Chapter 11: Rematch
As the reactivated robot took a step toward Quote, he reached for Polar Star to defend himself. What this new enemy was capable of, he had no idea, but he wasn't going to take any chances.
"Destroy the intruder! Destroy! Destroy!"
It barely started to close the distance between them when the door- which had locked upon its activation- sustained an enormous bang. The robot looked at it in alarm, apparently wondering what else was trying to break in. Quote suddenly realized what exactly that could be, throwing himself to the side just in time to avoid the door being blown off its hinges and flying across the room. It slammed into the hostile robot, sending it crumpling to the floor.
"Huzzah!" a familiar voice shouted.
"Him again? What's he doing here?"
There was no mistaking the giant suitcase-looking thing (for he still couldn't tell what he was supposed to be) that stomped into the room. Balrog had returned, an unreadable expression on his wide face as he stared at Quote.
"I knew I saw you come in here! Hey, did YOU know that Mimiga we took wasn't Sue?"
He scowled in reply.
"Yeah, I did. And you'd better bring Toroko back."
Balrog either chose not to comment on his threat or simply wasn't paying attention.
"You should've seen the Doctor's reaction to finding that out. Misery got quite a good beating for it, yes sir. I feel kinda bad for her, but we can't disobey the master. That's just how it goes. Anyway, I'm here to take you out for real this time. Ready?"
Without another word, he sprang into the air and attempted to crush Quote underneath him. Balrog missed by mere inches as his target backpedalled, but he was much faster than he had been in their first battle. He delivered a heavy punch with one of his stubby arms that forced Quote to drop to his knees and clutch at his stomach.
"Ho ho! Not as tough now, are ya? Misery gave me a sweet boost in strength before I left, so there's no way I can lose!"
He was too busy gloating to notice his fallen enemy take aim at his underside with Polar Star. Balrog cried out in pain as shot after shot struck him at point-blank range and jumped backwards to avoid further damage. Quote didn't let up on his assault, continuing to blast him while also drawing Bubbline from his pocket. Holding down the trigger for it to improve its damage output, he focused the firepower of both guns on Balrog at the same time. The combined attacks were too much for him, and he was clearly worn down by it. He could barely summon the energy to throw another punch after being struck with a storm of bullets.
"What even are you?" the giant suitcase asked aloud. Quote wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of a response, but as it turned out he didn't have to.
"Someone far more competent than you are, obviously," a disembodied voice answered. In a brief flicker of light, the blue-haired witch Misery appeared between the two. An unamused snarl was present on her lips.
"Balrog, can't you do anything right? First the girl, now this. I'd assumed that the power I'd given you was enough."
"Hey, it's not my fault! This guy might be even stronger than you are- whatever he is!"
Quote had one weapon trained on each of them, ready for anything. He noticed that Misery was giving him a strange look, as if she'd recognized something about him. As it turned out, that was exactly the case.
"I know you… you were with the girl in Mimiga Village. I didn't realize it at first, but there's no mistake about it. You're a soldier from the surface world, aren't you?"
Her red eyes narrowed.
"I have to report this to the Doctor. Balrog, finish things up here. I'll give you some of the most powerful enhancements I can manage, so you have no excuse to fail this time."
Misery chanted something in an incomprehensible language before vanishing. Her cohort, who was now glowing a sickly green color, let out a ferocious croaking sound. Quote took a step back as his foe was enveloped in a large green force field- on second thought, it was some strange lumpy mass- what was even happening?
Generating around Balrog was the shape of a gigantic white-bellied frog with bulging eyes. He was rapidly growing too large for the small room they shared, so Quote ran outside just before the monster came bursting through the wall. After a few more seconds, "Balfrog" had reached his maximum size: almost three times his original height. The soldier panicked and fired off several shots with both of his guns, but nothing penetrated the tough hide of his target.
"Crooaaaaaak!"
Balfrog took a tremendous leap and came crashing down not far from where Quote was standing. Violent tremors in the ground nearly caused him to fall over, and somewhere nearby an old stone building could be heard collapsing. Magical projection or not, this transformation had an insane amount of weight behind it. He had to be taken down quickly, before one of his leaps caused the locked building to fall apart and crush Kazuma inside.
Quote rolled to the side as an enormous webbed foot smashed into the ground. He did his best to analyze the amphibious beast for a weak spot like he had with that twisted Mimiga. Once again, it seemed likely that the inside of his mouth was the only part of him that wasn't completely bulletproof.
Attracting Balfrog's attention with another volley of ineffectual shots, he quickly backed away from him. If his transformation was as thorough as it looked, then surely it would include a long tongue. Quote waved Bubbline tauntingly, trying to provoke a reaction. He noticed that Balfrog was moving around rather clumsily, not used to the sudden change in his body. Fortune had smiled on the soldier after all.
The taunt had worked, and just as planned the large monster shot his tongue out to try and eat Quote. He took the opportunity to repeatedly blast Polar Star into Balfrog's mouth while it was open and narrowly avoided the sticky appendage before it got too close. His gunfire appeared quite effective, so much so that even despite an urge to cry out in anger the giant frog kept his mouth tightly shut to avoid further damage. He jumped again, this time swiping Quote with his foot during the descent. The soldier was sent careening through the air and landed with a heavy crash against a wall of the building Kazuma was in.
"Ugh…"
The force of the impact left him slumped on the ground and completely disoriented. It was a wonder that he hadn't broken anything at all, though every part of him was aching. He tried his best to stand, but his knees felt like they were about to give way at any second. As Balfrog advanced, Quote realized that he'd never be able to avoid the next attack after that collision.
"Magical threat detected! Destroy!"
Catching both combatants by surprise, the blue-gray security robot which had been knocked out at the beginning of the fight had gotten back up and launched itself onto Balfrog's back. It repeatedly jabbed him with a short knife that, while not enough to seriously puncture his thick hide, did elicit a response. The mutant opened his mouth in an angered roar of a croak, raising a webbed foot to swipe the robot off. He hadn't noticed Quote retrieving Bubbline and preparing an attack in the struggle.
One well-timed release of the trigger later, dozens of energized bubble projectiles streaked into Balfrog's open mouth. The magical transformation, evidently sustaining too much damage, quickly evaporated until all that remained was the original suitcase-shaped Balrog. He had a look of pure contempt on his face but was also clearly in immense pain.
"Gah! T-this ain't over!"
With that, the Doctor's minion took a giant leap and crashed through the cave's ceiling in his usual manner of exit. Quote almost collapsed again in fatigue (not to mention the serious ache on every part of his body), but he was nonetheless satisfied that he'd won. Polar Star and Bubbline were serving him well.
