Chapter 28
Battle of the Strongest

Zavok punched away various resistance members who came after him. None of them were a match for him and got defeated easily. He then set his eyes on a particular person who was destroying robots with her bare hands. "Black Ark Ranger!" he said.

Black Ark Ranger turned to him and said, "Zavok!"

"Not the person I want to meet, but I will crush you nonetheless!" he said to her.

Black Ark Ranger got into a fighting pose and said, "I will not allow a dangerous person like you to run loose and cause havoc!"

"Ha! As if you can do anything to me! I'm Shadow's rival, so there is no way you can beat me!" said Zavok.

"You sure talk big for someone who has yet to defeat him!" she said to him.

BGM: Battle with Zavok (Sonic: Lost World)

Black Ark Ranger ran towards Zavok, and they clashed their fists against each other hard, resulting in a shockwave being produced. Black Ark Ranger slid back and then lunged at him, attacking with a series of fast punches and kicks that he was able to block. Zavok then swung his hand at her, but she leaped over him and struck him in the back as she was landing behind him.

Zavok swung around to hit her, but she ducked underneath his arm and performed a leg sweep against his leg, knocking him onto the ground. She attempted to hit him with an ax kick to his fallen body, only for him to grab her by the leg. Standing back up, Zavok continued holding onto her leg and slammed her against the ground multiple times like a bludgeon before throwing her away.

"Ugh…" Black Ark Ranger groaned in pain as she sat back up. Zavok charged at her and attacked with a sliding punch that she blocked by crossing her arms together, but the force of the punch sent her flying backwards.

Black Ark Ranger fell to the ground and slid ahead a few more meters before coming to a stop. Zavok ran and jumped at her, intending to crush her underfoot, only to be interrupted and knocked back onto the ground early by Epinel, who blasted him with her gun as she flew towards him on her newly fixed hoverboard.

Zavok shielded himself from her gunfire with his arms as Epinel flew in circles in the air above him, firing at him nonstop. "Nuisance!" he shouted as he jumped up to grab her, but she moved out of his reach.

Epinel kept on firing at him while keeping her distance from him. As Zavok tried to go after her again, Black Ark Ranger lunged at him from behind and grabbed his horns. Zavok cried in frustration as he shook her off of him and then tried to punch her away, but she stepped side, caught his fist, and judo slammed him onto the ground hard.

Jumping onto him, Black Ark Ranger rained down a barrage of punches onto him, pummeling him nonstop. Zavok grunted in pain as received the onslaught of punches, and when he had enough, he let out a loud cry as a fiery shockwave burst out from around him, blowing Black Ark Ranger away. She spun once in the air before landing in a crouched position, watching as Zavok stood back up with a fiery aura around himself.

"Don't get too cocky of yourself!" he said in anger before punching the air hard to shoot out a fireball that she dodged, as well as the ones that were fired consecutively afterwards, but she eventually got hit by one.

Zavok was shot by Epinel again. He looked up at her and opened his mouth to shoot fireballs at him, but she was able to dodge them. At one point, one of the fireballs managed to hit her, or rather, her hoverboard. However, the hoverboard did not get destroyed and instead got pushed higher into the air, and she managed to maintain her balance on it.

"Whoa… It really is more durable than before after being fixed by Tails!" commented Epinel in surprise, touching the hoverboard. She dodged more fireballs shot at her. "Let's see what new tricks it can perform!"

Her hoverboard glowed as she began moving at a speed much faster than before. She came down to the same level as Zavok and circled around her so fast that it looks like there were multiple of her moving around him. All the while, she open fired at him nonstop, but Zavok's thick, durable skin was able to protect him from receive fatal wounds.

"Argh! You brat!" he shouted as he tried to get a clear shot at her before throwing a punch, only to miss.

"Miss me!" said Epinel before slamming her hoverboard into the side of his head to knock him away.

After being sent tumbling away, Zavok was attacked by Black Ark Ranger again. The latter's fist and feet glowed with a bright blue aura as she attacked him harder and faster than before. Zavok fought back with almost equally fast punches and kicks. Both sides clashes violently, creating a series of red and blue shockwaves that was quite a spectacle for onlookers and also made it look dangerous for anyone to get close.

However, Zavok soon got the upper hand and caught her hand before breathing fire into her face, making her cry in pain. He then headbutted her hard, knocking her back quite a distance. After she collapsed onto the ground, he rushed towards her, but Knuckles suddenly dropped down in front of him and punched the air. "Bring it, ugly!"

"You'll die for that insult!" said Zavok as he threw a punch against Knuckle's incoming fist. They clashed forward and struck with an equal force, but due to Knuckle's knuckles having spikes, Zavok felt great pain from the punch and pulled back his hand, giving Knuckles the chance to punch back against him with fists full of fire.

While Zavok was receiving punches to his body from Knuckles, Epinel charged into him from behind and rammed him in the back of head hard with her hoverboard. Zavok fell forward, and Knuckles performed a jumping uppercut to his chin, knocking him high into the air.

Flying into the air, Epinel aimed and fired at the airborne Zavok, bringing more pain to him. Black Ark Ranger, who has gotten back up, ran at a fast speed towards Zavok, leaving behind a trail of blue light as she did so, and jumped at him. "Black Ark Meteor Smash!" she shouted as she threw a powerful punch at Zavok.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

BGM Ends

Zavok was knocked into the distance, crashing into some evil robots and destroying them in the process. He only groaned a bit before passing out among the ruins of those robots, while the war around him raged on.

"Did we win?" asked Epinel, looking in the direction he flew into.

"Our battle is not over yet," said Black Ark Ranger, looking at the evil robots closing in on them from all sides. "Don't celebrate yet! Keep on fighting!"

"That's fine with me!" said Knuckles, getting into a fighting stance.

The six good guys who were to go into the Skull Egg had made their way to the bridge and were approaching the entrance up ahead, but they noticed that the doors were closing. "The doors are closing! We have to hurry!" said Mega Man.

"Too late!" said Shadow, seeing that the doors and shut tight at a fast speed.

"I'll just jump through it!" said Laplace. She pressed on ahead and tossed herself at the closed door and crashed face first into it with such a force that a loud metallic thud was heard. The others stopped running and looked at her in shock. Laplace was planted against the metal door, not falling off, but a few seconds later, the set of doors fell over and crashed onto the floor inside the base. Laplace pulled herself back up from its surface and looked back, smiling and giving a thumbs up.

"That's one way to break down a door…" said Red Hood.

"That explains the band aid she has on her…" said Sonic.

Bass was easily taking out various resistance members by himself. He then noticed Snow White standing not far away, and the Nikke had her eyes on him as well. "Look who's back! Are you ready to die this time?" he asked her while approaching her.

"The only person dying here is you," she said to him in a serious and threatening tone.

Bass laughed in response. "Haha! Big talk coming from someone who couldn't do much to me last time! You know what? I think I'll spare you the pain of having to go through the lengthy process of suffering under the hands of my usual form by instantly using my full power right away. That way, your death will be quick, albeit still painful!"

He then turned to his robotic dog Treble and signaled for him to come over. Understanding what his master was talking about, he ran over to him and jumped at him while dissembling himself, a sight that surprised Snow White. Pieces of Treble merged with Bass, resulting in them being covered in purple light. When the light died down, Bass had more exaggerated features on his body as well as purple wings on his back that he used to stay in the air.

"Behold my super form! Now you will see why I am Wily and Eggman's greatest asset and that nothing else is needed!" he said in an arrogant tone.

"Doesn't matter what you use! I'll take you out nonetheless!" said Snow White, pointing her gun at him.

BGM: Bass Battle (Mega Man 8)

Bass fired purple energy shots at Snow White, who dodged them and fired from her gun at him, as well as small missiles that came out from ports at the sides of her gun. Bass held up one hand and created a purple barrier that easily blocked the shots, and then he fired more of his own shots at Snow White that the latter ran around at a fast speed to avoid.

While running, Snow White charged up her gun and then fired a large energy shot at Bass, but he was able to block it as well with his barrier, though the impact still pushed him back through the air. "Ha! Is that the best you can do?" he asked before flying after Snow White. He swooped at her, but she rolled aside in time and open fired, hitting him a couple of times before he swooped back into the air.

He fired and swept a beam across the ground, trying to hit her. Though Snow White avoided the initial shot, the parts of the ground that were hit by the beam exploded, blasting her backwards. Bass then flew over to her and caught by the neck before carrying her into the air. "Not so tough now, eh?" he asked her as she struggled to break out of his grasp.

"Don't underestimate me!" Snow White angrily said to him as she pressed her gun against his chest and fired at point blank to make him let go. Dropping to the ground, Snow White pointed her gun upwards and fired a blast of energy that knocked him out of the air.

Bass landed in a crouching position with a grin and said, "Looks like you're getting serious! Good! I want you to give me more challenge!"

Snow White fired rapid bursts of energy beams at Bass, who took flight with his feet close to the ground and dashed around at a fast speed to dodge them. He circle around to her back and was going to get her from behind when he was suddenly blast away by some shots coming from a different direction. He turned and saw T.A.L.O.S. standing there. "You again? You're here to die by my hands again, right?" he said to her.

"I won't lose to you this time!" Kilo said to him. "T.A.L.O.S. and I will defeat you this time!"

"Haha! Let's see you try your worst!" Bass said to them.

"She's not alone. We're both going to take you down!" Snow White said to him as she walked up next to T.A.L.O.S.

"Very well! Then you shall die together!" said Bass.

"There's Bass! Get him!" shouted two resistance members who were Product 08 Nikke. They ran up to him and fired, despite Snow White shouting for them to stop. Bass turned to them and easily shrugged off their gunfires before shooting them both dead with no effort.

"Weaklings! Get out of the way!" he said to them in frustration.

"Why you?!" said Kilo in anger as T.A.L.O.S. fired from her gun at him.

Bass held up a shield to block the shots before shooting back his own, but after deactivating his barrier. This time, it was T.A.L.O.S.'s turn to create a shield and block it. Snow White fired through the shield, hitting Bass multiple times before he took flight into the air. T.A.L.O.S. aimed at him and fired several missiles that he was able to dodge.

Bass swooped down at T.A.L.O.S. at a fast speed with one hand reached out to her, but the robot unexpectedly swung a fist right into his face and knocked him to the side. Snow White used this opportunity to charge up a beam and fired at him, blasting him.

Bass flew into the air and came crashing back down, much to the surprise of onlookers who were fighting their own battles. He got back up and growled with frustration. "Argh! Don't get too full of yourself!" He spread his wings and flew back to the two at a fast speed, ramming into T.A.L.O.S. and pushing her back.

T.A.L.O.S. pressed her feet against the ground hard and tried to plant herself in place firmly. She grabbed Bass and lifted him into the air before hurling him away and then firing shots at him. Bass created a barrier in time to block the shots, and then he fired multiple shots at her that she was able to block using a shield.

Snow White ran to a different side and fired rapidly at Bass, who held up his barrier, and T.A.L.O.S. fired at him rapidly as well. Bass growled in frustration as he looked for an opening, but as he was doing so, he saw Guts Man holding the body of a defeated Stone Man over his head and standing not too far away. "It's payback time!" said Guts Man before throwing the robot at him, but it shattered upon hitting the barrier.

Guts Man then ran up to Bass and delivered a powerful punch that even though the barrier managed to block, still sent Bass flying, as if he was a person inside a glass ball. Bass crashed onto the ground, while the barrier disappeared, and he stood up and glared at the three good guys as they approached him.

Guts Man punched his palm and said, "I'm going to enjoy tossing you into kingdom come!"

"Don't get so full of yourself!" Bass angrily said to them loudly while flying into the air.

BGM: Surge of Power! (Mega Man Battle Network 6)

Holding his hands to the sides, Bass created dark energy wheels that he threw at the good guys. Though they dodged them initially, the wheels turned after them at the last moment and struck them. Guts Man was the only who wasn't aimed at, as Bass only created two. He ran towards Bass and threw a punch, but the latter held up a hand full of dark energy and blocked the punch, albeit still got pushed back through the air a bit.

Guts Man then jumped into the air with his fists raised over his head and brought them down like a hammer onto Bass, who held up a barrier to block the blow, and the impact caused the spherical barrier to hit the ground and sink into it slightly.

Snow White and T.A.L.O.S. fired their weapons at the barrier, and due to the blow it received from Guts Man earlier, it finally gave off, resulting in Bass getting shot multiple times. He angrily shrugged off the shots and charged at Snow White with his hand reached out to her to grab her, but she stepped out of the way and fired a charged shot from her gun at his back.

T.A.L.O.S. lunged at Bass from behind after that and struck him hard in the back with her fist before firing rapidly at him. Bass angrily backed away and flew into the air with one hand held up and covered in dark energy, but before he could do anything, Guts Man hurled a fallen tree nearby at him, interrupting him and knocking him out of the way.

He then jumped at Bass and fell on top of him, crushing him underfoot and stomping him nonstop. Yet despite this, Bass was still in one piece and got up with a burst of black aura that blew Guts Man away.

T.A.L.O.S. lunged at Bass and locked hands with him, pushing each other back and forth. As they were doing so, Snow White charged up her gun and aimed at Bass, and when the latter had his back pointed in her direction, she let go of the trigger and blasted him, his body shielding T.A.L.O.S. from the shot.

"Sorry I have to use this, T.A.L.O.S., but please endure whatever comes next!" said Kilo as she took out a wire from the control panel inside and jammed it against her chest. This caused a large amount of energy to travel from her into T.A.L.O.S., powering up the robot beyond what it was capable of.

T.A.L.O.S. arm cannon glowed brightly as she pointed and fired powerful blasts at Bass, blasting him backwards and pelting holes all over him. Bass screamed in pain as he was blown back by the onslaught of bullets that lasted for several seconds before finally ending, leaving him in a wrecked state yet still standing.

Bass was no longer in a good condition, as evident of hole all over his body and the large amount of short circuiting. "No… How can I lose…?!" he said in disbelief.

"It's Bass!" shouted some onlookers.

Everyone looked at him and saw that this was the perfect opportunity to get rid of him, so they wasted no time in open firing at him from all directions, pelting him with bullets nonstop and not giving him the chance to fight back.

BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!

BGM Ends

With that, Bass finally collapsed onto the ground lifelessly, while resistance members who shot him dead cheered in excitement.

"We… We did it…" said Kilo while panting heavily.

Snow White went up to T.A.L.O.S. and asked Kilo, "Are you all right?"

"Energy near depletion. May not be able to function until fully replenished," replied T.A.L.O.S.

"I'm sorry, Miss Snow White, but I'm afraid that's all T.A.L.O.S. and I can now, become sitting ducks…" replied Kilo in a sad tone.

"Don't worry; you did well already. You help defeated Bass!" Snow White told her.

"Yeah! That was so gutsy so you! You have my approval!" Guts Man said to her.

Hearing this made Kilo happy that she was able to be of use.

The group that managed to enter the Skull Egg arrived together in a large room after fighting through an army of robots. "Wily! Where are you?" Mega Man said out loud while looking around. "I know you're here somewhere! This large room is evident of you preparing for a battle against us!"

"Yeah, I've been in large rooms like this so often that I know Eggman you've prepared some kind of giant machine to fight me!" added Sonic.

Eggman and Dr. Wily then appeared in the air, riding the Egg Mobile and Wily Capsule respectively. However, upon closer inspection, they were holograms and not actual people, as evident of them looking see-through and flickering slightly. "Welcome to your doom!" Eggman said to them.

"It's over, Eggman and Wily! We're here to put an end to your reign of terror!" Shadow said to them.

"Bold of you to think that we will give up our reigns so easily just because you tell us to do so! We're not going down without a fight first!" said Wily.

"And that's why we came here. If it's a fight you want, then we're more than happy to give it to you!" Shadow said to him.

"Then what are we waiting for? Bring out our giant killer machine or something and let's things started!" Sonic said to the villains.

"You've asked for this!" replied Eggman.

As soon as he said that, the floor underneath the heroes opened up, causing them to fall down. They cried in shock as they fell down a dark shaft, and eventually, they ended up becoming separate from each other as they fell and slid down different shafts.

Mega Man, Shadow, and Red Hood found themselves together on a walkway built along the wall of a large room.

Sonic, Proto Man, and Laplace found themselves in a spacious and relatively dark room.

In the latter location, the group looked around for where their allies were, as well as their enemies. Suddenly, they heard the sound of engine, and looking up, they saw a large skull-shaped machine kept in air by four gear-shaped propellers. Dr. Wily could be seen sitting in its cockpit located within one of its eyes. "Yahahaha! Welcome to your deaths!" said Dr. Wily. "Since you came all the way here, I'll do you the honors of giving you a dishonorable death!"

"Finally decided to show your face for real, Wily? Don't blame us for messing it up, then!" said Proto Man, and Laplace taunted the evil scientist as well.

"Whoa, time out! I came here to fight Eggman, not this mustachioed geriatric guy!" said Sonic, waving his hands in disapproval.

In the former location, Mega Man, Shadow, and Red Hood looked around for where their allies were, as well as their enemies.

Something then descended from the air. It was a gigantic robot several meters tall built in the likeliness of Eggman, with hands consisting of disks with spiked edges. There were also three objects resembling satellite dishes in front of its body. "Hahahaha! Get ready to be schooled, you brats!" said Eggman's voice that came from inside the robot.

"Whoa…! That's one huge mecha!" said Red Hood in awe.

"Hmph! You think that can scare us? I'll just tear it apart like all your previous scrap metals!" said Shadow undaunted.

TO BE CONTINUED

The final battles will begin next chapter! Wily is riding the Mega Man 11 version of the Wily Machine, and Eggman is riding the final boss of Sonic Superstars. And Sonic and Mega Man are fighting each other's arch nemesis. Wonder if they can handle it...