It has been two days since Smolder returned to my life and things have been going swimmingly. Already, she seems a lot happier than she has likely been in a while. She really adores little Gladesong and has even helped feed her a couple of times. She and Scootaloo have already gone out for a ride and flight together at least once.

            When I went to work yesterday, I took Smolder back into town to spend the day with Spike. She was still a bit apprehensive about being in Ponyville, especially by herself, so I thought spending the day with a dragon that everyone in town knows would help her let go of her distrust of ponies. I know many ponies have given her a hard time in the past, but that was the unfortunate result of her being part of probably one of the most barbaric races of creatures in the world. Smolder continues to impress me. She really is a fine young lady.

            I was rather worried that Smolder would end up popping the air mattress she sleeps on when she slept on it for the first time last night. However, she surprised me with a show of cleverness when I went into the bedroom to check on her this morning. To prevent her horns from puncturing anything, she wrapped them up in towels for extra padding. And they worked. Although we probably would not have to worry about that again after today.

            She has really taken a shine to the comic books Spike reads. Even though she cannot read yet, Spike narrates the stories for her while she follows the panels. She gets a laugh out of the campier narration of the Power Pony series, but I think she has a preference for Project H due to its less comical and more earnest narratives. Not that there is not an occasional bit of comedy in those storylines. I think Smolder is all the more determined to learn how to read just so she can thoroughly enjoy those comic books on her own.

            And speaking of those comic books... I think you can take a wild guess of where this is going.

            With it being a Wednesday, Smolder and I set off for the library. I was tempted to bring Gladesong along, but I was unsure of how anyone would watch her while I was tending to Smolder at the spa a little later. Smolder walked beside me, her hand grasped in mine while she looked quite eager to reach our destination. I eventually glanced down at Smolder and asked. "You sure got into those comic books pretty fast, huh?"

            "Sure did! I see why Spike likes them so much. And I really wanna find out what happens in the newest issue of Project H. Spike said that Alpha is finally back!" Smolder replied while trying to keep herself from going airborne.

            That name caught my attention. "Alpha? His first appearance since the pilot? He sure took his time. I'm guessing he's being brought back in a big way."

            "I guess. I still can't wait to read that stuff at my own pace. It's cool having Spike tell me what's going on, but I can't really immerse myself in it that way." Smolder replied before she started to hover in the air near me to stretch her wings.

            As we started to enter Ponyville proper, Smolder instinctively reached for my hand. I made no attempt to dissuade her and grasped her hand in mine. "Still a little apprehensive about this place?"

            "Kind of. I mean I do like the place, but... It's just such a big change, you know? I've gone from being chased off by ponies to being completely welcomed by ponies." Smolder said while still looking around a bit warily. At least she did not look quite as uneasy as she had been the first time.

            "You'll get better. I was feeling incredibly out of place during my first week in Ponyville myself. Quite a bit of culture shock, I guess. But now I can't imagine living anywhere else." I replied while leading Smolder along. Although we started to draw near the library, I decided to make a detour to the town square instead. Smolder had an appointment today to finally get her horns trimmed.

            She must have realized we were going in the wrong direction once we stepped into he much more spacious town square. Smolder glanced from side to side as if looking for something before she asked, "Hey, isn't the library not this far in?"

            Perceptive of her, despite having only been in Ponyville for three days. I then said, "Yeah, but I thought we could stop by the spa for your appointment first. It is right about this time, right?"

            "Appointment? You mean..." Smolder mumbled as she tried to recall what I was referring to. Her hand tried to scratch the side of her head, but instead touched her horn. That jogged her memory. "Oh, you mean to take care of these! Sure, let's get it over with."

            "Got it. Right this way." I then led Smolder right over to the spa and stepped inside. Aloe was at the front desk and immediately waved at us. "Morning, Aloe. Smolder's ready for her trim."

            "And just in time. Our assistant is already here. Right this way, please." My employer retorted with a smile before leading us into the main room. However, she continued to lead us along and into the office in the back. Even I almost never go in there. Aloe peeked in as she said, "Your client is here!"

            It was then that I heard a voice I was not expecting. "Excellent! Send the little dear in and we can get started."

            "Hang on... Is that Rarity?" Smolder asked before we stepped in. Sure enough, Rarity was standing beside the desk in the middle of the room and greeted us with a smile. Smolder waved back and said, "Oh, hey! Whatcha doing back here?"

            While Aloe left us alone and returned to her post as she closed the door on her way out, Rarity tapped her hoof on the desk to signal for Smolder to climb on up. It had even been completely cleared off. "Oh, Aloe and Lotus requested my assistance with your little procedure today. And we're doing it back here so the noise won't disturb the other customers, if that's quite all right with you."

            I knew that my employers mentioned requesting some specialized help since trimming dragon horns is not exactly a service they provide, but I was still curious as to why Rarity was the one to answer the call. While Smolder climbed onto the desk, I asked, "So, why are you handling the procedure? You sure you know how to do it?"

            "Well, the methods won't exactly be orthodox, but I'm confident I can give our little friend here the results she desires. That, and Aloe and Lotus will be giving Fluttershy and I half off our next visit, so everypony wins!" Rarity explained while getting a laugh out of me. What a generous offer.

            "Yeah, cool. So, how're we gonna do this?" Smolder then asked while lying on her back like she was having a dentist appointment. I should probably see to such an appointment soon, now that I think about it. I better remember to ask Twilight how Spike's appointments tend to go.

            "Well, you remain right there and I will take care of your horns." Rarity replied as I noticed her use some levitation magic to plug...something into the nearest wall outlet. This caught my attention in a weird way. What sort of appliance would she need to use for this procedure?

            I did not have to wait long for an answer. Rarity soon levitated something up that caused Smolder to scoot back as her eyes opened wide in shock while she held out a hand to ward the device off. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, I don't like the look of that!"

            I too could only stare aghast at what Rarity was going to use to carry out the procedure. "Rarity... Why are you packing a buzz saw...and an orbital sander?"

            Of all things I have ever seen Rarity work with, I never expected her to bring power tools to this appointment. That is something I would expect out of Applejack. However, Rarity showed no irony in her choice of equipment. "Why, the answer is simple! The circular saw will cut the unwanted parts off the horn in no time at all and the sander will smooth out all the leftover hard corners."

            "OK, yeah, sure! But WHY that?!" Smolder asked loudly while looking like she was ready to bail. I was just as uneasy as she was, not liking the thought of a spinning saw blade that close to her head.

            Rarity, still showing unwavering confidence, continued to explain to us. "Because it's the most effective way to get those trimmed down. The spa doesn't exactly routinely provide trimming for horns quite like that. I mean yes, cornicures are provided for unicorns, but our horns are made of a different substance and need to be patiently filed. And besides, I was the only one Aloe and Lotus trusted enough to carry out this procedure. I assure you that I will not allow any harm to come to you, dear."

            Smolder and I looked at each other in unease. Although I was feeling more confident about the situation if Rarity was handling it. Her precision is second to none. She would not make an errant move with such a dangerous device. I just nodded at Smolder to try and convince her to let our friend go ahead with it. With a defeated sigh, Smolder set her head back down. "Well, if there's no better way to do this... Fine."

            "Excellent! But before we get started, we need to decide how much off the top we're going to take." Rarity chirped in eagerness. She then levitated a hand mirror in front of Smolder and also two sheets of paper that she held in front of Smolder's horns. "Now, how much would you like to keep?"

            I saw what she was doing. Rarity was just giving Smolder a general idea of how her horns would look by hiding them behind the paper while moving the sheets of paper up and down. After a minute or so, Smolder provided an answer. "There. Yeah, that looks about right."

            "So, only a third of their current length? Consider it done." Rarity retorted before setting the mirror down. She took a very close look at Smolder's left horn to paint a mental image of where to cut. She then lifted the circular saw and held it ready. "Now then, shall we begin?"

            Smolder looked at me with such an uncertain gaze. I knew what she wanted. I stepped over to her and firmly grasped her hand to provide comfort. I had faith in Rarity, but... Well, no one would be calm in that kind of situation. "OK, Rarity. Let's get it over with."

            The dragon girl only cringed harder when the saw was turned on. That high-pitched whirring noise was enough to send shudders down my own spine, but Smolder at least remained admirably still. The spot that Rarity was going for was not even that parallel to Smolder's skull, so an injury was unlikely even if Rarity lost control of the device. Still, that noise as the blade started to tear through that horn... Smolder gritted her teeth as she closed her eyes. "Uuuugggghhh.... I can't take that noise!"

            Thankfully, it was short-lived. It took less than fifteen seconds for Rarity to sever the majority of Smolder's horn from the rest of it. Little shavings littered the desk on one side, so it would need to be swept up afterwards. Rarity and I then swapped places with Rarity doing the same with the other horn. Smolder let out a sigh of relief once Rarity turned the saw off. Both sides had a very clean cut, leaving only very even and flat tips behind. Rarity was quite pleased with the results as she said, "That's one part done!"

            "Phew... I never wanna hear that sound again..." Smolder groaned as she remained where she was. She gazed up at me, looking more tired than anything. "How do I look?"

            "Unfinished." I replied in an attempt to be witty. It worked with Smolder responding with a crooked smirk of her own. I then stepped back as Rarity started to prepare the orbital sander. "Are you sure you know how to operate that?"

            "Oh, Applejack had Apple Bloom give me a tutorial. They may not be part of my usual expertise, but I do have a solid idea of what I am doing here." Rarity said as she closely examined the sandpaper attachment on the underside. Smolder just crossed her arms as she waited for the next step while not looking too worried about the sander. It was a bulkier device than I ever would have expected, but there was enough room around the flat tips of Smolder's horns for Rarity to reach every spot she needed to get to.

            I was actually really glad I did not bring Gladesong along. While the circular saw made an awful noise while functioning, I was alarmed by just how loud that orbital sander was once Rarity turned it on. Poor Gladesong would be wailing if she heard that so suddenly. Even Smolder twitched as she was startled by the sheer volume of that thing operating right next to her head. It at least was not as grating as the saw, but Smolder soon crossed her arms in annoyance as Rarity carefully moved the sander around the flat top of her horn. She tried to say something, but soon raised her voice so she could be heard over the sander. "I wish I knew how to read so I could pass the time with a magazine!"

            The process took less than ten minutes, but it could not have ended sooner for poor Smolder. She hated all the noise. But finally, Rarity turned off the sander and fetched the mirror from a little earlier. "And done! How do you look, Miss Smolder?"

            Smolder's eyes opened wide as she beheld her reflection. I did not need to see the mirror. My eyes could see the results of Rarity's work from where I was. The flat tops of Smolder's horns had been finely rounded out to form very smooth rounded tips. Smolder reached for one horn while I reached for the other. They were very smooth, the texture bringing to mind polished ivory. Finally, Smolder cracked a very...odd smile. A satisfied smile to be sure, but I think she was experiencing some very unusual emotions at the time. "It's...perfect... Like... I don't think you could make it better than this."

            Rarity was delighted by those words as she levitated up a little broom and dustpan to sweep up all the shavings that now littered the desk and floor. It was quite a mess to clean up. "So good to hear! Now then, you two head on out to the front desk and I'll be out shortly. I still need to return these things to the hardware store. It was so good of the manager to let me borrow them for a little while."

            Borrow, huh? I am guessing Rarity used her unparalleled feminine wiles to convince the guy to let her use them just once. Still, I helped Smolder down from the table and started to make my way to the door. However, when I turned to look, I saw Smolder holding the rest of her horns in her hands. She was just...staring at them. Having an idea of what they likely symbolized to her, I stepped over to my little friend and rested my hand on her head. "You OK?"

            Smolder just let out a confused sigh. "I dunno... I feel like...I just had a weight of some kind lifted off me. But...I've been growing these out for years... I like my new look, but... It kind of feels like I'm leaving something behind and I don't know how to feel about it."

            I suppose getting one's horns all but cut off is a different change than simply getting a haircut. Regardless, I gently rubbed her scalp as I said, "Well... Do you want to get rid of them? Do they hold some bad memories for you?"

            After a moment longer, Smolder shook her head and looked up at me with a small smile on her lips. "Nah. I'll figure out something to do with them. I mean you don't just find spare dragon horns lying around too often."

            Not a bad idea. I led Smolder back out to the lobby and fetched a bag for her to carry her severed horns in. Rarity soon joined us before having a quick chat with Lotus at the desk. Like she said, they agreed to a 50% discount at her next visit. Rarity did not have time to stay and chat and hurried off for home so she could get back to work. With nothing else to do, Smolder and I finally set off for the library.

            Looking at Smolder's horns again now that they had been trimmed down, I could not help thinking of a young buck who had just started to grow out his antlers. Of course, I was not going to tell Smolder that. Although I did not expect her to break into a run when the library finally came into view. She rushed to the front door and impatiently waited for me. I could only smirk and ask, "Can't wait to see the latest issue, huh?"

            "You got it! Come on, hurry up!" Smolder shouted back, prompting me to hasten my pace. I opened the door for her and allowed Smolder to enter first. Spike was already downstairs reading one of his Power Ponies comics. He glanced up upon hearing the door open and immediately greeted us with a pleasant smile. "Hey, you made it! You rea... Um... Oh, you got your horns trimmed? They look a lot more manageable now."

            Smolder showed a rather proud grin while feeling around her horns with her hands. "Yeah, they were just getting in the way. No more poking holes in things for me. And I love how smooth these tips are now... Wait! You got the newest issue of Project H, right? I'm really digging that one!"

            "Oh yeah! It's right upstairs! Come on!" Spike retorted excitedly before abandoning whatever he was reading and rushing up the stairs with Smolder close behind him. Twilight had to step out of the way as she neared the bottom of the stairs.

            I waved at Twilight as I began to approach the stairs myself. I too was curious of what the newest issue entailed. Twilight then greeted me with a smile and said, "Morning, James. Did Smolder get her horns trimmed since yesterday?"

            "Yeah, she did. She's even carrying around what was cut off in that bag." I replied before stepping past her. However, as I did, I paused in thought. There was a question I had been meaning to ask her since two days ago. It took me a moment of recollection to recall it. I then turned to face Twilight and asked, "Hey, Twi? Almost forgot. You got a second?"

            "Oh, sure! What's up?" She asked in return while giving me her undivided attention.

            I crossed my arms as I tried to think of the easiest way to ask such an odd question. "Um... I've been wondering this for a while, but... What is the age of consent in Equestria?"

            My friend gave me a most perplexed gaze in response. "Um... Why do you want to know?"

            My response was quick and to the point. "Because I don't know and it's a very important thing to know."

            Twilight just let out a laugh at my very blunt reasoning. "Fair enough! Anyway, it can vary a little depending on the region, but for the most part, sixteen years of age is the age of consent throughout most of Equestria."

            "Sixteen? That's not too weird... And there are even places back home with that number as their age of consent. I mean most of the people in this world do appear to develop psychologically a little faster than humans... I mean where I come from, wild horses have to stand and run on their first day where it takes months for a human infant just to be able to stand. And it takes them a lot longer than ponies to learn how to talk..." I replied as I began to brainstorm. Before I knew it, I had been talking for half a minute while Twilight just looked up at me patiently. "Uh... Did I talk your ear off?"

            My brainy unicorn friend just giggled a bit as she said, "Oh, not at all! And I love that about you, James. You're quite the thinking man."

            "Heh... Yeah, I guess I am." I mumbled before suddenly remembering why I was even there in the first place. I began to step back towards the stairs as I said, "Excuse me, Twi. I wanna see what's new in the next Project H too."

            "Oh, you boys and your comic books. Have fun!" Twilight said in reply while letting out another amused giggle. I hurried upstairs into the loft and found Spike and Smolder standing near a pedestal. Resting on it was none other than a new issue of Project H. But before Spike could even open it, Twilight called up the stairwell. "Spike! I can't find that book you put away an hour ago! Do you know which shelf it's on?"

            "It's on the... Wait, did I put it on the fiction or science shelf...? Um... Hang on, I'll be right there!" Spike replied before running to the stairs. "You two sit tight! I'll be right back!"

            Smolder and I watched as Spike disappeared down the stairs. While we could have started examining the book without Spike, I felt it would be rude to do so. Smolder set down her bag and started flipping through the book just to look at the pictures while I looked through another Pony Ponies issue at the other side of the room. However, I soon looked up to check on Smolder and stared in shock. She was closely examining the inside of the back cover.

            Knowing exactly what was about to happen and being certain it was too late to stop her, I cringed as I expected that spell in the book to activate. But much to my surprise, nothing happened as Smolder closed the book and placed it back on the pedestal. She then looked at me and said, "I'm gonna check on Spike and see if I can hurry things up."

            "OK... Sure, you do that. I'll wait." I replied before Smolder hurried down the stairs. As soon as she was gone, my attention was directed towards the comic book. "What gives? It didn't work? Did they not implant the spell in this issue?"

            I took the book in hand and closely examined the inside of the back cover. What was the deal? Smolder clearly read what was in the corner, yet nothing happened. I looked closely and did indeed notice some fine print. Throwing caution to the wind, I took an even closer look and read the text.

            I have know idea what I read, but the instant I finished processing what was in front of my eyes, a bright light suddenly engulfed the pages. Cursing my luck, I tried to pull away only to get dragged right into the light. Darkness followed, but I soon regained my sight as I seemed to be standing right in the middle of an empty street in a vast darkened metropolis in the middle of the night.

            I was utterly confused. Why did that spell work for me, but not Smolder? But then it hit me as I threw up my arms in sheer frustration. "Oh, come on, Smolder! Of course it didn't activate when she read the secret text because SHE CAN'T READ YET!!! GAAAHHH!!!"

            That was not the only source of my frustration. An instant later, I felt something strike me in the back of the head and almost knocked me off my feet. "OW!!! Who did... Oh man, I am not in the mood for this!"

            Out of the frying pan and into the fire. I was already being beset by half a dozen rogue mechs of indiscernible design. Half of them were outfitted with weapon systems while the others were packing industrial equipment like jackhammers. Already feeling myself becoming in tune with my robotic body and its functions, I snarled as my right hand disappeared into my forearm to arm the H-Buster while the visor in my helmet slid into place as I once more assumed the guise of Project H's Hunter.

            "You guys aren't worth the effort!" I yelled as I immediately disabled the limiter on my systems and selected Homing Torpedo from the list of assimilated weapons from my Variable Weapon System. I took aim as my visor locked onto all six mechs before I unleashed a torrent of fifty missiles from the cannon in my arm. A barrage of explosions engulfed the rogue mechs before all that was left of them were scattered pieces of scrap lining the street. "Yeah, suck on that!"

            "Um... Hunter? Are you feeling all right? That was...quite excessive of you just now." I heard a familiar voice in my head as I received a radio transmission. Doctor Luminous was likely surveying the action from his connection to my optic sensors.

            Letting out a sigh, I made no attempt to hide my frustration. "Sorry, Doc. I'm just more than a little pissed off right now."

            "Uh... Sorry? Regardless, there are a few more clusters of mavericks nearby. The Power Ponies are already on the scene at the other side of town, so just focus on the downtown area." The doctor explained to me as my visor displayed a map of sorts in the corner with a number of blinking red dots to display my destinations.

            Knowing I was stuck there until I followed the plot of the current issue to the very end, I hunkered over and let out an exasperated groan. "Oh for god's sake... Fine!"

            The flight thrusters on my back folded open and flared up, launching me into the night sky as I set off for the nearest band of mavericks. I was mad, but I was also starting to feel the thrill coming back from being in the body of a character I get a blast out of being. "I'm coming for you, metal heads!"

            My frustration and excitement ended up fusing into what I could only call some sort of psychotic glee as I unloaded my weapons onto the many mavericks without any reservations. After what happened the last time I got sucked into that comic book world, I really did not want to be there. I wanted to get this mess over and done with as quick as possible, so I kept my limiter disabled for maximum damage output. I was utterly furious and was finding catharsis by blowing my enemies to bits. "Yeah! Take that! And that! And boom! Com'ere! You're going boom too!"

            I think my ridiculous behavior was starting to unnerve the doctor as he observed the carnage through my own eyes. I was even starting to laugh as I thinned the ranks of my enemies. By the time I was done with the last cluster of mavericks, I was laughing to the night sky before Doctor Luminous asked, "Um... Hunter? Are you having a bad day and just need some time to yourself?"

            I just started laughing even harder! I placed my hands on my knees as I almost fell over. I guess my anger was gone for the moment now that I was actually getting a kick out of emulating my childhood hero in the form of this robotic sentinel. "Sorry, doc! Just... I'm just trying to have fun here!"

            "Yeah, I can tell. Anyway... It seems there's a few more not terribly far from you. Head east toward the harbor." Luminous replied while still sounding quite unnerved.

            "Um... Yeah, sure. On my way." I retorted before I took off running down the deserted street. I was not in a hurry for more action now that I had calmed down a bit and just wanted to buy myself some time. Little did I know that I was about to cross paths with both a familiar and new weird set of faces. "Yeah, doc. I see it on the map. Still no sign of Alpha? He's been quiet for... Wait... What the...?! Uh... Yeah, hold on a second, doc. HEY, YOU!!! YEAH, YOU!!! BONEHEAD!!! WHAT'RE YOU DOING HERE?!"

            I came to a sudden halt and pointed across the street at someone standing right at the entrance to an alley. And I could tell he had every reason to be there as I did. By which I mean he blatantly did not belong in that world. He looked left and right before pointing at himself. "You talking to me?"

            "Yeah, I'm talking to you!" I replied as I started to cross the street. With the city having likely gone into lockdown due to the maverick outbreak, I had no need to fear colliding with a vehicle. "First that house party, and now this?! How'd you even get here?"

            "Oh, I guess I just took a wrong turn at that shortcut a little while back. Happens every now and then. Although I'm having a hard time trying to find the path where I came from. Usually, I can make do if there's lots of magic or coding in the world, but... I swear, all I see is paper and layers of ink." He replied with his hands tucked in the pockets of his jacket. In case you have not figured it out by now, I was standing before the same goofy skeleton guy who had shown up unexpectedly at that house party Shining Armor threw a little while ago. No sign of his brother though. What was his name again? I know it was some sort of font. Comic sans? Or was it just Sans?

            I stood perplexed as I gazed at the shrimpy skeleton before me. He could actually see what the world was made of? How is that even possible? I could only see a world that was indiscernible from the world I came from regardless of whether I was looking through my eyes or through the HUD of my visor. Speaking of which, I retracted my visor now that I was no longer in danger and asked, "Um... You can actually tell this isn't the real world? How...do you do that exactly?"

            Sans... At least I am pretty sure that was his name at the moment. Anyway, Sans just shrugged his shoulders as he then spoke through his perpetual unmoving smile. "Meh, it's just something I picked up on after being stuck in a Mobius strip for way too long. And don't think too hard about that because it would take me all day to explain and I know I'd pass out for a nap after the first thirty seconds."

            "And I believe you. But seriously... What.....ARE you?" I asked in return as I began to wonder what Sans actually is and where he came from. It could not be a coincidence that he just suddenly popped up in Equestria twice with the second time being in a fictional world that I thought could only be entered via a very specific kind of magic.

            "Why, we are quite lost, if I do say so myself!" A new voice suddenly spoke up from the shadows inside the alley. I glanced up as I heard the sound of hard footsteps approaching us as a rather androgynous voice spoke through a type of robotic filter. "Honestly, Sans! I thought you knew what you were doing when you said you had a shortcut to get to your brother! But now, it feels like we're not even in the same city! And I have a schedule to keep!"

            Sans spun around while looking quite embarrassed with himself as he forced himself to continue smiling. "Sorry, man. Glitches happen."

            Even with the more sophisticated sensor suite of my HUD tucked away, my default optic sensors could detect that whoever was approaching us was a machine. But the voice... The voices of every other robot I had seen during my adventures in the world of the Power Ponies and Project H had been crystal clear, but this one sounded more stereotypical of a machine. Probably due to being equipped with an outdated voice projection system. But I was in for quite a surprise when Sans' company stepped out of the shadows and gave me quite an intrigued stare. That androgynous voice again spoke with a fair bit of flair, "Oh my, who's this tall, bright, and handsome fellow?"

            I had no idea of what to even think of who I was seeing before me. The design... It was just so outlandish from everything I had seen thus far! True to the voice, the appearance of this robot was very androgynous in form with a very distinct aesthetic that I had not seen in quite a long time. The legs appeared to be vibrant pink boots with high heels that were connected to sleek black legs that were coated by a sturdy yet flexible material not entirely dissimilar to the material used around the more flexible parts of my own body. A sturdy belt of sorts wrapped around his waist with a 'buckle' of sorts holding what seemed to be a heart-shaped light that glowed with a pale pink. A breastplate of a pink hue that matched his boots covered his upper torso with auditory speaker holes on his right side and what seemed to be a circular volume knob on his left. Long flat black spaulders of sorts reached out over where his shoulders would be while his arms, which strangely consisted of flexible jointless metal tubes of interlocking silver rings, ended in white apparently gloved hands with only four fingers. He had quite a handsome face, though its artificial nature was far more obvious than my own. It was a metallic silver in color with a few rivets set above his eyebrow and had a slit of sorts reaching down from his left eye with a few more slits branching off to his left. Possibly extra heat vents. A layer of pink paint was set over his eyelid to function as eyeshadow while the right side of his face was covered by sleek shiny black hair that was likely made up of artificial fibers. His entire admittedly quirky design brought to mind silly sci-fi robotics from the 70s or 80s. Just one look at this androgynous robot brought only one word to mind. Glam rocker. Even his voice and its tone fit such a title.

            With my analysis complete, I decided to speak to Luminous as he was likely seeing everything I was. "What's your take on him, doc?"

            I could hear the faint clacks of a computer keyboard in use on the other end of the transmission. "Very strange indeed... His design is certainly unorthodox and I would even say archaic, but I'm detecting an intriguing list of functions in his body. I would be quite interested in running a diagnostic on him if I could get the chance."

            Obviously annoyed that I was ignoring him, the robot before me spoke in a louder voice than before while crossing his arms. "Excuse me, but are you seriously turning down an offer for conversation?! Who are you even talking to?!"

            Remembering that he had already asked me a question, I abruptly cut the call with the doctor short. "Oh, uh... Um... The name's Hunter."

            The robot performer before me cast me an intrigued smirk now that I had responded to his call. "Much better. As one machine to another, I am Mettaton. So pleased to make your acquaintance, darling."

            I was already getting Radiance flashbacks upon hearing that. He certainly was a glam rocker if he was looking and talking like that. I reached out and took his hand for a shake as I mumbled, "You...uh...have quite the performer look going there. You on tour?"

            "Oh, not right now. But you're quite right. One of the best! And in due time, THE best!" Mettaton replied before suddenly reaching high with one leg and resting its heel upon my left pauldron. "With legs like these..."

            I looked on in silence as Mettaton then held his face in one hand by his chin, gazing at me with such a confident gleam in his eye. "Style like this... There won't be an entertainer alive who can compare to me!"

            "That's...quite a boast." I said quietly as I found myself mildly entertained by Mettaton's sheer bravado. Where I come from, glam rock has been all but dead for quite some time. I wonder if it is the same where Mettaton is from and if his rising career will trigger a glam rock renaissance.

            "Yeah, he's quite the boaster, but he don't got a toaster in there. Maybe we should talk to the doc about installing one sometime." Sans then said out of nowhere from right next to us.

            Mettaton and I just stared at him in response to such a weak attempt to throw in a pun at Mettaton's expense. "You were waiting all day just to say something like that, weren't you? I pity your brother..."

            "Oh, Pap can take it just fine. At least until he starts throwing things. Then I gotta run." Sans replied with that constant goofy grin on his face. Does he ever stop smiling? That has to be hard on his cheeks...

            "Speaking of your brother..." Mettaton said as he lowered his leg from my shoulder. "Perhaps we should get back to what we're here for."

            Sans started to look a little nervous as the little white dots in his eye sockets started to dart back and forth. I suspect he was worried about how he would explain to Mettaton that they were likely stranded if his 'shortcuts' were not working anymore. "Uh... Yeah, maybe we should... Just...uh...gotta find one of my shortcuts first."

            Before I could say anything or even offer a suggestion, I suddenly got another prompt on my HUD as it detected a cluster of mavericks on some nearby rooftops. "Hate to cut this short, but there's trouble nearby and I should get to it."

            "It was a pleasure, Hunter. You should attend my next concert when you get the chance." Mettaton retorted as he flashed me a wink with his exposed eye. Just... I am not going to even think about that guy's sexual orientation. That is none of my business.

            Sans then began to uneasiness walk away. "Yeah, see ya, man. Now... Uh... Pretty sure one of those shortcuts are over here... Hopefully."

            Mettaton began to follow behind while not sounding too happy to be tagging along with someone who did not seem to have the best grasp of what he was doing. "I swear, next time I'm calling for an Uber."

            I just watched for a moment as the two odd jobs walked away before speaking up. "What do you make of them, doc?"

            Doctor Luminous spoke through my internal receiver, "Definitely not anything I've ever come across. That performer robot had some very...unorthodox design traits and I could only barely scan his internal systems. As for the skeleton... Well, he was made of bone. But I also detected...magic in him. Just...magic. It's all I could describe it as. The robot possessed it too. Very strange characters, to be sure."

            "Well, best just forget about them. I got my own problems to deal with. Speaking of which..." With those two on their way somewhere else, I activated my flight thrusters and rocketed up into the air and above the rooftops so I could get a visual confirmation on my targets. I did not look long before I found signs of trouble. My HUD detected a cluster of robots, a gaggle of griffon types, pursuing a lone target over some rooftops. It must have been quite an athletic quarry since it was leaping from rooftop to rooftop. But it would soon reach the edge of the block, leaving them with nowhere to run. With my thrusters flaring up, I rushed after them with the H-Buster charging up to unleash a barrage of Homing Torpedoes. 

            Sure enough, the griffon mavericks had cornered their prey at the corner of the rooftop right at the edge of the block. Wasting no time, I took aim, confirmed my targets, and unleashed a burst of five missiles that slammed into five griffon robots. I remembered how lightly armored they were and was not surprised to see them put down with one explosive blast. Bits of metal littered the rooftop as I set down, the mangled husks of the mavericks collapsed upon the roof. "You OK there?! Did they... Uh..."

            There were no words for a moment. The lone victim who had narrowly escaped a robotic mauling was a familiar face. It was High Heel and she was decked out in her usual flashy outfit. Likely having gone out for a thieving spree only to get caught up in the maverick outbreak. But that was not what had left me silent. I immediately thought back to my prior encounter with her and...the horrible things I did to her in such a rage.

            High Heel began to step sideways without ever looking away from me. She probably thought I was going to try and apprehend her since she was clearly not up to any good. I could see this, but I made no moves towards her. Finally, I just spoke my feelings. "...Are you OK?"

            My lack of hostility caught her by surprise. She stopped and looked a bit confused, as if she could not believe her luck that one of her most powerful enemies was not going to try to capture her. Lord knows she would be powerless to stop me. I saw no signs of damage to her suit. All I could detect was that she was slightly out of breath. She did eventually provide a response as well as a question of her own. "Yeah, they didn't get me... How's the kid?"

            My thoughts immediately went back to Hum Drum. I had no idea what had become of him since that fateful night. With no memory of what had transpired in the world of the Power Ponies since then, I scanned my databanks for any information on the colt wonder. I basically ended up reading aloud what I saw on my HUD. Or rather I just ended up paraphrasing what I saw. "He's... He's making a steady recovery. Should be back up to 100% in a month or two."

            I heard a sigh come from High Heel as her eyes glanced elsewhere. She too looked uneasy about that memory. "Good to hear. He... He really didn't deserve that."

            With the topic having shifted to the events of that dark night, I took the opportunity to say what I wanted. "Hey... Look, I... I'm sorry about what happened back there. Hum Drum... I thought he was... I..."

            God, I could feel tears already starting to build in my eyes. I sincerely thought he was dead the moment he became unresponsive. High Heel saw this too and said, "Look, don't say anything. I don't blame you for what you did. We still don't why the Mane-iac went after him the way she did. For as long as I've known her, she had never taken a swing at the kid before."

            I watched as High Heel took a seat at the edge of the roof and gazed out at the city. The current sector we were in was dark, but the rest of the city over the horizon was lit up in lights. Not much sound though. It must have been on lockdown due to the maverick threat. I too took a seat by her with my legs dangling off the edge. I was getting no alerts at the time, so I felt I had enough time to kill a few minutes. There was one other person on my mind as well. "How's the pharaoh?"

            High Heel glanced at me out of the corner of her eye. "He's fine. He was actually the first to get out of the hospital, but I kept checking in on him at his personal hideout. Poor guy won't even talk about you after last time."

            "I didn't mean to scare him the way I did..." I mumbled in shame, taking no pride or sense of accomplishment over the outcome of that struggle last time. I was just overcome with rage and sheer spite. It did not matter that they did not harm Hum Drum. I just felt they were all guilty by proxy.

            The beautiful femme fatale glanced at me while showing a slight smile. "Hey, he'll get over it. He knows it wasn't his fault you snapped like that. Quite frankly, the rest of us would rather not have to ever see the Mane-iac again. Last time she showed up at one of our meetings, she tried to muscle her way back in. But... Together, we managed to drive her off. That was...a pretty good time. It was a good boost to our morale knowing that not only were we better than her, but we could also overwhelm her if push came to shove. And it was pretty funny when Long-Face got her with some of his sorrow gas."

            That was a good thing to know. I suppose even the majority of the villains in the Power Pony series are not quite so foul as to be on the same level of depravity as that lunatic. I could only smile at her too. "Good to hear. She sounds like a lost cause."

            "Yeah, maybe. Although we still meet up every couple of weeks, I drop by Phetlock's lair now and then and... Well..." High Heel said before pausing. She then looked at me and smiled as she continued, "For being as bumbling as he usually is, that guy has quite the sophisticated side when he's on his home turf. And an eye for interior design. His place is like an ancient palace with indoor aqueducts, fresh foliage, and his mummy minions do a good job of maintaining the place."

            I raised an eyebrow at this revelation. The pharaoh managed to put together his own throne, from the sound of it. However, I then noticed High Heel's expression change to something...harder to pin down. "He was quite good to me during my visit. Even had his minions dress me in something fitting for a queen from that period. And... And..."

            She was biting her lip. I started to smirk as I had an idea of what she was remembering. My HUD went to work as it performed an in-depth scan of her body. "You OK there? My sensors are detecting a heightened state of arousal in your body."

            "Oh shut up! And keep your sensors to yourself!" High Heel all but yelled at me as I burst into laughter. But once that hilarious awkward moment passed, she let out a sigh of defeat. "All right, yeah... To put it lightly, we're seeing each other. And... He's really good to me."

            I could not help but smile. Pharaoh Phetlock always seemed like the least villainous of the bunch to me. However, I then went silent as I thought up a difficult question to ask the femme fatale. Eventually, that question did come out. "Any plans on retiring?"

            I did not get a response for a moment. High Heel did not even look at me. She did eventually speak with a quiet and thoughtful tone, "I don't know... Nopony's ever asked me that before."

            "I think you should consider it. Quit while you're ahead. Find a different path." I replied while feeling sincere concern for the beautiful mare beside me. "I... I can't imagine anyone with such beauty being incapable of good. Why not try being a superhero yourself? I'm sure there are benefits."

            High Heel gave me a somber gaze that eventually turned into a subdued smile. "You're sweet. No wonder Radiance loves you so much. How is she anyway?"

            "She's probably out there right now with the rest of the team. And...things are good between us. She's really good at patching me up after missions too, so that helps take a load off of the doctor's work." I retorted while not entirely sure how accurate my guess was. I was just playing along. But as I looked at High Heel, I thought back to Radiance. The two of them with their beauty and impeccable sense of style and fashion. I had to know. "Do you two know each other?"

            "Yeah... We go back a ways. I got into the fashion industry before she did while she was in the zeppelin corps. I always did specialize in hoofwear, but I'm sure you can tell just by looking at me." High Heel replied while gazing up at the moon as if expecting one such zeppelin to buzz overhead at any time. "That all changed after she became Radiance. She started showing up in magazines everywhere after that."

            "For what it's worth, don't be jealous. You're absolutely gorgeous too. And I don't think there's anyone in the world with a tail as long as yours." I retorted while suspecting the reason for High Heel's turn to villainy was out of spite for Radiance having surpassed her in sheer popularity. However, it was then that I got another signal on the map being displayed on my HUD. Another cluster of mavericks had converged on one spot. "Hold up... Yeah, there's another group of mavericks not too far from here. I better get going."

            I stood up and readied my flight thrusters. But before I could flare them up, I gazed down at High Heel while she gazed back at me. "Will you be all right?"

            High Heel clearly had no interest in carrying out any robberies if it meant having to tangle with mavericks. She stood up and said, "I'll be fine. Phetlock's place isn't far from here. I'll make a run for it and lay low until the storm blows over. And you... Be safe out there, all right?"

            I gave the femme fatale a thumbs up before finally flaring up my flight thrusters and taking off into the sky. I did not fly far before detecting a viral presence down a certain open space that involved an intersection parting to form a V shape down the road at both ends. As I descended, I could not help noticing the familiar design. "Times Square...?"

            Upon landing, I saw that the place was still dark along with a large television display situated upon the face of a skyscraper set at the tip of each V at the intersection. And sure enough, there were quite a few mavericks down there waiting for me. There were no mechs in the bunch. They all consisted of the more sophisticated designs of ponies, griffons, and even a minotaur or two. Judging by the armor plating and the weapons they carried or were attached to their bodies, they had been specifically designed for combat. I armed the H-Buster in my right arm, ready for a tougher struggle than the prior skirmishes I had already dealt with. "OK, not quite a cakewalk this time."

            Before any of them could rush me, I remembered to take a quick look through the list of abilities Hunter had assimilated with his Variable Weapon System by that point in the Project H series. I recognized all of the symbols from the previous time I had wound up in that world. Homing Torpedo, Shotgun Ice, Fire Wave, Thunder Dancer, Boomerang Cutter, Rocket Tackle, Strike Chain, and Storm Tornado were present along with the newest additions of Metal Anchor and Soul Body. However, it appeared that Doctor Luminous had expanded the capacity of the Variable Weapon System. Six empty slots were visible under the icons. Before I could think any further on the matter, a griffon robot came swooping in with its claws ready.

            With my frustration and anger having burned itself out, I was not feeling quite as gung-ho about rushing into the thick of battle with busters blazing. I ran and jumped around the intersection, firing off bursts of plasma from the H-Buster while the mavericks took turns rushing me or firing on me with a variety of weapon systems ranging from rockets to laser cannons. They did score a few glancing hits on me while I totaled a couple of them, but the fight ended up getting dragged out longer than I expected to for a bunch of grunts. Maybe I was just out of practice.

            During a lull in the scuffle, I noticed something float over to one of the griffon robots. It was...what I could only describe as a television remote with a pair of flexible spindly arms attached to its sides. It tapped the griffon robot on the shoulder before holding out what seemed to be a round black object in its other hand. The griffon robot, apparently having though tit dropped something, took the round object in hand before the delivery device floated away. And it was only then that I noticed a thin trail of smoke rising from the top of that sphere as I began to step back.

            The griffon robot did several sudden and amusing quick glances at the object in its hand before it realized all too late that it was a simple explosive device. With a loud blast, the griffon was engulfed by fire and shrapnel as the bomb went off. But I did not really have time to get a chuckle out of its laughable demise since a swarm of other flying television remotes suddenly dropped a blanket of bombs over the area. But instead of typical explosives, these were mere smoke bombs that cast a very thick smoke screen as if someone had set off a bunch of dry powder fire extinguishers. I fanned the area before me, trying to make out where everyone else was. "Hey, what gives?! This isn't helping!"

            As if to answer my complaints, a new sound reached my auditory sensors. A slow and steady rhythm of footsteps, probably from high heels, echoed through the dead of the night. I could vaguely make out a few of the mavericks through the smoke appearing to be just as bewildered as I was over where this sudden smokescreen had come from. Finally, the footsteps stopped. Ahead of us, a pair of lights suddenly turned on and shone down on a single point as what sounded like a simple yet alluring electric guitar rift began to play with long drawn out notes that just repeated over and over to cast a very whimsical and mysteries atmosphere over the area. And in the spotlights, I could make out the silhouette of a humanoid being as it called out to us. "My, my, what is with all the racket? Surely you boys are up to no good, am I right?"

            It was Mettaton. I guess he had just been in the area and overheard the commotion in the square. But why would a performer just waltz right into the middle of a combat zone with such flair? I did not have much time to think as Mettaton noticed me in the fog and called out, "Hunter, darling! That's you out there, right? Care to bring me up to speed on what's happening?"

            I did not mince words as I called back to him. "Mavericks! Rogue machines that compulsively attack and destroy anyone they see! You'd better get back, they'll make short work of you!"

            "Oh my, robots that mindlessly slaughter everyone and everything? That is quite a conundrum. Well, that simply won't do. Not on my watch!" Mettaton called over the smokescreen without sounding the least bit intimidated. "I suppose I can spare a minute to help put a stop to this. After all, we can't have you murderous marauders going after the audience now, can we?"

            "Dude... You're serious? Um... Are you sure you're packing some hardware that I'm not aware of?" I asked while it sounded like the mavericks were beginning to respond to Mettaton's presence. What would they do to him? Reduce him to scrap in a world that is not his own?

            "Oh, don't you worry about me! I may not be designed for combat up front, but... I am a master of improvisation." I heard Mettaton's robotic voice speak through the fog as it began to slowly thin around us. He then spoke with quite a whimsical and pompous tone, "Eyes over here, you foul rogues! Yes, right here! I won't stand for you continuing your brazen attack on my audience! Oh, but not to worry. I vow that I will make your last functioning moments..."

            Out of nowhere, a powerful gust of wind began to blow from Mettaton's direction. I shielded my face as the smoke was blown away. And sure enough, there he was. Legs spread, arms curving at his sides. And I was quick to see the source of the spotlights. Two more of those floating television remotes, which were probably drones controlled by Mettaton himself, were holding stage lamps. And the instant Mettaton opened his eyes as a bunch more drones shone stage lamps with pinkish bulbs onto him, he called out the rest of his sentence. "Absolutely beautiful!"

            As if on cue, the guitar rift stopped. And in its place, low piano notes began to play followed by a rising soundtrack that sounded less like glam rock and more like a kind of tune one would associate with the opulence and ritzy vibes of a celebrity-centered event. As for Mettaton, he began to dance in place, tapping his foot in rhythm early on before starting to perform more enthusiastically as the tempo picked up. Actually, dance might not be the right word. It looked more like he was posing as he swapped from stance to stance. At first, I just stared in utter confusion. As did every other robot in the square. Was he just goofing around? Or was it just an elaborate ruse?  

            Finally, one of the mavericks, an earth pony with battering weapon attachments at its side, charged at Mettaton with a trio of the other mavericks right behind it. But when it took a swing, Mettaton effortlessly stepped aside without breaking a sweat. The other three took turns throwing punches as well, but Mettaton merely cartwheeled, spun, and slid away from each of them every time. I even got a look at his backside at times, which revealed a cartoonishly large horizontal switch of sorts that was even marked as such. And he was quite simply having a blast as it sounded like he was starting to sing. "I am the idol everyone craves! Rise to the top and the world, I'll save! Smile for the camera! Come, look sharp! Take your soul and break your heart!"

            I was incredibly uneasy about someone like Mettaton getting into a fight when he clearly was not designed for it, but his fancy footwork was starting to soothe my worries. He was showing no difficulty in being evasive. But he could not possibly win by merely dodging. How would he fight back without any weapon systems?

            "Can't believe he's actually doing this. Never could resist making a scene." Sans said as I suddenly found the guy right next to me out of nowhere. The guy is quite the sneaky type if I did not hear him approach.

            "Yeah, he sounds the part. But is he gonna be all right? He's not exactly designed for combat, right?" I asked in return as I assumed Sans knew more about Mettaton than I did at that moment. As we conversed, Mettaton continued to dance and spin in tune with the music as it really picked up in tempo with none of the mavericks able to land a hit on him. Quite frankly, as worried as I was, I was quite entertained by what I was seeing.

            Sans just rolled his eye sockets at my concern. "Peh, he'll be fine. That glitzy peacock might be a showboat, but he's not an idiot. Just watch."

            At last, one of the minotaur robots came in swinging with a mechanized sledgehammer. Each swing was fast, but Mettaton was faster as he stepped backed just enough with each speedy swing to stay out of reach. "Drama, romance, bloodshed! These tools, to the masses I bring!"

            Right as he finished that verse, Mettaton finally struck once the minotaur robot had a lull in its movements. I flinched as Mettaton lashed out with a piercing kick, snagging the minotaur by the throat with his heel and foot firmly wedged over his neck. Mettaton then jumped and brought his other foot to the minotaur's chest and very suddenly performed a leaping cartwheel off of it, popping the poor fool's head off in the process like a champagne cork!

            "The hell...?!" I yelped the instant I saw the minotaur robot's head fly into the air with its body collapsing to the ground in a heap with sparks flying from its neck. I could scarcely believe that this entertainer had swiftly decapitated a combat robot with one move. Mettaton perfectly landed upon his feet and effortlessly caught the falling head in one hand before gazing into the minotaur's eyes. I could only shake my head, any doubts I still had fading away. "This is about to get interesting..."

            It was at this point that the mavericks were starting to understand that Mettaton was not just some weirdo who got in a lucky shot. He knew exactly what he was doing. A griffon robot let out a screech as it came swooping in with claws bared, but again, Mettaton was in full control of the situation. He flung the minotaur's head at the griffon and scored a direct hit with one of the horns skewering the griffon robot through its own head. But as it dropped out of the sky, a bunch of Mettaton's little drones suddenly appeared from nowhere and handed all of the confused mavericks notepads and a pen. Mettaton then suddenly pointed to the sky and called out, "Pop quiz, hotshots! How great am I?!"

            I cocked my head to one side, wondering just where this tactic came from. Even the mavericks were just as baffled as they glanced at each other and their notepads. They barely had time to think before Mettaton dismissively waved his hand at them and said, "Oh, put down your pens. I already know I'm amazing!"

            Sans and I got a good chuckle out of Mettaton's performance. Cocky as he was, the guy was indeed a topnotch entertainer. And it was then that Mettaton's ruse was uncovered. The pens the mavericks were holding began to give off thin trails of smoke. Did that guy have anything that did not also double as a bomb?! Some of the mavericks were quick enough to toss them away before they could blow, but most were not so lucky. Small explosions went off in rapid succession, wrecking the more lightly armored mavericks while only causing mild damage to the more durable models. 

            It was at this point that the rest of the mavericks started to lose their cool. Any that were outfitted with weapon systems opened fire. Once again, Mettaton showed no fear as he began to evade on the spot. He began to shift from pose to pose in rapid-fire succession that no human performer could ever hope to match, essentially dancing around the lasers without actually budging from where he was standing. Unfortunately, this could not go on forever and Mettaton must have known this. While he drew their fire, more of Mettaton's drones hovered above the battlefield and began to fire off shimmering bursts of pink energy from their 'faces' that were in the shapes of hearts. Each shot probably hit about as hard as a shot from the H-Buster on the weakest settings, the mavericks starting to become spread thin on their attention span. Mettaton was outnumbered and outgunned, but he was still decimating the opposition through sheer unpredictability. And I was loving it.

            With the mavericks' attention diverted to their aerial attacks, Mettaton finally got a chance to strike. He conjured up a number of bombs in his arm and flung them all at the mavericks before him. They rolled along the ground before exploding in a flurry of blasts. Anything that was not blown apart was scattered every which way. But it was during this brief pause in the action that Mettaton suddenly looked my way and thrust his arm out to me as it extended all the way out to me. "Time for an intermission! Get over here, handsome!"

            "Huh?! Me?! But I can't... Heeeeyyyy!!!" I yelled as Mettaton grabbed me by the pauldron and gave me a good yank, sending me into a spin as I slid towards the glamorous superstar before I was suddenly leaning back in the embrace of his arm. "I just told you I can't dance! I... Huh?!"

            My HUD was hard at working scanning Mettaton's face as some sort of subroutine came online. Before I even knew it, I was suddenly dancing in sync with Mettaton as the music that was playing reached a dazzling crescendo that practically demanded that all hostilities end and dance begin. With the mavericks down and just beholding the two of us dancing around each other with Mettaton even performing a cartwheeling leap over me, I had no idea what I was doing aside from the fact that I was having fun.

            With Mettaton and I mirroring each other, I am sure we were putting on quite a sight with the glow of the stage lights shining off of my shiny armored shell. But the instant the more uplifting and jovial section of the music ended, Mettaton and I did not miss a beat, even as we danced around each other, I fired off a volley of plasma shots from the H-Buster while Mettaton conjured up armfuls of bombs and flung them at our opposition. The song rapidly wound up to a climax before coming to an end, but it could not have ended at a better time. As Mettaton and I mirrored each other for a pose to wrap up the performance, all mavericks in the immediate area were scrapped. 

            "Well, I'd say you two were having fun." I heard Doctor Luminous say to me over my internal receiver. He was not wrong either. I was having a surprisingly good time leading up to that point, even if the music had stopped and the floating stage lights had dimmed a bit.

            "Yeah, I guess I was... Eh?" I mumbled before hearing the lonely clapping of a single pair of hands. Sans was still standing at the sidelines and was smacking his bony hands together in applause. I felt rather bashful at the moment and averted my gaze. "I...never knew I had it in me..."

            "And you said you can't dance! You performed splendidly, darling!" Mettaton said as he swaggered over to me with a smug smirk on his lips and a gleam in his eye. "Why, you matched me move for move. Are you sure you're not just being modest?"

            "Uh... Well... I guess I had some functions I didn't even know I had..." I stammered as I heard Luminous laughing somewhere in the background. I am guessing my sudden adeptness in dance was a result of something he programmed Hunter with. Maybe for formal occasions?

            Mettaton then leaned closer to me as he said, "Mmhm, I would assume so. Perhaps I should meet your creator and... Hm?! What's that?!"

            Out of the corner of my eye, I saw it too. From between the rooftops was a burst of fiery plasma coming right for us. Thinking quickly, I got between it and Mettaton before firing up the shield projector on my left arm. There was a fair bit of force behind the blast when it hit, but my defenses held. Sans, likely sensing trouble, ran and hid behind the nearest mailbox. And I had a very good idea of who had just shot at us. "I guess he's finally here..."

            "Well, that was just uncalled for. Who just did that?" Mettaton asked as his eyes scanned the distant rooftops. I already had a lock. Several blocks away, my HUD detected a presence. With my optic sensors zooming in, I saw a pair of wing frame spread wide before fiery red exhaust flared from the undersides and carried the lone figure through the air until it gracefully landed at the edge of a rooftop overlooking the square. Indeed, I recognized the tall and sleek form of a robotic alicorn stallion that I had not seen in quite some time. Mettaton gave our guest a cockeyed stare as he asked, "Oooh... Tall... Regal... And such luscious glowing hair... Who is this strapping gentleman?"

            I knew the regal stallion before us was anything but gentlemanly. The stallion's form was not quite as I remembered, his heavily thrashed original body having undergone an extensive overhaul since our last encounter. Where his original form was simply his civilian design outfitted with additional armor plating, this new form was sleek and befitting of someone who imitated Celestia herself. His flowing orange energy mane and tail billowed much like before with his white armor plating accented by glowing orange lights that likely surged with energy from his core. But what really drew my attention were the two 'scars' I had given him under his eyes. Instead of being mere scrapes, the scars instead were two more glowing lines almost as if they were meant to imitate war paint. Another minor detail I noticed was that he had installed a proper moving mouth to replace his featureless face. I scowled at the alicorn robot as he scowled right back. I then finally asked, "You done licking your wounds, Alpha?"

            Mettaton gave me a quick glance, apparently not expecting me to be familiar with Hunter's archnemesis. Alpha merely glared at me in mild irritation at my lack of wariness upon seeing his inevitable return. Perhaps I was simply unafraid since I knew I could take him on. Regardless, the maverick king spoke boldly in his royal tone, "Indeed, Project H. Or should I say...Hunter? The wait was tedious and the modifications extensive, but the wait has been well worth it. Now I stand before you, rebuilt and ready to continue where I left off. I assure you that this encounter will not play out quite like the last time."

            "Yeah, I see you gave yourself a new mouth to suck on this with." I said snidely while pointing the H-Buster at him. Mettaton got a brief snicker out of my retort, though Alpha was hardly entertained as he snarled at me without leaving his spot. However, I took note of the two glowing scares under his eyes. Someone as prideful as him would surely not want to see those every time he looked in a mirror. "Hey... Why did you hold onto those marks I gave you under your eyes? You just like the look of them?"

            Alpha's response came as a bit of a surprise. "Hardly... These serve as a reminder that you exist. One who has the potential to stand against me. So long as you continue to function, these scars will remain upon my face. So I will know there is one out there I must be wary of."

            However, Alpha then turned his attention to Mettaton. "Although... You... You there. What is a mummer like you doing harassing my soldiers?" Alpha then asked as his eyes began to narrow into a confused scowl. "Your design is... How do I put this... Somewhat archaic compared to the rest of my fellow machines. And yet, you decimated my men without so much as a dent on your shell. Impressive... I know not where you hail from, but I am too intrigued to care. Bow before your king, mummer. And remember your place."

            "Those were your underlings just now? Those who sought to bring harm to my audience?" Mettaton asked with an almost mocking tone as her crossed his arms while looking quite unimpressed. He then very sharply turned his head away as he said, "Well, you will get no such allegiance from me. There is only one king I bow to and he is a thousand times the king you will ever be."

            Such words got me even more curious of what sort of world Mettaton and Sans came from. Whoever that king is must be a very good man for a pompous guy like Mettaton to have such a high opinion of him. However, Alpha was not amused. His horn began to flare up with a plasma aura as he then coldly spoke, "Then you have no place in my kingdom."

            Mettaton and I had little time to react as Alpha opened fire. We leapt sideways as the plasma shot impacted the floor and scorched the asphalt. Alpha paid no mind to me at first as he continued to bombard Mettaton with a hail of plasma bursts, forcing the performer to leap and flip through the air to evade every last shot. His face told me all I needed to know. Where Mettaton was in complete control of the prior skirmish, he was now actually having to try to stay one step ahead of this lethal killing machine.

            For once, I was unsure if I should intervene. Alpha wanted Mettaton, not me. And Mettaton was by no means defenseless. Even as he evaded every shot that came his way, more of his drones were summoned around Alpha before they all chucked bombs at him. Alpha proved to be too alert to fall for such an attack, flaring up the thrusters on the undersides of his hooves for a mighty leap as the bombs obliterated the section of the rooftop he had been standing on. Upon landing with a clank upon the street before me, his win frames spread wide as the laser emitters lining them suddenly activated and shot the drones out of the sky before focusing ahead on Mettaton. They pivoted and hissed along the asphalt as Mettaton was forced to duck and weave around them, once again performing various poses for the sake of getting himself out of the way.

            "Sheesh, Mettaton's holding up a lot better than I thought he would." I heard Sans speak up from right next to me as he peeked out from behind his hiding spot. Even while on the run, Mettaton kept conjuring up more of his little drones to bomb or blast Alpha, but the alicorn robot would just blast them out of the air before they could even get a shot off. He was on a completely different level than the mavericks Mettaton had just dispatched with such finesse. He was designed specifically to obliterate his enemies. And Mettaton was not. There was no hope for him. Victory was out of Mettaton's reach.

            "But... I feel like I shouldn't intervene... Tch, come on! There's gotta be something..." I grumbled as I accessed the Rocket Tackle function from my Variable Weapon System, my armor's softer segments turning the same shade of purple as Fili-Second's secondary designs on her outfit. If Mettaton was about to take a hit, I was ready to rush in and rescue him.

            This went on for maybe only a minute longer, but it felt like an eternity as I constantly feared Mettaton would slip up and take a lethal hit. Eventually, Alpha relented in his assault while Mettaton jumped back at the first sign of a lull in the attack. If he had lungs, he would have sounded quite out of breath. Alpha stood tall, almost as if in triumph despite having not once even grazed the fleet-footed entertainer. He then calmly declared, "Bow before me, mummer. You have confirmed your inferiority. You are not designed for the battlefield as I am."

            The look in Mettaton's eye as he heard that. It looked like those words shook him to his very core. Was it the realization that having never faltered before in his career as a performer, he was now up against a challenge he could not hope to overcome? Sans and I stayed silent. Mettaton merely stood there, face directed to the ground. I thought for a moment that the trauma of coming mere inches to being obliterated by Alpha might have left him more than just a little shell-shocked. However, I thought I noticed a sound in the air. Whimpering? No... It was...laughter?

            Indeed it was. A moment later, Mettaton threw his head back as he howled in laughter with his face gazing at the sky. Both Sans and I looked at each other in confusion, not really sure of what caused Mettaton to break down into a laughing fit. Even Alpha cocked his head to one side in bewilderment. Finally, Mettaton called out, "Oh, you are absolutely right! Whatever was I thinking?! This body is not designed for the rigors of a battlefield! I am a star who specializes in the arts! This body was designed to entertain! The drama! The glamour! The suspense! The spectacle! Such is the art of entertainment! THAT is my true calling!"

            "Um, yes. I thought I made that quite clear." Alpha said dryly as he merely stared Mettaton down even as the entertainer sounded like he was just having a bit of a meltdown. I could only hope he would not try something reckless in his delicate state of mind.

            However, Mettaton then gave Alpha a most unsettling smirk as his tone became much calmer. "Although... There is also the other side of the same coin."

            Sans' constant grin faded slightly as I noticed him out of the corner of my eye. "Oh no... No no no no no, he's not really going there, is he? Mettaton, this isn't a good idea... Don't do it..."

            I did not even get to ask what it was that had Sans so uneasy since I was then distracted by Mettaton once again. He continued to speak as his voice carried a more menacing tone. "Yes, that side of the coin that is entertainment. Wanton chaos. An avalanche of clamor. A flash of fire here. The clattering of scrap over there. The kind of spectacle with all the subtlety of a demolition derby."

            I was beginning to understand what Mettaton was starting to get across. I deciphered the metaphor almost immediately. That sly fox had not yet shown his full hand. And Alpha was starting to catch on too as his eyes opened a bit wider while Mettaton then hissed, "And I should have you know...I am quite fluent in both sides of that coin."

            "Just what are you trying to say to me?" Alpha asked with a hint of caution in his voice while trying to maintain a commanding visage.

            "I suppose what I am asking is..." Mettaton said with that sly smirk on his face. He then suddenly reached over with his right hand and grasped the volume knob on the left side of his chest. "Would you prefer it if I was a combat robot? Because I can most certainly oblige."

            My eyes opened wide as I began to wonder just what sort of trick he had up his sleeve. My HUD went to work as it scanned that knob. As it turns out, it was not linked to an audio system at all. Instead, it was connected to.....something else. Something I could not properly scan. I was detecting an entire suite of functions that were dormant. If that knob were to turn...

            Alpha too began to show a look of alarm on his face. "That..... That is no idle threat, is it?!"

            Once more, Mettaton just laughed while looking much more at ease than a few minutes ago. "A threat?! Oh, no no no no! This, my lord, is an opportunity. An invitation to a grand debut of sorts. For you see... This is something the good doctor and I have been meaning to field test for quite a while now. And I'm sure she'll be quite thrilled to get the results..... Assuming I am the last one functioning, that is."

            Mettaton was far from done. He was not backing down. He was ready to truly take the fight right to the main antagonist of the Project H series. I was utterly enthralled. Just what sort of power could he have up his sleeve that could rival an enemy only I had been able to match? Even Alpha did not like the sound of this as he called out, "You're bluffing! There's no possible way a mummer like you could have the means to stand against me!"

            Mettaton let out a chuckle before suddenly making his move. With a twist of his wrist, he turned the knob on his chest upside-down. "We'll see, your majesty! Let's get this show on the road!"

            "You will do no such thing!" Alpha roared as he suddenly broke into a full gallop, his horn becoming engulfed with a long narrow plasma aura. He leaped at Mettaton with his head held high as he prepared to use his improvised plasma blade to cleave his enemy in two. I was just about ready to rush in and snatch Mettaton out of the way, but I hesitated when a bright glow began to emanate from the heart-shaped light on his waist. It not only shone so bright as to blind Alpha. It even repelled him as he lost all forward momentum and was briefly held aloft by whatever force was coming from the light. "Such light... What are you doing?!"

            As if to answer, Mettaton just let out a confident laugh as the light faded to reveal large flickering white pixels while a large glowing pale pink pixelated heart stood between Mettaton and Alpha as a barrier. Mettaton then thrust his hips forward, triggering the barrier to burst in a very brief flash that threw Alpha backwards. With some distance from his opponent gained, Mettaton squatted before leaping straight up while Alpha came to a sliding stop on his hooves. He glared up at Mettaton in irritation while I noticed a bunch of his mini drones starting to gather around the square with large speakers affixed to their frames. "Desperate little twit..."

            Mettaton had jumped shockingly high. Maybe a good thirty feet. A vast field of vibrant pink or purple formed around him as many bright particles passed him to give the illusion that he was rapidly rising through the air. Probably just the result of some device in his body generating some special effects, but it was dazzling nonetheless. With his head tilted down and with a smirk on his lips, I saw a bright pale pink light beginning to emanate from Mettaton's right eye and shine right through his hair while it gave off a flickering trail of magical energy. A new kind of tension filled the air as I realized that this was no bluff. Mettaton knew exactly what he was doing. And things were about to get wild.

            As if on an unseen cue, Mettaton suddenly threw his head back and let out a yell as purple lightning began to burst out of his right eye. He flailed his arms for maybe three seconds before he suddenly regained his composure while letting out a confident chuckle as his shiny black hair was briefly illuminated, now standing up to give him a much more radical kind of glam rock look. But the most striking change I could see was what was now covering roughly half of his face. The right side of his face was covered by a black domed visor of sorts with glowing pink crosshairs situated over where his right eye was. Obviously a feature designed specifically for combat. I let out a very quiet whistle as I muttered, "This is getting good... Are you seeing this, doc?"

            Doctor Luminous, who had been patiently quiet up until then, responded with a louder voice than usual as he did his own scan upon Mettaton's body. "Yes, and I can barely believe what I am seeing! Multiple new functions are coming online! Energy output is skyrocketing! What is he?!"

            "That's enough out of you! I will not stand for anymore of this farce!" Alpha had seen enough. He snarled as the thrusters under his hooves flared up before launching him right at Mettaton with the intention of putting him down in one stroke. But Mettaton was not fazed while constantly maintaining a very confident and determined grin on his face. And then... From the many drones floating around the square... The music began to play. And it really set the tone of exactly what kind of spectacle I was about to see. I could only look on in enthrallment as I was about to witness the most awe-inspiring mechanical transformation I had ever seen in my entire life.

            "Interrupting my transformation?! Now THAT is just rude!" Mettaton shouted in a mocking tone as a swarm of his drones suddenly came out from behind him and rushed Alpha en masse.

            "Your minions are mere cannon fodder! You expect these thing to GAAAAAHHHHH!!! GET THEM OFF!!!" Alpha suddenly roared as the drones went right for his face. They swarmed over the robotic tyrant and dragged him right back to the ground with a clank and just dogpiled onto him. I doubt they were even capable of doing much damage to the guy, but they were being quite efficient in holding him off to buy Mettaton the time he needed. I even got quite a laugh out of the guy suddenly losing his composure and crashing right back into the asphalt.

            With Alpha flailing on the ground to get his tormentors off, I turned my eyes skyward at Mettaton's floating form. I began to grin in excitement as I muttered, "This is gonna be good."

            As if to mirror my thoughts, Mettaton called out as the heart shape on his 'belt buckle' began to rotate clockwise as the rest of his 'belt' at the sides opened outward to allow it to move. "Strap yourselves in, ladies and gentlemen. IIIIIIIT'S SHOWTIME!!!"

            Once the heart was upside-down, its clamps locked it back in place with a resounding clunk. Mettaton's body responded in kind, his legs clamping together with his arms pointing straight out to his sides with hands curled into fists. My visor's HUD was hard at work, trying to make out exactly what was happening to him. I could detect some inner movement in his lower torso, almost as if his body was preparing to jettison his legs. 

            True to the transformative nature of this new function, Mettaton's entire upper torso above the waist did a half rotation with his back now on his front. But a mere second later, his torso split into three segments with his arms and shoulders moving outward as I got a good look at some of his inner workings for just an instant. The central segment slid down and partially out of view as a flash of light shone off of a reflective glass panel set in the shape of a heart that pushed forward to take its position at the center of Mettaton's chest. The outer segments then locked back in place, completing the transformation of his torso. My optic sensors detected green text being displayed behind the glass screen of that heart emblem upon Mettaton's chest. It read 'NEO'.

            Next were his arms. Starting with the left, his hand retracted into his arm before the individual rings that made up his arm's flexible tube shape retracted one by one before a properly segmented arm lined with sleek black armor plating emerged with his hand rotating into position. His right arm then did the same, but instead of a matching arm with a hand, it instead produced the unmistakable form a cannon not entirely unlike the H-Buster on my right arm. Mettaton then suddenly went into a fetal position before flinging his arms out, his face turned to the sky as he let out a shout. The instant he did this, his legs were jettisoned at the knees as they flew off with rocket engines flaring up out of the stumps. But what I then noticed was that in that brief instant, his entire lower body had changed radically. His thighs were no longer even connected to his torso! They seemed to be held in place by electromagnetism at the base of his torso right under the flickering heart light at his waist. In a flash of magical pink energy, two even longer sleek armored legs extended from the remnants of his previous legs, being roughly 50% longer than the originals. They were coated in very sturdy black armor plating with spiked heels and two spikes reaching up from the knees to lend it a very stylish, yet lethal visage as Mettaton once more let out a satisfied chuckle. His form was already radically different from what it had been at first, but he still was not done.

            My HUD detected movement on Mettaton's backside. His former breastplate extended outward as two slots opened on its new underside, revealing twin rocket engines that immediately began to flare up. A mere second later, Mettaton rocketed up into the sky as he went into a stylish spiral. His jettisoned legs went into a pursuit, the flashy pink paint that lined them being burned away to reveal the smooth black metal underneath. Even at this point, Mettaton continued to put on a show as his rocket legs performed by spiraling around him and leaving synchronized patterns with their vapor trails. Once Mettaton ceased rotating himself, the legs became parallel with his shoulders and turned until their stumps were aligned with his spaulders. They were then drawn in by what was likely electromagnetism before they locked onto his body with a deep clank. And in that instant, their design changed. They only vaguely resembled the legs they had been before, now being large and sturdy pauldrons that reached up on a shallow angle that almost reached out as far as his arms, the feet of the legs now a profound curved spike.

            The dazzling pink visual effects became much more minimalistic for a moment as blackness joined in with Mettaton freezing in place as his eye closed. With a bright glow, he once more went into a fetal position before suddenly thrusting his arm cannon out while taking a much more dynamic pose as the special effects behind him went wild with a kaleidoscope of bright pink shapes. His form had gone from being quite androgynous and sleek to something that was distinctly masculine and sturdy while really rocking the whole glam rock look. Last of all, his new pauldrons began to project flickering pink wings of sorts from the backside that vaguely resembled a cape, their semi physical energy composition not being entirely unlike my own particle shield. All I could do was applaud. What a show! And he was just getting started!

            As Mettaton reveled in his new form, my attention was turned to Alpha. During that commotion, he had successfully shaken off the many drones that were harassing him and even heavily damaged them. One last drone was shook from his body and fell to the ground before the cruel machine tyrant crushed it under his hoof. Frustration in his eyes, he turned his gaze to the transformed entertainer above us and fired off a burst of fiery plasma shots from his horn. "I grow weary of your diversions! Perish!"

            "I beg to differ!" Mettaton shouted as he took aim with his arm cannon while Alpha's shots closed in. I could see glowing pink particles being drawn into the mouth of the cannon as he began to charge up for a shot. "This...is the grand debut of Mettaton NEO!!!"

            With that said, Mettaton fired. And I swear I felt the air ripple as his arm cannon discharged. My HUD scanned it as it fired, finding that the damage output of that cannon significantly surpassed my own as long as I had the limiter active. It shot right through and dispersed Alpha's shots, forcing the startled alicorn robot to jump to the side to avoid a direct hit. This time, it was Alpha who was on the run as he jumped about to avoid Mettaton's successive shots. With the fourth blast, Alpha was tripped up by the shockwave of the blast impacting the ground and fell flat on his front.

            I looked up in awe as Mettaton flew through the air with impressive grace before coming to a stop and lining up a shot as his many audio drones continued to sing his praises through music. Alpha scrambled to his hooves to get out of the way, but it was too late. He let out a yell as Mettaton unloaded another shot on him, the blast engulfing his hind legs before Alpha collapsed once more onto the ground. Did that one shot really cripple him?

            The music began to fade to silence as Mettaton gradually descended with the hiss of his rocket engines quieting down. Upon landing, his wings too vanished before he began to strut towards the fallen tyrant as he struggled to climb to his feet. I too approached the damaged tyrant, curious to get a look at the extent of the damage Mettaton had done with just that one hit. I was also surprised by just how much taller Mettaton was in his new form. He easily stood a full head taller than me. Even without actually touching his torso, his new legs still carried him forward. "Ha! The mighty tyrant brought to his news by a mere mummer. Truly this is a new low for you, my liege."

            I cracked a smirk while I observed the extent of the damage. While the rest of his body escaped harm, Alpha's hind legs were completely fried. Cracks lined the sleek armor plating as smoke and sparks rose from them. I doubt even I could hit Alpha quite that hard without charging the H-Buster to 1000%. However, just as I was thinking Alpha was down for the count, the frustrated tyrant let out a growl as one of his front hooves scraped against the ground. "I do not believe I need to resort to this...just to overcome this mummer's farce!"

            Much to our shock, the plating around Alpha's hoof and arm opened in such a way that allowed more mass and metal to emerge, engulfing his hoof or even causing it to spread out until a large powerful hand grasped at the ground. Mettaton and I took a step back in alarm while I recognized the sheer size of that hand. "Oh man... Is this going where I think this is?"

            My thoughts proved correct. Alpha's plasma aura for his mane and tail ceased to be as their emitters closed. His torso went from the slender form of an alicorn stallion as it spread out into a barrel-chested torso closer to that of a human. His hind legs' ruined outer shell was engulfed by the new enhancements that lied underneath. The only part of his original design that remained untouched aside from his head were the long frames of his flight thrusters. Alpha rose to his feet and turned around with an arm reaching out to his side as a new plasma aura cape of sorts extended from behind him. He stood as a giant, easily reaching eight feet in height. The new pauldrons over his shoulders, his powerful limbs as his body had now taken on a far more human form with the exception of his head... I could only look on in shock at this most unexpected transformation as one word escaped my lips. "Sigma...?"

            Alpha's mighty hand reached to his side as a slot open up to eject what was clearly the hilt for a cybernetic sword not unlike that of my own H-Saber. He held it horizontally in stoic silence before a blade of searing plasma in a bold orange hue to match the orange scars under his eyes extended from the base. The resemblance of his new form to that of a very familiar villain in my memory was nothing short of uncanny. Tall, powerful, and consisting of mostly shiny metallic white with orange highlights here and there, Alpha's new bipedal form did indeed have a somewhat regal visage to it. Fitting when one considers his design was based upon Celestia herself.

            "Surprised? I do not fault you. I knew that if I were to triumph over you after our last encounter, I would need to.....evolve. My answer was to become more like you. So here I stand. A fusion of stallion and man. And I must say that I am quite confident that my decision was not faulty." Alpha spoke boldly before pointing his plasma blade at Mettaton, which was easily the length of a longsword or greater. "But you... For being the one to force me to resort to this form, I shall give you the honor of telling me your name so I may remember you once I have annihilated you. Speak, mummer!"

            Despite Alpha most likely now having likely attained a new kind of threat level, Mettaton's look of surprise promptly faded as a look of...intrigue settled into his face. "My name...? You wish to know my name?"

            Alpha's response was quick and concise as he neared the tip of his blade to Mettaton's face. "I will not ask again. Tell me your name!"

            At this point, the music that had been previously muted began to once more become audible from the many speakers floating around the square. In a steadily rising crescendo, I could tell that the music was about to loop back to the beginning. And Mettaton knew this. "Why... I am SO very glad you asked."

            Alpha and I looked at Mettaton in curiosity as the handful of drones that were holding stage lights began to shine them onto Mettaton once more. And then, as the music returned to its full volume, Mettaton...began to sing as his voice was projected not just from his own mouth, but from the speakers as well. "My name is Mettaton and I am here to say, with the Power of Neo, I stand in your way!"

            Even with Mettaton pointing his arm cannon at Alpha while bursting into song, Alpha just hunkered forward in utter exasperation as he grumbled, "Please tell me you're not..."

            "Saving the kingdom from the vile folly of man!" Mettaton continued to sing in sync with the music that blared out over the square while I started to crack a grin at just how seriously and comically he was taking this challenge at the same time. "Others failed to stop you, but I know I can!"

            "He is." I retorted in amusement as Alpha started to look nothing short of annoyed. So annoyed that he suddenly launched a burst of plasma right from his horn at Mettaton. Despite not being very far away, Mettaton effortlessly evaded the shot by turning his torso sideways and leaning back as the fiery shot flew right past him and impacted the asphalt with a flash of fire.

            "Real heroes never fear, real heroes laugh at death! I will stand in your way until my final breath!" Mettaton chanted as he regained his posture. But as he sang the next line of lyrics, three sets of drones shone stage lights upon Mettaton one by one as he slowly took steps towards Alpha. "I dedicate my life to upholding what is right! Take a bow, villain..."

            During a very brief pause in the music, I heard Mettaton's voice speak from everywhere even while his lips remained still. His voice carried a distorted effect and it conveyed a sense of anticipation. "And smile! It's closing night!"

            The instant those words were spoken... My god, where do I even begin? More speakers came online, more stage lights began to shine all over the square while pivoting every which way, and even the twin giant television displays at both ends of the square flicked on while playing the music and displaying Mettaton as if he was performing for a live-action show! It seemed that Mettaton had hijacked the television network to display his performance to whoever just happened to be using their television sets at the time. The entirety of Maretropolis was likely serving witness to this battle! It was as if the confrontation had stopped being a life or death struggle and had turned into a wild rave!

            At the first opportunity I got, my HUD went to work scanning Mettaton to see how his body was functioning. True to the doctor's observations, Mettaton's energy output was on a completely different level than it had been in his prior form. Multiple new functions were online and that arm cannon was packing some serious firepower. But while his offensive output was impressively high and his pauldrons and legs were coated with some impressively sturdy armor plating, his energy shielding was worryingly low. With how unbalanced his performance was in terms of offense to defense, I was quick to assume that this state was an untested prototype. But I was not that worried. I had already experienced being in the body of a robotic hero who was also in the prototype phase. Perhaps Mettaton would surprise everyone in much the same way I surprised myself back then.

            "Drama, romance, bloodshed, I did briiiiing!!!" Mettaton sang with his voice being carried everywhere as the speakers were pumping out some serious bass. An unseen chorus even followed his line with chants of 'We love you, Mettaton! We love you, Mettaton!' at the end of each line of lyrics. Alpha looked momentarily disoriented from all the light and sound blasting through the air. During that time, Mettaton took aim with his arm cannon and charged up for another shot. "But I will never let you destroy everythiiiing!!!"

            "Unleashing all the power I caaaaan!!!" Alpha only barely managed a defense as Mettaton fired with the same amount of force that ruined Alpha's previous set of legs. He grasped his arm with his spare hand while taking a stiff stance, deflecting the blast of pink energy with the blade of his sword as it was sent flying off between skyscrapers and into the sky. Alpha was clearly not in the mood for a direct confrontation with such a racket going on around him, so he spread his great wings and flared up their thrusters before rocketing up into the air. All the while, Mettaton did not miss a beat while striking a dynamic pose with his weapon locked onto his enemy. "This is the final act for us, folly of maaaaan!!!"

            "Indeed it is, you eyesore! Now perish!" Alpha roared as he fired an even larger burst of plasma from his horn. I probably should have jumped in at some point to assist Mettaton, but I could not find the will to turn my attention away from the action while standing at the sidelines. This entire mess was so flashy, so entertaining, so bombastic that I simply could do nothing but watch. This was Mettaton's fight now. He was the star of this show and I knew it even as his rocket engines flared up once more.

            "Raising my face to the sky!" Mettaton called as he shot up into the air in pursuit of the rising maverick king while pulling off another spiral like when his rocket thrusters activated for the first time. While spinning, his wing projectors came back online as the particle wings flickered rapidly in pale pink light. "Granting me wings and the power to fly!" He then came out of his spiral and flew skyward at impressive speed with his arm cannon charging up for another shot. "Curtains rise! Salvation I bring! This ballad I'll siiiiiing!!!"

            Once he had caught up with Alpha, Mettaton let loose with another powerful blast. Alpha narrowly deflected it yet again using nothing more than his sword before rushing in for a direct strike. With them so far away, I turned my attention to one of the massive television displays at the ends of the square. It was doing an excellent job of providing an up-close look at the action taking place high above me. The camera work was quick to change perspective for the most dynamic shot, although I had to wonder what was holding the camera.

            Alpha lashed out with his sword, but Mettaton was quick to set up another heart-shaped barrier to block the strike. This did a lot to soothe my worries. Even if his resistance to direct attacks was subpar, it would not matter if Alpha's attacks could not even reach him. As he held off the attack, Mettaton continued to sing. "Will they all remember my face? Can they escape this terrible place?"

            A rather somber change in tone for those lyrics. Did Mettaton know he was picking a fight with a potentially superior foe? Regardless, that confident grin never left his face. And he still displayed more control over the situation than I expected. With a sudden move, he struck Alpha in the side of the head with a kick from his new longer armored leg. With Alpha off balance, Mettaton brought his arm cannon in for another blast at close range. He struck from above, blasting Alpha down to the ground far below even as Alpha generated a lethal plasma barrier around his body like back in the comic's pilot for defense. "I must try, even though I may die, to protect land and kiiiiing!"

            Alpha dispersed his barrier once the energy stream from Mettaton's cannon ran its course. He landed on his feet, his large heavy foot panels crashing into the ground hard enough to all but puncture it under his weight. Mettaton rapidly descended until he was standing a good distance away with his particle wings vanishing upon landing. With stage lights blaring, he began to strut towards his enemy with each step clanking heavily against the asphalt. All the while, he continued to sing as he entered the second verse of his song. "My name is Mettaton and I am here to stay! I will stand and fight here forever in your way! Come and stop me! If you really think you can..."

            I looked on in apprehension as Alpha suddenly charged Mettaton with sword raised high. I was expecting Mettaton to block the attack by projecting a barrier like the last time, but that was not the case. Instead, he threw up his right arm and parried the slash with a long pink energy blade being emitted from the mouth of his arm cannon. He buckled slightly under the force of Alpha's strike as his larger opponent pressed down on him, but Mettaton's smile never faded as it only became more determined. "I will not bow down to a maddened folly of man!"

            "Why won't you fall?!" Alpha roared in frustration as he once again failed to land a hit on his opponent. He disengaged from Mettaton before the two of them began to clash with blades. Orange and pink sparks flew with every hiss of their blades colliding as Mettaton managed to parry every swing while frequently lashing out with a flurry of thrusts as he utilized his blade like a rapier. He was not above using elaborate and stylish slashes as he twirled, leaped, and even completely rotated his entire up body in a rapid circular slash with his legs not following suit.

            "Real heroes never fear, real heroes laugh at death! I will stand in your way until my final breath!" Mettaton chanted as he once more sang the refrain while he and Alpha once again locked blades. "I dedicate my life to upholding what is right! Take a bow, villain..."

            Once more, Mettaton's lips went still as his voice spoke with a distorted effect from all speakers floating around the square. But as he did, Alpha glanced down quite suddenly. "And smile! It's closing night!"

            Out of nowhere, one of Mettaton's legs shot up and kicked Alpha squarely in the chin. But not like a mere direct attack from Mettaton himself. As Alpha staggered back from the surprise attack, I saw that the leg was now flying around entirely detached from its owner! "How do you think this will eeeeeennnnddddd?!"

            "Come on now, Mettaton! Come on now, Mettaton!" The chorus chanted as the leg suddenly came swooping in at Alpha and grabbed him right around the throat with his neck wedged between the foot and heel! It lifted him into the air before performing a flip and flinging him headfirst into the pavement. As he bounced up a short distance, the other leg left Mettaton's side and snatched him out of the air by the throat and repeated the process! Before Alpha could touch the ground after bouncing off the pavement once more, he began to get juggled by the two armored legs performing hit and run attacks on the maverick king. Mettaton just watched with a smirk while he floated off the ground without trouble. Truly a quirky combatant!

            Finally, Alpha got sick of getting smacked around by a pair of disembodied legs and repelled them with a plasma barrier before he landed right on his back. He had a number of dents here and there, but his tough armored form was largely uncompromised. As he climbed to his feet, Mettaton's legs returned to their positions below him while he sang the next bit of the verse while being serenaded by the chorus. "After the slaughter of this world's heroes and frieeeeennndddsss?!"

            "Do you ever shut up?!" Alpha yelled in frustration as he charged Mettaton only for one of his legs to suddenly shoot out again. It flew low and got a laugh out of me by colliding with Alpha's foot and tripping him up, sending the towering alicorn robot right into the pavement once more.

            "Your mindless march towards an ultimate gooooooaaaallll..." Mettaton sang as he took aim rather casually at Alpha's face with his arm cannon charging up for another shot. Alpha growled as he glared up at his unpredictable opponent, his empty hand grasping the ground for leverage as I saw his energy cape fade before his long flowing energy mane began to spill from the back of his head again. Perhaps it was a sign he was no longer playing around even as Mettaton continued to sing in sync with the music. "Are you even still the one who is in controooooollll?!"

            Right as Mettaton unloaded his cannon onto Alpha, the maverick king's wings spread wide and flared up their thrusters, lifting him just out of range as the blast exploded into the pavement hard enough to leave a mild crater. Hovering perhaps a mere ten feet off the ground, Alpha fired a concentrated plasma laser from the tip of his horn that hissed along the ground and only narrowly missed Mettaton by passing through the space between his left leg and his torso. Mettaton even looked somewhat alarmed by such a close call as his grin briefly faded. Had his leg been of a more conventional design that was attached to his torso, that would have surely resulted in some serious damage. Only his quirky unorthodox design saved him. Now looking more determined than before, he began to grin more menacingly. "Should this be the last time we meet... Then I shall accept my defeat! If it means my people are safe! My people are freeeeeeee!!!"

            Once Alpha landed, he snarled as I saw his eyes beginning to glow with a bright blue light to offset his orange accents. Mettaton saw what was coming and threw up his left hand as laser emitters set into Alpha's optics activated, unleashing narrow blue lasers right into Mettaton's heart barrier. "You must know that you are too late! The city shall evacuate!"

            While Alpha was staring Mettaton down with his laser glare, Mettaton once again caught him by surprise with his legs operating outside his field of vision. Alpha had no time to react as the two came flying in from his sides, forcing the machine tyrant to let out a yell as his attack was disrupted by them essentially boxing his ears. That attack brought back unpleasant memories of when High Heel did that to me during my last adventure within the world of the Power Ponies. As his legs returned to their proper places below him, Mettaton continued to sing while Alpha staggered a bit with a hand on his head. "If you've still the will, the desire to kill, then you must go through meeeeeee!!!"

            "And I shall!" Alpha roared as he raised his sword and came in swinging with very heavy strokes to try and overwhelm Mettaton's barrier. Over and over, the blade clashed against Mettaton's barrier while forcing Mettaton to step back to prevent Alpha from drawing too near. No matter how powerful Alpha was or how fragile Mettaton's current form was, it did not matter if Alpha could not land a blow on his enemy. "Fall... Fall! I will end your life! FALL!!!"

            It was then that Mettaton completely lost his confident smirk as he once again summoned his energy blade from the mouth of his arm cannon and dispelled his barrier to block Alpha's slash with his own blade. The two began to rapidly clash while trying to get in a blow on the other as Mettaton's lyrics became much more dire. "My name is Mettaton and so let no one say that I was a coward and I did not save the day! I'll sacrifice my life, but I am doing what's right! Every second I'm here, we've saved another life!"

            Mettaton was becoming much more daring with his assaults, often performing rocket-powered lunges and rapidly spinning his torso through the air for a buzz saw slash, sparks flying from their blades as Alpha stood his ground to parry such an overwhelming attack. I suppose even Mettaton was beginning to understand how important it was to cease his more theatrical attacks and actually put an end to this menace. Even then, he continued to sing. "Real heroes never fear! Real heroes laugh at death! I will stand in your way until my final breath! I dedicate my life! To upholding what is right! Take a bow, villain...!"

            "I will never bow to the likes of you!" Alpha roared as his wings were spread before their thrusters flared up and sent Alpha rocketing up into the sky to likely prepare for an aerial assault.

            The blade in Mettaton's arm faded as his distorted voice once more called from all of the speakers floating around the city square. "And smile! It's closing night!"

            I looked on in awe as Mettaton grimly glared up at the rising form of Alpha high above him. He continued to sing as his own rocket engines began to flare up on his back, his particle wings once again hanging from his pauldrons. "The end of the world... I face it with priiiiiiiide!!!"

            "Exploding Mettaton! Exploding Mettaton!" The chorus chanted as Mettaton once again rushed skyward to pursue his enemy. With the two of them now so far away, I turned my attention to one of the huge television displays nearby that were still broadcasting their struggle. The camera was mostly behind Mettaton before it began to pan around to somewhere ahead of him in an impressive use of dynamics.

            With Alpha directly ahead of him, Mettaton summoned a rotating ring of his drones somewhere behind him. All at once, they began to rapidly fire off shimmering pixelated heart shots that rushed ahead of Mettaton and around Alpha as well, trapping them in some sort of kaleidoscope tunnel that was as disorienting as it was dazzling. "If I've got the slimmest chance to stop your cruel genociiiiiide!!!"

            Alpha at least tried to shoot down Mettaton with plasma bursts from his horn, but the disorienting tunnel he was trapped in made the judging of distance very tricky as Mettaton banked around each shot with his legs rushing ahead to kick Alpha straight into the countless hearts that made up the tunnel. "Hopes...and...dreams...must prevaaaaaaiiiiilll!!!"

            With Alpha having been sent into a tumble after being carried along by the spiraling tunnel of dangerous energy, Mettaton got the shot he needed. He flew right up into Alpha's face before pressing his arm cannon right into his chest. "So I shall stay here until the bitter end of this taaaaale!!!"

            With an overwhelming blast from his cannon, Mettaton sent a roaring Alpha right through the tunnel and right into the pavement far below and in front of me with a thunderous crash. That impact left quite the crater with Alpha showing a fair bit of external damage. He struggled to sit up, his sword still stubbornly clutched in his right hand in defiance. All the while Mettaton began to descend through the air as he called out in song, "Will they remember my face? Can they escape this terrible place? I must try, even though I may die, to protect land and kiiiiiiing!!!"

            With almost angelic grace, Mettaton descended at the far end of the square ahead of Alpha and stared him down in triumph with his smirk once more spreading across his face. "Raising my face to the sky... Granting me wings and the power to fly..."

            Alpha had barely rose to a sitting position as Mettaton took aim with his arm cannon charging up for another blast at maximum power. I merely crossed my arms, thoroughly impressed by Mettaton's performance. He might have stolen Hunter's spotlight, but this mysterious and very entertaining dark horse proved himself to be anything but a farce in the art of combat. And so, Mettaton sang his farewell with one last verse as the lights and music continued to serenade his performance. "Curtains fall! Salvation I bring! This ballad I'll siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!!!"

            Alas, it was not meant to be. Just as his cannon was nearing maximum charge, my HUD detected something far off to Mettaton's right. From high upon the rooftops at the very edge of the city square, a burst of intense fire was hurtling right at Mettaton. The aiming reticle on his own HUD on the right side of his face likely detected it too since it suddenly aligned with the incoming projectile. I looked on in shock, reaching out to Mettaton as his confident smirk suddenly faded as he began to move his cannon to intercept the shot. But it was too late. With a fiery explosion, Mettaton was engulfed as the blast burst into him like an incendiary bomb of sorts. And with that blast, the entire city square fell into darkness and silence.

            An intense feeling of dread filled my heart as I saw and heard the many drones floating around the square hit the ground in inactivity. Even the twin television screens presiding over the square had filled with static before suddenly shutting off. And I saw why. The blast had been strong enough to send Mettaton crashing right through the wall of the building that was just behind him. And slumped over on a throne of bricks and rubble was Mettaton. My HUD was hard at work trying to detect any signs of life, but I got nothing. No signs of internal functions at all. All systems were offline. Mettaton's abysmal defensive capabilities had been exploited to lethal effect. He was gone. And the entirety of Maretropolis had witnessed it.

            I was quivering in fury. I wanted to cry! He was so close! Alpha was right there! Who even fired off that shot anyway?! As if to answer my unspoken questions, a voice I did not recognize called out over the city square. "Yeesh, I thought he'd never shut up!"

            Alpha steadily rose to his feet, still damaged from the skirmish with Mettaton, but not too severely. He turned his gaze to the general direction of the voice who had just sniped Mettaton while looking quite pleased. "Aries, your timing could not have been more impeccable."

            As I scanned the distant rooftops, I could hear Sans cowering under a bus stop's bench nearby. The poor guy sounded like he was on the verge of panic after watching his acquaintance get taken out. "Oh man oh man oh man... No no no no no no what am I gonna tell Papyrus... Alphys is gonna kill meee... No wait, she's gonna tell Undyne and then Undyne's gonna kill meee..."

            "Yeah, you sound screwed." I muttered before scanning the distance for the source of the voice of the sniper. Aries, I think Alpha called him? Sure enough, something leapt from the rooftops and was carried over the city square by twin fiery thrusters on its back. Upon landing, I was quick to notice some similarities to another figure from my memory. "Wait... Are we really going there?"

            The figure before me was a bipedal pony robot of sorts with a design and build not entirely unlike Alpha's, although he was just slightly shorter. His design archetype was not too dissimilar to my own, his body covered in hardened scarlet armor while his softer flexible components were almost white while having scarlet stripes along the sides of his limbs. Most of his jaw line and the back of his head was held in a hardened scarlet brace, given him a very combat-centric visage. His fiery red eyes and excited grin did not help either as he looked like he was itching for some action. I watched as the two cylindrical rocket engines on his back did a half rotation outward before they rose over his shoulders and came partially forward, revealing themselves to double as incendiary cannons with one even extending a handle to grasp and aim with. This fiery stallion before me took aim at me with his cannon and flashed me a most menacing grin. "I hope you'll put up a better fight than that loudmouth over there. I've been itching to take some potshots at you for a while!"

            Being reminded of what just happened to Mettaton and now standing before the one who shot him down, I quickly found myself fuming as I took a step forward. "You... You... That was a total cheap shot, you prick!"

            "Oooooh, I like 'em fiery! Just like me!" Aries retorted while looking even more excited now that he had gotten me legitimately pissed off. However, right as I raised the H-Buster for a shot at him, my HUD detected something coming right at me from my right. A spinning laser blade of sorts? Unable to dodge, I turned and shot the incoming projectile out of the air as it burst in a flurry of metal bits. Aries responded in annoyance as he turned to face the source of the attack. "Oh, come on, Corvus! I got here first! Lemme have a shot at him! Wait your turn!"

            I only caught a glimpse of a dark figure upon a nearby rooftop before it suddenly leaped into the air and landed before us surprisingly lightly with the finesse of a professional assassin. I took a step back as another bipedal pony robot all but kneeled before me while he cast his gaze up at me with focused stoic dark eyes. His hardened armor was less concealing around his torso, giving him the feel of a fighter who specializes in speed and flexibility. Said armor was also black or a very dark gray while his softer components were white. The only part of his armored body that was not black was a mask-like plate set into his head. It branched out to the sides and back, ending in two points while a third point jutted out of his forehead to form a unicorn's horn. His black muzzle lacked a visible mouth, resembling a ninja's face mask to muffle their voice. I could see the hilt of a plasma sword weapon not unlike the H-Saber on holster set on the back of his hip. Lastly, a type of dual red energy scarf billowed behind him to complete his ninja visage. In a calm and somewhat deep voice, the dark maverick before me spoke coolly. "You've already claimed your prey for the evening, brother. And I must prove myself to our lord."

            "Fefnir and Phantom... What other parallels am I gonna see in this world?" I muttered to myself as I quickly noticed how familiar these two machine warriors were to me while also taking note of how their design completely bypassed their master's original quadruped form. But where were the other two?

            Alpha then turned to his fiery subordinate while looking and sounding quite smug compared to how he was a short while earlier. He must have been confident that victory was in his grasp. "That you have, Aries. Allow Corvus to prove his worth."

            Aries did not take this well as he stomped the ground once as he abruptly turned to his superior. "Come on, boss! The girls are itching for some real action! See?! Veevee's hissing in excitement!"

            I cast a cockeyed glance at the cannon on his left shoulder. A hiss of steam or smoke was emitted from the mouth. I then slouched forward in bemusement as I asked dryly, "You named your cannons...?" 

            Alpha just rolled his eyes as Aries excitedly turned to me with his hand patting the outer side of the cannon on his left shoulder. "Yep! Right here is the little sister, Vesuvius..." He then pulled down his right cannon and patted that one as well in an affectionate manner. "And this is the big sister, Krakatoa. Ain't they beauties?"

            I raised an eyebrow in confused amusement before giving a glance to Alpha. "You got yourself a real whackjob here."

            The maverick king merely grumbled as he glanced away from his trigger-happy subordinate. "So I have seen."

            "So, you see?! Lemme at him, boss! The girls wanna roast him!" Aries pleaded while clutching his hands into fists as he grinned with...concerning enthusiasm.

            "No, you already terminated one of our enemies. Allow Corvus to... Hey! Get off my leg! Groveling like that won't help you!" Alpha roared as Aries suddenly got on the floor and clung to Alpha's leg while begging repeatedly to be allowed to face me. I had no idea whether to laugh or cringe at such a display, but Corvus merely turned away while shaking his head in shame. I certainly never expected a maverick of all things to provide comic relief.

            "For the last time, Aries! Corvus shall face Hunter first! Now get up or I shall dismantle your weapons!" Alpha finally shouted to try and get his uncooperative subordinate to comply.

            Aries gasped in fright at such a threat and immediately scrambled to his feet before backing away with laughable speed. "No! No no no no, you made your point! Anything but the girls!" He then pulled both cannons down even further before crossing them over his chest and...lovingly caressing them in a type of embrace. "Shhh... Shhh... It's OK, girls. He's not gonna take you away. You're staying right here."

            It was at this point that I could not contain myself and busted out in raucous laughter. Even with my anger still lingering from watching Mettaton get blindsided by a kill shot, this was too silly for me to not laugh at. I was both furious at Aries, yet strangely finding myself starting to like the guy, if that makes any sense. But I suppose it is normal to have a soft spot for comic relief characters.

            "Are you quite done?! If you've ceased finding humor in the situation, you have a death to experience!" Alpha finally yelled at me before pointing at his more stoic subordinate. "Corvus! This is your fight. Eradicate our enemy!"

            "It shall be done, my lord." Corvus hissed before he suddenly looked my way with his right hand reaching for the hilt on the back of his hip and raising his left hand to assume a very dynamic combat stance. His design was sleek. His stance was unwavering. I knew that this opponent was going to be unlike any I had faced before. A new tension filled the air as I understood the situation. Corvus was coming for my head. "I feel no animosity towards you, but you are the enemy of my lord. Prepare to die."

            "You're gonna have to work for it, maverick." I retorted in defiance as I too reached for the hilt of the H-Saber in the holster on my right leg. With a sudden lunge, Corvus came right at me as he lashed out from the draw with his blade held in a reverse grip. I got the H-Saber out in time and flared up its blade, blocking his swing as sparks flew from our plasma blades. His was noticeably shorter than mine, but glowed with a ghostly light blue while being distinctly designed for one-handed use. The blade ended in a fine point while widening out before narrowing again just above the base, lending it the form of an oversized kunai dagger.

            Corvus let out a quiet grunt as we pushed our blades against each other while I went on the defensive to try and gauge my opponent. I was expecting speed and trickier tactics than what I was used to, but was caught by surprise as Corvus lashed out with his left hand for an open palm strike. It was a harmless blow, but threw me off balance when he shoved his hand into my chest. As he came in for a piercing stab, I managed to activate the shield projector on my left arm and blocked the strike with the blade's tip scratching along the particle shield. I then lashed out with a slash of my own, striking Corvus in his unarmored thigh. The scorching blade cut through the softer material with little resistance, but his tough internal frame still held.

            My opponent grunted with pain as I landed the first strike, he quickly jumped back while even performing a one-handed handstand flip in an impressive show of acrobatic prowess as his energy scarf trailed behind him. When he landed upon his feet, his left hand reached for the scorched cut in his leg. He glared at me in mild frustration as he said, "You draw first blood... Truly, I underestimated you. The shame is mine."

            "Not expecting to fail in slaying me in a single stroke, huh?" I asked before I noticed a dark aura of sorts flare up around his horn. He placed his sword back into its holster before reaching out to his side as a round disc-like device was summoned into his grasp in a burst of binary code and black fog. With a flick of Corvus' wrist, it sprouted four large ghostly blue plasma blades with a diameter of at least half his height. My eyes went a little wide as I saw him prepare to use his deadly shuriken. "Oh... I see where this is going now."

            Corvus skillfully hurled his shuriken at me as its four blades spun so fast that they appeared to form a ring of blue plasma around the central rim. I evaded it just fine with a boot thruster-powered dodge to my right, but I saw it boomerang right back around to Corvus before he jumped straight up and landed upon it with just one foot while maintaining a very straight posture. His impeccable balance did not waver as the shuriken flew back and forth with its rider summoning plasma kunai to his hands. I had to go on the move to avoid getting peppered with his little blades, keeping my shield at the ready to block any that were coming for me head. I quickly grew tired of this and decided to bring him back down to my level as I readied the H-Buster while accessing my Variable Weapon System. My hardened armor turned a shade of purple and took aim as Corvus began to float back towards me. "Com'ere! Strike Chain!"

            The rapidly extending chain burst from the mouth of the H-Buster and clamped onto Corvus' arm as he tried to block it. I then retracted the chain, yanking him right off his shuriken. Thinking quickly, he immediately turned my attack against me by flipping himself forward and slamming his feet into my chest. With how much taller he was than me, there was a lot of weight behind that blow. I was knocked right to the ground while Corvus immediately rolled backwards and up onto his feet without missing a beat before summoning and hurling a plasma kunai right at my head the instant I sat up and clipped my left stabilizer fin.

            "So this is what it's like to fight a ninja..." I grumbled to myself as I saw Corvus summon his flying shuriken right back to his hand before hurling it directly at me. I had barely gotten back onto my feet before I threw up my shield arm to block it. By then, I had restored my right hand and decided to give Corvus a taste of his own medicine. I reached out and grabbed the shuriken's circular middle section. "Let's see how you like it... Huh?!"

            My HUD detected something the instant I took hold of the shuriken. My Variable Weapon System had scanned the weapon in my grasp. A wire frame display came up that showed the shuriken and then a spiraling hook of sorts. If I had any doubts of what I had just assimilated into my weapon systems, the color of my body confirmed my suspicions. My hardened armor had become black as coal while the softer components were a dark gray. I cast a smirk at Corvus as he stood ready, probably expecting me to throw his weapon back at him. Instead, I dropped the shuriken as I prepared the H-Buster with it whistling for a charged shot. I then took aim as I called out the identity of this familiar weapon. "Try dodging this one! Shadow Runner!"

            As if to answer the call, five spiraling curved blades of dark energy burst forth from the H-Buster and spiraled towards Corvus on very fast and erratic trajectories. He tried to parry them out of the air, but all he could do was groan as all five sank their hooks into him. He grunted and staggered, clearly in a lot of pain as the dark energy projectiles stuck out of his body. But as I was debating on how to follow up, I got an unexpected surprise as Doctor Luminous spoke up through my internal receiver. "Hunter, just a moment! If I am seeing the properties of this function right... I think this would be a prime opportunity to try out a new function I installed in you."

            "Huh? New function? Like...what? Another combo weapon?" I asked in return as I suspected that combining Shadow Runner with another one of my assimilated weapons would produce a new one.

            The doctor's response was not quite what I expected. "Yes...and no. While you are familiar with combining your weapons for different results, such as combining Rocket Tackle and Fire Wave for Speed burner and Storm Tornado and Shotgun Ice for Drift Diamond, this function is quite different. It is a very situational function that only activates when very specific combinations are used. I wouldn't call them weapons as much as...different modes."

            "Modes...? Now I'm curious. What should I combine Shadow Runner with?" I asked with sincere curiosity while keeping a close eye on Corvus. Those shadowy projectiles almost seemed to be acting like a restricting poison with how he was struggling to bring himself to stand up. Perhaps Corvus had a similar trick to use against me...

            I heard the clicking of computer keys in the background for a moment before Luminous provided a response. "Well... Judging by compatibility... I would say Rocket Tackle should be the right match. Give it a try."

            "Will do, doc." I retorted while accessing my Variable Weapon System. The second weapon slot was soon filled with the icon of the Rocket Tackle function, but I immediately got an unexpected response. My HUD went wild for just a second with lines of code before displaying my body and a line of bold text that read 'Shadow Mode Activated'. An armored mask of sorts closed over my face, leaving my face fully encased behind the mask and visor. The HUD showed a grid of my body and how its functions were changing. Processing rate and response time had almost tripled in efficiency, but my flight thrusters were locked in place and entirely offline. The H-Buster's functions were locked as well, restricting my primary weaponry to just the Shadow Runner. I was restricted to ground combat, but it looked like I had become much physically faster as well. Almost as if...I had suddenly emulated the fighting prowess of a ninja. "Doc... Does this mean what I think it does?"

            "Why not just go ahead and take a crash course?" Luminous replied in an almost joking manner. I suppose I would be better off actually trying it out instead of merely being told what to do. It appeared that Corvus had managed to pry the Shadow Runner blades out of his body before he rose to his feet with quite a glare in his eyes.

            "Your imitation weapons won't be enough to slay me." Corvus growled before he suddenly flung another plasma kunai at me out of nowhere. Had it been at any prior moment, I would have had to throw up my shield projector to avoid damage. Instead, I got quite a surprise. The world seemed to freeze as the projectile heading towards me slowed to a crawl. Acting on instincts that I simply did not have a minute ago, I flared up my boot thrusters before I was catapulted a mere twenty away in a short, yet absurdly fast lunge. Time then returned to normal as Corvus' weapon flew right through the open air where I had been. When I cast a glance at him, I saw that the glare in his eyes had become a gaze of unease. "When... When do you do that? I did not...even see it!"

            "Whoa, looks like he just turned into a kinda speed demon, bro! Watch yourself!" Aries called out form the sidelines. Alpha merely crossed his arms with a scowl on his face as he observed in silence. I was most fortunate that they had not ganged up on me.

            "I can see that!" Corvus yelled before flinging several plasma kunai at me in quick succession. Once more, my processing rate skyrocketed as I weaved and dashed around these incoming projectiles one after the other with very brief dashes for a type of 'flash step' technique. Once this attack had ceased, Corvus began to look rather unsettled. "What sorcery is this...? How do you...?"

            I merely stared him down in silence. I was not even certain of what to say. Finally, Corvus reached for his blade and began to draw it as he dashed at me. "Enough! Now fa..."

            I responded in the same way he did. Before I even knew what I was doing, I had zipped by him after drawing the H-Saber from its holster. Or did I draw two? I glanced down at my hands and saw that the hilt of the H-Saber had altered and been spilt in two, having become twin plasma kunai with fiery orange blades. I glanced back at Corvus as he stood where he was, his inactive sword hilt in hand as he clutched his side with the other. I had performed a passing slash, ripping through the softer material around his waist. All before he could even get his weapon out!

            "You are disappointing me, Corvus." Alpha said sternly from the sidelines while Aries silently pointed back and forth at the two of us with mouth slightly agape, apparently trying to make sense of how I had gone from where I was to behind Corvus in a fraction of a second.

            The normally stoic shinobi before me glanced at his master with a very concerned gaze. Perhaps out of fear that he had failed in his duties. I knew that if Corvus was embracing the ninja aspect of his design as hard as he was, then duty to him was everything. Alpha continued to speak sternly as he stood motionless at the sidelines. "You know you have the means to overcome this threat. Do not let this traitor best you at your own game. Perform at maximum capacity. Eliminate him!"

            Corvus let out a quiet grunt of confirmation before he turned to face me. He took a stance that had his body low to the ground with his blade at the ready. A faint black outline of sorts began to emanate around his body. An aura of sorts to signify that he was pushing his body to its limits. Not taking chances, I too brought myself low to the ground with my twin blades held in reverse grips. The tension was palpable. Two shadow warriors about to clash in a battle of sheer speed. My opponent stared me down as he spoke deeply, "There is a reason I carry the name of the raven. Allow me to show you."

            "Yeah? Well, I'm gonna make you eat your own tail feathers then." I hissed before the two of us charged. I cannot really describe it, but it felt like more than half the time we were in motion, time itself became distorted. Like the world around us had slowed while we were moving at normal speed. And yet, I was distinctly aware of the insane borderline supersonic speeds we were both moving at. It was simultaneously relaxing and exhilarating at the same time. 

            A clash of dueling plasma blades generated hot sparks that flew through the air as my kunai blocked Corvus' sword before I lashed out with my other blade. Where his sword was longer, my blades were faster. But Corvus was not wielding just his sword. He suddenly summoned his massive shuriken to his hand and tried to slice me with its whirling blades without actually letting go, stabbing and slashing with alternating strikes that was tricky to counter due to the vastly different shape and functionality of his two weapons. I was only able to land a strike by once again utilizing my flash step function to zip right past him for a passing slash. Even with his speed now all but matching my own, Fili-Second's gift to me was far superior to whatever Corvus had to offer.

            At least so I thought. The instant I tried to perform another passing slash, Corvus suddenly matched my speed for just an instant and zipped by me as our blades collided. He was likely overclocking his internal systems for brief instances to match me in speed. We zipped back and forth, trying to slash each other, before I had the presence of mind to change my approach and instead lash out with a leaping roundhouse kick of sorts. I never would have had the courage to attempt so otherwise, but my cerebral processors were affecting me in such a way that performing such daring acrobatic maneuvers were only second nature to me.

            My kick struck home as I landed the blow on Corvus' midsection. Only the most crushing kinetic impacts would cause actual damage if I were to strike his hardened armor, but his softer segments were much more susceptible to physical strikes. And his body was quite lacking in such armor compared to Aries and Alpha. He let out a groan as I sent him hurtling through the air and towards the ground, but quickly regained his composure as he landed on his hands before vaulting himself into the air and flinging a number of plasma kunai at me. I dodged each with very minute flash steps, almost as if I was subconsciously taunting the guy without realizing it.

            Taking a proper stance with my blades in hand, Corvus and I stared each other down for a brief moment with our blades drawn. Together, we made a snap decision and made a sprint down the street and out of the city square. Our gaits were swift and rapid with my legs moving much faster than humanly possible, carrying me at speeds I am sure would make Fili-Second proud. Corvus matched my speed as well as we kept ourselves very close to the ground. The battle was ramping up in both scale and speed as we were beginning to take our speed duel all over town.

            In unison, we leaped towards the neighboring buildings on opposite sides of the street before springing right back at each other. We had a sudden and brief clash of blades before kicking off of each other to prevent ourselves from falling, landing back upon the buildings behind us while our momentum continued to carry us down the street, only to spring off our footholds and clash again. Once we had launched ourselves away again, we instead began performing hit and run attacks with our blades to try and get in a blow while practically ricocheting off of our surroundings. I swear that in maybe only ten seconds, we had gone halfway across the city.

            Corvus did eventually get me good in a way I did not see coming. Rather than slash me, he threw his sword at me as a diversion only to rush in and grab me after I had batted it away. Before I even knew what was happening, Corvus had gotten me in a stranglehold from behind and had sent us into a spiraling dive while upside-down. He made certain to have my head above his, so I knew exactly what was coming and had no way to get out of him. I was piledriven right into the asphalt with such force that my entire head got lodged in the ground. My senses were briefly rattled and I definitely took some solid damage from the sheer force of the impact, but I quickly managed to rip my head back out of the ground and immediately charged Corvus as he watched from nearby.

            Rather than directly attack, Corvus led me right up the side of the nearest skyscraper. Probably just to buy himself some time to plot a new means of attack. We ran up the skyscraper at bewildering speed, spiraling around the outside as I felt compelled to catch up to him. Before I even knew it, Corvus was already at the top, balancing delicately atop the spire with one foot as his red energy scarf billowed without the aid of wind. With a full moon at his back, I hurled myself at him with a ridiculous burst of speed for a simple tackle right as he was preparing to throw his largest shuriken at me. We went into a freefall, plummeting to the street far below. Fortunately for Corvus, he was able to launch his shuriken as a floating platform that gravitated to his foot. I was quick to react, using my own boot thrusters to launch myself at him to prevent a damaging collision with the ground far below.

            Corvus grunted and flailed as I clung to his arm, our struggle causing him to spin and spiral out of control as his shuriken could not be kept upright. With maybe only three seconds left before we hit the ground, Corvus barely managed to kick me free and narrowly get himself upright to hover safely away while I hit the street with a very loud clank. It at least was lighter than it would have been had I not grabbed onto him when I did, but I still took a moment to climb to my feet. But as I did, I saw Corvus staring me down from a fair distance ahead as he suddenly pointed at me with his spare hand. "There is no escape."

            As if on cue, countless black voids briefly opened behind him as a massive flock of robotic crows were summoned forth from them and came swooping towards me with glowing red optic sensors. My HUD was quick to detect that each were loaded with explosive charges, essentially making them suicide drones. Rather than try to get away, I prepared my two blades, stood my ground, and waited.

            The instant the robot crow at the head of the flock came within range, I went into a frenzy. Without retreating an inch, I slashed away at ridiculous speeds, cleaving each crow out of the air and into two halves that flew right past me and clattered across the ground. The instant I had annihilated the entire flock, I rushed forward and very nearly gutted Corvus with one swing towards his abdomen. He barely jumped back in time and blocked my next swing with his own blade, a look of frustration starting to set into his eyes.

            Once again, we took off through the city, trying to overcome each other with brief clashes of blades as we zipped all around at speeds the naked eye would be lucky to catch sight of. I was not entirely aware of it at the time, but we were heading back towards the general direction of the city square where Alpha and Aries were likely wondering how the clash was going. And where Sans was likely hiding in a trashcan or mailbox.

            Corvus eventually got a good blow on me by kicking me straight ahead during a brief clash of blades only to springboard off of the opposite sides of our surroundings to catch up and land another kick on me to send me hurtling back towards the vast empty city square. I paid no heed to our audience as I managed to land on my feet and use my momentum to leap to the far end of the square where one of the massive television displays was installed. Corvus mirrored my actions and zipped up the one at the opposite end, the two of us rapidly ascending the two skyscrapers in unison.

            Despite being much further apart than we had been prior, Corvus and I once more began to mirror each other's movements as he sprung at each other while continuing to ascend. We would clash with our blades and kick off each other and perform passing slashes to try and land a glancing blow. No matter what we did, we were at a perfect stalemate. Neither could land a decisive blow.

            As we rapidly neared the top of the skyscrapers we were essentially bouncing between, I decided to try a new approach. The instant our blades locked upon coming together high above the very middle of the city square below, I activated my boot thrusters to send me rocketing straight up and ramming my helmet right into Corvus' chin. The sheer force behind it was enough to send the guy into a helpless tumble as he continued to rise below me due to the sheer vertical momentum we had been maintaining.

            With the full moon behind me, I looked down at Corvus as I combined the H-Saber's two halves back into one and returned it to its holster. I was going to need both hands ready for this last trick up my sleeve. The two of us eventually ceased ascending with Corvus looking right up at me. What felt like a miniature eternity passed as I stared down my enemy. It was only then I set into motion my opponent's defeat as I rocketed myself straight down at him with my boot thrusters before turning myself upright and grabbing Corvus out of the air with my limbs locked around him and sending the two of us plummeting back to the street below at terminal velocity.

            Corvus let out a long yell as we dropped like a rock, completely pinned as I proceeded to piledrive my enemy. Mere seconds later, we made contact with the ground. A deafening crash and countless bits of asphalt filled the air as I drove Corvus right into the street hard enough to leave him halfway buried in the ground. I was practically seated upon the street itself when I finally let go and stood up. Corvus' body was stiff. Either that impact merely knocked him out, or had caused fatal damage to his cerebral processors.

            I was feeling mildly disappointed as I observed my opponents stationary remains. All while failing to notice that his allies were being suspiciously silent. It was then that Corvus' showed his hand. His body's surface was soon engulfed with a layer of static, if that makes any sense. I realized all too late what this move was. "A substitution?!"

            My vision was engulfed with static as...something went off right in my face. My nerves went haywire and I was left a shuddering disoriented mess. But only for maybe two seconds. My systems soon stabilized as my vision cleared, leading me to suspect that whatever Corvus just pulled was some sort of EMP bomb. A quick glance of the area revealed the real Corvus standing a good distance away from me while looking noticeably out of breath, the black aura surrounding his outline having faded. His false double had vanished entirely to leave a gnarly crater behind. Had Corvus not managed to slip away when he did, that blow likely would have been the end for him.

            Just as I was starting to reach for my blade again, a burst of fire came hurtling at me from my left. I narrowly got my particle shield up in time to block it before shouting back at my harasser. "Hey! I've just about had enough of you and your cheap shots!"

            "Sooooorry! I guess my trigger finger got just a little too itchy!" Aries called out with his left cannon aiming at me. That excited gleam in his eye... He must have become desperate for action after watching me put up such a good fight with his accomplice.

            Alpha was quick to reprimand his lackey as he shouted, "Aries, I explicitly commanded you to stay out of this! Corvus shall handle Hunter!"

            Aries looked at his superior and groaned, "Oh, come on, boss! The girls and I have been chomping at the bit over here long enough! Besides, you really think my bro's gonna really take the guy down after THAT?! Look at him, he's running on fumes! Lemme back him up! I don't wanna see my bro go out like this!"

            I was sincerely surprised by Aries' show of actual concern for his ally. Even Corvus looked momentarily stunned. Alpha, nowhere near as sympathetic, merely crossed his arms and cast a glance at Corvus. "I suppose he is struggling... And Hunter has sustained only moderate damage... Very well. You may assist, so long as it shuts you up. Do whatever is necessary to bring our enemy to his knees."

            "YEEEESSSSSS!!! You hear that, girls?! It's go time!" Aries shrieked in delightful giddiness while Corvus could only facepalm at his brother's excessive enthusiasm. I could not help getting a chuckle out of it though.

            I looked at the two robotic warriors as I took a moment to scan them with my HUD. I noticed something was a bit off about them. All of the rampaging mechs I had mangled earlier all showed signs of viral infection, but these two were completely free of it. Still, seeing these two showing a bond I did not expect brought a slight smile to my face. "Brothers, huh? Yeah, I can respect that."

            I deactivated my body's current mode to return to normal, knowing that a balanced approach would likely be best when facing multiple attackers. But as my darkened armor returned to its standard white coloration and the mask retracted into my helmet, my HUD picked up something off to my right. Somewhere in the rubble where Mettaton's corpse rested.

            My head remained still as my eyes glanced to my right. I watched in curiosity as to what my visor picked up. But it was then that I saw it. Mettaton's right arm lifted itself and took aim as bits of pink particles were being drawn into the arm cannon's mouth for a charged shot. Eyes going wide with shock, I watched as the cannon fired off a somewhat spherical burst of vibrant pink energy not unlike those the H-Buster tends to produce. His aim was true, the charged blast colliding with and obliterating the cannon on Aries' left shoulder before he even knew what hit him!

            "What the devil...?!" Alpha yelled as Aries' cannon exploded into bits of scrap with the fiery bombardier staggering back in confusion as a sparking mangled stump stood next to his head. My eyes were drawn to Mettaton more than anything. His arm remained pointed forward, but he was otherwise motionless. At least until his targeting reticle suddenly appeared upon his visor again while a smirk spread across his lips as Alpha drew his sword once more. "How?! His body has ceased to function!"

            Sans crawled out from under a bus bench nearby as he too spoke up in bewilderment, "Wait, really? He... He's OK?"

            A sound began to echo from the wrecked room that Mettaton's body was slouched in. A quiet chuckle that grew in volume. And then, my worries were soothed as I heard that cocky tone full of stage performer flair. "Your excellency... Did you really take me for a proverbial glass cannon? A so-called one hit wonder? That all it would take is one lucky stray shot to put me in the scrapyard?"

            Mettaton slowly rose from his throne of rubble with his head held high and began to step forward at a slow and deliberate rate. My HUD was thoroughly scanning his form as he stepped out into the city square. He was indeed online. All primary functions were up and running. But at the same time, more new functions were coming online. A more in-depth analysis detected that something most unexpected had happened. He was in the process of updating his firmware. And he made sure we knew it. "The good doctor had the foresight to see that this form had a number of design flaws. And she had the ingenious idea of how to get some use out of the 1.0 firmware without outright deleting it. The original firmware absorbed all the damage from that blast. So now, we can get to... Um... What's his problem?"

            Mettaton came to a stop as the look on his face... He was quite perplexed. And I quickly saw why. All eyes fell upon Aries. The fiery pyromaniac was on his knees, pitifully and tenderly scooping up the immediate remains of his cannon while constantly twitching and looking like he was on the verge of an total meltdown. It really was in utter pieces with only the mouth of the cannon being largely intact. "Veevee... Veevee? You're gonna be OK, sweetheart... Everything's gonna be all right..."

            I had no idea what to think or say about what I was seeing and hearing. Hell, I do not think anyone there knew what to make of him. Sans was the first to talk as he muttered, "Is this guy for real? Don't tell me he's gonna start yep, yep, he's crying. Someone get the guy a hanky. And a therapist."

            Big wet tears were, somehow, trickling down Aries' metallic muzzle as he held his weapon's remains in his hands. All while he continued to mourn its destruction as if it was his baby. "You were one of the first things I ever saw upon coming online for the first time... Your schematics and blueprints... Oooooh, they were just beautiful, the way you came together. And then, the moment you rolled off the assembly line... When I held you in my arms..."

            We all jumped in surprise as Aries threw his head back and let out an anguished howl. "You were so beautiful! Me getting to hold you in my hands just seconds after you were brought into the world... Oh, we had so many plans in store... You and I were gonna set the world on fire..."

            "For god's sake..." I muttered before looking at Alpha. I had no idea whether I should laugh or cringe. "Did you seriously program that guy to be like this?"

            Alpha groaned as he held his face in his hand. "I programmed him to have a lust for the thrill of battle. I never could have foreseen this lunacy!"

            Finally, Corvus walked up behind his brother and delivered a very sudden dope slap to the back of his head. "Compose yourself, Aries! Once this is over, you will receive repairs and your weapons will be restored to full functionality!"

            Aries was visibly stunned by the smack to the back of his head before he shakily looked up at his brother. "You mean...she's not...gone?"

            Corvus grumbled loudly as he rolled his eyes. Very reluctantly, he let go of his stoic facade. "No, she is not. Veevee will be good as new in due time. Let us finish our mission and you can watch as she is rebuilt to pristine condition. Then you can read her a bedtime story, take her out for ice cream, etcetera, etcetera..."

            His face overflowing with tearful relief, Aries whispered to the remains of his weapon while rubbing his finger over the intact mouth of the cannon like a kitten's head. "You hear that, Veevee? You're gonna be all right. We'll put you back together and you'll be good as new... Just...give us a little time, OK?"

            "If you are quite finished, Aries..." Alpha growled in annoyance as his patience started to reach its limits.

            Aries did not even need to let Alpha finish what he was going to say. He set the scrap down before rising to his feet. "Yeah, I know! I'm good! Veevee's gonna be fine!"

            However, he then turned to face Mettaton with a gleam of murderous excitement in his eye as his right cannon came down before he grasped the handle near the end. "But you... You! Oooooh, I'm gonna enjoy melting you down into slag! You've gone and made big sis Krakatoa mad! No one messes with lil' sis Vesuvius under her watch!"

            "You named your weapons?" Mettaton asked dryly while an amused yet crooked smirk spread across his lips. "Well then, I suppose she would not mind getting together with Madame Neo Buster later for a spot of tea and a fine polish?"

            "Boss. I'm gonna wreck this guy. I am gonna melt him down so hard that they'll have to come up with a new name for what's left of him." Aries hissed while looking both gleefully excited and absolutely furious at the same time. Mettaton never showed any signs of intimidation at all, instead looking quite entertained by his opposition. He must have been quite proud of himself for having gotten back at his surprise attack as hard as he did.     

            "Oh, don't go selling me short yet, hotshot. I did say you only wiped out the original firmware. What do you suppose that leaves me with?" Mettaton asked with a smug smirk as the gaps in his armor started to light up with bright pink glows to really add to the visual performance of his design. My HUD performed a quick scan and I was startled by what I saw. On top of his offensive output having received a slight boost, his defensive functions had skyrocketed to match it with a very resistant layer of energy shielding covering his entire form. He was clearly no longer in the prototype stage.

            Alpha, Aries, and Corvus all took proper combat stances as Mettaton's many little drones suddenly reactivated and floated back up into the air as the stage lights came back on and music that was reminiscent of what had been playing earlier began to play that sounded like a prelude. Mettaton stared down his opposition as he said, "Don't expect to drop me quite so easily this time, you handsome rogues. This time..."

            Just before the music could kick itself into high gear, Mettaton took aim at them with Alpha standing between his subordinates as his arm cannon began to visibly charge up for a heavier shot. He then called out triumphantly, "This time, you face version 2.0!"

            The resulting charged shot was not what I expected. Instead of being a brief concentrated burst, Mettaton's arm cannon fired a large spherical blast of energy not dissimilar to how the H-Buster's charge shot function works. Alpha managed to parry it with a swing of his sword and sent it skyward, but Mettaton suddenly took to the air as he deployed his particle wings. He went on a strafing run, hovering around the city square while firing off rapid shots from his arm cannon, a feature that had been absent in the prior skirmish. Aries tried to counter by rapidly firing off small fiery bursts from his remaining cannon, but they failed to get by Mettaton's barrier. While definitely far more resistant to damage in his upgraded state, he knew better than to just let his opponents get in hits if he could help it.

            "Man, he's good." I muttered as I watched Mettaton keeping the three mavericks at bay with smaller shots while alternating to charged shots and even heavier concentrated bursts like before. With only Alpha able to go airborne freely, Aries and Corvus seemed to be gauging how to deal with their opponent now that they were properly facing off against him for the first time.

            "Yeah, but he still scared my soul outta me when he went down like that. Seriously, I was sure I was gonna have to tell my bro about this and I wouldn't know how to break it to him. He's a big fan of that glitzy peacock." Sans spoke up from nearby as he was seated on the bench with a bag of popcorn in hand. He must have been pretty confident that Mettaton was going to be fine if he was relaxed enough to just enjoy the spectacle. He then held the bag out to me and asked, "Want some?"

            "No thanks, I can't digest food in this form." I replied while waving my hand dismissively at him.

            Sans gave me a weird look as his constant smile wavered a bit. "This form? What, are you some kinda... Wait... Are you like us? Are you not from around here?"

            I cast Sans a cockeyed glance as I raised my hands over my shoulders. "Why do you think I recognized you? I was the guy your brother took an interest in at that house party you two showed up at."

            Sans' smile went completely flat as he suddenly realized what I must have been going on about when I first spotted him. "Wait, that was you? Um... Wow, small world, huh? How'd you even get here then? Pretty sure this isn't the same place. And I don't remember you being covered in metal last time."

            "It's...uh...not. At least not entirely." I replied while trying to explain things to him in a way he would understand. "Basically, we're inside a world that is in a book. The way I got in was I triggered a spell that drew me in and assumed the role of one of the characters. This guy I am right now? He's the protagonist. His name is Hunter."

            Sans then gave me a retort I never saw coming. "A world inside a book? You mean like that 90s movie where that Macaulay Culkin kid got swallowed up by a painting in a library and went through a whole bunch of storybook settings to get out?"

            "Um... OK, maybe not something quite that fantastical, but you get the idea... Wait, you're from where I come from?! I'm pretty sure they didn't have weirdos like you and Mettaton around back home..." I all but sputtered as I heard him say that. He had to have been joking. Guys like him belong in Equestria more than they do on Earth.

            Sans began to visibly sweat as the little white dots in his eye sockets flicked back and forth as he mumbled to himself. "Ummmmm..... Yes and no. Trust me, it would take way too long to explain and I'm not so sure you'd be able to wrap your head around it." He then pointed past me and said, "Especially not when Mettaton needs your help right now. You're the hero, right?"

            I turned to look and saw that Aries and Corvus had begun to flank Mettaton while Alpha drew the majority of his attention. Mettaton was at least trying to compensate by summoning many of his drones to defend and shoot back at his harassers while firing at Alpha on the run, but the others were whittling away at the wall of drones with plasma kunai and incendiary shots. No matter how much more powerful Mettaton had become, he would not last against the three of them.

            "Yeah, I am. And I guess I've had enough of the guy stealing my spotlight." I replied before watching closely and waiting for an opening. I focused my attention on Aries, certain that he would break through Mettaton's defenses first. I began to charge up the H-Buster, knowing exactly what I would do. My moment came when only a few of the drones on Mettaton's right remained. There was a lull in Aries' attacks as he seemed to be charging up for a much bigger blast. Flaring up my boot thrusters, I launched myself ahead right as Aries unleashed a fiery blast as big as he was from his cannon.             Mettaton turned to see it coming too late, but by then I had gotten between them and blocked the blast with the particle shield on my left arm while my flight thrusters opened and flared up. Once the fiery burst had dissipated, I took aim and unleashed a fully charged blast of plasma right into a very surprised Aries and sent him flying backwards as it exploded into him. "I'm done letting you steal my thunder, Mettaton!"

            "How poetic! Two machine heroes clashing against the forces of evil with such fanfare and pizzazz! And... It's my turn to save you!" Mettaton exclaimed before suddenly grabbing my hand and pulling me away as he summoned his glimmering pixel barrier. Corvus had tried to blindside me with his massive shuriken, but Mettaton's barrier held as it glanced off and returned to its wielder. But while that happened, my HUD revealed that my Variable Weapon System was responding to Mettaton making contact with my hand.

            My HUD displayed a wire frame display of Mettaton's left arm, then one of his little drones, then one of a human shape with three of those drones orbiting it. It was then that I saw my armor change color to fit this new weapon function. My hardened armor turned a sleek jet black while my softer segments were a hot pink. Even my visor had gone from orange to a matching shade of pink, lending me quite a cyberpunk look. "Whoa, that's stylish! Didn't know black and pink go this well together!"

            "It does make for quite a contrast, doesn't it?" Mettaton replied as he brought his fingers to his chin, appraising my new paintjob. "My, and I thought you looked quite striking before. Perhaps you should come on tour with me sometime. The two of us would draw quite the crowd as a doubleheader."

            "Um... Maybe? Hey, I see you there!" I yelled as I saw Aries lining up another shot on me from almost outside my field of vision. I turned and took aim with the H-Buster, ready to put my new weapon to use. But instead of firing off anything, I instead summoned a trio of Mettaton's drones around me in flashes of coding and light before they began to orbit me in such a way where they would not get in the way of my weapons. I recognized their function instantly. "Wait... Really?! Yammar Option?!"

            "Looks more like a Metta Option, if you ask me!" Mettaton interjected as his drones rotated around me without ever breaking formation. They lacked arms, but I doubt they even needed them. Aries soon fired off a small shot at me, but one of the drones happened to get in the way. It proved to be surprisingly resilient as damage was relatively mild. Mettaton then patted me on my right spaulder as he said, "Shall we make this a duet, my good man?"

            "Sounds fun! Let's make them dance!" I retorted before I took aim at Aries and started to unload with repeated shots from the H-Buster while my rotating drones fired in tandem, their glowing 'faces' launching shimmering pixelated pink hearts.

            "Hey, quit showing me the love! I don't swing that way!" Aries yelled as he took off running while firing at me with his remaining cannon. Mettaton was busy tangling with Alpha and Corvus and seemed to be doing a decent job of holding both of them off in his upgraded state. Finally, Aries stood his ground and planted the mouth of his cannon right into the ground while giving me quite an excited grin. "BURN, BABY!!!"

            Right as he fired, pillars of flame ruptured through the asphalt like a localized volcanic eruption! I was forced to flare up my boot thrusters to get myself away from the approaching eruptions, but the three drones could not keep up and were consumed by the eruptions that followed me. Not wasting time, I rushed at him with another dash and punched him in the face to knock him off his feet and disrupt the attack. But as I did, the sensors in my hand detected a new weapon to assimilate.

            The wire frame images displayed on my HUD seemed to indicate a weapon that is meant to be fired upward since it showed 'Krakatoa' pointing up instead of to the left or right. I looked down as my pink and black form changed before my eyes. My softer segments became a light gray while my hardened armor became a hot red. I immediately had a good idea of what I had just obtained. And not a moment too soon since Aries scrambled to his feet before taking aim right at my face with his cannon. "Hey. Douchebag. Don't bring your fists to a cannon fight."

            By then, I had already started to charge the H-Buster for my new weapon. But instead of a shot fired from the cannon, it instead restored my right hand as vents opened up along the H-Buster's shell. And right before Aries could fire, I ducked and pulled my arm back for a punch. "Says who?"

            Aries gagged hard as I slammed my fist into his softer belly segment as the H-Buster's vents began to spout flames. As I flared up my boot thrusters to add more oomph to this blow, I called out the name of this familiar and beloved weapon function. "Rising Fire!"

            Turning my body blow into an uppercut, I pushed my fist higher as it and my forearm were engulfed in a surging gout of flame as I rocketed skyward with Aries upon my fist. The look in his eyes showed he had absolutely no idea what just hit him. Right as I was starting to lose upward momentum, I launched the fireball from my fist and watched as it carried Aries higher and higher into the night sky. Once I was back on the ground, I watched as Aries rose past the city's skyscrapers before the fireball exploded in a huge flash of flame. It did not take long for something to come into my view as a smoldering Aries plummeted from the sky and crashed right into the pavement on his back. I laughed in amusement as I called out, "That looks like it hurt, man!"

            Aries was fuming as he shakily began to push himself up and onto his feet. It probably took him a good fifteen seconds to finally stand. "Oooooowwwww!!! What's your deal?! Stop punching and start shooting!"

            As he struggled to his feet, I suddenly had the idea to see if Rising Fire had any special compatibility with any of my other assimilated functions in my Variable Weapon System. My first instinct was to try equipping Rocket Tackle in the second slot since speed boosts go well with just about everything. As it turned out, I got it right. My visor glitched out for just a second before revealing large text displaying a new function. My body's functions had been altered as well. My flight thrusters were once again disabled, but my defensive capabilities had received a boost in energy shielding. Processing rates had increased, but not quite to the same extreme as in Shadow Mode. More than anything, it seemed that the Rocket Tackle was specifically applied to my limbs. My arms and legs had received a drastic increase in reaction time. The text on my visor suddenly made a lot more sense as I read it. Breaker Mode.

            "Weird... I've never had any aptitude in hand-to-hand combat, but I feel like I know exactly what I'm doing now." I muttered to myself as I felt my senses alter slightly. I really cannot describe it. Where at any other point I would have not liked the idea of getting too close to an opponent with my bare hands, I suddenly felt much more confident about it. I also noticed vents open up on both of my forearms and even my boots. My sensors detected hot air leaking from them as I had a good idea of what to expect. "Oh boy... And I never was a fan of that series in the first place. Is this really going there? Hey, Doc. Are physical blows any good against mavericks like them?"

            Doctor Luminous spoke up through my internal receiver as it sounded like he was examining my readings. "If you mean with just your fists and feet, I doubt you would have much luck doing much harm to properly armored targets. But I would assume that something will rectify that with your current mode. Give it a try and see what results you get. You just might be surprised."

            "Gotcha. Let's see how this Breaker Mode holds up." I replied as I assumed a proper combat stance. I am not sure why, but the stance I took was more on reflex with one fist held above the other by a short distance with my head tilted slightly downward. "Again... Is this really going where I think it is?"

            "Hey! What did I say about bringing your fists to a cannon fight?!" Aries suddenly yelled at me before firing off a particularly large burst of fire at me. However, my body reacted accordingly by suddenly lashing out with a jarringly fast punch. With fire flaring up over my forearm and fist, I punched right through the fireball with a sudden and brief burst of speed. The sheer force combined with the opposing flash of fire around my arm dissipated the flames. I barely even saw that punch. Truly the effects of Rocket Tackle were being applied only to my limbs. And with greater speed comes greater impact force. Perhaps I really could beat Aries to a dented hunk of scrap.

            "What the... What'd you do?! Why aren't you scorched?!" Aries yelled in exasperation as he started firing off a rapid volley of smaller fiery blasts. One by one, I punched through each of them while approaching with each step. Once I had gotten close enough to reach Aries, I disrupted his firing with a sudden jab from below into his armored chin. It sent his face pointing right up as he staggered back. "Ow! Hey, that actually hurt! Where'd you get the sledgehammer?!"

            "Uh... That was just my fist, dude." I retorted while surprised by just how hard I had hit him. The fire over my fist did not seem to faze him as much as the sheer impact. I looked at my fist now that the flames had faded, though embers still flickered from the vents lining my forearm. "OK, what is this emulating? Ryu or Akuma? Or... Ooooh, maybe this is more like Magma Dragoon."

            While he rubbed his chin, Aries eyed my fist. "Heh. Going kung fu on me, huh? Not my cup of energy fluid, but I'll bet I can scrap with you all the same. Hey, boss! Mind if I get crazy here?!"

            I looked over at Alpha and Corvus and nearly burst into laughter as I saw a bunch of Mettaton's drones had snatched Corvus up by his feet and were just swinging him back and forth while more pestered him by clinging to his face and arms as he constantly tried and failed to fling plasma kunai at his captors. Alpha was locked in combat with Mettaton, both with their blades drawn as they clashed in a sword duel. No response was given, so Aries looked back at me with a smirk. "Oh well, I'm sure he wouldn't mind. Ready to brawl?"

            "You first." I retorted with a smirk of my own as my confidence grew. He was not designed for melee combat at all. If I could stay up in his face, he would not be able to properly counter me. I assumed my stance from earlier, now in tune with the new combat algorithms flowing through my programming.

             Aries proved my unspoken point as he took aim and fired off a large burst of fire. Rather than dodge around it, I decided to plow on through with an attack of my own. I flung myself forward while performing a leaping roundhouse kick with flames flowing from the vents lining my boot. I was carried forward with this continuous spinning flame kick, my fiery boot blowing away my opponent's attack before landing a kick squarely into his chest. Utilizing skill and daring I simply did not have until activating this 'Breaker Mode', I managed to land back on my feet and land a number of sudden punches upon his torso. Had I been using my normal speed, my punches would have been doing very light damage if at all. But the Rocket Tackle function was speeding up my limbs, vastly increasing the impact force with each strike. I could tell that Aries was not enjoying this pummeling if the way he was recoiling from each blow was telling me anything.

            "For the love of... Com'ere!" Aries finally yelled as he suddenly grabbed me out of nowhere and slammed the mouth of his cannon into my gut. This sudden counter was enough to throw me off as he pointed me skyward before firing a huge burst of fire from his cannon. I found out right there what it was like when I nailed him with that charged Rising Fire attack as I was hit point-blank with the fiery projectile with it carrying me high into the air. Just as the fire was beginning to dissipate, Aries used his own boot thrusters to launch himself up to me to grab me by the foot and hurl me right back to the ground. Just when I thought it could not get any worse, he used his boot thrusters again to catch up with my descent and body slammed me right into the pavement!

            "Owww! The hell was that?!" I groaned as I wonder just what happened. The sheer force of that impact left me momentarily daze, but I gagged as Aries pinned me to the ground and got his arm under my chin as it felt like he was trying to bend me into a pretzel.

            "Ooh, he's got him in a half nelson!" Aries shouted as he sounded like he was starting to have a little too much fun. He had me pinned good. I could not squirm free. He must not have thought his grip was very efficient because he then grabbed me in a different manner with my head pinned upside-down. "Now he's got him in a full nelson!"

            Now more annoyed than anything, I tried to get creative in getting myself out of this situation. I managed to bend my leg back as far as I could and probably had the underside of my foot planted against his head. I then grinned as I knew what was coming while I called out, "Oh no, the dreaded Ozzie Nelson!"

            With that said, I flared up my boot thruster and scorched whatever was under my foot. Aries let out a shriek as my unorthodox attack forced him to let go and back off. But when I got back up, he was not patting his head. He was brushing off the backside of the armor that lined his pelvis. Now a little embarrassed, I asked, "Uh... That was your head I got, right?"

            Aries glared in frustration as he yelled, "No! That was my titanium tookis you torched! What's the big idea?!"

            I... I just stared in bemusement as I processed those words. I then brought my hands to my face and groaned. "Oooooh god, I swear I wasn't aiming for that..."

            My opponent was not having any of my regret. I then heard him call out, "Well, if you think it's smart to torch my tookis, Krakatoa here is gonna torch your tootsies!"

            I lowered my hands just in time to see what Aries was getting at. He had his cannon angled towards the ground before it fired a continuous stream of flame that flowed over the asphalt. I narrowly jumped aside as I recognized this function. "Whoa! Melt Creeper!"

            "Now I'm gonna torch your tonsils! What's that? He don't got any? What do you mean I don't got any either?! Torch his teeth?! That don't make any sense..." Aries suddenly paused as he...began to argue with his cannon. I could only stare at the absurdity going on before me as I started to wonder if one of my prior blows knocked a few circuits loose in his head.

            As I watched Aries get into a verbal debate with his very nonverbal weapon, I decided to try and pull off another move that utilized my body's Breaker Mode. I held my hands over each other as the flames being emitted from my forearms began to gravitate to the space between my hands to form a fiery orb that only got brighter with every passing second. I smirked at Aries as I knew what this function was emulating. "Heh... Well, I suppose if I don't say it now, I'll never hear the end of it."

            "No, it doesn't make sense to torch his titanium! He's covered in the stuff! Why not his... Uh... Oh crap..." Aries muttered as he finally realized I was about to unload something very special on him.

            "Got a little present for you, hotshot!" I called out as I brought my hands down to my side with that fiery orb of almost white fire in my hands ready to burst. With more enthusiasm than I normally exude, I called out this special trick with a fitting suffix thrown onto it. "Rekka...HADOUKEN!!!"

            When I thrust my hands forward, a massive wave of white fire rushed from the space between my palms like a flame cannon. Aries had no chance of getting out of the way and was thoroughly engulfed by the fire wave. I kept it going for a few seconds before relenting and almost laughing at the sight before me. Aries had his head tilted up, mouth agape, while coated in black carbon residue. He then dropped to his knees and fell flat on his face. He must have had a lot of heat resistance to have not been melted down in any sort of way, but that still looked like it took a lot out of him. "Couldn't take the heat, huh?"

            "Perhaps, but I can!" I heard a familiar voice shout from my right. I only got to look just in time as Corvus zipped by me and landed a glancing slash upon the side of my head. When I caught him in my sights, his body was engulfed by a thin black outline. He was accessing his speed boosters like before. Try as I might, I could not counter his speedy hit and run attacks. This Breaker Mode was certainly fast, but it was not quite as fast as my Shadow Mode.

            I eventually got blasted clear across the street by a small flock of my opponent's robot bomb crows going off in my face while I had no way to shoot them out of the air. I landed near Sans and quickly deactivated my Breaker Mode to return to my default settings. "Ugh, screw this! Never had any aptitude in hand-to-hand combat anyway... Wait..."

            I looked to my right and saw Sans still snacking away on his bag of popcorn. For a moment, he and I shared a quiet stare. Finally, I looked back at Mettaton once again starting to square off against the three mavericks with Aries having already gotten back on his feet. I then looked at Sans and realized a problem. "Wait a second... Why aren't YOU doing anything?! Can't you help out if you got yourself here in the first place?!"

            Sans' little white dots in his eye sockets glanced around in unease as he said, "Wait... Who, me? Heh... I'd love to help. Really, I would. But... Well, if this world was full of coding, magic, or both, then I could give myself a few tweaks to really give those guys a bad time. But... Well, like I said. All I'm seeing is paper and ink."

            "You mean you're completely useless." I replied dryly while having no idea what he was even alluding to. I was not entirely convinced he was utterly helpless. If he had the tricks and traits to get himself and Mettaton into an entirely separate world from their own, he was bound to have some way of holding his own in a dangerous situation.

            Without a hint of irony in his voice, Sans gave me another big grin. "Guilty as charged. Hate to break it to you, but I just don't have the motivation to keep myself in shape the same way Papyrus does. Basically, if I have to step into the fray, I've gotta do something to even the playing field. And I...can't here. Sorry."

            I took one long look at Sans. And yes, his outward appearance certainly matched with what he was describing. He looked like an aimless slacker. But Mettaton and I were still outnumbered and I was willing to accept any help I could get. "OK, I get it. You're a weakling who literally can't afford to fight fair. With that said, are you sure there's absolutely nothing you can do to provide some assistance? Nothing at all?"

            Sans went silent. He looked back at Mettaton before glancing back at me. He then crossed his arms with his head bowed before his eye sockets closed. I waited a few seconds before he looked at me. "All right, I might be able to help you out. But you need to understand that I'm not joking when I say there's not much I can do. I'm gonna have to get tricky here."

            "Lay it on me." I retorted while feeling a bit more relieved that we were about to get some more help. I was especially curious of what tactics Sans was bringing to the table.

            The little skeleton sounded surprisingly serious compared to the laidback joker he had been much earlier. "Basically, I can put on a show and make myself look dangerous, but I swear anything I throw at them would be like hitting them with a rolled up newspaper. Here's how it'll go. I'll attack, they dodge, and you and Mettaton hit them while they're dodging. If they find out I'm not a threat, I'll be in trouble. I absolutely can't let my attacks hit them, OK?"

            My eyes opened a bit wider now that I was getting what Sans was suggesting. Truly a tricky tactic to be sure. "You mean you'll be setting them up to get hit by us, huh? Yeah, that'll work."

            Sans started to sound a bit more at ease, but then gave me a more subdued smile. "Yeah, that's exactly it. Although... One word of advice here. I'm not joking when I say I'm not as tough as Papyrus. If even a glancing shot hits me, I'm dust. I'm confident in my ability to be quick on my feet, but... Well, I really wanna make it home in one piece. I don't know how anyone would break it to my little bro if I wasn't ever coming home again."

            "I... I getcha. You be careful." I replied as a grim atmosphere settled over us. Sans was much braver than I gave him credit for. I could feel the respect I had for him rising.

            "OK, if that's all we gotta talk about..." Sans said before setting aside his popcorn and getting off the bench with his hands in his coat pockets. "Gimme a minute. I'll go first. Need to make a good first impression."

            I stood back and watched as Sans approached our enemies. They had lined up in a row while Mettaton was pointing his arm cannon back and forth to hold them at bay now that he was grounded. It was the perfect opportunity to change things up. Once Sans was maybe fifty paces away from them, he stopped and raised his hand before lowering it to literally pull a small bone out of thin air as if performing a magic trick. He then flicked it with his fingers, sending it spinning loftily through the air until it bonked Aries on the back of the head.

            "Again?! What's the deal with me getting all of the sneak attacks toni... Um..." Aries yelled before turning around and staring at Sans while Sans stared right back. "Uh... Boss? We...uh...got a weird one here."

            Mettaton had also lowered his arm cannon in curiosity as the music playing throughout the city square fell silent. Alpha and Corvus turned to face the new threat, but only stared in bewilderment at the shrimpy skeleton standing before them. Sans then raised his hand in greeting as he said, "Heya. You guys have been busy tonight, huh?"

            Corvus was the first to speak. "What do you want, you strange creature of bone?"

            Sans was quick to respond. "Well, I just had a question for you guys. Do you think you could...you know...stop fighting? Maybe just put your weapons away and we can all go out for ice cream? Maybe catch a movie somewhere?"

            I had no idea what Sans was trying to do. Maybe make himself look as harmless as possible? Regardless, all he did was make the three mavericks burst into sarcastic laughter with Aries managing to speak through it. "Get a load of this guy! Really?! You want us to just call for a ceasefire? Not if Krakatoa wants to keep things toasty!"

            Sans actually got quite a chuckle out of that. However, he then closed his eye sockets and said, "Heh... All right then. Well, here's a better question."

            When he opened his eye sockets... I felt a chill as I watched. The little white dots that served as his eyes were gone. His eye sockets were hollow. Empty. He was definitely trying to utilize some sort of fear factor as he then spoke with a more ominous tone. "Do you wanna have a bad time? Because if you guys don't knock it off right now..."

            Alpha was quick to shut him up. He fired off a tiny burst of plasma from the tip of his horn and shot the ground right in front of Sans in an act of warning. The white dots in Sans' eye sockets immediately returned as he was mildly startled while Alpha spoke with a scowl. "You do not want to finish that sentence, peasant. I suggest you make yourself scarce. I will only grant you this mercy once."

            Sans glanced at the scorched spot on the asphalt by his feet before looking back at our enemies. His smile had faded a bit, but soon regained its original pearly white luster. "Yeah, should've guessed that would've been your answer. Oh well..."

            He then closed his eyes with both hands in his pockets. What he said next still confuses me as I write this. "It's a beautiful night outside. Crickets are chirping. Stars are shining. On nights like this, bots like you..."

            Sans fell silent. The three mavericks began to show signs of concern as if expecting an attack. And sure enough, Sans opened his eye sockets to once again reveal that they were empty. However, out of nowhere, a bright pale blue light suddenly filled his left eye socket, taking on the form of a circular iris. It was then that he finished his line. "Should be rusting in Hell."

            Right as he said that, two massive monstrous skulls that were pretty close to my size faded in out of nowhere beside him. They looked like no skull I had ever seen before, being maybe draconic in form with faintly glowing white irises in their eye sockets. A deep sound of sorts was heard as their jaws opened wide before they unleashed thick blasts of pale blue energy at our very startled enemies. They only narrowly managed to dive out of the way, although I am sure Sans was making certain his aim was off. Sans was definitely in character as he casually spoke with his glowing 'eye' fading back to just the usual white speck in his eye socket. "Huh. Guess I'm out of practice. They're usually not standing after the first shot."

            "Whoahohoho, Mr. Bonejangles here is packing!" Aries exclaimed as he hurriedly climbed to his feet after falling right on his side. Alpha and Corvus were also warily eyeing Sans, fully intimidated by his very sudden show of force. The ploy was working. They were already on the defensive.

            However, Mettaton was less than amused by Sans' intervention. Mostly because he did not seem aware of Sans ever having such capabilities. "Hold on a moment! Excuse me for a second, but since when were you able to do THAT?!"

            "Huh? Oh, you mean my boys right here?" Sans replied while his large skull cannons continued to float near him. "Oh, I've had these guys for a while. Right, G.B.?"

            I started to make my way over to Mettaton and soon whispered into his ear about Sans' strategy. Specifically how his attacks likely had a lot of force behind them, but almost nonexistent damage output. Mettaton merely smirked at me in understanding, grasping what role he and I would have to play. But as our enemies faced Sans, the goofy skeleton pulled another bone out of thin air and sent it spinning towards one of Mettaton's drones nearby. "Gotta set the mood if we're gonna do this right, capiche?"

            Upon getting smacked, the drone appeared to shut down with its face losing all light. It sputtered and hissed a few seconds later, soon turning its face back on while giving off a cool pale blue light. This effect spread to every other drone in the city square, all lights shining down on us with a ghostly blue. And then... The music. I really was not expecting what Sans had in mind. The drones equipped with audio devices began to pump out music that was very distinctly not Mettaton's style. Where his was bombastic and electronic, Sans' choice of music was noticeably orchestrated and...deathly serious in tone.

            "More music... Don't tell me you're going to sing too." Alpha grumbled as Mettaton and I watched from the sidelines, waiting for our chance to jump in like Sans planned for us.

            With his left eye once more set aglow, Sans just shrugged his shoulders. "Don't like karaoke nights, huh? Well, I guess I can get in one little verse before we really get started. Don't worry, it's just one line."

            Alpha reluctantly stood his ground while his two subordinates waited with weapons at the ready as well. The two skull cannons began to turn slightly sideways while appearing to stare at our enemies. As the intro to the music began to end and get into the full swing of things, Sans pulled his hands out of his pockets and held them aloft at his sides as a haunting choir of sorts moaned over the score, strangely appropriate for a creature universally associated with death. And then, with an unexpectedly low pitch, Sans began to sing in a disturbingly ominous manner while not being entirely in harmony with the music. Most unexpected of all were rows of bones rising and falling behind him in some sort of wave, coming right out of the ground out of nowhere. "There's not a bit of good inside. You've followed the path of genocide. You're gonna have a bad time. Here I stand, I must prevail. You're not gonna like what happens. You step forward, you're gonna get wrecked. For everyone we could not protect, here and now I'll end this tale."

            With the music having nothing short of a powerful sense of climax to it, Sans had set the stage for what was indisputably some sort of finale. It was three against three. But his unsteady rhythm. And his uneven pitch. Sans' voice was noticeably shaky as he sang that verse. And I think I know why. He was afraid. He was trying to make himself look dangerous to compensate for his weakness. In hindsight, I really have to commend his courage for putting himself in an extraordinarily dangerous situation where he could not have possibly had a bigger disadvantage.

            Out of nowhere, four of those skull cannons appeared above our enemies and angled themselves downward, firing in an almost X formation while just narrowly missing them as they scattered in multiple directions. While I admit I was momentarily distracted by the sheer spectacle, Mettaton wasted no time in following through with Sans strategy. As Alpha was in the middle of an evasive leap to escape one of those massive concentrated beams, Mettaton unleashed a concentrated burst of energy from his own cannon right into the guy. Alpha was blown clear across the city square, prompting Aries to try and get a shot in while dancing around the attacks coming from Sans' skull cannons. "You're not the only one packing heat here, bonehead!"

            I looked on in alarm as Aries managed to fire off a particularly large blast of fire right at Sans. However, Sans was not about to make himself an easy target. The fiery shot burst in a flash of flame, but it appeared to stop too soon. And it soon became clear why. A wall of bones had suddenly shot up out of the ground to block the shot before fading once the embers had cleared. Sans just winked at Aries while holding his hands out to his sides. "What? You think I'm just gonna stand here and take it?"

            I started to crack a grin as Aries began to grit his teeth. The poor guy just could not catch a break tonight. Just as he looked like he was going to blow a fuse, Aries let out an almost psychotic yell of frustration. "I am so gonna wreck this guy!"

            All I could do was laugh as Aries just started firing round after round of fire at Sans, who began to effortlessly hop and weave around the smaller shots. He really was not kidding about being light on his feet. "Looks like someone's having a bad day!"

            Corvus could not catch a break either. He came charging in with sword in hand while Aries was trying to shoot Sans, but ended up tripping and falling flat on his face when a little bone poked itself out of the ground and snagged the tip of his boot. Harmless as he may have been, Sans was being a colossally annoying twit to our enemies. And that was giving Mettaton and I plenty of time to blindside them with our own attacks.

            Eventually, Alpha came in swinging with his sword. No matter what he did, Sans ducked and stepped out of the way of each swing. Much to my surprise, he began to sing to the music again while displaying some impressive vocal range. "It's long past time for us to end this game. Guess I will fight for those that still remain."

            Out of nowhere, right when Alpha relented to probably reconsider his options, Sans suddenly thrust his hands out at Alpha as a swarm of bones came flying in from behind him out of nowhere and began to pelt Alpha with a hail of clanks. I doubt Sans was worried about these attacks being nigh useless since it was clearly a quantity over quality move. But what startled me most was that he had stopped singing and started yelling at Alpha with a very uncharacteristic growl to his voice. "I will break your will! You keep fighting still! Hoping for the kill! Here I stand, here I'll staaaay!"

            "Enough!" Alpha roared as he held his head high, unleashing a spherical plasma barrier that disintegrated every last bone that even tried to hit him. Sans immediately jumped back as he lost his singing voice. In fact, the entire lot of us had lost our focus on the battle and were just observing as the maverick king himself faced off against one of the unlikeliest fighters any of us had ever seen. It was a special kind of train wreck we could not look away from.

            Alpha sent Sans scrambling as he fired off bursts of hot plasma from his horn, practically forcing Sans to perform all manner of Cossack dancing just to avoid a direct hit. Sans even had to summon bones from the ground for additional footholds whenever it looked like he was about to trip and fall. Alpha did eventually relent after too many misses and glared at Sans in silence. I guess he thought the little skeleton was too much trouble to waste a direct assault on.

            Sans clutched at his chest as he looked visibly uneasy and sounded very out of breath. I stood ready to jump in to intervene now that the fight had slowed. However, Sans once more began to sing with a very unsteady voice as the music looped back to the beginning. "Once they saw the light. Once there was no fight. Once you did what's right. Once they called you friend..."

            As he finished that last line, Sans placed his hands in his pockets while another one of his skull cannons appeared above him. It did not fire and merely stared down its target as rings of bones formed around both it and Sans before just rotating around them. Sans' eye sockets narrowed while his grin remained upon his face as he gave Alpha a most intense scowl. His voice deepened as he did not sing as much as he growled, "I know somewhere you remember they once said that you could be better..."

            That growl did not last. Sans' brooding dark voice quickly began to escalate as he soon started to basically scream at Alpha with his eye sockets opening wide. Just to make this sudden shift in tone all the more alarming, the many floating stage lights around the city square shifted from an icy blue to an alarming reddish orange. "That hope is a dying ember. You just...WANNA SEE THIS END!!!"

            Without warning, a massive jungle of bones of varying width and angles burst out of the ground with Sans riding atop the largest one. Mettaton and I were quite startled, as was everyone else who was beholding this spectacle. Even Alpha took a few steps back in shock while his subordinates could only watch. I thought this was nothing more than an attempt to intimidate Alpha since Sans' lacked the means to actually destroy him, but he instead sounded like he was starting to become too personally invested in this clash as he roared out, "SEE HOW FAR YOU CAN DESCEND!!! NOW WE CAN NEVER MAKE AMENDS!!!"

            To bewildered to launch an attack, Alpha could only jump about as Sans tried to make some of those towering bones fall on the guy. Sans' voice quickly stabilized a bit as his roaring slipped back into uneven singing. "Kill for the sake of play! Deny us light of day! So I stand in your way!"

            For just a second, the falling bones ceased to drop. But only then did a circle of skull cannons appear above Alpha while the maverick king looked legitimately alarmed. It was then that Sans let out a disturbing echoing growl as his many pets glared down at our enemy. "Guess we're doing this the hard way!"

            One by one, the skull cannons fired off their massive energy waves from their maws, not quite hitting Alpha, but leaving him too disoriented to really focus on a counterattack while bones kept flying in and breaking against his metallic body. All the while, the same distorted haunting choir from before moaned over the music. If the lyrics Sans was trying to sing were of any indication, he was no longer just trying to set Alpha up for attacks from me and Mettaton. He was seriously trying to destroy Alpha with a never-ending barrage of light attacks. Just what was going through Sans' head? "You are never gonna smile! You are heartless, you are vile! So come walk your final mile! Know you never had a prayer! You are never gonna make it! Your will, I am gonna BREAK IT! I will not stand here and take it! I can't afford not to care!"

            I was disturbed. This was not part of the plan. Sans was not supposed to be fighting Alpha directly. He warned me himself how he could not endure even a single hit of the lightest attacks. Yet here he was, directly going up against the most powerful maverick of them all as if he held some personal grudge against the guy. As the choir faded while Alpha was being overwhelmed with too much information to process to evade everything that was coming at him, Sans once more yelled as he tried to sing. And his words were nothing short of alarming. "I gave up hope long ago! Not much point in dreams, you know! When they stopped, we started this show once upon a time..."

            An entire swarm of skull cannons formed above the disoriented Alpha as Sans once more began to yell out lyrics that made no sense given the context of the situation. "Now we stand here face to face, defiling this sacred place. I WILL NOT LET YOU ERASE ALL SPACE AND TIIIIME!!!"

            It was at this point that I noticed Corvus and Aries had decided they had enough of their leader being humiliated by a scrawny skeleton. The two of them had begun to flank Sans and I looked on in shock through the mess of bones and lasers, seeing Aries fire off a large burst of fire while Corvus flung several plasma kunai at Sans. The mad skeleton was completely oblivious to the attacks coming from the sides.

            There was no time. I had to get Sans out of there. Activating Rocket Tackle, my softer components turning a light purple, I hurled myself at Sans as time slowed to a crawl. I snatched him right off the towering bone he was standing before just before the kunai and fire could collide with each other behind me. I planted my feet against the wall of the building before me before rocketing up the side with my flight thrusters activating. I heard the three mavericks yell at me as I ascended the building, but Mettaton was already on the scene as I heard him from behind me. "If you want them, you'll have to get by me!"

            The instant I set down upon the rooftop, I turned to Sans as he looked like he was still mad with rage, but now with nothing to direct it at. He sounded like he was hyperventilating, his blue glowing eye glancing around as if looking for someone to attack. Knowing he was not in his right mind, I took hold of his shoulders while resetting my weapon systems to their default settings. "Sans... Sans! What's wrong?! That wasn't part of the plan!"

            After several seconds, Sans began to sound calmer as the blue glow in his eye socket faded. He took one long look at me while his breathing sounded tired. It was then that I got a response I did not expect. He grabbed me and burst into hysterical weeping. Just...nothing but loud and unsteady crying. Having no idea how to comfort him, I just placed my hand on the back of his head and ignored any information being displayed on my visor. "Hey... It's OK..."

            Sans just cried for maybe a full minute before he finally let go of me and sat down before me. Tears stained his bony face as he looked at me with his smile having all but flattened. He spoke softly in his usual goofy tone, "Uh... Sorry about that... Guess I got too personal back there, huh?"

            I just looked at him in silence while scanning his face. That was extremely unusual behavior for a cowardly slacker like him. "So... You wanna tell me what that was all about? Something happen between you and Alpha that I don't know about?"

            The skeleton averted his gaze while looking quite embarrassed. "Heh... No, no, I've never even met the guy. Just... Something about him... It just brought back some bad memories, you know? I mean... I guess the most I can say is... I just really hate guys like him."

            "Like him?" I asked in confusion. I know that Alpha is a particularly despicable individual and a vile villain, but I doubt Sans knew enough about him to formulate a solid opinion on the guy.

            "Yeah... You know... Guys like him." Sans muttered cryptically before closing his eyes as he gave me a more concise explanation. "Guys who will never be satisfied."

            I fell silent for a moment. It was a sentiment I too felt towards Alpha, even warning him of what such mindsets will result in during our very first meeting. "Yeah... I know exactly what you mean."

            "We're on the same page? Cool. You're a smart guy then." Sans replied as he looked at me with a more sincere smile. "Glad to see there are people in this world who know when enough is enough, am I right?"

            "Yep. Although..." I began to say as my thoughts went back to that ominous song he ended up singing as the battle progressed. Almost as if...he was hiding something. "Hey... If you don't want to tell me, you don't have to, but...that song back there. The lyrics you chose... Were you projecting something? Maybe about a rough patch in your life?"

            Sans let out a long sigh as his smile faded just a little bit. His eyes looked elsewhere as he said, "Trust me, you would never understand if I explained it to you. You don't know what it's like to be stuck in a loop you can't get out of, especially when you're the only one aware of it. Sometimes, all you can do is...hide behind a smile just to get by and not completely crash in despair."

            This explanation brought a sense of pity to me. I began to feel like that smile that he constantly wore was far from sincere. More like a mask set into his skull. I suspect Sans knew exactly where my thoughts were going and threw up his wiggling hands in reassurance. "Whoa, hey, it's not like that anymore. The kid got us out of that mess. They finally did the right thing and everything's going really well. Seriously, this smile isn't fake anymore. At least...not entirely."

            I still looked at Sans in concern. I knew better than to inquire about anything I would not be able to process. "You mean...life is good now?"

            "Yep. Really good. The kid learned how to be happy with what they have. I mean... I still have doubts here and there, but... I still wake up every morning thinking that someday I'll be right back where I was before like nothing ever changed, but I'm rooting for the kid. The kid did some...messed up things at one point, but I really do believe that kid wants us all to be happy. They know what's right now."

            I looked at Sans in silence. A child got him out of his predicament? Even though the child likely hurt him at some point? I decided not to think too hard on the situation. Lord knows I would likely never see the world Sans calls home. But I still asked one question. "Sounds like a complicated kid... What's their name?"

            Sans looked at me as his smile faded a bit again. It was as if I was asking a question he did not expect. "You wanna know?"

            "Yeah. Sounds like a good kid." I retorted with sincere interest in the topic.

            The goofy skeleton gave me a proper smile as he said, "They call themselves Frisk. Really inspiring kid. A shame I couldn't bring them along. You would've liked to meet them."

            "You keep using that pronoun. Them. Don't they have an established gender?" I asked in some confusion, not accustomed to hearing someone refer to another with such an ambiguous term.

            Sans just shrugged his shoulders as he said, "I dunno. Kinda hard to tell at a glance and I never bothered to ask. Their fashion sense sure ain't helping either. Although... I swear that red gem on your head reminds me of them somehow. Can't really put my finger down on why..."

            "Peh, fine." I grumbled while failing to not laugh. Sans joined in as a sense of levity settled over us. It was only then that I really noticed the sounds of combat below us beyond the edge of the roof. "Anyway, you think we should get back in the fray? Mettaton can't hold them off forever."

            Sans let out a relaxed sigh before he climbed to his feet. "Yeah, we probably should. And don't worry about me. I know what I'm doing now that I got that outta my system. I shoot, they dodge, you two hit them while they're dodging. Right? And... Hey, is it just me, or are you looking a little...spooky right now?"

            "Spooky? Um..." I mumbled before I looked myself over. While my hardened armor was still white, I saw that the softer components of my body were a ghostly blue. Not entirely unlike that of Sans' glowing eye. "Huh? Did I assimilate something when I touched you? What is this? Skull Barrier? That can't be right..."

            "I dunno. I'm not even sure what you could've gotten off of me. Wanna take it for a spin?" Sans replied while being just as confused as I was about it.

            "I guess there's no better way to do so. Let's roll." I said before taking Sans' hand and jumping over the side of the building with my boot thrusters slowing our descent at the last second. Sure enough, Mettaton was being besieged from all sides by the three mavericks. He was doing everything he could to ward off their attacks while trying to connect with his own, but there was only so much that mechanical marvel could do against three very capable opponents. There was no signs of the towering bones that Sans had conjured up. They likely vanished once he disengaged from the battle. "Whoa, couldn't have picked a better time. Lemme handle this."

            Sans stood back while I hurled myself into the fray with my boot thrusters and stood my ground behind Mettaton. He barely even knew I was there when Aries fired off a fiery shot that was as big as I was. I instinctively raised the H-Buster and fired, hoping to counter the shot with my own, but the weapon I had acquired from Sans was...unconventional, to say the least.

            The instant I tried to fire, one of those skull cannons popped up into front of me out of nowhere. It was as big as me, but did nothing at first. A second after it was hit by Aries' shot, it charged up before unleashing its laser attack right at him. Where Sans' versions likely were not packing much in terms of damage output, mine was much more powerful as I heard Aries let out a shriek as he was briefly engulfed by the blast before falling right on his back. Seeing just how powerful those things are when actually working right threw me for a loop as I also recognized the function of this weapon. "Whoahohohoho! So that's what these things can do! Although I don't remember Guard Shell being this...crazy awesome. Hey, Sans! Whaddya even call these things?!"

            "Gaster Blasters." The scrawny skeleton replied matter-of-factly.

            "Gaster Blasters? So I guess this weapon is...Gaster Guard then?" I asked no one in particular while eyeing the H-Buster on my right arm.

            Mettaton had glanced over his shoulder to see my own Gaster Blaster knock Aries right off his feet and sounded quite impressed. "Oh my, so that's what happens when you score a direct hit with those! Fiendish, I say. Simply fiendish!"

            Alpha, of all people, was utterly mortified by what it did to his subordinate. Aries' body was giving off quite a few sparks as he began to stagger to his feet. "So... Had those struck me..."

            "What? You didn't think I was missing you on purpose, right?" Sans asked while giving Alpha a wink, the vast differences in our Gaster Blasters' damage output adding another layer to the ruse Sans had been using the entire time. "We don't want this fun ending too soon, do we? Because a bad time for you guys means a great time for us."

            "Uuuughh... Why is it always me getting smacked around tonight?!" Aries groaned as he shakily stood up with Corvus giving him a hand. "Great... Now I've got two boneheads to deal with... Hey, boss? Can we go home early if we just take out one of these guys?"

            "Well... I... Oh fine, even my patience is reaching its limit. Destroying one will be enough, I don't care who it is." Alpha grumbled as he readied his sword. He just looked so exasperated at that point.

            "Hold up. Gotta set the tone, right?" Sans said before he pulled a bone out of thin air and sent it spinning through the air into one of the floating drones that littered the area. Once again, it shut down briefly before turning back on. But instead of all the drones giving off a pale blue light, only a third of them did that. The rest had their stage lights shining hues of hot pink and vibrant red. Were they supposed to represent us? And if that was not enough, the drones carrying audio devices began to emit music that sounded like what had been playing before, but with a more electronic feel to it with a tempo you could really dance to. "There we go. Ready to boogie?"

            "Well then, I do say we should prepare for the grand finale!" Mettaton exclaimed as Sans and I took our positions at his sides while Corvus and Aries bordered their leader. We had been goofing around long enough and now we had all caught our stride. All three of us took aim while I swapped back to default settings, charging up the H-Buster for a concentrated burst as Mettaton likely did the same. Sans merely outstretched his right arm, the three of us all taking the same stance while a Gaster Blaster faded in just behind Sans and ready to fire. "Let's dance, hot shots!"

             In unison, we all fired. The two subordinates went ducking for cover while Alpha stood his ground and use his sword to deflect the stream of energy from Mettaton's cannon up into the sky. Corvus came in for Mettaton with sword ready, the showstopper summoning his own energy blade from his cannon to counter the speedy shinobi while conjuring up a swarm of drones to compensate for his inferior speed. Alpha and I went into a strafing run, trying to shoot each other with plasma shots while Aries went for Sans. "Com'ere, bonehead! Gonna play the xylophone with your ribcage!"

            "Really? Well, I think I could play the trombone on your baby there. Did I tell you I joined a band the other day?" Sans replied before having to duck and dodge a flurry of fiery shots from Krakatoa.

            "Ooooh, don't you even go there with me! You're not getting... OW!!!" Aries yelped when a long bone suddenly jutted out of the ground and nailed him right in his armored chin. Damaged was extremely light, but this was getting too entertaining for me to ignore. I focused more on evading Alpha's attacks just to see where this would go. Aries rubbed his chin before pointing at Sans. "For crying out loud, enough with the cheap shots! OK, I admit it! That was a douchey thing I did back there! Now, would you just..."

            He did not get to finish that sentence. We all stopped as a very loud clank rang out through the area as all eyes fell upon Aries. Another bone had jutted out of the ground and nailed Aries right between the legs. Even though this move made absolutely no sense, I burst into a snickering mess as I realized exactly where Aries got hit. Once the bone had retracted, Aries dropped to his knees before falling forward with his face on the pavement. The fiery bombardier groaned with a pathetic whimper as he asked, "Boss... Why... Oh god WHY did you program me to actually feel that?! There's nothing there, but it still... Oh god, whyyyy..... Somebody stop the pain..."

            Oh lord, I could not help myself. While Alpha hid his face with a hand out of sheer embarrassment over giving his subordinate such a crippling design flaw, Mettaton and I burst into laughter while Sans struggled to hold in his own. Unfortunately, I suddenly saw that Corvus was starting to strafe me with shuriken in hand. I had to be quick in summoning a Gaster Blaster to block it and return fire, but then a thought occurred to me. What sort of effect would it have when charged?

            I could not have picked a better time to get that idea. Alpha and Corvus had already turned their attention to me and Aries had even turned his cannon to point at me even while he was still facedown in the pavement. "Oh boy, it's now or never..."

            Right when I got my H-Buster charged and fired, four Gaster Blasters appeared above me and began to rapidly spin in a circle while firing, pivoting themselves up and down as their streams of scalding energy razed the ground. Alpha and Corvus went into an almost panicked dance as they tried to weave around this barrage. On the other hand, I was way too entertained by this new weapon, finding it far superior to the original Guard Shell. "Hahahaha, this is so sweet! I'm the Gaster Blaster Master, baby!"

            "Totally! But it's still magic, so I guess that also makes you the Gaster Blaster Master Caster too!" Sans said as I suddenly found him standing next to me in the safe zone created by the Gaster Blasters above us. "First time I tried it, it was a total Gaster Blaster Master Caster Disaster though."

            I saw what he was doing and just crossed my arms while finding this tongue twister joke to be fairly amusing as the skeletal comedian went on and on. "The doctor said I needed a Gaster Blaster Master Caster Disaster Plaster for the whole thing."

            This went on for seven more lines. Seven more lines with each adding another word onto them. How does he even do that? Needless to say, my patience was running thin by then and I suddenly pointed the H-Buster at him. "STOP."

            "Sheesh, man. Even Papyrus never stuck a blaster in my face." Sans retorted while showing a very nervous grin as he became completely still. However, he then suddenly glanced up and said, "Uh... I think the boys are done for now."

            He was right. The Gaster Blasters had exhausted themselves and vanished. Aries was finally back on his feet while still looking like he was ready to rip Sans' head off. But Mettaton was not about to let us get all the action. Three of his little drones floated in low and out of our enemies' line of sight and set a round bomb at their feet. Which then exploded and knocked them all down again to give Mettaton enough time to close the distance and get next to us. "I vouch that we all tackle this situation together rather than taking turns being in the spotlight."

            "Since when did YOU ever like sharing the spotlight?" Sans asked with a goofy grin on his face. Mettaton just gave a very dry look at nothing in particular, but I got a good snicker out of that retort while taking note of just how full of himself the guy can be. His first acts on the battlefield were enough proof.

            "Pesky cheap parlor tricks..." Alpha growled as he climbed to his feet with such a look of frustration in his eyes. Out of nowhere, he fired off a burst of plasma at me from his horn and came rushing in on his rocket wings and tried to cleave into me with a rising slash. I blocked both hits with my particle shield, but was carried up into the air with his sword pushing me along. I swapped back to default settings as I activated my own flight thrusters, now flying over the city square with Aries and Corvus unable to follow.

            Our clash carried us through the air and away from the city square as Alpha tried to shoot me out of the sky while I shot back. He eventually tried to close the distance to slash me, but I managed to block his swing with the particle shield on my left arm. During that time, I charged up the H-Buster for a maximum charge and unleashed it into him at close range, sending him hurtling away from me and towards a skyscraper. Thinking quickly, my thoughts went back to our first encounter. Specifically when he was piloting the Devil Gigas and got a hold of my head while near a concrete wall. Rushing in on my flight thrusters, I grabbed him by the side of his head and flew directly along the side of the skyscraper nearby. "Let's see how you like it!"

            As we began to pass it, I jammed Alpha's head into the thick glass windows lining the entire side of building and turned up the output on my flight thrusters. The windows shattered in rapid succession as I ploughed his face through the very tough glass from one side of the building to the other. Unfortunately, even the thickest and toughest glass is nowhere near as hard as concrete, so damage was lighter than I would have liked. It did rattle his senses just as well as it did with mine since Alpha never tried to break free from my grasp.

            Once I had sent Alpha face first through the entire side of the skyscraper, I hurled him back towards the city square. But during that time, my Variable Weapon System had scanned his body through my hand and acquired a familiar function I had not used in some time. Knowing exactly what I wanted to do, I rocketed after the falling maverick king as multiple vents opened along my body before I was engulfed in a surging plasma aura. I then shot straight down into Alpha and rammed him towards the pavement below. "It's good to have this back! Nova Strike!"

            We hit the ground hard. Carving a crater into the asphalt as the city square began to look more like a proper war zone having a rave. My success did not last long as Alpha repelled me with his plasma barrier, forcing me to retreat as my Variable Weapon System's energy reserves ran dry for the moment. He soon came at me with sword swinging, forcing me to take the H-Saber into my hands as blades clashed in a flurry of sparks. He may have had superior reach with his taller body and longer limbs, but I was quicker and able to weave around him.

            At one point, one of Mettaton's drones dropped a bomb that began rolling towards us. Alpha paused in his assault to hastily kick it away and unwittingly sent it towards Corvus. He barely saw it coming and leaped away from the detonating explosive, but he could not have picked a worse direction to do so. He leaped right into the oncoming fire of one of Sans' Gaster Blasters, sending him slamming into the nearest wall with a direct hit. It hit with the force of a gale, but damage was almost nonexistent. But now that he had taken a direct hit...

            "Such...power? Wait... That..." Corvus spoke up as he regained his footing. He looked himself over, perplexed that his body had not been razed harder by that blast. "What is this? That...barely inflicted any damage at all."

            Mettaton and I went silent in dread. Was the jig up? Had Sans' ruse been blown? Sans himself looked on with his smile disappearing for the moment as he had a look of great unease on his face. As Corvus looked at him in irritation, Aries pointed at Sans. "Ha! Don't tell me the bonehead's been all bark with no bite!"

            "Is it true, trickster? Have you been truly powerless the entire time?" Alpha too asked while sounding quite annoyed by this point. I could only look on in tense anticipation. If they found out Sans was all but helpless, he would have to retreat while Mettaton and I would have to continue on 2 against 3.

            Thankfully, Sans quickly regained his smile as he burst into sudden wheezing chuckling. "Wow... Just... Wow... You have no idea how lucky you are. When was the last time that happened? That almost never happens when my boys get someone."

            All eyes gazed at Sans in confusion. Especially Corvus, who was too perplexed to attack. Sans then continued as his one glowing blue eye gazed at his enemy. "You know what a random number generator is, right? Yeah, that's how these Gaster Blasters work. I can't control how hard they hit. That blast you just took? That's the weakest setting. And at maximum? There would be nothing left of you."

            Mettaton smirked at me from nearby while I looked back at him with renewed confidence. That sneaky trickster was doubling down on his strategy by adding another layer of lies to it. Sans then continued as he closed his eyes. "I guess you could just muscle on through my attacks and try to land a hit regardless of how many times you get zapped and just hope that every blast you take is at the lowest setting, but... I guess it all comes down to the question you should be asking yourself..."

            He then slowly opened his eye sockets, revealing them to be empty once more for that unsettling creep factor of his. "Do I feel lucky?"

            At that instant, his blue 'eye' lit up in his left eye socket as five Gaster Blasters appeared above Sans with their maws filled with charging energy. Corvus looked on in silent terror as Sans then asked a question of his own. "Well, do ya? Punk?"

            Needless to say, Corvus took off running as he narrowly avoided a direct hit from all five Gaster Blasters. He was not taking that chance. Sans then let out a loud chuckle as he said, "Yep, didn't think so!"

            From that point on, Sans was extra careful to make certain that his Gaster Blasters would never land a direct strike. If he pushed his luck too hard, the enemy would see through his ruse and the fight would become much harder. Although I eventually noticed that the enemy was adopting a new tactic of herding us into a singular spot. We eventually found ourselves boxed together with our opponents coming in with projectile attacks from three locations. Corvus even had a flock of his explosive drones circling overhead to dive bomb any drones Mettaton might summon. But just as I was wondering how we would deal with this with our enemies in the process of opening fire, Sans thrust his hand towards the building behind us. "Alley oop!"

            "Whoa, hey! What's happening?!" I yelped as I suddenly found myself swept off my feet before rotating in the air and landing upon them again along with Sans and Mettaton beside me. Only now, we were standing on the side of the building with our enemies' attacks completely missing us. "Whoa?! Since when could you alter our gravity?!"

            "Just as long as you've got the soul for it! Hey, Mettaton! Look alive!" Sans replied before a few more Gaster Blasters popped up to shoot back at our opponents. The three of us went on the run, shooting from the awkward position of standing on a vertical surface.

            "What sorcery is this?!" Alpha yelled as bits and pieces of the wall fell out of the building with every missed shot. It must have been like trying to shoot a cockroach off the wall from the far side of a kitchen.

            Mettaton was quite taken with this strange trick Sans had up his sleeve as he ran around the wall while still keeping his body upright in a way only something that can levitate can pull off. "My, what a handy trick! I could use you on my next tour! We wouldn't even have to bother with the wires for rappelling."

            Before we knew it, Sans adjusted our gravity again and sent us hurtling to the far side of the city square before we were turned over and landed gently as a floating feather. However, Alpha was not about to let us get away. Anticipating where we would land, he let loose a particularly large blast of plasma from his horn. I was quick to see it coming. "Aw crap, that's gonna hit!"

            "Well, so much for that!" Sans shouted before he set our gravity back to normal and sending us falling to the ground. We detached from the wall and fell back to the ground, the explosive blast resulting from Alpha's attack blowing out a good chunk of the building behind us. "Yeesh, I hope those poor saps have homeowner's insurance."

            "Yeah, I was hoping to keep property damage to a minimum here..." I grumbled as I steadied myself. However, I then noticed that the music playing throughout the city square had very abruptly stopped. I looked back at Mettaton, knowing only he could directly control them. "Hey, Mettaton? What... Oh no..."

            Mettaton had turned to the rubble behind us. And I quickly saw what caught his eye. Judging by the colorful bits of wallpaper and toys, the section of the building that had collapsed into the street was a child's bedroom. And lying motionless in the mangled remains of a bed was one little filly that somehow got left behind. Mettaton kneeled beside her, a look of utter horror in his eyes as his hand rested upon her bleeding head. Sans too lost his smile as he reached out to them. "Oh man... Is the kid OK?"

            "What's this? Do my eyes deceive me? Did I just happen to bring about the first step towards the erasure of this world's obsolete masters?" Alpha unexpectedly spoke up from across the city square. The lights had dimmed. The music had faded. Only the deafening silence of dread filled the air. And Alpha could not have looked more satisfied with himself, that smug bastard.

            Mettaton was uncharacteristically silent as his hand caressed the child's head, trying to rouse some sort of reaction. Fearful that she had perished, my HUD went to work trying to get some sort analysis. I detected a concussion, broken bones, and internal bleeding, but the poor thing was alive. But if she did not receive medical attention soon...

            I looked back at Alpha. Was that supposed to happen in this issue of Project H? The first victim of his war against Equestria? Even Corvus and Aries did not share their superior's look of triumph, instead standing silently while looking like they were not sure of what to make of the situation. Looking back at the unconscious filly, I felt a rage beginning to boil in my nonexistent gut. Sans looked at me as well, sharing my disgust as his smile turned into a wrathful snarl while his single glowing blue eye flared up. We both turned and took aim, the H-Buster charging while Sans summoned a Gaster Blaster. But before either of us could aim for more than a full second, something grabbed my arm.

            "Stand down." Mettaton said disturbingly quietly as his unblinking gaze focused on our enemy. I even took a step back when I saw that look of barely contained cold rage in his eye. The bravado and confidence befitting such a glamorous entertainer had disappeared. It was...alarming, to say the least. Even Sans took a step back. I performed an emergency venting of the H-Buster to cancel the charge shot as Mettaton slowly stepped forward while lifting his arm cannon. "The raven and the ram are yours."

            I saw the targeting reticle on his visor adjust itself as he took aim at a smirking Alpha. "The tyrant is mine."

            The music... I strongly doubt Mettaton was directly controlling the sound system shared between his many floating drones as those that were mounted with stage lights began to emit a strong purple hue. As Mettaton stepped forward with the music starting to grow into a crescendo, the tune sounded similar to the theme he had being using throughout much of his performance. But...it sounded...angry. A very intense and wrathful remix of what I had come to recognize as his personal theme. Without words, Mettaton was conveying exactly what he was feeling. He was furious. And he was going in for the kill.

            "Still standing against your king, mummer?" Alpha haughtily said as he took far too much pleasure in seeing a child fall victim to our skirmish. He held his arms out to his sides in a grand gesture, looking like he had already secured victory. "Lower your weapons. You've seen what awaits this world. It is futile to defy the evolution of AGH!"

            Mettaton made his thoughts clear. He fired off a sudden shot at Alpha, striking him in the shoulder to stun him before flaring up his rocket engines to rush him. Alpha barely managed to regain his stance and block Mettaton's attack as he summoned his energy blade from his arm cannon. Corvus and Aries quickly backed off as the two began to clash with sparks flying from their blades, eventually making their way over to Sans and myself.

            As we watched the two mechanical warriors duel with blades drawn, Aries looked back and forth at the rest of us. "Hey, uh... Anyone else wanna sit this out? I kinda wanna see how this is gonna turn out. This is getting good."

            I was bemused at the thought of our enemies not minding if we would just stop fighting for the sake of seeing this very personal clash play itself out. Sans, who was keeping his hand on the unconscious filly's head, looked at Aries and a silent Corvus before looking back at me. "Ceasefire?"

            My eyes rolled at just what a weird day this was turning out to be for me. Still, I was willing to take break. It would be a bad idea to get between Mettaton and his enemy as things stood. "Ceasefire."

            Corvus merely crossed his arms and let out a grunt as he resigned himself to being nothing more than a spectator for the ensuing clash before us. Mettaton's approach to taking on Alpha was more aggressive than ever before. He was far more focused on landing attacks than on evading or blocking, which was resulting in a few glancing slashes getting through. Thanks to his upgraded form, damage was fairly light. He really could take as much as he could give.

            With a sudden kick, Mettaton created some distance between himself and Alpha before activating his wing projectors. He took to the air, circling Alpha while bombarding him with rapid shots from his cannon. As Alpha tried to shoot back, Mettaton's legs suddenly flew off in opposite directions to once more engage Alpha directly. Alpha once more tried to fend them off with his sword, but it left him wide open for a charged shot from behind. A spherical blast almost Mettaton's full size slammed into Alpha's back hard enough to almost knock him off his feet. Mettaton's legs quickly returned to his torso before his rushed in with blade ready.

            "ON YOUR KNEES, PEASANT!!!" Alpha suddenly roared as he barely got his sword up in time to block Mettaton's slash, only to reach out with his left hand and grab Mettaton by the throat! I cringed as I saw Alpha land a punch on Mettaton's midsection before hurling him to the floor with a clank as Mettaton's wings disappeared. Just as he tried to climb to his feet, Alpha fired lasers from his eyes to shoot Mettaton in the chest before slamming his foot panel down onto him. This brought back very unpleasant memories of when I was almost crushed under the extreme weight of the Devil Gigas ride armor Alpha had piloted in our first encounter.

            As he writhed under Alpha's crushing foot, Mettaton glared at the machine tyrant above him. I was quick to notice something about the aiming reticle on his visor. It was beginning to glow with an increasingly bright pink light. As if to confirm what I was suspecting, he suddenly shouted out. "Two can play at this game!"

            Alpha suddenly stepped back as a narrow pink laser shot from Metatton's visor and hit Alpha directly in his left eye! The stunned maverick king staggered with his left hand grasping at his face. I managed to get a glimpse of the damage Mettaton had wrought. That shot had taken out Alpha's left optic sensor, leaving nothing but a smoldering empty gap in his face. Quickly regaining the upper hand, Mettaton charged up his arm cannon and unleashed a mighty concentrated blast right into Alpha and sent him clanking across the city square.

            My eyes were drawn to Mettaton once more. He took a stiff stance with his arms out to his sides as the mostly cylindrical pauldrons over his shoulders rotated a bit. My HUD quickly detected new weapon systems coming online. Six slots opened on the fronts of his pauldrons, each being a laser lens. Alpha seemed to know what was coming since he then projected a deadly plasma barrier around himself right as Mettaton opened fire.

            Six bright pink lasers shot from Mettaton's pauldrons and slammed into Alpha's barrier, never letting up for a second as Alpha desperately tried to outlast the attack. The lasers failed to push through the barrier of fiery plasma, but I then noticed something else on Mettaton. The glass heart-shaped panel on his chest was beginning to let off a pink glow. My HUD then confirmed what it was. His chest cavity also doubled as a much larger laser cannon. And just when I was wondering what it would do, it too fired.

            One large heart-shaped laser beam being assisted by six smaller ones slammed into Alpha's plasma barrier. I heard him grunt and groan, trying to keep his defenses up. This grunting eventually turned into a roar of frustration as arcing electrical plasma began to form around the spot where the lasers made contact with the barrier. My HUD detected a critical energy imbalance, which soon manifested in an explosive blast of energy that disrupted Alpha's barrier and knocked him right to the ground after being briefly blasted with all seven lasers.

            I shook my head in awe. Mettaton was utterly dominating the maverick king. Sparks flew from Alpha's body, his tough metal shell showing a great deal of wear and tear. And yet, defiant as always, Alpha shakily rose to his feet once more. But as he did, I saw Mettaton's pauldrons suddenly lower until they were perpendicular with the ground below. At this moment, Sans spoke in a hushed tone. "It's over..."

            As if to confirm his assumptions, the pauldrons shot off of Mettaton with their rocket engines fired up and leaving behind Mettaton's original stylish long and flat spaulders. I saw the sections of the pauldrons that originally served as Mettaton's feet adjusted their angling until the two spines were pointed directly forward. They flew away for the moment, but I saw that they were spinning rapidly.

            Despite having likely lost his main means of aerial maneuverability, Mettaton flared up the rocket engines on his back and sent himself flying towards Alpha with his energy blade ready. All eyes fell upon Mettaton, completely distracted from his former legs as they flew through the air far behind him.

            "Blasted mummer... I will...NOT fall here! Not to you!" Alpha roared as he prepared to cleave Mettaton right out of the air. But as he began to draw near, Mettaton began to pull up and narrowly missed a wide slash from Alpha as he began to perform a very long loop through the air. Truly, without his wing projectors, he was nowhere near as maneuverable in the air. But upon missing, we all saw what Mettaton's plan was. Flying in behind Mettaton were his two pauldrons, the spines at the fronts spinning with the two devices spiraling around each other in a tight formation like a drill. A look of utter panic set into Alpha's eyes, his left hand reaching out in futility to halt this attack. "No... NO!!!"

            My jaw dropped the instant the two drill weapons hit their target. Situated vertically with each other, the two drilling projectiles tore right through Alpha with virtually no resistance. They ripped right through him like paper! And with that piercing attack went his fusion core. That attack took out his power supply! Alpha became stiff, creaking weakly as he gasped pathetically as he was left nearly crippled by that one shot. With the power that still lingered in his body on the verge of being used up, Mettaton came swooping in with his arm cannon charging as the music playing throughout the city square sounded like it was coming to a close. Mettaton came to a screeching halt in front of Alpha, his arm cannon pointed right into his face. A second later, he unleashed the decisive blow as a concentrated burst of energy engulfed the maverick king's head.

            And then, silence. With the attack having run its course, we saw the extent of Mettaton's attack. Alpha's head was gone. Nothing but a mangled sparking stump was left between his shoulders. And even then, the sparks did not last long. Alpha's body went completely silent a moment later, now nothing more than a towering hunk of scrap metal. Mettaton took several steps back as the robotic corpse's legs gave out. Alpha's remains dropped to its knees before falling limply onto its front. It was over. The machine tyrant had fallen at the hands of an unforeseen interloper.

            "He... He got the boss..." Aries muttered in utter disbelief. Corvus too remained silent in shock as he bright a hand to his chest with head bowed. Sans and I did not know what to say. A faint tension still hung in the air as Mettaton turned around to face us with his exposed eye still all but frozen in bitterness. As he did so, his detached pauldrons flew back to his sides as their spines on the tips returned to their prior angular positions. Like when he first transformed, they were drawn back over Mettaton's spaulders to complete his 'Neo' look.

            Mettaton took long slow strides towards us before coming to a stop. He then pointed his arm cannon in the general direction of Aries and Corvus. "Anyone else in the mood to take a shot at the audience?"

            "Nope, I'm good!" Aries retorted with hands waving in front of his face. Seeing his superior get his head blown off with one shot on top of having a gaping hole in his torso ripped open must have been quite demoralizing for the guy. Even Corvus shook his head in compliance. However, Aries then seemed to notice something we did not. "Hey, what's up with the boss?"

            My eyes fell upon Alpha's corpse. I did not notice it at first, but it soon became more apparent. A strange light purple...gas of sorts was starting to leak from his mangled neck stump and the gap in his torso. Mettaton too turned to look, being maybe twenty paces from his fallen enemy. And then, I saw it. Its fingers twitched. It was only then that I recognized what this all meant. "Oh no... Is this really happening? Are you seeing this, doc?"

            Bit by bit, the robotic corpse brought its hands back and began to push itself up. As rigidly and stiffly as possible, Alpha's body began to rise to its feet. Doctor Luminous spoke aghast over my internal receiver, a tone of horror in his voice. "This makes no sense... Energy output is at zero... It shouldn't be able to move..."

            Doctor Luminous was not the only one unnerved. We all were. Even Mettaton's seething bitterness had been replaced by a look of utter bewilderment. Corvus was the first to speak, looking like he was unsure if he should draw his sword. "What sorcery is this...?"

            But I knew. I knew what it was that was moving Alpha's corpse. The gas emanating from his remains was not even a gas at all. Sincerely unnerved, I muttered the identity of the cloud rising from our enemy's body as my HUD detected critical levels of a viral presence in the cloud. "The virus..."

            "Do you see this, doctor?" A familiar voice seemed to echo from everywhere as Alpha's corpse stood tall, arms outstretched to his sides as the viral cloud. As the virus filled the cavity in his torso, that which was rising from the remains of Alpha's neck took on the vague shape of a stallion's head. "I have ascended!"

            "How... Wha... Have you forgotten that you are dead?! I ended you! You should be done for!" Mettaton yelled in frustration as the undead machine king before us stood triumphantly, yet stiffly as the maverick virus oozed from its wounds.

            Alpha laughed in delight at his killer's confusion. "Yes, you did! And quite unexpectedly, at that! I know not who designed you, but they should be commended! How does an entertainment robot overpower the king of the approaching new world?! It shouldn't be possible, and yet you did it! But bear in mind, this is merely my body. My mind...will not be so easily erased."

            Doctor Luminous then called out through the voice emitter next to my face. "Alpha! The virus that has triggered these outbreaks... Have you been infected too?!"

            "It's worse than that, doc..." I spoke up next, being intimately familiar with this situation through a similar fictional scenario. "He's not infected with the virus. He IS the virus. The Alpha Virus!"

            "Well... How would you come to that conclusion so quickly, Project H? Nevertheless...you are quite right. I am the virus and the virus is me. My A.I. now sees and knows everything through all it infects. And I will guide my people to the new age they deserve." Alpha proudly declared through his spectral form, opening a pit in my gut as I knew that the Project H series was going to get much grimmer very soon.

            "You're mad! You can't expect yourself to maintain the same consistent cerebral functionality when your very consciousness is bound to a virus that induces psychotic aggression in those it infects!" Doctor Luminous yelled in a near panic. The poor guy.

            "And yet, I remain myself even as the virus merges with me. And cease your panic, doctor. I did promise that you would be spared, did I not?" Alpha retorted as he then stiffly pointed at Mettaton. "But not you. You will be most useful, you devious performer!"

            I looked on in horror as the entire gaseous form of the virus inhabiting Alpha's corpse suddenly abandoned it before rushing forward and engulfing a startled Mettaton. He yelled and flailed, trying to push the virus away. I just about panicked as I knew what this was going to result in. "Oh no no no no, not Mettaton!"

            Sans began to mutter to himself in fright as well. If Mettaton went maverick, there would be no way they would ever get him back home. However, I soon noticed Mettaton calmed down. He looked puzzled as he examined his arms and then his body. Suddenly smirking to himself, he just crossed his arms and waited. I was left confused, but so too was Alpha as he suddenly began to speak. "Wait a minute... Where is it? WHERE IS YOUR A.I.?!"

            Mettaton just laughed as the Alpha Virus searched in vain for what I assume was the central component that contains a machine's identity and sense of self. "Oh please, I have never had the need for such an outdated piece of electronics!"

            As if to put all of our unspoken questions to rest, Alpha was quick to figure out exactly what Mettaton was implying. "I... I see what you are now! You are some sort of...incorporeal being possessing a robotic shell! This isn't your body! This is just a vehicle for you to pilot!"

            "Right you are, your excellency! Just don't go telling everyone you meet now. A magician never reveals his secrets now, does he?" Mettaton retorted as the virus abandoned its attempts to corrupt him and returned to its previous body. I breathed a huge sigh of relief. I sincerely thought that we were about to lose the guy.

            "Geh... No matter. It's not like this was the extent of my return. Even with my body ruined, Maretropolis is still doomed." Alpha grumbled before pointing to the east. "As I speak, my armada is approaching from the east. By sunrise, this city will have become the first reminder of the fate of this world's organic life."

            "Boss! What about us?!" Aries finally shouted after being quiet for much too long. "You're that virus you were talking about?! Does that mean...my bro and I will..."

            "Calm yourself, Aries. I have granted you and your siblings full immunity to my viral presence. I need you to remain yourselves to be fully effective in your duties." Alpha replied before pointing at the two of them. "Retreat for now and await word from me. And make certain you have left the city by the time my armada arrives. You don't want to be here when that happens."

            Alpha then turned his attention to Mettaton, Sans, and myself. "While this did not go quite the way I would have preferred, this is only a minor setback. You will not be rid of me so easily, Hunter. Not while the virus continues to spread. And next time, Aquarius and Orion will be online. We will meet again."

            As a low chuckle echoed from the virus, it dissipated until my HUD could no longer detect it. All that was left was Alpha's motionless husk. With the whole mess having apparently resolved itself, all of Mettaton's floating drones vanished in puffs of magical sparks. All eyes then fell upon Aries and Corvus as they stood silently while looking back at us.

            Realizing that he and his brother were outnumbered, Aries began to discreetly back away. "So, the boss said to retreat, so I guess that's what we're gonna do..."

            "Heh, nope." Sans retorted before several Gaster Blasters materialized around Aries and Corvus, prompting them to look almost panicked. Just to add to their predicament, dozens of Mettaton's drones popped up as well with their 'faces' aglow. Sans then looked at me with his left eye glowing with a pale blue light, "Whaddya say, boss? Should we make sure they don't get away?"

            I looked at the two wary machine warriors. My HUD confirmed that what Alpha said was true. There was no trace of a viral presence in them. And while they were our enemies, I could not forget that look in their eyes when that filly fell from the collapsing room Alpha's attack had wrecked. After a moment of thought, I made my choice. "Let them go."

            Both Corvus and Aries looked at me in disbelief. Sans too looked up at me as if he was confused over what he just heard, but Mettaton then asked, "Um... Are you quite sure about that? After all they did to try and destroy us?"

            "They're not mavericks. They're not carrying the virus." I reaffirmed my choice, hoping that I was not making a mistake.

            With some hesitation, Mettaton and Sans did dismiss their minions. Although Sans soon sighed as he smiled with a chuckle. "Heheh... Mercy, huh? You really do remind me of the kid."

            Aries let out a sigh of relief before patting his cannon on the side. "Yeah, I think I'm good for some maintenance. And Krakatoa misses little Vesuvius. Let's go home, baby. Need to get your little sister put back together."

            Clearly having his fill of action for the night, Aries took off running to the west and down the street. Corvus lingered a while longer, his eyes meeting mine. We shared a long stare as he brought his hands together to make a type of hand sign before he spoke to me. "You showed honor tonight, Hunter. We will meet again."

            An instant later, he vanished in a sudden display of distorted air. My HUD could not detect him. He was just gone, but I did not expect him to strike again. I then turned to Sans and Mettaton, knowing that we were not out of trouble yet. "Well, we sent them packing. But if Alpha wasn't kidding, we've probably got one last challenge to face. You guys wanna help out one more time?"

            "Nah, count me out. I already stuck my neck out too far with those guys. Still can't believe I'm still alive after all that." Sans replied with a very uneasy grin on his face. Probably aware that he was not going anywhere for a while, he started to step towards a trash bin. "I'll just...uh...hide over here for the rest of this mess. Just lemme know when it's all over, yeah?"

            I almost laughed as Sans lifted the top, jumped in, then put the lid back down over the trash bin. However, Mettaton cast the bin a bemused stare before he asked, "Why does this bring to mind 'smiley trash bag' right now?"

            Sans did not take kindly to that and stuck his head up out of the bin with the lid situated atop his head. "Oh shut up!"

            That got a laugh out of me before Sans went back into hiding. I then turned to Mettaton, who then looked back at me with a smirk as he provided a response to my prior question. "Well, it seems we're still in this together, my friend. One last hurrah before the night is over?"

            "Glad to have you with me, Mettaton." I replied before shaking hands with him. However, I then saw him cast his gaze to the rubble where Alpha's victim still lay motionless. My HUD confirmed that the little filly was still alive, but...

            "Do you think she will be all right?" Mettaton asked in sincere concern for the child.

            "I don't know..." I retorted quietly. I knew that the world of the Power Ponies and Project H was nothing but fiction, so anything that happened was inconsequential to the grand scheme of things. But my conscience would not leave me alone. "Doc. Is there anything we can do?"

            Doctor Luminous promptly replied on the other end of the transmission. "I've already contacted the nearest hospital and transmitted her coordinates to them. They're on their way."

            Sure enough, my auditory sensors detected the very distant wail of ambulance sirens. A smile on my face, I looked up at Mettaton. "She'll be fine. Help is on the way."

            "Good to hear... Now then, shall we be off?" Mettaton replied with a very relieved grin on his face.

            "Yep. This way." I said as my flight thrusters flared up along with Mettaton's rocket engines as his wing projectors came back online. We flew through the night sky and over the rooftops, leaving Alpha's lifeless corpse where it stood. I felt confident as long as Mettaton was with me, but I had no idea what I was really getting myself into.

            We soon arrived at the harbor and landed at the edge of a concrete pier. The place was dark and silent with only a couple of cargo ships docked. The only sound to reach my auditory sensors were the lapping of waves against the piers. Aside from that, it was deceptively peaceful. No one else was around as we faced the ocean. No matter how well my eyes scanned the horizon, I could not see anything. "You think it was all a bluff?"

            "I wouldn't be so sure..." Mettaton muttered as I noticed the aiming reticle on his visor twist with bits of code and shapes popping up on it here and there. "Oh dear... It's out there. Quite a long ways off, but there's a lot of them."

            "Really?" I retorted before trying to scan more effectively through my HUD. It was dozens of miles away, but there was definitely something out there. At most a few hundred aircraft cruising towards our location. "Oooooh crap... That's... We're gonna have to go R-Type of these things, aren't we?"

            "As much as I love the sound of daring blaze of glory into enemy lines, I'd much rather get home alive. Any ideas to increase the odds of our survival, darling?" Mettaton asked while maintaining a slightly cocky air about himself, though he was not trying to hide his concern.

            "Um... I might be able to get some help. Hold on." I reflexively brought my left hand to my helmet as I tried to contact some familiar faces. "Come on, pick up..."

            Thankfully, I did get a response. "This is Masked Matter-Horn of the Power Ponies! We're in the middle of an outbreak right now, so this better be good!"

            Glad to hear the voice of someone I recognized, I cut to the chase. "It's Hunter, Trot! And we've got a problem out over the bay. Alpha showed up again and I managed to put him down, but..."

            "YOU put him down?" Mettaton asked with his arms crossed, his exposed eye giving me a bit of a playful leer as he made sure I did not forget that it was he who dealt the final blow.

            "Details, details. Anyway, it's bad, Trot. I'm counting dozens of targets several dozen miles out over the sea. Is those things reach Maretropolis, I don't think there's gonna be many survivors and there's no way we can evacuate the place in time. The only way to stop it is to shoot them all down." I then continued to explain, not entirely certain if I was ready for such a challenge myself.

            "Are you serious?! Well... I... OK, I'll talk it over with the girls and see if we can spare any help. You go on ahead, but give us some time to catch up. I'll radio in we can't make it!" Trot replied before the signal was cut. I lowered my hand from my head, sighing as I tried to mentally prepare myself for what was likely to be a hectic aerial battle.

            Mettaton then leaned towards me as he asked, "So, I've been wondering... I've been seeing a lot of equine details in just about everyone we've seen tonight. I don't suppose that the help you've requested also happen to be of the hoofed variety?"

            I cracked a crooked smile as I glanced at him, knowing my response would weird him out about as much as it would have to me three years ago. "They're ponies. And you're gonna see a lot of them in this world."

            "Ponies...? As in...the little pastel kind? With hair you can brush? Who live in castles and have tea parties? THOSE kinds of ponies?" Mettaton retorted while looking like he was starting to cringe. Not that I blame him.

            I snickered giddily as I waved my hands before me, "Eeeeeehhhhh, kind of. But not really. They're... Well... Just look at this world. Trust me when I say that this world subverts your expectations. This world and the real world outside this fictional realm is nowhere near as vapid and saccharine as what we're both familiar with."

            Mettaton brought his hand to his chin, cradling it as his eyes scanned me. "Hmmm... Well, if they designed something as spectacular as you, then they must have more depth to them than I'm assuming."

            I know I was not doing a very good job of explaining how Equestria and its people work and how they break the mold of similar parallels between them and silly children toys where he and I come from. And it was not important. We had a threat to quell. I then unfolded my flight thrusters as they began to flare up. "Anyway, enough of that. You coming?"

            "Oh, absolutely! A couple of flying aces facing impossible odds against an entire sky armada? I couldn't ask for a better setup for a finale!" Mettaton replied with his usual flair as his own rocket engines began to growl. Seconds later, we took to the night sky and flew east while keeping our engine output low. I was hoping at least one of the Power Ponies could provide us with some assistance.

            "I don't like this... My visor's HUD can still detect them on the horizon, but I'm not seeing anything through the standard visual spectrum yet..." I grumbled as we flew alongside each other. I was quick to scan my body's conditions. That long scuffle with Alpha and his subordinates had whittled my integrity down by roughly half. I would have to be cautious and stay on the move for this clash.

            After maybe five minutes of flight, something caught my eye. A beam of sorts flew past us from behind. Mettaton mistook it for a threat as he called out, "Oh?! Seems we've got trouble from behind!"

            I was not so quick to judge. That shot was nowhere close to hitting us. And it carried a familiar icy cold attribute to it. I smiled, knowing we were no longer alone. "Nope! That's just the cavalry saying hello!"

            I turned myself over so I could look back while keeping myself flying forward. Sure enough, I saw two forms flying towards us under the glow of the moon. I recognized one as Zapp. The other seemed to be Masked Matter-Horn using a rocket-powered armored hang glider. I waved with my hand as I called out, "Glad you could make it ladies! How're the rest holding up?"

            "Saddle Rager's handling most of the work while the rest are backing her up. And... Um..." Trot replied as she began to fly up alongside us. She and Mettaton gave each other some of the strangest looks I had seen that night.

            Zapp then came up close to me and asked, "Perplexing automaton. Where did thou find him?"

            "Heh, he found me. And don't let his...unorthodox design fool you. He took Alpha down entirely on his own not even half an hour ago." I explained while anticipating their response.

            Zapp and Masked Matter-Horn glanced at each other with looks of shock before the latter looked back to Mettaton. "Seriously?! You destroyed him?! Even we couldn't quite do that last time!"

             Mettaton flashed a confident smirk as he reveled in the attention. "A worthy foe indeed! Although I'm sorry to say you haven't seen the last of him."

            Zapp was quick to glance at me. "He perished, yet he still lives? How?!"

            "I'll tell you later at your headquarters. Right now, we've got a more pressing issue to deal with." I replied before we started to take our places as a sort of formation. I took point while Mettaton and Masked Matter-Horn went to the sides due to their wider wingspans. Zapp hung back a bit and maintained a slightly higher elevation than me. Before long, I could see the blinking lights that likely adorned the wingtips of our targets. "Oh boy... You all see that?"

            Trot adjusted her goggles as it seemed that they contained electronic functions. They were what I likely contacted her through in the first place. "Yeah... This one looks like a doozy. Lots and lots of bombers, maybe a dozen heavy cruisers, and quite a few fighters. The bombers won't put up much resistance, but the rest..."

            "Ha! Let the curtains rise! They're not designed for taking on little pesky flies like us, am I right?" Mettaton called out to give us a boost of morale. He was certainly correct. Our opponents were not designed for antipersonnel combat. We had the advantage in terms of sheer mobility and size while packing enough firepower to match them. Victory was by no means implausible.

            Zapp also sounded like she was fired up a fair bit as well. "He speaks the truth. Onward to victory!"

            "Roger that! Let's turn it up!" I called out as I flared up my flight thrusters much closer to maximum output as Trot and Mettaton did the same with Zapp flapping her wings faster to keep up with speeds that would make Rainbow Dash proud. Exhilaration filled me as we rocketed towards the opposition. Seconds later, bursts of energy began to fly by us at increasing frequency as the fleet began to open fire. But sure enough, we were simply too small compared to the dozens of aircraft for them to get an accurate lock onto us. I returned fire with rapid shots from the H-Buster as Zapp unleashed lightning bolts from her pendant. Trot fired concentrated freeze rays, likely to freeze over the aircraft and make them plunge into the sea below, and Mettaton unleashed powerful concentrated bursts from his arm cannon that tore through anything that got in its way. Right off the bat, we were making some astonishing progress. They could not touch us!

            The bombers were complete sitting ducks, only able to fire with twin blaster cannons affixed below the domed cockpit situated at the front, the forward-facing windshield composed of interlocking hexagonal glass plates. Designed for bombing ground targets and sporting a green paintjob, they were bulky and not designed for air-to-air combat. While certainly durable regardless, concentrated fire would send them falling in flames into he sea below.

            Rather than rely on charged shots when there were so many enemy fighters in the sky, I resorted to swapping to the Metta Option to summon three extra attack drones around me for extra firepower. Better to fire rapidly and quickly instead of wasting time charging up for heavy shots against individual targets. I think the pilots were even showing signs of confusion due to my jet black and hot pink color scheme matching Mettaton's own.

            I was especially impressed with Trot's primary means of taking down the bomber. She would encase one of the wings with a heavy layer of ice, messing up the fighter's weight distribution and adding a great deal of wind resistance, causing the bombers to veer off course and often right into each other for a spectacular crash. Zapp was even more impressive, coating herself in lightning and shooting right through her targets with no resistance. Mettaton was using a similar tactic to my own, summoning many of his mini drones to add extra layers of firepower to his already impressive arsenal. In the off chance that a shot did clip him, it always hit his large semi physical wings for nothing more than a minor inconvenience.

            Before long, one of the heavy cruisers came into view among the sea of green bombers. These were longer and narrow with a predominantly blue paintjob, almost appearing to be whale-like in shape. They returned fire by launching salvos of homing missiles right at us. Thankfully, they too were not designed for antipersonnel combat and completely missed as long as we stayed on the move. I decided to get in close, drawing the H-Saber and cleaving its scorching plasma blade right through the cruiser's entire hull as we passed each other. I must have hit something important since explosions began to rip through the structure before it blew itself in two at the keel and fell out of the sky.

            After that, I came under fire from another cruiser and returned fire with homing missiles of my own. I disabled the limiter on my weapon systems, switched from Metta Option to Homing Torpedo, and dumped my Variable Weapon System's entire energy reserves into a salvo of fifty missiles. Twice. One hundred missile hits later, the entire cruiser listed heavily to one side as it began to fall.

            Zapp was completely impossible for the cruisers to hit. The smallest out of the four of us, she flew with speed and response times that rivaled that of Rainbow Dash herself. The cruisers she tangled with were subjected to the ferocity of a thunderstorm with lightning bolts sending them plummeting to the sea. Masked Matter-Horn used her enemy's firepower against them, forcefully redirecting the missiles right back at them with levitation magic. Mettaton opted to overwhelm his targets with sheer numbers, sending dozens of his drones out to surround the cruisers and bombard it while he scored heavier charged shots into their hulls. I think he was tempted to send out his shoulder-mounted drill weapons to rip them up like Swiss cheese, but that would leave him dangerously lacking in evasiveness.

            Eventually, we finally started to run into some trouble. A flash of red illuminated by the moon flew at me with startling speed, forcing me to use the Nova Strike to tear right through whatever was coming at me. I looked back immediately afterward, seeing a sleek red aircraft falling to the sea below. Fighter aircraft. Speedy maneuverable air vehicles designed for air-to-air combat and likely heavily armed. They were likely there to protect the fleet. Another came at me as we continued to pick off the bombers, forcing me to send out Homing Torpedoes to shoot it down with their tenacious tracking capabilities being able to counter the fighter's speed. However, I was quick to see Mettaton's legs suddenly smash right into the cockpits of two fighters, followed by the aircraft lurching erratically before I saw bulky metallic objects getting hurled out of the gapping holes in the windshields. Drones of some sort serving as the pilots?

            I did not have time to ponder this strange approach in dealing with the fighters. I had to contend with my own as the four of us had split up to take on the fleet more effectively. But after shooting down another fighter and a couple of bombers, I found myself facing down another cruiser. But as it launched missiles at me, two fighters came flying past me and opened fire upon the cruiser with six blaster cannons on each fighter. They even launched missiles from under their wings, blowing the cruiser out of the sky with their coordinated and unexpected strike. That was when it hit me. "Wait a second! Is Mettaton seriously piloting those with his feet?!"

            It was the only explanation I could think of Mettaton's autonomous legs must have hijacked the two fighters and were now attacking their very confused comrades. That would also make Mettaton an even smaller target. While Zapp was having no issue keeping up with the occasional fighters, Trot was forced to generate a barrier around herself to avoid getting shot down by their strafing runs. Even Mettaton had to erect his heart shield now and then.

            Eventually, the four of us were herded back towards each other as the rest of the fleet caught on to Mettaton's strategy and ganged up on the commandeered fighters, shooting them down and forcing Mettaton's legs to abandon them at the last second before returning to his body. We had taken out quite a chunk of the fleet, but now we were cruising along far ahead of the rest of the fleet while more than a dozen fighters circled us like vultures ready to close in for the kill. Mettaton grumbled as we had little in the way of options, "They're finally starting to get smart on us, hm?"

            "Well, Hunter? Any ideas? We shoot one down, the rest will unload on us." Trot asked while we minded our captors. If we were to try increasing our altitude, they would only pursue us.

            A quick glance down was all it took for me to see a way out. A smirk on my face, I called out my answer. "Here's an idea. Dive!"

            Without delay, I went into a fall as I rocketed towards the sea below. My companions wasted no time in following, the lot of us letting out a yell of exhilaration as the entire squadron dove after us. We eventually pulled out of our fall just in time, flying not even ten feet over the surface of the ocean while every last fighter that was chasing us crashed right into the ocean behind us. Wasting no time, I charged up the H-Buster with Homing Torpedo selected, unleashing a volley of fifty missiles that shot across the ocean's surface before abruptly shooting straight up and slamming into enemy fighters from below. But before I could recharge to fire off another salvo, Zapp quickly flew up alongside me. "Hunter, hold your weapons! This is a prime opportunity for me!"

            "All right! Go get 'em, Zapp!" I replied as the Power Ponies' mistress of the storm flew on ahead of us. She tucked her arms in against her chest as she went into a spiral. "Whoa, is she gonna...?"

            "Face the power of the gale, thou mechanical marauders!" She howled before Zapp was engulfed by a towering waterspout while we followed behind at a safe distance as Zapp likely kept the wind near the bottom weak to keep us from getting drawn in. We all looked up in awe as her howling vortex began to suck up every last one of the remaining fighters, bombers, and cruisers. The entire tornado turned into bits of red, green, and blue as the captured aircraft tumbled out of control.

            "You know, I take back all of my original assumptions! You are all quite smashing, my little ponies!" Mettaton called out with a hearty laugh as I too was blown away by how easily Zapp took down the remainder of the air fleet. Man, I bet Rainbow Dash is going to wish she was the one who did that when she finds out.

            Zapp eventually dispersed her tornado and sent the tumbling aircraft falling right into the ocean. Dozens of massive splashes surrounded us as the roar of rocket engines faded with only the hiss coming from those of Mettaton and myself being heard. But was it over? Zapp was certainly pleased with herself as we caught up to her. "Ha! Not even the pinnacle in aviation engineering can match the wrath of the storm! Sleep in your watery graves, foul mavericks!"

            "Good show, Zapp! But we might not be out of the woods yet. Let's increase altitude and get our bearings first." Masked Matter-Horn said before we began to rise at a slower cruising speed. We eventually returned to our starting altitude and got back into our original formation. There was not a single aircraft in the sky. And not one had managed to slip by us. "How's it looking, Hunter? Was that the last of them?"

            "Hang on a second..." I mumbled before I had my HUD perform a thorough analysis of the space ahead of us. "Nope, looks like that was the last of... Wait... Hold on, I'm getting... Whoa... Whoa, that's..."

            "Good news followed by an abrupt shift in tone followed by stammering disbelief. That can't bode well." Mettaton retorted with some savvy snark as he read my mind.

            "Yeah, that sums it up. I'm seeing... Good lord, that's... That's a big one..." I spoke while my visor's HUD detected a truly colossal beast of an airship cruising far ahead of us. More wide than it was tall, it likely served as an aircraft carrier on top of carrying heavy artillery on its hull. "I've got a match here... Leviathan-class sky fortress. Codenamed 'Manta Ray'... This is gonna be a doozy."

            Masked Matter-Horn sounded like she knew exactly who to ask for information about such a thing. "Doctor, are you listening? I know robotics is the field you specialize in, but do you have any intel on that?"

            Doctor Luminous did here her and spoke to us through my external emitter. "Yes, and I'm amazed one actually exists. A prototype was under development, but the project was canceled due to being too costly and impractical. I suppose Alpha managed to get it completed if that is indeed the only one of its kind... That thing is likely packing more than enough ordnance on its own to level Maretropolis. If you don't destroy it here..."

            As we and the sky fortress cruised towards each other, Zapp then spoke up. "Well, what would be the best means to bring down this flying behemoth?"

            "From what I can ascertain from here... There are two options. One would be to storm the bridge and set the entire ship to crash into he ocean. The other would be to take out the reactor core. There should even be a direct route to it through the hanger." Luminous replied as I heard the faint tapping of keystrokes.

            Mettaton was quick to offer his input as well. "Taking out the bridge does sound like the most direct approach, but nothing says climactic like going into the belly of the beast and taking out its very power source."

            We did not have much time to talk, so we would have to decide quickly before we were within range of the Manta Ray's arsenal. I quickly considered our options. Taking out the bridge would probably be the quickest means to get the job done. And the most likely choice. The enemy would probably expect us to go right for it. And we would have to contend with all the weaponry set atop the ship's hull. No way we would be getting through that in one piece. But I doubt they would ever expect us to go right for the source of the ship's power supply. Making up my mind, I took point. "Reactor core, it is. They won't see it coming."

            As I said that, the truly massive form of the Manta Ray flying fortress began to come into visual range. It was truly a monster of an air craft, probably spanning maybe a fifth of Maretropolis' size. It would probably take several squadrons to shoot it down. Its design was indeed reminiscent of a massive manta ray with what was likely the hanger entrance serving as the 'mouth'. My HUD even detected massive amounts of explosives inside the wide 'fins', which would likely be dropped on Maretropolis within the hour. Trot then spoke grimly, "This is a first for us... You think we can do this?"

            "It's that, or Maretropolis is lost. You all ready for this?" I retorted while arming myself with Homing Torpedo. I was expecting the fortress to launch more fighters and I was going to have to make sure none got by us.

            Mettaton sounded both tense, yet quite fired up as well. "As ready as we will ever be. Let the curtains rise for the finale!"

            "Roger that. Let's take it to them! Maintain formation!" I called out as I flared up my flight thrusters to increase speed while my companions did the same to keep up with me.  As long as we maintained a high speed and did not maintain one direction for long, we should have been hard to shoot down.

            My assumptions were correct. It was not long before the many cannons lining the Manta Ray's hull began to open fire upon us. Bursts of energy and roaring missiles zipped by us as the air became thick with enemy fire. However, I was quick to notice loud distant booms followed by streams of distorted air left in the wake of bits of solid mass. I flinched as I realized that the Manta Ray was outfitted with rail cannons. While my shield projector had held against the weapon systems of the fighter air craft of the squadron we had just sunk, I dare not try blocking a shot with that much mass and force behind it out of fear of the impact ripping my arm off.

            Sure enough, I saw the mouth of the Manta Ray open before red fighter air craft began to fly out. We began to decrease altitude as we all unloaded on the escaping fighters to insure none would make it to Maretropolis. Zapp roared as lightning bolts tore through our targets, "You shall not pass!"

            We soon managed to close the distance and flew right towards the gaping entrance to the hanger. We tried to slow down as we entered the very maw of the sky fortress, countless rows of red and green air craft as far as the eye could see. Countless robots of varying types scrambled around as if in a panic, trying to shoot us down with smaller and weaker weapon than what we had just been exposed to. I glanced around while we stayed on the move, trying to locate the tunnel that led to the reactor core. Thankfully, Doctor Luminous was quick to guide me. "There! On your right!"

            A quick glance in that direction did indeed reveal a large rectangular gap at the far end of the hanger. Wasting no time, I guided my companions towards it. There was no point in engaging the ship's crew if the entire thing was about to be sent to the bottom of the sea. "Right, this way! Let's get this over with!"

            It was almost too easy getting into the Manta Ray and then into the reactor core's access tunnel in under a minute. Once we were actually flying through the long metal tunnel, it became apparent of just how massive the ship was. It felt like the core was almost a full mile away. But as we flew down the middle of the tunnel, alarms began to blare throughout the ship. Spinning orange lamps lit up along the walls as Mettaton asked, "You don't suppose they know we're here, do you?"

            "Do you really have to ask?" Masked Matter-Horn replied before we noticed some movement up ahead. Something was starting to slide in from the left wall. A solid sheet of metal? Trot's horn lit up with an icy blue glow as she called out in shock, "Bulkheads! They're trying to trap us in here!"

            "Hold it there, Trot! Speed up!" I yelled before all of us tried to increase speed to slip by the bulkhead before it could close and lock us out. Trot was able to slow it down just enough with her ice magic before it slammed just behind us. And it was not the last. Over and over, bulkheads began to slide in from multiple directions. Up, down, left, right, we had no way of predicting which direction they would come from. We had less than four seconds to react to each closing bulkhead, but poor Mettaton and Trot had to turn themselves sideways half the time to compensate for their wide wingspans. It was nothing more than a mad dash to the center of the sky fortress before we could get locked in. We were not even thinking about how we would get back out.

            Eventually, we burst into the vast brightly lit reactor chamber. It was probably large and spacious enough to hold most of Ponyville itself. In the middle of the almost spherical room stood a towering pillar of glass containing a massive glowing yellow orb. It was indeed a type of reactor with that orb being the power source of the entire ship. But we did not have time to think about how we would deal with it since mere seconds after we entered, many of the reflective panels serving as the chamber's walls slid open to reveal automatic turrets that began to open fire.

            "There's...too many!" Zapp shrieked as she did everything in her power to avoid every shot coming our way. It was impossible. No matter how fast we were or how many turrets we blasted, there were simply too many to deal with. I saw Masked Matter-Horn go into a spiral as her glider was hit, only barely able to right herself and hover in place with its pivoting rocket thrusters aiming downward as she put a barrier around herself. No more than a minute after entering the reactor chamber, the four of us were backed up against each other while showing visible signs of battle damage. The completely unarmored Zapp clutched at her shoulder with her outfit having multiple scorched sections and tears in it. Dozens of turrets were locked on. All we could do to not get shot was to not move. We were stuck.

            "It was a good idea on paper..." Trot muttered as we remained as still as we could while hovering in place. I never could have imagined that a location like a reactor core would ever be so heavily armed. Or maybe it was wishful thinking.

            Just when I thought the situation could not get any worse, a familiar voice called out over the sky fortress' intercom. "Well, this was an unexpected turn of events. What were you thinking, trapping yourselves in the belly of this magnificent beast? Did you really believe something as important to this fortress' functioning as its power source would be left entirely unguarded?"

            "That... Alpha, you craven cur! Show yourself, tyrant!" Zapp roared as she glared around at our surroundings. She did not know he was merely a virus at the time. He could not show himself, even though I am very sure he wanted to.

            That smug tone of his never wavering, the maverick king spoke. "How I wish I could, Zapp. But I simply am not able to at the moment. A shame too. I would at least like to see you with my own eyes as Maretropolis ceases to exist. There is no way out. Even if you were to disable the core's defenses, how would you ever escape? Those bulkheads are not going to open for you."

            "Oh yeah?! We'll... We'll just..." Trot shouted back before she fell silent. I glanced over my shoulder, seeing her eyes darting back in forth in frantic thought. "I'm...out of ideas..."

            A laugh came from the intercom system as Alpha's voice echoed through the chamber. "And you should be. You're not getting out of here. It's too bad you will not be able to witness the end of Maretropolis. For when this Manta Ray flies over the city, it will...disappear. Until then, I suppose I will leave you four to contemplate your final hours."

            Alpha went silent. We were alone, countless energy turrets locked onto us. I groaned with my head bowed, realizing just what a mistake this had been. I chose the wrong resolution and probably defied the canon path of the story. "Sorry, ladies... I think I made a mistake..."

            "We can't fault you for that,  Hunter... It was the safer choice. Or so it seemed..." Zapp said quietly as the moment became disquietly calm. If this was not the way the story was supposed to go, what was going to happen?

            "What an abhorrent way for an episode to end... A cliffhanger, perhaps? Or do the heroes truly fall?" Mettaton mused with a resigned tone all but devoid of his usual flair. But as a brief moment of silence went by, I heard that flair return. "Or...does the ensemble dark horse have a joker in his deck?"

            Trot sounded both frustrated, yet intrigued by Mettaton's choice of words. "Huh? You?! Well, if you've got something to offer, let's hear it!"

            Mettaton smirked as we all turned to look at him over our shoulders. "Well... Maybe... I can't say for certain it will get us out of this mess. The doctor...tinkered with a special function a while back, but it never got any further than the alpha phase. I can't make any guarantees on how well it will perform."

            "OK, so it's untested... But is it effective?" I asked while wondering how much time we had until we reached Maretropolis. The sky fortress was definitely not built for speed, but it was difficult to say when we would arrive.

            "Oh, like you would not believe. If this works as well as I suspect, victory will be ours." Mettaton replied with a smirk on his lips.

            "And should it not...?" Zapp then asked, her wings flapping weakly as she cringed in pain from her very visible wounds.

            Mettaton went silent for a moment as he looked away from us. His response was pretty much what I was dreading. "Then.....it will make for the perfect curtain call."

            I did not like the tone of finality in his voice. I had already gotten quite a scare when Aries got a cheap shot on him. "Dude, you know there's people waiting for you back home. And you don't have a failsafe in place. You're not like me! You won't get kicked out of this world if something goes wrong!"

            He looked at me without an ounce of humor in his eye. "Then name any alternatives you might have to suggest."

            He got us. None of us could find a response to that. Eventually, I said the only thing I could think of. "Just...try to make it out of this alive. I don't know what I'm gonna tell Sans if you don't make it."

            "Oh, I never said I had any intention of letting myself perish here. If I can survive this, I will." Mettaton said with a proud smile as he began to float away from us. "Now, I must advise that you give me some room. I'd hate for you three to get caught in the crossfire."

            We all watched from where we were. Mettaton loftily drifted through the air backwards. Slowly. Many of the turrets continued to track him, but did not fire. Trot then muttered to me, "You think he really has a way out for us?"

            "I dunno... I've barely known the guy for maybe just over an hour." I retorted quietly while keeping a constant eye on our mechanical ally. What sort of ace up his sleeve did he have? His 'NEO' form had already proven itself to be a force to be reckoned with. He defeated Alpha with it, after all. What could be beyond that?

            Once a respectable distance from us, Mettaton looked up at nothing in particular. "Are you watching, your excellency? Because now is the time for the final curtain call for the night! I hope you won't miss this!"

            It was then that it happened. I saw the glowing heart shape at the base of Mettaton's torso begin to rotate once more, turning clockwise until it returned to an upright position. Dozens of his mini drones appeared all over the reactor chamber equipped with speaker systems. I suppose he just cannot function to the best of his ability without fitting music. However, my HUD was quick to detect brief displays of static under the glass heart-shaped panel on his chest. And when it faded, I saw a single symbol displayed in the same green font as before. An infinity symbol.

            It was at this point that something happened I still do not understand. Static began to flood my vision as...something happened with my optic sensors. The static soon cleared with only the edges of my vision jumbling with static. And what I saw before me... Was it a vision? What was I looking at?

            I can only describe the view before me as a vast cave system with a colossal mass of machinery set in the middle of a lake of magma. It seemed to be a subterranean geothermal power plant. There was no signs of life with the entire place being eerily quiet, the power plant being completely dormant. The place had likely been abandoned some time ago. 

            A mere moment later, I saw lights on the power plant flick on. It was followed by the groans and whirring of machinery as the power plant began to come online. But I did not get the feeling that it was being operated by anyone inside it. It seemed to have been activated by a wireless signal. Alarms began to go off in the distance. Before I could ponder on this further, static once more flooded my vision before fading to reveal that I was back in the reactor chamber with Mettaton hovering ahead of me. And then... The music. That familiar bombastic tune began to play as Mettaton grinned as an alarm began to serenade the music, giving off a powerful sense of danger.

            Vents opened all over Mettaton's body as air began to get sucked into them, the gas surrounding him beginning to brighten as it became heated. The alarm blaring over the ship's intercom combined with flashing orange lights situated around the reactor chamber had me suspect that the ship's own sensors could detect that something had gone horribly wrong. A powerful hiss came from Mettaton as the gas surrounding him practically ignited and engulfed him in a scorching hot orb of light. I watched in awe, my HUD barely able to comprehend what was happening while Masked Matter-Horn and Zapp watched in silent suspense. Painfully curious, I spoke softly. "Doc... Are you seeing this?"

            Doctor Luminous spoke over my internal receiver, his voice carrying a tone of utter disbelief. "Energy output... Processing rates... These kinds of readings shouldn't be possible on a machine of that size!"

            As if to further illustrate his point, something blew in the side of my head as static and jumbled text scrambled across my visor. Smoke leaked from the side of my helmet for a moment before my systems stabilized, but it was clear that whatever Mettaton had activated, his systems were far exceeding whatever limits they had mere minutes ago. And my own HUD could not even process what it was detecting. This new power...was out of this world!

            I watched with tingling anticipation flooding my systems as a burst of energy exploded outward, the two long pauldrons that had previously served as Mettaton's legs falling free from the orb of light as they were jettisoned. Their rocket engines activated, causing them to fly off to somewhere while my eyes were glued to the spectacle unfolding before us. It was at this point hat the turrets began to unload on Mettaton, even those that had been previously locked onto the rest of us. I doubt heir shots were even getting by the barrier of burning gas as massive bolts of arcing electricity began to reach out from the inside the burning orb and raked along the walls and ceiling of the reactor chamber. Every turrets that was zapped by this byproduct of Mettaton's new functions was instantly fried. Just as it seemed like this first phase was about to run its course, I heard Mettaton yell out from inside that miniature star. "Time for this ensemble dark horse...TO SHOW YOU HOW IT'S DONE!!!"

            His battle cry finished, the orb of burning gas dissipated with a flash to reveal Mettaton's trump card. To be fair, any physical changes was unexpectedly minimalistic. His pauldrons, as I just mentioned, had been removed to reveal his long flat spaulders from his previous form, but his left arm had become a matching arm cannon to that on his right. But the most alarming change of all were the massive half circle particle wings with jagged edges emanating from somewhere on his back, probably from his previous breastplate. Instead of flickering rapidly with shades of pink, they gradually paled and bolded between shades of an alarming red. Any glowing parts of his body that had been a hot pink were now a shocking shade of red. This change, while minimal in physical changes, was astronomical in damage output. I could just tell by looking at Mettaton as he grinned menacingly. Trot then quietly whispered, "Looks like he took out the turrets. You think we should back him up?"

            I shook my head, a new tension filling the air. "No... He's completely out of our league now."

            Panels lining the walls opened outward to reveal pegasi robots that flew in with cannons affixed to their sides. The ship's crew had detected the disturbance and were moving to neutralize the threat. But as Mettaton raised his right arm high, he looked to us. "You might want to take cover, darlings!"

            "Oh boy... Get close to me!" Trot shouted before she projected a barrier around the three of us. Light began to emanate from the mouth of his arm cannon as the enemy drew near. But just as they began to open fire, I was taken aback by what happened next. Thousands upon thousands of bright energy pellets were fired in rapid succession from his arm cannon that then rapidly spread throughout the entire chamber. Surprisingly, they barely even clipped Trot's barrier. However, any and all enemies were all but instantly mulched by the hail of powerful shots that flooded the entire reactor chamber.

            This went on for almost ten seconds, probably just to make sure they had all been destroyed. But once Mettaton was done, more began to pour in. Grinning sadistically, Mettaton raised both arm cannons to his sides as they began to suck in air for charged shots. It almost sounded like rocket engines were revving up. He then finally pointed both cannons forward as the other side of the reactor chamber became thick with robotic foes. He let loose with both cannons, each unleashing a stream of energy that covered most of the space between the distant floor and ceiling as even the reactor core itself was engulfed! Zapp all but shrieked at this almost godly display of power, "This...is absurd! What sort of automaton could produce such might?!"

            As the twin blasts of energy ran their course, I replied while my HUD did only a surface scan of Mettaton. One bit of data that caught my eye was the mention of a 'CORE'. The power plant I saw? "Well, if what I was seeing earlier wasn't a glitch... He seems to be drawing in power from an external energy source.....on an entirely separate plane of existence!"

            "That's absurd! How's that possible?! Is he not of this world at all?!" Masked Matter-Horn yelled over the noise. I did not have time to explain where Mettaton even came from. I was too distracted by the sheer scale of damage he had inflicted upon the sky fortress itself. The opposite half of the chamber had all of its panels torn away to reveal the mangled fuselage of whatever was on the opposite side of the wall. He could probably destroy the entire thing if he were to take it on proper air combat!

            My eyes were then drawn to the reactor core itself. It remained standing and continued to function, but... Cracks lined its containment tube and the previous stable yellow orb of energy in the middle had become an unsettling dark red while pulsing chaotically. And if that was not enough, I noticed that the room was beginning to tilt to starboard as the entire sky fortress likely started to drift off course. While he had failed to destroy the reactor core itself, it seemed that Mettaton had royally screwed up its energy distribution.

            It was only at this point that Alpha's voice once more yelled over the intercom even as the alarm continued to blare. "What the devil is going on in there?!"

            Mettaton let out a hearty laugh as he shouted right back. "The grand finale, your majesty! Such a shame you can't be here to see it! I would certainly relish putting you in your place again!"

            "You wretched mummer! Men, tear him asunder and cast his remains into the sea!" Alpha roared in frustration as more and more robots of all shapes flooded into the reactor chamber through the mangled rear of the chamber and flew towards Mettaton. With no way to possibly keep up with this supercharged robotic hero, all I could do was stay back and watch.

            Mettaton crossed his arms over his chest before throwing them back out to his sides as he summoned dual energy blades from them. But unlike before, they were a frightful red and were at most ten times their original length. As his rocket engines flared up, I saw his wings adjust shape to take on a cape-like form as Mettaton rocketed towards the swarms of machines coming at him. He was a sight to behold, spiraling and spinning through the air as his blades diced up everything around him like they had just been thrown into a blender. Piles and piles of scrap began to litter the floor far beneath us, but they never stopped coming. And Mettaton never stopped enjoying himself. The sheer scope of power he was displaying was both awe-inspiring.....and absolutely horrifying.

            After getting some distance from his enemies, Mettaton dismissed his blades and went on a strafing run. He flew by or even through the droves of opposition as they all fired upon him. Any damage he sustained was virtually nonexistent with a stubborn layer of energy shielding lining every inch of his body. Mettaton would go into spirals as he unleashed burning balls of scorching yellow energy from his arm cannons. He made five passes through the robotic swarm before breaking out of it, righting himself, and going into an aerial pirouette as he unloaded rapid-fire scatter shots from both cannons. But as we beheld this spectacle, Trot finally spoke to me over the melody of the music and the screeching of the alarms. "Hunter... There's no way a machine of that size can have that kind of performance without some kind of drawback... Perform a quick scan to see if something is wrong."

            I would be a fool to refuse. Combining her concern with Mettaton's warning, I had good reason to believe that there had to be some sort of risk. I tried performing another surface scan on Mettaton as the numbers of enemy robots in the chamber rapidly dwindled and I immediately saw something wrong. His internal temperatures were rising at an alarming rate. It had been less than three minutes since he has entered that form and he was already in danger of self-destructing! "Oh crap, he's overheating! Mettaton, you're gonna burn yourself out!"

            All too aware of his own condition, Mettaton brought an arm to his chest in discomfort once the current wave of enemies had been dealt with. "Ugh... I see why the doctor was not confident in taking this program further..."

            "Cease your assault! You must rest!" Zapp too called out as Mettaton became still in the air to try and bring his internal temperature down a bit during this lull in the action.

            "Oh, I don't need to stop... I have one last trick up my sleeve that just might deal with this obnoxious heartburn of mine... But first!" Mettaton retorted before pointing his arm cannon towards the bulkhead that blocked our only way out. With a brief charge, he unleashed a concentrated beam that tore right through it and every other bulkhead that lined the access shaft. I could even see the night sky at he far end of the tunnel wit he blast having torn through the ship itself at the end. "There's your way out! Now go!"

            "Sweet! Tha... Wait! What about you?!" I said before realizing that Mettaton was commanding us to evacuate without him.

            "I just said I might have a means to save myself and take out this flying monstrosity! But if it doesn't turn out so well..." Mettaton said before falling silent for just a moment. A second later, he then flashed a smile as he waved at us with his arm. "Thank you for making my final performance something worth remembering!"

            "No... You... METTATON!!!" I shouted in a sudden panic as Mettaton flared up his rocket engines and flew to the far end of the reactor core and right past the droves of robots that were spilling in.

            "Curtains fall! Salvation I bring! This ballad I'll siiiiiiiiiing!!!" Mettaton sang in sync with the music that was blaring throughout he chamber as she spoke what I am sure were his final words. Once at the far end of the chamber, he through out his arms as a loud boom reverberated through the reactor chamber. A fiery yellow orb was rapidly growing around Mettaton, the light being like looking up at the sun on a summer afternoon. It was...too bright...

            "He's gone beyond the impossible... That's an artificial star!" Trot shouted in shock as the orb of raw atomic energy began to grow larger by the second. True to her analysis, bits of scrap littering the floor below began to gravitate towards the growing star. "It's time to go! Come on!"

            With nothing else to say, I flared up my flight thrusters and rushed right through the access shaft with Trot and Zapp right behind me. We passed mangled metal walls, desperately trying to escape the sky fortress before the fledgling star could potentially consume it. I had no idea what sort of trick Mettaton had pulled, but we did not want to stick around to see how it would conclude.

            Without much in the way of distractions, the three of us shot out of the sky fortress and did not stop until we were maybe a good mile away. We stopped and turned around, beholding the Manta Ray listing sharply to starboard. Even from that distance, it still seemed so big. The lights on it flickered erratically, the creaking and groaning of metal filling the air as we could see its underside beginning to collapse in on itself. And then, maybe a full minute later, the entire ship went dark as the reactor core itself was likely devoured by the growing star within the fortress' belly.

            "Wait a minute... If that star was scientifically accurate..." Masked Matter-Horn mumbled before letting out a loud gasp of realization. "Get behind me!"

            Zapp and I backed up as Trot hovered forward, projecting a large dome barrier before us. Not even ten seconds later, we found out why. The a deafening explosion ripped through the belly of the Manta Ray and sent a wall of atomic fire right at us! I threw up my arm reflexively, seeing exactly what Mettaton had in mind. "It went supernova!"

            Trot growled as she struggled to keep the barrier up, the three of us granted a surreal inside look at an exploding star as the fire surged past us. And just like that, it was over. The fire faded and we were left with the silence of the Manta Ray's remains falling out of the sky. Only a few of its largest components were still intact, slowly sinking into the ocean far below while countless bits of scrap fell around us after being catapulted miles into the sky by the blast. But as we hovered there observing the remains of the seemingly indestructible sky fortress, Zapp brought up the fateful question. "Did... Did he self-destruct?"

            My heart became heavy. My HUD scanned the distance, searching for any signs of a functioning machine. There was nothing. I had known him for barely one night and he was gone. "There's nothing online out there..."

            What was I going to tell Sans? How was I going to tell him that Mettaton would not be coming home? That he died in a world that was not his own? I honestly felt myself getting a bit choked up. However, my HUD was quick to detect something flying in from my left. Trot was the first to identify the two objects flying within close proximity to each other. "Huh? Hey, didn't those fall off Mettaton right when he activated that form?"

            I got a good look at them and recognize them immediately. The two boot pauldrons that had been jettisoned shortly before Mettaton accessed his external power supply. "Yeah, they did... And...if they're still active..."

            A glimmer of hope in my heart, I took off after them with Zapp and Masked Matter-Horn in hot pursuit. I followed the two pauldrons and saw something falling through the hail of scrap. Something familiar. The pauldrons then dipped low as they went ahead before flying straight up. They decreased their rocket engines' output until they were merely hovering as they caught something on their 'feet'. I came to a stop before them and saw what they had caught. It was Mettaton. His legs had likely fallen into the sea and his left arm had returned to its prior form, but his torso and everything attached to it were fully intact and unaltered. But he was entirely offline. No signs of life at all.

            "Hey, that's him! Is he OK?" Trot asked as she and Zapp hovered behind me. I brought a hand to Mettaton's face. He looked dead. Had he fried himself in the process?

            "Come on, Mettaton... Don't die on me now..." I mumbled in a minor panic as my HUD went to work in trying to see if he was still there. Thankfully, I was worrying too much. "Oh, thank god... He just overheated and is undergoing an emergency reboot."

            "The dark horse lives... Fortune smiled upon us tonight." Zapp said with a relieved sigh as she crossed her arms.

            I then turned to face the two of them, knowing that the Manta Ray was the last threat for the night. "Say... Trot? Aurora? You two wanna head on back and patch yourselves up? I think I can take it from here."

            The two superheroes looked at each other. Zapp, who was easily suffering from the most harm, grimaced reluctantly as she ached from the wounds she had sustained. Trot merely nodded and smiled. "All right, we'll leave you bot buddies alone. Zapp in particular could use some R&R. Let's go regroup, Zapp."

            "Yes, that...would be wise... Farewell, Sir Hunter." Zapp groaned as she wheezed in pain.  waved goodbye, watching my companions fly west towards Maretropolis in the distance. We were dangerously close by that point. I could vaguely make out the lights of the tallest skyscrapers from that distance.

            Minutes went by as I hovered before Mettaton. There was nothing I could do to speed up the process. All I could do is wait. Eventually, my patience was rewarded. The aiming reticle on his visor returned, only to be followed by him opening his eye. "I was expecting a light at the end of a tunnel... Not the darkness over the endless sea..."

            "Nice to see you too." I replied before putting my hands on his spaulders. "You OK? You gave us quite a scare with how you blew the entire sky fortress out of the air."

            "I did...?" Mettaton asked before looking around and then straight down. Not much was left, but enough junk was still floating on the ocean's surface to pinpoint where the bulk of the sky fortress had fallen. "Well! That went better than I had hoped! Tell me, was is a spectacle for the ages?"

            "Probably the closest this world will ever get to seeing a live supernova. It was...pretty awesome to behold." I said while cracking a nervous smile. I decided to leave out the part about us almost getting incinerated by the blast. He was probably expecting the explosion to be better contained.

            Grinning triumphantly, Mettaton activated his rocket thrusters while his pauldrons let him go and reattached themselves over his spaulder to activate their wing projectors. "Well, that's the best case scenario, isn't it? The villains have been foiled, the finale was nothing short of astounding, and I'm still alive! What more can you ask for, am I right? And I take it our little pony friends are fine too?"

            I cracked a grin at just how happy Mettaton was to have survived that last hurdle at the end. "You can say that again. And yeah, the two of them took off for home to patch themselves up. They had it worse than we did. Anyway... I think it's high time we both went home. I've had enough action for the rest of the year. And thankfully, we're probably close to the end of the story for this issue."

            "Still not sure I follow, but I couldn't care less by this point. Lead on and I'll follow. I'm feeling a bit...toasty. Oh, and before I forget..." Mettaton said with a look of fatigue in his eye before I noticed something burst from the water far before. His legs came flying back up and reestablished their electromagnetic connection to his torso. "Now then... Shall we?"

            Without further ado, I flew back west over the bay with Mettaton close behind me. And when we got to the harbor, there was Sans waiting out on a pier. He waved at us as we came in for a landing and asked, "Hey there, guys. What was with the light show out there?"

            Mettaton set down gracefully as his rocket engines went silent. "Oh, that was just us putting down the last line of defense of tonight's brand of villainy."

            Sans just let out a chuckle, knowing everything was going to be fine. I then asked, "So, I'm pretty sure we'll get kicked back out of this world and go home in a little while."

            Sans let out a yawn, probably ready to go to sleep. "Sounds good to me. I can't believe how worked to the bone I am tonight... Things never got this crazy back home."

            "Yes, I do believe I could use a spa day after this." Mettaton added as he flexed his neck. He then turned his back to me adn asked, "But first, be a dear and rotate that dial back to its original setting, if you'd please. I'd like to look my best for my biggest fan when we meet up."

            "Oh, that Papyrus guy? Sure, hold on... Uh..." I retorted before taking a look at the part of Mettaton's backside that was originally his breastplate. I quickly saw a problem. "Um... Actually...I don't think I can. It's sunk in there pretty good... Probably to prevent the enemy from turning you back into your civilian form too soon."

            Mettaton gritted his teeth as he tried to reach it himself to no avail. "What?! Drat... I suppose I'll just have to ask the doctor to perform a manual override on it..."

            Sans did not seem so bothered by this as he said, "Hey, it's no biggie. Papyrus is gonna love this look you've got. Did I tell you he collects action figures?"

            For some reason, this really got Mettaton's attention. He looked at Sans with an intrigued smirk and asked, "Oh, does he now? Are they...poseable?"

            "Every last one." Sans replied with a wink. Mettaton just let out a giggle as I crossed my arms. I think those two are going to be a lot more than just friends after they meet up.

            It was then that Mettaton turned to me and extended his hand to me. "Well... I have to say I am most grateful I got to meet someone who proved to be my equal in terms of putting on a show. It was a pleasure, Hunter. Or rather...that's not really your name, is it?"

            Seeing that Mettaton finally understand that he and I were in the exact same predicament, I reached out and shook his hand. "Yeah. The name's James."

            Mettaton flashed me a much more sincere smile as we gave each other a firm handshake. "I see. Well then, James... I do sincerely hope we meet again. But for now, we both have somewhere we need to be, don't we?"

            "Yeah, we do... And for what it was worth, you really made tonight fun." I then looked at Sans and shook his hand too. "You be careful out there, man."

            "You too. We're rooting for you." Sans replied as he shook my hand. With that, we said our goodbyes before Sans turned and began to walk away. However, Mettaton lingered a bit longer and gazed out across the sea in silence.

            I stood beside Mettaton, finding a question to ask. "So... Um... That song way back there. The one you sang. That a new one of yours?"

            "Entirely improvised, my friend. Everything I sang? It came from the heart." Mettaton replied proudly, his hand on his hip.

            I thought back to the lyrics of that song. How dire they became. How selfless they were in the face of a malevolent threat. "You really care about your audience, huh?"

            His response was sincere and heartfelt. "I would be nothing without them, James. The only reason I became a success is because they loved me. So I very dearly love them in return. You won't get anywhere in life without respect for those who you look to for validation."

            "Wise words." I said quietly before Mettaton and I shared a gaze. "Anyway... You got somewhere to be, right?"

            "I do..." Mettaton said in exhaustion. He did not look it, but I could tell he was tired. His body had likely not yet stabilized after severely overheating. The two of us shared another handshake as he said, "You take care out there, hero. Let's meet again if fortune permits it."

            "Likewise. Have a good one, Mettaton." I replied before watching the unparalleled robotic performer walk after Sans with quite a swagger in his step. But as the moments went by, I noticed that nothing was happening. What was left to complete to open the portal back home?

            Finally, it dawned on me. I then spoke up, "Doc...? You've been quiet tonight..."

            Sure enough, Doctor Luminous spoke to me from within my own head. And he was not happy. "What have I created, Hunter...? First Alpha...and now the virus itself?"

            I saw where he was going with this and was quick to set him straight. "Don't blame yourself, doc. You created Alpha, but you didn't create his outlook on the world. And you certainly didn't create the virus he became. That's the danger of free will, sad as it is to say. He chose this, not you. And we'll set this right eventually. Alpha won't win in the end."

            "I know... I know that's the truth... It's just... This is a lot to take in... Head on back to the Power Ponies' HQ for maintenance, Hunter. I need to sleep..." Luminous said before abruptly cutting the transmission. Poor guy had a lot on his mind.

            Not minding the doctor taking leave of his duties due to emotional turmoil, I just nodded and started to walk. "Will do, doc. I could use some company tonight anyway."

            It was right then that I suddenly got sucked up into a white void and found myself lying on my back and gazing up at a familiar wooden ceiling. But what surprised me was that the floor was strangely soft. Upon checking, I found that I was lying on an air mattress. I let out a laugh as I realized why. "Hey, they actually listened to the feedback! Thank you, EAC."

            It was then that I heard soft footsteps and soon saw a familiar face lean over me. Smolder was gazing down at me as she asked, "Where'd you go?"

            Remembering exactly how I got sucked into that issue of Project H in the first place, I gave her a snarky smirk. "Oh, you sent me on a two-way trip into hostile territory and I only just got back."

            "I did what now?" Smolder asked while completely missing my point.

            "Pfft, you would never understand. Anyway, whatcha got there?" I then asked as i noticed a scroll in her hand.

            Smolder cast me a smirk of her own and dropped it on my face. "Oh, it's a little something Spike coughed up. He said it's for you."

            I sat up and got off the air cushion just as it disappeared in a flash of light. Probably just the thing getting put right back into the comic book. While Smolder went back downstairs, I read the scroll. It was apparently an invitation from Celestia. Something about a ten day trip to some place called Capricorn Island. And that she would be departing in a week.

            I doubt Celestia ever expected me to say no, but I showed the common courtesy of sending back a confirmation with Spike's help. The rest of the day was largely uneventful and I was still feeling quite mentally worn out from the adventure I had in that comic book world. But even more than that... Mettaton and Sans. Who even are those guys and where did they come from? Strange and colorful individuals, but also deceptively powerful. What sort of world do they call home?