[center][h3]Tora & Poppi[/h3]
[b]Level 8[/b] Tora (19/80) and [b]Level 7[/b] Poppi (65/70)
[b]Location:[/b] Sandswept Sky – Shadow of Vah Naboris
Primrose's [@Yankee], Fox's [@Dawnrider], Sectonia's [@Archmage MC] Midna's [@DracoLunaris]
[b]Word Count:[/b] [/center]

Paws drumed against stone in a rapid rhythm and then all at once silence reigned as the Wolfos lept, Midna grinning a vicious grin as it cleared the boat struck warrioress’ defences this time. Claws stabbed into fabric and flesh, anchoring the predator in place for just long enough for its bestial muzzle to dart forwards and sink its fangs into Ubosa’s throat. Then, with a wrench of its jaw, the shadow beast ripped out her jugular, causing a spray of blood that quickly turned to ash and dust as the quick death ended the gerudo champion’s life for a second time.  

With a yelp, the wolfos fell through the place where Urbosa had stood only moments ago, paws scrambling and landing poorly on the floor of the chamber as its own actions ripped its support from beneath it. It bounded away instinctively but there was nothing left but the spirit of a warrior slowly drifting to the ground. But it wasn't over yet. 

Midna’s eyes immediately locked onto Thunderblight as it howled, then dove back into the fray with wild swings. Spurred into action by his new friend's success, Tora threw himself at the threat, and behind him dashed Poppi, recovered enough to fight thanks to the others' efforts. For some reason the death of Urbosa threw the monster intro a frenzy, but it now found itself severely outnumbered. No matter where it blitzed to, an enemy waited for it; together, Sectonia, Tora and Poppi, Primrose, and Fox hemmed it in on all sides. It didn't take long for one to land a decisive strike and knock Thunderblight down.

As it tumbled across the floor, Mona made his move. With a huge grin he bounded forward, his own scimitar in hand. “Make way! The Thieves will end this with style!” At his prompting, Joker, Skull, and Panther leaped into the air. A shattering noise ran out as the air itself in a wide radius seemed to break like glass, staining the space carmine red. Inside the Phantom Thieves moved like lighting, striking Thunderblight again and again in a blur of shadows. Finally a shape cut through the anomaly, a big chair plopping down and spinning toward the onlookers to reveal Mona sitting with a cigar, his legs crossed and his grin devious.

“And that's curtains!”

Thunderblight exploded in a shower of corrupted blood, leaving only its spirit behind.

A moment of silence passed, with the Thieves regrouping, before Tora broke the silence with a loud exhale. “Wheeeeew! That tough fight to have all of sudden, meh!”

Poppi nodded sagely. “But thanks to friends, everyone is okay, and now giant beast machine is ours.”

Her words made Tora's face light up, and he bounced up and down despite his wounds and fatigue. “Wait one second! Tora just have wonderful idea!”

Mona jumped down beside him, his eyes big wide hype. “You thinking what I'm thinking!?”

“We use beast machine to cross desert!” The Nopon sang.

“Aw, yeah!” Mona hopped up to high-five Tora. “That means no more sandy wheels, no blazing sun. We can chill out while this thing takes us to the mountain!” He put his paws on his hips, looking around more for the others' praise than approval. But it didn't take long for him to realize something. “Uh, trouble is, I don't know how to make it go. And I think we just wasted the only one who did.” He glanced at the Urbosa spirit, floating innocuously near Midna.

[center][h3]Edge of the Blue – Limsa Lominscuttle Town[/h3]
Ace Cadet's [@Yankee], Sakura's [@Zoey Boey], Link's [@Gentlemanvaultboy], Junior and Kamek's [@DracoLunaris], Hat Kid's [@Dawnrider], Geralt's [@MULTI_MEDIA_MAN], Isabelle's [@Eviledd1984][/center]

While most of Blue Team occupied itself with the sights, smells, and charms of Hawkers' Alley, Peach moved ahead through the aetheryte plaza. An entire team wouldn't be necessary to lay out the situation to the Admiral, after all, so if she could forge ahead and take care of that, her party's time would be that much better spent. She did pause a brief moment in the plaza itself to watch the entrancing dancer at work. Seeing her plying her trade reminded her of Din, making her wonder if this girl shared the same supportive talents as her ally, and then whether or not Din found her way to Alcamoth. Hopefully the mercenaries visited Lumbridge, given that both capable hands from 1-1 and the Dead Zone found refuge there. Peach left the plaza behind without bothering the half-genie dancer, though she did leave a few gil in her pot. Link accompanied her, quite used to serving as a princess' bodyguard, and anyone already done with their shopping could do the same.

Once in the Bulwark Hall, a quick conversation with the lift attendant informed her that the Admiral happened to be out, evidently preparing for a sortie against 'the enemy'. Ominous nomenclature aside, that meant Merlwyb seemed to be the sort of commander to lead from the front lines, a trait she and Peach shared. After getting directions Peach set out in search of the main harbor, but she underestimated the tricky layout of the city and got lost. A talent for jumping meant that she could find paths where others couldn't, however, and the sight of magnificent sails allowed her to home in on her destination. She arrived at the harbor to see the former shipyard converted almost wholesale into an outdoor armory. Everywhere she looked, ship girls were attending to their apparel and equipment, performing checks, making repairs, and stocking up. They presented a lot of variety, yet at the same time, not that much variety at all. Something subtly unsettling gnawed at her about seeing so many pretty girls in the same place, like some deranged weirdo had gone to great lengths to collect them. When she saw the Admiral, however, she couldn't see her as anything but the utmost professional.

The towering [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/3/33/Merlwyb_Bloefhiswyn.png]Merlwyb Bloefhiswyn[/url] cut an imposing figure. A sheer black coat sharply contrasted her moon-white skin, and her expression and mannerisms smacked of austerity and strength both. She issued orders sharply, with Peach getting the impression she hold the ship girls to a much higher standard than they were accustomed to, and she did so from the prow of the [url=https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/39740407686768528/EF370B06E1ACF8F1C4B615E70491AD01E7C4965B/]only ship[/url] docked here, impressive as it was. Peach swallowed her hesitation and approached, waving. “Ahoy!”

Ever perceptive, Merlwyb spotted the stranger and narrowed her eyes. “And you are?”

“Peach. Princess Peach.” The half-biker figured that she should lean on her authority to be worth this admiral's time. “I rule the One-One region, east of here. My crew and I are on a vital mission to defeat the bosses of each region.”

A small crowd of ship girls had gathered around, interested. After a moment, Merlwyb raised one eyebrow. “I see?”

Picking up steam, Peach nodded officiously and crossed her arms. “That's right. A scout has informed me that our target lurks beyond the Bottomless Sea. To get there we plan to stow away on the Maw. We were hoping you might be able to help in some way.”

A round of whispers went up among the navy, and Merlwyb gave a fearsome scowl. “You must either be wasting my time with a poor jest, or not realizing what you're saying. The Maw isn't some pleasure boat. It's a nightmare given form. You'd have better chances sailing through the storm on Raven's Cry here, but be you princess or pauper, I cannot squander my resources on the whim of one I neither know nor trust.”

Peach took that in wearing a thoughtful frown. “Is there anything we can do to earn your trust?”

“Hah!” The Admiral snorted. “Like trust is something you can earn by doing chores!” She crossed her own arms, glancing across the assembled ships. “Although, you could count me grateful if you found a way to deal with Abyssal Fleet for good. No matter how many vessels we sink, the same ships rise again and again to threaten our home.” The ships nodded, their collective expression grave. No matter what they looked like, after all, these ships shared a singular purpose: warfare. Yet despite the rigging hanging off them, they were hardly machines. A never-ending battle, with peace eternally under siege, sounded like hell to Peach. Merlwyb nodded. “Yes, very well. It's a tall order, but so is your desire. Solve the puzzle of the Abyssal Fleet and we'll give you all the support you need. Or if you're serious about this damned Maw business, go find Mimic. He's studied the thing. Now if you don't mind, we have business to attend to.”

Peach and Link left the harbor with much to think about, heading back toward the Bulwark Hall to meet up with the others and relay their findings.

[center][h3]Dead Zone – Hell-bent City[/h3]
Blazermate's [@Archmage MC], Banjo & Kazooie's [@Dawnrider], Linkle's [@Gentlemanvaultboy], Bowser's [@DracoLunaris] Doom Slayer's [@Eviledd1984][/center]

[hider=VS The Legendary Devil Hunter]Bowser wasn't one to dodge. Instead, as the blade hurtled towards the group he pivoted on one foot and brought his shell to block. The balde crashed into his back, but rather than biting into solid shell it smashed into one of the red tentacruel orbs found back there. The glass-like orb shattered in a burst of light as the blade ricoshade to the side after the bow, before spinning it way back to its owner.

Roaring with anger and pain the king spun back to face their attacker, claws bared and flames licking at his lips. He charged after Tess and towards Dante with alarming speed, heavy steel toed boots thundering the ground. Unlike some of the others he had no idea why V was yelling at his allies to stop fighting, and so he really didn't care. Likely even if he did, he’d have ignored V in the spur of the moment anyway. The white haired woman had hurt him, she’d hurt his new ghost minion and so now he was gonna hurt her right back. Bowser bunched up a fist and then lept the last bit of distance between him and Dante, before hammering the massive scaly fist down at her.

Donnie, on the other hand, knew what was going on. It was pretty obvious this was Galeem’s influence at work. He wasn’t exactly an expert on mind control or otherworldly influences, but he knew that the power of an eldritch god was not to be underestimated, and that Galeem’s particular flavor of mind control had a disturbing tendency to make people who would normally loathe each other work together in an attempt to kill off the few free minds. He’d seen it with Jak and Daxter.

It was obvious from the white-haired woman’s response that it also caused hyperaggression when the afflicted were attacked by a free thinker.

“I’m sorry about this,” the monk said to the woman, cracking his neck, “but you won’t be yourself again until I beat you black and blue. Now, have at you!” He drew his handblades and ran after Bowser at top speed, and as he neared, Tess and Bowser all got about 10% faster, and they all charged towards Dante. Of course, Donnie was not simply about to charge into a battle with an unknown opponent recklessly. As soon as he got close enough, he was going to fake Dante out by going for her back while Bowser played the big, scary distraction.

Blazermate, at first, was a bit confused why these people were attacking her and her allies. But once they made contact with Bowser, Blazermate snapped into action. Seeing as these things were much, much stronger than your average zombie,  Blazermate started by summoning the Engineer who began working on his buildings right away a bit behind Bowser so that they’d have to get through the koopa king before they reached her. She then latched onto Bowser to keep him all healed up while he got attacked, having her shield yell to summon anything nearby to swarm their new enemies. 

As Bowser barreled toward his assailant, she snapped her fingers, calling out “Gunslinger!” Immediately the koopa king found himself under fire from her twin pistols, the white one firing in three-round bursts and the black one shot at a time. Bullets of demonic energy hammered away until Bowser reached melee range, at which point Dante sprang upward in a high jump over his swing, and away from Donnie entirely. As she soared she turned upside-down and unleashed a rainstorm of pain over her opponents, whirling until she hit the ground. When she landed, however, her right hand held a shotgun. Without looking she aimed behind her and fired a blast at the wound on Bowser’s back, knocking the utterly stunned turtle down onto his belly, then threw herself into a roll toward Donnie that ended with another spray of demonic buckshot.

Taking note of Blazermate’s healing beam, she snapped her fingers again. “Sorry, tin cans, but you’ve just taken a one-way trip to the top of my priorities. Trickster!” The next second she vanished in a red flash, only to reappear above and behind the medabot. She slashed with Sparda, once, twice, before hurling the sword for a short-range Round Trip that span forward a couple meters and then right back. Dante’s hands blazed with fire, covered in some sort of bone gauntlet, and she aimed a couple of blazing punches Blazermate’s way.

At least, that was the plan Dante had. Her first attack did hit Blazermate square in the back, causing some hefty damage as until now Blazermate hadn’t dealt with anyone who could teleport and wasn’t used to it.  The rest of the assault though didn’t end the way Dante thought it would as the sentry gun constructed by the engineer began shooting the close range Dante, knocking her back as she attempted to continue her combo attack and allowing Blazermate to either block an attack with her shield, or in the case of the part where Dante flew into the sky, just knocked Dante clear over Bowser with the sheer knockback from the now level 2 sentry gun bullets hammering into them. Knowing that Dante could teleport, Blazermate was ready for them next time, and made sure to keep herself within the range of the upgrading sentry gun. Still, that back hit was pretty bad, and she had to back up away from Bowser for a moment to heal herself with her own healing beam and the nearby dispenser.

Once targeted by the sentry, Dante snapped her fingers again. “Royal Guard!” she announced, settling into a defensive stance with her empty hands raised. As the rounds sailed in her hands flowed like water, batting the bullets aside like the blows of a novice. The predictable timing of the turret fire made guarding it the easiest thing in the world. Absorbed energy quickly began to well up around her.

Between the two ladies Bowser hauled himself off of the ground, his suit riddled with bullet holes and his face pockmarked with half healed wounds. His eyes found their foe demonstrating more of her absurdly cool moves and dazzling speed as she caught bullets out of the air with her hands. The king’s eyes widened in a moment of surprise and awe at the sight, then hardened again. Bowser inhaled deeply, prepping his flames, while also firing two torrents of water from his shoulder mounted Tentacruel beaks at Dante, forcing her hands that flowed light water to square up against actual flowing water. 

Unflinching, the half-demon took the cascade of water head-on. For a brief moment her guard seemed to be working, but the twin blasts ended up washing her end over end, rolling painfully across the asphalt. “Ow, oof! Jeez, man. Guess I gotta work on that timing,” she sputtered, equally surprised and hurt. She got to her feet and took note of the combatants currently facing her. As she might expect, Blazermate hid behind the other fighters. “Might as well keep ya occupied.” So saying, she dashed down the road toward Bowser. Upon reaching melee range she brought her arms up as if to block again, then immediately thrust one palm forward. “Royal...release!” A bolt of pure energy burst out, delivering the total punishment that the turret’s bullets would have inflicted in one withering blow.

As she came in close Bowser let loose the flames he’d been building, a wave of fire washing forth from his mouth in the moment before she struck. The malow sticker on his hat flashed as the blow struck, causing his flames to briefly intensify before the energy burst that hit with the power of a shotgun blast of minigun fire slamming into his chest cut it out. The combined damage and knockback of the blow sent Bowser careening backwards towards Blazermate’s sentrynest, his spiked  back hitting the asphalt before he bounced, flipped heels over head, and finally landed on his belly again, scraping the gaping in his armored chest against the ground.

Grinning at her handiwork, Dante dusted off her hands. As hot as those flames had been, being soaking wet did wonders for one’s fire susceptibility. Now all the water was vaporized, and steam wafted off her. With any luck, Bowser’s collision with the robot’s structures did enough damage to render at least one indisposed. Looking around, she noticed that nobody else seemed to be stepping up, even as the turret recentered on her. “What, you guys chicken? Come on now, it’s time to party!” Switching the Sparda into a reverse grip, she stabbed its tip into the ground. Red energy flowed through it, and after a second she unleashed a slash that sent a blade beam ripping through the ground toward the sentry nest. “Drive!”

The engineer, having managed to get his nest to tier 3 during the slight scuffle with Bowser and Dante like before started his rancho relaxo taunt before disappearing, his job completed. But as the sentry was in the upgrade process to become level 3, Dante blasted Bowser towards the sentry nest. Seeing as Blazermate was nearby, and her striker had vanished and wouldn’t be able to make a new nest in any reasonable time, she dashed over to at least save the sentry gun, making sure to get out of Bowser's way as the big almost mutated turtle king came crashing through where Blazermate had been a moment ago, toppling the dispenser. Dante’s followup attack finished off the damaged building, but at least the sentry gun was still up and firing now level 3 and shooting the occasional quad rocket.

Shortly following her goading invitation, a distant, howling trill would draw the demon huntress’ eye skyward toward a sparkling, red-feathered missile of reckless avian/ursine power heading straight for her a second before impact. Dante began to evade but took a blow to the lower leg, sending a few drops of blood onto the pavement. The duo tumbled in recoil on contact, placing them hovering near V and his pack.

[color=0aaaff]“Erm… friend of yours?”[/color] Banjo asked the summoner, having seen them arrive together. Irrespective of their possible relationship, the bear and bird (the latter especially) had little reservation about trying to pummel her, considering she drew first blood, and they’d seen exactly this back at their homestead. They knew that she could only now be stopped by force… followed by Friendship.

V kept his eyes on the fight, wondering if and how he should get involved. Jak and Daxter, momentarily obliged to rearm following the drag-out fight against the Flood, leaped into battle with guns blazing. Dante switched to Gunslinger style and engaged in the shootout with her twin pistols, constantly switching targets between the duo, the incoming projectiles themselves, and anyone who made a move. “‘Friend’ is a bit much. Indeed, if only Dante had never existed…” V murmured. “But in this fight he...or she, rather, is an ally. Or so I thought. I can’t fathom why she would pick this fight…”

[color=f60000]“Well she should try being [i]friendlier[/i] then. C’mon, Banjo! Let’s go see to that,”[/color] she declared, and with a nod from him and a few flaps of her wings they were off to re-enter the fray. The leading volley of egg fire was easily countered by two quick bursts from Ivory, accompanied by more concentrated shots with Ebony to buffet Banjo, then wing clip Kazooie. They realized then just how easily she could ground them if she really wanted to, and they barely even got her attention. Banjo hopped while treading concrete to keep speed and restart and redirect their flight to momentarily retreat and circle back when a better opening presented itself. They would have to approach her more carefully on the rebound if they wanted to make any real progress on their end.

Dante’s pistols were custom-made demon-slaying death machines, but the fact is that while they were overkill for most humans, Donovan wasn’t an ordinary human. The humans from his world were descended from Vrykul rather than apes, and it showed in his physique. But a human pugilist was nothing without combat experience, and Donnie had taken bullets before. The fact was, Dante’s guns were secondary or even tertiary weapons, meant more to annoy, chip away at, or pin down supernatural targets. The guns Donnie’s armor and training protected him against were primary weapons, magically-enhanced firearms loaded with ammunition made of rare and exotic materials that could put a hole in a solid block of arcanite from half a mile away.

So Dante’s shotgun blast...didn’t really do a whole lot. But, there was such a thing as “too many cooks spoil the soup.” Greatly outnumbering a single target was fine and all...when the target wasn’t obviously an expert in the art of combat and clearly trained to take on multiple opponents at once. The fact was that after a certain point, the attackers would begin to trip over each other. There was only so much numbers could do against someone clearly in their element.

So Donnie hung back. Analyzed. Observed. And noticed an opening. The white-haired woman only had two pistols, and was using both of them on separate targets. If he attacked her now, she’d have to take her focus off of one target to attack him. He’d have to be smart about this, lest the corrupted woman get a lucky shot.off and hit something important.

He made his move. He activated his Chi Torpedo, spiraling across the ground about five feet into the air, and when he made contact, he’d body-check her right to the ground. The use of his chi, and the grappling techniques he picked up along his travels, would do the rest--once he’d gotten her into a submission hold, anyway. Or broken a limb. That worked too.

“Hnng!” Dante grunted as the armored, muscular fistfighter dive-bombed her. She’d gotten a little careless with her shooting, having too much fun to really think things through. Donovan pitted his formidable strength against her own, and despite his extremely advantageous position found himself hard-pressed. This woman was unnaturally strong. She resisted being held, but rather than try and throw him off she instead pressed her pistol against his body and rapid-fired the trigger. The other she held down, and demonic energy crackled around its black barrel, building up quickly.

Donnie grunted and strained against the woman. Given her physique, he hadn’t expected [i]this[/i] much of a struggle, especially when he had both the element of surprise and vastly-superior leverage. If they’d been brawling on-on-one, she’d probably be the one breaking [i]his[/i] arm! To make matters worse, his plan to take the heat off of his allies had worked a little [i]too[/i] well. The armor was being hammered with gunshots (the blunt-force trauma [i]hurt[/i]), and her other pistol was charging up some kind of energy!

Well, when in Ironforge, do as the dwarves. He simply headbutted her, with the magically-enhanced and exotic metal in his helm, and pouring yet more chi into his neck muscles. If all went well--and it might take a couple more strikes to the head to [i]make[/i] it go well--she’d be too busy seeing stars to do much about Donnie snapping her arm.

A hard strike to the head dazed Dante for a moment, but letting go over Ebony’s trigger finger wasn’t rocket science. The charged shot blasted Donnie in the torso, but still he refused to let up. His opponent chuckled. “Okay, hotshot. Oof!” Another headbutt struck her. “You get a time out to--to think about whatcha did.”

And then she exploded with demonic energy. The short-range burst of sheer force knocked sent the martial artist flying, albeit without notable direct damage, and Dante jumped to her feet. For a moment her body appeared to be indistinct, but just as quickly as the energy released it absorbed back into her, leaving her pretty much as she was. With a snap of her fingers she cried, “Trickster!” and warped over Donnie as he sailed away to perform a Helm Breaker descending slash and bring both back to the ground. On impact with the earth she then switched to Balrog and with a spinning crescent kick changed the demonic gauntlets into greaves perfect for kicking.

When Dante released that burst of energy that sent Donnie flying, he could [i]feel[/i] the infernal taint coming off of her. It wasn’t Fel magic, that much was obvious, but it was obviously demonic in a way that not even an idiot could miss.

[i]Well,[/i] he thought, [i]even the demons are different here.[/i]

He looked up to see Dante shooting down at him with a Helm Breaker, and there was no way in hell Donnie was going to try and block [i]that.[/i] Instead, he twisted himself out of the way in mid-air and grabbed Dante’s foot in an attempt to swing her headfirst into the ground, only for Dante to dash after him and deliver a spinning kick to his chin with Balrog, knocking him up into the air as combo systems were wont to do. She followed up with a backflip flash kick -Updraft- and finally Friction to slam him back down.

Well, the woman might have been roided-up on some kind of demonic magic, but was still human(-ish). And Donnie knew the body’s weaknesses like the back of his hand.

He attempted an absolutely devastating mid-air punch to Dante’s solar plexus, with chi-boosted strength and all. It traded with her snap kick, but its power gave Donnie the advantage, As if that wasn’t enough, he’d then follow it up with a knee strike to Dante’s abdomen that doubled her over in pain. Then, he finished with an elbow strike to Dante’s nose, which would almost certainly [i]break[/i] said nose if her anatomy was anything like a human’s, demonic gifts or not. Dante, however, dropped to the ground to avoid the blow, calling out “Swordmaster!” as she swept her assailant off his feet with Balrog. A wheel of flames burst to life as she unleashed a brutal breakdance, spinning at high speed to keep him juggled with burning kicks. “Whoo! I’m on fire!” The wild ride came to an end with another Updraft, but this time Donnie grabbed her, activated his Chi Torpedo, and send both of them spiraling into the ground. The built-up flames exploded on impact, sending both flying apart.

As the two martial masters duked it out Bowser hauled himself to his feet. Blazermate’s healing beam was locked on the Koopa King, slowly but surely sealing shut and healing the hole Dante had blasted in his belly. [color=#FD0000]”Ok. Wow. That hurt. Alot. Thanks Blazermate”[/color] he said, rubbing the formerly wounded spot, and then flinching when he found it still tender. 

[color=#FD0000]”Gah. This lady’s a real pain in the shell. You got any of your power-ups ready B?”[/color] he asked the medabot

[color=0072bc]”Yeah, I can do something, but its not the invincibility thing. It’ll make your attacks really hurt though.”[/color] Blazermate said, her medaforce only allowing her to use her kritzkrieg power, and needing longer to charge for Ubercharge. [color=0072bc]”Wanna try that?”[/color] Blazermate asked.

[color=#FD0000]”Gotta find a way to hit her for that. She’s almost as slippery as Mario and hits way harder. It’s the worst. What do you need for the invincibility thing? Oh or that big beam attack thing?”[/color] Bowser asked

[color=0072bc]”Just more time to heal that isn’t healing myself. Keep yourself between me and this person and I can get charge faster as I heal your injuries.”[/color] Blazermate confirmed. 

[color=#FD0000]”Alright!”[/color] the king punched his palm and then deployed his mecha mit claws before advancing on the fighters. Dante had just rolled Banjo over with gunfire and turned to face Jak as he cruised in on his board for a side-swipe. [color=#FD0000]”Then let’s get back in there!”[/color] 

A giant black sawblade flew past him to strike Dante as she decked Jak with a bob-and-weave punch from Balrog. She raised her arms to deflect the incoming danger but couldn’t switch to Royal Guard in time, meaning the blade blew her defense wide open before resolving into V’s demonic panther, Shadow. “She’s versatile enough to deal with anyone one-on-one and will regenerate if you don’t deal enough damage,” the mysterious one called, landing nearby. “We must attack together!”

Dante grimaced, visibly ticked off. Her breathing had gotten heavier, and her appearance scuffed. “Aw, you too, V? And when we were just getting to know each other.” She turned as Linkle zoomed toward her on a wave of frost, rolling out of the way of the icy spikes. The archer ramped off ramp of spikes and flew upward, hailing arrows on Dante as she flipped overhead. Dante’s body became a blur as she wove left and right like a boxer, avoiding the barrage. Linkle finished with a bomb arrow as she landed, her foe vanishing in the blast. A moment later, she burst from the smoke, singed and bruised, and slid across the ground in a dash-punch, armoring straight through a blast of ice spikes. “Oh, yeah!” Dante’s Heavy Jolt dealt first a down strike and then an up strike, sending Linkle on her way, though a couple bolts to the shoulder as the heroine departed told her that she was far from dealt with.

Thrusting out his arm, V sent both Griffon and Shadow forward at once. “Now!”

Dante steeled herself. “Royal Guard!”

Bowser came in with them, Blazermate’s beam locked onto him, his mecha mitt primed, boxing gloves deployed from his hat, tentacruel tentacles peeking out of their shell cavities, coiled ready to lash out and with Sledge, Mallet and Heel riding his shell. From them hammers flew arching up and on top of Dante’s Royal Guard while Heel’s grenade was heated to land behind her. Damage or distraction, it didn't matter. Bowser was coming. He slashed out with a wide sweep of his mecha mitt claw, before reversing his momentum and slamming his other fist and the two massive boxing gloves into the ground in a spread triple punch, showering them both with shards of asphalt. Backstepping while continuing to shoot him served Dante up until the grenade exploded and pushed her into the incoming triple punch. Caught off guard, she brought up her sword to block only for the sheer force to bury it halfway into the ground and jolt her arms.

As the king clenched his other fist and preemptively deployed the mecha mit’s energy buckler his Tentacles whipped out, lashing at Dante in arches, aiming to strike her from two dozen angles at once before recoiling back as Bowser blasted everything in front of him with fire breath flanked by water torrents.

The maelstrom of tentacle slaps rained down upon Dante, hitting her at first and inflicting poison that made her grit her teeth, but after a moment’s adjustment the rapidity of the onslaught enabled her to Royal Guard continuously without regard to timing, guaranteed to parry the strikes. When he switched to fire, however, he blew past her defense, forcing her to throw an arm up to shield her face. Hydration followed, sending her skidding backward, but she let off a gunshot she’d been charging while under fire to keep Bowser from feeling too good about himself. The Koopa King blocked with his prepped mecha mit energy shield, but the orange forcefield shattered in the process of blocking the blow, leaving the mit in a recharging state. 

Griffon lit her up with electric bolts while Jak opened fire, prompting her to change stances. “Trickster!” She then dashed across the ground, slipping through a number of shots, toward Bowser. Tess attacked en route, swinging her cleavers, and after taking a glancing slice Dante slid beneath the blades. She then swung upward, punching the blades straight out of the ghost’s grasp, and caught them. One dispatched the spirit with a single swing and on the backswung flew toward an enraged Bowser, the blade cracking shell but not biting into much flesh beneath. The second hurtled his way a moment later, but at a choice moment while running forward. Dante let loose a charged shot that struck the blade and redirected it. It bounced off a hunk of rubble and struck Jak from behind, dealing a grievous wound. The devil hunter then yanked the Sparda from the ground and initiated a Round Trip that whirred across the whole battlefield.

Snarling, Shadow half-melted to slide beneath the spinning blade and attack, while Linkle vaulted and Bowser leapt over it. The panther morphed a foreleg into a bat wing for a claw slash, then its tail into a scorpion’s for a thrust. Dante dodged right, then left, then into Shadow itself to perform an evasive kick-off -Mustang- and avoid Linkles overhead kick. She did not avoid Linkle’s ice wave, however, and froze to the ground long enough for Shadow to become a giant flytrap and snap shut on her like a vice. A muffled, “Swordmaster!” came from within, and a moment later Dante burst out from the black mass with a flaming Fly Dragon uppercut, then a brutal Cruiser Dive falling punch that put Shadow out of action and staggered Linkle with its shockwave.

In came the bear and bird with another divebomb, but instead of following through to impact, Kazooie looped out of Banjo’s backpack maintaining her own flight while flinging her partner forward. Whether this feint dive served them or not, he was committed to it now. He cannonballed downward toward Dante with his face and torso arm-guarded until he reached her with a momentous front kick thrown out a split second before contact. Pass or fail, he still made sure to duck to make room for Kazooie to come in behind him with a resumed Beak Bomb.

Before the Slayer could converse and escape with the group; they were interrupted by another group of combatants. Observing all of them he found them to be quite impressive; although they were not demons so he felt he did find it important to fight them. However the female demon hunter was the first to initiate the fight; “Idiot” He thought to himself as the others seemed to join in on the fighting. Putting away his skateboard and pulling out his pistol; firing a few shots at the large dragon attacking Dante. Trying to suppress fire him and the others for the time being; however his attention soon turned towards the sentry guns being laid down. The Slayer thought those turrets would be a big problem for his group; he would have to get rid of those and the person building them. 

Turning his attention away from Dante and Bowser; running towards each turret that was firing at his group. Most of the bullets and rockets hit his armor; but he was not too worried as the bullets pinged off of his armor; and the rockets he could easily move out of the way. Dispatching the turrets by  firing his shotgun multiple times to destroy it; that was surely going to catch the attention of whoever built this turret. But it seemed he would not have to look too far; as he noticed the body of the engie laying face down on the ground. Giving a taunt of his own by pointing and laughing at the destroyed turrets.

Meanwhile, Dante had played Banjo’s waiting game and remained patient to the last moment to Royal Guard his kick. Absorbed energy from the heavy blow pulsed through her, but before she could release it into the bear, he dipped away and Kazooie barged in instead. She took a clean hit from the bird before pulling out Coyote to fill Kazooie with birdshot, but out of left field Daxter leaped in, yelling like a madman, to grab onto Dante’s head. “Hah, nice hustle little guy!” she complimented, still good-natured as she tried to pull off the scrabbling Ottsel. She pulled Daxter off as Linkle rushed in and chucked him at her, but the archer wove past and unceremoniously dropkicked Dante in the gut, knocking her back. “Oogh…! ...Gunslinger!” As she regained her footing, the demon drew her twin pistols to scatter the crowd with spread fire from Twosome Time. “C’mon, move those feet!”

After scooping up Kazooie and sheltering her back into his pack, Banjo moved again on Dante as she was knocked back their way and attempted to grab her from behind by the torso under her armpits, lift her over his head, and nail her head-first into the pavement, burying her up to her waist. He took a solid slash for his efforts but managed to grapple her and jam her into the ground, to her evident surprise. She wasn't likely to stay put for long, so he quickly followed with a Breegull Bash to see if he couldn't hammer her in further, as if Kazooie hadn't been hurt enough already from direct, point-blank gunfire. This hurt whoever was hit with her instead of her, however, so it was preferable still to letting her take more hits like she has thus far.

While Dante was dealing with the others of the group, Bowser having both dealt some damage and defended both himself and Blazermate with his mecha mitt, Blazermate had been gaining charge as she healed him. Due to the intense pounding he had been taking, she managed to fill up her Ubercharge, telling Bowser it was ready and she’d pop it when he said or when she was attacked.

“Whoo!” came a muffled grunt from underground, and Dante popped from the hole in a spray of rubble. She fixed Banjo with a bewildered expression. “You’ve got some arms on you, huh?” With a grunt she swung the Sparda, but as it traveled the living weapon opened to change into a scythe-shape. It scooped an unprepared Banjo, followed shortly by Linkle, and before the whole kit and kaboodle got flung toward the Doom Slayer. Balrog reappeared on her arms just in time to intercept Tess and smack her to the ground. With multiple foes incoming Dante then jumped onto the downed wraith and surfed her across the pavement, spinning like a top as she unleashed a torrent of demonic bullets.

The Slayer turned his attention towards the fighting going on with Dante and the bear and bird; quickly moving towards the two of them hoping to be some help to Dante. Firing a few shots from his pistol at the bear; seeing him as an important target. He was hoping his involvement would be enough of a distraction for Dante to gain the upper hand.  Wanting to further assist the demon slayer by moving quickly towards the bear and bird;  Using the butt of his shotgun to try and hit the bear in the chest. Multitasking by trying to deflect the eggs being shot out by the bird; using his arms to try and block the eggs.  

Donnie picked himself up off the ground. In hindsight, that move hadn’t been the safest thing he could have picked. He’d intended for Dante to break his fall, but the explosion had sent him hurtling into a nearby lamppost, and everything had gone black for a couple of seconds. When he came to, he needed to heal himself up, and by the time he was back to fighting shape, that green armored guy from earlier was under Galeem’s spell too!

The others could handle the white-haired woman. The armored soldier had taken out an entire demonic horde by himself, there was no way in hell he was letting Banjo and Kazooie fight him alone! 

Donnie had never moved so fast in his life, something between adrenaline and a blind desire to protect an ally propelling him at inhuman speeds. The next thing he knew, his fist was a mere six inches away from the side of the Doom Slayer’s helmet, right where his temple would be, and closing fast. Of course, should the Doom Slayer do what he did best and avoid...well, Donnie was at his best in a mobile fight.

The Slayer could see the fist coming at him; unluckily for him he was not so fast. The best thing he could do was to try and grab the arm and dislocate it; but because he was not the fastest Slayer more than likely his helmet would feel the impact of that person’s fist. Which would send the Slayer trembling backwards on the floor. To which the Slayer responded while on the floor by pulling out his shotgun and firing it point blank at Donnie. Hoping to get a close and critical shot on his foe.

As they fought, Bowser renganged, his wounds healed and with a fully charged Blazermate following hot on his heels. Ignoring the close quarters tussle between the monk and marine he instead targeted Dante as the madwoman as surffed across the asphalt sending bullets spinning every which way as she did. 

[color=#FD0000]”CHARGE ME!”[/color] Bowser commanded as the demonic gunfire peppered him, before summoning Carri the Trowlon as the invulnerability took hold. Tilting forwards so his body shielded his ride, the smaller than usual King surfed after Dante. As he road he opened his jaw wide and inhaled deeply, drawing a whirlpool of air towards himself using his [url=https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic.tvtropes.org%2Fpmwiki%2Fpub%2Fimages%2Fvacuum_block_2164.png&f=1&nofb=1]vacuum breath[/url]. 

Using this vacuum and his acceleration he rapidly closed the distance and, once in range, Bowser attempted to grab Dante, clawed hands snatching and a multitude of tentacles lashing out and trying to ensnare the nimble warrioress in his indestructible grasp. 

After shrugging off concentrated fire, the Koopa King pulled an unexpected move and started sucking Dante in. Riding on a ghost in the first place, the gunslinger didn’t have much to hold her down, and ended up flying right into Bowser’s waiting grasp. She struggled against the tentacles with remarkable strength, but try as she might she couldn’t break a single one. Still the smile never left her face. “Phew! And I thought Cerberus had bad breath.” Arcs of red energy danced across her. “Let’s kick things up a notch, huh?”

A black lance pierced her chest from behind, straight through her diaphragm and out the other side, almost to Bowser’s own head. “Devil Trigger will break her out!” V warned him, standing behind his feline familiar, who’d morphed its head into a great spike.

Although having taken a lethal wound, Dante was not only alive, but articulate and irked.  “C’mon already, cheap shots aren’t fun for anyone. Getting just a little annoying…” Just a brief moment remained before the demonic energy released.

Bowser, not really knowing what that “Devil Trigger “ meant but getting the “break out” part of it just fine, decided to have her leave his grasp on his own terms, namely by doing a half turn spin and using the momentum to hurle Dante at the third floor of the nearest building. Not done with that, or the rapidly ticking away invincibility he had, Bowser then launched himself after her, coming in to smash into her with a shoulder barge before she dropped back down to ground level.

At that moment a shockwave rolled out of the building Dante disappeared into, followed shortly by a tide of swarming flies. Bowser got pushed back as a huge [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/helltaker/images/d/dc/Beelzebub1Fly.png/revision/latest?cb=20200620000241]monster[/url] tore herself from the confines of the ruins. “Alright, kids!” She resounded in a reverberating, buzzing voice. “Let’s dance!” Dark energy whirled around all six of her claws, building up to a fever pitch.

Seeing Dante’s health being fairly low at this point, she said. [color=0072bc]”So, Have you heard of the friend heart thing Bowser? This Dante looks weak enough for it now, if you can get a hold on her.”[/color] Blazermate said, informing Bowser as the Ubercahrge was running out of a way to end this fight with Dante fairly quickly without having to deal with him as she was pretty much out of tricks for a while and didn’t want this fight to go on longer than it had to.

The king picked himself up off the floor (having landed poorly after Dante’s massive transformation had thrown him clear) as she spoke and was incredibly impressed by how calm the bot was when their enemy had just turned into a massive bug monster. 

[color=#FD0000]”She’s looking pretty big and healthy for someone at the end of their rope but ok?”[/color] Bower replied, a touch sceptical but trusting Blazermate enough to try it, and also really not wanting to know how bad the deadly dame’s second form was to fight if he could

[color=#FD0000]”Now how do I...”[/color] the King asked, taping his chest a few times quickly before raising his hand out, causing a glowing pink friend heart to form in his hand. The king looked a little disgusted at the fact that he’d made such a cutsie thing. With the heart prepared he crouched a little, tensed his muscles and mentaly primed himself before launching himself back into the fray, charging the massive demon with heart in one hand and mecha mit shield deployed in the other. 

A wall of flies buffetted him before the monster’s hands slammed together, like a baseball player clapping his mitt down on an incoming ball, stopping him cold. Yet Linkle, Jakster, and Tess leaped to his aid, striking at three of the six hands in quick succession. But three held firm, more than enough to keep Bowser at bay.

Banjo picked himself back up from when the green-armored juggernaut checked him to the pavement after being passed his way in a tag-team move by Dante. The Slayer’s suppressive pistol fire served its purpose to that end, biting into his hide and forcing him to cancel his follow-up attack while the demon huntress rapidly exhumed herself to execute her rebuttal. Though it was a first for them ever having to seriously combat it, between these two, the duo were already getting sick of dealing with guns. Getting a closer look at the latter gun wielder while he was engaged with Donnie, their second attacker was in fact the very same one they had encountered at the tower a couple days ago, who ran single-handedly through a seemingly endless demon horde that they were running away from at the time… and now he was allied against them. As if Dante’s chances needed much improving, and between them, Tess, V, and by possible extension his pack, that now made four to seven aggravated characters under the influence that needed to be freed or eliminated.

It appeared that the Koopa King was set to kick off the chain of restoration, but the huntress wasn’t having it and had assumed a monstrous form just to make matters more difficult. Their other allies were quick to assist, fending off half of the swarm hands that held Bowser at bay for one apiece. For the rest he would need the bear and bird’s help as well, but more than just that. As they made their way, Banjo hauled up the prone Slayer by the shoulders and, in a running whirl, hurled him away with a heavy chopper throw as far behind them as he could manage without regarding their environment or where he would end up. This would ideally free up Donnie to help divide Bowser’s burden, even if only for a moment. For their part, they Trotted upward along the King’s shelled back and turned mid-leap as Banjo came down on one of the arms with a mighty swing of his own fist, then contended to grapple and wrestle with it to hold it down as best he (or really anyone) could manage with what was basically a giant appendage made of flies. A moment later Donnie arrived like a tornado, blasting one arm with a Chi blast as he sailed overhead to deliver a flying kick to the last. The collective hail of blows loosened Dante’s grip enough to give Bowser the chance he needed.

Tentacles snapped to and fro batting crushing bugs before a gout of flames swept through the cloud of flies swarming the King as he made space for himself. The pink heart had been clutched close to his chest, having been kept safe from the swarm, but now as his allies raced in to clear the blockage it was brought up once more, ready to finish the fight. Hand after hand of the demoness’s insectile form where struck aside by the heros, clearing the way till only one remained. 

Bowser charged this last obstruction, but before he and it could clash Blazermate came flying over his shoulder, ramming the hand with her shield. The hand was knocked back and then grappled by the monstrous defensive armament’s whip tongue, the long tendil wrapping around a finger and dragging it back for just long enough for Bowser to storm past and clear all but the last of Dante’s defences. With one final great leap Bowser sailed forth and, after using twin blasts of water from his shoulder mounted tentacruel beaks to dodge a colossal bite from her massive fanged jaw, slammed the friend heart home into the half demon’s own.

A warm glow rapidly overtook the monster, and like an oversized bubble the Devil Trigger popped. Flies dispersed as Dante hit the ground, holding her head. “Whoa…” she managed after a moment. “That was...one wild party.”
[/hider]

It took a moment for Dante to steady herself, but for all her wounds she appeared to be in decent shape. She looked around at the heroes, fully cognizant of their fight moments ago, and stroked her chin as she thought. “Well, I can't say why I started the fight with you all, but I appreciate ya obliging me. Nothing gets the blood pumping like a good brawl, huh?”

[hider=Results!][b]Party:[/b] Banjo and Kazooie's [@Dawnrider], Blazermate's [@Archmage MC], Bowser's [@DracoLunaris], Donovan Lee's [@Genon], Doom Slayer's [@EvilEdd1984],
[b]Encounter Reward:[/b] 12 EXP
[b]Dutiful Bonus:[/b] Bowser
[b]Dutiful Reward:[/b] +8 EXP [/hider]

For a few intense moments V had been working to wrap his head around what just happened. Bowser manifested some sort of heart-shaped energy that went completely against his character before applying it to Dante, instantly defusing the situation. Whatever possessed her to embroil the heroes in a senseless fight to the death had taken its leave. Some sort of curse, maybe? But why not lead with that, then? Judging by what Blazermate said, perhaps there existed some sort of damage threshold before it would work. Or maybe Bowser needed to build up energy while fighting, like Devil Trigger.

The sound of heavy footsteps caught his attention and he looked over to where Banjo chucked the Doom Slayer to see the shotgun-wielding maniac on his feet, quickly closing the distance between himself and the heroes. Even with his face hidden, his bloodlust could be felt. “We're not quite out of the woods yet,” V cautioned the others. He turned to face the Slayer; time to test his theory. “I will present the opportunity.” Holding up his hand, he snapped his fingers, and the black dissolved from his hair like ash. A meteor fell from the sky and slammed into the ground between the group and Slayer in a plume of flame before resolving into the shape of [url=https://i.ytimg.com/vi/_3hhgIXZdCQ/maxresdefault.jpg]Nightmare[/url]. The brute faced the Slayer head-on and began its assault. Between swings of its mammoth arms it raked the battlefield with its eye laser.