Chapter 41: Welcome to the slaughter

Skyjutsu - Ik it is, but in this AU The Guild has jurisdiction over Canada, and since Alaska is above their main HQ, they took it over from the American government.

For a second, no one said anything.

No one even moved...

Then we snapped into action. (Anubis) Khepri. Our suits snapped onto our forms within the blink of an eye, our standard loadouts of a sniper, pistol, shotguns, and grenades appeared.

Aunt Dragon went still, her eyes glowing in code as she started doing her thing. As she did, Aunt Melody brought a bunch of screens into existence, and a look was all I needed to know to figure out they were camera feeds. Frowning, she blew up three different screens, letting us get a better look.

One screen showed the panic in the streets, hundreds of people running away, crying out as they held their injuries, and the mess that was going on in the roads with car crashes happening back to back. Wrath bubbled from my Other Half, and I absentmindedly grasped her hand, our fingers lacing together without conscious thought. Kill them, going to kill all of them.

I mentally nodded, and looked at another screen, putting the emotions churning in my Other Half aside for now as she Muted her thoughts. Said screen looked like a security feed from a mall... A mall that was erupting in flames, anybody unlucky enough to be caught in them being burned as the form of Burnscar cackled and fed the flames. As someone that unironically liked fire, seeing it tossed around without a care in the world Annoyed me.

The last screen though took my attention away, and I narrowed my eyes at it. Leaning against an RV, a proud smile on his face as he watched things go to hell, was Jack Slash. My fingers twitched towards my Wingman, but I reigned it in. For my long term plans to be viable, I needed to put a bullet through his skull, or crush him into the dirt. But with my options being limited to Swampfire and Sylvanus, I would need to bull rush him and kill him the first chance I got. (I'll need to drop in and go Ultimate right off the bat. Of course, with how AOE specialized Sylvanus is, I'll be able to handle a few of the others...) Another screen popped up, and I saw Crawler bursting through a wall with what looked like a persons lower half in his maw. (Not sure how effective I'll be against him though.) I huffed at that thought, and shook it off.

Now wasn't the time to go over shit or complain, I had to kill Jack first, then worry about everything after.

As if she knew what I thought, Aunt Dragon broke out of her stupor, and turned to us with a grim look on her face. "Get to The Guild. A Dragon Transport is already being fired up."

Khepri and I nodded, turning towards the entrance to The Lab. We'd just taken a step when another voice rang out. "# And where are you going Panacea? #"

Hearing that, we looked over our shoulders, seeing a scowling Panacea. The healer had apparently taken a step with us, obviously going to come with us, and only stopped because she was called out on it. "There's not a chance in hell that you're leaving me here."

While Khepri and I wouldn't mind her inclusion, my Aunts didn't seem to share our opinion. "While it's appreciated, we can't in good conscience allow you to go. You're a guest of Pantheon, and The Guild by extension. Allowing you to go into a Slaughterhouse scenario would be beyond irresponsible."

Aunt Melody nodded at that. "# Not even mentioning that you don't exactly have any protection. Your costume is made of basic materials, completely unsuited for this kind of battle. #" Okay, she had a good point. For a healer, Amy had fuck all protection against anything really. And having normal protection against the 9 didn't seem like a good idea.

But apparently logic didn't seem to matter to Panacea, whose scowl only grew as she stabbed a finger towards the screens. "Who gives a shit?! There are people dying, being maimed, burned, fucking EATEN, right there! You think I'm just going to sit back and look pretty when that shit's going on?! Hell no! I'm going, and you're not going to fucking stop me!"

The three of them stared at each other, and while she also had a poi...- "There's no time for this!" My eyes locked onto my partner, who even with her mask, I could tell was scowling just as hard as Panacea was. Her words stopped the staring contest, turning their attention to her. "Give her one of our spare guns, a shield generator, and let's go!"

Amy nodded, while Tess and Melody looked apprehensive. ""We could.../# Still, are you su...- #""

"Yes I'm sure! Gimme the shit and let's go!" Well, that was about what I expected.

Slowly nodding, the sound of the Fabricator firing up filled our ears, and we turned to see what looked like her necklace being made. It didn't take long for it to be completed, picked up by a nearby drone, and brought to Panacea. The Hero nearly snatched the thing out of the drones' grasp, and held up the necklace. The whole thing was atleast 5 inches wide, and 7 long, the cross itself was primarily red with black accents, while a pair of white snakes coiled around the bottom of it, separating near the middle as they wrapped onto the left and right sides of the cross, with their heads raised to meet each other by the top.

Done admiring it, she hastily put it around her neck, a force field momentarily shimmered as she did, prompting her to pause and look up. "Your access key was always going to have a defensive feature installed. Due to the current circumstances, said features were beefed up a little."

Picking up where Aunt Tess left off, Not-Medusa spoke. "# Like Khepri and Anubis' suits, your shield will be powered by kinetic energy and sunlight. Unlike the other two, it won't be as powerful due to it being an accessory and not an actual suit, only capable enough to protect you from a few .50 BMG caliber rounds before breaking. Not to say you won't feel the kick, but you'll be fine so long as you stay on the move. #"

The healer nodded, turning to a nearby drone that was carrying one of Taylor's spare Sentinel's, a Hawkmoon, and a knife. Given the fact my guns were lethal, and we didn't think she had guns training, she got Taylor's spares. The knife was for basic self defense though, and was pretty much mandatory. Though, given the fact she didn't have any magnetic holsters on her, she had to strap them on her back and hip like a normal person. Though she did it way faster then I expected, so that was an interesting little tidbit to think on later. "Since they're my guns, I'll give you some pointers while we're on the way." Panacea nodded, and stepped towards us. Seeing that, my Aunts shared another apprehensive look, which Taylor caught. "We'll talk about this later. We need to get there now!" Neither argued against that.

With no one saying anything else, I had nothing to say in general since I was fine with Panacea coming with us, Khepri turned to put a hand on her shoulders. With a nod, we activated the teleport feature, focusing on the beacon in The Guild's lot.

In the blink of an eye, we went from our base to the Mover lot in Guild territory. Taylor was used to the experience of losing and reconnecting to a Swarm, so she was fine with the sudden teleport. Amy needed a moment to shake it off though, but when she did, she stood straight and looked around with a critical eye. (It's easy to forget that she's been at this for a year at the least.) My Other Half mentally Agreed with that, but didn't add anything to it.

Focusing more on what was going on around us, I noticed the Dragon Jet a little bit ahead, engines flaring and the tall form of Narwhal standing by the ramp. Without a word, the three of us walked towards the leader of The Guild, who saw us coming and just raised a brow. Not at us, she knew us, even if we didn't really interact with each other.

No, the raised brow was at Panacea, who just scoffed. "I'm a Hero." Really, it was no Surprise that that explained everything.

Narwhal nodded, and looked just a tad bit approving towards the healer. "Just remember, we're going into an active Slaughterhouse 9 drop zone. Stay close, keep your weapons hot, and don't go off on your own. I'd hate having to explain to New Wave that you died." I kept the snort that threatened to escape, down, and watched Panacea nod with a hard look on her face.

That said, I walked besides the rest of the women as we entered the Dragon Jet, which closed as we got on. "Just us?"

Narwhal frowned at Khepri's question, her face grim as she made her way towards a nearby bench. "Everyone else is on assignment, and Masamune is in a fugue. I'm the only available front liner ready to be deployed." Well that sucked. As she sat down, the rest of us went over to the opposite side, and got ourselves strapped in as the jet prepared to launch.

Suddenly, the speakers activated, making us look at them. "That's not exactly true." Outside the jet, I noticed two Dragon Suits, which basically looked like robotic western dragons, flying towards us, their golden forms coming to a stop besides the jet. "Most of my suits are undergoing maintenance, but these two are at 100%."

That lightened the mood, and made me grin beneath my mask. "# Plus, Dragon isn't the only one supplying support. #" Yeah, the odds were ever tilting into our favor. Really? I mentally cackled, but didn't say or think anything else, instead Muting my thoughts since we were going to need to minimize distractions.

With that said, Narwhal nodded, strapping herself in. We followed a moment or two after, getting comfortable as we sat on the opposite end. With us all strapped in, the engines roared to life, and suddenly we were taking off.

Now that we were in the air, Narwhal took the time to look at u, her entire posture changing to something more... Domineering? I was pretty sure that was the vibe she was going for anyway. "Firstly," Narwhal looked towards the sound system. "ETA to drop zone?"

"At our current speed, 20 minutes. Overclocking the engines will cut the time down to half, but leave the craft unable to achieve liftoff for a minimum of 30 minutes."

The horned woman nodded, then turned back to us. "We'll spend the first 10 minutes going over our strategy, and over who will be going where. After the planning is done, Dragon will overclock the engines, bringing us towards the drop zone. Objections?" When none of us said anything, she went on. "Good. To knock this out at the start," Turning to me, I internally groaned. "Anubis, do you have any forms that could put out the fires raging through the city?"

I grunted at that, Annoyed that I'd need to explain. "Yeah, but I can't use them at the moment." I didn't even need to hear her say it, her eyes narrowing was all the indication I needed. "One of my forms is going through a maturation process. Till it's done, I'm locked into that form." She had a scowl on her lips for a second before it vanished. "Good news though, I can still go Ultimate, so I'm not lacking in power at the moment."

The immediate response was a small nod. "What form are you limited too at the moment? We'll need to know both it, and your 'Ultimate' version's skill set in order to properly plan around it."

That made sense, so I couldn't bitch about it. "Swampfire's basically a walking plant that can flood the air with methane and ignite it whenever I want. I can grow and throw seeds that can be turned into massive vines, trees, roots, and manipulate any existing plants around me. Topping it all off is a healing factor that can put me back together if I somehow end up a nugget, or get cut in half."

"Fuckin pick a power dammit."

Aside from the minor twitch of Narwhal's lips, and the small spike in Amusement from my Other Half, no one reacted to Amy's whisper. "Sylvanus on the other hand is basically all that, turned up by 3, in the form of a giant but slow ass tree." I scowled for a second. While this Ultimate was powerful, I was ungodly slow. "When I say slow, I mean it. There's a delay between thinking something and doing it, we tested it and it's about 1/4th of a second, and even when I move, I go at half speed as any other living thing."

Taking it all in, Narwhal nodded, her gaze going towards my girlfriend, who knew what was coming. "Recently, my range has grown to 2 1/2 miles. The amount of insects I can share my senses with is limited to 20 at the moment, but both aspects will probably continue to grow." She could also control things like crabs, shrimp, and small fish now, but that wouldn't help our situation so neither of us mentioned it.

With her abilities accounted for, Narwhal turned to Panacea, who already knew what was going on. "Touching someone allows me to get an understanding of their biology, which I could then repair by using their own cells and other organic matter." That was bullshit.

Given the snort from Narwhal, she knew it too. "Girl, I wasn't born yesterday." Amy twitched, but didn't have much else in the way of a reaction. "The PRT, and The Guild by extension, know you're a Bio-Kinetic." She flinched, gripping the Hawkmoon on her hip, which was a telling reaction. "Don't get me wrong, I can and do respect the hell out of your dedication to being a non combatant. But, the way you're sandbagging will be detrimental out in the field." Narrowing her eyes, she stared straight at Amy. "If one of the 9 get in touching distance, can I count on you to shut them down?"

We could all see how uncomfortable the thought made her, but none of us rushed her. Glancing down to the Hawkmoon and knife on her hip, she scowled, then turned back to Narwhal. "If there's no other choice, then I'll do it."

The leader of The Guild nodded, a pleased look on her face. "Good. There's a time and a place for restraint, and this sure as hell isn't it." She was right about that. We were about to go in hot on a group of murder hobos, there would be no punches being pulled. "Now then," Another look up to the sound system. "What's the current situation looking like Dragon?"

"At the moment things are somewhat contained to Lansing, but 'Contained' isn't exactly the best descriptor for this... Anubis, Khepri, could one of you bring out your phones?" Not questioning it, we both did just that. The moment they were out, they opened, and their hologram projectors activated, screens of the city popping up in moments, alongside chibi replicas of Aunt Dragon. "As seen here," One of the ones on my phone was enhanced, and we all saw what looked like a zoo. "Crawler has taken to sampling the animals in the Potter Park Zoo." She frowned, and I noticed Amy and my Other Half follow suit as we saw the massive clusterfuck that was Crawler munching on what looked like a seal. Disgust welled from my girlfriend, but it was Shunted away before it could grow.

Shaking it off, she enhanced another one, showing what looked like a camera from across the street from the mall. Said mall was still burning, but that fire was spreading everywhere. "Burnscar seems to be causing senseless destruction as she usually does." Righteous Anger surged, only to be crushed and Shunted away within an instant.

I was starting to get a little Worried about my Other Half, but a flow of Confirmation that she was fine kept me from questioning her.

For now.

Another screen blew up, this one showing Shatterbird perched on a relatively tall building, being observed by a camera above a rooftop entrance. "Shatterbird is surveying her work, but she may become mobile again at any moment."

This time, the screen came from Taylor's phone. The area around the RV was shown, including Jack Slash, who seemed to be patting Bonesaw's head, the little psycho seemingly babbling something out of range from wherever they were being watched. Perched on top of the RV was the naked zebra bitch, lounging around like a cat. Like before, a surge of Wrath wracked the Bond, and I was seriously starting to consider calling her out on it, when she Shunted it away. (Yeah, we're gonna need some anger management later, cause even I know this shit ain't healthy.) Possibly knowing what I thought, my girlfriend turned a mental eye to me, but I sent the impression of a shrug, making her turn back. Later was later, not now.

"Jack Slash, The Siberian, and Bonesaw are accoun...- Oh... Oh my." This time, I sort of expected it, but the pulse of Fear that came from my Other Half made me pause and focus on what was going on. From the RV came some fucker that looked like he wanted to be the Texas Chainsaw Massacre guy, but with a big axe instead of a chainsaw. Though, his head, and body probably by extension, was littered with scares and scar tissue. "Hatchet Face confirmed at least."

A bell went off in my mind, and I remembered that this guy was mentioned before. It wasn't often, I could probably count the number of fics I'd seen him be referenced on one hand and have fingers left over, but he was mentioned. And now that I saw him, I remembered some bits and pieces of what he was about. "That's the guy that no sells pretty much everyone, yeah?"

Aunt Dragon and Narwhal nodded, grim faced. "Hatchet Face is a Trump capable of disabling Para-Human Powers within a 2.5m radius around him. He's also classified as a Brute 5, making standard weaponry and blunt force up to a certain level, ineffective." Her eyes went to our guns, more specifically, mine. "How much piercing power do your rounds have?"

Remembering the time we tested it, I had a good idea of how strong they were. "My Wingman can punch through solid steel without an issue, same for my Carbine. My Longbow can tear through tank armor and keep going." Which was all true. (Though, if I made a railgun, I'd be punching through God if I fed it the right rounds.) I mentally put 'Make a railgun' on my list of things to make, right after the 'Power source to make Yu-Gi-Oh monsters real', thing.

Narwhal hummed in approval. "You'll be transformed for most of the time, right?" I nodded, since that was the plan. "What weapon, and how much ammo can you spare?"

I mentally frowned at that, and thought of my loadout. While the plan was to drop in as Sylvanus, I had no idea if I would need to swap back to myself for some reason, or if I might run out of time. Knowing that it could happen though, I thought of what I wouldn't need, and instantly thought of my Longbow. Wracking my mind for a bit, I eventually nodded, and brought out my spare mags from my inventory, while also bringing out the gun itself, which I'd put away when I sat down since it'd be uncomfortable to have it digging into me the whole ride. Tossing the gun to Narwhal, who easily caught it, I kicked the small box of ammo towards her. "Max sight range is 300ms, 12 rounds a mag, every 50ms is marked with a dash, and a delay of .8 seconds for consecutive fire." I liked my guns, so I made sure I knew my shit.

Apparently, knowing shit must've made me appear that bit better in her eyes, since Narwhal sent an approving nod my way. "Good." Turning back to Aunt Dragon, the two shared a nod, and another screen was enhanced.

On this screen, which was also from Taylor's phone, we watched Mannequin... 'Dismantle' would work here, a group of PRT goons and what looked like a pair of Heroes. Seeing the guy in action, I couldn't help but make the comparison to a Parasyte with the way his arms unraveled into whip like wires that cut people apart like sushi. "Mannequin is alone and engaging local Protectorate forces." I watched him for a bit, then turned away. It was Interesting to see the way he turned people into paste, but it wasn't enough to keep my attention.

With all of the 9 accounted for, Narwhal nodded, turning to us. "Alright, here's what we'll be going for. Khepri," My Other Half straightened up. "As it stands, you'll be best suited to dealing with one of the bigger threats of the 9. Can I trust you to do what needs to be done?" Khepri nodded, Determined Anticipation welling from her. "Your objective will be to locate The Siberian's Master."

"WHAT?!" Turning to Panacea, the surprise on her face was plain to see, and would've been obvious even if she hadn't had that outburst. "The Siberian's a projection?!" Considering said projection had kicked every Heroes ass, including the guy named Hero, her disbelief was warranted.

That was probably why Narwhal didn't call her out on it and just nodded. "We have it on good authority that The Siberian's Master is William Manton," Amy opened her mouth. "Yes, THAT Manton." She closed it.

I was Amused about the whole exchange for two reasons. Firstly, the 'Good authority' was me and Taylor telling this to Dragon, who then told it to Narwhal, leaving out the fact it was from us because we had no real explanation for knowing this. Thankfully, Tattletale, who was renamed 'Delphi', had been called in to use her Power to backup the information, which she did. (Note to self, get her a nice gift or something for that.) Lisa and I talked every once in a while, talking shit about people we didn't like, and complaining just for the sake of complaining... (Hmm... Maybe I should introduce her to Amy?) Sure, that had been a disaster in canon, but if it looked like shit was about to hit the fan, I'd deal with it.

Secondly, the thought of Taylor flooding the van the guy was hiding in with her bugs was something I was looking forward too.

My Other Half nodded to Narwhal, gripping her Hawkmoon as she did. "I'll need to get a good vantage point first, or atleast drop into an area he's suspected to be in to cut on time and move on to help elsewhere."

"# You can leave that to us. #" I blinked, nearly forgetting Aunt Melody was here. "# At the moment, Stheno is conducting a grid search with any remaining cameras, searching for Manton's vehicle. By the time you arrive, we should have a general location for you. #" Khepri nodded at that, clenching and unclenching her hands in Anticipation.

Knowing Aunt Erin, she'd probably figure out exactly where he is when we get there, but who knows, maybe not. "That'll work." And that was that.

The Horned Woman turned to me now. "Anubis, how confidant are you about engaging Crawler?"

I frowned at that. If it were any other day, I'd say very, I could go Big Chill and freeze him from inside out, easy win... But today? "Depends. If I'm Swampfire I'd give it a 50/50 shot of ending in a stalemate, or me winning." Knowing the fucker's Power, I'd need to one shot him or else he'd start adapting to what I threw at him. Sure, Swampfire was a good alien, but Crawler was a fucking monster. "If I'm Sylvanus, I'll be able to kill him easily." Which was very true. Big and slow he may be, but a master of AOE was he.

Narwhal took a moment to look at me, then turned to the screen showing Crawler, who moved onto the lion exhibit, and was chowing down on some of them. "Best estimate, how long would it take?"

I hummed at that, thinking of what I could do. Since he was in a zoo, I could take advantage of all the plant life inside of it, force it all to grow and skewer/restrain him, then blast him into the Shadow Realm. (I'll need to pump as much methane into him as possible, and burn him from inside out.) That sounded doable. Combine it with an air drop, and I could one shot him. "Best case scenario, I one shot him and move on. Worst case is anywhere between 5-10 minutes."

Narwhal nodded, turning to Panacea. Giving the healer a once over, she focused on the guns. "You know how to use those?" Amy scowled, shaking her head. Narwhal frowned at that, turning an eye to Khepri. "We have time, so after I give her her assignment, give her a rundown of your weapons." My girlfriend nodded, and that was all the woman needed before she looked at Amy again. "As for you, you'll be responsible for triage. We'll be dropping you off to the designated relief center, and it'll be up to you to heal as many as you can, while keeping your weapons trained in the event someone with less then pleasant intentions tries to move in. Clear?" The healer agreed with her, and that was that.

With all of us in agreement, she looked at the chibi Dragon on my phone. "Will you be handling Burnscar? Or will that be left to Medusa?"

Aunt Dragon didn't take long to respond. "I'll be handling Jack Slash and Hatchet Face, which should be simple, but considering Bonesaw and at the moment, The Siberian, are there, I'm not too sure."

Which actually made sense. Hatchet Face couldn't do shit against Dragon considering she was piloting a machine, and Jack's shitty blade slashes should just do fuck all. The issue was The Siberian and her bullshit piercing. "# While she does that, I'll go and offer aide to the Protectorate forces and handle Mannequin. My current loadout, as well as my onboard Fabricator, will make subduing him a simple affair. As soon as he's contained, I'll move onto Burnscar. It shouldn't take long for me to hand her her ass, so as soon as she's dealt with, I'll drop her off to Panacea, who will keep her sedated. #" Hearing the plan, Amy nodded. "# With Burnscar and Mannequin out of the picture, I'll then move to the next person that could use assistance, and continue assisting until the 9 are incapacitated, or they somehow escape. #" That sounded like a good plan to me.

It must've been enough for Narwhal too since the woman nodded along. "Alright. I'll deal with Shatterbird then." Putting my Longbow across her lap, Narwhal looked at the projected time. "Currently we're... 15 minutes out. You'll have 5 minutes to get prepared, then the engines will be overclocked, and we'll be heading in hot." Her eyes narrowed, and she looked imposing again. "Keep in mind, these are monsters. The Slaughterhouse 9 will not pull any punches, so neither should any of you. If the opportunity to put them down makes itself known, I trust that you'll take it." Khepri and I had no problems there, we already had bodies, a single one when it came to my Other Half, and had accepted killing would come up.

The only one that didn't nod right away was Panacea, who audibly swallowed, and shook a bit. I saw it, and if I was sitting besides her, I probably would've helped. Unfortunately, she was besides Taylor instead of me, so it was what it was.

Though, to my Surprise, my girlfriend put a hand on Amy's, getting the healer to look at her. A single nod was all she did, but it was apparently enough to get her to stop shaking as much. The healer took a breath, and returned the nod, turning to Narwhal after it. "If there's no other choice..." That was all she said, and the Horned Woman gave her own nod.

That done, there was a lull in the conversations, until Taylor started talking to Amy about her guns, while Narwhal started doing a weapons check with my Longbow. As that went on, I took the time to close my eyes, and get some rest before we dropped into a war zone. (This'll be my shot. Getting rid of Jack Slash will eliminate whatever the fuck he does to get Scion to kill everyone, giving me some years to work with. Without worrying about that, I should be able to have time to work on some long term plans, mostly the thing that'll get us out of this god forsaken universe, and somewhere better. I'll need to figure out a way to select a hub world, ideally in a Slice of Life world or something, then set down our roots. After that it's up to future me to deal with. I'll need to get rid of Crawler first though, but that should be easy...) Looking at the screen, I watched the aforementioned Brute start making his way out of the zoo. (Well shit.)

With Crawler on the move, I was gonna have to rethink turning the zoo into a new Forest of Death... (Well, I could still do it. My own seeds could turn a city into a forest, combine the growth/fertilizer gasses, and I could just give America a free forest. Save the trees and all that.) The idea sounded good enough... (If it comes down to it, I'll just smash him into chunky salsa.) Sylvanus was a veritable giant after all, so that option was still viable.

While I was thinking about that, I idly listened to my Other Half telling Panacea about how the guns worked. "...- Ty is different from normal guns. There are three different intensities built into my guns. A taser setting, a very high caliber taser, and 'Lightning bullet.' The first two are non lethal, while the third is guaranteed to pierce flesh, as well as flood the target's body with enough volts to resuscitate an elephant if we needed too." I snorted at that.

The last two had been how her guns were initially made, but after the Goblin Purge, she wanted another mode to be made, which was where the first one came from, while the other two were more refined, so she didn't accidentally kill someone. "Forget an elephant, you could probably rez a goddamn whale with that amount of voltage."

Exasperation pulsed from my Other Half, and she waved me off. "Potatoe potato."

I turned to give her a look at that, which I was pretty sure earned me a raised brow. I knew an opportunity when I saw one, and went for it. "This coming from the daughter of an english professor?"

She rolled her eyes. "What're you going to do about it?"

I thought about it for a second, not entirely sure... Then I shrugged. "Fuck if I know." I'd figure it out later.

Taylor just hummed at me. "That's what I thought." Her Amusement was minor, but it was there, which was what I was aiming for.

Didn't mean I was going to let her win. "As the person that makes your guns, and upgrades your gear, I have far more power here then you."

"As the person that's a far better marksman then you'll ever be," Ugh. "Owns around 370,000 bugs in our base alone," I twitched at that number. "And can call on the millions in the forest surrounding our home, you'll find I'm not exactly lacking either."

I ope...- "Jesus Christ, are you two always like this?" And closed it at Amy's incredulous question. The both of us turned to look at the healer, who was alternating her gaze between the two of us.

Suddenly, our phones beeped, and a chibi Aunt Melody appeared. "# Oh you wouldn't believe how often they do this. If they're not relaxing with each other or training, they're ribbing each other. #"

I rolled my eyes, while my girlfriend was just a tad bit Embarrassed. "You forgot the sex." Taylor choked. "We do that too."

Leaning forwards, I managed to avoid the hand that would've smacked me on the back of my head. When she didn't automatically try again, I looked at her, being met with the unnerving stare of her mask. I could guess what her face would've looked like, but she spoke up before I could. |When we get home we're going to have WORDS!|

Beneath my mask, was a full grin I was damn Proud of. [So you'll be the top then? Bet.] Her incoherent Embarrassed mental scream was a balm on my soul. [Should I make some cuffs? Some Hero and Villain role play could be interesting.] Through the mountain of Embarrassment, I filed away the small tinge of Interest. Doing this also had the affect of lowering the staggering amounts of Wrath/Justifiable Anger coming from her. Sure, they were still there, but less so now.

Our skit done, I turned away... And saw the amused looks coming from my chibi aunts, and even Narwhal. Sure, the Horned Woman hid it well, but the small crinkle of her eyes was enough for me. "Fuckin crazy, the both of you." I ignored Amy.

"And now you're our friend. What's that say about you?" Narwhal, Aunt Melody, and I snorted, while Dragon just smiled.

Amy didn't say anything though, opting to just huff and finger the knife on her waist.

The two of them went back to talking about the guns, while Narwhal practiced reloading.

It was a little bit later when the time came. "Overclocking engines in 10. 9. 8. 7. 6. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1." The craft shook, and the engines screamed as we sped up. "8 minutes to our destination, 6 if we strain the engines further."

Narwhal nodded at that. "When we hit 2 minutes call it out." Aunt Dragon sent a thumbs up, then disappeared.

With her gone, it was just the screens, and chibi Aunt Melody on our phones. Said aunt turned to look at me, Taylor, Amy, then finally Narwhal, with a worried frown on her face. "# Before you land, #" Taylor turned away from Amy to focus on my aunt, the healer and Horned Woman also looking at her. "# I want you all to promise that you'll be coming out of this alive. #"

That was easy enough for me. "I'll live." The possibility of dying was there, the scenario would need to be real fucking specific, but I wasn't going to bring it up.

After a moment, Taylor and Narwhal went. ""I promise./No promises, but I'll probably be fine."" The Guild's leader was just a riot.

Being the only one not to speak, we turned to Amy, who was frowning at Aunt Melody. "I'll promise, but I just want to say you're not helping my anxiety with this." I snorted again. "Fuck you." That just made me bark out a laugh.

And if me laughing at the irate healer made things better, no one mentioned it.

Another little bit later, the next message came. "2 minutes till landfall."

Grunting, I unfastened my belt, getting up. "How close are we to Crawler?" A ping went off, and I checked my HUD, seeing a marker appear and an icon of a bunch of eyes above it. Nodding to myself, I walked over to the ramp, which was being opened.

I'd shared my plan while we waited, and aside from Amy calling me a 'Crazy fucking idiot', no one debated it.

With the ramp opening, and the wind hitting my form, I grinned. I wasn't an adrenaline junkie, but the thought of jumping out of a jet and turning into a meteor had my blood pumping something fierce. Walking towards the edge of the ramp, I gave into the pounding in my ears, the adrenaline in my veins, and turned to shoot off a salute at the rest of this rag tag team. "I have nothing witty to say!"

And with that, I fell back, diving out of the plane. |God, you're an idiot.| I just laughed, feeling the wind part as I dove out of the sky. With a thought, the fibers hiding the Ultimatrix receded, the dial popped, and I slammed it down. It didn't matter who popped up. Because of my Blossoming, I would always end up with "SWAMPFIRE!" But I wasn't done yet.

Palming the dial, I cackled as I got closer to the earth, I twisted it, and relished the feeling of shedding shackles I never knew existed.

My form grew, green flesh turning into wood, leafs, roots, vines, pods, and branches grew all over me. My mind expanded as the plant life around me sang to me, responding to the appearance of a colossus. The world around me became just a tad bit smaller as my body grew to its full size.

Due to my sudden increase in size and mass, I crashed down onto the street, the earth shaking as a multi-ton mass of wood impacted the ground. Opening my eyes, I pushed myself off the ground, rising to my full height. I alluded to being a giant in this form, and standing at a height of 20ft, casting a shadow on the world below me, certainly counted as one.

If I was being looked at from the outside, everyone would see the leaf covered roots that made up my lower body, I didn't have legs in this form, just a mass of roots that could dig into the earth or pierce it to pull me forward. My hands were fully covered in leaves, but large and thick branches peaked through the leaves, looking like bone with how sharp they were. My hands themselves were like clubs, no individual fingers, and had hundreds of vents for my variant of methane, fertilizing and growing gasses, and even detachable pods full of those gasses that would be ignited upon contact with the air.

My arms weren't thick, no, instead they were a bunch of roots that could be freely detached whenever I wanted, or if a new one needed to be grown. My chest was similar, an open cavity of roots and vines that had what seemed like an upper spine and rib cage, but were really dense roots filled with thousands of seeds. My shoulders, like my hands, were fully covered by leaves, leaves that hid the rest of the seeds that grew on my body. Unlike my 'Ribs' and the roots that made up my 'Spine', I could shed these seeds willingly, and by just shaking a little.

Finally, there was my face, a stark white structure with two orange orbs that looked like a canopy of leaves in the middle of autumn. I had no mouth, but it wasn't needed for me to speak.(Look up 'Colossus of Life' by Aravan100 on Deviantart. Though this one doesn't have the tusks.)

For a moment, the world seemed to go still, and I Happily roared into the air. "SYLVANUS!"

And without missing a beat, another roar met it. "YES! FIGHT ME! BREAK ME! CHALLENGE, ME!" Crawler shot towards me like a bullet, slamming into the mass that were my 'Legs', and pushed me just a tad bit back.

The force of the hit Surprised me a little, but it didn't matter. Meeting the many eyes of the creature that was Crawler, I mentally grinned, and shook my seeds free. I was a titan, a creature of nature.

And with me, I would bring the forest.

Sylvanus/Ultimate Swampfire -At some point in the future, the Methanosian home world fell victim to an event known as 'The Withering.' This event began with the deterioration of the environment. Grass began to die and slowly ceased to grow. Trees withered and broke apart. Fruits and vegetables no longer grew. Without the fauna, the ecosystems fell apart, any wildlife soon following along as they perished. During The Withering, the Methanosians did their best to prompt growth and tried to revitalize their world, all to no avail.

Years later, The Withering would begin spreading to the Methanosians themselves, beginning the decline of their species. The Withering didn't kill a Methanosian at the beginning, they would first become unable to create seeds, then begin to lose their pigment until they became gray, lose their ability to move, begin to shrivel up into nothing, then they would die. Not every Methanosian that contracted The Withering died, the lucky few that survived would eventually begin to breed a new generation capable of resisting The Withering, who would then also birth a new generation.

Eventually, these Methanosians would gain an immunity to The Withering, and would then become responsible for their home world. Without having to fear The Withering, they would begin to revitalize the ecosystem. But repairing a world ravaged by a plague over the course of centuries would not be easy, requiring them to evolve to better handle the circumstances.

So they grew. They became what was needed to restore their world to it's former glory. The older they became, the bigger their frames grew. Their ability to manipulate nature was forced to become far stronger in order to manipulate long dead fauna. The seeds they bared increased in number, necessity requiring them to become walking titans of nature. The vents to release their enhanced version of methane, as well as growth/fertilizing gasses, all ended up on their hands, their main bodies restructuring themselves to better carry their seeds. With it, they became capable of detaching their hands, planting them in the earth to become the centers of a new forest as they passively released aforementioned gasses. With them detached, and a deposit of seeds, their task of revitalizing their world became easier.

Their task would take centuries, their loss of speed made getting to the other side of the world difficult, but with their capabilities to regenerate, they would be fully capable to fix their home world.

Ultimate Swampfire gains

Enhanced Strength

Enhanced Durability

Greater size

Improved chlorokinesis

Greater seed capacity

Denser methane

Improved firepower

Ultimate Swampfire loses

Speed

Capability to dodge

Ability to fly

Capability to swim

Fire abilities(No predators and a necessity to fix their world meant these weren't needed. He still has the pods though, so he can detach them and use em like bombs, kinda like Bazel and his scales in MHW.)

Weaknesses

Ice/cold

Dehydration

Anything fast or that flies

Small mental delay

I really like Ents, the idea of a big ass tree just beating the shit out of people amuses me, and I decided that I'd make Sylvanus live up to his name sake. So now he's a big ass tree creature instead of that disappointment that Albedo's Ultimate Swampfire was.