Two more chapters to go, and this one is perhaps the longest so far in DCC #1! Sorry I was late though, but hey, better than never, I guess. While I can't keep every promise I make, it doesn't mean I shouldn't finish a fanfic in any way I can.
DISCLAIMER: Contra is a property Konami, whereas Bomberman is still owned by Hudson Soft despite Konami's permanent takeover; the Mario and Wario franchises belong to Nintendo. Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi is owned by Renegade Animation. Any songs "used" throughout the course of this fanfic are properties of their respective owners.
Chapter 7: Almost to the end
Mission 6: Chocolate Island
With the Forest of Illusion safe from further damage, it was time to give chase to Axe Bomber and Purple Basilisk in return for the crime they committed last night. Since it's likely that they're ready for battle, we may have to split up to cover more ground.
June 11, 20XX
7:20 AM
It was past dawn now, but to make it all the way to Axe Bomber's next castle, we couldn't keep holding on the Yoshi eggs we've been rescuing. Therefore, we did what we should have done last night: phoning Crygor Labs in Diamond City.
"Hello?" A young girl's voice answered, which I recognized as Penny Crygor's.
"Hey, Penny," I replied, "Sorry we haven't been in contact with you lately."
"Oh, that's okay! We're just recovering from what happened yesterday, while you were gone."
I became confused. "What happened?"
Penny sighed over the speaker. "It's a long story…but I'll explain when you get back from your vacation on Dinosaur Land."
"Actually…it's not much of a vacation anymore. I'll let Bill explain the situation at hand." I gave my cell phone to Bill, who would then fill Penny in on the details.
"Our vacation was pretty much cut short," he explained, "due to an attack by the Hate Bombers. We didn't have a clue about how they came back, but the thing is: they've taken over the island under Red Falcon's command."
Penny gasped at what she had just heard. "What?! He's back? But…but how?"
"At first, we've been told the enemy leader goes by the name Malicious Bomber, but the moment we saw the all-too-familiar Red Falcon insignia, we knew ahead of time that he was likely Red Falcon all along. However, I'm afraid we're gonna have to see it for ourselves to believe it. Oh and here's Ami."
Then Bill gave the phone to Ami, who was the next to speak up. "From what Blaze Bomber told us, Red Falcon took the name 'Malicious Bomber' so that none would ever suspect his revival until it was too late. Speaking of which…Blaze Bomber became brainwashed against his will long ago, and we had to fight him to free him."
Penny became shocked over the line. "Blaze Bomber?! I thought my grandpa said he's the Pyro-Maniacal Fiend, as of the Alien Wars!"
"We're led to believe that at first, but as it turned out, he wasn't really evil to begin with. Unfortunately, though, Red Falcon's giant Terminator-like robot named Robo-Corpse did a number on him. Long story, I know…but anyhow, here's Lance if you wanna talk to him." As soon as Ami finished explaining, she gave my phone to Lance.
"Overall, we're just calling to ask if you have the time to come over to Dinosaur Land and, y'know, aid us in any way you can." Lance paused momentarily to think of something helpful. "Like, say, look after the eggs containing Yoshi's trapped friends, and fix Blaze Bomber. We're outside the Forest of Illusion to the south, but we have to get moving. From the looks of things, our next destination is Chocolate Island."
Penny then replied, "If Red Falcon really is alive by some miracle, then we'll have to stop him by any means necessary. My grandpa and I will be at your current spot in about half an hour or so. We're taking an experimental helicopter, by the way. One more thing: we've just finished Aaron's Contra Rifle. I'll explain how it works by the time we get to your spot."
"Sounds good! We'll be careful. This is Aaron, Ami, Bill, and Lance of the Four Contras, signing off." Then Lance hung up, and gave my cell phone back to me. But suddenly, someone teleported in; Bill and Lance immediately recognized who it was: Sniper Bomber!
[Interlude BGM: Dark Terror (Advance Wars: Dual Strike)]
"Long time no see, Contras." Sniper Bomber chuckled sinisterly. "While I could kill you right here and now like Robo-Corpse did to Blaze Bomber, I would never rob my loyal second-in-command, Axe Bomber, of that pleasure. You may have survived the forest fire we had planned for killing you, but you can't hope to reach the Valley of Red Falcon, where our warlord resides. Should you live, I'll be waiting for you in my castle next door to Lord Red Falcon's, deep within the underworld region itself. Don't disappoint me, Contras!"
Ami glared at Sniper Bomber, remembering the time he killed her parents during the Alien Wars back in Japan. "How do we know you're not leading us right into a death trap?"
"Ahh, the delicate-as-ever Ami. I hear you acquired an ability to use bombs, but even those won't guarantee you a victory against Lord Red Falcon! So, I assume that guy next to you is the one Arctic Bomber held prisoner back at her castle, is that right? Heh heh…how she even made it as one of the Hate Bombers, I will never know. Her immaturity was bound to be her own undoing in the end, anyway. As for Blaze Bomber…yeah, I definitely should have killed him long after we had lost the Alien Wars to the likes of you. Still, I didn't expect you'd eventually free him from Lord Red Falcon's mind control."
"And yet you monsters 'rewarded' us by sending Robo-Corpse to severely wound him," I shouted, "just as he came to his senses for the first time in centuries! First, my parents were killed during the Alien Wars, and then my uncle died in a car accident a few years later…"
"Oh, spare me the drama, kiddo. You wanna know who killed your parents while I took on Ami and Yumi's? Well, that's for me to know, and you to find out! But like I said before, don't disappoint me, for people don't call me King of the Snipers for nothing!" With that, Sniper Bomber teleported out, leaving us to deal with hordes of alien soldiers occupying Chocolate Island.
[End BGM]
[Stage BGM: It's Time for Revenge (Contra ReBirth)]
We had no time to wait for Penny to arrive, so we devised a plan. Yoshi would stay put and guard his trapped friends well until the arrival, while the rest of us drive Red Falcon's forces out of Chocolate Island. Recalling from Super Mario World once more, there was a shortcut through a Warp Pipe, which would lead to the next castle. Then we formulated a next step in our plan: Bill and Lance would travel through a Warp Pipe to an underground tunnel so they could prepare a surprise attack in our favor, while Ami and I launch a full-frontal assault across the surface. Before we split up, Bill gave me a laser rifle.
"You'll need it more than I do, Aaron," said Bill. "I conveniently found it in an armory closet aboard Purple Basilisk's warplane last night, while Lance set the time bomb to nuke it in return for setting the Forest of Illusion on fire."
"Thanks, Bill," I nodded. "That should really compensate for the lack of Contra-style power-ups, much less the Spread Gun. That is, until after Penny arrives with Dr. Crygor and gives me the Contra Rifle."
"I know how you feel, buddy," said Lance. "Its rate of fire isn't as quick as a machine gun's, but it makes up with tremendous firepower."
"From what I've seen," Ami added, "laser guns have a tendency to overheat if used repeatedly. I'll back Aaron up with my bombs if it ever happens."
"Yeah, at least until the rifle itself cools down enough for me to fire again." I took the laser rifle with gratitude, giving Bill and Lance a nod in return. "Now let's split up, and take it to 'em!"
We almost forgot about a Ghost House we had to traverse through first on Chocolate Island. While Ami was afraid of ghosts, she put that feeling aside and went on in with me, Bill, and Lance. We took care to watch out for Boos, Big Boos, and even Fishin' Boos (which acted like Lakitus, except they each carry a blue flame with their fishing hooks.) In another room, however, we glanced over at three odd-looking blocks, which were in fact "Block-Boos" when looking away. We used the opportunity to lure them into making a platform, before safely jumping on them to reach the exit.
As soon as we got back outside the Ghost House, we finally split into teams of two as planned. Bill and Lance ran to a Warp Pipe to get access to an underground tunnel, especially in case Purple Basilisk had a surprise ambush in mind. As for me and Ami, we thrust ourselves into battle against the alien soldiers on the surface, along with the robotic versions of Dino-Rhinos and Dino-Torches.
"A mission together at last, isn't it?" asked Ami.
"Yeah," I replied, "but we don't have time to think it over."
"I know. Our job's to get things done, as usual."
Nearly halfway through, we got attacked by an armored tank with six frontal cannons. Despite its dramatic entrance of firing a salvo of artillery shells, it didn't pose much of a threat as seen during the first level in Contra III: The Alien Wars. I simply unloaded with my laser rifle, while Ami electrified the tank with her Thunder Bombs until it malfunctioned and blew up, killing its driver inside. Then we glanced over and saw two anti-air flak cannons – possibly based on the Flakvierling from World War II, via stolen military technology – mounted on both sides. In fact, they were already firing on the Crygors' helicopter that was arriving on Dinosaur Land!
"We've got to hijack one of the AA cannons," I said, "destroy the other, and then blow it up!"
Then we waved our hands and shouted as loud as we could, eventually attracting the alien soldiers manning the AA cannons. We swerved about to avoid the flak, and reached the flak cannon itself to throw the enemies out into the ocean. After hijacking it, we fired at the other cannon situated on the opposite side of where we were. Once we blew it up, Ami set a pumped-up Fire Bomb before we bailed out. Its fiery, albeit normal, blast eventually took out the last AA cannon beyond repair. Penny and her grandfather were now safe to extract Yoshi and his trapped friends, and Blaze Bomber's damaged body.
When my cell phone rang, I answered. "Hello?"
"Guys, it's me," came Penny's voice. "We've just picked up your friends like you said…and thanks for blowing up those flak cannons that were firing on us. What now?"
"With the anti-air defenses down, you should be safe. Go all the way to Yoshi's Island, where the Contra Cruiser is. We'll let you know if we rescue more of our imprisoned friends. Oh, and don't forget to hand me the Contra Rifle before you leave Chocolate Island."
"Okay! But try to come back alive." Then Penny hung up.
Meanwhile, Bill and Lance were making good progress on their part. They had carefully moved their way across the underground tunnel with chocolate-like lava below. Suddenly, a giant spherical mech floated its way through; inside was Purple Basilisk himself!
"The time has come for you to join our fallen soldiers in hell!" Purple Basilisk announced. "Let's see you try and cheat death like you did last night!"
"You know we're gonna stop you, Basilisk," Lance said dryly.
The humanoid snake went back inside his mech to power it up, with four spear-like arms protruding from its center. Then it thrust its spears toward Bill and Lance in an effort to stab them. They were quick to dodge the attacks, thankful for their years of guerrilla training. Afterwards, they joined shooting the spear-like arms with throwing frag grenades to inflict damage. With at least one of the arms destroyed, Purple Basilisk changed his attack pattern by moving his spherical mech around. His next move was to wound Bill and Lance by dragging the mech's arms throughout the ground (while leaving trails of sparks in the process). Even so, the two Contras repeated the process of blasting the arms until the mech had no more.
Purple Basilisk was angry now. "That's it! You've gone and worked up my last nerve!"
Forced to change his attack pattern one last time, he banged his mech repeatedly against the floor and ceiling in hopes of crushing his enemies. He teleported after each attack to try it again, hoping he would succeed. As for Bill and Lance, they eventually took out the mech after a few close calls.
"Nooo!" Purple Basilisk cursed, his mech shorting out. "I won't go to hell at a time like this!" Unfortunately, for him, he could not escape his spherical mech in time before it exploded, killing him inside. His death scream was all that was heard over the explosion before it faded into deep silence.
"Now that he's gone for good," said Bill, "we need to rendezvous with Aaron and Ami, so we can take on Axe Bomber together."
[End BGM]
Later that morning, Penny stopped by to give me the holy-powered Contra Rifle for my very own. It sported a sky blue hue with a dark blue button on top. Like with Ami's Bomberman Watch, it also had an on/off switch next to the button, which functioned as a safety catch for the rifle. While similar to that of Bill and Lance's M16 machine guns, it was modified to carry two weapons at once. By pressing the dark blue button, the user could switch between the two weapon slots. Penny handed me the Spread Gun and Homing Missile power-ups for my rifle to set an example of how the button worked. Whenever my gun's switch was off, any power-ups acquired were rejected, and no shots would be fired either. While my Contra Rifle, along with Ami's Bomberman Watch, could never harm the innocent, the on/off switch was intended to set an example that guns can and will kill anyone, especially in the event that even an accidental gunshot within range of a combustible substance (i.e. a fuel tank) can prove disastrous.
The next step in Penny's tutorial, was to give me a detachable sling to put on the bottom of the rifle; that way, it can be held on my back whenever I'm either climbing my way through, or not using it. Although the Crygors did not have time to implement a barrier feature for both my Contra Rifle and Ami's Bomberman Watch, Penny warned me that getting hit once - like in the Contra games - would take away only the weapon I'm using, reverting it back to its default machine gun. She added in another friendly warning: while the Contra Rifle was waterproof, it certainly wasn't lava-proof.
When the explanation was over, Penny took off for Dinosaur Land with Dr. Crygor aboard their helicopter. Meanwhile, Ami and I trekked through a mini-fortress, tangling with four rhino-like statues known only as the Reznors at the end. While their fireballs didn't pose much of a threat, the bridge that their wall-mounted, rotating platform above was rigged to collapse when only two Reznors remained. Nevertheless, Ami and I made it out alive to attack Axe Bomber's castle, which was stationed next to the now-crumbled mini-fotress. We went through a series of dodging buzzsaws and blasting alien soldiers along the way, eventually arriving at Axe Bomber's lair. It composed of an evenly made row of closed pipes for a bridge over a pool of lava. This time, he wasn't planning on playing cat and mouse anymore.
[Boss BGM: Darknut Battle (The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess)]
"My, aren't you persistent!" he said. "There was no way you would've survived or escaped that explosion at my earlier castle! But, I guess you're not wimps compared to Bill and Lance after all. We've all had such good fun playing cat and mouse, but you're starting to bore me…" He paused to transform his metallic hands into axes, to emphasize the drama. "And I'm afraid playtime is over! Even your planet's strongest man-made weapon, much less an armor-piercing artillery shell, could not penetrate my armor!"
"Nothing," I said, eventually becoming rebuttal, "except your own axe hands!"
"Or perhaps our holy-powered gadgets," agreed Ami.
"Ha! Don't even think I'm stupid enough to fall for the old 'get-me-to-attack-myself' trick that easy! The Heavy-Duty Chopper of the Hate Bombers is back in business, and ready to hit hard!"
Bellowing like a barbarian, Axe Bomber charged forth with his axe hands, intent on ripping and tearing us apart. We were quick to avoid the attack, but we did not see some Podoboos (fireballs that jump up from the lava) leaping toward us, inflicting burning damage. Ami, however, shook them off with her Ice Bombs before we suffered any degree burns to our bodies. I, however, held my Contra Rifle on my back with its detachable sling, so as to not lose my Spread Gun and/or Homing Missiles. Then I returned fire with my laser rifle, only to inflict little to no damage to Axe Bomber's armor. Then Ami followed up by throwing a pumped-up Fire Bomb at him. He raised his axe hands to use as shields, but even they didn't stop Ami's bomb from blowing up on him.
"OW!" Axe Bomber yelped. "That burns!"
"Too bad your seemingly impenetrable armor doesn't protect you from my holy-powered bombs," said Ami, "since fire melts steel!"
"Oh yeah?! You're gonna have to do better than that to kill me!" Then the large Hate Bomber transformed his axe hands back to normal, and swatted both me and Ami away from each other. When he came to my direction, he kicked my laser rifle away over the edge of the closed pipes, causing it to fall into the lava. He stomped on my gut before re-arming his deadly ax blades once more, but my Contra Rifle was seemingly undamaged.
"Hmm, now where have I seen that before?" Axe Bomber wondered. "Ahhh, yes! That man in Diamond City looked the same way during the Alien Wars, before I killed him…and then his wife, too! And judging by what I saw in that family photo of theirs, you must be their only son. Yeah, that's right…an elephant never forgets!"
I became shocked with both fear and anger, that Axe Bomber would do something like this. But why he would target only my parents and not anybody else, I will never know at the moment. He looked closer to my face, expecting me to succumb to my rage. However, I resisted the urge to do so, even after what he and Purple Basilisk did to the Forest of Illusion last night.
"Hey, Axe-head…" I weakly responded, "you ever read The Odyssey before?"
"What the hell are you blabbering about?!" Axe Bomber retorted, still keeping his foot on me.
"There's this one part…where before Odysseus blinded the Cyclops…by poking his eye out…" I merely acted like I was dying, in order to distract Axe Bomber from what I was about to do. "…he told him that his name…"
Then I reached for my Contra Rifle on my back, pulling it out to aim at his one reddish-orange eye. "…was Nobody!" I emphasized the last word by shooting him in his eye with my Spread Gun, thus blinding him, freeing myself in the process.
"AAAAAAHH!" Axe Bomber screamed. "MY EYE! I CAN'T SEE!"
I called out to my pink-haired best friend, "Ami, NOW!"
While Axe Bomber was blind, he swung his axe hands wildly, and accidentally cut open his own armor to expose his energy core inside. Then Ami hurled a barrage of Fire Bombs at him, while I backed her up with my Spread Gun. He came flailing blindly at either of us, but due to being attacked by our holy-powered gadgets, he eventually lost his balance and fell into the lava below.
He screamed once again, "GYAAAAAAAAGH! Those new Contras have tricked me! My energy core's overheating from contact with the lava! I'm gonna…" Before he could finish his sentence, he detonated in a large explosion, thus triggering an internal eruption from the lava. That was our cue to shoot the cage open with a few shots from my Homing Missiles, thus freeing two more of Yoshi's trapped friends in the end.
[End BGM]
Then Bill and Lance arrived just as we got out of Axe Bomber's lair, and helped us escape before the eruption destroyed the castle. From what we just saw, we assumed Axe Bomber must have booby-trapped the place before our arrival.
"Sorry we're late," said Bill, "we ran into Purple Basilisk in that underground tunnel along the way."
Lance checked me and Ami for injuries. "You look wounded. Are you two alright?"
We both nodded, glad that Bill and Lance arrived in time to help us escape to safety. With Dinosaur Land just about free of Red Falcon's reign of terror, we called Penny and her grandfather to come pick up the next two friends of Yoshi's, and we would rest up before going into the Valley of Red Falcon, in the underworld. Only Sniper Bomber and his leader remained, but there was only one Yoshi egg left for us to secure.
TO BE CONTINUED…
I told you it was a long chapter. But who knows? The concluding chapter might be a bit longer, or just as long as this one was.