---

Ammy backed up a bit to get some room for a demonstration of what exactly she brought to the team. She barked at Luigi to make sure he was looking, then tore into the dirt with her front paws. In just a few quick and dirty seconds what was once a patch of green on the ground was a respectable hole that she could bury her entire front half in. She backed up, shaking off the debris that had landed on her in her flurry, and looked at Luigi proudly. There was, in fact, no better digger than her in the entirety of Nippon. That was an official title bestowed upon her by a young child.

That would probably be enough for most people, but these were legendary heroes. They'd be expecting something much more substantial, and so she walked around the hole and dropped into a fighting stance. Her lips pulling apart to reveal her vicious white teeth, she chomped forward at the air in front of her. She swung her whole body into it, her head snapping to and fro as she moved forward. Invisible to any without the proper senses the radiant disk resting on her back flew forward and slashed through the air in front of her, following her movements like an astute and loyal dance partner before returning to its resting place at the end of her attack string. Finishing the melee strikes she dashed forward, head lowered in a head butt against some hypothetical enemy before leaping straight up into the air. She whipped up one of her hind legs for an anatomically impossible high kick then leaned forward and landed squarely back on the ground where she sat straight backed, mouth open and tail wagging, as if expecting a judges score.

Of course, she couldn't show off the full extent of her divine power without possibly spooking the enemy. Nevertheless she did give Luigi and meaningful look and then jerked her head twice toward Samus. There was a strange instance of time, and then Samus Aran's chest and stomach were again splattered with black ink, though in a smaller amount than last time. She didn't want to blind her in the middle of a mission, after all.

If prizes were given to looming castles, this one would certainly place in the top three. Even from half a mile away, Quina could see it shudder and shake from the footsteps of some giant thing within it. Fortunately, Quina had never really been plagued by fear, or doubts, or just about any other emotion that would cause a "normal" person to turn tail and run. In that regards, Quina made for a particularly effective soldier. Unfortunately, Quina was rarely concerned with strategy, or tactics, or just about any other quality that would make a "normal" person a reasonable soldier either. When the order was given by the General to provide a distraction, Quina opted to skip the chain of command established for the team and instead marched off, carrying her (or his) ridiculously oversized fork in her right hand.

Once he, or she, had got a little distance away from the General, Quina began to act. It was about as convincing as the acting Quina had demonstrated in the hall earlier that day, which is to say that it was quite atrocious, but very loud. It echoed. It positively boomed. It sounded sort of like a marching song, the sort you'd used to lead an army of people to lay siege to a castle, albeit a particularly tuneless one that you might use to lead an army of people who had three legs.

"One! Two! Three! Come on army, follow me! One! Two! Three! I hear Oswald smells like wee! One! Two! Three! Almost time to eat some tea! One! Two! Three! Shadow Thing Oswald better flee! One! Two! Three! Follow behind hero Qui... na."

And so Quina continued to sing as he, or she, marched. From the direction of her, or his, voice, Quina had decided to march off to the right of General Brigan and Team Two. It might have looked like Quina had some plan to draw forces out of the castle, and leave the other team a clearer shot at storming the castle, but it was more down to Quina's inability to notice that she (or he) was leaning slightly to right due to the weight of the fork he (or she) carried. At no point did Quina bother to turn around and check that any of Team One was following; it was far more enjoyable to just keep marching and sing loudly. They'd catch up if they wanted to, Quina considered. After all, there was no way they'd not be able to hear such magnificent singing.

WC: 273

---

Hapu was quite humble in presenting her own skills. "I am a farmhand, and a diligent worker, and so is Mudsdale; however, I have been instructed by the Platform government to limit my use of Mudsdale's special Pokémon moves and Ability until authorized to lift those limits. At the moment, Mudsdale is confined to using the sheer power of its legs to kick out with High Horsepower, a move with the power to stamp out flames, crush steel and stone alike, and disrupt electricity." She paused, then slid off her horse.

Mudsdale trotted over to a large boulder. The horse turned around, and with one swift motion, it kicked out with its hind legs and shattered a hole in the boulder, before stomping on the rubble, reducing it to dust.

"That is but a fraction of Mudsdale's strength, for we don't want to attract adversaries to our location," Hapu explained, before sliding back onto her horse's back. She gently stroked Mudsdale's muzzle; the horse resumed its placid, tired expression.

"In addition, we have the stamina to traverse the roughest terrains in our native region. What we lack in firepower, I hope our determination makes up for," Hapu added.

Hapu looked towards the abandoned castle, tightly gripping Mudsdale's reins. "It looks like it will be a long way. I pray our mission be blessed, for in this new world we will need as much help as is quite possible."

Hapu turned back to Luigi and Samus. "In spite of my nonexistent arsenal," she humbly stated, "I hope to be of as much possible help to our team. What will you have us do, Luigi?"

Before, running would have made Mario feel like his heart was going to beat out of his chest. When you weighed 300+ pounds of fat and had to run around saving princesses and trying to fit your fat ass down grimy drain pipes, life was a living Hell. With his power hammer on his shoulder, running was a breeze. He felt as though he could run forever feeling the cool breeze on his warming skin and filtering through his cotton clothes. The forests of Erion were refreshing, although, still apprehensively, Mario would look up every once and awhile to make sure the trees didn’t have faces. What a disturbance it would have been to realize that he never left the Forest of Illusion and this entire scenario was one big illusion. Mario shuddered a little. What a nightmare that would have been…

There was a loud thumping noise behind him and when Mario peered over his shoulder, he saw nothing but a massive boulder bouncing after him. His blue eyes shrank and his armpits could have exploded with sweat when he started running faster. What the hell! Where did that boulder come from? He hadn’t a clue that it was tied by a psychic string to Fish Girl.

Mario nearly cleared the tree line when the boulder finally stopped and he staggered, dropping his hammer to lean over on it as he caught his breath.

“They said this forest was treacherous all right,” he muttered to himself.

Mario brushed the sweat from his brow as Fish Girl called for his and the rest of the team’s attention. She wanted them up in the tree? Mario tucked his hammer away into that fancy pocket dimension of space most video game characters had. He faced the tree and squatted before using his jumping ability to spring with an audible boing sound up onto the first branch and then to the next one. He made sure to sit on the lowest branch from the rest of the crew since if he went any higher his weight would probably caused a branch to snap.

Mario’s dark brows shot upwards when Naija mentioned the rock. He glanced down at the boulder and then back up at the fish.

“That was you?!” he exclaimed in disbelief. He swore she was trying to kill him.

Fox demanded his attention next. The pilot made the red plumber blush a little as he stroked his ego. Well, it was obvious right? He was the greatest hero in Nintendo. If Mario could get any bigger in his blue suspenders he just did with Fox’s observation. Mario raised his arms, flexing his muscles as he swelled with pride.

“No problem. Smashin’ is what I’m made for,” Mario gloated, using Smash as a slang term to refer to the Smash Arena.

Mario gave Garrett a narrow-eyed look of disbelief at his comments about pickpocketing or more than likely stealing anything out of the castle. He was a thief wasn’t he? Mario had just remembered and reminded Garrett:

“Hey pal, just focus on the battle. I don’t wanna be the only one fightin’ some Demon Lord just because you got sticky fingers.”

It didn’t seem like anyone else had any comments to add and so Mario added: “I know I’m strong, and a legend (he added that with a smirk), but we’re a team. I’ve been on many teams and I appreciate what everyone contributes. I feel honored to have the chance to work with other legends such as Fox and Garrett, and to meet a boulder-toting Fish Girl (did he already forget her name?). I intend to give Odin a smashin’ of his life to not only protect the other teams, but to protect this one. So let’s go smash somethin'!”

Mario held up his iconic peace sign again with a big grin before then thumbing over his shoulder at the giant looming figure standing at a balcony.

“Oh and by the way, is that him?”

---

The unit that had been with the general left with Quina to offer assistance. They marched along behind her/him, keeping a close eye on the boughs and the shadows as they gripped their psyphers closely. Quina would have appeared to have a file of soldiers following behind her/him as he/she sang his/her cadence. If her/his plan was to draw attention, then it had worked.

Arrows descended like bees from the boughs above, peppering the ground. The Valkyries quickly took cover behind tree trunks and boulders not too worried about the person they were supposed to cover since supposedly the person was…a hero right? There were ten fairies fluttering above their heads wielding bows and one stood over them, muttering a spell that created an orange, burning magic circle beneath her feet. She muttered her spell into what appeared to be a branch that had fresh, healthy leaves sprouting from it. It had to be a magical weapon for a branch without roots or nourishment should not be growing. The spell the fairy was summoning would light the forest floor where Quina stood ablaze if she completed it. The Shadow Knight Oswald had still not revealed himself.



Lost?

The voice resonated from the air around the vampire.

You should turn back trespasser.

A black hole (not a literal one) appeared behind the vampire, a glowing sword with a red blade extended for his back as a man engulfed in shadow emerged with such speed that his body was but a dark blur.

---

Total Enemies: 11
Minions: 10 – Ringford Fairies
Location: Fighting Quina Quin and his/her 5 Valkyrie soldiers.

Boss: 1 – Shadow Knight Oswald
Location: Fighting Slayer



General Brigan marched along with Team Two. He was actually leading the way to the secret entrance into the Abandoned Castle. It seemed that he had the place scouted beforehand and knew exactly where he was going. He continued to slurp at his horn, grinning merely as the bronze juices dribbled down his chin and the swells of his chest. He overheard Luigi asking for what Team Two was capable of and turned his head curiously. He didn’t understand what most James had described. Bullets; grenades; such things didn’t exist in Erion. Raising his massive hand to his head, his fingernails clinked against his spiked helmet from the headache he was getting just trying to understand the banter between James and Samus. When the dog acted next, the general stopped and turned around to watch Amaterasu have what appeared to him to be some sort of fit until she started throwing the strange disk on her back. The horse, known as Mudsdale proudly showed off its leg strength to destroy a boulder. Ha! He could have destroyed the boulder with his pinky finger. The general snickered. It took much strength to not just roar with laughter and expose their location.

“A farmer and a dog, quite the team you got here,” the general mocked.

Luigi turned his attention to him next and General Brigan tipped his head back to gulp down more of his endless ale. When Luigi, of all people, claimed he was afraid, the general spat a stream of alcohol in the squad leader’s direction more out of shock that he had the balls to make such a claim, and to intentionally douse his bull in the same shit he spoke. Wiping his mouth with the back of his hairy hand, General Brigan’s lips parted as a massive grin cracked on his face and his helmet lowered over his eyes in a frown.

“You should watch what you say you little green toad,” the general growled. “I am the only one who can help you save this world, and I am the only one who can show you the secret entrance into the castle. Are you that concerned for your teammates? If they aren’t worth their salt, then the Shadow Knight will send them to the Netherworld (Erion Hell), and he will come for us next. If I went with the other group, it would be a waste of time and Odin would reach us. If Demon Lord Odin reaches the castle before we can, then this entire mission was for nothing.”

The general chuckled and turned his back on Luigi. "Your team should choose a wiser leader.”

Eventually, the general would lead Team Two to what appears to be the castle wall. He hooked his hammer in its ring at his waist and leaned down to hand his giant, sloshing horn to Samus. “Hold this.” Samus would realize that even with her height, the horn was almost as big as she was.

General Brigan reached a hand into a leather pouch at his hip and removed what appeared to be…a finger! It had once been attached to something or someone. It was small and delicate like a carrot in the general’s massive hand. He took the finger and pressed it against the wall and started drawing a strange sigil in the blood that remained within it. The finger ground away against the stone, disintegrating like chalk until there was nothing left.

“There, the door is open,” the general stated. He pressed his hand against the rectangular sigil and the wall opened like a door, revealing the castle’s interior. “The castle appears to be empty. Your group has succeeded in luring the Shadow Knight out. Reaching the princess should be…”

A brown bunny carrying a silver tray of tea was walking from the kitchen headed for the stairs leading to the upper floor when she noticed the group that had suddenly appeared—and through a wall! She didn’t even know that there was an entrance there. Her ears shot straight up and she immediately dropped the tray on the floor. Dropping to all fours, she quickly started hopping for the stairs.

General Brigan growled, “I forgot about the Pooka…”

He whirled to snatch his horn from Samus and charged for the stairs after the bunny, shaking the entire castle.





Demon Lord Odin had revealed himself on the castle loft. Thirty black Valkyries rose like a flock of birds from beneath his feet. The demon lord leaned forward as his small, black cherub wings flexed and with a single flap, carried the titan into the sky as though he weighed nothing.

---

Total Enemies: 31
Minions: 30 – black Valkyeries
Location: Airborne

Boss: Demon Lord Odin
Location: Airborne

Team decisions were made using decidermachine.com.

Demon Lord Odin Fight – Team Three

Shadow Knight Oswald Fight – Team One

Abandoned Castle – Team Two


Keep track of your word count XP. Overall XP will be awarded at the end of every battle.



Try to write your posts without quoting other characters. When I put people's posts in the word counter, I erase the quotes of other characters, and that seems to lower the word count depriving players of XP. So try to write without it. When XP isn't initiated, then using other character quotes doesn't matter.


If a player is inactive for more than 3 days, then the player can be skipped over on the 4th day.

Team One Order: Slayer, Quina

Team Two Order: Luigi, James, Samus, Amaterasu, Hapu

Team Three Order: Naija, Fox, Garrett, Mario

Be sure to re-read the scenario rules found here. Good luck!

The situation with Brigan... didn't go anywhere near as well as Luigi had hoped it would have. He had merely believed the General to be going with them in order to avoid a dangerous fight; It seemed however that the giant actually had a real reason for wishing to come with them, if only to lead them to and open a secret entrance that he had neglected to inform them about until this very moment. Being called out by the drunk bastard as a poor leader hurt the most through... it strung deep and he couldn't help but wince as little before taking a deep breath.

He couldn't crumble under his own self doubts now... no matter how hard doing that might be. Especially with the added doubts and suggestions from his own team on his attempt to get Brigan to go and join the other time... A very poor start.

Watching and listening to the various abilities that his team processed, Luigi couldn't help but smile a little. "Sounds like we have a good amount of versatility to work with here. " while ignoring the chuckles and comments that the General offered them. In fact, he went as far as looking at Hapu and Amaterasu offering both of them an encouraging smile as he praised "I suspect that both of you are going to be playing vital roles in this operation."

The walk to the castle might have been a stressful affair... but as he walked Luigi couldn't help but feel himself grow... a little more confident in himself and his abilities. Sure the mission had started a little poorly due to a conflict of personalities, but as he watched the General open a wall with a... finger... he felt assured that they could do this successfully.

...And that was the point in which a bunny rabbit carrying a tea tray showed up and things started to fall apart quickly. The rabbit was running, General Brigan was chasing after her and whatever stealth the secret entrance had provided them with was quickly being lost as the fat bastard was shaking the castle with his moments and he needed to step up as a leader or everything was going to go down the warp pipe before it even began!

"Amaterasu! Catch that rabbit! It might know where the Princess is!" Luigi felt himself ordering as his body and mouth decided to bypass his brain before it could get bogged down with doubt and fear while pointing towards the feeling rabbit. After all, foxes were good at catching rabbits right? "Everyone else, after 'em! I don't want us splitting up unless we have to."

Even as he was shouting the order, he was already joining the chase after the rabbit. Sooner they caught the bunny, the sooner the drunken idiot would stop giving their presence away by shaking the castle.

Naija watched and listened with increasing aggravation as fox simply dictated to her team a plan as if he was the leader. Said plan also seemed like a poor idea, in her mind exploring such a massive castle separately was a recipe for disaster, they would get lost, have no means of coordinating (Naija was not familiar with the coms devices that let fox perform such operations with his own team and still keep in touch, which would have made the plan make a lot more sense to her) and inevitably blunder into fights on their own that would require the help of the others. His rather flustered conclusion however, duld her anger at him, It was quite adorable really, he had simply got caught up with his idea and his enthusiasm had lead him astray. His plan did indicate the strengths of the various team mates far better than they themselves did though and for that she was thankful. Mario was the kind of person who could and would get right into the thick of things, fox thought himself similarly capable but also capable of keeping an eye on the big picture simultaneously, while Garrett was stealthy and could run interference on anyone who would try and sneak up on them.

”I will take all that into consideration, though I would prefer if we stay in shouting distance of one another rather than all going in different doors. The basic setup of our forces sounds sound though”

Then there was Garrett, pockets were not a thing under water, they would only cause drag, but she got his meaning. He was a thief, in what kind of a world was a thief a hero she wondered. Shure she had engaged in looting the ruins of civilisation but that was different, the owners were long dead, or were so once she had delivered them from their fates worse than death. If he could stay on task for the most part she would not be opposed to him collecting a few ‘souvenirs’ but it was a bit odd to send someone like that into a saving the world situation.

”Just make sure you're there when we need you and not busy looting when the time comes for us to fight”

She grinned at Mario when he was surprised about the rock, glad to have surprise him, but her mood soured once again as she was referred to simply as ‘fish girl. again.

”Mario, my name is Naija ” she said rather exacerbated

She was not getting the respect she should as leader, sure she was small in comparison and they were all well renowned, bould, handsome heros… Naija was not handling meeting more people very well when it came to dealing with the fact that almost everyone new she had met was attractive. As a result of being distracted by being around people who did not want to kill her on sight, an unusual state of affairs for her, the appearance of so many that did certainly was a rude awakening back to the dangerous reality of the situation they were in.

She let out a gasp at the size of the detachment rising from the castle, 30 winged women like those that had been with the general rose along with the large demon lord. One the one hand the flight of him and his guard was intimidating as they filled the dark sky, but on the other his tiny wings were silly and she had fought larger beasts and made armor out of their hide in her ocean home. She watched as they began to fly out of the castle rather more concerned at the number of valkyries than the presence of the demon lord, so many attacks would be tricky to dodge. She was not confident in their ability to take on them all at once, but they had the tree cover and they only needed to stall and not engage in a pitch battle to kill them all.

”ok planning session is over apparently and unfortunately I cannot fly or shoot at the moment so it is up to one of you to get their attention. If they don’t all come down to engage us we are going to harry them all the way to the other castle. If they come down try to stay hidden from the main force, hopefully they send down a small detachment first and we can get used to fighting alongside one another before the rest come down. We follow the basics of Fox’s plan but stick together: mario in front, me and Fox on the flanks and Garrett you cover our asses. Fan out and get ready to hit anyone who comes to investigate”

She paused a moment before adding

”Also let’s see if we can take one alive, they wanted samples of the virus right? I assume his guards would have been around him long enough to get infected so we tie one up and bring her back with us. It would also be nice to see if there’s physical differences between the generals valkyries and these ones so we can spot the infected at a glance in future.”

Because when it came down to it ambition was not an easy tell when it came to identifying the infected and Naija was a little bit concerned that maybe they could be duped in the future by an infected to fight someone they claimed was infected, for all they knew that was happening now but it wasn’t like they could just ask the demon lord if he was infected.

She briefly hopped down from their tree and retrieved a Napple Seed from her inventory, dug a small hole in the soil and planted it in a small sunbeam that broke through the treeline. Naija had never gardened before but this was quite an interesting idea, growing food some place specific rather than hunter gathering like she did, she would need to look into this when they returned to platform city. Perhaps she would set up some kind of piece of land with specific plants to grow ingredients, it would be much simpler than combing the seabed for patches of vegetation that might contain the right type of plant.

She then hopped back up to a nearby tree to watch the sky, dragging her rock up with her and lodging it in some of the branches, ready to leap out at anyone who came down to investigate their team firing upon them.

James chuckled at Samus' comment, but didn't retort as he watched both Slayer and the weird chef thing go off to distract the Shadow Knight and silently wished them luck. Explaining the intricacies of the Traveler's Light wasn't something he was good at, so he'd have to find a way to get in contact with Ikora and have her do it. Still, as he watched the pair go to their part of the mission, he couldn't help but worry ever so slightly. There was no way to know what they would have to face besides the Shadow Knight, but all the same, the success of this particular venture relied on both the combat teams keeping the Demon King and Shadow Knight occupied. After observing the pair for a couple of minutes, he followed the General with the others towards the Abandoned Castle. "So, when we can finally use some of our abilities again, how do you think the others will react to the Light?"

Charger didn't answer right away again, running ambient scans on the surrounding area in an effort to spot the Shadow Knight and warn Team One when he was coming, but eventually he gave up. "I'm sure, based on what we saw with Mario and his hammer back where we exited the portal, that they will assume you did not create the abilities, but simply pulled them from some pocket dimension. At least until you use your Shadowshot." The Nightstalker chuckled to himself, imagining the faces of his team as he nailed one of their future enemies with an arrow made of Void Light and suppressed their abilities. Though he then grimaced as he remembered he would once again have to earn the right to wield his Void Light bow.

"You identify the source of our ability loss yet? I mean, what happened that everything we've earned up to this point would be locked again?" Charger's white interface appeared in the upper right corner of the Guardian's HUD, his eye indicating annoyance at the question. James raised an eyebrow in response. "What?"

"I just finished and was about to tell you if you'd shut up for longer than 5 seconds. All heroes who agreed to help with the Mugen Virus have gone through something of a 'reset' in terms of abilities and powers. In the case of someone like Samus, in weapons as well. It would seem we have to truly prove we're the heroes that we claim to be." Both the response and the explanation behind the loss of his abilities caused James to sigh and shake his head. So he had to earn everything again, just to prove he was the great hero he claimed to be.

Talk about a pain in the ass... It was at this point that Brigan choose to insult Luigi a second time and James had to physically restrain from putting a bullet in the giant's rear end. The sooner they were done with this guy, the better. Shortly after they reached a wall and the general produced a finger and began to draw with it. While the sight still somewhat disturbed the Guardian, he had seen about as bad done by the Hive, if not worse, so it wasn't enough to make him feel anything than mild disgust.

Upon the appearance of the doorway, James felt confident that things would go off without a hitch...at about the same time the bunny spotted them and him it. "Ah shi-" He was cut off, however, by both the General leaping after it as it made a break for the stairs and Luigi calling out orders. His gut, however, told him they wouldn't catch it in time chasing it and he made a split second decision.

The Imago Loop came free of it's holster with a spin and up to aiming height. Leading the "Pooka", as the giant had called it, James counted to three before pulling the trigger, a single gunshot ringing out. The idea was that the Pooka would meet the bullet in the middle, the shot putting it down and preventing it from warning who ever was above them. James could only hope that it was enough.

Walking through a murky but verdant forest, softly abuzz with the droning of insects and interspersed with birdcall, never struck Slayer as unpleasant. Compared to some of the things he'd witnessed in his travels, it was no great shakes in terms of serenity, beauty, or anything much, but that didn't mean the vampire couldn't appreciate it. He knew that soldiers would often search out pleasurable or at least wonderful experiences on the eve of battle, and while putting him in their place reeked of comparing apples to oranges, he supposed he could find some parallels. His own battle, after all, waited not far off. Rather than his opponent, his thoughts lay on the team to which he'd been assigned. An ulterior motive, more than any pivotal strategic advantage, had spurred him to leave them behind. Slayer couldn't find it within himself to have any faith in his supposed allies, whether their competence in battle or if they'd even turned up. They would need to prove themselves to him, for Slayer already felt as though he'd been let down.

He stopped on a knoll at the brink of treeline and the clearing in which the Abandoned Castle stood to puff his pipe. No movement could be seen from his position, but Slayer's intuition told him he'd already been spotted. Any kind of sentry worth their salt knew the land surrounding his bastion like the back of his hand, so anything out of the ordinary, even if no more than a lone, impeccably dressed gentleman, warranted a response. Of course, since it was his mission to destroy the castle's only occupant, the vampire wasn't exactly hiding, either.

Around him, the air crackled with a hollow reverberation. Slayer heard only one word, but it told him all he needed to know. Giving a wry smile, he took a final puff of his pipe before clenching it between his teeth and adjusting his collar. While he didn't know what it was, he felt something behind him. The voice echoed once more, inviting him to turn around, and Slayer accepted the invitation. Before he'd even completely revolved, a red diamond cannoned from the unknown assailant. All the gentleman could see was a ripple of darkness before Oswald thrust his gemstone-tipped sword through Slayer's guts.

A quiet moment passed, as one might expect. So swift was the blade of the Shadow Knight that seldom did its impaled victims immediately realize they were dead. At the end of this pause, however, Slayer uttered an unexpected sound. ”Hm.” It would not have been out of place in a university library, yet it issued from his lips rather than the agonized sigh of death. After a moment of scrutinizing Oswald, Slayer continued. ”I felt that rather keenly...this world must have some sort of effect on my constitution. I had not expected you to be a young man. Brigan's ramblings set you up as some kind of monster. Ah, where are my manners? My name is Slayer. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Regrettably I have been asked to destroy you. Since you got the drop on me, though, you should definitely have the upper hand. Fair's fair, after all. Let's say I'm at about fifteen percent vitality. One more strike and I'm 'done for'. And who knows, it may be true. I've not felt this much pain in quite some time. Sound good?”

No response. Slayer shrugged. ”Very well. Let us fight like gentlemen.” A shlurp sound met their ears as Slayer dodged backward, removing himself from Oswald's sword. In the same instant, the vampire pivoted and dashed in from the side, his right fist wreathed in blue flame and shooting toward Oswald's head like a cannonball.

Naija had opted to put Fox’s so-called plan on the backburner for the sake of remaining within vocal proximity of one another, which was a fair point since they didn’t have an established remote communication channel like he was used to. Though, it felt to him as if there was some level of miscommunication on his part for failing to specify that he intended on everyone mostly sticking together to cover the same area anyways. Just as well seeing as strategy wasn’t something he had much of a keen sense for. His think/do ratio has always been somewhat lopsided in favor of action over thought, preferring to roll with the punches and improvise rather than painstakingly mapping out a plan of attack and hoping that it would work, so naturally, whatever decision their leader made wouldn’t bother him either way. He merely gave her what she asked for - an idea - so if nothing else, everyone at least knew what role they would be playing in the battle to come.

On that matter, Garrett seemed a little too openly enthusiastic about his assigned role for his own good, to which Mario and Naija promptly grilled the thief for… well… being a thief. Of course, they were right in that the team couldn’t afford to have him running off on them to lift every item of value from a place that very obviously had them, but while Fox didn’t encourage the rogue’s occupational proclivities, he didn’t exactly feel inclined or entitled to judge him for it either. After all, he went to war at the behest of others for a living; a line of work that some may question to be even less ethical, in which one is sometimes forced to make difficult decisions. Yet, here he was, summoned as the “hero” he’s been repeatedly praised as by people who are counting on him to do it all again. Sure, he would only take on missions that he believed to serve a just cause, much like the one he was presently undertaking, but even he’s been known to have his own reasons (though, not necessarily wrong) for doing so… like avenging his father. Mostly, he only acted like it didn’t matter to him; as if he had no personal investment in what he did. Maybe that’s something him and Garrett had in common.

The thought quickly came and went as Mario began rambling about “legends” and the like, expectedly referring to himself as he did. He offered similarly complimentary acknowledgement to Fox and Garrett, who wouldn’t brag about the fact that they happened to share such an otherwise trivial title, but at the very least he seemed to genuinely appreciate the company to some extent. It was certainly more than those who didn’t know better would have come to expect of him. Though, why he referred to Fox in the third person as if the two were unfamiliar was anyone’s guess. It was still more credit than Naija got, bless her heart. It was hard not to sympathize with her having been freshly thrust into such an awkwardly overwhelming situation that was already on its way to rapidly escalating.

Fox redirected his attention back to the castle when the red plumber motioned behind him to what he rightly thought to be Odin himself. The pilot watched in astonishment as the Demon Lord and his plentiful force of Valkyries ascended from the westmost side of the castle, ready to make their way to the other one, and with these odds, stopping them from doing that just became much more difficult.

“So much for keeping him confined,” Fox said disappointedly as he drew his sidearm. That’s what he got for planning his approach - and why he normally didn’t. The part that involved keeping Odin indoors wasn’t happening, so they would have to adjust their positioning according to the terrain, narrowing it down the “basics” of his already basic set of instructions. Regardless, it was time to go to work.

As an affirmative gesture to Naija, Fox cocked his head to the side as the eyepiece of his headset flipped out into position, signalling his eagerness to answer her call for a lure. He promptly took off running along the longest branch and leaped sideways from the end of it, opening fire on the dark-winged maidens as he fell. He rolled seamlessly back into a light sprint as he touched down and resumed fire. Despite wielding a semi-automatic weapon, Fox put out each shot at a rate that could rival most full-auto submachine guns, and he didn’t do so indiscriminately either. He aimed with intent, placing 3-5 shots per target (approximately 7 of them) roughly anywhere between the head and chest (however much of it was unarmored).

The vulpine then doubled back and hastily pivoted to cover so as not to reveal himself to the entire detachment of airborne warriors, hoping to use the dense vegetation to his advantage. If Naija’s singing didn’t already alert them then that certainly would. He would try to keep a line of sight and maintain a manageable distance to the aqua nymph, as per her request. He would likely be unable to keep track of Garrett, however, but so long as he had their backs when it counted, it was all the same to him.

Quina's march came to an abrupt halt as arrows slammed into the ground around Quina. While the Valkyries wisely sought cover, Quina stood there for a moment, staring up at the bow wielders and the branch whisperer, as if trying to work out how they fit into the grand scheme of things. None of them looked like a Shadow Thing Oswald and Quina was about to shout as much, until she (or he) noticed the slight scent of burning grass in the air.

Frowning, Quina did the first thing that popped into Quina's head, which was rarely a good idea, but at least it was acted upon quickly. Quina pulled a rather stale, half-eaten bread roll out of her/his pocket and threw it with as much force as she (or he) could muster towards the branch-wielding spell-caster. Quina assumed that was the leader, as it wasn't armed the same way as the others, and rather than waiting to see if the bread roll connected - an unlikely prospect at best, save for the element of surprise at doing such a thing - Quina ran in a most unheroic fashion towards the shelter of a nearby boulder. A perplexed looking Valkrie was also seeking shelter here.

"Team Leader! Need help!"

Quina glanced around, noticing finally that he (or she) had been separated from the group. There was no sign of any of them, just the Valkyries, and most of them seemed to be looking towards Quina, each sporting an expectant look, albeit tinged with varying amounts of horror. Quina looked down to her (or his) own fork. The Valkyries were all armed the same, Quina stood out as he (or she) wasn't armed in the same way. Quina realised that Quina was the leader here.

"Oh. Oh," Quina nudged the Valkyrie next to her/him with an elbow, smiling brightly, "Quina leader! Little things have bows. Little things fly. You swat out of sky? Like flies! Quina fight them when on ground. Will distract too. Am hero. Arrow not so bad. Teamwork!"

It was a plan. Time would tell whether it was a good one or not.

As Samus continued walking, the wolf Amaterasu quickly showed her own abilities she brought onto the table. It was a rather interesting and colorful display, having herself be able to create some weird "holes" or "portals", while also showing a dazzling show of her own melee skills, with her biting, kicks, and other movements in a graceful display and power. This wolf surely knows how to fight... looks like it's not just some ordinary wolf. When she was finished, the wolf jerked her head twice at the bounty hunter and sprayed black ink onto her torso and stomach-area. Samus looks down to inspect the goop... the very same one that blinded her during the food fight. Samus looks at the wolf with a rather unamused face as if she was insulted a little bit, followed by a sigh and a very faint smile.

"Very funny..." she remarks as she wipes some of the ink off her, "Though I wouldn't do it again if I were you."

Then after Hapu's pet horse (Mudsdale) performance in destroying a boulder with a kick, they can hear the general snicker from under his breath. Yes yes, quite the team they got there. They really weren't a bad looking team after all. When Luigi spoke up to the general, the giant seemed to grin as he mutters his remark at the green plumber, on how the General can save everything and all the other "heroic" speech, followed by a remark on how the team should pick a wiser leader. It was a rather low blow, but Samus wasn't amused at his reaction all too well. But she keeps her mouth shut by the time they reached the castle wall...

Next thing she knows, she's holding the General's giant sloshing horn. Even with her armor, she didn't anticipate this horn to be nearly as big as her. It was even a little hard trying to carry it despite being in her suit. She wasn't very happy in doing it either, cursing silently in her mind as she continues holding it. Eventually, the General made an entrance into the castle. Apparently they were now supposed to lure the Shadow Knight out. It sounded much more as if they were bait, and they were really, but as long as they get to defeat him then everything should be fine. How hard can he be?

Then suddenly, a rabbit came along carrying a tea tray, suddenly bolted out of the way. Samus was about to drop the horn whent he general suddenly swiped it from her, running after the rabbit in pursuit. Things were already not going according to plan. Luigi then ordered everyone to capture that rabbit, or "Pooka" as the general mentions it, not wanting everyone to split up.

All this... for a rabbit.

Sheesh.

Taking no time, Samus begins to chase after the rabbit alongside the others. If she still had her Speed Booster implemented in her suit, would she be able to easily catch it. Ordinary plasma fire won't be able to stop it, so the bounty hunter will have to rely on her rockets. Only 2 shots left... if only she could find a place to fuel up. One should be able to stop it provided it hits it. Risking it, Samus fires a homing rocket at the rabbit, hoping it would actually hit its mark.

WC: 362

---

Mudsdale let out a condescending snort at Brigan’s patronizing remarks but Hapu stroked its mane and quieted the horse down. "Easy, Mudsdale," she said. “You and I both know how hard you work. Easy.”

After the group (especially poor Luigi) was cruelly mocked by Brigan, he led the group to the side of the Abandoned Castle, using a finger (someone else’s, Hapu observed, someone who was perhaps not going to miss it on account of being, well, dead) to open up an entrance. So apparently they were bait for this Shadow Knight? Hmph. The cretin must have felt them disposable.

Hapu sighed, saying to Luigi, "That man's foolish bravado will be his end; I pray for the purpose of our mission that his end isn't today."

Literally ten seconds later the fellow bolted, sending huge tremors through the castle. He was chasing the little brown bunny servant, apparently known as a Pooka.

“Famous last words. Clearly this castle is not as abandoned as we presumed," Hapu remarked.

As Luigi gave the orders to give chase to the rampant general and the fleeing bunny, Hapu watched Samus and James fire their respective weapons in the path of the Pooka. If that rabbit warned… whoever was upstairs, Hapu figured that there would be a lot more to deal with than an empty chamber and a bunny servant.

“I presume all manner of stealth has been disregarded,” Hapu said calmly. She slid off Mudsdale, and pointed forward. “Mudsdale, find a path that would intercept this servant’s path on the second story. Use High Horsepower on the wall to shake the upper echelons of the castle,” Hapu ordered.

Mudsdale let out another huff. Finally, some horse-kicking action. The draft horse galloped after the rabbit, but instead of passing up the stairs, Mudsdale slid past the stairwell, turned its rear to the wall, and lifted its legs before delivering a swift kick to the structure.

Hapu watched as Mudsdale performed this action; the idea here was to cause the rabbit to stumble and slow down, giving the shots a couple extra seconds to reach their mark… or allow Brigan to get his meaty hands upon the Pooka.

Mario pursed his lips and emitted an impressed whistle. Stroking the corner of his manly mustache, the red plumber grinned in excitement. The Demon Lord definitely looked like he was going to be a challenge. Even more, his various Valkyries. He listened to Naija reveal her handicaps. She couldn’t fly or shoot. Grasping his chin in thought, the red plumber listened to her plan whilst regarding the humongous boulder she somehow carried along. If he was going to be the front lines, then he needed to be the initiator.

Mario glanced over to Odin and his dark squab army. There were enough Valkyries to keep Team Three busy so that Odin could reach his final destination. Luigi’s team was going to be at the Abandoned Castle. Mario frowned. He didn't like the idea of such a powerful enemy reaching his brother.

Lowering his hand from his chin, Mario smirked and carelessly closed his eyes as he dunked a hand into his suspender pocket. “He’s pretty big. ‘Looks like I’m gonna hafta’ get bigger.”

Mario removed his hand from his pocket and cupped within it was a red mushroom. It had been quite some time since he last used one. The Mushroom Kingdom never really understood the effects red mushrooms had on the humans of the Mushroom Kingdom and compared them to performance-enhancing drugs. Even after the ban on their use (out of fear of the mushrooms inspiring adolescents to abuse them), Mario still grew some...but they didn’t need to know that.

Mario grinned mischievously like a boy about to play with fire. He tossed the mushroom into his mouth like popcorn and like butter, it melted across his tongue. The potent power of the mushroom instantly was absorbed into his bloodstream. He felt the magic coursing coolly through his veins before his clothing started to tighten. The tree branch beneath him started to creak, its strength tested as the red plumber began to expand. The threads of his shirt began to snap and the material stretch like a glove over the muscles that swelled against them. Mario’s suspenders popped as he grew an extra foot, making him four inches taller than his lanky brother. When Mario’s transformation was complete, he looked to where Naija positioned her rock.

Leaning forward, Mario grasped the branch between his legs and lifted his feet to rest them upon it. Springing over to Naija’s boulder, the gorilla-sized plumber snagged onto it, the trees that held it in their boughs shaking from the sudden addition of weight. Clinging to the boulder, Mario adjusted his cap, a determined frown on his face as he gazed up at the nearing Demon Lord. Reaching behind him, he removed his trusty power hammer.

”Naija!” he called. He actually got her name right. ”You can’t fly or shoot, but I hope you can throw. We’re gonna knock Big Boss out of the sky!”

She might not have recognized his voice at first for it was hulkishly deeper when he was super-sized.

---

The crimson psypher had met its mark, piercing through the man’s guts and erupting out his back. The pale-haired shadow knight gazed upon Slayer expecting to see blood spurting from his every orifice or to guide him to the ground in his death throes, but the man did not cringe or crumple over. He instead uttered an unbothered sound that made every hair on the knight’s body ferally stand on end.

Frightfully, the shadow knight jerked back, ripping his psypher from the man’s stomach and swiping it to the side to free it of blood. Whatever creature stood before him, it wore false skin.

At the vampire’s mention of Brigan, Oswald’s face became hard and wrinkled with anger. So this was one of Brigan’s warriors? A hiss escaped his teeth as Oswald suddenly felt nervous. If Brigan had sent the man to fight him, then surely he was planning to target the castle.

The shadow knight’s red eyes swelled to the size of saucers when he noticed a burning fist in his peripherals. The vampire’s fist would pass through a black wisp as the shadow knight suddenly vanished in the same manner of haste he had appeared. His voice echoed about Slayer, dissipating on the air:

I don’t have time for the likes of you!

---

One of the fairy bowmen drew a small knife from a sheath at her hip and swiftly sliced through the roll that had been flying for the enchanter’s face. Where Quina had once stood, the grass turned black, shriveling on plumes of smoke before it erupted in a pillar of fire that spread along the trees. Burning leaves and splinters rained from the boughs as the battleground became engulfed in flame.

Flying out of the fire trap was no longer possible without getting singed in the inferno. Quina unintentionally got her wish as the fairies dropped upon the ground and took cover behind the burning trees. The enchanter’s butterfly wings wafted the flames, keeping them from touching her as she started a second spell. Again, a red magic circle appeared beneath her feet as she whispered into her branch. The fairies weren’t aggressively advancing on Quina and the Valkyries. They were waiting patiently, allowing their mage to nuke Team One’s units.

The Valkyrie that had been hiding with Quina bit her lip when the hero ordered her and her team to attack. The fairies had them out-numbered and pinned - even more so with the fire engulfing the woods. She was growing anxious. They were sitting ducks waiting to be shot and killed! She glanced over at her comrade. The two made eye-contact and nodded.

The two sword maidens hurdled over the rocks and logs they had been hiding behind. With their spear weapons raised, they swiftly charged the Ringford ranks, weaving between the burning trees. The archers fired on the warriors with extraordinary precision. The two Valkyries did their best to deflect the arrows with their bucklers and swipes from their spears, but the accuracy of their shots eventually met their mark. The moment an arrow struck one of the Valkyrie’s in the thigh, her leg gave out beneath her, sending her collapsing to the ground. Before her body struck, a second arrow pierced her face and her body exploded into purple stars. Quina would see firsthand how beings died in the world of Erion. The second Valkyrie met a similar fate, but was able to impale one of the archers with her psypher before they both erupted into stars.

It was a desperate attempt, but a fire shower was soon to follow.

Phozons Present: 6

---

Total Enemies: 9
Minions: 9 – Ringford Fairies
Location: Fighting Quina Quin and his/her 3/5 Valkyrie soldiers.

Boss: 0 – Shadow Knight Oswald
Location: Retreated



A black hole appeared behind the rabbit and a red glowing blur of a sword deflected the round from the Imago Loop, sending it spinning into the missile fired by Samus. The missile detonated between the dark swordsman and Brigan. The fire engulfed the two, temporarily obscuring them from sight.

Raaah! General Brigan bellowed. His hammer clenched in his massive fist rose out of the flames as he brought it down on the shadow knight.

Oswald had been about to dodge until the kick from Mudsdale’s High Horse Power caused the stairs to tremble beneath his feet. The knight staggered and barely had a chance to block Brigan’s hammer with his sword. The weight and power behind Brigan’s hammer smashed Oswald into the steps. Stone erupted underneath his black armored body, and the general with his bearing teeth and burning eyes wasn’t about to let up. He rapidly hammered the knight. Oswald bore his teeth as he continued to guard against the general’s pummeling assault with his health decreasing. The knight’s eyes flared a bright red before his body turned into a black smoke that swiftly darted out from under the general’s hammer.

As Oswald rematerialized, he swiftly raced up the stairs toward the terrified bunny, grabbing her by the paw. General Brigan had drank from his horn and puckering his lips, a stream of fire left his inflated cheeks, rising up the stairs after the fleeing characters. Oswald managed to make it to the second floor before he released the Pooka and ordered, “Go to Gwendolyn’s room and lock the doors. Guard her with your life!”

The frightened rabbit nodded and hopped off to the princess’s bedchamber.

In a fit, General Brigan stomped his feet, shaking the entire castle. Glancing back at Team Two, he roared in frustration, AM I FIGHTING THIS BATTLE ALONE?

Oswald appeared at the top of the smoking stairwell, glaring viciously down at General Brigan and his party.

“Come to steal the ring? I see you have help this time. Do they know you plan to kill them once you obtain it?” Oswald asked.

General Brigan gazed back at Oswald and growled, “I plan to stop Demon Lord Odin with it. He is on his way here, Shadow Knight. If you had any sense you would not get in my way!”

“I am no such fool like the ones you employ. Your greed would destroy Erion much slower than what Odin would do, but the results are still the same. If you want the ring, then you will have to go through me.” Oswald pointed his sword at General Brigan and waved it over Team Two. “I will destroy your entire army if it means to protect Erion and my wife from you.”

General Brigan grinned wickedly, his fist creaking as he gripped his hammer furiously tighter. “So be it, boy. My army of heroes will make short work of you!”





The shots fired by Fox struck down a black Valkyrie. Unlike the Valkyries Team Three had previously seen at General Brigan’s side, these Valkyries were dark. They were pitch black with red eyes that gleamed like fire. Black flames rose off of their wings as they followed Odin like crows. A second collapsed from the sky, causing a unit of ten Valkyries to slow and gaze upon the forest canopy. Now aware of the assault, they dodged around the pilot’s fire and drawing their wings in, swiftly descended upon him.

The remaining units continued to follow after Odin. The Demon Lord did not seem to care or even react to the fire his units took. It was clear his intentions were to reach the Abandoned Castle.

Shrieking like banshees, the Valkyries dove into the trees like pelicans into the ocean. Leaves leapt about them as they submerged, chasing after the agile Fox and violently swinging their spears with enough strength to rend the trees from their trunks.

Phozons Present: 4

---

Total Enemies: 29
Minions: 29 – Black Valkyeries
Location: Airborne
---10 - after Fox; 19 with Odin.

Boss: Demon Lord Odin
Location: Airborne

This GM post reveals the results of team decisions/consequences.


Keep track of your word count XP. Overall XP will be awarded at the end of every battle.



Try to write your posts without quoting other characters. When I put people's posts in the word counter, I erase the quotes of other characters, and that seems to lower the word count depriving players of XP. So try to write without it. When XP isn't initiated, then using other character quotes doesn't matter.


If a player is inactive for more than 3 days, then the player can be skipped over on the 4th day.

Team One Order: Slayer, Quina

Team Two Order: Luigi, James, Samus, Amaterasu, Hapu, Buck

Team Three Order: Naija, Fox, Garrett, Mario

Be sure to re-read the scenario rules found here. Good luck!

The situation was spiraling out of control and Luigi felt powerless to stop it. In what felt like slow motion he watched as the solder man raised his gun and opened fire on the fleeing bunny girl... known locally as a Pooka it seemed. Yes, a part of him noticed that Samus had also fired a missile at her from what he could tell it was aimed ahead of the girl, no doubt designed to bring her to a halt rather then... well, bringing her to a halt. He did make a small mental note that Hapu had gotten Mudsdale to try and knock the Pooka girl off balance; He would have to think of some kind of reward for her attempt at non lethal force.

He didn't want an innocent girl to die or get crippled for life just because she happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, but the bullets were already flying and there was nothing he could do to stop them.

It turned out, he didn't need to. Someone else had stepped in to do it for him. The shadowy knight (Oswald himself if the reaction from Brigan was any indication) had magically appeared and him and the giant general started a fierce, brutal exchange between each other. While the two were locked in combat and hopefully were two preoccupied to listen to what he might have had to say, Luigi softly ordered "Samus, Hapu, Amaterasu; While the rest of us keep these two busy, I want you to slip away and follow that Pooka girl. I am ordering you to find Gwendolyn, secure her and the ring and get her out of this castle as quickly as possible. I would rather you didn't leave a body count, but I'll trust you to make whatever calls you need to." Almost as an afterthought, Luigi threw what appeared to be a small bag with most of the seeds that he had been given when the mission started.

There was however one still in his hand; A Napple Seed if he recalled correctly. Glancing around for a moment, lucky would have it that he spied a bit of cracked tilt on the floor that betrayed dirt underneath it. Ducking down, he quickly planted the seed before standing back up and reaching behind his back to remove what appeared to be a power hammer of a similar make to that of his older twin.

"James! Edward! Attack!" He cried out, charging towards Oswald with a surprising turn of speed with hammer at the ready; While he took a rather showy swing at the shadowy knight, the point wasn't to truly hit him. It was to draw his attention so that he wasn't focusing on the members of the party that weren't fighting him and dodging the counter attacks so he didn't die doing so.

He trusted that Samus, Hapu and Amaterasu not only had the skills required to track down the Pooka, but also to deal with just about any other obstruction that might get in their collective way. It was a gamble to split the party, but time was a factor and the sooner the girl was recovered and gotten to safety, the better. That fact that this also meant that the party could secure the girl without Brigan being in a position to try and double cross them before they were away from the castle was just an added bonus.

As the bullet grew closer to it's mark, James couldn't help but pop a grin behind his helmet. This was his territory, putting down targets who were moving to try and, typically, outflank or maneuver the Guardian. Admittedly, shooting at something not actively trying to kill him was odd, but all the same he had a job to do. Killing the Pooka wasn't his favorite idea, but if they were going succeed here then it had to be stopped. Of course, right before impact, a red blade from no where erupted and deflected the bullet, which had the Nightstalker diving for cover.The explosion from his bullet hitting Samus' missile rocked the castle and some debris showered James. "I thought Team One had the Shadow Knight distracted!" Meanwhile, Charger was already deployed and trying to get a decent scan on both the General and the Shadow Knight for a better understanding.

"He must have received some kind of warning from that bunny creature. Or maybe there was some kind of magic alarm we triggered that Brigan didn't know about. Oh, and then there's the fact that the Shadow Knight said Brigan had plans to kill us once we had the ring. Survey says..." James finished the sentence for him, popping out and listening for orders at the same time.

"That he's likely telling the truth and that Brigan wants him dead for that reason so that we can't confirm one way or the other. Of course, none of us really trusted that giant ass hole to begin with, so..." The thought went unfinished as Luigi called out for himself, James and Buck to attack. For a moment he wondered what Samus, Amaterasu and Hapu were supposed to do before it clicked. He's splitting us up. The three of us have some decent firepower between us, plus Luigi probably knows how to fight in a melee best if he's got that hammer. So then I'll do what I do best.

Holstering his Imago Loop, he reaches over his shoulder and draws the Stillpiercer and dashes for a higher position so he could better pick out Oswald in the mess that was the melee. As he moved, he had Charger open a comms channel to Samus, sliding behind a pillar and appraising it at the same time. {Best of luck, Samus. We'll let you know if Oswald or Brigan head your way.} Placing the rifle on his back once more, James turned and jumped, barely managing to catch an edge that would allow him to climb up higher and not for the first time he cursed not having his double jump. As he climbed up, he turned his attention back to Charger. "So, what's the verdict on that drink of Brigan's? Because I don't remember the giant spewing fire at random while we talked before."

The Ghost appeared in his usual white, Ghost shaped form in the upper right corner of James' HUD before speaking. "I can't say for sure, but it would seem the drink grants the General additional powers when he drinks it, but how many is impossible to determine without more data. There's also something odd about those four metal plates that adorn his chest, but I'm not sure what because I keep getting some kind of interference from him." James didn't voice it, but he made the educated guess that the general had some kind of magic armor in place of real armor, which was likely what those four plates were. As the Guardian opened his mouth to ask for more on Oswald, Charger cut him off. "And before you ask, it would seem that Oswald is called Shadow Knight because of, as we saw, his ability to manipulate shadows and even become them. Simply put, both will be difficult fights, but Brigan can't become intangible, making him the easier of the two."

James let out a groan as he eventually managed to scramble up into the rafters and drew his sniper again before having Charger relay the information to Edward with a suggestion to pass it to Luigi as well. Finding a position with a decent line of sight on Oswald from his position and scoped up. "I want you to start setting way points on positions for follow up shots, Charger. I can figure out pathing as we go." There's no response from the Ghost, but a way point pops up to the Guardian's right side a second later, a white diamond flashing periodically with the number of meters from it displayed above it. After confirming it in his peripherals, James lined up a shot on Oswald's head and squeezed the trigger, the void light infused round sailing towards it's target. However, the Nightstalker didn't wait to see if his shot connected and was already moving, leaping across the rafters before coming to a stop around 20 meters from where he'd fired the first shot. Scoping up again, he fires a second shot at Oswald's chest before backtracking to the right, moving back the original 20 meters and then an additional 30 before firing a third shot at the Shadow Knight's chest again.

One shot left in the magazine. And I only have 10 spare. Time for the Imago Loop. Putting the sniper rifle back on his back without reloading and drawing his hand cannon. Jumping down from the rafters and landing in a roll, he came up and took aim down the weapon's sights, squeezing off three shots that managed to deftly avoid hitting the Team, and Squad, Leader before he found cover behind another pillar, slipping the cylinder open and reloading in a single swift motion before he flicked the cylinder closed again. Taking a moment, he focuses and tries desperately to summon a void wall grenade to help contain the Shadow Knight, but all he got was a flash of purple energy before it vanished and the Guardian sighed in defeat. He was going to have to earn it again, and hopefully he was close.

Popping out from behind his cover again, he fired four more shots at the Shadow Knight, hoping that between Brigan, Luigi, Edward and himself the Shadow Knight would be far too busy defending and countering to notice, let alone chase down, Samus, Hapu, and Amaterasu.

Fox immediately set off, and Naija watched with interest from her hiding spot as he drew a small boxy object and used it to fire of multiple bursts of fast, thin, bright red projectiles up at the flying Valkyries, striking down two of them before another 10 of them swooped down after him in response. That the battle was initiated in earnest and the Valkyries began bear down on fox, screeching battle cries, yet their leader flew on, their attack having not stalled him or even caught his attention. She had hoped he would at least be given pause to command his warriors to investigate but they had responded immediately without direction from their king. They would need to hit him personally if they were going to draw his ire and fox was tied up with his pursuers, so shooting at him was currently out of the question. In her mind they would need to clean out the current pack and then catch up, if they could.

Distracted by Fox’s gun fire then the approaching Valkyries and their screeching she did not notice the now hulking Mario till he leaped up and snatched her boulder and in a deep, rumbling voice asked her to toss him at their enemy. She was surprised at his growth, It was fortunate that so far the plumber’s cloths did not simply rip off his body at the slightest flex of his now bulging musculature. She had to admit, she was initially spooked by his sudden appearance and unfamiliar voice, if she had any powers or weapons on her it is likely she would have shot him in a panic, as it was she simply let out a gasp at his appearance and almost fell out of the tree, but managed to compose herself at the last second. Also he was essentially giving her orders and ignoring her ‘small detachment’ plan in favor of going for glory and taking on the Demon Lord Himself which was frustrating to no end. However on the plus side whatever change had occurred it had allowed him to remember her name as well. That or he was intentionally not using it before and only now in the heat of battle was such taunting put aside.

Whichever it was it would have to wait, because marios plan was a rather good one, no-one could ignore the mighty Italian flying at them, hammer in hand, presumably shouting a warcry and thus hopefully the Demon lord would be forced to come back and deal with them, because he was currently getting away much faster than she would like. Even if he was disobeying orders it would not do to waste valuable time arguing with him when Fox was in-danger, she would do this and then she would help their vulpine team member.

”Remember, we only need to stall him, if we retreat meet us back at the clearing we arrived in. Alright let's do this, hold on tight Mario. I’ll back you up after me and fox clear out the Valkyries, just bring that big bastard down to the ground.”

Then she positioned herself so that she could chase after the flying foe and as the Valkyries began to tear into the forest she began to leap after Odin, trailing the boulder and hopefully Mario as well. She leaped deftly from branch to branch, building speed with each quick bound, physically and mentally straining at the additional weight she was being forced to drag along, the plumber tugging at the bond she had weaved with the Verse around the rock, which was threatening to snap at any moment.

Finally she arrived directly under the demon king and grabbed hold of the closest tree, coming to a complete if jarring stop, the rock hurtled toward her, looking like it would crush her. It was instead deflected by the Verse and all the momentum shifted at a right angle to the deflection point, where normally it would result in the object swing around her in an arc. However in this situation Naija had begun singing the Bind song as they approached the Demon Lord, the first two green notes reverberating through the trees as their life force responded to the thrum of the Verse. Then the final purple E note rang out just as all of the force of the trailing rock was redirected upwards to stop it colliding with her, and so the rock and its trailing plumber were launched directly at the Demon King. Whether it would hit him was another matter entirely, but hopefully the plumber could add his own power to the toss, perhaps jumping from the rock if a course correction was required. Whatever the result, Naija was sure that Odin would not be able to ignore what they had just done, her entirely non stealthy approach and the flying Mario would make sure of that.

”Good luck!”

Sparing nary a second glance to what occurred with the plumber and the Demon king, she then rushed to where Fox was being attacked by the Valkyries, leaping through the branches to the rather obvious region of devastation and loud battle cries, the dark winged women were inflicting a horrible scar on the beautiful dark forest and though fox was not dead yet she was somewhat ashamed to have simple abandoned him while she indulged Mario and his plan. She would need to make up for it, either picking them off or drawing some of them away. With her leaping traversal she managed to catch up with and then trail the marauding band, trying to decide how she would go about this, sans rock as she now was.

Quickly making her decision, she aproched the rear of the group, hoping stealthily through the trees just parallel to them then lept out, quickly singing the bind song again, this time much shorter as she was not having to draw out the notes in order to time a launch, landing behind them and wrapping the Verse around the armor of the rearmost Valkyrie.

She would attempt to leap forward, still behind the group, dragging the unfortunate woman's armor off of her and hopefully stripping her of the ability to chase fox. This kind if thing she knew worked against turtles and other armored creatures, she hoped it would work on the flying warrior as well. If they could find her after the battle was over she may prove to be a carrier of the Virus for the council's scientists to inspect. Having done so she would leap away again, intending to draw some of them off if they had heard her so that she and fox could deal with a smaller group each or perhaps repeat the maneuver if their screaming had masked her singing.

The bounty hunter's missile looked as if it was going to hit the poor rabbit, rocketing forward at quite the velocity. However, before it could reach the fleeing Pooka, a black hole suddenly popped out of nowhere, followed by a sword that detonated upon impact, exploding in a fiery blast. The sound would echo across the hall, but also obscure the vision of both the newly arrived Shadow Knight and the grumpy General Brigan temporarily. Stunned by Mudsdale's kick, the knight was stunned for a bit, followed by a hulking hit from the General's sword, before rematerializing nearby with the Pooka in his arms. With a commanding bark, he ordered the rabbit to flee as fast as she could. It was going to get away! Meanwhile, Brigan roars in a massive fury, calling for arms while he traded words with his opponent.

Samus doesn't know how important the Pooka is, but considering how Brigan was racing towards it in a flustered and panicked manner, surely there's some valuable weight attached to her. As the two warriors were preoccupied with their own battle, Luigi spoke softly to his teammates at hand. Green Stache' orders her, Hapu, and Amaterasu to slip by the two brutes and catch that rabbit, while he, Edward, and James support General Brigan against the Shadow Knight, Oswald, as Samus overhears. No matter, the bounty hunter nods and salutes at his order.

"Understood," she replies bluntly, looking at the fleeing Pooka from her position, smiling devilishly, "The rabbit won't be getting far. Hapu, Ama, follow my lead."

With that, Samus silently lead her sub-team to the far left side of the hallway, where several pillars were holding up the roof of this giant tower. As she takes position behind the nearest pillar, her comms channel suddenly blurts out, revealing the voice of Varrock, wishing her and her team the best of luck, while in addition providing her advance notice if if Oswald or Brigan happened to come their way.

"{Copy that.}" Samus replies, her hand adjusted on a knob on her helmet that receives incoming communication signals, "{Likewise to your group. Samus out.}"

After turning off her comms channel, the armored warrior peeks from the pillar to assess the situation at hand. The pooka was almost out of sight, just barely out several tens of meters out. They have to be extremely quick and swift if they are able to catch up with her, while also staying out of Oswald's sight and hearing. The bounty hunter looks at her teammates and addresses her plan carefully.

"Alright team, listen." she states as softly as she could, but in a rushed way in order to not waste time, "I want you both to follow me as fast as you can. The pillars can provide us with some minimal cover, but we don't have time to sneak past Oswald slowly. Just don't look back. Stay focused straight ahead and follow my movements. Keep. Up. Further orders will be given once we past them and we near our primary target. Understood?"

Considering that she was understood, Samus quickly turns back and begins to power up as much energy in her body armor to her legs. Unfortunately, she didn't have her speed boost, which would allow her to zoom at an incredibly high velocity and get the job done in a matter of a minute or two, so she needs to provide her own miniature boost manually through her suit, producing a low hum, which gets slightly louder with each passing second.

"On my mark..." the armored woman says slowly as her energy attempts to pump full power into her legs.

A moment later, a rapid beeping can be heard from her suit, ready to commence.

"GO!"

And with that, Samus lunges forward rapidly using all of her speed her suit could muster while pumping her arms to get more velocity. The chase is on!

For all his strength, Slayer could not drive his fist through vapor. The instant before his blazing fist would have cannoned into Oswald's noggin, the Shadow Knight disintegrated into his namesake, and Slayers hand passed harmlessly through the empty space. All that remained was his voice, but its edge told the vampire that his opponent wasn't toying with him. Before the duel could even commence, Oswald both forfeited and departed with no small amount of urgency. Under normal circumstances, the gentleman might have taken his time adjusting his attire, but the split-second skirmish ended so quickly that not one hair on his head was out of place. It all struck Slayer as disappointing. However, hidden in his foe's parting words was a pertinent implication; his attention was needed elsewhere. The gentleman did not hesitate to start moving again, having guessed where Oswald might be headed. ”The other team must have begun its assault,” he murmured, voicing his thoughts. ”Regrettably I could not provide much of a distraction, but given the young lad's teleportation ability, I could not reasonably be expected to waylay him for long.” Casting his mind back to the members of Team Two, he felt sure that poor Oswald had leaped out of the frying pan and into the fire. Slayer, eager to rejoin the action, picked up the pace to a brisk trot. ”With me, he might have stood a chance.”

The Abandoned Castle wasn't far. Its proximity alone meant that Slayer arrived just in time to hear General Brigan make his dire ultimatum. Against the entire assembly of heroes, only Oswald stood in opposition. Atop the flight of stairs with murder in his eyes, he cut an imposing figure, but the swollen barbarian alone dwarfed him, and the General's allies meant that for all his presence and all his skill, the knight was a lone candle awaiting a deluge. Having arrived from a slightly different direction, Slayer was sure that Oswald could see him. So could the members of Team Two. Convinced that a grand brawl was poised to take place, Slayer said what he could. ”Good evening, compatriots! My opponent teleported away. I will aid you however I can.” A moment later, the action began. Luigi planted a seed, belted out an order rather uncharacteristic for one who'd shown himself to be shy, and then sprinted into the melee with a hammer in his hands. His two soldiers began their assault as well, and the other half of Team Two broke off to get inside. Amusing that this lot would end up doing the job mine was supposed to. Where are the others, I wonder...?

Slayer remained still, a hand cupping his pipe as he studied the situation. He had to admit that he knew very little about Team Two's mission in particular. 'Storm the Tower, Rescue the Princess' was what stuck out in his mind. He could not say if the phrase accurately represented his new allies' mission. The combined fire of Edward and James would place a great deal of pressure on Oswald as he attempted to deal with Brigan and Luigi at once. Given his lack of mobility and range, Slayer felt inclined to believe that he would be more of a hindrance than a help should he throw himself into the mix. Meanwhile, the others would be attempting to proceed up the staircase Oswald guarded. ”Ah, I know!” he snapped his fingers. ”I'll stir things up. More chaos means less chance for Oswald to keep track of everyone, so my fellow heroes may get through. Then, I will join them as backup. Marvelous!” As the fierce battle began, Slayer skirted the edge, making sure to stay out of the line of fire of his allies. He made his way to a solid wall and, after taking a moment to get his angle and target right, mustered his strength to pound the solid rock with a Pile Bunker.

KRAKOOM!

The resulting blow, while nowhere near enough to shake the castle, nevertheless rumbled the room. The wall itself conducted the force to the second floor, rattling anyone directly above enough to send items off of furniture and people tumbling. Dust and a few stones cascaded from the ceiling, but nothing more. Slayer retracted his hand to find it bloodied and broken, which he acknowledged with a click of his tongue. ”My constitution really has taken a hit! I'll wager I must look fairly imbecilic, having just punched a wall. Hopefully something helpful comes out of it.” At the very least it might throw Oswald off balance, but with any luck it might open up a passage of some kind for Team Two's members to get up to the second floor faster, or even keep its occupants from fleeing for a moment.