Forward, now. Ignore the minor defenses. He wasn't here for loose change, so he went through that shutter and played with the big boys, stepping into one of their transporters.

"Hmmm… it's that old machine again."

Zero ignited his saber in flames and walked forward in the old shuttle hangar.

"Come on, Stagroff, I have three more of your buddies to play with."

"Hmmm… but we're all here."

Zero stopped short. Necromancess, Herculious and Ganeshariff walked out of the cold shadows. Zero smiled.

"You're saving me so much time."

"Show some intimidation, would you?" Herculious snapped. Zero wagged a finger at him.

"Now, now, don't forget what we discussed about your effeminate boss, little beetle."

Herculious was the first to charge. Zero slapped the Ice Chip into his saber and jumped right over, turning in midair to slam Herculious in the back with frigid force, sending the beetle staggering. Zero drew his Z-Buster on the leaping Stagroff and sent the bull crashing in flames, remembering to duck under Ganeshariff's boomerang tusks and slice apart the zombies Necromancess had summoned.

"There's no sand here for you to hide. You know that, right?"

"Uh…"

"You are the weakest link. Goodbye."

Zero ran at him, firing shots that engulfed Anubis in flame. There was no retreat for the master of the desert, and he was cut three ways apart. Zero then backflipped over Ganeshariff who rolled over the charred remains, receiving an electric jolt from the Z-Buster. Still airborne Zero swung his ice-charged saber to knock the dashing Herculious from the air. He landed in a blizzard from Blizzack's cannon.

"Blow away, Zero!"

"Guess again, Stagroff."

Zero dashed sharply to the right out of the wind tunnel, kicked off the floor and twirled through the air, his ponytail twirling around him like a bright golden ribbon. Stagroff brought the cannon to bear on Zero, but the Red Ripper's spinning body deflected the air and ice all around him, and he twirled relentlessly onward to Stagroff's consternation and decapitation. Jumping off Stagroff's headless shoulders, Ganeshariff crashed into the still upright corpse while he countered Herculious' ball lightning attack with a snowball from his Z-Buster. The arctic beam smashed through the electrical charge and froze the beetle's legs to the floor just as Zero landed in front him.

"Ice defeats electricity, doncha know!"

"Water! My nemesis!" Herculious lamented as Zero relieved him of his four conducting arms. Just before he could remove the superconducting horns, he felt a tremor, and jumped over Ganeshariff as the meat tank rolled into Herculious, squashing the beetle like a… well, you get the idea. Zero shot the elephant anthropomorph in the backside and shook his head.

"You're aren't very original, are you?"

"I can't attack you if you keep jumping around! Rolling fast is the only way I know how to keep up!" Maha groused, picking bits of Herculious from his round shiny belly.

"Well, you're done. I promise this will be the last time stop!"

"The last time wha?"

Zero stretched out his arms and yelled, "THE WORLD!"

The time-space continuum stood still, a dark pall covering the area. He threw the Z-Saber, the Triple Rod and the Shield Boomerang at Ganeshariff, but they slowed to a halt just before his hide, stuck in time like everything else except Zero.

"How can you hope to avoid those?" Zero asked, "But wait, don't talk."

Time resumed. The three phase blades lodged in the reploid's ample circuits, and he spewed circulatory fluid from his trunk. Even as he was losing power from the triple assault, Zero landed on top of him with a bulldozer, leaned back and screamed "WRYYYYYYY!" for the world to hear.

888

"What was that sound just now?"
"Not sure. Sounded like a rip-off of Dio Brando's shtick."

The Pantheons did not live much longer than that conversation as Zero stampeded out the shutters, gun a-blazing. He navigated the laughable defenses of Neo Arcadia's Core, finally arriving at the next shutter. He popped into one of the transporter pads, emerging on a sunlit roadway.

"I hope you guys didn't… oh no you didn't."

"Don't rotate your head and wag your finger at us, Zero."

Harpuia smirked, floating with arms folded. Fefnir, Leviathan and Phantom stood around him/her/it.

"I suppose it is more logical to attack me en masse after your individual failures."

"Don't patronize us, Clairol man," Fefnir growled, "I haven't had my full yet!"

"You could always ask Harpuia. His crony had the hots for him."

Leviathan smirked.

"The beetle? He didn't strike me as gay."

"He wasn't. He just thought… you know."

Fefnir pointed at Harpuia and laughed.

"I TOLD you everyone would think you're a girl!"

"I am a zephyr! I am a spirit of air! I'm supposed to be graceful!"

"Yeah, well, you could do something about that lisp. And what's with the arms akimbo? Come back to the land of straight, Harpuia!" Leviathan teased.

"Oh!" Sage Harpuia flicked his hand in dismissal, "Let's just do our job and defend Master X!"

"Defend Master X!" Phantom echoed, feeling awkward and left out during this discussion of sexual orientation. He was supposed to represent a ghost, and the undead are meant to be gender neutral unless you're the kind of person who believes in undead procreation, which is entirely your viewpoint and has nothing to do with Phantom whatsoever.

Zero ducked Fefnir's obvious fireball attack, shooting away Leviathan's homing missiles. Harpuia swooped above, sending a crescent beam arcing towards Zero that he countered with a saber blast. Phantom got in the first hit, taking advantage of Zero's distraction to slice him below the belt with a quick dashing attack. He suffered a kick to the face, reeling as his comrades pressed Zero with more long-ranged attacks.

"Use your throwing star, oh great and powerful ninja," Fefnir yelled above the roar of his Gatling gun. Again, Phantom connected while Zero was busy parrying and dashing out of the way, the huge shuriken ripping through Zero's tunic and lodging in his chest cavity. Zero looked down.

"I just got this new body yesterday! Now look at it!"

He pulled out the shuriken and returned it in kind to Phantom who caught it and rejoined the barrage of the four Guardians.

"We're winning!" Harpuia announced, "He can't hold us all off! Now, let the darkness fall, Phantom!"

The latter obliged, and Zero was left in the dark. A fireball flew at him from the side; he saw it too late, and got his shoulder burnt while a homing missile burrowed into his spine. A crescent beam ripped through his already torn chest, and throwing knives studded his helmet.

The legend fell to his knees, his chin touching his chest, his saber clattering on the roadside. The darkness lifted as Phantom dispelled the cloaking technique. Leviathan poked him with her harpoon. No response.

"Let's leave him here for the Resistance to find," Harpuia sneered, "It was fitting I chose the road leading to their little base. Now that they have no hero, we can send our army to destroy them and arrest their leader."

"Agreed," Phantom nodded, bowing out of respect to the inert kneeling figure in the road before joining the others.

"You saw that? I whacked him good!" Fefnir gloated. Leviathan patted his shoulder.

"Well, I guess that just leaves you, since Phantom isn't so big on intimacy and Harpuia has his own issues to work out."

They all looked askance at her, and she giggled.

"Thank you for waiting five seconds."

The four Guardians turned around in astonishment. Zero was there, and yet not there, wreathed in the colours of the rainbow, blending and shifting with the landscape like a…

"That… that technique is the Chameleon!" Phantom gasped, "One of the Maverick leaders of the first war used it! I studied it, but never perfected it!"

"How?" Harpuia demanded, "I watched you die!"

Zero, shimmering in the invulnerability of the Chameleon, smiled.

"You forgot the Cyber Elves. Right after I collected the last one on Ciel's list, this little guy called Jackson was unlocked. But, he was inside me the whole time. I believe he is the reason I was not completely destroyed during the Elf Wars. My very own guardian angel… isn't that beautiful?"

"Attack!" Phantom warned, "Attack while he is still weak!"

Zero narrowed his dark eyes, grinning even more, picking up the Z-Saber.

"You naïve children… who told you I was ever weak?"

He ran forward and became air. The Guardians looked about.

"Phantom!" Harpuia shouted, "Use your cloaking techn…!"

KZASH! Harpuia fell from the sky, wings clipped. Fefnir unleashed his flamethrower in a wide spray, laying down napalm everywhere.

"Quick, Phantom, before he…!"

FSHAK! Fefnir's arm cannon was severed. Leviathan began to twirl her harpoon while retreating.

"Phantom, you must…!"

CRACK! Leviathan's harpoon shattered and she was laid flat on the ground. Phantom stared all around him on every frequency his optical and auditory units could muster.

Nothing.

KCHUNK! Zero glimmered out of Chameleon mode, his Z-Saber impaling Phantom's chest and sticking out the back.

"You… are greater than I… I hide in darkness… you hide in light…"

Zero pulled out the phase blade, circulatory fluid misting off it. Phantom shuddered.

"Your technique is strong… I will not let you reach where Master X is! I… will take you with me!"

Zero teleported as Phantom forced his already damaged fusion core to go critical.