Disclaimer: I do not own any of the material appearing in this story. The OC's belong to their respective owners.
1:19 AM
BGM: Dark Samus Appears! (Metroid Prime 2: Echoes)
Smoke sizzled out of Samus's arm cannon. Everyone else looked on in shock and horror as the Plasma Blast had reached its target.
Esdeath.
Esdeath held on to her chest, groaning as she had a pained expression on her face. She looked at Samus as if she had been betrayed.
"But why…?" Esdeath asked.
"Cut the shit!" Samus responded, as to which she heard a click as she shifted her eyes to see Ironwood aiming his gun at her.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?!"
"That ain't Esdeath! That's a fake."
"And how do you know that? You think you can just scan and then judge by-"
"Hold on! Before we kill each other, I have an idea." Robyn walked up to Samus. "For those who don't know, my semblance is Lie Detection." She held out her hand. "We have to grasp each other's hand, and then I will ask a question. Green means you're telling the truth… red means you're lying."
"Fine by me." Samus said as she took her hand.
"Sammy, is that actually Esdeath?"
"No."
Everyone looked down to see that the aura turned green.
"That doesn't mean anything! She likely only believes that from a scan! This has to be a mistake!" Ironwood denied.
"Actually, General…" Winter spoke.
"What is it, Winte-?!" Ironwood stopped as he looked where Winter was pointing, eyes slowly widened as he lowered his arm as he looked at Esdeath in shock. A hole in Esdeath's chest was closing up by liquid metal.
"Esdeath…?"
Esdeath said nothing, clenching her fists as she glared directly at Samus. "You really are a pain in the ass, aren't you?"
Samus charged her Plasma Beam again.
"No matter." Esdeath chuckled before she smirked maliciously. "I recall that we have three Chaos Emeralds in our possession… it'd be a shame if they were… taken."
End BGM
BGM: E.G.G.M.A.N. (Sonic Adventure 2)
"Uh oh…" Ruby grimaced as Esdeath punched the ground, creating a powerful ice explosion that knocked everyone back, which created an icy mist that blinded everyone, although Samus switched to her Thermal Visor as Esdeath headed straight for Ruby.
Esdeath pinned Ruby down almost immediately, reaching in and grabbing the three Chaos Emeralds. "If you value your life, you won't resist!"
Samus swiftly sprang into action, shoulder tackling Esdeath. Esdeath slid back a few feet as her arm morphed into an arm cannon of her own and shot at her, but Samus returned fire, canceling each other out as Samus used her Grapple Beam to wrap around Esdeath and threw her off of the ship.
Samus jumped off, firing missiles directly at her but Esdeath put up a shield to block the missiles as she rolled away, shooting out icicles at Samus in retaliation. "I thought I could pull one over on you until we got all the Chaos Emeralds, but it seems I was mistaken."
"What'd you do with the real Esdeath?"
Esdeath laughed. "Where do you think she could be?" She asked maliciously.
Samus clenched her fist. "You're going to have her father be on the warpath."
"Let him throw a tantrum! He'll get over it… it's not like he'll kill himself over it!"
Samus growled, quickly firing Plasma shots at her but she deflected them away. Esdeath's smirk never faded away.
"Mahapdama!" She called out as everything froze around them as she chuckled. "I'd kill you, but that's too easy." She pulled out the three Chaos Emeralds from her pocket. "Who cares if one of them is drained? This is all too easy~"
She quickly wrote something in ice before her feet morphed into jet boots and quickly flew off straight for the Death Egg, right as she canceled out Mahapdama.
End BGM
Samus immediately saw the message in front of her.
"Now you have zero Emeralds."
Samus looked up, quickly aiming her arm cannon at the fleeing Esdeath and fired, but she was too far away as she let out a growl. "COWARD!" She screamed.
She quickly turned around and walked off in a huff, climbing back onto the ship. "Dammit!" She growled.
"Is she gone?" Carmen asked.
"With all three Emeralds! She's heading back to the Death Egg."
"Crap…" Ruby groaned. "I should've held on to it better."
"Don't worry about it…" Samus said. "None of us expected what she'd do next…"
"So, now that we're in "Find the imposters" mode… what about her? I think her name's Byleth" Robyn pointed her thumb to Byleth while holding her hand again.
"I scanned everyone. She's clean."
The aura turned green again.
"What? Okay, maybe your scanner didn't work correctly. She's been acting weird since we came back with the Purple Emerald." Yang said.
"Ahem." Byleth spoke up as they turned to her. "Maybe this will confirm it."
She pulled out her dagger and slowly cut the palm of her hand. They watched as a liquid rolled down her arm.
Crimson blood.
BGM: Luma (Super Mario Galaxy)
"I knew there was a reason why I was holding back…" Samus said.
"A red herring?" Winter wondered.
"Byleth…?" Ruby looked on in surprise. "Then… why were you-"
Tears swelled in Byleth's eyes. "I… haven't been myself for a while… the truth is… I haven't been feeling well. I… I've been forced to keep quiet…"
"What do you mean?" Rosalina asked.
"Hang on." Robyn walked over to Byleth and grasped her hand. "Okay. What happened?"
"It all started back when Atlas was about to fall…"
Earlier…
Byleth watched Atlas fall on the news, her eyes widening. She immediately activated Divine Pulse as she rewound back to 6 PM as she quickly took off running.
"I think I can make it." She said to herself as she quickly hopped into the Warp Pipe and hopped out on the other side. She quickly picked up the pace as she saw a ? Block. She immediately hit it as a Cape Feather came out, where she grabbed it as a light green cape wrapped around her back as she took a running start and flew off.
The moment she landed on the ground, Atlas started to fall. "Dammit, I knew I should've taken the short cut…" She growled as she took a deep breath, activating Divine Pulse once more.
However, what she didn't know was that, at the same time, Silver activated his time traveling powers to go back in time to try and stop it. The shockwave from his power was enough to interfere with Divine Pulse.
"Nnngh! What…?" Byleth wondered, rubbing her head as a splitting headache formed in her head. Her ears were ringing as well as Silver came back to that point in time.
"That didn't work…" He mumbled as he decided to try again right as Byleth tried again, only for her ears to ring even louder as she got dizzy soon after.
"Mmm… this hasn't happened before…" She said, shaking it off.
"For some reason, my Divine Pulse couldn't work out. Every time I tried, I'd either get a splitting headache or I'd get dizzy… but, I just kept trying no matter what. I wanted to see if I could try to warn everyone."
"Agh… nnngh…" Byleth groaned, her face a bit green. Her stomach feeling weak as she gagged. She immediately found a bush to puke in while Silver kept coming back to the point in time.
"Come on! Don't tell me this is a set point in time…"
Byleth staggered a bit, her forehead feeling warm as everything felt blurry around her. She fell on her knees and panted. "What's going on with me…" She wondered as she saw Atlas continuing to fall.
She attempted to try once more, but she was too mentally exhausted to try it again. She punched the snow in frustration as she slowly rose. She turned around and said nothing. "I'll let them handle it… I need to lie down."
She flew off back to her home, and as she did, she heard everyone screaming and wailing in despair. She closed her eyes, knowing everyone had just witnessed the destruction of Atlas and Mantle.
"It was a rather slow flight. It was far too dangerous for me to use the Warp Pipe in Mantle… so I took the scenic route. When I got home…"
Byleth landed on the ground, stumbling a bit but caught herself. She was admittedly feeling a bit better and peeked into the window, seeing everyone distracting Oran and Anya. With a soft smile, she received a text from Ruby as she pulled out her phone.
"We're heading to Garreg Mach for the Chaos Emerald. You wanna come?"
Byleth tiredly smiled, took a deep breath and exhaled. She had to admit, she was feeling a lot better. "I'll be there soon. My wife, dad, brother and uncle Loid are currently distracting Oran and Anya from the chaos that happened earlier."
Byleth peeked into the room, where her vision had blurred a bit. She could have sworn she saw Maia in there as well. She shook her head and saw that Maia was gone. Maybe she just moved away from her sight.
"Maia's helping too… meanwhile, uncle Qrow is busy watching the news on his scroll and Aunt Raven… is nowhere to be seen."
"Well, here's hoping she's alright."
"Me too. I'll see you soon, sis. Love you!"
"Love you too, sis!"
Byleth smiled warmly. "Okay, I'll just tell everyone I went for a jog to get my mind off things and tell 'em that Ruby recruited me."
She gently opened the door.
"Hey guys, I just went for a- WHAT THE?!" Byleth yelled, seeing Metal Sonic in front of her.
"Ah, good evening, Byleth! It's so good to see you." Eggman said as Metal Sonic pulled up a video call.
"What are you-"
"Take a good look at your family."
She looked up, seeing everyone turning into chrome. "What…?!"
"While you were gone, Oran, Anya and Bond decided to play outside. That's when Metal Sonic ambushed them. They came back and infected the whole family."
"What did you do… WHERE ARE THEY?!"
"Oh, Byleth, is that any way to treat your guests?" Eggman asked as Metal Sonic pulled out a gun and shot her in the shoulder.
"Nnngh!"
"What Metal Sonic just shot you with is a little microchip. From now on, you are my ears. I will not order you to do anything. However, IF you tell anyone about what happened here tonight…"
The screen changed to her family being held against chains on a wall with some Egg Robos next to a laser. They were also blindfolded and gagged, not to mention holding noise canceling headphones.
"Your family will be incinerated. OHOHOHOHOHOHO!"
Byleth couldn't believe her eyes, her pupils trembling in horror. "You… you…!"
"Now, will you take part of the chrome or will you run away like a coward?" Eggman asked as her chromified family approached her. She immediately pulled out her sword but hesitated the moment their skin turned to normal.
"Honey… why would you aim your sword at me?" Dorothea asked.
"Big sis…?" Oran asked with a hurt expression.
Tears swelled in her eyes as they continued to approach. Her blood ran cold as she screamed in fear as she took off running.
"Hold your positions. She's made her choice." Eggman said. "Metal, return to the Death Egg. Meanwhile, I've got a little proposition for Mister Mishima."
Byleth continued running. "What do I do… what do I do…?!" She asked as her voice broke, tears freely falling. "What do I even say to them… I can't say anything or else they're all dead…!"
She felt her skin as it was still cold. "How do I explain this to them… just say I went through the Ice Climbers pulling a prank and freezing everyone?!"
She closed her eyes, continuing to run. I'm so sorry…!
End BGM
Back in the present…
BGM: Sad Girl (Super Mario Galaxy)
Robyn's aura turned green as everyone looked on, completely horrified as tears continued to fall through Byleth's cheeks.
"So that's why you were acting weird… because… you didn't want to…" Ruby put her hand over her mouth. "Oh no…"
"I've… I've revealed everything… and now my whole family's dead because of me…"
Her knees buckled as she fell, hugging herself as she sobbed loudly. Rosalina instinctively wrapped her arms around her. Ruby and Yang quickly hugged her in comfort as well.
Her blood's still cold... you poor girl... Rosalina thought, gently kissing Byleth on the forehead.
Shez looked on, closing her eyes as she sighed. Does my hatred for Byleth really matter anymore?
"Wait… what are you saying?"
Hearing that story makes me realize she actually has changed. She truly cares about her family. Yeah, I threw a pie at her face after their honeymoon, but I was above destroying happy marriages.
Shez closed her eyes, recalling how Byleth deeply apologized for what she had done to her team.
…If anyone needs to move on, it's going to be me.
Shez slowly walked down the stairs and walked toward Byleth.
"Wait, doesn't she have a deep rivalry with Byleth?" Blake asked, reaching for Gambol Shroud.
"Wait." Samus pulled her hand out. "Let's see how it plays out."
"Byleth…"
Byleth looked up, tears falling from her bloodshot eyes.
Shez knelt down and to their surprise, she hugged Byleth. "It's going to be okay…" She whispered to her, rubbing her back as Byleth said nothing but softly crying in her shoulder.
"Samus… what did that Esdeath fake say about my actual daughter?" Ironwood asked.
Samus looked at him with an annoyed, yet sympathetic look. "I think you already know…"
Ironwood's eyes widened as he clenched his fists, before he slowly composed himself as his eyes glowed blue. It seemed as if he was in control of his semblance.
"I'll mourn for her after we defeat Eggman. That is what she'd want."
"I agree." Emerald nodded.
POW!
Everyone, minus the Rose family, turned to see Weiss having punched the Thalassa Shell in frustrated anger. She gritted her teeth.
"We lost three Emeralds… now we're down to zero… and not only that, but what Byleth just said is just… AAAARGH!" She growled as she moved her arm away, where there was a decent sized dent inside the ship.
"Weiss…" Winter looked on with concern.
"ROB… where's the closest Emerald?" Weiss asked as ROB brought up the map.
"...There's one on the move?" Harriet asked. "Well, let's go after it then!"
"Right." Shez nodded as she moved away from Byleth, then she took the wheel. "Let's go!" She said as they took off.
End BGM
Meanwhile, back at Toad Town…
1:30 AM
"So let me see if I have this straight." Futaba said as she paced around. "You actually went out to Atlas to try and see if you can get Fria out of there, but you were ambushed by robots. Then, after Atlas was destroyed, you tried to fight off your captors but were overwhelmed and they were going to take you to Eggman for who knows what reason. However, mid-flight, Maia caught up with you and busted you out, which then you heard from a robot that there was already a Raven bot already with the new Winter Maiden."
"That's right." Raven nodded. "I was trying to get to you as fast I can, because I knew you had a connection with Fria. However, more Badniks were slowing us down. That's when Cinder and her group came over to help out. We just barely managed to get into Toad Town right as the Crimson Fang left… and that's when I saw myself about to assassinate you."
"Okay, but why would she want to assassinate Futaba?" Anna wondered.
"If I had to guess, Eggman knew about this and wanted to make sure she wouldn't be a problem." Cinder said.
"...By overwhelming her and tiring her out!" Ann said, her eyes widening. "That's why she was upset when we suggested she take a little break! She wanted to keep pushing her until she was so exhausted, she'd be easy pickings."
Futaba groaned. "I almost fell for it too…"
"If I was here, I would have encouraged her to take a break. I'd be a bit pushy but I wouldn't be exhausting her too." Raven said as she looked up at the snowy clouds. "Considering what's behind those clouds and… we're pressed for time."
"Well… it seems you're having a pleasant discussion this early in the morning." A voice said as they turned to see Watts approaching them.
"Watts?!" Cinder asked in surprise.
"Cinder. Nice to see you here." He greeted. "How's the big dragon turtle holding up? As well as that…" He looked at her Charizard. "One-eyed dragon you have there."
He received a growl from the Charizard in response.
"Wait a second, YOU'RE Watts?!" Futaba asked in surprise. "You're the guy who put up all those extra firewalls at me when I was hacking into the network!"
Watts blinked. "Really? You were the one who was hacking into the network? I was expecting someone much older, not someone who looks like a teenager."
He then smirked, giving a hearty genuine laugh. "Well, how about that. A teenager managed to best my hard puzzles. I'm not even mad, I'm genuinely impressed!"
"Technically, I had Eggman helping out with the rest of those since I was getting mentally tired. He was SonicFan70… I legit thought it was Tails."
"Hmm, yes, I can see the logic behind that…" Watts mused as he held his hand out. "Now then, as you know, I hold no ill will toward you. Let's just say your little nosy self snowballed into me defecting Salem's little posse." He said.
Futaba smiled. "Well, you're probably okay in my book!" She grinned, taking his hand as they both shook on it.
"I never thought you'd have some good sportsmanship." A voice said as Vanitas emerged from a portal, munching on some chips where everyone stared at him. "What? The store has an end of the world sale going on. How could I not?"
"Vanitas…?" Ann wondered as she gasped. "You're the guy who destroyed Tron!"
"Ooooh… Sora's gonna be livid." Futaba grimaced. "Hell, I think the Wayward Trio's gonna have a conniption about this."
"Let them." Watts said.
"Look, I'm not here to sever your bonds, plan a non-consensual brother fusion, poison your water or ask you to show me your anguish. I'm not dark fleshy me. I just wanna kill the other robots and maybe crack an egg."
"...Wait, back up a moment. What was that about "non-consensual"?" Elsa asked.
"So, you're gonna help us defeat Egghead?" Cinder asked.
"Yes, I have a bone to pick with him as well." Watts nodded. "So, anyone know how to get up there?"
"Well, there's the Chaos Emeralds-" Futaba brought up her technomagic screens. "I'm sure Team RWBY and Team Chiaki are searching tirelessly for-... wait, why is there a Chaos Emerald heading straight for us?"
"It's coming up behind us… coming in fast!" Gray said as they got ready for whatever came their way.
Screeeeeeech!
Everyone looked on to see Shadow casually holding a yellow Chaos Emerald while Rouge and Omega caught up to him.
"What? Never seen a hedgehog with an Emerald before?"
Meanwhile, in Galar…
1:35 AM
BGM: Wild Area (Area 2)
"Alright, let's try this one!" Deadpool hopped into a Den.
"We've been going around in circles for hours…" Xena said. "How the hell have we not come across it yet?"
Chiaki sighed. "I don't know… I didn't know the Dynamax energy would interfere with BB-8's machinery."
BB-8 let out a soft groaning beep as he tried to pull the map up, only for it to static uncontrollably as he put it away.
Tatsumi landed on the ground with Lucy. "We looked everywhere in the Isle of Armor, it's not there."
Morgana arrived as a bus as Haru and Akira walked out. "Crown Tundra's a no go. How are you holding up here?" Akira asked.
"Poorly. We've searched the entirety of the Wild Area but nothing's going on. Not to mention it's interfering with BB-8." Nyx said.
"YAAAAAAAAAAGH!"
"Aaaand that was the last one." Nyx said as Deadpool climbed out of the den, nothing more than a smoldering mess.
"Nothing, huh?" Ibuki asked.
"Nope, just a pissy Gothitelle who thinks sleep is very important!" Deadpool grumbled.
"Okay, maybe it's in a town if none of the dens have the Chaos Emerald." Jade said.
"Can't believe it showed me the universe ending in a supernova, and all because I woke it up!" Deadpool said. "Shit, and I thought the Rotomdex was just making it up!"
"I guess it's accurate every once in a while." Chiaki shrugged. "Okay, maybe it's in a gym."
"Okay, soooo… where would it be? There's like eight of them." Iris said.
"Maybe we can take a look around." Deadpool said as he pulled out a notepad, proceeding to write down the eight gyms. "We only have to look into: Turffield, Hulbury, Motostoke, Stow-on-Side, Ballonlea, Circhester, Spikemuth and Hammerlocke."
"Well… we're close to Hammerlocke, why don't we work our way down?" Ibuki suggested.
"It's a good place to start." Lucy said as they all nodded, then they all took off.
Hammerlocke
1:40 AM
"Nope, not here!" Tatsumi said as they looked around the gym.
"Nada over here!" Xena called out.
Spikemuth
1:43 AM
"Hey! Have any of you egelords seen a Chaos Emerald around here?" Deadpool called out while the Phantom Thieves searched the entire area.
"Nothing but music and edgy stuff!" Ryuji called out.
"I think I found Marnie's original room. Lot of Morpeko plushies… and I think I see a punk rock Teddiursa." Makoto said from comms.
"I think this is Piers' room. Wow, that's sad…" Akechi said.
"I suppose this place is a bust." Yusuke said as they nodded.
"Guys? I think I found something that… is highly questionable." Haru said as they saw a tattoo parlor.
"Get your free tattoo of Marnie's face here!"
"...Somehow, I'm not surprised yet I'm still a bit disturbed by it." Hajime said.
"Eh… they're all simps for Marnie, so it makes sense." Chiaki shrugged.
"Ibuki was just about to say that~!" Ibuki laughed.
Circhester
1:50 AM
They walked into Circhester's gym… where they would see Melony ice skating along the ice rink. "What the…?" Nyx wondered.
"Hmm? Oh hello~!" Melony waved. "Don't mind me, I was just doing some late night ice skating. I sometimes do this when I can't sleep."
"Yeah, none of us can… long story." Chiaki chuckled.
"By the way, I couldn't help but take notice of this curious rock underneath the ice." She said, pointing inside of the ice where they saw a white diamond-shaped rock inside of it.
"Oh! That's the Chaos Emerald!" Eiflin exclaimed.
"Score!" Lucy fist pumped.
"Alright, clear the area!" Deadpool pulled out several sticks of dynamite. "I'm gonna blow this ice rink up and get the Chaos Emerald that way!"
"Or I could just reach in and take it." Lucy spoke up. "I'm a ghost, I can phase through stuff."
"...Hmm, true… but where's the fun in that?"
Lucy sweatdropped. "You gotta be kidding me."
"Heck with that noise, I can punch my way through!" Knuckles smirked.
"Perhaps I can help you with that." A voice said as they saw Gloria approach them.
"Gloria?" Chiaki asked before smiling. "Phew, glad to see a friendly face."
"Top of the evening to ya. Thought I'd do a late night walk, looking for those Chaos Emeralds, ya know?"
"Wait a moment!" Deadpool narrowed his eyes. "Your accent is suspiciously lacking of a Scottish tone!"
Ibuki pulled out her guitar. "Very suspicious indeed…"
"Oh, uh… sorry, I'm a bit tired so I forgot to do my Scottish thing." She smiled.
BANG!
A bullet went straight through her forehead, knocking Gloria off of her feet.
"You're an imposter!" Deadpool declared as Gloria got back up, where they saw liquid metal repairing the bullet wound.
"...Alright. I was hoping I wouldn't have been caught so easily BUT THAT DAMN DYNAMAX ENERGY IS RUINING EVERYTHING IN MY BODY."
BB-8 let out a snarky tone, causing Chiaki to snicker.
"First time? Oh yeah, it's a first time alright… but whatever! I'll stop ya myself!" She whistled, where suddenly metal robots slammed into the ground behind her, which resembled Regigigas and the other Regis.
"Melony, get to cover, we'll take care of this Gloria fake!" Chiaki said as Melony nodded and ice skated away, where BB-8 and Elfilin went to accompany her.
BGM: Battle! Xerneas/Yveltal (Pokemon X/Y)
The Regigigas jumped into the air where the Registeel and Regirock merged into its legs. Regidrago and Regice acted as the arms and Regieleki acted as the head, with Gloria climbing up and getting inside of Regieleki, grabbing the controls. There was an Eggman logo on Regigigas's chest.
"Let's see if you can knock down this titan! AHAHAHAHA!"
Battle Mode: Engage! - Eggigigas
"Just because you went all Power Rangers on us doesn't mean ANYTHING!" Deadpool yelled as they all spread out as the Eggigigas aimed the Regidrago hand and proceeded to fire cannonballs at the ground.
"Tatsumi, my keys!" Lucy said as Tatsumi tossed her a key. "OPEN! GATE OF THE LION! LOKE!" She called out as she even went into her Star Dress: Leo form.
"Open, gate of the Bull, Taurus!" Tatsumi called out as they both swung their axe and fist into Eggiggas. It responded by kicking at the duo with Regirock, kicking up a few boulders but Loke punched through the boulders as Lucy jumped up and Regulus Punched it in the chest.
Eggigigas aimed and fired Regice's icicles at them, where Silver telekinetically caught them and fired it back at it, then he flew up and unleashed a Psychic Knife attack at Eggigigas while Chiaki levitated off of the ground, her eyes turning crimson as she unleashed a strong telekinetic blast that knock Eggigigas back a bit.
Eggigigas unleashed a powerful draconic icicle storm on everyone, where Xena and Yagami teleported up and helped out Chiaki while Nyx fired crossbow bolts at them as Jade sucked up the debris with her Poltergust and fired back as Izuru jumped up and punched Eggigigas in the chest.
"Hraaaaaaaaaah!" Skull yelled, punching Eggigigas in the foot while Noir fired grenades at it. Eggigigas raised its Regice arm and punched down, creating an ice shockwave to knock the Phantom Thieves away while Knuckles climbed up the mech on the back.
With a smirk, he tore into the backside with his Shovel Claws and went inside, chuckling to himself while Deadpool kept shooting at Eggigigas as Ibuki strummed her guitar to unleash electricity onto the beast.
The head on top fired electrical blasts at Silver, the Ayamis and Chiaki, where Chiaki put up a force field to block the attacks as she clapped her hands, creating a few clones as they surrounded Eggigigas as they unleashed telekinetic energy into Eggigigas.
"Argh! You persistent little pests!" Gloria growled as she tried to swat them away, but Chiaki teleported away while the twins conjured up a bomb and threw it at the head. "Gah!" She yelped as the bomb exploded, causing severe damage to the head. "Rrrgh!"
"Bullseye!" Yagami grinned, fist bumping her sister.
"Hup!" Silver brought up the debris and formed it into a massive debris boulder and threw it at Eggigigas.
"Oh no, you don't!" Gloria said, firing an electric laser to destroy it and threw an Ice Punch at Silver, but he telekinetically stopped it, with the help of the twins while Chiaki fired a chaotic laser at her.
"You think you've won, but you're gonna lose right here and no-"
Suddenly the Eggigigas shut down.
End BGM
"What?! Why won't it-?!"
Knuckles climbed out into the cockpit with a cocky smirk. "Sup?" He greeted, proceeding to punch everything inside, including Gloria as it Eggigigas started to light up. He proceeded to jump out and glide his way to safety as Eggigigas exploded.
"You're welcome!" Knuckles said as Gloria emerged from the explosion with a groan, then Deadpool slashed through her to cut her in half, before casually pushing her to the ground as her torso fell forward, leaving only her bottom half standing where Silver quickly used his telekinesis to destroy the bottom half.
"Hey Melony!" Deadpool called out. "You wouldn't happen to have a zamboni, would you?"
"Yeah, why?"
One minute later…
Gloria groaned, trying to crawl away on the ice rink while Deadpool casually chased her with a zamboni. "Hahaha! You're-haha-about to be killed-hahaha-by a zamboni!"
"I got it!" Tatsumi pulled out the White Emerald after they cut through the ice, then put the ice lid back and returned to the group where they watched Deadpool continue to chase her.
"TELL US WHERE THE FUCK THE ACTUAL GLORIA IS OR YOU'RE GONNA DIE! …In five minutes!"
"We might actually be here for five minutes." Nyx said.
"Eh, let him have this." Chiaki chuckled. "So, anyone want to do anything to pass the time?"
"I got one!"
Suddenly, a hand grabbed Chiaki by the neck and slammed her into the ice. "Nnnngh!" She grunted.
"Chiaki!" Hajime exclaimed.
BGM: Starker/Wicked Child (Super Smash Bros Ultimate)
Chiaki groaned, shaking off whatever just hit her as she sat her assailant in front of her eyes.
"Why hello, Nanami! It's about time I finally caught up with you… after all, you're the one who brought Junko on your side, you little pest!"
Vampire Stalker - Celeste
"Mmmph… shouldn't you be tormenting Jacques?" Chiaki asked.
"He's not important right now! What's important is that I kill you right here!"
Chiaki rolled her eyes. "Really. You're going to kill me? In front of my boyfriend?"
At that moment, Hajime, who had turned into Izuru, grabbed Celeste by behind and shoved her into the ground, planting his foot into her fangs.
End BGM
Chiaki casually got up, with the help of Ibuki. "You okay?" Ibuki asked.
"Yeah, I'll be fine. Ugh, they always go for the neck…" Chiaki said, rubbing her neck. "Why isn't it the collar or the shoulders? Seriously…"
"Okay, someone fill us in. What's going on here?" Xena asked.
"This would be Celeste." Ibuki said. "Girl got herself turned into a vampire and almost killed Junko when she tried to make up." She explained. "Hell, she tried to kill Kyoko-chan a few weeks ago."
"And now she's after Chiaki because she brought Junko to our side? …You're kidding, right?" Nyx deadpanned.
"Her name's not actually Celeste." Izuru said, narrowing his eyes. "It's Taeko."
"Mmmph?!" Celeste grunted, teleporting away from them. "That name… WHERE DID YOU HEAR THAT NAME?!"
"A little bird told us." Izuru folded his arms.
"But who would-" Celeste growled. "When I find whoever did that…"
"Oh, give it a rest already!" Chiaki exclaimed. "What do you hope to accomplish by killing me… or Junko? Or even Kyoko for that matter? Are you seriously that drunk on that vampire power or are you seriously just that depraved?"
"It could just be a matter of both!" Deadpool said as he walked off. "It ain't going to get anywhere."
"Rrrgh… silence! I will-"
"You'll what?" Chiaki asked. "You kill us and then what will you do? Seriously, Junko gave me your bio… I swear, you were a lot chipper back then from what Junko described you as. A little bossy, but whatever."
Celeste clenched her fists. "You just don't understand that… rrrgh…"
"Understand what? Did you seriously have a plan or not, Taeko?"
"STOP CALLING ME THAT!" Celeste yelled.
"Wow… childhood trauma over that name or…?" Knuckles wondered.
"Rrrgh… oh, fuck it! You're not worth it!" She teleported away.
"Okay, that was completely out of left field…" Chiaki mumbled.
"Eh, I've a feeling she'll be back." Deadpool said.
"Yeah… wait a minute, if you're here, then who's driving the Zamboni?"
"I am!" Deadpool said before he blinked. "...Ooooh. I should-"
There was a loud screeching noise followed by a loud crunch!
"...Eh, that robot clone'll be fine." Deadpool waved it off while everyone else sweatdropped.
"Well… we got the Chaos Emerald, so let's go." Tatsumi said as they walked off.
BB-8 let out a snarky chirp.
"Yeah, we'll pull up the map after we leave this place." Chiaki giggled as they left the gym… and as they did, they saw the X-Wing flying over to them, followed by a helicopter and the X-Tornado.
"Wait, who's flying the X-Wing?" Xena asked.
"I didn't do anything…" Chiaki said as the X-Wing landed followed by the other air vehicles, Sonic hopping off the X-Tornado while Junko got out of the X-Wing.
"Hope you don't mind if I borrowed this for a bit~!" Junko smiled as Tails got out of the X-Tornado.
"Sorry we're late. We had to get Sonic from going on a wild goose chase." Tails said.
"Not only that, but we had to break up a fight too." Mukuro said as she exited the helicopter, as she was joined by Yelena and Kate.
"What fight are you talking abou-"
Kazuya stepped out of the helicopter.
"Oh, you gotta be shitting me." Nyx facepalmed.
"Heh, he's a heck of a fighter, I'll give him that." Sonic chuckled.
"Okay, what did you do?" Chiaki asked.
Kazuya folded his arms. "Long story."
Meanwhile, at the Death Egg…
2:10 AM
"What do you mean the power for the incinerator was out? Byleth revealed everything, they should be incinerated by now!" Eggman said.
"That's the thing, the source of power to that incinerator ray was destroyed!" Orbot said.
"Who destroyed it?!"
Meanwhile, somewhere else on the Death Egg…
"Alert! Alert! The prisoner has escaped! I repeat, the prisoner has-"
There were small explosions before the door opened up.
"Ugh, thought I'd never get out of there… didn't know it would withhold my semblance…" A woman groaned as green liquid dripped from her body.
She turned her attention to the door. "I'm so glad you actually saved me, Sephiroth."
Sephiroth casually walked out of the door. "My pleasure. I should have known they locked up my beautiful ice flower in here after Atlas fell. Glad to know that you're still alive, Esdeath."
Esdeath smiled before turning around. "Now let's go. We've got more prisoners to save… and an egg to scramble."
Ibuki: Ibuki can never figure out Celeste...
Deadpool: Ah, I'm sure we'll figure her out.
Major shout out to Yoshi who suggested Byleth actually being a red herring since "Both Esdeath and Byleth being two Chromified clones wouldn't be a good idea", he said. Which honestly? Made sense to me and Cody. Another shout out to him for suggesting Sephiroth sneak into the Death Egg. I've wanted to do something with Sephiroth for a while. Glad he came up with it!