Hey there, Big Red here. I had recently tested negative for COVID-19 after having been quarantined for a good 10 days. So my first vacation from work had been a good one and not so good one for that reason. But as promised, the new chapter is up and ready to go which the Prison Island mini arc is at its midpoint with high tensions. I will say up front that World World Blue (Aoi Sekai no Chuushin De) is as far as I will go on actual manga/anime characters appearing in this fic since they fit the gaming theme. Sweet Pete's many victims and bootleg films in Chip n' Dale 2022 gave me the idea of new abilities and forms he could have to make him a viable asset to Maleficent's fellow Disney villains to make nods to such media. Despite me currently enjoying Xenoblade 3 as a game, I would sooner wait and see how the characters would tie into the story first. Plus give it some time since it is a recent game which contain many spoilers newcomers wouldn't want to see. Not that this fiction haven't touched countless spoilers from many old or even "ancient" games already as of now. Speaking of which, let's see how Shulk and the Xenoblade 2 Trio will handle a new threat which will slowly introduce who Maleficent's newest villain recruits are. And here we go!
Several moments after the encounter, Shulk is now held on the lap of the kind Aegis that is supporting an old friend in a tent she's made. Rex is still salvaging for supplies while she is entrusted with watching the camp to explain his disappearance. The kindhearted Blade kept watch of Shulk the entire time to await his awakening from the fall that happened. She's already got a hot pot of soup ready in case her new guest is hungry which would had been for her and Rex initially, but felt this is an emergency where he may need most of the meal. Mythra had a few things to say to Pyra that were of importance to her within her mind.
Don't you think this is strange? The appearances of those Heartless monsters? And now Shulk is here with grave injuries without a missing heart. Those little pests probably felt the power of the Monado that he still carries withy him, but it doesn't add up. Why is he here when he should be investigating the issue elsewhere? We did already speak with Marth and he told us exactly what him and his group had done without any worries of this Legion group. They must be truly powerful foes if they did this to him and possibly others in that case. The mission failing wouldn't be something Marth would want to hear, but we need a bit more evidence before informing that prince.
"I know how worried you are about all of this, Mythra. That's why we need to nurse Shulk in better condition. He may had been a witness and could tell us everything that happened. I wonder where that cute little Nopon friend of his' is. The two are inseparable as partners in the Smash organization," the red Aegis replied to the thoughts of her other half.
Affirmative. You know, something about seeing this guy sleep reminds me of my old partner. One last regret I have is saying goodbye to Addam before I had to be sealed for 500 years. Or more you. Well, the two of us. Losing control and sinking those Titans were my least proudest moment.
"Mythra, you had no choice. You've lost a good friend and Malos was close to taking over all of Alrest. This is why it's in our best interest to track him down. Alrest may be safe, but he's still at large in this universe and must be stopped. We've made a promise to Rex after losing Vandham that we will take down anything that terrible Aegis has planned. Shulk just may be the perfect help we need as well as the other Smash Brothers to stop all of Torna's plans. For his sake," Pyra reassured Mythra.
The original brash personality of the Aegis couldn't be happier to hear that from her newer partial personality for once, happy that she has more than just Rex to depend on for her second chance at life. The two felt more than just friends, but like sword sisters that have to look out for each other since they are the most sought after Blade. An Aegis, just like Logos (Malos) and Ontos (Unknown). Pyra glances back at Shulk's distressed face, who is starting to feel the above average natural body heat she is known for. She gasps that something not within her control is abruptly waking him up.
Pyra, maybe you should let me take control of this body since I'm not hot enough to give him any heatstroke. Just a thought.
"Oh alright, I'll allow you to take over from here," the red haired Aegis replied. A brief glow would occur on the Aegis's body as features rapidly changed to suit who is the dominant personality currently. The red outfit is now a fancy white and black semi-armored blouse with a cleavage window. The long blonde hair and the golden eyes are key features that tell you that this is Mythra instead of her other half. Shulk's body is starting to feel the less distracting high heat in favor of a milder warm light feel on his body, resuming his rest to further relax on Mythra's lap. She's quite satisfied with the result since rudely awakening him in a harmful way is something she's rather not let Pyra unintentionally do. She would glance over at the Monaco that she laid directly against the wall of their camping tent, it glowing ominously like it always done. Normally no being other than the chosen one can wield or tough one, but being an Aegis meant that Mythra or Pyra could touch it without any consequences. Which manses sense as their fellow Aegis Malos has his very own Monado, while currently fractured into blades, can still use the average Monado Artes.
"While he may not be a Driver, it's still impressive that such a sword personally chose him as its wielder. Even more amazing that Drivers can resonate with him or that Elma girl as if they are Blades despite being humans. I really wonder what secrets he can tell about that weapon of his' one day," she said quietly.
As her thoughts pondered about these details she wondered just how things went between Shulk and Fiora as a whole knowing how close the two were as allies and possibly lovers. Meeting him a second time after officially joining the Smash Bros and knowing her fate that lead to becoming a Faced Mechon rider reminded her that things were rough in his universe compared to everything in Alrest. She was quite happy to hear that she never really died in Metal Face's hands, but was eventually back into her senses after her confrontation on the Prison Island in his universe.
"Fiora," a voice mumbled.
This sudden mention of her lead Mythra to look below and notice Shulk burying his face in her bosom as if he's dreaming of something involving her. She blushed at this sudden closeness but knew well not to think about hurting him over a misunderstanding when he's already severely injured. He began hugging her slowly in his sleepy trance as if he's really dreaming of his beloved ally being flesh and bone again without her cybernetics.
He must be dreaming of her again. I wonder if she truly misses him when she is only called for when he's using a Chain Attack Final Smash, same for his one armed mentor and that Nopon. If it were Pyra, his face would be more than burning right now.
"Fiora, I'm sorry for ever leaving you. I'll make sure to never leave your side again.
I'm a Homs of my word," he said once more while hugging the Aegis in his sleep.
Mythra almost found this a little cute since this is far from the first time this happened with her. But mostly with an old friend who she wish had never died 500 years ago because of Malos. There was also a time that Rex was in a similar situation, but this was more when she wasn't fully used to being close to him or saw him as a common pervert worth aggression. He snuggled his face against her bosoms almost like someone being tender with the girl he truly loves like a charmer. This almost charmed Mythra somewhat and she wouldn't want to imagine how Pyra would be in this situation. So she would think about hugging him back in response if it would make him realize that this is all a dream and realize his situation.
"Fiora, I want you to know that I really love that you're back to your old self in the flesh again. I really love you so much and don't care if Reyn makes fun of me for that. You're the Meyneth to my Zanza and I can't express this feeling more than just a poem. I love you," he said in his sleepy state.
However he would be slowly waking up to realize the bosom he's hugging belonged to someone else entirely and a fellow Smash member. Mythra looked back at him with a sly grin as if she's personally taken advantage of this situation herself.
"Enjoying this so much? I suggest that Rex and you should trade places one day," she said jokingly with a playful wink.
Slowly but surely, the Homs' eyes would be slowly widening the more he thought about the predicament he's in with countless sweat droplets rolling down his own face. Eve worse was that he could realize that his own outfit is torn to revel his own skimpy swimwear. He instantly screams after backing his face from between Mythra's window in shock and utter fright. He instantly fell directly onto his exposed back hard enough to stop his scream, leaving his own well toned legs hanging in the air after the drop from Mythra's lap. The Aegis couldn't help but to chuckle at this amusing sight as if he's seeing something funnier than Rex being a dork.
"About time you were awake. Here I thought you were fine with leaving Fiora for me. Not that my Driver would have approved of it," she says in amused delight.
Shulk is too shocked and in pain from the fall to fully process everything that's going on with him since being knocked down by Eggman. His mind is in a mixture of confused thoughts about where to begin, why was he here, why is he near naked, why was he smothering against the bosom of his own ally, and why she did nothing to stop him from going further.
"And by the way, your Monado is safe and sound. I wouldn't be foolish enough to let such a weapon get in the wrong hands. I've been waiting for you Shulk," the blonde Aegis replied.
Shulk slowly gotten back to his feet at the same time Mythra would do, accidentally bumping against her bosom again, but regaining his balance on his own.
"Sorry, I really didn't meant to. The last thing I want is to upset the boy," Shulk stammered in embarrassment.
"It's alright. I'd say we are fine since he's still salvaging on this island. Besides, I've always had the feeling you liked it since Fiora wish she was as stacked as this," Mythra teased with a smile.
Didn't you warn me about doing something similar? Couldn't be that you seem to have brushy-crushy feelings for him like Tora.
"Pyra, I'm just having a little fun teasing the Monado Boy. You always taught me to let loose and be less grumpy. Should I do the opposite?" Mythra complained.
Shulk blushed in annoyance before saying,"You should know better that my heart only belongs to Fiora. To tease me like that and take advantage of me in my most vulnerable isn't like you! But thanks for keeping the Monado safe for me."
"Because you like her chest and miss when it wasn't semi-metallic," Mythra jokingly said.
"Wh…wh…what? I'm trying to be serious here! You weren't at the Smash meeting despite being one of the few newcomers that we could trust. Are you aware that we have problems that need to be fixed like…."
"Defeating the Legion of Subspace? I know. Marth was nice enough to let us know about it. It's more personal since we want to track down that wannabe destroyer Aegis who's ran to this very universe. I have a feeling that he is connected to the Legion and what they plan on doing," Mythra explains.
"So you know that my group's mission to stop Eggman was a failure? I saw a future of it happening and few were willing to take me serious until it was too late. It's terrible that I've lost contact with my allies while they are who knows where. He's absorbed Meta Knight's attack, somehow stopped time, and attacked all of us to send us plummeting off his ship during our plan. I'll try and send a message to someone, but who?" Shulk wondered.
When he had motioned what happened, Mythra realized that his bodily scars and lack of clothing is starting to make far more sense than him simply going for a swim gone wrong on this island. She also begins to wonder if other members had possibly fallen on this same island instead of in another location.
" could contact them if you want. I still have my communicator. Just tell me of anyone you have in mind and I can simply call them," the blonde Aegis proposed.
Shulk couldn't contain his happiness at the thought that a fellow Smash has a way that he could contact his allies.
"Thank you so much. You're a lifesaver for thinking about contacting them. How could I ever repay you?" he shouts.
"We'll think about that after we get on with our goals since I am concerned about my allies just as much," a blushing Mythra said in modesty.
"Oh right, sorry. I was thinking, maybe call Olimar first. He's not the leader of our group like Meta Knight but probably have the tech to look for everyone else in his rusty ship. It's worth a shot," he suggests.
"That's who I was thinking of too. Bomberman was another one, it I'd imagine he's pretty stressed keeping up with all of his siblings every day through space messages," Mythra said with a chuckle.
She pulls the communication device from between her cleavage to begin dialing the message. Shulk embarrassingly thought the hardness of that device was what reminded him of Fiora in his sleep. Soon, a familiar blue diver would burst into the room with his helmet on that surprised
Shulk. His first thought was to grab the Monado from the wall to defend his ally. But it turns out to be none other than Rex after he further observed the familiar boots and gloves the diver had. The young Driver was carrying a massive black chest that he found during his salvaging in hopes that it would benefit them.
"Pyra! Mythra! I'm finally back from salvaging!" he called while barely carrying the large chest.
He almost tips over from the weight of the chest, which Shulk dashed to barely hold the chest from below in time. The Driver felt there was something familiar about the blonde hair and the Monado that's on the wall.
"Shulk, long time no see. I haven't seen you since the last time we had a big mission in containing Sephiroth. Why are you dressed like you're going for a swim?" he asks with his helmet still on.
Mythra still types the right coordinates to seek Olimar's contact number on the other side. Before he could answer, Shulk helped lower the chest onto the ground safely so no one gotten any toes or fingers hurt.
"I was sent falling here after that plump scientist knocked me down. Mythra knows what happened so I'n imagining she informed you already," he said.
Immediately, the young Driver pulls his helmet completely off, revealing his concerned face as he's trying to process the situation. He also pressed a special button on his wrist to open the suit's thigh regions now that he's no longer in deep sea water anymore.
"What happened? I heard of your mission to damage the ship with Meta Knight's group, but how did you lose? You at least remember where everyone rise had went?" he asks.
"I don't know. All I remember was Eggman using some device with a few Chaos Emeralds. He parted the clouds in the sky, slowed down our movements, and absorbed Meta's sword beams to launch a devastating attack on everyone. Mr. Game & Watch was bisected into Shadow Bugs, the Squid Sisters were severely splat, Krystal and Falco's Arwings were damaged, Bomberman's Revenge Kart was knocked away, countless Pikmin were killed, Olimar and Alph's ships were downed, and the ones who tried to pull me in Riki in the bus were the last ones I've remembered before the beams sliced both of us. That's why you see me in my swimwear and it thankfully came in handy for me nearly drowning in a river. Pyra was lucky to find me at all and warmed me up from any cold I may have. Hopefully that doesn't bother you," Shulk explains seriously.
Rex couldn't believe that all of this had happened and neither him nor Pyra/Mythra were there to prevent it at all. He's usually an optimist at heart that cares for all of his friends but can feel responsible when nothing could be prevented at all. It was mostly the grief of Fan and Vandham's deaths that still plague him to this day. The two would then focus on Mythra who are talking to Olimar on her communication device already just in time. The two were already discussing their current predicaments and if it were possible for both groups to get together as soon as possible. From the look of her face, Rex and Shulk could tell that the situation isn't as bleak as they've already had thought.
"So what you're saying is that you and Alph are together again, but the Onions of all of your Pikmin are possibly scattered around the island, correct?" she asks.
"Precisely. I made sure that blasted Hocatate Ship could make itself useful by doing an entire island scan of everything here. That's how I figured that you and the others are here but in different locations. It appears that I've also ran until the humans that my island scan detected, but they are the least friendly bunch since they don't want to comply in leading me to the Yellow Pikmin's Onion," Olimar replied on the other line.
"I can only imagine. Humans can be quite the interesting bunch. Not to say that good ones like my Driver or the rest of our comrades don't exists. Who are they affiliated with?" She wondered.
"I believe GUN. But they appear to be a branch that were stranded here for a long time if their own HQ never brought up this specific group with us. If I recall correctly, Shadow once mentioned having a run in with this group before. But I believe it was before he established himself as the newest member of their organization," Olimar explains.
"Which is why we will never accept that black hedgehog freak as one of us. It's a tragedy that our own organization accepts him in their ranks yet forget about us. The same monster Gerald created that was meant to wipe out humanity. Not that I should disclose any more classified information to you, ET," Captain Bridge rudely said beside Olimar.
Mythra is left feeling quite annoyed after hearing everything from this GUN official for the first time ever. Even Shulk and Rex were left unimpressed with how stubborn such a military captain is about being open with anyone. She was only familiar with bits and pieces based on what Shadow shared with her before, but it wasn't a lengthy conversation as he didn't fully warm up to her as a newcomer back then.
"So they are castaways? Then I guess after we all get back together, we can find a way off this island to take them back to their base. I'm sure our group is more than fine with us keeping all civilians safe no matter the cost," the blonde Aegis said.
"Civilian? Civilian!? Just who the hell are you talking to when I am a high ranking captain of the United Federation's best military forces, lady. What are you? Some kind of alien? Captain of another group? Some simpleton?" Bridge replied.
Olimar is left sweating nervously as this is one mistake that man should have never done. Shulk and Rex both comically collapsed in a face fault at how bold someone would be at calling her the one word she never likes. Breathing slowly, she knew too well that she had to keep her cool and avoid yelling at someone who is in need of help no matter how rude they were to her.
I know what you're thinking, but keep your cool. I don't really appreciated what he said about you, but we all have to be professional for the Smash Brothers' sake.
Pyra would only be looking out for her other half as she knew too well how infamous her short fuse is. A fountain of emotions would be self contained in her chest knowing well she can't truly express herself without the risk of letting her whole team down as one of the newest Smash members on this mission. Alph would interrupt the conversation by adding his own persona input to the subject.
"If you all don't mind, I would like to say that this island is definitely crawling with some strange creatures that aren't like anything we've ever heard about. You know of the newest member with the Keyblade, correct? He would dub them "Heartless" and it's our first time ever encountering them actually causing trouble in this world when they would usually target others instead. If only he had never disappeared because only that member would tell us what are the reasons these heart eating creatures are roaming around," the blue haired Koppaitian said.
"So I've heard. I was wondering what strange dark presences I've been feeling since we've came here. My first thought was Malos but now it's more clear exactly what the source is. These things hate light? Then it's a good thing all it takes will be enough of it from me to destroy them. That should be enough since even Sora's friends are unaware of his whereabouts since his disappearance. You know here to find your other Pikmin?" Mythra answered.
"Olimar's new map is able to track all of them down. I've found the Winged Pikmin while he found the Red Pikmin. That leaves around five more Onions to track down so all Pikmin are safe. We both know where are ships are so we can fly when we fully investigate this island," Alph explains.
"Along the way I was able to find some demons, they will be an equally great asset since more of their brethren are starting to pop up on this island or more the whole world since their realms were being destroyed by the Legion. This is especially worth the attention of Marth since things would be more chaotic with these demons roaming around civilians and feeding on them. As proven with the few following me, they can be tamed or more negotiated with for them to join you but only if they respect your strength. So don't be afraid to kill any that do come as a threat to your lives," Olimar explains.
"If these demons are so highly dangerous, then why aren't we allowed to kill them? GUN HQ wouldn't allow for this level of treachery," Captain Bridge beamed.
"Because the boss spared us, ok? If we didn't respect him, we would have no qualms devouring your juicy limbs and face right now," a Preta snarled.
"YeAh, YoU hUmAnS aCt LiKe YoU aRe ViCtImS, bUt ArE nO bEtTeR aT bEiNg A tHrEaT tO dEmOnS!" the Slime yelled.
Shulk, Mythra, and Rex were starting to feel uneasy after hearing how these demons talked. But especially hearing their strange distorted way of talking which one could tell are different from how the average Blade or High Entia speaks. The Aegis is till more curious on how truly loyal these demons were and if they have no plans on betraying the captains as their prey.
"How are we sure if we can trust you? Yeah, I'm talking to all of you demons since I can catch your voices easily. Because I am an Aegis and not to brag, I'm quite powerful myself. So if you think about playing a single tooth or tongue on my allies, then a single Ray of Punishment should be enough to reduce you to nothing. I'll keep my eye on all of you, even after we meet in person," she said in a calm but threatening tone.
"And as long as I have the Monado, I can destroy all that's evil. Hopefully you tell the truth when you say that you'll never hurt Olimar nor Alph. Understood?" Shulk said after drawing closer to Mythra's device.
"Yeah yeah, we know,. He even told us to never eat his Pikmin no matter how hungry we are. We did good since neither of us lost to our hungry urges to devour them. Whatever demon threats come your way, you can count on us to help since we all know each other and fight when we need to," the Preta brags on the other line.
From outside of the camping site, it appears the Xenoblade heroes are far from alone as a familiar pack of Japanese water gods would slowly rise from the waters after taking a dip. These were blue fish-like beings who are considered protectors of all water and rather disappointed with the polluted state of this island. Their red fish-like eyes would only sense the body warmth of their three unsuspecting targets, thinking they were responsible for the damage to this island. Some of these Azumi could sense a high power from the Aegis and Monado respectively to know that these were no ordinary humans but couldn't sense an ounce of Magnetite to know that these were demons either.
"You attack from the back, we will give these polluting invaders the coldest hell that they deserve," the leading Azumi said.
His men would swim their way around the tent before them ominously like sharks encircling their potential prey. Mythra finally decides to end the conversation after getting all information she needs from her allies.
"We need to move out and head north, that way we can rendezvous with the others and these GUN agents. They will have to accept our help whether they like it or not if they ever want to regroup with the rest of their organization. I would call Shadow, but I've heard from Marth that he's quite busy saving some place called the Lost Hex with some allies," the blonde Aegis said.
"That's good and all. I just hope Riki is safe out there or the others won't forgive me. Especially Reyn since the two were quite close as friends," Shulk said nervously.
"I'm sure that Nopon will be alright by himself. If it were Tora, I'd be more concerned since he's not the most seasoned fighter, at least without Poppi as his back up Blade," Rex said before rubbing the back of his hair.
Mythra couldn't help but to feel things weren't right when she felt a presence around this very tent. Just to make sure she isn't imagining things, she used her Foresight to take short look into the future. What she would see are the pack of Azumi using a Bufula altogether to flash freeze the tent from the outside to slowly freeze everyone from the inside. She grew alarmed as a result and slowly gotten up to take Rex's hand.
"Mythra, you've gotten tense all of a sudden. What happened?" he wondered.
"We need to get out of this tent now before it's too late. Forget the soup and the salvaged chest since our lived are more important. Shulk, grab that Monado of yours and follow us quickly," she said.
The blonde Homs wondered what gotten her spooked all of a sudden, but complied to grab his famed weapon since they were planning on leaving anyway.
"Hopefully your future sight is right because I would have…"
He would instantly get a vision from the Monado itself to see just what Mythra means. He saw a future of the tent being flash frozen immediately with everyone's feet trapped in the sheet of us. People slowly but surely dropped their body temperatures the more they struggled and even Mythra would have no chance to let Pyra take control for melting the ice. Back in real time, he would get exactly what his ally meant and darted for the door.
"Everyone get out now, we'll be frozen to death!" he called.
"Got it, neither of you two are ever wrong with your visions!" Rex beamed.
The three would head right outside of the tent just in time before the the Bufulas connected for a flash frozen result. Rex and Mythra slowly turned around to see exactly what would have happened if they did stay inside unaware of the water spirits' plans on killing them. Shulk gotten a better look at the blue reptilian face of the Azumi, which snarled in rage from seeing their enemies alive.
"What are those things?" he asked during his fall.
The three of them landed hard on their backs from the leap of faith, Mythra impulsively switches back to Para who deserved to see what happened to the tent. The red Blade is utterly horrified at what she sees, the now flash frozen tent slowly cracking as this icy jagged mess instead of the temporary place they've called home.
"Our tent,…. the soup,…the salvage,…gone," she said sadly.
"You don't have to worry Pyra since our lived are more important. But also, we need to see what these unruly creatures want with us," Rex said after getting up.
Shulk had no time to ask peacefully since he clearly seen this Shinto deities as hostile beings that tried to kill all of them. With Mon ado in hand and regardless of having no proper armor, he is willing to stop these beings no matter the costs.
"What are you and why did you attack us? You must be one of the demons that we've heard about on this very island," he demands.
"So the human is actually intelligent for once. I would applaud you if we aren't rightfully punishing your sin of polluting the water on this island. As the children of the Amatsu Kami, we will rightfully cleanse all living beings on this island until there's nothing left," the fish-like spirit snarled.
"What? The water is just fine here. And why would we pollute the water of an island outside of our own world? We don't live here or would do something against the Smash Brothers code," Shulk wondered.
"Actually he is right, the water is polluted out here. During my salvaging trips, I seen lots of green rivers of corrosive poisons and filth all over. Something must have happened on this island before we came here. But we definitely know that it wasn't our fault," Rex said.
"Which is a lie. All pollution that come to the world is the direct fault of humanity and their unwillingness to treat any land with respect. We were born into this world for a reason and it's to protect all waters. Because you and the other beings on this island are the only real witnesses, we have every right to believe that this is your fault. Or you are all just the same, covering up the crimes humanity do to carry themselves and not respect the waters our gods bestowed upon this land. Just accept your executions with grace," the Azumi roared louder.
As a creation of the Architect and a benevolent Aegis, Pyra couldn't stand how hard on humanity these Brute demons were just to fulfill their purpose. There are few times when she would ever argue with anyone but now it's going to be her shining moment thanks to learning from Mythra.
"How could you even generalize all humans over their actions? I may be from a world where the sea is clouds and few Titans house the water we need, but you can't just act like we had anything to do with the poor state of this island. It was only like this due to circumstances we had little to do or humanity for that matter," she yells.
The Azumi drew closer to their three prey with the tent being the least of their problems. Shulk knew well that there's no running away with his Monado fully activated to fight, Pyra already manifests her famed Aegis sword for battle, with Rex using his own that's bestowed upon him for battle. The Azumi all spread their finned limbs with a shrill screech as if they were ravenous piranhas ready to devour their prey.
"It appears we have no choice. Let's slice apart these werefish," Shulk ordered.
"I'm ready when you are, Pyra. We will have to teach these monsters a thing or two about respect," the brown haired boy said.
"I'm always ready, and to show them what the power of the Aegis is," the now serious fire Blade said.
One Azumi already dove for them with his fangs ready to bite. Shulk had just the plan to defeat them.
"Monado Armour!" he called.
His Monado II would cast a special Art that would empower him and his allies in a special aura that makes them immune to all physical and Ether damage. This is demonstrated when the Azumi rebounds after colliding with Shulk's body in a futile tempt to devour him. He responds with a well timed Back Slash on his exposed back to severely harm him.
"Graaaaaaah! How did I not hurt him?" he yells.
A few other Azumi would eventually fire a Mabufu at Shulk to try freezing him. Pyra jumps right before him with her spinning Aegis sword engulfed in flames for one of her famed moves.
"Flame Nova!" she shouts before dispersing the icy attacks completely in a misty haze.
This would shroud them both to keep the party well hidden from these water spirits attacks.
"A fire lesser demon? That just can't do, not that they can severely hurt us with such techniques," an Azumi said.
"Rolling Smash!" Rex shouts when jumping from the mist on the nearest Azumi.
The attack hits the creature heard enough to slightly break his body, which could leave him open for any toppling moves.
"Now Shulk, use your best Topple technique!" the Driver called.
The blonde Homs jumps from the same mist with his now glowing Monado ready to deal his deadliest move.
"Monado Cyclone!" he calls after a powerful swing that generates a massive whirlwind.
This finally blows the Azumi towards the ground in a weakened state which shocks his four fellow allies.
"But how? Demons can't be hurt by these mere humans? And here I thought that female lesser demon was powerful," one said.
"It doesn't matter, we will have to kill these polluters for denying the crimes of humanity. Enough fear!" another Azumi roared.
"For the last time, we've done nothing wrong. If you don't get that, then we have no choice but to beat some sense into you monsters. And that salvage you've frozen took hours to find. Never mess with a man's salvage!" Rex beamed.
"The only think that should be salvaged for you humans are your deaths for centuries of treating this world the gods created for granted. If our ancestors aren't here to smite you, then we will have to reduce you to nothing but the piles of wasted flesh you all are!" the Azumi leader snarls in rage.
It was then that they tapped into their Magatsuhi to immensely boost their strength with an overflow of glowing yellow aura. All four of the remaining Azumi would be feeling this boost of power to prepare for attacking, one beginning to charge another Mabufu got attack all of their prey.
"Oh no you don't, Blazing End!" Pyra said before tossing the Aegis sword directly at them.
The sword now rapidly spins as if it were a flaming wheel directly at the four water spirits, one of them taking the hit just for them to absorb the hit.
"Go attack them directly after I taken their pathetic attack!" he ordered.
The other blue water spirits swam their way for Shulk, Rex, and the disarmed Pyra to attack them.
"Stream Edge!" Shulk shouts before swing his Monado widely at all three demons.
While impressive as the attack was, this only slightly harmed them as their aura absorbed enough to not get a Break status.
"Expand: Critical Aura!" one Azumi shouts.
As if the base Magatsuhi boost wasn't enough to make their attacks critical, this however would make their next physical attack more guaranteed to be deadly. Shulk had little fear since he feels the Monado Armor should be enough to survive them their attacks.
"Scratch Dance! Reduce these fools to nothingness!" the Azumi leader shouts.
All four of them them would be widely lashing their claws at immense speeds all around their targets. It wasn't until one deep slash wound would harm Shulk that he release his mosst defensive Arte would be deemed inferior to their stringer claws.
"Shoot, they are bypassing the Monado's power, this isn't good," he said in annoyance.
A deep cut would be felt on Rex's face that slowly alarms him to start dodging. Even Pyra would try calling her Aegis sword back after feeling that same pain on her face afterwards.
"Not good, we'll have to start dodging them as long as that aura is making them strong," she said.
All three of them tried to dodge as many deadly claw swipe as they could now that they knew these attacks could be fatal when hit in the wrong places. Shulk would realize that the Monado Armour is beginning to wear off in a few seconds after feeling the aura die out. This was his chance to think of a different Monado Art to handle them. Shield would be as ineffective which he felt wouldn't be worth using. He eventually realizes that there could be something done about their aura which he feels can be sealed by a special Monado Art. The Ether flow between Para and Rex would begin to glow brightly between them thanks to not being separated. Usually a Blade and Driver being this close would create a "chain" of bright Ether that slowly get stronger and allows for more Critical Attacks from both. This also given the two an idea as they carefully dodged each claw swipe. "Double Spinning Edge!" Rex shouts before swiping at a Azure's side. This attack is severe enough t0o cause it to stop attacking unlike his other three partners. Shulk succeeded in stabbing one before it had the chance to attack him, slowly sealing the Magatsuhi overflow away.
"Monado Purge!" he shouts.
Slowly but surely the water creature would feel its power boost disappearing and the body getting weaker over seconds. The other Azumi would stop to see just what's happing to their allies before continuing the attack. Rex attacks another one in time with the same Double Spinning Edge.
"How could they deal critical attacks when they have no Magatsuhi? Are they even human anymore?" he said in pain.
Shulk finally pulls his blade from the now weakened Azumi to deal another Monado Purge to the next one. The weakened Azumi fell beside the previously toppled one on his knees, now realizing just how much weaker he is with that power boost gone. Normally no Magatsuhi boosts would end this quick, but that's due to how effective the Monado is at sealing this aura boosts for any being.
"Da…damn you, human. My Magatsuhi just won't boost anymore. I will make sure you go to the depths for this," he said in anger.
One by one, Shulk would succeed in sealing the aura of the others thanks to Rex and Myra's ability of distracting them with critical hits to their exposed sides. All five of them now kneeling on their knees from the pain and inability to boost their strength further to keep up in a battle. Shulk would soon use his time to start healing the worst wounds on himself and his allies with Light Heal. Rex couldn't be more grateful that the cut he had is now fully gone, same for Pyra's own pain she felt in the same area. Shulk's formerly slashed chest is now spotless as it should be, the Homs further feeling if his healing was accurate.
"With effective teamwork, we can overcome anything. Just that you water logs show no true synchronization. Now what could we do to you?" he said in wonder.
"I'd say we should ask them some questions on. Why they are here," Rex said.
"That is if they will cooperate since they seem quite hostile for supposed guardians of the water. I still don't appreciate them thinking humanity is worth destroying. It eerily reminds me of Malos far too much," Pyra said.
The three of them would confront the weakened fish-like demons who were too weak to fight back and knew that their best trump card can't be used anymore. One looks up just to see the three of them put their weapons away completely as if they wanted to talk.
"Go ahead, kill us. But just know that you'll summon the wrath of our ancestors Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi, and Susano'o. Especially the last two as they are highly powerful Nahobino who could reduce you to nothing for hurting us," he said.
"Which we won't do. You all only forced us to defend ourselves when we only came here from other worlds. And it seems you never came from this one at all if we don't recognize you. We just have a few questions, that's all," Rex said.
"And why should we tell outsiders about a home that will no longer exists anyway? Not like mere beings like you are like The Creator and can fix it. It's like the cycle came in full circle. You humans lost your Tokyo, which parts of it are now our home thanks to God and now it's going away due to an unseen force. Not even our ancestors would have predicted this," the Azumi said.
Shulk and his allies were partially confused on the statement of Tokyo being lost as this is news to them, which they have been there several times to see nothing wrong. Rex in particular being traveling with the newest members of the Smash Brothers knows far less about this universe than even Shulk.
"I don't follow. So what you're saying is that you lost your homes in the same way this universe is heavily damaged by the Legion? This is not starting to add up very much I'd tell you," he said in confusion.
"There is no way the average Legion would achieve a feat like this. They are mere low level Chaos demons who would wish they were strong as the average Tyrant, or even the Morning Star himself," the Azumi replied.
Shulk had the feeling these otherworldly beings wouldn't know much about the true culprits who may had a hand in destroying the fabric of their realms.
"The Legion of Subspace are actually a group of notorious villains from all parts of this universe and even other worlds. They've joined forces with one goal in mind and that's to take over this entire universe, or more destroy it for a "better" one with the help of a resurrected YHVH. They are simply playing God as a way to get what they want instead of going for lower atrocities," he explains.
Just the mere metion of the fallen god that they never thought would be mentioned would startle some of these water spirits, most notably the leader who is closer enough to hear it. They've always personally feared this being as he was described as being the only being truly superior to their own ancestors who are powerful Kami themselves.
"Impossible, those fools realize that the YHVH was already destroyed by the Morning Star. They can't simply control him after somehow bringing back his former glory as he would rather be above all than serving anyone! I would never imagine the day a human would ever think they can control their own creator for a truly selfish cause that would cause imbalance for their kind and demons alike. This got to be some big lie," the flabbergasted Azumi snarled.
"Eggman was always a class of his own with his views on how the world should be run. So don't use that as an excuse to generalize every human here. Sure some don't care about the negative effects pollution has on the water here, but you have to see the good in humanity," Shulk said.
"For an outsider from another realm, you care an awful lot about these humans. Aren't you one yourself even with that godly blade?" another Azumi asks in curiosity.
"Well it's a bit complicated. But I'm a Homs. We are like humans but live on a Titan called Bionis in another world. I never once thought that there were world's out there worth protecting than mine, until the Smash Brothers personally invited me to join their ranks. I was hesitant at first due to the amount of danger Fiora was in, but saving her and defeating half of the Faced Mechon allowed me to realize that the Monado could be used for more good. Even they saw potential in my own visions for the front lines when we take on massive threats like Darkhon and Galeem. It doesn't matter if I have little attachment to this world. Because our main goal is to protect everyone throughout many universes to come. Including this one or maybe your own if there's anything we can do to save it," Shulk said.
Pyra appreciates the kindhearted offer the Monado boy had if it meant helping these spirits save their own home. Rex is still unsure of whether they need help or should be fully trusted just yet despite this. One of the Azumis would only do nothing but chuckle at this promise as it seems impossible or not even something these three could ever help with. Shulk would only grow weary at what this sudden laughter could be, but still refused to lay a hand on his Monado just yet.
"Homs or human, you are the comedian if you would ever think there is anything you can do that only a high level Tyrant or Godly demon would ever achieve. While your sword does have power, it's only close to a mere Megami or Fallen at best. We came here because we accept that our home is lost as long as The Creator favors your kind more than his own fellow demons. Even our ancestors have long given up any hope in him. Even worse when our own ancestor Susano'o is a traitor because he chose to make up the The Creator's current Nahobino form with a mere Japanese boy. Considering the only human with his Knowledge far more important than his own kin, our own ancestor. We are unsure if either of the two are trustworthy since Susano'o is completely responsible for the death of Tsukuyomi, who only used a human with his Knowledge as a last resort to claim the throne of The Creator. But I've already said too much. The point is that there's nothing you can do if the one who can truly solve this lays on deaf ears and is a traitor to his own fellow Amatsu Kami," the water spirit explains.
"This is quite a bit to take in, don't ya think? I'd suggest we can let you all decide what you want to do since we got allies waiting on in north of here. I'll be willing to let the salvage pass since you all done froze it into nothingness," Rex suggests.
One Azumi had already pulled the chest from the frozen wreckage out of obligation. This is due to taking the time to cut down all the ice as his fellow Azumi were already explaining their story to the three warriors. He tossed the chest at the salvager's feet hastily, the latter surprised that the chest is still in good condition after being thawed.
"We would care less about useless riches, so I believe you can have this. That bowl of brew is less than fortunate," he explains.
Pyra understood that the soup she was cooking is no longer good, but still couldn't help but to feel bad about the effort going to waste.
"Only our ancestor Amaterasu could save it, but we would rather inform her of bigger manners like confronting that lazy selfish Creator," the Azumi replied.
"I could also melt it myself, but the pot will probably melt along with the soup because of my heat. It's always something I would have to master for the time I've been reawakened," Pyra said.
Shulk soon realized that someone important was missing that would always be hanging with Rex, or more so within his helmet.
"Where's Azurda? I'd imagine that he's rather not be alone for too long," he asks.
The young Driver turned from confident into frightened immediately at the thought the two were separated for so long. Pyra free just as worried since she bonded enough with the reborn dragon-like Titan that he's not safe when traveling in his smaller form.
"Wait! You're right! I will have to find Gramps soon since there's no doubt some creatures are in this jungle propelling for food. Not that I want to imagine him being eaten," Rex cried.
"Not if I have anything to say about it. I ought to find Riki too or else Dunban won't be so glad our Heropon had perished here," Shulk said in worry.
Soon a large explosion would be heard from a short distance that rumbled the entire ground. Everyone watched as flocks of birds would be scattering during their flight from the trees as a result of this sudden attack.
"Shulk, you have any idea what that was?" Rex said in an alarmed manner.
"I don't know but we should be heading that way if it will give us an idea of where the others are. Hopefully Riki and Azurda are there," he said.
"That definitely was an explosion. Maybe a certain bomber robot made his way here. Then that means he's must have found his way to the same island," Pyra said.
"Oh right, the last I saw Bomberman was his Revenge Cart sinking from the attack. It would be better if he's here since his tech could track everyone else. Maybe even contact his Bomberman Brothers to bring a ship here to take everyone off the island," Shulk said with a smile.
"Allow all of us to come with. We are guaranteed to find out who the main polluter of this island's water is. We have a score to settle on them for ruining such natural beauty the gods bestowed on this planet," the Azumi suggests.
"Great, the more help is needed. And thanks for retrieving my salvage. Maybe some of you can carry it while I get an extra Blade to help us fight this threat," Rex said.
"Precisely, those that respect the waters like you are in our debt. Perhaps we can fish even more of this "salvage" for you when all of this is over," the fish-like spirit replied.
"We should make haste for the polluter instead of staying any longer. Onward Azumi and outside dwellers!" another Azumi shouts.
With that, the five water demons float their way forward with Shulk's party soon following afterwards in the site of the explosion. A few of them would be carrying the large chest together as promised for Rex if it meant keeping it safe. What lies in the northern part of the jungle would be a frenzied battle of explosive proportions. The familiar White Bomber would be dodging waves of Wyverns and other airborne Heartless that were giving him trouble since his crash landing here. His bombs while powerful were not enough to stop the endless waves of dark beings from rising out of various shadows below the dense trees. He made sure to equip the right amount of Bombs Ups, Speed Ups, and Fire Ups for that enchanted speed, explosive power, and amount of bombs to lay.
"There's too many of these guys. They only keep coming and coming no matter what bombs I use. If more of my siblings were here, this would be a tad easier. Just what is up with this crazy island," he panicked.
He barely dodged another Wyvern that dove straight for him while laying a bomb open its back. The creature would soon realize that the explosive made its flight less than quick which lead to an explosion that's bigger than a GUN Walker's destruction. Bomberman ran away just in time to not be hurt by his own explosive results to focus on the other Heartless that chased him. He laid a nice row of six bombs to serve as a distraction before one could dive for him. He leapt to the right of the explosion that would occur with comically large eyes.
"Whooooaa, that was too close. I am going to need back up of this will be lights out for the big brother. If only the other Smash brothers are here," he said in surprise after landing.
The Angel Stars and Wyverns that remain would completely surround him from thinking about escaping, the White Bomber feeling quite pressured by the situation. They knew well that their target had no heart being a complete robot, but still an active threat that should be destroyed if it means feasting on the other living victims on the island. He is somewhat tempted to look into his communicator once more despite the low signal coming from the island desperately for help. One Angel Star begins charging another Firaga to launch at the bomb throwing robot once and for all. It wouldn't be until it's frozen completely into a brittle state to the surprise of the other Heartless. Bomberman is just as surprised that it was suddenly attacked by this unknown ice spell. The dragon and angel-like Heatless would look around to see just what attacked one of their own.
"Bufula!" a warped voice said.
More of these Heartless would be frozen by the Azumis powerful ice spells which they shatter into pieces from the sheer cold. Bomberman would notice the pack of fish-like demons that arrived with some of his allies for assistance.
"Hey Bomberm,an, we are here to help!" Shulk called.
"Shulk, man it's good to see you again. But what are those things you are traveling with?" he asked in a mixed of confusion and fear.
"Never fear, machine. We share the same mutual goal of ridding these polluters off this island. I can sense a darkness that are not like fellow demons," the Azumi leader called.
"Demons? So that's what these guys are?" The White Bomber said in more confusion.
"Those beings are actually Heartless. I'm not sure if you were aware of our newest member Sora, but they are beings of pure dark that seek the hearts of living beings. But why they are in this world is not something we would know," Rex shouts.
The White Bomber is more confused and lees receptive of these answers than before. But it wasn't until a massive tower of Shadows would be spiraling from the thicket of trees behind him in an attempt to devour him. These were known as Demon Towers, one of the deadlier Pureblood Heartless that originated from the dark world.
"Look out Bomberman! Prominence Revolt!," Pyra shouts before launching herself into the air with her flaming Aegis Blade.
Bomberman would leap the right before the swirling vortex of Heartless were able to completely destroy him. Pyra soon came in contact with her blade to slice several of the contained Shadows in half, which more than shrunk the tower's size. The Demon Tower would soon lunge at her instead to try destroying her body.
"Back Slash!" Shulk called before slashing at the Demon Tower once more.
The mass of Shadows would soon split up due to losing some of the heartless that make them up, now two smaller towers that focused on two different targets. Rex knew that when they going gets tough he would have to send out another Blade to join the fight, which he knew the right one.
I hope this is the right one. I need something light to destroy all these dark beings.
He would soon raise his hand which a familiar Blade appears beside him for the battle. This Blade would be a boy with a dark outfit, blonde hair, pair of massive raven-like wings, and an Uchigatana weapon that he held behind him. He is one of the rarest Blades along with one who's great for smashing the defenses of all enemies. Corvin looks to the side to see that his favorite Driver finally managed to summon him in time for this fight.
"I'm here at your service, as the best Blade there is to helping. What would my light be needed for?" he asks.
"No time for your cockiness, Corvin. We've got some shadows for you to destroy and they're giving Pyra and the others a hard time," Rex said.
The Blade would soon notice his allies struggling to fend off the Demon Towers that constantly pressured them in the fight. Even Bomberman would be of little help when another Demon Tower rose from below him in a deadly fury. Corvin smirks since he knew too well his element is more than helpful for dealing with dark foes of any kind.
"No need to fear, I will do everything I can to stop these evil beings in the name of Corvin. And of course, you too Master Rex," he announced.
"Alright, just do the best you can to stop them. Why don't you try using your Fuga Daemonum?" his Driver suggests.
"Ha, I would love to show these fiends an ounce of my power since they are no match for me. Allow this handsome Blade to demonstrate," he brags.
Corvin would pull both of his long blades from the sheath on his back, now both beginning to glow with a powerful heroic light. He would keep his eye on where to slash if it means avoiding the idea of harming his master's close allies. Bomberman is left dizzy after being tossed around a few times and Shulk is left kneeling after too much deadly attacks from these aggressive Heartless waves. Pyra would realize that she's getting weaker from using too much of her power with seemingly endless dark enemies coming after she burn them. Even demons like the Azumi could barely keep up with too many endless targets to freeze and some almost getting reduced to Magatsuhi from the quick hits. Corvin would finally leapt from his spot in a flash before zipping around at incomprehensible speeds that no one could react to. He concisely and carefully attacked each and every Heartless individually with his light blades as a way to destroy these Demon Towers all at once while they had little time to really sense his presence. Even his own allies could barely see where he's going nor feel the speed of his blinding attacks. Rex is amazed that Corvin is still good as ever despite not liking his usual heroic cockiness. He fin ally zips back to his main spot gracefully before slowly sheathing both of his curved blades carefully.
"Fuga Daemonum," he said slowly.
The end result would be all three Demon Towers exploding violently into clouds of darkness around the heroes who are confused by what happened. The Azumi could no longer sense the strange pretense of the Heartless as a sign they were completely destroyed by Corvin's light. Bomberman quickly checked around to see that he's only surrounded by this black dissipating fog instead of being tossed around anymore. Shill is rather embarrassed that he could have predicted this Blade to be of assistance. Pyra is thankful that she didn't get hurt too much or else it would hinder Rex's ability to summon a Blade for assistance.
"Thanks Corvin. We wouldn't have made it without your help," she said thankfully.
The blonde Blase couldn't help but to feel too confident after hearing the Aegis's praise of his skill, Rex slightly sighing at his usual behavior.
"It's a good thing that you stopped those heartless beings. I've already exhausted enough of my bombs in the last battle. If only that Sora guy were here to be of help," Bomberman said sadly.
"We have no idea what could have happened since he did assist us during the World of Light event. I remember lately that said that he had some important business with a guy called Xehanort and we never saw him again. Given he's from another world that he did tell us about, I wonder if we can go there to ask around for clues. But only if the others would allow it since they are probably worried about us," Shulk explains.
Before anyone could say a word, a lots this would be heard that shaken the forest behind them. Everyone quickly grew cautious as something would be heading their way at high speeds. But the Aegis could also sense the presence of a few humans that appear to be chased by this being.
"Don't attack, someone's being chased by our enemy. Someone will have to get them," she said.
"Way ahead of you, I've already had a vision and f what they are. On the count of three, we will grab them both, and some will take care of that thing that's after them," Shulk said.
"Affirmative, partner. I will do this to make up for our mission failing," Bomberman said in determination.
"You guys make sure to stand back. Or maybe search the area for more of those Heartless," Rex ordered the Azumi.
The fish-like beings would appropriately scatter the other way to focus on finding any other enemies while the main five handle the incoming threat. Everyone would strand their ground with weapons ready and some having their hands out to whoever's being chased. Rex shown zero fear in who this may be as he's fought Tyrants on Arrest and various Unique Monsters as training for Malos. Shulk already has an idea of what the threat may be and knows that holding back is not an option here. Out of the trees would burst two GUN soldiers that were cared for their lives alongside a massive creature that happened to be carrying the Yellow Onion in his hands. He appears to be a chimera of some sorts and someone who exists from a whole other universe with the goal of bootlegging toons for his own entertainment. His face is that of Felicia with the right leg of Woody, left leg of Optimus Prime, shoulder pad of Shredder, cape and cybernetic transforming right arm as Captain Silver, Nova Cannon of Megatron, left arm of previous hero Wreck It Ralph, pants of classic Mickey and chest of his former self as Sweet Pete. He is the leader of the Valley Gang and one of the newest recruits for Maleficent's army of darkness before they've joined hands with the Legion to spread darkness. Shulk and Rex immediately did a Back Slash and Double Spinning Edge against the massive hybrid beast's chest altogether to harm him and halt his pursuit of the runaway soldiers. The two Blades Corvin and Pyra split up to save the soldiers respectively before Bomberman launched a powerful bomb via Bomb Throw at Sweet Pete to blow him back into the forest once more after the duo's initial attack. The hybrid monster is sent flying back into the thickets of trees at massive force from their desired teamwork with immense results. Countless broken trees flew into the air from the force with dust clouds from the uprooted ends. The Yellow Onion that he carried would be flying into the air from the force with nothing to hold it anymore. Bomberman looks around cautiously as Rex and Shulk breathe heavily from their last attack. They knew something about this new enemy is different, as if he's got the power of many villains in his mass. The GUN soldiers who ran just happened to be Herman and Parr all along who were initially guarding the Onion for their captain before they were under attack. The former would notice that he's being caressed by the corvid feather cape that wrapped his back after Corvin saved him. It took one look at his face to realize just who his savior was.
"Gwuah! What the hell are you supposed to be, some crow boy freak?" Herman screamed in fear.
"No, but I am one of the best Rare Blades ever to serve the legendary Driver Rex. You can thank me later for saving your life," he brags with a smile.
Parr is less that fortunate having his face submerged between Pyra's breasts from the save. This is combined with his rising body heat from his soldier's gear slowly burning from the Fire Blades natural body heat. Pyra could tell he's under a lot of discomfort when her victim is turning red along with getting sweatier and sweatier.
"Should I let you go? I know that it's too much heat for me to be close when you're wearing this much gear," she said apologetically.
"P…lease, I don't want to die in heaven and hell at the same time," he said in a muffled speech.
Bomberman nervously chuckled now that he knows that the two soldiers were safe and sound. Rex didn't know whether he should be annoyed at Corvin's inflated heroics or the fact Pyra is too close to someone again on accident. Shulk realized how much he missed his usual clothing when things were starting to get too breezy on this island.
"I really wish we can somehow go back to HQ right quick if it means being a little warm again. But we have to reach our other allies first more than ever," the blonde Homs said.
"I really wish the captain won't be upset with our failure to contain that alien ship. It could be an agent to the Black Arms that we've fought for ages on this island. Like that mutated cat faced thing that attacked us out of nowhere with those black shadow creatures," Herman said.
"What alien ship? You will have to start talking since it could be something important that could get us out of here when this is over," Bomberman beamed.
"As if we will answer to some alien. We trust none of your kind after you all done irreveersable damage to this planet thanks to that fool Gerald. This is all his fault that we placed our faith in some madman to save humanity who sold us out to these monsters," the soldier said angrily.
"But Gerald is dead. I am not sure why you are holding this grudge out, but we aren't associated with him or the Black Arms. Shadow told us everything we all need to know abou…"
"So you are on that damn hedgehog's side. I should have known. So much for saviors. I bet you all will stab us in the backs to make sure the world don't know of what happened to our squadron or Prison Island! Let go of us and stay the hell away!" Herman shouts at Rex.
While normally nice to anyone, Rex will not tolerate any hostility towards him nor assumptions about a fellow Smash member being bad in any way. Shulk did not appreciate the level of hostility these soldiers were showing either when he effectively saved them from something that would have killed them.
"I think what you need is to learn some respect and be grateful that we thought of saving the two of you. I now you trust neither of us since we never lived on this planet, or well this universe, but you have to understand that we are here to help all of you on this island. Our allies are with the rest of your squad as we speak and once we get together and gather all of Olimar's Pikmin, we can leave here safely. GUN has a lot of problems to deal with regarding the Legion and they could appreciate your assistance," Pyra begged.
"They miss us? How do you know these things when they never thought about coming back for us in months?" Parr said while still muffled between her chest.
"Don't listen to her, Parr. It is probably some lie so they can kill us. We were trained to never trust anything that isn't human or of this world. That damn hedgehog already done irreversible damage to this former prison base as it is and same for Eggman," Herman warned.
"Who is the leader of the Legion of Subsdpace and slowly ruling everything as we speak. GUN already has their hands full as Pyra said which Shadow is a member of him. You all talk so bad of him yet realized he's done more for GUN that you all had ever done. They respect him, saw him as important enough to join their ranks when they heard the truth that Gerald made the Eclipse Can non to destroy the Black Comet, and he protected all soldiers when they raided Eggman's mothership just to save Sonic. Let the past stay in the past and worry about what will happen to your future. There could be no Earth or universe anymore if you don't stop being such arses and follow us!" Rex yelled.
"My friend here is right. I can see through the future to some extent thanks to the Monado. I saw a future that both of you would have been killed by that monster had we didn't intervene and saved you both. Would you rather die a meaningless death? Disappoint your own captain who values your lives? Or your own military organization that had no idea of your whereabouts for so long? We are here to help you or would you rather live off a dying land that will soon be uninhabitable the longer you choose to stay here. The Smash Brothers would lose respect in all of us if we didn't do our job at saving as many lives as we can. Consider yourself lucky that we aren't true scum like Mumkhar or Malos who would gladly make your lives a living hell until they end," Shulk said sternly.
He eventually averts his attention to realize that the Yellow Onion that was throw into the air is slowly plummeting towards all of them on the ground.
"I would save this conversation should be saved for another time when those Pikmin are in danger!" Bomberman said.
"Another life to save? Fear not as Corvin is here to make sure no one is unhappy," Corvin declared after dropping Herman on the ground.
"How about you do it instead of just saying anything? Allow me to take over since it's clear you are cooking him with your body heat, Pyra," Mythra said after transforming.
Right, sorry. I was just caught up in their harsh treatment of everyone instead of thinking about his current state. Good luck dealing with the next threat.
"What? You just changed forms? Just what kind of lady are you?" Parr said in a muffled suprise.
Soon after a massive elongated fist would punch Shulk a fair distance across the land. Rex, Mythra, Corvin, Bomberman, Parr, and Herman were left speechless that such an attack blindsided them. The Monado boy is now left lying faceforward after a few rolls and struggling to process what could have attacked him. Said arm would reel itself backwards swiftly in between the heroes who are still left too shocked at what happened. Their eyes would follow wehere the stretchy arm had went while still frozen to see who could have done that. What they would see would soon send immense fear down their backs. That said creature they attacked now assumed a new terrifying form to match new victims he had bootlegged sometime after Maleficent recruited him. He is now depicted with the left arm of Monkey D Luffy, right gatling gun arm of Cyborg Kurochan, Astro Boy's black shorts, Ichigo's Bankai cape, Goku's left leg, Cutie Honey's right leg, Kurama's nine tails, Happy's wings, and Luna's head. The chimera inexplicably changed to a new form that he felt would be more likely to give these intruders more trouble than before. He would be chuckling like a familiar Blackbeard Pirates captain ominously while slowly lumbering his large body before the heroes. Shulk finally gotten a good look at this being and drops his jaw at what he's seeing. He could barely recognize Sweet Pete anymore but felt something was quite off about him compared to his last vision. The worst part being that he couldn't predict this form change at all as if he never expected this.
"Just what are you? How did you survive our attacks when we made sure to hit hard enough?" he said.
"I should have warned you, he's a monster. We already tried to fight that thing but it kept changing forms like some kind of shapeshifting chimera. Almost like he's barely an ordinary creature at all," Herman admits.
He's almost shuddering because he could remember how the two of them were struggling to fend him off with mere guns alone like he's a whole new level of a threat. Sweet Pete instantly disappears in an instant as if he were leaving. Corvin, Rex, and Mythra prepared themselves since there's a chance that he could be coming back to keep on fighting again with a new dangerous technique. The GUN soldiers didn't know whether they should run or have faith in their new saviors for protection, still frightened since their first encounter with him. Mythra tries to use her Foresight to predict where he may attack from next, still trying to see further ahead in the future ion she could. She did see something in the form of a deadly blast that's fired at them from above. The Aegis looks up just to see Sweet Pete already above them in his new form with his jaws opened wide enough as if he is planning to unleash the energy from his mouth.
"Everyone, move it!" she ordered.
Rex and the others knew too well that Mythra's foresight is almost never wrong before following her.
"Mouth Cannon!" he shouts in Buu's voice before firing the blast down below in a flash.
Shulk would see the glow of pink before his eyes and decides to make a run for it despite his pain. The blast finally made contact with the ground immediately to tear it in a growing explosion. The jungle rumbled even harder from the force of this deadly attack to frighten more of the local wildlife of Prison Island. Bomberman is left wide eyed that this technique was inches away from destroying him and truly wondered if Sweet Pete was even a normal villain at all. Mythra knew too well that this mismatched abomination is not meant to be taken lightly if he's using strange powers that no one in this universe had ever done before. Parr is already shellshocked and crying that he's about to relive this traumatizing experience once more.
"No more, no more, no more, no more!" he cried.
"Parr, get your head out of your ass! We are GUN, we don't act like cowards when our organization depends on defeating these villains!" Herman tries to motivate to hide his fear.
Pete reappears near the soldiers in another flash with a massive fist made of magma ready to burn them to death.
"Meigo!" he shouts in a deep voice of authority.
Mythra quickly generates a special shield to block the molten fist in time before it kills the soldiers. But soon she realized that the intensity of the heat alone would be enough to slowly break through her defenses.
"Rex, a little help?" she asks.
The Driver is already in a position to strike him with Sword Bash. Little did he know was this won't be enough to stop the anime juggernaut.
"Robin Special!" he said in a noble gentlemanly voice.
He quickly he a flaming horn on his head to Rex's should and quickly reversed himself to attempt impaling the young Driver. Rex used quickly thinking to use his Anchor Shot on a nearby tree to save himself from burned internal organs. He narrowly gotten away in time for Sweet Pete to be flying in the opposite direction, but this didn't last for long. He soon stop mid-air as if he's squatting on an unknown surface and launched himself directly after Rex with the same horn to attempt impaling him.
"Damn, he's really trying to skewer me with that strange horn," he uttered.
Mythra would use this time to call to Siren for help of her next technique. One that sends powerful light beams from space to her very location to devastate foes.
"Sacred Arrow!" she shouts immediately.
The skies would illuminate with a bright yellow as a sign that the incoming beam is about to be send down upon their new enemy. Rex noticed the beam already coming sends another Anchor Shot to a new tree to avoid the Aegis's destructive attack. Pete would prepare to do another Sly Walk before he realized that it was too late, being engulfed in a massive explosion of light thanks to Mythra's quick thinking. Shulk had already used this time to use his healing Art while he could to recover his initial wounds of the first punch. He had a feeling things were far from over when he had already used the Monado's vision to see that Sweet Pete had already transformed his body into light to disperse inside of the blast in time.
This is one tricky foe. I'm not sure if he's with the Legion or not, but he must be stopped at all costs or we'll never be able to bring these soldiers home.
He had already seen Pete reappear before his face with his feminine leg already glowing as if he's ready to attack at the speed of light.
"Oooooooooh. Looks like you are quite the unfortunate one to realize that even light can't harm me. Allow me to give you a warm welcome with the light that shines below my foot," the anime amalgamate said in a carefree voice.
"Monado Shield" Shulk said at the last minute before the light speed kick finally knocks him away. Thankfully the Monado Art was the right one to use as it absorbed most of the hit and only caused him to skid against the soft earth below him. Sweet Pete was far from done as he crossed his mixed up arms to prepare another deadly light technique to deal with him.
"Yasakani Sacred Jewel!" he shouts before a volley of light is fired from above his head at Shulk immediately.
He braced himself before he saw familiar ice spells appear before him to take the impact of these deadly light blasts. The Azumi came back just in time after making short work of the few Heartless that were in the shadows after seeing who their true leader is. The rising mist from the explosion would be enough to block Pete's view completely, leading the cat headed mutant to be mildly annoyed that these demons dared got in his way.
"You idiot! I was about to kill them myself if it weren't for you!" he shouts in a chief's voice.
"Photon Edge!" Mythra shouts while zipping at him with lightspeed slashes.
He is able to block each strike with his own light sword as a result of the Ama no Murakumo Sword.
"Don't forget you are fighting us, you freak! You sure love to pick on the weak instead of playing fair," she shouts.
The two would keep clashing blades in a heated sword fight that surpassed even the speed of light while Shulk had time to plan something with his new demon allies. Rex would already be leading the soldiers to a safe hiding spot besides the Yellow Onion while Bomberman and Corvin charged in to help assist their ally.
"Hang in there, I have an idea that may be enough to deal with this bad kitty," the white robot said.
"Darkness is always a good counterpart so the two of us have the greatest plan ever," the corvid Blade said.
Mythra's Aegis sword is soon knocked out of balanced to leave her wide open for Pete's next attack, an ax kick that happens to be imbedded with light in an attempt to shatter her emerald Core Crystal. She flinched since she is aware of what's next to happen until a Gravity Bomb explodes in his face that begins slowly absorbing him inside of it. As Mythra is shocked, Corvin appears before her to kindly move her aside for her safety.
"Excuse me miss, but allow me to be of assistance to his vile villain," he said with a smile.
He then follows up with a powerful stab to the absorbed ball of light within the mini black hole followed by a cape swing to cover it in the darkness of feathers, the Lucerne Noctis. The end result would be an explosion that fully damages Pete from the inside out, causing the cat to gag completely in pain. Corvin smirks now that the plan was a success before Mythra returns the favor by grabbing him during their fall. Bomberman still prepares another Gravity Bomb just in case he planned on anything else for them. It was now Shulk and the Azumi turn to attack now that their allies had done their part.
"Don't think we are done here just yet, you Unique Monster! Alight guys, let's finish him!" he ordered.
"We all are more than prepared. There is no doubt this creature is responsible for what happened to the waters of this island." the Azumi said.
Sweet Pie quickly awakens with a smile since he is far from finished with his enemies yet.
"It isn't God the people should fear, the fear is God!" he beamed in a more frightening voice.
He disappeared in a flash of lightning before Shulk could attack him at all to his confusion. He could barely make out a strange laughter within the skies after Sweet Pete's disappearance as did the Azumi. Being familiar with how their ancestor Susano'o works, they knew he is hiding amongst the clouds for a powerful strike.
"Take cover, he's going to attack from the clouds with lightning," the fish-like demon warned.
He would be right as a powerful pillar of lightning would appear right above everyone in an attempt to destroy them. They were all narrowly able to run from the radius of the blue lightning that came their way which was powerful enough to tear a massive scorch mark in the ground due to the intense heat of the lightning. Many miles away, Olimar's group could sense the commotion going on despite initially waiting for their allies. Alph almost fell over only for a few Winged Pikmin to break his fall and the Pretas are shocked that this much chaos is happening despite demons just now arriving here. Some of the few Slimes already started to feel uneasy that this meant either a truly powerful demon that arrived or a new threat altogether. King Hippo finally reawakened since these tremors were enough to shake his noggin enough to alarm him. The Winged Pikmin would finally notice the obese king of Hippo Island finally back to his sense, which they began lowering him back to the ground for safety. Captain Bridge and the rest of his fellow Tick Squadron had already started to fear for the safety of their Privates Herman and Parr who were tasked to continue guarding the Yellow Onion on his watch since these attacks were in their direction.
"Damn it, whatever is out there is getting closer to my men. We've already lost a few because of those black shadow creatures and we'll waste too much time if we negotiate with these outsiders. Men, move out and get your weapons ready. We will send this thing back to the same hell the Black Arms went after our war with them here," he shouts.
His fellow GUN soldiers would immediately begin marching in that direction along with their captain to seek the safety of their own. Olimar partially wanted to stop them, but felt it would be useless as he already knew they didn't trust him or his allies enough to listen. The Red and Flying Pikmin all watched sheepishly as if they were looking at the least intelligent beings of this planet. Some even stretching their leafy, budded, or flowery antennae to the left or right in confusion.
"To hell with those punks, just let them die if they are truly stupid enough to face something stronger than them," a Preta said chuckling.
"We ShOuLd FoRgEt AbOuT tHeM aNd FiNd MoRe Of ThOsE OnIoN tHiNgS yOu NeEd," a Slime suggests.
"Which my map tracker is picking up. One Onion is in the direction of the commission and I have a bad feeling about this if it's getting violent. I'd imagine all the yellows are starting to feel threatened just being there. Everyone, let's move out," Olimar said.
"I'm with you on this. Working together may be the fastest way to get all of our Pikmin back. Purples, whites, blues, and rocks soon. This island is starting to make me more nervous than before," Alph said in worry.
King Hippo would already start charging in that direction in a huff since he had no time to waste just standing around. Olimar knew there was no stopping that island dwelling behemoth as he loves to fight no matter how much of a challenge it is for him. His speed is barely hindered by the manhole shield taped to his cut and his sprinting feels more like an actually hippo charging at a territorial male. Olimar knew that he is right that it was time to go, leading his Red Pikmin army to run in the same direction with Alph's own group following by. All the demons would soon follow their boss as quickly as possible feeling this next foe may be a tough one. The area is now completely empty with so many people now heading for a new destination, until several shadows of familiar demons would be appearing from the shadows. These were like the ones Olimar and his group had already fought but much different as they were born from other means. But it's different in the sense that they feel the need that they may be the master worth protecting. Meanwhile, Bomberman had already collapsed due to enduring enough damage from Sweet Pete's Hyakuretsu Ken techniques. Thankfully he isn't a living being or he would have normally exploded under these circumstances due to no pressure points. But the technique still did a number on him as many of the circuits that run parts of his mechanical body were cut as a result leaving him in a seriously damaged state to not fight any longer. With countless deep holes and sparks flying from various spots, the hero of Planet Bomber is now on the verge of complete destruction.
"I'm…sorry…everyone," he said in a broken voice as if he's going to deactivate.
"Oooooooowaaaaaaataaaaaaaaa!" the anime chimera shouts in a hot-blooded manner as if he's the victory for taking out one of his more annoying opponents.
Rex, Shulk, Corvin, and Mythra were in no better condition as they struggled to keep up with his various strange techniques that they couldn't find hunters too. The Core Crystals on the two Blades were already starting to grow weaker and one more good hit could result in a crack or them being destroyed completely due to having no crystal to keep them alive. When a normally confident and prideful Blade like Corvin is starting to feel dread, Rex knew too well that he is best switching now or else this rare blade would be good as gone. But he also knew the Aegis dying would also mean his own death as his own body felt extremely weak due to feeling their same level of pain. Some of the Azumi were unfortunately killed in the battle leaving a good three of them left in a near dead state and no ways to properly heal. Rex knew that there is only one way to giving them ways to heal and that would be impossible with Sweet Pete's own speed to dodge his Anchor Shot. Shulk had already lost enough blood with his body exposed enough for the worst attacks than having his jacket again. He coughed more of it on the ground once more, almost giving him an eerie flashback of the same incident happening to Dunban before. The difference here is that he's not a battle worn warrior past his prime with one less arm than him, but someone younger yet still in a situation where he could die in this very fight.
"You all should have ran when you had the chance. Darkness shall prevail and it's something that always had more power than the light. Maleficent made me see the dark, so why don't a bunch of you good two-shoes understand that? I've realized that this whole world will throw you in the trash when the time comes and others should accept that reality. And to believe that yellow rat and cap wearing chimp were a part of your ragtag group," Sweet Pete says in his original voice arrogantly.
Something about his last minute would trigger a sense of familiarity for the Blades and humans respectively, especially Shulk who is definitely familiar with who their chimera villain implied. While he is aware that Pikachu and Diddy were completely unharmed, he wondered what he meant about the two of them in general.
"Just what world are you from? And what have you done with the Pikachu and Diddy of that world?" he demands.
"But more importantly, how did you know about the Smash Brothers? Did this Maleficent person to know us?" Rex wondered.
In response to their utter curiosity, Pete did a scary smirk with his feline face since he had an idea. He would slowly begin to shift to a completely new form just show exactly what really happened to the implied victims. The transformation was revolting as it would be unnecessary as his enemies wondered just what he would be planning next. Bomberman's massively punctured body still lie on the ground motionless from the damage with no robot experts to rebuild the serve damage that happened to him. Parr and Herman shielded their eyes from the gruesome sight as they witnessed enough for the day with the brutal damage he done to their heroes. The Yellow Onion is now lying sideways without Bomberman to hold it anymore, countless Yellow Pikmin still fearing for what ever happen to their captain. The new form of Sweet Pete is now that akin to a true full video game hybrid unlike the Bill Blaster that his standard "toon form" once had thanks to the new bootleg data he had absorbed. He would not be in a much drastically off putting form with Mega Man's Mega Buster for the left arm, Pac-Man's left leg, Solid Snake's right leg, Rayman's floating right hand, Mario's overalls without pants legs, Sora's Kingdom Key keyblade, Ryu Hayabusa's leather clad torso, Pikachu's tail, Sonic's blue quills on his back, Spyro's wings, Blinx's face, and now the hellish clown-like features and flaming "hair" like Sweet Tooth. This is truly a more terrifying form for the bootlegged Frankenstein villain as it is with the best parts of each gaming character in the worst ways possible. His laugh is now a hellish mixture between Sweet Tooth's and Mario's to give that haunted feel that he's beyond what he used to be anymore since his bootleg surgery machine backfired on him, even mores with the darkness influencing whatever shape he takes overall. Mythra would almost shudder at how disgusting he now looks, giving the first Blade human hybrid she's fought a run for his money in the grotesque department. It was to the point that she even hesitates at the time of fighting him the way he is now. Corvin knew too well that this was one unsightly fellow and knew that he only have one shot to not get his own Core Crystal shattered completely.
"I am from a world where all characters like you are only actors for the media you are known for than being the real thing. It's a bit complicated but I will say that this is my first time being in a new world with more bootlegging opportunities outside my own bubble. During my first ever conquest of bootlegging toons with the Valley Gang, we figured that we should spread our bootleg movie business to surrounding characters of anime and video games to our business. Among the first of our victims would be Diddy Kong. That stupid little monkey was so innocent act what he was up against when he failed to pay the rent to our humble business in town, so we packed him up and gave him the best treatment for our next film Dankey Kang City. Then came the little cute yellow mouse everyone knows and love that can only say his name over and over and over again. He had no way to talk himself out of not paying up, so the boys and I bootlegged him as well for Handheld Gremlins Scarlet and Indigo as our second video game bootleg. I have to say that revisiting our old factory with all those stolen parts given me an idea that I could only grow more powerful if I can absorb these parts as the ultimate toon. A true monster of many faces and powers. And here I thought not being my old self was a curse and I owe it all to the Maleficent of this world for seeing potential in me as well was giving me the power to do it. Darkness is true power and not that friendship that you Smash clowns ramble about so much. So she pointed me in your direction since it is all part of the plan to drag Sora out of his hiding place for us to deal with him. A truly foolproof plan that will be all worth the trouble," Sweet Pete describes in sadistic detail with his voice growing more and more distorted.
His actions and plans would be just as disgusting enough to match his appearance, which even Rex saw no redeeming qualities in this monster for kidnapping and stealing the parts of innocent beings for entertainment. Shulk did not care how it happened, but could only feel this is worse than how the Faced Mechon came to be in his world.
"You are truly a monster and I thought Malos was the one who was wrong in the head. You stolen parts of many people who had nothing to do with your illegal business to become whatever the hell you are now? You already had lost your own humanity or what was left of it, but knowing everything you said just put you on a most wanted list easily if the other Smash Brothers were to know about this. Maybe warn our Diddy and Pikachu about what you've did to them so they wouldn't suffer the same fate. All more of a reason why I would have no problems using my true power if only I can remember how to use it once more," Mythra shouts in disgust.
While often times grumpy, Rex truly witnessed what a really angry Mythra was like and it was thankfully not like how she was 500 years ago in her last fight with Malos. That side of her was willing to use everything she had even if it sunk a few Titans in the process and it was all because of losing one of her first real friends Milton. Shulk almost felt that same aura overcame him when he truly saw Fiora die at Mumkhar's hands on Colony 9 when looking at the barely recognizable villain.
"Oh I'm so scared. What did I ever do to make such an insignificant blonde wench with the worst cooking skill angry? Good, give in to that anger. Get close enough so I. An end your miserable life and Maleficent will be pleased to hear that our plans of global darkness will be closer by the days with the rest of us already attacking various cities worldwide already. A few allies of mines have already taken over this wasteland of a dead base which will be revamped to our own home base soon enough. That's why those pathetic soldiers will be wiped out slowly or get their hearts devoured to make way for our plans. Same goes for the rest of you for intruding this island. Even those demon freaks from another world thinking they can claim this one as theirs," Sweet Pete said in Sweet Tooth's gravely voice.
"Never forget it was humanity that made the very deities and demons that made everything possible. The Netherworld isn't even our only home and our great ancestors continued in making everything in this realm, the stars and all planets. Including this one. If Amaterasu or even Tsukuyomi knew what you've did to our fellow Azumi, they would reduce you to nothing but a sea of Magatsuhi to be fed on by the lowest of demons. Another war between gods would begin and everything would soon be like the current state of Tokyo if it happened. Would you want that to happen, you freak of nature?" an Azumi snarled at Sweet Pete.
"Baloney! If these "gods" truly exists they would come down here and smite me right now. Spoiler alert, they don't exist! And even if they did, they are a bunch of cowards who will just sit and watch as we cover everything in darkness. If they truly cared about the beings that "made" them, I would have been stopped from bootlegging many a long time ago. Soon you demons will be old news when Heartless climb to the top of the food chain because they are heating hearts every day thanks to us while most of you demonic cowards are too busy moping about your precious home that's destroyed instead of joining us. The Legion told us all about how your leader Lucifer rejected their offer and gotten reduced to a weaker state. How the mighty has fallen, and soon the mightiest of them all will be our perfect tool to making g that perfect universe. And there's not a darn thing you can do to stop us at all. We are past the days of gods and demons, while Heartless and those truly dark will rule this world soon," Sweet Pete barked in Radec's voice.
"You fool, the Tyrants nor Lucifer are NOT our leader but our greatest enemy. Even mother Amaterasu would sooner destroy him than ever be associated with him. And demons only respect the strong and not cowardly fools who resort to tricking us just to have us fight your wars. We respect these four far more than we will ever bow down to a fool like you," the Azumi snarled.
Without warning, a massive Mega Buster shot tears through the fish like demon immediately in a mess of blood and strands of Magatsuhi. Shulk and the others were shocked that their ally was killed mid sentence by their enemy for speaking the legit truth about him. The hellish cat-like face is left scowling immensely after resorting to this as a way to silence the inferior demon once and for all. The remaining three Azumi were left speechless that another of their own had his life old ended immediately so soon. Mythra is less than amused that the mutant resorted to a cheap shot just to make a point.
"You idiot! To call someone that harness the darkness a coward is your biggest mistake ever. If I was truly a coward, Maleficent would had never granted me this power to control the Heartless or harvest so many bootlegged parts on my powerful body. In this world, it's to kill or be killed! I'll only say this once again. Those who dare make a joke of the ultimate being will be reduced to dust and a mere soul. Maybe the perfect plan would be to capture every single demon and sign to gain your abilities. That would truly be worth showing you freaks that you overstayed your welcome. Darkness prevails over anything, even you irrelevant demon scum," he shouts in a familiar flower's voice.
"Not if we can help it. We'll stop you from even thinking about continuing your disgusting crimes. I'm afraid we can't let you get away with this any further," Shulk warned.
"An arse like you don't deserve to run wild and stealing the parts of other victims. There's a perfect way to deal with monsters like you. Right, Mythra?" Rex said with his white Aegis Sword ready.
"That's true. You're definitely one kitty…thing that deserves a taste of his own medicine. After fighting you for a while, we just May figured out a flaw in how you use your abilities that we can exploit. Consider this the last time you'll ever get any more free victories," the proud blonde Aegis said.
The mutant soon replies with a light chuckle and got on all fours as if he's preparing to strike them all again in full force. This time he starts gathering a lot of electricity around his body in immense amounts to engulf himself as if he wanted to finish things. Shulk knew what to expect since this is the love of a fellow Smash member he regularly trains with instead of anything out of the ordinary. Rex, Mythra, and Corvin knew to keep their mouths close as if they didn't want to give anything away for their next plan.
"Time for these volts to end your frail nervous systems. Let's a go!" he shouts in an almost uncanny replication of Mario's voice.
They all braced for the large video game chimera charging at them like a rampaging elephant with his high voltage illuminating their faces. This time they used their Vision and Foresight respectively to see just how to dodge him. After the Monado shown the way, Shulk immediately flips above Sweet Pete as Rex's team split up in various ways. The cat faced villain tries to find out who to attack first with all of them scattering, only for a Back Slash to severely wound his back. He lets out a massive roar similar to a certain Koopa King in immense pain from the attack. Mythra already gave Rex the advantage now that their infinity levels were slowly improving with a bright ether chain.
"Let's send this freak back where he belongs," the salvager said.
"Way ahead of you, Rex. Sacred Arrow!" she shouts.
Another beam of light would tear through the clouds once more with the intent to destroy its target. Sweet Pete quickly responds by attempting Kirby's Inhale to swallow the beam. Corvin attacks him with Ex Tenebris Lux to slightly distract him. The beast would angrily attempt clawing at him in response. However he is soon blasted by the full force of the Siren's beam before Corvin was able to get away. As a Tank Blade, he barely took much damage also due to his light affinity.
"What's next with our plan?" he said.
"A good one, but I need all of you to distract him for it to work," Shulk said.
Sweet Pete soon lunges at the Blade with a flaming fist ready to punch him.
"Falcon…Punch!" he shouts.
Rex jumps in the way to block the attack thanks to his current Tank status and reconnecting with Corvin. Mythra being separated was able part of the plan as she ran behind him. "Ray of Punishment!" she doubts before launching a light blast from her Aegis sword. The blast hurt Pete enough for him to turn around and try head butting her like DK. She narrowly dodged it, and Shulk finally returns with an Air Slash to break his defenses. He felt that when his body started to grow weak as a result of the heavy blow.
"Aaaargghh, you peons are getting on my last nerve. Go to hell!" he said before launching a massive plasma blast from his mouth akin to Ridley.
Shulk and Mythra both split up at the same time to dodge his attack, the latter preparing the next part of his plan with his Monado's kanji changing to one rarely used.
"Monado Cyclone!" he yells as a powerful whirlwind blows beneath him.
The ensuing attack knocks Sweet Pete into the air immediately since this is usually the Topple state after a target is broken. The massive beast lands on his back immediately with a large thud that shaken the trees the two GUN agents were hiding in. Herman and Parr decided take take a look after all the hiding they were doing to see an assuring sight. Mythra, Corvin, Rex, and Shulk all hanging up on Sweet Pete with a flurry of attacks while he is down. They didn't know whether to praise or fear their saviors despite this situation.
"Are you alright, private?" a voice said.
They turned to see that Captain Bridge and the other Tick Squadron had arrived just in time. Parr and Herman were already in tears seeing their captain and teammates survived after all this time they were separated. "Captain!" they all cried comically. Meanwhile, Olimar and his new Allie's ran past the reuniting team to focus on more important manners. The captain could already notice the fallen damaged body of Bomberman that is not too far away as if he's seen better days.
"Oh dear, we were too late. I'll join the fight after I help rebuild his body. Alph, I'm counting on you to take these Pikmin in any way," he said the blue haired Koppaitian also appeared to notice the barely balanced Yellow Onion beside them and had an idea.
"I think I have a plan. But I'll have you fix him first. These Yellow Pikmin will be needing all the ammo they can get," he said.
"But what about us and that fat guy? Shouldn't we do something?" the Preta asks.
King Hippo chuckles a little as he sees compliments of his impressive heavy weight as a compliment.
"No ShIt We ArE gOiNg To BuY oUr BoSs SoMe TiMe WhIlE tHeY dO tHeIr StUfF," the Slime said.
"Precisely, my slimy alley. It shouldn't take too long to fix up Bomberman with my level of expertise just like it shouldn't take long for Alph to recruit all Yellow Pikmin from their Onion either. Just don't die on us," Olimar said before breaking out his repair tools.
The remaining Azumi caught wind of these demons and approached them with remorse.
"We were failures in fending off that monster. He was too strong for them that he's destroyed that white robot and our fellow Azumi. We've lost," one said.
"Never forget who you are dealing with here. These are the guys who will beat everyone's ass on this island. We've already beaten a few Pixies and Mandrakes along the way," the Preta bragged.
"You don't understand. This being is a true monster that can become and use the abilities of anything it wants. You are truly asking to fall if you underestimate him," the Azumi said.
It wasn't until Sweet Pete finally gotten back to his feet by knocking all four of his attackers off of him angrily with a shrill roar like Ridley's, any angrier than before and engulfed in the same dark aura Ganondorf is known for. Shulk and Mythra gotten back to their feed, Rex stumbles backwards from the pain, and Corvin barely recovers using the softness of his feathery cape.
"You mid leveled punks mad a joke of me for the last time. I think it's overdue for you to get your well deserved Game Over!" Sweet Pete roared fiercely.
"DuStOmA!" a Slime shouts as the mirage spell hits Pete's head.
Usually there is a small chance said spell would actually out foes in a Mirage state of hallucinating opponents that are not there. He would soon angrily fire a psionic finger beam into the distance in rage. Shulk and his Allie's wondered what happened that set him off or made him choose not to attack them. The Slime jumps in joy that his mirage attempt was successful after all.
"Good job, you really did make yourself useful for once, slime for brains," the Preta said.
They would soon see the entire GUN squad firing their shots at the confused chimera of video game characters than wasting any time like their temporary allies. Shulk isn't surprised that these soldiers were too prideful to realize their weaponry is ineffective.
"Keep firing at that monster men! Or else we'll not come home as heroes to the rest of GUN at HQ!" Captain Bridge yells.
While these bullets weren't enough to hurt Sweet Pete , he would slowly feel his defenses lowering due to this and the mirages plaguing his mind. He would see mirages of the Chip and Dale of his universe taunting him for his failure at catching them. This would fill him with a mix of rage and confusion.
"You two will be nothing but roadkill when I get my hands on you!" he shouts while blasting Mega Buster shots behind him.
Shulk and Rex would only be more confused as in what's really going on or who is he talking about that caused this sudden change in behavior.
"You casted a Mirage curse on him successfully. Not bad for a Slime," the Azumi said.
"Mirage curse? As in he's imagining everything in his head after gaining that purple cloud over his head?" Rex asks.
"Certain demons can use a spell called Dustoma. Which allows them to cast a spell that will hinder their six senses in a battle. It's more effective on weaker foes but tricky to use on stronger and faster ones. It's miracle to work very easily on this monster," the water spirit replied.
"We ShOuLd AtTaCk HiM nOw WhIlE hE'S uNdEr ThE iNfLuEnCe!" the Slime beamed.
"That's all I needed to hear. He shall pay for slaying our brethren!" another Azumi growled.
"Thanks for assisting us. We can finish where we've started with this Unique Monster," Shulk
said in determination. Changing his Monado Arts, he went for one of his deadliest ones, Smash. Unlike Buster, this one's more about stronger hits at the cost of slight speed and defense. Rex however already maxed out his affinity with Corvin and Mythra at the same time with both Blades ready to fight.
"Hold you fire! Let us handle this guy!" Shulk called to the belligerent GUN squadron behind them.
"We don't take orders from some half pint. But we'll stop if it avoids our bullets from hurting you and your ragtag friends," Captain Bridge said.
Immediately, he would stop firing as well as his fellow soldiers doing the same to open this window of opportunity for the group to begin their attack. The remaining Azumi and Pretas froze Pete's feet in place with a mixture of Bufu and Mabufu. This still left his wings and tail free for movement which he struggles with immensely.
"Rolling Smash!" Rex shouts before hurling himself at the trapped bootlegged villain.
A single smash with the blunt end of the Aegis sword would cause the flaming headed Sweet Pete to bug his green eyes out in pain. Shill follows up with a powerful Back Slash once more, but this time successfully harming the back of their larger foe. He wanted to retaliate but wasn't sure who to hit since he saw Mirages of his former cronies Officer Putty, Jimmy the Polar Bear, Bob the Viking, and Mr. Bjornson taunting him as ghastly apparitions. This only bewildered on top of angering the Valley Gang leader into snarling and wilding swinging at these nonexistent mirages. He also felt himself being struck and slashed within each second without any awareness of the reality around him.
"Look at you, Pete. You've really gained yourself some weight. Eating too much toons isn't good for your health unlike the money you owe me," the putty authoritarian said before chuckling.
"You made become some polar bear Tinkerbell, so look who's laughing now! You aren't Sweet Pete anymore, but Ugly Pete!" the bear chuckles.
"If there's one thing my eyes can see is that you happen to be a bigger joke than I ever will. No one can make fun of me anymore when your incompetence exists," Bob said with a hearty laughter.
"What is big, stinky, and worth nothing for my cheese den? You! I gotta tell ya, you really are on the deep end for choosing that look!" the Cheesemonger said in his non-accented voice.
Sweet Pete would only road as his hands clamp on his head in his visual and mental inner turmoil from the demon's powerful mirages. This is the most vulnerable position that he's ever in despite initially having the upper hand on his enemies. Everyone would continue attacking him regardless of his emotional state to make their enemy submit from ever hurting anyone again. Even King Hippo joins in with his slugger boxing style as he's been wanting revenge for what his minions did to him. The monstrous boxer did a chuckle in between each blow while savoring the moment of beating this mixmatched monster immensely. Pretas would be chomping hard on parts of him as they knew too well how hungry they were and Slimes would pin him down with their heavy slimy bodies. The remaining three Azumi would be zipping around to deal deadly slashes to the flesh of their larger target. With this amount of teamwork and an ailment that hinders his fighting ability, Sweet Pete is more than likely go slowly grow weaker within the moment. The flaming headed monster knew that he's in a tight spot of disappointing his allies or even leader if nothing is done to stop these heroes from bugging him. All he could do is just use what little strength his darkness had to summon more Heartless help to distract them before making a quick escape.
"Go on you lugs of darkness, knock some sense into these bozos that are making a zoo gorilla out of me!" he yells.
It would be soon when the shadows around everyone would slowly take the form of new enemies in the mix for this battle. Most of these would be Shadows but along with the truly stronger ones from Invisibles to Darkballs. GUN would already notice these incoming dark creatures and drew their weapons immediately to avenge their fallen soldiers.
"Look who rose back from hell to get sent back where they belong? Men, let's make sure they don't take the rest of us," Captain Bridge ordered.
Soon they fired as many bullets as they can to destroy the dark beings the way they could. Shulk noticed how many they were heading their way and toward the soldiers that he had no choice but to stop pursuing Pete for now.
"Damn, we have to take on these things before any more Hearts are stolen. They are too dangerous to be let roaming this universe," he said.
"I guess we have no choice. Corvin! Mythra! We have a bigger mess to clean!" Rex called.
"Whatever, I have the light potent enough to purify these ugly blemishes here. Or else our newest ally won't be happy in us ignoring these problems," the prideful Aegis said.
"We'll deal with this monster later. His dark minions are ones that shouldn't lay a hand on those civilians," the heroic blonde Blade said.
Everyone would begin charging at the newly formed Heartless to finish the job, with the demons following by since they seen these creatures as good enough meals.
"Let's eat them all, boys! This is one of our only chances for an all you can buffet on this crummy island!" an excited Preta said with fangs bared.
"FiNaLlY! GoOd FoOd!" the Slime screeched.
Some of the Shadows would look confused until some of them would be viciously bitten and slowly devoured by the voracious demons without any care of what material made them. The Azumi would be the only ones who would only care about killing the Heartless instead of eating them as they see them as the true pollution of this world. The Angel Stars and Defenders fought valiantly to avoid a swift death like their Heartless brethren. The Firagas and shield attacks were proven too slow to hurt the Azumi that swiftly swam around the air like sharks. Mythra and Corvin teamed up to bisect as many Heartless as possible with their blades of light knowing it's the biggest weakness of these creatures of darkness. One fired a Ray of Punishment to blow away a swarm of that nearly attacked her and the other did a Fuga Daemonum to eradicate the many surrounding Heartless in a large radius. Countless clouds of darkness would dissipate from every Heartless that died if it proved they wouldn't come back from that. Rex and Shulk worked together to fight as hard as they could on the Heartless that dared to attack the Tick Squadron to prove that they put the lives of others before their own. Both heroes who would soon good down as legends in their respective universes for times to come. King Hippo roars as he clobbered each and every Heartless as if they were other boxers he would surpass in the Boxing Ring. He knew well that this is only practice because he one day wants to be deemed worthy enough to join the Smash Brothers one day like his rival Mac who won three major championships in his time. Soldiers and the captain did not mind the extra assistance they were getting from the heroes and kept fighting these black heartless beings as hard as they could to keep their own intact. This left the wounded and tired Sweet Pete in a position which he can escape now that the mirages were beginning to wear off. He could see that mostly everyone were too distracted by his Heartless minions to pay any kind to him anymore. He would quickly pull out a device and begin entering the coordinates to contact the nearest ally to help. He knew that it was now or never if it meant getting away from here alive to continue the mission.
"Waddle King, come in Wattle King! This is Bootleg Pete with a warning!" he said in a weak desperate voice.
On the other end of the line would be a professional, if overconfident and cocky voice befitting of the second biggest tech company in an alternate Duckburg.
"How's the day going? You found some potential customers I could turn into works for New Wattle Incorporated? It's been getting boring around this prison with so many snooping soldiers that Bob and I had to put behind their own bars. Don't tell me you found trouble that's too much for a big strong monster like yourself?" the Waddle CEO said.
"You don't understand. It's because a bunch of demons that starting to pop up around this island. This is probably a result of Lucifer's rebellion on the Legion's attack on Hell. On top of these Smash Brothers and more GUN nuisances snooping in our business. Don't underestimate the former. They are truly a powerful bunch that refused to give up even after the pain I've fished out. Send me something I can retreat with!" he begged.
"Whoah whoah whoah, slow down there my misshaped friend. Are you sure these guys are really giving you trouble? Are they bad as Gizmoduck or worse than him?" the confused CEO asks once more.
Before Sweet Pete would respond, he is soon pelleted with a storm of bombs thrown at his back and body that exploded violently. The explosions were enough to free his limbs from the ice but also scorch them with high intensity. The lumbering chimera finally lands on his knees from the attack with little way of answering his partner's call.
"You really did a number on me, but I swear on the Bomberman Brothers that I won't let that happen again!" a familiar voice said.
The frightened Sweet Pete turns around to see the sight of Bomberman beside the few Yellow Pikmin that assisted him in tossing his bombs alongside both Pikmin Captains with their respective armies of Pikmin. The plant creatures hummed and squeaked altogether in excitement now that they have the commands of their leaders to follow. Olimar grins since his work on fixing a fellow Smash Brother went more than well. Alph is more confident and less afraid than he initially felt when facing the darkness of the Heartless. Sweet Pete is left quivering in fear as if there's nowhere else to run and still afraid of how to respond to his allies.
"Hello? Do I have to use my App to knock some sense into your big head? What is going on out there that you need to report back to us? They can't be too much for someone with a thousand different powers in your body!" the impatient Waddle CEO yells.
Olimar and Alph immediately blows their whistle to order all three hundred Pikmin to charge at their weaken target to fully subdue him. Sweet Pete would quickly fry using his small dragon wings ti try taking off with the little energy he had. But what he failed to realize are that Winged Pikmin can easily take down flying targets with ease as they jumped him from behind with many strikes from their pink antennae. Despite being the weakest, a big enough swarm can find trouble to the biggest flying targets which cause him to lower his body back towards the ground. Yellow and Red Pikmin alike would jump him to join in with vicious enough attacks of electricity and flames that did additional damage.
"Get off of me, you color coded ants! I'm warning you!" Sweet Pete snarled.
As their allies focused on fending off the Heartless in the area, it was up to the Captains and Bomberman to keep the former toon actor from escaping. Olimar felt not even an ounce of spray would be needed as these numbers were more than big enough to take on apex predators like the Emperor Bulblax or Plasm Wraith. Soon some of the Heartless would ignore the heroes fighting them to assist their leader that summoned them previously. Bomberman would be the first to noticed and placed a few Remote Control Bombs before hime to set their cause for the few incoming enemies. With the control in hand and eyes on the incoming beings of darkness, he set them going each for the few grounded Heartless that couldn't fly. Alph would use his whistle to call a few Red and Yellow Pikmin away from the swarm to take on the Darkballs and other airborne Heartless that wouldn't be hurt by the remote control bombs.
"Fall back since we have some company trying to save our target!" the blue haired Koppaitain ordered.
The few that were called regrouped with him immediately to be hurled when the time comes. Shulk knew something wasn't right if instead of pursuing the Hearst they wanted that these shadow creatures were seeking other targets instead.
"Everyone, keep an eye on where those Heartless are going. They can't escape us at all costs!" he called.
"Way ahead of you. I have a feeling those things are planning to defend their leader that the others are attacking. It's about time for us to execute a Chain Attack. But this will only work if you can follow our lead," Rex proposed.
"That's a great plan. If we take out the leader fully, then these Heartless will be left with no one to follow and there will be little chance of more appearing," Corvin said valiantly.
King Hippo tackled an Invisible that was close to assisting Sweet Pete and Mythra cleaved through several Angel Stars with Photon Edge. Corvin once more used Fuga Daemonum to massacre the waves of Heartless that walked past him in a sea of darkness. Rex grabs a Defender's arm with his anchor grapple before pulling back in full force. With his determination and strength, the shield-handed beast is then hurled into the air with the grappling hook still wrapped around its wrist. Rex's next move would be to yank his grapple towards the right to sling the large Heartless at its own fellow allies to knock them all over with full force. He could see some Darkballs and Angel Stars preparing to attack him for interrupting their pursuit, which prompts him to fling his grappled victim in the opposite way of the air to swat them away like flies. The Pretas and Slimes wasted no time on devouring the few defenseless weak Heartless to satisfy their endless hunger, devouring every ounce of dark essence like they would on Magatsuhi. Other Heartless were frozen into brittle statues by the remaining Azumi, only to be sliced into pieces afterwards to make sure they are least likely to regenerate into any other form. Shulk blows down several Heartless with a strong Monado Cyclone with the energy he had left to knock them all away. Other Heartless would be blown away with enough bombs hurled from Bomberman and the Yellow Pikmin squadron that assist him.
Sweet Pete would be too weak to defend the entire swarm of Pikmin that relentlessly attacked him all over his body. With no options left and his ally on the other line still growing impatient, the bootlegged boss had to act fast if it meant escaping. He instantly begins shifting back into his anime form once more before inhaling all the air he could for a way to knock these small pests off him.
"Gum Gum Balloon!" he shouts before expanding his body into that of a massive bellied balloon.
Olimar and Alph where alarmed that all of their Pikmin would be flung in various directions as a result of his quick thinking.
"Oh no, we have to whistle them quickly or they will not know how to recover," the Hocatatian captain said.
"Don't let him get away!" Olimar said to his allies. Shulk's entire party would try their best to avoid the few Pikmin that flew in their direction to try attacking their runaway target.
"Solar Flare!" he shouts before flashing a bright light around himself in everyone's eyes.
The brightness alone would immobile and forced everyone to shield their own eyes from the flash before them. Rex is annoyed that he resorted to such a dirty trick to even run from a successful fight. Shulk couldn't even think of the right Monado Arts to use with his own eyes still blinded by the flash. All Pikmin were left completely immobilized and confused as a result which left it up to the blinded captains to try blowing their whistles again. Bomberman isn't affected much but refrained from using any bombs to avoid hurting himself or others on accident. Mythra and Corvin were unaffected as Light Blades and still seen that he's right where they had him.
"And where do you think you're going, ugly kitty?" the former said with her weapon ready.
Sweet Pete instantly panicked and tried to think of the next best bootlegged ability to use to get away from them. He would do something truly unorthodox and performed a few hand signs before the two attacked him. The end result would be the Sweet Pete sliced into several large chunks from their swings as if they truly defeated him. But what really surprised them is how they somehow graphically killed him too easily as if he just allowed this to happen. Mythra couldn't believe her eyes since there would be no way such a tough foe would go down this easily to her weapon of all things.
What? He just let himself be killed? No way is this real. This has to be some kind of trick or perhaps an illusion that allowed us to kill him.
Her suspicions were correct as the chunks would disappear in a white pull of smoke to real that they were log slices all along. Corvin is less than amused that he didn't initially pay attention to the hand signs to see what trick their runaway enemy done before the hit. The two finally landed on the ground from. Their attack only feeling cheated that their enemy had gotten away before they had the chance to finish him. Mythra slams her Aegis Sword against the ground in disappointment as if she was at fault that she didn't see it coming at all.
"Damn it, he's left your grasp! We were already there and he's still at large. I bet the rest of the group will be dully disappointed in us failing this mission," she cried.
Everyone else would still be recovering from their blindness while they could with the demons still needing more time to regain their own sight. Bomberman finally saw what happened and only felt shame that he couldn't do anything to help because of safety.
"He's gone. And there wasn't a thing we could do about it. He's already dangerous with all those powers he's stolen from many victims in his original world," the white robot said sadly.
"Let him run. Knowing the fool, he will only lead us to the source of pollution on this island for us to undo his damage. I have my doubts he is alone when it seem he was contacting someone," the Azumi said.
Rex and Shulk finally regained their sight only to see both disappointed Blades to confirm their pursuit attempt was a futile one.
"Titan's foot! That rapscallion disappeared from our grasps. But there's no doubt he haven't fully left the island yet," Rex said angrily.
"He will pay for this. The best thing we all can do is only find him later on. Don't forget that we all have to assist these two in reclaiming all scattered Pikmin on the island," the Homs soldier said to look on the brighter side of things.
"Correct, my map is already picking up the next one in fifty kilometers from this area. We can only fight at our full potential when all seven types are recollected. The three kinds we have now isn't close to what we could do to someone that powerful," Olimar said.
"I hope you are right, Olimar. Because it raises the question that we are far from alone with so much Heartless here. But at least we know who's pulling the strings. He did say that Maleficent person is the one behind all of this in an attempt to draw out Sora. Not that we know what ever happened to him since the last time he had helped us," Shulk said.
Alph sadly looked at his own feet as if he's the one slowing everyone down. King Hippo however would raise his head up with one of his gloves with a reassuring grin to raise his spirits. Being a boxer who's know for many big losses against Mac despite his wins, he's always inspired to never give up no matter how grim things seem. It wouldn't be until everyone would notice all the Pikmin still immobile and unsure of what to do thanks to the blinding. The captain would soon blow his whistle once more to alert a handful of Pikmin to come to his side again. Alph noticed as well before blow his own whistle to gather the remaining Pikmin to follow him. Rex laughed with a smile since he couldn't believe how obedient these creatures were to the two captains. The plant-like beings all sneaked and chirped together since they wonder what's the next order to follow with Sweet Pete's disappearance.
"I think I have an idea of where that monster had went. Just a feeling since no one ever came there within the last month," someone said.
Shulk soon realized that it was the leader of the Tick Squadron who said this as he faced them.
"You've been on this island longer than us, so we can trust your judgment for now. Any idea of what this place may be?" the Homs asks.
"The old Prison Island base that we've talked about. What was once a maximum security prison for the most dangerous of criminals now a ruined mess filled with toxic waste. We've sent a squadron of soldiers out there before that had never returned. The remaining squadron had never came there ever since that day, but have a feeling that someone or something is there that may had taken their lives. Perhaps today is that day we all head back there see that freak again," the GUN captain said.
Their suspicions would be correct as a special Waddle drone appears to have been watching them the entire time from above. This is far from the only one as countless of these drones are surveilling the entire island all this time in the trees, water, mountains, and clouds that record everything that's happening throughout all of Prison Island. This can be all seen from the viewpoint of several people within a large security room within the destroyed based with newly installed functional screens invented by a certain Wattle CEO. Before these screens would be two individuals that seen everything with their own eyes too check on their fellow partner, a rather slim well dressed gray parrot and a pale skinned gaunt former entertainer turned murder-happy criminal. The two were quite disappointed in how everything turned out as they had big hopes that someone who stole countless powers from many victims wouldn't suffer a defeat humiliating enough that resorts in retreating. With a deep sight, the red haired murderer just had a feeling that the set pieces weren't going well as planned.
"Oh why did we ever put any faith in that useless mixed up lug? He had it all, ambition, darkness, and a bunch of pop culture powers that would make him greater than a God. But here he is losing to a couple of brats, aliens, annoying soldiers, and some tinker toy? Ambition should be made of sterner stuff! This is why the world need to know more of Shakespeare's philosophy," Sideshow Bob said angrily and almost theatrically as if he were acting.
"YOLO. And here I thought I would be the useless one here. This is why you always rely on a successful businessman and tech genius like myself. Yours truly who is always steps ahead of Gizmoduck and Scrooge. I'm surprised those two never caught on to me so far, but this will only make the expansion of Waddle in this universe more sweet as long as we have the darkness Miss Maleficent rewarded us with," Mark Beaks brags while checking his cellphone.
Bob groans in mild annoyance as he would usually consider his behavior in line with today's youth and not a supposedly middle aged bird man. It didn't help that Beaks gave him vibes similar to the one boy he's always wanted to kill who is usually not on his mind since Maleficent recruited him from his world.
"So what's the next step of our biggo plano? Nuestro grande proyecto? Watashitachi no okina keikaku? We can't sleep on the possibility those unhappy customers will be heading here with their complaints. Am I right?" Beaks asks Bob while nudging him.
"Nudge me one more time and your head will be just like Yorrick's on his last day. You don't want to be hardly known after pushing your luck, Polly," Bob threatened with an annoyed glare.
Intimidated but respectful, Mark Beaks knew too well not to get on his partner's bad side since he's no pushover like the Glomgold or Beagle Boys of his world. Bob made sure he gotten the message, soon resuming to placing his hands together like a familiar Springfield Power Plant owner.
"Let those bastards come since they would want to raid this dead prison one way or another. There's enough traps set around here that their chances of even reaching us are akin to Romeo and Juliet not dying in the climax. What better is there is to inform our dark witch friend that we succeeded in killing two members of the Smash Brothers and more of those GUN dolts that try to get in the way of our plan. While you are annoying, half of these traps wouldn't be possible without your technological advancements. I was quite impressed you knew how to plagiarize their technology so well. A little too well," Bob said confidently.
"Hahaha, a CEO has his secrets. Whatever any tech creator can do, I can do so much better thanks to my experience of seeing the secret behind Gizmoduck's tech. I could even give myself the strength he's known for with my special nanotechnology serums. Except this time my beloved cellular device won't be broken easily from my big hands. It's made with a stronger blast proof alloy thanks to a few stops I've made. Now I can keep tabs with all my business terms," Mark Beaks explains before blaring a soundbite of airhorns from his phone.
The palm tree-haired former entertainer couldn't help but to role his eyes at how attached he is to a cellphone instead of thinking about the bigger picture on their plan. However he would soon ignore him to thing about bigger ambitions that he has for the world. He quite enjoyed his time of ruling Springfield as mayor momentarily that the idea of ruling more than that infamous town or even controlling countless people like a king made him smile. If not, he tries his best to hold in his usual psychotic laughter as he didn't want the moment ruined by Beaks' naivety. Being the family man he was that felt he wanted to make up for his wife, son, or other beloved relatives who are always thrown in Springfield Prison with him on several occasions than living life good. Everything is going to fall into place just like it was for Macbeth. For every little pawn, there's always a rook or knight that will triumph over them.
Just you wait, this world will be good as ours and there's nothing the law from that mediocre run down town of fools or even all of America can do about it. I will take back everything that I am owed, not even Krusty will be a bigger name than me.
Mark would be curious at the slight giggling his human partner is making that's completely lost in devious thoughts he wouldn't get. Then he grew to understand since he always felt this way when thinking of plans to be Duckburg's biggest tech company or even one-upping Gizmoduck in his heroic efforts. The parrot would soon gain a smile just as devious the more he thought about it, all while doing a mobile edit of a photo he saved of his greatest nemesis. This being a picture of the iron-clad duck hero crudely edited in rust marks, sparks, or even a splats of blood in the case of Fenton's exposed face and bill. Just the thought of envisioning this as a real thing would only satisfy the ego of this sociopathic tech loving manchild.
A floor lower would be the shocking sight of many beaten or even severely wounded GUN soldiers who were imprisoned in these cells which now have newly installed bars made by Mark Beaks. These were not just ordinary cells as they had electrical properties that shock anyone that were to grip these or come in contact with them to truly make them suffer. This is on top of the ground already being ruined or not even fixed due to the damage the radiation had caused which made it truly hell for these prisoners of war to be trapped. Some were event less than lucky being dead from the high voltage or too much exposure from the radiation due to digging attempts. Some were crying over the loss of their men or truly wanted to leave this hell after their cold hearted torture at the hands of these two. Captain Bridge's suspicions were more than correct that this could be where Sweet Pete was heading and that the disappeared soldiers were here the entire time since they were last sent on a recon mission. And those who did escape after succeeding in making a tunnel were already devoured by the few Heartless that patrolled these prison floors due to their immunity to the radiation and hunger for hearts after some time. If this is an example mom what's to come for the group on this island then there is no telling what kind of horror await them upon revisiting this renovated prison base. Off in the northeastern side of the island would be the unusual scene of a few demons being smacked around by some unknown warrior. These happened to be Agathion, small blue demons of occult origin that normally hide inside of pots known for their electric spells. But as to who is attacking these demons remains to be seen due to the onslaught of stone hatchets thrown at their heads instead of giving them a chance to attack.
"I never knew humans could be this scary. I thought they would run in fear because we are demons instead of attacking us," one Agathion cried.
Another large hatchet would clunk on the demon's exposed head hard enough to daze him. If it were ice or darkness hurting them, it would had been fatal, which they couldn't tell were a miracle or just as bad. Their attacker would be revealed to be a young man wearing a grass skirt, blue eyes, and blonde unkept hair like that of a caveman. He is the first of the Wonder Boy, warriors within each era that fought exceptionally powerful monsters known for their exceptional bravery. He happens to be on a search for his girlfriend Tanya who was once again kidnapped by not by his usual nemesis King but the Legion instead.
"Tom-Tom wants monsters to get out of here! Tom-Tom has enough stone axes where that came from!" he yelled before throwing more of his famous weapons.
The jar inhabiting familiars would soon be flying away while they could instead of sticking around too long. Tom-Tom being determined would keep chasing after them as fast as he could with no signs of giving up.
"Stay away from us, human! We only got here and never meant to cause any trouble. We promise to give you some Macca or even join your side if you leave us alone!" one Agathion begged.
"Tom-Tom no want this Macca nor to team up with monsters ever! Tom-Tom just want fruit back that you've eaten!" the Wonder Boy yells.
"Can you blame us, you peabrain? We were hungry and been searching for food. Would you rather us be like the barbaric demons that devour Magatsuhi and other innards from humans?" the jar dwelling demon barked.
"Says talking jars that may lack brains!" Tom-Tom yells back. "Hey, that's very rude, on top of racist! You don't see us demons ever talking about how weak you humans are, most of the time," another Agathion
shouts.
"Humans no weak! You monsters must be minions of King sent to defeat me and prevent Tanya from being rescued. Save lies for another day," the determined Wonder Boy said.
"What King? We never heard of this guy. He is probably not a demon either if he's no one infamous as a Tyrant or Seraph. Were you dropped on your head as a baby or something?" another Agathion said.
"Don't all of you like babbling to yourselves? Because I have a NEEEEEEED to feed more than all of you combined," a crazed voice said.
All Agathions and Wonder Boy grew more confused than ever at who was talking to them. It wasn't until they looked beside them to see a straight sight that caused them to scream. Beside them is a living pencil with a crazed expression known for his love of zaniness and metal, the notorious Wild Woody. He was once a normal pencil until a godly totem statue head called Lowman given him life with one goal in mind, retrieving his fellow statue heads from the parallel universes after their awakening destroyed the main one. He did receive a reward for helping them, his own attractive pencil girlfriend who was soon kidnapped just like Tom-Tom's. All of them would be speechless at the fact that this is all real to them and not just an illusion mocking them from the sunstroke.
"Why are we running again? I feel like we all need to CHILL and enjoy what this paradise has to offer," the crazy pencil said. "Why talking log think he can tell what Tom-Tom do? You one of King's minions?" the boy barked.
"Pencil. Pencil! It is a pencil! I never thought we would ever meet a human so stupid!" Another Agathion shouts.
"Don't be too hard on the kid, Jarvis. I'm sure you had your fun of LUBING up that ancient gold of yours," Wild Woody said with a smug grin.
"Of course I did, how often do you think familiars like us…oh wait a minute! Are you implying that we never clean? Rich coming from a sandy pencil that probably never seen a bath if ever!" the jar dwelling demon shouts in the pencil's face.
"Tom-Tom no child either! Talking log must want to be clubbed in face by stone hatchets. These especially potent on the strongest monsters," the annoyed Wonder Boy warned.
"Save the stoning for another time. Because you should have a BONE to pick with the real enemy of this island. The ones likely responsible for kidnapping my shapely babe. My stiff point was begging to write all over their faces or I should just erase them with my special rubber," Wild Woody said in excitement.
The Agathions would grow nervous by the way he speaks or his overall unhinged behavior, Tom-Tom not even hiding his feeling of unease either.
"This babe of yours is girlfriend? Tom-Tom also wants to save my girl. While other girls are pretty and tempting, none compare to my island blossom Tanya. Talking log knows where to find ones responsible?" the curious boy asks.
"You bet, little man. Because this woody has more than just a point to make to these punks. But a WILD imagination of drawings that I can make to stop them. Come with me and I'll be the one to kick their….fruit!" Wild Woody said before being distracted by the sight of a Blue Onion.
Tom-Tom and the Agathion would stop as well when they noticed the lone fruit-like ship of the water loving Pikmin hanging from a palm tree from its crash. It barely being damaged at all made it almost as appetizing as a real king sized fruit. The Pikmin inside were staying out until Olimar or Alph would arrive to have them come outside for safety. They knew after that hit the original Onion taken, all seven of them split apart into their original sizes with the corresponding Pikmin separated from the others. The six demons, pencil, and island boy were all drooling at the thought of how delicious this large fruit would taste to them. But the hungriest would definitely be Tom-Tom since all his fruit he collected for the summer were eaten by the jar-dwelling familiars that came to this island.
"Tom-Tom call dibs on big fruit before anyone else!" he said before pushing Wild Woody aside.
"Whoah there, buckeroo. This pencil's been STARVING since I've come to this dump of an island. You have any idea how far I've traveled to get HERE?" the annoyed pencil said before pinning the Wonder Boy against the ground.
"We are even hungrier than you both. Imagine just chilling in the deserts of Da'at where we had ways of drinking Amrita Soda and feasting on Chakra Beads until it all became destroyed. We desert it more than you!" the Agathian said as his fellow demons pinned both of them down.
"Jar living aliens are so annoying. Tom-Tom deserve to eat more than fruit thieves," the grounded Tom-Tom said.
"Don't you mean me, little man? Because this woody's been THINNING just not having any food for a while," the wily pencil screamed.
"Never, we will not let any of you go until we had our fill of nourishment. Be happy that we won't think about eating you both instead," the four Agathion said at once.
"Not until Tom-Tom devour you first. You talking blueberries been teasing Tom-Tom's empty belly for some time," he teased.
It was then the four demons grew slightly nervous at the thought that they would be possible prey if they didn't do what he said at all. Usually they would never fear any human that crossed their path unless it was a truly strong one like the current Creator or the True Demon.
"I was about to say, you will get lead poisoning if you think about eating me instead. You wouldn't want that, little man," Wild Woody said.
"What is lead? Is it a type of tasty flavoring?" Tom-Tom asked.
"It is a type of rock. But not the tasty kind that makes up the filling of pencils like me. You know like how some kids get really sick from chewing pencils? You wouldn't want to end up SICK or even DEADER than a dodo after eating me," Wild Woody warned.
"Oh you all will be dead alright if you step away from that Onion, right now," an authoritarian voice said.
All of them looked forward to see the one Agathion that was close to tasting the Onion was frozen in fear from what he's seeing. The entire Tick Squadron of GUN pointed their weapons at the group to keep them from getting any ideas on harming the Pikmin. The demons knew too well that these humans were not even kidding at the idea of killing them, knowing well when to fully back down from a confrontation. Tom-Tom is left more confused than afraid since this is his first time seeing a gun or don't know how it works. Wild Woody would only feel that he needed to jump into action since he knows just what kind of weapon they are.
"If you jars can kindly roll off of me, I can make short work of this wannabe Men in Black," the pencil complained.
"Kind of rich for some weird talking pencil to not know of the Guardian Unit of Nations. It doesn't matter, we are warning you all not to think about eating that Onion or else we will not hold back on shooting," Captain Bridge warns once again with his finger over the trigger.
"Of course we don't know too well about you humans since we often go to places like Tokyo over islands like this. You don't remind us of the soldiers that use Demonica suits, not that we would want to test that theory. Just let us have that fruit since we are starving," the Agathion begs."
"And Onion? Are you SWAT fanatics dumb in the head? That is a CLEARLY a fruit and not an Onion. I know a juicy sweet fruit when I see one," Wild Woody said to insult the soldiers.
Being a man of patience who don't like interrogating such ignorant targets, the captain taken a deep breath to keep his cool. Parr and Herman wondered if this will only escalate if their ignorance continues. Through the bushes came Olimar and Alph alongside their massive Pikmin armies that could tell where their remaining species is. It wasn't until the demons, pencil, and island boy would soon focus on the Pikmin themselves which reminded them of walking carrots. Some even feel they aren't as impressive as the fruit due to how much smaller they were compared to them.
"There's the Onion, we came just in time. The more we get the rest of our Pikmin back, the likelier we are at saving your soldiers from the base," the Hocatatian captain said.
"It seems we found more of those demons. I hope they don't plan on being hostile," Alph said in fear.
"Well look who's talking? A bunch of weird big headed spacemen with walking carrots for minions. We would sooner be afraid of you than you should be afraid of us," the jar living demon complains.
"Luckily we come in peace unless you really want to start conflict. What you see isn't no fruit but a ship full of trusty Pikmin that I will be needing if those soldiers kidnapped by those fiends will be saved. They may sound delicious, but they aren't food at all. We are hoping to come to an understanding as a treasure hunter," Olimar pleads.
"Well isn't that nice, we were only getting excited for nothing. Being stranded and starved is the last thing that I would ever want. Guys, we can unpin those two since this is just some ship with more of those weird carrots," the disappointed Agathion ordered his fellow demons.
The other jar-shaped demons would obediently free Woody and Tom-Tom from their weight to free them, but what they wouldn't except is the latter still pursuing the Onion despite warnings.
"Don't care if not edible, Tom-Tom still will try tasting juicy fruit!" he said with mouth full of droll.
Having enough of the whole escapade, Bridge pulled the trigger immediately to fire at before Tom-Tom as a warning. He barely pissed the bullet that drilled into the earth before his feet, freezing immediately since he felt something was dangerous about those guns. He could only feel his heart bumping faster than usual knowing that could have been him if he had kept running.
"See what I told you, little man. You better be lucky your feet can live another day that a single toe wasn't SHOT off by those bullets," Wild Woody warned.
"And there's more where that came from if any of you move. Get away from that Onion and we won't be forced to gun you down," Captain Bridge warned.
"I thought we were supposed to do this peacefully. We shouldn't give a bad impression even if it's to help us," Olimar said in worry.
"Peaceful? You humans were never that peaceful. You see one single demon minding their business and still want to kill them. If it were a Legion or Incubus, you would had been killed immediately for provoking them. We have no home and it was destroyed because the Creator don't want to fix the problem that's affecting every demon," the annoyed Agathion shouts.
"You think you are the only ones? Please, if I were you, you would let this alien get his people back if you don't want to be reduced to Magatsuhi," an Azumi said when surfacing from the bushes.
He isn't alone as the other Azumi, Pretas, and Slimes followed beside him to see other demons that just happened to be here. The five Agathion were shocked to see other demons here after all instead of another annoying human or non-demon that antagonized them since their arrival. The angry Tom-Tom would immediately see the Azumi, which looked like overgrown fish to him that are fresh ready to be eaten. But he also knew that the GUN squadron would try gunning him if he thought about moving a muscle.
"Fine, you all can have this dumb ship. We just wanted to find some food and not starve around here. Just please don't fire those guns at us since we aren't enemies," the Agathion said once more.
"We aren't sharing the rations that we gathered from camp since we all gathered it fair and square. Try being stranded on this island since a failed mission that came to ruins because of Eggman and other unrelated parties. The longer we waste time on a group of ingrates like you, the sooner this entire world would fall into…"
"Blah blah blah world destruction and whatsoever. You all didn't get your babe stolen from you! You have any idea how painful it is for a stiff wooden pencil like me? Save the sob stories for later when I am the one suffering the most," Wild Woody interrupts the soldiers in a mocking manner.
"You suffered the most? All demons from the Netherworld have no home and here we are having to linger in this stupid universe with these stupid humans and other non-demons. Going to the Empyrean is suicide when the Creator's angels will kill you on sight for invading their holy domain. Try living with the fact that your God is dead!" the Agathion yelled.
"You lie, there is no way that the very being that made this world is dead. Of course a demon that serves Satan would even think about insulting the legacy of our creator," Bridge said coldly.
"We know because Lucifer triumphed on that faithful day that he's fought with Law's army for the state of the world. There were causalities like the city of Tokyo being destroyed in the process. The one you know now is a hollow recreation by your Lord on his dying breath. What was left of Tokyo was made into our home until it also fell apart due to some being messing with the fabric that keeps it stable. And by the way, Satan works for God and even he was killed in the process. Do we have to explain everything to the ignorant human masses?" Agathion yells once more.
"You don't need to explain everything fully. The humans will never truly understand unlike those who actually communicate with Law instead of praying to them every day will understand the truth. Little do they know is that those prayers are to the one who even continued where God left off, the Creator. The only living Nahobino that lives among us," the Azumi leader said.
This left the squadron of soldiers more confused if not annoyed at these very revelations coming from the demons surrounding them, but mostly Bridge who's always had his trust in God like most soldiers long enough not to accept that this whole time he prayed to a replacement that isn't the original. Olimar knew that this was a heavy topic enough that he can only respect the inner turmoil that these soldiers are going through. Alph is still lost on how does one deity replace another one, let alone one that these humans believed made everything since the universe's creation.
"God? What is this God? Is it like a monster king?" Tom-Tom said in innocent ignorance.
"Big dude in the sky, the strongest being there is. At least from what Lowman told me. It is also a title of related powerful beings that shape the fabric of the universe. Lowman and the other Totem Heads are gods themselves. Despite being artifacts to the eyes of humans, their awakening unknowingly destroyed the universe one time. Lowman gave me life and power to fix his brothers' messes. That's right, this pencil here is a self proclaimed beater of gods. You all can shower me with praise later," Wild Woody said in an attempt to make himself look cool.
"No wonder why you are a living pencil. It's hard to believe that is possible, but it's starting to make some sense to me. What power do you have if you don't mind demonstrating it," Olimar asks out of curiosity.
"That should be the least of our focus. What I want to know is how long have the human race been praying to this imposter that dare calls himself our God? I demand answers or we will kill every single demon as revenge for your acts," Bridge said before aiming his guns at the Agathion instead.
"Wh…what? I already told you that we do not associate with Lucifer. Agathion like us are one of the few Neutral demons. We don't associate with Law or Chaos in any way. You realize that killing every demon won't change a thing or bring back your own God," the blue-jar inhabiting demon begs in fear.
"Doesn't matter. All demons must be destroyed at all costs. This is worth bringing to the attention of the Commander once we leave this island. We refuse to live in a world without a God or bow down to some imposter that dare take the throne of Heaven. Die!" Captain Bridge said before firing at the demon.
Olimar is shocked that the GUN captain decides to put away any form of mercy to just attack the demon without warning. The Agathion would close their eyes in fear after the shot as if they would witness one of their own die. What they wouldn't notice is that the bullet would be blocked by a stick of dynamite tossed at it before the demon was harmed. This is the work of Wild Woody who was busy drawing the dynamite during the time which Olimar asked his power only for them to not notice his act of saving the demon that he figured would be attacked. Tom-Tom is left dropping his jaw at what "witchcraft" happened before his eyes since he never seen an explosive before. The Azumi still remain silent as they did not appreciate what he heard from the GUN soldiers at all despite being thankful that Olimar warned them not to hurt any demon. To swear on this oath only painted a negative picture of humans to this water spirit as if he had other plans like seeking his creators for advice.
Perhaps there is no redemption for humans after all. I wouldn't want things to come to this, but our mother Amaterasu must know, and the other Amatsu Kami ought to deal with such ignorance of these humans.
"Now then I see there's little chance of us being all honky-dory chums. I guess I have no qualms erasing such chumps while I'm bored," Wild Woody said.
"The feeling is mutual. Those that defends these demons must die. I guess we wouldn't mind breaking a pencil that not even I would hold. Men, take him down now!" Captain Bridge ordered.
They fired their guns at Woody only for Tom-Tom to deflect these bullets immediately with his stone hatchet in time. Olimar and the others made sure to dodge these flying bullets that came their way, several Pikmin who were less than lucky that failed to dodge them. Alph is left sweating at the thought these flying projectiles almost would have pierced his own helmet. Shulk and Rex had already barged in to see that they have even more enemies to fight if it means retrieving the Onion. The gun fires and the less than innocent opposition from the two menaces were enough red flags to the curious Homs.
"It appears that we have no choice. Everyone, fight for that Onion at all costs," he said with his Monado in hand for another conflict.
It's been a while since new Sega characters were introduced and they are old stars only a true Sega nut would recognize. But there aren't going to step away from the Blue Onion without a fight which the Smash Brothers and GUN Tick Squadron would soon learn. With rising denial about the death of YHVH (God) and discrimination against demons, the Azumi are considering the idea of contacting a powerful member of the new Bethel to punish the ignorance of Captain Bridge. Also, we know that Sweet Pete is among the many new recruits that attacked certain favorite GUN soldiers from Sonic 06 for getting in his way. He's not alone as Sideshow Bob and Mark Beaks are also there holding many soldiers hostage for their attempts at exploring the old Prison Island base. The next chapter will see the final confrontation with these fan favorite villains and we'll see if the Azumi will go through with betraying their former allies. This is Big Red, signing off!
