Mid-chapter Conversation
Part Two
The scene opened in my office. I was sitting behind my desk, typing something while Iggy was sitting in front of the TV, watching cartoons. Everything was peaceful for a few moments before our stomachs rumbled.
"Ugh! When's Izzy gonna get back with my snack!?" Iggy cried. "I'm hungry!"
"Same here…" I agreed, holding my stomach. "He better not be trying to starve us to death!"
"Come on, Dad. You know he would never do that." The hedgehog offered earnestly.
Meanwhile…
"This was the best idea I've ever had!" Izzy shouted gleefully.
He was sitting on a bench outside the supermarket. Next to him was a plastic bag that was full of chips, cookies, and other assorted treats.
"Now I'll get my vengeance on the boss for taking my powers away. I'll just let 'em squirm for a bit before I come to the rescue." He chuckled evilly.
Back in the studio…
Our stomachs rumbled again as I turned to the camera.
"Ugh… While we're waiting, I guess I better answer the reviews." I clicked around on my computer before logging onto the site and going into the fic's reviews. I grinned. "Looks like I get to answer a whole three reviews!"
"Sweet!" Iggy cheered.
"Let's see… I guess I'll answer Warior's review first." I sweatdropped as I read over it. "Ummm… Thanks for the support. As much as I would love to tear this site a new one, I hope that won't be necessary." I grinned at the camera before looking at the next one.
"To Mythica…" My eyes widened. "It was you who set that elephant loose!?" I cleared my throat. "Well… I hope that cleaning crew comes soon."
"Yeah! I can smell that elephant poop from in here!" Iggy yelled. I sweatdropped again before chuckling nervously.
"Anyway…I'm not sure whether or not zorbing is a word. My word processor says it's not, but what does it know? It's always bugging me about fragments. So to answer your question, probably not, but it is in this fic!
"So, you think that was the longest chapter so far, huh?" I smirked. "Heh, I might surprise you. We'll see anyway." I looked over the review again. "Yeah. Lars is kinda smert in this story."
"What does smert mean?" Iggy asked. I shrugged in response.
"Beats me. It doesn't mean smart, that's for sure!" I gave the review another look. "Heh, that's cool. Take your time with that list. I can wait." I then scrolled down to the last review.
"Eeeeeeeeeee!!!!!! Mike! Ya reviewed!" I squealed. "I thought I was never gonna get another review from you after The Runaway! Hope to see more! Anyway, yeah, you should get Sonic Heroes. It's fun, though it's a pain to get all of the Chaos Emeralds." I raised an eyebrow. "'F1 key?' What the…?" I pressed the corresponding button on my computer, causing a help screen to pop up.
"Ohhhhh…! Uhhh yeah, I guess Izzy is acting as a helper of sorts. I don't know if I'll be making him do that in any future stages. I just wanted to put him in the fic. After all, this is one of my Dimension Hoppers fics. Izzy's gotta be in there for at least one scene. He might show up in future chapters, but he most likely won't be a villain.
"Ugh… The zorbs…" I groaned. "I thought it would've been the best idea to put them in those things instead of letting them roll around in the tables as balls like the Sonic characters. Of course, I didn't count on them tossing their cookies. You wouldn't believe how many takes we had to do!
"Yeah…" I sighed. "Mythica's elephant, Trunkie totally took me by surprise. It's gonna cost me a ton to get those portraits and sculptures replaced!" I held my head and looked at the review again. "Pffft! Of course, we're protected against fire, earthquakes, and termites! Though seagulls and aliens are another story…"
"But what are the odds of that stuff happening?" Iggy asked.
"Hey yeah… We're indoors so we don't have to worry about angry seagulls. And the Rocket Power dimension is completely realistic, so we don't even have to worry about alien abductions!" I gave a hearty laugh.
"Yep! We're completely safe!" The hedgehog cheered. We both laughed cheerfully at our good fortune.
Suddenly…
::CRASH!::
"Huh!?" We turned to the window only to see a flock of seagulls fly in through the shattered remains. They looked completely irate! The flying menaces started pecking at us!
"Ow! Ow! Ow!!!" We screamed as we ran all over the office, holding our heads.
The angry seagulls knocked everything over, practically destroying the room before leaving out the window. Iggy and I blinked and looked around. The whole office was a mess of feathers, bird droppings, and other assorted debris. We coughed up a bunch of feathers before turning to each other.
"Well… At least it can't get any worse." Iggy said with another cough. I nodded in agreement.
Just then, there was a thunderous explosion. The roof had caved in! Both Iggy and I were bathed in a bluish light.
"Oh what now!?!" We both shouted, looking up. We sweatdropped when we found ourselves looking at the bottom of a UFO! We were then levitated off the ground.
"Woah! Wh-what's going on, Daddy!?" The hedgehog shouted. I put on an irritated look as we were lifted higher.
"I think we're getting abducted by aliens."
::SLAM!::
"Alright!" Izzy shouted as he stepped inside. "I got your stupid—WHAT THE!?!" His eyes widened when he noticed Iggy and I slowly flying out of the room.
"Bro! Help us!" Iggy yelped.
"Get us down from here! Quick!" I yelled desperately. Izzy put down the shopping bag and was about to jump to the rescue when he stopped and put on an evil smirk.
"Nah. I think I'll let them take you."
"WHAT!?!" Iggy and I roared.
"You wouldn't dare!" I added.
"Enjoy getting probed!" Izzy said, waving with a wide grin.
"Ummmm… What does probed mean?" Iggy asked me.
"Believe me, you don't wanna know." I replied, turning to Izzy. "Get us down from here now or else!"
"Nope." The hedgehog replied, shaking his head.
"You stupid son of a—" I couldn't finish that curse for Iggy and I disappeared into the alien mothership. Izzy pumped his fist before turning to the camera.
"Ah, that was fun. Anyway, for this part of the chapter, Team Lars is gonna go through the dangerous, but fun level known as 'BINGO Highway.' Why is called that and will they get through it alive? Who knows?! Read on!" He waved at the camera as it whited out.
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Rocket Heroes
Chapter Eight
Zorbing through the Casino
Part Two
Stage Six: BINGO Highway
Mission: Get through the high-speed slides!
"Alright! It looks like we're starting this stage off right!" Lars cheered as he, Reggie, and Pi barreled down a steep slope in their zorbs.
Unlike in the last area of the city, which had warm colors at every turn, the tables in this part of the city featured many chilly shades of blue and yellow. It was almost reminiscent of winter. The tables and light fixtures gave off an electric blue glow. Parts of the tables were transparent, showing the city below. Surrounding the slope were towers that had giant, spinning poker chips on their roofs. Pictured on them were snowflakes, further adding to the theme. And speaking of cold, the highway was placed very high above the park they were at earlier. Strong winds blew, making the trip even more dangerous for the trio, not to mention freezing!
"Brrr! I'm freezing my wings off!" Reggie yelled. "Whose bright idea was it to come up here!?"
"Can't you just shut up and enjoy the ride!?" Lars shouted.
"Applying antifreeze…" Pi said as the others went at it again.
Anyway, the group went along for a few seconds before they passed a couple of bumpers. It was then that they noticed some flappers floating on the table. They were guarding some panels. The trio bowled past them with no problem. They soon got past their opposition and were approaching a ramp that was in front of three lanes that left the table. While Reggie and Pi went around it, Lars rode up the ramp and jumped off. He leaned his body to the left when he saw his teammates take the corresponding lane out of the table. He followed them into it.
The trio was pushed forward by an air ring. They went straight for a few seconds before the path curved to the left. It spiraled downward for a little while before it straightened out and allowed them to land firmly. Their zorbs disappeared as they looked ahead. There was a glass tunnel, but its entrance was sealed off. It seemed to lead into a tower. Guarding it was a yellow flapper that was sporting a searchlight.
"We better avoid that light." Reggie warned.
"Oh please!" Lars scoffed, walking towards the robot. "It's just another one of those stupid floating robots! What's the worst that can happen?"
That was when the flapper spotted him. An alarm was heard from the robot, causing some reinforcements to appear. The two coconut pawns that arrived targeted them and readied their machine guns.
"'What's the worst that can happen?'" The bat mocked, crossing her arms. "You know perfectly well those words are death!" The hedgehog growled and shook his fist at her. Reggie only smirked smugly in response. Lars turned to Pi.
"Deal with those things!"
"Understood." Pi complied, nodding. "Initiate power formation."
The team dodged the bullets and allowed the robot to take the lead. The bat and hedgehog jumped into his fists as he jumped. Using Fire Launcher, he made short work of the coconut pawns. Before the flapper could bring in more robots, they switched to fly formation and brought it down with Thunder Shoot. Pi made the final blow with his fists. After the skirmish, the door to the tunnel opened and Reggie got her first level-up of the stage from a yellow power core. The bat glowed for a bit before glaring at her leader.
"Next time I tell you to watch out for something, watch out!" The hedgehog only turned away with his arms crossed.
"I'm the leader. I don't have to listen to anybody else, especially some girl!" He smirked when he turned around and noticed Pi holding her back. "Come on! Let's keep moving!" He skated ahead into the tunnel. Pi let Reggie go and followed Lars. The bat muttered curses as she too skated inside.
Midway through the tunnel, the trio went around two flappers that also had searchlights. They got through undetected and went up to a fan.
"Hmmmmm…" Lars turned to Pi. "Looks like we're gonna have to use your Triangle Dive." The robot nodded.
"Affirmative." He took the lead and jumped onto the fan. Lars and Reggie followed suit. They all floated around for a bit before they grabbed onto each other. Instantly, they floated up the tower.
"I don't get it." Reggie started. "If Pi's a robot, how is he able to glide? Isn't he too heavy?" The leader instantly glared at her.
"I thought you woulda learned your lesson from the Squid!" The bat blushed at the mention of her friend before giving Lars a curious look.
"How'd you know about that?"
"He was there at the time." The hedgehog replied, jerking his head in Pi's direction.
"Shoulda known…" Reggie sighed, rolling her eyes. "How else would you have heard about the air skates?"
"Now leaving tower… Approaching enemies!" Pi announced as they left the tower. Lars and Reggie looked down.
Below them were four coconut pawns and one jellyfish robot. Half of the pawns had lances while the other half had shields and machine guns.
"Also approaching item!"
The furries looked ahead. Floating in front of them was a red balloon.
"Hurry up and grab that balloon, Pi!" Lars ordered.
"Roger." Pi replied. He made the trio glide forward and pop the balloon. As soon as it popped, they were each encased in a rainbow-colored barrier.
"Guess we got some shields." Reggie commented.
"Alright! Now let's deal with those bots!" Lars shouted.
"Letting go…"
The team got out of the glide and fell towards the robots. Lars spun into a ball and used his homing attack on the jellyfish robot while Pi, with Reggie's unwanted assistance, used Fire Launcher on one of the coconut pawns. The two robots were destroyed as the trio landed and got into fighting poses. Pi ran towards the remaining three robots and punched them out. Reggie grinned when she saw another yellow power core among the debris.
"Alright! It's my lucky day!" She exclaimed as she grabbed it and got her second level-up.
"Duh! Of course we're lucky! Don't tell me you already forgot the huge cash outs we won not even an hour ago!" The bat gave Lars a bored look.
"Using Chaos Control to cheat doesn't exactly qualify as luck, ya know." She said, turning away. She smirked when she heard the hedgehog stomping the ground.
"Preparing to continue stage." Pi informed. He was standing in front of a glass floor. Under it was the beginning of a slope.
"Ok! Let's go!" Lars said, walking up to him. Reggie followed.
Pi slammed his fist into the glass, breaking it and allowing them to jump inside. Their zorbs activated as they rolled around.
"Hey, I wonder why they call it 'BINGO Highway…'" Reggie said to herself.
"Who knows!?" Lars shouted. The bat rolled her eyes.
Anyway, the trip was short. The three rolled down the slope to the right and hit some springs. They were released from the zorbs as they landed on a platform surrounded by towers that had spinning poker chips on top of them. Occupying the platform were two steel-plated flappers. They were zapping the floor as they floated around. They were also guarding a case. Floating just beyond that was a ball spring.
"I'll take it from here!" Reggie said.
The others nodded and switched to fly formation. She then used Thunder Shoot, kicking both Lars and Pi at the robots. Her electrified teammates crashed into the flappers, paralyzing them. As the hedgehog and robot came back to her, the flappers fell to the ground.
"I shall take the lead now." Pi said.
The trio switched to power formation and charged towards the robots. Before they can recover, Pi launched Lars and Reggie at them, destroying the metal ones. The case lowered, revealing a switch.
"I wonder what it does…" Lars muttered, walking up to it. He flicked the switch. Doing so caused a row of rings to appear high above their heads. It seemed to stretch ahead to another platform. "Oh great! How are we supposed to get up there!?"
"Uhhh… Use the spring, duh!" Reggie yelled. Lars glared at her.
"Do that one more time and I'll—"
"You'll what?" She challenged, crossing her arms. The hedgehog shook her fist at her before turning away. "Hmph. Thought so."
"Shut up and get ready to jump!"
Reggie smirked as she walked up to her partners. They jumped and used their homing attack to hit the spring. As balls, they were launched up towards the trail of rings. As soon as he was level with it, Lars used his light speed dash to skate across them. The other two were carried along to the platform on the other side, where a checkpoint was waiting. A gong was at the end of it.
"It's about time I get my first level-up." Lars grumbled as he activated the checkpoint and glowed red for a few seconds. He then looked ahead and smirked. "Hey."
"What?" Reggie and Pi asked. Lars turned to the former.
"You wanted to know why they call it 'BINGO Highway,' right?"
"Yeah…" Reggie replied.
"Well, there's your answer." He pointed ahead.
Across another gap was the entrance to another pinball table. Above it was what looked like a scorecard for BINGO. It consisted of three rows of three. Each spot was numbered one through nine. The numbers were assorted randomly.
Here's how the card looked:
BINGO
974
281
653
"So that's it…" The bat said, nodding.
"Yeah. Looks like we get to play some extreme BINGO." Lars said, snickering as he punched his hand.
"But how do we even get over there?"
"Duh! We'll use that thing over there!" The hedgehog pointed at the gong and turned to Pi. "Let's go!"
"Understood." Pi said, taking the lead. Lars and Reggie jumped into his fists as he hovered towards the gong.
When Pi got into position, he reared back a fist and slammed it into the device. It went around and knocked the trio over the gap to the table. As soon as they entered, they separated and got into their zorbs. Almost as soon as they started rolling, they saw a holographic circle with the number one on it. It was in the middle of the path. Lars went through it, causing it to disappear. Inside the corner of the spheres, a miniature screen turned on and displayed their scorecard, which was identical to the one they saw earlier. On it, the slot that had the one on it disappeared.
"So that's how it works…" Reggie said in awe. "Those must be gates."
"Looks like we have another chance to get big bucks!" Lars added. The bat put on a smirk at that.
"Alright! Let's do it! If we can line up the rows, we'll get some more rings!"
"Ha! Imagine if we get all of the slots taken care of!" The hedgehog grinned.
"This'll be fun!"
"Just a reminder, but—"
"SHUT UP, PI!!!" The others interrupted.
Anyway, they soon came across a flapper. Lars rammed into it while Pi and Reggie went to the right. The robot hit the second gate on the board and then a panel, allowing the bat to pass and hit the third gate. The hedgehog bounced to the right and followed his teammates. The trio overshot the fourth gate, but was able to pass through the fifth one. They traveled for a little longer before they hit the sixth gate, went over a ramp, and were sent into the air. The area of the road they were flying over had a few turns due to walls that were placed on it.
As they descended, the trio leaned to the right. Doing so allowed them to land in front of a flapper that was guarding two yellow panels. All three of them rammed into the robot, destroying it. They then crashed into the panels, turning them red and making them vanish. They bumped their way out of the obstacle and into the seventh gate.
"If we hit the next one, we'll make two rows!" Reggie said cheerfully.
"Let's do it then!" Lars shouted. They traveled for a few more seconds before hitting some bumpers…and the eighth gate!
"BINGO!" The trio yelled joyfully as a jingle was heard. Over twenty rings were dumped into their zorbs.
"Team Blast meter fully charged!" Pi informed.
"Perfect! We'll save it for later!" Lars replied.
Everybody then hit a row of panels. Just ahead, the path split into three. Down the middle path was the last gate, but the area was guarded by a flapper that was shooting electricity at the table.
"Passing through final gate required for BINGO." Pi told his team.
"You heard the man—err…bot." Reggie said, chuckling nervously. "Get through that gate!"
"You got it!" Lars yelled. He waited a few more seconds for the flapper to pass before blasting into the middle lane, grabbing the final gate. A jingle was heard as some rings were placed into his zorb. "Alright! BINGO!" The others followed him out of the table.
They rode a ramp that curved to the left. After a few twists and turns, they wound up on a normal pinball table. There wasn't anything interesting on this table. Just some flippers and bumpers. The trio got out of the table fast by going through the exit at the top. Before leaving, Lars destroyed a flapper and got his second level-up from a red power core. They landed in a large room. On the wall in front of them was a giant roulette machine. Floating in the room was a couple of die-shaped platforms that were moving around. A coconut pawn equipped with a lance charged at them.
"Pi?" Lars sighed, snapping his fingers. The bot stood at attention and punched out the pawn. Just then, a gold jellyfish robot approached them. Knowing that the female of the group wouldn't be as obedient, the hedgehog turned to her.
"Take care of it!" He ordered.
"Right!" Reggie replied.
They got into fly formation. The bat kicked Lars at the robot, paralyzing and knocking it down. Pi then let go and destroyed it with a quick punch. He and his leader returned to their positions, allowing Reggie to fly them up to one of the platforms. After taking care of a flapper that had a gun attached to its underside, they hit a spring that propelled them into an alcove.
"Ugh! What's with all these robots!?" Lars complained after Reggie kicked him into another jellyfish bot.
(Me: It's how your stages work. Deal with it!)
"Oy…" Lars slapped his forehead. He was kicked into another flapper, destroying it. An orange power core fell out of it, giving Pi his first level-up. "Alright! I'm taking the lead again!" He let go and skated ahead. The others looked at each other, shrugged, and followed.
Lars led them towards a narrow corridor. There was a large gap in the middle. The only way across seemed to be a die platform that stretched up and down.
"Guess I'll have to lift you guys across." Reggie said, flapping her wings. She flew about a foot off the ground before the hedgehog grabbed her feet and pulled her back to earth.
"Oh no ya don't! There's another way to get across this! Follow me!" He skated off.
"Whatever." The bat rolled her eyes before following.
Before the floor ended, the trio jumped up. Using Triangle Jump, they were able to cross the chasm safely by leaping from wall to wall. When they reached the other side, they noticed a checkpoint. The leader promptly activated it and got his final level-up.
"Took long enough." He grumbled, crossing his arms.
"Man, nothing's ever good enough for you, is it?" Reggie teased. Lars gave her an irritated look before skating towards a spring bar that was next to the wall ahead of them. The others followed and hit it. They were launched up to a hole in the wall, where another slope started.
The group got inside the hole and started rolling down and to the left. The path curved for a bit before everybody wound up between two flippers. Some flappers and item bubbles were waiting. The team busted the robots and got a few rings from the bubbles before allowing themselves to fall back on the path. They rolled down for a few seconds before going to the right and hitting some springs.
As they were propelled into the air, the zorbs disappeared, allowing them to grab onto some hooks. They were pulled up to another platform. Five coconut pawns were guarding another tunnel. Two of them were unarmed while the others had guns. Lars cracked his knuckles as the unarmed ones noticed them and charged.
"I'm gonna enjoy this." He said before jumping.
He used his homing attack and thrust himself at the closer pawn. He destroyed it instantly and bounced up into the air. He attacked the next one and spun while grabbing his legs after rebounding off it. The remaining three coconut pawns opened fire on him. He just simply spun over them before striking the middle one. He performed an Ollie over the other robots' shots before ending them. Lars landed gracefully and bowed before his teammates as the door to the tunnel opened.
"Ha! How's that for showmanship!?" He bragged, crossing his arms. A recording of an audience cheering was heard from Pi while Reggie just rolled her eyes at the act.
"Quit fooling around and let's go!" She shouted.
"Stupid, lousy, little…" Lars cursed to himself as he skated into the tunnel, followed by Reggie. Before entering, Pi grabbed an orange power core, giving himself his second level-up.
They skated/floated to the end of the tunnel, which (like earlier) had a fan. Pi took the lead, allowing him and his partners to use Triangle Dive. The air current lifted them out of the tower they were in and over a rotating platform. Below them were some robots while a red balloon was right in front of them. The robots were guarding a case that contained a switch for the door ahead.
"Stupid pieces of junk!" Lars yelled, looking at the automatons.
"I'll destroy them all." Pi added.
"Yeah, yeah. That's nice and all." Reggie said, rolling her eyes. "Now, can we hit that balloon and deal with them?" Lars growled at her before jumping towards the balloon. As soon as he hit it, a rainbow aura surrounded all three of them.
They had become invincible!
"Let's go!" Lars ordered, disappearing animé style. Flashes of light emanated from the two coconut pawns, two jellyfish robots, and one flapper that were stationed. The hedgehog soon reappeared where the others were standing. He was facing away from the robots with his eyes closed.
"Did you do anything?" The bat asked.
"Heh, heh, heh…" Lars snickered. He snapped his fingers. The robots on the ground exploded immediately after. The case lowered, revealing the switch. Reggie glowered at him.
"Show off." She said before jumping down, followed by Pi. The leader gaped after her and stomped the ground before following. They hit the switch and continued on into the room, but not before Pi got his final power core.
Inside were two coconut pawns that had lances. Needless to say, they were defeated in nothing flat. Ahead was a glass floor. Outside the window at the end of the room was a BINGO scorecard. Lars and Reggie grinned greedily as their invincibility ended.
"Time for another round." The female said, rubbing her hands.
"Yep. Time for more money." The male agreed before turning to the robot. "Would you do the honors?" Pi said nothing as he walked up to the floor and wound up a fist. He brought it crashing to the floor. It shattered, allowing the trio to plummet towards the beginning of the new road.
As they fell, the bracelets given to them by Izzy activated. They were surrounded by the same, familiar orbs of energy they used to travel in. Their bodies were also restrained. Like in the first table, a mini-scorecard appeared in the corner of the zorbs. The assortment of numbers was different from the first board.
This is what was displayed:
BINGO
865
271
349
They landed and started rolling downwards. Almost instantly, they hit some bumpers and separated. The trio bounced around that first area for a few seconds before they went through a narrow part of the path. They rejoined as they passed some more springs. They soon went to the left at a fork in the road. Seconds later, a flapper guarding three panels came into view. Ahead of it was the first number gate.
While Lars and Pi took care of the robot, Reggie pulled ahead and went through the gate, causing the one spot on their scorecard to disappear. The hedgehog and robot caught up to her as they jumped over a gap in the board. When they landed, the group noticed that beyond another flapper, there was a hole in the middle! On the left and right sides of it were the second and third gates.
"Split up and don't fall!" Lars ordered, going to the left, followed by Reggie. Pi went to the right. The leader and his second in command went through both gates.
"Alright! If we get through the seventh or eighth gates, we'll get a BINGO!" Reggie told her partners as they rejoined again.
"Then let's go for it!"
The board curved sharply to the left as they continued. After passing a wall, the trio encountered another hole. Luckily, this one was protected by a couple of panels. The fourth gate was also in front of it.
"Pass the gate and get away quickly." Pi advised.
Lars passed through the gate and bounced off one of the panels. He followed his team, who rolled to the left of the hole. They went over a narrow bridge and went through the fifth gate before going over another gap.
"We gotta get that seventh gate for a double BINGO!" Reggie shouted as they landed.
"We'll almost there!" Lars added.
They hit a couple of panels just before going past the sixth gate.
"Pass through next gate for a double BINGO." Pi informed.
"Duh!" Lars yelled as the board curved to the right. Almost immediately after saying that, he hit some bumpers before passing through the seventh gate!
"BINGO!" All of them cheered as rings poured into the leader's zorb. Just ahead of a couple of flappers, the trio noticed the eighth and ninth gates, which were right next to each other.
"Fan out and get me that jackpot!" Reggie ordered crazily.
"You!? Who said you were getting it!?" Lars challenged.
"You want my foot halfway up your butt?!" The bat retorted. "Get through those gates!"
"Pfft! Fine, but I'm keeping those rings!"
"Approaching resistance!" Pi yelled, ending the fight.
Doing some quick maneuvers impossible for even the greatest zorb racers to pull off, the team went around the flappers and avoided the bumpers that were nearby. As they approached the final two gates, Lars was in the center, Reggie was to his left, and Pi was to his right. They passed through the gates, causing a flourish of trumpets to play.
"SCORE!!!" Reggie was literally bouncing inside her zorb as rings were awarded to all three of them.
"JACKPOT!!!" Lars roared happily. A recording of an audience going wild was heard from Pi. The scorecards on their screens disappeared and were replaced with the word "BINGO!"
"Perfect BINGO acquired." Pi supplied.
Ecstatic, the trio exited the table through a ramp. It went straight for a few seconds before ending. They went in the air for a short time before landing on a ramp that went upwards. They almost hit an air ring, but they stopped short of it. They rolled down the new ramp, which curved to the right. It ended and they landed on another incline that ended with an air ring. This time, they hit it and were sent down the ramp. The lane dipped downward and ended, throwing them onto a pinball table. Lars grinned when he looked at the very top of the table.
"Oh yeah! Time for another jackpot!"
"What are you talking about?" Reggie asked.
"Look up!" The bat looked and groaned.
At the top of the table was a slot machine.
"Don't tell me we're gonna cheat again!" She yelled at her leader.
"Ok, I won't." Lars replied, snickering. "Let's go!"
The trio rolled towards a flipper at the bottom of the table. The hedgehog used the controls in his zorb to knock them to the left. They hit an arrow that propelled them into a lane. It brought them up to a pair of flippers that was directly under the slot machine. Grinning madly, the leader used the flippers again to knock them upwards. They crashed into a couple of coconut pawns before entering the machine, causing the reels to start.
"Chaos Control required to gain six hundred rings." Pi said as they were let out of their zorbs.
"Uhhhh… I think I'd know that, duh!" Lars retorted, bringing out his Chaos Emerald. Reggie groaned as he used his signature technique.
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"Man! I love that move!" Lars cheered as he and the others left the table six hundred rings richer.
"I can't believe I got stuck with you!" Reggie shouted as they landed. They were standing in front of a crevice that had a spinning die platform in the middle. A case containing a switch was right behind them.
"What?!" The hedgehog yelled as they went into fly formation and knocked down a couple of flappers that were guarding the case.
"You keep cheating with that damn emerald!" The bat retorted as Pi destroyed the robots, revealing a yellow power core.
"Hello! It's not cheating if you don't get caught!" He went to flick the switch as Reggie grabbed the core and got her final level-up.
"It's stealing!" She roared as they got into fly formation again.
"Pfft! Like I care about that!" Lars argued as they flew over to the platform (which was now stationary) and then to the other side, avoiding a falling weight as well.
"You already got caught stealing those skates AND whomping Raymundo!" Reggie bellowed as they approached some robots. "When we get back to Ocean Shores, Officer Shirley's gonna be all over you!"
"Like she'll catch me!" The leader scoffed. "And another thing—" He stopped and looked around himself.
"…What?" The bat asked curiously. Lars closed his eyes and stood still.
"I sense another Chaos Emerald." He replied.
"It's about time." Reggie sneered. "I didn't even know you can sense where they are. So where is it?" Lars kept perfectly still as he tried to pinpoint the location of the jewel. He soon opened his eyes with a cold glare.
"It's right there!" He answered, pointing ahead. Beyond the robots was a locked door. "The next emerald is right there behind that door!"
"Must defeat Coconutman's robots first!" Pi reminded.
"Right!" Lars agreed, pulling out his emerald again. "Team Blast: Chaos Blaze!"
"Hey! How about a little warning?!" Reggie scolded. Lars didn't pay attention as he tossed the emerald up.
Like at Casino Park, the hedgehog froze time with Chaos Control. The bat and robot quickly got behind him. She lifted Pi up as he started charging energy. He soon let loose a massive beam of energy, which wiped out the robots guarding the door. However, it didn't open.
"Now for that emerald…" Lars said, moving forward. Reggie and Pi sweatdropped and looked at each other before running up to him.
"Woah! What was up with that?" The former asked. The hedgehog turned to her.
"I told you, I want all seven emeralds and nothing will get in my way." He answered in a cold voice. "Remember that." He continued over to the door. The bat tilted her head in confusion as she watched him. She soon sighed and shook her head.
"He must be determined to beat Otto." She murmured. She shrugged and caught up to the others.
Lars put his hand up to the door and closed his eyes.
"Yep. It's there all right." He smirked. "I can feel it. But how do we open the door!?"
"Two switches detected nearby!" Pi told his boss. "Require two people to activate."
"Alright then. Take the dork—" Reggie scowled as he pointed at her. "—and get this thing open." Pi saluted before walking over to Reggie. He snatched her wrist and dragged her along.
"Hey! I can walk, ya know!" She protested. Pi stopped and fixed her with a cold, lifeless glare. Reggie gulped as she kept trying to remind herself that he's a robot; he's built to look like that. She was having a hard time though.
The robot continued pulling the girl along with him. He located both switches behind two different glass pillars. They were across from each other.
"Stay here until I activate the remaining switch." He ordered as he placed the bat on the left switch. Reggie glared at him as he stomped over to the other switch. He flicked it, causing the door to open. Lars grinned evilly as he stepped inside. Reggie and Pi followed. The female member gasped as her eyes widened.
"Woah! It's a vault!"
The room was littered with thousands upon thousands of rings. The only way out besides the way they came in was a gong that was in front of them. Lars' grin widened when he looked in the middle of the vault.
Locked in a cage was the blue Chaos Emerald!
"Beautiful." He said, staring at the jewel. He then turned to Pi. "Grab it!" The robot nodded and walked over to the cage. He reared back a fist and brought it crashing into the emerald's prison, liberating it. He grasped it in one of his sharp claws and turned to the hedgehog. He handed it to Lars, whose eyes gleamed in the glow created by the jewel.
"It took long enough, but I finally got a new addition to my collection." He said, pulling out the purple emerald. Both of them reacted to each other, bathing the room in a mixture of amethyst and sapphire. The auras disappeared as he put them away.
"Two down, five to go." He snickered before turning to the others. "Grab what you can carry and let's go!"
The trio got as many rings as they can cram into their pockets/compartments/unknown spaces before moving over to the gong and getting into power formation. Lars and Reggie jumped into Pi's fists. The robot punched the gong, sending them flying. They soared through the air before bouncing off a spring bar. As balls, they went over an area that had several glass panels, as well as three robots.
At the apex of their jump, Pi unrolled and brought his partners into his fists again. He targeted two flappers that were flying nearby and fired. The two fireballs crashed into the robots, destroying them. The trio landed firmly on the ground. Lars skated up to the coconut pawn that was also guarding the glass panes and destroyed it with a single, hard punch.
"Heh." He said, chuckling as he dusted off his hands. He looked at the glass-covered holes and smirked. "Sitting ducks." Reggie and Pi walked up to him and looked. Inside each of the holes was a coconut pawn.
"Hmmm… Guess we don't have to worry about them." The bat said. "We can just walk right by."
"I don't think so." Lars pointed ahead.
Standing by the wall ahead was a case that seemed to contain a spring. Above it were two ball-shaped springs and two giant dice. The cubes were stretching up and down. Reggie slapped her head and glared at the hedgehog.
"You just HAD to use our Team Blast back there, didn't ya!?!" She snapped, shaking her fists dangerously. "It woulda made the job much easier if we waited til now to use it!" Lars shrugged and gave a goofy grin in response.
"Hey! I had to get that Chaos Emerald at all costs!" He defended. Reggie only intensified her scowl.
"There were only three robots! We coulda easily taken them! Can you say, 'overkill!?'"
"Hmph!" Lars grunted indignantly, turning away with his arms crossed. He looked over his shoulders with a smirk. "It's no problem anyway."
"What do you mean?" She asked curiously, never losing her look of anger. The leader turned to her.
"It's simple. Hey Pi!" He turned to his metal subordinate. Pi stood at attention, waiting orders. Lars grinned devilishly. "Time for some target practice!" The robot saluted.
"Understood." He said, making his hands sink into his wrists. Reggie's eyes widened as she turned to the other animal.
"You wouldn't!" Lars only grinned toothily in response. The bat quickly took flight in an attempt to get as far away from the blast zone as possible.
"Hey! Wait for me!" Lars shouted, jumping up and grabbing her feet. Reggie yelped as she flapped harder. They got about fifty feet above the area as Pi stomped into the center of the glass panes.
"This'll be good." The hedgehog said, smirking mischievously.
"Oh brother." Reggie said, rolling her eyes.
Not even ten seconds after that, Pi unloaded a massive payload. His legs stood still as he spun his upper body around while launching dozens of missiles from his wrists. The warheads flew high into the air, over Lars and Reggie, and directly into each and every single one of the glass floors. The coconut pawns patrolling didn't even know what hit them. As soon as the missiles exploded, great pillars of fire rose from the holes. The bat and hedgehog scrambled to dodge the flames, cursing at each other all the while.
When the explosions ended, columns of smoke rose from where the coconut pawns once stood. Surely, all of them were destroyed. The two furries descended and touched down by the case, which lowered, revealing the spring. A few moments passed before Pi came out of the gray cloud.
"Team Blast meter recharged." He droned.
"Good job!" Lars commended. "Now let's go!" He turned his attention to the spring.
Without thinking twice, he jumped on it and was launched up towards the first ball-shaped spring. He bounced up towards the second one as a ball. He rebounded off that one and landed on the left die platform, which was at its lowest point. It rose up to a new area. Not wanting to get left behind, Reggie and Pi followed. They bounced off the spring, up the two balls, and onto the right die. It lifted them up to where Lars was.
Before them was the entrance to another round of BINGO. Unlike the first two roads, the entrance was a small hole in a wall. The scorecard for the game made up the wall. Guarding the entryway was a flapper that was shooting electricity at the path. The hedgehog turned to the bat.
"Deal with that thing and let's go!" He ordered. Reggie gave him a defiant sneer as she jumped up, carrying Pi. She used Thunder Shoot, kicking the electrified robot at its green counterpart. The flow of electricity ended as the flying robot was destroyed. The bat and blue robot touched down.
"Goal ring detected nearby!" Pi announced.
"Finally!" Reggie cheered, stretching her wings. Lars looked down at the news.
"Man… That means this is the last game…" He gave a soft sigh. The girl rolled her eyes at the so-called "dramatics." She knew he was going on about not getting anymore rings after this one.
"Quit your whining and come on!" She yelled jumping into the hole. Her bracelet activated almost immediately.
"Hey! I'm the leader!" Lars protested, following after her. Pi shrugged and entered last. Their zorbs also activated as they went down a long tunnel. Blurs of blue and yellow swam past them as the path twisted, turned, dipped, and rose. As they rolled towards their destination, mini scorecards appeared in the corner of their vehicles.
Here's what this one looked like:
BINGO
154
289
763
The tunnel dipped a few more times before Reggie noticed the exit coming up.
"We're almost there!" She told the others. "Get ready!"
"Alright!" Lars whooped. "There's no way I'm gonna lose this time!"
"News flash: We didn't lose once yet!"
"Shaddap! Don't jinx it!" Reggie rolled her eyes.
"Approaching final table." Pi informed.
"No duh!!!" The others yelled.
They left the tunnel and found themselves rolling downhill like the previous two times.The first few seconds of the game went by with no incident, but soon, they ran into three yellow panels guarded by two flappers. As the trio took care of the robots, Lars noticed the obstacle ahead. The road split into two paths before entering a covered area. On the right path was the first gate and the second one occupied the left path.
"When we get past these guys, spilt up!" He ordered.
"Affirmative." Pi acknowledged.
After getting through the panels, the group rolled downwards just before entering the tunnel. Reggie went left and through the second gate while Lars and Pi went to right and through the first one. On Reggie's path, the right wall was missing while the left one was nowhere to be found on Lars and Pi's side.
"When we get the seven, we'll get a BINGO!" The hedgehog shouted to his comrades.
"Hey! Watch it!" The bat yelled to the robot, who was teetering on the edge.
"Leaning to the right…" Pi said, moving away from the edge.
They soon cleared the obstacle and regrouped. The path split again, causing Lars to get separated from his team. Ahead on either side was a flapper, which was floating in front of a hole. The team leaned away from the robots and passed. The bat and hedgehog sighed with relief as they all rejoined. The road split into three paths as it started curving to the left. Reggie went down the center lane while Lars and Pi took the left and right lanes respectively. The bat quickly went inside a single-reel slot machine.
"Hmmmm… Guess I get to play without having to worry about Lars cheating." She said as she was let out of her zorb. She walked up to the reel, which started spinning prior to entering. She watched it spin for a few seconds before she pressed the button under it. The wheel stopped, revealing Otto's face. Unlike on the traditional slot machines, she got twenty rings. After collecting the gold circles, she was released back onto the table.
While the bat was trying to catch up with her teammates, Lars and Pi struggled against the forces of gravity as they rolled. They dodged some bumpers and springs before going through the third gate.
"C'mon! Keep moving!" Lars told the automaton as they rammed into a couple of coconut pawns.
The path spilt in two again. However, unlike last time, the left and right lanes were on a very sharp curve. Also, the entire midsection of the road was missing. Hugging the wall hard, Lars and Pi took the left lane, allowing them to pass through the fourth gate. Reggie soon rejoined as they reached a jump. The trio went over the large gap and cleared a row of panels that formed a wall. They landed on the road and dodged a hole in the middle before continuing.
"Oh man, that was close!" The bat commented.
"No kidding!" The hedgehog agreed.
"We must keep moving." Pi advised.
The road continued to curve sharply to the left as they kept rolling. They bounced around due to some bumpers for a few seconds before hitting a coconut pawn. The path tilted upwards and to the right. The trio stayed close to the right wall as they kept moving. Before reaching another jump, they went through the fifth gate, giving them their first BINGO!
"Yes!" Lars cheered as he received some rings.
"We've gotta be halfway through this thing!" Reggie added as they rolled across a narrow bridge.
"Approximately fifty-three percent of table completed." Pi clarified. The bat rolled her eyes.
"Let's go! Just four more gates til we get a perfect BINGO!" Lars said.
The team cleared the bridge and rammed into a flapper that was surrounded by panels. After ridding the highway of the robot, they moved on to find that the table had straightened out again. Also, things seemed a little safer. It looked like the worst was behind them. They found themselves going towards three different metal ramps. They all curved to the right towards another pinball table.
"Try to get in the center!" Reggie told the others.
"Right!" Her teammates replied.
Unfortunately, despite their best efforts, they only managed to enter the left lane. They traveled along it before landing in the top section of the new table, which housed a slot machine. The hedgehog was practically screaming to his subordinates to get inside. Of course, fate was against them and so they continued on with the game.
"Damn it! I can't believe I missed my shot at another jackpot!" Lars was heard crying.
"Oh quit your whining, you big baby!" Reggie shouted.
"WHAT!?!" The hedgehog roared.
"You heard me!" The bat retorted.
"Oy…" Pi droned, listening to them go at it yet again. While the two fought, he rolled ahead.
After passing through a narrow section, the robot crashed into a flapper that was situated between two bumpers. Directly ahead was a ramp. Lars and Reggie caught up as he bashed through the enemy. Pi rolled up the ramp and was sent airborne and through the sixth gate. He landed on a new section of the board that was going down to the left. Due to the position of this area, plus the many bumpers, it was hard to get around. Unfortunately for the leader, they missed the seventh gate completely, but they did hit the eighth one, giving them another BINGO.
"Well, that's good to know." Lars murmured as rings were deposited into his vehicle.
"Yeah. Just one more gate and we'll be through with this stage." Reggie added.
"Approaching final gate." Pi informed.
"You know, I'm getting sick and tired of you pointing out the obvious!" The bat yelled.
"I hate to say it, but she's right! Quit it, Pi!" The hedgehog agreed.
Anyway, they went around a couple of ball-shaped springs before reaching the last gate.
"BINGO!" Lars cheered.
"Whew! Glad that's over. Now onto the goal ring." Reggie said.
"God, you just wanna rush through everything, don'tcha!?"
"Well why not!?" She countered. "We gotta deal with Mr. Stimpleton, NOT gamble!!!"
"You're the biggest nag on the planet!!!" Lars spat.
Before the bat can think of a stinging insult to that one, all three of them entered the last area of the board, which featured quite a lot of bumpers and springs. Also featured were three lanes leaving the table. They bounced around awhile before going down the middle one. They all hit a spring and were launched upwards. Their zorbs disappeared as they hit one air ring after another. The group of three was sent up at least two hundred feet in the air.
"Holy crap! We're way high!" The leader exclaimed.
"Gee, I didn't notice that one bit…NOT!!!" The bat roared sarcastically.
"Approaching hidden game of BINGO." Pi said. The other two quit glaring at each other and turned their attention to the robot.
"See now, if we knew that already, you would've gotten it so bad when we landed." Reggie said, shaking her fist.
"But at least I get one more chance to win!" Lars yelled happily. "Time to play some aerial BINGO!"
"Let's just get this over with…" The flying member of the trio said with a sigh.
They soon passed the final air ring and were thrust up over the usual number gates for BINGO. All around them, the group saw the scorecards for the game. Here's how they were arranged.
BINGO
761
482
593
"Alright! Fan out!" Lars ordered as they started falling. He was in the center, Reggie was to his left, and Pi was to his right.
The hedgehog fell through the first gate, which was in the middle of the playing field. Shortly thereafter, the bat and robot went through the second and third gates, giving them their first BINGO.
"Yes!" Reggie cheered as rings were given to her.
"Heh. Looks like you're enjoying this." Lars said with a smirk. "I thought you hated gambling."
"Oh I do." Reggie replied as Pi went through the fourth gate. "I hate it even more when you gotta cheat to win." She went through the fifth gate.
"Hey, I'll cheat if I feel like it. Nobody's gonna bust me!" He went through the sixth one.
"Why do I feel like I've had this conversation before?" She shrugged.
"Double BINGO." Pi announced as he went through the seventh gate. He got forty rings.
Nothing more was said as they concentrated on the game. To Lars' misfortune, all three of them missed the final two gates. They soon landed in an alcove in a pinball table. Right behind them was the goal ring. Its golden aura exuded a radiant energy, warming up the worn out animals.
"Ugh! You dorks messed up my chances for my perfect BINGO!" Lars scolded. Reggie gave him a dubious look.
"WE did?! Excuse me!?"
"That's what I said!" The hedgehog yelled, pulling out the purple Chaos Emerald. "Be right back." He raised it above his head. He would've used Chaos Control had a smirking Reggie not pushed Pi into the goal ring, ending the stage. It disappeared, preventing Lars from using his signature technique.
"What the hell!?" He roared at the bat. "Who told you to push him into that ring!?" Reggie grinned as she crossed her arms.
"Nobody. I just felt like it." She said simply. "Bust!" She fought the urge to laugh as the leader of the group stomped his feet and ranted on and on.
Lars was about to give her some choice words when a gray flash appeared in front of them. When it ended, Izzy was standing before them.
"Ya sure took your sweet time finishing those stages!" He addressed the trio with a sneer. He held his hand out toward them. "Since you're done, you won't be needing those bracelets anymore. So fork 'em over!" Reggie and Pi took off their bracelets and handed them to the older-looking hedgehog without any questions. Grumbling from their previous encounter, Lars reluctantly gave up his too.
"Thank you." The taller furry said, putting them away in his vest. "Guess I'll see you guys around." It was then that he pulled out the gray emerald, causing Lars' eyes to widen. "Chaos—"
"Oh no ya don't!" Lars interrupted, grabbing the other's jewel. Izzy instantly squeezed it, preventing him from taking it. Instantly, a game of Tug 'o War began. "Drop it!"
"Are you crazy!?" Izzy demanded, struggling to pull the emerald away. "I already told ya! This ain't your dimension's emerald!"
"I don't care!" Lars grunted, pulling the rock towards him. "I want it!"
"Let go!" The hedgehog in the vest ordered.
"No way! You let go!" The hedgehog in the helmet retorted.
As the two fought to claim the jewel, Reggie and Pi decided to interject. They both put their arms around the hedgehogs' waists. Reggie was with Izzy while Pi was dealing with Lars.
"Let go of it, Lars!" The former grunted as she pulled back.
"Yes. Relinquish the emerald. It doesn't belong to us." The latter agreed, trying to pull Lars away.
"No way!" The hedgehog in the white helmet exclaimed. "I'll only need four more emeralds after this shoobie lets go of it!"
"Back off, kook!" The other hedgehog shouted. "This emerald's on loan! I can't let ya have it!"
The fight continued for a few seconds before Lars thought up of a brilliant idea. Unfortunately, Izzy also had the same idea.
'If I use Chaos Control…' The former started.
'I'll be able to get away with the emerald!' The latter finished, snickering evilly. They both licked their lips, getting ready to call forth their attack.
"Chaos Control!!!" They both roared, giving each other a defiant smirk. They both blinked when they realized what the other said. "What the—!?"
Instantly, the gray, purple, and blue emeralds glowed brightly. Next thing they knew, all four of them disappeared in a blinding flash. They were still fighting for the coveted jewel when they reappeared on a circular platform surrounded by buildings. It was designed like a roulette table. A red spring bar was nearby. Floating above the area was a balloon of the same color. The landscape was made up of some towers that had casino chips on their roofs, plus a couple of buildings that looked like giant slot machines. A few seconds passed before Pi let go of Lars, causing the others to fall in a heap.
"Coconutman energy detected nearby."
"What!?" Reggie said as she and the others stood up. "You sure?" Pi only nodded in response. They all looked around themselves for a few seconds before a gray hovercraft was seen flying towards them. It hovered in front of one of the slot machine buildings.
"It's him!" Lars shouted, getting into a fighting pose. Izzy gasped when he recognized the floating figure. A look of fear washed over him.
"Oh hell naw! I'm outta here!" He said, holding his emerald above his head. "Chaos Control!" And he was gone. It didn't matter to the hedgehog in the helmet though. He had bigger fish to fry.
The one floating was indeed Dr. Coconutman, A.K.A Merv Stimpleton!
"Woah! It really is the Mervinator!" Reggie said in shock. Lars turned to her with a glower.
"You really thought I was lying?" He asked in a cold voice. The female crossed her arms.
"It's been known to happen." She answered, nodding. Lars rolled his eyes before a thought came to him.
"Wait, what about back in those slot machines? You had to have seen his face!"
"You never know." Reggie started with a shrug. "Somebody could've put his face on those reels to throw us off." Slapping his head, Lars turned back to the cause of this whole thing.
"Yo!" He yelled, getting the doctor's attention. Merv looked over the side of his craft and chuckled evilly.
"Well, well, it seems that you were somehow able to get out of that base." He said. Lars and Pi clenched their fists.
"Must destroy Coconutman." The latter droned, readying his guns.
"You?!" Coconutman started in shock. His surprised look turned into a glare. "How dare you betray your master!?"
"'Master!?' You turned him into a robot!" Reggie shouted compassionately. "You stripped him of his life! His personality! He can never feel anything again! I hope you're proud of yourself!"
Lars gave her a confused look while Pi just stared at her, not having the ability to show his emotions. Although, if he was able to, he'd probably be crying at the fact that his teammate stood up for him, despite all the things he did to her and her friends when he was human. Instead of being moved by the speech, however, the doctor raised an eyebrow at her.
"What are you doing out here!?" He demanded. "And with him?!" He pointed at the hedgehog, who scowled and crossed his arms. "I thought you hated each other!" The bat sighed.
"Oh we do, alright." She started, crossing her arms. "It's a looooong story, and I don't have time to tell it!"
"Forget about her! You better tell me everything about my past or else!" Lars ordered. "Am I really some kind of genetic freak!? What happened to my memory!?" Dr. Coconutman scoffed and waved a dismissive hand.
"Hmph! Memory? What memory? You have no past to remember!"
"What?!" The hedgehog was taken aback by this.
"Well, I believe our little session is over." Merv started, grinning as he gripped the controls of his transport. "I'll see you hooligans again soon. That is, if you live long enough! MUAHAHAHAHA!!!"
BOSS BATTLE!
ROBOT CARNIVAL
"Get them!" Dr. Coconutman ordered as he flew a considerable distance away from the arena to watch. In several flashes of light, some flappers appeared. Some were unarmed while others were equipped with guns or bombs. They surrounded the trio.
"Get back here!" Lars roared at Merv.
"Forget about it! We gotta fight these guys!" Reggie yelled at him.
"Numerous robots detected! Prepare to attack!" Pi added.The leader clenched his fist and nodded before skating head on towards the robots. He made to use his homing attack against one of the flappers when it ascended out of his range.
"Crap! I can't reach it!" Lars cursed, dodging some bullets. He turned to Reggie. "Let's go!"
"Right!" She complied, flying out of the robots' range of attack.
Weaving around the many bullets flying, she descended and scooped up the others, allowing them to get into fly formation. When the bat was in range, she used Thunder Shoot, kicking both of her teammates at the robots. As the electrified Lars and Pi flew towards their targets, Reggie allowed herself to fall towards the arena, dodging some robots that tried to ram into her. All around her, paralyzed flappers fell onto the ground. When the attack ended, the hedgehog and blue robot landed near the bat.
"Hurry up and get rid of them, Pi!" Lars ordered.
"Understood!" Pi replied, charging towards them.
Before the robots could recover, he punched them all out. Explosions occurred all over the arena as all of them were destroyed. When the smoke cleared, the trio was revealed standing. Two yellow power cores were also present. Reggie quickly grabbed them and felt stronger.
"Hey wait!" She said, looking up. "If we just went through that stage, why am I still able to level-up?"
(Me: Because when you touched the goal ring, you lost the strength provided by the power cores.)
"Oh great! That means me and Pi still have to level up!" Lars complained.
"Grrr… You may have gotten through the first wave, but let's see you deal with this!" Dr. Coconutman yelled, pressing a button on his machine's console.
Instantly, a dozen coconut pawns carrying lances fell onto the battlefield and charged towards the trio. With a couple of well-placed Fire Launcher attacks, Pi took care of them just as fast as they appeared. When the dust settled, two red power cores were revealed.
"Alright!" Lars pumped his fists before grabbing them.
"Team Blast meter charged." Pi announced.
"Good! We can use it on the next wave!"
"Wait! We better save it just in case some really strong robots pop up." Reggie advised.
"Pffft! Whatever." Lars grunted.
"If you little brats are done whispering to each other, here comes the next batch!" Merv shouted.
In nine flashes of light, six coconut pawns equipped with lances and three flappers, which had guns, appeared.
"Ugh! Give me a break!" The hedgehog yelled as the pawns charged towards them. He skated head on and used his homing attack on half of them.
Thanks to his recent level-ups, they were taken care of in almost nothing flat. Reggie's final power core fell out of one of the robots. She grabbed it and took Pi with her. She flew up to the flappers and let her metal companion do the talking. Pi was released from the bat's grasp as he wound up his fists. As soon as he was within range, he got rid of all of them with some quick punches. He grabbed an orange power core that fell out of one of them.
Meanwhile, the remaining coconut pawns backed Lars into a wall. The hedgehog smirked as they got ready to have some shish-kabob.
"You bunch of metal freaks think you can take me?" He sped past them, causing them all to get tossed out of the arena by his slipstream. "Good. I didn't think so either."
Merv was livid as he banged his craft's console.
"Smash them all!" He bellowed, pressing a button.
Nine flappers that were practically stacked atop one another appeared. The doctor sweatdropped at the sight of the robots' formation. They didn't even have any weapons! The trio turned to him. Lars and Reggie were smirking.
"You're joking, right?" The bat asked. Merv had a nervous look on him.
"He's not joking." The hedgehog said, his grin turning evil.
"What a shame." Reggie said, shaking her head at the doctor. The trio turned towards the robots.
Needless to say, they took care of them without breaking a sweat. After the bat used Thunder Shoot to destroy them, Lars and Pi got another power core each. The leader was fully leveled-up while the robot still had one more to go. Dr. Coconutman slapped his head.
"Ok… Let's try this again." He grumbled as he pressed the same button from earlier.
Electricity was heard crackling as flappers surrounded them. Several were shooting electricity at the ground while some had bombs attached to their undersides. The robots floated all around them and closed in!
"Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!" The trio screamed as they were zapped. They were tossed into one of the walls of the arena, looking charred. Lars was beyond mad as he stood up, shaking his fists.
"Ok! That does it!" He roared as he took out the purple emerald. "Team Blast: Chaos Blaze!"
Time was frozen as Reggie picked up Pi, who was charging energy. Without a second thought, the robot fired a beam of energy, destroying the other automatons.
"Damn robots nearly melted my helmet and burned my hat off!" The hedgehog yelled, taking off his helmet and hat. He shook the latter to get the ashes out before putting it back on. Meanwhile, Pi grabbed the orange power core that appeared and got his final level-up.
"You know, a lot more coulda happened besides your stupid hat getting torched!" Reggie shouted. Lars sneered at her.
"Man, whatever! My hat's my life! I bet you'd be crying if I decided to stomp on your sunglasses." He smirked as she glared at him.
"Nobody touches my sunglasses and lives to tell about it." She growled in the same cold voice the leader used just before getting the blue emerald. Lars crossed his arms defiantly and turned towards Coconutman, whose mouth was agape. Of course, he was frozen too.
"Well, time's frozen for another minute or two. Whaddya wanna do to pass the time?"
"Perhaps we should examine that balloon before time unfreezes." Pi spoke up. Reggie shrugged.
"Might as well."
They got into fly formation and hit the spring bar, sending them up in the air. The bat flew towards the balloon and popped it.
"Team Blast meter recharged." Pi said as they landed and got out of formation.
"Well, that was lucky." Lars said.
Shortly after, time unfroze. Merv shook his head.
"I don't know how you did that, but I'm gonna destroy all of you!" He yelled, pounding his console. He continued the battle by teleporting in four flappers that had bombs and four coconut pawns that had shields in their hands.
"Oh please!" Reggie scoffed, flying up with Lars and Pi in tow. She took care of the flying robots with her signature attack.
"Alright! My turn now!" Lars said, letting go of the Rocket. Pi let go of him as they fell towards the remaining robots.
When he was within range, the hedgehog used his Dark Twister attack to knock the shields out of the pawns' hands. Pi made the final blow by shooting each of them with his machine guns. The trio congregated in the center of the arena.
"Hmph! Not bad, but let's see you deal with this!" Merv said. As soon as he said that, the trio was surrounded by armor-plated flappers. They were floating a couple of feet above the ground.
"Deal with this, Pi!" Lars commanded.
"Affirmative. Get out of blast radius." Pi replied.
"WHAT!?!" Reggie exclaimed.
"Shut up and fly!" The leader shouted. The girl grumbled as she flew above the arena with him hanging on to her feet.
Down below, the blue robot stood in the middle of the battlefield and launched missile after missile at the gray robots. When the smoke cleared from the attack, Lars and Reggie touched down and skated up to him. Without saying a word, Dr. Coconutman called in several jellyfish robots.
"Man! What a bunch of crappy robots!" Lars cursed as he jumped up and used his homing attack on some of them.
"Annoying, aren't they?" Reggie asked as she grabbed Pi and kicked him into more of the robots, destroying them.
"No kidding!" The hedgehog said, taking care of the remaining bots.
"MUAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" The mad doctor laughed.
"Man, what's he laughing about? He's losing!" The bat shouted.
"Wanna bet?!" Coconutman retorted, pressing a button on his machine. Instantly, the trio was surrounded by green turtle bots. A gold one was situated in the middle.
"Damn it! How many more are there!?" Lars yelled as he used his wind attack on the gold turtle.
While the robot was getting thrown into the air, Pi attacked the others. He destroyed them with simple punches, thanks to his increases in strength. When the golden robot landed, the hedgehog fell it with a homing attack. Merv quickly retaliated by sending out some flappers that shoot electricity. Remembering their previous encounter with them, the team jumped out of the way. They dodged their initial attack and took to the sky. Reggie took care of them with just one Thunder Shoot attack.
"Ugh! You bunch of pests! Why won't you stay down!?!" Merv cursed as he called in some reinforcements. Some armor-plated flappers, turtle bots, and coconut pawns appeared.
"You gotta be kidding me!" Reggie said, mouth agape. The robots targeted them and started charging their weapons. The bat and hedgehog's eyes widened.
"PI!!!" They both yelled.
"Preparing missile attack." Pi droned as Reggie flew Lars above the arena. The human-turned-robot attacked the other buckets of bolts with his attack.
"Hey! Give up, kook!" Lars shouted at Coconutman.
"Yeah! We can take whatever you dish out!" Reggie agreed as she and Lars landed. Merv only roared with laughter.
"Attempts to make him surrender unsuccessful." Pi said.
"Let's see you get through my final attack!" The doctor shouted.
"Finally!" Lars sighed with relief.
For Coconutman's final attack, several coconut pawns rained down onto the field. Unlike the others they encountered so far, these robots were gold. The hedgehog scoffed as he grabbed one of his emeralds.
"Pffft! This is cake!" He said tossing it up. "Chaos Blaze!"
The trio initiated their Team Blast, wiping out the robots. When time unfroze, Merv, devastated at the destruction of his final wave, banged and stomped the interior of his hovercraft. After he got over the loss, he smirked as he pointed at them.
"Don't get so excited, boys!"
"Ahem!" Reggie interrupted.
"And girl…" Merv rolled his eyes. "Those were the easy ones!" With that, he flew out of the area.
"A group of sentry robots, destroyed." Pi said.
"DUH!!!" The other two yelled.
"Come on! We gotta follow him!" Reggie said to the leader.
"I know that!" Lars shouted, holding up his emerald. "Chaos Control!"
And they left the area to continue their journey.
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Post-chapter Conversation
The scene opened in the demolished office. Izzy was sitting on the sofa, watching TV and eating some potato chips. He gave a yawn.
"Ah… This is the life." He said, stretching his arms. "I hope they never come back. This is so perfect. I don't have to worry about any stupid slash pairings or nothing! I hope this never ends."
Just then, a column of bluish light entered the room. A few seconds passed before Iggy and I appeared. The light disappeared and the sound of an engine's roar was heard. The sound soon ended.
"So much for that…" Izzy muttered.
"Ow! So that's what probing is!" Iggy cried, rubbing his backside. "It hurts!"
"Ugh… No kidding." I agreed, rubbing my butt with a groan. I glowered and gritted my teeth. "When I find Izzy, he's gonna wish he was never created!"
"Believe me, I already wish that."
Iggy and my heads snapped towards the hedgehog in question. We advanced towards him with pure rage flaring in our eyes. My partner gulped as he backed away towards the door.
"N-now come on guys… Y-you know I was only kidding, r-right…?"
"GET 'IM!!!" Iggy shouted.
"YIKES!" Izzy screamed, skating down the hall. Iggy took off after him on his air skates while I ran.
"Izzy, when I get you, I'm gonna have me some fried hedgehog!!!" I roared before turning to the camera. "Anyway, Team Lars got another Chaos Emerald and defeated Coconutman in a battle. But what of the others? And how are those in Ocean Shores holding up? Find out next time!"