Disclaimer: I do not own any of the material appearing in this story. The OC's belong to their respective owners
Meanwhile, in the Paper Universe
BGM: Glitz Pit (Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door Switch)
"Tonight, we're going to be experiencing a once in a lifetime opportunity in this exhibition match!" Jolene called out. "First off, let's give a warm introduction to the Glitz Pit's first champion! The one, the only, PRINCE MUUUUUUUUSH!"
The doors to the right opened up as Prince Mush walked through as the crowd went wild.
"MUSH! MUSH! MUSH! MUSH!"
"And for his opponent, we have a member of the Firecrackers of Despair facing off against the champion himself! Give it up for… The Feisty Fireball!"
Yang walked through the doors, waving to the crowd as the crowd cheered.
"KNOCK HIM DOWN, GOLDILOCKS!"
"She ain't got a chance…"
"Hoo, this is gonna be fire!"
Yang stepped into the ring, squaring up against Mush.
"I'm gonna be honest, I can already feel my heart pumping over this." Mush said. "Let's have a heck of a good fight, Yang!"
"Yeah!" Yang smirked.
"Okay, so I did my research on this guy." Reflet said as she was in the champion suite alongside Yang. "This guy is known to be an absolute monster in a fight. From the clips I've seen from this guy, he's known to switch stances and can even power himself up when he's cornered."
"So what do I do?"
"Counter if your life depends on it. Because trust me, I've seen him rattle even Mr. Sandman and Rawk Hawk himself. Honestly, I can understand why Rawk Hawk and Grubba had to take him down together… though I don't think the former was aware of Grubba's true intentions."
Yang smirked. "Sounds like it'll be a tough fight."
"Indeed. Stay on your toes… and if he powers up, go into your Shin state. You might just have a chance to knock him down. It's a big "if" though. I've run simulations in my head and they all came out negative."
The door opened up.
"Fireball, match time. Come with me."
"I trust your judgment, Reflet… let's just hope I can edge out a win."
"Indeed."
End BGM
Yang took a deep breath and exhaled. "Let's rumble."
"Get yourselves ready to… BRAAAAAAAAWWWWLLL!"
BGM: Battle - Prince Mush (Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door Switch)
Goku in Toad Form - Prince Mush
Both opponents ran toward each other as Yang delivered strong punches to him, but Mush swiftly weaved his head to dodge the punches before delivering a countering uppercut into her gut, making her hunch over as he then flip kicked her into the chin, knocking her into the air and then jumping up and axe kicking her into the ground, kicking up a thick cloud of dust.
"Oooooh!" The audience winced while Reflet covered her eyes with her hand, not wanting to watch the brutality that was already happening.
Mush dropped to the ground, only to get nearly hit by a Hadoken. "Whoa!" He exclaimed as Yang launched out, delivering a haymaker but Mush quickly avoided. He then went in and delivered a strong punch, but Yang caught his wrist and threw him to the ground.
"And the Feisty Fireball knocks him down!"
Reflet separated her fingers to look through with one eye, seeing Yang punching him in the stomach on the ground. She would breathe a sigh of relief…
…If Mush didn't grab her arm, twisted it, used his feet to launch himself off the canvas and behind Yang, using the momentum for Yang to literally punch herself in the face.
"Oooooh! I can't look…!" Reflet whimpered.
Yang turned her head slightly, giving a growl as her eyes turned red. However, she collected herself and exhaled. She got back up as her hair caught ablaze. Mush calmly changed stances as he rushed her, somersaulting over her and got ready to axe kick her…
"SHORYUKEN!"
Yang launched herself up, striking him as he was knocked back as Yang landed on the ground, unleashing a Hadoken that struck him, then she jumped in and delivered strong punches and an uppercut to knock him up in the air.
She pumped her gauntlets and proceeded to punch the air, but Mush had recovered and caught the bullets between his fingers. He tossed them to the side, making the audience duck as the bullets struck the wall instead, which bizarrely made a message that said "Nice try. Love Mush".
The audience cheered as Yang took a long deep breath, her eyes still red and her eyes still red.
"I haven't had this much fun since I fought Tifa."
"Glad you're having a blast. I'm having the time of my life!" Mush said.
Mush closed his eyes. "But now it's time I get serious… prepare yourself, Yang… for you will see what made me the toughest champion in the Glitz Pit!"
He clenched his fists as a fiery aura wrapped around him. "HRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
Yang smirked as her eyes turned draconic. "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" She let out a draconic roar as she went into her shin form.
"This battle is heating up, folks! The tense atmosphere is so thick! …I might need to step out of the ring for my own safety!" Jolene said as she hopped off.
Mush smirked, reaching out to Yang and doing a "Bring it!" gesture.
The ground exploded underneath Yang as a fiery draconic claw came out as she swung down, but in the blink of an eye, Mush was out of her sight. Her eyes widened as Mush landed on top of her back, slamming her into the ground.
With a snarl, Yang sprouted her wings, which knocked him off as she turned around and breathed fire at him but Mush pulled his arms into his chest to form an X and then spread them out, managing to wrap the flames around him as he jumped over and dive kicked into her, but Yang blocked with her arms and then pushed him back.
"I'm surprised you didn't bring out a weapon when you powered up!"
"Woman… I AM the weapon!"
Yang punched the ground, creating rings and plumes of fire but Mush quickly went around and jumped over them flawlessly, only for a plume of fire to rise up beneath him. He quickly slid to the side and noticed Yang was gone.
Mush side eyed the fire around him before looking up toward the ceiling. He narrowed his eyes before closing them, standing perfectly still.
He heard the sound of fire crackling behind him as he opened his eyes, quickly turning around and blocking a punch with the palm of his hand from Yang, but the dragon roundhoused him to make Mush slide several feet.
He then clapped his hands and quickly moved around Yang until there were several copies surrounding her. Her fist caught ablaze as she punched the ground to create a powerful explosion, but everything went into slow motion as the real Mush took a few steps back, pulled out a hot dog roaster and a marshmallow as he cooked the marshmallow in the fireball, put two crackers and some chocolate together and ate it.
"Mmm, campfire s'mores are better."
He put the roaster away, pulled out a water bottle and doused himself before mopping up the floor, then he put them away and cracked his knuckles before jumping into the fireball, allowing his wet body to be a shield from the flames as he drop kicked Yang in the face, knocking her on the ground immediately.
"Whoa! Was he in the fireball this whole time?" A Lakitu wondered.
"Truly a madman." A Koopa mused.
Yang sprang back up with a "What the hell just hit me?" look on her face as Mush casually whistled not-so innocently. She scowled at him as she unleashed a Hadoken, with the "front" of the Hadoken opening up resembling a dragon head opening its "Fiery jaws" and chomping down on Mush, creating an explosion.
Yang smirked, only for the smoke to disappear as Mush stood there with a smile, casually brushing his shoulder. She stood there in disbelief as she was poked on the shoulder. She turned around to see Mush giving her a friendly wave before shoving his fist into her gut, making her hunch over.
He took a step back, spat into his hands and rubbed them together before he pulled back his fist, where everyone could have sworn they saw two flashing blue lights coming out of his right fist and proceeded to rapid punch her in quick succession. "ORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORA!"
He then delivered a powerful shoryuken that launched Yang high into the air, her aura briefly flickering as he launched himself up and dive kicked into her stomach, then dive kicked behind her, and then once more from a different angle before axe kicking her into the ground, creating a small crater in the arena.
Mush landed on the ground, watching Yang struggle to get up before collapsing, her aura shattering.
End BGM
"WE HAVE A WINNER! GIVE IT UP FOR PRINCE MUUUUUSH!"
Mush bowed humbly. "Thank you for the fight."
Reflet sighed in defeat. "I should've seen that coming…"
Later…
"Here ya go… easy…" Reflet put an ice pack on Yang's head as she set her down on the bed.
"Well… that sucked…" Yang mumbled.
"Well… at least we gave it a try."
The door knocked as they turned to see it opening as Mush walked in.
"Hey, you feeling alright?"
"Aside from a small concussion… I should be…"
Mush chuckled. "Yeah, sorry about that. When I get riled up out there, it's near impossible for me to hold back."
"I can see that…"
"So, I have a question. Two questions… where exactly are the rest of your team? I thought I would at least see Mario running around."
"That's because they're trying to find my sister. I haven't seen her since she nearly destroyed the world." Yang sighed. "We can't find her anywhere. Penny's all sad, Gloria's depressed as all hell, Blake and Weiss had just about given up… Mario and Pit have nearly fainted from exhaustion multiple times on their never ending searches…"
"Well, that answers both of my questions then." Mush admitted. "Because I was going to ask where your sister was."
"I temporarily took her place so Ruby could take it easy for a while… but unfortunately, it's becoming more permanent by the day." Reflet said. "I hate that I replaced her, but it was for the best… especially considering they took Ruby off of the Smash roster."
Mush grimaced. "Yeesh… and how did this all start?"
"Some asshole named Dimentio used her anxiety against her when the world was about to be destroyed, and he had her use the Chaos Heart to become an agent of chaos herself. It was a hell of a fight too…"
"Ah, I've heard stories about the Chaos Heart… but I didn't think it was actually real." Mush mused. "That's unfortunate. Tell ya what, I'll help join the search myself. My schedule's practically open!"
"Thanks… but it's hopeless at this rate…" Yang sighed. "I'm… just about giving up on the search too. I'm fearing the worst had happened… I just came here to get my mind off things."
Mush smiled. "Hey, don't be like that. Just have faith that Ruby's still alive out there. She probably just dug herself into a cave or created an underground labyrinth to keep to herself for a while longer. I'm sure she's planning on coming back eventually… we just gotta find her!"
"I… hope you're right."
Meanwhile, in the Pit of 100 Trials…
Chaos Ruby dropped down from the Warp Pipe, landing in the arena where she saw Bonetail's body in pieces. Not that she cared at all.
Her eyes were stained red as she approached Bonetail's head and rested.
"No matter where I go, he always follows…" She softly said as she closed her eyes. "Ruby… Chiaki… help me…"
An aura wrapped around her. "Please… PLEASE! HELP!" She cried out as two orbs of light shot out through the ceiling… wherein about a minute later, the orbs of light came down and landed in front of her, forming into Ruby and Chiaki.
"Whoa! What the heck…?" Ruby wondered as she was sitting down, looking around. "That's weird, I swear I was in Paldea just a seco-" She paused, seeing Chiaki who was busy playing on her GBA.
"Man, was Super Circuit always this slippery…?" Chiaki wondered. "Brrr… Elfi, can you close the window for me? There's a bit of a dank atmosphere in he-... wait, what?" She paused the game and looked around. "What the…?"
She turned to Ruby. "Ruby? Why is there an aura around you?"
"I'd ask you the same thing. I can still feel that I'm in Paldea, but my spiritual… self thingamabob is over in this dank ca-" Ruby spotted Chaos Ruby. "Oh my goodness! Ruby?!"
Chiaki was immediately concerned. "Ruby, are you okay?"
BGM: Soft Light (Super Paper Mario)
"No, I'm not! Honestly, it took you long enough!" Chaos Ruby snapped before sighing. "I'm sorry… I didn't mean to snap."
"So what's going on? I haven't chatted with ya in a while… not like I've tried. When I started feeling better, I tried to contact you but you weren't answering."
Chaos Ruby sighed. "I've been on the run again… this damn Loss Leader showed up, called himself Magog and has chaos powers of his own. Works with Calasmos and called it… Draconic Chaos, which… unfortunately, overpowered me."
"Soooo, get up and try again. Lick your wounds." Chiaki said.
"That's the thing! No matter what I throw at him, he just… uses it against me!" She growled. "And what makes me so damn angry is that he captured all of my Pokemon and uses them against me… well, not all of them." She called out Scarlet.
"Oh my goodness…" Ruby whispered.
"Oh, so he's pulling a Mewtwo Strikes Back… wonderful." Chiaki shook her head.
"I'm glad I'm able to talk to somebody… I'd ask my friends to help but I'm worried they might label me a freak after what I've done… I don't think anyone'll forgive me after nearly destroying Beacon and the world in my despair."
She sighed. "Anyway, how are you guys holding up? You feeling better, Ruby?"
"Well, I have my sad moments because, well, ya know…" She gestured to her plant arm. "That said, I'm feeling a LOT better. I even had a pep talk from Mario, so I'm nearly a hundred percent better. Heck, I just got rid of my Phazon finally, so that's a plus!"
"Why would you…? …You know what, better not to ask." Chaos Ruby shook her head. "I'm glad you're feeling better. Though, that doesn't explain why Chiaki hasn't responded to my calls either."
"When did you last speak to Ruby?" Chiaki asked.
"I… forget the timeline, exactly."
"It was when Weiss and ATMC went to ancient Hyrule."
"Oooooh!" Chiaki grimaced. "I didn't respond to you because Dimentio came back with a Keyblade and has a semblance where it's practically an EMP on your powers. I was in the ICU for a long while."
Chaos Ruby blinked, her eye twitching a bit. "I hate that that's a damn good excuse… ugh, friggin' Dimentio…"
"I know… and I've also been dealing with another problem that I've been dealing with…" Chiaki clenched her fists just thinking about it. "Let's just say there's a version of me who's gone completely off the rails and killing every villain ever in the universe along with killing every version of me in the multiverse because I went in and tried to stop her."
"Did you try talking it out with her? Because I know Ruby did that with that Sapphire chick."
"...Is that what we're calling that version of me now? "That Sapphire chick"?" Ruby sweatdropped, causing Chaos Ruby to snicker.
Chiaki chuckled before sighing. "I wanted to, but… the moment I saw her grooming Junior, I just… all I saw was red and I just… lashed out."
"Hold on, she did what to Junior? We're talking about that cute Koopa kid, right?"
"Yes! That cute Koopa kid…" Chiaki sighed. "Because of me, that narcissistic she-devil is going on a rampage and killing any Chiaki to her universe to dispose of them… because "there should only be one me" or something like that."
Chaos Ruby grimaced. "Not exactly your brightest moment…"
"Right?! Ugh, I should've just kept my cool and talked it out with her! It probably wouldn't have worked and, honestly, she'd probably try to kill me for "speaking against her" or something… I dunno, she's incredibly paranoid! It's all my fault for going there anyway…"
"Any… update on her… by the way…?" Ruby asked, afraid of what she'll hear.
Chiaki sharply sighed. "After I got back from helping Myra with getting the first Crystal Star, I got morbidly curious on how she was doing… and what do I hear? Apparently, she's being forced to team up with Shang Tsung after dealing with Kronika."
Both Rubies looked at each other and then back at Chiaki. "Who?"
"Oh, don't worry about it…" Chiaki mumbled. "I know there are universes out there that I'm not the most pleasant girl to be around… like heck, I wouldn't be surprised if there were versions of me being like Darth Vader or Sauron or… Junko…" She shuddered. "A lot of Chiakis out there being corrupted… but one is more corrupted and twisted than the rest of them and that's one holding all pieces of the Triforce and becoming a multiversal overlord…"
She put her hands over her face in frustration. "If I had JUST left it alone or just… talked it out with her while not panicking over the idea that I could become just like her if I had the Triforce-"
"Hey… hey! Breathe!" Ruby put her hands on her shoulder. "Easy… don't get so worked up."
"Right…" Chiaki breathed deeply. "I need to hit the ring after this… how exactly did you do it with Sapphire?"
"I tried talking to her, but when that didn't work… I fought her and then made her see reason."
Chiaki groaned. "Oooh, if only she was like Sapphire…" She sighed before getting an idea. Hmm, should I get her involved in this…? It's risky…
"I… had no idea you get so riled up over her." Chaos Ruby said.
"I don't want to, but that girl is just… ugh!" Chiaki sighed. "I wish I could have just talked it out with her as best I could before the violence happened."
"There there…" Ruby patted her back.
Chaos Ruby also patted her on the back. "Well, I guess that's what makes us human, right? We all make mistakes, we're not perfect… the whole spiel, right?"
"Right…" Chiaki slapped her cheeks. "Alright, enough focusing on that bimbo… you sure you don't want help from anyone else?"
"Honestly… considering what I've done by almost destroying the world, it'd be best if I'm not around any of my friends just to protect them in case if I have another… episode."
"Well, you gotta go to them eventually to help with this Magog dude. You can't always rely on us from another universe." Ruby said.
"I know that! But…" She let out a sigh "I just… feel helpless around that guy."
Chiaki rubbed her chin. "Hmm, perhaps if-"
End BGM
"Ah, I see you brought some friends along."
BGM: Shaded Truths (Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep)
Chaos Ruby gasped, seeing Magog approach them.
"Wait… you're running away from Damian?" Ruby tilted her head in confusion.
"I shed that name a long time ago. I go by Magog."
"Well, whoever you are-"
"Hmmm… I was not aware of two Rubies, not to mention you look… different." Magog mused. "Hmph, no matter, you are only in my way."
He lifted Ruby up telekinetically and threw her into a rock wall. "Gah!"
"Ruby!" The girls called out to her as Chiaki's eyes immediately turned color as she got into position, getting into a fighting stance.
"I do not wish to fight you, but I won't hesitate to destroy you." He said, narrowing his eyes. "Hmm, that is a curious aura around you."
Magog aimed his hand and fired a crimson laser at her but Chiaki immediately put up a pink barrier around her. Chiaki then teleported out of the barrier and unleashed a stream of chaotic pink energy toward him but he blocked with one hand.
"I see… so you have the powers of chaos in you too."
Magog charged up and pushed the stream of chaos back to her, his own stream pushing against her as Chiaki was pushed back a bit.
In a split second, Chiaki rolled out of the way as she raised her hand up, creating pink Launch Stars of energy around her as she jumped back and created energy orbs and threw them into the Launch Stars, which in turn turned into meteor-like fireballs.
Magog responded by twirling his sword around to deflect them as he stabbed the ground, causing the ground to open as plumes of red energy shot out and formed into giant tentacles. They swung down as Chiaki jumped back, immediately activating her tattoos as they dug into the ground.
Ruby got up and shook it off, noticing a pink Majora's Mask rising out of the ground and transforming into Majora's Wrath. Huh, she's been training up her chaos magic pretty well…
The tentacles fought against Majora's Wrath, all the while Magog ran toward Chiaki and swung at her, but she ducked and delivered a swift Shoryuken into his gut. Magog smirked and grabbed Chiaki, slamming her into the ground and punting her away. Ruby quickly used her semblance to catch her while Magog made quick work on Majora's Wrath, which was sent back into Chiaki's sleeve tattoos.
Magog turned his head to Chaos Ruby who was trying to hide away. He telekinetically lifted Bonetail's head. "And where do you think you're going?" He asked, tossing the head away as she let out a whimper.
"GET AWAY FROM ME!" She screamed as she unleashed her own chaos magic on him but he used his in return, proceeding to overpower her easily.
Ruby's eyes widened as she immediately took out Crescent Rose and split them up, immediately going into her Zinogre form. "You leave her alone!" She yelled as she zipped toward him.
"Will the interruptions ever cease?"
Magog used one hand to telekinetically stop Ruby in mid-air. "Nnnngh…! Rrrrgh…!"
Chiaki snapped out of her daze and saw what was going on, her eyes widening. This guy's on a whole different level compared to us… then again, I feel as if I'm not fully strong here considering she brought the both of us without our full bodies present. Crap, what the heck are we gonna do?!
Chaos Ruby felt a powerful wave of energy going through her as she let out a scream before she fell on her back.
Magog tossed Ruby to the side and approached Chaos Ruby calmly. "Now, in the name of the Dark One… you shall be purged!"
Suddenly, a blue mole popped up between the two.
"Whackooo~! Hello!"
End BGM
"Huh…?" Ruby wondered as she shook it off. "A blue… mole?"
Chiaki blinked. "You gotta be kidding me." I completely forgot about the little guy…
Magog looked down. "...And what… are you supposed to be?"
"I'm Whacka! Nice to meet ya!" He then turned to Chaos Ruby who looked equally as bewildered. "Oh, are you guys playing? I want to play too!"
"Play? …Fine, you can go "play"... IN THE AFTERLIFE!" Magog slammed his heel into Whacka's head.
"Whackooooowwww!" Whacka cried as a Whacka Bump dropped to the side. "So that's how you want to play? Fine, then let's play!"
BGM: Attack-a of the Whacka! (Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door Switch)
Mole Whacks-a YOU! - Whacka
"Come now, this is ridiculous. A measly creature like you wouldn't dare to "play" with an overlord like me." He said, kicking the Whacka multiple times until a plethora of Whacka Bumps lay around him.
"My turn!"
Whacka proceeded to pick up a Whacka Bump, which was colored red.
"Hmph. Fine. Do your worst creature. I won't-"
SMACK!
"Hrrrgh!" Magog grunted as the red Whacka bump felt like he was hit by a steamroller, and then Whacka proceeded to pelt him with the other Whacka bumps, while also replenishing himself by eating another red Whacka bump.
"...Wait… do I actually taste like chicken?" Whacka wondered. "...Eh, must be my imagination!"
"...What am I even watching?" Ruby wondered as Chiaki was trying not to laugh at what was transpiring.
Chaos Ruby looked on in awe. She had to run away, yet something about watching this little guy pelt Magog was oddly entertaining for her.
"Insolent little pest!" Magog growled, proceeding to fire a chaotic laser stream at him, piercing through him before surrounding him with multiple balls of energy before they all struck him all at once before finishing with a massive scarlet explosion.
"No…!" Chaos Ruby exclaimed.
"Hmph." Magog smirked… only for the smoke to settle as Whacka had a tennis ball launcher next to him while also munching on some Whacka bumps.
"Swing batter batter swing!" Whacka said, activating it as several Whacka bumps were fired in quick succession. Magog swung with his blade to deflect a few… until one smacked him in the knee, another one hit him in the shoulder, one hit him in the face… and a red Whacka bump hit him where the sun don't shine.
Whacka went underground and popped up next to Ruby and Chiaki. "I'll take good care of her. Don't you worry~!" He smiled before he went underground and popped up underneath Chaos Ruby.
"Whackooooo! Ciao~!"
"Whoa whoa wait, where are you- WAAAAAAAAH!"
End BGM
She was taken underground where the hole was quickly patched up, where Ruby and Chiaki slowly disappeared.
Magog unleashed a powerful shockwave of energy to get rid of the tennis ball launcher, noticing that they were long gone.
"You may have an unordinary ally, Ruby Rose… but I will have your head."
Meanwhile…
"Mmmmph!" Ruby snapped out of it, seeing she was back in Paldea.
"Ruby! Are you okay? You were like completely in this zen state for the past ten minutes!" Pit said.
"Agh… yeah, I'm fine. Hey uh… could you go get me something to drink real quick? Like some pink lemonade?"
"You got it!" Pit nodded as he took off running.
Ruby immediately pulled out her scroll and saw that Chiaki had just texted her.
"You good?"
Ruby texted back.
"Yeah. I was just about to text you the same thing."
"Okay, good. We're both back to our old selves again."
"We really gotta find a way to get into that Ruby's universe and help her out."
"Well, I DID have an idea… but when I went searching for it, it wasn't there in Peach's attic."
"It wasn't? Then where could it be?"
"I don't know… I just hope that it got misplaced."
"So what do we do now?"
"All we can do now is play it by ear until we find that book and go into the Paperverse to get her out of that situation."
"So… do nothing?"
"I'm afraid so…" Chiaki sent a grimacing emoji as well.
"If only we had it with us, wherever it may be."
"Yeah. BTW, have a great time in Paldea!"
"Thanks!"
Ruby put her scroll away and sighed. "Ruby… just hang on as best you can…"
With Chiaki…
"If only I could find that book… but where could it be?" She wondered.
Meanwhile…
"So, curious question…" Viola said. "What's up with this book anyway?"
"Ah, that's the world I came from." Dimentio said. "Good ol' Emperor Bowser brought me out of there after I was defeated."
"Really now? Is there anything in there for me by any chance?"
"Well, there was this whole technological lab involving the X-Nauts…" Dimentio mused. "But alas, it was all destroyed."
He walked off.
"Though I did hear rumors that it was rebuilt."
"Hey. Where is this X-Naut lab?"
"In my world? On the moon. Word on the street is that you can get there by a teleporter in Rogueport Sewers. Perhaps there might be something there for you… perhaps not~ Ahahahaha~ Oh, did I get an idea in that warped out brains of yours~?"
Viola folded her arms, rubbing her chin in thought as she looked at the book in question before smiling.
"...I think I should make a field trip."
I could have posted this chapter from the app when the site was down, but trying to publish a damn chapter on the app is extremely user unfriendly... it's near impossible!
Ibuki: Indeed...
Deadpool: Someone get the engineers to make that app better!