Fight for Power

<]-Mithril-[>

"Victory: MITHRIL!" boomed a massive voice as fireworks rang out.

Yep, I WIN!!! Go me!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

That said, Vashj was quite strong herself; she'll be a great help in making those murderous Black Pikmin too dead to kill civilians. For now I'll just let Vashj rest up there.

Anyways, remember that stone dude with the despair issues? Obviously, he's too busy wallowing in despair to help us in the upcoming fight(s), or to do much of anything, really. Yeah as punishment for trying to kill us, we've forced Ra to watch motivational videos from Libera until all of the despair is violently destroyed.

*DO IT
Literally Libera doing the DO IT video*

Rune, Quicksilver, and the other techheads are putting the finishing touches on the awesome Black Pikmin-killing weapon we have. Orvtre, Bloodriver, Upsilon, and the others are helping evacuate Ludibrium so civilians don't die when the big fight starts.

As for me, I have a few things to prep for as well...
_____________
?-Orvtre-?

I stepped into my dreamscape within my subconscious. Floating past the starry blue-black mindscape ocean, passing through several membranes, I arrived at a particular "door".

I directed my voice at the inhabitant: "It's almost time."

<Rho>

"Pack up anything you value. This is the Black Pikmin heading your way, so whatever's left behind you're not likely to see again!"

There's a nervous energy going all over this place, tinged with a bit of hopelessness, like nobody thinks they can stop the Black Pikmin. Even the troops sticking around don't seem all that enthused. And hell, why would they? From the Black Pikmin's current track record, they're all throwing their lives away here just to buy time.

Well. We'll just see about that.

"Kinda disappointed we didn't check this place out sooner," Beta lamented, "I'd have liked to look around here before everyone had to pack up and leave."

"It's not like we had all that much time to do so," Hydross noted. Vashj, standing by them, merely narrowed her eyes. I imagine maybe she's seen this place in better days.

A loud pop overhead broadcasted the arrival of... some kind of transport, looks like? It descended towards the city's port as I took a moment to identify it. Looks like Omicron's tech? Is he actually gonna pitch in here? I didn't really pay all that much attention while they were chatting on the colony.

Any other possible thoughts were overridden by an air raid siren kicking in. Looks like we've got incoming. We had all already congregated atop Helios Tower to keep an eye out, so it was pretty obvious when we spotted it; a massive storm cloud coming way, way too fast to be natural.

"Well then. I guess this is it," Zeta groused, cracking his fingers. I popped the joints of my own hands, bobbing up and down impatiently. The waiting part is what kills me. I barely noticed Mithril leaning over to whisper something to Orvtre.

The tense silence was unexpectedly s***tered by three loud cracks coming from within the storm as three projectiles burst out of the cloud.

"s***, they're firing already?!" Broxigar swore as the projectiles flew in. The civilians haven't finished evacuating yet! No time to think about it, then. I blasted off towards one of them, trailing flames, as Mithril and Orvtre began tracking another. Didn't see what anyone else did, because I was immediately engulfed in a massive explosion as I bodily rammed the projectile like a missile. I saw another explosion closer to the city, but the third projectile continued on, undamaged, to land in a thankfully already evacuated area.

There was no explosion from this one. Instead, it slammed down with a solid thud and then snapped open, a loud "WAAAAAAAGH!" reverberating from within. A few loud cracks accompanied the war cry as even more Black Pikmin were warped in.

"They launched themselves at us? What the hell is with these guys?!" Orvtre balked at their audacity.

"Save the questions for later, get 'em!" Mithril yelled, already diving towards the grouped Black Pikmin. I blazed my way towards them as well, even as more cracks from behind me signaled more incoming projectiles.

?-Orvtre-?

Our first priority is to finish the evacuation of all the civilians here. Bloodriver, Gamma, Orbin, Quicksilver, Juggernaut, Beta, Upsilon, Vashj, and some of the others, along with both my summons and Rune's summons aided the civilians in their evacuation, and in protecting them from any harm.

Those of us who aren't helping the civilians now are fighting the Black Pikmin.

Mithril, Zeta, Hydross, Theta, Grav, as well as a few of our other members, would probably prefer fighting the Black Pikmin, but are... less adept at working with civilians, hence their presence on the front lines.

I, along with Rune, warped into midrange, halfway between the evacuating civilians and the incoming Black Pikmin. From here, we can provide both defensive shields for the civilians and ranged firepower to hit the Black Pikmin and slow their advance.

Our first line of defense is to shoot down the projectiles containing the Black Pikmin. Theta and Grav, being closest to the incoming Black Pikmin, shot down some projectiles with freeze blasts and gravity orbs, respectively. Rune and I shot down some projectiles that had gotten past the frontlines. However, we would have to deal with the Black Pikmin who had already landed...

Mithril went right on that, jamming a spear into the chest of an unlucky Black Pikmin and detonating it, leaving a bloody mess where he once stood. She followed up with a vicious spiked punch to another Black Pikmin's head, destroying his brain, while simultaneously decapitating another Black Pikmin. She then generated multiple spears, swords, and explosive devices, descending upon the black mass as a flurry of stabby, slashy, explody death.

Rho and Zeta were right behind her, with Rho burning the face off a Black Pikmin, and brutalizing another with several exploding punches and kicks, while Zeta punched the head off a Black Pikmin and crushed the skull of another invader. Theta put up a wall of ice to deflect some of the incoming retaliation, while said retaliation merely annoyed Zeta and Mithril.

Theta followed up with a ray of frost that left some Black Pikmin as ice statues, who were promptly s***tered and destroyed by Hydross. Hydross impaled a Black Pikmin with his reef spear, while slashing another invader with the bone blade attached to his left arm. Grav crushed a few Black Pikmin with gravity marbles, while Hydross gave another invader a dose of electricity with his Shock Gauntlet.

Back over at midrange, Rune and I were killing some Black Pikmin as well. Rune shot several Black Pikmin to death with magic blasts, while I melted and electrocuted some Black Pikmin with lava and electricity, respectively.

Even with the counterattacks coming from the Black Pikmin, it was clear that as it stood, we currently outclassed the forces that were initially sent at us. Wondering how long that would last, I froze another Black Pikmin to death while Rune stabbed a few more to death with her staff.

It was basically immediately after this occurred that a loud noise rang throughout the area, followed by a crack in the sky, sending white beams of air pressure at Rune, which she dodged. I myself dashed aside as a large Black Pikmin stomped down on my previous position. I got a good look at him: He had a large scar around the right side of his head, a long whip-like tail, and had a pair of heavy boots, a bulky jetpack, and a big hammer. This must be one of the Warbosses.

Back at the frontlines, another large Black Pikmin, this one with a spiky black orb at the end of his stalk, was wearing a big spiky suit of powered armor and was wielding chainswords. I believe this one's name was Trombe. Trombe forced Rho and Hydross back, before being met with Mithril, Zeta, and Theta.

The real challenge starts now. For our initial attack on the scarred Warboss next to us, Rune and I shot at him with magic bolts and lava blasts, respectively. We need to hold them off until the evacuation is done.

<Trombe>

"Five agins' wun, huh? I like dose odds!" Trombe bellowed, revving his new chainswords. The teeth of the blades gleamed light blue, catching Mithril's eye.

"Isn't that the same metal..." she muttered, reaching out her senses to them. Just as back in the mountain, there was no sense to them at all, like the metal just wasn't there.

"Is that seriously Trombe?" Rho grunted, looking up and down the armored Pikmin's form. "He's huge!"

"Yeah... you weren't that big last time I saw you, Trombe," Hydross called out to him. Trombe's manic grin grew wider.

"Spendin' sum time wif da Boyz had a bit ov an effect on me, eh?" Trombe drawled, licking his lips. "Been waitin' fer sumwun who could gimme a propa scrap!" he bellowed, rushing all five at once. A burst of ice from Theta barely even seemed to slow him down, serving only to direct Trombe's first attack in his direction, a massive neck-level swing of his chainsword that Theta parried, skidding across the ground from the sheer force of it nonetheless. Zeta leapt towards Trombe's back, grappling with his shoulders and began throwing punches at his head. To the amazement of all present, Trombe simply laughed and whipped his other chainsword around to grind into Zeta's back even as Hydross and Rho unleashed a wave of water and flame respectively, the waves colliding to blast Trombe in the face with an enormous burst of steam.

Impossibly enough, Trombe simply laughed that off too, and then laughed harder as Mithril's barrage came down on him, a variety of metallic weapons, blades, trucks, and some other odds and ends.

"Dat's wat I've been waitin' fer!" Trombe cackled ecstatically, even as a hail of bolter fire broke up the heroes' assault on him. "But dontcha ferget, I ain't alone 'ere!" he roared as smaller Black Pikmin vessels swarmed overhead, the Cathedral still looming in the distance growing ever closer.
____________
]]]Skys***ter[[[

"Well well, wot's this then, ey?" Skys***ter groused as he whipped his grav-hammer forward, blasting away the incoming attacks. "Sumwun 'ere wiff a bit ov guts, then? Gooooood," he hissed as the air around him cracked, launching more jet streams at the two Hero Squad members. Overhead, a small Black Pikmin airship took notice of the fight and opened fire with a storm of bolter fire.

"Dammit, how many of these guys are there?" Orvtre growled, launching a burst of lava at the airship just a hair too slowly, the ship bobbing to the side to avoid the shot. It didn't dodge Rune's followup blast, but even as it went down they could see several Storm Boyz jumping out.

In that brief moment that they'd looked at the ship, though, Skys***ter had taken the time to rush toward Rune and direct a kick at her that blew clear through her hastily made shield. As soon as his boot made contact with her she went flying, plowing through a building.

"Even if I'm on da ground... yer always beneath me feet!" Skys***ter roared, whipping out his bolter to open fire on Orvtre.

?-Orvtre-?

Orvtre darted aside as Skys***ter opened fire on hir, before firing a heavy barrage of lava and lightning his way. Once again, Skys***ter blocked the barrage with his hammer, but this time, Rune appeared behind Skys***ter, blasting at him with magic blasts.

Skys***ter's response was to return fire with his bolter while sending more beams of air pressure at Orvtre. Orvtre attempted to send a stalagmite attack at Skys***ter from below, only for it do nothing due to the power boots deflecting them.

Skys***ter then swung his gravity hammer at Orvtre, who narrowly dodged that and the barrage the supporting Black Pikmin Boyz sent hir way. Unfortunately, Orvtre did not evade the followup headbutt + kick combination from Skys***ter, skidding away from that.

After coming to a halt, Orvtre looked up to see more Black Pikmin heading the way of the civilians. They needed just a bit more time. Hissing, Orvtre launched several massive barrages of lightning, frost, and stone the way of the Black Pikmin troops, killing off the majority of them.

Skys***ter whistled. "Looks like some bloke's determined to hold the line, eh?" The Warboss's face then morphed into a grin. "Then just try and stop me."

Skys***ter, wielding his hammer, rushed at Orvtre, while Orvtre and Rune rushed at Skys***ter in return, lightning, lava, and magic ablaze.
__________
<]-Mithril-[>

One glance at both the Warbosses here was enough to confirm it: It wasn't either of them. With that in mind, attempting to kill Skys***ter and Trombe here would be a waste of time and energy. And energy is something Mithril was going to ration very wisely.

That said, they still needed to have the civilians here evacuate safely. And although Skys***ter and Trombe would not die here, the same can't be said for the Black Pikmin followers they had brought with them.

With that in mind, Mithril generated an UBERSPEAR and handed it to Zeta, who proceeded to attempt to try and stab Trombe with it. The Warboss did his laughy laughy thing and slashed apart the UBERSPEAR with his chainswords, but Mithril used her metal control to make the broken UBERSPEAR parts morph into still rather large spears and had them fly into Trombe's face, causing more explosions.

More laughy laughy. Also more chainsword slashes.

Rho launched more fire at Trombe while Mithril hurled more explosive fiery projectiles in Trombe's direction. Those that did not hit Trombe or weren't blocked by the Warboss, promptly flew past Trombe and impacted into several Black Pikmin vessels. A few followup gravity marbles from Grav crushed the Black Pikmin Boyz unlucky enough to be hit.

After receiving more chainswords slashes than he had liked, Zeta gave Trombe a massive fullbody tackle, which finally forced him back towards Theta, whose Frostmourne pulsed with seraphic power. Trombe grinned and sent his chainswords the teal's way as the clash resulted in a outburst of power.
_________
X-Pluto-X

BLAM

And that should be the last of the plastic droids.

After waking up from my unconsciousness, I helped mop up the rest of the droids in what remained of Vashj'ir. Now it was finally time to make the trek towards Ludibrium. For some reason, I have the shivers now. Was it meeting Pepe again that got me disturbed, or was it the campaign at Ludibrium that was giving me the creeps?

...

For some reason, I feel that it is Ludibrium. I have a bad feeling about that place...

Seeing Epsilon, I looked over him again, my glance resting on his prosthetic for a bit. I walked over towards the Warboss. I took out a pendant and handed it to Epsilon. "Here, for good luck."

Epsilon spun the pendant in his hand for a moment before slipping it on. "... thanks."

Pluto log to be continued in a future post...

<Rho>

Rho didn't get it.

'How the hell can Trombe go toe to toe with five of us? Especially when two of that number are Mithril and Zeta!' he thought angrily, tossing another wave of flame at Trombe that the larger Black Pikmin simply laughed off. 'He sure as hell wasn't this tough during the Experiment War... was he?'

A horrific screech accompanied his clash with Theta's blade, Trombe leveraging his height advantage to push Theta back even as the Teal unleashed wave after wave of ice at him. Finally, Theta disengaged as Zeta grabbed low on Trombe's midsection and executed a magnificent suplex, cracking the floor in a very wide radius. And yet still, Trombe just laughed, hefting himself upwards and slamming his legs into Zeta's body as he sprung back to his feet.

"Expected nuffin' less from ya, boyz! Come an' git me, I say!" Trombe cackled, being cut off only as Rho and Mithril both slammed into him from behind to force him off Zeta and into a huge attack from Theta. This time he swung his massive chainswords, carving through the sheet of ice Theta had launched at him and sending Rho and Mithril sprawling out of the way of the blade's revving teeth. Before anyone had a chance to react he rushed between the two of them, jumping over Zeta and coming down at Grav with a massive overhead swing. Suprised at being targeted, Grav haphazardly jumped out of the way at the last second as Trombe's blades carved a massive gouge in the floor, but the enormous Black Pikmin continued after him even as Grav launched gravity marbles at him. As impossible as it seemed, he managed to duck and weave between the marbles all while swiping at Grav, pausing only to deflect a hasty shot from Mithril before a wall of explosions blocked their sight of the Warboss.

Slamming down before them were two heavily-armored Nobs and a flight-capable Mek, Storm Bolters already revving up to unleash hell.
________
<Epsilon>

Luck... such a fickle thing. Epsilon quietly regarded the pendant the smaller Black Pikmin had handed him, turning it over in the palm of his hand multiple times. His eyes flicked over towards Pluto, who was pacing about in the room, apparently feeling as restless as most of the other Boyz on the sub.

"Nervous?" Epsilon said quietly. In the quiet room they were in, it sounded loud as hell. To his credit, Pluto didn't jump; he just turned towards the Warboss of the Stealth Squad with a contemplative look on his face.

"I... can't shake a bad feeling about this Ludibrium place," he admitted. Epsilon raised an eyebrow. Was that what the pendant was about? Suppressing a scoff, he simply shook his head.

"Any given fight could be your last. There's no point in wondering things like 'Am I going to die here', that just leaves you to hesitate. And in that one moment of hesitation, death comes. Just treat every fight like it's your last, because when it comes right down to it," Epsilon said, grabbing Pandora as he stood and making his way out of the room, "None of us really have anything to lose."

"Hey, ya mooks! Look lively!" Blackfuse's voice bellowed throughout the ship, "We're comin' up on Ludibrium, so you'd better not be slackin' off! This is your thirty minute warnin'!"

<]-Mithril-[>

It was apparent from the surprised reactions from the other Hero Squad members that Trombe wasn't this strong before, Mithril noted. Leading hypothesis is that Trombe's psionic link is the main factor that lead to his power boost. The secret weapon that Hero Squad had developed would be deployed to deal with that later; for now, the mooks.

It was made apparent that the Nobs were sturdier than the average Boy when Rho slammed into one in a fiery tackle and Hydross attacked the other with his reef spear, bone blade, and shock gauntlet. The two of them dodged aside as the Nobs fired off a retaliatory barrage.

Mithril charged at one of the Nobs, shifted her arm into a drill, and then jammed it right in the center of the Nob. Generating a rocket at the end of her drill arm, Mithril quickly drilled right through the chest of the Nob, before hurling the impaled Black Pikmin at the other Nob. Rho, now sufficiently annoyed, blasted away at the remaining Nob with Burgundy.

This was when Trombe appeared, disengaging from his grapple with Zeta to try and slash at Mithril. The metal 'min darted aside, dodging the Warboss's attacks, however she was grazed by the flying Mek's Storm Bolters. Mithril slithered past Trombe and then leap up above the Mek, before dropping down and slamming the flying Mek with a motorcycle, causing the Black Pikmin construct to slam into the ground. Mithril followed up by slamming into the ground fistfirst, sending a wave of drill spikes that Trombe dodged... but that the Mek and its occupants did not; the drill spikes impaling them, rotating, and then exploding, destroying the Mek and its occupants from within.

Mithril and the other Hero Squad members received a message from Bloodriver, Gamma, and the civilian escort group that the civilians have finished evacuating. Good. Now they can join the fight and take some pressure off those in the frontline.

>>>Blackfuse<<<

"Ey, boss, they got a shore battery ahead!" one of the Boyz informed Blackfuse, staring through the sub's periscope. They'd finally gotten into the actual lake where Ludibrium was and were pushing on towards it, headed to the eastern island.

"Lemme see," Blackfuse grunted, shoving the smaller Black Pikmin aside to look through the periscope. As soon as he did he grinned. "Take a closer look there, they ain't firin' at us. Betcha Kane beat us here," the Warboss snorted. "Full speed ahead, Boyz, get us up on the shore!" he bellowed as he headed out of the bridge and towards the docking bay to get his Mek.

Even as the massive sub slammed into the shore and wedged itself up into the shore battery, there was no response. Sure enough, all present were dead on the ground, and if you looked closely you'd see a small black speck making it's way up Helios tower's outside. That was of little concern to the Mek Boyz, though. A dozen ports opened across the submarine's deck and dispensed those with functioning Meks, Blackfuse's the largest of those present.

"Dismantle the battery if ya need parts, otherwise, into the fray!" Blackfuse roared, his Mek thundering into the sky.

Below, Barricade and Epsilon emerged from the sub to head towards the base of Helios Tower, a trail of 'Ard Boyz in their wake. The Stealth Squad had already dispersed into the shadows, some with the Mek Boyz, some with the group below.

"Aw hell, dere's an ellyvater!" one of the Boyz wailed from ahead of them. Both Warbosses suppressed a groan.
____________
]]]Skys***ter[[[

A couple scattered Boyz may have fallen quickly before the two that Skys***ter was fighting, but a whole bunch of them? Well that formed a wall of gunfire large enough to pin them down, and with more Black Pikmin congregating on this point every minute it was simply getting easier.

By themselves they might not have survived for long anyway, but then there was Skys***ter himself, swatting each and every attack sent towards them with his gravity hammer. With the gaps to return fire - and their cover - gradually shrinking, Orvtre prepared for one full-out assault...

"Coming through!" came Quicksilver's voice as Juggernaut burst through a nearby building and body slammed a large Mek, sending it careening into the firing line. A large explosion followed as it was thoroughly perforated by friendly fire, then a much duller thud as Juggernaut laid into the Black Pikmin with his own hammer.

Of course, this immediately got the attention of every single Black Pikmin within line of sight and a barrage of gunfire descended upon the huge Purple Pikmin before a white streak zipped out and ping-ponged its way around them.

"Magma Beam!" Orvtre shouted as shi jumped out from behind cover at last, unleashing a huge channel of lava at the scattered Black Pikmin line. Even with his troops in disarray, however, Skys***ter was a point of calm in the storm, simply lifting one of his boots to deflect the stream of molten metal, firing a few wind streams behind him at Juggernaut even as he did.

Quicksilver apparently took offense to that as the white streak rushed at Skys***ter next, who didn't even budge as a black streak intercepted it, the two blurs skidding to a halt several yards from each other.

"Ey, 'bout time ya showed up, Kane. Wuz finkin' maybe ya got slowed down wiff the rest o' da boyz," Skys***ter smirked, not turning away from Orvtre and Rune. His fellow Warboss stood up behind him, blade and gun in hand.

"The ground forces are not too far behind. Black Art has assured me they have a means to cross the lake," Kanaedolph responded, eyes locked on Quicksilver. The hooting and cheering approaching could only mean even more Black Pikmin headed their way.

<]-Mithril-[>

Mithril hurled more projectiles Trombe's way as the Warboss switched focus to Hydross this time. Hydross unleashed stinging filaments from his Flame Coral Circlet while evading, while Grav attempted to shoot Trombe with more gravity marbles. Honestly, this wasn't going well. At this rate, they were just biding time for the real show to start, Mithril mused, as she smashed apart a few unlucky Black Pikmin with hammers to the face.

Even though Mithril was spending effort in killing the Black Pikmin, the Boyz had started hollering because more of them would show up. Indeed, they had shown up sooner than expected. It was when Mithril blasted apart a few Black Pikmin that had ventured too close that she suddenly dodged aside, evading a powerful shot from afar.

At that moment, Mithril knew. Mithril whispered four words into her Hero Band as her face grew a predatory, shark-like grin: "I will kill Epsilon."

Mithril immediately darted in the direction the shot came from, with such sudden speed it was an extra moment before Aeonus and the Infinites appeared. Aeonus immediately unleashed a blast of sand at Mithril... which was blocked by a powerful wall of light, one much too strong to have come from the Hero Squad members of today...

Aeonus froze in shock. It couldn't be...

"It's been a long time, Chi. Or do you go by Aeonus now?"

"How?" Aeonus muttered, his attention dominated by the starry, cosmic Pikmin before him. "How are you still alive, Libra?!?"

<Aeonus>

Aeonus's eyes flicked towards Mithril as she moved. No problem yet; Epsilon would hold out for some time before she could land a killing blow. But that didn't mean he had time to toy around, especially not with some... relic of a bygone timeline!

"How... how the hell can you be here?!" Aeonus demanded, sandy wings rising in agitation. Libra tilted hir head at him.

"Are we going to be eavesdropped on by your... benefactors?" shi prompted, getting only a pair of narrowed eyes from Aeonus.

"No. They don't care enough to watch my every move," he growled back, the sands of time swirling about in him increasingly thick clouds.

Libra sighed. "It's a long story, but I'll start from a point I feel is appropriate. As you know, I had 'died' back then in my original timeline. However, what I had not told you was that before my 'death'. I had been investigating a temporal conspiracy that the Galactic Gods had spun, one that, if successfully executed, will result in far more grave consequences than what Zeromus has in store. Even back then, I had traced the Galactic Gods' activities to this timeline (and perhaps a few of its neighbors as well), and I planned on hopping to this timeline... but my 'death' nonetheless disrupted my plans and forced me to make the time leap early. I had planned on resting to recover from the full extent of my 'injuries'... but the ill-preparedness that this timeline had for Zeromus meant that I had to step in early, forcing me to discard the surprise factor I had against the Galactic Gods."

Aeonus growled again, this one lower and echoing more loudly than previously. "I don't care why you're here, Libra... I asked how."

The cosmic-bodied Pikmin shook hir head, "I can't say, not when someone might be listening. If there's even a chance..."

"Then you're wasting my time," Aeonus hissed venomously, launching an enormous wave of sand in hir direction. Libra threw up another wall of light, but it soon cracked under the assault and gave way, giving hir just enough time to avoid the brunt of the attack.

"I can help you, Aeonus. We all can, just like we used to! We can take down Zeromus together!" Libra insisted, erecting several more layers of light shields.

Aeonus, however, seemed undeterred. "You can help me by getting out of my way," he hissed, pulling his own attacks through time to strike from inside the shields. "You have no understanding of what's at stake here. None of you do! You can't understand because you haven't seen it like I have!"

Libra shook off the impact and released hir shields, causing them to s***ter in a massive burst of light. When shi attempted to punch Aeonus, though, the mottled black and white Pikmin simply caught hir fist and released a temporal wave on it, leaving Libra to pull back a near-skeletal hand that started to fill itself out again before shi unleashed a massive wave of light at point blank range.

Aeonus, however, remains unperturbed by the attack. "Help me understand then," Libra insists, moving back but keeping hirself between him and Mithril.

"I can't," Aeonus insists in return, his tone making it clear he believes it to be an undeniable truth. "Now get out of my way."