//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: [Great Dodongo Lord, King Torch] (Xover 4) // Story: [Displaced] Save File 1: Captain G. // by DisplacedWriter //------------------------------// As the group entered the final room of the dungeon, they were greeted by quite the sight. Most of the floor was burnt away, replaced by hot liquid magma surrounding what appeared to be a platform and a very large throne. “Father, this is madness!” A voice rang out from the center of the room where a small scaly humanoid dodongo stood. “I helped to rule over those ponies, not destroy them! “Pah ha ha ha, please daughter... don’t tell me you’ve gone soft?” A larger dodongo said as it towered over the smaller one. “Madness? This... is... Sparta!” Sans whispered to himself, before going into a fit of giggling, not resisting the chance to use that age old joke. “Damnit Sans!” Ryan said in a hushed voice, but it was too late. Sans’ voice had drawn their attention. Sans, realizing what he had just done, leaned over to Ryan and said, “If we get out of this alive, I owe you an apology letter and a batch of cupcakes.” “What?! Intruders? This far? Ember, I’ll deal with you later. Get in that room and guard that triforce!” The large dragon commanded. Ember walked off, grumbling how power hungry her father had gotten. [Great Dodongo Lord, King Torch] [King Torch: Six Hearts.] The dodongo rose to his full height from his throne of stone, letting forth gout of flames into the air. Rarity took a stance with her sword and shield, making Ryan frown considering her weapon of choice was made of wood. Sans meanwhile, drew his iron bat and took a combative stance, before remembering something and pulling out his currently half melted [Shield] and the [Helmet] he got from earlier when he fought the dragon in [Shadowgate]. Ryan’s [Iron Sword] materialized into his hand, however he didn’t bother to take out his [Wooden Shield], as he didn’t trust himself to be wielding it since they’re fighting a fire breathing dodongo. Torch started to slowly making his way toward the group, each step causing the room to rumble. Sans started out by rushing forwards and attacking Torch with a swing of his cast iron, hitting Torch in the arm. Torch burst out laughing when Sans attacked, his bat not making a tint in his scales. He raised his arm back before tempting to smack the batter away as if he were an insect.  Sans, now sweating and currently regretting life choices, could only say with some hesitation in his tone, “Umm… mercy?” Before holding the [Shield] up in what might be a futile attempt to block the attack, Sans is successful, it blocked most of the impact, however he went flying, hitting the nearest wall, he almost fell into the lava, sadly the same could not be said for the [Helmet] as it then fell into the lava, melting it. Rarity, reacting quickly, put away her sword and took out the [Sling] she had obtained from [Shadowgate], with a rock placed inside, she started to twirl it around over her before, then let loose the rock. It flew in an arc and hit Torch square in the eye, direct hit! “Why you little pest!” Torch growled he started exhaling air. Ryan took this as his cue to react, summoning a [Bomb] into his hand, he pulled his arm back then throw it into the Dodongo’s gaping mouth. Ryan was surprised he was able to throw it that high. Torch swallowed the [Bomb] in reflex, it went off with a loud boom, causing him to hack out  and spit out bits of flame in an attempt to clear his throat of the vile smoke.  Sans, after facepalming himself, both mentally and physically for what he just did, pulled out [Shadowgate]'s [Hammer] and then whistled, getting Torch's attention before throwing it towards his other eye. The hammer landed perfect into Torch’s right eye, sending him into a furious rage. He lowered his head and began to claw at the ground like a bull, The dragonlord went on a mad charge straight at Sans. Ryan summoned his [Magical Boomerang], moving his arm back and preparing to throw it at Torch. Sans meanwhile, was running away from said dragon, shouting out, “I have so many regrets right now!” Torch was furiously spit out fireball after fireball at the fleeing Batter. Ryan threw his boomerang at Torch, trying to go for his eyes, however the boomerang was not fast enough, forcing it to make a return trip.  Rarity cursed under her breath, how unlady-like! She began to gallop after Torch, trying to catch up and redirect the mad dodongo’s attention. Sans meanwhile, continued to sprint, outside of his standard bat and his newfound bombs and boomerang, the only items he had left were his [Shield], which looked like it could melt with a bit more fire, a [Spear], and the icy [Sphere]. He blocked a few fireballs with the shield before eventually, the thing became extremely damn hot. This caused some burns on Sans hands to appear, so in a last ditch effort, he tried to pull a Captain America. The Batter attempted to throw the damn thing at Torch, however he missed his target completely and the shield landed in the lava, it was now gone. He began to swear under his breath like Rarity while he shaking and blowing on his hands to cool them down. Ryan was having trouble staying along side Rarity due to her being four legged, he started panting a bit, not used to having to run so much compared to his usual life routine. Raising his powerglove, he pushed the [Slo-mo] button, slowing down time around him while making himself look like he was running faster than before. “Hey! You big brute!” Rarity screamed, causing Torch to come to a screeching halt, kicking up lava and brimstone as he took a u-turn. It appears Torch didn’t care who he went after, he just wanted them dead!  “That's it, big boy, chase me! I want to see that fiery temper and breath!” she mocked, causing the dragon to run faster. As soon as the giant began to chase Rarity, he took this moment to catch his breath before he then pulled out the [Sphere]. The chilling aura it has gave Sans a new idea. Since he had been throwing all his items from [Shadowgate] into the lava... He then turned to the lava and back to the ice [Sphere], before he chucked it into the lava, causing it to freeze and turn into solid ice, removing the danger of falling into it from them. “Perfect,” he said to himself with a smile. As soon as Sans froze the lava, Rarity had gotten a good idea, she ran onto the ice, than quite literally, started skitting across it. The dragon lord was too furious to even notice that his moat of lava had cooled down, thus suddenly slipped and went spiraling out of control when he ran onto it. Rarity took this moment to turn herself around, slashing across the dragon feet in a quick [Spin Attack], even if it did a little damage. Every bit counts. Ryan lifted his power glove to see the boss’s status. [Dodongo Lord Torch: Three full hearts and one half] They were making good progress so far. Torch tried to get up, only to fall straight on his face, further pissing off the dodongo lord even further. He began inhaled air into his maw, planning to breath at Rarity. Sans meanwhile, had laid a bomb in front of him and pulled out his bat, “Fore!” He shouted as he sent the bomb flying like it was a golf ball and landed in between the two. “Rarity!  Rarity, quickly reacting, quickly bucked the [Bomb] right into Torch’s mouth, giving the same result as before. “Hhhhhhhrrrraaaaaah!!” Torch screamed out in agony, he started stomping hard, quickly breaking the ice so that he some form of footing. “You little pests are not going to ruin it for Lord Tirek!” he said. Ryan ran up close to the sword and swung his [Iron Sword] hard at the back of Torch’s leg, dealing a little bit of damage. “And you!” Torch said, snatch up the annoyance known as Ryan. “Weak human! You shouldn’t even BE here!” he said before sending the poor guy flying through the air. Ryan slammed into the closest temple wall, causing him to scream in pain. It felt like his bones had just been broken when he hit the wall, but he knew that it was only the pain from the twisted logic of old gaming. “Ryan!” Sans shouted before he threw his [Boomerang] and nailed him in the back of the head, not doing anything to Torch, however it did catch his attention, before seeing said batter toss up a bomb and hit it with a homerun towards his mouth, before it blew up. At this moment, Torch was furiously enraged. He opens his mouth wide, however he kept his head up toward the ceiling. With fierce exhale, the flames hit the roof, forcing to spread. The whole field was now raining with hellfire. Ryan groaned as he got up onto his hands and knees. “God…” he groaned as he got up, enduring the pain the best he could. His eyes went wide when he saw what Torch had done, the flames moving toward Rarity, forcing the heroine to raise her shield, the enchantment trying its best to reduce them. Sans meanwhile, after he ducked into the now frozen lava to avoid the flames, reached for another bomb, only to realize the finite amount he could carry at once had finally caught up to him. “Ah crap,” was all he could say about his situation. Ryan was starting to get tired of this. Raising his powerglove and activating [Slo-mo], he ran fast toward Rarity. The moment he picked Rarity up, she too was able to be in Torch was a lot more of a threat than the previous boss, he same time flow as him. Everything was moving in slow motion, Sans meanwhile was watching and wondering if could get something like that in the future. Ryan stopped running but still held his hand on her shoulder. With her [Wooden Sword] raised and Ryan’s [Iron Sword] at the ready, they swung together in harmony, slashing down together to strike at Torch’s leg. [Dodongo Lord Torch: 0 Hearts] Torch started stumbled backwards, his face revealing a look of horror, confusion, and disbelief. He started wobbling with a shaky step toward the group. One last step and he went crashing down into the ice, destroying it and falling through into the abyss. Rarity and Ryan held their breath, not daring to let down their guard.  [Heart Container Found] In the center of the room laid one of the grand prizes for their victory. “Yeah! Good job everyone” Sans called out as he gave Ryan and Rarity a thumbs up. Ryan fell onto one knee in relief as he checked everyone’s status. [Ryan: two and a half hearts] [Rarity: three hearts] [Sans: one and a half.] While the Torch was a lot more of a threat than the previous boss, at least Ryan didn’t lose all of his health like before. Rarity ran past Ryan and Sans as she quickly made her way to the final room, her goal was to get the [Triforce Piece]. “Geez that was a close one, am I right Ryan?” Sans asked Ryan as he took a few deep breaths from exhausted as he watched Rarity run into the next room. “This whole world follows the logic of video games, while I’m grateful that I'm not a bloody mess on the wall, it still hurt like hell.” Ryan said as he stayed on one knee, allowing him a little bit of a breather. “OUT OF MY WAY!” Rarity screamed. Ryan looked over at Sans, then got up to run to the next room to see what was going on, he grabs the [Heart Container] along the way, allowing himself an extra piece of health and to be fully healed, increasing his heart count to five. Sans felt a rush of energy flow over him, the [Heart Container] doing the same for him and giving him a fourth heart, “Huh? This feels really nice. Thank you Ryan!” Sans said, his confusion wearing off before he gives the running Ryan a smile with a nod. The gamer however, was way out ear range. Before he takes off after him. “What’s going on?” Ryan asked as he got inside, noticing a blue anthro dodongo known as Ember guarding  the second [Triforce piece]. “Not until you tell me what happened to my father!” Ember demanded Rarity to tell her, the Dodongo’s nostrils blowing out flames. “We should probably break them up before the two start fighting, I think there has been almost enough of that for one day,” Sans suggested, catching up with Ryan, watching the two females and prepared to step in. “Your tyrant of a father is dead!” Rarity said it bluntly, causing Ember taken aback by the comment. “H-he is?” Ember asked as if it was some small joke. Sans then took off his hat and put it over his heart and said while looking at the ground, “I'm afraid so, he fell through the now frozen lava and into the pits below.” he then turned back to Rarity, wondering if she could have been a bit more gentle with her phrasing. “Why are you even giving sympathy for that giant scaled monsterisity? He’s one of the eight that serve under Tirek’s rule!” Rarity said as she walked past Ember. Then Sans started saying as he put his hat back on and pulled it down over his eyes, “It's an act of respect. This girl here,” he pointed to Ember “Just lost her father, part of her family, sound even just a bit familiar? Besides just because he's one of those who served under Tirek, doesn't mean he can't be treated like he didn't matter to anyone or like he was another person.” “....Sans… He killed many ponies… destroyed many towns… and you tell me you can still show ‘Respect’? To him?” Rarity asked, her voice was not angry, but her eyes were. Sans then nodded and said, “True, he may have deserved death based on his past actions, there is no denying that. However, let me pose a scenario for you, say you found some pony dead, killed by an unknown third party, how would you tell their family? How would you try and break the news that their loved one is now no longer with them? The news would be earth shattering to them.” his voice sounding rather grim. “...I didn’t want him hurt, I just wanted him to open his eyes and listen.” Ember said as he rubbed her forehead. Her voice did carry sadness, but it went away rather suddenly. “I guess it couldn’t be helped, I told him he’d get himself killed, but all he did was laugh to the heavens!” Ember said as she threw her arms into the air. “If you ever get Prince Blueblood back, I need to discuss something with him.” the dodongo said as she moved out of the way, allowing passage to the other two. [Triforce two of the eight pieces obtained!] The whole room room darken as the triforce piece glowed brightly despite its size. After watching that, Sans, a bit surprised that Ember is taking this so well, then said to the duo, “So two down, six to go. I suppose you two have your work cut out for you then.” The monochromatic colored sportsman then said with a somber tone to his voice, “I guess is goodbye for now? As much as I'd like to stay, my friends and brother are probably worried about me.” “I’m not stopping you.” Ryan said as he turned around to look at Sans. Ember too was giving a curious look as well. Sans then nodded with smile before asking, “Great, now then… how do I get back?” “Uuuhhh… “ Ryan began as he brought up his powerglove’s hologram screen, sliding the windows over to [Inventory] and selecting [Coin Of Purity]. “....I guess I…” he continued as he inserted the coin into the powerglove as if it was a cartridge. [Token Detected] A new set of menus appeared on the screen. [Summon] [Dismiss] “Huh.” Ryan commented as he used the control pad to select [Dismiss]. Ember looked over Ryan’s shoulder, her curious peaked even more.  “Ready, Sans?” Ryan asked as he looked over at The Batter. “Wait just a moment, just to see their reactions.” Sans says, as he pulls out his phone, a bit surprised it made the trip, pulling up the camera app on it before he held it up with the camera pointed at him, Rarity, Ryan, and Ember before he said, “Say fuzzy pickles!” and snapped a pic of the four of them. Leaving Rarity and Ember confused as to what just happened while Ryan merely stayed silent. After that, Sans then made sure he had his Harold Bat and his new [Bomb Bag] and [Boomerang] ready, He then nodded, gripping his hat and shouted, “Ready!” With a gentle touch of a button, Sans was now on his way home.  [Sending Player 2 back to [World: 527  055]] A swirling portal of red, blue, and green appeared in front of them, the 8-bit vortex sucking him up pixel by pixel as he began to wave goodbye.