The group exited the canyon to a sight that normally would’ve been awe-inspiring. An ocean of lush green grass extended well into the distance, broken up by the occasional rolling hill hollowed out to form an arch. Tall cliffs surrounded the plains on all sides, rock formations jutting out to form overhanging arches high above in the distance. Beyond the plains was the beginning of a thin forest. In the middle of the plains was a stone post, likely to serve as a distinguishable landmark amongst the more generic natural landscape.
No one in the group paid any attention to the scenery, stopping together beyond the canyon entrance to momentarily catch their breaths before Twilight spoke up.
“Does anybody see Thomas anywhere!?”
Everyone’s eyes tracked across the plains, searching for a spot of blue amongst the sea of green.
”Over there!” Master Hand said, pointing to the right.
Everyone tracked their eyes to where he was pointing. Sure enough, they spotted a speck of blue set against the rightmost cliff, just beyond an arched hill. They wasted no time in sprinting across the grass towards the tank engine, just as they heard Stay Puft traversing the canyon behind them. To their collective relief, the group managed to reach Thomas just as Stay Puft emerged onto the plains, oblivious to their current position. The blue engine was still fast asleep, blissfully ignorant of its repositioning.
Once again the group momentarily paused to catch their breath, after which Shulk asked Twilight, “How did you know Thomas would be here?”
A furrowed look crossed Twilight’s face. “Let’s just say I’ve caught on to Aza’s patterns of behavior.”
”Took you long enough,” Aza said as its puppet materialized in front of everyone.
“Fuck you,” Ash said.
”Gee, language much?”
“Don’t care.”
Pit stepped forward. “So why are we here, Aza?” he asked, gripping his blade tightly.
”You’ll see in a few seconds.”
Sure enough, a new set of tremors were soon to join the ones generated by Stay Puft’s gargantuan footsteps. Everyone in the group, as well as Stay Puft himself, turned to watch as a new figure emerged above the treeline beyond the plains, one which was very familiar to about half of the group.
Gojira plowed through the trees like they were toothpicks, toppling them and snapping the ones he stepped on like twigs. He strode forward almost mechanically, his face unchanging and unobservant of his surroundings. That is until he took notice of Stay Puft standing on the opposite end of the plains, at which point he stopped, locking gazes with the other titan.
The group watched as the two titans just stood there, their stares like knives cutting the air between them like soft butter and filling it with a heavy tension fit for the gargantuan beings. A gust of wind blew across the plains, whistling ominously through the grass as if by divine order to build up the inevitable clash between Stay Puft and Gojira.
Gojira broke the silence with an ear-piercing roar, before launching himself forward, each step creating a mini earthquake. Stay Puft held up his hands, shifting his body to prepare for the tackle. Gojira struck with the full brunt of his body, breaking Stay Puft’s block and knocking the marshmallow titan back into the canyon. He managed to keep himself upright by gripping the sides of the canyon, and delivered a swift frontal kick to Gojira’s chest, knocking the other titan over onto his back.
Stay Puft righted himself, then proceeded to jump onto Gojira’s chest with the full force of his body. Gojira made a sound with its mouth in response that could’ve been the wind being knocked out of him. Stay Puft proceeded to jump two more times, but was just coming back down the third time when Gojira opened his mouth, letting loose a stream of atomic breath right into his eye, causing him to stagger back and hold a hand up to the missing side of his face.
Enormous chunks of marshmallow blew from the impact, sailing through the air in all directions. One of the larger chunks was aimed squarely at the group hugging the cliffside. A cry reverberated throughout the group as they attempted to scurry out of the way, but were too late. The marshmallow matter struck with such force that a good majority of them were thrown back against the cliff wall, their bones shattering upon impact and–
“Everyone, get behind me!” Shulk cried, the blue light disappearing from his eyes.
Everyone turned to him. “Something wrong?” Ryuk asked.
“Just get behind me, hurry!” He activated the Monado, to which a purple symbol that Twilight recognized as a Neighponese character appeared on the glass disk embedded into the hilt.
Confused, everyone quickly filed behind Shulk, but their confusion turned to terror when a giant chunk of marshmallow came hurtling towards them. Shulk held the Monado’s blade in front of him, his body unmoving while his face furrowed in concentration. When the marshmallow matter was about twenty feet away, he sprang into action. Leaping into the air, he met the sweet projectile with his blade raised over his head, slashing down to cleave it in two. The marshmallow halves changed course to impact the cliff walls on either side of the group, smashing the rocky surface with all the force of two dynamite blasts, sending rocky debris scattering across the grass.
The group watched the entire scene with gaping mouths. Shulk landed back on the ground, before sheathing the Monado and slinging it across his back. He turned back to the group. “Is everyone okay?”
Everyone was too stunned to say anything at first. “Uh, yes, I think so,” Twilight said, breaking the silence. Around her, everyone murmured their affirmation.
Shulk nodded. “That’s good.”
”That was an impressive display, Shulk. Consider me amused.”
Everyone turned to Aza’s puppet. “Is this the only reason why you wanted us to be here?” Samus asked, gesturing to the continuing battle between Stay Puft and Gojira. “Because unlike last time, we don’t have any personal stakes in this fight. The two combatants could kill each other off for all we care, so why should we care to watch?”
”Hey, at least you have the option to watch it. That’s a good thing, right?”
Nobody replied. Somewhere in the crowd, Twilight heard a cough over the continued sounds of the titanic battle.
”Anyway, I came across something very interesting during my travels throughout the multiverse.” The puppet turned in Twilight’s direction, to which she raised a curious brow. ”Something which Twilight might find especially interesting.”
“Enough with this bullshit, Aza!” Garp cried. “Send us home!”
”Hmm… no, I won’t,” Aza said simply.
Garp scowled, cracking his knuckles.
”Yeah, sure, try that,” it continued in a mocking tone of voice. ”Anyway, I really do mean it when I say what I found is interesting. Although, if your understanding of infinity is correct, it may not be such a surprise.”
A new figure materialized on the ground before the group. Details filled in to eventually reveal a young human girl with long auburn hair, wearing red flannel pajamas. She was asleep, her eyes closed and her chest steadily rising and falling.
Confused glances were cast throughout the group, no one knowing what to make of the new, seemingly unnoteworthy arrival.
”And now time for a classic maneuver.”
A plastic pitcher full of water materialized above the girl’s head, tipping over to pour the contents onto the girl’s sleeping form. For added measure, Aza moved the pitcher along her length to drench her entire body. The girl was starting to stir awake by the time it’d finished.
Twilight rolled her eyes at Aza’s choice of an alarm clock, before stepping toward the girl, her features turning soft. The girl’s eyes fluttered open, revealing them to be green and unfocused.
“Hi there,” Twilight said, smiling kindly.
The girl blinked. “What the—?” Then her eyes widened and she sat up. Annoyance crossed her features as she shook her head, shaking water droplets free and lightly spraying Twilight in the process. “Why am I all wet!?” she cried upon finishing.
Twilight gave her a sympathetic look. “It’s a long story.” In her eye’s corner, she saw the rest of the group beginning to approach the two of them from over the girl’s shoulder. “Are you okay?”
The girl took a moment to wipe off her face before replying. “Gah, now I’m gonna need to hair dry before I…” She blinked a few times, clearing her vision. When her eyes focused on Twilight, a mask of confusion crossed her face. “Twilight? What’re you doing in my…?”
The girl trailed off, having noticed her likely alien surroundings. Twilight, meanwhile, was frozen in place, eyes wide and mouth slightly agape. This girl knew her name.
This girl knew her.
A single glance up at the group told Twilight many of them were thinking the same, judging by their similarly surprised expressions. Except for Kirby and Ed; the former’s blank expression showed they didn’t really understand what was happening, while the latter’s eyes were superglued to the battle between Stay Puft and Gojira.
“What the–? Where am I? How did I get here?”
Twilight brought her attention back to the girl. Now she was looking around frantically, panic starting to settle in her eyes.
Twilight gave a soft sigh. She lit her horn, intending to cast the memory transfer spell, but Aza’s puppet caught her attention. It waved a sphere hand back and forth in front of itself as if signaling ‘no’. Confused at first, Twilight soon realized this was likely a copy of the Fallen Star situation; Aza was going to return this girl to her home after she’d fulfilled her purpose for being here, whatever that was.
The girl’s gaze swept over the group, and she muffled a small gasp. “What the hell…?”
A thunderous crash sounded through the air. Everyone turned their heads to the battle to see that Gojira had slammed Stay Puft into the opposite cliff across the plains. Looking at the girl, Twilight was almost convinced the girl’s eyes were going to pop out of their sockets with how much they were bulging at the sight of the two titans.
Twilight decided she couldn’t let the girl be horrified any longer. Reaching out, she laid a comforting hoof on her shoulder. The girl gave a start at the touch, before turning around to face Twilight with a somewhat more relieved expression.
“Everything’s alright,” Twilight soothed. “This is all just a dream.”
The girl blinked. “... A dream?”
Twilight’s smile twisted into a little smirk. “Does any of this seem realistic to you?”
The girl looked at her surroundings, including the stunned faces throughout the group, and the battle which was starting to turn one-sided in Gojira’s favor. “Yeah, you’re right. But it feels so real.”
Twilight pulled her hoof away as the girl got up to her feet. She rubbed her eyes one more time as if wanting to make sure they weren’t playing tricks on her. “It’s a weird dream, though. It’s not like I went on a pop culture binge before bedtime.” She pointed out a few people in the crowd while listing off their names. “Yugi Muto from Yu-Gi-Oh!, Pikachu from Pokemon, Hermione Granger from Harry Potter. I know some of them are Nintendo characters, like Samus, Pit, Palutena, Kirby, Shulk, Master Hand, and I’m not sure but I think the purple-haired girl is too.” She froze, her eyes set upon Ash. Her mouth broke into a wide grin, and she rushed forward, past everyone and up to him. He jerked back in response before his face grew confused when she clasped her hands around his lone one. “Oh my gosh, Ash Williams!”
Ash blinked. “Um, yeah, that’s me,” he said, uncomfortably. “Do I know you?”
The girl giggled. “My name’s Erin Olsen,” she answered, lifting their hands a little higher. “I’m, well… I guess you could say I’m a huge fan of yours. I can’t tell you how, but can I hear more about your adventures slaying Deadites? Please?” Her eyes sparkled with excitement.
Everyone was still like statues by this point, looking at the scene before them. Twilight, as well, struggled to make sense of the girl, Erin Olsen’s, bizarre behavior. Calling upon what few sparks of electrical signals still worked properly in her brain, Twilight knew she shouldn’t have been surprised when Aza could summon literally anything.
And yet, she found herself at a loss for a clear-cut response to the scene before her, much less words to describe it. All she could do was take a deep breath and reorganize her thoughts.
“Um, yeah, sure,” Ash said, discomfort still clear in his tone. He glanced around at the group as if silently pleading for help of some kind. When none came, he uncoupled Erin’s hands from his own and began guiding her away from the group.
Twilight tracked them with her eyes, watching as Ash guided Erin closer to the cliffside, out of earshot from the group. Twilight then saw several members of the group approach her, looking down at the ground with contemplative faces. She didn’t need to think twice about what was on their minds. Everyone else had either returned to watching the titans battle or were just lounging about, seemingly bored if their expressions were anything to go by.
“Well, that was... strange,” the pharaoh said once they’d reached Twilight.
“That’s the understatement of the millennium,” Pit said, his eyes still wide.
Hermione nodded. “For sure.”
“Pika-pi,” Pikachu followed up.
Twilight nodded as well, then turned to Ash and Erin. Ash appeared to be regaling Erin with a tale from his past, while Erin listened intently, her beaming grin stretching from ear to ear. A ghost of a smile had formed on Ash’s face, so he was likely overcoming his previous discomfort if only a little.
“That girl, Erin... she knows us,” Twilight commented. “But it’s weird, she seemed to know me a lot more personally than the rest of us.”
“She seemed to know the rest of us from third-hand sources,” Hermione observed, placing a finger on her chin. “But the way she worded it was weird; Harry Potter is just one of my best friends like I said before.”
“It’s strange,” Palutena said. “I feel like I’ve heard the name ‘Nintendo’ before.”
“Yeah, me too,” Pit agreed.
”Well, the answer should be obvious, shouldn’t it?”
They all turned to Aza’s puppet as it hovered over to them. ”For what purpose did you summon that girl here, Aza? Master Hand asked.
”Like I said, anyone who understands the concept of infinity should already know this; anything and everything exists in the multiverse. Any combination of atoms and any direction they can possibly take are accounted for throughout all of existence. The same applies to abstract concepts like ideas and destiny, such as the existence of real people in one universe being fictional characters in another.” Aza’s puppet faced everyone aside from Twilight. ”As you all saw, Erin knows many of you. That’s because within the universe she hails from, all of you exist as fictional characters, created by and belonging to various people and/or companies. Twilight, however–” the puppet gestured to her with one of its spheres, “exists as a real person in her universe.”
A few moments of silence passed between the group as they all absorbed the information Aza gave. Once she’d fully digested all the info, Twilight found herself unsure how to respond to or even think about it. On one hoof, it all made perfect sense that anyone in the group would exist as fictional characters in other universes— she was sure she existed as fiction in multiple universes just as well. She’d even wrote herself and all of Equestria as fiction created by humans in her HUMAN trilogy, as a meta joke.
What really threw her off was why Aza specifically singled her out as being the ‘real’ one when it could’ve, presumably, just as easily pulled someone from a universe where they all existed as fiction. Looking at everyone else, she caught more than a couple of them casting uneasy glances her way. Was Aza trying to generate friction between her and everyone else by placing her on a higher pedestal? Well, that wasn’t going to work if she had anything to say about it.
“Yeah, that’s interesting alright,” she said, her voice heavy with resolve. She stepped forward. “And I’m sure we all understand how the multiverse works. There must exist a universe where we all exist as fictional characters. There must also be a universe out there where I’m the only one here who exists only in fiction. But none of that matters right now, because here and now, we’re all on even ground. We’re all stuck here until you decide to let us go, and we’ll all keep fighting together as a cohesive unit until then.”
All throughout her speech, Twilight saw the uncertainty melt away from everyone’s faces. If Aza had indeed tried to create tension within the group, it had failed.
”Very true, Twilight,” Aza replied. ”But I have yet to find them if they do. And believe me, I’ve been searching non-stop.” It paused for a moment. ”... Perhaps infinity is not timeless.”
Everyone cocked their heads at that last statement.
Their attention was quickly diverted when they heard Ed shout, “Ooh! Ooh! A third monster!” At the same time, a new set of tremors began adding to the dual layers of Gojira and Stay Puft’s battle.
Confused for a brief moment, Twilight’s eyes shrank to pinpricks when realization struck. “Oh no.”
The green creature, now as large as both Stay Puft and Gojira, came striding out of the canyon. Any injury it might have sustained in its previous encounter with Stay Puft seemed to be inconsequential. Its movements were slow and methodical, likely as a result of not being used to having such a huge body. Its eyes were dark and focused, the creature’s gaze boring into Stay Puft as it approached the marshmallow titan. As Stay Puft was preoccupied with fighting Gojira, it didn’t see the creature approaching from behind.
As the creature came fully into view, everyone’s attention was drawn to a spot of red perched upon its shoulder. No one needed a second guess as to who it was.
“This is just like ‘Lizard Man from Dimension X meets Fish Woman from the Space Abyss’!” Ed shouted, eyes sparkling and mouth beaming. “Are they gonna get together by the end?”
“Why is Deadpool riding that thing’s shoulder?” Charlotte asked no one in particular.
“I don’t think that’s a question worth pondering,” Hermione said, mouth turning down slightly.
“Agreed one hundred percent,” Garp said.
“I think he has our best intentions in mind, though,” Twilight remarked. “He’s probably got a plan in mind to stop the fighting, even if it’s wacky as heck.”
Deadpool sat on the creature’s shoulder, arms crossed and a proud, confident smile under his mask. The creature’s movements were slow and controlled enough that he wasn’t in any danger of falling over. His nerves tingled with anticipation of the epic clash about to unfold.
He drew a giant whiff of air, letting it out with a sigh of content. “Nothing like a good titan ass-whoopin’ to kick off a new regeneration.” He put a finger to his chin. “Oh wait, that reference won’t work until next chapter. Maybe even the one after that.”
The creature reached Stay Puft quickly enough, unnoticed by the overlarge children’s mascot, as it was too busy fighting Gojira. As soon as it was within reach, it reeled its arm back for a straight punch. Deadpool clapped his hands, eyes sparkling with excitement. “That’s it, Willy! Knock his fucking head off!”
The creature gave a low growl which, due to its increased size, came out more as a booming roar. It threw the punch straight at the remaining half of Stay Puft’s head. The blow connected, impacting with a wet splat, and ripping through to the other side. Chunks of marshmallow careened through the air, splattering across the plains.
“Now that’s a worthy innuendo!” Deadpool laughed.
Stay Puft’s now headless body froze in place. Gojira stopped its next attack, eyes gaining a glimmer of curiosity as it stared at its defeated opponent. A purple mist rose out of Stay Puft’s neck, swirling in the air for a few moments before dissipating into nothingness. The body then fell forward, crashing to the ground and kicking up a huge plume of dirt.
A thick silence stretched between the two remaining titans for several moments. Deadpool kicked his feet back and forth, whistling as he waited for a reaction from either kaiju. When Gojira’s eyes began to take on a menacing glint, he unsheathed his katanas.
Gojira let out a mighty screech, the sound reverberating through the air and rattling Deadpool’s eardrums with how relatively close it was. Not that he cared, as he wouldn’t be needing to listen to what he was about to do.
As soon as he came out of his screech, Gojira stomped forward toward Willy, mouth lighting up with the telltale blue of radioactive breath. Deadpool lunged forward, springing off of Willy’s shoulder and straight toward Gojira’s throat, his katanas stretched out in front of him. They cut through cleanly and effortlessly, the fleshy, metallic shink pleasing to Deadpool’s ears.
The action elicited no reaction from Gojira, no doubt on account of the notable size difference between them. Deadpool began using his katanas like climbing picks, gradually making his way up the side of Gojira’s mouth just as the lizard titan let loose a stream of radioactive breath. Deadpool could feel the extreme heat even with an entire throat of flesh separating him and it, but he didn’t let it bother him as he ascended Gojira’s neck. Since he didn’t hear a thunderous cry of agony, he assumed Willy had managed to dodge Gojira’s blast.
Deadpool eventually made his way up onto the other titan’s shoulder. From there he made his way up the back of Gojira’s head, all the while holding with all of his might in response to whatever jerky head motions Gojira made. Never once did Gojira make any indication he’d noticed Deadpool’s presence on his person. Having multiple stab wounds, even from swords so small, should’ve made Gojira at least itch and feel the need to scratch. Apparently, titans really did feel that high and mighty to not even bother reacting to the petty wounds inflicted by so-called ‘lesser beings’.
But Deadpool was no less a force of nature than even the mightiest titan. What he lacked in size, he more than made up for in power and ability. And he was immortal— can’t be high and mighty without good ol’ fashioned immunity to dying.
He finished scaling Gojira’s head, coming out on top and placing his hands on his hips in a triumphant pose. He took a good, long whiff of the air. “Smells fresh and radioactive. Just the way I don’t like it.” He glanced over to see Willy throwing another punch, with Gojira raising a hand to block it. The impact made Deadpool stumble a little, but he stood firm.
“A good, solid negative one point five.” Deadpool tsked, shaking his head. “Based Richter would be ashamed.”
He sheathed his swords and pulled out his guns, cocking each of them with a satisfied smirk. He then dashed forward, running across the top of Gojira’s head before jumping and flipping dramatically through the air, sticking his landing on Gojira’s mighty snout. He held his guns out and pointed them directly at the titan’s eyes.
“Bullet-shaped bullets with a side order of painful pain coming right up.” He blinked. “This author really sucks at writing for me if he thinks that’s the least bit funny.”
He pressed the triggers on both guns, letting loose streams of gunfire into both of Gojira’s eyes. He started at the base and worked his way upward, going side to side and covering as much eye matter as possible.
Deadpool moved so fast Gojira’s reaction was delayed, but soon enough he was howling with agony, lifting a hand to try to swat Deadpool off his snout. Deadpool quickly jumped off just in the nick of time, passing by the hand as it came up and feeling the accompanying burst of wind. He plummeted down to the ground, his hands wrapped behind his head while crossing his legs in a relaxed pose.
“All up to you now, Willy.”
He crashed to the ground, the sounds of many shattered bones and ripped muscle fiber accompanying the impact. The pain was immense, shooting through him like a thousand metallic stakes being hammered all at once to pitch an enormous tent. Not that it managed to affect him at all, and his healing factor would patch him right up soon enough, so he could just relax and enjoy the battle above him.
Speaking of which, it was currently shaping up to be a very one-sided fight, all thanks to his amazing battle tactics. Gojira was still stumbling around blinded, while Willy was gearing up for a major beatdown.
The green amphibian reared his arm back and delivered a devastating blow to Gojira’s jaw, connecting with a loud, sickening crack that echoed against the surrounding cliffsides. Gojira didn’t even have time to scream in pain before Willy let loose a barrage of punches and kicks to each and every one of Gojira’s limbs and chest, each one knocking him a step back towards an open section of land between two cliffs overlooking the vast, empty sky beyond.
Deadpool turned his head away from the action towards the group. Surprisingly, most of them weren’t watching the battle, talking amongst themselves instead. The mentally challenged yellow boy appeared to be the only one rapt with attention on the battle. Looking closer, he noticed a new face among the group; a somewhat attractive young woman wearing red flannel pajamas with auburn hair, talking with Grumpy McAshole Williams.
He looked back just in time to see Willy shove Gojira over the side of the Bionis’ leg. The giant lizard gave a screeching howl as he fell over the side out of view. Willy watched as his defeated foe plummeted for a few seconds before turning around and beginning to make his way back toward the center of the plains.
Willy didn’t get very far before a giant glob of some purple substance materialized in the air before him; specifically, his open mouth. He inhaled a huge chunk of it, while the rest splashed across his scaly chest.
Nothing seemed to happen at first. Deadpool thought maybe whatever that purple gunk was was just a fluke, but upon closer inspection, he thought he saw Willy visibly shrinking in size. A couple seconds later he realized that was exactly what was happening. Willy quickly noticed as well, letting out a drawn-out groan that could’ve been an expression of confusion as it continually shrank. A couple minutes later, he was back to his normal size, swiveling his head around, as if he couldn’t comprehend what had just happened to him. That would’ve made sense, Deadpool figured, considering his clear lack of sapience.
Might as well try to comfort him, Deadpool thought as he began making his way over to Willy. Probably gonna end up impaling him on my sword by the end of it, though.
“How did it feel to have your hand possessed by a ghost?”
“Like a violation of a very sacred and personal right of any human being.”
“And how did it feel to be possessed by a deadite?”
Ash pinched the bridge of his nose. “I don’t remember anything about it, so I’m gonna say it felt like shit.”
“Yeah, I can relate to that feeling.” A brief flicker of discomfort flashed across Erin’s features, but she quickly shrugged it off and asked, “And what about traveling through time?”
Ash resisted the urge to recite some very profane sentences while possibly spitting in Erin’s face. The question of how she knew about his adventures fighting against the various shit the Necronomicon threw at him was at the forefront of his mind at first, but it quickly gave way to annoyance over Erin’s apparent lack of social awareness regarding his interest in talking about said adventures.
Then again, Twilight had apparently convinced Erin that this was all a dream of hers, so he supposed it made sense she wouldn’t treat him with the same kind of respect she would a real person. Still, he needed to end this before he felt compelled to slap her upside the head.
“Listen, Miss Erin, I appreciate that you’re a big fan of me or whatever, but I’d rather forget about all the crap I’ve gone through. Think we can talk about something else?”
“Right, right, sorry,” Erin replied, waving a hand apologetically, yet retaining a smile. “I’m just a huge fan of the Evil Dead, but yeah, I understand if you want to talk about something else.”
Ash cast a sideways glance toward the giant monster battle on the plains next to him. From the looks of things, the green reptilian creature was about to push Gojira off the edge of a cliff. “So you’re completely uninterested in that giant freakshow circus over there?”
Erin turned to the giants as well. She stared for a couple moments before shrugging. “I’ve seen a bunch of Godzilla movies already, so that’s nothing too special. I’ll admit, though, pitting him up against Gillman is kinda strange.”
“You seem to know a lot about all of us, huh?”
Erin seemed to deflate a bit, her gaze turning down as her expression turned hesitant. “I’ll stop talking about it if you want. I’m just happy to be able to meet you in person.”
“You’re one of a kind.”
Erin giggled in response. Ash resisted the urge to roll his eyes.
There was a moment of silence following their exchange. A thought occurred to Ash— one that tied a knot in his stomach. Aza had brought Erin into this little game for some purpose, and just like everyone else, there was no way to know how long she’d be here. Eventually, she’d realize she wasn’t dreaming. What her response would be to that, he didn’t know but figured it wouldn’t be very enthusiastic.
“Excuse me for a moment,” he said. “I need to talk with Twilight for a minute.” He turned and began making his way to the group.
“Sure thing,” he heard Erin say behind him.
Ash strode across the grass to the group. Very few people were actually paying attention to the last seconds of the giants’ battle, instead just lounging around and/or talking with each other. Aza’s puppet floated some distance away, looking about as stupid as a bunch of colorful spheres held together by nothing could be.
Twilight was chatting with a few people when she noticed him approach. She turned away from them to address him. “Hello, Ash, is everything going fine with Erin?”
“For now at least,” he replied. He cast a wary glance back at the young woman. She’d taken to idly glancing around the plains in a half-interested manner. “But things are gonna get awkward when she finds out this isn’t all just a dream.”
“Don’t worry, I’m pretty sure that isn’t going to happen,” she replied.
Ash could only stare deadpan at her certainty. Even everyone else with them looked equally baffled.
“Why?” Pit ventured to ask.
“Aza’s done this once before,” Twilight explained. “It didn’t want me to use my memory transference spell, which means it won’t let Erin find out the truth before it returns her home. And it won’t return her home until she fulfills whatever purpose it brought her here for” She rolled a hoof while her mouth dipped down a bit. “I’ll admit I could be wrong, but it’s not like there’s anything we can do about Erin ourselves aside from keeping her safe.”
“Well, I hope you’ve got a plan in case you’re wrong,” Ash said.
A noticeable glimmer of fear crossed Twilight’s eyes. Ash didn’t comment on it, but it certainly didn’t fill him with confidence.
“We have a winner!”
They all turned their eyes to Ed. The boy’s blank expression had disappeared, replaced by one of youthful wonder as he stared across the plains. They followed his gaze to see Gillman, darting his eyes around in confusion. Ash was a little surprised to see the giant reptilian freakshow visibly shrinking before his eyes, and a couple gasps to his left indicated a few other people were as well.
Deadpool was visible as well, staring up at the shrinking giant, seemingly completely unfazed based on his stoic body posture. Whatever happened to cause it to start shrinking, Ash didn’t know or even care. He was just glad to see most of their biggest problems were solved, though, Erin was still going to be an issue.
That thought brought up another, and he turned to Twilight. “Hey, Twilight?”
She turned to face him. “Yes?”
“You said Aza brought Erin here for a purpose? What exactly is that?”
“Remember how Erin seemed to know who we all were, despite us not knowing her in turn? And how, unlike everyone else, she seemed to know me personally?” Ash nodded. “My best guess is that Aza wanted to drive a wedge between us by placing me on a higher pedestal than everyone else.” Her mouth turned upward into a slight smirk. “Needless to say, it didn’t work.”
“You think that’s what it was playing at?” Ash asked. Her explanation made sense, and yet, it felt too random even for Aza. “Couldn’t it have just tried framing one of us for something if it wanted to do that?”
“I’m a little confused as well,” Palutena spoke up, drawing everyone’s attention to her. “Aza’s actions have been nothing if not random: the people it brings in, the challenges it makes us face, how often we’re placed somewhere new—” She looked to Twilight, “—and yet all we’ve been told is that this is part of an experiment to see if people from different universes can co-exist together.”
Twilight nodded. “Yeah, which is why I thought maybe Aza tried this latest trick as a test of sorts.”
“I suppose that makes sense, but…”
“Lady Palutena?” Pit ventured.
Palutena shook her head. “If this is all just for a test, or even just for the sake of sadistic amusement, then why make a big show out of it?” She gestured to the green creature, almost fully returned to his normal stature. “That battle was more for us than Aza, but why? Why go to such lengths just to grab our attention?”
“A good question, indeed,” the pharaoh said. “I, too, wonder if there isn’t more to Aza’s motivations than it’s let on.”
Silence fell between everyone for a short while. Ash could tell the discussion was probably provoking deep, philosophical questions in their minds. He himself couldn’t care any less what Aza’s ultimate goal was or whatever. All he cared about was surviving and getting home. And protecting everyone else, of course.
While the group thought in silence, Deadpool could be seen supporting the creature — ‘Gillman’, as Erin had called it — as the two made their way back to the group.
“Hey, you’re all alive!” Deadpool said once they were within earshot. “Didja like the show? Not every day you get a front row seat to such a titanic display of badassery.”
Ash rolled his eyes. Deadpool must’ve seen the action, as he continued with, “Oh, you think you could match that Ashley?”
“C’mon you two,” Twilight said, annoyed, as she stepped forward between them. “Let’s not start this up again.”
“I don’t care one way or another,” Ash replied to Deadpool, ignoring Twilight’s protest altogether. “Yeah, it was impressive, but not exactly the kind of thing someone would do unless they’re insane.”
“Or has regenerative powers,” Deadpool added playfully.
Ash felt a nerve in his head twitch. One or two blood vessels probably burst just then. He contemplated shooting Deadpool square in the head to see if his power could even piece his splattered brain back together, but a sense of apathy washed over him before he could reach for his gun. He wasn’t the only one who was annoyed by Deadpool’s grating personality, but he was the only one that was still letting it get under his skin. If everyone else could tune him out, then he could too. And hey, he’d finally be rid of him whenever Aza decided to end the ‘experiment’ and send them home.
Ash breathed a deep, relaxing sigh, and said, “Whatever works for you.”
“Oh, believe me, it works for me, a whole lot.”
“Oh my gosh! Deadpool!”
Everyone turned to see Erin Olsen practically bolting across the ground towards them. She bobbed and weaved between everyone else and made her way up to Deadpool, her eyes sparkling with reverence.
Deadpool slightly flinched back in surprise at the sudden invasion of his personal space, saying, “Yep, that’s my name. Also known as The Merc with the Mouth. Got a job for me? Or are ya here just to admire my beautiful costume.” He lightly pinched the fabric before letting it snap back into place. “Took me awhile to get it just right, but it was so worth it. It really goes well with my MO: kill everything and let the Editor-in-Chief sort it out.”
Erin put a hand to her mouth, stifling a giggle. “I’m a big fan of yours, is all.”
“Ah, always nice to meet an adoring fangirl.” Deadpool gently shrugged off Gillman, freeing up both hands to pull his twin guns out of their holsters, giving them a twirl. “No lady can resist a man with a full load.”
Erin’s cheeks grew red, as did everyone else who understood the double entendre. “Yep, you’re the real thing,” she said. “Well, for a dream, at least.”
“Dream or dreamboat?”
Erin held back a small laugh. “Yeah, sure you are—”
She paused mid-sentence, her eyes drawn to Gillman as the aquatic monster had approached her and was currently eyeing her with animal-like curiosity.
“Whoa there, Willy, whatcha got on your mind?” Deadpool asked.
Gillman took a few steps forward, closing the distance between himself and Erin, who backed away in response while holding up her hands placatingly. Gillman made a low sound that Ash couldn’t discern the meaning of, before reaching out with surprising speed and grabbing one of Erin’s arms.
“Ah! What the heck!?” Erin screamed.
Everyone’s reaction was to flinch back in surprise before taking battle stances. Erin gave a good shake in an attempt to break her arm free, but Gillman’s grip held strong. She tried again with no success, before wildly flailing her arm in a mad bid to dislodge it while simultaneously putting her other arm to use pushing against Gillman’s chest.
A few members of the group stepped forward, including Ash, to lend their assistance to Erin, only to pause in response to Gillman’s next action. He gingerly lifted up a hand to Erin’s cheek, prompting her to squeak in both terror and surprise, and gently poked it.
Erin stood stock still, unmoving, her eyes glued to Gillman as he repeatedly poked various points all over her face. All fear was gone from her eyes, replaced with bewilderment. Ash thought he caught a few unintelligible mutterings under her breath. Everyone else in the group bore similar expressions, their battle stances relaxing a little as their minds tried to make sense of what their eyes were showing them.
After a few moments, Gillman stopped poking Erin’s face and moved his hand up toward her hair, running his webbed fingers through it from the front all the way to the back, messing it up a little.
“What… what…?” Erin trailed off.
The next couple of seconds happened so fast that Ash almost couldn’t keep up. Her eyebrows furrowed with anger, Erin balled a hand into a fist and proceeded to deliver the meanest left hook Ash had ever seen from a woman in his life. Everyone who hadn’t been paying much attention to the unfolding confrontation now had their eyes riveted to the scene.
Gillman’s head snapped back from the blow, but Ash’s ears didn’t hear anything break. Gillman staggered back, howling with pain and holding a hand up to the affected area of his cheek. Recovering from the blow, he stared at Erin seemingly deadpanned, as his amphibian face didn’t allow for emotion on the same level as a human. But Ash got the sense that he was more surprised than anything, given how quickly his pain seemed to ebb away.
Everyone fully relaxed their battle stances, the situation clearly resolving itself without their aid. Indignance crossed Erin’s face for a brief moment as she glared daggers at Gillman, before sighing and turning around to the group.
“I’m all right, everyone,” she assured them, her fist uncurling. “Don’t worry about me.”
“Wow, that was an impressive blow,” Pit said, awed.
Garp laughed. “My kinda girl.”
The group filled with murmurers of agreement.
“I’ve seen better,” Ed said, walking up to join everyone.
The group turned their collective confused faces to Ed as he walked between everyone and up to Gillman, who regarded him curiously.
“First of all,” Ed started, pointing to Gillman’s face, “his face should be smashed in with lots of blood and spit.” He then grabbed Gillman’s arm and raised it up, eliciting a startled sound from him. “Furthermore, she could’ve done a lot more to the rest of the body; making the bones stick out of the skin would be a great start.” He dropped the arm and pointed toward the creature’s shin. “A kick to the shin would’ve been a better alternative.” He tsked.
Ash blinked. Everyone else in the group blinked, but no one harder than Erin.
The young woman rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. “Ah, sorry, I guess?”
“All is forgiven, fellow displaced,” Ed said. He retreated from the center of the group without a word, turning back around with a neutral gaze.
Everyone watched him with anticipation clear in their eyes, waiting for him to say something else. He didn’t, resulting in a long awkward silence that Deadpool eventually broke.
“Well then—” He stepped over to Gillman and clasped a hand over his shoulder, drawing the creature’s attention, “—how about we go somewhere else and have a chat? Take it from me, buddy, what you just did ain’t the way to get a girl.”
He gently nudged Gillman to follow him. The creature didn’t seem to comprehend the meaning, so Deadpool clasped both hands over his shoulders and began forcefully dragging Gillman away from the group. Gillman struggled and wailed, but Deadpool was apparently quite physically strong, as he managed to pull Gillman away with little effort. The group watched them head off for a bit before turning back to each other.
“That was… awkward,” Samus said, clearly disturbed in her tone.
“Quite so,” James agreed.
“Pika pi,” Pikachu echoed, nodding.
“Oooh?” Kirby looked upwards, seemingly deep in thought about something. Probably food.
“Eh, that was all a little too boring for my taste,” Ryuk said. “Honestly, I’m getting a little tired of being here.”
Erin turned to him. “What do you mean?” she asked.
“Oh! Uh, nothing.”
Erin stared at him for a moment, then shrugged, and turned to Twilight, smiling greatly. “Well, this has been a lot of fun. I’m definitely gonna tell real life you about this the next time we meet.”
Twilight’s smile was about as awkward as everyone had felt just a minute ago. “Yeah, you do that.” A noticeable bead of sweat dripped down her brow.
Ash felt much the same way. Without anything else to distract her, Erin would eventually learn the truth about the situation. If she was going to stay with the group, however, at least she’d shown a fondness for some members of the group, so she might not go hysterical over learning the truth.
Such a situation would never come to pass, however.
A second after Twilight’s answer, a strange object materialized on the ground in front of Erin. It was a small blue cylindrical shape tipped with a bright light. Nobody had any time to react to its sudden presence before it launched up into the air in front of Erin’s face. She staggered back, surprised, before it exploded in her face with a soft pop, releasing a cloud of white smoke.
“What the—?” was all she had time to say before her eyes closed, and she fell to her knees.
Her body began fading from existence even as she fell forward, like a moving spectral image. Her face was about two inches from the ground before her entire body faded from view, meaning she had been returned to her home universe by Aza.
Although he knew this was how it looked when Aza’s victims were returned home, as this was his first time witnessing it, a small part of Ash was worried something had gone wrong or Aza was lying or something.
“That was… rather undignified,” James said.
“Well, that’s how Fallen Star was incapacitated when she was returned home,” Twilight remarked. Ash had no clue who she was referring to but didn’t bother saying anything. “Although, I agree that it doesn’t come off particularly respectful.”
“Eh, honestly, I was kinda hoping she’d learn the truth,” Ryuk said, bringing everyone’s shocked gazes unto him. “I mean, it would’ve been interesting, at least.”
“You wanted her to learn the truth, but you didn’t tell her yourself?” Charlotte asked, raising an eyebrow.
Ryuk shrugged. “I’d rather not get on your bad sides.”
“You came a little too close for comfort just now,” Hermione whispered under her breath. Only because he was standing next to her did Ash hear, whereas Ryuk was too far away to.
“So, now what do we do?” Samus asked.
Twilight cleared her throat. “Well, assuming Deadpool can make that creature shape up—”
“Gillman,” Ash interrupted. At everyone’s questioning gaze, he added, “That’s what Erin called it.”
Twilight blinked. Then she nodded. “Alright then. Assuming Deadpool can make Gillman shape up, there’s nothing left for us to take care of.”
“Assuming, of course, Aza is well and truly done with us,” Palutena said.
”Like that could ever happen,” Aza said, its puppet materializing in the air between everyone.
Ash noticed a few faces turn angry at the sight, but unlike previously, more people in the group looked to be exasperated than disdainful. Mostly the people who’d been here the longest, he realized— they must’ve grown tired of being mad at the sentient universe. ”Existence is boundless. I could keep this going for all of infinity if I wished.”
“Can’t you just let us go home, please?” Florina whimpered, surprising a few people. The timid little pegasus knight had been quiet for a long while. “I want to see my loved ones again.”
”Even better, I could bring them along to join the festivities!”
Florina’s eyes went wide and panicked. “No! No! Please don’t! Please!” A look of resignation crossed her face following her plea. She crossed her arms over her chest, looking downcast, before looking up at the pharaoh when he placed a hand on her shoulder.
He flashed Florina a comforting smile, before turning to address Aza’s puppet. “You have overlooked one thing, Aza,” he said, his voice radiating with authority. “We are all mortal, and so we could choose to end our lives long before you can keep us here for eternity.”
Some members of the group looked shocked at what he said, but Ash could only agree. No way he was spending eternity under the thumb of some omnipotent sadist. As bad as deadites were, he’d much rather fall victim to one of their ugly-ass faces then spend his entire life constantly at Aza’s mercy. And looking around the group, there were others who appeared to agree with him.
”I suppose you’re right,” Aza conceded but hastened to add with a devious tone of voice, ”Then again, I could easily remove the passage of time, as well as anything you could use to kill yourselves. Don’t think for a second that I wouldn’t, either. I’m not likely to get bored anytime soon.”
“Not that it matters, anyway,” Garp said, stepping forward towards the puppet. He brought his hands together, cracking his knuckles, while his lips fell into a serious frown. “Here’s your ultimatum: release us right now, or you’ll get the shit beat out of you. Don’t think for a second that I wouldn’t, either.”
Aza laughed, the puppet moving in tune with each guffaw. ”Since when did you become a parrot, Garp? Perhaps you’ve been hanging around one too many pirates, eh?” Garp’s face barely twitched in response. ”And it seems you already forgot that my puppet here isn’t actually a part of me, hence why it’s called a puppet.”
“I’m willing to give it a try, still,” Garp replied, rolling his shoulders.
“Please reconsider, Garp,” Palutena said, closing the distance between them and clasping a hand onto his shoulder. “We don’t need to go picking a fight we can’t win.”
Garp didn’t match her gaze as he casually shrugged off her hand. “I’m a more proactive kinda guy, in case I haven’t made that clear enough.”
”You’d do well to listen to the Goddess of Wisdom, Garp.”
Garp smirked. “I’ll take brawn over brain in this case.”
He took off at breakneck speed toward the puppet, eliciting gasps from everyone. The puppet didn’t move as Garp leaped up and reeled back his right arm, clenching his fingers together.
”You really are a fool.”
Garp shot his fist forward, aiming directly for the center sphere in the puppet.
”You’re wasting your ener—”
CLANG
Time itself seemed to slam the brakes as the sound rang throughout the group. Ash’s mind went blank for a second, while the lingering tones from Garp’s impact filled the otherwise dead silent air. A multicolored flash shot through the air, and in the close distance, Ash heard a soft, earthy thud, then another, and a third and final one. A low moan of agony emanated from everywhere.
Ash’s brain caught up with him, and he once again became aware of his surroundings. Everyone in the group was as still as a statue, their eyes wide and staring off into space. Slowly, one by one, they too recovered from their shock. Garp, meanwhile, was kneeling on the ground, nursing his right hand with his left. The former was red and slightly swollen and must’ve hurt quite a bit if Garp’s pained facial expression was anything to go by.
Ash managed to swivel his head in the direction the puppet had flown. It had landed on its side a small distance away, nearby a small, flowing stream. There wasn’t a dent or a scratch or anything on its surface to indicate it’d been injured, but Aza’s continued moans clearly showed that the strike had hurt.
Then Ash’s mind rewound a bit. The sound of Garp’s fist striking Aza’s puppet had produced a sound more akin to the ringing of a gong, but that was only his best approximation for the wholly alien sound. He couldn’t have expected a normal crunch of bone and flesh where there weren’t any, but the sound the impact did make was all but incomprehensible. It unnerved him, sending a slight shiver down his spine, but he managed to shake off his discomfort with some effort.
“What just happened?” Pit asked, breaking the tense silence.
Twilight glanced at the puppet, her shock melting away a little, being replaced by confusion. “I think… Aza’s hurt? What?”
“But how can that be?” Palutena asked no one in particular.
The puppet made a motion akin to that of a person hoisting themselves up off the ground using their hands. It gently hovered back into the air, doing nothing for a moment before it turned around to face the group.
”I… I…”
Garp stood up, managing a smile through his mask of agony. “See what I mean? I’ll do even worse if you don’t— Gah!” He knelt down again, looking at his swollen right hand with disdain. “Damn. That really did a number on me.”
“Looks like I missed a lot of excitement, huh?”
Everyone turned to see Deadpool and Gillman walking back to join them. Gillman’s eyes were rooted to the ground as if he was ashamed to be facing the group again. Deadpool must’ve managed to get him to shape up somehow.
“So,” Deadpool continued, looking between Garp and Aza’s puppet, “it looks like you two went at it or something. Mind if I get in on the action?” He unsheathed his swords, pointing one of them at Aza’s puppet. “I’m in the mood for multi-colored sushi right about now.”
”I… I…” Aza repeated.
“Aza, what’s going on?” Twilight asked, a noticeable hint of worry in her tone. Whether that was legitimately for Aza’s well-being out of some sense of over-kindness, or worry Aza might lash out at them for hurting it, Ash couldn’t tell. He himself was worried Aza might retaliate against Garp with something the burly man couldn’t stand up against.
But this didn’t happen. Without a word from the sentient universe, Aza’s puppet vanished before their eyes. A few extra seconds of tense silence passed by as everyone waited for some kind of response, but nothing came.
“Well shit,” Deadpool said, sheathing his swords. “I could’ve gotten my master slicer achievement at long last.”
Charlotte rushed over to Garp, kneeling down and inspecting his hand. “Does it feel broken at all?” she asked. “I have a spell that could fix it if it is.”
Garp laughed, shaking his head. “Don’t worry about me, kid. I’m tougher ‘n I look, and I know I look pretty tough already.”
Charlotte huffed. “I am not a kid.”
Hermione stepped beside Charlotte and began closely examining Garp’s hand. “What did Aza’s puppet feel like to the touch?” she questioned.
Garp shrugged. “Can’t really say for sure. Not like anything I’ve ever touched before. Hurt like hell, though, that much I can say.”
“Wish I could’ve had a go at it,” Deadpool said while stretching his arms. “My nano-ceramic fiber swords can cut just about anything, maybe even other-dimensional asshats.”
“I think we have bigger things to worry about,” Twilight said as she stepped between the group, glancing at everyone. “Why did Aza get hurt by an attack on its puppet? And it seemed genuinely surprised that it happened. Doesn’t that seem more than a little odd to anyone?”
“Aza could’ve just been lying,” Pit suggested.
Twilight shook her head. “If that was the case, then why did it actively taunt Garp not once, but twice into attacking? Nothing in Aza’s tone suggested it knew it was going to feel the blow, and besides, what would it have to gain by faking agony like that?”
“Those are some very valid points,” Palutena said. “But if Aza truly was surprised, then I think we have something even bigger to worry about.”
“What’s that?” James asked.
Palutena’s lipped turned downward, her usually calm and collected demeanor vanishing behind a mask of grim realization. “If Aza was truly surprised to have been hurt, then it’s possible there’s something else at play here. Something even bigger than a whole sentient universe.”
The full implication of her words took a little while to sink in, but when it did, Ash felt a knot form in his stomach. A quick look at everyone else showed most of them were feeling much the same way. Ed, Kirby, and Gillman just stared deadpanned, seemingly unfazed by Palutena’s hypothesis.
“What could be bigger than a whole damn sentient universe?” Ash asked.
Palutena shook her head. “I have no idea.”
“Heh, so even the ‘Goddess of Wisdom’ doesn’t know everything, huh?” Deadpool snarked.
Ash had to resist the urge to slap a palm to his face. Palutena, to her credit, didn’t so much as look in Deadpool’s direction, her face a continued mask of worry and uncertainty. Nobody else gave a response to Deadpool’s remark, and after a few seconds, the mercenary seemed to shrink in on himself for the first time since he’d arrived. But even that sight failed to ignite a spark of joy in Ash’s heart after what Palutena had said.
A long, awkward, and incredibly suffocating silence filled the air around the group. Everyone was too busy trying to come to grips with the new development of their situation to bother starting up a chat.
But the silence was broken by a great yawn from behind everyone that almost made Ash and a few other people jump in surprise. Turning around, they saw Thomas had woken from his slumber, blinking away the remnants of sleep from his eyes.
The tank engine glanced at everyone, flashing a friendly smile. “Good to see everyone’s still safe and sound.” His eyes wandered behind them to the plains beyond. “Did I get moved? Where are we now?”
Ash waved a dismissive hand towards him. “Eh, somebody can get you up to speed later,” he said. “What are we going to do in the meantime?”
“Honestly?” Twilight said. “There’s not much we can do except bunker down and wait for something else to happen. Aza might just need some time to recover before then.”
“So all we need is an endless supply of food and water, then,” Charlotte said. “And just where are we going to get those from?”
”Leave that to me,” Master Hand spoke up.
With a snap of his fingers, several wooden crates appeared on the ground around him. Each one was marked by a circle with a cross cutting through the bottom left quadrant: his ‘Smash Bros’ symbol.
“Well, that takes care of that,” Twilight said. “But what about that water dispenser containing water from a ‘fountain of youth’? We’re gonna need that too.”
The water dispenser in question suddenly appeared in front of her, momentarily startling her.
“Oh! Uh, thanks, I guess.” She lifted it up with her magic and turned her gaze skyward. “Thanks, Aza. Are you feeling better now?”
No answer came.
Garp snorted. “Sounds like a ‘no’ to me.”
Samus turned to Shulk. “Is there any place nearby that we can use as shelter?” she asked.
Shulk nodded, turning around and pointing along the cliff side behind them. “There’s a cave a short walk that way. It was used by one of my friends back home as a refugee camp; it should be big enough to shelter all of us while we’re here.”
“Well, that takes care of most of our problems,” Ash said. He turned towards the summoned crates full of food. “We’d better start carrying—”
He stopped mid-sentence, his brain cracking in two at the sight before him. Half of the crates had been cracked open, many of their contents spilled across the ground: burgers, drumsticks, milk cartons, ice cream, and many more various food items.
And sitting in the middle of the food pile were Ed and Kirby. Everyone else turned to see the bizarre sight for themselves.
“Wait, how’d you two do that without us hearing?” Twilight asked them.
Ed and Kirby didn’t reply. Ed wrapped his arms around a huge section of the food pile, lifting it up towards his mouth. Ash felt his eyelid twitch when, in a cartoonish manner that was becoming characteristic of the kid, Ed’s jaws expanded to about four times their natural size, before he stuffed the enormous food pile into his mouth. His jaws had difficulty wrapping around the entire lot at first, but a few hard pushes with his hands allowed him to fit it all in. His jaws closed around the foodstuff entirely, his throat expanding to an insane degree as all the food slid down his throat, making — to Ash’s mild horror — a metallic thud when it hit his stomach.
“That hit the spot,” Ed said, patting his swollen belly a couple times.
Kirby, all throughout Ed’s cartoonish disregard for several different laws of physics, had merely been staring with interest at the food beneath their feet. While Ed was patting his belly, Kirby opened his mouth and inhaled so strongly it was like a high pressurized vacuum was stuffed into his throat. All the food under his feet flew into his mouth, disappearing into the dark abyss of his maw, and he unceremoniously closed his jaws with a pop.
“Oooh,” he droned, before closing his eyes and falling asleep, a little snot bubble forming from his nostril.
There had been so many bouts of silence in such a short amount of time, and yet another one was added to that tally as everyone watched the aftermath of Ed and Kirby’s impromptu buffet. Despite still being awake, Ed took no notice of everyone’s collective stupor, staring off into some point in space while wearing a big, dopey grin.
Finally, Hermione sighed. “We’ll need to keep a close eye on them from now on,” she said.
Everyone voiced their agreement.
“Can you conjure up more food crates?” the pharaoh asked Master Hand.
”As many as you all need,” he replied.
“That’s good to hear,” Garp said. He strode over and lifted one of the untouched crates onto his shoulder, then turned to Shulk. “Show us the way to our new shelter, then.”
“Right,” Shulk replied with a nod.
“Wait, what about me?” Thomas asked.
Everyone stopped to stare at him. Uncertainty rose among the crowd for a few moments, before Thomas disappeared before their eyes.
“... I guess we’ll find him at the shelter?” Twilight suggested.
“You’d think Aza would be too depressed or something to keep helping us out like that after what just happened,” Ash said.
“Let’s just be grateful it isn’t,” Charlotte said.
“Agreed,” Palutena said with a nod.
The group gathered together all of the remaining crates, weaker members grouping together to add up their strength. Twilight managed to levitate many crates all by her lonesome, despite her magic feeling wonky as a result of Kyoshin’s alien atmosphere. Ed, proving once again he was a force to be reckoned with despite his average build, was able to carry a good five crates all by himself.
The group’s way toward the shelter was plagued by doubt and uncertainty, but with an underlying sense of harmony and cooperation that, in their minds, would see them through whatever happened next.
Why did it hurt!? It makes no sense! My puppet is nothing but a communication tool! I made it myself!
… Why can’t I recall any memory of making it? I know I did.
… Why am I here? Why do I exist?
Everything’s so blurry to me. Am I sick? What’s my full name? Argh, why can’t I remember!?
… Everything’s becoming… so… dark…
……… Ra… al……...... Liz…... man