The Silverscale Arena Ep. 42: June 2025

by Baskerra_Hellmane

Summary:

Welcome, one and all, to the 42nd episode in a series of adventures related to the craziest and most deadly arena created! 48 characters in teams of 4 compete to survive! In this one, the combatants are now stuck in the still-recovering realm of Hallownest. In this land of bugs, a new evil has awakened, born of an old one...and it's been joined by three villainous figures that seek to devour and destroy! Will the combatants defeat these threats to the kingdom...or will they all destroy each-other first?

As usual, comments are very appreciated. The Arena server can be reached through Discord friend request: giganoto_5008

Chapter 1: Team Introductions / Hallownest

The Silverscale Lounge Arena

Ep. 42: June 2025

Hosted by Baskerra “Lounge Bitch” Hellmane

All in favor of our Lounge’s Founders

(DISCLAIMER: All characters in sexual situations are 18 and over. Just to let you know)

Part 1: The Disrupted Healing of Hallownest

 

(Within the deepest corner of an unknown universe, perhaps tucked away in a tiny corner of an alternate Earth, there exists an underground kingdom. One founded by a glorious king, built upon conquest, devotion, and a number of other factors in this realm of bugs and gods.

This kingdom, Hallownest, had something that set it apart from most of the world. Here, insects were given the gift of sapience. No longer purely guided by their instincts, entire civilizations were created here, with the caveat that those that stepped outside of its borders would begin to lose their sapience. Even if they returned, their memories would be lost.

In spite of how loved the founder was for what he had created, this god (the Pale King) had his detractors. After all, as loved as he was, he still had to carve a path of conquest in order to create his kingdom, leaving many to resent him, though, in time, deals were made and that seemed like the end of that mess. But there was one particular god that took exception to his rule.

In this world, gods needed devotion and prayer to maintain their power and they all feared death. Among those gods was the ruthless Radiance. Having held dominion over all bugkind once upon a time, her reign was taken from her when the Pale King brought many to his side. Unwilling to accept that a new age of independent thought and that her rule was ending, the egocentric moth-like creature made her move.

What followed was nothing short of horror for the bugs of Hallownest. A plague had begun to spread across the land. One that ate away at the minds of the citizens until they were reduced to instinct-driven shells of their former selves. The Radiance had infected their thoughts through their dreams, twisting their souls so they would be in mindless devotion to her light.

The details of how the Pale King tried to stop her are mired in tragedy, but (to make a LONG story short), he turned to a power that he once feared. As Radiance’s light represented wants and desires, the dark Void from deep within the kingdom represented nothingness. Something perfect for countering and even absorbing the Radiance. All that was needed was a vessel for this mysterious power.

Thus, the tale of the Hollow Knight began. The king’s attempts to create a vessel from one of his own children were numerous and weighed heavy on his and his queen’s hearts, but they succeeded with one particular vessel. Unfortunately, that vessel that once contained the Radiance would find itself corrupted by her in time, given that it was not as hollow as the king intended, given the bond between him and it formed over the years.

For one reason or the other, the king perished and the queen sequestered herself away in her garden. All the while, the Radiance struck once more, consuming almost the entirety of Hallownest in her plague so that she would be worshipped once more.

But another hollow being would rise from seemingly out of nowhere. A new Hollow Knight. One truly empty and unknowing of its past and purpose. Something did call it towards the dying kingdom and it would prove itself to be paradoxically empty inside, yet determined to see its rediscovered purpose through…and then some.

So many trials and tribulations followed, with powerful warriors of both the waking and dream realms defeated, the knight getting stronger before it acquired the Dream Nail, enabling it to traverse into the dream realm and, by entering the dreams of the fallen original Hollow Knight, defeat the Radiance for good through the power of the Void itself.

The plague was completely wiped out…and so was the Knight, the Void energy that made it and the previous Knights up finally resting within their own realm deep within the ground. To this day, his mask is kept by the princess/warrior/rival-turned-ally of the Knight, Hornet. She would have left to go on her own adventures, but, shortly after the adventure ended, something else had happened.

Perhaps due to the actions of the mysterious demon known as Aresdemonia, a fragment of the Radiance had grown into its own being. A new god representing a primeval aspect gone to the extreme. Calling himself ‘The Ravenous’, he represented the need the hunger all predators have and the fear all prey have. A part of nature twisted into the malignant shape of evil and a hunger for absolute worship.

Though unable to spread its influence like the Radiance once could, it would have unexpected assistance from a trio of villainous figures that Aresdemonia had sent here as well. Promises of power and food had led them to making an alliance with The Ravenous and unleashing a plague of metal monsters unto Hallownest.

With this plague, they brought the Ravenous Influence, a similar plague to what the Radiance unleashed, but with a twist. Creatures considered ‘prey’ by the mad god would find themselves only wanting to flee danger rather than fight against it, while those considered ‘predators’ by it would be driven to cannibalistic madness. The only similarity between the corrupted sides would be that they would either sing the praise of The Ravenous or beg for his aid in their darkest times.

The only hope for Hallownest lies in Hornet, who fights with all her might against the plague of metal monsters…and that hope may also lie in the 48 combatants that had been sent here. Locked in 12 metal boxes, these 12 teams of four descend down into the unknown, a wish promised by a voice in their heads given by Baskerra Hellmane. Either they eliminate each-other…or they find the source of the madness and destroy it.

 48 Characters, 12 ‘Teams’. 1 final terror for this kingdom to face…)

 

Team #1: Baskerra Hellmane

 

While Velora the Megalodon anthro was very familiar with this Arena already, the other three were not. Especially not the naked Behemoth anthro that towered over them all, her body barely fitting as her paws pushed against the sides.

“Audra hate small spaces! Want bigger!” She shouted, her massive breasts pushing the shark anthro against the door.

“AUGH! My balls!” Velora shouted, whimpering while she felt both pain and pleasure at the same time. ‘I’m gonna get crushed to my doom by a pair of giant breasts! This is, like, one of the better ways I could have gone out in this game, but COME ON ALREADY!’ She thought.

The other two were already in a tenuous alliance. That being the duo enslaved by the villainous Skelelord. Vilgax had just enough room to glower in a corner, his eyes narrowing as he remembered the words the skeletal madman said to him before he was transported.

‘A wish…for him? I may not believe that much in magic, but, if this wish is more than mere fantasy, I will make it benefit me somehow!’ He thought. ‘I will not suffer his ego any further! I WILL TRIUMPH AGAIN!’

The Swarmlord, meanwhile, was shaking his head as he heard a litany of voices aside from his own. For a second, he joyously thought he was going to be part of the hivemind he was forcibly separated from, but it was a different voice. A most unwelcome one.

‘No! My goals are clear! Serve…serve the new Hive Leader…then make him pay…for doing this to me…AND NOBODY ELSE WILL MAKE ME DO WHAT THEY SAY! I WILL DESTROY THEM ALL!’ He then let out a soul-piercing roar, causing Audra to let out a roar of her own as her body crackled with electricity.

“Make noise go down! Free Audra! Hate tiny space!” She growled, baring her fangs at the duo.

“Smash your way free and I will consider sparing your pathetic life!” Vilgax demanded, his eyes glowing red as he prepared his eye lasers.

Velora groaned as she remained mashed by the larger tits. At least she would be the first one to see a sliver of light poke through the entrance of the box, indicating they would be free very soon.

 

Team #2: Markostriker

 

Vriska Serket was usually a fan of games, but only when she was the one in control. Being transported by another being for the sake of another game? Enough to enrage her into a series of swears that sounded like broken texts.

“Didn’t your fandom die out long ago?” Stewie Griffin, the small psychopathic one of his family, wondered, wandering over to her and generally acting non-plussed over the whole experience, only to get the middle finger from here. “Maybe I’ll get more stimulating conversation with the others here.”

Claire Higsby, an inexperienced but determined cow anthro mage, flipped through the pages of her spellbook. “There must be a chapter detailing what to do when thrust into an alternate dimension somewhere here! My teleportation spells can’t be that bad that they can’t handle this!”

“Okay, I don’t remember hearing about your franchise. Tell me that you’re the overpowered one in your series and I might consider making you my ally and NOT add you to the ‘list of expendable extras’.” Stewie stated plainly.

The cow anthro gave a startled moo upon seeing him. “Ack! A football with legs!”

“And, with that, your minutes are numbered.” He warned.

“Wait! Why should a child harbor such malice?!” A man in a red/gold grasshopper-like suit shouted, stepping forth before examining himself. “Wait. When did I change into Kuuga? I don’t remember at all.” He scratched his helmet, also wondering why he felt able to keep up this form for quite a long period, even longer than normal.

“It’s a massive crossover. Best not to ask questions, my good Beetle Borg.” Stewie stated.

“Beetle Borg? Actually, you can call me Yusuke Godai. I’m just a man who chases his dreams. One of which will be finding whatever is causing this evil.” He leaned in to get to the intelligent one’s level. “And that also means making sure you’re not hurt. No child should have to go through this.”

“No. But that doesn’t mean this can’t be, at the very least…fun?” Whipping out a random crossbow, Stewie loaded it with malicious intent. “Now, then. A ten second head-start sounds fair, yes?”

Hearing this caused Claire to flip through her pages faster, while Vriska pressed her ear against the door, feeling that it was starting to feel a lot less light, especially as mist started to enter the box.

 

Team #3: TheStrange1

 

“I really REALLY don’t know how to deal with this.” The depressed meister of Ragnarök (no, not the giant lizard that rampaged across United Equestria a fanfic ago), Crona, despaired, not sure which memory was the true one when they arrived here.

Were they having a good time with the DWMA (especially with Maka) or were they imprisoned in a ball of maddening blood within the moon? It was enough to nearly cause the madness within their body to come surging out in the form of mindless aggression and fury.

Something that nearly came out when a returnee of the Arena, Revy, was firing shots at the ninja clad in yellow/black armor. “GET OVER HERE!” Scorpion shouted, his hand-spear slicing through the woman’s cheek before she closed the distance between them, kicking him in the face before he teleported away and to behind her.

He tried to slash at her with his swords, but her pistols caught them, the wraith trying to bring the blades down as they stared each-other down. “Once you’re down, I’ll have 47 more assholes to deal with! I’m not letting this shithole get the best of me! Not anymore!”

“Me personally? I’m hoping this is a far more entertaining game.” Alucard emerged from the shadows, having watched this match with some amusement.

“Further confounding sorcery?! It matters not what comes before me! I will succeed and none of you will stand in my way!” Scorpion vowed, his voice sounding like it was getting eternally choked by hellfire due to how distorted and deep it was.

Crona slunk away, while Ragnarök pushed them forth towards the scene. “Don’t be a wuss!” He ordered. “Just stick with them and wait until one or both die! Then, I’ll have some souls to eat and you won’t be so useless in a fight!”

“B-b-but…I don’t even know what I’m supposed to be doing. Do I have to kill them to see Maka again? Because…because I think I will..” They gripped around Ragnarök’s base, the imp-like being slowly transforming into a dagger.

 Freeing herself from the weapon clash, Revy now was aiming her weapon at the firearm that Alucard had whipped out, his cape billowing despite there being no wind. “Temper, temper. I’d hate to have your talents unable to shine when we’re inevitably sent out like rabid wolves. So…make the right choice.”

‘Dammit! What’s with this creep?! Just looking at him…why the FUCK is he making my blood run cold?!’ She thought, clenching her jaw while Scorpion also felt something of a chill.

Still, the ninja would keep his strong resolve due to what he desired: to see his family and entire clan brought back. Revenge against the ones he held responsible for their deaths would be second when he could have his happiness back after it was cruelly taken away from him.

Even if he had to deal with an entire army of monsters, which he suspected was outside of the metal barrier around him, he would not falter.

 

Team #4: Burnsaber89

 

“FUCK IT ALL!!!”

Blitzo had officially had enough. No more alliances. No more waiting. He was already blasting his demonic glok everywhere, leaving sizable bulletholes in the walls while another returnee in the Arena, Robotboy, dodged his shots by flying around the place. “Calm down, possum creature! Aren’t you guilty for trying to hurt boy?”

“Oh, boohoo! I’ve done so much bad shit that reducing you to scrap doesn’t even faze me!” He warned. “Besides, I’ve been through this before! You’ll be fine while I keep FUCKING everything up! Well, if I can’t be the best…I SURE AS HELL CAN BE THE WOOOOORST!”

Cowering in the corner was a hedgehog-like Digimon known as a Herissmon, his hands covering his face as the noise and the violence became too much for him. Even worse, Blitzo was now looking at his direction, causing him to whimper. “Pl-please! I don’t want to hurt you!” The hedgehog-like one warned, his quills crackling with volts.

“Sorry, bud, but-“

“But nothing, you creep!” A blue blur smashed into the imp’s side, sending him flying into the wall before getting kicked down by Robotboy.

Speeding into the scene and generating a gale at the same time was the legendary Sonic the Hedgehog, his visage causing Herissmon’s eyes to light up with both relief and admiration. “Whoa…” He looked upon the taller figure, his heroic aura already filling him with a desire to help him in return for saving him.

“You okay, little guys?” Sonic asked. He would have asked how he was alive, but seeing others in danger had activated his instincts, resulting in the imp in the room getting kicked to the curb.

“We okay, tall rat! Thank you very much!” Robotboy beamed, tightening his grip around the other’s gloved hand and moving so fast that he was actually flung up and down.

“ACK! OW! EASY THERE!” Sonic warned, clutching his hand while trying to shake off his dizziness. “That’s definitely almost broken.” He chuckled.

Herissmon wandered closer to him, clutching his leg. “Excuse me…I’m…I’m a little scared. I don’t know what’s going on, but I already feel so much safer with you.”

“No sweat. Just stick with me and we’ll be just fine.” Sonic assured before getting a good look at him. “Us hogs have gotta stick together, right?”

“Right! Are you what I’m gonna digi-volve into later?”

“You ask for clarity? Robotboy have it!” The machine stated. “We in fight to the death! Very violent, but also very much filled with exercise!”

“…excuse me?”

Blitzo then emerged from the crumbled heap he was in earlier, looking fearsome as he took aim again. “Let’s try that again, bitches! I’m gonna make some hedgehog stew today! Starting with-‘

BZIIIIIIT!

A series of electric quills fired into him, causing him to be comically electrocuted to the point where his skeleton showed up before he fell back down, groaning as his body smoked. “Guess that was a shocking turn for you, am I right?” Sonic chuckled.

Already figuring this was going to be a long day, the imp flashed them the middle finger.

 

Team #5: Kirby

 

“Who DARES to trap Aku?!” A monstrous shadowy being crashed against the ceiling, his hands turning into spikes that failed to pierce it as his ogre-like face twisted in rage. “The Shogun of Sorrow?! The Lord of Darkness?!”

“Who writes this guy’s dialogue?” A young girl with a sword, a small rabbit-like doll, and an eyepatch groaned. “Okay. Let’s get this over with. What kind of evil entity are you and how did you get me trapped here?”

“What?” Leaning in, Aku gazed upon the eternally young hero. “Shouldn’t you be in school, foolish youth?”

Annie didn’t know whether to be relieved that there was somebody talking to her that wasn’t just gushing over the show she lost faith in so long ago or to smack the evil being across the face with her sword. Given the sheer amount of malice she could feel exuding from the malevolent being, she was going with the latter.

“The censors aren’t here to keep me from giving you a beatdown of epic proportions, so watch what you say!” She warned, her sword starting to glow with rainbow-ish energy.

All that got was a cruel laugh from the vile entity. “If you think that oversized slab of metal is going to do anything against me, you are SORELY mistaken!”

A flash of blue light got his attention, the amount of goodness and righteousness exuding from it angering him further. “For love and intellect, I am a sailor-suited pretty soldier: Sailor Mercury! In the name of Mercury, soak your head in water and reflect on yourself!” The water-based Sailor Scout exclaimed, making herself known.

‘Huh. That’s a level of enthusiasm for the job of protector I haven’t heard from in a while.’ Annie thought. “Please, tell me I’m not working with a rank amateur.”

“Amateur?” Mercury blinked. “That’s rude, don’t you think? Now, stand back. I’ll figure out a way to fight this fiend.”

Transforming his hands into many blades, Aku looked eager to annihilate these heroes. “Come at me any way you like, fools! I will see you driven before me! I-“

From the blackness that made up his body, a burning fist emerged, smashing him in the jaw before the being flew back from the force, landing with enough force to make the whole box shake. The epitome of righteous wrath, Asura, had made himself known.

“It pisses me off to be the subject of a mad god’s whims…but what truly angers me…is threatening the life of a little girl!” He roared, his eyes burning with a rage that had once been brought to peace at the end of his original adventure.

“Don’t patronize me, big guy.” Annie warned, though even she was intimidated by the aura of this man. “Everything about you says ‘bad guy’, but…I dunno.”

Calming a bit, Asura examined his company before stepping forth. “Stand back. This bastard is mine.” He got into a fighting pose, which came in handy when he had to block a pair of eye beams that slammed into his arms.

“BAH!” Aku roared, lunging towards the trio as their fight officially began…right as the box began to open…

 

Team #6: Buddhe

 

The guilt that ate away at Brad Armstrong’s soul since the last Arena had manifested in the form of him retreating into the nearest corner, stewing away in his failure to keep one of his teammates alive.

There was now nothing left but to win this Arena. To annihilate anybody standing in his way. He would eye the others in this box, wondering which ones to take out first if he was to get a wish that would mean a better life for him and the daughter figure he swore to protect back in his world.

The man in the rooster mask, a returnee named Jacket, looked at him as he readied his baseball bat, the two sharing a silent gaze. It was almost as if they were deciding what move to use if they were to come to blows. The seconds ticked by, increasing the chances of a conflict.

Meanwhile, a coyote anthro in wasteland attire sat atop her motorbike, loading her firearm as she growled. “Fuck me sideways. Is this Hell or something?” Laika didn’t feel the curse course through her veins anymore, but she didn’t feel dead. If anything, she felt like she always had before the end of her adventure.

The promise of a wish had caused her ears to perk up. If that was true…then maybe she could provide a better life for Puppy than just ensuring the fall of the empire that had tormented the wastelands.

Her eyes fell on the flying human in the dark blue spandex and goggled mask, who then looked her in the eye. “Damn it. Can’t I go through one day where some shit doesn’t happen to me?” He grumbled, as this wasn’t the first time he had to endure alternate universe shenanigans. “Wait a minute. Is that a dog on a bike? Not the weirdest thing I’ve seen, but-“

“Says the hairless jackass in the stupid costume.” Laika tersely replied before revving up her bike. A part of her wanted to continue ignoring everybody, but she then remembered her options when it came to the whole wish.

Either annihilate everybody here, risking running into too many enemies for even the warrior coyote anthro to handle…or maybe get some help to face the source of the disaster here?

“You can fight, right?” Laika asked. “And you clearly wanna go home?”

“Pretty much.” Floating down, Invincible suddenly caught the fiery fist of Brad, which nearly struck the coyote anthro. “Hey! We’re all prisoners here! Put those fists away!”

“You’re in my way. You all are.” Brad gruffly responded, a baseball bat then striking his shoulder and causing him to grunt before lunging back at Jacket, the two getting into a scuffle that resulted in them rolling around.

“Fuck this shit.” Laika growled. “If you really are a friend, then you’d better duck.” She said before firing at the duo, forcing Mark to dodge.

The box would end up shaking with the activity of the group, even as it started to open…

 

Team #7: Fax5

 

“Okay, round…I forget.” Yang Xiao Long sighed, clenching a fist as she prepared herself for whatever Arena would happen this time around. “I’d say I was getting bored, but since the others weren’t worried when I got back…is time just frozen while I’m here? I still would like a head’s up before I’m sent here!”

Out of curiosity, she looked around to see who else had been sent here. Her eyes fell upon a shortstack ebony-skinned figure with shadowy energy emanating from around her, the only cover she had being a crude Pikachu-like cloak. “…” The Mimikyu anthro didn’t speak, merely moving around like a marionette on a string.

Despite the foreboding appearance of the being, Yang drew closer. “Sooooo…friends?” She hoped, causing the shorter being to look up at her.

“…” Something about the golden hair of the other one caused the Mimikyu to nuzzle against the other’s leg, her covered breasts mashing against the thigh-meat.

“Oh! Perfect! A little handsy, but perfect!”

“What?! Where am I?! Where are my nymphs?! Who dares?!” A woman with long purple hair ending in a braid and wearing a sleek Greek-style gown shouted, her fingers crackling with powerful transforming magic. She then looked to Yang. “You! You speak casually despite our imprisonment. Why so?”

“I’ve…kind of been here several times. I know this is kind of scary and there’s gonna be a LOT of fighting later on-“

“So, whoever sent us here has done so other times? They made a mistake to send Circe here!” She declared before her expression softened. “Shocking as this is, I am not without mercy. If I remember correctly, there is an evil here that must be purged. A false god, even.”

“…” Mimikyu tilted her head at the goddess, causing her to look down.

“I think one of my nymphs drew a creature resembling you the other day. Just as adorable, too.” She cheerfully said.

“Sacre bleur…where did I end up now?” A black-on-red-eyed man in a long-coat wondered, carrying around some cards and a staff. “I only drank one bottle of booze. What do they put in that stuff these days?”

Due to bad past experiences with men, Circe raised her hand. “That’s an unusual power I sense from you. Are you friend or foe?”

“Mon ami, I could say the same thing.” He gave a confident smirk. “Name’s Gambit. Now, how can the King of Thieves help you?” He spun around his bo-staff, eventually resting it against his shoulders.

The box started to open, getting everybody’s attention. “Does anybody else hear…buzzing?” Yang wondered.

 

Team #8: GenericoThrown

 

The Super Tactical Droid known as Kraken had been rebuilt many times while assisting the Separatists, but the last time it happened seemed ‘final’ to him…only for him to find himself standing here, surrounded by unfamiliar machines. “Mission objective clear: eliminate unneeded obstructions to finalization of game.”

“We agree with this sentiment, though an alliance would be preferable.” A strange robotic being known as a Geth stepped forward, a futuristic sniper rifle carried in his hands. “We do not know how we function again, but we are grateful for this second chance at life.”

“It is an interesting query.” Kraken admitted. “You are no droid, though. I do not have any record of your model in my database.”

“We are no mere droid. We are Legion. We seek to return to our world and reunite with those designated as ‘friends’.”

“Our goals, for the most part, align. We both seek escape. We will achieve this through battle strategy and working together until it is no longer necessary.” Kraken said honestly. “After that, there is a non-zero chance we may come to blows with each-other or the other two robotic being detected.”

They turned to one of the duo, this one being a large bright-blue Camien with a bulky build mostly based on a motorbike and a large hammer/spear combo in her hands. “Okay. Where in the name of Solus Prime am I?” Chromia then looked to the other two. “And what are you two looking at?”

“Hostility must decrease if we are to maximize our chances of success. Hello. That is a proper greeting term for meeting new people.” Legion waved.

‘Wow. And Arcee says I have bad social graces.’ Chromia arched a brow as she thought this, but at least these other smaller robots weren’t hostile.

The other blue robot was looking at herself in astonishment. No longer a Turaga, she had been restored to her Toa Metru form, complete with her original weapons and Mask of Translation. “I almost forgot what it was like to feel like a Toa again. This must be related to that voice…and the evil that it wants me to stop.” She was still wary, but she couldn’t stand idly by while others were in danger.

“Designation?” Kraken wondered.

“I’m Nokama. There’s not much time for introductions, for I think time is running out. Did you also hear a voice-“

“Telling us that there’s something bad going down? Yeah. That one.” Chromia gripped her weapon harder. “Leave it to me. Stand back and I’ll handle everything.”

“Nobody has to face whatever awaits us alone. I may be smaller, but that’s no reason to underestimate me.” Whipping her Hydro Blades out, she saw the door was opening.

“Combat inevitable. Prepare yourselves.” Legion warned, taking aim at whatever awaited them…

 

Team #9: Nighthawk

 

“Wh-wh-what?! Where am I?! Here again?!” Sir Pentious panicked, grasping his hat as it also looked around frantically, remembering this place. “Oh, bollocksssss! On one hand, absssssolute sssssucesss! On the other…PAINFUL AGONIZING FAILURE!”

“What an interesting creature you are. So dead, yet so alive.” A creepy pale-skinned snake-eyed man walked towards him, causing the taller snake-like one to reel back, as if detecting the levels of malice from this guy. “I may have discovered immortality, but you…it must be flowing through your very blood!”

“Um…thank you? I guess?” Pentious chuckled nervously, only to back into a massive pair of breasts, all hidden behind a ninja outfit.

“Huh? Oh, hi! I was zoning out for a sssssecond! What were we doing again?” Sanaki Koga wondered, the rattlesnake anthro giggling when she saw that the flustered cobra demon’s head was trapped between her impressive bust. “It’ssss not often I meet another ssssnake! Nice to meet you!”

“Nice…to meet you, too…” Pentious was blushing hotly, his tail-tip waving around while steam rose from his hat’s cheeks. “Could you tell the creepy sssstranger over there to keep hissss disssstane?”

Orochimaru observed this with amusement. “So, I find myself practically in a serpent’s den? A fitting fate for me, but make no mistake. I am the most powerful serpent around here.” A white-scaled serpent emerged from his sleeve, the viper letting out a loud hiss at the duo.

Shaking her rattle instinctively, Sanaki kept Pentious close. “Easy there! I don’t wanna fight, but I will if I have to!”

“Why don’t we just…relax or something?” A seemingly perpetually drunk woman with green hair and a white/gold cape wandered in, chewing on an apple and furthering how utterly smashed she was. “Like you said! Us snakes stick together or something!” Her head rested against the thigh of Sanaki, snuggling against it. “Scales like pillows…sweet.”

The ninja enjoyed the attention, giving a cute smile as her forked tongue flicked. “I’m alwayssss happy to make new friendsssss! What’sss your name?” She asked.

“H-huh? Nidhoggr…at your service or whatever!” She raised a hand dramatically before standing up “And…I totally forgot while I was here. You guys don’t mind if I stick around? I’m kinda lost…”

“Then let me provide guidance.” Orochimaru proposed. “If nothing else, observing what goes on in other universes should prove…amusing.”

“Nah. I’m following the snake with the stupid hat.”

“HEY!” Removing himself from Sanaki’s breasts, Pentious pointed at the drunk one. “Lissssten here, missssssy! My hat is NOT sssssstupid! Is that clear?!”

Nidhoggr’s eyes glowed pink as she nearly entered her beast form, anger flooding her. “You really think it’s a smart move to speak to me like that, punk?!”

“Um, guysss…” Sanaki poked the green-haired one’s shoulder, given that the door was starting to open.

 

Team #10: Chianticat

 

“So, here I am again.” Jedah Dohma said, floating in the middle of the box as he rubbed his chin. “The chance to gain a wish, but through two means this time. Either I purge this land of whatever ails it…or I just destroy every other being that’s been sent here.”

“And which option will you take?” A cybernetic crocodile by the name of Latch wondered, his mechanical claws flexing as he readied himself for any hostility.

A smart move, as the demonic being flung his very wings like a spinning scythe, nearly slicing through the ground and forcing Latch to bound against the wall, avoiding the hit. “I prefer the more expedient option. Don’t take it personally. I just have NO intention of waiting for a new age for my world!”

He tried to lunge at the crocodilian one, but a trident nearly skewered his body when it thrusted towards him, forcing him to back off. “But must that new world begin in blood?!” The Zora Champion of one of the many alternate version of Hyrule, Mipha, questioned. “I know not who you are, but we were given the option to escape by ALSO saving this world instead of fighting each-other!”

“You seem to possess a noble heart. Do not despair. Your demise will be one of the building blocks of the future of my world. Your soul must taste delightful, too.” Jedah licked his lips, clearly relishing the havoc about to come.

“I don’t think negotiations are gonna work.” Latch warned. “The option left is combat. Just the way I like it.” He gave a slight smirk.

Sighing, Mipha stood by his side. “Fine. If it’s a fight you want…I will have no choice but to bring it to you.” She swung around her trident, creating sparks against the ground.

Hiding in the corner during all of this was the slightly sinister secretary Nastasia, the woman assessing what was happening as she adjusted her glasses. “Memo to me: survive as long as I can until I can get that wish. It’s about time Nastasia Inc. becomes a reality. The reward of this ‘game’ should expedite that.”

She was pacing around while saying that as a massive wave of water rushed through the box, forcing her to swim to the surface. “ACK! What the?!” She frantically kept her glasses on, while Jedah found himself having to swim through the waterlogged box while ALSO avoiding the diving strikes of Latch and Mipha (the one who caused this).

A watery grave wasn’t about to become the fate of any combatant here, as the doors began to open, causing the water to rush out with the combatants arriving with it…

 

Team #11: Snivygreen22

 

The scent of poison filled this entire box, given the shared power-set of the combatants within. Among them was Glory, the Rainwing Queen of the Dragonets. She considered changing colors to turn invisible in order to properly get a handle of things upon being teleported here.

But that plan went ‘bang’ when a chameleon-like bird-wyvern got in her face, its bulging eyes darting around as it assessed if the anthro Rainwing was a threat or not. “Can I help you?” She awkwardly asked, not sure if this strange dragon-like beast was friend or foe.

Likewise, the Pukei-Pukei may have been in a ticked-off mood, but the fact that this creature looked like an Elder Dragon kept it from attacking. Tilting its head, its attention was then lost when it saw a sleeping amphibious Pokemon laying around.

This Clodsire yawned before returning to his nap, only to realize the mud around him was gone, causing him to let out a gasp of surprise. Looking frantically around, he was then greeted by the Pukei-Pukei, the beast licking against his body before reeling the tongue back due to how much mud was on there.

Rolling around, the somewhat lazy Clodsire tried to return to his nap, his legs waddling around as he was knocked onto his back. “Did whoever capture me think I was some kind of animal to be put in a cage?!” She started to get angry, her claws digging into the ground as venom pooled around her fangs.

The many years of being queen kept her from losing her cool too much, as she continued to assess her environment. “You’re a funny-looking creature. You have some very pretty poisons from your teeth, too.”

The other surprise that awaited Glory was a small blonde doll in a red/black dress. Her appearance may have looked innocent, but the Rainwing was floored by how much poison was covering the doll’s frame, despite it being invisible to the naked eye. ‘How is this the creature that’s terrifying me the most?’ She thought.

“Your venom…it smells like it can melt through skin and permanently blind. Like a combination of a powerful acid and a cobra’s venom. It may not be a poison, but it’s still fascinating.” Medicine Melancholy floated over to the Clodsire. “And you have some very nice venomous spikes deep within you. I hope to see them soon.”

“…” The Clodsire said nothing, merely getting back on his belly before waddling away.

The last person the living doll yokai got up to was the Pukei-Pukei, the bird wyvern letting out a warning bellow, as it thought of humans (or anything resembling them) as a threat. “I know your paid, my fellow poisonous being.” The doll’s eyes glowed brightly. “I may be trying to understand humanity…but I can’t deny that I want them to choke on so many poisons. So so so so so so many poisons…”

‘Backing away slowly…’ Glory saw that the door was opening up, but she could hear conflict happening outside, causing her scales to slowly shift to colors that better kept her hidden from sight. ‘And today was starting out so boringly. Can it go back to that now?’

 

Team #12: Malice

 

Once more, the Prince of all Saiyans had found himself in the Arena, his arms crossed as the box descended down. “Hmph. This is a waste of my time, but I’ll partake in this once more.”

“Once more? You've been through this before?" The ruler of the Fire Nation and ex-exile, Zuko, wondered, rubbing his head after landing in this location. "Do you know anything about defeating this 'evil god'?"

“What? That ‘god’ that’s said to dwell here? Maybe it’ll provide a decent challenge.” Vegeta stated.

“And what about those that might be suffering under it?” Zuko asked a bit more pointedly.

“I’ve never been one for heroics. That might be more your thing.” Ignoring the firebender, Vegeta was nearly blitzed by overly large bells attached to a red/black cap. “Gah!”

“Whoopsie!” Doing a flip in the air, the maniacal harlequin with a heart-of-gold, Harley Quinn, made herself known. “Hiya! I’ll have a cheeseburger, a tuna sandwich, an ice cream from a machine that hopefully doesn’t break down-“

“What are you babbling about, clown?!” Vegeta demanded.

“Oh! Whoopsie again! I saw that large ‘M’ on your forehead and thought you worked for MacDonalds!”

“Large what?!” His eye twitching after hearing that comment about his absurd hairline, Vegeta clenched his fist before calming. “No. I know better than to fight against a comic relief character.” He shuddered at the memory of his fight with Arale.

While watching this bizarre scene, Zuko swore that an Earthbender was in their mist when he saw a torrent of sand move into the gourd of the fourth combatant. Standing before him was a pale-skinned redhead with a rather hollow look in his eyes. “If killing is what’s needed to win this fight…I’ll reserve that rage for whatever is responsible for this calamity.”

“…good to know we’re on the same page.” Zuko took a page from Aang’s book, offering his hand.

Awkwardly, Gaara shook it as well. “If your intentions are true, then it would be best to get behind me. Our enemies will see no mercy from me and what I do to my enemies…is not for the faint of heart.” He demonstrated this by conjuring some sand from his gourd, using it to crush one of Harley’s bells.

“HEY! That wasn’t cheap, Sandy!” Harley shouted.

“I prefer side-by-side.” Zuko said, conjuring a flame in his hand. “The way this is seemingly going, it’ll be better if we combine our skills. Earth and fire…what a combination it is.”

“Perhaps.” Gaara nodded, while Vegeta saw that the door was opening.

Reflected in his eyes, he saw an army. An army of metal jaws and ravenous hunger…

The stage was set. Currently, the last bastion of society during the Radiance’s attack, Dirtmouth, was under siege by an army of clones. Clones of the trio that had invaded their home for the purpose of fulfilling The Ravenous’ mission…as well as their own purposes.

There were three types of clones, all designed to feed and convert whatever they ate into energon cubes for their evil creators. All were maintained by the energy beams of the leader of this trio, all composed of scrap repurposed into their creation.

These mechanical forces included the Red/Yellow Rhinoceras Beetle drones (Salvos), the red/black Stag Beetle drones (Zaptraps), and the green/red Locust drones (Shotholes (yes, really)). All came in the hundreds, devouring all in their path…living or otherwise.

And, now, 48 new snacks had arrived, attracting them to the very center of town as the citizens ran for their lives.

3...

...2...

...1...

FREE HALLOWNEST FROM ITS DISASTER!

 

PART 2: A Plague of Insecticons

 

This humble town had once been filled with hope when word of how the plague ceased spread. Even through the Pale King remained dead, there was a chance for something new to grow. It would take time, but this town (and the whole of Hallownest by extension) was soon to heal.

Not this time. People hid in their homes as they tried to keep themselves away from not only the maddened insects that prowled the outside, but also the mechanical monsters that were swarming all over the place as a result of the boxes that had fallen down and unleashed new visitors unto the place.

 

(Kickback-Transformers: Devastation)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k44o6z9fSD0

 

Instant chaos transpired, the combatants finding themselves in the middle of a near-desolate land with so many of the flying monsters circling around. Lightning bolts crashed down as a result of the Zaptraps, explosive shells rained down due to the Salvos, and the Shotholes were moving in to kick them into dust.

The box containing Sir Pentious’ group was kicked down by a Shothole, the legs sending it flying into the air and the snake demon crashing into the dirt. “OOF!” He cried out, a Shothole now bearing down on him with hungry mandibles. “HAVE MERCY!”

“HI-YA!” With a swing of her rattle, Sanaki put enough of a dent in the Insecticlone to reduce it to scrap. Hoisting the demon over her shoulder, she used her tail like a sproing, putting even the jumps of the grasshopper-like robots to shame. “You guys gonna follow?”

BANG! BANG!

Orochimaru and Nidhoggr found themselves receiving grievous injuries thanks to the efforts of Blitzo, the imp running around while firing madly. “AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!” He looked like he had completely lost it, continuing to flail around while occasionally getting lucky and taking out a few of the clones.

Grunting, the corrupt immortality seeker got up, only for a series of Salvos to fire explosive shells at him. He turned his arm into a series of snakes, but the amount of explosions was too much, the clones leaving nothing to chance as he was reduced to ash.

Those same clones were suddenly skewered when a glowing pink serpent’s tail emerged from the ground, as Nidhoggr had entered her beast form. Her side bled from the bullet, but she fought through the pain, trying to take as many of the robot menaces as she could. “I won’t…freaking die here…because of…BUGS!”

She tried to lunge again, but the Zaptraps swarmed in, shocking her to the ground before she too fell before their forces. It was during these lightning strikes that so many poor bugs struggled to get out of the way, with a pillbug finding itself facing the hungry mandibles of a Zaptrap.

That fiend was punched directly in the face by Yang, her fist burning hot as the metal around the clone literally melted before the rest of the clone came apart. “You okay?” She asked.

“EEP! Monster!” He cried out. “But you’re a very nice monster.”

“Monster? Me?” Yang arched a brow.

Circe arrived with the others of the team, her hands brimming with transforming power that she used to turn the clones into (instead of scrap) empty insect carapaces. The Mimikyu formed giant shadowy hands around her arms, slapping several robot bugs from the sky.

 “What are these creatures?! Mortal constructs with the powers of the gods, including Zeus himself?!” Circe wondered, while the Mimikyu slunk back behind Yang after several lightning strikes from the Zaptraps crashed nearly her location.

“I’ve got something better than thunder and lightning for them!” Gambit shouted, flinging his energy-charged cards at some incoming Shotholes, destroying them with ease. Still, for every Insecticlone they destroyed, it seemed like many more would take their place, forcing them to retreat while still fighting with all their might.

It wasn’t just the clones they had to worry about. Yang had taken the lead, but Kraken rammed through the wall with his fist, grabbing her head and throwing her to the ground. “You go no further. All enemies to my path will be eliminated.”

“Says you, tin man!” Avoiding another hit from the powerful droid, Yang used her own robotic arm to punch him hard enough to send him spinning into the path of a flying Zaptrap. The mandibles clenched around his body, but he was strong enough to pry them open, leading to him punching a hole through the circuitry of the Insecticlone.

He fell right atop Glory while she flew around, the lack of sunlight draining her stamina. “Get off me!” She roared, trying to fly into the nearest wall before she found herself pinned by a Shothole, the Locust-like being trying to bite into her neck.

Kraken was pinned by that crash, damaging his systems before he fell to the ground (injured, but functional), the dragon tackling the clone down before biting into its head, ripping it off before using her camouflage to escape the detection of more passing clones.

Sailor Mercury created a shield of bubbles around herself and Annie, while also waving her staff to send the water out at the incoming foes while it slowly turned to ice. That caused them to be skewered by the crystals, while Annie charged with her blade.

“This is how a pro does it!” She exclaimed, only for a massive hammer made of pure evil to slam onto her, smashing her into a literal pancake. “I’ve been through worse.” She mumbled, only for a group of Salvos to rush to her location, chomping at her like a cookie before only her sword remained.

“NO!” Mercury shouted, before the hammer’s creator revealed himself.

Aku rose above the whole town, laughing cruelly. “HA HA HAAAAA! Look at all you pathetic insects. I remember when my scientists used to make these for me, but with much less garish color schemes!” He swept many away with his hand, but a series of punches from Asura crashed into his face, sending him toppling down.

“GAH! Can’t I ever be rid of you, pathetic worm?!” He shouted, but the punches kept coming, breaking his teeth and even burning through his very essence.

Asura wouldn’t stop with his attack, but the end of it would come when several more of the Insecticlones rushed to his location, a vast majority swarming around him while pushing him into the ground. It got so bad that they even went through the very ground itself, burning a new entrance into various other spots in Hallownest.

Where they went, nobody knew, but nobody would ever see the clones or even Asura himself again throughout the Arena. Did he die? Simply get sent to such a faraway place in Hallownest that he might as well have been eliminated?

Those questions aside, the Pukei-Pukei was running for its life, finding this situation far too stressful. Even the poison clouds that it made weren’t doing much to dissuade the robotic fiends. Thus, it focused more on escape, while the Clodsire thought of a similar plan, burying through a soft section of the ground to seek safety.

One member of their team that was certainly bringing a world of hurt against the machines was Medicine Melancholy. Despite her poisons having no effects, it didn’t mean that the concentrated balls of pure malice she was creating from her very aura weren’t turning the sky into a danger zone for the robotic fiends.

However, where once she was able to generate this until being dealt a significant amount of damage, she was finding herself unable to keep this attack up for another reason. “My poisons are not enough?! And my hatred isn’t that great?! Curse my longing for understanding! Why must it betray me so?!” She yelled.

She nearly got attacked by an attacking group of Salvos, but a monstrous multi-eyed dog-like creature bit down on them, shredding them into scrap while the originator took aim at several more of the fiends. “Careful where you float around! This is no place for a little girl!” Alucard cheerfully warned.

A Zaptrap tried to clamp its mandibles around him, but he just grabbed one mandible and crushed it into ruined metal, flinging the bug into a nearby building where it collapsed into scrap. Following the sound of an escaping horde, Alucard gleefully chased after them, perhaps with the idea of also meeting their creators in order to win this game soon.

Meanwhile, Revy took cover while several bugs hid next to her, shivering while a Shothole clone sought new food. “What can the armorless creature do? They’ll tear us all apart!” One citizen despaired.

“Stop your crying, watch, and fucking learn.” Revy grunted before leaping into the back of that Shothole, the monster trying to buck her off by jumping around. “Call me the fucking exterminator, because you’re all going down!” She shouted, managing to shoot the creature in the head while it was midflight.

It exploded into scrap, sending her falling down, but she found herself caught by Invincible, the hero having punched his way through an entire horde of the attacking fiends. “Need a hand?” He awkwardly said, only to get sucker-punched in the face while they were near ground. “What was that for?!”

“For the save, you get a minute head-start.” She grunted. “Now, fly away before I change my mind!”

“Geez. Fine.” He huffed, flying through the village while memories of Thraxa came to his mind. If there was any comfort, it’s that there weren’t any enemy Viltrumites this time around. There WERE, however, lightning bolts from the sky, given that the Zaptraps were focusing on him now.

Much of them would be annihilated when Vegeta crashed into their ranks, firing a stream of random energy balls from his hands (the famed ‘Vegeta’s Technique’, as some called it). ‘Was that Kakarot’s kid wearing another stupid costume?’ He wondered, watching Invincible continuing to fly off.

He didn’t have time to think about that, as Aku rose from the ground as a large serpentine beast, clamping his jaws around the Saiyan before diving into a nearby crack, dragging them both down into the deeper parts of Hallownest. The vanishing of two of their most powerful foes allowed the rest of the Insecticlones to swarm further.

Left to their own devices, Crona let Ragnarök call the shots in their efforts to survive. “I don’t know how to deal with all of this…but you do.”

“No shit! Now, let’s tears these beetle borgs up!” The shadowy being formed into a mace, smashing through an unfortunate Salvo when it tried to attack them.

Nokama sliced through the head of an attacking Shothole, her mask glowing as he attempted to read the thoughts of the beasts. “Hey! Get on!” Chromia shouted, already in her cybertronian motorbike mode.

Jumping out of the way of several Zaptrap bolts, the Toa stood atop the rushing motorbike, spreading her arms out to make sure her hooks hit the fiends that flew past her. “I tried to read their thoughts, but all I see is…hunger.”

“Don’t bother! I know these things! These ‘Insecticons’ were supposed to be a Cybertronian myth. With how much of an infestion they’re being here, I kind of wish that was the case.”

“Real or not, they pose a threat to the people here! We must-“ SMASH!

Before Chromia realized what was happening, Nokama was smashed into two pieces when Ragnarök send out pieces of himself to spear into the clones, the result also being Chromia skidding on the ground before crashing into a nearby building. She would survive, but she would be missing an ally.

Jedah, so focused on eliminating as many as he could, ignored the robotic foes, though that didn’t stop him from slicing many into scrap if they got in his way. Right now, he had used his mastery of blood magic to form a fist that grabbed Vriska. “8H FUCK!” She cried out, before getting slammed into the ground repeatedly.

Finishing her off through beheading by way of his bladed wings, Jedah also found himself attacked by Mipha once more, a wave of water crashing into his being and pinning him to the ground. “The evil hordes are already bad, but I won’t let YOU contribute to this place’s hurt!”

“Your compassion is misplaced! In a game like this, it’s kill or be killed! Such a shame you don’t understand!” Jedah exclaimed. “Just look!” He pointed to where Legion was fruitlessly firing upon a rampaging Audra.

Having been spooked by the constant noise and chaos around her, the Behemoth anthro had seemingly reverted back to her basic instincts, charging through many unfortunate clones and even casting a few Meteors and Thunderbolts during her charge.

Sensing her as a threat, the Geth had attempted to slow her down with a few warning shots from their blaster, but all those did was serve to anger her further, leading to the machine getting skewered by her horn. Bucking them at several points, Audra tore the robot in half, stomping on the pieces before using her tail to smash an attacking Shothole.

“Brutal as this is, we can end this by attacking the source! Why add to the carnage?!” Mipha wondered, keeping the demon at bay with her trident and even a few burst of water she summoned from the ground.

Slicing through one of those water pillars, Jedah grabbed her by the neck, lifting her up. “If you truly hate this violence…allow me to grant you peace!” He flew towards an incoming Zaptrap, throwing her directly into its path and causing an explosion of electricity and scrap that fried her to a crisp in an instant.

As if fate was punishing him for that callous act, a blue blur smashed into him from the ashes, spin-dashing into his body at several points before crashing down, spinning him into the ground before flying off. “Pretty rotten move there, Dracula!” Sonic stated, dusting off his hands. “Catch you later! I’ve got a town to save!”

Zooming past the mayhem around him, Sonic also noticed how several of the Insecticlones were getting fired upon by electric quills, causing many to lose control of their flight capabilities and crash into the ground/each-other. “I’m helping! See?! If you can be brave, so can I!” The Herissmon rolled up to zap forth and try to follow his new idol.

Slowing down, Sonic helped him onto his shoulder. ‘A hedgehog that can use electricity? Sure glad he’s not that Sonichu guy.’ He thought to himself before picking up the pace. “Hold on tight! It’s gonna be a bumpy ride!” He warned, especially as several Salvos fired explosive shells at him, cratering parts of the ground.

Another conflict was taking place near those fiery craters, with Velora biting down on the hand-spear that Scorpion tried to use on her. “C’MERE!” She roared, pulling him in before slamming her tail down on the wraith. “Cheap trick you tried to pull, but it won’t work on me!”

Removing his mask, Scorpion revealed a skeletal visage, flames burning around the skull before he opened his mouth, sending a torrent of fire at the megalodon anthro point-blank. She roared in pain and fury, but she still managed to bite down on him, not that it stopped him from continuing to breath fire, even directly into her interior.

The resulting explosion resulting in a lot of cooked shark flying everywhere, though Scorpion himself did not survive this move either, as his scorched bones also flew around. Claire Higsby was there to witness the aftermath, wincing at this while trying to use her shield spells to stop the incoming Salvo attacks.

Two of those Salvos were crushed when two of the combatants arrived on motorbikes. Both Laika and Kamen Rider Kuuga had hit the scene, with the coyote anthro looking to her left to see the warrior. He just gave her a thumbs-up. She almost said a sarcastic comment, but the sheer genuineness of that action gave her pause.

‘Poor kid. He’d better watch out before-‘ Too late. That bike was destroyed by Vilgax’ eye beams, the explosion sending the rider flying before the Swarmlord stabbed all four blades into his body, breaking his belt and causing him to revert back to normal in his dying moments.

Cursing herself for doing what she was about to do when safety seemed only a few feet away, Laika turned around to rush towards the Tyranid monstrosity, leaping over him while also making sure her back wheel ground against his face, blinding him before he tried to slash at her, only to accidentally slice off Vilgax’s arm.

“You fool! Watch where you swing those!” The Chimera Sui Generis angrily said, tentacles growing in the place of his stump. The Swarmlord growled in response, before the duo faced against more of the clones.

Some Shotholes found themselves falling from the sky as pillars of sand and fire either incinerated them or ruined their flying so much that they crashed down. “Who would invent such monsters?!” Zuko wondered.

“Answers for later. For now, I’ll ensure they don’t escape.” The lack of sand in the area was troubling for Gaara, but, so long as he had some spare sand in his gourd, he had just enough to use several of his notable moves, like the Absolute Defense.

Granted, it was much harder to defend against freaking lightning, which pushed him back when some of those bolts struck the ground next to him. “Gaara!” Zuko shouted, creating a fiery barrier to keep some of the Insecticlones out.

The fires rose nearly to the very top of the cavernous area, but the Insecticlones had a strategy for this. Forming into a large ball of metal, they pushed through the fiery barrier, though this had the side-effect of turning them into molten slag. Molten slag that rushed towards the caught-unawares Zuko.

“Oh, no.” He sighed, remembering the last time he perished. This time was no different, as even when he tried to get out of the way, the molten slag still enveloped him, taking him out.

Harley Quinn was happily smashing several of the bugs with her mallet. “SQUISH! SQUASH! Who needs a flyswatter when you’ve got one of these?” She beamed, twirling around while using her very cap and the bells attached as bludgeons.

Even during this battle, a Basky Bug managed to make itself known, biting her right on the ass before she slapped it. “OW! Proboscis off the merchandise!” She blew her tongue out at the thing before a Salvo rammed into her, pushing her through several buildings as it moved further into the deeper reaches of Hallownest.

Nastasia’s heart hammered in her chest, having seen enough mayhem for today. Even her abilities of thought control weren’t working on the robots, for they had no minds to speak of. It was like they were the extensions of another will. A vile cruel will, at that. Three of them, to boot!

“It might be for the best…if I opt for a tactical retreat!” She exclaimed, adjusting her glasses as she made her getaway.

Transforming into his Super-Advanced Mode, Robotboy made short work of the Insecticlones that thought of him as easy prey at a glance. Wordlessly, he rushed at them with glowing sword arms, slicing through their ranks, though eventually being brought down when a bunch of Shotholes crashed into him, burying him through the ground while the Salvos fired explosive shells.

Emerging from the ground, Robotboy was still propelled by the explosions behind him, forcing him to back off for the moment as he fired several plasma shots at the horde, trying to get them away from the town as much as possible.

“Go to blazes, Hasbro!” Stewie shouted as he ran away from several Zaptraps, the creatures so greedy that they considered even a small meal like him worth chasing. He was nearly caught by one of the marauding stag beetle robots, but Latch pounced on the beast, tearing through the circuitry like a ravenous monster.

“Easy prey!” He boasted, chomping down on the scrap metal that remained. “Wait. Are these…hardlight illusions?” He examined the scrap left behind, but he found himself having to use his speed and agility to get away from the attacking swarm, as the Zaptraps now saw him as a MUCH tastier meal.

Brad Armstrong and Jacket had forgotten the beef forming between them, for what was more pressing than a swarm of mechanical monsters that kept trying to eat them? Brad would have taken them all on, but he had watched this battle long enough to see that these things weren’t what he was looking for.

After all, he remembered that, if you want to cripple an insect hive, destroy the queen. He would scour this entire land if it meant finding the source of his problems and destroying it…or taking out the other contestants. Whichever came first.

With Jacket, he definitely had to run. Turns out, a baseball bat can only do so much against a metal monster resembling an insect.

At long last, the combatants had left the area, having set out in search of The Ravenous, had to flee the swarm, or wound up away due to some other reason. While there weren’t as many Insecticlones as before, that didn’t meant that there still weren’t enough to cause the citizens to hide in their homes fearfully.

“And this is why I stay inside.” Confesor Jiji said to herself. Indeed, she stayed out of this whole mess, though she could certainly hear it.

The rest, like the Elderbug could only watch as the Insecticlones surrounded their homes, suddenly stopping. “Dearest…” Iselda held the hands of her lover, Cornifer. “As soon as I open this door, run. I’ll…URG!”

“What’s wrong, my love?” He asked, having gathered his maps already in order to flee alongside his wife.

“This…damned curse…I want to fight, but I’m compelled to run instead! Despicable fate!” She grunted.

“Then maybe we can just stay here? Those monsters are suddenly doing nothing.” Cornifer tried to comfort his beloved the best way he could.

Both froze when they heard much more powerful wingbeats shake the ground and disturb the air. “Maybe because something WORSE is arriving!” Iselda pointed out.

Standing in the center of the wrecked fountain, the Elderbug sat idly, awaiting whatever would come next. “I was foolish to have any hope for this town.” He said to himself. “A threat comes and goes and a new one takes its place.”

This new threat came in the form of three larger versions of each Insecticlone type landing, only they all had the colors of purple, black, and yellow. “Hey! Where’s our food?!” The locust among them, Kickback, yelled.

“At ease, my friend!” Bombshell, the Rhinoceros Beetle of the trio, implored. “The remaining clones will synthesize what they’ve devoured in due time. For now, gaze upon our new territory! Ripe for the taking!”

“And with only these pipsqueaks left to resist, resist.” The leader of the group, the Stag Beetle Insecticon known as Shrapnel, creepily said, suddenly grabbing the Elderbug. “Aren’t you and your friends going to give us a proper welcome, welcome?”

“What do you want?” The old bug wearily sighed. “We are but a dying town only recently recovering from a plague. You would find no use of us.” He tilted his head. “Are you…gods, perchance?”

“How exquisite! They’re so primitive, they think of us as divine!” Bombshell cackled. “Maybe we may not have to mind-control them into obedience after all!”

“You sound disappointed.” Kickback observed.

“You know I love warping minds. Of course, it’s a shame!”

The mandibles on his shoulders sparking with volts, Shrapnel gave a more sinister grin at the elderly bug. “To celebrate our new dominion over this new realm, I think I’ll see how long it takes until this creature fries, fries!”

Slapping the elderly bug out of his leader’s hand, Bombshell crossed his arms. “Forget that. You’ll waste time. Take a look! There used to be more Insecticlones, but I’ve just noticed that a substantial number of them are missing or destroyed!”

Looking to his shoulder, Kickback arched his brow. “Friends of yours caused this?” He asked.

A small diminutive bug revealed himself to have been sitting there the whole time. “The Great Insecti-Knight Zote knows not of anybody that could stand against us! They must have been some really bad clones!”

“TRAITOR!” One bug shouted, shaking his fist before getting crushed by Kickback’s fist.

“It must have been those 48 fools, fools!” Shrapnel rubbed his stomach. “It would explain why I smell all kinds of different scents from several of the energon cubes our clones are creating, creating.”

“Yes….and that means more opportunities for us to win! For us to earn the favor of The Ravenous even more!” Bombshell chuckled, rubbing his hands. “All those new minds…all the ways I can bend and twist them. This is going to be better than I thought!”

“Let’s hurry up! I’m starving and The Ravenous is getting impatient!” Kickback said before turning to Zote. “Ready for greatness, new friend?”

“Of course! My legend will live forever as a great and terrible warrior! Onward, mighty steed!”

“Hey! Remember who calls the shots! I’m more than just a ‘steed’! I’m the mightiest creature this land has ever seen! TRANSFORM! ” Instantly, Kickback transformed into his locust mode, with Zote riding atop him.

“You mean WE are the mightiest creatures this world has seen?! TRANSFORM ! “ Bombshell turned into his Rhinoceros Beetle mode, ready to take to the air alongside the other two of the trio.

 “Yes, yes! Now, to the skies, skies! Let’s devour this world until there’s not even a SPECK of anything left, left! TRANSFORM, transform! “ Shrapnel shifted into his Stag Beetle mode, the four taking to the skies while they traversed the rest of Hallownest, eager to meet these new combatants just so they could feast and conquer some more.

As they flew, a large stag beetle by the name of Old Stag sighed as he observed this from a distance. “What horrible creatures. I can only hope the one I’m looking after doesn’t grow up in an age ruled by them.” He said, scurrying away into the darkness.

He wasn’t the only observer. A small slender masked being clutched her needle, some of her silk also at the ready. “Invaders of the kingdom…desecrators of hope…I’ll see that, before I leave, you are broken by my hand.” Hornet vowed, rushing after both them and whatever amount of Insecticlones were following them.

Notes:

Current Dead:

-Orochimaru, Nidhoggr (Team 9)
-Vriska Serket, Yusuke Godai (Team 2)
-Annie, Asura (Team 5)
-Scorpion (Team 3)
-Nokama, Legion (Team 8)
-Mipha (Team 10)
-Velora (Team 1)
-Zuko (Team 12)

(Edit (6/14/25): Several in the Arena server pointed out several errors that I had fixed, like the fact that Canon Zuko never showed up in the Arena and so forth.

Chapter 2: Day / Night 1

PART 3: Day 1

 

The whole of Hallownest was vast as it was daunting. It had only been a few months since the plague had ceased and things had calmed down. Plague or no plague, however, there were still many dangers that crawled, creeped, and flew through the many underground regions.

The brutal but honorable Mantis tribe? The spiders that were the most affected by The Ravenous’ influence, given their already big emphasis on predation? The flukes near the waterways? The hungry worm-like monsters that circled through several tunnels? All driven to maddening hunger by what was happening.

And that wasn’t even counting the invading Insecticlone army. They were scattered and mindless, but they still caused destruction wherever they went, chewing through the natural resources in order to produce energon cubes for their creators to greedily feast on.

Much like pretty much every other combatant, Invincible had gotten lost in the chaos, flying through various paths that had already been opened by the Hollow Knight that had once traversed this place. Oddly enough, it felt like to him there wasn’t any 3D space. Just straight paths he could move up and down and left and right through.

Whatever that meant, he had found himself the Crystal Peak, where he found himself surrounded by crackling purple crystals. Several poor bugs were wandering the place, overtaken by some of those crystals. The Insecticlones were chewing through some of those crystals, causing further instabilities.

Bolts from the shattered crystal nearly struck him, forcing him to dodge many times, especially as the Zaptraps joined in. “Don’t suppose any of you can give me any directions?” He asked, only for one of the crystals to shatter in front of him, causing bolts to fly everywhere.

Robotboy had entered the fray earlier, but he was struck by one of the bolts, causing him to start malfunctioning. “Invitiating missile attack! Amount?! ALL OF THEM!” He shouted, his eyes sparking and glitching like crazy as he spun around, firing a volley of missiles that caused the place to shake.

The bolts were also causing the Insecticlones to fade away, their connection to Shrapnel and the others getting interrupted. Another bunch of those volts struck the flying hero, causing his suit to ripple and expose a rather chiseled look. “NNNNNGH!” He gritted his teeth, the volts traveling to his cock as the stimulated it.

“Something’s…happening…” He huffed, his muscles getting slightly bigger and more noticeable, while small shards of purple crystal grew in patches around his body, especially his back. “What the…fuuuuuck?!” He moaned, punching the air in an effort to escape the hold.

He was successful, but the crystals around him continued to crackle, bringing him new pleasures and pains he wasn’t aware of. “Gotta…get out of here.” He sped forth through the air once more, followed by the surviving Zaptraps, though those would wind up destroyed in a cave-in caused by the still out-of-control Robotboy.

The robot would survive, blasting his way free while other kinds of havoc happened outside this area.

In the mushroom covered Fungal Wastes, the various fungi-people had started to remain still. Considered more ‘prey’ than ‘predator’ by the Ravenous, they had lost their courage, hiding in the inner reaches of this landscape, while another fight was taking place.

Chroma (while in her motorbike mode) raced alongside Laika, the coyote anthro nearly getting slammed into when she tried to swerve into her. “Well, fuck you too! What gives?!” She shouted.

“Sorry, but I’ll probably get this mission done faster if I deal with anymore hostiles!” Chromia shouted, bouncing on several mushrooms before the two found themselves on a more open path, the fungal folk watching this clash take place before the two motorbikes were facing each-other, a showdown now occurring. “Make your move.”

“…” Growling, the coyote anthro revved up her bike, preparing for one decisive burst. In an instant, the two were racing at each-other, burning rubber and sending mud everywhere as they readied their clash.

But Laika was not one to fight fair. Not when the chance to bring her daughter a better life than the wasteland she lived in had to offer. Aiming her shotgun just right as time seemed to slow, she fired at a chink in Chromia’s armor, forcing her to transform early and causing her to skid against the ground.

Spinning in the air before landing, Laika rushed at her foe once again. Unwilling to give up, even after that strike against her T-Cog, Chromia got out her spear/hammer, swinging it down, but Laika just did a wheelie, slamming her front wheel on the weapon before shooting her foe point-blank in the face.

Wires and energon covered the ground, with the larger Camien falling to the ground, her spark eventually fading before Laika slowed down, panting after that heart-stopping experience. Wordlessly, she kept going, already hearing the sound of Insecticlones getting near.

Near that fight, Audra was crashing through the larger mushrooms, her bulk forcing her to send the stalks crashing down to the ground. The air was thick with an almost aphrodisiac-like stench, causing her to falter a few times.

“M…Moraaaaaa…” She moaned, her tits filling with a great deal of milk as she thought of her beloved. Shaking her head, she stomped her claw against the ground before waving her finned-tail, dispelling the spores and gas.

It was also through this that she discovered the Clodsire from earlier was resting peacefully against the ground, happy to burrow himself into the muddy ground and rest. Pawing at him, she was startled when poisonous spikes revealed themselves, nearly piercing her paw.

“…” Though a bit hungry, she settled for chowing down on some of the mushrooms strewn across the ground, sniffing them for any sign of poison before continuing on her way. This reminded her of her nomadic lifestyle before discovering Las Lindas, so she could remain focused while seeking the formless foe the voice from earlier spoke of.

In a much more morose part of this land, Yang had gotten separated from her group. The ground had proved that unstable that any step could send somebody into a whole different part of the map. This seemingly eternally rain-covered part was her new destination because of that.

Looking around, the melancholy-blue landscape was a sprawling ancient metropolis. Actually, ‘necropolis’ was a more fitting word, given that this ‘City of Tears’ was inhabited by mostly the abandoned exoskeletons of those that had perished as a result of the plague. Those that still remained were either now more secluded than ever or stalking the streets.

“Yeesh. What a dump.” She remarked, but she kept her guard up. The constant rain was making it hard for her to see and there were plenty of places where an enemy could attack using an ambush.

Perhaps that was why Glory thought this was a good chance to hide against one of the buildings, taking on the color of one of the ruined buildings, while stalking the woman. If it meant returning to her kin and friends, she would utilize every dirty trick she knew of. What was dirty to some, however, was basic survival instinct to her, so-

Interrupting that moral quandary, several Salvos burst from the streets, screeching as they began to chew into the buildings, causing one of them to collapse and forcing Glory out of her cover. “Dammit! Fine! I tried the quiet approach! I guess I’ll have to go loud now!” She landed directly into a Salvo, biting into the horn and ripping it off.

Yang was also brought out of her thoughts, punching holes in the hulls of the Insecticlones. Sparks and wires flew as they exploded into scrap from usually just one punch, the connection to their originator in flux.

Things were going good for the huntress until she suddenly felt like one of her arms felt so much lighter. Her pupils thinned as she saw that her mechanical arm was melting into slag, courtesy of some venom fired from Glory’s fangs. She had been aiming at a Salvo, but missed, yet she continued with her fight.

“You…you…” Overcome by memories of losing her original arm, Yang’s eyes glowed hot, one of her punches sending an explosive burst that struck Glory right in the chest.

Sent flying into another building, the Rainwing intended to attack in kind, letting out a hissing roar before she noticed the rubble was starting to float. “Are you doing this, ape?!” She shouted.

“Ape?! I’ll…I’ll…” Leaping into the air, Yang punched directly into the ground, sending more rubble everywhere and nearly striking the dragon once more.

Claire Higsby was traveling through the town, trying to get rid of the Insecticlones in one fell swoop with her magic. “Can’t you make that go any faster?!” Stewie shouted, throwing rocks at some Salvos that were cornering them. A few carnivorous beetle guards were also moving in, clutching their spears as they shouted in madness.

“I’m…trying…” She grunted, her hands glowing with pink magic before one of the Salvos fired some explosive gel from its mouth, knocking them both onto their backs…right as most of the rubble had been lifted into the air, much of it falling down. “Oh, dear.”

“I guess there really won’t be a crossover that tops that one with the Simpsons.” Stewie sardonically bemoaned, the rubble getting closer as the Salvos greedily lunged for them.

SMAAAAASH!

A good section of the City of Tears had been reduced to a bigger mound of rubble, reducing the Insecticlones to lifeless piles of scrap, but, in an ironic twist of fate, Claire and Stewie had perished in one fell swoop.

Smashing through the rubble, Glory flew up, but her wings soon gave out, having been damaged by that. “No more…going loud.” She grunted, hating the state her wings were in. To let out some frustration, as well as make sure there were no opponents that could have survived that, she fired some venom across the rubble, melting it down and encasing whatever was inside in burning oblivion.

A relatively peaceful area of Hallownest was the Fog Canyon, which was filled with floating bubbles, drifting jellyfish-like creatures, and many pools of water that Sonic was trying to leap over along with Herissmon. The Digimon clung to the other’s shoulder, taking in the sights.

“So…where are we going?” Herissmon asked.

“Who knows? All I know is that there’s this bad guy making a mess of things. It’s a thing I do. I’m either going where the wind takes me or kicking bad guy butt.”

“But…isn’t there anything you’re wishing more?” He asked. “I’m not wishing more much. Maybe to be as cool as you?”

“Don’t sweat it, buddy. You’re pretty cool yourself. I don’t know many other hedgehogs that can bring the zap-down to villains.” Sonic encouraged, leaping over some more pits.

Crashing down in front of them was Brad Armstrong, the warrior’s fist lighting on fire before it punched directly into the beast he was on top of. That being the poor Pukei-Pukei.

Its jaw nearly crushed, its tongue wrapped around a nearby jellyfish, bringing it closer so that its tentacles could tangle up the man. “Get…off me…” He grunted, his cold expression belying his brutal determination to make something out of this journey.

So many stinging volts coursed through his body, but he didn’t falter. If anything, he was now unintentionally steering the creature away from the canyon, the jellyfish unable to control the wriggling prey in its grasp.

The Bird Wyvern was injured, but it would live. Giving a slight warbling whimper, it looked to the two hedgehogs, raising its tail in a threatening display so they would back off. “Take it easy! We’re just passing through! Watch!” He then spin-dashed to the space above the draconic creature, confusing it before it looked to the Herissmon.

“…give me a second! I’ve got an idea!” Rolling up into a ball, the Digimon started to imitate the spin-dash near-perfectly, but it felt like a lightning strike when he zapped to the cliff rather than just a dash, fully forcing the Pukei-Pukei to flee.

Hanging from the tentacle of a passing jellyfish was Kraken, his body systems still damaged as he observed this fully. “New strategy formulated: stay clear of any activity. Any resulting confrontation would be…catastrophic to my functionality.”

Within the moss-covered Greenpath, the Mosskin tribe struggled against the influence of The Ravenous. They were usually prey creatures, yet they once defended this path with their lives, attacking anybody and anything that dared step off the path into their turf, while continuing to worship the benevolent and gentle being known as Unn.

Alas, the peace they enjoyed after the plague’s end was interrupted by their desire to hide from the metal monsters munching through their home. A few Shotholes were chasing a few down, the influence of the current evil god keeping them from using their weapons.

“Unn…forgive us!” One shouted, but he would be saved by an unlikely savior.

A series of ki-blasts crashed into the monster’s head, reducing it to scrap as Vegeta emerged from the smoke. “If you don’t want to die, get out of my way!” He shouted in his usually harsh way.

Disgusted at the weakness of the clones, the Saiyan didn’t even spare them a glance as he reduced many of the swarming monsters to slag. Some of the beasts, however, found themselves transforming into mindless metal animal sculptures, more than a few falling to the ground and shattering into nothing. “Hmmm?” The Saiyan arched a brow at this.

Yang’s remaining team had made it here, with Circe using her magic to warp and twist the sparkless metal monsters into harmless inanimate objects. “Perhaps our arrival here is a blessing they hoped for! I try to keep free of mortal affairs, but if it means breaking the machinations of such vile beings…” Circe monologued.

Many more Insecticlones were brought down by Gambit’s playing cards, purple explosions lining the place and nearly setting some of the greenery on fire. “Oops.” He sheepishly said as the melted scrap that used to be a Zaptrap crashed into a bush, forcing the Mimikyu to put it out with a large shadowy hand.

“At least TRY to mitigate the damage! Why don’t you have anything elegant to use against these monstrosities?!” Circe wondered, already on edge ever since Yang’s vanishing.

“Maybe this, mon cheri?” Charging up his bo-staff, Gambit leaped onto one of the Shotholes, the clone jumping right as he slammed his staff into its body, causing it to glitch out and spring towards another clown, the beings falling into scrap.

“Wait! Something dark is coming.” Circe looked back, with the Mimikyu shuddering as it sensed a great deal of that same darkness. Even Vegeta was nearly brought of his boredom when he heard the noises coming from the very border of the Greenpath.

Near a waterfall there, Alucard was having a great time dealing with both Vilgax and the Swarmlord. “What IS this thing?!” The latter roared, his psionic blades failing to strike his foe. If they did, a large multi-eyed shadowy dog-head appeared to counter, biting down on his exoskeleton.

Throwing him to the side, the vampire whipped out his pistols, firing upon the armor of the being. Despite it being tough, the armor began to shatter. “Must I do everything?!” Vilgax shouted, his arm tentacles surging forth.

While Alucard dodged them in another shadowy move, he was then struck through the torso by the eye beams of the Chimera Sui Generis. “I don’t think you quite realize what you’re dealing with.” Alucard’s eyes glowed behind his glasses, TWO of the dog-heads rushing to chomp down on the villains.

Vilgax grabbed the jaws of the first head, splitting it open before he fired his beams again, while the Swarmlord slashed all four his blades, creating four psionic waves that cleaved through the land and the second head. Rubble began to fall around them, forcing Alucard back while the two pursued him, smashing through the rocks in the process.

It was as this fight raged that a band of three warrior brothers took notice. Fighting against the influence of The Ravenous was tough for them, but they could feel themselves regaining their will to fight with each time they saw the combatants unleash their power against the Insecticlones.

The sight of Vegeta tearing through their ranks definitely inspired them, as Nailmaster Sheo felt compelled to draw a scene of him firing those ki blasts through the air like comets through the sky. “Inspiration strike you yet, brother.” Mato asked, his hands trembling around his nail.

“It helps get my mind off things.” Sheo hung his head low, looking at his own trembling hand.

“This is pathetic!” Oro shouted. “I put aside our great grudge with YOU…” He glared at Mato before continuing. “…and I fear to even swing my nail?! And we call ourselves ‘Nailmasters’!”

“Don’t be so pessimistic, my old friend. I can feel my will slowly returning. Just look at those that strange spiky-haired beast unleashes that light from his hands! The way he fights is also worth noting. With just his fists alone, he’s able to smash through steel!”

“Hmph. I could do a much better job. I know I could.” Oro crossed his arms.

“Can we hurry this along? My husband can only wait for so long while I’m on the front lines.” Sheo stated, thinking of the Nailsmith.

Elsewhere, something unusual was happening near the Hive. This was the home of the bees that stuck to their instincts of being loyal to the queen and nothing else, even after her passing AND after the plague had ravaged their ranks. Now, they were aimless, dwelling in their honeycomb as they sought out a new queen.

There were a few candidates, but that ceremony was thoroughly interrupted when the Insecticlones began to storm their hive. Their status as ‘prey’ in the eyes of The Ravenous was actually overridden by their base instincts as drones, allowing them to fight back, sending great numbers of their kin to challenge the metal monsters.

It was a brutal conflict that was thinning out their ranks considerably, but it did meant that the scrap piles that used to be the Insecticlones were growing numerous. There was something else that was happening in this section of Hallownest. Apparently, the honey that the bees produced had ripened into a powerful aphrodisiac.

One that had begun to bubble and then get exposed to the air, destabilizing many of the Insecticlones, but also affecting the great number of combatants that somehow found themselves here. It was one of the deeper areas of the kingdom, so that was quite a feat that they all managed to end up here.

Of course, given that this was the Arena, it was aphrodisiac. A very sweet honey-like type, that is. That made it doubly effective at bringing the ruthless Jedah into a horny frenzy. Of course, that led to a scenario most would have not expected: the demon getting railed by Blitzo after he had presented to him.

His claws gripping into the sticky honeycombs around him, Jedah panted as his body became slick with the honey that descended down, the imp’s cock plunging deep into his anal regions while Blitzo got a taste of that honey as well. It was even sweeter than the honey that Beelzebub had, causing him to become extra horny.

“You’re so…fucking…TIGHT!” Blitzo grunted.

“S-silence…hurry and keep thrusting that…incredible…demonic cock into me!” Losing himself to the pleasure, Jedah laughed maniacally, his own cum splattering his muscular chest while various bladed wings appeared from portals all around, slicing any unfortunate insects that couldn’t fly fast enough out of the way.

In another region of the hive, Revy (having stripped fully nude) found himself in a 69-position with Sailor Mercury, her outfit stained with much of that slick stuff as she felt her underwear get moved to the side, that tongue pushing deep into her vaginal entrance.

‘This feels…familiar…not as beautifu…but familiar…’ Feeling across those muscular thighs reminded Ami of another tomboy that she held closer to her heart. The one they called Sailor Jupiter, that is. Remembering some very passionate moments with her teammate, she began to daintily slurp around that clit, twirling her tongue tip in just the right ways.

That caused Revy to give a muffled moan, her tits standing on end while her pussy squirted a bit more. ‘Fuck! Are nerds the best lays or something?!’ She wondered, remembering her time with Rock. Her thighs gripped around that head harder, her hands gripping around that ass as she began to hump her hips into that face some more.

‘I just…wish she was more…gentle…’ The Sailor Scout sighed as the two wound up coated in more honey, fueling the tongue baths they were giving to each-other’s pussies.

Nastasia was actually managing to stay away from the aphrodisiac, but even she couldn’t help but masturbate as she wandered through the place, her face struggling to maintain its usual coldness. “There’s got to be…an exit somewhere…” Her mind began to take her to much lewder places, like the sight of Count Bleck with a six-pack and sexy saxophone music in the background.

The other couple that had found themselves crashing into this one spot was Sanaki and Sir Pentious. Having fallen into a massive glob of honey that was expelling aphrodisiac gas from its bubbling exterior, the two serpentine ones were filled with so much desire that they lost control to their lusts.

The demonic one of the duo was laying against the ground, his two cocks flexing forth while hearts appeared in his eyes. “C…Cherri…” He started to think of the one he had been in conflict with for so long. In spite of their rivalry, he couldn’t stop thinking about how beautiful she found her. That wonderful smile…that playful attitude…the way she dressed…and-

His thoughts were interrupted as he felt something large and soft land on him. Actually, it was someONE large and soft. Sanaki had sprung onto his body, her outfit having been haphahzardly ripped off by her as she panted heavily, her own lust just as intense.

Pressing her boobs into that mouth, the ninja looked back at those cocks, her tail coiling around the other one while she made sure both girthy cocks were pressed together. “Sssssssorry! I jussssst…need you! I need you nooooooow! Letssss do thisss as a sssssymbol of our new friendsssssship!”

Overcome by the wonderful feeling of his ally’s soft scales and that adorably horny expression on her face, Sir Pentious wrapped his hands around those boobs, his forked tongue slurping around the tits and even gripping onto one of them with the forked tip of that oral organ. “Asssss you wissssssh!” Being no virgin meant that he had at least some experience with lovemaking.

That would explain how masterfully he was moving that tongue around, his tail getting gripped further by the other one before that pussy slammed onto both of his dicks. “OHHHHH! You’re sssssstretching me ssssso goooooood!” Sanaki hissed in bliss, her arms mashing both of her boobs together so her partner could have an easier time tasting the honey off them.

Their lovemaking would shake this portion of the hive, the larger rattlesnake anthro lost in a haze of pleasure while she felt those girthy dicks plunge deep against her womb, her vaginal walls hugging around the cocks as Pentious’ hands traveled to her thighs, lovingly squeezing them as his fangs also teasingly pushed against those tits.

“L-lewd!” To her, the fangs being used in intercourse was a very intimate thing to do, causing her to increase her pace while cumming around those cocks. “Mooooooooore!”

Elsewhere, in the usually peaceful Resting Grounds, Harley was gripping her head as it started to become more muzzle like. “Ow! Oof! Hehehehahahahaha! That tickles!” She giggled, her outfit stretching to the limit as her already athletic form became a bit more muscular.

Spotted blonde fur grew around her form as well, a fluffy tail forming before her legs snapped to a more digitigrade shape. Her teeth sharpened to points, her nails turning into claws. A mane streak of fur ran across her back all the way to her still jester-capped head.

Examining herself against some broken glass, Harley blinked before giving a distinctly hyena-like giggle. “Look out, world! Say hello to HYENA-Quinn!” She chuckled before flexing her muscles. “Croc ain’t got nothing on the new gains too!” She licked her chops, imagining herself and Ivy having a passionate moment with this new form.

But before her mind could wander to Ivy’s vines wrapping her muscular form in bondage and things getting lewd from there, she sniffed the air, her teeth baring before she swung her hammer, managing to strike at the reptilian being that tried to ambush her. “Speakin’ of Croc…” She snarled.

Latch flew back, but landed back on his feet, his mechanical tail having taken a beaten from that strike. “Impressive, but you’re still not getting away!”

“Who’s getting’ away, lizard-lips?!” Harley snapped her jaws in the air. “Didja know that hyena’s can crack bone with their jaws, but go after the soft bits first?! Better cover those areas up when I POUNCE!” She leaped into the air, her hammer slamming down upon where Latch was.

He had dodged, getting on all fours before his tail was suddenly bitten into by those jaws, breaking through the cybernetics with ease. “Tch!” He grabbed a random piece of metal, bent it into a ball shape, ate it, and spat it out in a fiery burst.

“YIPE!” Harley ducked, but her tail got singed in the process. “HEY! That’s so much funnier when it happens to somebody else!” She pinched the flaming tail-tip to put out the fire before she lunged again, pushing the crocodilian through several walls of rubble before they ended up falling through a hole, continuing their fight elsewhere.

Speaking of fights, Jacket was hiding behind the various ruined buildings in the area, but he still wound up in the crosshairs of Medicine Melancholy’s Poison Trap, a series of glowing purple orbs surrounding the whole of the town.

“You could at least talk while I try to kill you, human!” The doll youkai exclaimed, firing yellow orbs of energy from her hands as Jacket rushed through the openings in the larger purple orbs, the energy radiating off them reeking of foul poison. “I’ve compromised! I’ll understand you AND try to kill you!”

Parts of his jacket were soon hit by those yellow orbs, infecting them with a poison that burned away at his skin. Ripping that jacket off, he grunted before a series of sand-created spikes shredded through the ground, nearly getting him, but also dispelling the drap.

Gaara had made himself know, but he was already starting to run out of sand, causing him to become conservative with the stuff. The lack of sand in this underground kingdom was concerning, but he wouldn’t give up so easily just because of that limitation. He said nothing as he used the sand to also tank more of the poisonous blasts.

The doll youkai floated over to where her new foe was, intriguing her. “I should hate you, seeing as you’re human, but…I dunno. I look at you and…I want to understand you more.” The poison aura around her got bigger, her expression looking more frightening but also hollow. “No. I need to win. Kill you. Kill you with poisons of all kinds.”

“Don’t even try. You won’t get-“

“FOOLS!” Aku’s claw emerged from the ground, failing to grasp Medicine Melancholy, but breaking her concentration while his monstrous form rose up. “You didn’t count ol’ Aku out, did you?” He chuckled cruelly. “And what do we have here? A vagrant with strange eyes and a busted-up gourd on his back? Are you lost or something?”

While Jacket took this chance to flee, Gaara merely created a spiraling drill with his sand, sending it hurtling towards the demon. He just shapeshifted into a bat monster, lunging down to strike with this talons.

What followed was the sand moving to cover every single blow, annoying Aku to no end. “You’ll tire soon! Those who challenge my indominable might always do!” He boasted.

“Experience the joy of poisons!” Medicine Melancholy sent spiraling Poison Bullets from her hands, spinning around as they struck into the demonic being.

Looking at himself, Aku began to feel rather sick as the poisons sunk into him, his body trying to absorb them all at once. “I don’t…feel so good…YOU WRETCHED DOLL! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME?!” He roared before covering his mouth, puking his own essence all over the place.

Gaara leaped out of the way, finding it best to avoid this place as it started to get covered in essence that his sand could not dare to harm. “I’ll leave these two to handle each-other. Better my foes are those I can actually harm.”

As for Medicine Melancholy, she was just content to dodge Aku’s attacks while noting the effects her poisons had on her foe, happily humming as she watched him resist, only to get infected by a whole new poison whenever she blasted him with a new Poison Bullet.

Crona watched this all from a distance, looking to Ragnarök. “Can we leave? I don’t know how to deal with this.”

“Nah. Let’s stay and watch! This lower’s getting wrecked by a freaking doll! Just when I think you’re the most pathetic being that’s ever existed, there comes some other guy that surpasses you in pathetic-ness!”

“That’s not a word.” Crona mumbled.

“Whatever.”

 

Part 4: Night 1

 

In this underground area, night and day were meaningless concepts. If a bug felt sleepy, they slept. If a bug didn’t, they sometimes never did. The sun never shined upon Hallownest. Only the natural light of the cave could provide anything resembling a ‘morning’.

Still, sleep would come to some that were finding themselves participating in this Arena. The Green Place proved to be a nice place for Circe to get some winks, resting behind a waterfall while Gambit and Mimikyu stood guard, though the Pokemon anthro had already wandered off.

The King of Thieves would have gone after her, but he was busy keeping his cards close as he considered using them against some passing flying bugs that seemed infected by the predatory madness inflicted by The Ravenous.

This decision would cost the Mimikyu, as, at the very border of the Green Path, she saw a shadowy circle. Drawn to the sheer amount of darkness within it, she peered into its depths…before Aku’s claw closed around her, dragging her down as the rest of the evil essence fled within the cracks, his evil laughter echoing throughout the place.

Back in the Green Path, Vegeta stood atop a broken pile of machinery, kicking away the scrap dismissively. “If I have to scour this entire blasted realm for whatever this ‘Ravenous’ is, so be it. It had better be worth the challenge!”

Zipping through the greenery were red eye beams, which Vegeta was then struck by in the back. “GAH!” He spun through the air before restabilizing himself, powering up before having to block the fist of Vilgax.

Surprised at being stopped mid-punch, the Chimera Sui Generis was then smashed in the face by Vegeta’s kick. The Swarmlord jumped over the tumbling villain, bringing all four blades down. “Hold STILL, human!” The insectoid one missed, but caused a chunk of the Green Path to be cleaved, causing many Mosskin to flee.

“Wrong, you overgrown worm! I’m a SAIYAN!” He drove his fist into the other’s jaw, nearly shattering his teeth before Vilgax joined the fray again, his tentacles wrapping around the others head before he slammed his arm down, cratering the greenery.

“I think I’ve heard of your kin before.” The Chimera Sui Generis stated, his pistons moving into his tentacles to give him more strength. “I’ve never slain one. That changes today!”

Kicked right in the face in retaliation to that first bit, Vegeta suddenly powered up into his Super Saiyan form, the golden light blinding the villain before he was met with a large energy ball. “BIG BANG ATTACK!”

“You fool! GET DOWN!” The Swarmlord tackled his partner, but took the full brunt of the blast, sending his smoking frame into the nearest wall, the duo tumbling down a cliff. “NOT AGAIN!” He roared.

Grumbling, Vegeta powered down, his scowl never leaving his face. “I entered my Super Saiyan state for that? Did they just invite every fool from across the galaxy and beyond?” Not bothering with anymore questions, he yawned, stretching. “That’s it. Imma nap.”

In terms of several of the other combatants, the incident at the Hive had definitely left them tuckered out. Sailor Mercury was cuddling up against Revy’s form, their pussies covered in each-other’s saliva and fresh pussy juice splattered over the honey. “If only I had a smoke…” Revy huffed, staring up at the ceiling.

How many times had she been put through bizarre situation after bizarre situation due to this Arena? At least, this way, something enjoyable happened, even if it was as a result of this ‘horny jelly’, as she called it. Yes, there was the issue that she and the Sailor Scout would probably have to wind up fighting again when they regained their stamina, but, for now…

“Doesn’t matter. Had sex.” She said to herself, while Ami continued to cuddle against her side.

Pentious and Sanaki were definitely out of it, with the bees mustering enough energy to drag them out rather than fight. Still covered in spare honey, their bodies were picked clean of the stuff by the drones. Wrapped in Sanaki’s large coils and especially her large breasts, Pentious snuggled further, even chuckling alongside his partner as they were licked.

Elsewhere there, Pentious’ hat had been turned away from the whole scene, its eye looking around in confusion before a bee politely put it back onto Pentious’ sleeping form.

Blitzo had also left the scene as soon as he left, especially as he saw Jedah floating around the hive as if nothing happened, clothes back on and all. There was a sense that they both knew that each-other was leaving, but, at least for this night, they’d ignore each-other and never speak of what just happened, though there was a noticeable blush on their cheeks as they went their separate ways.

As for Nastasia, she figured the place was a nice safe zone from the Insecticlones, despite how horny this place was making her feel. The aphrodisiac had gone down, though she still avoided the honey so she wouldn’t become as pleasure obsessed as she was during her first visit here.

It was also here that she could think about her plans to create some mind-controlled soldiers, though a part of her wondered if that was really worth the trouble, given that she had no desire to be evil anymore. “Moral dilemmas. I hate them more than Mondays.”

After Aku had left the Resting Grounds, Medicine Melancholy was still residing in the place, keeping everything that happened involving her, her poisons, and the shapeshifting master of darkness to memory as best as she could. “I tried so many poisons today. Today was a good day.” She said, the quiet of the place appealing to her.

The only part that wasn’t quite was where Latch was hurriedly climbing up a cliff, much of his cybernetics showing bite marks. His tail was outright smashed into uselessness. “Sometimes, he who runs away lives to fight another day.” He said to himself, the laughter of Harley Quinn causing him to pick up the pace.

“Oh, well!” The hyena anthro down below shrugged her shoulders. “See you later, alligator…for now!” She didn’t know Jacket was still stalking the area, though he was recuperating for the moment.

In the search for a place to sleep, Gaara had somehow found himself in the Fog Canyon. The peaceful atmosphere of the place was different to what he was used to in the desert, but it would do. There was still the sound of Insecticons prowling through the murkier parts, so he slept with one eye open, his sand ready to tear through the sparkless beings if they tried anything.

It seemed that Kraken was still following his own advice from before, stalking through the place while performing some self-repair. “Warning: Other mechanical lifeform detected.” He scanned his environment, seeing Robotboy fly through the glowing pink landscape with the greatest of ease, even flying through the tentacles of some idle jellyfish.

Despite thinking nothing of the robot at first, he recalculated several times upon seeing ‘THREAT LEVEL: HIGH’ on the screens of each of his three optics. “My data has never been wrong before. This may be no different. Avoid the droid at all costs.”

It was also while he was laying against that trunk that the Pukei-Pukei passed by him, sniffing around him curiously before continuing on its path. The hunger for fruit or anything else appetizing was gnawing at the bird wyvern’s core, causing it to turn slightly aggressive. Not enough to attack the metal being, but enough to make it a bit irritable.

Somewhere on the border of this place, Brad Armstrong had escaped the tentacle prison he was in, only to find himself in a cavity within the underground that housed many Shotholes. They were all consuming all kinds of resources they stole, converting them into energon cubes for their creators to consume.

Grunting, the man cracked his knuckles, having a feeling that, if he was to get ANY answers as to what to do aside from kill every other combatant, he would have to reduce many a metal monster into broken machinery. The fact that he wasn’t really destroying any real ‘life’ and just literal projections eased him into holding NOTHING back.

Speaking of sleep, Sonic and Herrissmon had also found a place to rest in this area, all the excitement having caught up with both. Actually, the Digimon wasn’t too tired, but he was still emulating the one he admired, trying to get some winks as well.

The City of Tears was also rather quiet, aside from the occasional Insecticlone rummaging through the rubble to look for something good to convert into Energon. Glory was keeping herself scarce, wondering if she could keep the stealthy approach this time around. “Those cubes…what purpose do they have?” She wondered upon seeing some energon cubes.

She was further convinced to stay hidden when a Salvo’s head was crushed by the paw of the wandering Audra. Though usually walking as a biped, she had elected to walk on all fours to stalk through the landscape, snarling at any foe that dared show themselves. Atop her head was the Clodsire, the amphibious Pokemon having found a home between her horns.

To the Behemoth anthro, this was a good means of protection AND it made sure she wasn’t totally alone as she traversed this strange new world.

Crona had also fallen asleep while standing up here, Ragnarök having formed an umbrella to keep them out of the rain. He would have made a snarky comment, but he also started to sleep, ignoring how much water was smacking against his form.

This night wasn’t totally free of conflict. For Aku wasn’t done during this night. After defeating the Mimikyu anthro, he had found himself seeping through the cracks close to where the biggest source of darkness was in the deepest part of this kingdom: the Ancient Basin, resting place of the Void and all those sacrificed in the pursuit of the Hollow Knight’s creation,

The shapeshifting master of darkness rubbed his fiery chin hair, not sure what to make of this particular kind of darkness. It was actually off-putting to him. There was a lack of light. A lack of hope. A lack of dreams.

But it was that last bit that puzzled him. It was like he was feeling the essence of nothing at all, yet it existed. It simply was. A living darkness that embodied the Void. In fact, one could call it the Void and be done with it. “Boring.” He dismissed it all, his eyes darting slowly left and right.

“How about we shake things up a notch?” He mockingly told the darkness within the many discarded exoskeletons of the failed Hollow Knights.

Bringing several tendrils into the ceiling, he whipped them around, expecting maybe some Insecticlones to destroy just because he could. Instead, he dragged Alucard and Invincible down, the latter still having crystal growths around him. “You two will do! This time, no tricks! Here, you DIE!”

“I expected ‘pure evil’ to be far less talkative.” Alucard stated, trying to think of a way to stop a creature that couldn’t be harmed through conventional means. Maybe inconvenience, but never harmed.

It would be the half-maddened Invincible that would come up with a solution, his first instinct upon seeing the evil being to rush towards his face. Closing his eyes, he put all of his power into this punch, but Aku didn’t move.

“Oof! You got me!” He mockingly said, falling down with the hero as he fruitlessly punched him in the face, only for said face to keep splitting off, sharp tendrils forming around Aku’s fingers as he prepared to skewer his foe with them.

But the place where he landed would prove to be his undoing. The Void may have been mindless, but it abhorred a vacuum. It sought to spread. To fill in the empty spaces. To it, Aku was such an empty space. Full of mindless evil and even more darkness. Better to make that darkness a part of itself and fill the, well, void.

Thus, shadowy tendrils began to wrap around the whole of Aku’s body, any attempt to escape being pointless due to his own darkness magnetizing to the even stronger void.

“What?! HOW?! This is impossible! I should not be humbled by mere darkness! I AM DARKNESS!” Aku shouted, firing his eye lasers, but to no avail. Invincible was also continuing to punch him, memories of Conquest causing him to stop holding back once more and never stop punching, ruining Aku’s concentration and furthering his descent down.

Alucard watched this passively, as Aku let out several yells of fury while getting his teeth punched, his tendrils rising around before they too were dragged in. “Enjoy the meal.” The vampire king stated before phasing through one of the walls, the other duo finding themselves becoming one with the Void, especially in the case of Aku.

Also near this spot, Zote was finding himself way in over his head, scrambling close to where the palace grounds were, only to be stopped by a very familiar needle surging forth near his cheek.

“Betrayer…fool…and utterly pitiful.” Hornet walked with a tranquil pace towards the terrified bug, her needle gleaming in the pale white light. “Selling out your kin for the sake of power. How does it feel knowing it wasn’t going to be worth it?”

“S-silence, cur! I clearly let you win!” Zote yelled, scared out of his mind, yet he seemed to be deliberately moving towards an open spot in this forbidden place. “None of you fools ever gave me the glory I clearly deserved!”

“Enough of your begging. Have some dignity!” Hornet instantly closed the distance between them with a dash, aiming her needle at the other’s head. “Tell me what you know of these metal monsters and I might consider sparing your life!”

“…” Zote went uncharacteristically silent, glowering at the ground. “You’ll know plenty about them soon enough. We’re about to enter a partnership, my new squire.”

“Your wha-GAH!”

Before she could react, a Cerebro-Shell had embedded itself into the back of her head, causing her to grasp her skull as a jolt rattled across her form. That caused her to go unnatural still. Hurriedly, Zote crawled away from the defeated warrior, panting heavily.

“Good work, best buddy!” Kickback exclaimed, hopping towards the smaller insect. “KICKBACK, TRANFORM! “ Turning into his robot form, he glanced at the warrior. “Not so tough now, are you?”

Gathering his ego back, Zote proudly stood tall. “You missed a magnificent battle! It was so magnificent that I can hardly describe the details!”

“Yeah, yeah, sure.” Kickback’s enthusiasm died before the other two Insecticons arrived, already in their robot forms. “So, what now?”

“Obviously, I have a new toy to play with!” Bombshell rubbed his hands in glee. “And it happens to be the strongest warrior this kingdom has to offer!”

“She doesn’t look so tough, tough.” Shrapnel dismissed. “I could crush this insignificant bug in an instant, instant!”

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that.” With the power of his mind alone, Bombshell caused the spider hybrid to whip her needle forth, stabbing it into the Stag Beetle robot’s chest. Quickly closing the distance, she unleashed the needle in a swirling motion that sliced through the metal with ease, causing energon to fly out and Shrapnel to fall to the ground.

Gathering himself after those blows, Shrapnel put his hands up when that needle was pushed against where his sparkchamber would be. “Looks like that ‘insignificant bug’ showed you what for!” Kicback mocked.

“Nobody asked you, Kicback, Kicback!”

Giggling maniacally, Bombshell leaned into where the mind-controlled one was. “Oh, this is going to be most enjoyable! Mwuahahahahahaha!”

Notes:

Current Dead:

-Orochimaru, Nidhoggr (Team 9)
-Vriska Serket, Yusuke Godai (Team 2)
-Annie, Asura (Team 5)
-Scorpion (Team 3)
-Nokama, Legion (Team 8)
-Mipha (Team 10)
-Velora (Team 1)
-Zuko (Team 12)

And now...

-Chromia (Team 8)
-Stewie Griffin, Claire Higsby (Team 2 IS DEAD!)
-Yang Xiao Long, Mimikyu (Team 7)
-Invincible (Team 6)
-Aku (Team 5)

Chapter 3: Day / Night 2

Part 5: Day 2

 

In the dangerous Mantis Village, the inhabitants followed a strict and brutal warrior’s code. If one didn’t want to wind up a meal for the mantises, they would have to prove their mettle. Otherwise, their doom would be spelled by the battle-hungry residents.

Despite their previous resistance to the Plague due to being more in tune with their primeval instincts, the Mantis Lords were finding it hard not to give into this new infection. Their predatory instincts were coming in full throttle, but their pride allowed them to hold it off once more. Still, time was running out.

The triplet trio of the Mantis Lords were already struggling heavily, slicing into the Insecticlones with more ferocity than normal. Silently, they zoomed across the vertical nature of this section of Hallownest, reducing many of the sparkless beings to scrap.

The Swarmlord had landed in the middle of this place, letting out a roar that shook the whole of the place before he attempted to annihilate the speeding hedgehog mobian fleeing from him. “What sort of creature are you?! In all my years-“

“What?! Never heard of anything like me?! Consider this your crash course!” Slicing through a Salvo, he spin-dashed into the Swarmlord’s face, only for him to be swatted away in an instant. Smashing into the nearest wall, Sonic wiped some blood off his lip. “Huh. Quick on your feet, aren’t you, big guy?”

“Talking in battle…I’m starting to see why you Hive-less creatures do it. Does wonders for stress.” Swarmlord admitted, dragging two of his blades behind him. “Now, prepare to-GAH!”

A series of missiles crashed into his back, causing him to look and see that Robotboy had entered his Super Activated Mode. The missiles didn’t do much against his carapace, but they were soon followed by him firing a laser cannon that sent him hurtling through the ground.

Slicing through the very beams themselves before they could do any damage, the Swarmlord smashed through several houses before jumping up. “Now, little dude!” Sonic shouted to his companion, Herissmon.

The two spin-dashed into the monster’s underside, the Tyranid’s eyes widening as he felt both a mixture of volts and quills tear into his carapace. Robotboy followed that up by spinning down his foot against the monster’s head, nearly breaking his horn before he was sent hurtling towards the deeper parts of Hallownest.

“See you next Fall, mega-bug!” Sonic shouted to the hole left behind by that.

The trio didn’t have long to fight back, as the Mantis Lords suddenly appeared around them, aiming their spears before putting them away. “Can we help you?” Herissmon asked fearfully before trying to regain himself, especially as Robotboy reflexively aimed his blasters at the seeming threats.

“We have felt the call of battle. All of you intruders have felt it. We only wish to fight against whoever wins this seemingly endless melee.” One of the Lords spoke.

“That battle was a delight to watch.” Another said. “It would be a shame to cut it short.”

“But know this! This is an honor not many receive!” The last one said before zipping towards the nearest wall, pinning an unfortunate Shothole against it. “We are also busy. Battle may be our creed, but only a fool fights in a burning house!”

“Plus, we get to fight anyway! Come join us in the dance!” The leader stated before jumping onto a nearby Zaptrap, stabbing her blades into its head before it vanished into scrap.

Watching this fight unfold, Sonic zipped away with his pals while scrap fell around him. “No more wasting time! We’ve got a trouble-making…whatever to deal with! I’m not even sure what this thing’s supposed to look like!”

“The Ravenous? Maybe it’s something…big?”

“That DOES sound like ‘Final Boss’ material! If you see anything, say something!” Sonic suggested, zooming up to escape this part of Hallownest.

Back in the Greenpath, Circe and Gambit were the only ones remaining of their team…except Gambit had suffered a massive BRUH moment and accidentally infused one of the berries he ate with his mutant energy while eating it. Again, BRUH moments didn’t run on logic. They ran on sheer stupidity and enraging plot convenience.

Brought to you by the fact that this is all simulated and, sometimes, we don’t make the rules here. We simply go along with them. But the joy of it all was how those around these moments reacted to them and adjusted!

In Circe’s case, she was no stranger to being alone, her magic being enough to keep the Insecticlones at bay while she bathed in the waters. “Such a pristine world. I can only hope that it is never touched by human hands again…or whatever hands dare to lay on it.” She thought in disgust of whatever had tried to take over the place and devour it.

She was unaware that she was being watched by a familiar ninja and demon snake pair. Sanaki clung to the walls of the ruins, her tail bunched against the wall in case she needed to spring away. Pentious was using a pair of monocles as a telescope, his body firmly embedded in-between her breasts. “Hmmmm…HMMMMM…”

“See anything? You’ve been ‘hmmm’-ing for the passssst five minutesssss.” Sanaki asked innocently, arching a brow before asking another question. “Comfortable?”

“Oh, yesssss. You’re far too kind, Msssss. Koga. Also, you can never be too careful! Back where I come from, there’ssss danger around every corner! You learn it payssss to be paranoid-AGH, WHAT IS THAT?!” He panicked, wriggling in-between that bust before hiding fully within it.

“Eep! You’ll give us away! Time to ssssscram!” She threw a random smoke bomb, nearly alerting Circe to her presence.

It was Vegeta, the man holding Vilgax by his tentacle beard before slamming him down onto the ground, shattering it into rubble. “HALT!” One of the Mosskin shouted, powering through the curse as he approached the Saiyan after leaping from one of the bushes. “You go no further! You will not touch the Lake of Unn or even LOOK upon it!”

“And I should care about this lake ‘why’?” He asked, arching a brow at the much smaller creature.

Several red beams of light singed through the rubble, Vilgax’s hand grabbing the Saiyan’s leg. It extended across that leg further, immobilizing him long enough for those lasers to strike the man right in the chest, burning away some of his outfit and exposing that chest somewhat.

Pushing back in the air, Vegeta powered up, recognizing the tentacled one as a powerful foe. “Didn’t I already show you that it’s pointless to fight me?! You’re not even worth my time!”

“Underestimating me?! You seem eager to die!” Vilgax’s eyes glowed with even more fury, while the Mosskin tried to whack at him with a spear, only to get whacked away by another tentacle.

Not sparing another word, Vegeta zoomed towards his enemy, narrowly dodging the eye beams before grabbing some tentacles, flying right into a wall, and slamming Vilgax’s form against it. Flying back, he unleashed a volley of yellow energy blasts, creating a sizable mountain of rubble that temporarily buried his enemy.

All the while, a certain Mender Bug walked into the scene, looking at the devastation. “What a mess! Not to worry! Nothing will stop me from fixing it!”

“Just for that…you get to live.” The Mosskin warrior sighed, throwing up his hands as the Ravenous’ plague took hold of him with more ease this time.

Meanwhile, in the Fungal Wastes, Audra had returned to feast upon some of the mushrooms, her mouth digging into one of the larger ones while the Clodsire remained on her head. She would occasionally offer some for him, only for him to just give them a lick and a happy waddle of his hands.

“Audra wishes Audra was home.” She mumbled to herself, her ears flicking as she heard some noise near her. The Insecticlones were one thing, but she recognized that step as something more jittery. Having fed upon various creatures before her time in Las Lindas, she had a feel for that sort of thing.

It was Blitzo, the imp looking like he was trying to take a potshot at her head…only to realize he was out of bullets, especially since he had wasted them on wildly trying to hit Insecticlones throughout this whole Arena. “Ah, shit. Well, I guess that’s it.” He grumpily thought, realizing he had no chance against the muscular titan of a woman before him.

“Audra agrees.” Lunging at the strange possum creature, slamming her paw down on him and crushing his bones. Her fin-tail moved to make sure the Clodsire wasn’t looking at this. “Last words? Audra wants to be polite.”

“…same time next episode?” The imp muttered through broken teeth.

“…?” Tilting her head in confusion, she shrugged her shoulders before clamping her jaws on him, devouring him and earning a victory for herself.

Kraken, who was sneaking around the area, tried to retrieve Blitzo's discarded weaponry that fell from the imp's corpse, but Audra's tail slammed down on the pile, forcing the droid to retreat as the Behemoth anthro let out a mighty bellow of victory.

Back in the Resting Grounds, Kickback himself was starting to unearth several of the graves, greedy for more food. “I prefer my prey to be alive, but food that doesn’t bite back has an appeal to it!” He said, still in bug mode while Zote stared uncomfortably at the sight of him devouring lifeless carapaces.

“Um…I hope you enjoy, valiant ally?” He nervously said before poking his shoulder.

“Don’t interrupt me while I eat!” Kickback nearly shattered the bug behind him with a kick before realizing what he was looking at. “That’s just a human doll! Nothing to worry about!”

“I wouldn’t say that. We should leave. NOW.” In an uncharacteristic display of self-preservation, he fled, especially as Medicine Meclanhcoly started to test a new poisonous technique: something akin to acid rain.

What she had done didn’t just cause Kickback to panickily hurry back, almost leaving Zote behind, but it also flushed out several other combatants that had traveled to this location.  The Pukei-Pukei, for instance, almost had its wings burned off by the sudden laser-rain, barreling through the tombstones as it fled for its life.

Nastasia, however, wasn’t so lucky, though it wouldn’t result in her fall. Using some small bat wings, she tried to get away, but they burned away in the rain, resulting in her crash-landing into the exit of the place. Her glasses were broken, but she still adjusted them. “Ow. Damage report?” She asked herself.

In the Royal Waterways, the flukes had started to run wild, attacking even each-other as their hunger for the life-fluids of others became too much to ignore. They spared nothing a thought as they flung themselves everywhere, even into the shadowy form that was Alucard.

“This is proving to be the most eventful walk I’ve had in a while.” He said to himself, especially since it had been more than a few years since the fall of Millennium. He effortlessly cut down their ranks, blasting them into smithereens with his weaponry. No supernatural powers were needed this time, though he showed some wariness around running water.

Vampire, remember?

Jacket and Revy had also found themselves here, but they would soon have an unexpected visitor. Aside from some larger flukes they had to deal with, Glory had also revealed herself from the waters, using her camouflage to grab some flukes and snap some up in her jaws.

The rooster-masked man was smashing flukes away with his baseball bat, with Glory caught with her jaws at several points. “Keep them coming, bird person!” She shouted, no longer using invisibility due to how easy it was to grab food. If she could gather all these dead flukes, she’d have a decent supply of food to keep her going through the Arena.

Revy, on the other hand, saw an opportunity to get rid of some competition. Covered in the remains of flukes and lacking some of her clothes after they got ruined due to all of that honey (exposing everything but her groin), she rushed at the dragon in the waterway, blasting away at the beast. “Gonna turn this thing into a purse!”

“I don’t know what that is…but that was your last mistake!” From her fangs, venom was fired, splashing into that gun and melting it into slag.

“Bitch lizard!” Revy shouted. The only reason she didn’t pursue the Rainwing anthro was because one particularly large fluke had landed on her back, piercing its fangs into it before she smashed it against the wall, eventually having to use a scrap of metal she found to fend off the other smaller beings.

Laika, meanwhile, was traveling along the City of Tears, in awe of all the water falling around her. Not seawater. FRESH water. So much in great supply. She quickly got off her bike, drinking as much as he could. She got out her canteen, making a mental note to travel here more often, despite the confusing layout of this place.

She almost detected the movement of Latch in the waters, the robotic crocodilian’s primeval instincts almost taking over as he gazed at his foe. Just a few more inches and…why was everything getting colder?

His systems began to rust and freeze, his eyes widening before nearly the entire surface turned to ice. It wasn’t like he was trapped, but he was definitely stuck there until the ice eventually melted. Such an event was courtesy of Sailor Mercury, her outfit utterly soaked, but her desire to see justice win not deterred.

She watched as Laika left, the coyote anthro having been too focused on getting water to witness the freezing of her potential enemy. “Have a nice drive.” The Sailor Scout waved before taking shelter, holding her scepter as she thought of the mission at hand. “Think about this rationally. If I was to find this ‘Ravenous’, how would I find it?”

Aside from trails of scrap and signs that the Insecticlones were there, she had no clues. Maybe where there was no conflict? Maybe that’d draw out creatures that could give her some hints? It was a hunch. One based on minimal evidence. She didn’t like that sort of thing, but what other options did she have?

But, within the Crystal Peak, something else was happening. “Oh, this is going to be FUN to watch, watch.” Shrapnel stood alongside Bombshell, the latter of which was directing his mind-controlled minion to deal with an entire group of combatants.

That minion? The noble arachnid/insect hybrid known as Hornet. She could feel every bit of her be moved without input from her mind. In fact, her mind was a haze, barely able to think of much except whatever impulses the Cerebro Shell gave her.

Move. Thrust. Attack. Kill. Praise Bombshell.

If even one of her thoughts managed to surface, it would be of utter HATRED towards the mechanical rhinoceros beetle and his compatriots. The ones who were now having her fight for their amusement.

Anyway, she was jumping from crystal to crystal, her needle shattering Harley’s mallet when it nearly crushed her. “Hey! That was my favorite one!” She shouted, that needle then slicing through the air and cutting off one of her bells. “And that was my favorite bell! I’LL GNAW ON YOUR BONES!”

“Bugs don’t have bones, GENIUS!” Ragnarök shouted, becoming an even bigger mallet as Crona sighed.

“I am a pawn in the game of life.” They sighed, the larger ebony mallet slamming down with enough force to shake the entire room.

Hornet skillfully danced through the slams, avoiding the shockwaves before pausing in mid-air and allowing her needle to fly around, slicing through Ragnarök with little difficulty. “What the?! HOW?!” The weapon shouted, slinking back while Crona gritted her teeth in annoyance.

Lunging past Crona, Harley tried to pounce on her foe, but Hornet caused a strand to appear in the air. One that had spikes attached to the middle. They caught the larger woman in the air, causing her to whimper before she pushed herself off, holding her side. “I thought playin’ all those games late at night would prepare me for this!”

Jumping into the air several times, Hornet tried to impale her foes with her needle, cracking through entire crystal whenever she fell and causing several explosions to result. That scattered the other two fighters, with them unable to see much through the dust.

The controlled bug would have had an easier time moving through the dust and finishing her foes off…had a burning fist not collided with her needle, forcing her to block with it before she was sent flying back. “You’re in my way.” Brad said simply, dusting himself off.

Bombshell gasped upon seeing this. “That’s the human that defeated so many of our Insecticlones!”

“By himself, himself?” Shrapnel wondered.

“YES! Quite the specimen, he is! If I could control him-“

“Interesting equipment, you have.” Jedah floated next to the two Cybertronians, grinning as he generated blood pools on the sides of the walls, monstrous hands made of the stuff rising from them. “But, with my plans, the feeble creations of man only mean anything to me when I must reduce them to nothing.”

“Arrogant demon, demon! Taste the lightning, lightning!” Shrapnel unleashed a volley of volts from his hands, avoiding the bloody hands as the volts crackled across the crystals.

“You fool! You’ll destroy this whole place!” Bombshell shouted. “We must flee! TRANSFORM! “ Much like his compatriot, the beetle robot turned into his robot mode, all fleeing while Jedah chased after them, avoiding the volts.

Not that it didn’t stop some of the destroyed crystals from releasing volts that eventually trailed across his frame. “Unnnfff! What is this power?!” He almost grinned at the pleasur-inducing nature of it all, but his clothes started to tear from how much his musculature was starting to increase. Almost to bara levels!

His pecs became much larger, almost as soft as boobs. His abs were more noticeable. His limbs gained far more noticeable muscle tone. His cock emerged from his pants, while his wings flexed at a speed so fast that his clothes couldn’t keep up. They shredded through them, leaving him with nothing but his thong and the bulge that came with it.

“Perversion and power! What a combination!” He laughed, flying past Harley as she yipped and ran from the scene.

“Stupid crystal crap!” She shouted, on all fours while Crona followed suite, Ragnarök forming an umbrella over all three.

But Brad and Hornet? They continued their fight. He was determined to defeat anybody he saw as a threat to him seeing his adopted daughter again. From making things right again. The time with Madeline had reignited that desperation to make SOMETHING good of his life in his eyes.

Hornet blocked his many blows with her needle, the falling crystals also providing her cover. As far as her orders were, it was to flee from the crumbling scene. She still took the brunt of one of his headbutts, sending her flying through layers of crystal and causing the cave-in to worsen. The volts traveled across Brad’s body, but they seemed to trigger something else.

Something deep within him. All that Joy in his body was mingling with the crystal energy, causing him to groan and cease his attack. The Joy usually worked only when he felt like giving up and giving into the mutations slowly happening in him originally, but, this time around, he felt great levels of determination.

And great levels of hunger…primeval hunger that the Ravenous capitalize on. His limbs started to grow crystal around them, even through the palms. They increased his punching power, as he began to tunnel through the ground to escape the crumbling landscape and finalize his mutation.

One thing would keep him from losing his mind. The thought of winning. The thought of making things right. No matter what he had to do, he would not rest until there was a CHANCE that he could turn back the clock and, perhaps, wish for his adopted daughter to have never been kidnapped to begin with.

Hope was scary to Brad…but, for now, it would be the one thing between him and becoming a mindless monstrosity.

There was one positive to this whole experience. Gaara had witnessed the destruction, the shards of crystal providing the means for the tiny sand-like fragments to be utilized. It wasn’t perfect, as he could feel the shards crackle within his gourd, nearly breaking it before he stabilized it with a stomp.

This would require meditation. Sand was glass-like. Maybe this would be no different, providing him the means to further defeat the monsters patrolling these lands?

 

Part 6: Night 2

 

After that harrowing day, some of the combatants had decided to rest again. There were plenty of places to rest and, thankfully, it was around this time that the Insecticlones were slowing down. Due to The Ravenous, many insects that weren’t nocturnal were hiding in places were the sparkless ones couldn’t reach.

That, or the Insecticons were also tired and couldn’t make as many clones while in a recharging session. Alas, their sleeping was still macabre, as it was less of a result of sleep cycles and more of a result of them sleeping off the energy of the poor creatures they had feasted on or devoured energon that was made from their very energy.

Hornet would stand guard whenever they slept, her fingers twitching as she struggled in her controlled mindscape to strike back at the ones that had invaded her mind and body. All to no avail…though the Cerebro Shell did begin to spark…

Back to the combatants. Those also taking a breather included Harley Quinn, the mutated one sleeping atop the rubble of the crystal. She had just finished retrofitting a large slab of crystal onto a chunk of rock. It was crude, but it would do for now. “Nah, Red…you’re stickin’ your roots in all the right places…” She giggled, thinking of her roommate.

Crona had also found a place to rest, a bubble of snot having formed in their nostril that grew and shrank with each breath. Ragnarök was also taking it easy, especially after a harrowing battle like that against that mind-controlled insect.

The shifts that Sir Pentious and Sanaki were taking as they scouted whatever area they ended up in next would give way to the two of them sleeping as well, especially after they found themselves in the more frigid regions of Hallownest. Reptilian biology had struck, leaving them near-immobile in the snow.

Speaking of frost, Latch was still encased in ice, his impatience increasing with each passing minute. The ice was getting weaker, but his internal systems were cooled to the point of intense slowdown. “I need a better heatsink.” He said to himself, his freed tail dragging against the frozen water around him.

Gaara would find himself mediating with much more ease when he heard something soothing. A voice from a ghostly being that had decided to bring more light to this tormented kingdom. The butterfly-like insect bug known as Mirissa. Her voice echoed through most of the halls of the City of Tears and a bit beyond, providing ample comfort.

Even Jedah, dedicated as he was too winning at any cost, found himself calmed by that voice. “Never before have I heard of such a melody. It made these damned crystals stop…so let it caress the ears of all. A rare mercy from myself, I know, but still.”

Alucard dwelled in the Ancient Basin, but not just to rest. The darkness was seemingly calling to him. The darkness within his own heart had nearly attracted him there, but he quickly turned tail and walked back to where most of the action was happening.

Void only could fill in hearts that had no desires. For all the darkness within the vampire, it was one born of desire. Born of sin and only mixed with a semblance righteousness YEARS after his initial rampages. Nothing where Void could fully form and assist with taking care of this Ravenous.

Having a fondness for poisons and toxins of all kinds, Medicine Melancholy was happy to see that the Pukei-Pukei was so fast asleep that it was allowing her small frame to rest atop its feathers. “The flowers back home were nice to sleep against. But this…this is so much better.” She smiled, sitting atop the larger beast as it enjoyed some rest.

Glory had dragged a bunch of flukes into a makeshift layer within the waterways, patting her belly as she thought back to her kingdom. “This wish…I could take away so many problems. Like maybe us Rainwings would no longer need the sun as much? Maybe not become so nauseous after being deprived of it for so long?”

She brought that up to herself because she was already getting VERY weak and sluggish from so many days without the stuff. She could normally handle this for a while, but the days of not being exposed to sunlight, as well as the feelings of darkness from the entire kingdom, were causing her to become far more sluggish. Time would tell if this would become a further problem in the future.

 

Jacket had managed to escape the Fluke-filled waterways, though several parts of his clothes had been torn by the struggle. Bloody marks where they managed to bite him caused some of his life fluids to leak into the waters, the possibility of him being hunted by the fiends growing…

Vilgax unburied himself from the rubble he had found himself in, letting out a frustrated yell due to him being in a new location away from his foe (the Overgrown Mound) before the Swarmlord found him, looking beaten up as well. “Why was facing so many armies much easier than this?!” The insectoid one growled.

“This ‘Vegeta’…his power is beyond what I’m used to. There must be some way to immobilize him! A weakness!” Vilgax growled. “No creature can defy me!”

“Except for the one that chained us to his will. Remember?” The Swarmlord narrowed his eyes.

“Remind me of that further and I’ll finish what I started when we first met!” The Chimera Sui Generis yelled.

“Yet another reason I despise having this ‘free will’ now. This rage we both feel. It’s irrational. It messes with the mind. It ruins strategy. Yet it torments us both!”

“Enough of your angst! We either seek Vegeta or the monster responsible for this! The sooner we find this wish…” He narrowed his eyes, smirking behind his mask. “…then maybe our leashes, most importantly my own, will be broken!”

“Promising. Very promising.” The Swarmlord replied, his resolve increasing.

Circe swore she could hear their plotting from up above, her hands pressing into the grass as she tried to a feel for where the corruption of The Ravenous was taking place. “Maybe I should turn the tentacled one into a newt? The insect into a grasshopper? So many options, so little time.”

In the eerily peaceful Forgotten Crossroads, Sonic and company had also taken a breather, but mostly due to the fact that Robotboy needed charging. Herissmon had provided some volts, but the surge had required the robotic one to further rest and recharge properly.

It was as this happened that Sonic looked into the blue mist surrounding the place, the haze reminding him of when Mecha-Sonic’s beam crashed into him, ensuring that Mobius was left without its greatest hero. The pressure started to mount for him as he thought about this. This would be his chance. His change to return to his friends. His world.

A world he hope was doing fine, even after so long with him having perished.

Brad Armstrong continued to crawl around, his belly having bloated and his limbs having grown many more crystalline growths. They crackled with energy as his hands planted into the ground, tearing through any Insecticlones that were still mindlessly wandering around the ruined entrance to the crystalline areas.

“Win…win…win…” He muttered, slowly getting his sanity together as he tried to not lose sight of his goal. Nastasia witnessed him do this, slinking back into a corner to avoid his line of sight.

Adjusting her glasses, she got out a random scroll she had found, furiously scribbling into it. “If I can get these fools to start destroying each-other…I should have a foolproof method of winning. I’ve always enjoyed being in the background more than the foreground, anyway.”

Sailor Mercury was wandering in one of the pathways above where the Ancient Basin was, shuddering at the darkness she felt from below. To a Sailor Scout, such sheer NOTHING was anathema to her goals of hope and peace. “I need to keep my nerve. You never know who or what could show-EEP!”

“Move it or lose it!” Laika shouted, her bike riding across the halls and causing Ami to spin on her heel.

“Could you look both ways before you make a sharp turn? You could hit somebody-“

“GET OUT OF THE FUCKING WAY!” Another more familiar voice shouted, causing Ami to nearly create a barrier of icy bubbles out of reflex.

Not that it have stopped Audra from smashing through them, the Behemoth anthro on all fours as she tried to buck off Revy while she stabbed her in the head with a spear. All that did was anger the monster woman further, her speed increasing while she also tried to chase down Laika.

Crashing through several stone pillars, Audra almost created a few meteors to shake off her foe. The pain of that spear going into her head was driving her into a berserk fury, so that was off the table. Her muscular form grinded into the nearest walls, hoping to mash the attacking human off her while also trying to keep up with Laika.

Loading her shotgun, the coyote anthro aimed at where several worm monsters were emerging from the ground, using her skill with her bike to platform across the place while agitating the creatures. “Enjoy your dinner.” She said to herself, stoically continuing on her path while the Ravenous-maddneed monsters began to squirm around.

They sank their fangs into Audra’s muscular body, pulling at her from various directions. Despite the Behemoth anthro’s struggles, their quick-acting venom was also causing her to weaken, her roars getting much more hoarse before Revy finished the job by punching her spear into that skull one last time, killing the muscular one.

Jumping off the limp body, Revy had to use her agility to move past the sudden worm monsters, many smashing their way free of the walls and bottomless pits just to get at her. “Seriously! Screw this place!” She growled, knowing that, very likely, her path would cross with the coyote anthro’s, resulting in yet another fight, as well as a step closer to victory at last.

What happened to the Clodsire during all of this? Let’s just say that Revy had two sharpened sticks before this moment. The first one had found its mark right through the Pokemon’s body, killing him dead on the spot. At least it was a quick demise.

Finally, there was Vegeta. The Saiyan was almost bored out of his skull before he found himself in a peaceful cavernous lake. Just as vibrant green as the moss-covered areas before, there was also an ethereal glow that was almost calming. “What am I even doing? It feels like I’ve been going around in circles, getting nothing accomplished.”

Sitting at the edge of the cliff overseeing this shimmering lake, the Saiyan felt like his mind was somehow becoming more clear. More open to thinking about the wish that awaited him. He knew of wishes quite well, given the whole ‘Dragonballs’ thing. Only…he never got to wish upon them ONCE.

Then again, the only time he had any interest in them was when he wanted to become immortal. He had thought of the implications of that wish and he began to think he dodged a bullet. What if he became trapped somewhere with no hope of escape? What if he didn’t get eternal youth at the same time?

Above all, where was his so-called ‘Saiyan Pride’ when he came up with that? Choosing a shortcut instead of working to get where he wanted to be. “Hmph. What a pain.”

Somebody had been listening to him grumble. Somebody that started to rise from the lake, causing Vegeta to quickly stand up and get into a fighting position.

Much to his fear, it was almost worm-shape when it started to loom over him, blanketing his place in shadow while he struggled not to freak out. “It’s not a worm…it’s just…an overgrown slug?” He calmed when he got a better look, two massive eyestalks looking down at him with curiosity.

Uun had risen. The Sleeping God was no longer sleeping. The dreamer of plants tilted her head at the strange creature that had ventured into her territory, something puzzling her. She had not dreamed of this being. She knew not of where it came from or what it wanted, but she closed her eyes to look within his mind.

Vegeta waited for the humongous but oddly adorable green slug creature to make a move. She didn’t, given that she saw that something was rising from behind the Saiyan.

“FOUND YOU!” The Swarmlord slammed his blades into the ground, nearly slicing through his foe’s arms.

‘Dammit! Why couldn’t I sense this freak’s energy?! The only reason I don’t have to look forward to that happening all of the time is that this freak dies here now!’ Vegeta thought, charging up some ki-balls in his hands. “Back for more, I see? You’re persistent. I’ll give you that.”

“Whatever ensures your demise, you wretched Saiyan! I have fought so many species before! You will fall like all the rest!” He was momentarily distracted by the sight of Uun gazing at him. “Hm? What’s this? Another…hive…being?” His expressions softened, something familiar but different about this god giving him pause.

The more he looked into those eyes, the more he saw something akin to the voice dwelling within all Tyranids. A being of impeccable power and primeval might. However, there was not a message of obedience in the god’s silent gaze. There was…imagination.

There were so many things that had made the Swarmlord’s mind spin when he first gained free will. Colors, shapes, and thoughts of what could be. All were within the gentle gaze of the giant slug. “The power to command all these creatures…the power of a unified voice…yet you withhold it…because…WHY?!”

The Swarmlord roared in fury, confusing Vegeta with his incoming rant. “Why must us insects be cursed with thought?! With desire and sadness and regret?! You have the power to control all here! To influence them! Bring them under one voice and one mind! But you refuse! What reason?! Why at all?! WHY?!”

He nearly got into attack mode once more when he felt Uun’s stalks hug around his body, her slime coating his carapace with a cooling feeling that gave him even further pause. She said nothing as she did this, but her soft smile was giving him one particular message that his mind had not received in so long: “It’ll be okay.”

Okay.

Everything being okay.

The assurance from another that there was some room for hope. For happiness. Yet another feeling he wasn’t sure what to make of until he felt it calm every wrathful bit of him.

Fear and confusion kept him immobilized as he processed this, some of his hands feeling around the slimy surface of the benevolent goddess. “It’s just temporary…” He muttered to himself, yet his hands were feeling more around the slime, the warmth so…addicting.

The feeling was cut short when Vegeta kicked him in the back of the head, surprising Uun as the Swarmlord was sent hurtling into the lake. “You two have fun with that or something. Imma nap.” Quickly flying away, he didn’t pay attention to how Uun returned to her undersea home, also making sure that the Swarmlord would make it to the shore of the place.

This would probably be the most peaceful night before the mayhem would begin anew during the next day, the Insecticlones already waking up. Something Kraken noticed as he did some recon. “Calculating measured response…the wisest course of action is most likely the ‘Joestar Technique’.”

However he figured that one out in his home universe, the protocol was simple: run as fast as he could, despite his injuries, and not look back as the sparkless clones started to form anew...

Notes:

Edit (7/14/25): Added a scene with Kraken during Day 2, given that he was missing a scene during then.

Current Dead:

-Orochimaru, Nidhoggr (Team 9)
-Vriska Serket, Yusuke Godai, Stewie Griffin, Claire Higsby (Team 2 IS DEAD!)
-Annie, Asura, Aku (Team 5)
-Scorpion (Team 3)
-Nokama, Legion, Chromia (Team 8)
-Mipha (Team 10)
-Velora (Team 1)
-Zuko (Team 12)
-Yang Xiao Long, Mimikyu (Team 7)
-Invincible (Team 6)

And now...

-Gambit (Team 7)
-Blitzo (Team 4)
-Clodsire (Team 11)
-Audra (Team 1)

Chapter 4: Day / Night 3

Part 7: Day 3

 

Laika stood on the edge of the Stone Sanctuary, finally stopping to look at the scenery. The sheer amount of green…the amount of diverse life…even if it was getting ravaged by Insecticlones and some of the combatants, there was still beauty she had never been beholden to before.

None of the wasteland’s overt cruelty. None of the fakeness that the Bird God’s kingdom tried to push. It was…true natural beauty. Drinkable water, too.

She moved her claw through one of the plants, the cooling air also giving her a sense of serenity. A part of her wondered if, maybe, her wish would be to build a bridge to this place her home to this one? Then again, new world. New dangers. Her world had enough of the latter.

“Definitely wishing up a lake or something.” She said to herself.

A series of black arrows sliced through the air, causing several incoming Shotholes to crash down near her. She leaped out of the way, getting back on her bike before rushing towards the swarm. One of the unlucky Shotholes had its head crushed into scrap when her bike smashed against it, her path taking her away from the swarm.

Crona was using Ragnarök to bring the fiends down, sometimes using a part of him to whip through the attacking ones that got closer. “I don’t think I can handle this. All this endless fighting…it’s been days.” They bemoaned.

“Days of nonstop action! Get used to it! It ain’t over until it’s over!” Ragnarök yelled, once more ignoring their concerns before extending his own head to go through one marauding Shothole.

Further into the Greenpath, the Swarmlord had finally risen from the Lake of Unn, but he was certainly a changed Tyranid. Not instantaneously changed, but enough to make him seem calmer. More at peace. “Your voice…why do I not hear it again?” He turned to the lake, seeing nothing.

He felt tempted to leap back into the water, joining the kind-hearted god in showing him bliss after the turmoil he had suffered. This longing for togetherness welled in his soul, several of his claws feeling around his chest.

Sighing, he shook his head. “No. My orders were clear. To win…and maybe…to defy.” His eyes gleamed with the promise of that wish. His tail slammed the ground, splashing the waters near him before he started to climb towards the top of the cliff overseeing this area.

Elsewhere, in the snowy regions of the Kingdom’s Edge, another big battle was occurring. Sonic was running circles around Hornet, but she was able to avoid all of his spin-dashes. Circe’s magic was also missing the warrior, the goddess having to duck when sharpened piles were strung up mid-air by Hornet’s threads.

It was during this that Sonic noticed something, the hedgehog mobian joined by Herissmon and Robotboy. “Anybody else notice that weird thing in the back of her head?” He asked.

“Analysis complete!” Robotboy exclaimed with a happy expression. “It alter brainwaves through neural interference and-“

“It’s a mind-control device! Oh, no!” Herissmon exclaimed, accidentally presenting their situation in layman’s terms. He then tried to send a series of volts after the controlled warrior, but she just leaped into the air, slamming her spear down and forcing the trio to scatter.

Robotboy fired a stream of missiles, while Circe joined in by transforming the incoming Salvos into animal statues, nearly crushing the warrior as they rained down from the snowy sky. “Magic and mortal technology? I don’t think I’ve been witness to this combination.” She admitted.

“Happy to help!” The robotic one cheerfully said. Even Circe couldn’t help but admire the child-like enthusiasm of the small mortal automaton.

Joined by his hedgehog-like Digimon companion, Sonic rolled into a ball, volts created by Herrissmon surrounding him and causing the snow around him to be fried. Spinning as fast as he could, he jumped at just the right time to avoid a needle-strike, smacking the controlled one right in the face.

Sending hurtling back, Hornet could almost feel her control over her own mind start to be restored, as soon as she got over the pain of those volts. Her Cerebro-Shell was malfunctioning, causing her to start convulsing and moving her hands in an attempt to remove the device.

“Whoever you are, fight it! Don’t let those creeps control you!” Sonic shouted.

“Yes! Follow your will! Let it shine!”

“I DON’T THINK SO!”

Smashing down from the blizzard was Bombshell, the lines across his robotic body started to ooze with purple gunk. “One of the giants! At last!” Circe’s hands glowed with transformative magic, only for several Salvos to get in her way, blocking her shots.

Chuckling, Bombshell fired another Cerebro-Shell at Hornet, this time getting her forehead as the other one fell out, wrecked. “And now, you fools will learn another reason they call me ‘Bombshell’!” Slamming his hands onto the ground, he began to glow bright purple, his visor widening as he let out a powerful yell.

“CRAP!” Sonic started to speed around, trying to grab everybody, only for a Salvo to crash deliberately into his location, pinning him against a corner. Then another one came and several more as well, doing the same thing to truly trap them.

“I’m scared!” Herissmon’s bravery vanished, especially as Bombshell began to glow even further.

“Don’t lose hope! Robotboy can fix-“

Before he could use some other gadget to get the group out of that sticky situation, Bombshell’s special attack finally finished, causing the whole section to erupt in a purple flash of light. The explosive burst utterly melted all metal, Hornet only escaping by leaping in the nick of time.

Though the blast had left Bombshell singed and slightly weakened, he at least got to see his handiwork. The combatants in this area had been enveloped in molten metal, defeating them in one fell swoop. “I had a feeling that at least one of you would surprise me, but I guess I was wrong! The Insecticon search continues!” He chuckled. “And imagine how much more fun I’ll  have in the meantime!”

Above him, the Cerebro-Shell in Hornet started to glitch, some of Herissmon’s volts still going off and causing her to hesitate with each movement.

Slightly near the entrance to this place, Sailor Mercury was in an equally tight spot. In addition to having to handle some Zaptraps that tried to introduce her to tons of electricity through their mandibles, she also had to deal with Harley Quinn. The muscular anthro hyena was lunging at her, almost snapping her in two with those jaws.

“Hold still! I hate to be a bitch, but I’m getting’ sick of runnin’ around and having to deal with one fight after the other!” She snarled. “I love a good scrap, but it gets old after a while!”

“Then…allow me…to set you free of this game!” Summoning her courage and realizing there was a LOT of moisture around her, she did a little twirl and caused all the snow around her to suddenly turn to water, forming balls of liquid that she sent forth. “I do what I must!” She closed her eyes, not wanting to see the brutality.

Though water didn’t seem like that big of a threat, Harley was aware that the pressure of such could be lethal…especially when it was coming at her in large orbs that were tearing through the vertical area. “Hey, hold on-“

Just above the King’s Station, Gaara was doing what he did usually: brood. Silently, but brooding all the same. Brooding that got interrupted when the side of the wall separating this area from the other one was smashed by the bulk of Harley’s form.

Falling into the water below, she was also unprepared for how one of those orbs crashed into a nearby structure, causing it to start descending down. She whipped out a sign that stated ‘YIKES’ before it came down, causing her to suffer the same fate as Yang.

Turning quickly towards the snow-bringing hole, Gaara saw nobody. “Whoever did that…enjoy your victory and hope we do not cross paths.” He looked at the remaining bits of sand and crystal in his gourd, trying to ignore how the crackling effects were still making him feel weirdly aroused. Not to mention, he felt some of his muscle tone increasing slowly.

Speaking of those crystals, Brad was still undergoing mutations as a result, his worm-like form still having functional limbs to punch through many walls. That allowed him to carve a path all the way to where a terrified Zote was running away. “KICKBACK! MY SQUIRE! I DEMAND YOU SAVE ME RIGHT NOW!” He wailed.

“Make it right…gonna make it right.” Brad grumbled, his eyes finally showing as they glowed with purple might. He surged forth, sailing over the ducking wannabe-knight and passing by the Black Egg Temple. At least nobody was there to have to deal with the constant noise.

He tumbled down the various platforms that were on the other side of it, but he intentionally pushed himself through the platforms, ready to tear this whole place apart if it meant finding whatever this ‘The Ravenous’ was.

The Pukei-Pukei was continuing to travel with Medicine Melancholy by its side, the doll-like yokai looking up to see that the mutated human was heading right down for them. “This feels human, but…not?” She tilted her head, not sure whether to feel malice or not.

Instinctively, the bird wyvern squawked in panic, moving his tail to wrap around the yokai to pull her out of the way before the mutation crashed through the ground, sending him to who-knows-where. He wasn’t out of the game and he certainly wasn’t going to stop because of a bad environment-breaking fall.

Back in the City of Tears, Latch had finally broken free, only to come face-to-face with Kraken. “You picked a bad time to come here.” He huffed, flexing his near-frozen claws as his systems struggled to regain their warmth. The thrill of combat was certainly helping with that.

“Correction: it is you that picked a non-optimal time to show yourself.” Kraken put up his fists. Badly damaged as he was, he knew there was no getting out of this other than a fight.

Lunging towards his foe in a sluggish manner, Latch left himself open for a right hook to his jaw, causing synthetic scales to fly off and expose more circuitry. However, he followed through by moving his tail fast enough to smash the droid in half.

“It is possible that I miscalculated badly.” Kraken said to himself, his head getting reduced to scrap by another tail-slam from the crocodilian one.

Rubbing around his face, Latch realized that his optic sensors were damaged a bit, leaving him almost half-blind. “Hmph. What I wouldn’t give for some technology that’s at LEAST 21^st Century.” He knew that he ALSO wasn’t in any optimal condition for extended combat encounters, but, at least, he could get out of the area that was literally raining down water on his exposed circuitry.

In the Fungal Wastes, Sanaki and Pentious were finding themselves being attacked by the crystal-empowered Jedah, his laughter echoing throughout the mushroom-covered area as he unleashed spinning blades that crackled with that same power. “This energy…it will be your undoing! THIS WHOLE WORLD’S UNDOING!”

“ACK! Watch where you ssssswing that!” Pentious shouted, holding onto his hat while slithering through the mushrooms. Several of the mushroom people were also hiding, with Jedah dismissing them due to him thinking they had no souls.

They very much did, but, right now, Jedah demanded the souls of those that would fill him to the brim, like these combatants…and like the one that had sprung into his body like a cannonball.

Having used her tail as a spring against one of the nearest walls, Sanaki had smashed her head into the demon’s back, causing a crack to ring out. “GAH! ACCURSED SNAKE!” As he fell, he grabbed her tail-tip, dragging her down onto a large mushroom.

Both slammed against it, with her quickly throwing some kunai at the other’s arm. Getting back up and trying to flap with his shattered wing, Jedah’s eyes glowed while purple volts crackled around his claws. “You cannot escape!”

“Neither can you!” Pentious lunged from behind, burying his fangs into the other’s shoulder.

Grabbing his foe’s neck, Jedah tossed him down, stomping on his groin with enough force to cause the demon to belt out a falsetto note. “I will enjoy ripping you to ribbons! Making you…wait, what is this light?” He looked up, his eyes widening as he tried to form a portal of blood to escape.

Too late. A Big Bang Attack had followed him into the portal he formed, causing an explosion to happen somewhere around his region. Combined with the instability of the power within him, Jedah had completely combusted, causing the walls around the Fungal Wastes to start crumbling.

“MAKE HASSSSTE!” Pentious exclaimed, wrapping around Sanaki’s large chest and holding onto her while shivering in fear.

“Right! Nice work with the fangsss, by the way!” She winked. “People often forget that usssss sssssnakessss usssse them for defesssssne alone!”

“That’ssssss nice. Now, FLEEEEE!” He wailed, still wincing at how his boa-balls had been mashed by that boot.

As they fled, Vegeta descended down, eyeing the place with disinterest. “Pretty sure I got him. I would have faced him in one-on-one battle, but, frankly, I have better things to do.” He looked at a smear of oil on the ground, ignoring the many spores around him as he slicked his fingers across it.

He didn’t have many clues to help him, but he was going up against robot bugs (and not the facsimiles that he had been forced to deal with in the form of the Insecticlones). This was the closest he would get to finding a way to get to them and end this madness. The Ravenous, for all he knew, wasn’t even real! This trio of villains? They very much were.

Speaking of the Insecticons, near the Hive, Shrapnel was taking the time to bring utter devastation to the place, the volts from his hands frying much of the hive. “That’s right, right! Flee, flee! Scream, scream! What comes next in our plan is so much worse than what I’m doing, doing!”

Several gunshots against his back caused him to turn to the still topless Revy, her bullets now consisting of random objects that could fit into her barrels. It was makeshift and barely put a dent in the Insecticon, but she was stubborn like that. “Save us the villain speech for later!”

“Us, us? You are alone, alone!”

“Tell that to the fucking dragon I pissed off into chasing after me.” She ducked as Glory lunged from behind, missing the human and tackling the robot to the ground.

Raising her head and dripping caustic venom from her hollow fangs, Glory stared at the terrified Insecticon. “You may not be my target, but you’ll do!” She struck like a cobra, missing several times before she was zapped back.

Falling onto her back, she seemed like a goner, but a pair of eye beams nearly struck the robot’s head, the culprit of that being Vilgax. He tore through the hive’s walls, focused entirely on all the combatants converging here. “So nice of you to converge here at my convenience.” He narrowed his eyes, bitter sarcasm in his voice.

“Hey, Calamari-Face! EAT SHIT!” Revy fired more makeshift bullets at the being, but she head to duck when some fiery eye beams smashed into her location, causing an explosion that caused the fires around this hive to increase.

The bees were so shaken by this that the Ravenous’ influence was lost on them, causing them to start swarming. Their arrival also drove Jacket out of hiding, the combatant having had to take the stealthy approach. Glory saw the writing on the wall here, turning invisible while attempting to flee the scene.

“Let them tear each-other apart. Maybe going into this half-cocked wasn’t one of my brighter ideas.” One part of her that kept her from being totally invisible was the smoking wound on her chest, all thanks to Shrapnel’s volts.

Speaking of which, the Insecticon began to laugh as he fired volt after volt, spreading the flames before the swarm began to converge on him. Some of the spears clanged against his metal, while Vilgax leaped into the air, trying to tackle him. He just wound up grabbed by the face by the robot, sent hurtling into the ground.

“You can throw all your spears, spears! Use all of your skills, skills! But, here in the sky, I am king, king! The king of DEATH, DEATH!” He reached his hands up, firing volts at the ceiling and causing flaming chunks to rain down.

In this chaotic scene, he fled, though, despite his bluster, he was shaken. “So much resistance, resistance. The Ravenous’ power is faltering, faltering. Must end it, it. Bombshell, your plan had better work, work. Otherwise, I have a much different idea, idea…”

Elsewhere, Alucard was going for a walk…and that wasn’t code for ‘going on a rampage’. It really was a walk. One that was a calm one after his encounter with the Void within. It reminded him of that time he had seemingly perished, left in a, well, void in which he could only self-reflect…and act as a therapist to all those souls, too.

He sniffed the air, tilting his hat. “Huh. Something’s burning.”

It was that fact that had also led Nastasia to cancelling her reconnaissance mission into the Hive. Much as she heard that the honey there would calm her nerves, it wasn’t worth going near a place that was currently getting eaten by flames and wrecked by the constant combat happening in this fallen kingdom.

 

Part 8: Night 3

 

Nothing much would happen during this night. In fact, a lot of combatants were getting their rest as much as they could. Probably because the smoke from the Hive had started to travel around the various kingdom areas and it carried with it the soothing smell of that amazing honey.

It was enough to calm even the most violent of combatants, their desire to hit the hay growing strong. For the Insecticlones, they were certainly tired, but they kept feasting, just standing around while chewing through the random landmasses they found themselves on.

Revy was standing atop some of the burning honey ruins, several bees ignoring her just to frantically rebuild the honeycombs. The burning desire to see that giant mechanical stag beetle destroyed still burned within her, her eyes glaring at the roasted honey she made.

She had been through so much in her storied life. This would be no different. This place could throw everything but the kitchen sink at her and she’d still make it through.

The rest of everybody was basically packing it in thanks to the smoke from earlier, putting them into a sleepy trance. Not even Vilgax and the Swarmlord could resist falling down and snoozing away. The Tyranid cursed himself for falling down thanks to such a spell, but he couldn’t deny the bliss of sleep was quite nice, his body curling around his tentacled ally’s back.

None of the following duo knew it, but Vegeta had found himself resting his head against Laika’s bike, the coyote anthro snoozing while standing up. Her desire to keep up patrols had faltered thanks to the sleep-inducing smoke.

The scent also had the potential to be very arousing, as she found out when she began to recall memories of her time with her first mate. The first man she had found and he had treated her so well…he missed him…and she felt her nipples push against her upper attire as she thought of how he made love to her.

With Vegeta, just the thought of Bulma’s voice and her tendency to power-bottom caused him to get rather hard in his sleep, grunting while he tried to concentrate back on maybe finding the energy signature of The Ravenous. Given every unique energy signature around him, it was like finding a needle in a haystack.

Crona simple flopped onto their stomach, face-planting into some grass. “This is…nice.” They admitted, rolling a bit in the greenery before falling asleep alongside the tired Ragnarök.

Nastasia had found a place where there was a sizable ceiling, allowing her to rest upside-down, while Sanaki rested beneath her, holding her tail like it was a stuffed animal. Hissing in a pleased way, she didn’t realize that Pentious wasn’t with her, the demon about to be involved in one of the more chaotic times of this night.

Anyway, the honey-smelling smoke continued to work its magic, causing the Pukei-Pukei to rest beneath the form of Glory. The Rainwing wasn’t even aware that she was resting against another draconic being, merely pushing her face into the feathers, finding them to be soft to the touch.

Gaara rested against a nearby piece of rubble, finding solace in the quiet. A small bit of him stirred thanks to the crystals he had incorporated into his gourd, the crackling energies nearly waking him at several points. There was a good chance that this would result in him not getting many hours of sleep, but he had trained himself to handle that prospect.

After all, he had dealt with the cruelty of the more desolate parts of the desert. A place like this? It was nothing compared to that. At least there was water and plenty more to eat, even if most of that stuff to eat were the remains of the non-sapient insectoid creatures crawling around.

Brad was having a slightly harder time getting rest, as his determination was becoming his sole driving factor. His worm-like form crashed through the rubble he had found himself in earlier, but the honey smoke would help him rest due to something that occurred to him thanks to it.

The memory of singing to Buddy whenever she was having trouble sleeping. As much as he tried to be the ‘strong man that was hard as stone’ for her so she would not be anything he considered ‘weak’, he couldn’t deny that that moment of fatherly warmth was one of his better memories. One that persisted through the Joy and Crystal-induced mutations.

He slumped forward, allowing his body to finally get some much-needed rest as he let that memory overtake his mind. That drove him to blissful slumber, his quest set to continue during the next day.

Alucard was still enjoying his walk, especially since he got to meet a new being. A friendly one that resided near the forbidding Deepnest. A place where The Ravenous’ magic was affecting the populace of spiders. Driven into a frenzy, they all desired to eat EVERYTHING beyond what their usual sense of moderation allowed.

The gigantic Mask Maker, however, was largely unaffected, as their desire to make masks throughout any catastrophe managed to keep the spell at bay. When Alucard came in, they were already hurriedly making a mask for him. “Greetings, Vampire King. What sort of face will you wear this time?”

That got a brow to arch when he heard that. “I don’t think we’ve met.”

“No. But, when I see a face, I tend to learn things. Now, again, what face will you wear? The one of hunger? Compassion? Sardonic delight?” They inquired, tilting their head as they hurried made these masks, most of them resembling bat faces.

“…give me a few minutes.” Out of curiosity, he began to inspect the wares of the gigantic being, admiring the macabre but ultimately well-meaning and well-done craftsmanship.

Others that wound up here were not so lucky. Sailor Mercury was finding herself having to deal with the spidery inhabitants. There was some moisture in the spiderwebs around her, allowing her to create bubble barriers and even fire a few water orbs when she had to. “I think I just developed arachnophobia!” She exclaimed.

“There are OTHER things to fear.” A vengeful voice growled. Out of the shadows, Latch pounced on her, trying to bite into her before she managed to kick him off. “I don’t usually choose vengeance, but…this is a time I make an exception.”

“I only didn’t want you to hurt anybody! But, if you insist on continuing to be vicious, I will have no choice but to punish you!” Mercury exclaimed, doing a small pose before readying herself for combat.

Smashing through the ground, Medicine Melancholy revealed herself, the corpses of many spiders around her. “Who dares interrupt my research of new poisons and toxins? A human and a walking crocodile? How many more combinations will keep showing themselves in this game?” She wondered, preparing several green orbs around herself.

“Anybody else showing up?” Latch wondered, his question answered by a baseball bat smashing him across the face, disabling one of his optics for good. Jacket’s honor.

Realizing she was surrounded, Mercury knew that the best course of action was most likely to retreat. “No running, human! If I’m going to eliminate another contestant, let it be you!” She exclaimed, swirling around as a tornado of poisonous orbs extended forth around her.

Those orbs struck Jacket, while Latch moved aside, crawling on all fours to avoid that onslaught. The rooster-masked man let out a scream of pain as he was dissolved into nothing, falling to his knees as he was skeletonized before disintegrating. Latch didn’t look back. He was focused on winning this game AND ensuring he wouldn’t be frozen again.

Picking up her pace, Mercury platformed her way down further below the Deepnest area, but Latch and Medicine Melancholy were gaining on her. “Come back, human! We’re not done!”

“This is my fight. I’d suggest backing off.” Latch suggested, crawling on the walls as he continued the pursuit. In response, she fired some poisonous orbs at him too, but he back-flipped onto another wall and did the same process as someone else showed himself.

“HOW DID I EVEN GET HERE?!” Pentious shouted, swinging on a strand like it was a vine. His form crashed into the yokai first, dispelling her poisonous orbs as she fell right on top of Latch.

The thread snapped, causing Pentious to land on them both, his tail heavy enough to send the duo falling down into a MUCH deeper part. The demonic cobra managed to grab onto a ledge, managing to grab onto his living hat so it wouldn’t fall either. “That was too closssse!” He exclaimed, dusting himself off.

Sailor Mercury was out of sight now, but, right now, he wanted as much shut-eye as the others, the honey smoke starting to head in here and calming even the maddened spiders.

As for Latch and Medicine Melancholy, they would find themselves in the company of a being that was ravenous long before the new god on the block showed up. One that oozed out of her home like a massive worm, her face twisted in a hungry smirk. “Why, how kind! My hunger can be sated…”

While Medicine Melancholy was knocked out, Latch was not, his damaged form looking up to see the toothy mother’s face splitting in half, revealing even MORE freakish insectoid teeth. “Maybe I should have stayed in that lake.” He groaned.

With a lunge or two from the Royal Midwife, the two contestants were no more, with the being enjoying the organic bits of Latch the most.

Notes:

Current Dead:

-Orochimaru, Nidhoggr (Team 9)
-Vriska Serket, Yusuke Godai, Stewie Griffin, Claire Higsby (Team 2 IS DEAD!)
-Annie, Asura, Aku (Team 5)
-Scorpion (Team 3)
-Nokama, Legion, Chromia (Team 8)
-Mipha (Team 10)
-Velora, Audra (Team 1)
-Zuko (Team 12)
-Yang Xiao Long, Mimikyu, Gambit (Team 7)
-Invincible (Team 6)
-Blitzo (Team 4)
-Clodsire (Team 11)

And now...

-Sonic the Hedgehog, Herissmon, Robotboy (Team 4 IS DEAD!)
-Circe (Team 7 IS DEAD!)
-Harley Quinn (Team 12)
-Kraken (Team 8 IS DEAD!)
-Jedah Dohma, Latch (Team 10)
-Jacket (Team 6)
-Medicine Melancholy (Team 11)

Chapter 5: Day 4 / Return to Dirthmouth

Part 9: Day 4/Return to Dirtmouth

 

Despite the Royal Waterways once being filled with flukes, Glory’s feast had ensured that there weren’t so many that nobody could find some peace in here. Sir Pentious and Sanaki had done so, the ninja washing her scales as the rushing waters tried to push her, but her powerful thighs and tail helped keep her from being swept away.

“My poor hat…” Sir Pentious squeezed his living attire as dry as he could, the hat trembling after getting soaked earlier. “How much longer mussssst thisss all go? I feelssss like agesss ssssince we looked for thisssss Ravenousssss.”

“Patience issss the name of the game! That’sssss what my eldersssss alwayssss told me! Ssssserpentssss alwayssss lie in wait for their prey to come near!” Sanaki said, giggling a bit at the Victorian demon’s flustered reaction upon seeing her breasts and rear once more. “You’ve ssssseen my naked before! Don’t be sssssso ssssshy!”

“Sssssorry! There’sss jussssst….sssssomebody back home that I…well, it’sssss complicated.”

“Why’sssss that?”

“Sssssshe’ssss my rival, but-“

Bursting from the ceiling, Brad Armstrong’s mutant visage made itself known, chasing down the utterly terrified Pukei-Pukei as he did. “Buddy…” He managed to speak, some of the surviving flukes having been absorbed into his system. They squirmed around, giving him some extra legs while the crystalline growths around him caused him to fire lasers from his eyes.

The purple crackling beams sailed over Sanaki’s hair, nearly burning it. “Oh, dear.” Sir Pentious sighed. “Time to flee in terror again.” He sprung towards his companion, wrapping around her as she dove into the water, going with the current to escape this predicament.

The Pukei-Pukei was in the right place, as it now could plunge its tail into the rushing rapids and suck up as much liquid as it could so it could use its tail to generate pressurized water. The hose-like tail fired at some of those crystal, shattering a few and causing some explosions to further destroy the area.

Brad blasted his way free of the rubble, his worm like form crashing into the Mantis Village, already under siege by more of the Insecticlones. “Another monstrosity!” One mantis shouted. “Today is a good day for glory!”

“LOOK OUT!” One Mantis shouted, only for Kicback to land on his friend, his legs spinning into the ground and spreading bits of the poor creature around.

“HAHAHAHAHA! Talk about defeat by the feet!” The grasshopper like robot exclaimed before having to avoid the eye beams of the mutated Brad. “You missed!”

“But I won’t, asshole.”

“Huh?” He turned around, only to see that Laika was heading for him, doing a wheelie. “OH-“

SMASH! His insectoid head was nearly crushed by the wheels grinding against his metal exterior before he managed to bound away when it was done, sparks flying from his form. “KILL IT! KILL IIIIIIT!” He wailed to the Shotholes. “Where’s that useless Zote when you need him?!”

One of the Mantis Lords stood alongside Laika when she landed, wielding her blades while the coyote anthro got out her shotgun. “Until this battle is done, we fight as one! Show me your resolve, fur-covered creature!”

Saying nothing and just accepting that this was another all-out fight, Laika sped forth, joining the battle against the seemingly endless clone army.

Back in the Greenpath, Vegeta was nearly close in perhaps finding where Shrapnel had flown to, but, again, Vilgax was there to get in his way. “How many times do I have to keep doing this with you?!” The Saiyan exasperatedly said, firing several ki-blasts as the rushing Chimera Sui Generis.

“As many times until one of us is dead!” He declared, ripping a chunk of land to throw at the Saiyan.

Punching through that rubble, the Saiyan tried to kick his foe, but his leg was grabbed and he was thrown down, creating a sizable crater before Vilgax surged forth, punching his enemy directly in the face before following with a series of punches so fast that he ignited the atmosphere around them.

Vilgax had ENOUGH of this seemingly endless charade. He was going to win and he was going to ANNIHILATE the competition. “Perish! Know the folly of challenging-“

His fist was caught before he could finish, Vegeta now sporting a broken nose. “HEY! WANNA SEE SOMETHING COOL?!” He roared, letting loose a powerful yell as his hair started to flicker, a golden flash of light nearly blinding Vilgax before the hair straightened further. A sign of Super Saiyan 2 coming into play.

Kicking his foe with both feet into the air, Vegeta suddenly was above him, generating a ki-ball that he grand-slammed into the other’s face, nearly destroying his respirator and sending him straight into the ground. “GALLICK GUN!” He shouted, generating a purple energy blast in his hand before firing it straight down.

Vilgax had only a few moments to contemplate his fate before he was enveloped in all that energy, causing him to scream in fury and disbelief as he was reduced to calamari. As this happened, the mysterious Hunter was watching in the darkness, his multiple eyes widening before he slunk away.

“All creatures here are for me to hunt…but there are some that, maybe, I should keep my distance from.” He still made a vow to continue his annihilation of the Insecticlones that were patrolling this place. He knew dangers to the ecosystem here when he saw them, after all.

The Mask Maker would also receive a new visitor in the form of Crona, with the mask looking like a mixture of tragedy and comedy. “Do you like it?” They asked, tilting their large frame.

Feeling around the mask, Crona held it to their face. “Th-thank you…getting gifts from others…especially nice ones like this…this is new.” They admitted.

“Eh. It’s pretty good, I guess.” Ragnarök shrugged.

Revy was, once more, traveling aimlessly through Hallownest, but she couldn’t shake off the feeling that she was being watched, passing by the Ancestral Mound while droplets of dew fell onto her bust. “I’m freezing my tits off and no closer to the end of this shitshow.” She grunted to herself, getting utterly annoyed.

She didn’t know she was being trailed by Sailor Mercury, her outfit slightly torn to reflect the way this place was slowly breaking the combatants down due to there being seemingly no end to this. “No. I can’t give into despair. I need to think. It’s what I do best.” She assured herself. “You’re the smart one. The dependable one…”

“And the one that may need to eliminate soon.” Nastasia said as she hung from the ceiling, writing down notes while attempting to keep her hair in proper place, given how frazzled she was from all the running/flying around. “But how to get past her water attacks? After what happened with the clown…”

She shuddered at the fate of Harley Quinn, having observed that much earlier. This game wasn’t making it easier for her to form a stratagem apart from ‘hope for the best that something crazy happens and take advantage of the situation’, though it seemed that lying in wait and doing nothing was working out well for her.

Meanwhile, the Swarmlord stood atop a mountain of scrap, sniffing the air for any sign of the REAL Insecticons. “Come out! Cowards! The lot of you! Your forces are failing to make any sort of progress! Do you not tire of this endless hunt!?”

He also noticed how several of the insects, while still hiding within the walls of this underground kingdom, were looking a lot less fearful, though that would change if they ever got a glimpse of him. “Whatever this ‘Ravenous’ hive mind is…it’s faltering.” He raised his swords up. “Do you see?! You have no choice but to come and face me!”

Hearing him yell while camouflaged was Glory, the Rainwing not daring to show herself yet. “This idiot might be the key to this foolish game finally ending. If he just keeps raising enough of a fuss…then that could  draw out the main threats.” Her belly grumbled, nearly giving away her position. “But, until then, where are more of those flukes?”

She never imagined, ever, that she would enjoy the taste of monstrous worm-like parasites, but here she was.

Alucard would have starred in more of this Arena, but his animation model started to T-Pose, eventually fading through the floor in a BRUH moment that…that…

“Okay, pause the episode!” Baskerra got out a remote, halting the progress of the story before reaching her claws into the very fabric of reality. “Aresdemonia! First Asura, then Gambit, and now THIS?! This is getting old!”

All she got was a dark chuckle, a set of burning red feline eye-slits causing the hellhound anthro to suddenly resume the episode. “Fine. It’s no different then what’s happened in previous episodes anyway.”

Whatever the case, Gaara had witnessed that, leaving him at a total loss for words. “I need to get out of this place.” He plainly said. “Clearly, I’m losing my mind and it won’t be long before I hallucinate further.” He had braved the mirages that the desert had given to him in his early years. This was pushing the limit, though.

That very night, the Insecticons were once again converging, this time in the abandoned Colosseum of Fools. Those there were either busy dealing with the Insecticlones bringing energon to the place or have just up and left. “Pardon me, but where is the glory that I seek? You three promised me that!” Zote complained, pushing past the mind-controlled Hornet.

Kickback stomped his foot in front of the smaller one, causing him to cower. “I was the one who promised you that! If you don’t shut up, you’ll be an appetizer!” He warned before instantly looking cheerful. “But don’t let that get you down, buddy!”

“Um…sure. Just…what even is the plan anymore?”

“Things ARE moving slowly, slowly. Too slowly slowy.” Shrapnel wandered through the colosseum, eventually making it to the center. “Is the Ravenous ready yet?”

“Hmmmm…our primary goal of attaining enough energy is working well, but the secondary goal…” He turned to Hornet. “She’s a capable warrior we’ve enslaved, but I want, specifically, the one combatant that Aresdemonia said would prevail in the end. So far, the combatants are doing a lot of walking around and nothing else.”

“Which sounds utterly BORING, BORING.” Shrapnel hissed before kicking the ground. “Come on out, Ravenous, Ravenous! Show us your power, power! We’ve brought enough energon that rightfully belongs to us, us! It should be enough for you, you!”

“Make me your greatest knight!” Zote joined in jumping on the small green cracks in the ground, but he was kicked away by the Stag Beetle robot.

“Shut up, up! I’ve heard enough of your babbling, babbling!”

“Kickback! Defend my honor!” Zote yelled.

“I’m thinking about it.” The grasshopper Cybertronian shrugged.

“ENOUGH! I have an idea.” Bombshell tapped his fingers to his hand. “Shrapnel! Converge all Insecticlones to Dirtmouth! This way, we will decide personally who will face us in this Arena! Thin out the herd and leave only those worthy of my Cerebro-Shells!”

He then gestured to the stockpiles of energon. “In the meantime, feed ALL of the energon to the Ravenous! Ensure his rise!”

“But…that’s OUR energon!” Kickback complained.

“And it still is! For you see…” He had himself and the other two huddle together, with only Zote unable to make out what they were saying.

“Oh, what do the details matter? As long as I get what I deserve.” He shrugged.

As they chatted, the swarms began to fly back to the very top of this kingdom, where the poor town would have to bear witness to many more of the insectoid metal monsters blanket the skies, blotting out any light as they circled around. Due to combatants following the storm or getting caught up in it, this place would become a battleground once more.

Sir Pentious, in particular, was riding with Sanaki on top of a Salvo. “RUNAWAY ROBOT INSSSSSSECT!!!” He cried out, tears streaming past his face as he held onto his hat and the robot bug’s antennae for dear life.

“We’re doing this again?!” Revy shouted, dodging the lightning of a Zaptrap.

“I agree with her! This is getting supremely annoying!” Glory fired her venom at an incoming Shothole, melting it into slag.

Vegeta thought he was going to have to take on another group of Zaptraps, but Gaara used what little sand he had remaining to generate a fist. That smashed the group out of the sky, his expression looking supremely annoyed. “It’s like whatever’s controlling this place is just as sick of this as we are.” He observed.

“Then why doesn’t it just come and face us already?!” Vegeta complained.

“Because it must be a fucking PUSSY!” Revy grabbed a random spear and chucked it through a Shothole’s side, causing it to kick out of control.

Nastasia continued to hide, frantically writing stuff down until her pencil broke. The ground underneath her started to shake, only for Brad Armstrong’s mutated form to come out, holding the Pukei-Pukei’s neck until he snapped it with a mighty tug. Slamming the body away, he crawled towards the mayhem, still intent on winning.

"That's it! Leaving now!" Nastasia threw away her pencil and notebook, only for several Zaptraps to converge around her. "I hate Mondays." She groaned before she was instantly reduced to ash by the bolts in a comically quick manner.

Laika weaved through the town, not caring how many she had to face until she had won. Until she had provided a future for her daughter. Until she had the chance to go home.

Not all dreams come true, as Pentious began to lose control of the Salvo he was on, causing it to smash through several other Salvos and activating their explosion technique. “JUMP FOR IT!” Sanaki shouted, the demon doing just that. However, her tail got stuck, causing her to be dragged along for the ride. “Betrayed by my own tail?!” She cried out in exasperation.

The incoming pile of Salvos loomed over Laika, Revy, and Crona, the latter of which having Ragnarök form a pathetically small umbrella. “I hate this fucking game.” Revy growled, while Laika frantically tried to get her bike going.

“C’mon, you lousy piece of-“

SMASH! KABOOOOOM!

Thankfully, the houses nearby had been abandoned in the chaos, but, thanks to Pentious’ buffoonery, more combatants had been destroyed. The serpentine demon got up just in time to witness that, whistling innocently as he tried not to think about how he had indirectly caused his ally to be annihilated.

It seemed that these Insecticlones were acting a bit more fiercely. Already mindless berserkers/devourers, some were intentionally ramming themselves into the ground to get at the combatants, even if that reduced them to scrap. Using her magical bubbles, Sailor Mercury misdirected them, causing them to crash harmlessly in a few areas.

But not all bubbles were accurate, as one Zaptrap slammed itself near her, getting up to unleash many volts of electricity. She had barely a moment to react before many other Zaptraps joined in, instantly frying her to ashes as they converged further.

“FACE ME!” The Swarmlord roared, slashing through the whole group before throwing one of his blades into Gaara’s back while he was distracted. The psionic energy atomized his form after the sword went through, causing him to reach out futility while he was reduced to particles.

Grabbing that blade again, the Swarmlord slammed his tail down before looking to Vegeta. “All of you will perish if that means my victory! My salvation! My-“

“ENOUGH TALKING!” Vegeta responded to his speech with a punch to the face that nearly shattered his horn and knocked several sharp teeth out.

Wiping away the green blood from his maw, the Swarmlord roared, with Glory joining in to hiss at them. Brad Armstrong’s mutated form oozed forth, rising up to deliver a determined bellow. Sir Pentious slithered in, holding a piece of scrap futilely as a weapon.

It was as they all converged that they noticed that they were surrounded. The Inseticlones now had a much reduced range of targets to deal with, their objective to reduce them all down to one. “Okay. Any ideas?” Glory asked.’

“Bud…dy…” Brad gurgled.

“Erm, yessss! Buddy! I’m your buddy! Let’sssss all be buddiessss!” Sir Pentious awkwardly said.

The Swarmlord found that he was nudging into Vegeta, both glaring at each-other before focusing on the army. “Have these Insecticon fools not realized that sending an army of soulless automatons isn’t going to cut it?” The prince wondered.

“Never underestimate the power of a unified mind!” The Swarmlord warned. “But this army has made a mistake. It’s uniting force…it’s close…I know it!”

The ground started to rumble, causing the clones to stop. “Is that who we’re looking for?” Glory asked, hopeful, but also cautious.

“No. That’s not quite it.” The Tyranid one replied, sniffing the air. “It smells…rancid.”

“Yech! For the love of perssssonal hygiene! What ISSSSS that ssssmell?!” Pentious exclaimed.

With a proud battle cry, the newcomer to the battle appeared, smashing through the ground and spinning in the air. Many Insecticlones were pushed back by the force of that move, the beetle-like knight spinning across the ground before standing up. “Never fear! For I…AM BACK!”

The group of five stared at him awkwardly. “Heeeeeey…you?” Pentious broke the silence.

“Bud…dy?” Brad tilted his head.

As the Insecticlones regrouped, the knight chuckled. “Oh! I forgot! You’re new here. I am the Dung Defender! At your service and here to protect our healing kingdom! I have traveled far and wide to-“

“Incoming on your right!” Glory shouted, as a Shothole almost kicked off the Dung Beetle warrior.

With another hearty battle cry, he leaped into the air, rolling into a ball to crush the being into nothing. He would bowl into several others, but he would also be revealed to not be fighting alone, for a similar battle cry was shouted, a slightly pudgier ball of armor smashing through several Zaptraps in the sky.

“Apprentice Bretta! Nice strike!” The Dung Defender exclaimed, standing atop a pile of scrap as Vegeta’s ki-blasts kept him safe from other Inseticlones. “Ah! Our new allies have also decided to join!”

Getting back onto her feet, Bretta stumbled a bit before seeing all of the other fighters in action. “Wow…so many hunks! So many brave adventurers! This is like that fanfic I once wrote…but it’s real!” She jumped for joy, only for a Zaptrap to try and clamp around her. She responded by grabbing the mandibles and slamming them down, leaping into the air to spin-dash into the clone.

The sight of the warriors holding their own against the hordes, including the return of the Dung Defender, started to inspire the townsfolk. The influence of The Ravenous was decreasing further, many cheering in the streets as the Insecticlone hordes were cut down to size.

Such cheers would be silenced when a massive explosion tore a hole in the town, the fountain in the center falling into it as three very large Insecticons flew out, Zote atop the grasshopper one and the controlled Hornet atop Bombshell. “This experiment is nearing its final phases! The time to seize the day is now!” He shouted.

“The feast of ages is about to begin!” Kicback stated.

“And you’re ALL on the menu, menu!” Shrapnel laughed.

Vegeta was the first to turn to the three, standing around a field of rubble and scrap as he narrowed his eyes. “Finally."

“Something we can agree on.” The Swarmlord growled, raising his blades.

“It’s all come down to this.” Glory said to herself. “No more running.”

Gulping, Sir Pentious hid behind the Dung Defender, who stood his ground alongside his apprentice. Brad Armstrong merely let out a powerful bellow, his arms crackling with more crystalline might.

As for the hole itself, it began to glow green, a flash of bright light emerging from it that nearly blinded everybody. After so long…so much chaos…so much scampering around…so much distraction and destruction…

The Ravenous was FINALLY revealed! The final battle was about to commence!

Notes:

And now, only Swarmlord, Vegeta, Sir Pentious, Glory, and Brad Armstrong remain! Who will be the winner of this Arena? Tune in next time!\

Edit (7/14/25): Added an extra scene showing what happened to Nastasia.

Chapter 6: A Ravenous Ending (Final)

Part 10: A Ravenous Ending

 

After so many days of buildup…so much time spent wondering what exactly they were dealing with…both the combatants and the residents of Hallownest were about to witness what would d happen if a piece of the Radiance came to life, filled with hatred and a desire to spread primeval gluttony all across the kingdom…

…and what they got was a massive pulsating green caterpillar-like beast with a moth-like head. The head was as swollen as the rest of its slimy form, wriggling as drool fell from the tiny mandibles. Despite being the size of Unn herself, this being could do little more than flop around, not doing much of anything.

“…that’s it?” Pentious was the first to speak on this, everybody awkwardly standing around while the monstrous grub-like being continued to flop around.

The Dung Defender and Bretta were nearly affected by the mere presence of the fiend, but they stood their ground, ready for any unhappy surprises. “Be careful, my friends! Appearances can be deceiving!” The former exclaimed.

“THIS is what we’ve been afraid of?! A miserable bloated caterpillar?” Glory exclaimed. “Almost an entire week spent stuck getting attacked from every direction, including from ourselves, and THIS is the big villain we’ve been waiting for?!”

Vegeta was struggling not to throw up, his pupils trembling as he stepped back. “Are you faltering that easily?” Zote laughed. “HAH! For such a powerful warrior, you look so green!”

“It’s… nothing! Just an insignificant…disgusting…WORM!” His sickly complexion increased, causing the others to look at him awkwardly, including the mutated Brad Armstrong. “SHUT UP! Don’t pretend like it isn’t hideous!”

“I don’t care what it looks like! It is the enemy and it must be annihilated!” The Swarmlord roared. “The least it can do is provide a challenge! Do you not fear for your existence, creature?!” He demanded, only to grasp his head. “What am I doing?! I swear, before I was disconnected from the one mind, I never had the need to ask such questions.”

Bombshell began to laugh at everybody’s doubts, pointing to the behemoth standing beneath him as he and his buddies hovered above all. “You fools! We Insecticons answer to NOBODY. The Ravenous here is a means to an end!”

“A means we fed with plenty of energon we harvested from your miserable kingdom!” Kickback gestured to the Insecticlones around them. “We gathered so much energon that we managed to keep The Ravenous satiated long enough for our plan to come into fruition!”

“And our plan reaches its climax…NOW, NOW!” Shrapnel suddenly dove down in his robot mode, burying his fist into the head of the thrashing abomination.

Screeching in agony, the last vestige of the Radiance oozed more of that green slime while it started to flash purple, the accumulated energon within it getting fed upon by the Insecticon leader. “What are we standing around for?! Whatever this is, we need to stop it!” Glory shouted.

“With what?!” Pentious wondered.

“Don’t lose hope! LET’S GO!” The Dung Defender exclaimed, despite legions of Insecticlones descending on the group to keep them at bay.

Roaring, the Swarmlord lunged into the swarm, cutting a few Shotholes down with his blades, while Vegeta fired several ki-blasts at the airborne enemies. Sir Pentious grabbed the nearest blade, throwing it at a Salvo, but it just shrugged that off.

Thankfully for the demon, Brad collapsed onto the machine, his flailing limbs charging up with crystalline might before they punched into the ground, causing pillars of flame to rise and reduce some of the Insecticlones to mush.

Meanwhile, Bretta was chasing after Zote, the cowardly one fleeing for his life. “I can’t believe I ever looked up to you, you fraud!” She exclaimed. “I even had a CRUSH on you!”

“That’s your loss! You were always beneath me! Always just a stupid fat fanfic-making louse! Now, stop chasing me! It’s making me look bad!” Zote shouted.

“I’LL SHOW YOU ‘LOUSE’! AND I’M NOT FAT! I’M GORGEOUSLY CURVY!” She roared, rolling into a ball to chase him down further.

“Kickback! I require your help! Useless squire! WHERE ARE YOU?!” He wailed, only to get steamrolled into the ground by her. “…ow.” He whimpered.

Glory fought with all of her might, leaping and flying around to avoid the many blasts and lunges from the clones. “Forget these fakes! They’re merely distractions!”

“What do you think I’m trying to do?!” Vegeta shouted, unable to get a clear shot without the Insecticlones tanking the hits. As he tried to score a shot, the controlled Hornet lunged at him with her needle.

Quickly dodging her, he chopped at the back of her head, causing the Cerebro-Shell there to be damaged. Sparks flew from it as she spiraled down, only to be caught by the Dung Defender. “Do not fear! I’ll get that pesky thing out!” He promised, quickly pulling the thing out before it could explode.

Though dazed, Hornet shook her head, suddenly finding herself in the arms of the burly dung beetle being. “Wh…what? Is it finally…over?”

“ABSOLUTELY NOT! STOP THIS MADNESS, PLEASE!” Pentious shouted, trying to slither away from some Salvos pursuing him.

Squirming through the swarm, Brad pushed hard enough to reach the twitching corpse of The Ravenous, only for a bright purple light to nearly blind him, the others watching as that light formed a pillar around the defeated entity. “What in the blazes?!” Pentious shouted.

“Zounds! This adventure had gotten more exciting and frightening!” The Dung Defender exclaimed. “Stand your ground! I think this is their last trump card!”

“Let’s hope so! I don’t think I can take anymore surprises!” Glory stated, while the Swarmlord stabbed his four blades into another Shothole, looking up to see what this was leading to.

The swarm of robotic insects began to swirl around this energy pillar, the light emanating from it looking like a corrupted version of the Radiance’s light. It filled almost every corner of Hallownest, causing many bugs to start panicking. This light was not meant to inspire worship like the Radiance.

Only terror and the sense that everybody was going to end up in the bellies of three ravenous sparks.

Rising from the corpse of The Ravenous first was Kickback, his visor glowing bright red as his claws flexed. “Heheheheh…you’re all in trouble now!”

Bombshell was the next to rise, his horn glowing with even more power as it generated more Cerebro-Shells. “You will all either be my new playthings or my new meals!”

“Wait! Where’s my power?!” Crawling back towards the trio, Zote jumped up and down, trying to get their attention. “You promised me!”

“Promises are cheap! Face it, loser! You just got duped! Happens to everybody who ever trusts me!” Kickback cruelly laughed.

However, their bodies began to spasm as volts crackled around their bodies. “GAAAAH! WHAT IS THIS?!” Bombshell shouted. “The pain! THE PAIN!”

“GAAAAAGH! MY CIRCUITRY…it’s frying…and my power…” Kickback grasped his stomach.

“Being…drained…must go into stasis mode…” Bombshell stated, he and his grasshopper compatriot falling down in an unconscious heap.

Finally rising from the corpse with the aid of powerful electricity flowing from his hands, Shrapnel had finally risen, the volts draining his fellow Insecticons at the same time. The Insecticlones were flying around him, his laughter starting to echo across all of Hallownest.

“Well…at least that reduces our foes down to one.” Glory stated.

Looking at his hands, Shrapnel smirked at those around him. “As if I was going to share ANY of this wonderful energy with anybody apart from myself, myself! I’m the leader of the Insecticons for a reason, reason! For I call the shots, shots! I deserve the glory, glory! And now…I have all the energy I need to devour this entire WORLD, WORLD!”

He raised an arm to the air, divine energy surging into it as the entire kingdom began to shake, causing panic all across the place. “Starting today…SHRAPNEL DANCES WITH THE GODS, GODS!” He bellowed.

 

(Truth, Beauty, and Hatred Remix-GaMetal)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGxmnQZnXVo

 

Instantly, the ceiling above Dirtmouth crumbled, the Insecticon leader generating terrifying winds that crackled with more of the volts. Every citizen was trying to hold onto something, the winds growing evermore violent as Shrapnel lost himself to his newfound power.

Pentious was among the unfortunate souls to get caught up in this vortex. “Oh, bollocks to all of this!” He wailed, grasping his hat before he was bombarded with so many volts, frying him to an utter crisp while he screamed in agony.

Zote also held onto the ground only for Shrapnel to suddenly rush to his location like a bolt of lightning. It fried the ground where he landed, burning away the fraud’s legs. “Wait! Please! We had a deal!”

“Pitiful insect, insect! Gods don’t listen to the cries of fleas, fleas!” He slammed his stabilizing servo down, crushing him utterly before he turned to the others, his hands crackling with more electricity as he started to form entire new legions of Zaptraps. “As for the rest of you…PERISH, PERISH, PERIIIIIISH!”

Fanning her wings out, Glory tried to turn invisible, needing to restore her venom as she felt the lack of sunlight get to her at long last. “This isn’t good! I need to-GAH!” Several lightning bolts crashed into her, reducing her to ash as the swarm moved past her.

Bravely, the Dung Defender rolled into battle, crashing into many of the Zaptraps, while Hornet regained some of her strength to zip towards a few to stab her needle into them. “Turning me into one of your thralls?! I’ll see what your madness is ended just as it began!” She declared.

“I’d like to see that, that!” Shrapnel bolted to the sky again, creating more Zaptraps from himself just to force them all into an electrically charged ball of scrap. He sent several of those balls down, before also materializing several needles along the ground. A trait from The Ravenous he had absorbed, no doubt.

The needles flew around, forcing the combatants to dodge a lot while the giant boulders of scrap rolled past them. Bretta found herself running on one, while the needles pierced past Vegeta’s side, leaving a burning electrified gash on there. “Grrrgh!” He powered up a bit, surging towards the mad Insecticon.

Bolting away from him, Shrapnel seemed to play with his foe as he kept doing that, with the Swarmlord trying to leap from behind and take him down. Bolting away behind the Tyranid, Shrapnel clamped his shoulder mandibles around the other one, surging him full of divine bolts.

“GAAAAAAAH!” The Swarmlord roared loudly, the volts frying every inch of him until he was reduced to a charred corpse. Thrown aside, his body smashed into the ground, nothing but a pile of burnt exoskeleton.

Brad tanked all of the zaps from the Zaptraps, his determination keeping him from truly giving up. Lifting his mutated body upwards, he filled himself with so much fiery energy that, when he extended his fist, so much of those flames shot outward, turning so many Zaptraps into slag while the flames struck Shrapnel at last.

“Pathetic, pathetic!” Bolting above Vegeta, he elbowed into his back, nearly shattering his spine before driving him into the flames themselves.

Shutting his eyes as he was exposed to that much fiery pain, the Saiyan found himself crashing into the mutated one, the crystals around Brad shattering and causing a power surge that nearly destroyed the entire area near the town.

The Dung Defender used himself as a shield to protect Hornet and Bretta, tanking the volts while his exoskeleton was nearly fried. “Are you alright?!” Bretta exclaimed, looking upon the burns when that was done.

“Rrrgh…as long as you are all fine, I’m right as rain!” He happily exclaimed.

“So cool…” Bretta blushed, while Hornet grasped her needle, ready to fight to the end.

When the dust cleared, Brad was still clinging to life, his upper half intact as he headbutted into Shrapnel’s back. In response, he was kicked in the face, sending him into the nearest rock, which shattered upon impact. “To think you had an OUNCE of hope to defeat me, me!” Shrapnel mocked.

He then picked up Vegeta by his hair, glaring at him. “And you…you spent all this time trying to find me, only to find out that you never stood a chance, chance! Perhaps maybe before…but certainly not now, now!”

“Will you skip the talking…and get back to the fighting?!” Vegeta shouted, extending his palm forward. “BIG BANG-“

“NOPE, NOPE!” A series of painful divine bolts began to surge throughout the saiyan’s body, causing him no shortage of agony. Burn marks began to appear all over him, his suit starting to sizzle away. “That’s right, right! Cry for mercy, mercy! SCREAM, SCREAM, SCREAM!”

“Unhand him, monster!” The Dung Defender barreled towards his foe, only to get swatted away by a sweep of the villain’s hand, volts flying through the air and dragging the knight-like figure away.

Hornet leaped into the air, flinging her needle towards the villain’s arm to take it out. He just grabbed that needle, pulled her in, and kicked her away. “Nobody can match my power, power! Perhaps…I should just destroy this whole place and feast on whatever remains, remains!”

Throwing Vegeta to the ground after dealing some more volts, he flew into the air, laughing while the swirling vortex above got more violent, lightning crashing down on the helpless town. Some of those volts even buried deep within the ground to strike other areas of Hallownest, the whole event becoming more apocalyptic by the second.

The Menderbug ran around the various places, gathering materials while avoiding the lightning strikes. “I’ve got my work cut out for me!” He exclaimed, the Nailmasters doing all they could to protect the populace.

It was thanks to The Ravenous’ devouring that the curse had been lifted, allowing every single creature and being within the place to come together to either get everybody to safety or to keep their kingdom from collapsing. Even the spiders and mantises were putting aside their inner bloodlust to keep things from getting out of control.

“N…nooooo…” Brad rose from the rubble, reaching out before Shrapnel, in his stage beetle form, bit down on him, throwing him into the sky and then transforming back into robot mode, clenching his fists. Bolts of lightning slammed into his form, the crystals also contributing to a massive explosion that followed. “Buddy…” He managed to say as he was electrocuted and destroyed.

Many in Dirthmouth began to hold onto each-other, Iselda and Cornifer, in particular, holding each-other’s hands. Bretta was standing before the town, trembling in her boots, but not running away from the danger. “The maiden stood before the terrifying foe…knees shaking…but never wavering! That is the way of a proud knight!”

“Well said!” The Dung Defender stated before panting heavily. “I think I sprained my exoskeleton…ow.”

Gazing down on those beneath him, Shrapnel arched a brow. “Still clinging to any hope of survival, survival? I’ve defeated the combatants, as well as your worthless protectors, protectors! I’ve already won, won, WON!”

“Are you sure about that?” Cornifer wondered out-loud, pointing to something stirring within the rubble. Something that had also caught Hornet’s attention.

 

(Say My Name-Divide Music)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3pludiLxC4

 

(0:00-0:16)

Stirring in that rubble was golden light that none of the bugs around it regarded with dread or even worship. Instead, they simply felt awe and a sense of…what was this? Hornet may have had an answer, as she was the closest to it.

Pride. An unwillingness to give up. Not to mention, a furious rage at being brought low by somebody as monstrous as the Stag Beetle-like Cybertronian.

In an instant, everybody’s vision was suddenly enveloped in that brilliant golden glow.

(0:16-0:27)

Letting loose a powerful yell, Vegeta had risen again, ignoring all of his wounds as he instantly went to Super Saiyan 2. His hair was sharper and volts crackled around his form, his muscles expanding as he continued to tear up the land with this power-up alone. “By the gods…what is this energy?!” Hornet exclaimed.

“Such might! Perhaps…we are truly saved!” The Dung Defender exclaimed, the evil one above them all continuing to watch before the lyrics finally began.

Finishing his transformation, Vegeta stomped forward, volts around his form crackling the ground around him. “You changed your hair once more, but it won’t do you any good, good!” Shrapnel smirked, snapping his fingers as electric needles suddenly showed up all around the prince.

The first few that surged towards him either missed or were outright swatted away with enough force to shatter them into nothing, the volts getting eradicated by the ones of the coldly furious Saiyan.

 

I will stand in the face of any danger! No stranger to an obstacle, I'm…the force pushing back on any wager…to the place that I call my home!

You’ll soon meet your fated demise!

 

Vegeta then looked up, the glare actually freezing the mad Cybertronian. Clenching his fists tightly, he suddenly flew into the sky, delivering a punch to the other’s waist.

Spitting out some energon after being unprepared for such a quick punch, Shrapnel slammed his fists down on the other’s back, leaving behind a scorch mark before he created a ball of volts in his hands, blasting it down to send him hurtling down. He thought this would be the end for him, but the Saiyan then wound up a punch.

 

Now, look me in the eyes! Your weakness I despise! The blood that flows INSIDE me! An heir to Saiyan royalty…

…chosen to be the prince of this society! YOU’LL SEE a strength that your reality could not perceive, your mind enters insanity!

 

Smashing his fist against that ball, Vegeta surged upwards, breaking through the ball before the fist connected with the other’s face, sending him high into the air before his leg was grabbed, spun around before Vegeta fired a Big Bang Attack against the other’s chest, further sending him back before he chased after him, leaving a golden sparking streak of light behind him.

Bolting to somewhere else mid-attack, Shrapnel’s arms glowed before he fired several bolts of pure Radiance-like lightning at his foe. Vegeta spun around them, his own aura burning away those volts before he swerved to meet his bolting foe, meeting him right where he tried to escape and causing Shrapnel to freeze in fear when he saw that furious gaze close-up…and a fist being ready to slam into his face at the same time.

 

THESE HEIGHTS THAT I HAVE ACHIEVED! LIMITS ONLY BROKEN BY MY STRENGTH AND PRIDE!

WHEN…ALL HAVE COME TO SEE…THEY WILL KNOW WE’RE NOT THE SAME! NOW SAY MY NAME!

 

Crashing that fist down, Vegeta followed up with a stream of ki-blasts from his one hand, sending Shrapnel further down and denting much of his armor before he bolted out of the way, the lyrics beginning again as the Insecticon had another idea.

Screeching in fury, he started to create even more Insecticlones, entire walls made of Zaptraps starting to form around Vegeta. “Why don’t you stop hiding behind these drones and actually fight me?” Vegeta wondered, giving a slight smirk.

“SHUT YOUR MOUTH, MOUTH!” Shrapnel extended his arm, sending several after his enemy.

 

So naïve, thinking that at any moment, I couldn't bring you to your knees and all I see is a shell of disappointment! You stand before the almighty, so…

Bow down before I proceed!

 

Without missing a beat, Vegeta avoided the many individual clones that tired to lunge at him, even effortlessly avoiding their lightning attacks before he either punched a few out of the way or kicked them down with one foot or both. One of them, he even ripped the mandible part just to throw it through several other mindless drones.

As scrap fell to the ground in great supply, Shrapnel’s eyes glowed as he summoned the most Insecticlones he could, instantly sending them to swarm around the Saiyan. “Try getting away from this, this!” He challenged, a house-sized ball of the fiends starting to increase in size around the trapped foe.

 

Now, look me in the eyes! Your weakness I despise! The blood that flows INSIDE me! An heir to Saiyan royalty!

You lack the strength and bare no sense of loyalty! YOU’LL SEE a strength that your reality could not perceive, your mind enters insanity!

 

“GALLICK GUN, FIRE!” Vegeta shouted, a purple beam of energy smashing through the ball from the inside, a rain of molten metal happening as clone after clone began to fall. The Saiyan moved the beam in a circular way when he moved with it, increasing the range of the devastating attack.

Stopping his attack, he charged up before intentionally moving through the various remaining clones, burning through them like they were nothing. Shrapnel kept creating clone after clone, but none were able to stop him from getting punched in the face again, the impact sending ripples throughout the kingdom and causing several mechanical teeth to fly out.

 

THESE HEIGHTS THAT I HAVE ACHIEVED! LIMITS ONLY BROKEN BY MY STRENGTH AND PRIDE!

WHEN…ALL HAVE COME TO SEE…THEY WILL KNOW WE’RE NOT THE SAME! NOW SAY MY NAME!

(2:39-2:50)

Delivering punch after punch, Vegeta was intent on ending this quickly. “I won’t ever show my respect to a glutton so pitiful that he had to steal power from others just to get a leg up! Now, get out of my sight!” He shouted, only to get grasped by both shoulder mandibles.

(2:50-3:02)

“ENOUGH, ENOUGH, ENOUGH!” Shrapnel shouted, powering through the air while increasing the storm around them. His volts crackled around Vegeta and continued to leave more burn scars, some parts of his skin already getting reduced to ash. “You will fall before me like the meal that you are, are!”

Grabbing around those mandibles, Vegeta clutched them with enough force to completely shatter them, doing a roundhouse kick against his foe for good measure. A series of ki-blasts were then fired, a furious yell also following.

(3:02-3:12)

Summoning his newfound godly might, Shrapnel summoned many more needles from all around him, forming them into another ball that he also applied his electricity to. Smashing it down on Vegeta, he saw blood form when the needles poked into him, the volts turning the whole thing into a burning ball of doom.

At first, it looked like the crushing object had annihilated Vegeta when it crashed down to the ground with him, but a blue glow had started to be created during that fall, confusing all that witnessed it…until the ball of needles exploded in a royal blue display of almost fiery might.

As the lyrics returned, a wounded but thoroughly determined Vegeta was standing, his body glowing that same shade of navy blue, his hair also looking much shinier as a result. Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan had been achieved once more (Super Saiyan Blue for short). Placing his hands together, he started to charge up a very familiar attack quickly.

“FINAL FLAAAAAASH!” He shouted, yellow/blue energy flowing into his hand and crumbling the ground around him before it suddenly fired, burning the atmosphere around it as it skyrocketed towards the terrified Shrapnel. Panicking and not bolting out of the way, he tried to fire a massive blast of volts to clash against the beam.

 

THESE HEIGHTS THAT I HAVE ACHIEVED! LIMITS ONLY BROKEN BY MY STRENGTH AND PRIDE!

WHEN…ALL HAVE COME TO SEE…THEY WILL KNOW WE’RE NOT THE SAME! NOW SAY MY NAME!

 

Before the song came to a close and as the guitars continued, the volts were instantly smothered by the Final Flash, leaving the Insecticon helpless as he and the remaining clones were enveloped in that blast. His screams echoed throughout Hallownest, the rest of the beam traveling all the way into the depths of space.

By the time the citizens of Dirthmouth could see once more after that display of light, they saw that a massive hole had formed in the top of Hallownest, bringing actual natural light into the very top of this kingdom. The edges of that circle were sizzling, fully showing that it was all the work of that Final Flash.

Vegeta’s hands were also still smoking, his glare not ending as he panted heavily. He had reverted back into his base form, having put all of his remaining stamina into that attack. Perhaps he had a bit more to spare, but, really, he wasn’t going to waste it on no-doubt beaten foe.

Sure enough, the smoke cleared enough for Shrapnel to fall down to the ground. He was alive, but only because his godly essence had been used up to tank the hit. Even a power based around light would not be able to stand against a power that seemed based on defiance. Defiance of the will of primeval gods. Defiance against all foes in general.

His metal nearly singed and his spark having suffered great damage, Shrapnel tried to raise his hands, not even a spark coming out. “You…how…I was a GOD, GOD! I could have won, won!” He whined. “How did it all go wrong, wrong?!”

“It’s simple. You faced the Prince of all Saiyans and were arrogant enough to think you could come out on top.” Vegeta held his chin up high as he said this. “It disgusts me to even look at you, you gluttonous parasite. I should warn you that my penchant for mercy isn’t high, so-“

“MINE!”

Instantly, a Cerebro-Shell was fired into the back of his head, causing Vegeta to grasp around where it had struck as agony flowed through his mind. His muscles flexed as he tried to pry it off, only to feel more of those electrifying signals go through him. “That’s it! I’ve waited for this moment!” A heavily weakened Bombshell exclaimed.

He started to get closer, ignoring how Hornet and company were starting to converge on the weakened Insecticons. “That’s right! Become my servant! The winner of this insipid game is mine to command! I can still ensure a feast for myself!”

Gritting his teeth, Vegeta’s aura began to return, causing the device to start breaking. As Bombshell gasped from seeing this, Vegeta gave him a murderous glare. “You…aren’t the first to try and control me…and the last one who succeeded…only won because I let him…”

“Invade my mind and body all you want…” The saiyan’s arms rose up, his hair starting to turn golden one last time. “But there’s one thing you mind-controlling creeps will never understand…a Saiyan…especially one like me…will always keep…THEIR PRIDE!” He roared, powering up to Super Saiyan fully.

The device short-circuited, leaving behind a wound underneath his hair, but one he would shrug off. “NOOOO! MY SHELL! MY PRECIOUS SHELL!” Bombshell grasped his own head, the feedback of the shell’s destruction giving him great pain. “I should just kill you right-“

SLASH!

His horn fell to the ground, destroying his Cerebro-Shell generator and causing him to wail in agony. Hornet was the cause, her needle then burying itself into his chest before it started to slash around, damaging his spark in the process. “G-guh! You…insignificant BUG!” He coughed, while Kickback tapped his shoulder. “WHAT?!”

“We should probably get going! The food is starting to bite back!” Indeed, the grasshopper-like one was right. Many residents of Hallownest, especially those from Dirtmouth, were starting to surround the Insecticons, all looking ready to rip them a new afterburner.

Hornet led the charge, brandishing her needle while the Dung Defender and Bretta stood alongside her. “I’m only going to say this ONCE, monsters…GET OUT OF OUR KINGDOM.” She said icily.

Still futilely trying to fire his electric volts and even trying to make some new Insecticlones, Shrapnel looked even more pathetic against the crowd. “This isn’t fair, fair! You’re food, food! MORSELS, MORSELS! This shouldn’t be happening, happening!”

The other Insecticons looked to him, clenching their fists. “Oh, YOU! We should retreat now, but, when we’re out of here, we’re going to take our time dismantling you!” Bombshell shouted.

“Nobody double-crosses Kickback! I’m the one who does that! It’s, like, my one unique feature apart from jumping a lot!” The grasshopper-like one exclaimed.

A glare from Vegeta was the last straw for Shrapnel’s nerve. Letting loose a pathetic screeching wail, he transformed into his Stag Beetle form and flew towards the hole he made, followed by his two peeved compatriots, hopefully never to be seen again by Hallownest.

Those below cheered, no longer feeling the influence of The Ravenous anymore, as well as being assured that there would be no more of those killer Insecticlones. The Nailmasters would watch this from a distance, content that they could return to their peaceful lives. Unn would also be feeling the much more peaceful air, content that her home and people would suffer no more.

Bretta would find herself surrounded by new admirers, causing her to blush, while the Dung Defender posed for all, happy to help his kingdom once more. Hornet, however, looked to Vegeta, tilting her head. “So…what will you do now, warrior of another world?”

Her question was seemingly answered when a portal appeared next to him. “My business here is concluded. It looks like that whole ‘Arena’ thing panned out for me. Whatever’s next, I’ll take head-on. Until then…see you next time or something.” He grimaced at that awkward goodbye, given he was never one for small-talk.

“I suppose so as well. Take care.” Hornet nodded, also not good with small-talk. Something both seemed to understand as they returned to their individual business without so much as a further conversation.

Within the realm Vegeta found himself in, time was slowed to a crawl, the Nexus from so many seasons ago around him. “Alright. What now?” He asked, irritated.

“What now? How about you getting crowned the 42^nd Arena Winner! Congrats, prince!” Baskerra Hellmane suddenly materialized behind him, causing him to quickly turn around and almost unleash a ki-blast. “Easy there! Shouldn’t you be used to wish-granting shenanigans?”

Calming, the Saiyan realized that, for the first time in a long time, he was calling the shots when it came to a wish. An honor that usually got reserved for Kakarot and pals. He had already thought about this wish for some time, but, since it was now in his grasp, he started to think about it more deeply.

“Take your time. Don’t worry. Heck, there are some combatants that don’t even wish for anything!” Baskerra offered before her two tails tickled the saiyan’s chin. “You knoooow…you can always wish to never be in second place to Goku anymore…or maybe wish for your kingdom back…”

Thinking hard, Vegeta’s eyes flashed open before pointing a finger at the hellhound’s muzzle. “DEMON! GRANT ME MY WISH! A NEVER-ENDING SUPPLY OF INSTANT RAMEN!”

“…are you fucking serious right now?” Baskerra’s brow rose up. “You could have literally anything you want…and you choose that?”

“Did I stutter? Me and my wife happen to like that meal…and Whis too, for some reason…” He crossed his arms as he thought on that last bit before continuing to glare at the demon. “You can tempt me with immortality or whatever other ‘too-good-to-be-true’ wish you have in mind, but there’s no way in Hell I’m taking another shortcut to success.”

Hearing his reasoning, the demonic hound anthro shrugged. “’kay. ‘kay. I guess that’s fair. Here you go.” She snapped her fingers. “When you get back to your Earth, you should find an Instant Ramen Cup that will never get empty, no matter how many times you heat it up and eat it. It’ll multiply itself, depending on how many around you want Instant-Ramen.”

“Hm. Very well.” Another portal opened up near the Saiyan, the Capsule Corp building on the other side.

“So, no other parting words? Not even a goodbye?” Baskerra asked.

“Only a warning. You pull this on any of my family…and I’ll know.” A tinge of purple showed up around his hair, causing even the mighty Baskerra to tremble a bit. In that time, Vegeta flew through the portal, vanishing from her sight as the rift in space/time closed.

Wiping the sweat off her forehead, Baskerra put her hands on her hips. “That Aresdemonia…always messing around with things…but hey! At least that means I’m not the one getting blamed for whatever’s going wrong with the Arena…even though it’s…pretty much my creation…and I’m the one sending people from across time/space to it…”

She shrugged after that. “Eh. Morality is relative for a demon like me. Anyway, good fight and good night, folks!”

 

YOU’RE WINNER: VEGETA!!!

 

 

END OF EPISODE 42

 

RANKINGS:

 

Winner: Vegeta of Unit 12

Second Place: Brad Armstrong of Unit 6

Third Place: Swarmlord of Unit 1

Notes:

And, with that, the halfway point of this season is complete! Anyway, the next Arena takes place in the TF2 Universe! Specifically, a round of 'Mann Vs. Machine'! But this one takes place after the story of TF2 had concluded! What is going on that has caused robots to rampage once more? The answers are in the next Arena! Anyway, have a wonderful day, folks!

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 18 of The Silverscale Arena Season 4