Private/Closed Bootleg Brothers 6

[DevVoid]

Mr. Miracle
The distraction worked, but somehow, instead of drawing attention to him it did the exact opposite and made the pair focus on his cloaked ally instead! Why, this won't do, not at all! Terry quickly put the umbrella away, sipping the tea cup empty and putting both it and its little plate into his coat before posing once more, this time in a very familiar stance known to some members in the audience. His legs snapped and froze straight, as did his torso and upper body, while his arms snapped to 45 degrees from his body before freezing up, his entire body getting enveloped in a rainbow energy that gradually increased with radiance.

Descending from the heavens like a game character with broken animations, the A-Posing magician slid across the dunes like a human buggy, stopping just short of Grazie and her twister. He could already feel himself get drawn in, but he would resist as much as he could until Grazie (and optionally Axe and Magolor) took their eyes off each other and looked at his (quite literally at this point) glowing image. He'd plan to draw out what could be an awkward silence for as long as he could.. before he planned on suddenly erupting into a squat/russian kick dance, fly as close as he could and expel all that gathered up magic energy into one big explosion, as close to point-blank range as he could get!

 

[Captain Cardboard]

Nótt

Ryuji's explanation left much to be desired. A spirit Ryuji had forged a contract with, that allowed the two to fight side by side. Perhaps it was a similar contract to the type used by the Emblian Empire. Or perhaps not, this 'William' did not appear reluctant to fight alongside Ryuji. As for what a Metaverse was, Nótt had no clue. Ryuji spoke of her bird, and Nótt smiled. She pet her massive eagle as the pair walked. Now that the fight was over, Moon-Wing began to preen itself. The soft clinking of metal could be heard as its beak brushed against its feathers.

"Yes, it does not surprise me." Nótt said. "This is Moon-Wing, my companion. They are a Jotun Eagle, a bird that can only be found within Jotunheimr. They are trained for war and hunting. I've raised Moon-Wing since I was a child, hatching it from it's egg and training alongside it. It is one of my oldest friends."

The pair reached the Regular Burger, Nótt brushing past the short boy in the green jacket that was also approaching the dining area. It was a very different place from what Nótt was accustomed to. They layout was similar to other restaurants and food places she had been to, but the decorations and materials here were quite different. It was all so bright and colorful, with other strange things scattered about that Nótt didn't recognize. The Princess sat down at a booth, leaning her lance against the wall next to her. Moon-Wing sat on the table, looking around the resturaunt with a careful eye. About the place, television screens showing the other matches hung on the walls. Yet another thing Nótt marveled at. Strange portals, windows to watch the other fights without being present themselves. Truely incredible.

Nótt was about to ask Ryuji what a 'metaverse' was when her eyes fell upon one particular screen. The fight of Beam and Rinku vs Dagr and Inkling. The camera panned over, and Nótt could not stop herself from taking a sharp gasp. Dagr laid on the ground, in poor shape and bleeding out, as a malicious child stood in the air over her.
"Dagr..." Nótt whispered, clutching her lance tightly.

 

[comic]

NEREVARINE​

Oh, a clever move. The drill insinuated that NiGHTS preferred a more head-on approach, but evidently an opening move would not deduce exactly what this Nightmaren's strategy was from the get-go. It would require further experience to extrapolate an effective counter-strategy. The jester-like feminine creature summoned a portal, Irnane's reflexes enough to pull back somewhat when she recognized this unique strategy, glimpsing at Dracula bursting into bats.

An odd ability, but the Nerevar Reborn had seen her fair share of oddities in Tamriel.

Quick to use another spell on herself, a small purple orb of translucent light was left behind to float perpetually as Irnane suddenly picked up her momentum, blitzing through the portal and landing on the ground on the other side, standing on a knee as she swiped for Sonic's legs with a horizontal slash, simultaneously spinning herself with the move to bring her hand up, expecting Sonic to leap over the attack, where she would grasp him by the ankle, and if successful, slam him into the earth while simultaneously passing her curse onto him (the aforementioned Wounding Touch Spell).
​

MASTER CHIEF​

Kalmiya's eyes followed Gunvolt's gaze toward the small water-themed creature locked in battle. While it did seem that it was on the losing side, the AI recalled a similar creature, and placed her hands on her hips. "I wouldn't rule anyone out, yet," she advised. "Back in our tournament, there was a little duck creature with pretty much the same powers, and he made it to the semi-finals. Turning to look at Master Hand, she added; "Are you able to pull up footage from that tourney at all?"​

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

NiGHTS


And awaaaay she went. Their target had fallen right into the portal no sweat! That wasn't too bad. Putting their hands on their hips, NiGHTS went to look at her handiwork, noticing that Sonic had begun to get overrun. Evidently, the portal trick wasn't enough to stop the pair of foes before them yet.

"Aw, screw." NiGHTS snapped their fingers. "Gotta find a way to break them up. But what should I do?"

Crossing their arms and floating there in contemplation. Seconds later, a lightbulb went off...literally. A streetlight hanging over them flickered on. The Jester smiled slyly, fluttering up to it, a sparkly trail following them. Seeing a sign on the base of the light, NiGHTS out a hand in their chin, examining it.

"It is unsafe to travel more than 60 MPH on these roads. We urge you to take your time and watch as to not hit others on the road."

"Huh." NiGHTS noted, turning to the reader, shrugging. "well I wasn't much for traffic laws anyhoo."

Grabbing the base of the light pole with both hands, she yanked it up and out of the concrete. I'm sure he'll know how to step out of the way. NiGHTS grinned, swinging her body and the pole in around in a circle, swinging it to thwack Dracula and Irnane in one Wallop! Sonic was also in risk of being hit, but NiGHTS was sure that they would be able to get away.



Master Hand


"Eh? A stroll down memory lane huh? Didn't think you'd be the nostalgic one!"

Snapping his fingers, a screen showed up, one with files of all previous bootleg brothers tournament rounds. The one selected was the Bloon Monkey Troupe vs Psyduck, several other Psyduck fights being able to be flipped through with a tap on the screen.

"...? Doesn't seem remarkable." Reala muttered. "If they have failed the tourney before, they will do so again."

 

[Gamingfan]

Ryuji
"Whoa, that's cool." Ryuji said. "We've got out own animal companion, but he's kind of a douche. I would totally trade him in for a bird."
Within the audience, a cat sneezed.
Multiple times, as cats do.
As Ryuji took his own seat, he looked around the area. Regular Burger sure lived up to its name. For something so alien, the place looked like your average restaurant. He hoped the burgers were going to be at least above average.
This place even had TVs lined around, though instead of the normal sports, it was other battles. One in particular caught Nott's attention. On it was Dagr, who was currently in a rough spot, to say the least. On her back, bleeding profusely, all while what looked like a kid taunted her.
"What a dick..." Ryuji muttered angrily. They had a rough start, but Ryuji still didn't like seeing her like this. He glanced over at Nott, who appeared even more distressed than he was. He faintly recalled Dagr calling Nott her sister, which explained the reaction.
Awkwardly, Ryuji attempted to console her.
"Hey, she'll be good as new after this. And you know what?" Ryuji flashed a confident grin. "We can totally avenge her when we kick that brat's ass!"

 

[Psymallard]

Taskmaster
No attacks came his way. Instead, Slash only powered himself up, and Shaymin tore through the rocks with an impressive display of weakness. He weighed his options. Masaru had fallen, Taskmaster was sure, his mercy backfiring like the assassin knew it would. That left him with a giant sword he was running out of ideas for, as well as a vegan rat that just ripped the earth a new one. This battle had taken long enough, and with the cushion of a loser's bracket, he'd might as well swallow his pride and prepare better for the next match.

"I give up."

Mudkip
The mudfish spewed pressurized water at his foe, but Dart had a counter-offer, which came in the form of a massive pillar of flame. The heat singed Mudkip's resistant skin, and the force blasted him into the air! The Pokémon was semiaquatic, and was comfortable in the water or on land, but he had no motility in the air. So, he spiraled through the air, nigh-helplessly.

"Kiiiip-!"

Beam
The shark-fiend lay there for a moment, but as soon as a pair of lasers zapped his hide, his demonic wrath was provoked once again. The shark roared as it snapped at the incoming bird, catching the axe in its teeth. The jaw was split, and thus using it pulled it into a weird, painful position, though the sheer bite force ensured the weapon was secure. Pushing through the pain, Beam poured every ounce of his remaining fury into thrashing- attempting to either force the wounded bird to concede its grip or be smashed into the sand.

Kragg
Cayman shifted his own weight to throw Kragg off- it was a very clever move. The Earth's Bastion had an answer, though it wasn't as clever. The beetle let go, tossing the Adept below him. The duelist's Septima would come into effect, pulling Kragg down even faster, but that worked in his favor. The Wallrunner curled into his Defense Ball, rolling rapidly as he sped after his foe. Cayman would hit the ground only a microsecond before Kragg hit him, velocity accelerated by the man's own ability!

Cultists
The deadly duo appeared back inside the lobby. Allison was devastated- she'd failed and blamed herself. What did Troy think of her behind his veil of casual coolness? Though he was very good at concealment, Alli knew when he was covering up his anger.

"I-"

"Be cool."

The interruption took Allison by surprise- she knew Troy wasn't one to forget something like that. Then what could he be mad about?

"It's not you."

"...Huh-?"

The blue-haired narcissist nodded Audrey's way, directing Allison's attention. She'd forgotten about the would-be slayer of gods! So it was her fault, then?

"Dead weight over there."

Allison grinned. If Troy said so, Audrey must've been to blame. The lunatic was, as always, glad to avoid any responsibility she could deflect onto others.

"Haha, yeah! Dead weight."

The two approached Audrey from behind. Troy leaned on her shoulder from one side while Allison crept up on the other side, speaking first.

"Hey, dead weight!"

"Jazzed to answer for losing us that match?"

"We're gonna make sure you're in a LOT of pain, dead weight!"

Jevil
The jester continued his attack, showing no intention of dodging the lighting, but as Kassandra let rip a shockwave, it had the opposite effect of what she intended- it blasted him away like a bullet as if he was made of styrofoam and out of the way of the lighting bolt. He smacked into a building and bounced off, the entire structure lighting up a neon green for a moment as well as giving off a satisfying ping! He bounced equally as fast into another building, which lit up another color, as if it were a pinball stadium!

He bounded off dozens of structures in a second, laughing the entire time, and sometime in the middle of his blurring bounces, he split himself into four. The four turned into scythes, with oddly the same bouncing properties as the jester had been portraying. After proper setup came the payoff, and the magical weapons turned on the duo. They bounced from every direction, initially just aiming to smack Kassandra and Alter Knight with the blunt staff, and then upgrading into attacking with the bladed edge. With such speed and sharpness, this attack was sure to put some pressure on the warrior duo.

Regular Shopkeeper
The man had completed his conversation with Weevil, and punctuated the interaction with a nod. The being turned to go back to his shop when he was met by a massive floating cranium.

"YOU THERE, ARTIFICIAL CONSTRUCT. THE SURROUNDING MARKETPLACE: DETAIL ITS USES TO ME."

Blinking, the Shopkeeper took in the visage of the man-mind. His wit was not to be lost, however, and he responded,

"Hey there, don't get a-head of yourself. A please wouldn't hurt anyone. You wanna know about my shops? Well, they're mostly here for the ambience, but if you want to buy something you can. If you wanna buy a basic tool, weapon or gadget, you can stop right in. You'll find that our Regular Equipment™ is quite cheap........we're not gonna scalp you. The crown jewel of the shops his the pawn shop, you're gonna wanna stop by when it opens after next round. Satisfied? You gonna leave me-lone now?"

Regular Waiter
A man in a black polo and khakis walked from the kitchen. Mid-stride, he stopped- something had tickled his nose. The windup for the ensuing sneeze was dramatic. He reared back, curled his arms, and bared his clutches. Then came the sneeze, erupting forth in a unnecessarily loud fashion.

"Ah-CHOO!!! "

The sneeze sounded a little odd as well, but more notable would be that he sneezed directly into the palm of his hand. The waiter looked at the palm, made a face, and then wiped it on the half-apron he wore around his waist. That taken care of, he strode towards Skull and Nótt's table, whipping out a notepad and pencil.

"Hey, lovebirds. What can I do ya for?"

 

[Captain Cardboard]

Dagr

Sun-Wing's attack had been blocked. Just a moment too slow. The eagle had missed it's opening. Sun-Wing tried its best to keep it's grip on the poleax, a loud scraping noise ringing out as it was dragged against the ground. Dagr groaned, looking back up to the sky. So close, but so far. Sun-Wing held on with all it's might, refusing to release its partner's weapon. The massive eagle pushed, attempting to stab the poleax deeper into Beam's mouth!

"Looks like you are alone now. I got to see what your friend was made of. You wanna give up, or do you want to show off your insides too?"

Rinku was floating just above her, the little dipshit grinning down at her with a smug aura.
"Hey hey, Ice Rink..." Dagr said, grinning up at the demon kid. "What, you wanna sneak peek or something? Here, check 'em out."
Dagr uncovered the massive wound on her side. While blood spurted from it, the pressure was much lower than a few moments ago. Dagr chuckled, before wincing.
"Haha. Ow. Sorry kiddo, I'm feeling real tired right now. We're just gonna have to play some other time, okay?" Dagr said. She put Rinku's hat on her head, sticking her tongue out at Rinku.

Finally throwing in the towel, Dagr tapped the ground twice.

Winners: Beam and Rinku!


Nótt

The camera in the match panned over to Dagr's other opponent. A massive, shark-dragon creature. It too appeared injured, with Dagr's eagle barely holding it off. No wonder Dagr had been having a difficult time. Nótt breathed out a relieved sigh when Dagr conceded the match. Of course, it was disappointing that her sister had lost so early on. But it was a relief to see her tap out before she passed out, or worse, was killed.
"Hey, she'll be good as new after this. And you know what?" Ryuji flashed a confident grin. "We can totally avenge her when we kick that brat's ass!"
Once again, Ryuji reminded Nótt of her sister. She couldn't help but to chuckle at Ryuji's confident outlook.
"Yes. I suppose we will have to teach them a lesson, won't we?" Nótt said.

"Hey, lovebirds. What can I do ya for?" A new voice spoke up. Nótt looked over to see a new person, a waiter of some kind, at the ready. The princess looked to Ryuji, then back to the waiter as her cheeks began to turn pink. It did look like they were on a date, didn't it? Nótt cleared her throat awkwardly. She picked up one of the menus at the table, looking it over.
"R-right. Ah." Nótt said. Many of the food here seemed unfamiliar, different. At least, their names were. But the accompanying pictures looked rather delicious.
"I suppose... I will have the Regular Burger?" Nótt said. "And some mead as well."

 

[Captain Pokémon]

Sonic the Hedgehog​

“Whoops!” The hedgehog blurted out as he dashed into thin air, looking back with a puzzled expression. Bats. But not the NSFW kind. He thought to himself as they attempted to swarm him and attach to his legs. “Sorry pal, don’t think these guys are up to the health code!” Sonic said with a shrug as he blasted forward once again, leaving a shockwave in his wake that sent the bats flying off towards the cave walls.

He turned around to look back at Dracula in his small bat form, smirking as his enemy fluttered about. “Lookin’ rather dainty there, buddy.” Sonic snickered. “Not doing much for the whole “royal edgelord” thing you’re goin’ for.” The hedgehog definitely would have continued joking if it weren’t for Irnane showing up, going for his legs with a horizontal slash.

Sonic responded to this not by jumping, like Irnane guessed, but by dashing to the side and around the Neravanine in an arc while a blue trail followed him. He then went right back around to in front of her in another arc right as she finished her slash, effectively completing a circle around her with the blue trail as he dashed past her again. The trail then lit up pink and, assuming she was still in the same area, Irnane was sent flying upwards and right towards NiGHTS’ attack, while being slightly damaged in the process! Cyloops sure were nifty.

Inkling “Blue”​

“Woom…y?”

Blue found himself back in the lobby, just as unharmed as the big hand had promised. It was jarring, if he was being honest. Like abruptly being woken up from a nap, except it was death.

“Man, that was a way different kind of splat then I’m used to…“ The inkling thought to himself, feeling a mix of relief and fear. Relieved that he was fine…but still scared of those guys he just fought.

Blue let out a sigh and put his hands on his hips in relieved, post-adrenaline exasperation. Then, he spotted Dagr! She was okay too! A big, goofy smile appeared across the squid kid’s face as he sprinted over to her, skidding to a stop in front of her.

“Hey, you’re okay too! You had me a bit worried in that last part, heh!” Suddenly, Blue paused as a realization hit him. “But wait, if you’re here—aw man, did we lose?”

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

Rinku


"Oh?"

Rinku cocked his head as Dagr didn't shift toward the hostilities he was excepting to receive. Instead, she revealed the wound on her side, acknowledging that she couldn't continue on a 2v1 in this state.

"Haha. Ow. Sorry kiddo, I'm feeling real tired right now. We're just gonna have to play some other time, okay?"

That's when she put the little demon's hat on her and taunted him, sticking his tongue out before surrendering to the double demon duo.

"Huh? So givin' up now instead of gettin' beaten to a bloody pulp? Aw, what a shame."

Rinku landed down on the ground, crossing his arms. A grin started to grow on his face as we walked towards Dagr as the simulated world disappeared around them, The lobby replacing the backdrop.

"You got moxie though, rare to find someone with some actual strength to back their mouth up. Not bad, not baaaad at alll~"

Stopping at her side, the demon close his eyes, keeping his head facing forward. Holding his hand out lightly to get his hat back, the S-Class demon chuckled.

"Maybe if you climb out of that Loser's bracket you can get a chance to get beaten by me again in the finals."

 

[Captain Cardboard]

Dagr

The Jotun Princess was fading fast. Dagr's breathing became lighter and shallower, and it took all of her focus to listen to what Rinku was saying. The world around her blurred, something Dagr knew just preceded unconciousness. She waited for the darkness to take her, and-

Hold on a minute, she felt fine.

Dagr found herself back in the plaza. She was standing, with Rinku continuing to speak next to her. Dagr looked down at her hands. She could feel the familiar weight of her eagle on her shoulders. Master Hand had been telling the truth. She was back to normal. A massive grin spread across Dagr's face.

The giantess slapped Rinku's hat on his head, trying to give the small demon boy a playful noogie at the same time.
"You cocky little punk! I'll hold you to a showdown at the finals. You better hope you only lose once from here on out, because if you get knocked out of the tournament before I have the chance to kick your ass, I'll never let you hear the end of it." Dagr said playfully.

“Hey, you’re okay too! You had me a bit worried in that last part, heh!”

Blue skidded to a stop in front of her. The squiddo was okay too, looking like she had seen him before the match! Dagr's grin grew even wider. Not a wound on him! This place was amazing! Truly, they could fight as hard as they wanted to, and not have to worry about dying or killing. It was a dream come true! Dagr released Rinku, putting her arm around the Inkling as he asked if they had lost.
"Yeah! But don't let it get you down squiddo. I'm sure you did great out there." Dagr said. "C'mon, lets go drown our sorrows in whatever they got for food around here!"

Dagr looked back to Rinku, noticing Beam nearby too. The Princess waved cheerfully to the shark devil.
"Hey! You two should come with us!" Dagr said to Beam and Rinku. "We can celebrate your victories!"

 

[comic]

AEGISLASH​

His eye narrowed, and a second later it was widened with realization. Taskmaster wasn't pulling some ploy - he was truthful. Forfeiting?

What a coward. His bite simply could not live up to his bark.

Yet despite such a lackluster finale... the world remained the same. The arena dictated that the fight had not yet concluded. Was the surrender null? Or... more likely... had Shaymin neglected to conclude his task of truly defeating Masaru?

A shame, Aegislash spoke into Taskmaster's mind. It would seem your ally remains functional. Your cowardice has granted you nothing.
​

DART​

There it was! That opening!

Dart leapt up, kicking off of one of the platforms, zipping like a bullet toward the mid-air Mudkip, following with a heavy horizontal slash to conclude the conflict.
​

KASSANDRA​

Her eyes pinged about like the jester, following him, before she let out a groan of exasperation and glanced toward Alter Knight with the roll of her eyes, silently communicating her annoyance.

I was fighting gods before this, she thought to herself.

However, she was reminded vaguely of something. The bouncing of the now-multiple scythes... it was exactly like one of Specter's attacks she'd faced all those years ago. Reminded of that much more climactic battle, Kassandra's grip upon her dagger tightened, analyzing the trajectories of the scythes as they closed in.

With the dagger, Kassandra was at her absolute peak in terms of speed and agility. Her "assassin" style. It gave her an edge in situations like these, for as the scythes came in, she set to work, trying to ignore the ache in her body. Despite the Second Wind, it still wasn't as recovered as she'd been hoping for. Nevertheless, this misthios was no easy foe to bring down, especially not with such basic attacks.

The hilts of the scythes moved in first, Kassandra side-stepping a few, knocking aside others, waiting for the blades to be put to use, building up a charge, before the inevitable came to pass.

Scythe struck Stinger, the supernaturally-empowered dagger deflecting the blades rapidly, sparks flying with each parry and deflection. The attacks were fast, but using the assassin style, Kassandra could keep up just enough. To top that off, the passive effects of Arachne's Stinger were being passed onto the Devil's Knives (and unto Jevil himself). A lethal poison would befall organics (even those previously immune, though weakened), but against non-organics, it was like an acid. Each point of contact made was forcibly putting the opposing material into a more and more brittle state, degrading its integrity gradually.
​

M.O.D.O.K.​

The Man-Mind did not appear all that amused.

After a moment of awkward silence following the Regular Shopkeeper's puns, M.O.D.O.K. finally responded. "MAKE YOUR FEEBLE JOKES, PROGRAM. I HAVE HEARD IT ALL BEFORE. YOU COULD SAY IT DOESN'T GO- OVER MY HEAD."

Another moment of awkward silence, filled only with a few clumsy "HA. HA. HA."s from the A.I.M. leader, before his grin faded. "I WISH TO PERUSE YOUR EQUIPMENT AND LIKEWISE WARES."
​

NEREVARINE​

A surprising development. The hedgehog was capable of mid-air movement, shifting directions with seeming ease. Predicting his already rapid movement became that much more difficult. Irnane didn't recognize the strategy with the streak of blue, already about to swing in his path again, before the cycloop erupted with mysterious energy. The dunmer woman was blasted only a bit into the air, surprised and slightly damaged, but more than anything, curious to the magicka behind such a move (if it even had magical properties).

However, she given little time to ponder, quickly reminded she was in an active battle when NiGHTS tossed some strange metallic rod. Twisting through the air, the Nerevarine angled herself to quickly bring her sword up with a rapid, vertical slice.

The rod was severed in two, either end splitting off in different directions as Irnane landed upon the ground, her pointed ears twitching as she glanced from NiGHTS toward Sonic. Assessing her mana, Irnane barely took even a second to ponder her options, before she cast another spell of red light. It only whispered from her finger tips, before Sonic would find himself suddenly engulfed in a brief crimson light that quickly dispersed, dealing no damage.

It was not a move intended to deal damage. In fact, it was a useful Curse Speed Spell, which would cut the speed of Irnane's target victim in half for a short while (3 posts). From what she'd gathered so far, even this early into the match, Sonic was clearly a fighter who relied on his speed to overcome a challenge. She wanted to see how he might perform without his usual crutch - if he even could. If not, it would be a simple matter for herself and Dracula.​

 

[DevVoid]

Shaymin
The Grass-Type managed to make headway as he whipped up dustclouds from pulverizing rocks and rubble with psychic energy, clearing a path big enough for him to pass through to the other side, just in time to hear his other opponent give up. Well.. that's that then! ..right? Wait, if that was it, wouldn't they be hearing some sort of victory jingle or something? Surely, their win wouldn't just go unannounced, right? The Gratitude Pokémon yapped over to his ally in confusion, speaking in the univeral language that Pokémon tended to converse in.

" Shaymin, shay shay? Min, min.. Shaymin? "

" Hey, did we win yet? I was sure I knocked that other guy out.. what's happening? "

Minos
The soul-formed former King grasped the angel's outreached hand and shook it, then shaking his head in a negative response as he let go again. He couldn't linger here. He had just one place to be. Hell.

" Apologies, but I must return to my place of origin. This tournament.. it's deceitful prize will not bring back the hope of the people. That I must work for myself. "

His back now turned, Minos Prime walked towards the gate, thinking that if this were the one to allow people to enter a battle, it'd likely also be the one to allow those that have lost to forfeit their chance at any further fights. Stopping just short of it, Minos looked back to Pit and, though it was not obvious at first, at Palutena as well.

" For thy sake, I have hopes that thy wishes will come true.. without the castaway of thine true selves. Fare thee well, and may we meet upon better times. "

And then.. he stepped through and was gone.

Dracula
The shockwave sent the bats flying, though they were quick to re-merge back into the Vampire Lord who had his legs aimed at the wall, using it as a platform to leap off of it and right back into the fray, his arms crossed in front of his face as two gauntlets manifested upon his arms - the Chaos Claws.

Scarlet and Crimson energies encircled the dark prince's frame as he drew upon chaotic energy and charged forward with a burning rush, creating a large projection of an energy lance in the form of chaotic magic to strike back at his blue adversary and push him out of the way so that Irnane can handle the purple jester all by herself!

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

NiGHTS


A street light sliced in two? That was one heck of a pig sticker. Seeing the dark elf enact some sort of spell on their blue friend, NiGHTS knew they couldn't just leave Sonic out high and dry. The purple jester decided to take a more physical approach. Flying down and leaving a trail of glitter behind themselves, they soared under the highway and flew up towards the top. She gave a salute with two fingers, locking eyes with Irnane before the circle of glitter had connected-

CRASH!

A Paraloop formed, the circle the Nightmaren made hyper compressed everything brought into the ring. The goal was to compress the entire opposing team. But if it didn't, the block of street itself was snapped from the rest of the highway, teetering and collapsing, the asphalt crumbling and dripping into the lava below.







Rinku


Noogie mode initiated. The muscular woman was practically suffocating him, grinding her fist against his now hat bearing head. She didn't know her strength...or maybe she did and that was the point? Rinku wheezed before being released from the sudden grasp, teetering to his feet from the unexpected playful roughhousing. Rare that he was caught off guard.

"ACK! If I don't get choked out before then...!" He hacked, sticking his tongue out to signify his previous lack of oxygen. Quickly adjusting his hat and laughing off his near choking, he put his hands in his pockets. "Heh...you ain't borin', blunt, but not borin, chick."

He was going to turn around and take his shark demon elsewhere before he was stopped by Dagr's offer. Pausing for a moment, he registered what she was trying to ask.

"...Huh. i've never been one to shy away from a little gloating, sure, sounds fun!" He grinned, gesturing towards Beam with with a flick of his head. "C'mon, let's join muscles and roadkill in a little feast. Good work out there, shark."

 

[Fraseandchico]

Axe
​

"Gyuh...!" Axe was surprised as he retracted his foot to avoid a portal before he and Grazie were trapped in place. "That's not good!" He scowled before jumping in surprise as Grazie opened the top. "...That's very good, though!" He added, pumping his fist before being surprised as Grazie used a large hand of sand to lift him up.

"I-" He wasn't sure what to say at first. "Yeah, let's go!" He decided to encourage the throw. He held his breath, resolving to do what he had to now as he saw that Magolor was struggling before Axe was launched to the sky!
As he reached just above Magolor's position, he reared his arm, back with enough force to pause his momentum with a small upward push, before the pickaxe end extended out slightly. He span quickly for a couple of seconds, building up speed again before he slammed his pickaxe down towards Magolor, trying to pierce him!
And if Magolor were to use one of those weird air platforms to stop him? The collision would cause flames to shoot out straight into the alien magician!

The Power of Fire, indeed.

Audrey Redheart
​

While her supposed allies were losing themselves, Audrey had been pouting in the lobby. How could she let herself LOSE to a couple of LOSERS like that!??!?!
As she saw them losing, she quickly realised the real reason she lost; her teammates were useless and didn't work with her, the HERO, as they should've (At least, that was her perspective).

So, when they arrived back in the arena and attempted to creep on her, she knew what they were doing. And twitched in annoyance as they called her 'dead weight'.
To Audrey, they were quite lucky she had her sword in the ground.
"Oh, shut it you IDIOTS." She snapped her fingers, shoving Troy away from her shoulder without a care in the world. "Maybe we would've won if you two didn't just stand aside and do nothing!" She claimed, her fist curled into a ball. "Besides, how the hell was I supposed to expect that loser grunt to be immune god-slaying LIGHTNING!?!" She yelled before stopping herself. She pulled the sword out of the ground, and kept it lowered. "So how about YOU back off already, creepazoid, and dont lecture me on being 'dead weight'." She spat.

Masaru
​

Masaru groaned as he slowly shuffled from his nigh-defeated position. He felt his energy largely gone, but he wasnt defeated...but he did hear his ally surrendering, probably assuming his defeat. He felt guilty over this, knowing that was his fault, but he couldnt do anything now. He slowly got to his feet, and attempted to walk, slowly in order to help him catch his breath to a calmer degree, towards his now-2 enemies.

"Well, Ive already lost...but something tells me they won't like it if I surrender, that wouldn't be fair. Sorry about that, Taskmaster." He said, groaning before shaking his head to focus a bit. Given his current stat, it wasnt amazing, but it did help him regain a little energy.
"Going to finish it, then?" He goaded with a shout, a part of him wondering if Taskmaster's surrender truly took him out of the match with Masaru still here.

 

[Captain Pokémon]

Sonic the Hedgehog​

The indescribably loud sound of metal pipes falling on asphalt rang out through the arena after Irnane sliced right through the light pole and divided it in two. Sonic cocked his head to the side as he watched for a moment, although his confidence didn’t falter.

While still airborne, a wisp of red energy snaked out of her fingertips and the blue blur was briefly covered in red energy before it disappeared. Sonic looked at his arms and turned to look at his legs, but nothing happened. “Oh wow.” He muttered under his breath in slight confusion. “Hey, I think you rolled a 1!” He yelled out to Irnane—

Suddenly, the hedgehog’s ear twitched and his quills straightened out a bit. “Huh? Woah!” Sonic blurted out as he turned around to see Dracula soaring towards him with a few big ol’ claws to help him. Not missing a beat, the blue blur jumped to the side right as Dracula got close to slashing him. It worked, but not as comfortably as he thought it would.

Did she slow me down…?

Sonic thought inwardly. He decided not to think on it though, as there was still an angry Dracula nearby. Directly after the dodge jump, the hedgehog spun around and went in for a roundhouse kick to the back of the vampire’s head while he was still flying forwards from the momentum!

Inkling “Blue”​

The squiddo closed an eye and smiled cheerfully as Dagr put her arm around him, letting out a light chuckle. His pal confirmed that they did lose, but didn’t seem too bothered by it at all. Weird. Blue wasn’t a fan of losing, but Dagr’s joy was contagious so he wasn’t bothered too much either.

Initially, the inkling jumped at the opportunity to go get a bite to eat, but his friend thought it was a GREAT idea to invite out the two people who beat them up to come with them. Blue’s smile fell at record speeds as he stared at the two demons, primarily Rinku.

Edging slightly behind Dagr, the squid kid looked up at her and got on his tippy toes to whisper in her ear. “Uh, you sure about this? These guys are jerks.“ He said, visibly uncomfortable. Normally he wouldn’t mind too much, but that Rinku kid made him really uncomfortable. Something about him was off, besides the fact that he could fly and had chainsaw toys. Beam, on the other hand, seemed largely likable aside from the fact that he took a chunk out of Blue’s friend.

Man, why can’t we just invite the shark guy…

 

[Gamingfan]

Magolor
Magolor's trap wasn't entirely effective, but it at least arrested Grazie in her tracks. The same couldn't be said about Axe, who she had tossed towards him. It was kind of a funny sight, though the attack Axe was preparing was less so.
As Axe reared up his weapon, the faux-halcandran's hands pushed against the sand floor, seemingly attempting to free him from the grip of the sand tendrils to no avail. He looked totally helpless!
Heh, that's what Kirby must've thought too.
In reality, he created another rune below himself, seizing control over the sand below through his magic. Just as Axe swung his pickaxe down, the sand tendrils suddenly shoved Magolor to the side, rolling him out of danger!
"Gotcha!" he announced proudly. With him out of the way, the pickaxe would land in the sand, where they would magically swirl into a vortex, pulling Axe down into the sand with incredible force!
With Axe trapped, Magolor burst forward, snatching his satchel by the bag. The greedy mage took off, intending to pull it over Axe's head and make off with his bag! He surged forward, pulling with enough force that, even if Axe grabbed it, the straps would surely rip from the tension. If they proved tougher than he anticipated, Magolor would summon a needle that would snap the straps in one fell swoop.

Alter Knight
The Knight's sharp eyes followed Jevil as he bounced to and fro, only flicking back to Kassandra to share her irritated look. The clown split into four projectiles, with flew around the duo and attempted to strike into them repeatedly. Kassandra proved quick with her , and while Alter Knight kept up well by striking the scythes away with her sword and shield in tandem, some lucky shots landed, denting her armor.
Alter grunted from the impacts, but proved tough enough to tank them without showing too much damage. Yet the same likely couldn't be said as the scythes changed to strike her with the blade! Alter Knight changed strategies accordingly, dropping low to the ground with her shield up. As soon as a scythe struck it, the knight moved the shield to face above herself, redirecting Jevil's weapon. In that split second, another bolt of lightning struck above Alter Knight, and the scythe she held up to it! That wasn't all, however, as the lightning landed on the shield, it was redirected, turning into multiple smaller bolts that were reflected around Alter Knight, striking the other scythes .

Ryuji
Surprisingly, it worked. Ryuji flashed a thumbs up.
"Hell yeah! I ain't sure what these people were capable of, but we're on a roll!" he boasted.
Overconfidence was steadily getting to Skull before a loud sneeze alerted him. The phantom thief turned to see what looked like a waiter, wiping his hand on his apron.
Well, that was gross. Ryuji was about to call him out on it, until he found that the regular waiter had already strolled up to them.
"Hey, lovebirds. What can I do ya for?" he asked.
Ryuji looked towards Nott then the waiter, impressively in sync with the former, while looking equally embarrassed.
Geez, talk about awkward. Ryuji thought, completely forgetting he planned to say.
"Uh. Right." Ryuji said, gawkily leaning back while he looked at the menu, suddenly avoiding direct eye contact.
The food looked pretty good, but...
"I'll take the meatiest burger you got." he announced, almost like it was a challenge. "And a Regular Soda."

 

[Psymallard]

Taskmaster
They did not disappear. Ignoring Aegislash's insults, he was right about one thing: Masaru was still conscious. Curious, the assassin strolled through the cavity Shayman had carved. Sure enough, the world's strongest man was right there. He was staggering to his feet. Taskmaster walked up to the injured man and got in his face. He made direct eye contact with his 'ally'.

"We're done here. Quit slowing me down, amateur."

Mudkip
The mudfish tumbled through the air. He was hurt, but he couldn't give up yet! The power of Torrent surged through him, and he felt invigorated to make a final stand. He twisted best he could in the air, trying to recover, but as he spotted Dart, it was too late. The final swipe of the blade had rendered Mudkip unconscious.

Winner: Dart and Warlock!

Beam
The Shark Devilman appeared back in the lobby and froze for a moment, getting used to the sudden change in his own personal health and smells. Once situated, he perked up and looked to Dagr and Inkling. They were just fine, like he was! A bit odd, but it worked, so he didn't think to question it. Also, wasn't he supposed to be fighting? Were they past that now? Beam's better judgement told him that this was a noncombative situation, and so he just opened and closed his jaws absentmindedly. Then, Dagr called to him. He wasn't paying attention so he didn't know where they were going, but he didn't care. He didn't have anything better to do. So, he dove into the ground and swam over to the other three, cheering as he went.

Cool Cats
"Excuses, excuses~,"

Allison sang as both she and Troy casually strolled in a circle around her, like wolves cornering their prey. The cult leader followed up on his subordinate's jeering.

"Be grateful you have your excuses, twerp."

"Because we KNOW you don't have anything else!"

"Who rung out first, eh?"

"Who didn't land a single clean hit?"

"Auuu-dreyyy."

They mocked her as they said her name in unison. They could have kept going, but Troy figured she got the idea, and Allison followed as he backed away, both returning a demeaning grin towards their tormentee.

Jevil
As the two counterattacked the scythes, they suddenly disappeared. Jevil appeared between the two, bouncing in a jovial, though no more harmed than he was before he had transformed into his weapons. He hadn't taken any damage while he was attacking, but now, he didn't show any aggression, leaving himself wide open.

"Your turn~!"

Shopkeeper Prime
"MAKE YOUR FEEBLE JOKES, PROGRAM. I HAVE HEARD IT ALL BEFORE. YOU COULD SAY IT DOESN'T GO- OVER MY HEAD."

The Regular Shopkeeper chuckled and waggled a finger at the man-mind.

"That was a good one."

The cyborg expressed interest for his wares, and the businessman stepped to the side, gesturing to his personal strip mall.

"Take your pick, George! Any except the pawn shop."

Regular Shopk- er- Waiter
"Alriiiight, a Regular Burger, I assume as a combo... and some mead... and an Unending Monotony Burger with a Regular Soda. Got it. Your food'll be out in a few."

He quickly snatched up the menus and then strode towards the kitchen, leaving Nott and Ryuji alone again, with the ambiance of a clamorous fast-food kitchen in the distance. The waiter could be heard hollering their order back there.

 

[Captain Cardboard]

Nótt

And with that, the waiter was gone and Nótt was left with Ryuji again. Nótt glanced at the other fights going on. A man in red armor dealing the final blow to a blue aquatic amphibian. The woman knight she had seen earlier, fighting alongside another hooded woman against a strange, jester-like creature. Taskmaster attempting to stab Masaru in the back. Nótt winced at that one. They should have been teammates. That was an unfortunate turn of events.

Nótt turned her attention back to Ryuji.
"So, Skull..." Nótt spoke. "Were you employed back in your world? Your outfit doesn't seem to be a military uniform. Are you a Mercenary, perhaps?"


Dagr

"Careful, Ice Rink! That almost sounded like a compliment." Dagr said to Rinku. She looked down to Blue when the Inkling voiced his concerns. Dagr just shrugged, keeping her happy grin.
"Ehhh, it'll probably be fine. The Hand man said if we fight outside the ring, it's an instant disqualification, right?" Dagr said. "So as long as we don't fight, we're all good. And if he starts talking trash or something, just talk trash back and keep your head up. Just be sure of yourself, and you'll be great squiddo. You already are."

Dagr gave the Inkling a thumbs up. At that moment, Beam swam up to the group. The Jotun Princess attempted to grab Beam by his fin and pull him out of the ground.
"And don't think I've forgotten about you, shark man!" Dagr said, pointing to the shark devil. "I have to pay you back for that wound in my side. So you keep winning too, you got it? I really want to fight you again, and next time I'll be the one that comes out on top!"

Dagr let go of Beam, and headed towards the Regular Burger shop.

 

[ArmedBlue]

Cayman
​

The pressure let up for a moment---Kragg had let go, leaving Cayman to fall rapidly towards the ground before the effects of his Septima kicked in, much to his misfortune. Cayman hit the ground with a large explosion, the Earth's Bastion crashing down right afterward with incredible speed, acting as a massive cannonball. A cloud of smoke came up, leaving the nearby Chai clueless as to the result...

The smoke eventually cleared, revealing Cayman laying on the ground, his armor mostly broken apart, the Adept's regular clothing right underneath it. He grunted as he sat up, shoulders heaving as he looked up at the beetle silently standing over him.

And he grinned.

"These muscles of mine... they're satisfied."

He had gotten exactly what he'd been looking for. A Duel against a warrior the likes of which he'd never seen in his life. An earth bending, muscular beetle was a perfectly grand first opponent. He had no qualms with "losing", because a true man learned from failure, and took even the worst days in stride!

"We should have another Duel sometime! That way we can keep pushing our limits and go beyond them!"

With that, he tapped the ground twice, signifying his forfeit.
​

Pit
​

"Bye Minos! Hope you can achieve your goal!"

"It's been a pleasure meeting you."

Minos then stepped through the gateway, and he was gone. Wasting little time, Pit turned towards the multiple establishments across the plaza, selling a variety of services, though his focus was on the food places. After scouring through the names for a bit, he decided he'd go for a burger, seeing as burgers always made for awesome post-mission meals. Besides, since they were in a multiversal tournament, the food here was sure to be out of this world!

He was quick to sprint towards the Regular Burger, practically barging through the entrance with a "sorry, real hungry here!". As he came in and took a seat in one of the booths, he caught a glimpse of a familiar face; a blonde teen wearing a black outfit and a mask. Wasn't that guy usually hanging around Joker whenever there was a Smash Bros. thing going on? The name was just on the tip of his tongue, though he couldn't quite recall it, so he instead focused on picking out his meal, opening up the menu and taking a good look at all the burgers on display.
​

Grazie
​

Miracle was floating right in front of her. Stuck in place while glowing rainbow.

"...ya gon' try an' hit me yet?"

Then he broke out into a dance, flying closer.

"Never mind, back off!"

A veil of sand came over Grazie, forming a wall right before the built up magical energy was released in a bright flash of light, the force sending Grazie flying backwards. Her mech armor finally gave out, falling apart completely (though taking the brunt of the hit), leaving the Adept in her normal transformed state as she was launched into the ground, kicking up a big cloud of sand, the girl herself buried within. At least it gave her some cover to act...

She had felt her control over the sand grounding Magolor vanish, so she was quick to provide backup for the boy. The sands around Magolor began to shift, swirling for a moment before shooting out at him as streams with pointy ends, looking to overwhelm him and give Axe some much needed space to think and act. Without her armor, she couldn't quite perform any super powerful attacks, but her control over sand was still exceptional.

Constantly losing control to that egg was getting on her nerves, though.
​

Gunvolt
​

"Wait, a duck? Could it be...?"

Sure enough, the footage of the last tournament was of a yellow psychic duck: Psyduck. The Azure Striker hadn't seen him at all since the Nexus incident, so he'd assumed the Pokémon wasn't a part of any other tournaments much like himself, yet there he was. Fighting against an army of monkeys.

"Hey, I've seen him before," he spoke, inching a little closer to the screen, a slight smile growing on his face at the sight of the familiar fighter. "He was part of the tournament that I won. If I remember correctly, he got eliminated in the first round by a puffball with a spear." Gunvolt raised a hand, tapping the screen a few times, cycling through the footage of the duck's past fights, before it finally landed on his very first one against Bandana Dee.

"Yeah, this is the one. Guess he's worked pretty hard since then. Semi-finals is no small feat."​

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

Chai



Unbelievable.

Did muscles there just forfeit the match? Chai couldn't believe it. Right as he got here, Cayman already threw in the towel. Getting into the fighting area, the guitarist approached him.

"Are you sure you don't got anymore fight in you? Not even a tiny little bit?" Chai pushed the issue.

Putting a small gap between his thumb and his index finger to signify the 'little bit', he was soon met with Kragg, who he turned slowly towards. His metal arm still severed and the bug still big, Chai sheepishly laughed.

"Well, buddy, you could like I don't know, walk off the stage or something and be a good pal- that ain't gonna work, is it?" Chai sighed. "Fine, I like my face not punched. I forfeit too..."

The winners are...Noah and Kragg!

And just like that, the world fell before them, their wounds and damage healing. The plaza returned before their eyes as the battle came to the close. Noah returned to consciousness and the metal arm of Chai's had returned.

"Huh, looks like the hand was truthful." Pepperiment mentioned. "That arm of yours did come back after all."

"Aww..." Chai groaned, deflated. "Such a cool finisher on that Noah guy and it's still a loss. Man, what a let down."

The cat drone rolled their eyes. "Get over it, Chai. You chose to participate in a battle tourney, not me. besides, there's a loser's bracket, so you aren't completely a failure yet. Just half of one."

"Comforting, Peppermint. Comforting." Chai muttered, adjusting himself, playing with his repaired mechanical arm. "Well, who doesn't like a little underdog story? I'll rise up through this bracket, no sweat!"

"You realize you have to beat the muscle powerhouse first, right?"

"..."

"..."

"...I what?"

 

[comic]

NEREVARINE​

These two... their styles took a similar approach. Obviously they were unique in their own ways, Sonic relying on speed, while NiGHTS relied on her levitation. It switched up their styles, which otherwise may have been a lot more similar.

The paraloop was recognized, comparative to Sonic's cycloop, and Irnane called upon the Recall she'd placed earlier.

The dark elf materialized back at the orb she'd placed, which vanished with its use. The paraloop's attack went off without a hitch, an echoing boom sounding as part of the road was destroyed, but Irnane already had swapped out the Sword of White Woe for her Shortbow of Sanguine Sureflight, notching back an iron arrow before letting it fly for the back of NiGHTS head, relying on the possibility they had not yet realized the Nerevarine had appeared elsewhere.

The arrow would home in on NiGHTS, bending through its trajectory to hit its mark, thanks to the Homing Enchantment placed upon the shortbow. Irnane took a few steps back, the ground crumbling beneath her, but she had appeared at the edge of the destruction, already notching another iron arrow for the nightmaren. It was at this moment that the Wounding Touch spell dispersed - but so far, NiGHTS and Sonic had both gone to great lengths to avoid making any contact with the Nerevarine, be it in touch or by blade. Was it possible that they had some innate awareness, even subconscious, to her abilities?
​

KASSANDRA​

Not one to pass up any opportunities, Kassandra was already in the process of swinging her blade down vertically upon the clown without nary a second having passed after his two-worded sentence, the misthios putting her weight behind the blow, aiming to sever Jevil in two.
​

DART​

Fwoosh!

In a flash of emerald flames, Heat Blade vanished before Dart's boots landed upon solid ground. The world began to dissipate into flecks of white, but the dragoon didn't yet step through the portal that appeared before him, instead taking a few steps to the side, before he raised his arms into the air.

The unconscious amphibian landed in Dart's hands. "Good fight," the man patted it gently, before he cradled it with one arm as he stepped through the portal.

Upon appearing out of the other side, the world they'd fought in vanished in its entirety, and the mercenary crouched and set the now-conscious Mudkip down, having revived upon being carried through the portal. "Alright! That was fun!" He grinned at the Mudkip. "I can see it - you've got potential! Keep training, and you'll go far!"
​

M.O.D.O.K.​

For a moment, the Man-Mind glanced about, before he frowned, uninterested in the presented options. "THE PAWN SHOP - WHY IS IT OFF LIMITS?" He demanded.
​

MASTER CHIEF​

"Guess there's been a lot of overlap in all these tournaments and events," Kalmiya said, eyes scanning the array of screens. She hardly needed to do such a thing, AI of her caliber able to just process the ambient data by simply being near, but a part of the design in Smart AI was to appear more human. Doing simulated things like this was to make humans they interacted with more at-ease. Otherwise, people would be off-put by something either disembodied, or wholly uncanny.

"Y'know," Kalmiya cocked her head to the side, and raised a hand. She projected a new screen among the others, displaying what was undoubtedly the Master Chief, though his armor seemed subtly different. Slimmer, maybe even a little lighter. "The Nexus event dubbed as "brawl" was actually a time when both you and Master Chief were involved in the same event, Gunvolt."

She turned to look at the Azure Striker.

"A different version of him, but he was friends with Copen, who I believe is from your multiverse. And last tournament, we became friends with Rebellio, also from your multiverse. Do you know them?"​

 

[DevVoid]

Dracula
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, you've already lost. The Hedgehog really tried the same trick twice, attacking him from behind. Truly, the only other intellectual here was the Nerevarine, it appeared. Well, this didn't mean that this creature was a lost cause. After all, even a fool can become a scholar if taking the opportunity to learn. And learn Sonic would most definitely learn, whether he liked it or not.

Dracula's cape moved on its own, shapeshifting into a pair of razor-edged bat wings and flicking itself at the Hedgehog to try to interrupt his attack, while Dracula himself made sure to use his velocity to throw himself downward, slamming a claw into the ground and causing the terrain to spew up pillars of burning chaotic energy in all directions around himself!

Mr. Miracle
The blast landed, cheering from the roaring crowd erupted followin the pretty sparkles in the sky. The performing magician now turned to the stands, pointing his magic wand at the spectators sitting by. The armour was gone, it was his time to strike.. and while he could do so right now, he had to make it interesting. After all, this WAS a show, was it not?

" Ladies and Gentlemen, it appears we have reached the Finale of the Fight! Now, who here would like to guess which animal it will be that I, Mr. Miracle will transform into next, hmm? "

Several animals were listed from the crowd, but only a few groups managed to scream in unison.

" Rhino! "

" Snake! "

" Chimpanzee! "

Miracle spun his wand in his hand, slipping it back into his coat.

" All clever ideas, but I'm afraid that none of them are correct! Now watch.. and.. BEHOOOOLLLDD!! "

Rainbow energies covered him again, his limbs and parts stretching and re-sizing themselves like a cartoon, before the final shape was revealed, the one, the only... NARWHAL. Terry wasted no time and begun.. spinning in place, as if using his now newly-grown horn like a drill. Magical energy begun collecting on his person.. er, his aquatic mammalon and begun forming into the shape of the head of a spear around him. Truly, he was now the truest man-made magic missile.

" BON VOYAGE, GRAZIE! I'M AFRAID THIS SHOW HAS COME TO ITS CONCLUSION! "

And with that he fired off like an arrow being released from its string, or a bullet fired out of its casing, right towards the sandcaster, partially moving himself via his flight abilities and partially using his magical energy as a thruster to move himself past his limited flying velocity to truly become the first truest man-made magic missile in the history of magics and wonders!

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

NiGHTS


"There we go! There's some good damage!" NiGHTS beamed, watching the segment of the bridge get consume by the lava lake below. "Hmmm...did that lass fall in there? Didn't hear a jingle, a ring, a cannon sound or anything-"

Interrupted mid sentence, NiGHTS felt a twinge of pain. In the back of their head, an arrow stuck straight out of it, imbedded in her purple exterior. Grabbing it and tanking it one with one go, it became clear that whatever NiGHTS was - they didn't bleed. Where the wound was, there was a small hole with a few light cracks Around it. Like porcelain doll getting poked too hard by a needle.

"Now ain't that a new one, can't say I've been arrowed before." NiGHTS looked humorously back at the sender before casting the projectile into the lava. "Projectiles are cool, I can do a mean rocket!"

He synthesized some sort of golden mask around her eyes with a flick of his hand. Suddenly, their whole body began to change instantly! NiGHTS contorted and warped until they appeared to be some kind of cartoon rocket, looking ornate yet bouncy at the same time, like it came from some Looney Tunes episode.

Just then, the rocket shot itself toward Irnane, swerving in unorthodox ways, no sparkle trail of any kind coming from behind it. Instead, a bright burning thruster howled as the rocket's speed cut the distance fast, twirling and zig zagging before soaring above Irnane's position. It would then nosedive and explode in a cartoonish cloud of pink with white stars.

 

[comic]

NEREVARINE​

She blinked, gazing upon the damage she'd inflicted. NiGHTS was an interesting creature... seemingly made of pottery clay. The damage appeared almost artificial, NiGHTS not appearing to register the damage. They instead popped out a quip then transformed into another dwemer-like construct before closing the distance.

If one of Sonic's weaknesses was speed... then perhaps NiGHTS was the opposite of their own favored tool: weightlessness.

A scroll appeared in the dunmer's free hand, immediately being consumed by a small swelling of fire, the magicka stored within dispersing.

As NiGHTS was a little over halfway to her destination, zigging and zagging, a sudden violet aura washed over the rocket, before it quickly dispersed. Like for Sonic, no damage was dealt. Instead, it had been to hinder performance.

A Burden spell had been enchanted into the scroll.

The weight applied with a burden spell was never set, it always depended on the individual it was used on. The standard rule of the burden spell was that it continually applied weight to the afflicted individual until they could both feel that weight, and be hindered by it. It wouldn't make movement impossible, but in most cases, it actively negated levitation and flight, grounding enemies, while also forcing them to move more slowly and run out of energy more quickly.

Irnane's strategy with this was to bring NiGHTS out of the air, just over the chasm before she could clear it. This would drop the nightmaren directly into the pools of magma below. As Irnane was not the type willing to take chances, she elected to now raise that same arm as soon as the scroll had been consumed, her wrist wrapping with with yellow light, before a Flame Atronach materialized in the air, situated between NiGHTS and Irnane (should the nightmaren find a way to still reach her destination, effectively cutting her short).

The Flame Atronach, body burning with flames, raised her hands and began to launch balls of fire at NiGHTS to both impede and damage her while Irnane dissected the situation to gather her bearings, and to deduce an actual plot to employ.​

 

[Captain Cardboard]

Weevil Underwood

The bug duelist sat at one of the tables in the plaza, watching the battles on the screens around him. The way these opponents fought were so incredibly different from the duelists back in his world. From the battles he could see, there wasn't anyone who had monster summoning abilities like himself or Rex. Then again, Weevil had not been able to see many of the other fighters. It was quite possible that there were others here with monster summoning abilities. He would have to be careful here to not allow an opponent to rush him before he could get out some monsters.

More and more contestants appeared in the plaza as their battles finished. A few began to make their way over to the Regular Burger restaurant. But Weevil's focus was on the winners. Warlock and Dart. MODOK and Jeice. Rinku and Beam. Nott and Ryuji. And now, the more recent victory of Kragg and Noah.

Weevil had missed Warlock's part of the fight, but watched as Dart used his physical prowess and fire sword to defeat a small, pathetic aqua creature. If it took the hero that long to defeat such a small creature, Weevil doubted he was much of a threat. Then there was MODOK and Jeice. Unfortunately, Weevil had missed the entirety of their fight. Nothing he could do with that, only to hope that he could have another chance to seem them in action. Then there was Rinku and Beam. A kid who could fly, with great strength and killer yo yos, along with a massive shark monster. Then there was Kragg and Noah. A massive muscular bug creature, and a swordsman with changing weapons. The bug creature Weevil could handle, but a warrior may be more difficult. And Nott and Ryuji. A pair of warriors, one a muscular woman with a magic spear and killer eagle, another a teen with lightning powers and a second fighting spirit.

Weevil grinned. He would just have to rig things in his favor.

While Weevil had been watching the fights, the insect duelist had also been keeping an eye on the winners who had reappeared in the plaza. With the exception of Raptor of course, Weevil could care less what happened to that fossil breath. Dart had only just returned, his pathetic opponent in hand. MODOK and Jeice had been... interesting to watch. Shortly after Weevil had left from the Shopkeeper, MODOK had approached them and boisterously spoke with them. The massive floating head appeared rather arrogant, as did Jeice. Perhaps there was something there... Rinku and Beam had only just returned as well, and Weevil could see them approaching the Regular Burger with other competitors.

Weevil decided on his target. MODOK.

"Maybe it's because your big head won't fit through the door!" Weevil called out to the mastermind.

 

[comic]

M.O.D.O.K.​

“EH?”

The mechanized organism rotated, eyes glancing about. “WHO SAID THAT?”

His eyes slowly swiveled down.

“OH. AN INSECT,” he waved his hand dismissively, as though shooing a fly. “BUZZ OFF.”​

 

[Captain Cardboard]

Weevil Underwood

The insect duelist hopped out of his seat, sauntering over to the massive floating head. Weevil stuck his hands in his pockets, looking up to MODOK with a grin. He brushed off the insect remark with ease, it was nothing he hadn't heard before. Even took it as compliment.
"What are you even supposed to be?" Weevil asked. "Did your head get stung by a bee, and swelled up?"

No matter how badly they were wounded, Master Hand had shown that they would be healed. Raptor always did call him annoying, it was time for Weevil to put it to the test.


Dagr

Stopping before the entrance of the Regular Burger, Dagr watched with amusement as another kid dashed past her and into the restaurant. One with shaggy brown hair, dressed in a toga- with a pair of feathery wings sprouting from his back?!
"Sorry, real hungry here!" The teen called out. Dagr looked through the door, watching Pit jump into a seat.
"Whoa. Neat." Dagr said. Was that kid a Ljósálfar or something? They usually had bug wings. Either way, another new type of person Dagr hadn't seen before.

"Boom!" Dagr yelled, kicking open the door to the Regular Burger. The place seemed pretty empty. She could hear some noise from the back, the kitchen staff working. Then there was the angel kid. And also... Dagr scowled. Nótt. Her sister was sitting across from the blond kid she had met earlier, the teammate. Nótt was the last thing Dagr wanted to see, no doubt she already had some snarky comment about her losing the match. Dagr did her best to ignore her sister, walking around the restaurant and plopping down at a table on the opposite end.

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

NiGHTS


"Huh?"

The rocket suddenly fell into freefall, the sudden added weight to the otherwise weightless rocket took them off guard. That's when the Jester-missile cranked the thruster into overdrive, exhaust firing out bigger and more rapid. It shot NiGHTS back up, going back at an angle towards the highway. It seemed they weren't comfortable performing complex maneuvers with sudden unknown weight parameters. So instead, when they got to the road, they began to transform again.

The rocket pulled and twisted like a cartoon transformation, bulging and contorting before they fully transfigured. Hitting the concrete with wheels, NiGHTS had become a strange car like contraption, apparently built for speed and racing. No need to worry about weight and balance in the sky when planted firmly on the ground!

NiGHTS's eyes, which were on the front of the car darted to the left, seeing the flaming construct from the corner of their eye. Looks like their little elven friend had friends of their own.

"Hey, ol' blue." NiGHTS-Car honked to Sonic. "Why don't we make this a bit more fast paced?"

Putting pedal to the metal, smoke came from the asphalt before the car shot off down the road, drifting around a curve and avoiding the incoming fireballs in the meantime. Irnane would get her time, but so would NiGHTS.



Rinku


Whistle

"Haven't seen so many screw ups in one place before."

Rinku had his hands behind his head as he meandered forwards. Lesser angels, kids that lost their matches, and now a pair of demons. What a hodgepodge. Sitting down at the table Dagr chose, Rinku whimsically looked about, wondering where Beam would sit before spotting Dagr's rather perturbed expression.

"Who pissed in your pudding?"




Rex Raptor


"C'mon, just stomp him already!"

Rex shouted at a screen, taking his mouth off the straw of his soda, some droplets of the carbonated beverage hitting the ground and fizzing. Grazie against Mr.Miracle was frustrating to watch. One looked heavily armed, enough to take out the other. But that damn carnival clown just kept screwing things up. He wanted to see some pain and crushing, not some hokey magic tricks! Magolor was nearly in that camp of complications himself, and Axe...seemed unremarkable. At least from the point he hopped in. All he knew was he wanted that colorful clown eliminated. He would just be frustrating to duel.

 

[comic]

M.O.D.O.K.​

The Man-Mind raised a large eyebrow, before he hovered a little closer toward Weevil, leaning forward, as though straining to visually inspect the boy. "MY DISFIGUREMENT WAS NOT THE RESULT OF BIOLOGICAL REACTIONS. SCIENCE SHAPED ME IN ITS IMAGE. I AM GENIUS, I AM M.O.D.O.K.!"

He turned away to face the shopkeeper once again. "LEAVE US, LITTLE BOY. I HAVE NO TIME FOR GEEKY FANS OR HOMOSAPIEN INFANTS, OF WHICH YOU FIT BOTH DESCRIPTORS."​

 

[Gamingfan]

Ryuji
Even though they had just exited a fight, the sight of the fights was starting to excited Ryuji for his next one. The phantom thief's leg bounced up and down as he watched, only stopping when Nott's question caught his attention.
"Huh? Nah, I'm part of The Phantom Thieves." Ryuji answered, puffing his chest out. Clearly this was a source of pride for him.
Of course, Nott probably didn't know what they were, so he hastily explained.
"We're a badass gang of thieves that change the hearts of people who abuse others! Sticking up for the little guy, and stopping those who try to screw us over with some good ol' vigilante justice y'know?"
Ryuji's eyes suddenly lit up as he was struck with an amazing idea.
"Dude. I should totally introduce you to them! It would be fricking awesome!"

Lucario
Dart dealt the final blow, knocking out Mudkip and securing their victory. It wasn't unexpected, though the loss still stung slightly.
The mudkip would show up soon, so Lucario thought about what to say to it before he noticed Neph turn, a mess of emotions. The shame she felt came off in powerful waves. The empathetic pokemon was sensitive to these thoughts, yet remained stone faced as he spoke.
"Well," He said simply. Plainly. "There is the next round. Redemption isn't impossible."
Whether be meant from Neph's loss or behavior, he did not say.

Alter Knight
"Your turn~!"
Alter whirled and slashed Libera horizontally just after the speedy Kassandra's slice. As she did, a thin bolt of lightning struck over the clown in time with the attack.

 

[Captain Cardboard]

Nótt

Nótt rested her head on her hand, Ryuji's upbeat attitude earning a smile form the Princess. The young man was a member of a group of thieves? She hadn't expected that. Bandits or Brigands, sure, but Ryuji didn't really fit the archetype of a thief. Perhaps it was his partners that did most of the thievery. Nótt had heard tails of groups of thieves taking on strong warriors a 'muscle' of sorts, to deal with any enemies the group could encounter. That seemed more likely to be Ryuji's role.
"I see. So you and your friends are like adventurers. Heroes." Nótt said to Ryuji. "That must be very exciting."

Ryuji suggested that he introduces his friends. Something that could be rather interesting.
"Yes, that could be fun." Nótt said, giving Ryuji a small nod. "Are your friends all like you, able to summon a spirit to fight alongside them?"

"Boom!" The familiar voice of Dagr rang out through the Hungry Burger. Nótt straightened up. As she had been talking to Ryuji, her posture and expression had become more and more relaxed and cheerful. But once Dagr entered into the Regular Burger, Nótt's regal expression and posture returned. The sisters made eye contact (as did their birds), and Nótt smirked. Dagr scowled, walking away and sitting at another table. The presence of Dagr was a stark reminder. Nótt had to maintain her elegance, even if no one else from Jotunheimr was here to see it. After all, she was not only representing her kingdom here, but her entire world.

Even so, a frown flicked across Nótt's face. She looked down at Moon-Wing, letting out a small sigh before putting on an elegant appearance again and looking back to Ryuji.


Dagr

Dagr put her feet up on the table, leaning back in her chair. Ice Rink asked about what had her down. So much for keeping her sister out of sight and out of mind.
"Meh. My sister, that's who." Dagr said, gesturing over towards Nótt's direction. "I can tell, she won her fight. She's waiting to rub my face in it, no doubt. We've been going at it since we were kids, just another thing she's gonna try to hold over me."
Dagr shrugged.
"Just another person who's butt I gotta kick in this tournament. But I wouldn't complain if someone else beat her fist, haha." Dagr said. "Might shake that pristine look she's always going for."


Weevil Underwood

The bug duelist's cocky grin turned to a scowl. Geeky fan? Infant?! As if he would ever be a fan of this, this... thing! Wait, wait, he had to keep his cool. He was supposed to be the one doing the annoying, not this mutant freak. Weevil's smile returned, and the kid clasped his hands behind his back. He forced himself to ignore the mastermind's verbal jab.
"Oh noooo, you're far too weird to leave alone." Weevil said, pushing up his glasses. "How did someone like you even get selected for this tournament anyway? Are you truly that smart?"

 

[Captain Pokémon]

Sonic the Hedgehog​

“Whoa!” The hedgehog blurted out in surprise, less from fear and more from intrigue, accompanied with a bit of annoyance. Guess that chick really did slow me down, that totally should’ve hit him!
He didn’t have much time to think on it, though, since Dracula’s cape reformed into sharp claws to flick the blue blur away!

With a snarky smirk on his face, Sonic repositioned himself in the air so that he was upside down and put his hands above his head, performing a makeshift handstand on top of the claw as it tried to flick at him, to no avail. Sonic then sprung off of his hands and zipped along the cape claw, going right towards the vampire it belonged to while curled into a Spin Dash! At the same time, the hedgehog was spared from the slam attack since he was practically on Dracula’s body.

If the spin dash hit its target, Sonic would send the vampire flying back as he bounced off of him and landed besides NiGHTS as she transformed into a car. If the attack missed, he would quickly turn around and end up next to NiGHTS anyway.

Looking at his friend as she honked at him, the blue hedgehog grinned and gave a thumbs up in response. “You got it, let’s pick up the pace!”

Sonic blasted off from his standing start right as NiGHTS put pedal to the metal, keeping up with the car as it drove along, though with much more difficulty than usual. Looking back, the hedgehog quickly noticed the fireballs pursuing them. “Huh, how ‘bout that!” Sonic leapt off of the ground and onto the back of the NiGHTS car, standing on top of it with his hands on his hips.

“Aw yeah, getting heated now!” The hedgehog quipped as a fireball crashed into the asphalt nearby, launching up chunks of the road. Acting fast, Sonic jumped up and curled into a ball in the air, dashing into each piece of road and launching it at other fireballs to intercept them!
Bouncing off of the final piece of road, Sonic landed right back onto the NiGHTS car.

“So, about that lady,” The hedgehog looked towards the front of the car, where NiGHTS’ eyes were, and jabbed his thumb behind them to gesture towards Irnane in the distance. “I’m pretty sure she’s a witch or something, cause she slowed me down a second ago.” He said to his pal.

Inkling “Blue”​

Blue tried his best to give Dagr a confident smile as she gave him a little pep talk to help get rid of his concerns. “Yeah, alright!” The inkling said, following along while attempting to match Dagr’s bravado. The kid seemed to be easily influenced by his friend, doing his best to mimic her confidence as they walked into the diner.

“Regular Burger?” The inkling tilted his head to the side a bit as he looked around the establishment. “Wonder why they had to point it out…” He commented, waving his hand through a hologram of a cheeseburger that was near the entrance, causing it to flicker.

Suddenly, an angel boy barged into the diner and squeezed past the group, hopping into a booth nearby. He didn’t appear to be too much older or taller than Blue himself, maybe they’d get along! Then again, I thought that about demon kid…whatever! He can’t be any worse, right? Blue hesitantly looked back and forth between Pit and the group before discreetly sidestepping towards the angel boy’s booth. Giving Pit a wave and a smile as he approached, the squid kid did his best to seem casual.

“Heya, anyone sitting here?”

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

Rinku


"Eh? That lady over there?" Rinku gestured, seemingly unbothered by it. "Meh, she probably got soft pitch. 'Sides, you got unlucky and matched with me. Only a matter of time before she gets brought down to your bracket too."

Passively suggesting he would eliminate Nótt just as easy, he gave a yawn, doing a once over around the room. Nobody seemed to have a powerful presence to themselves. Not one at least that outright impressed the little demon.

"Ya know, I was promised some real enjoyment. Sure that Ink thing was evasive, but he popped way too easy. Nothing has had made me actually fight for my win yet. Hopefully I'll get a better playmate the next few matches."

 

[Psymallard]

Kipper of Mud
The water-type woke up in the arms of Dart. The human never seemed to carry any actual malice with him, which made the Mudkip oddly comfortable in his hold despite the fact he'd just attacked him. Mudkip's semiaquatic legs touched down, and he snagged the bag with his mouth before looking back out at the group. He spotted Lucario, and remembered seeing his friend feint. A frown crept over the Pokémon's face. Despite the heavy, recent memories, he trotted over to his larger monster friend and dropped the bag in his jaws.

"Mudkip..." [ Sorry... ]

SHARK! (and Waiter)
The devilman raced over to the group- only for his fin to be tugged, the rest of his body being carried in the air with it. Dagr scolded him, but the fiend was too panicked to catch exactly what she said.

"aaA...aAAA!!! AAAAAAAA!!!!! SORRY!!! SORRY!!!!!"

She let go, and Beam fell on his bottom. His hands went to hold his fin and the vicious shark man whimpered like a puppy. The others left for food, and after a couple moments of cowering, he sunk into the ground again and meekly followed.

As Beam hid under the table, the Regular Waiter approached the squad.

"Heya! Welcome to Regular Burger, what can I do ya for?"

The Earth's Bastion
With an impact that made the mountain itself shudder, Cayman's armor had given up. The beetle rolled off of his foe, but he was all but defeated. He conceded, an option Kragg did not completely understand, but respected. Now with one down... the armored brute slowly turned his head to rest his intense stare on the smaller human.

"Fine, I like my face not punched. I forfeit too..."

A less respectable forfeit, but probably for the better. Kragg wasn't sure how he would feel if he'd had to fight an unarmed opponent. Victory was his, and they returned to the plaza.

The Jevil
The crazed jester was hit by both attacks, taking damage but not yet seeming hurt.

"What fun!"

Jevil took his joyful jig to the skies, and from his level rained beachball-sized boxes with heart-shaped decals on the sides. Upon impact with the ground, they would explode, but also spawn a whirlwind of sharp, magical hearts. The tornadoes made a beeline for either opponent upon materialization, but had no homing qualities beyond that.

Shopkeeper Prime
MODOK was pushy, but also easily distractible, as evident from Weevil's appearance. As the man-mind was occupied, the Shopkeeper slipped away to avoid further bombardment of the inquisitive variety.

 

[ArmedBlue]

Pit
​

A few new faces walked into the Regular Burger, most of which the angel didn't recognize---but there was one who approached his table that completely clicked with him. Squishy colored tentacle hair, mask-like face marking, totally fresh clothing? No doubt about it, this guy was...

"Woah, an Inkling! Come right in, there's plenty of room!"

He beamed a smile at the squid kid as he approached. Back in his Smash Bros. affairs, he'd gotten to know the roster's own Inkling a fair amount. Of course, this wasn't the same squiddo, specially given how the Smash Bros. one was a girl with orange ink... But still, it was awesome coming across one of the fresher faces.

"You seem pretty pumped about running into Inkling, huh?"
​

"Of course I am! Barely any fresher fighters around, y'know?"

Grazie
​

"BON VOYAGE, GRAZIE! I'M AFRAID THIS SHOW HAS COME TO ITS CONCLUSION!"

And that was her cue to leave.

Sand particles rapidly flowed from the ground and into the cloud that had been kicked up, working to increase its size and obscure vision even more, making Miracle's big attack a gamble. A direct hit on Grazie would be next to impossible, and the guessing game only got more difficult as bits of sand were kicked up at the edges, spreading outwards---almost like quick footsteps in the sand, making it seem as if the Adept was running away.

Yet they were all distractions.

Grazie was burrowing deep beneath the sands, a path opening up underground for her to perform a quick getaway, the surface not reflecting any of her movements. Losing her armor had an upside; she could now move way faster and nimbly, enabling sneaky tricks like this one. Just like a mole, she'd quickly dig a tunnel that would end up with her popping up far away from her last location after a good while, leaving Miracle to blow up nothing but sand (though the impact was still remarkably strong, given that she could feel the shockwave all the way out there).

Then the second part of her ploy would kick in: all the sand kicked up and blasted away by Miracle's attack would rapidly converge onto his position, aiming to crush him with all of the earth's might!​

Gunvolt
​

This was news to him. He and Chief had never come across each other during that event, but what Kalmiya said was true; Gunvolt could see bits of the landscape in the background of the screen that the A.I. displayed, a far away Nexus floating high above the earth. Kalmiya also mentioned two names, and his eyes widened slightly at the mention of the former.

"Never heard of Rebellio, but I know Copen, alright," the Azure Striker replied with a bit of a groan, crossing his arms. "Tried to kill me a few times some time ago. His hatred for Adepts seems endless, but I just can't understand it. Probably mentioned his whole ordeal to you, huh?"

He paused, mind clouded by past conflict, when he properly processed what had been told to him.

"Wait, you said that Master Chief was friends with Copen? He never struck me as the type to have friends. Really pretty much a lone wolf."​

 

[comic]

NEPHTHYS​

< Indeed, > the gardevoir replied to the lucario simply. There was the loser's bracket to fall back on, and having seen Kirin fight, Neph did possess confidence in being able to take the girl down. There was the issue of Kirin's direct fighting style, of course, which could prove painful if the gardevoir wasn't mindful. Keeping Kirin at a distance would solidify victory.

Why had this lone lucario singled her out? His body language indicated he didn't possess all that much interest. Of course, neither did hers. His mind was shielded, like other lucario. Their aura sensing was unique and incredibly frustrating to deal with.

Curiosity got the best of her, and her reproachful crimson gaze landed upon her fellow Pokémon. < Why are you speaking to me? There are many others in the lobby. >

The Mudkip interrupted, however, and Neph found herself inexplicably annoyed. Her emotional height had yet to calm down. Without waiting for a response, she turned and began to walk away.
​

M.O.D.O.K.​

"UUUUGH," the Man-Mind's eyes rolled again as Weevil continued. "FETUS, I AM M.O.D.O.K. IT MEANS MECHANIZED ORGANISM DESIGNED ONLY FOR KILLING!"

He now turned again toward Weevil. "I AM ALSO PSYCHIC. YOU ARE STRUGGLING TO MAINTAIN YOUR COMPOSURE IN THE PRESENCE OF MY SUPERIORITY."

Well, the Mechanized Organism was half-right.

"I DESIGN WEAPONS OF WAR THROUGH THE POWER OF SCIENCE! MY GENIUS IS UNPARALLELED! NOW I WOULD LIKE TO RETURN TO MY BUSINESS WHILE YOU BASK IN MY GREATNESS."

He turned.

"WHAT. WHERE DID THE ARTIFICIAL CONSTRUCT GO?"
​

NEREVARINE​

Fleeing? An odd strategy. Strategic retreat?

No...

The track was a mess of loops, but it did all connect.

Irnane glanced over the side of the road. "Dracula," she called calmly to her ally. "My Atronach and I will break the road before they reach that. Try to corner them here."

She gave no orders to the vampire - for she knew he needed none. She was merely telling him her plan, and he would react accordingly. At her words, the Flame Atronach began to hurl fireballs down toward the track below, the Nerevarine doing the same, launching two other fireballs (much more powerful than the Atronach's) into the road below. The Atronach had weakened it, and when the dark elves first fireball hit, the road shattered, sinking wholly into the magma. The second hit further along, sinking a greater part in, leaving a very great gap to cross, a little greater than the damage NiGHTS had done to the upper portion of road earlier. Perhaps this may slow them down.

Finally, the Nerevarine procured a potion for herself, swirling its contents, before gulped the vial down, and tossed the empty flask aside. A Quality Potion of Feather. Now as weightless as NiGHTS before the nightmaren had been burdened.

Irnane stepped over the edge, before she kicked off, propelling herself down toward one end of the broken road below, the side Sonic and NiGHTS were approaching, pulling back her bowstring, now notched with five iron arrows, the dark elf holding the bow horizontally. Sonic had proven he could use his "spin dash" technique to deal with incoming projectiles. Firing these five arrows would hopefully ensure he would be struck by at least one, as they would first spread out, before the bow's enchantment would take effect, and all would realign to hone in on Sonic and/or NiGHTS, striking simultaneously from five separate directions.

The purpose for using iron arrows again was simple, as Irnane was testing the hedgehog's durability now. It was by far the weakest of her arrows, but had still struck into NiGHTS earlier, evidence that they weren't just sticks being thrown.
​

KASSANDRA​

"Ugh," Kassandra groaned at Jevil's response to the double whammy, which seemingly did nothing. He hadn't displayed this level of durability nor endurance the last time she'd seen him. What had changed? "Do you ever shut up?"

The jester's response was to launch another attack. Kassandra's answer was to quick-fire arrows upward. Landing that attack a moment ago had filled another charge. She wouldn't use it just yet, being more conservative with it for now. Better to hold onto it.

Many of the boxes were detonated prematurely, and the following twister's of more projectiles prompted another, shorter groan from the misthios. "This is a chore," she complained to Alter Knight. "Physical force does little. Maybe we need to think about different elements of attack."

She swapped out her weapon instead for Poseidon's Trident, the weapon flashing golden in the sunlight. This would put her Spartan fighting style to use. In her other hand, she procured the Helmet of Ares, sliding it over her head. Physically, this would enhance her performance a bit, but more notably, it would refill her adrenaline bar more quickly.

The first wave overcame her, but as Kassandra leapt to the side, she was only struck by a small portion of the hearts. Or rather, she would have been, had her third item not been summoned into her hand. The Shield of Alexander. The striking hearts pinged against the shield, knocking Kassandra further out of the way of a few more waves, but the final also got to her.

By utilizing both the Fleece of Jason, the Shield of Alexander, and spinning the trident about to deflect additional hearts, the misthios deflected the incoming attack, building up a second charge. Now she was getting somewhere.
​

MASTER CHIEF​

This was news to the Chief. While he hadn't personally experienced the time with Copen, his other self that he'd acquired the memories from had been real. Copen had been on the serious side, much like the spartan, but what Gunvolt said was a little surprising. Kalmiya was less afflicted by the information, having never actually met Copen herself. She merely shrugged.

"Well, it's a big multiverse. Maybe this Copen was different from the one you knew. From what I've gathered, the one in the initial Nexus event was a fairly helpful individual."​

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

NiGHTS & Sonic


Before they knew it, the bridge ahead was broken apart by a rain of fireballs. The distance was hard to leap over given the weighted state the jester-car found themselves in.

"Huh. You don't say?" They sarcastically responded to Sonic in light of the fire's damage. "How about we pull a little 'transformed' action on this?"

Sonic knew immediately what they were referring to. Mustering a strained leap forward, he latched onto NiGHTS's bumper and just like that - the pair drove right off into the chasm below! During the fall, Sonic maneuvered to be closer to the center of the purple nightmaren as the car begun to shift from mid-fall. Their body began to get minor alterations, a cupped surface appearing under her and NiGHTS now donning what looked like a thick engine on the rear of the machine. So when they hit the lava below, NiGHTS remained buoyant, floating on the river with a splash of heated fluid.

Wincing from a few stray droplets that came a little too close, Sonic put his hand above his eyes, spotting the arrows coming down. A few had hit the road they fell on, probably not expecting such a drastic vertical change. But three more incoming on the blue blur, who couldn't comfortably take an arrow. So they gripped one of NiGHTS's horns tightly, spinning their legs in place, a small cloud of smoke coming from his whirlwind of shoes. So when the first arrow of the bunch came in-

POW!

He kicked it with his revved up boot, a thin but resounding shockwave coming from the attack, enough to disperse the remaining two arrows, who missed their mark and landed in the lava below.

"Sorry guys, but my ride's here!" He quipped, giving them a single hand salute.

That's when the thruster boomed on the back of NiGHTS-Boat, the transformed craft flying across the lava way. It swam across the lava river, linear the bridge but somewhat out of sight. Sonic, seeing several flashy buttons with images on the control panel, looked for one that was familiar. Then his eyes lit up when he saw a glowing one the featured a firework icon. Pressing it wholeheartedly, six fireworks flew out from Boat-NiGHTS's mouth, flying frantically.

The fireworks bounced from surface to surface at comically high speeds. One exploding prematurely in the air in a flash of colors while another exploded on a nearby rock face. Another one impacted a concrete support that Dracula was situated over while another one exploded on the guard rails of it. One shot toward Nervarine, but exploded right before it would have been hit, leaving it to be a big flashy distraction and obstacle as a second firework bounced from a street sign, flying right for her flank!:

 

[comic]

NEREVARINE​

"Oh!" Irnane let out a small gasp when the pair leapt from the relative "safety" of the road, right off the edge. She tiptoed her way toward the edge to see that NiGHTS had transformed into a boat of some sort, using Sonic as a propeller to accelerate the speed. The dark elf cocked her head to the side in a quizzical manner. Why had they been avoiding the magma for this long if they were seemingly immune?

Now, as NiGHTS fired out some form of projectiles, large arrows boosted by fire, Irnane's mind began to whirl. Perhaps it was time to begin actually fighting these two instead of just playing it so passively.

Hm... no, not yet. The Nerevarine could feel that there was still something one or both possessed that she was waiting to observe. Until then, she'd keep playing it safe and idle, as she had been.

Now weightless, the dark elf leapt upward, quickly sailing high over where the initial firework was aimed for, which detonated prematurely. The second went unnoticed by Irnane simply due to her new altitude, as it sailed through where she'd been a moment before. Her dark red eyes scanned over their battlefield again, taking it all in. Sometimes it was best to re-evaluate your surroundings - oftentimes you may miss something you hadn't noticed or considered before.

Due to the whimsical nature of NiGHTS, the dark elf considered her the larger priority. Sonic was fast yes, and that could be a pain later on, but the unpredictability factor would always trump others. NiGHTS was the larger threat for now. Still, if Sonic could be put on a crutch...

An idea perturbed the Nerevarine's mind. Of course! Another scroll materialized in her palm, which was quickly consumed in scarlet flames, the magicka within consumed and dispersed.

A "Damage Attribute Scroll" is what it had been, and Irnane's chosen attribute had been Sonic's Endurance trait. To simplify its effects, the resulting magic would snap down Sonic's Endurance trait by a quarter of its base permanently for the match. This not only lowered his maximum health by 25%, it also ensured he'd more quickly fatigue when fighting and, most notably in this case, when running.

The Flame Atronach, swirling her flames through the air, swooped over Sonic and NiGHTS, resuming her pelting of fireballs upon them.​

 

[Captain Cardboard]

Dagr

Rinku continued to boast, and Dagr couldn't help but to grin. Nótt might give Rinku more trouble than he expected. Might be a fight where she cheered on her sister for once, even though it would be funny to see her taken down a notch by a kid. It was then a waiter showed up.
"Lemmie take a look..." Dagr said, picking up a menu. It was still just her and Rinku at the table. She spotted Inkling across the room, chatting with the winged kid. Where was Beam?

Feeling something brush her leg, Dagr glanced under the table. Sure enough, there was the shark demon man. How long had he been there? And, uh... why?
"Um. Hey buddy." Dagr said softly, looking down at Beam with concern. "Do you... wanna sit at the table with us? Like, do you wanna be down there?"


Weevil Underwood

A lot to unpack there. Mechanized Organism Designed Only for Killing. Shouldn't that be MODOFK? A bit of an intimidating name. And psychic powers? Well, that big head should be doing something. As well as some fancy tech and weapons, from how it sounds. Once again, MODOK turned away from him. Weevil peered around the massive head, and sure enough the shopkeeper was gone.
"Gee, I don't know. He must have been scared off by your great intelligence." Weevil said, looking back up to MODOK. "And you really must be psychic! You're just so smart, I don't know if I'll have a chance against someone as strong as you~"

The insect duelist clasped his hands behind his back, rocking back and forth on his feet.
"I thought that maybe if I stayed close, some of your greatness could rub off on mee~" Weevil said, looking away wistfully. This massive chump would totally be the type to lap this up...


Jeice

The Red Magma stood in the plaza, going through various stretches. Not to warm himself up for the next match, but to warm himself up for his next poses! As he did so, the alien kept a side eye on the fights going on. Huh. A lot of these fighters seemed to be of the same, or similar, species. Over half of them, by the looks of it. Even so, a lot of different abilities and weapons. It was... strange. Transformations into objects, unusual energy attacks, aura fighting, element manipulation. Eh, Jeice would just have to pound them all into the ground.

 

[comic]

M.O.D.O.K.​

This blasted artificial construct!

The Man-Mind seethed as he turned this way and that, eyes bulging as he tried to locate where the Regular Shopkeeper had disappeared off to, half-paying attention to the infant's attempts to suck up to the Mechanized Organism.

"HM," M.O.D.O.K. turned slightly toward Weevil, giving him an unimpressed side-eye, before he glanced toward the bracket to search for the kid's name. "WEASEL, WAS IT? YES, YOU LOOK THE PART, A SUITING NAME."

Now he turned fully toward Weevil.

"YOU ARE NOT THE FIRST TO WISH FOR PROXIMITY TO INSPIRE GREATNESS IN YOU. UNFORTUNATELY, PRIMITIVES SUCH AS YOURSELF ARE INCAPABLE OF MY SUPERIOR THOUGHT. HOWEVER, YOU WOULD MAKE AN EXCELLENT PAWN. WEASEL, I COMMAND YOU TO FIND WHERE THAT BLASTED HOLOGRAPHIC REPRESENTATION OF JIM CARREY WENT!"​