Desperate to keep his personal kingdom afloat, Magnet Bomber sends everyone of his minions available to kill two of the Four Contras...
DISCLAIMER: Contra belongs to Konami, whereas Bomberman still remains a property of Hudson Soft as of March 1, 2012. WarioWare, on the other hand, is owned by Nintendo. Any songs "used" throughout the course of this fanfic are properties of their respective owners, along with any characters that aren't within the three franchises listed here, unless stated otherwise.
Chapter 3: Diamond City under siege
[Stage BGM: It's Time for Revenge (Contra ReBirth)]
Mission 1B: The streets of Diamond City
Magnet Bomber of the Five Dastardly Bombers, known to have killed the mayor of Diamond City.
Aaron and Ami Onuki of the "Four Contras" storm the streets to hunt down the mayor's killer.
August 28, 20XX
4:10 PM
"Damn," I muttered, "those alien bastards are gonna pay for desecrating our fair city!"
"Malevolent forces are gathering," said Ami, "but we benevolent ones aren't letting them claim another innocent!"
Just then, Penny called Ami on her cell phone. Ami, thank goodness I was able to contact you in time. I completely forgot to tell you that I recently added some extra arsenal to your Bomberman Watch.
"Extra arsenal?" Ami asked. "What do you mean?"
I mean, I've taken the time to install three additional kinds of bombs: the Sleep Bomb, and the Flash Bomb...and last but not least, the Wind Bomb. They should be useful along with your Fire, Ice, and Thunder Bombs.
Ami nodded. "Sounds awesome. Thanks, Penny. Well, I hope Yumi and the others are alright, though I've spent more time with Aaron, Bill, and Lance lately."
I'm sure they're all okay, said Penny, but don't worry too much. You and Aaron have two of your fellow comrades to rescue. Anyway, I'll try to send in a power-up pod now and then for both of you to add a weapon to your Contra Rifle. Good luck, but don't die this time.
After the quick phone call, we started our next mission by trekking the suspension bridge, connected between Crygor Labs and Diamond City. A bunch of Red Falcon's soldiers, along with the Reapers (the robots from Contra 4) and even evil-looking Bomberman clones that come in a variety of colors, were headed our way. The aliens gave it their all, while we blasted them away with our Star-powered weapons. Penny was right after all: only Star energy is capable of penetrating through the Super Titanium alloy. We didn't care if we got shot or blown up, since we activated our 30-hit barriers...of course, we needed to be careful not to get too carried away, as it's easy to lose track of how many hits out of a maximum 30 our barriers took so far. Sooner or later, we reached the end of the bridge, and back into Diamond City itself. A fortress wall came out from an open hatch to attack us in its basic manner: a few snipers shooting from the top, and two mounted cannons firing explosive shells downwards. Not surprisingly, the red core was showing on the bottom. Although I didn't pick up any useful power-ups for my Contra Rifle yet, we had no trouble blowing up the core to dismantle the wall itself.
"This sure brings back memories of Contra III: The Alien Wars," I commented, "and even Contra ReBirth."
"No argument there," agreed Ami. "The fortress walls suck at killing us, although there is one that actually puts up a bit of a fight in Contra 4. Speaking of which, I wonder why the Super Titanium alloy can only be damaged by Star energy..."
"We'll worry about that when we free Diamond City from Magnet Bomber's grasp. C'mon."
Ami and I moved on once more, taking care to watch out for Man-Faced Mutts nearby old garbage cans, for they had a habit of sneaking up on people from behind whenever they passed by. In fact, we saw no more than three of them, and let them chase us so Ami would stop them in their tracks with her Ice Bombs. And freeze the Man-Faced Mutts she did. Next came another group of RF soldiers, only this time, they're held from beneath the alien wasps to fly around - while shooting anyone they see. Luckily, Penny sent in a power-pod to fly by for us to shoot down, and gather the Spread Gun for my Contra Rifle. Even with the 30-hit barrier system on, the "get-hit-once-and-lose-a-power-up" restriction still applied here, but I wasn't too worried. I took down the RF soldiers and alien wasps, while Ami blew up the statues of Magnet Bomber with her Fire Bombs. Later, we passed by Pearl Square, where we saw many people being pushed around by the alien slave-drivers.
"Move it, you slaves!" The first slave-driver lashed out his whip repeatedly. "You don't wanna end up back at the death camps to die, do ya?!"
"The Grand Poo-bah of all Magnets wants more statues of himself!" The other slave-driver laughed maniacally. "More! MOOORRREEE!"
Just then, I interrupted them. "Not so fast, punks!"
The two slave-drivers yelped in surprise, but immediately glared at us in return. "Eh?! Who dares disrupt our job at this fine moment?!"
"We do!" Ami shouted. "Leave the innocent civilians alone!"
"It's Aaron and Ami of those pesky Contras!" The alien slave-drivers threw away their whips and pulled out their AK-47 machine guns. "Kill them!"
The alien slave-drivers opened fire on us, scaring the civilians away from Pearl Square in panic. "Why do they always wanna do it the hard way?" asked Ami, as she electrified the attackers with her Thunder Bombs. The lightning immediately arced throughout their bodies, killing them in no later than 10 seconds. Once we were done, we wasted no time destroying the statues of Magnet Bomber before moving on once again. Another power-up pod was teleported here from Crygor Labs; I switched to the empty slot on my Contra Rifle before shooting down the pod. Inside was the Laser Beam, which I picked up before switching back to the Spread Gun.
"Man," I said, "that was intense so far, wasn't it?"
Ami wiped some sweat off her forehead. "Yeah! Good thing we had our 30-hit barriers on to protect us."
Suddenly, we were shot from behind, and eventually injured by oncoming bomb blasts! "Aack! Penny was right: it is easy to lose track..." While I lost my Spread Gun, I still had my Laser Beam, which I used to take down the alien soldiers.
"Mm-hmm...and our 30-hit barriers have worn off! It's gonna take 30 minutes to recharge!" Ami blasted the evil-looking Bomberman clones with her Fire Bombs, thus enabling the both of us to move on once again.
But now that we were vulnerable to mortal damage again, we had to go back to taking cover every now and then. Plus, even when our weapons' barrier systems are finished recharging, we still needed to be in perfect balance. In other words, we can't be exhausted, wounded, or even sick. Even so, we could still turn on the 5-hit barrier systems; just not the 30-hit ones until we were in perfect balance again. Sooner or later, we reached the mayor's office building and as we feared, it was converted into MagnetBase. Suddenly, without warning, a giant-sized scorpion robot jumped down from above. Despite not being able to recognize the giant scorpion since there never was such a boss like it in the Contra games, it's still a machine that must be dismantled if we are to get inside the alien base. Flanking it on both sides were the remaining Reapers, which we had to contend to before we could even inflict damage on the scorpion robot. Ami threw her pumped-up Thunder Bomb at the Reapers to disable them, while I got a shot at the scorpion robot's eyes. It screeched in agony, but then it raised its tail to counterattack with its laser. We took cover to get away from the laser beam, and returned fire once again.
"That thing's not going down!" shouted Ami.
However, I had an idea. "Maybe we can lure it to a power grid for the city!"
We then ran away from the scorpion robot, eventually getting it to chase us. Along the way, we came across a nearby Fire Department, and alerted its surviving members about our plan to destroy the alien machine...all while identifying ourselves. Then we rode with them inside a fire truck to the nearest fire hydrant possible - which was away from the power grid but just a little close by. As soon as the firefighters set up their water hose, the scorpion robot reached us.
"C'mon, you giant piece of scrap metal!" I shouted.
Ami followed suit. "Catch us if you can!"
The machine came closer and closer...and lunged forth at us. With precise timing, we jumped out of the way at the last second, just before it crashed into the power grid. It struggled to get out, while charging up its tail laser for another counterattack since we tricked it. "NOW!" I yelled. The firefighters wasted no time turning on the water, and the hose began spewing out the water with sheer force. They aimed it at the giant robot, thus resulting in a huge electrical surge. In less than a minute, the machine itself exploded into pieces of scrap metal.
"Whew...that was too close!" I wiped some sweat off my forehead. "Thanks, guys."
"You're welcome," said one of the firefighters. "You must save our fair city from Magnet Bomber!"
"I know," said Ami. "He already killed the mayor, but he's not getting away with it anymore!"
[End BGM]
[Boss BGM: Bloody Storm (Contra III: The Alien Wars)]
The firefighters gave us a ride back to MagnetBase, before returning to the Fire Department for safety. Since the power grid was damaged, the power went out for half the city, including the remaining death camps. The alien base, formerly the mayor's office building before Magnet Bomber took over, had a backup generator in the basement in case of emergency. Back to the matters at hand, we stepped on in to finish the job...but just before we opened up, something busted through the front entrance, leaving a big hole in its wake. As it walked through, we recognized it as the giant alien tortoise from Contra III: The Alien Wars.
"It's Slave Beast Taka!" I called out.
"He looks somewhat different," said Ami, "but he seems to resemble what he looked like in Contra: Shattered Soldier."
The beast roared, releasing wasps from a nest mounted on top of his shell, along with some maggots from the nest on the bottom. Then he marched closer to us as we blasted the wasps and maggots to bits. He roared again, but this time he spat out some pink energy bursts from his mouth. We were struck a bit, but still able to return fire by destroying the wasp and maggot nests, enraging Slave Beast Taka. Since he had no exposed heart as a weak point this time, we recalled once more from Contra: Shattered Soldier, in which the head is his vulnerable spot. Taking care to avoid more energy bursts along with a breath of fire from the beast's mouth, we pelted his head with gunshots and cartoon bombs until it was blown to guts, forcing him to turn around 180 degrees...
"Erm...Aaron?" Ami asked. "As much as I wanna recall from the game, I still shudder at the thought of Slave Beast Taka's second form." As she finished, the alien tortoise revealed a large, humanoid face as his backside, much to her disgust.
"I know his appearance is barf-inducing," I said, "but we can't let that stop us from...oh crap, he's gonna vomit! GET DOWN!"
We wasted not a second lying down flat on the ground just as Slave Beast Taka spewed out some acidic vomit from his mouth. We held our breaths for as long as we could, resisting the urge to vomit in disgust. As soon as the monster stopped barfing, we let go of our breaths and opened fire, only to remember a few seconds later that his second form's only vulnerable while he's barfing. Then he snuffed out some wasps from his nose, which we easily swatted without getting stung. Afterwards, he did his vomit attack again, only now we knelt instead of going prone. Aiming carefully, we attacked his open mouth repeatedly until his entire body began leaking green blood. Groaning in agony, Slave Beast Taka dropped dead on the ground, granting us entry to MagnetBase at last.
[End BGM]
Meanwhile, we were unaware that we were being watched by Magnet Bomber from his lair. "'Step into my parlor,' said the spider to the fly!" cackled Magnet Bomber, while getting his troops in position. "They may have killed Slave Beast Taka, but they'll never reunite with Bill and Lance alive!"
[Stage BGM: Submarine Power Plant (Contra: Shattered Soldier)]
Mission 1C: MagnetBase
Bill Rizer and Lance Bean of the "Four Contras" are being held prisoner inside MagnetBase, formerly the mayor's office building.
Aaron and Ami Onuki are risking their lives to stop Magnet Bomber once and for all.
August 28, 20XX
4:55 PM
Down on the first floor just by the damaged entrance, I warned, "Ami, I have a feeling the bad guys are wising up. Chances are, they can and will throw grenades at us in order to flush us out of cover. If you hear one, either try to throw it back, or run like hell."
Ami nodded in response. "I hear you, Aaron. It's almost like Call of Duty, only this is real life."
I gave Penny a call on my cell phone to update her on our current situation. "Penny, this is Aaron. We've just cleared our way to MagnetBase."
Good job, came Penny's voice. Now all that's left is- Suddenly, crashing sounds were heard over the speaker. Oh my gosh! Blaze Bomber!
"What? What happened?" I was immediately interrupted by a blaring alarm on our end. "Crap! They've gone to full alert! I have to go now!"
Guys- I hung up before Penny could finish her sentence.
Ami sighed painfully, and said, "They knew we were coming! Looks like we'll have to split up, so we can cover more ground. There should be an elevator on the other side. Aaron, you take the left, and I'll handle the right." She took a moment to pat my back softly, and continued, "See you on the other side, but don't get killed. We're still vulnerable to mortal damage for within the next half hour. Remember to keep your head down!"
With that said, we split up to take both sides of the first floor. We took cover from oncoming fire, and heard grenades being thrown at us. We got out of cover before the grenades blew our legs off, and Ami threw her Fire Bombs at the RF soldiers. Thanks to her Bomberman Watch, she was able to make good progress despite taking fire from the enemy shots. Meanwhile, I was having a little trouble on my end, as the RF soldiers shot me a few times (thus leaving my Contra Rifle with no power-ups). Luckily, though, I wasn't shot in the vital spot(s) in my body. One of the soldiers threw a grenade at me, but I picked it up to throw it back at them. With only 2 seconds to spare, I had saved myself from certain death. Eventually, Ami and I reunited on the opposite end of the building, having cleared both sides. There were broken shards of glass all over the floor, and boy, we were glad we're smart enough to wear our shoes at all times. We took the elevator to the building's top floor - the third floor - but it stopped at the second floor for the alien soldiers to ambush us. While they opened fire, we hid away from the open door until they stopped firing.
"Perhaps this isn't the best time to decide," said Ami, "but let's see what this Flash Bomb can do."
Before the alien soldiers threw a barrage of frag grenades, Ami threw her Flash Bomb through the open door to blind them with a flashing light, causing them to drop their now-live grenades in the process. I quickly hit the "door close" button repeatedly until the elevator door closed slightly before the grenades blew the alien soldiers to bits. Then I stopped pushing the button, and took the time to exchange some words with Ami.
"Whew! That was too close for comfort, wasn't it, Ami?"
"My sentiments exactly, Aaron. Now it's just us and Magnet Bomber."
As soon as the elevator stopped at the third floor, we expected more alien soldiers and evil clones of Bomberman to ambush us. Strangely, though, none of them were waiting outside the elevator door. We walked carefully across the hallway, until we reached the door to the mayor's office. Just as we kicked it open to step inside, we were suddenly blasted to the floor!
[End BGM]
"AAUUUUUGGGHH!" I screamed.
"OOUUUCH!" cried Ami.
[Alert BGM: Tower of Zot (Final Fantasy IV)]
Magnet Bomber got up from the mayor's chair to taunt us. "Ha ha ha ha ha! I knew you were coming for me again, so I prepared a surprise for you: laser-trip mines on the walls and ceiling by the door! I should've killed you back at that death camp instead of relying on the self-destruct mechanism...but I digress."
"Where...are...Bill and Lance...?" I asked weakly.
"Give up! I, Magnet Bomber, have already taken care of them! Oh wait, you meant to ask where I'm keeping them, is that it? Well, they're over to your right, trapped in a cell behind the prison lasers!"
Bill called out to us, "Aaron! Ami!"
Lance added, "Don't go dying on us!"
"And don't even think about crawling away!" Magnet Bomber called in his soldiers, who came out from the other doors in the hallway to block our escape. "When I bring about the end of you 'Four Contras', I'll be promoted big time! No one will ever see me as a loser in my group again!"
"You don't scare us...you evil, communist, piece of crap..." Ami growled weakly, though her words caught me as somewhat uncharacteristic of her. She got out an Ice Bomb, and rolled it behind herself to freeze Magnet Bomber's minions before standing her ground.
"Ami..." I said, "...I've never seen you talk like that before..."
"It's heartless monsters like Magnet Bomber..." explained Ami, "...that get me riled up this way..."
Magnet Bomber scoffed at our attempts to get up. "What? Is that all you got? You can barely stand tall anymore!"
Ami gritted her teeth. "Maybe...but I'm not through yet! HRRRAAAGH!" With that, she tackled Magnet Bomber down with all her strength.
"She's not gonna hold him off for long!" warned Bill.
"Aaron!" Lance called. "Can you try and reach for the remote control on the mayor's table?"
I nodded weakly. "I...I'll try!"
[End BGM]
[Boss BGM: Dancing in Phantasmic Hell (Castlevania: Rondo of Blood)]
I tried my hardest to stand up, only to fall back down. After a few more tries, I managed to get up. I walked closer to the remote control while Ami was still fighting a losing battle against Magnet Bomber. When I was about to press the red button on the remote, Magnet swatted my hand and kicked me down. He stomped on my stomach a few times and went for my face, until Ami threw her Fire Bomb at him. He grew annoyed, and returned to taking her down once more. I was seething at the horrific sight of my best friend being injured time and again, but with my last ounce of strength, I reached for the remote control and pressed the button before passing out. The prison lasers were disabled, setting Bill and Lance free to kick Magnet Bomber away from Ami. They grabbed their M16 machine guns, and aimed at Magnet Bomber.
The blue-clad Dastardly Bomber cackled. "Fools! Your pitiful guns can't hurt me! We evil Bombermen have been reinforced with Super Titanium alloy!"
"Well, in that case..." said Bill, who borrowed my Contra Rifle while Lance picked up Ami's Bomberman Watch.
"Only the pure of heart can use those gadgets like with our guns," said Lance, "and we're the ones."
"Aaron and Ami, you've risked your lives to save us. Now we're gonna do the same for you."
"And that's by blowing Magnet Bomber into eternity!"
Magnet Bomber gloated again, "Just try and kill me, Contras! I dare you! I double-dog dare you to do so!"
He got out a dark Smash Ball, and busted it, transforming him into a metal dragon-like snake! He called himself Magnet Dragon, and literally opened fire by breathing flames at Bill and Lance. They immediately got me and Ami out of his line of fire and to safety, before turning their attention back to the tyrant himself. Bill shot his head off with my Contra Rifle, but it didn't kill him. Instead, his head was still active, and the body segments exploded like bombs. Bill and Lance were injured, but not as bad as Ami and I were. Meanwhile, Lance couldn't figure out how to work the Bomberman Watch, so he just used what Ami had earlier to finish the job: the Fire Bombs.
"Your friends' gadgets may stop me," said Magnet Bomber, "but you'll never stop Magnetropolis from replacing your Diamond City!"
Lance shouted, "Screw you, creepo! This city stays the way it was meant to be!"
Bill clamored next, "And you, along with the Hate Bombers and the other Dastardly Bombers, are not welcome here!"
Magnet Bomber grew his body segments again, only to be blasted off once more. Bill and Lance took cover from the explosions, and in the end, triumphed over him on behalf of me and Ami. As he was exploding, he quietly said something, but couldn't finish what he was saying before his head detonated in a blinding explosion. While Bill and Lance shielded their eyes, they barely saw something flying out of Magnet Bomber's exploding body.
[End BGM]
"Lance, what do you suppose he said before he blew up?" asked Bill.
"I don't know," replied Lance. "I couldn't hear anything over the explosion."
Ami and I woke up from being knocked unconscious. "Bill...Lance..." I said weakly.
"Thanks for saving us..." added Ami.
Bill smiled, before pulling me up for support. "You're welcome, but you two need medical attention. It's a miracle your injuries from the explosion aren't severe."
Lance did the same for Ami. "We'll take you back to Crygor Labs. Is anybody alright?"
Ami answered, "Penny is..."
"I see. I guess she's the only one who escaped capture, but at the very least, the Four Contras are together again. C'mon..."
Bill and Lance held me and Ami by placing our arms around their shoulders, gave back our Contra Rifle and Bomberman Watch, and disposed of the remaining, frozen alien soldiers. Then they walked us all the way back to the first floor and outside the now-defunct MagnetBase, where Penny and Blaze Bomber waited in their vehicle for our safe return. Accompanying them were Mona, 9-Volt, Phoebe, and Cute Pink...
TO BE CONTINUED...
Magnet Bomber's reign over Diamond City is no more, but it's all up to Bill and Lance to pick up the slack for the time being.