CHAPTER 18

Dark Castle. Primary hideout of King D6. All seven of King D6's commanders have been slain in combat by Galaxy Squad as part of their final top-secret mission. Only King D6 remains.

Dark Castle, Unknown Location, 2300 Hours

The fate of the world was on edge. The members of Galaxy Squad were remiss to the fact that they were sent on a suicide mission. Without their efforts, everything would be in vain. They gathered their hopes as they endured the weight of their mission on their shoulders. Pinkobashi briefly had the chance to have daydreams in the midst of the insanity. He could see visions of the strange masked shadow he fought in the mysterious castle. The pink blur knew the black creature was a dangerous sword-wielding entity, but not a puffball like him. This one had nothing distinguishable, just a black floating mass that showed no mercy. His mind kept being bothered by the frequent shocks of his encounters. Pinkobashi kept trying to conjure up a sort of happy place, but he was never able to do so. He could briefly see some flashes of blood seeping into the floor, caused by their careful executions of multiple enemy troops. The intense weather was picking up, a series of apocalyptic storms swirling around the skies above them. All of them discovered that the rest of King D6's personal guards were all killed in a brutal fashion, no doubt by those same deadly two warriors. They checked for any readings of enemy patrols and raced toward the large last door. Without any aid, they stayed at the sides of the door with their copy ability weapons at the ready. Alexander made the call to act, and they barged in. The warriors all climbed up a long staircase to reach the top of the castle. Some of them could hear the sounds of the Shotzo cannons firing from all over the room, but they could feel the room shaking as they only heard loud explosions as they walked. Trouble was ahead. Galaxy Squad successfully reached the battlements. They quickly noticed the appearance of the king on the other side of the room, unable to see them. His slouched appearance gave them the impression that he was sleepy, but that was not the case. He definitely resembled his image on the documents they received before their mission. They reckoned they could capture him, so Alexander quietly ordered the movement and gathered his unbreakable flex cuffs from a special part of his tactical backpack. At least this time while the king was sleeping, Ruby quietly readied her sniper rifle and was reminded by her commanding officer to take the shot, but he suddenly woke up and reacted to their presence. His eyes mysteriously glowed red as he turned to dodge the incoming bullet. He snickered as readied from his robe a special device, a large technologically advanced hammer that made for a deadly weapon, but he was outgunned and outnumbered. All of Galaxy Squad knew that there was no way he would win against them. They then encountered the strange group of two masked warriors standing on top of the battlements, talking amongst themselves. All of them listened to every word of the plotters.

"Get back! He's ours!" The apprentice spoke to them. The two teams prepared for battle.

"Alright! These guys are done! Give us the Crimson Core, and no one gets hurt!"

The strange warriors immediately tried to attack them in retaliation. Alexander and the strange masked master stared at each other.

"You don't realize the gravity of what you're doing..."

"Bullshit!"

"I cannot allow you to go any further..."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"We're trying to warn you..."

"Warn us...that's a laugh...you're the enemy..."

"This is a mistake..."

King D6 looked at Galaxy Squad as he slowly clapped his hands while he taunted his enemies. He showed no signs of fear. He moved toward them without them noticing.

"Well...well...you've made it this far...Galaxy Squad…I'm impressed...now it is your time to be judged!" The king arched his body back and extended his arms with his clenched fists curled.

BOSS BATTLE!

King D6 entered into a bitter rage. He knew well that the right time to interfere was to have his enemies make a mistake. He flexed, and his muscles suddenly multiplied in size to resemble that of a bodybuilder. He was jacked, the sudden burst of energy tearing through his regal robe. His crown still was firmly placed atop his head. His eyes glowed red as his soul was quickly being consumed. The king had become a monster. King D6 immediately focused his energy, yielding a glowing aura around his body. His body sparked and flashed. The members of Galaxy Squad, especially the three animals, were shaken and stirred. Ruby quickly fired a blast of her sniper rifle aimed at his head and took the shot, but the blast did nothing but reflect and fizzle out. She was shocked as the king was heading toward them, manically laughing. The masked master quickly readied a slash, but he absorbed the round like nothing.

"Look out!" The apprentice tried to protect the master but the face of the apprentice was quickly crushed beneath King D6's left foot, pressing down on the mask with great pressure. He grabbed the seven Crimson Cores from the apprentice's back pocket while he taunted them. The enemies of the king strengthened their resolve in their desperate struggle to defeat him.

"Ha...all seven of the Crimson Cores are now mine...it's a shame I'll be finishing you off..."

"FORE!" He readied a powerful swipe of his massive hammer to send the apprentice flying and crashing into a wall. The members of Galaxy Squad jumped out of the way.

"Who's next?" The angry king bellowed as he loomed toward them with his large weapon.

Jack fired off a blast from his spark copy ability weapon aimed directly for the king himself. King D6 quickly dodged the attack and used his copy ability weapon to throw them back at him. The King noticed the three animal friends opening fire on them in one place with their regular weapons. He charged at them recklessly while Jim was able to toss a grenade before they bounced back, the blast doing nothing but angering the king even more. He swung his hammer on the ground so hard that the contact triggered an electric shockwave of death.

The animals scattered out of the way and spread out to attack the king with suppressive fire.

Suddenly, through the dark skies, a large black jet appeared and made a low pass to open fire on the King. The laser bolts did nothing but reflect off of them like an energy shield. It was the Princess. King D6 sensed this and morphed the shape of his hammer to become a portable rocket launcher. The hammer deployed several micro missiles that homed in on the rear. The plane was unable to dodge the heat seeking rockets, with no choice but to ram into the King and self-destruct. Two masked warriors jumped out of the plane just before it crashed into the king and devastated part of the top of the castle. The King emerged from the wreckage seemingly unharmed. The silent warriors were caught off guard when the master engaged the king instead with a series of powerful slashes and sword beams. The King quickly dodged the attacks and jumped up to strike down the masked warrior in a single crushing blow to the face. He was able to get up, with his damaged mask. The Princess and her butler, both armed with parasol-type copy ability weaponry, emerged near the wreckage, ready to join in the fight. Blaze was running forward to use his flamethrower only for the king to jump. The king leaped into the air and landed near Pinkobashi. The thump left two stars appearing by his side. Pinkobashi inhaled two of the stars and spat both of them back at the king's chest, hurting him. While he was stunned, Alexander swooped in and attacked while he charged up a mighty giga slash. The king felt some pain from the powerful strike. With the king distracted, Pinkobashi stood back and charged his beam copy ability weapon before firing it at his back. The king was able to notice the blast and slammed it down with his hammer, the hit doing great damage. The princess and butler used their arsenal parasols to fire a series of bullets, the blasts reflecting off of the dark aura radiating from his body. Isha tried using her ice gun near D6 to slow down his movement but the attack failed to do anything while she quickly ducked from the hammer swing. The reaction time of her foe was unparalleled. She was smashed back by the hammer. The king slammed his hammer down on the floor to generate a shockwave and generate another star as a byproduct in its place. Pinkobashi dodged the shockwave and spat back the star back again to wound the king. Ruby fired her sniper again. Jack fired another spark blast while he was stunned, only for D6 to quickly evade the strike. The king charged at him and smacked him back with his giant hammer, sending him flying into a wall. Jack felt great pain when he was able to get up from his injury but could still thankfully fight. He fired another blast, but the king dodged it.

King D6 jumped up in the air and slammed his hammer down for great effect. The princess and butler changed their copy ability weapon configurations to shoot off two grenade launchers to stun the king briefly while Alexander and the master and apprentice charged forward. The king retaliated by throwing a fake hammer that exploded in the air and dropped some fiety star projectiles that quickly dissipated on the ground. He then raced to the two masked warriors and launched their swords copy ability weapons out of their hands with his hammer. He then smashed down to destroy both of them with his own weapon. Pinkobashi inhaled the star that it left over and launched it back at the king's chest. Alexander readied another giga slash and launched the king against the wall while Jack fired his explosive spark blast. The king threw another explosive hammer for the team to immediately dodge. When all the group assembled again to coordinate their offensive, Alexander threw another powerful giga slash attack right at the king followed by more heavy attacks from Pinkobashi and Jack. All three of the charged blasts connected for them to push the king back briefly. The master and apprentice were able to keep attacking the king with their regular assault rifles, but the high-caliber bullets were able to be shrugged off, merely tickling him. King D6 jumped into the air and landed on Blaze only for him to roll out of the way and burn him for a few seconds. Isha quickly jumped in and used her ice blast attack near the king, yet her attack also failed. She was hit back for the princess to catch her and stop her from flying into a wall. The King jumped at Alexander for him to ready one more final powerful slash attack at the head of the penguin to knock him out of his misery.

The king quickly faltered to the ground and blackened out, all seven of the Crimson Cores falling from his grasp. Now without the great power, he was nothing. His strange third eye invisible to them disappeared from sight. The team was surprised to take him out after the final blow.

The king was breathing, yet he was drifting off into a deep sleep, unable to move much.

However, with the common enemy beaten, there was still some unfinished business to take care of. The princess and butler were shocked at how quickly the event transpired.

"That was a most exciting battle, milady! We showed him! We're heroes!"

"Quite…" The Princess responded.

"Now…where were we?" Alexander readied his sword copy weapon back and drew it toward the as they backed away slowly. He gathered up and nabbed the two warriors against their will.

"You're making a mistake…" The disgraced apprentice spouted.

"We must forge a weapon using the seven Crimson Cores…only through that can we destroy the virus…the virus that is taking over the world…"

"Virus…what virus?"

"King D6 has come under its influence…he has been acting strangely…"

"That explains the enhanced power…" Isha ruminated.

"We have him under our control…King D6…you two…you're coming with us…" Alexander pointed his weapon at them. The two criminal terrorists were surrounded and outnumbered. They had nowhere to run, having no choice but to submit to their captors.

The leader of Galaxy Squad grabbed his weapon and forced the master down with his strength.

"The Knights of Spatha…now that we have you…your terrorist organization will be history…"

"You have labeled us terrorists because we were never responsible for the incident! The mastermind behind this war dragged us all in…you played your part well! Both the Poponian and DeDenidean governments have been taken over by a being...using each leader as a disguise!" They all imagined the incident that started the war in the first place.

"Bullshit!" Alexander dismissed such conspiratorial nonsense.

"The heads of your government have been taken over…by…a…matter...a coup is underway…"

"Impossible! Show yourselves! Pinkobashi! Isha! Take off those masks!" Both of the warriors complied without question and removed the masks. What they all found behind the masks was quite a surprise. The master and apprentice of the most dangerous terrorist organization in the world were Seginorishippu and Hikariowataru, formerly two of the members of the Destined Providence special warfare group. Pinkobashi was surprised. His life was flashing before his very eyes as all the repressed memories of the previous apocalyptic war came flooding back.

"I knew it all along! Seginorishippu! Hikariowataru! Formerly the legendary commander and team espionage agent of Destined Providence, now the masterminds behind the malevolent Knights of Spatha! These traitors are a threat to the security of all of puffball-kind! Now that both King D6 has been captured along with the leadership of Spatha...the world can now be at peace!"

"Why?" The pink puffball cried.

"Pinkobashi! We wanted you out of this mess!" Hikariowataru barked to all of them. "You're in grave danger!"

"I had no choice!"

"Regardless of the options you may have had...we had to save the world...from...the...matter...only you can stop it now!"

"What matter?"

"Dark Matter!" Pinkobashi instantly lost his mind for a few seconds.

"You're insane! Dark Matter can't be blamed for this! What the hell lead you to do this?! You're all wanted for the most dangerous of crimes…"

"We were all misled…by liars…what they do not know is…this conflict…is of galactic proportions…"

"No…we're too late…" Seginorishippu, formerly adopting the alter ego of Gladius or Master Spatha, peered at the body of King D6 as the Crimson Cores once again disappeared from sight. All that black energy suddenly escaped the body of the penguin and expelled into the night sky. He and the other two puffballs was left to be gathered by Galaxy Squad for their ensuing trials. Alexander knew that his men had to do for a disgraced unit, even one consisting of members known for their legendary prowess. They had to be taken away to some top-secret facility for questioning, but he was unwilling to listen to their concerns. Time was running out for the rest of Galaxy Squad. Alexander relayed his commander to send two carrier aircraft their way.

"Galaxy Squad…new orders…the war is officially over…we're going home…"

Galaxy Squad were about to depart from their destination. They were about to receive a hero's welcome, but they were unwilling to learn of the costs.