Magnumus Agoston, Centurion.

Level 2 - (7/20) EXP
Location: Scrap Yard Big Brawl
Word Count: 578

On standby to help.

---

The Centurion was shocked, to be sure. The giant dragon was, of course, inconvenient, but it is what came afterward that shook the armored man to his core. This fiendish creature was holding the group's friends against them. Though Agoston himself had no personal stakes in this fight it was clear many of his new allies did. Including Ratchet who, having just saved his life against the engineer, was taken in by the evil Light. "No, wait!" He called out as the Lombax was manipulated by his old friend.

The Cenutrion was sympathetic towards the plight of his allies. Though he could not understand, as the Centurion did not feel as close to anyone as most did. The only kinship that could compare was that of him and his battle brothers, but he would not hesitate to kill them if they stood in the way of restoring the Empire. More importantly, they would understand what he had to do. They would rather die before let the empire fall. But whoever his friends were, it's clear they were more civilian-like in their relationships with others. They had best friends, a desire to live with them and enjoy good moments. People like them were the reason the Centurion fought- so others could live.

So with this he understood he would not simply start taking wild swings at the eight figures before them. Roadhog and Minako looked ready to fight and square up to save or potentially kill their old friends for the cause. Bowser rushed off to help Roadhog. The hat wearing child was restored to her former self.

There was a lot going on Agoston did not understand, but cameradery was one of them.

"Alright!" He got into a wide stance, eyeing the seven remaining figures cautiously. He figured Bowser and Roadhog were more than capable of defeating the scantily-clad man that had chased them off. So Centurion stood in the middle, in running distance of any fight that might kick off.

"I'm ready to fight alongside any one of you to rescue or, Emperor for give us, put down a friend. Just let me know, and I'll get right on it." He declared boldly. After that last fight, the Centurion found his Gladius drawn to his gauntlet. Subconciously, he felt like doing an old command- one he used to do for his Legion. Slamming the flat of his Gladius twice into his arm and shouting the related order would signify the men and women who fought under his command to press their shield together and prepare for impact. Whether that be an impending Viking horde or swarm of Samurai arrows, there were few things that could break through a living bulwark of spirit and sinew. The Phalanx.

This place had strengthened him- he knew it. And now as he grew more accustomed to combat in this strange world of light it granted him access to more and more fantastical powers. The flat of his Gladius sparked with energy upon his bracer. Defensive might was at his command. The Phalanxes of old would come to help his allies when they needed him. Their golden shields would deflect and defend against the strikes of their enemies for a limited amount of time. The blade sang as he dragged it across the palm of his gauntlet.

"I'm ready!" He shouted once more, preparing to come to the aid of whichever of his friends needed him the most.

---

Geno had listened to the other Bowser's explanation as to who he really was. No doubt that the flying one is indeed some incarnation of Bowser, for all of his mannerisms are in place, if not more exaggerated than usual. However, with Mario's reincarnation back from his possession, all the fears that clouded the Star Warrior's judgement had melted away. No doubt with his help, alongside their own Bowser and the other fighters within their rag-tag group, he had the up-most confidence that they could win.

Mario's face didn't falter at the flying Bowser's query on how he escaped his dungeon. The plumber could only imagine what had happened, but nonetheless it didn't matter anymore. And in addition to his courageous and no-nonsense demeanor charging his fiery spirit, he could feel the effects of Din's dance enhancing his capabilities even more! He was ready to kick some major Koopa tail!

Geno could sense this significant power-spike as well, although it was slightly weaker than the "Boost" he used when he knocked the plumber out cold. He attempted to activate his Boost, but unfortunately to no avail. He'll have to wait awhile before he can use it again. So as long as the other fighters could keep him busy, he'll buy his time to gather his strength and officially join the battle in style.

But before everyone could engage with one another, a giant floating white hand descended towards the ground with ominous intent. Both Mario and Geno looked up to witness it hover over the ground - seemingly allied to the flying Bowser as he asked what it wanted. The wooden doll instantly recalled that floating glove to be one of Galeem's pawns that were about to assault Star Road before he got assimilated. What was it doing here? Or more accurately, what is it going to do?

When the toad that popped out of the hand rushed down to whisper to Bowser about the events that took place in the castle, the Flying Koopa King addressed the group once more about his departure, beckoning for them to reach his throne room once they were done here with a nasty sneer. Mario's stance tensed up as he attempted to make a running start in order to capture the fleeing turtle. He was not going to let him get away! He ran quickly, shifting all of his strength towards his legs, before issuing a powerful leap towards the flying koopa. The plumber extended his arms towards his tail, however he was nowhere close to grabbing it before flopping back down to the ground.

"COWARD!" Mario yelled with seething rage as he punched the ground in defiance, "COME-A-BACK AND FIGHT-A-US YOU OVERGROWN FLYING MEAT-A-BALL!"

His gaze towards him would quickly shift towards the hand in the sky, with Geno also doing the same. After hovering idly for a few seconds, they could hear a voice pierce into their consciousness.

”Seekers of restoration, you have demonstrated strength. But you do not yet understand the scope of your mission. It will leave you hollow. It will take all you have to give, and then more. And in the end, you will give your lives.”

The Star Warrior figured that this no-doubt came from Galeem's influence - as if it was trying to talk them down and have them submit to the world around them. Still he was curious to look on as the glove snapped its fingers to reveal seven particular objects form right in front of them. They looked as if they were trophies, one Geno didn't remember Mario telling him before.

But the veteran plumber knew all too well what they were. They were assist trophies - each harboring a fighter's soul from within. The third Smash tournament was the first to introduce this concept, as any fighter who picked up these trophies would have a random ally that was within to assist them in battle (hence the name "Assist" trophies). Most of the fighters were picked either solely as honorable guests that didn't make the cut towards the official roster, or solely as a random pick from a selection of different worlds. Amongst the characters of his own universe that had popped out of these collectibles, Hammer Bros. chain chomps, and spiny-chucking lakitus were the most common, each being fairly decent in their respected jobs as fodder.

And of course, no one could forget about Waluigi - nor the infamous controversy as how the higher ups would never allow him ascend to official fighter status for unknown reasons. But that's another story in of itself.

”It is never too late to give in. The light waits patiently for your embrace; you need only turn away. In this paradise, you can live with your friends and families once more. But if you continue, your hearts will be broken before you even reach that King. Behold.”

And just like that, the seven trophies shattered suddenly as they revealed the seven fighters opposing them. Both Geno and Mario couldn't recognize any of the opposers as anyone they recognized, but alas they didn't fight them right away. However, a few of the other fighters did recognize several people from their ranks. Rachet was the first to submit as he reunited with a particular-looking robot, only to reimburse its fate back with Galeem. Even the Master was ultimately taken back by how easy it was for one to become influenced by their ominous aura.

”These spirits will not attack unless you do, but they will not move from this spot. If they do fight, they will do so with three times their usual resilience and power. If you do not embrace the light, you will die here, or be forced to kill them. This is the first toll to pay.”

The rest, however, continued to hold their guard as they were successfully able to recruit the hat kid within their ranks. They may have lost one partner, but they've gathered up another to replace the fallen. Even after listening to the hand's words, both Mario and Geno refused to bow to Galeem. For such disruption of their lives, both would fight until the bitter end. They would fight to save their kingdoms and their friends from this unceremonious lie.

So once one of the maniacs started chunking bombs at the group, both fighters prepared themselves and began to engage into battle. As Mario prepared to advance, the "real" Bowser stomped towards him and dryly remarked on their situation with a chuckle and welcoming him into "his" army. The plumber would playfully scoff at that notion with a vague smirk.

"Like this is the first-a-time," he mentioned as if try to jog his old frenemy's memory, "I'll stay far away from you as-a-possible."

He joked on this premise before proceeding to officially engage into battle himself with hands ablazing.

Meanwhile, Geno's arm cannon sparked into life as he proceeded to lock onto one of the opponents. The first person to have caught his eye was a pale boy holding a purple book in his hand. Something about him seemed even darker compared to the other opponents - which made him all the more worthwhile to eliminate first. Without further delay, the puppet fired several shots towards the opponent from a safe distance.

Almost immediately after the Courier beseeched the spirits in his hands, they manifested in a solid form in accordance to his will. Flanking either side of the Courier was now a large transforming robot, and a mutated humanoid beastly snapping turtle monster. Yes, this pleased the Courier greatly. Far too many lakelurks had tried to get the better of him in the past, while Bastion had nearly decimated him (though that was largely thanks to Zer0), and now they both stood connected to his will, his path.

Oh god.

Oh god.

He subsumed their wills. Well, the lakelurk was just an animal so that was not nearly of consequence, but the Bastion? Mechanical though he be, the Courier could not deny what he observed in the programming: it had a personality and free will. He was no stranger to artificial intelligences with self awareness. After all, ED-E displayed the hallmarks, as did Muggy back in the Big Empty. Was he overstepping his bounds? No, no he decided. He wasn't overwriting their wills. They were dead and he gave them a new purpose. A new lease on life as it were, that just so happened to be linked to him. He could feel it. The strikers could break that bond with him if he mistreated them, he felt. The sudden realization that he just might have become what he hated most, it put a pit in his stomach. Like when you think you lost something only to realize you were holding onto it the whole time. It didn’t help that he was so under the influence that a great deal of rational thought escaped him. Damn, if only he had some mentats to balance out the alcohol and the jet!

Wait, were other people talking while he was having this internal crisis? The strikers vanished, the little spirits returning to his own body as he refocused on the situation. That little guy, Mario, seemed to have been saying something but the Courier completely missed it. Then Din was… Dancing? Well, she was a dancer, and dancers danced. Just like he was a courier and couriers… Couried? Was that a word? Oh look, a cloud that looked like a mail package, heh heh heh. No, stay focused. The Courier shook his head and zeroed in on Din, attempting to figure out just why the hell she was dancing at a time like this. While her magic empowered him, his brain was too addled by chemicals to feel the difference, so she merely looked to be wasting time in a dangerous life or death situation.

Then the giant Bowser bellowed his declarations that he knew what they were doing and he wasn’t stupid. ”Whaaaaaat? Noooooo. That’s crazy, you’re-you’re craaaazy!” Perhaps not the most convincing argument, but there it was, not that he’d have been able to see the results of such an attempt for another behemoth of a creature interrupted them. A giant… Gloved hand?

”Ok, now I’ve seen some crazy shit in my time… Both sober and totally not sober… But a giant disembodied hand? Pffffft. As Benny would say, get outta here, ya fink!” He waved aside the Master Hand, but of course it did not react to him in any way, as he held no power to influence this godlike being. Probably for the best to be frank.Regardless, a small mushroom headed midget was produced from the hand, which spoke to the giant Bowser in secret before taking off, and the winged Bowser likewise left them. Something about some pests in the castle? Wait, Geno was in that castle, right? No, Geno was right here. But Geno was in the castle. So if he was but wasn’t anymore, then who was castle? Ah fuck it, they’d find out eventually.

Then the giant hand spoke, er, vibrated? It made wordy words with no mouth. Haha. Fuuun. Some stupid bullshit about fate and being destined to die and the light and blah blah blah a different flavor of the same old maniacal rhetoric the Courier had heard a million times before from Caesar and legate Lanius and Father Elijah and god dammit was he sick and tired of hearing this stupid crap! Everlasting paradise, please. Life is built on blood, sweat, and piss and vinegar. If this were a perfect paradise then there wouldn’t be any war, no bloodshed, but the battle between the rabbids and the robots had already shown that truly, war? War never changes. Which meant this hand’s word was the same as it jacking off.

He was about to say as much too, but then seven figures were beamed into existence. Seven figures that all were vastly different from one another. The hand said that they would hold the line and prevent the group from entering the castle, and battle with three times their normal power. Three times? Damn, that might actually be impressive! The Courier would have rolled up his sleeves before getting to work, if he actually had any sleeves. Instead he took a step forward, ready for a fight, before giving pause as Ratchet ran ahead. The little cat guy embraced a tiny robot that he apparently knew? What happened next nearly knocked the Courier back into sobriety, as the light enveloped Ratchet, reclaiming him. The lombax reunited with his best friend Clank, and in doing so succumbed to Galeem’s power once again. ”Well… Shit.”

Six really didn’t have any words for what he had just witnessed, but looking around he could tell that the little robot wasn’t the only one with a close connection to one of the group. Zer0 took special interest in the dirty, grimy teenager with the metal arm and the robot, dashing aside and luring her away. Roadhog took an interest in a scrappy looking bandit junk man, and their battle began with explosive results. Six winced at the sound of the explosions, hating them as much as ever. Those two were far from the only ones, however, as it seemed that every one of the fighters summoned by the hand were, in fact, close to somebody. If he weren’t still high off his ass, the Courier might have wondered by only seven, why not one for everyone? And why did he not have someone Did he really not have anybody that could be considered a close friend? But such thoughts were lost in favor of how the kid in the baseball cap looked like a wuss ass punk, or how the robot looking girl with pistol-like limbs was really darned cute.

Then his attention wandered back to Ratchet and his newly reunited buddy, Clank. As others took up arms against one of the newly summoned warriors, the Courier merely strode forward, silently, cautiously, his gun out but not at the ready to fire. He approached the lombax, who now had his robot buddy strapped to his back.

”Ratchet,” he said simply.

“Hey, uh, I never did get your name?” Ratchet responded, friendly, happy even.

“It would appear that I am not the only one who has not been properly introduced to your new friends, Ratchet,” Clank said from atop the lombax’s backside.

”Don’t worry about it,” the Courier replied, eyes narrowed on the two. ”Couldn’t introduce myself if I wanted to. Awhile back some fink put two bullets in my brain. Messed around with the wiring a bit.”

“Oof,” Ratchet replied, recoiling back a moment. “You know, some nanotech could fix that right up.”

“I am certain that we have a good many friends capable of helping to resolve your mental faculties. In any case please allow me to make your acquaintance. I am Clank, pleased to meet you.” Clank extended a hand outward to shake the Courier’s, who did so with some trepidation.

“It’s good to be back with ya, little buddy!” Ratchet exclaimed. Clank let out his signature laugh in response.

”Mhm. Well, this is… I’d hate to interrupt this reunion, but don’t you see anything wrong with this situation, Ratchet?” the Courier asked.

“Not at all. Why?”

”Huh. Well, it’s just that we need to go inside and kick that other Bowser’s ass…” The Courier definitely felt weirded out. Some of the others jumped into combat very quickly. By comparison Ratchet and Clank were quite cordial. They seemed to still be treating him as a friend and ally.

“Oh, I get ya. Sorry, but that’s a no can do.” Ratchet responded with some added finger guns for good measure.

“Affirmative,” Clank added. “I am afraid that we cannot let you pass this structure.”

”And why… Not?” The Courier tilted his head.

“You do not have the proper clearance, I am afraid,” Clank continued.

“Yeah, you’re just not allowed,” added Ratchet with a shrug.

The Courier decided he’d try to test it by stepping forward. Ratchet reached out with his omniwrench, blocking the way. “Sorry, wish I could let you go. I really do. We’re missing out on a lot of action in there, I’m sure.”

Six tried to push his luck further by ducking under the wrench. Ratchet brought it down. “I know you heard me. You’re not allowed to go by.”

”And why not?”

“You’re just not,” was all the answer the lombax could provide. Clank nodded sagely, as if this were somehow a commonly understood law of the universe, like gravity.

”I see. Well Ratchet, you remember that favor you owe me?”

“You mean when you dumped that grenade launcher on me and just decided that for yourself?” Ratchet shot back, a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

”Sure. Listen, I need to get past.”

“Oof. Yeah, sorry. Can’t do it. But I could do other things for you?”

The Courier frowned. This experimentation was getting him nowhere quick, but at least he was able to determine some specific things about these fighters. It seemed like there wasn’t going to be any way around it. They’d have to fight. If he shot at the duo, then no doubt they’d respond in kind by using that grenade launcher. That would be a surefire way to get killed real fast. That meant the Courier needed to handle this up close and personal. Dammit, he wasn’t that great in melee combat. Well, he didn’t feel his martial arts return to him at least; he was still drained, which in essence meant he wasn’t going to be as good in a melee fight. That left him only one alternative. What was another chem to his drugged out body?

The Courier produced the bottle of buffout, popped the lid off, and downed the pills. Instantly he could feel the effects making way through his body. The super steroids lived up to the reputation, bulking up his muscles to superhuman levels. Tougher, stronger, sturdier, and they’d last about an hour. Tossing the bottle aside into the moat, the Courier pulled out the Equalizer and held it in a single hand, feeling as though he could squeeze too hard and break the damn thing. ”Sorry about this,” he said, sincerely, as he took a swing horizontally straight for Ratchet’s midsection.

This lot that Kid found herself mixed up with was already starting to send some seriously mixed messages. First, she was pulled to shore and treated by the first two to see her. Now, no more than a moment or two following her arrival, one of the more menacing of them marked her as an enemy with alarming prematurity and wanted her dead, while another stood between her and him with talks of “freeing” her. What did he mean by that? Wasn’t she already free? In a greater sense, no, but as she was, a prisoner within her own form, she hadn’t a sufficiently lucid conception about her own existence to be dialed into the fact. Regardless, her reception thus far had her mentally closing on a much easier fight or flight decision, favoring the latter. That was until she noticed the KING take his unexpected leave back into the castle to attend to what he considered to be more urgent matters. Taking his place was a great disembodied hand, who proceeded to lecture the heroes on the supposed folly of their ways. To exemplify this, he summoned seven distinct figures--lost souls like Hat Kid, bearing the same cosmetic symptoms (with the behavioral yet to be seen)--who were all familiar in some way to certain members of the party, and provided them with a simple, but harsh ultimatum: surrender themselves to rejoin their loved ones, strike them down for the sake of their quest for multiversal restoration, or die trying.

The anthropomorphic alien feline didn’t hesitate. Clearly fraught with despair at the idea of having to fight, let alone kill who he cared for most in this world (or any other), he decided it best to take the right hand’s offer, meeting his hollowed out familiar halfway in an embrace, and turning the opposing septet into an octet in a (literal) flash. This impulsive self-sacrifice prompted the hooded enigma to point his weapon intently at Kid, who, having been fearfully taken aback by the rash gesture, started to slowly back away from him in trembling steps. Was this what he meant; to “free” her not from the nullifying shackles that bound her spirit, but from her very life, believing that she could not be saved from it? From her limited perspective, it was difficult to tell, but judging by his nervous, unsteady aim and stressfully subdued speech, he was no more looking forward to whatever he was about to do than she was. But then, a vibrant heart sailed over the Master and struck the child in dead center of her chest, and a burst of warm fuchsia energy swelled and erupted from the point of impact as the revitalizing force lifted her off the ground. Her color started to replenish itself, saturation fading back in from the source...

---

With the blinding white clearing away, the ship’s colorful, roomy interior came into focus. Kid unshielded her eyes upon realizing were she was, and looked around the living/control room littered with recovered Time Pieces. It didn’t take her long piece together what was going on, but she went over to open the door in the window (which was no longer boarded up) and leaned out for a second look just to be sure. It was just as she expected; the planet was restored, its denizens saved, and all was returned to normal, just as it was when she first arrived… all except for Mustache Girl. She lay unconscious on the brickwork, exactly the way she left her after their battle. Kid let her pensive gaze last a couple of seconds longer before reaching for a Time Piece, but stopping herself from doing anything with it without taking the chance to think it over once more. Glancing thoughtfully back and forth between the hourglass levitating in her palm and the little red-hooded girl down below, she pondered on whether or not to lend her a single Piece--enough only to cause a little trouble and give her a better chance against the Mafia without inviting an apocalypse.

On one hand, it was her who abused stolen Time power to unmake the world into a treacherous planetwide hellscape where its inhabitants were nigh invariably judged by her to be evil and punished accordingly under her self-imposed, absolute rule, thus proving Kid right in withholding the Pieces on the basis that no one else could be trusted to use their power responsibly. That, and they were hers to reclaim to begin with. She needed them back if she expected to get home, which is why she went through so much trouble to recover them, and now, she ran the risk of potentially cutting herself one Time Piece short of making it back to her homeworld for the sake of carrying out an act of spontaneous, unconditional charity that she previously would not have considered. And yet, from a philosophical perspective, it was hard to deny that her perceived selfishness, however justified, may have partially contributed to driving the delinquent Girl to acting out so dramatically, having been convinced that she was utterly and hopelessly alone in her cause. Come to think of it, Kid had no idea what Girl's upbringing may have been like under the oppressive Mafia (or in general) that could explain her moral outlook, and if she did have any insight on her origins, she may very well have been inclined to feel sorry for her. In a way, even if she wouldn't openly admit it, she already did. Still, it had to be more than mere pity forcing her hand, and something greater than simple necessity staying it. What lesson, if any, did she stand to learn from her adventure? One about understanding? Selflessness? Second chances? Finding better ways? Whatever conclusion she came to on this would ultimately influence her decision.

After deciding one way or the other, Kid placed herself in the driver's seat and excitedly vacuum sealed all of the strewn Time Pieces back into the vault in preparation for takeoff. With her good work finished and the planet's reality reset, she could finally leave this world behind for the one she belonged to, and no would ever notice, let alone care that she was ever there once she was gone… as was probably for the best. At last, she was set to be homebound once again. With a full-forward push on the throttle, the spaceship's engines began to wind up, energy coalescing around the afterburners, and within an instant, the ship… abruptly stalled out. Something--or someone--was on the ship that didn’t need to be… again. Kid stood upright in her seat and shot a look to the door that emphatically said “What now?!” and then cutely stomped her way over to the door in frustration. What she found when she peeked out for the second time surprised her--a line of now ex-antagonists turned friends clinging to the window’s ledge, begging their beloved savior not to leave. Alas, as much as they might miss her, it was time for her to go, so she swept the stowaways from the window seal (literally, with a comically oversized broom) and waved them goodbye before returning to her seat. She couldn’t help the sentimental water from lightly welling up in her eyes, for as hectic as her experience was, she, too, would miss this place--and the people in it. She quickly dried her tears and reengaged the throttle once more, this time disappearing off into the cosmos at warp speed, a blue starry glint in the distance signifying her departure. Not but a few seconds after, a magnificent river of light washed over the entire planet, reducing it in its entirety to phosphorescent ash, dissipating into the calamitous everbright.

---

It had been an especially long and irregular day for Hat Kid, and she was already beginning to feel the effects of its labors creep up on her. The child's exhaustion was more of a mental one than physical, but for her, it was as good an excuse as any to retire to her room and write what would turn out to be a disappointingly vague diary entry before passing out. After letting out a tired, heavy sigh, preceded by a yawning stretch, she pivoted and dismounted her chair to head for the bedroom, only to be stopped at the first door by yet another round of alarm soundings, to which she rolled her eyes with an irritated groan. To think that now, of all times, she would be deprived a deserved moment of respite! Though, what she discovered upon rushing back to her station to observe the situation critically warranted her attention. At the speed she was travelling, she could only faintly make out the details, but what she beheld would have still been hard to miss. She reeled back in shock at the sight of celestial bodies being destructively overtaken in rapid succession on all sides by winding golden beams of burning polychroma. Coming up in the ship's peripheral view, Kid noticed a divided cluster of the same photonic masses beginning to surround her. The ship sporadically bobbed and weaved about at her behest in a series of unguided evasive maneuvers while trying to find some way, ANY way, to overboost the vessel to wring just a little more velocity out of it, desperately determined to outrun the encroaching wave of hostile radiance that pursued her, but to no avail. Her trusty spacecraft was working as hard as it could for her, and could give no more. Even as the realization of hopeless futility set in, and the ever-intensifying incandescence gradually closed in around her, narrowing her field of view, Kid couldn’t look away. Her eyes remained wide open and constricted with fear up until the very end, when the light finally washed her away.

Fear--a sensation seldom experience by her--would be the last she felt. Fear of never having the chance to her friends--both old and new--again. Fear of never getting to share her stories, or ever living to tell another. Fear of never making it home. Fear of everything being in vain. Fear of no longer being…

...and then… she no longer was.

---

When she was lowered back to her feet, Kid reopened her eyes, coming into consciousness as if waking up for the first time today. With her life force renewed, and her being restored, her memories followed, flooding back to her in short order. Save for a few anomalous blank spots in memory--like how she got here, the events leading up to now, and whether or not she actually gave Mustache Girl a Time Piece--she remembered everything. Her previous adventure, her new friends, the light; ALL of it. Her prolonged journey now inexplicably lead her here, lumped in with a band of definite misfits facing down a faction of corrupted guardians summoned by a giant hand attempting to persuade them into the eternal forfeiture of their lives. Of course, they weren’t having it. The ellipsoidal mammalian creature with wing hands for ears (presumably the same one to revive Hat Kid) was the first to offer up a rebuttal, grounding his speech in hope and inner strength and all that stuff. Others followed with their own version of a personal pep talk to psych themselves up for the impending battle to save those they cared for. It was all very inspiring, to say the least. The rest opted to dispense with the theatrics, formalities and bolstering and set themselves directly before their chosen opponents in reluctant anticipation of what came next.

As if to signal the combatants, shots went flying the instant the Master Hand blinked itself out of existence, the ensuing chaos causing some of the pairs to scatter so as to engage their respective frenemies with little interruption. The activity overload made it difficult to select a target, but after taking a second to assess the situation, Kid managed to pinpoint a place on the battlefield where she might be useful. She could only hope so, anyways. The giant draconic tortoise (the ‘friendlier’ one in the tuxedo) seemed to think so, else he wouldn’t have unceremoniously conscripted her into his “army” of “baddies”. Yeah, whatever. Last she checked, she wasn’t one of the “bad guys”. What bad guy would go out of her way for the second (or so) time to lend heroic aid where it is so obviously needed when she could just as easily be well on her way to anywhere else doing as she pleased? She may not have had any idea what was going on just yet; all she knew was that it was too important to sit out or bail on.

Kid shrugged at the de facto leader’s declaration before running up the broad side of his shell, bouncing off the flat of his hat like a buoyant stepping stone, and springing high into the air, soaring in the direction of the Lombax, his companion bot, and the cowboy. The moment they finished their conversation, Ratchet peered upward through the sun’s glare to spot the child aggressively rocketing towards him in a controlled dive. He instinctively arced his wrench overhead in a defensive swing to parry her reckless charge, the force of the impact sending her into a reverse midair tumble. She deftly touched down on three points, brandishing her umbrella (having pulled it from seemingly nowhere), and darted forward to take two more swings at the commando. Ratchet responded in kind, deflecting the first, then catching the second between the prongs of his weapon, briefly locking parasol with wrench. In Ratchet’s (and Clank’s) empowered state, Kid was nowhere near strong enough to hold a deadlock with him, let alone prevail in one, so a mildly forceful thrust of his Omniwrench was all he needed to break their clash. Kid slid backwards on her feet against the masonry beneath them, stopping just parallel of the Courier to his left. She quickly regained her bearings, shot the rugged man a curious look, then gently smiled and waved at him. “Hey,” she offered casually to her new battle partner, blissfully unaware of his standoffish nature, or that, in general, he might not receive the aid of a child with the warmest of acclaim, writing it off instead as an interference at best. It was entirely possible that she wasn’t taking the whole affair as seriously as she should right away, and that she was already enjoying herself more than she should have been. As far as she was concerned, it was just good to be her (real) self again.

---

For a few moments, everything was quiet, the party seemingly frozen in fear. The silence was finally broken when the giant Bowser clone began to speak, mocking their Bowser. Michael couldn't help but frown as he listened to him go on about how much he was better than his apparent clone. Jeez, what a dick. As soon as he got done berating their Bowser for all of his failures, he immediately began to list off all the ways he was better. Well, no shit, your subjects are loyal because they're all brainwashed. Every politician's dream come true. The speech only made Michael dislike this Bowser even more. While their Bowser shared a few traits with the impostor, he at least seemed to genuinely care for the people he considered his subjects. This guy, on the other hand, clearly only cared about power.

Soon, the clone's attention was drawn to the Courier's drunken ramblings. For the moment, he seemed to be pleased with what the man said to him, but Michael could see that pleasure be replaced by disappointment as the clone noticed Mario getting up, wondering how "he got out". Michael felt his heart sink as it appeared that he had caught onto their scheme. Din performed a dance, which seemed to distract him for a bit and got Michael's hopes up, but said hopes were immediately crushed once the clone announced that he saw what they were doing. His heart sank even lower as he announced he was going to turn them into paste, and energy surged through him. Michael tightened his grip around his rifle, preparing to make what could possibly be their final stand.

Before they could be turned into paste, the air began to shimmer, and...something came out. It's a...hand? The fuck? Whatever it was, the clone Bowser stopped to speak to it. It unfolded its hand, revealing some sort of being inside it. The clone leaned in to listen to it, apparently annoyed at what he was being told. To Michael's surprise, the clone then announced that he had some "pests" to deal with, and would be returning to his castle. Michael let out a deep breath, relieved that he was gone. However, while one problem was gone for the moment, they now had a new problem to deal with. He took in a deep breath as the hand waved to them, trying to mentally prepare himself for whatever was next.

Michael didn't expect the hand entity to be able to speak, but it did. He could almost feel the air vibrating around him, and what it said sent a chill down his spine, as the entity directly addressed the group. Whatever it was, it was clear that it was on a higher level than anything they had faced before. While the other entities appeared to only be influenced by Galeem, it seemed that this being had a deeper connection. It spoke of their strength, before saying that they did not understand their mission, that it would leave them empty.

It then snapped its fingers, summoning what looked like seven trophy cases from thin air. They floated down to the bridge, and the hand entity continued its speech, asking them to give in to the light, and that they could live with their friends and family. He scoffed at that. Bullshit. What, does he think we're stupid enough to fall for that? He watched as the trophy case-looking objects shattered against the bridge, revealing different figures. The first one revealed a small robot, and the next...

No...no, you're shitting me. As much as he wanted to deny it, he was there. Franklin, the kid Michael had met by chance, and had taken under his wing. His business partner, and friend. He had hoped to meet him again, but even from the distance, Michael could see that his eyes were empty. Franklin, like everyone else they had met, had fallen under Galeem's influence. The entity spoke again, snapping his fingers to create some sort of field around the summoned people. It announced that they would not attack unless they attacked, but they would fight with three times their normal strength, and would not move from their position. It finished by saying that there only choice was to kill their friends, or die here.

Michael holstered his rifle, walking towards Franklin. He stopped as he noticed Ratchet run towards the small robot. "Hey, wait-" He tried to call out, but he was too late. As he embraced the robot, Michael watched with horror as light surrounded him, and as it dissipated, his eyes looked the same as the rest of the brainwashed figures on the bridge. "Oh, Christ..." The sight made his stomach turn, their former ally being taken by the force that he had once fought to stop. Looking away from them, he turned to face Franklin once again, walking near him, but keeping a safe distance.

Franklin recognized him as he approached, and his face lit up. "Michael! Man, there you are! Been looking for you."

Michael gulped as he spoke. "It's, uh...it's good to see you too." He scratched the back of his head. Looking around, he noticed that a few of the others had already engaged some of the spirits, with gunfire and explosions going off nearby. Disturbingly, Franklin didn't seem to notice at all.

"Hey, who's your friends? This some sort of Halloween party or something?" Franklin said, looking over towards the other members of the group.

"It's a long story. Anyways, since you're here...we sort of need to get inside the castle."

Franklin shook his head. "Sorry, man. I can't let you inside."

"...and why not?"

"I can't."

Michael frowned. "Frank, we're friends, right? Come on. How many times have I saved your ass, huh? Come on, for me. Just let me go."

Franklin just shook his head. "I still can't let you in. Sorry, man."

Michael frowned. He didn't want it to come to this, but it looked like there was no choice. Hearing the Centurion in the distance, he turned to him, raising up an arm. "Hey, big guy! Over here." He turned back to face Franklin. "Frank... I'm sorry for this. Once this is over, you'll understand." While he could easily snipe Franklin from a distance, he didn't want to kill him by accident. If he could get him incapacitated, they could use the heart-things to bring him back. While the entity said that everyone on the bridge would fight with "three times their power", he hoped that they would still go down easy enough. With the Centurion's help, it might be easy.

Taking a deep breath, Michael suddenly reached for his suit pocket, drawing his Uzi and firing several rounds directly into Frank's torso. While he was quick, and the shots were accurate, Franklin soon raised his pistol, and fired.

BANG!

Michael let out a anguished scream as the pistol bullet hit him with the force of a shotgun slug. He collapsed, falling to his knees and dropping the Uzi nearby. Looking down, he saw a large hole in his chest where he was shot. He put a hand on it to try and halt the bleeding, but the pain was intense. Looking up, he saw Franklin take a few steps towards him. To his horror, the bullets seemed to little effect, Franklin shrugging them off even as blood poured out onto his shirt. As he looked into his friend's eyes, he saw that they were empty, save for the unnatural haze that signified Galeem's influence. As he stared down the barrel of Franklin's gun, he tried one more time to reason with his friend. "Frank...don't do this..."

Franklin's expression remained blank, Michael's words seemingly no longer registering, as if a switch had been flipped. "Sorry about this." With that, he slowly lifted up his arm, aiming his pistol at Michael's head.

@thedman

As Din danced in preparation for the fight with the giant winged Bowser clone, the enemy seemed to have some sort of deliberation, before the winged Bowser ended up just leaving to 'reclaim' his castle from pests, leaving the giant hand and the minions it summoned, who seemed to be friends with several of her party members. It enticed those party members with promises of paradise and reuniting with their loved ones, but Din didn't believe it. Din knew that whichever side the hero of time was on (in this case, Linkle), was the side of good, although no friend of Din had been summoned to convince or tempt her otherwise. For the most part, it seemed her allies had arrived at similar conclusions, choosing instead to fight, though Din noted with some dismay that Ratchet had succumbed. As the fighting ensued, her allies who did not have acquaintances summoned by the hand offered aid to those who did, and who were engaged in their own, very personal struggles. Of the ones who seemed to not have received any aid yet, Din assessed that Michael was the most in need of help, seemingly rendered helpless by the sight of his friend. "STOP!" Din yelled as she swung the Rod of Ages, throwing a white ball of magic at Franklin's feet, turning the patch of ground beneath him into cold, wintry terrain. She hoped it would be enough to cause the man to lose balance, or at least distract him enough to not shoot Michael. She ran in the direction of the two, hoping to provide Michael with some backup.

---

---

Henry watched all of his soon to be opponents as they seperated off to deal with his ‘allies.’ That term was loosely used in the boys mind because he knew none of these people and none seemed particularly interested in cooperation. Some of the foes seemed to be in emotional turmoil over who they had to fight, others seemed unaffected, but almost all of them were preparing to fight. In fact there was one who seemed to be aiming at- OH DEAR NAGA. Henry was almost caught completely off guard by the wooden creature that had aimed his arm cannon at the dark mage. The first of its attacks hit him square in the chest before Henry moved out of the way of the other shots. Oh hey, he could move again. And he could fight. The smile on his face crept higher into a much more sinister look than he had before.

The magic user took his first good look at his enemy and already found the wooden creation fascinating. “Your body can be a weapon?! That’s so cool! I’ve always wanted to do that but replacing your hand with a sword never really ends well. Trust me, I’ve already tried a few times on those Risen.” It seems like usual Henry didn’t understand the gravity of the situation or the fight he was involved in. “If you manage to actually live through this fight you’ll have to teach me how to do that too!”

With a quick wave of his hand after talking to his opponent, Henry initiated his own attack. A visible spark of dark energy occured at Geno’s feet, an indication of Henry’s spell ruin. Unless the puppet moved from the area he would be caught in a small explosion of dark magic centered in the area he was standing.

Immediately, Geno proceeded to dodge the incoming spell as he rolled to the side. With his jet-boosters compromised and out of fuel, the puppet was forced to face him on equal-footing. And everything about his opponent seemed strangely sadistic. From his aloof attitude towards the match, to past somewhat disturbing-experiences about the “Risen”, everything about him seemed deceptively off. Even the magic that he used was very sinister in tone.

And yet such childish naivety lead into such wonder about how the wooden puppet worked. Geno couldn’t blame him for asking that, but simply scoffed at the latter part of wanting to be like him.

”I’m afraid that’s not how humans work,” the puppet responded in a slightly joking matter, ”You’ll find it to be an excruciatingly impossible challenge in your state.”

Still he had to focus on the battle at hand. Nevertheless, Geno will treat this like every other battle. No emotional bars are set against him this time - for it was just him and this stranger.

Still the Star Warrior proceeded to open fire on his opponent as volleys of blaster shots threatened to put holes into this delicate-looking fellow, all while keeping himself mobile by running around him. He’ll need to see what other things he can pull up his sleeve before engaging further.

“Is that so? Aww that’s unfortunate, looks like I’ll just stick to magic for now. At least until I can figure out something like that for myself.” Henry taunted his opponent as he tried his best to dodge the attacks flying his way. Several stray shots managed to hit him, he certainly wasn’t the fastest out there, but the attacks weren’t doing as much to him as they normally would. It seems whatever strange force summoned him here gave him a good bit of extra power and toughness to get the job done. It was very much appreciated to say the least.

The young mage was keeping up to the best of his magical abilities in launching a counterattack as well. Any opening he got from the attacks of the wooden doll were used to attempt another attack, he tried leading his attacks to keep up with his opponents superior speed. Unfortunately each attack had a small giveaway with that signature spark of dark energy before the explosions.

Indeed, Geno’s speed - despite its current limitation - has still given him the edge in the battle. However, he ought not to get too cocky, as he found himself lifted into the air by a rogue magic projectile that exploded right under his feet. Clearly Galeem wasn’t simply bluffing about their enhanced buffs to their power. He landed on the ground with a hard thump before grabbing ahold of his balance. If he’s going to end this quickly, he ought to get nice and close in order to lay the maximum amount of damage possible. All without getting hit by the powerful dark magic that is.

That’s when he started running towards the white-haired boy. His hands quickly shaped a pair of light disks within their grasp as he threw them towards the enemy. They approached him in a zig-zag fashion - perhaps a way to confuse the opponent - as they rocketed towards him. Yet whether or not they hit, Geno’s second phase would begin as he leapt into the air and continued to pelt the mage with his shots at point-blank range.

The effects of Geno’s attacks were already starting to show on Henry’s body, a little bit of blood starting to show. Thankfully the defense buff and his natural lack of pain helped him power through quite well. After that attack landed as well the high-spirited mage was certain this fight would go his way. That was until his foe changed his strategy in a way Henry could not have expected. He had more weapons like that?! If it wasn’t for the slight worry Henry would have loved to get a closer look at these and any of the wooden automatons other abilities but now wasn’t the time.at these and any of the wooden automatons oth Only able to slightly figure out the pattern of their movement, one of the blades made connection with Henry and he actually felt some pain from the attack. “Why you…”

Before he even had much time to react, the puppet made his way up closer and Henry was attacked by a close range volley. The poor boy rolled away but not before getting hit by a number of shots. Yet his smile remained strong. It was time to launch a counter attack. “Here, have some death!” He called out as he cast his spell once more at the puppets feet.

So intent on blasting the ever living goombas out of his opponent, that when Geno was about to point his weapon at the dark mage, he would succumb once again to his little tricks. Again the explosion blasted him high into the air as he found himself twirling around in mid-air multiple times before crashing back to the ground.

Ah yes, there’s that cockiness that’s peeking out of him.

The puppet slowly rose back onto his feet as he faced his opponent once more. Oh how he wished to have the power of flight once more. He would’ve finished this battle long ago if he still had some juice in him. But he was definitely far from being out of the fight. He rushes back towards the dark mage yet again, this time charing his energy into his cannon. Running again in a zig-zag format, Geno proceeded as he waited for the perfect angle to fire his charged beam. And once the puppet swiftly rolled to the side, his wooden body skidded across the grass as he proceeded to give the mage a taste of his own medicine by blasting a charged blast at his feet!

The attacks were finally starting to wear down on Henry’s body, his movements were getting slower from the damage but it’s not like he minded that much as he continued to persist. There was one major downside to this battle and that while he was definitely hurting his opponent the puppet didn’t seem to be showing much pain. The lack of blood was certainly disappointing. That just meant he had to end this fight soon so he could get to hurting someone else.

As the wooden person started running towards Henry he tried to attack as well, laying down magic spells like landmines at his feet but Geno’s zigzag pattern was enough to avoid the explosions. It was like everything moved in slow motion when he finally realized what the attack was gonna be, Henry had no time to react or move. The smile on his face turned more sinister, “I swear to Grima you will pay.” Was all he managed to mutter before the explosion sent him flying and he hit the ground. “Wow… that one actually hurt! Good job little buddy.” The dark mage started picking himself up from the ground, more than a little shakily, but preparing for the next attack nonetheless.

Geno’s shot was finally able to significantly damage Henry as he watched him nonchalantly pick himself off. The puppet was quite puzzled as to how his opponent was still keeping a mostly straight face and positive attitude in such a dire situation. In a way, he felt a little disheartened to continue fighting him in such a state. Still, this opponent definitely had potential within him - perhaps a fine recruit for the ever growing resistance fighters.

But now was simply the endgame. He must end this now.

Ready to finish this once and for all, he charges up yet another shot within his cannon - only this time he’s going to go full out on this one. With his opponent dazed and weakened, this was his shot to end it all.

”Know that what I’m about to do is for your own good,” Geno replied somewhat solemnly to the dazed Henry, ”No hard feelings.”

And without another moment of delay, the blazing blue beam suddenly emerged from the wooden barrel and streaked towards his opponent dead ahead.

It seems that this was the end, not quite how envisioned his death would turn out but at least he’d go out in a blaze of glory. Quite literally with that beam of energy heading toward him. In just mere moments his mind rushed through recent events before he ended up here. Joining Chrom’s army and all the new friends he had made. And Robin. No, he couldn’t die now. He still had his world and his friend to save from the Fell Dragon. In a last ditch effort he aimed another spell in the air a little in front of him. There was a spark, then BOOM. A flash of brilliant blue and purple light as the attacks collided. And Henry was left standing after the effects of the explosion subsided.

“Sorry pal, death is gonna be fun and all but it’s not quite my time. I’ve still got some friends to save out there, people waiting for me, all that stuff. Do your worst cause I’ll certainly be doing mine.” Despite his body starting to fail Henry was ready to fight with a renewed vigor. No giving up quite yet.

The Star Warrior paused at Henry’s statement - still holding his barrel at him with heavy precaution. Quickly did he realize how while odd his opponent may be, he still looks to sport a good heart underneath his possessed form. It was clawing to get out, yet unable to under Galeem’s influence. And with his morality forcing him to consider mercy towards Henry, he quickly had a change of heart in not brutally capacitating him like he did with Mario. And thus he found himself slowly standing down and lowering his barrel.

However, soon after lowering his guard, Geno found his act of kindness rewarded as he suddenly became witness to a heart floating out of his body. In fact, this heart was identical to the one that Courier 6 issued to bring Mario out of his possessed state. Was it lowering his weapons and sympathizing that allowed him to reveal such a powerful item? However accurately he accomplished this, he continued to watch as the heart began to drift towards the mage.

Henry was skeptical as the heart floated toward him. For all he knew this could be another weird attack he had never seen before. After a feeble attempt to dodge from his injured body the heart collided with him. As soon as it did the darkness around him seemed to almost melt away like it did with the hat wearing child earlier. Or at least, it went down to the normal sinister aura that the dark mage gave off. The biggest difference Henry noticed was that he was no longer obligated to fight! Tempted to continue the fight mind you purely for revenge, but he knew how bad of an idea that was. Seems like it was time for him to switch sides once again.

““Wow, now that is a neat little trick right there. I really appreciate the save there! Didn’t wanna work for that dumb hand much longer anyway. The name is Henry by the way, I’m a dark mage from Plegia. Hope you don’t mind me joining you guys cause I have a little score to settle.” Of course Henry didn’t really care about the opinions of anyone else, at this point he was going to join their group whether they wanted him or not. He needed the help and the revenge so it was only natural for him to tag along.

With Henry now revitalized and ready for battle, Geno couldn’t help but to be happy at his accomplishment in recovering another lost soul from the grasp of Galeem. If that can be accomplished so easily, he will do whatever it takes to free as many of these captives as he could - especially regarding a certain big ape and a small purple dragon.

”Glad to have you with us Henry,” the Star Warrior replied welcomingly as he turned to the rest of the battle unfolding beyond, ”And trust me, we all have a common grudge to settle.”

The Courier had fully expected Ratchet to take the hit from his pickaxe, or at least block it. However unforeseen circumstances meant that his attack was left largely ignored when the owner of the flying house, some small girl in an oversized hat, jumped into the scene from nowhere. Ratchet blocked the young girl’s blow from overhead whilst moving back from the force just barely enough to be missed by the Equalizer. Confused by the sudden appearance of this small child, the Courier only stood idly by as she produced an umbrella, seemingly from nowhere, and further engaged the lombax and small robot. She showed skill beyond her age, that much the Courier had to admit, but her body was still that of a small girl while her opponent was a fully matured alien operating at enhanced power. The conclusion was easy to predict, and the Hat Kid pulled back, stopping right next to the Courier with a small greeting.

Courier 6 smiled warmly at the small girl, feeling a sort of passion warming him internally. Something other than the alcohol, that is. Children certainly were a weak spot of his no matter how drunk or high he was at any given time, and this one seemed to be more charming than most. Capable too, but putting herself in danger wasn’t her duty. That was what adults were for; not that she could have been told that. Little did he know, she had been manipulated and endangered by more adults than have ever been bothered to safeguard her, by an overwhelming margin, so she had plenty of practice taking care of herself in perilous situations.

”Hey,” he shot back, taking a couple steps forward and swinging the Equalizer at Ratchet again. The buffout empowered his body just as the Master Hand had empowered Ratchet and Clank. Axe met wrench in a powerful clash, locking into place. Both combatants pushed hard against one another, but neither would budge.

“Looks like we’re deadlocked,” Ratchet commented. Clank rubbed his chin with a small chuckle.

“Allow me to rectify this quandary,” the little robot added. Still attached to Ratchet’s back, Clank’s limbs transformed into a series of propellers which began to circulate at high speeds. The added force began pushing the deadlocked fighters back, the Courier struggling not to lose his balance.

Seeing an opportunity to gain ground on the opposing duo, Kid followed suit a step behind 6, diving toward them in a lunging somersault, boosting herself forward the second she touched the ground. She curled herself into an improvised cannonball and used the force of the maneuver impact into Ratchet’s side in order to throw him off-balance. It may not have accounted for much given her size, but it would be just enough, if only barely, to tilt him as needed. While still airborne from the impact, she turned her umbrella in hand to hook one of the mounted bot’s propellers with its handle to disrupt and manipulate their propulsion, circling behind them to try to create enough centrifugal force to get them off their feet. The idea was less to throw them than to make them throw themselves, be it downward to bounce them off the stonework, forward towards the Courier for him to follow up, or upward between both of them to accomplish the same. Either way, if she succeeded, one or both of them would have an opening.

The Hat Kid’s strategy worked great for knocking the duo off balance. While the impact of her body didn’t cause any harm in their empowered condition (and likely wouldn’t have done much under regular circumstances either), that didn’t mean Ratchet was anchored to the ground. The added momentum of the Kid spinning off of Clank’s propeller only exacerbated the effect. Luckily for Ratchet, he was an incredibly agile fighter and turned the situation to his advantage.

The lombax broke away from his clash with the Courier and threw his momentum to the side, leaving his omniwrench behind. Together Ratchet and Clank splashed into the moat, but they weren’t out of the thick of things just yet. Clank reoriented his propellers to stay afloat in the water while Ratchet stood atop his little robot buddy as a floating platform. In his hands he produced the Maniac’s Bombuilder, which was pointed right at the bridge. “Looks like it’s time to go commando!”

“Affirmative!” Clank responded as Ratchet pulled the trigger twice, launching two soda can sized bombs from the red barrel, which affixed to the bottom of the bridge completely out of sight of his foes. With another pull of the secondary trigger, the bombs went off in a loud kaboom! Two huge holes blew open in the bridge near the Courier and Kid. The Courier went flying, several smaller cuts opening up all over his body along with some moderate bruising, but the jet in his system let him keep focus.

”Show me what you’ve got, lakelurk!” he called out. The spirit was summoned forth, appearing just beneath him in the moat. The Courier landed on the mutant turtle, grasping around its neck with his left arm and replacing the Equalizer with his magnum pistol. ”YEEHAW!” he cried out, firing two shots at Ratchet.

Kid, surprisingly, was less graceful with her plunge, having been stunned from the concussive force when launched by the explosion. Without the same chemical assistance her partner had, she was slower to react, and plummeted straight into the blue. She resurfaced in time to see him manifest an amphibious humanoid creature to use as his waterborne mount, to which she decided to pop up and out of the water, open her umbrella beneath her feet for use as a buoyant platform, and grasp one of the Westerner’s coattails to use as a tow line. She did this to compensate for her inability to swim for very long, and would have otherwise been unable to keep up with the other two. The cowboy’s creature may have already been supporting his weight, but it was unlikely that she would be adding much to its workload.

She would catch Ratchet’s discarded weapon in her free hand as it fell through glancing off the border of one of the openings just before the Courier’s monster took off with both him and her in tow. To try to reduce any drag, she would periodically spin her parasol while steering as they closed in on their opponents. After they got going at a decent enough pace, Kid veered to the left towards the wall of the moat where it drops off from the castle, twirling her umbrella once more for a quick burst of speed and released her grip on 6’s jacket. Utilizing the momentum created by this, she forcefully bobbed her makeshift floatation device to launch herself from the water and onto the wall, landing on it feet-first into an angled run. She maintained this for as long as physics would allow her to do before leaping off in her enemy’s direction. With both his weapon and hers in hand, she fell towards him at a forty-five or so degree angle and spun swinging both sunshade and tool as she accelerated her fall, aiming to get in at least two strikes on him, but a single solid crack to his forehead with the wrench would do, if she could manage it.

Ratchet had to deal with two opponents now from two different angles, and to make matters worse the lakelurk was far more maneuverable in the water than he was atop Clank. This was a problem he didn’t foresee, but that didn’t mean he was out of the count just yet. The two bullets struck their mark, sinking into his furry skin and drawing blood, but thanks to the Master Hand’s enhancements didn’t cause tremendous damage. Meanwhile the Hat Kid had launched herself into an acrobatic assault using his own omniwrench.

“Big mistake.” He grinned. Switching to holding the Bombbuilder in one hand, the lombax reached out toward Kid with his other, open palmed. The omniwrench she had picked up along the way yanked itself out of her hand and flew right back into his, reclaimed by the specialized magnet glove. Kid, being unaware of this feature, let out a surprised yelp as she was pulled forward faster she meant to go so soon, and suddenly less equipped. Soon as he held his signature weapon again, Ratchet spun around, pulling the primary trigger of the bombbuilder twice and swatting at the Kid with his wrench simultaneously. The Kid was now flying at him without a weapon in hand, while two proximity bombs hit the water right in front of the Courier and his lakelurk mount.

”I shouldn’t have given him that fuckin-” BOOM!

Kid’s gambit backfired unexpectedly when she was smacked head-on with the narrow side of the deceptive multitool, sending her splashing back into the moat. She managed to regain herself while underwater, but instead of resurfacing, she opted to remain submerged and out of sight of her better armed opponent for as long as she could until she could make it to the beachhead just opposite of her where she could gain better footing.

Meanwhile, the Courier felt the sting of water and shrapnel blasting into him, only partially mitigated thanks to his lakelurk using its sonic attack to push back against a portion of the blast. The Courier took a risk by leaping off the back of his mount, effectively desummoning it in the process so that it wouldn’t be blown to smithereens. The remaining shockwave hit him like a tank, tossing him up higher into the air and arching over Ratchet and Clank. Thankfully his subdermal armor, and the added durability provided by the buffout, gave him only moderate damage instead of tearing apart his flesh.

As the wastelander sailed over his foes, an idea came to him, an out of the box idea one normally only gets when addled by drugs. Rather than taking the opportunity to shoot at the pair from above, or recover after hitting water once more, the Courier summoned the spirit of the Bastion in configuration: tank. As he did so, time slowed to a near halt, and suddenly numbers appeared before the Courier’s eyes. VATS had been activated. Target: Ratchet. Mode of attack: let gravity drop a fucking tank on his ass. Chance of hit: 99.4%. Engage.

“What? Oh no! Move it, Clank!” Desperation overtook Ratchet as he fired his second to last bomb directly upward. Alas, Clank was incapable of moving at speeds fast enough to avoid the obstacle, not without his jet booster module. The proximity bomb struck the Bastion as intended, but that didn’t deter gravity, and the explosive still took a fraction of a second to go off. Ratchet had trapped himself beneath an exploding tank-bot. Bastion collided with him head on, pressing Ratchet and Clank into the water, where the explosive ultimately detonated, creating a small tidal wave that washed up on shore. The Courier was shaken, but ultimately unharmed. Bastion had taken massive damage, barely functional, but returned to spirit form within the Courier. As for Ratchet and Clank, the results were less pretty. The lombax had taken heavy burns, knocked unconscious, saved only thanks to his tripled durability. Clank on the other hand, well… Clank was never a very powerful or sturdy robot, and three times the durability didn’t make nearly the difference. Metal bits sank to the bottom of the moat, replaced by a floating spirit.

The child hadn’t seen the tank fall onto the Lombax and explode on top of him; she had only felt its effects behind her, which were effectively likenable to that of a depth charge. The pressure wave sent her reeling end over end, abruptly pushing her closer to shore. She pulled herself to and took a moment to catch her breath before looking back to examine what had just taken place. All she caught was the water’s sporadic ebb gradually dying down and the commando’s unconscious form float to the top, resting face-up on the waterline. Deeming him now harmless, she took it upon herself to get back in and swim him to safety. She didn’t really have any personal stake in his well-being, having known him only as an adversary in this short time, but it wouldn’t have made sense to simply forsake him either. Besides, it wouldn’t have reflected well on her character to leave him after someone had performed the same favor for her earlier today. Everyone here, on both sides, was fighting for a reason. Even if it wasn’t yet clear to her what that was, she thought the better of apathetically resigning him desultory defeat. She pulled the comatose feline onto land and rolled him on his side to let his lungs drain, gently slapping his back to assist the process to the best of her ability.

As Ratchet was being rescued by the errant Kid, the Courier used the advantage of his temporary steroids to swim to shore, stopping only to grab the spirit of Clank as he continued forward. Once he reached the shoreline, 6 let out a deep gasp, something to provide him relief from all the adrenaline he had to deal with so far today. So many battle of such intensity, and they still were not done. If he weren’t for the healing powers of Blazermate, or his buffout, the Courier sincerely doubted he’d have been able to last as long as he had so far.

He trudged over to where the Kid was helping Ratchet, and solemnly glanced to the spirit in his hand. This little robot was someone Ratchet was willing to fall back under Galeem’s power for. It was his best friend. Now the little robot was a casualty of war. And war never changes. But people do. The Courier understood that intrinsically. Hopefully the experience would change Ratchet for the better, but first he had to be liberated once again. The Courier touched his heart, snapped his fingers, and drew out another friend heart, imbuing it into the unconscious lombax.

As the color returned to Ratchet’s body, 6 turned to his surprise ally. ”You did good, kid. I could use you in my posse.”

Kid eyed her partner curiously when he summoned a healing heart, a previously undemonstrated ability that he didn’t appear he should reasonably be capable of, and let it drift into the body of their opponent turned rescue. The child placed her hand to her chest, held it for a second, and gestured forward to attempt the same, but produced nothing. As she observed the effects, she started to wonder if the same was done to her; if this was how she was brought back. This all but answered her question as to what they were fighting for: to bring back those who had been lost.

She took note of the Courier’s compliment and comment about allying. Well, doy! She had that idea first, hence her impulse to intervene. This made him the second one today to suggest as much, but she was under the assumption that all those with their hue still intact were on the same side anyways, which technically meant she already accepted the proposal. Still, she took it for what it was and offered the rugged merc a soft smile and a fist bump as affirmation. She had to admit, despite not knowing this guy (or any of these people), they did do good work acting together. She was normally alone in all of her affairs and escapades, so maybe she could use a comrade; a friend (or several). It would certainly be nice to not be alone in everything for once.

Oh hell yes, a fist bump! The Courier hit that shit hard, harder than was probably safe with his drunken, high, roided out self. BAM! Fist bump! ”You can take care of yourself pretty well, kid. I’ll see about getting you a better weapon than that, uh, the hell is that?” He gestured to the umbrella. Funny, despite coming from a desert he never knew about umbrellas. Just one of those little details that didn’t make the transition into the post-nuclear apocalypse.

The slightly over-enthusiastic return of the friendly gesture toppled the child. Apparently, her comrade didn’t know his own strength versus hers, but she thought nothing of it. She sat back up tipped her hat back into place before acknowledging his comment about her umbrella. What was wrong with it?! It served its purpose just fine for her as a weapon, despite not being designed or intended as such, and it performed a multitude of other functions just as well. It’s most common--and original--she saw fit to demonstrate by opening sunbreaker and reaching on a tip-toe to break the sun above him, handing it to him if we would receive it (but expecting it back, of course).

Feeling a bit cautious, the Courier took the umbrella in his hand. He had to admit, blocking the sun like this felt pretty nice. He glanced up to view the interior, and instantly regretted it. Oh god, spiders! Spiders everywhere! Get them off, get them away! ”Ah!” he jumped, throwing it back at its owner. Suitably creeped out (WHY did a kid carry tons of spiders around with her?!) he shifted uncomfortably away, then carefully placed the spirit of Clank into Ratchet’s hand. It looked like he was going to wake up any moment.

If Tora had imagined that his team might have put its collective heads together and come up with a plan, he proved sorely mistaken. Spurred on by familiar faces and worrisome words, the others wasted no time in addressing the situation before them. Though Minako appeared to share his resolve, which came as a relief given what he'd seen of her capacity for despair, Roadhog came to the same conclusion he did with Hat Kid in an instant and began firing on his friend, the lanky weirdo with singed hair. Then again, one needed to fight them to be able to free them anyway, so Tora thought twice before dismissing the man as a bullheaded oaf. Regardless, his assault was negligible at this distance, turning Roadhog on the defensive immediately. A number of explosives flew through the air and bounced around all over, putting Ratchet's Bombuilder instantly to shame in terms of quantity.

One after another, the remaining heroes confronted their own kindred spirits. As he waddled forward to meet Poppi, making sure to give the couple of active battles a wide birth, Tora listened in on both the Courier and Michael. Their remarkable similar attempts to communicate resulted in nothing at all, especially any sort of enlightening information. Unlike some enemies Tora faced before, these weren't soldiers obeying orders or warriors with an agenda; that freakish white entity appeared to be pulling their strings them at a far more fundamental level. The thought of having his very mind altered made Tora shudder, though he composed himself as he drew near his own opponent.

At this range, Tora could better appreciate the harsh, sunset-red glare that had replaced the warm, cheery orange-brown of her eyes. His pride and joy stood before him, arms crossed, ready to repel anyone who tried to get past like some pint-sized club bouncer. While not given much time to think about it, the Nopon had envisioned a joyful reunion, hugs and tears aplenty. Instead, even though he was as round as ever, Tora felt absolutely deflated, no small part of which came from his knowledge of what his creation could do. Despite being aware of the fruitlessness of conversation, Tora couldn't find it in him to say nothing. “Hello, Poppi. Am glad to see you again,” he said after a moment, his tone listless. “Am sorry to have to do this.”

“Masterpon is not sorry yet,” she remarked, her tone far too off-handed for the threat her comment conveyed.

Tora swallowed, then took a deep breath. He held up his shield and dialed in his aim. Poppi looked on, unimpressed, until he pressed the trigger to send his last Boom Biter flying out of its center. It struck Poppi dead-on and exploded, smoke and dust making her vanish from sight. However, Tora did not let down his guard for one moment, and the next vindicated his caution. From the cloud Poppi burst forth, rockets blazing from her feet, closing the gap in an instant. Her fist cannoned into Tora's shield before he could even yelp in alarm. A thunderous crack rang out, followed by the Nopon's cry as he flew through the air, off the bridge and back into the scrapyard.

He smacked into a block from the fallen tower, hung there stuck for a moment, then slid down. “Oooogh...” he groaned. “Poppi super-strength even more than expected.” As he got to his feet, he saw the artificial blade zooming in for another attack. Tora shoved his shield's front into the ground. Its drill extended at the press of a button, and since it couldn't penetrate the ground, it popped Tora up instead. The Nopon flew up not a moment too soon; Poppi shot below him, her flying punch annihilating the wooden block instead. As the struggled to halt her momentum among the splinters, Tora landed behind her. “Spinning Cutter!” he cried as he whirled around in place, striking again and again with the edge of his shield. With the last spin, he opted to end with an overhead slam, planting the edge into the ground for defense. “Rigid Shie-ACK!”

Poppi turned on him with a brutal backfist, striking Tora's shield yet again. The force sent him skidding backward, its bottom digging up dirt. He sized her up as best he could while coming to a stop, noting no apparent damage from the shield bashes. “Oh, meh...” he grumbled. With high defense all around, this would be a battle of attrition as painstaking as it was perilous. With a heavy heart Tora watched her begin to walk towards him, and prepared himself once again.

---

---

Blazermate attached her healing beam to Roadhog, noticing he was taking the most damage out of everyone. The others were just jumping into their fights, but the big pig boy was taking bombs to the face from the skinny guy, and that couldn't be good. Plus, he was the closest of all the people to her, and her Sentry also noticed this fact and started to shoot at Junkrat when it finished building, letting out a single beep before it shot at him with perfect accuracy.

Roadhog felt the beam and saw that the omnic had followed him away from the battle. Of course, he was annoyed since he wanted to deal with his friend alone. Plus, it was an omnic that decided to help him out. He had a deep hatred of machines since the Australian government decided to give the Outbreak to them. It was for "long term peace between human and machine" according to the government, but Outback's residents were furious at the deal. Especially Mako Rutledge. He later formed the Australian Liberation Front to restore the land lost to the machines and the rest was history.

Roadhog watched as the sentry managed to land a hit on Junkrat. The junker fired several shots at the sentry from his grenade launcher and ran away from the battle. Roadhog had enough of the machine's presence and turned towards before saying harshly, "Leave, tin can. This is my fight alone."

"And my job is to keep ya'll healed and keep my turret up. You can't survive eating grenades like that." Blazermate replied to Roadhog's protests to her assistance. She jumped up into the sky and hovered there to dodge the bombs that Junkrat sent her way. Sadly due to how weak her sentry was, the superpowered Junkrat was able to destroy it with his barrage of bombs, but then those were bombs that didn't hit anyone else.

"Besides, I'm sure a big boy like you would love to go on a rampage.~" Blazermate continued, watching the slightly injured junkrat retreat, the skinny Australian man trying to get behind some cover before Blazermate could set up another turret. Yeah, this big guy had it rough, only recently getting his answers before getting into another fight, but he didn't seem like too bad of a guy. Pulling out her pistol, she took a few pot shots at the retreating Junkrat, aiming for his crippled leg. This poor fella had a lot of weak points for her to exploit, blazermate thought.

Roadhog grew more angry at the machine while it refused to leave his side. Even with the sentry destroyed, the machine was able to cripple Junkrat with her pistol. Before it could take more shots, Roadhog knocked it out of its hands with his hook. He had enough of the machine and decided to stand between it and his friend. Roadhog was going to be the one to kill his only friend not some omnic from a completely different world. He got his shotgun and chain ready for another fight.

"Leave now or get crushed." Roadhog warned the omnic, ready to stand his ground and prevent it from killing Junkrat.

Blazermate really didn't like how confrontational Roadhog was being towards her. Saying with a clearly annoyed tone in her voice. "Well if you don't want any healing, then I can just go heal anyone else whos fighting." Blazermate said, the others now starting their own fights with either their old allies like Ratchet, or the other people who were guarding the bridge. No one was injured yet, and considering Roadhog was keeping Junkrat busy, Blazermate looked to scavange more materials for another sentry gun. If Roadhog kept being so confrontational, she'd just leave after making another gun. Unlike the engineer before her, she could actually carry a building with her very easily.

However, the insane junker came up with a plan while Roadhog was stalling the omnic. He threw a concussion mine and waited until it landed behind before detonating it. Roadhog was sent tumbling to the ground while he fired several shots at the omnic. And in the moment of peace, Junkrat ran towards cover to fix his crippled leg while firing several more shots. Roadhog got off of the ground and reached for his hydrogen while holding his shotgun. He looked at the omnic and grunted before marching towards his friend.

"Take this!" Junkrat screamed at Roadhog before firing his launcher.

Roadhog took a few hits before inhaling the gas coming from the container. He kept on walking towards him despite being hit from the explosions until he ran out of hogdrogen. Junkrat jumped out of cover and threw one mine towards Roadhog before detonating it. Then, he fired more shots from the launcher and threw another mine at him.

"If this guy is your friend or something, you do know we've gotta cripple him before we can un-brainwash him, right? Ya did hear what the robed guy said right?" Blazermate said, scrounging up some scrap metal in the area. She kept one eye on Roadhog while he was keeping Junkrat busy. Before she could heal him however upon him taking another explosive and being knocked around because of it, she noticed that he had a self healing ability of his own upon inhaling whatever was in his canister. "Well no wonder why hes so snappy, he thinks he can do this all on his own. He so going to die..." Blazermate thought to herself, attempting to deploy another sentry having gathered enough metal from the surrounding scrap. And that was when Roadhog had enough of the pain and fell to the ground. He watched while Junkrat was coming towards him with the determination to kill his bodyguard. With a mechanical sigh, she started to heal Roadhog, moving away from her sentry as it finished building.

"I heard enough, machine." Roadhog answered the machine while trying to get up from the ground. "I don't want him to experience this hell."

Roadhog saw the sentry being built beside him and Junkrat destroyed it with ease. While he was reloading his launcher, Roadhog grabbed his chain and threw it towards him. Junkrat's crippled leg was caught on the hook and it sent him falling to the ground after Roadhog pulled on it. Now, it was time to finish him for good. He got on top of Junkrat and started choking him around the neck with both hands. While he was doing that, the foolish junker tried to free himself. Roadhog could easily snap his neck in the matter of seconds, but all of the good memories with him were preventing that from happening. After all, Junkrat was the first and only true friend in the Outback and the world. And if Junkrat was in his position, the idiot would have done everything to save Roadhog.

So, he let go of his neck and delivered a knockout punch before Junkrat could react. Roadhog angrily hit the ground beside Junkrat and got off of him. He turned towards the machine and said weakly, "Don't you dare touch him."

With a knockout punch, Roadhog subdued Junkrat. With his declaration to Blazermate for her to get away, she shrugged. "Fine fine. Feels like ya don't like a cute robot like me or somthin. Remember, you gotta either kill him for loot, or have someone return his heart." Blazermate said, flying off in a slight huff. Meanwhile a few of the other fights were going on, with Zer0's fight concluding. Seeing the injured Blazermate made her way over to Zer0 and started to heal him, and at his request, Gauge as well.

The weirdest part of this whole fight was, the ones guarding the bridge seemed to ignore Blazermate. In fact, they only ever went after anyone who tried to get past them or whatever attacked them. They apparently had no concept of what a healer was, and Blazermate found that really odd. She voiced this concern to Zer0 and Guage. "Does anyone else notice how these Galeem brainwashed people tend to ignore me while I heal people? Its like they want to lose."

---

Zer0 disappeared halfway to Gaige, the girl's fierce expression turning to one of surprise for just a moment before she took a defensive stance. Calling Deathtrap back to her, the robot almost made it before Zer0 reappeared, not behind Gaige as the teenager had been expecting, but slightly to her side. With her between him and the robot, Zer0 swung his sword. Gaige, for her part, reacted faster than one might expect, barely getting her mechanical arm up to block the attack. A clang of metal, not unlike the sound of Zer0's blade connecting with Deathtrap's body, rang out before the assassin disappeared again. Deathtrap moved to cover the girl with the bulk of his hulking mass, attempting to provide her a defense against the unseen assailant. Zer0, however, had worked with the duo for a rather long amount of time, fighting through all kinds of hordes together as they tackled challenges and enemies. As much as they knew him, he knew them. The difference was that, since being revived by Kirby's Friend Heart, Zer0 had had a chance to grow past his default state. While these two were buffed to three times their base abilities, they were still at their base level. Or so Zer0 figured, anyways. That pistol, and her mechanical arm, were all Gaige actually had in terms of abilities to attack him directly, and Deathtrap was limited to his enhanced movement and melee strikes. While those were all formidable, made even worse by the buff, Zer0 was a master in close range combat.

Zer0 had noticed that advantage. And he was going to take advantage of it, abuse it, and win. So far he had only engaged the pair in melee combat, making them be on guard for a close range sneak attack, in particular. He had played them on their field, and while he had the superior skills, they had each other and enhanced power. An assassination attempt, really, with a sudden reappearance and a quick strike for a vital spot.

Zer0 had, instead, immediately backed off after his last attack, using his own enhanced movement speed to gain some distance before launching himself into the air as high as he could.

He reappeared, above the sight of both Gaige and Deathtrap who were looking around instead of up, and took aim with the sniper and unleashed a series of shots, expending the entire clip. Six bullets shot out, ripping their way through Deathtrap's bulk, and clipping into relatively non-vital areas on Gaige herself. While the robot took all six, only three had managed to clip Gaige. She cried out in pain while Zer0 activated his air jump, reloading as he came safely back to the earth. He rolled, moving fluidly into a run as he holstered the gun, aiming to put some distance between himself and the incoming Deathtrap.

His shots seemed to have had an effect on the bot, it's flight seeming to be slightly off-kilter as the light of it's eye dimmed. As Zer0 made a course for Gaige, the girl unloaded the rest of her pistol's clip at him, her aim slightly off. Still, a bullet ripped through his left shoulder, knocking him off balance and to the ground while another one punched into his left hip. While he recovered quickly, it wasn't quick enough to avoid the swipe by the death bot.

Zer0 went flying, deep claw marks in his back, barely managing to activate his stealth ability as he rolled and bounced across the ground. As his visor settled on Gaige, who had been moving closer to finish him off, he settled into a crouch as she came within range. Assassinate.

Whoosh! The air rushed past him as he dashed, faster even than he could normally, unsheathing his blade as the distance closed rapidly. He struck out, hard, his momentum carrying him past Gaige as he uncloaked and skidded to a halt. The girl stood still for a moment, her mouth open in an almost comical O, before collapsing to her knees and then the ground. A hole had been opened up in her side.

Zer0 turned, sheathing his sword as Deathtrap dematerialized, making his way as quickly as he could to Gaige. Flipping her over, he noted that she was still alive. He bent down bringing out a Friend Heart carefully. From what he had gathered, from watching the Courier earlier and listening to the Master of Masters, this would revive her. He could save her. He could have one of his teammates back. He would be one step closer to being able to put all this craziness back to how it was supposed to be. He could fix things with a proper team.

There was no hesitation as he put the Heart into her chest. He watched on, intrigued, as the color returned to her. He fired off his sniper, into the sky, before pressing the heated barrel against the wound he had inflicted upon her. Cauterizing the wound, while helpful, wouldn't be enough. He needed to get her to Blazermate. Hell, he needed to get himself there. He watched, mildly intrigued as the girl opened her eyes slowly, hissing in pain.

“What the hell, Zer0?” She grumbled, accepting the hand he held out for her. He pulled her up slowly, giving a slight pat against her back.

“The Light is banished,
My friend is herself again,
Let us rampage, yes?”

She snorted in reply, punching his shoulder with her metal arm. “Good old Zer0, haven't changed a bit.”

Zer0 pointed back towards the others, leading Gaige so that they could find Blasermate. The odd robot would be able to fix them up. If they were any lesser creatures instead of the mighty Vault Hunters that they were, they might have killed each other.

But Vault Hunters weren't that easy to kill.

“You got some...interesting legs there, Zer0,” Gaige commented as they walked, slowly, towards their destination. He shrugged in reply, not offering an explanation. Typical. “Noticed you got some fancy color and additions to your helmet. The hell happened? You getting upgrades without including me and DT?”

Zer0 shook his head.

“Spirits absorbed, give
Buffs. Broken for loot. Or save
For a new summon.”

It was one of the most straightforward answers he had ever given. Gaige's eyebrows furrowed at that as they supported each other, her mind running through the possibilities. Blazermate, noticing them, made her way to meet them halfway, on the edge of the moat, and promptly began healing Zer0. As that was happening, he pointed at Gaige to indicate that she too needed healing, which Blazermate was happy to provide.

Gaige, meanwhile, was carefully inspecting the medibot.

“So, what are you? You're really high tech, but it's not like anything I've seen before. Definitely better than anything those Hyperion bootlickers could make. What are you, Atlas?” she jabbered out in excitement, completely missing the mention of Galeem.

Zer0 looked over the battlefield, as more and more of the individual fights wrapped up or were already over, looking to see if there was anything that he could do. A challenge, some loot, whatever. It didn't seem like much, other than the big Bowser who had entered the castle. Though if that aura of his didn't turn off....Now there was a challenge.

Before Tora could experience the next blow from his fallen comrade, a white glove would attempt to collide with Poppi's right cheek. Mario landed his punch with a smashing thump as he sent the opponent reeling a good distance away. While he didn't send her flying - as he believed he would - it was still a solid hit on her. The plumber rose into a battle stance as he faced the armored-clad girl, covering Tora behind him. He'd glance back with a serious expression as he adjusted his cap in preparation for the fight ahead.

"You ought-a not be fightin' alone against-a-her," he remarked as he rose his fists towards his opponent, "Let's-a-do this together shall we?"

Surprised by the sudden entrance, Tora composed himself to reply. “Ah, yes. Would be very helpful, meh.”

Poppi blinked, her features betraying a distinct lack of amusement. “Because masterpon have embarrassing lack of offensive ability. But even two on one is no problem. Poppi will just need to bother with defense.” She tilted her head to the side, looking Mario over. “Strange. While enemy have facial hair to indicate adulthood, enemy is shorter than Poppi, and already wounded.” She closed her eyes, smiling. “Poppi commend enemy bravery!”

Turning around, the artificial blade laid her hands on a massive block of compressed scrap. Her fingers dug in, her servos fired, and with remarkably little effort she lifted the whole thing above her head. She then activated her foot-rockets, ascended a short way with her giant burden still held aloft, and chucked the entire mass at her two foes.

Instead of trying to dodge, Tora ran forward, shield raised. A few brief but vital calculations ran through his mind, and after a moment the Nopon stopped short just in time for the compacted junk to hit the ground in front of him and bounce up. It clipped his tuft as it careened harmlessly overhead, though Mario remained in its path.

Quickly analyzing the junk’s trajectory, the plumber proceeded to act according as he was able to barely slide below the approaching mass. It was tantalizingly close in scrapping the tip of his comically round nose as it swiftly whizzed past him. Once it was gone, he would quickly launch back to his feet and prepared to engage the enemy.

Tora found himself without a moment alone. After boosting downward, Poppi spun forward to execute a heel drop that fell upon her master’s shield hard enough to send splinters flying. With his shield facing up to protect himself from the falling leg, Tora was powerless to stop Poppi from transitioning into a straight side kick that went underneath the shield and bashed him right in the middle. Though hearty of constitution, he gasped as the air was knocked from his lungs, and staggered backward. “Meeeh! She knows...all Tora weaknesses…” he gargled, struggling to regain his breath.

His companion was in major trouble. Mario immediately proceeded to dash towards the antagonizing Poppi from behind as he calculated his next move. With a powerful leap, he thrust himself into the air with impressive force as he looked down upon his opponent. While he nearly opted to engage with melee force, the plumber instead opted for a more ranged attack. Promptly he proceeded to charge up a large fireball and chucked it towards Poppi’s back with admirable speed.

After dealing with Tora, Poppi possessed enough time to glance around and find her next opponent, particularly since Mario spent time jumping up high instead of attacking directly. Once again her boosters fired up, and Poppi jetted up to meet him. An aileron roll took her out of the way of the fireball, though it gave Mario half a second to prepare himself, and the next moment her metal fist made contact.

The plumber crossed his fists to block most of the strength within the powerful punch, yet even he was also thrown back significantly. He descended towards the ground and skidded across the grassy floor. As he did so, his fists began to glow a furious orange, becoming imbued with this great flame that he utilized. Again, he threw himself back into the fray and bolted back to Poppi with fists ablazing, while also awaiting Poppi’s next move.

Poppi, still hovering, watched the plumber approach with a bored expression. If he wanted to land a hit, he’d need to leap up to strike her, but the difference between their air mobility was night and day. As she waited for him to attack and open himself up, Tora recovered and shouted out, “But Tora know Poppi weakness, too! Ultra defensey to hitting, but not to ether. Element is earth, so fire not terrible, but if shortypon have electricity, would be very much stronger!”

With a mildly exasperated sigh, Poppi replied, “Knowing and acting two different things, Masterpon.” As she expected, Mario kicked off the ground with his powerful legs and sailed her way. Though obviously a very good jumper, that alone did not an air-fighter make. She allowed him to get close enough to lash out with a double blazing punch, but burst upward a moment before it hit. She cut her thrusters and briefly charged a boost, then released it in an explosive blast when he passed below her. The faceful of burning force spiked him downward, and Poppi reoriented herself to boost after him. However hard his landing, she intended to punctuate it with a crushing blow.

Mario hit the ground hard, issuing a miniature crater upon crashing with the ground as he momentarily felt the life suck away from him. While he was unsuccessful in hitting Poppi, he at least was able to get some information that ought to help in beating the robo-girl - and why it came from her own mouth of course. Of course, where was he going to find electricity in a place like this?

Yet it didn’t matter as he witnessed his opponent attempting to crush him with her metallic boots. Quickly he rolled out of the way as the initial shockwave from the blast set him back on his feet. Kneeling to regain his strength, Mario would find himself conveniently next to Tora and looked at him for answers.

"So this-a-robot is vulnerable to electricity, yeah?" the plumber asked the plump creature for verification, "If-a-so, do you have any on-a-board? And since-a-you know her weaknesses, what-a-other weaknesses do you know she has?"

Tora nodded as best he could, which for a person without a neck looked more like him bobbing back and forth. “Um yeah, meh. Have none, shield is earth too when Poppi powering it. Already said other wea...look out!” The chance to talk about himself and Poppi distracted the Nopon for a moment, but his eyes never left his creation. Displeased by the idea of her foes fraternizing, Poppi surged forward to strike Mario down. Using his free wing, Tora grabbed Mario by the face and bowled him out of the way before moving up to take the punch. When she saw what she’d be hitting, Poppi cut the strength of the strike, leaving the shield undamaged. She saving power? Oh, of course! Noticing this, an idea popped into Tora’s head.

With all the strength he could must, Tora threw himself forward. The sudden burdened above Poppi’s center of gravity toppled her over backward, and Tora landed on top, pinning her down with his shield and his weight atop it. With her arms spread out to either side, she couldn’t bend them into position to grab her master or his weapon and use her strength to throw him off. Not content to sit there, Tora used his free wing to pull out his wrench and, with a mechanic’s precision, affixed it around her neck to hold her in place. “Hurry, shortypon!” he cried. “Her Ether Furnace pull in power from atmosphere. Inflict damage before enough return to send Tora flying!”

Mario groaned as he rose from the ground to heed his ally’s call to action. He kept the robot in place as he called for the plumber to damage her Ether Furnace. Mario nodded as he leapt into action. His fists continued to burn hot with raging fire as he aimed his focus upon the exposed spot. With his target in sight, he engaged as he rapidly shot a multitude of fireballs towards the Ether Furnace to cause as much damage to it as possible.

His barrage of flame consumed the furnace, starting to melt the metal and causing her visible pain. Tora cried out in alarm as his ally misinterpreted his words. “Nonononono! Not hit furnace, Poppi need it to live!” In a panic he removed his wrench and whirled it around to smack Mario upside the head. “Just need to hurt enough for--meeeh!”

The energy from Mario’s fire had disappeared, not into the environment, but into the very mechanism he attacked. Poppi’s strength flared accordingly, and in a single, quick motion she beat her arms and legs against the ground, shifting her torso upward. Tora popped up a few feet into the air, where the flailing Nopon fumbled his weapons. Without a second’s delay Poppi jumped up and snatched the shield. Even before she landed again, energy from her furnace flowed through the weapon, turning on a few lines and lights with an orange-brown glow. For a brief instant a smile graced her face, the sort of expression one might see on someone reunited with a precious treasure, before she launched into an attack.

Earthen power radiated from her as she span with she shield extended, not just in place, but herself wheeling around in a larger circle. The untenably strong strikes pummeled Mario and Tora relentlessly, juggling the latter in the air. With his injuries, Mario couldn’t withstand the punishment and crumpled, stunned. Tora bounced, crying out with each hit, until Poppi drew to a stop and grabbed him out of the air by his overalls. She slammed him into the ground and raised the shield to bring its edge down across his throat.

Pung.

Poppi looked down, curious, at Tora’s wing, its end curled into a fist now pressed against her chest. For a moment she didn’t seem to believe it, as if a punch could possibly have been that weak. She snorted, then smiled again, even as the guillotine was poised to fall. “...Masterpon. I am glad you made me laugh one last time.”

Though Bruised and bleeding, Tora cracked a smile as well. “Poppi getting ahead of self.”

Poppi jolted, dropping her shield, then looked again at Tora’s wing. When he pulled it back, she spotted the bright pink imprint of a heart fading there, and from the contact point a wave of restoration crossed her. Her ashen desaturation melted away, and the glare of her eyes faded. She slumped down like a puppet cut from its strings, practically falling on the Nopon she’d been about to kill. Tora wrapped his wings around her, and when she stirred a moment later, Poppi hugged him back. They exchanged no words, though the tears well up in Tora’s round, black eyes said a good deal.

After another handful of seconds, the two drew apart. Tora reached down to pick up his shield and replace it on his back, and after he stowed it Poppi handed him his wrench to tuck away. At about the same time the pair seemed to remember Mario, and in a hurry jogged over to Mario to help him up. They offered him one hand each, though Poppi looked more than a little sheepish, unable to look the plumber in the face. “Here, upsy-daisy!” Tora said, cheery despite his wounds.

Weakened, but undoubtedly alive, Mario weakly got up to his feet as he sobered himself back to reality. The battle seemed to have ended as quickly as it began, however it was a brutal one-sided smackdown that had rattled the plumber’s stout body. He hadn’t had taken such a beating in a very long while - perhaps not after fighting against that blasted newcomer, who had taken the form of a witch, back in the previous Smash tournament.

"D-Did-a-we win?" he asked stutteringly with a cough as he glanced over to see Tora and a now newly purified Poppi helping him out.

Safe to say that they had.

@Delta44

---

This was despicable.

Linkle thought she had seen a lot in her travel, short as it may have been. She had run into what felt like an unnaturally inflated number of villains. The imp kid had been annoying. The pointy eared purple guy had been creepy. The masked freak that had held Princess Zelda was wild, insane, and actually a little fun to watch. King Dodongo had been...intimidating. Not scary, she would never admit to that, but big, strong, and intimidating.

Up until the point though she never felt like she'd ever witnessed anything that was evil. Like, really evil. The sort of great king of darkness tier evil Ganon represented. As she stood there, staring at Ratchet walk forward and willingly embrace the light just to be with his friend she knew that this was just the sort of evil she was looking at it. This was a sick, wrong, cruel thing to do. The worst thing. The worst ever! This was exactly the sort of thing heroes like her existed to struggle against!

Tora actions were inspiring, and as she saw him free the little kid she couldn't help smirk up at the glowing ball in the sky. The sort of nebulous antagonism she had felt toward the thing more out of heroic duty than anything had been replaced with a righteous anger she had never felt before. There! How did it like that? It felt good watching it's plans get spoiled. They'd save them all. Even if she wasn't the hero she'd still fight to save them all, just to spite Galeem.

She was so caught up in her anger that she didn't notice the battle lines getting drawn. Everybody seemed to be picking a partner, even the kid (despite what that stupid pig headed jerk had suggested earlier).

She watched Minako return steadfastly to her feet, and picked hers. But first...

She raised her closed fist up to her face, opening it up slightly to see the rabbit spirit still safe inside. "C'mon Buddy, I've got a feeling I'll need you help for this." She let the spirit drift up to her thumb, let it great there for a few moments, then brought it up and jammed the spirit whole deep inside her ear.

Master said you put them in your head, after all.

---

"Like I'd leave and make you to fight all on your lonesome twice in a row." Linkle said, running up beside Minako and pointing her bows at the boy across the way. He didn't look too dangerous, but she figured if her was Minako's friend he might be a powerful, monster summoning wizard as well. Besides which, the girl was clearly in pain from this, which was of course the whole point of this evil scheme. There was no way Linkle would let her bare this alone.

"We'll definitely save him. So, give me the battle plan...commander?" She said, then reconsidered. No, that didn't sound quite right in her mouth. "Uhhhh, wait, no. Captain? Boss?" Darn it, there had to be something that fit her like a glove.

As fierce fighting erupted across the great bridge and beyond, some of heroes could only stand back and watch events unfold. Though a great desire to help one’s comrades persisted, the balance of power needed to be considered; too much help and the chance of killing one of the heroes’ influenced friends rose dramatically. To say that those who elected not to engage stood idly by, however, would be to tell a lie. Projectiles flew in every direction, heavy impacts made the white bridge shudder, and more than once a particularly devastating attack blew apart the masonry to expose the moat below.

Furious as the battles were, most turned out brief. In the span of a handful of minutes, Zer0, the Courier, Hat Kid, Tora, Mario, Blazermate, Roadhog, and Geno managed to put a stop to the puppetry of six out of eight of the entity’s summoned foes, with only Crank reduced to a spirit. That left only a couple fights ongoing, and with them engaged, the path into Peach’s Castle stood devoid of obstruction.

The Master of Masters, having wisely chosen not to involve himself in any of the fights to avoid interrupting what he took to be personal matters, appeared by a zoned out Bowser with a cheery-looking Kirby under one arm. “Hey, fearless leader,” he said, voice raised to be heard over the din. “Most people are standin’ around, but we’ve got a clear shot inside. Why don’t you rally the troops and lead the charge into the Castle?”

“HUH? WHAT? DON’T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!” the king responded as his focus came back to reality after having spent most of the battle thinking of insults he’d hurl in the face of the fake him waiting for them in the throne room. He glanced down at the Master of Masters and insisted that: “I WASN'T HIDING BEHIND THIS BLOCK” before poking his snout out from behind it to inspect the calming battlefield. Evidently pleased with what he saw Bowser extracted himself from his hiding spot and immediately set about claiming credit for their victory.

“GOOD WORK PULLING OFF MY PLAN WITHOUT A HITCH TROOPS. MAN. I’D LOVE TO SEE THE LOOK ON THE MASTER HANDS... GLOVE WHEN IT FINDS OUT IT JUST DOUBLED THE SIZE OF MY ARMY FOR ME.” The king practically swaggered his way towards the castle gates, a toothy grin on his lips. “NOW GET INTRODUCTIONS AND EXPLANATIONS OVER WITH ALREADY. WE’RE GOING TO GO KICK MY BUTT AND TAKE OVER THIS CASTLE WHILE WE HAVE THE ELEMENT OF SURPRISE.”

As he set foot on the bridge he passed by the pile of items his Strikers had abandoned. With a snap of his fingers he summoned the trio, then stabbed finger towards the loot followed by jerking a thumb towards his back. His minions obeyed his wordless instructions and had, by the time he kicked open the front doors with a well practiced kick, taken up positions manning the spiky batments of his shell, ready to add supplementary firepower to their bosses devastating entrance to peach’s castle.

”GUESS WHO’S BACK!”

The Koopa received a chorus of panicked screams as red-eyed toads scurried across the entrance hall, running widly and more than a little comically without any rhyme or reason. They might have been lined up in orderly ranks along the hall’s edges as a sort of show of power, but Bowser’s dynamic entry devastated the little folks’ discipline. Momentarily taken aback, the Master of Masters shook his head after a moment, cracking up. Kirby looked like he wanted to join in the fun, but he remained complacent under his carrier’s arm. “Well, these little dudes might be losing their heads, but we’ve got a score to settle, huh? Nothing to do but wade through them.”

“YEAH, MOST TOADS ARE TOTAL PUSHOVERS” commented bowser as he enjoyed getting exactly the reception he felt he deserved.

Behind the pair, Tora entered the hall alongside Poppi. The frenetic scene provoked a look of alarm from the both of them, but since neither Bowser nor the Master of Masters seemed concerned, they followed with a touch of caution. “Mushroomypon very easy to startle,” Tora remarked, glancing at his Blade. She said nothing, but gave him a nod. On second thought, he was surprised she could hear him over this absolute racket, but he wondered why she seemed distant. After all, they were together again. Wasn’t it a time of celebration?

In short order the party crossed the tumultuous but harmless entrance hall, and barged through the big, ornate doors on the other side. Within lay a giant, opulent room, with checkered black-and-white floors, luxurious red carpet, and decorative pillars. At the far end, at the top of a flight of stairs, loomed a gigantic black throne, and atop it sat Megadragonbowser.

”HEY THERE, LOSERS!” he bellowed instantly, before everyone had even entered. ”CHECK IT OUT, SOLVED MY PEST PROBLEM” With a razor-sharp claw he pointed up at the ceiling, indicating a couple of cages that dangled from it on chains. Inside were various faces, a few familiar and a few not. Among them were Spyro and Donkey Kong, both badly injured and unconscious, as well as a brown-haired kid in a red cape, a strange animal duo, and a very thin, blank-faced guy with bright orange pants. Megadragonbowser guffawed. ”BAHAHAHAHAH! IF YOU’RE LUCKY, YOU’LL BE UP THERE WITH ‘EM IN A FEW MINUTES. THE REST OF YOU CAN REPAINT THE CARPET!” For the first time, he looked at the heroes a little closer. His baleful eyes narrowed. ”HUH? I DON’T REMEMBER THERE BEING SO MANY OF YOU. OH WELL...THE MORE THE MERRIER!”

At the head of the army of heroes bowser growled at the sight of his doppelganger. He prepared to deliver a verbal retort to Megadragonbowser’s insults at the gate, but paused just before doing so with a smug look on his face.

“YOU KNOW WHAT. I HAD THIS WHOLE SPEECH PLANNED THAT WAS TOTALLY GOING TO PUT YOU IN YOUR PLACE BUT YOU’VE JUST GIVEN ME A BETTER IDEA. STRIKERS! UNSOLVE HIS PEST PROBLEM!”

On his back the two hammer bros dropped what they were doing and join hands to give the rabbid healer a double boost, hurling him up into the rafters with another team jump. Heel grabbed the chain of donkey kong's cage with one hand while waving the fusion cutter around in the other. A burst of healing pulsed through the roof space as Heel set to work making mince meat of the metal bars trapping the four captive heros, laughing maniacally as he did so.

“THE MORE THE MERRIER RIGHT?”

The ground shook as Megadragonbowser dismounted his throne. ”YOU SAID IT!” He began to inhale, pulling in a vast amount of air and mixing it with the roiling flames deep inside him. Even if the heroes mobilized immediately, he was too quick; at the end of five seconds the tyrant released a brilliant ball of condensed orange fire that shot upward and exploded against the ceiling. It exploded, not with force, but with a massive amount of flame that covered the cages and rained down across the hall, setting everything that could be alight. In the span of a few seconds, the throne room had become a blazing hellscape. Everyone present would have to deal with the widespread flame.

Chuckling, Megadragonbowser hunkered down just above the ground, his arms and energized shell affording him complete protection, and he beat his fists against the tile. Pressure radiated from him, though not nearly the paralyzing force experienced earlier, as though it was an ability he could turn on and off. ”ALRIGHT, SMALL FRY. LET’S GET COOKING!”

---

Overdrive!
A boss fight has begun. For those involved in the fight, and for the entirety of the fight, tensions and stakes are high--but so are the rewards. It would be reasonable to expect two GM updates a week, meaning if you get into the thick of it but then aren’t able to keep up, Prompt Fails may result. However, rewards are accelerated also:

EXP earned for posting during a boss fight is as follows: <300 words is 1 point, 300-600 is 2 points, and 600+ is 3 points.

Objective: Defeat the Tyrant in Orange, Megadragonbowser
Bonus Objectives: Save, heal, and free captive heroes to even the odds

---

With their current enemies defeated and now amongst their ranks, both Mario and Geno turned their attention towards the castle at large. The former was still battered from the initial fight against the robot Poppi, however he was far from being out of the battle entirely. As Mario watched both her and Tora follow King Koopa's thunderous stomps towards the castle, he quickly shook out his tiredness as he followed in pursuit. Meanwhile, from a distance, Geno beckoned the newly-released Henry to come forth as he witnessed the group beginning to advance from the chaos. The climax of their battle seemed imminent as they proceeded to enter winged Bowser's domain.

Once inside, they were greeted to a swarm of very frightened toads that were running in absolute panic. Yet as Bowser and the Master of Masters proceeded to joke on the cowardliness of the inhabitants, Mario attempted to calm them down the only way he knew how.

"Wait-a-guys!" he called out, unaware of their possession, "Calm-a-down! We aren't here to cause-a-harm! Look! It's-a-me! Mario! You know-a-me, yeah?"

But the mushroom people continued to run around frantically as if they hadn't heard Mario's voice at all. The plumber seemed puzzled by this notion before Geno placed a hand on his shoulder.

"They can't hear you." he bluntly said, "Look at their eyes. They're also possessed by Galeem's influence - just like the fighters we've fought outside. Everyone else is essentially this way at this point. I doubt they'd be useful for the fight ahead anyways, so no use trying to free them right now, I'm afraid."

Mario seemed mildly disappointed at the situation, but he also wasn't surprised by this either. The toads were valiant to a fault in protecting the Princess, however they are utterly useless against the mighty fire-breathing demon koopa - let alone two of them at once. With only a slight reluctance, the plumber nodded as he left the toads to their own devices.

But before he could reach the main hallway, Mario's gazed suddenly shifted to a strange item lying in a corner. Yet upon giving it a closer inspection, a wave of nostalgia washed over him as he quickly realized what the object was. It was none-other than the Flash Liquidizer Ultra Dousing Device - otherwise known as F.L.U.D.D!

"Well what-a-do we have here?" Mario asked with a smile as he approached the water jetback, [color=ed1c24]"I thought I left-a-you back home..."[/color

Once he got close enough to it, FLUDD began to activate as it stood up on both wooden nozzles to take a better look at the plumber.

"Power-up complete." it spoke in a robotic tone, "Thank you for purchasing this item from Gadd Science, Incorporated. Preparing to register customer informa~"

"Yeah, yeah you-a-know me." Mario hastily interrupted as he took no time to quickly put him on his shoulders.

Once the plumber returned, Geno gave a puzzled look at the object that Mario had on his back.

"What's that thing on your back?" he asked curiously.

"FLUDD." he replied back, "Essentially a water-spouting machine. Not-a-sure what it was doing here, but I ought-a take it anyways."

After all, he had a weird feeling that he's going to need it really soon.

And as soon as they entered Megadragonbowser's make-shift throne room, the mustached man's blood began to boil furiously as he once again set eyes on that cowardly winged beast. Yet as the rival king revealed several cages of imprisoned fighters, both Mario and Geno were quick to recognize two respective fighters - with each badly injured and knocked-out.

"DK?" the former asked as his eyes blazed into a fit of kept-up rage as he silently glared over at Megadragonbowser.

Meanwhile, Geno looked upon the cage containing the purple dragon he encountered not too long ago. Guilt overflew his entire frame, along with the memories of what he had done to him. It would be utterly cruel of the puppet to leave him here without taking the dragon with him.



Suddenly, their Bowser bellowed as he called out to his hammer bro and rabbid healer strikers as they attempted to free DK and the others from their cages. This enraged the flying Bowser as he spewed a large fireball into the air, which exploded once hitting the ceiling as molten rain began to descend down upon them. Amongst the rug and curtains feeling the burn, the cages were also covered a massive amount of flame that blocked easy access in freeing the captives.

Mario was quick to dodge the incoming flaming projectiles, along with Geno respectively, but the latter felt like an unlit match surrounded by candles on all sides. He had to be careful to not be set ablaze by the massive amounts of fire that surrounded him. He'd love it if he can fly again...

So it was much of a surprise to him once he realized that his thrusters were finally back online!

While they weren't 100% full just yet, it ought to be just enough for him to engage the boss from the air. But before he could engage, Mario approached to him with a plan in mind.

"Geno," the plumber told him, "I have-a-plan to free the captives!"

"Let me guess," the puppet replied, "You're going to use that water-pack of yours to douse the flames surrounding them."

"Mhm," Mario nodded, "Help distract winged Bowser and cover me as I make my way over there."

"Will do - oh and I have one request to ask of you."

The plumber turned to him wonderingly.

"If you see a small purple dragon," the puppet said carefully, "Make sure you keep him alive and let me know - I have plans involved with him."

"You-a-know him?" Mario asked.

"It's a long story - I'll tell you later. Now go!"

The plumber tipped his cap before finally making his way towards the cage. He proceeded to stay out of Megadragonbowser's sight, using the fire to aid in cover and used FLUDD to extinguish any flames that blocked his path. But he must use this sparingly, for he only has a limited amount before it runs dry.

Meanwhile, Geno launched himself into the sky as he open fired on the flying koopa's position, using his speed to dodge any incoming projectile attacks if they so happened to approach him.

The fighting wrapped up fairly quickly with a few new allies in toe and a lot of wounds for Blazermate to heal up. At least she was equipped to do so, healing the worst injured before moving up to the more healthy people, the most injured tending to be the new allies they had acquired through their recent fight. "If only I could heal more than 1 person at a time 'sigh'." Blazermate said, channeling her beam on Zer0, having healed a few other members prior. Meanwhile Bowser was taking credit for everything, even though the lug really didn't do much.

As their bolstered group made their way to the castle proper, a bunch of mushroom headed short people ran out in droves. Mario tried to calm them, seeming to know them, but Geno forced him to move on, pointing out what Blazermate already learned; just assume whoever yo meet is controlled by Galeem. While the others dodged or waded through the toads, Blazermate hovered above it all as they made their way into the castle proper. Bowser also gave his little comment about them being wimps, and Blazermate believed him.

Up on a throne sat that flying dragon bowser, and hanging form the ceiling were a bunch of stronger looking characters in cages. A few of them looked like animals, while others just looked.... weird. Much like their bowser, this dragon bowser was full of hot air and bluster, but unlike their bowser, he emitted some strange aura that made her Scan ability be unable to detect weakpoints. Bowser wasn't about to have any of his doppleganger's shenanigans, and commanded his minions to attack.

Seeing all of this, Dragon bowser was roaring for a fight, flaring his aura as he fired a giant fireball into the air, which exploded into a meteor shower of other balls. Pulling out her Short Circuit, Blazermate fired a single energy ball above her to clear away any fireballs that were coming towards her. Since this weapon was the Engineer's, Blazermate understood how to properly use it, and its huge limitation on shots, so she would use the remaining shots sparingly through this battle, seeing as it would be of great use.

Seeing Mario and Geno come up with a plan, Blazermate decided to help them. Of course these captives were still under Galeems control, but then so were the rabbids and they were keen to help those that helped them, so hopefully these captured people would do the same. As Mario made his way to the cage and Geno distracted the dragon bowser, Blazermate started to heal the people inside the cage as well as her allies, starting with the giant gorilla DK. If he was free, it'd make freeing the others much easier. Plus another big boy to act as a shield for her was another bonus. It was a shame she couldn't put down another sentry just yet, but at the same time she figured it would just fire on the caged people, being unable to notice the difference between them and Dragon Bowser.

---

For a moment, Michael simply stared into the barrel of Franklin's gun, watching his life flash before his eyes. Was this it? It almost seemed fitting, in a way. After all the times he had screwed over the people that were closest to him, his life would be ended by one of his closest friends. Maybe this was what he deserved. Looking up, he still couldn't see any emotion in Franklin's eyes, just the haze that signified Galeem's influence. He didn't know why he hadn't just pulled the trigger already. Maybe there was some part of his friend that was trying to fight back? Either that, or whatever was controlling him just wanted Michael to suffer.

As Franklin's finger began to push down on the trigger, Michael could hear a familiar voice shout in the distance. As Franklin turned his head to face the direction of the noise, a ball of white energy shot forward, landing at his feet. "What the-" The approaching ball of magic caused Franklin to take a step back, causing him to slip as the ground beneath him turned icy. He fell backwards, hitting the ground with a thud. Groaning, he lifted himself back onto his feet, leaving blood stains on the ground. He used his left hand to hold onto his chest, trying to slow the bleeding from his multiple gunshot wounds. Despite his increased strength and endurance, being shot several times clearly hurt him. He steadied his right hand in the direction of Din, trying to line up a shot.

Meanwhile, Michael fell onto his side, clutching his wound. Oddly enough, as he lay there, he could feel the bleeding slowly decrease, almost as if it was healing itself. He took a few moments to catch his breath, trying to build up enough strength to keep fighting on despite the pain.

Noticing Franklin's gun trained on her, Din looked for something to hide behind, suddenly noticing Magnumus Agoston, who was standing by, ready to help. She didn't understand the difference in power between guns and bows, and assumed a man in full armor was strong enough to block a bullet, so she dove behind him and said, "Hurry! Michael's fighting his friend and they both look pretty hurt. His friend's got one of those 'guns', so be careful. I'll support you from behind."

The Centurion looked down at the dancer as she hid behind him. "Right!" He glanced up and tried to examine the situation. Michael's friend, or rather, his current enemy, was a young man who seemed to have similar gear to Micheal. Guns and the like. The man had trained his gun to retaliate against Din, but now it seemed Agoston was interposed between the two.

"Right." He said, a little deflated. But his instincts told him to stand his ground. The man lined up his shot, and Centurion took a few steps forward. The shot rang out, and Centurion raised his fore-arm before him in a position that would have once command a legion to prepare for a rain of arrows. The shot, suddenly, exploded into vibrant orange light as it glanced off an amber transluscent shield that cracked from the impact and then vanished into thin air.

"Haha!" The man in armor exclaimed, clearly excited he had achieved new power. The man seemed surprised, but quickly fired off another volley. Some of them missed, but most of them made contact. The Centurion rushed forward as the bullets pinged off his novel defense, but the shield was more and more cracked each time it appeared to deflect a shot. The Centurion was close, but the shield shattered as the fourth bullet slammed into it. He was a few feet away but not close enough to get a hit in. Running full speed he would take at least one or two more shots before colliding with Franklin.

Tilting his head up, Michael could see the Centurion approaching, and Franklin turning to face him, firing his pistol several times, with the shots being deflected by some kind of orange barrier. While he wasn't sure where the warrior had gotten the power from, he could tell that it wouldn't hold up forever. The shield seemed to weaken as multiple rounds struck it, and as it was hit a fourth time, it shattered.

Michael's regeneration had helped him tremendously, stopping the bleeding and healing his wound somewhat. While he was far from full strength, he felt strong enough to get back in the fight. With the Centurion's shield down, he would be vulnerable to Franklin's shots, but if he could distract his possessed friend for a few seconds, his allies could rush in to take him down. Stumbling to his feet, Michael felt a rush of adrenaline as he lunged at Franklin, grabbing the man by the arm and trying to pry the gun from him. Franklin, not expecting the sudden attack, stumbled as he tried to regain control, attempting to get Michael off of him.

As the Centurion approached, he braced himself to be shot by a gun for the first time in his life, and fight through the pain. Instead, Michael, regaining stability, rushed their possessed enemy. Encouraged, the Centurion smacked Franklin hard across the face with the back of his left gauntlet. Then, he brought his left hand down upon Franklin's left shoulder, and with his right hand pulled by Micheal, was easily able to hit him on the forehead three times with the pommel of his Gladius. After stunning the gun-toting foe, the Centurion attempted to wrench him off his feet and pin him to the ground.

"Dedere, dedere, dedere!" He shouted, trying to subdue Michael's friend. To be forced to fight against one's own free will truly is an abomination of the rules of battle.

Even with three times his usual strength, Franklin had a hard time fighting off two opponents that were grabbing him at the same time. He was left unable to defend himself as the Centurion grabbed him, striking him three times. He soon fell to the ground, momentarily incapacitated while the Centurion held him down. Michael looked on as Franklin struggled momentarily, attempting to break out of the Centurion's grip, but eventually fell limp, unable to continue fighting.

If Michael was going to rescue his friend from Galeem's influence, now was the time. But how? He had seen others summon Friend Hearts, but he didn't know how they did it. From what he could tell, it seemed to be something instinctual. Closing his eyes, he thought about his friend, about saving him...and he felt something. When he opened his eyes, to his surprise, a glowing heart was in his hand. "Woah..." Putting aside his awe for the moment, he motioned towards Franklin, and watched as the heart entered his chest. There was a pause, then he heard a cough, and saw Franklin opening his eyes. The haze and the blank look were gone, as his eyes darted between Michael and the Centurion. Michael put a hand on the armored man's shoulder. "It's alright. It's over."

"Ugh..." Franklin groaned, closing his eyes and putting a hand on his chest. Judging by his facial expression, he was in a severe amount of pain, as the increased strength faded away. Fortunately, Blazermate was nearby, and her healing dealt with the worst of his friend's injuries, as well as helped close up Michael's wound. Franklin took several deep breaths, before sitting up, looking over the group in front of him. "Man...what the hell just happened?" He looked down, noticing the blood staining his shirt. "How...how am I still alive?"

Michael reached out, grabbing Franklin's hand and pulling him to his feet. "It's a long story, kid." He turned his head, looking towards the castle in the distance. "But we'll play catch-up later. There's something more important we have to deal with first."

Ratchet slowly roused from his unconsciousness, still beat to hell from his own explosion. Once his vision cleared, he saw the back of the Courier walking away from him. What had happened? And what was he holding? Head pounding, the lombax checked his grip only to be horrified by what he saw: the spirit of Clank, his best friend, worrying over Ratchet’s own injuries.

”That’s two you owe me,” the Courier called back without so much as a glance, waving two fingers up in the air. A pang of anger hit Ratchet right in the heart. Not so much at the Courier, who did what he had to do, but at himself. He let himself get caught up in Galeem’s light again because he was so happy to see Clank, and it ended up destroying his best friend. He couldn’t ever let that happen again.

”I’m so sorry, Clank. Can you ever forgive me for being so stupid?” He asked the little orb in earnest. He needn’t wait long for a reply, as the orb manifested as a full form Clank in but a moment.

“Of course I can. It would not be the first time, hmhmhmhmhm.” The little robot smiled as though there weren’t a problem in the world, and Ratchet tackled him in a big hug.

”Oh man, I’m so glad you’re ok little buddy!”

Clank broke the embrace and shook his head matter of factly. “In a manner of speaking. According to my analysis of internal power reservoir, my current form is maintained by the strength of your spirit. I can only be ‘manifested’ for a limited time before returning to your person to recharge.”

”Well, I guess that’s better than nothing.” Ratchet said, picking up his wrench and swinging it around a couple times to make sure it was still well balanced. ”Looks like most of the fun here is about done. I’d say it’s about time we get into that castle to kick some butt!”

“Affirmative!” Clank demanifested as Ratchet took off, stopping by Blazermate for a quick heal first.

Meanwhile, Courier 6 had spotted that Zer0’s bout with the young girl had ended in his victory, and the subsequent friend hearting (was hearting a word? Whatever, it is now) of the former friend turned enemy now turned friend again. That was a lot of turns. Like a turnstile. Heh. Man, drugs were fun. They were the only reason he was approaching the duo without any anger or malice from the last little encounter he had with Zer0. Instead he’d rather focus on something more important.

”This robot right here? Really fucking cool,” he said, shooting Death Trap with finger guns. ”I love this whole multiple world universe crap. I’m getting to explore so much more than I’ve ever thought of before! And so many robots too! I tell ya what, chica, you ever want someone to collaborate on some upgrades, some new systems or guns, you talk to me. I can turn a toaster, an old battery, and some scrap metal into an RC death machine, hehehe.”

Then, for the first time, he focused on Zer0, almost as though the assassin had only just appeared on his radar. Slowly the Courier reached out with a hand and placed it on Zer0’s shoulder, if the man (woman? Robot? Alien? Mutant?) would allow. ”We didn’t really get much of a chance to talk about what happened earlier. I just wanted to say, it won’t happen again. Even if you try it again. Which you might find yourself needing to do in the very near future, if you get my meaning.” Wink. Wink. Wait, he wasn’t winking, he was just blinking. One more time. Wiiiiink. Ok, that was right.

“Oh heck yeah,” Gaige exclaimed, shooting fingerguns right back at the Courier. “Don't know you, but sure! I built DT by hand, well hands at one point but that's besides the fact, and ain't nothing that a little work didn't fix anyways. And it feels so good to punch a Skag in the face, let me tell you Mr. Tall, Dark, and Creepy.”

Zer0 watched impassively as the two talked, not moving except to turn his head to take in the settling battles. At the Courier's words, however, he lifted one hand in a thumbs up sign as he mock-shot at the Merc.

“Well, well, well well well well well well. Zer0 making friends? Next thing you're going to tell me is that Hammerlock wanted dinner.”
”’Friends’ might just be putting things a bit too affectionate,” the Courier started, swaying just a bit as he air quoted the word. ”But we both took on the bigger challenges together, and he called me a… How’d be put it? A badass vault hunter? So I figure he’s part of my posse.”
“That's what we are. Vault Hunters. Badasses. If Zer0 counts you among us, you're a friend. So, yeah, what's the sitch?”
6 looked a little incredulous at that, but shrugged and went with it. ”Long story short the giant light ball in the sky is a powerful monster thing that tore up different worlds and combined them, and brainwashed all of us, now we’re fighting back because fuck that shit. There’s a giant dragon turtle thing in the castle we need to go kill so our smaller dragon turtle thing can take over,” he jabbed a thumb in the general direction of King Bowser, noticing that the Koopa monarch was actually going ahead and entering the castle. ”Aaaand we don’t have time left to finish so fuck it, let’s go wreck some shit.”

His boots hit the trail once again, kicking up dust as he adjusted the radio on his Pip-Boy. An event this big needed some kick ass music, and he was in luck because he just happened to pick up his favorite song on Radio New Vegas.
“OH YEAH, IT'S ROBOT FIGHTING TIME!” Gaige whooped as her, Zer0, and DT took off right behind the Courier. “So, where's this skag-licker?”

The Courier didn’t answer, instead attempting to catch up with Bowser, Tora, Mario and Geno, and all the others who were already making their way into the castle. It was kind of a dumb question anyway, so he didn't want to waste the breath on it. Gaige would see for herself, after all. They all saw for themselves, as they entered in just behind Ratchet, who was in turn just behind the others.

Mushroom headed people ran around in a frenzy of fear and terror, but ultimately were of no consequence. The Courier ignored them (whilst fantasizing about how he could smoke their heads), while Ratchet offered some consultation, only to realize how fruitless an endeavor it was. Nothing was going to change their panic stricken frenzy, so the commando proceeded right behind the rest.

Gaige, meanwhile, walked up to one of the cowering figured and poked at it with idle curiosity. Determining it to be, ultimately, equivalent to a civilian, Gaige followed on. Her eyes and head never stopped moving as she took in everything, an almost manic look building behind her eyes.

Zer0, however, had eyes only for their enemy.

And what an enemy it was. Megadragonbowser sat upon an equally large throne, gloating over his captured enemies hanging in cages. A small dragon, a large ape with a tie, a kid in a cape, and some… Random dude in orange pants? They were all contained behind bars, leaving the apparent king quite pleased. Their allies sprang into action, with Mario and Geno in particular working to free the captives. Ratchet took a similar approach, his inner hero showing.

”Looks like it’s time to up our arsenal, guys!” Wrench in hand, Ratchet ran toward the nearest platform, dodging and flipping around as fire rained from the ceiling above. Touching that would definitely be a bad end to a bad day, but luckily he was acrobatic enough to avoid it, save one close call that singed a part of his fur.

”Hup!” The lombax flipped up and around, gaining as much height as he could, but it still wasn’t enough to reach the cages.

“Allow me to give you a boost,” came the voice of Clank, who manifested for just a few seconds in his propeller pack form, giving Ratchet just what he needed to reach the cage holding Fancy Pants. He went to work prying at the chain with his omniwrench in hopes of freeing the captive.

Gaige had similar thoughts as the Lombax, as she manifested Deathtrap and stood in his outstretched palm as he flew them up towards the cages.

“GIVE HIM HELL, ZER0!” she yelled as they ascended. Stepping forward as she dismounted, she added her efforts to Ratchet's, applying the above-average strength of her mechanical arm to the task. “DT, OPEN THAT CAGE!” she ordered, excitement clear in her voice, and the robot joined in with his own strength.

Meanwhile, the Courier had an altogether different sort of goal in mind. A plan which could be seen as either insane, or brilliant. No doubt it would leave a lot of people pissed at him, but that was nothing new. Wild card is as wild card does. As everyone else sprang into action, either to attack the megadragonbowser or to help save the captives, the Courier strode forward, slowly, toward their enemy. His head was down, his weapons holstered. Absolutely nothing about him appeared to be dangerous or threatening to the would-be-king. This was, of course, by design. Since this Bowser saw through the ruse earlier, and had that powerful aura preventing violence against him, this would be the only way. At least, that’s how the Courier thought. The others? That was to be seen.

”Oh great and mighty king!” the Courier called out, taking a low bow. ”I promised you many things outside this castle. An army, weapons, all of which have turned against you. But one promise remains: a demonstration.”

With a flourish, the Courier stood up in a twist, facing the rest of his comrades, unholstering his revolver in the process. He pointed the gun upward toward Mario, and the plumber’s newly acquired water pack, and let loose a shot from the powerful magnum. The bullet was aimed for Mario’s torso in what would appear to be a debilitating, potentially lethal, shot. By all accounts, Courier Six had gone turncoat, switching sides to what seemed the more powerful team. Another shot rang out, this one aimed for Blazermate’s cranial unit. Then a third shot headed straight for Linkle’s gut!

”Have I proven my loyalty yet, your majesty?” he called out over the gunshots, moving in closer to the winged koopa king. Had he truly turned traitor? From any initial glance, it would have seemed so, but some things just couldn’t be so black and white. Those shots certainly all looked as though they would have been lethal, but the Courier had a special talent. A talent that worked both ways, and now that he was positioned so close to megadragonbowser, he was glad to be a target for his comrades. That aura pushed back against violent intent to the koopa, but not against others.

Zer0 carefully loaded in the 9 remaining bullets of the special sniper ammo he had gotten from that box that one spirit had released. His actions were almost mechanical, careful, as he seemingly ignored everything going on around him.

As the Courier started blasting away at their comrades, Zer0 didn't even blink. Well, not that he could to begin with. He moved exactly five steps to the side, dropping to one knee as if in submission. His sniper was butt down as if it were a blade

;)

In a single fluid movement, Zer0 brought up his gun, zeroing in on the Courier. The mailman filled his scope, and was all Zer0 was focused on.

He pulled the trigger four times, pausing just a fraction of a second after each shot to compensate for the recoil, sending each bullet through the same trajectory. Which, as he had set himself up in positioning, would tear through what should've been a non-lethal section of the Courier's midsection and into a very lethal area of the Mega Bowser's chest.

Henry had inducted himself into this new and very unique group. Which wasn’t all that surprising since this isn’t the first time he’s followed after a group of interesting folks. Though now that he was here there was no time to answer any of his questions as they were already moving on to the next fight before he could even get around to it. Time to overthrow the king it seems.

The dark mage almost didn’t notice the mechanical woman who was going around healing people until after she had healed him up. He was too busy being distracted by and subtly trying to poke the spikes on Bowser’s back to see if they would make him bleed. Unfortunately he didn’t really have enough time to try before they entered the throne room and… an even bigger spiked turtle. Henry knew the creature was the enemy but it looked SO COOL! And this one had wings and stuff to make it look more like a dragon, made him think of a bigger, scarier Nowi. Though to be fair ‘scary’ wasn’t really something Henry thought of this iteration of Bowser. After all, before all of this Henry was moments away from facing off against the Fell Dragon destined to cause the apocalypse… while riding on its back. And not much was able to get to Henry before that. Ready to fight and fully healed, he prepared his tome for battle.

All of his allies started mobilizing and preparing their strategies while Henry was making sure to avoid the fire, fire is not something Henry enjoys getting hit by. After subduing the flames that caught the end of his cloak he took in the situation. Some of them moved to help the caged allies and some were focusing on the boss. One seemed to betray them but until it hurt Henry himself he wasn’t too concerned at the moment, after all he didn’t know or care for most of them yet. One thing of note was that at the moment at least their foe was immobile and a huge target for Henry.

“Sorry big guy, I’m not a huge fan of cages so I’m gonna have to kill you now. No hard feelings.” He retorted to the dragon-turtle before initiating his attacks. That shell looked really tough and while the arms he was using to protect himself seemed strong too they were definitely an easier target than the shell. Trying to get his attacks as close to Megadragonbowser’s face as possible, sparks of dark energy appeared along his arms before exploding in dark magic. Unless the large creature was able to move in time a barrage of five or six explosions would hit him one after the other.

@thedman @Stekkmen @Lugubrious

After enlisting the help of Centurion Magnumus Agoston, Franklin was quickly taken down and brought back to his senses. Din was glad for Michael, seeing the joy and camaraderie he expressed at having been reunited with his friend. She also gave the armored imperial a light tap on the shoulder and winked, "Thanks for the support." Din then proceeded to dance to give Michael, Franklin, and Magnumus healing and a temporary boost to their physical abilities, since it seemed that the group was going to rush into the castle to take on more opponents.

Following the party inside, she prepared herself to face the gigantic turtle dragon. She reminded herself that a creature of this size was nothing to the hero of time, and though she was no hero of time, the responsibility of fighting had been thrust on her. She also reminded herself that she wasn't alone. all these people from so many different worlds were gathered here to face a common foe.

As the battle commenced, Megadragonbowser started by unleashing fire on the group, so Din cast the Spell of Winter in a ring around her allies to protect them from the fire, since whatever snow or ice that formed would melt into water. She then noticed that the Gem of Spring on her Rod of Ages had lit up, indicating that she had a new spell. Seeing if she could perhaps sow some chaos behind their enemy, she looked around for any plant-life she could manipulate. Though she didn't quite know what her new spell would do, she believed that since the season of Spring was the season of life, it likely had an effect on plants. She remebered that as they traveled through this land, which Bowser had seemed mostly familiar with, various forms of very dangerous looking plants abounded. If there were any behind Megadragonbowser, it would be the perfect opportunity to try out her new spell.