Hello to all. It's been a while since the first tournament ended, but I've finally finished that Chaos Round entry I promised.
Well, not really. Actually, I decided to do it in two parts. Here's the first part, and the second part will come after I've finished an introductory chapter for A Winner Is Two! Anyway, I hope you enjoy. It's Death by Chocolate versus his suborninates (and Vexen and Marluxia, because Axel knew to bring backup).
A Winner Is You! Behind the Scenes
Chaos Round: Reap (the Rewards)
Death by Chocolate frowned. He had been frowning a lot lately, something that didn't particularly please him and only caused him to frown further. He liked to smile more; it meant he was in a better mood, and besides, humans found it more alarming. An explosion shook the fountain he sat on as Deadpool sailed by him, and the corners of Death's mouth twitched before settling back into their more dour state. No, not enough.
He considered himself lucky to have survived the hellscape that was Kyuubi and Roku's final battle. Luckily, he had been given that key… BORED had some strange stuff up in space. That was what they seemed to spend so much of their budget on, building satellites and space stations to do this, that, and the other thing. DbC blamed the bald gentleman who acted like he was in charge; he seemed to have a particular affinity for it.
As Death by Chocolate slipped further into the serenity of his own thoughts, the situation slipped further into chaos. Roronoa Zoro clashed blades with Scorpion and Kurosaki Ichigo, relishing the rush he got from strong foes. They accidentally crossed into the line of fire that was the gunfight between Wolfwood, Snake and Valentine; Ichigo didn't dodge fast enough and he fell under a hail of bullets, only to struggle to his feet a moment later. Sylar struck out with his powers hungrily, alternating between the force of a hurricane and the precision of a scalpel as he attempted to pin down Monkey D. Luffy and his unusual abilities. Neji struggled to hold on as Orochimaru, looking to bring back a sinister 'consolation prize', let the young ninja tire himself out trying in vain to hold his own. Deadpool ran by with Leroy climbing on him and attacking, screaming, "It's devouring my head!" Inside, Massie casually shopped at a mall that wouldn't hold its grand opening until next week, trying to ignore the occasional rogue bullet or shuriken or laser blast passing through a plate glass window.
Death was aware that everything had suddenly become very quiet, and opened his eyes. Everybody had stopped – it wasn't a halt to time itself, rather that everybody was being prevented from moving a muscle. With some relief, he realized this wasn't the work of Kyuubi or indeed Roku – neither had stuck around, to his unending relief. No, the force at work here wasn't as evil as Kyuubi, nor as ancient as either – but it was altogether more unnatural, more… alien. "Hello, Mewtwo," Death responded brightly. "The tournament's been cancelled, but several of the prospective participants have chosen to partake in an unsanctioned battle. Would you care to join them?"
Mewtwo floated out of a hole in the universe that had suddenly torn itself in front of the demon. He looked irritated, and a little singed, and DbC noted with mounting concern that Magneto was with him. Worse was when a dark portal opened behind the fountain, and Axel exited from it, flanked not only by Marluxia and Vexen but by one Kotomine Kirei. "Stow it, will you?" Axel growled. "The gang's all here, DbC, and we remember everything. You can drop them, Mewtwo."
"I'll let them go when I want to," the genetically engineered Pokemon replied curtly, but he dropped his stasis field. The fights didn't resume, though, as all eyes were on the surrounded demon.
"How do you guys remember everything?" Death by Chocolate asked. "Tell me. I'm curious."
"Organization XIII's members appear to be able to teleport outside time if necessary – a useful ability. I, of course, have the ability as well, and when I realized what you were going to do, after the battle was over, I pulled Magneto along for the trip. Axel, and Kirei, I confess I never trusted. Magneto may wear a helmet to prevent my telepathy, but he reliably acts in the interests of himself and other human mutants, so I brought him."
"And your counterparts in this reality? There should be two of each of you now, because that machine only took care of me."
"Actually, yeah, I was looking for them," Axel muttered.
"To prevent paradoxes and other complications, I cast them out of this reality when we arrived." Magneto, Kirei, Axel, Marluxia, and Vexen had the decency to look profoundly uncomfortable with this concept.
"So… you're here, you're out of the deleted possible future. What does it have to do with me?" He looked past them, and called to the would-be contestants, "You can feel free to keep fighting!" Deadpool flashed a thumbs-up and pulled out an aluminum bat, only to receive a full round of ammunition in the chest and head from Snake. The fighting soon erupted in full-force again.
"We lived through that nightmare, and we want our pay," Magneto said curtly.
Death snorted. "So what? Do you think I'm getting paid for this?"
"You wouldn't have been paid anyway; you were summoned for the task," Kirei countered. "It's not as if your summoners contracted us – you employed us directly for the duration of this tournament, and we expect a reward."
"It never happened." DbC stood up, his yellow eyes meeting each of theirs in turn. "No matter what you or I may remember, a wish has made it that the entire incident never happened. I don't have to pay you – in fact, I never even hired you. I suggest you all go home, take nice, hot showers, and write the whole thing off as a wash – I certainly will be, except for the shower part."
"That's hardly fair, now," Marluxia chided.
"Shut up, I wasn't even paying you. Why are you two even here?"
"Axel's compensation was going to Organization XIII in its entirety," Vexen explained stiffly.
"Oh. That's too bad. I know I had promised you guys some compensation, but I'm not paying you, and that's final."
"Unless…" Magneto began.
"Unless, that is, you intend on forcing me to help you." Death by Chocolate grinned maliciously and licked one of his fingers as their tips sharpened into points. "You're welcome to try, but I won't hold back."
Surprisingly, it was Kirei who struck first, his expression stern and collected. He lashed out with a fist, which Death dodged by tilting his head and upper body. Unperturbed, Kirei launched a flurry of blows to DbC's head. He dodged several – including one that required him to slide his neck along his shoulders in a wholly unnatural way – but the fifth or sixth attack was a palm strike that caught him almost full in the face, shattering one of his cheeks. The subsequent elbow strike entirely destroyed Death by Chocolate's lower jaw and sent him toppling back into the fountain, but the demon quickly resurfaced with a reformed face and a chocolate broadsword. Kirei had to jump back to avoid losing his head to a horizontal slash, as Mewtwo and Magneto floated back and flanked him. "You'll find we won't hold back either," Kirei replied.
"That's good," Death chuckled, stepping out of the fountain, only for Axel to suddenly dart in front of him, chakrams raised and ignited.
"Burn!" Axel yelled, spinning with the circular blades out. DbC was forced to jump backwards into the air to dodge Axel's attack, only to spy Vexen on the other side of the fountain. One hand was on his shield, and the other had a finger dipped in the fountain.
"Enjoy," Vexen said with a dark smile as the contents of the fountain suddenly exploded upwards in a spire of jagged ice. Desperate to avoid an intense-cold attack, DbC kicked out with his feet and detonated them, hurtling himself in the other direction.
"You'll find me harder to get a lock on than that!" DbC laughed. Then he turned around, and stopped laughing.
"Oh, really?" Marluxia, waiting to intercept his flight path, lashed out with his scythe and cut Death by Chocolate in half at the waist.
"Really." Death's severed legs and hips suddenly exploded as well, knocking Marluxia away; DbC rolled and came up on newly-reformed legs, with a revolver in his free hand. He fired several shots at Axel and Vexen, forcing the former to duck behind the fountain and the latter to raise his shield, as he ran towards the still-rising Marluxia. He didn't make it there before Kirei suddenly procured a pair of thin swords from seemingly nowhere and threw them at the demon. "Holy weapons, eh?" Death easily dodged them, but suddenly they began spinning and doubled back on him as Magneto took control of them. "HOSHIT!" This time, one caught the chocolate fiend on his shoulder, and the wound sizzled as it attempted to regenerate from the blessed sword.
"Thanks, Kirei," Magneto called. "These should be just what the doctor ordered." He sent the swords buzzing around the demon, cutting him to pieces. Desperately evading the weapons that were so caustic to him, Death by Chocolate took a few desperate shots at Magneto, a bullet whizzing past his head before the master of magnetism successfully severed his gun arm. "Why aren't you helping?" he asked Mewtwo sharply. "Not that we need it," he added as the demon screamed from the pain the swords caused.
"Psych Up." Mewtwo's eyes flashed white. "You'll need it, trust me. I'm boosting myself to full power while you have the situation under something crudely resembling control. Agility!" The psychic pokemon's body began to vibrate with pent-up energy.
"Need it, will we?!" Magneto growled, offended. He stabbed the swords down into the heap of semisolid confectionary that was Death by Chocolate, then for good measure he wrapped his concentration around a pair of SUVs in the parking lot and pulled them to him, slamming them down on the demon and sending the whole wreck skidding back to the long row of glass doors that led into the mall.. Then he raised his hands in the air, calling something else. "I think the vehicles did it, but I'll make sure."
Unfortunately, the vehicles hadn't 'done it'. The demon climbed out from the wrecked cars, panting and pulling one of the swords from his back. "Holy swords, hah!" He threw it to the ground, and the sword reverted to its true form - shrinking and unfolding into a Bible page. "Your weak little Christian magic won't work on me, Kirei!"
"Remember me?" Axel called, shooting some flames at the exposed gas tank of one of the vehicles. Death jumped and rolled before the entire pile exploded in a jet of flame, only for Axel to jump forward, swinging his chakrams high, low, back and forth. The demon created a pair of battleaxes to parry with, but the blades melted through and he was struck in the face anyway. He stumbled back to a planter, only for roots to reach out from it and ensnare him around the abdomen. "Good, Marluxia, hold him right there." Axel began to build up a massive fire spell, flames coalescing into a concentrated sphere in front of him. His body beginning to soften and melt, Death leaned away from the flames, gritting his teeth. "Any last words, or do you feel like paying us for services rendered now?"
"I have some last words: fuck you." Death by Chocolate fully liquefied his body, dodging the fireball that Axel quickly launched with a curse, and oozed along the ground at a deceptively fast pace. Marluxia tried to impale the liquid chocolate with his scythe, only for the demon to crawl up the blade and reform behind him, pinning the Nobody's arms. "Nice try," the delicious demon said with a grin before spikes formed on the inside of his arms, impaling Marluxia in several places.
"Gah!" Marluxia coughed up a bit of blood, but regained his composure and slammed his head back into Death by Chocolate's face, shattering his nose. DbC staggered back, more from surprise than pain, and Axel was able to blast him with a stream of fire, half-melting him. Death managed to pull himself back together, groaning with the effort, and stumbled out of the way of the next fireblast.
"Bulk Up." Mewtwo's small muscles increased in size a little bit as they tensed. He repeated, "Bulk Up," and they tensed a bit more, veins beginning to bulge under his skin. Next to him, Magneto was concentrating on something above them so hard his nose was bleeding. "Is that necessary?"
"An impact alone doesn't do enough," Magneto replied, his breaths gasping and uneven. "I thought the added heat from entering the atmosphere would be more effective."
"Calm Mind." Mewtwo's muscles shrank back to their normal size, although the aura of tension remained. "An applaudable tactic… homo superior." Mewtwo's eyes narrowed slightly in what may have been a smile. "Calm Mind."
Meanwhile, Death by Chocolate had managed to turn the tables on Axel, currently blasting the red-haired Nobody with a twelve-gauge shotgun he had created out of chocolate. Axel stumbled back, coughing. "You aren't bulletproof, I see," the demon laughed. "If you have no heart, where's all this blood coming from?" He primed the barrel with a pump and fired again, and a spatter of red fell from Axel's dark robes. "You know, why don't we open you up and find out what's in that chest of yours." He held the shotgun to the side, and it transformed into a wicked-looking axe on a long handle. Laughing with bloodlust, Death sprinted forward, closing the distance between him and the Heartless…
"Vexen, now!" Axel yelled, opening a portal on the ground that he fell forward into. DbC stopped and looked up, frowning as the springtime sun was blocked out. A tremendous block of ice, nearly the size of a house, was hovering ominously above him.
"I've had enough of this," Vexen called. Chuckling, the scientist Nobody gave a slight hand gesture, and the block descended on the demon, crushing him into the concrete. "I've been watching the demon," he stated. "His chocolate body is articulated because he constantly shifts his joints between solid and liquid state. That block of ice is at negative one hundred degrees Celsius – there's no way he can move at all, let alone liquefy his body. In addition, the pressure it exerts further prevents his escape. He's at our mercy."
"Where am I bleeding from?" Axel wondered, reappearing from his portal next to Vexen.
"Be silent, number eight. I'll explain the different uses of the word 'heart' to you later." Suddenly, there was an explosion of pulverized snow at the top of the ice block. "What?! How?!"
Death by Chocolate crawled out of the ice, gasping, his right hand and forearm transformed into a large spiraling drill. "This is a drill," he explained, struggling to his feet. "That's how."
"You have liquid joints, don't you? How did you transform? How did you move?!"
"My joints don't need to be liquid," the demon replied. "I can also transform my joints to move on mechanical principles." He raised his left arm, which was modeled like a puppet's or a mannequin's, with hinge and ball-and-socket joints. "When the ice dropped, I detonated most of my body, giving me some room and a bit of heat. Before my reforming body froze up again, I changed it into this form." He shivered. "That was clever, I'll give you that. You've really messed me up, at least for the moment. However…" the demon's chocolate body creaked as he crouched, then sprang toward the cryokinetic. "You'll need to do better than that to destroy a Patron Spirit!" His drill impacted Vexen's shield, grinding into it and kicking up a flurry of sparks. Cracks formed along drill and shield alike, until both Vexen's weapon and Death by Chocolate's entire right arm split into pieces at the same time. Not wanting to waste his chance, the demon followed up with a left cross to Vexen's face, a knee in his gut that forced him to double over, and an elbow to the back of his head that slammed him to the back of the ground.
"My Freeze Pride," Vexen gasped, struggling to get up. "My shield..."
"Insert joke about pride being your downfall here!" DbC laughed, raising his foot to crush Vexen's spine. However, Axel dove for the demon and pushed him away first, following up with a slice from his chakram that broke away DbC's other arm. "DAMMIT! I need those to interact with things!" DbC yelled, bashing his horns into Axel's skull in retaliation. He jumped back from the stunned Nobody, taking stock of his surroundings. "Damn… I need another minute before my body warms up enough to begin regenerating."
"Having trouble, my brittle friend?" Marluxia dropped from the air, slashing at DbC. He dodged back, and Marluxia swung the smaller-bladed back of the weapon in a backswing at his head. The demon ducked under the blow, but it still caught and broke his horns, prompting another burst of profanity.
"Cosmic Power." Lights began to appear about Mewtwo as stellar energy surrounded him. "Almost ready. Focus Energy!"
"What took you, Marluxia?" Axel asked his fellow conspirator, who was now struggling to get DbC to let the scythe go – the demon was hanging on desperately with his teeth. "Vexen almost died there."
Marluxia could have said, "That's what I was hoping for," which would have been true, but instead he chose to reply with the equally truthful "I was preparing this!" With that, he slammed a large seed into DbC's chest. "This plant should rapidly devour the sugars and carbohydrates in the demon's body, while immune to his alkali nature. It will easily finish him!" Sure enough, vines began to burst from the seed and begin to lash about, and Death by Chocolate tripped and fell to the ground, apparently suffering from the seed's effects as he screamed in pain.
"Had enough, 'boss'?" Axel laughed. "Maybe you'll comply with our demand now."
The demon was thrashing so hard that a piece of his leg broke off and bounced away. "Go to hell," he managed, coughing up very small bits of chocolate.
"Suit yourself, then," Axel said with a shrug, picking up the broken foot and walking away with Marluxia. Groaning, Vexen got to his knees before warping to Magneto and Mewtwo's side, where the other two Organization members arrived. "Ready, Magneto?"
"It's here!" Magneto finally dropped his arms as the sky began to turn red. The others looked up and saw a small meteor, burning bright as the sun, plummeting towards the demon, whose struggles began to slow. "Take cover!" He pulled up several more cars and piled them in front of the five. Vexen reached out an arm and created a barrier of ice around the cars, reinforcing them.
The explosion was tremendous, destroying much of the plaza in front of this section of the mall and fracturing most of the windows on that side. Of the contestants fighting their own battles that still stood, nearly half were knocked over by the force of the blast. Magneto and Mewtwo's ability to levitate saved them from the shock, but Vexen and Marluxia had to reinforce their footing with roots and ice, respectively, and Axel had to get down in a crouch and dig his weapons into the concrete. Afterwards, Magneto was the first to peek over the half-melted wall and take a look at the damage. "He's gone," the mutant terrorist reported solemnly.
"I thought we weren't trying to finish him!" Marluxia said angrily.
"That's what this is for." Axel held up the chocolate foot as if it were a skull and he were Hamlet, its toes hanging limply. "I figure he'll eventually reconstitute himself from this, but it will take him a… while?" A spike of chocolate burst from the foot, stabbing into Axel's jugular vein. "Gagck!" Axel observed, dropping the demonic chocolate.
"Nice going, number eight," Vexen scoffed. "Your body heat restored the demon to a comfortable temperature for him."
"That's right," Death by Chocolate growled, his body fully reforming. Wasting no time, he immediately formed two handguns and blasted Axel several times in the chest, causing him to drop to the ground. Marluxia swung his scythe at the demon, but he simply melted where the blade touched him, and then solidified with the scythe's axis stuck in his chest, immobilizing the weapon. "This is for that seed." He brought up his guns and fired at Marluxia, point-blank. One bullet went through the pink-haired Nobody's eye, and he dropped with a scream.
Next, DbC turned his guns on Magneto, blasting him several times. However, the bullets could dent the mutant's armor, but not break it. Staggering back, Magneto waved an arm and took control of the scythe still in the demon's body, using it to throw him back against the stack of ice-coated cars. "Away with you!" Vexen cried, creating two circular saws made of ice and throwing them at the demon. Snarling, Death raised a revolver and began unloading at Vexen, who desperately tried to dodge. The seventh round pierced the side of the scientist's neck, throwing off his concentration enough that one of the blades shattered upon hitting the demon, and the other missed entirely. "Seven rounds in a six-barrel revolver… what?" Vexen muttered, fading in and out of consciousness.
"As long as I'm touching the revolvers," DbC kindly explained, freeing himself from Marluxia's scythe so Magneto couldn't throw him anymore, "I can reload them even as I fire. My ammo is limited only by my regeneration." The demon suddenly had to dodge Marluxia's scythe again, which Magneto sent spinning through the air. "Stupid fucking everything is made of metal these days!" Death by Chocolate turned and shot a few bullets at Magneto, aiming for his face. A couple glanced off the mutant's helmet before he quickly darted far back, putting a hundred and fifty paces between himself and the demon in only a few seconds.
"Your bullets aren't made of metal, and that's enough trouble for me already!" the older mutant protested. Growling, Death by Chocolate combined the revolvers into a mass of chocolate that quickly reformed as a submachine gun, which he began firing several rounds per second from. Magneto raised his arms and gritted his teeth for the hail of fire… but it never came. He looked up.
A large, ornate and colorful claymore, tipped with a cross, was being held in front of his upper body. Holding the claymore was a blue-haired Organization XIII member. "Axel! Vexen! Marluxia!" Saix barked. "Let's go! Xemnas has ordered you to retreat and regroup!"
"Yes, sir," Vexen muttered, sealing his and Axel's neck wounds with ice. "Come, Marluxia." Holding his hand over his ruined eye and groaning, Marluxia grabbed his scythe and disappeared into a portal. Vexen grabbed the unconscious Axel and did the same.
"You're interfering!" DbC shouted, rushing Saix while transforming the machine gun into a pair of katana. Saix darted forward in response, bringing up his blade in a lightning-fast parry of the demon's attack, and Death by Chocolate's left blade shattered on the claymore. He followed up by swinging his right sword low, but Saix's sword dipped with speed that belied its size and shattered Death's other sword. "Bastard!" DbC's arm suddenly extended beyond its maximum reach and he pierced Saix's shoulder with a broken sword, drawing some blood. The Nobody responded by gritting his teeth and driving his other shoulder into the demon's chest with enough force to knock him over and leave a spiderweb of cracks along his torso.
"You've made a very dangerous foe in Organization XIII, demon," Saix said impassively as he stepped back into a portal. "We'll be back." And then he was gone, only a few drops of blood left behind.
Death by Chocolate didn't take long to ponder the ranked Nobody's words. Instead he turned on an exhausted-looking Magneto. "Well, my mortal friend, it's just you and me now. You tried to compete with forces you cannot comprehend…" he created a new handgun from the broken swords. Hastily, Magneto compacted a car into a barrier and brought it between himself and the demon. "And now you'll pay the price," the demon chuckled, easily melting under the floating, crushed automobile and reforming on the other side. Magneto tried to fold it shut like a book and trap DbC, but he jumped above the snapping metal and aimed his gun at the aging mutant's face. "The meteorite was impressive, but…"
"Confusion!"
"What?!" DbC suddenly found himself jerked around in midair, his body twisted and spun around at the apex of his leap. Just as suddenly, he was thrown to the ground hard enough to break most of his limbs and fracture the concrete. Quickly repairing himself, Death by Chocolate saw Mewtwo approaching as he climbed to his feet. "Bastard! So, you finally decided to join us!"
"Thunderbolt!" Mewtwo extended one paw, palm-up, and a powerful bolt of electricity arced out from his thick, rounded fingers. It struck the chocolate fiend square in the chest, and he stumbled back, yelling in surprise and pain as the front of his chest boiled. Mewtwo's body shone with its own light, and his feet crackled with free energy whenever they dipped close to the paved ground. His power was neither holy nor hellish; it was the frightful artificiality of a primal force of nature, reshaped to the whims of man. "Magneto, cover me," he communicated privately.
"Cover you?!" Magneto began to snap, but he quickly regained his composure. Perhaps it was because of his psychic nature, but Mewtwo's calm was contagious, and Magneto only needed a single deep breath to gather his bearings. "What can I do?" he asked.
"Prevent Death by Chocolate's escape, if he attempts it. And don't allow anybody else to interfere."
"I don't know what you think you're doing," Death growled, "but I assure you, I'm not entertained." He fired his gun at Mewtwo, while simultaneously closing in on him.
"Reflect." With a wave of his hand, Mewtwo called in a shield that broke the bullets as they struck. "Psychic!" The feline Pokemon countered with a strong telekinetic blast that knocked Death of his feet and sent him tumbling through the air. "It's funny… all I wanted in compensation was a worthy opponent to fight." The crashing sound of shattered glass rent the air as Death by Chocolate was hurled through the mall's front doors and into the lobby. "You'll provide me with one, demon, whether you want to or not!"
End of Chapter
Well, I hope you enjoyed what I have written so far. This chapter was mostly DbC vs. Org 13 and Magneto, and next chapter will be mostly DbC versus full-power Mewtwo. I wasn't sure how much extra durability Nobodies are supposed to have compared to humans - Axel & company survive a few mortal wounds here. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask in a review.
Next: Mewtwo's powered himself up to the extreme - can an exhausted Death by Chocolate hold his own against this genetically augmented Pokemon?