Chapter Thirteen: Make Them Pay

Mimicutie, disguised as Ribbon Girl, looked up at the imposing statue at the center of the ARMS League World plaza. It was immensely intricate and featured each of the current League fighters in full-body fighting poses, with Max Brass flexing at the back and Ribbon Girl hopping at the front. It was odd to look at this statue now that she had met with most of these faces. Now that she could be most of these faces.

"Wh-hey hey hey!" Sang a goofy voice from beside her. "Enjoying the park, Ms. Champion? You're a real... Star! "

Mimicutie turned her head. It was some worker in a mascot costume. His overly large Biff head looked pretty heavy. How tacky. We didn't have these kind of stupid big-headed mascot suits back at Distant Future Funland... We had workers dressed in sleek space suits, with tinted visors and space-age technology on a utility belt. The kind of thing a kid could look up to and think ' Woah, I wanna be that!'. But what was the point of this? It's just stupid. It doesn't inspire. It doesn't amaze. What an embarrassment.

The vicious glare he was receiving from Ribbon Girl was rather unnerving, and it was lasting far too long. "H-Haha... O-Okay, champ, s-see you around..." With that, he waddled off elsewhere.

Her attention went back to the statue above. Today's the day.

Min Min stopped the car as close to the entrance as she could, not really worrying about the poor parking, and got out. "Doesn't look like there's much going on - think she hasn't started yet?"

"We can hope..." Ribbon Girl replied, quickly hopping out of the passenger side.

"I should have everything we need to know now." Coyle said, staring at a small tablet computer as she left the car. "We'll confront her quickly and try to disway her from starting anything - we do outnumber her, after all." She threw the tablet aside carelessly, breaking it on the pavement somewhere closeby. "If there's one thing you go into this remembering, just keep in mind that we have the upper hand so long as she doesn't raise her ARM. "

"You don't think four of us could take on gold Hedlok...?" Ribbon Girl asked, concerned.

"It's not Hedlok I'm worried about, believe me." She muttered. "Springtron - stay close by to me and follow orders without hesitation. This might get messy."

The four of them headed over to the entrance, where many people were lined up for tickets. Min Min butt-in ahead of the entire line and stared deeply at the man behind the glass. " There's a bomb in the park. You need to evacuate immediately. " It wasn't the whole truth - she still wasn't so sure what Mimicutie had stolen - but she figured it'd give the kind of feeling she wanted to get across.

The man stared back at her wide-eyed. "H-Holy shit...!" He muttered, before getting to his feet and grabbing the phone at the back of the booth.

"This way, Min." Coyle shouted as she and the others hopped right over the turnstile.

They ran their way to the center of the park, looking all over for where she might be. The park was full of people, and every ride was in motion with a full carriage - and plenty more in line, too. This was a pretty dire situation.

"There she is." Coyle muttered, glaring at the figure of Ribbon Girl in the distance as they approached.

Mimicutie stared up at the statue for one last time. She felt rather melancholy - a feeling she had been stuck with for years now. Her mind went back once again to past concerns: when she'd arrive here, where she now stood, about to go through with it all... What would she feel? Turns out, much like her interaction with Brass, she really didn't feel much at all. No pleasure. No regret. Just emptiness.

"Hey, it's Ribbon Girl!" A nearby guest shouted from the edge of the plaza.

She rolled her eyes. Being disguised like this sure brought with it an annoying amount of attention. But if she had a direct witness to Ribbon Girl's first hand in the destruction to unfold? Well, that's just convenient. With a soft smile, she knew it was time to begin.

"Huh?" Came another voice from the sidelines. "There are two Ribbon Girls, now?"

Mimicutie's face fell. Two Ribbon Girls...? Wait...

She turned around and saw the real Ribbon Girl, Min Min, Dr. Coyle, and Springtron approaching. Her eyes lit up quickly and she took a step back. "Oh no you don't..." She whispered under her breath. A quick burst of steam turned her into Ninjara, and she swung back a chained ARM and equipped a Triblast. "BACK THE FUCK OFF!" She shouted at them, angrily. This was not going to be taken from her now, after how far she'd come.

They stopped in their tracks, about twice an ARM's length from her. Onlookers seemed puzzled - those who had seen two Ribbon Girls just a second ago weren't sure why Ninjara was now in her place, and everyone in general was uncertain about the Triblast he had equipped.

"Don't do anything stupid. " Coyle spat.

She grinned. "Oh, sure, I'll just give up and let you take me away - I don't think!"

"Mimi, please, you don't have to do all this!" Ribbon Girl pleaded. "It's not worth it!"

" Worth it?" She spat. "What do you know about what this is worth?!"

"Oh look at yourself already, Alison. " Coyle glared. "You really think this will change anything?"

Her face fell somewhat. " A-Alison...? "

"We know who you are." Min Min muttered. "Looked you up on the ride over."

"Alison Brii, daughter of Samuel Brii." Coyle continued. "Owner of Distant Future Funland. Former owner, rather. You got upset about the park being shut down so you blamed the League. And now you're here to frame them for an attack and destroy the park at the same time."

"Ha!" She grinned nervously. "Took you long enough to figure that out! I was beginning to think you'd just keep running around like headless chickens 'til it was too late to stop me." Her Triblast rumbled slightly with explosive energy. " Not that it isn't too late already. "

"Oh for god's sake, Alison." Coyle glared. "Do you really think all this is worth it? We have footage of you copying Lola and Cobra. We have witnesses to you copying Min Min. No one will be blaming the League for this.

" SHUT UP! " She shouted angrily, shaking a little. She had prepared for this moment for years, but wasn't prepared for having these assholes turn up last-second. All those distraction efforts... Shouldn't they be in a bunker right now?

"Coyle's right, Mimi!" Ribbon Girl insisted. "You don't have to do this! You'll just hurt innocent people!"

"They are not inno-" She stopped herself mid-sentence, a little uneasy. Her jaw chattered a bit as her chest heaved up and down with anxiety. Okay, yes, they were innocent people, but... B-But... Bah! Now is not the time for thinking about this - she is not turning back now!

"I know you're hurting! " Ribbon Girl continued. "But we can help you! We can put all this right somehow without anyone else getting hurt! Please let us help you!"

" IT'S TOO LATE TO PUT IT RIGHT. " She seethed through her teeth.

" Fucking hell. " Coyle groaned. "You're this upset over a fucking theme park? How the hell is that worth all of this?"

Mimicutie fell still for a moment, Ninjara's expression changing to one of empty resentment. "This park was my life. " She muttered. "It was my family's legacy. I grew up here." A single tear rolled down from below Ninjara's mask. "You people took that from me and built over it a monument to your GREED and HUNGER and FUCKING ARROGANCE! "

Her eyes flicked somewhere behind the four, to a nearby ride - Min Min's Dragon Dare. The coaster had just gone around another loop, leaving little cinders in the air from its glowing mouth as it slipped past.

She took one last look at the four, and then cocked a sad smile. "And now? I take from you. " Ninjara disappeared in a poof, reappearing high up beside the support stands of the coaster. His Triblast swung through the air and collided with part of the track in a mighty boom, catching the attention of many guests down below. They all turned to look at the source of the bang - a thick plume of black smoke coming from a broken split in the ride.

Several people screamed at the sight, as several other booms began echoing through the park as Ninjara jumped around and continued his assault lower on the stands the ride sat on. After one last explosion, the left-hand side of the track collapsed, as the people below began to scream and flee.

" Shit! " Coyle gasped as the others stared up, wide-eyed. She turned to Springtron quickly. " Get those people off the coaster! "

He jumped up with an incredible boost, landing firmly on the right-hand side of the tracks, where the panicked riders were about to loop around again. He clamped his feet down and stuck out his ARMS, ready to force that coaster to stop as best as he possibly can.

Mimicutie, content with that destruction, flipped back as Ninjara and transformed to Lola before striking the ground. She bounced right back up, a little closer to the Ninja Swing now, and swapped over to BYTE mid-air. A Seekie shot forth and struck the electrical box outside the ride, causing a big burst of electrical energy to course through to the ride and shut it down - just as the swing had come up full-circle, leaving it stuck upside down.

Coyle watched as Mimicutie once again transformed back to Lola and bounced her way to her next target. She turned to Ribbon Girl and Min Min suddenly. "Well don't just stand there!"

They nodded quickly and head off after Mimicutie. Ribbon Girl panted heavily, rather distressed, and eyed the upside-down Ninja Swing. "I-I'm on that, I think!" She split off from the others and made her way toward it.

-

Lola landed in the middle of the Twintelle Teacups and kicked the park worked aside. She bent down suddenly and ripped open a panel from the floor, before equipping her Funchuck and forcing it down into the rotors beneath the ride. It began to spin faster and faster around, and each teacup began to spin faster too.

-

Min Min landed beside Lola and outstretched an ARM back, but before she could land it, Lola whacked her in the face with a Biffler. By the time she managed to get the blue gunk out of her eyes, Mimicutie had feld already.

-

She looked to the spinning teacups around her. Even watching it made her dizzy - she couldn't stand the thought of how it must feel to be one of the poor souls in those cups right now. She looked down at the hatch Mimicutie had opened... Gah! Would this work...? She charged a Megawatt and blasted the ride's circuits, hoping it might cause it to stop.

-

Ribbon Girl jumped through the air as she ascended to the stalled Ninja Swing. Once she had gotten within distance, she did her best to thunk the side of it with her Slapamanders, before slowly falling back down and having to make her way back up again. " Come on... " She pleaded as she tried to force the ride back into motion.

-

Mimicutie hurried on, noticing Coyle on her tail. She quickly passed by the Buster Lagoon and struck a Coolerang to one of the drops, freezing both the water and the ride mechanism of that particular area. Coyle tried to keep on Mimicutie's watch, but had to fall back briefly to catch a policebot-themed log full of people from sliding off of the drop. By the time she had put the carriage down, she had lost track of Mimicutie.

-

With no luck un-sticking the ride, Ribbon Girl tried to piece together another plan. She hurried back down to that electrical box Mimicutie had fried. She didn't know the first thing about electronics, but it seemed as though the power had been cut, so she charged a Sparky and gently placed it to the exposed circuitry. Nothing seemed to happen at first, but slowly the lights on the ride began to flicker back on one-by-one. " YES! " She grinned with relief.

Min Min helped the immensely dizzy riders out of each stopped teacup, having to watch out for a few of them who couldn't help but give up their lunches. She turned back to the rest of the park - just about everyone who wasn't on a ride had fled now, clearing up her view of the other attractions quite well. She squinted, noticing someone pass by quickly in the wrong direction, and gave chase.

-

Springtron returned to Coyle. She turned to him and looked to his legs - they were badly damaged from stopping the dragon coaster, but upon inspection of the nearby ride it seemed he had managed to stop the carriage before it reached the dilapidated part. "Good work." She mumbled. "Stay close to me, I might need you..."

-

Min Min chased after her own duplicate. "HEY!" She shouted.

Mimicutie turned to look over her shoulder. "This is actually pretty fun!" She smiled, equipping Min Min's Dragon. She aimed it toward the Ribbon Twister and carved a split at the tip of one of the loops, leaving the track parts unaligned.

Min Min groaned, leaving Mimicutie's trail again to go after the ride. It looked like the carriage wasn't going to be there for a short while still, so she had some time to scale up to the split...

-

Ribbon Girl began to panic further. Her electrical input wasn't enough to budge the swing more than a couple inches every few seconds, and it was really taking a lot out of her to charge it.

"Need a hand?" Coyle quickly commented, dropping down beside her and jamming a Parabola in alongside her Sparky. The ride began to move at a decent speed, now.

"Oh thank god you're here!" Ribbon Girl grinned widely. "Where's Mimi?"

"I don't know, I lost her." Coyle mumbled. "How many more rides still have people on them...?"

"I don't know..." Ribbon Girl looked around, distressed. "OH!" She shouted. "The-"

The two of them watched in horror as a Triblast shot struck the Spring Launcher's seating area at its highest point. The strike damaged its connection to the tower, and it began to fall down with no stopping mechanism.

Min Min, now dangling from the top of the Ribbon Twister, did her very best not to look right down. She grabbed one end of the split and held onto it tightly, down on the lower support of it where her ARMS wouldn't be run over by the passing coaster. She charged up her other ARM and grabbed the split that had angled lower. With a deep breath she used the strength of her dragon ARM to pull the track up and realign it with its other side, which took an immense amount of effort.

The coaster approached and she shut her eyes, hoping for the best.

Mimicutie, disguised as Ribbon Girl again now, watched with a smile on her face as the Spring Launcher began to fall. The resulting collision with the ground would surely- Huh?!

Two large ARMS shot right up and pressed back against the seating area from below, slowing its descent to something more manageable. She followed the pale twisting rolls of bandage to its source - Master Mummy, who was directly below, struggling to keep it up. Hm.

She dropped down ahead of him. "Are you ticklish, Mummy?" She smiled. "Well, this'll be more than a tickle..." She equipped Ribbon Girl's Sparky and charged it up, ready to make Mummy's ARMS fall to the floor, leaving the ride to crush him like a bug.

Suddenly an ARM swung from her right and slapped her square in the face. She flew back and smashed against a nearby trash can, spilling its contents all around. She looked up angrily.

"GET SLAMMED ON, GURL!" Kid Cobra gleed, his ARMS up for a fight.

She rubbed the spot where his Slamamander had struck her. " Someone healed quickly..." She glared.

Coyle and Ribbon Girl approached nearby. "END OF THE LINE, ALISON." Coyle grunted.

Min Min approached soon too, holding the wrist of her now-ramen left ARM, which was really quite aching.

The Spring Launcher's seating area finally met the ground with a gentle -tink!- and its passengers quickly unbuckled and ran for the entrance. Master Mummy stomped over and joined the others.

Mimicutie backed up quietly as she undisguised herself. She was clearly sweating a fair bit, and her expression didn't seem all that confident.

"By my count? That should be everyone safely away with no fatalities." Coyle smirked. "Some legacy you upheld, eh?"

She glared at her. "Tell that to Max Brass. "

"Perhaps I will!" She shrugged. "He's receiving medical attention at the ARMS Lab as we speak. Springtron stopped his fall - he's gonna be fine. "

Mimicutie stared for a moment, before a small laugh came from her. And then she began to laugh more, and more. "W-Well isn't that just PERFECT? " She giggled. "Ohhhhh mannnn... " A long, drawn-out sigh. "I really do hate you all, y'know that?"

Mimicutie rose her ARM in the air, and in a panic everyone seemed to gasp. Coyle, thinking fast, swung a bare fist to her stomach and sent her right back against the wall.

She coughed viciously and struggled to gasp for air, having had the wind blown out from her, just as a heavily distorted roar shot through the park.

"W-What?!" Coyle stepped back. She wasn't quick enough to stop it. " SH-SHIT! " She turned her attention to her fellow fighters. "EVERYBODY BACK UP!"

Mimicutie began to laugh again, distortedly through her weak gasps for air, as she carefully leaned herself up. "I'll admit, I really wasn't looking f-forward to this part..." She coughed again, still in pain from what was likely a broken rib or two. "It's gonna hurt, isn't it?"

The concrete nearby smashed open as an unidentifiable bulk of machinery shot out from beneath the park. It soared into the air and cast a heavy shadow to the ground, before arching back and jolting right back down, where it landed with a heavy clanking noise right on top of Mimicutie's head.

Mimicutie screamed hard in what could only be, from the tone of her distress, indescribable pain. A crushing noise emerged from her head, and slowly her everlasting scream began to grow more and more distorted and robotic, until finally Mimicutie stopped screaming.

The metalic head now firmly in place Mimicutie's shoulders had a shimmering reflective surface to it - one that greatly reflected the pavement down below, the sky up above, and the reflections of the stunned fighters all around. It was not dissimilar to Hedlok, but it seemed smoother and made of less separate pieces, and its triangular mouth lacked teeth and was instead covered by a jagged mess of four white fangs, two long ones jutting out from above with two smaller ones coming from below between them.

A long ARM of thick white silk shot out from the left side of its shell, twisting and turning for a length that was easily twice that of a natural ARM. Another identical ARM shot out from the other side. And then another. And then two from the other side. And another one from the right.

The six ARMS pushed the floor below and rose its shell upward, taking Mimi's body with it, which dangled lifelessly below. The eight circular black gaps on its casing slowly began to light up one-by-one with eerie red spirals, before Mimicutie's ARMS slowly outstretched and took up a fighting stance.

The fighters looked on in horror. "C-Coyle..." Min Min muttered. "What the hell is that?!"

Dr. Coyle looked up at it in dread, all the colour gone from her face. " Arachnilok ."