Enter The Arena As Your Avatar -- The Spinoff!

And so Vanilla watches Loki leave.

"Any ideas on how to prepare for Thanos?"

Stock Market Final Confrontation

Axel, still caught up in his achievements, gets smacked full-force by a super-missile.

Mickey puts his shield back up, tanking the missile, albeit not without a temperature increase inside the bubble.

Suicide Mouse shoots a dark blast at his missile, the attacks blowing up in the air.

Boney's eyes widen as his explosion was rather instantaneous, it practically erupting from Cheroreom's back and blowing the skeleton away.

Cherormromem's head tilts to the side to avoid the railgun shot. Same trick won't work twice, but some of the windshear scrapes past his face, leaving his eyes marked up a bit regardless. He rolls forward while swinging his blades wildly all about!

Paintra dives to the floor for cover, trying to pull Tokiko down with her... just in case.

Skippy pulls out a hose mid-descent and fires it downward at Cherormromem, using the recoil to push himself away and keep himself from falling into the path of an attack.

Edited by KiriK on Jan 12th 2020 at 8:59:13 AM

Paintra successfully brings Tokiko down with her. While this means she's safe, it also prevents her from doing anything more complex than hurling a few feather-shaped arcane projectiles at Cherormromem from an awkward position on the ground.

[Nōmaku samanda bazaradan sendamakaroshada sohataya hun tarata kan man]

As the robot rampages through the room, Konngara hurls a blazing chain at him like a lasso, attempting to entangle and restrain him temporarily. This attack also deals fire damage proportional to the weight of the target's sins, the same technique that proved so effective against the CEO. However, if Cheror dodges or manages to break free, she might take another hard hit, this time from his electric blades.

The Tarred Fenrir emits a whirring roar and leaps at Cherormromem instead, trying to rake him with its claws and if possible tackle him to the ground. If Konngara succeeds to entangle Cheror, it will have a free shot, otherwise, it will attempt to attack him from behind. Simultaneously, the Fenrir starts charging up another shot. Flying in the face of all safety and logic, it's preparing to fire a railgun in point blank range!

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Mickey advances, still in his bubble, attempting to use it to stop the blades before going for multiple slashes on Cheromerom's torso and head.

Boney gets up and dusts himself off, trying [Fate's Eye] once more. Cheromerom's targeted by both reticles and fired upon, although Boney slightly delays the purple bullet in case of retaliation.

Axel pops out of the wall he was blasted into and fires three large blasts of fire from Flame Liberator, then tossed his chakrams, all targeted for Cheromerom.

Suicide Mouse strafes, searching for a valid opening.

WE WILL MOSTLY ERECT TELEPORTERS TO FLEE ON TIME SHOULD HE THREATEN US.

I AM AWARE THAT SUCH A PLAN COULD BE BORING. WHAT PLAN WOULD YOU DEVISE IF YOU WERE IN MY PLACE.

Cherormromem can hardly see, so of course he eats pretty much all of the attacks directly, going sliding backwards across the room until Konngara's chain binds him.

Unfortunately for Konngara, the Chairman's choices of killers-for-hire accounted for that kind of attack. Cherormromem's sins are mostly of intent - his actions have not been nearly as evil as the likes of the boss Cogs' - so he only takes moderate damage.

When the Fenrir pounces on him, he activates his second Nitro and attempts to headbutt it with supreme force! However, since he is restrained and can't see what he's swinging at, he could still miss even when it's on top of him, or fail to destroy enough of it to interrupt its shot.

Edited by KiriK on Jan 14th 2020 at 11:41:43 AM

The Fenrir attempts to jerk out of the way but half of its head gets absolutely crumpled into an unrecognizable mess by the brutal Nitro headbutt, losing pieces. A black mass is seen escaping from the wrecked machine, leaving just enough of itself in the Fenrir to go for its last hurrah. Since the cranial processors of the machine are busted beyond repair, the fragment of Tarboy slithers its way directly into the firing mechanism of the railgun instead...

Boom.

Whatever the effect on Cherormromem, the recoil of a point-blank railgun shot obliterates Fenrir beyond any possibility of repair and vaporizes the sliver of Tarboy left inside, causing Tarboy as a whole to lose some mass. This also causes Konngara's chain to break, not that it would have held Cherormromem for much longer anyways, and Konngara herself to recoil from the sheer force of the blast wave.

Tokiko, meanwhile, pulls out a glyph-inscribed stone tablet to use The Tablet of Destinies [Disintegrate], firing a thin but extremely potent blue beam into the heart of the detonation in hopes of finishing Cherormromem off before he can recover from the railgun shot.

"I would go with lots of planned traps in case he were to find us. Kind of like those kobolds who beat much stronger adventurers one time."

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Boney: "Yes!"

Boney activates [Fate's Realization], firing one bullet upon Cheromerom. It will home in as if it was guided by tech unimaginable, and if- no, when it hits, it will do catastrophic damage, with a high chance of lethality.

Suicide Mouse recognizes Cheromerom's weakness and strikes for the legs, rolling to further disable the bot.

Axel catches his returning chakrams and, seeing everything unfold, stays back.

Mickey attempts to bind Cheromerom in harsh light.

As the smoke from the explosion begins to clear, a blue shimmer is visible - Cherormromem used his second Shield to save himself from the attacks that would've finished him. The moment the shield lowers, he uses his second Repair to fix his eyes - and the huge exposed mess of wires and plating that is his upper body after that railgun shot.

He rises back up on his tread.

"Come on, he's got to be nearly cornered by now..."

   "No more holding back, then."    Cherormromem glows with an ominous red aura as he unleashes his full power. For good measure, he activates all three of each of his remaining support items! Nitro courses through his systems, giving him robotic Volcanic Veins! A super-strength Shield materializes over his surface, ready to absorb numerous powerful hits for him! And a swarm of microbots crawl over his surface, waiting to instantly repair the first sign of damage!

"Watch your vitals! I'm running low on paint, so I can't spare any healing items!" Paintra paints up a sci-fi-looking headset and puts it on her head, scanning Cherormromem. Next round, she will have information on his statistics that she can share with the others so they know how to get past his new super-shield, and how much it'll take to destroy him past the point that his auto-repair will work.

Cherormromem rushes forward to try and impale Tokiko with a precise, yet brutal, arm thrust.

Tokiko is taken offguard by Cherormromem's sudden counterattack, and the electric blade gets her straight through the chest with a shower of electric sparks. She screams and teleports away in a shower of feathers, but the damage is done. She is intensely bleeding out and it won't be long before she is-

The Book Of Thoth [Undo Moment]

There is a blue aura around Tokiko's wound, accompanied by an ethereal sigil in the shape of a spinning hourglass. The blood moves in reverse to flow back into the wound, which seals itself as if it were never there. Nevermind then, carry on as previously I guess.

In the meantime, Konngara hurls several high-explosive fireballs at Cherormromem, only to see them get completely absorbed.

"That bastard is not playing fair! Acala strike me down where I stand if something like this will take away our rightful victory! Is there no way through this barrier?!" she exclaims in sheer frustration. Tarboy just nods and growls approvingly.

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Mickey: "Quick! Change our blades!"

Mickey and Suicide Mouse seem to flicker for a second before... Dod they just swap their Keyblades?

Mickey's new blade, Inks Of Change, is two smaller keyblades; one in the design of a pristine paintbrush, and the other designed like a rusted can of paint thinner.

SM's new blade, Blade Zero, has the look of a worn down jungle area, and is more of a broadsword than a keyblade, seemingly made of rotted wood and gray vines.

Boney simply shrugs. He has a pocket knife? Eh, whatever, he's good without a blade.

Suicide Mouse summons gray vines to entrap Cheromerom within his bubble, forcing him to pull it down if he wants to move.

Mickey looks over to Paintra.

Mickey: "You said something about paint?"

Boney changes to his Anti-Tank Rifle again, and uses normal fire to attempt to break the shield.

Axel runs up and attempts to force his chakrams - and maybe himself - through the shield.

A WISE STRATEGY. PERHAPS IT COULD NEUTRALIZE HIDDEN TROOPS.

"Exactly! Let me explain how the elves do things around here..."

And so Vanilla explains how her elf tribe does organic booby-traps in detail. She says the plants can be used to hide many secrets away from prying eyes. If that weren't enough, some animals can disguise themselves as harmless plants, making things much more confusing. Boy, Vanilla is really enthusiastic about helping Platinum.

Cherormromem's shields are more "personalized" than a bubble, but the vines restrain him instead, prompting him to thrash about in place, swinging his blades as wildly as he can.

"Yeah. I'm a painting, but I'm also a painter. My brush is magical; whatever I paint becomes real. That's how I fight for the most part."

"His shields can take a lot of big hits, but they won't come back once they're broken. Overwhelming his auto-repair isn't going to be as much an act of destroying him utterly as dealing enough damage that it runs out in the process of repairing." The information given, Paintra's scanner disperses.

"Alright, we'll give you what you asked for, and show you the strength of our teamwork!"

Skippy hurls a Wedding Cake at Cherormromem, then turns to the touhous. "Tokiko! What was that thing you did to the Doctor? Could you try and do it again?! That should at least be enough to get through his shields!"

Shields:■■■■—

"I had one of those power-enhancing orbs back during that battle. I cannot replicate the full scale of that onslaught. That being said..."

BGM Override Sign [To Teach Fear]

Distant Memory [Faint Echoes of a Broken World]

A set of elemental chains surges from the earth, ensnaring Cherormromem, though the book and the scenic landscapes from the Final Smash version do not appear. A gigantic multicolored pentacle forms around Tokiko. Along its edges, one can read, written in ancient Japanese:

"And I beheld it, with mine eyes' fading gleam. The Destroyer, the End of the Dream. When from another place seeps darkness and enmity. Thou shalt awaken to a harsh reality."

A multitude of humanoid shapes appears besides Tokiko. However, the wizard lacks the power to create a grand illusion to mask their true nature this time - the girls are mere constructs of various elements, light, darkness, or other things even stranger. At least one appears to be a mess of paper amulets with a yin-yang sphere for a head. They all proceed to unleash a nigh-inescapable barrage of projectiles upon Cherormromem. After this attack, Tokiko collapses to one knee, exhausted from the magical and mental exertion needed to create and coordinate an attack on this scale.

The godlike entity does not appear this time, instead, Konngara finishes the attack off with her own Burning Heart [Desires Bonfire], summoning a swirling pillar of heavenly flames to smite the enemy.

After all this, Tarboy pulls out the T-800's plasma rifle from somewhere within his black mass and fires a volley of plasma at the robot, regardless of how underwhelming this looks compared to the previous carnage unleashed upon it.

Edited by Arachnos on Jan 16th 2020 at 2:07:36 PM

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Following up on Tokiko and Konngara, Suicide Mouse also reveals an ultimate spell of his own.

He rises, the typical three-circle shape of a Hidden Mickey expanding into a pool of darkness behind him, occasionally pulsating red.

There are some things that any sane human would like to leave behind. The larger the group of people, the larger those secrets become in kind. However, only one group has made something so terrifying and horrible that it's head scion led his own darkness to counteract it. We call upon this pool of darkness, byproduct of an attempt to make dreams - and nightmares - come true.

"The final seal has been broken, and I unleash my final spell! Come forth, Corruptus!"

Boney Mouse shoots a massive volley of magic bullets, before using them to create a wall of oddly neutral-looking magic that wraps around the pillar of fire, slowly replacing it with magic that crystallizes around the robot.

Thick, goopy darkness extends in tendrils around Cheromerom, encasing him in darkness and eating away at everything - first abstract concepts, like his sins, hopes, and dreams - and then more physical components of the robot's makeup, before expanding-

Mickey: "STOP!"

Time stops. There is only Mickey. He showers the entire area in harsh light, the magic avoiding his allies and just existing before pushing Corruptus- and the crystal within- back into the hellscape in which it came from. He breathes a sigh of relief before time resumes, and the portal closes.

Axel: "Holy crap."

Edited by DefRevenge24601 on Jan 16th 2020 at 5:30:36 AM

Cherormromem is first caught off-guard by the Wedding Cake. Then the chains wrap around his swinging arms, restraining him completely as he is bombarded with projectile barrages of magic, kinetic, and plasma nature from all sides, wearing away at his shields until they finally pop. Konngara's flame pillar launches him into the sky, where the crystal traps him for Corruptus to engulf.

And then, in what seems like the blink of an eye, it's all gone.

Suddenly, a hole opens up in the sky and drops a freed Cherormromem out of it. It is only thanks to toon physics in this realm that he was not consumed by the darkness entirely.

His microbots scramble all over him, putting the pieces back together and allowing him to pick himself back up... but by the time they run out of power, he's still damaged beyond repair.

"Whoa..."

"Incredible..."

   "This... cannot be..."   

His shoulder-mounted rocket launchers hiss, spark, and fall off his back. His arm blades eject from their sockets. Piece by piece, his armor plating falls apart. Then his arms.

   "I am... the ultimate... weapon!"   

His torso snaps off of his tank-tread. Then his head pops off.

   "Noooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!"   

And finally, everything but his head explodes.

Blade Wolf decloaks and stabs into the killbot's head, ripping out the inner circuitry just to be safe - like with the four boss Cogs' cores from before.

But then, the most peculiar thing happens.

Where Cherormromem stood, a shard of dark crystal manifests and floats into the air. A tiny little sliver of light is drawn forth from the hearts of Skippy, Blade Wolf, Paintra, Tarboy, Tokiko, Konngara, and Mickey... then all the fragments vanish as one.

Light and darkness have clashed twelve times, yielding twelve keys.

Edited by KiriK on Dec 7th 2022 at 1:55:41 PM

"What a curious phenomenon," Tokiko remarks. Her personal tome floats out of a void, flapping its pages like a butterfly would flap its wings, an animate quill dancing all over its pages as she describes the incident and her theories about its meaning.

Tarboy attempts to catch the sliver in his hands, not particularly keen on having portions of his soul stolen by god knows what. Of course, that doesn't amount to much.

"Anyone have any explanation for this..?" Konngara asks, puzzled.

Tokiko opens her mouth.

"I mean, anyone who does not intend to take the opportunity to bore us with the principles of theoretic magic for a few hours without actually explaining what happened?"

Tokiko reluctantly falls silent.

Space Fortress Gravitas

"The time is nigh."

X:    "What cryptic crap are you spouting now?"   

Ansem, Seeker Of Darkness looks out to the distance.

Ansem: "It is almost completed. The-"

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Mickey: "χ-Blade. The ultimate Keyblade, previously split into 7 pieces of light and 13 of darkness... but why does the Chairman have it? How does he even know it exists?"

Axel: "Beats me, but it seems like this is gonna go downhill fast."

Parts Unknown

???: "This decides it. A truly uphill battle!"

???: "They will fail. That is their destiny."

???: "When is this gonna be over? Ben and Jerry's just debuted new flavoooooors!"

Edited by DefRevenge24601 on Jan 16th 2020 at 4:20:02 AM

Skippy counts on his fingers.

"Foreman, VP, Mint Supervisor, CFO, Director of Ambush Marketing, District Attorney's Clerk, CJ, the boss of that one Bossbot building that showed up in the Arena out of nowhere, Club President, CEO, all the bosses at once, Cherormromem... Unless I'm counting wrong, that only makes twelve, so he doesn't have it yet. We don't know if this 'χ-Blade' is an intentional goal of the Chairman's, or just a byproduct of this war. But we have to defeat him either way."

"Hm..." It seems that Paintra's mind is more focused on the spectacle of Tokiko's prior attack, like she intends to recreate its imagery in a painting.

"Recommended course of action: Retreat for now. We should gather information, then regroup to finish things at another time."

Edited by KiriK on Jan 16th 2020 at 6:02:09 AM

"...why does it sound like everyone here knows more about this event than us?"

"I have to concur. Can anyone explain what this 'X-Blade' is all about? It could help me advance my research..."

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Mickey: "I agree; we need to retreat for now. If the Chairman has the means to summon the χ-Blade, then we need to regroup. I can explain once we're out of here."

Suicide Mouse relents, and the other two agree.

"Alright, then." Skippy pulls out his portable hole and slaps it on the ground, gesturing for the others to follow as he jumps through to return to the Arena.

Blade Wolf follows without hesitation. Paintra starts to move towards it, but she stops next to Tokiko and puts a hand on her shoulder.

There's a momentary Beat before she smiles and says, "I owe you a portrait." Then she jumps in.