Disclaimer: I do not own any of the material appearing in this story. The OC's belong to their respective owners.
BGM: Dark Samus Approaching (Metroid Prime 2: Echoes)
Dark Samus stared off into the horizon, clenching her fists. "No matter. Even if they win, they will not have a home to go to." She said as she walked off, where she would see a door opening as Ridley walked out. "Ridley, I see you're back into the swing of things again. How are you feeling?"
"A lot better after getting hit by that missile you call a small ship." Ridley said as Dark Samus would open up a dark portal. "And where are you going?"
"Going to get another ally to our cause, and I know just who to get." Dark Samus said as she disappeared inside.
"Heh, now it's my turn to unleash some chaos once again! Hehehahahahaha!" Ridley laughed, and then spotted a corrupted Captain Slime looking out into space longingly. "Hey, what are you doing over there?"
"I can't believe it… Lady Marnie left us…" He said somberly. "Yes, the traitors left as well, but… Lady Marnie… I was hoping she would have stayed a bit longer."
"Hmph, Metroid Prime should have corrupted her to begin with." Ridley said and glanced over at the corrupted Team Yell and Piers. "That said, I'm sure she'd be more willing to succumb to Phazon after what happened with her family…"
"Phazon… it enhances our bodies…" Captain Slime mumbled. "I will do what I must to convince Lady Marnie to get Phazon in her body… I desire that she must be whole again. Her arm and eyes… I will make sure the phazon will complete her again. That… is my mission."
End BGM
The Observatory and the other ships made their way out of the wormhole into a new area. "Here we are…" Rosalina said, smiling fondly at the background before turning around and walked off, seeing Peach having wrapped Marnie into a hug, her head resting on top of her chest on a couch. "How's she holding up?" Rosalina asked.
"She's hanging in there…" Peach said, rubbing her back as Gloria and Neo were next to her.
"How can one splotch of phazon be so difficult to remove!" Hop complained, trying desperately to rub the phazon off of Marnie's metal arm with a sponge. "Come on, this is worse than trying to remove a wine stain off of a carpet!"
"How do you know about that?" Bede asked.
"Leon got a bit too party happy one time and he and I tried everything to get it off the carpet."
Bede sweatdropped. "Ya know, somehow I'm not surprised he'd do that."
"Come ooooon… get off, darn you!" Hop complained.
"Hang on, let me try." Hau would try to get it off. "Come on… aaagh! Come on! Blast it all!" He grumbled before sighing. "Man, how does one get this off of a cybernetic arm?"
"Maybe it just needs a little extra oomph." Lillie said, kneeling down and gently taking the metal arm away, then she sprayed it with a Full Restore and then scrubbed it off, which not only got rid of the phazon, but it also made Marnie's metal hand sparkle.
"Huh?!" Hop looked at the hand, then back at the Full Restore, then at the hand and then at Lillie. "How did you do that?!"
"I'll be honest, I didn't think it'd work." Lillie admitted.
"That's our Lillie for ya!" Hau grinned, wrapping an arm around her with a grin, causing her to blush as she walked over and handed Marnie the arm back.
"Here you go." Lillie smiled warmly at her.
"Thanks…" Marnie quietly said, reattaching her arm then saw Ruby and Summer coming in with a tray full of cookies.
"We weren't sure what your favorite cookie was, so we made a bunch of 'em!" Ruby smiled.
"Chocolate chip, sugar cookie, snickerdoodle, peanut butter, frosted with sprinkles, ginger snaps, no bake, pretty much anything you can think of!" Summer said and then picked up a cookie. "Speaking of which, I forgot to give him one." She said, tossing one to Junior.
"Oooh! Thank you!" Junior said as he happily ate the cookie. "Mmm!"
"Mmm, what is that I'm smelling?" A voice wondered as Ludwig walked out of the infirmary. "Oh hey, the whole gang's here." He said. "Hold on, where's Piers and-" Nora would immediately run over and cover his mouth. "Mmmph! Mmph?" He pried Nora's hand away. "What?"
"She's a bit emotional right now." Nora said and whispered in his non-existent ear.
"Oooooh…" Ludwig grimaced. "Yeah, that'd do it." He nodded and looked at her hand. "What happened to your hand?"
"Oh, bit it at the first galaxy. Had to get used to the change of gravity again."
Ludwig chuckled. "That's hilarious." He said and walked off.
"In a way, it kind of is. Just laugh off the pain. Ha ha ha!" Nora grinned before wincing, holding on to her brace. "Oh… I should not bend it like that yet."
"Pride, huh?" Edward had his arms folded while he was watching Futaba and Winry repair Penny. "This asshole took over your robotic body?"
"Pretty much." Penny nodded. "I mean, I'm not completely torn up like I was at say, Toy Time Galaxy, but still pretty beat up."
"Uh-huh…" Edward mused and rubbed his chin in thought. "Why does Pride sound so familiar… it's like I've fought this bastard before."
"Maybe you had a dream about this Pride?" Winry guessed.
"Maybe, but I can't help but wonder if I fought him before…" He wondered. "Eh… I'm probably just going crazy."
"He admits it!" Armstrong whispered.
"I figured he went crazy a long time ago." Mustang whispered back.
"I can HEAR YOU, YA KNOW!" Edward glared.
"Wait wait wait wait, time out!" Zinnia said. "You're saying you brought with you an untamed Charizard… a Shiny one at that?"
"Yeah." General Guy nodded. "According to Bowsette, that Charizard had been abused by humans ever since it was a Charmander and has grown to despise them ever since. There's a reason why he only has one eye. That said, Lady Bowsette was willing to save the Charizard from being corrupted by Phazon. Sure, he scratched her up, but it helps she's immune to fire."
"Well! I'm sure I can tame this Charizard!" Zinnia grinned.
"I wouldn't!" Bowsette warned. "He'll roast you alive!"
"Hello, I'm a Dragon tamer! If I can tame Ray Ray, I can tame any dragon." Zinnia said and walked over to the ship, climbing up and walked past Cinder. "Excuse me, Forever Alone."
"I have a name, you know."
"Yeah, I know." Zinnia said as she opened up the hatch and peeked her head, completely upside down as she spotted the Charizard. "Hey big guy!" She waved as the Charizard looked up at Zinnia. "I hear you're in need of a hug. You wanna-"
A Flamethrower shot out of the hatch and up into space and then Zinnia walked back with a comically charred face, where she coughed out soot. "I'll give him a minute…" She said.
"Told ya." Bowsette snickered.
"We got two Galaxies to visit." Polari said as he was looking through the screen. "We got Supermassive Galaxy and Flipsville Galaxy."
"Those two galaxies have been lost to Phazon." Ludwig said as he approached. "Iggy has been stationed to Supermassive while Larry was stationed at Flipsville."
"Oh dear…" Polari said.
"I'll go take care of Iggy. I just need a team and extra protection." Ludwig said.
"And I'll get Larry." Roy chuckled. "Sounds like we're gonna have a blast."
"Mhm. Now, let's get to work." Ludwig smirked.
Flipsville Power Star #1 - Flip Flopping in Flipsville - Kamek, General Guy, Junior, Rei, Goomba Squad, Neo, Roman, Roy
BGM: Flipsville Galaxy (Super Mario Galaxy 2)
The group landed on the planet. "Hooo, that's a lot of Phazon!" Captain Goomba said.
"We'll need to be careful." Captain Shy Guy said. "Anywhere we walk could be treacherous."
"Speak for yourself!" Captain Boo said as he was floating with a grin.
"Show off." The other three mumbled.
"I'm surprised Lady Marnie didn't want to come with…" Captain Koopa spoke up.
"Just give her time, she lost her brother and entire fanbase to Phazon." Kamek said. "We just need to give her space."
"…Kamek, did you just make a pun?" Junior asked.
"Oh dear… don't tell Yang, she'll never let me hear the end of it." Kamek sweatdropped as he raised his wand up to protect everyone from the Phazon. "Now then, let's move."
"Question, can any of us ground pound?" General Guy wondered. "I know Roy can do it…"
"Eh… compared to Morton, that's usually his style." Roy said. "Don't get me wrong, I will but I don't do it that often."
"That said, are there any parts of this planet that we can safely go through?" Roman asked.
"I'll check." Rei would fly around to get a better look, even checking the bottom half of the planet before returning. "No luck… it's all covered."
"Well, then I suppose the best way to go is up." Kamek said, firing magic as he created stairs for everyone.
"After you, Lady Rei~!" Captain Boo said while blushing.
"Thank you!" Rei sweetly smiled as she walked up, while a few hearts appeared above his head.
"Dude, I know you have a crush on her but she's already taken." Captain Goomba said. "Not to mention she's broken a lot of Boo hearts because, ya know, she's taken."
"I know, but I can't help but admire how gorgeously pretty she is!"
"…Do Boos even have hearts?" Captain Koopa wondered.
"Undead ones." Captain Shy Guy said as they hopped into the Launch Star and launched away to Both SIde Wanwan Planet, where they would see a trail of Phazon being formed by Chomps rolling around.
"…Shortcut?" General Guy asked.
"Short cut." Kamek nodded, wrapping everyone in magic and flying over toward the Launch Star and launched away to the Both Side Lift Planet.
"Oh, this doesn't seem so bad." Roman said, where Neo would spot walls and spikes everywhere.
["I beg to differ."]
"Hmm, I can easily phase through it and yet…" Rei rubbed her chin in thought.
"I say we take a short cut. No way in heck I'm poking a hole in my butt by accident." Junior said.
"Ah, Master Junior. Poking holes in butts builds character!" Captain Goomba smiled. "…Wait, that sounded wrong!"
"Ya think?" Captain Shy Guy deadpanned.
Kamek fired magic again, this time taking them to the Launch Star and launching them all the way to the final planet.
End BGM
"Ah, good, you guys have made it!" They would see Larry approaching them with a smirk as he had phazon all over his body and shell, even his hair was a more neon blue because of it.
"Yo, Larry! You're coming with us." Roy said.
"Dude, are you kiddin'? This feels GREAT! I feel stronger, faster, and I'm probably at the same power level as Morton! Not only that, but I can warp your minds with this stuff. Seriously, you gotta try this out! It's simply the best! Why, I can go toe to toe with you traitors in an instant and I'll come out on top! Better yet-"
Kamek appeared behind Larry, firing magic at him. "Mmph!" Larry rubbed his eyes. "Why do I feel… drowsy…?"
"Go to sleep, Master Larry… you need it."
"You… guys are… cheaters…" Larry fell to the ground, knocked out. "Zzzz…"
"Huh, I guess I brought an army for nothin'." Roy said.
"Not for nothing, Master Roy. We all just have a problem with monologuing." Kamek said as Rei picked Larry up.
"Zzzz…"
"Oh, he looks so peaceful, it's adorable!" Rei giggled.
"Well, that was quick." Roman said.
["Painless, too!"] Neo smiled.
"That was easy! Let's go!" Captain Goomba said.
"Wahoo! At this rate, we'll get all the Koopalings back in no time!" Junior exclaimed as Kamek raised his wand up and teleported them all back to the Observatory.
Flipsville Galaxy Power Star #2 - Flipsville's New Digs - Toad Brigade
"Ya sure we're at the right spot?" Toadette asked.
"I'm pretty sure." Captain Toad nodded as he picked up a drill. "I think if we just let this rip, we'll be able to go through the hole we just dug."
"How do you let it rip anyway?" Green Toad wondered.
"Simple! You just hook it up to a device, pull back and let it rip! Like that show we used to watch… Bey… something or other." Purple Toad shrugged.
"Exactly!" Captain Toad said. "However, we don't have such a device, so all we gotta do is just spin it around and-" He spun it with his hands, which activated and went through the dirt… aaaand it took him with it. "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
He popped up on the other side, coughing out dirt. "I… uh… I meant to do that!" He said as he shook it off. "Alright, let's try it-" He let it rip again, taking him with it again. "AGAAAAAAAAAAAAIN!" He yelped as he eventually made it to the Warp Pipe. "Hah… hah… made it!"
"What took you so long?" Toadette teased as Captain Toad turned to see them wearing Propeller Mushrooms, causing him to sweatdrop.
"Oooookay…" Captain Toad mumbled as they climbed up the Warp Pipe and went down, finding themselves at the Time Gravity Change Drill Room, and gravity would immediately change and had them all fall to the wall, which was now the ground.
BGM: Beat Block Galaxy (Super Mario Galaxy 2)
Adding insult to injury, a Purple Comet flew overhead and scattered Purple Coins throughout the maze. "Ugh… purple coins?" Captain Toad asked.
"Looks like a comet's in orbit… might as well make the most of it." Toadette said as they pulled out their pickaxes and started to work their way through, finding Silver Stars and Fuzzies while digging their way through… although thanks to the gravity changing in each quadrant, it made life a bit of a hassle for them.
"Meeeeyoooork!" A Fuzzy lunged at Blue Toad but the gravity changed as they started falling toward the ceiling, with the Toad landing on top of the Fuzzy to crush him.
"Oooooh, thanks for the cushion!"
"Meeeyoooo…."
"Hup! Ha!" Captain Toad lunged for a Silver Star, but the gravity changed and had him fall to the left side. "Nooooo!"
"No worries guys, I got it!" Toadette pulled out a Super Crown and placed it on her head, turning into Peachette as she jumped up to grab a few Purple Coins and the Silver Star, but the gravity changed and had her smack into a pile of dirt head first. "Mmmph! Mmmph!"
"Oh yeah, she's got it alright." Yellow Toad snarked as he tried to Propeller his way to a few purple coins but the gravity kicked in and made him slam into the ground. "Okay, I think this planet is trolling with us at this point!"
"You just now figured it out?!" Purple Toad was hanging upside down and then fell on his back. "OOOF!"
Eventually…
"Got it!" Captain Toad said as two Power Stars appeared where Toadette, having taken off the Super Crown, dove for the Power Stars and oce she caught them, the two of them were taken away by a beam of light.
End BGM
"Ya know, I was gonna send Phosphora to get 'em for you." Viridi said.
"Nah, we got 'em!" Captain Toad said as they looked comically beaten up by the planet.
"…Uh-huh." Viridi put her hand on her hip while the Koopa Troop took Larry into the infirmary.
With Zinnia…
"I'm gonna go take another crack at that Charizard." She said.
"You've already been in there five times. What are you gonna do, annoy him to death?" Hiyoko snarked.
"Ha ha, very funny." Zinnia said, taking Ibuki's electric guitar.
"It's not gonna work." Ibuki said, casually reading a book from the library.
"Oh, it'll work!"
Inside the ship…
"Two three four!" Zinnia started strumming the guitar in front of the Charizard. "AAAAAAAAAAAAH! AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
"Rrrrh…" The Charizard grumpily had his arms folded with an unamused expression.
Outside…
Zinnia walked back, handing Ibuki her guitar while covered in soot and part of her hair and shoulder were on fire. "Didn't work."
"Told ya."
With Yang…
"I have to "hand" it to you, you really have an "eye" for detail than none of us notice with those new eyes of yours." She grinned, as Marnie stared at her blankly. "…Huh… "Eye" see." She said but no responsible. "Oh come on, you like to laugh at them! You think they're great compared to Gloria!"
"Here, try this." Nyx handed Yang her joke book.
"Hmm… ah! "Eye" like your hair. Care to give me a "hand" with your luggage?" Yang grinned but no response.
"Wow. I thought for sure that would've been a good one." Nyx said.
"Hey Akira! We gotta jumpstart a punk over here!" Yang called out to him. "Maybe Marnie could give us a hand!" She said as a few Lumas giggled at this but Marnie still remained quiet. "Gah! Have I lost my touch? You usually laugh at those… have they gone stale? Am I losing my grip?!" Yang put her hands through her hair. "Someone, give me a hand here! Eye am losing my touch!"
No response.
Yang gave her a deadpanned look. "Nothing?" She sighed. "Welp, I tried." She walked off.
"Man, that corruption did a number on her." Nyx frowned, and then Nora sat down next to her.
"Okay! Does someone need a jump start? You gotta smile!" Nora said and then gleefully grinned, lifting up her metal arm and started to tickle her armpit. "Tickle tickle tickle~! …Nothing? Oh, I get it!" She started to tickle her neck. "…Eh? Okay!" She reached for her other arm and traced her finger on her palm. "…Eh? This usually gets Pyrrha to start giggling! …Ah!" She started to tickle her behind the knee. No response.
"Hmm… oh!" Nora would take one of Marnie's shoes off. "Hope you're not one of those kickers!" She said and started tickling her there. "Hmm… oh, maybe I need to kick it up a notch!" She said as her fingertips crackled with electricity. "Maybe a little electric tickling will help!" She said as she tried all the spots but nothing worked.
"Gah! Don't tell me you're that mentally gone! Seriously, I've tried all the spots where someone could be ticklish!" Nora said as Marnie simply stood up and walked off. "No no no no! Come back!" She sighed, then saw Luigi sneaking behind the punk and with a devilish smirk… he grabbed her on both sides.
"Goochie gooochie goochie!"
"The sides? Please, that's not going to wor-"
"Pfft… hmhmhmhm… hehehehe…"
Nora's eyes widened. "The sides! Duh!" She immediately took over for Luigi and started tickling her there as Marnie would soon crumple to the ground while laughing. "Ha ha, got ya!" Nora said as she started tickling her there.
"No! No! Stop! Stop! Hahaha!" Marnie laughed.
"Ah, there's the brightest smile we know and love~!" Nora smiled and then about a minute later, she pulled away with Marnie on her back, letting out a few chuckles.
"Oh… Nora…" Marnie chuckled. "You always find a way…"
"Someone's gotta bring the smiles around here!" Nora grinned, helping her up as she hugged Marnie right after. "Don't worry… we'll get your brother and those rowdy hooligans back… we have a cure. We'll cure them up in no time. We'll just have to kidnap 'em."
Marnie looked at Nora in the eyes. "Right, of course…" She said, forming a small sad smile. "I… didn't realize how much that affected me…"
"Hey, I'd be the same way… he's the only family you have, along with those crazy heads." Nora said. "…I think, do you have parents? I've never seen 'em."
"They were killed by a wild Ursaring when I was just a baby… the two of them went camping in Johto and unfortunately, a rabid Ursaring got too close and killed them. Piers heard the news and vowed to raise me. Hell, all of Spikemuth raised me when they heard the news."
"Ah geez…" Nora whispered. "Well, they sure raised you right… and now look at you, working with the Koopa Troop as if they're part of the family… and you have us."
"I guess I'm just lucky…"
BGM: Friends in my Heart (Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMix)
Nora smiled, pulling Marnie closer and hugged her tightly. "We'll get them back… I promise you that." She said as Marnie buried her head into Nora's shoulder.
"I know…" She sniffed a little as Nora pulled away from the hug.
"Save those tears for when we get Piers and Team Yell back." Nora smiled and then gently poked Marnie on the nose. "Boop~!" She said, causing Marnie to lightly blush with a giggle.
Nora glanced over at the side. "I think they want to give you a hug too." She said as she broke the hug as Marnie would then get hugged by Luigi, Neo and Roman, then Bowsette and Rei, then the Goomba Squad and Junior, and then finally Hop, Bede, Umber, Lillie, Hau and Gloria would hug her next.
"Guzma, come on! Give this punk a hug!" Hau said.
"I don't do hugs!" Guzma responded, only for Marnie's Grimmsnarl to come out and pushed Guzma forward. "Ack! Alright alright!" He grumbled as he gave Marnie an awkward hug.
"You really do care for her, don't you?" Ren asked as he walked up to Nora.
"Well, yeah… girl needs a lot of love and support, and a lot of friends." Nora said. "I mean, she lost a part of her thanks to that Damian jerk, and of course, she was worried what we'd think afer she declared loyalty to Bowser but, hey, all of us were there to support her… and now here we are, trying to cheer her up after what happened to Piers."
Ren nodded. "Yeah, you're definitely right about that."
"Plus, just the other day, Pyrrha and I had a girl's night out, went bowling… invited Marnie over to hang out with us and she bowled a lot of strikes. It was fun!" She grinned.
Ren smiled. "That's my girl."
Nora smiled back. "I'm always looking out for her in case she needs company. She's kinda like a little sister to me." She said and walked off. "Neo's not the only one who's a surrogate sister to her."
Ren chuckled. "Yeah, I can believe that." He would then look off into the cosmos. "I wonder how the others are holding up…"
End BGM
Supermassive Galaxy Power Star #1 - Huge Trouble For Iggy - RWB, STRQ, Mario, Pit, Phantom Thieves, Ludwig
BGM: Supermassive Galaxy (Super Mario Galaxy 2)
"Well, that takes care of those Koopas." Akira said as Makoto had punched the giant Koopas away, then a Launch Star appeared for them as they all got in and launched away through a giant Warp Pipe Planet where Pit, Ruby and Summer would grab all the Star Bits before landing on a Star Chip planet.
"Giant Star Chips… that's cute." Weiss smiled. "Too bad the phazon took over." She mumbled, glancing over at several planets filled with phazon.
"Hang on, guys. Sending in reinforcements!" Palutena smiled as two lights came in as Yang and Bowsette came floating down.
"Sup?" Bowsette greeted.
"How's Marnie holding up?" Blake asked.
"Well, Nora got her smiling after my arm and eye puns didn't work." Yang said.
"Huh? But that always makes her crack a smile!" Ruby said.
"Thank you! I was worried she was that far gone but… luckily, she's not." Yang sweatdropped. "I… also didn't realize the Phantom Thieves were with you guys."
"That explains why he sneezed. I thought it was those Piranha Plants!" Ryuji said.
"On the bright side, she seems to be doing a lot better." Bowsette smiled.
"Good, I'd hate to see Lady Marnie sad." Ludwig said as they hopped along the Star Chip planets and then over some Brick Blocks as Mario jumped up and spin attacked a giant Phazon-infused Paragoomba to stun it, then they hopped over the elevators and ran across before hopping into a Launch Star and flying over to the Blooming Garden planet.
Haru let out a gasp. "Oh my stars! You guys go on ahead, I'll be a sec!" She said as they all took off to the last planet while Haru hummed to herself, planting the planet filled with flowers with a smile on her face. "…Wait, hold on, didn't I do this before?" She wondered as she put her hand on her chin in thought as she looked around on the planet.
"I was gardening on this planet… and… I think that guy with pink hair accompanied me… who was it again, Marlu-… something or other?" She tilted her head, closing her eyes. "Deja vu…" She mumbled before shrugging as she planted the flowers all around until it was in full bloom, then a Power Star appeared. "Got ya!" Haru snagged it and stored it away, then she got into the Launch Star and flew off.
BGM: Fierce Chariot Rider - Iggy Battle (Paper Mario: Color Splash)
Now Even Crazier! - Iggy
"BAHAHAHAHA!" Iggy cackled as he sicced Phazon Chain Chomps on Pit and Ruby in the midst of their battle while the rest were dealing with Mechakoopas and their Blasta and Zappa variants.
Raven raised her hand up in the air. "Let's see if you like this!" She said, her Maiden Powers active as she fired a lightning bolt from above but to her surprise, Iggy brought out an umbrella and blocked it.
"Oh, I'm sorry, did you mean to hit me with that? BAHAHAHAHA!" He cackled as the umbrella fired phazon at Raven, but she quickly avoided it as he then dodged a sword swing from Qrow and a punch to the face from Tai.
"Is it me, or is he crazier than usual?" Blake asked, firing a Plasma Beam at him.
"I think the Phazon enhanced his insanity… so… yes!" Ludwig nodded, spitting out a fireball while Bowsette grabbed a missile from a Blasta Mechakoopa and threw it at a group of Mechakoopas, where they exploded as Summer got in front of a Chain Chomp.
"Sit!" She ordered, but the Chain Chomp bowled right through her… or at least tried to hadn't she used her ghostly powers to phaze through the gigantic wrecking ball of a dog. "…Worth a shot." She shrugged as Weiss put up gravity glyphs as Ruby, Yang and Mario jumped on these and slashed/punched at him, making him slide back.
Iggy would then dodgd the spells being thrown at them from Akira, Morgana and Ann, as Makoto would come in and punch him, but Iggy ducked underneath the punch as Ryuji and Yusuke swung their weapons to knock Iggy back, then Akechi slashed through him. "Rrrgh!" He grunted. "Oh yeah?! Wait until you get a load of this!" He yelled, firing magic that sent a trail of phazon through the planet but they had avoided it. "That's just the warm up!" He exclaimed as he waved his wand. "SAY GOODBYE! BAHAHAHAHA!"
"Iggy, snap out of it!" Ludwig yelled as Iggy was about to fire… but an axe smacked him in the head. Luckily it was the blunt edge that hit him.
"D'oh!" Iggy yelped.
"Mapsiodyne!"
"YAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" Iggy yelled before falling to the ground in defeat, the Chain Chomps magically disappearing as well.
End BGM
"Oooh, nice timing!" Bowsette said.
"Thank you." Haru smiled as Ludwig picked up Iggy and the Phazon Star.
"Come on, we're out of here." Ludwig said.
"Yeah." Ruby nodded as she turned around and walked off, but suddenly… a foot came out from underneath Ruby to trip her up and then a magic blast shoved her right into the phazon. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"
"RUBY!" PIt yelled as everyone else turned to her in horror.
"Ahahahahahaha!"
Dimentio appeared before them and snapped his fingers to trap them in binds.
BGM: Tension (Persona 5)
"You thought I wouldn't find a way to turn this Ruby into Chaos Ruby? Ahahaha, think again!" He cackled.
"You…" Ryuji glared at him darkly, already trembling with rage as Dimentio turned around as Ruby desperately tried to get out of the phazon.
"Wallow in the corruption!" Dimentio said, grabbing her leg and pulling her back in.
"Ruby…" Yang teared up. "RUBY!" Her hair caught on fire and her eyes turned red. "YOU BASTARD!"
"Settle down there, blondie, I'll be with you in a moment!" He said, unaware of Summer phazing out of her binds and lunged at Dimentio, summoning two swords and slashed at him, but Dimentio teleported away. "You must be her mother. How charming!"
"Are you REALLY that desperate for an encore?!"
"Not entirely. I was just waiting for the proper moment to ruin this red head's life! Soon she'll work for me and everyone wins!" Dimentio said as he noticed Raven getting out of her binds as she accompanied Summer by slashing him, but Dimentio disappeared again… only to see Weiss getting out of her binds by going Fierce Deity.
Dimentio teleported away to behind the Phazon and looked at Ruby. "Good enough!" He said, pulling her out as Ruby was on her hands and knees, groaning in agony as her entire arm was covered in it, her scythe had turned purple and Phazon all over it, part of her hair turned violet as phazon veins came out of her eyes as her scalera was blue but her pupils and irises were still silver. Her combat skirt was now a violet color as well.
"Hmm! I wasn't expecting purple but this will do." Dimentio chuckled. "Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the encore! Give it up for the Wilted Rose… Chaos Phazon Ruby!"
"Nnnnnngh! Aaaaagh!" Chaos Ruby fell on her hands and knees, convulsing violently. "What's… what's going… on…?!"
Give it up for the Wilted Rose… Chaos Phazon Ruby!
"Phazon…?! AAAAAGH!" She cried, holding on to her head as she was breathing wildly. "Make it stop! MAKE IT STOP!" She screamed.
"Would you be willing to fight your friend again? I imagine you would!" Dimentio said, snapping his fingers to free everyone else up. "But, this Phazon is a fickle thing… it messes with your mind and shortens your life… sooo…" He snapped his fingers as an aura surrounded Ruby. "I took the liberty to do away with all of that nasty stuff. Sure, she's corrupted but it'll get the job done! Now then, LET THE SECOND COMING OF CHAOS RUBY BEGI-"
"THAT IS ENOUGH!"
End BGM
The sudden scream of Ryuji was enough to startle everyone, Dimentio included. "You… you horrible piece of shit!" Ryuji growled as he stepped forward, an angry aura surrounding him. "Where do you get off thinking you can do this horrible thing to Ruby. It was bad enough that you did this to your own Ruby but now you're doing this to OUR Ruby just for some sick twisted god damned bullshit?!"
"Ryuji…" Ann whispered. "Ryuji, please, calm do-"
"No, let him go on." Makoto said.
"Where the HELL do you get off, thinking you can catch lightning in a bottle twice! You… you think this is some game where you can do whatever the hell you want! You might have won your game with your fancy bullshit powers with this Chaos Heart and destroying all worlds just for the hell of it in your world, but this is different! We already had an end of the universe experience once and by golly, we do NOT have a Chaos Heart or an endless void in this dimension where you sleep with chaos all over again! Paper Ruby might have been stressed the hell out but OUR Ruby had NOTHING on that! The worst she's ever been stressed over is that stupid Dark Ruby skank! You think you can get away with everything just because you succeeded once…"
Ryuji gave Dimentio a harsh glare. "NEWS FLASH, PAL! THAT AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN! You're never going to win on chaos alone because all of us have been through hell and back! You think you can win twice?! That ain't happening! You have corrupted Ruby but we have a Phazon Cure that can patch her up! If you think you can win by doing this bullshit all over again… I've got news for you, pal. That ain't happening!"
"Ahahaha, but it already did, my foul mouthed friend! Your little tangent is only stalling fo-" Ryuji jumped over the Phazon and slugged him in the face to knock him down
"YOU NEED TO SHUT THE FUCK UP, ASSHOLE!" Ryuji screamed, raising his foot up and slammed it into his crotch.
"GYAAAAAAAGH!"
"I hope you have life insurance… because you're about to be eating through a straw for a couple weeks!" He kicked him away.
"Heh… ahahaha… n-nice try! But if you think you can just destroy me with words and your… sack destroying foot… you're wrong!" He said. "Chaos Ruby, attack!"
Ruby stared at them blankly. "Yes, master Dimentio." She said as she readied her scythe and then swung her scythe… right on Dimentio.
BGM: Rivers in the Desert - Scramble (Persona 5 Strikers)
"YAGH!"
"Pardon my language here, but I am so sick of your bullshit." Ruby glared at Dimentio.
"Wh-wh-what…?!"
Ruby crossed over the phazon, her scythe gliding across the ground with a determined look on her face. "You made the mistake of getting rid of all that poisonous stuff that'll kill me. Messing up my mind, shortening my life… you unwittingly got rid of the corruption part too. Even though I have Phazon on me… I'm me. Not your damned puppet!"
She activated her Rose Palm, firing a blast of Phazon on him that sent the jester flying. "You think I'm just a joke who you can just toy around with and my emotions. I'm not mentally broken unlike my paper counterpart who you messed with." She grabbed him by the collar. "Because of you, you gave me a reason to find a way to go into the paper world and bring my paperized self back to her happy self. I'm not sure how I'll do it but I'll find away."
Ruby slashed at Dimentio, knocking him over. "You think you've won but you haven't! Because of you… I'm no longer afraid of someone like you… and I'd like to personally thank you for giving me a reason to stare down my dark doppelganger with a level head and not run away like I've done in the past… because I have a feeling you met her when you somehow came out of the paper world and turned her into something hideous!"
She aimed her hand up, snapping her fingers as phazon roses came out of the ground and grabbed a hold of Dimentio's arms. "And you… you deserve an all out attack." She said, chanting some words before going into her Zinogre form, with combined with the phazon made her even more terrifying.
"Welp, that's my cue!" Akira said.
"No! Let me." Ryuji smirked as he approached Dimentio with malicious intent and a gleeful smirk, but Dimentio quickly got out of it and then snapped his fingers to try and trap Ruby in his own dimension, but in his panic, he also got the Phantom Thieves, Pit, Weiss, Yang, Blake, Mario and STRQ in there as well.
"Crap!" Dimentio exclaimed.
"Where are we?" Pit asked.
"His dimension. He's powered up by 256 times, but… so are we." Ruby smirked.
"Alriiiiight, now let's hit him where it hurts!" Yang grinned.
Royally FUBAR'd - Dimentio
Ruby rushed over to Dimentio, using her semblance to get behind him and slashed him but Dimentio dodged the attack and fired magic at her, but Makoto went running over and together with Yang, punched Dimentio toward the wall.
Ruby jumped up in the air and then slashed Dimentio down and while she was floating up in the air, she snapped her fingers as Fission Metroids appeared and targeted Dimentio, all of them went to suck the lifeforce out of him but he batted them away, only for Weiss, still in her Fierce Deity mode, slashed through Dimentio as a few Metroids would start draining him, but he snapped his fingers to destroy them, only for Ruby to slash at him with her claws to send him crashing into a wall.
Dimentio got back up as Haru swung her axe and slashed him but Dimentio would dodge it, only to get wrapped up in Blake's Shadow Whip as Yang and Raven got on both sides of Dimentio, the two of them staring at each other before nodding as the two of them lunged as Raven slashed at Dimentio before she dropped her katana as Yang grabbed it and tossed it up in the air before unleashing a Hadoken into the sword, sending it flying and impaling Dimentio. "Rrrgh!" He grunted as he snapped his fingers to try and trap Yang and Raven into boxes.
Ruby's eye widened as she put her Phazon arm on the ground as rose petals rose up from underneath and shielded Yang and Raven from the explosion before she had a Fission Metroid latch onto his back as Mario had jumped up and fire hammered Dimentio to the ground as he then fire punched him into his gut. "Mmmph!" Dimentio grunted. "You're… not like your paper self!"
"You're darn right, I'm not!" Mario said, grabbing Dimentio and swinging him to the ground and fire punched him in the face before grabbing him by the legs and spinning him around before throwing him toward Pit as he readied his Skyscraper Club and swung it into him, sending him flying as Futaba typed into a keyboard where Yusuke, Morgana Akira, Ann and Ryuji felt themselves powered up as they laid into him.
"Ha! This one's easy!" Dimentio fired a magic blast at Futaba, but Ruby lifted her up the ground with a phazon platform as Futaba pulled out a ray gun.
"You were saying?" Futaba grinned, shooting him a few times. "Thank you, Tails!" She smiled as Dimentio was knocked back.
"QUAKE!"
"ASTEROID!"
Tai jumped over and metal punched Dimentio but he teleported away and tried to fire magic but he was sucked into Qrow's asteroid field before he shot him back to Tai who used a metal uppercut to knock Dimentio up in the air and then Dimentio found himself in a gravity glyph as Fierce Deity Weiss and Ruby looked at each other and with a nod, the two jumped over while raising an ice pillar and Ruby with a phazon pillar as the two slashed him down to the ground where Summer was waiting and gracefully slashed him with a katana she summoned.
"Nnngh…" Dimentio groaned.
"Let's ravage him!" Ruby smirked ferally.
"I couldn't agree more!" Akira said, proceeding to do an all out attack with Ryuji, Ruby and Pit.
"Beat 'em up!" Futaba cheered in the all out attack before they jumped over to do their poses as Ruby had a sort of superhero landing-like pose as she had her mouth open, her sharp fangs showing and her eyes looking fierce and feral. ("Raaaaah!") while Pit raised his Palutena Blades up high. ("Go Skyworld!")
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Dimentio cried as he fell to the ground in defeat as his dimension shattered.
End BGM
Ruby walked over to Dimentio, grabbing his collar and looked at him in the eyes, her claws embedded into his neck, drawing a little bit of blood. "Now, you can either run along and not bother us again, or you can get another ass kicking by all of us… and this time, I won't keep my feral side in check."
"Nnngh… ahahaha… I've underestimated you, Ruby… perhaps I should've waited until you were more susceptible to your stress… but know this… I'll still be in this phazon war… and I'll still cause chaos for all of you! Ciao!" He disappeared.
"Tch… so that's how it's going to be." Ruby said coldly as she went back to her normal Phazon-infused self.
"Rubes… are you okay?" Pit asked, approaching her. "You still have Phazon on you." He said with worry in his voice.
"I feel… weird but I should be okay. That said… I think we oughta do something about it, don't you think?" She smiled as they nodded.
"Glad to see you're okay!" Palutena smiled. "By the way, there was a Speedy Comet earlier but Bowsette grabbed a hold of it." She said as they were all taken back to the Observatory.
Meanwhile, back at the Observatory…
"Lousy good for nothing Hands…" Hiyoko mumbled as she went back into her metal form.
"You okay?" Ibuki asked as she approached her.
"This whole mess wouldn't have happened if it weren't for those damned Hands." Hiyoko said. "If they had just kept an eye on them, we would't be in this mess! Sure, there'd be another fun space romp but instead… this happens! If it wasn't for-"
"Hiyoko-chan, take a deep breath." Ibuki said. "Ibuki's gonna play devil's advocate here and say that they were probably too distracted to realize what was going on."
"How can you say something like tha-"
"Think about it!" Ibuki said. "The Hands obviously were keeping an eye on them, but there had to be a few crises that would have gotten their attention away from Ridley and Dark Samus. Remember the Shroob invasion? Ibuki is willing to bet that while the Hands and the Smashers were distracted by saving the mansion, Dark Samus and Ridley went right to work. Sure, they probably talked about it in passing but needed an opportunity to hatch it. Then… there was the Blorb crisis, which gave them a whole day to work in silence while the Hands were trying to figure out how to get the Smashers unblorbed. Of course, they were in Bowser-chan's wand but that didn't stop them from working in secret while everyone was busy waiting for Bowser-chan to summon then. Then, while it wasn't a crisis, Sea5ons made their grand debut and she can imagine that while everyone was distracted, Dark Samus was working tirelessly. Meanwhile, Ridley went to check on the BSL Station to check on progress behind the scenes while also tormenting SPBRR."
"So you're saying that… these crises distracted the Hands to the point where they couldn't keep a close eye on them?"
"Master Hand-chan isn't stupid. Of course he would keep a close eye on them. What they needed were a few crises to distract them to unleash their master plan. The cherry on top was none other than Eggman-chan making that broadcast regarding Cinder and Salem. Wouldn't that distract anyone? Ibuki's willing to bet that even a security guard would be distracted by a crisis and not think about their prisoner. Once Eggman made that announcement, they finished their project and got Mother Brain and Kraid while they weren't looking as Remnant was falling into chaos. Ruby-chan may have calmed everyone down, but… behinds the scenes, those two were about to unleash phazon hell on everything. So, Ibuki can see your reasoning… but she's willing to give the Hands the benefit of the doubt."
Hiyoko folded her arms, closing her eyes and nodding at Ibuki's words. "You… you definitely have a point. Even I would be distracted by a crisis as well to realize what is going on behind the scenes. That said, it was their fault for bringing them into Smash and causing chaos all around. They're still at fault."
"Yes. She agrees. She's pretty sure the Hands will find a way to fix this mess. Perhaps atoning by getting them off the roster and making them disappear could be a good start or… better yet, have Ridley-" She snickered. "Have Ridley be Samus-chan's maid!" She giggled.
Hiyoko snickered. "Oh Ibuki, what are we going to do with you?" She said. "You're right… but, as I said, they still need a good talking to, and I'm going to make sure I give 'em one." She said as she got into a Launch Star.
"Just go easy on 'em, okay?" Ibuki smiled.
"We'll cross that bridge when we get there, metalbrain." Hiyoko said, ruffling Ibuki's head before blasting off to Puzzle Plank to retrieve the Green Stars.
With Kokoro…
Kokoro was busy writing up some new lyrics for the new song when Blake walked in with a plate, filled with two Tuna Melt sandwiches. "Excuse me." She said as Kokoro looked up to see her. "Hey um… why don't you take a little snack break for a while? It could help you take your mind off things for a bit."
She sat down next to Kokoro, the latter looked at the sandwiches before grabbing one and taking a bite. A sparkle was seen in her eyes and wrote something down on her notepad. "They're delicious! I didn't know you could cook."
"I tend to cook for myself every once in a while. That… and I'm surprised I whipped that up so fast after coming back from Supermassive Galaxy." She shrugged. "I guess I got hungry." She chuckled. Poor Ruby… I hope she's okay… She thought as she noticed Kokoro smiling at her before frowning again. "Is something wrong? Are you okay?" She asked with concern.
"I'm fine." She said via notepad.
Blake gently held her hand. "Are you sure? Don't worry, I'm here to lend an ear for you." She said, gently wiggling her cat ears, which was enough to make Kokoro giggle.
"Did you just make a pun with your ears?"
"Don't tell Yang." Blake said with a chuckle as both of them giggled before Kokoro looked down again.
"I'm scared, Blake…"
Blake wrapped her arm around her. "It's gonna be okay…" She whispered, gently holding the faunus in place.
Meanwhile…
"Don't let it get closer! It shouldn't- GAAAAAH!"
"No! AAAARGH!"
"What is this thing?!"
"I am not sure, but we have to- GAH!"
Muffled explosions and gunfire were heard, but they were all met with deafening silence a few moments later. Soon, the cover off of a casket was removed as Dark Samus looked into it. "Ah, here you are." She said. "I have heard tales about you in the Smash Mansion. That metal headed girl would frequently visit and not shut up about you."
She let out a chuckle. "So this is what you look like. Hmph. I'd say you'd make a great addition to our army." She started to reach down. "Yes, you will be perfect being corrupted with Phazon… Doom Slayer."
Ibuki: !
Yeeeeuuuup, that's happening.
Ibuki: Well... that's not good. Time for an encore with Ibuki vs Doom Guy-chan!
Also, Phazon Ruby was conceptualized earlier this year, but was scrapped and we went with Zinogre Ruby instead. That said, I felt like it would've been a waste if I didn't show off the power of Phazon Ruby when Dimentio corrupted her and... it got me thinking when I was writing out the battle. Should she keep her Phazon powers or should she get cured? You decide, I got a poll all ready to go on my profile. Check it out!