ToadRopes

SUPER SMASH BROS.: Fallen Heroes

Peach knelt on the ground as Pac-Man asked her in his NAMCO bleeps and blips if she was okay. "Nothing physical," Peach said. "Inside, though... I feel somewhat empty.

She stood up and watched the air-skiff soar away. "They shouldn't put fighters in such small cages like that," she continued. "It's a shame to see what our world has come to. I suppose this whole tournament got way out of hand."

Peach looked out into the distance. "Still, I wish to release those poor fighters from those cages," she said. "Perhaps the dog would mellow out once free from its cramped confines." She then jumped off the platform, appraising before her the long series of floating islands that she would have to traverse. The skiff was moving rather slowly, mostly due to the unstable nature of the craft; it would be somewhat bad for the drivers if they were to lose their quarry to the force of gravity.

Peach decided to attempt to catch up to the skiff, and ran, heels clicking, to cross the floating islands. She jumped on a small floating boulder and attempted to regain her balance, before jumping to another, opening her parasol and floating gently to the next;.

Fire Emblem - The Reclaimers of Peace

Jeanne Robina; Basilmeron Castle

---

Jeanne smirked. "Rightly so," she declared, "for apparently I'm an infamous highwaywoman known and hated amongst the wealthy. Or, in my eyes, hated amongst the greedy and somewhat worried-about amongst the somewhat-less-greedy. But don't worry, I hold myself to a set of moral standards."

She stepped out into the courtyard. "So, what are we looking at, here? Looks like we won't be lacking in the magic and wizardry department, eh?" Jeanne remarked, placing a gloved hand on her right hip. "Might as well get to know a few people, or rather let them get to know me. Since I've been branded a brigand, my hopes aren't high of starting off on the right foot with these fellows."

Jeanne stood up straighter; though still somewhat on the average side in height, she held an air of dignity that most thieves, bandits, and brigands did not. She wasn't a loot-rape-and-pillage kind of criminal, no, not by a long shot. She was more along the lines of a noble highwayman, if such a thing existed. (Which, likely, it didn't until Jeanne Robina entered the life of crime. At least, that's what she likes to think.)

She decided to start out big. Standing in the middle of the courtyard, Jeanne puffed her chest out and began to speak.

"Well, now that we got the formalities out of the way," she declared, "I think I'd like to start off by saying that I have no intention of picking any of your pockets. At least, out in the open." She tagged on a little joke, though coming from an infamous thief, that, in the eyes of her peers, probably wouldn't come off as a joke. "Some of you may know of me, some of you may not. That mostly depends on how the artists decide to screw up my eyes when they pen my portraits to put a price over my head. Those of you who have seen the lovely posters featuring my face and a series of numbers will most likely recognize me. Jeanne Robina, at your service." She made an extravagant bow, throwing her torso at a ridiculously low angle and placing an exaggerated arm on her back.

It was somewhat paradoxical. Could you trust a thief who tells the truth?

"Don't all stone me at once," she added with a laugh. "I'd like to save a bit of my body for my good friends Gallows and Guillotine."

---

Habeen Nocta; Basilmeron Castle Courtyard

---

Habeen toyed with her various bony embellishments, running a finger on a weathered canine on her wolf-jaw armband. The dark-skinned wanderer had thought it a fine idea to travel with the Reclaimers on their mission of peace, mostly as a valet to see this nation, its people, its practices, et cetera. She was a folk magician, but the type of magic she practiced, her contemporaries branded as "dark magic." Which was fine by Habeen; as these folks didn't know much about Habeen's practices, it wasn't technically wrong to call it dark magic.

Nevertheless, Habeen always looked cheerful, even while working alone.

And so, as the tactician greeted her, Habeen gave him a chipper smile. "Habeen Nocta," she said. "Folk magician. It's always pleasant to meet new faces. Though I have to say, there are quite a few mages gathered around here. Myself included, I suppose." She laughed. "Tactician, eh? Well, here's to hoping that we're in good hands."

Fire Emblem - The Reclaimers of Peace

@Crimson Raven

Quote me and find out.

Fire Emblem - The Reclaimers of Peace

@Lugubrious...in living color
Let me take you for a ride
Yes, I'm live in living color!
So sit back and let me be your TV guide!

I couldn't resist.

SUPER SMASH BROS.: Fallen Heroes

@IntrepidIt's fine

Verthaven: Moved to a higher level of existence

Injae Park

---

"Unfortunately," Ratchet hollered back, breaking into a run, "our asses are directly connected to the rest of our bodies, all of which we would very much like to keep to ourselves. So I'm going to have to say no on that one."

"Don't give them any ideas," Kate hissed.

"Hey, they can bite my shiny metal ass."

"Your butt isn't even made of metal."

"Exactly. They aren't gonna catch us--WHOA, NELLY!" Ratchet heard gunshots from behind her. One thing that sucks about being tall: you're a larger target. Ratchet dashed to the side and hunched over. Thankfully, the Fiend who just tried to kill them only had two bullets left in the magazine, both of which Ratchet had the sense to move out of the way of. (Good thing that she quite towered over Kate as well; otherwise Kate would've taken those bullets to the head.)

Then again, he did send his mutant cronies after our friends.

Ratchet heard the warping noise of uneven footsteps. She looked behind her; the first thing she saw was the fellow with the newly-grown stilts. "This much trouble for a few kids?" Ratchet snorted, her gaze turning to the gentle lady who had recently taken up the profession of reaping, and therefore acquired the equipment to do so. "Who do they think they are? And why doesn't someone call the cops? Well, besides the obvious reason that these chaps order their victims to hand over their cell phones."

"Ratchet, help!" Winston cried. He was about to run into a wall.

Ratchet twirled her wheel and flicked her wrist, disrupting the atoms around Winston and causing him to accelerate in such a manner that his path ran directly parallel to the wall.

"I gotcha, bro," Ratchet called. "At least until you learn to turn yourself."

"Is this really the time to be saying things like that?!"

"Admittedly not! You know I get sassy when I'm nervous!"

Ratchet turned back to Jennifer. "I should hope that it's better!" Ratchet snapped. "Getting heckled and then outright attacked by not one but two gangs can REALLY put a damper on your mood!"

Ratchet and her family continued to run back towards the mainland. Thankfully, they made progress. Ratchet looked back at Jennifer again. "You're probably wondering where we're going. To be honest... I haven't the foggiest idea, I'm just trying to lose the guys," she said, catching her breath. She glanced back at their gaining pursuers. "Can't imagine these folks are born like that, unless they're really, really genetically modified circus clowns or farmers. Which, of course, I doubt they are," Ratchet remarked.

Winston grabbed onto a lamppost and swung around twice before coming to a halt. "This is so horrifying," Winston complained. "It's fine if you're watching it all from behind a screen--"

"You mean like with those militant--"

"Let me rephrase that. This ain't League of Legends."

"Oh, yes. And I bet that next you'll tell me that apartments aren't made of paper and crayon like they are in Elmo's World. Of course this isn't a game, Winnie!" Ratchet cried.

"If this was a game, we'd have power-ups," Kate said.

"What I wouldn't do for a goddam Fire Flower right now. Besides give up my good arm."

Winston folded his arms. "Can't you just use your powers to move a truck and slam it into those guys?"

"That isn't how my power works, Winston. Do you want me to get a hernia?" Ratchet sniffed.

"Well, we are running out of options..."

"Don't tell me you just said 'yes' on the hernia thing!"

"I didn't! Wait. Can you make them stop moving?"

"Too many widespread cells; the human body is too diffuse for my kinetokinesis to affect it."

Ratchet threw her hands in the air. "We need to keep moving," she muttered. "Otherwise, we'll never lose them. And let's try to avoid alleyways, that's how people die in the movies..."

Fire Emblem - The Reclaimers of Peace

@Lugubrious

I agree with both of the above; the between-battle banter and the conversations that take place in combat and out lend to some great emotional, plot, and humorous material. That said, I'd like to see some support conversations between characters.

SUPER SMASH BROS.: Fallen Heroes

As the last of the Toads fell off the stage, Peach collapsed to the ground. The sheer weight of her emotions, combined with the stressful battle against dark clones of her retainers, had taken its toll upon the princess. She breathed heavily.

As she lay, the dark clouds seemed to shift as a gray air-skiff soared into view. Peach looked up as she heard the whine of the air-skiff's engines. Her eyes widened as she spotted the skiff's contents: two cages, one too small with a morose, blue frog, and the other rattling with a mouth-foaming, vicious basset hound.

GRENINJA

DUCK HUNT

It seems that the XIII had captured two rogue fighters; one seemed quite resigned, the other, quite furious. Peach looked on and thought it might be the relative titchiness of the cages themselves; confinement behind iron bars could make anybody sullen or savage. Peach, however, could not find the strength to get back up.

Meanwhile, Wario, sitting behind the ruin, gnashed his teeth. "Weh... Weh-weh..." he snorted. He thought in anger how the Fallen had succumbed to their violent passions and the most ruthless had clawed their way to the top, subjugating the weaker ones. Wario resented being one of those weak ones. All he wanted was money. Money, money, money...

Perhaps it was not merely money; perhaps it was security Wario sought, and the only security he could think of was of the financial sort.

Whether due to a passionate spite of the XIII or to some other driving force, Wario felt compelled to chase after the air-skiff. "Grr..." Wario growled, pulling out his Wario Bike and jumping on the seat, revving the engine. He glared madly at the air-skiff before gunning the engine and driving off the edge of the platform he was on.

Massive Multiversal Crossover

Dr. Facilier--Castle Tepes

Dr. Facilier looked around. "Hey, where did everybody go?" the bokur wondered.

He had missed the whole ice-moon thing.

Facilier rapped on the door himself, waiting for an answer. "Anybody home?" he asked.

Morgan--Public Library

"...So you're saying that I was pulled out of my own universe and into the multiverse in which all variations of realities coexist with one another?" Hanratty asked.

"That's the long and short of it, I suppose," Morgan replied.

"I have to admit, I find that a little hard to believe," Hanratty remarked.

"Well, it happened to me, too, when I first left my home universe," Morgan said. "You know, the day I got pulled into the multiverse wasn't the first time I had crossed the threshold of space and time."

"Really, now?" Hanratty asked. "Do tell."

Morgan told Hanratty about the Ruins of Time and the coming of the Ylissean guard. She told Hanratty about her father Robin and how she had no memories of him.

"You don't remember your father?" Hanratty asked. "Gee, must be a pretty sorry existence..."

"It's all right," Morgan said, shrugging. "At least I was able to spend time with him until... you know." Morgan gestured out the library window. "So where are you from?"

"Where I'm from," Hanratty explained, "people burst into song in key moments of passion and emotion, as if our lives were on some sort of musical theatre. In fact, one of my partners at the F.B.I., a former master of check fraud, put on a show for the people at the Miami Airport about his life."

"Sounds like an interesting way to live," Morgan commented, leaning back on her chair and crossing her legs.

Verthaven: Moved to a higher level of existence

Injae Park

---

"We should totally--"

BANG! BANG!

Way to ruin the moment. Ratchet immediately jumped, skidding on her roller blades again. Kate and Winston ran to catch her and prevent her from cracking her head. "MOTHER OF PEARL!" Ratchet yelled.

"Are you okay?" Winston asked.

Ratchet struggled back to her feet. "I'm fine," she muttered, ripping out the key on her fiberglass arm. "We need to split," she said, as the burly man roared orders (peppered with obscenities).

Ratchet was no military-weapon-expert, so all she saw was "scary-metal-gun-with-dangerous-looking-bullets." Hearing the shots, she turned and saw the black dots flying into the air. She couldn't concentrate on the bullets, but maybe she could work with her wheel; after all, she had some good kinetic energy going there.

"Aren't festivals supposed to be fun?" asked Kate, running in the direction opposite of the entrance of the Fiends.

"Yes, they're supposed to be," Ratchet muttered through gritted teeth. She winced as she spotted a falling bullet embed itself into someone's forehead. "Je-sus!"

Ratchet said to Jennifer, "I'm certainly not removing the contents of my pockets for these buffoons." Her wheel still spun. "I think we should turn around and leave, since, putting it lightly, right now I'm liking Rosalina the character better than Rosalina the isle."

"Those guys are scary," Kate whimpered.

Ratchet removed her roller blades and gave them to Winston. "Run--er, roll! I'll give you a head start!" she said, as her brother frantically slipped on the skates. "Are you comfortable? Yes? No? No time! GO!" Ratchet violently flicked her wrist as Winston strapped the last Velcro strip on the roller skate. Winston yelped as Ratchet used her kinetic-energy power to push him away. Ratchet then grabbed Kate's hand and looked around frantically.

"Jen! Follow us," Ratchet called, turning around and dashing in her socks in the direction from whence they came. Ratchet wanted to minimize the amount of trouble that she got into. "Don't listen to what the buff guy's sayin', it'll slow you down."

Ratchet wasn't quite sure how to deal with gunmen, since she hadn't had much experience with gun-toting gangs. Both the cities of Black Fall and Amherst had their share of shady characters, but Ratchet tended to stay away from those folks. That being said, she had her share of flack for her metal arm, and she felt that these wild gang-bangers were inflated bullies. Um, with guns. Yeah.

That, of course, didn't make them any less dangerous, since a bullet is a bullet no matter who shoots it.

"Does this sort of thing happen a lot?" Ratchet called to Jennifer, as she guided Kate away from the chaos.