These times were certainly not nice on Dudley. Ever since that encounter, his dark ego felt stripped of it's glory. As if it had something that could eventually overpower it. And it didn't like it. As he grumbled rather loudly around his warehouse base, his bitter thoughts as well as conflicted feelings started to show.
"What was I even thinking?! Backing out on a fight that I could have won. I don't know how, and I don't know when, but I'll get even with that mutt. Just wait and see. And when he falls, and I prepare the final blow, when he begs for his life, I'll deny him."
Dudley pounded a hole in the wall out of frustration and that got the attention of his cronies. They could tell by the way he was acting that it was not a good time to ask what was going on, so they muttered among themselves( in secret).
"Is 01 mad?", Snaptrap asked, "He looks kind of mad."
"Of course he's mad Snaptrap", Bird Brain insisted, "He just had a massive encounter and now wants a rematch. That would put anybody on edge."
"Do you think we should have helped him?", Chameleon asked hoping for sincerity, "We would really tip the tide in his favor."
"I don't know Chameleon", Snaptrap said, "the tide is kind of hard to tip."
"Not the tide in the sea", Bird Brain corrected, "He means that we could have helped 01 and he'd win hands down."
"Oh", said Snaptrap who got the point, "that makes sense."
Dudley meanwhile was now (internally) at war with his darker ego. Although it was him talking to himself, his tone of voice made a big difference.
"I don't think I should be doing this anymore."
"And risk that kind of pain and suffering. Besides, like 00 said it's not like TUFF will take us back for acting the way we have will they?"
"Hey, their my friends, we can forgive anything."
"Anything you did before now or for this?"
Dudley couldn't disagree with that, but his personal conversation was interrupted when the alarm went off again. Agitated, Dudley stormed over to the computer to see what had the nerve to disrupt his very private conversation.
Kitty at this point was at the end of her rope. All this panic, assuring Petropolis that things were under control, and keeping her fellow TUFF agents in line, and more importantly, keeping her head straight. All this stress was really making her reach a boiling point. Mostly because she was upset about Dudley, and more importantly, there was an army of who knew what heading there way. What else could go wrong? She was now in her office trying to calm down. No chief of TUFF should crack under pressure, but now with all of this, she was not so sure. Just as she was gonna join in the resistance, a knock came at her window. She turned and saw that it was Jack. She let him in, and he looked as though he was on edge. Quickly, he shut the window and pulled the blinds while Kitty closed her office door and made sure nobody was around. When that was done, Jack reached into his tuxedo, and pulled out a file full of evidence and information and put it on Kitty's desk.
"So Jack, what news?"
"Grave. That army we're going to fight? It's only a few miles off. It'll be here in only a few hours."
That WAS bad news! So soon? But the perimeter was just established. And the pedestrians were being evacuated to safe houses outside Petropolis. With this news, people were going to panic further.
"This is bad Jack. Real bad."
"And it's not just us Kitty. Look at this."
Jack headed over to Kitty's computer and typed in some codes. Instantly, other secret agencies all over the world showed up facing the exact same thing.
"This army we're gonna fight isn't just here. It's everywhere."
Kitty couldn't believe it. Now she had at least a visual of what she was up against. She saw soldiers well muscled and armed with lethal assault rifles, tanks with plasma based laser blasters as well as missile launchers, giant battle robots that could topple entire city blocks worth of buildings (in a variety of looks might I add), and not to mention all those aerial fighters that could drop bombs or who knows what. She saw it for a moment, then the screen went static.
"Jack, we need to get everyone up and running."
"I'm afraid we can't do that Kitty. A few hours isn't much time."
"I'm probably at a disadvantage, but I'm not going down without a fight."
Jack agreed with that. He then made his way to the window, pulled the blinds apart, opened it , and turned to Kitty.
"I'll help as much as I can Kitty. Best of luck."
"Same to you", Kitty told him as he vanished into the panicking crowds.
Now all over the world, people were preparing for their attackers, when right out of the blue, every big screen in the world went static, then revealed( pause for effect) Donnagon Puppy. And Kitty certainly noticed it.
"Donnagon? What brings you here? Even when we're being assaulted by a massive army?"
"I know", Donnagon answered smiling devilishly, "I sent them to do so."
"You WHAT?!", Kitty yelled as other people gasped.
"Nothing like sending my forces out after I've finished my crimes and all according to my perfect little plan."
"You're forces?! You're crimes?! You're plan?!",Kitty cried in shock, "Donnagon?! You've been behind this from the start?!"
"And it took you this long to figure it out", Donnagon boasted, "Sometimes I disguise myself as someone you know, and other times I'm someone you've never seen, but no matter what disguise I wear, I have one identity that's known to all."
Donnagon snapped his fingers and an eruption of white fire engulfed him as 03 and 04( who had shown up beside him introduced him.
"Ladies and gentlemen of the world.", 03 started, "Allow us to introduce-"
"The big, bad boss of the criminal underworlds.",04 added.
"The master of manipulation.", 03 chimed in.
"The lord of lies.", 04 put in.
"The Napoleon of crime.", 03 added.
"And the king of Hades.",04 claimed.
"MONSTER 00!", 03 and 04 finished in unification as the flames subsided to reveal 00 in Donnagon's place. Not one face on anyone wasn't shocked. While 00 stood there defiantly.
"Now that the cat's out of the bag, my forces are just arriving."
Kitty turned to see that just beyond the shield, 00's forces were marching toward them. It was everything she saw and more. Herbert and Keswick were by her side and had brought out their own weaponry.
"Told you Donnagon was behind this", Herbert told Kitty although he felt like now was not the best time to say it.
Dante had just heard 00's announcement and now he had other things to worry about. His fellow agents had cleared out and now he had headed over to the perimeter where he was supposed to meet up with them. Even on his cycle, Dante had the idea that 00 was secretly working behind curtains. A tactic he was all to familiar with. But that would have to wait. All good things came to those who bide their time( or so he heard). Just then, Dudley showed up and had thrown a trash can which almost hit Dante's cycle, but he swerved out of the way just in time. But Dante jumped off his cycle( which parked itself nearby), and faced his opponent.
"Back for a rematch huh?"
Dudley just sneered.
" I just want to finish that fight we had before we were interrupted."
"I understand", Dante stated, "you couldn't see past 00's guise, so being the complete moron that you are, you believed every word he said."
That comment set Dudley off. Almost as if his rage just exploded in his mind. Now he was out for blood, so he ran towards his opponent as Dante did the same, and the fight was on again. They used similar styles from their last encounter, but Dudley had gotten more smart. This time, it was Dante on the edge, but as always, Dante had a trick or two up his sleeve. Even the fireballs and lightning bolts were used again as (by some bizarre coincidence) epic battle music played to add some extra spice to the encounter. Dudley had gotten used to his new favorite device. How come TUFF didn't think of something like this? And the combat was just the same. So evenly matched in power, but Dante had one advantage: he thought things through while Dudley just assaulted in blind rage. 00 had been watching all this from a screen nearby, and he was certainly impressed.
"How nice to see a new minion of mine take on one of my most hated enemies", he thought to himself wickedly, "As much as I would love to see them battle their brains out, I have..other plans. 01, your services are no longer required. For now."
Dudley had been through enough. This fight went on longer than he wanted it to and now he wanted to finish it. He flipped backward, and prepared another fireball to toss. This time, he waited until Dante had generated a lightning bolt and then they threw their projectiles and as they collided, the resulting explosion knocked both dogs backward. Stunned for a minute, they stood once more and were prepared to keep it up. 00 however was not. Reaching into his coat pocket, he pulled out Dudley's contract( which hovered next to him after he let go of it) and just folded his arms and continued watching the show who's stars were too busy occupied with each other to notice they were being watched. Finally, as Dudley and Dante had come within close range, 00 snapped his fingers and Dudley reverted back to his original white dog form. Caught completely by surprise at the loss of his blood lust, Dudley was easily subdued and over powered. Just as Dante had hit him over the head and he fell, he caught sight of 00 waving good-bye as the screen went blank, and he slipped into unconsciousness. Dante stood over Dudley breathing heavily.
"Nice moves kid.", he huffed, "But not good enough to take me."
Dante disabled the device in his palm so the static electricity wouldn't form lightning anymore, and after getting his cycle back up, drove over and in a quick move, swung Dudley's unconsciousness body off the street, on to his cycle, and was speeding to the rendezvous point. While riding, he made a phone call on his communicator.
"Yep?", Alicia answered.
"Guys, I'm bringing back a "special witness". Prepare for evaluation when I get there."
"Roger that", Otto added.
Dante then hung up, and was soon outside the perimeter and heading away from Petropolis. His fellow agents had changed the location they were going to meet at due to 00's sudden assault going on.
As 00's forces came within range, the artillery opened fire. The tanks and the air forces were certainly about even in strength and as many lives went down, it seemed like this would be a stand still. But the war was far from over. With their soldiers taking out the big guns and firing round upon round, the sounds of war were ringing around the whole area as Kitty started barking out directions.
"Keswick, give more power to the force field! It will help us nullify their missile launchers!"
Sure enough the force field was doing it's job, but the invading army had shields too. Some of the robots had generators that created fields of slowing that slowed down unfriendly fire. The battle was more epic than Kitty had anticipated.
"Soldiers, keep the flanks on your right in tow!"
The soldiers on her right reinforced their cover, reloaded, and continued firing. The artillery and the tanks had their work cut out for them. Some aimed at the smaller forces while others aimed at the huge robots that had trudged forward. Just as Kitty thought it would soon let up, 00 contacted her.
"Having fun are we?"
"Face it 00, if this is your best shot, you're wasting your army."
"Who says this is my only army?", 00 asked with a devilish smile on his face once more, "Look behind you."
"Nice try 00, there is nothing behind-"
Just then an eruption occurred behind Kitty and she and TUFF turned to see that coming in from behind was a massive horde of disgusting, vile and very vicious corpse like creatures that were swarming over everything and anything in sight. Now things had just gone from bad to worse. Hostile forces in front of them, hostile forces behind them, and no way out. Kitty was totally stunned in shock and horror. This couldn't be real. It was...it was a nightmare. And what was worse, these things were regurgitating what looked like egg sacs that were hatching and the whelps that spawned were maturing rapidly. What was worse? Taken down by an army of robots and soldiers, or being devoured alive by a swarm of death?