Private/Closed Bootleg Bros 4

[Shen: King of Digimon]

Specter



"You fight well, for a damned man."

Specter's voice echoed, coming from all angles. It appeared the Simian was speaking through telepathy as he had disappeared from the veil of the explosion.

"Come come now, you don't really think you've caught me, do you? You'll find you are the one in trouble now."

Suddenly, Master Chief's proximity alter went off...from all sides. His entire alter system was red, as if the entire room was an enemy.

"The humanity you have fought for is all but at an end already. Only two humans remain in this tourney, and two shall be removed during this round. One false move and it'll be Game Over for you humans."

Specter's voice grew louder in the psychic message, almost as if it was trying to force it's way into chief's mind. Harder and harder to snuff out.

"Ha, but you already knew that, didn't you? I promise to take good care of your friend~"

That's when Specter would plunge his Cutlass directly over Chief's position, stabbing through the alloy and into Chief himself, taking him out in one swift, yet hard to read move.

 

[comic]

Master Chief​

A voice in his head. Funnily enough, he was used to that more than he was used to verbal communication. Though not only did Cortana and Kalmiya communicate through his neural lace, the revived Cortana fragment had used a similar means of connection to almost "telepathically" communicate with him, much in the same way the Didact had, in a way that the pre-rampant Cortana couldn't even detect.

He couldn't see Specter, not down here, so the obvious position would be above the platform, on the still-active gondola as it hovered its way through the library, going ever-deeper into it. The ape made to taunt John, perhaps invoke some sort of emotional response, but 117 was too busy dissecting the purpose of this. Typically, in a Spartan's line of work, an enemy that took the time to taunt in long-winded monologues were usually the ones who were getting scared. Specter wasn't trying to convince Chief that the Spartan had lost, the simian was trying to convince himself.

The radar suddenly began to flash red, contacts registering from every direction, consuming the blue light. He glanced about, not seeing anything yet... but something was off. The Spartan had been walking upside-down toward the edge of the gondola, and as Specter continued to taunt, the Spartan realized what was wrong. His HUD wasn't pinging the audio alarm of an overwhelming hostile proximity. It was obvious now, Specter relied heavily on his psychic abilities. The Didact had used this to make Chief see things that weren't there before, as had Cortana.

"I promise to take good care of your friend~"

He'd snapped back into laser focus, reaching the edge of the gondola, and a sizzle sounded. Like a mining laser, cutting through metal. The metal beneath him turned a bright red before an ebony blade pierced through, a transaction that took as little as a second. Impossible cutting power, that was a given, and while the Spartan was fast, moving toward the edge of the gondola, the blade still cut into and through part of his right thigh, piercing maybe an inch into skin.

Past the visor, John grit his teeth tightly, his fresh wound cauterizing, though that didn't stop the dispersal of biofoam a moment later to seal the would further as Chief swung up and over the gondola, a burst of crimson light flashing out from his hand as a scarlet and volatile energy sword stabbed forward toward Specter on the hopes that he wasn't as prepared to deal with it, possibly assuming he'd landed his killing blow.​

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

Specter


Chief's psychic wavelength began to intensify. His adrenaline was pumping now and his willpower was burning brighter. Ditching the uphill battle, Specter broke the psychic connection, pulling is sword up. But before he could thrust downwards once more, Chief lunged up from the ledge, rushing toward him with a red sword of his own-

CLASH!

The swords met, Specter keeping chief's at bay with his thin but powerful cutlass. Specter gave a once over to Chief, smirking as he flicked his head to the side, his hair over his eye going back into place.

"So that's all it took to rile you up, is it? Must be some program." Specter mused. "Seems as though we are at the mercy of the sword. At last, a language we both share. Shall we make it a conversation?"

Specter put his left arm behind his back as he assumed a fencing etiquette stance, swiping Chief's sword back. He'd been around the block with Kassandra, so he knew there were tricks up this brute's sleeves. But he welcomed them.

Now that they stood on equal ground, Specter circled the Spartan, slowly. His blade touching the ground as it burned a divide in it. Then in a flash, he struck forward, aiming to get a jab at Chief's shoulder, not risking to cut deep enough to strike his center body as to not risk an easier parry.

 

[ArmedBlue]

Rebellio
​

After giving the Falcon a few words, Snake disappeared, leaving Rebellio alone right outside of the main compound, Metal Sonic still somewhere above him. Metal was the only one capable of flight, so it was smart of Snake to look for a way to keep him grounded.

Alright then...

Aiming his Gatling skyward, Rebellio fired a stream of bullets into the air, aiming to keep the robot busy with both the amount of string bullets and the amount of noise the machine gun made. He didn't doubt Metal was capable of avoiding them all, especially since the Adept was pretty much firing blindly, so he made sure to summon some extra thread, crimson strings gathering beneath his feet, awaiting some sort of reaction from Metal Sonic.

Lola
​

Holy cow...

Lola watched wordlessly as the battle grew more and more intense. Sentinel beams, Tesla pylons, armor-piercing rounds, and psychic blasts all flew through the air one after another. The two were giving it their all, and it didn't take a genius to know why--- Specter was close to achieving his goal of monkey superiority (and subsequently human eradication), and only two humans were in his way now. Well, there was no guarantee he'd be fighting that Rebellio guy. In fact, she was really hoping Master Chief would take him down right here, but she knew that would be no easy task.

The lack of Kalmiya's presence also plagued her mind. She'd noticed that far before Specter had used her systems without her consent (something she thought was rude, since she could have very well let him know if he asked nicely), leaving her to ponder about her fellow A.I.'s whereabouts. Master Chief didn't answer the simian's question, and Kalmiya had been with him up until Specter headed through the gateway, so that probably meant she was safe. At least she hoped as much.

...Interestingly, Specter had decided to use the psychic burst he'd pulled near the end of his fight with Copen. She knew that left him unable to use advanced psychic moves for a while, so why had he performed it this early on? Was he simply that confident in his success? Or was Chief proving to be a more difficult foe than he'd anticipated?

The A.I. watched in awe as the two locked blades, entering a brief close-quarters duel. It seemed things were still heating up...

 

[comic]

Master Chief​

Specter caught his blade. Powerful as the black saber was, it evidently couldn't cut through hard light like it could with metals. That put the Spartan's primary worry out of the way.

"So that's all it took to rile you up, is it? Must be some program," the ape smirked, striking up a fencing-style stance, his left arm behind his back, something John recognized immediately. He decided to take a stance that Specter would never recognize, a martial art invented by the sangheili, one that the Spartan had studied, learned to replicate, and adopt. In fact, he was so adept with it that Thel 'Vadum had complimented him more than once on it during their brief tenure together, and the Arbiter was one of the greatest sangheili swordsman in the ex-Covenant.

"Seems as though we are at the mercy of the sword. At last, a language we both share. Shall we make it a conversation?" Specter continued, to which John took up the stance of the sangheili, pulling the sword back so that it looked streamlined along his body as he held his free hand out before him, almost as though he intended to catch the obsidian cutlass with his bare hand. Despite the brutish and tanky appearance of the Spartan, especially compared to Specter, the stance he took appeared incredibly agile and precise.

"You won't get your hands on her," the Spartan stated simply, speaking for the first time since the battle began.

Specter began the ancient practice of circling. Chief was instantaneous in following suit, both orbiting an invisible center between them, Specter cutting into the floor as he moved, the Spartan's boots barely making a sound despite his immense weight, before Specter struck first. The first rule to the sangheili style was a two-parter. If you believed you could eliminate your opponent quickly enough, you were to make the first move. Cut them down before they even notice you're there. The second part was, if you believed your opponent could deflect, the response was to play defensively. Parry and clash, and study the opposing style for weak points.

Familiar as Chief was with fencing, and almost all other forms of human martial arts dating back 4,000 years of history, he still didn't confuse his intelligence as confidence. No matter what style somewhat fought with, no matter how familiar one was with it, no individual fought exactly the same, even if their differences were minuscule. The strategy now was to play Specter's dance and sing a song with a battle of blades, but to observe for weak points.

So as Specter moved in with a jab, the Spartan used the flat, wide end of the blade to parry the blow to the side, not wavering in his stance.

"That's a promise," he finished his earlier sentence.​

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

Specter


"Ha! So it is then!" Specter couldn't help but let out a small grin as the swords met once more. "Interesting stance, so you've done this before-"

That's when Specter continued, scraping down the red blade of Chief's, his cutlass poking through to the other side briefly as it swung, sweeping up to sever one portion of the blade by snapping the handle with the swipe.

"-But can you keep up?"

 

[comic]

Master Chief​

(Auto Perms Granted by Shen)​

Specter's attempt to cut function of one end of the blade was foiled as the Spartan pulled back. Specter's response was to slash under, a quick attack to try and score on the underside of the Spartan's arm, but he knocked this downward. What followed next was a quick few attempts at breaking the Spartan's defenses, primarily with attempts finding ways to to utilize the grap between the two blades, but as Specter made a bold move to try and slash down between the blades, he found that a small part of the sword was designed to prevent this kind of attack, the bottom of the gap too close together that the cutlass stopped low---and the Chief tilted the blade away, surging it forward before Specter could pull it free, the energy from both creating a small stasis-like field, preventing the ape from simply pulling it out by sliding it out from under.

Using this, the Chief's extended arm darted forward, catching Specter by the wrist, and wrenching him free of his cutlass before tossing the simian aside. Specter huffed, planting his feet to the ground as he slid back a few feet, his arms crossed over his chest, a finger tapping impatiently, before he spread his arms wide, several cyan bolts blasting out toward the Spartan.

John brought the bloodblade up defensively, and caught each blast with his sword, every psychic bolt dispersing against its surface. "Tch. Try this one," the ape placed his hands together, and a light blue beam fired. Once again, the bloodblade caught it, energy sparking furiously from it. Specter kept the beam up, a bead of sweat rolling down his forehead, his psychic strength still not up to form after he'd exhausted himself earlier, and without chair nor sword, he didn't have much else to rely on. Using the constant beam, he began to edge his way toward where his cutlass had been cast, keeping Master Chief at bay with the beam, caught in the bloodblade's defense.

Specter began to move faster and faster, his exhaustion growing with the beam, before finally he relented, and the Spartan was immediate in taking up the offensive, dashing forward with a stab, one that Specter leaped above, a few white hairs sizzling away as they were caught by the energy sword, but the ape placed a hand on Chief's helmet, and pushed off, barely dodging an upward slash that cost a few more white hairs. Specter tucked into a roll, grasping the handle of his obsidian cutlass and springing back up to clash against the bloodblade once more.

"Hah..." Specter mused. "A good try, but I never fall for the same tricks twice."

And they continued their clash, cutlass against alien sword, light sparking from each moment of contact as they spun, dodged, parried, and countered every attack, the Spartan becoming more offensive rather than defensive.​

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

Specter


Specter found the size difference between them a possible advantage, looking at a vantage point between them: a slope going up the Gondola. Specter smirked, racing to the slope before he leaped off it, flying overhead of the Spartan and swiping all the way down. However...he would leave something behind.

His second hand had come from behind his back, charging an orange sphere. It fired off, shooting not at Chief, but near his footing. He'd shoot the condensed shrapnel blast completely destabilize the Spartan's footing, allowing him to provide a finishing strike.

 

[comic]

Master Chief​

The Spartan deftly deflected the overhead strike, not failing to notice the ball of orange bursting down to the ground, another psychic attack, one he recalled from one of Specter's prior fights. It was like a small-radius grenade, focused more on shrapnel than explosive prowess. Specter's strategy was clear, but it gave the Spartan an idea for a counter-strategy. He pretended not to notice the ball, counting on its mild concussive force (the shrapnel wouldn't do any lasting damage to his shields), and was in his usual sangheili form stance, before the ball erupted, his shields flaring as the shrapnel impacted, dropping their integrity by about a quarter to 2/5, followed by the Spartan appearing to be unbalanced, moving with the concussive force.

Specter's strike came in, John's feint responding as he positioned the bloodblade for Specter's strike to go between the two blades, then he thrust up, his "unbalanced" leg finding decisive footing as the Spartan pulled upward, locking the blade back between the energy staves just as they had earlier, the movement also preventing Specter from stabbing the Spartan, 117's other hand reaching out like a cobra strike for Specter's throat.​

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

Specter


Chief was going in for a close range strike to his neck, a bold move. So right as he reached, Specter let go of the obsidian cutlass, raising a single hand to meet chief's, covered in psychic energy. So as Chief were to grab it, it would cut into him palm like a burning dagger.

All the while, the cutlass fell to the ground, rolling behind Chief. That is, before psychically it twirled up behind him, diving in to impale him from behind.

 

[comic]

Master Chief​

The psychic energy made his shields flare up, before they shattered, now cutting into the exosuit gloves. The effect of cutting through that took as little as two seconds, but Spartans were nothing if not tolerant to copious amounts of pain, especially the older they got, and John was one of the oldest Spartans around. Biofoam was administered to the found, oozing to seal the wound, but Chief's concern was not Specter. Tolerant to pain, it did not distract him enough to make him somehow miss the obsidian cutlass being "mysteriously" left alone by Specter. It might have not been a sentient being, but the movement was pinged on 117's HUD. He could deduce the ploy.

So he made a surprising move at the last second, sliding to the side as the cutlass moved dangerously close to him, his forearm's magnetic pull activating strongly as he pulled his arm free of Specter's psychic attack. The obsidian cutlass grazed by him---before it stopped, its handle attaching to the Spartan's forearm in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it-moment. In that very same second, 117's thrusters activated, moving him sideways, in the direction Specter was, driving forward the obsidian cutlass as though it were an arm blade at double the Spartan's usual speed, a strike aimed directly for the simian's heart.​

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

Specter


So he intended to use his own blade again him, did he? Not if he had a say in this. Specter flicked his hair back as his helmet blinked briefly in Violet energy. In a blink of an eye, the cutlass blinked and separated Into two separate purple sabers, their wrist guards still damaged from earlier. Upon the separation, they clattered to the ground, Specter scoffed as he grasped the wrist where the sword once was with both hands.

"You didn't honestly think I lacked countermeasures in my own crafted technology? You think low of me human. Now let this be a reminder of your impertinence."

He would then fire a cyan beam right where he was touching, which would shoot through one side and out the other, bisecting the arm from Chief along with whatever it hit along the way.

 

[comic]

Master Chief​

Unexpectedly, the obsidian cutlass devolved before his eyes into something else, switching up his strategy on the fly, so as he burst forward, and Specter reached for him, his thrusters activated again, now needing to recharge as before when he used them twice consecutively. The burst back engaged the cloaking technology once more, sparing Chief from most physical sight (even the bloodblade became cloaked), but his strategy wasn't just to avoid the hand---and the beam that had followed, but to move back to the sabers, his boot magnetizing as he lifted it up, picking up one of the sabers an inch off the ground and to his heel, before he simultaneously thrust downward, aiming to crush the handle of one of the sabers totally.

If he was right, that would render not just the weapon useless, but also prevent the obsidian cutlass from appearing again. According to Chief's HUD, despite not landing any blows, the resilient bloodblade he carried had been reduced to 73% energy, most of that being done when he'd deflected the original cyan beam, similar to the one Specter briefly fired now.

The beeping shields rang in the Spartan's ears, close to recharging, as he kicked the second saber, skidding it across the ground toward Specter. "Pick it up," he said, his cloak disengaging. "We're not done."​

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

Specter


The saber Chief held shattered in his grip, the energy blade fizzling out as parts scattered across the ground. That was less than ideal. The simian stopped the second saber with his boot as it was kicked to him, looking up to Chief wismically.

"So we aren't! Very well."

After gripping it in his palm, something strange happened. Specter disappeared, leaving nothing but a cyan silhouette of himself from a brief second. That is, before he reappeared to the right side of Chief, low to the ground, swiping up at his knees. Having not used this method the entirety of the tourney, it would surely get the element of surprise!

 

[comic]

Master Chief​

Specter seemed to disappear, leaving behind a vanishing cyan silhouette. Another of his psychic moves, and probably one of less taxing energy, if the color was any indication. The cyans were used normally for rapid attacks or now apparently just uses, ones that required minimal effort to perform. Orange was for heat, and somehow shrapnel explosives, multicolored strobes for condensed heavy attacks, and violet for shifting, complex attacks. There were still a few moves the ape had that he hadn't used, if prior battles were any indication.

Keeping one eye on his radar, the Spartan tensed himself, before a blink appeared, one that he saw physically as well, Specter manifesting down right, low to the ground, capitalizing on his lesser size. He'd, in fact, appeared directly below the blood blade, so just as the shields began their hum of recharge, going no more than 8% up, the saber had shattered them, and his knee guards were cut into---though the sabers were less effective than the obsidian cutlass. The tough alloy of the Mjolnir Gen 3 sparked and burned, growing hotter, but didn't bust from the attack yet.

It was when Specter struck that, by instinct and precision, the Spartan slashed the 5-foot blade of energy he carried, aiming to cut Specter's arm, hand, or at least his weapon off, before he could burn through the knee guard, or aim anywhere else with his blade, all while Chief's other hand grasped his sidekick, done sparing the bullets.​

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

Specter

Specter elected to leave the blade where it was, releasing a small psychic pulse from it, not to do damage, but to propel him away. This left the blade's handle to be destroyed by the swipe of Chief's energy sword. Specter backflipped through the air, halting in place as his psychic powers held him floating in air.

"I must say I'm impressed." Specter noted. "I didn't expect you to keep up this long."

As Chief fired his bullets down toward him, Specter closed his eyes, his psychic shield reforming around him as the bullets disintegrated on contact. After a second, Specter opened his eyes. They now had a shining red gleam to them.

"But now it is the end of the line for you."

He crossed his arms, several magnetic plates being pulled from the gondola shaft, flying up behind Specter. He brought out both of his hands to bare as his controlled the magnetic plates. In a quick movement-

CLANG! CLANG!

They would all slam down toward Chief's position, aiming to smother the Spartan with their weight. That's not all, it would rise up...and smash down again, and again and again. Like crushing a cockroach.

 

[comic]

Master Chief​

Yet like a cockroach, the Spartan wasn't a simple measure to crush. He deactivated the bloodblade, magnetizing it to his thigh as he tucked away the sidekick, balling his hands into fists. His boots magnetized to the ground, his arms forming an 'x' before himself as he dropped to a knee. Earlier, he'd both overloaded his shields with an armor lock. Now, he only performed half of that, his armor locking up, solidifying him in place. The sheets came for him, and crashed. The statue-like figure of the Chief skid back an inch, sparks flying up from the friction between his boots.

"zzt---" John's internal radio sparked to life as the metal plates raised skyward. "---Chief---"
He recognized that voice. How had...
"---Pelican Echo-216 on standby. I see your fight down there. It looks nasty. I have enough armaments for one fly-by---"
117 was momentarily confused, but as he thought about it, it made sense. One fly-by meant one external and powerful attack. Multiple matches had displayed these types of advantages given to contestants. A way to deal a potentially heavy blow. His suit's systems didn't pick up the new signature flying high, high above as Fernando Esparza. He was a figment of the tournament.

He was Chief's trump card, just as Specter had used his own earlier.
"---Just give me the word, Chief---"

The metal plates came crashing down, smothering 117's position. He held firm, though buckled from the sheer force. An armor-locked suit was meant to survive atmospheric entry and an unprotected orbital drop with minimal damage, after all. It was here that Chief disengaged his armor lock, just as the debris began to lift. Using his magnetic attachments, he was pulled up along with the debris, pulling out a particularly thick sheet and magnetizing it to his forearm, just as he'd done before. That strategy had proven extremely effective.

"Do it," John ordered, magnetizing his way with quick movements, making his way outside of the impact zone as the debris came down a second time, and when it lifted back up, the Spartan was atop the pile, MA40 leveled at Specter, fully expecting the ape to use the sheets or his psychic barrier (or both) as defense. Should sheets shoot up to deflect his attacks, he would charge forward with a strong burst of speed, shattering any building defense with his shoulder. Should the ape throw the Spartan toward the abyss while riding atop the mass of conformed metal? Well, he'd cross that bridge when he got there, now providing a distraction for Echo-216, who would be taking a few moments to get there.​

 

[Captain Pokémon]

Metal Sonic
Metal noticed Snake dash off to the side. He had to keep that in mind. For now though, he had to focus on t`he more prominent threat: Rebellio. The adept was firing many bullets from a mini gun in Metal’s general area. The bot avoided these rather easily and dashed off to the side quickly, using the sun’s glare as cover to disguise his movement.

From his new position, Metal fired a laser from his chest towards Rebellio, hoping to catch him by surprise. He then moved once more, going downwards at a diagonal angle while repeatedly firing energy balls from his chest at the sheep cosplayer, adjusting his aim to track him.
@ArmedBlue @comic

 

[comic]

Kalmiya​

The voice of the familiar AI could suddenly be heard close to Rebellio's ear, like a spirit whispering advice. "Don't freak out, it's just me, Kalmiya. I'm gonna help you out a bit, that's okay, right?" she asked her question as Rebellio fired skyward, before she spoke again, not allowing Rebellio to acknowledge or answer her just yet. "Quick, step to the left! He's powering up his chest laser!"
Followed up by another; "Thread yourself so he can't track you and move approximately 27 meters southeast, rising up at a 13.6 degree angle---or just stop when I tell you to! He's still trying to use the sun to blind you! Get behind him!"

Simultaneously, she opened up a new encrypted channel with a more advanced code than before, aiming to shift it constantly to prevent potential hacking.

To: AI.AS.Lola
From: AI.ONI.Kalmiya

/// Hey, just in case you were worried, I'm still alive! I hope you are, too. How's Chief doing against Specter? Is there anything either of us can do to help?​

 

[ArmedBlue]

Rebellio
​

Kalmiya's voice damn near made Rebellio jump, but he was quick to follow her advice, the thread beneath his feet suddenly becoming solid, extending upward and to the left almost like a spring, and launching the Falcon in that direction, Metal's beam burning into the ground near him. The A.I. warned him of another attack immediately afterward, also suggesting he thread himself to prevent tracking.​

In response, the Falcon's Gatling disassembled in an instant, wrapping around Rebellio's body---though not before he shot a single thread from his left hand to strike a nearby tree, one that he presumed was southeast. He was pulled toward it in a similar fashion to using a grappling hook, stopping whenever she told him to. Once there, he'd manifest a pistol in his right hand, ready to open fire should he get a clear shot at Metal.

"Thanks for the help, Kalmiya. Gotta say, I definitely didn't expect aid from anyone other than Snake for this battle," he spoke. "It's kinda nice, actually. Having someone to talk to while in a fight."

Lola
​

To: AI.ONI.Kalmiya
From: AI.AS.Lola

/// Oh, thank goodness you're still kickin'! Chief seems to have been holding his own pretty well until now, he managed to get rid of Specter's chair and his sabers. Specter's trying to crush him with magnetic plates, but Chief's hanging in there. As for us helping... I have no idea. I don't have much of a way to aid in direct combat right now, but maybe there's something in this facility that I can use to Chief's advantage? Then again, I dunno if any attempt at that would be shut down by the Host. Kinda scared of dying again. You have no idea how bad it feels.

 

[comic]

Kalmiya​

To: AI.AS.Lola
From: AI.ONI.Kalmiya

/// The Chief told me what map he was selecting before he lent me to Rebellio. The Library on Installation 05. If Specter's selection hasn't altered with the selection too greatly, enough integrity damage to Forerunner structures should provoke an unbiased response from Sentinel Defense Systems. If enough of those attacks fail, Sentinel Enforcers could potentially be summoned. Is there something you can do with that?

"Of course! Actually--- oh stop here ---I feel the same. I've grown to respect the Chief a whole lot, but he's not really one for conversation. He does crack a few jokes here or there, if you can believe it. Dry, sardonic jokes, but jokes nonetheless. I won't be able to provide too much help for you outside of warnings and battlefield diagnostics, though. However, there's a chance we could do some REAL damage to Metal Sonic. My primary purpose is infiltration. I'm a program designed to hack hyper-advanced systems. Chief and I have already been cracking down on plans for dealing with this guy, and I may have a solution:

"If you're able to make physical contact with Metal Sonic, I can dispatch a fragment of my core logic. This fragment could then pry open Metal's defenses. Metaphorically speaking, of course. His access port is located somewhere beneath all that armor, but for projected digital data... that's not exactly a problem. Even if I get in, though, there's no guarantee I can disable some systems, let alone shut him down, but it's possible I can buy enough time for you and Snake to finish him off."​

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

Specter


He didn't truly believe that would work, did he?

All Specter had to do was move his hands, and the metal plates, save the one Chief was on, flipped up. The ones facing the front of Chief took the bullets while several others came at diagonal angles. He had made a sore mistake. Staying out was a death sentence.

The plates would attempt to compress, using heavy physical force to squeeze the spartan before he would swing the plate prison at the wall, sure to make a messy splatter of human blood.

 

[comic]

Master Chief​

(Auto Perms Granted by Shen)​

Not exactly what he'd planned for, but there was always a solution, even if it wasn't obvious. Chief's internal systems seemed to think he had no chance of escape, warning of the imminent danger, but the Spartan ignored them, remembering a lesson he'd been taught from Chief Mendez, the main who'd trained John.

"Machines break, eyes don't."

Taken in a literal sense, the lesson fell on deaf ears. But the message lying beneath the obvious was what mattered. Trust your gut, your instinct, even when all of your fancy equipment is telling you it's the end. Mendez wasn't the only lesson on this. Spartan Kurt, the father of the Spartan-III's, the last Spartan-II to be killed during the Covenant-Human War, and the only Spartan officially listed as KIA, had always had a gut feeling about everything---and he was never wrong.

Trusting his instinct rather than his equipment, the Spartan looked down at his feet, an idea springing up.

From Specter's perspective, he'd caught the human in a stalemate, and brought the metal in to compress around John---but just before victory seemed assured, the green-clad man was barreling down to the gondola's surface, his bloodblade in-hand once more. He crashed back to the ground, and the ape's immediate response was to bring the ball of metal down on the Spartan to crush him.

"---I'm closing in on his position, Chief. ETA 5... 4...---"

Fernando's voice crackled in, as John dove backward, his bulky form not betraying his sheer agility, leaping cat-like backwards onto his hands as the energy sword dissipated, then pushing off to trail to the back of the gondola. With the curl of his fingers, Specter launched the ball of metal again, right after it had struck the surface of the gondola, it thrust back toward the Spartan, peeling open like a scoop, the simian hellbent on getting Chief caught inside.

"---3---"

However, this "opening maw" technique exposed the flaw with the plan. The integrity of the metal had already been compromised as Specter tore sheets away, and each time he bashed them together, conformed and twisted them, they lost more and more of their integrity. Regular energy swords could already cut into a single thin sheet of Forerunner metal, but the bloodblade was of an improved design. Faster, lighter, stronger, and with more charge. Evidence of all this was proven when Chief cut the metal he'd been standing on to escape the compression. It was shown here again as 117 leaped forward, activating the bloodblade, the maw-like jaws closing around him-

"---2---"

A slash of red through the back of the metal ball ripped through it, and Sierra 117 burst through it a tenth of a second later. In his other hand? The Sentinel Beam, firing its red laser toward Specter as the roar of engines could finally be heard.

"---1---"

A second after the sentinel beam pumped out its blast toward Specter, Pelican Echo-216 appeared in the sky, roaring down, moving along the gap of the library. A rotary turret on the chin of the craft, the M370 Autocannon whirling rapidly to begin firing its 70mm depleted uranium rounds at 20 rounds per seconds, the sound of the bullets almost like the buzzing of bees. Very violent bees.

Not even a moment after, the Pelican's wing-mounted missile pods fired, eight missiles per wing, sixteen missiles in total. ANVIL-II Air-to-Surface missiles, whistling along. The Pelican itself had swooped in, moving easily in at 750 mph, just under mach 1 of breaking the sound barrier---and the missiles fired out to move at Specter triple that speed, the bullets even tenfold of that.

Then, the Pelican would swoop upward, dangerously close, with enough speed to cause a rush of winds to violently pull at anything on the surface of the gondola.​

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

Specter


Chief was proving more and more Resilient to crushing at it would seem. The magnetic plates proving to block a majority of the laser fire in a similar fashion to last time the human attempted ballistics. But even if they did hit, what would it achieve? His barrier would simply stop them-

rooooooooOOOOOOAR

The loud booming engine of a craft filled the air as a Pelican descended. That was a change. Specter grimaced as he brought his hands inward. His barrier took a several bullets from the Pelican, minor stress fractures forming before he shot forward, sweeping inside the Gondola as the missiles passed him by.

"Seems as though you have a friend, I say we need to keep things at equal footing. HIYAH!"

Specter thrust his hands down, and just like that, the Gondola was brought off it's selected track, and descending down into the abyss below. He could levitate, but Chief was left out of sorts, all the while gaining distance away from the Pelican.

For further assurance, he charged two multicolored projectiles in either arm, hurling them upwards. They whizzed and screamed like fireworks as they would attempt to impact the broad Pelican, which something told him that it lacked maneuverability. The tracking projectiles aimed for the window and the pilot respectively.

 

[comic]

Master Chief​

Specter dove to the under-level of the gondola, avoiding the destructive missiles. Casting clouds of thick and heavy dust about. While the ape intended to destabilize the gondola---the Pelican had already done that, and as Specter was busy throwing his attack at the one-time-use Pelican, John revealed himself to be directly behind the simian, using the distraction completely to his advantage. He'd moved when Specter moved, and as Specter took the time to launch his attack, the Spartan burst forward with a thrust, powering it twice to burst forward at maximum speed, his cloaking tech engaging as his bloodblade manifested again, aiming to bash through the barrier (after all, the prior piece of metal had shattered it at far less lethality, and the Spartan swung his bloodblade to cut the ape cleanly in half before he could realize what was going on, the roar of the Pelican concealing practically any sounds as the gondola began to tilt, something the Spartan used to his advantage to twist himself in any direction Specter moved.

The violent bolts fired after the Pelican, though its speed surpassed them, as it passed over the gondola only a second after its missiles had detonated. The balls sped after the Pelican, but its cockpit folded open to reveal another turret, similar to the chaingun on the chin of the vehicle, firing out against the balls, detonating one, then the other, before Echo-216 swooped back up into the air, rapidly growing smaller.

"---Sorry I couldn't do more, Chief---"
"It's enough," the Spartan's reply was.
"---Good luck---"​

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

Specter


The simian laughed aloud as the Gondola began to free fall. It was now in his favor. However, right as that began to happen, he felt a psychic presence approaching. As his one visible eye darted to the side, he saw a red blade strike his shield. The energy it has to cut through giving ample time for Specter to lurch his body out of the way, tilting his head.

The sword cut through the side casing of his helmet, causing sparks to shoot off from it. The psychic barrier dispelled, Specter turning to the soldier with venom in his voice.

"Begone!"

He brought his hands together and struck forward, releasing a Violet energy sphere at near point blank range, firing at the ceiling. Under a second, it would duplicate it's power from the bounce and strike down with twice the amount of spenders. The spheres would unleash powerful kinetic forces on him, enough to break apart his armor.

 

[comic]

Master Chief​

He got a knock on the helmet, the source of Specter's intellect. It wasn't necessarily John's intended target, but he wasn't going to complain if he got lucky with a move that removed Specter's intellect and concluded the battle. However, if there's one thing John had learned about his opponent over the course of this battle, it was that Specter grew desperate and volatile the closer 117 got to him.

Still cloaked, he gave his distance, though was still fairly close as he pulled out his MA40, about to open fire as Specter launched his attack. Set to fully automatic, the assault rifle fired out a grand total of four bullets before Specter's wide attack burst. 117 braced himself, but the kinetic force was a bit surprising, crumpling him to the floor hard enough to bust a spider-webbing crack into his visor. Had his suit been probably any previous model, the damage could have been lethal, but the Mjolnir Gen 3 was of the most advanced design yet. It took the hit, but it still stunned the Spartan for a moment. Another saving grace was the tilt of the falling gondola, which resulted in John sliding from the kinetic blast rather than taking it full force.

Shield alarm blaring, the Spartan slipped into the air, falling with the gondola. With a grunt, he raised his MA40 to Specter and proceeded to empty the rest of the clip out through a gap in the falling gondola, before he lifted the rifle to his back, magnetizing it. The shock rapidly wearing off, the Spartan grabbed onto the ledge of the gondola, the ground now rapidly approaching, and he positioned his feet against it---then kicked.

BOOM!

The gondola impacted the flood-infested terrain at the bottom of the abyss heavily as Master Chief rose above it, but only just. Using his thrusters as they refreshed, he propelled himself up high enough that when he landed, he didn't even buckle, his boots absorbing the impact in full.

He stood there for a moment, assessing his suit's systems. No fight in this tournament had been as close to this as his fight against Frank Horrigan. But the Chief was far from done, looking up to see that a small swarm of Sentinels were converging on Specter, as he had levitated where the gondola had been destroyed, an action that invoked a Sentinel Defense response.

MA40 returning to his hands, John heard the hum of recharging energy shields as he took aim after reloading the weapon, switching the firing system to semi-automatic, though he held back from firing for now.​

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

Specter


He didn't intend on sticking around the falling metal coffin for long. Content to leave Chief to take a long an disastrous fall, Specter leaped up, levitating stably with his psychic powers, ceasing his falling momentum. This allowed him to safely leave through a opening in the Gondola as the momentum of the machine was enough to stop any form of attack on him. He just watched, floating slowly down with his arms crossed as the Gondola crashed down.

Seeing Chief still alive, Specter descended slowly down, remaining higher than the human.

"So you are alive, what a resilient one. But I'm afraid this place, amongst parasites, will be where this ends."

He closed his eyes with a smirk, holding up a single palm, as if ordering troops to stand down. And just like that, the Sentinels stopped. They appeared to be forced to bow there heads before they dismantled themselves, now appearing like a swarm of metal parts that swirled around Specter, all save their weapons, which floated outside of it.

"Sayoñara."

Suddenly, a whole field of crashing metal mercilessly crashed down at chief's position, Specter's helmet judging where Chief would likely go and slamming there preemptively. He had been acquiring data on the human, and now it was time to put it to use.

To help assure his demise, all of the sentinel swarm's sentinel beams formatted in a circle, blasting their crimson beams down in formation. It was thanks to Chief that he knew how to operate them, from following his example on a grander scale. There was nowhere to hide now.

 

[comic]

Master Chief​

This guy just didn't get the picture... no matter what the Chief was faced with, no matter what challenge, no matter what struggle... he'd never be put down easy. Odds could not break him. Specter flung the metal as Chief dropped a small device, and the orange wall erected again. The metal burst against it, dampening the shield, but ultimately splitting the wave apart against its surface as 117 dropped to a knee, plunging his fist into the soft, squishy mycelium underfoot. Flood biomass.

Red beams began to fire, Chief's shields flaring to life as they began to rapidly decrease. He yanked his hand free of the biomass, and in his palm was one end of what appeared to be a tentacle made of flesh and bone. He flicked it like a whip, the tentacle snapping away at a great length.

Shields at 40%, the Spartan used the whip like a lasso, striking it toward one sentinel beam, before he whipped it about, briskly snapping it about at the other sentinel beams, knocking each aside, their beams flying wildly, one blasting toward Specter's position before they refocused, Specter aiming the beams for the tentacle, cutting into its thick flesh, the biomass erecting in flames, though Master Chief still swung, a couple beams receiving another whip smack (the rest evading) to much of the same effects, the one caught in the Flood biomass having been flung away as the tentacle fell apart. His back to his drop wall, which faced Specter, the Spartan flicked the melting tentacle aside, bringing up his sidekick to blast apart the remaining few, popping rounds at them even as they evaded, the Spartan seemingly predicting Specter's movements as 117 fired almost erratically, moving to each beam in a couple seconds with seemingly no pattern or rhythm.

The air was heavy around them, Flood fog growing thick with the smoke. John counted five Spore sacks nearby. He could use that. He faced Specter, as if to silently say "that's it?"​

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

Specter

After the first sentinel beam went down, the others swerved into action, deftly evading the tentacle in question. Specter quickly redirected the damaged beam toward a nearby wall, the beam narrowly missing him or his armaments. That's when Specter himself rose higher, flying out of the tentacle's range. Specter raised a hand as Chief shot down another beam with a shot of his weapon.

"I'm a fan of second chances, so how about we try this again?"

Suddenly, all the debris of parts that lay around Chief from the sentinel crashing a rose up all around him in a 360 degree area before they all dove to pelt him with increasingly sharp edges of forerunner alloy. All the while, Specter began to focus fire on the remaining sentinel beams at the epicenter of this bombardment, superheating the metals with attempt to bore into Chief.

And they wouldn't stop there. Those that hit would continue to push, attempting to stab further in, a rather spiteful move.

 

[ArmedBlue]

Lola​

To: AI.ONI.Kalmiya
From: AI.AS.Lola

/// So if enough of those attacks fail, Sentinel Enforcers might show up? And Chief is probably more experienced when it comes to dealing with those... Alrighty, I'll see what I can do!

The Pelican struck immediately after Lola sent her message, gunfire and explosions ringing about, the A.I. taking cover behind some metal plates that had been ripped off the gondola earlier. The chaos caused Specter and Chief to fall into the abyss below, though the lack of fanfare and the fact she could still pick up their signatures meant the two were still alive down there. She also detected multiple machines heading after them, no doubt some of those Sentinels that Kalmiya mentioned.

Destroying whatever's left of the Sentinels would probably mean they failed their attack, right? This might be my chance...

A purple energy field surrounded one of the metal plates Lola had been hiding behind, the A.I. slowly lifting it into the air. Her Capture Field was one of the few abilities she still had without the P-Bits, allowing her to carry objects around. She used this one plate to push a couple others close to the edge, teetering over the abyss Chief and Specter were now in. Her sensors gave her a rough idea of everyone's location (including the Sentinels), so with a bit of luck...

Making use of her Capture Field, Lola knocked several metal plates into the Flood-infested abyss, aiming to deal some damage or even destroy as many Sentinels as she could (unbeknownst to her, the machines had already been ripped apart), possibly even catching Specter off guard. Even if he didn't get hit by them, it would probably provide a good distraction.

 

[comic]

Master Chief​

Apparently that wasn't it. Specter was keen on keeping the Spartan as far away as possible. The ape knew he'd failed at the close-range combat, and Chief's mobility had slimmed with the loss of his grappleshot. Still, he wasn't out of options. That distance needed to be closed.

There was a specific move John had been keeping up his armored sleeve, he'd been saving. Specter not only needed that helmet to function properly, but his equilibrium. It wasn't a common strategy used by the UNSC, let alone Spartans, but it had proven effective more than once against Lekgolo worms, and those creatures operated off of psychic links. The problem was getting close enough to use the attack to kill it in one go, rather than just disillusion it for a short time, when a well-placed shot to the back would usually do the job quicker.

Back to the drop wall, he used the last bullet from his sidekick to put down the remaining beam, before he tossed the sidearm aside and procured his MA40. The swirling wall of jagged forerunner metal swarmed in, but the Chief leaped up toward the top of the drop wall, then kicked off it right before it deactivated, rising over the attack as it moved inward. They metal swarmed up to meet him, but to his (and probably Specter's) surprise, several heavy sheets of metal fell from above, out of seemingly nowhere, and stopped almost the entire swarm, a large portion of it, collapsing them back to the ground.

Not wasting the opportunity, Chief activated his thrusters, bursting backward and to Specter's direction, John turning after to activate the thrusters once more, engaging his active camo for a third time that fight, though again not his intention of actually using it. He'd learned long ago that invisibility hardly hindered the simian's abilities. Instead, the Spartan fired at Specter, growing closer...

Before he overloaded his external speakers, a deadly high frequency of sound pumping out. While Chief's senses were protected in the helmet, the abyss they were in perfectly carried and echoed the shrill, disorienting sounds, loud enough to shatter eardrums (they had shattered eardrums) at a fifteen foot radius, and permanently damage them at a 30 foot, and cause serious harm at 50 feet, before becoming annoying more than that, an attack only used if Specter remained nearby. This was to obliterate Specter's concentration and mental prowess, the Spartan opening fire with burst rounds on the ape.​

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

Specter


Specter's thought process was interrupted as thick magnetic plates rained from above, some landing on a part of his attack swarm. Peering up, he realized something: Lola was absent. That was a variable he could not allow.

So he took the initiative to remove that variable from the equation, shooting up to confront the A.I., but that's when a sound began to resonate in his direction. He winced for a second, closing his eyes.

"What in the world...?"

Thankfully out of any range for it to cause much of any physical harm to his ears, it was still an annoyance. Mostly up the shaft by now, a bullet or two whizzed by him, their effective range far since lost, only poking a hole in his cape as he rounded the lip of the platform above, crossing his arms at Lola.

"So, choosing sides, are we?" Specter shook his head. "We'll speak of this afterwards."

He held his hand out, ensnaring her in his psychic hold. He forced her into his helmet as the paneled opened and clamped down behind her. Recalling Lola back into the chip storage in his helmet, he focused on the true enemy now: Master Chief. Curling his fingers, he unbound a large tesla pylon in the shaft. He rose it over him, angling it to face down like a spear of judgment.

Safe all the way up here, all he need do was thrust it down. And so he did, the Lance firing down like a bullet before-

BZZZZZZT!

It impacted the ground and hopefully Chief, the sheer speed it was going along with it's mass broke open the ground. The remains of the Gondola broke apart, and the following semi electrified shockwave raced through the zone, blowing apart most of the flood contaminants on the ground, leaving ribbons of flesh swirling in the air around.

The impact of the sphere caused a cloud of debris and organic tissue to plume up around the crash site. Truly nothing could survive that.

 

[comic]

Master Chief​

Specter's aim lacked accuracy. The Spartan was only visible again after Specter had thrown the second massive tesla pylon for the day, and he'd moved a short ways under Specter's position. The ensuing eruption of flesh and the shockwaves of tesla did reach 117, busting his full shields out. In fact, the kinetic shockwave was sudden enough that it locked up the Spartan's armor, flinging him out of the outer edges of the attack where he'd been. Had his suit been a previous model, unlocking the armor would have been a struggle, possibly even requiring outside help or an AI, but the Mjolnir Gen 3 was designed without AI or outside help in mind. The pinnacle of Spartan survival. Breaking the armor lock, John rammed his fists into the earth, plunging them in a foot or so and stopping himself after a few more meters, two trails of dug up flesh and soil marking his path. His armor smoldered as he turned his head to look up at Specter, directly above him now.

The plan to damage the equilibrium had failed---for now. Without damaging that, Specter's capability to continue to remain at a great distance remained, unfortunately. However, two massive forms were beginning to descend from above Specter, forms the Spartan recognized immediately.

Sentinel Enforcers, their massive double hard-light shields protecting the front of them, their gripper arms hanging beneath them, various weapon systems powering up. The continued destruction of more Sentinel defenses would continually result in stronger defenses being released. If the battle continued for long enough, and enough Sentinels were destroyed, the Spartan was aware that the kind of deployments could be waves too powerful to withstand with bullets and brains.

​

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

Specter


More and more intrusions...

Specter scowled at the presence of The two large sentinel constructs. A simple wave of his hand wouldn't dismantle a pair of machines that size. This demanded his attention for now.

Energy shields made it unlikely for him to finish them off quickly from the front. He needed to get past those, so a close combat strategy was in order. He dove in a curve, snaking down before coming up at an angle, flying up at what he thought was a blind spot.

The closest one made a sound of aggro, two prong like extensions came from the Enforcer, and just like that, a flurry of red projectiles poured down like a school of fish. Specter soared up, memorizing the exact disparity between the shots as he masterfully navigated up. However, one shot impacted his shoulder, a red scorch quickly forming as a burning sensation overcame it.

"Ngh!!"

He grit his teeth through the pain as he flew up past the firing arc, slamming into the epicenter of it's bottom armor with a psychically enhanced palm. The palm sliced a hole in it, enough for the mastermind to slither in. He took a brief moment to assess his damage. Very brief, as he heard the shields of the sentinel go down, despite him not interfering. What...?

That's when the second one began to fire missiles at it as the first stood still, getting pelted all over it's body with the high density missiles. Seems as though the flood programming was kicking in: if they were to be infected, they were to self eliminate. Seems as though the machine figured him as nothing more than a parasite...Tch!

This was bad. Trapped in a metal coffin, Specter raced through ideas, all of them leading to self harm or loss. He'd just have to pick one.

Affirming his choice, he concentrated, forming a psychic shield around him. That's when he held his hands up around the dying enforcer around him. It rocked and creaked before it shot forward, crashing right into the second one! Forerunner metal on Forerunner metal, the two collided into the wall of the Gondola shaft before-

BOOOOOM!

The two detonated wildly, a fiery explosion engulfed the pair, debris and parts flying everywhere. Smoke obscured the scene of destruction, leaving the results unknown.

.
..
...

"..."

"...Ha..."

"...HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

Out of the inferno, Specter flew down, his cape in tatters and his white fur now grayed many of patches. His helmet lost all of it's red paint, revealing the silver color beneath, neon green digital pathways running across it, glowing in a pattern like a heartbeat. A stream of blood came down from the right side of his face, covered by his now blood soaked hair swath.

"They say the primary visual difference between an ape and a monkey are the former's lack of a tail..."

The enforcers were utterly destroyed...that is, save an armature that came down behind Specter. It was a long, winding instrument made of enforcer parts all tethered by psychic power, primarily their tank crushing arms, made into a coiling snake-like scorpion tail!

"...So you tell me which one I am!!!"


Specter: Tailed Form.

 

[comic]

Master Chief​

117 watched above as Specter grew distracted with the two Enforcers. Well, that gave the Spartan some time, so he used it to reload his MA40, recharge his shields, and assess any damage. That last attack had compromised his suits integrity in a few places, though the exosuit made up for some of that to an extent by offering the underlying protection. Any prior suit models more than likely would have failed in this battle by now, but fortunately, the Mjolnir Gen 3 was the most advanced yet, putting every prior power armor to shame by a wide margin.

Other systems remained functional. His thrusters actually needed this break to cool off, and Specter's distraction gave enough time for that. Threat sensor was active, his HUD operational, and his last two weapons were locked and loaded---though the AR was low on ammunition. He'd have to resort to the Bulldog soon if need-be, but it was next to useless at the distance game. Close-up, it could wallop one helluva hit. Even if it didn't knock down Chief's shields at point-blank, the simple force of it was enough to unbalance him for a brief moment.

Primed and ready, an explosion erupted overhead, and out of the smoke fell the ape, rapidly closing the distance between them. His eyes were a fury, though his words were level. It was clear he was desperate to get the fight over with. At least the both of them could agree on something. He brandished his Close-Quarters Bulldog Rapid-Fire Shotgun.

"They say the primary visual difference between an ape and a monkey are the former's lack of a tail..." Specter sneered, a metallic tail erected behind him made from the remnants of the Enforcers. "... So you tell me which one I am!!!"

John had a rather snarky response to that, something along the lines of "monkeys tend to have smaller brains and shorter lives, so take your pick", maybe Cortana and Kalmiya's influence was beginning to catch up with his usual dry sense of humor, though he said nothing aloud, instead opening fire with a few back-to-back shots from the Bulldog. If the end of their fight hadn't felt close before, it certainly did now, and Specter's use of a "tail" made it clear that he was lacking the psychic energy to keep up the distance game as he'd been intending, but the time they had to fight was slim. If they didn't finish it quickly, more Enforcers backed by Sentinel Drones would begin to descend around them. The clock was ticking.​

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

Specter


As the human solider shot is at him with his futuristic shotgun, Specter curled up into a ball, the tail folding up over him, forming a protective casing. It spun down, taking a shot or two from the shotgun, but taking acceptable damage. When he got close to the ground, he slid out of the roll, the tail unwinding with the motion of his spin, striking out like a whip!

Crack!

It was heard through the air breaking the sound barrier as the heavy enforcer parts struck the ground, presumingly with Chief underfoot, as dust rose from the attack. Specter's psychic powers appeared to be radiating from his helmet, actively giving off discharges of psionic energies. His power was becoming unkept.

 

[comic]

Master Chief​

His opponent used the tail to wrap around himself, curling in like a ball to take the shotgun rounds. The Spartan responded by taking a bracing step back, Specter growing nearer, before---

Crack!

A burst forward with the flash of crimson, the Bloodblade surging to life to tear try to through the Enforcer metal as it struck for him, while John lunged into his opponent like a much heavier, more volatile ball with his thrusters bursting him toward the ape, simultaneously reducing any damage from the whip-like attack, as a whip at its base was laughably weaker compared to the tip.

Simultaneously, he activated his external speakers once again, a feedback of shrieking bursting out to hopefully obliterate Specter's equilibrium and hearing, possibly more, likely less. Always prepared for the worst case scenario, Chief made sure to fire the Bulldog once again, which was still held in his left hand, now perceptively point-blank to the simian, just in case.​

 

[Captain Pokémon]

Metal Sonic
The robot wasted no time in pursuing Rebellio as he avoided rather quickly. That was different.

While pursuing the adept, Metal scanned him quickly and noticed Kalmiya’s presence. Goodie. Metal couldn’t dwell on it however, as Rebellio pulled out a pistol and aimed at the metallic hedgehog, likely aiming to fire off a few pop shots as he got closer. In anticipation to this, Metal blasted forward in a straight line, seemingly leaving himself very vulnerable.

However, he also activated his Black Shield at the same time, aiming to crash into Rebellio from within the safety of his shield to do damage.
@ArmedBlue

 

[ArmedBlue]

Rebellio
​

"So if I make physical contact, you might be able to mess him up from the inside? I'll see what I can do, then." Rebellio spoke, firing a few shots at the fast-approaching Metal Sonic, the robot heading straight towards him. Kalmiya picked up on Metal's intentions near instantly, speaking up the moment the Black Shield appeared.

"Construct a pyramid-shaped shield! Its structure should make it durable enough to survive the impact!" The A.I. suggested, Rebellio acting shortly afterwards, thread bursting from beneath him in a split second, forming a crimson pyramid around the Falcon, pointed at Metal. Metal Sonic crashed into it half a second later, the pyramid heavily shaking due to the sheer force---but it held strong, managing to stay up. A scythe manifested in Rebellio's right hand, ready to act depending on both Metal's actions and Kalmiya's warnings. Should Metal stay near the pyramid, he'd disassemble a portion of the pyramid just before leaping at the robot, swinging his scythe. If he moved further away, he'd launch a string in his direction in an attempt to pull him back in.

Lola
​

Aw, geez...

Lola could do nothing to fight back against Specter's psychic pull, being trapped inside the simian's helmet, right alongside the chip storing the data she had given him earlier. A reminder of her creator's grim fate.

Psychic energy began radiating from the helmet as the battle got more intense, both fighters clearly weakened by the ongoing fight, though Lola couldn't see what the situation was outside. The oozing power made her feel almost dizzy, but she pushed on, remaining conscious. The end of the fight was close, that much was clear. She couldn't let Specter win. The A.I. seemed helpless...

But there was one last thing she could do.

And so, her AS Drive began building energy. Slowly but surely. She had to minimize the chance of Specter catching wind of her plan.