As 'Mr. Dinkles' floated away in his pod, he chuckled. "Let's start off with the Collector Minions, shall we?" he called out. "Not my own design, but still useful. And don't think you can just brush them away with a spell, little pony. This close, I can establish the link through any of them-"
"Fireball!" four robotic voices called out as four Zurkon the Beardeds immediately launched their spells, the energies combining into a massive flaming explosion that erased the Collector Minions.
"Doesn't work if the ones casting the spell don't have an ethereal consciousness for you to swap with, does it?" Alister pointed out with a wide smirk.
A snarling hiss was the only response as the possessed cat's shielded pod dropped back down, bristling with weaponry. "Must I do everything myself?" he demanded angrily. "What does it take to get competent help these days?"
"Charisma, intelligence, a steady wage," Nefarious listed off. "And failing that, being amusing enough they stick around to see what happens. Pretty sure Lawrence sticks with me half because he enjoys getting to smack me every time I lock up in rage and start playing clips of soaps."
"Hey!" Qwark complained angrily. "Inexplicable self awareness is my scthick this trip! Get your own!"
"You will not ignore me!" Mr. Dinkles roared out as he began launching lasers at the group, only for all of them to pull out their Reflectors and send the beams right back at him, overloading his shield. "You will take me seriously! I will bring the universe to its knees! I am the ruler of the Loki, and-"
"We've heard it all before," Alister interrupted. "It's nothing new to us. For you, the day you fought the Sparkle-Gyro clan will be the greatest - and last - day of your life. For us, it's..." His voice trailed off, and he turned to the others. "Is it Tuesday or Wednesday? I'm having trouble keeping track at this point."
"Your hoverthrone has been damaged," the Stewart spoke up.
"I know you insufferable-"
An endless barrage of missiles and other weaponry slammed into the hoverthrone, the combined arsenal enough to severely damage its hoverjets. "You really should pay more attention to the battle," Twilight offered helpfully. "I mean, if this is so important to you..."
An inarticulate scream of rage ripped its way out of the cat's throat. "Stewart! Bring up the Grivelnox! We're moving up the time table!"
"Searching database," Stewart responded as mechanical tendrils snaked out of the ceiling. "Match found. Grivelnox, apex predator of Rykan V, capable of enhancing its abilities by absorbing the abilities of the creatures it digests."
A massive glass capsule was lifted over the platform. Inside was a massive reptilian creature reminiscent of the kaiju of old Earth science fiction, a black-blue carapace with red markings covering most of its body with armored limbs curled tight around itself.
"Oh...that could be a problem," Twilight murmured worriedly.
"Indeed," 'Mr. Dinkles' hissed, activating the controls for the Protomorphic Energy Extractor. "I'd meant to use you as my vessel, but failing that, I can simply use the Grivelnox and eat you! Then I will have your powers as well, without having to worry about your meddlesome consciousness getting in the way-"
"Get away from them!" Dr. Croid shouted out as he leapt from the machinery above, catching hold of the hoverthrone.
Twilight and the others stared as the hoverthrone spun from the imbalance Croid's grip caused, eventually sending Mr. Dinkles flying to the main platform. Noticing the danger he was in, he began to race towards a big red button in the center.
"Don't let him turn it on!" Nevo called out warningly.
Snapping out of their stunned shock, the group raced forward...but it was too late. Mr. Dinkles cackled as his paws slammed down on the button, and an energy beam lanced out from an emitter. A strange purple-black ethereal shape was sucked out of the cat-like being, pulled into the emitter. The cat-like creature looked up at the group with a confused expression and meowed.
The creature wound up in a capsule that was hooked to the one containing the Grivelnox, and the Loki spirit - for that was obviously what it was now - was pumped through into the other capsule, where it plunged into the beast. The Grivelnox opened its eyes and burst out of the capsule, roaring in fury.
"This...is not good," Nefarious murmured worriedly.
Qwark stepped up in front of the creature. "No!" he proclaimed angrily. "Bad Mr. Dinkles, bad!"
The Grivelnox let out a roar that sent Qwark flying back to the group from the air pressure alone. It then stabilized itself on the platform, limbs ending in squid-like clubs gripping as it hefted itself up to glower down at the gathered heroes. Blazing purple light shone from every hole in its body.
"Did you really think that was going to work?" Alister demanded irritably as Qwark got up.
Qwark rubbed the back of his head and shrugged. "Uh...yes?"
"So...does anyone have a plan to deal with this thing now?" Twilight asked worriedly.
"Don't let it eat you," Nefarious stated bluntly.
"Well, I got that," Twilight replied. "I meant, beyond that?"
"Blow it up," Nefarious continued.
"...nothing more complex than that?" Twilight asked worriedly.
"Have you ever had anything more complex going after me?" Nefarious inquired.
"...valid point," Twilight allowed.
"What about the fact they have all these monsters with various abilities throughout this collector drone that it could just eat to get all new powers to fight us with?" Qwark asked curiously. "Do we have a plan for that?"
Nefarious turned and glowered at Qwark. "The plan was not reminding it about all that," he snarled irritably. "Congrats on blowing that."
Well Qwark made things far more interesting. Let's see how they blast their way out of this.
Looks like Qwark dropped the ball.
...
...Dropped the ball.
...
...
...Drrrrrrrropped the ba-
paperdroids.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/steve-rogers-i-understood-that-reference.jpg
7570650 same.
Another enjoyable chapter. Good job.
7570750 Blast! Someone beat me to it.
7570650, 7570750, 7570946,
Not just a reference, guys. "But For Me It Was Tuesday"
It's a full blown trope. And this is an amusing inversion of it, with the heroes giving it to the villain for once.
They have 4 ryno suits right blast away and beferious has a six minuet rewind uf nedded
But if you do nthat she can just use her many wapons to rip and tear your gut until you are dead.
Blow anything up that gets near it so it CAN'T eat them for their abilities?
That.... is actually pretty scary. Got to wonder if the monster ate a fire power source and a freezing power source could it use both at once or only one at a time???
You know the random ads that appear at the bottom of the page. I have a love/hate relationship with them, but I couldn't help but laugh how it had a "Plan for Parenthood" as the ad for me at the bottom after reading about them making plans
7579710 An exceedingly rare race of aliens, identified by their LARGE furry ears, striped fur and unusual, three-toed feet. It is also worth noting that the males of the race have long tails with a tuft on the end that differentiates from their regular colouration.
Females are identified by their distinct lack of tails, taller stature and marginally smaller ears.
While generally peaceful, they become highly aggressive when a threat is presented to them, those close to them, or the locations they designate as their homes, to the point where individual lombaxes have been known to take down opponents of leviathan-class and even beyond.
It is also worth noting that their entire species is highly intelligent. So much so that even one without any formal education can still be classified as a skilled engineer and rocket-mechanic.
They are often confused for a feline-type race, due to their outward appearance, but this is inaccurate, as they actually are somewhat a canine, given their protectively-aggressive nature, tendencies to growl when their tempers flare and yelp when in pain.
In summary, I quote the announcer of Annihilation Nation, "Never mess with a trigger-happy Lombax!"
Alister & Twilight: All 4 One. Still a better story than Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One.
Let's go!!!
7579803
The part about female tails was never official... and as of Rift Apart, thoroughly debunked. Only brought it up because of the latter point.