The Pain Of Loss Chapter 23 – Tag Team Terror, Part 2
Megaman: Hey? Where's Death gone off to? We can't start the next chapter without him...
Sonic: Got me. Last I saw he was back in the store room with his GBA SP.
Samus: Oh no...
Sonic and Megaman: #Blink and look to her# What?
Samus: #Sighs and sits down, rubbing her helmet# He's been playing my games nonstop lately, I haven't had any rest... And lately in chats with his friends, he's had this habit of mauling them with Metroids.
Sonic, Megaman and Samus: #Sweatdrop, then dash to the store room and slam the door open# HEY!!!
Me: #Blinks, shifting his attention from 3 Metroid feeding off what looks to be the corpse of a few SA-X# What?
Samus: What are you doing with those?!!
Me: Well, I've been lacking in inspiration, but these li'l fellas here seem to keep me up to date in ideas, so I figured I'd breed a few.
Samus: #Charges up her Ice Beam and readies the Ice Missiles# And just HOW MANY IS A FEW?!!
Me: #Points to a hollowed out wall with thousands of Metroid in it, as well as a few Omega Metroid#
Samus: #Twitches a bit and aims her charged blaster barrel towards the water heater#... just start the next chapter before I blow this place to smithereens...
Me: #Grumbles and walks out of the room with Samus, Sonic and Megaman following close behind# Spoiled sport...
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"Ready... FIGHT!!!" With this one call, an intense tag-team battle between 4 Net Navis began. The first to battle, Airman.EXE and Kingman.EXE. Airman immediately led off with his Triple Tornados, sending them straight over the Pawns Kingman had set in place. Kingman jumped back, slamming into the ground as the tornados touched down. Airman smirked, chuckling to himself. 'This is going to be a one-sided match. His maneuverability is extremely limited by his size, and the fact he lacks legs. Jumping and guarding won't win him this battle...' As Airman was thinking to himself, he had failed to notice he had just made the first mistake in the battle. He entirely forgot about the Knight that was set in place. His eyes shot wide as it slammed into him, knocking him onto his back. This sent Airman's tornados out of control, firing wildly at Kingman. Kingman managed to dodge two, but the third had no escape gap, giving a dead on hit into Kingman's chest. Kingman held through the blow, huffing a bit. "I hope you have more abilities in store for me than just this..."
Airman glared at Kingman, jumping out of the way of the Knight. He would make sure he did not make that same mistake again. "Hmph. Don't worry, you haven't seen half of what I can do now..." As the Knight jumped again, Airman turned, his eyes glowing pure white. He turned the fan in his chest to maximum power and fired at the Knight while it was at the peak of it's jump, blowing it high into the air. It fell to the ground and slammed head first onto the panels, as it was unable to stabilize itself in mid-air after such interference. The impact of the fall shattered it, taking out Kingman's prime form of attack. Higsby looked to Tora, gritting his teeth. "Quick!!! You have to put in another Knight chip!!!" Tora shook his head, looking right at his PET. "No." Higsby blinked, confused as to why Tora wouldn't download another Knight to Kingman. Tora sighed, clenching his free hand into a fist. "Airman would just keep blowing the Knights away. All it'd do is slow him down, no good in doing that... So we'll just have to attack him upright!!! Ready, Kingman?!!"
Just as Tora said this, he whipped out a few M-Cannon Chips. "M-Cannons Q, R, and S, Slot-in!!! Activating Zeta-Cannon 3 Program Advance NOW!!!" Kingman held out his right arm as a triple-barreled M-Cannon appeared upon it. His body vanished, leaving Airman in a state of shock. Airman growled, looking around frantically and pondering to himself. 'Blast it, where did that giant lump get to?!!' As if on cue, Airman was hit in the back by three blasts, sending him flying forward. He grit his teeth, getting up on one knee just to take another barrage. Kingman started to phase in and out, giving sign that the Program Advance's power was almost exhausted. He jumped up, appearing visible for a second above Airman. This was all Airman needed to get out of the way, but this was exactly what Tora and Kingman had expected. As Airman was in mid-air, Kingman used the last second of the Zeta-Cannon 3 Advance to blast him into his Pawns. Airman turned on his side in mid-air, just barely dodging the slashes from both of them. He slammed on his side, panting heavily. He'd taken a considerable amount of damage, but he wasn't out of the game yet. Starman grit his teeth, ready to jump in, but Airman, who knew Starman well since he was recreated at the same time as the shorter Navi, shot a glare, warning him not to interfere, and that he still had things under control.
Airman panted heavily as he rose to his feet, Kingman standing ready to finish him off. "Just admit defeat, Airman. This is a pointless battle. One more good blow shall finish this..." Airman chuckled, digging his feet into the ground. "You're right, one more blow WILL finish this!!!" Immediately, Airman's fan started up. A strong wind formed around Kingman, then quickly formed itself into a tornado. Airman was throwing everything he had into this shot. Kingman held his ground as long as he could, but was quickly flung into the air by the tornado. He slammed hard into the ground, in a near-deleted state from the combination of the tornado's damage, as well as the impact onto the ground itself. Kingman wasn't very well able to fight anymore, and neither was Airman. Airman turned, walking to Starman on the sidelines. "Do it." Starman grinned, cracking his knuckles. "I've been waiting for this!!!"
Kingman was lifted up to his base plate by his Pawns, then escorted off the battle floor. Numberman quickly took Kingman's place, totally concentrating on calculating Starman's battle stats. The shorter Navi wasted no time in beginning the battle, as he immediately charged Numberman. "You don't stand a chance!!!" Numberman sweatdropped, ducking out of the way of Starman as he charged by. Higsby shook his head, looking at Numberman. "Forget the calculations, time for some heavy battling!!!" Numberman nodded, forming two dice bombs and throwing them at Starman. "CATCH!!!" Starman blinked, turning and catching the bombs. He had no idea of how they worked, since he hadn't ever even seen Numberman battle before. The numbers that were sitting up as he caught them were 6 and 3. He sweatdropped as they started to blink, and then exploded right in his face. Airman just stood there, watching as Starman lay back in a daze. He sighed holding his head. 'Why did the Mistress team me with such an incompetant...?' He broke from his thoughts and glared at Starman as he stood. "What possessed you to just HOLD those things?!!" Starman growled, looking at Airman. "How was I supposed to know they would explode?!!" Airman clenched his fists, then stomped his foot. "WHY WOULD HE THROW SOMETHING THAT WASN'T DANGEROUS TO SOME DEGREE WHILE IN THE HEAT OF A BATTLE?!!" Starman sweatdropped, just scratching his head. "Eh... good point..." He blinked, seeing three Dice Bombs at his feet. 5, 5, and 5. He sweatdropped, jumping up and out of the way just as they exploded.
Numberman grinned, looking to Higsby. "Higsby, give me an Advance!!!" Higsby nodded, pulling out 4 battle chips while Numberman got ready to receive. "Firesword, Aquasword, Elecsword, and Bamboosword, Slot-in!!! Activating Elemental Sword Program Advance!!!" Numberman jumped up at Starman, who at the time was just watching him. Just as Numberman activated his advance, Starman grinned, getting into a pose that resembled a bow being drawn back with an arrow in it. "STAR ARROW!!!" Immediately, 8 arrows shot from around Starman's form, one heading straight for Numberman. It was too late to deactivate the advance, and Numberman had bad enough maneuverability on the land. In the air, he had no chance. He yelled out, taking an arrow to the head and, soon after, slamming into the ground, hard. He sat up after a few seconds, gritting his teeth. He sweatdropped, receiving blow after blow from Starman's Meteor attack. Starman grinned, rubbing just above his upper lip with his index finger. "Done like dinner." He blinked, taking a second look at the impact point of his Meteor attack. His jaw dropped at what he saw. A Life Aura. Behind the Aura, Numberman launched a Heatspread advance, impacting directly into Starman's chest. Starman yelled out, flying back into the air. He grit his teeth, catching himself.
"You...! YOU'RE DEAD!!! METEOR SHOWER!!!" This was very similar to his Meteor technique, but this time, there were twice as many meteors, and they were twice the size as the last set. Numberman scrambled to his feet, running as quickly as he could from the meteors. He was fortunate enough to dodge the majority, but three managed to clip him, the first taking out his Life Aura, and the next two dealing a heavy amount of damage. Numberman, though, remained standing, panting heavily. Higsby groaned, looking at his most powerful chip, the Paladin Sword. He sighed, then nodded, looking to Numberman. "Numberman, don't fail me... Paladin Sword, Slot-in!!!"
Numberman held his arm up, receiving the blade upon his right arm. He watched as Starman launched another Meteor Shower technique. This time, though, he decided to use it to his advantage. "Your chances of winning have just dropped straight to 0!!!" As Numberman said this, he charged forward under the meteors, just in time for them to crash. Starman panted heavily, touching down on the ground and clenching his fists. He looked to Kingman, smirking. "I still got some steam to blow... and we did have an agreement. He's deleted, and so are you..." Just as Starman rose his arms to form his Star Arrow, a blade cut through his left arm. He just stood there a moment, gritting his teeth. "Wh... what...?" Starman's left arm was immediately deleted. His attention immediately shifted to the dust cloud where a glowing blade was eminating. Another slash hit, sending Starman flying back with a huge gash across his chest. He grit his teeth, forcing himself up with his one arm. "Y... You survived my Meteor Shower...? HOW?!!" Numberman chuckled a bit, walking from the remainders of the cloud and up to Starman. "I just passed the range of the explosion, and once they finished, I ducked in and waited. Now, as much as I hate to do this, it's time for you to vanish."
Just as he raised his sword, Starman grit his teeth. "AIRMAN!!!" Airman yelled out, using what energy he'd regained to send his Triple Tornado attack at Numberman. Numberman's eyes went wide as he saw this. He was already exhausted, and Higsby already used up his Life Aura chip. It seemed to Numberman and Higsby that this was game over. But just as the tornados were about to impact, another larger Tornado tore through the battlefield and sucked up Airman's attack. Airman grit his teeth, then looked across the paths. Roll was standing on the edge, her antennae resting back into their regular position. "That is REALLY low, Airman!!!" Airman grit his teeth, then glared at Numberman and Kingman. "This isn't fair, you had reinforcements!!!" Just after he finished that statement, Airman was sliced clean in half, and totally deleted. Protoman just stood there, watching as the last of his data disappeared into the air. Numberman nodded a "Thank you" to Protoman, and finished the job by deleting Starman.
Kali narrowed her eyes as she watched Airman and Starman being deleted. She stood up, a dark aura forming about her. "They're much more powerful than I ancitipated... This calls for drastic measures." A dark figure appeared behind Kali, his arms hanging at his side. A violet energy blade hung from his right arm, white hair flowing in widely spread locks down at the base of a long ponytail. He raised his head, the only image upon his face revealed in the darkness being a blood red visor, reflecting off what little light in the shadows there was. Kali turned, walking forward to him. She pressed her hand against his emblem on a red and black vest, sending a pulse of dark energy into him as a power boost. "You are the final line of defense before they reach me. You are the second most powerful Net Navi in existence right now, and if you fail me with this power, I will not merely let you be deleted. I will send every last fragment into a Digital Hell from which there is no escape. Are we clear...?" The figure nodded, speaking with a familiar, but darker, more sinister voice. "Yes, m'lady... The intruders will be dealt with, and I shall not fail you..." Kali grinned, opening a dark portal into Undernet 5. "Now go... But bring Roll to me. I want the pleasure of destroying my own counter part..." The figure nodded, turning and walking into the portal. As he stepped totally in, it vanished. Kali then began to giggle, and quickly broke out into a soul piercing laugh.
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Me: Well, glad to be back in the saddle again.
Zero ( MMZ ): Why don't you update more often, anyways?
Me: 3 good reasons.
Ciel: And those would be?
Me: Number one, I have other things to do. My life doesn't revolve around the Internet, ya know.
Lan: Yes it does...
Me: #Smacks him with a frying pan and sighs# AS I WAS SAYING!!! Number two, lately I've been lacking in inspiration. That's why this chapter may seem a little more, well, lame than the others.
Megaman: You sure don't have trouble making your comics on The Fallout Shelter...
Me: Comicking random events and writing up a story that follows a plotline are two TOTALLY different things, Mega. I'm a very scatterbrained person. Finally, number three...
Mayl and Roll.EXE: You're just plain lazy.
Me: ... You know, if you were wrong about that I'd kill you right now.
Roll.EXE: Not on your life. Mayl and I are two of the most important characters in the story right now.
Me: ... I'll get you for this later.
Mayl: #Sticks out her tongue to taunt Death#
Roll.EXE: #Sighs, then shrugs# Well, ladies and gentlemen, that's it for this chapter. See you in the next one!!!