The First Victory?

Towa City

Cheadle lunged at Sasuke, sinking her teeth into the stub where his left arm used to be. He channeled lightning to his right hand and tried to zap her off, only for Cheadle to dodge back, followed by a jump and kick to Sasuke's head. Sasuke spun from the attack, but struck lightning upon turning completely, but Cheadle endured the attack as she ran to deal a flurry of punches to Sasuke's chest. The ninja ceased and leapt into the air, his Sharingan focusing on Cheadle—sensing danger, the Mobian zipped away, and the spot she was standing suddenly combusted with black flames.

Cheadle ran underneath and leapt at Sasuke, grabbing and smashing him into the ground, but he had used Substitution to swap with a garbage can. "AAH!" Sasuke reappeared above and stamped Cheadle under him, his eyes able to focus on her head and smother it in black flames. Cheadle roared in pain, rolling desperately to put them out after Sasuke jumped off. "The Amaterasu flames will burn you until there is nothing left. First your chi, then your flesh, until you're nothing but-"

"MOON SHOWER!" Diwata warped above Cheadle and unleashed a pure blue beam upon the Mobian. The black flames were weakening and eventually disappeared. "'Guess your 'Amateurasu' wasn't pure enough!" She shot Lunar Beams, Sasuke blocking with his hand, and when Cheadle charged him from the side, he kicked her upside the jaw. Sasuke leapt away from the beam and struck lightning at Diwata. He jumped far enough away to catch all his opponents in his vision, his Sharingan flashing.

The entire city crumbled around them until only a single floating piece of debris was left to hold them. Chunks of the city began to rain down like meteors, the Mario Sisters crying in fear. "HOOOOWWWWWLLL!" Cheadle's lungs vibrated the air, and those meteors scattered into dust as reality fizzed back into existence. "Nice illusion, but silly parlor tricks are nothing to a primal beast!" She rushed up to unload a flurry of claw swipes, Sasuke punching with equal speed. The clashing forces caused the road to crack, prompting all surrounding Monokumas to flee, while the playground kids were heavily invested in the battle. (Heck, it's not every day you see a fight between a werewolf and a ninja!!)

Louise put on a Scouter and read, "Let's see, Uchiha's Power Level is 11,015, Yorkshire's is 7,682, and Diwata's is 3,003. Together, they're almost evenly matched with him. Still, that Fury has to wear off eventually, right?"

"We should at least save those two, right?" Maria asked.

"Good idea." Louise went over to Haruka and Kotoko, painting a portal for them to drop in. "The puke is starting to smell awful."

"NO ONE'S LEAVING!" Sasuke dove toward the portal—Cheadle tackled and thwarted him as if magnetically drawn. She rolled around and wrestled with the ninja, who set her on fire, but still Cheadle was desperate to tear him up. Diwata used her bending to open a window within the very road, and Cheadle was able to force herself and Sasuke into it, splashing in the sewer. Cheadle pounced back out, and the millisecond she did, Diwata closed the window, leaving Sasuke in the sewer.

"Looks like you're the one who's not leaving, Sewer Boy!" Diwata taunted.

"Huff…" Cheadle's Fury faded and her fur returned to normal. "Now isn't the time to fight him. Let's return for now, girls-"

A giant sword of dark energy burst from the ground, followed by a massive light-purple skeleton with horns and glowing yellow eyes. "…Good call." Louise said, all four of them jumping in the portal before Sasuke's Susanoo could make its next move, the paint washing away from the inside.

"Phew… that was a close one." Cheadle sighed in relief, needing to sit and catch her breath. "Girls, before we fell into that sewer, I caught a peculiar scent on that man. He smelled like Peach's perfume. I think he's been spending a lot of time with your mother."

"That better not mean what I think it does!" Maria yelled.

"Either way, now I know for certain that Sasuke is the one in charge of guarding Peach. She'll either be on his ship or an island he rules over."

"That would be Flower Island!" Louise knew. "It's a Japanese town the Sky Gods stole from Historia."

"Then that should be our next destination. Now that I got a good look at his abilities, we'll be ready for him."

Fury burned in Sasuke's Sharingan as he watched his targets escape. "That Louise… she probably has portals hidden on every island. Including this one. And with that Moon Girl's technique…" His eyes replayed the moment Diwata opened the Lunar Window. He focused on the street and opened a window of his own. "Finding at least one of them shouldn't be a problem."

Hyrule; the Silent Sails

Shortly after sailing away from the Divine Beasts, the Story Pirates contacted H.Q. using their monitor. "Sector SA, we missed you at the meeting." Jerome said. "Have you finished your mission?"

"Indeed we have." Hange replied. "Here is all the intel we collected on the Divine Beasts. First, Vah Naboris…?" The screen suddenly turned to static.

"Sec—SA, yo—break—up…"

"Grrr, stupid reception." Killua growled.

"Nagisa, we've been caught in a sandstorm!" Morgiana yelled from up deck.

"It's breaking our transmission! Sail out of it immediately!" Hange ordered.

"Wait, there's something massive coming toward us!" Goombella followed. "I think it's another land ship!"

"We're not even in the desert, how is there a sandstorm?!" Nagisa asked.

The crew met up on deck, seeing the shadow of a gargantuan ship through the sand. Though it seemed close, the deafening echo of its hull made it seem much further away, meaning that its size dramatically dwarfed their little ship. A smaller body of sand was blowing across the land like a snake, until a human figure jumped out and landed on the deck.

Rā's al Ghūl had become pale and shriveled since the loss of his newest Lazarus Pit, half his hair fallen out and green veins glowing on his flesh. "It's Rā's al Ghūl, the Assassin Commander!" Goombella exclaimed.

"An assassin?" Nagisa smirked. "Isn't it weird that I have a strange, magnetic affinity with assassins?"

"Unfortunately, yes." Morgiana glared at Killua.

"So, you must be the ones who were flying around the Divine Beasts." Rā's spoke in a low, rasping voice. "No doubt, you were trying to sabotage them. We can't have that, can we?" The assassin drew his sword. At the same time, Shiva and a group of Demon's Arms leapt onto the deck, blades drawn.

"Wait… My Lord, I recognize that blue-haired girl." one of the ninjas said. "She was the one who boarded our ship on Halloween, accompanied by that Sandman."

"Aww, she remembers me!" Nagisa blushed, grinning. "I'm a boy, just so you know."

"Yes, in fact…" Shiva brought up a holo-screen, "'He' is Nagisa Shiota from Sector SA. Those are his teammates, Goombella and Morgiana, along with… Now, this is interesting."

"You collected info about us?!" Goombella gasped.

"Never underestimate a Yonko's resources. Especially if they have assassins." Killua replied. "Besides, you guys caused quite a mess with that World Rings thing, everyone should know about you."

"YOU were there, too!" Morg shouted.

"That's right… you ARE Scheherazade's allies!" Rā's' eyes brimmed with intrigue.

"You know Inde—Scheherazade?!" Nagisa asked.

"I know that she contains the knowledge of everything in the universe. I'm sure she knows where to find a few more Lazarus Pits, if not all of them. I'm in desperate need of another bath after those traitors destroyed Hyrule's pit. But I still have enough to deal a swift death to you lot if you fail to cooperate. I'm sure Mandy would be delighted to have someone with her knowledge as well. You will bring me to Scheherazade, or all the assassins on my Wonder will bury you into the ground."

The storm partially cleared, revealing the tremendous flagship of Rā's assassins. The Wonder seemed to have a miniature city, a demon's head at the keel. "Nagisa, what do you think? Could we take them all like this?" Killua asked.

"Sigh…fine." Nagisa raised his hands in surrender. "Let's make a deal. We'll take you to Scheherazade and convince her to help you guys if you don't hurt my friends. But if you do hurt them, even a little bit…" A shadow was cast over Nagisa's cold eyes, while his crescent grin made the lower face seem all the brighter and paler, "then I'll kill you on the spot."

Near Kakariko Village

The teams of the Q-Crew and Sector Hinobi located a Sheikah Tech shrine in the hills above Kakariko. A minimal amount of pirates tried to impede their progress by the time they found it, the door to the shrine left open. The nine operatives crowded inside and rode an elevator deep underground. "This is too easy…" Five said worriedly. "She's obviously leading us into a trap."

"That's why we have a bunch of backup waiting outside." Quill figured. "But honestly, if Gaz really feels bad for what happened, why doesn't she just meet us outside and turn herself in?"

"Well, that's the thing about gamers." Miko said. "We can be really stubborn about things."

"Why should that matter?! We lost two friends to that monster and she think we have time for games?!"

"Yeah, well that's what I'd like to know myself! Frankly, I'm not even sure if I deserve to be here! I'm not even sure if I-"

"Can we please stop yelling?!" Carmine requested. "This is a really tight space, it's making me nauseous."

Miko bit her lip and looked away in guilt. "…if I… deserve to be on this team, anymore." She finished her sentence in a meeker tone.

Before any of them could think of a response, the elevator stopped. With one last anxious look, the friends stepped off and entered a wide, dark room with blue virtual lines netted across the wall and ceiling. Gaz Membrane stood lonely in the center, Miko approaching her first. "So, you found my Hinobi account, huh?"

"You announced your screenname loud and clear, so I had to oblige." Gaz replied.

"So, what is it you wanted to say?"

Gaz hesitated a moment before speaking. "…You were right. I only joined this crew because I thought it would be fun. Mandy promised that no KND operatives would die… and they would just be imprisoned. But Smaug was a wildcard. I should've stopped him as soon as he showed up. I'm… sorry."

"That's not gonna bring Drake and Haneesh back." Eddy stated. "The least you can do is turn yourself in."

"And you better tell us where Mitch is!" Bergy demanded.

"Yeah, that would be the honorable thing to do… but the fact is, I already have a part in this war. I'm obligated to help Mandy win. Even if the most I can do is stop you kids, I won't back down."

"So, you're going to fight us anyway, huh?" Zahra glared. "Fine… let's get it over with!"

"Sorry, but I'm only interested in fighting the purple-haired wannabe."

"Why the hell would we go along with that?!" Jenny shouted.

"Yeah, and 'purple-haired wannabe'?" Miko questioned. "What, are you saying that only you're worthy to have purple hair?"

"Against all of you, I'll probably get my butt kicked. My skills lie primarily in gaming or robots that work with game controllers. So, it's only fair we settle this the fair way." Gaz snapped her fingers, and a barrier suddenly appeared to separate Miko from her friends.

"Miko!" Five yelled, the friends trying to attack the barrier. "You coward! We're gamers, too, let us in!"

"I'll kick all your butts after I'm done with her. Well?"

Miko glared at the woman. She could believe that her apology was genuine, but she could feel that Gaz was retaining some feelings. Miko herself would always get lost in games as a way to repress her feelings. "Fine then."

"Then take that control station over there." Gaz approached a terminal on the left while Miko took the right. They both had Sheikah Slates attached. "This shrine is a VR simulator built with all kinds of games. It was probably meant to be used for training, but most people use it for fun. So, what type of game do you want? Fighting? Space-shooter? Dancing?"

"Let's keep it simple and fight." Miko answered.

"Then let's make us some armor." Gaz clicked the 'Fight' option on her slate. A dark-red, digital sci-fi armor appeared over her, with bulky gloves and sharp-toed boots. Miko acquired similar, light-violet armor. Both gamers walked to the center of the room. "I'm ready when you ar-"

Miko threw the first punch, Gaz dodging and swinging a spin-kick at Miko's head. Miko recovered and charged, dodging Gaz's attacks before attempting to kick her off her feet. Gaz fell, but performed a breakdance kick, which Miko jumped before landing on Gaz's stomach. She dropped and punched her face twice, until Gaz grabbed both Miko's arms, pushed herself up, and threw her off. Miko ran to throw fake-out punches before side-dodging, afterwards trying to mix in real punches. In the midst of a punch, Gaz grabbed Miko and hauled her to the ground, afterwards jumping to stamp Miko's face with her heel.

Miko grabbed Gaz's ankle and tried to pull her down, but Gaz freed herself with a flip and kicked Miko's stomach. Miko got up and came at Gaz directly, tanking the woman's punches while dishing out her own, but Gaz avoided most of her hits while punching Miko's head. Miko dodged behind for a kick to Gaz's back, but Gaz retaliated by punching down against Miko's knee. Miko stayed strong on her other leg as she kicked away from the next punch, only for Gaz to swing a kick up at Miko's chin. The holo-armor protected her, but to Miko's misfortune, her armor derezzed. "What?! What kind of cheap junk is this?"

"Your armor ran out of HP." Gaz smirked, the word WINNER flashing above her. "When you're out of HP, you lose."

"Heh, I got plenty of HP to spare!" Miko raised her Hinobi Gauntlet and conjured her purple K.O. Hammer, bringing it down. Gaz dodged and used her own gauntlet to swing a bigger hammer and bash Miko away. Miko recovered and charged at Gaz once more, dodging the latter's hammer smash while retracting her own hammer into a larger fist. Miko leapt to land an aerial punch, but Gaz formed a bigger fist of her own and impacted Miko's. The younger gamer was flung away, but Miko summoned Ally to save her. The red ostrich ran circles around Gaz before charging from behind, but Gaz suddenly bent back with the hammer materialized, smashing Miko and Ally underneath.

"Huff…huff…" Miko weakly pushed herself up, her ostrich having derezzed. "That glove belongs to Mitch… you have no right using it!"

"You're the one who attacked first. You can't accept that you lost."

"Then let's go another round! One way or another, I WILL beat you!"

"Sigh…if you say so." Gaz calmly walked back to her control station. "But for the sake of our physical stamina, how about we just use handheld controls this time? I'm ready when you are."

"Ugh…If you think you're so good, why don't you take all of us?!" Quill shouted. "You coward!"

"Take her down, Miko!" Jenny yelled. "You better not lose!"

"Huff…" Miko cracked a smile on her bruised face. "That was never an option!"

Coast near Valley of Twilight

The sun was crouching behind the land of the eastern coast, casting an eerily red glow over the sea. The hull of the Soul of Competition was pummeled by the living corpses of fish, with Ururu shooting them away with a 4x4 gun. "Ew, get away, fishies! I don't wanna have to clean your smell off! Karin-san, can't you use your powers to help?"

"Technically, I'm not allowed to defile corpses either." Karin answered nonchalantly. "My ghost-bending is only limited to ghosts."

"It smells terrible!" Yuzu pinched her nose shut. "How did Cindy get to be put in charge of dead animals, anyway?! She's not even the one who reanimates them, it's the Wizzrobes."

"'Cause she can't smell, duh!" Jinta reminded.

"Have you noticed each pirate crew has at least one crazy, sadist-type girl?" Kodama asked with a grin. "And I'm the one for OUR crew! Come on, Ururu, let me fight her!"

"Just stick to the script." Karin stated. "Enemy ships are starting to come. Kodama, Ururu, the rest is up to you. Signal us if you need back-up."

"Aye-aye, Cap'n." Kodama saluted as Ururu shrunk down and crept into her head knot. "Seatbelts on, Ururu!" The technician hopped on a large firework and flew to the shore, the tiny screams of Ururu ringing in the distance. (Play "Be Prepared" from Lion King SNES!)

Stage 26: Animal Graveyard

Mission: Seize Cindy Cortix.

Kodama allowed her firework to fly off and explode, landing on a pile of bones and sliding on a nonexistent sled before reaching the bottom. Some bones on the ground awoke and formed into hyena skeletons, dried tongues hanging as they ran around to confuse their prey. When they lunged at Kodama, Ururu zipped through their legs and tripped them, allowing her friend to score the winning explosion. Kodama saw a bone crank up on a pillar and shot a firework up to attach and spin it, causing three tall platforms to rise up, and her only way to ascend them was with Rocket Jumps. From the tallest platform, she jumped to a ledge above a bone wall, viewing a field of giant skulls.

Eerie red eyes brimmed within the skulls' eyes, and skeletal crows came swooping out, Kodama shooting small, quick fireworks to shatter them. It took a moment before all the crows were gone, then the girls noticed three undead rabbits hopping out and around the skulls. There was an abyss beyond this field, but the spinal bridge was blocked by a magic barrier with three keyholes. Those rabbits were carrying the keys, and only Ururu was fast enough to chase them. Kodama shot fireworks to scare the rabbits and redirect them, allowing her friend to succeed in ripping through and taking the keys from their cold dead paws.

After unlocking the barrier, Kodama carefully balanced over a giant spinal cord going over a rotten river. "The smell's never gonna wash out if I fall in that. And you'll probably just die, Ururu. …Uh-oh." There were undead piranhas biting off the suspensions of the bridge, causing those segments to drop into the river. Kodama shot Liftworks down to latch onto the segments and pull them back up, jumping across before they could fall back down. The bridge ended at a large platform with three skeletal turtles. "Dack-quack." said the turtles before curling in their shells and spinning toward Kodama, but all she had to do was jump away, let the shells ram each other, and their bones to crumble.

Kodama walked up some stairs to a graveyard outside of a run-down pet store. The door was locked, and a magic protection prevented Kodama's bombs from piercing. Since they were in a graveyard, the answer was grave-robbing: Kodama began to pull all the gravestones off their spots. Sometimes a skele-kitty would rise up, sometimes a bone-dog, but one of them, "NYAAAAAAAA!" a skinny old man burst out of the ground, arms flailing as he ran around the yard, until Ururu zipped and sliced his knees, leaving Kodama to blast him. "Phew, there's the key!"

With that, they could enter the pet store, twisting the key in the hole and—"WAAAAH!" Kodama fell into a trapdoor, Ururu flying after. They crashed in a basement, and Kodama immediately felt herself weighed down by something. "What the-?! There's something crawling on me!"

Ururu used the Spirit Vision setting on her visor, seeing Ghoul Rats covering her friend. "Hold on!" She sliced the rats off, allowing Kodama to stand. She noticed a treasure chest in the corner and decided to loot it—"MROW!" a mummified cat (a Meummy) pounced out and began to choke Kodama, the girl forcefully tearing it off before ashing it with fireworks. Afterwards, the treasure was theirs.

They went upstairs to the main store, once more greeted by the rotting scent of dead pets. A Wizzrobe Apparated, waving his wand to shatter a wall of fish tanks, making a stream of poison water soar in the air and toward Kodama. Still not in the mood to smell like dead fish, Kodama launched Iceworks to freeze the stream. The Wizzrobe also freed a swarm of guinea pig zombies, which launched tiny grapple hooks to Kodama to fling their selves to her head and try to bite into her brain. In her desperate struggle to rip them off, the Wizzrobe cast fireballs at her, but Ururu returned to normal size, kicked them away, and shrunk again to zip up and tear him up.

Kodama dropped shells on the floor to blow up the fallen rodents, proceeding to a stairwell to the next floor. A horde of skeletal pythons slithered out of their cages: each one bit the back end of another until they were all a single long python. Its nimble, flexible body swiftly evaded Kodama's missiles and gnashed at her, and though she tried to dodge back, its body wrapped around and tripped her. Ururu flew into its mouth when it gnashed and re-expanded to shatter the first snake's body, shrunk again to enter the next, and repeated the process until all the bones were in pieces.

Without the snake to deter them, Kodama could Rocket Jump up a hole in the ceiling, landing on the roof. They were level with giant skulls situated on thin poles over a pit, in which Kodama could Rocket Jump to them, having to react quickly as the skulls threatened to fall. Her fast-thinking allowed her to reach new ground, where a Bone Bull was running around and kicking its hind up in a rage. "AAAAH! PLEASE GET ME DOWN, my spine's bending!" a girl cried, tied to the back of the beast.

"Hey, that's Naoko, from Sector TD!" Ururu recognized her. "Let's stop that bull!" She flew and tried to pierce its legs, but its bones were too strong as she was kicked away, and it easily evaded Kodama's fireworks.

"Ururu, you're red! Make it ram that wall!" Kodama yelled. After recovering, the Tiny Devil re-enlarged, going beside a wall and calling the bull over. As soon as it saw the red devil, the bull charged, and Ururu shrunk and flew up just before its horns impaled the wall. She regrew and landed to cut Naoko's ropes, lifting her and flying to a ledge beyond the field, Kodama joining them after.

"Ururu-chan and Kodama-chan. I really owe you."

"Meiling is on our ship, too." Kodama informed. "We're still looking for the others."

"I hope we can find them soon. Sigh, is there a place I can rest for now? I'm so exhausted…"

"You'll be safe in my pocket." Kodama held out the Infi-Cube for the artist to seek refuge. The duo continued up a sloped, narrow path wherein undead armadillos tried to bowl them off, Kodama dropping bombs at her feet to blow them off course. They made it up to a decayed farmland, where a giant Meummy was glaring with glowing green eyes, but it didn't immediately charge them as it was guarding a bridge. There was a large pale underneath an undead cow… the solution to this puzzle made the girls want to vomit.

Kodama hesitantly went to milk the cow—its utters just fell off and rotten milk spilled into the pale. The technician simply used fireworks to attach and drag the pale over toward the Meummy. The giddy kitty skittered up to start slurping the milk. Kodama could go past and cross the boney bridge, coming upon a field of bones. Nothing was there to obstruct her as they crossed to overlook a hill into a canyon. They heard rumbling behind and turned: a horde of skeletal wildebeest were waking from their slumber.

"I've seriously grown out of Lion King references." Kodama remarked, left with no choice but to board her Rocket Sled and zoom down the canyon. The Wildebones gave chased, Kodama dodging around any boulders in her way. The animals were fast for their old age, so she went up ramps for boosts of speed. A chest was seen between two boulders, so Kodama spared time to grab it, going between the obstacles. She had to ride her sled up a very long, slanted, decayed tree over a spiked pit (which the beasts had no problem crossing). She went off the end and landed back on the main path, going around some tar pits.

After passing the tar, Kodama saw some platforms up on their left. She drove by them and used a Rocket Jump to get onto the lowest platform, watching the wildebeest chase a vacant sled that was doomed to crash. She boosted up the rest of the platforms before reaching another field, finding the boney remains of an elephant. The elephant's interior glowed with fearbending and rose to life. It spat Fear Spheres from its trunk, Kodama dodging. She launched Cheeseworks to bind the elephant's feet, and though it was able to break free, she was able to get close and Rocket Jump on top of it.

It bent its trunk up to suck her off, but Kodama was able to throw Flashworks inside, letting them travel into the elephant's head and burst with light. This caused the beast to grow infuriated and stampede forward, but Kodama attached a firework to its trunk to pull it, with Ururu steering said missile and thus guiding the elephant. They charged toward a large wooden gate and burst through, then another, and all the undead dogs, cats, and canaries were trampled by the beast. Now it was just a clear shot toward a Boogey flagpole—

An undead mouse shot out, spooking the elephant as it suddenly halted. Kodama was flung toward the flagpole, but she thought quick and Rocket Jumped while in midair, enabling her to reach and grab the top! She swapped in a gold flag of the Sports Stars before twirling down the pole. "There she is, Ururu." Kodama saw the frizzy-haired daughter of Mandy playing catch with some undead pets. "It's up to you now. Remember not to let her fearbending hit you too much. Stay small and dodge her attacks."

"Mmm." She nodded determinedly. The Tiny Devil rode her friend as Kodama approached Cindy. Her dead dog, Saliva had just returned her ball to her when her dark eyes glanced in the direction of the intruders. (End song.)

"Well, isn't this a surprise? My useless pets couldn't be bothered to hold off a few stupid intruders. Being in charge of the weakest division sucks…"

"Aren't you the princess now?" Kodama asked. "Why waste time in this smelly place when you can live at the castle?"

"Not enough room for my animals. As dumb as they are, I'm more in tune with nature. As long as it's dead nature…"

"But what about spending time with your mom?"

"I was born to help expand the crew and I have done such. Besides, I'm one of those girls who have no need for sentimental family bonding. As long as I serve her crew, that's all the bonding we need, and in turn, I get to have an army of demons and animals at my disposal, with which I can steal whatever I want. So, before you have pity on me, don't."

"It's not like we were here to fix your family troubles." Kodama shook her head. "Let's just capture you and be done with it."

"Try doing that while you're asleep. AAAAHH!" she unleashed a Nightmare Scream, the very same scream that had once trapped the Raccoon Pirates-

Ururu re-expanded and KICKED Cindy in the face, knocking her away. "Well, no wonder you're the weakest division, Cindy-chan. You're just a coward~" She sported a cute wink.

"What… did you call me?!"

"We know you can trap people in nightmares. I think you only do that so you can avoid fighting them. In a real fight, even a sweet little devil like me could beat you. You're really not that scary at all."

"For YOUR information, my MOM is the one who's not scary, especially with this whole 'Gratitude' thing! Around me, you'd better watch yourself. I'm the one who killed most of these animals, y'know!"

"Poor, Scaredy Cindy can only command soulless animals. Don't the Kremlings have a pet division? But they're living animals, so I'm sure they can trample these corpses easy. Fufu, especially since sweet little Ururu can crush them. Squish~" She pinched her fingers together for emphasis.

"THAT'S IT! It would've been merciful to crush you in a nightmare, but you've asked for it! I'll show you how powerful me and my animals ARE!" (Play "The Corrupted" from Kingdom Hearts 2.5!)

Boss fight: Undead Animal Commander, CINDY CORTIX

Cindy screamed and summoned zombie bunnies from the soil, all leaping to kick Ururu at once, but she dodged them all with a simple shrink, zipping through their bodies to collapse their weak builds. Seeing her bunnies falling, Cindy conjured a large Fear Sphere around herself to prevent the Tiny Devil from attacking her. Ururu flew up to the shield, and despite her size, Cindy could see the tiny opponent and spat smaller spheres through the barrier, Ururu dodging. "Only one way in there." Ururu shrunk to an even smaller size, Cindy ceasing the attack since she could no longer see her.

The princess kept her shield raised, but was unaware that Ururu was already flying through it. Her more miniscule stature allowed Ururu to detect the smallest gaps in the shield, and she began to fly through a tunnel of Fear Chi. She evaded the waving chi until she made it out, finding herself above the orange forest of Cindy's hair. She grew to fly-size to get her bearings and fly before Cindy's face, the latter gasping as she tried to swat her, but Ururu dodged and clung to the center of her face before re-shrinking. "So, it's true!" Ururu gasped, seeing two small holes from this new perspective. "It's not that Cindy and Mandy don't have noses, they were just born with very tiny nostrils! Because of that, they shouldn't be used to most smells. Let's see if that's true!"

She flew into a nostril and grew up a tad. As it turned out, flying through all these animal corpses made Ururu smell horrible. Cindy was intoxicated as Kodama could tell by her expression, the princess gasping on the ground, desperate to twist her finger up her nostril, but her finger was too big! Ururu flew into Cindy's head and out the ear to escape, re-expanding to KICK the side of Cindy's head. She flew for another attack, but was forced to retreat at Cindy's scream. "Well, if you're gonna fight small, I'll just fight big! Allow me to introduce HYRULE'S THREE LEVIATHANS!"

The girls panicked when the earth began to tremble violently. "AAAAAAHH!" To their utmost horror, three chunks of the field exploded to form three tremendous skeletons. Their bodies were as long as football fields, with their enormous mouths composing two-thirds of the body, and Cindy's Fear Chi gave substance to their otherwise hollow corpses. The Leviathans dove at them, but Ururu swooped by, grabbed Kodama, and flew out of harm's way. "I guess we should've expected her to have a trick like this! Stay over here, Kodama." Ururu placed her on the ground a safe distance away. "There's only one way to fight these monsters."

"Show Jinta what the big bad Ururu can do!" Kodama whipped out her camera with excitement. With determined eyes, Ururu bravely flew for the charging Leviathans, one's gaping mouth ready to devour her like an unsatisfying crumb. But with a press of the button, the Tiny Devil exploded to a gigantic size, grabbing both ends of the Leviathan's mouth in her great strong arms. Kodama was in awe as her friend was able to root herself to the ground and stop the beast, raising its head and slamming it into a beast on her left. The third beast grabbed her waist in its mouth, but Ururu grabbed and mustered all her strength to force the mouth open, step out, and shove it into the ground.

It was also the Leviathan Cindy was riding, shooting large Fear Spheres at Ururu's face. She endured a few hits before shrinking back to normal size, beginning to run along the length of the skeleton. Cindy willed Fear Spheres to fly up from the monster's body and home in on her, Ururu swiftly dodging, but when a huge cluster flew up, she shrunk to duck under it. She flew with the speed of a fly, dodging around the spheres and making it to Cindy, who encased herself in a shield. "You won't get in this time!" Cindy stirred the shield, ensuring there was no opening Ururu could fly through.

The Leviathan would wake up any minute, so there was no time to lose. She shrank to micro level and flew into the tiny crevices within the bone. She dodged tiny falling minerals and was able to go under the shield, emerging from under Cindy's nose. This time, Cindy covered her nose with a hand, so Ururu would have to act quickly: she grew to fly-size and forced the hand down—Cindy shook her head frantically while screaming, Ururu flying behind to avoid it. She grabbed Cindy's neck in her little hands, lifted, and slammed her headfirst into the bone. Cindy got up and screamed again, but suffered a poke to the eye, weakening her just enough for Ururu to latch Cindy's nose, shrink, and enter.

Her nostrils were again plagued with the smell of corpse, her strength faltering, but she had enough to coat her body in Fear Chi. Ururu was overwhelmed by the fear, only making it to Cindy's ear before she collapsed. Cindy bonked her head and forced the devil out, seeing her drop on the ground. "Still think I'm a coward?!" Cindy furiously stomped the devil, but Ururu shook back to reality and zipped away. The Leviathans had finally recovered, and under Cindy's commanding scream, the skeletal beasts began to merge into a singularity.

With the fearbending molding like clay, two of the Leviathan heads served as claws, two spines became legs, and the third Leviathan served as the head and spinal tail. "I'm not used to being that big… but I guess it's now or never!" Ururu mashed her 'Grow' button and blew up to match the size of the Tri-Leviathan. Both pairs of hands locked, the titans wrestling for superiority. In slow-motion, Ururu raised her left foot and kicked its right knee, and the Leviathan slowly spat a giant Fear Sphere out of its mouth, but Ururu slowly ducked her head for it to fly over.

"Uuuuurrr…" Even Ururu's mouth was a struggle to move. The rest of her body was so heavy, she thought she would collapse into herself any minute. "You may be . . . an officer . . . but you're still . . . a kid… You're not used . . to handling . . this much . . power . . even with the . . magic helping you . . control them…"

"Look who's talking! I bet your heart can't even beat well at that size, huff…" It was true that Cindy was struggling to maintain the Leviathan, but she wouldn't let this weakness show. "If I scare you enough, your heart will be forced to beat faster, and you'll pass out in a heartbeat! AAAAHH…" Her scream was weaker than before, but it was able to reach Ururu's ears.

Her vision was that of a school hallway, where Ururu went unseen by the hundreds of students. At such a small size, there was no chance of her invading anyone's path, and no chance of her embarrassing herself in front of anyone. No one would bump into and yell at her, no bullies would pick on her, no one would rely on her and be disappointed, so her life was happy. "Man, Jinta, that home run was wild." Then she looked up, seeing Karin and Jinta walk by without giving her a second thought.

"Not as cool as when you kicked the ball through the whole opposing team and into the goal! You're too strong, Karin!"

"Save the praise for after I kick your butt tonight!"

"Hehe, you're the only girl that could!"

Her little heart feeling a sense of desire, Ururu raced after the couple, panting heavily, but her feeble body grew short of breath. No matter how fast she ran, the walking giants outpaced her with little effort, and would soon vanish beyond Ururu's vision. "Jinta-kun! Wait! I-I can be strong, too! Jinta-kun!"

Even with the nightmare, even with her lungs becoming more heavy to breathe, Ururu kept a firm grip on the titan, pushing even more desperately. "Ururu, you're gonna pass out!" Kodama yelled through the communicator. "Just shrink and fly away! You can dodge a lot easier when you're normal size!"

"No… I… can do… this… I need to show… Jinta-kun how… strong I am…"

"He knows you're plenty strong already, that doesn't mean you should push yourself!"

"Yes… he does… and that's why… your nightmare… won't work… 'cause I train every day… to keep up… with him… because I want him… to admire me…!"

Her tiny legs were giving out, and Ururu cried knowing she would never catch up to Jinta. After all, it's not like he ever noticed her, anyway. Even when she was working so hard, he didn't notice her. Her sadness turned to anger at this fact, and she forgot her fatigue as she ran even faster. Jinta was locked in her vision, no matter how far away he was, no matter how much he didn't bother to notice her, because no matter what, "I'm gonna show you that I'm strong, TOO!!"

To both Cindy's and Kodama's astonishment, the Titan Devil was able to haul her right foot up to step on the Leviathan's left knee, and bypassed all limits to prop up her entire mass. This imbalance in weight caused the Leviathan to fall backwards, smashing under Ururu's weight as the Fear Chi spilled like oil. Cindy willed it all to wrap around Ururu, but with a slow tap of the button, she zipped down to her normal size and recomposed herself in time to dodge the fear, shooting down with a leg stretched. Cindy conjured a shield, but Ururu withstood the fear and stamped through into her gut.

"And you're the same… aren't you, Cindy-chan? You wanna catch up to your mom, too, don't you? You really pushed yourself with your fearbending. I think I made the right choice fighting you."

"Grrr… don't think, for even a second, that we're equals, you little-!"

Ururu shrunk to micro size to enter Cindy's nose. At last, the smell of death became too much to handle, and she fell unconscious in a peaceful manner. Ururu flew out before resizing. "Huff… I guess you were trying to say… 'little booger'… ho…" Ururu fell over. (End song.)

"Ururu!" Kodama ran to lift her friend in her arms. "Are you okay?!"

"Huff… yes… my heart can't… keep up with so much resizing… I'll be alright… if I rest…"

"Sigh, they don't pay you enough. Guys, this is Kodama, mission accomplished." She spoke to her watch. "Ururu did perfectly."

Within minutes, Karin flew across the valley and carried her friends back to the ship via Infi-Cube. Cindy was chi-cuffed and locked in the brig, while Ururu was lain in the cabin to catch her breath. "I hope you're proud of her!" Kodama shouted at Jinta. "She almost died trying to beat that monster!"

"But she agreed to fight Cindy, anyway!"

"Only because of the nose trick! I mean, we expected Cindy to form a giant fear monster of herself, we didn't think giant corpses would be involved. Either way, you owe her a big 'Thank you.'"

"Fine, just keep your knot on." Jinta walked in, Ururu cracking open her eyes as he approached. "Ururu… you-…" A terrible smell befell his nose. "PEUH, you smell like dead flesh!"

"Huh?!" She flushed.

"Yuck, it's horrible! I mean, great job and everything, but take a bath."

"Ohhh…" Her embarrassment was too much for her heart to take, and she passed out.

"DAMMIT, JINTA!" Kodama panicked. "Quick, use CPR!"

"What, I ain't a nurse!"

"DO IT OR I'LL BLOW YOU UP!"

"NYAH!" Jinta jumped in and pressed his mouth to Ururu's—she shot awake and PUNCHED him into the wall. "Oooog…"

"Tehehehe! You're welcome, Jinta-kun." Just like that, all her breath seemed to return.

"Quit fooling around down there!" Yuzu yelled from the deck. "There're even more ships coming! Someone in the base must've called for backup!"

"Yeah, we don't just kidnap the queen's daughter and expect no one to hear about it." Kodama remarked, rushing up. "Ururu, you keep resting. It's only a matter of time before another Commander shows up, you'll need your strength."

Jinta rubbed the sore as he passed a grin to his friend. "Who woulda thought sweet little Ururu could beat a Yonko Commander?"

"Hehe… I mean, I felt evenly matched with her…"

"Yeah, but you were the only one of us that coulda beaten her! 'Cause you're that strong!"

"Tehe… I'm glad you think so, Jinta-kun."

Gamer Shrine

Miko's holo-robot dodged behind Gaz's to grab its arms, only for Gaz's to haul itself forward and down, both their heads smashing against the ground. Gaz continued the roll to lay Miko on her back, Gaz getting up and performing a quick flip maneuver to try and stomp her. Miko dodge-rolled and flipped up to punch Gaz's head. Gaz reeled back, but her foot flew up to kick Miko upward. Gaz tried to attack as she fell, but Miko air-dodged—Gaz predicted this and was quick to grab Miko and slam her to the ground, reducing Miko's HP to five. Miko pulled herself free and performed another flip to kick Gaz down, afterwards pouncing on the woman's mech and laying a flurry to Gaz's head. Gaz's HP was beat down to 2, but the woman grabbed Miko's mech and slammed her to the side, eradicating her HP as the mech derezzed. "KO!"

"That's four losses in a row." Gaz said. "You tired, yet?"

Miko's eyes were growing heavy and pinkish, her fingers numb with button-mashing. "I could stay up all night playing this game…"

Outside the barrier, the Hinobi agents were struggling to derez the barrier with their tech, with Eddy trying to hack through it as well. "Man, I didn't expect the Sheikah to be so tech-savvy."

"Miko and I play fighting games all the time." Five said. "And she always wins. Is Gaz really that good?"

"Well, duh." Gaz remarked simply. "You may have been playing videogames your whole life, Miko, but so have I. Age goes well with experience. Every person has a talent they naturally adapt to, a skill that they're unbeatable at. But no matter how strong you are, there will always be someone stronger. You're learning from me as much as I'm learning from you, so as long as we can predict each other, you can never defeat me."

"Yeah, well I'm a girl who always goes for the high score. If there's a score higher than mine, I WILL beat it!" Miko declared, firmly grabbing her controller again.

"We'll see about that." Gaz took hold of hers once more, their mechs buzzing to life once again.

The next few moments could be made into a montage with Taylor Swift's "Shake It Off."

"'Cause the players gonna KO! KO, KO, KO, KO! And the haters gonna KO! KO, KO! KO! Baby, I'm just gonna KO KO, KO KO KO! I shake it KO! Shake it KO!"

By the end of this supposed montage, Miko would be slouching on her knees, panting with heavier, gloomier eyes. Her bulky fingers were growing numb, while Gaz stretched and flexed her smaller fingers.

"I can't believe this lady." Jenny said, trying to kick the barrier. "She tries to apologize to us, but she'd rather humiliate Miko at games than give us a fair fight?!"

"To be fair, it's not really the worst thing." Carmine inferred. "Miko's injuries aren't too-"

"Why don't you throw some bombs and help us?!"

"!!" Carmine flinched at the demand. She turned away, not wanting her friends to see her shock-ridden eyes.

"…" Jenny's face fell, realizing what she said. "I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that."

"…" Carmine spared her a light glance before facing the wall again.

"…Hey, MIKO!" Jenny yelled. "Let us have a turn! You need to rest!"

"I'm not tired, yet! I almost got her that-"

"MIKO!" Quill shouted. "Get out of there and rest! That's an order!"

"…" Miko bit her lip in guilt. She really thought she could win if she kept trying… but there was no sign of victory, and even her teammates were growing impatient. "I…I'm sorry." Her head hung low, Miko walked to the barrier. A gap opened wide enough to let her out, while Jenny was allowed in the same way.

"Man, this barrier is complete BS." Jenny mumbled.

Miko sat against the wall with her legs propped up. She began sobbing and crying into her knees. Five and Carmine sat on either side of her. "I couldn't… I really couldn't avenge them after all."

"You did your best." Jenny looked back and told her. "Now it's my turn." She calmly skated to the control pad. "Are there any skating games on this thing?"

"Of course." Gaz smirked.

A small, mechanical spider crawled down from Jenny's pocket. Its eyes displayed a live view via Eddy's glasses. "Maybe it'll be easier to hack from the source…"

Boogey Coast

"I must say, Skaios… even I believe that no mortal should ever experience the pain you're feeling." Lord Mandy turned to a single eye, trapped in a magic bubble conjured by Sivam and a circle of fairies. "But you're not mortal, are you? Even with your body in pieces, you're alive. Your organs are already adapting well with the Divine Beasts. Your heart powers Rudania, beating ever more heat into its structure. Your spine powers Medoh, forever stabilizing its flight. Your brain powers Naboris, crackling with thundering rage. And your… stomach system powers Ruta…'s waterbending. Uck. But the despair brimming in your eye is delicious. It will be the perfect core to power the Fifth Divine Beast."

The eye could do naught but throb in its prison, throb with an insatiable lust to murder this queen for all she has done.

Mandy marched out to the keel to address her fleet. Not only were pirates onboard, the ships carried thousands of Hyrulean citizens, who were evicted from their homes before facing destruction from invading pirates. "PEOPLE OF HYRULE! I have successfully defeated one of the Emperors, 'Free Born' Skaios! The first stage of this war is complete!"

"QUEEN MANDY, YOU'RE AMAZING!"

"Skaios' Air Chi is capable of carrying entire islands through space! We will harvest his power and enable the Divine Beasts to travel to the other worlds. We will decimate the Kremling Krew, burn Sweetopia, and shoot down the Free Kingdom's floating islands. No enemies will dare invade Hyrule ever again!"

"Thank you for all you do, Queen Mandy!"

"And now, we set sail for the Dark Continent! You, my lucky citizens, will witness the revival of a Divine Beast that even the Ancients feared. This war will be won by HYRULE!"

"YAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

"Lord Mandy!" Creeper rushed out in a panic. "Mandy, something terrible's happened! Your daughter's been captured by the KND—Nextgen Pirates, whatever the hell! We're signaling Cortez to rescue her now!"

Mandy shot him a glare, though her anger was not toward her minion. "It seems I'll be crushing the Nextgen Pirates sooner than I thought."

Light of Hope

"Sniffle…sniffle… boo hoo hoo…"

"Monaca, it's okay." Nagisa Shingetsu gently patted his friend's shoulder. "Relax. No one could've expected Kotoko would leave us. It hurts, but we have to be strong and keep going."

"Sniff… but it's so hard, Nagisa." Monaca wiped a tear away. "Monaca's losing… all of her friends, sniff. First Masaru… and Jataro, they were k-killed by the Boogey Pirates, a-and now Kotoko leaves because s-she doesn't even care, huff…"

"Monaca, we have no proof that those two are gone. We can still get them back, we can win."

"Sniff… but of course they're dead… Monaca feels it… they weren't ready for this war. You're the only one I can rely on, Nagisa."

"I-I'm honored… but we mustn't forget our fellow Commanders."

"No, Nagisa… those adults are too twisted by their own desires. You're the only one who can lead our crew to victory. Monaca has always relied on you. We're ALL relying on you, Nagisa. Our wise vice-captain…"

She could see globs of sweat molding on his features. The sense of duty and responsibility was growing ever more strongly. "I…I…"

"You two, we have an emergency!" Vaati's face appeared on the monitor. "Captain Skaios has been captured by Mandy!"

"WHAT?!"

"The Divine Beasts took him captive, there's no telling what Mandy will do with his power. It won't be long until the other Emperors find out about this, our top priority is getting Skaios back!" Transmission ended.

Nagisa was gasping heavily, his fears growing by the second. "Nagisa… it's up to you now." Monaca held his hand, soothing his heart. He gazed into her eyes, which burned with an overwhelming sense of trust. "Your captain needs you. I need you. I believe… you can win."

Nagisa wanted to squeeze her hand and absorb all of that confidence for himself. He wanted to cry in gratitude, but knew it would show weakness. "I will." he said with 100% certainty. "I will get Skaios back. And our friends, too. For everyone in this kingdom… I will lead us to victory!" Wasting no more time, Nagisa raced out of the room.

"Mmm hmm hmm… Well, now that Mandy has Skaios, it's only a matter of time until she wins the war. Monaca thinks she'll enjoy a bit more entertainment before returning to her side. Ufufu! It's smooth sailing for Monaca here on out!" She did a little wheelchair twirl. "Oh, but Yuta-kun hasn't contacted Monaca about her proposal… oh well, not that Monaca ever cared, anyway. Why don't we have Princess Eva executed early? Yes, that should weaken their resolve a tad. Monaca will send the message to Azula now."