Rock appeared with a flash at the gigantic metal doors of the towering, cube-like building in front of him. The surrounding area was a dry and barren wasteland of clay and rock, and directly above of the cubical shelter ran an elevated highway, supported by tall columns and stretched as far into the distance as Rock could see. Hatred still ran like a fire through his veins; the thought of being used as a mere pawn mixed with the loss of the only being that reminded him of his lost love Dawn fuelled his burning rage and fighting spirit. In a fit of rage, Rock took off his helmet, reached inside, and tore out a big handful of wires. When nothing but static hummed in his ears when he put it back on, he was grateful to have severed all contact with those whom he felt had played him like a fiddle. Rock kicked the doors open, stepping inside the dark and oddly spacious building without a second thought. The small lights that hung from the lofty ceiling gave the features of the square room an eerie illumination, reflecting off the hundreds of small whirring machines and computers packed away on the side. The overhead lights ran in a straight line, leading up towards the tallest machine of them all- a hulking heap of metal that towered all the way to the ceiling. What looked like tubes of some kind laced either edge on the right and left sides around the middle, and two gigantic structures stood from the bottom. From all that Rock could assume, they were nothing more than two supports to hold the gigantic machine upright. As soon as Rock stepped towards the feet of the machine, a slow and booming voice from the ceiling asked"The blue bomber himself has come"

"That's me all right" Rock sneered. "And you're Masterframe"

"Correct."

"Then prepare to be destroyed" Rock snarled, charging his cannon and firing off a fully developed blast at the heart of the machine. The cannon shot bounced harmlessly off of the hulking machine, and Masterframe appeared to be completely unharmed. "No, bomber" Masterframe boomed"You will be destroyed."

"Hey look, it's our pal, the bomber"

The sudden taunt from behind him made Rock whirl around, and his jaw dropped. Standing behind him were Ground, Lightning, Hydro, Burn, Chill, and Storm, the six Virtuloids that he had sworn he had destroyed. "Wha- how" Was all Rock could manage to blurt out.

"Easy" said Lightning calmly"We're just one of the few lucky Virtuloids to have backup bodies for ourselves."

"B-backup bodies" Rock stammered.

"Enough talk" Ground sneered"let's just kill him already"

"Hold on" Masterframe boomed. A small panel on Rock's eye-level opened up from Masterframe's surface, and a glowing sphere of light popped out, dropping to the floor and rolling to Rock's feet. "I require some entertainment. Bomber, I sense that your body is damaged. Touch the sphere. It will restore your power."

Rock looked doubtingly at the glowing ball before him, and then back at the six Virtuloids eyeing him murderously. Taking a deep breath, Rock reached out and plunged his hand into the sphere. Like Alpha's chamber had done before, Rock felt a jolt of electricity run through his body upon contact with the gaseous ball. Before he knew it, the current had stopped shooting though him, leaving him feeling refreshed and recharged, with the cuts and bruises on his skin fully healed without so much as a scar. "Now can we kill him" Hydro whined.

Masterframe's deep chuckling echoed around the room like rolling thunder. "Bon appetite."

Suddenly, Storm cut in front of his allies and spread his wings wide, blocking the other Virtuloids. "I'll take him. You guys can have what's left."

"Sure" Burn muttered.

"Go for it" Chill added.

The rest of the Virtuloids stepped back and Storm marched forward, wrapping his metal wings around his slim body. Recalling how he had destroyed Storm's original body, Rock switched weapons format and sprouted Chill's blade out of his right cannon. Storm grimaced at the sight of the icy blade again, and spread his wings open. "You think you can defeat me like that again" Storm taunted, stretching his wings back"Let's see you try to get close enough"

With that, Storm snapped his wings forward, blowing an intense gust of wind at Rock. Rock instinctively shielded his face with his arms, and Storm took to the air and zoomed towards Rock. Storm's body smashed full-force into Rock's chest, flattening Rock on the floor in a heartbeat. Storm spread his wings and glided upwards as Rock rolled back on his feet, taking a wild, futile swing at Storm with Chill's ice sword and missing completely. As Storm swooped in to ram Rock again, Rock boldly stood in place, watching Storm dive directly at him. At the last second before impact, Rock bucked himself backwards, stabbing upwards with the icy blade as Storm zoomed overhead. Storm's chest just barely clipped Rock's forehead, while Chill's sword grazed Storm's thigh and plunged deep into his knee. Storm screeched and crashed clumsily onto the floor, coming to a skidding halt at the feet of the other Virtuloids. Avoiding the disapproving glares of his comrades, Storm hopped up to his right leg, his left immobilized from the knee down, coated in a thin covering of ice already. Without saying a word, Storm flapped his wings and rose into the air, aiming the barrel of his cannon at Rock and firing. The whirlwind blasted so fiercely upon Rock that it blew him head over heels, scrambling his vision long enough for Storm to bolt downwards and bury his head deep into Rock's gut. Rock wheezed and gasped, rolling around on the floor and cradling his stomach, struggling to breathe. Storm looped around in the air above, circling vertically before deciding the dive in once more. Suddenly remembering that he no longer needed to breathe, Rock's body found a burst of renewed energy, nullifying the frantic spasms of his abdominals, letting Rock focus himself long enough to register the image of Storm shooting straight for him like a spear again. Rock kicked his legs and flung his arms forward, flipping himself up to his feet and thrusting out his ice sword as Storm smashed into him. Storm landed with a limp thump on top of Rock as the two hit the floor, suddenly aware of the freezing pain in the middle of his torso. Storm looked down to his chest as saw Rock's arm firmly embedded into his body, with Chill's sword sticking out of his back. Storm mumbled and whined under his breath as a paralyzing cold consumed him, soon nothing more than a metal Popsicle. Rock wearily rose to his feet, with Storm's body still attached to his arm. With a mere thought, Rock's ice sword ejected from his wrist, replaced with his normal hand again as Storm's body fell like a broken doll to the ground. "So," Rock asked the group of Virtuloids behind him, "who's next?"

There was a minute of motionless silence before Chill eventually stepped forward. "You'll disgrace my favorite weapon no longer," he sneered, sprouting an ice sword of his own out of his arm cannon.

Ground suddenly trudged forward and joined Chill's side. "I'll make sure you kill him," he growled.

"I don't need any help," Chill said curtly.

"That's what Storm thought," said Burn quickly.

Chill glanced uneasily at Storm's icy coffin. "On second thought," Chill muttered, "thanks for the offer, Ground."

Rock's heartbeat doubled in speed. The thought of fighting both Chill and Ground at once did not settle well with him. "No problem, Chill," said Ground, spinning the augers that he carried instead of hands eagerly, "Now let's kill him!"

Rock weaved to his right, avoiding the thrust of Ground's drill, leaning over forward enough to avoid Chill's slashing ice sword. Rock tumbled to the floor and left a wide gap between himself and the Virtuloids, morphing his own cannon into Burn's flamethrower. Chill was immediately frozen in place with fear, while Ground charged in on Rock undeterred. Bursts of flames shot from Rock's cannon, only bouncing off of Ground's armor like harmless clouds. Ground lunged forward, driving his shoulder into Rock's chest, bowling Rock over like a tin can. Rock landed with the wind driven out of him again, trying his best to ignore his instinctual stomach reflexes as Ground thrust his drill-hand at Rock's face. Rock rolled to his left, narrowly avoiding the tip and watching it plunge into the floor only inches away from his head. Ground tore the auger out and speared it down again, just missing Rock as he rolled back to his right. Again and again, Ground jabbed his drills at Rock, only to hit nothing but floor tiles every time. Suddenly, Rock stuck out his arm cannon as Ground jabbed again, catching Ground's drill inside the barrel of his cannon. Snickering as he switched weapons format, Rock blasted a vicious gale of wind from his cannon, blowing out Ground's arm with such force that it sent him sailing upwards, landing with a heavy thud at Chill's feet. As soon as Rock propped himself up onto his knee, he saw Chill charging at him, ice sword wound over his shoulder. The vicious slash that Chill took at Rock left him no time to react, cutting a gash into his chest armor. As a freezing cold seeped into his body, Rock switched back to Burn's flamethrower, and just as Chill moved in to strike again, Rock unleashed a flash of fire at Chill's face. Chill screeched and skidded to a halt when the flames licked his body, darting backwards as Ground trudged back to his feet. With a full head of steam, Rock blasted another gale at Ground, suddenly feeling the air go deathly cold. With the memory of his last fight with Chill still fresh in his memory, Rock immediately dropped to the ground, feeling an intense blast of freezing air rush over him. A surprised yelp echoed over the room, and to Rock's delight, Ground was now fully encased in an immobilising block of ice. Chill could only give a dismayed cry at his mistake before Rock leapt back to his feet and shot another blast of flames at him, driving Chill back, rubbing his scorched arms. With Chill nursing his burn, Rock hurriedly charged his cannon to full power, and unleashed a turbulent blast of power into Ground's face. Ground's neck broke like a twig with an icy snap, and both body and skull hit the floor together. In the same heartbeat, Rock lashed his cannon out to his side, halting Chill barrel-to-nose in his aborted ambush. And with the sound of flames gurgling deep within Rock's cannon, Chill could only find the resolve to mutter, "Oh shit."

The flash of flames that erupted from Rock's cannon engulfed Chill's head and shoulders, and his lifeless body dropped to the floor.

Hydro, Lightning, and Burn stared at the bodies of their fallen allies, each refusing o believe what they saw. "This guy's good," Lightning muttered.

"But look how damaged he is," Hydro said, pointing at the frosty laceration in Rock's chest, "There's no way he could fight off all three of us at once."

Rock began to break a cold sweat over the hot beads that already streamed down his face.

"It's cowardly," Burn muttered, "but what the hell."

Rock wheezed and placed his hand over the icy tear in his armor, struggling to keep his knees from bucking out from underneath him. Realising that no amount of begging or swift talk would be able to get them to fight fairly, Rock morphed his cannon to Lightning's thunderbolt and held his breath. "Just bring it already."

Hydro charged directly forwards while Burn and Lightning flanked Rock's left and right. Rock fired out a blast of lightning at Hydro as Lightning and Burn vanished from the corners of his eyes. The thunderbolt hit Hydro dead in the chest, just as a searing flash of flames blasted onto his left arm. Hydro and Rock hit the ground together, Hydro stunned and twitching while Rock was still able to spring back to his feet from his knees. Rock whirled around and lashed his cannon around blindly, shooting another lightning bolt in Burn's direction. The blast hit Burn on his shoulder, spinning him around and tumbling to the floor. Almost as soon as Burn dropped, Rock felt a violent jolt run through his body, hearing Lightning chuckling cruelly from behind. Rock tried his best to control the frantic trembling of his surge-induced paralysed limbs, watching Burn and Hydro stumble back to their feet.

"I wanna' finish him off!" Hydro whined, "Stand aside!"

"Don't blow a valve," Lightning sneered, "He's mine."

"Great," Rock muttered inwardly, "They're fighting over who gets to kill me now."

"I wanna'!" Hydro insisted.

"No, we'll charge in together," Burn spoke up. "You two can have what's left of him after."

"Fine," Hydro grumbled. Lightning shrugged once and nodded.

Without a word more, the three Virtuloids bolted off of their feet, rushing in on Rock. Thinking on the spot, Rock whirled around and fired one of Ground's drills and Lightning's chest. Rock saw Lightning yelp as he was pinned to the floor by the tip of the drill skewered through his shoulder before Burn and Hydro rammed their shoulders into Rock's back. Rock stumbled forwards, switching to Lightning's weapon as he whirled around and yelled, "I dare you, Hydro!"

Hydro roared and rushed in, despite Burn's cried of, "No Hydro! Stop!" The instant that Hydro was within a swinging distance from Rock, Rock threw and electric-charged fist into Hydro's chin, paralysing him stiff upon contact. As soon as Burn took aim with his flamethrower, Rock swung out his cannon arm and met Burn with a blast of Hydro's water onto his chest. Steam rose with a hiss from Burn's armor, and he dropped onto one knee wheezing heavily, like a human would at the start of a heart attack. With Lightning and Hydro still incapacitated, Rock proceeded to douse Burn with a torrent of Hydro's water, ignoring Burn's steadily fading cries of agony as the room began to fog up like a sauna. When Burn's wails fell silent, Rock halted his showering, finding Burn lying motionless on the floor- his once bright red armor now a sickly shade of grey.

Before Rock could catch a breath, another jolt of electricity ran up his spine, freezing him in place as Lightning, now freed from Ground's drill, dragged himself up to his feet and charged in on Rock. Just before Lightning could slap his electrifying palm on the back of Rock's neck, the electric shock running through Rock's body dissipated as quickly as it had come, letting Rock whirl around and flash the tip of another drill in Lightning's face. Lightning yelped and came to a skidding halt, terrified of the electricity-sapping auger, coming within inches of the tip. Rock snickered, spun the drill, and plunged it deep into Lightning's gut. As the current of electricity began to leech from Lightning's body to Rock's, Rock blindly swung his free arm out to the side, grabbing the freshly recovered Hydro by the face. The sheer amount of electric power that surged through Lightning's body passed harmlessly through Rock's copycat weapons system like a cable, directing all of Lightning's massive bodily voltage right into Hydro. Lightning slumped lifelessly onto Rock's arm as the last of his power was sapped, while Hydro gave a high-pitched screech before his limbs exploded violently. Rock released what remained of Hydro and ejected Ground's drill from his cannon, leaving both Lightning's and Hydro's bodies collapsing to the floor.

Rock hunched over, resting his elbows on his knees and wheezing deeply, doubting that his system could handle any more damage before it would fatally overload. When he could finally manage to calm himself down, Rock spun around and looked up at Masterframe's hulking figure before him. "Too bad they couldn't kill me," Rock sneered, "because now it's your turn to be destroyed."

Rock locked his eyes on the middle of Masterframe, packing away all the charge he could in his arm cannon before releasing it all in one brilliant flash. The gigantic blast hit Masterframe's surface, and Rock's jaw dropped when he watched the blast bounce off harmlessly, ricocheting into the ceiling and demolishing an entire quarter of it. Masterframe's booming snicker filled the room again. "You should have listened to Alpha, foolish human," Masterframe roared. "You've seen the beauty side of me, now come and see the beast."

With that, the floor began to rumble so violently that it tripped Rock onto the floor. The numerous tubes that Rock had noticed earlier on Masterframe's structure suddenly pulled out on one end on a will of their own, and it was then Rock realised that they were not tubes of any kind.

They were a full set of fingers, and they belonged to two massive hands.

Rock crawled away backwards, watching in awe and disbelief, as Masterframe seemed to unfold, like a humanoid figure sitting up from a chair. And when Masterframe's body began to stand, it was only then that Rock realised what Masterframe truly was. The two gigantic pillars had been nothing more than Masterframe's feet and shins, and Masterframe itself had been sitting comfortably upon a gigantic throne. Masterframe's head broke through what remained of the ceiling, raining large chunks of debris upon Rock, scrambling left and right to avoid being crushed underneath the collapsing ceiling. As the last debris fell and the glowing rays of light from the setting sun outside filled the cubical building, Rock spotted a slim chamber by the wall; almost identical to the one Auto had built, labelled with a simple exit sign. Not willing to wait and be crushed underfoot by the gigantic metal monster that now towered high above him, Rock dashed full speed into the chamber, and he vanished in a flash.