Veil Of Greed: Hunt For The Numbers!

by Fireking492-BlazeWarriorWolf

A era of no big villains has come again. But now, new threats threaten to throw everything into chaos once again. A predatory corporation sets its sites on the hundreds of number cards scattered after A Calamity In Time's final battle. Adam, Blaze, Dominic, and the others will meet all sorts of interesting characters while they risk their lives again.

15. Fall Of Mishka and Diga

Veil Of Greed: Hunt For The Numbers

Chapter 15: Fall Of Mishka and Diga

Date: October 9th, 2022

Previously on Veil Of Greed: Hunt For The Numbers!. A team was assembled to deal with a zombie problem featuring Mishka and Diga in the world of Suhn. Swiftdrawer, Pixal, Madeline, Present Mic, Spectre, Amy, and Applejack went together as a team and managed to get a meeting with the main Dragonkin and Tigerkin leadership set up. Spectre used his monsters to defeat a lot of zombies before the team known as the Tai Chi Chasers came to pick them up on their airship. On the way to the meeting, discussions were held much like during the meeting. Intel was exchanged and the zombies came close to everyone. Yappa Yappa also showed up so Swiftdrawer and Madeline split off to deal with him together. The battle was intense, Swiftdrawer nearly died twice during it. In the end, Yappa Yappa retreated because he was needed to help the failing UMC invasion of Miitopia but it wasn't enough. Later, the nearby UMC troops in Suhn were freed thanks to Mishka taking down San Vine and San Avalon monsters. They went to Miitopia too. Madeline and Swiftdrawer return to the others in time to meet and confront Mishka. Everyone finds out the chasers are connected with the Tai Chi 1000 just like Mishka, being able to use the Tai Chi without cards or activators. Everyone split up to slow Mishka down and give each other some time. Spectre didn't last long nor did Swiftdrawer, both were beaten in minutes. Madeline healed Swiftdrawer right before they went off to confront Mishka again.

He laughs as Amy dodges him while also trying to hit him with her hammer: "How entertaining! Neither of us can get to each other! But that's going to change!" He uses the horrible Darkness Tai Chi on Amy and it stops her because now she is sad: "I try so hard and yet Sonic never falls in love with me! It's not fair!" Before Mishka can kill her, I literally jump into battle: "Mishka! You haven't won yet! A friend of mine saved my life and I'm going to use this chance to keep living to help put a stop to you and your plans! It's going to be interesting." "In that case, you can fall into despair too as the darkness spreads!" He moves away a bit and watches in delight as the despair in fact spreads to me. However, there's something he doesn't know about me. I do get sad and say: "I think about how miserable the world I'm from is every day and it hurts so much! I feel so tied down to family obligations and I'm not looking forward to most likely distancing myself from most of my family! And I had to kill another person! Taking someone else's life is agonizing." But then, I overcame the effect of the Tai Chi: "You will not bring me down that easily again! Let's get him, Amy!" She is still sad so I perform another skill used by Miitopian warriors. With my sword, I gently whacked her: "Snap Out Of It!" It works after a few tries: "MISHKA IS GOING TO PAY FOR THAT!" Now she is angry: "Amy! I will provide openings for you to attack Mishka! When he overpowers us, we need to get the hell out of here and regroup with the others!" She replies: "As long as I get to hit him, I don't care!" Mishka laughs again: "How amusing! You think you can defeat me just like that? You must be very naive to believe that!" "I said when he overpowers us, genius! I didn't say we were going to win with just the 2 of us against you! Continuous Extremely Risky Spin Slash: 10!"

My attack takes Mishka off guard and he is forced to move and defend himself with multiple Tai Chi characters. That gives Amy the perfect opening to attack him from behind. She's very loud when she gets mad so I distract him even more with a Drawing Destruction attack. Come on, let this work long enough to drain and hurt him some. I have a feeling that the chasers are the only ones who will be able to defeat him. Our fight continues in this manner until Mishka breaks Amy's hammer with the Destruction Tai Chi and I run out of energy and all that again. But this time, I play dead and subtly hinted at Amy to do so too. She does. But this doesn't fool Mishka: "I know what you're trying to do but it's not going to work on me. You will have to try much harder to play a joke like this on me. I have no interest in killing you until there's no one in my way left standing except Diga." He moves away without another word and Madeline heals up. Amy has calmed down: "So what do we do now? I wish Sonic were here to help us out, that Mishka would be toast if he could have come on this mission too!" "Well, we should rest a little bit and find the chasers. Mishka's connection with the Tai Chi alongside his thinking process is not something either of us can hope to overcome by ourselves." We do in fact rest a little and then seek out the chasers. It takes a while to find them but when we do, we see everyone else with them as well, even Present Mic. Spectre notices us: "Nice of you to finally join us. Splitting up wasn't such a good idea after all. We're going to fight together as one for now on. And this time, my San Vine and San Avalon friends won't be so easily defeated!" I decide right then and there to distract Mishka again until we finally beat him: "Everyone, my attacks never really land on Mishka.

Only Tai Chi symbols seem to do much of anything to him. So, I'm going to offer myself as a sort of bait for Mishka to attack while you chasers let him have it! I will shoulder this on my own, that's the most effective way to do it. Anyone else should help distract him but let me take the damage. Out of all of us, I'm in the best position to endure lots of physical damage due to my armor, sword, and skills combined." Rai replies: "No! I'll distract him!" "Don't be so rash, Rai. Be lucky that Pixal is keeping him busy through her Samurai X suit. I won't let you get hurt, you are wearing nothing that could defend you. I'm the only one wearing armor. If Luka were here, I'd let him do the tanking first. But he's not. Anyway, someone strong should protect Madeline. Without her, we will almost certainly fail. And remember Tai Chi Chasers, concentrate on your Tai Chi power and it will most definitely help you out more in this battle." Pixal retreats as Samurai X and I get in the way of Mishka: "Hi again. You won't be destroying my friend's mech. I'm going to be in your face now. I'm still alive because teamwork makes the dream work. Now then, prepare yourself Mishka!" "Why can't you just fall like Ave and Jahara?" He uses the Sound Tai Chi, likely in response to Present Mic's yelling earlier but I came prepared with earplugs and put 'em in my ears. He uses the Sword Tai Chi but I easily defeat that without putting in much if any effort. But it was just a distraction as he uses the opening to move away from me and use the Explosion Tai Chi. However, I haven't just been training with my sword all these months since Yappa Yappa first came into my life. No, no, I've been working on my running speed among other things too. I catch him by surprise by running and dodging that attack of his.

I follow that up by just manically swinging my sword: "You can't dodge everything I throw at you, Mishka! It's time for you to see what I can really do with lots of effort spread out over a long time instead of a short time!" "I can't wait to eliminate you once and for all! Once I beat you, I will just kill you because you won't stop getting in my way!" My actions manage to fully distract him from what else is happening as I sprinkle in some of my attack moves along with the swinging. To add to that, I activate my duel disk again: "Time for an encore of shrieking horror! I will now set the Pendulum scale with these monsters in order to begin the start of a collage of a field! I now Pendulum summon the other monsters from my hand! But that's just the beginning as I keep using card after card after card to skip to what I most want to do! Come on out, 5 beings of pure terror! Now, please make sure Mishka can't move around so much if you want! I will handle the rest, my artistic comrades! So glad y'all have been on standby today but I can't always rely on your help." Mishka is now locked in a small area and has no choice but to focus on defeating me even as Rai uses Fire on him multiple times in a row. Individually, all attacks do hardly any damage if at all but together, they act like the process of weathering. They gradually whittle away at the HP of any opponent over time. Yes, I'm talking in video game terms and no, you can't stop me. It may seem foolish to just keep attacking Mishka over and over, swing over swing but that's the idea, I'm not trying to beat him. I'm just trying to stall him while giving it my all strategically instead of hastily. His patience wears down more and more the more we engage in battle. My arms and legs are slowly getting full of lactic acid buildup in the muscles: "This the height of what I can do, Mishka! You won't be able to defeat me as easily as you would hope to! But I have to say, your defensive power is among the highest I have ever faced. There's a slim amount of respect I have to give you for that. But beyond that, fuck you Mishka!"

I can keep this up for a little while, he's doing some damage to me but none of it has penetrated my armor. I also have a height advantage over him so it's a little difficult for him to reach my neck in normal circumstances. Here, it's quite difficult instead of just a little difficult. We go on fighting for like 15 minutes without saying a word. Great, it's just about lunchtime. Let's hope that those HP bananas I had will keep me from getting hungry for a while longer. Hunger in battle is a major distraction, it can lead to death in points of critical juncture. The same concept was basically shown when Yuma dueled against a tomato farmer in Heartland's World Duel Carnival Tournament. It wasn't hunger that almost did him in though, it was his hatred of tomatoes he held onto for several years after trying them once. Quite awkward I must say. Anyway, Mishka finally speaks again: "Is it so hard for you to step aside, be dead already, and let me get my revenge?" "No but I just don't want to! I refuse to give up! Our differences are allowing us to be a match destined to fight for days if not just hours. You ain't gonna win as long as I stand in your way!" He uses the Destruction Tai Chi again but Regnes gets in the way and isn't destroyed by the character due to being a number. Always know that only a number can destroy a number by default. But that ability is one that can be negated. I thank Regnes for the save and up my attack speed from one that I can easily handle calmly to one that takes lots of effort and attention to maintain. But still, it was so worth it as Mishka was being pushed back by this surprise I sprung onto him. "You were holding back all this time? Are you secretly afraid of me?" "Not secretly. I'm afraid of you alright but that fear just doesn't stop me. I will keep you held up until my body refuses to move anymore and I collapse straight onto the ground." "Then I will just make you collapse to the ground myself!"

I begin rambling about random crap as I dodge whatever he throws at me while attacking fast with my sword again and again. I'm almost completely spent, time to finish selling this distraction. I hope I will have done enough to allow Mishka to be weakened to the point of an easier defeat of him by the others. This battle will be remembered by all participants and their social connections for a very long time. As I fight with the last of my rerererestored energy, I start pulling bolder attacks like Darkeye Slash. I should make my own original and advanced jump slash rooted move so I don't have to use Darkeye Slash every time I want to put immense effort into this kind of thing. My strength is waning faster and faster. Now is the time to risk my life again: "Mishka! I'm almost finished! So take this! It doesn't need an introduction because you saw me use it before! I will willingly potentially die to help stop you again!" My attack comes out of nowhere and sends Mishka flying before he can retaliate. Madeline saves my life and I'm too drained mentally to continue on fighting. It's the chasers' turn to bring it home. Everything begins happening so fast it's like it's all happening at the same time. "I can't bring myself to fight anymore. My energy has been restored for the upteenth time but my will to fight has been exhausted. If I fought, I would only lower our odds of success now. Should have seen this kind of burnout coming. Oh well. I brought this on myself so at least I chose for this to end up happening to an extent." I sit down in the grass and watch it all happen rapidly. Great, I have a headache now and feel so bleh. Rai, Sena, Finn, Tori, and Donha attack at once, making sure they combine different characters every single time they do so. Please let them not wear themselves out too quickly.

Madeline sits down next to me: "Adam, I'm almost out of magic and we have only one more MP candy left. I will have to save what I have left and use it more wisely. I hope you feel better soon!" "Thank you for everything. Rest while you're sitting here. This has gone on for hours. And we still have Diga to worry about. Not to mention the other zombies." Mishka starts acting less and less rational. The numbers inside him are causing his personality to expand and make him go berserk in a unique way based on it. Applejack is able to knock Mishka around whenever she gets the chance. She even uses her lasso to trip him or redirect a Tai Chi character he calls upon to attack the others with. His words only show just how wild he is getting. He gets more and more zombie-like in terms of personality as if his undead body is rotting and his brain is changing due to this rotting. I wonder how he was revived when his original body was destroyed before he possessed Jakata, one of the former Dragonkin elite who was a doll brought to life by Kirva. Anyway, the leadership of Dragonkin and Tigerkin discover they have a connection with the Tai Chi 1000 too. This lets them help the chasers and put an enormous strain on the increasingly rash Mishka who normally never loses control of himself like this. Pixal engages Mishka in physical combat whenever it is safe and logical to do so. Present Mic and Amy of all creatures work together. Amy forces Mishka to move away with her hammer, allowing for multiple opportunities for Present Mic to use his yelling to inflict some pretty bad ear damage to the undead Dragonkin General. In fact, Mishka just keeps saying: "Revenge! Brains!" at this point on an unending cycle of say and repeat. The Music Tai Chi gets shattered by the yelling from you know who, another sign of our enemy's decline over time. Will we be able to defeat Diga after this kind of a fierce battle? I don't know. Wait, hold on, I've seen glimpses of the future that awaits, he will be defeated one way or another someday if not today! He will, I just know it!

The time for Mishka's defeat comes faster than a lightning bolt. That's because Present Mic breaks the 4th wall: "Hey all, let's wrap this up with a crazy battle montage!" A nearby under construction clock tower emphasizes the speed. Music starts playing and things happen around me and Madeline like crazy. Soon, Mishka cannot repel any attacks anymore, we managed to drain him severely before I burnt out. Due to this, Rai and the chasers are able to land the final blow needed to take Mishka down for good. As he is finally defeated, he exclaims, having regained most of his sanity: "Nooo! I was so close! I was going to be emperor! This is not fair! You will pay for this, all of you!" His body turns into dust, leaving behind the number cards inside of him. I finally get up and feel mostly ready to fight again: "And I will be taking these. We cannot allow them to fall into the wrong hands again. I guess because Mishka was resurrected as a zombie, his new body was very fragile and couldn't hold anymore once the defense was all gone. We must keep our monster comrades out, Spectre. There's still Diga to worry about. I'm not looking forward to fighting him. He will be much more powerful and dangerous than Mishka was." We all finally get a little time to calm down and relax a bit. But then, Hak yells: "It's urgent! I can sense a large and powerful force coming this way! Be prepared for anything." That's when Sena gets a transmission on her Tigerkin communicator. We all gather around her to watch as she answers it: "Who's there? This is Sena of the Tai Chi Chasers, how may I help you?"

The screen displays Jahara. She has blue hair, blue-green eyes, pale skin, and simple gray armor: "Is this thing working? Yes it is. Hello Sena." "You don't look so good, are you okay?" "Don't worry, I'm still recovering a little. It's nothing that can't be dealt with. I'm contacting you because Diga is on his way with thousands of zombified troops to your location. Luka, Phoebe, Duran, and I are on our way now. We will help you as best as we can against Diga." "Diga is on his way?!" "He's taken over nearly all of Suhn, only your general area is left! I must go, there's no time. I must prepare. I'll see you soon!" The transmission ends and Aidan speaks up: "Sena, your older sisters are coming to help us too. We will need all hands on deck to overcome Diga. Everyone, to the airship!" We all get to the Tai Chi Chasers' ship and remain on deck, prepared for anything. Hak gets it off the ground and into a battle position. Then, the others come join us on board. Luka has gray eyes, silver hair, light tan skin, and shiny silver armor. Phoebe has light tan skin, mint hair, gray eyes, and wears clothing with a pattern that matches her hair and eyes in color plus black. Duran is a small black dragon. Then there's Sean's sisters except Hannah who is somewhere safe. We have Straw, Cloda, and Asty. Asty has long dark brown hair, a yellow, orange, black, and red armor/uniform, and pale skin. Cloda has short blonde hair, tan skin, and an orange uniform underneath nearly identical armor pieces to Asty's. Finally, there's Straw. She has medium short length light brown hair with a few curls, pale skin, and a pink uniform. All 3 of them have brown eyes. The enemy we're about to face, Diga has a normal form of a white, red, and yellow robe over his body with a really long gray beard, grey hair, black eyes, pale skin, wrinkles, and a golden crown with a purple gem in it. However, he appears as the Corruption Dragon as a horde of zombies head towards the building we were in earlier in pursuit of all of us.

As the Corruption Dragon, Diga is a massive grey, black, and purple(instead of white due to zombification) dragon with wings that could crush pretty large buildings on their own. There are so many zombies down there that the energy they are giving off is killing the grass they walk on and causing the sky to go grey. It looks as if twilight has descended upon us way too early. The stench of decomposition fills the air and zombies start reaching the top of the building before stacking on top of each other to reach us. When Hak has the airship move, Diga fires a blast of energy at it, forcing us to stay in place. I speak up: "I'm not going to let those zombies board the ship. I'm better at fighting zombies than big dragons anyway. I hope you understand." Then, I jumped off the ship onto the top of the building and sustained no fall damage because my armor is that good. "Come here, you zombies! You want some of me? You know you want a piece of me so come take a piece of me already!" The zombies have lost all sense of any personality, they all think as one as a hive mind that serves Diga. I don't care what Diga's booming voice says because I'm going to fight these damn zombies with or without help. However, I know that it will be much harder than I first thought since I didn't expect there to be so many and forgot that muscle memory allows them to fight with some of the skill they had before being turned. One of the zombies I face first is Garnia but his appearance has become unrecognizable, just a plain but big purple zombie with leather clothing. The only reason I knew it was him was because of his voice. He can't attack the same way he used to but he can defend as well as he used to due to of course, muscle memory and reflexes. That being said, a few Drawing Destruction attacks managed to bring him and a few zombies down.

Collectively, the zombies groan: "We want your energy! One of us! One of us!" "I won't be one of you, you'll have to defeat and kill me in order for me to ever be a part of you creeps! I also refuse to lose to you all, you won't be able to so easily. Haaaaaa! Extremely Risky Spin Slash!" I watch as a bunch of zombies try to get me, only to catch on fire: "Damn it! I hope none of you were alive before you were turned! Otherwise, I'll have to get a revival spell cast by a close friend. Nevermind, you put yourselves out. Good grief, how many of you are there? When I think I've cleared out a big chunk of ya, more of you just keep coming in to fill the space! It would be great to have a way to cure you all of this zombification because frankly, y'all are seriously creeping out even me. And I love horror movies and haunted houses! Oh well. I've said this before but I'll say it again: beggars can't be choosers. Get back already!" My armor's protection won't last forever against these thousands of zombies. By the time there are still hundreds left, my armor will be done for. Everyone else is too preoccupied fighting Diga to help, even Regnes, Jammer, and the others. If this is how I die, I'm going to bring as many of these zombies down as I can before my life points hit 0 permanently. I'm surrounded on all sides by zombies. Each one isn't putting much of a dent in per blow but it has begun to add up to minor cracks that aren't that big of a concern at the moment. Ugh, just my luck. Moving my sword around to hit zombies with it is so damn hard right now. There are just so many zombies, I can barely move a muscle since they are applying a shit ton of force onto me from everywhere except the air and floor. There's little choice. My sword must be put away. It's time for my fists to do the actioning crap. It's the only way I will have a chance of stopping even just a single zombie. That and hoping I can be loud enough to send knockback soundwaves. But hey, I'll take this over the Covid genocide going on in my world.

At least here it's just thousands of zombies trying to kill one person instead of thousands of politicians trying to and succeeding at killing millions of people. This is far from my greatest moment but still, I will hold on for as long as possible. Thanks to my act of falling off the ship on purpose, the zombies are no longer after any of the others. They just desire me more and more because I refuse to die that quickly. It's like this: the longer you don't have something you desire, the more you will desire it. That desire can often be dangerous, even used to hurt others. I punch the guts of one zombie before picking up Zombie Garnia's unconscious body and use it to send a bunch of zombies flying as if I were turning a very manual but fast windmill. With the space I have very temporarily cleared out for myself, I get into the same position I have done twice today but without my sword. There's another facet to the position besides the obvious ones. It sort of increases my attack range and allows for one side to take more damage for the other, allowing for the other to go on when it cannot go on. When one side gets too hurt, I can flip the position just like that. It's pretty brilliant. Now then, the first zombie to try to get me since I sent Garnia's body flying and all that attempts to hit me but I easily send em flying with no trouble at all. After that, I shoved an HP banana in my mouth to eat when I'm just about to die. I may not be able to talk as a result but it's worth it as I don't think I will be able to make another clearing for myself again until these zombies get totally owned. They can try all they want to damper my spirits but my fighting spirit has roared back to life after taking a break upon getting burnt out. I'm fully engaged with stopping these zombies by myself. Such a risky move but it'll buy the others more time to find a way to defeat Diga who no longer has a known weak spot. The motion of punching and kicking zombies gets so repetitive that I start being able to do it without paying complete attention.

But stuffing food in my mouth for longer than a few seconds feels so weird. I almost want to spit it out but that'd do me literally nothing good. So it's a struggle's life for me. Come on zombies, stand down already! After a while, I look to see the surrounding area is covered in fire and craters. The others are going strong but for how long. Shit, my muscles are starting to hurt a lot and I'm getting a migraine from hearing the moans of these zombies. Fuck it, I eat the HP banana in my mouth and push back the zombies with newfound determination: "I'm going to stop all of you, somehow! All of you are tough, it looks like none of you were resurrected upon being turned. You're all still alive. Good, my sword attacks won't kill any of you in an instant." The zombies that were burnt earlier are simply on the ground while the others step on them without a care in the world besides brains and energy. I decide to try to reason with them. Let's see how far gone they really are: "Listen up, you undead but not undead Dragonkins and Tigerkins! Why would you follow Diga when he has hurt so many of you in some way? You came together to stop him and bring peace to Suhn. Have you forgotten who you are so completely that all that's left to suggest you were once individuals is your muscle memory and reflexes? What's the point of following a power hungry man when he already has all the power he could want and the fact that together, you could defeat him? Strength in numbers is an amazing phrase. It's true. Have your brain cells gotten so zombified that you can't think for yourselves anymore? There's nothing wrong with a hive mind but how it is used is the problem or lack thereof depending on the situation." My words fall on deaf ears. They changed nothing for me and I can see the zombies are beginning to soon penetrate my armor. Come on! This is not that fun, it's ominous and I'm getting more creeped out by the second. Dealing with Boogaloo's cult of The Apple and BIM would be so much better than this.

That does it: "Get the fuck off of me, zombies!" I pull out my guitar and strum it as fast and loud as possible to give me the chance to swap it out for my sword. I'm all squished in still with some of the zombies now towering over me for the simple fact that they're standing on their fellow zombies. But, I jab my sword into the zombie closest to it's armor and use that to send the zombie flying back. The zombie hits other zombies like a bowling bowl hits bowling pins, knocking down several at the same time. This reflects in the entire swarm of zombies, leading to each falling over or at least looking a bit unsteady for a time. This allows me to send a lot of zombies back with a Super Spin Slash. Finally, I have some room but for a very short time. Gotta make this count: "I won't be taken down like this, zombies! You won't tear the skin off my body, you shall not pass me! Watch this! I will send all of you flying for kilometers if necessary!" I perform a giant version of Extremely Risky Spin Slash but without the friction part so it's like a massive wind attack. But to do that, a lot of time and effort was needed. Thankfully, I just used my legs to kick away any zombies that were trying to stop me. This allowed me to begin mounting the attack, knowing full well that this could sap almost all of my energy and led to serious pain like another migraine which is one of the worst things I've had to face back on my home world. Damn it, I think these zombies are more persistent than I am and that's saying something. They just won't quit. Even the ones I knocked to the ground are getting back up and attacking me. Gah! I never want to deal with this many zombies on my own ever again until I get so ridiculously powerful that I break past any and all limits that lie before me, restricting how high of a power level I can have by being present. But I must remember to not let power overtake me. Power and greed are co-linked in an endless feedback loop, greatly increasing each other over time. The existence of power creates a want and much greed for it.

And greed leads to fools getting more powerful for a few major prices such as losing the kindness inside of them. Tangant over. I will not rest again until Suhn is free of Diga for good. Just some more time and my attack will be complete. Spin. Spin. Spin. Some zombies try to interrupt me but I start headbutting them too, sending them up to 50 meters or so away from where I'm standing and gritting my teeth tightly. The moment of truth comes. "Here you go, you jerks who don't think for yourselves! Stop being assholes and snap out of it! Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" I lose all feeling in my arm muscles beyond pain. So they're numb but hurting. Yay. That cost is worth it as the zombies are sent flying, scattering in all directions possible. Rai better use his true power sometime as I can clearly see the Tigerkin airship barely being able to keep flying. Soon, it will crash with a loud explosion echoing for many kilometers around us. Applejack spots me: "Hey y'all, Adam is down there and they expelled all of the zombies!" I start waving my hands like I just don't care except I do care about being rescued off the building, the only place around that doesn't look totally devastated at this point. Luka and Sena combine their knowledge in water Tai Chi for a double attack to offer a window of time at which I could jump onto the ship. I do so and exclaim while panting from dealing with those zombies: "Is it really that good of an idea to attack from this airship? I get everything is on fire but this really isn't that much better than fighting on grass that is burning as the world is turning." Luka replies: "That's what I said earlier but now, we have no choice. There's not a single visible or known cave nearby."

Jahara then uses the Break Tai Chi with her sword and while it does nothing to the Corruption Dragon (Diga), it gives me an idea. Or rather, two ideas. I wave over to Rai: "Hey, while Diga isn't targeting either of us! Come here!" He does so: "How crazy are you? You took on all of those zombies by yourself! Not even I would have done that! What do you have planned now?" "You could say I'm a lunatic of some kind. I prefer to note that I am in a very artistic or warrior kind of way. It's all subjective though so what does it matter? Anyway, what if we combine our skills by fighting as one? My sword has a trait that allows for it to be pretty good at briefly holding onto energy. I never get to take advantage of it since I gave up all of the powers I had once upon a time. Just cast a Tai Chi attack onto my sword and we'll see what happens. But first, I need to eat my last HP banana or else I'll be too worn and hurt to make this work on my end. Did Madeline explain to you all what those are? Just looking at your expression shows that she did. That's good." I eat the banana and then, Rai uses the Explosion Tai Chi and I launch its energy with my sword before it could activate. It hits Diga pretty good: "You inferior fools just won't quit, will you? You can try all you want but I will destroy all of you!"

I yell as loud as I can in reply: "Says the guy who thinks it's okay to kill people for disobeying him! Diga, you are literally the definition of a fascist dictator! Your attacks on the Tigerkin imply some connection between you and racist dogma. But that's just what's on the surface! You will be defeated. By us or somebody else, it doesn't matter in the end because you are so going down at some point! We will stop you as best as we can! Haaaaaaa! Watch this, you damn manipulative tyrant! You probably wouldn't have lost to Rai and the others before if it weren't for the fact you punish anyone who fails you instead of giving them another shot! Instead of turning Vicious to ash, you could have had him trained more or switched him to a combat role and trained him in that! That's your weakness, you only rely on yourself and use people until they have no use." "How dare you insult me! I will make you pay for that by first knocking that ship out of the sky!" This is where my 2nd idea comes to play. I find Duran and talk to him while Amy teams up with Rai to do what we just did in my temporarily not fighting phase. I remind him: "Hey Duran, can't you use that other form you have?" "Oh yeah, that's right! I totally forgot! I'm gonna remind Hak now! See ya! Nice talking to you finally!" I sigh: "Well if Hak transforms, who's going to fly the ship?" Pixal startles me: "I will. It is only logical if I fly the ship with Hak transformed into this other form you were talking about." "You scared me for a second, Pixal! But what about Samurai X?" "Don't worry, my Samurai X mech is far from here, in a safe and secure location. Now then, I must get going to the bridge." She goes to the front of the ship before Hak and Duran go out of there together. Then, they transform right in front of our eyes. Duran speaks urgently: "Come on! Some of you must get on us so we can divide Diga's attention and be less likely to die if he takes down the ship!"

I get onto Hak and say to Rai who is now very close to me: "Get on behind me! Let's continue our combo from the sky while riding Hak! You be the sword and I'll be the shield! Not literally but you get it." About half of the individuals on the ship get on Hak or Duran. Joining Rai and I are the other Tai Chi Chasers. Meanwhile, Luka, Phoebe, Kirva, Jahara, and Aura climb onto Duran. Hak and Duran decide to go in different directions in order to further split Diga's attention. It's too bad we're the only ones still able to resist him. Donha's stomach growls: "Aww man I should have had something to eat before we started battling Diga. I'm so hungry!" Sena gets a little ticked off: "Donha! You just had something to eat an hour and a half ago! Stop thinking about just food!" "Sorry Sena." I add: "Good grief, this is not the time for this. Donha, you're almost as food happy as King Luis of Miitopia who I went from having good relations with to sour relations with in hours. You probably don't want to know and frankly, there's no time for telling you about that situation." Rai uses the Flame Tai Chi character and casts it onto my sword. I then send the flame flying towards Diga. It barely does anything to him but it does distract him long enough for Luka to deal a good blow while riding Duran. Now, Diga is trying to send both Hak and Diga packing right onto the ground, having quickly grown tired of seeing those two in their ultimate forms again. Damn it. When will this end? Fight after fight, again and again. It's so annoying, frightening, and dangerous. Diga could easily destroy us if he wanted to and we don't have any reinforcements to help us out. The icing on the cake is that Rai and I's combination has done nothing but briefly distract Diga. Back to the drawing board. Oh and Hak is moving fast for his life as Diga comes for him and us at a terrifying speed.

That does it. "There is an important material missing from my pool of materials to create a fantastic collage on my duel field. There's only one way to fix this in nearly an instant. I activate my skill! Go! Artist's Eye! With it, I can select one Artist card from my deck and add it to my hand! I add and activate the field spell Artistic Haven! With it on the field, the scene around us will change to one we can safely land on! It also boosts all Artist monsters on the field. But that's not all, I draw! Perfect! Here's a spell card that will advance Regnes into his ultimate form! Here we go!" Now that Regnes has evolved and Artistic Haven is in play, our odds of survival have increased. Diga yells: "What is this place? I demand to know!" I reply: "Possibly your deathbed. In this peaceful place, artists can easily float or fly up to the sky even if they do not have wings. The magic and peace here is unrivaled on many worlds. Don't bother destroying any creature you see down there, they're not actually there. Focus on us, big guy!" That means my Artist comrades can now take on Diga themselves, slightly tipping the balance of this battle in our favor as a direct result. This saves Hak and Duran from being nearly knocked out of the sky by the Destruction Tai Chi used by the Corruption Dragon. I ponder over where Diga's weak spot could be now that the Tai Chi 1000 tablet has been destroyed. The number cards may be powerful but physically, it'd be easy to rip them apart so one has to be careful when handling numbers. I bet that they're inside Diga's brain and that they must be the weak spot. I convey this to the others. Rai looks at me with an incredulous look: "Are you sure about that?" "No but do you have any other bright ideas as to where a weak spot could be on Diga? You aren't responding. Must be a no then. Besides, what could we lose from failing to disrupt him even though we'd attack his head?"

"Our lives!" "Not quite because it's still very much possible to stop him even if my idea doesn't work out in the slightest. As long as there's resistance to him left, there is still hope, still a slim chance that he can be defeated today right here and soon." The chasers all attack Diga at once who responds by nearly knocking Hak down again but Hak is too determined to be knocked down. I hope the solution to defeating Diga appears soon or I fear that it won't be us who will stop him. I fear that we'd have to resort to having our all friends and allies help again like with when Yappa Yappa was literally OP to an extreme I've only seen Ultimate Shaggy also be in this year. Tori suddenly says: "I don't like seeing the other Tigerkin and Dragonkin being forced to be mindless zombies. Isn't there any way to restore them? I mean, besides defeating Diga?" Donha replies: "Sorry buddy but I can't think of anything that could do that besides stopping him for good again." That's when Finn says: "I know I haven't said much but I think there might be a way. What turned them into zombies is energy. It spread like an infection. The Heal Tai Chi might work." Rai points out: "Yeah but the only one of us who has actively used that character is Phoebe and she's not as knowledgeable or experienced as we are in Tai Chi." Sena slaps him as Regnes and the other Artists along with the San Vine and San Avalon creatures keep Diga busy for a bit: "That may be true Rai but we must contact Luka right away!" After some time, back and forth communications yield us a new plan. I sadly had to deactivate my field spell for this to work but it'll be worth it I hope. Besides, the Artists have become too exhausted to fight so I have them return to the Duel Monsters Spirit World anyway.

All of the Tigerkins and Dragonkins fighting alongside us in the team created within the BRAINS Collective for this very mission today use the Heal Tai Chi at the same time. As a result, a bunch of healing energy makes it onto the ground, freeing many Dragonkins and Tigerkins of their zombification. But that's not all, every single freed Dragonkin and Tigerkin has an aura surround each of them. Sadly, anyone who was dead and resurrected by the zombie energy infection crumbles into dust before the curing can finish, including Garnia. And yet, the Tai Chi 1000 lives on in every Dragonkin and Tigerkin who isn't a zombie. It's like the arrival of the numbers to this universe somehow caused the awakening of the remains of the Tai Chi 1000 and not just absorbed its energy. That does it, a Suhn BRAINS must be created. If the Dragonkins and Tigerkins are going to be able to use Tai Chi without Tai Chi cards, a bunch of problems are going to brew that wouldn't otherwise. They will need interdimensional assistance as they will be on the top of the list for places the UMC want to try invading again. The return of Tai Chi power will come with great responsibility and this fight with Diga is just the first test of responsibility. More Dragonkins and Tigerkins are cured of the zombification and now, Diga is outnumbered immensely and is forced to attack targets all over the place. This is where the tide of battle officially shifts in our favor. At this rate, Diga will be going down soon. Meanwhile, the Tai Chi Chasers' Tiger airship is hit hard and begins to crash. Hak and Duran use their phalanges to slow the fall of the ship, allowing Pixal to get it ready for a crash landing instead of just a crash. Damage is reduced by this and everyone on board evacuates at the last possible moment. Now we are all on the ground, facing Diga who is flying around, trying to hurt and kill all of us. But this gives Kirva and Aura the chance to be rulers even I can respect to a degree.

They speak in coordinated unison, as if they can read each other's minds: "People of Suhn, Dragonkins and Tigerkins, we stand united once again against the treachery of Diga. Individually, we couldn't hope to stop him but together, we can end his reign of terror once and for all. Let's believe in each other and fight together as one!" This hypes everyone up including me. Hak and Duran got too tired to keep flying so we all dismount from them and join the others in battle. Diga laughs: "You think this will be enough to stop me? Don't make me laugh even harder, fools! With my power, no one can ever hope to stop me even if you got every single being in this universe to fight against me! Nothing will be enough! Nothing! All of you will die here today and you will only have yourselves to blame for that." I reply as loud as I can: "If you're so confident, fly down closer to us and see us show ya what we're really made of! Haaaaaaaa! Madeline! Back me up with this! Please! Im going to slow him down quite a bit! Just watch everyone! Haaaaaaaaaaaaa! Great Infernal Tornado Slash!" I almost die again but it's so worth the pain. My attack rushes at Diga and I managed to temporarily ensnare him with it. This opens the perfect opportunity for an all out assault. We had high hopes that this was all that was left to beat Diga but boy, were we wrong or what?! He emerges from the dust, unscaved from all of that. Shit. What do we do now? Even though Madeline healed me, my body just won't let out another attack of any kind. It isn't just a brain thing, it's a muscle thing too: "I can't attack anymore even though I want to! And that assault took a lot out of most everyone! How can we stop him with this change in things? How?!" Present Mic yells: "I got this! But first, I need some sort of distraction or else what I have planned just isn't going to work!" Amy replies: "Oh I'll give you a distraction alright! Just get Sonic to go on a date with me!" "Oh boy, I didn't sign up for this. I can't guarantee that but I will try sometime if you insist."

Spectre adds: "Me and my San Vine and San Avalon friends would like to help with the distraction! Just look at San Avalon Drynome and San Avalon Daphne! And I manifest my circuit one more time!" The distraction is set up and it works but Present Mic's plan of blasting Diga with sound does not work. No one has any ideas left. We're done for. But Finn recalled something that might work: "Rai! You must use your true power again like you did to defeat Diga the first time! It's the only shot we have left!" I add: "That's besides getting assistance from other universes. But excluding that, it's true! Go on, Rai! We're all counting on you to do this. We believe in you." The other users of Tai Chi who still have some strength left cover for Rai with some attacks while he focuses on powering up with that true power of his. Good thing too because it sure took a while. This is it. It's time for Rai to use his true power. Diga says: "All of you are now doomed! There's no hope for you left, all that's left is fear and despair! Nothing you do will work, I am far too powerful for you all put together!" Rai yells: "Like hell we are! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Diga is stunned as Rai summons all of his true power into an orb of energy which he launches using the Explosion Tai Chi. Like many times during many battles throughout existence before now, time seems to slow down greatly. Diga sends out the biggest ball of energy I have seen since the battle against Gorganan and after that, the Shadow. I hope the confrontation with Pmurt Nedib doesn't involve something like this. But more importantly, the 2 attacks slam into each other, sending shockwaves and sound throughout the area. In fact, just about everyone is knocked down by a intense force of wind that lasts barely a second but feels like it lasted for a long time. In the moment of collusion, I started holding my breath, waiting for Diga's attack to be dissolved and for Rai's to kill him.

But that never came. Rai's attack is pushed back and overwhelmed by Diga's which then ended up hurting all of us. However, the damage was reduced by Phoebe's mastery of the Flower Tai Chi which took on a lot of the force that was going to hit all of us. My armor has some serious dents and my helmet cracked a little bit just now. Komorka exclaims: "It is not Rai who is destined to vanquish Diga this time. It's Phoebe. I can tell. What do you think, Pyron?" "I feel it too but does this child have the strength needed to defeat Diga on her own?" Finn replies: "No but if we lend our Tai Chi power with her, maybe we'll have a chance. That's what my master Sid would have wanted." Aura speaks loud enough for everyone to hear: "Diga is about to destroy us! Please, lend your power to Phoebe before it's too late!" I add: "One of the best ways to fight corruption is to heal the corrupted! Phoebe, you must use the Heal Tai Chi! This is our true last shot! Just forget that we could call for backup for a moment.." Phoebe heals all the still zombified Dragonkins and Tigerkins with the boost in power she has before turning it on Diga who creates the biggest Destruction Tai Chi cast ever. Everything freezes in place, time completely stops. The Light shows their face for the first time in sometime: "Excellent work, all of you! You have achieved a big step towards breaking past all of your limits. I must go now, I have taken a vow of nonintervention unless it's needed." They vanish and time starts again. Phoebe's Heal Tai Chi cast is tiny in comparison to what Diga is dishing out to us. But his attack is redirected into space by Phoebe's before it comes into contact with him. All of those who possess Tai Chi power are now almost out of it, at least for now.

Diga screams: "Nooooo! Mishka failed, our new allies failed, and now, I have failed again! I'm the Tai Chi King! This cannot be happening! Revenge will be mine! One day, I will return to destroy each of you with my own strength! You haven't seen the last of me, you foolish mortals! Aaaaaaaaaa!" He falls down before crumbling into dust right in front of all of us. Peace returns to Suhn again. The skies clear up to reveal a happy and bright blue sky with many fluffy white clouds above us. While everyone celebrates, I walk to where Diga turned into dust and found more number cards. I pocket them before rejoining the others. Upon my return, Aura asks: "Is it time for all of you to leave? Please don't go just yet, we want to thank you officially for everything." I reply on behalf of myself and the others: "Thank yous aren't necessary. I get to hear them every day. We aren't leaving yet or at least, I'm not. There's still a lot to explain. This doesn't have to be the end of our alliance, we can make it permanent by one or 2 ways." "What kind of ways?" I explain the BRAINS Collective and the alternate allyship route. In the end, it is decided that a Suhn BRAINS will be formed with members consisting of all of the Tai Chi Chasers members, representing all of Suhn in the process. That makes things easier for registration and all that. I contact BRAINS headquarters about Suhn and everything that happened on it. Bray and Dominic are sent on behalf of the entire collective to help out. Upon their arrival, I'm just hanging out with all of the Tai Chi Chasers: "Oh there's 2 of my best friends from Miitopia, Dominic and Bray!" They see me and wave. Dominic gives me a hug: "Adam! I heard about the shit you did! What a causation to not want a nap. I can't be chill about this! You took on thousands of zombies! Crazy!" "Haha! I know! Now are we going to help clean up this world or not already?!" We do so and after that, depart for Miitopia and say goodbye to everyone for now. We will return soon.

Upon getting home, a big feast is consumed and prepared. But that's not all, I got to spar with Dominic until it was time to get ready for bed and after my armor was fixed once again. It was a lot of fun. What does the future hold for us? A lot. The Miitopian Civil War is approaching as is a crisis featuring Wind Ignis Windy, Light Ignis Lightning, and that Dark Lord defeated by Roan and Yufa in the same world inhabited by my Midgardian Lord Knight counterpart. I have no idea what's really going to happen related to numbers in the B Daman world but I have a really bad feeling and know that I will be going there next month to deal with it. But I sleep peacefully after a crazy day.

*A space beyond the B Daman world* The spirit of Smash Dragold and 3 spirits of Triple Gillusion are just floating for eternity. They've given up talking about how they were defeated and disagreeing. Dragold accepted his defeat peacefully, the Gillusions did not. But then, Pmurt Nedib appeared through a dark portal: "Hello there, Dragold and Gillusions." Dragold speaks calmly: "I am at peace. Why are you disturbing me? Who are you and what do you want?" "I expected you to say something like that and for the Gillusions to be silent. Anyway, my most valued employee Yappa Yappa has failed me again. You don't know who he is or I am but that matters little. I am Pmurt Nedib, CEO of the United Mining Company and I have an offer you might not want to refuse. How does revenge sound?" "I have no interest in revenge. I was defeated fair and square." Pmurt Nedib gives number cards to all 4 spirits: "Well, none of you seem that interested in revenge so I will just leave these with you as a housewarming gift. After all, you won't ever escape this place without me. Might as well get used to it! Too bad, I was really looking forward to working with all of you. I'm going to leave now." Dragold shouts: "Wait! I have changed my mind. I want revenge, it's all I can think about! This thing you gave me has given me so much power!" "Oh good! What about you 3?" The main one of the 3 replies: "We accept! Those humans will pay for everything!"

"Fantastic news! I can get you your revenge if you follow along with my plan closely. I will soon bring you back to Earth and once there, you must find and take over your old human puppets! What I have given you are special cards called number cards. They are powerful and far more valuable than you can imagine. I have put some of my own power in them to increase their strength. They will serve you well. And when my enemies come to retrieve them and try to stop you, they will be in for a surprise! Number cards never landed on the Earth you called home for so many years! But now, they'll think some did! Since my planned invasion of a world called Miitopia just backfired on me, I seek a lot out of this deal! I will send you more details later once you have regained control over your human puppets. This trap is something I should have set already but better late than never!" Dragold replies: "You seem to be holding a lot of grudges!" "Oh you have no idea how many freaks I hate! My most valued employee is worthless besides his power and skills! I'm just using him to get what I want! I brought him back to life because it was more profitable to than not! I have played him like a fool for a long time! And then there's that Adam. I hate that freak so much! He goes by they which is plural, not singular! And he is one of the ones who has foiled my plans the most! Meanwhile, Great Sage Bray is a t***** who thinks he's a woman! Women don't have p******!" "I don't understand much of what you just said. All I care about now is revenge." "Good. I'm taking my leave now. See you soon." Pmurt Nedib disappears through another dark portal.

Outro: Wow, this was quite the task to write! Remaining vigilant enough to start(besides the last time part) and finish this in one day wasnt as easy as with the previous chapter! But not only did I do that but I set up perfectly for the next 2 chapters! This is going to be intense, I can't wait! Okay, that's all for this chapter, till next time!