Author's Note: Hey again! This chapter came out later than expected but I'm hoping the next one will get posted before July. Before the chapter starts, we hit 30 favorites for SWOL! Thank you to Kurama The Platinum Zoroark, oyuki kita 540, brice51297, FairyTalePrincess16, TegamiBachi25, Toy2711, Nahim03, Shadowmwape 'TetraKarne, ZenGreatGamer, esonic1, and Reaper of Tales.

Yeah, it turns out that I didn't do a shout out for when SWOL hit 25 favorites. If anyone doesn't want to be mentioned, just send a PM and I'll edit it.

Review Responses:

Elysium: I intended Clarence to be a stand-in for the Mii Swordfighter but looking back, maybe my description wasn't too accurate. Funnily enough, Sophia was a possible name I thought for Cannon Girl before I said screw it and asked for suggestions.

Chummy Joe: A guy changing appearance based on armor sounds cool but I don't think the skin of the Hero affects the moves so that would be kinda pointless. Unless the alt chosen affects the spells that the Hero can cast which would be interesting. I'm just waiting for the Hero to come out before deciding on anything concrete.

Chapter 24: Call Clarence Sword Bro

"Annoying little eggs!" I shouted, batting away a Mr. Game & Watch with the Steel Diver. We were in Console City, trying to clear out the Puppet Fighters.

To try and be more efficient, we split into pairs of two. Clarence and I were one team while Piranha Plant and Crazy were the other team.

I fired a torpedo at Mr. G&W, blowing it away. Only for another to come from above, slamming a key down. I smoke dashed away to dodge, but the one I shot came back, hitting me with a chair.

Naturally, I went down from the blow. Clarence jumped over me, slashing at the Mr. G&W to knock it away before reaching behind him. He threw a glowing yellow shuriken, which landed squarely on the 2D character's head. The fighter burst apart and Clarence moved onto the next Game & Watch that came his way.

The second one dashed towards him but before it could hit him with a match stick, Clarence just hit it away with his hand. The fighter got back to its feet in time for a torpedo to hit it. After bursting apart in smoke, the Spirit was released.

"Since when did you get shurikens?" I asked. Clarence captured the Spirit using a Joycon before answering my question.

"I always had them. I just never used them until now." He gave me a dry look before continuing down the street we were on.

"If you always had them, then why didn't you use them earlier?"

"Why would I use them?"

"Because," I answered, using my jacket to cover part of my face, "shurikens are cool. You could be like a ninja."

Clarence stopped and turned to me, "Would you have liked me to use those shurikens against the giant fire-breathing turtle with spikes? Because I can assure you that those don't do much damage."

I thought back to Giga Bowser that we fought at the Molten Fortress. Clarence throwing something as puny as a shuriken would not have done much against something as big as Giga Bowser. Maybe give him a paper cut at worst. At best, it would just tickle. "I guess not."

A thought struck my mind, "Hey Clarence? You had always had the shurikens from the beginning? They're not items?"

He sighed as he turned to keep walking, "Yes, I thought I made that perfectly clear. It apparently comes with the equipment. Why are you asking?"

"Well, the thing is," I said, falling into step behind Clarence, "I can't do that."

"I do not see why that is relevant."

"I was just thinking. I have to rely on items all the time to fight. Sure, I can punch and kick but those don't do much damage," I kicked the ground as I spoke. "Meanwhile, if you lose your sword, you can just throw shurikens."

"Losing my sword is not an issue," Clarence said.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"To begin with, the shuriken is not my only projectile." He pulled a metal ring from his pocket and threw it. The ring flew, slowing as it did before stopping and disappearing. "I have chakrams as well as the Gale Strike. Besides, if I lose my sword, I can recall it."

My eyes narrowed as I asked, "What do you mean recall? It's a sword, not a dog."

Clarence shook his head as he chucked the sword down the street. I watched the sword as it flew until it clanged onto the ground. "Okay, so you can throw a sword. Is it going to fly to you or just grow legs and walk?"

Ignoring me, the swordsman held his hand out. A moment passed as a light began to glow from his hand. The light stretched itself out and faded, revealing Clarence's sword. He gave a practice swing before looking at me, "I'd say this is how I recall a sword."

"Showoff," I muttered beneath my breath. "I wish I could do that."

"Aren't you the one with about two billion weapons at your disposal?" Clarence said. "I believe that more than makes up for not being able to be recalled."

"I only have, like, four items. And one of them isn't even a weapon." I pulled out the Special Flag. "Actually, I'm not even sure what it does."

Clarence nabbed the item from my hands. "If you're so curious, then why didn't you ask Crazy? This seems somewhat important."

"I picked it up from a weird temple." I shuddered a bit at the thought of what I went through there. The donkeys were horrible.

He turned to me, eyes narrowed, "Why would there be a temple here?"

"How's that odd? The world we're on is a melting pot of all different kinds of worlds. It makes sense for there to be a temple."

"What did you find in there?"

"Weren't you paying attention earlier?" I glared a bit at the knight. "I told you guys about it. Bunch of stuff about other stuff. Toadette would send the pictures and stuff to Crazy later."

Clarence frowned, "I still have trouble understanding how one can simply send images from vast distances to another."

"Stretch those legs!"

"Huh?" I narrowed my eyes, turning to Clarence. "Did you say something?"

"Are you talking about the stretching comment?" Clarence brandished his sword and settled into a fighting stance. "If so, then it would have come from them."

I turned my head to down in the direction he pointed at, yelping at what I saw. Four people were running at us, all identical. All of them had white, pale skin, wore yoga pants and tops.

One of them, wearing a blue top, threw a ball up and spiked it, volleyball style at us.

I shielded against the attack. The ball bounced off, and put the shield down. A second fighter jumped slapped the ball, spiking it into my forehead.

Recoiling, I pulled the first item I touched in my inventory. Checking quickly, it was a Beehive. I tossed it at the feet of Yoga Person who spiked the ball. The hive shattered and a dark cloud, made of thousands of tiny, flying insects, rose from the remains..

"Bees! Attack my foes and make them suffeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeer!" I shouted, raising my arms to the sky as the cloud of bees began to sting and chase the Puppet Fighter.

"By the Divine! What are you doing!" Clarence shouted as he gave a flurry of stabs to another Yoga Person in green.

"Commanding the bees." I shot the first Yoga Person away with a torpedo as I watched the bees attack the Puppet Fighter. The Yoga Person tried to spike another ball but I fired another torpedo into the ball, knocking the ball into them.

Turning my attention to the two fighters that Clarence were busy dealing with, I fired a torpedo at both Puppet Fighters. The torpedoes missed and the one I shot earlier snuck up behind me.

Smoke dashing back, I landed on the other side of the Yoga Person. Taking a moment, I landed a kick on their back, knocking them towards Clarence. "Incoming!"

Readying his sword, Clarence spun, swinging his sword in a circle and slashing at the three surrounding him. "Hero's Spin!"

The three were knocked away and burst into smoke. The fighters dropped nothing.

"Hero's Spin? Really, Clarence?" I asked the knight.

"What? Do you have an issue with the name? I'm not the one who came up with the name."

"No. It's just," I thought back to The Legend of Zelda. "That move is just not that original."

"Shut up."

"Salute the Sun!" A ball of sunlight flew into Clarence. Turning, I saw the Yoga Person from earlier, probably the one I had the bees attack. I fired another torpedo as the fighter dodged and ran towards me.

I chucked the gun, aiming for the fighter's head. Yoga Person leapt over, trying to land on me with a stomp.

Timing my shield, I blocked. As the fighter landed, I pulled out the Fire Flower and let out a burst of fire into Yoga Person's face. As the Puppet Fighter backpedaled, I followed, keeping the fire blowing.

Quickly, the Puppet Fighter succumbed to the flames, releasing the Spirit and dropped a new item.

In terms of shape, the new item looked like a sword. Otherwise, there was not many similarities. There was a metal handle, and the hilt was a brown cube, made of the same metal. There blade was made of fireballs, five in total, that were connected with about a centimeter of air between each.

Item Acquired:
Fire Bar

"Finally, a sword." I looked the item over again. "Well, I guess something that's like a sword. What do you think Clarence?"

"I think that I'm starting to hate yoga. What did I even get hit with?" I captured the Spirit before helping the knight back to his feet. The surprise attack had only stunned him.

"The energy of a healthy body?" I joked. Clarence began to comment, when piano music began to play. "By burrito's name, what's that?"

Clarence dug around in his pockets, whipping out his Joycon. With a click of a button, the music stopped and Crazy's voice came out, "Finally! I was wondering if you didn't know how this worked."

"That's also a phone?" I said, dumbfounded.

Ignoring me, Clarence spoke into the bottom, "Crazy, you gave me a tutorial on how to operate the communication part, I wouldn't forget it. What do you need?"

"I am 80% sure that it's not supposed to also be a phone."

"Piranha Plant and I found another Dojo. We could stay there tonight." Crazy paused, then spoke up again. "Oh, and get ready to work until your muscles liquify."

"I am so confused right now." The Joycon let out a beep. "Did she just hang up? Why are our muscles going to liquify? Why is that also a phone? Why was that so random?"

Tucking the controller away, Clarence answered, "While we were waiting on you, Crazy modified the Joycon I had to be able to communicate with her part of the Switch. I'm guessing that they didn't fight the Puppet Fighter protecting the Dojo so maybe that's why."

"Next question: did she give us directions?"

"No. We're just going to have to keep walking."

We decided to head down the road we were already on and hope that we would find Crazy. Sadly, we were out of conversation topics.

Clarence mumbled something, making my head shoot up.

"I'm sorry, what?"

Clarence rolled his eyes, "Never mind. Just forget about."

A lightbulb went off in my head. "Oh yeah! Clarence, since I finally got a sword, or, well, I guess something like a sword, do you mind giving me some lessons?"

"Why? You have been doing fine without knowing how to properly wield a sword so far."

"Well, I guess. But it would be nice to have a better idea on how to use a sword." I pulled out the Fire Bar, swinging it around. "Maybe I can do all that stuff that you can do."

"What do you mean by stuff?"

"Y'know, like that Hero Spin move that you used earlier."

He glared at me, "Just stick to commanding the bees."

"Are you just being lazy?" I questioned.

Clarence spun to glare at me, when he got launched away. The swordsman was thrown into a wall as I gave the Puppet Fighter the stink eye. "You egg muffins are really rude. It's polite manners to wait until someone is finished talking."

The Puppet Fighter was a tanned man with a black tank top, green shorts, and green boxing gloves. I'm guessing he's a boxer.

Boxer Man took a swing at me, which I blocked with a shield. I swung back with the Fire Bar, the fireball struck him in the forehead and sent him back. However, the Boxer Man just bounced to his feet and dashed back to me.

"Oh no," I muttered. Boxer Man was too quick for my tastes, landing a jab to my gut before I could react. Hitting the ground, I dropped a Beehive and pulled out the Steel Diver as I went into a roll.

The Puppet Fighter dashed after me, trying to get more hits in. I aimed carefully and fired a torpedo at the Beehive. In a small explosion, the hive was destroyed and a swarm of bees rose up at the boxer's feet.

Then the bees turned their attention to me.

"What? No! You're supposed to go after him!" I clicked my tongue as the swarm moved to me. I fired a torpedo at the boxer before moving to run from the bees.

After taking several steps, the bees descended upon me. The insects started stinging me wherever my skin was exposed, my hands, my neck, my face, my eyes. I shut my eyes and tried to shield my face from the swarm. My jacket managed to keep the swarm from stinging body, at least until some of the bees crawled up my sleeves.

Throwing myself to the ground, I rolled on the concrete to kill the ones that had gotten into my clothes. I flailed, trying to swat the swarm away as they kept stinging. Doing that seemed to have worked, as the swarm soon dispersed.

Stumbling back to my feet, I did a quick body check. No swelling, no bee corpses. Right, video game logic.

That thought went through my head the same moment a green glove smashed into it. The hit floored me again, and I slid away.

Boxer Man ran after me, lunging forward with his fist prepared to hit, a spike ball hit him in the side as a familiar plant ran into view.

The Puppet Fighter flew through the air when I heard Crazy's Staff ring out, the shot piercing the airborne target.

"Little Mac, huh?" Crazy walked up from behind, her Staff slung over her shoulder. "Should be fairly simple. Piranha Plant! Stick to projectiles!"

"Little Mac?" I managed to groan out.

"Hey Nathaniel." She finally acknowledged that I was on the ground, nudging me with a toe. "Give us three minutes before we get to healing you and Clarence."

Crazy ran out of my line of sight, firing her Staff several more times. Meanwhile, I managed to flip myself onto my back, staring at the sky. "Crazy and Plant probably have this taken care of, right?"

"Why are you being incredibly lazy right now?"

"I just got betrayed by my bee minions, can you blame me?" I asked Oblivion.

"There is so many things wrong with that," Oblivion sighed. "Who cares? Those were bees! They had no allegiance to you!"

"Now you're just being mean," I muttered. I sat up, just in time to see Crazy smack Little Mac away with her Staff. Taking careful aim with the Steel Diver, I fired a torpedo, which made contact with the boxer and ended the battle in an explosion.

A Spirit spawned from the smoky remains of Little Mac and sped past me. I'm guessing that was the Spirit for the Dojo.

"Here you go. By the way, where's Clarence." Crazy asked as a sandwich bounced off my head. "You didn't murder him and dump the body somewhere, right?"

"Yes, Crazy. I murdered Clarence and dumped his body somewhere. That way, fights with the Puppet Fighters last ten times longer because it's just me." I rolled my eyes as I took a bite. I swallowed quickly and gestured with the sandwich. "He's somewhere over there."

"Great," she muttered, as she walked over to check on Clarence.

Meanwhile, Piranha Plant sat down next to me. After a moment, I turned to the plant. "Do you think Crazy likes Clarence?"

The plant put a leaf to it's chin. Then, it snapped it's teeth several times and waved a leaf.

"Yeah, maybe you're right."

"Hey! Time to get off your lazy butts!" Crazy called as she and Clarence walked back.

"Quick question Crazy. What did you mean by our muscles getting liquified?"

"I didn't tell you tell you?" Crazy asked to negative responses from Clarence and I. "The Dojo I found isn't technically a dojo."

"Like you could say any of the Dojos we found so far are technically dojos," I muttered.

"What was that?"

"Nothing. Nothing you should worry about."

"Sure." Crazy glared at me as she continued. "The Dojo I found is more like a gym. It would probably be a good idea to use the facilities there to help the two of you get EXP."

"EXP?" Clarence asked.

I clarified for him, "Experience points. Have you never played a video game before?"

"Does it matter?"

Crazy interrupted my response, "Both of you, pipe down. The gym is around the corner so let's just go inside."

I grinned at Clarence, "Race you there?"

"You're on."

I turned my head just in time to see Crazy bolt off. "Man, she's fast. You still up to race Sword Bro?"

Clarence frowned at the nickname. "After the fight just now, I'm not overly eager to stretch my muscles more than necessary."

I winced at the thought. I don't remember anything about gyms but if it'll liquefy my muscles, that's not something I'm eager about either.

I shrugged at my thoughts. "Well, no use complaining. Let's get going Sword Bro!"

"You have only called me that twice but I already never want to hear that from your mouth again."

Save File 2: Saved

Party: Nathaniel, Oblivion(?), Crazy, Clarence, Piranha Plant

Items: Nathaniel- Steel Diver, Fire Flower, Beehive x2, Fire Bar

Crazy Hand- Staff, Deku Nuts, Green Shell, Bob-omb, Bombchu x3, Smart Bomb

Clarence-Special Flag

Piranha Plant- None

Smashers: Mario, Link, Kirby, Fox, Pikachu, Captain Falcon, Jigglypuff, Peach, Bowser, Dr. Mario, Pichu, Lucario, Villager

Author's Theater:

Clarence: MG, I demand that you change the title of the chapter.

MG: Why? What's wrong with it?

Clarence: It is an insult to my honor as a knight. I did not spend years of my life, practicing the way of the sword, learning the intricate strategies of war, placing my life in the way of danger for the sake of my country, just so I could be called, "Sword Bro."

MG: Alright, let me check the Ideas For Chapter Titles Bag.

MG: *Puts arm inside a pouch. Pulls out a top hat.* Well, according to this top hat, there's no other ideas for titles so you're just going to have to deal with it. What's so bad about using it for the chapter title anyway? It's just for this one chapter.

Clarence: Because soon enough, everyone will be using that nickname.

Crazy: *Rolls by on a skateboard and a milkshake in hand* Hey MG! Hey Sword Bro! *Rolls away*

Sword Bro: Do you see my point?