Megaman trailed off down the wave road and into the distance. Satisfied he was safe, Harp Note turned to face her foe.
“Protecting someone.” Rouge began, “Just the thought makes me sick!” Rouge took his stance and Harp Note steeled herself. She had seen him fight before and judged her foe to be well beyond her. She had only the most remote chance of victory, but she would not allow Megaman to be hurt again because of her mistakes. She winced as she readied Lyra. Megaman gave her a few bruises when she fought to keep him from entering the Bermuda Maze.
“How stupid was I?” Sonia thought to herself. “Fighting my friend to save my friend. It doesn’t make sense. I should have come clean from the beginning.” Rouge charged, intending to pummel her with a flurry of fists and feet. She jumped to the side and conjured a pair of amplifiers. With a loud strum off of Lyra and a shout of “Shock Note”, the speakers amplified the sound of Lyra and blasted Rouge. His EM barrier flexed, but deflected the attack. He countered with a ranged barrage of EM fists. Harp Note dove behind her amplifiers for cover but, exhaused as she was from her previous fight, she caught a few fists on her legs and arms. The sheer quantity of attacks hurling her way did not help either.
	“At least this way, Megaman has a chance to recharge and prepare if I can’t stall Rouge long enough for him to get away.” Sonia thought.
	“Don’t you be thinking about stalling him.” Lyra chastised, “Think about how to win!” Rouge did not wait for her to recover her footing and drove his fist into the ground with enough power to project a shockwave. Harp Note leapt out of the way as soon as she regained her footing, but she was not going to last long jumping around. Rouge was dominating the fight, and she needed a way to slow him down. Getting back on her feet, she took aim to fire her Machinegun Strings at Rouge to stun and entangle him, but he was already upon her. A quick flurry of punches, followed by a kick across her head knocked her off her feet and skidding along the floor.
	“This isn’t working.” Lyra insisted, “You have to get out of here. We aren’t going to win like this.”
	“Thanks for the vote of confidence, but I’m not leaving.” Sonia rolled over and fired her strings into Rouge. The strings of her harp moved like bullets and punctured Rouge’s barrier, but not before slowing down enough for him to evade and close distance. Still prone, she had no hope of dodging Rouge’s onslaught and Lyra made for a poor shield. The force of his punch sent shockwaves rippling through Harp Note and out through the ground. Despite the blinding pain, Sonia took some modicum of comfort in that her EM form had no bones or organs or fragile anatomy of any kind to be destroyed by such a blow, but she imagined this is what it felt like to have every rib shattered by a bus. She could not take another hit like that. Rouge grabbed her by the neck and lifted her off the ground.
	“See how useless Link Power is?” Rouge took the opportunity to lecture his defenseless foe, “You barely breached my barrier, but still have yet to so much as scratch me.” Harp Note cracked a smile.
	“But now your shield is broken.” She pounded a chord from Lyra and screamed into her microphone at the same time. The Pulse Song’s point blank conical concussion broke his grip and the two separated, but Rouge stood unharmed. Her heart sank at the revelation that his EM Barrier regenerates. Harp Note leaped back and barraged Rouge with her Shock Notes. With his barrier momentarily disabled, Rouge halted his offense to dodge her attacks for the few moments it took for his barrier to recharge. Harp Note could not attack fast enough to both break Rouge’s barrier and hit him before it returned.
Back on the offensive, Rouge launched a barrage of fists at Harp Note. She noticed his barrier dropped just as he attacked, but she over extended herself in her desperate barrage and was caught flatfooted by Rouge’s attack. She took the full force of the pummeling and dropped Lyra as she tumbled across the ground. Sonia’s legs could not support her anymore, her arms went limp, her head throbbed a dull aching pain, and she barely heard Lyra’s cries. Rouge kicked her into the air and hit her with a series of jabs, hooks, and uppercuts. Her vision blurred and her limp arms were of no defense against his onslaught. As gravity began to take her again to the ground, Rouge caught her scarf and lifted her back up.
“Any last words?” Rouge asked.
Harp Note’s limp form hesitated only a moment then whispered, “I hope Megaman can forgive me.”
“Bonds again…” Rouge spat, “I wouldn’t forgive your weakness.”
“Not that.” She replied, “Forgive that I overestimate his opponents so often.”
“Overestimate? You couldn’t even land a single hit.”
“If your barrier’s weak enough that even I can break it, then Megaman won’t have any trouble.”
“You forget, my EM barrier was impervious to his attacks in our last encounter.”
Harp Note managed a weak smile. “Megaman’s head is a lot clearer now than it was then.”
Rouge considered what possible difference that would make, but before he replied, Sonia continued.
“I hope you have another trick up your sleeve than that barrier of yours and your stupid, purple flame fist, because if you don’t…” She blinked to clear her vision to stare at Rouge, “He’s gonna blast through your shield like cardboard and mop the floor with your face.”
Rouge’s face contorted with rage and his knuckle was the last thing she saw.