To Butterfly: Allow me to just keep it going…
To armadas: I mean, if Ivan's going to get taken out, flattening two Lynchpin-ions like pancakes is the way to do it. I do enjoy sympathetic villains! And there may be a redemption arc or two coming up for them… Did you mean the Deacon or the Prior? Both of them are kind of jerks, though the Prior's gotten a lot more development than the Deacon so far. The couple stories after this one are definitely intense; there's a reason the follow-up to "The Darkest Nights" is titled "Group Therapy"…
To StarDaPanda225: Yeah, this battle got pretty long…
To yellow 14: Maybe just a little! The Hound is oh, so very British!
Cat Noir's jaw clenched as he looked over the battleground spread out around him, churning up the football field, already rent apart by an earthquake, a newly-formed pit of lava still bubbling up near midfield. The Hound and Mecha-Man continued to fight in the second tier of the stadium, energy pulses shooting off in every direction as the Hound deflected repeated blasts across the field into the stands on the far side. One flew down into the field and struck the far sideline, spraying Carapace and Night Bat with dirt. Carapace had turned to fully face Night Bat and was putting up a good fight, blocking all of Night Bat's sword thrusts with his shield, though with each block his arms dropped perceptibly lower. However, Carapace wasn't attacking; he was entirely in a defensive posture. On the near side of the field, Elettrisicario had reclaimed his lightning rod; he and the Deacon had Viperion trapped between them. Viperion held his lyre in one hand and ducked beneath a strike from the Deacon, allowing the quarterstaff to glance off the lyre's strings into Elettrisicario's matching swing. Elettrisicario hissed and shook his hand in irritation when the staff struck his knuckles. And just to the side from them stood Tyran-X, over the spot where Taureau Dechaine lay unmoving atop the Prior and Bearator. Tyran-X swung his lasso over his head and dropped it to slide around Taureau Dechaine's neck.
"No!" shouted Cat Noir, eyes alight with rage, charging the fifteen meters separating them. As he neared the edge of the chasm, he planted his staff in the soft ground close to the edge on his side and hit the button to extend the staff, propelling himself up and over the gap. When the staff stood almost vertical he gave it another burst, pushing himself up even higher, before retracting the staff and bringing it down in a vicious slash at Tyran-X's head.
Tyran-X released Taureau Dechaine from his lasso before it could pull tight and dove backward into a handstand, narrowly avoiding Cat Noir's staff, which dug into the grass. The loose dirt beneath Tyran-X's hand shifted, and he fell to the ground on his back with a grunt. Rolling to his feet he stepped on Elettrisicario's ankle as Viperion ducked under a slash from the Deacon's quarterstaff, which caught Elettrisicario a glancing blow to the shoulder. Elettrisicario yelped in pain and turned away from Viperion, reaching down to lever his lightning rod under Tyran-X's foot. Viperion sprang to his feet and caught the Deacon in the gut with a punch, chasing after him as he backed away from the others, dodging the chi-putty wads the Deacon flung at him. Elettrisicario shoved Tyran-X off of his foot and spun around, aiming a slash from his lightning rod at Cat Noir.
"Nice try," Cat Noir taunted, parrying the attack and backhanding Elettrisicario across the face. "But I think you'll be shocked to know that won't work on me!" Elettrisicario stumbled backward, Cat Noir jabbed him in the waist with the tip of his staff. "I think you get my point."
Elettrisicario grunted and batted the staff away. "Are you normally so talkative when you're fighting people?" he demanded, ducking Cat Noir's punch and kicking him hard in the chest.
Cat Noir jumped with the kick and sprang backward through a back-flip. Landing on his feet he felt Tyran-X's lasso loop pull tight around his wrist and dropped to the ground, stabbing his staff into the turf just as Tyran-X pulled the lasso taut. He gritted his teeth and pulled back, clenching his abs against the pressure from the lasso loop. "Kinda," he responded to Elettrisicario with a strained grunt. "I mean, that's sort of my thing!" As Tyran-X tugged harder on him, Cat Noir suddenly pulled his staff from the ground and jumped, twisting so his feet pointed straight at Tyran-X. Tyran-X stumbled off-balance at the sudden weight shift, and Cat Noir struck him in the chest with both feet, propelling him back to the ground. Cat Noir, seeing an opportunity, reached down for the dinosaur-tooth necklace around Tyran-X's neck. His fingers had just barely brushed against the miraculous when Tyran-X landed on the ground and drove his forehead up into Cat Noir's nose. Blood spurting from his nose, Cat Noir sprang off in a back-flip as the lasso loosened, freeing his hand. He landed right in front of Elettrisicario and dropped to the ground, sweeping Elettrisicario's feet out from under him.
"Oh, come on!" Cat Noir complained, pinching his nose to slow the blood flow. "That snot cool!"
At that moment a cry pierced the air. Cat Noir turned in time to see the Hound still in the second tier, spinning his leash as a shield, fending off a barrage from Mecha-Man who stood above him. The force of the energy pressed him backward toward the front of the tier until his back pressed against the edge of the railing. Mecha-Man activated his second energy cannon, and the Hound fell backward over the railing. Mecha-Man took to the air on his jetpack to follow. The Hound threw his leash to wrap around Mecha-Man's ankle, catching himself, and started retracting the leash to draw himself closer to Mecha-Man. Mecha-Man looked down at the Hound and shook his foot, throwing the Hound off and into the air. As the Hound sailed up in front of him, he raised both arm cannons to fire. A green shield flew through the twin energy beams and struck Mecha-Man in the chest, knocking him backward into the ground. The earth churned as Mecha-Man struck and slid, his jetpack leaving a long furrow across the field. The Hound spun his leash over his head wildly, only slowing his descent marginally.
Carapace's shield caromed off wildly toward the opposite end of the stadium.
Cat Noir turned around to find Carapace still fighting Night Bat near where one of the goals had stood, but now without his shield. Somewhere along the way, he had claimed one of the bars from the destroyed goal and was now using that to duel Night Bat. He dove to avoid a slash, struck Night Bat across the back with his bar, and punched Night Bat in the side. Night Bat, however, formed a magic shield to block the strike to his back and grabbed Carapace's fist, jerking it back so he dropped the metal bar. Night Bat jumped, swept into the air in the middle of a whirlwind, dragging Carapace up with him. He raised his sword above his head.
"Carapace!" Cat Noir shouted, sizing up his jump.
Someone else intervened first.
Night Bat didn't notice when the leash caught around his ankle. He did notice when the Hound pulled, dragging him out of his wind column entirely. Taking advantage of the momentary distraction, Carapace drew his knees in and kicked Night Bat in the chest, pushing away from him and out into space. Night Bat hurled a disk of black energy at the Hound, who released Night Bat's ankle and dove to one side, narrowly avoiding it. The disk struck the ground and drove a meter into it before dissipating into nothingness. Cat Noir stabbed his staff into the ground at an angle and extended it just below Carapace. Carapace reached out and grabbed the staff as he fell past, sliding down and straight into Cat Noir. Cat Noir caught him around the shoulders as he landed, and they rolled over each other until they finally stopped.
"What were you thinking, dude?" demanded Cat Noir, pulling Carapace up. "That could have been tort-gic!"
"That one was a stretch, even for you, dude," Carapace retorted, raising an eyebrow. He shrugged one shoulder. "I figured someone had to keep the vamp busy." He clenched his fists and dropped into a fighting stance next to Cat Noir as Tyran-X regained his feet and Mecha-Man landed beside him. Opposite them, Elettrisicario twirled his lightning rod and leapt at Cat Noir with a wild yell. Cat Noir raised his staff horizontal to catch the lightning rod and allowed Elettrisicario's momentum to carry him over his head and into Tyran-X. Tyran-X had just thrown his lasso, which looped around Elettrisicario's lightning rod. Cat Noir spun around and kicked Elettrisicario in the back, knocking him straight into Tyran-X's chest.
Carapace evaded a spray of chi-putty from Mecha-Man, bobbed around him, and came up behind his back. He kicked Mecha-Man in the back of the knee, but Mecha-Man locked the leg and Carapace's foot rebounded off with a clang. Carapace ducked as Mecha-Man whipped around with his arm out, and threw himself at Mecha-Man's middle. Mecha-Man caught him and activated his jetpack, shooting up into the air. Carapace kicked away before they were more than a couple meters off the ground, contorted to avoid a spray of chi-putty, and landed near midfield, close to XY, stumbling to keep his feet under him.
"Is that the best you got, dude?" he taunted as Mecha-Man opened up on him with both energy cannons. Carapace made to dive away as energy beams tore up the field around him. He stopped mid-jump, glanced down, and instead leapt on top of XY, taking an energy beam in the back as he did so. He hissed in pain and made no move to defend himself when Mecha-Man landed over him and shot a bolas from his launcher that wrapped around Carapace's ankles.
Cat Noir, however, couldn't help Carapace as Elettrisicario and Tyran-X had begun herding him toward where Viperion was still fighting the Deacon. Although they had more than held their own, Cat Noir could feel his strength flagging. Carapace and Taureau Dechaine were both down; Carapace seemed to be writing in pain. Viperion was slow in dodging a kick from the Deacon and fell backward into Cat Noir, who caught him with an arm under the armpit, holding his staff at an angle to deflect a blow from Elettrisicario. His knuckles stung where the lightning rod struck. Across the field the Hound was fighting against both Night Bat and Mecha-Man, giving ground with each step. The Hound used his leash to block an attack from Night Bat, but was too preoccupied to avoid a spray of chi-putty from Mecha-Man.
When Tyran-X threw his lasso in a loop, twirling it around Cat Noir and Viperion, Cat Noir was too exhausted to move out of the way. Tyran-X shouted, "Di-Nado!" The wind picked up inside the lasso loop, spinning with the rope. Cat Noir felt his feet leave the ground as the tornado formed, pulling him and Viperion up in its midst, arcing through the air toward the first deck of the stadium. The best Cat Noir could manage was to keep his hold on Viperion's shoulder and extend his staff to wedge between two seats and guide them back to solid ground along the concourse just behind the seating area. The sun blacked out above him as the remaining villains hovered above them, held aloft by Mecha-Man's jetpack and Night Bat's magic.