Super Smash Bros vs Capcom
Adventure Mode
Level 9: Skull Castle
Megaman Volnutt panted as he forced his Drill Arm against the wall. After a few minutes of work, the dirt and stone barrier fell to pieces. Changing his arm back to normal, he wiped his brow and gave Samus a thumbs-up. "Done!"
Samus nodded and moved past him. "Good job. Now, stay behind me. I'll go first."
After beating Giwan, the digger and bounty hunter had walked down a long corridor. It seemed to go on for a mile, but there was no way to tell. They noticed some marks on the ground that suggested there had once been a rail system in place there; possibly used to move from one location to another. Luckily, the floor was flat enough for Megaman's Jet Skates, allowing them to speed up their trek. Megaman blushed slightly in memory of it, mainly because in order for both of them to use the Jet Skates, Samus had to be carried on the digger's back. While the Zero Suit she wore wasn't completely form-fitting, it still allowed Megaman to full her figure's shape as she rode him. Samus, for her part, was completely indifferent to the whole affair, and all she said about it was an admonishment that Megaman keep his focus.
She sure is professional, Megaman thought, watching as Samus checked each corner, waving to him without looking back. I wonder what kind of life she lives?
Following Samus' directions, Megaman moved forward. It didn't take long for them to reach a wide open area. Megaman gazed about in awe and even Samus' composure faltered somewhat as she took in their surroundings.
Stage 1: Meele Manufacturing
The entire place seemed to be the insides of a grand, futuristic palace, albeit a bit on the damaged side. The walls looked like the innards of a computer modem. There were exposed circuits and wires at various spots on the metallic walls, lights, though functional, were on damaged fixtures. Things sparked randomly, and in some cases in different colors. There were also strange robots lurking about, bizarre aberrations that looked like someone had tried to combine two different styles of engineering, and succeeded haphazardly. The most normal-looking robot looked like some sort of green cyclops with a shield and a big metal plate attached to its head.
Samus blasted it. "Come on," She said, stepping over as it writhed on the floor.
The two moved forward dealing with any robot that happened to get in their way- which seemed to be all of them, in a sense. Bat-like orbs would fall down from the ceiling and charge them, cylinders with big eyes would appear from windows in the walls and float towards them, there was no end to it. However, the robots couldn't seem to make up their minds whether or not they really wanted to attack the pair. Some would walk away, only to charge at them at the last minute. Others would just remain still, then explode for no reason.
"Whoever built these things didn't do a very good job on their programming." Samus commented as she slashed at several cyclops' with a laser whip from her gun.
There were other traps to consider, as well. There seemed to be an alarming amount of pitfalls that pocketed the floor, and apparently they had been intentionally made. That alone wouldn't be a problem, but occasionally the robots would try to make jumping them difficult, though none were a match for Megaman and Samus' weapons. Also, bizarre blocks would just appear out of nowhere, and then disappear after a few seconds. Some of these were useful in crossing some of the larger gaps, though keeping up with the pattern and dodging the robots proved to be a challenge.
What kind of madman designed this place? Megaman thought, jumping over a block and blasting two cylinders. A piece of shrapnel almost nicked his ear, and in trying to dodge it he found himself falling into a pit before Samus grabbed his arm.
"Hold on." She said, pulling the digger to the other side with her.
Further on there seemed to be a lower amount of pitfalls, but more dangerous robots. These robots seemed ape-like in overall build, and threw balls, big heavy balls at Megaman and Samus. Thanks to their buster gun and laser pistol, they were able to easily blast their way past these obstacles. Megaman was impressed by the agility Samus now had without her previous power suit. They soon came to a door at the end of the hall. It only took a few shots to bring it down.
Stage 1 end
Through the door, the pair found themselves confronted what looked like an army tank of arms…big arms. Megaman quickly put himself in front of Samus- she may have been older, (By how much, he'll never ask. He tries to be a gentleman) but it wasn't right to let the one without armor protect the one who did. Behind him, Samus prepared her laser pistol, ready to leap into action when the time came.
"FALCON PUNCH!"
Before either of them knew what was happening, a man in a blue uniform, a yellow scarf, and a red helmet with a visor leapt out of nowhere and slammed his fist against the tank-bot's top- a fist which seemed to be wreathed in red, bird-shaped flames. upon impact, the tank-bot began to tremble before collapsing at the seams, its metal being blown off by the force of the punch.
The newcomer leapt off of the robot and landed before Megaman and Samus, showing himself to be a well-built man- one that Samus knew quite well.
"Captain Falcon." The lady bounty hunter said.
"You know this man?" Megaman asked, completely stunned at what this captain had done.
Samus nodded, stepping around the digger. Captain Falcon gave Samus a short salute.
"Yo, Samus," He said, and nodded at Megaman as a greeting. "What are you doing here?"
"I could ask the same question myself."
Falcon shrugged. "I don't know how I got here, honestly. Last thing I know I'm at this bar in Sim City, next, I'm stuck in this giant future castle fightin' robots." He excluded the little detail that he was in a bathroom when the 'transfer' happened. Who would install a warp zone in a toilet?! Instead, he asked, "Either of you got a comm device? I need to make a call."
AT WRIGHT'S
It was closing time when the phone rang. Joe, the only one left in the establishment, stopped putting the glasses away and answered it.
"Hello?" He asked, resting his free arm on the counter. "Cap…? Where've you been, you disappeared, like, hours ago!" Joe frowned as he listened to Captain Falcon's dialogue on the other end. "Oh…okay, but what can I do?
"….Sure, it's still parked in the back. The owner was gonna have it towed, but I-
"Yeah…yeah…heck yeah! Okay, what were those codes again?" Joe grabbed a pen and paper from under the cash register and quickly wrote some numbers down. "Got it. See you soon, Captain!"
Joe slammed the phone back on its receiver, shivering with excitement. Finally, a job for a hero! And not just any hero, oh no…
Joe could feel his V-watch glowing, mirroring the intense heat rushing through his blood. Striking a pose, he called out the phrase Captain Blue had taught him that day at the movies.
"Henshin a-go-go, baby!"
In a flash, Joe's normal street clothes were instantly replaced with a stylish red bodysuit with matching belt, and the V from the V-watch floated up and transformed into a helmet. Adding to that was a long pink scarf that flowed in the (Non-existant) wind. The hero of justice that now stood in the abandoned bar struck what he thought was a cool and sexy pose.
His transformation complete, Viewtiful Joe practically bounced out to the parking lot, ignoring the fact that he still had at least 34 glasses left.
It was dark out, and the only light the parking lot had came from a street light and a light fixture on the wall, shining down on Captain Falcon's pride and joy, the Blue Falcon.
Viewtiful Joe allowed himself a moment to stare in awe at it. Then, he strode forward and punched in the security code that would unlock the racer. Once the door opened up, Joe more or less threw himself into the driver's seat. Gazing at the undeniably awesome controls, the hero tried to calm himself and remember Falcon's instructions. First, he turned on the stand-by computer. Then, he entered the emergency code that would allow him to drive. To drive it! Once the main systems were powered up, the Blue Falcon asked for its first task.
"Let's get this party started…" Joe whispered, and with more volume said, "Computer, locate Captain Falcon!"
SCANNING_
FALCON'S HOMING DEVICE FOUND_
NOW ACTIVATING ENGINES_
"Yes!" Viewtiful Joe cheered, pumping his fist. His elation was cut off as the Blue Falcon's abrupt acceleration pushed him into the back of his seat. It didn't help that he didn't put his seatbelt on, especially when the racer started making sharp turns.
BACK AT THE CASTLE
The train Haggar and Ness stowed away on had stopped at a station with a definite skull motif. Servbots were unloading supplies and other goods, no doubt stolen. Watching this from their hiding place, man and boy exchanged looks. They had found the robbers' lair.
"Eek!" A Servbot had seen them and was now pointing in their direction. "It's Haggar and that quiet boy! They're here!"
With their cover blown, Haggar and Ness came out into the open and prepared for battle. While Haggar tensed his muscles, Ness took out his baseball bat and pointed. Looks like they were going to have to fight their way out!
Stage 2: Bonne Pirates Central
It didn't take long for the station to become a riot scene- though Haggar would never admit to seeing a riot like one before him. The Servbots were running all about, desperately trying to stay ahead of the burly politician and his psychokenetic sidekick. Those that did try to fight did so at a distance- either by shooting with little pistols or tossing bombs- and sometimes they ended up hitting one of their fellows by mistake. With the Servbots' toy-like appearance, there was a surreal cuteness to it all.
Moving across the floor wasn't too much of a problem, but there were crates every which-way, forming a slipshod maze. For a man of Haggar's size, it wasn't a problem- he could easily step or climb over the bigger boxes- but poor Ness needed extra help. And every time Haggar bent back over to pull Ness over, it left him open for a cheap shot from a Servbot. Luckily, Ness' Psy attacks where very useful in blocking unfriendly fire- and giving it back with interest. Eventually the two came across a large elevator which they quickly commandeered. After scaring out any Servbots in it, Haggar hit the up button, closing the doors.
The lift went up a single floor before the doors opened again. The floor before them looked like a big hanger bay full of vehicles of one kind or another. Some were the walkers the Servbots used in their crime spree at Sim City. Others looked like comical digging machines- like oversized go-karts with a giant drill in front. There were flyers, artillery stands, the works, all armed.
And there were now pointing at Haggar and Ness.
Haggar hit the Up button again, but the doors didn't close- the Servbots must have cut the power from the lift.
"Move!" Haggar yelled as the guns began to fire.
Ness was already in motion. After dodging the initial salvo, he crouched down and released a bolt of energy. "PK Thunder!"
The blue-purple energy bolt soared around the hanger, striking and short circuiting any weapon unfortunate enough to be in its flight path. Haggar, meanwhile, was using the distraction to take his own initiative. Picking up one of the shorted walkers, he began to spin around like an Olympic athlete in the hammer toss event. This little stunt had the bonus of deflecting any shots that came his way, as well as battering any poor Servbot that were unfortunate enough to get too close. Once he let go, the walker flew- for a second, then it crashed into a set of drill cars. But even as the explosion shook the hanger, Haggar and Ness managed to get into another elevator. Like the first, this one only took them up a single floor.
The next floor was actually a cafeteria, of sorts. Grills, tables, and ovens had been strewn about, and Servbots busied themselves either cooking or eating. Once they saw the pair coming they panicked, and began to riot. As a result, grills and ovens were left unattended. Once the food being cooked reached a certain point, they would exploded, sometimes sending a Servbot flying. Between the two, Haggar was in more danger with his large size. Through it all, he and Ness found a third elevator.
They were left off onto a…well, it seemed like an obstical course of doom, in all honesty. (So said Haggar's thoughts) A sign on a wall said, "Torture Room". The entire path was littered with booby traps such as spikes jutting out of the floor, giant hammers that would swing down with the sole purpose striking someone on the head. There were also flame throwers, and boxing gloves attached to springs. Luckily for Haggar, the traps had been built for someone Servbot-sized in mind. Unfortunately for Ness, he was roughly the size of a Servbot. Haggar had to go first and use his size and strength to sabotage the torture devices and allow Ness to move through uninjured. There were no enemies, save a single Servbot lying flat on his face, his yellow head covered in scorch marks and dents. Stepping over him, Haggar and Ness reached the next elevator.
End stage
It was a longer ride than usual, which made Haggar and Ness think they were heading towards the top floor. Hopefully, that would be where the boss of this operation was hiding.
The elevator doors opened up to a large room, though not the size of the other rooms below it. It was sparsely decorated, with some machinery parts lying about. There was a desk with some drawing paper on it, and a bed with pink covers. There was also a wall of monitors with a single chair.
"Hey! What do you think you're doing, huh?!"
Haggar and Ness turned to see a young, teenaged girl glaring at them while standing on top of a large green tank of sorts. She wore black pants, a pink shirt with a cute skull broach, and a black coat over it. Her black hair had been styled to look like a pair of fins sitting on her head.
"Don't you know better than to barge into someone's room without permission?!" She demanded, pointing an accusatory finger at the pair.
Ness was a bit put off by the girl's demanding tone. Or maybe it was that the tone came from a young lady. Even after all he had seen on his various adventures, he was surprised to see someone like her in this place. In any case, he held out a hand, prepared to unleash some Psi. No telling what this girl could do.
Haggar, on the other hand, wasn't affected in the slightest at the girl's appearance or attitude. And he knew exactly what to expect from her.
"Tron Bonne, your robots have been robbing Sim City," He growled, taking a step forward. "And you're gonna put a stop to it, or else!"
"Oh, yeah?" Tron sneered, "And what if I don't?"
Haggar said no words. The act of flexing a powerful arm muscle would be message enough. That is, if Tron remembered the last time they butted heads in the merger with the Marvel Universe.
But instead of being intimidated, Tron just laughed. "O-ho-ho! That's right, I forgot; you're some kind of wrestler. Well-" She pushed a button on her other wrist. "-Piledrive this!"
Out from the shadows came a giant- Servbot, that is. It was easily a colossus compared to the diminutive robots Ness and Haggar had seen on their journey, which meant that it's shoulders reached the top of the wrestler's head. And it wasn't simply tall- everything about the Servbot was gigantic, from its arms as thick as telephone poles, to its head, about the size and shape of a monster truck.
This last comparison proved to be very apt, as the Serv-giant's first act was to charge headlong at Haggar. Before he could move away, they were both on the floor, with the man being pressed down by the machine.
Ness, startled by how quickly these events transpired, looked from Haggar to Tron.
"…What?" Tron asked, raising an eyebrow. "Got something you wanna say?"
Ness quickly tensed himself and raised his hand. He knew how these things worked; the best way to stop a rampaging thing sometimes was to take down the one controlling it. And that meant giving Tron a taste of Psi!
"Oh, so you wanna fight, huh?" Tron realized this when she saw Ness' eyes. They were the eyes of one who would not back down no matter how outmatched they were (Which he certainly was). She had seen that look many times, especially in him. "Fine, then! But don't blame me when you get hurt!"
Tron hopped down into her 'tank', which soon proved to be no tank at all. It's body was shaped rather like a cauldron, it's body mostly green. It stood up on two knobby legs that made it looked rather comical, with large, imposing arms- one that had a three-barrel cannon in place of its fist. On the center of its front was a larger version of Tron's skull broach.
Sitting in the open cockpit, Tron gripped the Gustaff and directed it towards Ness. "Engage!"
Ness vs Tron Bonne
The first to act was Tron, though it was Gustaff that did the action. Namely, it fired a strange object from its cannon at Ness, a device that looked more like a land mine than a shell. Ness crouched down and unleashed a PK Thunder and destroyed the projectile while it was in transit.
Making an unhappy noise under her breath, Tron moved the Gustaff at Ness, planning to hit him while he was apparently off-guard. He certainly seemed to be distracted, crouched down like that. Maybe he was getting stomach pains, or was simply frightened from the explosion his power and the Beacon Bomb made on impact.
And that was Tron's first mistake in the battle. She didn't realize that the PK Thunder was still formed, having passed through the Beacon Bomb like an arrow through a balloon. Ness directed it through the air, steering it down at Tron's unguarded back. It would have been a clean hit, but Tron suddenly had the Gustaff jump, and the PK Thunder hit the machine instead. She still felt the impact, though.
"Gah!" Tron cried as the energy passed through her mech. Her entire body was electrified from the contact, though the cockpit's insulation provided decent protection. Angry, she slammed Gustaff's fist down at Ness, sending him flying with a blow to the head. Though Ness was able to surround himself with Psy, he still felt the impact of the punch and his sudden stop against the wall. In spite of that, he managed to get back up. He pulled out his baseball bat and pointed it at Tron, challenging her.
Tron wasn't going to let up that go. As the Gustaff thundered towards Ness, she tossed out a Servbot that had been dozing in the sniper's seat. The Servbot, now awake, ran over to where Ness was with intent to subdue.
WHHACK!
Tron had to duck as the Servbot went flying over her head, courtesy of Homerun Airlines. She quickly sent out a silent signal for other Servbots, provided that they weren't doing anything important, to drop whatever unimportant things they were doing and come right up.
Meanwhile, Gustaff continued on its epic, three second journey from where it was to where Ness was. Once it got close enough, it's body spun around, arms out. Ness managed to jump over the machine and zap Tron with some Psy power, but once he landed he received another powerful hit from the Gustaff.
The battle went on like that for some time- Ness, using his agility, Psy, and assorted toys to batter Tron with quick strikes whenever he could, and each blow he received from the Gustaff felt equal to three or four of his. Though he was able to protect against and avoid most of them, each one counted.
Ness realized that he had to make a powerful strike against Tron if he wanted to win this fight. Unfortunately, his strongest attack needed time to charge up, during which he would be helpless against whatever weapon Gustaff unleashed. Obviously, he needed a diversion
Gustaff was thundering down on Ness, it's right arm transformed into a drill. Ness positioned himself against the wall, biding his time. Once Gustaff was close enough, Ness kicked off the wall, using the boost to jump over the mech. While he was directly above Tron, he hit her with a PK Fire and ran to the opposite side of the room. With Tron distracted by her own burning, Ness prepared a PK Flash and focused both on building it up and moving it towards Tron. He had to get the timing just right, or the Psy blast would burn itself out.
"Ow, ow ow!" Tron wailed as she, and her Servbot, patted the fire out. Once it was gone she fixed Ness with a look that would have melted glass. She saw that once again he was crouched down and shivering. She quickly did a quick look around- he wasn't going to catch her with that weird move again! When she didn't see the PK Thunder buzzing around, she moved the Gustaff at Ness, flanked by a pair of Servbots.
Had Tron taken a moment to look closer, she would have noticed a small and bright flurry of blue/green power building up near one of the lights, getting bigger as it charged. However, because she was so fixated on Ness she didn't, nor did she see it move towards her. She felt its heat on her neck just before it exploded.
"PK Flash!"
"Auurrgghh!" Tron screamed as the Psy power burst on her, causing the Gustaff to collapse and dumping her out of the cockpit. "Uhhh…hate you…"
End Battle
It was at this time that Haggar managed to throw the Servbot giant off of him. Getting up, he saw the defeated Tron lying by her wrecked Gustaff, with her Servbots fussing over her. Ness was walking up to them, and he gave Haggar a thumb's up. The wrestler nodded, smiling. Looks like this case was all wrapped up.
Then the elevator opened, and out stepped Megaman, Samus, and Captain Falcon.
"Top floor; Bosses, treasure, and enough range to send out a signal." Falcon announced.
Megaman noticed a familiar figure lying on the floor. "Tron? Is that you?"
Tron, still somewhat dizzy from her fight with Ness, slowly pulled herself up. She only registered Megaman's words by a small margin, and so was caught off-guard when he marched up to her and took her hands.
"You're here, too!" The digger cried, "That's great!"
The realization that her crush was now touching her was enough to bring Tron to her senses. Her cheeks turning a faint pink, she said, "O-of course I'm here! Who were you expecting?" Taking away her hands, she turned away in an attempt to appear nonchalant. "So…glad to see me, hmmm?"
Megaman grinned. "You bet. You're the first human I've seen from our world. It's always good to see a familiar face."
That wasn't quite the reply Tron was hoping to hear. In her perfect world, it should have been, "I could barely stand to be away from you, my love! I missed you far more than I did that blond girl!" Not hearing Megaman say that soured the pirate girl's disposition a bit.
"Oh, so you would've been happy with anyone, huh!" Tron snapped, whirling on Megaman, who took a step back by reaction.
Haggar couldn't really believe what he was seeing. The little firebrand who was responsible for so much trouble was acting like a twitterpated schoolgirl. If it weren't for the fact that Tron was in so much trouble he would have been amused.
Samus, on the other hand, had less knowledge on Tron's history of criminal activities and therefore less reason not to laugh. Smiling wryly, a single, stifled snicker escaped her.
Tron heard it, and turned away to see who had snickered at her expense. When she saw Samus, her mood shifted from disappointed annoyance to a much greener and darker emotion. The fact that Megaman- her man (in her mind)- had been in the company of an adult, attractive woman clad in a form-fitting suit put more fire to her ire.
"And who exactly is this woman supposed be?!" Tron shouted, glaring daggers at Samus, "Some sort of 'lady of the evening'?"
"No, it's not like that, Tron," Megaman said "I met her while exploring a ruin…" Wait, why am I talking like a guy who's been caught with another woman by his girlfriend?
Tron now had turned both barrels on Samus. "Don't you try putting any moves on Megaman, you hussy! There's no way you can beat me!"
"I'll keep that in mind." Samus replied dismissively. She looked down at Ness and smiled slightly. Yet another familiar face. Gesturing towards Tron, the bounty hunter asked, "What's her story?"
Ness quickly told her what he had seen the Servbots do, and what Haggar had told him.
While this soap opera was occurring, Captain Falcon was punching in commands on his wrist-mounted keypad, the visor on his helmet giving out readings. From the looks of things, his racer wasn't too far away...
The wall exploded as the Blue Falcon came crashing through it. Unfortunately, this wall happened to be the one Tron was standing in front of, essentially sending the poor girl flying from her stand.
"WAAAH!" Tron wailed as she tumbled through the air.
"My God!" Haggar cried, jumping back in alarm.
"My ride!" Falcon cried, rushing towards the racing machine.
"My gosh!" Megaman cried, running to where the pirate was going to land. He didn't so much catch her as she fell onto him, sending them both to the floor. Falcon, meanwhile, had opened the Blue Falcon up to find Viewtiful Joe sprawled out in the driver's seat. His helmet was almost off of his head and his legs had become tangled up in his pink scarf.
"Uhhhhh…" Joe moaned.
"You didn't make a mess, did you?" Falcon asked, looking around the cockpit. Vomit was a pain to wash out of the seats and screwed with the controls something fierce.
It took a few minutes for everyone to calm down. Once Captain Falcon was assured that his beloved Blue Falcon suffered minimal damage (And Joe had kept his mouth shut the entire ride) and that Tron had not been injured too much, the rest of those present gathered around Tron for an explanation.
"After the worlds merged- Again," Tron added irritably, "I got separated from my brothers, as well as your family," She said to Megaman, "While looking for them we found this castle and started using it as a base. Looks like it had been abandoned for about thirty years."
"And why were you robbing all of those stores?" Samus asked.
"Hey, food, water, and decent tech doesn't grow on trees, you know!" Tron shot back, "I have to survive somehow!"
"Looks to me that you're planning to do a lot more than survive," Haggar put in suspiciously, "What was all that weaponry for?"
"Well, a girl's got to protect herself somehow," Tron replied innocently, "I mean, a big place is a pretty inviting target to thieves."
"That's right!" A Servbot with a red cap piped up, "Plus, we needed-" He was cut off by a kick from Tronne. "Ouch!"
"Needed what?" Megaman asked, raising an eyebrow. "Tron, what are you planning?"
Tron gave the Servbot an irritated glare, but under everyone else's eyes gave in. Sighing, she pulled out a little remote and activated a monitor. The monitor showed a giant, ominous castle sitting in the middle of a volcanic wasteland. Samus raised an eyebrow. She had seen that castle before.
"One of my search parties found this huge fortress built on the outskirts," Tron explained, and giggled. "It's full of treasure!"
"And you were going to raid it." Megaman sighed. He should have guessed.
"You know it!" Tron beamed, and then looked thoughtful. "Of course, it's also full of monsters and other weird stuff. If I'm going to take this place, I'll need some serious weaponry on my side. No chance of that happening now…" She finished bitterly, giving Ness and Haggar a scornful look out of her eye's corner. "…These jerks ruined my operation!"
Haggar snorted unapologetically, while Ness looked fairly neutral.
"You wouldn't have done it even with an army," Samus stated. Everyone looked at her. "That's Bowser's Castle. He's ugly and stupid, but strong. Too strong for a head-on assault."
"Y'know, I was in Sim City a bit ago," Captain Falcon said conversationally, "His goons just attacked Peach's estate and kidnapped the princess."
Samus and Ness looked at Falcon suddenly.
"Peach has been captured?" Samus asked worriedly.
"Darn tootin'," Falcon nodded, "I was gonna go out and save her myself when I got…sidetracked."
"Wait, someone kidnapped a princess?" Joe asked, "People still do that?"
Samus and Ness exchanged worried looks. As far as both of them knew, the merger between worlds had scattered the people of both universes far and wide- There was no telling whether or not Mario had knew about Peach's abduction.
Before the discussion could go any further, the door to the stairs burst open, and in came Data in the company of another Servbot.
"Miss Trooonnn!" Servbot No. 40 wailed, waving its arms about.
"Huh?" Tron blinked. "What is it?"
"W-w-w- It's a monster!" No. 40 shrieked, "A horrible monster snuck into the castle!"
"What!?"
Data danced in a frenzied beat. "I was downstairs looking for something useful for you, Megaman, when all of this yellow goob just poured in through the vents! It all morphed into this giant monster and started wrecking the place!"
"A monster?!" Tron rushed over to the monitors and began to type onto the console furiously. Everyone gathered around her and looked. On the various screens they could see the shadow…something crashing about, knocking over walls and other machines. It was hard to tell with the black and white footage.
"The reception sure is lousy." Captain Falcon commented.
"Gimme a break, this place was in ruins when I got here," Tron shot back, "We're lucky we can see anything."
"If you have any more helpers in this base, you had better alert them." Samus put in.
Tron nodded. Flipping a switch, she spoke into a microphone. "Attention all hands! Abandon base! I repeat, abandon base! Initiate evacuation procedures and get the heck out! Follow my homing beacon and rendezvous with me once you are in the clear! Tron out!"
By this time, Captain Falcon was already planted firmly in the driver's seat of the Blue Falcon. "Everyone, hop in!"
"I call shotgun!" Viewtiful Joe declared.
"Like heck you are!" Tron shouted, pushing past him.
There was a bit of a scuffle as those assembled tried to get into the F-Zero racer. It didn't help that Tron wanted to bring her ruined Gustaff along, and they had to spend a few minutes trying to jam the stupid thing in the Blue Falcon's trunk. A combination of the limited space and the size of certain people meant that a few ended up sitting on someone else's lap, sometimes multiple people on single lap. (Tron, much to her joy and embarassment, found herself pressed against Megaman on his left…who, much to her fury, was also pressed against Samus on his right.)
Once they were all stuffed in, Captain Falcon shifted into high-gear, and the Blue Falcon blasted through another wall.
Stage 3: Skull Hall
The Blue Falcon kept blasting through wall after wall on its intense quest to escape the castle. Luckly, the poor condition of the building made doing so rather easy. It didn't take long for them to enter a massive hall, which made the ride easier. Unfortunately, it also made it easier for robots like the ones Megaman and Samus encountered to latch on and attack the racer.
"Can't shake 'em off!" Falcon announced, "Someone's gotta get these hitchhikers off before they do some real damage!"
"I'll do it!" Megaman shouted. He was starting to feel the pressure of being between two pretty ladies, and all of the jostling around wasn't helping his blood pressure.
With some maneuvering, he pulled himself out and moved for the hatch on the roof of the vehicle. Once he was halfway out in the open, he saw Viewtiful Joe standing on the outside, his arms crossed and his scarf billowing heroically.
"Hey, how'd you get out here so quickly?" Megaman asked, confused.
Joe gave Megaman a cheesy thumbs-up. "A hero is always where he is needed!"
"There's a robot on your helmet."
"Gah!"
Megaman slapped the robot off, and he and began systematically shooting and punching every and any other robot on the racer. It was easy to do in itself, but the real trick was keeping balance. The road was uneven, and several times they almost fell off. Other obstacles came in the form of debris falling down as the castle collapsed all around them. And then there was…
"WAAAALLLLL!" Megaman and Joe screamed as the Blue Falcon approached the barrier. They scrambled to get back into the racer, almost knocking each other over in their haste. Megaman just barely forced himself in (Crushing Joe against Haggar) when they crashed into it. Daylight shone through the hatch's opening. They were out of the castle.
They were also in mid-air. The castle had been built on the side of a cliff. The Blue Falcon hovered in the air for a brief second before going into a nosedive. Captain Falcon pulled at the yoke, trying desperately to level them out. As he maxed out the thrusters in a bid to stabilize, he saw that more debris was coming down at them.
"More rocks from above!" the Captain yelled.
After another bout of maneuvering, Samus, Megaman, and Ness moved towards the top hatch and began to fire at the avalanche. The energy blasts took care of the larger shrapnel, leaving only small pieces of rubble to bounce harmlessly off of the Blue Falcon's hull.
As this went on, Falcon decided on a gamble. Turning the thrusters, he had the Blue Falcon spin about, hoping to create a propeller effect. The result was mixed, as while the racer did level out (Kinda), the constant spinning caused it to go into a spiraling formation as it went down. Soon enough, it hit the ground…on it's side. After a minute, it fell over right-side up.
"Oof…that was a bumpy ride." Falcon grunted. Looking back, he asked, "Is everyone all right?"
"Ugh…" Tron moaned. She was slumped over, her eyes having become spirals. Ness, Joe, and Megaman were similarly afflicted, though not as visibly as Tron. Haggar and Samus also looked a bit disoriented, but they managed to keep their composer somewhat.
Shaking his head, Captain Falcon opened the cockpit and stepped out. Looking around, he saw that they were now in some kind desert. Not far away was a sheer cliff face, which the castle had been built on the top of. And exactly next to that was some kind of yellow gunk raining down from above.
…Wait, what? Falcon thought.
the gunk then gathered together and rose, forming a giant, spherical being with a single red eye in the center. And that eye was now focused on the Blue Falcon.
In the monster's malformed, mallard computer mind, only a single thought was remotely coherent.
Get…Mega…Man…
The Yellow Devil lurched towards the Blue Falcon. Seeing this, Captain Falcon quickly put himself between the monstrosity and the racer. No way was some goop creature hurt his baby!
…or the people inside it, that was important too…
At this time, Joe was pulling himself out from the Blue Falcon for some much needed fresh air. Also, he didn't want to be in the passenger seat when Tron lost the war against her upset tummy. But when he saw the approaching monster, the queasiness in his own stomach vanished in an instant. Shock and terror was an excellent medicine, and cheaper than whatever the pharmacist recommends. Straightening his helmet, Joe leaped to the Captain's side, striking another silly pose. Falcon gave him a weird look, then settled into a fighting stance.
Boss Battle: Yellow Devil
The Yellow Devil lurched forward, swinging his fists down. Falcon and Joe jumped in opposite directions, narrowly getting crushed. Upon landing they attacked the left and right arms respectively.
"Falcon Punch!" Captain Falcon delivered a flaming punch, causing the left arm to exploded messily.
Joe whipped out, aimed, and fired his Six Cannon, making the right arm explode just as messily.
The Yellow Devil glared as its arms reformed. Then, it took on a ball shape and bounced around, trying to squash the heroes. Falcon and Joe ran about, easily avoiding the Yellow Devil's slow movements. After four bounces, the Yellow Devil resumed its normal shape. Then, it shot out its right arm at Joe.
"Yow!" Joe cried, jumping up. He landed on the arm and found himself being pulled towards the Yellow Devil as it retracted its limb. In a panic, Joe threw his Voomerang and rolled off. The Voomerang struck the Yellow Devil's sole eye, and the gooey behemoth bellowed in pain.
Captain Falcon got it. "Looks like you hit it in its tender spot!" He told Joe.
Joe also got it. "Sweet!" After all, when fighting a monster that had a single area different from the rest of its body, you needed to hit that point!
The battle rhythm changed as Captain Falcon and Viewtiful Joe began to focus their efforts on hitting the eye. A feat that would have been easier, had the Yellow Devil remained in a single shape. Sadly, that was not to be. The Yellow Devil would split in two and fly at the pair like giant serpents…or slugs. However, only one mass had the eye, forcing Falcon and Joe to attack both halves in order to find it. The two masses were big and unwieldy, so the Yellow Devil, upon reforming, would become a slew of many, beachball-sized yellow blots, flying around in an attempt to bludgeon the two. This made finding the eye much more difficult, however, it became easier when Joe drew attention to the blot that was larger than the others. Sometimes, though, it would become a great, yellow tornado, making contact with the eye impossible…from the sides. In this state the eye would be stationed at the very top of the twister, in order to see.
"Cap, gimme a boost!" Joe cried.
Without saying another word, Captain Falcon ran up to and hurled Viewtiful Joe at the Yellow Devil twister. With a confident gleam in his eye and a smirk on his face, Joe punched his fist forward.
The Yellow Devil smacked him aside, sending him into the sand. Joe's legs wiggled as he tried to free his upper-half from the forced burial. The Yellow Devil resumed its humanoid shape and began to lumber towards the Blue Falcon.
"Crud!" Falcon muttered, and dashed at the Yellow Devil. Once he had built up enough momentum, he launched into a flying kick. "Falcon Kick!"
The leg, wreathed in flames, connected, blasting the Yellow Devil's leg to pieces. With one leg gone, the Yellow Devil started to fall. Joe had pushed himself out of the desert at this time, and seeing the goliath's tumbling form, he whipped out several bombs at the Devil's eye. Only one bomb hit its intended target, but the other explosions caused ripples on the Yellow Devil's body. Both Joe and Falcon noticed this. Before, the Yellow Devil's gelatinous body had been completely unaffected by weaker attacks like Joe's bombs, or the Captain's non-Falcon strikes.
What they didn't know was that the gunk making up Yellow Devil's body was all controlled by its 'eye', which also contained its core processor. The core sent out instructions to the thousands of nanobots throughout the body, which in turn controlled the body's shape. With the damage from previous attacks starting to have their effect, the core was having difficulty functioning.
The Yellow Devil, upon reforming its missing leg, then split into not two, but four Devils. The clones were only about the height of Captain Falcon, and attacked Joe and Falcon two at a time.
"Yah!" Viewtiful Joe cried, sliding away as the Devils threw themselves at him from either side. This resulted in the two being mashed together in a messy manner.
Joe did a quick check and saw that neither of them had the eye. Spinning on his heel, he rushed towards Captain Falcon, who was having trouble preparing his Falcon Punch on the Devil with the eye while the eyeless devil kept attacking him. Joe threw his Voomerang at the eye, hitting it dead-on. The Yellow Devil quickly reformed as the damaged core tried to reboot. It's body rippled and jiggled like an oversized mound of gelatin on a
Falcon saw this as his big chance and ran forward, his fist burning with an unstoppable force. Joe saw what the Captain was doing and threw out a few bombs, putting them between Falcon and the Yellow Devil. They went off just as Captain Falcon reached them, but instead of harming the bounty hunter the force of the explosion sent him into the air, giving him the momentum he needed.
"FALCON PUNCH!"
The Captain's fist smashed directly into the eye, shattering it. The Yellow Devil trembled, then, bit by bit, it's body fell to pieces. It seemed like it was dissolving in the hot sun. It wasn't long before it became a cracked, red orb floating in a great puddle of watery mustard. The eye's light flickered a few times before going out…and then it exploded, causing the puddle to ripple.
"Well," Viewtiful Joe gave Captain Falcon a grin, "That's what I call a meltdown!" Off of Falcon's emotionless expression, he asked, "No good?"
"Needs work."
Joe sighed. Just then, they heard Megaman call out. "Captain Falcon? Tron just raffed!"
"Did not!" Tron shouted in a sickly voice as a foul odor wafted up through the Blue Falcon's hatch.
Falcon gasped. "My upholstery!"
Level 9 complete
(A/N: Hello! It's been a while, I know. I've been a bit busy looking for a new job that I haven't had time to really focus on this, but it's not dead yet! If anything, it's being reincarnated! I'm re-doing several of the character bios. Just look back and find out which ones!)