Double

World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Videogame Crossover)

Word Count: 687
Level 9 Roxas: 29/90
Exp Gained: 1 (-7 for Friend Heart)
NEW EXP Balance--- 22/90

Skyworld

Roxas’ own escape from the train wasn’t nearly as much of a close call as some of the others. The quick and nimble Nobody was among the first to make it out into the air in fact. Of course, once he was out there, he was in a bit of trouble due to his lack of wings. But an angel managed to snag him courtesy of Edward’s orders and safely get him down to the ground near the crater of the crash site. But no one got any chance to celebrate, since Absalom made it clear that he wasn’t done just yet.

”Why is there always a second phase?” Roxas wondered to himself as everyone prepared to kick back into gear. But they all, including Roxas, paused when the object came crashing down from the sky above. And like any of the Seekers, Roxas managed to recognize it as a hellpod from the Avenger. And emerging from it was the demon hunter himself - Dante. In a way it was fitting that a demonic fallen angel like Absalom would eventually get targeted by the demon hunter.

And then everyone kicked into gear for real. Instead of immediately jumping onto the Avatar of Chaos like most everyone else did, Roxas spent the first moments providing some Tailwind Buffs to the Featherstaffs so they could reach the injured more quickly. While he was doing that, Roxas caught sight of the nasty attack that hit Edelgard. His instinct was to rush in and heal her but before he could do anything like that, Pit had managed to grab her and carry her away from the fight a bit. But he didn’t look like he had time to nurse her from there.

”It’s up to me, then.” Roxas told himself as he sprung into flow motion action. He ran, leaped and parkoured his way across an ever-increasingly chaotic fight scene to get to where Edelgard had been dropped. He was about to cast Curaga but had a different idea instead. Rather than cast his healing spell, Roxas produced a Friend Heart and quickly threw it at the Flame Emperor. It would de-story her from Galeem’s influence, but it would also give her a much needed full heal.

”You’re not dying on my watch, Ms. Edelgard.” Roxas assured her, but he unfortunately had little in the way of time or opportunity to explain any of the confusing things she was probably now remembering. It would have to wait until after they finished off Absalom and won this war once and for all. Speaking of which…

Roxas sprinted off to finally join the melee against Absalom. By now Midna, Edward, and Pit too had all gotten their licks in. Well now it was his turn. Roxas maneuvered himself until he was standing next to Dante and then, ”Light!” He called out. By now some of the Seekers had come to recognize this as the telltale sign of an incoming Limit attack. And this was no exception. Empowered by Roxas’ Light, Dante threw his weapons straight up into the air where they transformed back into the Cerberus triplets who fused together into their monstrous Queen Cerberus form before crashing back down onto the ground.

“Yeah! Let’s ride!” Dante called with a grin as he and Roxas both hopped up onto Queen’s Cerberus’ back. After that it was a cacophony of fire, ice and lighting as each of the three heads took turns blasting Absalom with each respective element while Roxas did the same from his Keyblades. When that was finished, the Limit entered the final stage of its attack. Queen Cerberus hurled Dante and Roxas both forward at Absalom, Roxas managing to pass one of his Keyblades over to the demon hunter so they could both go crashing into the Avatar of Chaos with a powerful double Stinger finishing blow.

“Alright…” Dante began as he casually tossed the Keyblade back over to Roxas’ hand only for Roxas to finish the taunt for him while Queen Cerberus transformed back into weapons. ”...Who’s next in line?”

World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Videogame Crossover)

Word Count: 1,625
Level 3 Captain Falcon: 28/30
Exp Gained: +3
NEW EXP Balance--- 31/30

Mafia Town - The Pier

In almost no time at all, the pier for the harbor area had erupted into chaos. Wrestlers from the Battle Royal Rumble had dropped here in relatively fewer numbers compared to other parts of Mafia Town, allowing the pier to avoid a lot of the mess it created. But now it became the epicenter of a literal sea monster attack. Half great white shark, half giant octopus - Lusca rampaged across the pier. It swung and writhed its massive tentacles, occasionally fired blasts of colorful ink, all in the hopes of catching what it considered to be prey in order to devour them.

And then there was Tianyou Zhao and Captain Falcon. Having bolted out of Mabuchi’s storehouse mere moments after the monster came exploding out from it - the intrepid pair found themselves on a mad dash toward the inland of Mafia Town. If they could get far enough from the water, then Lusca wouldn’t be able to keep chasing them. And chase them, it did. In fact, even as a variety of pirates - who had been milling around loading and unloading their vessels up to now - drew weapons and employed their various seafaring tactics to bring down the beast, the beast in question still largely kept its focus on the fleeing pair that was Zhao and Falcon. A more perceptive sort of observer might even suspect that this was deliberate, as if someone had literally sicced the monster on them like the owner of a pit bull siccing their dog on intruders. Of course, nobody in this situation had the time to really observe such a thing, given the frantic chaos playing out right now.

Unfortunately, the actions of the pirates did little to expedite Falcon’s and Zhao’s retreat. If anything, them now having to dodge and weave through pirates charging back toward the sea monster made it harder for them to keep up their sprint, instead forcing them both to slow their pace slightly so they could keep themselves from barrelling straight into people. And there were also occasions where Lusca managed to get close enough to enclose its tentacles around their front, forcing them to briefly join the fight long enough to get the tentacles out of the way and resume their hectic retreat. There wasn’t much Falcon’s fists could really do in these situations, as simply punching and kicking the tentacles didn’t seem particularly effective. Zhao at least had a curved broadsword called a dao that he had brought with him, and that at least was somewhat effective at slicing at the tentacles obstructing their escape.

But with one more fiery strike, Cap was at least able to land a Falcon Punch on Lusca’s body causing it to stagger backward briefly like it had inside the storehouse. And just like before, he and Zhao wasted no time in using that opportunity to resume their dash toward the pier’s exit. And this time they were in luck, thanks to there being a crowd of pirates also choosing to capitalize on the opportunity to wail on the sea monster with everything they had. But the duo just kept running until they were off the pier and back onto the main streets of Mafia Town, choosing not to stick around to see if the pirates were successful.

”I’m… hah… sure they’ve got it handled. Right?” Captain Falcon managed to comment between deep inhalations for breath. Meanwhile, Zhao was equally out of breath.

“Y-yeah.” he agreed between raspy breaths, “They’ve totally got it covered.” Then he added, “Besides, we’ve got our own fish to- HOLY SHIT!” He suddenly shouted at the end, pointing up toward the disc that he knew served as the Mafia’s HQ.

Zhao’s interrupting shout caught Falcon by surprise and he jerked his gaze toward where the ex-mafia boss was pointing. For just a moment, he caught a glimpse of something plummeting down from the disc above and it made him wonder. ”Was that…?”

“A person?” Zhao finished the thought. “Hard to tell, could’ve been. If there’s fighting going on up there then I guess it’s possible someone might’ve been thrown off.”

”If it is a person, maybe they can give us some answers about Mabuchi?”

“Yeah, my thoughts exactly. Let’s go after ‘em, Falcon-kun” And with this, both took off on another sprint, this time toward where they saw the figure plummeting down from the disc.

Mafia Town - Swimming Pool

@DisturbedSpec

It was an indoor swimming pool that the figure had fallen down onto. At least, Zhao was pretty sure of it anyway. He and Captain Falcon came sprinting toward the building, where already a crowd was beginning to gather because of the commotion caused by the figure’s fall. And as the two of them got a bit closer, they spotted a familiar figure in a white suit, subdued by a stranger in military clothes with a gun. Zhao had no idea who this was, and just assumed it was someone working for the Mafia of Cooks. Maybe if he explained who Mabuchi was to him, they’d let him question his old right hand man.

“Wait!” Zhao shouted once they were both in earshot. “Whatever this guy’s trying to pull on you, let me be the one to deal with him.”

Mabuchi’s skin whitened like a ghost when he heard the familiar voice of his former boss and friend. “Z-Zhao?” He sounded like he wasn’t sure if he should be relieved or afraid.

“Yeah, you dipshit.” Zhao spat, “Did you really think you were gonna pull something like this and I wouldn’t find out about it?”

“Grr.” Mabuchi growled, “What would YOU know about it?”

But the stranger looked strikingly familiar to Falcon. Had he really been here in town all this time without him realizing it? He supposed it wouldn’t be too shocking, given the man’s specialty in stealth and staying unseen. ”We know plenty.” Falcon said in response to Mabuchi, holding up the ledger that he and Zhao found in the desk at the storehouse.

“Where did you get that?” Mabuchi demanded.

“From your hideout.” Zhao said. “Yokohama Trading Company? Really? The same exact shit you pulled back in Ijincho? Seriously, Mabuchi, how stupid do you think I am?”

”We can tell you about his little scheme.” Falcon assured Snake, ”He’s been contacting someone called Consul 𝙸 - they’re the ones that sent that cargo ship.”

“Right, and he was just about to explain the details.” Zhao said before shooting a cold and threatening glare at Mabuch, “Weren’t you, Mabuchi-kun?”

Mabuchi scowled, but after some hesitation decided to talk. “It started with the attacks on Limsa Lominscuttle Town.” He said. “I observed them and thought I could take over the cargo ship myself, so I led a boarding party. How hard could it be to take on some wrestlers? Or so we thought. But they had someone calling the shots. Called herself Consul 𝙸 - I never learned her real name. She basically beats us single-handed, but instead of killing me, I got an offer instead. She let me redirect the Battle Royale Rumble’s next destination, and I picked Mafia Town.”

“And let me guess.” Zhao cut in. “You figured you could use the chaos to take out the boss and take over his operations? Well, doesn’t that sound familiar…?”

“At least I’m trying to make a name for myself!” Mabuchi snapped back, “Look at you, Zhao! You used to be one of the most feared men in the underworld, and now you’re what, some lowlife chef?”

“You just don’t get it do you?” Zhao asked. “Do you even know why I exiled you instead of lopping your head off on the spot back then? It’s because I was hoping you’d realize there could be more to life than all this crap. He helped me figure that out, so I thought I could help you figure it out too.”

“What?” Mabuchi asked, “You mean that worthless bum of a Yakuza? You really did let him make you get soft, didn’t you?”

“What can I say?” Zhao answered with a shrug, “He has that effect on people, I guess.”

Falcon had stayed quiet. Instead he stole occasional glances at the Mercenary. The more the bounty hunter looked at him, the more convinced he was that this had to be the same man he knew. The real question was how to get him to agree to leave with the Seekers? Telling him about Galeem wasn’t going to work. If he’d been working for the Mafia here, then maybe Falcon could frame it as a job offer?

”Snake?” Falcon suddenly asked him, knowing that it would look odd that a stranger knew his name without asking for it. ”As you just heard, this guy’s just a pawn of someone much bigger and badder.” said Cap in reference to the Consul. ”She’s part of a larger organization called Moebius. The organization I work with has been trying to put a stop to their schemes and operations, and well… we could certainly use someone with expertise like yours.” Falcon explained, while intentionally keeping quiet about subjects like Galeem.

”Our team here in Mafia Town was laying low and looking for new leads. But it’s pretty obvious we’re going to have to go back on the move again. And yes, I know your name. And if you agree to come with us, I can promise you I’ll make it make sense for you once we’ve been picked up by our ship. What do you say?” Falcon asked, holding out his hand expecting the deal to be sealed with a handshake.

World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Videogame Crossover)

Word Count: 1,424
Level 3 Captain Falcon: 26/30
Exp Gained: +2
NEW EXP Balance--- 28/30

Mafia Town

”This is the place.” Captain Falcon said to Zhao after they made it to the harbor. They were standing in front of the entrance to the storehouse that Falcon had earlier seen Mabuchi disappear into just before the Captain had made his exit from the pier. ”Odd though. You’d think it would be guarded.” Falcon added.

“Well, I imagine everyone’s got their hands full with the circus wrestlers.” Zhao offered. Even he and Cap had fought a couple more of those cartoonish fighters on their way here. “And with whatever coup Mabuchi is trying to pull off.” He also added. Without wanting any more delays, the two entered the unguarded doors into the storehouse itself.

Inside, the scene was something that looked all-too familiar to Zhao. “I don’t believe this.” he muttered, looking around at the crates of shark fins and other items as well as the supply crates marked as “resin” and “dyes”.

”How do you mean?”

“This looks almost exactly like the same counterfeiting operation Mabuchi used to run back in Yokohama. Right down to the same front business even. Did the idiot not learn a single thing from the asskicking he got back then?” Zhao asked while rolling his eyes. As the two searched they eventually came upon a pile of pons on a nearby worktable. Next to them was what clearly looked like molds.

“Hey, Falcon-kun, can I borrow one of your pons for a sec?” Zhao suddenly asked. Falcon nodded and handed him a pon from the purse he’d been given back in You Tian. Zhao took that pon in one hand and another pon from the table in another hand. He held them both in his hands as if comparing the weight, and then even bit onto the pon he grabbed from the table like a jeweler testing the authenticity of a gold coin. “Yep, thought so.” Zhao handed both pons to Falcon. “See for yourself.”

Of course, Cap was by no means an expert on this. But the more he held both pons in his hands the more he began to feel the difference in their weight. ”So then, these really really are fakes?”

“I’ll say.” said Zhao who then gestured to molds. “See those? They mix green dye into the resin and then pour that resin into the molds so that they harden into the shape of pons. A classic counterfeiting scheme if I ever saw one. And almost beat for beat identical to the scheme he ran in Yokohama, too. The dumb bastard.” Zhao muttered before he suddenly kicked over the entire work table without warning, “It’s like he’s deliberately doing this just to taunt me! The fucking asshole!”

”Hey, don’t lose your head here.” Falcon said, trying to calm him down. ”There’s probably an office somewhere in here. We should check it in case he left behind some clue as to where went from here.”

“Yeah…” Zhao said, calming back down. “...yeah, good idea. Let’s go.”

The office they were looking for was located at the top of some stairs that led into a series of catwalks that one could use to traverse the storehouse without needing to weave through sections of workstations or storage areas. Inside, they found a desk, although the papers on it weren’t especially helpful. Mostly just ledgers and records of transactions through the counterfeiting operation. It was Cap who first noticed something a bit off about the office. ”That’s weird.” He said. “Don’t these places normally have radios for communicating with the ships outside?”

“Yeah, or with delivery trucks for that matter.” Zhao added. “I guess Mabuchi figured they were a waste of space since almost everyone has a cell phone these days. Still kind of weird though.”

”Any idea what this is?” Cap asked, pointing to what looked like some kind of bowl atop a pedestal that was filled with water.

“A birdbath?” Zhao offered with a shrug.

”Who keeps a birdbath indoors where there aren’t any birds?” Falcon retorted.

“You got me.” Zhao admitted. “Hold on, what have we got here?” he’d been trying to pick the lock on a drawer in the desk and finally got it open. Inside was another ledger of sorts, except this one did not mention anything about the counterfeit operation. Instead it made repeated mentions of a certain individual. “Consul 𝙸? What does that mean?”

And now it was Falcon’s turn to be surprised and become deadly serious. ”Consul? Let me see that!” he took the ledger from Zhao and skimmed over it himself. ”This is not good.”

Zhao could tell Falcon recognized the name. “You wanna fill me in, here, Falcon-kun? What the hell is a “Consul”? Is it someone you know?”

Falcon shook his head. ”Not personally. But I know their organization. My friends and I came here so we could hide from them for a while. But according to this, Mabuchi figured out who we were and alerted Consul 𝙸.”

“So this Consul is the one sending those cargo ships to attack Mafia Town? To target you?”

”Not just me, a few of my friends as well.”

“And Mabuchi is using the chaos to try and take over town.” Zhao said through gritted teeth. “That means there’s only one place I can think of where he would be right now.” Zhao paused and pointed upward. “The disk, where the Mafia HQ is.”

”I don’t suppose you know how to get up there?”

“Well-”

Before Zhao could get anything else out, they both suddenly felt the storehouse begin to rumble and tremble. Moments later, the water-sde wall of the storehouse began to crack and break before something from the outside seemed to tear it open. They were able to catch a small glimpse of what was attacking the storehouse below. Some kind of shark… octopus… mutant thing. It had the head and body of a great white shark, but looked like its tail end had been replaced by the tentacles of a massive red octopus.

Click for Music

“What the fuck?!” Zhao yelled, “The hell is that thing?”

”I’m not waiting around to find out!” Cap said, ”Come on, if we can make it far enough off the pier it probably won’t be able to follow us!”

And so the two began their run. Zhao and Cap stuck to catwalks first, hoping it would keep them out of reach of the monster’s tentacles. But unfortunately for them, those tentacles were able to shoot what looked like blasts of different colored ink as a projectile attack. For the superhuman Captain Falcon, this wasn’t as difficult to deal with. But Zhao, on the other hand, had a far harder time of this. One particular ink shot managed to hit close enough that Zhao slipped on it and tumbled over the railing. He was lucky that Falcon was fast enough to catch him by the hand. But there was no time for him to pull Zhao up and eventually the ex-mafia boss slipped from his hand and fell down to the ground level of the storehouse and scrambled to his feet to keep running. But the monster was giving chase with its tentacles.

Falcon kept running along the catwalk but after a few more meters he hurled himself over the railing and dropped down onto where the sea monster was chasing Zhao, charging up his fist all the while. ”Falcon!” Cap shouted out as he fell down to the lower level, then lunged himself forward to throw the attack. ”PUUUUUUNCH!” the explosive punch connected, which wasn’t hard to do given the monster’s size and threw it back several meters and even appeared to stun it momentarily. But the monster was far from vaniquished and was quick to recover and resume the chase.

By the time it did, Falcon and Zhao had burst back into the outside, still on the run from the attacking sea monster. Some more wrestlers had appeared by now but they were far too distracted by the sea monster to commit to their assault on the harbor. Zhao and Falcon punched and kicked their way past them as the stragglers were snatched by the tentacles and swept toward the jaws of the shark head.

”C’mon, Zhao!” Falcon shouted between gasps for breath. ”We just have to make it off the pier! We can do this!”

“We damn… well.. Better!” Zhao answered, “Or we’re fish food!”

World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Videogame Crossover)

Word Count: 712
Level 9 Roxas: 24/90
Exp Gained: +1
NEW EXP Balance--- 25/90

Skyworld

”S-sorry.” was all Roxas could really say. He didn’t expect such a… stern reply. Still, wasn’t it more respectful to defer to her command while he was with her and her unit? She was being nice enough to let him ride with her, so he figured that was the least he could do in return. Clearly that wasn’t going to be the case. Not the battle was going to give either of them much time to dwell on this. When they reached the Harbor had already all-but fallen. But that didn’t stop what was to be their next target from making itself known.

It was a train, and not a very pleasant-looking one at that. All dark and gloomy, not to mention crawling with hideous looking Corrupted, it made its rounds in and around the last infected island. This was it. The island Roxas had so far only observed from a distance. And it was where he was certain the source of the Corruption could be found. The only thing he wasn’t certain of was whether or not that source was another Guardian. But either way, it had to be stopped, whatever it was.

Unlike before, Roxas took the opportunity to dismount alongside Edelgard. Whatever this train was, it only made sense that it would eventually make its way to the source or at least close to it. So should Roxas simply ride the train in hopes it would bring him to the source? Or should he try to disable the train and destroy it somehow? He wondered what the Black Eagles would do. But for the time being the only thing to do was get rid of the Corrupted that were crawling all over it.

Edelgard and her squad went right to work, opting to cut their way through the oncoming Corrupted like a mower traveling across an overgrown front lawn. For the first few moments Roxas opted to stay near Edelgard herself. But it didn’t take him long to realize that this would be slow-going if they remained at this pace. And that’s when a particular fact dawned on him. Without much communication to Edelgard, Roxas hurriedly buffed her using both Steel and Tailwind to grant her a speed and strength boon to her movements and attacks. Hopefully that would be enough for the frankly crazy stunt he was about to attempt.

”I’ve got an idea!” Roxas said to the Flame Empress before taking off further ahead on the train and calling back, ”Listen for my signal!” The Nobody had to really watch his movement. His StepSword as well as Flow Motion could get him through the incoming wave of Corrupted, but one wrong step could get him snagged by a stray limb or knocked off the train entirely. This was definitely a test of his own acrobatic skill and maneuverability.

Once Roxas got further up the train, he stopped and used a quick series of Thundagas to clear himself a space and get some of the Corrupted away from him. After that, he used his Phantom Ruby necklace to summon a cluster of randomly placed virtual cubes that would cover the width of the train in front of him. They were, of course, stationary. Normally harmless if not for the fact that he was currently on top of a moving train. The train’s movement would have the effect of dragging everyone else Roxas left behind through what was effectively a deadly obstacle course that could damage them or even bump them off of the train entirely.

”Edelgard, now!” Roxas shouted at the top of his lungs before adding, ”Heads up!”

That was the signal he had told her to listen for. Her Black Eagles were angels and could pretty easily use their flight to stay out of harm’s way when their section of the train was pulled through the virtual cube obstacles. And as for Edelgard herself, this was the reason Roxas was careful to use Tailwind and Steel on her before he did all this. Hopefully the boons to speed and strength granted by both buffs would be enough for her to dodge incoming virtual cubes, or smash them with her ax if needed.

World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Videogame Crossover)

Word Count: 962
Level 9 Roxas: 22/90
Exp Gained: +2
NEW EXP Balance--- 24/90

Skyworld

When Edelgard went back to fighting Beloved, Roxas took that as a cue to shift his focus on cleaning up the remaining corrupted. Between himself and the remaining Black Eagle Squad, that didn’t prove to be a particularly daunting task. Although for Roxas, his MP was currently spent up which naturally held him back from going full tilt, but that was mitigated by the presence of allies fighting around him as well.

With Beloved down and his forces mopped up, it was time to move on. Roxas mounted up with Edelgard again on Ortho and they took off for where the battle would take them next. Being on Ortho’s back meant that he and Edelgard got a pretty good view of Legion’s downfall. And it also meant they had what was basically front row seats to the appearance of the Worship and the accompanying Kinships. As Edelgard dismounted in order to board a Kinship for an assault, Roxas was about to hop down to join her, but changed his mind at the last moment.

Edelgard’s Black Eagles had split into two groups, with the smaller one going with their leader and the larger one remaining in the air. He figured it wasn’t to leave the other half hanging on their own and decided he’d stay up in the air with them! …Somehow. He’d work out the details about that apart as he went along. For now, he stayed on Ortho’s back and accompanied him with the Black Eagles into the aerial battle.

The aerial battle was a chaotic mess of angels and corrupted angels duking it out in the sky alongside projectiles fired into the fray from the flying ships. As such, the flight on Orthos’ back was anything but smooth. Not that Roxas was planning to be a burden on him forever. As soon as he spotted a corrupted in close enough proximity he did the unthinkable and actually launched himself off of Ortho! He used his StepSword to instantly move himself into a striking position to slash at the corrupted with his ignited energy sword. After that all he could do was start falling, albeit with his arms and legs out in order to slow his descent as much as possible. A passing-by Feathershield grabbed him under the arms and then swung the Nobody back upward a little bit.

During this moment Roxas was able to lock onto another corrupted and used his StepSword on it as well. But rather than fall and rely on being caught, this time Roxas instantiated a platform of virtual cubes he could stand on to stop from falling. Then he used his RockGun to start taking potshots at corrupted whenever they were close enough to be in range. But his efforts didn’t go unnoticed, as a corrupted came swooping in to try and knock him off of his platform. But rather than fall helplessly, Roxas managed to grab ahold of his enemy and brought them both into a freefall that ended with Roxas kicking himself up off of the enemy. And with that he was able to instantiate a new platform of virtual cubes, though this was more scattered and required him to use Flow Motion to maneuver through.

But once he did he was able to launch himself at another aerial corrupted and once again take it by surprise with his StepSword. This pattern repeated itself a few more times. Roxas would use StepSword to attack an aerial enemy and he would make sure to kick himself off of their body in order to allow himself the chance to reuse his virtual cube constructs to keep from plummeting to his demise. Or occasionally a member of the Black Eagles would catch him under the arms and swing the Nobody and essentially “throw” them toward another enemy he could attack with his StepSword.

But eventually, Roxas finally spotted the form of Ortho swooping back toward him and so he gratefully managed to land safely back on the griffin’s back. Or, well, as safe as he could be in this chaotic aerial battle anyway. ”Looks like Edelgard’s ready for a pickup!” Roxas called out as he pointed toward the now-heavily damaged Kinship that he saw Edelgard standing on. As such, Orthos went in so that Edelgard could mount back up on his back.

Now it was time to take on the big one, the Worship. Midna had already gotten started on it and now even Edelgard was preparing some axes that she could throw as they flew by it. Well, Roxas made similar preparations, readying a Keyblade in his left hand and his RockGun with the right hand. For the most part, Roxas stuck with projectiles at first. He shot charged RockGun shots from his right gauntlet and Firaga spells from the Keyblade in his left hand.

And when the cherubic maw had gotten a hold on Ortho, Roxas was quick to act alongside Edelgard. While she worked to try and get the griffin free, Roxas took that moment to go into a flurry of Keyblade strikes against the cherubic face to get in as much damage as he could before Ortho took off again. And once they had taken off, Roxas decided to use his Curaga spell again. ”Heal!” So that it could undo as much of the damage Ortho took from the Worship’s bite as possible, especially alongside the healing that Edelgard was giving him. It also served to give some healing to himself and Edelgard - if she needed it.

”Yeah.” Roxas said in agreement with Edelgard’s suggestion before quickly correcting his manners to be more respectful to the commander. ”Er, I mean - yes Ma'am, Commander!”

<Cancelled>

I love a good Fire Emblem plot. And seeing as how I can't be a Wyvern Rider, I'd like to present an idea for a thief character with a noble/highborn background. I'll want to hear a bit more about what the named powers are like before I decide where to hail from. But the idea is that he is the second or third (or even fourth!) son of a ruling noble family, so obviously not in line for the throne or anything. Instead he's being put into an arranged marriage for political gain for his family. The problem is that this particular lordling has absolutely no desire to marry some spoiled princess he doesn't even know. So he just... ya know, peaces out and runs away. And joins the Expedition Force because he's hoping to amscray from Aeos before his family can notice that he's gone and try to catch him.

World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Videogame Crossover)

Word Count: 1,727
Level 3 Captain Falcon: 23/30
Exp Gained: +3
NEW EXP Balance--- 26/30

Mafia Town

Captain Falcon had only walked a few feet away from You Tian when the high-pitched shriek of a microphone caught his ears. After that he heard the voice of someone speaking like they were on some kind of citywide intercom system. They announced the start of something called a Battle Royal Rumble. And immediately after that it became clear why they were addressing the entire city all at once. Cannonfire sounded in the distance and suddenly fighters seemed to be raining down from above! It almost reminded Falcon of seeing the Halberd dropping enemies from Subspace down onto the land below during that whole sordid affair. And no less than four fighters landed with a tuck-and-roll on the back alley street that the Captain was walking on. They looked like masked wrestlers, bulky bodies and speedo-like leotards covering their nether regions along with exaggerated boots and gloves. Each of their masks and suits appeared to have a different colored animal motif - green tortoise, red firebird, blue dragon, and a white tiger.

And that was fine by him. ”Show me your moves!” Cap taunted as he entered his own fighting stance at the same time the wrestlers did. Immediately after he swore he could hear a bell dinging in the distance as if signaling the fight to begin. And these four wrestlers didn’t waste any time. Immediately the White Tiger pounced and went for a flying tackle that Cap was able to sidestep easily enough. He also had to jump straight up to avoid a simultaneous slidling attack that came from the Green Tortoise at the same time the Tiger had pounced. Cap was able to twist himself into an aerial spinning kick to knock away the Red Firebird who was looking to take advantage of the Captain’s precarious position. But that was when Falcon had run out of answers and found himself grappled by the Blue Dragon, and slammed back onto the ground before the bounty hunter even finished landing. Four against one was definitely not good odds. And the Blue Dragon looked to capitalize on his successful attack by bringing both fists down onto Cap’s face while he was still down.

He never got the chance.

A frying pan came careening into the fight from seemingly out of nowhere. It slammed into the side of Blue Dragon’s masked face and sent him aside to regain his balance and composure and allowed Falcon the chance to scramble back to his feet and get ready to fight again. And he also recognized where that frying pan had been thrown from. And sure enough, the owner of it and You Tian came slowly walking out onto the scene from the door of the restaurant. And he did not look happy. “You’ve got some nerve.” Zhao said of the attacking masked wrestlers before he sprinted forward at the recovering Blue Dragon, literally knocking him back toward his teammates with a backflip flip that ended with Zhao landing in a kneeled position next to Falcon before rising to his feet and entering what looked like a breakdancing stance, “You wanna pick a fight in MY neighborhood, you sonuvabitch? Then LET’S DANCE!”

With the two of them, the odds suddenly looked a whole lot better. Cap sprinted with blistering speed to settle the score with the Blue Dragon, launching himself into a downward ”Falcon Kick!” that would have squarely hit the staggering wrestler if the Green Tortoise had not lunged to put himself in the way of the attack and endure with a crossed-arms defensive posture. Meanwhile Zhao went tumbling into a spinning attack, appearing to spin himself while standing on his hands. His first few kicks managed to hit both the Red Firebird and White Tiger before they wisely backed off to avoid getting tripped up by him as he flipped himself back on his feet.

On Cap’s end, he began to evenly trade blows with the Blue Dragon and Green Tortoise - slowly building up his Power Gauge in the process. At one point he caught the Green Tortoise with a ”Raptor Boost!” that launched them upward via a fiery uppercut. But instead of capitalizing with a follow up, Falcon had to instead whirl around and barely prevent a flanking charge from Blue Dragon, by catching him with a ”Gen’ei Kyaku!” that barraged the wrestler with a super fast series of kicks. Behind him, the Green Tortoise hit the ground after the previous launch, and so Cap ended his barrage of straight kicks and spun back around with a ”Ryuugeki Sen!” that launched a disc of fiery chi from his leg at the grounded wrestler.

Meanwhile on Zhao’s end, his strange breakdancing attacks managed to keep his opponents confused, at least at first. But then the White Tiger charged up a Cyclone attack in an attempt to counter Zhao’s spinning with some spinning of his own. Thankfully the former mafia boss had agility on his side, able to use his more nimble form to dodge out of the way and avoid getting caught up in the White Tiger’s cyclone. But this did give the Red Firebird a chance to grab a nearby chair and use Big Swing to spin it around into a mighty throw in order to use it as a projectile attack aimed for Zhao. But Zhao was actually stronger than he looked, managing to catch the chair with his hands and spin it around for another throw aimed at the still-spinning Blue Dragon who had no way to properly see the projectile coming and took the hit full on.

As for Falcon, his opponents were also trying to make a comeback from being on the ropes earlier. He launched into a sliding ”Falcon Kick!” at the Blue Dragon who responded by using a Rocket Jump to launch himself up and out of the way of it. At this time, the Green Tortoise came running at Falcon with a Bull Rush. But rather than dodge it, Falcon decided to meet it head on by launching forward into a ”Knee of Justice!” whose electrical property managed to leave the charging wrestler stunned, so he followed up by charging some chi and spending a built up Power Gauge stock on a powerful ”Haoh Shoukou Ken!” that launched a strong fireball at the dazed wrestler and finally seemed to put his lights out for good. And then Falcon had to shield himself from the Blue Dragon who had rocket jumped earlier and was now trying to crash back down on Falcon with a Diving Leg Drop. It did a lot of damage to Cap’s shield, but not quite enough to shield-break him. And then Falcon hit back, and hard. Starting with a ”Raptor Boost!” that launched the Blue Dragon upward, he then jumped up after him and spent the second of his built up Power Gauge stocks. This let him hit the Blue Dragon with a ”Kuzuryusen!” that juggled the wrestler further up via a series of three backward somersault kicks. Then Falcon launched himself up midair to grapple onto the Blue Dragon with Raptor Dive. ”Yes!” Falcon cheered when his attack launched the wrestler downward and careening to the ground with a heavy slam that appeared to finish the job. Falcon himself of course landed safely back on the ground.

Over in the other fight, Zhao appeared to be preparing to wrap things up as well. He was done toying around with these luchador rejects and now just wanted to put them down. The White Tiger ran at him with a Punchline that Zhao was able to power slide under on his knees. Then the Red Firebird tried to fly at him with a Dive Kick, but Zhao managed to roll out of the way and tumble back to his feet. Next to him happened to be a ladder leaning against the wall. “Get ready!” He playfully said as he grabbed the ladder and began to push forward while spinning it around. This kept the wrestlers from charging at him directly else they would get closeline’d by the improvised weapon. What happened next could only described as an impressive feat of acrobatics. Zhao suddenly stopped spinning the ladder and planted it on the pavement directly in front of the confused White Tiger. Then he quickly scrambled a few steps up the ladder and before it could fall he pulled it up with him in a giant backflip that brought the bottom end up into an upward attack against the White Tiger. After reorienting himself in the air, Zhao then slammed the ladder back onto the ground, this time on top of the Red Firebird. Then Zhao of course safely hopped off the ladder before it finally fell back to the ground with a clatter. And just like that, his opponents appeared to be down for good as well.

“Okay, so… what the actual hell?” Zhao asked when he noticed that Cap was done fighting as well. “Who comes rolling into town and shooting wrestlers out of cannons?” He demanded.

”I was hoping you would be able to tell me that.” Cap said with a shrug, ”So I take it this isn’t normal, then?”

“Not even close.” Zhao said, “But this ain’t no coincidence, Falcon-kun. Can’t be.”

”How do you mean?”

“Mabuchi.” Zhao said with some venom in his tone. “Same day he shows his face, this freakshow circus comes to town? Either he’s behind this or he’s using it somehow. Either way, I’d bet my restaurant he’s making his move right now! Which means I don’t have time to sit around here thinking about this. I need you to take me to where you saw him.” Zhao said to Falcon and then added. “So we can find him and kick his treasonous ass back out of town!”

”No complaints, here.” Falcon said in agreement. ”Follow me!”

After this the two of them went sprinting toward the harbor. If that was where the circus ship was launching fighters, then chances were good they’d have to fight their way through more opponents. But that didn’t seem to be deterring them in any way. Zhao only cared about confronting Mabuchi, and Falcon wasn’t about to let his friend go marching into the lion’s den alone.

World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Videogame Crossover)

Word Count: 994
Level 3 Captain Falcon: 21/30
Exp Gained: +2
NEW EXP Balance--- 23/30

Mafia Town ~ Harbor

Paydirt! Falcon’s patience was rewarded when a certain man in a white suit came out to apparently berate a couple of the workers there. By then, Cap had gotten yelled at by one of the supposed employees and he had backed off a bit - not wanting to pick a fight at that time. He was parked behind a storage container where he would pretty much be out of sight. He couldn’t hear the entire conversation going on over there, however. Mostly what he heard was the boss’ beratement since he was doing so in a raised voice, suggesting that these guys had made a serious blunder that made him angry. Beyond that, though, Falcon couldn’t make out anything else being talked about.

Getting an idea, Falcon pulled out his cellphone and went into its camera app. He managed to snap a picture or two of the guy in white, albeit they were from the side and behind as he was already turning to go back into the facility he had exited from. But hopefully that would match up enough with the photo Zhao had shown him earlier to serve as proof the guy was indeed in town. Falcon had also managed to pick up a bit or two about buyers leaving the Trading Company richer in pons than when they arrived. Unfortunately, Falcon’s attention at the time was split between watching for the man in white and performing his deliveries, so he missed quite a few of the details beyond that.

Maybe that was something Zhao would want to look into later on, but for the time being the actual job Falcon came to harbor to do was now done. So the only thing left to do now was report in and get paid. Speaking of getting paid, Falcon noticed his Crazy Eats app alerting him to a payout of 25 pons for that previous session of deliveries. Not exactly his best performance, but also not bad considering the limitations he’d put upon himself for investigative purposes either. He’d have to make a note to collect that payout from Charlie later. For now, Falcon changed back into his iconic racing suit and was on his way back to You Tian.

Mafia Town ~ You Tian

”Looks like what you heard was true.” Falcon said to Zhao. They were sitting at an empty table in You Tian, Zhao looking at the pictures of the guy in white Cap managed to take with his cellphone. Business hours for the restaurant had already wound down and ended for the evening. Normally it stayed open later than this, but Zhao closed shop early so he and Cap could have the place to themselves to talk privately.

“Yeah, it sure looks like it.” Zhao said with a sigh, his tone sounding like a mix of sadness and disappointment. “Dammit, Mabuchi, what the hell are you doing?” He muttered as he handed Falcon’s phone back to him.

”So you do know this guy?” Cap said, quickly picking up on the signals Zhao was giving.

“Yeah.” Zhao finally admitted. “He goes by Akira Mabuchi now, but I knew him by his real name - Lao Ma.” He explained and then added, “He used to be my right hand man during my old mafia days.”

”Come to think of it, a lot of the men working for him also looked Chinese, like you.” Falcon noted.

“Can’t say I’m surprised.” Zhao said. “I used to be the boss of a Chinese mafia called the Yokohama Liumang, inherited the job from my dad. Mabuchi was my right hand guy, we grew up together, we were like brothers. But Mabuchi was too ambitious for his own good. He tried to oust me from the organization and take it over himself, but some friends and I put the kibosh on that little scheme. I told him to get out of town and never let me see his face again.”

”But why would he risk coming back and being discovered.”

“Who knows?” Zhao said with a shrug, “He must have one helluva scheme cooked up if he’s willing to risk having to face me again, though. Or maybe he heard about me disbanding the Liumang and figured he could swoop in and build it back better himself? Frankly, I don’t give a fuck what his reasons are. There’s no way in Hell I’m letting this shit slide.” Zhao said and then gave a deep sigh before sliding a purse filled with 100 pons. “Here you go, Falcon-kun. You earned it.”

One thing was made perfectly clear to Falcon at that moment. Whatever history there was between these two, it was clearly nothing but bad blood now. Cap took the money from him and stood up from the table. He took a few steps toward the door. If this had been a few days ago, he would have just left in search of his next job. But instead he stopped and turned back around. ”Let me know when you’re ready to make your move.” Falcon said to Zhao with a smile building on his face.

“It’s not exactly a regular bounty contract.” Zhao said, “Things could even get ugly. I wouldn’t wanna drag anyone down into my personal bullshit, so don’t worry about-”

”Nonsense!” Falcon suddenly said, cutting him off. ”You helped me when I first got into town. It’s only fair if I return the favor. And besides, I don’t like leaving my friends out to dry like that.”

Zhao couldn’t stop himself from laughing, “Well shit, Falcon-kun, if you’re just gonna twist my arm about it like that, then how could I possibly say ‘No’?” This elicited a corny-but-appreciated thumbs up from the Captain before he finally headed out the door and left the restaurant.

“He certainly has a way of reminding me of you… Kasuga-kun.”

For Captain Falcon

Pons: 125

World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Videogame Crossover)

Word Count: 950
Level 9 Roxas: 20/90
Exp Gained: +2
NEW EXP Balance--- 22/90

Skyworld ~ Ivory Citadel

By the time both he and Edelgard had dismounted from Orthos, Roxas had more or less already made his decision on where to go. And while she told him he was free to go join up with the other Seekers if he wanted, Roxas was choosing to remain with the Black Eagles for the time being. Traversing the fields of battle to find his friends would have taken more time that Roxas thought would be put to better use helping out where he could right here with the Black Eagle Strike Force.

His own fighting style and abilities were actually quite a far cry from the Flame Emperor’s, Roxas being much more inclined toward speed, agility, and stringing together multiple attacks at a time. But such a thing could be put to use here, especially now that he had acquired a few abilities from the spirit he had fused with aboard the Avenger. Roxas adopted a strategy similar to what he employed against Consul Z when he fought his forces aboard the Virgin Victory a week ago. He kept himself on the move, striking at Corrupted angels with either his StepSword or his Keyblades but never fully committing to staying engaged with them. After all, the Featherbows and Featherswords from Edelgard’s unit could pretty handily finish them off after Roxas softened them up first and vice versa.

But Roxas also took advantage of some of his newfound Squire techniques as well. Whenever an opportunity presented itself, Roxas would use Steel on a nearby Feathersword, Feathershield, or Featherbow to boost their bravery and help ensure their attacks didn’t falter. And on other occasions, Roxas would even use Tailwind on a nearby Featherstaff to increase their speed so they could make their way to allies in need of healing more quickly. He could only apply these buffs to one ally at a time, but every little bit helps and sometimes even a single action can make all the difference. Something else Roxas kept in mind was his MP. A larger scale battle like this was no place for him to squander his MP and have to survive for the length of time it would take for it to recharge. That was why he kept his attacks mostly to just the StepSword or basic Keyblade strikes - to conserve MP and not use it unless something drastic came up.

And when the hulking commander of the Corrupted forces entered the fray and literally towered over everyone, that seemed like the time to go ahead and employ some MP. Edelgard was bravely facing the giant behemoth head on and this appeared to do wonders for the morale of her Strike Force. For the moment, Roxas decided not to get in their way and instead try to keep the Corrupted at bay as much as a lone Keyblade Wielder could. To this end, he was more willing to employ spells like the occasional Blizzaga or Thundaga to keep from getting totally overwhelmed. It wasn’t a perfect strategy, and he still took some hits here and there, which required a nearby Featherstaff to send some healing his way to fix - but overall he was doing as well as he could under the circumstances. But a loud sound of cracking marble did eventually draw his attention back to the fight with Beloved.

There was Edelgard, clinging to the monster’s back and literally breaking it open with her mighty ax. Roxas saw all this in time to see her get bucked from the monster’s back and sent back to the ground. Okay, now it was time to step in and lend a hand. The Keybearer finished off the Corrupted he was engaged with and made a break for Beloved’s direction. He put up a small wall of virtual cubes behind him to discourage any Corrupted who were trying to chase him so that he could lock his attention on the enemy commander.

”My turn!” He shouted as he darted past Edelgard in full sprint. Beloved hefted his own ax to try and bring it crashing down on the boy foolishly charging at him, but the fast and nimble Roxas proved a far harder target to hit. The Keyblade in Roxas’ left hand vanished, and a split second later so did the Nobody himself, thus avoiding the ax chop altogther. Roxas then reappeared in midair directly behind Beloved, having used his StepSword to instantly move himself in a position to strike at the commander’s exposed back with the now-ignited energy blade extended from his left gauntlet. And he instantly followed that with a flurry of midair keyblade strikes that ended off with him unleashing a powerful Cross Slash.

Not that any of this was going to go unanswered, of course. Beloved flailed itself to try and punish Roxas’ attack, but was of course hampered by his own size and bulk in that regard. So the Nobody was able to use Flow Motion to maneuver himself out of harm’s way and hit the ground hard with a somersault that let him end up more or less next to where Edelgard now stood.

”Heal!” He cried with an upraised Keyblade. This called a green and leafy ring of healing to wash over himself and the nearby Edelgard, plus any of the other Black Eagles who happened to be within the spell’s radius. By that point he was down to his last little bit of MP so he figured he might as well use it for a Curaga to take at least some of the burden of healing off the shoulders of the Featherstaffs.

World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Videogame Crossover)

@DisturbedSpec

Word Count: 557
Level 3 Captain Falcon: 20/30
Exp Gained: +1
NEW EXP Balance--- 21/30

Mafia Town

The Captain’s deliveries were all going quite well, to say the least. But that wasn’t any kind of news. Falcon’s skills in that department were superb and so it would have been more odd if he didn’t do well here. Well, he was distracted at times by his scanning the various parts of the harbor for any sign of the man Zhao was looking for, and so that occasionally affected his payouts. But the payouts weren’t the main goal here, so that didn’t mean much to Cap at this time.

What wasn’t going so well was his search. He still hadn’t seen any sign of the guy he was looking for. Funnily enough, he spotted Therion at one point although the thief looked to be leaving the harbor when he did. It was smarter not to approach him and draw attention anyway. But Therion wasn’t who Cap was on the lookout for, and he honestly wasn’t sure how much longer he planned to keep going before calling it a night.

One of the things that did catch his attention was the group claiming to be from a “Yokohama Trading Company”. That name wasn’t familiar to Falcon, but the way the unloaders and other workers looked and operated seemed promising. They’re looks and style of dress seemed vaguely similar to the man he was looking for, although none of them was an actual match. Still, Cap decided he should probably try to hang around this particular area for a while and see if it panned out.

And that of course meant narrowing down his area for pickups and deliveries. Normally that would limit one’s earning potential, but once again, that wasn’t Cap’s current objective. And besides, the harbor was full of things he could potentially ramp and trick his bike off of in an attempt to generate extra stunt points for his deliveries. As long as he was careful not to disturb any of the contents in the shipping containers or any of the people working around them.

During this stint of monitoring, Falcon caught sight of another familiar face - Geralt. Cap’s rather over-the-top riding performance made him rather hard to miss so it was safe to assume that the Witcher might have spotted him at some point. Although with Falcon currently using his lack of helmet as a disguise it wasn’t likely Geralt would recognize him. And like with Therion earlier, trying to approach him or send him some kind of signal would draw unnecessary attention. So Cap figured it was best to let Geralt be for the time being. The man was something of a bounty hunter like himself, so Falcon was sure he could trust that Geralt wasn’t up to anything bad.

”Hmm, still no sign of that fellow.” Falcon said to himself after he had brought his bike to a stop in order to give himself a short break. ”Maybe he’s not here after all. Should I call it quits or give it some more time?” He asked himself. Although as he was pondering that, Cap had no idea that all the operations in the harbor - including his own food deliveries - were being watched by a certain mercenary from somewhere on the upper levels.