"But how long can they go on without turning on each-other or dying to the many unpredictable events that are scattered about? For this one, it's not just one even they all have to deal with..."
The second episode, written in January of 2021. The teams are as follows...
-Team 1 (Baskerra Hellmane): Ed, Shockwave, Sarah Silke, and Zodd the Nergigante.
-Team 2 (Tsumi Snowheart): Harry Dresden, Lucifer, Ripley the Cyborg (OC), and James Stark.
-Team 3 (Nikocema the Poet): Gotrek Gurnison, Felix Jaeger, Snorri Nosebiter, and Malakai Makaisson.
-Team 4 (Kojiro): Ankha, River the Vaporeon, Veigar, and HK-47.
-Team 5 (Etri Flair): Taron, Tomoe Gozen, Dragonmaid Tilroo, and Mila Kolenko (OC).
-Team 6 (Alture Essun): Elias Ainsworth, Worick Arcangelo, Nicolas Brown, and Saitama.
-Team 7 (Clara Abbas): Tyler Durden, Bardin Goreksson, Spongebob Squarepants, and Bob the Rat Ogre.
-Team 8 (Katenya): Fenrir, Anubis, Harry Potter, and The Batman Who Laughs.
-Team 9 (Illustrious Grave): Lelouch vi Britannia, Hibiki Tachibana, Sakura Kinomoto, and Mami Tomoe.
-Team 10 (Chances): Ahnassi, Rox, Katt, and Axiom.
-Team 11 (Fidget Pond): Fidget, Isabelle, Shantae, and Judy Hopps.
-Team 12 (Nialis Cainazzo): M. Bison, Kefka Palazzo, Ridley, and 80s Shredder.
- Affectionate Nickname: Sarah calls Tilroo "Tilly" during their alliance.
- Always a Bigger Fish: The Vaal Hazak is quick to show Ridley his place, with even Zodd being taken out. And that's the dragon that's supposed to hunt down OTHER Elder Dragons!
- Animal Stampede: During Day 1, Ridley, Lucifer, and Shantae are thrust into a pen of buffalo, to which the space dragon is trampled. He's alive, but obviously not amused.
- Armor Is Useless: Fidget is given a new set of armor by Grand Gosei...that proves WAY too heavy, nearly breaking her legs.
- Ash Face: Malakai's "Unmissable" crossbow invention gives him one of these, giving him time to contemplate before Ripley sends him flying over the horizon.
- Atop a Mountain of Corpses: How the Vaal Hazak is introduced.
- Ax-Crazy: It's telling that HK-47 is enjoying his time here, considering he gets to kill as many as he can.
- Badass Boast: Bardin to Ridley near the end.Bardin Goreksson: "I ain't no human. And I ain't gonna be another one of your victims, monster. For my job, as a Ranger, is to protect my kingdom from threats like you. A thankless job, but I get it done...and nothing gets my blood rushin' like fine ale than slaying monsters. ACTUAL monsters, like you. I...am Bardin Goreksson! Cousin of the great Okri! The Mountain you face! And, by my axe, you shall slaughter no longer!" (Grips his weapon and charges) "FOR KAAAAAADRIIIIIN!"
- Bat Out of Hell: Straight out of The Future is Wild, Deathgleaners show up in this fic, carrying off a blinded Snorri for food.
- Battle Amongst the Flames: The final battle between Bardin, Ridley, Mami, and Malakai takes place due to the Dragon Wasps setting everything on fire...and then Ridley himself makes the flames go higher.
- Beware My Stinger Tail: Ridley, per the usual, but doubly so when it upgrades to that of a venomous scorpion's after some injections.
- Big Creepy-Crawlies: Considering that the second event has the remaining fighters having to contend with the Klendathu Arachnid population, this was a give-in. Later, the final event involves the obscure giant fire-breathing wasps from Dragon Wasps.
- Way earlier than that, Ed's team is beset by a Moon Calf.
- Big "NO!": River lets one out at Veigar's sudden death.
- Blazing Inferno Hellfire Sauce: Once again, this shows up, this time in a bag Rox and Snorri fight over. The contents cause the latter the most pain, though Katt no-sells it.
- Blob Monster: M. Bison becomes one thanks to drinking Slime Essence. Same for Judy, kind of.
- Brain Bleach: Shockwave's reaction to seeing Ed's erection is to wonder if he can delete his memory banks.
- Bungling Inventor: Malakai, as per usual. It shines through several times, such as a clutch-claw that goes awry.
- Buried Alive: Kefka, in a comedically sociopathic way holds a fake funeral for Ridley after the aforementioned trampling incident. He can barely contain his laughter, especially as the dragon emerges, obviously incensed.
- The Bus Came Back: Ed, Ripley, Ankha, River, Veigar, Fidget, Isabelle, Shantae, and Judy Hopps all return from the first Arena.
- Bus Crash: Unfortunately for Veigar however, he's the first one to die in the episode.
- Call-Back: Acererak's exploits are spoken of frequently, with his former bunker even showing up.
- Conservation of Ninjutsu: Averted on Klendathu. Despite scores of Arachnids dying at the hands of the remaining fighters, there's too many of them, forcing them to retreat.
- Cosmic Keystone: The Space and Power Infinity Stones show up, found by Shockwave and Zodd by their own selves (with the Cybertronian testing it out) before Ridley acquires them.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Stark's fate by Elias, who's free to cut loose against him in a tunnel and tear him apart with his magic.
- Curse Cut Short: HK-47 fires upon Snorri at one point, but nothing fazes the rampaging Dwarf Slayer. He comments that he's "royally fu-" before being knocked out cold.
- Cuteness Proximity: Hibiki has this reaction to Sakura and Mami's outfits.
- David Versus Goliath: Bardin the Dwarf Vs. Ridley the Space Dragon. It takes him using every skill he has to handle him, especially since the beast has TWO Infinity Stones!
- Defiant to the End: Several combatants, but Harry Potter especially, when he unleashes an Expecto Petrolum spell against the Vaal Hazak, the resulting attack breaking its head, before the boy succumbs to the effluvium.
- Delayed Reaction: Ridley, when his claw is sliced off by Bardin in the middle of his speech, removing his Space Stone.
- Dem Bones: The first instance of the SKELETONS attack, in which Ed, Bardin, Zodd, and Shockwave handle them.
- Desperation Attack: The Vaal Hazak unleashes a beam of Effluvium that causes twisters of the stuff to form, right as its on its last legs.
- Devoured by the Horde: What the Vaal Hazak's forces attempt to do, succeeding in a few cases, like tearing apart Shockwave in his tank form in a manner similar to what almost happened to him in Prime. They also do this to Elias and Tomoe, only for the latter to pull an explosive Taking You with Me moment.
- Draconic Abomination: The Vaal Hazak featured here is one of ITS OWN SPECIES. For one thing, it actually DOES resurect the dead to serve it in battle, it seems to be actively malicious, and this is in addition to everything else canon about it.
- Dragon Their Feet: River, after Veigar dies abrubtly, up to her own demise.
- Driven to Suicide: Gotrek is implied to be keeping the Effluvium within him after the Vaal Hazak battle, due to Felix having been slain earlier.
- Drives Like Crazy: Fidget, when she gets her hands on a truck, driving her team (and River's team, as they latch onto the back) away and inevitably crashing it.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: One of the more notable occurances is when, during the Bloodbath, Veigar comes out to attack, before being swiftly taken out by a thrown knife to the head by Ripley. A similar fate befalls Spongebob, with him instantly torn to pieces by Zodd.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: A Nerigante named Zodd shows up here, but he's not the same as the ACTUAL Ruiner Nergiante that shows up later. Also, the knowledge that they can't reproduce normally isn't utilized properly.
- Shockwave claims he doesn't have an aerial alt-mode, though he displays one much later down the line.
- Eaten Alive: Tyler by way of a giant slime, which absorbs him.
- Epic Fail: How does the kill-happy and otherwise well-prepared HK-47 die? Right as he's about to shoot Dresden in his sleep, a tree branch falls and decapitates him.
- Earlier, Ankha attacks Saitama (already a bad idea), but she winds up tripping over a molotov, setting herself and the area around her on fire.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: M. Bison is totally immune to the effects of aphrodisiac due to his black heart. Ditto for Ridley in later episodes.
- Eye Scream: Bardin shoots some buckshot into Bison's eye near the end. Due to him having become a Blob Monster at that point, it only stuns him, but enough to allow the Arachnids to start tearing him apart.
- Fantasy Kitchen Sink: Sarah outright calls this place this.
- Flunky Boss: The Vaal Hazak utilizes defeated combatants, as well as some other unlucky souls, to fight for it.
- Genre Savvy: Everybody but Ripley in Team 2 manage to pick apart details of this Arena. Not surprising, given what they've been through in canon.
- The Glomp: Ed can't resist hugging Sarah's large and fluffy tail at the start.
- Grievous Harm with a Body: Ridley throws Ed onto one of the Plasma Bugs on Klendathu, causing an explosion that wipes out both the guy and the Arachnid hordes down below.
- Earlier, Dresden is done in when a falling Hopper Arachnid crashes into him while he's incapacitated.
- Hair-Trigger Avalanche: Tilroo causes one of these by using just a blast of heat and some firecracker-like explosions against Fenrir's face. It buries him non-fatally (and almost her).
- Half the Man He Used to Be: Shredder's fate by Mami's Addio attack.
- History Repeats: Mami's head is once again chomped off by her opponent when she loses focus. This time, by Ridley.
- I Broke a Nail: Ankha's claws against Saitama's chest, riling her up immensely.
- I Have Many Names: Lucifer does this for Slim, calling himself "Satan, Beelzebub, that Karen you met last night..."
- I Need a Freaking Drink: Bardin, as he bemoans a lack of booze throughout.
- I Want My Mommy!: Sarah's reaction to the Vaal Hazak.
- I'm Melting!: Tilroo by way of a Tanker Bug's acidic spray, right as she was so close to the dropship.
- Impairment Shot: HK-47 shoots out Snorri's eyes with his rifle, leaving him at the mercy of Deathgleaners as he flails about madly.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Happens quite a bit here, with stand-out instances being Isabelle being slammed down on a stalactite, Sarah getting the business end of Ridley's tail, and Ridley getting a Dragon Wasp stinger through the body.
- "Kick Me" Prank: Felix is subjected to this from Baskerra early on.
- Kill It with Fire: Most of the Vaal Hazak's hordes are dealt with this way, as well as dismemberment.
- Kill the God: Gotrek kills Anubis by slicing off his head, right after Anubis tells him to stop due to him being a god. Probably shouldn't have called him "small one".
- Laser-Guided Karma: Ridley cruelly impales Sarah near the end, viciously dragging out her demise. Later, he's impaled by a Dragon Wasp Queen. Bonus points for leaving him in immense pain and contributing to his demise.
- Let's Get Dangerous!: Bardin, upon having his beard burnt and cut a bit by Ridley in the crossfire of the final fight, has this reaction, ready to kick ass for real.
- Lotus-Eater Machine: Bison outright calls this area a gilded cage where they all live out their foul desires for his villainous team. He's not impressed.
- Made of Explodium: A Plasma Bug's abdomen proves to be good material for such a thing, after Ed's body is thrust into one, destroying nearly all the marauding Arachnids.
- Marshmallow Hell: In her joy, River subjects Veigar to this, hugging him at first sight.
- Necromancer: The Vaal Hazak, while not usually one, has this ability, though it may just be due to very high levels of Effluvium.
- Must Have Caffeine: Mami suffers this near the end, contributing to slight Sanity Slippage.
- New Era Speech: Ridley gives a dark version of this near the end, maniacally going on how his wish will ensure the universe will just be "...nothing but a shrieking animal for me to torment! To slice apart! TO ENJOY!”
- Nightmare Fetishist: Ridley considers the Vaal Hazak's home to be his 'dream home', considering it's covered in corpses. Event the entrapped BWL considers his fate mildly arousing.
- No. Just... No: Gotrek and Felix have this reaction to having Malakai on their team.
- Off with His Head!: Happens a lot, really. No more evident then when Ridley chomps Mami's head off.
- One-Steve Limit: Aside from the whole Zodd situation, Sarah's name is also that of Ed's little sister, confusing him for a moment.
- Power Creep, Power Seep: A very notable example, as Saitama is drastically nerfed, given that he's able to...you know.
- Quicksand Sucks: Played straight, then subverted. Worick makes sure Gotrek falls into one of these, causing him to sink, with the human even unloading his clip into there just to be sure. Unfortunately, the dwarf rises from it to behead him.
- Raging Stiffie: Happens constantly when aphrodisiac happens, keeping sex scenes at a minimum.
- Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies: Happens twice, mainly due to the first two events.
- Sanity Slippage: Nicholas proceeds to go progressively stark-raving mad, almost in a never-ending Roaring Rampage of Revenge even, after Worick's death.
- Mami suffers her own variant, slightly, becoming more violent near the end. The caffeine probably didn't help.
- Shout-Out: Shockwave tells his team at the start to come with him if they want to live.
- Earlier, Ed mistakes TBWL for a Cenobite.
- When Dresden lands in Klendathu along with everybody else, he claims "Another happy landing".
- Smite Me, O Mighty Smiter: Kefka, this time around, goads the lightning during a rainstorm to do this. He gets what's coming, non-fatally, by way of a direct strike against him.
- Spam Attack: Isabelle uses her fishing-line attack from the Smash Bros. franchise against Bardin, doing this upwards of 40 times before stopping. Naturally, Bardin's not very pleased and it winds up with her Impaled with Extreme Prejudice on a stalagmite.
- Spiteful Spit: Bardin to Ridley at one point when the dragon has him dead-to-rights.
- Spontaneous Choreography: The Crab Rave meme shows up, in the form of actual Christmas Island crabs dancing along near the end, all on the shores of the Arena.
- Survivor's Guilt: Most of the combatants after the Vaal Hazak attack wipes out most of their companions.
- Take That!: The year 2020 is, naturally, given a dig at the start.
- The story doesn't take too kindly to the Batman Who Laughs, even coining a phrase from the Joker by calling him "the Batman who Talks". Doesn't help that he doesn't do much in the story and winds up one of the Vaal Hazak's victims.
- Dan Schnieder is shown to be living in a garbage heap, with Kefka accidentally killing him during the Bloodbath.
- Grand Gosei is mocked for his tendency to give random powers to random people.
- Tastes Like Chicken: Ed joyously states that the slain Moon Calf tastes like gravy.
- Teleport Spam: Ridley does this with the Space Stone before its removed.
- They Killed Kenny Again: Every contestant that retuned from the last episode gets killed once more.
- Third-Person Person: Ahnassi, naturally. Katt mocks it for a bit.
- Taking You with Me: River uses her body to destroy the Vaal Hazak from the inside, destroying herself in the process.
- Tank Goodness: Once again, Team 1 is given a Cybertronian with a tank alt-mode, that being Shockwave.
- Token Heroic Orc: Bob is a surprisingly tame Rat Ogre, not tearing apart Bardin at a moment's notice. He even acts as his mount for a while.
- Trap Door: Mila's fate on Klendathu, kind of like a scene from the original Starship Troopers. Whatever was beneath that hole in the ground gets her good.
- Troubled Fetal Position: Sarah assumes one near the end after her team has been fully savaged.
- Two-Faced: Nicholas, after a well-placed musket-shot by Mami.
- Uncertain Doom: Saitama, really. When caught by Tomoe's arrow alongside Lucifer, they smash into the barrier, but the narration implies he survived that and dropped out.
- Underestimating Badassery: Several times and it usually doesn't end well for the one doing it. Lucifer to Tomoe is one example, as despite being a higher-ranking demon, the oni is MUCH more versed in powerful combat than he thinks. Being pumped full of explosive arrows and being sent into the barrier should do it.
- Villain Song: M. Bison subjects Lelouch to one of these, rapping to the tune of his Street Fighter IV theme, killing him in the midst of it.
- Later, Ridley sings an actual lyric-version of his theme
when he goes on a killing spree during the final event.
- Later, Ridley sings an actual lyric-version of his theme
- Villainous Breakdown: As Bardin gets an advantage over Ridley, the Space Dragon begins to lose it more and more until he starts yelling and screaming in hate, getting sloppy in the process.
- Waxing Lyrical: Judy repeats several of the lyrics of "Bury the Light" (Megatron's theme) when trying to remember what happened last episode.
- We Are Not Going Through That Again: Baskerra vows especially that nobody will get ressurected this time, unlike the previous episode with Acererak.
- We ARE Struggling Together: Team 12 is the biggest case of this. It doesn't take them long to start going their separate and even antagonistic ways.
- What Is This Feeling?: Elias has this reaction upon seeing Saitama, a rush of fear going up his body from his very aura.
- Wicked Wasps: The final event involves the survivors being assailed by the Dragon Wasps, obscure movie monsters from the film named after them. Named so because they breath fire, in addition to being quite large.
- Wish Upon a Shooting Star: Rox is crushed by one of these, thanks to Malakai's pleas, unwittingly.
- With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: It's implied the Infinity Stones have caused Ridley to act more unhinged than usual when he gains the two of them.
- You Are a Credit to Your Race: Bardin to Bob, though it's a more benign and understandable version, given that most Rat Ogres are savage monsters.
- You Fight Like a Cow: Bardin to Ridley during the final fight, such as saying he couldn't hit a "gobbo" if he tried.
- Your Head Asplode: Axiom's fate by Taron, thanks to an explosive Turducken thrown at it.
Winner: Bardin Goreksson (Clara Abbas' pick)
