Co-Op Mode, Equations: Chapter 3

Co-Op Mode: Equations
Players: Gatlinggundemon9 & Extremespeeds
Chapter 3: Castle Smashers


Flavio followed his idol through the portal, emerging at a laboratory. “’I’m here!! What’s going on??”

A man with spiked white hair and a lab coat looked up from his workbench.

“Ryan’s captured someone. Somebody who could contact Chaos and Tikal.” Doctor Johnathan von Neuron explained.

“They told me and I called Doc and Tails.” Sonic said, his friend emerging from a doorway holding a box of parts.

“What’s the guy’s name??” Flavio asked, helping Tails move said box onto the table.

“Tikal called him the “Avatar of Chaos”, but I think his real name's Jason.”  Sonic said. “What’re you guys doing?”

“I’m constructing a new support item to help us get through Britannia’s defenses.” Doc explained, several parts levitating out of the box and inserting them into a robotic wolf, which hummed to life. “No time to test it, I’m afraid, because we need to hurry.”

“Don’t worry, the Tornado’s all set!!” Tails said, flying off while doc carried out the inactive robot wolf with telekinesis.

“Shouldn’t we call Seymour??” Flavio asked, climbing into the X-Tornado.

“I already did, but he wasn’t home, so I left a message.” Doc explained, using his powers to fold the robot into what looked like a large dark blue carry-on case. “I just hope he can help us before Ryan or Jason get into trouble.”


McDowell Facility


“Hey, guard!!” Selina called out, knocking on the Plexiglas door of her cell. “Where’s my dinner?? I’m hungry!!”

“YOUR DINNER WILL BE HERE SOON.” The Coldstream guarding her cell said calmly.

A few minutes later, another robot, with thick glasses, padded fingers, a white coat, and a nametag reading “FREUD #24” rolled up, carrying a tray of food. Bending down, it slid the tray through a slot in the door. Moving unbelievably fast, Selina grabbed the tray with her feet and pulled hard, slamming the doctor against the cell door.

“That’s mah cue!” Jason said happily, throwing off his picked handcuffs.

The Coldstream moved around, aiming a tranquilizer gun at the cell. “DESIST OR BE SUB-“ the robot didn’t have a chance to finish his sentence, mainly became Jason reached through his door’s air holes, his arms now water, and slammed him against the wall hard enough to smash its circuitry. Grabbing a keycard from the Freud’s coat, Jason opened his cell door, and then made his way over to Selina’s door.

“You wanna eat first, or-?” Jason began.

“Jason, I hate meatloaf.” Selina said, holding out her cuffs.

“I know.” He said with a smirk, using Chaos to rip apart the cuffs from the inside.

Rubbing her wrists, Selina stood up and armed herself with the tranq gun. “Let’s go, the other guards are probably onto us by now.

“Gotcha, let’s go before his Royal Super Saiyan comes.” Jason said, arming himself with the Freud’s now broken arm.


Richard Weever Research Institute


“And you are certain that you cannot find out?” Ryan inquired, looking at a computer screen.

“Yes sir, I’ve analyzed the boy’s metal, there’s simply no match for it, and the sword’s both the most advanced technology I can comprehend and ancient magic, older than Camelot!” Ivan Ponsonby explained while nervously tapping his fingers on a heavily dented desk.

Nearby, a Plexiglas cylinder sat on the table, hooked up to machines showing a human boy’s face on the monitors. Nearby was the boy’s unmoving robot body.

“You’re gonna be sorry, Mr. Bushhead!!” Jamie called, observing the two through a webcam. “My brother’s gonna find you, kick your butt, and make you wish you stayed in London!!”

“Quiet, Jamie.” Ryan said, not looking at him. “Jason’s in my facility, he cannot possibly-“

The king stopped talking when his cane’s head started beeping. Pushing the button, he heard laser shots and what sounded like a Wilhelm scream. “Freud 1?? What’s going on??”

“Your majesty, the patients Jason Roger Drummond and Selina Mary Hardy have-“the robot doctor slowly and calmly began, but was interrupted by its head flying off. Coming into view, Jason smirked at Ryan’s face, made a rude hand gesture, and shut off the feed.

“I told you…!” Jamie said in a sing song voice.

Gritting his teeth, Ryan threw his coat back on. “Ivan, activate the Cerberus Knight. I don’t want them escaping!!”

“Ye-yes sir!” Ivan stuttered, quickly typing away at his computer.

Turning around, Ryan teleported away in a cloud of purple smoke, the edges of his eyes yellow.


McDowell Correctional Facility


Jason dug through the storage bin, throwing his favorite green jacket back on, and quickly tying up his shoes, but started to get frantic when he realized something. “My sword!! Where’d my sword-“

Bamf!

Jason turned around, shocked, but only saw a gold ornament swinging at his face a moment before it hit him. Falling to the ground, Jason tried to regain his bearings, but Ryan grabbed him by his jacket collar and lifted him up. “You are insufferable, Drummond!”

“Wow, that’s one of the nicest things an idiot’s ever told me.” Jason said simply, only to be slammed into the wall.

“You and Miss Hardy WILL go back to your cells like a good pair of-“Ryan began, but paused. “Wait, where is Miss-“

Reacting quickly, Ryan spun around and raised his cane to block Selina’s nightstick. “Nice try Miss Hardy, but I’ve already been hit by a blow from behind, and as such I’m more prepared to deal with it-“ Ryan momentarily paused to, in one, quick, fluid motion, unsheathed his sword from the cane’s housing and aim the blade at Jason, who had been ready to hit him with a paperweight. “as well as any attempts to double team me.” He said glaring at Jason.

“What about a tranq to the face?” Jason asked.

“A tranq to the- hrrk!” Ryan cried out, a tranquilizer dart now in his neck. The dart worked quickly, making Ryan drop his two items and fall to the ground, unconscious.

Selina sighed and dropped her tranq dart on the ground, but looked up to glare at Jason. “Did you really have to insult him?!”

“The <bleep> took Jamie, I have every right!! ‘sides, how was I supposed to know he was <bleep>ing Nightcrawler?!” Jason said defensively. “I’m not Charles <bleep>ing Xavier…”

“Let’s just go, Jason!” Selina said, charging up her electric pistol.

“Wait, hang on!” Jason turned to Ryan and kneeled down, picking up Ryan’s sword. “No need to let a perfectly good weapon be left unused. ‘sides, I don’t have Renewed Hope.”

“Fine, fine, let’s just go!!” Selina said grumpily, running out the door.

After a few minutes of searching, Jason found the exit. “Over here ladrón!”  Jason said. “I found a staircase outta here!!”

“Great!!” Selina replied, running after him up the steps. After a few minutes, they reached dead end, the wall t their right holding with a numerical keypad. “Okay….. I think I can hack this, gimme a minute.” Going forward, Selina carefully pried off the handle with her hooks and started crossing wires. “C’mon…… c’mon…… I think I got it!” she said triumphantly. Seconds later the alarm sounded. “Shoot….”

Before Jason could say anything, the wall before them slid away, revealing a large robot that looked like a miniaturized version of Diablon, but with legs, an extra pair of arms, a huge sword that Jason doubted could be held by anything short of a Final fantasy character, and, strangely enough, three almost tribal-looking masks, all facing them, but built on a sort of pinwheel.

The bottom mask, a red and black one resembling a devil, lit up, its red eyes glaring down at the two teens. ”YOU WILL NOT ES-ES-ES-ESCAPE!!” it said, in the voice of a deeper, almost demonic-sounding Shadow.

Though put off by the freaky voice, Jason stood his ground and brandished his stolen sword. “Yeah?? Well try and stop us, ya Majora’s Mask reject!”

The mask did not speak again, but instead the robot shifted to a white mask of a bat-like creature with wide blue eyes and fangs. Speaking in a monotone, almost zombie-like version of Rouge’s voice, the guard said ”RETURN TO YOUR CELLS, OR I, THE CER-CER-CER-CERBERUS KNIGHT, WILL USE PHYSICAL FORCE!"

“Yeah, well I, Jason R. Drummond ain’t afraid of some robo-knight with multiple personality disorder!” Jason said, swinging the blade at the robot, only for it to glance off the armor. “…..uh-oh.”

“Nice going, Jason” Selina muttered, taking a stance while the Cerberus Knight change to its final mask, an angry grey humanoid with brown and green eyes, jagged teeth, white hair, and red markings on its cheeks.

”THEN I WILL E-E-E-END YOU!” the Cerberus Knight yelled, its voice a furious G.U.N. Commander Tower. Raising its sword it swung at the two at a speed unnatural for a sword of its length. It was only through their short height and quick agility that they were not vivisected.

“Move!!” Jason yelled, rolling under the robot. Getting up quickly, he ran down the hallway, Selina close behind him.

“HALT!” Cerberus Knight yelled. Aiming at Selina, two generators charged up and shot a blast of electricity out of the blade and onto Selina’s back.

“LADRÓN!!”  Jason yelled, stopping to run back at her. Before he could make it another step, his feet froze to the ground, tripping him up and sliding the sword away from him.

”You have been caught. Resistance is futile.” the white mask stated in its flat monotone.

“……you seriously did not just say that.” Jason said, before pulling off his armbands. A bright light engulfed him, and when in its place stood a three foot hedgehog with black fur, his jacket goggles, shoes, and gloves being all that remained from his human form. “Suck spindash, Robo<bleep>!” Jason yelled, spinning in place fast enough to break the ice.

”Surrender or be sub-“ the red mask snarled before being knocked off its feet. It fell to the ground with a loud CLUNK! ”Excessive force authorized!” it yelled, getting up. Aiming its arms at Jason, two nozzles popped out and shot flames.

“Whoa!!” Back flipping to avoid the flames, Jason grabbed Ryan’s sword and ran at the Cerberus Knight, using his speed to dodge lightning, ice, and fire until the monstrosity stopped. Before Jason could question this behavior, the Knight rocketed forward, three large engines on its back propelling it fast enough to lift it off the ground a bit.

“Whoa!!!” Jason cried out before sliding under the robot like a baseball player. The robot didn’t react in time and slammed through a wall and into a small waiting room. Seeing this, Jason quickly made his way to Selina and picked her up, splashing her with Chaos’ hand as he ran. “Ladrón, wake up!!”

“Mmmm….. my arms….” Selina moaned, sitting up.

“Sel, that freaky <bleep> robot’s chasing after us, and it keeps-!” Jason stopped talking a moment so he could dodge a blast of ice that froze over some doorways. “blocking us off!! It’s also really freakin’ fast!”

Thinking quickly, Selina looked around. “Jason, throw me up to that chandelier!” she commanded, pointing at a beautiful one in the middle of a hallway with giant thick windows.

“….ah, not bad.” Jason said, shifting back to Avatar form and throwing her up there. Turning around, Jason made two rude hand gestures. “Hey, Trick or Tron! Why don’t you come over here and talk to my birds???”

”Insults will do you no good!” it yelled, running forward and taking aim with its lightning shooter. ”Surrender now or be shocked into-“

CRAAASH!

The Cerberus Knight fell, flattened by the once beautiful chandelier, the dropper still hanging onto the melted chain.

“Heh, very Phantom of the Opera, ladrón.” Jason said with a smirk.

“Hey, it worked, didn’t it?” Selina asked, putting away her welding torch and leaping down gracefully. “Now, let’s focus on-“

”CRI-CRI-CRe-CRE-CRMINELSSSSKKKKT!!”

Jason looked back and moaned. “Damn it….”

The Cerberus Knight climbed out of the remains of the chandelier, shards of glass poking out of its joints and openings, one of its arms bent at an odd angle, the odd spark shooting out of various places, and the shadow mask’s eyes shattered, but more or less intact, and VERY angry.

“SUB-SUB-SUB-SUBJEGGGGGGGGGGGGGGATE!” it roared, swinging its sword at them. Only through careful doding were they able to avoid the table slicing machine.

“Jason, we need a new plan!!” Selina yelled, whacking the back of its head with her nightsticks.

“I’m working on it!!” he yelled, tossing handfuls of Chaos Arrows, but each one just glanced off. “Shoot, this thing must’ve been made to deal with Shadow, my powers aren’t working on it!!” he yelled.

“Then try something else!!” she yelled back, dodging a fireball.

“Something else, something else….” Jason muttered as he fell back, looking around until he saw a large, thick, tapestry of Ryan. “Wow, egotistical doesn’t even begin to describe ya, Weevy, but this might be useful!” Jason smirked and sliced down the textile. Grabbing one end of it, he waited till Selina got the three headed guard to look away from him. Running up, Jason threw the tarp over the robot’s heads, then proceeded to quickly wrap it all over the machine’s limbs, trapping it like a net.

“That’s not gonna hold him!” Selina yelled, running after him, and sure enough, the Cerberus Knight was already blasting fire at the art to free itself.

“I wasn’t planning on it to.” Jason said with a smirk. Stopping at the end of a hallway overlooked by a stained glass image of a pretty looking woman with blonde hair, Jason turned around and started yelling at the still burning knight. “The moment I get outta here, I’m gonna break so many laws!!! I’m gonna go kick puppies, smash up a pottery shop for rubies, kick a box of kittens, litter in your park, take a wiz on your statues-“

”DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIE!” Cerberus Knight’s three heads roared as it charges up its rockets again and blasted forward, sword first, its three eyes glowing with murderous intent.

“Jason, are you <bleep>ing INSANE?!” Selina yelled at him, trying to run off, but was held in place by her boyfriend.

“Not yet….!” Jason yelled, waiting a few more seconds, and then he pushed her out of the way and leaped straight over the rocket-propelled guard, the knight only scraping off a thin sliver of Jason’s shoe.

The Cerberus Knight slammed straight through the stained glass window, continued onward through a lovely garden, and smashed through a fountain of a woman with a towering hairdo, a concrete wall, and some guards, before tumbling into a stop when it hit the side of a house, its three masks knocked loose at the feet of the fountain.

Slowly getting up, Jason looked through the hole left behind. “…..heh….. I jumped a shark!!! Robot…. Shark robot-knight thin- OW!!””

Jason rubbed his arm, but got several more punches from an upset Selina. “Why! Wasn’t! I! In! On! Your! Plan!?” she said, punctuating each word with physical harm.

“I didn’t want to risk that thing hearing us!! ‘sides, I just… kinda improvised towards the end.” He admitted sheepishly.

Glaring, Selina picked up her dropped nightsticks. “Let’s go before we’re caught.”

Nodding, Jason quickly put his armbands back on, turning human again, and followed her out the window and the castle, stopping only so he could pocket the three masks. After that, he and Selina vanished into the forming crowds.