The Final Hollow - Vs Consul D
Lvl 14 Ms Fortune (167/140), Geralt, Roxas, Captain Falcon, Therion, Pit
Word Count: 3,935 (+4 Exp (x2))
It hit him all at once. Just like Goldlewis, Ganondorf, and Therion - Captain Falcon was doubled over and overwhelmed with sensations of nausea and sickness. The same Captain who for most everything could keep a straight face and roll with the punches, now looked like he was on the verge of a full-blown panic attack with how much his heart was racing and beating inside of his chest. All of this because of the attacks he suffered at the hands of Moebius A. And losing Midna out of nowhere certainly didn’t help matters, either. He wanted to move a muscle. To get back on his feet and keep fighting. But they just wouldn’t move. He was locked, frozen firmly in place as dread and panic threatened to overwhelm him.
Therion wasn't in a much better place. His body rebelled against him as pure stress took over. His knees buckled, his hands shook, his vision swam, his head pounded and his heart thundered against his ribs. His fur stood on end, puffed up to an extent that would be comical if the situation wasn't so dire. It was hard to tell if it was actually getting more difficult to breathe or if his brain was sending his body into further panic. He hadn't felt like this for a long, long time.
The thief didn't struggle against the stress. Rather, he tensed, inching backward and preparing to flee. If it had gone on any longer he would have deserted.
But just as quickly as it came? It was gone. Like a literal miracle from on high, Sandalphon appeared among the group. She spoke words of encouragement and cast one of her spells. The miracle healed them all completely, and that seemed to also include the stress that afflicted Therion and the Captain. They’d finally be able to get back on their feet and back into the fight, just as Moebius D had transformed and brandished his scythe once again.
Though not to the point of a meltdown like some of her allies, Nadia had been hit hard by what happened. Midna was gone, and not in the sense that Toni and Ace were gone, but
gone gone. That, plus the sight of half her allies brought to her knees before yet another intimidating power-up from D, had been a potent enough combination to leave even her in a momentary stupor. How were they supposed to win against foes like these, who could snuff out lives like candles? In that moment of darkness among the Seekers, Sandalphon’s arrival was a godsend. Her miracle brought several allies back from the brink they’d been teetering on, and paved the way for a rally. Though she knew the pain of loss all too well, Nadia had been through worse. With someone to avenge, the Seekers would fight that much harder. “We can still do this! For Midna!”
Geralt, back in his normal form, was healed but mentally reeling. While the Seekers who had been carted away weren’t lost, their absence still made the group more vulnerable as a whole. But then Midna went and sacrificed herself. He didn’t understand. His eyes refocused on Moebius D, now in his ‘true’ form. A giant monster. How fitting. Rising to his full height, Geralt took a deep breath. His hand came up to draw the Sign of Quen, shielding him from the incoming rays of dark energy even as he ducked and weaved by instinct to avoid them. And then he
screamed, anger and agony and hate and pain all radiating from his voice, as lightning did the same.
He rushed over to the Hateful Flesh, picking the severed cleaver off the ground and charging Moebius D, Monsoon and the Judicator called to join him. The former hurled barrages of sai, while the latter sent spectral fire at the vampire as Geralt’s weapon lashed out. “No hesitation!” He called out to the others. “Or we die here!” Energy thrummed through his veins, and though he didn’t quite know what it was, he knew it could help turn the tides of this battle.
When Geralt moved, so did D. He ground his scythe’s head in a clockwise arc across the ground in front of him, and the sparks that flew became a wall of flame that snuffed out the incoming projectiles. D then swung his scythe the opposite way, his huge reach allowing him to reach Geralt well before the Witcher could close the distance. Their heavy blades clashed with a tremendous, noisy impact that pushed Geralt back in a spray of sparks that quickly exploded like firecrackers. However, the clash dealt a surprising amount of knockback to D as well, and the vampire took an extra moment to recover. Flame smoldered in his wing-hands as he held them up, then began to toss meteors like fastballs, aimed at the incoming Seekers. He threw four, one apiece at Geralt, Falcon, and Roxas.
Roxas was quick enough after the timely healing from Sandalphon that he easily dodge-rolled out of the way of the meteor that came toward him, but he didn’t immediately go on the attack. Instead he went to work reapplying Tailwind buffs to everyone. And Captain Falcon simply stood his ground and smashed the one coming to him with his fist.
”Falcon… PUNCH!” He too was now back to being fighting fit thanks to Sandalphon’s intervention.
The fourth he held a moment as he spotted Nadia sprinting in from the side, surrounded in a watery aura. “I see you!” He hurled the meteor at her and scored a direct hit, vaporizing her on the spot in a burst of steam. Though alight for a split second with triumph, D’s eyes quickly narrowed.
Steam? Then the cloud cleared to reveal the real Nadia farther back, just now dismissing her Oceanid striker while her towering
Harbor Demon striker took form beside her, a head taller than D’s new form even on her knees. “Water you aiming at?” Nadia taunted as the crane atop the Harbor Demon’s ordnance platform hoisted her up. “You think you’re a big shot–but I’ve got some of my own!”
Her striker’s huge cannons opened fire, forcing D to shield himself with his wings as the shells detonated against him. After a second or so of high-artillery pounding, he vanished with a snarl, then reappeared right in front of the Harbor Demon. “Idiot girl! I know just how to deal with assists!” In one deft motion, he places his scythe around the Harbor Demon’s pale, slender neck. “Off with your head!” In one cruel twist, he parted the Abyssal’s head from her shoulders, and the next instant the same fate befell Nadia, as well.
Except the feral leaped from the disappearing crane into the air to catch her severed head in her hands. “I’m a-head of the curve!” Powered up by Fluffy Soft, she passed her cranium under her leg, then brought it down onto D’s in an overhead slam. “Geeeet DUNKED ON!”
The smack didn’t do all that much damage, but it did piss D off, enough to make him forget about the others. He lifted his wing-arms to swat Nadia like a fly, and managed to clap her between them before she could airdash away. Only her head escaped, falling toward the ground. Flames blossomed between D’s palms as he prepared to blow his captive to kingdom come.
Despite the earlier miracle, Therion had remained apprehensive - especially after losing an ally for real. With his BP recharging and a sneak attack not currently in the cards, he once more let the heavier hitters take their shots at D. His own hit and run was focused purely on wearing Moebius down with as many debuffs as he could stack.
Tag - a quick tap during the exchange with Geralt with Shackle Foe, weakening D's attack strength.
Tag - Armor Corrosive to reduce D's defense while he flung meteors. And
tag - Therion reached out to tap D and slow him down with Abate as he trapped Ms. Fortune. As Therion moved he swiped Nadia's head from free fall to keep it out of the danger zone, intending to chuck it back at her body once it was freed. “Nice cat-ch!” she chirped with a smile despite her current predicament. Saving the rest of Nadia would have to fall to someone else.
One person that stepped up to the attempt was Pit. After Midna's sacrifice he was bordering on distraught. He and the Twilight Princess hadn't been close, but she was a friend all the same - and he could hardly just sit back and shoot in safety after losing her, especially when everyone else was putting themselves on the line. The new aspects of his personality demanded he take a pound of flesh in return, and he would have pivoted to battling A if that same feeling hadn't also driven a need to prevent another loss.
Pit darted inside of the scythe's range, trading his bow for the Breaking Palm. Up until now he'd only used Lightstrike to imbue his arrows with elemental light. It just made sense doing it that way. Now he pushed the light through the glowing tattoos that circled his arm, changing their color from shifting rainbow to the warm gold of pure light.
"Let her go!" he said, brandishing his open hand at D and letting the light loose. At close range the power would be amplified, the barrages of light like unending shotgun blasts that would continue to crash against Moebius for as long as he committed to trying to destroy the feral.
With his normal arms still wielding his scythe, D was more ready for a pivot than it might seem, but Pit was fast even by his standards. Closing the distance put the angel too close for D to wield his enormous polearm, forcing him to lash out with the butt of his scythe’s shaft. Pit offered something much stronger: a point-blank fusillade of holy light, weaponized into withering firepower. “GAH!” he roared, recoiling. He retreated to try and catch Pit on the inner blade of his scythe, but his attacker stayed dangerously close. Snarling, D changed tactics, pulling Nadia’s body apart into burning halves that he chucked down at Pit.
“Owwwwwwwww!” Nadia’s head squirmed. “Hurts like a bitch!”
It definitely looked like it did, but Therion replied with a quick,
"just be glad it's not worse."He circled back around to the other two pieces of Nadia. Pit had been caught off guard by the unorthodox attack, bowled over by the halves of her body. He scrambled out from under them so he could stand to fend off whatever D might have in store next until Nadia could pull herself back together, his Orbitars making an appearance as Therion tossed the feral's head towards the rest of her to complete the set.
Thankfully, Pit wasn’t forced to fend off the Moebius alone. Geralt took the opening to rush in, opening with a Demon Fang followed by a pair of swings of the Hateful Flesh. After taking the Demon Fang to his leg, D brought around his left wing-arm to block the follow-up slashes, then stepped forward with an upward slash to launch him. Stepping back and aside, Geralt quickly drew the Sign of Igni to try and drop D’s defenses before lashing out with another slice, horizontal this time. That energy was still bubbling beneath the surface, but he didn’t tap into it just yet. Not concerned with the Witcher’s flames, D snorted and lashed out with a heavy kick which forced Geralt back a few feet.
Charging in at D while he was wielding that big scythe of his was not a good idea. But unfortunately, Captain Falcon had nothing in the way of weapons. So taking D on in close quarters was literally his only option. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t bide his time for what looked like a solid opening. And watched the exchange between D and Geralt, hoping the Witcher might give the Captain a window he could use to get a good shot in. And when he saw their weapons clash in a brief deadlock? It was a small window, but Cap decided he needed to take his shot. With the Tailwind from Roxas pushing him forward, Captain circled around to try and flank D. And hoped that this would work out better than it did last time. But instead of a Falcon Punch, Cap wreathed his arm in flames and dived at Moebius D with a
”Raptor Boost!” That he then tried to follow up with a blinding barrage of kicks in the form of a
”Gen’ei Kyaku!”At about the same time, Nadia finally pulled herself together. After sticking her halves back together at the midriff, she plopped her severed head back down on her shoulders and turned it both ways as if to tighten it. “This thing screwed on right?” She pulled out her Ripened Heart only to remember that it had been used up already, and put it away with a groan. Nadia watched as the Captain unleashed a flurry of fiery strikes. If she’d been able she would have joined in already to keep D’s attention off Falcon, but with Roxas applying buffs, Geralt pushed back, and Therion lurking, it was just him against the Consul. With a click of her tongue Nadia rushed in, but she was too late.
After blocking most of Falcon’s assault, D grabbed Falcon with his left wing-arm in the recovery of Gen’ei Kyaku, then tossed him into the air so that he could spike him back down with an overhead scythe swing. A harsh cracking noise rang out as Falcon got slammed into the ground–hopefully that was the Qliphoth bark beneath him and not his bones. D immediately rounded on Nadia, who slid to a stop while crouch-blocking. Her flinch earned her a smirk, which instantly rubbed the feral the wrong way. “Together!” she hissed. “Gotta hit him together!”
“You may try!” D stood his ground as both Nadia and Roxas pushed in at two and ten o’ clock. Both went low beneath a horizontal scythe swing, then attacked in rapid succession, Nadia with her claws and Roxas with Oblivion and Oathkeeper. D was obliged to bring both wing-arms up across his body, fingers splayed to form a defensive cage around his head. His scythe vanished as he charged up Demonic Megiddo in both his actual hands, and after a moment he slammed the sorcerous orbs together to create a large blast. Luckily both Seekers cottoned on in time and fell back using their natural agility.
Amidst the explosion D teleported a hundred feet away, his arms spread wide as dark magic circles manifested. “Vermin, heed me!” The next moment he unleashed an enormous pillar of giant bats, packed tight into one fanged, serpentine mass that curved and cut through the air, the red light of their countless eyes streaming behind them in a
dark procession that Roxas might find familiar. Nadia, who used Charge to try and close the distance while D cast his spell, took a direct hit from the batstream and went flying, freshly bruised and bleeding. Nevertheless, the feral landed on her feet, then wiped blood from her lip with the back of her hand as she scrutinized D’s latest atrocity. “Guess it’s time to bat-ten down the hatches.” The batstream descended for another strafing run, tearing up the ground as it bore down on the Seekers, and Nadia dove out of the way with a handspring afterward for good measure.
Geralt charged in after Nadia, Quen shimmering around his body, dodging with a dive similar to the feral’s. Quickly pushing himself to his feet, he rushed for the Consul with his enhanced speed, each stride carrying him further than would be expected from his size. The Hateful Flesh was still in hand, and his pupils were narrow slits as he approached D, but he did not close the distance, instead grabbing and tossing a Dimeritium bomb to try and prevent D from using any more magic until the others approached. And one of those others was Roxas, who had barely managed to stop himself from being caught up in the batstream by generating a last-second wall of virtual cubes that shielded him long enough to put some distance between himself and D. Except now, he noticed his MP had finally returned. And with Geralt nearby and Moebius D still giving them trouble, he decided he’d better use it now while he could.
”Let’s show ‘em why he’s our prey!” Said Roxas with a glance toward Geralt before he then shouted,
”Light!” Roxas shared his Light with the Witcher to channel a Holy Lance spell, conjuring five lances of holy light around D as well as a sixth lance directly above him. The five lances began crashing into the Consul in rapid succession before Roxas used his StepSword to teleport to where the sixth lance hovered. He aimed his Keyblade and fired a beam of light into the shaft of the lance as it made its descent, causing it to not only strike with its usual tremendous force, but in a way that also generated a shockwave of holy light upon impact as well.
The sensation of Roxas’s light was…strange, but he could feel the power enhance his spell significantly. As soon as the final lance dropped, he rushed forward, leaping in to take advantage of the situation and landing with an overhead swing of his cleaver.
Though he prepared to launch a counterattack when Roxas and Geralt made their move, D did not anticipate the form their team-up would take–nor the intensity of their combined power. Incorporating his elemental weakness, each lustrous lance left him reeling for a moment longer than it would have otherwise, meaning he couldn’t put up an adequate defense. The final luminous ray pierced the vampire’s body in a dazzling display of synergy, and as the holy shockwave spread around him he sank to one knee, only kept upright by the shaft of the scythe he recalled to his hand. D was hardly beaten, though, and the moment of weakness he presented to Geralt was as much a trap as it was an opportunity.
With a sudden snarl, D reached out, his arm lunging like a serpent. Geralt’s cleaver sliced to the bone, but the enraged Consul’s grip still closed around his neck. When his talons pierced the skin, blood began to drain from the Witcher’s body, but not for long.
Even with D’s wing-arms in play, his lowered posture meant that the team's rogues had a clear shot at his back. After circling around, Nadia slid to a stop next to Therion, who was naturally in position already. “Let’s cut to the chase,” she grinned, leaning forward with her legs tensed beneath her.
Catching her drift, Therion nodded once and swapped out his weapons quickly. With nary a moment to lose before their opening was gone, they prepared to move.
"Let's go."The two launched forward swiftly even by this team’s standards, Nadia with her twin Athame daggers, and Therion with his Last Laugh sickles. Little more than blurs of blue and purple streaked by white, they slashed again and again and again, targeting joints and gaps in the Moebius armor. An unhealthy dose of Armor Corrosive plus Fluffy Soft and Athame’s Dagger Seven shredded D’s physical defense, and after a moment, the flurry ended with the feral sinking both blades beneath the shoulderblades of D’s wing-arms – or rather, it was only the feral’s upper half. “‘Rear’ its ugly head!” she called gleefully upward.
Overhead, Therion had springboarded off of D and leaped into the air. Thanks to a lucky proc of Excitatory Gland, he had enough BP to enhance his arm power, both to lift Nadia’s lower half up and powerbomb it down toward D as a living projectile, further enhanced by Silver Bolt, Precision, and his Basilisk Boots. For once he begrudgingly indulged Nadia, saying hollowly.
“...Butt out!”Clad in a white-silver glow Nadia’s bottom half crashed down on D’s noggin from above, delivering a butt slam and a Mantread all stomp at once in a tremendous impact. “Thick-ass Thieves!” Nadia sang, calling out the tag-team’s name. When Therion landed safely on the ground a moment later his tail twitched at the feral's inflection.
"Why do you have to say it like that...?!"D roared as Geralt and his scythe flew from his grasp. The two team-ups left Roxas, Geralt, Therion, and Nadia winded enough that they had to relent when D’s batstream circled around to whirl around him in a black cyclone, but if D expected a moment of respite, it would only be because he counted Pit and Falcon out too early. The latter, despite the heavy hit he took from D’s scythe earlier, managed to recover enough to get back into the fight. Those cracks earlier had indeed been the Qliphoth’s bark, it seemed. After using his shield technique to protect himself from the batstream, the bounty hunter apparently decided it was time to stop pulling his punches.
Between this fight and his earlier exchanges with A’s doppelgangers, the Captain had built up a couple of Power Gauge stocks he could now use. He spent one, not only triggering his Vesicle boon restoring some of the damage he suffered, but also making his body flash blue for a split second before he lunged for the now-disarmed Consul.
”Shift into high gear!” He exclaimed as his fist collided with D, leading into a high-speed flurry of punches and kicks that culminated in a spiraling uppercut that launched D straight upwards,
”Ryuuko Ranbu!” And just for good measure, Cap spent his remaining Power Gauge stock to leap up in pursuit and juggle the Consul further upward with a trio of backward somersault kicks,
”Kuzuryusen!”Pit initially had the same idea, piercing the dark whirlwind with his Orbitars. Being a beat behind the bounty hunter meant the man's combo was already well underway, but it didn't stop Pit from diving in to help out. He followed D and Falcon up, bouncing off of the wall of bats and beating his wings to take him higher. His Orbitars disappeared, replaced by his bow as he shot arrows at Moebius that added insult to injury until he could catch up.
"I got him, Cap!" Pit called once Captain Falcon had reached the apex of his height with D. In one more push Pit was above the both of them, his wings spread out wide. The air wasn't truly his domain despite how much he wanted it to be, but thanks to the mysterious boons they'd received in the Qliphoth he was still about to get a huge damage boost from his Mid-Air Strike and Arrow Shades Bow. It wasn't his actual bow that he had in his hand anymore though - the Upperdash Arm encased his limb, the red-blue head spinning so viciously that the weapon trembled, and its colors blurred into glowing golden light.
"It's game over for you!"Pit brought the Arm down hard, cracking against D's head. The weighty blow ended the Captain’s combo with a bang and sent the Moebius vampire flying. He smashed clean through the batstream behind him and tumbled back down to the ground with a loud crash, still trailing cinders. With its summoner’s focus broken the batstream soon dissipated, and for a moment as the five weary Seekers regrouped, the transformed Consul did not rise.
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