MegaDoll X

~Hakurei Shrine~ > Kosuzu's Grand Bookstore

MegaDoll X

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Iced Fairy:
"Hourai!"

Shanghai flew down to the rubble and started ripping through it with her hands. She tried to find her sister's magical signature, but there was nothing there. Hourai couldn't be....

"Shanghai, calm down! Hourai's alright!"

Marisa's voice snapped her out of her frantic digging. "Huh?"

"I just got word from Koishi. Apparently Hourai slipped through a dimensional rift or something. She's alright though. Just lost," Marisa replied. "Koishi's checking up on her, so if anything changes we'll tell you."

Shanghai breathed a sigh of relief. Then turned back to the castle. "So, should I wait or should I carry on."

Yumemi's voice came over the radio, "My magic sensing equipment isn't perfect, but I'm picking up something strange in that castle. You probably want to hurry."

"Great," Shanghai looked at the three entrances visible through the gash in the wall. "I don't suppose your sensors can tell me which one leads to the energy source?"

There was a pause then the radio crackled again. "I'm not sure. I think the bottom entrance might be best, but there's a jamming field further in."

Shanghai considered the matter then nodded. "That has to be the right one then. Medicine wouldn't have a clue how to set up whatever a jamming field is. Obviously the mastermind is that way."

"Good point. We'll try to get through, but you'll probably be on your own from here out," Yumemi replied.

Shanghai shivered. She wasn't thrilled with that thought. But she didn't have much choice in the matter. "Okay. I guess I'll contact you later."

"Good luck out there, Shanghai," Marisa said.

"Thanks..." Shanghai took a deep breath and headed to the bottom floor of the castle.

The entrance here looked like a broken pipe. Shanghai hoped she wasn't breaking into the sewers. Fortunately the pipe was dry. Even better it opened into a clean laboratory style area.

Still it was strange. The place looked like it would fit better inside Yumemi's ship. Was Medicine in control at all?

Her musings were interrupted by several cylindrical creatures bursting through one of the walls and moving out to flank her. Shanghai quickly swapped to her boomerang and fired off several rounds each slicing through the crowd of enemies both forward and back. They exploded as they were cut apart, revealing robotic interiors. But still more came on.

She cried out as one of the creatures got close enough to shock her with and electrical pulse. Fortunately as a doll electricity wasn't too big deal. She forced herself to stumble back and unleash another barrage of boomerangs.

This attack did the trick, sweeping away the creatures. Shanghai dusted herself off then switched over to metal blades. "I need to be more careful. Hourai isn't here to save me from my mistakes." She started forward again at a much slower pace.

She was happy she did so when she rounded the bend. Spikes lined the corridor each covered with that deadly poison that had hurt her so badly in mist form. She carefully moved through the deadly maze, keeping an eye out for secret passages or hidden enemies.

"So you're here again you cursed meddler. Fitting that you're a doll."

Shanghai looked around for the voice. "Who's there?!" It was a male voice, different from any one she'd heard before.

"You don't even know who you're fighting. Why am I not surprised. You were always a fool, just running around doing what you were told with no thought."

Shanghai snarled at the insult, but she turned her attention back to her surroundings. The spikes surrounding her were more important then these taunts.

Apparently the voice noticed her lack of interest. At least it didn't speak again. She carefully made her way through the spike maze and into a more reasonable looking corridor, once again something far too high tech for Medicine to conceive of. Shanghai followed it upwards.

Along the way she faced more enemies. A few of those bird creatures, small dolls like Alice normally used, and some strange creatures that hid under a construction helmet and popped up to attack. Her metal blades made short work of them all though. They never came in large enough numbers to threaten her.

Finally she made it to a door. Given the way things had been working in the past there would be a stronger foe behind it. She checked her magical energy levels, took a deep breath, then stepped inside.

This room was an open arena, with another door at the far end. At the center was a tube shaped device containing what looked like a male combat doll in blue armor. Shanghai didn't think it looked that impressive, but she still set her weapon. A low hum filled the room, and the dolls eyes opened.

"Those that don't serve willingly should be replaced by those who do."

The blue warrior turned empty eyes towards her and fired off the gun in his right hand. Shanghai quickly grazed the blast and returned fire with her own cannon. The blue warrior tried to jump but it wasn't enough to dodge Shanghai's shot. It was knocked sprawling.

Shanghai was still impressed when it hopped up and began firing at her again. Sadly it looked like it's targeting pattern was weak. It was trying to zig and zag to avoid her fire, but it obviously wasn't designed to avoid an attacker directly above. It's fire assumed she couldn't change directions at will, and every now and then it would jump, at which point she would punish it with a charged shot.

In the end there was no real danger. The automaton exploded into metal shards as Shanghai's final shot slammed into it.

"This must be why Mother wanted a fully automated combat doll," Shanghai mused as she headed towards the back door. It was far to easy to surprise a pure automaton.

As the door opened the voice boomed out again. "Bah! I should have known that heap of scrap wouldn't work. Well that doesn't matter. It can be replaced. Just like you, little blue doll!"

"This guy needs a good punch in the face," Shanghai mused as she entered the corridor that opened before her.

The passage quickly led to an elevator shaft with an open lift waiting for her. Shanghai looked at the contraption and shook her head. "Not a chance." With a single shot she snapped the elevator cord and sent the lift crashing to the floor below.

Shanghai smiled and flew into the lift corridor, no longer needing to worry about platforms from below hampering her movements.

That move quickly turned out to be a wise decision. Spikes and poison gas clouds littered the elevator shaft, requiring precise timing to bypass. Without the elevator forcing her movements however it wasn't too hard.

At the top of the elevator shaft was another door, Shanghai took a deep breath, and opened it.

Inside was another figure in Blue armor. This one was far more human-like. At her entrance he turned, but didn't raise any weapon. "Hrm. You do not look like any model I am aware of. Where are we?"

"Eh?" Shanghai looked around. "Well this here was Yuuka Kazami's mansion, but I think it's been changed around a lot. It's on the edge of dreaming though..."

"Hrm..." The figure seemed perturbed by that. "So you don't know where Neo-Arcadia is then?"

"Never heard of it," Shanghai replied.

"That is difficult." The man seemed to think for a bit. "My apologies. I am known as X. It seems I have been cast here from my original home."

Shanghai thought for a bit. "Maybe you got drawn towards Gensoukyo. A lot of people get dragged in here."

"Especially if they die?" X asked quietly.

"Er, well yeah." Shanghai shrugged. "You're alive now though."

"Unfortunate." The blue figure looked towards the ceiling for a bit. "It seems my original efforts were not enough." He sighed then shrugged. "Still I will not give up. I will create the Elysium I was created to make here then!"

Shanghai's eyes narrowed at the robot before her. "What do you mean by Elysium?"

"Why a world designed to protect humans of course," the robot replied. "That is the purpose of a hero such as myself. To defend humans from mavericks and other enemies."

Shanghai stepped back. "Would you consider youkai to be among those enemies?"

The blue robot blinked. "Hm? Youkai seem very unscientific. It is far more likely those are either humans pretending to be monsters or mavericks."

"I don't think that kind of attitude will go far in Gensoukyo," Shanghai replied. "And I don't think Alice would like that kind of world."

The man frowned. "That sounds a lot like maverick thinking. Are you sure you're alright? You do serve humanity right?"

Shanghai switched to the fire buster. "I serve Alice. No one else."

Gliding wings snapped up from the robots armor, and he readied his own buster cannon. "Serving only one human is what led to the creation of mavericks. If you persist in this I'll have to retire you."

"Bring it!" Shanghai said as she unleashed a burst of atomic fire.

The robot's chassis shifted to red and he jumped up into the air. "Ha! Let me show you the strength of a hero!" Shanghai weaved as X fired off a stream of napalm globs that continued to burn when they hit the ground.

Shanghai switched her weapon to the air cannon and circled over the arena. X was obviously not as maneuverable in the air as the other model she faced, but he could still fly, and his armor and weapons looked stronger then hers. She'd have to rely on her superior mobility.

X fired another napalm spread into the air to catch her, so she allowed herself to drop. As she passed the robot she fired a blast from her air cannon that clipped off some of his armor and sent him flying backwards.

"Damn you!" X's armor shifted again to green. This time he fired two electrical orbs that started slowly seeking after Shanghai. She wasn't sure if they would run out of poser, but she didn't want to be scrambling around trying to dodge them, so she called forth Paititi's power. Leaves surrounded her, absorbing the deadly electricity.

"Ridiculous!" X swooped towards her, wings crackling with deadly energy. Shanghai just tossed the shield at him and drifted upwards. The deadly leaves clashed with his rush scoring his armor yet again.

This time his armor shifted blue. X aimed his weapon and a blast of cold flew out. Shanghai dodged to the side, but X tracked her with the cold wave. Shanghai screamed out in pain as the icy blast washed over her arm.

The recoil from the impact sent her falling ten feet, but Shanghai had become accustomed to the fighting. As soon as her body recovered she switched back to her flame shot. "I know you think don't deserve it Dis, but lend me some of your power," Shanghai whispered before unleashed the full charged shot.

The flames and X's cold blast met and clashed. There was a gout of steam and X once again cried out in pain as Shanghai's charged blast ripped through his own. "Enough!"

Shanghai fired off another shot, but a surge of green energy around X absorbed it. The green light expanded, becoming blinding then cleared in a flash. In the center of the room floated a massive robot, one that no longer looking human. It raised it's clawed hands and two pillars smashed through the ceiling before growing spikes and crushing holes in the floor.

"Now I will crush you!" X's voice rang out.

"This is ridiculous," Shanghai muttered. She swapped weapons one more time and fired.

Time froze.

Quickly Shanghai flew up through the holes in the ceiling. She was lucky. There were several rooms above, each with a large number of very obvious structural supports.

The time stop wore off. Shanghai heard X screaming "What?!" from below, but she didn't pay it too much mind. Instead she summoned Pompei's power and fired eight shots. One for each pillar. Then she flew further up.

Seconds later the explosions ripped through the floor. With a massive crash the weakened ceiling caved in. Seconds later the floor gave as well. The crash of masonry and steel silenced whatever final words this so called X might have had.

Shanghai studied the rubble for a minute before nodding. Her work was done. "I should have known he was a dangerous guy the moment he called himself a hero," she muttered.

Her trip up the tower's interior was much more relaxed. Apparently no one put traps inside the walls. Admittedly when she reached the top there was no normal exit, but a simple bomb created an opening just fine.

The room she floated up into was something a lot more fitting of a mansion. A simple sitting room, with pleasant decor. Well the decor that had survived the bomb was pleasant anyway. Shanghai looked at the two doors on either end of the room before deciding to go through the more extravagant ones.

The double doors opened into a theater like chamber, with a slow slope down to a open stage. As she entered the lights all snapped on and she froze.

The stage was covered in a thin film of the violet poison gas. And at it's center surrounded by the deadly toxin stood her sister. Or at least it looked like Hourai. Her sister's dress was black now, and her sword seemed to have been replaced by an odd device.

Hourai looked up at her with a grim expression. "Shanghai.

Shanghai wanted to run over to her sister, but something seemed wrong. "Hourai? Are you okay? And what's with the clothes?"

Hourai hesitated. "The clothes? Oh right. A gift from mo-... Alice. And yes, I'm fine."

"You don't sound fine," Shanghai replied.

"Hm... Well that doesn't matter sister." Hourai floated up above the stage. "You should head home. Medicine will be able to create this poison at will. You won't be safe here."

Shanghai frowned. "And you will? You're acting weird Hourai! Maybe you're the one who needs to take a break."

Hourai smiled weakly. "I guess we're too alike, even if we are different." Shanghai jumped into the air as Hourai activated the beam saber in her hand. "I guess we'll have to decide who goes home the Gensoukyo way!"

-------

Yeah yeah, I suck. Don't update in forever, end in a cliffhanger and plan to leae for the holidays soon. Well it was this or nothing, so I went with it. Hopefully it'll force me to get the ending up soon.

Esifex:
YOU FEIND

Shrine of Chaos:
Ah, poor Germel... This is a amazing story so far, and from what I can tell, Medicine really does care about these "doll masters". I can only wonder what will happen she meets Shanghai and Horai...

Iced Fairy:
Ha! Now you have to re-summarize fish!

Yeah sorry about the delay. I'm almost done though.

--------

Shanghai leaped into the air and snapped off her time stop weapon. The world seemed to be suffused with light, as she sped up.

At the same time a black aura started spreading out from Hourai. The two auras clashed, changing the world to a dull grey. Hourai's smile twisted upward a little. "Trying the easy way out?"

Shanghai couldn't help but smile a little. "Of course."

She rapidly switched to Metal Blades and fired off three shots. Hourai swung her weapon in response cleaving the missiles in half, then dashed forward trying to close the distance.

Shanghai unleashed her wood shield, then cried out as Shanghai's phasing dash left her with a facefull of bubbles. She wasn't sure how, but the impact hurt. "Ow!" Her leaf shield collapsed at the impact.

"How do you expect to be able to fight Medicine like that?!" Hourai snapped. Shanghai spun then screamed and flew back again as Hourai's electric blade slammed into her. She caught herself right before she hit the wall. Hourai's scowl deepened. "You're Alice's greatest creation Shanghai. You can't beat me in this place, but you can at least show me her blessing wasn't misplaced."

Shanghai started charging her buster. "I don't want to hurt you sister. Or do you think Alice made you strong enough to withstand Dis's power?" She fired the fully charged shot straight at Hourai.

Hourai carefully dodged the blast. "Alice did not create me."

Shanghai hesitated. "What? But mother..."

"I was animated by Medicine's poison." Shanghai flinched as Hourai spat out the words. "I'm not Alice's child. I can never become the doll Alice wants."

"But with this poisoned body I can end this madness for her," Hourai cried as she dashed forward. Shanghai barely dodged another electrical slice.

With a quick twist of the wrist she fired off her own air gun. The tornadoes sent Hourai flying.

Shanghai swapped to metal blades as Hourai stood. "Hourai, I know I can't understand what you're going through, but you'll always be my sister. And I'm not going to let you run off and get yourself killed."

"Hmph? Get myself killed?" Shanghai fired four metal blades as Hourai rushed in. Hourai cut through the first three then dashed through the fourth. "I might not be Alice's creation, but I'm not so pathetic as to deliberately lose!"

Shanghai fired again right before Hourai left her dash. The other doll cried out as her black dress was scored by the razor disk. "You can't get close to me like that!"

Hourai took a few deep breaths. "Well. It looks like we're even now. Let's get serious then."

Shanghai responded with another metal blade barrage. Hourai dashed forward, then vanished. Shanghai dashed forward herself, then screamed as Hourai's beam sword scored across her back. When she recovered she whirled around. "Teleportation?"

Hourai nodded grimly. "The power of this black dress, Alice's dream creation."

Shanghai slowly edged to put her back to a wall. There had to be some strong limitations on it, but it was still an incredible ability. She couldn't beat it with her metal blades or normal bullets, and her other weapons were....

Suddenly she realized what she needed to do. Shanghai raised her metal blade and began firing like crazy. Hourai drifted back, then vanished again.

Now was her chance. Shanghai rapidly switched to Tombstone's weapon and fired it as fast as she could. She only managed to get four shots off when Hourai appeared in front of her. "HA!" yelled the black clad doll. Shanghai barely moved her head aside as Hourai's charged fist rushed forward.

Hourai struck the wall behind Shanghai. There was a massive explosion, and once again pain ripped through her.

But at the same time, her trap bore fruit. The boomerangs she had fired swept back towards her slamming into Hourai's back in rapid succession.

The two collapsed to the floor. Shanghai didn't feel pain anymore, but she could tell her body was at its limit. "I can't believe you used Pompei's power like that."

"That was a pretty impressive trick you pulled yourself," Hourai replied.

"Konparo Konparo."

Shanghai's eyes flew open at the menacing voice. She tried to stand, only to collapse as she turned towards the voice. To her horror Medicine herself floated into the room, surrounded by a cloud of crimson poison. "I was going to wait for you two killers upstairs, but you made a big mess down here. So I'm gonna finish you off now so I can go back to Su-san and get my friends back."

The doll youkai raised her hand to unleash her danmaku. Shanghai pushed herself to her knees but that was all she could manage. I'm not going to make it in time!

"I won't let you touch Shanghai!"

Hourai appeared in the air behind Medicine. With a piercing cry she fell, swinging her flame covered saber. Medicine yelped in shock and dashed away from Hourai's barely controlled dive. The black clad doll slammed into the ground and keeled over again.

"Hourai!" Shanghai finally pulled herself up and stumbled towards her sister while Medicine retreated. Hourai gave her a grin as Shanghai pulled her up. "It's okay. I'm recovering." Hourai waved her hand in a nearby poison cloud. "I can use these to heal. You need to chase after Medicine and stop her!"

Shanghai opened her mouth to protest, then shut it. "You're right. I'll go on ahead. You rest, okay?"

"Yeah." Shanghai winced a little as Hourai pushed herself completely into the poison cloud, but the purple cloud just trickled over Hourai's wounds, slowly closing them.

Shanghai gave her sister a nod and ran through the door, downing the final curative potion as she went. The feeling of light suffused her again, leaving her filled with power.

The hallway slowly spun and twisted. To Shanghai's surprise the walls slowly changed to rough stonework with dark cracks. It didn't seem to fit in with either Yuuka's style, or the strange metal loving being that was controlling Medicine. Then she saw a dark purple drop of poison leak out of a crack and fall hissing to the floor below. Something like that might even short out Hourai. There was no way her body would be able to survive it.

Shanghai pulled out Germelshausen's weapon. She had wanted to save it for the final battle, but she couldn't take a chance here with her weak senses. The world filled with light, and she dashed through the area. Soon the walls reverted to the strange metallic construction as before and she resumed normal flying.

Finally the hall opened up into a large chamber. The floor was covered in deadly poison. Medicine floated in the center purple and crimson poisons swirling around her in equal amounts. This time Shanghai could see the rage in the doll youkai's eyes. "So you've come to murder me like all of your sisters?"

Shanghai winced at the words. "I don't want to kill anyone. But I needed to stop them. And I will stop you, too."

"Stop me from what?" Medicine snapped. "Stop us from making a world where dolls can be free? Stop us from pursuing our dreams? Stop us from fixing this rotten world?"

"Listen to yourself Medicine!" Shanghai yelled. "Look around you! Someone is manipulating you! You don't want a war with youkai. You don't want a mansion of lifeless metal. Why aren't you with your flowers?"

"That's..." The crimson mist seemed to swirl around Medicine faster. "That's none of your business you mean traitor! You're a bad doll!"

Shanghai flipped away as Medicine unleashed two clouds of violet poison from her hands. Those clouds were slow, but enough of them could make the battlefield certain death. She had to end this fast. "I guess I'll need to knock some sense into you too!" Damascus' blades had served her well throughout this incident, so she swapped to them and began firing.

Medicine didn't even try to dodge as the blades flew towards her. To Shanghai's shock the polished metal blackened and cracked as it struck Medicine's poison, then shattered as it hit the swirling miasma around her. "My poison is stronger then ever. You can't hurt me!" The doll youkai raised her hands again and a flower of danmaku blossomed around her, forcing Shanghai to fly higher.

Shanghai retreated as she tried to figure out a way past that barrier. A few experimental shots showed her normal gun was also ineffective. Shambala's power couldn't be used from up here, Tombstone's attack was no stronger then Damascus'. Germal's power couldn't break the barrier, and Pompei and Dis' powers might kill Medicine if she was successful. That limited her options significantly.

Medicine pouted. "Stop hiding!" She fired off some faster danmaku. With nothing to lose, Shanghai switched on Paititi's weapon. A cloud of leaves swirled around her, knocking away the bullets. Shanghai dashed forward, and the leaves zoomed ahead in a deadly cyclone. Shanghai pumped her fist in success as they passed through the purple poison clouds around Medicine without harm, only to wither and die as they struck the crimson cloud.

Shanghai swore and flew off to another corner as Medicine tracked her with bullets. How was that possible? Medicine prefered organic poisons and disliked killing plants. Why would she have a reactive barrier that-

A thought stirred in Shanghai's mind. Yuuka had said the little doll youkai had been strangely enhanced. Medicine's poison had animated her sisters. Perhaps that strange power source had infested Medicine's poison as well? It was a long shot but....

Shanghai flipped up her leaf shield again and rushed at Medicine. The doll youkai unleashed more poison clouds to stop Shanghai's attack, but instead of closing Shanghai releashed her sheild then switched to Atlantis' power. Bubbles of water plopped out of her gun and slammed into Medicine. "Agblpb. What was that for! Now I'm all wet!" Shanghai retreated as Medicine fired at her again, but it seemed her theory had worked. The crimson cloud around the doll had faded a bit.

With that the battle was decided. Shanghai ducked in and out of range using Patiti's shield as a screen until she could dump a stream of bubbles on Medicine then fly away. The doll youkai didn't seem to notice the effects, but the crimson poison got smaller and smaller.

On the fourth pass Medicine screamed. The crimson aura surrounding her melted away and she collapsed to the floor. "So tired... why?"

Shanghai was about to respond when a flash of crimson caught her eyes. She whirled to see the red aura slowly reforming into a cloud. "Curses! How could you be so lucky? And how could that stupid robot be so weak to be defeated by such a weak weapon?!"

"You! You're the one who was controlling Medicine and my sisters! You made them do all those terrible things!" Shanghai lowered her buster and fired Dis's flame blast with all her rage. The cloud dispersed as a massive explosion rocked the room.

Then the cloud reformed. "Ahahahahaha! I did nothing! I merely showed those robots their true purpose. To serve me!" The cloud formed into a mustached face with thick eyebrows. Shanghai immediately despised it.

"Serve you? But I want the dolls to be free..." Medicine slowly tried to rise, then slumped to her knees again.

"Don't look so sad. All the world should serve me!" The miasma cloud laughed again. "There is no greater freedom then that. But you-!" The cloud's gaze fell upon Shanghai like a lead weight. "You! That accursed blue one. You always, always, always interfere! Even when you're dead you interfere! But in this realm, I have my full powers! This time I will destroy you! Follow me if you dare, robot."

"Not so fast!" Shanghai yelled as the miasma flew upward. She fired Dis's weapon again, but she was too slow. The mist escaped. "Damn!"

She wanted to chase after it but she had to check on Medicine first. She knelt next to the doll youkai. "Are you okay?"

"Tired... so tired... and I miss Su-san." Medicine rolled over and stared at the cieling. "Did we really do bad things? Isn't trying to free dolls good?"

"Dolls are made to serve people, Medicine. I like serving Alice." Shanghai gave the exhausted youkai a pitying look. "And that thing tricked you. Your actions weren't helping dolls at all."

Tears formed in Medicine's eyes. "But then... that means they all died for nothing. I was supposed to help them, to protect them. They were my friends...."

"Alice will bring them back. I swear."

"Really?" Medicine's eyes were flickering now. Shanghai hoped it was simply magical exhaustion or something.

"Yes. After all we're all her precious children." She hesitated then patted Medicines head. "And yours as well."

Medicine smiled, then her eyes shut. Shanghai waited a little longer, but the doll youkai's breathing seemed constant. Hopefully she would be fine. The poison mist here would be healing her at least.

With that she turned towards where the miasma had fled. It was time to end this. She flew down the corridor her foe had escaped through.

This time the trip was short. No traps or minions stood in her way. She exited out onto a balcony, the 'stars' of the dreamworld hovering above her. And there, standing opposite her, was a twisted mechanical figure, twice her height covered with sharp angles and malicious lines. Within it's pointed helmet the miasma roiled in the face of that hateful man. "Once again, my eternal curse, you stand before me. Why is it every time I rise, humans create another one of you to torment me? Why do they oppose my destiny?"

Shanghai sniffed at the man's dramatics. "Gensoukyo is a land of youkai, not humans."

"Yes, yes that was it!" The man's face twisted in irritation. "This is the land that accepts everything! So why? Why won't it accept my dream? Why were you drawn in as well? Are we fated to play out this stupid game over and over until I finally strike you down?"

Shanghai raised her buster and fired. The charged shot slammed into the man, causing him to fall back with a shriek. "Don't worry. This will be the last time. Because I'm going to kill you."

"What?!" The creature rose, armor smoldering. "You can't kill me! You're a doll, created to serve mankind!"

"No," Shanghai replied. "I'm a doll created to serve Alice. I don't care about mankind. I exist only to make Alice happy."

The creature's face wavered. "You're different...." Then it rose into the air. "But that doesn't matter! I will destroy you! Here and now!"

The strange armored Suit opened up with a barrage of particle beams. Shanghai leapt into the air and did her best to start dodging. This wasn't Medicine's sporadic danmaku. This looked more like the terrifying power Utsuho wielded. She was sure the bullets didn't carry the same punch as the sun god's attacks, but to her, the thick danmaku was still certain death.

Shanghai retreated to get more room to maneuver while firing off a fully charged blast. The orbs of death around the man absorbed it easily, causing her to curse. She weaved through the first pattern, only to be faced with another wave. She'd either have to get closer or find a weapon that could penetrate the bullets.

Getting closer would be suicide. She was having enough trouble back here. So she dropped altitude, then switched to Shambala's air cannon. "Let's see if this has enough power!" She fired the mighty weapon three times.

The miniature tornadoes slammed against the huge energy orbs and dissipated, but Shanghai heard the clang of metal and a curse. Her attacks might not be able to break through the bullets, but the spread could pierce the screen!

Shanghai raised her weapon and held down the trigger until its cells ran dry. The air sizzled and cracked, and metal screeched as the projectiles struck home. The electrical orbs vanished, their power exhausted as the armored suit let off smoke and sparks. "You little pest!" yelled the creature. Panels in the back of the suit opened up. "Take this!" Missiles spread through the air towards Shanghai. She started firing off Pompei's bombs as an anti missile screen, but there were too many.

Finally her bomb reserves ran dry, and still more missiles were heading for her. Shanghai cycled through her other weapons trying to think of another tactic. "It's over!" the creature screamed gleefully.

?Over, for you!?

Shanghai's heart leapt as Hourai flashed into existence above the armored figure, her beam saber already flashing with energy. The blow shattered the launchers, sending the formerly guided missiles into ballistic death spirals. Shanghai dashed through the spread with ease to drop next to her sister. "Nice timing!"

"I thought so too," Hourai replied with a smirk.

"Grrrk. That blue fool and the traitor. Every time. That blue suited fool, and then that traitor I created." The figure rose up, the crimson mist within the armor roiling so much the face could no longer be seen. "Every time!" The armor crackled with electricity once again. Shanghai could see a massive charge building.

Shanghai switched to Dis' weapon. She closed her eyes on concentrated, focusing her rage and determination into the weapon. "Hourai?"

"Right!"

She felt the flames reach their peak right as the creature fired his electricity beam. Shanghai raised her weapon with a yell and fired in return. The flames hit the electricity, then burst through slamming into the armored figure.

Hourai appeared next to the man, beam saber dropping down. The black clad doll spun and danced chaining together blows from her saber. Uppercut to rolling slash to stab to spin. Finally Hourai jumped back and set into her quickdraw pose. Shanghai fired one last time as Hourai's blade flashed.

The armor cracked and its glass shattered. The mist within slowly began to dissipate. It's words seemed almost regretful. "Don't you understand? So long as you exist I shall return. Those are our roles. That is the play we are forced into time and time again. Why do you persist?"

Shanghai snorted. "If you don't like the story, maybe you should stop wasting your life redoing it over and over."

"Now if you'll excuse us, we need to get back to more important things then you," Hourai said with a flick of her hair.

The figure let out a wordless scream of rage before exploding into a pillar of light. A few seconds later nothing remained.

Shanghai sighed. She felt exhausted. "It's too bad I can't sit in the poison to heal. I'm tired."

Hourai smiled. "Then let's go home. We'll pick up Medicine on the way out."

Shanghai smiled in return, and then the world started spinning....

Esifex:
It's a shame I don't actually know all the story to MegaMan and MegaMan Zero, thusly able to recognize who that was at the end.

Spoiler: Was it Wiley?

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