Disclaimer: I do not own any of the material appearing in this story. The OC's belong to their respective owners.
11:40 PM
BGM: Where Is the Hope? (Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age)
"I don't know what to tell you, Lisa… but with what Eggman is doing, not to mention Argus being wiped off the map, I dunno what else to tell ya. Remnant's doomed, and I actually mean it this time! The Star Rift was one thing, but this is a whole different story."
"You're right, Cyril… I don't know if there's anything we can do. I'm sure the best huntsman or huntress are trying their best to locate these Chaos Emeralds… but if they don't get them in time…"
"I, for one, don't believe this whole "Sonic is gonna stop us" bit. There's just no way."
"I agree."
"However… I dunno if he's gonna be able to stop Egghead in time. I mean, Argus is gone, and so are Atlas and Mantle. What could be next?"
"Indeed… and for those just tuning in, we are staying on as long as we can. We have our coffee and other caffeinated drinks as we prepare for the imminent demise of our planet."
"Shit… that was Erza's home…" Gray mumbled as they were listening from Ann's phone.
"Dammit!" Futaba groaned. "I swear, no matter what I do and how far I go, Eggman just…" She clutched her head. "Am I ever going to master this in time? Apparently every advancement I make, another town or city is lost…"
Overwhelmed tears swelled in her eyes. "I don't even know what to do…"
"C'mere, sweetie." Sojiro said, opening his arms up as Futaba hugged him. "If this was any other day, you wouldn't feel so pressured, right?"
"What do I do, dad… I'm at a loss…"
"I've noticed that every time you use your magic, you look up at the Death Egg…" Gray said. "On the one hand, you're making good progress… on the other, that Death Egg's distractin' ya."
"Well, maybe if she wasn't so intimidated by this, she would have figured it out by now." Raven said.
"Okay, you know what?" Elsa glared at Raven. "I may not have known you for long, but you're being incredibly unreasonable. Not only that, but Futaba's been thrown into the fire ever since Atlas fell. The least you can do is show a little sympathy."
"That's just her fear talking. Fear leads to weakness."
"Weakness?!"
Crunch!
Everyone turned to see Anna munching on a bag of chips. "...What? The grocery store has an "End of the World" sale going on. Everything's 100% off. …And I got a bit hungry too."
"Anna…" Elsa sighed. "You're not help-... is that a chocolate bar?"
"One for each of us~!"
Elsa smiled, taking the chocolate bar and taking a bite. "Mmmm… definitely has a crunchy taste to it." She mused.
"This isn't time for a snack break!" Raven said.
"Oh, butt out, Branwen! At least let us indulge for a little bit!" Ann rolled her eyes. "Futaba o attō suru no wa desueggu dakede wanai…" She mumbled under her breath. (The Death Egg isn't the only thing that's overwhelming Futaba…)
"I've noticed that every time you use your magic, you look up at the Death Egg… on the one hand, you're making good progress… on the other, that Death Egg's distractin' ya."
Gray's words echoed in Elsa's mind while licking her chocolate covered fingers.
"I wonder…"
End BGM
She raised her hands high up, unleashing a powerful ice storm into the sky where clouds formed above them as a gentle snowfall fell to the ground.
Elsa smiled as Futaba looked on in wonder. "Does this help?"
"Making the Death Egg invisible by clouds isn't going to change anything." Raven said coldly.
BGM: Snowy Mountain Shrine (The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild)
Futaba looked up at the clouds, aura shooting out of the corner of her eyes as she put her hand out. Snowflakes danced around her, gently skating across her arm as she closed her eyes, picturing these snowflakes as a mist surrounded her.
She opened her eyes, seeing nothing but the clouds above her as she conjured up icicles, tossing them up in the air before pulling out her ray gun, encasing it in ice as she aimed at said icicles and firsts bursts of ice lasers, destroying the icicles and creating diamond-like snow that gently fell to the ground.
Futaba used these to wrap it around herself as she used her other hand to conjure up water, proceeding to lob up water balls that she quickly encased in ice before slightly melting it, creating slush as it slammed into the ground.
She turned to Jataro, raising her hand up as she sent a small blizzard in his direction. "Mmm… I dunno why, but I feel completely rejuvenated!"
"I think she's got it under control now!" Juvia smiled. "Elsa, you're a genius!"
"I'll be honest, I probably should've done that right from the start." Elsa sheepishly rubbed her cheek.
"Eh, don't worry about it." Gray shrugged it off. "So how do you feel now?"
"Honestly, by covering the Death Egg… I feel… a lot calmer." Futaba said. "I know we're pressed for time… but I feel more at ease not having something breathing down your neck." Now if we can just get Raven to calm down…
"Good. Now keep at it. We don't have much time." Raven said.
"Alright… stay focused." Futaba closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Ann, can you do me a favor and keep the news on mute so I don't have that ringing in my head?"
"Oh! Of course." Ann nodded.
For Atlas, for Mantle, for Argus, for Remnant… for Fria… I'm not giving up. Not by a long shot!
End BGM
Meanwhile…
11:45 PM
"I cannot believe it!" Ironwood said as he paced around the airship. "First we lost Atlas and Mantle, and now we lose Argus! Not only that, but apparently Ruby's entire family has been wiped out and-"
"Hey, Ironbrain. Give them time to grieve." Samus said. "They just found out that most of their family had been mechanized by Egghead. If I hadn't stepped in, their stepmother would have been gone too. I know you don't know anything about the Rose/Xiao Ling/Branwen family, but let me tell you, they've been through a lot. Yang lost her mother, she came back but Yang had abandonment issues. Ruby lost her mother, but she came back to help her deal with Dark Ruby. Rosalina had lost absolutely everything to take care of one Luma when she was a child… and that was centuries ago. Byleth lost her parents, but almost lost her brother due to some arrogance she had as a young kid. However, Rosalina was able to call them family after she connected with them, not to mention she married Tai. Now throw what Egghead did in a blender and they almost lost everything. This is a woman who had a second chance to have a true family and all that's left are three daughters."
"Boop beep bop boop."
"Yeah, I know Byleth is a little suspicious, but I don't know if this is just Byleth's coping mechanism or not… plus, I'd rather not shoot her and find out that that's actually her and I just killed an innocent. I'd rather not have that on my conscience."
"I'm with you there…" Blake nodded. "I think Ruby feels the same way."
"Mmmph…" Ironwood clenched his fists before sighing. "They truly did lose everything, didn't they?"
"If I hadn't stepped in… they would've lost another mother." Samus said. "...Now that I think about it, Raven and Maia weren't at Patch, so either they got kidnapped or… I don't know myself. But I'd rather not jump to conclusions."
"That's noble of you, Aran, but… you gotta have to face the facts here. We're losing our damn world to that scientific psychopath and considering we now have confirmation that there are mechanized people around us, who can we flippin' trust?" Robyn pointed out.
"Don't Faunus have a sixth sense?" Bols wondered.
"We do, and I feel uneasy around Esdeath… but I can't tell if something's off or I'm just bracing for the worst the moment she loses it." Seryu said before shuddering, recalling how Esdeath lost it before she got kidnapped by Fecto.
"I feel the same way…" Fiona agreed with Blake and Marrow nodding in agreement.
"She has been unnaturally calm about all this…" Emerald mused. "But it's kinda slipping through the cracks."
"That's what's making me nervous." Seryu said.
"Oh whatever, let Esdeath cut loose! She needs it, we all need it!" Harriet said. "Eggman's got it good for too long. We should've gone on a manhunt for him. But no, we go on a manhunt for Futaba… and while I admit I was a bit worried that General Ironwood got brainwashed by that jester freak, I ain't gonna let it slide."
"While it is true we shouldn't bottle anything up… I suggest we all keep a clear head." Vine said.
"I agree." Clover nodded. "Last thing we need is both sides going at each other's throats because… I honestly think that's what Eggman wants."
"You can be all "on the fence" all you want, but let's face it… he deserves all the vengeance that's coming his way!" Harriet said.
"That's a bad road to take…" Seryu spoke up. "I should know, I walked down that road and almost died from it. Vengeance is a hell of a poison. Once you take that first sip, there's almost no way out of it. Don't get me wrong, I'm mad too… but I'd rather not walk down that road again."
Bulat wrapped his arm around Seryu. "Don't sweat it, sister! I may be pissed but I ain't lettin' it consume me!"
"Nor me!" Marrow grinned.
"Mmmm… I feel like Harriet and Robyn's got a point here." Lubbock said.
"You're just saying that because you both think they're pretty." Leone teased.
"What?! How dare you call me out on what I believe is to be true!"
"Oh yeah? Then whose breasts are perkier?"
"That's easy, it's-"
"Finish that and so help me, I'm going to reattach those balls of yours." Harriet threatened.
"I feel up for some target practice." Robyn said.
Lubbock paled. "Uh… okay, anyone think General Esdeath's breasts are perkier than Byleth's, say I!"
Pinch!
"Gah! Ow ow ow ow!" He yelped as Emerald dragged him away by the ear.
"Good grief, even in our darkest hour, you're still pathetic…"
"Hey, what's the big idea! I didn't go after you despite how pretty you are, Em! OOOOOW!"
Esdeath blinked, looking down at herself. "My breasts are… perky?"
Chell looked at Samus. ["You thought about doing a scan?"]
"A scan? …Shit." She lightly facepalmed. "Why didn't I think of that?"
"You seriously didn't think of that?" Aqua asked.
"Well, I didn't think we'd have a robotic pandemic on top of this too!" Samus defended as she summoned her helmet.
BGM: Dark Samus Appears! (Metroid Prime 2: Echoes)
Samus activated the Scan Visor as she scanned directly at Esdeath.
Scan Complete: 100% Normal
"Hmm…"
Samus scanned Byleth next.
Scan Complete: 100% Normal
"Mmmm…"
Samus took her helmet off, scratched her head and lightly pounded the helmet before putting it back on and did another scan.
100% Normal
"Bullshit…" Samus whispered, taking it off again as she walked into her ship and grabbed a screwdriver and a small blowtorch, then she came out and sat down.
She paused for a moment and decided to scan everyone just to make sure.
Scan Complete: 100% Normal
"Everyone's normal… ugh, bullshit." She mumbled as she took her helmet off, proceeding to repair it.
End BGM
"We're almost at Menagerie!" Shez called out.
"Aaagh… this doesn't make sense!" Yang exclaimed. "How the hell did they slip that by us?"
"I don't know…" Ruby sighed, rubbing her mother's back.
"I just don't get it…" Rosalina sighed. "My whole family just… gone…"
"I wouldn't go that far just yet." Shez said as she put the airship on autopilot and walked toward the ladies. "They're mechanized, right? If anything, we can find a way to get that out of them. They're still in there somewhere, so maybe they're not completely gone."
Shez then sighed. "...Oh, what do I know? It's been months and I still can't get a grasp on technology. Hell, I'm still trying to figure out how a Wii works." She scratched the back of her head. "Sorry…"
"No no, it's okay. You're just trying to cheer us up." Ruby said.
"I lost a majority of my family in a single night… I don't want to lose you three either." Rosalina said, hugging the three of them.
"We'll stick together…" Ruby smiled as she got up and walked off.
"Ruby… I… how are you not despairing over this?" Weiss asked as Ruby walked by. "You lost a majority of your family… I'm so… I'm so-"
"Don't apologize." Ruby said as she turned around, her face revealing determination and a small smile. "This is what Eggman wants. Watch all of us fall into despair while he sits back and enjoys it in our final moments. He'll get what's coming to him, even if it means a majority of our family is gone."
She turned toward the sky. "Sure, we can mourn for them… but they would also want us to move forward."
She looked back at Weiss with a determined smirk. "And that's what I plan on doing." She said as she walked off.
"Keep moving forward…" Weiss whispered to herself as she looked on, then hearing everyone else grumble about Eggman and how they would like to shove their fists up his butt.
A dark aura surrounded Weiss for a brief moment as she turned around. "Why can't I move forward…"
"Hmm?" Dark Weiss looked at Weiss. "Weiss…"
Shez got back up to the wheel. "Wow, that place looks pretty. Hang on!" She proceeded to deactivate the rocket boosts as it came to a gentle stop just near the docks as Shez started to land.
"Easy… easy…"
Splash!
"SHIT! Now what!" Shez groaned.
"I believe we hit water. Which is fitting considering Bowser's airship is a flying boat."
Shez looked down, seeing they indeed hit the water, and to her surprise, it was staying up for once.
"...You mean to tell me my first successful landing was in WATER?"
"Well, you gotta start somewhere."
Menagerie
12:00 AM
(6 Hours Remain)
BGM: Menagerie Pt 1 (RWBY)
Shez sighed. "Alright… let's rock and roll. Let's find that Emerald."
They all undocked, save for Samus. "Pika Pika?" Pikachu asked.
"I'll stay here, bud. I need to run some tests on my scan visor."
"Pika!" Pikachu smiled before hopping on Chell's shoulder as they walked through town.
"So this is where you grew up?" Ruby asked.
"Pretty much. I never thought I'd find my way back home."
"It feels… crowded." Winter said. "...Is this-"
"The aftermath of the Great War. When you try and take an entire species and put them on an island that's two-thirds desert, yeah, it tends to be cramped."
"Typical… We should've made sure to make the island more inhabitable for Faunus." Ironwood said.
"It's fine, we try to get used to it. It's a well tightly knit community. We got by somehow." Blake said.
"I'm guessing everyone's asleep." Yang said.
"Well, the nocturnals might be out and abou-"
"Hey!" A voice caught their attention to see a badger faunus approach them. "Just what are you doing here?"
"Oh boy… here we go…" Joanna mumbled.
"Look, we don't mean any har-"
"Not you. You guys are pretty cool." The badger said. "I was mostly referring to YOU TWO." He said, referring to Weiss and Winter.
Winter sighed. "I was afraid of that."
"What did we ever-"
"How does it feel to be at the bottom, Schnees? You were at the top but your precious Atlas is no more! How's it feel to be nothing more than garbage? I'm sure it must be eye opening… oh wait, it probably isn't."
Blake sighed. "Can you just leave them alone?"
"Tch, can't I give the Schnees a proper introduction? Whatever…" He walked off.
"Don't mind him, he's usually pretty laid back."
"Casually insulting us?" Weiss asked.
"...I did say usually."
"Regardless, we need to find that Chaos Emerald. Where can it be?" Esdeath asked.
ROB brought up a map. "Boop bop boop beep."
"Dead ahead? Oh hey, that's where my old house is." Blake said.
"Ha, that's too easy." Emerald said as they walked off, finding a large mansion-like building in front of them.
"Wow! Whoever lives there must be living the good life." Ruby said.
"That would be where I used to live."
"Damn, color me impressed." Harriet said as she saw the mansion.
Pause BGM
Emerald paused, slowly turning her gaze toward Blake.
"...What?" Blake asked.
"Didn't you say you were oppressed?" Emerald asked.
"Yeah?"
"Then how do you explain that?"
"My dad was the chieftain of the White Fang, so he built a mansion for-"
"But you were oppressed!"
"Yes, I was!"
"That's not oppression! That's practically living in paradise!" Emerald exclaimed. "Unless you have a skewed perception of paradise and oppression! Like, okay, what kind of fruits did you eat?"
"Exotic ones?"
"Ooooh my Oum…" Emerald pinched the bridge of her nose.
"What? What's so wrong with a mansion?"
"I… assumed you lived in the slums." Weiss said.
"We all did!" Emerald exclaimed. "This isn't some poor community, it's practically some rich paradise! How the HELL does that make sense?!"
"But we were still oppress-"
"Look around you, Blake! All the homes aren't some cheap Lien store knockoffs, they're practically five star homes! Condos, even!"
"Yeah? And I thought the rest of the world lived in luxurious skyscrapers compared to Menagerie. May I refer you to what Atlas had! And have we forgotten about Vale? How about Mistral!"
"She isn't wrong here." Ironwood said.
"Thank you!" Blake folded her arms. "I'm not being hypocritical, I'm just saying what I viewed the rest of the world as as a child. We Faunus were oppressed and had these slums while everyone else was living the good life."
"Okay, Blake? Oppression doesn't mean OWNING A MANSION." Emerald added.
Blake sweatdropped in confusion. "I'm not sure what you are upset about… it's just an ordinary home."
"She was technically born here, right? I don't really blame this line of thinking." Yang pointed out.
"Thank you! At least everyone else has my back."
"I… think I understand what's going on here." Aqua said. "When you guys first met, none of you knew what Blake's home was, right? And of course, when she was outed as a Faunus-"
"Outed by accident…" Blake admitted.
"Everyone assumed she lived in a poor community and she was forced to live under harsh conditions."
Rosalina rubbed her chin. "I remember Ruby telling me Blake was really reserved when they first met."
"It's true!" Ruby nodded.
"You didn't feel comfortable sharing about your past, right?" Aqua added.
"Yeah. All I knew was that Weiss's home was the SDC, so with her being filthy rich, I had a feeling she lived the golden life. Something that I never experienced myself."
"And so with that, you didn't know what Ruby and Yang lived in. To add on to that, with you joining the White Fang because you wanted to make a difference, you just thought everyone else lived the golden life while Menagerie was nothing more than the slums, right?"
"Yes. I had thought that a mansion was just an ordinary thing and the SDC was nothing more than a humongous castle. And when you compare a mansion to a castle…"
"So to put it in simpler terms, she legitimately thought a mansion was just your average home." Weiss chimed in.
"That and no one else built a mansion on the island so I just thought everyone was just being humble. This is what I kept thinking as a child." Blake added.
"Oooooh, this is awkward…" Ruby rubbed her head.
"Well I'm so sorry for assuming wrong." Emerald snarked before walking further away. "Not all of us were lucky enough to have a home…" Emerald muttered quietly to herself.
"Was it something I said?" Blake wondered.
"I'm sure she just needs some space…" Aqua patted her on the back.
Resume BGM
"Blake, you mentioned two-thirds of the island is desert, correct?"
At that moment, Calyrex popped out of Weiss's Ultra Ball, which freaked out the Happy Huntresses and Ace Ops. Even Vine looked surprised.
"WHAT THE HELL?! WHY DOES HE HAVE A HUGE HEAD?!" Harriet yelled.
"Forget that! How did he live in such a tiny little thing?!" Robyn wondered.
"Yeah." Blake nodded, ignoring everyone.
"Can you show me the desert? I want to see this for myself. The rest can gather the Chaos Emerald." Calyrex requested.
"Sure." Blake nodded, tossing a Pokeball up in the air.
"Sheeeeeiiiiighd!"
Weiss smiled. "I'll tag along." She said as she called out Glastrier.
"Briiiiiice!"
"HOW THE HELL." Elm could only say.
"Ahem." Ironwood cleared his throat. "Have you all forgotten about this?" He asked, pulling up an Ultra Ball and called out his Duraludon.
"Duraaaa!"
"Ooooh, riiiiight…" Marrow sheepishly rubbed his head.
"We hardly ever see you bring it out." Vine said.
"Really? I typically bring it out every day around lunch hour."
"You do tend to lock yourself in your office during lunch." Esdeath pointed out.
Ironwood blinked, before blushing a little. "I'm a busy man…"
"Soooo, do you feed him ice cream?" Marrow asked.
"That and occasionally some minerals and rocks."
"Minerals and rocks?" Elm raised an eyebrow.
Weiss hopped on Glastrier as Calyrex climbed aboard, then Blake hopped on Spectrier. "Hey Dark, you wanna come with?" Blake asked.
"Sure." Dark Weiss nodded as she hopped on.
"I'll show you where the desert is." Blake said as she took off with Calyrex following her.
"Come on, the Chaos Emerald's in the mansion… right?" Emerald asked.
"Boop."
"Then let's go."
"Quick question… this has been bothering me for a while. How can you guys understand him?" Robyn asked.
"You hang around with him long enough, you tend to understand what he's saying." Yang said.
Robyn sweatdropped. "What?"
"I'm sure we'll figure out the lingo in no time." May said.
"...Uh-huh."
End BGM
Ruby opened up the front door. "Knock knock! Here's everyone coming into Blake's hoooooooooo-"
What she was staring at was cybernetic computers, tech and… other lab tech inside. In fact, the whole building was turned into a factory.
BGM: X-Naut Fortress (Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door)
"-Wow. Blake's a lot more technologically advanced than I thought."
"What exactly are you talking abou- Oh, you gotta be kidding me." Winter's eye twitched.
"Eggman?" Yang guessed.
"Eggman." Ruby nodded.
"Great, so do we tear it down?" May wondered.
"How does one tear down a whole factory… let alone a factory inside of a mansion?" Sheele wondered.
"Uh… brick by brick?" Seryu scratched her head. "I got nothin'."
"I'm sure it's not that bad. This is just the entryway." Lubbock said as he walked in. "I'm sure the living room is as simple as-"
He opened the door, seeing a lot of robot tech going on, including several giant mechs being built.
"...That…"
"Ooooh yeah, that definitely looks simple." Leone said.
"Alright, let's shut 'er down!" Yang cracked her knuckles before vaulting over a railing and landing on the ground. "Hey!" She called out as several Egg Robos looked at her. "Y'all need a permit if you want to continue factory shenanigans inside of a person's home!"
The Egg Robos looked at one another before one walked up to Yang and handed something over to her.
"Hmm?" Yang took it. "Oh hey, look at that, you do have a factory permit."
POW!
The Egg Robo went flying, hitting a wall that made it fall apart instantly.
"Aaaaand revoked!"
Ruby jumped down to see the factory permit in question.
"I'm an expert, I can do whatever I want. - Eggman."
Ruby rolled her eyes. "That sounds about right."
"Let's rock and roll!" Yang smirked, immediately going into her Shin form while Ruby went into her Zinogre form where they saw a few Egg Hammers run straight at them.
"Ooooh, they're evolving. They have hammers now!" Ruby snarked.
"Pffft. Nora's hammer is better!" Yang said as they lunged while everyone else either joined them or went around to knock out the enemies above them.
On the upper levels, Rosalina quickly smashed away a few Badniks as Winter used a few glyphs to impale some Motobugs. One Egg Robo fired at Rosalina, but she put up a reflective forcefield to block the attack, knocking the Egg Robo down to the ground where down below, Yang had unleashed a Shoryuken on an Egg Hammer, knocking it on its back.
"Didn't that hurt?" Byleth asked.
"Eh, you get used to it!"
Back on the upper level, Rosalina opened up a door as the Happy Huntresses, Ironwood, Sheele, Seryu, Lubbock, Najenda, Chell, Pikachu and Aqua ran inside with her.
"Hang on, let me get a light here…" Aqua said as she reached for a light switch, finding it and lighting up the room.
"Uuuuh… what the heck is THAT?" Lubbock asked.
End BGM
What they saw before them was a mech that had a body of a shark, spider legs, and two tentacles coming out of its back.
"Interesting…" Rosalina said. "It looks like a combination of Kingfin, Tarantox and… Gooper Blooper, of all things."
"I don't recognize anything you just said, Rosie, but it sounds like it's a powerhouse." Robyn said as the robot's eyes lit up, letting out a mechanical roar as everyone got in battle stances.
BGM: Militant Missionary (Sonic Adventure)
Robotic Abomination - Taranking E.G.G. (Extra Giant Galvanizer)
The Taranking proceeded to leap toward them, forcing them to get out of the way as they saw cores underneath the body. "I think I found its weak spot!" Aqua said.
"Good, now how are we gonna knock this thing down?" Robyn wondered.
"Buy me some time, I can probably trip this thing up!" Lubbock said.
Ironwood immediately took action, pulling out his gun and started shooting at Taranking. The giant mech opened its mouth and fired missiles directly at him. Seryu shot a few missiles but one got away and went straight for Ironwood.
However, he put one foot back as his mechanical arm suddenly glowed red as he unleashed a Burning Shoryuken that knocked the missile back and struck Taranking in the head, which did a fair amount of damage but the reinforced steel hardly made a dent in it.
"I see you mastered the Shoryuken!" Najenda said, quickly firing at the beast while calling upon Susano-o who proceeded to slash the giant mech away.
"Ryu's not the only one who taught me a few tricks." Ironwood said.
Oh? Rosalina curiously thought while throwing down a large meteor on the giant mech. It turned its attention to Rosalina as it raised its two tentacles and started firing electrical lasers at them, which gave the Happy Huntresses all they needed to fire crossbolts from their crossbows.
Taranking hopped over toward a wall, proceeding to scurry up like a spider before it reached the ceiling, aiming directly at them from above and fired a toxic green liquid into the ground, which was none other than corrosive acid that melted the ground.
"CHUUUUUUUUUU!" Pikachu cried, unleashing Thunder on the acid, making the electricity travel up and struck the mech, however it didn't do major damage as it fired more missiles where Rosalina aimed her hand to try and stop the missiles, however, they powered through as Rosalina's eyes widened and teleported away right as the missiles exploded.
"Did it resist your cosmic powers?" Aqua asked.
"It more than likely did." Rosalina responded before a small smirk formed on her face. Good, don't make this easy for me, Robotnik.
One missile came flying toward Chell where she fired her Portal at the floor and wall, then jumped back as the missile went inside, then came out at the other side and smacked Taranking off the ceiling, causing it to fall to the ground but it moved its tentacles to try and catch itself.
Chell fired at the ground again, making one of the tentacles fall through as it appeared next to Sheele where she cut through it, making Taranking slam into the ground where Susano-o jumped up and slashed at the cores to deal severe damage to it before the mech got up and kicked him off.
Taranking charged forward at the group, unleashing an electrical flamethrower to try and hit them, only to find itself stepping into a wire trap. "Got ya!" Lubbock said, yanking the wire trap as it tightly wrapped around the legs and then with a smirk, the legs broke off and caused Taranking to fall to the ground.
With a snarl, it tried to wiggle its shark body around, but without water, it couldn't do much… except for chomping down its sawblade-like teeth and shoot out lasers. Ironwood calmly walked forward to the giant mech.
"General, what are you doing?" Seryu asked.
"I said Ryu wasn't the only one who taught me a few tricks, did I not?" He smirked as he crossed his arms as Taranking desperately tried to lunge at Ironwood. His mechanical arm started to conjure up wind as a windy aura surrounded his arm. He closed his eyes, channeling more power through his arm as Taranking tried to chomp down before opening its mouth, aiming its electrical flamethrower at him.
"General!" Sheele called out to him as Ironwood uncrossed his arms.
"Sonic… HURRICANE!" He swung his arms down, unleashing a devastatingly strong gust of wind that ripped through the metal plating and made it fly, exposing its weak spots.
"Bullseye!" Robyn smirked, all four of them planting crossbow bolts into the cores, proceeding to destroy the Taranking.
End BGM
"Whoa…" Aqua could only say.
"So you've learned from Guile." Rosalina mused. "Have you learned anything from Chun-Li?"
"I tried to, but I've learned I'm not a good kicker compared to my upper body strength." He lightly laughed.
"Oh good, now I know I can beat you at soccer." Robyn teased, causing Ironwood to lightly glare at her as she playfully stuck her tongue out.
Seryu's dog ears twitched as did Fiona's sheep ears. They both stared at Taranking's wreckage as it started to lightly glow… before the glowing turned more intense. "Guys, we got a problem!" Fiona exclaimed.
"Uh oh!" Lubbock exclaimed as Taranking let out a powerful electrical explosion where Rosalina swiftly got in front and used a force field to block the explosion from hurting them, but to their surprise, the area started to distort around them.
Just outside…
"Okay, okay… deep breath." Emerald said. "She didn't know you lived on the streets… you know it's a touchy subject with you… just go in and talk it out with Blake." She told herself… when suddenly bright lights intensely glowed outside of the mansion. "Huh? What's going on?"
Inside…
The glowing stopped as everyone looked around to see the mansion had been turned back to normal. Nothing screamed "factory"."
"Uuuuh… what just happened?" Yang asked.
"I guess some space stuff happened." Ruby said.
"...Soooo, just pretend we knew what happened and don't think about it so we don't get headaches from this?" Robyn asked.
"Yeah, that sounds good." Ironwood nodded.
"What was with all that glowing?" Emerald asked as she walked in.
"Uh… science stuff." Shez said, causing Emerald to sweatdrop.
"I'll… take it…?"
"Wait, where's the Chaos Emerald?" Yang asked.
"Right here." Ironwood spoke up as they turned to see him digging out the Cyan Chaos Emerald.
"Sweet!" Harriet fist pumped.
Ruby smiled. "Alright!" She turned around. "Now all we can do is move forward and get the next Chaos Emerald! …Wherever it may be." She said as she walked off.
However, a portal opened up behind Ruby that startled the Ace Ops and Winter Ops.
"In darkness find joy…"
Ruby paused before smiling. "And hold your light as a beacon for others to follow."
"For those we have lost, and for those we can yet save."
Ruby turned around, her eyes sparkling. "Carmen!" She exclaimed, quickly using her semblance to glomp her.
"Oh!" Carmen chuckled. "Good to see you again, Rubes."
"Okay, sooo, she's obviously on our side if Ruby knows her well, right?" Kurome asked.
"Yeah." Yang smiled.
"How've you been?" Ruby asked.
"Oh, you know, helping out JINXY to take care of some problem in a New World, finally stopped this clown from terrorizing the Inklings and Octolings on that bridge-"
"Hey, they just needed some excitement in their life!" Gilgamesh said as he walked in.
"-Of course, the Squidbeak Splatoon helped out with that." Carmen chuckled. "Then I went back home to let everyone know that I'm okay, and then I come back… to see you have another moon."
Ruby chuckled. "Long story…"
"By the way, you still have that crystal?"
Ruby smiled, pulling it out. "Yeah, you gave it to me."
"I actually need it back. It slipped my mind that I need this in order to summon people." She laughed nervously as Ruby snickered, pulling it out.
"It happens!" She smiled as she gave it to her.
"Thank you~!" Carmen smiled. "By the way, where's your snow and cat friends?"
Meanwhile…
12:35 AM
The two stallions came to a stop as they all hopped off, seeing the massive desert in front of them. "This is the desert." Blake said. "It pretty much covers the entirety of the island."
"My word…" Calyrex mused. "No wonder you all felt oppressed, there's no elbow room."
"Indeed."
"I believe we can turn this around." Calyrex said. "A little bit of TLC wouldn't hurt one bit, if I'm being honest… of course, we ought to see what we can do with this after we defeat Robotnik."
"Calyrex… can you see anything in the future regarding… that?" Weiss asked.
"Hmm…" Calyrex closed his eyes. "Oh my…"
In his vision, he saw darkness coming out of a certain individual, but then he also saw a fierce fire appearing next to it as it slowly engulfs the fire until the darkness dissipates, then the fire disappears as well.
"...I can't say for certain about Robotnik, yet I see someone clouded in darkness but then flames appear next to this person and douses the darkness. I wonder what that means."
"Who knows…" Weiss mumbled.
"By the way, speaking of fire…"
Calyrex turned to Dark Weiss. "You dabble in fire magic, correct? I've heard you have different colors of fire. May we see all of them?"
"Of course." Dark Weiss nodded as put her hand out, conjuring up blue fire. "This is my standard fire. It's very hot and can deal high amounts of damage."
"Wait, then why were you using normal fire for our duel that got interrupted?" Weiss asked.
"I dunno… nostalgic reasons?" Dark Weiss shrugged as the blue fire turned orange. "This is for your typical fireball throwing, and I can also rapid fire it too."
Next was blue fire with an orange core inside of it. "Now this one is a bit unique. It's called Blorange Fire. It basically freezes anything that touches it."
"How cold are we talking?" Blake wondered as she put her hand in it. "Ack!" She yelped, pulling it away. "Cold as dry ice, noted!"
The fire turned green.
"This produces wind that can pull any foe close together."
The fire turned yellow.
"This can be launched to high altitudes, which can rain down fire bolts."
The fire turned white.
"This is a phantom flame. This passes through any foe and it can continue its destruction past it, burning anyone in its wake."
The fire then turned pink.
"And finally, this fireball can home in on anyone and can explode on contact." She said as she dismissed the fire. "You can thank Pandora for upgrading my flames so it's not just… ya know, boring ol' orange?"
"Impressive!" Calyrex mused. "There is lots of strategy involved within each color of flame."
"Wow…" Weiss whispered. "Incredible."
Blake's cat ears twitched as she turned around. "Hmm?" She wondered as she saw a Rathalos approaching them. "Oh, a Rathalo-..." She gasped, seeing something off with the Rathalos as it landed on the ground a few feet from them, but it also crashed, seemingly in pain as it cried out.
"What's wrong with it?" Weiss asked as she approached the Rathalos.
"Wait!" Blake put her hand out. "I know you're rather fond of Rathalos, but something's different…" She said as the Rathalos gained control of itself and looked up at them, where they could see mechanical parts over it. "It's been mechanized… or it looks like it's fighting it off."
"And losing." Dark Weiss said as Weiss couldn't believe her eyes. She saw the look in the Rathalos's face. Its eyes begging them for help… before its eyes turned red.
"No…!" Weiss exclaimed.
Cold and Ruthless - Egg Rathalos
"You poor creature… you…" Weiss teared up. "You…"
She clenched her fists, gritting her teeth angrily as darkness surrounded her.
"ROBOOOOOOOTNIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIK!" She screamed at the top of her lungs as she pulled out Eiskonigen.
BGM: Black Powder (Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep)
"Weiss!" Blake exclaimed. This darkness… where did this come from? She wondered before her eyes widened. Oh no… could it be that Weiss's anger has reached a boiling point?
"Guys!" Dark Weiss caught their attention as Heartless also appeared next to the Rathalos.
"Ah… great…" Blake groaned.
"I will take care of the Heartless." Calyrex said. "You put this Rathalos out of its misery."
Weiss hunched over, breathing heavily as her hands burned with black fire. Her eyes slowly being turned black as black markings appeared over both of her eyes, her white hair turned gray…
It was as if all the negativity from Eggman's invasion had caused her Fierce Deity to appear more feral like.
"Weiss…?!" Blake could only look on in horror as Weiss shadow stepped over to the Rathalos, slashing it away as it breathed fire. She quickly flew up in the air and then launched herself down, slamming into the beast and created a small crater as she teleported out of the way as she unleashed a darker Skyward Strike.
The Heartless seemed to be more attracted to Weiss as the Air Soldiers and Darkballs charged at her. She shifted her eyes and quickly unleashed powerful dark bolts that destroyed them in seconds.
The Rathalos flew to her, clawing her with its talons but Weiss parried the beast as she delivered a strong dark punch to its jaw, knocking it straight to the ground as she delivered a flip kick that knocked the Egg Rathalos up in the air, teleporting to it and then summoned a few glyphs that fired intense energy that struck the Egg Rathalos and sent it crashing to the ground, but Weiss kept firing more energy that caused a massive explosion that not only kicked up sand, but it was enough to blast away everyone.
Weiss teleported to the Rathalos as it painfully got up, trying to chomp down at her but she grabbed it with a shadowy claw. "You wanted mercy… I'll give you it!" She slammed it into the ground, raising Eiskonigen up high and thrusted down, impaling through it.
She failed to hear the sound of a Pokeball opening up.
"MAMA!"
Weiss froze, turning her attention to Manaphy who was looking absolutely worried.
"Mama… no…"
End BGM
Weiss stared at Manaphy, her senses returning to normal as the darkness disappeared. She looked down and saw what remained of the Rathalos as it was nothing but bits and pieces.
"O-Oh… Oh gods…" Weiss dropped her weapon as she backed away, her hand over her mouth as she fell on her knees as Manaphy came over and hugged her.
"What… just happened?" Blake asked as Glastrier and Spectrier shook the sand off of their bodies.
"It appears that the stress and negativity seems to be having quite an effect on Weiss's Fierce Deity. If we do not stop Eggman soon, I fear it may get even worse to the point she won't tell friend or foe apart…" Calyrex said.
"Weiss…" Dark Weiss whispered.
Meanwhile, with JN"P"R and Co…
12:40 PM
"Okay, that should be the last of it." Jaune said, having used his hydromancy to wash away any potential radiation off of the survivors.
Doom Guy, who was dripping wet, nodded and gave Jaune the thumbs up before walking away. He let out a sigh and turned to Ren. "How's keeping everyone calm, Ren?"
"Easier… said than done, but we'll get by." Ren said, looking at the survivors who were either angry or sad that this had happened to them. Jaune turned to see Erza staring off at the city, now nothing more than a ghost town. Thor was also with her, lightly rubbing her shoulder.
Jaune then looked at Coco. "How's your eyesight?"
"Ugh, I shouldn't have looked at the initial explosion…" Coco mumbled. "I think I'll be okay, I'll probably just need some contact lenses after this. Hopefully… if anything, I can have my girlfriend be my eye seeing rabbit." She teased.
Velvet blushed. "I think that's only reserved for dogs."
Coco snickered. "Ah, you know what I mean, babe."
"I don't get it." Scarlet spoke up. "Excuse me for sounding out of line, but I don't get it. All of you guys have been through hell and back, right? How the heck are you guys able to feel hopeless after all you've been through?"
"Honestly… I feel this might be more personal." Nora said.
"I was just about to say that." Neptune nodded.
"Jaune…" Saphron spoke up. "Once help arrives… you think you can tell us some stories about your adventures? I'm curious to hear about your hydro capabilities."
Jaune smiled. "Oh sure, we've got a lot to catch up on. I've been meaning to come visit you, just… not in this situation." He chuckled while sheepishly rubbing his head.
Saphron giggled. "It's okay."
Erza, meanwhile, said nothing as anger slowly boiled inside of her. But something else seemed to bug her.
"Ever since we came back… something's been on my mind."
"What would that be?" Thor asked.
Erza looked up toward the now clouded over sky. "...Jellal… where are you?"
Nora looked through her scroll, her eyes widening. "Oh geez… not good!"
"What, is your battery drained?" Sun asked.
"No!" Nora spoke up as she raised the volume on her scroll. "Listen to this!"
"As if things couldn't get any worse, Lisa. Now we got an issue going on at the Mushroom Kingdom!"
"Indeed. We have received reports that the Grimm are invading Toad Town. Typically, the occasional Grimm slips by, but this time it's different-"
At the Smash Mansion…
"We have received a report that a massive wave of Grimm is attacking Toad Town, and they are being lead by none other than the Crimson Fang."
Sienna perked up while looking through her scroll, looking directly at the TV as she narrowed her eyes.
"Adam…"
BGM: Apprehension (Kingdom Hearts II)
At Toad Town…
"Oooh, what now!" Anna complained.
"Grimm! They're heading right this way! And the Crimson Fang is coming with them!" A Toad exclaimed as they ran around screaming.
"The Grimm and the Crimson Fang?!" Juvia exclaimed.
"This is bad…" Gray growled. "Alright, let's make sure nobody gets hurt!"
"Hope you're ready for combat." Raven said, unsheathing her sword and running off.
"Might be a good time to cut loose for a bit." Elsa ran off with Anna.
Ann looked at Futaba. "Come on, let's go kick ass! Some combat experience with your new Maiden powers might do you some good too!" She said.
"Right!"
"PERSONA!" Ann called out as she took off running.
Futaba took a deep breath, activating her Maiden Powers. "Persona!"
Ibuki: Oh boy... here comes the bull!
Deadpool: Should I get a red cape? ...Wait, no, that might not work for Adam...
It's getting intense here!