“The villains may have gotten away now, but soon their time will be up!” Mirage and his dupe dashed through what was left of the greenery, the dark blanket of void doing nothing to calm the anxiety he felt. All he could do was let the Power of Red attempt to comfort him through some twisted attempt at self-therapy.
“Our heroes’ sacrifices will not go unremembered, and their deaths will be avenged with justice!” Another decoy came to assure as the previous simply vanished into the night.
Not again.
It was all that flooded his mind as he swung through the sparse trees and occasionally building. Twice now, Wraith had saved him by taking most of the hits, more directly this time than the last. That drill thing was pretty powerful, he had seen it just tear through that armor that she had. He could only assume that the blue glow from earlier in the fight was where they lost Bloodhound to that Dekugo person? People? Perpeople? Something like that. They must have barely managed to take that weirdo out.
All that matters is being the last one alive.
The ringing of that line in his head sent him tumbling in the grass, finally realizing how long he had been in a daze as he laid out in an open field. The Power of Red finally faded as he came to his senses. His whole body hurt, especially the insides, though from the physical or emotional turmoil he couldn’t tell. He was covered with scratches, bruises, and lots of sore spots. It had been hours since the bloodshed, and he hadn’t even checked what he had looted from his friends and enemies.
“Only a few squads left and I’m on my own? Nothing stressful about that…”
There were no stars in the sky to give him company, no moon to guide him in the night, nothing but the void and the blades of grass beneath him. Wraith would’ve liked this a lot better than he did.
With a groan, he pushed the thought out of his mind and turned his attention to the duffel of loot. It was time to see what it was all for.
“Not too bad, a bit too much for just me now, but I think I can rock this crown at least.”
He held it up, seeing the note attached to it. It was probably too dark to read anyway. For now, if he was going to be the champion, he might as well wear the crown and show off his good side. For the fans of course.
After tossing the note aside, the trickster simply fashioned the adornment to his head shifting about and sending out a decoy to check out how he looked, only to be suddenly met with shimmering light. Maybe he should have read that note…
Mirage swung his new assets about, getting a full glimpse on each side with his duplicate beside him. It seemed that the crown did a lot more than just make his head look good. Better yet, he couldn’t even feel the soreness from earlier, and that’s on top of him looking like he just took a fresh shower and spa break.
He felt stronger as he examined his new turtle shell back and tail, the new sets of sharp teeth and claws, his nails were even done! And finally, the best part, his eyes sparkled as he realized the other obvious change to himself. He was a handsome lady! Not that he wasn’t handsome before, but maybe the quick clean up and pair of breasts he now got to look at without shame definitely brought up his mood. Though he supposed it was her mood now. Gotta make sure to get in the right mindset of the pronouns.
“This is definitely gonna get the party started. Now I can have fangirls AND fanboys. High five me!”
“HIGH FIVE, FRIEND!” Her decoy shimmered and disappeared as Pathfinder passed through it to fulfill the legend’s request.
“Who- wait, you? Then that means- where-” Mirage panicked, clutching at her newfound breasts in fear.
“Right behind you, skinbag.” Came the grave voice he knew to stay away from.
“PLEASE DON’T EAT ME, YOU WOULD HATE THE TASTE OF TURTLES, TRUST ME!” Mirage jumped about, getting some distance before turning to face the duo.
Revenant could only sigh before giving his demand with that familiar snide leer. “Sure, as long as you hand over what you have, nobody gets eaten.”
“And how do I know you won’t eat me afterward?”
“We don’t have mouths, friend!”
“That- that’s a good point actually. Wait, how about we team up, huh guys?” The legend quipped anxiously. Maybe she could try something, Pathfinder was pretty gul-- galli- easy to trick, right?
Mirage attempted to squish his chest up and shook his shoulders in a rather awkward manner over to the robot. “Maybe you could uh, let me join you guys? I’m a great shot and uh.. “ she started to feel more comfortable, suddenly taking an upright pose. “ I mean, I look great don’t I?”
The two robotic beings stared at Mirage for a second.
“I don’t know what you are doing friend, but you can always count on me!”
“Hmph.” Revenant didn’t seem to even want to dignify the trickster with a response. At least he had another meatshield, and this time actually true to it's name.
Mirage glanced around awkwardly for a moment. “So, it’s a deal then, sweet! Here, do you guys have anything already, maybe we can trade or something.”
Revenant looked down at his wrist, and in one swift motion, slid the bracelet off and tossed it into the air at Mirage, causing her to fumble with it for a moment. Was that, yarn?
"Does it do anything?" She asked.
"Yeah, it makes a real nice garrote wire."
Mirage chuckled nervously, a grimace on her face. As she looked down she realized her hair was a bit longer than before, now long enough to get in the way of her vision.
"I'll just uh, keep it like this then." After messing with it in his hair for a bit, she managed to make a small bow and tie her hair back.
"Perfect. Now how about we get ready for the last ring closing in? This is gonna be great, let's fight!"
Though her heart soared again, Mirage could've sworn she heard a familiar voice.
All that matters is being the last one alive.