//------------------------------// // Nursing Wounds in the Peanut Gallery. // Story: The Displaced Tournament of Power // by Uncle Iroh //------------------------------// Nursing Wounds in the Peanut Gallery. 7:52:18 It’s been a minute since Queen Elia sent Akainu and Ichigo off the arena so they could have their fight. The arena fell into silence, it doesn’t seem like any action is going on, perhaps they’re all nursing their wounds from the constant rocking and shockwaves the heavy hitters have been pushing out. Between Fujitora’s explosion and Bullet and Quill’s fight, the arena is wrecked. The remaining fighters are scattered across the shattered arena. It’s now split into four pieces instead of the previous three. One was the remnants of the lava lake and rivers where Zirconis and Clutzy Doo fought. The second was the various debris above the arena, almost hovering like an asteroid belt. The other was the more solid state of the arena, the inner parts of the arena still remained unbroken and beneath them was still the cave system that Herobrine was carving. And last, the fourth one, the islands on the edges of the arena. Big enough to not be considered debris, but they’re no longer connected to the arena, so they’re not considered part of the mainland. However, when we look at the audience, the Eliatropes that gathered the Displaced were all sitting down with the universes they brought to the tournament. For instance, Jessie sat with Jackson’s universe, William with Sora’s universe, and so on and so forth. Sitting over with the Commander’s Universe is Tina, the one who brought Noel over. On the Commander’s side there were several unicorns performing healing spells on Fujitora, and a hell of a lot pouring healing spells onto Bullet. The colossal man rested back into his seat, his eyes closed, and his shoulders slumped with exhaustion. Tina sat next to Noel, awkwardly swinging her legs on the seat, “So… Noel, how are you doing?” She threw a glance over at the dragon, her eyebrows raised curiously. The dragon king Bahamut Noel had been very quiet since his defeat, looking severely disappointed in himself that he couldn't go all out. So much power left unrevealed. "..Honestly sad that I won't be getting that wish to go home, to finally get rid of the displaced form I was forced into ages ago." “Hey,” Tina put a hand on his shoulder (or tried to, she was short, and he was a dragon), “I’m sure you’ll be able to go back home. You may not be in it, but Arkham is,” She gestured to the shattered arena. “He’s somewhere out there fighting. While he may seem to be cold and serious, he still has a heart underneath all that metal. Maybe he’s fighting so you can get that wish home?” "Tch, somehow still able to fight despite his body being that of a human who wields guns." Noel pauses to snort as he crosses his arms. “His body isn’t just that,” Tina shook her head, “He’s…” she let out a sigh, slightly looking away, “...A cyborg. He isn’t the same Red Hood. He’s kind of like you in the fact that he was ripped away from his world and placed in Equestria. Our old King, he tore him apart, tortured him until he was strong enough to become a Commander. So… Don’t feel too bad.” “Then I hope he does, at least someone here will have a happy ending...” Noel said, his voice still full of sorrow. Tina looked up at Noel with sympathy and put a hand on the dragon to try and comfort him. Behind them, Lord Twigo was sipping some tea that Zabuza had brewed for everyone. The good ol’ calming Jasmine tea. Noel however, denied the offering since the size of the cup would do nothing for him other than a quick sip. Zabuza noticed this and walked away for a brief moment and came back with a comically large teacup, making the dragon accept it this time as he sips it in silence.  “Ah, such good tea!” Lord Twigo smiled before looking over at the people adjacent to them, that being Berserker’s ousted team. “Would you like some? Zabuza here can make some killer tea!” The Night Sentinels looked towards the Princesses, who smiled awkwardly and nodded. “Yes, please.” They answered the commander. Zabuza peeked over Lord Twigo’s giant body, “Coming right up, ma’ams,” he went back behind Lord Twigo and moved quickly. After some cluttering, he walked out with a plate of three cups of calming Jasmine tea. He approached them with kind eyes to show he’s nice (given they can’t see his smile and all) and outstretched the plate to them. “Here you go, enjoy.” “Thank you.” The royals picked up their plates and took a sip from their cups. Almost immediately, their bodies began to relax, and anxiety faded away for the moment. He gave a slight bow, “You know, out of all the princesses here, you three are my favorite. You are respectable in the sense that you know when to quit, and unlike some of your variants…” He looked over at the Twilight from Jackson’s universe, “...You don’t come to a fighting tournament pregnant.” “I’m still a bit upset about her participating and Sergeant Krimzon slapping her.” B. Twilight said with a sigh. Zabuza nodded slowly, “Yeah, but as much as it may sound wrong, a little mean, and maybe a little bit crazy…” He sucked the air through his teeth and mask, “...She deserved it.” “…I guess.” B. Twilight’s ears wilted flatly against her head. “I am shocked you all picked up Haki so quickly,” Zabuza said, changing topics, “You barely knew about it seven hours ago and now look at you folks. Strong willed and all.” The Alicorns blushed with a smile from the compliment and the Night Sentinels smirked underneath their helmets. “Now they can actually fight Logias!” Zabuza turned over to Ganondorf who sat next to Zeref, a mug full of beer. “No more memes about ‘you have no haki’ from good ol’ Akainu!” He laughed before taking a swig of his mug. “Yeah, no more of that,” Zabuza shook his head, “That whole ‘you have no haki’ thing was pretty funny.” Ganondorf nodded, “Yeah, imagine like a guy who’s top in his universe, and he punches a guy made of light,” he gestured over to Lord Twigo who was mid drink, “and just can’t hurt him. That’s just funny, right, Zeref?” He elbowed the Black Mage in the ribs with a hearty laugh. Chuckling a little as he nodded in agreement, Zeref took a momentary sip of his own drink, which was water. Call him basic but he knew what he liked. “It is quite amusing, I give you that, Ganondorf.” The Black Mage smirked. “So… Bullet, how’re you doing?” Ganondorf turned his head over to Bullet who’s still covered in both his and Quill’s blood. He still has wounds being tended to by a group of unicorns. He said nothing and slowly, slowly, looked over at Ganondorf and Gar’s team with a deadpan expression. “Serves you right for underestimating the King of Fairies!” Adreana laughed at the man while her twin sister only nodded once. “Lord Gar may still be young as a displaced, but his abilities are nothing to scoff at,” Yuki said as she sipped her tea. “Even if you were just caught in the fallout of the attack, you're still Lucky. Look at Sir Fujitora who took the fall might of the sacred spear.” She turned to Zabuza, “I must say this Tea is wonderful. May I ascertain your recipe so I might continue to enjoy it back home?” The man slowly nodded and just decide to go back to the other conversations as that woman gave him the creeps with an extra chill down the spine to boot. “I believe that means “in a lot of pain”, right?” Zeref stifled a laugh. Zirconis meanwhile, looked at Bullet with a bit of sympathy, the Jade Dragon’s chest still aching with pain every now and then. “I feel like I have post nut clarity,” Bullet said out of nowhere, bringing Ganondorf and Zeref to burst out in laughter. Zabuza and the other commanders' sans Fujitora laughed as well. “But like… A fight instead of ejaculation.” “Fuckin’ hell, I mean it sure as shit looked like you and Quill were enjoying yourselves out there.” Zeref laughed, bracing himself against the table he was sitting at. “I’m pretty sure we smashed so hard none of us are going to be walking straight,” Bullet said matter of factly, which made Ganondorf slam his fist on the table he was sitting at. “BRO! You can’t just–” The Dark King put a hand on his face to muffle his laughter. Rocking back and forth and shaking his head, “Oh my fucking God.” Zeref couldn’t help but bang his head on the table, causing the cup he was drinking from to jump a little as the Mage continued laughing. Zirconis, on the other hand, was wheezing with laughter. As much as he could without reopening his stitches, at least. “Our fluids paint the arena; they are painting the arena right now. It is everywhere,” Bullet said with a straight face. “I fucking hate you, Bullet,” Ganondorf groaned out a chuckle, holding his face with both hands. “You… You… You just suck.” “You had a fight with Zeref and both of you were pounding each other, what’s wrong when I do it?” Bullet raised a brow, “I’m just describing it. “But there’s a difference!” Ganondorf said, “Tell him, Zeref.” Recovering from his laughter enough to answer, Zeref took a deep breath as he calmed down a little. “Yeah… yeah, there’s a difference alright. You see, when Ganondorf and I fought, we fought because we like fighting.” He gestured to both him and Ganondorf. “But when you and Quill fought, you two fought because you love fighting like you’re sexually attracted to the concept itself.” The Black Mage huffed, unable to contain the smile on his face from the bullshit hilarity around him. “Listen…” Bullet raised a hand, “...Fuck you,” Ganondorf started cackling and fell over on his chair. “And Ganondorf is like that too, don’t let him fool you.” Zeref calmly took a sip of his water as he hummed. “Oh, I know. He’s just a lot more subtle about it than you.” He smiled. “I just wanna remind everyone,” Ganondorf raised an arm from below and pointed a finger at Zeref, “His eyes changed to red when we fought.” “Good point, let me rephrase.” Zeref cleared his throat. “We’re more subtle about it than you and Quill are.” He glanced at Ganondorf. “And my eyes change to red depending on a multitude of things, whether I’m angry, excited for a fight, or just mildly perturbed, so.” He shrugged nonchalantly. “I’m just lucky they weren’t pink,” Ganondorf sprung to his feet, “Imagine fighting someone with pink eyes, er, iris’. That would be pretty weird.” “That’d be mildly unsettling.” Zirconis mumbled as he continued watching the arena. “Yeah, like, pink iris’ are synonymous with love, I think, right?” Ganondorf raised a brow, “I think so. I hope I’ll never fight someone with those eyes…” He took a quick glance at Zabuza and winked at him. The shinobi just facepalmed. Zeref thought for a moment. “I mean… it’s either love or lust, and I’m not sure which’d be worse.” He answered. “I think its both,” Yuki thought aloud as she tilted her head. “Shit, I wouldn’t mind,” Kyle said, raising his hands, “A win is a win for me. “A win is a win,” Ganondorf, Bullet, and Zabuza all agreed. Zeref blinked a few times as he looked at them. “Huh, out of everyone here I would’ve thought that at least you and Zabuza would have significant others. Guess I was wrong though.” Zeref said to Kyle. “We’re all single,” Kyle laughed, clapping his hands together, “No woman even sees me as a lover.” “What do you mean?” It was Fujitora’s turn to speak, he turned his head over to Kyle despite being blind, “I hear you and our universe’s Rainbow Dash get along quite well.”  The Eliatrope shrugged, “Eh, she’s my bro, we’ll never be more than that.” Zeref rolls his eyes as he sips from his cup of water, emptying it. “He says that now, but…” The Black Mage trailed off as he mumbled. “Indeed,” both Spike and Rainbow from Gar’s team said in unison. “No, no, no,” Ganondorf said, starting to get a little drunk, “We just need five more seasons of drawn out love, and then boom, kiss under a sakura tree!” He cackled along with Bullet. “Y’know, last I saw before my soul was booted into Equestria with Mavis, my brother Natsu still hadn’t gotten together with that Heartfilia girl. And I couldn’t help but get the sense that they’d been this close to getting together for the longest time.” Zeref grumbled, facepalming. “Hell, it was almost like me and Mavis for a while there.” “What about the, uh… The,” Ganondorf snapped his fingers before looking over at Jackson’s universe, “What about you girls? How did you meet the Saiyan?” Jackson’s girls blinked for a moment before Twilight cleared her throat. “Well, we first met him in the Everfree Forest while he was training. As for meeting Princess Celestia and Luna….well-” Twilight was about to continue but Rainbow interrupted her. “Jackson met Luna by fighting each other and with Luna getting her ass kicked by him,” Rainbow Dash said and some of the others could easily hear the excitement in her voice about Jackson beating up one of the princesses while said princess had a look of embarrassment. “Figures,” Bullet shrugged, “Some princesses in other universes are pushovers, not like the ones in Sora’s universe. Those royals kicked some of our asses. That being Arkham and Noel.” “AND DON’T YOU FORGET IT!!!” Sol bellowed. “My world’s Luna put a hole through Quill’s stomach with one of his swords.” Zeref hummed as he got a refill on water, having gotten up to do so a few seconds ago. “That’s funny,” Laughed Bullet, “What about you, Noel? When you met your princesses, did you get your ass kicked? “The one Deltorix’s universe certainly could hold her own,” Adreana added. “Though her sister leaves a lot to be…. Well, just leaves a lot…” “I never got to meet them.” Noel said with a shrug of his arms. “Cowabummer dude,” Kyle said in a mock surfer accent, causing a chuckle to fall out of Herobrine. “I say you’re lucky, few Displaced have never met the princesses,” Herobrine pointed out. “To be honest, I’m treated like a freak in my world by everypony due to me looking like a dragon. I had to wear some kind of registration magical collar just to get them off my back.” Noel said with a snort; causing a small burst of flames to erupt from his nostrils. “Ah, so pre-dragon-acceptance Equestria, huh?” Herobrine raised a blocky brow. “Monsters are seen as monsters, and if you’re familiar with Final Fantasy Tactics then you’ll fully understand what I mean.” Noel said as his red slitted eyes gazed upon the minecrafter. “I understand completely,” Herobrine nodded. “This is one of the reasons why I wanted to win the tournament, get that wish and make my way back home to my normal human life.” Noel said as his tail flicked about. “Back on that princess thing,” Kyle rested his head on his chin, “I don’t think I’ll ever want to fight a princess again…” he then paused for a moment and slightly glanced over at Sora’s Luna before quickly looking back to where he was originally. Off into space. There was a brief awkward silence between the Commanders, who looked over at each other slightly. “Soo…” Necrozma started to say, “It’s a shame I didn’t last as long as I thought I would.” “Pfft, ain’t that the truth? Akainu blew me away with Krakatoa; literally,” Herobrine crossed his arms and pouted, “I didn’t even get to fight anyone…” “So, Zirconis, how does it feel to have been beaten by a blind guy?” Bullet raised a brow in intrigue. “I was beaten by the third strongest Commander. So, while my chest might’ve been caved in, my pride hasn’t.” Zirconis mumbled in response. “I think I would have been a better matchup for you honestly,” Ganondorf noted, his hands behind his back, “You’re definitely about 6th or 7th Commander level.” Zirconis nodded with a wince. “Yeah. Definitely bit off more than I could chew with that matchup.” “You got hit with Tekken combos,” Necrozma chuckled, “For an hour too. I was watching that.” “By a blind man too,” Justin laughed and shook his head, “Man, oh, man…” Sniffing the air a little, Zirconis narrowed his eyes a little as he blinked and sniffed a few more times, wincing a little more as he turned his head to look at both Justin and Necrozma. “Wait… I’m only noticing it now, but you two smell… off.” He nods at Justin. “Heck, the person who brought me, Quill, and Zeref here smelled off, I just hadn’t had time to really focus on it. But… Why do you smell a little like a dragon? It's definitely no dragon I’ve ever encountered obviously, but still.” He then looked directly at Necrozma. “And you just have a… weird smell.” “What do you mean by that?” Necrozma crossed his arms with intrigue. “Well, it just smells… incomplete?” Zirconis tilted his head. “Genuinely I don’t know how else to put it, it’s like you're just… not a hundred percent there.” He sighed before resting his head back. “Though that might be the aftereffects of the concussion, I’m not sure. Delirium or concussion, take your pick.” “You messed him up real bad, Fujitora,” Necrozma turned over to the 8th Commander. “I told him it was unwise,” Fujitora pointed out innocently. “Never said I was wise.” Zirconis reminded the blind commander. Ganondorf raised a finger, “I do wanna point out he was having an epic fight and then got blue balled.” Fujitora just hummed at that. “Fuckin’ sucked ass, getting blue balled like that.” Zirconis grumbled with a little annoyance. “And I was just getting into it too. Was boutta use a Jade Dragon Emperor Spell and everything.” “Do you ever get blue balled like that?” Ganondorf looked over at Berserker’s universe. He was met with deadpan silence by them. “Like… You’re fighting someone and they just leave you hanging… Like–” Ganondorf fought back a smile, “They just… Y’know? Y’know what I mean?” The Night Sentinels pulled out their BFG 9000s and the surrounding area cleared. Nobody wanted that smoke. Aside from Zirconis who was still confined to the hospital bed, in a near full body cast, and even then, he was trying to move himself away from the group. “Womp womp,” Ganondorf pouted. “Did you just say womp womp unironically?” Bullet raised a brow. “Fuck you, Bullet.” “That’s gay.” 8:02:06 Arkham was walking through the arena when suddenly something hit him in the back and he stumbled forward a little, “What the hell was that?” He looked around briefly before glancing at Berserker, “Was that you?” “No.” Berserker shook his head before he caught another spine thrown their way. “It’s him.” Arkham looked up at the asteroid belt of debris, he hummed briefly before turning and spotting what seemed to be a very bloodied and mangled homeless man- no, wait… no that was Quill. And good lord was he put through the wringer. His cloak, even more mangled and torn than before, was stained with the blood of both him and Bullet. Fresh blood still dripped from his arms and legs, and both of his knees were encased in an alchemy-made brace/cast. His navy blue hair was tinted a little red with both his and Bullet’s blood and he wore a tired yet determined and borderline crazed smile. “Arkham… you dick!” Quill huffed, still a little winded. “You left… before I could even teach you… the Dragon’s Roar Spell.” “Do I know you?” Arkham raised a brow, he turned over to look at Berserker, “Is this guy talking to me?” He turned back to Quill, “I don’t know you, man.” Quill was silent for a moment before he sighed. “Either you're yankin’ my chain or you’re just being a dick.” He mumbled before continuing. “I’m the one whose blood you drank to become a Dragon Slayer, numb-nuts.” Arkham turned to Berserker, “Listen, I was going through a rough time,” he then turned back over to Quill, “And about that, Quill… I realized that using the power you gifted to me to defeat Sora wouldn’t help me in the long run. You caught me after I got jumped by lava monsters and Noel getting ousted, so I was desperate. So… I don’t particularly want to be a Dragon Slayer right now, so I’m going to use our universe’s dragon balls, not the dragon balls this tournament will give the winner, and use it to take it away. Is that cool with you?” Quill waved his hand dismissively, accidentally tossing some blood droplets onto the ground, yet he completely ignored that. “It’s fine kid, I figured anyway. Being a Dragon Slayer, while it's got its perks… it can also be a pain in the ass.” He smiled, brushing his human arm’s fingers through his hair to get it out of his face. “Also, Time Dragon Slayer magic… Really?” Arkham raised a brow beneath his mask, “Like, what the fuck am I supposed to do with that? Yell at someone until they grow old?” “More like destabilizing the molecular bonds between things that would’ve done so centuries in advance… I think. But it also reopens new and old wounds, and causes your cells to rupture.” Quill took his cloak off and began wringing the blood out of it. “He means Time is subjective and we are all subjected to it.” Berserker simplified. “Exactly,” Arkham pointed to Berserker in agreement, “Why couldn't you give me something basic? That would make sense, wouldn’t it?” He turned over to Berserker. “Unfortunately that’s not how that works. I can’t really teach a Dragon Slayer element I don’t know. So, no fire, lightning, water, air, metal, etcetera.” The Dragon King shrugged, putting his cloak back on. “Damn,” Arkham put his hands on his hips in disappointment, “Oh, and by the way Berserker, meet Quill. Professional dumbass and also the reason why I’m not out of the tournament yet.” “Hello again, Berserker.” Said Professional dumbass nodded in greeting. “You too met?” Arkham looked between the two. “He was the annoying cunt who bothered my girls, until things straightened out and they got somewhere.” Berserker answered with a grunt. “...Did he offer the same shit? Magic and all?” Arkham raised a brow. “No I did not. Not in the same way I offered you.” Quill shook his head, blinking a few times as he looked around for a second. “Huh… tinnitus.” He mumbled. “Well, now that we’re all here…” Arkham looked between the two, “Why don’t we all team up?” Berserker looked at Quill. “How much blood have you lost?” Quill thought for a moment before eventually shrugging. “Not a clue, but quite a lot, if I’m being honest. Though the translation from Dragon Form to Human Form might’ve been a bit wonky on my biology so, who knows.” He stretched his arms, wincing at the still lingering pain. “However, I’m thankfully not close to passing out and the adrenaline wore off like… three or four minutes ago, so I should be fine. For now, anyway.” “He’s not gonna make it.” Berserker concluded and Arkham nodded in agreement. “You look like a breeze could kill you. You won’t stand a chance in the final fight,” Arkham crossed his arms and hummed, thinking of something. He then paused and slowly looked at Quill. A lightbulb lit up in his mind. “Gentlemen, I may not have a brain, but I have an idea…” 8:05:27 Dillan's group watched the arena closely, their eyes scanning everything while the foals with them played together. Rainbow dash smiled widely as she watched Dillan resting against a tree, his arms crossed while she looked to the others. “Did you guys see what Dillan did?”  “Yes, very clever. Even if he accidentally knocked some of his own team out of the arena earlier.” Celestia said with a small giggle, holding a bundle of blue cloths in her forehooves.  “Do you think any of the other contestants noticed his little trick?” Pinkie said with a giggle.  “I don't believe so darling, and if it had been against the rules I'm sure the judges would have intervened.” Rarity said, smiling a little as she flipped her hair.  “Y-you dont suppose they didn't notice either do you?” Fluttershy asked them with a worried frown, as she held her daughter.  “Mama they're watching the whole arena, I doubt none of them noticed.” Deseray said with a giggle as her mane shifted from green to purple, as her body became anthropomorphic at the same time. “Our little ball of chaos has a point honey.” Discord smiled, holding Fluttershy close.  “Yeah, I wish I had more time to fight though.” The spidarian said with a huff, looking away.  “Indeed, it is a shame we were not able to show our skills.” Rook said, crossing his arms a little. “It is, however, interesting to see how well Dillan is doing alone.” “Yes, father has always been able and quick on his feet.” Suicune said with a short nod, before smiling a little. “And since my blue ring flew to him he'll have a bit more of an advantage.”  “Yeah, and good job with your technique sister.” Rikou said, smiling as he nuzzled his sister's head. “You've come a long way since training.”  “I agree. You've come a long way.” Entai said with a grin, making their sister blush in embarrassment.  “Isn't that sweet, it reminds me of when Ember began training.” Torch said with a small grin, making his daughter's eyes widen a little.  “Dad, don't!” Ember said with a frown.  Torch laughed a little as he patted her head. “Don't worry sweetie, I'm just playing.”  “Oooo! It looks like Dillan's moving on!” Pinkie said, pointing to the ring as Dillan walked farther into the arena.  “Maybe he's looking for somewhere to lay low?” Spike suggested, crossing his arms. “I think he's getting ready for the fight.” Luna said with a gentle smile, nodding to everyone else.  “GOOD LUCK DILLAN!” The entire group shouted in support of their friend and family.  Meanwhile, over at Sora’s team’s side of the stands, the entire team was playing cards. “So, what odds do you give the General?” Gleaming asked. “Two.” “Not great,” Sol admitted. “He’s shown off most of what he’s got, and most of the rest is very situation-specific.” “Spells and combinations and such,” Luna added. “For specific foes with specific weaknesses. Five.” “To be fair,” Cloud chimed in, “what he’s got is rather impressive. It’s not his fault the rest of these guys are punching in a weight class better measured in planets than pounds.” Clutzy snorted. “‘Planets rather than pounds.’ That’s a good one. But yeah, these guys are awesome. I’d love to stay in contact with that Zirconis fella. He’d make a good sparring buddy. Probably a good drinking buddy, too.” “Ugh, please no,” Cloud groaned. “You know how most Ponyvilleians are. He’d scare away all the cute mares.” Clutzy narrowed her eyes at Cloud. “Not every drinking night needs to lead to banging, Cloud.” “YOU TAKE THAT BACK!” A round of chuckles went around the group before Luna spoke up again. “It would be good to stay in contact with some of them. Unfortunately, I doubt that my opponents will be eager to do so.” “Same goes for me,” Coco muttered. “No offense, but I’d rather avoid spending too much time around people who can so easily fight against a Titan and IT. Princess. I’d rather keep my sparring and training sessions on a more reasonable scale.” “To be fair,” Someone called out, and if someone looked over, they’d see Bullet, “Arkham blew himself up to win. He’s a crashout.” Coco cocked an eyebrow. “I’m even less eager to train with people who blow themselves up.” “That’s fair,” Bullet nodded and turned over to Kyle, “Is that fair?” Kyle looked away from the team, a little embarrassed by his past actions now that the post-fight clarity hit. “Why’re you looking away?” “It’sfairIguess,” Kyle slurred together with a mutter. Gleaming chuckled. “Post-battle clarity.” Cloud giggled. “Is that anything like post-n-” “Duke!” Strongheart interrupted, glaring at Cloud. Gleaming rolled her eyes. “It can be.” Jazz turned a curious eye on Gleaming. “How they hay would you know that?” Gleaming grinned with a far-away look in her eyes. “Bolero has some wonderful spells in his repertoire.” “Didn’t need to know that about my nephew,” Sol grumbled. Luna rolled her eyes. “He’s the Prince of Love; you think I wouldn’t teach him everything I know about-” “I DON’T NEED TO KNOW THAT ABOUT MY SISTER!!!” “Gin!” Every eye turned to Fancy as he threw down his cards, a shit-eating grin splitting his face. “Horseapples,” Jazz muttered, throwing down her cards. “I was one card on either side from a straight flush.” “Almost had a Go Fish hand myself,” Luna grumbled, gathering up the cards and starting to shuffle. Fujitora walked over and elbowed Zirconis’ ribs a little, gesturing to him, “You know you can always get to know your fight buddy a bit more.” Clutzy’s ears perked up and he grinned over. “Yeah, come and join us! There’s always room for one more in…” He frowned and looked over at Sol. “What did you call this game again?” “‘Earth Crap:’” Sol answered. “‘The Unholy Amalgamation of All the Stupid Card Games Sora Can Remember From His Home World.’ The official game of the EKA.” Zirconis let out a strangled sound as he was elbowed in the still heavily cracked ribs. “Ow…” He hummed before looked over to the group. “Sure, why not.” Zirconis then summoned a small jade chain with a hook at the end and used to to pull his currently less-than-able body over to them. “Clutzy, teach me how to play this crime against every god in existence.” Clutzy waved him off. “Not every god in existence. Just any gods of Earth. Basically…” his eyes rolled upwards for a moment before focusing on Zirconis again. “Actually, you’ll probably do better at this game than any of us. You actually know some Earth card games.” “Which makes this fundamentally simple,” Sol added as Luna dealt out the cards. “Basically, if you get a winning hand in any Earth card game, you win. You can pass as many or as few cards as you want on your turn, as long as you pass at least one and keep at least twelve. Naturally, with a group this size, we play with more than one deck.” “Ace’s high and low,” Luna added. “Jokers are wild. Face cards in ascending order are Knight, Duke, and Princess. Any questions?” Zirconis stared at them for a few seconds. “I think… so.” He blinked a few times. “Yeah, it seems like it’s simple enough.” “Maybe for someone who grew up with these games,” Strongheart muttered, looking at her cards and grimacing. “There’s something like two dozen games included in the rules. I’ve only got seven of them down for sure.” “To be completely honest, Zeref taught me most card games he personally knew which wasn’t many. And Quill likes to torture me with Uno, so.” The Jade Dragon hummed. “Not sure why, but he is unnaturally good at Uno.” All eyes turned to Luna, who shook her head. “Card elimination game,” she explained. “Impossible to incorporate.” “And it's known as “the destroyer of friendships” according to Quill.” Zirconis chuckled as he winced shortly after. “Ow.” Clutzy frowned and summoned his keyblade. “Here, let me. Cure.” A small halo of green light appeared above Zirconis and rained leaves made of light around him. Slowly, the pain started to dull and although his chest looked like he was punched by a very angry Bullet, he did feel quite a bit better. “Remind me to buy you some drinks, cause I owe you one.” Zirconis huffed with relief from the pain. “Never mind!” Cloud perked up. “He’s welcome anytime!” Clutzy rolled his eyes. “He said he owes me, not you.” “Hey, between his debt to you and my smexiness, I bet we can get him to pay for the whole bar at least once.” “Well, that depends.” Zirconis hummed a little. “How much is the transfer rate between bits, I think that’s your currency, and jade? And how badly do you want your economy broken? Cause I am the Jade Dragon.” He chuckled before grimacing. “Though be lucky I’m not that pretentious asshole, Viernes, I think was his name. Gold Dragon with just as much vanity. Was fuckin’ annoying too.” Sol flicked his wing, a small trail of fire flicking Zirconis in the nose. “No. Bad dragon. No breaking my country’s economy.” Zirconis merely blew the embers away, smirking as he did so. “Don’t worry, I’ll try not to do that if ever Quill and I visit.” He hummed before smiling. “I’ll just steal some of Quill’s bits in order to buy shit.” “I’mma tell him that!” Bullet said in the background. “He knows I do it but can’t prove shit!” Zirconis yelled back. “Fair,” Bullet huffed, crossing his arms, not flinching at the pain, “...I wonder when that fight is going to end.” “Oh, pfft,” Kyle shook his head, “Ichigo and Akainu are going to go at it for a while.” “Who do you think is winning?” Necrozma inquired. “Of course, Akainu, he’s the strongest,” Kyle huffed and folded his arms. “I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Zabuza muttered, as he said that Kyle’s grip on his arms tightened slightly, “That swing Ichigo did hurts even now. Say, Zeref, do you know anything about this Ichigo guy? You came with him.” Zeref shrugged. “Only met him after arriving here. It was Edward who asked us to be a part of the team, so this was the first time we’d ever met.” He sipped some water from his cup before setting it down. “Truthfully, I have no idea what Ichigo is capable of.” “One thing’s for sure,” Zabuza crossed his arms, “This fight is going to be close.” 8:11:08 Amidst the clashing of titans, one immortal slept like the dead. Sora’s nap had given way to a deeper slumber. He lay splayed out atop his own little asteroid, not a shred of dignity to be found. His one saving grace was that he hadn’t begun to snore. “...mmm, yes, Mistress Luna. I’m a good little monkey. Let me show you…” Unfortunately, his sleep-talk was far more condemning. “Well, this is a bit surprising.” Someone muttered softly before lifting their red claw up to use telekinesis to lift Sora into the air. “Maybe I can get an easy win while he sleeps.”  Sora’s eyes snapped open. A flash of light heralded his transformation into Final Form, Oathkeeper and Oblivion in his hands while Biter, Reaper, and Ponderer hovered around him. Four blades pointed at his assailant’s throat while Ponderer cut through the magic that held him. Sora’s eyes glowed yellow, an intense glare focused on his foe. The red dragon jumped back while covering himself in black skin with red lightning. “Shit, you are a light sleeper.” Sora blinked a couple of times. “Oh.” Most of his keyblades vanished, Ponderer slowly orbiting around him as his eyes returned to normal. “Kinda depends. Sound doesn’t do much to wake me. Touch gets me up in an instant. Unless it’s Luna. What’s up?” “Just doing some scouting, seeing who is left and seeing if I can ring out a few people while I am still around.” The dragon said, his Ultimate Shield staying active. “Ah, makes sense.” Sora unleashed a huge yawn and scratched the back of his head. “So, we in the endgame yet?” “I think so.” The dragon said before he pointed at the stands. “My whole team is gone already.” He frowned and summoned his keyblade. “You wouldn’t happen to have Ultima, would you?” “Of course. Every blade from One, Two, C-oh-M, and Three-Five-Eight Over Two. Why?” “I am on a road trip and I have to deal with a certain green skinned witch, and I was hoping to make the Ultima blades so I can use them against her eventually.” He said as he spun his keyblade around. “Make?” Sora raised an eyebrow. “Wait, you have to deal with synthesis in your world?” “Not really. I plan on using my crafting skill.” The dragon said with a shrug. “But I am not in my world, I am traveling with a gummi ship, also while I have a keyblade and some of the powers from Kingdom Hearts I am not a Kingdom Hearts displaced.” Sora cocked his head to one side as he looked the dragon up and down. “Wait,” he asked innocently, “you aren’t Mushu?” The dragon gave him a flat look. “No, I am Deltorix. I died and was given a second chance so I asked to go to Equestria with the power of the gamer from the webtoon comic The Gamer, in the body of an Equestrian dragon.”  “Ah, that makes a lot more sense. Or it would if I knew about ‘The Gamer.’ Or what a ‘webtoon’ was.” “Webtoon is an app or website from earth that people can post their comics on, and the Games is one of the comics.” Deltorix said before he sighed. “If you really want to know more after the tournament is over, remind me and I'll get you a device with all the pages on it already.” He then dismissed his keyblade. “But anyway, if you can let me touch your Ultima blade I can get the blueprint to make one for myself.”  “...and I’d let you do that while we still have a fight ahead of us… why?” “Because I probably don't have the required items to actually make said weapon.” Deltorix said with a shrug. “Also I can give you a ton of powers later too.” He scratched his chin. “Also it would probably be against the rules for me to create a new weapon while the tournament is still going on.” Sora shrugged. “Fair enough.” He summoned Ultima to his left hand and held it out to Deltorix. “Here you go. Good luck getting all of the Orichalcum Pluses or whatever.” Deltorix reached out and touched the blade with one finger. “Analyze and done.” He lowered his hand. “Yeah, it may be a pain, but if it means killing that evil witch easier it will be worth it.”  “I get that. I never bothered with the Hades Cup back when I played the games until I had it. Just made everything easier. And that certainly carries over to my world.” He glared at the blade. “Of course, in any other context, it just looks like an expensive art piece, so I rarely let on that it’s my most powerful blade.” He dismissed it with a chuckle. “Or at least it was before I started getting tokens.” Deltorix nodded his head. “Yeah, I never liked the looks of the first two ultima blades, but the third one was better.” He held his hand up and made an illusion of a red blade, Sora stuck out his tongue. “Ugh, still too fancy. Give me a nice Fenrir or Metal Chocobo any day.” “Remind me after the tournaments and I'll give you Kingdom Hearts three and system and TV and play it on.” Deltorix said with a chuckle and the illusion faded as he lowered his hand. “Perhaps I will summon you to mess with the witch and Pete later if you’re cool with that.” “You’re on!” Sore smirked. “Of course, it might be hard to fight the Mistress of All Evil without Goofy to help me; won’t be able to get away with Fira-spamming her if she goes dragon without his MP-Gift.” “Heck I can give Goofy a call and get both him and Donald to help.” Deltorix said with a laugh before he snapped his fingers. “Hey, is your world safe from the heartless? Do you want blueprints for a cornerstone of light?” Sora gave Deltorix a deadpan glare. “I was joking. Please, for the love of all that is light, do not bring a Goofy and a Donald into my life.” He shook his head. “As for the Cornerstone…” He sighed. “Please don’t tempt me. I don’t know whether it would work in my world or not. Probably wouldn’t. But if you gave me the blueprints, it would only be a matter of time until I gave in and tried it. And if it failed…” Sora’s eyes grew old. Old and tired and hurt beyond all imagining. “Please, please don’t tempt me to recreate that mistake.” Deltorix slowly nodded. “Alright, I am not sure what happened, but I can see it was painful, so I won’t ask.” He rubbed the back of his head a bit. “But if you ever want to have one, I can make it for you, and it may not stop nobodies or the unversed, but it should stop heartless, for a while at least.”  “Or just give them a target again,” Sora muttered before shaking off his gloom, his good cheer returning. “In any case, I actually don’t have to worry about nobodies.” His eyes flashed briefly white, and his tone grew dark. “Anymore.” Again, he returned to normal. “And I don’t really know what the ‘unversed’ are, but if they weren’t from the four games I know, they might not exist in my world.” “Ah, well they are from Birth by Sleep, basically negative emotions given physical form, or something like that.” Deltorix told him before he hummed and scratched his chin. “Anyway, now that it is probably down to the leaders, who do you plan on fighting?”  “Eh, whoever wants the pleasure of kicking my flank out of the arena.” Sora took a long look around what had become of the tournament area. “I mean, no offense, but you guys are insane, putting out this much power. I’m out of my depth, quite possibly by an order of magnitude.” Deltorix laughed a bit while shaking his head. “Trust me, I probably won’t last long against the top fighters, heck the biggest thing I have done in this place is make that.” He pointed up at the fake moon. Sora looked up. Looked back at Deltorix. Raised an eyebrow. “Oh?” he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “Is that all?” “It isn’t that hard, just moving a ton of rock using alchemy and then placing an allusion over it.” Deltorix said with a shrug. “You are a lot more chill than when my little assassins went after you.”  “Those were yours?!” Deltorix grinned a bit while thumbing his snout. “...right, changed my mind then.” Oathkeeper and Oblivion reappeared in Sora’s hands, Biter and Reaper rejoining Ponderer in orbit around him. “It’s on.” 8:14:50 As the inactivity of the arena grew on, more and more people from the stands were beginning to talk. Fujitora smiled at all of this, all these people from different universes, those who have different ideals and dreams, were all talking to each other. Forming friendships and rivalries. In all honesty, he wasn’t sure about this whole Tournament of Power style, but now that it’s here, and he’s hearing the laughter, and sensing the joy, this was all worth it. Fujitora let out a content sigh, “I just wish you were here to experience this tournament instead of the last, Shiva. I can tell you would have enjoyed this one a lot more,” He hummed, turning his head up to the sky. “I wonder what you’re doing right about now…” Zzzt! Fujitora’s brows twitched, and he narrowed his blind eyes, what was this? Zzzt! Something big was about to happen, something dangerous. It had to be twenty seconds before it reached them, Fujitora immediately activated his Devil Fruit and used his control over the force of gravity down upon everyone in the stands, pinning them to the ground. “EVERYONE! COVER YOUR EARS AND BRACE YOURSELVES!” He ducked down too and put his hands on his ears. Zirconis whimpered as he covered his ears. Zeref on the other hand sighed as he sipped his water, using his magic to create a pocket of sound-proof space around his ears… and around Zirconis’s. Though, as he did so, he suddenly got a very strange feeling, which compelled him to place his hand on Zirconis’s shoulder, creating a slightly bigger soundproof barrier around the two. Bullet used his large body to grab Kyle and Herobrine and used the Gasha Gasha No Mi grab a chair and turn them into earmuffs. Necrozma held his hands out and created a psychic barrier around them and Zabuza helped, using water to help nullify the sound. The rest of the Commanders hunkered down within the barrier and covered their ears. For Berserker’s lot, Twilight’s Observation Haki was going off and she ordered the Defenders to raise their barriers to protect their group from whatever was about to happen. She hoped their leader would do the same, because something big was coming down. Deltorix’s group gasped his Celestia and Luna used their magic to try to make a sound proof bubble but before they could everything around them turned black and white as Cipher walked over with a small smirk. Cipher slammed his cane, but no sound came from it as a shield appeared around the group. Jackson’s Twilight, Celestia Luna combined their magic to create a soundproofing barrier around their team while Spike used chakra and Ki to increase its strength along with Itachi and Kakashi.  “These people don't know the words “holding back”, huh?” Jackson’s Rainbow Dash said while adding her own magic, Ki and chakra to the barrier. Dillan's Discord snapped his claw with a simple smile, creating a bubble to redirect the shockwave. His smile fell a little as the shockwave began pushing back against his forcefield, putting more energy into it while Celestia and Luna added in their own magic to keep everyone safe. “How rude, there are foals here.” Rarity said with a small huff, rocking her small bundle. “Well, it is a tournament.” Spike commented, before looking back at the arena with everyone else.  “Things are getting dicey out there,” Ichigo’s Spike spoke as he had activated his armor and shielded Rainbow Dash, “you okay?” “Fine,” Ichigo’s Rainbow dusted herself off. “Who do you think got it in the boss fight?” She looked at the twin angels who’d covered the rest of the group in Arc Barriers. “It's hard to say actually,” Yuki sipped her tea, “Lord Ichigo is an extremely powerful displaced with an array of versatile skills that are on par with that of Lord Akainu. I don’t really know who will win because this is the first time I’ve met him and the others here. ” “I’m with sis,” Adreana added as she munched on a piece of meat from her storage. “Lord Ichigo’s power was…. Well, it’s scary to say the least and from what I’ve overheard his power is on a similar level to that of the king he serves, right” she looked at Spike. “That’s true,” Spike huffed as he sat down. “Ichigo and Asta are on similar levels in terms of power but overall, it’s Asta who's the better fighter. Though they never go all out when spar though.” “I’ve always wondered t about that,” Ichigo’s Luna held her chin in thought. “It’s probably to keep other nations from learning their abilities and strength,” Adreana tacked on. “Their pretty close to near immortals, especially being shinigami, but their power can still be crippled in various ways plus it keeps the other nations on their toes with guessing games.” “True,” Ichigo’s Luna thought. “Kind of getting bored with this thing though,” Rainbow stretched as she laid back on the bench. “I hope Boss Ichigo wins though. I’m still having happy thoughts about how we can gloat to our boss about how we got to come here, and he didn’t.” “Yea,” Spike chilled, “the extra training will be worth it.” “It looks like we have a victor,” Ichigo’s Luna pointed down to the arena. Sol and Luna leapt to their hooves, digging them into the ground and Standing Firm. Sol wrapped everypony else in a bracing telekinesis and shield spell while Luna cast a muffling spell around them. A massive tear through reality ripped the sky open. From the tear black lightning struck down with a fury along with an intense amount of spiritual pressure. Bringing the remaining competitors to their knees at the intense amount of willpower and spirit being exerted. The entire dimension they were fighting in was shaking with fury as the lightning continued to strike, obliterating parts of the arena where it struck. The spiritual pressure managed to do the same. It was all so loud, the blasts, the lightning and thunder, all of it was so loud that even when their ears were shut it still managed to wrack their brains. It continued like this for a while, it had to be about three minutes before it all finally ended, and everything was silent. Save for their ears ringing from the noise. For a while no one moved in fear that it wasn’t over yet, they waited, they waited and waited. But then, they heard Katakuri’s kingly voice. “FIGHTERS AND SPECTATORS ALL!” Katakuri boomed, not as loud as the tear, not as quiet to be muffled by the ringing, but enough that everyone could hear him. “THE BATTLE BETWEEN ICHIGO KUROSAKI AND SAKAZUKI “AKAINU” HAS ENDED!” Kyle shakily stood to his feet, glancing over at the King from his throne, he tried to speak but he was still shaking. Either from the aftershocks of the tear through the dimension, fear, or nervousness, he couldn’t quite tell. But what was clear is that he couldn’t speak. “Who won?” Someone finally asked, no one could tell who the person was who asked the question since most of them were more curious about the answer.  Katakuri stood to his feet, walking towards the railing of his sitting area and crossed his arms.  “THE WINNER IS…”