Issue 4: The First Patrol

The Chimera

"You're kidding right? There's no way we're just… blocked off from Mobiant Earth." Spider-Man begged Strange to say that what he just said was a mistake.

Unfortunate, Doctor Strange shook his head and expressed disappointment, "My deepest apologies, Spider-Man. It truly seems as if something is blocking us from the rest of all reality."

"Crap. That's bad news. What are we gonna do?" Miles questioned aloud, a bit afraid that they're stranded on Battleworld.

The Sorcerer Supreme sighed, "We have enough aid in Battleworld. We can pray that they will be all we need to turn the tide of battle."

Peter looked at the ground, "I sure hope so… We'll have to head out. Hopefully find some answers. That's all we can do right now."

"Get the team?" Miles asked. Peter nodded in response.

"Very well." Strange agreed, "I shall send my own team to Mega Man and Iron Man in the Iron Nation, alert them of what has happened."

"We might as well start exploring, seeing if we can get any of these baddies to spill the beans on what's going on." Peter explained, "Like I said, that's all I got in my head."

Donut Plains

In the wake of Battleworld, various locations based on the homes of the Champions were made. This was one such location, the Donut Plains of Yoshi's Island. Peter, Miles, Mario, Sonic, Ruby, Link, Falco, Cloud, Inkling, Neo, ROB and Captain Falcon were the first to head out, hoping something would happen.

"Mama mia. It has-a been awhile since I-a was here." Mario admitted, recognizing the field.

"Yeah, this whole place weirds me out. Especially now that we have counterparts here." Peter replied bluntly.

Ruby tapped her chin, "How did Galeem even make this kind of world? It's so weird."

"Don't know, and honestly? Don't care." Cloud grunted, still bitter in search of Sephiroth. Neo could only shake her head.

"I know you're still upset, Cloud. There's a reason why we're out here." Peter told the ex-SOLDIER.

Cloud gritted his teeth, "Yeah? Why?"

"Well we can get the bad guys to come to us of course!" Ruby explained.

"...Uh huh." Cloud muttered.

"It works with us." Peter told him, "You think I'm happy about letting Sephiroth get away? I'm just as eager to bring him down like you are."

"To be honest, I'm still nervous about fighting him again. Using that Venom Blast took a lot out of me…" Miles admitted.

"We'll be prepared, kid. Especially once we get the Cosmic Emeralds back." Spider-Man assured his younger partner.

Mario nodded, "Mmhmm. We're-a still in this together."

Sonic said, "Well that's just a given with me."

"Of course." Miles joked at the hedgehog's response.

Link tampered with his Sheikah Slate, ensuring it was charged for any oncoming battle, "Yeah. This won't be like last time."

Peter grew curious at what Link was doing and asked, "What'cha got there Link?"

The Hylian looked at the wall-crawler and replied, "Oh, this is the Sheikah Slate. I admittedly forgot about it in my last trips with you all, but I ensured I had it with me. It's… very important to me." he admitted solemnly.

"Really? Wanna talk about it?" Miles wondered.

"It… contains the last memories I have… of 100 years ago." Link revealed.

"100 YEARS?!" Sonic gasped, "Dude, you're almost as old as Cap!"

Link managed a grin at that, "Yeah… Looking at this, it reminds me of my old friends… the Champions."

"Champions? Your world also had a group with that name?" Peter asked.

The Hero of the Wild nodded, "We did. They… fell in battle against Ganon. You can imagine my rage when I saw that man working with us during the Secret Wars."

"No kidding. Old grudges and all that." Miles commented.

"It felt personal but… he was nothing compared to the Ganon I knew… Anyway, when I realized what we were, supposed Champions, it didn't feel right. But… after the Secret Wars and Infinity War, I've come to accept that everyone here has earned that name, that I still have friends even with those I knew gone." Link revealed.

Falco shrugged, "Take it from me. I only work with a team if I think they're worth my time, can't say being a Champion's been a waste."

"I'm-a so sorry, Link…" Mario muttered, "The Links I-a knew before didn't…"

Link said, "It's fine, Mario. If there's one thing I'm glad about it's you all letting me join."

"Of course we'd let you join. Somethin' tells me you have survival instincts no other Link could say they had." Sonic commented.

"You have no idea…" Link sighed.

Neo rolled her eyes. She wasn't used to putting up with such interactions. Nonetheless she kept silent and let them speak it out. Inkling gave her a confused glance, getting nothing in response, which made her look away.

"Bwehehehe!" came a scratchy laugh. The Spider-Men felt their Spider-Sense go off and they turned around, "Everyone's having a sad moment!" cackled Bowser Jr.

"Oh hey Junior. What, did Bowser not feel man enough to fight us?" Sonic quipped.

Junior glared at the hedgehog, "No! My papa doesn't want to waste time, so he sent all of us after you! Bwehehehe!" he sat in his Koopa Clown Car, the Koopalings doing the same, and alongside them was Piranha Plant.

"Okay seriously, why is the plant here?" Miles jokingly asked.

Ludwig raised a finger, "Well he can do this!"

Piranha Plant spat a spiked ball at the heroes and blew it in their direction. Link used his shield to parry the object back at the evil plant, causing it to stagger back. "Nice one, Link!" Miles complimented the Hero of the Wild, leaping into the air and shooting electric webbing at Wendy Koopa, shocking her.

"Hey! I just got this ride fixed!" Wendy grunted in pain.

"Who taught you kids how to drive?" Peter quipped, dive-kicking the Koopaling before flipping in the air and web-yanking Roy, who was pulled into Ruby's direction. The Rose Reaper slashed the Koopaling, destroying his Koopa Clown Car a little.

"Some parent, right?!" Ruby added onto his joke, blasting Roy back as Miles kept him down with some spare webbing.

"HIYAAAHH!" Link grunted, driving his Master Sword onto Lemmy's car, hoping to destroy it. Lemmy responded by activating the vehicle's wheels and slamming into the Hylian, "AH!" he screamed, trying to get his bearings.

Falco distracted Junior by using his Shine Reflector to block his cannonballs, "Come on! Stop! That's not fair!" Bowser's son whined, ready to throw a tantrum over what the bird pilot was doing.

"Nothin's fair kid." Falco joked.

That's when Mario appeared from above and stomped on Junior, bouncing off of his head, "Yahoo!" cheered the plumber, doing a backflip in order to dodge the cannonball tossed by Morton, "Mama mia!" he yelled, seeing the projectile narrowly miss him while he dodged.

"Oh a toy!" Spider-Man quipped, casually shooting the cannonball with a webline and throwing the cannonball back at Morton, who was launched upon impact, "And this is why kids… or whatever age these guys are shouldn't have such dangerous weapons."

Inkling started shooting at Iggy, who was getting covered in colored ink. This left the Koopaling open to attack, prompting Neo to attack from behind, launching Iggy into the air, "WEEE!" the Koopaling cheered. ROB hovered near him and flipped, its jet activated in the meanwhile and burning the Koopaling.

"Sonic Wind!" Sonic shouted, creating a gust of wind that caught Wendy and Roy, "Alright Spidey, you're up!"

"Got it!" Miles shouted, flipping in the air and shooting an electrified web ball at the Koopalings, dazing them. He landed on the rim of Roy's car and tapped his shoulder, giving him a Venom Shock that caused him to launch back. Wendy yelped in surprise once she saw that and tried to strike but was met with a Homing Attack before she could do anything.

"Come on!" Junior whined, jabbing at Link with a fork coming out of the vehicle's mouth. Cloud took the chance to perform Braver and launched Junior into the air, following up with a downward slash that spiked the young Koopa prince down and making him bounce back into the air.

Mario used his cape to change Junior's trajectory, causing him to fall in the way of Falco's blaster, "WAH!" he bellowed. Junior fell to the ground, looking up to see Captain Falcon ready to attack now, "Wuh oh…"

Captain Falcon kicked Junior, him and his Koopa Clown Car flying through the air.

"There's no way we can be overwhelmed!" Ludwig yelled.

"Too bad!" Peter joked. The wall-crawler uppercutted the Koopaling. Ruby jumped up and shot at Ludwig, launching him back. The Spider and Rose worked together in holding the Koopaling down as Ruby shot down his propellor, preventing him from moving.

"You should've thought this through better!" Wendy yelled.

Piranha Plant said nothing, only spinning its leaves at Falco. The bird merely dashed through it, damaging it in the process. The plant started to spin again but Link used a Stasis Rune to keep him still, the Hylian spun with his Master Sword, causing the plant to feel the impact and suddenly get launched into the air, "...How?!" Falco blurted out in confusion.

"This." said Link, pointing to the Sheikah Slate, it needed to recharge.

Mario deflected Iggy's Mechakoopa with his cape, blowing up on him, "Oh yeah!" cheered the plumber, performing a spin on the dazed Koopaling after Inkling splashed more ink onto him to make his attacks hit harder.

Junior, the Koopalings and Piranha Plant managed to regroup briefly. Ludwig used his magic wand to create duplicates of all them to disorient the Champions, "See? I can be clever!" Ludwig laughed.

"Crap. Clones." Peter grunted.

Cloud tightened his grip around his Fusion Sword, "They'll go down just as easily." he assured the team, lunging forward and slashing an Iggy clone into nothing.

"Luigi and I can-a do this! We-a can too!" Mario said to the group, jumping into action.

"Cover for me!" Sonic said while he started charging his Light-Speed Attack.

"Koopa Troop! Attack!" Junior ordered the Koopalings and Piranha Plant, them and the clones going into battle with the Champions.

"FALCON KICK!" shouted Captain Falcon, burning a Morton clone into nothing. The Spider-Men webbed together a bunch of clones into a single pile allowing ROB to blast them all with its laser, disintegrating more of the fakes. Falco dashed through a fake Piranha Plant, watching proudly as it faded into nothing.

Link readed his bow and shot an arrow at a Junior clone, the arrow passing through him and right onto an Iggy clone. A Roy clone shot a cannonball at Cloud, the ex-soldier using his large sword to stop it before it could reach him, "What?!" the clone blurted out in shock.

Neo smirked, managing to break through multiple clones and even succeeding in catching Ludwig by surprise, throwing him into the air. Mario jumped and stomped his feet on him, bashing him onto the ground. Closeby, Ruby used his weapon to deflect the fork coming out of Junior's Koopa Clown car, "What the heck is that?!" she asked in slight disgust,

"A cool weapon Papa made!" Junior laughed, never relenting in his attack. Ruby gritted her teeth and moved her weapon so that she shot a projectile at Junior, keeping him away from her, "HEY!" he stomped in his car.

"Oops!" Ruby joked, swinging Crescent Rose behind her so that it slashed through a Morton clone.

Peter chuckled, "Nice one!" he shot a web ball at a Wendy clone and kicked her down, causing her to vanish. Nearby Falco noticed Inkling use her roller on a Larry clone and launched a Lemmy clone into the air. He used his Fire Bird technique to fly into the air and take the fake down.

Sonic finally stopped charging and got to a stance, "Ready…" he smirked and got Ruby's attention, prompting her to join him, "...GO!" he dashed faster than the eye could see alongside Ruby. The two speedsters took down each clone one by one until all that remained were the original Koopa Troop, afraid they were going to lose.

Sonic and Ruby stopped, the former saying, "Alright. That's enough from you guys. Just put yourselves in handcuffs and we'll go easy on ya, sound good?" he suggested to the villains before they try anything.

"A-Anything else we can do?" Lemmy gulped.

"Yeah! Watch this!" Junior laughed, pressing a button.

The ground shook and appearing from the trees ahead was a large ancient round robot with tentacles for arms. Its one eye targeted the heroes. Link immediately caught onto what it was the moment he saw it, "A GUARDIAN?!" he gasped in shock.

"That's right! I managed to hack one of these things to do what I say! Good thing they were left here!" Junior taunted the Champions, "Okay Koopa Troop, let's go before they get us!"

"Finally a good plan." Wendy quipped. The Koopa Troop made their retreat forcing the heroes to confront the Guardian.

"Oh great…" Peter muttered.

Miles gulped, "Okay normally I'd like to chase those guys, but something tells me we should take care of the giant deadly robot that probably wants to kill us."

Sonic said, "Another deadly robot, huh? This should be no trouble." he went after it, the Guardian locked onto Sonic and shot a laser, though it grazed the ground, the impact sent Sonic back, his quills burnt slightly, "Yow! That packed more of a punch than I thought!"

"Guardians are dangerous, even compared to the mechanical beasts of your world." Link explained, trying to conceive a plan to dismantle this one.

"You-a know what this is?" Mario asked.

Ruby used her Semblance to keep the Guardian busy while Link spoke, "I do. These are from my Hyrule, they were taken over by Ganon. I suppose the Secret Wars brought them here and now it seems our enemies are using them for their own goals…"

"Is there anyway we can take them down?" Peter asked.

Link nodded, "There is, but it will take a lot of work and perseverance."

"That's what we do best." Peter quipped, shooting a webline to strike the Guardian, "You probably fought these guys by yourself, but now you have a team! We got this!"

"R-Right!" Link agreed.

"Let's-a go!" Mario said, running towards the Guardian. It targeted Mario, but the plumber was saved by Falco, who used his Reflector to keep the laser from hitting him, "Wow! You-a saved my skin!"

"All part of the plan, right?" Falco joked.

"Hey! Big, tall and round! Did you come out of Doc Ock's lab or something?!" shouted Spider-Man, using its large body and nearby trees to swing around and dodge its laser. While it was focused on Peter, Miles used his camouflage to appear on top of its head and stunned it with a Venom Shock, causing it to cancel out its laser, "Good thinking, Spidey!" Peter complimented his partner with a salute.

Link pulled out his Sheikah Slate and used the Stasis Rune to keep the Guardian still, "This will only last for so long!"

"Got it!" Sonic replied, hitting the giant robot with a series of Homing Attacks. Captain Falcon delivered a powerful Falcon Punch. ROB shot as many lasers as it could. Falco used his Blaser to shoot its arms. Inkling used her roller in an attempt to damage it. Cloud dashed forward and used Triple Slash in hopes of it affecting the Guardian.

The stasis ended, the Guardian now showing visible signs of damage. "It worked!" Miles shouted proudly.

"Good!" Ruby replied, using Crescent Rose to blast the Guardian's eye. It succeeded in causing more damage.

"The eye! Try going for the eye!" Link recalled.

The Guardian tried to attack Link with one of its arms, but Miles shot webbing at it, holding it still, "Nope, sorry, but that ain't happening while we're here." the younger Spider-Man quipped, doing his best to hold the tentacle back. "Nngh!" he grunted, stepping backwards while trying to remove it. Another web line appeared next to him, coming from Peter.

"Shall we show this thing our spider-strength?" Peter asked his friend.

"Yeah!" Miles replied.

The Spider-Men leaped into the air and yanked the tentacle off, giving the Guardian a handicap, "Awesome! That's how we Spiders do things around here!" Peter cheered.

ROB managed to cancel out the Guardian's laser with its own, jumping and spinning its arms around to hit its round torso, damaging it. ROB beeped and hovered back, the giant robot charging its laser. Link slid in front of ROB, shield held in front of him and he swung it, successfully parrying the laser back onto the Guardian's eye.

"Quick thinkin', Link! This oughta make it way easier to turn him into scrap metal!" Sonic complimented the Hylian while using a Homing Attack on the Guardian's head.

Cloud did an upward slash, tearing into the stunned Guardian a bit and leaving it open to attack. Captain Falcon kicked it, his flaming legs, burning one of the tentacles. Mario chose to get its attention by stomping on its head, "Hello! I shall give-a you a fight!" he taunted the robot, landing on a knee and staring down the Guardian as it charged its laser. Right as it shot Mario, the heroic plumber flung his cape and deflected the laser right back at the Guardian, tearing it apart even more. Mario pumped a fist and shouted, "Yes! That-a worked!"

Ruby noticed the flaming tentacle and used Crescent Rose to cut it apart from the Guardian, weakening it more. The robot took notice of this and started charging its laser on her, "Oh boy…" she muttered, hopping off one of the remaining arms and blasting its eye, keeping the robot from attacking her.

In a fit, the robot raised a tentacle in an effort to attack one of the heroes. Peter once again used a web-line to hold it, this time Mario using his feet to stomp on it and slam it down, "There you-a go! None of that-a here!"

Falco used Falco Phantasm to dash through the Guardian, disorienting its aim long enough for Link to shoot an arrow at it. A loud mechanical whirring sound was heard as the Guardian attempted to charge another laser. Neo shot at the Guardian's eye repeatedly, hoping something would be done in her effort. Smoke started to appear out of the mechanical beast. Sonic charged a Spin-Dash and went right through another tentacle, now making it unable to move and keep itself balanced.

"Hmph." Link held out the Master Sword and started charging after the Guardian, using his shield to deflect a small laser. He jumped and reared his arm back before driving it forward, the sword going right through the Guardian's eye. The Hylian removed the sword and kicked himself forward, landing right as the Guardian exploded, ending the fight.

"Whoa." muttered Sonic, Peter and Ruby in awe.

Link turned around, seeing the scrap, "Thank goodness that's over…" he muttered while putting his weapons aside.

"Nice-a work, Link!" Mario complimented his friend.

"Yeah seriously!" Miles added.

Link smiled, "I'll admit that was a lot easier than usual thanks to you guys." his smile faded once he looked around, "It seems the others got away."

Sonic scratched his head, "Yeah, that part stinks…"

Ruby asked, "What do we do now?"

"We'll regroup at the Chimera. See if Strange has anything." Peter decided, choosing to let the Champions decide what to do next at their base.

MJR Here: Not much to say about this one beyond it being the first of many battles to come. Though one thing I wanted to do was flesh out Link to be more Breath of the Wild inspired in terms of character and in his actions.

superjoeyf721: Everyone has their preference. Both knocked it out of the park in the role.

Jacob9594: Indeed.

Next Time: Return to the Iron Nation! Adapt or fall!