Annihilation
Partnerships
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"Alright I get it! You're crazy! Maybe beating you up will beat some sense into you!" Forming a VariableSword from one of his claws, Beastman quickly leapt over Bubbleman's head while performing the Sonic Boom technique. The movement was too fast for the Darkloid to follow or dodge, so he took all three slashes and Beast landed on the next walkway unharmed. Bubbleman was no worse for wear either though, as his barrier absorbed all the damage without breaking.
"Hhghh hghh, you can forget about fighting back, my Darkness-powered BubbleWrap is a lot stronger than most defenses. Why do you think it didn't pop when you jumped on it?"
Beastman tilted his head in confusion. "What's all this 'darkness' talk about? You saying dressing up all creepy made you stronger somehow?"
"Uugghllghll..." Bubbleman sighed in exasperation. "I'm a Darkloid, alright? I got corrupted with Dark Power when mixed in with Gamma. Desert and Flame too. It's a transformation thing that makes us stronger and more evil. Can we please move on with me killing you?"
"'More evil'? You're actually fine with a transformation that has 'evil' in the description?"
"Technically, it's an enlightenment that transcends primitive definitions of morality, but either way, would you really be so surprised?"
"You always did kinda brag about being evil..."
"Exactly. Now, back to the point. Blhhgblhh!"
Bubbleman raised his arms and summoned a swarm of Bubble Lead from the mists below to begin surrounding Beastman. Beast swiped at the bubbles with his claws and was relieved to find they popped more easily than the barrier, but there were a lot more bubbles coming at him than he'd ever seen and even with his speed, he was quickly being overwhelmed. Bubbleman floated in place to watch the spectacle. He was somewhat disappointed Beastman hadn't yet tried to run away. The Darkloids' transmission block was already in place so jacking out would be impossible, but the agile Acid Hacker had a chance to outrun the field of effect, yet for some reason chose to stay and fight this hopeless battle. It made things almost too easy.
"Graaoohh! Guess I should bring in some backup!" Beastman activated some chips and three more figures appeared around him. A Swordy virus that immediately went to work slashing up the bubbles coming from behind Beast, an Eleball that formed an electric field that cleared the way for Beast to advance, and a Powald that Beast scooped up and launched at Bubbleman once he was in position. The small flapping virus transformed into a massive steel weight over the surprised Darkloid's head, but bounced off the DarkWrap barrier all the same.
"Hgl? Since when could you summon viruses like that? Not to mention use them relatively competently?"
"I've been experimenting with virus breeding since before the AH broke up! I've had time to get good at it since then. Speaking of which, think fast!" At that point Beastman grabbed his Eleball virus and hurled it at Bubbleman while leaping away from the bubbles that were closing in on him. The small grinning virus struck the barrier, exploding and making the entire sphere flash with yellow light for an instant before disintegrating. Before the Darkloid could even react, Beast slashed him with a Jumping Claw on his way back down, instantly shredding the hat and trench coat and sending him reeling back in pain.
"Aaglhgh! Ogh, you'll pay for that! 4500 Zenny. That's how much you owe me for the outfit. I really liked that outfit. It was snazzy. Dhhlglhrr..."
"Hah! Couldn't get one past me, Mr.'you-can-forget-about-fighting-back-because-I-have-a-super-strong-defensive-Durr-Crap', it was still just an aqua-elemental bubble, so elec brings it down like it's nothing! Ready to talk things out?"
"Brklg, not even close." With a quick bloop, the DarkWrap was protecting Bubbleman once again. It seemed the regenerative properties of the BubbleWrap were not compromised by electricity in this amped-up version. Bubbleman himself floated within the clear, spherical barrier looking no worse for wear, only without his hat and coat. With his full form revealed, Beast noticed that his old ally had certainly changed a lot. His diving suit was in darker hues of blue, and his body seemed smaller, thinner, with emaciated limbs and pointier digits. His face was completely hidden behind a new visor and facemask with some kind of breathing device that was apparently causing his odd, gurgling voice. A pair of red dots glowed from behind the visor, the only indicator of the creature's eyes.
Beastman growled deeply and formed one of his claws into an ElecBlade. "Fine, I can do this all day."
The battle continued with Beastman attacking more ferociously, using a sizable collection of bladed weapons in conjunction with his virus pets, seemingly enjoying himself with all the intense, fast-paced action. Meanwhile Bubbleman started to take Bowlman's warning to heart and added evasive maneuvers to his defense since for once his DarkWrap was not providing perfect protection. He did not believe Beastman of all navis was the source of the other Darkloids' defeats, but he didn't earn his place in the brotherhood by being one to let his guard down. He was back to firing his corrosive AquaShots as well as increasing the rate of his Bubble Parade. Explosions rocked the area from the Fish Missiles and Depth Charges thrown into the Bubble Lead mix. Despite the onslaught, Beastman's agility kept him from taking too much damage.
Bubbleman was not having as much fun as his opponent seemed to be. It was time to reverse that. "Fall, animal. Geddon2!" With a snap of his fingers, every panel around them crumbled to dust. Beastman no longer had ground to room to move, and the Bubble Parade was quickly closing in.
However Beast wasn't as prepared to fall as Bubble hoped, he leapt from the last cracked panel just before his room ran out, and from there began to fly claws first at his adversary.
"Oghlh yes, Airshoes. You think of everything these days, don't you? Bllgglgh."
"It's not like you're the first to try exploiting that old weakness. I just like to let you think that'll work."
"I think it's more than that..." Bubbleman said as he twisted to the side to avoid Beastman's ElecSword charge. He then aimed is gun and returned fire, which Beastman tried to dodge but soon caught a shot to the left leg that began to quickly and painfully eat through his armor. "You CAN fly, but you're at your most agile when you have the ground to propel yourself with. Bllblh, you're not nearly as fast with just a cut-rate navicust flight mode add-on."
Beastman growled in agony as the acid continued to bubble and dissolve on his shin plate. With a swift motion of his claws, he cut the affected armor pieces off, leaving his leg bare, but mostly intact. "Grrrr! I'm still fast enough to deal with you!" With the pain subsided, he went back on the offensive, but with much less success than before now that it was purely an air battle.
It wasn't long before Beast was worn down and caught between walls of bubbles and staring down the barrel of Bubbleman's harpoon gun. "Gghghhlgb, now learn what it's like to slip into the darkness with no escape. Die!"
Beastman cringed, anticipating the worst, but when things went oddly silent, he ventured to open his eyes, now finding himself as well as Bubbleman encased in separate large bubbles. Bubbleman's harpoon gun was also floating in a smaller bubble separated from its owner, who looked surprised and unhappy about something only he could have been responsible for. "Huh. What happened? Did you sneeze and lose control of your powers?"
"I didn't do this! BLGBH!" Bubbleman rasped, his voice partially muffled by the thin walls of water between them.
"I did this. You boys didn't look like you were playing too nice." Both combatants turned to see the orange and blue bubble-riding girl float in between them, her face displaying a disapproving frown. "I couldn't help hearing the commotion from across the system. When I got here I thought you were doing one of those netbattle things as a game, but it sounded like you were really trying to kill each other!"
Beastman popped the bubble with his claw and hovered there, addressing the girl in a calm voice. "Actually, I wasn't trying to kill him. He's my friend and I just wanted to bring him to his senses. He's totally trying to kill me though, and I'm betting you're in danger too."
"You wouldn't do that, would you?" She said, turning to Bubbleman.
The Darkloid was seething now. He expanded his own DarkWrap to burst the other bubble and tried to grab his harpoon gun, but its bubble quickly drifted away from him. "Ghhhklgkk, this doesn't concern you, woman. I will delete you don't return my weapon and leave this instant!"
The girl was taken aback. "You need to calm down! Whatever your disagreements are, I'm sure you can talk them out."
Beastman positioned himself between her and Bubbleman. "He's serious, lady. You should really get out of her while you can."
Ignoring the warning, the girl moved the bubble with the harpoon gun a little farther away, until there were no platforms or walkways underneath it, then popped the bubble, allowing the weapon to fall into the abyss.
"ENOUGH!" Bubbleman roared as Dark Power burned around him, with an impassable wall of Bubble Lead rising behind him like a sudsy tidal wave. "You two have wasted my time enough! This was supposed to be a profitable day! Bhlgh!"
Beastman tried to pull the girl out of the way, but it was clear there was nowhere to run. It looked like it was all over, until something else grabbed the two navis and pulled them down to the nearest platform, where a cocoon of vines wrapped around them and a handful of TreeBombs scattered in front of them intercepted the wall of bubbles, coming together in an opposing wall of WoodTowers that broke the wave in half, leaving Beastman, the girl, and the previously unseen third navi on the platform completely unharmed.
Plantman unfurled the cocoon of vines around them and cast his gaze upward at the irate Dark Bubbleman, his rage fueling the increasing levels of Dark Power surrounding him. The leafy green champion of nature scoffed. "What kind of twisted AH reunion did I just stumble upon?"
* * *
Drillman and Flamechick emerged from a wormhole into the quiet, suburban streets of Malwaukee. They were wary at first, with the possibility of a trap around every corner, but the presence of civilian navis looking quite relaxed if not for the two oddballs prowling around their streets made it apparent that there was no immediate danger.
"Well, alright. Might as well ask around to see if anyone saw the chess pieces." Drillman suggested.
"I still don't understand the point of this search. Why is this person important?" Flamechick asked.
"Huh. Somehow I thought you would remember him, a bit..."
"I've already explained, I have no memories of being IceChan. My operator wants me to remember though, so I am attempting to."
"I meant as Flameman."
"Oh. I have no memories of being him either. Should I attempt to recover those memories as well?"
Drillman chuckled. "Ah, no. It's best you don't. Though I guess if you're trying to remember something you can't remember...you probably don't have any control over which memories you get..."
"If I restored my mind as the wrong individual, Miss Hoshiko would likely be very disappointed." Flame stated. "What about you? Who was Flameman to you?"
"A jerk...an enemy...like I said, it's best that you don't turn into him."
"Oh. Well I'll try not to then, even though I have no control over it."
Drillman suddenly wished he hadn't said anything. "I didn't mean-...I mean it's not that...Er...Sorry."
"It's fine." Her mask and deadpan voice made it hard to gauge what she really thought, so Drill resigned to take that as it was. "What about Blackbelt? You still haven't answered what he is to you."
"Well...a jerk and an enemy. He stole personal information from me and Moe, is part of a dangerous group of terrorists, and has controlled some sort of Darkloids in the past. Is that enough? Can we get to work now?" Drillman rattled off, growing impatient and uncomfortable.
"Thank you. I only wanted more of an understanding of our target."
Drillman sighed and gestured with his arm for her to follow him along the street. They didn't go far before Drill stopped a Normal Navi strolling down the other way. "Hey, have you seen any large chess pieces in this area recently? We're here on behalf of the Officials."
The Normal put his hands on his hips. "Ah, it's high time. Those horse things just come bouncing through every few minutes with no regard for what they land on and everyone else has to jump out of the way! The castles and the guys with the big hats aren't much better. They just slide through bumping navis out of the way. It's so rude!"
"So you say the chess pieces always come through the same area?" Flamechick asked.
"Well, they always come through a different way, but the timing is pretty consistent. If you stick around for a minute or two, I'm sure you'll spot the next one. See if you can put a stop to it!"
Drillman waved him off. "Thank you sir. That'll be all."
The Normal Navi continued on his way, leaving Drill and Flame to continue the lookout. "I guess it's not as bad as was initially reported." Flamechick surmised.
"Yeah, doesn't sound like the perp is attacking this place, just being annoying while doing something else. And yes, I realize that 'something else' could be making a scene to draw out a target. It could still be a trap."
"If it is, perhaps we should try to remain less conspicuous." Flame noted, seeing the amount of navis in the area steadily diminishing as locals spotted her and Drill and thought it best to go somewhere else or jack out. "We're probably as welcome here as the chess pieces."
"Yeah, well we can't all have nice trustworthy faces like Normal Navis." Drillman said cynically. "Actually, it looks like your mask could be easily removed. Could it?"
Her eyes narrowed behind her mask. "It could...not that it will."
"...Fair enough...Well, I have Mole chips for stealth work. Let's dig in then."
A download later, Flame and Drill were effectively invisible except for portable holes embedded in the ground that slid around like disembodied shadows. Even though they couldn't be seen, they could see everything outside their holes normally. Then it was only a matter of patrolling and waiting. The navis decided to split up to cover more ground.
Flamechick came across a platform with a patch of grass and flowers on it and stopped to take note of a circular impression in it. It looked like something heavy had just recently been removed from that spot. Something like a Knight piece that had come jumping through. Curious, she slowly panned around, looking for signs of movement on the horizon. Then, off to the south, she saw an object shoot up into the air and fall back down, and it continued to go up and down away from her. She dashed after it and spoke through the comm. "Miss Hoshiko, let Moe and Drillman know I've spotted a Knight towards the south end of the system."
"Got it! Be careful."
Flamechick found she could run quite fast. It was the first time she had been in a situation that called for it. Fortunately, the Knight was moving relatively slow. About 30 seconds later she caught up with it. The pale ceramic horse-headed bust was making short hops down the road, stopping at each landing to rotate back and forth for a moment. It looked like it was either trying to dig deeper impressions into the grass, or it was looking for something. It was hard to tell with the stone-stiff object what its motivations were, but Flame had to remember it was merely acting on the commands of whoever was controlling it.
Staying low in her Mole defense, Flamechick followed the Knight, gradually circling it, making sure it couldn't see her. There was no sign of the controller, or any other chess pieces, or any variance in its behavior. "What should we do? It does not appear to be leading me to its master."
Hoshiko tapped her PET casing pensively. "Hmm...I guess it's time to give it a poke..."
"May want to wait for Drill to catch up..." Moe warned.
"We're the ones that need practice...go for it Flame!"
