With Meta Knight on board, our ship had a captain. It also had a name: The Halberd. Bentley informed me that a halberd is one of those pole-axe hybrids medieval guards have. It's a nice weapon, and a nice name.

In fact, everything was going pretty well at this point. I had a few old friends by my side, and was making new ones every day. Of course, the unfortunate few deaths hung over us – Zeke, for instance, constantly spoke highly of V. I myself was shaken when I heard about Clockwerk. His presence here made everything stranger; and darker. Having my parents' killer so close was unnerving to say the least. Yes, they assured me he had died, but I thought that too once. And I was proven wrong.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Back then, the mood on the ship was convivial, with people chatting and joking freely, forgetting more and more our ludicrous situation. Little did I suspect that things were about to go downhill. It's hard to say when, exactly, but the twelfth day is a good guess.

That was the day he arrived.


No breeze blew through a loud, terrifying, and geometric land. It was a land which, quite frankly, resembled hell. It was comprised of neat cubes of unnatural material, making the region odd, but still horrifying. Cubic fires blazed on cubic ground, and cubic monstrosities crawled, hopped and floated around the cubic landscape.

A girl in her teens explored this landscape, seemingly unaffected by its fearsome appearance. Her brown hair was arranged in a pair of sloping bangs to the front and a long, braided ponytail to the back. Her outfit consisted of a dark pink top and slacks which covered her legs just past the knee, in the same colour.

She crested a hill to see a group of six piggish humanoids with rotting flesh. Perhaps on a different day she would have screamed. But today, it was pointless to. She had screamed at the huge, jellyfish-like ghost which spat fireballs. She had yelped at the cubic mass of moving lava. She had whimpered slightly at the pillar of fire which had in turn projected gouts of flame. At this point, she was beyond such reactions. Zombie pigmen were positively fluffy.

Next to her, her team-mate appeared in a implosion of white mist; an adult woman, also of Asian descent. She wore black jeans and a dark tank top. Her skin was unnaturally pale, most likely due to the ice present in her body, most evidently on her hands. She grimaced at the creatures Ty Lee was looking at. "Disgusting."

"Yeah," agreed Ty Lee, "but at least they're not on fire." Her wide grey eyes lit up with a sudden realization. "So I can finally show you how I fight!"

Lucy Kuo gave Ty Lee a worried smile. "You don't have to do that."

"But you two took care of everything else!" protested Ty Lee. "I don't want you thinking I'm just a pretty face. I'll be quick!" She jumped off the slight incline they stood on and began flipping towards the pigmen.

Kuo yelled, "No, I mean, you don't have to do that because they don't look hostile!" but Ty Lee was already upon the first pigman. With an admitted degree of disgust, she struck the pigman's arms with her fingers. The pigman's dropped the gold sword it was holding as its arms went limp, and it squealed in confusion. Ty Lee kicked its legs out from under it and flipped over another, since they had already begun to counter-attack. Ty Lee ducked, dodged and dived through them, striking them as she went.

She was holding her own admirably when Kuo teleported beside her and blasted the pigmen away with a wave of icy wind. "Heyyyy," complained Ty Lee sadly. "I was doing well!"

"You were," admitted Kuo, "but I think that's enough of a demonstration." She froze the pigmen in a solid block of ice. Ty Lee muttered something about Waterbenders never being any fun.

From nearby, someone cleared their throat meaningfully. The two looked up. The final member of their team was striding up slowly. He was a figure of black. His cloak dragged along the charred ground. Under his hood, an angular, featureless mask glared out fearlessly at his surroundings. Through his black robes, it was possible to catch glimpses of the dark gray armour he wore.

"You really think that's going to hold them?" he asked. "Because I'd say it has as much chance as an ice sculpture in Hell."

"Haha," laughed Kuo flatly. "Hilarious, Revan."

"It's apt." He shunted an arm and the frozen pigmen flew forward as one. Revan pushed them off a cliff and into the ocean of lava which was omnipresent in the Nether. Ty Lee heard a few squeal in pain, and she winced.

Revan raised an arm effortlessly and two of the pigmen's golden swords rose from the ground and floated towards them. He took one in each hand and examined them for a time. "Golden swords," he said. "What idiot uses a golden sword?"

"Pigmen do, apparently," answered Ty Lee with a smile.

Revan ignored her. "With my lightsabres gone, I haven't much options, have I?" he mused. He swung the two swords in symmetrical circles with one hand each, earning an impressed gasp from Ty Lee and a raised eyebrow from Kuo.

The latter teleported up to him and leaned into his ear. "I'm still concerned with having a minor somewhere so dangerous."

"Never underestimate the value of having a skilled fourteen year old girl," he replied. "Now, let's continue. Tai Lung's not going to crush himself."


War Machine followed the smell of burning metal and bruised ego to find his best friend, Tony Stark, secreted in one of the smaller rooms on the ship. Tony's armour was scattered all over the room and on various surfaces, alongside a collection of power tools. He was currently staring at his helmet. It was isolated from the suit, but plugged into the Arc Reactor on Tony's chest. The blue eyes hummed innocently.

"There you are!" exclaimed Rhodes, flipping up his face-plate to better talk to Tony. Tony smiled at him.

"Rhodey! Just the man I wanted to see. Do me a favour and punch that helmet really hard. Right at the top there."

Rhodes gave him a sceptical look. "What's wrong? Is it winning the staring contest?"

"Ahaha," laughed Tony drily. "Just do it, please."

Rhodes shrugged and complied. His fist bounced off the top of the helmet, and the eyes flickered. They dimmed to a lifeless grey, and then slowly returned to blue.

Tony grunted. "Damn. Knew that would happen."

It was War Machine's turn to be dry. "Wow. Fascinating. Listen, Tony, this isn't like you. There's drinks and conversation out there, and you're in here fiddling with your helmet."

Tony scowled. "You're a soldier. You know the importance of maintaining your equipment."

War Machine put a fraternal arm around Tony's shoulder. "Yes, I am. Whereas you're a drunken playboy who's at his most comfortable when chatting to someone with a scotch in hand."

Tony nodded thoughtfully. "Your argument is pretty unshakable. And you should have mentioned the scotch earlier."

"Let me change out of this armour, and then I'll introduce you to some of the guys. In particular, there's this guy in a hat who's dying for an autograph..."

Tony and Rhodes left the room shortly afterwards. The helmet's eyes watched them go.


It had taken a lot of ice powers, Force Stunning, and various acrobatic manoeuvres, but Kuo, Revan and Ty Lee had traversed the Nether successfully. They climbed one final hill to see the roof of a huge fortress. The fortress was comprised of bricks of a very dark mauve, and it stretched out over a deep pit.

"Look," said Kuo quietly. "I think that's him."

"He seems preoccupied," noted Revan. "Excellent. We can launch a sneak attack."

The three examined the grey figure who was meditating on the fortress' roof. His crossed legs were clad in purple slacks with a thick black belt. He wore no other clothes, which made Ty Lee's revelation as to the nature of his species occur with all the more celerity.

"Oh wow!" she yelled. "He's a giant cat!"

One of the snow leopard's ears twitched, and his golden eyes opened, focusing on the origin of the noise. He grinned maliciously, unfurling himself and standing up.

"Ty Lee," said Revan with more patience than he thought was deserved, "next time you want to yell something, consider very carefully whether your contribution is sufficiently important. Then, regardless of your judgement, keep your damn mouth shut or else I will use my space-wizard powers to close your oesophagus. Understood?"

"Yes, Mr Revan," said Ty Lee, eyes cast down.

Kuo had already leaped into action, teleporting closer to Tai Lung. She fired spikes of ice at him. He easily dodged her projectiles, catching the last one, and jumped towards her. She teleported behind him and tried freezing him. Tai Lung spun on his heel and put his momentum behind the ice spike he was holding, flinging it at Kuo. It hit her blunt end first, but this was enough to startle her and break her concentration. When she looked back to her opponent, Tai Lung had crossed the distance between them. He jabbed her torso with his index finger, and Kuo dropped. Tai Lung picked her up in one hand and threw her easily back towards Revan.

Kuo saw Ty Lee flip over her as she flew away from Tai Lung. Ty Lee stood before the leopard in a defensive stance.

"Hello there. Are you Tai Lung?" asked the teen. She was nervous, but her cheerful nature was hard to repress.

Tai Lung scoffed. "Had only your friend been so polite! Yes, I am. A pleasure to meet you."

"Same here! My name's Ty Lee." Her grin faded somewhat. "I guess we have to fight now."

He nodded. "So it would seem. Rest assured it will be over quickly."

"I don't really think so."

Tai Lung shot forward suddenly. Ty Lee straightened her legs, angling her body downwards, and flung herself forward by her fingertips, gliding under Tai Lung's legs. She flipped to her feet behind him.

Tai Lung turned slowly, impressed. "Interesting," he smirked. "Perhaps I'll get some enjoyment from this battle after all."

Revan was approaching slowly, cautious of their powerful opponent. His two swords caught the light of the several nearby fires. He was going to go straight to Tai Lung, but a voice called to him.

"Revan!" cried Kuo from where she had fallen. The Jedi changed direction and strode up to her, his black figure towering over her.

"I... I can't move!" she said, panic causing her voice to quiver uncontrollably. "That thing is going to kill us all!"

Revan tilted his head uncertainly. "That's kind of a defeatist attitude to take, don't you think?"

As Kuo urgently outlined a course of action, Ty Lee and Tai Lung continued to do battle, dancing in and out of each other's range.

"You're marvellously talented," complimented Tai Lung.

"Thanks!" said Ty Lee, smiling widely.

"For an amateur, that is," clarified the leopard. "You're not going to win."

"Oh," said Ty Lee. She ducked under a punch he threw and backflipped away from him. "Still, thanks. You're really awesome!"

Tai Lung laughed appreciatively as the two ran up a natural wall. "Thank you. I know."

Suddenly, a golden sword stabbed Tai Lung the back of the shoulder, thrown with unnatural accuracy. He lost his balance and fell towards the fortress' roof, but landed smartly. He turned and roared at Revan, who was standing defiantly nearby.

"That was mean!" protested Ty Lee, who was clinging to the wall. She narrowed her eyes, noticing his empty hands. "Hold on, where's your other sword?"

Revan ignored her, being too focused on the enraged snow leopard that was running on all fours towards him. Revan tried pushing Tai Lung away with the Force. Tai Lung dug his claws into the purple brick of the fortress, and when Revan ran out of mental stamina, Tai Lung sprung forward and drove a finger into Revan's stomach. The Jedi felt his muscles tense, and he fell backward.

Tai Lung was going to continue fighting Revan when Ty Lee landed on his head in a handstand. He grinned up at her evilly and tried to grab her, but she leaped away. He followed her at speed.

Revan watched on as Ty Lee and Tai Lung bounced around the hellish landscape, each dodging the other's blows. Neither could get close enough to land a hit.

Revan struggled to move himself, but whatever Tai Lung had done to him, it was effective. Revan strained his muscles for a few moments before changing tact. He focused and easily lifted himself into a standing position with the Force. He released his grip and promptly fell over again.

Admitting to himself at being vertical wasn't that much of a priority, Revan focused his concentration elsewhere. He found the nearest block that was on fire, lifted it out of the ground, looked towards where Tai Lung was about to jump, and flung it.

Tai Lung saw a flaming chunk of hell pass just in front of his face, and was understandably surprised. He adjusted his trajectory to dodge it and landed awkwardly on the roof of the Nether fortress. He turned around just in time to see Ty Lee jab a finger into his unharmed shoulder and backflip away.

Tai Lung lost feeling in his arm, and found himself unable to move it. "Haha, impressive!" he laughed. "You're just full of surprises, aren't you?"

He ran after her, tucking his now useless arm behind his back. He easily caught up to Ty Lee.

Meanwhile, Revan pushed himself slowly toward the conflict. He threw a few more blocks haphazardly towards the two, hoping more to cause a diversion than actually strike Tai Lung.

Ty Lee was so focused on avoiding the angry snow leopard tailing her that she failed to notice a block speeding towards her until it was almost too late. She caught sight of something out of the corner of her eye, turned, yelped, and ducked under the block, which passed just above her nose.

"Hey! Watch it!" she yelled to Revan.

A variety of witty retorts appeared in Revan's head. He chose one of the coarser ones.

Ty Lee turned her attention back to Tai Lung. Her eyes widened when she saw he was almost right next to her. He went with an underhanded swing, his fist curving up towards her. Ty Lee deftly jumped towards him, grabbed his wrist, and used the momentum of his arm to propel herself upwards. She landed, hands first, on his left shoulder. She used one hand to disable this arm as well, which caused her to fall off of him and on to the mauve brick below.

Tai Lung experimentally tried moving both arms, and let out what sounded like an amused sigh. He then grabbed Ty Lee's leg with his toes, threw her upwards, jumped, spun in midair, and kicked her heavily in the stomach. The circus girl bounced away on the rough roof of the fortress.

"You call this an impediment?" asked Tai Lung mockingly, using his head to indicate his two defunct arms. "I call this training."

Ty Lee backed up on her hands and feet. She gasped when her hand met empty air. She glanced over her shoulder and saw that instead of ground there was a several storey fall behind her. Ty Lee couldn't see the bottom, her vision being blocked by dark fog. She turned her head back and smiled at the snow leopard. "Uh… truce?"

Tai Lung chuckled. "Cute. But regrettably I don't think I can accept."

Ty Lee saw that behind Tai Lung, Revan was amassing a large wall of blocks. He lifted his head as though with an invisible string and nodded awkwardly to Ty Lee. She looked up to Tai Lung, still approaching her slowly, and commented "You're awfully friendly for someone about to kill me!"

"I appreciate a good battle," he replied. "It's truly a shame I have to do this."

"My thoughts exactly," smiled Ty Lee sadly. She threw herself towards Tai Lung and stabbed a finger into the side of both of his legs. As he fell down, Ty Lee rolled away from him.

Stubbornly, Tai Lung twisted his shoulders around so that he was facing Ty Lee again. "No limbs? No problem!" he shouted.

He started making determined but slow progress toward her using only his torso. He didn't get far before he was shunted off the fortress by Revan's wall of blocks. His eyes locked with Ty Lee's as he plummeted down, until he fell out of sight.

Ty Lee stood and ran over to Revan. "You alright?"

"Yes," said Revan bluntly. "I'm fine. Nothing wrong here. I'm just dandy."

"Oh, okay. I thought I might have to un-paralyze you, but I guess not." Ty Lee's smile was so innocent he honestly wasn't sure if she was returning his sarcasm or was taking what he had just said at face value. Regardless, he sighed and said "Fix me, Ty Lee."

"Sure!"

##

Meta Knight stood proudly at the helm of his vessel. He was glad that despite the strange situation, he was still in control. He was still captain.

He turned to see a large crowd had assembled in the bridge, a room reserved strictly for the important running of the ship, and were chatting casually as though waiting for entertainment. He was about to demand an answer when what they were waiting for became clear.

In the centre of the room, at a point the crowd had gathered around, two awkwardly entangled figures burst into being – a cloaked man, and a young girl pulling the muscles of his arm.

"Oh," said Ty Lee. "Hi!"

"Master!" cried HK-47, as excited as a droid could be. He pushed through the crowd and stood by Revan.

"I take it this person is your original owner?" postulated Clank from within the crowd.

"Answer: That is correct," answered HK. "And may I add I am most pleased to see him!"

"Good to see you too, HK," greeted Revan. "Now help your Master stand up."

"So you two know each other?" asked Ty Lee. "That means that I should…" She trailed off as she scanned the crowd. "Hey!" she said, spotting Aang. "Hi, Mr Avatar sir!"

Aang blinked in surprise, but returned her smile. "Hey, Ty Lee."

"Always nicer when people know each other," remarked Sly. "But I have to point out that there's only two of you…" Everyone assembled knew what that implied.

"A woman named Kuo," said Revan, as he leaned on HK-47. "...Fell into some lava."

"Ouch," grimaced Sly. Cole's eyes widened, then narrowed.

"Come on, Ty Lee," snapped Revan. "I'd like to walk some time this month. And I'd prefer to get myself back in shape in private."

HK-47 dragged Revan out of the room, Ty Lee following behind him.

"I wonder what happened to Tai Lung," she said. "I hope he's okay."

Revan rolled his eyes. "I'm sure he's just fine," he replied sarcastically.


It was a few minutes earlier. Scar and Loki sat on the bottom blocks of the obsidian portal, staring dismally into the sea of lava. Walls enclosed them on three sides, and the lava on the fourth, making exploration impossible. They would have re-entered the portal, had a horrific flying monster not spat a fireball at it, deactivating it. After cowering and waiting for it to leave, the two deceitful princes found themselves at a loss.

"This is not an improvement," muttered Scar.

"Indeed."

"It's too hot," he complained.

"That it is."

"And such horrifying fauna!"

"You won't find an argument from me."

"Even the space station full of corpses was more fun."

"I fear what you say is undeniably true."

Scar sighed. He wished for something to break up the monotony. His wish was abruptly granted when a huge grey blur flew from above and slammed into the ground just in front of them. Scar scrambled behind Loki, who thrust his broken staff in front of his own torso protectively. When the lump remained still, the two relaxed.

Scar approached it and sniffed it cautiously. "I think he's dead."

Loki looked the mass over. "Ugly beast, isn't he?" he remarked, pulling out the golden sword embedded in its shoulder.

"Who are you calling ugly?" demanded the lump.

Loki started, dropping the sword. "You said it was dead!"

"I said I thought it was dead!" said Scar, backing up quickly.

Tai Lung flipped himself over with much difficulty. He glared at the two princes. "A little help?"

"What... seems to be the problem?" asked Loki, as politely as he could.

"Paralyzation. I need you to pop me back into place."

"Oh," said Loki, "of course." He turned to Scar. "After you."

"What? Oh, no. You're the one with thumbs, as you're so fond of reminding me. You do it."

"Someone do it," growled Tai Lung, "or I will kill you, very slowly and with great difficulty. It won't be fun for anyone."

"Sounds terrifying," said Loki. "We have no use for a brute such as yourself. Come, Scar." Loki turned on his heel, as though there was another place he could conceivably walk to.

"Fine!" said Tai Lung. "Abandon me here! Just like everyone else would."

Something in Tai Lung's tone made Scar pause. "Abandon you, hmm?"

"Yes."

"But, shouldn't someone – say, your father – put a stop to such things?" asked Scar pointedly.

"I have no father!" snarled Tai Lung. "And the man who served as my father failed me."

Scar looked to Loki. Loki rolled his eyes and turned back to Tai Lung.

"Very well. We'll help. But I hope you like this realm, because we can't leave it."

"How did you get here?"

Scar nodded to the portal. "It broke when fire touched it. Perhaps more fire would re-activate it, but we can't test that, can we?"

"Why not?" asked Tai Lung.

Scar and Loki shared a glance. "We have no fire," Loki explained, as though speaking to a dull child.

"There's a whole ocean of lava right there," pointed out the leopard.

"But... we... what?!" coughed Scar.

"Un-paralyze me, and I can just pick up the lava and fix the portal."

"Pick up," said Scar.

"The lava," said Loki.

"Yes. Pick up the lava."

Again, the princes shared a look.

"Impossible," said Scar.

"Undoubtedly," agreed Loki.

And with that they set to work helping their new friend.


Friendship amongst kindred spirits is something that really eases one's soul. But not quite as much as being inundated with reviews for a story you spent months writing.