Something completely different - 12th August 2004

[Alicia "Atomic" Kitsune]

On the roof of the mansion, the sky was dark and brooding; flaming torches lined both sides of the large flat roof space, and WWE Gamer was a little out of breath as he stepped out into the night air.
“You have kept me waiting, slave………I am not pleased.”<br>Gamer looked about him, and on one side of the roof a figure began to materialise. Gamer hurried forward and sank down to his knees before the apparition; its form was very hazy, and kept fluctuating in the flickering light, but it was vaguely humanoid. The only features of its face that could be made out were its eyes, which were dark holes in an otherwise greyish blur.
“A thousand apologies, sire…….I was completing the tasks which you set for me. All is ready.”<br>“I have no time to punish you now………we must begin the ritual. I have examined the binding mechanism…..it is satisfactory.”<br>Gamer stood up and walked forward toward the centre of the roof. Arcane symbols had been painted to form a circle, and Gamer took a deep breath as a rumble of thunder echoed in the distance.
“Very well. Begin.”<br>Gamer closed his eyes, and began to chant in a flat tone.
“Luctationes omnes praestitutas esse…..”<br>There was a flash of lightning, and a kind of red mist started to well up in the circle. Gamer kept chanting, and the wind whipped around ferociously.
“Luctationes omnes praestitutas esse…..”<br>Another, very loud peal of thunder, and the mist suddenly exploded into a ball of fire. The ball tried to leave the circle and aimed itself at Gamer, but the symbols on the ground started to blaze with light and the fireball was contained.
“Yes! Yes! It is working………continue!”<br>Gamer’s eyes were open now, and he looked fearful at the fireball which was now becoming a raging fire tornado, but he obeyed and went on with the chant, his voice rising louder……
“Luctationes omnes praestitutas esse…..”<br>The tornado roared like nothing on earth, and the whole roof was flooded by its hellish light, but it remained contained, and suddenly from each of the symbols on the ground a translucent chain arose, and sank itself into the flame.
“YESSS! NOW, MY SERVANT, CALL HIM!”<br>Gamer’s white skin was blistering from the heat, but he smiled and threw his arms back as he bellowed the chant, one final time.”<br>“Luctationes omnes praestitutas esse!”<br>The fire tornado exploded and Gamer threw up his hands in front of his face, but the blast was held within the boundary of the circle, and its light began to fade away. Slowly, a tall figure began to resolve inside the circle; it was bound around the arms and over its shoulders by the translucent chains. Gamer took a step back as the burning eyes of the figure met his own.
Asmodeus’ face was hidden by his hood as it always was, but the sight of his eyes alone was enough to tell even the most dim - witted fool that he was angry beyond mortal comprehension.
“You……..YOU……..HOW DARE YOU?!” Asmodeus roared, and the whole house seemed to quake at the sound of his hideous voice. Gamer held his ground, but his voice was stilled in his throat; from behind him however, the sylph – like figure began to laugh, and Asmodeus stared right through Gamer at the shadowy wraith, and his voice was edged with contempt. “So you are the architect of this………I knew no snivelling human could work such an enchantment on their own. Reveal yourself, foolish one, so that I may know who or what it is that I shall torture when I am released.”<br>The wraith’s dark eyes narrowed; if the thing could have grinned, it would have leered in a most unpleasant manner. “You lords of the dark are all the same……..arrogant to the nth degree. Threaten me all you want, oh mighty Asmodeus……..You can do nothing to me, and soon it will be you who begs for mercy.”<br>Asmodeus snorted. “Me? Beg? Ha, you are both foolish and stupid! I am one of the lords of hell, I am immortal, I am invincible!”<br>The wraith laughed again. “You were immortal, you were invincible……but no longer. Or have you forgotten what happens when you embue a mortal with a portion of your own power?”<br>Asmodeus did not make a sound; there was no outward change to his stance or manner, but Gamer thought that he felt the atmosphere change just a little……..almost as if the figure bound in the circle was just a little bit uneasy.
“Who are you, worm? I demand you tell me your name!”<br>“You are in no position to demand anything, demon. You have fallen into my trap, and now I will do what I have waited millennia to do……drain you of every last drop of your power. Your bond with your favoured servant is only a minor weakness, but it is all I need……..now brace yourself, because I’m pretty sure this is really going to hurt.”<br>As the wraith spoke, its outline blurred a little more, and thin whispy tendrils snaked outward from its sides. Gamer stepped out of the way, and the tendrils wrapped themselves around the chains holding Asmodeus before spreading like roots across his red robes from top to bottom. There was a crackle and a few red bolts of energy were given off; Gamer saw every muscle tense beneath Asmodeus’ clothing, and although the demon lord did not make a sound or cry out, when he spoke his voice gave away the pain he was having to bear.
“Whoever……..whatever…….you are, you will not get away with this. I will break these bonds, and then I will send you to a new world of agony!”<br>On the outside of the circle, the wraith just shook its head. “Struggle all you want…….it makes things more interesting.” Gamer had stood silently by as this was taking place, but now the wraith turned its empty eyes toward him. “This will take some time……make sure I am not disturbed.”<br>Gamer bowed low. “By your command, Sire.” He did not look back as he crossed the roof and began to descend back to the lab; his thoughts were already on his own plans for WCW and the rest of the ACW roster………<br>

[Alicia "Atomic" Kitsune]

Skurai led the way though the network of secret passages that criss – crossed the house; his many hours of practice breaking into the old senatorial office had given him a kind of sixth sense when it came to concealed routes, and now he and the other 3 escapees were moving upward, heading for the top of the house.
“Skurai, how did you know we weren’t bad guys?” said Latino as they walked along in a line.
“Easy, man……how many cyborg soldiers can there be in his house who talk like you?”<br>Latino grinned. “Hey, I’m one of a kind, esse!”<br>“We’re definitely on the second floor, guys,” Skurai said quietly; he paused next to a nondescript piece of wall, and with a gentle push he opened the hidden door, flooding the dimly – illuminated passage with light.
The group stepped out into the new room and looked around; it was a library, with wall after wall lined with books of considerable age. Skurai walked forward a little and smiled.
“Bingo! Check that out, people!”<br>The library ceiling was very tall, and as the group looked they saw that it was in fact split into 2 levels; and on the higher of the 2 levels was an upper door. “That’s our ticket to the third floor” said Skurai. Latino looked around, and frowned. “Where’s the ladder, holmes?”<br>It was true – there was no ladder to allow a person to climb up to the higher level. Blade just smiled. “No problem – we can make our own way up.” He took something off of his belt, and pointed the hookshot at the wooden ceiling joist above. “Who wants the first lift?”<br>“I will” said Dream, and Blade set about getting the perfect shot lined up. Latino meanwhile wandered about, looking at the room; there was a large, black leather bound book on the table, and Latino let his eyes stray across its pages – in particular he found himself drawn to one paragraph.

”The universe is maintained by order; for every force there must be an equal an opposing force. If those forces were ever to be unbalanced, the natural order of the universe would collapse, and everything would be plunged into terrible disorder, leading inexorably to the destruction of all life…….

“Weird, man,” said Latino to himself. He watched Skurai taking a ride up to the higher level, and as he did so he felt a strange, warm breeze blow past him. The pages of the book were ruffled and turned, and Latino felt a sudden, strange compulsion to look at the new text that had been revealed. There were only a few lines on the page, and they looked like some kind of poem. Latino read the words; they didn’t make any sense to him, and he shrugged.
“Latino, you coming?” called Blade. Latino stretched, and then walked over briskly to accept the ride to the top. Blade released the hookshot and the pair rose upward to step off on to the top level. Everyone looked at the doorway, and Blade drew the Master Sword before glancing around at them all.
“I think we’re getting close to our goal. Latino and I don’t have more than about 15 minutes left on these gauntlets, so we need to move fast. Take down anything in your way, don’t stop, keep going until we find the hub of this operation and shut it down. Is everybody ready?
Skurai and Dream nodded and readied the guns they had taken from fallen foes; Latino loaded a fresh clip into his rifle and stood in front of the door.
“I’ll break this down, guys…….Let’s do this!”

“Wake up, faggot, I’m talking to you.”<br>The malicious voice ripped its painful way through WCW’s head, and he tried to put his hand to his temple, but he quickly found that all his limbs were shackled to the metal plate he was leaning up against. WCW slowly opened his eyes, and came face to face with the lurid green pupils of the man standing in front of him. The man smirked, and WCW tried to free himself, his face red with anger.
“Who the FUCK are you?” WCW snarled, “You look like some pathetic Lord Voldemort rip – off”. The man just wagged a finger condescendingly. Now then WCW, that’s not a nice way to greet someone. Especially someone who controls whether you, and all your pals here, live or die.”<br>WCW looked around him, and his face began to drain of colour as he saw the rest of the group still sealed in their glass immersion chambers. To his right he heard a groan, and by craning his neck he was just able to see Gingerdude, who was in a similar set of restraints. The green eyed man glanced over. “Ah, I see Ginger – forgive me, Co – Chairman Ginger, is ready to join us. Ginger was still blinking and trying to acclimatise to the lights as WCW watched his captor stride over, pause, and then kick Ginger hard in the gut with obvious enjoyment.
“Co – chairman? Bah, you’re still no better than the jobber I made you.”<br>Ginger’s pain and anger made his mind a little slower than normal, but the word “jobber” triggered a flood of realisation as the man stalked back over to WCW.
“You……You bastard, Gamer! What have you done to everyone? Why are you poncing around looking like some anime villain? What’s this all about?”<br>Gamer just smiled with pure hatred in his eyes. “It’s all about revenge, of course. WCW, you of all people should know that you don’t cross the boss. But unlike you, I don’t fly off the handle and end up with egg on my face……I have waited, and planned, and sacrificed more than you will ever know for this one chance to make you pay.”<br>WCW just glared at Gamer. “So what’s your grand scheme, man? Are you going to bore us to death, ‘cause at the moment you’re not doing badly at all.”<br>Gamer looked just a touch riled by WCW’s remark, but he gave a small smile and clapped his hands. Instantly, the bank of computer screens on one wall all stopped displaying separate images, and instead projected one large blank picture. Gamer looked up and the screen and then turned back to WCW and Ginger.
“I’m going to make both of you suffer, in every way possible……and we start by having a little match. I think you’ll find this most interesting…….I know I’ve been looking forward to it all day.”<br>WCW and Ginger had no choice but to watch as the screen burst into life, and an awesome and terrible sight was revealed.

[Alicia "Atomic" Kitsune]

“IIIIII’m a lumberjack and I’m okaaaay……..” Ridley sang as he paced along the corridors; he swung his barbed wire bat around lazily, and he was mildly disappointed that there hadn’t been more enemies for him to slay in the past 15 minutes or so; in fact he was beginning to get faintly bored. His interest had been vaguely piqued when he had come across a room infested with Lickers, but his own enhanced abilities meant that he was able to shred the lot in five minutes flat. “Come on, Mr. Scary, give me something that’s more of a challenge!” he bellowed, and just at that moment he turned a corner to find himself in front of a pair of huge iron doors. Ridley looked at them, and then crossing his fingers he pushed the right hand door open.
The chamber was at least 30 feet wide, and probably more than 50 feet high, and Ridley gazed up to the ceiling far above. The room was circular, with bare stone walls in some places and metal sheet cladding in others. There were metal platforms and walkways dotted around the circumference, and Ridley could see that there were vicious spikes protruding from the walls at many points. Up close to the top of the chamber, a circular platform was suspended from chains, and further lengths of chain dangled below this and from some of the wider platforms lower down. The room was lit by a selection of flaming torches, normal lightbulbs, and a few light tubes. As Ridley looked about him, the door he had entered by thudded shut, and a portcullis dropped down to bar any further use of the door.

“Gentlemen, I present my own spin on the Elimination Chamber,” said Gamer with a flicker of a smile. “I call it an elimination chamber, because that is what it is designed to do; eliminate anyone who enters it. Now I know Mr. Ridley is something of a legend where anything even remotely “hardcore” is concerned, so I have devised a challenge which should test even his renowned abilities.”<br>A voice crackled over Gamer’s pin radio. “We’re all set, master…….”<br>Gamer smiled more fully. “Excellent………seconds out, round 1!”<br>
Ridley stood in the chamber and frowned. “Nice interior design…….but if you think that this will stop me reaching you, you’re an even bigger assclown that I thought,” he called out to no – one in particular. Ridley was just considering which platform to climb when his enhanced hearing picked up a very faint hum. Just in the nick of time, Ridley leapt and rolled aside as the volley of pulse energy shots smashed into the floor where he had been standing less than a second before.
“I would say the aesthetic appeal of this place is the least of your worries,” a voice echoed from above. There was a clang as something heavy landed on one of the walkways above, and then a powerfully built yet athletic figure sprang down and landed gracefully on the other side of the main floor. Ridley stood back up, and regarded the newcomer with interest.
“Heh, with all those cannon fodder Space Pirates around the place, I should of figured they’d bring out the Hunter sooner or later. No matter….you’ll bleed just as well as any of these other drones.”<br>Ridley revved his chainsaw and sprang forward, swinging it right at his opponent’s chest; a few sparks issued out, but the Chozo technology was far too robust to be bothered by such an attack, and the saw skittered and bounced off. Before Ridley could react he was punched forcefully in the face, and his foe grabbed him around the waist for a belly to belly suplex to throw that sent him flying several feet through the air to land on the hard stone behind. Ridley smacked his head on the stone, and he could feel a thin stream of blood starting to flow down the back of his neck; fortunately with his demonic protection still in full effect the would healed up of its own accord.
“Man, this rocks! I wasn’t sure if I could do the throws with this cannon arm, but it’s not actually that hard. Still think this will be a walkover, Ridders?”<br>Ridley got back up, and his eyes burned with more crimson fire than ever. “Miss Kitsune……..I have to admit, I never would have chalked you down as a turncoat. Planning to buy some new handbags with your 30 pieces of silver?”<br>“I wouldn’t expect a sadistic psychopath like you to understand, Ridley. Trust me, I won’t enjoy this, but it’s the lesser of two evils.”<br>Ridley grinned and showed his canines. “My dear girl, I am never the lesser of any number of evils.”<br>AK was already charging her pulse cannon. “Ok, I take that back…….maybe I will enjoy this……just a little.” She jumped in the air and fired, but Ridley was already climbing up the nearest metal structure, and he pulled out a machine gun ripped from one of the robots form his robes to spray the floor with bullets. AK kicked with her space jump boots, and avoided the fire; she switched to missile mode and let a stream of 5 fly toward her target. Ridley raced along the walkway and leapt to the next just as the missiles blew the first to smithereens; Ridley winced just a little as a few shards of metal lodged in his back, but his enhanced mental and physical state meant that he felt no serious discomfort. Ridley kept running, and he saw that something had been left on the platform; his eyes lit up as he neared it, and he scooped the item up before taking a flying leap up and out to grab one of the hanging chains.
“Time for a little yard work!” Ridley shouted with glee as he revved up the weedwhacker and swung toward AK. He took a swipe at her head, and the whacker made a series of scars across her helmet visor. “Two can play that game, sunshine,” AK retorted, and she fired her grapple hook into the circular platform before taking flight herself and arming her wavebuster beam. The two swung back and forth in a scene not dissimilar to a game from “Gladiators”, but as they did so there was a hissing from below, and the chamber began to fill with a bubbling yellowish liquid at an alarming rate. As this was going on, the pair above kept fighting; Ridley made a series of small dents with his weapon, and AK saw on her head – up display that the integrity if the suit was gradually decreasing. Taking more care with her aim, she shot the weedwhacker out of Ridley’s grasp; on the return swing however Ridley lifted up his feet and kicked AK’s grapple beam projector on her gauntlet as hard as he could. The beam sputtered and died, and AK was lucky not to land in the pooling liquid; her arm cannon was heavy and rolled off of the platform, dipping the end into the “water”. AK’s status display flashed up a warning, and as she got up she saw that the end of the cannon had been badly degraded by the contact with the pool.
“Bloody hell……..that must be really strong acid down there,” AK thought, but she had no more time to ponder the situation as she was forced to jump up to avoid the blast from the rocket fired by Ridley from one of the higher platforms. Ridley was pleased to find some bigger gadgets to play with, but the launcher only contained one rocket so he kept climbing up toward the circular platform above. AK gave chase and fired her plasma beam, but the damaged cannon was now misfiring every so often and making an already tricky task much more so. But even with the weight of the suit, AK could jump much higher than Ridley and so make faster progress; she reached the same platform and prepared to fire at point blank range…….
Ridley spun around, and fired the flamethrower just at the last second. AK staggered back, and she felt a wave of fear as she toppled backward. Ridley watched her fall and smirked, but just 10 or so feet from the bottom AK fired her ice beam, and the acid froze over. AK already knew she could not jump to safety, so she rolled up into the morph ball and laid a power bomb; the resulting explosion sent her skywards just as the ice melted away, and she unrolled and took a clean shot with the ice cannon in mid air, taking Ridley by surprise. Holding on to one of the chains, AK powered up her super missile as Ridley fought to free himself from the ice pinning him to the wall; his superhuman strength meant that he busted free and leapt up in the nick of time. Taking his flamethrower with him, he sprang up to the circular platform, and AK was right behind him as the acid continued its relentless progress toward the battling pair.

[Alicia "Atomic" Kitsune]

On the roof, Asmodeus’ mind was racing; he was feeling weaker with every passing minute, there had to be something he could do. Then, it hit him……..if his hand had been unrestrained Asomdeus would have slapped himself on the forehead. Of course, he thought, the chances were that his intended course of action would condemn his most useful servant to a painful death……
“A pity…….but such is the mortal condition,” Asmodeus murmured to himself, and very quietly he began to intone the necessary incantation.

The rising acid was only feet away from the circular platform; Ridley and AK jumped and rolled, each loosing off shots of their weapons but neither able to score a critical hit. Ridley swore as his flamethrower ran out of fuel, and taking up his faithful chainsaw which he had collected and clipped to his pants earlier, he rushed in close; AK tried to fire her arm cannon but the acid damage made it misfire and she inwardly cursed. AK tried to smash Ridley’s head with the heavy cannon, but Ridley tripped her up and the weight of the malfunctioning suit stopped AK from rising fully; Ridley felt pure, unadulterated bloodlust surge though him and he grinned psychotically as he jammed the chainsaw into the back of AK’s suit, right into the main energy tanks. On her visor AK saw the word “CRITICAL” flash up, and she felt a buildup of heat on her back as the power core approached overload.
“Fuck!.....Right, that’s it. If I’m going down, you’re going with me!” AK yelled, and she flipped over and grabbed Ridley; the chainsaw was ripped out of his hand and stayed embedded in the suit. Ridley just laughed maniacally. “Imbecile! I am more than human…….I am unstoppable!!”<br>At that very second, Ridley’s laughter was dramatically cut short; he felt a rush of heat, and then pain erupted from the wounds all over his body. Ridley’s head spun and he was totally confused, but then he saw his face reflected in AK’s helmet visor, and his own hazel – coloured eyes stared back at him as Asmodeus recalled his powers to protect himself.
“Oh, SHIT –“
There was a flash of light, and then an enormous explosion; all the remaining structures in the room were obliterated, and the camera feed was abruptly terminated as the equipment was destroyed by the resulting fireball.

In the main lab, WCW and Ginger were ashen – faced as they stared at the static on the screen. Gamer looked a little surprised, and then he shrugged. “Well that was about a three and a half star match. A double KO…….one less job for me to worry about, then.”<br>Gamer was just turning his attention back to his “guests” when suddenly a siren wailed; there was the sound of gunfire in a nearby room, and then the lab doors were blasted open as Latino, Blade, and Dream fought their way in. Behind them there was a scene of devastation, and defeated foes were piled up just in front of the doorway. Skurai was a little behind, as he was merrily blasting a whole raft of foes to pieces with obvious enjoyment, splattering the place with gore and machine oil; this done, he jogged up behind and joined the group in the centre of the room.
Gamer smiled as the four rescuers approached; the look of confusion and anger on their faces as they saw what had become of their fellow superstars was most gratifying to him. “So you all made it here…..congratulations.”<br>Latino pushed back his helmet visor and fixed Gamer with a stare. “Don’t bother with the small talk, esse…….we’re here for our friends. Now you can either release them now, or we can take your worthless hide apart. Your choice.”<br>Gamer laughed icily. “You haven’t changed one bit, Latino……..you mouth’s still writing cheques your brain can’t cash.” Latino stared, and then he along with Skurai and Blade worked out who their foe had been the whole time; Latino looked shocked for a moment, but then his expression resolved into one of contempt. “Gamer, you’re a sick and twisted freak…..but you’re no match for the four of us. We’re taking you down, just like we have all these other creatures you sent against us.”<br>Gamer started to laugh again. “You need a maths lesson, Latino……and I think I’ll let my second in command give you one.”<br>Latino was bemused, but then a cry from behind him echoed about the room, and both he and Blade turned and stared in horror at what they saw.
Skurai’s left shoulder had been pierced by a long, sharp metal blade; the bloodied end was poking out through the front of his clothing, which was rapidly becoming stained with scarlet. But it wasn’t the blade itself that was the worst part of the picture; it was where the metal of the knife seamlessly melded back into the flesh of Dream’s index finger. Dream smiled, and that soulless smile sent a shudder through both Latino and Blade’s bodies. Skurai gritted his teeth and pulled himself off of the blade, falling forward on to one knee; as he landed he caught a glimpse of the real Dream slumbering in her glass capsule.
“Master, do you wish me to complete plan 12beta?” said the fake Dream, and its voice was no longer that of the Diva it had impersonated; it was metallic and devoid of any emotion whatsoever. Gamer was about to answer, but then he seemed to take a step back, and put his hand to his head as it afflicted by a sudden headache.
“Damn. Yes MS, complete your objective as directed. I’ll have to record this for my later enjoyment. I’m needed upstairs. Shit, I was really looking forward to this…….”<br>With incredible agility Gamer sprang up the pipes and cables to the upper gantry overlooking the lab, and then disappeared quickly through the doors. The fake Dream watched, and then turned back to look directly at Skurai and Blade. “Very well, which of you two wants to go first?”
“Hey what am I, chopped liver?” said Latino with a half smile. The fake Dream regarded him blankly. “You die last. Master’s orders.”<br>Blade drew his own sword. “How about we kick your ass instead?”<br>“Unlikely. But please feel at liberty to try.”<br>Blade didn’t need any further invitation; he rushed forward and slashed his sword right across the fake Dream’s neck. Dream’s head fell back, but instead of blood there was just a thin flow of silvery metal, and then with flick of the wrists the fake Dream calmly placed its head back on its shoulders, and the head fused back to the body.
“Predictable. Now, it’s my turn.”<br>

[Alicia "Atomic" Kitsune]

Long blades erupted from all ten of the fake Dream’s fingers, and it launched into a ferocious attack on Blade, who was forced to use every ounce of his agility to evade the swipes. Skurai jumped onto the metal menace’s back and blasted it with his weapon, but the wounds just healed themselves, and Skurai was thrown with amazing force into a bank of computers. Latino charged in and grabbed the fake Dream from behind, but it liquefied itself and flowed around him to reform so that it was the one holding him. Latino was lifted up and slammed into the floor, and the fake Dream drove one of its Blade into his wrist, piercing the transformation gauntlet. A shower of sparks shot out, and Latino yelled in pain as he reverted to his normal appearance and the broken gauntlet dropped to the floor. Blade jammed his sword through the back of the fake Dream, but it again reformed itself so it was holding the blade and wrenched it away, throwing it across the room. The fake Dream extended its arm and grabbed Blade by the neck, lifting him off the ground; it smiled with satisfaction as it placed a single knife tip to his forehead.
“Your life energy is about to expire. Goodbye.”<br>Latino, WCW, Ginger and Skurai were powerless to act, but at the last second there was a clang, and everyone instinctively looked up to the ceiling. A part of the vent system came crashing down, and the fake Dream was crushed into a mass of metal; Blade struggled free and staggered back a little way.
“You’re a pathetic reproduction of a pathetic wrestler,” a voice said from above, and Rose jumped down all the way from the vents high above to roll and land safely. Rose looked at the metallic form which was already pulsing and starting to reform itself, and she addressed the assembled group. “We don’t have much time………we need to find whatever it is that’s powering this whole setup and shut it down. Blade and I should keep this T1000 wannabe busy while Skurai and Latino do that. Any questions?”<br>No one spoke in opposition, and Rose glared at the silvery figure as it extracted itself from the fallen vent. Skurai was already heading for the stairs to the upper level, but Latino was looking around him, looking confused. “Ginger,” he called, “where’s mamacita?”<br>Ginger had no idea what to say, and he looked away; fortunately before Latino could make any sense of his response Skurai ran back over and physically pulled him toward the steps. “Come on! We can’t hang around !” he yelled, and Latino’s attention returned to the task in hand as they raced upward and out through the upper doors.
Rose was still watching the metallic figure. “No more games, you. Reveal your true form, and let’s finish this!”<br>“Very well. All living things, kneel before your master!”<br>Rose and Metal Sonic locked eyes, and then the pair charged toward one another, each with only one thought; to conquer the other.

Gamer panted as he ran out on to the roof; he had to dodge bolts of power that were being thrown out from both the figures locked in combat. “I hear and obey, sire,” he said, bowing before the wildly fluctuating wraith.
“I require your assistance…….the demon lord has retrieved his ceded power. I am still draining him, but the process tires me. Use your blade, and weaken my foe.”<br>Gamer was nervous as he approached the binding circle, but Masamune felt powerful in his hand, and he drove the blade into Asmodeus’ side. Instantly Gamer was hit by something like a massive electric shock; he and the blade were thrown backward, and he was almost rendered unconscious. The wraith paid him no attention, but it began to glow more brightly, and the fire in Asmodeus’ own eyes began to fade, little by little.
“Yessss…….I can feel your will beginning to falter, dark one……..a few more minutes, and your destruction will be completed!”<br>
Rose had never fought so hard or so viciously; Metal Sonic’s clawed hands ripped at her, but she was driven by an inner strength she had never realised she possessed. Rose’s movements were almost a blur, and no matter how many times Metal Sonic reformed itself or sent out its stabbing blades it could not quite score a direct hit. Several times it morphed into other members of the roster whose data it had scanned, but this only tipped the balance in Rose’s favour. Blade watched; something inside told him that this was a battle Rose had to fight herself, so he tried to free WCW and Ginger from their restraints, this however turned out to be impossible.
“Dammit! There must be something I can do……..” Blade punched one of the computers in frustration. There was a ringing sound as his gauntlet hit the computer case, and Blade looked at the screen to see that only 3 minutes of time remained before the gauntlet ran out of power.
But he also saw something else; something he had not noticed until now.
OPTIONS:
CURRENT FORM DETAILS
RESTORE FORM
SWITCH FORM
“Switch Form?” Blade said to himself, and then the metaphorical lightbulb pinged on above his head. Quickly Blade scanned the database on the device, and he stopped and double checked himself as he found what he had barely dared to hope for.
SWITCH FORM: CONFIRM?
YES
NO
Knowing he had no time to lose, Blade punched the button for yes, and WCW and Ginger stared as Blade was enveloped in light. They stared even more when his new form revealed itself……….

[Alicia "Atomic" Kitsune]

Skurai and Blade ran down the corridors in the roof space of the building; they could hear a faint humming, and heir instincts were proved correct as they kicked down a heavy door with runic symbols carved across it. They had wondered why they had come across no enemies, and this question was answered by the motionless forms of all kinds that were lying around the chamber they had entered.
“I guess the power was too great for them……..Is that what I think it is?” said Skurai as he looked up in wonder.
“Yea, holmes,” said Latino, “I think it is.”<br>The Master Emerald looked exactly like it should; it radiated green light, and around it on pedestals were the seven Chaos emeralds. “So that’s how they were able to transform so many people….they managed to create the chaos gems, which have almost unlimited power if my game mythology knowledge is correct. I bet these jewels are the key to the whole damn mess,” said Skurai.
“Hooray for them. Let’s pull the plug on this thing!” said Latino; he walked toward the main power cable, but Skurai held him back.
“No, don’t touch it……..with the amount of energy flowing through that it would probably vaporise you in a second. Something’s wrong here………the master emerald is supposed to stop the chaos emeralds from being used like this. I wonder……”<br>There was a walkway around the master emerald, and Skurai climbed up for a closer look.
“I knew it! There’s a piece of the master emerald missing…….that’s why they can use the chaos emeralds like this. There’s enough power in the master emerald to stop the chaos emeralds getting out of control, but not enough for anyone to shut them down. We need that missing shard!”<br>Latino and Skurai thought for a minute, and then Latino had a flash of inspiration. “That shard would make anyone who had it and could use it really powerful, right? So you wouldn’t just leave it around. You’d put it in the safest place you could…….or you’d give it to someone you trusted.”<br>Skurai caught the gist of the idea. “It’s our best shot. I’ll hightail back to the main lab…..you stay here and make sure no – one cuts us off, just in case.”<br>Skurai was already running out the door, and Latino crossed his fingers and hoped their hunch was right.

Rose’s fightback against Metal Sonic had been extraordinary, but she was becoming seriously fatigued, and she evaded her foe’s strikes by a narrower and narrower margin; finally she took just a second too long, and with its red eyes gleaming triumphantly Metal Sonic rocketed toward her with its inbuilt booster and drove her against the same computer panel that Skurai had hit earlier. Rose slumped down, and she heard Metal Sonic laughing – the first sign of emotion that it had shown in the whole time.
“When will you organic lifeforms learn that machines are superior?” Metal Sonic hissed, and Rose stared defiantly as a blade was pressed against her jugular; Metal Sonic prepared to strike, but its aural scanners picked up a sound from behind of something approaching…….at an almost impossible speed. Metal Sonic swivelled around but all it saw was a black and red blur before it was swept up in a black tornado attack and thrown right across the room; Metal Sonic reformed itself and jetted back to the centre, where its attacker was already waiting.
The two hedgehogs regarded one another, and the tension in the room was palpable.
“I believe that humans would find this situation humorous.”<br>“They don’t call me BladeSHADOW for nothing. Show me what you’ve got, robohog.”<br>Blade was already racing across the lab; using the form of Shadow, his jet accelerated boots gave him speed equal to Metal Sonic, and he felt a rush of adrenaline as he rushed toward Metal and hit a spin attack. Blade buzz – sawed his way right through his foe, and as Metal recomposed himself Rose saw just a glint of green deep in the metallic mass. Blade spun around and tried again, but the effect was the same, and Blade realised that he was fast running out of time.
“This thing’s nearly spent! Any ideas?” he called to Rose; Rose looked at the wrecked electronics she was standing next to, and as her eyes passed over a thick black cable she had a brainwave.
“Lead him over here, and then spin attack one more time!” Rose yelled, and Blade was already moving. He slowed just a little, and Metal was fooled; he made a swipe at Blade, who pivoted and attacked just as Metal was passing Rose. Rose grabbed the cable, and without hesitating she thrust it into the liquid metal as it was coming back together. Sparks flew everywhere, and the liquid pulsed wildly as the current disrupted Metal Sonic’s CPU; Rose watched, and then with courage she punched into the metal and her hand closed on something solid. Rose shook as the current also surged through her, and Blade pulled her back; a grating, machine – like cry arose from the liquid metal, and then without any further sound the liquid lost all form and splattered all over the place, dripping into little pools and then solidifying. Rose was badly stunned, but Blade carried her over to Ginger and WCW and gently put her down; there was a flicker or light, and Blade returned to his usual shape as the transformation Gauntlet gave up the ghost and dropped off of his wrist.
“You okay?” Blade asked; Rose didn’t answer for a few seconds, but then she opened her eyes and a look of great satisfaction spread across her face.
“It takes more than that to worry me. I’m fine.” Rose stood up, and opened her hand to look at the emerald shard she had pulled from Metal Sonic’s body. Up on the balcony, Skurai had witnessed the end of the fight, and inwardly his admiration for Rose’s resourcefulness and sheer toughness was increased. “Hey,” he called, “You two want to bring that shiny green jewel up here? Latino and I found the source of the power, and we need that thing to turn it off.”<br>“I’m on it.” Rose was already striding to the stairs. Blade looked at Ginger and WCW; “You guys ok? We’ll be right back.”<br>“Sure, we’ll just hang out here,” said Ginger. WCW scowled. “Get on with it, you lot.”<br>Blade was too tired from the battle to pay WCW any heed, and he paced away after Rose; the pair followed Skurai to the control room.

[Alicia "Atomic" Kitsune]

Latino was waiting for the other three on the walkway; all four stood around the huge gem, and Skurai carefully placed the missing shard back into place. The glow from the master emerald increased, and everyone waited, but there was no apparent change and the chaos emeralds continued to blaze with light.
“Shit, it didn’t work!” said Blade. Rose clenched her fist and kicked the emerald. “Worthless thing!”<br>Skurai looked at the master emerald, and he searched his mind for any clue as to what was wrong; finally it came to him, and he swore in frustration.
“Crap! Now I remember…….in the later Sonic games, there was some kind of special spell or something that you had to say to make the master emerald work. It was a really shitty Japanese translation, you know, but I think we need to say the words.”<br>“So?” said Rose, “Give us a recital, Shakespeare.”<br>Skurai shook his head. “I don’t know it……..I only played the bloody games through once or twice, they’re not the sort of thing you replay over and over, you know?”<br>“Come on, man,” said Blade with a touch of desperation n his voice, “Everyone is counting on us!”<br>“I know that, douchebag!” Skurai snapped, and he threw a punch out of frustration. Blade dodged and threw one back, and Rose yelled at them angrily as she tried to split them up. As the other three were otherwise engaged, Latino was staring at the gem; slowly he began to understand what it was he had read in the strange book in the library, and ignoring his companions he put a hand on the gem and closed his eyes as he visualised the page and the words on it.

“The servers are the seven Chaos,
Chaos is Power, Power enriched by the heart…….”<br>
Everyone else stopped their bickering, and silence fell over the chamber; Latino kept his eyes closed, and his voice echoed around as he finished the poem that had somehow been revealed to him.

“The Controller serves to unify the Chaos……
Only you can do this,
Stop the Chaos Emeralds!”<br>
Latino opened his eyes, and he had a faraway look about him as the last of his words dissipated into the air. Then, there was a flare of light from the master emerald which was mirrored by the chaos emeralds; the glow in the room began to fade, and throughout the mansion systems began to power down.
“Whoa, that’s it! How on earth did you remember that?” Skurai asked Latino as the four hurriedly climbed down the steps and started running back to the main laboratory. Latino didn’t answer; he had the strangest feeling that somebody had purposely shown him the words that he would need, but who, or why, he could not explain.

Although they could not know it, the consequences of the group’s actions were bigger than they could have possibly realised. On the roof, the glow in Asmodeus’ eyes was almost gone, and the wraith – like creature cackled triumphantly. “Only a few more seconds…….”<br>Just then, there was a flare of light from the symbols of the binding circle, and without a sound the translucent chains that bound Asmodeus dissipated into the air. Asmodeus didn’t hesitate; with a flash of flame he was gone.
“NO! NO………I was so CLOSE!” roared the wraith, and Gamer felt his blood almost still in his body as the creature’s black eyes met his own. “Someone has disabled the chaos emeralds…………..you FOOL! It’s those pitiful ones you brought here!”<br>Gamer’s face twisted with utter fury. “I have had enough………I’m going to destroy every one of them!” Without looking back, Gamer stormed across the roof and back into the building, his soul consumed by hate………the same hate that had drawn the wraith to him in the first place. The wraith watched him go, and then began to laugh almost uncontrollably.
“It does not matter…….I still have most of the Archdemon’s power. It is enough.”<br>The roof began to shake, and then debris flew everywhere as the wraith lifted its arms, and the master and chaos emeralds were lifted up through the newly made hole. The wraith became a swirling mist which encircled and then absorbed the emeralds, and its laugh became deeper and louder as the mist became a huge black cloud.
“It is time………..the end of all things begins, NOW!”<br>The black cloud began to rise, and thunder and lightning started to streak across the sky. On the remains of the roof, Asmodeus reappeared, and for the very first time in his entire existence he began to feel real fear as he finally understood what it was that he had been facing…………

[Alicia "Atomic" Kitsune]

By the time Latino and the others returned to the laboratory, the rest of the group were already stepping out of their containment tubes. Fortunately the tubes automatically dried out their occupants once they were shut down, and apart from a few minor injuries no one seemed to be the worse for wear. The reappearance of Skurai, Blade and co was greeted with cheers by the rest of the group.
“Hey, great stuff guys!” said Yoko. “So are we getting out of here or what?”<br>“We can’t leave yet,” said Amo. “Aren’t we two people short?”<br>A murmur ran around the group, and WCW and Ginger looked at one another. “Guys, I just don’t know how to say this,” said Ginger quietly, “But you see…….”<br>Ginger was abruptly cut off as there was the sound of banging at the doors to the lab. Ginger and WCW had thought to have the others block most of the doors in case of attack, and this turned out to be an excellent decision. The main plasma screen in the lab came on, and Gamer stared down from it at the ACW roster with hatred.
“Gentlemen….and ladies……..I grow tired of these games. None of you will leave this building alive….once my army breaks through to the lab, you’ll all be wiped out. Say your prayers, if that’s your thing, and then get ready to kiss your mediocre lives goodbye.”<br>The screen flicked off. Everyone looked around, and no one was sure what to do. Ginger was trying to think of something comforting to say when WCW stepped forward; his normal arrogant manner was gone, and he was evidently fighting to control his own nerves.
“Everyone……I wish I had an answer, a plan to get us out of this. But I don’t…….so all I can say is, I’m going to fight that bastard to the end, however I can. I know I haven’t always treated all of you in the best manner, but I’m proud and honoured to have had every one of you in my fed.”<br>The room was silent, and then Ginger spoke up. “I’m going to fight with WCW……..Gamer has wanted to divide us ever since we broke away from him, but I won’t let him, not even now.”<br>There was nodding and agreement from the rest of the room; as everyone was trying to mentally prepare themselves there was a bang, and a door no – one had even suspected of existing was pushed open. Rose stepped out, and to everyone’s surprise she was carrying what looked like a grenade launcher.
“Where on earth did you get that?” said Pdogg. Rose smiled. “I checked out the vents while I was waiting for Gamer to make his move……..one led to a secret weapons storeroom, just behind this wall. So do you still think it’s hopeless, or shall we give that moron a taste of his own medicine?”<br>

[Alicia "Atomic" Kitsune]

Fear was a new experience for Asmodeus, and he decided he hadn’t missed very much. Now that the black wraith had moved away his remaining infernal powers were becoming more sensitive, and he detected what seemed like lifesigns on the far side of the roof behind a pair of tall chimneystacks. Asmodeus slid over in that direction, following the scent of life, and gazed down.
“My, my. How interesting.”<br>Asmodeus recognised Ridley at once; he bore several wounds which had resurfaced when Asmodeus had taken back his power. The woman next to Ridley was also familiar to the demon lord, but he rarely bothered to pay attention to the names of humans unless he was making use of them. Both were alive, but apparently out cold. Asmodeus glanced at the pair without emotion, and extended his bony hands from beneath his robes, his razor sharp nails glinting in the dim lamplight.
“Two sacrifices won’t do much, but it’s better than nothing,” Asmodeus muttered to himself as he bent downward…….
”If I were you, I’d stop what you’re doing right now. I didn’t go to the trouble of saving them just for you to finish them off.”
Asmodeus straightened up and looked around him, and there was a flash of light as an attractive oriental woman materialised a few feet away. Asmodeus smirked.
“I thought I sensed another presence here…….very faint, concealed almost, but you can’t fool one of the seven lords of hell that easily. You’re a Kami…..Myobu, I’d say. Nogitsune rarely act on the behalf of mortals.”<br>“Correct. I have kept myself well hidden, acting only where absolutely necessary to guide and protect.”
“Heh……..what makes you think you can protect anyone from me?”<br>“Because you’ve been badly weakened…….even a troop of girl scouts could take you at the moment, I’d say.”
Asmodeus’ eyes flared with anger, but before he could snipe back he was tackled to the ground from the side. Ridley looked severely pissed off, and he punched Asmodeus several times in the face.
“You douche! You almost got me killed, asshole!” Ridley yelled. He had overheard the last part of the conversation as he came around, and he was keen to test out just how reduced Asmodeus’ abilities were. The pair rolled about clawing at one another and Ridley threw Asmodeus against one of the brick chimneys as AK sat up and watched the fight with a puzzled expression.
”Hehehe. I’ve heard of combating your personal devils, but that’s taking it a bit too far.”
The oriental woman stood next to AK, and she got up as Asmodeus chokeslammed Ridley on to some loose tiles. “I wondered if you were here…….you were the one who saved me. Thankyou Ishizu. I thought you couldn’t do that kind of thing directly though?”<br>Ishizu pointed a little way away, where an Abra was curled up and sleeping. “Possession is nine tenths of the law……I took control of this little guy, teleported in and teleported the pair of you out before anyone could see what was going on. Simple stuff for a Kitsune.”
Ridley was looking for something he could batter Asmodeus with when he noticed that the female count on the roof had doubled. “Have I taken one too many head shots, or are there two of you there?”<br>”There are indeed 2 of us. Now if you boys are done expressing your masculinity, we have a much bigger problem to worry about. Would the high lord of darkness care to explain, or shall I?”
Asmodeus held his wounded side and glared. “Why bother? If that thing is what I believe it to be, there is nothing that can be done. Everything is going to come to an end…….the world, heaven, hell….even time itself.”<br>Ridley and AK stared. “Run that by me one more time, please,” said AK. “What exactly are you two talking about?”<br>Asmodeus gazed down with contempt. “It is not something a mere mortal would understand.”<br>Ridley folded his arms. “Try us.”<br>“Very well………it has many names, in many tongues, but in essence it is the spirit of nothingness…...it is known most frequently as Mu, or Void. Its one and only goal is the obliteration of all life and the collapse of order. It seeks constantly to destabilise the natural balance between life and death, good and evil, that keeps the cosmos ticking over. Until now it has lacked any means of causing that destabilisation of order, since it lacks power of its own….it can use only that power which it gets from other sources.”<br>”All the great powers of the universe are kept by celestial and infernal beings……normally they are far too strong to be threatened. But then, scientists here created something……..a source of power that should never have been able to exist except in the minds of dreamers.”
“Mu could sense the power here…….but he could not control it, like us it needed a proxy to be its hands while it carried out its plan. So it searched for someone with a deep desire for destruction that it could ensnare, and trick into doing its bidding……”<br>AK nodded. “Sounds like WWE Gamer to me.” Ridley did a slight double take, and then came up to speed. “I knew that twazzock was annoyingly familiar.”<br>”Even with the Chaos Emeralds in its possession, Mu was blocked by the fact that the emeralds contain energy in balance, like the rest of the universe. But it knew that if it could somehow obtain enough power from one of the key celestial or infernal keepers, it could unbalance the emeralds and turn all their vast power to its own purpose. Its senses had led it to your enemy, and when it discovered the bond between Ridley and Asmodeus, everything fell into place.”
Ridley sighed. “So the upshot of that vast load of crap is that this thing is going to destroy everything, and we can’t do jack shit about it. Well thanks a lot, you just wasted five good minutes of my remaining life on that rubbish.”<br>”Almost correct. There is one possibility…….”
Asmodeus had been largely looking bored, but now he turned back to the conversation. ”You aren’t seriously suggesting that?”<br>”I am.”
“That breaks almost every celestial, earthly and infernal law going. Besides, their fragile forms wouldn’t stand up to the power.”<br>”Your power is reduced, remember? What do any of us have to lose?”
Ridley raised an eyebrow. “What exactly are you two proposing?”<br>“It is called Biomerge. You have already had a very small taste of it……..but this is an entirely different matter. We would infuse ourselves totally into your physical forms, and transform you into beings capable of taking on Mu. There’s no guarantee, of course, that you’d even survive the process.”<br>Ridley and AK looked at one another. “So it’s an untried plan, which could kill us before it even gets off the ground, and even if it works our chances of success are minimal, correct?” said AK. Asmodeus just nodded. Ridley stretched and grinned. “Works for me. What do we do?”<br>”Visualise yourself as you would wish to become……….let your intuition guide you to the form which can overcome this terror. Trust your instincts…..”

[Alicia "Atomic" Kitsune]

The lab doors were thick, but Gamer’s forces were persistent and he smiled darkly as the hinges began to give. “Remember, kill most of them, but leave Ginger and WCW to me,” he ordered. An E – series fired off a final shot at the door, and it collapsed inwards with a loud thud……..
The first three rows of waiting attackers were shot to pieces by a storm of gunfire; a huge, red metal form stomped into the doorway and sprayed the room before jumping aside. “Worthless consumer models!” Kain roared as he evaded the incoming fire, and behind him the rest of the ACW roster cheered.
“Man, finding those extra transformation gauntlets was a real stroke of luck!” yelled Ginger over the noise. Kain was living up to his nickname of “the big red machine”, and with the powers of E102 Omega at his disposal he was ripping a huge hole in Gamer’s plans. As the ranks of opponents tried to reform, a swift pink shape pirouetted over Kain’s shoulder, blew a kiss and then smashed the next batch of stalfos and lizalfos with her Piko Piko hammer.
“Better than a croquet mallet, eh?” shouted Bob, laughing himself silly as Yoko bashed her foes into submission. She took out around a dozen before the enemy re – ordered itself, and she and Kain fell back to the ACW position behind some handy protective shield generators.
“I promise, I will NEVER call Amy Rose girly again,” said Skurai. Gamer’s forces were streaming through the door, and the second attack wave for ACW took up positions – BK London, Jakie, TNT, Monkeybaal, Gooeygarth and Double – oh four crouched down with rocket launchers in hand, and they took aim at their foes. “Wait for it………FIRE!” WCW bellowed, and six rockets went screaming off into the throng, punching great gaps in the lines. “I got seven!” yelled Jakie; “Rubbish…….I got nine!” boasted London, teasing his pal. The assault by Gamer’s forces continued for many minutes; a squadron of flying robots made an appearance, but Rey and El Loco did a sterling job of clearing these through the judicious use of some fire flowers. Rey also managed to set Kross’ jacket on fire, producing a less than holy string of swearwords from the cruiserweight cleric. On one side of the room, RDK and V3 were comparing the effectiveness of a nailgun with that of a plasma rifle as they mowed down the slew of enemies trying to get through one of the doors.
“Hey,” said V3 as he melted the face off of a lizalfos, “RDK, do you think that playing violent videogames makes people more violent in real life?”<br>RDK paused a second to think, nailing a pikachu to the wall in the process and then shooting it in the electric pouches in its cheeks so that it exploded in a bloody mess.
“Naaaaaah. It’s a load of crap, those soccer moms are just looking for a scapegoat.”<br>Eventually, the waves of foes began to thin out, and the sounds of battle became less intense. “Keep it going, guys, we’re going to make it!” WCW yelled.
“That’s what you think, smartass. Let’s take this outside……..”<br>WCW recognised Gamer’s slimy tone; before anyone could react Gamer placed a hand on Ginger’s shoulder and the pair disappeared as quickly as Gamer had come before.
“Shit! Where did the bastard go?” Latino yelled; the crew looked all around them but before they could formulate any kind of plan, Gamer’s forces redoubled their efforts and things were looking decidedly bleak as the group drew together for what they feared could be their last stand……

[Alicia "Atomic" Kitsune]

“I can’t quite decide,” said AK as the night air rushed through her hair, “whether this is the most exhilarating feeling ever, or the most excruciating.” A few feet away to her left, Ridley just nodded slowly; his whole body felt like it was being burned and frozen at the same time. Just keeping focused enough to stay airborne was a challenge; the pressure of containing an evil intelligence as old as time itself made his head throb, and he kept his eyes on the sky ahead to try and subdue the flashes of memory that were trying to surface. Asmodeus hadn’t been underselling the difficulties of the merge process; the demon lord’s personal recollections of his past made even Ridley feel his grip on his sanity slipping at the atrocities Asmodeus had persuaded others to commit in his name. Ridley flexed his huge claws and looked at them for a second; so ok, he knew it was the biggest cliche of them all, even more predictable than an episode of “Friends”, but you just couldn’t argue with an armour plated flying dragon – esque killing machine.
AK flew in circles around the much larger form of Meta Ridley; she too was having to concentrate hard to stay in control, but Ishizu’s memories were certainly a lot easier to bear, and many of them seemed to centre around encounters with handsome men from various periods in history. At first, AK hadn’t recognised herself on transforming; it had taken her a few moments to work out from where in her subconscious she had pulled the template for her merged self. She remembered that the character was called Sakuyamon, and possessed powers of the four elements – fire, water, wind and lightning, and that she was pretty damn tough; and obviously, her fox – inspired armour was perfectly suited to a human – kitsune hybrid.
Note: Rather than try to describe Sakuyamon in detail, here’s a pic.
www.datazap.net/sites/Atomickitsune/sakuyamon.jpg [/img]
The house was just a small dot below, but from their high vantage point Ridley and AK saw that all the trees for at least half a mile in all directions had shrivelled and died.
”Mu’s influence is already taking effect……as it creeps forward, everything it touches will die” Ishizu’s soft voice whispered to the pair. Suddenly, a bolt of energy flashed between them, and Ridley and AK looked ahead to see what looked like a blackish – grey cloud, twisting and writing and growing in front of them.
“So…….you dare to oppose me still, dark one? And you have brought another upstart to challenge me? Hehehehe…..do as you wish. It is too late……nothing of this or any other world can harm me!”<br>Mu’s mocking tone cut into all those that heard it, but in his head Ridley felt Asmodeus’ anger rise, and he faltered slightly in the air as the burning sensation within him stepped up several gears.
“Enough! Essence of the void, you will not be suffered to remain on this plane of existence!” Asmodeus’ voice thundered across the sky, and Ridley felt a huge surge of strength; with a roar of his own, he let fly a stream of missiles directly at the floating mass. The missiles screamed forward, but they passed straight through the smoky form before exploding some distance away.
“My turn!” AK yelled, and whirling her staff she sent forth pulsing balls of energy formed from the four elements; this however had exactly the same effect, or lack of one.
“Well this is going wonderfully. What the FUCK are we supposed to do now?” Ridley hissed; the visions were getting worse, and Asmodeus sensed that he could not remain merged for too much longer before both parties were irreparably damaged. There was a pause, and then Ishizu spoke once more, urgently but with hope in her words.
”Wait! Look, in the wraith itself! Those gems……..I sense incredible power from them. Mu has no power of his own……he must be tapping them directly along with the power he stole from you! If we destroy the jewels, he will be destroyed with them!
Ridley was already on the case; zooming ahead on his transparent yellow and black wings he closed in until he could see a glint of blue from one of the chaos emeralds. Ridley blasted it with his kinetic breath, but although the jewel was damaged it mended itself within seconds.
“We don’t have enough power to shatter them on our own……we have to attack together!” AK called as she flew in behind Ridley, whose flight was now becoming more unsteady. Ridley could barely hear anything outside his own head, but he wheeled around and went in for a second attack.
”The pressure of being one with pure evil is hurting him very badly…..you have to follow him and time your attacks to match his,” Ishizu said to AK. AK herself was becoming fatigued, but she leant on her training for ACW and focused as best she could as she dived forward and joined the attack once more.

[Alicia "Atomic" Kitsune]

Gamer smiled malevolently and drew Masamune as WCW and he stood on the roof. WCW glanced around him, and picked up a piece of piping; Gamer just laughed.
“So, Mr Chairman, we finally have some time alone. Not much time, of course, because I’m going to slit you open chin to dick.”<br>Gamer slashed at WCW, who jumped out of the way; WCW ran across the roof, trying to find a way down, but there was none and he found himself cornered on the far side. Twice he blocked Gamer’s swings with the pipe, but each swing chopped off a piece until he was left unarmed. Gamer smirked and then lowered his blade.
“Get on your knees and beg, WCW, and I might let you go. But it’s got to be good, real good.”<br>WCW was scared, but he was also proud. “Forget it, asshole. I don’t believe a word that comes out of your lying mouth, and even if I did I wouldn’t do it. Get stuffed.”<br>Gamer shrugged. “Whatever. I didn’t think you’d go for it….. tell you what, though……beg, and I’ll let the others go. You’re the one I really want to torture…….so, what do you say to that?”<br>WCW clenched his fists; the thought of begging Gamer for anything made his feel like throwing up, but he knew that he could not discard any chance to help the others so lightly. WCW stood for a few moments, and Gamer smiled triumphantly as WCW started to very slowly sink down…….
“WCW! Don’t do it!”<br>Gamer spun around, and then yelled in pain as a bright blade slashed up his arm. Ginger grabbed WCW by the arm and pulled him away as Gamer drew himself up to his full height and glared at Ginger and the Master Sword in his hand. Ginger hadn’t stopped to wonder about how the Master Sword could still be in existence since Blade had transformed back to his usual form – when he had seen it on the floor in the lab he had simply snatched it up and fought his way out of the top door of the lab, following his instincts from every cheesy action film he had ever seen.
“Well well, it’s co - chairman jobber. Come and have a go if you think you can take me, Ginger!”<br>Ginger rushed toward Gamer, and the two clashed blades; sparks flew in all directions, but Masamune was the stronger and it cut the Master sword in half. The force required, however, was so great that Gamer’s blade was wrenched out of his hand. Gamer smiled, and Ginger looked at the broken blade in his hand.
“Hehehehe…….so much for the fabled Master Sword. You have no weapon left………what will you do now?”<br>Ginger didn’t know what to say, but as he stood there there was the sound of many feet on the roof tiles, and the rest of the ACW roster spilled out from the door and headed across to join him. Gamer seem surprised to see them, but he knew none of their weapons could do him any injury; he had cast a powerful shield charm upon himself at Mu’s instruction, and although a few bullets were sent his way they bounced away harmlessly.
“Ha! None of you idiots can touch me………what do you have that I should fear?”
Yoko stepped forward. “We have our courage, and our bond as a fed. It’s brought us this far.”<br>Gamer just snorted, but Ginger listened to Yoko, and a mad idea began to form in his head. Ginger concentrated as hard as he could, and then as Gamer laughed he bent down and put his hand on Gamer’s own blade.
Gamer’s laughter abruptly stopped as he saw Ginger lift up Masamune; it pulsed with light, but did not burn him, and Gamer’s jaw dropped.
“No! No…….no one else can wield that sword! How is it you can hold it?”<br>Ginger looked at the blade. “These things……..all of them……….they have power, they exist, because someone believed that they could exist. That’s how all of this became possible in the first place……the technology made these weapons, these creatures, real – but the power is, and always has been, within those who believe in them. It doesn’t matter what the sword looks like – I, we, make it strong, not the other way around. But hey, it’s your sword – if you want it, have it!”<br>Without even being totally aware of what he was doing, Ginger stepped forward and jammed the blade straight through Gamer’s chest. There was absolute silence, and Gamer stared incredulously at the blood pouring from his wound; as pain spread throughout his body he realised that the blade could indeed cut though anything – even his own spell.
“You……Bastards!”<br>Gamer fell to his knees, and then keeled over; a few drops of rain were just starting to fall and the group were stilled as they contemplated the enormity of what they had just done……..

[Alicia "Atomic" Kitsune]

In the air high above, Mu was throwing everything it had at Ridley and AK; the pair took several hits, but their merged forms were extremely tough and one by one they shattered the chaos emeralds. As the battle went on, Ridley’s shots became more wild; he began to laugh, and Asmodeus snapped at him to try and keep him somewhere in the realms of sanity.
“Concentrate, Ridley! I am putting my very existence on the line by combining myself with your wretched mortal form, so pay attention you maggot!”<br>Ridley just laughed again; his voice sounded like glass shattering. “Well excuse me, m’lord, but I don’t recall seeing “save the universe” in my fucking job description.”<br>AK and Ridley wove around in the air, dodging as many blasts as they could; finally they saw what they had waited for, and with a final combined missile and lightning attack they blew the master emerald into smithereens. There was a piercing scream, and then Mu spoke its last with sheer hatred in every syllable.
“You may have defeated me physically, but I shall still be victorious! Servant, fulfil my final command!”<br>
WCW, Ginger and the rest were staring at Gamer’s body, with Masamune plunged through it; they were just turning to leave when a soulless laugh chilled them all, and they turned back to see Gamer sit upright, Undertaker – style. Gamer just grinned at them insanely, and then in his hand a large black orb appeared….
Rose was the first to realise the danger. “SHIT! That’s Black Materia……..He’s going to call down Meteor!” she cried. “What are you on about now?” said Jack Fury, looking more than a little annoyed by the continued problems. “Meteor is the ultimate dark spell……..” said Venom softly, and everyone looked at him. “If it works, a huge meteorite will crash into the earth and wipe out everything on it.”<br>Bladeshadow sprang forward, not needing to hear more; but as he did so he crashed into an invisible forcefield. Gamer just laughed more hysterically, and the orb began to glow in his hand. Everyone pulled out the weapons that they had left, but nothing could pierce the shield, and the smoke and dust from the impacts on the rest of the roof floated over and hid Gamer from their view. Suddenly the heavens opened and rain poured down as Gamer screamed out manically, determined to have his victory whatever the cost……

As Mu dissipated into nothing, Ridley screamed too; the destruction of the master emerald had released all the power stolen from Asmodeus, and it flowed back to him as streamwater is drawn back to the ocean. The huge surge was far, far too much for Ridley to stand, and AK had to take evasive action to avoid the missiles that Ridley was throwing out all over the place.
”No human can be merged with a fully endowed Lord of Hell and survive! They must part now!” Ishizu’s voice was loud in AK’s head, and with a blaze of red light Asmodeus terminated the link. Ridley was instantly returned to his human form, and he began to fall earthward at great speed. AK went straight into a freefall to chase him, but as she closed in she saw that they were descending toward the roof of the house, and Ishizu instantly saw what Mu’s final command had been.
”The black sphere! Quickly, shoot and destroy it, or all is lost!”
“What, now? But if I do that, I won’t catch Ridley in time…….I can’t do two things at once!”<br>AK had only a couple of seconds to decide; as she came close, Gamer turned around and saw her, and their eyes met for a second so that he had a chance to recognise her before she fired a single energy ball. The ball shot toward Gamer, and AK grabbed Ridley by the collar and decelerated just in time to land on the roof and see the ball fly over the top of the orb by centimetres. There was a second’s delay, and then Gamer laughed again, this time triumphantly.
“HAHAHAHAHAHA! You stupid bitch! You couldn’t hit the broad side of a ……………”
Gamer was gloating so much that he failed to see the energy ball ricochet off of two chimneys and a gargoyle before racing back, passing between the ranks of the roster and impacting directly into the orb from the opposite direction. The ball exploded, and Gamer yelled in agony as one side of his face was burnt to a crisp. The dust finally cleared away and the rest of the roster stared at the three people now revealed a few feet in front of them.
Just behind Gamer, Ridley was picking himself back up. He looked over at AK, who had herself returned to normal just in time before any of the rest of the roster had had a chance to work out what was going on. AK saw that Ridley had also changed again, and she stood back quietly and watched as he walked slowly toward Gamer……
The white hair on one side of Gamer’s head was completely burned away, and he tried to back away as his green eyes met Ridley’s red ones. Ridley smiled, and his pointed canines glinted a little as he looked down at his old foe.
“Please,” Gamer whispered, “Please, I never meant it to go this far.” Ridley just shook his head, and his faithful chainsaw appeared once again in his hand.
“No one ever does, my friend. But you’ve been connected with the void……as long as you exist, there’s potential for it to return. And I hate sequels…….they’re never a patch on the original.”<br>Gamer’s face drained of colour as the saw started up, and then flared crimson. “Go to hell, Ridley.”<br>Ridley grinned. “You first.”<br>Several people were violently sick as Ridley thrust the chainsaw into Gamer’s face, but many others cheered. The saw got stuck in the back of his skull, so Ridley just dropped it and then wandered forward looking satisfied; there was a soft rumble of thunder, and AK saw Ridley slip back to his normal self. Rose ran forward, and the pair embraced; Latino and AK were also reunited, and Ginger and WCW looked at them with confused expressions.
“Where do you two come from? It’s as if you just dropped out of the sky” said Ginger. “Yeah, we saw you…..there was an explosion…..” added WCW. Everyone was listening, and neither AK nor Ridley quite knew what to say.
”Ladies and Gentlemen, if you would care to look this way, I believe I can explain everything.”
The group turned around to see a pretty woman dressed in a black suit with dark glasses. AK recognised Ishizu, but before she or anyone else could react there was a flash of light from the small device in the woman’s hand. The whole gathering was frozen, and Ishizu smiled as she removed her shades.
”Very handy gadgets, these Neuralisers. It’s extremely fortunate that the scientists were able to replicate one. Now if you’ll all follow me, I’ll explain what’s been going on for the last few hours while we leave this cursed place behind for good……..”

[Alicia "Atomic" Kitsune]

“Well that was a monumental waste of time,” said Ginger as the group boarded the coach. “I can’t believe you booked us into a campsite which was prone to killer bee infestation.” WCW scowled. “I told you, it must be a freak occurrence. It never said anything about that in the brochure.”<br>“Well at least we managed to take most of our things with us,” said Latino. “And anyway, that little clearing we camped in overnight wasn’t so bad. Mamacita and I enjoyed ourselves.”<br>“Hmph. I’m sure you did.”<br>“It’s just a shame you hurt your wrist on that tin opener,” said AK.
“Yeah, and Blade tried to do backflips along that fallen tree and slipped off……”<br>Rose smiled. “I still think we should have let Lord Ridley sacrifice Bob to the dark gods.”<br>Ridley just raised his eyebrows. “Ah, well. We used a tin of Spam instead…….the intelligence level’s about the same.”<br>“And then Rose cut herself opening the damn thing……..” said Amo.
Ginger scratched his head. “You know, we did pick up an awful lot of injuries from one night in the forest.” He shrugged. “I guess we’re all better suited to urban living.”
With everyone back on the bus, WCW sagged down into a spare seat while Ridley once again took possession of the back row. Skurai came up to the front, and as the bus started on its way back to civilisation he tried to put his Linkin Park CD in the player; he was surprised to find it already occupied.
“Hey guys, I didn’t think we listened to anything on the way here……..so what’s this?”<br>Skurai took out the disc and looked at it, and then snorted loudly as he tried to stop himself laughing. The bus, which had been filled with rowdy chatter, immediately silenced itself. “Come on Skurai, what is it?” said AK, and Skurai could contain himself no longer; he burst out laughing and turned the CD around, reading out what was scribbled on the label in marker pen.
“Alicia K luvs Marky Mark 4eva.”<br>The bus erupted with mirth, and AK looked stunned before burying her head in her hands.
“How on earth did that get there?”<br>“Marky Mark!? That is screwed up beyond words, girl!”<br>Oh, God……

The End.

[BK London]

Great Story. I hope we can have one of these things again.