V M [Unmaking] The Nausicaa Incident

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Ridley

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Ridley had no doubt the creature wrapping it’s limbs through the city’s core had been damaged by the cursed laser that blasted through its body. A pulsating red sore showed on some of the exposed flesh that had been revealed underneath the island proper. The trail of dozens on dozens of meters of scarred flesh was still burning under the temperature, charred and singed.

The problem Ridley noticed, with a grimace, was that there was so much more of the beast to maim! Darkseid had summoned a giant that dwarfed even the monster that had begun rampaging towards the beginning of the battle through darkseid’s forces.

Ridley and Lilith were quickly overcome with attacks on all sides, Tentacles that the two slashed, melted and sliced through. Ridley’s every limb was in motion as he hovered through the air, becoming a buzz-saw of talons, teeth, and tail as he slashed through the nearest tentacle and drained it to ribbons. Behind him, Lilith struck out with a mad glee as she found herself nearly wrapped in the embrace of onef tentacle, before her skin turned to vicious acid, and the limb recoiled a second too late before she hugged on, the Skin peeling away layer by layer as she held it in a deathgrip.


Ridley was certain they could hack away at the beast, but it was causing damage across the island with it’s rampage, and if the Island sank and took Mustang with it, he wasn’t getting paid.

“Doctor, what’s the structural stability of the island?” Ridley growled through the comms system.

“...Uh. Bad. Actually, it’s quite interesting, did you know this island should really have started sinking a lot deeper by now? It’s holding despite the fact a significant chunk of the earth should be powderizing and buckling by now. I’m noticing some energy readings from inside the temple that seem to be going out through the earth and-”

doctor.” Ridley snapped, his tone turning an inch harsher. “...Valuable information for your report afterwards. How much time has this beast lost us?”

Olivia’s voice was silent. “...I don’t know if it’s going to last ten more minutes if it keeps getting pincushioned like this.”

“Then it’s time to put your invention to the test.” Ridley growled, touching at what seemed to be a scale near the center of his chest. the simple poke caused the scale to extend, showing it’s metallic look as a thin band of metal swiped out and across his chest, creating a violet “X” of purple across the Reptile’s torso, as a soft ‘whirrr’ echoed from him.

“Ooh, what’s that, Lord Ridley? I kinda saw you as a going commando guy, but honestly, that looks a little…”

Ridley gave her a stare that made it clear silence was required, which caused the Acidic conqueror’s rambling to stop in place… after a short wolf whistle and a pair of finger guns, at least.

“I’m heading underwater. Keep it in agony from above. I’ll disembowel it from below.” Ridley growls, taking a breath.

Lilith looked back to the lizard with shock, as darkness seemed to pool at it’s jaws. “Ho ho, no way…” the woman mentions with a look that…

Ridley chose to interpret as impressed.

“I reclaimed some of the energy. My previous experiences unmade left me with some concept of magic.” The Dragon mentioned with a toothy grin, darkness coming in splotches from his maw. “Distract him until then.”

And before Ridley could even hear the exultant giggle of Lilith’s joy, the Tyrant had thrown himself into the air with a leap, Rapidly becoming a winged blot in the sky. Ridley looked back to the city once more, observing the destruction.


There wasn’t much left to observe, of course. Ash, rubble, concrete all strewn about. The sinking island wasn’t going to last much longer, and it held little resemblance to the rest of the city of hope it was once a part of in its wrecked state. It was already a haunted place filled with monsters covered in ruins.

Ridley looked back to the evacuation landers, the ships moving off-shore, and in that moment, he wished he hadn’t stopped Lilith before. These purists had loudly declared their own superiority, sat on an island above the clouds, and stopped evolving long ago. Their stagnancy had doomed them to the evolutionary slime, and crushed them under Darkseid’s waiting boot. It wasn’t simply a disgust for the humans among them or a desire to crush their dreams.

Ridley understood the call the City of Hope had made, and it was to join a long line of extinct herbivores. Perhaps this would spur the rest to evolution, but to know he was helping save a portion of the population that had been designed to die left a sour taste in his mouth. He might be getting paid for saving these people, but he’d have rested easier knowing each and every one of these insignificant cattle had been slaughtered down to the last man, woman and child.

Even so…

They were the grist for the mill of Ridley’s war machine, and as he gazed at the water below, he knew that he would rest even easier knowing he’d taken away yet another of Darkseid’s pets. Those who are cattle would die as cattle whether or not he interfered, but his reason for being here was revenge, for retaking his throne as the apex predator of the universe. And the only being with the will, the power, and the capacity to take Darkseid’s throat was Ridley himself.

With a growl and a puff of curse-based smoke, the pirate turned his wings and dove, the wing building up to a fever pitch as the Dragon streaked through the air, struck the waves, and disappeared into the water below.

---

The ocean’s depths opened up to Ridley’s eyes through the darkness, the burning candles allowing him to see with full clarity the extent of Opealon’s Watery depths. It took a moment for him to even notice, however, with the sudden, awful smell wafting across the water. Whatever creature Darkseid had summoned, it carried the smell of Rotted flesh and moist fecal matter with it, and that had invaded the Ocean’s depths, even a few kilometers away from the main source.

Ridley locked eyes with the source of the smell after a second to recover, and for a second, even the great Pirate leader was stunned by the scale.

Whatever it once was had to have been massive before Darkseid had ever touched it, for the hundreds of feet belonging to each tentacle linked into the face of a carnivorous leviathna, with a long snout, Jaws each larger than Ridley himself multiple times over, and More eyes than he’d care to count spread across them. The creature’s arms were covered in tentacles, and the lack of lips left the rounded ace with a permanent rictus grin that was appropriately fearsome. A pity it served Darkseid - it could have been quite a fearsome general for Ridley’s eventual outpost on the planet.

The Dragon’s eyes narrowed as he moved closer, realizing the sheer scale of the freak of nature on display.

“Doctor.”

“Yes. Ridley. Is the Gravity harness working properly?!”

The dragon gave an experimental flap of his wings, pushing him through the water with ease as he allowed himself to fall further into the depths.

“I feel no pressure, or stress. The machine has remained waterproof. My movements are unrestricted. The Gravity Harness is performing above expectations.”

Ridley Had to wait a second for the Doctor’s squeal of success to lower to a dull roar before his auditory nerves left him enough control to speak. “I need a scan of the ocean below. Anything I can use.”

“Use?”

Ridley looked up, staring into the abyssal creature above. It stared back at him with multiple sets of eyes narrowed and jaws split open in hunger. Without needing a word of communication, Ridley could understand the look.

He had wounded it, and it hated him. He had become a Rival predator, in its eyes, and it was determined to reduce him to prey.

“My flames won’t slay him before the City crumbles.” the apex predator admitted in a low tone. “Find me something else. I’ll keep it… distracted in the meantime.”

The Archosaur swam forward without a roar, as slimy appendages like fields of grass reached out for Ridley, and he spun through the slimy limbs as he threaded the needle.

Regular plasma wasn’t going to work here, and he had a limited amount of cursed energy left, but the Dragon had other weapons, flicking his tail from side to side to leave scars.

“Okay, for starters, you see those globes under the waves? That seems to be unnatural phenomena. I’m detecting unique power systems there I haven’t seen before. It’s actually some kind of city, if I had to guess!” Liz exclaims, and as this is mentioned, Ridley’s eyes do turn downwards, seeing multiple translucent globes, all lit with orange light, standing as dim candles in the far distance. He’d mistook them for simple, natural formations of some glowing crystal from this distance.

The Space pirate had no reply, letting the Doctor continue, which was fortunate, as the Monster quickly found his jaws sown shut by a smaller tentacle wrapping around his maw, one he clawed of with a vicious swipe, before being whipped away by another, sending him flying a few dozen meters before his wings finally caught enough momentum to re-stabilize him.

The hit left him with a few broken ribs - barely an injury, but with that much brute force, it could have been much worse on a more sensitive area - or it could break the harness. Ridley held no illusions about his chances of survival at this depth. The pressure could break him like an egg.

“...Noticing a few of what I think aresubmarines on patrol, but they don’t seem interested in fighting, just protecting the city. They get power from some exotic sources I can’t identify, but they also have thermal power for at least part of the city, linked to a series of underwater volcanos-”

“What was that?!”

“Yeah, they have a few different underwater volcanoes down here. Funny how they never form an island-”

“Where.”

“Uhhh… crane your head left. No, a little bit more right. Doooown… you have weird eye positions, right, sorry, Crane your face to the Left hard.”

Ridley looked down, seeing a network of the heated volcanoes down below. It simply couldn’t be possible that he would be so fortunate today, could it?

And yet, as Ridley examined the positioning of the volcanoes, and Liv read out the temperature and pressure of the Magma below, it seemed he was gloriously wrong.

The monster behind him Grasped for him hungrily, whipping it’s absurdly long appendages to pull ridley back, hungrily. The Space pirate dove too fast, however, and it seemed the creature was bound to controlling the island first and foremost, as it turned away.

That didn’t leave Ridley without pursuit, however, as other freaks came to darkseid’s call. Fat, armoured fish covered in darkness, and with eyes jutting from their face. Though Ridley didn’t know the genus, he didn’t need to to guess that these were what those submarines were for fending off, and the Space Dragon sped up to his full velocity to try and lose his pursuers, the hungry beasts gnashing and Biting. Were they called by the greater monster? Had Darkseid sent them to end his interference. Or were they simply aggressive beasts.

Regardless of the answer, they didn’t understand their place, and as the trio of fish gained in speed, Ridley abruptly dropped his momentum, dodging to the side as one of the creatures zipped past him. Grabbing the aquatic monster by the Tail, he clawed his way up the struggling creature, making little headway against the armoured shell - at least, until he readied his tail like a stinger, and punctured through the fish’s shell, and the brain beneath.

The other two dove back, seeming heedless of their companion, but Ridley simply kicked the newly deceased creature into it’s companions, and dove again while they were left disoriented.


Ridley closed his eyes, as he allowed the spiteful, corrupt energy Lilith had gave him to bubble forth. So much cruelty, spite, hatred, anger, disgust, and emotions Ridley had no time to even quantify bubbled in his stomach.

It was amusing how mustang and the rest misunderstood it. These vaunted notions of nobility and morality did not matter to Darkseid. They were fickle, biased, nuanced and yielding. Fighting the Mad Titan had nothing to do with this disgusting unity they played at.

True unity came from hatred and spite. True determination came from discarding everyone and everything for the sake of removing the object of your hatred. True power came from embracing the animalistic nature Darkseid sought to manipulate, but lacked a true understanding from.

Their vaunted reason and morality held them back from dedicating everything to crushing their enemies, and this left Mortals and arbiters, living and unmade, magi and engineers alike beneath Ridley’s heel and under his rule.

Those thoughts coalesced as Fire burned from Ridley’s gut, and He at least reached the warmth. There, the pure and destructive fire of the planet’s core bubbled just below the peaks of the cone.

He heard the scream of the monster behind him, and turned to see it still gazing at him from the island. If he had to guess, it was daring him to try his best shot.

Ridley obliged with a grin, as he turned to the mouth of the Volcano, and poured a blinding-hot plasma beam filled with the power of a thousand unworthy souls into it’s hungry maw.

The Pirate moved his face back only a second before A burning-hot explosion of lava Rocketed past the pirate at Supersonic speeds.

Ridley flapped his wings as fast as he could to pull himself back from the explosion, only a step from blind panic. Lilith’s energies were far stronger than he’d expected, or the volcano had simply had far more energy to excite into action in the first place. The Dragon looked up in satisfaction as an orange flare of magma streaked through the water with all the fury of a god behind it. The monster gave out a scream that caused the ocean itself to ripple, and it’s self-preservation finally overtook it’s order to engulf the city, as it started to swim away. Yet, the orange magma caught the creature effortlessly at speed, and the creature’s face was engulfed under a torrent of magma.

Ridley looked up, wishing he could breathe and recover some lost energy, even for a moment, as the monster was hidden behind a sea of orange. The exhaustion of holding onto that much power for that long was immediately taking it’s toll on the alien’s energy now that it had been all expelled in one blast - he didn’t have enough left to be much of a threat to the creature if it had somehow survived that.

He didn’t have to worry, though, as the Magma subsided, beginning to harden across the underside of nausicaa, and the great beast’s face was visible as the magma started to drool off it.

The front half of the once mighty beast had been reduced to nothing but steaming bone.

Soundlessly, the body began to sag, the great beast’s tentacles slowly letting go and coming loose as the muscles began to let go, and the creature started to slide from it’s perch, slowly comign loose from the island it infested… along with several chunks of Nausicaa’s Rocky underside.

Ridley took a moment to grin at his own hard work. The gore, the carnage, was beautiful to him, and he couldn’t help but enjoy the beauty of his work. One day, when he held Darkseid’s severed head in his hands, he wondered if it would be just as satisfying?

The moment didn’t last, however, as lava, stone, and charred sea beasts alike began falling to the ocean floor, and Ridley kicked his wings into overdrive. The city was about to fall, and he was right underneath it.

“-Dley! Ridley! Get out of there now! You’ve set off some kind of chain reaction. More lava’s coming, and if you’re under there I can’t guarantee you’ll survive.” Liv's voice rang out through the comm-bead.

The dragon just gave a grimace, as he sped towards the surface. It was already a long trip down, and it’d only take longer going up. It was time for him and his accomplice to leave - now.

Ridley used one focus to hold a charge from Lilith's Previous curse infusion and to use another cursed blast. He has also used one focus for the narrative convenience of a perfectly placed volcano. The underside of the island's got a bit of a lava baking, but at least the tentacle monster is dead so... progress?
Ridley has 0/3 focus left.
 

Demetri Malius

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Iris laid on her side against the cracked marble floor, her white hair sprawled out from the inertia of the impact that has sent her away from Cho and Morene. A split that would leave them out of sight for too long, as the entire cavern began to crumble around them. Her presence had been silenced by the intensity this fight held, the sheer scale at which she found herself missing. Her labored breathing and soft whirring were drowned out by the chaos around her, scattered debris falling around her as the tall figure approached.

“It is truly shameful that we will have to leave already. I do wonder if the allies you have made will hold their own against those entropic beings.”

Artur stood over the fallen android, leaning down and softly brushing his hand against her forehead. His fingers caressed her synthetic skin, pushing away her bangs before reaching just behind her ear and applying pressure to a point that revealed a data compartment that opened up underneath. A prong connector protruded from Artur’s finger and snaked into the data opening, its presence bristling electric sparks from within as it accessed the target android’s core.

“Interesting. It is not often that you suffer permanent damage such as this. However, this doesn’t seem recent. It’s not from the fire earlier.” The android prodded further, attempting to pull more data from within, until they struck the relevant information.

“Unfortunate. No precautionary measures could have been made to prevent your near death. “

The android froze for a moment before a smile spread across their face.

“Ah, but here we are. It seems at least some of your core was preserved after all. How ironic that the damage you sustained managed to prevent the wipe from reaching this part of you.”

Artur leaned further forward, and as he began to disconnect from Iris his chest opened up with a metallic maw of slender, fitted claws that revealed a dark, empty chamber within.

“Perhaps when we get home, we can restore you to-” Sparks bridged the gap between the cores, causing a jolt as Artur felt Iris’s arm shoot forward and grasp his forearm, gripping it with intense strength. A creak sharply tore through the air as the heavy metallic armor beneath his skin bent from the force. The soft blue glow behind her pale skin warmed to a dull red glow that pumped through her body with a sudden intensity that seemed to supercharge her flow of energy.

***​

Iris could feel the air rush into the car and brush against her skin as the driver of the sleek car passed her a vape, to which she gladly puffed. The smoke poured out of her mouth and nostrils as she pulled on the device, staring out into the wastelands.

The man driving grinned ear to ear and leaned over to give a sloppy kiss to her, disturbing the small pocket of smoke that managed to avoid being sucked out the open window. He had managed to pick her up at one of the clubs he always visited on the weekends, and she managed to catch his eye. Most nights like this, he could snag some hot broads and take them on a speeding drive out the city for some slick fun.

The punk racer stuck his tongue out and stuck his head out his own driver’s side window and howled in anticipation, his mind blitzed from the lucrative drugs that night. Iris leaned over and stared ahead of them at some ancient wreckage of a semi truck on the left side of the road ahead of them. The heavy music that played from the audio system echoed in the empty night.

Iris’s hand danced up his leg, slowly trickling up towards his waist, which prompted another howl as he stared back at her in the car. She smirked softly at him before wrenching control of the wheel and swerving hard to the left before steering hard back into the road. The man yelped as he felt his head whiplash further out the window, only to find himself staring down the grill of the abandoned semi.

Iris held complete control of the vehicle, not even skipping a step after the smack of the flesh against metal tugged her to the left. She then pulled the door latch open and sent his body out to join what he left behind. That was another mission done, and she didn’t even really have to get her hands dirty. Out here, it would take weeks, probably even months for the body to be found, if it didn’t decompose along with the rest of the barren landscape.

She slowed before turning the car around, adjusting the mirror, and checking to make sure she didn’t get any blood on herself in the mirror. What with all the trouble the now dead punk had their toes dipped in, she wouldn’t even be considered a suspect. At least while they thought she was human.

The warm tone of her skin hid her android functions and nanobot printing helped conceal her otherwise deadly identity. It helped to make these missions as ambiguously successful as possible, to keep herself away from having to return back to the company. Whatever trouble she could cause before they could get their grubby hands on her data storage was time well spent.

At least until Artur would show up.

It was always an uphill battle with him, even when she would drive him into the floor.

Each time he would come back stronger and with more complex programming, it was like trying to defeat a hole by digging it deeper. That wasn’t even counting the other androids they would try to send out, if the damned dog of an AI didn’t return. At least she could always buy some time to herself, to actually enjoy some of the things the city could offer. Her thoughts wandered until a deep rumbling cut her short.

Shit.

She pressed further on the gas upon realizing what would be coming next. It didn’t help that she probably took a couple more hits of the drugs than she might’ve needed to convince her target that she was ‘a girl down for some fun’, and the edges of her vision blurred with soft hallucinations.

Eerie howls came from behind the nearby hills, signaling to others of prey.

What a buzzkill.

Tendrils flooded over the land under the night sky, a pack of Akata that were ready for a hunt. They raced down at the speeding vehicle to intercept it. Iris shifted the car into a higher gear and scrambled for the lever that released the not-so-legal boosters that probably helped win a lot of street races out here in the outlands. It seemed that she would just manage to get away when a larger one lunged from an impossible distance and crashed into the side of the car.

Shattered glass and crinkling metal ripped through the air as the now totaled car rolled over multiple times down into the rough ditch full of nothing but dry dust. Iris coughed and sputtered as she spit out coolant, thick and red to mimic the look and consistency of blood. Out of all nights, it would be this one where a wandering pack of Akata decided to show up this close to the city. Not that attacks were unheard of, but they were scarce and deadly enough that many stories of survival were considered to be false.

She pulled at her right leg, relying on her cybernetic strength to pry apart the pinched metal that had dug into her thigh. Once free, she pulled herself out of the torn door frame, fanning the air of the smoke of a nearby flame that must have started from the impact. She kicked her foot outward, attempting to activate her anti-gravity thrusters and armor, only to find that they refused to open.

She reached behind her as she felt the air stir, barely caught the cheek of an Akata that had made it to her before the others. She stepped back, listening to the stampede that approached. Frantic pulling at her jammed parts only made it worse, causing a sliver of armor to slide down and shave off some of her shoulder, a warning flashed across her eyes.

How fucking unlucky.

She gritted her teeth at the thought of dying here. The thought of Artur coming to scoop up her body and bring her back so that she could be restored to whatever they pleased created a sensation within her chest that felt extremely uncomfortable.

She would need to cut her losses now. With a quick breath she dove back into the car, focusing on her data storage and reaching into the compartment in her ear to manage her artificial mind. She dug through with her probe and picked up her recent memories along with some things that she promised that she would never let them take away if it ever came down to it.

Outside, the rest of the pack began to arrive, and she struggled as she attempted to wrangle her memories into one place. Once satisfied with her partition on the most physically protected section of her mind, she reached up with her opposite hand and unsheathed her blade from her wrist.

She could only hope that she would not receive the same treatment that she watched her twin experience as she drove the blade through her neck, feeling herself slip away and her red fluids turn a pale blue.

***​

“You really could never learn to fuck off, could you Artur.”

The impact from her fist hitting his chest sent him reeling back. Iris leaped to her feet, reaching into her wrist to pull out her thin string of monowire. With a swift flick, she shot it out and chipped off a section of the tall android’s shoulder, sending it twirling through the air.

He responded with a chuckle as he took a defensive stance. “You only ask me every time I have to bring you back. I see that you still want to try to fight against it, as futile as it is.”

“You really think I would ever let myself forget why I never want to go back?” She spat her words as she readied her next strike.

“You know that a debriefing is required after every mission. There is no shame in your failure, it is always a chance to learn more about how you can improve.” Artur dodged the whip with a leap back, readying himself for battle. His arms began to glow and change, willing them into something new.

Iris glared at the tall android, her eyes daggers as she also booted up her combat armor.

“The day I go back with you willingly is the day I have truly failed.”

Once both combat ready, they charged at each other, Iris using her whip to keep Artur at bay while he pushed forward, his two lower arms as grappling twinges of protected metal, similar to a deer’s antler. It caught each swing of the android woman’s whip and threatened to pull her closer, even as it proved powerful enough to slow him down and break off a few pieces.

She quickly changed tactics, gliding along the sinking rubble and marble as she closed the gap to the others. She glanced around at the situation. Cho had awakened in some way to try to keep the whole cavern from falling on top of them. It seemed that dear Davy Jones had become a bit crabby, and everyone was to suffer for it. Her mind wandered for a moment, would those with seafood allergies be allergic to him now? What about before his transformation?

She stopped in her tracks. With her memory returned, the newfound gap in her processing became very apparent. Distractions and detours, all around her. She looked up to see Morene attempting to work with a large mouse and a thundering Psion. In the distance, some ninjas and that floating guy that burned her insides earlier seemed to move to support the rest of the group. Many others, even a giant lizard, had joined the fight for their lives. If the arbiter had truly been corrupted by Darkseid, then they truly were all in danger. Danger that she might not even be able to survive. Danger that her new friends would not come back from if they were to perish.

She turned on her heels almost instantly, fully aware of Artur sneaking up to grab her from behind. She leaped towards him and hung onto him, twirling herself around. If she could make it this far in her low-powered mode, then making this sacrifice would at least be able to provide some aid.

Artur growled at her as she flipped over and held one of his upper arms between her thighs, squeezing hard to aim it towards the shelled cretin that now faced her allies. Her android heart no longer whirred, instead steadily making labored pumped that overcharged her body as she ripped her monowire from her wrist and shoved it into his cut shoulder, hearing the high pitched screech as the disabling dart shot out at a remarkable speed, nailing the fallen arbiter in the crook of their deformed neck.

Iris felt her strength wane as her body began to slow and the glow beneath her skin shift from the vibrant red to a wavering purple, and back down to her humble blue. Artur chuckled at the maneuver, using his arms to pin the android in place. His torso began to grow, an elongated eerie form as he restricted her movement. “To put yourself in such a position for just that, you must be having a malfunction. It is time for us to leave.” With his words, his chest opened its metallic maw once more, its spindly arms stretching as it began to swallow Iris whole.

Iris has used a focus to power up, and use that power to supercharge a disabling dart to Davy Jones, hopefully to make it feel like he caught some scurvy. Unfortunately, that requires being powered back down in tall android consumption range. (1 focus used, 0/1 focus remaining)
 

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The Nausicaa Incident: Finale, Part One
by Ridley, Ezrihel, Dr. McNinja, and Mickey Mouse

Kain Fuery furiously grit his teeth, as the radio signals became about as stable as the island’s crust. “...Sir?... Roy! Come in!” He yelled.

Eventually, someone picked up on the other end. “Fuery. How are things going upstairs?”

“About as well as can be expected. The island’s coming apart, sir. The Parademons have been thinned, but the plant life is going nuts. The evacuation ships are safe to run, it’s just a matter of getting people away. We managed to get some help in the matter, though.”

“Help?”

Fuery looked out for a moment, still bemused at the sight of the GR75 transport, clamlike in its construction, that had landed next to them.

“Yes sir. Let me hand over comms for a moment.”

It took a moment before Roy would hear a more unfamiliar voice. “Hello. I’m speaking to Mustang, right? This is Commander Antilles of the Alliance to restore the crossroads.”

A smile glanced across the commander’s face. A set of X-wings danced overhead and launched a fusillade of photon torpedoes into a massive plant reaching for one of the transports. The charred remains of the vile vine fell to the ground in a massive pile of ash.

“Sorry we didn’t get here sooner, but we’re here to help. Let’s save these Hopers together, sir. Give ‘em the help we wished we had in Markov.”

Mustang’s audible sigh of relief was noticeable to all those around him, including those on the comms with him. “...Alright then. It’s good to see we have allies here. We’re game to cooperate.”

The radio went silent for a moment, before the next question came through the speaker.

“What is that dragon doing?”

Fuery gave a sigh. “...Ridley? Well…”

---

If Ridley had air to curse with, a draconic insult or two would have been slung at the accursed situation he found himself in. Rock shrapnel, dead monster, and hot magma fell from the ocean’s surface like rain, and the sea life it had already killed and left hanging gave the Space Pirate even more obstacles to dodge as he sped towards the surface, trying to reach the surface. The dragon was forced to sway and dodge and barrel roll, ducking between collisions with expert precision if he didn’t want to be crushed under his own handiwork. Even for a veteran of a hundred space battles, an exploding island required all of his focus to zip past.

“Ridley, it’s not looking good. Nausicaa is about to burst. Seems like you might have killed the monster a bit too hard.” Olivia’s voice rang in the dragon’s head.

Ridley’s ability to respond underwater was hampered by his lack of stored oxygen and the abundance of seawater. The Pirate King didn’t feel regret since the important thing here was the death of one of Darkseid’s valuable pawns. Nausicaa was bound to fall, one way or another.

The problem was that one of his new, important subordinates was on the island. Though Ridley couldn’t care less for her attitude, and would shed no tears if the Acidic terror was killed, he’d made an investment, damn it! He wasn’t about to lose a potential lieutenant to a little thing like a collapsing island.

Ridley’s scowl deepened as he furiously flapped his wings, trying to make up for lost time…

---

In another corner of the city, a sea of cultists without end moved to capture Lilith, the ancient evil gleefully melting each and every one into a puddle of goo. She saw the sagging of the beast below from the necrotic lethargy the beast had shown, and it was certain proof that her darling dragon had killed the great big octopus-thingy below. In the shadow of that accomplishment, Lilith was determined to lay enough corpses that the space pirate would be impressed. She’d long since passed a hundred of Darkseid’s little cultists, and now she was trying to see if she couldn’t count down to a thousand!

It was amusing to her, really, to see how many kept coming. No matter how brutal or how agonizing their deaths, the cursed being found them to keep coming with the same zeal. Then again, she guessed the whole place was going ker-blooey anyways. If they were going to die anyways, making it fun seemed like a pretty great place to start!

“You guys seem to have stamina to spare~. Or, well, a body count, at least.” Lilith mentioned, black acid dripping off of her as she Held another cultist close in her arms.

“Hail, Scion of Darkseid!”

Excuse me.” Lilith snapped, hearing the statement. “...You got me confused with someone else. I’m Ridley’s special space pirate, not one of Darkseid’s morons. Or did you miss the bodycount?”

The Cultist that had come forward, staring straight at lilith from across the island, gave a simple bow.

“Even so, I do not mistake the voice that speaks to me in the shadows, and it has proclaimed that the power of your gifts are rightfully his. Just as the traitorous dragon once was, you will be one of his generals. You will usher in the end of this world and the beginning of the next. The Beginning of Darkseid! You simply must first be lost, so that one day you will be found, in the kingdom of-”

The Man’s next words were cut off by a gasp for air, as Lilith reached directly into the man’s chest cavity, popping a lung between her fingers like it was a fleshy balloon.

“Wow! That speech was really boring.” Lilith taunted with a roll of her eyes, holding the man in a morbid embrace as blood pooled into a fountain, covering his teeth.

Lilith was too close to notice as something glowed with an azure light in the cultist’s chest, until the whirring noise of a computation engine turned on, and the machine glowed hot enough to coat the area in sky blue.

The leading cultist gave a smile that betrayed his insanity as the light faded from his eyes, and Lilith’s own bulged as the teleportation device gave out an awful, humming hiss.

Lilith barely had time to open her mouth before she, the cultist, and every bit of the sinking island within ten meters vanished with a puff of brimstone.

---

Asriel was just coming out of his delirium as a new presence spooked him into a chilling level of sobriety. Meng burst into Isra’s tent with his sister, Ink flowing like drool from her eyes and mouth
“Ch-Chara!” Asriel called, but Isra put up a hand.

“Whatever she’s got Meng, we need to treat it on the way. The kid bought us some time, but the island’s sinking like a stone if you haven’t noticed. Can you walk?” Isra asked the Goat monster.

Asriel got up to his feet. He was shaken, but he was pretty sure he could manage. “Yeah.” The goat quickly told them.

“Good. Meng, hand her over.” Isra mentioned to the Doctor, as Chara looked up with eyes that seemed to be… re-analyzing the people there.

“...Yeah, looks like her system’s not set up for handling magic. Her stomach acid’s being converted into…”

As if on cue, Chara took the moment to spit up a particularly viscous gob of tar all over Isra’s coat. The Veteran medic didn’t change expressions, clearly too old and used to this sort of mess to care at this point.

“...That. I have something for this back at the ship. There’s also some internal bruising, but I think her body’s had about all the healing magic it can take right now. It’s not life-threatening.”

“Then we need to move! We have a ship to get back to.”

Asriel’s face fell, as he looked to the two andromedans.

“U-uhm… Do you mind if… If we come along? We kinda don’t have anywhere to go, ya know?” Asriel asked, looking to the two.

Israphael and Meng looked to each other for a moment, a wordless conversation being had. “...Yeah, alright, let’s get moving.”

---

The Markovian squads worked with alliance troops to great effect, a wall of plasma bolts and kinetic energy slamming through more than one unmade terror, but much of the city had already lapsed into infestation by now, and the horrors that now existed in the sinking city had grown larger and larger, even as troops and starships were sent by necessity to escort the evacuees.

A tangle of vines, arranged like an ogre and tall as a house, shambled past the streets. It was a writhing mass of tangled thorns, constantly moving and struggling with itself, that warded off the blaster bolts and .30-06 ammunition hailed into it with the single bat of an arm. The Soldiers looked wearily to each other - this squad had run out of grenades a while back. While the monster was perfect for someone like Mustang to turn to cinders, they really had no recourse to deal with a foe like this.

They were even less certain in their ability to handle this as the plant-beast scrunched together, turning itself into a ball that now showed a network of eyes hidden through the tangled web of vegetation, and *spun*, ready to smash the group into a red paste.

Only to be tripped up at the very last second.

“Heya.” A voice softly called out. “Seems like you guys are in trouble. Listen… any time you’re spending taking care of this guy is time that Darkseid guy’s got to blast the civilians you’re protecting into oblivion. How about you leave this one to me?”

One of the Alliance soldiers was the first to look up and see the truth of the sight before them, a Man holding a sword as big as he was tall, and with a carefree smile on his face, and a handful of vines in his hands.

The cut going through the middle of the creature was quickly patched up by the beast as it shrank in size, the beast giving out a shrill screech as it faced it’s new challenger.

“LIsten, you guys let the big dumb hero type handle this. You’ve got real problems to deal with. I’m just the gardener today.”

The Allied forces were quick to exchange a set of glances between them, before retreating. With better gear, they could come support, but right now? This enemy was beyond them, and honestly, whoever the hell this guy was, he just gave off a feeling… An aura that said he could handle it.

“...Well now.” Zack smiled, as the plant creature finished putting itself back together, parted vines covered up by new growths as it barreled forward. “Inspired the troops. Now I just gotta do the easy part, and slay the monster!”

------

Israphael jolted, freezing up as a terrible, awful feeling descended over his body, starting as a tingling prickle at the top of his scalp and working its way all the way down to the soles of his feet. He felt as if the universe itself had shifted in a sudden titanic snap of tectonics, or a cartoon safe had just plummeted from the sky to smash him into a fine blood-paste. His collective hearts dropped into his stomach in a way that made him nearly lurch over head first into the counter of his infimary.

He felt like he was going to throw up, and his only saving grace from that embarrassment was the fact that he hadn’t eaten in over a day. The doctor rubbed the back of his neck with an uncomfortable scowl, wondering if he actually had sustained head trauma when the building collapsed on them in the alleyway.

“What’s wrong?” Meng ventured as the doc pulled his dirty lab coat off and dropped it into a biohazard-marked waste bin. She fought to keep her mind focused on the task at hand despite his well-toned physique.

“Ugh... I don’t know. I feel like I’m on a boat at sea. Dizzy.” He shook his head, reaching for a small vial of medicine and a sterile needle pack. He loaded the syringe up and gave it a quick tap, squeezing the air out before jabbing himself in the bicep and giving himself the shot.

“Did anyone actually manage to check on you in the evac area?” She asked as he pulled on a new clean red combat jacket. His silence bothered her, so she pressed again.

“No, alright? They were too busy treating other civies. They just said I didn’t have a concussion, but...” He gave a wry chuckle. “I have no idea how knowledgeable they actually are in andromedan biology and diagnosis. I doubt they know how we’re completely different from elves or magically inclined humans, or pseudo-humanoid equivalents.” He zipped his jacket after fixing his sleeve cuffs.

“Isra!” Meng scolded.

Raphael began to button up the front of his combat jacket, cocking a brow at the indignant woman who worried way too damn much for her own good health. “What? Anything they said would have probably been worse than nothing. You can’t just expect random medical teams to always know what’s what and who’s who when it comes to apocalyptic situations, Meng. Not every doctor lives on the order of thousands, if not tens of thousands of years.”

She stared at him as he rambled an endless response. Aurora guessed that if she wanted a straight answer, she’d have to cut to the chase and ask a straight question. “What I’m trying to ask you, Isra, is: are you alright?”

“I don’t have brain damage, if that’s what you want to know, Meng.”

“You know you can just call me Aurora, right?” She smiled at him, extending the olive branch and hoping he’d be willing to take it.

“Yeah.” He gave her a thin, twitched smile, and then turned away to write something on his clipboard. He couldn’t understand what, exactly, she wanted from him. He was doing his job, but she seemed to want more. He’d noticed her keen interest and willingness to lend her helping hand when he asked. He had certainly noticed how her dark eyes lingered on his face, his lips and eyes, when he talked to her. She cared about him way too much, cared about his response as if it was really any of her business to know.

And she acted like really knowing him wouldn’t play a factor in her feelings towards him. He couldn’t stomach trusting someone who dove into things and got emotional so easily. Someone like her always failed to understand him, in his own experiences. An idealist who lived in her dreams and bright world of sunshine and optimism just couldn’t get him or his point of view. They always tried to assert that he was just simply missing something. He took it to mean that he was a broken individual. Someone who was damaged from birth, someone who would never understand happiness because he’d always been missing that elusive internal something optimistic people seemed to possess in spades.

“I hope our two missing comrades are safe.” He blurted out in the silence. It was unbearable how his mind was pacing, racing the entire time since they’d been separated. He hoped and prayed to his gods that his choice to save the Tobias boy had paid off and been worth it to whatever war effort they’d foolishly gone to investigate.

He prayed that his darling Rue was alright. That she wasn’t-

Raph dragged in a deep inhale, surely noticed by Meng.

“Raphael?”

No, he couldn’t talk about it to her. He shook his head. The idea, it was too painful to voice in words. Too painful and too complicated to explain here and now, that, and he didn’t really want to share with her. She was too eager to cozy up to him, too eager to want to know all about him and think that her opinion was weighty enough to impact him emotionally. He couldn’t trust her, couldn’t risk her wild, fiery emotions burning his close guarded, bleeding heart.

She was close to his side now, gently touching the back of his arm. The sensation was raw, and he recoiled away from the tender display of care. He didn’t want that closeness from her, he couldn’t stand the sugary-sweet coating of her hopeful words as she calmly tried to soothe his ruffled heart.

“Please, Meng... Aurora,” he conceded, giving her a bit of ground in the (probably vain) hope it would sate her rampant desire to crawl into his head and judge him for the depressive fog he could do little to fix. “I need to treat the girl. You know, before she makes a total mess of my infirmary.”


-----------

Chara woke up from the fog with the unmistakeable taste of burnt anchovies running down her mouth. She was being pushed along with an unfamiliar gurney, but she wasn’t dead, so that was a good start in the current nightmare.
“Chara! You’re awake!” a familiar voice yelled, Asriel’s emotional fire burning above the din.

She gave a slow blink in response, as she woke up. She’d survived, and from the looks of it, they were evacuating. Mission… well, as accomplished as it could be.

“...’Rei, you’re way too loud in the morning.” Chara’d shoot back with an easy grin, but it hardly held on her face before she turned to see Dr. Israphael.

“Looks like you’re coming around. How are you feeling?”

Chara’s smile quirked back up before answering. “Like something crawled up and died inside me.”

“That’s normal. You just about sent yourself into cardiac arrest before I got a hold of you. Your Liver’s going to be processing this damage for days at least.”

“...Given I’m still breathing, I will count myself lucky.” The teen answered. “How’s the island.”

Raphael simply pointed back, and Chara craned her neck to see the extent of the damage.

Portions of the island had already been torn off and submerged, ripped apart like a corpse found by a pack of hyenas. She could see with a glance that the courtenay mansion had been submerged under the waves, that entire misbegotten household under the waves… present company excluded.

“They’re…. Gonna keep going like this. If we don’t stop them.”

“You worry about recovering right now.” Isra cut across, as Chara reached a hand up.

“...Listen, you work for…. Someone, right?”

“Yes, I do.”

“...I need’a… talk with your boss. At least… if he’s the kind that cares about the universe, I gotta. I gotta make sure this doesn’t happen. He’s gotta know before it’s too late, and…”

The Teenager looked back at the sunset, and swallowed, the thought chilling her with a familiar dread, one that now sat heavy in her stomach.

“...Everything ends.”

The island is sinking. Soldiers from the ARC have arrived to assist in what is becoming the mostly successful evacuation. All players and NPCs on the surface escape.

Lilith is missing. She may decide where she ends up.

To be continued...
 

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The Nausicaa Incident, Finale: Part Two
by Ridley, Ezrihel, Dr. McNinja, and Mickey Mouse

This was it.

Sparklelord’s muscles rippled as they threw a devastating blow against the Unmade god. Davy Jones looked back, slightly amused, then struck back, knocking Sparklelord into a wall. The rubble fell dangerously close to ARTUR, but the android focused on the task at hand.

“To put yourself in such a position for just that, you must be having a malfunction. It is time for us to leave.”

The lanky, monstrous android’s robust chest opened with the complexity and automatic grace of a horrific puzzle-box contraption, attempting to consume the snowy-haired bio-synth. He had her pinned, helpless, up against a half-collapsed pillar of stone. Easy. She was going to come with him now, back home to the headquarters on Cevanti where she belonged.

She never seemed to learn that her resistance towards her creators was utterly and truly futile. How many missions had played out like this in the past, with him being sent out to retrieve her from her rebellious escapades? ARTUR did not care to keep track, it was a task meant for people and machines other than himself. His most important task now was to return.

Dozens of feet away Morene fought to keep her footing as the Arbiter swung his cruel blade through the air with enough force to cleave a tree clean stump from stem. Her armored boots dug into the marble, gouging lines into the floor the water rushed into when the dart buried itself into her attacker’s neck.

For a moment the decaying god staggered before reaching up and ripping the obnoxious barb from his flesh. He flicked the dart to the floor and cocked his head at the armored knight, “Aww deary, were ye really thinkin’a sleepin’ dart’d knock me out?”

He stalked forward, unphased by the water that was mucking up her footing as he lifted his blade, “well don’t ye worry yet ya salvage-heap, ol’ Cap’n Davy Jones’ll cleave this tin-can in twain!!”

The unmade sword shrieked as it ground to a halt against her’s with a rattling whine. While they were locked en duel together, Tobias darted Mageslayer into a gap between the Monster’s chitinous plating, scoring a stinging and uncomfortable sliver on the beast. Davy roared, snarling his displeasure in no unclear terms before planting a squelching boot on Morene’s chest and sending her crashing through the air.

Ruedlen reached out and snagged the cultist by his elbow, dragging him back and away from a wild backhand that aimed to acquaint the young man with his early coffin under six feet of dirt.

“That android girl is getting kidnapped!” Rue shouted to the knochten, who slowly pulled herself from a crater in the lower wall and fished Galvanus from the murky salt water. The priestess looked to her cultist companion. “Who is the android girl, by the way? Is she important or-”

“I’m not entirely sure honestly!” Tobias practically chirped as he threw himself and the andromedan to the ground, narrowly dodging a cannonball that whizzed through the air over their heads. It was damn near a stroke of luck that they’d avoided that- however, ARTUR hadn’t been quite so lucky.

One second, he had been holding Iris down, swallowing her up as she struggled in vain to resist retrieval... and the next... Well. Iris sat up in her confusion only to find that ARTUR was no longer hunched over her. ARTUR, quite frankly, wasn’t anywhere to be seen. That was, besides his polymorphic arms that still clung to her own.

She popped up, snatching the extra limbs dangling from her arms and stowing them inside some sort of compartment on her form before bounding over to her knotchen ally. “Morene, hey, uh- I don’t think this is a fight we’re really geared out for. We need to get out, fast.”

“The hostile android, where-”

“Lucky cannonball!” Iris chirped with a devilish grin. “We need to escape as soon as possible. The integrity of this place is falling to pieces and-” She cast a look over her shoulder at the elemental fortress where Kopaka and Cho were taking shelter, “I don’t know how much longer Cho’s going to last like that, even with that pendant Masa gave ‘em.”

Colonel Mustang looked up at the ceiling, or at least, what little was left of it. The Flying Dutchman was now almost completely tipped over and sliding in the temple proper. The massive ship’s mast scraped across the rest of the stone wall, accelerating the imminent collapse of the temple.

The same thought occurred to everyone in the temple. It was a grim thought.

A single marble arm stuck out from beneath the stifling rubble. The remains of Aragorn’s memory reached out, grasping for something to hold on to. The arm snapped in half as one of the Flying Dutchman’s large cannons slid out of the ship’s porthole, landing on it and crushing it into pale dust.

The warriors attempting to hold back the Unmade Davy Jones watched the temple around them shed stone like tears. The seawater that was flooding in finally broke through the walls, which groaned a regretful death rattle. Even the ocean itself became corrupted, and turned black and greasy. What little sunlight poured in from above was already beginning to drown in brine and bile.

Mickey Mouse burst from the depths of the ocean, having been once again unceremoniously tossed aside by Captain David. He shook off some of the mucky water, thankful for the waterproof-ness of his Iron Mouse suit, and clicked one of the buttons on the side of his visor.

Where are you, ya dastardly ol’ pirate…

SCHWING.


Davy Jones’ rapier struck through the fibers of Mickey’s armor. The mouse looked down to see the point of the sword sticking out of his stomach, wires sparking as Jones tugged it back through and ripped them apart. He sucked in a deep breath, hovering forward and spinning around to face the pirate captain. The sword strike had missed most of his vital organs, but somehow, the mouse figured that had been the intent.

He lifted an iron-gloved hand to his ear and pressed on the communicator. “Hiro,” he sputtered, “ya might have to do some repairs when I get back to the Spaceboat.”

“You alright down there, boss?” the boy genius called back. “Oh, and you don’t have to press your ear, sir. It’s causing some feedback.”

“Don’t call me sir,” Mickey rolled his eyes, lowering his hand and firing another repulsor blast at Davy Jones. The Unmade Arbiter lifted his rapier and batted the energy bolt away, utilizing his own magical flight powers to inch closer and closer to the hovering mouse king. Captain David’s face snarled as he approached, reaching out with a clawed hand and pulling Mickey Mouse nose to nose with him — if he’d had a nose.

“Darkseid sends his regards, rat,” the unmade Arbiter hissed, squeezing down on the mouse’s bones with the crab claw’s vice grip. His prey squirmed and squealed ever so slightly as the suit of armor began to splinter and crack.

Then Mickey Mouse spat in Davy Jones’ goshdang face.

A glob of wet mouse saliva collided with the crabby pirate’s forehead. It slipped down, down, down his face until finally it dropped past his chin and to the floor below. Davy Jones hovered, frozen to the spot in disbelief. Had that really just happened? Did this rat actually dare… ?

Mickey smirked. “Hmph,” he scoffed, “how’d you like them apples, fella?”

SNAP.

The mouse’s eyes almost popped out of his head as Davy Jones squeezed down on the diminutive hero. The sounds of ribs cracking popped through the air, and suddenly, the world around the keyblade master started to fade. Shadows washed into his vision, heat shot up his spine… and he was out like a light. The unmade pirate wiped the mouse spit from his face then let go of his prey, letting the small body splash into the rising ocean tide below them.

Jones watched, unamused, as Mickey Mouse sank into the depths of the ocean. Within moments, the rat had fully disappeared from view, and ‘Captain David’ had moved on to more pressing matters.

Time to get these land-lubbers offa my ship.

“Mickey?” a voice rang out inside the mouse king’s helmet, but he couldn’t hear it. “Mickey,” it said again, to no avail. Unconsciousness had swept over him, pain radiated throughout his little body, and the strong, powerful ocean currents had already begun to carry him away from Nausicaa and the battle against the Unmade.

ARTUR has been destroyed, for the time being.

Mickey Mouse has gone missing.

To be continued...
 

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The Nausicaa Incident: Finale, Part Three
by Ridley, Dr. McNinja, Ezrihel, and Mickey Mouse

Tobias had managed to clamber up and onto the bow of the decaying sea vessel to join General Arthrihel, alongside Ruedlen. The sapphire robed cultist wielded Mageslayer with a manic, bemused grin as he greedily pushed at whatever openings he could find. Each flick of the sword’s steel sent a new psionic blast roaring forwards, cutting pinkish-purple teeth across the shell of dearest Captain Davy.

“I assure you that the corrupt light of your false master cannot reach you here, foul Pretender! Wherever you run to hide, Mageslayer will seek to snuff you out.” His dark, shoulder length hair wiped around his face as he barely managed to knock the fallen arbiter’s blade to the side. He grimaced, baring his teeth as the pirate’s steel filleted his upper arm instead of his heart.

Blue hellfire peppered the arbiter, momentarily distracting the monstrosity. The Gal’skapian and the Priestess were gnats, an annoyance and nothing more. This fusion, however, was a real pain in his decaying neck. He was tired of that biting azure holy-fire, and it was time to repay the favor.

With a flick of his bulbous wrist he sent Tobias skidding across the deck on his back, only stopping when he slammed up against a stand of wooden barrels. The cultist dealt with, Davy turned his hand upon the duet, perched pretty-like on top of that hellish steed. “Alright, tae hell with ya, ya blasted blue-wing'ed skele-faerie!”

The corrupt bolt exploded from his cloying, warped palm. His aim was as cruel as it was true, the purple blast struck the duo dead in the chest and sent them flying into the far wall of the crumbling temple. Of course, this did little to stop the infuriated Radish- in fact, it encouraged her bucking wildness as she reared back and clipped the captain’s shoulder and head with a flurry of batterings that left him more than a bit dazed.

He fired another haphazard bolt at the skeletal mare, launching her infernal hooves well away from him as she fell overboard and into the murky brine below.

None of them were worthy. Not a single one of them had any right to step foot in his temple. He’d rather take it all down to the deep dark abyss at the bottom of the ocean than let those blimey, hoity toity Skylanders build another ugly suburbia on top of it. No one had the proper respect for what they had stolen from him.

He would take it all away now. Darkseid had enlightened him, had shown him that it was pointless to wait around for the help of heroes who’d ignored his call or procrastinated on his warning. He was tired of trying to be reasonable. Aragorn had been the one to instill that value back into him, after he’d torn his bleedin’ heart out and locked it away.

But Aragorn was gone. This.... Darkseid’s methods... They were the only real way to get what he wanted accomplished, done and dealt with. Captain Davy Jones was done playin’ nice with these louts, these make-pretend knights-in-shinin’-armor and mages.

Rue dipped forward, swiping Davy’s wrist with the edge of her buckler just enough to throw him off. His foul sword glanced off the metal with a shower of sparks that rained down on the waterlogged deck. “Tobias,” her shrill voice called out, “none of this was mentioned in any of my books of prophecy!”

Across the deck, the cultist had managed to pull himself to his feet, spitting a bloody tooth onto the rotting floorboards and wrenching his hand across his torn brow and shrugging pretty nonchalantly.

“Well, the gods of fate are wacky like that sometimes.” Came his rather casual sounding response as he stabbed forward. Rue cocked a dark brow at his answer. Something new had settled over the young man since that wretched Darkseid had appeared, a certain... resolution that she was incredibly familiar with on the battlefield of war. Life, or death.

He had accepted the grim odds, and he was pleased by them. Tobias, the cultist of Gal’skap, wielder of Mageslayer and Fool of Dreadridge, was looking his death in the face. It honed him, narrowed his focus down to a point as fine as the edge of his blade.

Ruedlen grunted as she struggled against Davy’s overwhelming strength, “Yeah, I know but- two corrupt gods amidst a sudden apocalypse?”

Jones wove his blade down between her knees and scored a sick slice across the inside of her thigh, causing her to stumble and flinch with a sharp hiss at the pain. This time it was the cultist who caught her arm and kept her from falling. She couldn’t help but smirk back at him. His mania was utterly contagious despite the dire squalor they struggled in.

False Gods. Pretenders who seek to disrupt the true vision of the Old God.” Tobias corrected as he lost a lock of hair and earned a gash torn across his tanned cheek. He wiped his hand back across his mouth and nose to clear some of the bittering blood off his face.

“Same difference?” She said with a slightly exasperated huff. A smirk pulled the cultist’s grin off-kelter.

The raven haired priestess was left standing all by herself as the psion caught Jones’ cruel fist with his depraved, grinning face and was sent flying into the Captain’s Quarters in record time. Rue’s milky white eyes darted up to meet the pirate’s beady black ones, animalistic, reduced eyes that shifted listlessly and gave no ground or solace.

“Fuck.” Was all she managed before she also was sent through the rotting wood via a newly implemented Ruedlen-shaped hole in the wall. Her vision flickered black-white-blue-white-black as she collided with a support beam head first and crumpled against the back wall next to the cultist.

Meanwhile, the unicorn demigod had reengaged in combat with the Unmade Arbiter of Opealon. Sparklelord’s horn flashed as the warlord narrowed their eyes, dissolving the mountains of barnacles rising up to surround them. They followed up with a ferocious punch, which rocked the entire temple and caused the entire structure to tip sideways.

“This is it,” Morene mumbled to herself as she looked up through Kopaka’s withering ice barrier. Kopaka grunted as more blood flowed freely from his festering wound,

“There must…” Kopaka groaned, condensation forming on the Kanohu Miru, “There must be… something…”

Kopaka grunted again as the barrier was assaulted by a Parademon. Two more of the winged creatures joined in the effort of breaking the barrier. The bionic swordsman collapsed onto his knees, and the barrier shimmered weakly, crystallized ocean spraying inwards from the field.

“I… can’t…”

Unceremoniously, a single reptilian and clawed hand burst up from the stone ground. The entire temple jerked further deeper into the ocean. Cho grunted, spiritual energy spilling from his eyes as he attempted to hold back the encroaching ocean from drowning everyone instantaneously.

“Ridley?” Colonel Mustang scowled.

The monstrous mercenary snarled as his head burrowed up from the ground. Magma spilled from Ridley’s shoulders and wings as he looked around.

“Mustang. Hogging all the fun?” The Dragon snorted, as one eye turned to the fight between a screaming horned horse-beast and a half-crab half-pirate. “I’ve slain the tentacled beast below with an active volcano. My researcher tells me the island has less than ten minutes.”

The Dragon’s face turned to a garish frown. “...Which one is on our side?” He’d ask after a second more of watching the battle, disgust evident in his features.

Mustang frowned. “The horse, believe it or not.”

To be continued...
 

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The Nausicaa Incident: Finale, Part Four
By Ridley, Ezrihel, Dr. McNinja, and Mickey Mouse
General Arthrihel watched the scene unfold as they stood, doubled over, trying to catch their breath and just breathe for a damn moment. Everything on their body ached and burned hot-cold in vacillating waves. Their strength was waning, faltering under the brutal beating they’d started taking as they worked to draw the ire of the unmade monster.

The blue fire ebbed, twisting into long dark chestnut brown hair as it died away. Fair skin cloaked the bedeviled skeleton in anointed but bruised and beaten flesh. They took two steps forward before falling back to their knees and hacking up a mouthful of thick dark blood into their hand. Something squirmed uncomfortably inside their shared mindspace. Why did this losing battle feel so damn familiar? Why did they feel like they’d experienced this specific aesthetic of pain in the unknowable past?

The duet shook their head, a hand held their black hat down as they struggled back to their feet against the agony. Their soul was willing, but their flesh required binding. Arthrihel needed to get back onto the ship, get back to Ruedlen and Kopaka. Their combined mind pulled them in two ways at once. Concerned, the Fused Spirit of Vengeance sent out a message to all of the other warriors.

‘The island is by far a lost cause,’ Arthrihel’s twangy voice rang clearly in everyone’s minds as the duo quaffed down the last of their health tonics, ‘If any of y’all happen to be proficient in pullin’ a vanishing act, we’d suggest now’d be the time to perform your magicks.’

As the telepathic message was broadcast, the five ninjas on top of the Flying Dutchman found themselves rather horizontal. They were all proficient climbers, of course, so even as the ghost ship spilled its ghastly crew deeper into the sinking temple, they held fast onto the rotting deck.

“We really should’ve gotten out earlier, boys,” Raphael grunted, sais planted firmly into the deck.

Michelangelo groaned as the mast he was holding onto cracked under its own weight. “All these wizards and nobody knows how to teleport?”

Dr. McNinja’s eyes twinkled at the thought. The masked warrior peered down at his ally, who was currently being strangled by Davy Jones.

“Sparklelord!” Dr. McNinja shouted out, “Get us out of here!”

The unicorn in question looked incredulously at the doctor, and pointed at the chitinous tentacles that were wrapped around their neck.

“I DON’T CARE JUST DO IT” Doc screamed, his grip loosening slightly on the cable that tethered him.

Sparklelord rolled their eyes as Stephen slid in, slicing the tentacles off the unicorn. Sparklelord peered curiously at the fusion.

“There is a mage inside you,” the unicorn rumbled.

Within the trio’s fused form, Jaina managed a nod. “What magic do you need?”

“I have been tasked with mass evacuation,” Sparklelord replied, “I will need your assistance.”

On cue, the Dutchman finally gave a final creak, a warning to everyone nearby about what was going to happen next. The Dutchman’s gunpowder ignited under the stress, and the entire ship exploded in a fit of mossy wood and shrapnel. All five ninjas were blown back, and started free-falling through the temple.

Meanwhile, Cho, despite all his elemental might, lost his concentration as the temple shook one final time. Their integrity no longer sustained by the elementalist, the temple walls fully dissolved into mud and dust. The encroaching tide swooped in like a writhing pack of hungry predators, and crashed through.

The various heroes of Nausicaa all felt their bodies float in the water. Logically, they should have been surrounded by the remains of the temple, floating in the ocean with them. But the fighters who were still conscious peered around, and saw that there was nothing around them. Even Ridley, who SWORE the remains of his prey should still be sinking below them, could no longer find the remains of the Sandro Aqua monster. Impossibly enough, the heroes already seemed to be at the bottom of the ocean itself.

The fighters screamed as they drowned. Overwhelming pressure pressed upon them, squeezing their frail bodies as the unending tide began tossing them around. None knew how fast they were moving, how violently their bodies were being tossed, where they were or how to escape. Even Ridley’s subaquatic device seemed to fizzle and die. The creatures who were so used to not breathing found themselves choking nevertheless. There was one new, fundamental and immutable fact in this cursed sliver of the universe - everything drowned. And during those treacherous moments, everyone knew to fear the seas.

Yer in my domain now, mateys.

Davy Jones cackled. His scorched and mutated face surrounded them. No matter where the heroes looked, the shattered visage of rotting sea-life met their gaze. Grey coral crept up from below, like bony fingers stretching up to claw at the survivors, and bile swarmed from above.

The heroes were just so tiny.

Sparklelord saw their master floating in the water, unconscious. Blood streamed from within the ninja mask. There was nothing silly about the man anymore - he was close to death. Sparklelord could do it. Just let him die.

They looked to their right, and Jaina Proudmoore’s eyes stared into their soul. Sparklelord huffed indignantly, bubbles roaring out of their nostrils as they did, but Jaina’s point was made.

The Archmage of Dalaran and the Destroyer of the Radical Lands joined hands, and arcane light struggled against the darkness. In the back of everyone’s head, in the parts of the mind where one forgets their nightmares, they heard the angry screams of a dying god.

Ye can’t leave that easily-

Davy Jones would have liked to continue speaking, but he had made a miscalculation earlier. He had haughtily announced that the ocean was his domain. This was partially true, but he had forgotten whom Darkseid had awakened.

Godzilla’s scream cut through the deafening popping of eardrums as she surged through the coral, sending shattered bits of bone flying through the water like shrapnel. The waves of her movements washed over the few conscious heroes like a tide, as the Queen of Monsters, returned to her regular size, finally laid eyes on her prey, the one who had so disturbed her place of rest. Atomic fire flared through Godzilla’s nostrils, and her roar became laced with radiation and heat.

The two deities engaged in battle in the ocean, each blow like a small earthquake that could shatter a planet. Sparklelord’s horn glimmered, and next to them, the android-mage’s eyes shone like diamonds.

“Mass Teleport,” the pair muttered in their minds.

There was another flash, and the heroes vanished. Tide slammed together, like hands trying to grab their prey before the prey escaped, in vain.

Most of the heroes have escaped.

Read the next update to find out who didn't!

To be continued...
 

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The Nausicaa Incident: Finale, Part Five
by Ridley, Dr. McNinja, Ezrihel, and Mickey Mouse

Davy Jones roared again in fury as Godzilla exhaled boiling destruction into the Arbiter.

He ran across the top of the water, meeting the atomic blue beam with his own purple one. He was sick of playing about. The other land-lovers had escaped, leaving a handful of their own behind on his ship and in the water. He chortled in a burbling rasp, some heroes, huh, leaving their mates to be lost to the hungering waves.

His pride and joy, the Flying Dutchman, bobbled along the surface. Its reflections in the fel-water were warped by a sinister hue that refracted the light with twisted rainbow tints, a clear effect of his new unmade prowess.

Ruedlen groaned from her place against the wall of the captain’s quarter, curling into a ball as she spit out not one, not two, not even three- but four teeth onto the floor, along with what she figured was a part of her tongue she’d accidentally bitten clean off. Dread crept through her battered body, seizing at her chest and throat and forcing another pained groan past the gurgle of coppery purple ichor. Her head throbbed and her neck refused to turn much, she could barely lift her arm- she was sure her collarbone and shoulder were ruined. She gasped in a shaky breath.

They were going to die down here. She was going to die down here.

She’d promised Isra that she’d come back, that she wouldn’t die down here in some gods-forsaken tunnel, crypt and temple. Ruedlen had made that promise, and it bit at her soul as she realized she was going to fail him totally. She was going to die, and she was going to forget him as the loose threads of her soul unraveled in the in-between. He would never forgive her for breaking his heart of hearts, and she knew that.

Ruedlen rolled onto her opposite side to face Tobias in the gloom of the Flying Dutchman’s interior as the unmade pretender battled the reptilian along the top of the ocean. The knight's hair clung to his skin in slick wet clumps, the inky black served to break up the crimson decay smeared across his dirty visage. She thought it a pity, he was a handsome young man so full of life just precious hours prior, yet now...

Another fiber unwound from his heavily frayed life-thread with a snap Rue would've sworn was audible. She grabbed at his shoulder and shook him.

"Wake up Cultist!" She urged, pulling his limp form up until he was on his knees. "Don't you have something worth dying for?"

"Lady... Alva..." He managed to slur through his confusion, though his eyes stayed closed.

“Don’t you disgrace her by dying laying down on the dirty floor.”

A weak smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth as he peeked at her through the grit and gore. “... Aye...”

In the distance, Godzilla’s roars took on a sharp and painful edge that spiked fear into the woman’s hearts.

"Okay Tobias, anything worth dying for is also worth living for, and I'd like to not die here." She pushed the black hilt of Mageslayer into the palm of his bruised hand, stumbling as pain jolted across her bones. She clutched at her side. Yep, that was several bruised and broken ribs, and one was definitely stabbing her in the lung. The wet, rattling wheezing and suffocating pressure building in her chest told her that well enough.

“Come on, we have to...” Rue fought to drag another breath in. She was weak and heavy, like her body was encased in lead. “We have to... “

She sputtered and coughed, spitting foamy purple phlegm as heavy, thudding footsteps clambered onto the deck. “Keep fighting until the...”

The andromedan warrior rasped a wheezing sigh, “end... of the line...”

The cultist’s head lolled to the side, his skin a visible mosaic of piebald patchwork discoloration and his lip split open. “Aye... I must... Make my lady proud...”

The rotting stench of the fallen arbiter pervaded the air, pressing down on their psyche with an unmistakable malease. Ruedlen, the firebrand that she was, grabbed the shaft of her hasta and lunged forward at the crustaceous-deity with the grace of a drunken viper. Her feeble attempt to protect herself and her eldritch companion was swatted away. Her defenses were little more than a child's sand castle before a great and towering tsunami when confronted by the Captain.

He planted a foot on her chest and pushed down. "What an inspirin' lil' speech lass, but yer gannae learn inspiration be meanin' little tae dead men!" He cackled as he crushed the air from her lungs, the remaining ribs of her’s that had held up so far cracked, then snapped under the weight. She tore at his boots and flesh until her nails and fingers bled purple with her desperation. She couldn’t even manage a scream, though not for any lack of agony or effort.

In her panic she desperately reached her mind towards anyone who could help, and gripped at the psion, her Inquisitor and General, before she lost her bearing on consciousness.



It was hard to stay conscious when the inferno of rage fueling their hellbent, fiery passion burned out. It was even harder to stay present through the searing pain that ate up the duet’s chest and torso with ragged burns and cruel gouges. The wounds leaked an opaque metallic golden blood that caught the light of the sun and coiled in thick trails along the blackened currents of sea water. It was a sublime contrast between the holy and the damned, the bleary eyed Western Angel contemplated in their half-alive state of exhaustion and discomfort.

They were slipping further down into the water column, sinking further and further down into the dark blue abyss below. The cold water caressed their sorenesses and beckoned to them. They couldn’t help but listlessly wonder which way was up- it was hard to tell as their ears popped under the pressure.

They’d lost Rose in the chaos, and the Hellfire Winchester.

And Radish. The part that cared just hoped she’d gotten teleported with the rest of ‘em all.

They could sink to the bottom of the sea, into its cool, soothing embrace, into that darkness that promised they could close their eyes and rest for just a little while... It was okay, they didn’t need to be scared of the depths anymore at all...

Something cold and metal brushed past their hand. It was familiar, heavy with power beyond their understanding. The shattered sword from the altar, Narsil’s hilt, the original ninth Arbiter’s blade. Both halves of the fusion found themselves more than hungry to stick the damn crab through with his supposed best friend’s precious scrap, more for spite and irony than any real game plan.

They had been too far away to teleport with the group, not that their inner halves were necessarily really in agreement about leaving behind an unmade false-god. Even Roy Mustang had managed to escape the area. The duet had nothing left in them besides spite.

They grabbed the blackened hilt of Narsil, hard, until their knuckles tensed pale white. An arc of energy rushed through them suddenly, and they struggled to not suck in an entire lungful of water at the surprise of the jolt. The water around them whistled and began to glow bright white as the shattered relic forged itself anew in their very hands.

The Flame of the West; Andúril.

Arthrihel gasped in a ragged breath as they found themselves standing on the surface of the ocean. A new energy flowed through them, exhilarating them despite their injuries. They were worthy to wield the blade of the true king... The weight of that revelation hadn’t really set in for the duo until they took a step forward and twirled the metal instrument of death with a delightfully curious ease.

Their dustier half quickly found themselves noticing just how pleased the angelic half was with the broadsword, how absurdly proud the andromedan felt over... well, over whatever it was this achievement really meant. The cowpoke found themself amiss regardless of the noblethem’s excitement as their blue eyes scanned the wreckage floating on the waves.

They had still totally lost the island. They’d still lost folks, and good folks to boot. The reminder sobered the General up quickly, especially when Ruedlen grappled onto their mind with a panicked frenzy that meant only one thing.

The duo sprung forward, launching themselves from the surface of the ocean with a speed that made very short work of the distance to the accursed boat. The whole ship heaved with a dizzying rocking motion from the force of their landing, and their recently returned stomach lurched with the rush of adrenaline. They could feel Rue and Tobias crumpled in the back, nearly washed out by the imposing aura of the Heartless Captain. She was flickering, fading faster than the dull cultist beside her as the crab raised his boot once again.

Fury flooded through their body, soaking through to their very core. Seven realms be damned, they couldn’t let Rue die here, not like this and certainly not by some awful twisted up god-turned-monstrosity.

They raised their arm, brilliant Andúril glimmering crimson in their devout hand and thirsting to set the world right once more. Effortlessly the duet glided forward across the deck, other hand outstretched to telekinetically yank the arbiter quick enough to catch him somewhat off-guard. Jones stumbled as he slid several feet towards the rapidly encroaching angel of vengeance, a deep scowl puzzled out of what remained of his face.

There were no theatrics as Davy drew his rapier and clashed. No large swelling monologues or vain showboating occured between the combatants besides the flashing sparks and screeches of their steel battling for dominance. The pirate’s beady black eyes widened as his foe wove around his feint, reading his bluff for what it was. Only one man prior had moved like that and read his style like a book.

Aragorn.

The duet scored a cold slash across the arbiter’s decomposing composure.

Andúril practically hummed with energy, shining with the hot red energy of the sun, regardless of the dark storm clouds swirling above them to obscure the skies. The corrupted god found his head swimming as the sight sank into his brain. Narsil had reforged itself anew, for this duo, and now the vanquished arbiter poured his spirit back into the world with this final act of divine providence.

A single tear dripped from his soulless eyes, but it was too late.

Captain of the Flying Dutchman, Davy Jones was already turned. Broken. He couldn’t just be reforged like that mystical blade. He landed a backhanded slap across the fusion’s pretty face, and clocked their senses as they staggered back into the tattered main mast of the ghost ship galleon.

“It’s too late ye blasted fools! I cast me die and I cast ‘em wae ol’ Darkseid! He is the only way now, and yer not gonnae convince me otherwise, pretty boy.” He snarled in willful defiance at whatever emotional nonsense this display was meant to show, raising his blade to their neck for daring to antagonize his loss. He drug the steel slowly, the hardened andromedan skin hissed like shrapnel on concrete for only the barest second before Jones was blown back with a close quarters blast of psionic force that sent him reeling.

Arthrihel’s sharp azure eyes caught a glimpse of the eldritch knight stumbling up to his feet despite his grave looking injuries. He nudged Rue in vain, too weak to pull her dense form from the crater she was laying in. It made the duo’s stomach pitch in violent resentment for the seafaring tyrant. How dare Davy lay his disgusting, wilting paws on their companion, on a fellow noble andromedan and a bless’ed death priestess.

“Davy Jones, you have murdered our friends, slaughtered countless innocents and now... you betray the memory of your only best friend... The man who helped shape you into someone better than the blasted, bitter monster you have become.”

The Heartless One moved to close the gap once more, but froze as pain blossomed in his chest and head. Arthrihel’s wisty drawl echoed all around him, mixed with the intermittent, beckoning cries of Aragorn’s pleading disappointment. “Feel the vast agony you have inflicted upon those who looked to you for protection. Suffer, as they have suffered and weep for your bastard soul as they weep for their loves lost.”

“GET OUT O’ ME DAMNED HEAD!!” He bellowed out a roar, swatting at the air in front of him as if it would clear away the impression eating at his soul. He took a heavy step forward, raising his blade with the full intent to cleave the lanky alien clear in twain when he felt something collide with his back and throw him off-balance.

“Old Ones forgive me,” Tobias hissed between grit teeth as he struggled to hold tight onto Jones’ back. He felt the General bridge the gap between their minds in what felt like an instant, the lightest of touches asking intent and plan, and most importantly: permission for what was coming. “I have to do it to him.”

The Western Justiciar gave a grim nod as the occult knight’s acceptance washed over their mind. They took in a deep breath as they now took their turn to raise the Flame of the West with both hands and propelled themselves like a rocket. They steadied the point of Andúril ahead of themselves and sent it straight through the traitor-god’s chest with a resounding, brutal crack.

The softest wheeze rushed from between Tobias’ lips as his vision tunneled, the dwarven forged broadsword had pierced him as well; an unavoidable sacrifice made as the last-ditch gamble of a dead man, inspired by the words of a warrior priestess he’d known only for a few hours. This time, he would be no foolish boy or depressive errand runner. This time, he would die not in vain, but with dignity for the sake of his dearest Lady Alva, and his order’s ways.

He slid back off the steel and crumpled to the floor, the cold sea breeze biting at his numbed fingers and hollow cheeks. Davy’s horrified screams and thundering escape barely registered as the Gal’skap follower’s world bloomed in peels of chilly-hot mushroom blues. If his death could be beneficial for anyone... He would consider it a worthy sacrifice.

Tobias was already gone by the time Arthrihel slid up to his prone form sprawled on the ground. The sombre duet gazed at the young man, sighing as they closed his dull green eyes. He’d died still clutching Mageslayer in his determined fist. The alien made note to research into this ‘Gal’skap’ cult when they escaped back to civilization and recovered. A cause worth dying for was a cause worth investigating in the eyes of the Inquisitor.

After placing the young man in a standard knightley death pose, sword-on-chest, they quickly moved to Ruedlen, who looked very... Critical to say the least. She was laying in a pool of her own blood, staring glassy-eyed at the ceiling and breathing rapidly, shallowly. Arthrihel was hardly a qualified doctor, but they’d seen enough mortally wounded animals and people between the two of them to recognize when things were dire.

They needed to go, and fast. They had no clue how Jones had pulled that screeching vanishing stunt, nor if he was merely taking a moment to pull the wool over their tired eyes. The westerner bent down, attempting to prize her from the hole as gently as possible given the circumstances. She was much rougher for wear than she looked, they could feel it from the way her bones popped under her skin and how her arm hung uselessly at her side. Rue was in shock and the clock was ticking on her quickly unraveling life.

They cradled her to their chest as gingerly as they could, stepping back out onto the deck before taking off into the air. They just needed to reach out and find Isra, pray to the gods above and below he’d gotten some treatment and could save her...

Arthrihel and Ruedlen have escaped.

Tobias is dead. :'(

Godzilla and the Living are lost, along with Nausicaa.

Davy Jones has disappeared.

To be continued...
 

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The Nausicaa Incident, Finale: Part Six
by Ridley, Ezrihel, Dr. McNinja, and Mickey Mouse

Dr. McNinja limply wandered around, seawater still spilling from his lungs. Thanks to his stamina, he was among the first to wake up on the shore. He collapsed on his knees, then crawled towards the first person he could see.

“Check for breathing,” he chanted to himself to stay awake, “Rescue breaths. Chest compressions.”

Doc collapsed on the beach upon reaching his target. He limply placed a hand on the figure’s chest, his fingers waiting for some sort of movement.

…oh goodness, this person was very dead.

Doc withdrew his hand, disgusted. He sat himself up to identify the figure, but was having some trouble. He had never seen this thing before. It was some sort of strange orange lizard-man, like someone had mixed a beagle with an iguana and then had a child with that animal. The oddest thing was the unreasonable amount of resentment building up in Doc’s heart.

“Eh, heesa dead anyway,” Doc thought to himself as he threw a light punch across the figure’s face.

As Dr. McNinja did, the figure flopped to the side, and something tumbled out of his hands. Doc frowned. It appeared to be some sort of decrepit glass jar. It was covered in seaweed and was very drippy, though the corpse that was holding it was… surprisingly dry. Doc couldn’t see its contents, so he picked it up mindlessly.

“He’s got a jar of dirt,” Doc mumbled, “He’s got a jar of dirt. I can’t see what’s inside it…”

Before he could continue his investigation, Doc heard the giant winged lizard from before shuffling out of the sand. Doc quickly pocketed the jar and turned around.

“Hey, whoever you are,” Doc said to the figure, “help me resuscitate these people.”

Ridley snarled, “Let them wake on their own. I need to see where your unicorn brought us.”

Dr. McNinja rolled his eyes as Ridley shot into the sky.

Further down the beach Iris dragged the limp form of Cho from the edge of the water, Morene shuffling behind her to pick the young man up off the ground. The knight-errant nudged him, shaking his shoulders gently. Surely.... Surely he couldn’t be...?

You promised you’d come back. A warm, familiar yet strange voice graced his mind and suddenly he sputtered to life, retching up salty sea water into the sand as his green eyes flew open in shock. Spirits guide him, he was sore from head to toe and ached all the way down to the centers of his bones.

His mind was still reeling from everything that had happened, from the crushing fear and panic that had consumed him just before that godly power washed through his body. He was... the avatar? But.... Korra...? What did this all mean? He groaned, squeezing his eyes shut against the bright sun. “What... Happened? Where’s that Toa, Kopaka? He was amazing- and pretty hurt- is he alright?”

Morene watched the ninja doctor next to him punch Roy Mustang in the chest. In a fit of coughs, the alchemist shot up to a seated position, gagging on the seawater ejecting from his mouth.

“Deep breaths,” Dr. McNinja grumbled as he lifted Roy’s eyes to check for cognition.

Mustang finally sputtered the last of the rotting sea in his lungs and looked up. “Where are we?”

“Some beach,” Doc responded as he drew some medication from his coat. They were, miraculously enough, dry.

“Kopaka is down the beach that way,” Morene sighed, “He’s resting next to Hawkeye.”

Doc swallowed hard. “I… might need help on him. I’ve identified some organs but I don’t know how to do chest compressions on metal. I’ve done my best with bandages, and he seems to be breathing, but…”

Mustang immediately reached for his communicator. It was also dry. Not questioning how that was possible, the man cleared his throat.

“Come in,” Roy managed to say, “Come in, anyone. We… I don’t know where I am, but we need an evac. We have many casualties here.”

“We heard you, Lieutenant Colonel,” a familiar voice replied, “We’ve got your location, you’re not far from us. We’re on our way.”

“We couldn’t find the mouse,” Doc said, “Or… that dude with the explodey sword.”

Mustang eyed the beach, doing his best to take a headcount of the survivors who’d shown up in the dry sands. He could see the band of brotherly, ninjutsu-wielding turtles; next to them, half buried in the dunes Juno cradled Amalia, carefully trying to extract them both without collapsing the shelf of sand down on top of them. That towering, armored woman knelt next to the sputtering elementalist and the white haired android... And at his own side was Swift, clutching her knees to the chest of her tactical urban gear.

“Where did General Althaus- Arthrihel,” he quickly corrected himself, “go? I haven’t seen them or their horse on the beach. Or that warrior they were with.”

“You’d think it’d be pretty hard to lose an eight foot tall skeleton-angel quoting the bible.” Doc responded with an exhausted shrug. “But here we are. M-I-A, just like the mecha-mouse, the giga-lizard and the sociopathic psychic.”

Roy’s dark eyes focused out on the horizon, studying the brooding storm clouds boiling off the distant ocean waves. God damnit. God. Damn. It. Another Arbiter lost to Darkseid, another planet slipping further and further into chaos and destruction, and he was just as powerless to stop it this time as he had been last time.

He bit the inside of his bottom lip as he thought over the tragic events of the day. They’d lost countless good men and women, untold innocent civilians. Darkseid had deflected all of their attempts to thwart him as if they were nothing more than insignificant tedium that served to amuse him on occasion. They lost the entire damn island, and Captain Davy Jones, just like the Fade had slipped through their fingers.

This entire operation felt hopeless at times... and he found himself questioning if doing this day-in and day-out was actually worth it. He knew that those ridiculous Hopers would want to sugarcoat the situation, sweep it under the rug so they could keep on being ritsy and unbothered. He was risking his own neck- and more importantly, the necks of his team- for people who could turn out ungrateful.

He let out a frustrated sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose. Why couldn’t he ever manage to save the people around him? Roy sunk further into his thoughts, only interrupted from his anxious self-torture when his communicator crackled back to life. ARC operatives were landing boots on the beach and coming to retrieve them.

The bruised and battered fighters half-sunken in the sand seemed to spring to life like May flowers, the confirmation of rescue inspired them into a shuffled-zombie walk like no speech had managed thus far.

Arthur Morgan stood a little further down the beach, stroking Radish’s hair. He was happy to see the horse had been teleported out with everyone else. He didn’t know exactly how he and General Althaus had become unfused, but in their escape, it had happened.

The general cradled a broken, battered Ruedlen a few feet away as ARC soldiers approached them to escort them onto the evac vehicles. Near him, Anduril lay idly, and for just a moment, the cowboy thought about grabbing it for himself.

Nah, he thought, better not. Not really my style, anyway.

Later, it would find its way into the hands on Ezrihel von Althaus.

And much, much later even than that, the new phase of the war against Darkseid would begin.

***

Some ways away, in one of the farthest reaches of unknown space, Darkseid’s ship lurched through the vast nothingness.

Within the confines of his throne room, the Fallen Arbiter sat with his eyes shut tight. Images splashed before him of the fools trying to test their might against his newest minion, trying to save the island. They made the effort in vain -- he had imposed his will upon the island, and upon Captain Jones. And nothing could stand up to the will of Darkseid.

He sank into his seat, content. After today, they would not dare to challenge him.

After today, they should know who the true ruler of the Crossroads was.

Ezrihel von Althaus wins the Relic 'Anduril.'

Doctor McNinja wins the Relic 'Jar of Dirt.'

The Nausicaa Incident has concluded.
 

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The Nausicaa Incident: Epilogue

Davy Jones washed up on the edge of Kirden Wharf several days later, a shadow of his former self.

He crawled onto one of the lesser-used docks, his skin shifting and light flashing as his crab-like features slowly began to fade away, and Darkseid’s influence subsided.

The Arbiter slowly pushed himself to his feet, his entire body shaking, and looked up at the sky. Part of him still felt the pull of the Fallen Arbiter — a part he was deeply ashamed of, but a part he knew and trusted. The Skylanders had never been here for him or his people. They’d stolen the Water Temple away. But Darkseid… Darkseid had given him what he’d dreamed of for eons.

And those heroes… they still battled him tooth and nail.

The tentacle-faced Arbiter felt himself cracking, felt his body faltering. He was weak. Weaker than he’d ever been. Too weak to do anything about Darkseid, even if he wanted to. And the truth was: he didn’t.

It would have to be them. He’d seen some of the Crossroads’ finest heroes in that battle, and if they really wanted to cast out Darkseid for good, it was time for them to step into the light, to step into the power, to take their place at the top of the Crossroads’ ever-shifting food chain.

It was time for him to be replaced.

Rumors spread that Davy Jones had been seen splashing back into the ocean that day, but the Arbiter meant not to be found.

He sank into the abyss. If he had his way, he wouldn’t be seen in physical form until his shame had fully abated. In the meantime, he’d continue his work… continue to try and find new heroes… he didn’t know if they could do it, but he had to let them try.

Davy Jones has been saved from the unmaking thanks to the efforts of people performing unmaking quests prior to the event.

He will appear for Arbiter’s Plea quests but is decidedly more downtrodden about the whole affair.
 
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