Note: Due to the fact that I'm posting this from somewhere I shouldn't be, I don't have the chance to respond to any of your comments. Sorry 'bout that. Also, from here on, there will be spoilers concerning the Bomberman Jetters anime, so I'm warning you, don't read if you haven't watched it yet!

Hope y'all have been enjoying Bomberman LIVE as much as I have!

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Chapter Seven: Bomberman Max

Boom!!

Three soldiers fell to the ground, dead. Max stepped forward, careful not to fall over the ledge in front of him. The enemy ship was right above him, and he to admit, its size was impressive. The ocean beneath had been cast in shadow but still flowed calmly, as if it hadn't been affected by all that had happened. Max peered over the edge of the pier, looking into his reflection; it was hard to imagine that he was based off MA-0, the android "host" to Bomberman's legendary brother, Mighty.

He had been in complete awe over how much damage these soldiers had done to the city, yet at the same time, was impressed; unlike the HigeHige Dan, these guys wanted their point made loud and clear, and he wondered if Shirobon had even made it up there yet. After observing his fight with one of the Sinister Bombers, he was getting a tad concerned for the kid, though he'd never show it. He had to admit, though, that Shiro's skills were improving greatly by the day.

"I should be able to teach him the Hyper Plasma technique," he said quietly.

He watched as a small opening appeared from underneath the hull of the ship, and soon, fighter jets began to soar out from it. There were at least seven of them he counted, but something else had caught his attention; a young man in black was standing on the surface of the ocean below it. It was the Sinister Bomber Shiro had fought earlier.

"How is he doing that?" Max muttered, staring at the floating swordsman.

Suddenly, a beam appeared, and the man began rising into the air. What? He's not on their side… Max waited until the bomber disappeared into the ship, then kneeled down. With all his might, he jumped as high as he could—

—And soon, he was hanging from the ledge of the ship's hull. He pulled himself up as the shuttle doors below him began to close. There were many fighter jets still lined up in the hangar, but the young swordsman was nowhere to be seen.

"Well, at least I'm on the ship." he sighed.

The room was quiet as he walked to the door that lay in the distance, his footsteps echoing through the cold silence. A metal railway soon appeared before him, another door at the end of the trail. He continued down the path, looking at what was below him; massive supplies of weapons were carefully organized in rows.

The door opened, and soon he found himself standing in the middle of a long hallway, many doors on either side of him. A patrolling guard was down to the right, and two more were on his left. He dashed down to the single, and quickly snapped his neck. He dropped the body, and then raised his hand into the air.

"Hyper…" he began to chant as dark energy began flowing into his palm. "Plasma Bomb!"

Boom!

The two guards were killed, disintegrating into nothingness. Max shrugged off the debris on his shoulder and continued down the hall. A rather large steel door sat at the end, a giant emblem in the shape of a silver "R" bolted onto it.

CRASH!

The door burst open as he kicked it, a large, circular room inside. In the middle of the room lay a giant machine; what it was he couldn't tell, but it had to be this "Phantom" Ein was telling him about earlier. A group of corpses off in the back suddenly caught his attention, each belonging to the army here.

"It's rather big, isn't it?" a voice came from behind him.

A shady figure emerged from behind the door, a sword in his hand; it was the Sinister Bomber.

"Look at it," he said. "It's huge. Makes you wonder how they even got it in the first place."

Max said nothing, only watching as the young man stood there.

"You're a quiet one, aren't you?" he pointed his blade at Max.

"Or you just talk too much." Max replied, arms folded.

The swordsman chuckled. "Maybe."

Quickly, he dashed at Max, swinging his blade furiously in a downwards motion; Max jumped out of the way, using the distance to form a bomb in his hand.

"So you're a bomberman, huh?" the swordsman said.

"Not exactly." Max replied. "Fire bomb!"

As he tossed the explosive, the swordsman quickly cut through it with his sword, countering with a bomb of his own.

Boom!

The explosion caught Max, knocking him back into the wall behind him.

"Faster…" Max muttered, standing upright.

Quickly, the bomber dashed for Max and slashed, but the android quickly threw his arm in front of him, blocking the attack, and then used his free hand to punch him in the face. As the swordsman stumbled back, Max lifted his arm into the air, summoning all the energy he could at the moment.

"Hyper Plasma Bomb!"

Before he could regain his footing, Max shot the bomb at the young man.

BOOM!

The bomb slammed into the swordsman through the wall of the ship. Max peered over the side and watched as he hit the surface of the ocean, sinking into its depths.

"Thought this would last a little longer," he said. "So much for that."

Beep.

He flipped open the communicator on his wrist, and an image of Professor Ein appeared.

"Max!" he shouted. "It's Bomberman!"

"What's wrong?"

"His signal hasn't moved for quite some time. I need you to go and find him, and see if he's alright! I'll guide you in his direction."

Max sighed.

"…Alright. Where is he?"

-- -- -- -- --

"Nii-chan…"

"It'll be alright, Shiro." Mighty smiled.

"I'm… I'm scared, though. What if I can't do it?"

"Shiro, no matter how scary something seems, stay strong, and never give up."

"But—"

"I know it seems hard, and at times impossible to be brave, but if you never give up, you'll find your way."

Shiro sat there, looking up at his older brother, the golden glow of the sun shining down on them. He wiped the tears traveling down his cheeks and stood up.

"Y-you're sure…?" he asked.

"Positive." Mighty smiled again.

"O-okay. I think… I think I can do it."

"I know you can, Shirobon. Remember, I'll always love you, no matter the circumstances."

-- -- -- -- --

Bomberman suddenly awoke, breathing quickly.

"Just a dream…" he said to himself. "That's all…"

Slowly, he sat up and wiped the sweat from his brow. Where am I…? He was sitting on the edge of a small bed, and Pommy was gently sleeping on the ground below him. He watched as his small stomach moved up and down for a moment, and then realized where they were; the prison block of the enemy battleship. He shifted uncomfortably, then stood up, walking towards the steel bars keeping them in. The prison was huge; hundreds of cells lined the walls and ceiling. People filled them for the most part, and he saw that most of them – from what he could see – were citizens of Planet Bomber. They must have been in here for quite some time, because everyone seemed to be sleeping; there wasn't a sound to be heard. He turned around and gently nudged Pommy.

"Wake up, Pommy!" he whispered.

"…Just a few minutes more," Pommy groaned. "Pommy isn't quite ready to face the disappointments of another day…"

"Burning Fire…" Bomberman started to chant.

Pommy quickly jumped to his feet.

"Pommy's awake! Pommy's awake!"

"Good." Bomberman replied. "Have any ideas on how to get out of here? Besides blowing down the walls, of course."

Pommy shrugged. He walked over to the steel bars and examined them for a moment.

"Doesn't look like Pommy can fit through the bars… maybe there's another—"

BOOM!!

The wall behind them exploded. On instinct, Bomberman grabbed Pommy and fell chest to the floor, barely avoiding the fire. After the smoke cleared, he stood up and turned around; a black android was standing amongst the smoking rubble.

"Max!" he shouted.

"C'mon, Shiro," he stepped inside. "I thought you'd have more skill than that to stay out of prison."

"Funny." Bomberman smirked. "I was taken by surprise, alright?"

He noticed some serious scratches on the android's left arm.

"What happened to you? Those look deep."

"That's none of your business," he turned and jumped back into the hallway he had come from. "Now follow me."

Bomberman and Pommy stepped through, trying not to breathe in the smoke the debris was emanating. Max started down the hall, breaking into a sprint; Bomberman and Pommy followed, slightly struggling to keep up. He knew better than to ask Max where they were going; knowing him, it had to be important. After chasing him down a rather long and twisting hall, he had led them to the front of a giant steel door with another "R" emblem on it. Of course, it looked as if it had already been knocked in: it was barely hanging by its hinges. As they stepped inside, Bomberman stood in awe as he looked up at what was in front of him: the Phantom.

A giant missile-looking object sat in the center of the room, a large keyboard wrapped around it. Blinking lights flashed all over as it read what looked to be computer code on the monitor above it. It reached up to the ceiling, about twenty-five feet, and was pointing its tip through a large opening in the air.

"Is that…"

"Yes."

"Wow," Pommy gasped. "It's bigger than Pommy thought it would be."

Bomberman flipped open his communicator.

"Professor? This is Bomberman. Come in."

"Y-yes, Bomberman?" Ein's image soon appeared on the small screen; he seemed to be sweating much more than before.

Bomberman arched an eyebrow.

"Max and I have located the Phantom. Standing by for— "

"Myu!" Pommy frowned. "And Pommy! Pommy did, too!"

Bomberman looked back at the small screen.

"Y-yes… and Pommy, too. Awaiting further orders."

Ein wiped his forehead.

"See if you can disable it. We can't risk destroying it; we don't know of its explosion radius."

"Understood. Tell the Jetters of our progress. Bomberman out."

Bomberman closed the transmission and turned to Max.

"I wonder what's wrong with him? Anyway, let's try disabling this thing, then."

"Use a Thunder bomb," Max said. "If it's a supercomputer of some sort, a powerful surge of electricity will be more than enough to short-circuit it."

"Right." he nodded.

He rose his hand into the air above him.

"Thunder bomb!"

And nothing happened.

"What? Thunder bomb!" he repeated.

Max shook his head. "What's wrong?"

"I don't… Oh, no."

He searched the small pack on his belt for his Bomb Elements and found that they were all missing.

"What is it, Bomberman?" Pommy asked.

"It's the Bomb Elements," he answered. "They're gone. They must've been stolen from me while I was out…"

"So…?" Max sighed. "Can't you make one without those?"

"Of course I can!" Bomberman threw him a dirty look.

"C'mon, Bomberman!" Pommy jumped. "I thought Bomb said he was a professional bomberman!"

Bomberman rolled his eyes. "I am."

He realized he had been relying on the power of those stones for too long; it had been awhile since he had actually used his spirit's energy to make one. He lifted his arm into the air one more time. Uh, let's see… light, energy, and power… mixed into one element that makes…

Crack!

A Lighting bomb appeared in his hand, sparkling a wild white.

"Good for Bomberman!" Pommy smiled.

He began charging until it was about the size of a beach ball, and then set it down next to the weapon's control panel.

Boom! Crackle crackle…

A powerful wave of electricity shot through the terminal, and they watched as it began to randomly spark all over.

"That should do it," Bomberman smiled. "Alright, we should get back to the Jetters, regroup, and—"

His communicator was jammed.

"What the…?" he shook his wrist.

"What's wrong now?" Max folded his arms.

"My communicator," Bomberman answered. "It's jammed or something…"

"Oh, come on," a voice said. "Did you really think it would be that easy?"

Bomberman and Max turned towards the direction of the voice. A young man in gold and green armor stood where the steel door once had. The red jewel in the center of the golden "X" embedded in his chest armor glimmered as he stepped forward, a small dagger in his hand.

"It's been a long time, Bomberman." he smiled.

It was Orion, a soldier of the Masked Trio that had tried to destroy this planet many years ago.

"Orion?!" Bomberman stood defensively. "You're—"

"Alive?" Orion interrupted. "It's a long story, really. Look, let's just cut to the chase. I'm gonna need your Fire Stone."

"Not a chance."

Orion stepped forward, holding his dagger out in front of him.

"I'm not going to fight you, Bomberman." he said. "Someone else reserved that pleasure long before I did. Just spare me the trouble and hand it over. Now—"

"Orion! What the hell are you doing?! Get down to that ship before I kill you myself!!"

He stared down at his communicator for a moment, then looked back at the small group in front of him.

"He's never been good with words," he chuckled. "Maybe he should've studied speech more. Shame."

"Who're you working for?!" Bomberman held his hand out, ready to form a bomb.

Orion laughed and turned back for the door.

"Not obligated to say," he stopped. "Oh, and you might want to help your friends outside. That ship of theirs is going down."

"Wait, you're the one who took my Bomb Elements, aren't you?!"

"Maybe… I'll trade them for your Fire Stone. Deal?"

"I don't think so."

"Don't worry about it. I have my ways of getting it."

And with that, he disappeared. Bomberman folded his arms, pondering for a moment. That voice on his communicator, he recognized it from somewhere, but he couldn't remember. But now wasn't the time for that. What did he mean by 'my friends?'

"Does Bomberman know that man?" Pommy asked.

"I'll tell you later," Bomberman answered. "We have to get out there!"

He took off running for the door, Pommy right behind him.

"Oh, please…" Max muttered. "You two, follow me!"

Max dashed ahead of Bomberman in the blink of an eye, and led them back down a long hall, another small, metal door at the end. They burst through it, and after crossing yet another metal rail, ended up in a huge hangar bay. A lot of soldiers filled the area, guarding and taking off in small fighter jets. Most stood guard as others boarded the aircrafts, assault rifles in each of their hands. The hangar was huge; it had to be the size of a baseball field.

"There! In the doorway!" one yelled.

The small army turned in their direction. Max looked at Bomberman and nodded. Before they took any action, the soldiers let loose a stream of fire on their position; Max jumped to the left as Bomberman grabbed Pommy by the ears and rolled to the right, ducking behind a small ship.

"Myu!" Pommy squealed.

CLANK! CL-CLANK!!

Waves of bullets slammed into the ship in front of them. Bomberman looked over at Max, who had wall-kicked off the door in a somersault, and was hanging from a support beam on the ceiling high above them. I've got to get their attention…

"Don't move," he looked over at Pommy.

He jumped out from behind the ship, forming a bomb in his hand. Quickly, he tossed it at a small group aiming for Max, and as more enemy fired their weapons, he rolled even further to his right, forming another Fire bomb.

Boom! Boom!

Both bombs exploded, taking out a small group of soldiers.

CLANK!!

Max landed next to Bomberman, his metal boots colliding with the ground. Bomberman shook a bit, but quickly regained his balance.

"Let's do this," he said, kneeling next to Max.

Max said nothing, only dashing forward to meet up with another small group of soldiers.

WHACK!

He knocked them out of his way, slamming them against numerous ships. He formed a small Plasma bomb with his free hand and tossed it at one soldier.

Screeeech…

It electrocuted the winded man, as well as those near him.

"Max!" Bomberman shouted. "Watch it!"

As another group of soldiers opened fire from behind him, Bomberman tossed a few Fire bombs, each detonating upon impact.

Boom! Bo-boom! Boom!

Only a couple of soldiers remained, who were all sprinting for empty ships; Max shot his wrist into the air.

"Hyper…" he chanted. "PLASMA BOMB!"

A huge flash of light appeared in his palm, streams of electricity dancing wildly in the air.

"Burning…" Bomberman raised his arm into the air, as well. "Fire Bomb!"

Together, the two tossed their explosives into one of the small jets.

BOOOOOM!!

The energy of the bombs combined into one fire-white explosion, completely destroying every small ship caught in its blast radius. As the smoke slowly started to clear, Pommy slowly emerged from his hiding spot in the back, and bounced towards the two.

"Wow," he surveyed the decimated area. "Bomberman and Max are really powerful together…"

Bomberman peered over the open hull in front of him, looking down on the ocean below them.

"How?!" he shook his head furiously. "I thought I took out that engine earlier?! How is it still in the air?!"

Max turned.

"No idea." he folded his arms. "But the Stone is most likely the reason."

Bomberman rubbed his forehead in frustration.

"How are we going to get out there and help whoever's in trouble? I don't even know where 'they' are!"

"Myu!" Pommy jumped. "How 'bout we use the ship Pommy was… protecting! It wasn't destroyed when Bomb and Max were fighting all those guys."

Bomberman looked back at the ship. Indeed, it was still there. As he dashed for it, he motioned for Pommy and Max to follow.

"Come on, you two!"

He hopped into the open cockpit and looked for the ignition key. There were many buttons scattered all over the panel that laid before him, each of varying color, and some that were blinking. He sat there for a moment in confusion until Max jumped in beside him, Pommy in his arm.

"Hey, Max," he said. "Do you know how to start this thing?"

Max sighed.

"Didn't you learn anything at that Base?"

Bomberman smiled weakly, rubbing the back of his next. Max began searching over the panel for a moment, and then lifted his palm over it.

Whoosh!

A quick surge of electricity shot from his hand and into the control panel. Before long, they heard the sound of the engine purring softly.

"Like I can really do that…" Bomberman rolled his eyes.

The small ship slowly began to lift off the ground, and once he maneuvered it to the open hull, they took off down over the ocean. A small wave gently rubbed against it as they stopped, changing direction. They ascended closer to the ever-darkening sky and stopped, turning back to the enemy warship, and saw that it had its cannons pointed at something off in the distance: another warship. But it was one that looked somewhat familiar…

"Oh, no!" Bomberman exclaimed. "Pommy! It's… it's Noah! The battleship is aiming for Rukifellth and Lilith!"

"What?!" Pommy shouted.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Streams of missiles shot out from the enemy ship, a wave of bullets following in their trail.

"It looks like they need our help." Max said, getting to his feet.

The cockpit's shield began to open, and Max stood over the edge, his hand on the rail beside him.

"What are you doing?!" Bomberman shouted. "Are you crazy?!"

"Don't make me bust you out of prison again, alright?"

And with that, he jumped from the ship and even higher into the sky. Bomberman looked over at Pommy.

"I need you to fly this thing," he said.

"Myu?!" Pommy's eyes widened. "What?!"

"I'm gonna assault these cannons with bombs. I'm going to need you to fly this thing."

"But, Pommy can't—"

"Relax." he smiled. "Remember when we got out of Alcatraz? I'm sure you've gotten better since."

BOOOOOM!!

They both turned and saw a cannon on the ship explode; Max had hit it with a Plasma bomb. And hard.

"Myu! Pommy isn't sure—"

But Bomberman was already climbing out of the cockpit and onto the wing. The cool breeze felt nice against his skin as he stood up, steadily gaining his balance..

"Move in closer!" he shouted against the wind.

Pommy shook his head and grabbed the pilot stick. Their small ship moved closer towards the side of the warship; Bomberman threw his wrist into the air.

"Fire Bomb!"

A small bomb formed in his hand. He tossed it at the machine gun mount.

Pop.

It did nothing. He shot his wrist back into the air.

"Burning… FIRE BOMB!"

His small bomb grew in size as it engulfed itself in flames.

"Bomber… SHOOT!!"

BOOM!!

The bomb slammed into the machine turret, completely destroying it.

CLUNK!!

The small ship almost flipped over as Bomberman scrambled for a grip on the wing. As soon as it was steady again, he looked over to see what it was; Max had landed on the other wing. But before he could say anything, Max sprung back into the sky, a ball of light forming in his hands.

Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat…

A stream of bullets began to fire at them.

"Pommy!" Bomberman shouted, dropping to his chest. "Move! Anywhere!"

Their ship strafed to the right, and as Bomberman stood back up, he formed another bomb in his hand. As soon as it was charged, he flung it at the machine turret firing at them.

BOOM!

It exploded in a small fireball, falling to the ocean below.

BOOOM!!

Max had destroyed another missile launcher.

"Up, Pommy!" Bomberman shouted. "Move up! We need to take out those missile launchers!"

Pommy slowly ascended the ship, and before long, Bomberman was face-to-face with a rather large cannon, pointing right at him.

"FIRE BOMB!!"

His hand was engulfed with flames.

"BOMBER SHOOT!!"

As he flung it at the cannon, a flashing ball of light had slammed into it as well.

"DROP DOWN, POMMY!!"

BOOOOOOM!!

The large cannon exploded in a huge ball of fire as their ship dropped even lower. That was close… warn me the next time you're gonna do something like that, Max!!

"GET DOWN!!" he heard Max scream.

Bomberman dropped to his chest and motioned for Pommy to do the same; the ship dropped closer down to the ocean.

BOO-BOO-KA-BOOOOOOM!!

A stream of missiles had repeatedly pelted into the warship, followed by one giant missile. Bomberman opened his eyes and looked up as all the smoke cleared, and saw that all the machine-gun nests and missile launchers had been completely wiped out. In fact, the entire side of the warship had been severely damaged. He slowly climbed back into the cockpit next to Pommy.

"I'll take it from here." he said.

"Myu!" Pommy groaned. "Pommy wants to drive! Pommy is a master pilot!"

Bomberman rolled his eyes.

"Okay, okay, sorry. Now fly to Noah, alright?"

"What about Max?"

"Max can take care of himself. Now c'mon, let's go."

"Whatever Bomberman says…" Pommy sighed.

Bomberman flipped open his communicator as they started for Noah.

"Rukifellth? It's Bomberman. Listen, we're headed your way in an enemy jet, so don't fire, alright? Bomberman out."