The Measure Of A Man: Part 1

The Measure Of A Man: Part 1 is the twelfth episode of Tech 10: Rebooted.

Episode
“Yes, yes, yes!” The Puppet Master exclaimed. “Finally, after all these long years of waiting, it is complete!”

The Puppet Master and Dethrouge were standing in The Puppet Master’s workshop, looking up at the massive superweapon he had created. It stood fifteen stories high, looming over the two like a skyscraper. Its massive humanoid form was partially obscured by the dark lighting of the room.

“It took you long enough.” Dethrouge replied. “Where did you even get a hypernova drive?”

“I have my ways.” The Puppet Master replied. “And those ways are stealing.”

“That does not explain much.”

“Just get in the robot.”

Dethrouge shot The Puppet Master a hard glare.

“If this thing isn’t worth the time it took to build, I will kill you myself.”

“My craftsmanship is perfection! We won’t even have to enter the Earth’s atmosphere to destroy it. We can just blow it up from orbit.”

“I hope for your sake that’s true.” --- “And you say that it was stolen by a Cerebrocrustacean?”

A tall, lumpy alien was standing in the middle of a parts market, speaking to a rather imposing Specterian warlord.

“Yep.” The tall alien confirmed. “Swooped right in an’ swiped mah only hypernova drive.”

“Were you able to see his ship at all?” Warlord Kroz asked further.

“Yeah, but it was jus’ a plain ol’ trader ship. Only distinctive thin’ I could tell ya was a X-12 rocket cannon affixed to tha front.”

“Hm. I’ll ask around for anyone else that’s seen something like that. Thank you for your time.”

“Ain’t a probl’m. If ya don’t mind me askin, what’re ya lookin to find him fer?”

“Oh, not much.” Warlord Kroz began walking away. “Just some...payback I need to deal with.”

Tech sat back in his office chair, spinning around slowly. Alvono was on the computer again, and Aquadilus was reading the newspaper.

“I am bored, just, out of my mind.” Tech said. “I just wish-”

“NO!” Alvono yelled at him. “Don’t you dare finish that sentence!”

“Dude, what’s with you?”

“Every time someone says that they wish something would happen, something horrible and ironic happens! I will not allow you to risk our lives like that!”

“Calm down, man.” Tech rolled his eyes. “Fine then, I hope something doesn’t happen.”

“NO! Now you’re invoking Murphy’s Law! That’s even worse!”

“Oh, please. Nothing’s going to ha-”

Tech was interrupted by a heavy pounding on his door, which was then slammed open to reveal a disheveled Igneoux standing behind it.

“Uh, Tech?” He said. “You need to come see this.”

“I warned you about the irony clause, man!” Alvono exclaimed in exasperation. “I told you, bro!” - “What is that?” Tech asked.

“Other than bad news?” Igneoux replied. “No idea.”

The two of them were standing outside the shop, looking up into the sky. Floating near the sun was a massive orb of glowing red energy, which added an ominous scarlet tint to the area.

“What are we supposed to do about that?”

“We? I can’t even use my transformation matrix anymore. This is a you problem.”

Tech gave Igneoux a hard glare.

“You’re very helpful.” He snarked.

The SpecTrix beeped momentarily, notifying Tech of an incoming call.

“Hey, what’s up?” He asked, answering the call.

“I’ve got a call coming in from an anonymous line.” Aquadilus said on the other end of the line. “He says to put him through to you.”

“Fine, as long as he makes it quick. I have some other stuff going on right now.”

There was a short click, followed by a small beep indicating the call transfer.

“Who is this, and why should I care?” Tech asked.

“Oh, nobody special.” An oddly familiar voice crackled from the other end of the line. “I’m just the genius whose ship you destroyed.”

“Xenon!” Tech snapped.

“Indeed! You see the large glowing orb in the sky?”

“Yeah, so?”

“That is my superweapon! In ten minutes, it will fire, using the energy of it’s hypernova drive to destroy this planet!”

“That’s preposterous.” Igneoux scoffed. “A hypernova drive could wipe out a few continents, sure, but not the whole planet.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, did I forget to mention? I have another energy source helping me out with that!”

“I will admit, child, I am surprised to see you alive.” Dethrouge’s voice crackled from the line. “But that matters little to me. I will still cleanse your planet of its-”

“Oh, shut up!” Tech snapped. “Look Osirimes, I know all about you and the Anti-Life Entity, so cut the crap!”

“...I see. In that case, keeping up this facade would be pointless. You will still die, regardless.”

“In your dreams! I’m coming up there to kick your ass personally!”

“It would be amusing to see you try.”

Tech shut off the call, twisting the SpecTrix dial.

“What are you planning?” Igneoux asked.

Tech slammed down on the dial, transforming into Temportal.

“Just what I said!” He replied. “I’m going up there and kicking his ass!”

“I don’t think it’s going to be that easy.”

“I know!” Tech opened a portal. “I’m just a bit too pissed to care!”

With that, he stepped through the portal. Igneoux stared after him with a worried look on his face.

“I hope he knows what he’s doing.” He remarked. - As Tech stepped out of the portal, he realized that it had taken him into orbit above Earth. He quickly transformed into Terminano, who didn’t have to breath, closing the portal behind him. He quickly caught sight of what had been casting the giant orb of energy. A humanoid mecha the size of a skyscraper floated near him, its arms outstretched towards the Earth. Red energy poured from its palms, slowly flowing into a massive orb of energy. After staring in disbelief for a few moments, Tech snapped out of it and pointed his arms behind him, shooting out a stream of Eletatis Charge, propelling him towards the machine’s left shoulder.

Reaching its surface, he tried punching it with a handful of the charge, only to have the blow bounce harmlessly off an energy field enveloping the mech’s surface. He floated back, considering his options. He didn’t really have any forms strong enough to break the surface that could survive without air, and Terminano’s speed was sort of useless in this situation. Unless...

Tech slammed down on the SpecTrix dial, causing four metal clamps to come out of it and attach to his chest. A wave of green energy washed over him, changing his color to a near-black sheen with dark teal patterns lining his body. He reared back and punched the energy field with a massive flurry of punches too fast for the eye to see. The energy field began flickering after a few seconds of this barrage, but quickly returned to its normal state. Tech stopped and stared at it in annoyance.

“Okay, let’s try something new.”

Tech closed his eyes and focused. The nanomachines making up his body began to vibrate at high speed, then separated into a metallic cloud. He passed through the energy field, which was spread out too much to block the molecule-sized particles from passing through. Once through the field, he phased through the metal exterior of the machine and found himself in a maintenance passage, where he returned to a solid state.

“Neat trick.” He remarked. “But I have other things to focus on at the moment. Now, if I were a hypernova drive, where would I be?”

He looked around himself for a few moments, then caught sight of a yellow-striped pipeline labeled ‘POWER’.

“Huh. Convenient.”

With that, Tech took off running at an incredible speed, reaching Mach 1 in two seconds flat. In mere moments, he arrived at the center of the robot’s back, where the power lines had lead. In the middle of the room was a console with an unassumingly small glowing block plugged into it.

“I’m going to go ahead and assume that’s the hypernova drive.”

Tech tried pulling the drive out, but found it stuck fast inside the console. Switching his focus to the console itself, he tried pressing random buttons, accomplishing nothing except flashing the robot’s turn signals.

“Come on, come on!” He frantically worked the console. “Give me something!”

After a few fruitless moments of smacking the controls, he heard the distinct whine of a cannon revving up. Even with his extreme speed, there wasn’t enough time to try every possible combination before the cannon fired.

“Wait a second.” Tech stopped in place, smacking his head. “I am a complete idiot.” - Igneoux watched as the glowing red orb got brighter and brighter. Suddenly, there was a green flash next to him, which faded to reveal a somewhat dizzy Tech, untransformed.

“What happened up there?” Igneoux asked.

“Not much. Realized something I should’ve just done in the first place.” Tech answered, twisting the SpecTrix dial.

There was an explosive wave of noise, preceding the glowing orb suddenly getting launched towards the Earth, growing bigger and bigger in the sky. Tech slammed down on the SpecTrix dial, transforming into Rockoustic. He then slammed down on the dial again, causing four clamps to spring from it and attach to his chest. A green explosion sounded from the dial as Rockoustic’s body shattered, his shards suddenly turning a shimmering white. The shards clumped together and merged into several multicolored gemstones, from which a white energy flowed. The energy twisted and turned, merging together into a humanoid shape, and eventually fading to reveal a slim, crystalline form, surrounded by five translucent white crystals, each shimmering with a rainbow pattern.

“Are you sure it’s a good idea to fight like that?” Igneoux asked.

“Nope, but I’m not fighting anything.” Tech replied. “I’m just playing a quick game of catch!”

Tech flew into the air, the crystals surrounding him taking on a wing-like formation. After a few moments of flying, he finally reached a point where the massive orb of energy was only a mere hundred meters away. At this distance, he could see its true size, which had grown to become even bigger than the robot that had launched it.

“I really hope this works!”

With that, he threw his hands towards the energy ball, causing his crystals to fly out in front of him into a star pattern. The crystals began rotating, slowly moving faster and faster until they became a blur, creating an impressive shield of whirring light. Only mere seconds later, the ball made contact with the shield, creating a massive explosion of air around the two struggling forces. The orb slowly kept moving downwards, forcing Tech down with it.

Thinking quickly, Tech threw up a barrier of sound to assist the shield, slowing down their descent considerably, but still not stopping it. After a few moments of struggling to get lift, he suddenly got an idea. He quickly recalled the shield and sound barrier, instead moving the crystals into a spinning drill formation around his right arm, then creating a field of sound inside the rotating crystals. He reared back, putting all the strength he could muster into this blow.

“Now, play ball!”

Tech slammed his fist into the energy ball, sending it careening back into the sky, leaving behind a trail of red plasma in its wake. -- “What’s taking so long?” The Puppet Master snapped from his cockpit in the mecha’s head. “We charged that sucker for ten minutes! The Earth should be in pieces by now!”

“I knew this was a waste of time.” Dethrouge growled from his console in the stomach.

“If you’re trying to blame me for this, you appear to have a crucial misunderstanding of how physics work. By every fixed eternal law of the universe, that planet shouldn’t still be around!”

“You’re the one who-hold on, something’s screwing up my energy readings.”

Dethrouge’s console started beeping, followed swiftly by The Puppet Master’s.

“Well, that’s odd.” The Puppet Master commented. “The only thing strong enough to give off that sort of energy signal would be...oh.”

“You have got to be kidding me.”

Before the two could react, the energy sphere they had launched came rushing back at them from Earth’s atmosphere, slamming into the mech with an unbelievably massive explosion. The energy field surrounding its surface shattered, scorching the surface metal. In spite of this, after the energy eventually faded, the mech was left largely undamaged, save for the scorch marks.

“How about we don’t try that again?” Dethrouge seethed.

“Well, even if I wanted to, I couldn’t.” The Puppet Master replied, running a system scan. “It looks like shielding the machine from that sort of explosion fried the hypernova drive.”

“It what?”

“Calm down! This just means we’ll have to use your Great Sun armor as an energy source. We’ll have to destroy the planet manually, of course, but it will still be faster than you simply doing it yourself.”

“If that is true, where would you suggest we start?”

“I say we start by destroying the town that wretched child lives in. While we’re at it, we can get him out of the way for good.”

Suddenly, a red light started beeping on their control panels.

“What is it now?!” Dethrouge snapped.

“Let’s see...” “ The Puppet Master examined the console. “Well, that can’t be right.”

“What can’t be right?”

“It says there’s a cloaked Specterian-produced warship approaching.”

“Why is that a problem?”

“According to the records, they were all destroyed in the Specterian Civil War. Must be a glitch.”

Before Dethrouge could respond, there was a massive impact as a large object hit them from behind, ramming the mech towards Earth.

It was certainly no glitch.

Warlord Kroz had finally found Dethrouge.

And he was pissed. - “Is it just me, or was that way too easy?” Tech asked.

He had detransformed, and was still staring up into the sky with Igneoux.

“Oh, absolutely.” Igneoux agreed. “If some sort of horrible twist on this situation doesn’t occur in the next ten minutes, I will eat my hat.”

“You don’t have a hat.”

“I’m not very good with commitment.”

Suddenly, a massive rumble filled the air around them, shaking the ground.

“What the hell?!” Tech exclaimed. “Since when does this area get earthquakes?!”

“That’s no earthquake!” Igneoux corrected, pointing into the sky. “That’s a spaceship!”

“What are you-”

Tech looked up, seeing the giant mecha from earlier being rammed towards the ground at high speed, by an equally massive maroon spaceship with a vaguely scorpion-esque shape. The two huge machines were headed on a crash course directly into a nearby mountain.

“HOLY SHI-”

Tech was interrupted by the devastating explosion produced by the mecha being slammed viciously into the ground, whipping up a massive cloud of dirt and debris as Tech and Igneoux stared on in disbelief, jaws agape. After a few minutes, the cloud settled, revealing both machines to be completely unharmed, despite the utter destruction of the mountain they had hit.

“OH MY...WHAT THE...!” Igneoux yelled. “WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!”

“I HAVE NO IDEA!” Tech yelled back. “THAT’S THE BEST THING I’VE EVER SEEN!”

“Eh, I’ve seen better.”

“Excuse me?”

“I fixed a break in my timeline by electrocuting a planet, and met my own descendant while doing it. There’s not a lot that can really surprise me anymore, kid.”

Before Tech could respond, the giant mecha suddenly stirred, grabbing the ship that had rammed it and lobbing it into the air, then firing a light beam at it. The beam simply bounced off the ship’s tough exterior, giving the it enough time to activate its thrusters again and balance itself out.

“Who dares attack The Puppet Master?!” Xenon’s voice boomed from the mech. “You’ve sealed your fate, fool! This mockery will be your-”

“Silence!” A far more imposing voice boomed from the large ship.

“Hold on a second, I know that voice!” Tech exclaimed. “That’s-”

“I am Warlord Kroz the Fifth, high overlord of the Emotispecters, conqueror of worlds!” Kroz’s voice boomed over the area. “I have no interest in you or your petty ways, Puppet Master. I am here for the man who attacked one of the planets under my rule and protection, Dethrouge!”

“You seem to understand nothing of this situation, Specterian!” Dethrouge’s voice boomed from the mech. “Though our machine may not be able to destroy yours now, the reverse also holds true! In addition, we have a truly unlimited energy source. Can you say the same for your warship?!”

“You raise a good point about our machines.” Kroz admitted. “In that case, I will simply have to destroy you manually!”

With that, a small hatch opened on the side of the warship, revealing a frighteningly determined Kroz. He exited his ship, flying over towards the mecha and hovering in front of its face. Booming laughter sounded from the mech.

“Are you serious?!” The Puppet Master exclaimed. “You couldn’t possibly hope to actually accomplish anythi-”

Xenon was interrupted by Kroz swiftly punching the mech in the face, sending it stumbling backwards.

“What the-?!”

Kroz followed up with a carefully executed routine of blows to various parts of the mecha, driving it backwards. The Puppet Master tried to retaliate with various light beams, but Kroz managed to dodge each of them, leaving them to decimate whatever part of the landscape was behind him.

“This...is amazing.” Tech said, watching the fight unfold in front of him in awed disbelief.

“No, it’s not!” Igneoux snapped. “It’s impressive, yes, but look what’s happening to the surrounding area!”

Tech broke his eyes away from the fight scene to observe the landscape. Burning trees and charred craters dotted the area, giving the once serene environment something of an apocalyptic feel.

“...Oh.”

“If they get anywhere near a city, the collateral damage could be catastrophic!” Igneoux continued. “We have to break up that fight somehow!”

“One problem with that. Specifically, the fact that both of them are ridiculously powerful compared to me.”

“So, what, you’re just going to give up?!”

“No, I’m not you.” Tech started messing with the SpecTrix dial. “I’m just saying not to be surprised if I get the crap beaten out of me.”

With that, Tech transformed into Temportal and created a portal, stepping through to reach the site of the battle. The ground shook heavily, as the massive robot above him was getting hit with a furious volley of blows from Kroz. Tech transformed into Steelith, using his metal control to grab a hold of one of the robot’s legs. As the giant machine tried to step backwards once again, its leg was caught in place, tripping it onto its back.

“Logical!” Kroz took notice of Tech on the ground below. “Stay out of this! You’re not powerful enough to take this machine down!”

“Maybe not, but if you keep this fight up unchecked, you’re going to destroy everything in the area!” Tech yelled back. “I’m just as pissed as you are, believe me, but my job is to protect the planet, not blow everything up fighting someone!”

“What are you suggesting?!”

“I’m suggesting you stay out of this! You can’t beat this thing either, and dodging the light beams just means that they’re going to end up hitting something else!”

“I do not abandon fights, Logical! My honor insists-”

“Your honor isn’t going to bring anyone that ends up dying because of this back!” Tech snapped. “I may not be nearly as strong as you, but so help me god, I will kick your ass if you so much as cause one death from fighting this thing!”

Kroz paused for a moment, taken aback by Tech’s sudden ferocity. He hadn’t even seemed this angry after being killed on Zenthin.

“And you believe you can stop this machine?”

“I have no idea, but I’ll be damned if I let a single blow from it hit any innocent person!” Tech yelled back with conviction.

Kroz closed his eyes in thought for a few seconds.

“Alright.” He finally said. “If that is your final decision, I will leave.”

Kroz began flying off, but paused for a moment to look back at the robot, which was trying to get back to its feet.

“Logical!” He called back. “Give them hell!”

With that, Kroz left the area. The mech finally made it to its feet, spotting Tech standing far below.

“Sending away someone stronger than you just for the possibility of saving some worthless humans?” The Puppet Master cackled from the machine. “You really are a fool!”

“Maybe, but if that is the case, this fool’s gonna kick your ass!” Tech yelled back.

“Oh, please. Allow me to show you just how fruitless your efforts are!”

The mecha suddenly lifted off the ground, propelled by multiple rocket boosters in its legs.

“See you downtown!”

The robot took off into the air, soaring towards an unknown destination at an unnatural speed.

“Downtow-?” Tech repeated in confusion, before suddenly realizing what Xenon had meant. “Oh crap, he’s trying to find a city!”

Tech quickly transformed into Electrolite, taking off after them as a bolt of lightning. --- After a few minutes of flying away from the mountains and through miles of desert, the robot finally came across a massive sprawl of buildings and roads, indicating the presence of a city. The Puppet Master quickly flew it towards the center of the urban sprawl, eventually landing gracefully in the downtown. A shocked population stared up at the unbelievably huge machine in awe, a few taking out their phones and snapping pictures of it.

“Citizens of whatever backwards city this is!” The Puppet Master’s voice crackled from the mecha’s speakers. “We come from the stars in peace!”

After a few moments of letting that statement sink in, he started laughing maniacally.

“Oh, who am I kidding?!” He cackled. “We’re going to kill all of you!”

He punctuated this morbid declaration by shooting a light beam at a nearby building. Mere seconds before it made contact, a yellow bolt zipped in front of it and transformed in a green flash, which faded to reveal Rebide, who absorbed the beam and fell to the ground with a heavy thud. The crowd that had gathered flew into a panic, tripping over each other to flee the scene.

“You certainly took your time, Logical!” The Puppet Master mocked. “I hope this isn’t the attitude you take with your normal fights!”

“Pulling things off at the last second is something I specialize in!” Tech yelled back. “Don’t you forget that, you son of a bitch!”

“Oh don’t worry!” The Puppet Master replied from the mech, charging another light beam. “I don’t think I’m ever going to forget today!”

The robot launched the beam from its right palm, sending it rushing straight for Tech, who countered at the last second with the energy he had absorbed from the first light beam.

“The day I killed off a pathetic worm and destroyed his entire backwater planet!”

The robot’s light beam slowly started overpowering Tech’s own limited energy pool, edging closer and closer. After a few moments of this, the light beam suddenly surged in power, slamming into Tech and throwing him into the wall of a nearby building before fading. The robot swiftly started to charge another beam, as Tech groggily pulled himself off the wall. Catching sight of what was happening, he quickly transformed into Destramonium and rushed the robot, rearing back and delivering a furious volley of blows to its right leg. The Puppet Master shook the mech’s leg in annoyance, trying to kick him away.

Tech managed to hold onto the leg, transforming into Splitter and grabbing on with his claws. He quickly multiplied himself, causing a wave of clones to start making their way up the robot, eventually enveloping the towering mecha in a coat of living bodies.

“Why, you little-!” The Puppet Master began, twisting the charging cannon to face the robot’s hull.

“Xenon, you idiot!” Dethrouge snapped.

Dethrouge quickly took hold of his controls, whipping the cannon to face the sky as it fired, sending the light beam up into the atmosphere.

“What do you think you’re doing?!” The Puppet Master demanded.

“In case you’ve forgotten, our machine’s cannons are powered by the same thing as the shields! You would have carved right through them!”

“Well then, how do you propose getting rid of these pests?!”

“Just leave them to me.”

Dethrouge grabbed hold of a lever on his console and slammed it upwards, overloading the energy shields. The extra energy exploded from the surface of the robot, incinerating most of the Splitter clones instantaneously. The original Tech and several copies managed to catch sight of this just in time, leaping off the robot in the split second before the energy wave hit them.

Tech quickly transformed into Praplant, grabbing a hold of the mecha’s leg with his massive maw, pulling it out from under the machine.

“Again?!” The Puppet Master exclaimed.

“This is pathetic.” Dethrouge growled.

Dethrouge took the controls, throwing the mech’s leg out behind it, stabilizing the robot. He swiftly reared back the robot’s right arm, clenching its fist, then slammed it downwards at incredible speed towards an off-guard Tech. Upon impact, the massive blow sent Tech flying towards another building. Before he could hit it, however, another blow from the robot smashed into his head, sending him crashing into the ground. As soon as he hit the street below, the mecha swiftly started stomping him further into the asphalt. Every impact of the machine’s foot cracked the ground further, driving Tech down into the earth.

“I! HAVE! HAD! ENOUGH! OF! THIS!” Dethrouge accentuated each blow with his furious yelling.

After a few more moments of this, he grabbed Tech’s limp, unconscious body from the crater it had formed, lifting it in front of his cockpit in the stomach. The damage the transformation had received forced the SpecTrix to detransform Tech, waking him up and causing the robot’s already massive form to tower over him even more.

“I neither know or care what has happened between you two idiots, but I am quite frankly done with this time-wasting charade!” Dethrouge snapped. “Begone!”

With that, the robot reared back and threw Tech as fast as possible towards a nearby building for what would be a fatal impact. Moments before he made contact with the building, however, a hooked spear attached to a wire shot out of seemingly nowhere, snagging his shirt and pulling him towards the ground in the opposite direction. He made a painful, but significantly less messy impact with the ground, prompting a grunt of pain. Swiftly transforming into Overtide to get rid of his injuries, he got to his feet, finding three multicolored figures standing in front of him.

“Hey, kid.” Magister Blue said. “Looks like you could use a hand.” --- “What are you guys doing here?” Tech asked.

“You kidding? Fighting Dethrouge was the whole reason Azmuth woke us up!” Magister Yellow answered. “As soon as reports started coming about a machine destroying the landscape with a bunch of light beams, we came as fast as possible!”

“So you three are going to try and take that thing down?”

“Oh, hell no.” Magister Red replied. “No way we’re taking it out by ourselves. We’re going to from Omega before anything happens to us.”

“What’s Omega?”

“Watch and learn, kid.” Magister Blue said. “Let’s do this!”

With that, the three Magisters turned to face each other, each one pressing a fist to their Data Crystals. Their crystals started glowing a bright white, followed swiftly by their whole bodies. The white glows suddenly rushed at each other, merging into one massive, glowing light. The light swiftly started taking a humanoid form, with a detailed surface forming from the energy. Light rippled over the finished form one last time, exploding out from it to a reveal a massive, jet-black robotic humanoid.

“Omega formation, complete!” It shouted with a deep, booming voice.

“I take back what I said earlier.” Tech said, staring up at the eighteen-foot synthetic in awe. “That is the best thing I’ve ever seen.”

“You ain’t seen nothing yet, kid!” Omega responded. “Check this out!”

Omega threw its right hand in the air as if it were grabbing a hold of something. A white glow poured from its palm, growing in size and quickly forming a detailed shape. The light faded to reveal a massive corseque with a sword-like hilt, which appeared to have a flat thruster of some sort on either side.

“That seems both amazingly cool and amazingly useless in actual battle.” Tech remarked.

“That’s because you haven’t seen anything like me wielding anything like this!”

The massive mecha standing overhead finally turned to find Tech and Omega on the ground behind it.

“Okay, I have no idea what just happened, but that’s not going to stop me from killing you and everyone else on this damned planet!” The Puppet Master yelled furiously from the robot.

Omega turned to face the massive machine, then proceeded to make a ‘come at me’ gesture with its free hand.

“Oh, I’ll do more than come at you, you strangely smug robot man that popped out of nowhere!” The Puppet Master slammed on his console. “I will incinerate you where you stand!”

The robot swiftly raised up its right palm and fired off a shot at Omega, who dodged the beam with incredible speed unbecoming of its size. It quickly reared back the arm it was holding the corseque in and lobbed it forward, the weapon cutting through the air for a few feet before suddenly disappearing. Almost immediately after, the weapon reappeared directly in front of the robot’s face, smashing into it and momentarily piercing the energy fields before falling to the ground, creating an impressive crack in the machine’s head.

“What the-Impossible!” The Puppet Master snapped. “WHY WON’T YOU JUST DIE?!”

He quickly started charging a massive light beam in the mecha’s right palm. Omega stared on calmly, heavily contrasting Tech, who would have been in a nervous sweat if he wasn’t made of water at the moment.

“Hey, uh, Omega!” Tech said. “Don’t you think we should probably, I don’t know, move?!”

“Don’t worry kid, I got this.”

After a few more seconds of charging, the robot lunged forward with its palm cannon.

“JUST DIE, DAMN YOU!” The Puppet Master screamed furiously. “DIE!”

The robot fired off the charged beam, which shot towards Omega and Tech with a low-pitched roar. Seconds before it made impact, Omega raised up its left hand, which started glowing with a shimmering, multicolored energy..

“Omega Beam!” It shouted.

The energy shot out of Omega’s hand, forming an unexpectedly massive beam of plasma. The Omega Beam made contact with the robot’s light beam, blocking it and creating a massive explosion. The mecha kept up the light attack, causing an impressive beam struggle.

For about five seconds.

Omega threw its other hand forward, doubling the Omega Beam’s power. The newly strengthened beam of plasma shot forward, pushing forward into the robot’s light beam, overcoming its power and pushing it back, shooting forward into the robot’s palm. The combined energy of the Omega beam and the robot’s own backfiring beam shot up the power lines up into the robot’s right arm, causing a few localized sparks. Omega cut off the Omega beam, lowering its hands.

“Shouldn’t you keep attacking?!” Tech asked.

“Wait for it...”

The mech paused for a few seconds, carefully flexing the hydraulics on its arms.

“Oh, this is just beautiful!” The Puppet Master cackled. “All that power, and you didn’t even destroy anything?!”

The robot pointed the same palm back at Omega.

“I’d say it was nice knowing you, but I’d be lying.”

The robot’s palm began glowing, but suddenly began sparking and seized up.

“What the-”

The Puppet Master was interrupted by the robot’s right arm violently exploding, bursting the energy shields. Omega immediately took action, jumping into the air and tackling the robot, sending it stumbling backwards.

“Come on, kid!” Omega yelled back at Tech. “I ain’t bringing this thing down myself!”

Tech quickly transformed into Electrolite and zapped towards the robot, firing a stream of electrical energy at it. The metal frame crackled with electricity, causing The Puppet Master to yelp in pain before throwing up his own electric shield.

“Well, what do you know?” Tech joked. “I guess we’ll be having some fried crab for dinner!”

“Hey, you know what?” The Puppet Master snapped from inside the robot. “Screw you!”

“You’re both idiots.” Dethrouge groaned from his cockpit, taking control of the robot and standing it back up.

Upon standing up, the robot quickly soared up into the air, charging up a beam with its remaining arm.

“What do you think you’re doing?” The Puppet Master demanded.

“I’m light bombing the damn town!” Dethrouge snapped in response. “We could have destroyed half the country if you hadn’t taken the time to fight your own petty rival! Now we are down an entire arm! If we do not destroy this entire planet toady, I am personally going to choke the life out of you!”

“Fine! If you think you can do much better, feel free to take the wheel!”

“I certainly-”

“Hold on, there’s something coming at us!”

“What are you-?”

Dethrouge was interrupted by a massive impact that shook the mech’s entire frame. He activated the outside cameras, finding Tech as Ultimate Rockoustic pushing the robot further into the atmosphere.

“Hey, Dethrouge!” Tech yelled. “You’re powered by the sun, right?!”

“Why does that-”

“How about we get you in for a closer look!”

Tech created a massive explosion behind him, propelling them upwards.

“Aquadilus, now!” Tech shouted into the SpecTrix.

The SpecTrix beeped, then created a massive green flash, which faded to reveal that Tech and the mecha had disappeared, leaving behind an eery silence in their wake.

“No idea what that kid’s doing.” Omega remarked. “But I gotta admit, he’s got guts!”

Protagonists

 * Tech
 * Aquadilus
 * Alvono
 * Igneoux
 * Magister Blue
 * Magister Red
 * Magister Yellow

Antagonists

 * The Puppet Master
 * Dethrouge

Normal Aliens

 * Temportal
 * Terminano (Evolved)
 * Rockoustic (x2) (Evolved)
 * Electrolite (x2)
 * Rebide
 * Destramonium
 * Splitter
 * Praplant
 * Overtide