of doomsday, our Lord Red Falcon, but to do so would be to risk our exposure and inevitable defeat at the hands of said humans."
We were listening in on the mutant commander's speech, just as one of his followers spoke up...wait, did I say follower? I meant his only royal child, a teenage girl. "But daddy-kins, those dumb monkeys and their ball-throwing friends are no match for our stingers of doom!"
"As much as I share your enthusiasm, my sweet Princess Venomina, we needed to remain underground in order to trick the primitive monkeys into believing they had defeated all of Red Falcon's mutants and robots. Today, we step outside our home not to seek vengeance, but to spread our kingdom across the entire planet, one country at a time. The monkeys will come to love worshiping us before long, they'll never want us to go away anymore!"
"Then let me lead our kingdom at your side," the female mutant demanded. "The humans will learn how to take great joy in cowering before the might of our deadly stingers!"
"My girl, I do not wish to risk losing you like I lost your mother to the paranoid ones who thought they could control us when they began Project Aculeus."
Suddenly, another follower walked up to the royal lineage. "O Grand Poobah of all Stinging Scorpions, I bring to thee grave news!"
"What is it, General Toxmarko? You know better than to interrupt me while I'm gloating to the audience, or talking with my daughter!"
"Pardon my unannounced interruption, Your Stinglyness," the general explained to his king, "but two intrusive humans have already kicked us out of Baguio, taken out most of our forces, blown up all our mechs, and even penetrated their way across the roads and the mountain path into our fortress! Reports talk of a nerdy-looking man in light blue with a sophisticated machine gun, and a pink-haired, girly woman in yellow with a magic watch that lets her use these big round exploding orbs."
Needless to say, it didn't take long for Toxmarko to look directly at us. "In fact...they're standing right over there by the entrance of this very throne!"
"Hssss! They've probably already eavesdropped on our plans! Sting them, then re-conquer Baguio and its neighboring territories, that we might live to sting as we please!" Boy, were we busted when Volgoth turned his attention over to our faces! "So, the two of you are these meddlesome Contras, whom dares defy I, the almighty King Volgoth of the Crimson Aculeus Commonwealth!"
You and I were side-by-side, ready to engage the scorpions...yet also careful not to get ourselves killed. "That's right, and we're here to shut down your fortress!"
"May the light within Aaron's Contra Rifle and my Bomberman Watch serve us well in your defeat!"
"Oh no, it won't be that easy!" General Toxmarko paralyzed us with his specialized electro-stinger...We were just lucky it didn't cause instant death. "Nobody dethrones the king and lives to tell the tale!"
King Volgoth unsheathed a blade by his throne... I couldn't help wondering if I'd seen it somewhere before...but couldn't recall it at first. "Excellent, General...and nice try, little peons! But what was will be, what is will be no more. Now is the season of the Crimson Aculeus, for my kind shall rise...and the pathetic humans be our slaves! Yet first things first...the two of you shall die here this night! Aaron and Ami of the so-called Contra Force, you shall be the first to taste the deadly poison of Hrunting itself!
"Ironic, don't you think? The very same blade said to have once been wielded by Beowulf against Grendel's mother, before Grendel himself tainted it permanently with poison in his dying breath. Or, so the legends go..."
"I heard Hrunting was later found during Alucard's second visit into Dracula's Castle in 1797," you told me. "It was the only weapon he knew to be capable of poisoning enemies. But I've no doubt he came upon more reliable weaponry to ensure his survival."
"So that's what that blade was. I knew I'd seen it once before in a video game!"
"Yet to this day, Hrunting now belongs to me!" Volgoth bragged. "I know not of how our former creators' leader came upon it before we turned their mountain base into our personal fortress, but I know Grendel's poison that lives on in this blade shall leave mankind trembling with fear! You will find escaping here alive to be more difficult than breaking and entering!"
"I've always dreamed of ruling this Diamond City as my very own kingdom," said Venomina, whose "beauty" only disguised the true heart of a monster. "With you and your Contra partners out of the picture, the stupid little monkeys living in the city will soon learn how to love and obey only me, the fairest princess in the world! And most of all, I want a human pet, preferably a little boy."
The mere thought of her enslaving innocent people in our city was enough for you to blow her off - figuratively speaking. "Learn how to love and obey only you? Sounds like she-devil talk to me, bitch!"
"She-devil?! I'll have you brutes tossed into the Pit of a Thousand Stingers for this insult! But not before I ask my king daddy-kins to get me a little human boy in Diamond City. I can't get out there and do it myself because you yucky Contras are trying way too hard to spoil our fun, so daddy's gonna find my pet FOR ME!"
But King Volgoth was all like, "Now Venomina, be resonable! You don't seriously expect me to-"
And then his daughter's like, "And I don't want just any little human boy for a pet. I want the one who's like, totally super-cute as a kitten, not to mention the most popular of all in Diamond City. Someone no other princess in the world could ever hope to get. THIS is the little human boy I want!" With an evil grin on her face, she pulled out a picture of 9-Volt...oooh, just thinking about it now still makes me both mad and disgusted! Anyway...
"Now now, Princess Venomina, you don't want that human child for a pet," one of Volgoth's soldiers said nervously. "I've heard his mother's got this uncanny ability to transform into a demon, and will surely tear us a new cloaca if we so much as try and get close enough to abduct him-"
Now I'll admit, Aaron, this part had me giggling on the inside. "Silence, lowly pawn! Do not address my sweet little Mina in such a discouraging tone! Just for that, you are to clean all our bathrooms until they're spotless! Don't even look at Her Royal Highness!"
"Y-yes, Your Kingliness...sorry, Your Grand Poobah-ness. Ugh, like anybody'd WANT to look at her!"
"What was that, bilge-brain?!" Yeah, the so-called king really hated it when people talk bad about his "pwecious-wecious" daughter...Sorry, couldn't help saying that.
"Errr...I mean, the lowly humans wouldn't want to look at her because, uh, we'll sting them good if they do so without your permission!"
"Much better. Now clean our bathrooms, starting with mine!" Volgoth looked at us again. "Sorry you had to see all this, Aaron and Ami. Timmy here has a bad habit of making a scene for no damn reason whatsoever, but he won't be bothering us anymore. Now then, will you be so kind as to surrender and die peacefully? We do have a country to bring under our complete control, to prove our worthiness to Red Falcon and the Hate Bombers."
And there went Venomina again. "Daddy, daddy, look at that picture I'm holding! Isn't that little human boy precious? I wanna keep him forever and ever! And I also want his two cute-looking friends: a yellow kitty with a squishy red nose, and a little white alien from outer space with a funny head!"
"But Mina, darling, that's no ordinary human child! He's got a lot of bodyguards protecting him, and these two here are no exception! Even that one orange-haired woman he calls his 'big sister' I've been hearing so much about! They'll ruin our invasion plans as punishment for threatening him, and I'll be the laughing stock in Red Falcon's eyes!"
"Daddy, I want the little human boy they call 9-Volt. And the kitty, and the alien." We could tell by the tone of her voice...that she was losing her patience, fast. Three...two...one...
"But sweetums-"
...And there she went, throwing herself onto the floor with arms and legs flailing wildly like a tantrummy little preschooler. "I DON'T CARE IF HE HAS BODYGUARDS OR NOT! I WANT THE LITTLE HUMAN BOY! I WANT HIM, THE KITTY AND THE ALIEN AS MY NEW PETS, AND I WANT THEM NOW! NOW, NOW, NOW! WAAAAAAH!"
King Volgoth ended up covering his ears...not wanting to her his daughter's yelling and screaming in front of his troops. "I am going to ruin my own reputation and my plans doing this... Ahem, you heard my daughter, General Toxmarko! Rally the troops and depart for this Diamond City, and find that 9-Volt character at once!... And the yellow kitty and white alien from space - people call them Spitz and Orbulon. Well, what're you lazy bums waiting for?! Get going!"
"Yes, get moving NOW or I won't stop my temper tantrum barrage!"
(END FLASHBACK)
[End BGM]
(PRESENT DAY)
"Ha ha ha..." Ami chuckled lightly. "I didn't think she'd have quite a temper...but it probably shouldn't surprise either of us...that she's yet another spoiled brat..."
"That's just what happens...when the father pampers his daughter too much..." agreed Aaron. "At least Peach had her reasons for pitching tantrums when she was a toddler...like the one time Baby Bowser stubbornly refused to help the adult versions of Mario and Luigi..."
"No doubt about it... Too bad Volgoth, Venomina and General Toxmarko got away...when we foiled their plans and destroyed their mountain fortress..."
"I have a bad feeling they might already be joining in the invasion with Colonel Bahamut and the Space Pirates...just to spite us further. I pray 'tis not so..."
[Tension BGM: Demo-A (Alien VS Predator (Arcade))]
"C'mon, Arctic...hang in there for me, alright? The no-nonsense, ass-kickin' men and women in the Colonial Marines are working uber-hard to stop Phazon from corrupting your bodies further. You and your fellow Contras have gotten outta bigger scrapes before, I feel it in my heart! I just know it, man! C'mon Arctic, don't let it own you. Don't let Phazon take hold over you with hateful thoughts... Please, for Mihaele's sake..."
Arctic's former rival, King Billy stood by her side in a separate room within the lab, not concerned one bit about his well-being. As much as he wished to heaven that none of the near-fatal injuries would have befallen the six Contras had he and the Rich Bombers been there, he knew it wasn't the time or the place for needless arrogance. He was no warrior like any of them, yet he remained thankful that his past encounter with Arctic - however humiliating on his part - gave him the potential for change.
"Gotta...fight it...gotta...fight...Pha...zon..." she mumbled in her sleep, as if trapped in a nightmare with no way out. "...My Contra partners...they're counting...on me..."
[End BGM]
[Nightmare BGM: True Moon (Final Fantasy IV: The After Years)]
Heh heh heh heh...ever the stubborn one as always, and yet still the stupid one.
The first thing Arctic saw when she opened her eyes to the mysterious voice, was simply all black. No stars, no light, no nothing, like a void. She was no longer in the real world, but rather a twisted realm - a mere representation of the increasingly high levels of Phazon Corruption. If she ever got out of this, she'd swear to never again pack a loose cannon attitude, much less endanger herself.
"Get outta my head, whoever you are!"
Awww, what's the matter, Arctic Bomber? Don't you recognize your former master, the all-powerful bringer of doomsday, Red Falcon? The very same master formerly known in ages past as Emperor Demon Gava before the cowering humans' frightened tales about my arrival in the year 1603, helped inspired my name change...you do remember all that since you WERE one of my generals, don't you?
Hah hah! Look at you now, running around playing Contra hero on behalf of Diamond City with Aaron, Ami, Bill, Lance, and Blaze Bomber. Pretending you're some goody-two-shoes alien Bomber-girl from outer space. Playing bodyguard to little 9-Volt and his three best friends. But you hear it, don't you?
The eerie voice's owner revealed itself in an all-too-familiar form: a floating skeletal dragon-like head with sharp fangs and a fiendish smile, two crimson-red eyes, and a pulsing red core-like implant on his forehead. The eyes glowed bright orange, making blue flames appear in the once empty void with Arctic panting and balling up her hands in fury, trying her hardest to fight the Phazon Corruption.
"You're not turning me into a brain-dead Phazon zombie, you sick bastard! Get the hell outta my life! I'm truly a Contra now and you and your dodo-jerk Hate Bombers know it!"
"Moi, turn you into a Phazon addict? Oh, no no no, I'm afraid you've got it backwards, dear Arctic. Besides, you're the one who did that to yourself back on Galuga Island - I can feel Phazon pulsing through your body, feeding on your fear and anger. It wants you to be one with me forevermore!"
Red Falcon floated closer to the ice princess, continuing his discussion, "Why do you think I appeared in your dream just now? You shouldn't be so surprised because of your blundering stupidity, that you yourself claimed to be an act of protecting your allies from Phazon Corruption! Because you dared to touch that which you never bothered to understand in the first place, Phazon itself is doing more than just make you feel sick to your stomach. It's getting you to hear it..."
"...Hear what? Answer me, damn you!" Arctic held her head in pain, trying desperately to resist Phazon's hold over her.
"The REAL you, buried deep within your pathetic soul, just ITCH, ITCH, ITCHing to get out! The one whose soul despises peace and tranquility with a vengeance. The one whose soul cries for destruction and conquest. The one who'd torment anyone smaller than herself...and LAUGH about it." Red Falcon laughed maliciously, his eyes glowing purple which magically brought Arctic to a ruined version of Diamond City under a fiery red sky. Approaching her were Axe Bomber, Volcano Bomber, and a trio of Xenomorphs, having already entombed Aaron, Ami, Bill, Lance, Blaze Bomber, Yumi, 5-Volt, Wario, Mona, Cheerful White, Cute Pink, Pit and Phosphora in cocoons with only their faces showing.
Next in line had Sniper Bomber and Onak/Swampster bringing forth 9-Volt and Phoebe, also trapped in cocoons, much to Arctic's horror and disgust. Anyone who had been captured were already rendered unconscious and unable to get out.
"C'mon, Arctic Bomber. Bully the petty little Earth creatures here, one last time before they die. You know you want to. Come now, don't make Phazon have to beg you against wussing out. It demands blood and total obedience." Red Falcon cackled again. "But since it's your nightmare, I'll let you choose who to antagonize first: the simpering little human boy, or his future girlfriend from another world. Either way will make you whole again."
As if hypnotized, the Mistress of the Cold slowly approached the two captured children with Sniper and Onak snickering to themselves, ready to unleash the worst blizzard storm in history. It seemed as though Phazon Corruption had finally reached its terminal state...
"Yeah that's right, kill 9-Volt first," the vindictive poacher coaxed sadistically in his thick accent. "The wretched little punk and his accursed Phosphora Bow have been a freakin' pain in our asses long enough! We who serve Lord Red Falcon to the bitter end are immortal for eternity!"
"See that neither of them or their two best friends from planet Bomber," demanded Sniper Bomber, eyeing White and Pink mid-sentence, "ever live to stand against our one true king of the universe in the future. On the other hand, I say do away with Phoebe first; 9-Volt is nothing without her or her Ball Cannon to protect him."
"You know damn well Phazon wants ya to make Uncle Sniper Bomber and Lord Red Falcon proud! One of us! One of us!"
"ONE OF US!" Axe Bomber boasted loudly, raising the roof at every one of his words. "ONE OF US!"
"You claim to have gotten over your past," taunted Volcano Bomber to the ex-Hate Bomber, "and yet you let yourself get afflicted with Phazon Corruption. The past always has a way of catching up to you, no matter how hard you think you can bury it."
"Once a bully, always a bully," said Sniper Bomber, "just like us: now and forever."
Red Falcon bellowed, "Face it, Arctic, you're a FAILURE as a Contra!" His evil laughter rang out again, louder than the last.
Arctic dropped herself on her knees and looked down, still holding her head in pain as if to accept defeat. But something inside her, other than Phazon, came forth: a desire to protect the innocent, young and old...and the irresistible urge to blast some scumbags. No longer in fear for her life over the glaring mistake she had made during the second Galuga mission with her fellow Contras, she stared daggers at Red Falcon, intent on beating Phazon Corruption once and for all!
"I've done a number of bad things in the past, both criminal and stupid...but I've seen the light and changed for the better. I'm not a failure as a Contra, and I will never be your soulless puppet on a string anymore! No sick, twisted, demonic creepo from the nine circles of intergalactic hell is gonna tell me who or what I am, EVER AGAIN! Though I stand alone in this Phazon-induced nightmare, I am a Contra, and I won't ever stop being one with an indomitable spirit and superior guerrilla tactics, even if that evil space drug of yours tells me otherwise! With or without the Spread Gun in tow, you're going down hard, you son of a bitch! Now leave 9-Volt and Phoebe alone!"
Her sudden burst of energy having emerged from within her body, the illusions of the Hate Bombers, Onak, the Xenomorphs, and the cocooned victims had all but disappeared into mist without a trace. All that remained in the hallucination were Red Falcon and the hell-infested ruins of what would have been Diamond City's future, had humanity lost the Alien Wars 5 years back.
"Such a disappointment! No wonder I kicked you out of the Hate Bombers right after your one humiliating loss to a pathetic human child!"
[End BGM]
"NEVER. Insult 9-Volt. In front of me." Having gained control of her dream, she imagined herself wielding Aaron's Contra Rifle with the Spread Gun and Crash Missiles in both its weapon slots. "Rizer, Bean, Aaron and Ami showed me the way, and I'm gonna return the favor right here, right now, cuz it's time to gear up for an ass-whoopin'!"
"How cute. The ice princess reject thinks that by pretending to be Bill and Lance, she can expel me from her consciousness. Resist all you want, Arctic, but as long as Phazon continues to grab your very being, I'll never disappear!"
[Critical moment BGM: Creature from Outer Space (Contra: Return)]
"Go back to hell, Red Falcon! HRAAAAA!" She fired away with the Crash Missiles, inflicting heavy damage on the nightmarish illusion.
"Oh yeah?! It'll take more than just these to get me out of your mind! You're still chock-full of rage, seething and coursing through your cybernetic body!"
"Hmph, I may be hot-blooded despite my obvious element, but I only use my anger to punish the worst scum like you, just the way Rizer and Bean have been teaching me time and again! If Aaron and Ami can control their anger on the battlefield properly, so can I!"
"Well in that case, let's see if you can't control YOUR fate without reaching Terminal Corruption, traitor! Ha ha ha! Get ready for true pain!"
Despite his loss of control over the dream, Red Falcon attempted to regain power by summoning his two head-like arms to take out his former underling. The Mistress of the Cold switched over to the Spread Gun and blew both arms to oblivion, forcing Red Falcon to breathe fire from his mouth, damaging the alien girl and taking away her power-up. Immediately she changed back to her Crash Missiles, yet the hallucination didn't give an inch. He fired his laser eyes again, this time strengthened enough to explode like a nuke on contact, forcing Arctic to run around in circles just to avoid getting killed on the spot.
"Sooner or later, you'll tire out and succumb to the Corruption itself! Imagine what it'd be like when the Contra Force is the first of many undead Phazon zombies that were never evil to begin with. No one will dare stand against the newly-reborn Red Falcon Empire, with me as the new and permanent king of the universe! Where Dracula tried to gain full dominion for centuries before his true death in 1999, I will triumph!"
"Take a chill pill, monster!" Arctic prepped her Bowling Bomb by twisting its upper half by 180 degrees, turned it into a big snowball with an icy wind, and threw it down the demonic illusion's gullet like a football, destroying him in a frigid explosion.
"You can't get rid of me that easy, Arctic Bomber! One little dose of Phazon in your bloodstream, and I'll be back to turn you into just another brain-dead, space drug-craving zombie!" With that, the Phazon-induced hallucination disintegrated whilst the nightmarish version of Diamond City vanished in a huge swirl, causing Arctic to collapse on her knees with both eyes closed.
[End BGM]
"So be it...I'll make sure that...not one drop of it corrupts another innocent...ever again..."
[Quiet moment BGM: Theme of Johannes (Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night)]
"Arctic? Arctic Bomber, can you hear me? Don't let Phazon win! I know you can pull through!"
The Mistress of the Cold opened her eyes again, finding herself not in said nightmare but Crygor Labs, still in the sickbed but alive and well. "...Billy Bling...?"
Her ex-rival pumped his fists up high in triumph, with a big smile on his face. "YES! WOOO! IN YO FACE, RED FALCON!...Whoops, didn't mean to startle you like that, Arctic. My bad."
The alien cyborg chuckled lightly. "That's alright... I think I did it. I got over my dark past...and stopped the evil influence of Phazon from zombifying me..."
"Aaron, Ami, Bill, Lance and Blaze would be proud." Billy moved on to another discussion in regards to the mission at hand. "ETA's workin' their butts off to stop the corruption itself, but to find the cure to remove it completely is another story. Once Colonel Bahamut and the Space Pirates are defeated, we'll help 9-Volt and his pals to get the cure. They're not the only ones who need you Contra guys alive and they know it.
"Which reminds me, I just overheard a phone call Penny got from Mona. 9-Volt and Phoebe found the courage to stand up to some of the deadliest of Red Falcon's goons in the face of danger, mainly Axe Bomber and Swampster...no, Onak Strychnine. The middle-aged poacher from hell goes by his real name now, or so I heard."
"Really?" asked Arctic. "They weren't hurt or anything...were they?"
"Not with Pit and Phosphora's trusty Pokemon to protect the kids against Onak's act of cowardice. Then 9-Volt's friends and bodyguards helped him and Pheebs to deliver the finishing blow and BOOM! Sent Axe and Onak to hell where they belong, just like that. Oh and get this: Purple Basilisk's with the good guys; he really swore off Red Falcon and the Hate Bombers for good...but Siren Bomber apparently hated the idea. Showed her true colors and permanently rejoined Red Falcon outta spite...she's a demon that should never have been let outta hell, alright."
"You mean...Red Falcon and his generals aren't too far behind...?"
Billy sighed painfully. "I have a feeling they got something big planned for the four future saviors of man and Bomber alike. For all I know, they just wanna scare us into submission."
"Damn fiends...I won't let them do this...to 9-Volt, Phoebe, White, and Pink..."
"No, Arctic, stay put. You and your fellow Contras need to regain your strength and composure. Meanwhile, I'll figure out a way to avert whatever death trap Red Falcon's been cooking up, without having to step outside Crygor Labs. Somebody's gotta do this and it's gotta be me, like it or not. And I don't like it, but I'll do it. That's a promise."
Pondering this fact, King Billy thought to himself: This lab has some kinda virtual reality prototype. I didn't exactly get what it's supposed to do when I came in here to see the Contras in need of medical attention, but whatever that prototype is, I sure hope it works. It has to, or we've lost Pit and Phosphora's apprentices forever!
[End BGM]
TO BE CONTINUED...