Chapter 36: The Unknown Enemies
After a few seconds of flight, I land on the lip of the tunnel entrance, the explosions quieting down behind me only to be replaced with the constant sound lasers shooting from the citadel above. As I get out of my Fire form I looked up at the rough rocky ceiling as it quakes from the lasers from Alpha's battleship striking the citadel. I flinch from a bit of dirt falling down against my face, though it is blown away with a simple breath, leaving me mouth open to point out to myself "I really need to get moving before things get too out of hand." After all, the worst thing that could happen would be for the tunnel to collapse on top of me, considering all the rock that was in the area that would seriously impede my progress.
As I kept moving forward through the tunnel, I turned my head over my shoulder and noticed a door of prismatic light flashing across to seal me in. It symbolized the fact that this was truly the point of no return not just for me, but for the reality bender was well. Only one of us was going to leave this citadel alive, and for the sake of everyone else fighting the good fight out there, it was sure as hell not going to be him. As I clenched my right hand tightly around the handle of my sword, my concentration was suddenly interrupted by an electronic whir and a crackling voice echoing inside of my eardrum.
"Bzzt…Mew…Bzzzttt…Can yo…he…r…Can you hear me?" After establishing a full connection, I recognize the voice as that of Alpha's, who is talking to me even as lasers bombard his ship in the background. My first thought was spoken quickly "Yeah I can hear you, but how are you speaking to me?" I looked around for a miniature device that may have been buzzing about, but as if knowing what I was doing the Commander responds "Don't bother looking kid, the device is resting in the cusp of your right ear at this very moment. Its microscopic, but powerful enough to transmit everything I need to say. I sent it to follow you before the prismatic barrier was broken through."
Admittedly, I was a bit annoyed by Alpha slipping that device on my skin without asking me first, I knew that considering the circumstances he really wouldn't have had a moment to say anything. "Well, while I appreciate you not injecting the device into my bloodstream, don't you think this device is rather pointless considering how things are going currently?" "Not really, because quite honestly Mew, while I have we all have a lot of faith in you right now, on the off-chance you do fail there was something I was wanting to say to you before that happens…" "Its about the whole influx of Heartless that came through the gap you created, isn't it?"
The fact that Alpha stayed silent for a few moments after that inquiry meant that I had was correct in my assumption, and after a fizzled out sigh the Commander spoke to me as I folded my arms and patiently decided to hear him out. "Yeah, personally I was hoping to never have to use that device again after Cackletta's death, and considering the range of which I fired it from it was impossible to put up the restriction barrier…But you understand why I did it, right?" "Of course I do." I respond without any bitterness in my voice. "The situation really left you no other choice but to go to that extreme."
"That's true. It was a good thing that the higher-ups apparently lifted the Star Spirits ban on their ability to interfere with the planet's affairs, because without Geno's assistance I don't think we'd have enough star empowered heroes to prevent some of the Heartless from escaping." "Wait, the higher-ups lifted the ban?" I must admit, that revelation not only took me by surprise, but also brought a layer of concern upon my confident demeanor. "Yeah, that's what I thought too…Its rather foreboding if those higher-ups are getting involved in things before the aftermath." "So, you think something big might happen here today?"
"Something big already has happened Mew, and only you can prevent it from getting worse now." At the end of Alpha's response I heard a major crash followed by a blaring siren in the background, and the sound becomes distorted as Alpha yells out to his men "Activate the frontal shields! Pour all power into the auxiliary drives and return fire! …Sorry Mew, I have to stay focused on the battle now…So all I have left to say is, good luck…From all of us to you." The signal flatlines, leaving me truly alone once more as I unfold my arms and look on ahead at the tunnel with only two thoughts on my mind. One was about the upcoming battle with Mr. Reality, and the other expressed concern over the safety of my friends as they fought bravely out there in the skies above Toad Town.
"…And yet, why do I now feel as though none of us are going to make it through alive…Including myself?" As I questioned that very thought, a slight, temporal-like distortion swept through my body, the origin of that disruption coming from the very end of the tunnel. It was only because of the Time Stone, I felt, that I was able to sense such an anomaly. The ripples continued to happen for a few seconds, increasing in speed along the walls, floor and ceiling until it suddenly breaks off without explanation, leaving me with no other option but to keep moving up the incline until I find an answer to this conundrum.
As I pressed onward, I still kept my sword in hand, since I had this itching feeling that I'd be fighting more than just the reality bender in this temple here today. Considering how much effort the Elemental Overlord put into making sure the outer perimeter never got breeched, I figured that there was likely not much inside that could pose a challenge to intruders. Therefore, Mr. Reality would send enemies my way to wear me down before I reached him. Thus, preservation of energy would be the key to making it through every battle alive. As I thought about the inevitable battles I would face, I decided to try and make a connection between that line of thinking and the distortions I felt just a moment ago.
"They have to be related…" I murmured to myself as I slanted my eyebrows and peered up ahead. I paused, noting in my head that the tremors have stopped now that I had gotten this far into the underside of the citadel. What lied ahead was the beginning of a pristine walkway that lead into the citadel itself, its edges rimmed with a cybernetic, bluish tint. Above the incline and only an inch below the floor above was a foggy, light-blue portal that I knew would not lead me to the temple itself. Though I raised my right eyebrow in suspicion, I moved towards the portal, albeit cautiously. Eventually the tip of my head touched it, which was more then enough for the light to be flushed from my vision and my body to be swept away into nothingness by a powerful vacuum much like when I entered the Ignitor Cave.
All I felt was my descent, and all I saw was some golden, glowing text that was placed against the back of my eyelids as an unfamiliar voice spoke to me. "There were once three beings, each unique in what methods they derived their powers from, whether it be magic, science, or the unknown. At the same time though, they were all bound by their loyalty towards one man, the Dark King. And yet, while they were all loyal to him, the reasons for their loyalty were as different as night and day. One was loyal because he had nothing else in the universe to be connected to, another was loyal because the Dark King made him feel as though he could be more, and another pursued a loyalty above all others…A loyalty derived entirely from unrequited love towards him."
"Those three beings were considered to be the closest to the Dark King save for his second-in-command, and the way they were perceived in relation to the man gave birth to the group name the 'Apocalypse Royale'. Each of the four members of it were given a different title based on the four strongest cards in an entire deck, and they all embraced those titles for their eternal lives. But when the Dark King was sealed away, the three members of that infamous group went their separate ways at first, for though loyalty bonded them their reasons revealed their conflicted interests and made them disdain each other. The man who bore the title of Jack tried to redeem himself, using his talents to carve a peaceful future for the planet of Plit, only to be betrayed by them when the sins of his past came knocking on the front door. The one who was known as the Joker in both title and appearance cared not about what others wished to do to him, for his domain was one that could not be reached unless he wished for you to be there, and he lived his immortal life out in peace until a spark of influence from his long shrouded past bit his mind and made him worry slightly about the trouble his third comrade may have been causing. Thus, he chose to find her and keep an eye on her, not knowing just why he was going through all the trouble when it really wasn't worth his time…"
"The Queen, a witch of undeniably magical prowess, went through a mental breakdown after the rejection of her plea of love towards the man she deeply admired, and through that convulsion of emotions came a wicked mind that even the Dark King would have feared in his time. She threw away all morals in a pursuit of the creation of a new Dark King devoid of any emotions to weaken them, and clung to dark magic to keep her life going despite how much her appearance changed over the decades. Eventually, all three of them joined together, hoping to accomplish new goals through their alliance that they felt would be hard to manage on their own…But eventually, the time would come when they would leave this world forever, their plans foiled one after the other by the heroes of Plit…"
When everything is finally done, the text fades in a golden dust, welcoming a glorious array of light into the world that I rapidly fall through. I end up in a strange, almost mechanical realm surrounded by floating gears, levers and other contraptions. The ground, and by extension the rest of the supposed realm around me is a dark grey sky with green, red and blue mists sprinkled into it to give it a rather eerie feel. While bent over with my hand keeping me up against the ground, I take a moment to take everything into consideration as I shift my head left and right, the process only broken by the clinking of metallic footsteps in ahead of me.
I lifted my head up, preparing my flaming sword in the grasp of my right hand as I take a look at the two beings that are before me. The one of the right I recognize quickly as Dimentio, whose appearance is that of a jester with a two-dimensional face, yellow crescent mouth, while his body colors are a mix of ivory, black and white. The second person wasn't familiar to me though, but I shall describe him anyways. He was a human about six feet in height, though instead of clothing the man was grafted with thin metal sheets all around his body save for the mouth and red eyes. In his right hand is a gigantic blade that was roughly eight feet in length, and the sleek coat on it was enough to tell me that one wrong move and my head would be cleanly cut from my shoulders.
I stood up straight and flipped my sword around in a circle, the flames releasing a quiet, crackling noise as the heat intensified around it. The man with a body covered in steel swings his sword through the air as he positions it beside him, while Dimentio wiggles his fingers around to let the magic flow through the tips. We stared each other down, and since my opponents were unwilling to comment on my appearance it was easy to see that they were likely under Mr. Reality's control. Besting them would prove to be my only way of continuing forward, but I had the feeling that these guys would be easier to handle than Mario and Giga Bowser.
As I do most of the time though, I wanted to let my opponents make the first move, especially since I was combating an unknown individual here. The man on the left attacked first, kicking his right foot against the ground and charging at me in a burst of speed that was only a bit slower than my own. He made his attack obvious, using the girth of his sword in a massive swing aimed at my neck, so I quickly pushed my sword to meet the attack at the end of the path, the cling of his blade against mine dispersing some of the flames surrounding it. As he holds his blade in position, the man takes the momentum that has been put against him and removes his feet from the ground.
He then spins around in the air with his hands held around the handle until he his body is upside-down in the air, at which point the leans his legs backwards a bit to push his weight forward so when he vaults off of his sword he goes forward instead of straight up. Though the loosening of his grip freed me of having to defend myself as his weapon falls to the ground, so I position by stretching my legs out and holding my sword high above my head ready to hit him when his descent puts him in range. But then a glimmer of light coming from below my vision catches me off-guard, and as I lower my head slightly I see a small, glowing and multi-pronged condensed projectile flying straight at me.
The creator was Dimentio, which meant that this take, no matter the size, was not one to be taken lightly. So for now I'd have to hold off on attacking the metal man, and leaping backwards to not only avoid his dropkick but to also cut the projectile with the tip of my sword the moment I land. The man's impact with the ground creates a huge ring of dust, which thankfully didn't reach me before the projectile was in range of my attacks. So while it was settling I puffed my cheeks to hold my breath and closed my eyelids tightly so not even a single speck could get through. It was rather unfortunate that it wasn't rocky dust, otherwise I would've been able to blow it away with a single gesture.
In the mean time, I had to use my ears to prepare against any other attacks, which would honestly only help against the man of metal, since Dimentio's attacks were aerial and silent. Also, with the ground not being made of any rock, mineral or other earth based material I had no way of sensing the vibrations in the ground. "Geez, it really feels like I spend more time explaining the many problems with my battles than I do coming up with solutions around them…" I thought to myself amidst everything else that was going on inside my head. Either way, the next move was made by the metal man, who pulled his sword from the ground with an audible clink.
But the next sound got me worried, since instead of the charge of his footsteps across the ground I instead heard what appeared to be the metal of the blade splitting apart down the middle. The whirring of gears forced me to creak my eyelids open just a bit so I could see what was going on. By this point the dust had settled, which made all of my earlier concerns pointless. However, what was concerning now was the obvious missile launchers tucked into the center of the blade. How he got those in there I would never find out, but as I raised my blade ready to attack the inevitable missiles I was quickly surrounded by a neon-orange box.
A light chuckle made my turn my head around to find Dimentio appearing from a two-dimensional split in the air. Though I was a bit unhinged by his sudden appearance, I pulled myself together and quickly went through the notions inside of my head in order to escape this box and not get hit by the missiles. In this enclosed space I had no way of swinging my sword around, so I need to use my elements to escape. The most obvious option to that problem would also conveniently solve the problem I would have to face afterwards, so with a raise of the left hand I put that plan into moment. With my fist covered in diamond and made unable to flex due to how solid it was, I thrust my it through the wall in front of me.
As if it were made of rice paper, I shattered a small portion of it, the cracks rippling across the rest of the surface until the entire wall collapses onto the ground. I then turn my hand back to normal as the pearly white missiles are launched from the man's sword. After taking one step forward I prepare to swing my sword out to cut each projectile down with precise strikes, hoping to finish quickly enough so that Dimentio couldn't take advantage of my situation. Though as far as the jester was concerned, he already had enough setup to ruin my day. With a snap of his fingers, an explosion goes off in what remained of the box behind me, and though the blast pushes my upper body forward an inch it does no real damage due to how unrestricted it was.
No, the actual damage came from what happened afterwards, since even the slight shift in my position was enough to throw of my ensuing sword swings. Sure, I was able to cut down most of them, but all it takes is for the last one to strike me straight in my unprotected gut mid-swing for my eyes to widen as the realization of failure mixes in with the ensuing explosion that knocks me far back through the air and into the front of a floating gear. The impact vibrates through my left arm, a slight crack being felt in my bones for but a few seconds until I regain consciousness and begin to pull myself from the gear.
The gravitational field keep the object suspended in the air was broken by my impact, but its descent had the pace of a snail. In the meanwhile, I made sure to tighten my grip around my sword, for the man was charging straight at me with his hands held as far behind his back as physically possible with his sword ready to be swung outright in a tall, vertical arch. With a quick shift of my body I avoided the attack, but the gear was cleanly cleaved in two so easily that it was like the man cut metal as a hobby. "Wait, metal cutting…The eyes and missiles…This couldn't be Smit-" In the middle of my surprising revelation, the machine king known as Smithy wastes no time in ditching the weight of his blade and letting it impale on the ground so he can perform a roundhouse kick that interrupts me with a powerful strike to the side of my chest and once again knocks me away.
This time the blow sends me spiraling around towards the ground, but even with a bit of my wind knocked out of me I recover quickly enough to break my movements and spin around so the act of my feet grinding against the ground slows me down before I run into a nearby piston sticking out of the ground. Of course there would be no moments to breathe as Dimentio surrounded me with a bunch of his multi-pronged projectiles, and with an echoing, otherworldly "Ciao!" the snap of fingers commands them all to explode to cage me in the ensuing blasts. But even though my body was covered in mystical energy from the explosions I leapt out, smoking streaking out from my somewhat damaged skin while Smithy greets me in mid-air with his sword ready to strike.
Having grown sick of playing defensively, I decided to go on the attack, my eyebrows arching to display my increased focus in the battle as I swung my sword out to block one attack from Smithy while mentally commanding vines to form from nowhere and lash out to whip hardly against the man's gut. To my surprise, the man didn't flinch in pain, meaning that the act of grafting those metal sheets on his body likely burned out his nerves. "How do you even live more than a day with that type of treatment?" Was something I asked myself as I gracefully arched my body and flew past another of Smithy's attacks, getting out of range for a brief moment and watching as the vines I summoned get cut down.
While the protoplasm from their fibers sprayed across the area and against Smithy's plates, I held my sword diagonally and switched the element surrounding it from fire to electricity, hoping that I could use a magnetic force to pull the metal plates off of his body and reach his more vulnerable body parts. It may have sounded cruel, but when you weigh that type of idea against Mr. Reality's act of reviving the machine king against his will it was easy to rationalize that I was doing the man a favor by trying to end things quickly. Sadly, as the pulse went out in the form of fizzling shockwaves, the sheets didn't even flinch, robbing that idea of any merit.
Still, with a quick redirecting of the target area I reversed the polarity of the sword's handle and Smithy's palm so the two forces would contradict each other and the sword would fly far out of the machine king's viable range. This actually garnered a reaction of shock from the man, and I capitalized on that by returning the flames to my blade and swing a wave of them out horizontally. Smithy is hit by it in the gut, the heat of the flames reaching through the metal sheets and burning the flesh underneath to slowly deal damage to him as he continues to be sent through the air until my attack wears out and he plants his feet against the side of a gigantic nail, a glowing red streak present wear the attack had hit him.
I was ready for the next attack with my sword held high behind my head and the flames swirling around like a tornado, but the jester I had briefly forgotten about has other plans and he promptly appears in front of my body to distract me from Smithy. This was likely done so the machine king would be able to reclaim his sword without my interference, for by the time Dimentio floated back a few feet Smithy was nowhere to be found on the nail far away from here. With my attack already at the ready though, I swung my sword outright in front of me, not even raising my eyebrows in suspicion as I do so and watch the tunnel of whirling flames burn continuously through Dimentio.
Though I hear a realistic scream of agonizing pain through the crackling and roar of my flames, "Dimentio", as I would so aptly come to call him, lifted his right hand up and taunted me with a gentle wave of the fingers before vanishing in a puff of smoke. Realizing I had been tricked so easily, I stopped my attack and turned around, thinking that the jester would be behind me with another attack at the ready, only to find Smithy having already leapt above me with his sword coming down like a mighty guillotine. In fact, with the velocity of the blade's descent it was like I could literally feel the sharpness approaching me a few seconds before it would cleave my head, which only served to increase the speed to which I reacted to the attack.
Something like this had to be handled in more than one step, so I first started things off by removing the flames from my blade and pounding down on the air in front of me, releasing a turbulent burst of wind that I had to brace against to keep myself from being flung away. This very wind rises up and blows against Smithy, slowing his descent with every passing second until the wind actually overwrites the velocity of his fall and brings him to a stop, though that only lasts for a few seconds since the act of stopping the wind takes long enough that the machine king is knocked up a few feet.
Next, I brought the flames back onto my sword and threw it outward like a boomerang, tossing it at such a great distance that Smithy had no chance of predicting how long it would take for it to return back to either me or him. I then chose to combine my powers for a change of pace, as I coated my hands in steel and surrounded them with electricity that was amplified just by being in proximity with this metal. I then flew up and engaged Smithy in close ranged combat, the first punch being thrust out at Smithy's face and immediately blocked by the dull edge of his blade. This was what I was hoping for though, and with a smirk on my face I sent all of the voltage I could through the light crack in the blade so the missile launchers and any other machinery underneath would short-circuit and explode. Unfortunately, as the smoke rising from the slit revealed, the metal coating of the blade itself was durable enough to survive an inner explosion.
With the sword's inner working completely destroyed, I proceeded to take advantage of Smithy's surprise by raising my body up while my left fist was still pressed against his blade and lightly swinging my right fist into the man's face. The burst of electricity was followed up by a few shorter ones as I moved my left hand underneath the sword and swatted it out of range, following up with a flurry of punches that knocks the man further up into the air with each blow until the final uppercut into the jaw knocks hits him hard and sends him up much higher than the prior blows. This also has the benefit of putting him in range of my returning boomerang, but while I was confidently smiling over my supposed victory Dimentio once again saved his partner by appearing behind him and snapping his fingers to create a box around my weapon to contain it and stop its flight once it collides with the front wall.
He then lets my weapon go, seeing as he can't destroy it through conventional means like his usual brand of explosions. I wait for the weapon to fall into the grasp of my awaiting right hand, holding it behind me as my expression sinks into one of annoyance towards the jester for all the times he has been messing up my plans. "Guess Dimentio hasn't been known to be predictable though…" I pointed out to make myself feel a bit better. However, the time for that wasn't now, seeing as Smithy had recovered from my other bros, and after turning his head and begrudgingly nodding at his companion as thanks they both looked down upon me and prepared to strike together.
The jester started things off by waving his hands above his head, creating a flurry of projectiles from the single fingertip that rain down from the sky to make my movements constricted while the machine king charges down and engages me in swordplay, flinging his blade around in various directions to make his attacks less choreographed and thus harder for me to counter. With my hands still braced by metal I swung hard against Smithy's own attacks, keeping my grip intact for as long as I could manage to until the angle from which he swung his blade and obscuring of vision from the explosions of the projectiles around me forced me to call forth the other elements to protect me.
I summoned an incredible thick layer of ice around a small diamond pillar to stall Smithy's blade for four seconds while I bent my head back to get out of the way of his blade the moment it broke through, and then while he was dealing with the recoil of his attack I returned my left hand to normal and bent my fingers downward. Forcing a burst of air from my palm, I knocked Smithy away while swinging my sword upward to puncture through a projectile that I felt was approaching my body from above. It was then that I decided to escape the rain of projectiles Dimentio continued to send my way, and after spinning around and using the tip of my fingers to unleash a net of electricity to dispel most of them I charged through the smoke left behind by the explosion and made it out without any difficulty.
Of course, because of that Dimentio stopped his previous bombardment and went on to casually split himself in two, both bodies grazing through the air in different directions and preparing their hands to fire singular attacks that would both be focused towards me alone. "I guess he was worried about damaging Smithy…" I thought to myself as I glanced behind my shoulder and saw one projectile coming from above while another was fired from the left side of my body. I raised above them both obviously, and was once against greeted by the machine king, who instead of attempting to slice me in two rammed into me shoulder first while keeping his blade at the ready in the grasp of both hands below his waist.
He waits until he smashes my body against a floating gear before letting go, the recoil from my impact pushing him back a few feet but still giving him enough range to let off a powerful swing. I only had two seconds, but that was plenty of time to take my sword out horizontally and block the brunt of his attack. The gear wasn't so lucky though, as for whatever reason Smithy's attack cut the entire thing in half, the splitting object crashing to the ground rather quickly while my eyes are left widened in both shock and fear. During this period of inactivity though the jester hit me with two projectiles from afar, causing a rather seizure-like feeling to coarse through my body for a brief second as the damage takes hold.
When I've recovered from that with a shake of my head I saw Smithy moving his arms around in a circular motion near the right side of his body, preparing to come around for another slash as he spun his body around to follow through on his limbs movements. I block his attack by holding my sword horizontally once more, the tip pointed to the left as I grunt while pooling most of my strength into keeping Smithy from breaking my defense, a valiant effort that actually proves worthwhile as after a few seconds of holding him back I increase my own strength to its maximum level and push down against the blade hard enough to break his attack and force him to spin back around until his body is straight up.
Having now been stunned by my efforts, I flare up my aura and charge at him, swinging at his vulnerable body with all of my might and using the tip of my flaming sword to cut through the metal sheets and strike at the flesh underneath. After ten slashes that I made certain would result in the heat from my blade seeping through to the organs underneath the layers of flesh and deteriorated muscles, I end off my barrage and pull my sword back, and Smithy's eyes begin to leak blood through the ducts while his body sinks to the ground defeated. That just left Dimentio for me to deal with, and the jester quickly appears around me in a circle of clones.
Each one snaps their fingers, trapping me in a many boxes of the same size, though the angles of which they were positioned varied ever so slightly. With another snap of the fingers they intended to consume me in an array of explosions that would surely leave me weakened. I couldn't risk the damage though when I need to be in a prime condition for Mr. Reality, so after rationalizing that only the box created by the original would be able to resist what I was about to do. After holding the sword front and center in relation to my body I thrust it downward, poking the ground with the tip of the blade and unleashing a furious swarm of flaming slashes all throughout the vicinity of the boxes I was trapped in.
The slashes break through rather quickly, spreading out and hitting all the Dimentios around me, and in a surprise twist all of them were clones meant to wear me down. The real one, on the other hand, was floating high above in the air and preparing a massive projectile that would finish me off while I was dazed by the explosions from the many boxes. Seeing as the first part of his attack plan failed, Dimentio dispersed the bomb above his head and was about ready to snap his fingers to flip himself into a two-dimensional plane to reappear somewhere else, but I was about to have none of that.
With a flick of my left wrist I shot many vines out ala Spider-Man and made certain that they would quickly rise up and wrap themselves around Dimentio's body, preventing him from escaping and giving me a perfectly latching point to thrust myself upward. I disconnected the bottom of the vines from my wrists and with the momentum at the ready I held my sword at the ready and with one decisive swing I cut across the center of Dimentio's body through the vines. Thankfully, this Dimentio was the real deal, as evidence by the lack of vanishing as my attack finished going through his body. As a being of unknown origin, he did not spill any blood from his body as he fell to the ground beside Smithy.
I descended onto the ground at the center point between both beings, and as a light mist rises from their figures they both lift their heads up and say to me in a tone of weak yet genuine gratitude "Thank you for this…" And their bodies fade away into nothingness once more, and in time the realm itself begin to deteriorate into the darkness, leaving me both confused and blinded by this string of events as I feel my body descending against my will back towards the citadel. I had taken a bit of damage from that battle, but nothing I wouldn't recover from by the time I reached Mr. Reality. If anything, that battle was just a prelude of what was to come, and that I should expect anyone to be revived by the reality bender to be sent into combat against me…Even the Genesis Samurais…
Next Time: The Boy Seeking Vengeance