//------------------------------// // The Worst, Possible Thing // Story: The War of Champions // by Onomonopia //------------------------------// A vicious roar sounded not too far off from where the three champions lay hidden underneath some boulders, causing the mortal of the group to jump slightly while he turned his gaze skywards to snarl at the dozens of dragons flying overhead. Ryan had been on edge since the moment they had entered dragon territory, and the fact that he was now underneath at least two tons of stone with only the Hulk between him and the grave was not helping. "For the last time, relax little man. I can hold far more than this," Hulk assured him just before a stone slipped through his fingers and landed next to Ryan's leg. "You keep saying that and yet for some reason I don't feel any safer," Ryan half snarled at the Hulk. "Besides, if the rocks don't finish me off, your damn odor might. Has the shower been invented in your world yet?" Hulk smirked before staggering a bit, getting Ryan to yelp as a large stone nearly crushed his head, getting the Hulk to chuckle. "Will you two stop acting like children for five minutes?" Trixie growled at both of them. "Doubt it." "Don't hold your breath." "For the love of..." Trixie grumbled before she turned her eyes upward, noticing that nearly all of the dragons had left the air space around the tower that rested on the hill in the distance. She cast a small sensor spell to make sure that the dragons had left the area, yet for a strange reason her magic seemed to fizzle out after only a few seconds. She narrowed her eyes at this before she relayed the news to the other two. "I don't like that. If something, or more likely someone, is messing with your magic, then that means they know we're here," Ryan muttered as he began to look around, but his train of thought was derailed when Hulk shrugged off the two tons of stone and marched out of their hiding spot. "If there's someone here, I'll make short work of them," Hulk said as he cracked his knuckles while looking up at the tower. "Along with any of those dragons as well. You guys don't need to worry about any of that ninja stuff you usually do when you're with me. Just focus on the smashing." 'That line of thinking might get us in trouble, Hulk. Remember what the guards' technology managed to do to you last time,' Banner's voice reminded the Hulk, who growled in response. Despite the other two wanting to make a plan, Hulk began to march up to the tower on his own, wanting to make this quick. He wasn't surprised in the least when he heard the guards yelling out that they had spotted him, because all that meant was that he could start the smashing. "Time for some fun," Hulk smirked as guard after guard began to unload their rounds into him, getting the jade giant to chuckle while the rounds bounced off him without leaving so much as a dent. But when the guards began to unleash the stasis upon the giant, he was forced to take a more strategic offense. With a speed that no one would associate with a being so large, Hulk slammed his fists into the ground and ripped up two large chunks of rocks that he used as shields against the stasis. 'I still wish to learn how these stasis modules work,' Banner pondered within the Hulk's mind while the stones that Hulk used as shields slowed down due to the energy, but despite having been slowed to a crawl the Hulk's insane strength forced them to move at his usual speeds. Hulk blocked another volley of stasis before leaping up the hill to where the guards were, a laugh chilling them before he slammed into the ground feet first. The shockwave generated by the impact of him hitting the ground blasted the guards away from him, leaving the entrance to the tower completely unguarded. "Will you two hurry up?" Hulk called down to Trixie and Ryan as he kicked the reinforced doors open, taking them off their hinges and sending them across the tower's base floor. "I went and did all this work for you, and you two are making me wait to start the real smashing," Hulk chuckled once the two had dragged themselves up the hill to where he was standing. "Remind me again why we had to come along, if you were capable of taking down the entire tower without so much as breaking a sweat?" Trixie tiredly grumbled. "Because Banner wants to keep an eye on Ryan, and Batmare said that she wanted you out here with us rather than with the others since they distracted Adam," Hulk honestly admitted, getting him two sets of glares from his teammates. "Hey, you asked." Any further arguing was cut off by a roar that shook the skies, forcing the three to take up battle stances as the sky was suddenly filled with dragons. "Hey Hulk, did you think to disable the alarm bell before you crushed those ponies?" Ryan snarled as he drew his baton, letting the electricity crackle while he also flipped his hood up. "Because I think the guards invited more guests to this party." Trixie's horn glowed with power as well, but Hulk let out a chuckle as he picked up the human and hurled him into the tower. "No, but I think I know who should go do it!" Hulk yelled in after Ryan, hearing a string of curses in reply. He then turned his attention back to the dozens of massive dragons that now filled the sky, a smile crossing his face as he looked over at Trixie. "Hope you know what you're doing with that horn, because you're providing back up. Ready?" "Not in the slightest." "GO!" Hulk blasted off into the sky with a fist cocked back, striking the first unlucky dragon that crossed his path with a blow that could crumble mountains. The dragon had barely begun to fall from the sky when Hulk propelled himself off of the beast towards another one that was foolish enough to lunge at him, both beasts letting out a roar as they collided. The shockwave generated by the impact forced the other dragons to flap harder to stay aloft, but for the one that had impacted with the Hulk, it went down without another sound. "Come on, one of you give me a challenge!" the Hulk laughed into the sky once he slammed back down onto Terra Firma, turning to face each dragon with a smile on his face. The dragons that were still aloft had learned from the mistakes of their brethren and now none of them were getting close to the Hulk. Yet the smile upon Hulk's face dropped slightly when he saw each of the maws of over a dozen dragons begin to glow with fire--and with all of their heads pointed towards him, he knew that things were about to get warmer. "Hey Banner? The clothes you designed were fireproof right?" Hulk asked the voice in his head. 'Yes, but the fibers can only withstand so much heat,' Banner replied with a sigh when he saw what was about to happen. 'Well, time to see if both my genius and the clothes holds up.' An inferno of fire and flames consumed the Hulk as the dragons unleashed their hellfire all at once, turning the barren ground into an inferno in which the Hulk was the center. The jade giant held up his arms to cover his face as he felt fire burn all around him, but his gamma-infused cells never felt the agony of the fire. All Hulk felt was that it was hotter than it had been before. 'But the other two aren't as resistant to heat as me,' Hulk thought as he turned to where the tower was, trying to see through the raging fire to where his allies were. But when flame was all that he could see, he realized that he would have to get serious. 'Fun's over Hulk. Time to get this under control.' Hulk brought both of his arms back as he prepared to blow the fire away with a single round of applause, but to both his and the dragons' surprise a storm of rain began to descend upon the land. The torrent of rain was so intense that within moments the raging fire that had once tried to consume both Hulk and the tower was reduced to a number of cinders. "And once again, everything gets out of control the moment you let loose," Trixie's voice yelled out from somewhere within the storm, Hulk smirking when he figured out that Trixie had created the monsoon that had extinguished the fire. "Well, hurry up and start smashing before I have to put you out again!" "Aw, you do care!" Hulk laughed as a number of the dragons began to land around him, unable to fly or shoot fire within the rain storm. "So Banner! Think I should take them on alone, or as a thanks to Trixie should I let her be a part of the fastball special?! It's not everyday a pony gets to be a part of that!" 'You just do what you always do. Smash.' Hulk smirked in response before he caught movement out of the corner of his eye, making the Hulk quickly turn and catch a claw that a dragon used as it tried to tear his clothes. Hulk picked up the dragon by his hand and swung him around in a circle, slamming it into all of the other dragons that had landed too close to him. "Alright then. Hulk...SMASH!" Hulk slammed both of his fists into the ground while he roared his most famous words, shattering the ground beneath his and all of the other dragons' feet. All of the dragons fell to the ground while the earth shattered, giving Hulk an opening as he leapt into the air for his final attack. "Trixie! Supercharge me with magic! I want to end this with a bang!" He never heard a reply, but as a sphere of magic surrounded him he knew that she had heard. "GAMMA CHARGE!" Hulk roared while he drove himself into the ground shoulder first, creating another shockwave that sent the dragons flying away this time. Hulk laughed aloud as he pulled himself out of the recently made crater and watched the scaled fire breathers go sailing off into the distance before turning to look back at Trixie...and also to see that his antics had brought down the entire Spire, which now lay strewn across the hilltop. "Ugh, if Ryan survived that he's going to be pissed at me," Hulk grumbled as he lumbered back over to Trixie, who was at the base of the tower picking up chunks of stone while calling out for the human. Hulk helped as well, but they thought for certain he was dead until a fist punched itself through a good chunk of debris. "MOTHER FUCKERS!" Ryan roared once they had dug him up from his tomb, the human snarling with wrath as Trixie helped pull him out of the hole in which he had been buried. "Oh, sure Ryan, you can go destroy the orb while we handle the dragons. Be careful though, or we might just bring down the whole DAMNED SPIRE with you still in it! I fight off all those guards and destroy the orb and yet my teammates are the ones that almost kill me." "I'm sorry, alright. I got carried away in the moment," Hulk apologized as he rubbed the back of his head with his hand, Ryan still cursing out the pair despite the gesture. The cursing continued until both Ryan and Trixie spotted another figure standing on the barren hills away from them, surrounded by the unconscious bodies of a number of dragons and guards, with a large smile on his face. "Oh great, it's a crazy one," Ryan muttered when he spotted one red eye in place of a regular one and a number of strange, metallic legs that stuck out of his back. "I know crazy when I see it, so trust me, this one's full-on psycho. Expect him to do something crazy." As if invited over by the words, the figure began to walk towards them on his metallic legs. Hulk placed himself between his allies and the pony, whom he recognized from his meeting with the five judges. "So, you're one of those judges, huh?" Hulk asked the pony, who slightly bowed in response before he began to look over the Hulk with wide eyes. Hulk's eyes narrowed as the pony began to study him, having been examined like this before. 'This pony doesn't see me as a threat, he sees me as an experiment; something to be studied. I don't like it.' "Forgive me, my giant, green friend, where are my manners? Yes, I am one of the five judges. Tinker, at your service," the pony said with another bow, this time using the mechanical arms on his back to do so. "And you are the fascinating being known as the Hulk, the giant that matched Black Adam blow for blow without so much as a speck of magic within your body?" "Yeah, that's me. And unless you want to face that same power, I suggest that you turn around and run your little butt back home," Hulk threatened, but all his words did was cause the smile upon Tinker's face to grow even wider as he laughed slightly to himself. "That is truly fascinating. I know that we have just met, but would you mind doing me a favor?" Tinker asked with a begging look in his eye, getting Hulk to narrow his eyes in response. Tinker then pressed a button upon his wrist, which Hulk noticed for the first time had buttons on it, before looking back up at the giant. "Would you mind fighting these?" Twin giant mechs slammed into the ground behind him as he said this, getting all three members of the group to gasp in unison as they looked up at the machines. They were both twice the size of Hulk and had bladed arms and armored bodies, with three red eyes in the center of triangular heads that glared down at the three. "I've created a number of these machines in case the day came when I needed to bring down Black Adam, but they are only designed to fight magically powered foes," Tinker explained while the machines began to advance on the Hulk, the blades on their arms sticking out and beginning to spin as they marched menacingly towards him. "So show me Hulk, show me why they call you the Hulk." The twin machines lunged at the Hulk, blades ripping through the air as they closed in on their target. Hulk kicked the ground to knock back Ryan and Trixie before he caught one of the pair of rotating blades with his hands, snarling as the blades came to a dead stop before he tore the blades off of the machine. He flipped a blade over in his hand before hurling it at supersonic speeds right through the armored chest of one of the robots, which looked down at the piece of metal impaling him before looking back up to see a green fist slam into his face. "Astounding! Simply marvelous!" Tinker laughed out loud with almost childlike glee while the head of his robot crashed to the ground in front of him. Hulk snarled as he turned to face the other machine, which had backed off from the Hulk's smashing range and was firing concussive blasts of energy at the giant. But despite these concussive blasts having the power to tear through solid steel, the Hulk was barely knocked back by the impact, which instead of damaging him, made him angry. With a roar that shook the ground Hulk leapt into the air towards the robot, clotheslining it in the chest and knocking it to the ground. He slammed both of his fists down onto its chest with such force that both of its arms were blown out of its sockets, flying miles away into the distance. Hulk then leapt off of its chest and landed at the machine's feet, which he grabbed with one hand before he hoisted it over his head and began to whip the robot around. Once he had built up enough speed, he hurled the robot into the cosmos above with a yell, roaring in victory once the machine had left the planet. "Dear Faust, he's strong," Trixie muttered, glancing over at Ryan to see that his face was pale and his eyes had shrunk. Hulk then snarled as he gained control of himself again before he turned to face Tinker, who was clapping his hooves together like a pony did at the end of a show. "Outstanding! Truly incredible! It is no surprise Adam sees you as a threat, if you can achieve that level of destruction without so much as a speck of magic," Tinker praised, but Hulk did not take kindly to the praise. He lumbered over to the pony and picked him up by his metallic legs, which reminded him far to much like an octopus that he didn't like. "What's your game?" the Hulk asked him, bringing the pony close to his eyes when Tinker continued to clap. "If you're smart enough to build those machines in Equestria, then you must have been smart enough to realize that they couldn't beat me. So why come alone? Why expose yourself to me without any REAL protection or weaponry?" "Because you fascinate me, Hulk. How do you achieve such strength without magic? How do you and that doctor within share one body and yet don't share the same mind? What would happen," Tinker began as he placed a cylinder to the Hulk's head, a smile crossing his face as he activated the spell. "If the two of you were to be split apart?" Hulk realized a second too late what was happening and he hurled the pony away, but the spell was already in effect even as the cylinder fell to the ground. Both Trixie and Ryan looked on in horror as the Hulk screamed with the sound of two voices, his form flickering back and forth between Banner and the Hulk. Then, a circle of magic appeared on his chest, casting a beam of light that blinded everypony looking at the light. When they could see again, a sight greeted their eyes that terrified them to their cores. Doctor Banner lay on the ground, in the same black clothing that the Hulk wore...and standing above him was the Hulk, who stood there breathing heavily in the same black garb. "What have you done?" Banner asked Tinker, who clapped his hooves once again when he had discovered that his spell had worked. "I created a very powerful version of the separation spell that ponies use to separate things," Tinker explained as he awaited for the Hulk to move. "It took a lot of work and even more magic than an alicorn can use, but it worked. And now we get to see what the Hulk is like by himself." The moment he said this the Hulk's eyes snapped open, eyes that were as red as the false eye that Tinker wore. Tinker had a giant smile on his face as the Hulk began to move around, but it faded the instant Hulk turned his attention to the pony. Then, the Hulk let loose a roar so ferocious that the very planet shook under his voice and he hurled himself at Tinker, who screamed in fear while he leapt into the air to avoid the jade giant. Hulk slammed into the ground as Tinker's legs turned into helicopter blades, taking him far out of the Hulk's reach as he said, "Well, good luck with that, you three. If any of you survive this encounter, please let me know just how powerful the Hulk is in this state. I'd hate to have to do this again." "Doctor Banner, are you alright?" Trixie asked as she helped the doctor up, while Ryan slowly approached the two, but as Banner rose to his feet, he looked at Hulk with absolute fear in his eyes. "Trixie. Ryan. Run. Run for your lives," he whispered with the fear of death in his voice. His words gained the attention of the giant, who slowly turned his head to look at the pair of them, eyes a crimson red. Then with an unholy shriek he turned and charged at the three of them, the ground shaking beneath each mighty footstep. Trixie placed herself between the doctor and Hulk, her horn flashing with a brilliant light as she cast spell after spell to stop the Hulk. Yet beams of the purest magic and spikes crafted from diamond did not even slow the unrestrained fury down, but they did give him a new target. Another scream erupted from Hulk's lips as he charged at Trixie, who managed to force down the fear of seeing the Hulk rush at her in time to turn herself into a black smoke. The Hulk charged right through the smoke and skidded to a stop, snarling as he spun to see Trixie moving around in a smoky form. "Do not worry, Banner, he cannot hurt me in this form," Trixie said with shaky confidence as the Hulk began to march after her again. "Not unless he can use magic. The two of you should back up while I prepare the teleportation spell and--" Hulk cut her off by slamming both of his hands together in front of her face, the shockwave generated by the impact blasting Trixie out of her smoky form and hurling her to the ground at Banner's feet, where she didn't move. The Hulk began to approach once again, eyes narrowing as he spied Banner, but before he could reach him Ryan leapt onto the Hulk's back and jammed an explosive into his mouth. Ryan leapt off as the explosion detonated, forcing the Hulk back for a moment as the beast tried to figure out what had just happened. "Banner...the fuck do we do?" Ryan asked with terror in his voice as the Hulk tried to see through the smoke that covered his eyes from the explosion. "Because I sure as hell got nothing in this bag that can tickle him!" "Take Trixie and run," Banner said quietly, standing up with fear in his eyes. "See if you can get her back to the base or at least somewhere safe. I'll...I'll distract the Hulk." Banner looked down at Ryan to find the human looking at him with a question in his eyes, getting Banner to shake his head. "There is no fighting him; no reasoning with him now. He is a beast of rage now, one that cannot be stopped. Get out of here, before he's done with me." Ryan snarled as he looked down at Trixie before looking back up at the Hulk, making the hardest decision that he had ever made in his life. "You take her and run," Ryan said in a near whisper as he stood beside Banner, holding up a hand to stop him before he could speak. "Dammit man, we don't have time to argue! Nobody knows more about the Hulk than you and if you die, then we'll have no way to stop him!" "You can't fight him alone--" "I can't fight him period! I expect to die within ten seconds! And in those ten seconds you have to get yourself and Trixie out of here!" Ryan roared at Banner with fear in his eyes, yet behind the fear Banner saw something that he had never expected to see within Ryan. "She has a family! A daughter waiting for her back in her world! You're the only one with the knowledge to stop Hulk and you're both the chosen champions! I'm not! I have to slow him down so that the two that matter can live! Now take her and go, God Dammit!" Banner wished that he could answer, but with a growl of frustration he bent over and picked up the unconscious Trixie in his arms before sprinting away as fast as he could. Ryan watched them go before he felt a heavy footstep land next to him, getting him to look back with an ice cold heart, to gaze up at the raging eyes of the Hulk. He felt his will die as he looked at absolute wrath, the wrath of a being that he knew he couldn't even scratch. A smart man, when faced with such a foe, would have fallen to his knees and begged for his life; would have done anything in his power to avoid having to fight such a monster as the Hulk. Ryan was not a smart man. "All...alright you jolly, green jackass," Ryan snarled with as much confidence as he could muster as he turned to face anger incarnate, while he reached back and drew his baton. He flicked on the golden weapon that had gotten him through so much as he said a silent farewell to his life. "Show me why they call you 'the strongest there is'."