The Princess of Flavor’s grin fell lopsided, as she brought up both arm cannon and Emperor, loosing a storm of shots swiftly deflected by a grinning twelve with a shield built of blackened blood.
“Now now, I’m the masochist here. I’m far too greedy to share with him.”
“Keep it PG-13, 12. We’re on the clock, and the Acid-woman’s given us enough problems.”
“Wait, is PG-12 a thing?”
“Focus, or-”
Number twenty didn’t get a chance to finish the sentence as he was nearly doubled over by a solid Kick from the back by Flavor, the armored boot of her power-suit slamming straight into the small of his back, as he gave a groan.
“Sneaky…”
“I’m like, half-assassin, so of course I am.” Flavor replied, giving a grin. “The helmet’s a hassle, but if you all keep being so gosh-darn durable, I’m glad I’ve kept the rest of the suit on!” the fusion taunted, before disappearing from view again a split-second before a volley of blackened knives filleted her previous position.
The Princess gave a daring grin to the group. “But it’s both nice and a shame to meet such good friends! After all, I’m a pretty big friendship appreciator, ya know?” the girl taunted, only to be met with a surprising kick from behind, a powerful boot slamming into the back of the girl’s head and leaving her sprawling forward.
“Leaving yourself open there a bit. Don’t think you’ll be staying long at this rate.”
Flavor cursed, turning around with a glare. Her senses were enhanced beyond a normal beings, so how-
“You look like you feel tricked. Something wrong, little miss?” a feminine voice called out, as someone wearing what Flavor recognized as a stage magician’s outfit came out. All red, just like the rest.
The Princess looked at the hat she held in her hands, and in her strange mind, all facts immediately came to an immediate conclusion.
“You pulled him like a rabbit out of that hat!” She called out matter-of-factly, pointing straight to Fourteen, and to the white-haired woman’s surprise.
“I-err-yes.” the woman replied, surprised by the directness of Flavor’s statement. “Congratulations?
Flavor grinned, stumbling forward, as she realized all of them took this time to get into an optimal position around her. Spinning blades of blood, a powerful punch, and another kick followed suit to strike the fusion.
The Princess laughed, as all the strikes hit air, and she stepped into the shadows again, prepared to appear behind the trio of physical fighters…
Only to instead teleported into an iron box.
“But have you heard of this trick? Where one person gets into a coffin, but…”
Flavor’s eyes widened as the coffin opened, and a Blade of blackened blood speared through her shoulder.
“Well, someone else pops out. But I think you get the idea.” Fourteen added with a vicious smile, as Twelve twisted his bloodied dagger with a manic grin.
The strike would’ve left even a veteran fighter screaming in pain, as twelve struck, but Flavor’s face only contained a smiling maw filled with burning fire.
Twelve jumped back just in time to avoid becoming human barbecue, the flames singing and licking through the arm of his uniform, but Flavor was on him without pause, and nailed the youth with a burn across his arm from the arm cannon.
Twenty struck with a hard fist, but Flavor countered with a charge from her shoulder - not enough to push the man off his feet, but enough to push him back.
Flavor couldn’t believe it. Four-on-one was rough, sure, but it was also
exciting!.
Flavor was so many things at once, had so many powers at once - and in this moment, this second, she finally had an opportunity to use them. Opponents that pushed her to her limit and
past it.
And
hell if her entire existence was going to end in disappointment, as she leaped back, driving the group of enemies back with a carpet of flame. She was going to make damn sure she showed everything she had in this contest.
No.
She was going to make damn sure she was gonna
win!”
Flavor pirouetted away from the enemy, a vein bursting despite the smile on her face.
“You all can keep up - more than keep up! Even with everything I am!” Flavor added with a grin, as she held the Emperor forward. “So let me show you something. It’s not Flak’s or Trevors - something that’s
mine.
Flavor fired a quartet of bullets, and the Man in red’s minion leaped out of the way, dodging the hail of curving projectiles in their own fashion, each shot going wide…
Dark energy lit up like a fire around the Emperor, as Flavor’s grin turned manic.
“H-how…”
Flavor gave a grin, as she looked amidst the group, four silver bullets piercing through different parts of their body from behind.
“Dang. Couldn’t hit a vital spot.” Flavor replied. “Maybe next shot!” The fusion replied, as the fire crackled around the emperor, and four bloody bullets popped into existence straight in front of her enemies faces.
Fourteen jumped into a hat, poppinTwelve saved himself with a sudden burst of black blood. Twenty dodged well enough for the bullet to scrape the skull, seemingly having difficulty even piercing enough to leave more than a flesh wound, and Eleven literally slipped off his feet just fast enough to avoid a nice shot through the forehead.
Silence reigned through the group, as Flavor smirked down at them.
“You’re… teleporting the Emperor’s bullets.” Fourteen called out, pulling herself from the hat. “Somehow, you’ve taken your parts abilities, and pushed them further.” she replied with a mystified expression.
Flavor just gave a grin. “I am the most powerful living being in the tournament.” the fusion taunted. “Something like this ain’t nothing. Now…”
Flavor held up the recharged revolver with a chuckle. “
dance!”
The Silver bullets shot out, and the group of suits were left on the defensive as they were trapped in a whistling cage of white streaks of light.
“We’ll call this… the Shadow Emperor. Shemperor, for short.” Flavor added with a grin, as she tightened the cage, watching as blood rushed from numerous cuts and scrapes, as she closed the distance.
“Wow, Well isn’t she a serious pain!” Twelve cackled with a grin. “I kinda wanna try a few of these on~”
Twenty grabbed his arm the moment before he would’ve leaped in. “You’re not gonna try on much of anything if you get crippled by too many hits too early, twelve. Fourteen! You know what we do in these situations!”
Eleven gave a sigh. “We all do. No matter how difficult it is…”
“Our goal is
always to entertain.” Fourteen added, “And entertainment…”
The woman put down a hat in the cage, with the four looking to the hat and immediately diving in headfirst, throwing a handkerchief in the air.
“Is avoiding early bad ends. No fun if the peril actually gets us this early!” Eleven adds, hopping in with twenty and twelve, to Flavor’s surprise.
“H-hey, wait! I did this all to- you can’t just-” Flavor stammered, as the group passed into the hat, and the hat itself seemed to disappear under the handkerchief, leaving the bullets pinging around into diddly-squat.
Flavor looked around to see if her competitors were still around, but with a sigh, she realized they had all disappeared from view.
A growl escaped her, as she realized her opponents were gone, but luckily Shinku’s sense retook the reins as a separate question hit her.
Chorus.
Flavor craned her head to and fro, like she was trying to stretch out her neck working her way through the contestants as her senses create a detailed map of the battlefield for her in combination
Surrounded by a gaggle of the weaker contestants, the Chorus had apparently been busy creating a gaggle of mook bodies, destroying them with a mixture of plasma and his own robotic fists.
Silence seemed to fall across the Chorus’s battlefield, as he surveyed his opponents, working with surgical precision, and yet…
The robots optics failed to notice the creeping darkness behind him, as number sixteen’s silhouette soundlessly formed from the Android’s shadow. A knife of lightlessness was raised and outstretched…
Before being knocked straight from the surprised demon’s hand as the Princess of Flavor’s shoulder slammed straight into the shadow master’s torso, knocking the creature a few dozen feet from the robot.
“Oh! You’ve already got someone standing behind you, I see!” the demon on the ground called out, holding up a hand with a single finger pointed up, but otherwise content to lie on the ground where he fell. “And such a lovely young woman, too! I simply
must congratulate the both of you!”
Flavor glared, looking to Chorus with a nod as she stepped forward. “So are you just
all a bunch of fricking weirdos?”
“Ha ha! Quite so!” the shadowy demon called out, “A shame, but I can think of worse.
dead man walking, for instance!”
Flavor looked to Chorus with a grimace, as four more, familiar red figures stepped out.
“You okay? You look okay. Just stay close to me.” Flavor noted to the robot, as the AI turned it’s head unnaturally quickly to look at her.
“You wish us to fight alongside. To what benefit of your own?”
Flavor gave a grin and a shrug. “We gotta move that couch up the stairs, man. We’ll do it together.”
“Metaphor invalid. The couch may be lounged on by only one victorious mover.”
Flavor gave a shrug. “Details for later. I’d rather my best friend live the longest, at the very least.”
The statement seemed to cause the chorus to lock up for a few seconds. “You have decided we are close. Query:
why.” the android asked, and for the first time, Flavor thought she read suspicion.
The fused princess gave a sigh. “I Mean, remember the fist bump? Me giving you the Buster? How about the Bunker? Or the…”
Flavor put a finger to her chin. “...Oh, nah, that’s it!”
“Precisely.” the Chorus stated, as his robotic fist clenched. Flavor could practically read the ‘menacing killer robot’ vibes. She turned to check on if the enemy was about to attack them, but it appeared that they were polite enough to wait for them to finish their conversation. Instead, they simply started… posing… menacingly.
The fused princess gave a sigh. “Listen, Chorus. We might have all the camaraderie of two guys who met in line once at a Mcdonalds, but you know what? I’ve enjoyed all five minutes of our time together. I don’t know you through Flak or Trev - I know you as
Flavor. Me. I’ll win this for both of my pops’, but I’m really going to only be alive for a few more hours, or minutes, so I have to have at least one goal all my own.”
Flavor’s shoulders relaxed, as she gave a shrug. “And while we might not be ideal buddies, dude… You’re the only friend I’ve ever had. And I value that friendship”
Chorus’s face was unreadable on account of being just a big screen, but the robot’s fist unclenched.
“Were there secondary objectives within this plan?” the Chorus asked, as Flavor gave a grin.
“Just one.” Flavor admitted. “Two lifetimes of combat experience has taught me there’s a really good way to handle this situation with two people.” She noted, tail whipping from side to side. “When you’re surrounded on every side, you go back to back!”
The Chorus and Flavor took to opposite sides, as the mooks piled up alongside the special class.
“Tactical theory sound. We will ready for combat.”
“Good!” Number eleven yelled, as the suits advanced. “We ain’t stalling any longer for the cameras!”
1991 words according to gdocs.
Using 1 focus to Combine Shadow pass and the Emperor's bullets to create Shemperor