Magnumus Agoston, Centurion.

Level 3 - (2/30) EXP (still thinking of what new power to get)
Location: MegaDragonBowser castle
Word Count: 514

---

Centurion had retreated back, trying not to drop his gladius as it glowed bright orange from the heat. He realized that in this fight, he was no good. Perhaps if he had a ballista. Yes, Agoston thought to himself. If he had a ballista, he would have been much more effective. A big wooden stick flung at high velocity. Right into the evil bowser's stupid, glowing face!

Fortunately, he provided enough of a distraction to give a little helping hand to the rest of his teammates, who were more adjusted for killing giant monsters, rather than hordes of Vikings. So it was that Mega Dragon Bowser died, turned to dust, and the castle was saved. Centurion roared loudly in victorious glee, throwing his arms into the air and celebrating rambunctiously. "Yes!" He slammed his fist twice against his breastplate.

He made rounds to various teammates, attempting to slam his own and their palms together in a mighty handshake.

The quandry of the spirit of beast came up. Apparently, absorbing it would grant the wearer great strength in battle, but worries of corruption came up, specifically for non-evil Bowser. I could certainly use that, the Centurion thought to himself. He became quiet and ponderous of what he should do. He took a knee and propped his chin up by his knuckles in an incredibly obvious 'thinking pose'.

"I could certainly use additional power in battle. Against these large beasts I am rather ineffective. But the beast did indeed offer his soul for Bowser, an obvious ploy of some kind. But was it just Bowser his spirit had a chance to corrupt? Or any of us? I believe myself to be incorruptible. But perhaps, that very ego is what will lead to my downfall. Alternatively, offering up his spirit could be some kind of double bluff. Whereby offering up a reward has made it more suspicious, purely based on the virture of the rewarder. Thereby, him offering the reward once it was lost, was a trick, to make us wary of improving our own strength. I could use this power to help restore the Empire. If I die, and my comrades fail to destroy Galeem...all is lost. Risks must be taken." He stood up.

"We cannot win by playing it safe!" He shouted valiantly. "I will accept the power of the dead tyrant. We shall wield it against them, and smite our enemies mightily! With God on my side, I shall not be lead into evil. This false god Galeem must be stopped, at all costs. Including my soul, if it must be that way!"

The self-aggrangizing but earnest Centurion stood and strode forward to the spirit on the ground, leaning over it.

"If I do become evil, stay at range and restrict my movement for the best chance at winning." Agoston advised, kneeling down over the spirit. His confidence was much less obvious now that he was about to do the deed.

"So, what. Do I just touch it- or?" He gingerly attempted to cup the object in his hands.

Tora eyed the spirit of Megadragonbowser jealously, but also warily. His friend the Centurion made a good point. He definitely needed the power, and as a battle-hardened, experience adult, could probably be trusted with it. Making up his mind, Tora decided to give up on his fantasy of claiming the spirit for himself, and instead waddled forward to catch Agoston's attention. "Sort of," he said before placing a wingtip over his chest. Given his remarkable egg-shaped physiology it wasn't the easiest feat to tell what he was trying to signify, but two and two could be put together. "Take into heart. Then change happen. Good luck!"

Beside him, Poppi smiled and crossed her arms. "Chances of explosion minimal, even with tremendous boss firepower. Still, Poppi recommend that Masterpon cover eyes." If the Nopon wondered why, he would soon find out. The moment the Centurion complied with Tora's instruction, the blazing spirit of Megadragonbowser surged into his body. Even after it vanished, it left behind a fiery glow on the contact point, and after a moment it started to spread. Like a chunk of iron being superheated in a forge, Agoston's whole being began to glow. Rainbow energy surrounded him in a wild dance just as it had for Ratchet a few minutes before, but this time subject's body shone brighter still. Without warning he burst into near-blinding flame, the ensuing heatwave striking onlookers head-on and forcing them back in alarm. Agoston himself felt hot, hotter than he could ever have imagined, but he remained strong. In the middle of the prismatic firestorm, his body began to grow, taller and stronger than before. Horns sprouted from his head. When the fire vanished a few moments later, its fury remained, locked within the irises of the new Magnumus Agoston.

---

This was it.

The Demon King Angra was at his mercy. Looking down at his hands, the power of God flowing through them, Gene grinned. Just about time to end this. "May the light of good..." Gene began, beginning to form a Double Shaolin Blast to finish off the demon.

"Shine on his soul..." Gene readied the blast...

"Through these... Huh?" Gene's concentration was broken by the shining lights in the sky, that were racing towards him and Angra. "What the? Am I actually summoning God?" The fighter paused for a moment, and his grin widened. "Nice!" He looked up into the sky, welcoming the light, for he knew that he could defeat the Demon King with its power!

There was a flash, and then nothing.

---

The fighter had traveled far, searching for a worthy opponent. He wasn't sure how he had got here. He wasn't sure when he had got here. It could have been weeks ago, maybe months ago, hell it could've been years ago. He knew nothing of who he was or where he came from, only that he thirsted for combat. Though he had yet to meet a worthy opponent, he had already taken down dozens of low level creatures who had dared to bother him. It did little to sate his desire, but it would do for now.

Up ahead, he saw a large castle, hearing loud noises from inside. The noises settled after a moment, and then silence. He smiled. Maybe there were strong fighters there that he could challenge. He needed to fight something that wasn't a stupid goblin or a wimpy mushroom thing. His smile twisted into a vicious grin, and with a bounce in his step he charged forward to the castle, getting ready for a good fight.

When he arrived at the castle, he boldly walked forward and into it, striding through the entrance hall and into the throne room through the busted down door. He saw a plethora of people there, everything from humans like himself to creatures he'd never seen before. Some of them looked about as weak as the pitiful monsters he'd crushed along the way here, but a few of them...

His grin widened even more, if it was possible. Now those guys looked like they could put up a good fight. Cracking his knuckles, the fighter spoke up, attempting to grab the room's attention. "Well well well, lookie what we have here!" His voice carried an air of confidence, perhaps overconfidence even. With his thumb, he flicked his chin, grinning. "You all look tough! Let's dance!" Without a second wasted, he dashed forward with a yell, attempting to deliver a flying kick to the giant shelled lizard thing in the suit!

Magnumus Agoston, Centurion.

Level 3 - (2/30) EXP (still thinking of what new power to get)
Location: MegaDragonBowser castle
Word Count: 470
---

"Very well. Thank you, Tora." He said, filled with grim determination. He placed the spirit against his chest, right over his heart, and it vanished within his breastplate. Suddenly he was all alight, and he could see nothing but flames. He cried out in fear, assuming he had totally ignited. But there was no pain, just heat. An uncomfortable level of heat. His helmet shifted, and there was the crunching of metal as two horns burst from his forehead and pierced the flat, steel face of his helm.

He felt himself grow larger and stronger. "Dear God! I'm on fire!" He called out, attempting to pat out the flames. But they subsided shortly, and the astonished armored warrior was left looking over himself in disbelief. The black pits of his helm's eye holes were now glowing embers.

An armored gauntlet came up and gingerly touched the horns. "Oh, my." Something felt wrong in his mouth. He ran his tongue over his teeth, and they were sharper. If he had hair, it would be red and spikey.

"I'm a demon." He mourned regretfully. But he did not feel like sacrificing goats, or pillaging the innocent. He only felt stronger.

"The powers of Hell are granted upon me..." He clenched his fist, and then sheathed his gladius, which now seemed like a dagger in his hands.

"I'll need a bigger blade." He mumbled to himself. No, he thought. This was important.

"I need a bigger sword!" Agoston demanded proudly."But now, we feast. A just reward for such a fierce battle."

The Centurion plopped himself down in a chair, the poor piece of furniture almost crumbling beneath his now much larger form. He attempted to remove his helmet, only for the article of armor to be stuck on his horns. Grunting, he tore it off, ruining the poor thing.

"I need another helmet, too. With horn holes." He wondered if there was a blacksmith. For the first time, everyone could see his face. It was battered, scarred, and rugged from years of conflict, and now his teeth were razor sharp, horns burst from his head and his eyes were burning coals. Were it not for his relaxed body language and face, he could easily be mistaken for some horrible villain. The Centurion rapped his knuckles on the table.

"Come on! A feast! The Princess commands it." He looked down a Tora and winked. "And a toast as well. To our fallen friends." As he prepared to gulp down whatever drink he had in mind, a ruckus was approaching. An intruder of some kind. He grumbled and downed his drink in one go.

"What's this!?" The horned man called out. "Be quiet!" He chucked the mug as hard as he could at the stranger.

The battle was over. With a lot of punishment coming from Ratchet, the mages, Michael's rifle, and the kid, MegaDragonBowser was down for good, although not without a few taunts. Blazermate was actually a bit concerned with his taunt, trying to get Bowser to absorb his soul. The two were basically the same thing, so it would feel like that it'd be super easy for this boss to influence bowser in the worst way possible, all of which Tora and his friend pointed out and Blazermate was all too familiar with. "I agree with Popi. I'm the only lady who is around that has taken in a spirit for more than a little bit. And it does change you, just like new parts do." She said, telling the king koopa to stay away from that spirit.

With the defeat of MegaDragonBowser, the castle seemed to get... nicer? It was hard to explain, but it was as if the entire area was free of Galeem's control, all the Galeem controlled Toads going back to normal as apparently a princess named Peach came from... somewhere to greet everyone. Blazermate wasn't too impressed unlike a few of the others at her appearance, but went with the group anyway as they made their way to another room in the castle, finding their other allies that weren't part of the megadragonbowser fight.

Speaking up, the Centurian took the spirit. After a bit of hesitation, with some help from Tora, the Centurian took the soul into himself, and after a bit of light and flame, he emerged, a more demonic, firey version of himself. "Aw hell. All I got was trousers and this weird, not cute accent. You get demonic. Lucky," Blazermate said, jealously looking at the Centurian's new form. While the rest of her team mates were eager for the food in the mess hall, Blazermate wasn't interested being a robot and all. Instead, she noticed a newcomer making his way to kick Bowser who was busy arguing! Seeing this, Blazermate put her healing beam on Bowser, although she doubted this guy could hurt him too badly.

As soon as the giant dragon turtle went down the black fog dissipated as Henry had no need for it anymore. He watched curiously as the the creature gave its final speech to the real Bowser. It was a heartfelt thing almost, if it wasn’t for the ominous smile on the dying Bowser’s face. The mage wasn’t all that interested up until a weird… spirit thing appeared from the enemy. That immediately caught his attention. After approaching closer and listening in it was made obvious that this was in fact the spirit of the dead Bowser. And what else were they talking about, absorbing it? This left the boy confused until he saw the loud, armored man absorb into his body which quickly changed the man into what looked like a demon. “Woah… that’s awesome! Do all the enemies drop spirits like that here? Can I get stuff like that too? Ooooh maybe I can finally get wings like a crow!” While too busy freaking out about this new revelation about the world he almost forgot to ask about another important thing he overheard. Galeem.

“Oh right, so what’s up with this Galeem guy you mentioned? Why am I here anyway? Or better yet where am I?” All of these questions that Henry had been holding back till now all came forward to the small group that had gathered around the Bowser spirit. But whether or not his questions were answered someone else approached and attacked the spiky turtle that Henry was starting to grow fond of based off appearance alone. That wasn’t going to fly with him. The dark mage whipped around and prepared a spell. “Careful there, attack us and you might just end up dead!” As he called this out a spark of dark magic appeared on the floor under Gene’s feet, indicating that an explosion of dark magic would occur in a moment if he didn’t move fast.

---

After so much fighting, it was finally over. The tyrant had collapsed, falling onto his stomach after another wave of attacks from the group. Michael and Franklin took a moment to relax, Michael leaning against the wall and breathing heavily while Franklin, who was in far better physical shape than Michael, stood and observed the exchange between their Bowser and the enemy Bowser. Their currently downed enemy was trying to get their Bowser to absorb their spirit. While Franklin didn't know what exactly he was looking at, it was obvious that it was some sort of trap. "Mike? The fuck's he doing?"

"What?" Michael said in between breaths, turning his head to look in Franklin's direction. "Aw, shit..." He, too, could see what was about to happen. Fortunately, so did Tora, who knocked the spirit out of Bowser's hands, and began to explain to him why it was an obvious trap. The two continued to monitor the exchange, with Bowser making some admittedly good points. Megadragonbowser was, by far, the most powerful enemy the group had encountered, meaning his spirit would be the most powerful as well. If Bowser had even a fraction of the power that his doppelganger had, it would greatly increase his fighting ability. Although, as Tora soon pointed out, it was an obvious trap, since the downed enemy was freely offering his spirit, even if they had been fighting just moments before. It seemed like he was trying to get Bowser to take his spirit, and then overwhelm him and take over his body, essentially resurrecting himself.

As the argument continued to drag on, Megadragonbowser eventually couldn't take it and succumbed to his wounds, turning into a pile of ash. "Finally..." Michael said as he and Franklin let out sighs of relief. As he fell, he let out a sigh, and a sort of wave emanated from his body. As the two looked around, they noticed that the mushroom people had seemingly calmed down, and to Michael's surprise, their eyes lost the glow that signified Galeem's influence. "Well...that makes things easier."

"Yeah...so, uh-" As soon as Franklin began to speak, the sound of someone walking down the stairs was heard, causing the two to look in the direction of the noise. Soon, a woman in a very frilly outfit entered the room, who began to congratulate the group for their efforts. The mushroom people began to move towards the woman, and they began cheering. The two criminals simply stood where they were, looking around to gauge the reactions of the other party members. Michael felt awkward, and he could see that Franklin was probably feeling the same. For one, they looked like they had walked out of a zombie movie, with their clothes covered in blood. But more importantly, they weren't used to being praised. Never really thought of myself as a hero...

The Master of Masters soon entered after them, along with the rest of the group that was busy outside. For a few moments, the two stood there, taking it all in. Michael let out a sigh of relief, leaning back against the wall. After constantly fighting ever since he had arrived in this new world, he finally had a chance to rest. Franklin, on the other had, finally had an opportunity to get some answers as to what the hell was going on. "So, like I was sayin'-"

Before Franklin could finish his sentence, he was interrupted yet again, this time by a man with a metal arm. The man, whom Michael recognized as being under Galeem's influence, almost immediately turned hostile, attempting to perform some sort of karate kick on Bowser.

"Oh, fuck this!" Franklin yelled, taking a few steps towards the intruder. "The second I get a moment to ask what the fuck is going on, some other motherfucker has to show up and start shit! Man, fuck off!" Whipping out his pistol, he pointed it at the man and fired three shots in rapid succession towards him.

Ratchet, safely disguised beneath his new invisibility, had rounded the backside of the evil Bowser alongside another of his companions, the little girl in the hat. Naturally she was unaware of his presence, which he almost gave away by accident thanks to the rather comical results of the evil Bowser attempting to attack his hologram decoy. Thankfully he was able to stymy his laughter, as it would still be possible for the dragon like creature to turn round and squash both he and the kid, while they located an axe shaped lever with some drawn instructions. Welp, can’t have a medieval castle without a classic throne room booby trap, can ya? Not that it was terribly helpful in the moment what with how positions had changed, but still nice to know the owner could have people dropped into a pit of lava on a whim. Real good stuff. Very indicative of a just and fair ruler.

Meanwhile, the Courier’s laughter died away as a sudden headache began to build up. The good feelings he had been experiencing for a while now were beginning to wane. His body was still bulked up, but the jet, oh the jet, it was disersing out his system. That was no good at all. What was good was how the dragon Bowser now lay before them in a messed up heap, practically groveling at the feet of their own Bowser… With an offer of power. The power of his soul.

Immediately the Courier swapped out the Revolution for his Ratslayer, something with a great deal more precision. Tora and Poppi, they tried to convince Bowser not to take in the spirit. The Courier was no going to take a chance and roll the dice on words. Bowser was too stubborn, too thick headed for that sort of thing. Bang! A bullet struck the spirit dead on, but had no effect. Not even the tiniest scratch. Damn, It seemed to be impervious to damage! He strolled up to everyone, rubbing the side of his head slightly.

”You hired me to make sure you and Kirby made it to the castle. I fulfilled the details of my job, so I have absolutely no problems putting as many bullets in you as it takes to make sure you don’t get up again. That’s exactly what’ll happen if you merge with that spirit.” Then something wondrous began to happen! The spirit had gotten away, but as it did a wave of gentle darkness dispersed out around them all, enveloping everything within the castle! The Courier jumped back a bit, shooting at the wave uselessly. Ratchet jumped as well, moreso in surprise. Neither of them had anything to worry about, it had seemed, as this wave was purifying Galeem’s influence from all the mushroom headed people wandering the halls. Color returned to the people and the scenery in a most marvelous fashion. So this is what it meant to take down one of Galeem’s chosen bosses, eh?

It wasn’t much longer after that that the centurion had decided to take on the spirit of MegaDragonBowser into himself, declaring that his devotion to his emperor and God to make him incorruptible. The Courier certainly didn’t believe a second of the rhetoric, having known a few too many Romans devoted to their Caesar, so he kept the Ratslayer trained on Agoston. Ratchet was likewise suspicious, and watched closely from a distance, but didn’t have any weapons at the ready. He only wanted to observe. Both looked on as Agoston grew in size, muscles rippling from his body in a flaming transformation, horns forming atop his head to match the monster they had just slain. Once it was all said and done the centurion came out of it all more boisterous, louder and obnoxious… But he didn’t appear to be any more malevolent.

At some point during all the proceedings a woman in pink descended from the stairs near Ratchet, declaring them all to be heroes. She made the executive decision that a feast should be held in their honor. Though the woman in pink never introduced herself, it wasn’t a leap in logic to assume that she was this Princess Peach that Bowser had spoken of before when he pointed out the castle in the distance. Ratchet was all too happy and eager to join her for this celebration. It wasn’t everyday that you got the royal treatment from, well, a royal!

“I’d be very happy to join you, uh, milady!” The lombax gave a low bow, looking quite comical as he nearly tipped over, now a bit top heavy from his new longer body. He followed behind Princess Peach quite closely.

A bit further away, the Courier nodded at the princess’s proposal. It certainly sounded good, and he couldn’t deny he was hungry, but at the same time… Food wasn’t what he needed. First he wandered over to Blazermate to get some of her fast action healing. It was a bit embarrassing to be walking around with scorched skin exposing his sub-dermal armor. Once that was done in a few seconds, he wandered back over to the large pile of ash that used to be the body of their foe. Taking out his empty whiskey bottle, the Courier filled it up to the brim with ash, figuring he could find a use for the material. Perhaps a new chem he could concoct?

The Master of Masters then entered the castle, alongside their pink charge Kirby, as well as the girls Linkle and Minako, and one of the bridge fighters summoned by that giant hand, who looked like he had been freed. Wait, the girls were still outside dealing with that guy? Wow, that took a long time. Oh yeah, Minako could summon that horrifying death thing! Fucking shit that would have been helpful wouldn’t it?! Anyway, the Master of Masters (Courier 6 made a mental note to start calling the guy “mom” for short and see how he reacts) gave them a congratulations, reminding them all that there were twelve more monsters like the one they had just beaten. Twelve more? Damn. If they were all as powerful as that evil Bowser, they might not even have any of the original group left by the time they reached the angelic being in the sky. The thought was kind of sobering, to remember how monumental their task would be-Ow!

Damn, thinking with the ever-growing throbbing in his head was a pain in the ass. Now there was someone entirely new shouting out for a fight? Ugh, what a pain in the mother fucking ass. He didn’t have time for this and the guy was trying to kick Bowser. Of all the group to try to kick, you go with Bowser?! Dumbass wouldn’t last more than a minute unless he had some serious tricks up his sleeves. The man was definitely buff, no question about that, but not buffer than a giant fire breathing spike-covered dragon turtle that had somehow grown even more giant in the last few minutes. The Courier opted to completely ignore this newcomer and instead approached the exotic dancer, Din, speaking to her as though there wasn’t a new fight going on right next to them.

”I’ve got a number of different chems I can make to help with future battles, but I’ll need ingredients. I saw you grow some plants. After the feast, would you care to help?”

---

It was hard not to be jealous of the ease by which Linkle procured a Friend Heart, picking up on it as naturally as she did. It was the first time in her life that Minako found herself not knowing what to do to improve herself. Before this world, before this new life, it was easy enough to figure out what she needed for a given situation, be it a bit of charm here or a powered-up Persona there, but these Friend Hearts were just something else. However it was they came about, Minako knew that she was clearly lacking in it, which felt weird considering how strong her bonds had been up until this new world.

Those bonds... they were so special to her. They were the reason she continued to work with SEES, even after suffering so much pain. It was disheartening to think she had forgotten some of the most important details of the encounters she shared with friends, the people she would gladly give up her life for. Yet, even through the void of amnesia, one incredibly annoying and persistent memory of Fuuka began to come back to her, the quote ingrained in her mind like a bad itch that would never go away. At first Yamagishi said it out of genuine surprise, but after being mocked for it, The Priestess took her revenge slowly and agonisingly, using the cursed quote every chance she got, and it pissed Minako off to no end.
"*Gasp*! The enemy!"
Those two words and that gasp was the ultimate kryptonite of any SEES Leader, ingraining itself into people's minds like a dirty parasite leeching off of her brain cells. Every time she heard that quote, her will to live shrunk three sizes.

But it wasn't all bad. A god-awful habit of an old friend helped Minako acquire a new skill - the very same said old friend would use to identify weaknesses of particular enemies. Of course, Minako knew she couldn't dream of achieving Fuuka's potential for scanning opponents and uncovering secrets, but it was a healthy power to have, and it would have plenty of uses with the coming battles.

"W-wait, Blondie, hold o-"
Junpei didn't even get a chance to scream as Linkle pitched the Friend Heart into him, however as a testament to his sheer density, it didn't go in easy. Slamming into his face with the force of a fat pillow, Iori was knocked on his rear from the power behind the throw, the heart soaring up above him. Thankfully he was hit hard enough by the squishy heart that he was forced to recover, else he might have got back up and jumped out of the way. The pink mass bounces off his head with a cute 'blob' sound before fizzling and fusing into his being, the darkness being washed away with the radiance of loving pink. No longer were his night-sky eyes filled with bloody crimson, nor his olive skin covered in ash. The leader had to do a double-take when she saw him proper.

This was Junpei.
This was Junpei!
... Right?

The young man scratched the back of his neck, still on his ass but otherwise looking completely fine. The strength-enhancing power he had been infused with, along with the regeneration gifted to him from his former girlfriend's sacrifice, meant he was able to take a hit better than most Persona summoners. Muttering a serious of 'ow's while adjusting his cap, he found himself looking up at the teary-eyed figure of Minako Arisato, a dumbfounded gasp escaping his lips.
Then, he smiled.
"Mina, it's good to see ya. I'm back."

Minako can barely comprehend what's going on. She's frozen in place, the unbelievable sight of having a former friend back after being left to assume the worst... it was a strange feeling. It was happiness or joy or sadness or anger. It was something more than all of those things, as though they had combined into one. Her legs lose what little strength they had and she collapses into his arms, the two embracing in a tight hug. It was the only way to explain how that feeling felt, using a hug like that. "I don't... I can't... It's unbelievable...!" So many things she had to say. So much they had to catch up on. So many important questions to ask. But for now, the two of them left it at that, locked in an embrace inseparable by even time.

Bowser’s retort to being called childish died in his throat as his double did, the explosion of the treacherous tyrent’s corpse blasting him and the others away. He fell to the ground with an oof while the mote of light they had been arguing over was blown away. Bowser groaned and picked himself up off the floor again for the umpteenth time as the explosion seemed to continue in a non destructive fashion, turning into a wave of purification that swapped through the halls, wiping way Galeem’s influence. As he dusted himself off Bowser was rather glad that this meant that he probably wouldn’t have to fight his family in the same way the heros had had to fight their friends outside.

Bowser would have been furious over the Centurion’s subsequent thievery of his rightful prize if he had noticed him take it occur. Fortunately for everyone involved he could not take his eyes off of the person who came walking down the stairs a few moments after Megadragonbowser’s curse upon her kingdom was lifted.

She was beauty, she was grace, she left a love stuck expression on Bowser’s stupid face

Bowser entirely misinterpreted the look of hope that showed on peach’s face when she saw he was not his double as a display of affection rather than relife that the other him was gone. A part of him, an almost instinctive on at this point, took this misinterpreted signal of interest and insisted that he whisk her away (read:kidnap) her at once so that they could be together again. It wasn’t his brains feeble attempts at pointing out how stupid an idea that this was at the moment, both because there where dozens of heroes around him a the moment and the fact that he would be instantly putting himself back in her bad books, that he that stopped him from acting on his heart's reckless impulses, but rather his stomach. Peach’s cooking was the stuff of legends and the offer of a feast, combend with the fact that he had had nothing but a super shroom to eat since he woke up let the king’s stomach come out as the master of Bowser’s decision making process for the time being. His heart graciously admitted defeat, knowing its day would come again soon enough, while his brain went off to sulk about the fact that it was getting ignored again.

He turned to follow his love like a lost puppy, only to be kicked in the face moments later by some beach hair bellend in a black outfit who’s arrival he had failed to notice, the king having only had eyes for peach right up until the moment that he hit the floor again.

Having been knocked out of his loving tance the downed bowser turned to look at Gene as best he could from his compromised position. Noticing that they appeared to be free of Galem’s power he jabbed a bright glowing claw of his mecha-mitt in the general direction of his attacker and demanded to know “WHO IN THE BLAZES ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO BE!” rather than just trying to incinerate them on the spot.

---

The fighter's attack was about to connect with the lizard's big dumb head when...

It all came back.

His eyes returned to normal, and for a moment in time, Gene was confused. Where the hell was Angra? Where was he? And why didn't he feel the power of Azel's God Hand? In his confusion, he forgot to halt his jumping kick, and his feet planted themselves firmly onto Bowser's face. The two of them fell to the ground, Gene falling right into Henry's attack and taking the brunt of it with a shout of pain. Recovering quickly, he jumped back up onto his feet. Ignoring his wounds, he began looking around frantically, trying to find something, anything that was familiar.

This wasn't where he was fighting Angra. This was a big fancy castle. And there were so many people he didn't recognize. Robots and humans and creatures, oh my! He was trying to piece it all together when he saw the giant lizard was throwing a punch his way! Instinctively, Gene ducked just out of the way of the attack, an impressed whistle escaping his lips despite himself. Instead of trying to fight back, however, Gene began to talk. "Hey there man, let's be cool, no need to be so hotheaded!"

That did not come out as the placating comment Gene expected it to be. And he figured it was kind of hypocritical considering he had attacked first. Still, the furious fighter continued to speak. "Er, uh, I didn't mean that. What I meant was I have absolutely no clue how I got here or why I was attacking you so can we just cool it for a minute!?"

Mario's mega fireball hit its mark and with the combined might of everyone's firepower, they were quick to bring Megadragonbowser down to his knees. He laid down on his hands and knees, seemingly begging to his doppel-ganger to take his spirit and claim everything for himself. Their koopa-pounding nemesis was not pleased in hearing it and was ready to throw down if their Bowser went berserk over his newfound power he'd so ominously utilize all for himself. His fist was raised, burning brightly, as he prepared to engage.

However, he didn't need to do anything as Tora and Poppi were fighting over who'd get the spirit besides Bowser himself. Mario remained silent, his burning gaze never leaving Bowser's while he plotted his own methods to settle him down. But out of all the people who'd get the spirit, it was the Centurion who'd take up the offer. Courageous and loyal only to his 'God' (or so he said), his point was soon made across and he was given the spirit to carry for himself. However, it morphed the warrior slightly to fit more within the tyrant's persona, along with the Centurion's personality.

Mario could've theoretically have taken the spirit into himself - considering he had once possessed Bowser's own mind during his recent great odyssey - but he currently had no intentions in risking his own sanity with the Koopa King's filth. Meanwhile Geno was indifferent regarding the turn of events, although he was also admittedly thankful that Bowser didn't harness the Boss's spirit. He came to the aid of the fallen Spyro as he helped the poor dragon get back onto his feet.

"Are you ok?" the doll asked concerningly.

Spyro grunted as he fluffed off his wings.

"Y-Yeah... I'm ok." he groaned, "A little shaky, but I've encountered worse."

Geno would then frown upon realizing how the young dragon got to be where he was.

"It wasn't wise to engage him head on you know?" the warrior would say somewhat sternly, "You could've been killed."

"There was an opening for me to attack!" the purple dragon replied with a slight whine, only to regain his senses, "Or uh... I mean, I thought there was an opening. But you're right, I should be more careful."

"For your own sake, please do." the star warrior agreed with a simple nod.

Before they could continue, they could see the entire castle come back to its original form - revealing the original grand majesty of the beautiful interior of Peach's castle. Mario's nostalgic feelings came rushing through him as his sense of tension seemed to immediately become mute to the calming aura that formed around him.

And then, he saw her.

His eyes widened as he saw the love of his life, Princess Peach, - in the flesh - emerge from the great doors, with her toad servants to see the victory that had transpired. His heart hastened, relieved to see her alive and well. From her depressive frown of dread, her smile blossomed like the flowers in Spring as she congratulated everyone for their efforts in combating against the tyrannical Megadragonbowser. She'd then offer them a great feast and would soon retreat back to her quarters.

Mario would waste no time in following her as he proceeded to rush of the great flight of stairs and follow the Princess. He was unusually bigger than he would've liked - being how he wasn't able to properly utilize the Super Mushroom and how he didn't get hit back to normal - however, he believed that it wouldn't matter much at all.

He didn't even seem to notice Bowser looking at her in a lustful expression... probably for the best as well.

"Peach-a!" he called out to her excitedly as he attempted to keep his emotions in check, "Oh thank-a-da star road that you're alright-a!"

And as he awaited for her to respond, Geno also emerged from behind, where he also had the idea to meet up the the Princess of the Mushroom Kingdom after a long awaited hiatus.

"Your Highness." he affirmed politely.

Meanwhile, Spyro roamed amongst the cast of fighters while waiting for food to arrive in his belly. He was absolutely starving, considering how much he had to deal with in the last couple of hours since he was here. He'd then notice the newcomer that entered the room, he being a tall, white-haired, man who looked much like a proper fighter, engaging in a brief argument with Bowser himself. He'd approach him cautiously before he found himself looking up at him.

"And who are you?" he asked the man curiously and in a way nicer way compared to the Koopa King, "Looks like you've found us all in a tough pickle, I'd say."

Tora watched with bated breath as the prismatic dancing light surrounding his ally turned to a dazzling inferno. After a few moments of wide-eyed staring he was forced to look away and squeeze his peepers shut, so brilliant was the glow. Before long, however, the deed was done. When Tora looked at Agoston again, he found the man large, stronger, and much, much scarier than before. For a moment panic gripped the Nopon; did the spirit of Megadragonbowser corrupt him after all? But the Centurion's actions in the next few moments displayed acute self-awareness, and suggested not even the faintest hint of violent intent. For the first time, those assembled got the chance to see their stalwart comrade's face. His features, rugged and weary but strong, inspired a different sort of awe. And when he winked at Tora, any doubts the young inventor had were washed away. Sure, the Centurion boasted some new hardware, but the software was the same.

Behind him, Poppi glanced at her masterpon. With the excitement of battle gone, she couldn't distract herself from the realization of what happened before, and that feeling of guilt welled up once again. She said nothing, staring away into a corner, until Henry asked a question that Tora happened not to hear. “Poppi has been here about as long as you, but yes, seems so.”

Just when it seemed like everyone could let out their pent-up stress and relax, someone new barged onto the seen. An ordinary-looking fellow except for the telltale signs of Galeem's influence, he wasted no time in zeroing in on Bowser to pick a fight. He attacked before Tora could really process what was going on, smacking the Koopa but not really hurting him. In response, two of the party members -Franklin and Henry- struck back. The damage, somehow, seemed to knock the Galeem right out of him—or was it because of that dark wave, finally taking hold? Either way, somehow, Gene regained his senses and with it lost his desire to keep fighting. It was weird, but Tora didn't object; the more the merrier, after all. He decided to greet the new arrival, and in the process also unwittingly give Franklin a few of the answers he was looking for.

“Hello, friend!” He called, waddling over to clap a wing on Gene's shoulder while Spyro said his piece. “Take easy, meh. Will explain, but doesn't make most sense, so listen close. Basically, crazy light monster called Galeem destroy everything everywhere and make new world under his control. But friend pinkypon free us with heart, and now on adventure to set everything right by beating up big baddies, meh. If friend fight good, can tag along!”

Nearby, the Master of Masters watched the situation unfold. That Nopon seemed to be content doing his job for him, which helped solidify in his mind his plan to leave the group. “Couldn't have said it better myself,” he agreed. Kirby came down off his head, and bounced toward the party to celebrate with them. Since nothing else seemed to need the Master of Masters' attention, he decided to have a look around. The garden out back might be nice.

Though Tora might have liked to stick around and talk with Gene some more, the pit in his stomach compelled him to follow in Peach and Ratchets' footsteps. Poppi, noticing his departure, followed alongside wordlessly. They passed the Centurion on their way in, who'd just downed a drink and chucked the cup at the intruder, and entered through the open door into an altogether cozy room. With stone walls, light streaming in through a long metal-latticed window, and all the cooking space and equipment one could need, it was comfortable and homely, but also a bustle of activity. The toads, though hard at work, paused their activities cooking, kneading, chopping, and measuring to say hello. All sorts of smells bombarded the pair as they slowly made their way to the other end of the long chamber, where two women were busy cooking. One was Peach, having already discarded her dainty gloves and washed her hands to contribute directly, and the other was a stranger. Both, however, accomplished their tasks with both grace and precision, making it seem easy. For a moment Tora merely watched, overwhelmed, until Peach noticed his face and giggled. “You look like you're seeing a magic show. Do you like cooking?”

The Nopon scratched his head, somewhat embarrassed. “...Mehmeh. Like eating cooking, but not cooking so much. Tora usually get ingredients that can be eaten without cooking.”

Poppi cracked a smile, though she still looked downcast overall. “That kind of sad.”

Blustering, Tora waved his wings. “Nonono, meh! When live alone and too busy engineering to cook, not have time for fancy dishes!”

Peach laughed again, and tossed him a slice of orange. The Nopon caught it, thanked her, and started eating immediately. Just after, Mario and Geno arrived to meet with the Princess. She smiled warmly, and stopped cutting fruit for a moment to put her hands together. “How wonderful to see you both. It hurt so terribly to know that you were held captive in the dungeon, Mario, and not do anything about it. And Geno.” She gave the polite doll a curtsy. “It's been a very long time. I'm glad you're well.” Another, somewhat helpless laugh escaped her. “My apologies for a less-than-proper introduction. I figured I'd do what I...hm, you know, do best. To thank you all. In the mean time, the castle's yours. Feel free to go anywhere you want. Or, you could stay here. With this much help, things should be ready in a half hour or so, but we can always use more.”

Hearing, her, Tora nodded his body in determination. “Then Tora will help! May not be good cook, but can follow instructions of one.” He span around to face his artificial blade, too full of spirit to notice her demeanor. “What about Poppi? Want to help? Tora knows Poppi cannot eat, but can enjoy smells, right?”

For a moment Poppi remained silent. In that pause, Tora realized that his partner seemed somewhat conflicted. Something was wrong. “...Poppi? What wrong?”

She closed her eyes, smiling. “Nothing! Just want to get some air. Masterpon go ahead and help in kitchen.” With that, she went back the way she came, headed out the kitchen and through the throne room toward the door leading outside.

Tora's brows furrowed. He thought back to advice given to him from Gramps, Nia, Pyra, and Dromarch. What should he do? “Hmm...strange. Poppi seem sad, but Tora not want to seem overbearing. Should give space for now.” To avoid interrupting Peach and her friends, he went past a few giant barrels filled with various drinks toward the other woman. “Hello! What should Tora do to help?”

Cooking Mama's eyes gleamed. She passed the Nopon a spatula and pointed him toward a nearby stove. “Keep an eye on that meat. Season it every so often, and check the bottoms. When they're brown, turn them over so that the other side can fry!”

Taking the spatula, Tora waddled over. While Mama was short and had a huge head, she could at least see and reach over the counter and appliances. His eyes barely crested the sides. Still, he burned with resolve—the desire to make and eat delicious food. “Okay, leave it to Tora!”

@ProPro

Din watched with a tired gaze as Megadragonbowser finally collapsed. He offered his spirit to Bowser, but it was ultimately snatched up by the Centurion. Din looked around for Zer0 and Gaige's bodies, but remembered that after they had been brutally slain, their bodies turned to ash just as Megadragonbowser's had, and their spirits had been picked up by her allies. Even the wave that cleared away the corruption did little to lift Din's spirits as she pondered her own mortality and if her friends would simply cannibalize her soul as well. Or maybe her soul wasn't worth acquiring? The lady of the castle presented herself and invited them to feast, and it seemed that merriment was in order, but Din felt something needed to be done to address the souls that had been lost. Besides, if 12 more threats on the same or greater level as Megadragonbowser remained, how many of them would survive until the end? The hand had mentioned at the bridge that its minions were stronger thanks to Galeem, whereas Din had seen firsthand that her allies strengthened themselves by consuming the spirits of the fallen. Would this conflict simply devolve into a war where combatants of both sides fought with tremendous levels of borrowed power?

She was broken out of her thoughts by the Courier, who asked for help growing herbs. She looked with some concern as the white-haired gentleman came in, about to start a fight, but s he suddenly started giving excuses for his initial aggression, Din reasoned that this matter would resolve itself shortly. This whole matter of being mind-controlled to fight each other and coming to ones senses was getting old rapidly. She nodded to the Courier, and asked one of the mushroom people where the castle's gardens were, assuming that an opulent castle like this would have one. Together with the Courier, she walked as directed. Out of the blue, she said, "What's your name? Mine's Din. I guess, where I'm from doesn't matter. But I just want to know your name, and for you to know mine. Those two who died...I didn't know their names...we don't even have bodies we can bury."

Arriving in the garden, Din noticed that it was rather crowded with strange and fantastical beasts. "Do you have samples for the plants you want to grow?" she asked, as it would be difficult to produce if she didn't know what plants he wanted.

@Lugubrious

---

Linkle's face fell and she jumped back, raising one leg to prepare for a kick as it came back down. There was no way she was managing to screw this up, she was ready to force that heart down his stupidly dense throat if she had to! Luckily for her him that confrontation never came. The second time the heart bopped him on the head, it took. While it didn't heal the boys slight injuries it did chase the angry crimson from his eyes. "Yes!" she said, leaping the air one fist extended straight up before turning to Minako and opening it for a high five. Only to catch a glimpse of the girls face and slowly lowered it. Minako was transfixed on the newly rescued boy, a mix of emotions Linkle couldn't quite follow playing across her face before she collapsed onto the boy with tear stained eyes. Linkle stepped back, suddenly getting the impression that this was something that should be shared only between them, a just observed the pair for a moment.

Yeah, she thought to herself. That's the way a hero is supposed to make people feel. Even if she questioned how much of this outcome had been down to her involvement she still nodded in satisfaction at the contribution she'd made to it. She started wondering if she should withdraw coolly at this point, and that thought cut through to mood and reminded her that the job was only half over! She spun around, ready to sprint inside the castle to aide her allies in the terrible sounding battle within only to discover that there weren't any more terrible sounds. The only sounds that reached her ears where Minako's shuttering sentence starts. The castle was silent. Then, all of a sudden, a cloud of spreading darkness erupted from the castle and Linkle braced herself as it spread over them. When it past she quickly looked around in a worried panic, but everyone outside seemed fine. She turned her gaze back to the castle. "I think they just won." she said, the thinnest hint of disappointment creeping into her voice.

---

Linkle would have found the idea that dark magic could be beneficial a hard sell if she hadn't run into a dark, statuesque beauty in her travels that had helped her rescue Princess Zelda by using dark magic to beat monsters with a whole bridge. Even if she had never met her, however, just walking in the front door of the castle made it obvious enough that the cloud of darkness hadn't hurt their cause. As she pushed open the door, crossbows in hand in case of trouble, she only succeeded in scaring some adorable and totally uncharred mushroom men. She apologized profusely as they crossed the atrium and she pushed open the opposite door.

What appeared before her was a sea of faces, old and new. Some really new. Some that weren't even on the bridge, and she almost mistook Ratchet for a newcomer given his increased height. One of them was even a little dragon! She also caught the gunsliger giving them a look and felt herself go red with embarrassment for getting here too late to help with the battle. Still, her mood was pretty up. At least until the Master pointed out who wasn't among the crowd.

Linkle wasn't sure she'd even gotten a good look at the girl The Master mentioned, but Zer0 being gone threw her. No way that was true. She looked again, then again, then a third time, but no matter what she couldn't find the strange faceless swordsman anywhere. Gone. Dead.

Even if she had never really spoken with the man his loss filled her with an almost spiritual unease. She hadn't expected it. She hadn't even considered it since The Master had said he saw them in the future. Zer0 had, in her mind, been a part of some grand design. They all were. Destiny had said they made it through this, and with that in mind she hadn't had to worry. She just had to do her best, like she always did, and everything would be fine. Now, though, nothing was certain. The river of destiny could be carrying any of these people to their ends.

An intrusive thought slithered its way into her mind. If she had been stronger, if she had been able to get Minako and Junpei in here during the battle, would their powers have saved Zer0 and his friend?

Her thoughts were interrupted when Agoston boldly marched to the spirit glittering on the ground and used it up, transforming an already monster of a man into a literal monster. If Bowser were a man instead of a dragon she imagined that's what he'd probably look like, and the man walked off proclaiming proudly that the Princess had commanded a feast. Linkle was about to follow out of sheer curiosity over what this Princess looked like when a man suddenly charged in through the doorway, rudely shoving past her and kicked Bowser in the back. Even more amazingly, the attack had actually managed to knock Bowser over. She pointed her bow at the stranger, but everyone else beat her to the punch. She instead turned her attention back to the open door, the mushroom boys that she figured were supposed to be guarding it, and the area beyond the castle. Looked like anything out there could just walk in.

Her eyes went wide as she suddenly remembered something, but before she could act on it Tora's mechanical friend walked past them and headed towards it. "Hey." Linkle called out to her. "Tora's friend, wait a minute. There's this really spooky robot we saw out there that likes shooting other robots. It was in that place near the castle with all the metal junk. It might still be creeping around."

---

Franklin's attack landed on the stranger, and so did Henry's, but as it did, the wave from before swept him as well. As soon as it did, Galeem's influence was purged from the man, leaving him confused, trying to calm down the now enraged Bowser. Michael put his hand on Franklin's wrist, urging him to lower his gun. "Calm down, Frank. It's over, he's on our side now. Right?" Michael said, looking up to the newcomer, who was trying to calm everyone down as well.

Franklin didn't exactly understand what just happened, but he could tell that the stranger was acting differently as soon as the wave overcame him, so he complied, lowering his gun. "Alright, we cool now? Cool." He took in a deep breath, calming himself down as he put his pistol back in his pocket. As everyone calmed down, Tora showed up and began to explain the nature of the situation to the newcomer, inadvertently giving Franklin some of the answers he was looking for. Franklin listened intently, a confused look on his face. Whatever this thing is, it's got a weird ass accent...

Besides Tora's odd way of speaking, some of the things he said seemed completely illogical to Franklin. He turned to Michael, who gave him a nod as Tora finished speaking. "I know it sounds weird, but everything he said is true. Come on, let's get something to eat, I'll tell you more about it." Franklin, after a moment of thinking, shrugged, and followed Michael to the kitchen.

The two men walked in, seeing the woman from earlier, as well as another woman who neither of them recognized. Michael gave a nod as he walked past them. Both of their faces lit up as they smelled what was being made in the kitchen. Michael couldn't help but salivate, having gone so long without food. I'd kill for a burger right now, but this smells really good. Still...I hope we find a Burger Shot somewhere along the way. The pair continued towards the table, pulling out chairs and sitting down. There was a brief silence, before Franklin spoke up. "So...all of that was true, huh?"

Michael nodded. "Yeah. Listen, what was the last thing you remember before you showed up here?"

Franklin frowned, struggling to remember. "Well...we was at Trevor's airfield, right? And then...there was that light." He considered that for a second. "Oh, shit. So...damn, that was this Galeem dude? I wasn't just seeing things?"

Michael nodded. "Yeah. That was him. Basically, we all got swept up by that light, and brought here. You saw Kirby, right? The pink guy?" Franklin gave a short nod. "So, basically, he survived that. Now, when you got here, and when we got here, we were all under a sort of...brainwashing, I guess." It wasn't exactly accurate, but it was close enough. "But, Kirby freed a bunch of us, including me, and later we went and freed you and the rest of the guys on that bridge.

"Alright...so, what now?"

"Well, basically, if we can take out this Galeem prick, we get to go home, is what I've heard. But before we can do that, we need to take out a bunch of guys that are working for him. Think of it like, Galeem's the boss, and these guys are the lieutenants."

Franklin nodded in understanding. "And let me guess- that big motherfucker we killed back there was one of 'em?"

"Exactly. We've still got a bunch more to go, but that was the first one."

Franklin leaned back in his chair, taking a moment to think before continuing. "Well, shit, I'm in. Let's take this asshole down."

Kid wasn’t sure what to expect as far as her findings upon bursting through the doorway at the top of the stairwell, but it certainly wasn’t the overtly lavish bedchamber she found herself in, undoubtedly fit for royalty. Speaking of which, her ‘objective’, as it turned out, was none other than the room’s occupant; a (relatively) brightly dressed woman in crown and frill, planted in an oversized chair in the far corner absentmindedly crocheting away. She might have all but blended in with the rest of the gentle pink scenery if not for the telltale signs of influence that afflicted the child earlier, along with just about everyone else she had encountered (save for her squadmates) since her arrival. How this was at all going to help with the battle against MegaDragonBowser, as she was hoping for, she had no idea. Her mind quickly raced to the conclusion that she was yet another captive of greater importance and relevance similarly in need of rescue, from both her condition and situation, but as far as the former was concerned, how? She didn’t possess the same power as the others to ‘free’ the ‘hearts’ of others, and they were a little busy handling more critical concerns to be bothered with another right now. As Hat Kid pondered what to do next, she was interrupted in the middle of her thoughts when a soft, cleansing shadow swept over the castle, restoring its former life to it and everything in it. The regal woman, having broken from her trance, immediately honed in on the realization of what had just transpired and took off in a hurry downstairs to confirm her intuition, not even so much as acknowledging the presence of an adolescent stranger her room before rushing past her through the doorway.

“Wait!” Hat Kid called to the princess to halt her to no avail. Last she checked, there was a heated battle going on downstairs, so her working assumption was that it probably wasn’t safe for the princess to venture down there to see for herself, as she seemed so eager to do. It didn’t occur to Kid that, being just that: a kid, one might similarly object to her involvement in such perilous goings-on. Regardless, she felt the need to catch up to the princess so she could pull her out of harm’s way if and when needed. With a sourceless chime and a puff of smoke above her head, a winged red visor cap took the place of Kid’s top hat as she sped after the royal at now twice her natural speed. Considering that she was going downhill, it might not have been the best idea to suddenly accelerate as she did; a fact that hadn’t crossed her mind until she reached the bottom. At the last dozen or so steps leading onto the throne room floor, she clipped one of her toes on a misstep, sending her tumbling forward for the last few feet to fall flat on her face against the marbled tile.

Kid looked up from her prone position only to have to shield her eyes from the colorful incandescence that drew all eyes to the center of the room. She could have almost mistaken the glow for that of the boss if not for the variation in hues that coalesced into a whiter, brighter light, that the fact that all the others were more calmly congregated around it, in stark contrast to earlier. She slowly rose to her feet and uncovered her vision as the flames began to die down, and her eyes and mouth widened in curious awe at what she beheld. Amidst the dissipating fires stood--in new form--the knight, now harboring distinct features of MegaDragonBowser. He bore a demonic visage, displayed initially by his new horns, his already exceptional muscle mass swelled, filling out his armor, and a smoldering orange glow burned itself into the chroma of his eyes, piercing through the dark of the ocular pits in his helmet. Hat Kid concluded that this transformation was not too dissimilar to the one underwent by the commando moments ago when infusing himself the soul of the assassin; only this time with a much more potent spirit. Thankfully, this radical change did little nothing to diminish his boisterous demeanor or alter his perceptions of who his allies were, as he cheerfully called for them to join him in a celebratory toast to their hard-earned victory, co-signing on the princess’ invitation to join in a hero’s feast.

On that note, the princess gave her sincerest thanks to the party for her and her kingdom’s emancipation from the infernal usurper before offering them food and fancy as a show of her gratitude. Even through her smile it was easy to see, but hard to imagine just how difficult it must have been for her to live under the tyrant in forcible matrimony for as long as she did, however long that was. The heroes only spent the duration of the short time since Hat Kid’s crash landing dealing with him, which was somewhere under an hour, and already it felt like most of the day had passed. To say the least, it was a relief finally be met with a period of respite from the day’s tribulations. Even if there was some sudden following commotion brought about with Bowser and a suspiciously apologetic newcomer, the real fight was over with… one of them, anyways. The hooded figure made casual mention of there existing a dozen more bosses just like the last--if not worse--along with a commanding name she hadn’t heard before. It was clear to her that he knew a great deal more than everyone else about what was going on, yet he expressed as much in such a confidently nonchalant manner, as if he didn’t worry for the outcome. She would have to make a point to pry at him for answers later.

For the moment, Kid’s attention went elsewhere. She wasn’t ready to sit down and join the others for dinner just yet. She didn’t get a good chance to search Peach’s room for anything of use or interest earlier, as she initially intended to, so she had the mind to run back and follow through on her intentions proper, now things had calmed down a bit. No, she wasn’t planning to STEAL anything! It just stood out to her just how out of place most everyone and everything was in this world, so it wasn’t unreasonable to suspect that certain things might inadvertently end up where they otherwise don’t belong, like in the possession of one to whom it may be unbeknownst. In other words, one could argue--with torturously stretched rationale--that Hat Kid was simply making sure the princess hadn’t stolen anything… accidentally.

At any rate, Kid gave a perfunctory, shifty-eyed glance about her surroundings before quietly sneaking off back to the upstairs bedroom to begin her investigation. She would look behind and beneath the furniture, atop the roof of the bed, behind the paintings (if there were any), maybe inside of a hidden wall or trap door; she would come the room thoroughly anything out of the ordinary that might be worth the effort to find. Her Relic Badge would have made this much easier for her, if she still had it. Alas, she was left at the mercy of educated guesswork this time around. Once again, she didn’t know exactly what she hoped to yield from her search, but her instincts, intuition and earlier reasoning (the more sensible, logical half of it anyways) told her that she needn’t leave the place untouched. Untarnished, however, she would at least try for, but made no promises.

---

Gene, after seeing that the giant lizard thing wasn't going to attack (at least, not yet), let out a sigh of relief. "... Man, I... Really am sorry about that though. I didn't hurt you or anything right?" He doubted he could actually hurt the lizard, it looked pretty tough, but then he did whoop Angra's ass pretty hard. Of course, that was with both God Hands, and... Wait, didn't he remember not feeling the Left God Hand's power? He double checked his left arm, finding that it didn't carry the tribal tattoos of the God Hand on it. Oh crap, he really was back at square one.

He was pulled out of his shock as a small purple dragon approached him, asking who he was and saying that he had found this group in a bit of a jam. He felt his trademark cocky grin make its way onto his face, and he pounding his fist into his hand. "The name's Gene, and I'm the warrior known as the God Hand!" Maybe that was a bit too bombastic and arrogant given he was still on thin ice after attacking so suddenly. Still, he couldn't help it. "Uh, so who are..."

He trailed off as the little onion looking thing approached him, the onion slapping its hand onto Gene's shoulder and telling the fighter to take it easy. He began to explain it in what Gene figured was layman's terms. He didn't know what a Galeem was, but fighting? Fighting was his specialty. "Well, you bet your ass I'm good at fighting! Check this out!" He began to unleash his trademark combo at the air, starting with a Mach Speed Jab...

And simply threw a single left jab instead. Then a left hook, and a straight, followed by an uppercut. What the?! "That's... Weird. I had learned so many different techniques but now it's like I can't remember them..." He tried to go for the Yes Man Kablaam, a personal favorite, and instead did a simple guard break. "Huh. Guess that guy must've zapped my techniques. Damn." He turned back to the onion, shrugging. "I can fight, but I'm not as good as I used to be. Maybe I'll find more techniques as we travel. I dun- oh."

He finally noticed that the onion had waddled away in the direction of food. Gene's mouth watered despite himself. Man, food would be so good right now. Still, he had to find out about these other folks. At the sound of a question directed towards him, Gene craned his head, seeing the middle aged guy in the suit calling out to him to assure he was on their side. In response, Gene gave a grin and a thumbs up, calling back. "Yeah, I'm not brainwashed and crazy anymore! ... Least I hope not!" Despite himself, he let out another sigh of relief, looking back at the two that were still near him. "Sorry again about the whole kick to the face thing. Kinda couldn't stop myself," he gave one last apology to the lizard, then turned back to the dragon. "So, like I was saying, who are you guys?"

Ratchet eagerly followed the princess into the kitchen, where a number of those mushroom headed people were hard at work, along with a fairly normal looking human woman. To his surprise, the princess herself began getting in on the hard work of preparing a feast. It kind of blew his mind to see royalty getting their hands dirty, but it was clear this was far from the first time Peach had taken the time to prepare a meal herself. She was a natural in the kitchen. Ratchet appreciated the sentiment, but couldn’t help feeling just a bit uncomfortable, so he nervously scratched the back of his head. Tora got in on the action too, helping out on Peach’s orders after getting a nice little snack of some sort of fruit. The lombax was about to speak up when Mario and Geno entered the kitchen, stealing away the princess’s attention. It seemed like she knew them, and was very close to Mario at the least.

The three exchanged some words, then Peach was back to giving attention to Tora, leaving Ratchet to feel like an extra wheel. He tried to interject a couple times, but didn’t find a good point to say anything. Not that he had all that much to say in the situation. With a shrug, he finally added in, ”I can help too. I’m better with machines than food, but I guess that’s just the sort of sacrifice a hero is expended to make.” Whatever task he was assigned, either by Princess Peach or by Cooking Mama, he was happy to oblige.

---

Back in the throne room, the Courier walked side by side with Din. The red haired dancer didn’t seem to be heading toward the kitchen or any kind of dining hall, but rather toward the castle garden. The Courier guessed that she was rather in a bit of a hurry then? He did say it could wait until after they ate, but then again food probably wouldn’t be ready for a few minutes. Yeah, her way was probably for the best. At least if he had something to do he could take his mind off the painful pounding in his head. Thud. Thud. Thud. Ah, god dammit all to Hell.

That’s when Din caught him completely off guard, asking for his name before offering her own. Oh, that’s right, he had never introduced himself when they woke up back on that hill, did he? She had already told her name back at the beginning though, so her memory was faulty. At least, that’s the way he saw things.

”My name is unimportant,” he said rather plainly. He paused a moment to pick up his rawhide hat that had come off during the fight against that evil Bowser. ”I’m just a courier. I travel places, delivering packages, mail, anything really. Just a lonesome drifter who leaves town as soon as he finds it.”

He listened to her speak rather melancholically about their fallen comrades. She didn’t talk like someone who knew conflict, pain, or death. It was… Puzzling. To he who lived a life full of strife, pain, and killing, it was a difficult concept to understand. He could never relate to this woman, no matter how hard he wanted to. ”In the Mojave, you have breakfast with your best friend, and by lunch you’re mourning them,” he spoke matter of factly. ”My world is different from this hodgepodge mishmash, but no less dangerous. Maybe moreso. Living day to day is a struggle for most folk. If the wildlife isn’t eating you, the raiders are killing you for your stuff. If you fight off the raiders, you still have to deal with the desert sun and radiation poisoning. Death is just a fact. So I… Can’t be affected by this the same way as you.”

He let that hang in the air for a second before continuing. ”Course, we still fight like hell. To get by, to survive, to live for a better tomorrow. Others die so we can carry the torch. It’s the same here, with Zer0 and Gaige. Their spirits still live on, pushing us to succeed.” To emphasize, he lifted up the Revolution, the machine gun Gaige’s spirit had become. ”Zer0 the assassin. Gaige, the mechromancer. They called themselves Vault Hunters. True badasses. They won’t let death stop them, and neither will I. I already crawled back from Hell once.”

Suddenly they found themselves in the garden. The flora of this place was so lush and green, like back in Vault 22. That place had more greenery than he’d even thought could exist in the world. Of course, just like the rest of the wasteland, it was a mere mirage of peace of prosperity, ready to kill at the drop of a pin. But this, this place felt entirely different. Peaceful. The fauna was unusual, green dinosaur like creatures, more of those rabbit like things that resembled Mario and the princess, a couple creatures made of some sort of fabric, and all manner of bizarre, strange mutant like critters. Nothing seemed to be aggressive or inherently bad though, so the Courier paid them all no mind, instead opting to answer Din’s final question.

”Uh… Samples? Um…” Courier 6 rooted around in his bag for some trace of what he was looking for. Damn, he had used up all his supplies to make more alcohol and chems before. If he had anything, it’d only be the dregs. After some thorough rummaging, the Courier was able to produce only small shavings of the plants he was after: a bit of root bristle from a xander root, a single petal from a broc flower, just a smidge of fungus, the peel of a yucca banana, and a cactus flower. ”I hope these are good enough?”

“WHAT NO I AM FINE” Bowser respond to his attacker’s shows of concern while he picked himself off the floor. Again. Then after listening to him ramble for a bit the king told him that:

“YEAH GALEEM KINDA MESSED US ALL UP, SO WE’RE GOING TO MESS THEM UP. YOU UP FOR THAT? THEN YOUR WORKING FOR ME, BOWSER, THE KOOPA KING! GOT IT? GOOD. BECAUSE I’M STARVING”

Having sorted everything out perfectly the king tuned and followed the hamster towards the kitchen, doing nothing but raise an eyebrow at the dejected robot girl coming the opposite direction. He licked his fingers and tried to make his hair more presentable as he waited for her to pass, before barely managing to scrap his way through the door frame. Inside he found his love, worst enemy and a bunch of other nobodies. Fortunately Peach seemed to be more interested in teaching the argumentative poppy how to cook than engage Mario, who was obviously excited to see her, in conversation.

“HELLO BEAUTIFUL” He greeted Peach, before also greeting mama “ALSO HELLO NICE CHEF LADY” because even the king knew it was bad idea to be rude to someone who’s going to be making you food.

Bowser attempted to lean on a counter coolly, broke it, and then stood with his arms crossed casually leaning against a wall. As a result he just generally got in the way of everyone trying to make food.

“SHAME YOU MISSED THE FLIGHT EARLIER, BECAUSE LET ME TELL YOU, I WAS PRETTY AWESOME. REALLY SHOWED THAT WANNA BE WHO’S THE BEST ME. I.E. ME OBVIOUSLY” he gloated/flirted

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When Bowser jr came to his senses he found himself in an unfamiliar room surrounded by unfamiliar playthings. He took a few moments to run though how he might have gotten here.

He remembered waking up and moping around his room because he had been grounded after the whole rabbit fiasco. Then his father called him from the moon because he wanted picked up after another failed kidnapping attempt. After whining about how upset he was about not being able to be the ring barer for his wedding, despite the fact that the ring was apparently six times his size, he had guilt tripped papa into un-grounding him and also into letting him plan their next scheme. Said planning had taken about 3 minutes because he was just that good a planner. He’d gone to the moon, picked up his dad and then he’d gotten a matching suit from the bunnies while the koopaling went and stole a weather control rod from some science nerd with swirly glasses. Then they’d gone to peach's castle, fought Mario for a bit before they were interrupted. Gone to a cliff to fight some floating hands and then got blasted only to end up here.

With all these cool toys!

Jr more or less forgot about the strangeness of his situation and instead got down to the business of discover for the second time all the neat things in the room playroom. In only a few minutes he had assembled a replica of peach's castle out of building blocks and was playing a game of kidnap the princess using every single amiibo as the pieces.

”ha ha ha, I have you now Mario!” said jr to Mario, who was dangling precariously from the battlements of peaches castle.

”nooooo!” cried peach as her hero was dislodged from his perches by a swift impact of jr’s base to his hand. He plummeted to the floor with a ”mama mia!”

Then Bowser came in along, scooped up peach and congratulated him ”GOOD JOB SON. I AM SO PROUD. LET’S GO GET ICE CREAM TOGETHER!”.

”Yay”Bowser jr cheered in response, but before the amiibos could go off to get ice cream together he heard something going on next door, which brought his attention back to his unfamiliar surroundings.

”huh, what was that noise?” the asked nobody in particular before carefully stepping their way through the mess of toys and pressing his ear to the wall to listen. Next door he could hear somebody making a minor ruckus as they pulled open drawers and tapped on walls. This was, naturally, very suspicious.

Jr glanced around the room looking for a weapon having realized that he might in fact be in danger. Several moments of rummaging in toy chests later and he came up with a large paintbrush about as tall as he was. The Gaddbrush might have served more often as a sports bat than as a weapon at this point, but it was still a faithful weapon none the less. A few practice swings left a familiar m on the wall with a pair of umlauts on top, painted in colorful, and dangerous, goop. Jr tapped the hard end of the paintbrush against the floor and nodded to himself before turning and making his way out of the playroom.

Outside was a more familiar sight, a hallway that looked to be part of peach's castle. The small dragon crept through this hall till they reached the door to the room that was in the middle of being pillaged. Jr pulled his bib up over his mouth, plastering a permanent toothy grin across his face, before he booted the door open and stepped inside, paintbrush brandished like a droopy spear.

”rawr” he roared adorably, announcing his presence to a young human girl who was currently rummaging around in a chest of drawers. Jr almost immediately recognized the room as Peach’s which meant that the hat kid was rummaging through contained… jr gasped at how scandalous the situation he had just come across was.

”Are you stealing the princess's socks?!” the both aghast and intrigued prince asked after pulling his bib back down.

After a few moments of awkward silence he then added excitedly ”Can I help!?”

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