AN: My illness has been persistent. It's some sort of lower respiratory infection. Between dealing with fevers, chills, antibiotics, and random Nyquil related adventures I have not had much energy to write. I did feel the need to get something out, though. So, here's the first half of the final boss battle for the volume. Think of it as sort of the prologue to the real fight to come.

Anyone who wishes to call shenanigans

I hope to finish this chapter completely tomorrow, but given my current health status It might be the day after. Hopefully by the weekend I will be back to normal. Sorry about the delays. Also, it's close to allergy season so let's see how bad that will be this year. :(

Chapter 15.1: Game On!

The world moved in slow motion for Scott as he instinctively began to move toward the side of the building. His pistol was useless against the rotting behemoth standing in the parking lot. Now that its transformation was complete it had the appearance of a gigantic professional swimmer who'd had all of the skin flayed from his body. The monstrosity was all legs, shoulders, and arms slipping out from a long v-shaped torso. Its skinless muscles pulsed and flexed in a manner that could only be described as grotesque.

Scott fought down the urge to vomit that rose up from deep inside. "How do I even fight this thing?"

The mecha-zombie moved forward with large ponderous steps that sounded like distant thunder when its feet struck the ground. Its muscles strained with the movement, and viscous fluids trailed down its sinewy thighs to splatter liquidly against the ground.

He fired at it with his pistol, which proved useless once again. Obviously his firearm was not the way to win this battle. Unfortunately, the pilot inside the behemoth grew bolder. The rotting hulk moved forward more quickly and soon came with striking distance.

A massive fist slammed down toward the champion's position. Due to the incredible strength and agility provided by his ingestion of the gravitas flower earlier in the day, he was easily able to avoid the blow. However, the roof was not so lucky. The fist crushed down through the roof and continued down through half of the store front. Scott was forced to abandon the roof top by running toward the far side then leaping down.

Scott tore through the parking lot, a slight blur of after images left behind him. It was not a feat of pure speed, so much as the nature of how that speed was generated. Still, he did move far faster than a normal human being could have ever conceived of running when using muscle power alone.

"Fast little runt, aren't you?" spoke the giant in a gravelly voice, the voice of the robed man.

The slender, but powerful, abomination spun quickly in place then took off after Scott. Once the fleeing man reached a decent distance from the mall, he turned and began to toss fireballs toward the monstrosity. The moving legs proved to be difficult targets for his hard to aim attack. Unfortunately, the one time he came close to hitting the beast, the shield flared to life and extinguished his power.

"Dammit!" snapped Scott. Even his flower power was useless like this. It was like the damned thing was designed specifically to stop his best abilities.

He turned and sped away once more. As he ran, he heard the voice of the robed bastard taunting him. He could not get away.

Scott's eyes widened in growing horror as he heard the thundering footsteps intensify. They came faster, and heavier. He glanced back just in time to hurl himself to the side. He narrowly avoided being trampled by the beast.

Acting more on instinct than anything else, Scott hurled a few fireballs toward the monster as its pilot tried to reign in its movements. Two of the strikes impacted against the shield harmlessly, another missed altogether. However, the fourth missed, but entered the open window of a nearby car. The subsequent explosion proved to be far more powerful that it legitimately should be as the doors and roof were blown off. As visually spectacular as that was, it was what happened next that caught Scott's attention.

The mecha-zombie was shielded from the explosion by its energy shield, but as it turned back toward him, the chunk of car roof that had blown free came crashing down. The shield did not flare out to block it. A sound that was partly a meaty thwack and a rattle of metal alerted Scott to the truth. The monster could be touched. The shield could be bypassed.

Scott's angry expression turned to one of determination. It was not impossible. He could find a way to bring this thing down. He even had an idea, all it required was a test subject.

The monster bore down on him once more, this time at a steady trot. Scott was forced to run to the side. He used the handful of parked cars as a means to avoid the creature for a brief moment.

Twice the height of the mecha-turtles Scott had fought before, the zombie mech had brutal power and decent speed. So far though, it had not proven to have any special abilities. If he was lucky, he would have the chance to test his theory without the arrival of anything new and exciting added to the current mixture of battle.

While the monstrosity made its way toward him, Scott quickly attempted to lift one of the smaller cars overhead. It weighed less than the turtle-mech, but it was awkward and took him a moment to pick up properly. It was a moment too long as he barely had the time to toss it forward before another heavy punch was sent flying his way. Rotting fist met the cheaply made economy car. The car lost the battle in an impressive display as was sent hurtling back.

Scott tried to leap frog over the flying automobile, but only succeeded in providing an easy target for a powerful left hook from the monstrous creation. He did not even have the chance to scream before the impact hit him with the force of a speeding car crash.

The champion of Earth, last remaining hope for the mall survivors, was sent flying through the air at a break neck pace. When he finally hit the asphalt he bounced a few times while he continued to skid. Dazed, confused, and unable to right himself, Scott could barely catch his breath. The wind had been driven out of him by the blow.

Myriad pain signals reached his brain all at once causing him to cry out shamelessly. His hit points were obviously depleted, or close to it from the blow. It took several seconds for his mental state to stabilize. By then the monster was nearly upon him once more. Confident in his victory, the red robed bastard had sauntered the zombie-mech across the parking lot like he owned the world.

"One punch? Really?" The red robed man laughed loudly and in surprisingly good humor. It was a disturbing sight to see mimicked by a skinless giant zombie.

"I can't believe I wasted my greater summoning and my prepared spells like this..." The beast's head tilted slightly to the left then mimicked the hideous smile of its pilot. "Do they even make champions this weak anymore?"

Instinct, desperation, it did not matter what the true cause might turn out to be. Scott knew that he had to force his battered body to move. His injuries were not currently great, but they were numerous. He could not survive another hit like that. He had to escape the situation and restore his hit points if he was to survive this battle. There was only one way out that he could think of at the moment.

Scott struggled to reach a squatting position. It was not the perfect position for his purposes, but it would have to do. His movements were still sluggish.

"What's this? Are you trying to make your heroic last stand?" asked the giant zombie in a cheerfully condescending tone of voice.

A tense moment passed as they regarded each other from just outside of the giant's strike zone. Then, by some unspoken decision, the battle began once again. The giant mecha-zombie trotted forward in a bid to end things with another punch.

The red robed pilot did not realize his mistake until it was too late. From Scott's point of view the fist's movement seemed to slow to a crawl. His entire body suddenly flared in a bright blaze of light as he activated one of his newly gained abilities from the shroom soldier lifestyle.

He made a fist of his own then launched himself upward with enough force to blast a small crater outward from where he jumped. He bypassed the oncoming fist, rocketed upward in a streaking blur of motion that was far too fast for his opponent to register, much less avoid, and delivered an incredibly powerful uppercut to the beast's jaw. Scott's momentum was barely slowed as he continued upward into the air.

Knocked back by the explosive power of his super jump fueled uppercut, the abomination was rocked backwards. Its head was sent back at a crude angle and its chest became nearly horizontal before Scott redirected the force of his special ability back toward the ground. He turned the super jump into a super stomp attack that struck the monstrosity with an even more powerful strike than the first.

Scott drove down into the beast's chest like a hammer wielded by an angry god. The wannabe zombie-Gundam struck the ground with all the force that the desperate champion could muster. A shockwave spread out from the impact zone that caused nearby cars to rock, car windows to shatter, and one car alarm to blare weakly due to the state of its battery.

The reverse force of his stomp caused him to leap back and away from the beast. He landed heavily on the ground, the force of the motion stressed his ankles and shins slightly due to his lack of hit points to further cushion the fall. That factor alone was disconcerting.

Unfortunately, he could currently only know the amount of hit points he had for certain when he was home. Out in the field he had to guess the amount of hit points that he still had. At the moment he could barely sense the energetic feeling that hit points imparted.

Panting heavily, Scott wanted to capitalize on the fallen status of his foe, but he was denied the chance. Several screaming zombies came tearing through the parking lot hell bent on eating his manly sweet meats. "You gotta be kidding."

Without much, if any, hit points remaining a successful attack by any one of those monsters might be a death sentence for him. Scott had no choice. Instead of trying another super stomp that might not have finished the beast off anyway, he pulled out his health restorative and quickly swallowed one. It was time to get the hell out of here. Fighting the big bastard in an open area was suicide. He had used nearly half of his floral power on that super jump attack combination. If it ran too low there was a chance his power would cut out altogether, and then he would be nearly helpless. Only the exceptional boosts to his physicality provided by the ancestral garden forces allowed him to even do this much against the beast in a direct confrontation.

In order to survive, he would have to do more than fight this thing. He would have to outsmart the one piloting it. Scott gritted his teeth then raced toward the oncoming berserkers. It was time to change the battle field for one that was more suited to his skills and abilities.

Motion blur in full effect, Scott leapt into the air then stomped downward toward the closest berserker. It was not a super jump, it took no more energy than a normal jump. Yet, the power of the gravitas flower was not lost on the moment. He slammed down atop the zombie with great force then immediately bounded away. The berserker was crushed downward by the powerful force of directed gravity and left in a broken heap.

Like stepping stones across a pond, Scott hopped from one berserker to the next. He directed his movements by instinct as in this limited way gravity was his to control. His force of moment and direction lead him past the oncoming mini-herd and left him in the clear. Several battered corpses feebly clutched at the ground while he continued onward out of the parking lot.

Behind him a low rumbling laugh began to echo through the area. The giant undead mecha sat up inside the greater then spat into its decaying hand. Several dagger sized teeth landed in its palm, a testament to the strength of the attack that it had received.

"Guess I can stop waiting to see if he was stupid enough to press the advantage." laughed the red robed bastard.

Within the confines of his cockpit, the robed man viewed two screens. "Show diagnostic analysis." Information rose up on the screen to show him exactly what damage had been taken, if any.

Energy-Saver Mode: Active

Hit Points: [21913 / 22456]

Shield Energy: 4895/5000

Attack: 207

Defense: 214

Operational Time Limit: 36:45:13

Structural Integrity

Head: 98.63%

Torso: 97.5%

Left Arm: 100%

Right Arm: 100%

Left Leg: 100%

Right Leg: 100%

"So, the little shit was hiding his power." A feral grin slowly spread across the robed man's lips. "Guess that means I shouldn't hold back, either."

He laughed once more then said in a commanding tone, "Activate combat mode."

A loud roaring sound emanated from the beast. The color of its eyes shifted to a brilliant red and twin cones of light beamed outward lightning up the night in a bright red flare everywhere the monster cast its gaze.

The beast's left arm began to pulse and then to wriggle. The fingers curled back even as several large veins popped out from the arm giving it the arm the appearance of having large slightly hanging hoses. The palm split open and two gun barrels slid outward. One barrel sat atop the other and was smaller in diameter giving it the appearance of a rifle barrel perched atop the barrel of a shotgun.

The changes continued. The fingers on the right hand melded together then the entire forearm merged into one hideous sword. Its edge was curved and serrated, perfect for tearing and intimidation.

He checked his operational time then snorted. It had dropped to five hours now that the full combat mode had been initiated. Still, that should be enough time to finish things.

"Game on." said the red robed man with a laugh. "Game on."