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WarioMan3K · #7 Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2013 3:41 am

Chapter 6: Enter the Black Fortress

[Stage BGM: Black Fortress (Bomberman 64)]

Nearly half an hour since we routed Altair's forces in the Green Garden, we split up to cover more ground, as well as clear the force field faster. Sure, we encountered the Robot Masters again, but we were able to pulverize them, as well as Artemis and Orion. Regulus, however, survived. Now that we bashed the bosses, and totaled the 4 anchors, the Black Fortress is, at long last, open to attack. While we were headed for the Black Fortress, we had a short discussion on what to do.

"Yo, Kat!" I called. "I was wondering how you and Ana got to the Green Garden earlier. I forgot to ask, because we didn't have time." Unfortunately, I didn't get any response. That's when Kaz came in to explain what happened while Wario, Mona, and Yumi were picking me, Ami, Bill, and Lance up from the White Glacier.

"Thank goodness you came back!" Kaz panicked. "Somebody broke in and tied up those two poor girls...not to mention Domo, Tekirai, and even Jeng Kang!"

"Not our cats!" cried Ami.

"Who did this?" asked Yumi, while Sirius flew in.

"I know who did it. It was another of Altair's spies, which again proves beyond a shadow of doubt that he's paranoid of people knowing his plans. In fact, he's furious at your success!" Before he could go any further, I gasped as if a rough thunderstorm caused a power outage.

"Guys! GUYS! I REMEMBER!" I called out.

The startled Ami replied, "What? What is it, Aaron? Wait...I think I remember, too!"

"The Omni Cube, Altair's way of using it; how Sirius 'had a bone to pick with him', everything straight from Bomberman 64! It's all coming back now!"

"Yeah, same here! Well, except for the part where Altair reprogrammed some of Dr. Wily's Robot Masters for his own personal gain..."

Yumi was the third person to remember the events from the actual game. "To top it all, Sirius, you were evil to begin with, hell-bent on recovering your precious Omni Cube while getting someone unfortunate enough to do just that for you!"

Despite the fact that we happened to recover our memories, Sirius had a blank stare. "I don't know what you're talking about. Probably just some other guy who thinks he's me, but believe me, I'm not evil."

Bill and Lance, on the other hand, believed what Ami, Yumi, and I pointed out. "Well," said Bill, "if you're not really evil like you were in that game on Nintendo 64, then you'll do the right thing and let us stop Altair's crazy-ass scheme."

"And nuke the crap out of the Omni Cube while we're at it." Lance added.

Sirius paused for a moment, and then came to an agreement on our plan. "Right, right, of course! You're absolutely right on that. We'll destroy the Omni Cube before it's too late...but just remember: Altair's troops will try much harder to kill you. When you encounter some tanks, attacking from a distance is much better than going toe-to-toe, obviously."

--------------------

After the briefing was over, Kaz dropped us off at the entrance, while Yumi stayed behind to protect Kat and Ana. From there, we moved across the highway, dodging F-Zero-like cars and buses in the process. We got off the road to take a short breather. While Ami and I were thankful the amnesiac ray was only temporary somehow, I had second thoughts on behalf of her, Bill, and Lance.

"Guys," I said, "I was just thinking: I don't think I can call myself a leader of the Four Contras if I'm not willing to provide any backup. I mean, I only survived without any weapons or proper firearms training because you were there. I probably need a machine gun or something...although I might have to get a proper license for automatic firearms."

"We'll work on that later," said Bill.

Wario then added, "Well, maybe one of Altair's goons will lend you his, Aaron! That is, if we persuade him, if you know what I mean!"

We then got back to our trek throughout the exterior of the Black Fortress. Instead of going in and out of traffic like in Bomberman 64, we jumped across the gaps. With that, we had just saved ourselves the trouble of going through soldiers and machine gun droids. Later, we hitched a ride on top of the bus that was going forward, and eventually reached the end afterwards. We then got off by jumping to the door which led us to an arena. An enemy soldier stood guard by the door, just before Wario knocked him out with his baseball bat. He then swiped the soldier's AK-47 machine gun, and gave it to me. I thanked him before Lance spoke up.

"Okay, Aaron, here are the basics." Lance cleared his throat to get my attention. "When you're using a gun, make sure its safety catch is off. Next, I recommend reloading in-between firefights so you don't get caught empty-handed; and try aiming down your sight if you want to get a clear shot. Most of all, keep your head down, and find some cover if you have to."

"And in the end," added Bill, "whenever you're not fighting, put the safety catch back on so there aren't any stray shots by accident. Oh, and make sure you watch your fire; we can't afford any friendly fire casualties. Aside from all that, stay with your group – in that case, us."

"I know." I nodded. "I can't afford to go Rambo, expecting to mow down the bad guys without getting hit." Lance smirked at my remark, and patted my shoulder. As for Ami, she pointed us out at a large entrance to the Black Fortress's interior.

"I don't trust Sirius one bit," said Ami, "though he did have a point on what's coming at us. Look!" There actually were a few tanks coming out to attack us. Thankfully, though, Ami was ready for it. She kicked bomb after bomb in a barrage, thus taking out the tanks. The arena arose again, and we got inside the fortress. We were in another arena, and the Robot Masters appeared for the third and final time.

[End BGM]

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[Boss BGM: A Mighty Foe (Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance)]

Quick Man called out first. "This is our last battle, punks! No, honest! This time, we've come prepared, for we brought along our friend, Cerberus!"

"He guards the only entrance to the interior of the Black Fortress." Napalm Man said. "He is also known as the 'High-Tech Harvester'. This time, WE humiliate you to death!" The hatch then opened, revealing Cerberus.

"I am Cerberus," said the machine, "the High-Tech Harvester. All intruder Earthlings are to be eliminated."

Napalm Man stepped forth to tell us more. "He's got a machine gun nose, missile launchers on his shoulders, and laser beams on his arms!"

"And to spice things up," said Needle Man, "I'm using my Needle Cannon, starting with the redheaded girl Mona!" He fired his needle shots from both his arm cannons, which Wario deflected away at the cost of his baseball bat. That, however, didn't stop the needles from coming back at Needle Man by surprise.

"Oh, no! OH CRAAAAAP!" He screamed, as he was diced all over, and eventually exploded.

Mona was happy that Wario saved her. "Wario, you saved me, just like I saved you when you got flattened by a cannonball back in the Blue Resort! So, for you, a big kiss."

Wario blushed as Mona kissed him. "Aw, shucks, Mona! You're making me blush!"

Mona giggled. "Anyway, let's finish off these robo-jerks so we can get to Altair!"

"Mona, you're speakin' my language!" Wario smirked.

Dust Man became impatient. "We've waited long enough for this moment! Let's trash 'em!"

The boss fight now started, as Cerberus attacked us. Ami and I held him off while Bill and Lance took on Quick Man and Dust Man. Wario and Mona, on the other hand, went to kill Napalm Man, but not before he launched a bunch of Napalm Bombs in a barrage. We all got out of range, while Napalm Man was standing there, laughing at us; Bill and Lance, however, ignored his remark and set off all of his Napalm Bombs prematurely with their Crash Missiles and Flamethrower (which they still had, thankfully). The resulting chain reaction of explosions took out all of the remaining Robot Masters, while inflicting damage on Cerberus.

Meanwhile, Ami and I have damaged Cerberus on our own end. We totaled his arms and machine gun nose soon after escaping his deadly attacks with our lives. Eventually, with our friends' help, we totaled the machine once and for all. "Error!" said Cerberus. "Does not compute! System error!" The machine started exploding, and the boss fight ended when it was blown to a million pieces.

"Whew!" I said. "That was close...at least I'm getting the hang of using a machine gun, let alone an AK-47, for good."

"Yep, just like I'm getting the hang of using my bowling ball-sized cartoon bombs!" Ami smiled. "With good enough training on our end, we'll make a formidable team."

[End BGM]

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We were free to move into the fortress, but we had to go through the so-called "Trap Tower." According to what Ami and I recalled from Bomberman 64, we have to move across the red blocks via the green block. But to do this, we'd need to find a switch to step on, and change its position to "ON." Afterwards, the blocks slowly change colors, one at a time, so we had to be careful not to trigger the alarm. About 15 to 20 minutes of traversing the Trap Tower, we finally reached the top. At long last, we reached Altair's lair. Upon crossing the bridge, we saw a mech ship (that's Vega) melt the bridge with its laser, trapping us in combat with Altair.

[Boss BGM: VS Altair - Part 1 (Bomberman 64)]

"Here comes Altair, guys!" I said, as Altair teleported in.

Altair was annoyed at our persistence. "You wanna fight ME?"

Ami nodded. "We sure do. It's time to end your reign of terror!" Just then, her Bomberman Watched beeped a few times before shutting off. "Aww, nuts! I forgot about that 15 minute time limit. We've gotta get our watches modified after we're done here..."

"Prepare to die, Earthlings!" Altair pumped his fists, as he and Vega attacked us at once. Wario and Mona tangled with Vega, while we fought Altair. It definitely was quite easier than a 1-on-2 fight against him and his mech. After a minute of pummeling the big boss himself, as we expected from the actual game, he's had enough...at least, for the moment.

[End BGM]

He had begun floating alongside Vega, each encased in an orange force field. "Playtime is over!" he shouted.

"What're you up to now, Altair?" Mona asked.

"I'm combining myself with Vega to raise my attack power!" He eventually did just that, making himself stronger and twice as formidable. "This ends now. I'll finish you all!"

[Boss BGM: VS Altair - Part 2 (Bomberman 64)]

Wario smirked. "Not if we have anything to say about it! Have a rotten day, Altair!"

The second phase of the final bout starts, as Altair shot out a purple X-shaped laser at us. We avoided it, and because Ami's Bomberman Watch expired, we had to use the remaining bombs from the bomb bag to blast him. He teleported around the arena, making us miss almost every shot. That's when we spread out so that when Altair teleports, one of us will pulverize him when he reappears. Despite his souped-up tactics, we managed defeat him without suffering too many injuries, and Regulus picked him up.

[End BGM]

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Altair gave us one last glare, before Regulus flew him out of the battle. "You'll...PAY!"

"YAHOO!" Wario cheered. "We did it!"

"We defeated Altair and saved the world!" Mona said.

"Wait," interrupted Bill, "Isn't this the part where...I forget."

"Yeah," said Lance, "we haven't played any N64 games in years, let alone Bomberman 64."

[Alert BGM: Double Cross! (Bomberman 64)]

As Regulus took Altair to safety, Sirius suddenly flew in from out of nowhere and bashed the blue warrior himself, causing him to drop Altair! Regulus was unconscious as he was falling off the arena, while Sirius landed face-to-face with Altair, who lost his grip on the Omni Cube upon hitting the floor.

"There's the Omni Cube!" I shouted. "Quickly, we've gotta destroy it before—"

Before we even drew our weapons to open fire, Sirius swiped a stun gun from Altair and shot us. He then picked up the Omni Cube, laughing evilly as he absorbed its power right before our eyes! We eventually recovered only to see him back in full power.

"Wait a minute," said Mona, "I thought he said Altair's spy robot stole our memories, regarding everything that's happened in Bomberman 64!"

"Unless Sirius did it himself," said Wario, "and made it look like some random robot did it, while we weren't looking! Aaron and Ami were right!"

As for Altair, he was weakened both from the fight and Sirius's headbutt. "No...impossible!" He tried getting up, but to no avail as Sirius already finished absorbing the Omni Cube's power.

"It's been a while, Altair." Sirius smirked evilly. "Now that I've taken back the Omni Cube you stole from me, here's a present." He had ignored us, his attention fully focused on the weakened Altair. He bashed the purple dictator away, turned his wings forward, and charged up a huge laser beam. "YAH!" he yelled, as he finished charging up. In a flash, out came the really devastating laser beam, which not only killed Altair, but it also completely obliterated his entire body in just seconds! We could only hear his death scream for no less than two seconds before it faded into silence. Once Sirius was done killing him, he turned his attention towards us, still armed.

"Aaron and Ami, you and your close friends have all worked out better than I had expected. Thanks for helping me regain my power!"

"So it WAS you who robbed us of our memories!" Ami shouted.

I added, "Yeah! We remember now! You freakin' fraud!"

"Ha ha ha ha ha...you finally figured it all out. There never was a robot spy who did it, because I was the one who fiddled with your brains while you weren't looking! Then again, I didn't expect you to be able to recover quicker than I thought. That, however only because I had no power to overcome Altair and his army when they stole my Omni Cube from my stronghold, the Rainbow Palace. To add insult to injury, they had weakened my powers, especially to the point in which my amnesiac ray's effects didn't become permanent on anyone at all! I also had to find someone stupid enough to kill them for me; and by 'someone stupid enough', I mean all 9 of you. Now that I have my power back, I have nothing to fear. It was worth telling you all those corny lies, and helping you pea-brains out!"

Bill thought for a moment. "Then that means...you never had a family at all, as in, no brothers or sisters!"

"You alien scumbag!" shouted Lance.

Sirius rebuffed the Contras' remarks. "HAH! You're the scumbags around here, for having fallen right into my trap without ever guessing the truth! Well, despite Aaron and Ami being able to recover their memories, but that's beside the point! Oh, and the only 'witness' who's dealt with all the bosses I told you about earlier, was none other than me! Me me me me ME! No one else; just good ol' me. However, Altair was lucky I couldn't even do anything when he stole my Omni Cube..."

Wario, feeling used and cheated, glared at Sirius. "In short, you used us!"

"And now it's too late for you to change history anymore! You've all out-lived your usefulness, you're starting to annoy me. Now, get ready to be destroyed along with your home planet Earth, as I, the mighty King Sirius, will rule the universe! In due time, your planet will be replaced by what I'll call the planet Sirius, where everything is all about King Sirius!"

As the self-obsessed psycho took off, we attempted to return fire. However, due to the Omni Cube he's holding, as well as its tremendous power, we couldn't even scratch him; it was likely that he must've generated an impenetrable barrier around himself to stop all attacks. When he reached the top, he blew a large hole in the Black Fortress' ceiling with his death beam, and escaped to the Rainbow Palace afterwards...

[End BGM]

TO BE CONTINUED...