---

The lead Boo had all of about less than a second to react, to attempt to warn his compatriot, before the Vampire blazed through him, sending him back to whatever realm the Boos were pulled from. That left itself and the one that had faced off with Heavy and the ghost attempted to waste no time in pursuing the Vampire, except that in it's anger, it had forgotten about it's teen aged opponent, who's tornado kick not only landed, but dealt far more damage than the bullet had. As it fizzled out, it's laughter echoed ”You bastards might have bested me and my crew, but the boss'll finish you all in one move! Good luck, you plumber wannabes!” And with that, it vanished, joining it's defeated allies in...well, certainly somewhere.

The last of the Dark Boos, meanwhile, hightailed it away from Heavy's finger with a shout a fear. "Point that thing somewhere else, big guy!" He raced after Slayer while the Russian was still putting two and two together and stopped in front of where the Vampire had, two doors and three walls with large holes blown in them now present in the punch's path and a large, clearly boss door in front of him. "Look, you guys are running out of time, the boss is almost ready to use his big one. You've gotta weaken him significantly before then. I'm the key, I'm to let you in, but everything after that is on you." The Boo became a purple flame and floated into the central gold plating on the door. "Good luck!"

When the rest of the heroes caught up, the doors would swing open with an eerie creak to reveal a large stone room with blue torches all along the outer wall and their target, grinning and laughing like a maniac, in the center, devilish blue flames all around him as he focused. "So the heroes finally found me! You're running out of time before I send you packing! HEHEHEHEHEHEHE!!!" Even as he spoke, the blue flames around him grew in intensity, making the end goal clear, beat the King of the Boos before he finishes charging his attack.

---

GM Note: From now on, all players will be required to keep track of their word count. XP will be awarded every GM post. Be sure to check the XP hider to see how much XP your character earned. Remember to keep your CSes updated. I have seen players slack in keeping their XP up-to-date and they have lost XP points because of it. I didn't take the XP away from them, they just didn't keep track of the XP on their own. It is YOUR responsibility if you want your character to level.


If a player is inactive for more than 3 days without letting the GMs know of any delays, then the player can be skipped over on the 4th day. If a player does not wish to post, they can Mention the GM and let the GM know he or she "Passes" on his or her turn.

P.O.: Slayer, Akira, Heavy, and Six.

As all good things did, Slayer's blazing straight came to an end, the last few flickers of violet flame sputtering out. Ever vigilant of his allies, he made an about-face to check on both their status and the results of his attack. What he witnessed brought a smile to his face; not only had his full-force lunge punch carried him through several layers of architecture and vanquished the specter in his way, but as he watched Joker dispatched the next-to-last one, leaving only a single foe remaining. This last boo seemed to get the hint and, its resolve clearly broken, hurried toward and past him. The other heroes rushed to catch up, stepping or hopping over the debris strewn about in Slayer's wake. When they arrived the lone boo explained the circumstances of the boss fight, and freely opened the way for them.

The vampire chuckled, sauntering forward. ”Now there's a nice touch of courtesy,” he remarked, tone rather carefree. ”I certainly hope your crew treats your next guests with a little more of it.” Inside lay a room of sheer, stone bricks, totally bereft of furniture save for the rows of uncanny azure braziers along the walls and completely uninhabited save for the crowned, corpulent phantasm levitating in the dungeonesque chamber's middle. Ghostly energy, its erratic movement and volume escalating by the moment, suffused the guffawing geist as he issued his ultimatum, which in combination with the underling's warning convinced Slayer that there was no time to waste.

Raising his voice to make sure his newfound comrades would hear him over the vile villain's cacophonous cackling, Slayer declared, ”I suggest we focus on offense. Lay it on fast and heavy, but beware a counterattack. The chamber is bare, but we can still use it to our advantage.” The gentleman composed himself, cracking his neck and then his knuckles, prepared to -as always- lead by example.

Unburdened by fear he began to walk forward, his pace brisk and full of intent. Once at a range he judged appropriate, he came to a halt and dug in his heels. "Here goes!" With teeth clenched Slayer plunged the very fists that rattled an entire castle into the floor, smashing holes into its surface that extended to the soil below and sending cracks snaking out in every direction. He then turned his hands outward to grip the underside and pulled with tremendous might, dislodging a hefty chunk of stone that finally came loose with a bone-wrenching jolt. The force lifted the chunk up into the air, and with deft precision the vampire revolved his arm until he could send a straight punch cannoning into it. A few pieces might break off, but the bulk of the mortared rock hurtled right at King Boo, and it didn't come alone. Not even a second after the impact Slayer reappeared in melee range, having teleported under cover of his mighty projectile, and on the heels of the stony slam came a burning uppercut. Carried upward by his flaming fist, the gentleman struck the ceiling, creating a web of cracks that could easily give way and shower the King with rubble if coaxed by one of his allies. For Slayer's part, though, a Dandy Step canceled into a backstep sufficed. Though no doubt as effective as it was splendid, his opening move took its toll on both fists, leaving wounds that would take a little time to heal before he could engage in fisticuffs once again.

The feeling that came with kicking the incorporeal blob was something Arika couldn't quite comprehend. It might have been the little boost that Arsene gave him, but it felt pretty unreal punting a ghost like he did; and despite the pain coming from and pulsating throughout the side of his face, Akira couldn't wait to tell his friends about it when he got the chance. Landing in a slight flourish, the trench coat resting on his shoulders billowing unintentionally, Akira kept his guard up, not taking the lead Boo's words lightly; although the 'plumber wannabes' at the end did leave the frizzy haired teen a bit confused.

Seeing the final Boo head off towards Slayer, Akira did the same, hopping from platform to platform until he was at their leader's right hand side. Since it took a little longer to reach the dandy vampire then it appeared, the phantom thief only caught a few of the tail end words, the one sticking out the most being that they would have to weaken whatever would come at them next. Okay, that was simple enough, and the last Boo even opened the door for them. And what he saw inside only brought more flashbacks to that retched Palace...the one that put him where he was now...except now it had a blue hue to everything that was once red and gold...

A little disgusted with the new scenery he was forced into, Arira looked to Slayer as he spoke, nodding silently in understanding before following sightly behind the man a few seconds later. He took what the other said to heart, glancing around the slightly barren room as a sign that he had been listening. The first thing that he thought of using was the torches that wrapped around the wall and that's exactly what he did, sprinting off to the side as Slayer distracted their large target by utilizing the floor they were standing on. Immediately the teen pulled out two torches with red gloved hands and encased both flames in Eiha, the dark energy causing the flames to take a darker shade of blue and also appear more like static then a true flame. Since the flames appeared to be growing in size with the King Boo's power, Akira pointed one of the elongated flames towards their target as he sprinted towards them, hoping that would keep them in place as Slayer and the others tried to attack. Once he was close enough, the boy shifted the second torch he got to the same hand as the first one and grabbed his trusty dagger. He then jumped in between the large mass or rock coming at a pretty fast speed towards the target ghost and the target in question, performing Cleave with his dagger in tandem with Slayer's uppercut, the momentum of his jump sending him out of the line of fire or any danger almost immediately. Before he touched the ground again, however, the phantom thief threw the second Eiha torch at the massive blob, wanting nothing more but to give more opening for his companions to deal stronger attacks. He kept the first torch in his hands though, since he wanted to have at least two weapons he could work with.

Cloud’s arms remained crossed before his chest. Wario was absolute scum and Waluigi was just a follower. He only cared about himself and they were wasting their time trying to seek his help. At least that was what Cloud thought. He didn’t try to get in Frisk’s way when they decided to reason with them. More like…Ask Wario for his help. Cloud frowned. It wasn’t a bad idea, but he didn’t like it. Wario couldn’t be trusted. No matter what the fat man was capable of, he just couldn’t be trusted. He seemed like the type to flee once he realized he wasn’t going to win. But Cloud wasn’t trying to think about not winning. The bosses had been formidable. If he recalled one fight in the Smash Arena, King Dedede was very similar to Kirby. Thank goodness he wasn’t Kirby.

Alicia and BK confirmed that Mario’s Soul and Hat weren’t in The Vault. If they weren’t here or with King Dedede, then where could they be? It seemed that King Dedede would be the only one who would have the answer they sought. Deciding to help Frisk’s plan with encouragement, Cloud sighed and added, “They’re right. We may not stand a chance without your help. You took on three bosses by yourselves and it seems you effortlessly defeated them. The seven of us could make short work of King Dedede and what happens when a king is defeated? The winner gets the spoils. I don’t think The Council will allow us to claim Dream Land, but seeing as you haven’t been officially recruited to the team, there’s no reason why you guys can’t have it.”

Cloud shrugged and then spoke to the others, “I’m sure King Dedede knows what he did with Mario’s Hat and Soul. What I can’t guarantee is if we’ll get an answer. We have to try and get him to tell us where they are or we may not ever find them. How we do that? I have no idea. Let’s just hope the penguin likes to talk.”

---

Wario paused in shoveling gold. He arched a brow at Frisk’s question. He listened to Frisk as they offered their recruitment pitch. His beady eyes then darted over to Cloud who echoed Frisk’s desire for his power. Fuck Waluigi, he didn’t do shit. Wario frowned at the group and then closed his eyes. Releasing the gold bag, he folded his muscular arms before his chest and tilted his head up toward the ceiling. Geez, they really need my help. Then again, this could just be a trick to keep me from leaving with all the riches. But if they die fighting King Dedede, then I may not get far enough away. Help or don’t help…if I don’t help them, then they could die and King Dedede could come afta’ me. If I do help them, and we do beat him, then I get the entire kingdom. I’ll be Dream Land’s next king. I’ll have everything.

Oddly, Wario pinched the end of his moustache and twisted it as a large greed-filled grin expanded on his face. He giggled at his internal plot and then rose to his feet. His weight caused him to slide down the side of the gold mountain to land upon the floor before Frisk and the others.

“All right; you chumps have me convinced. I’ll help ya defeat the penguin. Afterwards, I’ll claim my crown and throne. King Wario! WEH-HEH-HEH-HEH!” Wario proudly laughed. He then raised his arms and flexed his muscles as he declared, “You’re lucky that I still got strength to spare.”

Waluigi stood there obliviously with a sack of gold. “Um…Wario. What do you want me to do?”

Wario lowered his arms and rested his hands on his hips. “Hm…I suppose you can come along if you think you’ll be of any use.”

Waluigi’s grip tightened on the gold bag. “I think I would rather stay here.”

Wario’s face flashed red with anger. “So you can run away with the loot if we lose!? You’re coming with us!”

Waluigi tensed and threw the coin bag over his shoulder. “I would rather pass, wah!”

The evil brothers comically began racing around The Vault, chasing each other. They ran up mountains of gold, through them, and Waluigi even tried hiding before Wario grabbed him by his leg and dragged him across the floor.

“No! I don’t wanna die! I just wanna be rich, wah!” Waluigi screamed as his nails left lines in the floor.

Wario stomped along toward the boss door. “Let’s get this over with.”

The fat warrior swung his foot up and kicked open the massive boss doors with a loud bang. The doors flew open and the black energy palpably flooded free. Before them was an enormous staircase that led straight down to the first floor. There had to be over one hundred steps. The further they descended, the stronger the aura seemed to become until it was almost suffocating. Waluigi was shaking like a leaf while Wario was frowning, just clenching his face muscles to try and appear brave. His armpits had sprung a leak. What did he get himself into? This guy was probably a nightmare.

Swallowing a hard lump that had formed in his throat, Wario stopped when he realized that he was leading the group. He turned to the others to try and start a distracting conversation to have them go first.

“Wow, it’s hard to see with all of this black stuff in the air, huh?” he said with a forced smile.

If the group continued, they would arrive at an empty chamber. The only one hunched over inside it was King Dedede. His back was facing the group. His breaths were heavy and laborious and his eyes were gleaming red. Sweat was dripping from his face as his flipper rested on his stomach. The penguin overheard the footsteps and turned his red spheres over his shoulder to gaze at the team.

“Oh…” King Dedede breathed as though it took much energy to talk. “So…you all made it…I’m amazed…I thought my minions would have crushed you for sure…I underestimated you.”

The penguin was still perched on the metal winged greaves Naija used to own. They were the only things allowing him to move for he seemed to be suffering from a serious condition.




If a player is inactive for more than 3 days without letting the GMs know of any delays, then the player can be skipped over on the 4th day. If a player does not wish to post, they can Mention the GM and let the GM know he or she "Passes" on his or her turn.

P.O.: Frisk, Alicia Harnick, Banjo & Kazooie, and Cloud.

Vent was already awake when Ulfric came in to awake the party of heroes, toting the purple armor, white mask, and red scarf of model PX. The first part of the plan required stealth after all, and no other model was stealthier than P, who had the knowledge of ninjas with in his databanks. He followed the group as Ulfric lead them to the city of Markarth, his eyes constantly scanning the darkness for even a hint of a threat. He had ignored the Boss's morning scowl, chalking it up to a lack of proper coffee, since he knew a couple of the Guardians who were pretty crabby without their own dose of the morning wake up juice.

The trip was quiet and the city soon rose into sight, along with more than ample cover for the assault party and Vent took up a position that would let him move quickly when the signal came to take out the gate guards, closing the distance as quickly as possible for the securing of the gate. However, before they could begin, the Boss pointed out something that had gone unnoticed by the Mega Man in the trip over, that their resident spear wielder was missing. Where in the hell? Wait, those Greybeards from earlier... Even as Vent came to the conclusion, the Boss stated it out loud, ready to lay into anyone who was covering for her. However, Ulfric informed them that time was running out, so he instead said they'd deal with it later and took off.

Vent was still of the opinion that letting him go alone was a fool's mistake, but with as little care as he had for the guy, seeing him get blasted into oblivion wasn't entirely something that would bother him. A few moments after the green sweater wearing target disappeared from view, a torch on the wall was waving at them, indicating that it was the groups turn to take out the gate guards. Dashing out from behind his rock, the Mega Man hugs the ground as he runs, his tunnel vision making him miss the Sneak Level up prompt, although the shout made him think the Greybeards were interfering, though lack of other effects proved the opposite. Spotting four of the guards as he nears the gate, he slings his right arm across his body, three energy kunai flying through the air. Each impact a Forsworn in the middle of the back, dropping them silently; well, except for the thud as their bodies hit the ground. The fourth started to turn around, in time to see a flash of purple and red as Vent flipped over him and landed, one set of energy claws igniting on his left arm before he rams it into the last guard's chest.

As he pulled it free, he could only hope that any other guards were dealt with and that he wasn't about to take an energy blast to his back, but just in case, he rolled to the right and came up with an giant energy throwing star ready.

Shantae listened to the conversation between Sparx and Hunter, not opting to answer his questions regarding the eye and turtle. It wasn't long before the ship had darted off, and Sparx, Hunter, and everyone else headed for Tetris Castle. Shantae, of course, followed after them.

It wasn't long before she reached the 49th floor with the others. She listened to the man talk about the sword. While the technological side was covered, she wished she knew more about magic, since, well, she used magic. But, that was Uncle Mimic's area of expertise. When Cuphead mentioned that he dealt with pirates before, she raised an eyebrow at him. Of course, she dealt with pirates too, but now was not the time to bring that up.

She didn't really have anything to say. She looked at the sword to see if she could recognize any of the magic involved with that sword. She doubted it, but it was still worth a shot.

Great success! The floating ghost who had just made the mistake of attempting to reason with the Heavy instead of fleeing, and the next second it had vanished into thin air! Heavy chuckled quietly to himself at his achievement, getting back onto his stubby little feet when he suddenly heard the same voice of the tiny spectral; It was still alive. But before Heavy could turn angry and strike down the baby ghost again, he saw Comrade Slayer talk with it - not attacking it, which was odd - before seeing a door open. Heavy didn't know or understand what was going on, but he followed little Joker to their leader and into the large chamber and whatever might have waited for them there.

"Lay it on heavy is my specialty, Comrade Slayer. Me and Sasha will make sure of that." Heavy said back to their team leader as they entered the massive chamber. The monstrosity of a ghost that floated in the middle was...huge indeed, and its cackling voice and laughter was sure to give many a man shivers down his spine. But not Heavy. The laughter sounded just like a bourgeois capitalist's laughter, and they could be dealt with. Yes it was big - very, very big -, but that was of no concern to him. He had a big gun. "You run! I will shoot the bourgeoisie ghost and cover you!"

While Slayer and Joker made their moves with an elegant haste and precision, Heavy went down to business the old and dirty merc way. It had been too long since Sasha had been out, but now it was her time to shine. Heavy pressed the secondary trigger on his beloved minigun, commencing the mechanism that spun the barrels around and around faster until it reached it optimal rotational speed. The sound of the spinning minigun was unmistakable for those that knew it, and perhaps terrifying for those that didn't. But Heavy was just happy to fight. "Eat lead, King Ghost!"

Heavy pulled the primary trigger, unleashing a hail of 200$ bullets at an mindboggling rate towards their massive enemy. The Russian continued the barrage of cartoonishly oversized bullets aimed at King Boo's face, while he slowly side-stepped to the left in the chamber. Rocks and various attacks were aimed for their enemy with a crown, Slayer and Joker doing amazing feats of acrobatics and magical abilities that Heavy could only dream of. Heavy himself, after the first burst of minigun fire, released the trigger and winded down the spinning barrels. He was moving again.

Making his way a little further to the left of the chamber and King Boo, Heavy hoped that he could do some damage and distract their ghastly opponent from his weaker allies. Especially Six, who'm he was afraid was going to get herself killed due to her being so tiny. And he was not allowing that. "Hey you, despotic ghost king! I am talking to you!" Heavy shouted as loud as he could to King Boo, shuffling his minigun over to his left hand as to free his right one. "You are no match for me...or us!" Heavy continued, bending his knees down a little and getting ready for his Showdown-attack. It took a little time to take aim, even at such a massive mass of whatever ghosts were made of, but soon Heavy was aiming mentally at the one thing every king cheerished the most; Their Crown. "Pow! Haha!" Heavy's shout echoed as he pulled out the imaginary revolver and fired the imaginary bullet aimed at the crown, a wide grin pressed onto his face as he shuffled the minigun back to both his hands.

Heavy began to spin the barrel up once again, this time aiming in the general mass of King Boo's torso, if it could be called that. The bullets once again flew from his beloved Sasha, making the deafening thunderstorm of Soviet engineering at its finest while Heavy himself began to loudly sing over the sound of gunfire. "Ya-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta ya-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta do-de-da-va-da-da-dada! Kaboom-Kaboom!"

Dr. Light listened to Naija’s added intel and Bentley’s astute hypothesis as he gazed up at a screen that was zooming in on Guile’s wound. He hmmed softly to himself as he processed it all, and momentarily peered over his shoulder to see a turtle in a wheelchair. Regardless, he was thinking along the same lines as him. Fascinating. Dr. Light was soon quickly distracted once the microscope had zoomed in as close as it could. Dr. Light gasped as his cloudy brows shot upward. The group would be able to see small colorful cubes breaking off and vanishing. The pixels that comprised every character in Arcade were breaking apart and being destroyed only to reform from the healing vat. The doctor paled a little.

“I…I’ve never seen anything like it. Guile’s pixels are being destroyed. If Rosalina and Naija hadn’t acted quickly enough, then Guile could have very well been…” Dr. Light hesitated to say it. It was a horrible fate and he had heard very rare cases of it happening. “Erased.”

Dr. Light turned from the console to stare at the group with a contemplative frown. He felt so confused and horrified. “I can’t believe the enemy possesses such a frightening weapon.” He rested a hand against his forehead, trying to focus his startled mind. “They took a bear and a virus-infected bag with a dimension inside of it. If Dr. Solus was conducting research on it before the attack, then we may be able to learn more about why they took it. I don’t want to say that the bag is a small matter, but that weapon…”

“Dr. Solus is in no condition to aid us but…” Dr. Light looked at Bentley. “You mentioned hacking. Could you possibly hack into Dr. Solus’s computer and find where he keeps his research about that dimension Naija spoke of?”

Lowering his hand, Dr. Light gazed down at Kirby who was giving him a blank expression. Sparx and Hunter who had also arrived with the group were also wearing blank expressions. Hunter muttered out of the corner of his mouth to Sparx: I think he’s saying something really bad, but I don’t quite get it.

Sparx blinked and whispered back, “I don’t either.”

Dr. Light decided to educate them since he had an audience of various intelligence levels. “Pixels are the building blocks of all beings in Arcade. Usually, when you destroy an enemy from your universe, they vanish. They aren’t erased and the enemies aren’t really gone. They’re just not formed. This weapon doesn’t scatter pixels back into the universe. It destroys them. Thus, why we can still save the hero, Mario. I don’t entirely understand how Guile is still alive, but I can only assume it is because the healing magic and the healing properties of this broth are taking pixels from the surrounding environment and adding them to Guile’s being. We can be at ease that there is an infinite amount of pixels drifting around us.”

Pixels were like matter in the Arcade verse, but unlike matter, they could be created and through an unknown method, destroyed. “But pixels don’t just destroy themselves. This was caused by that sword, and for the sword to have wounded him, it must use a special function—a code. Codes are what determine our very existence. How we appear; how we move; our roles and powers...”

Dr. Light’s eyes widened a little. He could feel the answer at the forefront of his brain. As Dr. Light fell silent in his contemplation, Kirby jogged over to Bentley and raised his nubby arms as he hopped up and down.

“Ey!” he answered the turtle’s question. He knew who Meta Knight and his goons were.

Rosalina turned to Bentley and said, “Kirby knows, but he’s difficult to understand.”

As James arrived, Rosalina couldn’t help but smile in relief at his appearance. Seeing the senior members always made her feel a little more hopeful. “Vault Boy has taken over the Ragnarok to ensure the others make it back from Dream Land. Alucard is off with another group exploring a haunted castle. Artanis has been absent late. I don’t think it is anything we have to worry about. He usually goes off on his own. The Prince and Headmaster Cid are investigating the infiltration into our universe.”

Piper wasn’t entirely sure how long it was between the moment Azura disappeared from sight into the dark forest and the arrival of twilight hour when the camp started to wake up but she was glad when it finally arrived, as it meant the wait was finally over. What had been a somewhat enjoyable evening getting to know some of the Stormcloaks had turned to one of worrying and second guessing herself as to whether she had made the right decisions with letting the singer go out on her own. Casual conversation with the guards was replaced with pacing too and fro or repeatedly doing maintenance checks on her equipment. Cleaning her blacksmith sniper, counting her remaining rounds, making sure her joints where properly oiled and so on. She was not normally a worrywort, she sometimes sent her crew off on heists without her after all, but her lack of knowledge of both Azura’s capabilities and what triles she might face in this frigid place let her mid run wild with fears of potential disaster. Add to this the feeling of helplessness caused by sitting still in the same place in a stationary for rather than the mobile ship she was used to for several hours and it all added up to a rather unpleasant night. With light fast approaching she was glad she could now put those thoughts behind her and focus on the task at hand.

Her sleepless night and forewarning of dawn's arrival by one of the last watch-women had allowed her plenty of time to prepare, and so she joined the others fully fueled up and raring to go, making the Boss the only person Ulfric actually had to wake up. Vent had apparently risen early and taken the time to change getup, while the boss arrived (eventually) in what appeared to be a foul, and somewhat disheveled, mood. She thought it might have been to do with Azura’s disappearance, but this was disproved when he only noticed this halfway through their march to Markarth, thought to his credit he did quickly figure out where she was, so Piper did not feel the need to bring up her prior knowledge of this.

The match itself was a long and sluggish one, though Piper at least had the advantage of company. Being a mobile campfire got her quite the following, namly a huddle of Stormcloaks, some of them part of the night watch who had tracked her down specifically for company or warmth, surrounded her as they traveled, the group conveniently masked the warm glow emanating from her chest that could have tipped off any of the enemy’s scouts to their approach. When they caught sight of Markarth in the distance Piper finally got a look at the place they were going to rob liberate. Bathed in the light of imminent dawn it was a considerably more impressive than the wooden fort they had spent the night in, a town seemingly carved into and out of the rocky hills it was built against. She took the opportunity, while they approached for a distance, to try and mentally match what she could see of the the actual city, the bits of it poking up from behind its walls at least, to the previous nights crude mock up of it. She did not have long to do so however as they soon had to take to hiding from the Forsworn guarding the front gate.

Her complete lack of stealth capabilities, from her bright glowing chest piece to her red “hair”, polished bronze body and novelty santa hat meant that she was unable to watch the sneaking missions of her two allies, let alone believed she could join in without giving them away, and instead she made do with the whispered commentary of a nearby nord who did not mind lying in the snow and creeping a little closer to spectate the proceedings. Not that there was much to report most of the time, as the woman somehow lost track of both the Boss and vent despite the bright purple atier the two were sporting today. The only two brief flurries of information she received where a poor attempt at describing the Bosses the boss’s athletic takedown of the gatehouse guards in real time and his subsequent touch flailing, followed by Vempt’s ninja strike on those down below.

As vent finished dispatching the guards at the gate only one Forsworn was left alive, one who had been taking a piss break nearby and who returned upon just barely hearing the quiet sounds of their comrades assassination to find their bodies strewn across the snow. Before they could raise their weapon in an attempt to exact vengeance however their head was struck, harmlessly, by a lingering red laser beam. Behind a rock several hundred meters up the road piper pulled the trigger of her blacksmith sniper that she was aiming at an entirely different rock. The bullet leaped out of the barrel, following along the path laid out by the laser sight, striking the other rock off of which the beam was inexplicably reflecting and then ricocheting off at a 90 degree angle, sailing off towards the head of the unfortunate Forsworn. They couldn’t see the hidden flash, but they heard the crack of the gunshot, muffled somewhat by stone and snow, moments before their brain matter was spattered across the ground.

Back up in her hiding spot Piper did not stop to ponder how exactly attaching a scope to a weapon added a laser sight function, nor how said beam allowed here to aim near perfectly at targets completely out of her line of sight and istead simply asked the watching scout:

”Did I get them?”

After receiving confirmation from the missions narrator she clicked open the revolver's cylinder, carefully removed and then replaced the spent cartridge with one from one of the pouches on her hips. After locking the cylinder back in place and giving it the traditional spin she stood from her sniping position and prepared to advance towards the gate alongside Ulfric‘s army.

”Right then, let's get to it.”

Frisk had expected to hear protests against their asking Wario for help. Instead, to Frisk's slight surprise, Cloud was backing them up on this idea, adding onto Frisk's recruiting pitch. They watched the Wario brothers carefully as Wario considered it. It wasn't long before the elder brother decided to come down from his makeshift throne of gold and agree to the proposition. The sound of Wario being King of Dreamland though? Frisk really didn't like the sound of that. Then again...he wouldn't be a king if the subjects didn't recognize him as King. Frisk remembered how Asgore tried to resign, only for the monsters to still come to him for advice and recognize him as King.

The child watched as the Wario and Waluigi argued with each other, which quickly escalated into a comical chase scene. Frisk held their laughter back, keeping their expression at their typical stoic look. Eventually the chase ended and Wario was dragging Waluigi through the door to the Final Boss.

Frisk simply shook their head before turning their attention back to Cloud. They listened as he mentioned getting Dedede to talk. They answered Cloud, "I'll try and get him to talk. At the very least, I can hopefully get him to do a monologue,"

They then reassured the group somberly, taking a moment to take out the toy knife they have, testing its weight, "If I can't get through to him...then I'll fight too,"

They stowed the knife and nodded to the group, "Let's get going," and they led the way after Dedede.

As they walked down the stairs, they noticed how the air became suffocating. It was like...going to face Omega Flowey once more. Frisk couldn't help but swallow as well. They looked to Wario, and they noticed that he seemed scared too, despite putting on a facade. When he stopped to talk, stopped as well. The child could see what they were trying to do. Frisk answered Wario politely, "Eh. I've been in darker places..."

They then looked to the group. Frisk didn't really trust letting Wario be behind them, since he could easily run away. Considering their friend's abilities, Frisk told them, "Alicia, Banjo, Kazooie, you guys enter the room last and back us up. Cloud, with me,"

Frisk figured it would be smart to have Cloud, the sword wielder up front just in case, and the teammates with ranged attacks be in the back. Plus, they figured that Alicia and Banjo Kazooie could easily stop Wario and Waluigi if they tried to run away. After giving the marching order, Frisk entered the room first, hopefully with Cloud by their side.

It wasn't long before they finally met with Dedede. Frisk noticed that he didn't look so good. It must be the virus making his condition worse. And he was wearing the greaves that Naija once had.

Hoping to diffuse the battle before it can begin, and get the information needed, Frisk spoke up, "Dedede! You really don't look so good. Listen, we can get you medical help, but we need to know! What happened to Mario's soul and hat? What did you do with it?"

Level: Two
Day/Time: Day Three, Morning
Location: Boo's Castle
Akira @Tenma Tendo, Heavy @ONL, Slayer @Lugubrious
Word Count: 304
EXP: ////////// (2/20)

---

---

'I-I did it! Haha!' A grin appeared on Six's face, seeing the boo she was attacking dissapear in a puff of smoke. The child felt hopeful that if she was able to defeat one of the purple boos, she could help with King Boo himself. She stood up and dusted herself off, watching Slayer fight the lead boo with ease. Yet her atention was turned away when Akira got hit by one of the lead boo's attacks. Six wanted to cover for him, but the thief was able to fight through the pain and managed to finish off the boo. But what about Heavy's boo?

When the russian had aimed his imaginary gun at the boo, it seemed to have frighten the spirit away, over to the entrance, and to the boss door, where King Boo awaited the group. With a small bit of advice, warning them that the ghostly monarch was charging up a powerful attack, the remaining purple boo had unlocked the door for them. This was it, the final boss.

Making her way behind the other three, Six was focusing her dark magic as much as she could. Darion's words rang through her head, that she was the group's best bet against King Boo. The child couldn't afford to let them down, and she won't. Nodding when Slayer suggested a strategy, one that relied on offense, the doors infront of them finally swung open to reveal their target, blue flames circling him as King Boo taunted the group. The flames seemed to grow bigger, grow brighter, which meant that they needed to hurry.

There was no time to waste!

Once Akira and Slayer started attacking, Six quickly ran to the side, and sent a large wave of dark matter, one the size of King Boo himself. 'Let's hope this works!!'

Bentley continued to listen with keen interest and an excellent memory to everything that was added by the others, his turtle head turning around to face each and every one as they spoke. As if the empirical situation hadn't been bad enough, the good Dr. Light discovered a shocking revelation about the sword; it didn't just cause continuous damage. "Ear...Erased? Not just thrown into the desktop garbage bin, but actually deleted from the whole system? How is that...?" Bentley exclaimed, stopping to talk as his brain started grinding at his own question. It was awfully similar to the explaination Dr. Light would give the others afterwards, and equally dreadful.

Bentley's Hacking Theme

Bentley thoughtful posture of him leaning his head in his hand in deep thought was interrupted by Dr. Light. And the disturbance was not a bad one. "If I can hack? My good doctor, you're about to witness the expert skills of Bentley the Brain; the Hercules of the Odessy of One's and Zero's! I'll be in in no time." The turtle wasn't about to let this oppertunity to prove his worth pass. Even if he was a crippled turtle, he was of use. Bentley rolled the wheelchair over to the nearest computer, stretched his fingers and got to work. "Okay, let me just get into the basic console. Easy enough. Password? Come on, little guy, you think that's going to stop me? Let's see; iniate the shell-code.exe and I'm in. Firewall, of course. No problem. No offense, but this Dr. Solus seriously needs some advice on anti-virus software. Just wait for it....BINGO! I'm in! Now just to find the right folder...And once again it's proven that coding is a subject worth teaching in school."

Without turning, the quickest hacker in the west began to listen again at what Dr. Light was explaining. "For arguments sake, would it be possible to turn Guilie back to an older version?" Bentley asked out loud, not noticing if anyone thought his question sounded crazy or not. "If the code is currently active inside of him and working on erasing all of his pixels, would it be possible to revert him back to a state in which the code wasn't activated in him, so to say? Reset him to a more stable version."

Bentley nearly jumped out of his good shell when Kirby ran over to him and made some noise. His head and limbs retreated into his shell for a moment, before shakingly reappearing again to see what was going on. "Eh...what? Sorry, but I don't understand..." Clearly the pink ball knew something, which Rosalina thought so too. But how to understand it? Him...her? "Okay, let me think...Can you draw or paint? Type? Sign-language?"

---

The barrage of attacks was far fiercer than the ghastly monarch had anticipated, leaving him not only visibly worse for wear, but the heroes had managed to set back some of his power charge as well as the blue flames around him visibly lessened in intensity. Six's attack seemed to do the most damage, a chunk of his ghostly body coming off at the impact point.

---

GM Note: From now on, all players will be required to keep track of their word count. XP will be awarded every GM post. Be sure to check the XP hider to see how much XP your character earned. Remember to keep your CSes updated. I have seen players slack in keeping their XP up-to-date and they have lost XP points because of it. I didn't take the XP away from them, they just didn't keep track of the XP on their own. It is YOUR responsibility if you want your character to level.


If a player is inactive for more than 3 days without letting the GMs know of any delays, then the player can be skipped over on the 4th day. If a player does not wish to post, they can Mention the GM and let the GM know he or she "Passes" on his or her turn.

P.O.: Slayer, Akira, Heavy, and Six.

What followed Naija’s retelling of the events of the attack was a lot more talk from Dr Light that she did not much understand which, along with Bentley's own foray into the unknown, left Naija’s head spinning. As a result she genuinely appreciated the final section that involved an attempt at education that, while it mostly went over her head, at least gave her enough familiar context for her to latch onto that she could understand the implications of potential the disaster that irreparable annihilation could bring even if the specifics still eluded her. At any rate, she had plenty of time to mull it over as bently launched into his hacking session and unloaded another load of mumbo jumbo that the Naija quickly decided just to ignore as she got the impression it wasnt really directed at anyone but back at the turtle himself.

Taric meanwhile,as a worldly and well read warrior, had managed to grasp the doctor's explanation to a better degree than the tired fish woman. He might not understand the references to higher technology, but he recognized the danger the eraser blade represented.

”This is most troubling, a weapon whose wounds cannot be undone could do untold damage, for could it perhaps kill that which would not normally die? I fear it might be able to it annihilate fundamental parts of our worlds, leaving them forever broken.”

Naija had little to add to the knight’s question for it was while she was mulling this all over that her tired mind had finally taken in something Dr light has casually mentioned in his lesson:

“Thus, why we can still save the hero, Mario.”

Thus the fish out of water, ignorant of so many things found in the worlds of the Arcade including the revival item she herself had been in possession of since the smash arena incident, gracelessly launched herself over to the good doctor, grabbed him by the coat, hauling herself up to be face to face with the bearded fellow and asked, in a manner much like a man named after another slippery scaled creature might ask:

“We can still save mario?!”

Her parroted query was loud and raw with the mess of emotions gripping the woman. Hope that the tragedy that she saw as her personal failure could be undone, guilt that she was not already helping with whatever task was require for the mustachioed hero to back to them and a slight undercurrent of confusion as to the purpose of funerals.

Alicia didn't speak any as they pushed through oppressive darkness, her rifle up and her grip white knuckled around the AR's grip. Memories of the fight against Oryx in his Throne World tearing through her mind. Fortunately this wasn't the Ascendant Plane, nor was their opponent a Hive God bent on avenging the death of his son, simply a penguin with a thirst for power that rivaled many of the lunatics that she'd met in her career. She did, however, keep an eye on their flip-flopping help when she could, waiting for him to try and slip the net when he thought they weren't looking.

The trip to face off with the Penguin, however, was uneventful until they were somewhere near the bottom when the greedy fatman tried to get them to go first. Frisk, however, saw what he was trying to do and ordered herself and the bird and bear duo to come in last, forcing Wario to go in ahead of them but behind their leader. What awaited the group inside, however, was not what Alicia had been expecting. While it was clear that the powerful and dark aura they had been moving through was coming from the penguin, whether or not he was in any condition to try and fight the group was another matter. His breath was clearly laborious and if it weren't for the purloined winged greaves, he probably wouldn't have been able to move. Leaning over to Banjo and Kazooie, the Titan whispered, "Think fatso's gas did that or the virus?"

She had a hard time, clearly, thinking that the virus had done that much damage in so little time. Perhaps James could have been mistaken about what it did to Odin in that other realm. "Or perhaps the virus affects each host differently than the last?" The Striker frowned thoughtfully, but didn't speak, waiting to see how things unfolded.

---

James frowned as Rosalina relayed the locations of the other Council members and what they were doing, or in Artanis' case, lack of knowing what they were doing, let alone where they were. "James, the missing Council member needs to be informed of what's happened here." The Hunter didn't respond right away, instead looking towards the others. Spyro needed help, Artanis needed informing and the Vanguard needed an update. All in all, it was a mess as messy as it can get and he knew that a solution was needed, so he did the most logical thing he could think of.

"Artanis needs informed of what's happened here and, well, I need to make a trip to the Tower and reaccess my loadout, since I don't think lacking a heavy weapon like I am is doing me any favors. Do you know where he went?" He knew that heading off alone was probably incredibly foolish, not to mention dangerous, but that was a Hunter's bread and butter at the end of the day. Putting his helmet back on, he pulls the Imago Loop free of it's holster and checks the cylinder before flicking it shut. "Need to keep every one informed and all that jazz."

The team wasted no time in capitalizing on the dark spirit's mistake, Slayer saw. One after another they delivered ferocious attacks, with Joker's calculated strikes paving the way for an unrelenting torrent of deafening gunfire from the Heavy and a roiling wave of darkness from Six as the finisher. To the dandy's satisfaction the fierce deluge seemed to send King Boo reeling, With his focus broken, his progress toward unleashing an ultimate attack fell behind, giving the squad of heroes more time to continue their assault. Slayer did not fail to notice, either, that the shadow cast by his companionship's smallest member left visible damage on the enemy's spectral form. Fascinating. An inkling of a plan began to take root in his keen mind.

Though his hands still stung from his earlier, rather reckless attack, the gentleman could not afford to hesitate. ”A great start!” he called. ”Don't let up the pressure.” Seeking to spare his fists from further injury, he performed a Dandy Step backward before rushing in. Violet flames sprung to life around his foot as it shot upward, carrying him a couple feet off the ground in a blazing flip kick. Midair the vampire twisted his body to alter his momentum, bringing his other leg across in a horizontal strike to complete the slow but devastating Crosswise Heel.

He landed a moment later, and moved back out of the way so that his allies could follow up. Even this early in the fight, his power of observation had made known to him a certain pattern—that of the heroes' attack. In this regard, Slayer played the point man to draw attention and daze the foe with an opener, Joker served to deal a critical blow and leave it vulnerable, Heavy battered it silly, and Six ended it with a decisive strike. All this occurred without any communication beforehand; the four just seemed to instinctively understand one another and fall into place. That, Slayer knew, was the sign of a winning combination.

With the pattern in mind he hurried over to Six. Years of first-hand experience with his world's most poignant happenings had brought him into contact -and occasionally combat- with all sorts of fighters. Voice low and urgent, he said, ”It's plain to see that your power is the most effective. You may very well be able to finish the fight in one fell swoop, given the right chance. Continue building your power, and when the ghost is most vulnerable, we'll go together. I'll get you close enough to unleash point-blank into its mouth. Sound good?”

Akira's landing could have been better, but with both of his hands occupied with a torch and his trusty dagger, he could only tumble to the ground with his elbows before using the momentum to bring himself back up to a standing position. Turning to see the fruits of his labor, Akira could barely hide the smirk gracing his features at what they managed to accomplish. Much like how he followed up after their leader, Heavy came up after him and lastly, but most definitely not the least, Six dealt a devastating blow to the white blob of a ghost, part of its body fazing out in the process. It was pretty obvious at that point what they needed to do to end this, the little one being their most important weapon to success.

Slayer's call on keeping up the pressure brought Akira back to real time, taking a quick breath before sprinting forward to catch up with the king of ghosts, who was pushed father away because of the vampire. An idea quickly formed in the raven haired teen's head as he returned his dagger back into his cloak and instead grabbed the intense torch with both hands. Utilizing the momentum he managed to keep up, Akira slid across the slightly crumbled floor, the heels of his boots skidding across smoothly, only stopping himself once he was directly underneath the king.

Practically shoving the torch into the ground, Akira gritted his teeth as if he were in pain, his body curling up underneath the incorporeal being as Arsene became more and more visible behind him. The persona stared at his companion for a brief moment, the physically broken but mentally in tack chains that connected them floating ominously in the air, before moving close, his wings covering the teenager and the torch from view. However the later only disappeared for a second as Akria's voice prompted the flames to erupt.
"Eiha!" He shouted, the blue flame turned into black and gray darkness and expanded like a campfire, making the king Boo his marshmallow.

Keeping him still would be the best option for the Heavy and Six, Akira thought, seeing as they were more on the long range side of things. Hopefully the others could finish this soon or else he won't be able to hopefully hold him still any longer.

Not only had the well coordinated attacks of the Vampire, Teenage superhero, Soviet mercenary and Magical child caused considerable damage to the White Baron of the ghost bourgeoisie, but they had managed to harm King Boo enough to seemingly reverse the tide of power which the tiny ghost warned them of. Like the Soviet engulfment of the German invaders of the Motherland, they had seemingly accomplished something unthinkable. And for Heavy it was glorious enough to be worth a wide smile and laughter. "Hahaha, ha ha ha! We make good team, comrades!" Heavy cheered to the other three, holding his beloved Sasha with one hand and gently carassing in with the other. "Very good team."

It didn't take long for Comrade Slayer to issue another order of attack, and Heavy was more than happy to oblige. Heavy lifted up his minigun and embraced it, quietly whispering into an imaginary ear of Sasha. "You do good, Sasha. Kiss me, and make me proud again." Heavy finally gave his minigun a big kiss and lowered it...her?...into the resumed firing-position; Leaning slightly backwards and spreading his legs to give himself enough support to withstand the recoil. First Slayer went in for a strike from above, while Joker went in like a mole to strike from beneath. And when they both had gotten their parts done, Heavy began his own strike.

The minigun opened fire at the absurd rate-of-fire, sausage-sized bullets flying from the barrel and heading for the transparent body of the ghost king. The first volley of bullets were aimed loosely at his target, the same with the second, but the third Heavy saved for somewhere else. From what Heavy could see, Six had managed to blast of a portion of King Boo's shape, a possible weak-spot perhaps? While Heavy couldn't move fast enough to get in perfect position, he moved as fast he could so that he could fire somewhat directly into the gaping wound (if ghosts could have gaping wounds? He didn't know, he wasn't an expert on that specific field.). "Take this!" Heavy shouted at King Boo, opening fire with his minigun into the place where Six had attacked earlier.

A tear drop descended behind Cloud’s head as he watched the antics between Wario and Waluigi. They were asking these idiots for help? Once Wario managed to round up his cowardly brother, on Frisk’s order, Cloud took his position at their side. The boss door was opened and the thick black aura made the hair rise on the back of the swordsman’s neck. It reminded him of his battle with Sephiroth in The Crater when he had absorbed the Black Materia. The energy was evil, and naturally his gloved hand reached behind his head to grasp the hilt of his Butterfly Edge. Cloud descended with the others into the final room. As they light gradually faded and the darkness embraced them, Cloud began to reflect on how far they had come. Frisk’s pacifistic nature had allowed them to skip a lot of unnecessary drama. It was almost as if he couldn’t believe they were actually here.

Wario and Waluigi started to show their yellow bellies. Cloud merely passed them. The last step had him standing at the mouth of an empty chamber. Hunched over on metal legs and breathing hard was King Dedede. He didn’t look or sound good one bit, and Cloud’s grip uncomfortably tightened on his sword. Frisk did what they did best and attempted to talk to the penguin boss, but Cloud shook his head. He quietly muttered to Frisk, “He’s infected. The gnorcs looked like this, and there was no cure for them.”

It was as though his own realization had compelled him to finally draw his sword from its sheath and ready it before him. It didn’t help to encourage peace between Frisk and the infected boss, but based on his experience, Cloud was convinced that there would be no saving Dedede even if he did tell them where Mario’s hat and soul was.