Double

Pokémon Dreams (Reboot)

So many people with Ground type starters. Makes a guy with an Electric starter feel kinda targeted. xD

Pokémon Dreams (Reboot)

@Savo
The Paralyze Heals were for Jack more than anything because he has an Electric starter who comedically zaps him on a semi-regular basis. And I would personally argue that the Old Amber falls under the "misc item that doesn't impact battle" category because without access to fossil resurrection, it's a literal rock that does nothing and removing it somewhat diminishes the backstory of him having a memento from his dad. But nevertheless, I made the edits per your request as I have no desire to cause problems or anything.

Pokémon Dreams (Reboot)

Jack

Profile

Name: Jackson "Jack" Bridge
Gender: Male
Age: 17
Hometown: Giants Watch, Eidda

Appearance: Because he hates having to bundle up in heavy coats, Jack often wraps himself in a cloak when traveling during the cold or rain. His boots and gloves are also insulated with rubber just in case his partner Pokemon decides to have an electrical attitude problem, allowing Jack to handle him without getting fried.

Personality: Jack is a pretty easy-going young most of the time. His major flaw - though he insists it isn't one - is his almost zealous eagerness to battle and to win. That pretty much means he becomes more easily riled up when it's time to challenge another trainer, especially if they happen to be a Gym Leader. For all his zeal, though, Jack still manages to have a surprisingly even temper. It takes a lot to get him angry, but what he is, his battling zeal gets cranked up to 11 in a desire to right whatever he was perceiving to be a wrong. Does this mean he might be slightly more prone to dive headfirst into potential danger? Possibly. But where's the fun in being a trainer otherwise?

Backstory: Jackson himself was born in Giants Watch to his parents, Mary and Edward. And while his mother Mary had always been an Eidda Region native, Edward... not so much. He originally immigrated from the Sinnoh Region, having been born in Oreburgh City. The mine there was facing some setbacks and needed to cut a few of its workers, Edward included. He moved to Giants Watch to resume work as a miner. One day, though, he found a fossil while digging by pure chance and ever since he became more of a Fossil Maniac. Soon Edward started going on fossil dig expeditions in various regions around the world to help paleontologists study ancient Pokemon. All of that was when Jack was still a small child. During his teenage years, he hardly ever gets to see his dad much, though Edward does make sure to video call whenever he has free time to do so.

As for how Jackson met Sparkplug, some of the miners at one point were complaining about some of the machines being on the fritz. Despite how many of them tried to investigate, no one could figure the source of the mechanical hiccups. Enter Jack, who was about 15 at this time, who decided on his own that he was going to solve the mystery. Naturally, he was told to stay away from the mining machines for safety reasons. And so, Jack instead snuck into the mine at night after it was closed to check out the machines after dark. And because it was dark, it was easier to spot the electrical surges coming from a cantankerous little Elekid who was trying to feed on the electrical parts for energy.

The Elekid was wary to say the least, offering only static shocks to his would-be pursuer. The next day Jack tried to tell the miners what the cause of the hiccups was, but all he got for his trouble was a scolding for sneaking into a restricted area. Night after night, Jack would sneak back into the mine and try again to coax the little Elekid into coming out. He tried using berries and other food, at one point he even tried using batteries and a Magnet. None of it worked. Then one night, Jack and the Elekid heard barking and realized that the miners had started using Houndour to sniff out trespassers. One of the Houndour almost attacked Jack, but the Elekid suddenly sprung into action and hit it with a Hammer Arm instead, practically knocking it out in one blow. After that, the pair took off running and have been best buddies ever since.

But Jack himself was starting to find being stuck in Giants Watch to be exceedingly boring and wanted something, anything to give him an excuse to strike out on his own adventure. By this time he had met his first Pokemon, the rambunctious Sparkplug, and was keen to apply to become a Trainer and take on the Eidda League gym circuit. And by coincidence, the day before he left home, Jack received a package addressed to him from his dad.

Quirks/Talents/Aspirations/Other: He loves to battle, but also has a slight affinity for fossils and fossil Pokemon, probably his dad rubbing off on him. Apart from wanting to make it to the top of the League, Jack has aspirations about become a Gym Leader or maybe even the leader of a Battle Facility like the Frontier Brains.

Favorite Kind of Pokémon: Jack himself doesn't have a specific favorite kind of Pokemon, but the ones who tend to lean more toward physical offense tend to gravitate toward him, maybe because of his personality.

Inventory

Pokédollars: 1000p.

Items:

Bag
Travel Cloak
Goggles (for eye protection during hail or sandstorms)
x1 Potion

Sparkplug

Species: Elekid
Type: Electric
Gender: Male
Appearance: Sparkplug has a long white bandana that he insists on wearing at all times. Sometimes Jack wonders if he wishes he were a Fighting type.
Level: 5
Moves: Leer, Quick Attack, Thunder Shock
Egg Move: Hammer Arm
Ability: Static (30% chance to paralyze opponent when a contact move is used against the Pokemon)
Held Item: None yet.

Personality | Nature: Sparkplug has an Adamant nature, which is great when he needs to be aggressive in battle. But it can be troublesome outside of battle as it can often lead to Sparkplug acting stubborn and hard-headed. In those situations, it's best not to try to grab him without rubber gloves involved unless one wants a healthy dose of electricity zapped through them.

Quirks/Talents/Aspirations/Other: Sparkplug often acts as though he thinks or wishes to be a Fighting type. He's quite proud of the fact that he can use Hammer Arm and aspires to become a tough-as-nails ace Pokemon for his trainer.

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

Word Count: 769
Level 9 Ganondorf: 28/90
Level 11 Roxas: 70/110
Exp Gained: +2
NEW EXP Balance--- 30/90, 72/110

Moon Mountain

Roxas was both surprised and totally stumped when the problem of the Face Taker presented itself. If he had been alone on this then he honestly wasn’t sure how he would have solved the problem. He didn’t have the same level of observation that Ramattra apparently had to be able to spot the liar. Not only that, he’d been completely fooled by the Face Taker up to this point. ”I’m… sorry.” He finally said to Fred when the real painter finally had his face back. ”I’m sorry for hesitating. And for being fooled by that Face Taker while we were all still in the College.”

Ganondorf, by contrast, had merely observed the confrontation with the Face Taker with his usual cold stoicism. He hadn’t interacted with either party before this point and didn’t feel particularly invested in this outcome regardless. But the warlord did have to admit to himself that the idea of having access to someone who could seemingly paint things into existence could prove exceedingly useful in the future. And so he had no objections when the painter was offered a place aboard the Avenger. Though he wasn’t sure the nervous-looking man would actually take the Seekers up on the offer.

Then there was the matter of the cats. Ganondorf cocked an eyebrow at the sight of them as they curiously checked out some of the Seekers. None of them approached him, though he could probably guess why. He didn’t exactly possess a warm or welcoming aura about him. And besides, he probably wouldn’t have much use for a cat anyway. Though he did find himself somewhat surprised that none of the cats showed much interest in Roxas either, despite his possession of several pets in the form of his Pokemon. One would think he’d be a magnet for such things.

The Nobody himself curiously watched a few of the cats but didn’t make any real attempts to call any over to him. And most of them seemed more curious in other Seekers than himself. Maybe they smelled Scamp on him and weren’t keen on being around a biggish and admittedly excitable canine? Cats weren’t exactly known for getting along too well with dogs, after all. That was fine with him. He already had five Pokemon, and probably didn’t need to let himself get overloaded with pets, especially since there was still the possibility that he could add at least one more Pokemon to his roster if he found any others that were New Lifeforms.

Though with his mind now on his Pokemon, Roxas decided to let a couple of them out of their Poke Balls to check on them since they hadn’t been out of their balls since he was sucked into the College. They all seemed fine, thankfully. Turbo and Titan were a bit more reserved, while Larxene was trying very hard to pretend like she didn’t appreciate the attention. Shocker was its usual curious self, the Rotom always was usually more content to zip around and explore surroundings for hiding spots to make mischief with.

That left Scamp, who yawned lazily and didn’t hesitate to lean into his trainer’s hand when Roxas gave him pets and ear scratches. His tail wagged and he gave a little woof of approval. ”Wanna walk with me for a while?” Roxas asked, to which the Boltund barked as if to agree.

”Alright.” Roxas said with a chuckle, recalling the rest of his Pokemon to their balls but letting Scamp remain out. ”Do me a favor and keep your nose peeled for Berries. Been a bit since we gathered some and I know how hungry you and the others can get.”

That interaction had been observed absentmindedly by Ganondorf nearby. Now that he thought about it, if he was to consider training a Pal or two for himself, he would also occasionally have to gather food for them. Hunting probably wouldn't be that much of a chore to do, and if he really needed to he could always ask Ace to lend him a hand. As such, he dug out one of the shards of Paldium he possessed and looked closely at it. He needed to remember to check with Edward to see if he wanted to gather materials necessary to turn these into extra Pal Spheres. That was something he wanted to do after they reached the surface, but the College of Winterhold ended up being a distraction. Well, maybe now that the distraction was over he’d get a chance to finally use these shards once the Seekers were on their way or needed to make camp again.

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

Word Count: 1,811
Level 9 Ganondorf: 25/90
Level 11 Roxas: 67/110
Exp Gained: +3
NEW EXP Balance--- 28/90, 70/110

College of Winterhold

Ever since the Potion Shop, Ganondorf grew increasingly weary of Tenna’s antics. And so at a certain point he made up an excuse for them to split up again to ‘cover more ground’ when really, the warlord just wanted a bit of quiet again. Well, as much quiet as one could get when they have to occasionally clear a room of hostile creatures while trying to merely traverse them. Thankfully, the combat was simple enough for him as it usually was. The main thing that was delaying Ganondorf was the random nature of the doors. It was like throwing those blasted Poke Balls in the old days, a gamble on whether or not you’d get something useful like an exploding Electrode or something useless like a Goldeen flopping around on the ground.

Eventually, though, Ganondorf found himself emerging into the Dice Room yet again. And he was fairly certain it was the same door he used the first time around, just from a different room than before. And he quickly realized he wasn’t alone as the room was quite crowded with other Seekers, enemies they were apparently fighting, and the actual college denizens themselves looking just as eager to finally get outside. Since Ganondorf had looked at the Dice Room previously, he was able to assume that whatever game it was connected to was now in progress. And based on how many people were waiting to escape through the big double doors, he concluded that finishing the game would unlock them.

A moment later, Roxas and Geralt both emerged through one of the other doors. Their time had been… frustrating to say the least. After leaving the Dining Hall, they’d found themselves stuck in a loop where they were repeatedly circling back to the Dining Hall again and again. After some trial and error, they figured out that the cause was the amulet that Geralt found in the Kitchen, and they promptly ditched it so that they could finally get away from the Dining Hall for good. Not long after that, they’re luck brought them here to this room where apparently everyone else was waiting too.

”Okay, at least we found everyone else…” Roxas murmured, the crowded room making it easy for him to get separated from Geralt. Of course, unlike Ganondorf, Roxas was here for the first time and had no context whatsoever to allow him to figure out what was happening, leaving the Nobody rather confused.

”This is where the exit is.” came the voice of Ganondorf as Roxas had wandered over to where the warlord was standing, ”The room’s connected to some kind of game that opens the exit when it is completed.”

”Oh… um, okay then.” Roxas said with a shrug.

Even amidst all the chaos that inundated the Dice Room, no new arrivals escaped Sandalphon’s notice. At the sight of Ganondorf, Roxas, and Geralt, her pupil became an exclamation mark, followed by a stress mark the next moment. “There you are, you’re alive. Why did none of you report in?” As Mokou, zipping through the upper reaches of the chamber as she fought the Cryptic Vulture summoned by the overseer, dove through a spectral tornado in order to light the place up with an explosive fireblast, Sandalphon realized that now might not be the best time for criticism. “Nevermind. Your help is required. This board game’s completion will permit our exit from Winterhold, and we are very near the end. Barring another serious stroke of misfortune, one more dice roll should suffice. Doing so will summon additional opposition, so make ready for combat.”

”Fine, then.” Ganondorf grunted, summoning Vapor - his trident. He looked expectantly at Roxas, who already summoned his Keyblades.

”I know, know. I won’t try to heal you again.” Roxas said, already casting Tailwind on himself and the Warlord.

As planned, Sandalphon sent the dice clattering. This time, the Seekers got much luckier, with a total roll of thirty-one. That was far more than they needed to reach the final space on the game board, much to the Overseer’s chagrin. ”Aw, hell,” the giant ghostly green skull groaned. ”Guess this is my last hurrah. But at least y’all rolled the School of Mensis. All them scholars had themselves a mighty bad dream, so I guess it gets to be yours, too!”

A dark rift tore open, and through it issued a distorted voice. “The doctor will see you now.” Large metal claws, one after another, reached out from the void to curl around the edges of the rift and pull it wider. After a moment, a four-armed mechanical monstrosity pushed through, a nightmarish parody of a dentist even larger than Godhead Fred. “Say…AAAAAH!”

”You’ve GOT to be kidding me.” Roxas said, already anxious at the sight of that big drill weapon.

It came faster than expected, Roxas coming dangerously close to falling victim to the drill that he managed to roll out of the way of. After that, the dentist scattered piles of colorful toothpaste around the floor that Ganondorf was unfortunately not able to avoid, which caused him to get stuck while he struggled to force himself free. The Dentist used an oversized brush to aggressively wipe at the spots where the toothpaste was. Roxas had to dodge roll out of the way of one brush, but noticed the next one was going to hit Ganondorf.

”Wind!” He called, casting an Aeroga that wrapped around the Warlord to reduce the incoming damage by half. And then he looked angry already after freeing himself.

”I’m growing tired of having to dismantle so many mechanical abominations.” Ganondorf grunted as the dentist spat out his chattering teeth to chase the two Seekers around the floor. Ganondorf could keep it at back simply enough with his trident attacks and strength, but he lacked the agility necessary to take advantage of the teeth’s weak spot.

And that was where Roxas came in. As soon he noticed the weak spot after the chattering teeth slammed shut he was on it immediately. He used momentum from Flow Motion to hit the teeth from above with a downward stab of his Keyblades. That looked like it damaged them decently, and it gave Ganondorf an opening to slam his trident down onto the weakspot as a followup.

After those attacks, the teeth lay motionless while the dentist braced himself on the floor with his mechanical hands. And Roxas, taking a page out of Sora’s handbook, decided to mount the teeth and move them over to clamp down on one of the dentist's hands and make it start chewing. And that prompted Ganondorf to throw his trident into the elbow joint of the arm and call down a lightning blast. Between the chewing teeth, and Ganondorf’s trident, the dentist reeled back now down by one arm, leaving him with three. And all three of those hands brought down oversized plastic cups, one of which captured Roxas.

”What - hey!” Roxas shouted, ”Let me ou- WHOA!”

The dentist started rearranging the cups like a shell game in front of Ganondorf, “This… will get ANNOYING!” he announced as he suddenly sped up the movements to make it even harder to track which cup Roxas was trapped in. Then he paused and waited for Ganondorf to choose.

Instead the warlord merely shrugged, ”You’ll have to try harder than that.” He summoned Phantom Ganon and some spearman. With this, he and his summoned entourage were able to hit all three cups at the same time, freeing Roxas and dealing a bit of extra damage to the dentist’s torso in the process.

“Hey, now that just’s plain CHEATING!” the Dentist protested, angrily grabbing Ganondorf with a metal hook-like tool and yanking him closer, “You might feel a little… sting!” he warned as he held up a hammer and poised it to hammer his hook tool right through the warlord’s body. But before the hammer could connect, the dentist suddenly felt weapons striking his wrist and loosening his grip to make him drop the tool.

It was Roxas, who used his StepSword to move instantly to the dentist’s hand and targeted the wrist with his energy blade and follow-up Keyblade strikes, ”Not gonna happen!” The Keybearer said as he landed back on the floor. The dentist simply grinned, undeterred from continuing his attacks.

“Clickity-clack!” His metallic voice sang as he sent out his chattering teeth again. The teeth chased Roxas around, keen to not let him take advantage of the weak spot again. But in that focus it was paying less attention to Ganondorf. And this time his summoned minions were able to help him ambush the teeth and flip them over to expose the weak spot and slam his trident into it with one brutal thrust. And this time it was one of the moblins that hopped onto the teeth and rode them around until clamping them onto the dentist’s hand again.

“Ow! Hey! What are you-?” The Dentist yelped as he tried to fling the teeth from his hand. But the restraint was enough for Roxas and Ganondorf to wail on the dentist’s arm. Between Roxas’ rapid Keyblade strikes and Ganondorf’s brutal lightning infused Trident attacks, they made quick work of the dentist’s second arm, causing it to break apart with a small explosion that left him stunned and his head lying on the floor. His drill arm lay precariously near his own mouth.

”Now DIE!” Ganondorf bellowed as he started to push the drill toward the dentist’s open mouth. His summons moved to try and restrain the robot while Roxas moved to help Ganondorf push. Together they were able to impale the dentist’s head on his own drill, seemingly defeating him.

But to their own horror and annoyance, the dentist staggered back for one more desperate charge. And that was when Roxas was the one who had enough. ”Light!” He chanted, opting to hit this mechanical nightmare with one final big attack. He and Ganondorf were both enveloped by Roxas’ light, and the Keybearer jumped high up and aimed his Keyblade down at the dentist. A massive golden Triforce was projected onto the ground, with the dentist trapped in the center triangle and unable to move while Ganondorf leaped at him with darkness charging in his fist.

The warlord came crashing into the dentist, hitting him with a Warlock Punch that was made extra powerful and flashy by virtue of being part of the Limit attack with Roxas. And that was what finally put down the nightmarish Dentist for good. Ganondorf stared at the fading Triforce mark on his hand before giving Roxas an intrigued glance, ”Huh… interesting…” He mused before kneeling to retrieve the dentist’s spirit. He had no idea who or how it was going to be used, but it was bound to better than letting it go to waste.

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

Team Seekers of Fight Debriefing

Word Count: 1238 (+2)

Amaterasu turned from where she’d just finished helping Jun out of the water (she’d drawn the woman a chain of lily pads to walk across) and looked at the two children in confusion. Certainly what they had done was quite impressive, but she assumed it might be that whole Interlinking thing the Koopa children had mentioned learning about rather than something that was alarming to have used. Or perhaps that talent was more of a big deal than the children had let on when they spoke of it.

Either way, she displayed apologies in her body language towards her opponent (she felt she owed Jun even more now given how much she’d learned in the heat of the fighting) and then moved towards the wooden walkway off of their arena.

She gave a bark to get their attention, and then lead used a combination of her sharp senses to track down a place that did not smell or sound of people. This led them to a little swampy section of the pools sporting a few decorative mangrove trees and a trickling waterfall. Based on the signage and the schedule, it looked like it would be free till at least the next round of matches, giving them some time to hunker down out of sight behind a large alligator statue.

Breathing heavily, the twins seated themselves on the stone, their hats removed so the cool drizzle could fall upon their blonde hair and sweaty faces. “Phew,” Marg sighed after a moment. “Wasn’t expecting victory to ride on us. But we did it, didn’t we!”

“Even if it took our Stratagems form to do it,” Bart admitted. “Wasn’t sure the Heavenly Principles would let us get away with that after it screwed with how our shields worked, but I guess plenty of people have some kind of super mode.”

“We were badass!” His sister practically sang.

Amaterasu didn’t disagree with their enthusiasm or assessment of how it had been quite the trial by fire to have all that pressure put on them, and did a few tail wags as they enjoyed themselves. Once they’d gotten to have a bit of fun, however, she dipped her paintbrush into the swamp water, and drew streams of it into the air saying “why need to run” in order to try and figure out why they were here.

“Um…” Bart shrugged. “Well, Stratagems is a lot like an Interlink, sp…wait, you guys know about Interlinks, right?”

“Consuls know Interlinks when they see them,” Marg piped up, cutting to the chase. “We do NOT need any Consuls thinking there are Interlinks going on in Esaka.”

Bart nodded, his expression more grave than usual. “Nor that we’re the ones doing it.”

“And there’s no telling who might run and blab to their evil overlords,” Marg added. “So the fewer people see them, the better.”

“I know we took a big risk, but we had to,” Bart said solemnly. “We’ll do our best not to rely on that power going forward.”

”It’s my fault.” Captain Falcon said. He’d been unusually solemn all this time. ”If I hadn’t let the detective best me, we wouldn’t have had to depend so heavily on you two. I’m… sorry. I should have done better.” He’d been distracted by the disappearance of Terry and his concerns about the twins’ safety. That combined with the heckles from the audience were finally beginning to take their toll on the Captain, taking the form of his losing against Lei Wulong.

Such self-admonishment from the big, braggadocious celebrity seemed to stun the twins for a moment. They shared a glance before trying to lend a hand. “Don’t sweat it!” they chorused, before Marg added, “It just happens. Can’t win every time.”

“It’s a big tournament,” Bart agreed. “Always a bigger fish.”

”Heh, you’re right.” The Captain replied, his spirits lifting a bit. ”In any case, the two of you were great out there.” He said, then softly added, ”Terry would be proud, I’m sure.”

The kids seemed touched by Falcon’s praise. “Thanks.” Remembering part of why they came here got the two feeling just a bit sentimental. They’d never met their grandfather, the Terry a few generations back, and had only ever learned about him and his famous techniques through his son, their dad Al. And now, it looked like they might never get the chance to meet the current Terry, either. Not that they were trying to rekindle a familial bond that never existed in the first place; they just wanted to meet the man, the myth, the legend for who he really was. Still, their involvement here meant that the Bogard name would go places, one way or another.

While the humans had been talking, Amaterasu had been both waiting for her ink to recharge, and going over in her head about how she should phrase what she needed to say regarding their fusion with only 4 words. In the end she settled on “koopa children might interlink” and hoped that this pair could pick up on the need to warn them about the amount of ire that would bring.

Bart and Marg’s eyebrows shot up at the same time. It was almost comical just how in sync the two really were. “They are? Wow. It’s been forever since any of you guys actually managed to do it.” By ‘you guys’, Amaterasu would have to assume they meant the people borne of Galeem’s Life Service, destoried and destined to fight for the worlds’ freedom.

“If true, that’s big news,” Bart remarked. “Interlinks are the only thing that can bust open Flame Clocks. I mean, us Lost Numbers can do it, but even we’re not strong enough to destroy one…” From his tone and the way he sighed, there might be more to the story there than he let on.

Marg gave Falcon and Amaterasu the finger guns. “Really, you Seekers should be doing your darndest to make as many Interlinks happen as possible. I know it’s hard as hell forging strong bonds in a such a sucky world, but hey, the Lost Numbers are proof it can happen.”

“Life finds a way! Just got to find that special someone,” Bart explained.

Had she been with the Seekers longer, this news might have caused Amaterasu’s jaw to drop. Given that she’d just learned flame clocks a few days ago and not thought much about them since then due to having never seen one, she took this mostly in stride.

The information didn’t mean a whole lot to the Captain either. He knew of the clocks and that they were an important target, but beyond that, he wasn’t as active in keeping track of that information as certain others were.

As that conversational topic came to an end, the twins turned their minds elsewhere. They’d had a brief but much-needed breather, but they weren’t out of the woods just yet. “Guess we’ll find a bulletin board,” Marg suggested.

“See who we’re up against next, when, and where,” her brother spelled out. King of Fighters was no where near World Warrior or Tekken when it came to the sheer amount of competitors to get through, but even though the team’s path would be shorter, every step on the way would be that much harder.

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

Word Count: 1,190
Level 6 Captain Falcon: 97/60
Exp Gained: +2
NEW EXP Balance--- 99/60

Esaka, The Pools

---

_{CAPTAIN FALCON VS. LEI WULONG
PART 2!}

---

”Alright,” Captain said after he was on his feet and staring down the staggering Lei Wulong before leaping into the air, ”let’s turn up the heat!” In midair his body corrected itself and he came crashing back down toward Lei like a fiery missile. ”Falcon KICK!” The kick was blazingly fast, too fast even for Lei’s Drunken Master movements to dodge or redirect effectively, resulting in the bounty hunter finally landing a solid hit. The damage itself wasn’t anything to write home about, but at least Falcon could try to build some momentum now.

In fact as soon as the Captain’s feet hit the ground his legs coiled and he launched himself back up into the air to catch Wulong in a ”Ryuuga!” And while still airborne, the bounty hunter pushed himself higher to grab Lei in the air and push off of him with an explosive kick that was his Falcon Dive technique, ”Yes!” This launched Wulong further back and helped move their fight a little further away from the arena’s edge.

Lei tumbled to the ground and didn’t get up for a moment. The Heavenly Principles prevented a combo like this from being an outright knockout this soon in a fight, so maybe he was trying to play possum again? Well, unfortunately the bounty hunter wasn’t falling for it. As such Lei simply kicked himself back onto his feet, no longer using his Drunken Master stance and instead rotated through his animal forms until settling into his Tiger stance. A form that would prove more aggressive than the Snake as he lunged back toward Falcon. The F-Zero pilot threw another fiery disc Ryuugeki Sen, but Lei quickly slid beneath it as a dodge, immediately following up with a series of three upward kicks thrown at Falcon from his back on the ground that managed to reclaim some of the ground that Falcon’s earlier combo had taken.

It was becoming increasingly clear to Captain Falcon that Lei was definitely trying to go for a ring out victory. Almost every one of their exchanges seemed to end with the police detective managing to slip out of Falcon’s grasp and reposition himself to try and push him just a few inches more toward the edge. A moment ago it was perfectly clear that Falcon was obviously the stronger fighter of the two, able to hit harder and faster. But Wulong, with his experience and oftentimes infuriatingly clever footwork and positioning was proving to be one hell of a slippery opponent to deal with.

“Heh, all that speed and power don’t mean squat if you can’t actually land a hit!” jeered the yokai cosplaying as Jin Kazama

“Yeah, for real, the Super Cop’s been controlling the tempo of this fight since the word ‘go’.”

Captain Falcon tried to shake it off and ignore them. But it was becoming harder to do that when they were correctly managing to point out his shortcomings in this particular matchup. Still, he wasn’t going to let some hecklers break his concentration. So perhaps it was time he flipped the script. If Wulong wanted to go for a ring out, then that’s what Falcon would do too. When the detective came at him with a series of aggressive palm strikes via his Tiger stance, Falcon went on the defensive. He stood his ground and Shielded through most of the strikes. But on the final one he performed an evasive roll to reposition him behind Lei to try and completely reverse the ring out threat onto him.

Wulong spun around and decided it was time to toying around. He tightened into a Rage Art, attempting a powerful roundhouse kick that Falcon managed to backflip away from and then reared his fist back for an attempted punishment, ”Falcon…”

Captain Falcon hoped the raw power of his signature move would be enough to send Wulong hurtling over the edge into the water. But the wind-up of his punch proved to be his undoing as the Super Cop sprung his trap. In a twist of fate, Wulong lunged toward Falcon rather than away from him. Using the wind-up time to spring over Falcon’s shoulders as his attack missed its mark, “Payback time.”

”PUNCH!”

As soon as Wulong was repositioned he struck him in the back with his palm only to spin into an elbow strike on the bounty hunter’s kidney before landing a double kick that staggered Falcon closer to the edge. After the second kick, the detective launched into an aerial spin to put as much force and momentum into a forward backhand strike, “Hiyaaaaah!”

As soon as the Falcon Punch missed, Captain Falcon didn’t quite register what was happening until he was already falling face first toward the water after being knocked out of the arena by Lei Wulong. The man really was a Super Cop. Had he intentionally allowed Falcon to reverse their positions so that he could spring a trap to reverse the reversal? If so, that meant he was quite a martial arts genius. He had to have known from the start that he was no match for Falcon in a head-to-head contest, and that outsmarting him was the only way for him to win. Which in the end, was proven to be true.

---

_{LEI WULONG WINS!}

---

Captain Falcon gasped for air as soon he reached the surface of the water. Then he had no choice but to do the swim of shame back to the edge of the arena so he could climb out of the water. Lei Wulong was standing there, breathing heavily with a cheeky victorious grin on his face. But he was nice enough to offer a hand to pull Falcon up out of the water which the Captain accepted.

“What’d I tell ya?” jeered the Jin cosplayer in the audience, “This team was being carried by Terry. Without him they’re cooked!”

There was a cacophony of similar reactions to Falcon’s loss. All of which was impossible to ignore now since the loss was official.

“Ah, don’t let ‘em get to you.” Wulong said, offering a handshake which Falcon accepted, “You know what they say. Everyone’s a critic, am I right?”

”You can say that again…” Falcon said, then gave the man a thumbs up. ”That was a great fight. Been a while since the last time anyone bested me like that. Guess they aren’t kidding about you being a Super Cop, eh?”

“Heh, maybe not.” Wulong said coyly, “But it looks like your wolf friend managed to beat Jun. So it looks like it’s coming down to the kids, now.”

Indeed it was true. Ametarasu’s match against Jun Kazama looked like it was already over, and like Lei said the sun goddess appeared to be the winner there. That meant the rest of the round was going to have to come down to the twins and Asuka. Falcon had hoped not to put that much pressure on the twins for their first round, but what was done was done. All he could do now was watch and hope for the best.

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

Word Count: 1,143
Level 11 Roxas: 65/110
Exp Gained: +2
NEW EXP Balance--- 67/110

College of Winterhold - The Kitchen

After exchanging greetings with Geralt, the Witcher confirmed that he had not encountered any of the other Seekers yet aside from Roxas. Roxas then explained how he met Frederick in the other room and agreed to help him stop his paintings from plotting something bad, and that apparently the rooms change every time one of the doors close and then open.

”Have you looked around here that much yet?” Roxas, and Geralt replied simply by shaking his head. Though he did point to something that Roxas hadn’t seen yet. Two dumbwaiter hatches that were locked tight. Well that was no problem for the Nobody. He summoned a Keyblade and tapped against the hatch door which caused it to unlock itself with a click. After that, Roxas opened it up and carefully looked in. It was like any other dumbwaiter system, and that meant there was more to the Kitchen on the lower level that neither of the two Seekers had seen yet.

”You cover the high ground up here while I go down low?” Roxas asked with a glance back at Geralt who nodded in agreement. The plan was set then. Geralt would continue investigating this section of the Kitchen while Roxas would venture down lower via the dumbwaiter. The Nobody recalled Scamp to his Poke Ball and clipped back to his belt so he’d have plenty of room to squeeze into the dumbwaiter without having to squeeze the Boltund inside with him. Then he used the pulley system and lowered himself down.

When he crawled out of the dumbwaiter, Roxas found himself in a secret room filled with a number of cylindrical cages filled with the bodies of human-like creatures that Roxas couldn’t identify. The only things that made them not human were their grey skin and pointed ears for the most part. And on a far table he saw what looked like an immaculate cookware set. High quality most likely, though Roxas wasn’t knowledgeable enough in cooking to appreciate this fact. Though it did look like it could cook some pretty good meals. But it was also cumbersome so he wasn’t particularly interested in taking it or anything.

There was, however, one implement that looked distinguished from the rest. It was a Butcher’s Cleaver, a wide rectangular chopping knife that looked like it could remove chunks of flesh or metal alike. Could be useful to someone as a tool or weapon. So Roxas tentatively picked the Cleaver up and stored it in the largest space in his bag.

Item Obtained

Butchers Cleaver
A weapon that deals high slash damage and always lops off a bit of meat from whatever it hits, or scrap metal if it strikes against armor or robots.

Of course, now that Roxas thought about it, with all the bodies in the cages and this cooking set at the center of it all. It did give him uncomfortable thoughts about where the College was getting its food from. He made a mental note to him to not eat any meat from this place as he hurriedly made his way back into the dumbwaiter, eager to get out of this creepy room. He climbed and used the pulley to work his way back up to the main level.

By the time he climbed out of the dumbwaiter, Roxas was greeted with the sight of Geralt with his arm elbow-deep in the mouth of a dead pig. ”W-What?” Roxas said, clearly surprised and taken aback by the brutal-looking sight. He knew Geralt was investigating the main level but he didn’t expect the Witcher to be quite this… thorough about it.

“There’s something… lodged in the back of the pig’s throat.” Geralt grunted, sparing the Roxas details as he finally dislodged his hand from the pig’s body. In it he grasped a medallion, meaning that he was right about there being something lodged in the pig’s mouth that he had been digging out.

”Eugh, right…” Roxas said as he tentatively stepped closer, ”So… what is it?”

Geralt merely shrugged, “No idea.” The Witcher admitted, “It’s magical, I can guess that much. But I can’t be sure of the specifics.”

”Then I guess we’ll need to let Sectonia try to identify it for us.” Roxas said, then after a moment of thought he took the medallion from Geralt. He looked around but couldn’t see any sinks, so he did the next thing he could and used one of the spare burlap sacks to wipe the medallion more or less clean, ”There, at least it’s clean… mostly. And… maybe let’s not tell Sectonia where we found it when we show it to her?” The Nobody knew Sectonia could be rather particular about appearances and gross-out factor, so showing her a medallion stained with pig blood probably wouldn’t go over well, hence his efforts to clean it up.

Item Obtained

Ravenous Medallion
A charmed piece of jewelry that makes every door its holder opens lead to The Dining Room.

Geralt shrugged but ultimately nodded in agreement. After that, both Seekers decided that they’d probably found everything that was worth finding in this room and so it was probably time to go to another one. They settled on opening the door directly across the room from the one that Roxas entered through. But before they did, Roxas jogged back to the door he entered and snatched up the doorstop Frederick gave him. He definitely didn’t want to leave that behind. With the items in hand, the two Seekers approached the double doors across the way and opened them both up.

The Dining Room

In front of Roxas lay a long, high hall that featured six tables, each able to seat four people and set for a grand feast. A counter laden with more food, buffet-style, ran along the center of the room atop a red carpet. Overhead, a perpendicular walkway connected two sets of double doors, bringing the number of entrances to the room to four total. Finally, four chandeliers hung overhead, providing ample light.

A truly dreadful, downright appalling smell greeted Roxas the moment he entered, however. The food set out for a banquet was unlike anything he'd ever seen before, but after his exploration of the Kitchen he could begin to guess. Platters of grisly looking fare, gray pies and gray puddings and large cuts of gray meat, gave off a profound sickly-sweet odor. Presiding over this grotesque buffet was the Feastmaster, a bloated being in faded, one-fine clothes, with oily, stringy hair and a face without eyes.

Nevertheless he seemed to notice Roxas and Geralt, and turned toward them to beckon them closer as he called out in an uproarious voice. "We feast the coronation of the new king! We have even prepared a new delicacy for the occasion, the flesh of an exotic and recently discovered creature. None shall refuse this banquet. None!"

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

Word Count: 1,149
Level 6 Captain Falcon: 95/60
Exp Gained: +2
NEW EXP Balance--- 97/60

Esaka, The Pools

Captain Falcon and Lei had already moved several paces away from where the teams had been standing together in order to give themselves space to inevitably square off. The bounty hunter was quick to notice the badge that was clipped to the waistband of Lei's pants. The man was obviously a cop or lawman of some kind. And being something of a lawbringer himself, Cap had to give some respect to the detective he was now about to face.

In the audience, several yokai began to recall Falcon’s match against Lee Dao-Long of the Breakers Team. “That Captain’s been gettin’ lucky, mark my words.” sneered one particular viewer wearing a Jin Kazama costume.

“Well, those three ARE from the Tekken Dojo.” added someone else in reluctant agreement.

“Not just ANY Tekken fighters,” The Jin Cosplayer said, “They’re the Kazama’s! That makes them related to King Heihachi himself! And Wulong ain’t no slouch either! He’s called the Super Cop for a reason! Without Terry this team’s cooked!”

”Best of luck to you, Officer.” Falcon said as he performed his opening stretches, trying his best to ignore the jeers he could pick up on.

The detective paused his own stretches as if confused a moment before seemingly remembering that his badge was visible on his waistline, offering a sheepish grin. “Ah, right. Uh, you too, Captain.” Then he put himself through a series of rapid katas, seeming to cycle between a handful of animal forms before settling on the Snake, widening the stance of his legs while his flattened hands were pointed forward at different angles to mimic the appearance of a snake preparing to lunge.

Captain Falcon threw a few phantom punches of his own before tightening and settling into his own trademarked fighting stance. ”Show me your moves!”

---

_{CAPTAIN FALCON VS. LEI WULONG
READY… GO!}

---

When Lei didn't immediately go to strike, the purpose of his chosen stance became slightly more apparent. He was still assessing his opponent and very likely decided that trading blows was not the best of course of action. Falcon himself vaguely registered the animal-based forms the detective had moved through but wasn’t too familiar with the specifics of them. As such his choice was to just move in and test the waters.

Cap lunged forward a step, pausing briefly to try and feint Lei out before committing to a double spin kick. And it was surprising when Lei opted to not dodge, but instead used his snake stance hands to catch Falcon’s leg on the second and redirect the momentum to his side. And not a split second after Falcon was able to orient himself into a landing, he found himself taking a series of rapid palm strikes against his ribs and chest, barely able to back away before Lei’s finishing spin kick could catch him across the head.

”So that’s the game…” Falcon muttered to himself as he quickly recovered from Lei’s counterattack. This told him that the detective was likely unable to take Falcon’s techniques head on and was instead focusing on evasion over raw power. In that case, the Captain would just have to counter speed with speed. Falcon lunged again, this time not bothering to try a feint. He launched a series of rapid punches, weak individually but capable of quickly building cumulative damage if enough of them connected.

Lei leaned out of the first punch’s path before catching the second one by striking at his opponent’s wrist with his palm to redirect it elsewhere. And he managed this for the following several punches as well, beginning to showcase why he was famously known as the Super Cop as he went on the counterattack, managing to land a double palm strike square against Falcon’s chest that sent the bounty hunter staggering back several paces. But unlike before, Lei didn’t end his offense there. He sprinted a few steps and then spun his whole body into a series of three fullbody roundhouse kicks that his fans knew as the Tornado Kick technique.

Cap barely had time to avoid the incoming trio of kicks, doing so requiring to go on the backfoot as he retreated step after step. But a glance behind him reminded the F-Zero pilot that ringout rules applied. If the detective managed to back him up far enough he could try to win by ringout rather than needing to overpower his techniques. So Cap instinctively flung his arm, ”Ryuugeki Sen!” and he threw a fire disc Lei’s way. The cop dodged easily enough, but Cap was using that to give himself a moment to try and lunge forward again. This time he went sailing into Lei with an electrified ”Knee Of Justice!”

Wulong tried to redirect the attack like he’d done previously, but the lightning infusion made that harder to do and he wound up getting knocked back a step instead, and even fully fell onto the arena floor as well! But something about this was off, as Cap was quick to assess. His Knee smash hadn’t been quite that powerful, so it seemed a bit suspicious that the detective would take a fall from it. Cautiously he swept his leg, ”Ryuugeki Sen!” and sent a low fire disc at Lei’s prone body. But Lei rolled out of the way to the side and then literally spring-kicked himself back onto his feet. But something was off again. His stance looked… weak and downright unstable as he appeared to wobble back and forth lazily.

Cap knew there was no way he could have been weakened this early on. If anything he looked like he suddenly had far too much to drink. Cap lunged and unleashed a series of rapid kicks, ”Gen’ei Kyaku!” that Lei just lazily and drunkenly pivoted around. His erratic movements had successfully made him a lot harder to read and lock onto. Just then Captain Falcon heard the familiar sound of a shower of gold coins that he recognized as the signature technique that the twins used to knock out Abigail. And unfortunately the sight of it off to the side in another part of the arena was enough to distract Falcon for a fraction of a second.

And that was all Lei needed as he lunged into a double rotation, each one delivering a palm strike on Captain Falcon before the Super Cop grabbed the pilot’s shoulders and jumped up to deliver a double leg kick square on Falcon’s chest that send him sprawling across the arena floor and dangerously closer to the arena’s edge. And then he resumed his seemingly drunken movements as he watched Cap stagger back to his feet. Between his ability to change his fighting style seemingly on a whim and one of them being this erratic and unpredictable Drunken Master style, Captain Falcon was suddenly realizing what bind he was finding himself caught in right now…

To Be Continued

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

Team Seekers of Fight: The Sequel

With Captain Falcon, Amaterasu, and the Bogard Twins
Word Count: 1721 (+3)

Day two of Pools was officially in full swing. No announcements from the Four Kings were necessary to kick the action off today; the minute the clock struck nine, eager contestants kicked off the first batch of qualifier matches. Though these bouts were still a far cry from the intensity (or publicity) of Sunday’s Top 8 matches, the stakes were definitely higher for today’s fights. For Low-Tier fighters, getting this far was a sign that they might actually stand a chance at getting results, even if only in Losers. If they had only been trying their luck before, they would need to lock in and doggedly pursue victory. For the more likely candidates, they could not afford to rest on their laurels. There were still plenty of unknown, volatile up-and-comers who could knock them down a peg if they weren’t careful.

Stronger competitors meant stronger competition, and better spectatorship. Esaka’s populace knew it, so compared to day one, many more citizens and yokai turned up to watch. For now, their number included Bartholomew and Marguerite Bogard, perched up the precipice of the Middle Tier overlooking the King of Fighters division of the Pools tier. From there, they could see it all: every punch thrown, every sweep and anti-air, every teched throw and explosive counterhit. For a couple of kids insulated within the Lost Numbers colony or aboard the Avenger most of their lives, such spectacle was exhilarating. They weren’t just here to watch, though, nor even to fight, but to win. Today, thanks to their grandfather’s sudden and mystifying disappearance, the burden of saving the world fell on their narrow shoulders. And having already stretched, dressed themselves to the nines, and psyched themselves up, the two were ready. Neither Bart nor Marg planned to let their teammates down today.

Amaterasu lay on her belly just a little bit to their side, claws hooking the edge of the drop, snout leaning down into it as she observed the combat below, though she was not particularly focused on that observation. The water droplets from the light drizzle speckling her glossy white coat seemed to only enhance its radiance, as if to spite the overcast skies. Like the sky, her mind was lightly clouded with memories of how she had let the side down the previous day. Not only had she not actually won a match yet, only endured, she also had been in the team who’d lost track of Terry, only to then also expose themselves to the local Consul.

That none of these things had led to disaster was a combination of chance and hard effort by her allies, and she could not stand to rely on such things today. She would pull her weight and more so.

Captain Falcon stood nearby, arms crossed in solemn thought. There was no backing out of letting the twins fight now, as the substitution had now been finalized. For better or worse, they were on this team now. And whatever worry the F-Zero pilot had for their lives was just going to have to be replaced with faith in their abilities. He finally broke the silence. ”Remember,” he said, ”These aren’t going to be like normal fights. You’ll be under the effects of the Heavenly Principles. Your shields will only block attacks from straight ahead of you. The power of your attacks will probably feel weak at first due to the overall damage reduction, so you’ll need to get used to that and adjust your strategies accordingly when you need to.”

He sighed a bit and added, ”And mind the time limit - 90 seconds. If you’re not paying close enough attention to it, your opponent could potentially wait out the clock and win by decision.” He didn’t advise any more than that for now, not wanting to come across as patronizing - but still, he wanted to ensure they were aware of the basic rules at least. ”This was usually the part where Terry could tell us about who we’re up against. Since he’s… absent… I would advise us all to pay closer attention to the other matches wherever we can so we can learn about our potential future opponents.”

Although a little false bravado might lift the mood a bit and give the team a more optimistic outlook, the Bogard kids weren’t foolhardy. It was just now really sinking in for them how out of their depth they’d be today. In addition to being strangers to Esaka, its fighters, and its rules, they had to contend with the Heavenly Principles. So far, the power of their grandparents, borne of pure elemental earth magic and the notion of Preservation itself, had been a potent enough trump card to save their skins whenever they needed it. Now, their abilities were subject to the adjustment of an unknown entity. Even if they preferred to rely on their own skill rather than raw power, it was a scary thought.

At the same time, though, neither Bart nor Marg were about to let anxiety devour them. They didn’t know much about the King of Fighters tournament, but they did know that only two of the three competitors actually needed to win to advance the team. Still, they wouldn’t be satisfied with coasting by on Amaterasu and Falcon’s coattails. They were going to win.

“Thanks for the advice, Cap,” Bart told Falcon.

“No matter how long it takes, we’ll play patient and whittle them down,” Marg explained. “There are plenty of ‘zoners’ in Esaka, right? If we play our cards right, they won’t so much as touch us.”

Ameterasu cocked her head to the side in thought for a moment. Then she turned the world into her canvas, dipped her brush into the pools down below and wrote in the sky the warning “Then is known strategy" in text as stylish and stylised as possible as if that would make up the indignity caused by her four word limit.

Seeing her warning, Marg shrugged. “Well, it's what we’ve got. Plus, the people here in Esaka have been fighting for what, two hundred years? Nothing new under the sun.”

The wolf gave a little head tilt that somewhat conveyed an attitude of “I suppose” but internally she at least hoped that the sun herself might be able to throw them a little off guard.

”Well, we’d better get down there ourselves.” Falcon reminded them, ”Getting eliminated because of tardiness would be rather embarrassing, don’t you think?”

That went without saying, so the kids got a move on without a word, their teammates following right behind. A lift down to the Pools tier happened to be less than a minute’s travel away, although given the time of day it was so jam-packed with competitors and spectators on their way to the qualifiers that the team could scarcely cram in. Once they did wedge themselves in amongst the musclebound brawlers, masked ninjas, and other fighters, a quick ride down brought them to the watery expanse of arenas and walkways that would bear witness to the Seekers’ rise or fall. Having already used a bulletin board to familiarize themselves with their designated arena -as well as the names of their prospective opponents- the four knew just where to go.

Today, the King of Fighters contingent had the privilege of scrapping atop a rather high-profile arena. Five statues of ancient Chinese warriors, each easily twenty-five feet tall, stood in the water holding ropes that worked together to suspend a disk-shaped stage, accessible via wooden walkway from one side and large enough to accommodate three duels at once. One of the biggest and fanciest battlefields in the Pools tier, this stage tended to draw a decent crowd, with a number of citizens and yokai perched atop the surrounding statues for premium viewing. Whether they liked it or not, it looked like Team Seekers of Fight would be subject to a lot of publicity.

Furthermore, their opponents were already here. Amaterasu in particular would recognize the elegant, reserved Jun Kazama with her raven-black hair and flowing white dress, although her presence here meant that the gentle-looking woman was in truth a foe to be taken seriously. At the lady’s side stood her niece, the tough and feisty Japanese brunette Asuka Kazama who the Seekers might be a bit more hard-pressed to recognize as Sakura’s counterpart in the Asuka/Lily-Sakura/Karin rivalry. Finally, the rough-and-tumble Chinese detective Lei Wulong completed the trio, a hard-boiled gumshoe with Jun’s years of experience and Asuka’s raw gumption. These were fighters from Tekken, a High-Tier dojo, and beating them would be no mean feat.

Amaterasu padded up the walkway with head held high, ignoring the jeering coming from a certain Yokai who had tried to steal the letter of recommendation from Jun Kazama, before seating herself down opposite the woman in a clear indication of her desire to face off against the woman. This would be her trial, the cliff to test her new resolve. Not just in terms of martial prowess but also, perhaps even more so, in terms of setting aside her fears of harming the undeserving, for none were less deserving than the charitable woman across from her.

Captain Falcon stepped forward a pace further than where his team stood, a silent indication that he was indeed the captain of this particular team. It wasn’t hard to see who Amaterasu preferred to fight, so the Captain went ahead and let her square off with Jun if she so desired. And between the remaining two Tekken fighters, it seemed pretty obvious that the detective was the one he was going to fight here. That at least would give the twins an opponent closer to their age range to fight in their first round. This would also be Cap’s oldest opponent thus far. Kung Fu Girl and Lee were both pretty students of their arts. This man, on the other hand, seemed a fair bit more experienced and wizened. Of course one could only glean so much from appearances alone.