[center][h3]Franklin and Michael[/h3]
[b]Location:[/b] Devil's Casino
[@thedman][/center]

Once on his feet, Frankling could dodge the chalks with no problem, and he made use of his opening by lighting Mangosteen up with his pistol. The bullets struck his smooth surface and left dents, chips, and cracks where they hit. “Ooh, ow!” Mangosteen rumbled, opening wide to take another shot. A multicolored orb zipped Franklin's way, but with his attention on one man, Mangosteen was completely exposed to the other. The next moment Michael's high-caliber round blasted him squarely in the eight.

“Gaaaaaaaoooooooow!” he bellowed, wheeling around in the air. Black liquid leaked from the web of cracks in his body, and his facial features floated sporadically. Still, he remained alive and aloft—a feat not many victims of Michael's rifle could boast of. Pulling himself together, he growled, “That...smarts!” and span to face the clearly-greater threat. He opened his prismatic maw, charged for a moment, then unleashed a dazzling beam of color at Michael's position. Keeping the beam going, Mangosteen swept around at random, sending the energy in wild and unpredictable paths around the arena. When he finished, however, he coughed up a large amount of black liquid. “Guh...I'm...outta gas...”

A few more attacks from his challengers later he went down, coming to a stop face-first in a pool of his own black bile.

[center][h3]At the Teleporter[/h3]
[b]Location:[/b] Lumbridge
[@Majoras End][@Archmage MC][/center]

After taking the teleporter Joker found himself in an old-fasioned town awash in fresh air and morning sun, the first light and clarity he'd been able to enjoy in who-knows-how-long. He also found a whole bunch of people waiting for him, including the police captain from earlier. Howard, who'd been keeping a watch on the teleporter, looked relieved to see Joker in one piece and practically joyful to see another batch of survivors safe and sound. “You're back! Thank goodness,” he said, but he stopped himself from approaching the new arrivals. “I'm guessing you didn't get decontaminated. Sorry to do this to you all right after you finally got out of the Dead Zone, but could you six not go anywhere or touch anything? We need to make sure you're free of any contagions before you go free.” He shrugged apologetically, but the look on his face suggested that cooperation was not optional in this regard, which he was counting on to make sense to the survivors given the infectious horror they'd just left behind.

Still, the new arrivals could sit and relax somewhat, taking in the clear air and feeling the warmth of the sunlight. They could also watch Sectonia buzzing around trying to persuade people to hail her as their queen. She encountered little mixed reactions and little in the way of success, although nobody took a particularly strong stance against her given that she was, after all, a giant bug with fancy-looking weaponry.

[hider=For Sectonia][center]You have acquired:
[b][url=https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/riskofrain2/images/c/c9/N%27kuhana%27s_Opinion.png/revision/latest?cb=20190411034921]N'kuhana's Opinion[/url][/b]
Two pairs of interconnected, arcane-inscribed horns. When healed, the healing the wearer receives is tallied as 'soul energy' and when the wearer's soul energy reaches 10% of the wearer's maximum health, the horns fire out a magic skull that seeks the nearest enemy and deals a good chunk of soul damage. The horns have to be worn like a hat to work[/center][/hider]

[center][h3]Organization XIII Gneidxick[/h3]
[b]Location:[/b] Devil's Casino[/center]

It wasn't long before more challengers returned, which by now didn't phase Gneidxick at all. Still, he was glad to see Courier and Geralt looking a little worse for wear, the gunslinger especially. “Heheh,” the highroller snickered. “What'd ya do, swim in it? I ain't one bit surprised.” He went for the die, to which Gneidxick replied with a sweeping 'go ahead' gesture. “If ya can, mista wino.”

Unfortunately for him, the Courier was not only to hit the die despite his drunken and drugged-up stupor, but also lucky enough to roll a three. Gneidxick watched the token on the game board move up from six to nine, just four spots away from the end, and sighed. That pretty much settled it; the game would soon be over. Geralt seemed to think something was up, to which the highroller did not respond. Whatever could have given him that impression?

Next out of their fight were Bowser and Kamek. Gneidxick ran through his mental list of remaining minions and came up less-than-enthused. “You mugs chilled off ol' Hopus Pocus, huh? And here I thought that crummy hare woulda had the bulge.” With a curt wave he offered the die for Bowser to try his luck on, and the King Koopa produced a two, placing his crew's token that many spots away from victory, as well.

However, Gneidxick kept a narrowed eye on spot number twelve. Inscribed in white on that particular green tile were the words 'START OVER', and if a token ended up there, the heroes might just end up extended their stay in the Devil's Casino. Of course, his minions had not been performing admirably, but while they would be restored for additional fights, the heroes would not. Sooner or later they would run out of steam, luck, or both.

Deep in thought, he barely noticed a small shape zipping out of the portal leading to Mr. Chimes and bonking right into his die, and when the pink cube stopped a-rolling it had a three facing the ceiling. Gneidxick stared at it, a sour look on his face, while Hat Kid climbed up atop the board to start asking him about something she found in the toy machine. He listened for a moment, thinking while he did, and at the end of the child's plea he reached a hand to rummage inside his suit jacket for something. “Sure, kid,” he said. His fingers closed on something as he glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, and smiled. “You can...[i]have it.[/i]”

A blur dropped from the ceiling and crashed into the center of the table. There wasn't much dust to settle, but when it did the heroes found none other than Chef Kawasaki, holding his label with as much menace as he could muster. The ceiling had opened up; from it dropped adventurer after adventurer after adventurer. There was Donovan Lee atop a flying disc, the Four Swords, Eleven, Veronica, Shulk and Fiora, Euden, Mina, Hilda with an axe, Curly Brace, Menat, Ryu, Gran, Athena, Donnel, the Houndmaster, Tressa, the Centurion, and Din wielding her keyblade. There came a few nobody in the Land of Adventure had seen before: Nero, Kai, Jill, Fox, Caesar, Death, and Ghalt. In a matter of moments a huge crowd stood on the tabletop, all facing Gneidxick with determination (and for many a little confusion) in their eyes.

Gneidxick knew to be surprised. Hands planted on the table, he stared at the assembly with wide eyes and brows raised. All around, the giant demons and skeletons watched with piqued interest; the demon lady Megaera couldn't possibly snooze any longer. One spectator in particular, clothed head-to-toe in a black robe, was shouldering through the crowd nearer to the table.

Gneidxick started to say something but the Houndmaster took a step forward and yelled up at him. “Guildmaster! For your deception and your crimes against our own, against our friends and heroes, you are under arrest!”

A couple tense seconds passed before Gneidxick shrugged. “Well, if that's how ya want it. Come!”

He threw his hands up, and from his sleeves burst two fountains of cards. From the chaos emerged a great many strange, [url=https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/kingdomhearts/images/a/a2/Gambler_KHIII.png/revision/latest?cb=20191216024645]hollow things[/url] to land around the perimeter of the table shoulder-to-shoulder, surrounding the assembled heroes. Gneidxick leered, crossing his arms and holding a suite of cards in each hand. “Alright, 'heroes'. You want to play around? Let's pla--!”

All of a sudden everything went whacky. The world became a nonsensical blur of movement and color, as if everyone was flying through the air in a circle at a hundred miles per hour. Then a second later, everything was back to normal.

Everyone was still in the casino, but something had changed. They weren't tiny anymore; each and every hero and adventurer were back to full size. Of course, the place was a mess. People lay sprawled out across the furniture and one another all over the place. The casino floor was in total disarray. Nobody seemed hurt, but all were extremely disoriented.

At the center of it all, Gneidxick lay flat on his back by the table where he'd played his game, his die-head spinning. Dazed, he took a few seconds to he reach up to stop it, although he didn't get any less dizzy. In front of him, the black-coated newcomer climbed atop the now-vacant game table. Female judging by her silhouette, the stranger held some kind of chaotic energy in her hand. 

“You...” the die-headed man mumbled.

“Sorry to steal the show,” the woman crooned in a rich accent that gave her r's a slight thrill. “Ah, just kidding. I'm not sorry. And you, ay...” she shook her head, clicking her tongue. “Idiota. Pathetic, sad, sorry piece of trash.” Her angry tone then softened, but not out of sympathy. “Buuut you don't mind me saying stuff like that, huh? It's futile. Just like this ridiculous display. And you [i]know[/i] that.”

She jumped down. Gneidxick scooted backward and got to hit feet, balling his fists. “Go sell that to someone who's buyin'. This is what I do. I'm the devil's right hand ma--!”

The woman had held up her other hand, made a grabbing motion with it, and for the second time Gneidxick got cut off, this time with a choking sound. “No, idiot,” she told him. “You are nobody. You are nothing. That other man? He is dead and gone. You are empty, and pretending won't fill you up.” 

She released one hand and squeezed the other. Gneidxick gasped, fighting for breath. The woman walked forward and threw something at him while passing, which slapped against his chest before he grabbed it. He looked down at the black robe in his hands and closed his eyes for a moment. Then, without so much as a sigh, he turned to follow her toward a portal of darkness. By the time he reached it he'd donned the coat, and the next moment he and the woman disappeared.

That left a casino floor full of confused heroes, all trying to pull themselves together while wondering just what happened. It was at that time that a pair of doors burst open and a pair of cheery-looking [url=https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/characterprofile/images/9/91/Cuphead_and_his_pal_Mugman.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/340?cb=20171125133304]cups[/url] waltzed right in. “Aaaand here we are, Muggy!” the red one was telling the blue. “Just remember not to deal with the devil and we can have just as much fun as we did back whaaaaaaaat?” Cuphead looked around in bewilderment at the vast assortment of strange people scattered around the floor. He and Mugman glanced this way and that, just trying to make sense of it all. “Man, things've sure taken a turn around here!” he exclaimed.