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[b]Word Count:[/b] 907
[b]Level 7 Ganondorf:[/b] 41/70
[b]Level 9 Roxas:[/b] 85/90
[b]Level 5 Captain Falcon:[/b] 15/50
[b]Exp Gained:[/b] 2 (x2)
[b]NEW EXP Balance---[/b] 44/70, 89/90, 19/50

[h3]Final Hollow ~ The Dead Zone[/h3][/center]

D wasn’t done yet. That much was clear. Captain Falcon had a moment of brief celebration, but Roxas didn’t. Unlike the Captain, he’d seen what it looked like when Consuls were actually defeated. And since D wasn’t dissolving or disappearing? It meant he was still able to keep going. And then, as if to prove the Keybearer right, D rose and took off into the air. And after that, all Hell broke loose.

As soon as the Consul flew up, Roxas instinctively conjured a roof of virtual cubes to shield himself from the projectiles he knew were incoming. The cubes wouldn’t hold for long, but they would shelter him and nearby Seekers long enough for Roxas to renew all their Tailwind buffs, including his own. But after that? Even the notion of actually reaching D became a puzzle in and of itself. Falcon tried summoning his Striker Bianca to fire an elemental arrow at the Vampire, but a conjured storm of bats prevented the shot from getting through. And Roxas had no such luck of his with the RockGun, the shots eliciting the same result as the bounty hunter’s striker.

Between that and all the movement to dodge the hailstorm of projectiles D was sending down? There really didn’t seem to be a chance for them. Roxas could use his StepSword to teleport to D for a strike, but would that even succeed? Or would he just get caught by D’s scythe or wings and then sent hurtling down for a painful crash into the ground. But soon it became apparent that D was not their only problem.

Nearby, Ganon’s onslaught against Gravemind actually caused the Guardian to break apart into more individual pieces. And while the transformed Warlord was continuing his assault on as many of those pieces as he could keep within reach, some of them still managed to scatter to other parts of the battlefield. One of them was flying up toward the moon object, and Blazermate was the only one able to pursue it. Two stray pieces also wandered closer to the fight against D.

[color=1f66b2]”Great! That’s all we needed!”[/color] Falcon exclaimed as he dodge rolled away from being struck by a pillar of light. Reluctantly he shifted his focus and engaged one of the stray pieces of Gravemind. At least this was something his attacks could actually reach. [color=1f66b2]”Ryuugeki Ken!”[/color] The bounty hunter scrambled as he slammed a close range blast of fiery chi against the Gravemind piece before following that with a blur of kicks. [color=1f66b2]”Gen’ei Kyaku!”[/color]

Nearby, Roxas had also reluctantly shifted his gears. He used the StepSword and vanished just before a sickle from D could slice him and then reappeared to strike the other stray Gravemind piece from behind with his ignited energy blade. [color=gold]”This is getting on my last nerves!”[/color] The Nobody admitted as he began to hack and slash at the piece with his Keyblades. He was still out of MP so he couldn’t even use any of his spells or other techniques right now. But when he saw that Falcon had his target stunned and was charging up a punch, Roxas thought fast and hooked the Gravemind piece with his Keyblades and managed to fling it into the other one just in time.

[color=1f66b2]”Falcon PUNCH!”[/color]

Cap’s fiery fist exploded into the Gravemind piece, managing to catch them both and finish them off at the same time. [color=1f66b2]”Well that’s that solved. But what are we supposed to do about D?”[/color]

Meanwhile, Ganon was still hacking away at the remaining larger pieces of Gravemind. He wanted to stop the one that flew upward but it was currently out of reach. He had no choice but to rely on Blazermate to find a way to force it back down. As for himself, he kept the large pieces at bay and even managed to destroy one with a charged Lightning Strike from his weapons. The power granted by Heat Riser was certainly doing its job. But the warlord knew his time as Ganon was running dangerously short. He had to end these pieces and the Guardian before he reverted or finishing this battle off would become a lot more difficult.

Ganon rammed his massive swords into one of the remaining pieces, impaling it completely. Then with a snarl and a roar he hefted the impaled piece up and over himself before crashing it back down onto the third Gravemind piece he was engaged with. It was at this time that Ganon saw the results of Blazermate’s efforts. Somehow she’d forced the flying piece of Gravemind into rocketing back downward. And with only seconds remaining on the clock, Ganon made his move.

With a deep breath, the warlord spat out what would be his final Dark Breath. The beam of dark power spewed from his mouth and lanced forward toward the downed pieces before he swept it upward in order to strike the aerial piece as well. But as the Dark Breath’s attack came to its end, so too did Ganon’s transformation. His body and strength waned as he gradually began reverting to his original Gerudo form. Now considerably more exhausted after all the exertion he had been putting himself through to fight in his transformed state.