//------------------------------//
// Fight 
// Story: Operation: Replace 
// by Thought Prism 
//------------------------------//

	The bullet careened towards the Merchant, just as the shuriken was launched down from above at near equal speed. However, neither projectile reached its target, as he twisted out of the way in the instant prior.

Immediately, the innocent attendees were embroiled into a panicking mass, covering their heads and screaming as the gunshot echoed through the room. Jared and Hazel were knocked around by the fleeing people as they rushed out in a frenzy.

‘What’s happening?’ asked Starlight, frantic.

‘We missed somehow,’ replied Jared.

‘Perhaps he, too, possesses Ninja Kinetic Vision,’ thought Ninja Slayer.

‘Don’t let him escape!’ thought Starlight. ‘We’re moving in!’

That, though, was not an issue. For as Jared saw, the Merchant made no move to run with everyone else. Instead, he stood in place, still smiling. As the flood of con-goers slowly reduced to a trickle, Jared lined up his pistol again and fired three more shots, only for him to again dodge each with superhuman speed, vaulting over the counter.

Ike and Starlight burst through the rear door, blade drawn and horn charged. Hazel ran through the aisles to meet them, revolve etched onto her face. Ninja Slayer crashed through the ceiling with a shout of “Wasshoi!” and somersaulted through the air, landing behind the Merchant.

“Not going to run?” asked Starlight.

The Merchant had stepped forwards into the center of their impromptu circle. He ran a hand through his hair, and spoke. “You would chase me anyway.”

“That’s right!” Starlight confirmed. “Your days of scheming and manipulation are over!”

He feigned a gasp. “Oh, really now? Are your friends not satisfied with their purchases?”

“Of course not!” Hazel exclaimed.

“Well too bad. No refunds.”

“We seek not recompense. Only retribution!” said Ninja Slayer.

The Merchant chuckled at that, shaking his head. “Are you sure that’s a good idea? I am the one who gave you those powers in the first place.”

“Yeah, without our consent!” said Jared.

“Not to mention you dropped us in Equestria, too,” said Ike.

The Merchant shrugged, rolling up his sleeves. “If it’s a fight you want, I won’t stop you. But just so you know… I’m pretty amazing.”

Hazel snorted. "We'll take your word for it."

It was there that the witty repartee ended, as Ninja Slayer saw fit to start the fight in earnest by throwing more high-speed stars at the Merchant. But he rolled out of the way with ease. Jared emptied his chamber of the final two rounds at the spot where he anticipated the Merchant would be, but the man stopped himself, and they whizzed past.

The Merchant smirked. "Nice try."

As Jared reloaded, Ike lunged forward, blade first. At the same time, Hazel waved a hand, and a box of blue light appeared around the Merchant, cutting off his line of sight. Yet Ike's blow would not land, as a small blast of white shot out of the box and hit him square in the head. He shouted muffled curse as his face was enveloped in a sticky substance.

"Ike!" cried Starlight as she quickly pulled him out of the way with her magic. Just in time too, as the Merchant had kicked out where his chest would have been. She followed up with a beam of energy, which also failed to connect. 

'How is he doing that?' thought Hazel, as she ran over to help Ike with his face. 

'It doesn't matter if we can get around it. Drop the illusion,' instructed Starlight. 'And we'll all attack at once!'

Hazel did so, and the Merchant, looking no worse for wear, was immediately beset by magic, steel, and lead from three directions as Starlight, Ninja Slayer, and Jared all unleashed their attacks. With superhuman agility, the Merchant leapt over all of it.

Ninja Slayer followed him into the air, foot arcing towards him in a furious kick. But the Merchant just stretched out his hand and swung away on the white line that flew out from a device on his wrist that until then had gone unnoticed.

Jared's eyes widened. 'Of course! He's been using Spider-Man's powers. That's why we can't hit him, spider sense lets him know where we'll strike before we do.'

Ninja Slayer threw a shuriken at the rope of webbing, slicing it, but the Merchant had latched himself to the ceiling with his other hand before the next one could hit him. 'Then how do we stop him?' he asked.

'With something too big to avoid,' thought Jared.

'On it,' thought Starlight.

The Merchant wheeled through the air like an acrobat, twisting away from Jared's gunfire as he covered for Starlight. "Face it. I know exactly how all your powers work. You're outmatched. " He punctuated this declaration with a quickly constructed web net. Jared was forced to dive roll out of the way, boots skidding on the floor as his eyes bored into those of their adversary.

"Take this!" Starlight's aura had encompassed the entirety of a huge booth, laden with boxes, which she hurled upwards with great force to intercept him. But the Merchant kicked out with his legs, springboarding off of it to spin and stick upside down on the roof. The strength of his legs sent it back at Starlight. Unable to get out of the way, it crashed on top of her, eliciting a scream of pain.

"Dammit!" exclaimed Jared.

Ike, now free, charged again. Once he was underneath the Merchant, he thrust Ragnell into the floor, and a column of blue flames exploded upwards. While potent, the eruption only managed to sear the building, for the Merchant had already leapt away.

Groaning, Starlight pushed the crumpled remains of the booth off of her. 'Horseapples, that hurt.'

Jared watched with a ponderous expression as his teammates continued to press their attacks, scanning the room. Hazel had summoned a huge fish-like illusion that swam through the air and hounded the Merchant as Ninja Slayer failed to connect with multiple flying karate chops. Nothing worked, and he remained unscathed, swinging to and fro.

The Merchant fired both of his webshooters at once, slingshotting himself into Hazel's fish fist-first, dissipating it into mist. Another beam from Starlight whiffed when he dove down towards Ninja Slayer as he was preparing his next hit. He managed to block the Merchant's dropkick with an arm, but was nevertheless knocked away. 

Suddenly, Jared spoke through the link as he began sprinting to the side. 'I have a plan. It requires that I lure him into my position. You all have to stop attacking and look like you're given up so he takes the bait.'

'Already done,' admitted Hazel.

'If you say so,' thought Ike.

And so, they all ceased their respective offensive moves, standing in various states of dejectedness as Jared continued to run.

The Merchant easily picked up on the shift in mood, landing onto a table. "Giving up are we? How wise."

"Not me. No chance," said Jared.

"Tsk. Your loss, then." The Merchant propelled himself back into the air, quickly closing on Jared.

Letting the smallest of grins show, Jared ducked to the side, avoiding a blast of webbing, and squeezed into a meter-wide gap between two large display cases, narrowing his focus as he turned around and took careful aim.

Clearly confident he'd cornered his opponent, the Merchant banked to the side on a new line, coming at him head on. Once they had eachother in their sights, both fired. Jared's bullet struck the web holding the Merchant aloft, severing it. An instant afterwards, Jared's arm was pinned to the wall of the case by a huge burst of webbing.

Wasting not a single second, Jared's other arm suddenly unfolded, ripping open the sleeve of his coat and revealing the machine gun contained in his hidden prosthetic. He cut loose with a hail of fire in a tight circle on the Merchant. Anticipating this, the Merchant had already twisted both arms, pulling himself into an escape in the only defensible direction available: backwards. By doing so, he avoided every bullet as they screamed by.

He did not avoid the falling chandelier, its link to the ceiling also broken by the sole, perfectly aligned bullet fired from the revolver.

Dozens of crystals cut into the Merchant from above as the fixture fell on top of him. While not deep, his newfound wounds were plenty, and the Merchant howled in pain. Losing his grip, he dropped, staggering to a stop on the floor of the next row. The rest of the chandelier shattered on the tiles with a cacophonous noise soon after.

Yanking his arm free, Jared spun his revolver around his trigger finger and cocked a smile. "That's what they call an MLG strat, bitch."  

The Merchant had no reply to that, but the others sure did. 

'Woah,' thought Ike.

Starlight let out a whoop of triumph. 'Amazing!'

'Now's our chance!' thought Hazel.

Seeing her point, and ever eager to capitalize on his victory, Jared sprung upwards onto the display case, peppering the Merchant with another round of machine gun fire while he was seemingly distracted. At first, it looked like the bullets would pulverize the man, since he wasn't even moving to avoid them. However, they instead bounced right off his body, ricocheting right back at Jared. In his shock, Jared was barely able to avoid them himself.

'What the hell?' thought Jared.

Starlight and company were already rushing back into the fight, and they too witnessed the baffling display, prompting a more cautious approach. The Merchant just got to his feet and grinned.

Jared, too, closed in slowly on the Merchant, trying to see what it was that he did, exactly. It wasn't too hard to figure out: there was now a large white button pinned to the lapel of his shirt. The word 'MOTHER' was written on it, superimposed on a lightning bolt. His webshooters had also vanished.

'Crap,' thought Jared. 'That's a Franklin Badge.'

'A what?' asked Hazel.

'A Franklin Badge. It makes the wearer reflect all ranged attacks: at least in Smash, anyway. On the plus side, it looks like he can only use one character's powers at a time. My money's on Ness.'

Ninja Slayer snarled, pocketing the shuriken he was about to hurl.

'Seriously?' thought Starlight. 'Hmm, looks like we'll have to—'

Suddenly, the Merchant thrust his palms forwards. "PK Flash!"

A searing white light filled every corner of the room, accompanied by a squirm-inducing tone. Both faded soon after, but their effects did not.

'What was...' began Starlight, only to cut herself off with an audible gasp. 'I can't move!'

'Welp, I've just gone blind. Everything's pitch black.' added Hazel. 'Is everyone else ok?'

'I'm fine,' thought Ike. 

'Me too,' thought Jared. 'Though if I remember correctly, it could have been much worse. Ninja Slayer?'

His reply was most unexpected. "Outlaws shall perish! Yeeart!" Ninja Slayer flashed towards Jared in a rage, slugging him with a punch that left him reeling.

"Ninja Slayer! What in Tartarus are you doing?" shouted Starlight.

'It's not his fault,' Jared stated, weaving around a barrage of throwing stars. 'One of the effects that move has in Earthbound is to make enemies attack eachother. Don't worry, I can keep Ninja Slayer occupied until the effects wear off. Probably.'

'Ok, so what do we do? I can't fight like this.' thought Hazel.

Ike moved his blade to rest on his shoulder. 'Nothing. I'll take that prick on.'

'By yourself?' thought Starlight, apprehensive.

'You heard Jared: we have to get up close and personal. And I'm the heavy-hitter.'

Starlight saw the resolve in his eyes and took a deep breath, wishing Ike luck as he waded into battle. However, the faint trace of optimism on her face instantly fell when she saw the Merchant. His body was wreathed in a sphere of rippling blue energy, and had apparently been as such for a short while, since what little remained of his wounds knit themselves closed.

Ike did not let this development phase him, however, and he somersaulted through the air, blade overhead. The Merchant jumped back, and Ragnell struck the floor with enough force to embed deep into it, breaking dozens of tiles in the process.

As Ike drew it back out, the Merchant rolled his eyes. 'After the last guy I expected more from you. Oh well.'

Rushing forward again, sword drawn back to slash sideways, Ike was intercepted by hexagonal waves of primary-colored energy summoned by the Merchant. He was forced to cut off his charge to block the psychic attack with the flat of his weapon, his arms shaking under the strain as they struck.

With a telekinetic backflip, the Merchant once again put some distance between himself and Ike. He fired more energy waves, but Ike was ready this time, and lit his sword ablaze. With a series of rapid motions, he sent arcs of flame to intercept them, and the projectiles canceled out on impact, bursting apart into clouds of sparks.

Jumping through them, Ike aimed to slice his foe's head off. But the Merchant pulled a large wooden baseball bat out of thin air and parried the swing.

Ike snorted. "Really? How did that bat not just snap like a twig?"

"Trade secret," he replied, switching to the offensive.

Wood clashed against metal with a grinding sound as their weapons met, pushing back against eachother: one supported with brute strength, the other with mental force. Neither of them gave an inch, their feet planted firmly in battle stances. As they struggled, the Merchant's smile never faded.

Seeing an opening, Ike kicked out with his foot, connecting with the Merchant's stomach. With an oof, he doubled over, the bat slipping out of his grasp, but it remained in the air, held aloft by willpower. Letting go of his sword's hilt with his left hand, Ike used it to grab the bat and yank it away, continuing his diagonal strike with the right. Though agonizingly close to a success, the Merchant managed to conjure a blast of intense cold from his own hands just in time, flashfreezing Ike in place.

"Thank you for your business." The Merchant began charging a massive technique as he levitated up and away, spheres of white light building at his fingertips. Not going to just take it sitting down, Ike's icy prison sizzled, then roared as a massive bonfire formed around Ragnell, melting and then evaporating it in an instant. 

After that display, Ike abruptly threw his sword upwards in a huge arc, leaping up after it. "Don't thank me yet!"

The Merchant burned with power, and thrust his open palm upward. "PK... STARSTORM!"

This proclamation heralded a rain of miniature suns around the Merchant, too massive in scope for Ike to possibly dodge in midair. It was a good thing he didn't need to. For Starlight, who had been watching the whole time, moved the stars between Ike and his blade out of the way just enough with her magic to give him a clear path. 

Ike watched a look of shock blossom on the Merchant's face as he grabbed his sword out of the air, calling forth every ounce of its divine power. "Great... AETHER!"

Ike let loose a hail of flaming kicks and slashes in merciless succession, culminating in an overhead chop that sent both of them to the ground in a furious explosion. The shockwave sent merchandise tables flying outwards.

Hazel and Starlight were both sent sprawling by the blast, but apart from the fresh bruises actually found themselves in better shape than before: the effects of PK Flash had abruptly worn off. Ninja Slayer, who had been assaulting Jared without reprieve, snapped back to normal, standing straight up and rubbing his head in confusion. Jared sighed in relief, showing signs of visible exhaustion.

Ike stepped out of the cloud of smoke where he'd landed, sweat rolling off his skin.

"Wow, Ike!" exclaimed Starlight. "You did it!"

"Now we just have to finish him off," added Jared.

However, it would not be that easy. For as the smoke cleared, the Merchant's figure immerged. Though badly burned and cut deep in places, he was still standing. And he wasn't smiling. 

"It looks like I'm going to have to work overtime." The Merchant raked a hand down across his face, and a menacing bone white mask with red markings materialized.