All six combatants readied themselves for battle. To Moondancer's surprise, Poo glanced at Ness. "What is our strategy?" he asked intently.
Ness blinked in surprise, but adapted quickly. "Spread out!" he stated firmly. "Those bombs have limited explosive range, so grouping up is a bad idea. Go for evading and blocking until we've figured out how to get past it, and try to flank it so it can't focus on all of us at once."
"Understood!" Poo responded immediately as he drew his sword and blurred forward, immediately trying to get behind the Clumsy Robot. To his surprise, the Robot tumbled backwards, keeping its back to the door and its optics on him as he nearly tripped over some dropped scrap. "It seems determined to not allow us to reach the door, or turn its back on us."
"There's probably a weak point there, then," Jeff deduced as he used his Robo-Pack to leap upward, grasping the ceiling as he shifted his orientation, one hand on the controls while the other braced his weapon. "Given how clumsily this thing seems designed, I wouldn't be surprised if it was an off switch."
"Then we'll make it turn around!" Paula snapped out as she focused her PSI Thunder into an intense beam, lashing it forward to strike the robot in the shoulder. Much to her frustration, its torso spun around without exposing its back before coming to a halt. "The heck?"
"I see you've branched out in your PSI Focus," Moondancer observed as she sent her own Beams forward, grinding her teeth as the Robot staggered back and forth out of the way.
"What, did you expect me to just sit and twiddle my thumbs uselessly while the rest of you grew stronger without me, patiently awaiting my heroic rescue like a good little damsel?" Paula countered with a sardonic smirk. "I'll pass on that, thanks."
"WHY!" Ness snarled out as he swung his bat, only for the Robot to sway under the strike. "WON'T! YOU! HOLD! STILL?!" Each word was accompanied by a swing and a miss, and increased frustration.
A blur of movement, and Poo shot past the robot, slicing off one arm. As the group stepped back to get their bearings, the robot looked down at its severed arm, picked it up, and reattached it with a band-aid before returning to battle as though it had never been severed.
"This is getting ridiculous," Jeff groaned as he finally landed a shot that knocked the robot onto its rear against the door...only for it to eat a sandwich and get up, completely uninjured.
"Any ideas, Buzz Buzz?" Moondancer asked desperately.
Buzz Buzz hovered uncertainly for a time. "Umm...wait five seconds?"
All eyes - including those of the robot - turned towards him. "Huh?" everyone asked.
The door behind the robot burst open, and the Runaway Five - Alinivar and the others - charged in. "Don't worry, kids!" Gorgeous called out. "We got this!"
As the robot tried to turn towards this new threat, Groovy managed to get behind it. "There's an off switch back here!" he called out as he flipped it, causing the robot to stop moving.
"...I thought I was kidding..." Jeff groaned ruefully before fixing his glasses. "Well, as long as we can-"
"Did you just-" the robot suddenly squeaked out, it's voice oddly stilted. "...flip...my...switch?" Its entire body began to vibrate.
"That's not supposed to-" Lucky began, only for one of the limbs of the robot to expand massively, slamming the entire band back out the door they'd just busted in through. The rest of the robot unfolded in an almost organic way as liquid metal bubbled out of its torso and solidified into a much larger chassis, hulking over the entire group and filling one entire side of the room as panels popped open, revealing lasers, buzzsaws, spikes, and other weapons of death as it focused its gaze on the group, eight eyes tracking the entire group as best it could.
"Brace yourselves!" Ness called out as he cast the biggest PSI Shield he could as the onslaught began. Paula, Moondancer, and Poo joined him, adding a shield against PSI energies and strengthening his shield as best he could while Jeff starting shooting the stronger projectiles out of the air.
Porky laughed wickedly to himself as he watched the battle unfolding from a hidden alcove in the passage between Monotoli's office and the now battle arena. He'd hidden there once he learned that Ness and the others were running up the side of the building rather than coming up the way they were supposed to. "Well well, Ness, never took you for one to flip the board over," he cackled as he rubbed his hands together eagerly. "That pony's been a bad influence on you. And trying to turn it off instead of breaking it...oh, you'll regret that! Wanna make up your own rules? Well I can do that too!" His grin stretched across his face as red swirls danced behind his eyes. "Hope you enjoy the game, my friend!" He practically spat the last two words, though whether from sarcasm or a twisted enthusiasm it was impossible to tell, even for him. "I've crafted this special challenge just for you..."
"Any ideas, Ness?" Paula asked worriedly as the machine slammed into the barrier repeatedly, spikes and saws cutting away at the wall of light as lasers and shock prods struck into the PSI Power Shield, breaking down PSI defenses. "I don't think we can keep this up forever..."
"It repairs itself faster than I can inflict damage," Jeff continued as he continued to fire as fast as he could, pausing only whenever his gun started to overheat. He watched once again as the parts he'd blasted off restored themselves. "I hope someone has some ideas."
"Some help, Buzz Buzz?" Ness asked hopefully. "I know you need to conserve your PSI since you can't restore it as easily as we can and need it to sustain yourself without your shell, but if we don't find something..."
Buzz Buzz was silent for a time...then ducked out of the barrier. Several of the robot's limbs swung at him, but being such a small target played to his advantage as he was able to dodge between them. "I'll see if I can find a weak spot or something!" he called out as he wove around the limbs as best he could.
Seeing that the intensity of the assault faded slightly as attention was diverted, Moondancer acted. "Scatter!" she called out. "It only has so much focus!" With that she dropped her barrier and dashed to the side, firing off beams from her horn and aiming for the robots optics. While it didn't inflict any damage, it did draw attention and provide distractions.
"Everyone cover your eyes!" Ness screamed out as he lobbed another PSI Flash Bomb, this one detonating as it hit the face of the robot. While none of the PSI effects worked against the robot, the bright flash briefly blinded the optics and disoriented the beast. As everyone scattered, it attempted to recover and strike back.
As one of the limbs struck near her, Moondancer got a clear look at it, like the arm of a twisted spider...
"All together!" Ness cried out as he drew all his PSI in at once. "It recovers too fast...so we need to take it out all at once!"
Moondancer's eyes lit up as she realized why it all felt familiar. "Together!" she cried out as well...as she called on the forgotten power...
PSI Friendship.
Energy lashed up and out of all six of the warriors, pulling forth all the power they could bring to bear in a rainbow of colors. Merging together, it slammed down into the behemoth in a prismatic burst that tore it apart, shredding the machine into so much scrap as the group collapsed, desperately catching their breath as they watched, desperately hoping it wouldn't get back up.
...and it didn't.
Porky ground his teeth as he stomped his feet in frustration. "No! That's not fair! That's not supposed to happen! That's not possible!" Glowering at the group, he dashed off to the helipad shouting, "Cheaters cheaters cheaters cheaters!" over and over before taking off.