-Earth, Saint Canard, Museum, Pirate Art Exhibit, Pom-
Splatter Phoenix’s first move was to summon three wolf versions of me and three flying large clawed cats that were immediately in the air heading towards us. Then she started to slosh the multicolored glowing paint at the various pirate sculptures.
“I left more than a hundred ninja in the previous room, can you beat me before your friends perish?” Splatter stated as the three werewolf sheep monsters stalked toward us.
“Sorry Dormarch, but she isn’t going to give up and this is going to be a thing. Be careful for me okay?” I patted Dormarch on the head as I moved forward. “They don’t need me to protect them, they are strong enough on their own Splatter Phoenix.”
“Somehow I don’t feel right being behind you Pom…” Ignoring Dormarch’s comment, I prepped myself to leap into action once more as the first cat swooped down with its long claws.
Holding up my left leg I blocked the claws below where they started, then countered with a right hoof straight to the face. The other two flying cats were swiftly blown out of the air by two blasts of energy from Dormarch by the time the first sheep wolf was on me.
I blocked the claw with my right hoof and kicked the first one away with my left leg and then slapped the second one down with the back of my left hoof before it could get its jaw on my neck.
Six monster doesn’t seem like much, Dolly and Shanty must have really stretched the limits of Splatter’s abilities before she ended up here and Spot’s chicken chicanery wasn’t helping Splatter look any healthier as she started animating pirate paraphernalia about the room while looking fairly pale.
The last sheep wolf was turned into red haze when I launched a high left kick to its neck and then dropped the back of the same hoof on their skull. I looked for my next opponent the world slowed down for a second as my heart rate sped up, I dodged a small round ball of metal fired from a gun and watched as the rotating sphere of metal passed me by in slow motion.
It might have scratched me in the side had it hit, but since it was blunt force my wool might have been able to handle.
“Leap Lamb!” Dormarch said before blasting the pirate that shot at me.
“Trust me, I know!” I said as I tried to get my sudden accelerated perception under control, I really did not want to have a heart attack in the middle of a fight. Also concentrating when suddenly stressed and highly anxious about possibly dropping dead any minute wasn’t helping as I dodged two more shots at accelerated speeds.
The shots had come from Splatter as she leapt out of a painting wearing a tricorn and other generic pirate related garbs wielding two pistols.
“Did you just get those skills from going into a painting?” Because I’m pretty sure Splatter doesn’t know how to wield those pistols normally.
“Did you just dodge bullets at a ridiculously fast speed?” She said in a snarky tone indicating that yes, she could get skills from entering paintings and coming out with their theme. “Also if you could move that fast, how did I ever capture you?”
“It’s actually becoming something of a major health hazard for me that I can even do that.” I’m still surprised that Dormarch said my body was even adapting for moving at muscle destroying ludicrous speeds, I just needed to keep my Dancing Flame under control. How long would it be before my body adapted to it fully that I would never be able to slow myself down… or even control my hyper awareness, how long did I have left?
“I’m sure you’ll find me even more of a hazard than whatever detrimental super speed crap you’ve got going on. Get them boys!” Splatter shouted and several ropes with various bipeds swung out of the numerous paintings and the several pirates statues pulled their very much real swords and charged me. “Keehaul them and fill several buckets with their blood for me!”
I sighed audibly and tried to keep my body under control as I moved forward to attack the first cutlass wielding biped generated by Splatter Phoenix, thankfully I don’t have to worry about destroying them.
I grabbed them by the wristed, twisted caught the blade in my mouth and slammed the poor fake marmoset biped to the floor with shine shattering forced.
Then I turned sharply and let the blade fly from my mouth into the chest of a weasel biped pirate running towards me, they fell back with the sword sticking out of their back where their heart was.
I leaned back after nearly taking a point blank shot to the face, then flopped onto my back to avoid being stabbed in the gut by the sword in the parrot bipeds other claw. She was about to kick me when Dormarch appeared in a flash.
“Search Hunter!” Dormarch had his jaws on the biped’s throat immediately and then his claws elongated to slice into the fake bipeds shoulders and chest.
As the female pirate’s body toppled a tree came flying through the wall as Dormarch hopped off, disappeared and reappeared next to me. I was busy punting a very small mole pirate into the nearest painting.
Somehow the pirate parrot’s collapsing body being hit with a tree looked and felt right, maybe it was the long black head feathers or her vague resemblance to Jackie Blackcap Chickadee La Perm.
“Mind if I help? You can go now, I’ve got things from here and be a nice good tree from now on okay!” The plant duck hybrid shouted as he popped up from the tree wearing a blue mask around his eyes, said tree slowly put itself back through the hole it came through. It was rapidly getting into the evening. “Hi, I’m Neo Bushroot and I don’t think my conscience can take you dying in front of me again Leap Lamb!”
“Ugh, what is it with you creations turning against me, I made you what you are!” Splatter fired two shots at him and his body bent at odd angles to avoid them.
“You made me what I am, but you never had a choice in saying who I would be... and I’m choosing to be a good person!” The plant duck put a bit of leaf against his chest while lifting his chin and a pistol sounded off, he looked down at the small hole and what looked to be sap slowly started sealing the wound. “Ow, that stung a little. You two don’t have to worry about my health, I really don’t have that long to live anyway and Negaduck already knew we were completely expendable.”
I shivered at the defeatist way that Bushroot had said that. It was a vague reflection of my own thoughts and feelings at times, but the thought of a warm green scaled fireball waiting for me back on Equus would always stop me just short of being nearly that fatalistic.
“Damn it, why did one of the super powered ones have to come after me!” Splatter put away her other gun and brandished her sword at Bushroot. “It’s time I cut a weed down to size… why did you stop attacking, get them you idiots!”
“But only half of us are idiots.” One pi-rat complained.
“Yeah, we also have doofuses, dimwits and morons… maybe a few of us might even be jerks.” A pirate bear followed raising a claw.
“Don’t care, you’re all idiots to me and unlike that pathetic shrub I didn’t give you any free will to gab, now go!” I think its little wonder that one of her creations would turn on her if it could. The pirates all turned and pulled their swords to charge us.
“Let’s do this together.” Bushroot gulped, but still held up his leaves in a defensive stance. He didn’t look like much of a fighter, but I welcomed his presence at the very least for however long it lasted.
“Right.” I said as the pirates advanced on the three of us from all sides, I stepped forward with my left hind leg and then thrust my left hoof forward.
The pirate stepped back and tried to slash at me, leaning to the right I threw a right hook and took his head off, it was one of the wooden museum displays and didn’t come from the paintings like many of the others. The carved statue thankfully went lifeless afterwards.
“Hmm… keep them busy for me!” With that Splatter ran and dove into the nearest pirate ship themed painting leaving us to fight with her minions.
Looking to Bushroot he didn’t seem to be having problems when it came to fighting as he could stretch his limbs fairly well and whipped them about, any damage done to them tended to regenerate quickly with the sappy stuff Bushroot emitted from his wounds.
I turned and deflected a blade from hitting me by striking the flat of it with my right hoof and then ramming my left shoulder into the bear knocking them onto their back.
I had to quickly dodge a gun shot from both my left and right by dropping flat to the floor, I heard a blast impact something on my left. So I turned right figuring Dormarch had it and leapt with an overhead left hoof to the right shoulder of a cat biped, I hopped and kicked off their chest with my rear hooves to backflip over a fox biped that impaled them.
“No need to prune me, I’m fine thank you!” Bushroot suddenly swept through several pirates with a wide sweeping swing of his arms stretching out together and slapping through them. He wasn’t very strong, but he at least had a good understanding of momentum considering I heard the crack of a whip. “Hey, I’m getting the hang of this.”
“Well keep it up, Splatter can’t keep this up for much longer, she has got to be weakening using so much magic like this.” Having finished bucking the red furred fox pirate biped in the middle of their spine while they tried to pull their sword free, I had to roll to the side to avoid being shot at from my right and was once again surrounded by being separated by Bushroot.
“Search Hunter… Wild-Bark!” Dormarch appeared above me and let out explosive bark that sent a shockwave that stunned all the pirates, yet he avoided hitting me?
“Good job!” Planting my front hooves as Dormarch landed next to me, I slung my rear half up around in a high roundhouse buck that knocked down all the surrounding pirates ending in a one hoof stand on my left hoof grabbing my hind legs with my right. I quickly went back to standing normally on all fours and looked about.
“Thanks… but doing Search Hunter is quite draining on me.” So that teleport thing had similar drawbacks similar to what I do? Aw, he is so adorable in taking after me, if I didn’t have so many double edged moves this would be really sweet and not at all daunting to the fact that I really should stop using abilities entirely detrimental to my overall health that can be imitated by my possibly impressionable younger charges.
I’m pretty sure I lost ten years off my total lifespan on this adventure up to this point… thank Goodness Shanty doesn’t have moves like that.
I sent a bark blast into the bear pirate that was getting up and we had at least twenty pirates remaining coming at us as Mr. Bushroot quickly joined us.
Dormarch started blasting, I knocked them back with regular hoof strikes and kicks and Bushroot started flailing his arms up and down like whips as we were being backed up towards the middle of the room.
“Get back crew, it’s time for a killing cannonade me hearties!” Looking to a nearby painting a cannon stuck out of it with Splatter sitting on it holding her cutlass themed paintbrush in her right hand aimed at us. Several other paintings also had cannons poking out of them and aiming towards us and they were surrounding all of us. “Pulp them to blood smears!”
“Bushroot, grab my friend and haul him up to the ceiling, quickly!” I said quickly as the cannons lifted up slightly to represent the fact that they were arming.
“What about…” Even as he questioned me Bushroot still grabbed Dormarch as I asked.
“I’ll be fine.” I intensified my fluff and held up both my legs as Bushroot slammed his right leafy appendage into the lights above and immediately lifted off the floor before all the cannons fired at once.
I inhaled, but stood my ground and didn’t move a muscle as I flexed my wool, obviously Splatter Phoenix didn’t get the memo on my relative immunity to blunt trauma. Oh I would survive, but I was hoping to do something with the counter stance I just took up.
The first cannonball rocked my body from my left side, the right side of my face and right leg took the next hit, a cannonball to the lower left spine, a cannonball to both my front legs and chest, my hind legs took three cannonballs in quick succession threatening to topple me from being rooted to the floor with my wool, one hit me in the left inner thigh making me wince slightly, one to the back of the head followed by one directly in the belly.
What followed was eleven more cannonballs and the mind and body numbing impacts that shook my body to the core… after the blows stopped coming, I stood there positively vibrating violently unable to control my shakes.
“How the heck did you survive all that or are even still standing for that matter?!” Looking at Splatter as I slowly lowered my shaking and vibrating body I looked at her weakly and smile. “And why are you shivering with fright if you’re so tough?”
“This… is not… fright…” It’s just the built up kinetic energy of building up a Paprika wobble counter. Like I had previously thought… I really should stop it with the double edged stuff, but I’m sadly good at being a sacrificial lamb and my wool was good at absorbing most of this damage anyway. “It’s… raw… force…”
I shakily raised both my hooves above my head and brought them down in a stomp unleashing the raw force of twenty one cannonballs on the entire room.
-One minute later-
It took me a moment to gather my bearings and sit up, also slowly stand on my shaky hooves and weak legs. I looked up at the slope I was sitting on and blinked lazily, I slowly walked up it and looked at the devastation. The entire pirate exhibit, every painting, every statue, every work of art and possibly even some of the ninja exhibit was all destroyed.
I felt for Dolly, she was… half unconscious, but alive and managed to shakily greet me with some cheer through our bond. Didn’t hear any fighting… so that might mean something good.
Turning my head saw Splatter Phoenix near the doorway leading towards the staircase up to the third floor, she was laying on her side. She groaned and slowly sat up rubbing at her bleeding head with her left hand and she reached down to grab her paint brush. She wiped her hand off on the paintbrush and swiped it over her own injury making it heal rapidly before my eyes.
“What the… what the hell, what am I dealing with?! Ugh, my head, and my body is on fire…” Splatter’s dazed state soon resolved into shock as she watched me walk up the makeshift ramp slowly and then slowly canter around to face her on the very badly damaged floor that I started crossing with an even trot, hoping that it didn’t fall out from under me. “No… getting splattered… is not… is not something I aim to do today!”
As she staggered to her feet the duck biped was looking quite pale as she braced herself against the wall. To be honest I was fairly spent after exhausting all that force on my surroundings too, but I had a criminal to catch and I aimed to stop her from causing any more trouble with the medieval exhibit.
Looking up as I slowly walked forward, Bushroot and Dormarch were both staring at me wide eyed, I’m glad they were okay. Most of the force I released exploded downwards and in a wide circle around me, note to self, doing a Paprika's counter with so much force is danger to the lives of those around me and I should be more careful with doing something like that again.
“Just got to… just got to get to a painting on the other side of the… what the… where are the paintings?!” She screeched as she stumbled through the doorway and took notice of Dormarch’s plan prior to us actually meeting her.
We had a little time to move a lot of the paintings away from giving Splatter Phoenix quick access to the third floor. She could hardly walk faster than I could as she started limping for the stairs. I passed through the doorway and was getting closer as she tried climbing the stairs.
“Hey, you look like you got a few chips in your shoulder, how about some dip to go with it!” I blinked in confusion as I saw Quackerjack at the top of the stairs through a mass of ugly greenish yellow tinted liquid at Splatter Phoenix from a bucket.
She immediately fell back and slid down the stairs and screaming her throat raw.
“So it’s true, our creator is definitely a piece of work herself… thank you for telling me about that Mr. Banana Brain.” Quackerjack stalked down the stairs as a slightly half melted Splatter Phoenix with a rather notably forced grin on his face.
“Fool if you destroy me you’ll cease...” Splatter was interrupted when Quackerjack slapped her across the right side of her face and she was suddenly covered in arcs of lightning from whatever he had in his hand.
Now she wasn’t only still somewhat melting, but she was in pure agony as she stumbled back her throat unable to create the scream necessary to tell everyone how much pain she was in.
“Of course I’m a fool, very 'shocking' I know, that’s my whole shtick lady and I certainly just beat you with a very ugly one!” Quackerjack watched dispassionately as Splatter continued to stumble backwards against the banister overlooking the first floor, she was barely keeping herself propped up. He then looked to me and I was prepared for a fight, he gave me a gentle smile. “Sorry for what I’m about to do and how traumatizing this will be for both you and Mr. Banana Brain. Banana Brain is actually real because I made him to be, his smile is natural. In my last act, I have a demon to exercise… let’s start with a vaulting, then after a playful gymnastic pratfall... well here… Leap Lamb, take care of him for me. Sorry Bushroot, but we’re going back to where we came from… may we be friends beyond whatever comes next for us!”
Quackerjack tossed Mr. Banana Brain at me and I caught him in my hooves, what was he…
“It’s alright, I was expecting this anyway, I fixed all the trees at the arboretum at least...” Bushroot closed his eyes. “Our lives were short, but it was fun and fairly meaningful in a poignant way.”
“You… you can’t do this… to me…” The melted faced horror that was Splatter Phoenix was dripping gobs of… paint, paint that was evaporating into the air or splattering on the banister as she struggled to stand with her melting legs.
“You've already caused enough pain and suffering today Splatter Phoenix, how many people have you killed for these powers of yours and with all the stuff you've done today!" Quackerjack rushed Splatter Phoenix and gripped her by the waist before heaving himself and her over the banister."Let’s have a good fall, because winter is going to suck for you where you're going!”
I ran forward and looked down holding onto Mr. Banana Brain and looked down to the floor, Dormarch and Bushroot soon joined me.
“I can still… a painting…” Barely hearing the whisper of Splatter Phoenix who was now missing her legs as they have splattered against the ground. She tried to drag herself to one of the paintings on the first floor with her arms.
Only Quackerjack wasn’t as injured by the fall, his legs wrapped around Splatter Phoenix's torso and he pulled her onto his chest with them. He had a slightly demented grin on his face.
“Do you know what comes after exercise and play time?” Quackerjack asked as he looked around quickly, he stuffed a kazoo in his mouth and started playing the end of episode theme tune to the Darkwing Duck show on it. Launchpad would have loved to have heard the proffessional kazoo playing at least, if this situation was going where I thought it was. He moved the kazoo to the corner of his mouth as the splattering paint monster that was Splatter Phoenix struggling to get away. “Heh heh… it's snack time…”
As he continued to jovially play the end credits theme tune on the kazoo, Quackerjack pulled out two peeled exploding bananas and I immediately knew what I was about to witness. Bushroot put a leafy appendage on my and Dormarch’s shoulders with his head tilted downwards in a grim smile as tears dropped from his eyes.
Quackerjack slammed both bananas into the distorted beak of Splatter Phoenix, who’s muffled cries of anguish were met with the finishing notes of the theme song… then they went up in a brilliant blinding explosion.
Once the flash cleared and my vision came back, I saw that it had decimated the first floor reception counter.
All that was left of the two beings was a large splatter of paint that somehow miraculously formed the shape of a demon trying to claw itself out of the grasp of a gloved hand coming from the silhouette of a giant, white eyed, sharp toothed, grinning jester.
Of all the weird things I’ve ever seen, this was in the top five even above some of the reality breaking stuff Jaded La Perm and Captain Jaqueline Sparrow have caused.
“It’s unfortunate that she might be one of the immortal De Ville’s, she could actually come back from that if she traded her physical body for that blood magic and paint body. We’ll try not to make his sacrifice be in vain.” Wait… did Spot just seriously imply that Splatter Phoenix could come back… FROM ALL OF THAT?! “Horrifying I know, but you might want to check on the others. As long as no one does an art piece of her or remembers her at all, I’m sure it’ll be quite hard for her to even come back from something like this.”
“The magic holding me together is fading…” Bushroot said as he started melting into a sludge of green paint, he quietly leaned closer to me and whispered something in my ear. My eyes widened. “Go… stop… him…”
Bushroot’s final words before his beak and head joined the puddle of paint were exactly what I needed to know to fit the puzzle of Negaduck’s location together.
That with Jitters information and if he has anymore... well that would just confirm things now wouldn’t it?
I looked at Mr. Banana Brain and hugged him and Dormarch to my chest. I then firmed myself and placed Dormarch on my Back and put Mr. Banana Brain in his mouth, he made it squeak slightly when he bit down on it and he looked as I felt about all of this.
“I’ll tell your story, of a quirky yet heroic toy maker and his frond...” I giggled a little even as tears started to pour from my eyes and Dormarch feeling my feelings through our bond started to do so as well.
“I shouldn’t even be capable of crying.” Dormarch stated as tears flowed, I even heard his stomach growl. I held him closer and the PET device started glowing slightly.
I thought I saw a strange symbol on the device, but it didn't do anything after a moment and the glowing symbol faded into my memory with the glow of the PET.
-Ocellus-
“Darkwing. I’m getting confirmation, several villains throughout the city are melting into piles of… paint?” Whatever Pom’s group did, they succeeded in taking out the magical villain. “Someone just took out a major player, they were definitely a powerful magical villain. More than half the cities problems just cleared up, but we still have a large number of thugs starting to act up in small groups, nothing the police can't handle. Still, whatever Negaduck has planned, he should be everyone's top priority now!”
Keep it together Ocellus, don’t give away anything that Negaduck might hear. Pom's group had to be alive and well.
-Pom-
I turned around with a drooping Dormarch on my back and saw six pony figures at the top of the steps… I went to collect them, then made my way carefully for the ninja exhibit at Dormarch’s quiet directions about which sections of the floor to avoid due to structural integrity issues.
We found Shanty and Dolly in a corner surrounded by a mass of broken weapons and the entire floor of the room was covered in paint and debris. Dolly lifted her head up at us with a weak smile and raised a digit on her left paw before flopping back and falling unconcious on top of Shanty, both of them were exhausted and quite injured.
Now I just had to get to Darkwing Tower and drop them off, then head out with Dormarch after a good meal, one bathroom visit and at least a thirty minute break after all that. I sorely needed that thirty minutes, possibly more after exhausting a lot of my stamina to do that stomp.
There was an evil duck that needed to be captured, alive if possible, he had caused a lot of crimes to happen today and he brought this city to its knees.
Negaduck had a lot ot answer for nad if he wanted Leap Lamb, then he’s getting Leap Lamb whether he sees me coming or not.
“Get a picture of this Dormarch, it’s kind of endearing… we direly need the levity.” I said as I looked at Dolly and Shanty cuddled against one another in an adorable manner. “Negaduck… Baa-Ram-Ewe… I’m coming for you.”
Night falls on a still somewhat lawless city.