Rebellio
(Co-Written with comic)
Bullets flew from either side of the lobby, and despite Rebellio's gun having a higher fire rate, it was Master Chief who was at an advantage. His drop wall provided him with cover for any bullets that managed to reach him, and the electrically charged, armor piercing bullets were shredding through Rebellio's own.
Realizing he wouldn't be able to win the long-distance game like this, the Falcon slammed his weapon into the ground, Gatling breaking apart, the resulting thread becoming a durable barrier, John's bullets whittling it down at a steady pace. A large section of it soon fell apart---but there was no Rebellio behind it.
Seeing the empty space behind the barrier, instinct told John that his opponent was likely at his blind spot, something both his gut and his mind agreed on. The Spartan spun on the spot in time to see his friend moving in with a slash of a threaded blade, dangerously close.
His thoughts sent into the suit were also received by Kalmiya, allowing more advanced Mjolnir functionality, such as what he had just done, deactivating the power armor's energy shielding around his right forearm, which he used as a shield, blocking the sword slash, sparks flying as it ground against the armor, threatening to cut into the gauntlet. John used the opportunity to burst forward, his thrusters activating to slam his much larger, much heavier body into Rebellio's at point-blank, or as close to it as possible.
"Gah!"
The Spartan's sudden thrust caught Rebellio by surprise, Chief slamming into the young man at great speeds, sending him flying to the other end of the lobby, near the statues of all the eliminated fighters. Rebellio rolled roughly along the ground, stopping at the right in front Hareta's statue, the armor on the front side of his body clearly dented, damaged heavily by the blow.
The Falcon kept on fighting, however, sticking an arm out behind him, shooting a string to strike the Pokéball held by the statue of Hareta, ripping it from the hand and throwing it at John with surprising force. While the projectile headed towards his ally, Rebellio quickly approached, a scythe materializing in his left hand to slash alongside the threaded blade on his right once he got close enough to Chief.
The Spartan remained relentless. Following Rebellio's far flung folly, 117 charged forth, sprinting the length of the lobby after his friend, who sent a stone Pokéball toward the Spartan. He slid to a stop, pulling an arm back, before he thrust it forward.
The stone ball shattered bursting apart as John's armored fist heavily struck it, splintering it all apart. He was on the cusp of continuing his sprint, when Rebellio emerged from the small debris cloud of powdered stone, swinging his signature scythe.
The Spartan turned with the attack, the scythe's blade slashing into the armor casing just behind and above John's shoulders, catching for a moment as it became lodged an inch into the compact, durable armor, the energy shields bursting on impact, taking a large portion of the initial hit.
Raising his left arm, the Chief activated his repulsor, intent on bursting Rebellio into the base of Hareta's statue with the powerful kinetic blast, before reaching up to tug the scythe out of his armor.
"He's gotten better," Kalmiya stated approvingly.
He had, and John couldn't resist a sense of pride, even now.
The repulsor did its job, propelling Rebellio away just before he could follow up his initial attack, sending him hurtling towards Hareta's statue---but he managed to get his bearings just quick enough to shoot a string into Psyduck's statue, right next to Hareta.
From there, he pulled himself in slightly, passing in between the two statues before circling around, momentarily flying over the white void the lobby was hovering in, landing atop Psyduck's head, Gatling gun materializing once more. This reminded him of his first battle with Chief. Standing with his Gatling while on the high ground, firing down at the Chief below him...
Pushing the memories aside, Rebellio opened fire, string bullets raining from above.
With the drop wall module still recharging after use (it had depleted shortly after Chief's earlier thrust), John wasn't left with reliable cover immediately accessible. He'd successfully yanked the scythe out in time for Rebellio's barrage, and John sprang into action, leaping up, Rebellio's bullets following, a few pinging off the armor, leaving small dents, before the Spartan fired his grappleshot into Specter's statue, yanking himself rapidly toward it, no doubt throwing off Rebellio's aim.
In an orbit-like pattern, 117 swung around Specter's head, his momentum accelerating almost violently to form a blur as the grappleshot returned, and the Chief flew like a ballistic missile toward Rebellio, his legs tucked in to his chest, prepared to kick out once in range.
To Rebellio's surprise, Chief closed in incredibly quickly, even faster than when he'd first dealt with the Gatling forever ago. Very much aware of the incoming melee blow (and knowing teleporting right now would be just a little too slow to evade), Rebellio turned to face Chief, Gatling morphing into a large, durable shield, the Falcon positioning himself slightly to the side, just in time to deflect John's powerful kick.
The Spartan's leg glanced off the shield, but the momentum and power he carried were still effective. The shield shattered completely, causing Rebellio to lose his balance as even Psyduck's statue felt the blow, the top of the head crumbling apart as Rebellio fell to the ground below, managing to land on his feet, albeit a little roughly. Master Chief had been moving so quickly that the Falcon momentarily lost track of him, looking out into the lobby in search of his friend, scythe manifesting in his hand as a precaution.
Rebellio didn't have to look long, as the next moment sounded more stone cracking. The deflect that had sent Rebellio flying had redirected the super soldier, who had slammed into and through the center of Death's statue, which crumbled apart from above the waist (or what counted as a waist).
John rolled to a stop on the other side of Death, stopping a couple feet before the statue of Machamp. "We're all still friends after this, right?" Kalmiya's voice asked through Chief's external speakers.
The Master Chief fired his grappleshot into Death's head, moments before it was about to land on the ground. In a vein similar to Rebellio's earlier move, the Spartan used the grappleshot to swing the stone head, slinging it in Rebellio's direction.
Rebellio got moving right after Chief's grappleshot struck Death's head, heading straight toward 117 while the Spartan launched the stone skull towards him. The Falcon slid underneath it once it got close, swinging his scythe above him at the same time, causing several rocks to fall behind Rebellio, strings shooting out from his back to strike them.
"Of course we are," he replied, before the rocks trailing behind him were all flung above his head in unison, aiming to pelt Master Chief to cover Rebellio's approach.
It was a creative display, and beneath his grit and visor, John could feel the smallest of grins tugging at his lips. He raised his arms above his head as the rocks came pelting down. Whatever percentage of his shields that had started to recharge were knocked out as the collection of rocks slugged down. Before he'd raised his arms, he'd tugged out a small, cylindrical device, which he proceeded to toss down as Rebellio neared.
The device began to spit electricity, arcing in all directions with such intensity that the dynamo grenade hopped wildly about, threatening to ensnare anything caught in its radius as John stepped backwards, closer toward the Machamp statue while he raised his sidekick, opening fire on Rebellio.
The electricity prevented Rebellio from coming any closer to Chief, even forcing him to back off slightly as to stay out of its radius. Going around would give John too much time to react, and his teleports were starting to get predictable, so the Falcon chose to let the bullets to fire four crimson strings that flew above the Dynamo and Chief himself, striking each of the arms of Machamp's statue, several bullets piercing into his armor as he did so.
With a powerful tug, the large statue was brought crashing down on top of 117, Rebellio aiming to crush him under its weight.
Rebellio decided to risk tanking the bullets in order to-
John glanced up as the statue came toppling down. Thinking quickly, he slammed his fist to the ground, a white energy enveloping his body as he overloaded his shields, locking his armor, with absolutely no time to spare as the statue smashed down upon him, bursting apart as he buckled and bent, but didn't break.
Before the dust could settle, the short EMP wave burst outwardly as the overloaded shields burst, and the armor unlocked, 117 rising to his feet, aiming in the direction he'd seen Rebellio last, but eyes and radar proved he had moved---however, there were an army of strings lining to dozens of rocks, ranging from fist-sized pebbles to entire statues, all about him, and a look up confirmed that Rebellio was above him, connected to hundreds of strings that he was already tugging heavily upon, spinning as he moved for added effect and efficiency.
Normally, John would have started firing upward, but that minuscule grin of his seemed to grow ever so slightly more as he tucked his sidekick away.
"Good move, kid," he commented as tons of rock converged on him, the Spartan caught in the total epicenter.
With 117 buried beneath the rocks, Rebellio had the perfect chance to follow up with a devastating blow, especially considering the Spartan was temporarily unable to use his EMP, a move that had managed to counter the Falcon's most powerful move during their first fight.
A criss cross pattern of thread formed beneath Rebellio as he fell, enveloping his body, taking the shape of a crimson drill, larger than the one he'd used before, much like the one he tended to craft at the end of his Crimson-Death-Thread. The drill spun at incredible speeds, only seeming to speed up with each passing moment. This was it. This was his chance.
Memories flashing by.
His first meeting with Chief. Getting to learn of his feats, to chat with Kalmiya, enjoying a brief respite before their battle...
Being reborn right after the battle. A mutual respect was established between him and Chief, the two agreeing to look for people to start a resistance, not knowing it'd be futile...
Learning of the keys and threats present at the tournament. Receiving the overshield module from Chief, being trusted with not just that, but also Kalmiya herself the following round...
"
We're all still friends after this, right?" Kalmiya's words from moments ealier echoed in his head.
The drill dug into the debris, but it had slowed down considerably, even diminishing in size. Instead of stabbing through 117, it burrowed into the rocks until reaching the Spartan, at which point the drill stopped almost completely, only piercing a couple inches into the soldier's breastplate, light streaming in from above.
The crimson drill broke apart, revealing Rebellio standing within, scythe in his hand, the blade pressed up against John's neck, applying some pressure to the armor. Yet Rebellio did not follow through. John recognized what the look in his eyes meant.
Hesitation.
"I... I can't..."
Without another word, the Falcon's form burst into thread, Rebellio reappearing at the top of the hole he'd dug into the debris, a single string emerging from his hand, lowering down for Master Chief to grab, clearly intending on pulling him out of there.
