Sir Chris
7th April 2004, 09:15 AM
As I sit on top of the world, perhaps even the universe, I begin to ponder. What is the very nature of power itself? How can certain beings show so much potential and be able to come through when it is most needed. The worlds I observe have recently come onto darkness and the tides of fate beckon me to step forward and find someone more powerful than my own weakened self to take charge and restore order, and the light, onto these worlds.
I have done much research on time traveling, universe bridging, and all other sorts of neat tricks by scientific staff has come up with. But alas, I am not strong enough to take hold of such things and use them to help my people. My time is short as I write you this invite, all I may do is explain the rest in a few short words…
My universe stands on the nexus of destruction, and I am almost powerless to stop it. In a time where heroes rise up there are none left to do so. This is where you come in. I have designed a transportation device enclosed in the package, all you must do is press the button and you shall be teleported into an alternate universe, be rest assured, this for 31 of you shall be a round trip and no time will have passed in your home universe. For one of you, all of you heroes in your own universe and by your own right, shall become the savior of my people. All will be explained when you arrive.
~ Sir Chris, High Paladin.
As Mega Man scanned the letter again, analyzing bit by bit, attempting to decipher what it could in fact mean, he was kind of at a loss. Some person, who was supposedly from another universe knew of him and wanted him to press this button that he held in his other hand, to somehow teleport him away from his own universe to another. He looked up to see Dr. Light beaming at him.
“What do you think of this?” Mega man asked Dr. Light.
“Well my boy, I think this is wonderful! People from places we could have never even of dreamed of have heard of you! This is such exciting news. This person must have been brilliant to have people around him to come up with such things as time travel. You are considered a hero by many, I am very proud of you. Now, down to business. His letter seemed most urgent, and I know that you are very capable of handling yourself in all situations and adapting, that is what I made you for in fact. Go help this paladin Mega Man, help him restore order to his universe.
“Ok Dr. Light. It sounds like fun, or at least you would think of it as such.”
Mega Man pressed the button.
Then his world was rocked. His sensors went berserk and his vision wavered as the ground underneath him was no longer there. His last vision in his own universe was Dr. light mouth moving, yet he could not pick up what it was that he was saying.
Finally Mega Man entered a void of some sort. All he could see was white around him. Endless white. He held up his blaster and looked around defensively.
“Hello Mega Man.” Mega Man whirled around with his blaster aimed, he found himself nearly right next to a tall man with piercing blue eyes. Mega Man lowered his blaster gently. “Who are you?”
“Why my dear robot, I am Sir Chris, the High Paladin that sent you that letter. I am pleased that you in fact decided to stop by my humble… nexus of the universe. You are the third to stop by! Now, I am sure you have questions, and I hope I may answer them all and fill you in with much detail. I hope, however, that you are not as nit picky as my last visitor Donkey Kong”
“who-”
“No need to worry about that, you’ll meet in due time. Anyway, the reason I have brought you here is because I am to conduct a tournament of heroes. As my letter said, I am in dire need of assistance, as my home universe is being torn apart by a great darkness. I have called onto the 32 greatest heroes of existence to see which one is the best, and he who wins this tournament shall be the one to become the savior of my home.
“Why do you not simply gather us all in your universe, wouldn’t that be much better than simply choosing one of us?”
“In a perfect situation, yes that truly would be my greatest wish. However, it is simply not possible. My cross-dimension machines can not handle that kind of stress. Only one person may go from universe to universe at a time, or else it becomes unstable and universes could blend and a literal hell could break loose. After much time in the laboratory we have decided 30 days approximately is a safe time for another person to travel from one universe to the same universe another has already traveled to. For reasons unknown if the same person is doing the traveling back and forth, it shall be stable for a good two trips. The reasons for this are still unknown, but I myself tested this out by venturing to the nexus from my home world.” He took a deep breath and let out a sigh.
Mega man just stood there, taking it all in. Then he remembered something. “Why not just stop time in your own universe instead of ours and wait the required time until you can get more than one of us there to help you?” Chris let his head drop and let out a loud sigh. “In an ideal universe, yes. But you see, this darkness that is engulfing my universe absorbs the energy that is created from our time machines. We use a light crystal or extraordinary potential and power. Only with those can we stop, accelerate, and bend time. These creatures of the darkness make them utterly useless. So, while they work in your light filled worlds, in mine…” He left off with yet another sigh.
“I see, then I shall help you and take part in this tournament. “
“I am glad to hear it.” Chris waved his hand and a door appeared out of thin air. “Step right through my robot friend.”
Mega man walked towards the door and turned the knob and opened the door, as he looked back he saw Chris talking to two people, he shrugged it off and started to walk through the door, the last words he heard, “Ah, the one that defeated Kefka, and the one to have defeated Kuja, a pleasure to meet you both.” He stepped through.
As Vivi got done talking with the High Paladin and the stranger known as Locke, he stepped through the brown door and closed it behind him. No sooner than he had was he in a grassy meadow with nothing but blue sky all around it. He took out his Mace of Zeus and whirled all around just to make sure he was safe. He sighed and put his weapon down.
Chris was right, this place seems so safe and tranquil. No hazards from what I can tell. Why did I press that button, why oh why. Oh right, I know why…
“What you got there Vivi?” Zidane walked into the room and sat on the couch.
“Um… maybe you want to have a look at this Zidane.” Vivi proceeded to walk over to Zidane and give him the letter from some strange guy he had never once heard of. Zidane took the letter and read over it, raising his eyebrows a few times in the process. Finally, he put the letter down and began to speak, then seemingly thinking of something else, didn’t and remained silent for another moment. Then his eyes lit up and he spoke.
“Well Vivi, its quite obvious what we have here! We have a man in trouble that needs your talents! This is a wonderful chance for you to make it out on your own and show everyone what a real powerful guy you are. “ Zidane walked over to Vivi, his eyes aglow, wrapped an arm around his shorter friend and put the other arm out in front of them both.
“This is a chance to see new worlds Vivi, to explore the depths of your power. More importantly my friend, it’s a chance to meet cute girls and make them yours. Now Vivi, press that button, and onward to new adventures you go!”
“…”
So I pressed the button, and here is where I am at, isn’t that just wonderful.
When Vivi finally snapped out of his thought, he heard a voice from his left, he turned around to see a man with gloves on.
“Yo my man, who are you doing? My name is Mac, I come from the good ole U.S.A. Don’t know who you are or who does your styles, but you got some nice threads little dude, some nice threads.” He proceeded to take off a boxing glove and extend his arm towards him. Vivi, a little hesitate, slowly but surely extended him arm as well to the man known as Mac.
“So, that Paladin dude wants us all to compete in some sort of tournament and the winner gets to save his home universe, isn’t that a lot to expect from us? We aren’t some sort of super heroes are we? Not like the stuff you read in the comics and such. At least I am not. “ Max shook his head and looked at the black mage. “So anyway, what’s your name stranger?”
“They call me Vivi. I am a black mage. I am an artist who uses magic at my whim to win fights and help others. Where I am from I helped save the world from an evil man known as Kuja.”
“Nice. In my world I am a boxing champion. In fact, I am undefeated, my record is 89-0. Got a fierce left hook and skills unmatched. Hope I can do well in this tournament. It’d be great to be known as a savior of a race, look good and the resume as well. “ As he finished up he grinned from ear to ear. Vivi smiled inwardly, He had a good feeling that most he would meet here would be friendly and nice. Chris had said himself that they had been gathered from the universes because they were known for their heroics and kind hearted ways. Perhaps this would be a good chance to test himself in a controlled, safe environment.
Whistling as he sped along in his usual fast manner, he came to a sudden halt when he was close to an eerily looking forest. It had a dark mist coming out of its depths and Sonic could only see about 5 feet, at the most, into its deep regions. Sonic shuddered for an instant then continue on his way to his destination.
Lets see, what did the old man say… Once you see the dark forest take a right at the clearing.So sonic turned to the right without noticeably losing any speed and continued on his way down the path. Now lets see, he said continue onward until you see a fork in the road, then he gave me some crappy line about the choice should be obvious. Pfft, why can’t he just give regular directions instead of these cryptic riddles of his. When Sonic reached the fork in the road his brow rose a bit. To the left was sunshine and clear, blue skies. Nothing seemed to be wrong with choosing this path. To the right, however, seem to be darkened skies and an eerie feeling passed over sonic.
meanwhile….in the bridging universe…
“Ah, and so the last of my guests have arrived. “ Chris seemed overjoyed to see the blonde warrior.
“Yes, I suppose I have. So, you want me to enter a tournament for your enjoyment, let 31 guys get the crap beaten out of them, and then the winner just gets to waltz into your universe and play savior. I only pressed the button so I could tell you how pathetic that was to your face.: As he finishes he blinked his blue eyes slowly and gazed at Chris with a grim expression.
“Oh my dear, I shall not allow you to lie to yourself like that! It is simply unhealthy. You came here for another, much more important reason in your heart. Your beloved was lost in your world, and ever since you have been to hell and its brother realms looking for her! Yes, the lovely mage Aeris. I have heard of her and it is a truly saddening tale. It is such a pity that she died…” Chris gave a small hint of a smile and that’s when Cloud reached a gloved hand forward and grabbed him by the neck and lifted him off the ground.
“How DARE YOU EVEN HINT A SMILE AT THE THOUGHT OF HER DEATH! You know NOTHING about her you coward us bastard, you can’t even save your own world! Weakling! She had true power, you have nothing!”
And so it got ugly.
A Dark light burst from the paladin and it knocked Cloud a good 20 feet away and burned him severely.
“Cloud, I do not have the limits on my power here because the darkness that drains my universe is not present. I have fought those bastardly demons for a century now. Do not dare lecture me on what it is to have power and what it is to be weak. Without your friends you would not be here today Mr. Cloud Strife, my friends were vanquished long ago, just as your dear Aeris was, right before my very eyes! We may be from different universes, but we have more in common than ye shall ever know.” As Chris finished up he glided towards Cloud and extended an arm in offer to help him up. Cloud swatted and hand away and got up on his own.
“Your universe can go to hell for all I care, whatever your thoughts might be, I have no alterior motives for being here, good day you high and mighty paladin bastard.” Cloud turned around and began to walk for the door on the left, instead of the door on the right in which mega man had walked earlier.
“Oh, so you are not interested in seeing her again? Well, ok then. Have a nice life Cloud.” Cloud whipped his body around in a split second and had a twisted expression on his face
“What are you on about Paladin? There is nothing you can do for Aeris…”
“On the contrary forsaken warrior. I am a very powerful man, I can do wondrous things. You will be the first to learn this, but in due time all of the people will know the prize for this. I would never ask anything without substantial reward. The prize is that you shall get any wish your heart desires when my universe is freed. The crystals which give my universe power are great and wonderful things, divine in origin Cloud. When they are freed from corruption of the darkness I shall be able to grant a wish with my full powers. They are the source of my power you see.” Cloud looked a bit puzzled, but he was doing something he rarely did, and that is smile.
“Then how in the hell did you knock me back without power?” Cloud looked confident that he had found a hole in his story. But then again, Cloud was never known to be the brightest bulb in the house, was he?
Chris extended his hand to show a tiny glowing crystal in the palm of his hand. “You see, the darkness that envelopes my universe can not survive here, because to put it simply, there is no darkness here. Look around you, it is pure light. So when I came through the darkness inside of me was destroyed and I was restored. “
“Whatever old man. I don’t care about your universe or your long dragged out stories, sorry, its all really sad and all, but I don’t give a rat’s ass. I’ll play along with your little tournament, just to play with the idea of seeing Aeris again. But I warn you, if this is a trick and you can’t really bring her to me, your whole universe shall pay for it.”
Cloud strode to the door, opened it and stepped through.
“If only he knew what awaits him to just step into my universe, much less save it from the gates of hell.” Chris sighed and strode to the door himself, the time had come to begin the trials.
Back with Sonic…
“Hmm, I wonder which one I shall choose.” Sonic murmured to himself.
As Sonic looks down both paths He decided that there was nothing he couldn’t handle in the gloomy path, he was too fast for anything anyway! So he sped right along into the darkness, not even feeling the wind beginning to swirl and those dark skies getting even darker…
meanwhile, in the arena…
“Hello, I see that most of you are here, so I shall begin. I am sure you are more than capable of filling in the..” he stopped and looked around for a moment before continuing, “two missing guests on what happened here, its just minor news and what not. I am sure you all have had time to mingle, or at the very least chat with a few of your fellow guests, and if not then I would advise you do so now. This should be a friendly place where you have fun in your battles, and yet take them seriously at the same time. A kind of sparring match you could say. But as I told someone earlier, I ask nothing for free! It is simply not my style, and thus you have a reward, or at least, the one remaining at the end shall have a reward…” And so he filled them in in a monotone voice about the wish, just how he had done cloud earlier. The contestants murmured and conversed amongst themselves at the latest news to them, letting it all wash over them.
“That shall be all for now, thank you for your time and good luck in the upcoming tournament, also, if you have not had a chance to talk with everyone, or don’t know everyone’s name, here is a chart of everyone with a picture ID, hopefully this will prove most useful to getting to know your fellow heroes.
And so, there in front of them appeared a huge screen with their names on it with a neat looking picture, done by some very good artist, right next to their name. The names next to the pictures were as follows:
1. Cloud Strife
2. Donkey Kong
3. Mario
4. Snake
5. Squall
6. Dante
7. Ryu
8. Link
9. Sonic
10. Shadow The Hedgehog
11. Ramza
12. Ness
13. Crono
14. Frog
15. Alucard
16. Samus
17. KOS-MOS
18. Luigi
19. Knuckles
20. Zero
21. Fox
22. Kirby
23. Master Chief
24. Little Mac
25. Mega Man
26. Crash Bandicoot
27. Auron
28. Sora
29. Vincent
30. Vivi
31. Locke
32. Magus
Back with Sonic…
Sonic was speeding right along, per usual. Never did he heed the wind blowing against him, its doubtful he could even feel the difference between the chilling wind that was now around him and the wins that one who goes as fast as he usually feels. Suddenly he came to a screeching halt as he spotted a corpse of a very large animal. It was like nothing he had ever seen in his life before. It had been brutally sliced and cut at by some sort of very sharp object. It had several stab wounds in its side and it looked like it had only been dead for an hour at most. Sonic stared at the haunting image for a few moments too long for his own taste and then shook it off and charged up and continued down the ever darkening path.
Finally he reached a canyon where a figure that appeared to be a caped man was crouching down and seemed to be bleeding pretty badly. To the left he saw a narrow path that led around the canyon. He wondered what he was going to do…
Sonic seemed a little nervous but he was sure there was nothing to worry about, so he cleared his throat. “Hey man, are you okay?” With a sudden jerk beneath the cape a scythe was quickly revealed and no sooner than a gloved hand could be made out was the scythe heading towards the hedgehog at lightning speed. Sonic tried to evade it but it was useless, it ended up catching him in the right leg and he was grounded as he cried in agony. The caped figure now was in full view, his pale skin evident in the darkened place. His pale blue hair atop his head waved slightly as a wind blew. His piercing red eyes looked over the hedgehog, measuring him. His teeth being bared to reveal fangs, a menacing figure to say the least. He took another step forward and pulled the scythe from Sonic’s leg, as he did so Sonic let out a yelp of pain and allowed his hands to clench the ground tightly, digging up the scarred earth.
“Who are you.” The pale man spoke without viciousness in his voice, it was almost a monotone - seemingly lacking all emotion within it. “You bastard, look what you did to my leg!” Sonic was in almost a panic, without his legs he was in serious trouble. “Didn’t mommy and daddy ever tell you that you shouldn’t disturb a wounded animal? You should have just ran the other way while you had the chance. I suppose you are here for that tournament the Paladin is hosting, correct?” Sonic nodded his head slowly, biting back a mixture of fear and anger. “Good, then I have one less opponent to take out, My dear blue, you are my first victim, good day.” With that he raised his scythe up onto the air and brought it down, the blood flew everywhere and the darkness itself seemed to disperse over the woods that moment, as if it was waiting for that moment to come, and its moment in the sun had gone.
As magus briskly retracted his scythe and moved away from Sonic, a sudden look of disgust appeared on his face, as if to mark a bad omen just making itself known to him. No matter though, what was done was done and as far as he could tell it was only a means to an end - winning this stupid tournament so he may have his deepest desire granted…
“Schala… I shall make this world flood with crimson if I must to see your smiling face once more…” Magus composed himself and stalked off towards the arena.
meanwhile…
Chris shuddered as he opened his eyes from his vision of the ghastly scene between Magus and Sonic. He was beginning to think he had made a grave mistake by inviting one such as Magus to this tournament. Sure, he had saved his world from the parasite known as lavos, but for what ends did he do it? A question that Chris sadly knew the answer to. It was not for justice, not like Glenn and Crono, not at all… it was for his revenge from his sister being taken away from him.
“He is a man driven by hatred now, what talent he has is underlined by the fact that he will use any means necessary to accomplish his goals. Is he no better than most of the villains that these heroes have opposed in the past? “ Chris paced in his study deep in thought for several hours. Filling out forms for the up coming tournament and setting the bracket so that Magus would get a bye, since he had sort of had a match up…
-------
And the match ups were:
Cloud Strife-KOS-MOS
Fox Mcloud-Donkey Kong
Mario-Little Mac
Snake-Dante
Vivi-Kirby
Alucard-Vincent
Auron-Crono
Ness-Knuckles
Samus-Master Chief
Zero-Shadow
Squall-Luigi
Frog-Crash the bandicoot
Link-Sora
Mega Man-Locke
Ramza-Ryu
Not in any general order at the moment, but that would come in all good time…
Chris went from his study and posted the match up list in the Hero’s Hotel lobby and went to sleep, seeing what events would unfold
Earlier that day…
Knuckles was getting kind of worried, first he hadn’t seen Sonic at the pre tournament meeting, and now The paladin guy was summoning him - and him alone - for a special meeting. Usually Knuckles gets bad feelings when something isn’t right, and of course, he was getting one of them as he strode down the hallway, quite slowly in fact, as if dreading what Chris had to say. Knuckles came to a stop at the door of Chris’ official Headquarters and knocked.
On the other side of the door was a tall and imposing figure, to most his size and the way he presented himself would intimidate others, but of course he knew he need not worry about that here. He was brooding over what he had to tell the Echidna known as Knuckles. When he heard the knock at his door he calmly strode behind his desk and took his seat.
“Come in.” Chris calmly replied to the knock, knowing full well who it was. Knuckles stepped through the threshold and walked to Chris’ desk while deciding standing up would be the best thing to do.
“So why did ya call me here Paladin man.”
“It is about your friend Sonic, Knuckles.” Chris got up from his seat and walked over to the other side of the desk. “He was scheduled to compete in this tournament, just as you are, but… there were a change of plans.” Chris sighed and took off his glasses to clean them
“What kind of change of plans?” Knuckles sound a little nervous about a change in plans, something didn’t feel write in his stomach.
“A rogue “hero”, known as Magus Encountered your friend and he saw Sonic as a threat in his chances of winning this tournament and fatally wounded him, I am sorry… I thought you should know.
“S-Sonic… killed? How is that possible! I know Sonic he is tough, he wouldn’t let some punk take him out. No! you are lying you bastard!” Knuckles was furious
“Calm thy self brave Knuckles. Facing the truth is sometimes hard, but I believe this is a lesson you already know very well. “ Chris spoke in the most soothing voice that he knew
“Man, is this what this damned tournament is going to be like? We killing each other one by one for some big prize and to be a savior of your people? We all have families! Friends! People that are going to miss us if some greedy bastard decides to go psycho on us and chop us into bits. I believe this whole tournament will end up one big blood bath and the winner is just going to be twisted, this is sick.” Knuckles paced around the room, still fuming.
“Perhaps. This is not like I made this tournament for my own leisure. I am a very desperate man Knuckles, and thus I am taking desperate actions. I did not think I had to make this rule, but I suppose I was mistaken. There is to be no fighting outside of the ring, anymore deaths shall be punished by the person responsible leaving the tournament. As well, the arena you will be fighting in has it so anyone who is killed there to be revived. “
“Then why not revive Sonic? You have the powers to raise the dead, then why not Sonic!” Knuckles was on the verge of going to blows with the paladin.
“I do not have the powers to revive someone in this world. It is hard to explain, I do not understand it myself. But this planet was once home, or so I believe, to an ancient race. They are the ones who built the arena. I believe this planet holds much untold magic in it. It shall be interesting to see in time what you, as the heroes, find. I have tried to search for other rarities, but perhaps I am not wholly good at such things. Anyway, once my universe is restored I shall be able to use the uncorrupted power of the light to revive Sonic, or should I say, could use it.”
“Well, glad to know that you are such a nice guy that I have to use a wish to save one of the nicest and coolest guys in any universe. Self serving bastard. Not like it matters, I’m am going to win this tournament, kill magus, and then save your universe. I hope your God saves you Chris, because even if you are in his favor, you should burn in hell.” With that Knuckles opened the door and sped down the corridor.
“Truly, I have lived too long for my own good.” Chris sighed and sat back in his seat, closed his eyes, and thought of better times.
Magic, explosions, destruction, oh my!
The Morning air the next day seemed a bit thick on the opening day of the tournament. The 29 non participating heroes sat comfortably behind an energy barrier which surrounded the entire edge of the arena. Two of the strongest would be going at it today. KOS-MOS, a blue haired android of destruction, always talking in her monotone voice and speaking of probabilities of events to occur. Cloud Strife on the other hand, was nothing short of irritable and rude to all he met. He seemed very driven, perhaps like the mad men you read about in books and saw terrorize people in those horror movies. Whatever it was on his mind, it was awfully important to him, that’s for sure.
Cloud entered the arena, his cape blowing behind him and his mako eyes intense as always. His only thoughts were of Aeris and finishing off this piece of junk of a robot off as quickly as possible. No need to waste precious energy that could be conserved for other matches. After all, he would be needing it with the cast of characters that was assembled here. He tried to remind himself that the Paladin had said that he would heal anyone of their injuries as to not hinder them in later matches. Like it even mattered.
On the other side of the arena, KOS-MOS strode in with her red eyes blinking slowly a few times, she was the perfect example of emotionless artificial intelligence. All that was running through her head was the probability each of her weapons had of doing damage, the best strategies to employ versus her opponent, and of course, the chances of her winning. Not too surprising, they were quite high.
“One known as Cloud Strife, It would seem that I have a 96.4% chance of defeating you into today’s match. However, it should be noted for your benefit that there is only a 30.7% chance of me inflicting lethal injuries onto you.” She finished up her monotone speech
Cloud lifted his buster sword onto his shoulder, “How comforting.”
The gong rung throughout the stadium, signaling the beginning of the very first match of the tournament
With a quick start Cloud began a mad dash towards KOS-MOS, his sword raised in the air behind him ready to strike once he got within range, something which would prove to be a trying task. KOS-MOS let a cannon out of her right arm and fired a single shot directly towards Cloud. Cloud, being in a full dash did not have time to react properly and was hit with the brunt of the energy, fire shot through his body as the force of the energy beam flung the mercenary to the ground . Cloud grunted in pain and was slow to get up, giving KOS-MOS enough time to run forward and grab him by the shoulder and throwing him into the nearest wall.
Cloud’s mind raced as he was getting the crap beaten out of him by a piece of junk. How the hell could he let this fake monstrosity of a woman even lay a hand on him. He Grunted again, more so in anger this time and got back up.
KOS-MOS in the meantime had a handgun in her hand and fired a shot. Cloud, more aware of himself this time blocked it with his buster sword. She fired yet another shot which he blocked quite easily. She unloaded the entire clip, aiming at slightly different places each time, but with the mass of the buster sword at work he hardly had to move it an inch. Finally the gun clicked empty, and that’s when Cloud made his move, rushing forward. Suddenly another round came flying at him and caught him in his right arm, He grimaced in pain and cursed himself mentally for his error.
She knew I’d rush forward when I thought she was out of ammo, she was just waiting for me to fall for her trick, what a cocky son of a…
However, the wound was minor and shouldn’t hinder him too much. KOS-MOS morphed her arm into the R-Cannon and fired off three rounds. Cloud managed to block all three, each time with increasing difficulty and it managing to move him back a few feet from the impact. Obviously taking these hits, even through the buster sword were taking their toll on him.
< I have to start dodging these attacks, I don’t know if I am fast enough, but I am going to have to be. Got to try to get close enough to use melee attacks… maybe if I…
KOS-MOS fired another volley of shots which Cloud rolled to the left of, but there wasn’t much room for comfort there. She was a quick shot with deadly accuracy, suppose that could be expected from a machine.
Cloud put his hand in front of his face and mouthed the word “fire”. Instantly a wall of flame enveloped KOS-MOS and Cloud rushed forward as fast as he could to deliver a blow to the hard to damage machine. When he was in range he took a mighty swing of his sword straight at the head of KOS-MOS. But it never quite made its target, as KOS-MOS’s R-Blade blocked it quite easily. Cloud kicked off of KOS-MOS’s chest and back flipped to the ground.
Cloud looked at KOS-MOS and sighed as he looked at her armor. Not a speck of damage was on it. What did a guy have to do to damage this robot?
I have done much research on time traveling, universe bridging, and all other sorts of neat tricks by scientific staff has come up with. But alas, I am not strong enough to take hold of such things and use them to help my people. My time is short as I write you this invite, all I may do is explain the rest in a few short words…
My universe stands on the nexus of destruction, and I am almost powerless to stop it. In a time where heroes rise up there are none left to do so. This is where you come in. I have designed a transportation device enclosed in the package, all you must do is press the button and you shall be teleported into an alternate universe, be rest assured, this for 31 of you shall be a round trip and no time will have passed in your home universe. For one of you, all of you heroes in your own universe and by your own right, shall become the savior of my people. All will be explained when you arrive.
~ Sir Chris, High Paladin.
As Mega Man scanned the letter again, analyzing bit by bit, attempting to decipher what it could in fact mean, he was kind of at a loss. Some person, who was supposedly from another universe knew of him and wanted him to press this button that he held in his other hand, to somehow teleport him away from his own universe to another. He looked up to see Dr. Light beaming at him.
“What do you think of this?” Mega man asked Dr. Light.
“Well my boy, I think this is wonderful! People from places we could have never even of dreamed of have heard of you! This is such exciting news. This person must have been brilliant to have people around him to come up with such things as time travel. You are considered a hero by many, I am very proud of you. Now, down to business. His letter seemed most urgent, and I know that you are very capable of handling yourself in all situations and adapting, that is what I made you for in fact. Go help this paladin Mega Man, help him restore order to his universe.
“Ok Dr. Light. It sounds like fun, or at least you would think of it as such.”
Mega Man pressed the button.
Then his world was rocked. His sensors went berserk and his vision wavered as the ground underneath him was no longer there. His last vision in his own universe was Dr. light mouth moving, yet he could not pick up what it was that he was saying.
Finally Mega Man entered a void of some sort. All he could see was white around him. Endless white. He held up his blaster and looked around defensively.
“Hello Mega Man.” Mega Man whirled around with his blaster aimed, he found himself nearly right next to a tall man with piercing blue eyes. Mega Man lowered his blaster gently. “Who are you?”
“Why my dear robot, I am Sir Chris, the High Paladin that sent you that letter. I am pleased that you in fact decided to stop by my humble… nexus of the universe. You are the third to stop by! Now, I am sure you have questions, and I hope I may answer them all and fill you in with much detail. I hope, however, that you are not as nit picky as my last visitor Donkey Kong”
“who-”
“No need to worry about that, you’ll meet in due time. Anyway, the reason I have brought you here is because I am to conduct a tournament of heroes. As my letter said, I am in dire need of assistance, as my home universe is being torn apart by a great darkness. I have called onto the 32 greatest heroes of existence to see which one is the best, and he who wins this tournament shall be the one to become the savior of my home.
“Why do you not simply gather us all in your universe, wouldn’t that be much better than simply choosing one of us?”
“In a perfect situation, yes that truly would be my greatest wish. However, it is simply not possible. My cross-dimension machines can not handle that kind of stress. Only one person may go from universe to universe at a time, or else it becomes unstable and universes could blend and a literal hell could break loose. After much time in the laboratory we have decided 30 days approximately is a safe time for another person to travel from one universe to the same universe another has already traveled to. For reasons unknown if the same person is doing the traveling back and forth, it shall be stable for a good two trips. The reasons for this are still unknown, but I myself tested this out by venturing to the nexus from my home world.” He took a deep breath and let out a sigh.
Mega man just stood there, taking it all in. Then he remembered something. “Why not just stop time in your own universe instead of ours and wait the required time until you can get more than one of us there to help you?” Chris let his head drop and let out a loud sigh. “In an ideal universe, yes. But you see, this darkness that is engulfing my universe absorbs the energy that is created from our time machines. We use a light crystal or extraordinary potential and power. Only with those can we stop, accelerate, and bend time. These creatures of the darkness make them utterly useless. So, while they work in your light filled worlds, in mine…” He left off with yet another sigh.
“I see, then I shall help you and take part in this tournament. “
“I am glad to hear it.” Chris waved his hand and a door appeared out of thin air. “Step right through my robot friend.”
Mega man walked towards the door and turned the knob and opened the door, as he looked back he saw Chris talking to two people, he shrugged it off and started to walk through the door, the last words he heard, “Ah, the one that defeated Kefka, and the one to have defeated Kuja, a pleasure to meet you both.” He stepped through.
As Vivi got done talking with the High Paladin and the stranger known as Locke, he stepped through the brown door and closed it behind him. No sooner than he had was he in a grassy meadow with nothing but blue sky all around it. He took out his Mace of Zeus and whirled all around just to make sure he was safe. He sighed and put his weapon down.
Chris was right, this place seems so safe and tranquil. No hazards from what I can tell. Why did I press that button, why oh why. Oh right, I know why…
“What you got there Vivi?” Zidane walked into the room and sat on the couch.
“Um… maybe you want to have a look at this Zidane.” Vivi proceeded to walk over to Zidane and give him the letter from some strange guy he had never once heard of. Zidane took the letter and read over it, raising his eyebrows a few times in the process. Finally, he put the letter down and began to speak, then seemingly thinking of something else, didn’t and remained silent for another moment. Then his eyes lit up and he spoke.
“Well Vivi, its quite obvious what we have here! We have a man in trouble that needs your talents! This is a wonderful chance for you to make it out on your own and show everyone what a real powerful guy you are. “ Zidane walked over to Vivi, his eyes aglow, wrapped an arm around his shorter friend and put the other arm out in front of them both.
“This is a chance to see new worlds Vivi, to explore the depths of your power. More importantly my friend, it’s a chance to meet cute girls and make them yours. Now Vivi, press that button, and onward to new adventures you go!”
“…”
So I pressed the button, and here is where I am at, isn’t that just wonderful.
When Vivi finally snapped out of his thought, he heard a voice from his left, he turned around to see a man with gloves on.
“Yo my man, who are you doing? My name is Mac, I come from the good ole U.S.A. Don’t know who you are or who does your styles, but you got some nice threads little dude, some nice threads.” He proceeded to take off a boxing glove and extend his arm towards him. Vivi, a little hesitate, slowly but surely extended him arm as well to the man known as Mac.
“So, that Paladin dude wants us all to compete in some sort of tournament and the winner gets to save his home universe, isn’t that a lot to expect from us? We aren’t some sort of super heroes are we? Not like the stuff you read in the comics and such. At least I am not. “ Max shook his head and looked at the black mage. “So anyway, what’s your name stranger?”
“They call me Vivi. I am a black mage. I am an artist who uses magic at my whim to win fights and help others. Where I am from I helped save the world from an evil man known as Kuja.”
“Nice. In my world I am a boxing champion. In fact, I am undefeated, my record is 89-0. Got a fierce left hook and skills unmatched. Hope I can do well in this tournament. It’d be great to be known as a savior of a race, look good and the resume as well. “ As he finished up he grinned from ear to ear. Vivi smiled inwardly, He had a good feeling that most he would meet here would be friendly and nice. Chris had said himself that they had been gathered from the universes because they were known for their heroics and kind hearted ways. Perhaps this would be a good chance to test himself in a controlled, safe environment.
Whistling as he sped along in his usual fast manner, he came to a sudden halt when he was close to an eerily looking forest. It had a dark mist coming out of its depths and Sonic could only see about 5 feet, at the most, into its deep regions. Sonic shuddered for an instant then continue on his way to his destination.
Lets see, what did the old man say… Once you see the dark forest take a right at the clearing.So sonic turned to the right without noticeably losing any speed and continued on his way down the path. Now lets see, he said continue onward until you see a fork in the road, then he gave me some crappy line about the choice should be obvious. Pfft, why can’t he just give regular directions instead of these cryptic riddles of his. When Sonic reached the fork in the road his brow rose a bit. To the left was sunshine and clear, blue skies. Nothing seemed to be wrong with choosing this path. To the right, however, seem to be darkened skies and an eerie feeling passed over sonic.
meanwhile….in the bridging universe…
“Ah, and so the last of my guests have arrived. “ Chris seemed overjoyed to see the blonde warrior.
“Yes, I suppose I have. So, you want me to enter a tournament for your enjoyment, let 31 guys get the crap beaten out of them, and then the winner just gets to waltz into your universe and play savior. I only pressed the button so I could tell you how pathetic that was to your face.: As he finishes he blinked his blue eyes slowly and gazed at Chris with a grim expression.
“Oh my dear, I shall not allow you to lie to yourself like that! It is simply unhealthy. You came here for another, much more important reason in your heart. Your beloved was lost in your world, and ever since you have been to hell and its brother realms looking for her! Yes, the lovely mage Aeris. I have heard of her and it is a truly saddening tale. It is such a pity that she died…” Chris gave a small hint of a smile and that’s when Cloud reached a gloved hand forward and grabbed him by the neck and lifted him off the ground.
“How DARE YOU EVEN HINT A SMILE AT THE THOUGHT OF HER DEATH! You know NOTHING about her you coward us bastard, you can’t even save your own world! Weakling! She had true power, you have nothing!”
And so it got ugly.
A Dark light burst from the paladin and it knocked Cloud a good 20 feet away and burned him severely.
“Cloud, I do not have the limits on my power here because the darkness that drains my universe is not present. I have fought those bastardly demons for a century now. Do not dare lecture me on what it is to have power and what it is to be weak. Without your friends you would not be here today Mr. Cloud Strife, my friends were vanquished long ago, just as your dear Aeris was, right before my very eyes! We may be from different universes, but we have more in common than ye shall ever know.” As Chris finished up he glided towards Cloud and extended an arm in offer to help him up. Cloud swatted and hand away and got up on his own.
“Your universe can go to hell for all I care, whatever your thoughts might be, I have no alterior motives for being here, good day you high and mighty paladin bastard.” Cloud turned around and began to walk for the door on the left, instead of the door on the right in which mega man had walked earlier.
“Oh, so you are not interested in seeing her again? Well, ok then. Have a nice life Cloud.” Cloud whipped his body around in a split second and had a twisted expression on his face
“What are you on about Paladin? There is nothing you can do for Aeris…”
“On the contrary forsaken warrior. I am a very powerful man, I can do wondrous things. You will be the first to learn this, but in due time all of the people will know the prize for this. I would never ask anything without substantial reward. The prize is that you shall get any wish your heart desires when my universe is freed. The crystals which give my universe power are great and wonderful things, divine in origin Cloud. When they are freed from corruption of the darkness I shall be able to grant a wish with my full powers. They are the source of my power you see.” Cloud looked a bit puzzled, but he was doing something he rarely did, and that is smile.
“Then how in the hell did you knock me back without power?” Cloud looked confident that he had found a hole in his story. But then again, Cloud was never known to be the brightest bulb in the house, was he?
Chris extended his hand to show a tiny glowing crystal in the palm of his hand. “You see, the darkness that envelopes my universe can not survive here, because to put it simply, there is no darkness here. Look around you, it is pure light. So when I came through the darkness inside of me was destroyed and I was restored. “
“Whatever old man. I don’t care about your universe or your long dragged out stories, sorry, its all really sad and all, but I don’t give a rat’s ass. I’ll play along with your little tournament, just to play with the idea of seeing Aeris again. But I warn you, if this is a trick and you can’t really bring her to me, your whole universe shall pay for it.”
Cloud strode to the door, opened it and stepped through.
“If only he knew what awaits him to just step into my universe, much less save it from the gates of hell.” Chris sighed and strode to the door himself, the time had come to begin the trials.
Back with Sonic…
“Hmm, I wonder which one I shall choose.” Sonic murmured to himself.
As Sonic looks down both paths He decided that there was nothing he couldn’t handle in the gloomy path, he was too fast for anything anyway! So he sped right along into the darkness, not even feeling the wind beginning to swirl and those dark skies getting even darker…
meanwhile, in the arena…
“Hello, I see that most of you are here, so I shall begin. I am sure you are more than capable of filling in the..” he stopped and looked around for a moment before continuing, “two missing guests on what happened here, its just minor news and what not. I am sure you all have had time to mingle, or at the very least chat with a few of your fellow guests, and if not then I would advise you do so now. This should be a friendly place where you have fun in your battles, and yet take them seriously at the same time. A kind of sparring match you could say. But as I told someone earlier, I ask nothing for free! It is simply not my style, and thus you have a reward, or at least, the one remaining at the end shall have a reward…” And so he filled them in in a monotone voice about the wish, just how he had done cloud earlier. The contestants murmured and conversed amongst themselves at the latest news to them, letting it all wash over them.
“That shall be all for now, thank you for your time and good luck in the upcoming tournament, also, if you have not had a chance to talk with everyone, or don’t know everyone’s name, here is a chart of everyone with a picture ID, hopefully this will prove most useful to getting to know your fellow heroes.
And so, there in front of them appeared a huge screen with their names on it with a neat looking picture, done by some very good artist, right next to their name. The names next to the pictures were as follows:
1. Cloud Strife
2. Donkey Kong
3. Mario
4. Snake
5. Squall
6. Dante
7. Ryu
8. Link
9. Sonic
10. Shadow The Hedgehog
11. Ramza
12. Ness
13. Crono
14. Frog
15. Alucard
16. Samus
17. KOS-MOS
18. Luigi
19. Knuckles
20. Zero
21. Fox
22. Kirby
23. Master Chief
24. Little Mac
25. Mega Man
26. Crash Bandicoot
27. Auron
28. Sora
29. Vincent
30. Vivi
31. Locke
32. Magus
Back with Sonic…
Sonic was speeding right along, per usual. Never did he heed the wind blowing against him, its doubtful he could even feel the difference between the chilling wind that was now around him and the wins that one who goes as fast as he usually feels. Suddenly he came to a screeching halt as he spotted a corpse of a very large animal. It was like nothing he had ever seen in his life before. It had been brutally sliced and cut at by some sort of very sharp object. It had several stab wounds in its side and it looked like it had only been dead for an hour at most. Sonic stared at the haunting image for a few moments too long for his own taste and then shook it off and charged up and continued down the ever darkening path.
Finally he reached a canyon where a figure that appeared to be a caped man was crouching down and seemed to be bleeding pretty badly. To the left he saw a narrow path that led around the canyon. He wondered what he was going to do…
Sonic seemed a little nervous but he was sure there was nothing to worry about, so he cleared his throat. “Hey man, are you okay?” With a sudden jerk beneath the cape a scythe was quickly revealed and no sooner than a gloved hand could be made out was the scythe heading towards the hedgehog at lightning speed. Sonic tried to evade it but it was useless, it ended up catching him in the right leg and he was grounded as he cried in agony. The caped figure now was in full view, his pale skin evident in the darkened place. His pale blue hair atop his head waved slightly as a wind blew. His piercing red eyes looked over the hedgehog, measuring him. His teeth being bared to reveal fangs, a menacing figure to say the least. He took another step forward and pulled the scythe from Sonic’s leg, as he did so Sonic let out a yelp of pain and allowed his hands to clench the ground tightly, digging up the scarred earth.
“Who are you.” The pale man spoke without viciousness in his voice, it was almost a monotone - seemingly lacking all emotion within it. “You bastard, look what you did to my leg!” Sonic was in almost a panic, without his legs he was in serious trouble. “Didn’t mommy and daddy ever tell you that you shouldn’t disturb a wounded animal? You should have just ran the other way while you had the chance. I suppose you are here for that tournament the Paladin is hosting, correct?” Sonic nodded his head slowly, biting back a mixture of fear and anger. “Good, then I have one less opponent to take out, My dear blue, you are my first victim, good day.” With that he raised his scythe up onto the air and brought it down, the blood flew everywhere and the darkness itself seemed to disperse over the woods that moment, as if it was waiting for that moment to come, and its moment in the sun had gone.
As magus briskly retracted his scythe and moved away from Sonic, a sudden look of disgust appeared on his face, as if to mark a bad omen just making itself known to him. No matter though, what was done was done and as far as he could tell it was only a means to an end - winning this stupid tournament so he may have his deepest desire granted…
“Schala… I shall make this world flood with crimson if I must to see your smiling face once more…” Magus composed himself and stalked off towards the arena.
meanwhile…
Chris shuddered as he opened his eyes from his vision of the ghastly scene between Magus and Sonic. He was beginning to think he had made a grave mistake by inviting one such as Magus to this tournament. Sure, he had saved his world from the parasite known as lavos, but for what ends did he do it? A question that Chris sadly knew the answer to. It was not for justice, not like Glenn and Crono, not at all… it was for his revenge from his sister being taken away from him.
“He is a man driven by hatred now, what talent he has is underlined by the fact that he will use any means necessary to accomplish his goals. Is he no better than most of the villains that these heroes have opposed in the past? “ Chris paced in his study deep in thought for several hours. Filling out forms for the up coming tournament and setting the bracket so that Magus would get a bye, since he had sort of had a match up…
-------
And the match ups were:
Cloud Strife-KOS-MOS
Fox Mcloud-Donkey Kong
Mario-Little Mac
Snake-Dante
Vivi-Kirby
Alucard-Vincent
Auron-Crono
Ness-Knuckles
Samus-Master Chief
Zero-Shadow
Squall-Luigi
Frog-Crash the bandicoot
Link-Sora
Mega Man-Locke
Ramza-Ryu
Not in any general order at the moment, but that would come in all good time…
Chris went from his study and posted the match up list in the Hero’s Hotel lobby and went to sleep, seeing what events would unfold
Earlier that day…
Knuckles was getting kind of worried, first he hadn’t seen Sonic at the pre tournament meeting, and now The paladin guy was summoning him - and him alone - for a special meeting. Usually Knuckles gets bad feelings when something isn’t right, and of course, he was getting one of them as he strode down the hallway, quite slowly in fact, as if dreading what Chris had to say. Knuckles came to a stop at the door of Chris’ official Headquarters and knocked.
On the other side of the door was a tall and imposing figure, to most his size and the way he presented himself would intimidate others, but of course he knew he need not worry about that here. He was brooding over what he had to tell the Echidna known as Knuckles. When he heard the knock at his door he calmly strode behind his desk and took his seat.
“Come in.” Chris calmly replied to the knock, knowing full well who it was. Knuckles stepped through the threshold and walked to Chris’ desk while deciding standing up would be the best thing to do.
“So why did ya call me here Paladin man.”
“It is about your friend Sonic, Knuckles.” Chris got up from his seat and walked over to the other side of the desk. “He was scheduled to compete in this tournament, just as you are, but… there were a change of plans.” Chris sighed and took off his glasses to clean them
“What kind of change of plans?” Knuckles sound a little nervous about a change in plans, something didn’t feel write in his stomach.
“A rogue “hero”, known as Magus Encountered your friend and he saw Sonic as a threat in his chances of winning this tournament and fatally wounded him, I am sorry… I thought you should know.
“S-Sonic… killed? How is that possible! I know Sonic he is tough, he wouldn’t let some punk take him out. No! you are lying you bastard!” Knuckles was furious
“Calm thy self brave Knuckles. Facing the truth is sometimes hard, but I believe this is a lesson you already know very well. “ Chris spoke in the most soothing voice that he knew
“Man, is this what this damned tournament is going to be like? We killing each other one by one for some big prize and to be a savior of your people? We all have families! Friends! People that are going to miss us if some greedy bastard decides to go psycho on us and chop us into bits. I believe this whole tournament will end up one big blood bath and the winner is just going to be twisted, this is sick.” Knuckles paced around the room, still fuming.
“Perhaps. This is not like I made this tournament for my own leisure. I am a very desperate man Knuckles, and thus I am taking desperate actions. I did not think I had to make this rule, but I suppose I was mistaken. There is to be no fighting outside of the ring, anymore deaths shall be punished by the person responsible leaving the tournament. As well, the arena you will be fighting in has it so anyone who is killed there to be revived. “
“Then why not revive Sonic? You have the powers to raise the dead, then why not Sonic!” Knuckles was on the verge of going to blows with the paladin.
“I do not have the powers to revive someone in this world. It is hard to explain, I do not understand it myself. But this planet was once home, or so I believe, to an ancient race. They are the ones who built the arena. I believe this planet holds much untold magic in it. It shall be interesting to see in time what you, as the heroes, find. I have tried to search for other rarities, but perhaps I am not wholly good at such things. Anyway, once my universe is restored I shall be able to use the uncorrupted power of the light to revive Sonic, or should I say, could use it.”
“Well, glad to know that you are such a nice guy that I have to use a wish to save one of the nicest and coolest guys in any universe. Self serving bastard. Not like it matters, I’m am going to win this tournament, kill magus, and then save your universe. I hope your God saves you Chris, because even if you are in his favor, you should burn in hell.” With that Knuckles opened the door and sped down the corridor.
“Truly, I have lived too long for my own good.” Chris sighed and sat back in his seat, closed his eyes, and thought of better times.
Magic, explosions, destruction, oh my!
The Morning air the next day seemed a bit thick on the opening day of the tournament. The 29 non participating heroes sat comfortably behind an energy barrier which surrounded the entire edge of the arena. Two of the strongest would be going at it today. KOS-MOS, a blue haired android of destruction, always talking in her monotone voice and speaking of probabilities of events to occur. Cloud Strife on the other hand, was nothing short of irritable and rude to all he met. He seemed very driven, perhaps like the mad men you read about in books and saw terrorize people in those horror movies. Whatever it was on his mind, it was awfully important to him, that’s for sure.
Cloud entered the arena, his cape blowing behind him and his mako eyes intense as always. His only thoughts were of Aeris and finishing off this piece of junk of a robot off as quickly as possible. No need to waste precious energy that could be conserved for other matches. After all, he would be needing it with the cast of characters that was assembled here. He tried to remind himself that the Paladin had said that he would heal anyone of their injuries as to not hinder them in later matches. Like it even mattered.
On the other side of the arena, KOS-MOS strode in with her red eyes blinking slowly a few times, she was the perfect example of emotionless artificial intelligence. All that was running through her head was the probability each of her weapons had of doing damage, the best strategies to employ versus her opponent, and of course, the chances of her winning. Not too surprising, they were quite high.
“One known as Cloud Strife, It would seem that I have a 96.4% chance of defeating you into today’s match. However, it should be noted for your benefit that there is only a 30.7% chance of me inflicting lethal injuries onto you.” She finished up her monotone speech
Cloud lifted his buster sword onto his shoulder, “How comforting.”
The gong rung throughout the stadium, signaling the beginning of the very first match of the tournament
With a quick start Cloud began a mad dash towards KOS-MOS, his sword raised in the air behind him ready to strike once he got within range, something which would prove to be a trying task. KOS-MOS let a cannon out of her right arm and fired a single shot directly towards Cloud. Cloud, being in a full dash did not have time to react properly and was hit with the brunt of the energy, fire shot through his body as the force of the energy beam flung the mercenary to the ground . Cloud grunted in pain and was slow to get up, giving KOS-MOS enough time to run forward and grab him by the shoulder and throwing him into the nearest wall.
Cloud’s mind raced as he was getting the crap beaten out of him by a piece of junk. How the hell could he let this fake monstrosity of a woman even lay a hand on him. He Grunted again, more so in anger this time and got back up.
KOS-MOS in the meantime had a handgun in her hand and fired a shot. Cloud, more aware of himself this time blocked it with his buster sword. She fired yet another shot which he blocked quite easily. She unloaded the entire clip, aiming at slightly different places each time, but with the mass of the buster sword at work he hardly had to move it an inch. Finally the gun clicked empty, and that’s when Cloud made his move, rushing forward. Suddenly another round came flying at him and caught him in his right arm, He grimaced in pain and cursed himself mentally for his error.
She knew I’d rush forward when I thought she was out of ammo, she was just waiting for me to fall for her trick, what a cocky son of a…
However, the wound was minor and shouldn’t hinder him too much. KOS-MOS morphed her arm into the R-Cannon and fired off three rounds. Cloud managed to block all three, each time with increasing difficulty and it managing to move him back a few feet from the impact. Obviously taking these hits, even through the buster sword were taking their toll on him.
< I have to start dodging these attacks, I don’t know if I am fast enough, but I am going to have to be. Got to try to get close enough to use melee attacks… maybe if I…
KOS-MOS fired another volley of shots which Cloud rolled to the left of, but there wasn’t much room for comfort there. She was a quick shot with deadly accuracy, suppose that could be expected from a machine.
Cloud put his hand in front of his face and mouthed the word “fire”. Instantly a wall of flame enveloped KOS-MOS and Cloud rushed forward as fast as he could to deliver a blow to the hard to damage machine. When he was in range he took a mighty swing of his sword straight at the head of KOS-MOS. But it never quite made its target, as KOS-MOS’s R-Blade blocked it quite easily. Cloud kicked off of KOS-MOS’s chest and back flipped to the ground.
Cloud looked at KOS-MOS and sighed as he looked at her armor. Not a speck of damage was on it. What did a guy have to do to damage this robot?