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Post by Frederic Bourgault-Christie on Dec 11, 2010 16:04:13 GMT -5
Golbez, Gau, Tom, Casey, and Banjo-Kazooie found themselves in the Digital World. Matt and Tai were being devastated by a gigantic creature that was identified as a XANA Crest. The Crest's Truth attack nearly killed the entire team, but they persevered until the AI Director could bring in help: Zombie versions of those who had fought XANA in the past, the Code Lyoko warriors. They used the Code to reverse XANA'S corruption, however temporarily. Matt has joined the party! Tai has joined the party! Odd has joined the party! Ulric has joined the party! Yumi has joined the party! Aelita has joined the party! Jeremy has joined the party! Well, I'm not the smartest guy in the room anymore, am I? The last Dark Tournament match awaited! Master Chief fought Arsenal, the True Machine. It was a demonic version of the Arsenal unit that had protected the Tower of Worlds: finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_Final_Bosses#Final_Fantasy_Legend_II . Arsenal proved too much for the SPARTAN, even after the Laser he used proved capable of piercing the creature's AT field and armor, and he ultimately was killed enough times that his cooldown to respawn became longer than 10 seconds. The team licked their wounds from the Krinodaemon fight. Black's flame burnt noticeably dimmer. Fred was exhausted not only from the fight against the Universal Magi and whatever training he was doing, but also his ascension to bodhisattvahood and his ordeal at the hands of Organization XIII. Kevin was still feeling the reeling assault of the Excel Wave, even with his new armor. The only people not substantially exhausted were Kevin, . This didn't count the way that Dr. Manhattan, Thrash, Badcat and others had to keep the damage from engulfing the audience. Luckily, with some of Organization XIII on their side, the team had brought in some people they could use, but they still faced an uphill battle coming into the next round. The next thing to do was to use the interim time between the Dark Tournament rounds to monitor the island to make sure no one was getting attacked, meet the other teams, train and assist teams that they wanted to win, and find potential ways of sabotaging teams they wanted to lose. Sinestro went into the Legion of Evil locker and staging room and just barely missed seeing their planning. Luthor seemed supremely confident that, even as the time for his team's approach came close, there was no need to send anyone but one member: Black Adam. His confidence seemed to be hubris, as Adam alone faced Team Koguya. Koguya was comprised of demon gods and supernatural intelligences. Their leader, The Grin Beyond The Face of Death, spoke with its ten thousand mouths that heralded the harvest of the monkeys. "Little man, you think you can stand against all of us? Between us, our spiritual waves are uncountable. And you surely can vaguely perceive the power we hold". Indeed, Team Koguya was using an ancient shadowy force, an essence of supernatural evil and death called the Vaanstadter. Black Adam shrugged. "You may indeed require half of my resources". The creatures, enraged, threw arcing trails of pure eldritch horror, abominable magics dredged from below the abyss itself. And they did not phase Adam. "Heroic Resolve of Lancelot". Suddenly, his fist was shoved through The Grin. "Strength of the Ranari". The sky turned pink and red. Lightning bolts curving the air like kris struck everywhere. Tornadoes formed into existence with no rhyme or reason. "The Apocalypse of the Gods of Magic and the Gods of Discord". Toki said, "Is thats the Metalocalypse?" "Nos, Tokis! The Metalocalypse is exclusives to us!" With the apocalypse coming, the magic of the gods was being beaten down to oblivion. "Wealth of Gilgamesh". And with that, a storm of blades erupted. Black Adam had achieved a new level of power unseen before. This tournament would prove to be a long one.
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Post by Frederic Bourgault-Christie on Dec 13, 2010 16:59:56 GMT -5
Preparing for the next round, the team began to do what they could to guide the tournament in a proper way. The fear was that the All-Monster's team was hiding amongst the thirty-two entrants, and assisting any could be a problem if they unwittingly aided the All-Monsters's team.
The remaining teams were
1 - Urameshi 2 - Searing of Sargeras . The Burning Legion entrant and a favorite to win the tournament. 3 - True Sun 4 - Fate's Guardians 5 - Krinodaemons [eliminated] 6 - Pirate King 7 - Celeste Arcana 8 - Tribe of Chaos 9 - Lars Co. Supposedly, these fighters took the place of Organization XIII. 10 - Legion of Evil 11 - Eye of Pain 12 - Dark Saints. Cosmos users well known for using the powers of Cronos, Chaos, Uranus and Gaia. 13 - Black Spiral 14 - Noxus . The nation has entered, but their Summoners are keeping their new Champions close to the vest. 15 - The Source . Could this actually be the real Source? 16 - Servants of K'thramalar. K'thralamar's objectives are as transparent as his first eyelid: Simply gain power and strength. He is using mostly loyal slaves, but perhaps a wedge could be driven? 17 - Minotheos 18 - Hashishim 19 - World Heroes 20 - Teen Titans 21 - Larsen's Brigade 22 - Inverse. 23 - Euclysm 24 -Estoque 25 - Kekkai Guardians. A set of Spirit Realms defenders, kekkaishi, demon hunters, Fu Yao Da Chia, Chi Gung Seng Ren, etc. 26 - Brentega 27 - Kaokigai 28 - Musclo. A team known only as professional wrestlers, luchadora and sports aficionados. 29 - *coughing and sputtering sounds* 30 - Dai-Kaibatsu . The name means "Great Monster". 31 - Lence 32 - Fanboy 33 - Koguya 34 - A Winner Is Us
The team still was trying to figure out which teams to back and which not to. The remaining matchups were:
Celeste Arcane vs. Kekkai Guardians Urameshi vs. *coughing and sputtering sounds, with a tiny bit of phlegm* Searing of Sargeras vs. Euclysm True Sun vs. Fanboy Pirate King vs. Inverse Legion of Evil vs. Koguya [the events of that match have already been seen] Eye of Pain vs. Musclo Dark Saints vs. Brentega Black Spiral vs. Minotheos Noxus vs. Larsen's Brigade The Source vs. Kaokigai Servants of K'thralamar vs. Teen Titans Hashishim vs. Dai-kaibatsu World Heroes vs. Lence Tribes of Chaos vs. Lars. Co
Speculation using Fred's knowledge of DF's planning centered on True Sun, Eye of Pain, Eucylsm, World Heroes or Dai-kaibatsu as being the All-Monster's entrant. Of course, it was also likely that the All-Monster was furnishing K'thralamar, the demon teams, Inverse, The Source, the Legion of Evil, Dark Saints, Black Spiral and others with power.
The team had to do some reconnaissance, figure out their plan, etc.
The Teen Titans had already gotten some training and support. Beast Boy had been trained as a Nu Mou Morpher and a Druid. Raven was given access to the Book of Ten and to the spell arsenals of Doom, Strange and others, as well as taught by Tal Rasha how to control and amplify her Trigonian heritage. Starfire was given some training in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, taught some special energy blasts, etc. All of them were given enhancement by Terrigen Mists and the experimentation of the Tech Team. But the Servants of K'thralamar still were quite imposing...
The team also decided to assist the Kekkai Guardians. Their pedigree was well-established by Koenma, Genryusai and others. And even if they were impostors or had become evil, they would tire the Celeste Arcana. Weapon and ki training awaited, and the Spirit World Defense Force found itself astonished how many S+ and higher forces were on one team.
But they nonetheless found themselves stymied by the sheer force of Celeste Arcana. When Sol Badguy stepped onto the platform, he immediately began to unleash power no one had seen before. His Gear Form appeared over him like an animus, a great curling dragon engulfing the entire arena. The dragon's form pulsed with black energy, a gift from Ragna. The Kekkaishi's original plan had been to hold Sol in a barrier and crush him slowly, but they had been told by the Fate's Guardians to not allow Sol to build his heat in a confined area. Instead, the three Kekkaishis each crushed their barrier on top of Sol. He endured these blows with ease and Ground Vipered them at such speed he was unstoppable. He was finally stopped by Lu Fan Shu, Hero of the Eighth Prefecture... who was seared into the arena by the Fireseal as a reward for his pains. But Sol was eventually fatigued to the point of being forced to swap in Ragna by Kallos, a member of the SDF, who blasted him with sealing power sufficient to stymie Raizen.
Ragna then proceeded to enter his Unlimited mode, itself enhanced and controlled by the presence of the First Gear and the Commander Gear, as well as Testament's magic. Ragna devastated the entire remainder of the team, but he also found himself exhausted as the Bloodedge felled the last enemy.
When Team Urameshi took the stage, a strange admixture of boos, yells, squeals of joy, clapping, thumping and general raucousness overtook the stage. The shadow they collectively cast over the stadium was large. Urameshi pointed out to the audience in his Spirit Gun motion, which induced collective silence. "Hey. Just so you ungrateful brats know, we're doing a clean fight here. We're gonna keep you guys from getting killed."
Earlier, Urameshi had gone through a very nice Powerpoint presentation with spreadsheets an flowcharts as to who was going to be picking up the responsibility of arena protection when. Urameshi had quite clearly not written it.
"We're not here for your entertainment. We're here to make sure no one else screws up that wish." His finger trailed over the entirety of his opposing teams.
"Now, who's coming up to get crushed?"
Horrible hacking and wheezing filled the air.
Koto explained, "Excuse my Demongogian III, but... please give a big hand for - " followed by the coughing of a hairball.
"DUMB BITCH!"
"WHERE DID YOU LEARN YOUR ACCENT, BILL COSBY?!"
Apparently, this team was composed of hardcore demons who scarcely spoke any form of Common.
Urameshi shrugged. "Whatever. Amanuma! Get up here".
A small child with a puzzle game cabinet came up onto the stage. A matching cabinet suddenly appeared on their side. The boos were deafening... until, as Team *horrible sound* began to play, the blocks filled the sky and began to fall on them as well! One attempted to simply strike Amanuma, only to hit a Territory Protection and fall to unconsciousness instantly.
The routing was utter. But as Amanuma left the field, the team captain, a demon whose ram horns curled six times (a sign of great seniority), pointed his finger and bellowed an accusation of cheating and dishonor.
They then charged Team Urameshi.
No one could quite describe what happened next. There was a flash of images, signs of surgery, and horrible screaming. And in the next nanosecond, Yusuke had his foot forward and the entire team had been brought down.
Grave silence filled the arena again as Urameshi walked into the locker room laughing.
The brief moment , and Amanuma's fight, had made one thing amply clear: The team had utterly transformed since the last time they had won the Tournament. Even the Fate's Guardians would be hard pressed to match them.
But they were an obstacle for a later date. In the meantime, Celeste Arcana was faced in the new arena!
Koto explained the parameters of this arena. "We've set up shields to protect the audience." In response to the boos, she nodded, "I know, I know, but this is getting ridiculous, guys. You all nearly died more than a hundred times."
"Anyways. The arena is rebuilt anew each match. It's designed to make the terrain suitable for both fighters. So. Let's begin!"
Celeste Arcana had managed to secure the backing of the judges for two-versus-two rounds. They clearly had honed their teamwork to unprecedented degrees. Would it be enough to face the juggernaut of the Fate's Guardians?
The first round featured Kazuki and Luke Skywalker against Ky Kiske and Arukane. Ky revealed that he fought to find a way of curing Dizzy, as both Litchi and Faust had failed to do so. Orihime then agreed to heal her. Ky was thankful, but insisted that his wish would then be given to the people of his kingdom.
The fight was overwhelmingly even, Ky using his special combat tricks and the immense power of the Fuuraiken to challenge Luke's superior precognition. Arukane used the corrupted power of the Boundary to keep Luke's Force powers off balance. They began by trading blows, Ky using his electric wheel Super and Luke a special Gatotsu blow. Ky was left with a hole in his shoulder that was healed by bees filling the wound and stinging it shut around them.
Kazuki used his Mystic Knight powers to take the veil of madness that surrounded Arukane, while Luke used Force Light to heal him of his darkness. But Ky revealed that, thanks to the power of the Cube, they had mastered the Boundary. Arukane's power would still be retained.
Ultimately, Kazuki supercharged the power of Arukane followed by Luke using Feedback. Ky was surprised that the Jedi would do something so irresponsible, as an explosion then engulfed them all.
Koto, astonished by this turn of events, awaited a ruling. "Apparently, the judges rule that because Arukane was destroyed first, Fate's Guardians takes the match!"
This close match established the power of Celeste Arcana. For if two of the Fate's Guardians most senior and august members could only barely secure a victory, how could anyone else?
This was underscored by the next match of Gaara and Scar against Potemkin and Taokaka. Though Gaara and Scar's intended strategy of using the infinite flow of sand Gaara could provide to give Scar an endless source of material to transmute was solid, Potemkin's sheer strength proved too much for them. Although they brought down Taokaka, he smashed both Gaara and Scar to gain the victory.
Kimimaro and Golbez felt that they could secure a victory against a truly devastating combination: Rachel Alucard and Testament. Though Testament was now a dhampyr as well as a Gear, they found themselves unable to deal with the sheer might of the new Zeromus and with the omnipresent attacks of Kimimaro's bone field and the Dance of the Camellia: Flower.
Next, Badcat and Vader prepared to battle the most feared team: Ragna and Sol. The sheer power of these two men staggered even the seasoned Fate's Guardians. Sol's Gear form was enhanced by the power of the Black Beast. His fire magic was amplified by the BlazBlue, the Azure Grimoire. Meanwhile, Ragna's Black Beast was given control by Sol's Gear powers. The weapons Sol had designed and his science of magic further amplified Ragna's magic.
But Badcat and Vader ended up getting the upper hand. By hedging the two sword fighters in and using Badcat's immense speed, combined with Trapping Elements and a Phenomenon Realm copy of Saya and Justice to troll Ragna and Sol, Badcat was able to let Vader's immense strength, despite his fatigue from fighting the Krinodaemons, secure an eventual victory when Badcat stole Ragna and Sol's powers from them.
Next, Samus and Fox reasoned that the team would send one of their weaker combinations, so they took the stage. They miscalculated. Slayer and ABA would be the team they faced. Slayer was a consummate gentleman, but the devastating he gave the two warriors was utter.
Black felt that, despite his injuries from last battle, he and Genryusai could potentially beat the next team, which they felt would be Hakumen and Bang. Guessing correctly, Black impressed Hakumen when, after encountering initial difficulties against Hakumen's Entropy Null Armor, he destablized Hakumen's defenses and delivered an intense Omnidirectional Barrage, using Hakumen's hyperdensity against him. Genryusai eventually was able to dominate Bang utterly using Black Coffin and emerge victorious.
The team was 4-2, but they knew that they faced truly nightmarish combinations to come. Hazama, Axl, Raven, I-No, all of the units (Lambda, Mu and V), and several of their other strongest fighters had yet to appear...
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Post by Frederic Bourgault-Christie on Dec 23, 2010 23:15:14 GMT -5
The Dark Tournament continued!
To prepare the Teen Titans for their struggles against The Source and The Servants of K'Thralamar, the team went to the Dragon Ball Z world, knowing from Goku that the strongest teens they could think of quickly were Goten and Trunks. But as they went to assist these people to free them, they found that they had already received assistance from a select group. These included witches of immense import and
Mr. Buu, Ubu, Piccolo, Super Android #17, Android #18, Tien, Chiaotzu, Yamcha, Goten, Trunks, Gohan, Kibito-Kai, Bulma, and Yajirobe have joined! If only we were Goku or Vegeta...
The Charmed Ones have joined the party! If only we had the Power of One...
Leo Wyatt has joined the party! If only I was a Charmed One...
Fighter has joined the party! If only I were Black Mage...
Q has... joined... the team....?
Necro has joined the team!
Balrog has joined the team! Where's my fight money?!
Johnny Cage has joined the team!
Immediately, to enhance Piccolo's power, the strongest team members took people to fight Nail, the two Namek Warriors, and Guru through the Boss Master, thus fusing them into Piccolo.
Thrash Ranari used Physical Training and Demon Hunter abilities to harm the otherwise invulnerable Cole Turner at the time of his mightiest ascension and bring him back.
Cole Turner has joined the party! If only I were a whitelighter...
Piccolo then released the inner potential of those on the team who had yet to achieve theirs, massively increasing many peoples' powers!
Teaching the technique to summon Counter Guardians from the future to the Charmed Ones, Piper conjured her future son, a gestalt of his dark and light sides.
Wyatt the Caster has joined the party!
Wyatt was then trained by Cecil, Saber and Thrash in the use of Excalibur, Cecil and Fred in the use of the dark and the light, etc.
The Teen Titans used the power of Gotenks to defeat enough of the Servants of K'Thralamar that a small bribe courtesy of Gilgamesh was sufficient to get K'Thralamar to back down.
Searing of Sargeras did well enough, as would be expected, against Euclysm, a relative unknown. Sargeras cut through holy man after holy man... Until one of the priests responded to Sargeras' impatient bellow, "ANOTHER one of you fools worshiping the Light? When will you give up?" by lighting frankincense in the fashion of the Persian Magi, and conjuring a glowing star that led the way towards Jerusalem. This star immolated Sargeras and drove him from his reality. Euclysm had taken the attention of the audience, and their ire.
True Sun demonstrated that it was perhaps not as likely a candidate (or more likely a candidate, depending on one's perception of their deviousness) for being the All-Monster team, as the user was able to use the Purestar, a mystical analog to the White Lanterns. This power is well known for only being able to be used by the pure, and could not be used to serve the All-Monster. Despite the effort that the team put into training Fanboy, with Caleb, Thrash, Kenshin and others providing their skill, Fanboy was defeated... but Technodem and his men were happy enough to have survived.
Estoque and A Winner Is Us went at it. The arrancar and Hollows of Estoque insisted that they were the true representatives of Hueco Mundo, the arrancar and Hollow traitors of Aizen's former army be damned. A Winner Is Us fought heroically, demonstrating the strength of their martial arts, but Estoque's power was too much. Estoque would be pitted against Urameshi, the bonus team they would have to fight... or perhaps against the Fate's Guardians, as the wish of the organizers and the Black Black Club would demand.
Inverse's gadgets were immensely powerful, but the sheer skill of Luffy's team stymied them at every turn. The Dark King and Kuma alone proved to be too much for them, and Franky and Nami deduced their methods and principles.
Minotheos astonishingly managed to stop the Wyrm's representatives, the Black Spiral.
The Dai-Kaibatsu was fairly well eliminated as a red herring for the All-Monster's team by their defeat at the hands of the Hashishim.
The Source immolated Kaokigai with ease.
Brentega were taught by Firebrand and the other demons and dark users to use their terrain power, and thus managed to exhaust the Dark Saints enough to insure their later defeat.
Larsen's Brigade unfortunately saw that Darkterror the Faceless Void had the power to keep them all sealed temporally, and thus Noxus advanced. The Brigade offered their services to the team immediately thereafter.
Musclo fought well, but the Eye of Pain's sheer dark power and the transformation of one of them into a gigantic chest-mouthed abomination ended badly.
The World Heroes had ground enough rep with the All-Monster faction to be utterly untouchable by Lence and emerged victoriously.
Astonishingly, despite the Tribes of Chaos having successfully seen the revival of Ashtar and the demon, Lars Co. saw Lars absorbing the power of the demon and challenging Ashtar directly. Afterwards, the Tribes were defeated by brutal fights against Jack-5, Bryan Fury, Paul Phoenix, Mokujin and others.
And thus, the matches for Round Two were:
Celeste Arcana vs. Fate's Guardians Urameshi v. Hashishim Legion of Evil v. Lars. Co Pirate King v. Noxus Eye of Pain v. Minotheos True Sun v. World Heroes Teen Titans v. Source Dark Saints v. Euclysm
In the Celeste Arcana battle, Hazama and Axl tried their luck next. Thanos, Fred, Axl and Hazama found that, between Fred's regeneration, bodhisattva willpower and supernatural endurance; Thanos' regeneration, toughness and magic; Axl's high-speed temporal regeneration; and Hazama's sheer survivability, the four would be forced to fight for the next decade to finish. Using temporal powers, they shifted ahead towards a last battle. Fred and Thanos managed to emerge ahead in this process and used Mind to give Fred two ULBs, ending the match.
Finally, Venom and Litchi fought Tifa and... Dirk Clef. A Karn-based fusion of Riku, Caleb, Sora, Grievous and Karn. This fight ended very quickly, despite a strong showing by Litchi. The realization by Sol that, for now, Karn's fusions would count as different entities, and therefore could be put up over and over, led him and his team to conclude that the fight was hopeless.
The Celeste Arcana fight was over, and their teammates joined the Fate's Guardians.
Before the Pirate King match was slated, there would be events of importance in the tournament.
The Urameshi team appeared to have a problem when they fought the Hashishim. These ancient assassins of all sorts were fast, lethal, stealthy and dangerous. But Hashishim dealt consecutively with Naraku's impenetrable barrier and armor and vast regeneration, Mokuro's dimension-warping attacks and the capacity of Miroku to instantly slay them with his Wind Tunnels, and were defeated.
Lars. Co knew coming into the battle against the Legion of Evil that, facing villains such as Darkseid, Doomsday and Black Adam, they had no chance. But they also knew that they wouldn't go down without a fight. With the aid of Captain Marvel, Ogre managed to siphon an immense amount of Adam's power. The Mishimas, Azazel, Jinpachi, Jin and others then managed to injure Superman Prime and harm some of the other stronger members of the Legion of Evil. The LoE may still have won, but their sweeping entire teams with no resistance had ended.
Pirate King v. Noxus was a difficult fight on both sides. It was only due to Kuma, Rayleigh, Ivankov and others that Noxus was finally defeated.
Eye of Pain v. Minotheos ended with Eye of Pain being defeated by the Golden Knight's channeled power.
True Sun v. World Heroes ended somewhat predictably. While their grinding with both factions served them well, mere gear and experience did not substitute for the purity of True Sun. This time, a Priest of Tlaloc and other Aztec gods created a field of life that stymied the World Heroes.
The Teen Titans faced the Source of All Evil. They had expected a Trigon-like entity: Difficult, but defeatable. What they found was far worse. When Robin launched his attack on the Source, he unmasked him temporarily... And revealed a familiar face, at least to Phoebe. An adopted son.
Damen Turner Halliwell.
The unborn son of Cole Turner and Phoebe Halliwell. Just as Wyatt had been the first combination of whitelighter and witch, Damen was the true heir to the Source.
This combination made Damen as invulnerable as Wyatt was. His minions held down the entire Teen Titans while he blasted them with the Source's special flame.
Finally, Dark Saints fought Euclysm. Euclysm threw out a deadly hand to hand combatant who deduced every weakness of their style and ended them with utter brutality.
Koto announced an unsurprising "twist": The last fights against the Fate's Guardians would be truly rigged. Somehow, they had been put into the bottom seed, which meant they had to fight sequentially five more teams, something that no other team had to.
Further, it seemed that the tournament had almost declared all-out war on the Guardians. The Dark Saints tried to stop the team from being on time for the Pirate King match. Kevin had enough of this: He Excel Waved the team in one blow. He had made a statement: The Fate's Guardians could not be stopped so easily. They were a force to be reckoned with.
Doing so, so rapidly, had changed the dynamics. The Golden Knight was able, in conjunction with Athena, to create Orihalcum Armor for the team. And Hades was forced in embarrassment to grant more Heaven and Hell slots.
With that announcement, the battle against Pirate King began in earnest. Battles were three-on-three, random.
Jyabura, Kuma and Robin battled Free, Knuckles and Retsu. Retsu's resurrecion and Kuma's superior grappling managed to stop Kuma's incredible danger.
Chopper, Luffy and Bankotsu battled Pikkon, Mario and Aquaman. This combination gave access to water attacks that could penalize Chopper and Luffy's status as Hammers. Though Luffy's new Fourth Gear, Bankotsu's enhanced halberd and Chopper's analytical power threw some curveballs, ultimately this team was too dangerous.
Desmond Miles, Cecil and Sam fought the Dark King Rayleigh, Mukotsu and Kaku. The battle went exceptionally badly, the Dark King showing why he was so feared, why he was Gol D. Roger's first mate. But eventually the battle was turned around.
Elsewhen...
Kevin continued his effort to finally unite all of the Lantern Corps.
Atrocitus' rage was being amplified beyond control by the All-Monster. Some demon and Zengzi members of the Corps, people who managed to escape Atrocitus' control as long as he was absent, requested Kevin's help. Using the combined power of Daneel, Hari Seldon, Doc Samson, Fred, Kevin, the Hulk, Yammy, Raven and Danny Ketch, they managed to recruit Atrocitus.
Proceeding on, Kevin informed his mysterious friend, Tyrant, about Krona's ongoing interference. Krona could not stop Tyrant's assault, and was convinced to join the team, bringing with him multiple entities.
This left only the Butcher, Indigo-1, Carol Ferris, and a few others. Unfortunately, asking Chezni for help in retrieving Indigo-1, Kevin discovered something horrible: Nekron's immunities are more impressive than ever thought. Nekron had resurrected Zaygos, giving his minions the protection of the Grens. To surpass even a single Black Lantern requires multiple types of attacks simultaneously.
Things are reaching a fever pitch...
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Post by Frederic Bourgault-Christie on Jan 3, 2011 1:42:53 GMT -5
The battle against Pirate King continued in earnest.
Cervantes, Zoro and Barbossa battled Luke Skywalker, Aeris and the current Mask wielder. Zoro revealed that he wished to battle Luke and could not lose else he obviate a promise he made to a friend. He did not lose, but did not win either, as Luke took a sacrifice to secure his teams' victory. Barbossa and Cervantes could not deal with the holy assault of Aeris and the trickster power of Big Head.
Sogeking, Mr. 1 and Brook managed to secure the first victory of Pirate King by fighting Alucard, Saint Walker and Static Shock. The difficulty that the three Fate's Guardians faced was that they had very little damage capacity and too much support. Mr. 1, Sogeking and Brook used special ammunition and sonic assaults to keep their three opponents stunned for long enough to emerge victorious, Pirate King's first win.
After this disastrous fight, the dice selected Fred, Mario and Kevin. Luckily, they were pitted against Gol D. Roger, Boba Fett and Haru Glory. Within one turn, the battle was over. The energy released by the triple tech unleashed by the three Guardians rejuvenated the team, summoned many surprising items, and let loose many new members.
Tifa, Hazama and Yoh fought Gan Fall, Blackbeard and Zieg Hart. This fight was truly a cat-and-mouse game: Blackbeard and Yoh were both perfectly capable of absorbing immense power from their opponents. Ultimately, however, the battle ended with Hazama corrupting Zieg Hart into a Black Beast, then willingly being swallowed and directing it out of the battle. This was a tie, a strange event indeed.
Samus, Cloud and Buck of the ODST engaged Enel, Gecko Moria and Shanks. The outclassed group was unsurprisingly stymied by the shadow summons of Moria. Moria revealed that Nekron's ascension had proven great for him, allowing him to summon shadows of nearly anyone. He would prove to be a wonderful ally in the fight against the Sinistrals.
Superman, Dr. Manhattan and Howl fought Fargo, Mugen and Nami. Oddly enough, despite a clear preponderance of power on the part of the Guardians, it took Superman absorbing and directing a galaxy-sized storm to emerge victorious.
Sanji, Mihawk and Revy fought R. Daneel, Brock Samson and Mr. Game and Watch. R. Daneel's combination of telekinetic, thermodynamic and mentalic control proved far too much for the three pirates, too alien for their skill sets. Mr. Game and Watch and Brock Samson did the damage to finish all three of the deadly warriors.
Ivankov, Crocodile and Franky fought Shen, Neji and Major Armstrong. Armstrong's strong matchup against Crocodile and Neji's strong capability of taking down Ivankov proved to be essential to an ultimately highly contested victory. This fight was worth it for the Guardians, though, for not only did Shen, Neji and Armstrong recover at full health thanks to Ivankov's Vigor Hormones, but doing so actually increased their stamina and vigor!
Thus, the final record was 8-2-1. Pirate King's membership still included five of Bankotsu's band, Arlong, Ryoko, many of the Eleven Supernovae, several remaining members of CP9, etc. But having neutralized 27 of them at the cost of 9, the fight was increasingly going the Fates' Guardians way. The question now was how to secure an unstoppable lead, then find a way of making sure that the dice led weaker members to fight so they could get sparring with the cooperation of Pirate King.
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Post by Frederic Bourgault-Christie on Jan 6, 2011 0:22:53 GMT -5
Tai, Scott Pilgrim, Tien, Shunsui, Callgill with his Servant Knight Davion and Roxas moved on to secure the Keyhole of Scott Pilgrim's world. Scott guessed that it was under Wallace Wells' bed. This suspicion proved to be accurate as, moving towards Wallace's apartment, they found Leonardo da Vinci and Wallace fighting a Hollow. After Giga Claw and Dodonpa ripped off the Hollows' mask, Roxas found that underneath was a green mantis who angrily insisted he liked being a Hollow. Unfortunately for him, Zorak was released from his Hollowdom and Shanghaied along.
Wallace Wells has joined the team! Yeah, I know that All-Monster guy. Kinda' dick.
Leonardo da Vinci has joined the team-a, eh!
Zorak has joined the team! Suicide mission? Nuts to that action!
Moving on towards the apartment, they found that three of Aizen's former Nuevo Espada had taken over the Keyhole and were keeping it open for Hollows. Pende Thorne, Nuevo Espada -3, revealed that Aizen's defeat and the discrediting of his organization had created a power vacuum in Hueco Mundo. Eventually, Pende and Apolla Dorus Zoyone were defeated, with Corbus Celerio beating a hasty retreat.
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Post by Frederic Bourgault-Christie on Jan 10, 2011 0:35:57 GMT -5
Elsewhen...
Yomiko Readman battled the Boss Master's Gideon Graves. Gideon was taken down by one swift stroke of Yomiko's cardboard tube, her training under Gabriel serving her well. Mario warned Yomiko in no uncertain terms, joined by Ichigo, that Orihime was off limits.
Meanwhile, at the Legion of Do – Dark Tournament...
The battle against Pirate King waged on. Rob Lucci, Buggy and the Voodoo Lady faced off against Twisted Fate, the Hulk and Danny Ketch. The battle went very badly, with Rob Lucci's immense speed and damage capacity, Buggy's slipperiness, and the Voodoo Ladies' deadly magic stymieing all three. However, Twisted Fate rolled the dice and, using his connection to Setzer as his Summoner, got two 7s and a Bar. All of them died, but Twisted Fate resurrected and Wingbow-shot Voodoo Lady in the face.
Kazuki, Don Quixote de la Mancha and Deidara crushed Jinbei, Ginkotsu and Cartman. Don Quixote proved that being a classic is still worth something.
Golbez, Anji Mito and Maes Hughes battled Suikotsu, Tenchi and Ryoko. Maes led with the most terrifying weapon of all: Pictures of his daughter! Suikotsu was so touched by Hughes' deep charm and sincerity that he transformed back into his doctor persona and left the field. Tenchi and Ryoko were forced to fight a two-on-three match. Though Tenchi's power was amazing, ultimately Golbez managed to stun him with Cosmic Ray and Anji Mito finished Ryoko right before Ryoko managed to free Tenchi, taking Anji with her. The power of the lightwave could not stand against a great magician and a world-class knife fighter, and the battle was joined and won.
Lassiter, Martian Manhunter and Johnny faced what appeared to be a truly impossible match against Mr. 2, Elie and Washu. The dice had thrown one of the greatest teams available to Pirate King. While the immense healing and damage potential of Elie and Washu and the ability of Mr. 2 to mimic anyone from Martian Manhunter to Elie and Washu themselves proved great, ultimately Johnny managed to summon Archer, who had created seven temporary Dragon Balls and shot them. Not only did this win the round, but it made a wish where Luffy had the time to pursue One Piece. Luffy returned and the team's membership was retroactively eliminated.
With Pirate King over, the team was forced almost immediately into a match against the Legion of Evil. They managed, using the space and confusion created by the Dragon Balls, to do last-minute Hyperbolic Time Chamber and other time acceleration training, preparing for a two-on-two format. The LoE had insisted on a two-on-two, but the combination of Seto Kaiba and Gilgamesh meant that the team had managed to buy enough clout to in exchange get control of the arena and an arrangement where the LoE would have to reveal one of their picks, letting the Fate's Guardians pick two in secret before the other was revealed. With the raw predictive power of R. Daneel Olivaw, Hari Seldon, Fred, Doyle, Dr. Strange, Phoebe Halliwell and others, it was trivial to predict most of their choices.
The Legion of Evil broke convention by starting slow: Colonel Chaos was revealed and Ra's al Ghul was predicted. Against this team, Hercules and Brock Samson was chosen. The two supersoldiers and the two ancient warriors faced off. Colonel Chaos proved no match, despite his immense skill and armaments, for the sheer power of Heracles and the might of God Hand. Meanwhile, Ra's al Ghul mortally underestimated Brock Samson's power. While Ra's al Ghul may have been able to get the upper hand against Brock, he was eventually defeated by the both, and Chaos slayed by Brock most brutally.
Next, Dr. Wily and The Timekeeper pitted their wits against Barragan Luisenbarn, King of Hueco Mundo, and The Junkman. The Timekeeper's temporal ability was truly immense, but Barragan's decay would ultimately unravel even time. Similarly, the David and Goliath fight of Dr. Wily versus Junkman looked bad at first, but eventually with the Timekeeper's defeat, the unlikely duo emerged victorious. The Junkman had proved that his intellect was worth respect.
Shao Kahn and Dormammu battled Dr. Strange and Amaterasu. Three gods and a Sorcerer Supreme proved a truly fascinating battle for the audience. Dormammu began with the upper hand from opening the Dark Dimension, but eventually, Dr. Strange proved that his training and new growth of skill with the Fate's Guardians had been transformative, defeating his old rival handily. Combining Sanctum of Sanctums, the conjuration of the Red Blaze's purging power, the Luminous Knight's supreme elemental control, and the Universal Magi's supreme universe creating power, Dormammu and Shao Kahn were defeated despite all odds.
The Fallen One and Brainiac were the next attempt by the Legion of Evil to use raw power to emerge victorious. But Bartholomew Kuma and Orihime Inoue stood against them. On paper, a child and a pirate cyborg were nothing as compared to the ancient super-computer entity and Galactus' first Herald. But looks can be deceiving, and the combination of Kuma's and Orihime's ultimate healing and defense proved impossible to handle. Orihime and Kuma were untouched as they safely sent their two adversaries out of the ring.
Now the Legion of Evil attempted a slow-play: Ozymandias and Slade Wilson, known to the world as Deathstroke the Terminator and to some of the Teen Titans as simply “Slade”. The Comedian and Rorshach demanded their turn against the man who had led to both of their deaths. While Rorshach found his battle to be an uphill one, his valiant fight let the Comedian slay Ozymandias, and the two turned their attention to Deathstroke, a bona fide superhuman, and win. The tournament was beginning to realize: No heroes, no matter how humble their powers in theory, would pass through the Fate's Guardians untransformed.
Brass Monkey and Sigmund Roid proved one of the first truly difficult fights for the Fate's Guardians. The Thing and Knuckles, two clearly superior combatants, found that luck was not on their side. [Seriously, like ten fucking criticals. -Ed.] MD Earth's (arguably) greatest wrestler and the unchallenged strength powerhouse of Mobius found that the Fun House member and the Jack-in-the-Box villain were tenacious indeed, but finally, after Knuckles had been knocked unconscious after defeating the Monkey, The Thing managed to knock Roid out.
Similarly, Lancelot and Komamura struggled mightily against The Heckler and Twinkletoes. Lancelot only managed to survive by “wielding” the black hole he had been thrown into by the weight manipulation of Komamura's bankai.
Luckily, after these two difficult fights, Spider-Man and Free proved themselves more than a match for Cheetah and Serpentina. Despite being a cheetah god and serpent artifact totem, respectively, they did not get to launch a single attack. A combination of being slightly too slow off the bat, Spider-Man's new-found training under Arachna and Black Arachnia, and Free's immensely potent combination of martial arts and magic proved unstoppable.
The Legion of Evil fight had begun with a bang. The matches were 8-0. While the Legion of Evil was easily a hundred strong, perhaps much more, they were apparently both outnumbered and outmatched. But Lex Luthor was constantly gaining new data, and no intelligent opponent would write him out just yet...
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Post by Frederic Bourgault-Christie on Jan 13, 2011 3:43:10 GMT -5
In the Shire, Gandalf, Zelda, Isley of the North, Kigetsuki, Rosa Farrell, and Lloyd appeared courtesy of the Void Heartless. They found that the Shire and the extended areas of Hobbiton and Bree were being defended by Tom Bombadil against an incursion of Heartless, Nobodies and Unversed. Samwise Gamgee told them about the situation and insisted on joining, despite being warned off by Zelda and Gandalf.
Samwise Gamgee has joined the party! Does anyone like coneys and taters?
Sam quickly took up the mantles of Paladin and Ninja and prepared to battle. R. Daneel managed from a great distance using ultrawave technology to send Bombadil the knowledge of how to make Gaia, increasing his power and protective radius, then predicted as best he could the gap in Saruman's Heartless' defenses. The group attacked, and after a cursory battle during which Saruman's Heartless and Wormtongue's Heartless only got to defend themselves, a Unity Attack courtesy of Lloyd ended the battle despite Saruman's Heartless' holy resistance.
Saruman has been gained as a summon!
Saruman has joined the team! I am not the White, but the Many-Colored.
After the battle, Bombadil's new intelligence capability and a vision by Zelda allowed Gandalf to piece together that the Keyhole was deep in Moria and that Morgoth, having been resurrected by Nekron but beyond his control, was seeking to use the Keyhole to launch an attack on the universe and assault the works of Eru. Morgoth would seek out the Flame Imperishable, the Secret Fire, and use it to create his own vile universe for his own unlimited power.
The G Man found that, despite his best efforts, he could only teleport himself and the standard Metal Cooler and Naruto clones. He managed to get some Vortigaunts, but the gap between Morgoth's forces of Heartless, Hollows, orcs, goblins, trolls, Balrog, hellhounds, demons, Uruk-hai, dragons, "oliphants", corsairs, and other beasts and the heroes was still far too vast.
The AI Director managed to resurrect using his supreme zombie plague Smaug the Dragon, Boromir, the Dead Men of Dunharrow, several orcs and worgs and such, and the Nine (which also brings about their rings which are no longer necessary for them).
Smaug the Dragon has been gained as a summon!
The Dead Men of Dunharrow have been gained as a summon!
Boromir, Son of Denethor, has joined the party! Let the great warrior and swordsman of Gondor blow his horn and summon aid...
Boromir's Horn of Gondor worked somewhat more effectively in his new role as Saber than it did last time. He managed to call for aid successfully. Boromir summoned from the existing team Kazuma, Thrall, Jean-Luc Picard, Link, Kratos Aurion, Fred, Luffy, Ivankov, Ky Kiske, Sol Badguy, Ogre, Feng, Yusuke, Chezni, as well as the Boss Master. He also managed to call the aid of Frodo, Gimli, Legolas, Ryuhou, Bumblebee, and Golden Knight minions.
Gandalf estimated that, even with the Golden Knight's buff countering Morgoth's enhancements of his minions and the hosts of the Dunharrow, 200,000 men would be needed. At least the forces of Gondor and probably the elves and the Rohirrim would need to mount an attack on Morgoth and liberate Middle Earth by expelling Morgoth once and for all. Of course, Morgoth's return did signal the End of Days, a sign increasingly common now...
The Boss Master proferred that the following people, still available to him given the people nearby, could be helpful:
The Gung Ho Guns [as they had already been buffered] Sauron Emergy Maxfell Martin Jigmarl Other bosses from LotR games The Uruk-Hai who slew Boromir The Borg Queen The creature who killed Tasha Yar The Balrog, the Flame of Udun, who slew Gandalf Dead Naruto filler bosses Gabnid
Etc. Luckily, only a few were unavailable due to Nekron.
Meanwhile, Ender started his Lunar Trial, seeking out his ultimate personal power. The team encountered a strange dojo of men who would challenge anyone who piqued their interest. Terry, Zabuza and Ender slipped by while Zero and Hal spent their time fighting.
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Post by Frederic Bourgault-Christie on Jan 14, 2011 3:39:41 GMT -5
Ender's Lunar Trial continued. The team met an old man, ratty and apparently down on his luck, who offered them training manuals and identified them as martial arts geniuses. He asked for 1 trillion dollars. When Terry balked, he also offered a dusty, antiquated saber, apparently an early Wily prototype. The team accepted, on the advice of Tony Dinozzo who argued that clearly a man like that must not be a ripoff artist but actually a Stealth Mentor. They agreed, and saw ratty ten cent manuals.
While this apparently wasteful expenditure did irk the five, there was no time to focus on it, as they were apparently going through a test to prove that the Fate's Guardians deserved to have the power of Summoning. The Lunar Titan began with a deft assault, and Zabuza found that his blade was no match for the Titan's skin. Indeed, the five man team proved to be a poor match for the rock-hard Titan. Luckily, however, Hal Jordan's drill followed by G-Man using an amazing assist defeated the Lunar Titan.
Next was Lunar Smaug. This dragon proved even more difficult for the five. His ability to change the location of his scale and its elemental weakness combined with devastating draconic attacks made the fight arduous. The AI Director summoned a zombie Bo, a warrior who had fought with the Ryu who battled the Pagodan Empire of Zog. Bo proved an amazing ally, but the winning blow was ultimately made by Ender, using the knowledge he had gained from one of the peddlers' manuals. While the saber was of questionable utility, the manuals had proven an amazing deal...
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Post by Frederic Bourgault-Christie on Jan 18, 2011 0:25:01 GMT -5
The battle against the Legion of Evil continued. Superboy Prime and Black Adam, the two trump cards of the Legion, faced Superman and Frieza. The four superpowers battled in a no-holds-barred contest, Black Adam finally cut down by Frieza when he was stunned and Superboy Prime mentally and physically beaten.
Mumm-Ra and Skeletor faced Archer and Riku. Though the two unorthodox combatants were utterly outmatched by the nigh-infinite arcane might of the two overlords, ultimately the combination of the Keyblades and Unlimited Blade Works proved too much. Mumm-Ra was defeated by an amplified Dark Reflectga / Mirror of Ra-enhanced Rho Aias, while Skeletor faced He-Man's blade itself, shot through him by Archer's Broken Phantasm power.
Cecil and Batman faced Joker and JoJo Fahrenheit. JoJo was quickly released from the dark power of the Fun Bunch by Cecil's hallowed light, while Batman found a way of keeping the Joker laughing enough to prevent the Joker's new-found super insanity reality warping from killing the two Dark Knights.
Lex Luthor finally decided that, if Skeletor, Mumm-Ra, Superboy Prime and Black Adam were incapable of victory, he would have to fight himself, alongside Shredder. Larfleeze and Dr. Manhattan chose to battle him. The fight was going badly initially, Lex having conjured a Dark Green Lantern, an Anti-Orange Lantern, but ultimately he only allowed Larfleeze to become a new Entity. Dr. Manhattan held on long enough for Larfleeze to possess Shredder and pit the two against each other, ending that fight.
The Rhino and Morlun was initially a fight that looked deeply problematic. Gaara was nearly knocked unconscious and Shunsui crushed by Morlun's power after Morlun absorbed much of Shikaku's power. But it was revealed that Shunsui had become the Servant of a little boy, Calvin, who prompted him to his feet. Shunsui once again revealed his vizard mask, a tragedy-and-the-comedy mask that let him control dimensional "sandtraps" and attract others to him like a Venus Fly Trap, and used the power of a game called Calvinball to buy Gaara time, then neutralized Morlun while Gaara pinned The Rhino so Shunsui could decapitate him.
Powerhouses like Darkseid, Imperiex, Cyborg Superman, Doomsday, Krang, War, Megatron, The Fallen, Sigma, Ultron, Onslaught, and Primus remained, but unfortunately, the Legion of Evil was running out of people who were any threat. And the powerhouses of Thrash, Badcat, Xenocratis, Mario, Black, Kevin, Kratos, Zoro, Luffy, Dr. Doom, Hal Jordan, Lavos, Kefka, Ichigo, Isshin, Aizen, Genryusai, Madara, Thanos, Hazama and innumerable others were left...
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Post by Frederic Bourgault-Christie on Jan 24, 2011 1:42:25 GMT -5
Mario's bardic lore reminded him of a legend of a book, the Book of Heroes. In it were thousands of names of men, women and little green creatures from Alpha Centauri: Flawed, many once villainous, but now all united in their desire to improve things for their worlds and for the Megaverse. The Book, it was discovered, had fallen into the hands of the Sinistrals, and Nekron would use it to summon the greatest heroes he could find from within its pages. This was inexcusable. To simultaneously weaken the Sinistrals and enhance the team, a daring plan to break into Doom Island itself was launched. Vincent Valentine, Jaden/Judai, Archer, Guybrush Threepwood, Mario, Vash the Stampede, Lupin the III, and another member formed the Red Coats and managed to convince Gades that his flooring needed to be inspected. Making their way through the nightmare castle, they found Data and a warrior named Dekar. Many fights later, they swapped the book out for "Avoiding Work and Avoiding Heartache: A Coyote's Manifesto" (ghost-written by Lilynette) to gain the Book and left.
Releasing the power of the Book of Heroes, they gained many mentors who would prove invaluable in the coming events, and many new heroes to fight.
The Wuj has joined the party! What's everyone looking so whiny about?
The Smith has joined the party! Friggin deadlines...
The Open Fist has joined the party! I guess I'll be on the front lines, right? So I can open fist?
The Martian has joined the party! I've got my spine and I've got my orange crush.
The Machine has joined the party!
Cloak and Dagger has joined the party!
Many great heroes were summoned.
Meanwhile, at the Legion of Doom...
The Legion of Doom's strongest powerhouses were sent next: Onslaught and Darkseid. Firebrand volunteered to battle Darkseid, and with a great rage prompted by Darkseid's ruthlessness and dishonor, created a great field of flame to burn his power out of him. Meanwhile, Onslaught and Atrocitus fought and finally extinguished each other.
Doc Ock and the Green Goblin went up against Samus and Spider-Man. The team had agreed to lose the arena control in exchange for being able to send up people multiple times if they weren't injured or eliminated. Spider-Man defeated Norman in one blow, as did Samus with Doc Ock.
The game thus far had been a total wash for the Legion of Evil. 15 matches with no victories, and in fact no substantial injuries. Only The Thing, Knuckles, Dr. Strange, Amaterasu, The Comedian, Rorshach, and some others had even been eliminated. Their only hopes were to have someone like Cyborg Superman sweep the team and get enough victories to emerge on top. Luthor agreed to one last bet: One round that would neutralize the previous 15 wins if the bad guys won or would forfeit if the good guys won. Dean and a comrade fought Vulcan and Mordru, and finished the last two. The battle was over.
The team was about to fight Urameshi with no break and no chance to integrate the Legion in fully, but Yusuke threatened the tournament organizers with a Spirit Gun.
Preparing for the hardest fight yet, training with Tyrant and with others occurred. But would it be enough?
Tune in next time...
Oh, and the Mechanikar were starting to get dealt with. That too.
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Post by Frederic Bourgault-Christie on Jan 26, 2011 0:01:20 GMT -5
The Mechanikar fight continued. First, the Experimental area, with its gestalt consciousness of researchers, fell to the might of Gilgamesh, Badcat,
Then the Botanica fight was completed. Thrash, Swamp Thing, Deadwood, Kirabi, Itachi, Sasuke, Lee Rekka, Barragan, Martian Manhunter, Knuckles and Jack the Reaper eventually destroyed the plant creature grown by the Mechanikar that they planned to take over the Emerald Dream.
Finally, the Rising Avatar was left. Thrash's final blow in the Botanica had destroyed most of the rig, so the people intending to fight the Barracks and Factory fight got to charge up. The Rising Avatar expressed his displeasure, but was totally confident that he could win. Thanos reminded him that villains tend to lose right at the moment of their ascension. But Xenocratis made clear that, with this many people, the Rising Avatar could not help but make a mistake and die to his Mist of the Prism. With the pressure put on by twenty people, he could not help but fold.
The Mechanikar were defeated. The remaining members, those who did not deserve to be imprisoned in the Stockades or in Dalaran, were recruited by G-Man. The first task was to pick up their mess in Azeroth, then begin turning back the numerous invasions.
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