The quick action of Linkle prevented the Master of Masters catching loose blades of grass on his silky black cloak. Her jump forward to support him no doubt caught the eyes of her comrades, not just because of her compassionate willingness to help, but also because of her new equipment. Unnoticed by most before, her acquisition of the rabbid spirits previously bore fruit, though not quite in the manner she expected. While the first spirit she crushed predictably became a ranged weapon, albeit a strange one, the second seemed to resonate with Linkle. Instead of becoming a second weapon, it took an altogether different form, as if understanding her needs.



Her intervention allowed the Master of Masters a moment to breath, chest heaving and head lolling. Despite facing upward, the light of the sun did not seem to penetrate the darkness in his hood; evidently, simply wearing that cloak of his appeared to confer a potent face-masking effect. He couldn't speak for a moment, so it fell to Linkle and Din to answer Tora. The Nopon's brows furrowed in response to the dancer's confession, but she redeemed herself a moment later by spotting the mischievous rabbid in question all the way over where the Ancient Gardens ended.

Once Din pointed the thief out, a number of her allies leaped into action. The Courier and Zer0, newly in cahoots, took off together, and Ratchet followed suit along with the automaton who'd healed him. However, Din's attention lay elsewhere. In her hand the weapon felt warm and comfortable, like a perfectly-tailored suit, practically made for her, if not made from her. After she took it in hand, the Master of Masters composed himself to respond. “Uuuum...maybe. Here's the thing...ah, how do I explain this? I can give someone a scalpel, but does that mean they'll be able to perform surgery?” With some more effort he managed to get back to his feet and head across the makeshift leaf bridge by which he'd come. “Keyblades are tricky and complicated. Plus, you'll find they're picky about their owners. Still, even if you can't really wield it, it makes a pretty good bludgeon and wand. Keep it! And feel free to give it a name, most do.”

Meanwhile, one of the party's members had enacted a more direct plan to eliminating their collective rabbid problem. After warning everyone and setting up his rifle, Michael took a calculated shot at the runaway. The incredible noise caused everyone present to flinch, particularly any who did not heed the sniper's advice, and when they looked again the poor supporter no longer appeared to exist. Instead, the hat lay on the ground among the rabbids at the top of the rise, and a chorus of screams rose from among them. One rabbid snatched the hat and the squad moved ahead into the Scrapyard.

“Ow-ow-ow!” Tora cried, his wings clapped over the spots on his head where his ears must be. Evidently, those wings did not provide much of a seal against the sound, but if anyone could take a little punishment it was Tora. Once he recovered, he leaned forward on his tip-toes to try and see what was going on in the distance, not noticing Roadhog astir. The next moment a hook flew by his head, making him jump with fright, and the giant man got to his feet. He bowled Tora and Agoston over before firing a clump of nasty-looking metal into the ground as a warning shot. Once upright again, Tora hurried to pull out his shield and place himself directly in front of Roadhog, ready to defend if need be.

The Nopon clenched his teeth when Roadhog bellowed. Still, feeling pretty confident in his ability to stray unharmed, he piped up to respond. Bowser, however, cut him off, and while his explanation worked well enough, Tora did not want to feel left out. “Biggipon please be calm, meh! All of us are in strange new world made by scary light monster. Are working together to try to fight back! We mean no harm! Cloakypon one who free you, in fact.”

Getting to know Roadhog better would have to wait, though. While Tora knew preciously little about Kirby, the little, unassuming puff seemed important, so recovering him was priority number-one. When Bowser took off, Tora followed behind as quick as his legs could carry him. The koopa king’s departure sent a silent command to the others as well, and the group began to move whether or not Roadhog chose to join them.

---

Those who hastened after the rogue rabbids toward the Scrapyard found minimal resistance in the remainder of the Ancient Gardens. No foes at all seemed to occupy to the place to challenge them, though a keen eye could make out scorch marks on the ground and bullet holes in the scenery; even the least observant could not fail to notice the smoking carcasses of various robots lying around, no doubt felled by the long-eared troublemakers they had attempted to invade.

Crossing the final bridge and cresting the ensuing hill brought the Scrapyard into full view: a heaping mess of ramshackle machinery, long-neglected racing facilities, gigantic toy blocks stacked high, and plain old junk. On the other side of the hill lay the cluttered pit stop of the Mario Kart raceway that once occupied this space, but this area would never see another grand prix. Instead, it now played host to a strikingly intense war between rabbid and robot.

The factions could be discerned as a glance. While familiar to the heroes by now, the ordinary blaster-toting Ziggy rabbids were also joined by additional allies. There were supporters, whose seemingly-bottomless packs contained AoE healing machines and plenty of bouncing hand grenades. Never far away were the hoppers, spring-loaded hooligans boasting tremendous mobility, splendid teamwork, and single-hit energy shields. Even more worryingly, a few beastly-looking smashers with their brutal bricks and bucklers with tower shields and shotguns. These rabbids worked in squads, engaged in tactical combat against their machine enemies, the omnics and the robots. Of the two categories, all favored bullets, but the purple ones commanded greater strength while the gray ones boasted more versatility. From the heroes’ vantage point, two enemy groups in particular stood out.

On the right side of the battlefield, accessible through the pit stop, a squad of rabbids appeared to have walked into an omnic ambush. They fought viciously from entrenched positions, two bucklers providing cover for four ziggies, a smasher, three hoppers, and a supporter. Among them the brute stood out most vividly, for the enormous rabbid wore Bowser’s white hat, its extended fists providing him extra power to smash omnics apart when they came too close.

Their second notable group could be glimpsed at the very opposite end of the Scrapyard: three foreboding figures atop an arch of blocks in front of the bridge leading to Peach’s castle. While the distance prevented exact identification, their aura of menace could be felt even where the heroes stood.



Once again, a diverging path confronted the heroes. They could push straight through where the firefight was thickest, head for the rabbid encampment on the right, or swerve around the oddly calm left side of the battlefield.

---

Even within the cell’s enclosed space, Geno’s flight allowed him to skirt around his adversary’s brutal attacks to begin with. Though Mario commanded no small amount of power, getting the crude flails into motion in the first place took a moment, so his first few swings pounded the walls of his dreary habitation rather than the wooden intruder. Wherever one of the stone chunks hit, both they and their targets cracked some, steadily depleting their mass.

However, as the chunks became smaller, they also grew faster. As Geno predicted, his opponent managed to crush a light disc before it could meet its mark, but rather than take the second Mario wove out of the way. Since each swing with his arm led to a flail strike a moment later, he appeared to be able to move again before the initial attack landed. No amount of evasion could deal with a carefully-aimed strike at the speed of light, though, and Geno’s beam struck Mario square in the chest. The red-eyed puppet fighter staggered for a moment, then changed his tactics. He dashed into the center of the chamber, clapped his hands together, and span his arms around in a circle above his head, causing the flails to swing continuously in a circle. Moreover, he could adjust the height to keep the onslaught coming no matter how Geno dodged. If this simple but devastating assault was to be stopped, Geno would need to figure out its weak point fast.

---

Geno's blast hit in the nick of time. For as the more he flew, the stone flails that Mario wielded began to weaken the more the debris hit the ground. Yet the smaller they got, the lighter they must've become, providing the plumber to easily make better use of them and hasten his attacks significantly. If the star warrior was to get hit by them, they would surely still hurt just as much if not less so. He was lucky that he didn't get hit by them, although several swings were tantalizingly close in knocking the flying doll clean from flight. But as he launched his light disks, they succeeded in giving him an opening as the first one was crushed by the flails and the second being dodged at the last second. Geno's beam hit Mario square in the chest, causing him to stagger for a short moment.

But the wooden doll knew all too well that this wasn't all that Mario had. Superhuman strength wasn't the only thing the plumber had up his sleeves. He was bound to change tactics sooner or later - which was exactly what he did. Geno observed the plumber dashing towards the center of the room and, with a clap of his hands, began to spin rapidly with his hands extended above his head. The doll attempted to hover as high as he could to avoid getting demolished by these tiny wrecking balls, but even then he'd be stopped as Mario raised them to become dangerously close to hitting him. Knowing that he wasn't safe in their air at this rate, Geno began to rapidly descend as he took cover behind a large pillar chunk.

Catching his breath, the doll knew that he also needed to change tactics in order to beat the cursed plumber. Geno considered in attempting to launch his light disks again, but he figured that they'd be easily taken down by the spinning flails. He then believed that he could fire a charged up beam at him, but also realized that he'll probably not have enough time to launch it before getting hit. He was in a very prickly situation - quite literally between a rock and a hard place. And it wouldn't be long before Mario would reach him.

Yet suddenly he figured out an alternative plan. Perhaps if he can launch this pillar chunk at the opponent, it should be able to disrupt the spinning and allow Geno to successfully counterattack. He's not strong enough to simply push it away, but if he can push it whilst maximizing his thruster capabilities, he'll definitely have the added help in moving it. It was still a very risky plan, yet it's one that the star warrior is forced to utilize.

Geno quickly backs himself to the wall a few meters behind him, quickly calculating his trajectory. Once he got his target in sight, his trusters sprung furiously to life as he rushed into the pillar ahead. He extended his arms out and was able to successfully push the large stone debris with relative ease. The chunk should be large enough to absorb the brunt of the flailing attacks - and perhaps stopping them entirely - before colliding with Mario himself and hopefully crushing him as they continued speeding towards the wall opposite of them.

Magnumus Agoston, Centurion.

Level 1 - (7/10) EXP
Location: Scrap Yard
Word Count: 478 words

The Centurion knelt down, his eyes scanning through the slits of his helmet through the battlefield. One thing that has piqued his interest were these people dressed in all metallic armor. Through their discarded bodies, the Centurion had made a troubling revelation. They were yet another force he did not understand. The entities did not bleed, nor did they have any sort of internal organ. They all seemed to carry these arms of fire, though it did not do them well against the ferocious evil rabbit creatures. Even though all of these entities were evil, it seemed they were not a peace with each other. In their corrupted forms they fought and squabbled over seemingly very little than land or territory. What ideology could these beings possibly posess worth dying over? Even the savage Vikings to the icy wastelands north of his home fought for Valhalla and their misguided notions of "freedom." These creatures were mindless. So why did they fight? It seemed this Galeem entity's perfect world was not perfect at all.

Still, even if these metal men were steel, and felt no pain, his sword would cut through them well enough with a well placed blow. Through years of training and mental fortitude, few armors could withstand the might of a legionnaire's blade. Further out, a menacing figure stood. A maniacal man with two entities next to him, both seeming to be armed to the teeth with projectile launchers. Dangerous, indeed.

"I must admit, I am out of my depth." Agoston said, showing a rare sign of humility. "Of course, if before us lay a Samurai infested jungle, a Viking horde, or a Wu-Lin naval fleet, I could show you the way through with ease. In the matters of this strange reality I am unexperienced. Strange rules, and stranger creatures. I need to get up close and personal to deal with these malignant entitites. Exotic strategies for exotic lands! I look forward to testing my mettle and metal against a foreign threat, but I need help. I defer my strength to the group's will.

To the right, there is conflict. Perhaps we could strike in the chaos of battle. If we do not take them now, I can only imagine the winner of the battle will find us later. To the left, a suspicious calm, but an apparent path to our objective. The final obstacle being the goggled man and his two gun devices. I say we strike the battle now, while we have the chance. Test ourselves and our foes before we find ourselves with their undivided attention."

He had embedded his blade in the ground while he talked, rubbing the chin of his helmet as if it were his real face. Agoston was at peace in his armor, like it was an extenstion of his being, and in some ways, it was.

---

He almost felt bad for the rabbit creatures. Almost.

Against a human target, a .50 caliber round is overkill. Thus, Michael wasn't surprised at the effect that the round had on his target. The creature had essentially ceased to exist, while the rest of the group broke out into screams and ran towards the Scrapyard. When another creature grabbed the dropped hat holding Kirby, he attempted to line up a shot, but was interrupted as what sounded like a gun went off behind him.

He turned around, seeing that the large man from earlier had woken up and was understandably confused and agitated. Before he could bring his rifle to bear on him, Bowser began to explain the situation to him, and Michael relaxed somewhat. As Tora began to speak to the man, he turned back towards the distance, and saw that the rabbids from earlier had left his sight. Frowning, he stood up, glancing back at the large man. "Well, I'm gonna go ahead and rescue our friend out there." He pointed in the direction of the Scrapyard. "This all probably makes no sense to you, and trust me, I don't get it either, but we're the only people you're gonna find around here that aren't brainwashed, so...yeah." With a shrug, he walked off towards the Scrapyard, joining the rest of the group.

---

He was able to catch up with everyone quickly, and the walk to their destination was mostly uneventful. Throughout the way, he could spot signs of battle: bullet holes and scorch marks, and eventually, the wrecks of the robots that Blazermate had warned them about. He would have spent more time studying them if they didn't have a certain pink puffball to save, but they had to keep moving.

Soon enough, he crested the final hill, and looked over the Scrapyard. The place looked like a dumping ground for all sorts of random machinery, and from the looks of it, used to be a race track at some point. The two factions were quite easy to tell apart, and he took a moment to crouch down, scanning the battlefield with his rifle's scope. There were two distinct styles of robot, but they both used guns, and were working together. He took note of the different types of rabbids, as this was the first time he had seen them in an actual fight. Their weapons, while not conventional firearms like the robots, seemed to be quite effective on their own. As he scanned the area, he took note of a group of rabbids that seemed to be caught in an ambush- and then, the hat that one of them was wearing.

"Well, I found our pink friend, and he's stuck in the fighting over there." He pointed to the right of the battlefield, where the ambush was taking place. As the Centurion approached the area and began speaking, Michael turned in his direction. Past him, he noticed the castle in the distance, and what looked like a man and two turrets guarding it. He would likely be annoying to deal with, but they had more pressing matters to tend to before they could march on the castle. Looking back at the Centurion, he nodded as he spoke. "He's right- they're fighting now, so we might as well take advantage of that." Looking back at the ambush, he raised his rifle, surveying the scene with his scope. He took note of the supporter, who seemed to be healing his team. A plan started to form in Michael's head, and he turned to face the group.

"Alright, first things first, we need to rescue Kirby before we can move on. My plan's pretty simple- I'll take out the rabbit people's medic, and then the rest of you will go down and get Kirby while they're being attacked by the bots. We'll try to let them kill each other as much as possible. I'll provide sniper support from up here, and once we get Kirby back, we pull out."

Aiming his rifle, he quickly lined up the supporter in his crosshairs. "Unless any of you have a better idea, of course." He kept his rifle aimed, but didn't fire yet, waiting for anyone else to speak up. Personally, he thought his plan was pretty good, but Bowser was the group's self-proclaimed ruler, so he'd wait until he got the go-ahead from him before going through with the plan. He didn't want to get on the Koopa King's bad side- and besides, he wanted to wait until everyone was present before he moved ahead with his plan. This gave everyone else a moment to voice their opinions, and for the rest of the group to catch up and reach the Scrapyard, if they hadn't already.

@Star Lord @Lugubrious

"Thanks," Din said, taking the keyblade from the Master of Masters. He had said to name it, but she wondered what would fit. A sudden flash of inspiration hit her, and she wondered if 'Charm Equinox' would be a good name for it.

Then Roadhog woke up, confused and violent, bellowing and firing his weapon. By now, it seemed most of the party had rushed off to attempt to rescue Kirby, some of them trying to explain the situation to Roadhog before running off. Though Din wanted to make up for her past mistake of letting the enemy grab Kirby, she also felt responsible for Roadhog, so decided to take it slowly with the large man. "Hey big guy, take it easy. We all woke up confused, but what the others have told you is the truth. We all came from different worlds, and that evil ball of light in the sky mixed the mall up into chaos. We're still trying to find answers, but we've decided that the best thing to do is stick together, and whoever recognizes anything from their world, we follow them, hoping they can lead us to answers, which is why we're following the big turtle guy right now. One of our friends flew off and hasn't returned yet, and another friend...was kidnapped." Din bit back her words a bit, deciding not to implicate Roadhog in said kidnapping. "Which is why everyone is in a hurry to rush ahead. Even though we all just met, we're trying to keep each other safe. I'm not much of a fighter, so I'll stay with you for as long as you need to get your bearings and let it all sink in, okay?"

Damn. These rabbit creatures had spunk, Courier 6 had to give them that. Despite the heavy lead they had, he at least expected to be able to catch up quickly. Wasteland courier and all that. Sadly, this was not the case and they maintained a healthy lead way up ahead. The good news was that he didn’t have to worry about losing stamina or falling short on breath, since the robot (Blazermate he think it said was its designation?) kept pace with some sort of hover tech and locked a beam onto him that not only cleaned up his wounds quite nicely, but kept him healthy and in tip-top shape. If nothing else, the Courier felt confident that he would at the very least outlast those weird rabbit creatures. With the backup provided by both Zer0 and Ratchet joining him, the Courier was confident there would be nothing to worry about.

BOOM!

The air distorted nearby in a straight path, and suddenly the rabbit holding the hat simply no longer existed, the white hat getting picked up by another as they continued their frantic fleeing. The Courier instantly recognized both the sound and the effects of what had just happened. One of his companions, it seemed, was sporting an anti-material .50 caliber semi-automatic sniper rifle. Those weapons were designed to destroy the engines of tanks, and here this guy was shooting little rabbits with them?! The air shear alone would have put that white hat, and by extension Kirby, in danger! Whoever it was using that kind of overkill would need a stern talking to about proper gun control and safety, yes they would. But of course that would need to wait until after the Courier had caught up to, and brutally murderized, the little rabbits ahead of him. Preferably with point blank shotgun blasts.

Another minute or two of sprinting at top speed (thanks, Blazermate! I’ll be sure to get you a good oil change when I can!) and the Courier made it to a new section of this patch-work quilted world. Technological marvels could be seen for a great distance all around and across a fantastical racetrack. Unfortunately most of those technological marvels were talking on two legs and shooting anything that moved. So, you know. There was that.

”Robots?” the Courier muttered under his breath. ”Haha! Robots! I love robots! 50 bottle caps says I could dismantle any of those metal monsters out there! Haha! Maybe I’ll get you some upgrades, eh Blazermate? And uh… You too, Zer0, if you’re a… Um… A robot. Are you a robot? Whatever, doesn’t matter.” Utilizing his V.A.T.S., and thankful for Blazermate’s healing beam keeping his stamina maxed out, Courier 6 surveyed the area in far greater detail in far less time than anybody could normally calculate the risks.

The robots were embroiled in a bitter battle against the rabbit creatures, both sides showing off an impressive array of weapons, though the rabbits had more variety to the robots’ superior firepower. Some of the rabbits appeared to be large (for their species) brutes, carrying heavy blocks to smash with. Some had energy weapons, which seemed to be barely effective (ha! Score one for conventional firearms! Take that, energy weapon nerrrrrrds!). Others appeared to possess healing packs similar to his stimpacks, or Blazermate’s healing beam. Damn, those guys could make the whole thing a pain. Another variant still were hopping around on… Were those springs? Ha, how cartoonish! 6 absolutely loved it! Then he spotted another larger type of these creatures, these ones carrying tower shields and shotguns. Ah, they were rabbits after his own heart, he had to admit.

After a couple minutes (from his enhanced perspective, while merely no more than four or five seconds in real time) of surveying the chaos down below, the Courier took notice of the rabbit squad in possession of King Bowser’s dapper white hat, now atop one of the larger of the creatures as they were suddenly surrounded by attacking bots. An ambush. That didn’t bode well for Kirby, since the robots would be killing indiscriminately. Meanwhile, blocking the path to the castle Bowser had been so keen to reach was a series of turrets with a single individual maintaining them. That could prove to be a problem.

The best way to deal with this situation would be for the entire group to gather together in a turtleshell formation, circled around one another as they slowly made their way through the battlefield until they were close enough to deal with the turrets. Diving headfirst into an ambush to save Kirby would be a complete fools’ errand, practically suicide under the present conditions. So that is exactly what the Courier did. He was being paid to make sure Bowser and Kirby made it to the castle. The Courier never missed a delivery.

6 didn’t bother waiting for the rest of the group to get their with him. He didn’t bother voicing his plan aloud to the few that had already come ahead with him. Instead he let out a loud ”YEEEEEHAW!” as he charged forward, shotgun in hand. Either Zer0, Blazermate, and Ratchet would follow, or they would not. What they did was of no concern to the Courier. As for Bowser, Michael, the centurion guy, and all those others still behind? They were on their own. He saw the opportunity and he had to take advantage of it now, before the battle formations changed. Waiting meant that the route he had mapped out in his head through his V.A.T.S. observations would be rendered obsolete, and he’d have to battle through the hordes to get to Kirby.

No, that was unacceptable. The Courier ducked, dodged, and weaved between the most exposed flanks of rabbid and robot alike into the rightmost area, where the squad of rabbids had been ambushed. He jumped into the fray, right behind one of the Omnics with a particularly large gun arm, tearing out a series of wires behind the robot’s neck, sending its combat protocols into a frenzy. Bullet after bullet burned through the gun chamber as the Courier held the largely defunct robot in place, manually manipulating its movements to gun down several of its own kind. One, two, three, four fell to the friendly fire before his puppet lost power and shutdown.

”Couldn’t last any longer than that? Aw, dammit.” He held the hunk of metal up in front of himself as more of the robots, Omnics and others alike, turned their attention to him to fire. Having a metal shield in place was a great deterrent for bullets! The Courier poked his shotgun out from the side and blasted another two robots, bullets tearing holes in his duster as they narrowly missed his skin.

”I c’n see yer not evil, rabbits, just varmints! Give me the hat and I’ll save yer sorry asses! If you don’t, then you all take a dirt nap too!” Blam! Another robot down, but the Omnic he held was too damaged to be used as a shield anymore. He tossed it aside and rolled behind some scrap for cover, while turning his radio back on. The sounds of bullets flying through the air were punctuated by the smooth singing of Peggy Lee performing Johnny Guitar.

---

As Ratchet chased the rabbits with the Zer0, Blazermate and 6, Ratchet took a moment to look at his grenade launcher to see if he couldn't figure out how it worked. It by no means looked like an advanced piece of technology which was what made Ratchet want to be sure how it worked even more, he didn't think it would be fun to have gun blow up in his face. Then a thunderous boom sounded out and suddenly poof the rabbid holding Bowser's hat was gone, unfortunately the hat was quickly recovered by the other screaming bunnies. The pursuit led to a massive scrap yard, junk and massive toy blocks it looked quite strange but that's what happens when different worlds are crammed together, but Ratchet was much more interested in the enemies that littered this area.

There was a large assortment of different kinds of robots, though non of them carried any kind of vibes to robots he'd faced before. Well actually maybe some of them looked similar to the robot troopers Nefarious used a long time ago but since then his robots changed in design a lot, plus the weapons they were using weren't shooting massive balls of plasma so there's that. Opposing these robots was an assortment of different rabbits with lots of different kinds of gear, the ones standing out the most being the large ones with shields and the even bigger ones with the giant bricks. In general it was just a massive conflict between bunny and bot.

A particular squad or rabbids had just gotten ambushed by an assortment of robots and the little guys were being forced to hunker down, it was this very group that was now in possession of Bowser's hat and by extension Kirby. Before Ratchet could even being to conceive and attack plan Courier 6 had already started towards the conflict, jumping into the fray and going ham. Ratchet ran in after 6 sliding behind a pile of scrap, keeping his head low as to avoid it getting blow off. After yet another brief inspection of his gun Ratchet flipped the barrels around switching it to mine shooter mode, taking aim over at a group of omnics before shooting off 2 shots aiming to plant the explosives directly in the heart of the enemies. He glanced down at the mana-gauge and saw that a quarter of it was gone, so the gun didn't have a high ammo capacity. Peeking back over the cover he saw the mines explode taking out a fair few omnics, at least the thing packed a punch, though now knowing the limitations of the gun made Ratchet far less eager to fire it again. He'd have to make his shots count or he'd be back at it with his wrench and with all the shots flying through the air Ratchet knew his agility wouldn't be able to keep him out of harm's way.

Ratchets focus was on the robots for now, the rabbits were the losing side here and they were also the side which had Kirby captive so if they were shredded to pieces by robots Kirby would surely go with them. Kirby being among them also presented the problem of Ratchet not being able to use his gun one them, lest he damage the little pink puffball.

---

---

Roadhog was confused with the dragon's answer and wanted an explanation. What did he mean that thing in the sky was holding everyone together? And what did he mean by piglets? Before he could get his new questions answered, the dragon ran away to retrieve his hat while Roadhog was still confused. Then to make matters more confusing, a short furry creature walked towards and tried to calm him down by explaining how the others are friends. Clearly, it didn't work. Another human explained how they were the only ones "not brainwashed" before leaving to give chase. Eventually, a woman approached him and explained the situation as best as she could. In her own words, everyone came from different worlds and the ball of light was the cause of it.

He looked up at the ball once more and realized how... beautiful it was.

Then, she offered to stay with him; however, Roadhog wasn't going to accept her offer. He walked pass and left her behind without saying a word. While following the group, he tried to explain the whole thing in his head because the answers didn't help. Maybe it was some sick dream or nightmare? But he clearly remembered not getting hurt in London. He remembered yesterday in exact detail, but it wasn't time to think any longer. He had made it towards his destination and saw the Bastion up there. It was set up raining down upon people below while rabbits were causing hell by providing support fire. He walked towards cover and saw that a man with a wore out cowboy hat and another furry creature were winning the fight. However, an omnic was slowly taking aim behind their backs while the man was playing with the thing on his arm. If this wasn't a dream, then he had a hell of a story to tell Junkrat.

Junkrat! He had realized that his friend was nowhere to be seen, but he had hopes that the fool was somewhere safe. Regardless, he had to be focused on the enemy. Roadhog ran in between the man and the omnic before it could fire upon him. He never got used to being shot at several times and groaned before pulling out his scrap gun and firing three shots. The omnic went down in the matter of seconds while Roadhog was bleeding out. A normal would usually be in extreme pain and bleeding to death, but Roadhog wasn't normal at all. With the other hand, he grabbed the container of hogdrogen and inhaled it. The bleeding stopped and Roadhog turned towards towards the cowboy and the animal to meet them for the first time.

He didn't have any words to say at the moment and just shot at one of the incoming rabbits. Roadhog went to cover for the incoming omnics and rabbits, but not before firing several shots. Some of the enemies were hit before he had to reload. It was time to fight and get some answers.

---

---

'Breathe, Minako, breathe...!'

The thought echoed in the teen's mind the longer she deprived her lungs of oxygen, though surely enough she couldn't keep it held forever. Panting as though she'd run half a mile, Minako hunched over, eyes wide and weary simultaneously. Being caught in such a dark trance a moment before seemingly took it out of her, though being behind her allies meant nobody got the chance to see it. Between Michael's sniper rifle and Roadhog's scrap gun, the summoner had ample supply of memories flooding back to her, all of them negative, all involving guns. A cruel reminder of her own PTSD, a fear of death, and of guns.

Especially revolvers. She was lucky to not have spotted the Courier's yet.

Speaking of, the gungho gunslinger lead the charge ahead, followed by the rest of the group. While she had the time Minako chose to ground herself, focusing on the things around her to steady her heart rate, counting backwards from 1000 in increments of 22 and the like. Thankfully it didn't take long, in part due to the two aforementioned gunmen running off ahead, but that presented its own problem: loneliness.

'Can't catch a break, can we?'

Desperate to get away from that crushing reality, another slowly encroached beyond a hill up ahead: the scrapyard. It felt similar to the abandoned military base S.E.E.S explored, with all the ruptured metal and broken down machines everywhere, only this time they belonged to actual robots rather than computing equipment.
Speaking of, Aegis wasn't anywhere to be seen, which was both a relief as much as it was a disappointment. If only they would meet in a clear state of mind, away from a battlefield. But seeing the situation before her made Minako doubt that would ever happen. Unfortunate as it was, they would probably meet on a battlefield, which made her stomach knot and her throat close up just thinking about it. Seeing so much carnage didn't exactly help, either.

Looking over the battlefield, Minako was confident she could take on the robots and the rabbits. If she had a problem with robots shooting then that would have developed a long time ago. In her case it was people -- well, as far as one could classify something as a "person" -- with guns that she was most wary of. Most everything before them seemed like they were intent on fighting no matter what it was, no better than Shadows. No, what she was worried about was her allies. Specifically the Devil, who would be watching over them with a sniper rifle. There was no way she was standing by that.

While most rushed off to regain the Tower's... hat? Minako turned towards the left path. "I'm scouting up ahead, in case we need another path. This battlefield looks too... clustered for my liking." She didn't wait for a response, simply heading down the hill towards the left path. So long as nobody was shooting at her, she would be mostly fine, the sounds of combat drowning out particular shots, though anything from Michael's 50. cal would undoubtedly shatter that estranged peace of mind. 'Please be an easy route, please be an easy route...'

Blazermate followed Courier 6 fairly far into the scrapyard. Much like she had scouted, there were robots of different kinds and makes vs the rabbids. And unlike the Ancient Gardens, there were more Rabbid variants, including some very beefy ones. Although the army of different robots really didn't seem to care, having greater numbers and all. A shot rang out from behind Blazermate and the teammates who made a dash to try to rescue kirby, taking out the rabbid who was carrying him in spectacular fashion. But of course it wouldn't be that easy, as another rabbid picked up the hat and continued to run with his comrades until they ran into a robotic ambush.

Seeing na upcoming fight, Blazermate made her way to cover, trying to stay relatively close to the fight but out of harms way as she healed whoever came into the frey. Ratchet soon joined her at a nearby pile of scrap, while the pig man that she had healed and revived rushed into battle and made for a beefy target. While 6 was enjoying riding and controlling a robot and Ratchet was using his new wepaon, poor roadhog was taking quite a few shots. Seeing this, Blazermate put her healing beam on the pig man while making sure to heal anyone else who got injured. She wasn't going to put herself in the middle of a firefight if she could help it, best to let the others do that. Especially with the stomping of Bowser getting closer, he'd make great mobile cover.

---

Zer0 had remained fairly quiet since his fellow Vault Hunter to be friend had gotten the odd weapon. If these creatures gave up loot when killed, this place would be much more similar to Pandora than he had expected. This was mildly different though, for instead of dropping the weapon they had these things gave up...a weapon similar to their tactics, perhaps? It was hard to say, and it left Zer0 mildly excited.

From there they rejoined with the main group, and Zer0 found himself thinking back to the days when he and his allies had first found themselves in an unknown wasteland fighting new enemies. This really wasn't any different. Betrayed by an unknown entity, blown up by Jack. Awoken face first in the snow and piles of wreckage, awaking to find he'd nearly killed the creature that had released him. An unknown world full of new creatures to slaughter, an unknown —well, that part was the same at least.

He stayed by the Courier's side as he reported back in to the big lizard. Who promptly lost his hat, which apparently kept the little pink thing safe. Zer0 pulled up his rifle, only to watch as the offender was promptly reduced to paste, which made him giddy inside. He looked at the man with the sniper, which he had initially ignored for looking like a White. Now he reconsidered, wondering if he wouldn't be able to make a trade for the gun. That thing had the power that he found himself missing, and that shot reminded him greatly of the Skullsmasher. He'd need to pull this guy aside later. Maybe they could create a Dupe...

He kept Pace with the Courier fairly easily, casually taking potshots that increased in number as he realized that b0re was back to working. As the Courier worked with the robot, Zer0 stealthed, reappearing besides the man as he took cover. Poking his rifle over their cover he took aim, firing a bullet through several of the robots. These weren't even up to Hyperion standards, if he was being honest. And that was saying a lot about their quality.

Bam, Bam, Bam he fired, ducking back down between bullet flurries.

The Courier thought that the little white things were fairly rodent-like and benign, which was the only reason Zer0 hadn't started blenderizing them yet. There was no challenge there.

---

As soon as Din told her what was what Linkle wanted to run off immediately after the offending rabbits, but she could still feel the weight of The Master on her shoulders. She couldn't just run off if he was still out of it.

She did graciously accept crossbow back from Ratchet. "I'm happy you got some use out of it. Well, you know, not happy that you ran into trouble but really glad it helped get you out of it." As she leaned down to slot it into her boot, still supporting The Master with her other hand, the rabbit gun sipped out of where she'd put it in the rim of her shorts and clattered to the ground. She reached down lower to pick it up, wondering what she was going to do with it. It wasn't as though she had a bag or anything to store it in. Heck, she had thrown on her old green cloak then thrown the new fuzzy rabbit one on over it just because otherwise she had no place to carry it. She couldn't just abandon the green one, after all. Not if she was on her quest.

A possible option came up when, Goddesses be praised, the cowboy and the Zer0 showed back up. Just those two, though. She was about to ask what had happened to Death when the cowboy dumped his big new weapon into Ratchets hands. The cat took to it almost instantly, just like the crossbow, spinning the barrel and holding it so naturally that even she could tell he was used to it. She wondered if he could use any old weird thing you put in his hands. Then he ran off with the cowboy, along with Blazermate and Zer0. after the marauding rabbits. "Give them a kick for me!" She called after them.

Michael said something about covering their ears as he took some kind of...was that some kind of long staff...out of his case and put it up to his face. Wait, hold on, was that another-

The earth shattering boom the cracked the air around them all but confirmed that it was, in fact, another gun, and Linkle groaned while bringing up her hand and pressing the side of it up against her ear. She looked out in the direction he'd fired and saw that the hat was now spinning on the ground, the rabbit carrying it just... gone. It was just gone, instantly. She looked at the man in amazement. "That was louder than any bomb I've ever heard. I've thrown bombs the size of horses at monsters and they didn't do that. Seriously, how does that thing not blow up in your hands?" She said with a giddiness slightly tempered by the fact that the next rabbit in line had just scooped up the hat and done on its merry way.

It had been loud enough to wake the pig man, at least, who pulled back his hook and dug into the ground, pulling himself up and shoving Linkle and the Master back a few cautious steps. Bowser, of course, had tried to lay down the law but then had taken off after Kirby like the others and it made Linkle slightly uncomfortable to note that, despite knowing better than anyone that size didn't matter, that there was no one else in the group quite as big as the pig man. Tora didn't seem afraid, though, and took it upon himself to try and clarify the situation to him along with Din. By that time The Master seemed well off enough to walk on his own, and so the rest the of the group followed after the vanguard toward the scrapyard.

---

It was surprising to see an actual battlefield here. She hadn't expected these things to be fighting one another. It was actually sort of heartening to know that their wasn't just a target painted exclusively on their backs.

The rabbits where the same as they had always been, but they came in a lot more flavors. The metal things, though, that going to be trouble. She'd seen how her arrows did against the turtle shells earlier, she didn't expect to have a much better time against those guys. It would be all bombs, all the time, and they took a bit to charge. On top of that, the metal guys all had guns. Real guns, like Michael's, not the little energy guns the rabbits carried that left big red burns. She thought back to how the rabbit carrying the hat had just disintegrated, and shuttered despite herself. If she'd made the mistake she'd made on the rabbits against those things, what would have happened? No matter what, she bet it would have been painful and short.

That didn't seem to stop the others though. The group that had run off earlier had dived into the fray, weaving between those bullets trying to get to the hat that contained Kirby and the pig man joined them almost as soon as they arrived. Michael and Agoston, though, wanted to talk strategy and the sick girl started down the leftmost path stating she was going to scout ahead on her own. That was a prospect that, given recent events, Linkle was wary of.

She looked back over the battlefield. This was actually sort of familiar. She felt as though she'd seen this somewhere before. Maybe in a daydream? Two army fighting, with their third small force coming in. The guy in the middle, guarding the way to the castle, looked like one of the enemy commanders. Probably the metal people, considering he was in their territory, but then who was leading the rabbits? Where were they? She knew that if you wanted to end a battle you just took out the leader, it was getting to them or stopping them from running that was the hard part. That didn't mean you abandoned you friends, though. If you lost them the battle may as well be over. So what was the right thing to do here?

The group of heroes headed down to save Kirby were probably fine, you could trust people like that to survive especially if they were in a big cluster like that. If you left one alone, though, you'd end up wasting time running across the battlefield to rescue them when they got into trouble. So the answer was obvious.

"Hey, wait up, I'm coming with you." Linkle called out, setting off down the left path before turning around and calling back to the still undecided group. "Master, stay there. I think we lose if you go down. Agoston, Din, cover Michael, someone that can attack the entire battlefield is super annoying so they're going to come after him once they realize he's the one shooting. I'm gonna go down this way to make sure nothing bad happens." With that she turned and sprinted after Minako.

"Sorry if you wanted to be a lone wolf or something," she said as she caught up. "But when I went off on my own, this happened." She pulled open her cloak and ran a finger around the scorched edges of the hole the rabbits weapons had burned in it earlier. "It looked worse before Blazermate patched me up." She continued sheepishly, pulled both bows out of her boots as she walked forward. "And did you see those guys that came back from the canyon? Or what Ratchet and Din ran into? For all we know, the rabbits boss could be down this way."

---

Michael had a plan. He thought it was a good plan.

However, he was too late. By the time he had caught up with the rest of the group, they had already thrown themselves into battle. "Hey, wait- aw, God damn it..." It was too late to stop them, as the battle had already begun. Letting out a sigh, he raised his rifle up, looking over the battlefield.

His companions had thrown themselves into the thick of it, and were currently attacking robot and rabbid alike. Scanning the rabbids, he soon found the supporter, throwing out healing to his allies. If he was allowed to continue, it would stall their advance. Breathing in, he entered Bullet Time again, focusing his crosshairs on the rabbid medic. He exhaled, and pulled down on the trigger. A loud BOOM! once again echoed throughout the area as he fired on the supporter. While the creature wasn't the most visibly threatening enemy, taking it out would allow his allies to fight the enemies without having to deal with them getting up again.

To crest the hill where the Ancient Gardens ended and the Scrapyard began was no easy feat, for it demanded one come face-to-face with a raging warzone. The rattle of firearms, the heat rolling off flaming wreckage, the mechanical robot shrieks and frenzied rabbid cries blending into one terrible cacophony...it was war on a scale Tora had never seen. Though he'd seen the destruction wrecked by a Judicium Titan Weapon on the Urayan fleet, he'd never stumbled straight onto an active battlefield, and for a moment the Nopon stood flabbergasted.

Thankfully, the more influential figures among his party were made of sterner stuff. Without delay, a few of the group surveyed the scene with intent to formulate a plan, but some, appearing disinclined toward deliberation, jumped in headfirst. Leaving Agoston and Michael's scheming behind, the impulsive gunslinger barreled off in Kirby's direction, and Ratchet and Zer0 followed suit. To Tora's surprise, the masked giant from a couple minutes ago showed up and immediately lumbered off after them. Along for the ride as ever, Blazermate followed to heal the hotheads' wounds. For a moment it looked as though everyone would be gunning for Kirby's kidnappers.

However, those who remained turned out to be anything but united in their aim. The tired-looking girl who came about at the same time as the Master of Masters said she'd 'scout ahead' and hooked about toward the left, skirting around the furious firefight in the battlefield's middle. After a few words of her own, Linkle left to join her. For his part, the Master of Masters seemed content to hang around for the moment. “Um, sure!” he called after the fleeing girl. “Can't say I'm one for a flat-out brawl or melee of any kind, so I'll just, uh, stick around here for a bit.” Alongside him, Din, Michael, Agoston, Bowser, and Tora remained. The Master gave an exaggerated shrug. “So then, oh-so-mighty and wise lord Bowser, what are we to do?”

Neither the question or the answer concerned Tora. He had watched Minako and Linkle go, and run over his options in his mind. “Right group have fierce fighters, plus sturdypon big man for defending. Staying group have Bowser. But left...? Meh meh! Nice girl Linky-Linky and new girl need defender-type!” He made up his mind, and hurried after them, saying, “Tora will repay kindness from earlier and make new girl friend too!”

Some jogging later, he caught up to Minako and Linkle, albeit out of breath. Their path brought them through a thick part of the junkyard, where the blocks and various bits of scrap seemed almost purposefully arranged into strange structures. Though it conveyed a certain sense of unease, like wandering through ancient ruins, there seemed to be no enemies. “Ah! Hah!” Tora panted. “Hello, friends! Tora thought could use little company, plus tough shield if things go wrong.” Still moving at a decent pace, he parked himself in front of Minako and told her, “Should make proper introduction, meh. Am Tora, Nopon from Torigoth. For you, am brainy, very tough, and very helpful ally. If claim seem bold, allow Tora to submit as evidence: this unflinching eye contact.” Falling silent, he turned an unblinking stare upon the teenager and maintained it as long as she allowed.

Whatever the outcome of that exchange, the trio needed to keep moving, and in sort order emerged from the array of junk pillars into a relatively open area. Here, the racetrack made a hairpin turn before heading back toward the starting line. While the Scrapyard's metallic mounds surrounded the place, making a crude sort of wall, various elements of the mundane Mushroom Kingdom could be seen beyond. More visible, however, was a potential threat, and more than likely the reason for the left side of the battlefield's silence.

Standing atop the wooden cylinder that occupied the center of the hairpin turn, an unusual robot scanned its surroundings. Sparking metal carcasses suggested that it cared not for its fellow machines, and around the area a couple rabbids hunkered down by cover, too afraid to poke their heads out for the rifle-wielding automaton to see. One such rabbit lay close by, this one distinctive from its kin thanks to his green sweater and hat. Despite possessing red eyes, he seemed non-hostile, and hurriedly motioned for the newcomers to get down.

---

Through the right wing of the pit stop lay a scene of chaos, though one that a steady stream of heroes threw themselves into willingly. The Courier wasted no time in getting to work, not only going on the offensive but also turning a few of the omnics' own offenses inward, wrecking havoc on a subgroup of them soon to converge on the entrenched rabbids' collective flank. Using the alloy cadaver of his victim as a shield, he edged closer to the rabbids, and with his shotgun turned to slag a pair of the little raptor-bots scrambling into the furry cretins' stronghold. His ultimatum rang out soon afterward, and the rabbids that heard it gave a hint of understanding. They looked between one another in confusion, clearly and perhaps mistakenly taking 6's lack of immediate hostility for granted. They seemed amenable to the prospect, but for the moment the fight for their lives continued, so they couldn't do anything just yet. Plus, none of them seemed eager to try and take something from the Smasher.

When Ratchet arrived, intent on blasting bots and not bunnies, the rabbids as a group grew a touch bolder. The extra explosive support allowed them to re-establish control over their immediate area, with the Buckler moving from cover into the open and deploying his shield for the Ziggies to take refuge behind as they advanced. Roadhog's sudden and miraculous appearance, throwing the Courier a bone and furthering the rabbids' impression of the newcomers, emboldened them even further. The Hoppers began to prepare a team jump, scattering around in order to cover the greatest area. However, one of the Hoppers flung himself too close to Roadhog and received a scrap slug to the belly for his efforts. Hurt but not killed, the thing dropped to the earth like a sack of bricks to roll around on the ground in pain. A demobot's grenade launcher just about finished it off, but Roadhog's indiscriminate shooting downed it as well.

Enemy reinforcements arrived a moment later. Consisting mostly of the gray machines, there were heavybots with perilous-looking miniguns flanked by thin scoutbots wielding bats to pummel with. Not noticing the fallen Hopper, the other rabbids went to work. With a bizarre, guttural noise, the Buckler clanged his shotgun against his shield, and a star-shaped yellow wave radiated out from him. His weapon, and those of his allies, took on a similar glow. After spinning his shotgun like a cowboy's revolver, the Buckler fired into the oncoming horde. A great yellow blast exploded outward as it auto-crit, doing extra damage and covering the robots in sticky honey, stopping them in their tracks. Laughing wildly, his accompanying Ziggies unleashed a volley, their blasters auto-critting as well and lathering the robots with ink that gummed up their armaments. With the enemy wave all but crippled, all that remained was to annihilate it.

Then came a tremendous boom, and the rabbid Supporter, keeping its allies healed, vaporized in a puff of ash. Around the impact site, the Ziggies, Hoppers, and Smasher went into a panic. The smaller rabbids fired in every direction, but the hat-wearing Smasher let out a bellow and charged at the closest target it could see: Roadhog. It barreled at him heedless of incoming fire, hurled its block up, and leaped to catch it, poised to bring it down with bone-cracking force.

---

Geno's chunk of stone hurtled Mario's way. It caught his flails midway, causing one to break completely but also damaging the makeshift projectile itself. Regardless, what remained could still cave in the average skull, and undeterred it continued toward for the scarlet-eyed man in red. In the end, though, it posed little in the way of a challenge. On the rock's final bounce, Mario -jarred from his revolution by the earlier impact to his flail- positioned himself under it and executed a jump punch, a technique as simple as it was iconic. The stone shattered as his fist struck it from beneath, and with a classic ba-ba-bing three gold coins popped out and disappeared, leaving only dust behind.

More accurately, they left dust and a focused, wrathful Mario. Though Geno's strategy inflicted no lasting damage on his foe, he made a change of tactics necessary, and his opponent was already in motion. The plumber reeled in his remaining flail and took hold of the rock in both hands, then started to move. He sprinted at Geno, closing the distance in a second, and made to smash the doll into kindling with an overhead slam of his new bludgeon. Yet, that composed only layer one of his cunning attack; when Geno inevitably dodged, Mario planned to read his evasion and swing the chain on his other wrist like a whip, either horizontally or vertically, to catch him.

---

Ratchet peaked over cover catching glimpses of the Rabbit's advance impressed at the tactical skill these rather dull looking creatures had, this advance also made it clear that the tide was turning in the rabbit's favor. Which was both good and bad, good because it means Kirby is safe as long as the chunky rabbit stayed put, but it also was bad because who knows if these things would just turn on them after the robots were done. Then suddenly even more robots turned up and these ones all had miniguns! The amount of bullets they were putting out forced Ratchet to duck his head back behind cover, Ratchet hissed in pain as a bullet grazed his cheek just before his head was safely behind the mound of scrap that was his cover. The pain of the cut quickly faded as Blazermate focused her healing beam on Ratchet quickly patching up the Lombax, Ratchet gave her a quick two fingered salute. "Thanks."

The healing from Blazermate made Ratchet a little bolder and he stuck his head out of cover again, but instead of a hail of bullets he saw that all the robots were covered in gunk and honey and were unable to move. Ratchet smirked at this and flipped the barrels on his bombbuilder around so that he'd launch the remote charges, he wasn't sure what this setting did yet but he was fairly sure it was going to explode. He launched a volley of three bombs onto the goo covered robots, the little barrels getting stuck in the sticky honey that held many of the bots in place. Wait what only three!? This setting used even more ammo than the last one! Well there goes all his ammo... And the bombs didn't look like they were exploding... Ratchet frowned down at his gun, he would instantly notice a new button had flipped open on the top, labeled with a little explosion on it. Ratchet felt silly for a moment as he hit the button and detonated the explosives sending a rain of gears and bolts flying into the air. "Not a bad gun!" he called over to the Courier.

Looking back at the rabbits Ratchet saw that they'd descended into frantic mess of gunfire but more importantly the brute with the brick was now running at Roadhog looking as if he was going to pound the man into paste with his massive demolition stick. Ratchet switched his weapons pulling out his wrench, running closer to roadhog so he could get a better shot with his wrench. As the Lombax threw his weapon a stray shot from one of the panicking rabbids struck his hand burning the back of it and making him drop his wrench. "Aaah!" Ratchet shook his hand to cool it off a little quicker and dived back into cover. Ratchet looked back at his wrench that now lay out in the line of fire and he noticed it twitch a little, his magnet glove must have been working again! Ratchet held out his hand and watched his wrench fly back into his hand, catching it as he'd don so many times before gave Ratchet a quick hit of nostalgia quickly followed by pain, oh so much pain. He had to catch the thing with his burnt hand didn't he? But again the vigilant work of Blazermate quickly eased his pain and patched his wound.

Ratchet liked this girl, he was for sure going to introduce her to Clank once he'd found him. Tall, pretty and carried a beam that seemed to output nanotech. Hopefully she liked short smart guys like Clank. Ratchet dropped that chain of thought as he remembered the giant brute rabbid that was trying to kill Roadhog and currently still had Kirby captive on the top of his head. He looked back at the others taking a moment to think. "Any of you think you can knock that hat of that things head? I can catch it if you guys can just get it of his head." Ratchet pointed at the dapper white hat on the Smasher's head.

As soon as the radio on the Courier’s arm started playing his favorite soothing, relaxing song, the Courier let the tension in his shoulders subside. Ah, Johnny Guitar. That angelic voice could make sweet sweet love to his ears as easily as a bolt action carbine. He was so mesmerized that he hadn’t even noticed the large pig like man, Roadhog, save his bacon. He barely noticed when Zer0 reappeared by his side, taking additional shots at the robots from behind their cover.

”This is taking too long. I think I’ve got an idea!” Uh oh. A Courier idea was a dangerous one. Taking notice of one of the Omnic robots that had been wrecked by Zer0’s B0re power, the Courier reached out from his cover, grabbed the robot by its arm, and yanked the thing back behind the scrap with him. ”This is gonna take some time, but it should end the battle damn fast if it works!” he announced, before getting to work.

Popping open a small chamber on his Pip-Boy, the Courier tugged out a long cord, then looked over the barely functional Omnic for a receptacle he could use to plug his Pip-Boy into. A couple seconds later and he found what he was looking for, though it required he tear off some of the armor plating around the thing’s metal skull. Once jacked in, the robot’s diagnostics began to display across his arm-mounted computer screen. ”Haha! They’re compatible! Yes!” Tap tap tap danced the fingers of his right hand across the tiny keyboard mounted to his left arm. First he had to make himself familiar with the coding of these things, and damn was he impressed with what he saw. Sure, the hardware they were sporting wasn’t anything to write home about, with the somewhat average guns and the mass produced armor plating that didn’t even cover their whole exoskeletons, but the software, that was a thing of beauty!

The coding kept changing right before his very eyes, almost like it was evolving, like it was learning! Was the technology of the Big Empty even this advanced? The Courier imagined what these robots could accomplish if they had constructed better vessels for their programming, and quickly decided he did not like the idea one bit. Self aware robots.Learning robots. They could wipe out humanity so easily, at least in his world, scattered and broken as people were. Luckily for him there was still some baseline code that remained the same in the unit, no matter how the rest of it changed and evolved. That made sense, as the learning protocols in these things could easily cause them to shutdown if proper failsafes were not in place. All it would take would be to accidentally move the wrong 1 or 0, and then… Well that’s what robotics and computer experts like him were for.

The Courier delved deeper into this baseline coding, eyes taking in everything that he could. The Omnic’s red optical lense glared at him, clearly wanting to punish him for this invasion of its soul, but without a functioning body incapable of following through. Heh. Fucking robots. Ah, fascinating, that would be useful. So they communicated with one another on a wireless telecommunications network. Just a little deeper, and he could exploit them…

Pew!

”Argh!” The Courier clutched his left shoulder, the jerking reaction nearly pulling the interface cord free from the robot it had been plugged into. The monitor of the Pip-Boy began to fade as he realized his mistake and quickly forced the jack back in more securely. That stray shot had almost cost him everything! Luckily Blazermate had heard his cry of pain and reacted quickly, patching up the injury with expedience. ”Thanks, pardner,” he waved the medabot off with two of his fingers, concentrating back onto his work. This was too important…

Yes! There it was! An emergency override code!Broadcasting the code through the Omnics’ network would force them to shutdown against their will! It wouldn’t do a damn thing with those other robots, and at some point the Omnics would notice the broadcast signal and evolve an algorithm to neutralize it, but at least it would take out a considerable number of the Omnic forces across the entire Scrapyard, helping all of his companions and the rabbits, before they developed a defense. ”Hold on to yer hats, amigos! A bunch of robots are about to eat dirt!” The Courier copied the failsafe code and began to transmit, using his Pip-Boy’s radio as the point of origin, and routing through the interfaced Omnic’s processors. If they attempted a counter-hack, it’d run through the Omnic as a proxy before reaching his Pip-Boy, at which point he’d be able to disable the connection.

BOOM!

One of the rabbit creatures simply vanished into a fine red mist. The Courier perked up, spotting small tufts of white fur floating about in the air. He blinked a few times, trying to focus on what had just happened. Then it clicked. That sound. He already heard it not five minutes ago. Even amongst the explosions of the grenade launcher and the bullets flying through the air, the Courier could recognize a .50 caliber anti-material rifle.

”That idiot! That brahmin pie faced mother fucking idiot!” He scanned the area for where the shot could have come from, instinctively looking up to the hill they traversed to get there. Sure enough there was Michael setup with his rifle, smoke rising from the muzzle. ”WE COULD APPEAL TO THEM! THEY COOPERATED YOU FUCKING SHITSTAIN!”

His curses and insults meant nothing, and it was too late. The rabbit creatures recognized the betrayal (not that Michael could have known) and reacted exactly as one would expect: they turned hostile. And here was the Courier, holed up in a corner unable to move without interrupting the signal that would shut down Omnic robots, practically a sitting duck. Ratchet called out a plan, but the Courier wouldn’t be able to take any part in it. Gritting his teeth, he armed himself with his .44 magnum revolver and prepared himself to put a bullet in anything that got too close, if it wasn’t friendly.

---

The chunk of debris hurdled towards Mario's way, leaving with mixed reviews on the outcome. While on one hand it was able to fully break one of the chains that grasped the plumber's wrist - already making him just slightly more vulnerable if nothing else - it was an otherwise fruitless tactic in beating him down with sheer physical force. With a significant portion of its power sapped by the flail's impact, it allowed the opponent to easily jump into the air and uppercuts it with his signature jump. The boulder was no match for such power and instantly crumbled upon impact, leaving nothing but miniature pieces and dust.

Geno had to adapt to this change of pace quickly. Now utilizing only one flail, its no doubt that Mario would begin to change tactics - most likely to hand-to-hand combat. The Star Warrior had seen first hand at the plumber's melee abilities, during decades prior, and the more he stuck around, the more he watched him grow stronger as a fighter. Now with five tournaments under his belt, over a decade of battling Bowser, and possessed by the strings of evil, he's more powerful than ever before. If he's going to win against him, Geno would have to fight more with sheer cunning and tactics.

Instinctually, the star warrior ignited the two light disks in his hands. However, before he could even think about chucking them, Mario was already upon him as he leaped overhead to smash the bludgeon right on top of the doll's fragile head. With only miliseconds to react, Geno was forced to dodge as his thrusters propelled him to his left. While doing so, he chucked the light disks towards his opponent, as they zig-zagged their way towards him. This could've saved him, for he caught sight of the flail bailing towards him from the corner of his eyes...

And one of these disks seemed to be right in its crosshairs.

Following this, the doll pointed his cannon at Mario as he began to fire several rapid fire shots towards him, with several seemingly aimed straight for his head. And as for the surviving disk(s), they too would plan to come and haunt the plumber as they proceeded to boomerang back towards their creator.

---

Zer0 paused momentarily as the Courier started working at one of the robots. Almost like Gaige would do to Deathtrap sometimes, but this took longer and seemed to involve less physical work. Odd. It honestly seemed like he was - ah. So he was hacking in? If only they had Angel to phaseshift in their authentication, then they'd be able to do this much more efficiently.

And then everything went to hell. Because of course it did, it always did. The other sniper had fired on their temporary allies, utterly yeeting their supporter out of existence. Which, naturally, caused the strange creatures to go into at frenzy. The one with Bowser's hat went after the fat friendly that had shown up recently, and Ratchet was calling for someone to get the hat free.

Far be it from Zer0 to turn down a challenge like that.

Carefully he pulled his sniper up, aiming with deadly proficiency, and... Didn't fire.

Deftly he started running, using a robot to launch himself onto Roadhog's head. He pushed off, launching himself higher towards the Rabbid in question, and pulled out his sword. As he sailed forward he whapped the hat with all his might with the side of his sword without an edge, promptly disappearing from view.

Landing in a roll, he stayed down and moved into his back, firing off shots at robots. These creatures had been allies, and the Courier hadn't mentioned attacking them. Until the robots were removed he would continue to treat them as irrelevant

After the robots were finished, however.... If they didn't stand down he'd put them down.

As they approached the battlefield it became clear that the hooded exposition giver did actually know his stuff, or was at least capable of making decent guesses, because here could be found what looked like an ongoing civil war between Galeem’s forces. Two factions of robots fought both each other and the rabbid faction within a racetrack turned junkyard. One set of robots was made up of rather boxy bots who’s main advantage seems to be the deployment of large blue energy shields that guarded them from fire, the other of imitations of crude imitations of the human form armed that came in a multitude of variants, most notable giant titan bots and dedicated healers. Finally it seemed that the rabbids where rapidly approaching their full roster in terms of forces, lacking only valkyries and peek-a-boos if the king remembered his son’s retellings correctly. Frankly this entire war was was a great affront to the noble sport of mario kart in Bowser's opinion, the three way battle making made the usual cart races such a place would contain look like leisurely sunset drives drives in comparison. Finally at the end of the field was someone whose presence could be felt even from this far away, though instead of fear the king notably only experienced a sense of relief.

“OH GOOD. IF THE TOUGH GUY’S ALL DO THAT IT MAKES FINDING GUARDIANS LESS OF A PAIN”

It was a little odd that they looked like one of the human robot variants, yet seemed to be working with a boxy robot but it didn't bother the king too much. Perhaps he was making his minions fight each other as well as the rabbids for his amusement? Not something the king would do personally of course, but these were all just robots after all, so he could see the appeal, wasteful as it might be.

The king himself arrived at this second set of crossroads just in time for the strategy discussion/speeches to commence. Like most of the others these were promptly ignored by the king, though instead of charging head first into the fray Browser instead took an interest in one of the many junk piles found in the scrapyard. While his claws digging through the metallic detritus Bowser made some vaguely affirming noises in response to the centurion and michel’s strategizing before finding what he was looking for.

“AH HA. HAVEN’T SEEN THIS PIECE OF JUNK IN A LONG TIME BUT IT’S PERFECT.” he exclaimed as he dragged a rusty old-fashioned-themed purple cart emblazoned with a spiky mustache emblem from the scrapheap. Bowser promptly rammed his hand through one of the doors before his claws cleaved through the floor of the vehicle, fingers wrapping around the spine of the chassis before stabbing back though the frood once more. Grinning to himself the king marched past the centurion with his improvised tower shield, one inspire by the energy shield equipped Eradicator Omics and Crushers battling in the central field.

“COME ON. LET’S GET YOU A MORE SUITABLE WEAPON.” he said to him, before hurrying after the direction of the team’s leroy jenkins-esque charge.

When bowser arrived at the pit stop the battle was well underway but his arrival most certainly did not go unnoticed, primarily because it was punctuated by a roar and a tire that had been ripped from the Wario Shield smacking into an unfortunate Pyrobot. This resulted in an almost immediate response in the form of a hail of gunfire from most of the combatants not immediately engaged with one of the heros or each other. The king laughed menacingly at the seeming ineffectiveness of this warm welcome.The bullets did minimal damage to his scaled limbs that was quickly repaired by Blazmate, ricocheted off of his shelled chest and made mincemeat of the Wario Shield that did its level best to guard the king’s face, the bulky front hood blocking shots primarily due to defence in depth.

“YOU HAVE SOMETHING THAT BELONGS TO ME” he roared, pointing his free hand past his face guarding shield at the Smasher who had the king’s hat, who at that very moment was somewhat preoccupied with critting ass and sticking fools. Undeterred the king advanced into the chaos rushing forwards as the rabbid’s where thrown into chaos by ratchet’s medic annihilation, ramming his warrior shield in the way of the the Smasher’s overhead swing at roadhog. The two massive shields collided with a mighty clang followed by a the horrendous sound of metal crumpling as the Warrior car turned shield lost the contest of might and was promptly reduced to scrap metal as its structural integrity was brutally compromised and it promptly fell to pieces, leaving the king with sore fingers holding a rather large metal stick that was the car’s spine and a pile of scrap metal at his feet. Still, it its 10 seconds of service it had done its job admirably, keeping Bowser’s face free of lead and leaving the smasher on the backfoot. The king's face was left guarded by naught but warding hands and caught was as of balance by his clash with the Smasher as the massive rabbid was itself, right in time for Zer0's lightning fast attack on it's hat. The ninja dashed into the triple brute melee, navigating though the ocean of big buff boys like a slippery eel to deliver a sword blow to the King's massive stolen hat. Bowser's eyes locked onto this even as he was reeling from the aftershock of the block, watching with bated breath, hoping to see that blow to succeed at dislodging the hat and dreading that it may have harm the hat's occupant.

---

Even though he hadn't had enough time to discuss it with everyone, Michael was confident that his plan was working perfectly. With the robots distracted, he was able to take out the rabbid's medic, crippling them. Predictably, they went into a panic, firing at anything that moved. Sweeping over the battlefield, he noticed that the Courier seemed to be somewhat upset at him. While he couldn't make out what he was saying, he didn't seem happy. The hell is his problem? My plan's working. He did notice that the Courier was in a bit of an exposed position, but that wasn't his fault- he had gone ahead with his own attack long before Michael had arrived.

Shifting his aim away from the Courier, the Smasher wearing Bowser's had immediately caught his attention. He was currently running towards the new guy, intent on, well, smashing him. With Kirby on his head, he didn't want to risk taking a shot right away. Fortunately, he didn't have to risk it, as Zer0 showed up, using his sword to toss Kirby off. With the hat off the large rabbid, Michael set his crosshairs on him, aiming for the head. Bowser soon arrived, deflecting the Smasher's attack with what looked like a small car. With the Smasher under attack, Michael aimed for the big brute's chest, seeing as it was an easier target. Taking in a deep breath, he settled his aim...and pulled the trigger.

BOOM!