At long last, we've reached the final battle. The next part will be the epilogue, so I guess this is the last chapter. Thank you everyone for sticking with me this long, and enjoy the show.
Mystical Raven, why are you pitying Houdini? Well, I guess you could feel kind of sorry for her since she's a spineless self-centered coward with no real understanding of friendship…and will you stop E-mailing me?!
Mona, good to hear from you again. No, I've never read The Running Man, what's it about? I'm glad you liked the game show, disguises, and DDR plug (even though I've never played it.). I'm happy you enjoyed the train gags so much. I don't make up the boss vehicles, they're all appropriated from Sonic video games. And I think I am an atheist, but that doesn't mean I can't pretend that I believe for story purposes, right? I made Lilo die to evoke hatred for Hamsterviel from the fans and to do something unexpected, and I see it worked.
Redward652, what makes you think I'm making fun of WWII? I just used the name Adolf because I couldn't think of anything eviler.
Mermaid Ninja, the Star of Destiny is made of EVIL energy. Think about that. That means it can't purify Mertle and if it did bring back Lilo, she'd be an evil voodoo zombie queen. I think she'd be better off dead, don't you?
Anonymous, I actually saw that episode of Darkwing Duck. Anyway, I'm glad you've enjoyed all my unexpected plot twists and stuff, and I hope what happens in this chapter is good enough for you. And by the way, I'm a guy. Don't feel ashamed, you're the second person I know of to make that mistake (unless everyone else made the same mistake and never said anything.).
…
Just to be annoying, let's see the story's main theme song before the chapter starts, taken as always from the Sonic series.
What goes up
Must come down.
Yet our feet
don't touch the ground!
See the world spinning upside down!
A mighty crash without a sound!
We can feel your every rage.
Step aside, we'll turn the page.
Breaking through your crazy maze!
Like a plasma bolt, our eyes on you!
Watch us blow the night away!
Watch us save the day.
Feel our strong arms getting close,
Headed your way!
STITCH HEROES! STITCH HEROES!
Find you, confine you, dividing a blaze!
STITCH HEROES! STITCH HEROES!
Setting the stage for a hero's parade!
We won't ever hesitate!
A second left to alter fate!
Tried to strike, but hit too late!
We've got to look by our own rate!
STITCH HEROES! STITCH HEROES!
Find you, confine you, dividing a blaze!
STITCH HEROES! STITCH HEROES!
Setting the stage for a hero's parade!
STITCH HEROES,
HEROES,
HEROES,
HEROES,
Give us a reason and we're on our way!
…
The experiments stepped out of the teleporter and into a huge room. It wasn't as big as the last one, but it was still pretty damn big. The huge cyborg monster in the center of the room, which was surrounded on three sides by tall maintenance platforms, took up most of the chamber. The fourth side was open for the beast's long, serpentine spiked tail, which snaked out along the chamber floor. Since this one wasn't partially obscured by a containment field, the experiments could get a better look at it.
The monster looked a lot like the one back in the ship graveyard, only a lot smaller and blue. The tail thickened as it approached the body, swelling into an ovaloid spiky mass with all sorts of metal gadgetry on it, mixed alongside with thick blue plate armor and bits of exposed flesh that had the texture of aged prunes. Numerous insectoid legs grew from the creature's underbelly, giving it the look of some monster from a bug hater's nightmare. The body narrowed a bit and curved upward into a vaguely humanoid armored torso. At the spot on either side of the body where the torso grew out was a small circular indent with some kind of glowing light in it. Beneath each light was a huge folded limb that looked like some sort of a hybrid between a wing and an engine, no doubt granting the monster propulsion. The monster had two arms growing from its spiked, armored shoulders. The right arm ended in a huge pincer claw like that of a lobster, while the other ended in a five-fingered hand, each finger being a sharp metal claw. Long metal spines arced from the monsters back along with a pair of tattered vestigial wings and more thrusters, making it look like some kind of demonic hedgehog. On the upper part of the monster's torso, what looked like a big metal jaw hung open, revealing the Star of Destiny circled by five colored lights, none of which were lit. Above the jaw, between the two shoulders, a pair of short serpentine necks grew out, ending in gruesome heads shaped like some hellish cross between Xenomorphs, dragons, demons, and gargoyles, with numerous horns and metallic frills like solar panels framing them. The head on the left had two eyes, while the one on the right had three. Spotlights as well as the eerie glow emanating from the crystal star in the thing's chest lit the beast.
At the base of one of the maintenance platforms were several control panels and technical equipment, along with a pair of Soul Vacuums, occupied by the bodies of Hamsterviel and Mertle. They were breathing, but from the vacant look in their eyes it was clear there was nobody upstairs. "Did they both transfer themselves into that thing?" asked Clip, shocked.
Finder shrugged. "Well, I don't see why not. That thing has two heads, maybe it has two brains as well."
Stitch glared hatefully up at the titanic monster. "So you think turning yourself into a monster is going to save you from me, Hamsterviel? Think again! You've murdered my best friend and destroyed my family! I am going to kill you!!!"
"How?" asked Sparky.
"…I got nothing. How about you guys?"
"Perhaps the blueprints Hacker obtained for us will shed some insight," suggested Dracula.
Kixx activated the communicator. The schematics were still there. He examined them for a few minutes, then scowled and tossed it to Finder. "I can't make heads or tails of this stuff. You're smarter than me, you figure it out."
"Okay." Finder looked at the blueprints. "Okay, like Hacker told us, we have to destroy the Star of Destiny before the power-up sequence is complete or the monster will become invincible. But the Star is protected by a force field generated by that glowing spot over the big left wing, which is protected by a force field generated by the spot above the right wing, which is in turn protected by another force field generated by…that machine over there." He pointed to a humming generator. The others immediately smashed it. "That's better. Okay, now that that one's down, we can destroy the next two generators, which will then allow us to attack the Star itself. It would be pointless to assault all three spots at once, so it would probably be more efficient to split up into three teams and tackle the weak points as they open up. That way each of us will be fully rested and ready to attack their generator when each force field goes down, and it'll make less targets for that thing's weapons."
"Speaking of which, what kind of weapons does that monster have?" asked Angel.
Finder frowned as he examined the plans. "Well, other than melee attacks from its limbs, it has five weapons, each representing one of the five strongest elemental forces of nature: fire, metal, ice, light, and darkness. There's a flame-thrower built into the right arm, it can launch its back spines like missiles, the left fingers become ice rockets, the eyes are capable of firing various lasers, and it also has an experimental device called a 'shadow engine' that allows it to manipulate the powers of darkness. All in all, it's a pretty formidable enemy." He smiled. "However, due to a design flaw, it can only use one weapon at a time. Also, we probably won't have to worry about most of them at the moment, because the power-up sequence hasn't gotten too far. The majority of the weapons won't be activated until a certain amount of evil energy has been absorbed for each one, so we should be okay as long as we move quickly."
"Kixx, since you and Dracula are the smallest team, and the power-up is still pretty low at the moment, do you think you guys could take out the first generator while the monster's still weak?" asked Sparky. "I don't mean to insult your strength or anything, but you'd probably have an easier time handling the monster now then when it's gotten stronger."
Kixx shook his concerns off. "Sure, no problem, I understand."
Dracula nodded. "Sometime the wisest course is to choose the challenge more easily surmounted."
"Okay then, you guys head over to the generator on that thing's right side while we wait over here. My team will handle the second generator when it's clear, and I assume you guys will want to destroy the Star yourselves?" Finder asked of Stitch's group.
Stitch pounded a fist into his palm. "Yes. Hamsterviel is mine," he growled.
"You mean ours," Slugger corrected.
"But you guys wouldn't mind if we pitched in to help if you really needed it?" asked Angel.
Sparky nodded. "If you guys are recovered enough from your own fight with the monster, your help would be appreciated. Right Stitch?" he asked Stitch.
Stitch nodded. "Yeah, but leave the last blow to me. I want that rodent to pay for everything he's done to us!"
"We all do, Stitch," Angel reminded him. "Don't get all egotistical on us. You don't have to deliver the final blow, anyone can. It doesn't matter who does it as long as it happens, right?"
Stitch glared at her for a minute, furious that she dared to take away his revenge. He felt his muscles clench, preparing to hit her. He stopped himself immediately as he looked into her concerned black eyes. What am I doing? He thought. Hamsterviel's the enemy, not Angel. I've already hurt her enough by breaking up with her, I can't cause her any more pain. He took a deep breath, relaxed, and looked at the ground. "You're right. Sorry."
Kixx coughed loudly to get everyone's attention. "Okay, if that's over with, we'll just be off, right Dracula?"
"Hai."
"Okay then! Team Kickass away!"
Dracula nodded and pulled out another katana. "To glorious victory!"
Clip scratched her head. "Where do you keep all those things anyway?"
"…I'm not actually sure."
…
Kixx and Dracula pulled themselves up to the top of the maintenance platform. Kixx whistled when he saw the monster. "Wow! Thing looks a lot bigger up close."
"Indeed."
"Power-up sequence at 17%," blurted a computer voice. "Activating right side brain and motor functions."
The three eyes in the monster's right head flashed as the intelligence controlling it came on line. The head caught sight of Kixx and Dracula out of the corner of its eye and swiveled to face them. The monster hissed, its speech programs still deactivated. "I think it sees us," said Kixx.
The monster raised its right hand, leaned over, and swung at them. They leaped out of the way, barely avoiding the claw. "I concur," said Dracula.
The beast's tail shook and rose from the floor like a leviathan awakening from a deep sleep. The appendage swung at them, trying to sweep them off the platform. Dracula picked up Kixx and flew over the tail, dropping the heavy fighter when it was clear. "How are we gonna get to that generator?" Kixx asked, looking at the glowing spot. "It's too far away to jump, and I'm too heavy for you to fly me all the way over there."
"Hmm…" Dracula pulled out a few shuriken and flung them at the generator. They bounced off harmlessly. The monster overhead hissed with laughter. "Clearly a more powerful blow is necessary…stay here!" He jumped into the air, drew his katana, and flew straight towards the generator. "YAAAAAAA-"
The monster swatted him away with a swing of its arm, knocking him into the wall. The sword fell out of his hand, clattering onto the platform. Dracula groaned and slid off the wall, plummeting to the floor far below. "DRACULA!" yelled Kixx. The beast hissed in laughter and brought its claw down on the platform in an attempt to smash Kixx. Blood boiling with anger, the experiment rolled out of the way and picked up the fallen sword. "He may not have been a real ninja, but he had the heart of one!" He raised the sword. "For his sake, I'm gonna finish what he started!"
The monster's response to that was to try and crush him beneath its claw. Kixx jumped out of the way, then leaped onto the side of the limb as it started to rise again, hanging on to it. Looking surprised, the monster tried to shake him off. Kixx clung tightly to the claw, putting his wall-climbing genes to good use. Frustrated that the purple parasite wouldn't let go, the monster lowered its arm towards the platform, intending to scrape Kixx off on the edge. That was when Kixx made his move, leaping off the arm when it was level with the generator and startling the monster. "This one's for you, Drac!" he said, driving the sword into the generator. It went in up to the hilt and stopped. Nothing happened. The force field protecting the generator on the monsters other side was still glowing brightly. Kixx blinked. Amazingly, his thrust into the generator had been so surgically perfect it totally missed any vital parts. "I don't blitznagging believe this…"
Growling, the monster reached down with its claw and none-too-gently ripped Kixx off the sword and hurled him at the wall. Kixx gritted his teeth and clenched his eyes shut, bracing himself for impact. He was totally unprepared for the grayish blur that grabbed him in midair, spun around, and dropped him safely back on the platform. Kixx opened his eyes, not believing he was still alive, and looked up. To his amazement, a certain wannabe ninja hovered overhead. "Dracula!"
"Hai."
"I thought you were dead!"
The experiment couldn't resist a smile. "Nonsense. My ribs may be broken, but not my spirit! Together, let us crush this hellish fiend!"
The monster growled in fury, far from pleased to see the ninja had survived. Suddenly, a red light lit up in the ring around the Star of Destiny. "Power-up sequence at 23%. Activating Flame-thrower."
Grinning, the beast opened its lobster claw and aimed it at the platform. A huge spout of fire shot from the claw, licking the floor of the platform. Kixx started running from the burning wall as it swept towards him, leaping off the edge just before it could catch him. He grabbed onto the wall with one hand, stopping his descent and allowing him to climb back up. The beast started charging up its flame-thrower again, but several shuriken suddenly flew into its eyes. The blades didn't actually do any harm, but the monster recoiled reflexively and hissed angrily. A few more shuriken hit the side of its face, and the monster turned to see Dracula hovering nearby. Forgetting about Kixx, the beast lunged forward as much as it could, snapping its jaws at Dracula. The experiment darted backwards, flinging more throwing stars down the monster's throat while Kixx made his way towards the generator.
He climbed down the side of the platform and leaped to the closest wing, landing on it with too little impact to garner the monster's attention. He quickly climbed up the length of the wing, ending up just beneath the generator. He pulled himself up and grabbed the hilt of the sword. "Okay, let's see if we can't do this right!" He pulled down on the blade, trying to make it cut down through whatever circuitry was inside. To his astonishment, the sword broke off at the hilt. He blinked at in surprise. "Lousy Hollywood props…"
The monster got tired of trying to catch Dracula and suddenly noticed Kixx was now trying to destroy the force field generator on its side by pounding on it with his bare hands. Considering his strength, he had a good chance of succeeding. The beast reached down and plucked Kixx off, dangling him in the air. Getting a wicked look on its face, the monster began to apply pressure to its claw in an attempt to squish the purple experiment. Dracula quickly pulled out another katana and drove it into the monster's eye. The blade shattered on impact, but it startled the beast, causing it to drop Kixx. He landed with a thud on the platform beneath him and painfully pulled himself back on his feet. Furious, the monster fired its flame-thrower at Dracula. The bat-winged experiment flew out of the way of the fire blast and glided back to the platform, knocking Kixx over and saving him from getting incinerated by the arc of flame the monster fired at them.
A green light lit up in the ring on the monster's chest. "Power-up sequence at 34%. Activating missiles." The monster grinned and closed its claw. The tips of its spines quivered and launched off, igniting engines in their rears and homing in on the platform.
Dracula took to the air and started flinging shuriken at the missiles. Several got hit and were knocked off course, causing them to hit the walls or the monster and explode harmlessly. The beast's armor was so thick, it didn't seem to even notice the hits. Even with Dracula's assistance, there were still quite a few missiles heading for Kixx. The pugilist curled into a ball and started rolling away as the missiles homed in on him, forcing them to change course. He just managed to stay ahead of each missile as it hit the platform, imbedding itself into the ground. When the barrage stopped, he uncurled and was surprised to find that instead of exploding the missiles had transformed into gruesome spiky growths. Kixx wrenched one of the growths out of the ground, getting an idea.
The monster opened its claw and powered up its flame-thrower, firing a stream of incendiary across the length of the platform. The monster sweeped its arm across the platform, destroying the spiked growths and bringing its fire stream closer to Kixx. Dracula swooped down and lifted Kixx over the fire, but had to drop him almost immediately due to the added weight from the metal growth. Kixx had no problem with that, though. As the fire attack ended and the monster started pulling its arm back, Kixx threw the transformed missile right at the exposed shield generator. It penetrated the generator and caused it to explode, bringing down the force field on the left side of the monster.
"You did it, Kixx-sama!" said Dracula ecstatically. "That was a move truly worthy of a ninja!"
Kixx grunted. "You can congratulate me later, let's get off this platform before that thing squashes us!" Enraged that its generator had been destroyed, the monster was thrashing about, trying to kill Kixx and Dracula.
Dracula nodded. "Agreed. It is up to Team Angel now." They quickly got back to the chamber floor as Team Angel ascended to the top of their platform, preparing for their assault on the monster.
…
The trio of experiments reached the top of the platform and gazed in awe at the beast. "Yikes, that thing looks worse than Sprout did on bad petal days!" said Clip.
"And it's probably twice as nasty, too. Be careful guys!" advised Finder.
"Power-up sequence at 41%. Activating left side brain and motor controls." The eyes on the monster's left head flashed and came to life. The beast turned to look at Team Angel and roared, disgusted that they dared to challenge it.
"Great, now both heads are active," said Angel.
"Don't worry, since we're on the left side we only have the left brain to worry about," said Finder. "This space is too confined for it to turn around in, so all it can do to us is roar, fire missiles, swing its tail, and try to crush us with that big fist."
"How is that better than the right side?" asked Clip.
"On the right side it can roar, fire missiles, swing its tail, crush us with its big claw, and shoot fire."
"Oh."
"We should be fine as long as we don't give it enough time to activate its ice rockets or lasers," Finder reassured the girls.
"Get down!" Angel pushed them over, barely avoiding the giant spiked tail that swung over them.
Finder started to get up. "Thanks for the save, Ange-"
She pushed him down again just as the tail swung back again, nearly taking his head off. "And you're the one who told us to be careful!" Angel scolded him.
"Sorry."
The monster leaned over, raising its fist. They got out of the way as it slammed its fist into the platform, shaking it and making a small web of cracks.
"That didn't happen when Kixx and Dracula fought it!" said Clip, shocked at the sight of the cracks.
"The power-up has gotten further so all its basic attacks have become stronger," said Finder. "This could be tougher than I thought."
As if to affirm his statement, missiles launched from the creature's spines. There were more of them than before, and they fell down on the platform like spiky rain.
Finder flew up into the air. "I may not be as good as Slugger, but I can still do my part to deflect stuff!" he said, kicking missiles away. Angel and Clip curled into balls and started rolling along the edges of the platform. The missiles tracked them and impacted into the ground just behind them, leaving a trail of spiky metallic growths dotting the platform.
The monster finally ended its barrage and swiped at Finder with its claws, trying to knock him out of the sky. As the aardvark dodged the claw swipes, Angel ripped one of the growths out of the ground and hurled it at the defenseless shield generator. The monster noticed this just in time and snatched it out of the air only seconds before it could hit the generator. The monster shook its index finger at the trio, then crushed the spike into dust. "Guess he learned from Kixx's assault," commented Clip.
Angel frowned, grabbed another growth, and hurled it at the monster. It caught the spike and crushed it easily. "Angel, what are you doing?" asked Finder.
"Keeping that thing occupied," she said, picking up another growth. "Grab Clip, fly over to the generator, and do some damage while I distract it!"
"Oh, I see…got it!" He picked up Clip and flew over to the generator while Angel continued tossing growths at the monster. He tossed her at the glowing area. "Okay Clip, do your stuff!"
"Right!" She started slashing at the generator with her claws, tearing small gashes into it. As she deepened the gashes, the monster suddenly looked down, saw Clip, and realized it was being tricked. Ignoring the spikes Angel was now frantically throwing at it in an attempt to get its attention, the beast reached down towards Clip. Finder saw the shadow of the beast's hand looming over them, grabbed Clip, and flew away just before the claw could slam shut around them. The beast snatched at them again as they flew away, then angrily fired its missiles when they were out of its arm's range. Finder quickly dropped to the platform, and all three experiments curled up and rolled around the platform, dodging the missiles and the spikes that sprouted from them. Frustrated, the monster swung its tail at the platform, smashing all the spikes to pieces, and then slammed its fist into the ground, causing the crack to grow a little more.
"We should stay away from that area," Angel suggested as they uncurled. "It's probably unstable now."
Finder nodded in agreement. "Good idea."
Suddenly, a blue light lit up on the monster's chest. "Power-up sequence at 50%. Activating ice rockets." The monster's claws took on a silvery sheen. The beast leveled its hand horizontally at the experiments. One by one, the claws launched from the fingers, being replaced only seconds later by new claws that launched as well.
"Move out of the way!" yelled Finder. They dodged the first rocket as it struck the platform and burst into subzero mists, which immediately solidified into a block of ice. "If you get hit by one of those things, you'll be frozen solid!"
Clip shook her head mournfully. "And imagine what that would do to my hair!"
Finder kicked another ice rocket out of the air. It tumbled into a second rocket and shattered, creating an ice block that fell onto yet another rocket, breaking it and increasing the block's mass before it plummeted to the ground. "Hmm…" Angel rubbed her chin, getting an idea. "Guys, get behind the ice block, I have a plan!" Her teammates rushed to her side, dodging the rockets as they came over. The remaining rockets tracked the experiments and collided with the ice block, causing it to increase in size. The monster noticed this and quickly fathomed what they planned to do with the block. It raised a fist, preparing to crush it. "Finder! Fly up there and distract it!"
"Right!" He quickly took off and buzzed around the monster's face, irritating it. Forgetting about the ice block, the monster tried to swat Finder away like a fly. Angel quickly picked up the ice block and threw it at the generator. The block struck the generator and shattered, doing some more damage. Realizing it had been tricked when it felt the twinge of cold pain from the block's impact, the monster tried to crush Angel and Clip with its fist. They rolled out of the way just in time and it smashed into the cracked area, causing it to weaken further. A few bits crumbled and fell to the floor below.
"That was close," commented Clip.
"It's not over yet, look out!" They quickly rolled out of the way as the monster's hand lunged at them, trying to grab them. Finder flew back in front of the monster's face in another attempt to distract it. Frustrated with the tiny annoyance, the beast opened its mouth and inhaled. Finder spun his ears as fast as he could, trying to stay out of the creature's gullet. Abruptly the monster stopped inhaling, reared back its head, and blew at Finder. The gust of wind buffeted the aardvark about, causing him to lose control of his flight and get blown across the room.
"Finder!" screamed Clip.
The beast sneered and turned its attention back towards the girls. "I think we're in trouble," said Angel ruefully.
The monster raised its hand in the air and slammed it down palm-first in an attempt to crush the experiments. By dumb luck, they had stood perfectly still and as such managed to remain unharmed by passing through the gaps between the fingers. The beast scowled and squeezed its fingers together instantly in an attempt to catch the girls. Fortunately, they jumped at the last second and landed on the beast's knuckles. The monster grimaced and started to raise its hand in an attempt to shake them off, then thought better of it. It flipped its hand over and slammed it into the ground, seeming to smash the experiments into the platform. It raised its hand and started to grin, but stopped in surprise when it saw that there were no bloody smears on the platform. It turned its hand over and looked in confusion at the knuckles, which were totally experiment-free. Where had they gone?
"Hey big, blue and ugly, over here!" The monster looked down and saw the three experiments looking up at it from the generator, grinning. When the hand had started downward to smash the girls into the ground, Finder has swooped underneath it at the last second, grabbed them, and flew to the generator while the beast was confused! Horrified, the beast reached down to grab them, but it was too late. Angel punched the generator, causing it to explode! The force of the blast knocked them back onto the platform, but they managed to lessen the impact by curling into balls at the last second to absorb the shock. The monster roared in fury as the force field over the Star of Destiny flickered and died out.
"Yeah, we did it!" Clip cried.
Angel nodded in agreement. "Now everything's all set for Stitch's team! Wait…I don't like the look on that thing's face…"
Howling with rage that its shields had been destroyed, the beast raised its fist in the air for one final attack. "Run!" yelled Finder.
They rolled out of the way as the monster's fist slammed down in the middle of the platform, causing the cracks there to finally break into a full-fledged hole. The hole spread, causing the entire platform to begin to crumble to the floor. "Blitznagblitznagblitznag!" screamed Angel as the ground beneath her collapsed.
"I've got you!" Finder quickly grabbed her, saving her from falling.
"But who's got me?" cried Clip as she fell.
Finder quickly flew under Clip and snagged her before she could hit the ground. "Nice save!" Angel complimented.
But now Finder was sweating and gritting his teeth. "Aw nuts…I can only carry one or the other of you, not both! You're too heavy!"
Angel got a determined look on her face. "Then there's only one thing to do. Clip, take care of the others, would you?"
Clip looked at her in confusion. "Angel, what're you-" Angel let go. "ANGEL!"
A yellow blur swooped down and grabbed Angel. "Gotcha!"
"Slugger?" Angel asked in surprise.
He smirked. "Who else? Stitch would have killed me if I let you fall. He still digs you, you know."
Angel looked interested. "Really?"
The monster roared, grabbing everyone's attention. "Uh, can we talk about this later? I don't think that monster's too happy we survived!" yelled Clip.
Indeed, the monster was shooting missiles at them. Slugger dodged one, nearly dropping Angel. "Come on, I'll lead you to where Team Kickass are resting. Then I've got to meet the rest of the guys, it's time to end this feud once and for all!"
…
Stitch pulled himself over the edge of the platform. He stopped, looking across at the horrendous monster before them. He growled. "Hamsterviel…"
"Whoo! This guy looks like much uglier up close!" said Sparky. "Still, it's nothing we can't handle, right?"
"Right!" agreed Slugger, flying down to join them.
"Where have you been?" asked Stitch.
"I had to save Angel from falling off a platform to her doom. Don't worry, she's okay," Slugger assured Stitch.
Stitch frowned. "Uh, Slugger? Angel's almost as tough as I am. I once survived falling from the sky and bouncing off a few mountaintops before nearly getting run over by a gasoline truck. I think she could have survived a little fall like this."
Slugger grimaced. "Well, somebody should have told me that beforehand. Somebody could have told her too, I don't think she knew."
"Regardless of who knew what, we should probably focus on the giant monster, shouldn't we?" suggested Sparky.
"Good point. It doesn't seem to have noticed us yet, so we can probably pull off a Thundershot and break that Star right away!" said Stitch.
"Then get in my hands." Stitch curled up and bounced into Sparky's hands. He spun there, gathering electricity. Slugger took flight and hovered above Sparky as he tossed Stitch upwards. Everything seemed to go into slow motion as Slugger swung his bat at Stitch, hurling him towards the glowing jewel. Stitch rocketed across the gap to the open mouth, slamming into the Star of Destiny and triggering a tremendous explosion. The monster howled in pain. "Yeah! He did it!" Sparky cheered.
Stitch hurtled out of the explosion, landing on the platform feet-first. He closed his eyes. "Lilo…I've avenged you."
That's when they started to hear laughter. The smoke and flame from the explosion blew away, and to their horror they saw the monster was completely unharmed. The tiniest of cracks had formed on the surface of the Star of Destiny. "No way! That was our strongest attack!" protested the shocked Slugger.
"Power-up sequence at 69%. Activating speech patterns."
For the first time, the monster started to speak. Its voice sounded like Hamsterviel and Mertle speaking in unison. "Bwahahaha! Did you fools really think you could destroy the creation of Adolf Von Hamsterviel that easily? I've become so powerful, that barely felt like a mosquito bite!"
"It's lying," said Sparky. "You guys heard its scream, right? I bet that Thundershot hurt more than it lets on!"
The beast scowled. "True. But all damage inflicted on my body heals quickly. You'll have to do better than that if you want to defeat me!" It gestured, and a large viewscreen lowered from the ceiling. "And I should let you know that the clock is ticking!"
"Yeah, we know all about your power-up sequence, if we don't destroy that Star before it ends, you'll become invincible!" said Slugger.
"Ah, but there's more for you to worry about than just that. Take a look at this!" The screen flickered and showed an image of a very familiar blue-green planet.
"That…that's Earth!" Stitch gasped in disbelief.
"Correct! Just before I loaded my minds and souls into this body, I had the fleet set a course for Earth. According to my calculations, we will reach the planet at approximately the same time I achieve full power. Once we are in range, I'll bombard the planet with antimatter, annihilating every last trace of it!" The fiend cackled.
"But what about all the experiments still on Earth?" asked Sparky, horrified at the former doctor's plan.
The beast laughed. "Those obsolete pieces of junk? Ha! They ceased to be of use to me after I obtained their DNA sequences from Jumba's computer. Once I destroy them and the rest of your puny planet, I'll return to the Horse-head Nebula and fuse with my perfect body so I, Ultima, will be the undisputed master of the universe!"
"There's one problem with that plan," said Stitch.
"Oh? What's that?"
"We're still here. And as long as we're here, we still have a chance to take you down."
Ultima smirked. "You really think that will accomplish anything? Even if you defeat me, my back-up plan will still destroy Earth! Your peaceful little island and everyone on it will perish."
"Everyone worth saving on that planet has hopefully gotten away by now," said Stitch. "As long as they're safe, I don't care what happens to Earth. All that matters is killing you once and for all." Sparky and Slugger looked surprised by Stitch's ruthlessness.
Ultima looked proud. "Very good, 626! Killing that girl of yours seems to have reactivated some of your darker instincts! That should make this an interesting battle indeed…" It spread its arms. "It's all come down to this! The final fight between good and evil! This match will decide our destinies, 626…and I can assure you, no matter what happens, you will die!"
"We'll see about that, gerbil-boy," said Slugger. "Give us your best shot!"
"Very well!" Ultima pointed its lobster claw at the trio and started charging up its flame-thrower.
Sparky winced. "Uh, Slugger? I don't think you should have said that."
The pterodactyl winked at them. "Trust me on this, guys."
Instead of firing a stream of flame, the claw spat out a humongous fireball, demonstrating that its power had risen since it had first been used, as was evident by its new projectile ability. Slugger leaped up and swung his tail at the meteoric ball of flame, deflecting it back at the startled Ultima. It quickly fired an ice rocket in an attempt to cancel out the flame. Unfortunately, the ice rocket's power had been boosted too, so instead of simply annihilating the fireball, it froze it, turning it into a giant ice ball that smashed into the Star of Destiny, causing another tremendous explosion and cracked the Star a little more. Ultima roared in pain, grimacing once it had recovered. "Should have known you would do that…don't think you'll get another lucky shot like that again, though!" The metal jaws closed, sealing the Star off from the experiments. "And just in time, too!"
A yellow light lit up inside its chest. "Power-up sequence at 74%. Activating lasers."
Ultima's five eyes started crackling with energy. "Behold the power of light!" Twin laser beams shot from its left head, intersecting on the platform and burning the ground. The laser beam started moving towards the experiments, leaving a scorched trail behind it.
"I can't deflect that thing!" said Slugger.
"No worries. Hang on!" Sparky grabbed his cousins and zapped across the platform, dodging the lasers. Ultima grunted and turned towards the experiments, redirecting its beams. Sparky zapped out of the way again. "Haha! You can't catch me!"
"Oh no?" Ultima fired its lasers again. Sparky zapped an inch to the side, dodging the lasers. He quickly zapped back to where he had just been when the lasers moved, and kept shifting back and forth, frustrating Ultima and somewhat disorienting his teammates.
"Ugh…I think I'm gonna throw up…" moaned Slugger. He vomited in the middle of one of Sparky's zap jumps, causing a projectile of electrified food to shoot out and splatter in Ultima's face.
"Gah!" The monster stopped its lasers and wiped away the vomit. "That does it!" The eyes of its right head started glowing, gathering energy. Sparky continued zapping across the platform in an attempt to confuse the monster. Ultima fired a charged laser blast, which struck the section of platform Sparky had just been standing on and exploded, cracking the ground. Sparky kept jumping around, and Ultima fired blast after blast at him, constantly missing and doing more and more damage to the platform. Frustrated, the monster suddenly got a brilliant idea. It looked up and fired all its lasers at the ceiling, blowing it up and causing rubble to fall down.
Chunks of debris fell all around the platform. Some pieces hit the ground hard enough to crack it. Other pieces hit parts that were already cracked and broke them open, plummeting to the ground below. One piece of rubble just happened to fall on the lightning bolt that was Team Stitch just as they completed a zap jump, trapping them beneath its weight. "Ha!"
Suddenly, the debris lifted, raised into the air by Stitch. He hurled the hunk of metal angrily at Ultima. The monster fired its lasers at it in midair, blowing it to smithereens. "Enough of this!" Ultima slammed its lobster claw onto one end of the platform, cracking it and opening more holes. It slammed its left hand onto the other end, blocking Team Stitch as they tried to run away. Then it leaned forward, charging up its lasers. Slugger quickly grabbed Stitch and Sparky and flew into the air as Ultima fired, blasting open a large hole in the platform. As the monster looked up at the pterodactyl, charging its lasers again, Slugger quickly knocked Stitch onto the left hand and Sparky onto the right claw and flew out of the way of the blast.
Ultima noticed the experiments on its hands and flipped them over, preparing to smash them into the platform. Sparky zapped off of Ultima's hand and onto its lower arm just in the nick of time, while Stitch quickly scurried up to the top of the arm and rolled down to the elbow joint in ball form. Ultima flexed its arm in an attempt to squish Stitch, but he quickly climbed across to the other side where it was safe. Ultima had forgotten about Sparky at this point and was totally focused on crushing Stitch, allowing the electric experiment to cautiously crawl further up the arm. Ultima raised its claw to smack Stitch, but Slugger quickly flew into one of its faces, startling the monster by flapping his wings wildly and shouting. The momentary distraction was just what Stitch needed to scurry further up the monster's arm and jump over to the chest, where he clung onto the closed mouth. He quickly climbed up to the crack formed by the closed teeth while Slugger was getting snapped at by the annoyed Ultima's heads, pushed his claws into the small space, and exerted all his superhuman strength in an attempt to pry the mouth open. The jaw's hydraulics whined in protest, but Stitch ignored the noise, gritting his teeth and pushing the halves of the jaw apart with all his strength. A gap only half an inch wide opened between the teeth, but it was enough. "Sparky, now!"
Ultima noticed what was happening on its chest too late as Sparky turned into a lightning bolt and zapped into the gap between the jaws. Stitch let go of the mouth's edges, and they slammed shut. But they didn't remain that way for long. The jaws blew open as Sparky blasted the Star of Destiny, causing another explosion. Ultima reared back, roaring in pain. Stitch had gotten knocked away by the blast, but Slugger quickly caught him and flew him down to the platform, where Sparky soon joined them as he zapped out of the explosion. The trio grinned and did their victory pose, certain they had finished the creature off this time. And of course, they were wrong.
"How tough is that thing?!" said Stitch in disbelief as the smoke faded away, revealing the Star of Destiny, still not destroyed but much more cracked this time.
"Pretty tough, but I think if we can hit it with a couple more really strong attacks we'll destroy it," Sparky assured him.
"As if I would let you!" Since the hydraulics were fried, Ultima had to close the second mouth back up manually, forcing it it with his hands. Even then, it fell open a little. "I now regret allowing you a free shot when you first got up here. I overestimated the crystal's strength, I didn't think your attack would damage it at all! My mistake was in underestimating the power of your teamwork, I suppose."
"A mistake you'll regret for what little is left of your life," threatened Stitch.
The monster smirked. "We will see, little fly. We will see." The creature aimed its flame-thrower at them.
"Ha! Don't you know I'm fireproof?" said Stitch.
Ultima grinned. "Anything will burn if you make a hot enough fire!" A jet of super-hot flame streaked from the claw.
Slugger grabbed his cousins and flew over the fire stream, which hit the platform and melted a hole in it. Slugger tossed Stitch and Sparky above him, and smacked them with his bat, hurling them towards Ultima. The monster covered its chest with its hands, thinking that was the target, but it turned out to be wrong. The two balled experiments smashed into both of Ultima's heads, knocking them back and stunning them. Stitch and Sparky fell to the top of the jaw, uncurled, and started climbing down as Ultima tried to recover. This time, Stitch was the one who squeezed through the open crack and punched the Star with all his might. The explosion blew the mouth open again, caused Ultima to scream, widened the cracks in the Star of Destiny, and threw Sparky and Stitch back to the platform. Slugger caught them before they could fall into the big hole and dropped them gently on solid ground.
Getting very angry, Ultima closed the jaws again. "Let's see how you like a little deep freeze!" It pointed its left hand at them and fired ice rockets.
The experiments started doing what they usually did when being attacked by missiles. Slugger deflected them with his tail, Sparky zapped them with electric bursts, and Stitch punched them away. The rockets that were deflected hit the ground around them, causing it to become covered in ice. As Sparky sidestepped to avoid a rocket that had slipped past their defenses, he unwittingly stepped onto the ice. His foot slipped out from under him, causing him to fall on his back and start sliding away. He tried to gain purchase with his claws, but they couldn't get a grip in the ice. He looked over his shoulder and saw he was heading for the hole that had been melted in the platform. "Somebody help!" he yelled.
Stitch turned around and saw Sparky sliding to his doom. "Hang on! Slugger, cover us!" He ran onto the ice and nearly lost his footing. After wobbling, he dug his claws into the frozen ground and ran as fast as he could towards Sparky. The yellow experiment slid to the edge of the hole and started to go over, screaming. Stitch made a leap and slid forwards on his belly, digging the claws of his second set of hands into the ice to stop him as he reached the edge and hung over it, grabbing Sparky just in the nick of time. "Gotcha!"
"Yes, but I've got you!" Ultima reached down and snatched the two experiments up in its left hand. "Now to squash you like the insects you are!"
As it started to close it fist, Sparky grabbed Stitch, quickly charged him with electricity, aimed him at the fingers, and let go. Stitch rocketed at the fingers and hit them, forcing the hand open and startling Ultima. Sparky jumped out before Ultima could close the hand again, and landed on the platform next to Stitch. Frustrated, Ultima drove it fist into the frozen portion of the platform, shattering it and taking out a large chunk of the battlefield. "Why can't I kill you?!"
"Because we're Stitch Heroes! And you're not," Slugger taunted.
Suddenly, the final light on the monster's chest lit up, glowing purple. "Power-up sequence at 86%. Activating shadow engine."
Down on the floor, Finder gasped. "Oh no! Not the shadow engine! That's his deadliest weapon!" He started running toward the platform. "Come on, we've got to help them!"
"No interference!" roared Ultima. It pointed a hand at the experiments, and a dome of purplish energy suddenly surrounded them. "I'll deal with you when I'm finished with these three!" It loomed over Team Stitch, casting its shadow across the crumbling platform. "I'm almost invincible! Just a few more minutes, and then not even you can defeat me!"
"We've taken everything you've thrown at us so far! How bad can your newest weapon be?" asked Sparky.
"THIS bad!" Ultima crossed its arms, concentrating. A ring of energy balls formed from darkness manifested in front of him. It thrusted its arms' out, sending the energy balls out in wide arcs that then homed in on the experiments.
Sparky grabbed his teammates and zap jumped across the platform. To his surprise, the balls turned around in midair and kept flying towards them! "Let me handle this!" Slugger flew out towards the balls and swung his tail at the closest one. It shot back at its fellows, striking one of them and causing it to explode, triggering a chain reaction that destroyed most of the spheres. Sparky zapped a few of them with electricity, and Stitch grabbed the last one, spun around, and threw it right back at Ultima.
The monster raised a hand, blocking the attack. The sphere hit the hand and exploded, doing no damage. Ultima chuckled. "I'm so powerful now, I couldn't even feel that." It gestured, and a curtain of purple lightning formed at the end of the platform. The curtain raced towards the experiments, dancing along the floor.
Sparky grabbed the others and zapped through a gap between two lightning bolts just before the curtain could hit them, avoiding damage. Ultima didn't seem to mind, and raised its left hand, which started to crackle with dark energy. It punched the platform, causing all the cracked areas to cave in and form new cracks as a shockwave of darkness rushed out from its hand. The experiments jumped as the wave approached them, but to their surprise it flared up the instant it passed beneath them, hitting them with a burst of dark energy that shocked them and rendered them dazed for a few seconds. As they staggered about, trying to regain their senses, Ultima pointed its right claw at them, forming an especially large sphere of darkness. The ball launched from the claw, racing towards the heroes.
Slugger managed to clear his head just in time, and he jumped up and knocked the ball back at Ultima with his tail. The monster lunged forward, snapping the ball up with its left head. It reared back, then spat the sphere back out with extra power from its right head. Slugger tried to deflect this ball, but a wall of invisible force shot out of it, shoving him back as it hit the platform. The ball exploded, destroying another portion of the platform. Ultima laughed and started charging up another dark ball.
"Stitch! We don't have time to do a full-powered Thundershot, but maybe a Thunderball can take that thing out!" suggested Sparky.
"Right!" Stitch curled up and hopped into Sparky's hands. Sparky charged Stitch as much as time was allowed and hurled his blue partner at the ball of darkness. Stitch struck the ball, causing it to explode in the monster's claw. Ultima didn't look like it had felt a thing. "Was that suppose to hurt?" it asked sinisterly.
Stitch landed back on the platform, smoking strange purple fumes. "Stitch! You all right?" asked Slugger.
Stitch groaned and got back to his feet. He winced and clutched his head and ribs. "That hurt…I don't care how big the next energy ball is, I'm not getting thrown at it!"
"Are you sure?" asked Ultima, charging up a really big energy ball.
Sparky and Slugger both looked at Stitch. He shook his head. "Hell no."
"Then die!" Ultima hurled the energy ball at them. Sparky grabbed the other two and zapped across a gap to another section of platform. The energy ball impacted where they had been standing and exploded, destroying approximately half of what remained of the platform. Ultima punched the section of ground the experiments were on, sending out a shockwave. Fortunately, the wave couldn't travel over gaps, so the trio escaped by jumping over the nearest hole. The place where they had just been crumbled into the ground. Ultima gestured, sending out a curtain of lightning. Sparky zapped through the curtain and landed safely on an untouched section of platform. Unfortunately, this was what the monster wanted. Ultima smashed its claws into the platforms on either side of them, destroying them and leaving the trio trapped on a single solitary piece of land.
Slugger grabbed the shoulders of Stitch and Slugger and started to take off, but a dome of shadows formed around the platform, trapping them inside. "Blitznag."
Laughing madly, Ultima reared back, forming a spear of darkness in its left hand. "It's over!" It hurled the spear downward, missing the platform completely.
"You missed us!" cried Slugger.
Ultima chuckled. "I wasn't aiming for you!"
The spear hit the ground and exploded, sending up an immense pillar of darkness, shattering the platform from below and encompassing the trio.
"STITCH!" screamed Angel, plastering herself against the dome. The eardrum-shattering screams of pain wrenched from the poor heroes echoed across the room, rivaled only by the sound of Ultima's laughter.
After an eternity, the pillar of darkness finally narrowed, shrinking to the width of a needle and vanishing, revealing the three scorched and blackened bodies of the members of Team Stitch. Their screams had vanished with the pillar, but all five of the captive experiments could still hear their animalistic cries of anguish echoing in their minds. The three bodies seemed to hover there for a second before falling like rocks, hitting the floor hard enough to leave dents. They didn't move. "No…" whispered Finder. Clip hugged him, crying. Kixx looked away, wiping his face. Dracula stood as still and motionless as a real ninja, but anyone could see the solitary tear trickling down his face. Angel broke down and fell to the ground, sobbing.
Ultima's chest shook as it laughed, causing the metal jaws to fall open. "I've won! I'VE WON! HAHAHAHAHAHA! I suppose the powers of darkness were too strong for their mortal souls to comprehend!" It sneered as it looked at the screen showing Earth. Targeting crosshairs had appeared over it. "I'm only a few seconds away from my destiny!"
As if to confirm this, the computer said, "Power-up sequence at 99%. Initiating final countdown."
Ultima chuckled and looked down at the broken bodies of Team Stitch. "Hmm. I should probably destroy what's left of them now just in case they're still alive." It raised its hands above its heads and concentrated. A throbbing mass of darkness manifested between its claws, swelling as shadows all around the room fed it. In seconds it had grown into a tremendous mass of rippling, volatile energy. "Now, to eliminate them once and for all!" It threw the energy ball at Team Stitch.
The prisoners looked on solemnly, knowing this was the end as the huge energy ball shot towards the fallen heroes. So they were all surprised when one of the blackened figures rose to his feet and punched the energy ball with every last ounce of strength in his body, sending it right back at Ultima!
The monster gasped. "What?! NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" The energy ball drove into the open mouth on its chest, shattering the Star of Destiny and ripping out of its back, where it shot into the roof and exploded violently, showering the room with debris.
Ultima looked down at the gaping hole in its chest in disbelief as small white fires started breaking out all over its body. "I…I lost…"
Stitch cracked a grin. "Heh. I win." His eyes rolled back in his head and he fell back to the ground.
The force field trapping the other teams vanished, and they raced over to the trio. Angel picked up Stitch's body and shook him. "Stitch! Stitch! Can you hear me?"
He groaned and opened his eyes a crack. "An…gel?"
Dracula checked Sparky and Slugger's pulses, then shook his head. "They're dead."
Kixx bowed his head in respect. "They were never as tough as Stitch…only the ultimate experiment could have possibly survived that pillar of darkness."
Angel was holding Stitch to her chest, crying with relief. "Stitch, I'm so glad you're all right…I thought for a second there you were dead."
He groaned. "Ugh…sorry to disappoint you, but I am dead. I just managed to hold on long enough to finish Ultima…now it's time for me to go."
She was shocked. "Stitch…"
He smiled sadly. "Did I ever tell you how beautiful you look when you cry? No? My loss." He sighed. "Before I die…I just want to say I'm sorry for breaking up with you in the first place. And…I love you." His eyes closed. He stopped breathing.
"Stitch?" Angel shook him. "Stitch?!" There was a long pause, and then she held him tighter than ever. "Stitch…"
There was a long silence. And then there was a laugh. "Heheheheheh…hahahahahaha…Bwahahahahaha…GWAHAHAHAHA!" Ultima laughed insanely as its body disintegrated, consumed from within by a ghostly fire.
"Why's it laughing?" whispered Clip.
"It's all it has left," said Dracula. "We've ruined everything, its plans, its dreams, even its life. All it can do now is laugh." Unfortunately, Dracula turned out to be completely and totally wrong.
"You…FOOLS!" Ultima cried as its body burned. "You think this means a thing?! You've accomplished nothing!" It laughed while the fire burst out of its chest. "As we speak, my mind is being copied digitally and uploaded onto the Internet! Once I die, the copy will activate online and spread like a virus, unleashing a new wave of evil upon the universe!" Its left arm became nothing but a white blaze, and flames started licking from its mouths. The experiments looked at it in horror, shocked that everything they had done, all the sacrifices they had made, had amounted to nothing. "And as for all of you…when I die, the fleet will self-destruct! Due to all the antimatter onboard, the explosion will be so powerful it'll totally annihilate the Earth and create a quantum singularity, so nothing will ever inhabit this space again!" Its eyes burned out as the fire burst out all over its heads. "So you see, despite all your best efforts, you've failed No matter how much you fight…no matter how hard you try…you can never defeat me…because I am evil itself, and evil…never…dies!" With one final laugh, Ultima exploded in a blast of ethereal fire. And less than a second later, the room and everything in it was annihilated in a horrific flash of light.
…
Was that good and shocking enough for you? See you at the epilogue, everyone!
