War's Song

by Legend Maker

The shadow of a cloaked musician, with a desire for medabot battle, falls over Ikki and co, and they will learn the past is a mine field, the present is a war zone, and the future is forever is doubt...

9. The Art of War

Chapter 9: The Art of War

When the fist came at Peppercat, she was sure she was finished.

She had fought a Belzelga before, when she and Sumilidon had raided Dr. Meta-Evil's underground lair to save Metabee. They were a one-trick pony, but it was one hell of a trick: their sheer striking power had made her eyes cross a second before it nearly knocked them out of her head. And considering the fact that the Bezels were related to them, it seemed like history was repeating itself. But unlike last time, Rokusho would not save her.

Maybe nothing could, as the fist came forth and struck…

Peppercat couldn't believe it. True, it had hurt, but the pain was so much less then she had expected. It barely even pushed her back.

"………Ok, MY TURN!" Peppercat yelled as she struck back, slamming her claw into the M-Bot and giving it a massive shock.

The thing literally fell apart, the soulless construct that Dr. Meta-Evil had made proving to be little more then a hollow shell.

"Metabee was right: a medal does make all the difference! Quality over quantity!"

"Don't be so sure."

Three more Bezels pounced on her. Peppercat yelped and fought back as they rained blows on her. She managed to beat them off her and stand, but in the time she had done that their number had doubled. Her eyes widened.

"Maybe I was a bit too hasty in my previous judgment."

The M-Bots charged. Peppercat leapt into the air with a meow and checkerboard-jumped across their heads, before landing on another one and giving it a massive dose of electricity. As it fell apart, four more jumped her.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHA! You will see how the many outweigh the few!" Seaslug laughed.

"Hold on Peppercat!" Totalizer said as he tried to help his fellow medabot. He grabbed one M-Bot in each hand and smashed them together before hurling their wrecked bodies into more of their comrades. No sooner had he done that then another dozen attacked him, and he yelled as he vanished amongst the group of M-Bots.

"This is not good!" Sloan said.

"Tell me about it!" Samantha cursed, as Peppercat tried to fend off the rain of blows that seemed to be coming from everywhere. While the damage was piddling, it was constant, and Samantha knew eventually it would add up.

"SPYKE! Get your worthless medabot over there and provide aid!"

"I can't! He's pinned down with Kanteroth!" Spyke said. Indeed, the hard luck dog medabot and the beetle medabot were trapped behind a rock as the Taks rained bullets and small lasers down on it, slowly chipping it away. Kanteroth and Cyandog would occasionally peak out and fire off some shots, taking down a Tak (usually Kanteroth).  But two more would take its place.

"Dude, this is so bogus! I can't believe you'd use these wimpazoid tactics!" Rintaro yelled at Shrimplips.

"I play to win! Doesn't matter how it happens! AHEHEHEHEHHEHEH!"

"Damn! Kanteroth, make a run for it and regroup!"

"You got it!" Kanteroth yelled as he broke cover, firing at the Taks. The ground exploded around him as he ducked behind a tree. He leaned out and fired some more and then ran again as the sheer mass of firepower reduced the tree to toothpicks.

"Keep firing! That shield has to give out eventually!" Gillgirl ordered as her N-Bas fired round after round of small missiles out of their mouths at where Neutranurse was standing, keeping her shield between the projectiles and her medafighter. But it was starting to strain her.

"Hey! Why don't you pick on someone who can fight back!" Erika yelled. 'Brass, fire!"

"Machine cannon!" Brass said as she fired. She took out two N-Bas, but the rest of the M-Bots just flew out of range.

"Hey, don't crash our party! N-Bas, Mouth Missiles!" Gillgirl ordered. Erika and Brass ran for it as another barrage of missiles came down, exploding around them. But they were undeterred, immediately shooting back at the massed robots.

"Can I crash this party too?" Kanteroth said as he opened fire on the N-Bas flanks. His cannons were more powerful then Brass', but less precise, which caused two misses for every N-Ba he shot down. Then the Tak's began firing on his rear. He growled and turned, firing off a round of missiles. While the Tak's got an up close and personal meeting with them, he resumed firing on the N-Bas, until a barrage of missiles threw him backwards.

"Kanteroth!" Rintaro cried.

"I'm not done yet!"

Sumilidon blocked the small club the G.B swung at him and slashed the M-Bot, nearly chopping it in half. He didn't get to celebrate his victory as three more attacked him with their blade-staffs. He flipped backwards and then pushed off his arms, spinning up and over them in a whirl of Flexor sword. As he landed the G.B's fell apart.

Another attacked him. He blocked the clumsy slash and smashed the M-Bot's head off with his Hammer Fist. Then he was the one getting hammered as half a dozen G.B's jumped him from behind, beating on him with their clubs. He disarmed one and grabbed the bladestaff, swinging it in a wide arc and scattering his attackers. He tossed the bladestaff through another one for good measure.

"Doh! Well, I have more where those came from!" Squidguts said, and he proved prophetic as a new group attacked Sumilidon. Sumilidon blocked, parried, and slashed with all his might, trying to ward off the numbers. He was not very successful at it.

"Sumilidon!" Koji said. This was going very badly, for all of his friends and acquaintances. There were just too many enemies!

It wasn't going much better for the trio of Metabee, Starkiller, and Rokusho, and they stared down the demonic countenance of Omni-Emperor, with Meta-Evil's ever-present cackling in the background.

"I'll take point! Cover me!" Rokusho said as he charged.

"Covering!" Starkiller said as she armed her Nova Cannon and opened fire with Metabee. The shots streaked and blasted around Omni-Emperor, but he barely seemed to notice.

"CHANBARA SWORD!" Rokusho yelled as he leapt at Omni-Emperor.

And was smashed away, almost casually, as Omni-Emperor suddenly brought one arm back and caught Rokusho with it mid-air. He flew back with a cry, landing near Metabee and Starkiller.

"Rokusho!"

"What speed!" Merer said. "I thought it was impossible to get such a huge medabot to move so fast."

"Yeah, well, that just means he's going down quicker!" Metabee said. "Missile launch!"

Nothing came out,

"Damn! I forgot I was out of missiles! Ikki, I need a reloader!"

"I'm on it!" Ikki said as he called the medapart.

"No point standing around! If one sword didn't work why don't we try two!?!" Starkiller said as she pulled out her Nova Sword. "Ready to try again Rokusho?"

"Yes!"

"LET'S GO!" Starkiller yelled as she and Rokusho charged, as Metabee provided cover fire again.

"Please! Omni-Emperor, show them just how pitiful they are!" Meta-Evil said. Omni-Emperor growled and his metal hair suddenly lifted up and coiled above his head like snakes, spreading out. Merer heard a series of whirring noises and his eyes widened.

"OH CRAP! THAT'S NOT JUST FOR SHOW! IT'S ANOTHER WEAPONS SYSTEM!"

And then Omni-Emperor opened fire, blasting hundreds of laser shots at the charging medabots. They stopped their assault and split up, running for cover. There was more whirring, and small metal arrows and splats of corrosive acid joined the laser shots.

"Holy moly!" Metabee said as he watched the sheer display of firepower. He barely noticed Ikki sending the reloader into his head.

More whirring, and then the final set of weapons in the strands of Omni-Emperor's hair began firing, razor-sharp metal buzz saws. Metabee yelped and dove for cover. Starkiller slashed the blades out of mid-air and fired off another Nova Cannon shot. It hit, but it didn't seem to do anything.

The barrage suddenly stopped, and Omni-Emperor hissed as most of his stands of metal hair drooped down.

"He's out of ammo! Attack!" Merer said.

"Missile launch!" Metabee yelled as he fired off his reloaded rockets. But the cannons on Omni-Emperor's shoulder aimed and shot them out of the sky.

"Worthless! Omni-Emperor, fill them with so many holes they'll be the envy of Swiss cheese makers!"

Omni-Emperor's hair swung up again as additional machine cannons armed, and then he raised his arms as four more additional gatling blasters emerged out of his incredibly bulky gauntlets he had on his forearms.

"Dammit! How many guns does that thing…ARRRGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!" Metabee yelled as Omni-Emperor filled the air with bullets, firing his arm, shoulder, and hair cannons all at the same time.

"Starkiller, Speed Mode!"

"Right!" Starkiller said as she switched and blasted at Omni-Emperor, dodging around the hails of bullets. "You can't hit me with those ancient toys!"

"Ok, how about this?" Meta-Evil cackled, and the side of Omni-Emperor's head popped open and extracted a small laser cannon that fired off a small but powerful and accurate shot. Starkiller screamed as she was caught in the chest and throw backwards. "Nothing escapes the power of my Omni-Targeter!"

"Starkiller, you ok?" Metabee said as he ran over.

"Yeah! I'm just pissed off!" Starkiller said as she switched back to Warrior mode.

"Starkiller, I think that cannon itself is the Omni-Targeter. The rest of his weapons aren't quite as accurate." Merer said.

"They're accurate enough!" Meta-Evil said as Omni-Emperor aimed his five pronged laser cannon at the two, the machine guns having withdrawn to reload.

"YIPE! Starkiller, get your armour mode out!" Metabee said.

"WHAT armour mode? You trashed it, remember?"

"Oh bugger." Metabee said as Omni-Emperor's cannon glowed.

"CHANBARA SWORD!"

Omni-Emperor bellowed in sudden pain as Rokusho finally made his move, leaping out of a nearby tree and slashing Omni-Emperor with all his might. Rokusho hit the ground and leapt away as Omni-Emperor's shoulder cannons fired at him.

And leapt right into the hideous medabot's lashing tail, which sent him flying back with a cry.

"Rokusho! Well, if you want to get up close and personal…let me invite you to hell!"

Omni-Emperor's hair rose up and several strands joined together, fusing into a new weapon.

A flamethrower, one that belched out a giant slash of fire, enveloping the ground where Rokusho had just been lying. The flamethrower swung around, setting nearby trees on fire as it tried to fry the retreating medabot.

"AHAHAHAHAHHAHA! BURN IT ALL DOWN! BURN! BURN! BURN!" Meta-Evil laughed.

"Laser cannon!"

Shots ricocheted along Omni-Emperor's massive frame. Annoyed, he turned, ignoring all the shots that pounded into his body as he raised his left arm and fired off a barrage of missiles at Metabee. Metabee leapt for cover, continuing to fire. The other side of Omni-Emperor's head slide open and another laser cannon emerged, firing off several laser blasts that Metabee dodged before the Omni-Targeter emerged from the other side of his head and blew Metabee off his feet.

"ARGH!"

"Metabee!" Ikki cried.

"Chanbara/Nova Sword!" Rokusho and Starkiller yelled as they jumped Omni-Emperor from behind, slashing furiously at him.

"Insects! You go squish now!"

Rokusho ducked under Omni-Emperor's swinging arm and stabbed him in the "stomach" as Starkiller dodged his slashing tail. She fired off another Nova Cannon shot into his flank, putting so much power behind it that it threw her backwards.

"I don't get it! His armour's immensely strong but it's not invulnerable! We should have done some damage, but I don't see a scratch!" Merer cursed. "How's Metabee?"

"Back and ready for more! YEAH-YEAH!" Metabee yelled as he fired off more missiles.

Omni-Emperor blew them out of the sky and then slammed Rokusho between his massive arms, lifting him up and pitching him into Metabee, sending the two medabots tumbling down in a heap.

"DESTROY THEM! ARMAGEDDON CANNON!" Meta-Evil ordered. Omni-Emperor opened his fanged mouth as dark energy began to gather within.

"Oh no!" Ikki said.

And then Starkiller came down from her leap, slamming her feet onto Omni-Emperor's head and interrupting the blast, which blew out from between his teeth and "ears" as Starkiller used the boost to leap up again, drawing her blade.

"NOVA SWORD!" she yelled as she brought the blade down with all her might.

It was true, coming down on Omni-Emperor's right shoulder joint and severing the arm clean. Omni-Emperor wailed in pain as his limb fell to the ground, as Starkiller leapt away and landed next to Metabee and Rokusho.

"Nice move!" Metabee commented.

"I was inspired by you." Starkiller replied. Metabee gave her a cross look.

"Good guys! You crippled him!" Ikki said.

"Crippled him? I think not, Ikki Tenryou!"

"What? What are you rambling about now?" Merer said.

"Just watch, music man! Watch a true act of genius at work!" Meta-Evil cackled.

"What the hell is…did his arm just move?" Metabee said, unable to hide the faint tinge of fear in his voice.

"It didn't "just move". It IS moving!" Merer said in disbelief, as the arm seemed to gain a life of it's own and pull itself back to Omni-Emperor and up the side of the medabot. "What the hell?"

"I will allow you the answer! While all medabots have nanotechnology, only my Omni-Emperor has one that is so powerful it allows the nigh-instantaneous healing of all injury…INCLUDING THE LOSS OF A LIMB!"

"No way!" Ikki said in horror as Omni-Emperor's arm fitted back into the slot. A second later Omni-Emperor was moving it like it had never been damaged. With another shock, Ikki realized the damage caused by the misfired Armageddon cannon was almost gone too.

"That's why we couldn't see any damage. That damn nanotechnology was fixing it even as it was attacking us!"

"You see what you face? Even if you can overcome the peerless weapon systems and armour that I have given Omni-Emperor, any damage you do will cease to exist! He is a GOD AMONG MEDABOTS!" Meta-Evil crowed.

"More like a devil." Metabee muttered.

"Now, my not so esteemed foes…let me show you the other greatest weapon this medabot has! Omni-Emperor, OBLIVION BLASTER!"

Ah crap! Not another one! Metabee thought as Omni-Emperor's hair rose up and began joining together. This time, all the strands merged into one big device, a giant cannon that looked like a weapon a demon would use.

"Oh dear. RUN!!!!!!" Merer ordered.

The three medabots split up and ran for it.

"OBLIVION BLASTER…FIRE!"

A red beam sprang forth from the cannon and zapped across the battlefield in a quick and smooth motion.

It missed all three of them.

"What? Huh, that was…"Metabee said.

Then the ground erupted, as a massive explosion issued forth from all along the line the laser had drawn across the battlefield. The three medabots were caught in the area effect and tossed away like rag dolls, their cries being drowned out by Meta-Evil's insane laughter.

"It's going bad for them!" Erika said as she saw the massive explosion rip through the battlefield, the shock wave even destroying the closest M-Bots.

"It's going bad for us too!" Koji said, as Sumilidon fought like a madman to keep from being overwhelmed by M-Bots. Totalizer had long since vanished under a tide of Bezels, a few tossed M-Bots the only indication he was still there. But his strength was fading.

Peppercat had retreated up a tree and was zapping any Bezels that tried to climb up. But they were catching on, and were now pounding on the tree trunk. Once the tree fell, so would Peppercat…right into the teeming masses below her. And this time, she wouldn't emerge. Not in one piece.

Kanteroth was pinned down again by a combined force of Taks and N-Bas. Another group of N-Bas was chasing Cyandog, who was having as much luck hitting them as he would yanking a camel through a keyhole.

The children were getting a sick feeling this would be the last sight they would ever see. The M-Bots would rip their best friends to pieces, and then they would suffer the same fate.

But they fought on, with the bravery of the young and the hope of the innocent.

"Metabee? Are you all right?"

"Ow. Considering how much that hurt indirectly I'd sure hate to feel it directly." Metabee said as he pulled his battered body from beneath some rubble. Ikki checked his watch and was somewhat surprised when the highest damage rating was only 40 percent. He'd expected it to be twice that.

"Starkiller?"

"Ow. I landed on my keys."

Merer smirked.

"You don't have keys."

"Well, we need a key to this problem."

A M-Bot suddenly crashed down near Merer. He looked over to where his allies were fighting. His brow creased. They weren't doing well either. No, actually, that was an understatement.

"Fine. You want to play this way? Very well. I can play any game!" Merer said as he brought up his medawatch. "TRANSPORT FIVE ADRENALYN CHIPS!"

"Wha?" Ikki said as a light glowed in Merer's hand and then split off into five directions. Samantha, Sloan, Spyke, Rintaro, and Koji reacted with surprise as a chip materialized in their hands.

"Hey? What's this?" Samantha asked.

"Yeah! What gives dude?" Rintaro added.

"You know that chip I gave Ikki? This one works on a similar level! It's illegal to use in normal robattles, but this isn't one! It's life or death!"

"Illegal?  But…" Koji said.

"Koji, you can follow the law, or you can live! Two choices! Pick one!" Merer said.

"Peppercat, come here!" Samantha said. The cat medabot obeyed, leaping out of the tree and to Samantha. Totalizer managed to toss off his attackers long enough to get to Sloan. Cyandog was still running, so he just ran to Spyke. Kanteroth and Sumilidon pulled similar escapes to get to their medafighters.

"Ok. But this is the only time…" Koji said as he snapped the Adrenalyn chip into the back of Sumilidon's neck.

"What does that do?" Ikki asked.

"The repair chip I used stimulated your nanotechnology in a certain way: it made them repair at ultra-high speeds. This one stimulates the medabot system a little differently…"

A second after the chip slid home and activated, Peppercat's head snapped up as her eyes glowed bright gold.

"This one acts like your medabot was hopped up on steroids, angel dust, speed, and amphetamines…ALL AT THE SAME TIME."

"MREOWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Peppercat leapt up and came down on a Bezel so hard the shockwave smashed the surrounding M-Bots to pieces. Her landing M-Bot was reduced to little more then dust. She leapt out and sent a massive surge of electricity into the closest group of M-Bots, blowing them into tiny pieces.

"Whoa!" Samantha said.

"GANGWAY!!!!!!!" Totalizer bellowed as he charged through the M-Bots, his speed greatly increased and his power off the charts, as he ran through and over every single M-Bot who got in his way. A group of Taks split off and began to fire, but Totalizer just aimed and fired off a laser three times his normal size, reducing them to little more then ash.

"NO! NO!!!!!!!! WE WERE WINNING!" Seaslug wailed as Peppercat went from being vanquished to vicious, ripping apart his army with more jolts then a power plant could produce.

"Cyandog, blow em away!"

"TAKE THIS!!!!!!!!!" Cyandog yelled, as he raised his arms and fired into the group of N-Bas.

And missed every one. Spyke groaned.

"Spyke! Don't have Cyandog aim at anything directly! Just fire in the general direction!" Merer yelled.

"Why?"

"JUST DO IT!"

"Ok…Cyandog, do as he says!"

"I-AHHHHHHHHHH!' Cyandog yelled as the N-Bas struck back with a barrage of missiles. He flew backwards, his cannons firing.

And it worked. The Adrenalyn chip greatly enhanced the cannon's power, and Cyandog didn't have to aim at anything: the area effect took care of it. N-Bas well from the sky like rain.

"TAKE THIS! AND THIS! AND HAVE SOME OF THIS! YOU TOO!" Kanteroth bellowed as he shot and smashed his way through a group of Taks and G.B's.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!" Shrimplips said as his M-bots were taken apart.

"I'LL SHOW YOU HOW TO USE A SWORD!" Sumilidon yelled as he took apart half a dozen G.B's with one slash and smashed four more with the follow up kick. A few more slashes and fifteen more G.B's were in pieces. There were still more, lots more, but they suddenly withdrew. Never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Koji looked around to see why and found it: A large group of Taks and N-Bas were taking up aim at Sumilidon.

"Sumilidon!"

"I see them! SHADOW SWORD!" Sumilidon yelled as he unleashed his ultimate attack on his would-be ambushers. A blur of motion, and then they all fell apart.

"What is THIS?" Dr. Meta-Evil said as he watched his flunkies suddenly go from trashing to being trashed. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING? DESTROY THEM!"
"We're trying!" Seaslug cursed.

Peppercat's eyes suddenly widened as she found herself facing about a hundred M-Bots, as Seaslug, Shrimplips, and Squidguts pooled some of their remaining armies to attack her. Another large group of Taks and G.B's were assaulting Totalizer. Even with their greatly enhanced power, their numbers were daunting, and they were still aching from their previous battle.

"Boss, got any ideas?"

"Yeah. Tear em…" Samantha's voice trailed off as her eyes strayed onto the nearby lake. "No wait! Sloan!"

"Yeah Boss?"

"Have Totalizer jump into the water!"
"What?"

"Just do it!"

"You heard the lady Totalizer!"

"With pleasure! CANNONBALL!" Totalizer bellowed as he leapt up with all the new strength his legs had and plunged into the water. His weight and height caused a massive tidal wave of water to splash up and over a good amount of the people and M-Bots.

"Ha! You thought water was going to stop them? Dream on!" Seaslug taunted. Samantha smirked.

"No, but here's a math lesson for you. Water + Electricity=DEAD M-BOTS!"

And Peppercat leapt up and brought one of her electrified claws down on the now moist ground. The electricity jolted through the moisture and zapped into the soaked M-Bots. The Rubberrobos wailed as their army was destroyed, their systems frying and then falling apart.

"No one messes with the Screws!" Cyandog said as he blasted the other large group of M-bots that were attacking him and Kanteroth. The forces were rapidly being chipped apart.

"And no one messes with me either!" Kanteroth yelled. He motioned Cyandog aside and then fired off his enhanced missiles right into the heart of the group. The massive explosion took out the rest of them.

"No. My army…" Seaslug agonized.

"Yeah, good thing you have a girl here! N-Bas! Fly out of range and fire apon those medabots!" Gillgirl ordered. Her flying M-Bots had managed to escape the destruction that her companion's land-based robots had suffered. Her remaining M-Bots flew up.

"Oh dear. Sumilidon!" Koji ordered.

"Right! Kanteroth, Cyandog, give me a boost!" Sumilidon yelled as he ran at the two.

"N-Bas, prepare Mouth Missiles!" Gillgirl ordered.

"ALLY-OOP!" Cyandog and Kanteroth said as Sumilidon put his foot on their joined hands and they tossed him up. The warrior medabot flew up amongst the M-Bots as they readied themselves.

"What?" Gillgirl said.

"DISRUPTER!" Sumilidon yelled as he turned it on,

"OH NO! STOP!" Gillgirl said.

Too late, as the N-Bas fired off their missiles. Which promptly blew up in their faces. Sumilidon landed gracefully and posed as the last dregs of the Rubberrobo's M-Bot army came crashing down around him.

"Ah man…not again…" Seaslug groaned.

"Whoa." Sumilidon said as the Adrenalyn chip popped out of his next. It landed on the ground, sizzling.

"The chips ejected themselves. Any longer at that level of power and they would have started damaging their hosts. Although I would say I think they did their job, eh?" Merer said.

And then Meta-Evil, who had ceased his attack on his targets due to the sudden turn-around of his flunkies' battle, started screaming.

"YOU BRAIN-DEAD IDIOTS! I GIVE YOU POWER BEYOND ALL ABILITY TO COUNTER AND YOU STILL FAIL ME!?!??!?!? YOU WORTHLESS PIECES OF SCUM! YOU SHOULD PRAY THAT AFTER I KILL THESE CHILDREN THAT I DON'T DECIDE TO KILL YOU TOO!!!!!!!"

"But we…I…hey, wait a minute! Who said anything about killing them?" Seaslug said.

"WHAT? ARE YOU QUESTIONING ME!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!"

"Hey buddy, we agreed to help you take care of the kids, and to help take over the world, but cold-blooded murder is just not what we do!" Seaslug said, and his voice indicated that despite his other "evil" desires, he meant what he was saying.

"YOU PATHETIC TROGLODYTES! I MADE YOU! I MADE THE RUBBERROBOS! YOU WILL DO WHAT I SAY!"

"Not when it comes to killing kids." Gillgirl said.

"THAT DOES IT! I CHANGED MY MIND! I WON'T KILL YOU AFTER, I'LL KILL YOU NOW! OMNI-EMPEROR!!!!!!

Omni-Emperor aimed his missile launcher at the Rubberrobos, and their eyes went wide.

"No! You wouldn't!"

"I will destroy anyone who defies me! Utterly! KILL THEM!"

"I DON'T THINK SO!"

And Starkiller came down from the sky, slashing her sword out across the missile launcher. It jerked and misfired, barely missing the stunned Rubberrobos. From the heat of the missile's explosion, it was clear Meta-Evil had meant business.

"THAT DOES IT! You're on your own, you lunatic! WE QUIT! RUN AWAY!" Seaslug yelled, and he and his friends ran off, disappearing over the horizon.

"YOU FOOLS! MY NEW WORLD ORDER WILL HANG YOU ON…on…" Meta-Evil trailed off as a realization went through the cloud of madness in his brain.

"And so you're alone." Merer said, as Starkiller leapt to his side, as the remaining medafighters joined him and Ikki. Erika and Brass, along with Karen and Neutranurse, brought up the rear, deciding to leave this next battle to the more experienced combat medabots.

"They were nothing more then rickety puppets." Koji said disdainfully, kicking a G.B head out of his way.

"Ok nutcase! You got two options! Surrender, or face the Screws and co!" Samantha said. Merer glanced wryly at her and she smiled embarrassingly.

Meta-Evil chuckled.

"Stupid kids. I don't need those idiots. Omni-Emperor can destroy all of you all by himself!"

Omni-Emperor hefted his nearly repaired missile launcher and hissed, as his hair rose up, arming more weapons.

"GET HIM!"

The medabots charged.

"We will see who gets who! Omni-Emperor, prepare!"

Omni-Emperor hissed again as his hair slid into various new weapons systems. Merer got an uneasy feeling in his gut, even as Starkiller and her allies bore down on the massive robot.

Then the "hair" strands pointed right up into the air, even as Omni-Emperor slammed his large weapon gauntlets together, locking them.

"WAIT! FALL BACK!" Merer yelled.

"Blitzkrieg Attack!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Meta-Evil bellowed.

And suddenly sections on Omni-Emperor's chest, sides, and tail snapped open. Merer got a glimpse of multiple new missile launchers before they fired. Dozens apon dozens of explosive devices blasted from Omni-Emperor's body, flying up and at the attacking medabots.

Ikki's eyes went as wide as saucers.

"RUN!"

And then everything was exploding, the air suddenly filled with percussion blasts, screaming medabots, and Meta-Evil's mad laughter. Merer felt himself being tossed back before he landed on his rear, throwing up his arms to protect his face, wishing he hadn't taken off his cloak.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! FOOLS! NO ONE CAN DEFEAT ME!" Meta-Evil laughed somewhere in the smoke.

"Starkiller? You ok?" Merer asked his watch.

"I think so. I heeded your warning, although I don't know how well the others did." Starkiller said as she rose to her feet, clutching her sword.

The smoke cleared.

Most of the faster medabots had gotten far away enough to avoid the blasts, and the others had taken refuge behind a sudden sanctuary: Neutranurse and her shield. Merer glanced over to where Karen was, and she gave him a thumbs up. He smiled and returned it.

"What? Why aren't you all dead?' Meta-Evil said, sounding genuinely confused.

"It's not in our contracts." Merer deadpanned. "HE'S DRAINED! GET HIM!"

The medabots attacked on force once again. Omni-Emperor, growling, suddenly found himself beset by Peppercat, Sumilidon, Starkiller and Rokusho as the others fired of him from afar. Bellowing, more in anger then pain, he tossed Peppercat and Rokusho aside with one sweep of his huge arm and then whacked Sumilidon into a tree with his tail. Starkiller dodged a follow up swipe and ate a point-blank Omni-Targeter shot which was lessened only somewhat by her sword. He fired another barrage of missiles at the group shooting at him and they scattered.

"MEOW!" Peppercat yelled as she jumped back on the offensive, using her greater speed to dodge Omni-Emperor's laser blast and following up shoulder machine guns. She leapt on his head and gave it every volt she could muster. Omni-Emperor bellowed in pain.

"Yeah! Wait ta go boss!" Spyke said.

His enthusiasm quickly died as Omni-Emperor swiped Peppercat off his head with his hair and smashed her in mid-air with one of his arms. Peppercat wailed as she flew through the air and hit the ground hard, chunks of her body breaking off.

Even as his nanobots repaired the damage Peppercat had done to his head, Omni-Emperor raised his missile arm and aimed.

"PEPPERCAT!" Samantha said in horror.

"Boss! Oh no!" Spyke said. "What can I do? Wait, what would Merer do? He always a plan! But only because he's so smart! I'm stupid! But I have to help boss! C'mon brain, I don't ask much of you, but THINK! THINK THINK THINK!"

And amazingly, something came to him.

"My god, I think I have a good idea." Spyke said. "Cyandog!"

"What?"

"Listen carefully!" Spyke said, and snapped off a quick order. For once, Meta-Evil's innate cruelty seemed to work in their favor, as Omni-Emperor was taking his sweet time lining up a kill shot, just to savor Peppercat's agony.

"Gotcha!" Cyandog said, and ran at Totalizer.

"Sloan!"

"What?"

"Let Cyandog jump on Totalizer's shoulders, and when I say so, toss him in the air!"

"What? Spyke is you want to run away there are easier…"

"JUST DO IT!" Spyke yelled, finding a voice of authority he never knew existed within him.

"Ok! Totalizer, do what he says!" Sloan ordered.

"You got it!" Totalizer said as Cyandog hopped on Totalizer's shoulders.

"NOW CHARGE!"

"YAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Totalizer and Cyandog yelled as they charged at Omni-Emperor. Cyandog fired some shots: they missed, but they got Omni-Emperor's attention.

"NOW!" Spyke ordered.

"Up and at 'em!" Totalizer said as he grabbed Cyandog and tossed the Medabot into the air. "And since I'm not just here to play tiddlywinks, LASER!" Totalizer said as he fired his beam. It hit Omni-Emperor in the side, but he barely seemed to notice as he spun and aimed his missile arm at Totalizer.

"OH NO! TOTALIZER!" Sloan yelled.

Too late, as Totalizer became the recipient of the barrage of missiles meant for Peppercat. His thicker armour saved him from being blown apart, but the missiles may have well done that as he was thrown backwards. He landed hard and didn't get up.

"Totalizer 100 percent damage on all parts. Function ceased." Sloan's medawatch told him.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Stupid medabot! What did you hope to accomplish?" Meta-Evil taunted.

Then Cyandog landed on Omni-Emperor's shoulders.

"EVEN I CAN'T MISS AT THIS DISTANCE!" Cyandog yelled and let loose with both cannons blazing at point blank range. Omni-Emperor screamed at the sudden assault and shook his head and snapped his hair, trying to get Cyandog off. Cyandog, for his part, managed to stay on the head while firing the whole time.

"Whoa! Nice move Cyandog!" Metabee said.

Merer wasn't so happy.

"Spyke! Get him off! Quickly! Before…!"

Too late, and there was going to be hell to pay, as Cyandog finally miscalculated and Omni-Emperor snapped his head back and grabbed him in his teeth.
"CYANDOG!" Spyke and Peppercat, who had finally managed to get to her feet again, screamed. A second later Cyandog started screaming himself as Omni-Emperor shook the medabot back and forth like a rag doll, the razor-sharp metal teeth ripping apart the dog medabot like the proverbial cheap chew toy.

"LET HIM GO!" Peppercat roared as she charged back on the attack.

"If you insist!" Meta-Evil said, and with that Omni-Emperor reared his head back and tossed the shattered medabot into Peppercat. The two tumbled to the ground, as Omni-Emperor opened his mouth again as an Armageddon blast ignited within him.

Peppercat managed to pick up Cyandog and drag him a few feet before Omni-Emperor fired the black blast. The attack missed but the area effect did the job for it, as Pepercat and Cyandog were consumed by the explosion caused by it. A second later their broken bodies came out of the smoke, almost as if they were floating, and crashed down to earth.

"Damn!" Merer cursed. The anger seething in his gut grew fiercer as he watched the damage Cyandog had wrought by his sacrifice start to disappear, even as he watched Samantha mourn her destroyed medabot.

And it was clear most of the others shared his feeling.

"DAMN YOU!"

A second later twin pairs of missiles fired by Kanteroth and Metabee slammed into Omni-Emperor's side. Omni-Emperor roared, even as the sheer force of the attack pitched him to the side. A second later Starkiller flipped over his body and let loose with a point-blank Nova Cannon shot in his face. Omni-Emperor was thrown onto his back.

"SHADOW SWORD!"

Actually, it was more like Shadow Stab, as Sumilidon leapt into the air and brought all the force of his attack right down on Omni-Emperor's chest. Chunks of armour flew off from the sheer impact of the attack, even as Omni-Emperor's body spasmed and then lay still.

Sumilidon yanked his Flexor sword out of the chest and glared down at his foe, unsure if whether he had actually won. If he actually had a mouth that could produce saliva, he would have spat on him as well.

"SUMILDON GET OFF OF THERE!" Koji screamed suddenly. Sumilidon's mistake was looking at his medafighter rather then obeying his order.

The Oblivion Blaster rose up suddenly and hit Sumilidon with a point-blank shot, nearly sheering the warrior medabot in half. The explosion tossed the medabot nearly thirty feet before he came crashing down.

"Warning. 97 pecent damage to all parts. Shutdown eminent." Koji's medawatch told him.

"No…Sumilidon…" Koji said as he ran to his fallen medabot.

"Koji…I'm sorry…I was foolish…forgive me…" Sumilidon said weakly, even as Omni-Emperor slowly pulled himself back upright, the damage to his frame fading rapidly.

"This is not good!" Ikki said.

"That's putting it mildly kid. We've lost half our numbers and everything we've done in return gets fixed as soon as we've done it!" Merer cursed.

"Maybe we should use the Medaforce!"

"What good would that do? It'll just get fixed!"

"Uh…WAIT! The medal! If we can get his medal out he'll stop functioning!" Ikki said, remembering the strategy that had stopped Giganko.

"Not this time, Ikki Tenryou!" Meta-Evil suddenly said. "I learned from the last time. You won't be taking Omni-Emperor's medal out…BECAUSE THE MEDAL IS FUSED RIGHT INTO HIS BODY! IT CAN NEVER BE REMOVED!"

"WHAT! You can't do that to a medabot!" Ikki said.

"Yeah! That's one of the biggest rules you can break! You can't-AHHHHHHHHH!" Mr. Referee said, popping out of cover due to his outrage at this latest revelation, before another barrage of missiles sent him scrambling back.

"Ok, scratch that idea! What else can we do?" Merer said.

"I don't know, but you better do it FAST!" Metabee said as he fled from Omni-Emperor's new flamethrower attack, even as the others were pinned down by a new barrage of machine gun fire.

"Dammit, this is ridiculous! That thing repairs any damage we do to it, and even if we could figure a way around that it doesn't change the fact that he has enough firepower to start World War III, with enough left over for half a dozen regional conflicts!" Ikki said. He glanced at Merer and then did a double take. Merer's eyes had gotten a strange trance-like gaze.

"Firepower…fire…power…fire……..power…Ikki, I have it! Gimme your medawatch!" Merer said, grabbing Ikki's wrist.

"Whoa! Careful! That's the hand I eat pizza with!"

"Metabee! Listen up! You have such a delightful caustic wit. Well, I want you to turn those biting words on Meta-Evil. In other words, insult him! A LOT!"

"WHAT? Are you crazy? Wouldn't making the lunatic who build the giant medabot who is trying to kill us all angry be a BAD THING? Metabee shot back.

"Just do it Metabee!"

"Yeah! Listen to him! He's the master of the mechanical…stuff!" Ikki added.

"Oh I see! When he's against us he's a flute-playing nutcase, but now that he's on our side he's "the master of the mechanical stuff!". Unlike you, Ikki, the master of the STUPID STUFF!"

"Just do it Metabee! And get prepared to run!" Merer said.

"Why do I feel this idea is very bad for us?" Metabee pondered. "Ok then! Hey Meta-Evil! What kind of a name is Meta-Evil anyway? You're meta…evil! Ohhh, how original! And speaking of originality, what's with these emperors? I mean, what's the next one going to be called? Super-Emperor? Imperial-Emperor? Super Mega Championship Turbo Really Really Really Cool This Time-Emperor?"

"HOW DARE YOU INSULT ME!!!!!!!!!!!! OMNI-EMPEROR, BLOW THAT GODDAMN MEDABOT INTO BITS!" Meta-Evil screamed.

"Whoa boy! Yikes! WHOA! OW, HOT! YIKES, SHARP! WHOA, COLD! EEEP, SLIMY!" Metabee yelped as Omni-Emperor turned to him and unleashed a storm of firepower, which grew more and more intense as Meta-Evil kept screaming for him to destroy Metabee.

"Hey moron! You couldn't hit a lake if you were standing on the bottom of it! Uh, your mother wore army boots! Uh, you've got ugly feet!" Metabee kept yelling.

"ARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! OMNI-EMPEROR, USE THE ARMAGEDDON CANNON! AND OBLIVION BLASTER! AT ONCE! I WANT NOTHING LEFT OF HIM. NOTHING!!!!!!!!!!!" Meta-Evil screamed. Omni-Emperor roared as he assembled his hair strands even as he opened his mouth. Metabee's eyes went wide, and he ran for his life.

Until he tripped over a root. He landed and his eyes went even wider as Omni-Emperor aimed at him.

"Merer, I hate you!"

And Omni-Emperor fired, shooting off his mightiest weapons at once.

The kids had learned their lesson, and threw themselves on the ground. Meta-Evil hadn't, and was tossed ass over elbows backwards by the shockwave of the blast. His aerial vehicle, which he had arrived it and deployed Omni-Emperor from, and which had remained hovering over the battlefield the whole time, found it's orbit disrupted severely by the blast. The onboard computer tried to make the necessary corrections, but that proved impossible as the helicopter-esque plane spun out of control and crashed. The vehicle exploded behind Meta-Evil, but he barely seemed to notice as he got back up. The cat was not with him: It had been tossed off Meta-Evil's shoulders and had bugged out to be somewhere else.

"It was worth it." he said.

"Metabee?" Ikki asked the smoke.

Metabee though the rushing feeling he felt meant he was on his way to meda-heaven, and then his eyes opened and he realized it wasn't his time yet.

"Starkiller!"

Starkiller braked to a halt, putting down Metabee.

"You may rock, but I roll." Starkiller said, switching back to Warrior mode.

"You survived? Impossible!" Meta-Evil said.

"Yes, impossible if I hadn't zipped in and grabbed him away from the jaws of death." Starkiller said.

"It doesn't matter! They will claim him yet! As well as all of you!"

"Don't be so sure." Merer said, as the smoke around Omni-Emperor cleared.

The massive medabot stood limply, it's arms laying at it's size like dead wood, its demonic head lolled to the side as steam issued from its mouth and a few other places.

"What?"

"Simple knowledge of machinery, Meta-Evil. You can't have certain actions without certain reactions. Your Omni-Emperor is built well…but unfortunately, after firing all those weapons for such a prolonged period…it was simply too much. It's called overheating." Merer said.

"Yes! We took him down!" Ikki cheered.

"Not quite yet." Merer said.

Meta-Evil chuckled.

"Indeed."

There was a slight sound of whirring and then Omni-Emperor jerked back to life, the last tendrils of steam and smoke issuing from him as he raised his arms and snapped his tail, almost like he was stretching.  Meta-Evil smiled.

"You thought your little ploy would destroy Omni-Emperor? I think not! You may have made him overheat, but he is far too superior to be crippled by such a condition for long! Now, prepare to meet your doom!"

"I think you have that in reverse! CHANBARA SWORD!" Rokusho yelled as he dropped on Omni-Emperor from above. The massive medabot saw him coming though, and blocked him with one of his arms, the Chanbara sword gorging a long line down it. Rokusho landed and retreated as Omni-Emperor's shoulder machine guns sprayed bullets at him.

"Nice try! But that is the last time you will…will…no…no…" Meta-Evil said before he trailed off, his tone suddenly filled with horror. Ikki blinked and then realized what he was looking at. The scratch wasn't disappearing. It remained.

"I must admit you have talent, Meta-Evil. Designing such an advanced nanotechnology system that fixes damages so quickly. I'm impressed, I really am. But something occurred to me. Such an advanced system was probably another thing: Delicate. Very delicate. Too delicate, I guess, to endure such a rapid rise in heat so quickly. Well, you win some, you lose some. And you're about to lose this one, Meta-Evil. We're in the final stretch, kids. Let's take this guy down."

"I think not! You may have overcome the repair system but that will not save you! BLITZKRIEG ATTACK!"

Omni-Emperor once again raised his arms and hair as his sides, chest, and tail opened and fired the storm of missiles. This time however, Meta-Evil had done it too early and given the medabots time to run for it. The ground was rocked by another series of explosions.

"YEAH-YEAH!" Metabee yelled as he leapt out of the smoke, firing his laser cannons. Then Omni-Emperor fired his five-pronged laser blaster at him and Metabee decided maybe discretion was the better part of valour.

Rokusho and Starkiller emerged from the smoke, dodging Omni-Emperor's machine cannons and hair-fired arrows as they leapt, each slashing the massive medabot. It roared and formed the Oblivion Blaster again, firing the beam across the ground and scattering the attacking medabots with the explosion.

"Fight with all your might! It doesn't matter! I am unstoppable! UNSTOPPABLE!" Meta-Evil ranted.

"Does this guy ever shut up?" Merer said.

"No. If he did it would be a great surprise." Ikki replied.

"This battle won't end in a surprise! Omni-Emperor…" Meta-Evil began to order.

And suddenly Peppercat landed on Omni-Emperor's head again.

"SURPRISE!" the cat medabot yelled, and zapped Omni-Emperor. He roared and tossed the cat medabot off, and she rabbited (er, pussyfooted?) before the medabot could counter.

"WHAT?" Meta-Evil said.

"I echo that. Peppercat was virtually in pieces! How did she…oh." Merer said as he realized it. He decided against voicing it: Meta-Evil didn't seem to know either and that was better.

"LASER!"

It appeared that it wasn't just the Screw's leader that was back in action. Omni-Emperor bellowed as the attack hit him, but his eyes were still messed up by the electric shock and he missed his counter-attack, as Totalizer fled back to Sloan. Good thing too, for while the medabots had managed to get back up, Merer had a feeling that from their battered appearance it would just take a tap to send them back down. He looked for Cyandog but didn't see him. Guess he was beyond help…

"Ok guys! Let's finish this guy off! Missile Launch!" Metabee yelled as he fired off two more rockets. Omni-Emperor blew them out of the sky. "Nuts!"

Omni-Emperor fired his own barrage of rockets back at Metabee.

"And on the other hand, BOLTS!" Metabee yelled, describing himself as he ran away.

"Nova Lance!"

Starkiller sped pass Omni-Emperor, using her enhanced sword as a sword instead of a spear, slashing Omni-Emperor across the gut. He roared and turned to counter, and then Kanteroth hit him in the back with a pair of missiles. Roaring again, Omni-Emperor turned and let loose with the Armageddon Cannon shot he had prepared for Starkiller. Kanteroth tried to run, but he was too slow…

"OH NO! NOT YOU DUDE!" Rintaro wailed as his medabot was blown away.

"Kanteroth 100 percent damage. Function ceased."

"No! I can keep fighting! I can…" Kanteroth said, trying to get up. Rintaro ran over to him, trying to get him to cover.

"MWA HA! You see! Even without the nanobots this battle is still mine! I will see you all dead yet!"

"YOU WON'T SEE ANYTHING!"

And Baton suddenly swooped out of the sky, clawing at Meta-Evil's face. He yelled as he tried to ward off the furious robot bird, even as the parrot pressed his furious attack.

"Polly wanna claw your eyes out!" Baton sneered, as he continued to attack the man who had ruined his and Rokusho's peaceful lives with his mad dreams of power and destruction.

And it cost him, as Meta-Evil transformed one of his arms into a hammer and smacked the bird. Baton squawked in pain as Meta-Evil grabbed him.

"You forget I have implemented Medabot technology into myself! And it will cost you your life! Omni-Emperor, turn this parrot into turkey!" Meta-Evil ordered. And he threw Baton at his creation, even as Omni-Emperor opened with mouth with a new Armageddon cannon shot emerging…

"NO!"

Rokusho leapt up, putting himself between his friend and the blast, shielding Baton from Omni-Emperor.

"ROKUSHO!" Merer said in horror.

The attack was devastating, even more so then the usual damage the Armageddon cannon could inflict, as Rokusho took it directly in the back, unable to mount any defense at all in his attempt to save Baton.

"Oh no…" Merer said as Rokusho fell to the ground. He hadn't even been able to scream.

"Dear god, is he still alive?" Ikki said, as he looked at the broken form of Rokusho.

"Rokusho! ARGGGHHHH! That's it! Now I'm really angry!" Metabee yelled as he charged again, firing his laser cannon.

"Wait! Don't let you anger cloud your judgement! Metabee…!" Starkiller said as she hopped over.

And allowed Omni-Emperor to get both of them with a barrage of missiles. The two of them yelled as they were tossed back.

"Warning. Metabee body damaged 85 percent. Legs 90 percent, both arms 92 percent." Ikki's medawatch told him.

"Master…I can't keep this up much longer…" Starkiller groaned as she tried to get to her feet. Merer agreed: Starkiller's damage ratings were nearly as bad as Metabee's.

"La-!"

Omni-Emperor turned and strafed both Peppercat and Totalizer with his shoulder cannons backed up by one arm's hidden Gatling guns. They fell back with a cry, their badly damaged bodies not able to take much more.

Starkiller's eyes blazed.

"I have had ENOUGH! NOVA-!"

Omni-Emperor let loose with another Armageddon blast. Starkiller leapt back to avoid a direct hit, but in her weakened state even the area effect was enough to knock her back down. She hit the ground hard.

"Starkiller!" Merer said in horror.

"Must go on…must keep fighting…"Starkiller cursed, trying to work through the pain and weakness that throbbed through every part of her being.

"AHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHA! Nothing can save you now!" Meta-Evil laughed. And it looked like he was right: there were no medabots left standing. They were all on the ground, scattered like broken dolls.

"Ikki…" Metabee said as he tried to get back up. "I hope you have an idea, and if you don't, get one fast!"

"I…I…" Ikki stammered.

"Who's going to save you now, Ikki Tenryou? No one! I have been sickened by your presence long enough! Omni-Emperor, KILL HIM!"

"NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Metabee screamed as Omni-Emperor turned his head towards Ikki, the Omni-Targeter popping out, arming, and…

…getting knocked off to the side by a sudden shot. The laser blast exploded a foot to Ikki's left.

"Nothing can save you, huh?" Spyke suddenly said.

A storm of shots suddenly exploded across Omni-Emperor's eyes. It bellowed in pain and raised it's arm to the damaged sight devices.

"How about a finally fixed CROSSERDOG?" Spyke crowed. A grin of amazement split Ikki's face. Talk about great timing.

"Crosserdog, attack!" Spyke ordered. The medabot obeyed, dashing at Omni-Emperor as it let loose with it's Battle Rifles. The shots exploded across Omni-Emperor, who bellowed and returned fire. However, it's eyes werer still messed up and it's bullets and missiles missed as Crosserdog dashed right up in front of Omni-Emperor.

"HIT HIM WITH EVERYTHING! HOLD NOTHING BACK!" Spyke yelled. And Crosserdog did just that, as it ducked under a clumsy swipe, leapt over a scything tail slash, and slammed it's arms into Omni-Emperor's chest, opening fire at point blank range.

"INSECT! SQUASH HIM!" Meta-Evil screamed. And Omni-Emperor was trying, but his wrecked eyesight, first damaged by Peppercat's electric shock and furthered by Crosserdog's projectiles, and Crosserdog's high speed allowed the dog medabot to basically run back and forth in front of Omni-Emperor as he fired the whole time.
"Whoever though he had it in him?" Samantha said in wonder. Indeed, Spyke certainly looked proud.

"Until Omni-Emperor finally gave a roar of pure fury and turned his arms and cannons inward and in front of him and barraged the ground in front of him, blowing Crosserdog away by sheer force of firepower. The smoking medabot flew up into the air and Omni-Emperor nearly broke him in half with a vicious tail swipe.

"CROSSERDOG!" Spyke wailed.

"Then again, it's still Spyke." Samantha said.

"Yeah…" Merer said, as his sharp eyes zeroed in on something. "But he did good! Ikki! I think Crosserdog's barrage opened up a crack in his chest armour!" Merer yelled. Indeed, there was a large mar on the previously pristine chest armour of Omni-Emperor.

Ikki knew enough about medabots to understand the possibility that was now presented. The chest armour on medabots was usually the thickest, since many vital functions were under there. Meta-Evil had probably made sure that Omni-Emperor's armour was of the highest quality there. With the nanobots fried, a crack meant…

"Metabee!"

But Metabee already knew the order.

"I know! Crosserdog made a crack, now I'll make that crack BIGGER! MISSILE LAUNCH!" Metabee yelled, firing off another pair of rockets.

Omni-Emperor should have shot them down too, but his eyes were still damaged, and his counter laser missed. The missiles slammed into his chest. Omni-Emperor roared.

"Keep firing at his eyes!" Erika yelled. She had pretty much been reduced to cheerleader by the sheer hell she had witnessed.

"I don't think so!" Meta-Evil said. Omni Emperor shook his head and then a new set of clear armour slammed over Omni-Emperor's upper face.

"Dammit!" Merer cursed. "Ok Starkiller, keep it up!"

"You got it! NOVA CANNON!" Starkiller yelled, and fired. But Omni-Emperor turked away and the attack just hit his flank.

"You call that a laser blast? TRY THIS!" Meta-Evil said as Omni-Emperor's hair rose up and aimed at Starkiller as dozens of laser cannons armed.

"SHADOW SWORD!"

Omni-Emperor bellowed in pain as Sumilidon came slashing out of the sky and severed the metal bands of hair at the roots. The cannon fell apart as the system was destroyed, the metal strands flopping to the ground as faint electric shocks in their destroyed systems caused them to twitch like drowning worms.

"NO!" Meta-Evil cried. "You were down! How did…ARGH! KILL THEM ALL!"

It was clear Meta-Evil's planned strategy was degenerating into his madness, and it showed, as Omni-Emperor, ultimately just a puppet in a madman's hands, turned to shoot at Sumilidon and Starkiller was true with her second shot, catching Omni-Emperor full in the chest. It bellowed, even as broken chunks of armour fell. The crack was now huge, and other cracks had sprung up around it.

"Keep going!" Merer ordered. Then he had to get out of the way as Omni-Emperor fired missiles at him and he ran for cover. While he had stuck mostly with his medabot opponents before, Omni-Emperor was now beginning to resemble a cornered animal, striking at whatever target he could find.

"Kill them! KILL THEM ALL! KILL THEM ALL!" Meta-Evil screamed.

"No!"

And then Rokusho leapt out of the shadows, his blade catching Omni-Emperor right across the face.

"That was for Baton!"

Omni-Emperor swiped at him. He dodged the blow and slashed the arm. Omni-Emperor bellowed again.

"That was for Dr. Hushi!"

Omni-Emperor tried his tail. Rokusho leapt over it, flipped over Omni-Emperor's head, and as the tail swung back, snapped out his Chanbara sword, burying it in Omni-Emperor's tail. The bellow became a scream.

"That was for the children you dared threaten!"

"How the hell is he doing that? He was nearly blown to pieces!" Merer said.

"Sheer drive. And a little help." Starkiller said.

"What? Help?"

"I don't blame you for not noticing Merer, but most of us wouldn't be able to go on if it hadn't been for our…"help"." Starkiller said, as Rokusho dodged away from a missile and machine gun blast, flipping back over Omni-Emperor and back in front of him. He back flipped away.

"KILL HIM!"

Rokusho stopped his flips, tensed, and then leapt up as Omni-Emperor fired his Armageddon cannon. The ground exploded beneath him, framing Rokusho in fire as he landed, ever as silver energy suddenly exploded around.

"AND THIS…" Rokusho roared, even as the energy exploded into even greater brilliance as he drew up his arm, "IS FOR ME! MEDAFORCE!!!!!!!"

The silver bolt of power blasted along the ground, and Omni-Emperor's silhouette was lost in the explosion as it hit him. The ground rumbled, even as dust blasted upward and pelted the warriors. Unheard in the noise was the sound of a shattered chest plate hitting the ground, blown off by the Medaforce.

"No! This can't be happening! I'm supposed to win! AND DESTROY! DESTROY!!!!!!!!!!" Meta-Evil screamed.

Omni-Emperor took that as an order, as he aimed his missile launcher at Rokusho and fired. The exhausted medabot still had his wits about him through, as he leapt backwards. But he was too tired to be fast enough, and was caught by the last two. He hit the ground, a low groan the only indication he was still alive.

"NO! You medabastard! TAKE THIS!" Metabee yelled, firing his cannons. Omni-Emperor weathered the shots, even as Starkiller switched to Speed Mode and blasted off towards Omni-Emperor. Merer was about to give her an order that mostly involved her stabbing her sword into Omni-Emperor's now exposed chest, but then Omni-Emperor popped out his Omni-Targeter and Starkiller had to switch back to Warrior to avoid getting beaten via that weak but accurate cannon in his lessened state. Merer glanced at his advanced medawatch, which was monitoring not only Starkiller but had managed to get a pretty good reading on Omni-Emperor as well. Damn, he's reeling! We just need to knock him down!

"Rokusho!"

The female voice caught Merer's ear, since he hadn't heard it for a while. His eyes followed it. Karen! Of course! I forgot all about Neutranurse! Those kids are smarter then I thought: they managed to whip up a system that allowed her to have Neutranurse heal the injured while Meta-Evil was distracted by the others. No wonder the ones whom I thought were finished got back up!

Unfortunately, this had worked because of one other factor: Karen had kept silent, giving whispered orders to Neutranurse which were quickly and quietly carried out. However, seeing Rokusho get trashed for the second time had brought the kind heart out again, which Karen had a habit of expressing verbally.

And it cost her, as Merer wasn't the only one who heard her, and followed the voice to see her gesturing at Neutranurse to go help.

Meta-Evil had as well.

"Of course. I should have known. OMNI-EMPEROR, KILL THAT LITTLE BITCH!"

"What? NO!" Ikki screamed. Karen's eyes suddenly filled with fear as Omni-Emperor aimed at her, his mouth opening.

"HELP!"

"KAREN!" Ikki screamed, running towards her. If he had to he'd take the blast for her…

But in the end Neutranurse beat him to it, as she ran back and threw herself in front of Karen, activating her shield…

Which didn't do anything in the end, as the Armageddon blast was so power it shattered the shield and slammed into Neutranurse. The explosion blew the medabot backward and right into Karen, who went down with a cry of pain, more so that her medabot had been hurt then the fact SHE'D been hurt.

"Karen! Neutranurse! ARGGGGHHHHHH! THAT'S IT! NOW I'M REALLY ANGRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Metabee screamed.

The gold power reappeared on Metabee's medal, enveloping him once more.

"I don't think so! Omni-Emperor, destroy him!"

"Guys! Metabee needs time to charge up the Medaforce! Give him that time!" Merer ordered, even as he dashed over to Karen and Neutranurse. Karen apparently had only suffered a few bruises, but her heartache over Neutranurse being hurt was as bad as physical pain. Merer growled and turned back to the battle.

The group has listened, as the Peppercat, Totalizer, Sumilidon and Kanteroth, despite all of them having one foot in the grave and another on a banana peel had leapt on Omni-Emperor, doing their best to keep him from firing. Omni-Emperor thrashed, trying to get the annoying medabots off.

Metabee continued to charge, even as his eyes blazed. Those bastards were going to pay!

Omni-Emperor screamed, but finally managed to toss the medabots clinging to him off. With a growl of satisfaction, he aimed both arms at Metabee.

"Metabee!" Ikki said.

"Wait!" Merer said as he ran over to Ikki's side. "You hear how Omni-Emperor screamed before he threw them off? I think Sumilidon managed to jam his sword into the hole in his chest!"

"Your point being?"

"I think, if my readings are correct, that it messed up his targeting system! METABEE! DÉJÀ VU! DON'T MOVE!" Merer yelled.

"YOU'D BETTER BE RIGHT, MERER!" Metabee yelled, as Omni-Emperor's weapons blazed. Oh dear…

Bullets raked the ground in front of Metabee, even as missiles exploded on each side of him and lasers blasted over his head. But nothing hit him.

"NO! HOW COULD YOU MISS?" Meta-Evil cursed. "Well, this won't miss! OMNI-TARGETER!"

"SURE SHOT!"

"ARGH!" Omni-Emperor bellowed as Brass's concentrated shot finished the job Crosserdog had started, blowing the Omni-Targeter cannon into pieces. Omni-Emperor tried to aim the other cannon he had on the other side as a substitute, but then Starkiller came crashing down on his head, her sword slicing out and chopping it off. She leapt off his head and ran as Omni-Emperor tried to pull himself together. He fired more missiles, but they missed again.

"You fool!"

"You sure have worked more on your aim, but maybe you should look for someone to blame, 'cause I say it's time your time finally came, and your just hurt a mighty fine dame…" Metabee chanted, even as the power soared to a cresendo within him. Starkiller came to a stop next to him.

"AND I CAN'T THINK OF AN E WORD THAT RHYMES, SO LET'S JUST SAY, YOU'RE GOING DOWN, IN FLAMES!" Metabee roared.

"And I'm going up!" Starkiller yelled as she leapt up into the air. She tossed her sword above her and began to gather her own power.

"You think you've won? I THINK NOT! I STILL HAVE ONE MORE ATTACK! OMNI-EMPEROR, BLITZKRIEG ATTACK!"

Omni-Emperor, battered and smoking, roared and began opening the ports for the barrage of missiles.

"Starkiller, you know what to do!" Merer said.

And then Omni-Emperor struck, dozens of missiles flying from him.

And Starkiller's blue blasts came raining down, destroying the missiles in mid-air. Omni-Emperor roared as he was caught in the sudden deaths of his projectiles, the explosions scorching and burning him.

"NO! DO IT AGAIN!"

"I think not! You won't be doing anything after I scramble his systems with THIS!" Starkiller yelled, and fired off her four arcing blasts. They struck Omni-Emperor, scorching his black skin even darker. Omni-Emperor jerked like an epileptic having a seizure.

Starkiller slammed out her arms as they transformed into cannons.

Metabee thrust his arms up.

"See ya, wouldn't wanna be ya." Ikki said.

A blue glow lit up in front of Starkiller.

"NOVA STORM!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"MEDAFORCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Metabee yelled, and fired the golden blast.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!" Meta-Evil screamed.

The twin blasts of the Nova Storm flew down and met the Medaforce, wraping around it and merging with it as it blasted at Omni-Emperor.

"KISS YOUR BOT GOODBYE!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The blast hit, and for a second you could almost hear a scream.

Then the explosion drowned out everything else, as Omni-Emperor perished in the heart of an inferno. A massive mushroom cloud plumed upward, and it rained fire for miles around.

Metabee lowered his arms, exhausted and hurting, but clearly quite satisfied.

"Dude, I rock."

"And how did I do, Metabee?" Starkiller said as she landed next to him, reaching up and catching her sword.

"Not bad…for a girl!"

Starkiller laughed.

"You WISH you could do better." She said, and she and Metabee exchanged a high-five.

"We did it…it's over…it's finally over…" Koji said, as he helped a badly damaged Sumilidon over to Karen and Neutranurse. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah…we'll be ok." Karen said. "Koji, why would a man…be so…?"

Koji had no answers.

"Well that could have gone better." Samantha said.

"It could have gone worse too boss." Sloan added.

"How could it? I just got him fixed!" Spyke said, as he carried the badly damaged Crosserdog over to where he had left Cyandog's body.

"You did great dude. Be proud." Rintaro said to Kanteroth. Kanteroth game him a weak thumbs up.

"Thanks for the help Erika."

"Brass deserves all the credit."

"We both did well Erika."

"Next time Baton, I would appreciate it if you didn't get involved." Rokusho said, limping over to the group.

"I'll keep that in mind."

"Man…this has been such a long day…hey, wait a minute, where's Merer?" Ikki said.

Then everyone yelled as a laser bolt narrowly missed the group.

"No! It can't be…!" Ikki said, as the smoke finally fully cleared away.

It wasn't: Omni-Emperor was gone. But Meta-Evil, one of his arms converted into a cannon, was still there. If the medabots had been fresh, they might have done more then stand or still there. But they all had nothing left.

"You stupid children. You think you've won? You have only delayed the inevitable! I'll be back! And you won't escape next time! I'll build something bigger, strong, nastier, more horrible then you can imagine! I will not rest until you have…"

Meta-Evil trailed off as a shadow fell over him, and he jerked, turning around and aiming his cannon.

Merer caught his arm and yanked it aside, glaring down on Meta-Evil.

"Thanks Meta-Evil. Really. You put it all in perspective. If I hadn't met you, I would have become you."

And then Merer hit him, punching Meta-Evil with all the strength he had. Meta-Evil left his feet and hit the ground, groaning. Merer stared after him for a few seconds, holding the glare.

"Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster. And when you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes back." Merer quoted.

And then his face cracked as he suddenly grabbed his hand.

"OW-WOUCH! Now I know why I let medabots do the fighting for me."

Meta-Evil rolled over and tried to get to his feet. Another shadow fell over him, and he raised his bleeding face to look at Mr. Referee.

"My my. Multiple counts of attempted murder, using illegal medabot parts, attempting to use a medabot with lethal intent, shooting at the referee…you've been a bad boy. But you'll be properly taken care of." Mr. Referee said, as members of Select Corps pushed past him and handcuffed the beaten mad scientist.

"Hey, where did they come from?" Ikki asked.

"I call them while you were fighting." Mr. Referee answered.

"Uh…when?"

"About three minutes ago."

"WHAT? Moron, we've been battling for a lot longer then that! Why didn't you call them earlier!"

"Hey, you try thinking about things like that when you're having missiles shot at you!"

Everyone facevaulted.

On the ground lay a black medal with a pitchfork on it, a long crack across it. Slowly, Metabee picked it up and looked at it.

"Poor fool. Existing only to destroy. What a pitiful existence." Metabee said.

He looked at the medal for a few more seconds, then dropped it and stomped on it, grinding it to dust underneath his heel.

"You're better off that way."

"I almost pity him." Koji said, as Meta-Evil was dragged away to a waiting paddy wagon.

"A man puts machinery into his body…machinery he programmed with the computer equivalent of his thoughts: I will rule the world, no one can stop me. When Ikki beat him…I guess his computer malfunctioned at the concept that he could be beaten. Combine that with his rage at losing to Ikki…insanity and program error. A double whammy." Merer said.

"He made his choice." Starkiller said.

"Yeah. I just wish it could have been to have gone into a nice coma instead of building an army of wannabe medabots and one hell of a nasty piece of machinery." Metabee said.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Mr. Referee said as he turned around. "FUNCTION CEASED! THE WINNERS ARE…THE SCREWS!"

"Respect regained!" Samantha said as she and the Screws posed in front of her Here and Gone Again Background.

"Rintaro and Kanteroth!"

"Awesome dude!"

"Koji and Sumilidon!"

"Was there ever any doubt?"

"Rokusho and Baton!"

"….."

"With help from Karen and Neutranurse!"

"Glad to be of assistance!"

"And Erika and Brass!"

"I can see the headlines! "Heroic Reporter helps save world!'"

"Merer "Flute" Pimon and Starkiller!"

"Best there is, best there was, best there ever will be, no doubt."

"And Ikki and METABEE!"

"Dude, I rock." Ikki said.

"Hey, that's my line!"

"Ok, we both rock!"

"Yes, we do!"

"Ok guys!" Erika said as she ran in front of the group. "This is for the front page, so make it look good, and smile!"

CLICK!

To be Concluded!

More Medabots, More Power!