Chapter 11: Freezing blackness

09:09 AM (Japan Time), Wednesday September the 1st…

"Ta-ta-dan… Pom, pom, pom, porom… I'm the King of the world! This rhyme fits my character, I'd rather say!"

"Freeze!"

"That's as far as ya come!"

"Hmmm? My! It's Mr. Superhero and Bull Wannabe…"

"Who the heck are ya calling a "Bull Wannabe"! What a jerk!"

"Don't mind the guy, Ox Fire!"

Tabuu hovered to make it through a metallic corridor filled with ice formations and being unlit somewhere when Acid Ace and Ox Fire suddenly showed up in front of him.

Tabuu taunted Ox Fire while Acid Ace didn't mind it.

"Roger! Get ready! Ox Fire!"

"Wait, Gonta!"

"Too bad!"

Ox Fire breathed in and then exhaled a torrent of flames which hit Tabuu but caused no damage at all.

Tabuu hummed a tune while Ox Fire gasped and stepped back: Acid Ace sighed in defeat.

"Sheesh! How many times do I have to tell you his armor is invulnerable to most attacks?" Acid Ace grumbled.

"Sorry! I got excited…"

"Think! You have a head for something, Gonta!" Ox grumbled.

"Wha~t?" Ox Fire grumbled.

"No good…" Acid muttered.

"Behave yourself!"

"Sorry, sorry!" Ox Fire apologized.

"So! Will you guys show me what you're capable of?" Tabuu taunted.

"Take this! Capture Program!" Acid Ace announced.

"Hmmm? What?"

Acid Ace cocked his gun and then shot a yellow ring which formed around Tabuu and grew in thickness before creating two shields in the front and rear ends, but Tabuu merely moved his head around.

"My, my… That's some nice toy you have, Acid Ace. Sadly… The only thing you've managed to do is to amuse me!"

"I wonder about that. Reverse Polarity!"

"What!"

The "cage" generated bluish electricity which struck Tabuu's armor's joins at the neck, shoulders and hips.

A red glow formed there and hissed as they released air.

They made some mechanical sounds and began to unlock.

"C-crap! Vadous found the files…! Can't be taken down here! The climax is about to start…! Come! Pawns! Spark Man! Freeze Man! Laser Man!"

"Crap!" Acid Ace cursed.

"More "Darkloids"…?" Ox Fire wondered.

"I'm the mighty Spark Man! I take out the trash with a clean slash to then recycle it!"

"This place is like Field Power Bonus to me, Freeze Man, master of cold…"

"Laser Man's power, granted by Lord Tabuu, will destroy them!"

"Spark Man! Disable this thing!"

"Roger!"

"Icicle Fall!"

"Star Breaker Laser!"

"Buro~! Ox Tackle!"

"No! That guy controls ice! You're weak to ice and water!"

Freeze Man had summoned icicles, which began to rain down on the field.

Several of them hit Ox Fire, who shrugged them off and tried to tackle him.

Acid Ace dodged a bunch of meteors that Laser Man had summoned by opening a "gateway" of in the air by shooting an energy beam from his rear-mounted laser tubes.

"Spark Ball!"

Spark Man, on the other hand, formed two orange spheroids with a central green circle and four yellow antennae coming out of the NW, NE, SW and SE corners of it.

The spheroids began to draw the energy of the "cage program" so Tabuu's armor joints turned red and locked up again.

He sighed in relief and hovered backwards.

"Spark Man! Follow me!" He commanded.

"By your orders!"

"Freeze Man! Laser Man! Delete them!"

"Roger!"

"Sheesh! Tabuu!"

Tabuu flew past the two fighters, followed by Spark Man.

He tackled Acid Ace into the ground so that then Laser Man used his massive hands to grip his neck.

"Cross Laser!"

"Ice Tower!"

Laser Man shot a yellow laser attack shaped like a cross which hit Acid Ace at zero-range thus forming a wound on his armor

Freeze Man formed spears of ice which emerged from the ground and drove into Ox Fire's armor, inflicting double damage.

"This ugly guy…! Wing Blade!"

"What!"

"Buruo~! Ox Tackle!"

"Ice…!"

Acid Ace ignited his thrusters and drove Laser Man into one of the walls, leaving a hit mark on it while Ox Fire did the same to Freeze Man.

"Why, you…!" Both cursed.

"So! What does your master seek in this abandoned Antarctica outpost which belonged to Anaya?" Acid Ace questioned.

"We don't need to know! Be deleted!" Laser Man shot back.

"Mountain Spear!"

"Hmpf! Fire Columns!"

Freeze Man formed metallic spears, which he shot towards Ox Fire.

However, they bounced off his armor.

He roared and began to glow as he went into a rampage and moved around while punching the ground and forming columns of fire out of the spots he hit with his right fist.

"What!"

Freeze Man gasped, taken aback by the move.

"Too fast!" He gasped.

"Cross Laser!"

"Lock On… Long Sword!"

Acid Ace locked on Laser Man and hit him twice with his Long Sword thus intercepting his would-be attack.

"Take this! Spade Magnets Galaxy Advance!"

Spade Magnets formed on the field and hit Laser Man with his swords twice thus inflicting further damage but not paralyzing him.

Laser Man tried to punch Acid Ace, but he jumped at the right and dodged.

"I see. Status Guard… Like Sirius… Tabuu's careful!" Acid Ace guessed.

"Take this!"

Ox Fire had moved right in front of Freeze Man and hit him with his right punch to then tackle him against a wall.

Freeze Man growled and hovered into the air to begin summoning icicles, but they didn't affect Ox Fire.

"I've got Super Armor! I won't flinch from attacks which aren't water or ice! How's that for that a change, ugly?"

"Bothersome meddling guy!"

"Twin Lasers!"

"What!"

Acid Ace loaded up energy and shot two twin lasers, which ran down the corridor and met Laser Man head-on, inflicting damage to him but he didn't get stunned or anything given his "Status Guard" ability.

He instead warped and appeared right in front of Acid Ace.

"Delete~!" He roared.

"Slow, gramps!"

Acid Ace dodged the fist and then slashed the rear area of his body twice before shooting a Daba Flame at that area.

Laser Man growled and ran towards Acid Ace but stepped into something and was blown into the air before landing face-up, into the ground.

"You lowlife… Giga Mine!" He cursed.

"Game Over. Strong Swing!"

Club Strong formed on the corridor and beat Laser Man with several hits of his club before he exploded and was defeated.

Ox Fire was moving around madly and not giving Freeze Man a chance to hit him to his increasing annoyance.

"Stay still so I can delete you lowlife~!" He roared.

"No chance, ugly!" Ox Fire shot back.

"Calling on Spark Man! Make Shadow!"

Spark Man appeared inside of the corridor.

He intersected his lances to create a flash and then form black-and-white-colored copies of Ox Fire and Acid Ace.

"Go!"

"Buruo~! This is cheating!"

"Cheats aren't allowed. Giza Wheel!" Acid Ace fumed.

The Giza Wheel bounced off the right wall and hit Freeze Man on his waist area while he was still recovering.

He didn't have time to recover as Acid Ace shot a Stealth Laser at him and inflicted additional damage.

"Lord Tabuu~!"

He exploded from the accumulated damage.

"Freeze Man! You lowlifes!" Spark Man cursed.

"Cold wintry wind!"

"Wha~t? NO WAY~!"

The green tornado inflicted multiple-hit-damage to Spark Man as Ox Fire tackled him and finished him off.

"I guess Tabuu didn't program high HP into this one!"

Acid Ace turned around to face his "shadow".

"Buruo~! How do we take these down?" Ox Fire asked.

"Hmmm… Gotcha. Use this one!"

Acid Ace tossed a Mega Card at Ox Fire, who grabbed it and nodded in understanding.

"Apollon Flame!"

Acid Ace ran away to make the "shadows" follow him but that was when Ox Fire used the Mega Card's "Sun Flare" attack to scorch the ground with them standing on it.

"We made it through alive, somehow!" He muttered.

"Let's go catch the guy!"

"Sure. I wanna know what he was after!"

Both ran down the corridor and ended up in a vast room that was missing a large structure given the marks on the ground and dust patterns.

"He took whatever was here. Vadous! Any ideas?"

"The rations?" Ox Fire wondered.

"Buro~! Course not!" Ox grumbled.

"The fusion reactor! That model should be still functional! He must've formed a gateway to forcefully take it with him without bothering to properly dismantle it. Spark Man surely was necessary to examine the electrical systems and test if they were still alive… It makes sense, anyway!"

"So! He's finally found what he needs to power up his HQ. And I think that the only thing left for us to do is to find him. Which can't be easy, but we'll achieve our goal sooner or later!"

Acid Ace sighed while punching his sides.

"Buruo~! If he dares to try to harm the President! The jerk will have to get through me first!" Ox Fire exclaimed.

"That'd be easy for the guy taking into account what he can do!"

"… This is Mr. Universe, broadcasting from D – Nation. I thereby announce that the newest edition of the Gourmet Town contest with the prize being a kiss from Ai – chan!" A voice boomed out.

"I'm not missing this!"

"Please step through the backdoor!"

"Wait, Gonta!"

Ox Fire ran towards the far wall without looking ahead and crashed head-on with it, ending up stunned and dizzied.

He slid down the wall and into the ground.

Acid Ace slapped his forehead out of exasperation.

"No pain, no gain!" Tabuu's voice laughed.

"Tabuu! You're annoying!" Acid Ace cursed.

"Bye – bye, Clark Kent! And dream of ginger beef, Ushijima~!"

"Ginger beef… Mine~…"

"Sheesh! Gonta!"

"Buro~! Got it comin'! For braggin'!"

"Warning. Bragging braggers of brags assault us. Assault the assaulting assaulters of assaults!"

"There is no logic in that!" Acid complained.

"Of course, there isn't. It's a lame attempted at a tongue-twister! And that must be one of Omega's influences!"

"Bravo, Detective Akatsuki!"

"Sheesh! Lovely!"

"Tabuu…!" Vadous growled.

"Why! Partner. You were there, watching it all from your VIP seat. Did you enjoy the show?"

"Sheesh! Do I sound like I did?"

"I can do better than that, obviously enough!"

"I hope so!"

"Else I'll disappoint you again?" Tabuu deduced.

"Wasn't it obvious to begin with?"

"Guess that. Hmmm? Good, good!"

"What now?"

"Nothing. My hamster just had its ration. While you're at it tell Ushijima to try out calorie mate tablet!"

"Calorie mate? Sheesh. The guy needs a vegetarian diet!"

"Ai – cha~n…"

"Well then, I'll be excusing myself! See you around the loop route!"

"How original. Sheesh. What have I done to deserve this?"

"Dunno. Ask Prosecutor Karuma Gou!"

"Sheesh! I know the man's name is a pun on "karma", but I'd rather not have anything to do with that crook!"

"His glare would be enough to make a young sapling whither!"

"How poetic of you!"

"Mega-O taught me well!"

"Sheesh! Shut that parrot tongue up, Tabber!" Omega groaned.

"You were listening, sensei?"

Omega grumbled something undecipherable.

"Esperanto? I see that you're a man of culture, too!"

"Go hunt down constrictor boas!"

"Delighted. I'll send a dissected one to decorate the fireplace…Because our beloved lil colonel Likor is about to start up a fuss!"

"Colonel Likor? Who the heck is that, anyway?"

"Someone and no-one! Akatsuki's nasty godfather!"

"WHAT!? That's ridiculous! I don't have a godfather!"

"Potter claimed the same, but it turned out that he did have one!"

"Sheesh! Harry Potter is unrelated to this affair!"

"The Calculus Affair, then. Beware of SPONZZZZZZ!"

"Sheesh. No need to involve that opportunist, narcissistic jerk!"

"Let's boycott the phone line so that he understands that he must fire his agents for failing to defeat the king of mosquitoes at Geneva!"

"I need an aspirin, I really do…" Vadous grimly muttered.

"You're not the only one…" Acid Ace sighed.

"Beware of the envoy of gluttony, Ushijima!"

"Sheesh! You tricked me, Tabbing Tabby~!"

"I'll add that to the list of "dearly beloved messages from the fans"!"

Ox Fire groaned and managed to recover, rubbing the top of his head.

"By the way. Which it'll be? Ms. Suberita? Ms. Shirogane?"

"T-that's… The ultimate dilemma!" He gasped.

"Don't be so overly dramatic!" Acid Ace grumbled.

"Beware, Akatsuki. Ms. Tia demands a vow of fidelity!"

"Sheesh! Don't butt into others' issues, man! When will this farce end, anyway? I'm getting FED UP!"