[center][h3]The Master of Masters[/h3] [b]Location:[/b] Scrapyard – Endzone[/center] A gloved finger tapped a nigh-invisible chin in curious contemplation. “A school, huh? Well, it [i]is[/i] sometimes said that we're the product of our education.” Explosions and gunshots rang out from ahead. Putting his keyblade on his shoulder, the Master of Masters thought better about his inquiry. “Hmm, well, I guess we'll have to get to the bottom of this later.” By the time the Master of Masters reached the hot zone, the fight was in full swing. The rattling blare of gunfire from both machines filled the air, affecting the nerves of those not accustomed to it in more ways than one. Bowser and his minions, no strangers to battle, held the line as best they could. The Hammer Bros' signature weapons and the grenades of Heel pelted the turrets from a safe position, their throwers perhaps unaware that at any moment Bastion could aim his terrifying chaingun at their cover and lay waste to them, kept at bay only by the relative lack of threat posed. Minako, however, took the stress in a different way. What she lacked in the strikers' gung-ho attitude she made up for in awareness, and over her came a chilling epiphany. With tremulous but undeterred conviction she strode out of hiding and into Bastion's field of view, prompting his weapon to swivel her way. There came a deadly, cold flash—not just from the Omnic's barrels, but from the muzzle of the girl's own weapon, aimed not at her foe but at herself. Her cry split the air, and the next moment a haunting figure in black took form before her from silver glass and blue wind. A confused [i]bweep[/i] sounded out from Bastion as he found his rounds deflecting off the bizarre interloper. No matter how much he fired, his bullets evidenced no effect. He did, however, understand the sword in Thanatos' hand, and the distance between them both vertically and horizontally. Unlike the turret of his partner in crime, he could make judgments and act upon them. Bastion stopped shooting at Thanatos before the Persona sustained too much damage, and turned his chaingun elsewhere. [center][h3]Tora[/h3] [b]Level 3[/b] – (2/30) EXP [b]Location:[/b] Scrapyard – Endzone [b]Word Count: 799[/b] [/center] “Ah-ha-how, mehmeh!” The noise that issued from Tora as he approached told Blazermate that, despite the punishment taken, he retained not just his life but his consciousness, too. As her restorative powers scabbed over and then erased the wounds that blanketed him, he rolled over into a sitting position. Somehow, even with all the hurt he'd sustained, he still wore a smile. “Thanks, meh! Usually Nia do healing in one big burst, but this just as good. Machine must be crazy strong to do this to Tora.” He fell silent to avoid distracting Blazermate as she produced her new pistol to harry the enemy encampment, her patient's condition well enough that he didn't need her full concentration. At about the same time, Linkle appeared nearby, soaked from her stint in the river but not too much worse for wear. Tora gave her a wave The Medabot's ability to split her focus, however, bore unintended consequences. Thanks to the position where Tora ended up relative to the rest of the fight, she caught a glimpse of Bastion's backside, and the vulnerable core hidden there. When she cried out her discovery for all to hear, the Omnic gave her his full attention. Though a soul-possessed being of circuits and steel like him, Blazermate was undoubtedly the enemy's medic, and the continued presence of someone who pointed out his weakspots and healed his foes could not be tolerated. The new trajectory of his chaingun did not go unnoticed by either Blazermate or Tora. The Nopon's eyes widened, and his muscles sprang to action. “Look out!” Though not fully healed, he jumped to his feet, then threw himself in front of his friend. A split second later Bastion's fusillade struck it, threatening to push him off balance and finish him off for good. Yet the barrage ended a moment later. A clicking sound came from where Bastion still stood. [i]Out of ammo.[/i] Exasperation filled the robot. He could reload, of course, but it would take a moment and the enemies would no doubt seize their chance. What was with them, anyway?! His red eye glanced between Bowser, Tora, and Minako. Shield after shield after shield. They just refused to rush into the slaughter. Beside him, the Engineer growled in frustration. Despite the turrets' firepower, they were grossly outnumbered, and their foes were exploiting their weaknesses. After shaking his head, he pulled out the handheld targeting device known as the Wrangler to override his sentry's auto-targeting. “You don't wanna play fair? Fine, I'll give ya a li'l somethin' t'think about.” Instead of pointing its laser sight at an enemy, he turned to the left, where one of the Scrapyard's many massive stacks of blocks and junk towered. A host of calculations ran through his head, and the Engineer squeezed the trigger. His sentry unleashed its rockets, blowing up just the right spot to send the tower teetering in the heroes' direction. After a moment it started to fall, threatening to crush Bowser, his strikers, and the Master of Masters. Meanwhile, Bastion decided to make a play of his own rather than risk reloading. In a whirl of moving parts the turret transformed into a tank, his speakers blaring the bugle call of a cavalry charge. The barrel of his cannon aimed at Tora and his friends, poised to blast them into next week. The Nopon squeezed his eyes shut, preparing for the worst. He did not notice a red energy streaming from the river behind him. It moved like a dark vapor through the air and wrapped around him, the Engineer, and the sentry. The next instant he released his shell, which struck Tora's shield dead-on. Yet, the blast that followed, instead of reducing Tora and his friends to smithereens, popped with barely the force of a Supporter's grenade. Tora's eyes flew open. “Meeeh?” A burst of laughter prompted Bastion to spin around. Clinging to the shoreline was the green-wearing rabbid from earlier, from whose hand the red debilitating magic, Weaken, had come. Though it lacked the face to show it, Bastion surged with fury, and sent his next shot at the rabbid. His target disappeared, still laughing, in a fiery blast, since the Omnic's precious emotion meant that for another moment its back was turned to the Heroes. The Engineer, cognizant of his partner getting distracted, dropped his Wrangler in dismay and rushed to pull out his shotgun again. The timing could have been worse; at the very moment he'd broken off to knock down the tower with his sentry, Bastion had turned about to vent his anger on the tricky rabbid. That meant, for only a few seconds, the heroes suffered no suppressing fire. He could only hope, as he struggled to prepare his firearm, that those moments weren't enough for them. [hr] [center][b]Location:[/b] Peach's Castle[/center] “Oof!” Mario cried as the doll dove into him head-on. Given Geno's earlier proclivity toward battle, a rocket-powered tackle had been about the last thing he expected. Now, the red-eyed plumber found himself being carried up the dungeon stairs at breakneck speeds. He leveraged his strength to pound Geno on the back with both fists, once, twice, but the forces at play meant he couldn't get a good shot in. The two boosted past Donkey Kong and his exaggerated face of surprise, then past Spyro, until they blasted straight into the solid wooden door at the top of the stairs. Used as a battering ram, Mario fell unconscious straight away, leaving him troublesome dead weight for Geno to try and manage as he hurtled out into the castle proper. The building's lavish interior, and its hordes of panicking Toads, did not distract him from the sunlight pouring in through a window near the great doors that marked the castle's front. Geno propelled himself through it as well, shattering the glass with a tremendous crash, and bringing both he and his cargo into the light of day once more. Before him, across the great white stone bridge that spanned the moat, a scene of utter chaos awaited. A number of figures, some new and some bearing the faces of his friends, were locked in battle against the turrets that harried him earlier. One had changed itself into a tank, and as he watched the other shot a volley of rockets into a towering junk stack nearby, threatening to squash some of his allies. Geno could also clearly as the tank robot tore itself away from the enemy force to instead obliterate a rabbid at the river's edge, leaving himself open. All in all, Geno found himself confronted with a sensory overload, but also an unprecedented chance to act.