CHAPTER TEN
Mortal Struggle
"They took Wizzro out from where he was being kept?" Blanc asked, giving a stern look.
"The ring… is no longer in the Valley of Seers, that's correct." Ganondorf replied with a grunt. "I was there myself, and noticed a pair of characters leaving, but I foolishly thought nothing of it."
Of all characters, Ganondorf was the last one Michael expected to see caring about this in the slightest. Link and Zelda had the same thoughts really. "They took Wizzro from where he was resting, yet they strangely did not activate him?" Master Hand wondered.
"Dummy! Only a sorcerer can reawaken him!" Ram yelled, throwing a book at Master Hand, making Crazy Hand chuckle while twitching madly. "Sir Grodus has flashy magic-like attacks, but not any actual powerful sorcery. And the Anglar Emperor is just a dumb fish! They can't do anything!"
"They would have to be… as strong as Cia, right?" Rom murmured.
All of this was true, and the idea frightened Blanc. Who would be—
"The Sleeping Princess is a powerful sorceress." Sabre said, leaning against a wall. "If anyone could undo the seal on a ring, it would be her."
"Are you… finally telling us about who sent you?" Michael asked.
"I don't see any point in hiding it. I barely know them, and I was simply motivated by rage. I don't want to make the same mistakes as my father." He shook his head, knowing that this could probably bite him later. "You already know Sir Grodus and the Anglar Emperor. It's not just Lowee that's being targeted. Lastation and Leanbox are too. There's some guy, I think he's called Lord Palethorn. Some abominable cyborg named Rez…"
Blanc and Michael remembered Rez on the N64 versions of the Gex games at the very least. "The Sleeping Princess I already mentioned, red-haired sorceress that's narcoleptic or something. Some deity known as the Dark Champion, along with an angel called Samael who looks like his growth stunted. And, some wizard with a foul mouth called Hoodlums."
"Hoodlums…" Blanc murmured. She recalled the name, and Michael instantly jogged her memory.
"Wait, that villain from the scrapped game, Conker Twelve Tales?" Now it was coming back to Blanc, and it made her feel sick a little. Hoodlums was similar to Sabre, in that he was scrapped, in favor of a game being changed completely.
Michael simply found it odd Sabre called him vulgar, he almost wondered if every character in Conker's games were affected by the transition to Bad Fur Day.
"Besides me… There were two others who were sent out to get revenge. Madi, the Monster Knight, wanted to get back at some feline creature and his robot. Rin Satsuki or whatever her name was, also had something against a shrine maiden, but honestly I think most of that was fueled by the angel."
Sabre then thought it over, as if he was forgetting someone.
"There was… one more, but all I remember is that they had purple hair, kinda looked like a chick. I didn't catch their name. I think they were blending in somewhere."
Paranoia now suddenly came over Blanc. That could be anyone with purple hair that looked feminine, and she dreaded the thought of them being in Lowee.
She couldn't risk any of them being in any other nation either. Blanc opened her laptop, turning on the group chat, and hoping the other CPUs would pick up.
—
After the battle in Leanbox, Reimu slapped a bunch of ofuda on Stubbs, then threw him in the basement where his lover; Maggie Monday, was also crawling around.
"He'll be lucky if he gets lunch for the next few days for pulling a stunt like that. Though, I suppose he's already had his fill out there." Frank West joked.
"I don't know who I'm mad at more, really." Reimu then glared at Rin, who had been playing her erhu to heal anyone that was injured.
Conker, Vince, and Kazooie were ticked off by her letting the invaders get away, Caela was too, but to a less snarky extent. The others weren't sure what to think, while a few like Cooper and Kasumi couldn't help but pity her.
Once she was done healing everyone, Rin wanted to avoid confrontation. Sadly, that was something she wasn't going to get.
The Gunstringer wasn't just mad, but he had questions, several of them.
"What's this about that angel of yers bein' friendly with my backstabbin' posse?"
"Huh?"
"That wizard, he mentioned that the angel ya get protective over is chummy with the ones who murdered me. Did ya forget?" Rin's eyes widened, at least this didn't have to with what happened before, but this certainly didn't help her feel any less guilty about something.
"He… he did once speak with a couple of puppets, breaking them out of the ice they were encased in. One of them looked like a tube."
That pretty much confirmed his suspicions. Of course Wavy Tube Man would be there.
Something was weird about that statement though. Breaking them out of ice? The Gunstringer was certain he killed them.
He began grumbling. This just made him wonder if they would come after him too, rather unlikely though. "Why do ya trust that angel? If anythin', he's friends with backstabbers I know, that's a bad sign, plus that wizard he's associated with attacked ya when—"
"Because he showed up and encouraged me, when no one else would! Even the Sleeping Princess at one point, helped me off my feet when all I could feel was nothingness for years!"
Her sudden outburst took him by surprise. "I'm tired of this, I just wanted to be a good heroine… I failed to do that, Hoodlums antagonized me, and now you're doing it too because I didn't want a friend being hurt!… Do you all just want me to go back? Because I have no idea how to, and…"
She began tearing up again, Rin was going to cry, again. But before she could…
"OW!"
She suddenly jumped up, grabbing her behind as if she just sat on a pin cushion. Everyone looked at Vince, who removing a pin from the same area.
He simply said in response: "Do you see me crying?"
"Crying? Why would you be crying?" Rin's sadness was temporarily replaced with outrage towards Vince's apparent apathy.
"I'm kind of in the same boat you are, if you think about it. So are Cooper, Blinx, Banjo and Kazooie, Ichigo, even Walters. But do you see us crying?" Some started to see what Vince was trying to do, and backed off for now, hoping it'll work. "We've been somewhat neglected and robbed at some point or another, but we haven't sunk to the level of staging a revolution. We still do what we do, and still have fans somewhere. Just because we aren't mainstream doesn't mean we're forgotten forever. There will always be someone who wants to play our games, and isn't that what it's all about?"
"B-but, I've never even been playable, unlike all of you."
"That doesn't change a thing. People out there remembers you, and wishes for you to be the protagonist one day probably, for all we know they could even make that happen on their own because they care that much."
Some, such as Reimu and Gunstringer, were getting scared that Voodoo Vince of all people was passing on wisdom. But it calmed Rin to the point where she was starting to regret what she's done, and was now ready to cooperate. "How th' heck did you get so philosophical, Vince?"
"I guess when you connect to people as many times as I have, you learn a thing or two." Some groaned at the first part of that, knowing what he meant by "connecting".
The Gunstringer had more important things on his mind. "Are ya sure that my ol' posse was freed from ice? I was sure that I killed 'em all and sent 'em to Hell."
"I'm sure. He said that he freed them from being frozen solid."
So they had two clues that made no sense. Hell, and ice. There was no connection to be made. Until some like Reimu started thinking. "Wait, I seem to recall some kind of series of poems about Hell, in which the last circle was for traitors, sentenced to be frozen for all eternity. If that is the Hell you sent them to, then Rin's story does not seem that far-fetched!"
Caela then turned to Rin. "Did Samael say about meeting anyone else in the ice? Or anything in particular regarding any description of a location?"
Rin thought for a moment. "I don't think so, he mostly talked about the ice where he found some of his friends, but nothing else."
The Gunstringer started to check his ammo reserves. "Looks like it's time for a road trip. Anyone coming?"
Everyone started to raise their hands. Caela had another idea in mind. "I think we need to wait for now. At least until we recover from this and get some help. Because these attacks have happening all over Gamindustri, and we have no idea what's down there. We should go when we're better prepared."
"I'm afraid she's right." Vert approached the group. "I've just been talking to the other CPUs. Noire and Uni are currently in heavy medical care following an intense assault." Everyone was in shock at that announcement. No one has been able to deal such damage to the goddesses since….
"Who did this? And where are they?"
"Is Nick alright?"
"How are the All-Stars?"
"Everyone is safe for now. As for the attacker, it was a robot sent by that Nefarious character, with power designed to rival the CPUs, but it was defeated by your friend Nick, who did so by pulling off, I guess you could say, 'combo-morphs' like you did against our attackers." Caela breathed a sigh of relief at her friend being okay. "The others are fine too. Michael was able to defend Lowee, while Planeptune has yet to be attacked. Really, if it wasn't for your knowledge we wouldn't be standing here."
Caela started to get some of her confidence back. "Has a plan been made yet?"
Vert smiled. "Yes. Nick is going to bring the All-Stars back together, Michael is getting information about our foes with the help of one of the ones who were tricked, and Natalie is going to check on how Gamindustri's balance is doing with the Eternal Champion."
"OK then, then let's prepare for that road trip. We're going to need a lot of supplies." Everyone started off back to the Basilicom when Caela quickly grabbed Vince behind everyone. "It was nice what you said to Rin to calm her down and get her to help out, but you do know you're getting a remastering, right?"
Vince just looked at her and winked. "Shhhhhhhhhhh."
—
"They're becoming aware." The Sleeping Princess grumbled, glancing up at the crystal ball every few seconds. "They're going to try and come down here."
"Why did we leave that qilin in Leanbox!? If not for the puppet and that rat, I would have disposed of her!"
"What's more, it seems Sabre has given us away too." The Anglar Emperor pointed out, sighing afterwards.
"Don't be so down about it! Remember? The gateway to Hell is blocked off, not even that grim reaper could get by it!" Samael laughed, looking over to several, frozen characters.
Gregg the Grim Reaper, Mr. Death, Komachi Onozuka, Shiki Eiki…
Mr. Ash, Minion, Black, Gigadis, Cliora…
Somehow, even Yukari Yakumo, Hecatia Lapislazuli, and Satan himself were frozen.
All of them, who had failed to fight back against the forces now in charge, including the real Eternal Champion.
… whose hands Samael proceed to use as a beer bottle opener, and then slid it across the table to Hoodlums.
"Once they get this far, they'll join these guys. Since they're catching on though, anyone get in contact with our little leech? Better let 'em know that they may wanna hurry up. The Dark Champion needs to bring that girl over and sic the Tiamat on Planeptune already too."
Palethorn and Rez were worn out, needing a break after their defeat along with the Kraken being defeated. "By the end of the week, they'll be screwed, there's no way for them to get into Hell, or for the outsiders to go back home." Samael sat back once again, looking relaxed.
If they came down there, Samael wouldn't even find it a bad thing. In fact, he was certain that the Sleeping Princess certainly preferred that idea.
And a certain someone outside the world, would like that too.
—
The Dark Champion was getting to know Natalie more and more.
He had never been attached to a mortal before, but everything about her was endearing. It must have just been the fact the Dark Champion had been imitating his brother for a while, and no one had been so open about SEGA's past titles.
It was something he never felt before, but he knew things would fall into place soon. Though the Dark Champion almost didn't want to lie to her anymore.
Maybe if he revealed that he was the Dark Champion— no! It was still too risky, the whole plan could fall apart.
Find her weaknesses, that was the focus to this, right? Cause havoc to Planeptune. No one was watching, and Natalie was reading some of the old, Eternal Champions comics with him.
Gently enough to not be heard, he snapped his fingers.
A rumble was heard, Nepgear and Geya, returning from their trip to Dr. Eggman's base, looked up in horror as they saw a giant dragon appear. It had multiple heads, similar to a Hydra.
"N-Nepgear… go back inside! Make sure your sister and her daughter are safe!" Geya urged her, as Nepgear did exactly that.
"What is this madness?" Xavier Pendragon questioned.
"Who brought in the giant reptile!?" Chuck D. Head exclaimed.
"Someone must have summoned it!" Arle suggested.
"Where's Sonic?" Vectorman asked. "We're gonna need his help—"
"He's in Lowee, we'll just have to face this thing without 'im!" Beat then started rolling out of the Basilicom, as much as the others wanted to stop him. Neya had come out as well to aid her younger sister, as they both transformed.
"Transformation, like, complete!" Neya announced, now wearing a black and pink, both her and Geya now having bright magenta hair and orange eyes.
Unlike the past few times, actual CPUs were going against one of the elemental fiends, but the Dark Champion knew that it would not do much, since the Tiamat had no weaknesses unlike the others.
Natalie's first thought was to try and help. Two CPUs alone probably wouldn't be enough, plus all of those SEGA characters banding up to assist.
But then…
"Puny organic lifeforms, I am afraid your time is—"
Mercury paused as she flew in, seeing the giant dragon.
The Dark Champion also noticed the robot's presence, making him actually panic for once. This is not what he intended. That robot could ruin what he intended, depending on what she did.
"Dr. Nefarious… someone else is causing destruction to Planeptune." Mercury spoke into a small communication in her systems. "They sent in a dragon which I have identified as the Tiamat. Should I proceed?"
"WHAT!?" He screamed, making Mercury's sound sensors crackle for a moment. "Look I don't care, destroy everything if you have to, focus on the CPUs, so you can take their position! Knock them out, drag them back, and you know the plan!"
"Understood." Mercury took aim at Pink Heart and Sister, the blade on her arm turning into a cannon just like last time, which fired a laser at them. Pink Sister tried to deflect it with her beam-sabers, but the blast could not be so easily shielded.
Pink Heart didn't see it coming at all, as she was firing her HDD gun at the Tiamat. Both sisters were knocked to the ground, leaving everyone else to deal with the Tiamat instead.
The Tiamat casted a Lightning attack on the ones before her. Xavier nearly had a flashback of his own stage, making him try to avoid it out of reflex. Beat, Chuck, and Billy Hatcher weren't so lucky.
Natalie was starting to get scared. Tiamat was bad enough, but another foe that took out the CPUs just like that made things seem hopeless. And that same foe was heading towards the Basilicom over the battle. It seemed hopeless until….
"What's going on? What who are they? Are they something I can punch?"
Natalie almost jumped at the sudden voice, and was more surprised to see Knuckles standing next her her. "What are you doing here? Not that I mind. I'm just wondering."
"Sometimes I get homesick, okay?" Natalie backed up a little until an idea struck her.
"Wait Knuckles, do you see that?" She pointed to Mercury headed towards the Basilicom.
"Yeah, I can. So?"
"Can you throw me to her?"
Knuckles just looked at her. "What?"
"Throw me at her." Natalie said, while turning into AiAi and equipping his ball. "Unless, of course, you can't."
That pushed the right button as Knuckles picked her up and threw her with all his might. She was able to reach the distance between her and Mercury, getting out of the ball and latching on to her. Mercury just smirked. "And what do you think you can do, fleshling?"
"This." She turned back into her normal form, the glow effect taking over Mercury as well. Mercury tried to quickly blasted Natalie, but she turned into Tails and flew off, the blast just passing through her. Mercury realized what happened after comparing data from her battle with Nick. She gave chase, aiming for a chance to "de-ghost".
Natalie was flying towards Tiamat with all her might, before any more casualties could be had. It wasn't looking good. The remaining fighters were able to dodge okay, but getting the wounded to safety was near impossible with every opening being blocked. Natalie had no time to lose. She flew to the nearest head and grabbed it, changing back and making the Tiamat a ghost like Mercury. She turned into Sonic before the Tiamat retaliated. It sent a massive fire attack at Natalie, only to pass through her and Mercury. Annoyed, Mercury blasted the Tiamat, deciding to take of this organic life form before returning to her normal state. Glad that they were now occupied and away from the Basilicom, Natalie regrouped with the others.
"That solution won't last forever. They can still be solid when in contact with the Basilicom. Any ideas of how they can beaten?"
The Dark Champion took a few minutes to collect his thoughts, after being thoroughly impressed by her quick thinking and actions. "Uh…. the Tiamat only has two weakness: Petrification and poison. As for the other one, the only one has been able to beat her is your friend Nick when she ruthlessly attacked Lastation."
She couldn't believe that last part, that Nick was able to beat something that beat the CPUs. She also didn't want to see him at the moment after what happened the last time they spoke. But it looked liked she didn't have a choice. As for the Tiamat, an idea was forming in her head.
"Fine, contact Nick and have him come over here. But also contact Michael in Lowee. He'll be essential in beating Tiamat. And might as well contact Caela in Leanbox too, it's time we all talked."
This was becoming worse by the moment, the Dark Champion had to improvise and go with Natalie it seemed, he had to get her trust. They ended up pulling their attention away for too long however, as Mercury crashed into the Basilicom after being flung by Tiamat. Realizing that she was solid again, she resumed her original objective.
"What's that robot doing now!?" Chuck yelled, struggling to get up from the damage he took earlier.
"I'll stop her!" Natalie declared, turning into NiGHTS this time. "Eternal Champion, please, hurry and get ahold of the others!"
He hesitated even further. All of this… would it backfire? Or only be more effective? All the Dark Champion could do was follow what Natalie said, even as he thought about it.
Everyone else kept focusing on the Tiamat, Arle created a magic barrier to protect her allies from the Maelstrom. Those that could run ran outside, distracting the Tiamat and making her concentrate her attacks outside where her current ghost nature could do no harm. Back inside, however, Nepgear had the unfortunate luck of running into Mercury.
"What… the goodness!? That's…"
"Planeptune's so-called CPU candidate." Mercury interrupted her.
"No way! I didn't think they were serious when they said there was a robot faker of me—"
"Faker? I think you're the fake CPU. You're comparing yourself to me? You're not even good enough to be my fake."
Nepgear just stared at her, mouth hanging open. "Geez, you really were made by Dr. Eggman, making a reference like that here."
In hindsight really, both Nepgear and Sonic frequently had lookalikes running around, particularly Nepgya and Nepugia in the CPU candidate's case. Now there was Mercury too.
Mercury prepared to swipe her blade at Nepgear, only for it to be blocked off by Natalie, who had now transformed into Tyris Flare from Golden Axe. "Go, Nepgear! Hurry to the others, I'm going to try and hold her off a bit more until my friends arrive!"
Hesitant, Nepgear knew that the safety of her sister and Angela probably mattered most right now. She ran off to another part of the Basilicom, while Mercury just watched.
"I have learned from my mistakes and adapt, you realize." Natalie didn't realize as she urged Nepgear to reunite with her sister, that Mercury had swiped at her body.
Not with the bladed arm, but with her own, claw-like digits.
"Tyris" felt herself wince in pain, she could actually feel that. Some scratch marks were on her exposed body. "You made the mistake of transforming into someone with a lot of skin showing, fleshling."
Natalie changed back to normal, and Mercury just watched, amused as Natalie checked her shoulder. The scratch was still there. She knew she was in trouble, but she was the only one who could hold off Mercury until the others arrived. Which was hopefully soon.
The Eternal Champion was finally able to get a group call with the other three nations, along with Natalie's friends. But they weren't entirely up to being bothered due their current situations.
"Look, things are hectic over here! Noire and Uni have finally woken up, but we're busy trying to bring all the All-Stars back together!"
"We're trying to learn as much as we can about our foes."
"And we're following leads on where their hideout is."
The Dark Champion was to keep his cool. He knew their help was needed to prevent disaster, but getting them here was tougher than he thought. But he had to try, for both his plan to work, and for Natalie's sake. If anything happened to her, he….
Shaking his head to get these feelings out and focus on his mission, he decided to outright say what's going on. "We're under attack from Mercury!"
"Wait, what? But I thought I totaled her!"
"Are you talking the robot that savagely beat the Lastation CPU?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Some robot CPU was sent by Dr. Nefarious to take down the CPUs. She completely destroyed the Basilicom and beat Noire and Uni to a near-pulp."
"Nick was able to beat her, but she escaped."
"I let her go to serve as a message to Nefarious. I didn't expect him to fix her so quickly, or at all. Must've been able to replace the parts I tore out. Looks like I've got to finish the job."
"Then looks like we've got to get going."
"Don't worry, I have a teleportation device that will bring you all here. I just need you to stand still so I can pinpoint your location."
The Dark Champion used the signal to trace the location of the outsiders. He was careful punching in the coordinates, not wanting to send any of them to the hideout, as this was how he got from here to there. When they arrived, they all had game faces on. "Where is she?"
"Natalie is holding her off right now to buy time for both you and the CPUs. They're in that direction." He barely finished that sentence when Nick bolted to where he was pointing. Being the only one who fought her, he's the only one who knows the true terror she's capable of, and began to fear of Natalie's chances. Caela and Michael began to follow, when Dark Champion blocked Michael. "Natalie said you would be most helpful in taking care of our other attacker and exploiting its weakness to poison." Knowing what she meant, Michael turned around to deal with Tiamat.
Natalie wasn't doing to good. Playing defensive to buy time didn't do much to deal damage, and that was only if she could get a hit in. Wounds were all over her and pain took most of her attention. She was barely aware of Mercury smirking as she landed another blow to her chest, flinging her to the wall and sliding to the floor in a slump. She was beginning to black out as Mercury readied her blade. Before she fell unconscious, Natalie heard a familiar-sounding cry.
"Hey, Bolt-Brain!" Mercury turned to the source of the shout, only to see the Nemean Cestus heading towards her face.
"MISS ME?!"
Nick slammed into her with all his might, sending her flying out the window and out of the Basilicom. His arm turned back to normal as he saw the condition of his friend. "Natalie!" He rushed forward, turning into Cole to do emergency healing. Caela, who just caught up, noticed something quite interesting.
"Huh."
"What?"
"Oh, nothing. It's just that I've haven't seen you call her by her real name for a while."
"This is a serious matter, no time for joking or teasing, simple as that."
Caela knew it was a half-truth from the tone of his voice, but kept it to herself when Natalie began to stir. "Uhhhhh, what?"
"You doing okay, Squirt?" Nick reeled back to dodge an immediate punch. "She's doing fine. Anyhoo, you just rest here, I'll take care of Mercury like I should've."
He almost jumped out the window when Natalie grabbed him. "Wait. I turned Mercury to the ghost state when we were outside. She found out about the Basilicom's solidness by luck. Before you beat her, you need to make her solid again." Nick nodded before leaving, Caela not too far behind. Natalie was forced to sit back down, still filled with fatigue. "Good luck."
Nick changed to Jak and activated his Light Eco form, using the wings and time-stopping powers to catch up. When he was right above Mercury, he changed back to his normal form and landed on her back. "What? You!"
"That's right, time to finish that dance we started!" He turned into Emmett Graves, turning Mercury solid again and landing a few rift punches. Jumping off, he equipped Carmelita Fox's jetpack and the Auger Rifle, hoping the penetrating rounds could some damage. But he had to hit her, and forgot about how fast she was. She was dodging his attacks as if they weren't even there.
She was about to retaliate when a blast out of nowhere hit dead center, knocking her off-balance, Nick turned to see Caela using Conker's tail to fly and wielding a Yithian weapon that just fired. "Would it kill you to wait?" She changed the tail to Kazooie's wings so she could hover and aim better.
"You don't know what she's like. But apparently since you can do a partial shift too, I'm liking our chances more and more."
Caela smiled as she equipped her other arm with an Incineration Cannon and Nick equipped his other arm with a Stinger. Mercury started to get a little concerned at the four powerful weapons pointed at her. Her agility was put to the ultimate test. But try as she might, she was only able to dodge about 70% of the incoming projectiles. The remaining 30% was able to score a direct hit, and do heavy gradual damage. Seeing no other choice, she went into her HDD form, the enhanced durability able to handle the attacks better, even deflect them in some cases.
"Any ideas Nick?"
"One, we're going to be at opposite sides of her. Put some distance between her and you, make it look good, and choose something big for a high-five."
That last part confused her, but she decided to let the experience be the teacher, and circled around to the right side while Nick went to the left. Mercury raised an eyebrow. "Think you have me sandwiched? Think again?" She raised her arms, a powerful blast coming from each one. Caela and Nick had to bring up the most durable shields they could, barely surviving, but were still blown back quite a bit. Mercury couldn't see them, but knew they would come back. "I should take care of the CPU before they re - eh?"
An action to the side caught her attention, and when she struggled to look through all the kicked up dust, she knew she should have moved when she had the chance. Caela assumed the form of the Dagon, and was reaching out as if to grab Mercury. Mercury wasn't going to let that happen, as her patience definitely ran out. She turned to outrun Dagon and loop around for return fire when she had a sudden relapse at the sight of a familiar hand. Nick was once again Chronos, and was going straight for her. Mercury's shock made her forget about the one behind her, but was quickly reminded when she got caught between the behemoths' hands slamming together with a massive shockwave.
Being of slightly smaller size, Caela was pushed back a bit by Nick, but didn't sustain any major damage thankfully. Turning back to normal, they saw Mercury fall to the ground, looking like she was sent through a trash compactor. But what was scariest was that there was still a light in her eyes. She had to get back to Nefarious before she was done for good. She stood back up and prepared her rockets, only to get her lower legs cut off by the Heavenly Sword. She tried to improvise by using her cannons, but those were quickly smashed by a Battletoads Smash Hit.
Mercury began to worry that she was a goner until Nick surprisingly started to tie her up with chains. "You not going to finish her off?"
Nick took a deep breath. "I don't think it's necessary at the moment. She's no longer a current threat, we've got her apprehended at where she came from, and we might need her to figure out where Nefarious is and what else he's up to."
Caela knew that Nick had a point, and was about to help carry her when a huge dragon head landed next to them. They saw that the head was connected to a body with a whole bunch of other heads, and was slowly dissolving. "Michael? You're just about done too?"
"Yeah." Michael said after turning back from a Crobat he was flying in as. "After I got this one solid again, all I had to do was use a bunch of Poison Pokemon to beat him. Muk, Weezing, Garbodor, Skuntank, all of them. And all her heads fell down like flies."
"Nice. Anyways, let's turn her in and regroup with Squirt. Looks like we've got a lot of notes to compare."