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.

12. The Falling Jungle

Veil Of Greed: Hunt For The Numbers

Chapter 12: The Falling Jungle

Date: August 28th, 2022

During the prior chapter to this story, Pmurt Nedib talked to Yappa Yappa before sending him out to help out with the UMC's invasion of Chima. At the same time, Laval, Cragger, and friends just watched the Phoenix Tribe ascend into the sun and now, they are under attack by UMC fighter jets. Swiftdrawer was woken up by an alarm detecting this attack and helps assign individuals to different missions before heading there with a group they requested to help them with stopping the invasion from succeeding. Swiftdrawer looked around the Gorilla Forest after explaining why they asked all of them (Ginga, Atemu, Crow, Edyn, Todoroki, Tron, Revolver, and Incinerate) to come help at the Fangs. There, they heard Laval's roar, managed to pinpoint its direction, and headed to the Lion City to help after grabbing most of the Gorillas' chi to send raining on the ground later so the tribes could use it. Eventually, they through an insane stunt managed to rescue Laval and friends after defeating some troops and taking down some fighter jets with their recently polished archer abilities. Coming back down, they brought the others with them and quickly faced off against Yappa Yappa. Swiftdrawer, Laval, and Todoroki were no match for him together and it only got worse. Yappa Yappa transformed twice and revealed he is far more powerful than even most gods. After using strange strategies and fleeing, everyone is now in The Falling Jungle with reinforcements on their way.

I deactivate my duel disk for now again and smirk: "You sure things are going to go so well for you? Come on, take this fight a little seriously. I'll take you on again. My sadness has faded for now." "I can't stand you! Why can't you just die when I want you to? Your continued life disgusts me!" I say to the others as loud as I can: "We're right outside The Falling Jungle right now. Please go on ahead and spread out in there. If Yappa Yappa kills me, y'all will at least have a better chance of survival by splitting up. I can't believe iFC is almost over and I'd like to enjoy my life here too just as I am over there in my other body at that convention. Put em up, Yappa Yappa, let's duke it out." Yappa Yappa grins and I gesture for everyone still by me to stay back: "You have to save your energy for when Genome-Heritage's effects wear off. Now then, haaaaaaa! Take this you damn asshole! Continuous Extremely Risky Spin Slash: 5!" My attacks catch our foe completely off guard and almost manage to incinerate him right there on the spot. However, he dodges easily and attempts to stab my skull. I easily evade that: "You do know you have to do better than that, right? Whatever, Im going to do my best to stop you while I still have the energy! Oh and btw, you haven't escaped those tornadoes for good. They tend to stick to one place after a bit if someone doesn't take the full force of them or they aren't cancelled out by someone's attack. Without your arms able to change shape or form, you have a strong advantage just straight up gone." "Oh really?! I bet I can knock that sword out of your hands with my own weapon and then, lock you in place so I can pound the life right out of you!" We start speedily clashing with our weapons, the fight just won't go in either of our directions. But I have to put more effort in as I managed to drain most of my energy again with that move earlier. I also had to hold back a little bit in order to have some energy left. Thus, the tornadoes are starting to fade away early. My hand is shaking heavily as my whole body trembles in an attempt to hold Yappa Yappa back: "I won't let you hurt anyone else without going through me! You have caused so much pain and suffering that there's no way I'd ever willingly work with you or Pmurt Nedib or BIM or whoever!"

"You're right where I'll kill you! I'm so jealous that you have no powers and yet are able to hold me back so much! Arrrrrg! I will make you die right here and paint my victory party with your guts!" "Nice try but threats like that just don't work on me. I came to this world knowing I might fall and die a painful death in this fight. You can tell me to die as many times as you want but as far as I'm concerned, I'm going to fight till I physically can't anymore and even then, it'll be after I go past my limits! Just watch!" I kick him and send him flying into the tornadoes which have now combined into one. He screams in agony as he puts in lots of effort to get out and stop his burning. Coming out, he looks like he has a death wish for me but then smirks: "Look at you! You're so tired there's no way you can hope to even get close to defeating me! My master eagerly awaits your corpse!" I smirk too: "Who said I had to stop fighting when I got worn? Let's do this again, one more time. One more time! Continuous Extremely Risky Spin Slash: 5!" I scream at the top of my lungs due to all the pain and effort but keep going. Yappa Yappa charges right for my left eye, hoping to use its space to directly stab my brain. However, my attack hits him instead as it suddenly forms and consumes him: "Aaaaaa! It burns! I'm so jealous of your control over the air and friction! It makes me sick that someone like you has an ability like that without powers!" "In that case, I should tell you why I wanted you to face me alone. Your powers may be coming back but at what cost? You're going to need to stop fighting to recover for a few seconds with that regeneration quirk you obtained." Sure enough, his powers are returning so instead of turning into ash, he survives, badly hurt. However, he heals much faster than I expected and says: "This is the end for you! No longer will I be tormented by your name or face! DIE! Tailed Beast Ball! Kamehameha! White Lightning! Detroit Smash! Magnum Break! Cart Revolution!" "Damn it! How many attacks can you use at once? This is so bad. Well shit. My life is over." That's when a bunch of voices at once yell in unison: "Not so fast, Yappa Yappa!" I turn to see every member of BRAINS and ally of the collective.

Dominic steps forward: "Supermassive Black Hole!" This is followed by my counterpart's own "MAGNUM BREEEEAAK!", Hope Ray Victory's attack, Stardust's Cosmic Flare, Wisel's attack and Synchro Absorption, and much more. The combined attacks all cancel each other out. Yappa Yappa gasps: "ARE ALL OF YOU FRIENDS OF ADAM?! Gaaaaaah! Fine then, I will stop holding back and kill all of you! But first! Shadow Clone Technique! Go my Shadow Clones, find orbs of chi and bring them to Pmurt Nedib at once!" He summoned thousands of clones. Bray tried taking one out with Tower Of Flame but the clone survived. Shit, these clones are more powerful than any clones made through any jitsu. I'm sure Orochimaru would be fascinated by this. 2 seconds later, he grins wickedly: "I have all of Chima's chi! ALL OF IT! Clones, don't go to our master just yet because I have a fun idea that will inflict so much misery! Open! Dimensional Rift! Now my clones, enter the rift and secure the chi there! If you somehow defeat me, you can have all of that chi back! If you lose, you all die and this world and universe do as well! *sends up a barely visible ball of purple energy into the sky* See that? Once there's no one left who can fight me, that Haikai will destroy everything in this universe in less than a 10th of a second!" I'm honestly not surprised at this point. But Yappa Yappa says something else that surprises me: "Oh btw, I know all about that battle in the Moonlands! Haha! Agram could never reach this level of perfection, he's inferior after all! I'm going to kill all of you before any of you can even think about using fusion to fuse yourselves together into some kind of superbeing! Your stubbornness to keep fighting is disgusting and yet so amusing! I'm going to have so much fun playing with all of you as you cry out in infinite pain! Let's do this again, Shadow Clone Technique! It will be even better to be overwhelmed by the memories of how I killed all of you individually at once! Also, if you manage to beat me, you won't, I have some friends who will set you straight because I have to prepare to lose now in order to win! I'm so jealous it took me so long to learn that truth compared to some of you and disgusted that I had to learn it at all! I will pummel all of you!"

There are 2 or 3 Yappa Yappa clones for every one of us. How in the hell are we supposed to get through all of this without dying quickly and painfully? It's so hard to hold these jerks back, there are just so many of them and each of them hits like a truck with a wall of steel in terms of defenses. Through a bunch of them, Yappa Yappa speaks to me: "Adam, how does it feel to be so helpless to stop me? I'm going to pummel and end you as multiple mes and I'm so excited to have it as a memory!" "My body is at its limits but I think it's time to go to the next level with that. This will risk serious and permanent injury but WHAT CHOICE DO I HAVE?! I can't even hear anyone else over your army of yourself! I'd take the Doofensmirtz zombies over this any day of the week. I've been working on a new artistic attack with my sword, I just never wanted to try it in battle until now! Okay, here goes. You damn bastards are so hard to avoid. It's time." I previously had put my sword away to reduce the strain on my tired arms but during my new attack, I pull it out again. As soon as I draw my sword, I start moving it around like I'm drawing so hard on a paper that I'm ripping the paper apart: "I will teach you the power of art! DRAWING DESTRUCTION! Haaaaaa! Don't give in now, muscles!" Instead of being focused on force, my attack is more focused on strategical moves with the sword. Speed is key instead of power. With my drawing skills currently aligned with my sword skills for this attack, the Yappa Yappas around me actually don't stand much of a chance. I am simply too fast for them to keep up with my sword motions. One by one, they fall and as they do, my muscles increasingly burn and ache like never before. Pockets of nitrogen that are released when I crack my knuckles were released all at once in an instant. As that happened, my body began to shake and the structural integrity of my bones started to be compromised. But I still won't stop even though everything is telling me to stop and willingly collapse onto the ground right now. "I'm so sorry, my dear friends for pushing this hard and making you so worried but I can't back down! As long as I can move, I will keep this up even if it literally breaks me to death! HAAAAAAAAAA! I won't quit, I won't quit, I WONT QUIT!"

More and more clones fall to my extreme and dangerous efforts. 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30. The adrenaline has all been used up and every cell in my body is screaming and I struggle to even think or see clearly. Some of my tendons and ligaments snap. Parts of my skin break. I can hear my bones snap. At last, I have cleared a small area around me and reached the breaking point of the breaking point. "Can't keep going.." I collapse onto the ground, my sword falls out of my hand and onto the ground below where it clanks a little bit. It's not supposed to have that kind of red that it has now. Damn it. My heart rate is dropping. I can tell. Some more clones laugh and say in unison: "You have fallen to your own efforts! Yuck! You can get to that point? I just want to gag at this point! Oh well, you die now!" Out of the corner of my eye as my vision starts to go black again, I see Bray and Julia running towards me: "We're going to save you! DOUBLE GIGA CURE!" They speak in unison as well and synchronize their staffs and aim the magic towards me. In seconds, I fully so much better. The skin breaks in my hands vanish. My bones repair, the ligaments and tendons reform, feeling returns to my feet. Abstractoa appears to us and says: "That's enough of my self imposed rule of non direct interference. Adam, I know what you know about the future thanks to imagination, the force of creativity. But it's not really set in stone just yet! Your body's physical limit has been destroyed like never before. You are ready to begin the road to wielding new powers. But first, I will stop some of these clones myself so we can talk a little bit." The protector of art spreads their arms out and yells: "Indescribable Imagination!" Blue energy comes out of them and instantly vaporizes hundreds of the Yappa Yappa clones. "Bray, Julia, you aren't as immersed in the power of imagination but still, we are all fundamentally tied to it in some way. Rest up a little as I bring along a old friend and then, fight alongside all of you. Without my interference, most of you would have died and one of you would have been forced to use the Pen of Physics. If that happened, Pmurt Nedib would have learned of its existence and launched a crushing invasion on Miitopia, bringing all life on it to an end."

They turn toward me and hand me the artifact containing.. Miitopia's Guardian spirit?! The scene around me changes to the familiar realm: "Oh ho! It's been a while since I've talked to anyone whose destiny is linked to Miitopia's future. It's nice to see you again, young warrior. It's been almost an entire year since you cast your powers off to save everything and everyone. You have grown so much ever since your arrival in the town of Fun Land." "I hate to sound mean but can you get to the chase? My friends and allies are suffering out there!" "Oh ho! I sense a wish within you to earn any future power you obtain instead of just getting it. You don't want it to be easy or given to you for free. So, I will happily oblige in fulfilling that wish. Those who gain power instead of having it given to them are the strongest of them all after all. I now restore your connection to the Miitopian warrior class! All you need to know is that I have revived something that's been with you all this time even after you gave up your power. This won't restore your old store of magical energy but it will allow you to begin regaining the deeper side of the skills you learned as a member of the Miitopian warrior class among other things." "I feel it. It's a feeling that's barely there but I feel like I've been reconnected to the forces of magic." "That's exactly what's happened. Oh ho! I look forward to seeing how you turn out in the future. Be well young warrior and remember that you have a long journey ahead to be able to have true powers once again." "I will, thank you." It all ends and Abstractoa grins before taking back the amulet: "Right now, your renewed connection will not help very much because it is barely a spark in comparison to what it once was. However, it will give you an increased sense of courage and confidence and allow your body to naturally heal a little bit faster. Now then, let's fight with everyone else, together as one team."

The rest of us say: "Right!" I pick my sword up and wipe it off: "This sword has really grown on me. I kind of want to use this sword in the creation of my next sword somehow. I have a feeling that a new sword is actually coming in the near future for me. Anyway, do you know where most of the fighting is, Abstractoa?" "Yes I do. Just follow me." We soon arrive to a brutal battle that is leaving a lot of our comrades in bad shape. After accessing the situation, I determine it will be best to confront the clones directly head to head. With my sword in hand, I run and yell: "Drawing Destruction! Haaaaaa!" Several clones fall in a few seconds to my attack: "Feel my pain and the pain of the worlds and life forms that are being hurt by greed and selfishness! YAPPA YAPPA, ITS PAIN! PAIN!" Worriz was surrounded by the clones I defeated. He thanks me: "Thank you for saving me. It's hard for me to say something like that but seriously, thank you so much. Now let me show you how a wolf defeats enemies!" He howls before charging at one of the clones, clashing head on with speed and ferocity. I continue my attack, sending a lot of the clones packing. But something doesn't feel right. Not a single clone has used anything besides weapon or hand based combat, not even tiny eye lasers. Are they actually just distractions? "Bray! Don't you notice anything strange about these clones?" "I do actually. I shall now tell you what I see. They are holding back and not using any jitsus or magic. They all have chakra and magic within them, I can feel it. From your look, it's obvious that you are thinking what I'm thinking. Yappa Yappa was lying. He's going to kill us one by one whenever someone gets too exhausted to fight anymore."

Abstractoa adds: "Before I arrived and you and Julia healed Adam, I noticed a figure hiding behind a tree nearby who looks strikingly like Yappa Yappa. Of course he'd resort to something like this. Infinite Imagination!" The being destroys a bunch of clones at once and we head straight for the root of the problem, Yappa Yappa himself. He's easily overwhelmed by us all attacking him at once but takes no damage and smirks. However, the others have realized the trick too. That means that we're now all attacking Yappa Yappa, leaving him no chances to speak, attack, or escape. All he can do is defend himself from all of our attacks. That's when Ovenzilla arrives. They land nearby and speak as loud as possible: "I have broken off a small part of myself to be here. It's been ages since I've directly been a part of any battle. Now that I'm here, Yappa Yappa will lose this fight. Get him inside of me and I will serve the opening to his defeat hot and fresh." I don't want to know how anybody managed to contact Ovenzilla but I will take it. Dominic has the perfect plan: "Everybody who can hear me, use you know what to get Yappa Yappa inside of Ovenzilla quickly!" We do so and now, Yappa Yappa is screaming while trying to get out of Mini Ovenzilla. "Dominic, how did you and the others make time to be here?" He chuckles awkwardly: "We had to abandon all of our missions." "Abandon your missions?! Where the hell is the logic in that?" "We had no choice. I identified Yappa Yappa's presence in this world after you sent that desperate for help message on the chat along with his power level. Dr. Bonesbane and I made individual models and calculations and concluded in less than 20 seconds that if we all didn't come help, you'd have all died and Yappa Yappa would have begun a massacre throughout thousands of universes at once." "Oh okay, that makes sense. But still, that's such a risky move only someone who was desperate would pull off!" "That's true, what a causation to want a nap.." "Dominic, is that supposed to be your what a drag?" "Yes it is. What a causation to want a nap." "Well, that's a partial drag. Anyway, I think Ovenzilla is almost ready to spit out Yappa Yappa."

Just as I thought, a loud oven ding sound is heard and then, Yappa Yappa is launched out of Ovenzilla while being consumed in flames and screaming: "How could I not escape you? AAAAAA! You're so gross and I'd love to have your power so baaaad! Why didn't I take all of your powers in that timeline when I had a chance? Nooooooo! I can't wait to kill you once and for all! It will be so much fun for me but not for you!" He heals and puts himself out: "IVE HAD IT! Haikai! Destroy this universe and kill everyone with it! I don't care anymore, just kill them, KILL THEM ALL!" I activate my duel disk again and yell: "Not so fast! I activate the power of Magical Cylinder to redirect it right back at you! I'm sure you'll have enough defense power to take it on your own! I will not allow you to kill anyone! If you want to kill anyone, kill me! Haaaaaaa!" I charge after him as the redirected attack hits him and damages him a little bit. Nothing else was damaged in the process luckily. I see his weak spot, Ovenzilla spots me spotting it: "Oh yes! You have discovered what I exposed. My job here is done. See ya fellas!" Ovenzilla flies off into space before disappearing into plaid upon reaching and then exceeding Ludicrous Speed. Wow, even Ovenzilla went to plaid. "Shut up you freak! Die! Die! Die!" We clash as Yappa Yappa is forced to hold back in order to block the attacks of others. There is something I must do or else this fight will keep going until everyone is dead. Damn it, Yappa Yappa is jamming any portal creation. We can't just simply undo everything he did to gain all this power. Anyway, the weak spot is the left side of his chest. "Yappa Yappa, I don't want to do this. You've come close to killing so many life forms including me. You would have succeeded if it weren't for so much teamwork." "What are you trying to say, freak?" "I have no choice but to *breathes heavily and struggles to speak* k-ki-l-ll you." My whole body is trembling at the fact: "In that case, I will just kill you first! That way, no one will ever kill or hurt me again!"

"You dont get it. You seek to take away the lives of others without a second thought. This battle has been so intense that The Falling Jungle's falling objects have broken before they could hit anyone just from all the shockwaves due to the attacks. I vow to only take lives if necessary and even then, the idea of killing another lifeform hurts me. It's hard to stomach. There are people in my world who want me publicly killed for being different from what they consider normal. It's not okay, I don't want to stoop to the level of Nazis like you. I don't want to inflict the same pain they do to others. Damn it. This is for all the suffering you have caused! Continuous Extremely Risky Spin Slash: 6!" He wasn't expecting that and that granted me the opening. The opening to.. finish him off.. I punch him in the stomach and kick him in the groin while everyone else stops attacking and stands back. Then, I headbutt him, squeeze his hands tightly, and punch him in the nose. I put my left foot over his stomach after knocking him down before he can get back up. My breathing gets heavier, beads of sweat appear on my forehead. My face is one of absolute torment. I grip onto my sword as tight as possible and use my left hand to position it right above his heart. "Your 3 weaknesses.. Your weak spot, limited energy and continued mortality.." Bray and several others help me lock him into place. Madison even bites him in both hands and immediately spits out the stuff she extracted from him with that. Bray cast a sealing spell over Yappa Yappa's hands, making it much more difficult for him to fight back. Meanwhile, my counterpart Lord Knight Swiftdrawer bares the responsibility along with Dominic to prevent anything from The Falling Jungle to get in anyone's way.

"I can't stop this. Even with all my power, I can't stop you! You miserable and disgusting freaks! How dare you outsmart me? I am superior to all of you! I will pummel you one day, just you wait!" I plunge my sword into his chest: "Not today. Damn it, this hurts to do.." Bray speaks to me: "Adam, are you sure you want to go through with this? You don't have to if you don't want to?" Tears fill my eyes, almost making it impossible to see anything: "Yes, Bray. Everyone, please turn the kids away from this.. Here goes nothing. This is the worst thing I've ever had to do. We can't just let him go and allow him to keep causing problems.." I push my sword further into his chest, breaking through his ribs and stopping just above his beating heart: "Even though I'm going to die, it's so much fun to see you so miserable and apprehensive about killing me! I'm so jealous, I want to have that expression on my face!" I finally cut into his heart and with all of my strength, push my sword all the way out to the other side of his body before pulling it out. I fall to my knees, drop my sword again, and start crying a lot harder. Yappa Yappa's voice gets weaker as he speaks his last words: "You even got Eraser Head to erase my quirks. I hate how this is how I'm going to die! I wanted to live forever after gaining all of this power and now, I can't even use a shred of it to paint a picture with the body parts of one of you! I will kill all of you, I promise you!" His sadistic smile remains plastered on his face as all of the life is completely drained out of him. "I-I killed him.. I killed Yappa Yappa.. Why do we have to be the ones to make and do these difficult decisions?! It's not fair! It's not fair! *cries more heavily* I took a life not because I wanted to but because I had to.. I haven't felt this much despair in such a long time. I'm haunted by the fresh memories.." Austin sprints over to me before anyone else can react, not even Sonic the hedgehog who is staring at the scene with a frown with Shadow the hedgehog.

He hugs me and cries too: "Adam! You did the right thing even when it sucked! Do you want to go home with me? My teammates and I are the only ones who managed to completely finish their mission before coming here." "I-I can't.. I can't go home! Not when there are still threats to Chima that aren't supposed to be there!" Dominic sighs: "Well, we can't stay to comfort you, Adam. We have to head back to our own missions. Austin, you and your teammates should head back home to rest. You look so exhausted that I almost forgot about what just happened and desired a nap." Upon everyone to leave, Austin and Bray are the last to leave. They give me hugs and promise that things will get better before leaving too. I remain sad and in shock, on the ground in front of Yappa Yappa's battered corpse. I killed him, I killed him. I had to kill him.. This is indescribable. Abstractoa is the only one who arrived to respond to the emergency in the emergency left: "Swiftdrawer, we all have to make painful choices in order to have a chance at true happiness. I was torn for millennia after I questioned if what I do was right for me. But then, I saw a glimpse into the future, this era. This moment. It made me realize something. Yes, I knew all along that you would have to kill Yappa Yappa. Be strong, okay? I have to go. I can't stay out of the creative realm for long right now. Farewell for now, friend." They give me a hug which is very much unlike them before heading out too. Todoroki approaches me and asks: "Do you want to talk about it? I think I can relate." "I don't want to talk about it. I want to be alone right now. Chima still needs saving so I will have to fight alone I guess."

Pmurt Nedib shows up through a portal and gasps at the sight: "You?! I haven't seen you since June!.. You killed my valued employee, Yappa Yappa?! NO! You're going to die for that, I will exterminate you first before I exterminate the freaks from my world! Your death will be merciless and so much more. The shareholders are going to be so angry about this! Now I have to spend billions more on figuring out what to do next!" Yappa Yappa's dimension thing opens back up to release all of the chi. But no clones come out because his death undid the jitsu: "He was THAT close to delivering the chi to me?! This isn't over! MY LOYAL EMPLOYEES STATIONED ON THIS PATHETIC WORLD, STOP COWERING AND KILL EVERYONE HERE OR ELSE I WILL PERSONALLY FIRE AND KILL YOU RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOUR FAMILIES! Do it NOW!" Pmurt Nedib scoops up Yappa Yappa and storms off into another portal: "This is going to cost me a fortune. What do I do with Yappa Yappa now that he's managed to die? I didn't even get to kill him myself!" He vanishes. Everyone still here has no words except Mungus. He's a big mammoth with intense strength and a caveman like outfit: "Mungus no like seeing the hurting." His mother, Maula is the mammoth queen: "There there, Mungus. That's why I asked Mottrot to protect you from seeing the hurting. It's going to be alright, my little Mungus." Todoroki sighs: "We better get ready to fight. The enemies that fled earlier are coming back. If I had to guess, they have 4 helicopters and 50 jets and thousands of men left still." Laval replies: "That's why I said to come here. The Falling Jungle is a great place to lose bad guys! Come on, everyone! Let's move! We can't focus on what just happened right now, we can't stay in one spot anymore!" In the rush, I'm left behind, moping. I pick up my sword and wipe it off with my cloak which I'm holding now. I drap it over my left shoulder before hopping onto my duel runner which is a good distance away from where I had to.. kill Yappa Yappa.. The enemy troops are coming. I don't want to deal with this right now.

I just want to be alone and think about all of this.. I use Limited Overdone Ovenzilla Speed to get away and out of The Falling Jungle. I hide myself and the runner behind a tree and take time to think about what I had to do. Yappa Yappa, my biggest arch nemesis in some time. We fought several times and it was only through the bonds I shared with others and the teamwork I helped with that he was ever defeated. No matter what we did, he was always out to kill us in horrible ways in the end. But, I cherish life forms. I feel bad if I hurt or kill some life forms. When I hurt the feelings of those I care about, it hurts me, I never intended to hurt them.. All I really want in the end is true happiness, survival, and a peaceful existence free of hatred, bigotry, stereotypes, wars, and so on. Yappa Yappa stood in the way of that and yet, my awareness that he will be revived and is going to killed again and then revived again doesn't make me feel any better. Damn it. The rich and powerful are the ones who hold the lives of everyone in the palms of their greedy and bloodied by those they killed hands and yet, they don't make hard decisions. They make easy decisions because to them, all that really matters is their own egos and the egos of those they actually know and care about. What a dreadful way to live, how deplorable. My thoughts are interrupted by explosions, crashes, and screams. Those don't sound like the screams of UMC troops. Damn it. I say outloud to myself while getting back on my runner: "I have no choice once again but to do something I don't want to do. I must discard my feelings of sadness and worry about them later. I can't resolve it right now, not when those assholes are still making trouble!" I pull out my sword again and hold it out while heading back into The Falling Jungle. It's a mess, there are too many enemies and falling objects for everyone to keep up. That's not okay, I won't let them lose or let our efforts to stop Yappa Yappa for good be for nothing! Not now, especially not when I'm so fucking sad! My restored connection to magic makes me feel something else other than sadness. I used to have the ability to sense auras I think.

Well, I can kind of sense a few auras now. And now, I can't. But they showed signs of an insane struggle up ahead. What the hell? Did those troops get much stronger while we were dealing with Yappa Yappa? I'm so confused right now.

*Meanwhile at UMC headquarters(again)* "Mr. Nedib, just as you said, Yappa Yappa is dead. We have a cause of death too now." "What is it?" "He was stabbed right through the heart after being locked in place and prevented from using any of his powers. He also received a whole bunch of other injuries prior to that." "Okay but that doesn't help me, does it? I need to find a suitable replacement for Yappa Yappa and that's that, Dr. Brienoes. It took me forever to find somebody like Yappa Yappa. He was an excellent employee but really good at failing and being a terrible employee at times too." "But sir, aren't you feeling any grief for him?" "No. I intended to kill him if he failed enough all along or betrayed me or when he no longer was useful to me. I acted like a concerned caretaker of his the entire time. In reality, I was just using him. Now where can I find a replacement pawn?" Freddie the anti wolf appears with a grin right across his face: "Who said you needed to replace him?" "What the?! How did you get in here? Wait, aren't you Freddie the anti wolf? You died over 2 years ago in the final battle over Kohnanix's fate!" "Death is not forever, Pmurt Nedib. Nor is flesh or blood. It's time for your valued employee to get upgraded from slow and sluggish flesh to fast and killer machine just like me. I can't tell you anything else except I have his soul right here. You just need his soul and brain to be transferred into a cybernetic body." "Don't tell me what to do!" "I'm not, I'm suggesting that you make him just like me! If you don't, you will lose everything months earlier than you would otherwise!" "I didn't know you could see the future! I don't believe you!" "Believe whatever you want, here's his soul in a jar. Have fun with it. I'm just here to speed along the events that will allow me to finally get my revenge! I WILL KILL AND THEN ASSIMILATE YOU, BLAZEWARRIORWOLF! JUST YOU WAIT!" He disappears. "Sir, what do you want to do?" "Make a robotic body, NOW! I will use that machine's suggestion to destroy all freedom except my own freedom! Yappa Yappa will be so delighted to remain my little pawn with all that revenge he will be filled up with!"

*Back to Swiftdrawer's POV* No, I see clearly what's going on. Razar has been possessed by 2 number cards and is going wild while leading his tribe to attack the other tribes of Chima. Nearby UMC vehicles have been utterly decimated by Todoroki's ice. I yell: "Damn it! Not here! It's so hard to avoid all of these obstacles even when combining manual driving and auto pilot! Todoroki, what is going on here?" Todoroki breathes a sigh of relief: "I'm glad to see that you're doing better. The vehicles that army has were faster than any of us and then, the ravens flew off for a little while and came back cheering about trinkets and treasure I think while their leader divebombed me. That's when it became clear he's possessed by 2 number cards and was paid to attack by the enemy. We are outmatched here. I can't keep stopping them forever, please help us." "Those bastards! Crap! If it's a brawl they want, that's exactly what they'll get! I won't let them hurt anybody else." I get off my duel runner and give it directions to park right outside of The Falling Jungle. Immediately, I have to eat an HP banana in order to regain the strength I expended earlier. And then, I am forced to start dancing around the falling trees and stuff. I'm barely able to speak my mind over the volume of the chaos. But wait, there's more. It's always there's more at this point. Shit. The scorpion king Scorm appears in a very golden appearance as always and exclaims with a number symbol on his tail: "Hello, tribes of Chima! I'm back to squish you! This is what you get for that lion just giving us some chi! No more chi! No more! Some creature in strange clothing appeared to me and offered us some fancy new weapons if we agreed to help squish you!" It gets even worse. The spider, bat, and scorpion tribes all appear in full force and then, Crooler arrives with a number symbol below her right eye.

She has lilac scales on the top of her head, green and savannah yellow skin, yellow eyes, and a simple lilac crocodile outfit that doesn't cover the majority of her: "Cragger! Where are you Cragger? Ugh, do I have to do everything myself? Once we're done here, we will control all of Chima and the lions will have nothing! Some strange ape like creature approached me with an offer I couldn't refuse. He said that now that the trump card of the organization he's a part of has been defeated, he wanted me to help them take over Chima and all of the chi! So now I'm here! I don't even care if I have to work with giant bugs. I just want to crush the lions once and for all right here, right now." Before she can do much damage, Maula says to Mungus: "Now Mungus, I know we don't like hurting anyone anymore but do be a dear and bring the hurting to that crocodile over there." He nods and exclaims happily: "Yes! Mungus will do anything for mama! Even bringing the hurting! Happy! Happy!" So, the numbers can overcome the effects of the Illumination even when it's a perfect one featuring 9 fire wings. Should have seen that coming. At least Mungus should be able to take Crooler for a while. I'm going to deal with Scorm, it's most logical that I take him on out of the 3 who have become possessed by numbers. I rush towards him, he yells: "Squish him!" Him? Again. What a pain. A bunch of scorpions and spiders come at me but not a single one of them could touch me: "I wish I knew how to perform the Magnum Break attack. Oh well, my Drawing Destruction attack has been more successful than I expected. I won't let you squish me, you'll have to crush me first! Haaaaaa! Get back! Drawing Destruction!"

The spiders and scorpions I'm fighting freak out as I slash back all with my attack: "I don't want to hurt you all but if you insist on hurting me, I won't back down! This ain't about that Golden Rule that used to piss me off quite often. It's much more logical than something like that! My sword continues to be moved, my attack will continue for a bit longer. On that note, I must say that my retailiation is a mere survival instinct combined with a logical mindset." Scorm groans: "Come on! Are all of you that sad? Fine, I will just squish everyone myself!" He charges at me only to have a tree fall right on him. The spiders and scorpions I have now successfully drawn back blink in confusion at what just happened: "Curses! This tree must be squished! Squish it now! Get it off of me!" Some spiders get it off and he sighs of relief: "Finally! Let the squishing began! But where is you know who, she better not be wasting her time on looking beautiful again! We need her help to squish them all!" I laugh: "She'd almost fit right in where I come from with her interest in beauty! So many where I'm from are obsessed with looks and frankly, it's sometimes annoying, disappointing, sad, angering, and kind of a waste. I have a proposition for you though. Why don't you just fight me, one on one. Don't you want to squish me? It would be less fun if you had others do the squishing for you instead of doing it yourself." "Change of plans! All of you, squish the others! I will squish this one myself! Let the squishing begin! This time, for real!" Scorm is able to use his tail like a sword, easily blocking any swings I try with my sword. And there's a nasty surprise for anyone who gets stung by a member of the Scorpion Tribe. It's a very brainwashing one, if you know what I mean: "Wow, you are so much stronger with that number card you're being a host to right now!" "What is a number card? I don't have one!" "It's the card you picked up."

"Oh so that's what the thing is called! Scutter won't be squished today for failing to identify it after all. Instead, you'll be squished and unable to be unsquished!" I block an aggressive flurry of attacks from him with my sword before feeling my skill Artist's Eye activate randomly again. Should have asked Abstractoa about that when I had the chance. Whatever. The skill allows me to avoid a sneak attack from one of the scorpions who immediately flees upon failing: "I got lucky there. Now then, Continuous Extremely Risky Spin Slash: 3!" Scorm is apparently unaffected by that attack but it does clear out a small space for us to fight without any interruptions from The Falling Jungle. That's good at least. "Oh how nice of you, you cleared out the perfect area for me to squish you in!" He lungs at me in an attempt to sting and brainwash me. However, I quickly perform an uppercut: "Do not underestimate anyone who wields and battles with a sword. I won't let you poison me. I know what you're trying to do with that. If I were brainwashed, you could have me stand in place as you constantly kept harming me with the whole of your entire tribe." We keep clashing and countering everything we throw at each other: "Why do you have to be so persistent? You're just like that lion! He just gave us chi, I don't understand it!" "Well, I guess you're just that greedy. How strange or rather not strange it is that there are so many worlds where the most cruel have something about them that makes them cruel in what I view as just cliche. Sometimes it's dark energy, other times it's because they're a bug, and so on. Anyway, if you ever opened your heart, you'd be so happy. I'm going to have to take that number card from you. Maybe then you'll stop wanting to squish others." It's really odd that Scorm's personality hasn't gone extreme as of yet.

I thought too soon: "I'm just warming up for when I really want to squish you! I don't care what you say, you're going to be destroyed! I will squish everything I don't like and that way, no chi could bother us ever again! It would have been so much better if we had never used those cursed things in the first place! Now, Poison Shower! You'll want to be squished soon enough!" Using his tail and the power of the number that's possessing him, he releases a whole bunch of drops of venom which then rain down upon my position. I'm ready for it though: "Extremely Risky Spin Slash!" I'm a little worn out from our fight so far but I can do 5 more of these attacks at this point as I still have a lot of energy lot. Now I just need to hold on until I can beat Scorm and take the number within him. What to do, what to do. Angered by his failure to poison me again, he charges at me and aggressively swings his tail while letting venom drip from it. I just keep using my main attack up to 3 more times before surprising him with a big and hard kick. As he is sent flying, he yells: "I'm going to squish you for that! I'm going to squish everything! All chi must be destroyed! My scorpions, GET RID OF ALL THE CHI YOU SEE!" Not smart for a man from the UMC to trust Scorm who still hates the thought of having anything to do with chi in the slightest. That is unless, they've already planned for that somehow. In any case, I must stop this crap from continuing. Hmm. Scorm hasn't gotten back up. Perfect timing. I quickly eat another HP banana. Earlier before I clashed with Yappa Yappa after allowing Genome-Heritage to take his powers again for a second time, I so happened to quickly and quietly toss around almost all of the HP bananas I brought. Now, our side is reaping the benefits. Combined with the chi, they are currently allowing our side to turn the tide of battle in our favor. Back to Scorm, he's charging at me again.

Instead of fighting him directly, I just say: "This is a waste of time. If you want to fight me, so be it. But first, you must prevent me from continuing to simply block your attacks. Good luck with that. I only have to pay partial attention to you right now." "How dare you refuse to go all out all of the sudden! You must be squished!" Spinlyn crashes our little battle: "Just what do you think you're saying, Scorm?" She's the spider queen, her eyes are red, body colors are reddish brown, black/brown, and yellow, outfit is black, orange, grey, and lime green, and she has 2 arms and 6 legs. She's like the anthro spider/spider version of a centar or jockey. "Stay out of this, Spinlyn, I thought you were busy making yourself look beautiful or something! Isn't there a little bird you want to squish for what he did to you a while back?" "That annoying and talkative one? Fine, do what you want. I'm going to find him and force him to clean my teeth and then throw HIM into quicksand so HE can't escape!" "Finally, it's just the two of us! It's squishing time!" For a while, it's just the two of us fighting. Me blocking and him attacking. Eventually, he becomes quite exhausted, having previously given up in coaxing me to fight him by attacking back. This is the chance I have been waiting for. Without warning, I kick him and push his stinger back before yelling: "Drawing Destruction! I'm glad I waited over a month before trying THIS in battle!" "What?! No fair! You just changed your battle tactics on me faster than you did earlier!" "I'm sorry but I have to defeat you since you seem to have no interest in reason. Anyway, let me trying reasoning with you real quick even though it's ironic. Can't you think back to when the Illumination loosened up your tough heart and made you feel warm and fuzzy inside? Don't you recall how fun it was to feel pure happiness once you and your friends settled down after falling down far?"

"That was different! That was before this number card as you called it and that strange creature entered my life! They gave me power greater than what chi could ever give me! I've embraced it and now I'm going to squish you with everything that I have gained! Just watch as your friends also get squished!" We both look over to the main battle. The scorpions and spiders are losing badly even with the new weapons, being less able or aware about dodging The Falling Jungle's obstacles. The bats are falling out of the sky due to attacks from the ground. Mungus and Crooler are still engaged on a one on one fight. If it weren't for the numbers, Scorm and Crooler would be unconscious and on the ground by now. I smirk: "Watch who get squished exactly? I may carry a horrible sadness I have to deal with but that doesn't mean I can't beat you with all the courage I have or feel moments of joy. Can't you see that power has robbed you of what's really important because you got too much in your head about it? You can start over, let me take that number, and we can be friends." "NEVER! I will squish everyone like no one has! Just you watch! You're going to be first!" He comes at me again with all of his might but I am ready: "If that's how you want to be, then I will just have to do this! Continuous Extremely Risky Spin Slash: 7! Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" A few seconds later, he's on the ground, unconscious. I summon Regnes quickly and he retrieves the number from Scorm. He hands it to me: "Are you feeling better?" "For the moment, yes. Thank you, Regnes. You can return to whatever it was you were doing. This number will come in handy. Number 467: Venom Meister." He nods as I deactivate my duel disk for the upteenth time. Scorm wakes up shortly thereafter: "What happened? Where am I? The last thing I remember is picking up some strange object."

I reply: "You were overtaken by that card much like how the ice froze the hearts of those who froze you solid in ice for a time. Now tell me, how much squishing of the tribes of Chima do you want to do today?" "I don't want to squish anything besides those who hurt me and my tribe personally! I want to feel this strange sensation I have and begin to understand what it means. What is happiness? Can you tell me?" "Well, if you get your friends and allies to stop attacking the side I'm on and join up against the other side, I will after this situation is finally over." "You seem trustworthy, I will believe you. SCORPIONS, SPIDERS, AND BATS! We don't need to squish the tribes of Chima anymore! Instead, let's squish those strange creatures in strange flying and land machines! They're destroying this crazy but fascinating place!" I'm so glad that turned out okay. Now it's time to help Mungus take on Crooler. We can't really have anyone else help Mungus since even with the Crawlers switching sides, we're still vastly outnumbered and outgunned. I run as fast as I can with my sword in my hand still, dodging falling tree after falling rock after falling tree to get to them. But after having quite the workout, I finally made it and begin helping Mungus turn the tables on Crooler for now. "Haha, I have you where I want you mammoth. Soon, not even your precious mama will be able to save you. With you out of the way, I will be one step closer to crushing the lions and ruling all of Chima! My Persuader Plants may be all dead but I have other ways to get my foolish little brother to listen to me!" "Mungus no like mean crocodile. Mungus make crocodile hurt for being mean!"

I charge right in after Mungus deals a hit to Crooler that does absolutely nothing: "Yeah Mungus, meanies must not be liked unless they change for the better! Crooler, you won't be dealing with just Mungus anymore. You will be worried about fighting me as well and if you have a problem with that, you can just run away with your tail in between your legs or whatever. I don't care what you do in reaction to my entrance in this so far pretty evenly stacked fight. My only goal right now is to defeat you and prevent you from doing anymore harm. Let's start simple. Darkeye Slash!" I leap into the air and hold my sword out between my arms in a slash position as I fall back down with it aimed at an angle to hit Crooler. It doesn't even faze her. Instead, she uses her tail to knock me back: "So your attack, defense, and speed have dramatically increased but not your old attitude. It's so fascinating to note that. That strange thing you picked up is called a number card." "A number card? That's what the thing is?! How ridiculous. There's no way it's called something that foolish. Anyway, you won't stop me from ruling over Chima whether anyone likes it or not! It's time for the lions to step aside in order to make way for a new leader, me! If other tribes want the chi, they will have no choice but to ally with us. And once I find the Pledge Of The Pack again, the wolves will have no choice but to help accomplish my dreams!" "Mungus no like mean crocodile's dreams! Mungus bring the hurting with no choice to mean crocodile! Mean crocodile will be defeated! Happy! Happy!" When he isn't your enemy, Mungus is a lot of fun to be around. The joy and innocence is radiating off of him. Perhaps it is the key to stopping Crooler and freeing her from the number's influence. After all, it is well documented that someone can resist against the control of a number and win. Before Mungus or I could land another hit on Crooler, she suddenly realizes her disadvantage: "Hehe, let's not fight here. If you want to defeat me, come to the Crocodile Swamp if you dare. It will be your doom. Hehe."

She skedaddles off: "Mungus! Please come with me. We're in this together now. If your mom is worried, I promise to tell her when you see her again that I kept you safe. Got it?" "Mungus like new friend! Mungus will gladly follow new friend as long as mean crocodile is brought the hurting! Happy! Happy!" "Oh don't worry, we're going to show her that the swamp isn't enough to help her win. In fact, we'll get there faster than she will." I lead Mungus to my duel runner and hold my right hand out like I'm about to summon a Link monster in Link VRAINS: "Runner, activate Secret Two Seater mode!" My runner extends to add a 2nd seat. I have Mungus sit on the extra seat: "Alright Mungus. Let me take you on a joyride like never before! Limited Overdone Ovenzilla Speed!" In an instant, we arrive at the Crocodile Swamp. Anticipating him wanting more of that insane speed, I start having my runner move around all around the area instead, leading him to beg for more of that instead of Limited Overdone Ovenzilla Speed. He's a big kid, a really big kid. I know kids. I was a kid once. They generally want everything fun so as long as he's doing something he enjoys, Mungus will not attack me out of nowhere. But then, that shouldn't be an issue since the Illumination thawed the hearts of all of the Hunters, Mungus included. "Weeeeee! Mungus like going fast and in big circles! Mungus having fun!" I keep this up for a while because it takes a while for Crooler to show up. When she does, I say: "Hey, what's up? We've been here a little while. And now that Mungus here has had some fun, he's ready to bring you down more than ever! Isn't that right, buddy?" Mungus nods: "Mungus having fun! Mungus ready to bring the hurting to mean crocodile! Happy! Happy!" Crooler groans: "Ugh! You two are so annoying! Just stop already!" Just then, the UMC troops and everyone else bring their fighting to the Crocodile Swamp too.

That's when I realize that we are definitely not on the winning side. If Crooler could just be defeated, Mungus and I could help turn the tables again to our side and take down our enemies. Better keep all safety and security things on my runner activated. It's like a Raven Tribe magnet at this point and that's not just because it's a machine. Just then, Incinerate tears apart a UMC tank with his teeth followed by so many others that the tables are turned in our favor anyway. He comes up to Mungus and I: "Any room for a third who could help destroy Crooler in battle! I must hear the sounds of defeat from someone so cruel!" "Easy there, Incinerate. You can join but remember, don't eat her. You know exactly how you get in battles sometimes. That bloodlust of yours never truly went away." He grins while showing his sharp teeth. What most don't know is that Incinerate is actually an intellectual and part time softie as well. Blaze and Dr. Bonesbane are good influences I guess. Anyway, Crooler has had enough: "Just stop talking! I don't care how many of you I have to face, I will destroy all of you and then Chima will be mine! Mine!"

*At the Annihilation Council base* "I see you've returned from your little mission, Freddie. What took you so long? Don't answer that, I already know! You wanted to see how much your sworn enemies were suffering today so you secretly watched them go on ultimately pointless missions!" "Yes, I have returned. Now, where is that person you promised to let me assimilate." "Oh yeah, right. He's not a person, he's something far more dangerous than a mere human. Or rather, he was until Baphomet crushed him after he was sealed away again. He is called the Dark Lord. I barely managed to find any of him left. That's where you come in. Your assimilation process can and will restore him to have a body and form again. I'll release him into Gast Heim personally shortly before winter starts for Swiftdrawer, Pmurt Nedib, and so many others. It'll be part of my experimental wave of returning villains. If he somehow succeeds when he never has, I'm not sure of what I'm going to do. Either way, how is Gorganan's assimilation coming along? I never bother to watch that when it happens, I have too many to recruit and too much to plan. And then I always forget how I always ask you that the moment I do." "It's taking forever. I've never faced so much resistance from my methods before, not even Stoneheart's resistance even came close!" "Ah, I see. But don't worry, you will succeed. Oh and take care of assimilating that Dark Lord first. He's in a bottle in that conference room we will start using once I have recruited enough to my cause." "Okay, I will do it. See you next week, I'm going to focus on the Dark Lord now. It's going to take a while since he has been almost completely destroyed. How'd you even retrieve him anyway?" "Baphomet was a pain but he was easy to knock out temporarily. I grabbed what I could and left without a word." "That makes sense! Revenge will be ours and I can't wait!"

Outro: Dang, what a crazy chapter! I've been recently thinking about having Swiftdrawer unwillingly kill Yappa Yappa quite a bit. Now that's done and you finally see what other problems are being created in Chima! Oh and you get teasers for future events in my stories! I'd say that's a win win! Anyway, that's everything I have to say for now. See ya next time!