Lylat System - Macbeth

Macbeth isn't a very pretty planet by any measure whatsoever. To begin with, it's small, cutting a rather unimposing profile as far as planets are concerned. What liquid water there is to be found, is locked in small, shallow lakes, or the muddy icecaps at either end of the planet. The weather alternates between uncomfortably hot and miserably cold. There's little plant life to speak of, unless you're interested in brown moss... well, everything is brown, really. Either that or mustard colored. This is a very brown- and mustard-colored planet.
 
But what it lacks in charisma, it more than makes up for in wealth, for Macbeth is the richest source of metals and minerals in the entire Lylat system. It's no wonder why it's known as the Miner's planet; the majority of the system's metals come from here, where all manner of valuable ores are to be found not inches below the surface. In place of forests, sprawling factory cities grow, and rich concentrations of industry are to be found all throughout the planet. Of course, this once-grand mecca of trade and industry is not quite as lively as it was before Andross invaded, enslaved Macbeth's people and made the planet his own personal weapons factory, but c'est la vie.

    Macbeth. Third planet in the Lylat System, class M, once a flourishing center for scientific research and advancement and now Andross' weapon construction and shipyard base.

Fairly far behind the frontline in the war between Corneria and Venom, the planet is nonetheless well defended against assaults on it's main production facilities and shipyards within the hollow planet surface. While approaching it mostly undetected was not a piece of cake, Andross' forces are busy enough holding the space they have taken from the Cornerian Navy to notice the Black Ops dropships approaching via an unusual vector. One dropship touches down away from the northernmost production center and unloads personel transport vehicles and large trucks normally used to carry ore, which begin approaching from the west while another moves in to fly directly above town.

"The ship will sweep above the town, begin bombardment on military hardware and factories as we make the pass, we will drop in the center and start phase one. The Palace vehicles and raiders that will focus on taking the ore will arrive in three minutes after the first explosions, so make it count." briefs for the last time a...surprisingly short raiding organiser, as the heavily armored Presea looks at the ground below through the dropship's open belly door, the craft flying too low to cause depressurisation.

With the Bomb Bag at his side, and a set of remote mines near his shield next to the shield and sword, Link listens to the last briefing, grinning grimly at Presea. "Don't worry, we're going to make enough explosions to rock that monkey back to his cage."

Terra nods once to Presea. She starts reviewing a spell in her mind as she sidles close to the door, and then closes her eyes, extending one hand in front of her.
This appears to do nothing. A few moments later, a small blue hemisphere forms in her hand. She curls her fingers slightly and makes a face as it stops growing; this seems to be rather difficult for her, but manageably so.

Barbara is in the ship, too; she is sitting near the open door, crosslegged, and performing a last-minute check on her bag of stuff and, more importantly, her whip. "Yeah, I know. So I'll drop down, keep being distracting and defend the vehicles - we know all this already, so let's get going!" She clambers up to her feet, dusting her tunic off. "...hey, wait, nobody told me about monkeys.'

The Great Bounty Hunter is of course silent, as she normally is when on missions like these. She is currently looking over her gun-arm's screen, checking her systems and making sure her ship isn't too far behind on remote. A series of beeps and clicks are heard in her general direction. After moments of preperation, she looks up and over to Pressa, "Just tell me what you want me to blow up.."

"If it looks vaguely Venomian, it is a valid target. Factories, electrical lines, military forces, avoid harming the slave labor as much as possible." And while the thought of it causes Presea to bite her lower lip, they can't raid for resources and rescue at the same time. Besides, they don't need rescuing, they need to be liberated: It's their home in the first place.

The dropship begins passing over the city. Alerts begin ringing everywhere as an unidentified craft is overhead, robotic droids and soldiers aim their weapons upward as lizard soldiers and mercenaries man their aircraft.

"Fire at will, and let's move!"

    "Spare the slaves, slag everything else. Got it." Samus' blaster shifts and phases to missile mode then back for a quick check. Its a good thing she said to not shoot the slaves, otherwise Samus might have simply just ran them through to get to her target. This means that she is going to do some alternate calculation.. What a bother. Oh well, at least something get to go boom, and there could be profit involved, so shes happy.

"Going after you, Presea!" Link calls out, waiting for the first volley to be fired. As soon as the door is opened, the Hylian follows Presea out, grabbing the bow from his side, and yanking out an arrow, preparing to fire as he moves forward with the little axecutter.

Terra lets her spell finish, and looks around quickly - there, she thinks, that looks like a factory. (It produces ball bearings, although Terra doesn't know that.)
She seems to toss the tiny golf-ball sized thing out towards the factory. It falls - although there's a peculiar effect, as if it stays in one place despite moving. It's growing...

When it hits the ceiling of the factory, it blossoms with light as well as size, a shuddering roar and a peculiar distorting noise echoing through the air as the spell grounds itself in the crude matter of the factor. Terra herself, up in the transport, is already digging an Ether out of her pocket.

Barbara hops out behind the others and immediately snaps her whip in the air, limbering up that arm - something that she wasn't going to do in an enclosed location. It's been less than ten seconds since she got down and she already feels upstaged; she watches Terra's rather impressive effect with one hand up to shade her eyes.

"Do that one again!" she demands, loudly, as she steps away from the transport and begins to make motions with her left hand, the one without the whip. Over her head, a small ball of fire forms, but it quickly swells into a large ball, then a massive globe probably as tall as Barbara herself is; pointing one gloved finger at a random structure, the ball flies off and bursts into a pillar of flame.

It is a radio tower.

All it really takes to get Mother Brain here is "Massive Explosion On Macbeth". The Queen of E.V.I.L. makes a mental note to tear any losses to the cause out of Andross's hide...after all, E.V.I.L.'s primary source of income and resources is the tribute it takes from its member states. Macbeth is a major part of a very lucrative evil empire, making it signifigant in many of the plans of the Mother Brain.

As the factory explodes, reality itself twists and turns. Faint greenish-purple arcs of electricity shudder through the area, and any Androssi soldiers know well enough to get the hell out of the way as E.V.I.L. technology tears a hole in time, space, and sanity, revealing an EVIL warp-temporary, but it can be kind of intimidating! Out of this hole in reason comes the crunching sound of tank treads, as the massive form of the Brain Tank rips through the hole, a skittering group of Space Pirates following in the wake of the armored behemoth.

The Eye of the Mother Brain twists open, surveying the landscape. "Several possibilities exist. Squad Alpha, reinforce the area's defenders and ensure that they do not panic. We do not need a slave riot on our hands. Squad Beta, take command of air support, find whatever did this. The rest of us will search the area, firing at any airal attacks we detect, but otherwise searching." The Brain pauses. "As predicted. The specific nature of the damage suguests that sabotures are attacking major strategic points under the cover of one of the maverick one plane assults so common in this zone. This has become the primary probability, but not nessicarily the right one. E.V.I.L."

The Mother Brain /moves/, fireing up and aside at anything looking remotely like a friend of the Palace. "TO WAR!"
The pinkhaired warrior throws herself out the door, dropping into a temporary crouch as she assesses the location with what map data was gathered, then locking on a target and kicking into a dash. The Chaos Axe slides from her back to her hand by old practiced grace, the weapon brought down on...

A pipe? The metal gives fairly easily and a gash is torn open, but what's that for? She isn't staying near it, as Presea shifts her focus on ground forces of any kind, going by a priority of armored vehicles first, her purpose to protect those that fling the heavy duty magic and explosives like candy. Or at least, she was, until a large warp opens up.

"Note to self: Assume EVIL arrives sooner than original estimate next time." she thinks aloud grimly. The transport is lightly armed and able to deal with some aircraft slightly, but she knows the ship won't stay around for long.

"We're on their home turf, you think?" Link responds to Presea. As soon as the pipe is open, the Hylian grabs a Bombchu, sets it in the pipe, and sends it on it's merry little way.

Travelling deep into the pipe, it's going to explode and cause a large chain explosion, hopefully. "Let's go, we're gonna gave our hands full, Presea. Terra's with us? Barbara and Samus have their orders?"

Quan Chi is still suffering from a minor zombie shortage, but he doesn't mind accompanying the Space Pirates, some of whom have served in as a fill-in squadron for him, on a mission. In many ways he owes the Brain the favor.

The moment he steps out of the warp, he likes the look of the planet: barren, relatively lifeless. It feels a good deal something like home.

Carrying a gnarled staff to aid in long-range assault, he scans the area for the heroic interlopers. The sites of those explosions, yes, those seem like a fairly good bet.

Well, Bowser WAS going to take the evening off to finish relaxing. He just got back from vacation, after all, and was looking forward to just sitting around the Castle. He planned on getting back to the evil tomorrow. But, the Palace goons just /couldn't wait/, could they? Just up and attacking some godforesaken planet of Andross's the night Bowser gets back? Just his luck!

Then again, the exercise might do him good. And he's in no way intimidated by Mother Brain's feral roars. Nope. Not him.

Flying through the opened warp on his Clown Coptor, Bowser..... looks a tad different than usual. Yes, something seems OFF.... spiked arm bracers? Check. Fiery red hair? Check. Hawaiian shirt? Ch--wait, a shirt? Yes, Bowser is wearing a Hawaiian shirt, likely never got around to taking it off upon returning to the Castle. His shell spikes poke comically through the back of it too. A pair of sunglasses even rest upon his snout, and to top it all off he still has a coconut in his hand, with a drink inside and a little paper umbrella as a decoration. Seems he really did JUST get home.

"Someone's gonna pay for ruining the last day of my vacation!" Bowser thunders. the calmly pauses to sip his coconut beverage. "Oh yes! Dragging me to this dirty little space rock. Harrumph!" The Koopa King is clearly not pleased. He rarely ever is dealing with Palace folk. Clutching his drink, he scans the chaos to decide who he is going to take his aggression out on....

Quan Chi's men aren't the only ones out of the warp; officially, as far as the LSPD is concerned, this is a terrorist attack in a location that somehow, nebulously, manages to be inside its jurisdiction. As such, what comes out of the warp next are three LSPD squad cars, each driven by a CRASH officer and containing several other policemen. The intended method of defense is, to say the least, a little impractical; each of the men in the other seats is leaning some ridiculous heavy weapon or another out of the window. Unlike Bowser, Tenpenny himself has little to say here; this is just business, at least for now.

    Samus hops out of the ship after the others, but quickly makes ground, tucking into a somersault as dangerous currents of energy roll over her armor. The others have made a good show of getting things going and causing a scene, the old brain is more than likely to know something is up, and send reinforcements, if not come herself. Samus is ready for such an eventuality.. infact, its what has her pumped. There are no words to express how anxious she is to slag some Pirates, and pop some missiles into dear old Mom too.

Shang Tsung strides out of the warp, wearing one of his battle outfits. Rubbing his chin with his hands, he stands beside Quan Chi. "Happy hunting," he comments dryly to Quan, before moving off himself on his own search...he hides behind a large piece of mining equipment, looking around and then grabbing a nearby slave, staring into him before snapping the slave's neck. Then Shang morphs into the form of the slave, and runs out from behind the machinery...now incognito to get close to one of the attackers. He runs towards the factory where Terra is at, weaving among guards and fleeing slaves.

Terra brushes some hair back from her eyes as she lands. She looks at Link and his methods, and looks over towards the arriving forces.

Well, she thinks, this may be a little hard. At least she feels rather energetic. She begins gesturing again, closing her eyes; this is not a spell she uses often, but then, this is a muddy, wide-open area. She is not likely to set numerous expensive and personally important things on fire with it.

She doesn't aim this at the approaching forces; the wave of fire that seems to erupt from her hands is scything over the lichen-laden ground towards a warehouse. Presea and Link might notice that she is breathing a little heavily after this. But then, it is quite a BIT of fire.

She sees someone coming towards her and draws out the Weapon, activating it and positioning herself in a guarded stance, just so she won't be taken by surprise and possibly decapitated.

Barbara keeps her whip coiled in her hand as she jogs away from the drop-off point and toward where the gatherers are going to be - not too close, mind, just a little. She needs to spread out a bit anyway! Knowing EVIL is in the area (how can she not?) even if she isn't quite sure where they are, Barbara closes her eyes as she steps forward.

Rather abruptly, looking at her directly is an awful lot like looking directly into the sun. It doesn't last very long - a few seconds at most - but it's enough to cause people who /did/ look to have spots in their eyes and a bad glare.

Mother Brain continues to roll forward, getting more and more of an idea of the situation as the Space Pirates skitter out to meet up with Andross's soldiers, getting sitreps, reports, and data through eye-cameras. Sure, it may not make sense to them, unable to see everything at once and not posessing the mental power to process such data, but it doesn't have to. That's why they have Mother Brain, after all.

Continuing to roll, Mother Brain...suddenly screams. "Aah...AAAH!" The monster quickly shuts her eye, and the Brain Tank's jar is suddenly clouded by a greasy, light-dimming subsance. Mother Brain manages to stifle another scream, as she tries to locate the neural connecting translating the blinding, searingly painful light, but is unable to see where she's going, rolling over three Andross tanks before finally coming to a stop.

Seems like there's a down side or two to Mother's methods.
Slave Shang stops running upon nearing Terra, looking around with a confused, bewildered look on his face. He then jabs his finger at the factory, then the Fortress invaders, with that same look while looking at Terra. He appears right now to be another slave-laborer here, unarmed, and his magical aura is hidden in this form. But it won't last long. He winces a bit from the brightness emanating Barbara far off, but luckily doesn't look at her and get blinded.

    On some whim, or perhaps an order or something like that. Samus runs ahead of the rest of the group. 'Wouldn't miss the expression on her frontal lobe when I pop out and say "boo" with a missle to her medulla oblongata, for the universe.' Samus thinks to herself, her sensors showing that the large group of opposing forces is just around the corner. With her back pressed against the tower, her arm up, she breathes a sigh of preperation and then runs out into the open, diving and rolling with her gun-arm out, firing a missile or two at random tanks. "..." Not much for witty banter, this one.

Thank the Star Spirits Bowser is wearing sunglasses (as mentioned earlier). So while he does get a look at Barbara for a moment, he is no worse for the wear! Just... a bit confused. Didn't he just LEAVE the beach? And.. what's the sun doing on the GROUND anyway? Gah! Thinking about that is only confusing him more! Confound the Palace and their mind games!

Ignoring Mother Brain's blind rampage, and the ground sun (still not as bad as the Angry Sun though!) Bowser continues his search for some goody two shoes to grind into dust for his inconvenience. He immediately scans the area for a pair of tacky blue overalls. No sign of the mustachioed menace. Too bad. With a grunt, he continues looking, before spotting... Link? Well, he's LIKE Mario, only in green. And taller. And with pointy ears. And he slashes and stabs his enemies instead of stomping them. But other than that, just like Mario!

Flying his Clown Coptor down lower, Bowser's face looks more and more surprised as Link doesn't get a whole lot bigger. At first he thinks he must have been up higher than he thought, but he finally realizes that it's not like at all. It's the minature one! "Oh GREAT." He growls. "It's Runt Link."

Since fire is also the form of his most typical form of attack magic, Quan Chi leaves Shang to Terra, knowing that fighting fire with fire, despite the old saying, is quite counterproductive. He is looking for a poential target when one presents itself brightly, in the form of a brilliant flash of come-hither flare from the battlefield. Was it a signal? It looked like a person, possibly some sort of light or holy magic. Something eminently destructable, Quan Chi decides, moving through the battlefield in Barbara's direction.

Covering her eyes momentarily, the pinkhaired axewielder frowns and mentally reassesses the situation, reaching for the second weapon on her back, igniting Flameweaver as she holds it in her left hand. The trucks are reporting alot of activity, but their approach from the west side toward their target continues, five vehicles to load, three vehicles worth of personel to do the job, all they need is keep the enemy focused in the center of town or in any part of it that isn't the west side, really.

Her eyes spot pirates, and...humans? Holding the two axes in front of herself defensively, Presea charges toward the humanoids that really don't fit with the planet's population. They seem armed with guns and such, and so she's hoping to use her blades to deflect some bullets while she draws their fire and attention to herself, taking them down is almost secondary.

Oh, it's one of the workers. Terra lowers her guard somewhat and raises a hand, gesturing at him: "Run! Run for it, this is your chance!" she calls, before stepping to the side and eyeing the pirates. As a stray bullet, fired by a Pirate just a little too jumpy, goes towards her, she brings the Weapon up to block it with a sizzle of energy.

The police cars spot Presea; initially, they are unsure what to do, because even if she is charging them with an axe, she's an adorable kid. Tenpenny's voice breaks through the Fortress and LSPD short-wave band, calling, "Armed suspect straight ahead! Shoot!" with no small amount of urgency. Hesitantly, the policemen begin to, one after another, fire upon Presea -- the bullets are sort of scatter-pattern, and come from a variety of sources. Most of them seem to be heavy machine guns.

Link, after setting off the pipeline, slides to a stop, looking skywards as he sees Bowser floating above him, and cackling. "...did you just come back from vacation? I've seen that shirt before!"

But, this can get messy. Link's carrying bombs. Grabbing his hookshot, Link fires into the pipe above and lets it sling him upward, above the Clown Copter, and then he comes down. Mario told him what to do in cases like this! "Banzai!"

Young Link strikes King Bowser with his weak Head Bounce! attack.
You have taken 8 damage.

Frank Tenpenny strikes Presea Combatir with his weak Lead Spray: For Those Tough Stains attack.
Barbara smirks to herself as she hears a crashing vehicle and a scream. Apparently her light show /was/ helpful. "Score one," she says, although she does not turn around and go chase the sound; that isn't her job! Someone else can take care of it.

Instead, she continues to meander her way through the district, no longer approaching the transports but just sort of milling around as an obvious distraction. Every once in a while, Barbara casts a spell as she passes a structure; all of these seem to be wind-based, and small whirlwinds trail her.
The slave nods...then a wide smirk grows on his face, and his eyes glow bright green. The slave morphs back into Shang, and he moves quickly to slam his elbow into her neck while she guards against Pirate fire. It won't snap her neck, but she might see stars. "Thank you for the encouragement," the sorcerer says, again drily.

"G'huh? It's none of your BUSINESS if I just came back from a nice resort vacation, shorty! So there!" Bowser growls, preparing to take the Coptor down lower to assault the young Hylian with his mighty strength. However, Link moves too fast for the Koopa King, and is above him before Bowser realizes what happened.

And then Link is on top of his head. It's a relatively weak stomp, compared to what he's suffered under Mario, but a stomp nonetheless. And Bowser really. Hates. Being. Stomped. "HUWAARGH!!" He roars, swatting at Link with his free hand before he can jump off.

King Bowser strikes Young Link with his weak Swat attack.

What bullets do not ricochet off her blades and platemail dig through flesh, leading to unpleasant sensations, I.e. pain spikes in her brain. The Tethe'allian does not relent for so little, using the pain as a source of anger, pulling at everything she has to gather strength.

She needs to thin the numbers. For that she'll need power, lots of it, and nothing like being in actual danger does the trick to get her Crystal to fuel her.

"Darkflame Destruction!" shouts Presea when the gap shorter but still no melee range, leaping in the air and activating both axes' elemental properties, putting them close enough to draw a reaction from the dark and fire weapon, sending a straight line of black flames at one of the cars and occupants, the line continuing on after.

Bail or burn, cops.

Presea Combatir misses Frank Tenpenny with her weak Darkflame Destruction attack.

SWAT! Link gets smacked away from the Copter falling back towards the pipes. As he does so, he fires his hookshot desperatedly up at Bowser, hoping to hook him. If not -- well, it could bea long way down.

Young Link aims less accurately for his next attack!
Young Link misses King Bowser with his Hookshot! attack.
Young Link strikes Young Link with his weak Caution, Pipes! attack.

This blow would probably have snapped the neck of a normal person. It sends Terra staggering aside and makes her let out a tight, pained noise, even so.

Then she straightens back up and looks at Shang Tsung. This is - almost good, she thinks. If she can just manage this right...

She looks towards the space pirates, or a cluster of them not that far away. She steps up towards Shang Tsung, raising the Weapon and says, "What did you do to that poor man," before, without much warning, slamming forwards - with the HILT of the weapon, at an upward angle. She does not want to hurt him at this point, so much as she wants to send him flying back towards the space pirates.

Terra Branford strikes Shang Tsung with her weak Gratuitous Knockback! attack.

At the last second, the driver of the car -- one officer Hernandez, an on-again off-again rat to internal affairs -- steers the car very hard to the left, narrowly avoiding the worst of the dark-flame attack. He's a little out of his league, but at least he's not a bad driver. The other officers in the vehicle are, understandably, relieved.

"Good driving, kid. Pick that up from the Grove boys?" Tenpenny compliments over the short-band radio to Hernandez's car; a brief thanks is given in response, as Tenpenny decides to take point on this particular defensive maneuver. The fact that he's driving like a gang member registers with him a bit, but doesn't bother him too much; he's a little busy worrying about keeping the car from flipping over as he does a hard turn, allowing the two officers on the passenger side to unload with their heavy SWAT machine guns.

Frank Tenpenny strikes Presea Combatir with his Heavy Weapons, Vol. II attack.

The wind magic grabs Quan Chi's attention and leads him in the right direction through the base. He steps over the downed structure of a transport, ignoring scrambling soldiers that line up with guns or try to put out random fires.

Seeing the other spellcaster, he tries to focus in on her power and return fire at her from a long distance. The sphere of flame he fires from the end of his fingertips is bright green, and may tend to fade in power by the time it reaches its destination, though at the very least Barbara is now warned that something is going to be firing back upon her.

Quan Chi strikes Barbara with his weak Green Flare attack.

Too slow to block it this time, air escapes Shang's mouth in a half-choked sound, and the blow does send him flying back into the space pirates, like a bowling ball hitting a bunch of pins. The sorcerer shoves them off him, getting up and getting into fighting stance again. "I'd say right now his head is lolling at an unusual angle. But don't worry..." he says, raising his open palm. It suddenly glows fiery green. "...I'll take good care of him." The green fire is extinguished, and Shang Tsung laughs, putting both arms together and firing off a flaming skull at Terra's feet, only a single this time.

Shang Tsung strikes Terra Branford with his weak Flaming Skull attack.

SWAT! Link goes flying off of Bowser. "Gwahahah! Who's da King?!" Oh wait, Link can't answer because he's plummeting to the ground. "HEY! Get back here so I can gloat some more!" Upon saying that Bowser takes the Clown Coptor into a kamikaze dive straight down towards Link. In the process of turning the Coptor towards the ground the Koopa King narrowly dodges Link's hookshot. In fact, he doesn't even notice he was shot at!

The Clown Coptor comes to a screeching halt (despite not having tires nor touching pavement) just before colliding with the ground. Good air brakes. "You should run along back home, kid! Send the real Link to fight me! No hard feelings, have a parting gift!" He's a kid, right? Kid's like toys. Even the evil, explodey ones. So Bowser flings a Mechakoopa at Link!

King Bowser misses Young Link with his Toy Bomb attack.


Finally. Tracking down that damn neural receptor, Mother Brain /rips/ it out. Metaphoricly speaking, of course. Taking a second to recover, Mother Brain's Eye begins building up heat and energy, melting away the waxy emergency protection film from her jar, so that she can actualy see outside of faint echolocation pings. While effective, its going to take a while for the protective gunk to peel off, leaving the Brain Tank immobile for a little bit longer...

Mother Brain charges up her next attack!

The green fireball catches Barbara in the side, and her clothes take the worst of it; they must be magical, or perhaps she has something on underneath it (damn those mages and their imaginative ways to hide armor). It does, however, cause her to yelp and immediately beat at her own side to ensure nothing actually catches on fire.

Once satisfied that her clothes are not going to actually burn up, Barbara spins around toward the direction of the fireball, gesturing wildly. Another whirlwind springs up, rocks and stones lifted into the mess, and glides along the ground in that direction. Like the fireball, it tends to lose force over time, dropping its larger rocks or pulverizing them into rasping, but not terribly damaging, sand. "Hey!"

Barbara strikes Quan Chi with her weak Bagi attack.

The raiding transports begin to unload the personel at the warehouses for the ore normally used in spaceship production, and to load said ore in the trucks as quick as they can, a small group of them stand guard.

Presea growls faintly as the car evades her strike, she had hoped to disable the vehicle fast but it's obvious they're not gonna make it easy on her, plus bullets really really sting. Lowering herself to be a smaller target, she waits for an opportunity to dash toward the vehicle and makes a crescent moon slash motion with the Chaos Axe, a door is a poor shield usually against such a swing and the passenger better have health insurance.

Presea Combatir misses Frank Tenpenny with her Infliction attack.

    Uh oh.. Samus knows what that means. She's felt that eyebeam before and honestly she wasn't too keen on it by far. Internally swearing to herself, Samus prepares for the attack, remembering the trajectory and the range of the beam. She deactivates her gun arm and crouches down slightly, sweating under her visor and locking onto the brain with her visor systems. She looks like she is ready to get out of the way, whenever her suit tells her to move. With her lightning reflexes, she might just be able to pull it off.

Samus Aran doesn't attack, concentrating on dodging!

It is more the sight of that skull than the fire itself that sickens Terra as she walks towards where Shang Tsung impacted the Space Pirates. Is that - it can't be - he couldn't, he WOULDN'T -

The explosion knocks her back as well, landing on her fanny with an 'oof'. She doesn't stand up; she just jumps upwards.

And upwards.

She descends towards Shang Tsung, leading with the glowing beam blade of the Weapon as she shouts something without words.

Terra Branford strikes Shang Tsung with her >Jump attack.

After leaving a dent shaped like him in a pipe, Link pushes himself up, and gives a small grunt of pain. "...oh, ow." he murmurs. Then, he hears the mad cackling of the King Koopa above him, and the Hylian watches the Koopa drop towards him. "Erk!" he yelps, rolling off the pipe, where the Koopa lands and explodes.

Grunting, the boy draws back a fire arrow, and then let's it go. It whistles skywards, hoping to slam into the copter and catch it on fire!

Young Link strikes King Bowser with his Fire Arrow! attack.
You have taken 22 damage.

The door shears open, but the passenger, an older officer perhaps in his early fifties who should not be in the vehicle he's in, scrambles backward and narrowly avoids taking much in the way of wounds. He swears vigorously, and almost on reflex, opens fire in Presea's general direction, through the door. Tenpenny, meanwhile, swerves the car a bit to try to get her /away/ from the vehicle. The other cars just follow and watch -- the angles aren't good, and a little screwup could mean killing one of their own.

Frank Tenpenny strikes Presea Combatir with his Point Blank MG attack.

The skull isn't what Terra thinks it is, fortunately for the slave. The jump-slash hurts, though, leaving a wide bloody gash in Shang. Saving him from being cut in two was the fact he stepped away as she came down. Fortunately, his outfit also holds up. Without any comment, Shang fires off two quick punches at Terra's upper body, followed by a point-blank flaming skull, then a hard high kick to the face.

Shang Tsung strikes Terra Branford with his Kombo attack.

K'THUNK! Bowser's flight path is suddenly thrown WAY off by a little flaming arrow that penetrates the aft of his Coptor, severely damaging the sensitive internal equipment.

....draw no more from that than it says, kay?

"WHOA TESSIE!" Bowser flails at the controls, it's hard enough to fly this thing with one hand normally, but as long as he's holding his precious drink he can't spare the second to aid in the endevour! Oh wait... the drink's been empty for awhile. "Little coconut shell cup, you have served me well." Bowser says, before flinging it down toward's Link's Hylian noggin. Then he resumes trying to get a firmer grasp on the Clown Coptor's controls.

Okay, now this is annoying her. Being a distraction or not, targets this mobile just lead to severe frustration, and the other vehicles are risks as well. It's just one of these days where Presea wishes she had some sort of reliable ranged method of dealing with things, but such is not her way.

But, then she smirks. There is a weakness in those cars: They work best on level terrain or controlled slopes and hills. Grasping her axes tighter, she begins jumping around almost randomly, slamming her weapon in the ground and causing craters and devastation abound. Her goal: Cause an accident, or at least make them slow down enough so she can deal with them, because she remembers how unpleasant bumpy rides can be. At least, they were when the suspension springs are weak, Los Santos police cars may not be the same.

King Bowser strikes Young Link with his weak Coconut'd attack.

Presea Combatir strikes Frank Tenpenny with her When having trouble dealing with cars, remove the road stun attack.

Quan Chi takes the blast to the chest. He's not armored there at all, so it just rains against him, which he weathers well enough. He takes a few steps closer. The top of his wooden-look staff is now glowing brightly, but in that same sick green color as his fire magic. "I assume you were talking to me?"

He swings the staff in Barbara's direction, almost as if taking a swing at a golf ball, in a light and underhanded way. A large glob of...something sticky and caustic flies out of the 'face' carved onto the top of the item. It smells sweet, after a fashion, but should it strike it doesn't feel particularly edible.

Quan Chi misses Barbara with his Acid Honey attack.

"Finally, sight." Mother Brain says, relieved enough to speak aloud. Making a vow to destroy whomever tampered with her recording systems like that, The Mother Brain takes a quick survey of the battlefield. Scattered fighting, good, no more explosions, good, Samus Aran, good, no rioting slaves charging through the streets, good...wait.

"/Aran/." The Brain intones, computerized voice somehow dripping with venom. "Is ther eno such thing as a competant assassin? You DARE continue to exist, a living affront to the Mother Brain?!" The already charged eye narrows, as Mom tries to anticipate Samus's anticipation of her anticipation, and aim the shot right. "Well, Mother can fix that right up..." she adds, faux-sweetly, as purple-white fire screams from that horrible Eye!

Mother Brain strikes Samus Aran with her So nice to see you again! smash attack.

Clong! Link's beaned with the coconut, and gets a large lump on his head. The boy winces, looking at the offending shell, and sticks an arrow into it, just because it peeved him off that much!

Loading it up, the Hylian adjusts for the weight of the shell, and sends it flying upwards right back to Bowser. "You're nuts!"

Young Link strikes King Bowser with his weak Nuts to You, Too! attack.
You have taken 9 damage.

A string of curses can be heard from Officer Pulaski's car as one of his wheels gets stuck in a small crater; Hernandez, meanwhile, has some difficulty pulling his vehicle's rear left wheel out of another, bigger bit of destruction. Tenpenny himself manages to swerve out of the way of the worst of it, but this puts him facing in the absolute opposite direction of the axe-wielder. They're not going to be doing a whole lot to Ms. Combatir for the moment.

Immobile cars are the primary targets, her weapon brought against wheels and slammed against them hard, to make sure they'll never move again. Ripping a door off, Presea reaches in with one hand while leaving the Chaos axe to lean against the vehicle, pulling the cops out and tossing them away, making sure to disarm when she can. "Drop your weapons and run, or forfeit your right to exist in one piece." is her only warning, making examples to those who refuse to comply. Tenpenny's car, being still mobile, is kept for later.

"Yeah, you - uh oh." Barbara knows well enough to get out of the way of things people you don't know throw at you during a fight. She does; she literally throws herself downward, and the sticky gooey acid goes overhead.

Rather than land flat on the ground, Barbara lands in a position that mostly looks like she's going to do a push-up, and turns it into a runner's starting pose. Pushing up and forward, she springs at Quan Chi, using her whip to latch onto an overhanging light and throwing herself into a kick with both feet. Hit or miss, she arcs backwards afterwards, like she was on a pendulum; with a flick of her wrist, she drops down about ten feet from Quan Chi.

Presea Combatir strikes Frank Tenpenny with her Thinning the ranks, by surrender or by hand/arm removals attack.

Barbara strikes Quan Chi with her Flying Kick attack.

Terra twists with the punches. She can't do much about the skull, of course, or the kick, although even then, she doesn't go down; there was no clear 'crunch' of bone underneath the jacket. This may be a mild surprise. Terra certainly doesn't feel like she's avoided substantial injury.

She answers quickly, with a series of sharp, horizontal slashes towards the mysterious man. She grits her teeth; she thinks she can taste blood.

Terra Branford strikes Shang Tsung with her zwoom zom WOOOM attack.

The Clown Coptor bobs and weaves throughout the air, as Bowser tries to regain control of his contraption. Finally, his flight path steadies, and for a few moments the Coptor remains still in the air. "Gahaha! Success! I AM the master pilot!"

Of course, the Coptor remains steady and still just long enough for Link to get a clear shot back at Bowser's noggin'. Since Bowser's head is CLEARLY harder the shell splits in two upon impact, but it leaves a small bruise on the King's otherwise PERFECT face. "Grrrrrr, why you little runt! That's it, no more Mr. Nice Koopa!" Bowser shouts, leaping out of the Clown Coptor (after setting it on auto-pilot) and landing not far from Link.

"I'LL show you how to use fire!" And he does. Sadly, Link cannot learn to breathe fire like Bowser can, but the Koopa King never needs an excuse to show off.

King Bowser misses Young Link with his Fiery Breath attack.

"#2263@&, I don't need to take this!" two of the officers say, getting out and running; Hernandez is one of the ones who needs to get pulled out, and ends up with his ulna in a great deal of pain before he, too, runs. Pulaski's men take the hint as soon as the wheels start getting knocked out; they, too, end up darting, leaving only Tenpenny's car.

"... We're going to have to have a talk about that," Tenpenny mutters, turning his vehicle around; he hits a torn-up bit of earth, doing some damage to the car, as he speeds back through the potholes the other way. One of the other officers tosses a grenade out the window; it flies through the air, hopefully landing by Presea. It's not much of a grenade, though -- perhaps it's old.

Frank Tenpenny strikes Presea Combatir with his weak Fire In The Hole! attack.

And that's when Link does something that has pissed off villains for years and years. He does a roll. Diving to the side, the boy moves as the fire singes along his back, heating him up, but he doesn't get cooked. "...so, you use fire like that? Well, okay, but I think maybe you need to cool off!"

Yanking out a blue arrow, Link draws it back, settling on his knee, setting a bead on the King of the Koopas, and then lets loose the ice-crystal arrow. "Chew on this, your highness!"

Young Link strikes King Bowser with his Ice Arrows, the Freshmaker! stun attack.
You've been stunned and cannot attack!

Shang Tsung himself moves to avoid mortal blows by the sword, his arms raised, but the slashes do their damage, and he's bleeding visibly from the cut wounds. He coughs, and is that a spray of pink? Shang isn't worried about the wounds he takes, though. His body can take care of most, and the serious stuff can just be cured with potions or a fresh soul to consume...like this girl's, for instance. He eyes her with that intent, then glances briefly over at Quan fighting the other girl, focusing back on Terra. He decides to fight steel with steel, and summons his thin straight sword, like what Xianghua would use. Taking a very different stance, he uses a fluid movement to sweep the sword at Terra's feet, and follow that up with a rising slice.

Shang Tsung strikes Terra Branford with his Sweep to Rising Slice attack.

    Bad tactic on her part. Perhaps it was Mother Brain's voice that caused her to hesitate. This is of course her mistake as she gasps and opts to leap out of the way at the wrong time, taking the burnt of that eye beam and groaning within her powersuit as she rolls off to the side, activating her blaster and switching through the modes as she assesses her damage. "Mother Brain.. I see your aim hasn't decreased in your old age, you're looking a little bloated and you fixed the cracks in your jar. It still looks a little stuffy in there, I can open a little room for you." She brings her blaster up toward the giant science project and it makes a final shift of modes, launching a rather bulky looking missile in her direction.

Minty. Bowser hates mints. He doesn't need some vile breath freshener to mask the musk of his royal breath! The ice from the Ice Arrow, though, appears far more potent than your standard breathmint. The meeting of the Arrow and Bowser's fire breath results in a large explosion of steam erputing from the Koopa King, leaving him coughing and sputtering, trying to catch his breath.

Samus Aran strikes Mother Brain with her Super Missles.. the ultimate Mother's Day Card. attack.

While not landing right next to her, the grenade explosion sends the short but heavy warrior in the air to land with a solid *thunk!* a few feet farther. Using a now abandonned police car as cover, Presea considers her options. before a smile forms on her lips again. The axes are placed on her back, and she remains immobile for a few moments.

Unless police tech has gotten much better in a short time, they probably won't know she's gathering energy and strength until she unleashes what might she can charge in a short time at them. Hopefully the car cover will hold until she's ready.

Presea Combatir charges up her next attack!

Quan Chi seems rather surprised this apparent magic-user would bring the fight in close, as the kick catches him straight on. He staggers back, but then turns to face Barbara as she comes down from her landing. The second she hits the ground, he does an immediate counter by aiming a closed fist right at her face. "You don't seem like you're from around here," he says, a comment to her style of magic. This after all is outer space. The likes of Samus Aran would be expected, but not so much wind and whips.

Quan Chi strikes Barbara with his Reversal - high attack attack.

Aww, Bowser needs his pilot light relit. Link's more than happy to do that! Grabbing a bomb from his bag, the boy sets it on the ground and lets it roll on it's merry little way -- right to Bowser's mouth.

Young Link strikes King Bowser with his Explosive Restart! attack.
You have taken 16 damage.

Terra Branford's blade is not made of steel, but of blue light; however, the principle is the same, as is the principle of 'it's hard to defend your legs'. Her jacket is sliced rather brutally after she side-steps the slash at her legs, and she staggers back for a moment. She is breathing heavily again, already.

She draws something out of her pocket. It looks like a rock. She holds it up -

And there's a flash of light and then the sky rips open. A towering figure, not as large as a Shokan but with a similar shade of skin, appears for a moment, violet hair streaming from a head with two prominent horns. He looks down at Shang Tsung.

Then he shoots lasers at him. They spiral around, perhaps to increase the odds of scoring a hit.

"Dammit, we could have used that /now/!" Tenpenny yells at the officers in the back as Presea takes cover. The younger of the two apologizes profusely as Tenpenny begins to drive around; he ends up pulling a bottle of some unknown substance in a bag marked 'EVIDENCE' from under the seat, along with a lighter and rag in the same bag. How the materials to make some sort of pseudo-molotov constitute 'evidence,' the world may never know -- though, considering that no matter what there's a molotov headed over Presea's police-car cover, perhaps there is no real need to know.

Frank Tenpenny strikes Presea Combatir with his weak Fire In The Controlled Substance! attack.
Terra Branford strikes Shang Tsung with her Wait Til My Father Gets Home smash attack.

DODONGO DISLIKES SMOKE! And apparently, when Smoke = Explosions, Bowser does too! The blast from the bomb causes smoke to rise out of his nostrils, and he shakes his head, a bit dazed. "Whoa, spicy..."

Bowser recovers rather fast, though, and turns on Link again. This time grabing one of his trusty hammers. "Alright Runt Link! Try this on for size!" He roars, before flinging the hammer right for Link's head.

He's all about the blunt head-wounds today, isn't he?

King Bowser misses Young Link with his HAMMER'D attack.

Mother Brain really, really hates this chick. Bouncing around like a maniac, spitting as much sass as she does firepower-its probably why she had such an immediate negative reaction to Captain N, its the same fighting style! Hate and hate make a delicious submarine sandwitch, and Momma is pissed. "Bloated?! Stuck?!" The Super Missle lands with a crash, sending large, ugly cracks through Mother Brain's jar. The Brain seems not to notice, still stuck on Samus's backtalk. "You want to talk about tight, Aran? I am not the one who needed to have her accursed human ribs removed to fit into her cheap knockoff of a Chozo swinsuit!"

The tank blares to life, crushing through overturned tanks and rubble as Mother Brain tries to get into a better position to squash this bug. "Let me give you a tip, honey. Lay off the cheesecake and wine coolers, and you might be able to upgrade your armor without spending a few thousand credits for a tune up at the plastic surgeon. Die!" Blazing rings of fire eject from various turrets on the Brain Tank, swarming towards Samus like a pack of ravenous donuts that are on fire. Yeah!
If Quan Chi can be a mage that can fight in close, why can't Barbara? It's not like this is unheard of. Terra over there is doing a pretty good job herself.

Barbara takes the fist to the face with a muffled curse (you would be hard to understand too if you had knuckles in your mouth) and two steps staggered backwards. "Ow ow ow, geez, you punch hard. What /are/ you, anyway? A demon?" Making a few small motions with her off-hand, Barbara sweeps her arm wide.

Following her sweep, a series of massive icicles jet up from the ground, growing upwards very rapidly. A few seconds later, and they explode into razor-sharp shards before fading away.

Barbara strikes Quan Chi with her Hyadalko attack.
Mother Brain strikes Samus Aran with her Rinka Ring Ruccus attack.

"WAAAAH!" Fire! Firefirefirefireburningowowowowowglass shards too. But, the burning child does not stop drop and roll immediatly, the fire has a hard time sticking to the metal armor anyway so she knows it will go out on it's own with a little help, and if she loses focus then she loses the charge too.

The pinkhaired warrior reaches down, and lifts with all her might. Her cover car rises above her head as she gives an unfriendly 'I seeeee youuuuu' grin toward the officer's car, followed by a tossing of her projectile. Being on fire may however affect Presea's aim.

Presea Combatir misses Frank Tenpenny with her *CAR* smash attack.

The Hammer flips end over end in the end in the air.. then smacks into Link's shield. There's a loud clong as he steps back, looking down at the hammer, grabbing it off the ground.

"...little heavy. Little different.. but sure!" Link runs forward, and then swings it downward, attempting to bring it down onto the Koopa's foot.

Yes, this getting stupid close, but still.."

Young Link strikes King Bowser with his weak Hammer Toe! attack.
You have taken 9 damage.

Shang Tsung stares up at the beast that suddenly appears above him...and he's getting bad vibes off the magic from it. The lasers engulf him, dirt and soil exploding upwards from the blasts, sending him flying. He hits the ground hard not too long after, his clothing torn and body bruised. He slowly stands up. "Hmmph...your lucky I can't change into something like that..." he says. He runs forward, attempting to slash at her chest, followed by two more slashes to the stomach, and then the shins, going down as he moves.

Shang Tsung strikes Terra Branford with his Dancing W/ Sharp Objects attack.

Presea Combatir strikes Frank Tenpenny with her *CAR?* smash attack.

"GRAAARGH!" Bowser roars, as Link plays a game of strength with Bowser's foot. He scores a 5, by the way. Which awards him one ANGRY Koopa King that he's now much closer to than he'd probably like.

 He hops on one foot for a moment, clutching the wounded one, before slamming it back down on the ground and looming over Young Link. "Cheeky brat you are! I think it's time I showed you what you're dealing with!" Placing one foot forward, Bowser leaps up into the air. Like, REALLY high up into the air. It seems he's aiming to crush Link under the weight of his shell, once he ducks inside, and the momentum he'll build from the fall will only add to it. Luckily he'll be an easy target for a few moments, so it could give Link time to either shoot him, or get the heck out of the way.

For the Hylian's sake, hopefully both.

King Bowser charges up his next attack!

    Yes, yes.. the brain can talk but no amount of trash talk can sway a suited Samus into a fit of anger. She's as close to heartless as a hero can get, not to mention focused. The dreaded Hunter takes a few flips back as the brain comes rolling toward her. "Your hippocampus is showing.. How ironic, its called a /hippo/campus. Careful Mother, you get any bigger, you're gonna need to upgrade to the plus-plus sized jars for girls with alot of extra baggage." All of this is stated calmly, without a hint of anger in her voice. There isn't even a hint of enjoyment in that." She starts to move forward now and she leaps, flipping and diving through the rings mockingly, to build up momentum. Nevermind that a few of them strike her, Samus is used to taking hits just to deliver one herself. As she closes in the distance, the Hunter tucks into a somersault and slashes of green energy charges over her form for a crashing into her cracked jar.

"What th --" Tenpenny starts, though he doesn't get time to finish his sentence before the car makes a hard 'thunk' against the back half of his vehicle; the vehicle itself still functions, but the two officers in the back aren't so lucky. The now half-crushed vehicle slows down, but keeps right on moving; this time, Tenpenny himself leans out the window with a light police machine gun, spraying a few bullets Presea's way before the vehicle comes to a stop. It might be a little tricky to get it going again.

Frank Tenpenny misses Presea Combatir with his Drive-By Shooting: Isn't This What We're Supposed To PREVENT? attack.

Samus Aran strikes Mother Brain with her Screw you! Screw attack.

"Formerly," Quan Chi says casually to Barbara. It was a fair question for her to ask, after all.

The ice magic, again something he's never been specialized in, takes him by surprise again, knocking him down and back. He lands on one bent knee, the other leg out for balance. "Seems you have a few varied talents." He doesn't go back to shooting fire at her. He suspects, with her variability, that she may be capable of that, as well.

He throws a low kick at her feet while he's still close to the ground. As he's otherwise much taller than she is, he doesn't know if Barbara will anticipate a low-aimed move.

Quan Chi strikes Barbara with his Low Hook attack.

As Bowser goes up, Link stares skywards, and blinks. Once. Twice. "...oh no." he murmurs. Grabbing his ocarina, the boy plays a tune quickly. And suddenly where there was one Link, there is now two. Question is: Which one is the real Link, and which one is the statue of Young Link that he just created?

Link has played the: 'Effigy of Emptiness'

Terra barely manages to put the rock away before the assault comes again. She parries, more or less, with the Weapon, but it accomplishes little but moving the slashes from her chest to her arms. The jacket's sleeves are in ribbons.

She feels sick. Thus, as she backs away from the man, holding up the Weapon in a defensive position again, she reaches back into that same pocket, digging out a small vial of something, breaking the top of it with a fingertip, and pouring it into her mouth. Then it's thrown on the ground, empty.

Terra Branford strikes Terra Branford with her You Are A Litterbug healing attack.
Young Link doesn't attack, defending against the next strike!

As Bowser begins to aim his decent he is surprised to find he has to choose between TWO Links! "WHAT? That dirty cheater! How dare he use such a cool trick?!" Bowser grumbles, and ultimately decides to aim for the left one. He didn't have much time to make his choice anyway. Ducking inside his shell, the massive mound of spike and bone comes crashing down upon the left Link. Was it the correct one?

King Bowser strikes Young Link with his Deep Impact attack.

Score!

Mother Brain has bought herself a second to check on the pirates. The command goes out, 'Report!', and Mother Brain's computers recieve...bad data. 'What? -the tower, of course, damnation!' stupid screwy radio signals, interfiering with her schemes. Which is about when another meddler, Samus, screw attacks Mother Brain right in the face...jar...whatever, earning a few slices of the first layer of the Zebesite glass plating falling to the ground for her efforts. Right, Aran's on her game today, time to kick it up a notch. "No comeback? Not even an angry snort? Mm, typical. Cold, ruthless, direct...admirable qualities, all."

"...your parents would be so proud of the woman their little girl grew up to be, would they not?" Quickly, Mother Brain puts in the coordinates, trying to anticipate the range of Samus's movement/dodge ability, considering the terrain, suit capabilities, accursed Chozo genegenering, and good old fashioned moxie. She gets a rough radius. "Oh, and Samus?"

"Let me show you how to /really/ use your missles." And Mother Brain promptly procedes to fire all of her launchers at once, covering as much of the potential radius as possible, collateral damage be damned. Andross owed her money anyway.

Mother Brain strikes Samus Aran with her Not Quite All The Missles attack.

Jumping on the side where the gun cannot reach due to a limited line of sight while in a vehicle, Presea actually manages to avoid getting more bullets into her skin, it's an improvement as she has enough lead there for her daily nutricional needs of iron, a week's worth probably.

As the car comes to a full stop, the Tethe'allian dashes forward and leaps high into the air, six times her own height as she draws Flameweaver alone, holding it in two hands to bring it down on the hood where the driver usually sits. The goal is more like ripping the roof like the top of a sardine can, but the act may injure the passenger too.

Presea Combatir strikes Frank Tenpenny with her weak Like that leap axe thing in Reign of Fire, minus the dragon fly-by chomp attack.
Shang Tsung watches Terra heal with a slight smirk. "Feeling winded? I'm not even finished..." he says. He makes the sword dissapear; he's done with it for now, not feeling up to a sword fight any longer. Instead, he decides to try out a morph he hasn't used in a while, a form he took while briefly fighting a certain spectral ninja...he shifts into this yellow-and-black clad ninja, and throws out a kunai knife attached to a rope...if it spears Terra, he'll drag her close to him, then send her flying with an immediate uppercut. And his cry as he does? "GET OVER HERE!" He then changes back into regular ol' Shang.

Shang Tsung misses Terra Branford with his Scorpion Will Beat Me For This attack.

King Bowser has chosen... wisely. Ack! Seeing the shadow form above him, Link doesn't get a chance to dodge as the Koopa lands on him, crushing the boy underfoot. Fortunately, he didn't catch the whole weight, or probably would have been crushed.

Well, since he's down here -- Link slams on the Bomber's Mask, and growls, drawing back his head and then headbutts Bowser's foot.

Explosions ensue.

Young Link strikes King Bowser with his Bomb Mask! attack.
You have taken 24 damage.
Young Link strikes Young Link with his weak Backblast? attack.

Barbara takes the kick on her knee and yelps, hopping back on her other foot. "Hey! You watch where you're putting those!" she orders, gingerly putting her foot back down. It feels better than she was expecting, even if her knee is sore. "And a demon, huh? Well, I'll show you what we do with demons!"

Apparently what we do with demons is dance. Barbara begins dancing, an energetic dance to a beat only she can hear. It seems to involve a lot of bouncing around and whirling, making her cloak fan out. It is also oddly...catching. Something about it just makes you want to join in.

Barbara strikes Quan Chi with her Sasou Odori stun attack.

Mother Brain shouts, "That is what you get, ripping off my 'Use More Bombs' attack! Stupid child-like-Like and his stupidly marketable firepower..."

    At the end of her Screw Attack, Samus drops down into her famous spherical form, knowing she is in for some pain from the main brain at such a gutsy attack. She was right.. Those words? About her parents? Had she not been in her suit and her normal personality was taken over by her alternate one? She might have been driven to tears, or even anger. But thats not the case, she is in her suit, and those taunts bounce right off of her. Wish she could say the same for the missiles. Ow! Ow! Ow!.. The ball starts to roll away, is she retreating? Hey Mother? Whats.. that noise? Hey.. what are those glowing pulses of.. *BOOM BOOM BOOM* It appears the little ball didn't just use that tactic to get away, she left a few dropping in her wake, explosive ones.

One of the now-jagged parts of the top of the roof digs into Tenpenny's head for a moment, but only lightly; the axe itself is actually a little to the right, a fact for which Frank should be very happy. He's more frustrated at the moment, though, due to the sudden little girl on top of his car. He gets the car going again and swerves wildly, swearing under his breath; he then reaches under the seat again.

This time, it's not a molotov. Just a silenced handgun, standard-issue, that ends up pointed right out the hole and at Presea. "Bang," Tenpenny mutters shortly before actually firing the weapon, three little, quiet noises almost completely suppressed by the tube on the end of the weapon.
Frank Tenpenny strikes Presea Combatir with his weak Silenced Pistol Proficiency: Gangster attack.
Samus Aran strikes Mother Brain with her Ninja Sneaky Boom-Boom Plasma Bomb attack.

"Shut up and pay attention, Mother Brain.." Link shouts back. Then giggles. "...or not!"

Coming out of his shell, Bowser gloats heartily. Why, he doesn't even need to bother getting up right away! "Gwahahaha! Take that you little green maggot! Why I bet I could stay here all--- hey what's that fe-"

BOMB!

Bowser is sent flying again, involuntarily this time, and lands a number of feet away. Crashing down to earth hurts when he's not intending to do it. Getting to his feet Bowser seems totally annoyed that Link has had the audacity to not be defeated yet. "HUUWAARGH! That's it! I've had it! There's nothing I hate more than fighting a goody two shoes that doesn't have the decency to just STAY DOWN when they should! Stupid stubborn trouble-preventers!" As opposed to trouble-makers. "I hope you brought your thermal undies, Kid, cause you'll need em!" Does Link have thermal undies? Well Bowser figures he does, he has about everything else at his disposal! Taking a deep breath, Bowser unloads wave after wave of fire breath. This isn't a single precise shot, either, this covers a wide area. Link will have to do some fancy footwork to escape THIS one.

King Bowser misses Young Link with his Fire Breath Area attack.

Terra's tightly-honed 'anti-being-impaled' reflexes kick in. She twists to the side and swipes, not at the spear, but at the rope connecting it - and it goes sailing off for some distance before hitting a Space Pirate, who begins to scream.

Terra senses an opening. Moves like that usually require some effort and leave you unable to respond immediately to a sudden, sharp thrust forwards with both hands, fencing-style. As a result, that is exactly what she does, with a 'haaah!' of effort to boot.

She has no idea if the mission is a fiasco or not. She hopes not.

Terra Branford strikes Shang Tsung with her lol stab attack.

Link indeed, has some fancy moves. He rolls to the left, to the right, flames racing after him. Then suddenly, he runs forward, and slides between Bowser's legs, and slides, grabbing a device from his side as he does so. As he pops out the other side, he attempts to place the Remote Mine on the Koopa's back, and arm it all the while, continuing to taunt the King Koopa all the while.

"Come on, with breath like that, no wonder noone's interested in your sons or daughter! Especially Wendy. She is U-G-L-Y, uggggggly. She's so ugly she broke a paper picture of a mirror!"

Young Link strikes King Bowser with his trivial Bomb Plant #1! attack.
Young Link charges up his next attack!

Now that is a very unusual thing.

Quan Chi will have the prenence of mind later to hope that nobody was directly watching, since after a moment or two he falls in hypnotic step with this strange motion. This sort of thing was honestly why he decided to stop being a demon in the first place. Too many strange magics, too many intrinsic weaknesses... But seemingly a bit hesitant, he sort of follows along with this, getting closer to the woman but leaving himself open.

Young Link strikes King Bowser with his trivial Taunt Taunt Kinder-- err Hylian Taunt! attack.

Shang Tsung makes a note to not use that move again. How the heck does that ninja hit with it? Shang will never know. Right now he's worried about the deep stab wound in him just below a kidney, which bleeds profusely. "AAAGH!" he screams, and coughs some red mist. His mouth in a silent snarl, Shang suddenly snatches at Terra' mouth, lifting her up despite the pain in his movement. His eyes glow green as he stares into her, and she may feel a bit of her soul being sucked away from her body...and into Shang. Swirly green energy is the only physical visual of this happening. Of course she might wriggle out before this happens. Either way, Shang lets her go when he's done with her.

Shang Tsung strikes Terra Branford with his Soul Drain drain attack.

"Waaah!" she thought the car was down, and so what was at first an attempt to open the car up by axing changes into the axe being what keeps Presea holding on the car. And then shots are fired straight up, one getting into her arm and one managing to dig through part of the badly damaged plate armor. Holding on for dear life and also to avoid sudden ejection and car crushings, the pinkhaired girl reaches for her belt with her left hand, drawing a knife and trying to cut something inside the car, distract the driver, make him stop, or harm him good, but it beats just holding on.

Presea Combatir misses Frank Tenpenny with her weak I cut you. No, really, nothing fancy or special or mighty, just cutting attack.

The dancing works on everyone. It's just one of those things.

Barbara moves close to Quan Chi while she dances, still leaping about and spinning despite the proximity and keeping up the odd dance. Step, leap, spin.

Step, leap, spin.

Step, jump extra high, spin kick Quan Chi in the face. "Haaa!" On one hand, that definitely broke the enticement to dance. On the other, she just hit with a surprising amount of force. Unfortunately, unlike SOME heroines, she does not wear high heels. That would probably be good for some extra damage. "That'll show you."

Barbara strikes Quan Chi with her Mawashigeri attack.

Mother Brain says something unladylike. Considering what Mother Brain considers ladylike, its fortunate that the little bomb makes a very big boom. The Brain Tank shudders under the pressure-Mother Brain designed this thing just for speedy, high firepower-weilding heroic types, however, and the machine endures.

While Mother Brain gets her bearings, however, lets turn back to the Space Priates! Three of them have come rushing back as soon as Mother Brain went out of contact. Moving like a pack of wild beasts, the Pirates blast or rip through anything obstructing their way-until one catches the faintest hint of a golden-red ball rolling around on its own. Weapons reload, prayers are sent, and the Pirates meld into the ruin and rubble, for they know the closest thing they have to a natural preditor is here. The Hunter.

One, a Freeze Pirate, gets lucky-he catches a glint of Aran's manuvering again and, without hesitation, strafe-leaps out from cover, fireing the frosty laser ray at the bounty hunter!

Mother Brain strikes Samus Aran with her Little Help From My Friends stun attack.

*poit* There something snaps in Bowser's brain. He did not just... he. Runt. Wendy. Ugly. Kid. Kill. KILL. Bowser's eyes positivly GLOW red as the Koopa King flies into a mad rage. Hey did something just hit his back? Whatever, Bowser DOESN'T CARE right now.

But link had better hope his fancy dodging moves hold out, because he is going to have one angry Koopa on his tail until he does whatever he's trying to do.

Chasing after the younge Hylian, Bowser continues breathing fire as he runs, until parts of the area around them start to actually MELT. "ROOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!" Sometimes, perhaps it's NOT a wise idea to tease the beast.
In this position, Terra's neck hurts and she feels like something is being DRAWN OUT OF HER -

So she does the most sensible thing possible, which is -bite down on Shang Tsung's hand-. Of course, she may be dropped before she is able to tell her mouth to do this.

King Bowser misses Young Link with his Seething Rage attack.

Terra Branford strikes Shang Tsung with her weak :E attack.

With a hard jerk of his head, Tenpenny avoids getting cut; on the downside, the car stops. Apparently it really is on its last legs. "Get /off/!" the officer yells, before just grabbing at Presea's knife-holding wrist and attempting to twist it until it breaks. It's not elegant, but he's not exactly at a very good angle to mount much of an attack, so it'll have to do for now. The other officer is trying, chiefly, to avoid death.
Frank Tenpenny strikes Presea Combatir with his weak Bone Breaker attack.

Link keeps on the move. As he ducks and dodges around the fire, he's going on a very meticulous path. Leaping upwards, he lands on a pipe, slams home another device and keeps on moving. "That's right, she's so ugly, she makes Kammy look good!" he snaps out as he leaps catycorner, heading for another area of pipes. The melting is helping him at the moment. It's hot, though.

And if he's not careful, it could start to affect his bombs that he's carrying around at the moment.

Young Link strikes King Bowser with his trivial Remote Mine #2! attack.

The high kick hits Quan Chi in the jaw...and draws quite a bit of blood when it strikes, the red seeming to fly mostly out of his mouth at the force, though possibly through an ear or even just no where.

He shakes his head, realizing that he was entranced by her spell, and paid the price for it. "You won't get away with that again," he says, anger building up in his voice. He lifts up his right hand, and an energy aura starts to build around it. He tenses his fingers, then, untenses them, the open palm forming outward for the young woman with green fire building upon it.

When the fireball has built, it flies forward, and begins to form the visage of a screaming skull before it draws near. The jaws in the face gnash and rip with teeth of green fire. He may be for lack of a strong zombie army at the moment, but the sorcerer still retains his own personal tricks.

Quan Chi strikes Barbara with his Skull Fireball smash attack.

Young Link strikes King Bowser with his trivial Your Daughter So Ugly, She Made A Rayquaza Flee In Terror. attack.

<InterZone Chatter> Gameshark says, "Meanwhile, Young Link just has a little fairy for a friend."
<InterZone Chatter> Gameshark says, "It's kinda sad, really."
<InterZone Chatter> Gameshark says, "You're doomed to lose Paula to Ness. It's Game Fiat."
<InterZone Chatter> Young Link says, "Can't talk, running from angry Koopa."
<InterZone Chatter> Gameshark says, "Meddle not in the affairs of Koopas, for you are crunchy and good with barbecue sauce."
<InterZone Chatter> King Bowser, meanwhile, transmits something compeltely inaudiable and very angry sounding.
<InterZone Chatter> Young Link says, "Or with dragon Gamemasters?"
<InterZone Chatter> Young Link says, "Your Daughter So Ugly, She Made A Rayquaza Flee In Terror."
<InterZone Chatter> Gameshark says, "GO BOWSER! SQUISH HIM! GO! GO! GO!"

   Crap! Pirates everywhere, looking for her as she rolls through the structures. She can't come back up in the center of the annoying creeps, that would be suicide. So she continues to roll along like the pinball from Sessame Street, searching for a hole to drop into. Unfortunatly for her, she is spotted, and by a Freeze Pirate too. Those jerks that copied her technology. And thus she is struck with a freezing cryoblast, stopping the ball in its place.

<InterZone Chatter> King Bowser ROARS.

Shang Tsung screams (in no way shrill) once his hand is bitten, and he rather /enthusiastically/ lets Terra go. Holding his hand, he feels it's time to make an exit. He spits a curse in Chinese at Terra, then says in English, "Your good with your magic...if we meet again, you can enjoy being killed by yourself..." A generic threat, but an odd one. Shang Tsung then retreats, heading for the portal, slightly bent forwards from the bleeding chest wounds.

<InterZone Chatter> Young Link says, "Gameshark's stepped in stuff more attractive than Wendy!"
<InterZone Chatter> Mother Brain says, "My, I hope Andross is insured."
<InterZone Chatter> Quan Chi says, "Agreed."
<InterZone Chatter> Young Link says, "What's the O stand for? OH GODDESSES, SHE'S HIDEOUS?"

*SNAP*

"OW! OWOWOWOW! THAT HURTS!" comes the childish voice on the car's roof, the torso attached to the arm tugging hard to retrieve the limb, the belt knife dropped in the process as the wrist is too unresponsive to hold anything.

Down to one fully working arm and her legs, Presea rolls off the car's hood and to the passenger side, getting a bit of distance for a moment. She needs both her hands to fight efficienly with one or two axes, and even if this makes her an easy target she takes the time to hold the wrist straight, and letting out a brief battlecry.

Her mind, body, crystal are all focusing their energies on a single task: Knit, heal, return to what you once were.

<InterZone Chatter> Gameshark says, "I think Minilink is about to learn why Bowser is the King of the Koopas."

Presea Combatir strikes Presea Combatir with her EX Compound Tech: healing attack.
Presea Combatir lowers her defenses, leaving her open for a powerful attack!

<InterZone Chatter> Gameshark says, "MAGICAL HOLOCOMPUTER, MAKE MY KOOPA GROOOOOOW!"

It's hard to say if Link is being brilliant right now, or slowly digging his own grave. Bowser may start to make mistakes when he flies into a rage, but eventually, he HAS to do something right. And then it will hurt. A lot. He keeps up the fire breath for now, though. It seems to be stuck on full-auto at the moment.

His aim IS getting better, though. Perhaps he's reaching some sort of rage nirvana. If that IS the case, (even if it's something I just made up) then Link had better keep running. Really, because Bowser decides to leap into the air to jump ahead of Link (still breathing fire the whole way). Hey wait, has Bowser been circling the whole area to seal Link in? I thought he was in a blind rage!

King Bowser strikes Young Link with his Even More fire Breath attack.
King Bowser strikes Young Link with his trivial Fiery Entrapment. attack.

<InterZone Chatter> Alpha Jigglypuff says, "Puff?"
<InterZone Chatter> Gameshark laughs.
<InterZone Chatter> Gameshark says, "Someone call Pocket, it's his line now."
<InterZone Chatter> King Bowser GWAHAHA

Terra falls down for a moment, and lets herself remain seated for a few moments more, so that her head may clear on its own.

She feels sick in a way she can't define. She tries to figure out just what the strange man meant.

<InterZone Chatter> Samus Aran refuses to become brainfood.
<InterZone Chatter> Station says, "Travis, that was a lame, lame line."
<InterZone Chatter> Station says, "And Bowser? Your daughter's so ugly, Kirby wouldn't eat her, and I've seen him rooting through the garbage."
<InterZone Chatter> Arthas Menethil says, "I take it that it was a reference to something from your Zone?"
<InterZone Chatter> Gameshark says, "I disagree, Station!"
<InterZone Chatter> Dan Hibiki says, "No, no, no Station."
<InterZone Chatter> Station asides, "Run like the wind, Link. Run like the wind."
<InterZone Chatter> Gameshark says, "Kirby is like Mikey! He likes everything!"
<InterZone Chatter> Samus Aran says, "Bowser has a daughter? I thought they were all boys."
<InterZone Chatter> Station says, "...Yeah. You're right, Gameshark. /Yoshi/ wouldn't eat Wendy, and he's a dinosaur."
<InterZone Chatter> Dan Hibiki says, "You must say: YOUR DAUGHTER IS UGLY THAT SHE RESSEMBLE LIKE YOUR MOTHER."

Link's caught in a burning ring of fire. It's burns down down down as the flames grow higher. The boy winces in pain as the fire singes him, and he tosses the bombs aside.

"...hey Bowser, nice move.. but, one. Wendy's still ugly. And two.."

Grabbing his hookshot, Link fires it skywards, grabbing a pipe and yanks himself upwards. As he does so, he calls out, "...Din's Fire - BOMBOS!"

And with that -- the fire sets off the bombs. And the remote mines. Abd the whole pipework structure starts to weeble.. wobble.. and starts to collapse down around the King of Koopas.

Young Link misses King Bowser with his DEMOLITION LINK! smash attack.

<InterZone Chatter> Dante Sparda says, "...Oh god, he's taunting in broken kung-fu movie translations."
<InterZone Chatter> Young Link says, "FIRE IN THE HOLE!"
<InterZone Chatter> Dante Sparda says, "Dan, you've lowered the bar. /AGAIN/"
<InterZone Chatter> Dan Hibiki says, "Thanks. I did my best to do my worse this time!"
<InterZone Chatter> King Bowser ROARS again. Duhn duhn duhn, Link.

The Pirates waste no time. Samus the Hunter, the Planet-Killer, the Scourge of the Stellar Sea, That Bitch, and a multitude of other nicknames can really only get once response from a group of Space Pirates. The trio charge, as one, hacking at the ball with their horrible claws, occasionaly pausing to fire a few rounds at the temporarily helpless form of Samus Aran.

Mother Brain has been watching Bowser's freakout with some trepidation-if he wrecks the planet, Andross won't be able to pay her back, after all-when oppertunity comes knocking. Rolling forward, the Brain's eye narrows in a gleefuly satisified manner. "Yessss....rip, rend, tear, my children. Finally, Aran, after all these years....I shall finish what I started with the wretched Chozo, their line will be whiped from the galaxy, while the Mother Brain still stands, triumphant! I am not bound to the laws of some pimple-faced computer programmer, my fate is my own! I will not die by your hand, Samus Aran! And when I kill you...well, who knows? I do not think it has ever happened."

The Eye gleams, triumphantly. "But I cannot wait to find out."

Click. Nothing. Link stares. Dud? Remote Bomb dud. WHAT THE BLOODY..

"I only have to do it once!" Barbara says, sounding pretty cheerful. She did get to kick a demon in the face (no matter what he says, you can't just /decide/ to not be a demon! That's crazy talk) so she's pleased with herself.

The self-satisfied expression changes to startlement when she sees the skull in the fireball. Fire she expects. Skulls in the flame, not so much. She brings up her arms to cover her face, and starts to chant the words to a spell, but is interrupted by the sudden impact of the skull fireball. Barbara yells loudly.

Loudly, and quite shrilly, and as much in anger as pain. Barbara brings her hand with the coiled whip around, lashing it out at Quan Chi; rather than actually lash him, though, she tries to get it to coil around an arm before gripping the handle even harder. A pulse of electricity races through the weapon, even though it's made of leather and not metal, discharging at the far end - although if Quan Chi has freed himself, it discharges harmlessly with a fat blue spark.

Mother Brain strikes Samus Aran with her Space Pirate Dogpile! attack.

Barbara misses Quan Chi with her Inazumagiri attack.

Tenpenny is grateful for the reprieve, and lets go of Prseea's arm willingly; he doesn't pay much attention to Presea's attempts at healing herself, instead taking an opportunity to examine the two crushed men behind him and the cowering man to his right. "... All right, so everyone who can stay alive five minutes in this unit is a coward," he mutters, getting out of the car. "Unidentified suspect! Put down your bladed weapon and put your hands right up in the air!" He doesn't attack her. Not yet.

<Fac-EVIL> Mother Brain says, "Yessss...Aran, frozen, helpless before me!"
<Fac-EVIL> King Bowser, still incoherent, "ROARG?"

Collapsing? Bombs? BAH! They mean nothing to an irritated King of the Koopas! As Link goes skyward, Bowser follows, leaping up into the air again. In the process the bombs Link put upon him apparently fall off. Plus, they were duds anyway. Score!

Bowser rockets into the air, passing Link, and begins to take a deep breath.

A VERY deep breath.

Bowser seems to draw energy from the very air around him, as an orb of fire grows bigger and bigger in his mouth. Finally, when it seems he can't hold it any more, Bowser ejects the gigantic ball of fiery energy down towards Young Link. If this hits, well... the word payback comes to mind. Bowser's still pissed, though.

King Bowser misses Young Link with his Meteor Shot smash attack.

<Fac-EVIL> Core Commander says, "Finish her, no muss no fuss. Gloat after you have slain her."
<Fac-EVIL> Mother Brain says, "I will have to thank whomever put together this little show of defiance from the Royalists. And then kill them, obviously, but first a nice thank you card.\"
<Fac-EVIL> Mother Brain says, "Core Commander, I am going to pretend that you did not just give me an order, because VBS is showing a special on genetic engineering this weekend and breaking you in half would cause me to miss it. I suguest the Core send the good people at VBS a nice, fat check at this year's pledge drive."
<Fac-EVIL> Mathias Cronqvist says, "Perhaps she would make a nice ornament for your throne room? Or breeding a new line of Space Pirates with Miss Aran's DNA?"
<Fac-EVIL> Arthas Menethil says, "Or perhaps Mother Brain can do what she wants."

As the giant ball of flame is formed, Link leaps upwards, higher and higher, looking for the dud bomb. The one that didn't go off. Not that he'll ever get the chance to fire at it. As he gets above Bowser, the Hylian stares as the Meteor Shot is released, and the boy dives off of the pipes he is on, grabbing onto a new valve to swing upwards.

Come on, Bowser.. do the work for Link. Make it collapse on yourself!

Young Link strikes King Bowser with his Pipefalls! attack.
You have taken 22 damage.

<Fac-EVIL> Core Commander says, "Aye ma'me."
<Fac-EVIL> Just Killer, Not Lady and Killer says, "Nice style."

Quan Chi moves aside from the spark itself, dodging it by twisting his shoulders. The whip is still tangled around his arm, but he grabs onto it, and pulls himself a bit closer to his target in the process, then pulls his arm free. With that same hand, he tries to grab on to Barbara's arm, and simply flip her over, as a bit of retribution for trying to get so close to him in the first place. If that succeeds and he drops her, he's also not the type to worry about the honor of kicking someone once while they're on the ground. He'd like to shut down that cheerful demeanor of hers, for good.

If he notices that his fellow Outworld ally has already pulled off field, he doesn't seem to be reacting to it.

Quan Chi strikes Barbara with his Throw + low kick attack.

Shaking the wrist to replace all the bones and moving her fingers again to get the sensation of numb pain out, Presea actually looks surprised at the call to surrender. Normally those comes _before_ getting shot to bits, and they've clearly began the shooting long ago.

"First, I am not 'unidentified', I am Presea, and I would prefer my name to be used. Second, raise my hands and surrender? I would not do so even if you were Mother Brain herself, and she is much scarier than you are."

That said, she begins walking forward. No dash, no wrathful attack. "If _you_ leave now, I might not get close enough to make you share the fate of those bleeding on the ground today. What will it be?"

Through all of the flurry of strikes and pain which courses through her neural net, Samus is preparing herself. The ice chips from her spherical body and frees her to move again after so many strikes, yet still she does not move at first. She switches through her internal weapons systems and finds just the thing. Now she just needs time to release it. So she stays there and takes their assult like a real trouper, dispite how damaged she is. What is it she is planning? Hrm.. one has to wonder whats going through her head, besides 'ow'.

Samus Aran charges up her next attack!

<InterZone Chatter> Young Link says, "Well, if you take the bow off of Wendy, she'd look like the rest of them!"

Terra presses herself up - and looks over to see a bunch of Space Pirates attacking someone.

She is not quite sure whom, but she dashes forwards, aiming a series of somewhat clumsy strikes (she really IS feeling bad, she thinks to herself; she hopes it won't be permanent) towards the Pirates. Fortunately for her, and not for them, they are not that intimidating one on one... she hopes.

Terra Branford strikes Mother Brain with her weak O noes, pirates :( attack.

Tumble Tumble Crash Bang Clang Thud. As Bowser lands from the leap, he finds a rain of heavy heavy pipes crashing down around him. He actually becomes buried in the debris, and for a few moments it seems like he'd stay that way.

It is never, EVER, that easy, though. And a few moments later Bowser bursts out from under the rubble. "GWAAAAAAAAAAAARRGHGH!"

Grabbing a nearby pipe, Bowser quickly locates Link, and launches it up at him. Yes, he's gone back to throwing blunt objects, but at least the pipe is much bigger than anything else he's used this evening.

King Bowser strikes Young Link with his Pipe-doken! attack.

<InterZone Chatter> Gameshark says, "It's a known fact that bows are indications of gender in species without obvious gender attributes."
<InterZone Chatter> Gameshark says, "Observe the Pac-Man."
<InterZone Chatter> Noa says, "And Kirby. He doesn't wear a ribbon, so that makes him a boy."
<InterZone Chatter> Gameshark says, "In fact, I might go see if I can make a Ms. Sinistar. It'll look like Sinistar, but with a giant Sinisite bow on top."
<InterZone Chatter> Gameshark says, "Then maybe he'll relax and not be so hungry anymore."

BAM! Link gets piped. It slams into his chest, pushing out his breath, causing him to heave outwards as he falls backwards. "..ugh." he murmurs, clawing his way to his feet. Grabbing a Deku nut from his bag, he tosses it downwards -- sending it towards the bombs from earlier. Come on, connect.

"Hey Bowser..." he wheezes. "Bet.. you put a bow on your head?" Cough. "...you'd be more attractive than Wendy.."

Young Link aims less accurately for his next attack!
Young Link misses King Bowser with his Bombs at your feet! attack.

<InterZone Chatter> Samus Aran says, "By the way Bowser? As late as this is? Your daughter is so ugly, she looked out the window and got arrested for mooning."
<InterZone Chatter> King Bowser roars again. Uh-oh, it seems he's going to take all this extra taunting out on Link!
Aran. Immobile! Even the sweet sound of infighting cannot distract Mother Brain from this triumph! "Yesssssss...."

"Skree!" A pirate hisses, as he is taken by suprise, and taken out via laser sword. "Branford." Mother Brain says, narrowing her eye. "Do you not have a villaige somewhere to burn? Take her." The remaining two pirates obey the will of Mother Brain, one firing a blast of supercharged plasma while the other leaps up, over the shot, and then sends a terrible claw slash at the young half-Esper!

As for Samus? Mother Brain begins aiming her targeting relays. "A little spark of life left, eh Aran? Let us see what Mother Brain can do about that..."

Mother Brain strikes Terra Branford with her weak Yarrrr! attack.
Mother Brain carefully aims for her next attack!

The rumble of the ground caused by Bowser's stomping seems to send Link's Deku Nut off target. Not that Bowser noticed it. He stomps menacingly towards Link's form. No fire breath this time, Bowser just clenches his fist. And punches. Hard. Even if it misses it'll punch a hole straight through the ground, and if it connects... well... Link will be sorry Bowser decided to get physical.

King Bowser misses Young Link with his Beat Down attack.

Backing up from the King of Koopas, the Hylian Hero of Time stares upwards at Bowser in a mix of anger and fear. But, he's still in the fight. Gritting his teeth, he backs up against a pipe, feeling the heat rising from it. "...hey, Bowser. Nothing personal, maybe you can get a nice boy for Wendy. Like Pokey Minch."

He knew that would do it. As the fist comes flying in, Link still has enough in him to dodge aside, diving away as Bowser hopefully punches the pipe and instead of punching a hole in Link, gets a faceful of hot steam!

Young Link strikes King Bowser with his weak Steam Bath! attack.
You have taken 8 damage.

<InterZone Chatter> Young Link says, "...hey, Bowser. Nothing personal, maybe you can get a nice boy for Wendy. Like Pokey Minch."
<InterZone Chatter> Ness says, "Ew, don't even joke."
<InterZone Chatter> Ness says, "Wendy doesn't deserve that."

Barbara is more cocky than cheerful. She has found, however, that /acting/ cheerful is a good way to irritate people who don't like you.

Unfortunately, people who don't like you seem to enjoy kicking you. It works for Quan Chi; she goes down and rolls, fairly well given she had barely been expecting it, but gets a kick in the gut for her trouble anyway. Barbara tries to regain her breath at the same time she rolls away, with mixed success; it's enough to get out a few words at the same time she clenches her fist, though.

The air around Quan Chi pulses yellow for a moment, unhealthily, before it explodes into shockwaves and flame, loudly. Barbara claps her hands over her ears, reflexively, and only gets up /after/ the explosions die down, at least a little.

Barbara misses Quan Chi with her Ionazun smash attack.

<InterZone Chatter> Young Link says, "True, Wendy should settle down with a nice Dry Bones."
<InterZone Chatter> Young Link says, "They don't have eyes, after all."
<InterZone Chatter> Ness says, "Look, I'm sure Wendy isn't ugly to other.....what kind of dinosaur are they, anyway?"
<InterZone Chatter> Presea Combatir says, "Koopas."

That's twice in one night Bowser gets a faceful of steam. It doesn't stop him THIS time though. He's still in a blind rage over the Hylian BRAT and the horrible things he has dared to say about his darling, flawless, little girl!

Turning away from the steam, Bowser charges after Link again. No more fire breath. Link brought out the low blows, so this is remaining physical! Even if Bowser is three or four times Link's size, he totally deserves it!

In the process of running, Bowser apparently decides not to break his stride, and swings his leg back to try and land a rather sharp kick to Link's torso. And I mean sharp in a literal sense, look at his toenails, if you can even call them that!
King Bowser misses Young Link with his Boot To Da... Gut? attack.

    The Pirates apparently are distracted now from the outside attack, alright so now she doesn't have to waste this attack on them. This one has Mother Brain's name written allllll over it. And so that morph ball starts'a rollin', making its course for the big brain, pulsing and glowing with the energy she wishes to discharge. "Special delivery, Mother. I had meant for your precious pirates to eat this, but since you look like you haven't had your daily fat benge today.. its all yours." The ball becomes sticky and spider climbs up the surface of the jar, planting something directly infront of her eye. A turning sphere much diffrent than her original bomb. The ball then rolls up the jar and over to the other side.

Tenpenny considers this for a moment, looking down at Presea; she's got a lot of spunk for a kid, he has to give her that much. "Well, Presea, as much as I'd like to, this violates several laws." His tone is, to say the least, patronizing. /Now/ he steps forward, and, flipping around his pistol, decides to punish the little brat for giving him sass. He's used to dealing with juveniles in such a brutal manner -- after all, he /does/ deal with gang crime, and occasionally one does find some really young gangsters. "So no."

Frank Tenpenny strikes Presea Combatir with his weak Pistolwhip! attack.

Samus Aran strikes Mother Brain with her Super Bomb to the Face! Eat it! smash attack.

The Hero's shield saves Link as the toenail slams into it, but it knocks the boy backwards. Yanking out his sword for the first time tonight, the boy waits for Bowser to come at him. "...maybe a Zora can go for her.." he mutters. "Or Zoda."

And as Bowser gets close, Link twists and sends his sword downwards, aiming for the same foot he worked over earlier with the hammer.

Young Link strikes King Bowser with his Pedicure? attack.
You have taken 16 damage.

THIS time Terra fends off the melee attacker with another riposte. The plasma blast hits her in the back and there is a brief sizzling. After this, she leaps up, suddenly, into the air...

And twists. Where is he. He has to be - yes! There!

She descends, with a faint glitter of light on her Dragoon Boots, towards the chucklehead with the blaster.

The sword cuts deep into Bowser's leg, narrowly missing his flawless toenails though! It does little to slow him down, however, as Link has set him into too much of a rage. Now Bowser's not stopping until ONE of them is down. (And even if Link is the one who goes down, there's no gaurentee Bowser will stop even then)

Surrounded by various debris, melted and otherwise, Bowser reaches over and grabs a particularly large tangle of melted and fused together pipes. Lifting it over his head, there's really only thing to do at this point.

HULK SMASH!!

King Bowser strikes Young Link with his SMAAAAAAAAAASH! smash attack.

Smacked on the cheek in a way that will likely leave a bruise for a few days, Presea's head swings sideways along with the blow before slowly returning to neutral position. She doesn't seem very happy by the answer, but she doesn't seem very sad either, just the look of someone who expected this sort of thing.

"This is Macbeth, a planet invaded by a tyrant, I do not care in the least for the laws of such a man who is allied with the Mother Brain. She wants me dead, I won't let technicalities bother me." explains the pinkhaired girl, before returning the favor in the form of a punch aimed at the officer's stomach. "Now, will you leave?"

Terra Branford carefully aims for her next attack!

Presea Combatir strikes Frank Tenpenny with her weak Why hello, Mr. Kidney! Long time no see! attack.

<Fac-EVIL> Mother Brain says, "The pink haired one is a traitor to not just EVIL, but Zebes."
<Fac-EVIL> Mother Brain says, "The penalty for treason is death."
<Fac-EVIL> Frank Tenpenny says, "Yes ma'am."
<Fac-EVIL> Mother Brain says, "Or at least shoot off one of those accursed clumps of hair, its like she has something living on her head..."

Quan Chi notices the air begin to turn, as it were, and there is the strange etherial 'scent' of magic about it.

He immediately ducks, and rolls onto the ground, a split second before the big bang of fire explodes in the air.

He gets up as well, and now it seems that he is facing the young woman from afar. He realizes that in the rolling and doding, he dropped his staff, but now it is at is feet, and he kicks at it... the weapon jumps up, and into his hands.

He mutters something. The eyes on the staff flare, and then the mouth of the being on it opens slightly wider. A moment later, a cloud of stinging insects erupts from the staff and drives toward Barbara... stingers first. The vicious bugs all attempt to sting her, but remain in the air even if they do not immediately strike.

Quan Chi strikes Barbara with his Summon Swarm attack.
Barbara has been knocked out!

Tenpenny isn't considering it in the least, and the fact that Mother Brain is advising death or at least severe hair damage makes him even /less/ predisposed to doing it. "No," he says, in spite of having the wind knocked out of him; it's a very labored 'no,' one followed up with two hasty, difficult pistol shots. The first is aimed at the little child's gut; the other is aimed at a decidedly nonlethal part of her body -- one of her pigtails.

Frank Tenpenny strikes Presea Combatir with his Dead-Center Shot attack.
Frank Tenpenny strikes Presea Combatir with his trivial HAIR attack.

As Bowser hefts up the massive pipes.. Link realizes he has no place to go. Or hide. All he can do is bring up the shield and pray that he survives this. The mass of pipes, metals and debris slam down, triggering another collapse of the area -- Bowser has officially done more damage to Andross's facilities tonight than most of the Palace combined.

The Hylian Hero, broken, brusied, bleeding internally, and beat to hell, lays there for a moment, before his hand grabs the only thing that he can use in defense. A large flailing power line. Grabbing it, he shoves it towards Bowser's leg, and attempts to electrocute him on the spot!

Young Link strikes King Bowser with his Fried Turtle! smash attack.
You have taken 25 damage.

Fried Turtle? Yeeeees INDEEEeeeEEEEeeeeEEEEEEeeeEED! The electricity courses through Bowser's body (something he's not accustomed to. He's more used to being fried, stomped, or crushed) but after it's all said and done, he is STILL STANDING.

More smoke floats out of his nostrils, this from the electricution. But he is showing no signs of stopping, despite how visibly his body appears beaten up. Link really must have set him off. Now it seems like the Hylian is paying for it. And it's about to get a whole lot worse. Taking a deep breath, Bowser (you guessed it!) brings the fire breath out once more. Link is point-blank too. Pity he wasn't wearing his red tunic tonight.

King Bowser strikes Young Link with his Fire Breath Yet Again attack.
Young Link has been knocked out!

Slow, graceful decent, eh? The two pirates look suprised for half a beat, shrug, and start shooting like mad, firing their arm cannons like their lives depended on it. ...well, they kind of do, in all fairness. Space Pirates are, unlike Stormtroopers, quick, accurate, and efficent shots, squatting slightly in order to minimize recoil and maximize manuverability with their heavy arm cannons.

Mother Brain, on the other hand, is just pissed. Samus's bomb finally does it, and the glass is shattered, leaving a gaping hole that exposes the Mother Brain's flesh. "Where do you KEEP THOSE, anyway?!" Mom yells, furious to the point of Non Sequatur, simply flicking the "shoot everything" button. For a few seconds, Mother Brain and Samus look to be more like one of the fires that have popped up around the area, as the Brain Tank unloads with every single weapon it has. Just a big wall of Ouch.

Mother Brain strikes Samus Aran with her Big Wall of Ouch smash attack.
Mother Brain strikes Terra Branford with her weak Small Bricks of Ouch attack.

Link knows he doesn't have much of a chance. Next time, no fancy stuff, just press the attack over and over.. if there is another chance. Which looks doubtful. He spits a glob of blood into the flames, which gets cooked, along with the Hylian. And officially overheated and taken too much, he doesn't get up.

The stomach wound hurts alot, gunfire at this range is never pleasant, but this is point blank ow. However the pained look is replaced by one of burning rage moments later as a bunny-esque hair ornament is shot and broken, that part of her hair now loose.

Presea moves with a deathly calm, picking up the pieces of the ornament and pocketing it, before explaining plainly what she intends to follow: "Prepare to be eviscerated."

Use your imagination for the rest, and maybe a dictionnary.
Presea Combatir strikes Frank Tenpenny with her Eviscerate: Now with 30% more spillings attack.
Barbara gets up just in time to see a whole lot of bees. "/Bugs/?" Barbara asks, almost incredulously. "I mean...bugs? What are they going to do?" She takes a deep breath, preparing to exhale a cloud of gas; that's usually pretty good at clearing out insects of all sorts.

The bees take this opportunity to sting her. So do the mosquitos, and the other biting, stinging cloud of insects; Barbara lets the breath out before the effect is fully formed and starts to run instead, swatting as many as she can with her bare hands. Unfortunately, she trips at a crack in the ground, flailing wildly as she falls forward - and manages to crack her head on the ground, hard.

She's not getting up, at least not right now.

Next time? Oh ho. Stomping over to Link's fallen form, Bowser picks him up with one hand, raising him to eye level. He looks like he's about to eat the kid alive. But seeing him in his broken, burnt, state, Bowser seems to calm down a bit. Payback has been served. He's defended his daughter's honor (what she has anyway) and Link learned not to taunt the King of the Koopas the hard way.

So with a rare display of generousity, Bowser sends Link back towards their black ops transport. ...Well, THROWS, is more like it. With the strength Bowser has left Link probably doesn't make it all the way, someone else will have to collect him from the grown after Bowser tossed him there like so much trash.

With that much done, Bowser snaps his fingers, causing the Clown Coptor to decent. Aww, his hawaiian shirt got all burnt and ruined too. This totally ruined his good mood. He'll have to further work out his aggressions on this later on.
This is bad, Terra thinks. She tenses her body - and her descent shifts suddenly.

She feels wind, and plasma fire, whip past her body as she descends towards the massive form of Mother Brain's central tank. The Atma Weapon is shrinking, but she looks at it, trying to pour more of herself into it so that it will stay vital and strong...

And she doesn't know, exactly, if it will work as she comes down along the top. She closes her eyes at the last moment. She would pray, but who to?

<InterZone Chatter> King Bowser says, slowly, and with much anger "Palace......"
<InterZone Chatter> King Bowser says, "Watch your language in the future regarding my daugher.""
<InterZone Chatter> King Bowser click.
<InterZone Chatter> X says, "..."

    Once the smoke clears from the furious explosion which as occurded around the brain, finally Samus grows back to her original size and stands atop of the brain jar panting heavily as her systems seem to have taken quite a bit of damage. The sound of the internal siren is driving her crazy, but she can't give up. there is no way she can just simply die. She'll have to retreat if she needs to. Making a run across the top of the jar, she leaps and twists her body around, falling away from Mother Brain and bringing her cannon up to hold and then launch a missile right for the open hole in Mother Brain's jar.
Samus Aran aims less accurately for her next attack!

Tenpenny chuckles as Presea threatens him; even if she's been decently impressive, thus far he has not been particularly wowed. This dismissive attitude is quite a bad idea, however, as it ends up getting him into a position where he just doesn't have enough time to get out of the way. When all's said and done, he's quite bloody, and gasping for breath. "... dammit," he grunts. "Mother#2263@^ing piece of..."

The officer steps forward, grabbing at Presea's neck. If he manages to get a hold of it, he tries to pick Presea up and slam her down; this proves difficult do to one-handed, so instead he ends up giving her a solid, firm kick in the chest followed by another to the chin.
Frank Tenpenny strikes Presea Combatir with his Boots: Made For Kicking attack.

Link's limp form flips and twists through the air like a rag doll, before bouncing along the ground near the transport.

<Fac-EVIL> King Bowser says, "That brat killed my post vacation buzz. I'm going back to the Castle to re-koopa-rate. Tell Andross sorry about the Factory."
<Fac-EVIL> Mother Brain says, "Nicely done, Bowser."

Samus Aran strikes Mother Brain with her Brain + Missile = Headache smash attack.

Terra Branford strikes Mother Brain with her Also, Shang Tsung Chewed On My Soul :( attack.

<Fac-EVIL> King Bowser says, "And I heard Aran say something in the middle of all that too. Kick her butt."

Quan Chi lowers his staff... the bees and other nettles doing their thing and scattering to the winds of Macbeth. They'll eventually die, but that hardly matters. There's always more where that came from.

He doesn't spend much time looking at the woman's body; rather, he turns, and wipes blood off of his mouth and nose from where she struck him. Then he assesses the rest of the battlefield, and the heroes' current situation. He begins to draw back, toward Mother Brain's position.

While armored, Presea's weight is not that high, and she has a small neck, small enough to be held by one hand if it's a pretty big hand. She struggles, but getting kicked ends that fairly quickly, and she remains down for a bit while trying to catch her breath.

"YOU BE QUIET ABOUT MY MOTHER!" is what she manages to blurt out once air flows regularly through her lungs and out again. The axe is lifted, the second axe is pulled out again, and the tiny girl goes for an all out berserker flurry assault. Her aim isn't...well, existant at this point, but the weapon size and weight tends to compensate. 


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