In the skies above the beach a fierce battle was underway. Dr. I unleashed multiple lasers, firing with deadly precision at Maka and Soul. The pair just barely managed to dodge, a few of the beams passing so closely to her that Maka could feel their heat on her skin. She tried to close the distance between them but whenever Maka drew close, Dr. I would unveil some new weapon from his robotic body and pull away while firing at them. After the fourth attempt to land a strike on the android ended in failure, Dr. I floated away and began gloating.
"Haha you foolish girl." Dr. I taunted. "It seems I have over valued your potential. You see this is the difference between you and I." He continued. "You simply throw yourself at the problem with no foresight or thought behind your actions. Whereas I formulate strategies, create plans and contemplate tactics. All of which have allowed me to perfectly counter you." He gloated. Maka glared at him, her lips tightening into a grimace. An idea formed her head and the meister smiled to herself.
"Soul, catch me." Maka said simply.
"Huh?" Soul questioned. But he had no time to ask her to elaborate, as Maka recklessly leaped off him and into the air. Maka couldn't hear him calling out her name as she soared through the air at Dr. I. The robotic man reeled in surprise. Maka reared her legs back and landed a kick squarely on his glowing eye. Using his head as a platform Maka backflipped off him and spun around to grab Soul's weapon form which followed dutifully behind her.
"Bet you weren't expecting this!" She screamed before swinging her scythe in downward arc. The blade sliced through the air, rending the sky before her. In a flash of light the blade met the white metal chassis that made up Dr. I's body. But in a surprising twist, the blade bounced harmlessly off the robotic body. Maka's eyes widened in shock as she looked at the site of the impact and saw not even a scratch.
"Actually I was." Dr. I taunted before his chest plate opened up to reveal a glowing blue cannon. The energy built up in the barrel, glowing a bright blue hue. Maka attempted to pull away but was too late. The energy blasted out from the cannon hitting the meister at point blank range. The explosion rang out through the sky and Maka was sent rocketing towards the sandy beach below.
"Maka! Maka!" Soul shouted as they fell rapidly. But his meister was dazed. Unable to tell up from down. The scythe eye glanced downward seeing the rapidly approaching ground. There was no time. Soul took his wings and wrapped them around his meister. The glowing white wings folded around her body forming a brilliant white cocoon. The pair finally collided with the ground, carving out a valley into the sand below. When the dust settled, the glowing wings slowly unfurled, revealing a still dazed but otherwise intact Maka.
"What were you thinking?" Soul whispered harshly through their mental connection. Maka slowly began to stand up. Picking her weapon off the ground as she did so.
"I was thinking I needed to take him by surprise to land a hit on him." She replied out loud. She glared upwards towards Dr. I who was descending almost serenely onto the beach several meters away.
"Oh foolish girl. You really thought that I wouldn't have come fully equipped to deal with you this time?" Dr. I gloated again. "I welcome you to try again. After all, I'm sure this will need to be a lesson you need to learn repeatedly" He taunted, holding his arms open wide. Maka growled and rushed the Android man.
Maka swung once more, aiming the blade for his midsection. Only the blade once again bounced harmlessly off the white metal. She pirouetted and spun around to his backside to strike, but once again found the same result. Dr. I began to laugh.
"Do you like my new upgrades?" He asked rhetorically. "I had them specially made just to counter your weapon. You won't be able to leave a single scratch!" Dr. I said, tapping on his metal chassis to emphasize.
"How about this!" Maka yelled. The pair increased their soul resonance, a near instantaneous feat given how long they had been partners. In a blinding flash the blade transformed into an enormous multicolored glowing sickle. Maka attacked once more. However, just before the blade touched, a field of blood red energy sprang up before impact. The witch hunter was stopped cold in its tracks. Maka gritted her teeth and pushed hard. But she was unable to penetrate through the force field which enveloped him.
Dr. I brought his mechanical talons up and gripped the shaft of her weapon. With incredible strength he tossed the duo off to the side. Maka spun gracefully in the air and landed with one hand touching the ground, glaring up at her opponent.
"Ah there it is again. That delectable expression of shock that can only come from an inferior mind." Dr. I said stalking towards the pair once again. The glowing scythe blade faded away back to it's base form. "You see I had the witch enchant this body as an extra precaution against your soul resonance abilities." Dr. I explained. Then with a burst of speed the mechanical terror rushed forward. He drew his fist back to deliver a powerful strike down on the young girl. But Maka deflected it with a strike from Soul's blade. Dr. I was on the offensive now, delivering strikes with sharp bladed weapons which sprouted from his forearms.
"Do you see now?" He asked in between attacks. Maka continued to dodge, using Soul to parry and block the strikes. But still despite even aiming for weak points like the exposed cables or joints, she left no trace of damage. "Do you finally comprehend how utterly outmatched you are?" Dr. I continued to taunt. Maka continued to try and dodge, attempting to ignore his childish taunts. But as much as she hated to admit it, she wasn't prepared to face him. Dr. I had countered her at every turn and she hadn't even come up with so much as a plan. She needed time to think, and to do that she had to disengage.
Maka continued to face off, biding her time and waiting patiently. Finally she spotted an opening. Quick as lightning she sprang away from the robotic menace just as he had plunged his fist into the sand she was previously standing in. She put several meters of space between her opponent and slowed her breathing. She willed herself to calm down and think. She glanced down towards the medallion hanging from her neck. It's golden metal gleamed in the sunlight. Maka huffed, a supposed incredible source of power at her disposal and she couldn't even use it properly. Her thoughts drifted back to Eibon's words as he bestowed the medallion on her.
"The madness of knowledge can only be tempered by wisdom." She muttered to herself. Wisdom came from experience, she knew that much. And she had years of experience in battle by this point. So in the middle of a fight shouldn't she be able to control the madness? Maka glanced upwards to see that Dr. I had finally freed his hand from the dirt and was stalking back over to her. Well it was worth a shot she reasoned. Grasping the medallion in one hand, she focused on it, willing the madness to overwhelm her. In a way, it was like being taken over by the black blood. She remembered her fight with Crona where she had let the black blood envelop her but not consume her.
With that thought in mind she allowed the madness to flow over her brain. Immediately, an onslaught of information filled her head. Things like their location, weather patterns, native flora and fauna. All information that was useless to her now. But despite her awareness of it, she couldn't stop the information that was flowing into her. She closed her eyes and ignored all of the data that was pouring over her.
Feeling the onslaught of madness through their soul connection, her weapon partner spoke up. "Maka what are you doing?" He asked worriedly, eyeing the approaching enemy.
But Maka was lost in concentration. She needed information that would help her defeat Dr. I, but how would she go about finding it in this disorganized sea of knowledge? An idea struck her suddenly. She envisioned herself back at the academy library. Tall bookcases with empty shelves appeared in her mind's eye. Suddenly the stream of data coalesced into the form of books which flew to fill the empty bookcases. She glanced at each shelf, unconsciously the information contained within them became clear to her mind. She shifted her attention each time she found a shelf or book that didn't have what she was looking for. The sound of shifting sand momentarily broke her concentration. Maka opened her eyes just in time to avoid a blast of energy streaking towards her. She dodged out of the way and turned her gaze back on her opponent.
Maka envisioned the library once more. This time, with her eyes still trained on Dr. I. Now the shelves and books she was finding seemed much more useful. Basics of robotics. Material sciences. Electrical engineering. All information that she could potentially use to dissect the mechanical form in front of her. Her brain assimilated the information and she had to stop herself before the flood began again. She knew that Dr. I's soul must power the robotic body. But a single soul wouldn't be able to power that mechanical behemoth alone. He must have generators or batteries hidden within that supply auxiliary power. If she could sever those connections perhaps she could cause his robotic body to power down. Maka quickly discarded the idea as she realized that if the extra power sources were contained within him it would be impossible for her to reach them given his impervious armor.
Thinking quickly Maka soon focused her attention on the actual make up of the machine. The madness flowing through her told her that the armor plating was made of a special steel and titanium alloy and that the cables were composed of carbon nanofiber woven together and covered with a durable polymer. She focused in on that information, seeking weaknesses and data she could use to exploit. But alas Dr. I was not content to let the meister rest. He charged at her again and swung with bladed talons. Maka once again parried the strike with Soul's blade. A loud clang of metal striking metal rang out through the air. The sound set off a cascade of information in her brain. Pitch, volume, and tone, information that she was about to dismiss as useless. Until another thought followed shortly after. Resonant frequency. Unlike soul resonance, sound resonance was a slightly different concept. The idea of a material's resonant frequency is the frequency which matches it's natural vibration. Just like in soul resonance, when the frequency encounters an object of similar frequency, the resulting overlap causes the material to amplify its energy. The higher energy state frequently leads to collapse of the material. An idea began to form in Maka's mind. She thanked the madness for its service before letting it fade away from her mind.
"Soul I have a plan." She told him through their soul connection. Soul perked up in attention. "I'm going to strike again at Dr. I." She explained.
"Why? You know it's not going to do any damage." He questioned. Maka smirked.
"I'm not trying to do damage, I'm trying to collect information." She stated. Maka could sense Soul's puzzlement through their link. "Each time I hit him I want you to take note of the frequency your blade vibrates." She instructed. Soul nodded, still not sure where she was going with this but trusting his meister none the less.
Maka charged at Dr. I again, aiming her strike at his chest. "Oh, have you given up all pretext of reason? Are you going to just wail on me until something gives? How droll." Dr. I taunted unmoving. The attack landed, and predictably left not even a single dent in the robot's armor. Maka quickly backed off before he could retaliate. She glanced upwards at her scythe blade, watching as it slowly vibrated. In essence, she was going to use Soul as a tuning fork, to figure out the resonant frequency of Dr. I's mechanical body. When the blade stilled she could hear Soul's voice whisper to her head. "Got it." He said simply.
Maka attacked again, lashing out with her weapon. She repeated the process a number of times. She would attack, the blade would vibrate and Soul would note the frequency. She varied her attacks, each one hitting a different spot on the android's body.
"If I didn't know any better I would become bored by this. But I know you aren't just attacking me at random. What sort of plan has your feeble brain come up with?" He asked even as Maka continued to strike at him. Soul eventually informed Maka that he was starting to get repeat frequencies. They had hit every exposed spot on his body.
"Ok, which spot has the lowest frequency?" She asked him. Soul pondered for a second before replying. "The joints." He said. Maka then raised her own soul wavelength, silently encouraging Soul to resonate with her. "Are you gonna let me in on your plan now?" He asked.
"We're going to use your sound powers to mimic the frequency of his joints." She explained. Soul smirked devilishly, catching on to Maka's line of thinking. A frown soon replaced it though as he glanced back towards the black piano dwelling in his soul. "I don't know if I'll be able to generate that much power with just the piano alone." He explained. "Then we'll boost the output with our Soul Resonance." Maka quickly replied. The meister swiftly spun the death scythe in her hands. The weapon stopped abruptly with the blade facing inwards towards herself. Maka closed her eyes as she increased her soul wavelength and felt Soul resonate with her. She ran her hand along the flat of the blade, watching as it took on the ivory and ebony appearance of a piano.
"Oh ho! What's this? Are we finally through playing around?" Dr. I teased from across them. The two opponents rushed towards each other. Their feet kicked up sand behind them and despite the uneven shifting surface their footing was no less stable. As they closed the gap between them, Maka swung her weapon, aiming for the android's shoulder. The blade collided with the metal and a loud clang sounded out from the impact. Dr. I was wholly unaffected and retaliated with a strike of his own. Maka nimbly back flipped out of the way. As she landed she used her momentum to swing at her opponents knees. Another loud toll echoed out as metal met metal. This continued on for several minutes. Maka would sneak in opportunities to strike, causing thunderous noise to resound through the air. But for all her attacks, the mechanical menace still seemed unaffected.
"I'm growing tired of this. It's time to finally end you." Dr. I called out. He raised his right arm which shifted metal plates to reveal a similar cannon to the one in his chest. The same glowing blue energy built up in the gun before firing out. Maka barely dodged the blast. Dr. I growled under his breath and fired off several more shots. Maka weaved and ducked in between the laser blasts. She ran in close to the robot and proceeded to hit his hip, elbow, and shoulder in quick succession. The separate echoes seemed to converge and amplify in volume and intensity. "Stop moving you little brat!" Dr. I yelled. An array of missiles popped up on both his shoulders before launching towards the duo. Maka however swung Soul out in front of her. The weapon cleaved through the air, a shockwave of compressed air and sound collided with the rockets mid flight. They exploded in a cloud of smoke and fire. A second later, Maka leapt through the haze and swung directly downward onto Dr. I's left shoulder. She landed awkwardly in the sand as the blade caught on the mechanical joint, messing up her landing.
"I've got you now!" Dr. I yelled triumphantly. He moved to strike down at her with a glowing blade of energy from his left arm. However he was taken by surprise when the sound of metal scraping against metal rang in his audio receptors. His arm was not responding to him. It jerked and creaked clumsily upwards. "What?" He exclaimed confused. Maka smirked and used the opening to attack again. She became a relentless storm of blades which cut into the mechanical body again and again. Dr. I attempted to retaliate but each strike left more and more of his mechanical body weakened and stuttering. "How are you doing this?!" He asked in fury. Sparks began to emit from the damaged joints and the sound of servos whirring loudly filled the air. The mechanical body began to stumble, falling to the sand below. Dr. I collapsed to his knees after a follow up strike buckled his legs. He attempted to twist around and punch at the meister but his hips froze just as he was about to land his attack. Maka used the opening to jump over head and strike at his shoulder. Dr. I grunted in pain with the attack before he found his hips responded and over shot, twisting him nearly 360 degrees again. His arms fell limp as the scythe meister attacked them again. Dr. I struggled and grunted but no matter how hard he tried, his mechanical body would not respond to him.
"No… NO! It's not possible! How could I be defeated again?!" He shouted. Maka approached the downed machine wordlessly, a stern look on her face. Dr. I let out a growl of frustration which quickly devolved into a scream of static. "This is not over! I will get you for this!" The mechanical man shouted. Suddenly a panel opened up where his abdomen would be. A tall cylinder filled with blue energy shot out from the opening. Mechanical blades burst out from the top and began spinning like those of a helicopter. On the bottom 4 spindly mechanical legs extended outwards. But just as it was starting to take off into the air, Soul's scythe blade severed the mechanical components. The cylinder dropped with a dull thud onto the sand below. The blue energy bounced around inside angrily, before reforming in the shape of a soul.
Soul transformed back to human and walked over to the cylinder. He picked it up and examined it. He smirked before turning back to his meister.
"I guess you could say he's not a fan of metal music." He joked with his devilish grin.
Maka rolled her eyes before giggling at her partner's corny joke. Her face turned serious then.
"Come on. We've gotta catch up with the others." She said.