The five Beast Heroes can only stare in horror at the swirling black portal opening above the Major's Mausoleum. Mere moment's ago, our brave defensers of justice had taken down the squad of Watchers that had attempted to raid the museum and steal it's cargo of deadly weapons. Having assumed that this meant the end of Overlord Jonah's newest scheme, the five were shocked, therefore, to hear his thunderous voice over the intercom, and to see the portal open above them!
Jonah's voice rumbles in again, smug and confident.
"I suppose," he growls "you think that you've actually foiled my plans this time, Beast Heroes."
"The thought had crossed our minds, Brain-Drain," retorts Oceanus, fists clenched.
"Well, that is where you're wrong!" shrieks the disembodied dictator. "Those Watchers were a mere diversion - I've merely brought you here to test my greatest creations yet!"
And with that, the portal flashes like a lightbulb on it's last legs! One, two, three times and more it flashes, and for every flash something new and monstrous drops in - giagantic mechanical men higher than the Mausoleum itself! With thunderous crashes the titantium titans land upon the ground, the tremors from their impact causing the Beast Heroes to stagger! And as the monsters rise to their feet and turn to the city at large, red eye slits flashing, the two-headed eagle of Jonah's empire is visible on their chests!
"Inquisitors!" howls Jonah in triumph. "Reverse-engineered from the technology of my world! THe strongest weapons in my army - and your death!"
"And you're going to trample the city into submission with them?!" Jonesy's eyes narrow as she observes the Inquistors striding into the city. "Not on our watch!"
Pech steps forward, face twisted into a snarl behind his helmet. "You won't get away with thiss, you megalomaniac!" he roars, shaking a fist at the portal.
"What can you do, traitor?" snarls the tyrant. "Against my Inquisitors, you are naught but ants! Have a nice afterlife, Alpharius Pech!"
And as the portal dissapates, and the mocking laughter of Overlord Jonah vanishes from the comms, the five Beast Heroes have to admit that, for once, their arch-nemesis is right. The Inquisitors are unlike anything they have ever faced - far bigger than the Watchers and most certaintly better equipped! An attack against even one of these die-cast dreadnaughts would be suicide, and the team can only stand and watch as the monsters begin their assault, lasers shooting from their eye slits and reducing the surrounding buildings to rubble!
But just as all hope seems lost, the intercom crackles to life again. And this time, the voice is a welcoming one!
"What the heck happened?" comes Pit's voice. "You guys just vanished off of the radar for a moment there!"
"Jonah's brought in a bunch of giant robots!" hollers Widow Maker. "And they're ripping up the city like it's so much cardboard!"
"This hardly sporting at all!" cries Jumpropeman. "We have to do something, Pit! We can't let that wrinkled old walnut beat us!"
"In that case," retorts Pit grimly, "we're going to need the Beast Machines."
The gasps and exclamations of shock that go around the Beast Heroes would fill a modest paperback.
"Are you inssane?" hisses Pech. "How can we be ssure that thosse infernal contraptionss will be enough to sstop thesse machines!"
"Because Celestia made them for precisely this reason, Snake-Features!" snaps Oceanus. "Jonah brought out the big guns, so we're going to have to as well! Do we really have a choice?!"
The nods and grunts of assent from the others indicate that no, they do not have a choice right now. Seeing that his own comrades have voted against him yet again, Pech deflates, knowing better than to start a punch-up at this moment in time.
"...it'ss worth a try," he says at last.
"Let's go, team!" hollers Jonesy.
And as one, the Beast Heroes strike identical poses, press a fancy button on their Beast Changers and call out:
"BEAST MACHINES! ASSEMBLE!"
The motorway leading into the heart of the city is oddly empty, devoid of the usual traffic that clogs the lanes all day. And small wonder, for a gigantic Semi-trailer truck thunders down both lanes at once, its exhaust vomiting black smoke as it speeds on its reckless way. Only this is no ordinary truck. Reacting to a remote signal from its master, the vehicle deactivates its cloaking device in a surge of firey red light, revealing itself as the mighty Beast Machine, Magna Lion! The beast roars a challenge at its hyrdaulics kick in, picking up speed as it heads straight for the city.
The clouds above the city part as what appears to be a sleek jet fighter thunders down from the sky. But like the Magna Lion before it, the airborne vehicle briefly vanishes in a blaze of yellow light, stealth systems de-activating to reveal the mighty Turbo Falcon! With a thunderous shriek, the mechanical avian swoops down towards the city, jet engines on maximum burn!
Maul Street gets the shock of it's life as an entire subway train bursts out of the asphault. Almost immediately, in a blinding flash of green light, another of the Beast Machines sheds its stealth camoflague and reveals its identity to the world! The imposing Crash Viper weaves through the concrete jungle of Zoofights City, hissing threateningly as its back-mounted guns power up!
The water by Gravitas Docks parts as a submarine surfaces, metal sides gleaming in the sunlight. But once again, it's a mere disguise - a surge of blue light dissapates the illusion, revealing the sleek form of the noble Dive Shark! With a roar and a gnash of metallic teeth, the mechanical marvel activates its built-in jets, lifiting itself out of the water and jetting forward to join it's companions!
All the beasts of the jungle, as mighty as they are, run shrieking in fear as a powerful VTOL ship lifts into the sky, the trees bending back from the force of its jets. But in a pink flash of light, the exterior vanishes as the wonderous Shadow Mantis makes itself known to the world! The Beast Machine chitters as it beats its colourful wings faster, flying up to join its comrades!
"All right!" cries Jonesy as she catches sight of all five giant robots barreling towards the city in formation. "Let's go!"
In unison, the five Beast Heroes press another button on their Changers - this one a special teleporter linked to their respective machines. In a flash of light, each one of the gang vanishes from the street, to reappear seated in their cockpits and ready for battle!
"This is AWESOME!" cries Jonesy, and without warning she grabs the steering sticks and shoves them forward. With a roar, the Magna Lion obeys the command, picking up the pace as it barrels towards the Inquisitors, who are too frightened and amazed to respond! Without pause, the beast bites down onto the leg of one of the giant robots, flinging it into the air and sending it crashing into a nearby skyscraper, a near-irreparable wreck!
"I've always wanted to fly!" whoops Jumpropeman as he practices his flight manouvers. The Turbo Falcon is most certaintly his kind of ride, and in no time at all he is flying rings around a group of Inquitors! With a push of a button, the spectral superhero sends a barrage of laser shots from the robotic avian's beak, each one hitting home and causing the alien constructs to collapse, reduced to useless scrap and wires!
"How do you ssteer thiss warpdamned thing?!" Pech is having less luck - the Crash Viper's controls are strange to the marine, not resembling the alien buttons he is familiar with. As a result, the Green Beast Hero finds himself struggling to steer the serpentine machine in a straight line to attack the Inquisitors. Thankfully, one button press is all it takes to fire the back-mounted artillery cannons, blowing holes in a few more of the mechanical monsters!
"Celestia's really outdone herself!" Oceanus is ecstatic to be commanding such a mighty beast, and steers the Dive Shark towards a lone Inquisitor who has been separated from the group. A barrage of missiles knocks the cybernetic warrior off-balance, just ripe for the tooth-studded maw to clamp down upon its wasit! Lifting him up, Oceanus carries the robotic nemesis over the waters of the bay, wherupon he drops it into the ocean, leaving it to sink like a stone!
"Try and stop us, techno-freaks!" Widow Maker would normally be questioning why her Beast Machine is pink, but she is having far too much fun at the moment. With its stealth camoflague active, the Shadow Mantis slowly creeps towards what appears to be the last two of the Inquistors, before lashing out with its bladed claws! Their heads separated from the rest of them, the cybernetic enforcers plummet to the ground, sparking and hissing!
But just when it seems over, the ground shakes! For one Inquisitor, who apparently has had more proccessing power than his fabricated friends, appears suddenly from behind a skyscraper and charges! The next thing poor Oceanus knows, the mechanical monster has grabbed the Dive Shark by the tail and is swinging it around like a sack of potatoes! Alarms blare and lights flash red in the cockpit as the Blue Beast Hero frantically tries to get free, slamming buttons in the hope of shaking of his iron oppressor!
"Someone give me a hand!" he yells as a console explodes in a shower of sparks!
"HOLD ON!"
The voice over the intercom isn't Joney's authorative voice, or Jumpropeman's jolly tones - it's Pech's hissing! The Inquisitor is so focused on smashing the Dive Shark into skyscrapers and the floor that it fails to notice the Crash Viper approaching, and by then it is too late!
"LEAVE HIM ALONE, COWARD!" roars the alien warrior as he slams a button on the console. With a hissing cry, the steel serpent lunges, burying it's fangs into the titanium titan's leg, causing it to stumble and release the Dive Shark's tail! A fatal error - for almost instantly the Blue Beast Machine whips around and delivers a payload of missiles to the Inquisitor's head, and the once proud machine is reduced to smoking scrap! Finally, with a wrench of it's neck, the Crash Viper sends the ruined robot skidding away into the waters of the bay!
The air fills with loud CRACKs as the remains of the Inquisitors are suddenly teleported away. The battle is won! Overlord Jonah has tekn his ball and ran for home!
"We did it, guys!" whoops Jonesy. And the ecstatic cheering from the Beast Heroes is matched only by the triumphant roar of the Beast Machines.
-----
~Inferno Stronghold, Mirror Dimension~
Commander Vile howls as another blast of electricity sends him flying across the room.
"Incompetent Fool!" roars the brain of Overlord Jonah. "You promised me the Inquisitors were invincible!"
"A m-mere design flaw, my Lord," stammers Vile as he picks himself up, shaking. "I p-p-promise, the next batch will-"
"I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT! GET OUT!"
With a yelp, the scientist is forced to drop his cleaning cloth and flee the throne room, leaving the diabolical dictator to simmer in his tank.
"Beast Heroes," he snarls. "You think that just because you now have gaint robots, that makes you safe from me? Well, I beg to differ. This is a minor setback compared to what I will inflict upon you all. Someday," and here his modulated voice rises to a thunderous shriek, "someday I will be revenged on the whole pack of you!"
Lighting flashes ominously outside Castle Vergil as he speaks. Overlord Jonah may be down, but her is certainly not out.
-----
~The
King of Beasts Speakeasy, Zoofights City, Our World~
"Nice save back there, Pech!"
"Oh, it wass nothing!"
The party taking place at the King of Beasts Speakeasy is nothing short of over the top. Banners, streamers and balloons decorate the walls, and the booze flows freely as our five heroes, not to mention the plucky Pit and good old Gezora, celebrate the foiling of yet another of Overlord Jonah's schemes. And in the middle of it all, Oceanus is congratulating Pech on that amazing save in the battle against the Inquisitors.
"Seriously," cries the robot as he hands his friend another glass of cider. "If you hadn't stepped in there, I would have been reduced to scrap!"
Pech snorts, waving a hand dismissively. "Well, I wass not going to let that overssized calculator take the honour of sslaying you away from me, wass I? And bessidess, only a coward sstrikess from behind."
"Gezora only hopes," rumbles Gezora as he chows down on some conviniently-placed cake, "that you two have finally got your act together!"
"That's right!" hollers Jumpropeman over the loud music. "If you guys hand't learned to work together like that, the whole city would have gone down!"
"Sspare me the musshy lessonss," growls Pech. "I didn't do it becausse of your 'teamwork' bullsshit."
"Whatever you say," retorts Oceanus with a glint in his eye. "But at least do me a favour?"
"What would that be?"
"After this party, you gotta take the trash out!"
The laughter that echoes round the bar at this nearly drowns out the thumping noise of Pech facepalming in exasperation.
~NEXT TIME ON BEAST HEROES!~
"CAUS!"
"KRONO!"
"QUAN!"
"KRONO!"
"QUAN!"
Is it true? Have the legendary Time Knights finally turned to evil? Has Overlord Jonah finally got the better of the Beast Heroes? And who's the mysterious black knight from Celestia's past? One thing's for certain - Zoofights City's not big enought for two superhero teams! Join us next time as the two mightiest hero teams clash for the first time ever! Only on Z.T.V.!
(I am so sorry this took as long as it did to come out. But trust me, university is a thing that happens to us all, as well as writer's block. Maybe the hypothetical episode detailed above will only take a year to make, eh?
Also, just started playing Darksiders 2. I must say, it's gratifying to play a charcter who can actually dodge an attack for once, instead of sliding a few meters to the left of a giagantic axe being swung at his head. But more on that later.)
Good thing their city had an abandoned skyscraper district.
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