With a flash of light, Rock found himself basking in the glow of the sunset, crouched upon a smooth steel surface. Standing up and gazing around, he discovered that he was at the top of the elevated highway that he had seen earlier, positioned safely on the thin sidewalk that ran along the edges of the broad road. Aching all over and feeling like he could fall apart at any moment, Rock switched to Lightning's weapon system, trudged over to a nearby lamppost, and smashed his fist through. The resulting surge of power that coursed through his body felt nothing less than heavenly, supercharging his depleted power reserves which more than made up for whatever physical damage he still carried. Rock marveled at how well his body had accepted the electric charge with Lightning's electricity harnessing ability in action. Fully recovered and refreshed, Rock's thoughts immediately turned to Masterframe as a deep rumbling echoed through the air from behind, and the highway began to tremble.
Rock spun around to see Masterframe's gigantic body standing tall above the wreckage of his shelter, his piercing yellow eyes locking on to Rock as his stocky, massive body trudged towards him. Instinctively, Rock turned on his heel and ran for his life, suddenly wishing he had not torn out the communicator module from his helmet. He looked over his shoulder as he ran, watching Masterframe slowly march behind him, his long strides quickly catching up to Rock in not even a minute. Striding alongside the highway beside Rock, Masterframe's waist met the highway on the level, leaving Rock looking like an insect scurrying atop a kitchen counter. Masterframe's cold-looking eyes remained locked on Rock, set upon a wide, featureless dark blue face that matched the rest of his smooth dark blue armor plating. Boling as fast as he could, Rock narrowly managed to dart to safety as Masterframe's open palm came down, trying to crush Rock underneath and demolishing a section of the highway instead. Whirling around and running backwards, Rock packed away all the charge he could into his arm cannon, and unleashed it all in one titanic blast straight between Masterframe's eyes. The blast bounced off of Masterframe's face harmlessly, not even leaving so much as a mark. With all other ideas exhausted, Rock took aim as Masterframe raised his gigantic arm once more, and opened fire. The blasts bounced off of Masterframe as ineffectively as they had before, and Rock barely found time enough to dart out of the way of Masterframe's slamming hand, obliterating another section of roadway. When Rock was expecting another attempted squashing from Masterframe, he looked over his shoulder to see Masterframe's eerie yellow eyes light up in an unsettling glow instead. And without any warning, two gigantic beams shot from Masterframe's eyes, missing Rock by only a few inches as another hole was blown into the road.
Knowing that he could not keep running forever, Rock whirled around and decided to try his extra weapons. Switching to Ground's drills, Rock kept running backwards and aimed at Masterframe's face again, opening fire and launching a pair of drills into Masterframe's forehead. Just like his cannon shots before, Ground's drills bounced harmlessly off of Masterframe's armor. "Fuck!" Rock screamed, switching to Storm's whirlwind as Masterframe raised his giant arm again. Rock unleashed a violent blast of wind at Masterframe's head, hoping it would throw him off balance and topple him. The gale did little more than annoy Masterframe and the hand came down regardless, smashing more of the road to rubble. Frustrated, Rock switched to Burn's flamethrower, and before Masterframe could raise his arm again, Rock blasted a rush of flames onto Masterframe's fingers. Masterframe roared and quickly withdrew his hand, leaving pools of melted metal splattering all over the highway. The armor on his hand had liquefied, revealing the inner skeleton-like structure underneath. With little other than impulse running his body now, Rock ran to the edge of the highway and got as close to Masterframe's body as he could, unleashing another blast of fire at Masterframe's midsection. Masterframe roared again as his stomach armor melted away, winding back his arm and swinging blindly in front of him. Rock was in no position to dodge, and quickly found himself winded and sailing along the road in the air after a brutal smack to his entire body. After the rough landing thoroughly scrambled his senses, Rock decided that Burn's weapon was just not practical to keep using against Masterframe.
As Masterframe approached him again, Rock got up on one knee, switched weapons format, and shot out a torrent of water at Masterframe's head. The water splashed pathetically against Masterframe's face, leaving Rock feeling foolish for ever considering to try Hydro's weapon. Switching to Lightning's weapon, Rock took aim at Masterframe's face again and prepared to fire between Masterframe's eyes. Suddenly, Masterframe's eyes lit up again, and two blazing beams of energy plowed into Rock's chest. Rock was knocked head-over-heels by the searing blast, conveniently coming to a stop on his feet again, letting him spring out of the way of Masterframe's hand coming down upon him again, demolishing more highway in his wake. As soon as Masterframe raised his hand again, Rock blasted a lightning bolt directly into Masterframe's face, dead between the eyes.
Masterframe reeled back, bellowing in agony as his hands flew to his face. "Gotcha' now!" Rock jeered, smirking as he aimed between Masterframe's fingers and fired off another electric blast. The lightning struck Masterframe's forehead, driving another roar from the metal giant. With one hand covering his face, Masterframe swept his other arm blindly along the highway, hoping to swat Rock away like a fly. Leaping once and then double-jumping in midair again, Rock easily cleared Masterframe's zooming arm, shooting another lightning bolt into Masterframe's jaw. Again, Masterframe howled and lashed out at Rock, leaving just enough room between his arm and the highway for Rock to slide underneath, pop back up to his feet, and send another lightning bolt at Masterframe's head. And that was all Masterframe's face could handle.
With a single ear-shattering shriek, Masterframe covered his head with his arm as a loud muffled boom roared through the air, followed by what sounded like breaking glass. Thousands of tiny metal shards rained upon Rock, littering the highway with Masterframe's crumbling face. Rock just stood there in stunned silence, watching more and more of Masterframe's facial armor shredded and fell to the ground. Just as suddenly as the disruption began, everything fell still and silent, with neither Rock nor Masterframe showing any signs of life. Muffled hissing came from Masterframe's obscured face, and Rock steadied his arm upon Masterframe's forehead, preparing himself for the worst.
And the worst came when Masterframe's arms flew up, revealing a skull-like face underneath what remained of his shattered facial armor, glaring wildly at Rock with a pair of reddened, almost bloodshot-looking eyes. Rock was so transfixed with shock and horror that he barely snapped out of his rapture in time to double-jump into the air, avoiding Masterframe's arms smashing into each other, trying to crush Rock like a trash compactor. Rock landed skillfully on Masterframe's wrists, firing another lightning bolt into Masterframe's forehead. The bolt bounced off of Masterframe's skull like a harmless pebble to a tank, and Masterframe roared with a booming, half-crazed laugh. Rock fired again, getting the same ineffective result as the air filled with Masterframe's mocking laughter.
Suddenly, the laughing stopped. Masterframe parted his hands, dropping Rock back on the highway, and raised his arms high, placing a mental target lock on Rock's head. And with a mighty roar, Masterframe brought both arms down, smashing his forearms into the highway like clubs, completely obliterating the road underneath. Rock managed to vacate the spot before it's ruination, watching as Masterframe threw up his arms again, and hurling his right down upon Rock, missing him by a meter as Rock ran for his life again. Masterframe's left and right arms came down on the highway one after another, chasing Rock as he bolted down the sidewalk, bashing up the highway like a pair of sledgehammers to a xylophone. With this new single-minded fury, Masterframe was much more occupied on putting every ounce of his power into smashing the highway than keeping up with Rock, letting Rock widen the gap between the two as he whirled around and began to run backwards again. Rock switched his weapon format back to Ground's drills, firing without restraint into Masterframe's cheek. The drills bounced off of Masterframe's bare skull again, only infuriating Masterframe further. Deciding that staying as far away from the bezerk machine as possible, Rock excluded Burn's flamethrower and Chill's ice sword from his list of options as he switched to Hydro's water cannon again, and took aim at Masterframe's face once more.
Suddenly, Masterframe's closest arm to Rock swung and lashed outwards, smacking Rock like a freight train to a frog. Rock was sent shooting along the highway again, landing with a violent crash on a sharp turn of the highway, coming to a skidding halt and nearly falling off the edge. Scrambling back to his feet, his jaw dropped when he saw Masterframe charging at him, showing no sign of stopping any time soon. Rock bolted again, watching Masterframe slowly close in as he stampeded towards him. With nothing but a straight stretch of road ahead of him, Rock put every ounce of strength he had left in him into his legs, feeling the boosters in his knees begin to charge and vibrate within him. And as soon as Masterframe was almost within an arm's reach of the highway, Rock felt the boosters explode with a rush of power, lifting him up into the air and propelling him along the highway. Masterframe's wide body leapt upwards, landing with an Earth-shaking crash upon the highway, demolishing it instantly. The highway shook violently, and a section ahead of Rock abruptly broke free and shot up as his section stooped low, threatening to smack him dead in the forehead. Rock flipped himself around and kicked his legs in front of him, trying to kill the booster's charge before the highway killed him instead of Masterframe. His knees wobbled and trembled, and the boosters shut off as suddenly as they had activated, leaving Rock flying forwards on momentum alone into the broken section ahead. Ducking his head low, Rock managed to snare the edges of the uplifted highway with his hands, stopping himself immediately. Rock pulled himself up and over the broken section, wheezing as he looked over his shoulder to see Masterframe pick himself up again, lock his eyes on Rock again, and come charging once more. Rock breathed heavily. "I can't outrun him forever," he muttered, standing up straight and aiming his arm cannon at Masterframe's face, "You want to kill me, Masterframe?" Rock roared as the metal titan closed in on him again, "Come and try!" As Masterframe raised his arm to throw a clubbing forearm smash upon Rock and the highway, Rock held his ground and shot a torrent of water at Masterframe's exposed skull, ready to bolt out of Masterframe's way.
As soon as Hydro's water blasted upon Masterframe's face, Masterframe gave an agonized roar, the likes of which Rock had never heard before. Masterframe stumbled and collapsed to one knee, causing his arm to fly far over Rock's head and destroy the highway far from Rock's position. Before Masterframe could rise back to both feet, Rock stood on the edge of the highway again, blasting another torrent of water at Masterframe's skull. Masterframe howled as the water leaked underneath his armor, corroding his internal circuitry. Rock kept a constant stream of water blasting upon Masterframe, watching as the giant pushed himself back to his feet, raised both arms, and brought them both down upon Rock. Rock darted away to safety, keeping his aim on Masterframe's face. Double-jumping over the gap in the ruined highway, Rock ran futher down the road until he was at a comfortable distance from Masterframe. Rock then perched himself on the edge of the highway again, and blasted Masterframe's bare face with more water. Screeching wildly as his systems began to go haywire, Masterframe flailed his arms like windmills, demolishing everything in his path as he took blinded swings at anything around him, spinning in circles and stumbling around madly. Holding his breath and steadying his racing heart, Rock closed one eye and lined up his arm cannon with his other eye, carefully aiming another water blast at Masterframe's face. And when Masterframe finally turned to face Rock, Rock locked his aim upon Masterframe's right eye, and fired.
The result was fatal. Masterframe's panic suddenly stopped, and the metallic monster froze up. Those once wild and fiery eyes were now cold and dull, and Masterframe did not even begin to twitch. Suddenly, a fire erupted from Masterframe's left shoulder, and with a brilliant flash of flames, an explosion from Masterframe's body severed the arm completely, leaving it to drop lifelessly to the ground with a booming thud. Hisses, crackles, and small blasts now filled the twilight air, as Masterframe's body began to fall to pieces. "Yes!" Rock cheered, watching the once-mighty Masterframe fall to his feet, "Who's the man now?" Rock pumped his fists into the air, celebrating not because this was the end of Masterframe's reign of terror, but simply because he was still alive. "Can you hear me?" Rock yelled into the sky over the rumble of the collapsing Masterframe, "I'm king of the world! Nothing- and I mean nothing, is ever going to destroy me!"
Masterframe's right elbow exploded on Rock's last words, blowing his right shoulder onto the highway. The highway was suddenly a catapult, and the highway snapped like a twig, launching Rock into the air. The sudden unfortunate turn of events left Rock so surprised that all he could manage to do as he fell from the sky was scream.
"SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!"
Rock tried to double-jump after he hit the peak of his flight. It barely even held him aloft for a millisecond. He plummeted down to the ground, wishing that he still had Auto's starshooter installed. As he gained velocity and plunged downwards at a lethal speed, Rock clamped his eyes shut, and waited for the rocky ground below to split him apart.
Rock kept them shut for longer than he had expected. Something was wrapped around his waist. Something was flying him forwards instead of downwards. Rock opened his eyes and saw the ground below shrinking. Something was pulling him back up. Rock craned his neck around, took a glance at the figure behind him and gasped, "Blues!"
"Good to see you too, Rock," Blues said, tightening his grip on Rock's waist.
The two glided onto an unharmed section of the demolished highway, with Rock quickly breaking free of Blues' grasp and collapsing face-first onto the steel surface. Blues reached behind his back, and flipped off the switch to the metal backpack he carried. "How did you-" Rock stammered, still trying to collect himself, "How did you do that?"
"Antigravity generator," Blues said calmly, holding up the metal box that was once strapped around his shoulders. "One of Auto's inventions. He really wanted you to use this."
"How did you know I was here?" Rock breathed weakly.
"How could we have missed you?" said Blues quickly, looking at the obliterated highway.
Rock let out a long and heavy sigh. "Blues, I'm sorry. I take back what I said abou-"
"Leave it, Rock," said Blues. "I understand." Blues walked towards the edge of the highway, peering over the edge and digging into his trench coat pocket, pulling out a small radio. "Everything's clear Roll. Let's start cleaning up the mess we've made."