Auto had just finished stitching up Rock's knees when Rock finally looked down at the stitches. "So, what's this you've put in me?" Rock asked.
"Those," said Auto, tossing his surgical tools into the sink behind him, "are manual-charge speed boosters."
"Manual-charge speed boosters?" Rock asked, sitting up on the operating table, "what're those?"
"Those microchips I've put in your knees," said Auto, following Rock's stare on his stitches, "they collect electrical charge put out by your knee muscles when you move them," he said. "And because I redesigned your nervous system to send complex information back and forth from the brain, once those chargers have collected enough energy, you can release it on will when doing your air dash, and that'll propell you forward at a very high speed."
"You've got too much time on your hands," Rock muttered.
"Hey, a genious has gotta' keep himself busy."
Rock looked back at his knees. "Any catches?"
"A few, yes," Auto murmured. "For one, the chargers lose colelcted energy quickly, so if you want to build up enough power for the boosters to work, your best chance at doing that is running in a straight line without stopping."
"And?"
"And second, you can't use the speed boost, starshooter, or any of the Virtuliod weapons you've picked up twice at a time. Your nervous system would collapse with that amount of stress.
"So you're saying I can't use my weapons when I've got the booster?"
"I can't remove your weapons system, that's embedded into your internal programming now. Just don't use both at the same time, okay?"
Rock nodded. "Anything else?"
"I've already taken the liberty to disable the starshooter jump to install the speed boosters. I can't let you go with both of those active, either. It's either one or the other, Rock."
Rock thought for a while. "I think I'll stick with the boosters," he said at length, "just to try them out."
"You're the boss," Auto hummed, handing Rock his helmet from the counter beside the operating table. "Ready to go out again?"
Rock swung his feet over the side of the table, and dropped onto the floor. "Only one more target to go, may as well take it out now."
Rock appeared with a flash in the middle of the dense forest, quickly hiding behind a tree as he looked at the giant, looming towers in the wide clearing before him. "So, that's the weather monitoring station, huh?" Rock asked.
"That's it, Rock," came Roll's voice in his helmet. "The best way to destroy all the towers is to find the main power silo in one of them and destroy it."
"No doubt there's another Virtuloid guarding it," Rock muttered. Morphing his hand into a cannon barrel again, Rock charged his cannon and said, "Sit tight, Roll. This may take a while."
A shattering blast of plasma energy blew a wide hole into the side of the tower, with Rock leaping inside seconds later. The first and only thing that met Rock's eyes was a tall, spiralling stairway, which he wasted no time in running up when the familiar hum of flying drones filled the air. Out of the corner of his eye, Rock spotted the first pack of cloud-like drones hovering down the stairs towards him. Letting his cannon blast wildly, Rock managed to shoot down three of the floating clouds before the rest of the pack shot forth an array of electrical sparks, making Rock dance on the spot as he weaved in and out of the hailstorm of tiny lightnng bolts. Sucking in a deep breath, Rock dove underneath the drones and further up the stairs, clumsily rolling back up to his feet behind them. Charging up his arm cannon again, Rock unleashed a dazzling blast of energy loose at the cloud drones, scorching whatever drones it did not incinerate. The remaining five drones shot more electric sparks at him, forcing him to skip backwards up the stairs as he unleashed the fury of his cannon, firing and firing so feverishly that it made his vison spin. With another giant charged blast, the last of the drones finally fell, and Rock was suddenly aware of the sun shining upon him. He had already reached the top of the long and winding staircase, perched atop a small open-air lookout with a small metal-beam bridge connecting the one tower to another. Taking a good look around, Rock found there were only three of the gothic towers, and concluded that the main silo must be in either of the other two. After another quick lookout for more drones, Rock ventured off of the lookout, and stepped foot onto the first step of the bridge. A whining creak from beneath him sent a shiver up Rock's spine. Rock placed his other foot as gingerly as he could on the other step, finding it to be as sturdy as he could have hoped. Step after careful step, Rock made it four steps across the bridge when his fears subsided.
Suddenly, the first step of the bridge cracked, folded, and plummeted to the ground below. The second step followed suit, as did the third, and the fourth began to fracture underneath his feet. With a panicked yelp, Rock made the decison to dash quickly across the bridge to the other side as the bridge creaked and yawned, beginning to slowly tip down. Rock's wide strides quickly became giant leaps as the bridge frowned, despearte to plant his foot onto the cracking steps before they broke apart. Just as Rock was only a few meters away from the other tower, the bridge suddenly lurched downward, swinging towards the side of the tower. Rock grabbed the first step that met his eyes, hanging on for dear life as the bridge slammed into the tower, almost shaking loose Rock's grip on the steps. Rock struggled to pull himself up, trying to carry his heavy armor as well. Just as the step snapped, Rock's hand shot up to grasp the one above, saving himself from a long fall. Rock's mind was awhirr with solutions, one thought being that, should he fall, he could always use his water cannon power cushion his landing. A glance down at the ground far below made what remained of his stomach knot, and he quickly dismissed the idea just as the step he clung to began to crack. He could not use his ice power, that would only make the steps shatter underneath his weight. Nor could he use the flamefthrower to weld the steps together again, the intense heat would surley burn his hands. Rock struggled to put his hands on the step above when the step he held on to suddenly gave away, forcing him to pick any of his weapons at random. Ground's drill suddely protruded from his cannon, which Rock quickly sunk deep into the wall. The bridge above moaned and creaked loudly, and with a series of snaps, it plummeted down beside him. Rock gave a quiet sigh of relief as he grabbed onto the drill lodged into the wall, planting another drill just above him as he climbed to the top of the tower. Rock pulled himself up and over the edge, looking at the one door in the middle of the tower's roof, likely leading down to the base. Hoping he would find the main reactor down below, Rock hastily shot the door off of its hinges, and stepped into the pitch-black darkness.
As soon as the darkness had engulfed him, Rock felt the floor suddenly pull away out from underneath him. It was a thankfully short fall, letting Rock land comfortably on his feet. Everything around him was so pitch-black that Rock could not even see the tip of his nose. He could hear a machine's gears grinding and moving around him, sending a nervous shiver through his body. Rock coiled his knees and readied his arm cannon, preparing himself for the worst.
A sudden flash of light shot down at his feet, making Rock bolt to his side as a crack of thunder boomed around the room. A vicious gale of wind suddenly blasted upon him, feeling a heavy patter of rain storm around the room. Rock dodged another crack of lightning, with the brief flash illuminating the room long enough for Rock to catch a glimpse of a bright red square on the wall before everything went dark again. Switching his weapons system to Ground's drills again, Rock made a mental visual note to himself, keeping his mind focused on that one spot amidst the darkness. The wind intensified, beginning to blow Rock around the room. As another blast of lightning flashed only inches from his face, Rock aimed his cannon at the square on the wall, and shot out a drill. Ground's drill made a sharp cracking sound, and the room fell silent again. More lightning bolts zapped around his feet, with Rock narrowly managing to weave his body around them. Another flash of lightning revealed to Rock another bright red square on the wall. Rock quickly fired off another drill, plunging it deep into the square before the darkness reigned again. A blast of lightning struck his foot suddenly, sending Rock spilling to the floor with a yelp. Another bright red square on the wall caught the corner of his eye from the flash, and just before another bolt could strike him in the back, Rock shot out his arm cannon and fired another drill into the darkness.
The room suddenly began to tremble, and the ceiling lights slowly lit up. The wind and rain stopped, and Rock was thankful to have a firm footing again. A tall, hulking piece of machinery built into the wall fell over and collapsed at his feet, revealing a passage to the outside. Rock stepped over the fallen machine and onto the outside, only to find another bridge leading to the last tower. "That must be where the core is," Rock muttered to himself, dashing over the bridge. Just like the other bridge, the metal steps cracked and fell as soon as Rock stepped on them, yet Rock was always a step ahead of the crumbling stairway.
The sudden familiar hum filled the air before Rock could make it a quarter of the way across the collapsing bridge, and another swarm of cloud-like drones spilled out of the top of the last tower, descending on Rock like a violent stormcloud. As Rock dashed along the creaky bridge, he aimed him cannon upwards and fired shot after shot of plasma energy into the massive fog of drones, only managing to shoot down two or three at a time as the cloud drones quickly came upon him. Realizing he would be quickly engulfed by the pesky drones on a collapsing bridge, Rock charged his cannon, and made it halfway across before the swarm surrounded him. Rock unleashed his charged blast, blowing a hole in the middle of the legions. Tiny electric sparks zapped his sides with every four or five drones he shot down around him, making it a chore to ensure his footing on the falling bridge. And just as the bridge began to creak and tip downward, Rock let a fully charged blast into the swarm again, leaping through the hole in the swarm it created, double-jumping in the air to land safely on the other tower. Without thinking, Rock switched to Lightning's weapon, and unleashed a loud crack of lightning upon the chasing drones behind him. Whatever the lightning bolt did not destroy, it sent the rest of the cloud drones into a short-circuited frenzy, driving them mindlessly into the side of the tower above Rock's head. The drones plowed through the tower and out of the other side, slowly diving to the ground as Rock watched them crash into the forest below. Using Ground's drill weapon as stepping stones in the side of the tower again, Rock climbed up into the hole the drones had created, and slipped inside of the dark interior of the tower. The lack of a floor made Rock flatten himself against the wall, letting his wall-clinging system allow himself to slowy slide down along the wall, hoping not to run into another storm-generating machine.
As soon as a floor met his feet, the sound of another iron shutter pulled out from underneath him, dropping him into the well-lit chamber below. Landing on his feet, the first thing that met his eyes was a slim humanoid figure, flexing a pair of metal wings on its back. "So, you're the blue bomber everyone's talking about?" he asked Rock, still flexing his wings.
Rock immediately aimed his cannon at the Virtuloid in front of him. "That's me," he said. "And you are, let me guess, Wind."
"Storm," replied the Virtuloid, arching his wings.
Rock sighed inwardly to himself. "Close enough," he muttered under his breath. "But what really matters is that you and these towers have got to go."
Storm spread his wings, and gently rose up into the air with slow flaps of his broad wings. "Let's see you try, groundling," Storm taunted, aiming an arm cannon at Rock from the air, "Eat this!"
With that, a violent blast of wind shot from Storm's arm cannon, blasting upon Rock so fiercely that it knocked him down onto the floor. As soon as Rock stumbled back to his feet, Storm swooped down, ramming his helmet into Rock's nose, flooring him again as Storm ascended to the other side of the chamber again. Rock tumbled head over heels to adeptly roll over onto his feet, whirling around to fire a flurry of cannon shots at the airborne Virtuloid. Storm simply folded his wings around himself, with Rock's plasma blasts bouncing off the armor plates like pebbles. Storm laughed mockingly as Rock began to break a weary sweat. "Giving up already?" Storm jeered, unfolding his wings.
Rock willed his weapons system to switch to Ground's drills, aimed his cannon at Storm again, and said, "Try laughing at these."
Rock willed to fire, but nothing came out. A smirky grin ran across Storm's face. "Is that all?"
Rock tried to fire again, and still no response. Rock switched back to Lightning's electricity, and let loose a massive crack of electricity at Storm. Storm quickly wrapped his wings around him again as soon as the thunder from Rock's cannon roared, feeling the blast of the lightning bolt smash upon his armor plates, the bolt dissipating upon contact. "Shit!" Rock snarled under his breath, beginning to feel frustrated.
Storm landed on the ground again, flexing his shaking, stiff wings, much more annoyed than injured. "Fighting me with those pathetic weapons won't get you anywhere," Storm sneered, aiming his arm cannon at Rock again. Knowing that Storm was ready to unleash another wind blast, Rock put as much charge in his cannon as quickly as he could before he fired it at Storm's chest. Storm's left wing quickly flapped over his body, deflecting Rock's shot with ease. "Have a nice trip."
With that, Storm's arm cannon let another dizzying gale loose, bowling Rock backwards and slamming him against the chamber wall. And with a short hop into the air, Storm spread his wings and dove at Rock, ready to crush Rock between himself and the wall. Rock's scrambled vison snapped clear in time to see Storm speeding towards him, and without any other idea in mind, Rock switched his weapons system to the one weapon he had not used yet.
The thick blade of jagged ice sprouted from Rock's arm cannon swiftly enough for Rock to springboard off the wall, and meet the charging Storm with a quick slash. Rock landed quietly on his feet, hearing Storm crash into the wall with a clumsy thump. As Storm began to moan, Rock looked back at his enemy to see a wide gash in his shoulder, a thin crust of ice beginning to frost over it. "Hey Storm!" Rock jeered, "I think I've just found your weakness!"
Storm sneered angrily under his breath, stretching his wings and flying back up to the ceiling. "You can't slash at what you can't touch," Storm retorted, aiming his cannon at Rock again, unleashing another blast of wind upon Rock. Rock quickly jammed Chill's sword into the floor, anchoring himself in place as the short gale roared past him. And as soon as Rock caught the blank stare of shock on Storm's face, Rock leapt up, double-jumped in the air, winding back his shoulder and taking a vicious swing at Storm's right wing. The ice blade tore through and iced over the middle of his wing, quickly becoming more and more immobile. Storm yelped and lurched to the ground, struggling to keep himself aloft as Rock landed below. Knowing he had the advantage, Rock leapt at the wall, rebounded himself upwards, and took another slash at Storm's left wing. This was enough to freeze Storm's wings entirely, sending Storm crashing to the floor.
As Rock landed, he swivelled himself around and took an agressive charge straight for Storm, winding back his shoulder for another icy slash. Rock had forgotten about Storm's wind blasts, something he remembered the instant that Storm quickly shot out his arm cannon and unleashed another violent gale upon him. Rock was floored clumsily onto his back, skidding along the floor as Storm dragged himself back to his feet. When Rock had picked himself up, he realized that Storm could still spread his wings enough to send his body gliding into his chest, crushing Rock against the wall. Rock gagged and weezed, gasping for air as Storm stepped back, letting Rock drop the the floor. "This one's going for your head," Storm snarled, jabbing the barrel of his cannon into Rock's cheek, pinning Rock's head against the wall. Barely finding the strength to weild up his arms, Rock squeezed his eyes shut and waited for the end.
A second went by, and nothing happened.
Storm quickly glanced at his shoulder, and his jaw dropped once he saw the icy frost had spread from his wing and ran along his arm, seeping into his cannon. He was aware of the sudden chill that tickled his insides, and he shook his arm cannon feverishly, trying to break the ice inside apart. Sucking up whatever little wind he had left in him, Rock wobbled to one knee, and sprung forward at Storm, thrusting his ice blade straight for Storm's chest. The icy sword plunged through Storm's body, sticking out from his back as a thin layer of frost began to cover his body. "Cheater," Storm whined weakly as he began to ice over.
"Loser," Rock sneered back as Storm's frozen body became still. Placing his hand on Storm's forehead, Rock felt his arm tingle with the weapons download, tickling the nerves on his toes and fingertips. When the tingle subsided, Rock disengaged Chill's blade from his system, snapping off the base of the blade from his cannon with a quick jerk from his arm. "Hey Roll," Rock said into his helmet, "There's going to be some fireworks tonight."
"Those," said Auto, tossing his surgical tools into the sink behind him, "are manual-charge speed boosters."
"Manual-charge speed boosters?" Rock asked, sitting up on the operating table, "what're those?"
"Those microchips I've put in your knees," said Auto, following Rock's stare on his stitches, "they collect electrical charge put out by your knee muscles when you move them," he said. "And because I redesigned your nervous system to send complex information back and forth from the brain, once those chargers have collected enough energy, you can release it on will when doing your air dash, and that'll propell you forward at a very high speed."
"You've got too much time on your hands," Rock muttered.
"Hey, a genious has gotta' keep himself busy."
Rock looked back at his knees. "Any catches?"
"A few, yes," Auto murmured. "For one, the chargers lose colelcted energy quickly, so if you want to build up enough power for the boosters to work, your best chance at doing that is running in a straight line without stopping."
"And?"
"And second, you can't use the speed boost, starshooter, or any of the Virtuliod weapons you've picked up twice at a time. Your nervous system would collapse with that amount of stress.
"So you're saying I can't use my weapons when I've got the booster?"
"I can't remove your weapons system, that's embedded into your internal programming now. Just don't use both at the same time, okay?"
Rock nodded. "Anything else?"
"I've already taken the liberty to disable the starshooter jump to install the speed boosters. I can't let you go with both of those active, either. It's either one or the other, Rock."
Rock thought for a while. "I think I'll stick with the boosters," he said at length, "just to try them out."
"You're the boss," Auto hummed, handing Rock his helmet from the counter beside the operating table. "Ready to go out again?"
Rock swung his feet over the side of the table, and dropped onto the floor. "Only one more target to go, may as well take it out now."
Rock appeared with a flash in the middle of the dense forest, quickly hiding behind a tree as he looked at the giant, looming towers in the wide clearing before him. "So, that's the weather monitoring station, huh?" Rock asked.
"That's it, Rock," came Roll's voice in his helmet. "The best way to destroy all the towers is to find the main power silo in one of them and destroy it."
"No doubt there's another Virtuloid guarding it," Rock muttered. Morphing his hand into a cannon barrel again, Rock charged his cannon and said, "Sit tight, Roll. This may take a while."
A shattering blast of plasma energy blew a wide hole into the side of the tower, with Rock leaping inside seconds later. The first and only thing that met Rock's eyes was a tall, spiralling stairway, which he wasted no time in running up when the familiar hum of flying drones filled the air. Out of the corner of his eye, Rock spotted the first pack of cloud-like drones hovering down the stairs towards him. Letting his cannon blast wildly, Rock managed to shoot down three of the floating clouds before the rest of the pack shot forth an array of electrical sparks, making Rock dance on the spot as he weaved in and out of the hailstorm of tiny lightnng bolts. Sucking in a deep breath, Rock dove underneath the drones and further up the stairs, clumsily rolling back up to his feet behind them. Charging up his arm cannon again, Rock unleashed a dazzling blast of energy loose at the cloud drones, scorching whatever drones it did not incinerate. The remaining five drones shot more electric sparks at him, forcing him to skip backwards up the stairs as he unleashed the fury of his cannon, firing and firing so feverishly that it made his vison spin. With another giant charged blast, the last of the drones finally fell, and Rock was suddenly aware of the sun shining upon him. He had already reached the top of the long and winding staircase, perched atop a small open-air lookout with a small metal-beam bridge connecting the one tower to another. Taking a good look around, Rock found there were only three of the gothic towers, and concluded that the main silo must be in either of the other two. After another quick lookout for more drones, Rock ventured off of the lookout, and stepped foot onto the first step of the bridge. A whining creak from beneath him sent a shiver up Rock's spine. Rock placed his other foot as gingerly as he could on the other step, finding it to be as sturdy as he could have hoped. Step after careful step, Rock made it four steps across the bridge when his fears subsided.
Suddenly, the first step of the bridge cracked, folded, and plummeted to the ground below. The second step followed suit, as did the third, and the fourth began to fracture underneath his feet. With a panicked yelp, Rock made the decison to dash quickly across the bridge to the other side as the bridge creaked and yawned, beginning to slowly tip down. Rock's wide strides quickly became giant leaps as the bridge frowned, despearte to plant his foot onto the cracking steps before they broke apart. Just as Rock was only a few meters away from the other tower, the bridge suddenly lurched downward, swinging towards the side of the tower. Rock grabbed the first step that met his eyes, hanging on for dear life as the bridge slammed into the tower, almost shaking loose Rock's grip on the steps. Rock struggled to pull himself up, trying to carry his heavy armor as well. Just as the step snapped, Rock's hand shot up to grasp the one above, saving himself from a long fall. Rock's mind was awhirr with solutions, one thought being that, should he fall, he could always use his water cannon power cushion his landing. A glance down at the ground far below made what remained of his stomach knot, and he quickly dismissed the idea just as the step he clung to began to crack. He could not use his ice power, that would only make the steps shatter underneath his weight. Nor could he use the flamefthrower to weld the steps together again, the intense heat would surley burn his hands. Rock struggled to put his hands on the step above when the step he held on to suddenly gave away, forcing him to pick any of his weapons at random. Ground's drill suddely protruded from his cannon, which Rock quickly sunk deep into the wall. The bridge above moaned and creaked loudly, and with a series of snaps, it plummeted down beside him. Rock gave a quiet sigh of relief as he grabbed onto the drill lodged into the wall, planting another drill just above him as he climbed to the top of the tower. Rock pulled himself up and over the edge, looking at the one door in the middle of the tower's roof, likely leading down to the base. Hoping he would find the main reactor down below, Rock hastily shot the door off of its hinges, and stepped into the pitch-black darkness.
As soon as the darkness had engulfed him, Rock felt the floor suddenly pull away out from underneath him. It was a thankfully short fall, letting Rock land comfortably on his feet. Everything around him was so pitch-black that Rock could not even see the tip of his nose. He could hear a machine's gears grinding and moving around him, sending a nervous shiver through his body. Rock coiled his knees and readied his arm cannon, preparing himself for the worst.
A sudden flash of light shot down at his feet, making Rock bolt to his side as a crack of thunder boomed around the room. A vicious gale of wind suddenly blasted upon him, feeling a heavy patter of rain storm around the room. Rock dodged another crack of lightning, with the brief flash illuminating the room long enough for Rock to catch a glimpse of a bright red square on the wall before everything went dark again. Switching his weapons system to Ground's drills again, Rock made a mental visual note to himself, keeping his mind focused on that one spot amidst the darkness. The wind intensified, beginning to blow Rock around the room. As another blast of lightning flashed only inches from his face, Rock aimed his cannon at the square on the wall, and shot out a drill. Ground's drill made a sharp cracking sound, and the room fell silent again. More lightning bolts zapped around his feet, with Rock narrowly managing to weave his body around them. Another flash of lightning revealed to Rock another bright red square on the wall. Rock quickly fired off another drill, plunging it deep into the square before the darkness reigned again. A blast of lightning struck his foot suddenly, sending Rock spilling to the floor with a yelp. Another bright red square on the wall caught the corner of his eye from the flash, and just before another bolt could strike him in the back, Rock shot out his arm cannon and fired another drill into the darkness.
The room suddenly began to tremble, and the ceiling lights slowly lit up. The wind and rain stopped, and Rock was thankful to have a firm footing again. A tall, hulking piece of machinery built into the wall fell over and collapsed at his feet, revealing a passage to the outside. Rock stepped over the fallen machine and onto the outside, only to find another bridge leading to the last tower. "That must be where the core is," Rock muttered to himself, dashing over the bridge. Just like the other bridge, the metal steps cracked and fell as soon as Rock stepped on them, yet Rock was always a step ahead of the crumbling stairway.
The sudden familiar hum filled the air before Rock could make it a quarter of the way across the collapsing bridge, and another swarm of cloud-like drones spilled out of the top of the last tower, descending on Rock like a violent stormcloud. As Rock dashed along the creaky bridge, he aimed him cannon upwards and fired shot after shot of plasma energy into the massive fog of drones, only managing to shoot down two or three at a time as the cloud drones quickly came upon him. Realizing he would be quickly engulfed by the pesky drones on a collapsing bridge, Rock charged his cannon, and made it halfway across before the swarm surrounded him. Rock unleashed his charged blast, blowing a hole in the middle of the legions. Tiny electric sparks zapped his sides with every four or five drones he shot down around him, making it a chore to ensure his footing on the falling bridge. And just as the bridge began to creak and tip downward, Rock let a fully charged blast into the swarm again, leaping through the hole in the swarm it created, double-jumping in the air to land safely on the other tower. Without thinking, Rock switched to Lightning's weapon, and unleashed a loud crack of lightning upon the chasing drones behind him. Whatever the lightning bolt did not destroy, it sent the rest of the cloud drones into a short-circuited frenzy, driving them mindlessly into the side of the tower above Rock's head. The drones plowed through the tower and out of the other side, slowly diving to the ground as Rock watched them crash into the forest below. Using Ground's drill weapon as stepping stones in the side of the tower again, Rock climbed up into the hole the drones had created, and slipped inside of the dark interior of the tower. The lack of a floor made Rock flatten himself against the wall, letting his wall-clinging system allow himself to slowy slide down along the wall, hoping not to run into another storm-generating machine.
As soon as a floor met his feet, the sound of another iron shutter pulled out from underneath him, dropping him into the well-lit chamber below. Landing on his feet, the first thing that met his eyes was a slim humanoid figure, flexing a pair of metal wings on its back. "So, you're the blue bomber everyone's talking about?" he asked Rock, still flexing his wings.
Rock immediately aimed his cannon at the Virtuloid in front of him. "That's me," he said. "And you are, let me guess, Wind."
"Storm," replied the Virtuloid, arching his wings.
Rock sighed inwardly to himself. "Close enough," he muttered under his breath. "But what really matters is that you and these towers have got to go."
Storm spread his wings, and gently rose up into the air with slow flaps of his broad wings. "Let's see you try, groundling," Storm taunted, aiming an arm cannon at Rock from the air, "Eat this!"
With that, a violent blast of wind shot from Storm's arm cannon, blasting upon Rock so fiercely that it knocked him down onto the floor. As soon as Rock stumbled back to his feet, Storm swooped down, ramming his helmet into Rock's nose, flooring him again as Storm ascended to the other side of the chamber again. Rock tumbled head over heels to adeptly roll over onto his feet, whirling around to fire a flurry of cannon shots at the airborne Virtuloid. Storm simply folded his wings around himself, with Rock's plasma blasts bouncing off the armor plates like pebbles. Storm laughed mockingly as Rock began to break a weary sweat. "Giving up already?" Storm jeered, unfolding his wings.
Rock willed his weapons system to switch to Ground's drills, aimed his cannon at Storm again, and said, "Try laughing at these."
Rock willed to fire, but nothing came out. A smirky grin ran across Storm's face. "Is that all?"
Rock tried to fire again, and still no response. Rock switched back to Lightning's electricity, and let loose a massive crack of electricity at Storm. Storm quickly wrapped his wings around him again as soon as the thunder from Rock's cannon roared, feeling the blast of the lightning bolt smash upon his armor plates, the bolt dissipating upon contact. "Shit!" Rock snarled under his breath, beginning to feel frustrated.
Storm landed on the ground again, flexing his shaking, stiff wings, much more annoyed than injured. "Fighting me with those pathetic weapons won't get you anywhere," Storm sneered, aiming his arm cannon at Rock again. Knowing that Storm was ready to unleash another wind blast, Rock put as much charge in his cannon as quickly as he could before he fired it at Storm's chest. Storm's left wing quickly flapped over his body, deflecting Rock's shot with ease. "Have a nice trip."
With that, Storm's arm cannon let another dizzying gale loose, bowling Rock backwards and slamming him against the chamber wall. And with a short hop into the air, Storm spread his wings and dove at Rock, ready to crush Rock between himself and the wall. Rock's scrambled vison snapped clear in time to see Storm speeding towards him, and without any other idea in mind, Rock switched his weapons system to the one weapon he had not used yet.
The thick blade of jagged ice sprouted from Rock's arm cannon swiftly enough for Rock to springboard off the wall, and meet the charging Storm with a quick slash. Rock landed quietly on his feet, hearing Storm crash into the wall with a clumsy thump. As Storm began to moan, Rock looked back at his enemy to see a wide gash in his shoulder, a thin crust of ice beginning to frost over it. "Hey Storm!" Rock jeered, "I think I've just found your weakness!"
Storm sneered angrily under his breath, stretching his wings and flying back up to the ceiling. "You can't slash at what you can't touch," Storm retorted, aiming his cannon at Rock again, unleashing another blast of wind upon Rock. Rock quickly jammed Chill's sword into the floor, anchoring himself in place as the short gale roared past him. And as soon as Rock caught the blank stare of shock on Storm's face, Rock leapt up, double-jumped in the air, winding back his shoulder and taking a vicious swing at Storm's right wing. The ice blade tore through and iced over the middle of his wing, quickly becoming more and more immobile. Storm yelped and lurched to the ground, struggling to keep himself aloft as Rock landed below. Knowing he had the advantage, Rock leapt at the wall, rebounded himself upwards, and took another slash at Storm's left wing. This was enough to freeze Storm's wings entirely, sending Storm crashing to the floor.
As Rock landed, he swivelled himself around and took an agressive charge straight for Storm, winding back his shoulder for another icy slash. Rock had forgotten about Storm's wind blasts, something he remembered the instant that Storm quickly shot out his arm cannon and unleashed another violent gale upon him. Rock was floored clumsily onto his back, skidding along the floor as Storm dragged himself back to his feet. When Rock had picked himself up, he realized that Storm could still spread his wings enough to send his body gliding into his chest, crushing Rock against the wall. Rock gagged and weezed, gasping for air as Storm stepped back, letting Rock drop the the floor. "This one's going for your head," Storm snarled, jabbing the barrel of his cannon into Rock's cheek, pinning Rock's head against the wall. Barely finding the strength to weild up his arms, Rock squeezed his eyes shut and waited for the end.
A second went by, and nothing happened.
Storm quickly glanced at his shoulder, and his jaw dropped once he saw the icy frost had spread from his wing and ran along his arm, seeping into his cannon. He was aware of the sudden chill that tickled his insides, and he shook his arm cannon feverishly, trying to break the ice inside apart. Sucking up whatever little wind he had left in him, Rock wobbled to one knee, and sprung forward at Storm, thrusting his ice blade straight for Storm's chest. The icy sword plunged through Storm's body, sticking out from his back as a thin layer of frost began to cover his body. "Cheater," Storm whined weakly as he began to ice over.
"Loser," Rock sneered back as Storm's frozen body became still. Placing his hand on Storm's forehead, Rock felt his arm tingle with the weapons download, tickling the nerves on his toes and fingertips. When the tingle subsided, Rock disengaged Chill's blade from his system, snapping off the base of the blade from his cannon with a quick jerk from his arm. "Hey Roll," Rock said into his helmet, "There's going to be some fireworks tonight."