[center][h3]Vs. Senator Steven Armstrong, DespoRHado Enforcement LLC Majority Stakeholder[/h3]
Blazermate’s [@Archmage MC], Midna’s [@DracoLunaris], Roxas’ [@Double], Giovanna

Word Count: 5859 (+6 xp)[/center]


[color=Aquamarine]”We don’t have time for your petty revenge or your awful ideology, so please, do one good thing for this city-”[/color] Midna said she formed a massive shadowhand before driving it forwards in a massive punch as she concluded her request with [color=Aquamarine]”-and die quickly!”[/color] in a pretty clear indication that she was dropping her avoiding of killing plan for this man.

[color=Gold]”Great…”[/color] said Roxas. He too wasn’t exactly hiding his irritation, [color=Gold]”...Just what we needed.”[/color] He quickly aimed the palm of his right hand gauntlet in the direction of the Senator as Midna threw her punch and began charging. Once her attack was done he let off a charged shot from his newly-acquired RockGun. He figured he may as well get in some practice using his new gear.

[color=0072bc]”You know, I like muscle guys, but you took it wayyy too far.”[/color] Blazermate said, trying to find something the others didn’t say. This guy was a complete loon. Well, either way, he probably hit like a truck so time to overheal.

For a moment, Giovanna hung back. The low-key secret agent lacked Midna’s short temper, and when faced with Armstrong, one all-important question had come to mind. When the senator boasted about killing Shinra, he’d very suddenly revealed true colors that even Gio couldn’t have imagined, but she hadn’t known whether or not to take him at his word. Then, when he pounded his fist, she could help but wonder: [i]could this guy actually fight?[/i]

So she let Midna charge in to find out, and Armstrong did not disappoint.

[center][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwP-OmsTAzQ&ab_channel=Jack[/youtube][/center]

“Hmph!” His tie flapped in the wind as a sudden burst of air pressure accompanied the rapid deceleration of Midna’s punch. Despite a solid attempt to deck Armstrong, the Twilight Princess had failed to lay him out flat–in fact, he’d barely even moved. With coal-black fists he’d caught her shadow hand in his grip, and now he wasn’t letting go. “Cocky little shit, aren’t you?” Seeing Roxas charging his RockGun, he put his incredible strength to work and yanked Midna off her feet by her hair. He swung her around in a circle, using her to catch the charge shot for him before hurling her at Roxas and Giovanna. “You’re going down!”

By that time, Gio was already running. She slid under the living projectile, then came to a stop in a tensed crouch and leaped into the air. After a somersault she cannoned down with a divekick, only for it to slam into Armstrong’s crossed arms. A jolt went through her body; that felt like kicking a wall of solid steel. She bounced off and flipped to the ground, where she immediately pivoted around into a barrage of side kicks with Rei for support. They struck fast as lightning, several ramming into the senator’s unprotected chest per second. Unbelievably, he didn’t even budge. After a moment Gio’s fight or flight reflex activated, and she spent half her tension on a purple Roman Cancel to stop herself short and slide backward. The next second, Armstrong’s huge hand swiped through the air where her neck had been an instant prior, and his grab barely missed. Giovanna dashed backward, wincing at her aching leg. “...What are you?”

Armstrong laughed, pushing up his glasses with a smirk. “Why don’t you stick around and find out?”

Unfortunately for Roxas, he didn’t have enough time to react before the body of the Twilight Princess came crashing into him. It of course knocked the wind out of him and sent them both sprawling, but after a moment the Nobody pushed himself back to his feet, [color=Gold]”Ugh, did someone get the number of that speeding tram?”[/color] he asked as he recovered from the sudden and unorthodox projectile attack. He shook his head and then redoubled his efforts.

Not yet ready to give up on his ranged weapon, Roxas decided to run a circle around Armstrong and pelt him with rapid energy shots from his RockGun. But despite the attacks appearing to connect, if they were doing any damage then it was impossible to tell. [color=Gold]”Jeez, what’s this guy’s deal?”[/color] Roxas questioned as he activated the StepSword on his left gauntlet while summoning his black Keyblade in the other hand. Then he shot forward at Armstrong with a dashing-slash of the energy blade. And with his Keyblade already out he could instantly follow up on that with another slashing attack.

Unfortunately, both attacks similarly didn’t appear to do much damage to the man that Roxas could see. Even more unfortunate was when Armstrong’s big hand managed to snatch the Nobody by his wrist mid-attack, “You’ll have to do a hell of a lot better than that, kiddo!” said the Senator as he wrapped his other massive arm around Roxas’ body. He then seemed to lift the kid up only to whirl him back down and slam him back-first onto his knee. After letting Roxas hit the ground he then lunged forward and kicked the downed Nobody, which sent him careening off a fair distance, “Don’t fuck with this senator!” He made a show of the giant punt, as if he could hear the crowd cheering from the bleachers. The sight made Giovanna balk. “I played college ball, you know,” Armstrong admitted with a cracking of his neck and knuckles. Of course, there was no way football alone was an adequate explanation for his apparent superhuman abilities.

Somehow not deterred by being used as a flail, the princess rushed past the punted Roxas, hands empty of weapons till she got close and flicked one out into reality with a crescent moon slash. The supernatural strike seemed to work for just a second, only for the second of Zanzo’s cleavers to break just like the first, shattering when it impacted with the senator’s skin, leaving the princess holding just a handle.

“Nice knife” the senator taunted.

[color=Aquamarine]”That was my bad one!”[/color] she retorted as she flicked  second sword into reality, in this case Mao’s longsword he’d hand-me-downed to her, only for a hand to grab it before it could even strike.

“Nice trick, but you can’t fool me twice,” Armstrong told her, before squeezing the blade as she watched in horror, steel buckling under his grip before this well made blade broke just like the terrible one. Midna, who had been trying to wrench the blade free, fell back when the blade snapped in half, which was the only thing that prevented her from having her face punched in. Instead she landed on her back, and had to scrabble back once on all 6 limbs like a bug to avoid being stomped like one.

Then using skywave launched herself up into the air and, she hoped, out of harm's way for a moment. As she fled, Giovanna made her move. Shrugging off blows and snapping swordblades were no mean feats, and she’d seen that before each clash Armstrong’s skin turned black, like the pigment of a cuttlefish or octopus, in anticipation of contact. But what if she took him by surprise? When she unleashed Seismic Hammer to rupture the ground beneath him, however, he barely reacted. “Huh?” Was he not controlling the ability like she thought? Either way, she’d have to worry about it later. Armstrong barreled toward her with his arms spread wide in a humongous running bear grab. She leaped up into the air to avoid it, only for him to spring after her, his meaty mitts like crocodiles lunging for their prey. Only with an airdash did she manage to escape his grasp, and the senator fell heavily to the floor.

When she touched down, Gio turned in a flash and zipped toward him. Her mobility, she knew, was her key to victory. Before Armstrong could round on her, she extended her leg to strike the side of his knee. In the sporting world this was an illegal move thanks to its tendency to cripple people, but here her shoe stopped short against rock-hard skin. “Oh, come-!” The senator turned with a mighty backfist that struck Gio’s jaw, making her see stars as she spun around. She fell to her knees facing away from him, a hand on her poor chin, and Armstrong unceremoniously kicked her in the butt to send her sprawling face-first on the ground. “Guh!”

As people got knocked back and away and someone else distracted Armstrong, Blazermate could heal them up and overheal them as they were picking themselves up from being thrown. [color=0072bc]”Man, this is going to be a long fight.”[/color] Blazermate said as she healed Roxas. She then got an idea, and as Midna went up to bat, then Gio, she took that time to zoom over a bit to summon her striker, the engineer, to make his equipment before going somewhere else to continue to heal people and generate her resources.

Once recovered, Roxas was back on his feet and already moving to take another shot at Armstrong. He deactivated his energy blade and replaced it with Oathkeeper - his second Keyblade. Clearly this was not the kind of fight for him to be experimenting with his new weapons or abilities, so from this point he would be fighting with his more familiar abilities and tactics. Roxas first turned into a streak of light that zig-zagged at Armstrong with blinding speed. As soon as the light touched him, Roxas instantly reappeared to hit him with a powerful Cross Slash.

Similarly to Gio’s attacks, Armstrong’s skin seemed to turn black at the spots where the Keyblades’ struck him, as if in reaction to the imminent damage that was incoming. But the Keybearer’s assault didn’t end there. He continued forward with a flurry of rapid Keyblade strikes. But each time, the blades were met with the same blackened spots that appeared on Armstrong’s skin. The Senator sweeped his arm and attempted to catch Roxas with a sweeping lariat. But Roxas was quick and able to jump back to avoid the hit. Then he had an idea, [color=Gold]”I need your help, Burn Rooster!”[/color] the Nobody said as he summoned the striker. But before the reploid moved, Roxas appeared to target him for attack, [color=Gold]”Freeze!”[/color] he called, casting the Blizzaga spell at his own striker. The tactic certainly seemed to surprise Armstrong, who tilted his head and cocked an eyebrow.

But that ice spell - despite damaging Burn Rooster and Roxas by extension - had an interesting side effect. Taking ice damage caused Burn Rooster to explode with a strong, fiery aura that boosted the power and damage of his fire attacks. He then unleashed that on Armstrong in the form of his fire breath attack. In response, the Senator held up both arms to cover his face. The skin on those arms blackened and were able to blunt much of the fire damage he otherwise would have taken, [color=Gold]”What? How is that even possible?”[/color] Roxas demanded in disbelief.

The senator then barreled forward as Burn Rooster disappeared and managed to catch Roxas in a choke-hold, “Nanomachines, son!” he yelled before spinning around and putting momentum into hurling Roxas away from him and careening into Gio.

[color=Gold]”Ugh.”[/color] Roxas groaned, having the wind once again knocked out of him, [color=Gold]”Nano…what?”[/color] he finally said when his breath came back to him.

[color=Aquamarine]”I don’t know but rushing in one at a time clearly isn’t working!”[/color] Midna pointed out as she landed a fair bit away from the big guy, having been caught by her Flygon after launching herself. She slipped off its back and launched a pair of autopistols she’d stolen from the Commando into her hands, gripping each with two hands to steady them better before opening fire with a hail of small arms fire interspersed with more dangerous phase rounds.

The peashooters weren't much on their own, but with a call of [color=Aquamarine]”Blast him!”[/color] the princess dipped a hand into every other pool of firepower she had, summoning arrow penetrating psychic spear throwers and ice javelineers to her side, while her flygon unleashed its dragon breath, and she herself formed a twilight volley bomb to slap down at her foe. Her remaining striker not on cooldown, she kept on reserve.

As the barrage of projectile attacks rained down on him from Midna and Blazermate’s turret, Armstrong breathed in deep, filling his lungs. Giovanna and Roxas had both picked themselves up to rush the senator down again, but hearing Armstrong suck in air -and seeing a huge magic bomb from Midna- made Gio hesitate. A second later, the big man [i]yelled[/i], and the nanomachines throughout his body released stored-up energy in an omnidirectional yellow wave. While it lost its repelling power beyond melee range, its sustained output was enough to crumple bullets, shatter ice, thwart mental energy, and detonate the volley bomb. It didn't protect him from everything by any stretch, but it made quite the statement.

With no other ranged attacks, Gio helped with what she could: a heavy Seismic Hammer. Armstrong laughed it off, then concentrated stored energy into his fist. “That's all you got?” He then aped her, slamming his fist into the ground. A glowing fissure ripped through the arena’s surface, spreading like a bolt of lightning beneath the Seekers and the turret. “Go big or go HOME!” Gio instinctively dashed to safety, and the next moment Armstrong pushed his arm even deeper, detonating the fissure–and with it the annoying turret.

Midna’s strikers were at least all gone by the time the explosive wave, so it was only her and her flygon that had to dodge out of the way, each of them leaping to either side to avoid getting blasted. 

[color=Aquamarine]”Does nothing phase this guy,”[/color] Midna complained as she ditched the two guns she’d been using into portals, and tried to plan, before deciding, simply [color=Aquamarine]”I’ll just have to hit him hard enough that he’ll feel it.”[/color]

Rather than follow up on this statement right away however, she instead started dancing. Dragon dancing. The princess stepped and spun with rhythmic grace, building up more and more power every few seconds, power which was visible as a gradually intensifying royal purple aura. As she did this, her flygon hovered nearby, ready to swoop in to defend its mistress if need be.

Whatever kind of attack Roxas had planned was cut short by the literal explosion that Armstrong caused around him. Unable to get close while that happened, Roxas did the opposite and backed off. He hoped that by putting some distance between himself and Armstrong - and if Armstrong continued to pay more attention to the other Seekers - Roxas could prepare another plan of attack without being noticed.

And so after he backed off and found a spot he could squat behind and be out of sight, Roxas retrieved the unused spirit of Fortune from his person and looked intently at it, [color=Gold]”I think we’re gonna need your help here, Miss Sniper. Hope there’s no hard feelings.”[/color]

The sudden retreat of both Roxas and Midna moments after the Twilight Princess said that everyone should attack together left only Giovanna standing before Armstrong as he stood to his full height. Taken aback, the secret agent briefly glanced between her allies before refocusing on the man in front of her. “Uhh…” He took off, picking up speed like a charging bull. Gio tensed up, ready to dodge, and when the moment came she ducked under Armstrong’s clothesline haymaker. She got clear rather than trying to attack, but even avoiding one of the senator’s felt like an achievement. When she turned to face him, however, Gio saw that he’d kept right on going. His true target wasn’t her at all. Instead he stampeded toward Midna, arms pumping. “Think you’re cute?”

Waiting for just this moment, her flygon dove down on its own. Armstrong had seen it on guard duty, of course, and when it acted predictably, the senator was ready. He cannoned off the ground and intercepted the pokemon mid-dive. His shirt gained some fresh clawmarks, but nevertheless he snatched the flygon by its long neck, then returned to the ground in a chokeslam strong enough to shake the arena. After kicking it onto its belly in Midna’s direction, he raised his fist and struck the ground to send a chain of flame geysers toward the pair.

In response the princess stepped onto the sliding form of her minion in what seemed an absolutely callus move, only to use the motion of leaping off of it to also kick it down into a twilight portal out of harm's way, followed by slamming her shadowhand down onto the ground and narrowly tossing herself over the wall of flames that only got a few licks on her. Then she kept dancing.

[center][hider=For Roxas]New Striker spiritbound:
[b][url=https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4dX5neLZXzg/Tfj5WWrVMlI/AAAAAAAAAoY/3jeawDrKQww/s1600/Fortune_1.jpg]Fortune[/url][/b]
A striker that specializes in firepower. She has only two attacks, which have wildly different cooldowns. Using her Beretta 92F handgun has a short cooldown, but shorter range and low damage. Her Lockheed RG-590 Experimental Aircraft Rail Cannon has a long cooldown, as well as a long charge-up time, during which she can be interrupted and banished at any point. Once fired, though, that railgun does huge, highly destructive damage, capable of demolishing heavy armor, terrain, and so forth. When in use, she confers a passive ability to both herself and Roxas that increases the likelihood of enemy projectiles missing.[/hider][/center]

Then he summoned her. She wasn’t like other strikers, who typically went for their attack immediately. Instead Fortune stayed put and leveled her big railgun to take aim at Armstrong. Then she started charging the weapon. Seeing how it worked up close, Roxas now understood why she had earlier elected to stay hidden and take shots at them as a sniper. Clearly that was the safer and more strategically sound use of her rail cannon. If he wanted this to go off without a hitch, then Roxas was going to have to offer himself up to Armstrong as a decoy.

He moved away from his hiding spot and then took off in a run, specifically choosing to circle around so that the Senator would be in between himself and his striker, [color=Gold]”Hey, Senator Blockhead!”[/color] Roxas shouted with a taunt, even hurling a Waterga spell at Armstrong for good measure, [color=Gold]”Are all those muscles of yours compensating for something?”[/color]

Armstrong stood, turning from the havoc he’d sent toward Midna to give Roxas a sneer. He put up his arm to soak up the Waterga, then casually brushed the droplets off his shoulder. “Gotta work on your mudslinging, son. I’ve heard way worse.” Gio approached from a different angle, and for a brief moment Armstrong debated the options before him. “Still…” Launching forward, he made a beeline for Roxas anyway to send him flying with a mighty side kick. Gio dashed in after him. “I’m gonna knock you out!”

Blazermate could only really help with her healing for the first part of the fight, but once her striker’s turret got destroyed and he despawned, she had another idea. She could heal two people using her healing drone and her healing beam, but that wasn’t her plan. She’d be the annoying ranged person that hid behind her team, moving from purgatory crack to purgatory crack to summon ghosts that zoomed in and exploded on Armstrong. 

Now if they did damage was anyone’s guess, but that was some damage she could do until she got an uber or a good chance to use her shield. Considering how threatening Armstrong was in melee, she really didn’t wanna get close to him with her shield, at least not yet. But it didn’t take too many ghosts until Blazermate got unlucky and a crack spawned under Armstong, leaving her back on healing duty but with her shield ready to use. Now the question was… offensive or defensive? She’d know after Armstrong’s next move.

Unfortunately for Armstrong, Roxas had learned his lesson, and he was clearly more agile. He first dodge rolled out of the way of the Senator’s incoming kick. Then, remembering what happened moments ago, he kept his distance and proceeded to pelt the man with a few Firagas. They didn’t seem that much more effective than the Waterga was, but at least it gave the Nobody a means to keep Armstrong’s attention on him. One thing Roxas remained paranoid about was keeping himself out of the man’s reach. He really did not want to get flung around and punted again like earlier.

Meanwhile, from her hidden spot out of sight, Fortune kept her rail cannon trained on Armstrong. It was almost finished charging up, so she began to look for an opportunity to take a clean shot at the Senator, preferably while his back was turned. They’d soon be able to learn just how good his nanomachines were at blocking a fully charged rail cannon shot from behind.

Roxas was fast, but he was not infallible. He was playing a dangerous game, and before his number came up, Giovanna was determined to help. Just after the Nobody slipped out of the grasp of one of Armstrong's big grabs, Gio struck from behind with a grab of her own. In a flash she was in the senator’s shoulders, her legs locked around his throat in a vice grip. Nanomachines might harden in response to physical trauma, but a squeeze was a little different. By the time they stiffened, Armstrong was already being choked. Rei joined in, chomping the big man’s wrist in an attempt to distract him. Finally, Gio slammed her fists into his head, discharging a massive amount of electricity from her gloves to make sure there really was nothing between his ears.

It was an incredible feat, and most incredible of all, it seemed to work. “Raaaaaaaaaagh!” Armstrong bellowed, struggling against Rei and pawing at Gio’s legs. After just a couple precious seconds, however, he clenched his teeth and sent Rei flying with a sweep of his arm. He reached up to grab Giovanna, but she managed to lean and duck away from his grip. A moment later, though, her wild ride came to an end. Armstrong jumped up, fell backward, and as he crushed the agent beneath his weight the air filled with the awful sound of cracking bones.

[color=Aquamarine]”Get off of her!”[/color] Midna shouted at the man, having arrived, glowing with power, and once again lashing out with her shadow hand. Not to punch this time, because that would end poorly for Gio, but instead the princess took a leaf out of the agent’s book and tried to grab the man with her mighty mitt. To haul him up. And then to hurl him as far as she could from the source of the move’s inspiration. Her boosted speed and strength allowed her to lift Armstrong off Giovanna, then throw him away from her wounded ally.

Blazermate’s scanners informed her of Giovanna’s now injured state as the massive meat man landed on top of her, only to be thrown away by Midna. [color=0072bc]”I’m coming!”[/color] Blazermate said as she zoomed up to start to heal Giovanna, the same sickening bone snapping sounds happening, but in reverse as the bones knitted themselves back together. It was probably painful, but healing wasn’t always painless. Stil, Armstrong wasn’t a dumb guy even though he was a mountain of meat, so Blazermate kept her eyes on him and she had her shield ready for if he did anything.

Roxas admittedly froze up for a moment. Not only at the sickening sound of Gio’s severe injuries, but also because he knew he was partially to blame for it. He’d gotten a bit too overzealous in attracting Armstrong’s attention, and she was obviously the one who now paid the price for it. But after that moment of guilt, Roxas sprang back into movement. He ran past where Blazermate was healing Gio in order to put himself between them and Armstrong. As was becoming the norm, the Senator was already back on his feet and was now barrelling toward Roxas.

It was now or never, [color=Gold]”Freeze!”[/color] Roxas suddenly cried out. He shot the Blizzaga from the tip of his Keyblades, but it was aimed slightly low. He wasn’t aiming for Armstrong’s body, but rather his [i]legs[/i]. And even though the nanomachines in his skin protected him from the damage, they weren’t able to stop his feet from becoming momentarily stuck to the ground. He had still managed to get close enough to slam Roxas with an uppercut that knocked him back to the spot nearby Blazermate and Gio. After that he had no choice but to tend to getting himself unstuck. With a giant yank, he broke one leg loose in a spray of ice shards, then went to free the other.

And that was all Fortune needed. She had a clear shot now, and so she squeezed the trigger and let loose her mighty rail cannon shot.

To say that the railgun’s payload finished Armstrong’s job for him was an understatement. The sheer force it communicated was enough to throw the man a couple dozen feet to the floor, and that was just from the aftershock of its absurd kinetic energy. That magnetically-propelled projectile simply moved too quickly -and struck too suddenly- for the nanomachines to fully absorb the immense damage. His shirt had been blown off, and the shot left a gruesome wound in his chest. Even after the fact his nanomachines did not recede from the impact site, as if their presence was needed to hold them together. Still, not even a shot that would have turned an average man into mist took the fight out of this Senator. After gritting his teeth, his face contorted in pain, he began to laugh.

“Hahahahaha!” he chortled, rising. “That one hurt!” When he stood, the others could see something unusual about his bare chest. It was covered in healed scar tissue, especially around the left side and radiating outward in streaks like swollen veins, too clean to be the result of injury. With no glasses to hide them, Armstrong’s pupils were glowing red.

Extensively healed by Blazermate, Giovanna picked herself up gingerly. Shaken by the traumatic pain of grievous injury and treatment that felt no better, it took a lot of effort just to face Armstrong once more. The Seekers’ foe looked more menacing than ever, but they could all see they were making progress. These next few moments might be the toughest yet, and Gio certainly couldn’t fight at her best, but this was the final round. Only so many seconds remained on the clock. One way or another, this was about to be decided.

[color=Aquamarine]”Together?”[/color] Midna asked, preparing one final joust against their bulwark of a foe.

[color=Gold]”Yep.”[/color] Roxas said, [color=Gold]”All for one.”[/color] he then added in spite of himself. Sora really had rubbed off on him, not that any of the other Seekers would know that. He brandished Keyblades and gestured with both of them toward the nearby Gio and Midna, [color=Gold]”Light!”[/color] And on that command, he spent the last of his MP and shared his light with the two of them, empowering their abilities.

Gio took a deep breath. “Yeah.” Rei manifested beside her. When she ran forward, she’d build up the last bit of tension she needed to max out and cause her passive to kick in, turning her eyes white as her skin and hair began to glow with the power of a damage and defense buff. She couldn’t spend any tension without losing the boost, but as long as the four of them were working together, there was a chance they could win. And Roxas was sprinting right behind her. Seeing her allies on the attack, Blazermate also decided to join in as her kritz was almost charged and she still hadn’t gotten a use on her shield.

[center][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYAPgPH9hsI&ab_channel=Crimson[/youtube][/center]

The three of them rushed Armstrong together. Both of their mobilities enhanced by Gio’s built up tension and Roxas’ light, they assaulted the Senator with a blitzkrieg of lightning fast kicks and Keyblade strikes. Blazermate was able to keep up thanks to the properties of her medibeam as well. And while they did that, Midna used her shadowhand to begin charging a super large Volleybomb. Armstrong’s nanomachines struggled to keep up with the speed and aggressiveness of his attackers, but he was at least able to shrug off some of their blows as they came. His fists met his opponent’s keyblade and kicks again and again, giving as good as he got, although he had no real answer to Blazermate’s damaging shield, as the speed inherited from Gio and Roxas made her incredibly difficult to even touch as she evaded his moves and kept her shield on him.  As Roxas and Gio became little more than vicious streaks of gold and green, however, the output of Armstrong’s artificial heart finally reached its limit. “Grrrrrah!” he roared, reeling in an explosion of brilliant sparks. “You little shits!”

[color=Aquamarine]”Done!”[/color] cried Midna, leaping up above and readying herself to hurl the Volleybomb she had charged up. But she didn’t do it alone. Gio and Roxas both backed off from their onslaught and leaped up to join her, with Blazermate latching her medibeam onto Midna to give her a dose of kritz to make this vollybomb really hurt. They helped spike the bomb down at the Senator still standing there on the ground, now recovered enough to clench his teeth and tighten his fists. He crouched, muscles bulging, then leaped upward, one jet-black fist extended to pit his strength against the Seekers’ head-on. The next second, his megaton punch met Midna’s amped-up magic, and for a moment everything disappeared in an explosion of orange and teal.

When the light died down and the smoke cleared, Armstrong was down on one knee, his entire body grievously wounded. Over half of his right arm had been destroyed, and he was breathing heavily, no doubt in great pain. Nevertheless, he managed to raise his head and glower at the Seekers. “Huh…huh…not bad.”

[color=Gold]”You wanna know what the sad part is?”[/color] Roxas asked the man as he dispelled his Keyblades, [color=Gold]”I couldn’t really disagree with you in all honesty. You were right when you said the city was rotten. We’ve all seen that for ourselves by now. But it didn’t look like your methods were making things any better. Are money and politics really the only things people care about here? Seems like a pretty sad way to live your life if you ask me.”[/color]

[color=Aquamarine]”Seemed like more of a might makes right type, which works all well and good till a hero comes along to stop you”[/color] Midna commented matter of factly, before gesturing to the spirit of the man Armstrong had used his might to usurp, asking  [color=Aquamarine]”Which took, what? An hour this time? Minutes?”[/color] before preparing to move, seeing as it had taken [color=Aquamarine]”Too long for my tastes either way, seeing as we have a city to save”[/color] 

Armstrong had no choice but to let his enemies’ smugness wash over him as he fought to compose himself, though at this point no amount of catching his breath would give him a second wind. “You still don’t understand,” he grumbled. “It was never about money. It’s about freedom, damn it. The freedom to live as we see fit, without anyone getting in our way!” He clenched his fist. “Do you know how long it’s been? Fighting for causes we don’t believe in. Dying for reasons we don’t understand. Midgar can’t be saved. But if they’re strong enough, its people can save themselves!” Armstrong faltered, but still he laughed. “You know it, too. You’ve taken things into your own hands. You’re dismantling things, piece by piece. Making things change, not letting legal bullshit get in the way, and if it costs a few lives? So be it.”

[color=Gold]”Don’t give me that!”[/color] Roxas shouted, [color=Gold]”You may be okay with sacrificing lives to get what you’re after, but [i]we’re[/i] not! And unlike you, we’re intending for everything and every[i]one[/i] to go back to their lives when this is all over, including the ones who were lost along the way!”[/color] He crossed his arms and turned away, no longer wanting to look this guy in the face, [color=Gold]”You may have been right about the rot in the city, but you’re dead wrong about everything else after that. You may have thought you were taking things into your own hands, but you weren’t, and what happened at the debate stage should have been your first clue.”[/color] he said, in reference to the Consul who had all but hijacked the debate and made it crystal clear that he was the one pulling much of the strings.

[color=Aquamarine]”A fully militarized society is ridiculous anyway. The ‘weak’ forge the soldiers’ arms and armor, they bake the bread that feeds them and build the walls they guard. Your ideas will result in ruins lorded over by starving brutes armed with scrap metal”[/color] Minda replied dismissively.

[color=0072bc]”I mean, you're not wrong, but you don’t have the whole story. Ever wonder why all of this was happening? Well the sun there is actually some super powerful seraphim ball angel thing named Galeem and it destroyed and remade every world and mashed them together, then gave ya false memories to trap ya in a never ending cycle of, this. If you wanted true freedom, you had to figure that out.”[/color] Blazermate said. She then remembered. [color=0072bc]”Oh right, while under their control you can’t even understand that concept unless you're really introspective or something… huh..”[/color] She then looked at the ground for a bit, mumbling so that Armstrong couldn’t hear.  [color=0072bc]”Why did the super muscle guy have to be evil….”[/color]

“You prattle and prognosticate, but at the end of the day, you don’t know jack,” Armstrong declared. “There’s no such thing as good or evil. Just dead, or alive.”

Until now, Giovanna had kept quiet. She didn’t care much about post-victory proclamations, and she didn’t have much in the way of principles she could preach about. She more or less saw all that as a waste of time, and it sure felt that way now, so when Armstrong said something portentous she spoke up. “Right, yeah, that kind of leads in to how this is gonna end,” she said off-handedly. “Soo…”

[color=Aquamarine]”Your right, this is a waste of time”[/color] Midna agreed, being reminded in this moment of what should have been her last meeting with Zant, before slamming her shadow hand forwards, purple claws glowing at its fingertips. It plunged into the chest of the man who would tear down what little kindness Midgar had in the name of his animalistic definition of freedom, and then ripped out his monstrous heart.

[color=0072bc]”Brutal.”[/color] Blazermate said at Midna’s finisher. Giovanna narrowed her eyes, her lips pursed, and turned away. After calling out Rei, she climbed aboard and began to ride her wolf spirit across the devastated computer garden, toward the huge set of stairs leading toward Arahabaki’s center. Blazermate went over and picked up Armstrong’s spirit. She’d figure out what to do with it later, and went with the rest to the center.