With twenty floors in the Spire of Order, only ten remained before Shadow and the others reached Order itself.
"Good going, guys! And we got a locker key out of the deal!" Pearl said. "That boss though, huh? This Order creep ain't pulling its munches anymore."
"And I agree with you. But somehow, I think these bosses are slowly learning our fighting patterns." Eight said. "I have a weird feeling about it. And Order."
"So do I. Not sure why though." Shadow said.
"It must've made these to stop anyone from ruining its plan. I remember it said it wants to turn the Memverse into a 'colorless world of order'." Marina said.
"And if we're turned into mindless puppets in a colorless world, then Mephiles will have won in our world." Rouge said.
"That's right." Omega said.
"A world of mindless puppets, huh? Sounds exactly like where I was before I came here." Acht said.
"Acht...you weren't in the Deepsea Metro, were you?" Marina asked, in concern.
"Hold up-the Deepsea Metro?! That's where we pulled Eight and Shadow from!" Pearl said, in shock.
"That's the place. Someone or something there took my will away. I was forced to DJ for it." Acht replied. "I don't remember much about my time there. Except... I heard this voice... Point is, it's better left in the past."
"I can't believe you went through something so awful!" Marina said, in concern. "You know, I developed the Memverse in the first place to restore the minds of 'sanitized' Octarians like you. And since we're having this conversation, that means it must've worked!"
"Huh. So that was you, was it? I'm racking up quite the debt." Acht said.
"Guess you have a good point to why you created this place, haven't you?" Shadow said. "At least it's working to those who were affected by what Tartar had caused years ago."
"All this is even more reason to take back the Memverse from Order. Those other Octolings need help too!" Pearl said, worried.
"Time to get back to work then." Shadow said.
"Uh-huh!" Eight nodded.
Shadow and Eight looked back to the floor selection.
"Looks like there's another Vending-Machine Corner coming up." Eight said. "I'll take it, before we continue our journey."
"Alright." Shadow shrugged.
Eight selected the Vending-Machine Corner for Floor 21F.
(// Spire Tower: Floors 21F-29F //)
(*Timestamps and agent selected below*)
*21F: 1:20:41; Eight
22F: 1:21:26; Shadow, Rouge, and Omega
23F: 1:24:00; Shadow and Eight
24F: 1:27:14; Rouge
25F: 1:29:14; Shadow
26F: 1:31:21; Eight and Rouge
27F: 1:32:29; Shadow, Omega, and Eight
28F: 1:34:25; All Four
29F: 1:36:39; Eight*
(/\ Dialogue after certain floors /\)
(/\ Floor 25F /\)
"This run's going pretty good, huh, guys? Feel like we GOTTA be getting close now." Pearl said.
"We are down to five floors left." Shadow said.
"You're right! We're almost at the top floor!" Marina said.
"Awww yeah! Shouldn't be long before we get this wrapped up. Then it's back to our world tour!" Pearl said.
"Off the Hook, was it? I'm eager to get out of here so I can catch your act." Acht said. "I also heard you guys performed with Sonic Underground before the Days of Darkness War."
"Our science together is TIGHT! Peep the disclaimer first, 'cause we've been known to blow minds!" Pearl said.
"We still have a few shows left in our tour. You, Eight, and the others are more than welcome to come see one!" Pearl said.
"That would be nice." Rouge said.
"But with Mephiles probably still out there, we can't stick around in this world for long." Shadow said.
"I'll think about it. Though it'd mean flying. Never been on a plane before." Acht said.
"Blaze has a fear of heights. She's probably not the only one." Shadow said.
(/\ Floor 29F /\)
"Top Floor, everyone." Acht said.
"Order must be waiting for us there." Marina said. "I'm partly responsible for what's going on, so...I'll go out there with you guys."
"Without a weapon?! Forget THAT!" Pearl said, in concern.
"I know, I know! But I have to." Marina said.
"Look, it's pretty much impossible to change Marina's mind once it's set." Acht said. "But she can handle herself without a weapon. There shouldn't be a problem."
"That's so sweet of you, Acht!" Marina smiled.
"She does have a point." Shadow said. "I'm voting that Marina comes along."
Rouge, Omega, and Eight nodded in agreement.
"Alright, I can see when I'm outvoted. No big blazes of glory though, OK?" Pearl said.
"You got it, Pearl!" Marina said.
"You coming too, Acht?" Pearl asked.
"Nah. I'd rather not get in your way. I'll watch from here in case things go south." Acht replied.
"Good looking out. And yo, if things go real bad, keep Marina safe!" Pearl said. "Get hyped! Get psyched! Get ready for a big ol' messy FIGHT!"
"Time to put an end to Order." Shadow said, about to press the button for the top floor.
The elevator shook, making everyone fall to the floor. A puff of dark smoke blew in, clearing up moments later in which Mephiles was with everyone in the elevator.
"Honestly... I would've expected you to fall already. But no!" Mephiles said, in anger. "You continue to come after me!"
"Mephiles!" Shadow said, standing up.
Eight fired her Splattershot at him, but the ink went right through him.
"Do you honestly think I'm that dumb to come here myself? Pathetic." Mephiles said.
"What do you want, Mephiles?!" Pearl said, in anger. "You've already attempted to get rid of us in the Days of Darkness War. If you're gonna do something much worse, you might as well do it now!"
Mephiles sighed, and shook his head.
"I was going to appear in person, and cut the elevator to make you fall straight to the bottom and kill you... but my old team wants revenge for you destroying me during the war." Mephiles explained. "So, I'll leave them to it. Looks like your goal of getting out of this reality is gonna hit a detour."
The illusion of Mephiles then disappeared, leaving everyone to wonder what he meant by that.
"What did he mean by that?" Acht asked, worried.
"During the war, Mephiles had a team of Octolings called the Octostrikers by his side." Shadow explained. "Along with one of our enemies from Mobius. Scourge."
"You mean Octavio's most elite Octoling warriors? How did those guys end up working for him?!" Acht asked, in shock.
"Scourge had them under his control, to focus on stopping Sonic the second time the Great Zapfish was stolen." Shadow explained. "I'm guessing Mephiles must've taken over that control on them afterwards.
"Dark." Acht said, feeling bad for the Octostrikers.
The elevator came to a halt, before the doors opened up.
"Looks like we're gonna find out what Mephiles meant by facing against his old team." Eight said.
"Come on, guys." Shadow said, walking out the elevator.
Shadow, Rouge, Omega, Eight, and Pearl all went out to find out who or what they were gonna face next.
(\\// Floor 29.5F \\//)
Out in the area of the selected floor, a bleached out robotic inkling emerged from the other side. It looked like Agent 4. As well, a copy of Pearl's drone form flew by. More robot inkling warriors emerged from the ink as well.
'Image belongs to Nintendo.'
Four more beings landed in front of them. It was the Octostrikers.
"Who is that?" Rouge asked.
"That looks like..." Pearl said, slowly figuring out who they are.
"The Octostrikers?!" Shadow and Eight recognized them.
"Those strikers had no power!" Revenant said. "We're brand spanking new!"
"We're faster than them." Jinx said.
"Smarter than them." Gizmo said.
"Stronger than them." Rogue said.
"Better than them in every single way!" Revenant said. "The same four Octolings... but in a different kind of style."
"Brawn's over brains! Rogue!" Rogue called out, taking out a Splatana Stamper.
"Streaks of blue rushing out to the battlefield! Jinx!" Jinx twirled out a Splat Brush.
"The brains of the group... Gizmo!" Gizmo took out a set of dualies.
"And the leader of them all... Revenant!" Revenant took out his Octo Shot.
"And we're..." The four Octolings took their fighting stance. "The Shatterstrikers!"
"Shatterstrikers?" Pearl said, confused.
"Mephiles must've taken control of them again." Eight said, taking out her Splattershot.
"It doesn't matter what you call yourselves, it'll always end the same." Shadow said, taking out his dualies. "With you four being destroyed, just like your master!"
"We'll see about that. Shatterstrikers, attack!" Revenant ordered, as his team and robot inkling army dove in.
Rogue didn't realize what to do at first, until Jinx grabbed him by his ankle to pull him down.
"Rogue, get yo' ass down here!" Jinx called out, pulling him down in the black ink.
"Wha-ahh!" Rogue yelped, being pulled down in his octopus form. "Sorry!"
(// Parallel Cannon; Boss Fight w/ Shatterstrikers //)
(*Skip to 1:17:00 for the fight.*)
(After the fight...)
Revenant was still standing, but was barely able to fight.
"You... haven't won yet." Revenant said, out of breath. "I'm still standing!"
"Yeah. We'll see about that." Shadow said, before throwing one of his dualies up in the air.
He activated his Splat Gauntlet up once again, charging its power.
"Aww, nuts." Revenant said, before Shadow punched him into a pile of ink.
Revenant screamed in pain from being splat out.
"Served that son of a bitch right." Shadow caught his dualie that he threw up in the air.
He put his weapons away, before grabbing the locker key out in the middle of the arena. Everyone went back to the elevator to continue their journey. The Shatterstrikers regenerated from the ink puddle, before Mephiles appeared before them.
"We're sorry, master. We failed you." Jinx said.
"No. You didn't fail me." Mephiles said, as they stood up. "Of course, you're still getting used to your new powers. You'll need more training. Return to Soleanna, and recover your strength."
"Yes, master." The Shatterstrikers said in unison, before Mephiles sent them back to Soleanna.
Mephiles sighed, and looked up.
"Looks Shadow is gonna reach the top floor at any moment. Time to give Order a boost in his new found power." Mephiles disappeared in a puff of dark smoke.
With an unexpected encounter with Mephiles and the Octostrikers, who now go by their new name 'Shatterstrikers', there is only one more boss battle Shadow and the others have to face to escape the World of Order.
(End of Chapter 6)
(Publish date: 4/23/2024)